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The first thing J’onn felt was panic, pure, unadulterated panic. Even before Kara’s head shot up to grin at the heartbeat she could hear through the door, J’onn felt the anxiety wafting from the hallway.
“Lena!”
He’d felt a lot of emotional whiplash in his life, but this was something else. J’onn grimaced as he felt the headache begin. The relief he felt from her was short-lived though, the anxiety already tumbling back into place as she stepped into the apartment.
J’onn was impressed, the only tell to her nerves was the whitening of her knuckles around her purse strap.
James’ reaction was not surprising, you didn’t need telepathy to tell that he wasn’t exactly pleased. However, the panic, anger, betrayal, worry, determination… the dichotomy of his feelings, that surprised J’onn. The amount this man felt seemed borderline painful.
But he stood and nodded at Ms. Luthor, “Ms. Luthor, welcome to the club.”
The first of Ms. Luthor’s anxiety slipped away. J’onn nodded, perhaps James finally had enough proof.
Winn’s overwhelming emotion was excitement, as always. J’onn tried his best not to roll his eyes as Winn nearly leapt over the couch to introduce himself. There was worry in the back of his mind, but there was science in the front of it and Winn didn’t hold back his questions.
“Hi! I’m Winn, Winn Schott, we met at the gala where you made that anti-plasma bomb, could I ask you how you came up with the idea? It was brilliant! And the coupling reactor you had was incredible! That’s at least a couple of years ahead of anything I’ve ever seen before! I’ve got some schematics actually, I was wondering-“
Kara laughed. J’onn did his best not grimace at the blast of affection that wrapped through Lena’s mind. He hadn’t felt anything like that since Alex finally rectified her situation with Detective Sawyer…
“Winn, let her sit down at least!”
Oh god.
J’onn must have groaned out loud, Alex’s hand landed on his arm and he felt her instinct to pull her gun. He shook his head and patted her shoulder as he stood. This was going to make his life a whole hell of a lot harder.
“Hank Henshaw. Ms. Luthor, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Her handshake was firm and J’onn found nothing but worry and thoughts of sunshine in the top layers of her mind.
Well, at least he could take Lena Luthor off the watch list.
“Ms. Luthor.” Alex nodded at her and J’onn felt her slight apprehension, but she followed J’onn’s lead and added, “It’s nice to see you again.”
He felt a bloom of appreciation flood his chest. He knew Alex had her reservations about the Luthor, could feel her worry and disbelief, even with all of Kara’s trust. But she would try and he watched as the same flash of appreciation slipped over Kara’s face.
At least he didn’t need telepathy to read her.
Detective Sawyer opened the bathroom door and stopped. He felt her unease, not that he could blame her at all. She had put Ms. Luthor in handcuffs, for the job or not, that was awkward.
“Uh, Lena, you’ve already met Maggie Sawyer from the NCPD…” Kara did her best not to glare at Maggie. J’onn almost sighed again; she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
“Ah! Ms. Luthor, sorry about before.” Maggie wiped her hands on her jeans and stepped forward to hold out her hand. “The job and all.”
J’onn felt the hurt on Lena, felt the doubt creep back in. Good lord, no wonder she’d taken to Kara so quickly. This woman needed some sunshine in her life.
“Of course.” Lena’s reply was… courteous, professional. Very briefly, J’onn thought about hiring her as a consultant to train his new recruits. Too bad he could never pay her enough.
Detective Sawyer grinned and J’onn matched her smile before she could even get her words out, “Y’know, just can’t help myself when cuffing a pretty lady.”
He withheld his laughter, the shock in the room dissipated with Kara and Alex’s twin cries of:
“Maggie!”
And just like that, all the tension in the air disappeared. Trust a detective to read a room. Maybe he could tempt her away from the NCPD.
Lena’s emotions were rather comical; it was like watching one of those human sitcoms. She slipped from distrust and hurt to surprise and amusement. Humans normally ate popcorn when they watched a show; J’onn felt it would be an appropriate time for popcorn.
Alex’s embarrassment slipped over him from behind and honestly, J’onn would never tire of that feeling. It always washed away to, there , that mix of pride and giddiness that only the detective could bring out in her.
“What? Don’t tell me any of you wouldn't do the same, given the chance!” A chorus of groans followed her words and the detective, armed with a shit-eating grin, only dug herself in deeper. She leaned into Lena’s space and stage whispered, “You’re kind of an icon in the lesbian community, what with the big ‘L’ on your building.”
Panic, but a different kind of panic, J’onn suspected, swirled through Lena’s mind. He nearly applauded the detective though, what a thorough way to lift the mood in the room. He’d need to ask Vasquez to start the paperwork for her transfer to the DEO.
A shame that she couldn’t see Alex like this, she’d never let her fellow agent live this down. He wondered briefly how her night was going. She’d requested the night off a few months back, but only confided to J’onn that she’d be proposing to her long-time girlfriend a week ago. No wonder he kept feeling apprehension scorch through her randomly at the DEO.
“Oh! Good! You brought wine!” Alex stood and clapped her hands together, pulling J’onn from his thoughts. “If Maggie’s going to be like this, then I think I’ll have a glass.”
Detective Sawyer scoffed and J’onn couldn’t miss the amusement and love that flooded off her. “C’mon, babe, you love my gay jokes!”
Alex sighed as she relieved Lena of the bottle, “Whatever you say, Mags.” Her eyes narrowed and J’onn felt what he could only describe as hunger jolt through her, “Holy shit. You can come back anytime, Lena, anytime .”
A waft of pleasure drifted from Lena at Alex’s careless pat of her shoulder. J’onn could get used to these game nights.
He really didn’t understand the point of this game. The rules said to match the red cards to the green card’s description, however most of the time it was the red card furthest from the green card’s description which won.
Humans.
He laid down his cards in forfeit of this game. He’d dulled his senses to try and make the game fair, but he needed to check in with their surroundings and the DEO.
Love, appreciation, happiness, not the worst emotions to come back to at all, but they still blindsided J’onn. He looked over at Lena as she watched Kara.
‘…wouldn’t look through the cards. She’s competitive but she’d never… again? No, she wouldn’t… but her glasses do slip every now and again…’
So, the Luthor knew. But there was quite obviously no malice in her thoughts. Perhaps… perhaps she could be good for Kara.
Kara still smarted from her fallout with Mon-El. Which was the main reason they hadn’t postponed this game night to wait for Vasquez and, while J’onn was not surprised nor saddened by the Daxamite’s retreat from Kara, he was worried for her.
She didn’t always make the best decisions for herself.
He turned from the cacophony of emotions and picked up his phone. Perhaps he’d send a quick message to Susan as well. Although, if what he remembered of Anne was correct, she may not have access to her phone until well into tomorrow.
James left first, an emergency at Catco.
Maggie and Alex followed not too long after. Their excuse really wasn’t even worth repeating, with a glass of exceptionally expensive red wine in Alex’s system and two in Maggie’s, they weren’t getting any work done tonight.
Winn and Lena talked for some time about particle displacers. Their ideas were exceptionally on point and J’onn mourned again the staggering paycheck this woman would deserve.
She was finally relaxed though. The glass of wine she’d nursed most of the night probably helped with that, but the easy conversation well within her comfort zone seemed to ease her as well.
Kara wandered around the living room, she’d already brushed off everyone’s offers of assistance multiple times. She seemed happy, content to listen to Lena and Winn’s chatter. J’onn threw in his two cents every now and again, mostly on better materials, but he was equally content as his ‘Space Daughter’ to let the ambiance of their conversation wash through him.
Winn’s phone dinged from his pocket and his eye widened at the text, excitement, anxiety, pleasure… probably the girlfriend J’onn mused.
“Oh crap, sorry, Kara, Lena, I’ve got a date!” J’onn congratulated himself silently. “It was awesome talking with you, Lena! Bye, Kara! See ya, J’onn!”
He left in a rush of fluttering feelings and made it out the door before Kara spotted his jacket. “Winn!” She turned back to J’onn and Lena and flashed a smile that sent another wave of affection spiraling off the CEO. “That guy, be right back!”
The warmth of affection stayed in Lena’s chest as her gaze lingered on the door.
“Kara’s not a very patient person.” J’onn pulled his arm from the back of the couch and tilted his head at Lena. “She tends to jump into any relationship that’s easy for her, even if it’s not good for her. She craves affection.”
Confusion rolled off the Luthor and J’onn raised his hand to stop her words. “While neither she nor her sister are telepaths,” He called up the power that always sat in his chest, turning his eyes a striking red. “I am.”
Fear.
“So, while I would love to hire you to train my recruits on proper emotional regulation on the job, I don’t suggest that kind of limiting in the home. It tends to be toxic.” He stood and stretched to the side. “I see how you feel about her, and you’re correct, if you wait, she just might notice you. But how many failed relationships do you want her to go through before that?”
Confusion, worry, fear, apprehension… hope.
“I can see how you would treat her.” He reached for his jacket and slung it over his shoulders before looking the woman in the eyes. “Just know that I consider her a daughter and you’ll have much worse that Alex Danvers to deal with if you hurt her.”
Hope, hope, hope.
J’onn smiled, “Though I can see that’s nowhere in your mind.” He heard Kara’s hand on the opposite side of the door. “Don’t wait too long, Lena. I have a feeling you won’t regret asking.”
The door opened and Kara looked at him in confusion. “Won’t regret what?”
“I’m sure your CEO friend would love to tell you. Goodnight, Kara.”
He turned down the hallway, the thoughts and feelings of the apartment’s inhabitants filtering through the walls. One held a mother and her child, watching cartoons, another, an elderly couple reading in the light of their bedside lamps; a brother and a sister, a man and his dog, a lady and a staggering number of plants, a family of five… a young CEO and an alien.
Love wrapped around this apartment and J’onn let it permeate his very bones. Maybe he’d go flying.
J’onn walked into the control room six days later. A bouquet of sweet peas and hydrangeas waited on the center console. J’onn very pointedly didn’t smile.
“Sir, those are compliments of Lena Luthor. The morning guard brought them this morning, there don’t seem to be any suspicious compounds and the lab has gon-”
Apprehension, worry. “Thank you Agent Hawthorn. I assure you they’re perfectly safe.” J’onn turned to the woman, she was a new recruit, a good one too. “Also, Supergirl flies in and out of this building daily, there’s a fan club camped outside almost constantly, I think Ms. Luthor knew our location long before she sent these. If she was going to try anything, she already would have.”
Agent Hawthorn snapped to attention, embarrassment sliding from her mind, “Of course, sir.”
J’onn nodded and she turned to leave. Vasquez sidled up beside him. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t have to. J’onn rolled his eyes.
“Yes, yes, you weren’t the only one having a good night. No, Ms. Luthor doesn’t need to be on the watch list anymore and no, I have nothing else to say on the matter.”
Vasquez bit her lip and saluted. J’onn didn’t know where she’d learned to salute sarcastically, but she’d learned it well. “Tell Anne I say ‘hi’.”
“Of course, sir.”
Happiness. Love. The chatter of minds at work. J’onn turned to the screens and folded his arms behind his back. Minds at work….
“Mr. Schott, I know you aren’t using DEO equipment for games.”
A squeak came from behind J’onn and only Vasquez caught his smile.