Chapter Text
Chapter 3
Lena Luthor didn’t mope, she did dwell though and that was precisely what was happening now.
As her eyes followed the follow of the amber liquid twirling around in the tumbler she was clutching tightly, she ran through everything Lex had said to her since his temporary release.
In almost every conservation, she found reasons to be suspicious, proof of why she should have helped him in the first place.
Just because he was her brother, that didn’t mean that he hadn’t gotten exactly what he deserved, right?
It was a thought process that she was used to going over, usually with the assistance of varying strengths of alcohol. What she wasn’t quite as accustomed to was having someone around what wanted to help her with what she was feeling.
Even so, when the door to her office was flung open, she wasn’t at all surprised though to look who it was.
There was only one person that Jessica would allow through without announcing them.
She did become very aware of the collection of tears on her face, however, so she hastily placed the glass down and wiped at her cheeks.
“I’m fine, Kara,” she said, clasping her hands together to resist swiping back up the whiskey, “I have a lot of work…”
Before she could finish her attempt to send the reporter away, she felt the couch dip at her side and she finally looked around to find Kara Danvers smiling at her and holding up a bag of donuts.
The sight was almost cute enough to cheer her up instantly, but when Kara saw the shimmering in her green eyes, the smile fell and she placed the package aside and pulled herself closer to the other woman.
It was a closeness that had become more and more natural between the friends and Lena definitely was not used to how comforting it was but she definitely liked it.
“I suppose you heard what happened with Lex?” Lena asked bitterly, her mind rationalising that Alex Danvers must have sent her sister to cheer her up because how else would she know that she needed someone?
“It isn’t your fault, Lena, he tricked you,” Kara said softly, her hand drawn to the CEO’s like an unconscious magnet.
“I shouldn’t have trusted him, even riddled with cancer, I should have known he was up to something,” Lena said, trying for a laugh but it came out a little strangled.
Kara pulled herself closer and said, “he’s your brother, Lena, it’s natural that you would want to see the best in him.”
“Best it shouldn’t be when your brother is Lex Luthor?” Lena said, making an attempt to reach for her drink only to find her hand firmly covered so she reluctantly made eye contact with the reporter.
“That’s what makes up so much better than him, Lena, you will always help with no ulterior motive. Isn’t it better to hold onto that and risk being tricked every now and then?” Kara asked.
Lena swallowed hard.
It should have been because of that insanely perfect response, but it was actually because it had broken her out of her stupor and she finally registered just how close they were.
A month or so ago, she wouldn’t have been at all flustered by the proximity but Jessica had made an off hand comment about how they would make an excellent couple.
The thought popped into her head without permission at inopportune moments since then which forced her to accept that she had a very real crush on her best friend, which deepend every time she showed up to comfort her exactly as she was right now.
Not sure if it was the closeness, her vulnerability or just how good Kara looked when she was oozing care, Lena leaned forward involuntarily to connect their lips.
Their first kiss was short and sweet and over as soon as it started since Lena’s mind caught up with what she was doing.
She pulled back, panic churning in her stomach as all of the reasons she had been endeavouring to ignore her feelings flowed through her mind.
Chief among them was that nothing could be worth the risk of losing Kara Danvers.
Before she could come up with some excuse as to how that was an accident, she noticed that Kara’s eyes were still closed and her features completely relaxed.
Not at all as if she had just done something that she shouldn’t have.
Still, Lena felt the need to say, “I’m sorry, Kara, I shouldn’t have…”
Kara’s eyes flew open, panic written in them as Lena tried to shift away, but she successfully grabbed her other hand to keep her close as she said, “it’s okay…I mean…if you wanted to…”
Lena’s anxiety quickly morphed into adoration as she watched uncertainty pass over the reporter’s face.
Only Kara Danvers could be kissed by someone and she still doubted how they felt!
“Of course I wanted to, Kara…” Lena replied, her stomach settling further when pure relief flashed across Kara’s face.
It left her with very little doubt about whether her feelings were returned.
Kara’s mouth turned up and she was about to lean in for a longer, mutual kiss, but they didn’t get to meet as a sharp buzzing had Kara falling backwards so that she could pull out her phone in the hopes of finding a non-urgent message.
When her eyes landed on ‘Lex Luthor’ and ‘SOS’ in the same sentence from Alex, she shot to her feet.
Upon finding a hurt expression looking back at her, she reminded herself that what just occurred held much more weight for her.
Still, she couldn’t make out with Lena while her brother wreaked havoc, and this certainly wasn’t the right time to reveal the truth that she now absolutely had to tell her.
“Sorry it’s…urgent…reporter…business,” Kara said lamely, “Do you think we could…that we could have dinner tonight and talk about…everything?”
Completely used to Kara’s spluttering when she left any given room, Lena instead focused on the second part and asked, “like a date?”
“Exactly,” Kara said brightly.
Lena ran her tongue over her lips and replied, “I’ll make a reservation for 8.30.”
“Great!” Kara beamed, shoving her phone into her pocket and making a split second decision to steal another chaste kiss before she sped towards the door.
Lena watched her go with widened eyes, not at all sure how her tears over her brother had turned into the warmest smile she had ever worn.
WIth a content sigh, she fell back into the couch, but not before her hand bypassed the whiskey to grab a donut.
S
Lena couldn’t just go home.
She had no idea what it was that she was planning to do but she knew that there was no way that she could sleep.
Even in the car, when she closed her eyes, she could only see Kara struggling to breathe under the pressure she was applying.
The knowledge that Kara was aware of exactly what would happen if she stood in front of that bullet made it all the more difficult to think about.
There was simply no possible ulterior motive for what she did.
Kara had done literally everything right during their interview and then saved her life and yet, Lena was finding it difficult to let go of the anger she’d felt for months.
Her tether to it had already started weakening when Kara walked into her office that morning.
Now, under the evening twilight, it was threadbare but definitely still there.
With the need for something else to focus on she decided that the best option was simply to return to work.
It seemed like a good idea when her driver asked her where to go.
As she left the elevator onto the CEO’s floor, she realised that she likely made the wrong decision.
Even with her eyes open, she saw flashes of a frantic Alex Danvers pulling her sister towards the doors so that they could get to the DEO’s helicopter.
“Miss Luthor,” a voice squeaked and Lena blinked to banish the memories and to focus on the woman running towards her.
She really hadn’t expected there to be anyone here.
Maybe it was more that she had hoped that the space would be vacated to avoid any questions and she didn’t feel like answering.
“Jessica,” she said weakly and then strode towards her office.
Her assistant scurried behind her and rushed out, “I didn’t expect you to come back today…is Kara okay?”
Lena stopped at the closed door and scrunched her eyes shut, suddenly very aware of the blood that was still on her shirt and she balled her fists against a burst of anxiety, especially when she realised there was yellow tape on the door.
Finally, she turned around to look at the worried young woman who was most likely still very concerned about how she reacted to her former friend taking a bullet for her.
It had to be concerning to think that she was so flippant about it all.
Lena swallowed hard and said, “Kara will be fine. She is in…good hands…” and then turned to push the tape aside.
She was not at all concerned about the fact that she likely wasn’t allowed to go into the room.
She would need the DEO to explain a lot of her actions to the authorities and she was hopeful that they could deal with any backlash from this.
She was just too tired to worry about serious consequences right now.
Before she could open the door, Jessica objected, “Detective Vasquez wants to talk to you…I told him I would get you to call him as soon as I could contact you…”
Lena nodded and accepted the card the younger woman offered to her was interrupted again:
“They found out that the gunman was…”
Lena held her hand up and said, “I’m sorry, Jessica, but I really don’t care, I’ll return the detective’s call in the morning,” as she shoved the card into her pocket, hoping she could somehow get Alex or some agent to call them for her since she had no idea how to justify her actions.
“It’s weird that Supergirl didn’t show up. She’s always here when you’re in danger,” Jessica said with a nervous laugh.
Lena turned around, finally gripping the handle to the door and murmured, “weird,” and then looked over to say, “you can go home now, Jessica, thank you for all you did.”
The assistant inclined her head, still abnormally jittery.
She was still certain that there was something that she was missing.
Lena was both indescribably sad and resigned but she was missing a vital piece of the puzzle so there was no way that she would be able to put everything together.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Miss Luthor?” Jessica asked, her eyes flicking down to the bloodstain, “you should really go home too…”
Lena shook her head and replied, “Kara will be okay, that is all that is important. If I allowed assassination attempts to derail my day, I wouldn’t get any work done.”
It was supposed to sound light but in her exhaustion, it was less than half-hearted.
Jessica caught onto this and her eyebrows remained furrowed, “Are you sure?”
Lena nodded, finally pushing the door open.
Reluctantly, Jessica turned to collect her things from her desk, but she thought better of it and hastily said, “if you need
anything,
Miss Luthor, please call me…and I picked up your dry cleaning this morning so there’s clean clothes in your closet…”
Lena really tried for a natural smile but it barely felt that way under the circumstances so she just said again, “thank you Jessica.”
The CEO finally fully pushed the door open and stepped over the threshold to put a stop to attempts at comfort she definitely didn’t feel that she deserved right now.
With the least haste that she could muster, she closed the door behind her, involuntarily closing her eyes as she leaned against it.
She may have been in this room working as normal less than half a day ago but the room felt completely different now.
This was only intensified as she opened her eyes to find more yellow tape cording off a huge portion of her office near the drink bar.
As if drawn to it, Lena crossed the room to peer over to the red seeped into the previously pristine carpet.
Rather than wondering if she needed the detectives permission to hire a cleaning company, she just took in how red the substance was.
Somehow, she’d expected it to be at least slightly different for a Kryptonian, but it was indistinguishable from any human.
The knowledge that Kara apparently had the ability to lose her powers at any given moment really re-contextualised a lot of her interactions with Supergirl.
They’d certainly had their fair share of disagreements, but that didn’t mean that everything she ever did was nefarious, especially when some of said disagreements involved literal Kryptonite.
This was only supported by the number of times the superhero had swooped in to save her life, which culminated in Lena being so desensitised to danger that she was actually bored when a madman pointed a gun at her.
Her eyes drifted from the stain and over to the blocked bar, suddenly craving a large glass of whiskey.
With no path to the alcohol that didn’t involve disturbing the crime scene.
With a lump in her throat, she knew that there was simply no way that she could just sit at her desk and work as if Kara Danvers hadn’t been shot across the room.
Thoughts of the superhero were now unavoidable.
The CEO rubbed her thumb across forehead.
She couldn’t go home and she didn’t want to stay here, so what did that leave her?
You shouldn’t be here when she wakes up, though, wouldn’t want her to think you care ran through Lena’s head and it hit her that she did have a third option.
She simply had to stop gripping her stubbornness so tightly.
Her hand came down to the bloodstain on her shirt and decided to start with finally changing before finding her way back to the DEO.
S
Pain was not a feeling that Kara Zor-El was used to, at least since she became Kara Danvers.
In fact, on the few occasions that she had felt it surge through her body in the last decade had come as more of a surprise that seemed to amplify the agony.
This made it all the more difficult to remain conscious back in Lena’s office in spite of her best efforts.
The memory of this pain was the first thing she registered as consciousness returned to her.
The superhero cracked her eyes open, surprised that she didn’t wince at the bright yellow lights that crashed down.
She drew her eyebrows together and her fingers absently pawed at her abdominal area, slowly realising that the pain was only a memory and she finally opened her eyes more fully.
As she looked around the unfortunately familiar sun lamp room of the DEO, her palm flattened against her stomach to confirm that there was indeed no bandage there.
Now more awake, she was able to piece together what happened outside the pain and she pushed herself up with some force onto her elbows so that she could inspect her immediate area, her mind catching up to the fact that her vision was completely clear.
As she hoped, there was someone standing at the computer at her side, typing away, but the squeaking of the bed had her turning around.
Any other time, Kara would have been more than happy to see Alex Danvers, but right now, there was definitely someone else she was concerned about.
“Is Lena…” she began.
Alex’s relieved smile fell away very briefly before she walked to her sister to begin examining her as she replied gruffly, “she’s fine Kara, security took him down straight after he shot you.”
Kara’s head fell back against her pillow to give the doctor better access for her exam but Alex was soon satisfied that she was as invulnerable as everm if a little weaker than usual, as her body continued soaking up the artificial sunlight.
Alex went to type in her update on the computer, but her fingers flexed before she could touch the keyboard and she spun around, allowing her frustrations to escape her mouth, “can’t you have one day without stupid heroics?” Alex demanded.
Kara pulled at her blanket sheepishly, but still replied, “not when Lena is in danger, if I wasn’t there…”
Alex threw her hands up and said, “how can you still care about her after how badly she has been treating you?”
“Because I spent years treating her badly, I was an idiot to think we could have a date before I told her the truth…”
“Yes, you are definitely an idiot.”
The Danvers sisters froze and both turned towards the entrance of the room.
Lena Luthor had made a real effort to not allow her heels to announce her arrival since she wasn’t sure what it was that she wanted when she came back to the DEO.
Still, after talking her way in, she knew that the first step was simply to confirm that Kara was in fact alive as Alex promised during her earlier berating session.
Hearing their conversation accelerated her plans.
She couldn’t just stand by while the woman who had literally taken a bullet for her claimed that she deserved it.
Kara Danvers may have undoubtedly been wrong to lie to her, but she really was coming around to the reasons that perhaps should have been more obvious to her when she was submerged in her anger.
Clearly, at the beginning of their friendship, Kara had to learn whether to trust her with such a monumental secret, a bar that would naturally be more difficult for a Luthor to clear than other people.
As feelings deepend, it would have been more difficult to ask what could be lost.
She knew for a fact now what really losing Kara would feel like and she knew that there were very few things that she wouldn’t do to avoid going through that.
It certainly didn’t include lying.
Alex, crossing her arms over her chest, forced Lena to realise that speaking up meant that she no longer had a way out of this so she focused in on Kara.
As strange as seeing Supergirl in a hospital bed was, Lena couldn’t help but think that the doe-eyed woman looked beautiful.
With her decision made on what she wanted, she moved further into the space and asked, “may I speak with Kara?” involuntarily directing the question to Alex as if she really did need the agent’s permission.
Alex squared up more and narrowed her eyes but didn’t get the chance to deny her as Kara said nervously, “of course you can, Lena.”
Alex opened her mouth, coming up with some excuse as to why the Kryptonian couldn’t have visitors, but Kara cut her off with a single, warning word, “Alex.”
The agent cleared her throat, trying to shake off the urge to protect her sister against the woman who had made the Girl of Steel cry.
Against her better judgement, she walked slowly out of the room and announced, “I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
Lena pressed her lips together as the grumpy agent passed her and the CEO turned tentatively around to close the door.
Her hand remained on the handle for a moment too long until she returned her nervous eyes back to the bed to find Kara had once again sat up and was staring at her, with an expression between apprehension and hope.
Slowly, Lena breached the distance between them until she stood next to the chair beside the bed with a good view to prove that the hero was indeed making a full recovery.
She didn’t even have an IV anymore.
With that out of the way, Lena fell down to the chair and wrung her hands together and began, “Alex was right…”
Kara’s eyes widened and she pushed herself up as if hoping to get a look at her sister from outside and said, wildly, “I told her to leave you alone.”
A laugh escaped Lena’s lips and she pulled the chair closer to the hero’s bed, as she said, “it was deserved, Kara, and I should have seen the irony that my reaction justified your fear of telling me the truth.”
Kara looked at the CEO in disbelief.
It was exactly what she’d wanted to hear since their argument, but as time went one, she was becoming more and more resigned to the fact that whatever potential they had was over.
She wasn’t sure what to do with this after deciding that this was all her fault.
“Still,” the Kryptonian replied, “I should have told you and I really was going to that night…I’m really sorry…”
Lena held up her hand, officially feeling incredibly silly for the way she had been acting.
If she’d only given her an opportunity to talk before now rather than simply shouting at the woman who had saved her life.
The woman she had been trying to not think about for the last months.
“I was an idiot, Kara,” Lena admitted, “I should have listened to you and seen that it changed nothing. Alien or human, you obviously care about me more than I deserve…I really am sorry, Kara.”
The Kryptonian glanced around, sure that she had to still be asleep or hallucinating; this lasted only a second, though as Lena lay her hand onto the bed and their fingertips touched.
The electricity that passed between them couldn’t be fake.
In her mind, she didn’t really see how a simple bullet wound could cause this, but then again she supposed standing in front of a gun was more heroic when she was vulnerable.
It hadn’t even occurred to her that there could be an alternative course of action that she could take in that situation.
“I am really sorry though Lena…” Kara started but was cut off when the CEO grabbed her hand suddenly.
Kara met Lena’s eyes and completely forgot whatever objection that she was going to make.
All she saw was vulnerability and beauty that was the final nail in the coffin for Lena’s reluctance.
This was why she leaned over and claimed her saviour’s lips in a kiss as short and sweet as their last.
When Lena leaned back, she took the hero’s hand tightly and inspected the dumbstruck expression on her face.
“Do you think we could start over?” Lena asked softly, “maybe go for dinner?”
Kara took in a deep breath until her surprise morphed into a wide grin that resembled a puppy just as Lena remembered.
“I would love that,” Kara replied reverently.
Lena smiled herself, all anxiety and sadness officially leaving her body for the first time since her conversation with her brother.
Now that she confirmed that Kara was definitely okay, she could turn her attention to the bubbling nerves that came with rearranging a long overdue date.
“We can figure it out when your sister releases you,” Lena said, the hero hummed in agreement and the CEO added, “And Kara? No more taking bullets for me.”
“Am I allowed to catch them?” Kara asked.
Lena laughed affectionately and brought her other hand over.
They still had a lot to talk about but Lena could easily see things working out with this idiotic alien.