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It took Lucy less than a minute to realise there was something between Jimmy and Kara Danvers. The way Kara closed up once meeting her in CatCo and the careful way Jimmy asked her to leave was evidence enough. She wasn't sure if it went passed mutual attraction or if they were already at the tentative, unsure beginnings of a new relationship.
Jimmy didn't say anything at dinner, but his reluctant to even talk about rekindling them gave her pause.
So when she ran into Kara one morning she couldn't stop herself from asking. It felt rude, especially talking to someone who apparently really liked Jimmy, but... She needed to know if she still had a chance.
Whether against the plain next door neighbour beauty that was Kara, or the superpowered confidence of Supergirl.
But Kara denied both and Lucy- wasn't sure how to feel.
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Jimmy tells her they can't get back together and she leaves. Then there's a bomb at the airport and Jimmy comes to get her. He realised he still cares for her and agrees to try again.
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Lucy met Supergirl sometime later. Going with her father to test out a new Android's capabilities.
The Android, Red Tornado, was specifically designed to fight superpowered beings. Thus, pitting it against Supergirl made sense. (It was only later that she found out Tornado was designed to fight Kryptonians. And not just fight, kill.)
(Lucy didn’t have the same inbred fear of aliens her father had. The one that drove him to shun Lois and the one that makes him stop caring. But she did have personal issues with the S clad Kryptonians.
But even then... She wouldn't wish them dead.)
Lucy watched Supergirl as they finalised the test day. She watched as one specific Agent stayed with her.
"Who is that Agent?" Lucy asked one of the other DEO members, indicating to Supergirl's not-so-secret protector. Or was she the alien's handler. Ready to take her down the second she even hinted that she was going to betray them.
(Something Lucy would do. Especially when she read that the girl- woman's only family was on the opposing side.)
"That's Alex Danvers. She's Supergirl partner," the man said.
"Danvers?" Lucy immediately picked up, "Any relation to a Kara Danvers?"
She wasn't sure why she asked. Danvers wasn't that rare of a name. The possibility that they were sisters was... Impossible.
But the Agent closed off, looking at her with a cold and guarded look, "Why do you ask?"
"I recently met a Kara Danvers at CatCo," Lucy explained, "I thought they might be related."
The Agent, still weary of her, replied with carefully chosen words, "I've heard Alex mentioning a younger sister, but I don't know where she works or what her name is."
He's Lying.
That was easy to tell.
But why the secrecy?
Lucy looked back at the pair. The Agent called them partners. She assumes he meant work partners, but their body language screamed familiarity and trust.
Were they involved?
Lucy watched as Supergirl pushed her dyed blond hair out of her face. The loose hair seemed impractical to Lucy, but no doubt the alien used it as a 'mask'. The framed hair not only hid the shape of Supergirl's face, but the curls drew a person's eyes.
Was that the point of the S and cape as well? To draw a person's eyes from the Kryptonian's face?
If it did... It took hiding in plain sight to a higher level.
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Lucy gets invited to a games night and she almost doesn't go. She still feels bad for basically rubbing her and Jimmy's relationship in Kara's face. But Kara seems alright with it and she really wants to be her and Winn's friend.
And part of her does want to be a bit spiteful, Lucy realises, as she uses her and Jimmy's history and knowledge about each other to win the games.
"Oh this is an easy one," Winning says after Kara doesn't get several of the answers, "Your Cousin!"
She notices Jimmy tensing and Kara's wide-eyed, disbelieving look. Lucy gets distracted, momentarily, when she realises she looks at Kara's glasses more than her face.
“-Roger Sultan Fuss Really likes this guy,” Winn continues suddenly.
“Pass,” Kara said a slightly annoyed look on her face.
“Time!” Lucy shouted and stood up to get the card, “Okay, I want to know what that was.”
“Oh, don't-” Winn said, panic in his voice.
“Ooh! Superman? You should have just said Jimmy Olsen's special boyfriend?” Lucy tried to joke. She got forced laughter, but that what it.
She wondered if Jimmy spoke about Superman often. Where they all fans? Where they fans of Supergirl as well?
“I met his little cousin today. Sup-” Lucy started, hoping to break the ice
“Older Cousin,” Kara said suddenly. Lucy and the boys looked at her. She looked like she didn’t mean to say that.
“Excuse me?” Lucy asked.
“Supergirl is older than Superman,” Kara said, a slight annoyance in her voice.
“And how do you know that?” Lucy asked.
“Umm,” Kara said, adjusting her glasses, “Ms. Grant, she did an interview and I transcript the recording. Supergirl was 13 when she left Krypton, while Superman was just a baby.”
“Oh,” Lucy said surprised, “She doesn’t act like she’s older.”
“Yeah,” Kara said and looked away.
Lucy narrowed her eyes at Kara, watching as her mostly loose hair framed her face. She mentally removed the glasses-
Was Kara Supergirl?
She was related to Alex Danvers via fostering according to Agent Danvers’s records. She became part of the Danvers family, getting her green card, the same year Fort Rozz crashed on earth.
But… no, it couldn’t be possible.
“Where were you born?” Lucy asked Kara suddenly.
“I’m-I’m sorry?” Kara asked, between Winn and Jimmy.
“You weren’t born in the states,” Lucy said with confidence.
“Um, no. I-” Kara said, fidgeting with her glasses again. A nervous habit?
“Lucy,” Jimmy said with his ‘really, now?’ voice.
“Sorry. It’s just you had a slight accent when you said Krypton,” Lucy said honestly.
“Oh,” Kara said, looking better.
“But you don’t have an accent the rest of the time,” Lucy told her.
“Oh, my foster parents got me a speech tutor,” Kara told her, an unreadable look on her face.
“A speech tutor? That’s… extensive,” Lucy said.
“I was made fun of a lot,” Kara said, “Kids were mean… they mocked me and ripped my school work. I was the weird freaky kid at school.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t hit them,” Lucy said, feeling Jimmy fidget next to her, “I would have.”
Kara was silent for a few moment before saying quietly, “I did hit someone once. I couldn’t control my anger. I had a lot after my pla- parents died… Luckily I only broke his nose.”
“Luckily?” Lucy said surprised.
“Alex, my sister, foster sister, she was able to stop me… but the kids…they called me a monster,” Kara looked lost in her memories.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up,” Lucy said, feeling horrible.
Kara shook her head, “It’s fine. Sticks and Stones.”
But Lucy realized it was worse than that. How long was she called ‘monster’ or anything else by her peers? Did she even have friends other than her sister? Was she the weirdo outcast? Did she sit alone at lunch? People whispering behind their hands.
“Monopoly!” Winn said suddenly and the tense atmosphere broke. He got off the chair and got the board game
“No, wait. Cards against Humanity,” Lucy said, pulling a pack out of her bag.
“Noo!” Winn yelled and flopped back, “Kara always wins!”
“Get a cynical Uncle,” Kara tells them and the boys force out laughter.
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Supergirl easily destroyed Red Tornado in the test and it flies off. Lucy’s father isn’t impressed and he unjustly attacks Kara.
(It is Kara. Has to be Kara. Even the voice was the same. Even that small scar above her eyebrow. And she can’t help but wonder where that came from.)
She and Jimmy have dinner with her father and Red Tornado attacks them.
Kara saves her life
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“You've got Fort Rozz aliens locked up downstairs,” Sam Lane said and Lucy stand’s next to Kara as he does, “Monsters. Abominations. Some of them have wings. Some have horns. And others spit acid. Do you know the difference between them and her?... She's blonde.”
Lucy does everything she can to stop the gasp trying to escape. She glances at Kara, watching her grip her hands tighter, but otherwise…
Kara agreed with General Lane.
“She saved you and your daughter, tonight,” Director Henshaw sneers at the other man, “You don't owe her fear and contempt. You owe her a thank you.”
Her father snorts and walks out the room. Lucy turns and watches as he disappears from sight. She can’t follow him. She can’t.
She can remember the things, horrible, horrible things, people said to her and Lois as they grew up. She’s never been called an Abomination, but Lucy understood.
She turns to Supergirl, “I’m sorry for what he said. He had no right.”
“He wasn’t wrong,” Kara tells her.
Lucy steps closer to the woman, “Yes, he is Kara.”
The room freezes. Like you’re watching a show and paused as the character pulls a weird face, or is flying backward. Lucy knows she’s throwing in everything to believe that everyone knows, but…
Kara turns to her, shock on her face, “W-what?”
“You’re not a monster Kara,” Lucy repeats, “My father. My father’s been afraid of aliens since he was a little boy. He watched this alien movie and he just became so afraid.”
Lucy tried to explain, even though she feels like she shouldn’t. She shouldn’t make excuses for her father’s racist remarks. Not just against Kara, but every other alien in existence.
And isn’t the word ‘alien’ racist on it’s own.
“Funny,” Kara said, her voice distant, “That’s why I’m afraid of humans.”
“What?” Lucy said, not sure how to respond.
“Do you know what those movies have in common?” Kara asked, “You’re always shooting at us. Dissecting us. You make people be afraid of us. Because that’s all that we want apparently. We want your planet or we want to enslave you. In books we want your females to breed with… yet in reality… we’re survives of wars. Of our homes being destroyed. We’re refugees and we. Are. Afraid… of you.”
“Kara,” Alex walks closer, but Kara steps away from her.
“And if you’re ‘lucky’ like me, you find a home. People that love you and care about you… and tell you to act human. To be normal. You’re told to ignore your fundamental instincts. Your religion, your culture. Every day you wake up and you’re told to be something you’re not,” Kara shakes her head, her voice was steady and her eyes hard as tears form in them, “And you realize your real normal is gone forever. That all you are to humans is some kind of a messiah or a monster.”
Kara turns and walks away.
Lucy can’t go after her. She can’t. She never thought of it like that. Like a box you’re shoved into.
‘Just because I look a certain way on the outside, everyone assumes it matches the way I feel on the inside.’
Didn’t she say that to Kara? And look at her… being the hypocrite.
Lucy’s surprised that Alex doesn’t go after her, not until she delivers a report to the Director. Only then does she run out, her phone out, ready to call her little sister.
“I hope you understand Major Lane,” Henshaw says, getting her attention, “that that information is extremely confidential.”
Lucy wants to promise not to tell. Not her father. Not her sister. (Even though they haven’t spoken in years) Not even the boys. (Although, they probably know. At least she knows she was somewhat right about Jimmy’s attraction to Supergirl. (And is he really attracted to Kara or is it Supergirl that he’s really interested in.)) But she knows that wouldn’t do it.
“What do I need to sign?” Lucy asks them, flexing her hand in preparation for what is no doubt a mountain of paperwork.
Only then does the room unfreeze.
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Kara stops Red Tornado. Almost at the cost of her own life.
Lucy tells her father she quits the military. Quits him, and she finally understands what drove her sister away.
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Lucy grips the bag full of ice cream before she knocks on Kara’s door. The taller woman opens the door, surprised to see her.
“Major Lane,” Kara says, tense, uncertain and looking past her, “Should I be expecting your father?”
She deserves that, “Not unless he turned his plane around. I doubt he would. I told him I never wanted to see him again.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Kara tells her.
“I should have done it when Lois left,” Lucy counters and holds up the ice cream, “I come bearing gifts.”
Kara looks at her with suspicion, “Why?”
Lucy feels a blush coming and looks away slightly, “I want to know more about you.”
“Which me? Kara Danvers or Kara Zor-El?” Kara asks.
“Just Kara,” Lucy tells her, pouring as much honesty into her voice as she could, “Every bit of her.”
Kara stares at her for a few more moments before moving to the side, allowing her entrance.
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The next morning, when Lucy finally gets home, she pulls out an old piece of paper from her journal. A single phone number on it.
Lucy types the number into her phone and hits call, bringing the cell to her ears.
She waited a few moments before the person picks up.
“Hey, Lois…