Work Text:
All Lena wants to do when she feels the warmth of the sun is burrow deeper in her cool, white sheets, hoping to erase the past two weeks. Looking into Kara’s eyes as she uttered the words, “We’re over, Kara. Please leave,” nearly broke her. Probably did. Beyond repair too.
But she supposed she deserved it. There really was no escaping the Luthor name. Lex never made that an option.
As she turns away from the sun, she hears a high-pitched squeal several feet away from the bed and feels a body crash into her. Lena’s breath leaves her chest as she finds herself face to face with a little girl.
“Momma!” The little girl (age two or three?) winds her slightly pudgy arms as close as she can to Lena’s neck, inhaling deeply.
Yes, Lena’s sure her mind has completely frozen, but her body reacts instinctively, rising to meet the child’s embrace and wrapping a protective arm around the girl’s torso and underneath her knees.
“Lori Alexandra Luthor, I thought I told you to let Momma sleep!”
Lena’s heart breaks a little when she hears that voice. Her eyes rise from their momentary shock on the girl in her arms and meets Kara’s blue blue blue eyes, gleaming. Lena swears she can see pride reflected in them as Kara stares down at Lena holding onto Lori.
Her body tenses when she watches Kara approach, bare slender arms bracing themselves on the white duvet around Lena as Kara places a kiss on two crowns of dark hair. This must be a dream. This has to be.
There’s a pause as Kara makes eye contact with her, but Lena has no idea how to react. Last time Lena checked, she had broken up with Kara two days ago after Lex’s latest attempt at her life and she had never met a child that looked so perfect.
A slender blonde eyebrow quirks itself in a question, slow enough that Lena can reply with a slight smile and shake of the head. Even if she had no idea what was happening, Lena could at least give herself enough room to evaluate her situation. Stirring up suspicion would not help her.
She feels a wriggle in her arms as Lori places her arms on the sides of Lena’s face, beautiful blue eyes staring back at her. “Pancakes?”
Even under duress, Lena can’t help but smile and (maybe) squeeze the child a little tighter in her arms. “Yes, pancakes.”
Kara offers to take Lori from her arms as she gets dressed, a relief because Lena wasn’t sure where the kitchen was. Walking into the adjacent bathroom, Lena turns on the faucet, letting the sound of water beat against tile give her reprieve.
Where in the world was she?
After a quick rinse, Lena was able to locate some clothes, spotting a series of maternity sets in the far back of her closet. Her heart beat faster as she ran her fingers across the silky material in disbelief. Exiting the closet and glancing over the room, she immediately noticed the amount of picture frames covering the surface of the dressers and available spaces on the walls.
So many photos.
Reaching for the frame on her nightstand, her grip on the frame tightened as she examined the photograph. It was of her, Kara, and Lori in front of a princess-themed cake decorated with two blown-out candles. Kara’s arms were wrapped protectively around Lena who was holding Lori tightly, cheek to cheek. Staring at her more closely and in direct comparison to the couple, it was painfully obvious whose child this was.
Questions float through her mind - how? How did she end up here? How did Kara and she end up with a daughter? Was this a different universe? Alternate timeline where she didn’t fuck up her relationship with the love of her life?
There is a soft knock behind her, Kara, resting her knuckle against the door, a wary look on her face. “Babe?”
Trying to prevent her nerves from showing, Lena exhales and sets the frame down. “I’ll be right there,” Lena murmurs. She still can’t look at Kara for too long. It hurts.
“Lena, can you look at me?” The voice, ever so closer, comes accompanied with steady arms wrapped around her waist. “Tell me what’s happening.”
I’m pretty sure I’m on the wrong Earth or some alternate universe, because where I’m from, I don’t have you. We broke up because I couldn’t stand the idea of you being hurt and I wasn’t strong enough to stand beside you. I need to go--
“Nightmare, huh?”
What? Lena looks behind at Kara in surprise. Kara shrugs, almost anticipating this behavior.
“Lena, we broke up years ago and it’s all water under the bridge. You don’t have to keep feeling guilty about it, love. We figured out that we’re stronger together and you. Are. Safe. Here.” Kara tells her, turning Lena around in her arms so (finally) they’re facing each other. She pulls Lena into a tighter hug, encouraging Lena’s stiff arms to reciprocate.
“Where do you need to go?” Kara asks after a pause. Lena hears the words whispered in her ears, catches a glimpse of the ring on her left hand, and any thought of leaving (why would she leave?) evaporates.
“Feed my starving daughter, of course.” Lena answers back, a smile on her lips.
Where could she possibly need to go?
Kara finds out that the increased death threats and attempts on Lena’s life this past month were all part of a sick plan devised by Lex and his mother. Through Lex’s connections, Lillian had learned of Black Mercy, which had come so so so close to killing Supergirl without any of the bloodshed.
All it would need to do is stimulate the amygdala and frontal and temporal lobe, playing at memories that made Lena feel, while slowly eating away at her brain’s ability to control autonomous functions like breathing, swallowing. Lena’s brain was firing but in all the wrong directions, and she was going to die if they couldn’t do anything.
As a machine helps Lena’s lungs breathe, Kara kneels by her love’s bed, holds Lena’s hand, and prays.
Lena sits in front of her daughter while Kara decides to start on pancakes. There are definitive features of both her and Kara respectively, then blends in some places. She’s pretty sure that Lori has Kara’s button nose and gorgeous blue eyes. The dark hair is definitely Lena, a brown that’s almost black, resting on pale skin.
There’s a much healthier rosy look to their daughter and a bright crooked smile that warms Lena’s heart better than any star in the entire galaxy.
“Breakfast is served!” Kara calls out with a grin, whipping around the island separating them and setting a monstrously tall and precarious tower of pancakes onto the table. She returns briefly back to the kitchen with a smaller stack of chocolate chip pancakes and places just that in front of Lori.
Lori grins (identical to the one Supergirl wears) and melts Lena’s heart. “Thank you, Mama!”
A quick glance at Kara leaves Lena breathless and helpless at the urge to place a gentle kiss on the blonde’s mouth.
As Lena pulls away, she can hear the blissful sigh that leaves Kara’s mouth and a look of assurance on her face. “So, what’s the plan for today, Lena? Finally going to take my advice and play hooky? This little munchkin and I have a lot of stuff to get done before dinner tonight and it’d be great if you could join.”
“Yes.”
Kara nearly drops her fork in surprise. “Really?” she asks in disbelief. Beside her, she can feel Lori vibrating in her chair.
“I’m sure it can wait until tomorrow. I just feel like today I should spend time with the people that make me the happiest.”
J’onn always knew the Danvers sisters were too alike for their own good. He thinks back at Alex’s method of dealing with her frustration at keeping Astra’s death a secret.
Pressing the keys to unlock the training room, he can already hear the heavy pounding of the punching bag. Walking through the door, he spots Alex Danvers sitting off to the side, chest heaving, bruises littering her arms.
“I’ll be fine,” she breathes out harshly, gripping her water bottle tightly. Her standard issue training tank top is soaked. The sounds of angry punches fill the room. Alex takes another swig of water before continuing, “This was the only way to get her to leave Lena’s bedside. I figured I owed Kara a few punches.”
J’onn glances back at the Kryptonian. “How is Ms. Luthor doing?”
“Not so great. First, it was an IV drip you know? Now she’s on a respirator.” J’onn can hear the punches increase in power. “Mom came down too. She’s looking at the data we collected when Non had used one on Kara, but this replica? It isn’t perfect. It was made to simulate the brain the same but with a much more devastating physical effect.”
“I see.” A pause. “There may be one option, but it’s risky.”
In less than half a beat, Kara is in front of them, breathing labored, punching bag abandoned. “We have to try.”
What ends up being unearthed is Maxwell Lord’s device, which allowed Alex to enter Kara’s mind when she was under the Black Mercy two years ago. “Kara, are you sure you want to do this? If we can’t get her back… we lose you too.” Alex murmurs closely.
Kara grabs Alex’s wrist, desperate. “You have to let me stay there until I get her out. Don’t save me.”
“Kara…”
“Alex. Please.”
When Kara looks at her, Alex is surprised at the ferocity. They soften instantly when their eyes meet. “There is no Supergirl without Lena Luthor anymore. I don’t think I’d have it in me if I couldn’t save someone this important to me.”
Nodding in understanding, Alex hugs Kara, “We’ll get her back then. It’s up to you, Kara. You just need to make Lena choose coming back to this life.”
In the back, J’onn hunches over the bench with Winn, Maxwell Lord’s device in Winn’s hands.
“Agent Schott, I hope I can trust that you will pull out Supergirl if it starts to go wrong.”
Winn gulped. “Alex and Jimmy told me that it can take a while. It’s difficult to tell when that point is, or so I’ve heard.”
“Well, please do not force me to make that decision for you.”
Lena watches from the doorway as Kara gets Lori ready for the day. “You are just like your Momma,” Kara laughs as Lori attempts to explore every drawer she can reach. “You’re brilliant, my star.”
“Kara?”
Kara turns back to look at her and her heart sort of clenches in a reminiscent way. She should be so happy right now, what reason would Lena’s heart have to hurt?
“I can’t remember… when was the last time I had a nightmare like that?”
Kara hums thoughtfully, wriggling Lori into a shirt before settling their daughter in her arms. “I can’t remember the last time, but you’d have them in anticipation of family events? My best guess is that you’re anxious about today’s dinner. It’s the first Easter we’re celebrating without your mom.”
Lena’s heart stops. “My mom?” There is a small throb in her forehead, she grimaces slightly as she speaks coolly, “My mom is in a penitentiary where she belongs, Kara.”
At the sound of her response, Lori starts crying, Kara quickly hushing her. “Babe, you’re scaring Lori. Your mom died of cancer, remember? She’s never been to prison and you’ve always had a great relationship with her.”
Lena’s head is pounding now. “I--”
“Are you sure you’re okay? We could call Lex and have him come over early. Maybe this dinner was a bad idea.”
“I--”
Kara turns to look at Lori. “Right? Maybe Momma needs to spend time with Uncle Lex first today and then she can come join us.” Lena still stands frozen at Supergirl mentioning Lex Luthor so familiarly. “I’ll give Lex a call.”
Kara exits the room with Lori in her arms and Lena can faintly hear the sounds of ringing and murmurs in the other room. But instead of following, Lena stays frozen. Lex was in her life and Lillian wasn’t her cruel adoptive mother? There was no way this was real.
However, it didn’t matter, did it? She hears a doorbell and shuffling, before Lex enters the room, dressed casually with a bag in his hand. “Lena,” Lex greets, his free arm wrapping around her shoulders.
His name escapes Lena in a whisper, Lex leaning back to get a better look at her face. “I was in the area luckily. I’m glad Kara gave me a call. You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Lee.”
Again, she is left speechless.
Lex releases her as he turns to hand Kara the bag. “Some books for my favorite niece. And a little something for my favorite sister-in-law.” He winks as he slyly tilts the bag to reveal two bottles of red wine.
Kara squeals, carefully taking the bag, and placing a chaste kiss on Lex’s cheek. “You are the best. Now, please! Have a great time with your brother! We’ll see you at 4.”
Before Lena has a chance to respond, Lex gathers her and moves quickly to the door. Lori gives him and Lena a hug at the door as Lex shouts behind him, “We’ll see you at dinner, Kara!”
They fall into step to Lex’s black town car waiting in front of Lena’s home, Lex chatting mundanely to her about work. The conversation feels strange (as if it wasn’t meant to be), but Lena shrugs off the feeling, trying to listen intently to Lex’s work at Luthorcorp.
Where Lex chooses to take her is unexpected. Lena finds herself walking into a lab that mimics the set-up she once had in Metropolis’s LuthorCorp R&D division. Lex walks over to a benchtop and examines the circuit board.
“This is?”
“Instantaneous DNA scanner,” Lena rattles off automatically, “Not sure what it’s applications will be yet.”
Lex hums in thought. “So, you want to talk about whatever is bothering you, Lena? I don’t think Kara would ask me to drop by otherwise.”
Swallowing is getting increasingly more difficult the more she spends time with Lex. “Kara told me I had a nightmare. I dreamt that Kara and I weren’t together and you and Mom were in prison and you had even gone so far as to try to kill me on multiple occasions.”
Lex’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Well, that is a nightmare.” Lena walks over to Lex and he embraces her in a warm hug, Lena pressing her forehead into his shoulder. “You are safe here.”
When Kara wakes in Lena’s vision, she finds herself lying on a soft carpet floor in a bedroom. The room is homely, picture frames decorate an entire wall, walls painted warm yellows.
She forms her hands into fists and realizes she still has her powers. Same sun, she supposes. Taking a quick survey of her surroundings, Kara freezes at the sound of a child’s laugh, her x-ray vision piercing into a kitchen.
It was her? With… a daughter. She hears the Black Mercy Kara speak to the little girl who replies clumsily with short sentences.
“I love you, mama!” makes Kara’s heart skip a beat. Lena’s dream world is a life with her and children. Her heart beats unsteadily, her heart contracting painfully as she thinks of Lena at her penthouse alone for the past weeks since their breakup.
At closer observation, Kara’s shocked to realize that this version’s Kara was not an alien. Her physiology, along with the child’s, was entirely human.
She moves closer to the kitchen, peeking around a corner as her alternate version lifts the little girl whose blue eyes mirror her own, matching grin, but everything else is Lena.
“Momma?” the little girl asks.
Alternate Kara smiles back, brushing back a stray lock of dark hair. “My wonderful star, Momma will be home soon. I’m sure Lena can’t wait to come home to see you.”
Throat closing at witnessing the reality Kara had always wanted, she flies away to find Lena herself. This life would be real, she promises to herself, once this was over.
It takes nearly an hour of flying over National City before she finds Lena with Lex Luthor, sitting at a park bench near LuthorCorp. Lena’s laughing, her green eyes shining with mirth as the man next to her talks animatedly.
Kara lands hidden in bushes before slowly approaching Lena.
“Lena,” Kara says slowly. There’s a strange glaze to Lena’s eyes as she recognizes Kara, but Kara knows she is seeing the alternate Kara, the mother of her child, her wife if the ring on Lena’s left finger is an indication.
Lena smiles softly in acknowledgment before quirking her eyebrow worriedly. “Kara, darling. Where’s Lori?”
Kara nearly swoons. Lori is a beautiful name.
“I—I left her with my sister,” Kara lies. “We need to go home right now, Lena.” She glances worriedly at Lex (who has a full head of hair!), wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible.
Lena stands, attempting to move forward, but Lex grasps her wrist. “Lena, Kara doesn’t have a sister.” he informs her calmly.
“Kara doesn’t have a sister.” Lena repeats. She looks back at Kara, worried. “Who are you?”
“Lena, it is me. It’s your Kara, your Supergirl.” Kara reaches out to approach Lena, but Lex moves smoothly in her way. “You have to believe me.”
“You’re delusional. Supergirl? What’s that?” he sneers, standing protectively in front of Lena. “You need to leave or we’ll have to call the police.”
“I’m not leaving until I talk to you, Lena. You have to believe me! This isn’t real.” Kara pleads desperately.
The look Lena gives her is almost like recognition, but somehow patrol officers find themselves witnessing the confrontation. The cacophony of shouts of Lex and the officers, Lex instructing them to take Kara away, distracts Lena instantly, her gaze taken to something else.
Kara feels the Earth rumble beneath her. “Lena,” she says, a one last ditch effort to grab her, maintain some form of contact. Kara has a loose grip on Lena’s slender hand, feeling much more alive than when she was holding it at Lena’s bedside.
“I need you, Lena. Please, you have to come back to me.”
Alex bites her thumb nervously as she monitors Kara’s screen. Winn had told her that her experience fighting the Black Mercy in Kara’s mind took two hours from start to finish. She glances at her watch. One hour and forty-seven minutes have elapsed.
She had seen some motion through Kara’s body – a twitch of the leg, hands curling into fists. Vitals were slowing down to something akin to sleep. Nothing to be worried about yet.
“What do you think could be Lena’s dream world?” Alex asks softly to Winn next to her.
Aside from Kara, Winn was probably Lena’s closest friend, which was currently on sabbatical given the couple’s break up. “Probably married life with Kara, I bet.” Alex glances sharply at him, but Winn shrugs. “Like yours wouldn’t be one with you and Maggie married, kicking ass at the DEO.”
Alex almost makes a move to rebut the statement but stops herself. Yeah, okay, fine. Truth be told, she wishes Maggie were here right now instead of taking care of a case revolving around klepto aliens. She wishes she wasn’t here to face the possibility of losing Kara on her own even though she knows her mother is in a couple labs next door trying to find an alternate solution.
“They could’ve had it all, Winn. If it wasn’t for Lena’s last name,” she adds. “They really loved each other. Kara would do anything for her—is doing everything for her.”
There’s a short respite before Kara’s machine begins to beep erratically and everything that matters falls away.
“Lena, I know you have everything you could have possibly wanted here. You have your brother back. You have a family, but please, all of this isn’t real.”
Lena raises an eyebrow, tugging her hand back, but Kara doesn’t let go. “It is real. This is my life. I’m safe here.”
Kara can feel the tears well in her eyes; Lena’s mind and her perfect world an impenetrable monolith. She feels the earth shift more dramatically. “I will do everything in my power to make sure you are safe, Lena. I know it’s so nice having your brother back, I know how much you miss him, but we need you. I need you.
“Everything here that you have, we can make it real together. And no, it won’t be perfect. We’ll fight and things will be hard, but we’ll get through it together. All of your victories, your struggles, we could have a family and do all the crazy things we could only dream about when we were children. It could all be ours.
She sees Lena’s sharp intake of breath. “We can only have that life, because we know how painful it is to be alone. To feel unwanted. To feel like we don’t belong. We will raise a family where everyone is safe and secure and our kids will know we will always be there for them. Because we know how much it hurts.”
Lex finally cuts in, pushing Kara back, her powers finally leaving her as the sun turns black. “Officers, please take her away! Lena, come here,” he gestures.
Kara left dragging by her arms by the two insanely strong officers as Lena watches, kneeling on the concrete from Kara’s pull. “I—Kara…”
Cracks in the ground begin to form. Everyone stumbles, the officers losing their grip on Kara, the Kryptonian rushing to Lena’s side.
“Lena!” Lex cries out, getting separated by the faults in the earth.
Lena grasps Kara’s hand like a lifeline. “I choose you, Kara. I choose us.”
When Kara comes to, she first notices the artificial Black Mercy squealing on the floor, trapped for further investigation. Her chest is heaving, her powers thrumming in her veins again. Alex, at her side, holds her wrist down tightly in anticipation as Kara turns to face Lena’s bed.
She’s still not awake.
Kara inhales sharply, her hands curling around the sides of the metal table, the steel softly molding to her grip. Her mouth opens and closes in attempts to form sentences or questions, but she comes up silent. Silly, stumbling, bumbling Kara Danvers is silent.
“We think her body is in a self-induced coma to speed up the healing process.” Alex explains gently. “Her brain activity has returned to normal and we’re staying positive. You got her back, Kara.”
Kara turns to her sister, relinquishing her grip on the table, and begins to cry in relief, in anguish, in loss (of a future that she wasn’t sure Lena would have now).
However, Supergirl (and Kara Danvers) has to return to work.
Eliza asks to stay longer, to watch after Lena, and monitor the continued research on the Black Mercy. Kara has never been more grateful to her foster mother.
The DEO helps to create an elaborate cover story for Lena Luthor’s disappearance, an attack and her subsequent recovery taking place at a high-end medical research facility. According to an article by CatCo, an exclusive report by Kara Danvers, Ms. Luthor is continuing to maintain her company from a hospital bed with Skype meetings and electronic signatures (Hank is proving to be an excellent CEO).
Meanwhile, Supergirl is out saving as many people as possible at night. So much so that the fear of getting caught by the Girl of Steel has gotten many petty crimes to go to an all-time low.
“Kara, you need to rest.” Alex admonishes, finding her sister glaring over an empty crime map of National City.
Kara doesn’t turn to look at her, instead replying, “Think I could help Clark with Metropolis too? Oh! Maybe Gotham! They always need a little extra help there.”
Alex knows Kara is trying to avoid returning to her apartment. Before their breakup, Kara’s apartment had been their place, the couple opting not to return to the Luthor’s penthouse.
“It feels like home.” Lena had told her at one in the morning when she settled next to a half-awake Kara. “I sleep much better here.”
“We could have had it all, Alex. She was just trying to protect me. A human, trying to protect someone whose freaking bulletproof.”
Hugs are given at every corner, because God knows this heartbroken superheroine needs it. It really is the only thing keeping Kara together as she waits for Lena to wake up. “I know. You just have a thing for making humans do whatever they can to protect you.”
Kara laughs forlornly. “I wish they’d realize what idiots they were being.”
“Hey!”
This time when Kara chuckles, with some tears, it’s a little more genuine.
Since their breakup, game nights have been held off indefinitely, because truthfully, Kara always knew she would get Lena back as long as she had the chance. The current substitute, however, was the reinstatement of Danvers Sister Night.
“Go be with your sister, Danvers.” Maggie had told Alex once she heard about Lena’s state of limbo. Alex had kissed Maggie fiercely that night and every goodbye after, this experience an excellent remember of how easily things are lost.
Now, Alex sat crossed-legged on her couch, Kara curled up next to her with a pillow hugged to her chest (Kara’s apartment was still off-limits). On the screen, Ryan Gosling lifts Emma Stone into the air, Dirty Dancing style (a favorite scene of Kara’s) but blue eyes remained glazed.
“Kar?”
The sound of her name snaps Kara out of her gaze as she looks over at Alex. “Yeah?”
“You spaced out again. C’mon. Something more is bothering you tonight. Talk to me?” There is something more, Kara thinks. She can’t help think about the something that will always be missing unless Lena wakes up.
Alex starts again, “You never told me about what you saw. In Lena’s dream world.”
The pleading in Kara’s eyes is the request to keep prying. When Kara had first landed and noises were too overwhelming and it was impossible to speak, questions were the only way of understanding what Kara needed. The look in her eye right now, it begged Alex to help her form the words she couldn’t quite speak.
“When you were under, Winn and I talked about what Lena’s best possible scenario would be. He said it’d be you and Lena together, married or something. Was that it?”
“We had a child.” Kara whispers softly. Alex heart stops but she forces herself to remain neutral, allowing Kara to continue. “A daughter. Biological somehow. And I know it was a dream and the laws of physics and nature don’t necessarily apply when your mind just makes up whatever it wants, but I had no idea I wanted that—her—so badly.”
“And Lena wanted it too apparently.”
Kara’s voice is reverent when she speaks again, “She was just so beautiful, Alex. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
Somehow, Alex can.
It takes four weeks, three days, and ten hours for Lena Luthor to finally open her eyes. She is told that at week two she was off the respirator, and the days since have been spent anxiously waiting to see if she would wake up.
Vasquez is the first agent she recognizes, going over a quick debrief of what has happened since she went under the spell of a creature that imitated an alien plant called Black Mercy. After the debrief, Vasquez runs off to inform everyone else.
J’onn is her next visitor, right after. “Welcome back, Ms. Luthor.” Her voice hasn’t quite returned to her, but she nods politely. “Supergirl will be back to see you shortly. She visits you every day.”
It pains her to think of Kara.
She isn’t quite sure (her memories of the past month are a blur, especially under the Black Mercy), but she thinks Kara was present in her dream. Kara was the one calling her to wake up. Has been calling her since she fell asleep.
There is a second throb. Lena can vaguely recall the fullness in her chest, thinking of the child she imagined (a young girl with marvelously blue eyes and a bright toothy grin). She yearns for the little girl.
Then there is a final ache. Lex. She had dreamt of a life where Lex had never encountered Superman, had never dealt with aliens. Never did experiments to make himself stronger or to create weapons that would make the aliens weaker. It was her brother, the charming boy who asked her to play chess after school and would bring her cake for every prototype finished.
He was that and more. He was a life that would never, in this world, be possible.
Somehow it ends up that Kara is tied up with an alien threat when Lena wakes up, so the first Danvers Lena sees is Dr. Eliza Danvers. The older woman walks in with a pleasant smile, one filled with relief knowing her daughter wouldn’t suffer from undue heartbreak.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake, Lena.”
Lena can count the number of encounters she had with her ex (?)-girlfriend’s mother. Usually a holiday setting, or a quick lunch when the woman was in town for some conference or consultation with the DEO.
Lena nods slowly. “I’m going to get your vitals, okay? Speech should come back in the next few days, but otherwise we’ll have a speech therapist come in to work with you.” Vasquez comes in with a whiteboard and marker upon Eliza’s instruction.
Is Kara okay?
Eliza smiles softly, replying, “Yes. She’s perfectly fine. Just worried about you, sweetheart.” She can’t resist the soft flush of her cheeks at the term of endearment. “Trust me, Kara will stop by the minute she can.”
After checking her blood pressure, response time to stimuli, and mobility, Eliza nods reassuringly at Lena giving her a full bill of health. “Talking will come gradually. You’re healing very well.”
Thank you, Dr. Danvers.
Eliza waves away her written words of gratitude. “Not a problem. Actually, before I leave, can I give one piece of unsolicited advice, Lena?” Lena looks uncertain but waits for her next words.
“Kara loves you more than Supergirl. She loves you more than she herself knows. I just want you to know that you are deserving of having someone love you that much. You’re a marvelous woman, Lena, and I am so happy that Kara has you.”
Eliza, nearing, gives Lena’s hand a reassuring squeeze before leaving. “Please call me if you need anything. You’re as good as family, Lena Luthor.”
Kara makes sure that the Valeronian feels that last punch, knowing he is the only thing standing in between her and Lena. Alex was currently on standby with DEO agents in a nearby location, but Eliza had been kind enough to give her an update on Lena’s status.
Vitals normal. Everything healing fine. She seems to be in good health. She misses you.
There was a sigh of relief when Alex relayed the message, but it wouldn’t be as good as seeing Lena in person. Once the Valeronian has been neutralized, the DEO agents rush in, containing the threat, and Alex walks up to her.
“I’ll meet you there, okay?”
Kara nods gratefully, before flying away to finally visit her girlfriend.
It is three a.m. when Kara gets there and Lena’s fallen back asleep. It’s a comfort knowing that her calm heartbeats are only a countdown until Lena opens her eyes in the morning. She takes a seat beside Lena, taking her hand gently.
She is so grateful to Rao that Lena will be okay.
“Hey sweetheart,” Kara whispers. “I’m glad you’re okay.” The sound of Lena’s soft exhalation is music to her ears.
“I can’t wait until you wake up, Lena. We have so much to look forward to.”
However, when Lena does wake up, she is pleasantly surprised to see Kara sleeping, her head resting on folded arms at the side of Lena’s bed.
Lena resists the urge to wake Supergirl, consciously keeping the hand Kara is holding still. She just wants a second. She just wants to remember Eliza’s words (“You are deserving of having someone love you that much.”) and lets herself want Kara.
She wants to see that clumsy smile when things break or have that additional strength when things are on the verge of collapsing. She wants those warm eyes on her during press conferences. She wants those steady hands when uncertainty grasps at her heart.
She wants that dream to be real -- the family that she never had as a child. She wants that with Kara. She wants it more than words could express.
Her hand grasps Kara’s gently, the other woman waking up with a stir. Lena smiles as she watches Kara, disoriented, forcing her blue eyes to open despite the sleep weighing them down. The minute Kara realizes where she is, she bolts awake, her eyes meeting Lena’s.
Now Lena can’t resist the laugh that escapes her. It comes out as hoarse but Lena can already tell her throat is much better than yesterday. Yet, she can’t get a word in as Kara begins to ramble, again kindling the immense warmth she feels in Kara’s presence.
“Lena, I’m so so so glad you’re awake. Please, don’t ever do that, okay? If we have a problem or things get hard, please believe me when I say we can handle it together. You’re never alone, even when you tell me to go away. I’ll always be here. All I want is just a future with you, with us, just—just—”
“—Kara.”
Kara holds her breath, waiting for Lena to continue. Lena’s voice sounds rough, but it’s just so wonderful. Lena smiles softly. “Okay.”
Kara is happy. Kara is happy that Lena is safe. Kara is happy that, finally, they understood the future they wanted.
When she meets those green eyes, Kara can see that the universe, the endless possibility, starts and ends with Lena Luthor.