Chapter Text
The next vision was when she was 11.
It was a Monday, and she was at school. They had gone to the beach during the weekend and there, Alex had almost drowned. They didn’t get home until 3 AM. Her parents had offered to let Kara stay home, but she knew she couldn’t get behind.
She only regretted the decision when she was sitting in Mrs. Deslatte’s class, trying to learn about variables. She couldn’t keep her eyes open.
Kara folded her arms across the cold wood of the desk and laid her head in them. She’s never been more tired in her life.
Just like years before, she was transported when she opened her eyes again. She was in the same bed as before, but it was cold.
Panic raced through Kara’s body as she frantically patted and searched for the woman. She looked under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom. She raced across the house, looking everywhere the smaller woman could be.
Kara was pleading out loud now, chanting please, please, c’mon, please like a prayer. Her heart was racing at an inhuman speed, like her mom had almost caught her up late on her IPad.
She yelped like a dog and jumped what felt like 4 feet into the air when her cell phone rang.
It took 3 obnoxious, high pitched trills for Kara to kick into motion, all but jumping over the couch on her way to where it was sitting on the kitchen island.
"Hello?" she answered shakily, her heart making no effort to slow down.
"Kara Danvers-Luthor?" a man on the other side of the phone asked.
"Uh, um, L-" Kara stuttered. "Yes?"
"I'm calling from St. Joseph’s ER and Medical Center. I'm letting you know that your wife has been in a car accident, and was delivered here by EMT's about 20 minutes ago," the man said, his voice awfully calm for someone who just told her that she is married, to a woman, and said woman was in an accident and could die.
"Oh my gosh," Kara gasped, "What's the address?"
He gave it to her, and 3 minutes later she was speeding down the street in a car she didn't know how to drive to the hospital.
…..
5 minutes.
It took Kara 5 minutes to fly across town in the car she was mostly guessing at, running multiple red lights and zooming straight through stop signs, until she finally swerved into a parking spot in front of St. Joseph’s.
Kara sped through the sliding doors of the ER area and walked straight to the little enclosed counter. The woman sitting there smiled politely at her, not-so-subtly looking her over for injuries.
“Hello, I’m here for…” Kara trailed off, racking her brain for the woman’s name.
“Mrs. Luthor-Danvers?” she finally decided.
“First name?” the woman asked, scooting her chair closer to the keyboard sitting on the desk, poising her fingers above it.
She looked up at Kara expectantly and waited. After a few beats, Kara realized that she didn't know.
“Um. I don’t know,” she admitted, running her hands through her already messed up hair.
The woman looked at her sympathetically.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but until I have a first name I can’t let you see her.”
“But,” Kara sputtered, “She’s my wife!”
The woman looked around, almost conspiratorially, before leaning really close to Kara, her hair hanging through the window on the Plexiglass separating the two.
“I know forgetfulness is a sign of stress and panic. Follow me,” she says, winking and turning out of her chair, making her way towards the door at the end of the small room she was sitting in.
Kara, dumbfounded, walked towards the door at the beginning of the hallway that the other door feeds into. A moment later, the woman bustled out of the room, shutting the door as quietly as possible on her way out.
“Let’s keep this one between us,” the woman said, smiling at Kara. Kara smiled back.
They hurried silently down endless corridors. There’s no way I’m getting out of this maze on my own, Kara thought. Finally, they arrived at a room, the heavy sliding door closed and the curtains drawn.
The woman glanced back at Kara. “She might be pretty rough.”
“I don’t care,” Kara insisted. “I love her.” There was no lie.
“Okay. If you need me, or anything really, ask for Andrea.” she said.
Kara nodded. Andrea opened the door and pulled aside the floral curtains to reveal the most beautiful woman Kara has ever seen.
Again.
She rushed in and stood next to her bed, softly petting her hair and rubbing her soft but calloused hands with her own.
“Thank you,” she told Andrea, who nodded and left, closing the curtain and door behind her.
Kara was left alone with the love of her life. She pulled a chair up to the bedside and sat down in it, laying her forehead against the other woman’s legs and pulling her hand into her own, cuddling them against her chest.
“Please be okay,” Kara whispered, placing a gentle kiss on the hand still in her own.
“Ms. Danvers!” someone behind her shouted.
She shot up to find a room of kids staring at her. Confused, she looked around to find the source of the voice. She understood when she saw the shaking fabric of a short yellow cardigan sitting just outside of her vision. She turned around slowly to find Mrs. Deslatte standing over her, staring disapprovingly at her.
“Is my lesson boring you?” she asked condescendingly, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her toe noisily.
Kara, still half asleep, went with the first answer that came to mind.
“Yes ma’am.”
As soon as it was out of her mouth, Kara knew she had messed up.
“Oh, uh- I mean-” she stumbled over her own words, the class giggling behind her and Mrs. Deslatte looking very offended in front of her.
“Ms. Danvers!” she gasped out. “I thought you were a good kid.”
“I am, it’s just that-” Kara tried to explain, but Mrs. Deslatte cut her off.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to send you to the office,” she sighed, stalking down the aisle back to her desk, where she pulled out a pink slip and began scribbling on it.
Kara stayed glued to her chair, unsure what to do. Do you stand up for yourself or just take it and go? Well, if you go, you’ll probably get to go home early. But you love school. But Alex… Okay, take it and go.
“Here,” Mrs. Deslatte said, holding the slip in between two fingers and leaning on her desk with the other hand.
Kara stood up and gathered her stuff, making her way to the front of the classroom and wiping her face with her arm as she went. She took the slip from her teacher’s hand and began to walk out of the classroom.
“I’m disappointed in you Kara. I thought you were better than this,” Mrs. Deslatte said quietly as she walked by.
Kara doesn’t know where it came from. She doesn’t know where the courage came from or why she decided to use it right then, but she does.
Kara stopped walking and turned to face her teacher, who was sitting down at her desk again and preparing to resume the lesson.
“I am.”
Mrs. Deslatte looked up in surprise and opened her mouth as though to retaliate, but Kara just smirked and turned on her heel, walking out of the classroom.