Work Text:
"Ms. Danvers?"
Kara pauses just outside the double doors to Lena's office. Slowly, she takes three, reluctant steps back so she's in line with Jess' immaculate desk. The assistant has both her eyebrows raised high on her forehead and a what do you think you're doing? look etched on her face.
Kara spots the tiny twitch of a smile at the corner of Jess' mouth, but it's only there for a moment; Lena's assistant remains as professional as ever, opening up a schedule book and running her finger down the page to check if Kara is booked in.
Kara is very rarely booked in.
"Is she busy?"
"No, but she could have been," Jess replies and points the tip of her pen at Kara.
It's been years of random visits during the day or evening, years of spilling drops of coffee on the carpet just outside Lena's office and stealing all of Jess' tissues to clean the mess up, years of visiting Lena here, at L-Corp, yet Jess still makes sure Kara checks in with her before entering Lena's office.
What Jess doesn't know is that a lot of the time Kara uses the other entrance to Lena's office.
"She could have been in an important meeting," Jess finishes with pursed lips.
"But she's not?"
Kara knows she's not. The office is silent inside except for the sound of a pen scribbling down words on paper. It has been quiet for the past hour; she made sure to check before she left home.
"No," Jess admits after a moment.
There is no way Lena can hear them out here, but Jess leans over her desk and whispers:
"She's had a headache all morning. I think I've squeezed about three words out of her."
"Ah." Kara nods and lifts the coffee she has in one of her hands. "Caffeine helps, right?"
A loud scoff escapes Jess as she sits back down in her chair. "If you want to give her a caffeine overdose, sure."
"Does she have time for a break?" Kara asks, ignoring Jess' advise and taking casual steps back towards Lena's office. Jess will let her in, she always does. Jess glances down at her laptop for a reason Kara's not sure of because the day planner is just there. She takes her time to click the mouse a few times and makes a small hmm sound before looking up. "She has half an hour."
"Half an hour," Kara repeats, letting her shoulders rise and fall as she takes a breath. "That will do."
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
Jess mimics Kara's previous gesture, exaggerates the inhale and exhale of breath.
"It's been a long day," Kara explains.
"It's eleven in the morning."
"I got up at four," Kara grumbles.
"Well then," Jess gives the coffee in Kara's hand a cold stare and Kara actually wonders if she should warm it up again. "Maybe both you and Ms. Luthor should stay off the caffeine. You'd sleep better."
Or Kara thinks she could have let the National City library burn down this morning and slept peacefully until seven.
"Maybe," Kara smiles brightly. "But you can be the one to try and pry this coffee away from Lena."
"No thanks," Jess says simply, beginning to type again on her laptop. "Half an hour, okay? She has an important meeting scheduled for eleven thirty."
"I will be gone at eleven twenty nine, Jess. I promise."
This time when Kara takes a breath to calm herself she makes sure her back is turned to Jess.
As she knocks three times on the office door to alert Lena of her presence, she wonders if maybe she'll be leaving earlier.
"Kara."
Lena punctuates the two syllables with a relieved sort of huff and smiles across the room at her. There are papers scattered all over her desk and Lena rounds them up with sweeping hands. Once she has them in a neat pile she smiles again, looking pleased that Kara is here, and Kara waves back at her only to wince when a drop of coffee slides from under the lid and down the cup. Kara catches it with her finger.
The only clue to Lena having a headache is the open balcony door to let fresh air in and that Lena's hair is down and curled loose around her shoulders instead of up in a tight bun. Lena's soft eyes fall to the coffee in Kara's left hand and the brown paper bag clasped in her right.
"Is that what I think it is?"
Kara's own smile widens as she steps further into the room, springing off the balls of her shoes as she goes. She crosses over to the desk.
"Do you think it's an extra large cookie with chunks of chocolate instead of small bits of chocolate?"
"Yes," Lena answers.
"Then you're exactly right!" Kara places both the coffee and paper bag containing the treat on Lena's desk with a cheerful humph and slides them towards her friend. "I heard you had a headache so you don't have to have the coffee."
"I haven't been the most... agreeable person this morning," Lena replies and sends a quick glance to the receiver on her desk. "What did Jess say?"
"She doesn't approve of our coffee habits."
Lena raises an eyebrow as she cradles the coffee cup between both palms. "Our?"
"Yep, I told her I've been up since four."
Lena hums in understanding and lifts the cup to her lips to take a sip. "Of course. Nice save this morning."
"Ohh," Kara waves the compliment away then adjusts her glasses so they sit more comfortably on the bridge of her nose, a nervous habit Lena once confessed over red wine and cheese that she finds endearingly cute. "It was nothing."
"Just saved a library. No biggie," Lena teases gently and lets the tip of her tongue peek between two rows of teeth. Kara looks down and away, and Lena takes another sip of coffee, hums appreciatively.
It's a nice sound. It's the sound Lena makes when the sun catches the side of her face in winter and warms her, when she takes her heels off after a long day when entering Kara's apartment for movie night or Thursday takeout night. It's the sound she makes when she sips really, really good coffee.
Lena's looking at her strangely now, a bit bemused, and Kara realizes she's missed what the woman has said.
"Sorry?"
"I said you're heroic actions also include bringing me to die for coffee. Will you ever tell me where you get it from?"
"It will forever be under lock and key," Kara tells her. She finishes the sentence off by using her fingers to zip her lips shut and Lena laughs.
The truth is that Kara is hesitant, embarrassed maybe, to admit that she flies a very, very, very long way to get Lena's coffee. It's no hassle for Supergirl to find and bring Lena one of the best coffees made with the best beans in the world, absolutely no hassle at all, it only takes a couple of minutes, but Kara will admit - has admitted to Alex - it could be regarded as a bit extravagant, especially when there's perfectly decent coffee over the road.
But Lena loves it. She's always so appreciative, and she always makes that sound, so why not?
Kara sinks back into the chair on the other side of Lena's desk and removes the satchel bag from her shoulder. She tosses it on the ground next to her and spots Lena's heels placed neatly under the desk. Her eyes track to Lena's legs and her bare feet crossed at the ankles. Lena's toes twitch, her red polished nails dig into the carpet, and Kara quickly snaps her attention back to the Lena's face, afraid of being caught staring.
"So, what's up?"
Lena nods towards the stack of papers. "I've just been going over a few things."
"Cool."
"Very cool," Lena drawls out, though her smile tells Kara it's not very cool at all.
Kara watches as Lena carefully removes the napkin from the paper bag, opens it up to spread it out across her desk. She then pulls out the cookie and places it perfectly in the center of the napkin. Every move of Lena's is meticulous and careful, and it's only the sweet little sigh that leaves her lips that has Kara tearing her enchanted gaze away from the movement of her fingers. "This has made my day."
"The cookie?"
"Your visit," Lena responds with a small smile. "And the cookie. Would you like some?"
Kara shakes her head. "It's all yours."
"So you don't want any?"
"Nope!"
"I don't believe you," Lena taunts, breaks the cookie in two and hands half over to Kara.
"I'll have quarter," Kara insists and waits for Lena to break one piece in half again. "I bought it for you."
"Thank you," Lena responds, handing Kara a piece that is much larger than the quarter she requested. Kara doesn't complain, doesn't mention she's already had one. Lena would will already know anyway. Lena knows a lot of things about her now. "Did you have a nice time with Alex last night?"
"Oh," Kara swallows her mouthful with a hand covering her mouth. Somehow, it is Lena who reminds her of the main, ridiculous reason she's here visiting today. Visiting at this particular time. "It was great. We went to that new Italian place? You know where that little florist closed down a few months ago?"
Lena nods. "How was the food?"
"So good. We should go there."
"I'd love to. What'd you have to eat?"
"Seafood pasta. And their garlic bread was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Seriously, it was amazing. We ordered seconds, but then Alex got way too full so I got half her dessert which is sort of like a win win for me and," Kara cuts herself off aware that she's rambling and Lena's letting her. "Anyway, it was good."
Lena laughs. She breaks off a small bit of cookie and pops it into her mouth. It's done so gracefully that Kara wipes the back of her hand across her own mouth to remove the crumb sitting on the corner of her lips.
"One of the best things you've ever eaten?" Lena says. "That is high praise."
"You know I've been telling Snapper that I should do a weekly food column for Catco," Kara jokes.
"You should. Though people might find it a tad confusing when you rate every dish on the menu from one visit."
"I do not order every dish when I go out," Kara pouts as her arms fold across her chest defensively. "I don't!"
"Relax. I'm teasing you." Lena scrunches her nose in a way that has always made Kara melt a little bit.
"That's the last time I bring you coffee."
Lena scrunches her nose again and Kara has to look away.
"So," Lena drags Kara's attention back to her. "Was there a reason you came by so early today? You don't usually get a break until one."
"No real reason," Kara responds. "Just thought I'd say hey because works a bit quiet and Snapper's in a good mood. I don't really need to even go to the office today. And Alex... she said that as long as there's no emergencies I don't have to show up at the DEO."
Lena tells her she's lucky before looking down at her phone when it beeps, signalling ten minutes before her next appointment, and so Kara decides to take quick advantage of Lena being distracted, something Alex told her not to do. Alex said she needed to be clear with Lena, to talk properly, but oh, it's so much easier to say something when Lena's attention is on something else... and she only has ten minutes before Lena has her meeting and Jess kicks her out of the office.
Lena is busy clearing the reminder and Kara knows it's now or ... or probably another year before she finds her nerve again.
"Anyway, I did actually want to ask something. How would you like to go onadatesometime?" The words fly off her tongue. "We could go to that Italian place or, or somewhere else if you had another preference. Maybe Indian? Mexican? I'm happy to go wherever. You know me! All food is good. Well, maybe not all foods but most."
Kara realizes she's literally hovering a few inches above her seat. She sits back down and grabs each arm rest to hold her in place.
"Sure, just let me know when and I'll make sure I'm free," Lena replies easily. She pushes her phone away, smiles at Kara, then begins folding the napkin in front of her into a perfect square. She doesn't even flinch, doesn't look up again and Kara gapes at her.
It can't be that easy. Lena mustn't have heard. The word would have gotten lost in there somewhere and maybe it's a sign not to continue, but if she doesn't do it now Kara thinks she may never do it.
And Lena's balcony door is still open so that makes for a quick escape.
"Uh, so as a date?" Kara tries again and it's so odd and off putting when her voice decides to take on a high, strangled pitch.
Lena's fingers pause and Kara's eyes bulge behind her glasses.
She heard this time.
Kara sits up straighter and is prepared to bolt out the door when Lena's entire body goes rigid in front of her. Like still. As still as a person can get. Frozen. An awful, God awful silence follows and when Lena finally, finally (it takes about a year) looks up, her eyebrows are knitted together so closely that Kara wonders if she asked Lena on a date or asked Lena to marry her because someone should not look so shocked.
Kara thinks maybe she should just fly out the open balcony door and refuse to see Lena ever again. But Lena's lips are moving and she says two words and yes, she definitely heard this time.
"A date?"
Kara scratches the back of her head. The spot just below her pony tail. Lena is her best friend. Since when do you ask your best friend on a date? Since when do you ask Lena Luthor on a date? The CEO of L-Corp. The most renowned woman in National City. Everything begins to feel itchy and hot. Her palms. Her feet. Her tongue, which is kind of strange but it feels swollen in her mouth.
"Maybe?" Kara chokes out.
"A date," Lena repeat as if she's wants to make sure she's not just one hundred percent sure on Kara's words but one hundred and ten percent and a bit more sure. "As in... you want explore whether there could be something romantic between us?"
"Yes?"
Lena let's out a breathless little laugh and she hides her hands underneath the desk.
"You don't want to," Kara squeaks, shifting uncomfortably in the expensive chair. "It's totally fine. Shit. Shoot! I mean shoot."
Lena just blinks and Kara thinks you just don't do this. No matter how much you may like her. It won't end well. And it will end in embarrassment at the very least. It will end in the recipient of the question, who is usually the most composed person in the world - who literally fell off a building, only to fix her hair and smile after being saved mere metres from the ground - to blink like a deer caught in the headlights.
"I'm a little taken aback, Kara."
Lena sounds the most bewildered she ever has and Kara did that. She's made her uncomfortable. After years of making sure Lena is always comfortable, Kara's made her squirm.
"I didn't realize you were interested in women let alone interested in me."
Kara looks away from Lena's paling face and down at her own shaking hands. She wrings her fingers together until they turn pink and wishes it hurt so she could focus on something else other than a mortified Lena.
And not interested in Lena? How could she not be interested in her? Her interest in Lena must have been simmering longer than she had initially thought because she really can't remember a time when she wasn't interested in her.
And Kara doesn't understand how Alex knew but Lena doesn't.
"I know that it's sort of out of the blue-"
"Sort of?" Lena's voice takes on a shrill note and Kara's stomach sinks.
"Okay, so it's really out of the blue but... I."
Lena is looking for answers and Kara hates that she hasn't really thought this far through. It means she's going to have to rely on impromptu speech and that's really not her forte.
"I didn't know how to approach it... because we're such good friends... and the longer I left it the more I worried about saying something. I know I've left it way too long."
And now Lena's not even looking at her. She's looking down at a spot on her desk and it's difficult to read her expression when Kara can't even see her face.
"... But then last night Alex said that it was about time and she wasn't even shocked when I said that I liked you and, but, but... you're shocked." Kara frowns and Lena looks up. "I've felt like this for a long time. A really long time and I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear. But I like you a lot. I don't want to force you to hear it though? I guess um. I can leave? I should leave. Should I leave?"
"You shouldn't leave," Lena makes to stand from her chair and her hand reaches out to touch Kara's wrist like she has so many times before, but then she pulls it away as quickly as she sits back down.
"Sorry," Lena says when Kara stares down at the spot on her arm Lena reached for but didn't touch. "I'm having trouble. I really didn't expect this," Lena makes a vague gesture with her hand between them. Kara's face falls even more but Lena is quick to reassure her. "But it's not unwelcome."
"Alex suggested I ask you on a date..." Kara explains, and she won't cry. She won't cry. Not in front of Lena anyway. "And so I came this morning because I knew that I'd be thinking about it all day if I left it until the afternoon."
"I appreciate you telling me." Lena smiles softly, seeming to have recovered slightly from her previous state of shock which Kara is glad for because she thinks she needs someone to calm her now and Lena's usually really good at that. "I know how hard it is to do so."
Kara nods, feels that burn behind her eyes strengthen. "I sense a but?"
"No, there's no but."
"Oh," Kara murmurs. "Okay. So... have I made you feel weird? Because I promise that wasn't my intention. And I... I'm kind of wishing I didn't say anything."
"I don't feel weird," Lena shakes her head. "Just surprised. Like I said, Kara, I didn't really expect this."
Kara scans the room for something to do, but her gaze keeps falling back on Lena, and as soon as their eyes connect they both look away. Kara looks around the room again, finds Lena again.
"Um. Is there anything I can do? How about some water? Have I made your headache worse?"
"My head is fine," Lena replies and her small smile grows then fades and grows again. She puts her hands back on her desk and Kara can see how blotchy the skin is from too much twisting. "Kara, I should probably tell you that I-"
"You like someone else?"
"Like someone else?"
"I had this feeling that you might because-"
"Kara-"
"I thought-"
"I like you."
"What?"
"Who else would I possibly like?" Lena blinks rapidly. "You're the only person I spend time with-"
"What-"
"You're the only person I want to spend time with."
"I don't-- So wait, you like-"
Lena bristles. "I'm either here at work, alone at home or with you so-"
"I think I was nervous so I just said that-"
There's a knock on the door, but Kara is too caught up in fragments of words and it's getting difficult to understand what is being said. Things feels blurry. Lena likes her. Lena is no longer pale but she's kind of flushed, and she mustn't hear the knock either because she begins talking again.
"The thing is, Kara, I've never been brave enough to tell-"
Jess walks in with a large glass of water and a packet of pain medication in her hand.
"You-"
"I-"
"Ms. Luthor, your eleven thirty is here." Jess announces, then turns to stare at Kara. "It's eleven twenty nine."
"Two minutes, Jess," Lena holds her hand up.
"Okay, but-"
"I better go-"
"They're just in the conference room-"
"No-"
"I'll get them some refreshments and-"
"I'll definitely go-"
"No-"
"I'll lead you out-"
"Wait-"
"Okay-"
"Stop!" Lena snaps and Jess jumps, a squeaky little sound leaving her mouth.
Kara freezes in her position, half bent over to grab her bag off the floor with her glasses askew on her face. Lena takes a steady breath and it's a really loud breath to Kara's ears, and Jess is a statue by the door.
"Oh my God. Okay," Lena calms herself, rests her fingers at her temples. She rubs soothing circles and hopefully it eases the tension there because because it does nothing to the tension in the room. "Jess, can you give us a minute please and you," she looks at Kara, and she actually looks kind of angry. "Don't say anything. Don't move."
Jess slips out of the room without another word and Kara keeps her mouth shut.
It's only a couple of second but it feels like hours before Lena speaks, and Kara is a bit jealous that Jess just got to escape so easily.
"Sorry," Lena apologizes. "God. Sorry."
Kara leaves her bag on the ground and stands up slowly.
"It's okay."
"No, I shouldn't have-- can we?" Lena gets out of her chair, rounds her desk in her bare feet and beckons for Kara with her hands.
"Oh," Kara nods. "Sure."
Kara envelops her in a hug.
The two minutes Lena asked Jess for is long over but Lena doesn't seem ready to disengage herself from Kara's hold. Kara stays quiet for another few beats, just until she feels Lena's body relax against her.
And then, "Today has been crazy and it's only eleven thirty," she whispers.
Kara feels the short exhale of breath on her exposed neck as Lena releases a laugh.
"I know."
Kara tightens her hold, drawing Lena closer. She remains mindful that Lena has no shoes on.
It takes a second of consideration from Lena, Kara can feel the hesitation in the hitch of her breath, but Lena lets her forehead rest on Kara's shoulder, her eyes focus down to where their bodies press together.
"Kara..."
"Yeah?"
"You told me something that I was so convinced you would never say."
The crack at the end of Lena's sentence has Kara stricken and immediately pulling away. It's barely there, a slight waver, but Kara picks it up. With a hand on both of Lena's shoulders, she gently pushes Lena back.
"You're crying."
"I'm not crying." Lena tips her head back so she's looking up at the high ceiling. Her dark lashes are wet as she blinks.
"You are. Lena."
"I have a meeting."
"Let's see?" Kara encourages softly, hands on Lena's waist as she waits for Lena to look at her. With her fingers she draws patient little circles just above the hemline of the black skirt. "It's fine. You're fine. Your eyeliner is still in tact."
Lena, now fanning a hand by her eyes, looks so determined to not let a single tear slide down her cheek that Kara can't help but smile.
"Mascara?"
"It's fine," Kara insists. "You look beautiful."
"Kara," Lena chokes out on a wet sounding laugh as she steps away. "Don't say that."
"Sorry. But you do. Wait, sorry, why can't I say that?"
Lena moves to stand further away and Kara desperately wants to follow, she reaches a hand out to catch her, but Lena shakes her head and Kara's arm falls limp at her side.
"You're making me feel a lot right now, and I have a meeting that I have to sit through for an hour," Lena explains the distance, and she carefully runs a finger under each eye. "I'm already late, and I can't be like this during a meeting."
"Okay. Okay. I didn't, I didn't think this through. I'm sorry." Kara flails round helplessly, not sure whether to step closer to her or away. "I should have waited for a time when you weren't about to go and be incredibly badass in a meeting. But it's fine!" Kara nods. "You're totally fine. What do you need? These papers?"
Lena watches Kara scramble towards the desk. "Yes."
"Okay," Kara grabs the stack of papers Lena was looking through when she arrived and hands them to her. "Anything else?"
"My laptop and a pen. Two pens. My shoes."
Kara finds two working pens and carefully picks up the closed laptop on the desk. She passes them to Lena before grabbing both black heels and placing them on the floor by Lena's feet. Lena shuffles her feet into each one.
"There. See. You're ready."
"Thanks."
"Now, go be great!" Kara eggs her on and shoos her towards the door. "I'll just hang here for a second and then I'll leave."
"You'll leave?"
"We'll speak later," Kara waves. "No problem. Your meeting is important."
Lena gives her one robotic nod before placing a palm on one door and pushing it open.
As soon as the doors have closed and Lena has left for her meeting in a room a few doors down, Kara flops down into the chair she was sitting on and hides her face in her hands. The thought of messaging Alex and telling her how it went pops into her head for a moment, but she doesn't really know how it went at all. Lena didn't agree to the date, however she did mention liking her, but that was before Kara made her cry and now Kara's left feeling like a bit of a bad friend.
She gets no time to think about other ways she could have brought this up with Lena because the office doors are opening again, probably Jess coming to boot her out, but it's not. It's Lena back inside her office. Kara spins around in the chair as Lena presses her back against the closed door.
"What happened?"
"I cancelled."
"You cancelled?"
"I've never cancelled," Lena says, turning her head to look at Kara. "Postponed, I guess."
"Lena... I am so sorry." Kara apologizes. "I knew you had a meeting. Jess told me you did. But I didn't listen. I just blurted out my feelings in your office while you're at work and made you have to deal with it before... " Kara stops herself, realizing how distracting and bothersome her very presence is for Lena. Today. Every day. She tells Lena all her problems. All her Supergirl problems, and Lena listens, whether she wants to or not Kara doesn't know. And now, to top it all off, she's gone and dumped her feelings for Lena on Lena at Lena's work. "I always come here. I just show up. All the time. No wonder Jess hates me."
"Jess doesn't hate you."
"I think my feelings for you are going to get in the way."
"Kara." Lena walks towards her, crouches down so her knees on the carpet by Kara's restless feet. She places her hands on Kara's knees to stop them bobbing. "You're freaking out for no reason."
"Can you please go to your meeting?"
"No." Lena chuckles. "They've gone now, and it's not that important in the grand scheme of things. Do you want to know what is important?"
Kara runs her hands down the armrest of the chair she sits in. She wants to place her hands over Lena's and absorb all her warm comfort.
"You are," Kara responds.
Lena tilts her head. "Thank you, but I was going to say you swearing."
Kara blushes. "What? I don't swear."
"I know, but you did. You said shit."
"I said shoot!"
Lena laughs and shakes her head. "No you didn't."
Kara slaps a hand over her face. "Okay, but that's not really important."
"I've never heard you swear before." Lena smooths her hands over Kara's knees before reaching out to peel off the hand Kara has flung over face. "But you're right. That's not what's important. This is," Lena continues, using that voice that Kara craves. It's intimate and warm and she sounds confident. Lena links their fingers together and both their eyes are drawn to them. "What you said earlier. What I tried to say, but I'm not sure you even heard a word of it."
"I did," Kara responds, taking the initiative to take hold of Lena's other free hand. "I have super hearing, remember?"
"True," Lena murmurs, shifting on her knees a bit before looking up at Kara. "I'm sorry for my reaction earlier. You surprised me. And it's not that I didn't like hearing what you had to say because I did, I've just never been good with handling my emotions in... certain situations. If you had told me that my business was going under and I had twenty four hours to fix it, I would have been far more composed."
Kara smiles. "Yeah, you've always been good under pressure. It's why J'onn likes you helping Winn out sometimes. He said you're as cool as a cucumber. I'm serious! He literally said 'Lena Luthor is as cool as a cucumber.'"
"I'm so glad he wasn't here to witness my very uncool reaction to being asked out on a date then."
"You weren't that bad."
"I was pretty terrible," Lena smiles then gets up from her kneeling position on the floor. Kara helps guide her with both hands and Lena straightens her skirt. "I used to be able to sit on my knees for ages as a kid. I must be getting old."
"Yeah, you're getting pretty old now, Lena. I mean twenty seven? Jeesh. Old."
"Mm, that's not nice." Lena tugs on their joined hands until Kara is up and out of the chair and close. Lena has taken her heels off again, so she's a couple of inches shorter and Kara grins down at her.
"You're getting shorter with your old age."
"I thought you said you liked me," Lena says, dropping both of Kara's hands only to grab hold of them again. "I'm not sure if you do, with you being all mean about my age and height."
"I'm older than you," Kara says, laughing but also kind of getting pulled in by the exaggerated sad eyes Lena throws her way. "And most of the time you're taller than me. But you're like the perfect height for hugging when you don't have heels on. See? I'll show you." Kara wraps her in a hug again and Lena slots herself against Kara's body. "So perfect. I told you."
"I guess so," Lena agrees with a half-hearted shrug against Kara's shoulder. "It's kind of nice."
"I thought you said you liked me?" Kara steps back, her smile only getting bigger when Lena rolls her eyes. "I'm not sure you do with you being all mean about my average hugs."
Lena releases a tiny giggle that makes her nose crinkle. Kara finds her hands again and Lena continuously changes her grip so their fingers link then loosen and link again. Her lips twist to the side as if working herself up to say something, and Kara knows to wait.
"Liking you is effortless for me," Lena says in one breath to the small space on the floor between them. Then, forcing herself to look up and at Kara, "It always has been."
"Oh." Kara lets the words sink in and woah. "Oh." They feel really good.
"... I wish I had said something like that to you. Effortless... It sounds nice. It's a nice sounding word."
Lena gives her hands a quick squeeze and Kara tries to swallow the lump Lena's sweet words lodged in her throat.
"Always?" Kara questions. "Does that mean you've liked me for awhile?"
"Quite a long time, yes."
"Wow," Kara breathes. "I didn't know."
"And the thing is, Kara..." Lena begins tentatively. "... I wouldn't have ever told you." At Kara's confused frown, Lena scrambles for words. "I mean, I can't be sure, things change of course, maybe I would have. I would like to think I would have, but I honestly... I don't think so. I wouldn't have told you how I felt."
"... I'm glad I told you," Kara grins because Lena looks guilty and she shouldn't have to. "Rao, I am so glad I told you. I didn't think I would either. I'm going to have to thank Alex. She told me to."
Lena relaxes and nods. "Me too. Uh, so, how would you like to go somewhere for lunch?"
"Now?" Kara frowns and looks towards the office doors half expecting Jess to show up. "Don't you have a company to run?"
"If I'm going to cancel a meeting, Kara, then I'm going to cancel the next four too," Lena says, brushing the hair back from her shoulder as if it's no big deal, because it is actually a big deal, a huge deal, but Lena does so well to act unfazed.
"You canceled everything?"
Lena shrugs, two pink dots stamping her cheeks. "You said you probably didn't need to go into Catco today... I thought we could do something together."
"Like go out on a date?"
"I don't know," Lena murmurs, letting her fingers brush along Kara's waist as she passes. At her desk she grabs a note pad and jots a few things down which Kara guesses is for tomorrow, then she walks over to close the balcony door. "If that's what you want to call it."
"But, but I haven't planned anything! I was going to pick you up and get flowers-"
"Pick me up? You don't have a car."
"I was going to borrow Alex's."
Lena smiles. "For a second there I thought you were going to say you'd fly me."
"That wouldn't be so bad..." Kara grins. "In fact, that's a great idea!"
Lena laughs as she grabs her coat off its hook. "Perhaps we could save that for the third or fourth date?"
"I'm going to remember you said that."
"I know you will."
"... Lena."
Lena stops shuffling through her handbag and looks up. "What's wrong?"
"Are we really doing this?"
"Oh." Lena leaves her bag and crosses the short distance to Kara. "Do you want to?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Lena says slowly. "And so do I. I want to give it a go. If you want to."
"But I don't want to lose... you if something happens. If you realise you don't like me or-"
"Okay, Kara, stop," Lena interjects gently. "That's not going to happen."
"I just don't want to lose you as a friend because that can happen. It has happened. I've seen it on-"
"On movies, I know," Lena chuckles, finds Kara's hand and holds it. "Kara... I'm always going to be your friend. There is nothing that would change that, and I am absolutely certain of that. "
"You said that when I told you about Supergirl."
"And look where we are now. You're flying across the country to bring me coffee."
"What? No. I don't fly across the country. That's absurd. There's perfectly decent coffee across the road and I just get you that coffee so-"
And Kara can't finish her denying because suddenly, totally out of the blue, Lena kisses her.