Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            Lena was sat in the back of the car as her driver took her back to her apartment. She sighed as she looked at the time on her phone, it was already late and she had to be up early tomorrow. It had barely been a week since she’d moved to National City and she was still settling in, spending the better part of her day filling out form after form at the National City Institute of Mathematics. Tomorrow was the start of her research fellowship and she was both nervous and excited about it.

            Lena was staring blankly through the windscreen as her mind was busy turning over the idea of her solving the P versus NP problem. As a child she’d quickly been identified as a maths genius, and had decided on the path of computer science, or more specifically, theoretical computer science, where she could study her beloved maths. Her entire childhood had been spent working with the best maths tutors in the world, attending college when she was barely seven years old, and Lena had quickly set her sights on the Millennium Prize Problems. There were six unsolved, and she was going to be the one to solve the P versus NP problem. She’d already dedicated years to research, which was why she had come to National City, so that she could work with the best maths minds in the world. She was still imagining what it would be like to solve the problem when a girl stepped off the sidewalk and into the road.

            They were going fast and Lena screamed as her driver slammed on the breaks, swearing loudly as he brought the car to a stop. The girl, who was swaying slightly, had taken a step back towards the curb, and with the quickly decelerating car, had only just been clipped by the bumper. She looked fine; well, she was still standing on two feet at any rate. Lena stared at her through the window with wide-eyes, and she was sure her face was white with shock. The girl stumbled over to the car door and opened it up, half-collapsing into the car as she climbed over Lena and sat down next to her, slumping down in the seat.

            “Wha-, hey! You can’t be in here,” Lena protested, looking at the girl with alarm.

            The girl was smiling dopily through half-closed eyes hidden behind glasses, clearly very drunk. She struggled into a sitting position and banged the roof of the car. “Less go,” she slurred.

            “Excuse me, this isn’t a cab,” Lena said stiffly, prodding the girl upright as she started to tilt towards Lena.

            “You hit me, s’you have to give me a ride,” the girl said with a smile, before overbalancing and falling against the door on the other side of the car, falling into unconsciousness as her blonde hair fell into her face.

            It was cold outside, and Lena quickly shut the door that the girl had climbed in through, shrugging as she met the driver’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. Lena looked for a bag, and coming up empty-handed, patted the girl down for a purse or any form of ID so she could figure out where to take her. Coming up empty-handed again, Lena sighed and told the driver to take her back to her apartment, not wanting the girl to end up in danger because she was over intoxicated. She frowned at the passed out girl as the city flashed by, and soon enough her driver was pulling up outside her building.

            As they came to a stop, Lena threw open the door and, with a sigh, dragged the unconscious girl across the car seats. “Would you like some help, miss?” the driver asked, turning around to watch as Lena struggled to get the girl’s limp limbs to cooperate.

            “No, I can manage, thank you,” Lena told him, getting out of the car and pulling the girl out by her legs. Looping one arm around her shoulders, Lena managed to get the girl propped up, and with a quick thank you, she shut the car door and turned towards the apartment. The girl was a few inches taller than Lena, and the smaller girl struggled as she dragged the girl over to the door of her apartment, where the doorman opened the door, raising his eyebrows at the sight. Lena shot him an exasperated look before she made her way over to elevators and pushed the button.

            Five minutes later, after a lot of pushing and pulling, Lena had the girl leaning against her while she unlocked the door to her apartment. Nudging it open wider with her foot, Lena hoisted the girl’s arm around her shoulder against and stumbled into the dark apartment. Lena blindly stumbled over to where the couch was, the task made that much more difficult by the dead weight, and deposited the girl onto the couch. Lena walked back over to the door to shut it and flipped the light switches on before she walked back over to the girl and observed her with arms folded across her chest. Lena didn’t know how to handle the situation; did she just leave her on the couch? The girl didn’t even have a phone on her that Lena could call someone off. Should she try and wake her up and get a contact number off her?

            In the end, Lena pulled the girl’s shoes off, not wanting to get dirt on the couch, and draped a blanket over her. As a precaution, Lena found a mixing bowl and placed it next to the sofa in case the girl decided to wake up and vomit everywhere. With a sigh, Lena set her alarm for six o’clock and changed into her pyjamas, before pulling back her covers and getting into bed. The thought of someone being in her apartment was strange to Lena, and she stared up at the ceiling for a while, frowning as she tried to fall asleep. Instead, her brain had other plans, and as per usual, she spent hours puzzling over theories and calculations, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong.

---

            The blaring sound of the alarm roused Lena from her sleep, and with a groan she sat up and switched it off. Yawning, she got out of bed and quickly made it, before crossing over to her closet and walking inside. The majority of her belongings were still in boxes, and except for a handful of pants suits and shirts, Lena didn’t have many clothes hanging up. She lifted the first suit her hands fell on off the rack, and picked a white shirt to go underneath, before heading towards her bathroom. She emerged from the shower a few minutes later and got dressed before heading into the kitchen.

            Her apartment was open plan, and extremely bare as she had just moved in, and as Lena walked out into the kitchen, she could see that it was starting to get light outside through the floor-length windows that covered the far wall. The minimalistic look of the apartment was bathed in the early morning sunlight, and Lena considered buying some curtains. After attempting to be quiet, Lena gave in, deciding that it was her apartment and it was ridiculous that she should be trying to keep quiet so that someone she didn’t even know could sleep on her couch. Pulling a range of fruit and vegetables out of her fridge, Lena dumped a variety of ingredients into a blender before switching it on. The loud whirring sound caused the girl on the sofa to shoot up, her head appearing over the top of the sofa as she frantically looked around in alarm. Her eyes fell on Lena, who arched one eyebrow at her, and she blushed as she adjusted her glasses.

            “Uh, hi,” the girl said over the sound of the blender, wincing and holding a hand to her head as the sound pierced her ears. Lena guiltily switched it off, realising that the girl probably had a headache.

            “Hi,” Lena replied, pouring the green smoothie into a glass.

            “Um, hi, so I’m just, uh, going to go,” the girl said, looking around in confusion. She looked down at the blanket covering her and the bowl on the floor with a frown.

            “Sure,” Lena said, shrugging indifferently as she watched the girl stand up and fold the blanket. She picked up the bowl and carried it to the kitchen, wincing slightly as she walked.

            “You okay?” Lena asked, raising her eyebrows as she took a sip of her smoothie.

            “Yeah, I just, uh, feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” the girl said, rubbing her temples.

            Lena let out a quiet laugh, “well you did get hit by my car … so there’s that.”

            “What?” the girl asked, frowning at Lena.

            “You stepped out in front of my car and we, uh, clipped you, kind of. And then you got in my car and passed out, so I brought you home, which brings us to here,” Lena awkwardly explained.

            “Oh … sorry about that. I, uh, guess I was a bit tipsy,” the girl said, giving Lena a sheepish smile. “Thank you though, for bringing me back here.”

            “Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to leave you out in the streets so …” Lena shrugged.

            “Right. Well I should let you get on with … whatever. Um, do you know if my phone or wallet is here?” the girl asked, patting her pockets.

            “No, you didn’t have it when you got in the car. I tried finding it so someone could … collect you,” Lena told her, and the girl nodded.

            “Right. Okay, well, thank you again. My name’s Kara by the way,” she said, extending a hand towards Lena, who shook it once before dropping it. There was a pause as Kara waited for Lena to introduce herself, but when it didn’t come, she shifted awkwardly.

            “Well it’s nice to meet you. I’ll, uh, show myself out then,” Kara replied, smiling warmly at Lena who stared at her blankly, watching her cross the room and leave with another quick goodbye. Shaking her head, Lena picked up her juice and took a sip, before getting ready for her first day.

---

            Lena had her newly issued ID badge pinned to the front of her blazer, and she quickly followed the map’s directions to the room she was supposed to be meeting with one of the other research fellows. Part of the reason why Lena had decided to come to National City was so that she could work with the other mathematician, because as much as Lena hated it, she needed help, and apparently this maths genius had been working on it too. Lena had finally bent her pride, deciding that solving the problem and potentially winning a Field's Medal and a Turing Award was worth more than having her name be the only one associated with the solution.

            Arriving at the room early, Lena set her briefcase down on one of the desks and looked around the room. There was an old school chalkboard as well as an interactive whiteboard, and a few desks and chairs crammed in there too. Lena sat down on one of the chairs as she waited for the person to arrive, wondering what kind of person they would be and whether or not Lena was wasting her time taking on a five-year fellowship here.

            Eventually the door opened and the room was instantly filled with noise as a blonde-haired girl wearing glasses bustled in with an armful of files and a takeaway coffee, talking a mile a minute. “I’m so sorry I’m late, it’s been a really rough morning so I’m running a bit behind,” the girl said, dumping her pile of files onto a desk and looking up at Lena. “Oh.”

            She stared at Lena with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to think of something to say. Lena was looking at her similarly, disbelief evident on her face as she stared at Kara.

            “You’re the maths fellow I’m here for?” Lena asked, not even trying to hide the surprise in her tone.

            “Kara Danvers, hi,” Kara said, giving Lena a hesitant smile. “So, uh, you’re Lena Luthor?”

            “Yes,” Lena replied stiffly.

            “Well this is awkward,” Kara laughed, taking a sip of her coffee. “So, I guess we should, uh, get to know each other a little bit.”

            “Right. Please, tell me more about yourself. I’m curious to know just what kind of person you are,” Lena said, her tone cold as she stared at Lena.

            Kara blushed slightly, clearing her throat as she took a seat opposite Lena and adjusted her glasses. “Well, I did my undergrad at MIT in mathematics and physics, and went on to do a doctorate there in maths. I’m two years into my fellowship here. Between graduating and coming here I worked for NASA as a mathematician. I’m a professor at National City University during my spare time, and I don’t always get hit by cars and end up on random people’s couches.”

            “Right,” Lena said, arching an eyebrow slightly. “Well, I went to MIT too, for mathematics and computer science, and I did my doctorate there in computer science. I’ve been working on the P versus NP problem since I was fourteen, so most of my time over the past ten years has been dedicated to that, but I did do some teaching during my doctorate.”

            “Okay,” Kara said slowly. “Sorry, how old are you?”

            “Twenty-four,” Lena replied, narrowing her eyes slightly. “And may I ask how old you are?”

            “Twenty-six,” Kara replied with a small smile. “I guess it’s safe to assume that we shouldn’t underestimate each other like everyone else does, because I’m guessing that you get judged because of your age too.”

            “Mhm,” Lena agreed.

            “Okay, well, uh, maybe we should start by going over what we have on the problem. This is all my notes and research so far,” Kara said, pushing the pile across the desk, towards Lena.

            “You expect me to give ten year’s worth of research to someone I just met?” Lena laughed incredulously.

            Kara frowned slightly. “Isn’t that why you’re here? So I can help you solve the problem? I mean, clearly it is because if you didn’t need help you would have already cracked it and we wouldn’t be here.”

            “I’m not here for you, I’m here for a fresh set of eyes. You just so happen to be the person I got stuck with, and believe me, if I hadn’t spent a decade working on this already, I wouldn’t be asking for your help,” Lena stiffly told her.

            “Um, okay. I get it, it’s hard to admit you need help, but we both need help. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be here, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what I’m working with,” Kara told her. “Here, I had NDA’s drawn up for us, if that helps ease your mind. You can have a lawyer look over it if you want. I’ve already signed them. I’m not going to steal your research, or whatever you’re worried about. I’m just here for the maths.”

            Lena picked up the papers that Kara threw down in front of her, quickly reading through both versions of the agreement, and after finding no faults or differences with them, she begrudgingly signed on the dotted line of them both. She picked up her briefcase and slipped her copy inside, before removing a thick folder. After a slight hesitation she handed it over to Kara.

            “This is the newest cohesive summary of what I have. My research is at my apartment; there’s too much to bring with me, but this should help explain what I have so far,” Lena explained.

            They were both silent for a while as they read through each other’s work. Kara finished first, having less to read, and sat back to watch Lena as she drank the rest of her coffee. She’d put on a pair of glasses to read, and Kara couldn’t help but think about how much younger it made the stern girl look. As Lena finished reading the last page, she closed the file and took off her glasses. “You’re lacking the importance of the computational theory in your latest algorithm,” Lena said, meeting Kara’s gaze.

            “Okay,” Kara said. “Yours looks pretty good so far, especially with the computer science stuff. Um, there’s just one problem with the integer factorisation.”

            “What problem?” Lena quickly asked, pulling her research off Kara to see where she was pointing to.

            “Um, well I noticed you’re using the RSA algorithm. I did some research into that myself and it’s pretty good for cryptographic systems, right? But, uh, it didn’t really fit into my calculations so I switched to the general number field sieve, and I think that one took expected time better into account.”

            Lena frowned as she stared down at her paperwork. “You could be right, but I used Shor’s algorithm to explain expected time to factor the integer. The only problem with that is that it’s a quantum algorithm so it doesn’t take into account non-quantum complexity in relation to polynomial time.”

            “Right. Yeah I noticed that, but maybe if we switch calculations and then fit our different algorithms into it, it might give us a place to start. We might be able to see where we’re going wrong,” Kara suggested.

            Lena paused for a moment, before shrugging. “I guess so.”

---

            They spent the rest of the morning writing and erasing their findings and calculations on the chalkboard as they tried to work through the basics of what they both had so far. Not used to working with other people on this, Lena found herself growing frustrated every time that Kara argued with her on a point, and as lunchtime came around, she was ready for a break from her.

            “Alright, I’m starving, I need food,” Kara said, breaking the silence as Lena finished writing the rest of the equation on the board. “I’m heading to the food court, are you coming?”

            “No thank you,” Lena said, not looking at Kara as she made some adjustments.

            “Suit yourself,” Kara mumbled, grabbing her bag and walking out of the room. Lena turned to frown at the door as it shut behind Kara. It had only been a few hours and she was already considering quitting – how did people work in groups? She had to admit though, Kara was a genius, there was no doubt about it, and she knew what she was talking about. The only thing stopping Lena from backing out of their partnership was the fact that she truly believed that together they could solve the problem.

            Lena took a quick five-minute break to use the bathroom and eat one of the energy bars she’d packed, before carrying on with her calculations. It was almost an hour later when Kara returned, and Lena shot her a dark look as she barged in the room, filling the quiet room with noise.

            “Have you even moved?” Kara asked with a laugh, depositing a strawberry milkshake and a donut on her table.

            “Obviously,” Lena said, rolling her eyes as she made a correction. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to run this in polynomial rime to be used with a computer.”

            “How’s that working out for you?” Kara asked, coming to stand next to Lena. If it wasn’t for the small heels Lena was wearing, the other girl would’ve had a few inches on her. Lena peeked at her out of the corner of her eye, taking in the thoughtful expression, and the slight crease between her eyebrows as she read over what Lena had written.

            “Not well, obviously,” Lena huffed, putting the chalk down and taking a step back.

            “I’m not a computer expert, but I’ve looked into it a little while I worked on this, and shouldn’t we consider the subset sum problem first? Like, that works with integers and polynomial time so it might give us a starting point,” Kara suggested.

            Lena snorted quietly. “Yeah, clearly you’re not a computer expert or you would realise that the subset sum problem is almost the exact same problem. It works well in exponential time but not polynomial, but it can’t be computed to be easily solved. It won’t help.”

            “Oh, okay. Just a suggestion,” Kara said, shrugging off Lena’s dismissal. “What else have you found in your research then?”

---

            It was dark when Lena left the institute, and her mind was racing over the information Kara had presented to her today. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out where they were going wrong because neither of them seemed to be close to solving it. Of course, she hadn’t been expecting to solve the problem on her first day with Kara, but she didn’t feel like they’d progressed much. Mostly they’d just run over what each other had, with Lena providing computational theories, and both of them working on the maths together.

            As Lena walked into her dark apartment, she flipped the lights on and sighed as she slipped her coat off. She really didn’t know what to make of Kara. Her first instinct was to distrust her, after all they’d only just met. Lena could picture her now, with her honey hair pulled into a ponytail, her blue eyes full of excitement, wearing that ridiculous pastel coloured cardigan. Already Lena could tell that they were complete opposites, but that might just be what they needed to find the answer.

Chapter Text

            The next morning, Lena was eating her breakfast while she stared at the screen of her laptop. She was doing some background research on Kara, now that she had a name for her new partner. Everything she’d told Lena checked out on her google search, and Lena also learnt a little bit about her personal life too, and was surprised to find out that she was adopted too. Her curiosity satisfied, and her doubts slightly eased, Lena shut her laptop and finished the rest of her breakfast.

            Her driver dropped her off outside the institute just before eight o’clock, and Lena made her way inside and back to the same room as yesterday, carrying a huge box of as much research as she could fit. Kara wasn’t here yet so Lena set up and got to work. It was almost half an hour later when Kara walked in, looking flustered as she carried a cup of coffee.

            “Sorry I’m late!” she said breathlessly, dumping all of her things down and pushing her glasses up her nose. “The traffic was crazy.”

            Lena didn’t bother mentioning that she’d clearly had time to pick up a coffee, she just stared at Kara for a moment. “Your sweater’s on inside out.”

            “Oh, right, thank you,” Kara said, laughing nervously.

            “My most important research is in that box. It’s for you, so you can catch up,” Lena said. “There’s a lot of computational theory so you might want to skip most of that, but it’s important, so don’t.”

            “Excellent. Let’s get right into it then,” Kara said, smiling enthusiastically at Lena. Quietly sighing, Lena walked over to the box and pulled out a couple of the neatly packed journals. She handed the earliest dated one over to Kara and pulled out one of the files with corresponding information in her latest theory. They both sat down and Kara skimmed through the journal, asking questions and comparing it to Lena’s more recent research. She got to the end of the first one and sat back, looking at Lena.

            “This one’s from when you were fourteen?” Kara asked, raising her eyebrows slightly. Lena nodded and Kara was silent for a moment. “I’m impressed.”

            “You’re probably the only one,” Lena snorted. “There’s little use for research that doesn’t mean anything.”

            “It’s still impressive,” Kara shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee. Lena took the compliment in silence, feeling uncomfortable with the praise. She was rarely complimented for her research or math abilities – growing up, there’d been a right answer or a wrong answer, and if it was the wrong one she’d be told to do it again, and if it was the right one, then well, she’d found the right answer, and it wasn’t a cause for celebration. Perhaps that was why she wanted to solve the problem, so that she could stand up in front of everyone and finally get the praise she deserved for all her hard work. So someone would finally congratulate her for finding the right answer when no one else could. Except now she’d have to share that with Kara – if they could solve it.

            They spent the rest of the morning poring over Lena’s research, and Kara asked numerous questions. Occasionally she’d chime in with some of her own research, and together they tried to find a common ground that could help explain their findings. At lunch time Kara disappeared to the food court again, leaving Lena alone when she rejected Kara’s offer to join her. Instead, she stayed and munched on some kale chips and sunflower seeds while she worked over their problem. Once again, Kara didn’t return for almost an hour, and she shook her head when she returned and saw that Lena was practically in the same position she was when she left her.

            It was almost eight o’clock when Lena left that night, after spending almost two hours there after Kara had left. Her driver was waiting for her outside, and Lena went straight home, where she ate a quick dinner by herself and then spent a few more hours working on her new formula. It was almost three in the morning when she decided to turn in for the night, resigning herself to the fact that she wouldn’t solve it tonight. She had to be up in a few hours – she could try again then.

---

            The rest of the week followed in mostly the same manner, with Lena getting there early, and Kara barging in late with some excuse or another, and then they’d spend all day talking theories and algorithms, working through the piles of research that Lena had accumulated over the past ten years, until night fell and it was time to go home.

            Lena got used to Kara’s coming and goings, and she slowly found herself growing more irritated at the fact that she was never on time or didn’t keep a schedule. She couldn’t deny that she was a nice person though – she smiled more than anyone Lena had ever met, not that she would ever expect her ancient math tutors to be rays of sunshine. Kara just seemed to be undeterred by other people’s attitudes, because no matter how blunt or reserved Lena tried to be, Kara would just smile brightly and make another bad joke to try and get her to smile. And she talked - god, Kara talked so much that Lena thought she could talk a glass eye to sleep, and it was almost maddening to have to listen to the endless chitchat.

            They did make progress though, which was why Lena stayed. By the end of the second week, Kara had finished reading all of Lena’s journals, and started on the next box of less important research that Lena brought in. They hadn’t progressed much with their actual work on the problem, but they got each other completely up to speed and learnt a bit from each other’s work. As much as Lena hated to admit it, Kara was smart. As smart as she was anyway. While Lena’s maths correlated with computer science and Kara’s with physics, there was a large overlap in their knowledge with mathematics, and for once in her life, Lena had someone around her age who could keep up with her speed, and sometimes beat her, with their problems.

            On Monday morning, Lena showed up early, as per usual, and Kara walked in fifteen minutes later, looking a little dishevelled. Lena noticed that she didn’t even have her usual coffee in hand as she walked in.

            “I think this is the earliest you’ve ever been,” Lena noted, arching an eyebrow at Kara, who winced as she talked.

            “Please, not too loud,” Kara begged, putting a hand to her head as she lowered herself into a chair.

            “Are you hungover?” Lena asked, frowning in disapproval.

            “Slightly,” Kara mumbled, resting her head on the desk. “Do you have any aspirin? My head is killing me.”

            “No,” Lena bluntly said, returning to her work. Kara sat up and squinted at Lena, and with a sigh, Lena pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her bag and threw them to her without a word. “I’m working on the NP-completeness.”

            Kara mumbled her thanks as she slipped the sunglasses on. “A lot of problems are NP-complete, right?” Kara asked.

            “Yes, but there’s no algorithm to quickly solve it. If we can come up with one, it might help up with the overall problem, because then the sets of problems can be concluded as a whole to explain other NP-problems in polynomial time,” Lena explained.

            Lena couldn’t see Kara’s eyes behind the dark lenses, but she assumed she was staring right at her with a vacant expression on her face. After a moment’s pause Kara nodded slightly. “Right.”

            “If you’re just going to sit there you may as well just go home,” Lena huffed, rolling her eyes as she stared at her computer screen.

            “I’m fine. I’m just trying to think,” Kara assured her. “I actually find that getting drunk makes me approach things more creatively.”

            Lena let out a snort of laughter. “Is that what you tell yourself when you get pissed every weekend to cope with whatever issues you have?”

            “Well that’s rude,” Kara said, frowning across the table. “Excuse me.”

            Lena watched Kara stand up, picking up her bag before she walked out. Feeling a little guilty, Lena couldn’t help but wonder if she was coming back - she was still wearing Lena’s sunglasses.

            Half an hour later, the door opened again and Kara walked in with a coffee in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Sitting back down in her usual seat, she pulled a pack of pills out of her bag and quickly swallowed two of them, chasing them down with the water. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and stared at the screen, still wearing Lena’s sunglasses to defend her eyes from the brightness. Lena stared at her for a few minutes, feeling awkward.

            “Sorry,” Lena said, and Kara looked up at her, raising her eyebrows. “I, uh, I don’t know you. It was wrong for me to judge you.” Kara nodded slowly and Lena blushed slightly, quickly going back to her work. She wasn’t good with apologies, or with people really.

            After a slight pause, Kara cleared her throat softly. “So, um, I was thinking about how we’re looking at this from a polynomial time approach, and I was wondering about how exponentially times problems. There’s the EXPTIME-complete problem which says that every problem has a polynomial-time many-one reduction, right? So if there’s a polynomial-time algorithm for that can cross-reference and transform problems with the same answer, we could look at that.”

            “I mean, yeah it’s a good thing to consider, but the only problem is that EXPTIME-complete problems aren’t in P and can’t be solved in polynomial time. So, really it just brings us back to square one, and we still can’t answer whether NP is equal to P or not. I guess if we adapted the theory, or maybe disproved the time hierarchy theorem that EXPTIME-complete follows, then we could incorporate it,” Lena said, thinking out loud.

            “This was raised with the Turing machine, right? Like the whole problem with determining arbitrary information. I guess with that though it made sense to go with exponential time because it wouldn’t use more than the exponential number of steps needed,” Kara said, grimacing.

            “I guess we can just give the polynomial-time reduction a chance,” Lena said hesitantly. She wasn’t sure if it would get anywhere, but she was willing to try, if only because she still felt slightly guilty.

Chapter Text

            By the end of the next week Lena patience was wearing thin. Kara’s unfailing optimism, tardiness and endless chitchat was driving Lena mad and they hadn’t made enough progress for her liking. So far, every conversation about where they should go next ended in a dead end or a stalemate, which led Lena to question whether or not coming here had been the right idea.

            After coming to yet another block, Lena sighed in frustration, pushing her laptop away from her and pushing her chair back as she stood up. It was around lunchtime and she was growing restless. For the first time since starting at the institute, Lena took a break.

            “I’m going to get lunch,” Lena said to Kara, who looked up in surprise. She would never have expected those words to come out of Lena’s mouth – every day she asked Lena if she wanted to come for lunch or wanted her to bring anything back, and every day Lena rejected her offer in favour of staying cooped up in the room.

            “Oh,” Kara quietly exclaimed, looking down at her watch to check the time. “Do you mind if I come with you?”

            Lena hesitated for a second. “Fine.”

            Smiling brightly, Kara jumped up from her seat and grabbed her bag. Opening the door, Lena walked out into the hallway and paused, looking up and down the hallway before looking at Kara.

            “I, um, don’t know where the food court is,” Lena admitted.

            “This way,” Kara said, pointing to the left and gently touching Lena on the arm as she turned her. Lena frowned slightly, staring down at Kara’s hand and back up at Kara’s face, looking almost offended that Kara would touch her so casually. Kara was already walking in the direction she had pointed, and didn’t notice Lena’s frown at the casual contact. They walked in silence; Kara looking comfortable with it and Lena feeling awkward. She didn’t have friends, and she didn’t know what to talk about except for maths because she didn't know Kara. They'd been working together for a month and while Kara talked non-stop, Lena would hardly say she was friends with her, which meant that Lena hadn't bothered to pay attention to what Kara liked to do.

            Walking into the food court, Kara made her way over to the the café and Lena trailed after her. Staring at the food on display, Lena ordered a chicken and quinoa salad and a celery and apple juice, and awkwardly argued with Kara for a moment as she insisted on paying. Finally relenting, Kara let Lena pay for her milkshake and muffin. Kara smiled brightly at Lena and they both stood off to the side as they waited for their orders to be made.

            “Um, do you want to eat it in here, or go back to the room?” Kara asked, looking at Lena expectantly.

            “Here’s fine, I guess,” Lena mumbled, and once their orders were called they picked a table and sat down to eat. Lena frowned as she watching Kara dig into her muffin, picking at her own food in the process. After a few failed attempts at getting a conversation going, Kara gave up and starting tapping away at her phone, texting someone while Lena kept herself occupied with her own thoughts.

---

            They ended up back in the room after they finished eating, and Lena walked straight over to her laptop and resumed her position in front of it, slipping her glasses on as she stared at the screen. Kara chatted away as she took her seat at her desk opposite Lena’s, and after a few minutes of trying to concentrate Lena let out an exasperated sigh as she looked up at Kara.

            “Has anyone ever told you you talk way too much?” Lena snapped.

            Kara blinked and gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I, um, well, I get a little bit carried away with myself sometimes.”

            “Yes, I’ve noticed,” Lena said stiffly, looking back at her computer screen.

            “Sorry if I’m annoying you,” Kara apologised, “I just, um, don’t really get to spend much time with smart people around my age. Well, I mean, my sister is smart, like really smart, but she’s a doctor so it’s a different kind of smart to my smart. People tend to think that because we're both scientifically minded that we know everything about it, but to be honest, I don't know half of the medical terms she uses and trying to talk about maths with her is like talking to a brick wall.”

            Lena looked at Kara again and stared at her in silence for a few moments. “It’s fine.”

            “Do you have any siblings?” Kara asked after a slight pause.

            “Yes,” Lena stiffly told her. “What, you didn’t do a google search on me after finding out who I was?”

            “No,” Kara replied, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise, which made Lena blink with surprise, because she assumed that Kara would’ve tried to find out as much about her new partner as she could. “Why, did you search me?”

            “Of course,” Lena snorted with laughter. “You think I would trust someone with my research without doing research on them too?”

            Kara frowned slightly, looking a little bit worried. “What did you find?”

            Lena sighed, giving Kara an exasperated look. “Kara Marie Danvers – born Kara Marie Zorel – on the twenty-third of January, nineteen ninety-one. Adopted at age thirteen by Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers when both of your parents were killed in a plane crash. You have one adoptive sister – Alexandra Danvers – and you’re from a town called Midvale. Your mother was a well-known lawyer, and your father a physicist, which is why you showed such a high aptitude for it as a child. Your adoptive father is a biologist, and your adoptive mother is a doctor, like your sister. You attended Midvale High School, graduating two years early, and then you started college. The rest of your credentials you told me yourself. Happy?”

            “Oh … wow. You really did do your research,” Kara said with surprise. “That’s a little bit disconcerting.”

            Lena held back a blush at the fact that she’d just admitted to basically stalking Kara online, and turned her attention back to her research. After a moment, Kara turned her attention to her own, and they were both silent as they focused on their laptop screens. After a few minutes Lena spoke.

            “I have a brother,” she told Kara, who looked up in surprise, smiling slightly at the new piece of information about Lena. This was probably their longest conversation that wasn’t related to maths in the entire month that Lena had been working with Kara.

---

            Kara stayed late that night, and Lena was a bit surprised – usually she’d leave a couple of hours before Lena to go out partying or whatever else she did for fun. Not tonight though – she stayed until Lena left at eight o’clock, both of them too engrossed in their work to notice how much time had passed. After they both packed up all of their things, they walked out of the institute together, mostly silent, except for the occasional comment about their work for the day. As they walked outside, Lena looked around for her driver, knowing that he knew that Lena would need to be picked up at this time, as per usual, but he was nowhere in sight.

            “Um, do you want me to walk you to your car?” Kara asked, not wanting Lena to walk through the dark car park alone.

            “I have a driver,” Lena explained. “The, uh, one who hit you with his car. He should be here.”

            “Ah, right,” Kara said, slightly amused at the memory of waking up in Lena’s apartment the next morning. “I’ll, um, wait with you, until he gets here.”

            “You don’t have to,” Lena told her, frowning slightly.

            Kara snorted, rolling her eyes at Lena while she smiled. “I know I don’t have to, but I’m going to anyway.”

            “Right,” Lena murmured, folding her arms over her chest as she shivered in the cool evening air. Where the hell was her driver?

            They waited for another ten minutes before Kara gave Lena a pitying look. “Listen, I can just give you a ride home, it’s no big deal.”

            “I’m fine, really,” Lena said stiffly. “I’ll just catch a cab. You should go home.”

            “Lena, it’s no problem. Really. Just let me give you a lift home,” Kara said, rolling her eyes good naturedly. She reached out and grabbed Lena’s arm, pulling her gently in the direction she was parked. Lena sighed, but didn’t protest as she followed Kara. It wasn’t until they were stood by the motorbike parking spaces that Lena realised the shiny chrome bike was Kara’s.

            “This is your ride?” Lena exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the bike as she gave Kara an unimpressed look. “A motorbike?”

            “Yeah!” Kara beamed at her. “It’s cool isn’t it?”

            “About as cool as dying young, which you clearly want to do if you’re riding one of these,” Lena huffed. “I’ll just catch a cab.”

            “You make an awful lot of assumptions about me,” Kara said, unlocking her helmet as she grinned at Lena. “It’s perfectly safe, you know. I’ve never been in an accident before, touch wood. Also, I’m not a hooligan. Do I look like a hooligan?”

            Lena snorted as she took in the baby blue sweater and innocent look on Kara’s face. “You look like a fucking librarian.”

            “See! Completely harmless,” Kara said, jamming the helmet onto her head while she laughed. She produced another smaller helmet from the seat of the bike, and handed it to Lena, who looked at it sceptically. Begrudgingly, Lena fastened it on her head, and as Kara straddled the bike, Lena gingerly climbed on behind her and gently held onto Kara’s waist - she wasn't one for physical contact. Laughing, Kara grabbed Lena’s hands and pulled them so that Lena’s arms were encircling her waist.

            “You’ll want to hold on tight,” Kara told her, sounding amused. Lena grumbled something unintelligible, jumping slightly as Kara turned on the ignition and the bike roared to life. She swore she could feel Kara laughing beneath her touch as she tightened her arms around Kara, pressing herself up against her back as close as she could.

            Lena was tense as they made their way away from the institute, but after a few minutes she found herself relaxing. Kara seemed well in control of the bike, and perhaps a little more cautious too as she knew how nervous Lena was. By the time that Lena had directed her to her apartment, she felt completely at ease on the back of the bike, and realised that perhaps she trusted Kara – maybe just a little.

            As Lena slid off the back of the bike and undid the helmet she looked at Kara. “Um, so thanks for the ride,” Lena said, holding the helmet out for her to take. “Did you, uh, want to come inside?”

            “Oh!” Kara softly exclaimed, not expecting Lena to be so, well, friendly. She’d always kept her distance from Kara, remaining strictly business as they worked on their maths. “Um, yeah, sure.” Killing the engine, Kara quickly chained her bike and the helmet up while Lena waited, slightly impatient as she shivered in the cold. As soon as Kara was done, Lena turned and walked over to the door to her apartment building, mumbling a hello to the doorman as he let them both inside. They were silent during the elevator ride up to Lena’s penthouse suite, and as the doors opened, Lena quickly made her way over to her front door and unlocked it, letting them both inside.

            As Lena flicked the lights on and hung her coat up, Kara looked around at the bare apartment, taking in the stack of unopened boxes neatly lined up along one wall. The apartment was furnished sparingly, especially for its size, and Kara blinked in surprise.

            “What?” Lena asked, noticing Kara’s expression.

            “Nothing,” Kara shrugged. “I just thought that the last time I was here it looked like this because you’d obviously just moved in – what with the boxes and everything – but, um, where’s all your things? You have dozens of boxes that aren’t even open.”

            “I don’t plan on being here that long … if I can help it,” Lena shrugged, making her way over to the kitchen. “No point buying a lot of furniture or unpacking.”

            “You have a five-year fellowship,” Kara reminded her, raising her eyebrows slightly.

            “Yes, and?” Lena asked, and Kara shrugged, looking around the lonely apartment.

            “So you just, uh, go to the institute all day and then come back here?” Kara asked, frowning slightly.

            Lena let out a quiet laugh. “Well I don’t really have time for anything else, but I have other work to do in between that so ... yes. Tea or coffee?”

            “Coffee please. Don’t you get lonely?” Kara asked.

            Lena pulled out two cups and set some water to boil as she smiled wryly at Kara’s question. “I’ve been lonely my entire life. There’s not much room for relationships – social or romantic – when you’ve been surrounded by people who could be your grandparent and working on maths and computers your entire life.”

            “That sounds … well, sad, to be honest,” Kara admitted. “No offence.”

            Lena shrugged indifferently. “I don’t know any better,” Lena told her. “Milk and sugar?” Finishing making their cups of tea, Lena handed one to Kara and made her way over to the sofa. Kara looked for somewhere to put her coffee, and after realising that Lena didn’t have a coffee table or end table, she put it on the floor.

            “So, about the polynomial time,” Lena started, before Kara cut her off with a wave of her hand.

            “Nope,” she told Lena. “No maths. No science. We’re not at work anymore, and my brain needs to rest.”

            “Oh … okay,” Lena murmured, taking a sip of her scalding tea as she fell into silence. She wasn’t much of a conversationalist and if maths was off the table then she had nothing to talk about, because as far as she knew, her and Kara had nothing in common.

            “So, tell me a bit about yourself,” Kara ordered her, smiling at Lena as she settled in on the sofa. “I’ve known you for a month now and all I know is that you’re a genius and you have a brother, and the second thing I only found out today.”

            “Because it’s not relevant,” Lena told her coolly. “My personal life won’t help us solve our problem.”

            Kara let out a quick laugh. “Maybe not, but it helps to make friends.”

            “Friends?” Lena scoffed. “I don’t need friends; I’ll be gone soon.”

            “Everyone needs friends,” Kara protested. “Come on, just one fact.”

            “One fact? This scar under my eyebrow – when I was five I was running through the house, and I caught myself on the corner of the dinner table,” Lena said, running a finger over the old, shallow scar.

            “Okay, well that’s not what I had in mind, but I’ll take it,” Kara said as she smiled widely. Lena rolled her eyes, scoffing at the other girl’s enthusiasm. Running a finger over the small scar on her own forehead, Kara smiled at Lena. “Mine’s from when I had the chicken pox.”

            “I’ve never had the chicken pox,” Lena admitted, giving away another trivial fact. She would keep her secrets close to her heart, but if Kara wanted to hear some facts about Lena, she would give her these inconsequential ones. Ones that couldn’t be used against her.

            “Whoa, enough oversharing,” Kara joked, and Lena gave her an unimpressed look as she drank her tea. “I’m just kidding. I can’t believe I got two, two, whole facts. I feel honoured.”

            “Well, don’t get used to it,” Lena muttered.

            They talked for a little while longer, or at least Kara did while Lena listened to her babble about her friends, her childhood and her family. For some reason, Lena didn’t stop her, and as much as Kara talked, she found it less annoying than she thought she would to hear her talk and talk and talk. Time seemed to pass quickly and soon enough Kara was thanking Lena for the tea and Lena was thanking her for the ride home, and then Kara was putting on her coat as Lena wished her a goodnight.

Chapter Text

            A few weeks later, they were at the institute, puzzling over their equation. They’d started working on the real stuff, now that Kara had caught up with all of Lena’s research, but even with her help they still found themselves stuck. Every time they tried to figure out one part of their equation, it either wouldn’t work as a computational theory, or it didn’t match the rest of their work. They found themselves bickering over their approach and Lena was starting to remember why she’d never had help before. Other people were utterly intolerable, in her opinion - yet she stayed anyway.

            It was the middle of the afternoon when Kara let out a frustrated yell and slammed her laptop screen down. Running a hand through her hair, she looked up at Lena. “I need to get out of here.”

            “What?” Lena said, looking up from her own screen. She had her calculator at hand and was doing simple equations as she double-checked their data – surely they were just missing something. They had to be on the right track, otherwise none of this was worth anything.

            “I need a break,” Kara told her.

            Lena looked back at her own work. “Well go on then.”

            “Not from the cafeteria, like I need to do something fun,” Kara said, sounding exasperated. “Come on, pack up your things.”

            “I’m busy,” Lena told her, only half paying attention to Kara’s words. She was getting used to tuning out the unimportant babble that seemed to endlessly pour out of Kara’s mouth, but still, there was a part of her brain that took in every word.

            Kara gently pushed Lena’s laptop screen down, ignoring the glare she received in return. “Come on, Lena. Live a little.”

            “I’m fine, thank you,” Lena told her in a clipped tone. She didn’t have time to waste on whatever fun idea that Kara had; she had to solve her problem. If she didn’t, then she’d wasted years on nothing, and she didn’t want to waste more on nothing too.

            “Just a couple of hours,” Kara begged, raising her eyebrows slightly and her eyes were wide and hopeful behind the lenses of her glasses. With a sigh, Lena gave her an unimpressed look, sitting back in her chair and folding her arms over her chest.

            “You look like a child,” Lena remarked, pressing her lips together as she met Kara’s hopeful gaze. If anything, her comment made Kara look even more young and innocent. With another sigh, Lena rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll come. Just stop looking at me like that.”

            Kara’s face split into a wide smile, and her eyes lit up with joy. The two of them packed up all of their work, and soon enough they were walking out of the building. It was the first time that Lena had left the institute before it was dark outside, and she saw that there were other people milling around outside. Usually she was one of the few people still here at night, and it was strange to see other people here.

            “Okay, hop on,” Kara said, handing Lena her other helmet. Lena bit back a groan – she’d forgotten about the damn motorbike – and slipped the helmet on, tightening the straps slightly. She waited for Kara to climb on before getting on behind her and squashing her bag between them as her arms encircled Kara’s waist.

            “So where are we going?” Lena asked, realising that she’d just blindly started following Kara’s orders without even asking.

            “It’s a surprise,” Kara laughed as the bike roared to life beneath them, and soon enough they were shooting off down the street.

---

            “Ikea?” Lena asked as soon as the bike cut off. She didn’t sound impressed and she unclipped the helmet and handed it to a smiling Kara.

            “I thought we could get you some stuff for your apartment,” Kara explained. “Make it look more homely. Besides, who doesn’t like shopping, right?”

            “Me,” Lena grumbled, pursing her lips together as she started at the big blue building.

            “Oh … well we can just sit in the cafeteria,” Kara suggested, looking a little bit defeated. “They have really nice meatballs.”

            “I guess we can look around,” Lena said, feeling a little bit guilty, even though she wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like she’d promised to come shopping and suddenly changed her mind. Kara had surprised her, and if she’d asked beforehand, Lena would’ve said no.

            “Great!” Kara beamed at her, and Lena had a sneaking feeling like she’d just been played by Kara, after all, here she was, about to go shopping for useless decorations that she didn’t even want. With a sigh, Lena set off after her, making their way inside the building.

            They made their way to the escalators and then Lena followed Kara, who was following the coloured lines on the floor. Kara had plucked a basket off the stack when they’d come in, and clutched it in one hand as she set off through the store. Pointing out various knick knacks and decorations, Kara picked up things and asked Lena’s opinion on them, and after a dozen uninterested comments, Kara was starting to lose motivation.

            “Can you just pick one thing?” Kara asked, giving Lena an exasperated look.

            “Why?” Lena asked, eyeing a cheap painting. “None of this stuff is quality made.”

            “Well no, but I mean, how much do mathematicians make, right?” Kara joked, flashing Lena a quick smile. Lena tried to hold back a laugh, but couldn’t stop herself, earning a shocked look off Kara. “What is it?” Kara asked, frowning as if she was missing out on some joke.

            “You still haven’t done your research on me, have you?” Lena asked, looking faintly amused. She had expected Kara to return the favour after she had admitted to checking into Kara’s personal life, but apparently she’d been wrong.

            “No, you’re a private person. Clearly. Plus, it’s rude to poke around in other people’s business – no offence” Kara said. “Why?”

            Lena let out a small laugh at the subtle dig and hesitated before replying. “I run my family’s business.”

            “Oh cool, what kind of company is it?” Kara asked.

            “It’s all based around computers, so developing software, programming, analysing data. There’s a few different branches of research,” Lena explained, not getting into the details.

            “A few branches? It must be quite big then,” Kara commented, and Lena looked at her with amusement. She clearly had no idea who Lena really was, and that was a bit of a surprise to Lena – everyone knew her family’s name at least. There was no doubt about it that if Lena told Kara the name of her brother, she’d instantly know who she was and what her company was, but for now, Lena was content to keep it to herself.

            “Quite,” Lena agreed. “It’s why I went into computer science, as well as maths.”

            “So … this place is a little bit under your budget then, huh?” Kara asked, raising one eyebrow. Lena smiled, thinking about the paintings in her old apartment that were worth millions.

            “Just a little,” Lena agreed, her eyes fell on a small fake potted plant, and she picked it up and threw it in the basket. “Here. I’ll get this.”

            “Oh god, a fake plant? Really? That’s what you’re going to decorate your apartment with?” Kara asked, wrinkling her nose at Lena, who shrugged helplessly.

            “If I bought a real one I’d forget to water it,” Lena told her, and Kara laughed loudly, not caring about the looks of annoyance thrown her way. Looking around, Lena quickly nudged Kara to keep walking, not wanting to further disturb the other shoppers, and they walked through to the kitchen area.

            “I’ve always loved Ikea,” Kara admitted, looking at Lena excitedly. “There’s just something about walking around these fake rooms and just imagining planning your own home, you know? Like I have my apartment, but I love coming here and imagining the house that I’d own with the love of my life.”

            “Oh yeah, and how’s that going for you?” Lena snorted.

            Kara tilted her head to the side, considering the question, before smiling widely at Lena. “Well, to be honest, not as well as I could hope, but it’s not that important to me right now. I’m all about my career at the moment.”

            “Smart girl,” Lena murmured, and Kara laughed again.

            “And what about you? Do you ever think about your future?” Kara asked, picking up a lamp and observing it before putting it back down.

            Lena’s lips twitched as if she was about to smile. “Yes, sometimes I do. I see myself winning a Field’s Prize or a Turing Award – hopefully both.”

            “What else? Some mini versions of you with that serious look and that genius brain?” Kara laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. Lena rolled her eyes at Kara’s words, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the thought.

            “Um, no, I don’t think so,” Lena shrugged. “I don’t think that’s in the cards for me.”

            “Hey, you’re young,” Kara reminded her. “You’ll find a genius who can keep up with you and sweep you off your feet.”

            “Well you’re the only genius who has been able to keep up with me so far, and no offence, but you’re not really my type,” Lena snorted.

            Laughing, Kara shook her head as she looked at Lena with amusement. “None taken. It’s hard enough getting you to work with me, let alone trying to get you to date me.”

            Rolling her eyes, Lena walked through the last of the kitchen showrooms and they came to the bedroom area. Kara excitedly ran over to one of the beds and deposited the basket on the floor before flopping down onto the mattress. Nervously looking around for any sales assistants that might tell them off, Lena sidled up to the bed and stared down at Kara, arching one eyebrow.

            “It’s really comfortable, you should join me,” Kara laughed, putting her arms behind her head as she beamed up at Lena.

            “No thank you,” Lena said, crossing her arms over her chest. Kara raised her eyebrows suggestively, giving Lena a hopeful expression, and with a sigh Lena muttered a few choice curse words under her breath, before laying down next to Kara. “I don’t think we’re allowed to do this.”

            “I mean, we’re not, but it’s not the first time I’ve done it,” Kara told her. “One time I came here and I climbed up onto the top bunk of one of the bunk beds and I fell asleep and when I woke up the shop was closed.”

            “Do you do that often? Come here to nap, I mean,” Lena asked, giving Kara a bemused look. Sometimes she was a at a loss when it came to figuring out Kara – she had a rare genius mind for maths, but where everything else was concerned, it was like she had no common sense and a childlike wonder, and something about it threw Lena off.

            Kara let out a quick laugh, and Lena was taken aback by how much she laughed. “No! I have a bed you know - a very comfortable one – I just came here to have a look around and accidentally fell asleep when I was testing out the beds.”

            “Right,” Lena snorted, sitting upright. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stood up and picked up the basket that Kara had dropped. “Well, I believe you promised me meatballs.”

            Correct,” Kara said, shooting up off the bed and looping her arm through Lena’s. “Food is this way.”

            “Great,” Lena said gloomily, letting herself be dragged off down whichever coloured line Kara was following.

---

            Lena sighed, cutting up her meatballs as listened to Kara’s endless chattering as she enthusiastically dug into her own food. She barely paused for air, and Lena was surprised that she didn’t run out of breath.

            “So Alex, my sister, she’s really into rock music, which I’ll admit isn’t really my thing, but anyway, so she took me to this show last month with her girlfriend – Maggie, in case you didn’t find that out in your research – and then we went out for pizza,” Kara rambled.

            Lena let out another sigh, closing her eyes for a second as she waited for Kara to continue. “Then what happened?”

            “What? Oh, that was it. We went home after that,” Kara said, giving Lena a bright smile.

            “That’s it? That was the whole story?” Lena asked, pressing her lips together as she gave Kara an unimpressed look.

            “Well, yeah, that’s what happened,” Kara said matter of factly, smiling at Lena.

            Lena screwed her forehead up, looking at Kara with bewilderment. “Nothing happened! That wasn’t even a story! You just made me listen to the most pointless story I’ve ever heard in my entire life, Jesus Christ.”

            “What do you mean?” Kara laughed, smiling at how worked up Lena sounded.

            “A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. That was just babbling nonsense with no purpose; there wasn’t even a plot! You’re a terrible storyteller,” Lena said, giving her an exasperated look. “Did you even take English in high school?”

            “Obviously I did, but I’m a maths and physics major, not English literature. I’m not Shakespeare,” Kara laughed, spearing another meatball on her fork.

            “I’m writing our paper when we finish our research,” Lena said, and Kara rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue. Instead, she swallowed her mouthful and launched into another story, and Lena bit back a groan. Did she ever stop talking?

---

            That night, Lena was alone in her apartment, and as she read over their research for the day, she glanced over at the lonely looking plastic plant and smiled slightly. Kara was certainly a force to be reckoned with, and Lena was already anticipating trouble if she didn’t keep her guard up around Kara. She didn’t come here to make friends, and she wasn’t about to let Kara get in between her and the maths.

            Or that’s what Lena told herself anyway.

Chapter Text

            “So, I was thinking last night, about the integer factorisation problem,” Lena said, putting a piece of chalk down and stepping back from the board and dusting off her hands as she picked up her buzzing phone and looked down at the screen. It was her mom. Ignoring it, she continued talking. “Thinking about how it’s one of our biggest problems because of its ambiguity.”

            “Go on,” Kara encouraged, taking a sip of her milkshake.

            “Well Ladner said that it’s NP-intermediate, but I think we need to prove that it can be verified in polynomial time and solved in polynomial time,” Lena explained.

            Kara laughed, “you want to destroy a man’s work to prove your theory right? That’s a little harsh.”

            Lena shot her an unimpressed look, and Kara smiled at her innocently. “I want to find the truth to prove my theory right.”

            “Right,” Kara agreed. “So, how are we going to do that?”

            “If you’d listen for once then I might be able to get a word in edgeways,” Lena snapped. Kara pressed her lips together and sat back in her seat, her eyebrows raised slightly at Lena’s tone. Sighing, Lena pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes for a moment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

            “It’s okay,” Kara said after a moment. “Um, perhaps we should continue tomorrow.”

            “Go if you want, but I’m no going,” Lena muttered, picking up a book and slipping her reading glasses on as she skimmed over the text. Kara didn’t move, and after a few minutes, Lena looked up at her, raising her eyebrows in question.

            “Well I’m not going to leave halfway through an idea,” Kara shrugged, and Lena snorted as she rolled her eyes.

            “Don’t you have any friends you need to go and get drunk with,” Lena muttered, glancing down at her ringing phone again, before carelessly tossing it onto a desk.

            “I mean, yeah, it’s Friday night, so they’ll be going to our bar,” Kara said, “hey, you should come! We can finish up early and you can come and meet everyone!”

            “No thank you,” Lena stiffly replied, not bothering to look up from her book.

            “Why? Do you have something better to be doing,” Kara joked, taking another sip of her milkshake.

            Lena snapped the book shut and gave Kara a look of irritation. “Yes, I do. Like solving this.”

            “That’s not going to happen overnight,” Kara pointed out.

            “Kara, we’re not friends. I don’t want to meet your friends, and I really don’t want to get wasted and spend my Saturday hungover,” Lena said, the muscles in her jaw working as she clenched her teeth.

            “Oh … well, alright then,” Kara murmured. “Maybe another time.”

            Lena didn’t say anything, but she knew the chances of her getting drunk with Kara’s friends another time was very unlikely. She didn’t want to be rude, but Kara really wasn’t getting the point; Lena didn’t come here to make friends and enjoy herself, she’d come here to work. If Kara thought that she was too serious and boring, then so be it – Lena didn’t care. The only thing she cared about was solving the problem. Whatever came after that would be dealt with when the time came.

            Lena’s phone started vibrating on the desk, filling the room with an annoying buzzing sound as another incoming call came in.

            “Um, your phone is ringing,” Kara stated the obvious, and Lena huffed as she gave her a stony look.

            “Thank you, it’s almost like I’m ignoring it for some reason,” Lena said in a clipped tone.

            “Oh … okay then,” Kara quietly said.

            Lena sighed heavily, taking off her glasses and running a hand over her face. She was tired and she knew that it was making her irritable and short tempered. With tense shoulders, Lena faced Kara and gave her an apologetic look.

            “It’s not important. It’s just my mom,” Lena explained. Kara straightened up in her seat, not quite managing to conceal the look of surprise that flickered across her face as Lena shared some personal information with her.

            “So, you don’t get along or …” Kara said, raising her eyebrows slightly. Lena’s defences were up, and her suspicion flared up at Kara’s questioning tone, but just one look into her eyes told Lena that Kara wasn’t being nosy – she just wanted to help.

            “No, we don’t,” Lena curtly replied.

            “Ah, right,” Kara murmured, and Lena was surprised that she didn’t pursue it any further. Apparently Kara did know when to stop talking, and Lena didn’t know if that made it more infuriating that she talked non-stop at any other given opportunity.

            “Um, so anyway, I was thinking that if we could figure out how to solve the integer factorisation or subset problem, possibly even both, then it might help us figure out how to prove that something is equal to P and NP,” Lena explained.

            Kara’s stomach made a loud rumbling noise and she blushed slightly. “Can I just quickly grab a snack before we continue?”

            “I’m not your boss, Kara. Do whatever you want,” Lena snorted, sitting down in her chair and tapping a few keys to bring her laptop to life.

            Standing up, Kara picked up her bag and hesitated slightly. “Do you want anything?”

            “No thanks,” Lena murmured, and Kara silently left to go to the cafeteria.

---

            Lena was still sat at her desk when Kara came back half an hour later, buzzing with excitement. She gave Lena a bright smile as she slipped back inside, carrying a paper bag with her food. “You’ll never guess who’s here!”

            “Who?” Lena asked with a sigh; she didn’t really care who was here.

            “Lillian Luthor!”

            Lena held back a choked up sound of surprise at Kara’s words, struggling to keep her face neutral as her panic flared up. “That’s nice.”

            “That’s nice? Did you hear me? Lillian Luthor is here! She’s like a genius in the physics world. I’ve studied her work for years – one of the things I have left from my dad is a copy of one of her earlier books,” Kara excitedly told Lena. “I should find her and ask her for a picture!” Lena held back a bark of laughter at that prospect. She’d love to see her mom trying to fight off a determined Kara trying to take a picture with her.

            “I know who she is,” Lena murmured.

            “Of course you do – she’s one of the forefront physicists in computer programming. She owns that big tech company – you probably know more about her than I do. Why do you think she’s here?” Kara asked, looking slightly puzzled as to why a physicist would be at a maths institute with limited ties to any research relating to physics. Lena didn’t reply, she just shrugged, silently hoping that her mom wouldn’t find out which room she was in. It was very clear that she was here for her daughter.

            Lena’s prayers went unanswered, because not even a minute later the door opened to reveal her mom. Kara’s eyes went wide when she took in the sight of Lillian stood in the doorway with a faint look of amusement on her face and two takeaway cups in her hands.

            “Well this is cozy,” Lillian smirked as she walked in.

            Lena didn’t say a word, she just looked back down at her screen and pretended like her mom hadn’t just walked into the room. She had nothing to say to her anyway.

            “Oh, you-, I-, why-, you’re-,” Kara stammered, looking shocked. “Doctor Luthor, hi! Um, your work is amazing!”

            “Thank you, Miss …” Lillian said, her gaze moving off her daughter and onto the blonde girl who looked as if she was about to burst with excitement.

            “Danvers! Kara Danvers, ma’am,” Kara eagerly said, extending a hand. “I’m a huge fan of your work.” Lillian juggled the two cups and shook Kara’s hand, looking slightly amused.

            “Doctor Danvers. So, if I’m not mistaken, you must be Lena’s new partner,” Lillian said, arching an eyebrow. Lena groaned slightly, mumbling a curse under her breath that caughet Lillian’s attention. “What? I don’t even get a hello off my daughter anymore?”

            “Lena? Daughter? Wha-, you’re Lena’s mom?” Kara asked, looking from Lena to Lillian and back again. She could see Lena flushing red at Kara finding out who she was. “Wait a second. Luthor. You’re the daughter who took over the company after …“

            Kara was wise enough to trail off there, and the room was plunged into silence as Lena ignored the two women in favour of her work, Lillian stood there expectantly, and Kara nervously looked between the two of them, unsure whether she should stay or leave.

            “Doctor Danvers, could you please give us a moment alone?” Lillian asked, and Kara quickly nodded, picking up her food and her phone.

            “No. Kara, stay,” Lena ordered. “We’re busy. I don’t have time for idle chit chat.”

            “Perhaps if you’d answered my phone calls then I wouldn’t have to show up at your work place,” Lillian curtly replied.

            Kara hurried to grab everything she needed for a quick break, juggling her food, cardigan and bag as she headed for the door. “No problem. I was just going to eat anyway. Um, so I’ll just, uh, go. I need to, um, confirm a dentist appointment too, so I’ll just go and do that. It might take a while. Like maybe an hour. So I definitely won’t be back before then.”

            Lena closed her eyes, listening to Kara’s babbling as she made her exit, and she prayed that a crack in the ground would open beneath her chair and swallow her whole. At the sound of the click of the door closing, and the silence of Kara’s departure, Lena opened her eyes, glowering at her mother.

            “Well?” Lena asked, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest, ready for the coming confrontation.

            “I got you some tea,” Lillian said, holding out one of the cups in what Lena assumed was a peace offering. Scoffing, Lena took the cup off her and threw it straight into the bin, noting the disapproving look on her mom’s face. “Well then, now that niceties are out of the way, how’s the research going?”

            “It’s none of your concern,” Lena stiffly told her.

            “Of course it’s my concern. I agreed that you could move the company’s headquarters out here if I thought it would benefit it, and if I thought it was benefiting your research,” Lillian reminded her daughter, who stood silently with her arms folded across her chest. “Honestly, Lena, do you have to sulk?”

            Lena rolled her eyes. “I’m not sulking. I just don’t see why it’s any of your business what I’m doing here.”

            “I just told you why it’s my business – because of the business,” Lillian told her, taking a seat at one of the desks.

            “The research is the same as the last time you asked. You can leave now,” Lena said.

            Lillian sighed heavily, eyeing her daughter with some satisfaction as she took a sip of her own tea. “So, there was no point in you coming here then?”

            “No need to sound so smug,” Lena snapped. “And I’ve barely been here six weeks, so it’s not like I expected to solve it in that time.”

            “Indeed – you couldn’t even crack it in ten years,” Lillian taunted her, and Lena glared back as she clenched her jaw.

            “Well if it’s so easy why don’t you solve it?” Lena shot back. Lillian just rolled her eyes, a faint smile of amusement playing on her lips.

            “Your partner – she seems … enthusiastic,” Lillian commented. “How smart is she?”

            “Smarter than Lex,” Lena murmured.

            Lillian ignored the dig at her son, and carried on as if Lena hadn’t replied. “Do you think she can help you solve it?”

            “Well I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that,” Lena snorted.

            “Right,” Lillian said. “Well, you’re looking after yourself? Do you need any money?”

            “I don’t want your money, mom,” Lena scoffed.

            Lillian stood up, picking up her cup and adjusting her handbag on her shoulder. “Well, I guess that’s everything then.”

            “Guess so,” Lena muttered.

            “Call if you need anything.”

            Lena nodded, not looking at Lillian as she sat back down at her desk. Her mom hesitated for a moment, before walking out of the room, and Lena let out a shaky breath as the door clicked shut again. She’d been here for less than five minutes, but it had set Lena on edge. Pushing aside any thoughts of her mom, Lena busied herself with her work, cursing the fact that Kara had gone wandering off and wouldn’t be back for almost an hour.

---

            The door cracked open and Kara peeked her head in, a wary expression on her face, which quickly split into her usual smile as she realised that Lena was alone.

            “I got you some of those bird food seeds you like,” Kara said as she walked in, placing a little tub down in front of Lena.

            “Oh, um, thank you,” Lena said, frowning at the mixture of seeds as an uneasy feeling ran through her. Kara had been paying attention to her. Enough to know that Lena liked the mixture with the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, but not the one with the flax seeds.

            Kara sat down at her desk, and Lena carried on working, opening the seeds and picking out a few so that she didn’t seem ungrateful. She could feel Kara’s eyes on her, and she could almost feel her urge to rattle off a list of questions, but she somehow held her tongue, and it was slightly amusing to Lena. Eventually it became too much though, and with a sigh, Lena looked up from her laptop screen and raised her eyebrows at Kara.

            “Yes?”

            Kara blinked, slightly taken aback by Lena’s directness. “Oh, um, well … it doesn’t matter.”

            “Just ask, Kara,” Lena sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.

            “Why didn’t you tell me?” Kara asked, sounding slightly hurt.

            Lena snorted, shaking her her head. “Why would I? I mean, I told you to google me – maybe not in so many words – but you could’ve easily figured out who I was. How many Luthor’s do you think there are in the computer world, hm?”

            “But still, you could’ve told me. You said you ran a company but you just conveniently forgot to mention it was a multi-billion-dollar company. Or that you’re the daughter of one of the most renowned physicists in the world. Do you not trust me?”

            “If I didn’t trust you then I wouldn’t have let you within five hundred feet of my research. It’s not about trust, it’s about privacy, and for lack of a better word, not giving a fuck about my mother or my family, so it seemed irrelevant,” Lena tersely replied. “Any other questions, or can we get back to work?”

            “Your brother-“

            “I’m not talking about my brother,” Lena interrupted, her mouth a grim line as she gave Kara a stern look.

            “Sorry,” Kara said, shaking her head slightly as she flipped through a few pages of work. “So, what do you think we should do about the integer factorization problem?”

            Lena took a deep breath, closing her eyes gratefully for a moment. She’d half expected Kara to press her for details, but she was relieved that she didn’t. They might not have been friends, but Lena didn’t have anything against Kara, and she didn’t want to fight with her about her family.

            "Right, well, I was thinking that we just try and figure out where everyone's been going wrong with the polynomial time, because we really need to know whether it actually can be classified as P or NP. I don't like how ambiguous it is. It needs to be one or the other."

            "Great, let's get started," Kara smiled enthusiastically at Lena.

Chapter Text

            Lena had been in a foul mood ever since Lillian had visited – she thought that by moving away she’d be able to escape Lillian, yet even here she wasn’t free of her. For the rest of the week, Lena was irritable and even less tolerant of Kara’s chit chat than usual, which was saying something. They bickered endlessly over the finer points of their theory, and Lena was surprised to find that Kara was almost as stubborn as she was, and fought back against Lena’s ideas when they disagreed.

            Their progress wasn’t enough for Lena though, and as her second month in National City came to a close she found herself debating whether or not it was even possible to solve the problem – or disprove it. They were undoubtedly two of the smartest minds in mathematics, yet even between the two of them, they hadn’t solved it. If they’d started two months ago, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but Lena had ten year’s worth of her own research too, and she still couldn’t solve it.

            “Fuck!” Lena swore, slamming her laptop shut and tore her glasses of her face in frustration. Kara’s knees hit the underside of the desk at Lena’s outburst, as she jumped in fright. “Sorry,” Lena mumbled, running a hand over her weary face.

            “It’s okay,” Kara said, almost looking amused. “I feel stuck too.”

            “We haven’t done anything since I came here!” Lena huffed, slouching in her chair as she frowned.

            “Well we know what doesn’t work, which is just as useful,” Kara reassured her, and Lena shot her an unimpressed look. “Come on. Break time.”

            “I don’t need a break,” Lena mumbled, sitting up straight and sighing as she opened her laptop again. Kara stood up, quickly shoving an assortment of papers messily into her bag.

            “Yes you do. Come on,” Kara told her, holding a hand out and gesturing for Lena to take it. Giving her a wary look, Lena took Kara’s offered hand and let her yank her out of her chair. Packing away her important stuff, Lena followed Kara out of the room and down a hallway. She knew better than to ask where they were going by now – Kara always told her it was a surprise.

            “I always come here when I’m frustrated,” Kara explained as she led them to the top level of the building, and then through an emergency exit. Climbing up a rickety ladder, Kara climbed onto the roof, leaving Lena stood below her with a hesitant expression on her face.

            “Are we allowed up here?” Lena asked.

            Kara laughed. “Scared of breaking the rules?”

            “No,” Lena scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

            “It’s just a joke, Lena,” Kara sighed. “I don’t think we’re technically allowed up here, but if they didn’t want us to, then they wouldn’t make it so easy, right?”

            Lena snorted, sure that rules didn’t work that way, but wrapped her hands around the rusty rungs of the ladder and started pulling herself up. Warm hands wrapped around her own as she neared the top, and Lena let Kara help her up, finding herself extremely close to Kara. Clearing her throat slightly, Lena brushed past Kara, casting a glance around the bare rooftop.

            “So this is where you come when I piss you off then, is it?” Lena asked, arching an eyebrow at Kara, who laughed as she walked over to the edge of the roof.

            “Sometimes,” Kara admitted. Lena walked over to stand next to her, peering over the edge to look down at the sidewalk below where professors and math fellows briskly walked up and down the pathways.

            “It’s amazing how no one ever looks up,” Lena murmured, looking up and catching Kara looking at her curiously. Feeling self conscious, Lena took a step back from the edge and crossed her arms over her chest – it was windy that high up.

            “Okay, time to vent,” Kara said, standing with her hands on her hips while Lena gave her a look of confusion.

            “Vent?”

            “Yeah, get all that frustration out,” Kara told her.

            “I’ll pass,” Lena snorted, and Kara sighed, giving her an exasperated look before walking over to Lena and putting her hands on her shoulders. Spinning her around, Kara pushed her over to the edge of the building.

            “Shout,” Kara said in a low voice, and Lena felt goosebumps ripple across her skin as Kara’s breath tickled the back of her neck.

            “Excuse me?” Lena asked, turning her head to the side, slightly taken aback by how close Kara was. Turning back to the front, Lena stared out at the city spread below them, focusing on that, instead of the fact that Kara still had her hands clamped down on Lena’s shoulders – Lena was a bit confused as to why she hadn’t shrugged them off yet.

            “Shout. Just … let it all out,” Kara told her, and Lena let out a breathless laugh, feeling a little nervous at having someone invade her personal space. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d let someone touch her so casually for so long.

            “I’m not going to shout,” Lena told her, and she could feel Kara shake with quiet laughter.

            “Shout,” Kara commanded, and Lena swallowed the lump in her throat.

            “Shout what?”

            “Anything.”

            Taking a deep, Lena closed her eyes, feeling Kara’s hands disappear from her shoulders. With a slight smile, Lena opened her mouth and let out a wordless shout. She heard Kara’s laughter, which quickly changed into her own wordless shout. The wind took Lena’s breath away as she yelled, and soon enough she was laughing as she she tried to catch her breath, looking at Kara, who was laughing, her cheeks slightly flushed and her eyes sparkling.

            “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before,” Kara said after catching her breath, and Lena’s smile wavered for a second. “I like it.”

            Lena watched as Kara flopped down on the roof, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing her ankles as she smiled up at Lena, patting the spot next to her. Debating whether or not to get the bottom of her coat dirty, Lena hesitated for a moment, before giving in and gingerly sitting down next to Kara, who bit back a smile.

            “What?”

            “Nothing,” Kara said. “You just-, you act very … I don’t know-“

            “Stuck up?” Lena suggested, raising her eyebrows as she smirked slightly.

            Kara scrambled to protest, and Lena’s smile grew slightly bigger. “No! I don’t think you’re stuck up,” Kara told her. “You just … I don’t know. You’re so lonely, it makes me sad, but then I make you do something and you do it even though you don’t want to, and I’m trying to figure you out, but you just make it really hard.”

            “Because I don’t want people to figure me out,” Lena snorted, ignoring the comment about her being lonely. She didn’t think she was lonely; she was just alone – there was a big difference.

            “Why not?” Kara asked, sounding genuinely curious.

            “People just end up letting you down,” Lena shrugged, and Kara didn’t argue with her so Lena figured that Kara thought she was talking about Lex, and for some reason, Lena had the urge to explain herself. “I’m not talking about my brother.”

            Kara’s eyebrows shot up in poorly concealed surprise, but she didn’t say anything, clearly waiting for Lena to elaborate. “Well, I am, but also everyone I’ve ever met. Not always in bad ways, but sometimes they were just disappointing, you know? I’d have a new maths tutor, and they would be the ‘next big thing’ in the maths world, but they wouldn’t be able to teach me anything that I didn’t already know. I never really had anyone to push me to work hard; I had to push myself, which is why it frustrates me that I can’t solve this fucking problem.”

            “You will,” Kara quickly reassured her. “I’m not saying that to make you feel better; I genuinely think if anyone will solve it, it’ll be you.”

            “Well I hope so,” Lena said as she thought about all the time and effort she’d put into it.

            “Just think about how proud everyone will be of you when you prove them wrong,” Kara smiled brightly at her, and Lena snorted.

            “Who? My mom? No, she’ll just say it’s about time,” Lena said, rolling her eyes.

            Kara frowned slightly. “Surely she’s proud of you. You’re a genius!”

            “I told you; we don’t get along,” Lena said in a clipped tone.

            “So? She can’t deny that you’re brilliant though,” Kara argued.

            “Well she doesn’t think I’m smarter than my brother. He was the computer genius, which was worth more in my family because of the business,” Lena explained, her eyebrows knitting together in a slight frown.

            “Oh please, anyone can put a computer together if they read the instructions,” Kara scoffed, “I’d like him to try and solve this bloody problem.”

            “That’s an idea,” Lena said, giving Kara a wry smile. “Maybe I should write him a letter in prison and ask him for his help.”

            Kara blinked in surprise. “Was that a joke?”

            “Well obviously I’m not go-“

            “No, I know that, but you just made a joke,” Kara laughed, and Lena rolled her eyes, looking out at the city. The sun would be setting soon, and the first star winked into existence far above them as the barest hint of orange tinged the sky on the horizon.

            “I like to think that I’m a very funny person,” Lena said, smiling slightly. “I just don’t have anyone to share my humour with.”

            “I feel honoured,” Kara joked, and Lena shot her an exasperated look.

            “You might think I’m lonely, but I’m not,” Lena told her. “I’m just good at being alone.”

            “There’s a difference between being good at being alone and actually wanting to be alone,” Kara countered, fiddling with the bottom of her shirt. “I’m good at being alone, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone.”

            “Well I do,” Lena murmured, leaning back on her elbows as she drank in the last rays of sunlight. She couldn’t remember the last time she sat outside and enjoyed the sun – and it was clear in the pallor of her skin.

            “That’s just sad,” Kara said, grimacing slightly.

            “Well that’s just the way things are,” Lena said, her voice tense. Kara didn’t push her any further, and they both sat there in silence for a few minutes before Lena stood up, dusting off the back of her coat. “We should get back to work.”

            “Wait a second,” Kara said, reaching up to grab the bottom of Lena’s coat, dragging her back down to the floor. Sighing, Lena flopped back down to her previous position, listening to Kara talk. “Lay down. On your back. Close your eyes and try and relax.”

            Shooting her an exasperated look, Lena obeyed, the sunlight turning the insides of her eyelids red as she tried to ignore the tiny pebble digging into the palm of her hand. “Now what?”

            She heard Kara shift beside her, and could picture her stretched out next to her, her hair golden in the sun, and the lenses of her glasses winking in the sunlight. “Why can’t you solve the problem?

            “Because I can’t figure out how to measure things in polynomial time in a computational theoretical way,” Lena automatically answered.

            “Why?”

            “Because it requires computers to quickly check and solve the problem, and computers don’t have the capacity to do it in polynomial time. It can only solve one out of all the problems presented, or it’ll solve them all in exponential time.”

            “So how do we make computers have the capacity?”

            “We need to run it on polynomial time on input and on the running time on rejecting instances that aren’t polynomial, as well as ones that are polynomial. The problem is that at the moment my program will solve sequentially until it finds a solution that is P equals NP.”

            “We’ve spent so much time working on a raw algorithm for you to plug into your computer, that we haven’t considered using one that you’ve already ran before. The one with the subset problem kept running after disproving that P equals NP. So if we use the subset sum problem, and we give the algorithm a cut-off time when a result can’t be solved in polynomial time …” Kara trailed off, and Lena could hear the excitement in her voice, matching Lena’s excitement as she realized that Kara was right.

            “We should be able to have a finish point for the algorithm. Even if it’s not perfect it’ll give us a place to start making changes to the computational theory,” Lena said, opening her eyes in surprise and wincing as bright sunlight momentarily blinded her. Black dots danced across her eyes as she sat up and looked at Kara, rapidly blinking them away.

            They both stared at each other for a moment, before Lena scrambled to her feet and ran over to the edge of the roof. She let out another wild intelligible yell, this time from excitement instead of frustration, and laughing, she turned to face Kara, who was laughing as she watched.

---

            They were both at the institute until the early hours of the morning, with Kara ordering pizza for them both as Lena furiously typed away at her computer. Neither of them wanted to leave and risk losing the momentum and motivation that was fueling them.

            They were onto something.

            It wouldn’t be the solution to their problem – they both knew that – but for the first time since she’s come to National City, Lena felt like she was about to make some real progress. She silently apologized for any misgivings she’d had about Kara before today – she had been able to look past all the complex computational theories that clouded Lena’s thoughts, and look at the objective facts.

            By the time they both called it a night, the sun was only a couple of hours away from making a reappearance, and at Kara’s insistence, Lena trailed her to her motorbike. Slipping on the familiar helmet, Lena climbed on behind Kara and let her take her home.

            She was dreaming about her bed by the time they pulled up outside her apartment building, and as Kara sat on the idling bike, her visor flipped up, Lena unbuckled the helmet and handed it over.

            “I’ll see you later, if you decide to come in,” Lena said, giving Kara a slight smile.

            “Mhm, see you later,” Kara agreed.

            Nodding, Lena turned around, hesitated, and then turned around again. “Kara?”

            “Mhm?”

            “Thank you,” Lena said, and Kara’s eyes crinkled through the gap in her helmet, signifying her smile hidden behind the rest of her helmet. She knew that Lena wasn’t just thanking her for the ride home, but for her work today, and Lena hoped that Kara knew how grateful she was.

            “Lena?” Kara said as Lena made to turn around again. She raised her eyebrows expectantly at Kara, whose eyes crinkled at the corner’s again. “Get some sleep.”

Chapter Text

            It took a little over a month for Lena to make the right changes to the algorithm for her computer program. Kara provided help with the calculations and equations, but for the most part she just lounged around, watching Lena work and chatting nonstop about her life. She missed a few days to teach some extra classes at the university, and Lena was grateful for the silence whenever she did, but she was also extremely grateful for her help when she was here.

            Lena barely left the institute during that month, only leaving when she came to a block and decided that a quick nap and a shower might help her think clearly again. She’d run home, message Kara a quick update, avoid paperwork from the office and her mom’s phone calls, and be back at the institute a few hours later. Her lack of sleep made her crankier than she usually was, and she was glad that Kara didn’t come in every day, because Lena was sure that they would have argued a lot more than they did. Eventually though, she got a basic program running that could churn out results and have a cut-off time when providing results that weren’t P equals NP.

            Over the course of the month, Lena found herself feeling comfortable around Kara. Sometimes when they were both tired and snapping at each other, Kara would order them a pizza and drag them up to the roof, where they’d scream out all of their frustration and then eat pizza and sunbathe or watch the stars – depending on what time of day it was. Lena was surprise to find her guard coming down slightly, as she let small pieces of information slip out, or Kara would show up with a juice that she’d remembered that Lena liked, or a book that she thought would interest her. It was a little unsettling for Lena to have someone who kept track of these things, and actually made an effort to be nice and a part of Lena felt a bit guilty, because she’d done nothing but push Kara away – something which she was still doing at times. If Lena had to label their relationship, she’d say they were almost friends. Not quite, but almost.

            It was late on a Friday night when she finished coding, and letting out a sigh of relief, Lena pushed her chair away from her desk. She immediately stood up and stretched, grateful for a break from the chair and desk she’d confined herself to for the past four weeks. “I’m done.”

            “It’s working?” Kara asked, removing her feet from her desk and quickly standing up, hurrying around to Lena’s side of the desk and hunching over the computer.

            “It’s working,” Lena agreed, smiling slightly.

            “Yes!” Kara exclaimed, quickly picking Lena up and spinning her around, before remembering herself and setting her safely back on the floor. “Sorry about that.”

            Lena gave her a look that was part surprise and part amusement. “Um, it’s okay.”

            “We’re finally making some progress! I can’t believe you did it!”

            “We did it,” Lena corrected her, smiling slightly as she took off her glasses and rubbed her tired eyes. She’d done nothing but stare at a computer screen for the last three days.

            “We should celebrate!” Kara said excitedly. “Let’s get a drink!”

            “I think I might just go home and have a proper night’s sleep for the first time in forever,” Lena said, giving her a weary, apologetic smile.

            “Come on, just one drink,” Kara begged, giving Lena a hopeful look. “I’ll take you home myself, so I know that you actually do go home and sleep, and don’t just come straight back here. Just one drink though.”

            “Fine,” Lena sighed, caving in. “But only because you’re the reason behind out breakthrough. And I’m not getting on the back of your motorbike when you’ve had a drink – I barely trust it when you’re sober.”

            “Uber it is,” Kara grinned enthusiastically at her.

            They quickly packed up all of their stuff, shoving laptops and books into bags, zipping up coats and throwing their empty food containers into the bin. Walking out of the deserted building, they came out into the cold night air, and Lena shivered slightly as an icy wind took away some of her weariness.

            “Is it okay if I leave my bike at your place?” Kara asked, turning to face Lena as she kept walking over towards where it was parked.

            “Yeah, that’s fine,” Lena said. “Did you want to follow my car, or go on ahead and I’ll meet you there?”

            “Oh, I thought I was giving you a ride home,” Kara said, and Lena shrugged and started following after Kara, who smiled triumphantly, as if she’d just achieved something. Lena rolled her eyes at Kara’s back, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips as she trailed behind her and took the offered helmet off her.

---

            Within the hour they were climbing out of Lena’s private car, and Lena looked around for the bar that Kara had given her driver directions to. They seemed to be parked along a street full of a mixture of restaurants and café’s – but no places that were exclusively for drinking, and Lena frowned as she looked around.

            “This way,” Kara said, jerking her head towards a dark alleyway.

            Lena cast a wary look in its direction, slowly following after Kara. “Is this the part where you and some hired thugs beat me up in an alley and steal all of my research so you can publish it alone?”

            Kara snorted with laughter. “Don’t be silly; if I was going to steal your research, I’d wait until you’d finished it.”

            Lena let out a surprised laugh, following Kara into the shadows. Trying to to step in the puddles of a questionable liquid, Lena picked her way through trash bags, boxes and bins. There was a lonely looking door set into the exposed brick of a building, lit up by a small light. It didn’t exactly scream welcoming to Lena, but Kara seemed to know exactly where she was going, which suggested that she’d been here before, and Lena trusted her enough to know that it must be safe then.

            “My sister’s girlfriend introduced me to it,” Kara explained, shrugging slightly as she opened the door and waved Lena in ahead of her. Gingerly stepping inside, Lena was pleasantly surprised to find herself in a warm bar, that wasn’t nearly as dodgy as she’d been expecting – albeit a little dirty, but it was a bar after all.

            “Come here often?” Lena asked Kara, arching an eyebrow slightly.

            Kara smiled widely at her. “This is my go to place. I guess this is where I was before you hit me with your car.”

            “First of all, you hit my car, not the other way around,” Lena protested. “And now I’m rethinking coming out with you if you get in that kind of state just from coming to a little bar like this.”

            “Nothing crazy tonight, I promise,” Kara smiled at her. “Take a seat. I’ll get us some drinks.”

            “Do they have wine?” Lena asked, casting a hopeful look at the display of bottles behind the bar. Kara laughed, her eyes crinkling slightly as she looked at Lena with amusement.

            “You’d have better luck with a five-dollar bottle from the seven-eleven down the street,” Kara said, and Lena frowned slightly. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

            Leaving Kara to pick a drink out for her, Lena picked a shadowy booth in the back corner, away from the solitary drinkers lined up along the bar stools, and the pool tables, which were attracting a rowdy crowd. She wasn’t left alone long, and Kara came over with a bottle of beer for herself and a different bottle for Lena.

            “Strawberry and lime cider,” Kara proudly proclaimed, setting it down in front of Lena. “It’s sweeter than normal cider.”

            “Thanks,” Lena murmured, dubiously eyeing her bottle. She picked it up and took a small sip, surprising finding it quite nice, and definitely improving as she took another bigger sip.

            “It’s good, right?” Kara asked, giving Lena a warm smile before taking a sip of her own.

            “Surprisingly, yes,” Lena admitted.

            “Quick question,” Kara said slowly, waiting for Lena to protest, and when she didn’t, continued. “Have you ever gotten drunk before?”

            Lena let out a quiet laugh. “No. I’ve never had the time, or anyone to get drunk with, and if I’m being honest, never had the desire to anyway. Hangovers don’t exactly scream fun to me.”

            “Well they’re not, but it is fun when you’re drunk. Only if you’re a happy drunk though; some people can be real jerks, and then it’s a bit concerning,” Kara babbled. “I wonder which type you’d be.”

            “I think I’m already kind of an asshole when I’m sober, so I’m thinking that kind,” Lena said, giving Kara a wry smile.

            “I don’t think you are,” Kara said, sounding slightly defensive. “You’re just …”

            “Yes?” Lena pressed.

            “Better than everyone else, I guess. Most people think it’s a bad thing to admit it, but it’s not bad if you’re right. I don’t think it’s arrogant to say it either, but that’s just me. Especially because of our age. We kind of have to be slightly arrogant jerks for people to take us seriously,” Kara said, frowning slightly as she thought.

            “You’re not an asshole though,” Lena pointed out, taking another sip.

            “Oh yeah? What am I then?” Kara asked with interest, keen to hear what Lena had observed about her, what opinions she’d formed about her.

            “You’re … kind. Smart. Very observant. Talkative. Rational, yet creative. Warm and witty …” Lena trailed off, feeling her cheeks warm slightly as she listed a whole bunch of traits she’d picked up on. She might have tried her hardest to block out Kara, but she’d wriggled her way into Lena’s mind and made herself at home, taking root in Lena’s memory so that Lena could list a dozen random facts about her that she wasn’t even aware she knew until the need arose to bring them up.

            “It seems like I’m not the only observant one,” Kara said with a look of satisfaction as she sat back against the padded booth seat.

            Lena ducked her head down, feeling her cheeks flame as she brought the bottle back to her lips, mumbling around the rim of the mouth of it. “Yeah, well, being forced to listen to you talk constantly means that I know more about you than I’d like to.”

            Kara snorted, taking a sip of her own drink. “I don’t get you. You’re so insistent on being alone – don’t you ever get tired of pushing people away?”

            “Nope,” Lena said, giving Kara a dry smile. “Guess that’s part of my asshole personality.”

            “You’re lying,” Kara said, tilting her head to the side as she stared intently at Lena with slightly narrowed eyes.

            Lena bristled at that, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she gave Kara a hard look. “I’m not. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a liar.”

            “Well you don’t enjoy pushing people away, at any rate.”

            “You don’t know a damn thing about me,” Lena muttered, her defences rising at Kara’s comments.

            “Don’t I?” Kara said, cocking an eyebrow as she gave Lena a small smile. “Favourite colour; black. Favourite book; A Wrinkle In Time - the only book in your apartment that isn't about maths or computers. Favourite drink; kale, spinach and green apple juice, with a dash of lemon. Least favourite food; olives – you always pick them out of your salads.”

            Lena drained the rest of her drink and slid out of the booth, shoving an arm into her coat as she struggled to put it on. The muscles in her jaw were working as she muttered a curse, trying to shove her other arm through the sleeve, which was turned inside out.

            “You’re upset,” Kara commented, a flicker of surprise flashing across her face.

            “Thanks for the drink,” Lena tossed in her direction, not looking up as she rummaged through her bag for her phone so she could call her driver. Turning around, she set her sights on the door, and made towards it.

            “Wait! Lena, please. Don’t go,” Kara begged her in a small voice. Maybe it was the fact that she sounded so young, or the fact that Lena didn’t want to leave her here, but she turned around to face Kara, who was half out of her seat, looking guilty. “I’m sorry.”

            Immediately, all of Lena’s anger faded away and her shoulders sagged as she let out a slow breath. Shrugging out of her coat, she warily slid back into her booth, wondering why Kara was still trying so hard. “Why?”

            “I-I don’t want you to leave.”

            “Why?”

            “Because sometimes I feel alone too,” Kara said. “I’ve lived a normal life, I have friends, I have a loving family, but … sometimes I feel so alone. No one gets this. No one knows what it’s like to live inside my mind – to be a child genius, and have no one else your age to talk to about it. Sometimes I wish that I wasn’t born this way, that I could just be normal so that I could have a regular job and be able to talk about it with the people I care about. It’s lonely at the top.”

            Lena closed her eyes, sighing softly. “I’m sorry. I’ve been alone at the top my entire life. I don’t know what it’s like to have someone to share it with.”

            “I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable to have someone know things about you that you haven’t explicitly told them, but I can’t not notice these things. I’ve spent almost every day with you for three months, and I’m going to spend almost every day with you until we figure this thing out. Is that okay with you?” Kara said, hesitantly looking at Lena, and Lena realized that she was genuinely asking permission. She didn’t want to intrude on Lena’s personal life, and she would leave if Lena told her to, and Lena felt a strange feeling inside at that. Kara would put Lena’s own wants above their work.

            “Yes.”

            “Okay. I’ll try not to pry,” Kara said, still looking a little bit awkward, as if she was scared that Lena would rush off again. Lena nodded, rolling her empty bottle between her hands as she stared at the old ring stains dotting the table.

            “I need another drink.”

---

            “And then he tried telling me that I was wrong, and I was like, listen here asshole, I’m fucking right,” Lena said, pointing a finger at Kara, who was listening with rapt attention. They were both leant towards each other across the table, lost in their own bubble of conversation. “Check your fucking calculations again before you accuse me of being an idiot. Like I was twelve, I think I knew how to solve Fermat’s last theorem at that point. The grey bastard didn’t even have the audacity to admit I was right, he just packed his shit and quit. Apparently I was “too arrogant and stubborn to be taught” so my mom had to find a new tutor again.”

            “Twelve? You cracked Fermat’s last theorem at twelve? It took mathematicians three-hundred and fifty-eight years to find a solution for it,” Kara said with amazement.

            “Exactly. They already had the solution. I just had to repeat what they had already done, so it didn’t take very long,” Lena shrugged. “Pretty soon though I decided that I should get started on my own problems. I wanted to be like Wiles – I wanted to be the first person to solve a problem that no one else could.”

            “So that’s how you came to the Millennium Prize Problems, huh?”

            “Mhm. I chose P equals NP for obvious reasons. I thought that if I could prove that I was a computer genius too, which I think I already have in my opinion, then my mom would think I was as smart as my brother,” Lena said, frowning as she sipped at her drink and found it empty. “Oh. Another round?”

            “Sure!” Kara said, giving her a dopey smile as she drained the rest of hers.

            Lena shuffled towards the bar, putting in an order for more drinks, before returning to her corner with Kara.

            “Anyway, so my brother – a complete fucking asshole. If my tutor thought I was arrogant, he should’ve worked with Lex. Clearly he wasn’t smart enough to know how to hack properly though - fucking idiot. You’d think for someone as smart as him, he wouldn’t get caught stealing funds and then killing the employees who caught him red handed. What a dumbass.”

            “Oh,” Kara quietly exclaimed as Lena rambled on about her brother. She’d never willingly spoken about Lex before, and Kara was a little concerned with the fact that she was drunkenly spilling her guts out to Kara – especially after her reaction earlier on. Scrambling for a new topic, Kara quickly changed the subject. “Um, so what other projects did you work on before you got involved with this one?”

            “Wha- oh, um, I did a little on three dimensional vector modeling for computer programming. Building software and writing computational theories that could input the calculations and map the models using the software,” Lena explained.

            “That sounds really cool. We had programs like that at NASA, but I was never really involved in any of that. Mine was all with the aeronautics and space programs. Calculating trajectories, launch windows, flight paths – all the stuff that sends things into space and keeps them on course. It was more of a team project though – this is the first time I’ve done something with only one other person.”

            “Your mom must be proud of you,” Lena murmured.

            Kara smiled, and Lena could see all the love she held for her mom in it. “Yeah, she is. Eliza is very supportive of myself and Alex.

            “Must be nice,” Lena said, almost sounding wistful as she looked up at the barman, who set their drinks down in front of them.

            “Sorry,” Kara murmured. “Sometimes I forget that parents aren’t always what’s best for their kids. I guess I got lucky, twice.”

            “And I was unlucky, twice,” Lena laughed bitterly, taking a swig of her drink – they’d moved onto cocktails, and they were about halfway through the list of the ones the bar was offering.

            “Twice?” Kara echoed, frowning slightly.

            “Yes, twice. My mom, Lillian, she, uh, well she’d technically my step-mom. Didn’t find that one out until I was sixteen, so that was fun. I always thought I was just adopted, but it turned out that my dad is my dad,” Lena explained, a dark look crossing her face as she spoke.

            “You didn’t tell me you were adopted,” Kara whispered. To be fair, Lena hadn’t told her anything, but Kara figured that that was a pretty important thing to tell someone, and a part of her felt hurt by the fact that Lena knew that she was adopted, and still didn’t tell her. It was something that made Kara feel closer to her, and she suspected that that was exactly the reason why Lena had withheld the information.

            “Didn’t seem relevant to the maths,” Lena said with a wry smile, using her usual excuse. “It doesn’t change anything either; Lillian is still my mom. The only mom I have any memory of. Doesn’t matter if she’s my mom through adoption, marriage, blood – she’s still my mom.”

            A million questions flickered across Kara’s face, and Lena smiled as she watched her silently struggle with holding them in. She half-expected an endless stream of them to pour out of her mouth, but Kara remained mute, taking another sip of her drink to busy her mouth.

            “If you want to ask something, ask it now. I’ll probably be back to my usual sullen self this time tomorrow. Better not waste your time,” Lena laughed.

            “That’s why I’m not asking,” Kara said with a small smile. “I respect you too much to manipulate you into sharing your private life, which you’ve made such an effort to hide.”

            Lena snorted. “How gallant of you. Although if you’d just do a damn google search you’d save yourself so much time. There’s a lot of shit on me. Nothing too personal of course; a magician never reveals all of her secrets.”

            “Magician? What, are you a maths wizard?” Kara laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

            “Maths wizard,” Lena laughed, “I like it. It’s sounds more interesting and less nerdy.”

            “Less nerdy?” Kara asked, with a laugh. “Since when have wizards been cool?”

            “Since always,” Lena insisted. “Harry Potter. Merlin. Sparrowhawk. Houdini. Not that I have enough time to be a fantasy buff with all the research and running a company thing, but still.”

            “How’s the business doing?” Kara asked – she always forgot that Lena actually made her money through her family’s company, rather than her research.

            Lena laughed. “I have seven missed calls and three angry voicemails off my mom from today because I’ve been slacking off with my paperwork to get the program running properly. I don’t see why it matters anyway, she does over half of the work for the company. I’m more of a figurehead, so that she can prove that she has one good child.”

            “I’m sure that’s not why,” Kara assured her, and Lena gave her a grateful smile, even though she knew that it was the reason why, because Lillian had literally forced Lena into the role for good publicity.

            “Oh, it is. No mistake about it. I don’t mind though – for the most part I just develop and review projects, give permission for the release of tech and go over things relating to that actual maths. I leave all the meetings up to my mom – that’s more her area than mine,” Lena explained. “Still, it’s more fuss than I can be bothered with half of the time. I don’t understand why she doesn’t just take it over herself.”

            “Maybe she knows that you’re what’s best for the company,” Kara said, shrugging as she drained her glass.

            Lena snorted, shaking her head as she fiddled with her straw. “No, that’s not it. I’m not what’s best for anything.”

            “Hey, don’t do that,” Kara softly, but firmly ordered her, reaching out to still Lena’s hand as it twirled the straw around. Looking up, Lena pulled her hand back, giving Kara a quizzical look. “You’re not the person you think she thinks you are. I don’t know enough to comment on it, but I don’t believe that she sees anything bad in you. There’s nothing bad for her to see.”

            Draining her glass, Lena put it down on the table was a small clink. She ran her fingers over the wood-grain pattern of the table top as she sat there silently for a moment. Kara’s gaze burned into the top of Lena’s head, and she looked up to meet those blue eyes.

            “I think it’s time to go.”

            Slipping out of the booth, Lena clumsily shrugged her coat on and picked up her bag. Stumbling slightly, she let out a burst of laughter, louder than Kara had ever heard her laugh before, and then Kara was next to her, a gentle hand under Lena’s elbow to keep her steady. Looking up, Lena was taken aback by how close Kara was, and she smiled hesitantly as she took in the look of badly concealed look of amusement.

            “You good?”

            “Fantastic,” Lena said, slurring her words slightly as she made for the door. Kara shook with silent laughter as she guided Lena outside, making sure she didn’t fall, and flagged down the first cab they saw. Lena flopped down on the back seat, and Kara slid in beside her, reaching over to buckle Lena’s seatbelt for her. She was out cold by the time the driver was pulling out into traffic, asking for directions. Kara hesitated, looking at Lena and frowning as she tried to think of Lena’s address – she didn’t know where she lived, she just knew how to get there from the institute.

            Instead, they went to Kara’s apartment, which was considerably smaller than Lena’s, and a lot more homely, with books and photo frames strewn around the apartment and pillows decorating the sofa. Propping Lena up next to the door, Kara unlocked it and then looped Lena’s arm around her shoulder, feeling relieved that Lena was smaller than her – it crossed her mind that Lena had probably struggled a lot more to get her up to her apartment when Kara had passed out in her car. Kara started laughing at the thought, feeling dizzy from the amount she’d drunk too, and half stumbled as she led Lena over to the sofa.

            “Mmm,” Lena mumbled, her eyes slowly blinking open as she frowned at Kara, who was tugging her shoes off for her.

            “I think you might have a hangover tomorrow,” Kara quietly laughed, helping Lena sit up so that she could drag her coat off. Lena joined in with her laughter, before collapsing back against the pillows on the sofa as she passed out again. Kara grinned as she arranged Lena into what she imagined was a comfortable position, and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch to drape over her. "Goodnight."

            Stumbling through the dark, Kara stripped off her clothes and slipped into some pyjamas, before collapsing into bed. Lena was already in a deep sleep by the time Kara drifted off, all of the sleepless nights catching up to her, accompanied by the effects of the alcohol. Kara was right – she was going to have a hangover tomorrow.

Chapter Text

            Lena slowly opened her eyes, wincing as the sharp sunlight hurt her eyes. With a groan, she sat upright, looking around in confusion – this wasn’t her apartment. The room was spinning slightly as she took in the comfortable, yet messily organized apartment. She knew instantly that it was Kara’s place – the room seemed to scream her, from the haphazard piles of maths books, to the thick blanket the pooled around Lena’s waist as she sat up.

            “Good morning, sleepyhead!” Kara chirped from the kitchen, and Lena glared in her direction, taking in the slightly disheveled pyjamas and the wild bed hair. “Oh, sorry! Bad hangover?”

            “Why the fuck would you drink all the time if this is how you feel?” Lena grumbled, running a hand through her hair as she fought back the wave of nausea that overcame her.

            “It’s fun the night before, it kind of makes you forget that it’ll suck in the morning,” Kara smiled.

            Lena snorted, frowning as she rubbed her temples and stood up. “I doubt that. I'm never drinking again."

            Kara laughed. "That's what I say every time."

            "Why am I at your place?”

            “I couldn’t remember where you lived,” Kara smiled at her.

            “Oh,” Lena mumbled. “What time is it?”

            Kara glanced down at the watch on her wrist. “It’s five past twelve.”

            “Well, I guess I’ll be going then.”

            Kara smiled at her. “I’m just making us breakfast and then I’ll get ready and come with you so I can get my bike from your place. How would you like your eggs?” Kara asked, pouring Lena a glass of orange juice and walking over with two pills for her.

            “Scrambled please,” Lena mumbled, deciding that it would be easier to just agree to eat breakfast with her than to try and argue - Kara would win in the end. Folding the blanket and tidying up the pillows, Lena walked over to the kitchen to see if she could help. Kara made her sit down, and Lena gratefully obeyed, feeling like she must be looking a little green.

            “Here we go!” Kara proclaimed, setting a plate down in front of Lena, who muttered her thanks.

            Sitting down with her own plate, Kara started chatting and Lena bit back a groan at the incessant chatter. “Do you ever stop talking?” she snapped, after another five minutes of listening to Kara talk.

            “Sometimes,” Kara laughed, not taking Lena’s irritation seriously. “I guess you’re not really a morning person though.”

            Lena shot her a dark look. “I don’t think I’m ever a person.”

            “You’re right,” Kara said, giving her a sly grin. “You’re more of a math wizard.”

            Lena felt her face flush red with embarrassment at Kara’s teasing, and she scowled as she scooped up some of her eggs and took a bite. She was silent for the rest of breakfast, but it didn’t deter Kara, who skimmed over their evening, which Lena vividly remembered despite the amount that she’d had to drink. She was a bit embarrassed at the amount of over sharing she’d done too, and as she set her knife and fork down, she looked at Kara thoughtfully.

            “What is it?” Kara asked.

            “You, uh, you tried to stop me from telling you anything personal,” Lena muttered. “So, um, thank you.”

            “I didn’t think you’d be too happy about spilling your guts to me once you’d sobered up,” Kara shrugged, giving her a small smile. “It’s what anyone would do.”

            “Is it? I’ve never had a friend before, so I’m not so sure.”

            “Wait … did you just call me your friend?” Kara asked incredulously, a wide smile growing on her face.

            “Whatever,” Lena sighed, rolling her eyes. “And I guess drunk me has a different agenda.”

            “I’m not even sure what that agenda was. You were just really excited about math for the most part – not the excited about math part, but just the fact that you were excited in general.” Lena snorted, rolling her eyes as she gave Kara an unimpressed look.

            Laughing, Kara picked up their plates, waving away Lena’s protests as she tried to help clean up after breakfast. Instead, Kara grabbed a tub out of the cupboard and mixed it into a glass of water before nudging it across the kitchen counter to where Lena sat perched on a stool.

            “I don’t drink sports drinks,” Lena said, wrinkling her nose at the electric blue liquid in the plastic bottle.

            “You might want to today,” Kara told her. “It’ll help replenish your electrolytes. You’re looking a little rough – no offence.”

            “Yeah, well, that’s the last time I listen to one of your suggestions,” Lena grumbled, and Kara laughed as she watched Lena take a sip of the drink.

            “I’ll get ready and then we can go,” Kara told her, heading towards her bedroom. She hesitated in the doorway casting a backwards glance over her shoulder. “Drink up.”

---

            They caught a cab back to Lena’s apartment and Kara followed her upstairs to wait for Lena to get ready. Lena opened the front door, fighting back the rising feeling of sickness as she walked inside. She couldn’t hold it back long though – just long enough for her to make it to the kitchen sink. And then Kara was there, gently brushing Lena’s hair out of her face and holding it back for her.

            Lena flinched at the feeling of Kara’s warm fingers brushing the back of her neck, a wave of embarrassment sweeping over her as she jerked out of Kara’s reach. “I’m fine,” Lena muttered, ducking her head as she wiped her mouth on a dish towel.

            “Looks like the office is out of the question,” Kara said, giving Lena a grim smile.

            Lena snorted, rolling her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be back in a moment. Make yourself comfortable.”

            Stalking off to her bedroom, Lena stripped off yesterday’s clothes and stepped into the shower. The hot water didn’t help much – instead the steam made her feel hot and bothered, and a bit more sickly. Wrapping herself in a towel, Lena quickly brushed her teeth and wandered back into her room to find something to wear.

            “Fuck it,” Lena murmured, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of casual jeans and slipping them on. Kara was right – today she’d have to work from home.

Shuffling out of her bedroom, Lena made her way back into the main area, and Kara’s eyes widened at the sight of Lena in casual clothes. “Hey, um, so I think I’ll just work from home today, if you don’t mind.”

            “Not at all,” Kara quickly reassured her. “I have all my stuff anyway so we can just set things up here.”

            “Oh, you’re going to stay?” Lena asked with surprise.

            Kara blinked, an uncertain look on her face as she sat cross-legged on the couch. “Di-did you not want me to?”

            “No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t sure whether you were just going to go into the office without me,” Lena said.

            “The office without you? That’d just be weird. If I hadn’t woken up on your couch the first time I met you I would swear that you were living at the institute. You spend more time there than you do here,” Kara joked, and Lena gave her an exasperated look.

            “Can I get you something to drink?”

            “Water, please,” Kara said, and Lena smiled slightly. She wasn’t the only one nursing a hangover this morning – even if Kara wasn’t showing it quite as much.

              Getting them both some water, and grabbing her laptop and books, Lena sat down on the floor in front of her sofa, spreading her stuff out around her. They sat there going over the program while Lena made a few tweaks to the code, trying to fine tune it now that she had it running.

            “So, I was thinking last night, before I went to sleep, and I had an idea for what to try next,” Kara started.

            “How the fuck could you even think about math when we got home last night,” Lena grumbled, frowning at Kara over the top of her glasses.

            Kara laughed, stretching out along Lena’s sofa as she stared up at the ceiling. “I told you before, I get creative when I drink.”

            Lena snorted. “Yeah, I remember. I just thought you were using it as a shitty excuse to go out and party all the time.”

            “I’m well aware of what you thought of me, but I’m not the party girl you make me out to be,” Kara said, turning her head to give Lena a quick glimpse of a smile. “And it wasn’t an excuse – I genuinely do have good ideas when I drink. Plus, I don’t need an excuse to drink; I do when I want to and don’t when I don’t want to. Easy.”

            “Fair enough,” Lena murmured. “Let’s hear it then.”

            “Two words; Cobham’s thesis.”

            “I’m familiar with it,” Lena said. “So what?”

            “Well if we can use his work on computational complexity, we might be able to figure out where he went wrong with polynomial time. He mostly up with the practical application of it, so if we can use the algorithm for the program you just coded, we might be able to see where the error is,” Kara explained.

            “Yeah, that’s good. We really need to focus on the runtime of it in practice,” Lena agreed.

            Kara smiled brightly. “Great! Let’s get started.”

---

            They worked for a few hours, talking as they pored over all the research they could pull up on Cobham’s theory. It was slow-going, but eventually they found a place to start, and Lena was amazed at how much progress they made, considering the fact that they were both nursing hangovers. They worked until the sun started to set, and only then did they pause, their stomach’s quietly rumbling as they put down their books and rubbed their tired eyes.

            “Dinner time?” Lena asked Kara, who perked up slightly at the thought of food.

            “How about noodles?” Kara asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Lena shrugged indifferently, and Kara smiled as she dialed the number for her favourite takeaway restaurant to place an order.

            Twenty minutes later they were both sat on the floor – Lena didn’t own a dinner table, at least not in this apartment – and Kara’s laptop was playing some TED talk about math to fill the silence. Her phone vibrated on the floor next to her, and Lena watched as a wide smile spread across Kara’s face as she read whatever the notification was for.

            Looking up, Kara caught Lena staring at her, and held up her phone as she spoke. “Got my pass for the annual Central City Math Conference,” Kara explained, and Lena snorted, rolling her eyes slightly.

            “Oh, that,” Lena said, her thoughts on the matter evident in her tone.

            “I already figured you wouldn’t approve, because I’ve never seen you at one before – and trust me, I would remember seeing you there,” Kara said.

            Lena frowned slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “That it’s mostly old men - maybe a few old women - and then a couple of younger nerds. I’ve always been the youngest one there since I started to go. There was really only one guy who was pretty close to my age, and he’s only been going for the past two years,” Kara explained, shrugging slightly. “You should come this year!”

            “Uh, no thanks,” Lena snorted. “All those things are is a place for people to listen to your ideas and then poach them.”

            “It’s not!” Kara argued. “Knowledge should be shared anyway – that’s the whole point in finding out the answer and writing papers for it. Besides, they can’t just steal your stuff, that’s not how it works.”

            Lena scoffed. “At any rate, it’s ridiculous.”

            “Have you ever been to one?” Kara asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

            Hesitating slightly, Lena grimaced at her. “Well, no, but that’s besides the point.”

            “Just come with me, please,” Kara begged, giving Lena a pleading look.

            “I literally told you earlier that I would never listen to your advice ever again, so I’m going to have to pass,” Lena laughed.

            Kara gave her an exasperated look. “A math conference isn’t going to get rowdy, Lena. It’s just three days with some of the best minds in the industry.”

            “I’m the best mind in the industry, and you too I guess,” Lena said. “We don’t need to go.”

            “But it’s fun! You get to meet so many people, and there’s so many new different ideas. If you really want to, we can even poach ideas off other people,” Kara insisted.

            Lena rolled her eyes, biting back a smile. “Fine. I’ll come. We’re not talking about our research at all though. You understand me?”

            “Not a word,” Kara promised, and Lena narrowed her eyes slightly, knowing how Kara liked to get carried away with her talking. “I promise!” Kara assured her, smiling innocently at Lena as she took in the suspicious look.

            "Alright then," Lena hesitantly agreed, "when is it?"

            "In a month."

Chapter Text

            Lena regretted her decision to go to the conference almost instantly. The minute that Kara started frantically planning everything, Lena knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get her to shut up about it, and on top of that, she had to actually go to the conference too. In a fit of generosity, Lena offered to fly them to Central City in her private jet, telling herself that it was just so that Kara would stop prattling on about airfares and whether she should book an aisle seat or a window seat.

            All too soon, the conference came around, and Lena found herself sat opposite Kara, almost forty-thousand feet in the air. They were halfway to Central City, and Lena had been surprised when Kara had slipped an eye mask on and settled back into her seat and fallen asleep. She’d been anticipating four hours of non-stop excited chatter about the conference and everyone going – and Lena found herself at a loss as she watched Kara sleep. In the end she’d pulled her laptop out and quietly worked, plugging in some earphones and listening to one of Kara’s lectures on astrophysics to fill the void of silence.

            It wasn’t until they were getting ready to descend that Kara woke up, slipping off the mask and giving Lena an excited smile. They made small talk about the darkness descending outside the tiny windows as the sun set, and about the conference that started tomorrow morning. They were off the plane half an hour later, climbing into a waiting car that Lena had arranged to take them to the hotel.

            The drive to the hotel was quiet, and they were soon pulling up outside it and a valet was opening the door for Lena. Their luggage was taken for them, and Kara smiled brightly at Lena as they walked into the hotel, ignoring the strange looks that they were getting from some of the elderly men milling around the lobby.

            “Hi! We’re here for the conference tomorrow, we have a booking under Luthor and Danvers,” Kara smiled brightly at the woman behind the counter.

            “Of course, miss,” the woman smiled, typing away at her keyboard. “Aha, yes, here it is. One executive suite for four nights, correct?”

            “Two,” Lena corrected her.

            “Sorry, miss, but there’s only one booking for a Miss Luthor-Danvers,” the woman said, a slight crease forming between her eyebrows as she stared at her computer screen.

            “Oh! Sorry, it’s Luthor and Danvers. Two of us,” Kara told her with a smile, gesturing from herself to Lena. “We’re here together, but not together together. Sorry for the mix up. If it’s not too much trouble, we’d love two executive suites.”

            “I’m sorry, ma’am, we’re all booked out for the conference. We don’t have a room to spare,” the woman explained, giving them an apologetic look.

            “All of them?” Kara exclaimed. “Damn. Um, well is there anyway we could switch with someone else so we can get a room with two beds?”

            “I’m afraid I can’t do that, miss. Unless there’s a cancellation, I can’t change other people’s bookings.”

            Kara gave Lena an uncertain look. “Um, if you want, you can take the room and I’ll try and book in at another hotel.”

            “Sorry, miss, there’s a lot of people in town for the conference and you’d be hard pressed to find a free room within a five-mile radius.”

            Lena hesitated for a second, before pulling out her credit card and handing it to the woman. “We’ll figure it out.”

            “Of course, ma’am. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience,” the woman apologized, and Kara waved away her concerns with a warm smile. They both held keycards to the room as they carried their satchels over to the elevator.

            Their room was high up, and they were silent in the elevator as they made their way up. As the doors slid open, they stepped out and found their door, opening it to reveal a spacious room dominated by a large bed.

            “Well, this is going to be … cozy,” Kara said as they both stood in the doorway.

            Lena scoffed, walking in and dumping her bag down on the table. The bellhop appeared and brought in their other bags a moment later, and Lena slid him a couple of notes in thanks. Shrugging her coat off and hanging it up next to the door, Lena sighed.

            “I’ll take the sofa,” she told Kara, unzipping her bag and pulling out some pyjamas and a bag of toiletries.

            “No, no; you just paid for the room – you take the bed,” Kara argued.

            “I don’t plan on doing much sleeping,” Lena told her.

            Kara gave her a small smile. “Planning on having a wild weekend?”

            “If by wild you mean that I’m going to stick to my usual routine of mathing it up all weekend, then yes,” Lena snorted. “I’m going to take a shower.”

            Walking it into the bathroom, Lena set her pyjamas down and slid shut the door, sighing as she realized that there was no lock - this room wasn’t made for two people who weren’t at least dating. Stripping off her clothes, Lena turned on the hot water and slipped under it, washing away the weariness of the flight here and letting some of the tension fade away as she was left alone.

            It didn’t last long.

            The sound of the bathroom door being slid open reached Lena’s ears over the sound of the running water, and she frowned as she looked towards where the door was. “Hey, did they give us the wifi password?”

            “Kara, what the fuck! Get out, I’m trying to shower,” Lena yelled, spluttering as she almost slipped in the shower as she looked around for something to cover herself with.

            “Relax, Lena, it’s just me – besides, I can’t see anything through the fogged up glass anyway. Now, did they give us a wifi password?”

            “Jesus fucking Christ,” Lena muttered. “It’s in the book with all the info and the menu. Now can you please shut the door and let me shower!”

            “Sorry! Enjoy your shower! I’ll order us some room service!”

            Lena grumbled intelligibly as she rinsed herself off and wrapped herself in a towel. Five minutes later she was dressed in her pyjamas, with one of the hotel’s robes tied at the waist. She emerged from the bathroom with a dark look on her face, trying not to blush as she avoided Kara’s gaze.

            “Are you mad at me?” Kara asked, sounding almost surprised.

            “I don’t appreciate you just barging in on me showering, Kara,” Lena mumbled, pulling out her laptop and setting it up on the table.

            “Sorry, I didn’t realize it would make you uncomfortable,” Kara apologized.

            “You didn’t realize? What part of a closed door means come right on in? I’m surprised you didn’t try to fucking join me in the shower,” Lena said, rolling her eyes at Kara.

            “I’m sorry!” Kara exclaimed. “I won’t do it again! Sometimes I forget that not everyone is like me. I know I’m a little bit too forward sometimes, and that not everyone is as open as I am.”

            “It’s fine,” Lena sighed, rolling her eyes again.

            Kara hesitated for a moment, perching on the sofa as she waited to see if Lena was going to snap at her. “So, um, I ordered pizza.”

            “Great,” Lena murmured, opening up the research so that she could get to work.

            “You know, you could not do any work for a few days and just enjoy yourself,” Kara suggested as she watched Lena slip on her reading glasses. Looking over the rim of them, Lena gave her an exasperated look.

            “I’m not here to enjoy myself,” Lena told her, and Kara frowned slightly.

            “Come on, Lena. We’re in a different city for the next few days. We’re going to learn all sorts of math and meet so many cool people. Are you really going to skulk around and lock yourself in the room like a hermit?”

            “Yes,” Lena murmured, her eyes flashing back and forth as she read over the last part that she’d written. “Did you say that k and c are constants independent of the input string? Or did I say they were dependent?”

            “Independent,” Kara replied. “And if you’re not going to have fun, why are you here?”

            “Because you asked me to come,” Lena bluntly replied.

            Kara blinked, sitting in silence for a moment. “Oh. I thought you weren’t listening to my suggestions anymore.”

            “I believe you promised old people,” Lena laughed as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

            “True, but you should see some of them. There’s this one guy, Stein, and he can probably drink us both under the table. It’s not as nerdy as you’d think for a bunch of geniuses,” Kara laughed.

            “I’m still feeling nauseous from the last time you got me drunk,” Lena grumbled.

            Kara laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I guess you can just drink lemon water or one of those weird juices while the rest of us go on a three day bender.”

            “Sounds good to me,” Lena murmured.

---

            They ate pizza and watched one of the movies that was showing on TV – Kara’s pick – and Lena occasionally interrupted to ask Kara’s opinion on some part of the research. It wasn’t until midnight that Kara got up off the sofa, stretching and letting out a tired groan.

            “Time for bed. Big day tomorrow,” she smiled excitedly at Lena.

            “Fine,” Lena murmured, saving her work and powering off her laptop - she didn’t want to keep Kara awake by the sound of her typing and the light from her screen.

            “You don’t have to go to sleep because I am,” Kara told her, slipping off the hotel robe and pulling back the covers.

            “It’s fine. I haven’t slept in forty hours anyway, and you’re right – big day tomorrow,” Lena told her. “Um, do you mind if I pinch some pillows off the bed?”

            Kara grabbed a couple and threw Lena a guilty look. “Are you sure you don’t want to switch? I don’t want you throwing your back out.”

            “I’ve literally fallen asleep in the chair at my desk more times than I can count, so a sofa is more comfortable than I’m used to,” Lena snorted.

            “Okay,” Kara murmured, looking a bit uneasy as she pulled back the covers. She climbed into bed and sat upright as she watched Lena pack away her belongings and pull out her clothes for tomorrow morning – pottering around the room until everything was prepared and she’d made a little bed up on the sofa.

            “Okay, goodnight,” Lena said, switching the lights off and carefully maneuvering through the room and over to the sofa. She fell onto her makeshift bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin, slipping her mouth guard to stop herself from grinding her teeth. She’d had bad anxiety as a child, and she still bit her nails and ground her teeth when she was really stressed – which with her fruitless search for the answer to her problem, was a lot of the time.

            “Goodnight,” Kara quietly replied, the sheets rustling as she turned in bed to make herself comfortable. Lena closed her eyes, trying to let sleep quickly take her as she listened to Kara settle down. It was quiet for a few minutes, but then Kara’s quiet whisper disturbed her.

            “Lena,” she whispered. “Um, the bed is really big. Y-you can, uh, you can fit too, if you’d like.”

            “The sofa is fine,” Lena murmured.

            “Are you sure? We can probably stretch out and still not touch each other,” Kara said, and Lena was silent as she deliberated for a moment. With a quiet sigh she threw the blankets off and grabbed her pillows.

            “Which side are you on?” Lena hissed, groping the edge of the bed as she felt her way to the top.

            “This side,” Kara said, her closeness slightly startling Lena. “I’ll move over.”

            The mattress groaned as Kara rolled over, and Lena handed her the pillows before climbing into bed next to her. Facing away from Kara, Lena closed her eyes and tried to distract herself from the quiet breathing coming from beside her. Kara was right – the bed was big enough for the two of them to sleep side by side, but Lena felt nervous at how close Kara was. She wasn’t sure why she felt nervous – perhaps it was just the fact that she’d never slept in the same bed as someone else before, or the same room even. It felt intimate, and Lena wasn't sure how she felt about the unfamiliar feeling.

            “Goodnight,” Kara whispered.

            “Yeah, goodnight,” Lena murmured.

---

            Lena shot upright in bed at the sound of a blaring alarm, grumbling slightly as she struggled to kick the blankets off her. Muffling a yawn, she turned to look at Kara, who was rubbing her tired eyes as she sat up. She smiled as she caught Lena watching her.

            “Morning! Ready for the big day?” Kara cheerfully sang, climbing out of bed with more energy than Lena thought people should be allowed to have in the morning. Mumbling something intelligible, Lena climbed out of bed and checked the time.

            “Six o’clock? Really? Excited are you?” Lena grumbled.

            “Just a tad,” Kara beamed at her; she seemed especially chipper this morning. “I’m going to shower while you wake up properly or do whatever it is you do in the morning.”

            “Knock yourself out,” Lena told her, climbing back into bed and listening to one of the voicemails Lillian had left her, reminding her about the board meeting next month. Tossing her phone aside, Lena picked up the menu to order some breakfast, and she smiled slightly as she heard the water turn on.

            She quietly slid the bathroom door open and took a deep breath. “I’M ORDERING PANCAKES.”

            Lena laughed as she listened to the sound of bottles being knocked over, and the muffled cursing coming from Kara as she elbowed the glass door in an attempt to stay on her feet. A smile of amusement on her face, Lena smugly walked back into their room and went to order their breakfast, satisfied with her revenge on Kara walking in on her yesterday.

            Sat at the table, the newspaper in hand and a strawberry speared on her fork, Lena smirked as Kara walked out fully clothed, shooting Lena an unimpressed look. “How was your shower?” Lena asked, her smile growing slightly.

            “Very funny,” Kara said, rolling her eyes as she blushed slightly. Dropping into the seat opposite Lena, she pulled her own plate of pancakes towards her and started cutting up a pancake.

            “Coffee? Or do you want juice? I ordered both – I wasn’t sure what you felt like,” Lena said.

            “I only like lat-“

            “Lattes, I know,” Lena said, nudging the cup towards her. “Caramel syrup and one sugar. The orange juice also has no pulp so I won't have to hear you complain about bits in it for fifteen minutes.”

            “Oh, thanks,” Kara said, tilting her head to the side as she curiously looked at Lena.

            “What?” Lena said, arching an eyebrow as she looked up from the newspaper.

            Kara shrugged slightly. “You remembered.”

            “I’m a genius, Kara. I have a photographic memory, and it’s near perfect regardless of that,” Lena said. “I might not be the most caring person but I’m not unobservant.”

            “I know,” Kara murmured, taking a sip of her coffee.

            “The conference starts at eight, right?” Lena checked, and Kara nodded. “Okay. I’ll get dressed and we can go down early so we’re there when it starts.”

            Kara smiled brightly at her, and Lena gave her a small smile in return. It was so easy to please Kara – she had a habit of making every small kindness seem like Lena was giving her the whole world.

---

            They wore lanyards around their necks as they walked around the conference rooms in the lower levels of the hotel. There were dozens of talks going on at the same time, and the rooms and hallways were full of listeners or people milling around talking and catching up.

            “This is more like a convention than anything else,” Lena muttered, taking in the sight of the tables set up with brochures for studies or new algorithms.

            “It’s fun isn’t it!” Kara beamed at her, walking over to the nearest booth and picking up a handful of flyers. “Look, Lena! Zeta functions!”

            “Yes, I heard that Fesenko is still working on the Riemann hypothesis,” Lena murmured, taking the booklet off Kara. “Do you want to catch this talk?”

            “Mhm, I’d love to hear more about it. There’s nothing better than pure math,” Kara smiled. “I do love my physics though. Oh, look!”

            Kara darted off towards another stall, and Lena smiled slightly as she shook her head, her eyes skimming over the pages. She trailed after the sound of Kara’s excited babbling, looking up to see her talking to someone else.

            “This is my partner, Lena,” Kara said, motioning to Lena as she warily sidled up to Kara and the older woman.

            “Miss Luthor, how are you?” the woman asked, shaking Lena’s hand. “I didn’t know that you were … that you had a partner. How long have you been together?”

            “About six months now, right?” Kara answered, looking at Lena for confirmation. With a quick nod, Lena felt her cheeks warm slightly.

            “Miss Grant,” Lena said, “how’s the Navier-Stokes Equation coming along?”

            “Good, I think. It won’t be long now, perhaps another few years. And how’s your little problem?”

            “Well enough,” Lena told her, with a smug smile. “Always a pleasure, Miss Grant.”

            Lena grabbed Kara by the arm and quickly dragged her away, almost bumping into someone in her hurry. “Excuse me,” Lena muttered.

            “Oh, Lena. Hi,” the man said. “I didn’t expect to see you at one of these. Didn’t you always hate them?”

            “You two know each other?” Kara asked, blinking in surprise as she looked at Lena.

            “This is Jack Spheer – he’s working on the P versus NP problem too,” Lena explained, making a quick introduction. “This is Kara Danvers.”

            “I’m Lena’s partner,” Kara smiled at him, holding a hand out.

            “Partner. Oh, well, I guess that explains why you would never … well, anyway. How’s the research coming along?”

            “Fine. How’s yours?” Lena asked, her tone stiff.

            “I think I’m almost there. Only five years in too. Jealous?” Jack teased, and Lena scowled.

            Kara crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah, bit of a late start don’t you think? Well, I guess we can’t all be child geniuses; we won’t hold it against you though.”

            Lena bit back a smile as Kara rushed to her defence. With a nod, Lena grabbed Kara’s arm and dragged her away again, leaning in close to her. “Stop telling people we’re partners,” Lena hissed, hurrying them away from Jack.

            “Why? We are,” Kara said, frowning in confusion as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

            “Yes, we’re co-workers. Colleagues. Math associates. Any one of those,” Lena told her.

            “Yeah, partners,” Kara said, looking puzzled as to why Lena was making such a fuss about terminology.

            Lena rolled her eyes. “They think we’re dating, Kara.”

            “Oh. Oh,” Kara said, her eyes widening slightly. “Right. Got it. I wondered where he was going with the whole us being partners – excuse me, math associates – explains whatever he was about to say about you never doing something. Oh. Oh, never doing him.”

            Blushing slightly, Lena looked down at her hands as she fiddled with them. “He’s the only other person my age that I’ve ever met in relation to my work. He … well, asked me out a few times, so now he thinks that I rejected him because I don’t like men.”

            “Oh god, and Cat Grant’s emphasis on partner – I’m such an idiot,” Kara said, giving Lena a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how it sounded.”

            Lena snorted, rolling her eyes. “Right. Name one context where saying we’ve been together for six months sounds like we’re not dating.”

            “Hm, you have a point there, there is a slight connotation behind it,” Kara agreed. “Well, I guess math won’t be the only thing they’re gossiping about today.”

            “Very funny, Kara,” Lena said, smiling despite herself. “Right, the talk on Zeta functions is about to start. Come on, we’d better make sure we get some good seats.”

Chapter Text

            They ordered room service again when Lena said she didn’t want to go out for dinner, and Kara had a sneaking suspicion that she was avoiding Jack. Instead of going out for dinner alone, she decided to stay in and keep Lena company, watching a movie while Lena did some paperwork for her business when Kara stubbornly put her foot down and wouldn’t let her do any research for the rest of the weekend.

            Kara seemed to think they were having a three-day slumber party, buying snacks at the nearest convenience store and facemasks for them to wear while they watched their movies. Lena gave in with minimal arguing, realizing that Kara wouldn’t give up without a fight, and impatiently let Kara dab the facemask on her face and paint her nails black. Lena had nothing to compare it to – no friends, no sisters, not even with her mom – and she was unsure how things were supposed to go, especially considering that fact that they weren’t teenagers anymore. When it was time for bed, Lena didn’t even hesitate when she slid into bed next to Kara, even though she was still slightly wary of the casual sleeping situation, but Kara just gave her a bright smile as she took off her glasses and wished her goodnight, before she smashed her face into the pillows and promptly fell asleep.

            When Lena woke up, it was freezing cold and there was no light seeping in through the gap in the curtains. She frowned as she fumbled for the blankets, her eyes tightly closed so that she could pretend like she wasn’t awake. She couldn’t find them, and with a sigh, her eyelids fluttered open and Lena looked over to see Kara completely wrapped up in the quilt. She couldn’t even be mad at her, because Kara looked so young while she slept, her golden hair spilling around her on the pillows. Slowly inching closer, Lena lifted one corner of the quilt and wriggled underneath it, a feeling of warmth enveloping her as she huddled up next to Kara.

---

            The next time she woke up, she kept her eyes shut again as she shifted slightly, her hand coming up to cover the hand grasping a fistful of her shirt. With a start, Lena’s eyes flew open and she looked down at Kara’s hand, attached to her arm thrown over Lena’s waist. She was frowning slightly, having woken up when Lena jumped, and she rubbed her eyes as she sat up, realizing how close she was to Lena.

            “Oh,” Kara softly exclaimed, and Lena shifted away from her as she watched Kara fumble for her glasses.

            “You stole the blankets,” Lena told her.

            “And you grind your teeth,” Kara replied, smiling slightly. “Very loudly. I didn’t realize the night before.”

            “Yeah,” Lena muttered. She quickly pulled her retainers out and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Kara followed her in and stood next to her as she brushed her own teeth. Looking at herself in the mirror, Lena caught Kara looking down at her with a crease between her eyebrows. Ignoring it Lena carried on brushing her teeth, until a gentle poke in the ribs brought her out of it.

            “Hey, are you okay?”

            “Fine,” Lena curtly replied, rinsing out her mouth and walking back into the room. She took her clothes out of the wardrobe and gathered her things, before walking back into the bathroom, and pointedly waiting for Kara to leave so that she could shower. Lena felt uneasy, and she wasn’t sure why, but her hot shower didn’t help.

            There was a knock on the bathroom door as soon as she shut the water off, and Kara’s soft voice floated towards her. “Um, I ordered bacon and eggs for breakfast. I got yours scrambled.”

            “Thank you,” Lena yelled, quickly changing before she slipped back out into the bedroom again. She ran over the notes she’d taken yesterday as she waited for Kara to shower and breakfast to arrive. By the time there was a knock on the door, Kara was dressed and checking her emails, her eyes darting to Lena every few seconds. They were silent all through breakfast, and Lena could feel Kara’s questioning gaze on her the entire time. It wasn’t until they were downstairs and immersing themselves into the math talk again that they fell into comfortable conversation.

---

            After a long day of presentations, and mingling with other mathematicians, they returned to their room, and the tension returned to Kara, and she found that she couldn’t stay in the room with her all night again.

            “Let’s go out,” Lena blurted out, and Kara quickly turned her head to look at her with surprise. She was used to Lena’s broodiness, and after realizing that she wasn’t in the mood for small talk today, Kara had been content to focus on the math talk instead, so she was a bit surprised by the words out of Lena’s mouth.

            “Go out?” Kara asked with uncertainty. “I-I thought you didn’t want to have a crazy weekend. You specifically said no partying.”

            Lena hesitated for a moment, before making her mind up. “Fuck it. Let’s get drunk.”

            “Oh … okay,” Kara mumbled. “I- are we getting changed? Where are we going?”

            “Just get out in the hallway,” Lena said, rolling her eyes as she grabbed Kara by the sleeve of her sweater and dragged her outside, making her way towards the elevator. It was the first time she’d ever been the one to reach out touch Kara – more than just the brief touch of their hands – and Lena felt slightly unsettled when she realized why she’d been feeling uneasy around Kara all day.

            It was because she wanted to be around her. Lena hadn’t given it much thought, but over the past few months they’d grown closer, and Lena wasn’t close to anyone. When she’d woken up that morning with Kara’s arm wrapped around her, it made her realize how comfortable they were around each other, and that made Lena uneasy. Even while they were sleeping, they were comfortable enough around each other to gravitate towards each other and cuddle, and Lena knew that if it was anyone else, she wouldn’t have even ended up in the same bed as them to begin with.

            Kara smiled the entire way down to the lobby, and it didn’t leave her face until they made their way to one of the bars on the lower levels of the hotel. They were stood at the bar, and Kara ordered herself a glass of wine when she patted her pockets and the smile dropped off her face. “I forgot my purse,” Kara sighed, grimacing at Lena. “I’ll just run up and get it.”

            “It’s on me,” Lena said, handing the bartender her card.

            “I’ll still need it for the next round.”

            Lena laughed, her lips curling up slightly at the corners. “No. Drinks are on me tonight. Start a tab, please.”

            The last part was directed towards the bartender, who nodded, and Kara tried to protest but was cut off by Lena shoving a glass of wine into her hand and stalking off towards a table.

            The first drink went down easily, and Lena’s uneasiness faded at the warm feeling that spread throughout her body. At the visible sign of Lena relaxing, Kara tilted her head to the side and gave her a look of concern.

            “Is everything okay?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Listen, I know you don’t like talking much, but you’ve been … off all day. You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but are you okay?”

            Lena closed her eyes and a small smiled played on her face, before her eyelids flickered open and she met Kara’s gaze. The open look on Kara’s face made Lena’s smile fade slightly – she was so approachable and welcoming, and Lena almost wanted to spill her guts to her. There was something about Kara that just made Lena feel so comfortable, and it was alarming for her to feel that way.

            “I jus- it’s nothing. I’m just tired and stressed, and I want to enjoy the weekend while I can,” Lena explained as she shrugged. It wasn’t a lie – everything she said was true – it just wasn’t exactly the truth.

            “One second,” Kara said, slipping out of her seat and going over to the bar. A moment later she returned with two shots of vodka and set them down on the table, nudging one towards Lena while she picked up her own. “To a fun weekend then.”

            “Shots? Really? This doesn’t look like the Lena Luthor I used to know,” Jack said as he approached the table with a small smirk on his face. Lena scowled, picking up the shot and gently clinking it against Kara’s, before downing it. Forcing herself not to cough, Lena slammed the glass down on the table and turned to look up at Jack.

            “You never knew me,” Lena corrected him.

            “Well that might be true, but I knew you as much as you’d let anyone know you.”

            “So not at all then.”

            He laughed, turning to look at Kara. “I’m used to Miss Luthor’s cold shoulder, but perhaps you’d be so kind as to let me join you.”

            “Well, if Miss Luthor agrees, then I’d be happy to,” Kara said, looking at Lena who rolled her eyes and nudged a chair out with her foot.

            “One drink,” Lena told him, pursing her lips as she frowned slightly. With a charming smile, Jack clapped his hands together.

            “Excellent,” he exclaimed. “What’ll it be then, ladies?”

            After a few minutes, Jack returned with a bottle of wine and a clean glass for himself, and poured the three of them a glass. ”So, what’s the celebration? Did my talk today help you find the answer to your problem? If so, I’m happy that I could help.”

            “We missed it,” Lena curtly replied. “Didn’t want you to accuse us of plagiarism when we beat you to the punch.”

            Jack laughed. “As cocky as ever.”

            “It’s not cocky if you’re good,” Kara shrugged, a playful smile on her face. Lena groaned slightly – there was going to be too many big egos at one table and she knew that she was in for an interesting drink.

            “Well, I won’t hold it against you if you get there first – although I’d say it’s in your best interests to give up now. I’d hate to take away your decade long race to the finish line, Lena.”

            “Well I think you’ll be hard pressed to sneak by both of us. Did you know that Kara here went to MIT too – she probably graduated before you went there, being a genius and all – so I think you know what you’re up against,” Lena explained with a smug look on her face.

            Sitting back in his seat, Jack glanced from Lena to Kara with a look of mild surprise. “It’s strange to hear you flattering someone else. She’s sure worked a number on you. So, tell me, how did you two meet?”

            Kara jumped in, giving Jack a bright smile as she thought back to the day they met. “She hit me with her car-“

            “Kara hit my car with her body,” Lena corrected her.

            “There was a car and me being slightly clipped by it – I’m not sure on the specifics,” Kara amended, with a quick laugh.

            “You’re not sure on the specifics because you were drunk and you walked out into the road,” Lena reminded her.

            “I mean, yeah that’s true,” Kara agreed. “So then I got into her car and passed out, and then she took me home and let me sleep on her couch. The next morning, I woke up and went to go and meet my new partner at the Institute and walked in to find out that it was Lena.”

            “Brilliant,” Jack laughed. “That’ll be a good story to tell the kids.”

            Lena choked on her wine, realizing that he still thought that they were a couple, and as she cleared her throat, she looked at Kara, sharing a look of amusement with her. Thinking that it was easier to just let the passing comment go, Lena let the conversation turn to the presentations, algorithms and equations of the day.

---

            Jack stayed for the promised single drink, and then took his leave, wishing the two girls goodnight and retiring to his room for the night. After a few more drinks, Kara dragged Lena through the hotel, past the casinos and restaurants, until they found one of the few nightclubs. It was free of any of the people from the conference – the older mathematicians would’ve been a comical sight on the dancefloor, with the pounding music and flashing lights.

            They had a few more drinks before Kara decided it was time to dance. After Lena refused to join her, Kara went to dance by herself, and Lena watched with wonder as Kara danced shamelessly in the middle of the dancefloor, heedless of the other people milling around, or Lena’s stare.

            When their eyes met from across the room, Kara smiled widely, beckoning Lena over. As if she was in a trance, Lena stood up and drifted through the crowd, making her way over to Kara. She didn’t dance, she just kept her eyes on Kara as she approached. The music was too loud, and Lena could almost feel it as she stood in the middle of the room, the lights flashing on and off, making everything look jerky as she swayed on her feet.

            And then Kara was stood in front of her, a secret smile playing on her lips, for Lena’s eyes only, and her gaze was steady as she stared straight down at Lena, standing impossibly close. She stood in front of her, close enough that Lena would barely have to move to reach out and touch her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Lena stared back at her, alarm bells going off in her head. She was going to do something wrong - something that she shouldn’t do – but she didn’t know what it was that she was going to do. All that Lena knew was that Kara was too close, and she was confused as to why it didn’t bother her when it should’ve.

            “Dance,” Kara ordered her, her voice barely audible over the sound of the music.

            Lena shook her head, taking a stumbling step backwards. “I have to go.”

            “What?” Kara laughed, a small crease forming between her eyebrows in confusion.

            “I-I can’t- you stay- I’m going to-to go and-“ she couldn’t even finish her sentence. She was drunk and things weren’t making sense, and Kara was looking at her with an intensity that made Lena feel like she was staring straight into Lena’s soul – into all the empty parts of her where no one had been before.

            Ignoring the sounds of Kara calling after her, Lena stumbled away from the dancefloor and slipped out of the club. She quickly made her way back upstairs, letting herself into their room and climbing into bed without even changing into her pyjamas. It was at least another hour before Kara returned, stumbling in drunk and crawling into bed next to Lena, who was still awake and staring at the wall while she tried to keep her breathing even and pretend that she was sleeping.

            Closing her eyes, Lena frowned as she tried to ignore Kara.

            She was getting too close to her.

Chapter Text

             The next few weeks passed by in a blur of confusion. Lena was wrestling with her desire to be close to Kara, while keeping the other half of her heart to herself – the part that she’d never let anyone into. In an unusual effort to make things seem normal, Lena spent almost every night for the following month with Kara, working at her apartment, or Kara’s, or going to the bar for drinks. Every morning and every night Kara would give Lena a lift on her motorbike, and they’d get coffee and lunch together, acting like everything was fine. She wanted to keep her distance from her, and by doing that, Lena had to act like everything was fine, which meant that she ended up spending more time with her than before. If Kara showed any signs that Lena was acting odd, she didn’t show it. Instead, she seemed happy by the fact that they were spending more time together, and Lena was hesitant to take that away from her.

            After getting back from the conference, Lena had mostly avoided Kara for a few days afterwards, but had put her feelings aside to focus on the math. That was why she was here. She had to remind herself of that quite often over the next few weeks, a constant reminder that she wasn’t here to make friends. Kara wasn’t her friend.

            It was late Friday night, and they were both still at the institute, working hard on their problem, when the door jerked open and a woman poked her head in. “There you are!” she exclaimed, sounding exasperated, as if she’d spent ages looking for them. “I’ve been waiting outside, why didn’t you answer your phone?”

            Lena shot Kara a questioning glance, and Kara’s face lit up with a bright smile. “Alex! Sorry, my phone’s off. I didn’t want any distractions.”

            Alex. So this was Kara’s sister. Lena looked at her with interest, taking in the doctor’s scrubs beneath her coat, and the stern look on her face, such a stark contrast to Kara’s appearance.

            “I’ve been waiting outside for half an hour,” Alex grumbled.

            Standing up, Kara quickly started packing away all of her work, apologizing to her sister as she shoved things into her bag. Alex’s eyes flickered to Lena’s, and an unreadable look passed over her face.

            “Oh! Alex, this is my partner, Lena,” Kara said, smiling at her. “Lena, this is my sister.”

            “A pleasure,” Lena nodded at her, and Alex replied likewise.

            “Come on, get your things, Alex will give you a ride home,” Kara said to Lena. Her bike had broken down yesterday, and Lena had gotten her driver to bring them to the institute that morning, and she’d assumed he’d be taking them home too.

            “It’s fine, I don’t want to trouble you,” Lena said.

            Alex snorted, rolling her eyes. “It’s no trouble. We’re going out for drinks anyway. You’re welcome to join us.”

            “She rarely agrees to go out,” Kara interjected.

            Lena shot her an exasperated look, and turned back to Alex, who raised her eyebrows suggestively. “From what I’ve heard you always like to be right, so are you going to prove my smart mouthed kid sister right, or not?”

            Lena’s eyebrows shot up in surprise – she hadn’t exactly been expecting a warm welcome, and Alex might not have been warm, but she was welcoming. “Not.”

---       

            Lena was wedged in next to Kara, quietly sipping her drink as she listened to Kara, Alex and their friend, James, talk. It wasn’t that they were excluding Lena, in fact they’d made multiple efforts to include her in the conversation, but Lena wasn’t much of a sharer, and she found herself bluntly answering whatever questions they asked her. The only time she gave more than a few worded answer was when Kara asked her something.

            “So today we did pretty good, Lena got all the kinks out of the program and her coding seems to work,” Kara explained, smiling proudly down at Lena who smiled grimly. She wasn’t in the mood to brag – not infront of people who didn’t care, or had no idea just how impressive what she’d done today was. They were another step closer to solving it. Another year perhaps and they’d have the answer, Lena was sure of it.

            “Awesome,” Alex smiled at her sister, and there was a glimmer of pride in her eyes too, even though Lena knew that she must find the math talk teidious. “Kara mentioned that you’ve been working on this for ten years.”

            “Yes,” Lena nodded, taking a sip of her drink.

            “Impressive,” James said, and he looked it too.

            “James is a photographer for CatCo magazine,” Kara told her, and Lena nodded, having nothing to say on the matter. “And Alex’s girlfriend is a cop. Then there’s Winn, our other friend, who works at CatCo too, in the tech department.”

            Lena nodded, having heard the names before from Kara’s endless rambling about them. These were all facts she already knew – but she doubted Kara knew that she still remembered, having only mentioned them in passing. The truth was that Lena acted like she was disinterested in everything, and for the most part she was, but when it came to Kara, every single word out of her mouth was filed away in Lena’s mind.

            “And Mike works here,” Alex added, and James let out a loud groan.

            “Mike,” he repeated the name, making it sound like a curse. “I mean, I understand why he’s so interested, but come on, Kara. Really?”

            “Mike?” Lena questioned, a flicker of jealousy stirring inside her. She couldn’t identify the feeling – she’d never been jealous before; why should she be when she had everything she could ever want? All she knew was that she didn’t like the sound of the name in relation to Kara.

            “He’s a, uh, bartender here,” Kara explained, shrugging casually. “He’s been working here for a few weeks now. He seems nice.”

            “Yeah, real nice,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. “Typical frat boy who thinks with something other than his brain. Good thing my sister has more brains than most people though.” Kara and James laughed, but Lena was quiet as she noticed a slight flush of redness creeping up Kara’s neck and the flustered way she adjusted her glasses as she ducked her head.

            “I, um, I should probably go in a minute,” Lena murmured. “I have that board meeting tomorrow with my mom, remember? I have to be up early.”

            “Come on, one more drink,” James pleaded, giving Lena an easy smile. "Kara's told us so much about you, we've all been waiting to see what all the fuss is about."

            “Maggie will be here soon to drive us all home anyway,” Alex reasoned with her. “No need to catch a cab when you can hitch a ride.”

            “Please,” Kara begged, a hopeful look on her face. The other two’s words would’ve fallen on deaf ears, but the optimistic look on Kara’s face was enough for Lena to let out a soft sigh and down her drink, signaling to the bartender to bring another round. The guy walked over a few minutes later with a tray of drinks, and Lena took note of the bright smile that he seemed to reserve just for Kara, and came to the conclusion that this was Mike. Kara, ever the overeager friendly one, chatted to him for a few minutes, and Lena noticed a slight hardness to the lines of Alex’s face and decided that she liked her, if only because she didn’t look impressed by the guy.

            They stayed for their last drink, and Alex’s girlfriend showed up not long after they’d finished drinking. Kara was slightly tipsy, and Lena felt the strange nervousness she’d been feeling around Kara for the past few weeks’ dim slightly from the amount of alcohol she’d consumed. Not enough to get drunk, but enough to numb the strange fluttering feeling she felt every time she looked at Kara. It seemed ridiculous to her that she would feel nervous around her now – they’d known each other for seven months, and they were way past the awkward navigating around each other stage. They’d taken care of each other when they were hungover, they’d even shared a bed, and Lena couldn’t help but suspect that the nervousness was because of her fear of losing Kara. They were so close to cracking the problem – she wouldn’t have a reason to stay once she did – she could drop out of her fellowship and do something else, leave Kara behind. But she was the only friend Lena had, even if she didn’t like to admit it, and she’d become comfortable around her. Her plan to distance herself from Kara by spending more time with her clearly wasn’t working – for obvious reasons. A part of Lena was wondering why she’d even thought it would work in the first place.

---       

            The next morning, Lena quickly made her way to the L-Corp headquarters for the board meeting, feeling uncomfortable as she made her way to the top floor. Her office was up here – the one that she’d barely set foot in since moving the company here – yet Lena still felt like a stranger. She knew Lillian would be in the office, and it was a more familiar sight to see her mom seated behind the desk than to picture herself behind it.

            “Lena, you’re early,” Lillian greeted her, sparing her only the briefest glance as she scribbled away on some paperwork.

            “I wouldn’t want to miss it,” Lena replied, rolling her eyes as she crossed the room to take a seat in the chair opposite her mom. Neither of them said another word for a few minutes, and Lena was content to keep it that way, but Lillian clicked her pen, setting it down on the desk and sitting back in her chair as she surveyed her daughter.

            “How’ve you been?”

            “Fine.”

            “Finances are okay?”

            “Obviously.”

            “Solved the problem yet?”

            “No, obviously not,” Lena stiffly replied as she frowned. Her mom tried to play it off as her being interested in Lena’s work, but it was more about concern for the family’s public image – she couldn’t have another child not meeting their expectations.

            “Well, have you at least made any progress? Because I’m starting to doubt the decision to move the headquarters here,” Lillian said, looking mildly annoyed. “I don’t have time to keep flying out here for business meetings and unveilings – that’s why you’re supposed to be CEO.”

            “I told you I didn’t want to be CEO,” Lena mumbled.

            “Well I thought it was the best decision for the company. Besides, you can’t comfortably live off a mathematician’s salary, so I’m doing you a favour. You could at least act grateful,” Lillian sniffed with disapproval.

            “Does what I want even matter to you?” Lena snapped. “Has it ever?”

            Lillian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Someone’s in a bad mood today. Perhaps you’d prefer to wait in the conference room for the meeting to start?”

            “Perhaps I would,” Lena said, climbing to her feet and stalking out of the room.

---

            By the time Lena made it to the institute, her anger at her mom had simmered down slightly. She had ignored her for the rest of the morning – reviewing all of the finances and statistics for the company, as well as the new projects planned for each division. Everything seemed to be in order, and the company was prospering – on the rise from when it had crashed after Lex’s betrayal – and the rest of the board members were happy to ignore their elusive CEO in favour of her strong-willed mother, as long as Lena stayed on top of her paperwork.

            “Morning!” Kara chirped as Lena walked into their office. She grunted a reply, flopping down into a chair and pulling out her laptop, ready to dive straight into work.

            “Make any progress this morning?” Lena briskly asked, wasting no time.

            “A little with the calculations for the cut-off time for polynomial times. I used the algorithm that you showed me, it seems like it might be worth looking into a bit more. Could help us figure out why the program won't stop when it's supposed to,” Kara explained, turning her laptop around so that Lena could take a look.

            “Good,” Lena murmured a second later, approving of Kara’s work. “Just one thing – you told me k and c were independent, remember?”

            “Shoot! Nice catch,” Kara smiled at her, turning her laptop around so that she could make some adjustments to the calculation. “Anything else?”

            Lena scooted her chair around so that she was sat next to Kara, shoulder to shoulder as they both bent over the laptop, Kara’s golden hair mingling with Lena’s dark hair as they argued over the finer points of Kara’s work. By lunchtime, Lena was in a foul mood, pacing back and forth as she tried to find the answer to their latest bump in the road. Seeing her mom always put her on edge, and Kara knew that, so when a delivery guy showed up with a pizza, she paid him and grabbed Lena by the hand.

            Ignoring her protests, Kara dragged Lena out of the room and made her way through the warren of hallways and up staircases. With a sigh, Lena realized they were going to the roof, and she stopped struggling, but Kara still held onto her hand tightly. Lena was highly aware of the warmth of her fingers, and silently prayed that her hands weren’t clammy from her worrying.

            It wasn’t particularly sunny outside, but Lena still sought the shade of the roof, sitting down against the side of a large vent that offered her the protection from the sun that she needed. Kara settled down next to her, setting down their drinks as she balanced the pizza on her lap. Opening it up, she offered the first slice to Lena with a small smile.

            “You good?”

            “Fine,” Lena mumbled, taking a bite out of her slice. She wasn’t in the mood to talk.

            “The board meeting …”

            “It went great.”

            “Good. I knew it would, of course. You’re incredible at everything you do.”

            Lena snorted, shaking her head as she stared out at the city spread out before them. “If I’m so smart then why haven’t we found the answer?”

            “Maybe you’re not supposed to find it yet,” Kara suggested. “Maybe you already have the answer but you just don’t know it. Maybe you need a push.”

            Raising her eyebrows, Lena scoffed at Kara’s words. “What, you think there’s some higher power withholding the information I need until the right time comes along. Do I need to go on a quest to unlock it? Is it the Holy Grail?”

            Rolling her eyes, Kara gave her an exasperated look. “You know what I mean. It might be there already; you just can’t see it because you haven’t thought about it in that way. Just look at how far you’ve come since you started working with me. You look at things from my point of view sometimes, and look at where we are now.”

            “Yeah, eating pizza on a rooftop because we have no fucking clue what to do next,” Lena miserably mumbled. Kara let out a quiet laugh as she gently bumped shoulders with Lena.

            “Cheer up – you could be Jack. I’m sure he was lying to us when he said he was close,” Kara said encouragingly, and Lena cracked a smile.

            “I’m going to kick his ass if he beats us to it.”

            “Good,” Kara murmured with a smile. “Now, come on. Time to let it all out.”

            Kara dragged her over to the edge of the roof and the two of them yelled out all of their frustration until Lena was laughing like she hadn’t in weeks. With flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, she looked at Kara and she knew that she would find the answer.

            She could do it.

Chapter Text

            The next few months passed by quickly, and somehow Lena found herself a regular fixture at drinks with Kara’s friends. She hadn’t been looking for friends or company, but every time Kara gave her that hopeful look, she just couldn’t say no – she seemed to think that because Lena had been roped out into coming out once, she wanted to all the time. If Lena was being honest, she hated going to the bar with Kara and her friends – every time they went there, that guy, Mike, was there, giving Kara that charming smile and flirting shamelessly. The worst part was watching Kara blush and laugh at his ridiculous jokes though, and Lena had to sit there and act like it didn’t bother her. Even worse was when he became a regular fixture at drinks too, and then a regular visitor to the institute, which irritated Lena to no end. It wasn’t because she was jealous – Lena didn’t know what jealousy felt like – but because she cared about Kara, even if she didn’t like to admit it. She cared enough to not like the looks Mike gave her when Kara wasn’t looking at him, or the sleazy comments made that seemed to fly over everyone else’s heads once they’d been drinking all night.

            Still, she kept going to the bar anyway, and she acted like Mike wasn’t there whenever he came to interrupt their work, and in between those nights Kara would crash at her place, bringing movies and snacks, and they’d quietly work on their problem in their pyjamas. It was almost unsettling to Lena when she realized how much had changed since she’d come to National City – no, when she met Kara. It didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would though, because she cared about her, she really did, and so it didn’t bother her that Kara would fall asleep on her couch after staying up until the early hours of the morning, or the fact that Lena would fall asleep right beside her.

            It didn’t bother her until she started dating Mike.

            The worst part was partly because Kara didn’t tell her herself – not that Lena thought she deserved to be told – but it still hurt when she found it out for herself. Kara had asked her out to drinks again, and Lena agreed, of course, planning on meeting at the bar as soon as she was finished up with a meeting at L-Corp. Her driver dropped her off a block away so she could enjoy a few minutes in the cool night air, and as she was walking towards the bar, that’s when she saw Kara.

            She was arm in arm with Mike.

            She looked happy.

            That was the worst part – that she was laughing at something he’d said, and she reached up to give him a quick kiss. She looked so happy, but Lena couldn’t stop the twisting bitter feeling inside her. Lena told herself that it was because Kara hadn’t told her, and for all her prattling on about them being friends, she had thought that she would, but the lump in her throat betrayed her real feelings. She had no clue what those feelings were though – perhaps she was jealous. Jealous that Kara wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with her working on their problem. That was the only plausible reason she could come up with for why her heart dropped as she saw Kara kiss him, before walking into the bar.

            Pulling out her phone, Lena sent Kara a quick text.

            ‘Sorry, caught up at the office. Can’t make it for drinks tonight.’

            The text back was almost immediate.

            ‘Aw no :( I hope it’s not too bad! Make sure you don’t overwork yourself!’

            Lena angrily shoved the phone into her pocket, turning around and walking away from the bar. She wasn’t in the mood for drinks anymore.

---

            “Sorry I’m late!” Kara exclaimed as soon as she pulled up outside Lena’s apartment. Lena shot her a look of annoyance – telling herself it was because Kara should’ve been here half an hour ago. She took the offered helmet and slipped it on her head.

            “Late night?”

            “Yeah! Too bad you couldn’t make it, we had a good night.”

            “Yeah … too bad,” Lena murmured. “So, who went?”

            “Just Alex, Maggie and Winn. James was busy working on an article.”

            Lena was silent as she listened to the lie. So it hadn’t been a mistake that Kara didn’t tell her that she was dating Mike – she was purposely keeping it from Lena. A part of Lena couldn’t help but wonder how long they’d been dating, and she was silent for the rest of the ride there, not that she could’ve heard anything over the sound of the rushing wind and roaring engine, but still, her stiff position behind Kara was still enough to tip her off that something was wrong.

            “Everything okay today?” Kara asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked at Lena with concern. “You seem a little …”

            “I’m fine,” Lena muttered, stalking into the building, leaving Kara to scramble after her. Assuming that Lena was just being her usual grumpy and distant self, Kara launched into a description of last night’s evening, leaving out anything relating to Mike, while Lena quietly worked as she tried to tune out the chatter, to no avail.

            The rest of the day followed in much the same fashion, and it was early when Lena packed her stuff up, and Kara cast her a surprised look, rushing to pack away her own things. “Are we going back to mine or yours?”

            “I’m going home,” Lena said, emphasizing the fact that Kara wasn’t invited.

            A flicker of hurt flashed across Kara’s face, and she frowned slightly, placing her books back down on her desk as she lowered herself back into her chair. “Oh. Well, uh, do you need a ride home?”

            “No, I can find my own way,” Lena curtly replied, slinging her satchel over her shoulder and doing up the buttons on her coat.

            “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Kara said, trying to keep up her usual cheer, even though her face fell slightly.

            “Yeah. Bye,” Lena muttered, walking out without sparing her another glance.

---

            Lena was distant over the next few weeks, and Kara seemed even more oblivious than usual – not that Lena wanted her to make a fuss. What she wanted was for them to solve the problem so that she could leave. She knew that she couldn’t stay in National City once the problem was solved – Kara would leave and she’d move on with her life, and Lena was just starting to realize that. This problem had been almost half of her life, but for Kara, it was just another job, a way for her to add to her impressive resume and show off her math skills.

            So when Lena’s driver dropped her off at work that morning – she hadn’t gotten a ride off Kara for the past week – she was already irritated by the fact that she would have to go over what she’d discovered last night, because Kara hadn’t been with her and Lena didn’t want to disturb her at three in the morning. It was going to take at least an hour to go over everything.

            Surprisingly, Kara was early, and so was Mike, who was in the middle of placing a kiss on Kara’s lips when Lena breezed into the office. She kept her face blank, but her stomach dropped at the sight, and she clenched her jaw as she set her bag down. Kara had the decency to blush as her and Mike sprang apart at the sound of her entrance, and she quickly ushered him out of the room, nervously fixing her glasses as she rounded on Lena.

            “Hi, um, sorry, so I-“

            “I realized that we were looking at the propositional formula F the wrong way, because we need to define the polynomial-time checking relation in relation to to x so that y codes a truth assignment to the variable of F so that F is true.”

            “Wha- when did you realize this?”

            “Last night – well, this morning actually,” Lena muttered.

            Kara frowned, pressing her lips together in a hard line. “Why didn’t you call me?”

            Lena looked up and arched an eyebrow at Kara’s irritation. “It was like three o’clock in the morning, Kara. I thought it could wait.”

            “But you always tell me as soon as you figure something out.”

            “Well I’m telling you now. Besides, we don’t tell each other everything.”

            Blinking in surprise, Kara looked slightly guilty. “Um, well I just- I didn’t think you’d want to know about Mike and I. I mean, you’re always trying to keep our private lives separate so.”

            “That hasn’t stopped you from giving me a rundown of your entire life story,” Lena snorted. “It doesn’t matter anyway, I don’t care.” The lie rolled off her tongue with ease, because Lena had been lying to them both for months now – she just didn’t realize it.

            “I meant to tell you-“

            “It’s fine. We’re not friends.” Kara winced at the words – another lie – and cleared her throat as she sat down across from Lena.

            “Is everything okay?” Kara asked, her voice soft as she looked at Lena with concern. It made Lena’s anger flare up.

            “No, everything’s not okay,” Lena hissed. “This is a workplace, Kara, not a bar where you can hookup with Chad from Sigma Kappa Psi or whatever frat house hell he crawled out of. Stop bringing your fucking boyfriend here when we’re working – stop bringing him here at all. He doesn’t have permission to be here, and quite frankly, his endless chatter is even more fucking annoying than yours. I’m trying to work and I don’t want to have to listen to whatever lame ass story about how he chugged two beers in twenty seconds at a toga party last weekend.”

            “Fine, I won’t bring him here anymore,” Kara muttered, looking almost offended. “You don’t have to be so mean to him though. He’s a nice person, Lena.”

            “Nice?” Lena laughed in disbelief. “Kara, any guy who wants to fuck you is going to be nice. That doesn’t mean that you should date them. God, sometimes I wonder how you turned out to be a genius when you have no fucking clue how the real world works.”

            “I have no clue how the real world works?” Kara echoed, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “The only thing you know is how to calculate numbers.”

            “Yes, my job. A job for a thing that no one else in the world has managed to do yet, unlike Mike who pours tequila for a living and has a lower IQ than I did when I was two. Jesus fucking Christ, Kara, could you even pick anyone more worse suited for you to date?”

            “Not everything’s about intelligence, Lena. He’s a nice person, he-he’s nice, and he makes me laugh and-“

            “And he’s a fucking asshole that nobody likes. Have you ever thought that there’s a reason for that? That even your own sister hates it when you invite him out? Everyone’s thinking it but I’m the only one who has the guts to tell you,” Lena snapped.

            Kara blinked in surprise, her own anger flaring up. “You’re one to talk – you have no clue what it’s even like to like someone. You don’t even have any friends because you’re so afraid of getting close to someone. I feel sorry for you; your life is sad. I’m the only person that’s ever even tried to be your friend. I’ve been nothing but nice to you since you got here, and all you’ve done is try and push me away. I get it though; your veins are filled with ice, so nothing can hurt you, right? That’s what you tell yourself. Well you’re a coward, and you push me away whenever I’m nice to you because you’re afraid of getting close to someone.”

            “I never asked you to be nice to me. Being nice doesn’t earn you a prize, Kara. I made it very clear that I wasn’t here to make friends, and you took it upon yourself to try and change that.”

            “Because I pity you! Because you have no one, and I feel sorry for you. You just sit in this office all day and uselessly try and solve a problem that’s not going to make your mother love you.”

            Bringing Lillian up was a low blow, and Lena went tense, her eyes blazing with anger as she stared at Kara. “Fuck you.”

            “Fuck me? Fuck you!” Kara yelled back.

            “No, fuck you. You don’t get to talk about my mother when you have no fucking clue about any of it!”

            “And you don’t get to talk about my relationship when it’s none of your business!”

            “Well you made it my business when you started skipping out on work to go and watch him play video games and beer pong,” Lena snapped.

            Kara’s face was a mask of anger, and her eyes were shining slightly, as if she might cry. “That’s a lie and you know it! I have never once skipped out on work to do something unimportant. For the past ten months, this has been my entire life. Why does it matter to you what I do in my spare time though? Why does my relationship bother you so much when it’s got nothing to do with the math?”

            “Because I-“ Lena bit her tongue to stop herself from finishing the sentence. Because I love you. She hadn’t realized it until then. She hadn’t realized that the problem was that she was jealous – she had been the entire time. She hadn’t realized that it wasn’t jealousy of Kara having other people to spend time with, she was jealous of Mike because he was dating her.

            Kara was silent as she waited for Lena to continue, and Lena stood there in shock as she reeled from her revelation. She was in love with Kara. How long had she been in love with her? She didn’t even know herself – she hadn’t known it until a moment ago. All of their time spent together had slowly become less about the work, and more about Lena getting to spend time with Kara, and it terrified her that the reasoning behind that was because she loved her. She didn’t even know it’d been possible for her to love someone, but there was Kara, because of course it was. There was a nagging thought at the back of Lena’s mind about the math conference. They’d shared a bed, and Kara had wound her arm around Lena’s waist and they’d slept together in the most innocent way possible, but Lena knew then that she hadn’t been put off the next morning by the casual intimacy, but by a secret desire for more of it. Everything clicked into place, and Lena was as white as a ghost as she stood there staring at Kara with wide eyes.

            Oblivious to Lena’s inner turmoil, Kara was still simmering with anger at the unfinished conversation. “Yes?”

            Lena scrambled for something to say – anything – she just knew she couldn’t give her the real answer. “Because I’m only here for the math,” Lena said, clenching her jaw as the lie left a bitter taste in her mouth. It had stopped being about the math a long time ago. “And if you’re not fully invested in it, you’re a liability.”

            “A liability? I’ve spent nearly a year on this. A year, Lena. How am I not invested?”

            “And I’ve spent nearly eleven!” Lena yelled.

            “And you’re only closer to finding the answer because of me!” Kara argued. “You said it yourself, you’re here for me, because you can’t find the answer alone.”

            “Well maybe I can do it alone.”

            Kara stood there in shock, looking as if she’d been slapped by Lena’s words. They were a team – they’d spent endless nights not sleeping as they ran over the problem again and again and again. It wasn’t just Lena’s anymore; it was Kara’s too.

            “Y-you don’t want me?” Kara murmured, frowning as a look of hurt crossed her face.

            Yes, I do. Lena just stood there in silence though, because how could she say no to her? She’d spent months giving in to every one of Kara’s wishes, and she couldn’t make her leave now – it would kill her to hurt Kara that much. She couldn’t ask her to stay though.

            “Fine,” Kara choked out, scrambling for her bag and packing away her stuff as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t start crying in front of Lena. Squeezing her eyes shut so that she didn’t have to look at the pain in Kara’s eyes, Lena was like a statue in the middle of the room. “Keep the research, I don’t want it.”

            Lena’s eyes flew open at the comment from Kara, followed by the sound of paper tearing. The contract they’d signed the first day lay in half on the desk, and Lena was ashamed as she stared at it, her eyes flashing to Kara as she turned around and disappeared through the door without another word. Lena blinked a few times, and her eyes stung in a way that they hadn’t since Lex had gone to prison and she’d lost her brother. Two people she loved, gone; and this time she only had herself to blame.

            Stood in the silent office, with no one to fill it with endless chatter, Lena couldn’t help but think that she’d just made the biggest mistake she would ever make in her life.

Chapter Text

            If Lena thought she’d been miserable before, it was nothing compared to how she felt after her fight with Kara. She was stubborn, she knew that, and Kara was stubborn too, but Lena was secretly hoping that Kara would be able to bend her pride and message her because Lena knew that she couldn’t do it herself. She was ashamed. She’d been honest, for the most part, but she’d been cruel and rude to Kara, and she couldn’t bring herself to message her first after all the things she'd said. She couldn’t face Kara’s rejection if she wouldn’t accept Lena’s apology.

            But she never text.

            At first Lena let it rest for a few days, and her own anger died down, leaving her feeling guilty and confused. The revelation that she was in love with Kara left her feeling puzzled. She wasn’t sure how much of their relationship had been real, and how much had been Lena’s wishful thinking and projecting her own hidden feelings onto Kara. Either way, it didn’t matter, because Kara clearly didn’t feel the same way about her – not since she’d started dating Mike - and if there had even been the slightest chance she could’ve returned her feelings, Lena had blown it now anyway.

            But the days turned into weeks, and she didn’t hear a word from Kara. She hadn’t been back to the institute since that day, too afraid that she’d run into Kara, and instead had carried on working from her apartment. A box of her research had been delivered to her door after the first week, and that was when Lena knew that she’d messed things up completely. She had to live with her mistake now. Kara might’ve been kind and willing to forgive Lena’s icy persona when they were working together, but she clearly wasn’t going to let Lena walk all over her, and Lena couldn’t even blame her.

            Their argument came back to haunt Lena every night while she was trying to sleep. Every single night she replayed the spiteful words she’d hurled at Kara, and the harsh replies she’d received in return. She didn’t sleep much. Instead, Lena turned over Kara’s comments in her mind, over and over again, and realized how true they were. In the end, after countless days of distracted, useless research and facing the truth of Kara’s words, Lena stopped researching. She had been right; Lena had wasted almost eleven years trying to solve a problem that ultimately wouldn’t change anything.

            So she stopped looking for the answer.

            She didn't stop working completely, but enough that she made no progress, and instead Lena would watch Kara’s lectures while she drank wine and read over what she’d already written. There was no answer, and the more she read over it, again and again, the more she felt like her decision to give up was validated. Instead, for an entire week all of Lena’s attention went towards L-Corp, and her decision to move it back to Metropolis. She couldn’t stay any longer.

            And that was how Lena found herself face to face with her mom.

            She was at her apartment, reading over her abandoned paper for the fifth time that day, sat in her bare apartment in her pyjamas, when a knock on the door disturbed her. Tempted to ignore it, but hoping that it was Kara, Lena nervously walked over to the door and opened it. It took all of Lena’s willpower not to groan when Lillian breezed past her and straight into her apartment.

            “You are not moving the headquarters back to Metropolis,” Lillian firmly told her, skipping the niceties. “I forbid it.”

            “You forbid it?” Lena laughed. “Since when are you CEO?”

            “Oh please, we both know that you’re only a figurehead. You’ve never been interested in the real work behind running the company. You do the bare minimum and leave all the real stuff up to me,” Lillian scoffed, walking over to the curtains and letting some light into the dark apartment. She looked around the sparsely decorated room with disapproval as she dumped a pile of Lena’s research onto the floor and made herself at home.

            “Save your breath,” Lena grumbled, wincing at the sunlight that streamed in. “Go back to Metropolis and take your business with you. I resign.”

            “You can’t resign,” Lillian told her. “And the company isn’t relocating again. You put up enough of a fight to bring it out here.”

            “And you said if the research wasn’t going well then you were going to move it back,” Lena reminded her. “I’m not researching anymore, so move it back.”

            Lillian straightened up in her seat, snapping to attention at Lena’s words. “What do you mean?”

            Lena sighed, flopping down on the floor and picking up her paper. “I mean that I give up.”

            “Give up?” Lillian echoed, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. “No.”

            “Well tough. I’m tired of researching,” Lena said, not even looking at her mom. She was tired.  She had dark circles under her eyes, she hadn’t slept in days, and she was still dressed in her pyjamas at two o’clock in the afternoon – a stark contrast to the way she usually looked. Lillian reached forward and plucked the paper out of Lena’s hands, carelessly tossing it aside.

            “Tough. I didn’t raise a quitter. You’re not giving up now, not when you’ve put so much effort into finding the answer.”

            “Too much effort. It’s no use – I should’ve given up a long time ago. All I’ve done is waste my time,” Lena bitterly murmured.

            “What happened?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Well then get up, get dressed and sort yourself out. You look a mess,” Lillian ordered her, and Lena stubbornly lounged on the floor as she ignored her.

            “No.”

            “What happened?” Lillian pressed.

            “You want to know what happened?” Lena snapped. “I’ve spent my entire life working on this stupid problem that I can’t solve!”

            “You’ll solve it,” Lillian told her. She sounded sure, as if she already knew that it would happen - as if it was a fact.

            “No I won’t!” Lena argued. “I don’t want this. I never wanted this, but I didn’t have a choice.”

            “Of course you had a choice,” Lillian barked a laughed, arching an eyebrow at Lena. It was almost belittling, and Lena’s anger flared up as she shot to her feet.

            “No I didn’t! I was six years old when you found out what I could do. Six! I was a child, and you picked this for me. I didn’t have a choice. I have no friends, no life outside of my work! I can’t remember the last time I did something for fun – I’m not sure that I ever have done something just for fun. My entire life has been about studying math. I never got to join a soccer team, or take piano lessons and have sleepovers. I was a child and you took my childhood away from me. It wasn’t fair, what you did. What you did to me.”

            “Lena-“

            “No! You exploited me! You used me – my mind – to boost the family’s reputation. You never cared about me! You’ve only ever cared about what I can do, and now I can’t do it. I’m a robot that’s programmed to find the answer, but this time I can’t do it! I’m useless.”

            “None of that is true,” Lillian replied, her voice calm and quiet as she looked at her daughter with pity in her eyes. “I’ve always cared about you. I just wanted you to have the best chance in life – that’s all. I wanted you to have the chance to make a difference. I thought I was giving you a good life, not taking it away; I didn’t mean to take things away from you, Lena. I’ve only ever wanted what’s best for you.”

            “But you didn’t! How many times did you push me aside in favor of Lex?” Lena yelled. “I meant nothing to you unless I was making headway with the math, and even then it was expected of me. I was never once made to feel like I was smart or special for completing the impossible - I was just doing a job. A job that people four times my age couldn't even do, and you didn't bat an eye when I did those things. Lex could do half of what I could do but you treated him as if he hung the stars in the sky, and you left me alone. I had no one.”

            “I favored Lex because he needed me to!” Lillian snapped. “He would’ve wasted all of his potential without my help. He needed me to push him – you didn’t. You’ve always been smart, so smart, and you never needed me to push you to be the best you could be - you were always at your best. You were always so independent, you didn't need anyone to help you. You never needed me.”

            Lena let out a hysterical laugh. “Of course I needed you! You’re my mom! I didn’t have anyone – you left me all alone. The only person I’ve ever had is gone. She’s gone, and it’s my fault, because I don’t know how to be a normal person.”

            “So this is all about her.”

            Closing her eyes briefly, Lena took a deep breath and sank down to the floor. Curling up into a ball, she rested her chin on her knees and stared at the pile of papers on the floor. She was silent, and her eyes stung slightly as she ignored Lillian.

            “Oh!” Lillian softly exclaimed as she stared at her daughter. She’d put the pieces together. “You care about her. No, that’s not it. You love her.”

            Lena closed her eyes, willing the floor to open up and swallow her. Her mom was the last person she wanted to have this conversation with. “Well? Do you?”

            Clenching her jaw, Lena opened her eyes and scowled at her mom. “It doesn’t matter.”

            “Of course it matters,” Lillian argued, and she almost looked sad as she stared at Lena. Reaching out a hand, she beckoned slightly. “Come here.”

            “No.”

            “Lena, come here. Let me help you.”

            “How can you help me? I’m not a problem to be fixed – I’m just- I can’t.”

            “Just come here,” Lillian murmured, and Lena obeyed, climbing to her feet and sitting down next to her mom. Tentatively, Lillian reached out and put her hand on Lena’s knee, and Lena dimly acknowledged the fact that this was the most affection she’d received from Lillian in years. “Does she know? Is that why you’re not partners anymore?

            “No,” Lena whispered, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I-I messed things up between us. I was scared. Scared that I was getting too attached and so I-I ruined it.”

            “Oh, Lena,” Lillian sighed, grimacing slightly. “You don’t have to push everyone away, you know. You’re allowed to let people love you. I never wanted you to feel like I didn’t love you, but I know that’s why you’ve always pushed me away – please don’t make the same mistake again.”

            Lena cleared her throat, looking down at her hands as she fiddled with them in her lap. “It’s too late now. I was horrible to her, and now she doesn’t want anything to do with me and I can’t find the answer so everything’s pointless.”

            “You already know how to find the answer,” Lillian told her. “And you know how to get her back.”

            “No, I-“

            “Yes, you do,” Lillian interrupted, leaving no room for argument. “Stop moping around and feeling sorry for yourself and do what you need to do. I didn’t raise a quitter. If you can’t find the answer, then no one can.”

            Lena sat there in silence, turning over Lillian’s words. It was strangely reassuring that Lillian was the same unbothered, no nonsense person she always was, yet she’d known exactly what to say to Lena to motivate her without trying to sugarcoat things. They weren’t the best at communicating with each other, but they got straight to the point, and the point was that Lena had to make a decision. Either she wanted to finish solving the problem and get Kara back, or she was going to give up the two good things she’d ever had in her life.

            Lillian stood up, and she hesitated a moment, before she brushed Lena’s hair back and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Now, get to work.”

            She left without another word, and Lena stared at the door as she made her decision. Her mom was right; if she couldn’t do it, then no one could. Reaching out, Lena grabbed her laptop and opened it. She’d spent eleven years researching the problem – she had all the information she was ever going to need to solve it, she just had to find the answer in her head.

            For the time being, she couldn’t bring herself to reach out to Kara. Lena was taking it one problem at a time, and somehow, a problem that had taken her eleven years to solve – so far – seemed easier than bending her pride and begging Kara for her forgiveness. Kara had been right - Lena had been a coward, and she was being cowardly now, but math was the only thing she knew.

            One problem at a time.

Chapter Text

            She threw herself into her work even more than ever, yet it still took weeks.

            It wasn’t until she was alone at ten o’clock at night one day that Lena had an idea. Her mom had been right – and so had Kara - the answer was already inside her head, and Kara had planted the way for her to find it. Drinking. Alone and stressed about the problem, Lena had decided to have a drink late that night. And then another. Which led to another and another, and as Lena grew tipsier and tipsier, she found herself looking at the problem a different way. Kara’s words about drinking to be creative came back to her, and Lena laughed as she stared at her paperwork.

            The answer was simple.

            It had been staring her straight in the face the entire time, but she just hadn’t thought to look at it that way, and clearly no one else had. Lena almost cried as she wrote her paper. Eleven year’s worth of research had amounted to everything she’d dreamed of.

            The answer.

            She’d done it.

            She had done it. She held the answer to a problem that no one had been able to crack, and it was ten o’clock on a Saturday night and she was all alone.

            All she felt was empty.

            Kara should’ve been sat beside her. They should’ve been at the institute, just the two of them, and Lena should’ve been laughing as Kara dragged them to the roof to shout their victory. They should’ve been getting started on writing their paper – and they would’ve spent months arguing and rewriting it, and Lena would insist on writing it because Kara had admitted that she wasn’t an English genius, and after all this time it would have to be perfect. But no, she was alone, and Lena had never felt more empty in her entire life.

            She didn’t know what came next.

            Almost half of her life had been spent on this problem, and now she had nothing. It was over. She’d solved the problem and now she had no friends, no one who loved her, and no purpose. All she could think of was Kara.

            Kara who had been there right beside her for months on end – the only person who had been able to help Lena.

            Kara who was the only person who had ever shown her kindness without any ulterior motive.

            Kara.

            She had to find her.

            Scattering books and paperwork everywhere, Lena scrambled to her feet and raced to find her phone. Kara didn’t pick up, and Lena swore as she slammed her phone down on the counter, next to the pile of unopened letters. And then her eyes landed on the logo for the National City Institute of Mathematics. She’d dropped out of her fellowship – she hadn’t wanted to stay anymore - but they’d sent her an invitation to their annual gala anyway. A courtesy to her for being part of their alumni, even if she hadn’t seen the five years through.

            The gala was tonight.

            Every bright mind in the math world would be there, and of course Kara would be there, because she wouldn’t miss an event like that for the entire world. And Lena would never dream of going to it, and Kara would know that, so she would definitely go. But just this once, Lena would go. She’d go for Kara.

            Not even bothering to get changed out of her pyjamas, Lena grabbed her invitation off the counter, slipped on some shows, and ran out of her apartment.

---

            She’d forgotten her purse and her car keys, and even her coat, in her rush to leave, and she was in too much of a hurry to bother going back upstairs. Instead, Lena started making her way towards the restaurant where the gala was being held, on foot as she shivered in the cold night air. About halfway there it started to rain, and Lena clutched her paper to her chest as she muttered curses as the raindrops soaked her sweater and snaked down the back of her neck.

            It took her over half an hour of making her way through the crowded sidewalks outside the bars and clubs before Lena found herself in a quieter area of town, where the upscale restaurant the institute had hired out for their gala was situated. By that point she was completely drenched, but Lena didn’t care because Kara was inside and she couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her for even a second longer.

            She’d never wanted anything more in her life. For so long all that had mattered had been the math, until it hadn’t, and Lena had realized that there were more important things. Even solving the problem hadn’t been enough to fill the hole inside her – if anything, it had made her realize just how much Kara meant to her.

            “Excuse me, ma’am, this is a private event,” the doorman told her as she walked up to it. A security guard took a menacing step towards her, and Lena quickly scrambled for her invitation.

            “Here! I have an invitation. I’m on the guest list,” Lena blurted out, wiping her wet face on her sleeve. She knew she looked a mess, but the invitation would do the trick. There was no denying the legitimacy of it – after all, who would want to fake a pass to a math event?

            “Okay miss, uh, go on in,” the doorman said, giving Lena a look of concern as he handed the pass back to her. The security guard looked almost amused as he stood off to the side and let her rush past, darting inside before anyone could stop her – just in case they changed their mind.

            Leaving a trail of wet footprints across the tiled floor, Lena pushed her way through the heaving crowd, attracting strange looks off the dozens of mathematicians and other distinguished guests from various other fields. No one recognized her – why would they, she looked nothing like she normally did. She recognized Kara though. Lena heard her before she saw her – that laugh was like music to Lena’s ears.

            And there she was, dressed in blue, laughing at something Alex said to her. Lena felt like she’d been punched in the stomach at the sight. She’d missed her so much that it hurt to breath, just by looking at her. And then Mike was there, and Maggie, and Lena felt a lump rise in her throat for what she was about to do in front of everyone. For a second though, she stood in the corner, watching as Mike leant down to kiss Kara – the briefest touch that could hardly even be considered a kiss - and Lena silently prayed for Kara to look up. For her to look up and see Lena stood there, and to shake off her guests and come over to Lena to talk privately.

            She didn’t though.

            And so, for the first time in her life, Lena was brave.

            Taking a deep breath, she threw her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and strode towards Kara with a determined look on her face. Alex noticed her first, and did a double take, her eyebrows rising in surprise – Lena wasn’t sure if it was because she’d had the nerve to show herself or because she looked a mess.

            “Lena.”

            She wanted to cry as Kara uttered her name for the first time in months.

            “I’m sorry,” Lena said, her voice cracking. “I’m so sorry, Kara. I-I know that’s not good enough, but I just- I don’t know what else to say. I was stupid, and I regret the way we ended things, and I know you don’t want to hear it but I can’t stand not telling you the truth for even a second longer.”

            “What are you doing?” Kara asked, her eyebrows furrowed together in concern as she stared at Lena, who was creating a pool of water on the floor as she violently shivered.

            “What I should’ve done a long time ago,” Lena said. “I should’ve apologized the second we fought. I’ve spent the past few months a mess. I-I didn’t even know how much you meant to me until you were gone. I realized it too late and I hate myself for that, because I pushed you away when you were the only person who ever cared about me. And I-I thought that solving the problem would fix everything, but it didn’t. I found the answer and n-now all I feel is emptiness, because I- because I don’t have you.”

            “Wait, you solved it?” Kara said, her eyes widening in disbelief.

            “Yes, but th-that’s beside the point,” Lena said, waving away her interruption. “The-the point is that I haven’t been able to sleep since you left – since I pushed you away. And I-I gave up for a while because nothing else mattered, and I missed you, and I didn’t want to do it without you. But god I missed you. I missed your appalling sense of time, and your infuriating incapability of being quiet for even a second. God, you literally never shut up, and it’s so infuriating, but I love it about you! I love you.”

            The confession was met with silence, and Lena hesitated, barely daring to believe that she’d actually admitted it out loud. Kara was staring at her with shock, and Lena was dimly aware of everyone else staring at her in a similar fashion. A lump rose in Lena’s throat and she started to panic as Kara didn’t reply, and then she started nervously rambling to fill the quiet of the conversation.

            “I loved you long before I even knew it myself, and it killed me to see you with him, because he doesn’t love you like I do. I know I hurt you but he doesn’t need you like I need you, and he doesn’t kiss you the way you deserve to be kissed. I could treat you better than he can, Kara. So much better. And I’m not saying that you should be with me, but you deserve someone who can love you the way you deserve to be loved, and that is not him. ”

            “Hey-“ Mike started to protest, taking a threatening step towards Lena, and then Alex was there, stopping him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

            “Do the right thing for once in your life and just shut the fuck up, Mike,” Alex snapped, and he stumbled backwards, his mouth opening and closing as he looked to Kara to defend him. She was too busy staring at Lena in shocked silence to even acknowledge her sister and boyfriend bickering beside her.

            “I-I miss you, and I just want you back. I don’t care in what way – I just need you in my life. You asked me once if I ever thought about the future, and I told you that all I saw was me solving the problem, but since I met you I haven’t been able to picture my life without you. If you don’t love me back, that’s okay, I just- I need you, Kara, and that scares the shit out of me, because I’ve never needed anyone before. You’re the first person I ever got stuck on, and I’ve spent the past few months denying it and trying to not love you, and I just- I can’t do it. So this is it. You’re it for me.”

            She stopped talking, and stood there shivering as she waited for Kara to say something. The five of them were silent, and Lena could feel Maggie’s eyes on her, and Alex and Mike were looking at Kara, and Kara was still looking right at her with her wide eyes and her lips slightly parted.

            The silence dragged on and Lena clenched her jaw as her eyes filled with tears. She’d had no reason to believe that Kara had ever felt the same way, or that she would leave Mike for her, or that she’d forgive her, but standing in front of her, surrounded by Kara’s family, she realized that her hope had been in vain. All she’d done was embarrass herself, and she couldn’t wait around for Kara to reject her and further embarrass her.

            Without another word, she turned around and pushed her way through the crowd, keeping her head down as tears threatened to spill. Roughly bumping shoulders with the other guests, Lena made her way back through the venue and burst out onto the sidewalk. It was still raining outside, and she ran away from the building, disappearing down the nearest alleyway so that she could be alone. Standing in the dark alley, Lena threw her head back and took a deep breath, and then she was crying. She hadn’t cried since her father had died, but she was crying; she was crying over Kara, and she fell back against the wall, letting the rain soak into her already wet clothes, freezing her to her core. She couldn’t feel it anyway – she was numb. Shaking and crying, Lena hugged her arms around herself and tried to calm herself down.

            “Lena!”

            The shout was close by, and Lena choked out a sob, clapping a hand over her mouth as she stood in the shadows of the alley. She didn’t want Kara to come after her, she didn’t want her to see her crying or have to see the pitying look in her eyes as she rejected Lena. She just wanted to be alone.

            “Lena!”

            It was closer this time, and Lena jerked her head up to look at the end of the alley where Kara stood, silhouetted by the streetlights. She swallowed a sob as she watched Kara walk towards her, and pushed off the wall to meet her halfway. The rain was already leaving dark spots on Kara’s dress, and her hair was sticking to her face as she rubbed some warmth into her bare arms. Lena was surprised to see that she was crying too – although it might’ve just been the rain sliding down her cheeks.

            “Lena-“

            “Just leave me alone, Kara,” Lena sobbed, wiping her face on her already wet sleeve.

            “Why?” Kara asked, her voice breaking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

            “How could I?” Lena exclaimed, a hysterical laugh escaping her. “How could I tell you when you’re you and I’m- and I’m me. You were right; I’m a coward! I couldn’t give you the love you deserve – I don’t even know how to love someone. I didn’t even know. I didn’t know until we fought, and how could I tell you then? How could I tell you when you were happy with him?”

            “Because I loved you too!”

            Lena stumbled backwards at the words, her face white with shock, and Kara reached out for her. “No, don’t.”

            “I did. I-I spent months trying to get you to notice me, and y-you just pushed me away every time I tried. I thought that maybe you didn’t like girls; I thought maybe you just didn’t like me. All of those late nights, and the times I would drag you out for drinks and to places you didn't want to go to, and nothing. You didn’t show even the slightest bit of interest in me!”

            “Because I didn’t know! I didn’t know why I kept saying yes to all of your invitations! I didn’t know why it was so important to me to know that your favourite colour is blue, or- or that you love to argue almost as much as you love math and science. Or that you have caramel syrup in your latte, and you never let anyone see you cry. I don’t know these things about anyone! I didn’t know that I was jealous of Mike because he got to make you laugh and wake you up with pancakes and I didn’t. I-I didn’t know – not until it was too late,” Lena cried, brushing her dripping hair out of her face.

            “It wouldn’t have been too late,” Kara said, her voice cracking as she took a step towards Lena, who took another step backwards.

            “Stop. Stop it. Don’t come any closer,” Lena said, her voice shaking as she held a hand out to stop Kara in her tracks. “I don’t want to hear it.”

            “No,” Kara firmly told her. “Don’t push me away again. Please. I'm not-”

            Lena screwed her eyes shut and let out a frustrated yell. “How am I supposed to live with the fact that I fucked everything up? I said that I wanted you in my life no matter what, but not like this. I-I could bear it if you hadn’t felt the same way before, but I can’t bear the thought that I’m the reason that we never go to- that we missed our window. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life watching you with him, knowing what we could've had if I'd had the courage to tell you when I had the chance. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

            “I’m not dating Mike anymore!” Kara yelled, and Lena froze as she stared at Kara, her mouth opening and closing in shock.

            “Wha- no. Y-you are. You were kissing him ten minutes ago,” Lena frowned at her.

            “And then you told me you loved me and ran off before I could stop you! I would’ve stopped you straight away but I couldn’t- I’m not a cheater. He’s not a bad person – I just don’t love him the way I love you - and he didn’t deserve to be hurt like that,” Kara told her, letting out a breathless laugh that turned into a sob. “I don’t want anyone else, Lena. I just want you.”

            “I don’t- I don’t understand. How?“

            “Because I love you,” Kara cried, wiping her face while she sniffed. “And I swear to god, Lena, if you let me come any closer, I’m not letting you go again. Ever.”

            And then Kara took a step closer, and Lena didn’t stop her.

            She stood there and let Kara walk towards her and gently cradle her face, brushing her wet hair back and staring down at Lena, who was still crying. And then they were kissing, and Lena had her fingers knotted in Kara’s wet hair, and Kara’s lips were warm beneath her own. They kissed until Lena’s teeth were chattering, and they were both violently shivering beneath each other’s touch. It wasn’t romantic, and they were both still crying and freezing cold, but it was perfect. And as they both pulled back, they laughed, brushing away the rain and tears on each other’s cheeks with cold, trembling fingers that lingered as they cupped each other’s face in amazement.

            “You’re freezing,” Kara murmured after a moment. “Let’s get you into something dry.”

            “The gala,” Lena quietly reminded her, and Kara let out a quiet laugh.

            "For once, the math can wait."

Chapter Text

            The next morning Kara woke up early on her sofa. She slowly sat up, and the blanket she’d draped over herself pooled around her waist as last night came rushing back to her.

            They’d come straight back to Kara’s apartment, and Kara realized just how drunk Lena was as she kept her propped up and guided her into her apartment. She’d fetched dry pyjamas for both of them, and after toweling off, Kara had led Lena to her bed and watched her pass out as soon as her head touched the pillow. Then Kara had walked out to the living room and made herself up a bed on the sofa, turning over everything that had happened over the past hour. Sleep was slow to come for her, but it did eventually, and she slept until the weak wintery sun streamed in through the windows.

            She couldn’t count the number of times that she’d woken up on her sofa with Lena sleeping right beside her after a long night of work – but it was different this time. Their feelings were different. The apartment was silent – Lena was still sleeping off the alcohol – which left Kara alone with her thoughts.

            Lena loved her – she loved her back.

            At the beginning, Kara had been drawn to her for her similar past – they shared so many experiences, yet they’d turned out completely different, and it intrigued Kara – yet as the months had gone by, her tentative attempts at friendship had led to her developing feelings for Lena. The only problem was that Lena hadn’t felt the same way, and Kara knew that. She knew it from the very beginning. It had come from Lena’s very own lips that day at Ikea when she’d told Kara that she wasn’t her type. Yet she couldn’t stop herself from feeling the way she did, and she would rather have had a friendship with Lena than nothing, and so she’d kept her mouth shut.

            And then Mike had come along.

            He was nice, he’d been interested, he’d wanted her, and so Kara had let him in. Only he wasn’t what she’d wanted. Perhaps it had been cruel for her to use him, but she was trying to move on from Lena, and she didn’t know any other way to do it. It had been useless though – Mike had caused a rift between them, and then Lena had pushed her away, cut her off. It had hurt Kara more than she’d thought possible, and she’d cried for days afterwards, and had been miserable for months. Mike must have known – he wasn’t that stupid, but he was content to stay, and so was Kara, because who else would have her? No one that she wanted back.

            It had taken Alex all of a few hours to figure out Kara’s true feelings. Before, she’d been able to pass it off as excitement at having a friend who was intellectually on her level, but after they fought, her devastation had led Alex to further question their relationship, and she’d quickly seen through Kara’s lies. It had taken a lot of convincing, on Kara’s behalf, to dissuade Alex from storming to Lena’s apartment and speaking her mind, because Kara didn’t want to have to face Lena rejecting her again when she’d only just ended their work together on their Millennium Prize Problem. Instead she’d spent months in misery, and now that things had turned out the way they had, a small part of Kara regretted not letting Alex go to Lena – or not having the courage to go herself – because they’d both been miserable for so long, and they could’ve saved themselves so much pain. She’d known Lena wouldn’t come, of course, that just wasn’t who she was as a person – and the fact that she’d come months later was still a surprise to Kara.

            And here they were now.

            Lena loved her. She had confessed last night in front of not only Kara’s boyfriend, but her sister and sister’s girlfriend too. She’d been drunk and soaking wet and Kara was anxiously waiting for her to wake up so they could have a real talk. A sober one. They’d come back to the apartment last night, riding the high of their kiss and confessions, and then Lena had passed out and Kara had been exhausted, and now Kara didn’t know where they stood.

            It was almost another hour before Kara’s ears picked up the sound of hurried footsteps and the following sound of someone vomiting. She warily approached Lena’s bedroom and slipped inside, hovering outside the bathroom door before she gently rapped on it.

            “Lena?”

            “Fuck!” The whispered curse in surprise elicited a quiet laugh off Kara. “Um, just a second.”

            “Can I come in?”

            Kara’s words were proceeded by Lena throwing up again, and Kara sighed as she slipped into the bathroom and gently scraped Lena’s hair out of her face. “Bit too much to drink?”

            “Just a little,” Lena murmured, and Kara could see the back of her neck turning red as she flushed with embarrassment. She was sick once more before she got up from her kneeling position in front of the toilet, and Kara left her alone to rinse her mouth out, giving Lena the courtesy of a few minutes alone to collect her thoughts.

            Perched on the edge of the sofa, Kara clenched and unclenched her hands as she nervously waited for Lena to emerge. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous; the hard part was already over. They’d already admitted their feelings.

            The gentle sound of Lena clearing her voice made Kara whip her head around. “I didn’t realise you brought me back to yours.”

            “You, uh, well, you passed out,” Kara explained. “And I didn’t want you to wake up alone, after everything …”

            “Right,” Lena murmured. “That.”

            Kara felt a lump rise in her throat and she nervously fiddled with her fingers as she carefully watched Lena walk into the kitchen. “Coffee?”

            “Yes please,” Kara hoarsely replied. She shouldn’t have – she was already jittery – but she needed to busy herself with something. There was a strange feeling inside Kara as she watched Lena move around her kitchen with familiar ease. It had been months since she’d been here, making coffee in Kara’s kitchen, and things were so different and Kara couldn’t help but watch with wonder as Lena fell back into their usual familiarity.

            A few minutes later, Lena was handing her a mug, clutching her own in her other hand as she sat down at the opposite end of the sofa, piling the pillows and blanket that Kara had slept with in between them. “So …”

            “C-can I go first?” Kara asked, and Lena hesitated for a moment.

            “I was drunk, Kara,” Lena started, giving her a pained look. “That wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

            “I know you were drunk, Lena,” Kara said. “But I just feel like I didn’t get to say much last night. And I think you deserve to hear it all.”

            Lena nodded, looking down at her lap as she fiddled with the handle of her coffee cup. “Okay.”

            And then Kara was on her feet, anxiously pacing back and forth. How could she tell her? How could she tell Lena that she’d loved her for months, and that she was sorry, and she’d been frightened. It hadn’t been stubbornness keeping her away for all those months – it had been cowardice. And the worst part was that she’d accused Lena of being the cowardly one for not allowing anyone close. If anything, Kara had learnt over those few months that it was out of self-preservation, because she’d let Lena in the second they’d met, and the second she’d left her world had gone to shit. She’d stopped working on the problem, had thrown herself into her work as a professor, had even assisted Cat Grant with help on her own Millennium Prize Problem for a short while. Lena’s decision hasn’t been cowardly; it had been safe. Or so Kara had thought until last night.

            “See the thing is … I loved you for months,” Lena blinked in surprise, and Kara was confused as to why she was surprised after everything they’d said last night. “I said you were a coward but the only coward was me. I’m sorry. Last night you apologized for what you said, but I didn’t, and I should’ve. I threw everything you’ve ever confessed to me back in your face, and I’m sorry, because you trusted me with all of that. I was afraid. I was afraid because I’d spent months trying to get you to like me – to show any sign that you felt the same way – and in the end I settled on a man who I knew I didn’t love, just so that I could try and get over you. And then I got mad when you didn’t like him, when I didn’t even care for him that much. I should’ve come to you months ago, and I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

            She sat back down and Lena frowned down at her hands as she avoided Kara’s gaze. With a sigh she threw her head back and closed her eyes. “Don’t apologise; I deserved every word. You were right about everything, and my own pride stopped me from coming and admitting my feelings. My mom told me to solve the problem – the math one and our relationship – and I picked math first because I was so afraid. We weren’t even talking anymore and I was still afraid that you would reject me. I had nothing to lose, and I spent months working on the problem because I thought that would fix things with myself. I thought that I would be satisfied with that and I could let you be happy with Mike, but I wasn’t, and it wasn’t until I solved it that I realized that I had nothing. I solved a problem that people have spent decades working on, and the second I solved it, all I could think about was you. And I’m sorry that I came to you like I did, because that wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

            “Lena-“

            She opened her eyes and looked at Kara, and Kara let out a heavy sigh. She’d missed those beautiful eyes, and that stern look that always made her look older than she was. “No, I shouldn’t have come to you like that. Not in front of your family and your boyfriend. I embarrassed us both and I’m sorry. I was drunk, and that shouldn’t excuse what I did, and I wasn’t thinking straight. That’s not who I am – you know that – you know I would never usually do something like that. I just- I couldn’t stop myself. I had to see you, and I’m sorry for putting you in an uncomfortable situation with Mike. All those things I said – god, I can’t even bring myself to regret it, because I meant every word of it, but I shouldn’t have told you like that. And that kiss-”

            “Was perfect,” Kara murmured, and Lena’s eyebrows rose slightly in surprise. And then Kara cracked a smile and shrugged slightly. “I mean, it was awful, but it was perfect.”

            And then they were both laughing, and Lena buried her face in her hand and Kara wanted so badly to kiss her again. “It was bad, wasn’t it? Not the actual kiss, but god, I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold and wet in my entire life. Whoever said kissing in the rain was romantic was so wrong. And what kind of person cries during their first kiss with someone? Fuck.”

            “I couldn’t stand not kissing you for a moment longer,” Kara said, inching closer to Lena as she ached to reach out and take her hand or caress her cheek – anything, as long as she could touch her for a moment. They’d spent too long denying themselves the simple pleasure of looking at each other, let alone touching, and Kara didn’t want to waste another moment. “Lena?”

            “Mm?”

            “Give me your hand.” Gently laying it in Kara’s extended hand, Kara clasped it in her own and smiled at the warmth of it. They’d never so much as casually held hands before – only the quick touch of their fingers grazing as they knocked hands or passed each other something – and to actually hold her hand sent a fluttering feeling in Kara’s stomach. They sat like that for a few moments, silent as they stared at each other with wonder, small smiles playing on their lips. And then Kara’s stomach rumbled, and she laughed self-consciously. “If I remember correctly, you said that you were jealous that you don’t get to make me pancakes, so how about we make some for breakfast? And then you can show me how you solved the problem. It’s been on my mind all night.”

            Lena blushed as she laughed, standing up and pulling Kara up with her. “That’s what’s been on your mind all night?”

            “Amongst other things,” Kara shrugged, letting Lena lead her into the kitchen. She turned on the little radio in her kitchen and the apartment was filled with quiet music as Kara started pulling things out of various cupboards. Together, the two of them made pancakes, and Kara loudly sang along to the radio or kept up a running stream of conversation, and Lena rolled her eyes, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

            As they sat down at the table, Kara dug into her breakfast, realizing that Lena wasn’t a few moments later. She gave her a questioning look, taking in Lena’s nervous fiddling with her fork. “Hey, is everything okay? Do you not actually like pancakes?” Kara asked with a small smile.

            Lena closed her eyes for a second, and a small amused smile played on her lips. “Yes, I do like pancakes, but … what are we doing?”

            Kara set her own fork down and reached out for Lena’s hand. “I-I think there’s only one option for us now. We tried to move on, and well, that didn’t work for either of us.”

            “So …”

            “I guess we’re … dating?”

            Lena laughed, “Dating. It sounds so strange.”

            “We could use something else,” Kara told her with a smirk. “Partners. Co-workers. Colleagues. Math associates.”

            “You’re hilarious,” Lena dryly replied, rolling her eyes, even though she was biting back a smile. Kara carried on eating her pancakes with a proud smile on her face, and they finished the rest of breakfast with mindless chatter. After they finished eating, Lena carried their plates to the kitchen and started rolling up the sleeves of Kara’s too big sweatshirt that she’d borrowed last night, and started doing the dishes. Kara came up behind her and stopped her with a gentle touch on her waist, making Lena jump slightly.

            “Go and sit down,” Kara murmured. “You’re looking a little green. I’ll get you some aspirin and water.”

            “I knew I shouldn’t have believed you when you said alcohol was fun,” Lena grumbled as she walked over to the sofa and made herself comfortable.

            Kara laughed, raiding her drawers for some pills and then filling a glass up, before walking over to Lena and handing them over. “But did it, or did it not, help you creatively find the answer.”

            “It did,” Lena agreed with a sigh.

            Sitting down next to her, Kara gave her a curious look. “How did you do it?”

            “I honestly don’t know,” Lena murmured. “Pure luck, I guess.”

            “I don’t believe that for a second,” Kara told her. “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. You know exactly what you were doing, and it was all skill, and talent and hard work.”

            Lena shrugged self-consciously at the praise. “I was, uh, well I was upset. And I was thinking of you, and your words about being creative came back to me so I drank a bottle of wine and I did it. It took me a few hours, but I found it. Look.” She grabbed the nearest notebook and pen and started scrawling out an algorithm that spanned a few pages, frowning as she tried to remember what she’d come up with last night. After a few minutes of silent writing, Lena handed it over to Kara, who read it with wide eyes.

            “It works.”

            “I think so,” Lena mumbled, a worried look on her face.

            “No, it works,” Kara assured her, letting out a laugh of delight as she met Lena’s gaze. Throwing the notebook aside, Kara jumped up and grabbed Lena’s hand, pulling her up and spinning her around as she laughed. It probably wasn’t the best idea, given Lena’s hungover state, but she was laughing too, even if she did look a bit peaky when Kara set her back down and started dragging her over to the door.

            “What’re you doing?”

            “You’ll see.”

            It took all of two seconds for Lena to figure out what they were doing; she knew as soon as Kara led her over to the stairs leading to the roof, and she smiled widely. Hurried footsteps pounded on the stairs and they broke out onto the rooftop, the cold air immediately finding its way through their pyjamas and setting them shivering. It didn’t matter though, because Kara was dragging Lena over to the edge of the roof and they were both yelling and laughing their victory, because Lena might’ve found the answer, but it was both of theirs. Lena wouldn’t have done it without Kara.

            “Shut the fuck up!”

            The quiet yell came from below them, followed by the sound of a window slamming shut, and the two girls dissolved into laughter, clapping their hands over their mouths as they tried to be quieter. Lena’s cheeks were flushed pink, and Kara wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold or because of her excitement, but she cupped her face in her hands and placed a feather light kiss on her lips, before pulling back and giving her a wide smile.

            “You did it.”

            “We did it,” Lena breathlessly corrected her. “I wouldn’t have gotten very far without my Kara. Besides, we still have a lot of work to do; I need help writing the paper.”

            “I thought that was your job,” Kara reminded her with a smile. “Since I’m not exactly Englishly gifted.”

            “It’s because you say things like ‘Englishly gifted’ that made me say that in the first place,” Lena laughed. “But I can’t write a paper on the Danvers-Luthor Theory of P Versus NP without one half of the creators, can I?”

            “Danvers-Luthor? Not a chance,” Kara argued. “You’ve spent almost half of your life on this, and you think my name is going first?”

            Lena rolled her eyes and sighed. “But it makes more sense, alphabetically, and besides, I wouldn’t have found the answer without you.”

            “Well as someone who’s not Englishly gifted, I don’t care about the alphabet,” Kara told her, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled. “And I wasn’t even there when you found the answer, so.”

            “Fine. Luthor-Danvers Theory of P Versus NP,” Lena relented, shivering slightly in the morning air.

            “Good. Now let’s get back inside; it looks like it’s about to rain,” Kara murmured, taking Lena by the hand and leading them back indoors.

---

            They got to work immediately, the two of them crowded around Kara’s laptop with all of the research they’d amassed spread out around them. For the rest of the day, they worked on it, laughing and talking as they got started on the paper, and each time Kara casually touched Lena, both of them felt a flutter of happiness.

            It wasn’t until dinner time that they were disturbed. Kara had ordered pizza for them, neither one of them wanting to break their concentration to cook something to eat. At a knock on the door, Kara stood up, her hand lingering on Lena’s shoulder for a moment before she grabbed her purse and went to open the door.

            It was Alex, and Kara blinked in surprise at the sight of her sister. She should’ve known that Alex would come over and see her – she’d hadn’t even checked her phone that morning, and she was sure that she’d have at least a dozen texts and calls of her.

            “Alex!”

            There was the muffled sound of a book thumping to the ground and the fluttering of paper as Lena jumped in surprise at the announcement of Alex’s arrival.

            “You look surprised to see me,” Alex noted as she walked inside, giving Kara a knowing smile as she kept her eyes on her sister. “Expecting someone else? Perhaps a dark-haired someone with green eyes and a snarky personality.”

            “That wouldn’t happen to be me now, would it?” Lena asked as Alex’s eyes eventually found her way to hers, and she stopped in her tracks, whipping her head around to Kara, who shrugged slightly.

            “Yes, it would,” Alex said, looking back at Lena, who was looking tense. Alex raised her chin, frowning slightly as she looked at Lena, and then her gaze softened and a small smile graced her face. “I’m glad to see you got your act together. Nice announcement last night; I didn’t think you had it in you.”

            Lena blushed slightly. “Neither did I.”

            “It was quite the declaration; I never took you for such a romantic,” Alex said, walking further into the apartment and sitting down on the arm of the sofa as she looked at Lena with amusement.

            “Stop teasing her, Alex,” Kara said, shutting the door and walking back over to the sofa.

            “I’m not teasing her!” Alex protested. “I’m actually impressed, and quite pleased. I thought you were going to be stuck with Mike for the rest of your life. Thank god one of you had the guts to admit how you felt – I couldn’t imagine being related to that bland, misogynistic ass for the rest of my life. So thanks, Lena, you saved me from a lifetime of eternal boredom about how to correctly make a scotch on the rocks, as if a child can’t do it. And congratulations on solving the problem.”

            “Um, thank you I guess?” Lena said, looking partly amused and alarmed at Alex’s intrusion.

            “Don’t mention it,” Alex said, waving aside Lena’s words. “So, did you get dinner yet?”

            “I ordered pizza,” Kara told her.

            “Ah, so that’s who you thought I was.”

            “There’s enough for three,” Kara said, shooting Lena an apologetic look. She didn’t look like she cared though; she looked shocked almost relieved that Alex hadn’t bitten her head off for her actions last night.

            “Great,” Alex smiled at the two of them. “You can tell me all about how you cracked the code. I can’t wait to hear about how you’re going to win one of those medals for it. What’s it called? Not a Nobel Prize a …”

            “A Field’s Prize or a Turing Award,” Kara supplied.

            Lena gave Kara a bright smile. “Hopefully both.”

Chapter Text

            It took them a year of writing and rewriting their paper before they published it. Lena was very particular about getting it perfect – after all, she’d spent over a decade on this one problem, and it needed to be perfect. They kept their success closely guarded, not revealing it to anyone outside of their immediate friends and family, but eventually their paper was ready to be published, and they dropped the bomb on the math community, creating quite a stir. It was well known that Lena had been searching for the answer – she’d worked on it while being tutored and earning various degrees – and people were astounded that she’d actually done it, which made Lena even more smug, and Kara more proud of her. They were, of course, well known within the community for their unparalleled abilities, but it was still a surprise for someone as young as they were to have cracked such a complex problem.

            That year had been the best year of Lena’s life, not only because she’d achieved her greatest dream, but because she had Kara too. Every day they would wake up next to each other, cook breakfast together, work on the paper, and then they’d fall back into bed together after a long day of work, and they did everything else in between together too. She didn’t think she could get any happier, but she did, because they published their paper and they were awarded a million dollars and a place on the wall at the National City Institute of Mathematics for their success. Even more surprising to Lena was her mother’s pride in her daughter. Things had been tense between them, as always, but Lillian genuinely seemed proud of Lena – or at least proud of the fact that she had bragging rights over her daughter’s accomplishment. Lena was just glad that she’d proved that she could do it, and had contributed something worthwhile to the computing community – something that no one else had been able to. That alone was enough to prove that she was better than her brother, and that was enough for Lena, to be seen as smart, and successful by Lillian. For once in her life, she felt validated, not just by others, but by herself.

            To both Lena and Kara’s delight, they were both awarded Abel Prizes following their publication of their work, which further validated Lena’s self-worth in her own eyes. It was a prestigious award in its own right so surely she had met any expectations set upon her since she was a child, but it paled in comparison to the day that Lena found out that she had been nominated for a Turing Award for her contribution to the computing community. Even Lillian didn’t have any snarky or sarcastic comment to the news – she didn’t have any unkind words at all, only praise, which took Lena by surprise. For years she’d felt like she’d been a failure in her mother’s eyes, even after Lillian had pushed her to keep searching for the answer, but now her mother praised her, and Lena felt oddly satisfied by the change in her tune. So much so that they were able to stand being around each other for limited times, which was how Lena found herself inviting her mom to the award ceremony for the Turing Award.

            As the day of the award ceremony came around, Lena found that for once in her life, she was excited to go to a gathering with her fellow math associates. Which was how she found herself seated next to Kara at a table in front of a large stage, anxiously awaiting the moment that they would find out if she had won. Alex and Maggie had come along to support Lena, and were sat to Kara’s right, and Lillian to Lena’s left, and while dinner was quite tense with Lena being nervous, as well as the added strain of Lena’s presence, they were all chatting and enjoying themselves while they waited for the presentation.

            “So how did the latest trials go?” Alex asked, raising her eyebrows at Lena and Kara as she took a sip of her wine.

            “Okay so far,” Lena shrugged.

            Kara beamed widely at her sister, her excitement bubbling up as the conversation turned towards her and Lena’s latest project. “It’s amazing, Alex!” Kara gushed. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen! I don’t even completely understand it myself, but we’ve actually managed to get some of the code written – well Lena has anyway.”

            “Does it look like a human?” Maggie asked, looking almost freaked out by the possibility.

            Lena snorted, shaking her head slightly. “No, we decided against a human look. Artificial intelligence is already going to freak enough people out without looking at a creepy robot version of a Barbie doll. The concept art of it is more of a typical android look.”

            “It’s quite impressive,” Lillian offhandedly complimented the two girls, and Lena shot her a surprised look.”

            “It’s still creepy,” Maggie said with a shudder. “Couldn’t you pick something else to work on besides artificial intelligence? Do we really need robots?”

            Lena gave her a wry smile. “Well I didn’t spend eleven years working on a problem that could help crack the code to real artificial intelligence if it was just going to go to waste.”

            “I’m sure you won’t be complaining when you have a robot butler,” Kara told Maggie with a wide smile, and Alex snorted.

            “Don’t give her ideas – she’ll never do housework again.”

            “You’ve sold me,” Maggie said, flashing her dimples at Lena. “How long until they’re ready for distribution?”

            Lillian smugly smiled at that, straightening up in her seat as she looked at Maggie. “Well if Lena and Kara keep on going the way they are, L-Corp should be able to get the physical components in mass production by the end of next year. We could have a dozen forms of androids at our command within the next five years.”

            “And with their brilliant CEO’s technology and genius brain, L-Corp will be at the forefront of this new wave of tech,” Kara proudly proclaimed, giving Lena a bright smile as she reached out to squeeze her hand.

            “I’d be nothing without you,” Lena murmured, squeezing her hand in return as she gazed lovingly at Kara.

            Their conversation was cut short as the lights in the room dimmed and a woman took to the stage, the spotlight training on her as she stood behind the podium. Clearing her throat and shuffling her speech in front of her, she introduced herself and started giving a speech about the significance of the award and the contribution of everyone’s work to the computing community. Lena anxiously waited as the woman droned on and on, giving a lecture on the history of the Turing Award, and thanking the sponsors and affiliates with the the organization. Lena jumped slightly at the gentle touch of her mom’s hand on her shoulder, and she shot Lillian a questioning look, receiving a small nod of encouragement in return. She was nervous – everything she’d ever wanted was hinging on this moment, or at least part of it was. Kara was right beside her, looking hopeful and excited as she listened to the lecture with rapt attention, and Lena reached out to wind their fingers together, and Kara squeezes back encouragingly as she kept her eyes on the lecturer.

            Eventually, after over an hour of lecturing on the topic of computer science, the moment came for the actual award, and Lena was tense in her seat. She’d never wanted to win something so badly before – she hadn’t even cared that much about the Abel Prize – but this award would prove everything to her mother and herself that she was just as good, if not better, with computers as Lex had been. He’d never done anything of merit that had warranted a nomination for a Turing Award, but she’d been nominated and might even win.

            “You’ve got this,” Kara encouragingly murmured, giving Lena’s hand another squeeze. Lena swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding more to herself than to Kara. The five of them listened with bated breath as the nominees and their contributions towards the computer science field were listed, their photographs broadcast on the screen behind the podium as they were named. Lena felt a flicker of nervousness as her face was momentarily displayed on the screen, in the midst of a dozen old men. For a moment she had the feeling like she was out of her depth here – the other nominees were all at least twice her age, and had the respect of others purely for being men. Yet none of them had solved a Millennium Prize Problem by the age of twenty-six, and none of them were on the verge of real artificial intelligence. Throwing her shoulders back and raising her chin, Lena sucked in a deep breath as she waited for the winner to be announced.

            She had this.

            This award was hers.

            “Ladies and gentlemen, the two thousand and eighteen Turing Award for contributions to the computing community is awarded to ...” the woman said, opening the envelope to glance down at the name. Lena barely dared to breathe and the room was silent as they waited for the name with anticipation. “Miss Lena Luthor for her contribution of the P versus NP problem in computational theory.”

            A round of applause broke the silence of the room as everyone got to their feet to clap for her, and Lena let out a breathless laugh as her shoulders sagged with relief.

            She did it.

            She won.

              In a daze, she let Kara drag her to her feet and wrap her in a hug, picking her up and spinning her around in excitement. Lena smiled as Kara quickly kissed her, her eyes shining with proud tears, and then to Lena’s surprise, Lillian pulled her into a quick hug too, mumbling about how proud she was, before giving Lena a gentle push in the direction of the stage.

            Climbing the steps with a small smile on her face, Lena was handed her award, and she stepped up to the mike to make a quick thank you speech, focusing largely on Kara and all of her help with finding the answer to her problem. Lena had been a bit put out when only she had been nominated, but Kara had laughed and told her she was being ridiculous, because Kara wasn’t part of the computer science community; she was a mathematician and physicist, and she had no clue about computer programming or computational theory. Still, Lena dedicated the award to her, because if she was accepting this award, she would accept it for both of them. Without Kara, she wouldn’t be stood up there. Without Kara, it would all be meaningless anyway, because solving the problem had made her realize that life was meaningless without the love and support of someone who cared for you – someone who loved you. Without Kara, Lena would have nothing.

            Wrapping up her speech, she walked off stage with the lecturer, and disappeared backstage, where she was quickly interviewed by half a dozen reporters while photographers snapped her photo. She was itching to get back to Kara’s side though, and after explaining their latest work on how they were using the P versus NP problem to write an algorithm for their artificial intelligence android, the interview was wrapped up, and Lena made her way to the foyer of the building where her family was waiting for her.

            As she emerged, they all looked over at her, the four of them smiling proudly, and Kara skipped over to her, buzzing with excitement. “There she is! My Turing Award winning darling!”

            Lena laughed, blushing as Kara’s shout of excitement drew the attention of the groups of computer experts and mathematicians milling around. Cupping Lena’s face in her hands, Kara placed a hard kiss on her lips, putting all of her love and pride into it. She pulled back slightly, smiling brightly, before wrapping Lena in a tight hug and kissing her on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you! I knew there was no way they could pick anyone else.”

            “Congratulations,” Alex smiled at her, as Kara dragged her over to the other three women. Everyone else echoed the same praise, and Lena smiled as she reveled in the moment – her moment. Other guests approached and shook hands with her, offering their own congratulations and Lena politely thanked them, filled with happiness.

            “You deserve this,” Kara murmured in her ear, giving Lena’s hand a quick squeeze. “All of this. This was your dream, and you’ve done it. I couldn’t be prouder, and I couldn’t love you any more.”

            “I love you too,” Lena replied, cupping Kara’s cheek in her hand and softly kissing her. “But out of everything I’ve been through to get here – meeting you, and falling in love with you, was the real prize.”

            Kara quietly laughed, brushing a stray lock of hair out of Lena’s face. “I’m glad it didn’t take you eleven years for that one. Just a year of stubborn bickering until you got drunk enough to solve our relationship problem.”

            “You might not have been a Millennium Prize Problem, but you were my problem.”