Chapter Text
Of course Kara protested, saying that Lena had a company to run and shouldn’t take time off for her, and of course Lena was adamant and insisted that it was fine for her to miss one day,
“The company won’t crumble if I’m not there for one day,” she said before a slightly mischievous smile came across her face, “besides…” she quirked an eyebrow at Kara, “you owe me for not telling me you’re true identity!” And how could Kara argue with that?
Thirty minutes later they had finally made it to the park. The park itself was only a five minute walk from Lena’s apartment, but between stopping for food for their picnic and Kara’s limp it had taken them a lot longer. They sat in the sun, thankfully it was warm, and a weekday so the park wasn’t too crowded, just a few nannies and mothers with small children playing on the play frame a little way away. They chatted as they snacked on the various items that they had bought, including a selection of sandwiches, crisps and other nibbles.
As the sun got brighter as the day continued Kara lay back; her eyes closed, arms splayed out to the side she basked in the warmth, it was almost as if she could feel her powers slowly returning. Suddenly she felt a weight on her stomach, opening her eyes she propped herself up to see Lena, book in hand, using her as a pillow. She went to say something before deciding that actually it was quite nice, closing her eyes she lead down again, the weight of Lena’s head helping to ground her thoughts. She could just relax, Lena knew the truth, and she accepted her. Happy, warm and content Kara felt herself being to drift off.
They stayed like that contently until the sky began to cloud over around 5pm. Lena packed away the food and her book before gently shaking Kara awake, pulling her to her feet whilst still half asleep. They chatted as they walked back to Lena’s apartment, Kara’s limp no longer affecting her.
“So, do you think you have your powers back?” She asked curiously,
“uuuuuh,” Kara her glasses so that they were on the end of her nose, which Lena struggled not to giggle at, “X-ray vision is pretty much back, but I don’t know about the others…” she explained that they recovered at different rates, Alex thought it was something to do with how saturated her cells had to be with yellow sun radiation in order to function, readjusting her glasses as they went.
Once back at Lena’s, Kara tested some of her other powers, her freeze breath was more of a chilled breeze and her heat vision could just about warm a cup of coffee. Her flying was also more hovering a foot above the ground for a few seconds before needing to land again. Her super hearing was back again as she could hear Lena’s heart beat from the other side of the apartment as clear as day. She wanted to test her invulnerability as well but Lena wouldn’t let her as it could result in her getting hurt and she had had ‘enough damage for at least a few weeks!’.
Lena made Kara promise she would stay another night, although there was no real threat of her injuries getting worse now, she said that she still wanted to keep an eye on her, just in case. And secretly she wanted Kara to stay because she like her company; it had been nice waking up with her curled up against her side and if there was a chance that would happen again she was ready to try. Lena daydreamed about what it would be like to wake up like that every morning, with Kara. Making them coffee every morning, having lunch dates, spending the evening together curled on the sofa, watching TV, reading books or talking about their days…
That night Kara helped Lena make an Irish stew. Lena said that she couldn’t remember much about her mother, but whenever it was cold or she was sick her mum would make her stew, she used to swear to Lena that it could cure all ills. When Lena opening up to Kara about her mum, she went over to her and, from behind, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, resting her chin on Lena’s shoulder. She knew what it was like to lose a mother; at least she could actually remember hers…
They stayed like this, with Kara wrapped around Lena, not speaking but comforting her through proximity, whilst Lena chopped up the vegetables, leaning back into Kara ever so slightly. Once they were done Kara had to untangle herself from Lena so she could start assembling the stew itself. She helped add a few things, but when she felt that she was getting in the way more than helping she retreated to the other side of the island; leaning on the dark countertop, she propped herself up with her elbows, watching as Lena move with ease around the kitchen. The radio played softly in the background, meaning that they could just stay in their comfortable silence.
Once the stew was assembled and just needed to be left to cook for a while, they retreated to the sofa with a couple of glasses of wine.
“So,” Lena said after another glass or so which had been accompanied by light conversation, “I showed you mine, now you show my yours…” her tone had a playfully suggestive edge, the alcohol bringing out her soft Irish accent more. Kara furrowed her brow slightly, not quite sure what she meant. “So, what did your mother used to make you on Krypton when you were sick?” Kara paused, a wave of sadness rushing over her as she thought back to Krypton, to the little things her mother would do just for her when she wasn’t well.
“She used to make this dish called, ‘Ohshidorn’ it was sort of similar to a stew I guess… but it had this rice sort of ingredient called ‘Krethneg’ which tasted similar to beef, at some vegetables like ‘myshnig’ and ‘ohmotoe’ which were sort of Krypton’s peas and carrots, though they tasted noting like it… oh and ‘temaka’ sort of our equivalent to potatoes, only they were tiny, and usually diced into cubes, and tasted more similar to swede than potatoes. Then it was all cooking in a broth, gravy thing called ‘ontooma’ and finally you would add some meat that had been cooked and shredded.” Lena loved the way that Kara’s eyes lit up when she talked about Krypton, but could see the sadness in them too.
Kara let out a little laugh, “once Winn tried to recreate ‘Ohshidorn’ by altering food in the lab at the DEO, Alex told me that he worked on it for weeks so when he finally presented it to me… I didn’t have the heart to tell him it tasted nothing like ‘Ohshidorn’… I mean, it wasn’t bad… just not good…” her goofy smile made Lena chuckle too, she could listen to Kara all day.
“Do you miss it? Krypton I mean?” Lena asked gently, knowing this must be a very sensitive topic; Kara dropped her head, quite a moment before looking back up. Lena could make out traces of tears in her blue eyes,
“So much…” her voice was thicker, her sadness, her grief, dripping from each word. “It was my home, my culture… my family… I was just a kid when it happened. I wasn’t aware of all the build up to it, all the politics involved… just one day I woke up and the sky was dark, people were panicking; there were storms and earthquakes that shook through the whole planet, causing buildings to fall, explosions and fire throughout the city… I watched from my bedroom window, it felt like the end of the world… I guess it was.” Her voice had grown quieter, no longer meeting Lena’s eyes. Lena reached out and took Kara’s hand, as she gave it a small squeeze Kara shot her a small smile. “My parents rushed me to the pod… we barely had time to say goodbye…” a tear rolled down her cheek, but Kara sniffed, wiping it away she gave Lena a brave smile. “When I arrived on earth I was so scared, I didn’t know anything about the history, the culture… but the Danvers took me in and cared for me, even when I didn’t always appreciate it…” her smile changed to a slightly guilty one, “there were times when I certainly didn’t make it easy for Alex and Eliza, but even then they persevered with me… when Alex was sick Eliza would make her this noodle soup… she’d always give me a bowl too, joking about how otherwise I’d never get it!” Lena relaxed a little, Kara was smiling again, and although her eyes were still bright with tears they didn’t look quite so sad anymore.
A timer beeped, letting them know that the stew was finally ready; Lena grabbed two bowls, filling them whilst Kara cut and buttered some bread to dip into the stew. Once ready they returned to the sofa where they sat, content, whilst some show about prison lesbians played on Netflix. Even once they finished their food they stayed, quietly enjoying the show.
At one point Lena got up to grab a blanket off the bed, when she returned and sat down Kara wiggled about before lying down, the blanket wrapped around her and her head resting on Lena’s lap. Lena smiled to herself as her fingers gently weaved in and out of Kara’s soft blonde hair; yes, she could certainly get used to this.
As the night grew late, Lena managed to coax Kara up off her lap where she would have been perfectly happy to spend the whole night. Lena changed into her pyjama’s first whilst Kara used the bathroom, before switching so Kara could change and Lena could use the bathroom. When she emerged she found Kara sat, cross legged, on the bed, flicking through the book that had previously been on the nightstand, it was a book that Lena had been meaning to finish for weeks but between work and, well, work she had just been too busy, usually coming home and collapsing on the bed before getting up to leave for work again.
Climbing on to the bed beside Kara she wiggled her feet under the covers so they wouldn’t get cold,
“Have you read that then?” she asked Kara, nodding at the book,
“Ages ago, back when I was about 19,” she handed it Lena, ‘Love in the time of cholera’ read the title, “read some to me?” Kara asked, giving Lena her best doe eyes, which of course made Lena’s heart melt. She readjusted her position so that she was leaning against the headboard, her legs outstretched under the covers, as she began to read Kara shuffled round so she could see the pages, continuing to fidget for a minute before settling with one arm linked through Lena’s, legs also outreached, just close enough to rest against Lena’s, and Kara’s head resting on her shoulder. Lena paused her reading to look round slightly at Kara,
“Finished? Ready for me to continue?” she asked, amused at Kara’s innocently cute behaviour. Kara nodded and Lena continued. They stayed like this for about an hour, with Lena’s soft voice lulling Kara into a sense of clam, there were points where she hardly even focused on the words, just the sound of Lena’s voice, coupled with the gentle beating of her heart.
When Lena finally put the book down Kara pouted a little, but Lena said that she was getting tired and so Kara didn’t push. Instead they both snuggled down under the covers, only Lena’s bedside lamp left to light them in soft warm light. Kara shifted and shuffled closer to Lena, until she was right beside her. Rolling onto her side Kara curled her legs and moved so that her face was buried in the nook of Lena’s neck again, one arm across Lena stomach. She smiled to herself as Lena’s heart rate quickened at this, before it calmed again, Lena’s arms snaking round Kara’s waist and pulling her closer.
With both of them comfortable and content Lena reluctantly removed an arm from around Kara, switching off the light, leaving them in darkness.
“Night Lena,” Kara sleepily mumbled into Lena’s neck,
“Night Kara,” Lena whispered back, letting out a long yawn before closing her eyes, drifting off to sleep with the warmth of Kara radiating against her skin.
When Lena awoke she was happy to find that Kara was still snuggled into her side, it was nice not waking up to an empty bed. She dozed as sunlight began to creep through the window, stirring Kara awake. As she did she stretched out her arms, arching her back and shoulders. Lena let out an incomprehensible murmur in protest of losing Kara’s warmth, which made Kara smile as she wrapped herself back around Lena, her action being greeted with a happy mummer. They stayed in their warm little nest for a while longer, as they became more awake their convocation grew, discussing from what they were going to do that day, to Kara’s latest article and Lena’s latest business deal. Eventually Lena untangled herself from Kara and returned moments later with two cups of coffee. Kara smiled as she sipped hers, before placing it on the nightstand.
“Hey Lena, could you check the bruising on my ribs? It was hurting a bit last night,” Kara asked, Lena nodded, unable to speak through a mouthful of coffee. She motioned for Kara to take off her shirt, which she did, and then pushed Kara’s shoulders sown so she was led on the bed. Lena knew that she could probably check out the bruising without Kara taking her shirt off completely, but how many more chances like this was she going to get?!
She knelt beside Kara on the bed, running her fingers along Kara’s side where the bruising had been, now it was just Kara’s pale skin and defined abs.
“it’s remarkable,” she muttered, mostly to herself. “looks like it’s fully healed,” speaking more directly to Kara she continued, “it looks all good, you might find that the pain was from the healing process, you probably aren’t used to it being this bad.” She continued to inspect Kara’s ribs, unable to find any sign that there had ever even been any damage!
“Lena,” Kara spoke, pulling Lena’s attention from her ribs to her face she glanced up. Kara, who was propped up on her elbows, in a split second of Lena turning her head, pushed herself up just enough to kiss Lena. Lena was shocked, her mind racing at a million miles an hour; what did this mean? Did Kara like her too? How were her lips so soft?!
In a moment the kiss was over. Kara fell back onto her elbows, leaving Lena’s face just centimetres away from hers. She searched Lena’s eye for something, anything that would indicate that that had been the right thing to do. She only found a mixture of shock and confusion; internally she began to panic; had she read the signals wrong? Did Lena not think of her like that? Had it been a bad kiss?
Kara’s mind was set at ease when moments later, just before she was about to apologise and make a dash for the door, Lena leaned down, kissing her back. One of her hands came to rest on Kara’s cheek as the kiss deepened. Both felt a sort of hunger within that was fuelling their passion, urging them on.
They only broke apart for a moment whilst Lena pulled off her shirt, tossing it to the side whilst they caught their breath, before leaning in and kissing Kara once more, moving her legs so that they straddled Kara’s thighs. Lena felt Kara’s hands slide under her legs and in one swift movement Kara had lifted Lena off the bed, twisting them both around and returning to the bed, only now she was on top, with Lena’s legs wrapped around her waist.
Through the kissing and hands wandering over each other’s bodies Kara smiled, maybe she should get beat up more often, she thought to herself, if these are the repercussions.