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“We need to talk.”
Lena hadn’t really seen Kara since the invasion. She had been so busy getting L-Corp involved with all of the efforts to rebuild the city, and Catco had been running Kara all over town since her boss came back. It had been a lonely couple of weeks, but Lena was scared of what would happen when she finally saw her best friend again.
When she was still deciding whether to trust Rhea, her first thought was to get Kara’s opinion. What would have happened if Kara had picked up that first time? If Lena had kept trying? Lena Luthor, CEO of a billion-dollar company and an accomplished bio/mech engineer—she was clueless as to what was going on in her own lab. Meanwhile, Kara Danvers, her best friend, knew everything. Mon-El must have told her Rhea’s true intentions, she could have prevented this all from happening. How could Lena be so blind?
When Mon-El told Lena that he was “Mike” (which she had figured out after first seeing him in the lab when he tried to stop his mother, of course—what kind of disguise was a fake pair of glasses?), and that Kara had been hiding who he really was from her, she was hurt. Lena always told Kara everything, trusted Kara’s opinion about everything, even confronted Jack when Kara warned her about the nanobots, but Kara still didn’t trust her enough to tell her that she was dating an alien.
Did she think she would disapprove? After all those times reassuring Lena she wasn’t like her brother, she would never become her mother, did Kara really mean it? She thought Lena would disapprove of an interspecies relationship. Of course she did. Lena was a Luthor, a real one. She’d never be able to get out from her family’s shadow.
She couldn’t deny it. Lena herself had repaired the device that condemned all the Daxamites, that exiled and almost destroyed Mon-El forever. Next she’d be shaving her head and growing clones of Superman in her basement or poisoning the water supply.
She should have warned Kara beforehand. Did she even get to say goodbye?
Lena knew Kara would never forgive her, but her heart still skipped a beat when she got the text. She was at a celebration of Earth’s independence (a party L-Corp’s PR team strongly suggested she throw after the invasion). All of National City’s best and brightest were there, and unfortunately that included her mother, reading over her shoulder with a smug grin on her face.
“Are you still talking to that traitor?” Her mother had snuck up behind Lena, and she put one gloved hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Didn’t you tell me she was dating that horrible alien that kidnapped you? That girl’s head is in the clouds. She doesn’t deserve your forgiveness, if you ask me.”
Lena drew back. “I didn’t.” Such a terse dismissal, from another daughter, would have wounded another mother. Lillian Luthor just dropped her hand, and her eyes grew cold once more. Lena knew her mother well enough, and stormed off before she could open her mouth to make some scathing remark. Lena had too much to worry about to deal with Lillian right now, she had to find Kara.
“You never RSVP’d. Are you here at the party?” She wouldn’t blame Kara if she didn’t come for her, but she thought maybe James would have sent her here as a reporter…Well, she hoped. Grabbing a glass of champagne from the tray of a nearby waiter, Lena made her way across the large ballroom, absentmindedly greeting politicians and businessmen as her eyes scanned the face of every attendee.
“Looking for her too, huh?” Lena looked up and saw James, not holding a glass like most of the attendees, but a large camera.
“James Olsen. Back behind the lens again?”
“Since Cat came back to National City, she’s had me cover more of the big stories.” James held his camera up close to her face, and she laughed as the shutter clicked. “I’m just taking pictures, Kara’s supposed to back me up. You haven’t seen her either?” Lena shook her head.
“She hasn’t texted me back yet. Do you think she’s okay?” She realized how silly she sounded. Kara takes five minutes to text back and she freaks out. When did she get so needy?
“I’m sure she’s fine,” James said with a small smile. Did he know something she didn’t? Had he known about Mon-El?
Lena’s face grew hot. “I have to go,” she said, discarding her now-empty glass on a silver tray. “I just remembered something I have to do. I’ll see you later, James.” She needed some air.
Navigating her way around colleagues and local celebrities, Lena finally made her way to the balcony, breathing in the cool night’s breeze. She wanted to blend into the night around her, let her dark blue dress camouflage her from all the smiling, golden faces who didn’t know what the invasion cost her. Lena closed her eyes and let the next breeze wash over her, pulling strands of hair from her meticulously styled bun.
“Why isn’t the Hero of National City enjoying her own victory party?” She opened her eyes to see the Girl of Steel herself, fists on her hips, across the balcony from her. Lena could practically hear entrance music playing in her sunny smile.
“It’s my fault we needed a hero to begin with. It’s not my party.” Her stomach did backflips. Lena always got nervous around Supergirl, and she didn’t know why. She just wanted to talk to Kara. “I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for saving me from Rhea. So…Thank you.” Lena tried her best to seem cheerful, but she was only good at lying to her mother. Breaking her “super” pose, Supergirl strode towards her.
“Hey. You were so brave up there, Lena. And not even your brother could have fixed that device as quickly as you did, you have to know that.” Supergirl had a strange look in her eyes as she took Lena’s hands in her own. Why did her eyes feel so comforting? Lena felt the sudden urge to spill everything to the Kryptonian.
“I’m just so worried about Kara. If it wasn’t for me, she’d still have her boyfriend.” Somehow it hurt even more to say it out loud. But why was she saying this to Supergirl? Lena Luthor was a lot of things, but not weak. She had seen her boyfriend tear himself to pieces, been betrayed by two mother figures and abducted by aliens, and it hadn’t broken her. It had only made her colder. Why was this bothering her so much?
Lena realized she was still looking into Supergirl’s warm eyes, but now they were filled with the tears she was too afraid to shed. “Lena… You didn’t press the button. I did. I trusted Rhea too, and she broke her word, so I made the call. I exiled Mon-El, not you. I even sent him off in the escape pod.” Lena broke away, taking a step back, and Supergirl’s newly freed hand absentmindedly fluttered up to her throat, as if reaching for something that used to be there.
“Oh God, she didn’t even get to say goodbye…” Lena tore herself away from Supergirl’s eyes, speaking to the night sky. “And do you know what the worst part is? I was almost… Glad to be rid of him. It’s terrible, I poisoned him, but I was jealous of him. Of all the time he got to spend with her. God, I’m so selfish…” Lena gripped the cold metal railing surrounding the balcony, trying to steady herself. The conversation wasn’t going how she wanted it.
“Oh,” Supergirl gasped. Why did she sound so scared? “Lena, I need to tell you something. Please don’t be angry. I mean, I understand. I’d understand if you never wanted to talk to me again, but please just hear me out.” Lena couldn’t figure out why Supergirl seemed so invested in her. They had only really talked a few times. Supergirl saved her life more than once, but it’s not like they were close. Not like with Kara. Kara must have said something to Supergirl to make her act this way.
Lena’s curiosity brought her back to herself. “Supergirl?”
“Lena, it’s… it’s me. Rao, this is hard this time.” Supergirl took Lena’s hand again and brought them closer to the light. She grabbed a pair of glasses that had been hanging off the chest of her costume, in front of the “S”—Lena hadn’t noticed them in the dark. Supergirl put the glasses on. It took Lena a few seconds to realize who she was looking at.
“Kara?”
“I’m so sorry for lying to you, Lena, and I know I can never make it up to you, but I’ll—“ Kara’s words were snatched from her throat as Lena brought her into a hug.
“Kara… You scared me. This whole time… You really were my hero, huh?”
Kara let go and looked into Lena’s eyes. Her eyes were still wet. “Lena Luthor, you’re my hero.”
“Oh, stop.”
Kara put her hand on Lena’s shoulder, sending shivers down the human girl’s spine. “Lena, really. Don’t blame yourself for Mon-El. You saved us all when I couldn’t. And besides, ultimately, I made the decision. He was okay with it, too. And we got to say goodbye.” Lena couldn’t bear to see her best friend cry anymore, even if she was smiling.
“I was so afraid I’d lost you.”
“I was afraid of losing you, too, tonight. Do you know how many times I wanted to tell you? And then Lillian said I’d betrayed you, and—“
“Since when do you listen to anything my mother says, Supergirl?”
“Never again.” Kara giggled. “Hey, was that true what you said? About being jealous of Mon-El?”
Not even the cool breeze could keep Lena’s face from growing hot this time. Kara definitely noticed, and her eyes shining as bright as Earth’s yellow sun, she moved her hand to Lena’s cheek. “It’s okay. You don’t have to answer,” the Kryptonian said, bringing Lena’s face closer to hers and softly kissing her. Lena embraced the warmth between them, and kissed her fiercely back.