Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Moon river, wider than a mile,

I’m crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,

Wherever you’re going, I’m going your way.

Two drifters, off to see the world,

There’s such a lot of world to see.

We’re after the same rainbow’s end, waiting round the bend,

My Huckleberry Friend, Moon River and me.

*

Kara’s heart was pounding so hard she was sure that if she’d had her super-hearing it would have been hard to hear anything else. She let the whoops and applause wash over her as Barry gesticulated awkwardly at her from the back of the club.

She smiled and bowed her way off the stage as quickly as she could, almost breaking her horribly fragile and apparently human neck, tripping over the skirts of her dress as she went.

“Barry?” she called as she made it down the stairs, craning around the corner to see him. 

“Hey!” he called back, his whole face lighting up. 

“Barry! It’s you, thank Rao!” She threw her arms around him just in time to feel a surge of doubt that made her pull back again. “Wait, it’s really you, right?” 

“Yeah, this is me-” 

“Good-” 

“What is- where the hell are we? What’s going on?”  

Kara was equal parts relieved and worried by the fact that Barry seemed to be just as confused as she was. 

“I was hoping you could tell me or maybe explain to me why I just pulled an Audrey Hepburn and sang in a nightclub.”

This is insane. Kind of wish-fulfilling, but insane. 

“Maybe we’re dreaming?” Barry suggested, his face doing the weirdly adorable squishy thing it does when he has a stupid but fun idea. 

“The same dream?” Kara pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s- What’s the last thing you remember before you got here?” 

What is the last thing I remember? Why’s it so blurry? 

“I-” she hesitated, turning as she searched her scrambled memory. “I was at the D.E.O.,” she paced as it came back to her. “They had just brought in an alien prisoner; he got loose, and - it was really weird,” her nose crinkled and she gestured towards her collar as she searched for the word. “He had this, um, red-” 

“Pocket handkerchief?” Barry supplied, eyebrow raised. 

“Yes!” 

“I saw you - on my Earth.” Kara couldn’t not notice the way his whole demeanour darkened. “You were in a coma. Your- your boyfriend brought you to us-” 

“He is not my boyfriend!” Kara had to interrupt. Barry had seemed uncertain even as he said it, but Kara couldn’t bear the thought of anyone in any world ever thinking that she and Mon-El were together ever again. “He- he’s a big, big mistake that is well and truly best left in the past.” 

He’s a lying, selfish jerk is what he is.  

“Okay.” Barry looked somewhere between confused and sceptical but Kara really didn’t want to waste any time explaining further right now while they should really be trying to figure out this whole insane situation. “Alright, uh, well, whoever he is said that this guy whammied you, and then he escaped to my Earth. He showed up at S.T.A.R. Labs, I went after him to try to get him to wake you up-”  

“And then you got whammied,” Kara finished for him. 

“Yeah.” 

Should probably have seen that one coming, Barry.  

I probably would have done the exact same thing. 

“So where are we?” Kara asked, trying to address the biggest and potentially most pressing question. 

“I don’t know,” Barry replied, looking around in some frustration. “I mean, it could be a parallel dimension, or maybe just some elaborate illusion. We just need to figure a way out.” 

“I guess I could click my heels together three times,” Kara said, expecting a laugh or an eyebrow quirk, not- 

“Yeah!”  Barry’s face lit up and she had to stop that train of thought before it got going anywhere. 

“I was kidding.” 

Note to self: less sarcasm.  

Lena would have laughed.  

No, she would have met my eyes and let one corner of her mouth curl up and- 

“Okay, all right, well, come on.” Barry tugged on her arm and led her back out through the now-emptying hall. “You’re a really good singer, by the way,” he said as they made their way towards what looked to be the exit. 

“Hey, thanks!” she replied, unable not to grin. “My sister says I put the ‘Kara’ in ‘karaoke’.”  

They were just making their way up the steps when a tall man in a fancy white jacket approached them, his face an alarming picture of irritation. 

“There you are!” he all but yelled at them. 

“Merlyn,” Barry murmured, his whole body tensing beside Kara. 

“Who?” Kara asked almost at the same time as White Jacket Guy. 

“Malcolm Merlyn,” Barry said, his voice staying low. “Former head of the League of Assassins.” 

“The what of the what?”  

“What the hell you talking about, kid?” Merlyn demanded, his brow furrowing further still. “My name’s Cutter Moran. I own this club, and both of you work for me.” 

“We what now?” Kara and Barry mangled the English language in unison. 

“I pay you to sing, not pepper me with questions,” Merlyn/Moran cut them off. “And I hope you’ve got something better in your songbook than what you were belting out up there, blondie.” 

“Hey!” Kara couldn’t hold her tongue any longer after that. “Don’t call me blondie!’ 

“Hey, look, I don’t know who you are-” Barry began, stepping forward and then immediately retreating as Moran pulled a flick knife from somewhere, “-obviously you’re someone who’s quick with a knife.” 

“You have to excuse my friend,” Kara cut in, an awful feeling of vulnerability flooding her as she realised that if she didn’t have her powers, there was a strong chance Barry didn’t have his either. “He doesn’t think before he talks.” 

“Yeah, I had a cousin like that,” Moran sneered. “I had to slit his throat too.” 

“Oh,” Kara said dumbly as she heard Barry swallow hard beside her even without her super-hearing. 

“Grady!” Moran suddenly barked across the room. “Get these two set up. And nothing I’ve heard before; I want something original.” And with that, he strode away. 

“Barry,” Kara murmured as soon as their ‘boss’ had left. “I don’t have my powers.” 

“Me neither,” Barry replied, his face mirroring the worry Kara felt. 

Just keep it together, Kara. This is why you train in the Kryptonite room with Alex. You are more than just your powers. 

She took a breath but before she could speak she turned and felt her whole heart leap for joy at the sight of one of her favourite people in all the multiverse. 

“Winn! Winn, you’re here too?” She reached towards him but- 

“Ah!” he immediately recoiled, raising his arms in a universal (or multiversal?) ‘hands-off’ gesture. “Who’s Winn? The name is Grady; I tickle the keys around here.” He punctuated this statement with a totally-Winn little hand gesture that made Kara ache with how much she wished her friend really was there. “Say, you realize how he got the nickname ‘Cutter’, don’t you?” 

“No.” 

“Because he likes to cut people.” Kara was finding it very hard to keep a straight face because not only was this Winn-shaped Grady person saying strange things but he was saying them in an increasingly un-Winn-like accent. Thankfully Grady was distracted by a laugh coming from another man with a familiar face just behind him. 

“You ask me, I think he’s all talk.” 

“Cisco,” Barry’s voice rang quickly with hope before fading again, “not Cisco. Hello.” 

“I pray that, one day, you do not find out how very, very wrong you are, Pablo,” Grady said, his face as serious as the old-show-stereotypes were becoming silly. “Now go do your job.” 

“Alright,” Cisco/Pablo said with a flick of his cloth at Grady as the Winn-imposter – Winnposter! Be serious, Kara – left. “You see,” Pablo carried on, his face and voice becoming distant and wistful, “Grady doesn’t know this but, one day, I’m gonna be somebody. I’m gonna be somebody, and it’s gonna happen right there on that stage. You’ll see; I just need my one shot.” And with that, he turned and left, leaving Kara and Barry to themselves again. 

What the fricking frack!! 

“It’s just curiouser and curiouser,” Barry murmured, voicing Kara’s own sentiments. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, her voice coming out almost breathy in wonderment. She’d seen some weird things in her time, but this- this was almost as cool as it was unsettling. “Yeah, it’s like The Wizard of Oz.” 

“Yeah.” 

“‘And you were there, and you were there’,” Kara mimed, unable to stop herself. 

“Except, it’s not really them,” Barry pointed out. “They’re all playing characters in a- a-” 

“Musical,” they concluded together as the realisation of quite how weird a situation they had found themselves in began to dawn on them. 

“Barry, where are we?” Kara asked, feeling fear rippling in her gut as she looked at him. 

“I don’t know,” he replied, his face showing his matching fear. 

“Well, you know what they say,” a voice suddenly boomed out behind them as the stage lights flicked on, “the show must go on!”

Kara and Barry span around to see the pocket-square-wearing jerk who’d gotten them into this mess standing on the empty stage in what had suddenly become a deserted room.  

“Ah-!” Kara apparently couldn’t find the words to reprimand him with as she pointed a finger in wrathful rage and started towards him. 

Alex would have some words for him, I bet- Ooh! No, Lena! Lena would know what to call him- Or she’d raise one eyebrow at him like she does sometimes and her voice would go all low and angry and-  

“Supergirl, I loved your rendition of Moon River; such a beautiful song. You were a little flat in places, but I’m willing to let it slide just because you’re so cute.” He hopped lightly off the stage as he finished and Kara’s indignation was really reaching boiling point by now. 

“Hold on,” Barry started, irritation clearly lining his voice. “What did you do to us?”  

“Oh, nothing much,” Jerk-Guy said with a smile, brushing past two superheroes like it really was nothing. “Just put a little song in your heart.” 

“‘Put a little-’? Why did you bring us here?!” Barry was apparently better able to find words for his indignation than Kara was. 

“I didn’t bring you anywhere,” Jerk-Guy replied, practically grinning now. “We’re inside your heads; you created this world.” He stared around at the stage and the lights and the bar and the tables. “And we got lucky because it could have been a war movie or a- a space opera, but thanks to your love of musicals, with the countless times you watched, um,” he closed his eyes for a second before opening and pointing at Kara with, “‘Wizard of Oz’ with your adoptive parents-”  

“How did you know that?!” Kara burst out, unable to keep it in any longer. 

“And, you,” he turned to Barry, ignoring the Girl of Steel and her outrage, “all those rainy nights watching Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra with Mom. Well, where else would we be?” 

“All right,” Kara practically growled, “all right-” She strode forward, looking to deal with this problem the best way she knew how and threw a punch at him with all her might. She might not have her powers but she still knew how to throw an excellent right hook. 

Except, apparently, when her opponent could phase out of corporeality at will. 

She grunted with the effort of keeping her balance in the shock of her fist meeting no resistance. 

“Ooh!” Jerk-Guy cried, his voice high and excited as he phased back into being. “A swing and a miss! I didn’t tell you: I’m not really here. See,” he explained, his voice doing that condescending villain thing that Kara found really, really annoying, “I’m out there in the real world. Central City’s mine for the taking.” 

“Uh-uh,” Barry interjected sassily. “We’re gonna stop you.” 

“Yeah!”  

“You’re welcome to try that,” Jerk-Guy said congenially, “if you can get out of here.” 

Well that’s kind of the issue, really, Kara had to admit. 

“How do we get out of here?” she asked through gritted teeth. 

“You’re in a movie musical,” he explained, his eyes darting from Kara to Barry and back again. “So, all you have to do is just- Follow? The?” 

“The Yellow Brick Road?” Kara piped up almost automatically. 

“No,” he said with a patronising little smile, “the script.” 

“Oh,” Kara hoped her face wasn’t burning, “yeah. Script.”  

“Reach the end of the plot, and,” he held out his hands with a smile, “presto chango, you get to go home. One little detail, though, I should mention if you die in here, you die out there.” The little smile that accompanied this piece of news was just what Kara didn’t need. 

“Lovely,” Barry said with a grimace. 

“I’ve reached my limit with magical creeps,” Kara muttered, wondering with half a mind where all these guys came from and how they always seemed to find her. 

“In the meantime,” Jerk-Guy said expansively, “I hope you’re both ready to get the rust off those pipes of yours.” 

“We’re not singing for you!” Kara objected, fists on her hips with indignation. 

“No!” 

“Uh, any- anymore, I mean.”

Even if it was a little wish-fulfilling up on stage there…  

“Come on, now,” Jerk-Guy wheedled as he began to remove his jacket, “maybe just one little fun opening number, just to kick things off!” 

“Leave your jacket on-” Barry tried to interrupt him, to stop the inevitable song that was coming, his face scrunching when the jacket seemed to just vanish into thin air as Jerk-Guy threw it aside. “Where did it go?” 

“Think of your fellow man-” Jerk-Guy began to sing. 

“Stop that,” Kara said, closing her eyes in an attempt to pretend it wasn’t happening, just as Barry said- 

“It’s not happening-” 

“Lend him a helping hand-” 

“It’s not gonna work.”  Even if he does have a lovely voice- No! 

“We’re not singing!” 

“Put a little love in your heart!”  

And then the musical began in earnest. Kara stared around, her eyes bulging as Winn/Grady joined the singing even as he expertly ‘tickled the keys’, and then Cisco/Pablo and Merlyn/Moran got involved, along with a cavalcade of dancers that seemed to appear out of nowhere, twirling and singing all in beautiful harmony together. 

I wonder if Winn can sing and play like that in the real world?  

Really not the important point right now, Kara. 

What was worse was that she could see Barry next to her getting more and more sucked into the music, the grin on his face growing, and he even started to almost dance along, trying to mimic some of the moves that the ‘performers’ were doing. 

He’s clearly a villain, Barry, he abducted two superheroes so he could have free reign in the real world!  

E ven if he did just put us in an awesome musical….where they’re singing about love making the world a better place…  

It’s villainous! It’s a villainous trick!!  

And almost as suddenly as it started, the song ended, the dancers and performers all slipping away like a sigh in the breeze. Another flourish of fear and anger burst through her as she realised that Jerk-Guy had completely vanished.  

“Where’d he go?” Barry asked, peering through the emptying club. 

“I don’t know,” Kara replied, her hands slapping against her thighs in frustration. 

“Come on,” Barry sighed out and started towards the exit at the back of the room. “Let’s find him.” 

They made their way through the club, searching the different floors, different rooms and corridors, making Kara really wish she had her x-ray vision or at least her speed, until they found themselves back in one of the dressing rooms that they’d already checked. 

“He’s gone!” Kara exclaimed in frustration at their fruitless search. 

“Yup.” 

“So what do we do now?” 

“I don’t know,” Barry said with a sigh. “I mean, I guess we just we do what he says, right? We have to figure out what the plot of the musical is and we follow the story.” 

“Okay,” Kara took a breath, hands on her hips and trying to feel more like Supergirl, “uh, so what do we know so far?” 

“We’re singers.” 

“And… apparently we work for a gangster.” Kara tried not to let the surrealism of this get to her. 

“Yes, who wants us to perform for him. I mean, honestly, it’s pretty straightforward,” Barry concluded, his face scrunching up with the trope-heavy plot.  

“Right?” Kara couldn’t help but agree, cautiously taking some reassurance from the fact that the plot they were apparently supposed to follow didn’t seem to be too complex. 

“Yeah,” Barry grinned, clearly feeling that same rush of optimism that she had felt. 

Their optimism was pretty short lived, however, because almost immediately at that point there came the ominous clicking sound of a gun’s safety being removed. 

If I’d had my super-hearing I totally would have heard them coming!! 

“H-hello-” Barry stuttered, his eyes wide. 

“Hi!” Kara burst out, fear squirming horribly in her chest. “I miss being bulletproof.” 

“You’re coming with us,” one of the goons with guns said in the most stereotypically goonish fashion. 

“Says who?” Barry demanded bravely just in time to be clubbed around the head from behind by-  

“Says me.” 

Kara gasped as she turned to see what looked like Professor Stein from the Legends. 

I’m pretty sure that’s not Professor Stein. 

She crouched beside Barry, relieved to feel his pulse still beating strong at his wrist. 

“What do you want with us?” she demanded, trying and failing to heave Barry up. 

Ugh! If I had my powers right now-! 

“You’ll have to come with us and find out, won’t you,” Stein sneered before turning to his goons. “Take them.” 

And with that, Kara was yanked unceremoniously to her feet; she knew there was no way she could both resist them and protect Barry in her weakened state, especially in her beautiful but restrictive outfit. 

Follow the script, she told herself as calmly as she could. We’ve just got to follow the script, and I’m pretty sure this is it. 

“Hey, be careful with him!” she couldn’t help yelling as one of the goons hefted Barry onto his shoulder with very little concern for the way Barry’s head banged the floor. 

“Shut up, Blondie,” the other goon said, pushing her roughly to follow after their boss. 

I swear, if one more person calls me ‘Blondie’….

Chapter Text

Chapter Two 

“Ugh,” Barry groaned from where they’d dumped him beside her. 

“Barry,” Kara called to him, keeping her voice low, even as relief was flooding her veins. “Are you okay?” 

“Oh,” he moaned, clutching gingerly at his head, “please stop yelling.” 

“I’m not yelling,” she hissed in quiet indignation. 

“Wait, where are we?” he asked as he tried to sit up. 

“I don’t know,” Kara had to admit. To bring them here, they’d shoved her and Barry into the back of some kind of old-timey van with no windows; without her x-ray vision, she hadn’t been able to figure out their route at all. 

“All right,” Barry said, wincing slightly, “well, I’m sure everybody at S.T.A.R. Labs is working on getting us out of this.” He met her eyes for a second, trying to reassure her and it warmed her heart a little. 

“Yeah,” she smiled gently back. “I’m glad they brought me to your Earth.” Inter-dimensional travel was definitely more Team Flash’s game than Team Superfriends’. 

Barry let out a deep breath, as if uncertain whether or not to say what he was going to say. “Mon-El seems like he really cares about you,” he said tentatively. Kara couldn’t help but scoff. 

“Mon-El only cares about himself,” she said firmly. “He’s selfish, and a liar, and he has truly no concept of what being a hero is about, of what the responsibilities of having the kinds of powers we have are.” She sighed heavily, shaking her head as she finally verbalised what she’d suspected was true for a while now. “I wanted him to be something he wasn’t, to have a connection with someone I really thought was like me, even though in reality he’s nothing like me once you scratch the surface. I wanted so much to have something special, like what you have with Iris, I was trying to force something that’s just not there.” 

“Me and Iris? That is,” Barry paused, shaking his head regretfully, “off track.” 

“I’m sorry,” Kara said, her voice small as her heart broke a little for her friend. 

“I asked her to marry me.” 

“You did? That’s great.” Kara couldn’t help the rush of affection and gladness that Barry had found someone he loved enough to marry, before she remembered the ‘off track’ part and the pain on Barry’s face. “Did she not say yes?” She had seen them together, she could not imagine Iris saying no. 

“Oh, she said yes, but,” he looked away, apparently unable to meet Kara’s eyes as he spoke, his voice low and hollow. “I guess I did it for the wrong reason, and, I mean, I love her, but I was trying to change the future. Then I pushed her away so I could focus on saving her, and it’s just a mess now.”

Kara ached for him, and for Iris too. Their situation sounded so complicated and she didn’t even know the full story. She loved Barry so much; she just wanted him to be happy. 

“Everything’s so simple when I’m running,” he mumbled. 

“Or flying,” Kara agreed, knowing exactly what he meant. 

“Shut up! Both of you.” The loud voice cut harshly through their tête-à-tête.

“Stein?” Barry said in recognition as he turned to the voice. 

“Who’s Stein?” Not-Stein asked, bewildered. 

“Right,” Barry murmured, his face falling as the reality of their situation hit him again. Kara just wanted to give him a hug. 

There was a loud, sudden bang from the other end of the warehouse and then the clipped, echoing sound of approaching footsteps. They both turned to see Joe West in a fedora and full gangster regalia approaching them. Kara felt Barry immediately sit up straighter. 

“This them?” he asked Not-Stein.  

“Yeah,” Not-Stein replied. 

“Hmm,” Not-Joe assessed them, looking both sceptical and critical which Kara thought was a little uncalled for given that they had just been forcibly abducted. He walked passed them, accepting a glass of something that probably wasn’t juice from Not-Stein before turning to face them again. “Do you know who I am?” 

“Not Joe West, I’m guessing,” Barry muttered.  

“Digsy,” Not-Joe-West said, “Digsy Foss. I run this town.” 

“So, you’re the m-mayor?” Kara asked, her voice rising a little on the last word. She was pretty certain that was not what he meant, but it never hurt to be optimistic, right? Digsy Foss laughed. 

“The mayor may have gotten the vote,” he sneered, “but I got the power.” 

The real Joe West is much nicer than this one. 

He took a few steps towards them, now towering over them where they sat on the floor which, given that they didn’t have their powers, made Kara feel horribly vulnerable. 

“I got a situation that you two are gonna help me with,” Foss continued.

“We would love to help you with it,” Barry said quickly, and Kara wasn’t sure if it was because he, too, was feeling understandably afraid or because he was trying to ‘follow the script’. 

Probably both. 

“We’d really love to,” she echoed him, trying not to sound afraid. 

“My daughter, Millie,” Foss continued without acknowledging that they had spoken, “she’s missing.” He held his hand out expectantly to one of the lurking goons who handed him a photograph. “Last she was seen, she was heading into Cutter Moran’s place.” He paused before handing the photograph to Barry. “Have you seen her in there?” 

Iris, Kara realised as she saw the picture, her chest constricting slightly on her friend’s behalf. I guess that was inevitable. 

Barry shot her a quick glance and she did her best to reassure him without words. 

“Millie, did you say?” Barry asked, swallowing hard. 

“Yeah,” Foss replied sharply. “Why?” 

“We haven’t seen her,” Barry said quickly, clearing his throat. “I haven’t seen her.” 

“I haven’t seen her,” Kara echoed. 

“Yeah,” Barry continued inanely, “we haven’t-  

“She’s the only thing that is good and decent about my life,” Foss cut him off with his voice low but forceful. “If anything happened to her, this town will run red with blood.”

It was chilling how much violence could be conveyed with so quiet a voice. 

“Starting with yours,” added Not-Stein. 

“We wouldn’t want that, now, right?” Barry said with forced geniality, glancing up at Kara who backed him up with the widest smile she could manage, hoping for a little of that Kara ‘Sunny’ Danvers charm.

“So, um, how can we help you?” 

“You two sing for Cutter.” Foss’s statement wasn’t exactly a question, but Kara felt strongly inclined to answer anyway. 

“We sure do,” she replied, trying not to sound too much like this information had been news to her only hours ago. 

“Yes, we do,” Barry now backed her up. 

“You could poke around and see if you can find her,” Foss suggested, but really ordered. 

“Mm-hmm,” Barry nodded his head immediately. 

“So are you gonna do this for me?” Foss demanded. 

Kara was having a really hard time not just laughing out loud, feeling slightly hysterical at the sheer surrealism of their situation. 

“What do we do?” she whispered behind her hand as Barry glanced at her. 

“Follow the script,” he whispered back with a helpless little shrug. 

“Hey!” Foss barked at them. 

“Hey,” Barry replied on reflex and Kara winced. “We’re gonna find her, sir,” he recovered quickly. 

“Mm-hmm,” Kara nodded hurriedly. 

“Good,” Foss said, his eyes staying on them, cold and hard, for another few moments before he turned and paced away. “Well you’d best get to it and quickly. You’ve got twenty-four hours to find my little girl and bring her to me before I’ll start bleeding you dry. Go!” 

Kara and Barry gulped in unison, nodding hurriedly, before Kara leapt to her feet. She helped Barry up, really hoping that he didn’t have a concussion from that blow he’d taken to the head earlier – if they only had twenty four hours, they really didn’t have time to deal with that.

After much faffing and trying to figure out how to get back to Cutter Moran’s club, they had finally gotten back and found a suitable change of clothes for Kara in her dressing room. It had taken an almost suspiciously small amount of time to come across their next lead as the very first person they talked to at the club sent them in Pablo’s direction. 

“Millie?” he’d asked, his eyebrows immediately rising and then falling in a wary frown. “Millie Foss?” 

“Yeah, do you know anything about where she might be?” Barry confirmed, nodding. “It’s just we heard you might know something-” 

“Shh!” Pablo hissed, looking around worriedly before squinting at them both for a couple of seconds and apparently deciding that he could trust them for some reason. “Yeah, yeah, ok. Just not here. Follow me.” 

He led them back out of the club, looking nervously over his shoulder as they went.  

“Why are you looking for her?” Pablo asked, once they’d made it to a suitably deserted alley. 

Kara and Barry looked at each other, neither really knowing what the best reason to give would be. 

Well, honestly really is the best policy, Kara thought and took a deep breath. 

“Digsy Foss is looking for her,” she said, meeting Pablo’s eyes and trying to convey her trustworthiness. “He’s threatening war on Cutter if she’s not found in the next-” she glanced at her wrist for a watch that wasn’t there “-uhm, twenty-two hours.” 

“Oh boy,” Pablo’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “I told that girl she was looking for trouble when she started hanging around here…” He shook his head, breathing deeply as he closed his eyes for a moment. 

“Please,” Barry implored and Pablo met his gaze. “Please, we just want to help.” 

“Ok,” he said, breathing out sharply as he made his decision. “Ok, I’ll take you to her, but after that I’m out. And you didn’t get this from me, you hear?” 

“Absolutely,” Kara said quickly, unable to keep the wide smile from her face. 

“Of course,” Barry chimed in. “We hear you.” 

“Alright,” Pablo sighed, come with me. 

He lead them quickly through the streets, keeping to the back alleys and out of sight as much as possible until they reached a shabby little apartment block in a quiet area maybe ten blocks away. They made their way up several flights of stairs until they reached the fourth floor. 

“Okay,” Pablo said as he came to a halt, staring up at the door. “This is the place. Apartment 4B.” 

“This is where we can find Iris?” Barry asked, sounding slightly sceptical. 

“Millie,” Kara corrected him quietly, her heart aching for him for a moment. 

“Millie, right,” he nodded quickly.

“Yeah, she’s in there, all right,” Pablo nodded, before turning to them and pointing a warning finger. “Now, you two listen to me. Don’t you go telling anyone I showed you this.” 

“Oh, yeah, we promise,” Barry promptly reassured him, Kara nodding at his side with as much sincerity as she could muster. 

“Word to the wise,” Pablo continued, his expression ominous. “You go digging around in this dirt you might not like what you find.” 

And with that ominous warning he strode back passed them and away down the stairs. 

“Okay,” Barry murmured after a moment, staring after Pablo as he left. 

“Okay,” Kara began firmly, knowing that Barry was going to need shoring up for what they were about to face. “So remember: she might look like Iris, but she is not Iris.” 

“I know,” Barry said, his face a very glum picture. “This is gonna be weird.” 

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Kara muttered. “I’m glad we haven’t seen someone that looks like Mon-El. I’d probably just punch him in the face for the fun of it.” The thought actually cheered her for a second and she contemplated wishing for the opportunity when her thoughts were interrupted by a cry from the other side of the door. 

“Oh, my God!” The words were called in a high-pitched wavering voice from inside the apartment and Barry froze, turning to the door. 

“That’s her,” he murmured. “Sounds like she’s in trouble. Here, stand back,” he said quickly, gesturing back at Kara as he turned to the door, “I’m gonna kick the door in.” 

“You stand back,” Kara interrupted him, more than a little outraged. “I’ll kick the door in.” 

“Well, I didn’t mean, like, a gender thing,” Barry quickly backtracked, “I just wanted to kick it in-” 

“Barry!” Now was really not the time. 

“All right, together,” he conceded and Kara nodded, just about appeased for now. “All right? One, two-” 

“Three!” Kara finished and together they kicked the door down and strode into the room. 

Nothing could have prepared Kara for the scene they found on the other side of that door or for the boiling rush of jealousy that raged through her gut. 

Iris, or Millie, was stretched out on a sofa being thoroughly made out with by Lena Luthor.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three  

Lena !    

Lena and Iris-    

No, it’s not-    

Lena-!  

Kara felt sure for a moment that she was having a very confusing heart attack.  

Iris- no, Millie!- and Lena sat up quickly, lipstick smeared around their lips, and glared at the intruders.  

Kara could feel her stomach writhing at the sight of Lena’s possessive and protective hand still high on Iris’s thigh.  

“What the hell is going on?” Barry demanded. Kara was still reeling way too much for words.  

This was not helped by the tiger-like smirk that spread slowly on Lena’s face, that eyebrow of hers doing that thing where it rose imperiously and made Kara’s insides do strange fluttery dances.  

Nope!  

“All right, you caught us,” Iris said, her accent strange like Winn’s had been.  

“We’re in love,” Lena drawled, that irresistible pride and strength in her voice tempered with a soft, adoring look that she sent to Iris.  

Kara thought she might throw up.  

She could feel Barry’s stare move from Iris and Lena to her for a few seconds but could not begin to think about answering the question she knew was in his mind.  

This would have been so much simpler if it was Mon-El.  

And gross for an entirely different set of reasons. Ugh.  

“Hey, who are you?” Lena demanded, standing up and somehow managing to look down at them despite the fact that she was shorter than either of them. “Your names, now.”  

“I’m K-Kara,” she somehow managed to choke out.  

“Yeah, and I’m Barry,” Barry said, hesitation in his voice; Kara could feel his eyes lingering on her questioningly but she couldn’t look at him. “We’re singers at your dad’s nightclub,” he finished, addressing Lena before turning to Iris. Kara wasn’t sure how Barry knew that Cutter Moran was this Lena’s father but she decided to let it slide. “Millie, your dad thinks you’ve been kidnapped.”  

“Well, clearly he’s mistaken,” Iris sassed as she too rose to her feet, draping herself lovingly around Lena from behind. Lena let out a delightful snort of amusement and threaded her fingers through Iris’s at her waist.  

Kara’s chest felt like it might implode and possibly explode at the same time.  

“He really wants you to come home,” Barry said gently.  

“Listen,” Iris said, resting her chin on Lena’s shoulder, “I am never going back there.”  

“Mm-mm,” Lena shook her head in agreement, pulling Iris’s arms a little tighter around herself.  

Oh god, oh god, oh god-  

“Why not?” Kara spoke up, determined to at least try to keep herself on track with this ‘script’. “There’s n-no place like home.” Even she winced as she finished.  

“Liza Moran is my home,” Millie replied without missing a beat, placing a soft kiss on Lena’s cheek.  

Not Lena, Liza…  

She could almost feel Barry grimacing beside her, just as hard as she was.  

Y eah, because the way he feels about Iris is the same way I feel about Lena-    

Shut up, brain! It’d never work, and Lena doesn’t even like you like that, so don’t go thinking about it!  

“And besides,” Liza continued, her face hardening again, “if our geezers ever caught wind of this, they’d go to war.” She glanced at Millie, aching sadness in her eyes as Millie tenderly fussed with her collar. “It’d be the end of more than just us, huh?”  Kara hated seeing Lena sad. Hated it.  She also hated seeing Lena intimately sharing that sadness with someone that wasn’t her.  

Not Lena, Liza!  

“Yeah, Liza’s right,” Millie said, her expression pained. “Our fathers hate each other. Our love is forbidden.” 

There was a tiny part of Kara that was irritated by Millie’s melodramatic tone and expression, but it was at least possible that that irritation was based more on jealousy than anything else.  

“This is just like West Side Story,” Barry murmured beside her.  

“I was thinking more Fantasticks,” Kara replied reflexively, “but-”   

“Look,” Millie cut her off, “the point is we ain’t telling nobody nothing. And neither are you, capisce?”  

There’s no need for bad grammar. And Lena can’t stand bad grammar-  

Yes, and it’s Liza who’s in love with Millie, not Lena!  

“‘Capisce’,” Kara muttered, trying to reign in both her sense of helpless frustration and her juvenile, jealous irritation.  

“Can you give us a second?” Barry piped up after an awkward moment’s silence and Kara was jolted out of her thoughts by his hand landing firmly but carefully on her shoulder.  

“Sure,” Millie said, and Barry pulled Kara around and away a few paces.  

“Kara, who the hell is that and why are you so freaked out?!”  

“I’m not freaked out-”  

“Kara,” he stopped her, keeping his voice low but firm. “I’d love to take the time to let you work your way up to telling me but we’re on a limited time frame here; we’re working together and I can’t do that without the full picture.”  She sighed, took a deep breath and met his eyes, saw the care and the lack of judgement.  

“It’s Lena Luthor.”  

“Luthor? Luthor…Aren’t the Luthors the people that hate Supers and used Kryptonite to try and kill-”  

“Lena’s not like her family!” Kara hissed sharply, regretting her tone slightly as Barry’s eyebrows shot up. “Everybody treats her like she’s evil but all she’s ever done is be good and kind and strong and totally willing to risk herself for the sake of others, including me. But nobody ever cares about that, do they!?” she couldn’t help her rising anger. “As soon as anything bad happens, they’re all, ‘Ah ha, we’d better go and investigate that Lena Luthor!’ and-”  

“Kara…” Barry began, his eyes gentle and full of an awful lot of understanding that Kara wasn’t really ready to deal with.  

“Okay, look,” she cut him off, “that Jerk-Guy says we need to follow the script-”  

“Music Meister?”  

“He has a name? Right, well, we’re in a musical,” she said, dragging them back on track and off her complicated feelings about Lena Luthor. “So, I think if we convince them to tell their fathers that they’re in love, maybe that’ll get us out of here.”  

“And back home to being single… yay,” Barry concluded, and Kara couldn’t help but note that he had apparently mastered sarcasm at this level. “At least we’ll be single together,” he said, cocking his head and trying to be positive.  

“Has saying that ever made anyone feel better?” Kara couldn’t help question.  

“Debatable,” Barry asserted, before they both turned around to be confronted by the sight of Millie and Liza happily wrapped up in each other again. Kara nearly choked. Barry cleared his throat. “Okay,” he began as the two women deigned to turn their attention to them again, “so look, your fathers aren’t perfect, right?”  

“Love isn’t perfect,” Kara chimed in, trying not to think about how perfect Lena looked in her wide-legged trousers, crisp shirt and suspenders.  

Liza! Not Lena!  

“No,” Barry continued, “but you can’t let your love for somebody cause you to be afraid of what might happen. You gotta take the good with the bad, no matter what.”  

“Right,” Kara chorused, trying not to look at Lena too much, especially not at the way her arm was wrapped intimately around Iris’s waist now, her thumb rubbing small circles against Iris’s hip.  

“And that includes telling your fathers how you two feel about each other.”  

Silence rang for a moment until-  

“Alright, you make a convincing argument,” Millie said brightly, her facing lighting up as if a switch had just been flicked.  

“You do,” Liza agreed, nodding thoughtfully as if she was running her fiercely intelligent mind through a long list of powerful arguments that she could not refute.  

“We’ll do it,” Millie continued. “We’ll tell them about us, right?” she looked at Liza, smiling hopefully.  

“Well, we should go now,” Liza nodded, her face also bright and hopeful. “Gee, thanks, kid,” she said, bestowing one of those glorious smiles on Kara, and Kara was so bamboozled she didn’t know how to even think about responding. She watched, slack jawed as Liza and Millie quickly set about getting ready to leave, Liza tenderly draping a scarf around Millie’s shoulders before offering her arm.  

In a matter of seconds, Kara and Barry were left alone in the apartment, staring after the hastily departing couple.  

“Wow,” Barry murmured as the door swung behind them.  

“Okay,” Kara said, still staring, “uh, convincing people in musicals is- is really easy.”  

“Yeah,” Barry agreed, before giving himself a little shake. “Let’s hope getting out of one is just as easy.”  He met her gaze and held it for a moment.  “Are you alright?” he asked and Kara felt her insides roil again.  

“Me? I’m- I’m fine,” she tried to pass it off but knew it wasn’t working by his facial expression. “Really, though, we should catch up with them. I can’t imagine we’re supposed to just let them wander off by themselves.”  

“You’re right,” he nodded but caught her arm before she could go. “Kara I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you and Lena, but I can tell that you really care about her.”  

“I-”  

“Even just the fact that it was her in here, not Mon-El… Music Meister said this was what our minds dreamed up, so she’s clearly pretty important to you even without the way you talk about her.”  

“Oh Rao,” Kara groaned as a thought hit her, “I just hope that nothing’s happening to the people we dragged into this in the real world.”  

“I don’t think so,” Barry tried to reassure her. “He said it’s in our minds; just remember that this is Liza, not Lena. We just need to keep it together in here and then we can deal with the real world when we get back. Ok?”  

“Ok,” Kara said with a sigh.   

“Ok, we’d better catch up.”  

They ran down the hallway and quickly caught up with Liza and Millie down a couple of flights of stairs, slightly ruing the fact that their lack of super powers meant that they were a little out of breath. Despite some initial wariness, especially on Liza’s part, the two women agreed to let Kara and Barry go with them.   

After some discussion, they had decided to tell their fathers separately, wanting to spare each other any initial bad reactions and give their fathers some time to adjust, but that made for a very difficult decision for Barry and Kara.  

“I don’t want to leave her, Barry,” Kara said, when Barry suggested that they both go back to Digsy Foss with Iris, seeing as Digsy was the man who had hired them on pain of death. He gave her a bit of a look but let it slide.  

“Ok, well I don’t want to leave Iris either.” They looked at each other, both wincing in advance of the conclusion.  

“Splitting up doesn’t really seem like the best idea,” Kara said hesitantly.  

“I know,” Barry agreed, “but it looks like it might be our only option.” He cocked his head, considering. “At least it doesn’t seem too unlikely in terms of the script – it would be weird if our two characters never did anything independently…?”  

“I guess,” Kara said, nodding, doing her best not to look as Liza and Millie gave each other some very extensive goodbye kisses. Barry saw her determinedly not looking at something and looked over his shoulder curiously, quickly looking away and grimacing. “Yeah,” Kara agreed. “Let’s get them away from each other, shall we.”  

“Let’s,” Barry said fervently.  

And so it was that Kara found herself alone with Liza.   

Kara wasn’t sure whether or not to be glad that it wasn’t a particularly long walk back to Cutter Moran’s club. Being with Liza made it impossible not to think about Lena, about the way her heart always lifted when they were together, about the way she could never help herself from staring at her friend in a way that was really more than friendly, about the way she so relished the way Lena felt in her arms when they had hugged, the way her heart had almost completely stopped when Lillian’s henchmen had pushed Lena from her balcony and Kara had only just got there in time….  

Don’t think about that! She’s fine, you saved her; she’s fine.  

A little shudder ran through her.  

“You ok?” Liza asked, squinting at her as they walked.  

“Me?” Kara asked, completely flustered and embarrassed. “Yes! I’m fine, just- just dandy!”  

Why do I always have to say such particularly weird things around her. It’s not even really-real her and I still-  

“If you’re sure?” Liza said sceptically, that eyebrow doing its thing again, making Kara choke and look away.  

“I am,” Kara managed, clearing her throat firmly. “But how about you? How are you feeling about talking to your dad? I know he can be a bit…” She trailed off with a kind of ‘yikes’ expression.  

Even in this world, Lena got landed with difficult parents…  

“He certainly can,” Liza replied with Lena’s trademark smirk, making Kara’s stomach flutter. “But, it’s like you said, we shouldn’t let fear of our parents’ reactions determine our lives.”  Kara tried not to react to the immediate flash of memory as she remembered her Lena saying something almost identical about not living in fear.  

Not ‘my’ Lena! The real Lena! She’s definitely not my-  

“But still,” Liza said with a little self-deprecating shrug that was so reminiscent of Lena that it hurt, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little nervous.” She sighed heavily, patting her flawless hair in place. “He hates Digsy Foss.” She glanced up at Kara and Kara’s heart ached for the sadness she saw in Liza’s green eyes that were so like Lena’s. “I mean,” she snuffed a small laugh, “really hates him. And anyone associated with him. It’s just hard to see how he could ever accept Millie the way I want him to.”  

Kara took a deep breath.  

“Well,” she began, searching her own heart for the advice and words of comfort she knew Liza needed to hear. “It’s not easy when there’s that kind of history.” She said the words, unable not to feel the reverberating parallels. “When you know that your family and people you care about have strong prejudices against the person you love, but,” she sighed, feeling her own heart hammering at the implications if she finished this sentence, “but I guess you’ve got to decide whether or not you think that risk is worth it, whether you trust your dad to see past his prejudices and trust you, trust your judgement and your love.”  

Holy Rao….    

I know Lena would be worth it…I guess that means I need to trust Alex and Eliza….and Kal….    

But there’s still the part where Lena doesn’t feel that way about me…    

Unless she does…    

She doesn’t.    

I’d know….I think…I mean, I guess-  

“You’re right,” Liza said beside her, coming to a sudden halt, and Kara looked up in surprise to see that they were standing outside the club’s main entrance. “I know that she’s worth it, and worth fighting for if I need to.” She paused, her hand reaching out to grip Kara’s forearm. “Thank you, Kara; you’re a real peach.”  

Oh Rao…  

Kara gulped and could not but follow as Liza strode purposefully into the building. They made their way through the lobby, down through the darkened corridors towards the main hall, Liza glancing left and right as they went.  

“Hey, Pablo,” she called, spotting him by the bar. “Have you seen my father?”  

Pablo’s eyes widened as he glanced from Liza to Kara and back again.  

“Uh,” he started, his voice shaking slightly, “last- uh, last I saw him, he was heading backstage, ma’am.”  

“Cheers, doll,” Liza, drawled with a smile and strode off again.  

“What the heck, Kara,” Pablo hissed at her as she passed.  

“I- I didn’t- we-” she couldn’t think of a proper answer quick enough and found herself shrugging helplessly at him before scurrying off after Liza again.  

“Ok,” Liza stopped sharply in the doorway and Kara nearly ran into her back before she noticed that Liza’s eyes were fixed on the back of her father’s head. She heard the smaller woman blow out a quick breath before she stood up as tall as she could, muttered a quick, “Wish me luck, kid,” at Kara, and strode into the room.  

Oh Rao, this better work…  

“Hello, father,” Liza said, her voice betraying none of her nerves as she approached the notoriously scary man she’d been lumped with for a father.  

“Liza,” Cutter said sharply, looking up from the papers he was browsing through. “I was beginning to wonder where you’d wandered off to this time.”  

Kara only noticed the deep, uncomfortable breath that Liza took because she was watching so closely.  

“Well, father, as it happens, that’s actually what I’ve come here to talk to you about.”  

“Really?” Cutter asked, his brow furrowing as he slowly stood up, taking a few steps towards his daughter. “Are you actually deigning to seek my opinion on something for once?”  

“Well,” Liza swallowed, her breathing coming a little faster, “yes and no, actually.”  

“Yes and no?”  

“Yes,” Liza said firmly, “because, as it happens, what I wanted to tell you is that I’m in love.” Kara watched as Cutter’s eyes widened for a long second before his brow furrowed; Liza’s back straightened that extra millimetre and her chin rose in an incredibly familiar gesture of determination. “And, you ought to know now that nothing you say will change my mind or my heart, but I would like your approval.”  

“Ok,” he said, advancing on her slowly; Kara had to work hard not leap in front of Liza and force him to back off. “Well, who’s the lucky man that you think I might try and change your mind about?”  

Liza took a deep breath.  

“Millie Foss.”  

Cutter’s face blanched white and then flushed red.  

“Millie Foss? Millie Foss??! Have you lost your mind?” he demanded, his finger pointing accusingly as he began to pace back and forth. “She is the daughter of my enemy. Digsy Foss is a dirty, rotten scoundrel, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!”  

“Father, if you just let me explain-”  

“There’s nothing to explain, Liza.”  

“Yes, there is,” Liza insisted firmly, standing her ground. “You and Foss have hated each other so long I doubt you can even remember what got you so riled up in the first place. And I won’t have you speak about Millie like that.” Liza’s eyes grew soft and imploring as she grasped at Cutter’s forearm, halting his pacing. “I love her.”  

He froze, searching his daughter’s face, his dark frown gradually loosening.  

“Sir,” Kara forced herself to speak up, certain that this ‘script’ wouldn’t let her off without saying something in this pivotal plot moment. “I’ve seen them together, they- they really love each other.” Boy, was that hard to say. “Would it really be so wrong to trust in love for once? To trust that their love could conquer all the bad blood between you and Digsy?”  

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, soft guitar music began to play.  

At first Kara thought something was wrong with her eyes because half of the room seemed to be phasing slightly out of reality, the shimmering image of Digsy Foss’s warehouse phasing in its place.  

“Velvet, I can wish you For the collar of your coat,And fortune smiling all along your way.”  

Somehow, despite being halfway across town, the scene that was presumably taking place in Digsy Foss’s warehouse was also audible and visible here. She watched as Millie’s two dads sang to her of all the things they wished for her, watched Barry nodding along in adorably dorky admiration, and watched as Liza and Cutter Moran appeared to find nothing strange about this sudden musical invasion of their space. Which of course all made ‘sense’ when the music swelled and Cutter began his own verse.  

The music and the lyrics were so beautiful, and Liza’s face was so grateful and hopeful, that Kara couldn’t help but feel that tightening in her chest again. Her own longing for this kind of love and acceptance was truly beyond description, beyond even her own realisation of it. Her heart ached.  

All too soon, the beautiful harmonies faded, the guitar and the scene from Digsy’s warehouse disappeared, and only Kara, Liza and Cutter were left in the quiet room.  

“I appreciate your honesty, Liza,” Cutter said with a deep breath as he approached his daughter, reaching out to gently cup her cheek with one hand.  

“Thank you, father,” Liza murmured, her voice only shaking a little.  

“Come here,” Cutter said softly, pulling her into a warm hug and holding her close.  

Maybe…maybe this…maybe I could…maybe Lena-  

Kara had to stop herself before her heart started to hope too hard.  

Especially when Cutter glanced up from the hug, catching Kara’s gaze, and his eyes were cold and hard, calculating and dangerous.  

Did he just-    

No, I don’t think-    

I’m just being paranoid. That song was way too good to be a fake.    

I think.  

Still, Kara couldn’t shake the cold from her heart as she watched Cutter squeeze his daughter tightly for one moment more before releasing her, tenderly touching a finger under her chin for a moment, before turning and leaving the room.  

As he left, she saw him saying something to one of his henchmen but had no super-hearing with which to listen in.  

Crap.    

Chapter Text

Chapter Four 

Liza let out a deep breath which kind of turned into a high pitched squeak of happy excitement; she turned to face Kara with what should really be illegal levels of adorable happiness on her face. Kara’s insides met the cliché and completely melted. 

“Oh!” Liza gushed happily, grasping Kara’s hands and squeezing them in her delight. “That went so much better than I expected!” She released Kara and practically span around the room, completely dumfounding Kara. “I can’t wait to tell Millie! Oh,” and her face dimmed a few notches, “I hope it went as well for her.” 

Kara’s completely dazzled brain forgot Musicals Etiquette for a moment as she started to ask: 

“Did you not see and hear the song her dads sang with your dad?” 

But, thankfully, Liza appeared not to hear her. 

Probably too busy lost in thoughts of Millie, Kara grumbled to herself. 

“I need to go and find her, make sure she’s ok,” Liza said, her face still bursting with joy. And then she turned back to Kara, her green eyes bright and full of feeling. “Look, Kara, I’m sorry I was so short with you and Barry when you first found us. I owe you so much, helping us see how much better things could be if we were only brave enough to take a stand for the things we wanted.” She took a step closer and reached for Kara’s hands again, squeezing tightly. “I’ll never forget this; never.”  

And then she tugged Kara closer, dashing a quick barely-even-there kiss on her cheek before she pulled away again, dropping Kara’s hands and heading for the door. 

“See you later, doll,” she said, her joy-filled grin widening as she pushed the door open. “I’m gonna go find Millie.” 

Kara couldn’t speak. She could barely breathe. Her cheek was burning, almost as if Lena’s lips –Liza’s! Liza’s lips- had branded their mark into her usually-impenetrable skin which now felt well and truly penetrable. 

She raised a shaking hand, her fingers ghosting over the spot where Lena’s lips had pressed against her skin and she had to close her eyes, to at least attempt to reassemble her thoughts. 

Real life actual kisses with Mon-El never came close to the effects of a kiss on the cheek from just a fake Lena. 

The thought was completely undeniable. 

I need to talk to Lena.  

I need to know if- if it’s even slightly possible that we could have something.  

If me and Barry ever manage to make it out of this.  

Which- Crap! I should probably not have let Liza run off on me like that! 

She started from her daze and dashed out of the room, making her way hastily back the way she and Liza had come, just in time to see Liza talking to Barry in the lobby- he got here fast? Does he have his powers back? He can’t, or at least that’s totally unfair because I don’t- before Liza got in a cab which drove away, taking her and her painfully beautiful joy with it. 

“Barry!” she called as she approached. “Where’d she go? Why did you let her-” 

“Kara, slow down,” he said, holding his hands up as if in an attempt to project calm. “Millie sent me here to tell Liza to meet her at their apartment. It went fine with her dads and she wanted to share the news. I think it’s fine; they’re fine.” 

Kara took a breath, realising that he was probably right and also that she really needed to remember right now that it was Liza in that cab, not Lena. 

“Ok,” she said, nodding and taking a deep breath. “Ok, sorry,” she looked at him, her brow crinkling as she realised she had just yelled at him and been more than a little out of line. “I’m just a bit-” 

“Hey, it’s ok,” he smiled, his own discomfort showing clearly on his face. “Me too.” He squeezed her arm briefly and started walking back into the club.  

I love Barry. He’s just so good. 

They made their way back to her dressing room, or at least the room that had chests and hangers with clothes that fit Kara in; it felt like the right place to go somehow, to take a minute to regroup. 

I really need a minute to regroup. 

She sank into a chair, her heart still reverberating with the force of everything that had happened in the last hour, her cheek still burning with the ghost of Lena’s kiss, aching with the knowledge that it hadn’t been Lena but Liza, and that even Liza was now off to shower someone else with much more meaningful kisses… 

“What do we do now?” Barry began, pacing with a nervous energy that Kara could totally have related to just ten minutes ago. “We got- we got Millie and Liza to tell their fathers that they’re in love.”  

“Which,” Kara spoke almost by accident in the silence he left, “I know we’re in a musical and I haven’t exactly earned the right to feel this and everything, but seeing Lena in love with someone else was…”  

“It was hard to watch,” he finished for her, his eyes meeting hers full of the same pain she was feeling. “I know. But Kara…” he hesitated, before taking a breath and rubbing his face pensively, “you don’t need to earn the right to feel something like this. Maybe,” he paused again, taking a step closer. “Maybe you’re feeling what you’re feeling now because it means something important. Maybe this is a chance to learn something; I mean… I know I’ve learned things in here. Seeing Iris- well, Millie fighting for her chance to love someone even if it’s dangerous, well, it’s made me see that she’s right. That if two people love each other, they should give it everything they’ve got to make it work, regardless of the complications. And maybe- maybe that’s true for you and Lena too.” 

Kara could feel the tears in her eyes, the tightness in her throat, but knew that if she let it out now she might not be able to stop. 

She took a deep, careful breath and allowed herself to nod, feeling an impossible smile crack across her face as she allowed this possibility out loud for the first time. 

“I- I just don’t know- I- I hope so,” she said, her voice small and her breath catching as a treacherous tear broke and rushed down her cheek. She brushed it quickly away, her smile quaking as she met Barry’s gaze, but she found only gentle care and fiercely proud friendship in his eyes as he looked at her. “I just- I don’t think she feels- feels anything like that for me.” 

“Have you talked to her about it?” he asked, his voice so gentle, so kind and Barry-like. 

“No,” Kara admitted, her throat tight as he nodded quietly for a moment. 

“Well, I think you should,” he paused, looking at her carefully for a second before he went on. “Even if Alex disapproves.” Kara let out a small snuff of laughter, unable to hold it in as she met his gaze and nodded. “She clearly means a lot to you.” 

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I think you’re right.” She blew out a deep breath, feeling some of her tension somehow drain away; no matter what happened next, she knew that Barry would have her back. 

“Ok,” he said, his smile encouraging. “Well,” he sighed, “I mean, what are we supposed to do? What do you think this- this Music Meister needs us to do now?” 

Kara didn’t even have time to express quite how much she didn’t know the answer to that question before- 

“Ah, there you are!” Winn/Grady came striding into the room, calling for them. “You two ready?” he asked expectantly as he made his way towards the upright piano tucked in one corner of the room. 

“Ready for-?” Barry asked. 

“For rehearsal, you dolt,” Grady snarked back way more meanly than Winn ever could. “Mr. Moran told me that you got more songs in your repertoire.” 

“Ah,” Barry said, his eyes widening slightly. And suddenly Kara realised what they had to do. 

“We have to finish the musical,” she said, standing up and catching Barry’s eye. 

“Yeah.” 

“Uh,” Kara began, turning in trepidation towards Grady as she remembered what Moran had said earlier, “do you do you happen to know anything original?” 

“As a matter of fact,” Grady said with a grin and a wink, “I’ve been working on something all day.” 

“Wow,” Barry murmured as they stared at the pianist, “things really are easier in musicals.” 

“Yeah,” Kara agreed, fervently hoping that that would extend to their ability to improvise lyrics and dance moves. 

They took a few steps closer to the piano and Grady set up an arpeggiated chord.  

“All right,” Barry said, blowing out some air and taking a breath. 

“At times like these when life is getting me down and the world seems like it’s gonna end-ship-”  

“Mm-mm?” Kara murmured, trying not to look too sceptical even as she guessed where this was probably going.  

“There’s at least one power that we both still have and that’s the power of-” 

“Friendship?” Kara finished for him as he gestured at her. 

“Yeah!” he exclaimed excitedly. “That’s exactly what I was gonna say.” 

“Yeah, it’s an easy rhyme,” Kara had to protest a little but he quickly carried on- 

“I’m your super friend,” he sang so beautifully it completely warmed her heart even as she had to laugh. And then he started tap dancing and she could not be but impressed. “Your super friend. I’ll be there in the nick of time if you’re ever in a spot.” 

Somehow the words and the steps just came to her, as if she’d learned them since childhood, and she gladly joined in with this of all songs. 

“And if you’re not there in time you can just go back in time and give it another shot!”  

“I’m actually not supposed to do that anymore,” he corrected her slightly awkwardly. 

“Oh, okay.” 

But then he spun a full 360^o on his heel and told her to: “Sing!” 

“I’m your super friend, super friend,”  

“When you need a compliment I can rattle off a dozen. For instance, I have to say, I’m not impressed by your more famous cousin.”  

“Thank you!” Kara exclaimed, turning to him. “No one ever says that.” 

“Oh, he’s all, like, ‘I’m Superman’, whoop-di-whoop-di-whoo.” 

Kara practically cackled at that.  

“That’s a really good impression!” 

“Thanks.” 

It’s weird how the music just starts and stops exactly as and when we need it to.  

Ah, musicals. 

And then they sang together. 

“I’m your super friend, super friend,”  

“When it comes to buddies, pal, you’re the best-”  

“I love you more than the lightning bolt I wear on my chest-”  

“If you’re ever sad I’ll bring you flowers-”  

“And you can list soprano as one of your powers-”  

“If you’re ever broke-”  

“I’ve got the cash-”  

“On my couch-”  

“You’re welcome to crash-”  

“And if you ever need a hand-”  

“I’ll be there in a Flash!”  

“Barry!”

“That was funny!” 

She reached to tug him up from the chair and, as they spun through to the final line of the song, suddenly they were on stage, in full performance mode, big band and a shiny dress but somehow keeping it together with perfect harmonies for the end:

“I’m your super - that has a double meaning - friend!”  

The cheers and applause from the audience were wild, an almost immediate standing ovation, and Kara couldn’t help feeling as elated as she was baffled, her heart pounding with exhilaration in her chest. 

And then they heard the gunshots. 

They both froze and Kara remembered Cutter Moran’s cold eyes. 

She quickly stood up from the dip Barry held her in and they met each other’s eyes for a second, their almost forgotten fear quickly rekindling. 

“Come on,” Barry murmured, taking her hand and pulling her off the stage. 

They rushed back through the club, following the sound of gunshots. 

Damn these heels! Kara thought as Barry pulled ahead of her, unhindered by his footwear. 

Her heart clenched in her chest as he pushed through the doors and she heard him cry ‘Stop!’ and then go quiet after another round of gunshots. 

She made it through the doors and her stomach twisted horribly in fear. 

“Barry!” she cried, not wanting to believe what her eyes were telling her, that her friend was lying on the ground, bleeding out from a bullet wound in his chest. “Oh my god.” 

She stared, utterly dumbfounded that this could be happening right now.  

Weren’t we literally just singing about being super friends?! How can he be shot now? How can he- 

And then that train of thought was suddenly cut off by searing, bright, hot pain that riddled her chest and stopped her from breathing, stopped her from thinking just for a few long seconds. 

And then she realised that she too was lying on the ground, that she was bleeding out, that she was going to die. 

Alex is going to be so mad. 

I never told Lena.  

I never told Lena who I really am, and I never told Lena that I love her. 

I can’t die now, not now- 

Pain rattled through her again. 

We can’t die now-  

“Barry!” she called again, her voice weak, more like a croak. “Barry!” 

“Kara,” he wheezed back, and then the world shimmered and darkness began to crowd her vision. 

I’m going to die and Lena will never know that I loved her; she’ll think I never even trusted her…  

Lena …

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

Iris West considered herself pretty well read, well experienced when it came to the weirder things of the world, but it was days like these that made her realise that that was only for things of this particular world. Not only had she not been prepared for some dimension hopping bad guy to put her not-fiancé in some kind of mystical, power-draining coma alongside his alien friend, but she had definitely not been prepared to witness said alien's apparently human boss turn into a much more- more visibly alien kind of alien right in front of her.

Does Kara transform like that too? Barry never said anything about that.

Not really the point.

Between The Martian Manhunter, Cisco and Wally, they had managed to at least capture the bad guy. Now it seemed to be up to her and this Mon-El person to make him undo whatever it was he'd done to Barry and Kara.

She wasn't entirely sure what to make of Mon-El. Her sisterhood hackles had kind of risen when he'd described himself as Kara's boyfriend and then Jonn told them that Kara had broken it off with him, but then her current relationship status with Barry wasn't exactly easy to explain, so she'd decided to give him the benefit of the doubt; mostly.

She led Mon-El down to the holding cell where they were keeping the Music Meister, having been told that he was now awake, and tried to make herself feel confident in their abilities to get the information they were going to need out of him.

Barry's counting on us.

"Here goes," she murmured to Mon-El and pressed the button to open the shutter door.

“Well, well, well," Music Meister began, considering them with great interest from where he lounged on the floor. "Now doesn't this make for an interesting turn of events? Iris," he said turning to her as her heart jolted in fearful wonder that he knew her name, "I was hoping you would visit me, but you, uh, Mon-El isn't it? You're not quite who I had in mind. Or rather, who Kara has in mind I should say." He laughed at his own joke and Iris couldn't quite help the slightly uncomfortable glance she shot at Mon-El.

"Fix them," Iris said, making sure to keep her voice calm and commanding. "Now."

“I'm sorry," he replied, not looking sorry at all. "I can’t.”

“If you ever want to get out of that cell," Mon-El said, his face darkening, “that’s exactly what you’re gonna do.”

“You don't get it," Music Meister actually laughed. "You don’t understand, big guy. That’s just not how it works. My powers don’t work that way.”

“What do you mean?" Mon-El demanded. "You’re the one who did this to them.”

“Yes, but they are the only ones that are in control of what happens to them now, as are-" he stopped himself, chuckling lightly, "well, not the two of you, but you, Iris, and someone that Kara loves just as much as Barry loves you."

Iris glanced at Mon-El, trying to read his reaction, but unable to tell if his furrowed brow meant anger or sadness or just confusion.

“What does that even mean?” she pleaded.

“How much do you love him, Iris?" Music Meister asked, clapping his hands and practically giggling as he looked to the ceiling. “And, ah, this is great, how much does Kara's beloved love her? You don't really matter all that much, Mon-El, so I shouldn't worry about it."

Ok, that's definitely anger, Iris realised as she saw Mon-El's fist clench at his side.

“So," Music Meister carried on cheerily, “the questions really are: is that love strong enough to save them? And can you get the person that Kara truly loves here in time to save her. You want Kara and Barry back from the world they’re in, someone's going to have to go in there and get them!"

“How?" Iris demanded, putting aside the question of Mon-El and Kara's relationship for now. "How do we get in there?"

“Ah, I can't tell you," he sighed, mock-mournfully. "Sorry, you gotta figure it out yourself! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna just chill in this wonderfully decorated little cell of yours. Bye, guys! Good luck. Love will find a way. You can do it! Power of love and all that!"

Iris really wanted to punch him.

Chapter Text

Chapter Six 

There weren’t many things that could make Alex Danvers completely freak the fuck out. One, of course, was when Kara (or, more recently, Maggie) was hurt, when the threat of losing the people she loved became real. Her nerves were already pretty frayed because Kara was currently in another dimension and, to the best of her knowledge, was still held in some kind of mysterious mystical coma that Alex had not been even slightly able to wake her from. 

Given this current off-kilter state of affairs, she thought she could give herself a pass for momentarily freaking the fuck out when a giant wobbly ball of bluish light appeared in the middle of her supposedly very secure DEO command room. It hung there freaking her out for a good second before her brain caught up and she realised that it was a dimensional portal. 

“Weapons!” she roared at the startled agents manning the command room with her and there was the rapid clicking of many guns being readied before- 

“Stand down!” came the familiarly reassuring voice of J’onn J'onzz, a split second before he appeared in the portal, followed by a man she did not recognise but was decidedly not Mon-El or Kara. 

“J’onn!” Alex exclaimed as the portal popped out of existence; she lowered her weapon hesitantly. “Where’s Supergirl? What happened?” 

“Supergirl is still in her coma, we are working on it.” He paused, noticing that the whole room was still focused on the new arrivals. “Back to your stations, people,” he barked before focusing back on Alex. “Agent Danvers, a word. Now.” 

He turned, leading the way to his office and Alex followed, her chest tight and her heart pounding. 

“What’s going on, J’onn?” she demanded as soon as the door shut behind them. “Who’s this?” 

“I’m Cisco Ramon,” the other guy piped up, shoving a hand in her direction which she glanced at but was not yet prepared to shake. “I work with Barry - The Flash – back on Earth One.” He stared at his still hanging hand for a split second before quickly withdrawing it. “I made the tech that allowed you guys to make a portal to bring Kara to us.” 

“Ok,” Alex nodded, accepting this as some kind of explanation of his presence even as her eyes narrowed at the evidence that he was yet another person to add to the list of those who knew Supergirl’s true identity, “but what’s happened? Why are you back without Kara?” She looked at J’onn and could see the familiar worry in his eyes. 

“We think she needs you,” he replied, his troubled eyes meeting hers. 

“Me? What do you mean?” 

“Well,” Cisco started, clearly equal parts hesitant to speak and also imbued with an almost Winn-like need to explain things, “we caught the guy who put her in the coma – he did the mojo on Barry too, but we caught him in the end – and we’ve been trying to get him to undo it, but,” he paused, glancing at J’onn. 

“He’s clearly a magical being of some kind,” J’onn continued, “and it’s hard to tell whether he’s telling the truth or lies, but he’s essentially saying that in order for Kara and Barry to be woken from their comas, they need to be brought out by the person that they love.” 

“Yeah,” Cisco nodded eagerly, “and he said that Iris was the right person for Barry, but that Mon-El was not the person that Kara loved so it wouldn’t work. Obviously we don’t know if he’s telling the truth or not but, on the off-chance that he is we thought you were probably our best bet.” 

Several thoughts appeared in Alex’s mind in the second’s silence that followed this explanation: 

Kara doesn’t love Mon-El? Thank fucking god.  

Who’s Iris? Doesn’t matter.  

What’s with all the magical creeps coming after my sister and her love life?  

But it’s not her love life this time, because it’s not Mon-El, it’s me. Sister love, not sexy love.  

Sexy love? Really? 

I’m about to travel to a different dimension.  

I am going to be drinking alcohol later. Lots of it. 

“Ok,” she nodded curtly, “so you need me to be there as the person that Kara loves?” 

“You got it,” Cisco beamed at her. 

“I will resume command here,” J’onn said, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “She needs you now, Alex.” 

Alex swallowed hard and nodded. 

“Ok, let’s go.” 

“Awesome,” Cisco grinned, pulling the tiny transdimensional oscillator from his pocket, twisting it and prodding it until another wobbly ball of bluish light appeared in the room. “Grab my arm,” he said, holding out an elbow for Alex. She raised an eyebrow and glanced at J’onn but he nodded, so she took a breath before taking Cisco’s arm and stepping into another world.  

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfu-! 

She closed her eyes tight as her insides seemed to twist all around her body before slamming back into place as her feet finally landed on solid ground once more. She opened her eyes to a large, well lit room full of hi-tech equipment to rival the DEO, one doctor who looked up expectantly at their arrival, and two gurneys, each bearing a comatose superhero wired up to sets of medical monitors.  

“Kara,” she breathed, instinct automatically pushing her towards her sister. 

“We’re back!” Cisco called. 

“Cisco, hi,” the doctor called, smiling a particularly tense little smile at him as they approached, “and you must be Agent Danvers?” Alex nodded as she reached Kara’s bedside, somehow finding it harder to brush past the offered handshake from this woman. “I’m Dr. Caitlin Snow, I’ve been monitoring their vitals. I understand that you have medical training? What have you been told about this situation?” 

“Only that she’s still in a coma and that she might need me to wake her somehow because she needs it to be someone that she- that she loves.” She refused to let fear dominate her, refused to recognise the constriction in her chest. 

“Ok,” Caitlin nodded, “that just about sums it up, bar the fact that, while their vitals seem to be holding more or less stable, the Music Meister-” 

“Music Meister?” Alex couldn’t help questioning a name like that. 

“The bad guy,” Cisco chimed in, “seeing how he keeps singing at people and talking about putting a song in your heart-”  

This guy is like Winn in a different body. 

“Sorry, you were saying,” Alex said to Caitlin, trying to refocus. 

“Well he seems to have drained a lot of the elements that give both Barry and Kara their powers before we caught him. The solar radiation in Kara’s body and the Speed Force cell’s in Barry’s started decreasing almost immediately, but they seem to have stabilised since we captured the Music Meister.” 

“Ok,” Alex nodded, reaching out to squeeze one of Kara’s hands in hers. “Ok.” 

She took a breath, trying to remember all the bits of information her brain needed to process whilst ignoring the fact that she had moved between dimensions less than a minute ago. 

“Ok, you talked about Iris being the person for Barry,” she said, turning to Cisco. “Who’s Iris and where is she? Is she his sister?” 

“Uh, not exactly,” Cisco replied with an awkward half-grimace, half-laugh and a glance at Caitlin. “She’s his sort of fiancé except they’re on a break.” 

Alex frowned. 

So it’s romantic love for Barry but sister love for Kara? That sounds…unlikely. 

“Ok,” she said, drawing out the word with her hesitation. “And this… Music Meister?” they nodded as she paused for confirmation, “said that Barry would be saved by her and that Kara would be saved by me.”

“Not you specifically,” Caitlin replied, “just someone that she loved and that person wasn’t Mon-El. He didn’t specify romantic love,” the doctor continued, clearly understanding Alex’s scepticism, “and Kara does love you a lot.” 

“She’s always talking about you when she’s here,” Cisco said with a grin. It was impossible not to smile at that, but it made Alex’s chest hurt so much. 

We have to get her out of that coma. We have to. 

“Ok,” she said, nodding again as she took a deep breath, reassessing for a moment before she realised something. “Where’s Mon-El?” 

He better not be doing something stupid.  

“I think he was talking with HR,” Caitlin said, wincing slightly. “He, uh, he wasn’t exactly over the moon about the decision to bring you here.” 

“I thought he might not be,” Alex practically growled before her brain snagged on something. “Hang on, HR? You guys sent him to Human Resources?” 

“Oh! No,” Cisco said with more awkward grimacey laughter. “HR is a person, they’re his initials. He’s, uh, he’s quite, uh, unusual.” 

Alex couldn’t help raising a brow at that. As if anything or anyone here could possibly be described as ‘usual’. 

“Ok, and what about Iris?” 

“I think she’s talking to the Music Meister again, trying to get some kind of clue on how to help Barry and Kara.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Alex said, squeezing Kara’s hand one last time before letting go. “I’d like to ask him a question or two myself.” 

“I thought you might,” Cisco said, his face serious as he nodded. “Come with me.” 

He lead the way through the building, entering a passcode to an elevator that took them down more storeys than Alex cared to count before he lead them out into a huge, high-ceilinged walkway with many high-security cells leading off it. The sound of voices was coming from a cell several hundred feet away and Alex took a breath, set her shoulders and made her way towards it, fully prepared to bring every ounce of intimidation that she could. 

“You’ve got to give me something more to go on,” a woman’s voice rang out, Iris’s, Alex presumed. “How am I supposed to bring him back if I don’t even know where he is?” 

“Ah, sweet, sweet Iris!” came the reply and Alex knew from just that that she’d be spending most of this conversation wanting to punch him repeatedly in the face. “You need to have a little more faith in yourself, in the love that you and Barry share! I already told you: you just need to follow. Your. Heart. It’ll take you right to him!” 

“But how-” 

Alex and Cisco’s footsteps got suddenly louder as they hit the metal floor of the walkway leading up to the containment cell and Iris span around. 

“Cisco,” she exclaimed in some relief. “And you must be-” 

“Alex Danvers,” Alex replied, quickly taking in the way the other woman’s face so clearly showed the same worry that was thrumming in her own veins. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” Iris said with a wry smile. “I hear you’re some kind of highly trained, secret government agent? I’m hoping you’ll be able to get more out of this guy than I’ve been able to. I’m a reporter and I’ve never come across someone so willing to talk who says so little of use.” 

“Oh you wound me, Iris,” the Music Meister called from his cell, bringing a hand to his forehead in wildly over-the-top melodrama. “I’ve told you everything you need to know, you have all the tools you need, you just need to follow your heart and you’ll get your Barry back. Pity about Kara though,” he said, tutting as he turned his eyes on Alex. “You’ve still not found her beloved I see.” 

It felt like a punch in the gut, even as Alex told herself that this guy was just a fucking trickster who knew nothing about her or her sister or the love that they had for each other. 

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Music Meister said, standing with faux concern and politeness spreading thick on his face and renewing Alex’s desire to punch him. “Kara does love you, Alex.” Alex couldn’t tell if it was his words or the shock of him knowing her name that made her heart stutter; she didn’t care to investigate. “She loves you perhaps more than anyone right now, it’s just that that’s a pretty different kind of love to the kind we’re learning lessons about today. It’s her soulmate she needs to pull her out of this; ‘dear sister’ won’t quite cut it.” 

Alex snapped. 

“You listen to me, you little shit,” she hissed out, banging her fist hard against the glass and getting as close as she could, feeling her shoulders rise and her chest swell in fury. “You’re gonna tell me what I need to do to bring my sister out of this coma right now or I am going to open that door, come in there and fucking make you-”

But before she could so much as finish threatening him properly, an intercom buzzed through the air and Caitlin’s voice rang out, urgent and slightly panicky. 

“Guys! Everybody, I need you up here right now! They’re crashing!!” 

Alex felt every drop of blood in her body turn to ice. She met Iris’s eyes for a split second and then they were running. 

“Just listen to your heart, Alex,” Music Meister called after her. “Deep, deep down, you know who she needs!” 

She refused to listen to him, only having space in her brain for the fact that her baby sister was dying upstairs and she didn’t have anything to save her with yet. 

I’m coming Kara; hold on. Please hold on. 

“What’s wrong?” Alex and Iris demanded in unison as they ran into the room where Kara and Barry still lay, their bodies now jerking spasmodically as they fought against whatever it was that was killing them in their sleep. 

“I think we’re losing them,” Caitlin replied, her eyes darting from the prone heroes to the monitors and back. 

“Can you stop it?” Mon-El asked as he appeared from another room, his face red and his eyes bloodshot. 

“Not if I don’t know why,” the doctor barked back as she reached across to feel Barry’s wrist. 

“What are we gonna do?” asked one of the men who had come in with Mon-El. 

“Um,” Iris started hesitantly, looking from Alex to Caitlin to Cisco and back to Alex. “We need to go to whatever world they’re in.”

“How are we gonna do that?” Alex had to ask; it wasn’t as if they could just will themselves there. 

“Look,” Iris said, her fear and uncertainty plain in her voice, “he said, if we loved them enough that we could save them, wherever they are.” She paused and turned to Cisco; Alex still didn’t understand. “Cisco, you can vibe us there.” 

“I don’t think it works that way,” he replied, his brow furrowed. Alex still had no idea what was happening. 

“You sent me into the Speed Force,” Iris continued and Alex’s eyes bulged. “You sent Barry and Wally into the future.” Alex’s eyes bulged a hell of a lot more. “You can do this too.” 

“What is she talking about?” Mon-El demanded. “What’s a vibe?” 

“I’ll explain later,” Cisco said as he hurried to stand by Barry and Kara’s heads. “Come on, just grab on to my shoulders-” He stopped suddenly, looking from Mon-El to Alex and back again. “Which one of you is going?” 

“Me,” Alex and Mon-El said in unison and Alex, not for the first time, really wanted to kill him. 

“She doesn’t love you, you whiny little-” 

“She does,” he hissed back, “even if she doesn’t realise it yet. And it’s not a sibling love kind of situation we’ve got here; it’s a deeper connection than that.” 

“You think you have a deeper connection to Kara than I do!?” 

“GUYS!” Iris bellowed over them. “We don’t have time for this! Mon-El, you’re standing closer, grab Cisco’s shoulder and let’s go!”

With a triumphant glare at Alex that she told herself to never forget, Mon-El grabbed Cisco’s shoulder.  

“Let’s hope this works,” Cisco murmured as he slipped on some sunglasses and placed a hand on Kara and Barry’s shoulders. 

For a long second nothing happened but then, with an almost audible ‘pop’, Iris disappeared. 

Mon-El, however, was still there, clutching at Cisco’s shoulder with one hand and Kara’s with the other. 

“It didn’t work,” Alex whispered, her heart sinking despite herself. 

“Why didn’t it work?!” Mon-El bellowed at Cisco. “Try again!!” 

The instant wince of pain on Cisco’s face made Alex suddenly remember that Mon-El also came from a red sun planet and had enhanced strength under a yellow sun. 

“Let him go,” she growled, whipping her lead-filled gun from its holster and pointing it at Mon-El. “Let him go, now.” 

His eyes widened and he hesitated just long enough to make Alex remove the safety from her gun with a resounding click. 

Instantly he released Cisco, swallowing hard and raising his hands as he backed away. 

Squirmy, selfish little coward. Of course Kara doesn’t love him; how could that even be a question? 

“You ok?” Alex asked Cisco, who nodded, rolling his shoulder gingerly and glaring at Mon-El for a second. 

“Yeah,” he sighed, flexing his fingers. “Do you wanna give this a go now?” 

“Yes,” Alex nodded, holstering her gun with a quick glance at Mon-El who was now shrinking in a corner. “Quickly.” 

She walked forward to stand beside Cisco at Kara’s head, placing one hand on his shoulder and one on her sister’s upper arm, and closed her eyes. 

Come on, come on, come on! 

She all-but heard the crack of her own heart breaking in the silence that followed as nothing happened again. 

“Fuck!” she hissed, unable to contain her fury and despair. She still grasped at Kara with one hand but had to cover her eyes with the other as she felt her face begin to crumple, tears burning in her eyes as she realised that she had failed, that her sister was going to die because she’d failed her yet again. 

And then there was a small ‘pop’ in the air followed by a chorus of gasps and murmuring voices. 

“Iris!” she heard Caitlin call, followed by a ‘Barry!’ from Cisco. 

She opened her eyes to see Iris returned, leaning over Barry’s body, her lips pressed to his. 

And then Barry’s eyes opened, blinking blurrily as Iris pulled back from him, tears of happiness and relief streaming down her face.

Alex had never felt as hollow as she did in that moment. 

“Iris?” Barry murmured, trying to sit up and shake some understanding into himself. “Iris!” he cried, pulling her into a tight embrace, joy burning in his smile. “What happened? What-”  

And then he spotted Kara and his face blanched. 

“Kara-” he started, reaching for her hand, his face confused as he suddenly started searching the other faces in the room as if looking for someone. “Where’s Lena?” he asked and Alex almost choked. “Where’s Lena Luthor?” 

“Who?” Iris asked, her face falling to concern again. 

“Lena Luthor,” Barry repeated, looking around at Alex. “Kara loves her. If it was Iris that pulled me out, I’d bet my speed that it’s Lena that can pull Kara out.” 

“Lena Luthor?” Alex sputtered out. “It can’t- She can’t possibly-” 

There were so many levels on which this spelled disaster in Alex’s mind, not least being that Kara looked like she had only minutes left and Lena was still in another dimension. 

“Alex,” Barry said firmly, pushing himself to sit up fully. “I know you don’t trust her, I know you think she’s wrapped up in everything her family has done but Kara trusts her. Kara loves her-” 

“Kara doesn’t love-” Mon-El burst out, his face screwed up in outrage until- 

“Shut up, Mon-El!” Cisco yelled, pointing a gloved fist at him from which shot a beam of blue light that knocked him off his feet and slammed him so hard into a wall that the solar-powered Daxamite lost consciousness. 

Alex’s eyes went very wide. 

Not quite like Winn then. 

Flashes of memory burst through her mind of all the times Kara had dropped everything for Lena, had stood up for her, defended her against her accusers, had risked her life without a second’s hesitation… 

And those are just the things I know about…  

“I don’t have time to argue it with you now,” Barry continued, bringing Alex’s attention quickly back to their very limited time frame. “You just need to go and get Lena here before we lose Kara forever.” 

He’s right, she realised with a jolt of pain and fear through her chest.  

It’s easy for him to say though; he doesn’t have to go and persuade Lena fucking Luthor to drop everything and come to an alternate universe at a moment’s notice. 

She better be damned well worthy of Kara’s love.  

I will fucking forcibly abduct her if I have to.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven 

It was a good job Lena had finished that conference call when she did; it would have been really hard to explain to both the CEO and the CFO of Einmar Industries why she had suddenly squeaked aloud in shock when a large orb of liquid blue light appeared out of nowhere in her office. 

As it was, Lena ‘how-may-times-can-she-get-attacked-or-abducted-in-one-year’ Luthor thought that she might a) be having a heart attack, b) have finally cracked and started hallucinating, or c) both. 

She only just had time to scramble together enough thought to wonder what her mother and/or brother were up to now, before two figures appeared inside the blue light, quickly condensing into the forms of Agent Alex Danvers ‘FBI’ – or whichever identity fits her purposes at the time, I suspect – and a man Lena did not recognise. 

What. The. Fuck?! 

“Ms. Luthor,” Alex said, marching up to Lena’s desk, her face a storm of fear, worry, and desperation.  

Oh god.  

Kara.  

Something’s happened to Kara. 

“Lena, sorry to just barge in like this but I need your help and I need it now.” 

The fact that Alex Danvers just called her by her first name surely meant that something was really wrong. 

“Agent Danvers,” she forced out, using every ounce of her will to keep her voice calm, collected and not at all like she was completely freaking out. “Where is Kara? I don’t know how you got up here, but I-” 

“I don’t have time to explain,” Alex cut her off, her clenched fists coming to lean on Lena’s desk in front of her. “Supergirl doesn’t have time.” She stopped, her eyes searching Lena’s face desperately for something. “Kara doesn’t.” 

Holy fuck, what has happened? 

Lena had known about Kara’s other identity from the first week that they’d met but, to her knowledge, Kara didn’t know that she knew and so presumably neither did Alex. Whatever had happened to Kara was apparently serious enough to make Alex Danvers, of all people, drop the curtain on that secret to Lena, a Luthor. 

“Alex-” 

“She’s dying, Lena,” Alex cut her off again, her voice cracking even as her words made Lena’s whole body freeze. “She’s dying and I think- I think she needs you to save her.” 

Lena’s considerably high-powered mind apparently ran out of processing power. 

“Look,” Alex continued, urgency rising in her voice, “I know it’s a lot to take in, but we really don’t have time for more explanation now. She’s literally got minutes, maybe less, and then she’ll be gone forever.” Lena could barely breathe at the thought. “I need you to just somehow trust me and-” 

“I trust you,” Lena interrupted this time, the pain and fear in her chest making her throw caution and dignity to the wind. “I trust you for this. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” 

Alex stared hard at her for a second before she straightened up and nodded. 

“Come with us then,” she said, standing back and gesturing towards the orb of light. “Quickly.” 

Lena was up and trotting around her desk towards the light orb before her brain could form enough cohesive thoughts to warn her about the many ways in which this was insane. 

“Hold on,” the man that had come with Alex said as she approached, holding out his arm to her. She hesitated for a moment before a quick glance at Alex showed that the agent had taken hold of the man’s other arm. 

Good enough. 

She grabbed hold, nodded, and the three of them stepped into the light. 

If Lena thought she hated flying, it was nothing compared to how much she hated…whatever this was. It was like being violently tossed around whilst simultaneously being held completely still, unable to see or hear anything besides the roaring sound of air rushing from nowhere to somewhere. 

And then suddenly the world was still again, quiet but for the hushed murmurs of voices in a large room and the invasive beep of medical equipment. She opened her eyes and saw a group of people huddled by a pair of gurneys, one bearing a man in a red skin-tight suit who was sitting up with one arm wrapped around the woman at his side while the other hand held onto that of the other gurney’s occupant: Kara, who lay prone and unconscious, looking so vulnerable even in her super suit as she feebly twitched and jerked in apparent pain. 

“Kara,” Lena breathed the word, her whole body lurching towards her unconscious friend, her favourite person in the world despite all the secrets and lies she kept between them. 

“Lena,” the man in the red suit said, looking at her with a definite sense of recognition that Lena could not reciprocate. “She’s still hanging on, she’s holding on for you-” 

“She doesn’t know yet, Barry,” Alex interrupted as she appeared at Lena’s shoulder. “Lena, I’m sorry about this,” she said, turning to speak to Lena directly, “but, you’re going to need to trust me just a bit longer.” 

“I’ve already said I’ll trust you for this, Alex,” Lena cut her off, her need to save Kara making her impatient, “just tell me what I need to do.”  

Alex glanced almost helplessly at the woman by Barry’s side who nodded and answered for her: 

“You need to let Cisco vibe you into Kara’s mind and tell her that you love her, show her how you feel about her.” 

Lena gaped at her. 

Of all the things-  

How do they know- 

Kara and I haven’t ever even talked about- 

“Please,” Alex spoke again, her voice shaking and one hand coming to tug at Lena’s shoulder. “She- She’ll die.” 

Anything for Kara.  

There was no time to be embarrassed, no matter how mortified she currently felt; there was no time to wonder if this was actually too insane to be real. 

“Tell me what to do.”

“This way,” the man who’d brought her here with Alex, Cisco presumably, gestured as he moved forward towards the head of Kara’s gurney. “Hold onto my shoulder with one hand and hold onto Kara with the other.” He nodded as Lena followed his instructions. “Ok, third time’s the charm.” 

Lena blinked and suddenly the world changed. 

She was no longer in a laboratory but in an almost deserted street lined with old fashioned cars and dim yellow streetlamps, but before her brain could begin to process the implications of this she saw her, Kara, lying alone, limp and bleeding on the ground a few metres away. 

“Kara!!” she screamed, shock and fear jolting through her even though she’d already known that Kara was injured and close to death. She ran towards her, falling to her knees at her hero’s side, barely able to comprehend what she was seeing.  

Kara. Kind, funny, beautiful, caring Kara; strong, courageous, wonderfully bullet-proof Kara, was lying in the cold, blood seeping through her lovely dress as it fled her weakening body. 

“L-Lena?” Crystal blue eyes cracked open as Kara croaked out her name and Lena thought her chest would burst. “Lena…” 

“I’m here,” Lena answered, leaning over her fallen friend and trying to keep her conscious. “I’m here, darling; stay with me, please.” 

Her chest felt like someone was trying to cut their way out of it from the inside. 

How many times had she imagined telling Kara how she felt? How many different ways had she imagined telling her friend that her heart longed for so much more than friendship between them? She’d always let something hold her back, whether it was the uneasy discomfort she felt on some level that Kara had still not confided in her about her other identity, or whether it was plain and simple fear of rejection, of losing the relationship with Kara that she did have. And now… 

Now she was left with this, this train wreck of a moment in which to confess her love. 

Because she did love her, she had no doubts about that. 

She only wished that the first time she said the words they would not risk being lost in the rasps of Kara’s dying breaths, that the first time she cupped Kara’s cheek as she had imagined doing so many times, her hands would not be shaking with terror that it was too little, too late. 

“Kara,” she breathed, one of her shaking hands coming finally to caress the soft skin of Kara’s cheek while the other pushed its way into Kara’s rich golden hair.  

“I-I’m sorry, Lena,” Kara wheezed out with an effort. “I should have told you.” 

“Shh, darling, don’t try to talk,” she hushed her, stroking gently along her jaw. “You can tell me once I’ve gotten you out of here.” 

“I sh-should have t-told you because I love you, Lena,” Kara was whispering now, her words beginning to slur as her eyelids seemed to grow heavier and heavier. 

“No!” Lena practically whimpered, her heart roaring and shattering in her chest. “No, no, no! Kara stay with me! You have to hear me tell you that I love you. I love you, Kara! Kara!?” 

The blonde was almost completely still now, her eyes unfocused and no discernible breath coming from her lips. Lena’s terror ramped itself to 1000%. 

‘Tell her that you love her, show her how you feel about her.’  

‘Show’ as well as ‘tell’.  

Oh god. 

“I love you Kara,” she whispered one last time, feeling tears tracking down her face as she leaned closer and pressed her lips to Kara’s for the first time, trying to put every ounce of the love that she felt into that simple kiss. 

Her heart ached and burst with broken longing as silence and stillness covered them completely. 

And then the very air around them hummed and popped and suddenly she was leaning over Kara at her bedside rather than kneeling over her on the ground. 

She began to pull back, needing to see Kara, to be certain of what had just happened, when those brilliant blue eyes fluttered open and met hers. 

“Lena,” Kara breathed, her eyes widening hazily for just a second before one of Kara’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her back in. 

Ohhh…. 

As much as she had felt terror and pain and fear in the last two minutes of her life, Lena now felt exponentially more joy and relief and a kind of disbelieving happiness that completely surpassed the bounds of what life had taught her to expect. There are no words to truly describe the emotions that clamoured for attention in Lena’s heart as Kara Danvers not only clawed her way back to life from the brink of death, but celebrated this victory by pulling Lena in close and kissing her deeply. 

“Ahem!” 

It was rather a nasty shock to be reminded that there was a crowd of at least seven or eight other people in the room with them. 

She pulled back from Kara, trying to hold onto some sense of dignity even as she felt the blush beginning to travel up her neck to sit glaringly on her cheeks. Kara didn’t particularly help matters by refusing to completely let go of her, choosing instead to sit up, keeping one arm looped around Lena’s waist and an increasingly bashful and totally adorable smile on her face. 

“Kara,” Barry said simply, grinning at her and reaching across the small space between their gurneys for her free hand and squeezing it when she gave it to him. 

“Kara!” came the cracked and broken voice of Alex Danvers from behind Lena and Lena decided that this was definitely the moment to extricate herself from Kara’s grip, making room for Alex to get closer, to check for herself that her sister really was back, that she was alive and sitting there grinning and blushing like a girl who had just had her first kiss with someone. 

Because she has; she’s just had her first kiss with me.  

I just had my first kiss with Kara Danvers.  

Who I also told about the fact that I love her.  

Who also told me that she loves me.  

Kara loves me. She just kissed me right here in front of all these people.  

Kara just kissed me in front of her sister. 

Lena tried to keep her personal little meltdown to herself as mass relief swept around the room at Kara’s recovery, hugs and ‘thank god’s being exchanged while Alex Danvers held her sister close. 

And then Alex Danvers, scary mysterious government agent and sister of the woman she loved, was hugging her. Lena did not know what to do or how to respond because Alex Danvers’ arms were wrapped tightly around her in a crushing hug. 

“Thank you,” she murmured fiercely in Lena’s ear and Lena hesitantly let her arms hang loosely around the agent. “Thank you for trusting me when I needed you to, for taking that risk for her sake. Thank you for bringing her back to me.” The usually-gruff Alex pulled back, keeping her hands on Lena’s shoulders as she looked searchingly into her eyes for another second. “I’ll never forget this, Lena. I mean it. Thank you.”

And Lena responded with the only words she could think of: 

“It’s Kara,” she said with the slightest of helpless shrugs. “What else could I do?” 

To her relief, Alex let out a slight snuff of laughter, clapped her on the shoulder once and then released her before turning back towards Kara. The beautiful blonde hero’s eyes were wide and shimmering as she stared at Lena and Alex from where she sat at the edge of her gurney, that impossibly perfect smile of hers shining down on them like the sun, warming Lena to her very bones. 

And then Kara moved to stand up. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Alex and Lena both shouted in unison, rushing towards the recently-nearly-dead superhero in an attempt to keep her on the gurney. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Alex demanded and Lena gladly let her take point on this one as her brain decided to remember that she was not really in the habit of bossing Kara around in public just yet. “You need to stay on that gurney until you’ve been properly checked out. We don’t know much about what that guy did to you, but we know he drained a lot of your solar radiation-” 

“I feel fine, Alex,” Kara protested, waving away her sister’s hands gently. “A little weaker than usual maybe, but nothing a little blast in the sun wouldn’t fix. What time is it on this earth? Is the sun still out?” 

Lena was sure she must have misheard something there. 

“‘This earth’?” she asked, her tiny question dropping like a bomb into silence because, surely- surely that couldn’t mean what she thought it meant. 

“Uhhh-” 

The collective guilty looks and uncertain noises from around the room were all the confirmation that she needed. 

That orb of blue light that she had let Alex persuade her to walk through had been a portal to another dimension. 

The Multiverse Theory is true.  

I’m in a parallel universe.  

A parallel. Fucking. Universe. 

Lena’s head began to swim and black dots appeared in her vision as her body battled with the fact that she’d not gotten around to eating lunch that day whilst trying to achieve some level of comprehension of all the enormous ways in which her entire world had shifted since she’d finished her conference call with Einmar Industries less than ten minutes ago. 

But just as her legs began to feel truly unstable, a very familiar, very strong pair of arms appeared in time to catch her and she just about managed to look up into the concerned blue eyes of Kara Danvers, her very own Supergirl. 

“Steady,” Kara murmured quietly, ignoring Alex’s shout of ‘Kara!’ and tenderly pushing some of Lena’s hair back behind her ear. “They didn’t tell you about the alternate dimension bit yet, did they?” 

“It, uh, it hadn’t cropped up in conversation yet somehow,” Lena confirmed, her voice uncontrollably breathy, though she had no idea whether that was because she’d just found out she was in an alternate dimension or because Kara Danvers was holding her close and tenderly touching her face. “Although, in their defence, I suppose there hasn’t really been much time for chit-chat, so…” 

Kara let out a small snuff of amusement, ducking her head in that adorable way she did sometimes as a smile spread over her face. 

“Ok,” she said softly, meeting Lena’s eyes again, “well I’m just gonna stand here for a moment if that’s alright with you.”  

It was Lena’s turn to duck her head, somehow unable to meet Kara’s eyes as she nodded her grateful acquiescence.  

“It was a genuine question though,” Kara said, her voice louder again as she addressed the room at large. Lena noticed that while some people had been trying to give them some privacy by looking away, some, namely Alex, had not. “Is the sun still out? To be honest,” she continued and the beautiful little blush on her cheeks intensified, “I could really do with having a moment to talk to Lena about a, uh, a few things without, uhm, all of you listening in, so if, I don’t know, there happened to be some quiet sunny spot you could point us in the direction of, then that would, well that would be just great.” 

“The roof,” Barry and Cisco replied in unison. Lena instantly felt her chest tighten; it wasn’t that long since she had been thrown from the balcony of her office and, whilst she had been saved by Supergirl in the nick of time, she still wasn’t wild about being high up in places that could be fallen from. 

“The roof?” Kara echoed them and Lena could already hear the wince in her voice. “Is that the only place? It’s just, well, Lena kind of got thrown from a high rise balcony the other day so that might not be ideal-” 

But before anyone could supply an alternative, a man strolled into the room, his voice booming. 

“Bravo!” he called, clapping his hands remarkably loudly. “Round of applause! Standing O. That was so good! I loved it; it was a hell of a show!” Lena looked around and wasn’t certain how to take the looks of shock and anger on the faces of Kara’s friends; she felt pretty good about the way Kara’s arm tightened protectively around her though. “And you two,” he continued, looking pointedly at Lena and the woman by Barry’s side, “I guess your love really was strong enough after all.” He paused, his face softening as he sighed. “Beautiful. I mean, you guys kind of left it to the last minute on getting Kara’s beloved here to save her, but it did make for a thrilling climax!” 

Lena felt Kara tense a little beside her and her own heart beat seemed to trip slightly. 

Beloved.  

I’m Kara Danvers’ ‘beloved’. I am beloved by Kara Danvers.  

“Man,” Cisco burst out, bewildered disbelief on his face, “how did you get out of the cell?” 

“Cisco,” the newcomer turned to him condescendingly, “do you really think that cell is gonna just, like, hold me?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Barry cut him off, his face creasing with consternation and irritation. “What’s going on? Why did you do this to us?” 

“I did it because I believe in the good guys,” came the reply that really made Lena question her sanity for the five hundredth time in the last three minutes. “I told you when we first met: it was to teach all of you a lesson. ‘Cause I see everything, and I saw two people with two broken hearts, broken because they wouldn’t allow themselves to be with the people they loved.” 

“So,” Kara spoke, her voice hesitant, “the lesson was-?”  

“Love, Supergirl,” he replied with a gentle smile. “Love is about letting yourself be saved; it’s not just about saving other people, even if you are superheroes. Love this strong is worth taking risks for.” He looked from Barry to Kara and back again, pausing as if to press his own point. Lena wondered if she might be having a strange dream. “Anyway,” he started again, his voice light and playful again, “I’m sorry that I had to, like, mess with you a little bit. I was just trying to get you to play the game, do the song and dance.” 

“Are you, like, from another Earth-multi-verse universe, something?” asked one of the many people that Lena did not know, this one distinguishable by the yet-unexplained fact that he was randomly holding a set of drumsticks despite the apparent lack of drum kit. 

“Yeah,” the supposed love-guru replied, blowing out his lips and grinning lazily, “you- you wouldn’t even understand where I come from.” 

Arrogant, much?  

Let’s be real; these people are apparently completely unphased by interdimensional travel so if this guy seems exotic to them then his arrogance is probably well earned. 

“Wait, I’m sorry, that’s it?” Barry stopped him as he turned to go. “You’re just gonna teach somebody else a lesson?” 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” he replied, an excited grin on his face. 

“Oh,” Barry replied, apparently at as much of a loss for words as the rest of them. 

And then the strange little man began to sing. 

“Think of your fellow men,” he grinned cheekily and pointed finger guns – Finger guns? Really?! Is this a finger guns kind of moment? - at Kara and Barry. “Lend him a helping hand. Put a little love in your heart!” 

And, with nothing more illustrious than signing a heart towards them with his cupped hands, he turned and phased out of existence, the last echoes of his reverberating voice ringing in the room. 

Because Lena needed another thing to add to the list of things making her feel like she’d lost her mind. 

Silence rang in the room for a few seconds as everybody stared, dumfounded at the space where the singing love god or whatever he had been had mysteriously vanished. And then the words forced themselves from Lena’s mouth, no longer able to be suppressed. 

“What the hell just happened?” 

“Uhhmm,” came the chorus of hesitant replies after a long second’s silence. 

“This, uh, this is going to take some serious explaining,” Kara said, guilt crawling onto her face as she looked down at Lena where she was tucked against her side. Lena nodded slowly, swallowing. 

“I figured that much, darling,” she said, squeezing Kara’s hand gently in an attempt to make the guilt leave, but then winced as she realised what she’d said. Apparently, once you start calling Kara Danvers ‘darling’ it gets kind of hard to stop. Oh dear. She took a breath and leaned into Kara’s warm, strong body. “How do we get to the roof then?” she asked, turning to Cisco and Barry. 

“Are you sure?” Kara asked her before the others had time to reply, turning Lena bodily to look her in the eye. “I can wait for the sun until after we’ve talked if you’d rather-” 

“I’ll be fine,” Lena replied, feeling as certain about that as she could feel about anything in that moment. “You’ll be with me.” 

“I will,” Kara nodded, that beautiful smile replacing the guilt-ridden grimace. 

I t’s not going to be easy to remember my own misgivings if she keeps smiling at me like that…

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight

Kara was feeling so many emotions all at once it felt almost like a sensory overload but not as painful.  

Lena’s really here.  

Lena’s still holding my hand.  

Lena called me ‘darling’. 

Lena- Actual, real, Lena Luthor kissed me. She kissed me on my mouth. And she kissed me back when I kissed her.  

In front of everyone.  

In front of Alex.  

Alex, who hugged Lena and thanked her and said she’d never forget what she did for me.  

Alex hugged Lena. Alex barely hugs anyone. 

She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, filling her nostrils with the slightly stuffy scent of the S.T.A.R. Labs elevator, with the tiniest hint of Lena’s expensively delicate perfume thrown in to sweeten the deal. 

Lena knows that I’m Supergirl now.  

She knows but it wasn’t me that told her.  

I’m never going to get to prove that I trust her with that. I missed my chance and there’s no way of getting one back.  

Barry’s not even allowed to go back in time and tell me to just tell her…   He probably wouldn’t have risked it for that anyway but…  

I wish I’d told her.  

I wish I’d done so many things differently. 

She took another breath. 

But Lena’s still holding my hand. Maybe it can still be ok. 

The quiet ding of the elevator reaching its destination was just enough to bring Kara from her thoughts, a smile breaking out instinctively on her face as the doors slid apart to reveal the warm, bright sunshine beaming down outside welcoming her, reviving her as she walked out into its light. 

Her smile quickly diminished however as her eyes glanced along the chest-high parapet, unable to forget the fact that Lena had been pushed, nearly to her death, over a balcony railing not much lower than that just days ago. She heard Lena’s heart rate spike and knew that her mind must be following the same path. 

“Why don’t we just stay here,” she said, gently but firmly tugging Lena around so that she was facing Kara, facing away from the edge as they leaned against the little building that made up the top of the elevator shaft.  

She watched as Lena nodded, her eyes on the floor as she took a couple of deep breaths, her heart rate still significantly elevated. Kara hesitated before realising that Lena, who had kissed her and called her ‘darling’, might actually welcome it if she gave into her desire to move closer, to reach up and cup her jaw. 

“You’re safe,” she murmured as she gave into her impulse, marvelling at the impossible softness of Lena’s skin as she did so. “I promise.” She smiled slightly as Lena took another deep breath, leaning into Kara’s hand slightly as her heart rate began to drop back down; Kara’s chest felt so full it might burst. 

And then Lena raised those incredible green eyes of hers and Kara felt her own heart stutter. 

It had always felt charged, whenever her eyes met Lena’s, like there was some kind of lingering spark of energy between them that both were desperate to find and yet unable to hold. But now, holding eye contact with Lena Luthor after all that had happened… It was like someone had taken that spark and started a fire with it, a blazing tornado of complicated feelings, of fear, longing, hope, desire… 

Let’s not forget desire, Kara thought wryly, swallowing hard as she watched, almost in slow motion, as Lena’s tongue darted out to wet her own lips. 

“So,” the shorter woman said, her voice soft as her eyes searched Kara’s face. 

“So,” Kara replied somewhat pathetically after a few seconds’ silence. “Where to start?” 

A slightly pained smile kind of spasmed across Lena’s face and her gaze dropped back to the floor. Kara’s heart swelled with regret as Lena reached up with both hands to take the one Kara held to her cheek and pull it gently away, her eyes closing for a few moments as if against some pain as she did so. 

“I guess that’s the issue really,” the CEO murmured, her eyes meeting Kara’s again even as her voice wavered slightly. “It seems like there are quite a few things you’ve been keeping from me, Kara.” 

“I know,” she said quickly, only holding in the tears of frustration that threatened to clog her throat because, while Lena had pulled her hand from its intimate place at her jaw, she hadn’t let it go either. Even now, even amidst all this, Lena’s thumbs began to rub soothing little circles on the back of Kara’s hand. “I know, and I- I’m so sorry, Lena.” 

She winced, the insufficiency of those words tearing at her. 

Lena just nodded, her eyes on Kara’s for a few seconds before they dropped again, considering. 

“Why?” she asked after a moment, her green eyes pale in the bright sunlight as they met Kara’s again. “Why didn’t you tell me about Supergirl?” Kara gaped at her for a second as all the reasons that sounded like excuses swirled in her mind. “Was it-” Lena paused, her voice getting uncharacteristically small. “Was it because of my family?” 

“No!” Kara protested quickly, her heart stabbing itself with knives of regret at the evidence of the pain and doubt she had caused Lena. “No, Lena, I promise it had nothing to do with that. Your mother actually already knows who I am-” 

“My mother knows, but you still wouldn’t tell me? And of course she didn’t tell me…” Lena’s wounded look was like a super-powered punch to Kara’s gut. 

“No, Lena, I didn’t mean- That’s not-” Kara stopped; she wanted to say this right, not just babble all over Lena, hurting her when she was trying to explain and to apologise. “I just mean that it was never about not trusting you. Not for me.” 

“But for Alex? For the DEO?” 

Kara sighed; there was no avoiding this.

 “I mean,” she closed her eyes for a second, trying to gather her thoughts before meeting Lena’s gaze again. “Yes, ok, Alex was not…supportive of my friendship with you but, honestly, she pretty much doesn’t trust anyone. And certainly doesn’t trust people with knowing about Supergirl. She didn’t even tell her own girlfriend until Maggie figured it out for herself.” 

Stop with the rambling! 

She caught herself just in time to see one of Lena’s eyebrows arching perfectly like it does sometimes and Kara’s chest squeezed again. 

“Please,” Kara begged after taking another deep breath and meeting Lena’s eyes again. “Please believe me when I tell you that it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you.” Lena’s beautiful eyes held her gaze for a long few seconds and Kara wondered if she’d ever breathe again. 

“Ok,” Lena said softly, her voice carefully controlled as she pushed some air from her lungs and swallowed. “So why, Kara?” 

Kara had to take a moment, her eyes darting to the sky as she took a long deep breath, trying to steady herself. 

“I-” she paused, determined still to get this right, to make it as right as she could. “I want to be completely honest, so I’m going to admit that, at least in part, I let Alex influence me, I let her tell me to keep my secret at all costs. But,” she continued quickly, gently squeezing Lena’s hands as her eyes dropped slightly, “it was also because when I’ve spent time around you as Kara Danvers, it’s the happiest I’ve been since I came to earth.” She paused, searching for the right words, hoping that they would reach into Lena’s heart and heal some of the damage she had caused. “Even just as your friend you made me feel… you made me feel like I belonged, like I could be someone who really mattered even without my powers. When I was with you, it felt like I had access to another life, one where the things that you thought were special about me had nothing to do with being from another planet. I couldn’t quite bring myself to give that up yet.” 

She heard Lena’s breath catch slightly in her throat, felt the smaller woman move infinitesimally closer, felt her free hand search out Kara’s and tangle together with it. 

“Kara,” Lena said, her voice strong again, urgent almost, “yes, you have super powers, but they are not what make you special. You have to know that.” 

Those green eyes searched her out again, imploring her. 

“I know,” Kara nodded after a moment, unable to hold her gaze for long. “I do know that…in my head. But you…you made me actually believe it too, made me really feel it.” She paused, her eyes rising again as she dared to step closer into Lena’s space. “You make me feel so much.” 

Kara could hear Lena’s breath catch, could feel her own doing the same, her hands beginning to shake slightly as she felt Lena tug on them, pulling Kara closer, pulling Kara’s arms around herself before letting go and sliding her own hands up around Kara’s shoulders. 

‘The Girl of Steel’ felt like she was made of something much more malleable under Lena Luthor’s hands. 

Lena’s fingers had slipped underneath Kara’s long, loose hair and were resting gently at the nape of her neck as she applied the tiniest bit of pressure, drawing Kara down just enough to rest her forehead against Lena’s. Kara could barely breathe for all the tension hammering through her body as she felt Lena’s body pressed flush against her own, felt that perfect feeling of having her hands on Lena’s lower back, where Lena herself had placed them. 

“Kara,” Lena murmured softly, pressing against Kara in a way that made the superhero nearly pass out from being so close to the thing she wanted. “Kara you make me feel so much too.” 

And then Lena lifted her head just enough to brush her lips against Kara’s. 

Kara was powerless to stop the small whine of relief and longing that escaped the back of her throat but she forced her hands to be gentle - gentle! – as she pulled Lena as close as she dared. She felt Lena respond, felt her lithe fingers thread through her hair, gently at first and then tightening reflexively as Kara helplessly tugged her deeper into the kiss. 

Maybe I did die and this is heaven. 

The kiss was perfect and clumsy with need and newness. Kara knew only that she wanted more, more, but that she must be gentle, gentle; she must be careful with this precious, delicate gift of a woman in her super powered hands. 

But she needed more. She dared to slip her tongue along Lena’s lips and was rewarded with an impossibly erotic sound that vibrated low through Lena’s chest and sent bolts of heat through Kara’s body which only intensified as Lena welcomed her in, granting her that next level of closeness.  

Kara could feel her hands shaking with the effort of holding back and quickly moved them around, carefully cradling the back of Lena’s head as she pressed her into the wall, allowing the movement to diffuse some tiny fraction of that energy. Lena’s small moan of approval made it very difficult to think. 

Kara simply could not get enough.  

She had never felt like this before, never felt such intense need to be so physical with someone. She had loved and loved deeply, but not like this. Not like she suddenly couldn’t quite understand how she had survived existing without it before. 

She wanted to taste more, to feel more, to know more, and found herself pressing kisses along Lena’s jaw, inhaling deeply as she surrounded herself with rich black hair, soft skin and that delicately sweet scent that always brought her mind to Lena. Her hands slid back down along Lena’s body, revelling in the perfection she found as gently as she could as she pressed open mouthed kisses down Lena’s neck, pausing to pay some extra attention to the tiny beauty mark on the column of her throat which had so often drawn her eye. 

Lena’s hands were still in her hair, Kara’s name coming slightly raggedly from Lena’s lips as she held her in place at her throat for a moment before she tugged her back up, drawing her back into a kiss that Kara felt that she needed more than she needed oxygen. 

But then Lena was slowing them down, her hands slipping from Kara’s hair and coming to press gently but firmly against Kara’s chest. 

“Kara,” she breathed against Kara’s lips and Kara had never been more reluctant to stop anything in her life than she was to stop kissing Lena in that moment. But she pulled back just enough to hazily meet Lena’s eyes, her hands still engaged at the shorter woman’s hips and her whole body buzzing; she could still feel Lena’s thumbs rubbing gentle circles against her collar bones, could feel the way Lena’s breath came in shaky puffs against her lips. 

“Lena,” she mumbled back, her brain feeling completely scrambled by Lena’s proximity, by her sudden new knowledge of what it was like to taste Lena’s mouth, to feel Lena’s hands tugging in her hair, to make Lena Luthor moan in pleasure. She couldn’t quite help herself, checking Lena’s eyes for permission as she leaned back in, pressing her lips lightly to Lena’s again, just briefly, just needing that bit more. She felt Lena smile against her, kissing her one more time before her hands pressed into Kara’s chest again. 

“Kara,” she said, more firmly this time, clearing her throat and looking away for a second before raising her eyes to Kara’s again. “Kara we still need to talk about some things.” 

Kara took a deep breath, trying not to dwell on the beautiful scent at Lena’s throat but to remember the fact that Lena was right.  

There were still a lot of things they needed to talk about, still so many things that Lena didn’t know about how they had ended up here today. There was a cold, dull thud in her chest as she realised that Lena didn’t even know about Mon-El. Even when she’d been trying to convince herself that dating him would work, she’d never gotten to the point where she actually wanted to tell anyone about it, let alone tell Lena. 

Especially not Lena. 

“I know,” she sighed out, her eyes closing as she leaned her forehead to Lena’s again for a second before pulling back completely until the only parts of them that were touching were their hands, loosely joined together in the space between them. “You’re right,” she agreed, meeting Lena’s questioning look. “It’s just hard to think properly when- with you…” She flushed with embarrassment as she trailed off, unable to think of the appropriate way to finish that sentence. Thankfully, it only made Lena smile again, her eyes closing briefly with a slightly self-conscious snuff of amusement. 

Lena threaded their fingers together, tugging Kara just the tiniest bit closer, and Kara wondered, slightly awed, if the dark haired woman was having as much difficulty fighting the pull between them as she was. 

“Well,” Lena started with a sigh of her own. “You know how I feel about you now, Kara. I’ve kind of had my cards thrown on the table for me by that weird singing guy-” 

“The Music Meister?” Kara supplied. 

“Music Meister?” Lena’s arching eyebrow really went to town and Kara’s heart seemed to trip a little. “Really?” 

“Hey, I don’t come up with the names,” Kara defended herself, her voice still a little weak. 

“Well, regardless,” Lena continued, her smile fond as she tugged at Kara’s hands once more. Her expression dimmed slightly again, her eyes dropping for a second before she looked up at Kara again. “I’ve essentially had everything laid bare now, whether I like it or not but-” she paused, taking a slightly shaky breath that made Kara just want to hold her and make her feel safe and loved, “but I feel like I’m still in the dark about- about, well, a lot of things. I’m going to need you to tell me things if we’re really going to do this.” 

“If?” Kara choked out, the word like a kryptonite blade up her spine. 

Lena sighed, squeezing Kara’s hands. 

“I can’t do this half-way, Kara,” she said, her voice just beginning to tremble again. “I want this- god knows how I want this, but I can’t do this and always wonder if there are things you’re keeping from me.” 

The words hurt so much because Kara knew they were justified; she had kept Lena at arm’s length and it had damaged them both. 

“I don’t need you to give me your whole life story in one go but,” she paused, her eyes beginning to shine slightly as they met Kara’s again, “I need to know that you want to tell me things. I want to be someone that you want to tell things to; I want to know you, Kara. All of you, not just the bits you want me to see.” She snuffed a small, self-conscious laugh as her hand quickly dashed up to wipe away a tear that had dared to fall; Kara wished she had gotten to it first but her whole body felt frozen. “You’ve apparently already made me fall in love with you enough to wake you from some deeply dangerous magical coma; you don’t need to hide things.” 

“Lena,” Kara breathed, her body coming to life again in time for her to catch the next tear that fell, her hand trembling slightly as she cupped Lena’s cheek, her thumb tenderly stroking away the dampness.

She really does love me and I just hurt her. I'm such an idiot!

“Lena, I’m so sorry I ever made you feel this, ever made you think I wanted to keep things from you. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to talk to you about so many things but-” she paused, trying to find the right words that would enable her to convey all the truths that she needed to, “but I’ve, well, I’ve never been very good at navigating…relationships. I- I didn’t realise that you felt- that you might want to be- that you might want to know me…like that.” 

“Kara,” Lena said, some incredulity on her face, “are you telling me that you really had no idea how I felt about you?” 

“Um, yes,” Kara admitted a little nervously. Telling the truth was embarrassing. And I haven’t even gotten to the Mon-El part yet… “I, uh, I’m kind of notoriously bad at realising it when somebody is, uh, interested in me like that.” 

“Kara, even Jess, the most rigorously professional assistant I’ve ever had, hasn’t been able to keep a completely straight face with me about you and how ridiculously incapable I am of keeping my feelings for you hidden!” 

“I’m sorry,” Kara winced, hanging her head a little, well aware that her cheeks were very red. “I just- I just didn’t think that you could possibly- I mean… You’re you, and- and I’m just me.” 

“What the hell does that even mean, Kara?” Lena burst out looking equal parts baffled and outraged. “‘You’re you and I’m just me’-” 

“I don’t know,” Kara cut in, wishing somehow she could explain herself better, “just that you’re- you’re so accomplished, so- so together, despite all of the things that you’ve been through, you’re so important in the world with all the good you do, both personally and with L Corp-” 

“Kara, I don’t know where to start with bringing you up short here but please at least tell me that you’re not- you’re not placing me ‘out of your league’ because of- of stupid reasons like the fact that you’re at the beginning of your career and I’ve been handed the responsibility of righting the enormous wrongs done by my family’s company!? And as for being ‘so together’ – you know me better than that! You know I struggle, you know so many of my weaknesses and there you are with your smiles and your kindness and your caring and courage and selflessness and, Christ, Kara, do you even realise how rare your willingness to see me for myself instead of my family’s history is? And there you are, thinking that I’m out of your league!?” 

Kara gaped, made equal parts nervous and turned on by the fire in Lena’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured for what felt like the thousandth time, each time feeling that the word was more insufficient. 

“Oh Kara,” Lena sighed, deflating a little and lifting one of Kara’s hands to press a small kiss to its palm that made Kara’s heart leap. “Don’t apologise for the fact that evidently the world hasn’t done a good enough job of showing you quite how incredible a person you are.” She practically tutted as she shook her head, peering up at Kara in consternation. “And how could you possibly have thought me too ‘important in the world’ to want to be with you? You’re Supergirl for heavens’ sakes! I’m not sure there’s anyone more important in the world today.” 

“But you didn’t know that I was Supergirl before,” Kara said wincing at the reminder. 

Lena was curiously silent, her eyes searching Kara’s before dropping away. She took a deep breath and raised her eyes again. 

“I actually did know, Kara, from the very first week that we met.” 

Kara’s eyes bulged and her jaw dropped as she stared for a good few seconds trying to comprehend the wider implications of this fact. 

“You- you knew?” Lena nodded. “So- Oh Rao, so you knew, every single time that I lied to you?” 

“Kara, you’re not actually very good at lying to people who know you which, I believe, is actually a really good trait and is the reason I can believe you when you say impossible things like you didn’t know how I felt about you.” 

“Oh Rao, Lena,” Kara buried her face in her hands, unable to bear the soft look Lena was giving her right now. “Why didn’t you ever call me out on it when you knew I was lying?” 

She heard Lena take a breath, felt Lena’s hands gently but firmly tugging hers away from her face, threading their fingers together again as the shorter woman came to stand closer into Kara’s space again. 

“Because,” Lena started slowly and Kara could hear the breath catching in her throat, “because I didn’t want to force it from you. I wanted you to tell me when you were ready; I hoped that one day you might be.” 

“I would have,” Kara spoke quickly, meeting Lena’s eyes and willing her to believe her. “I promise I would have, Lena. I already wanted to but, what happened today in that other world with Barry- He’ll tell you! I decided that if we ever made it out I was going to tell you- tell you everything, I swear, Lena, please believe me-” 

“Kara,” Lena stopped her, literally reaching up with one hand to press a finger to Kara’s lips. “I believe you.” She smiled, this beautifully warm little thing, as her finger traced gently along Kara’s lips making her suddenly very hot again. “You practically glow with earnestness when you’re telling the truth; that’s what makes it so easy to tell when you’re not.” 

“I still wish I’d told you,” Kara breathed once she’d managed to collect her thoughts against the gentle onslaught of Lena’s fingers at her lips. 

“I know, darling. It’s ok.”  

And then Lena pushed herself close again, her perfect mouth meeting Kara’s in the sweetest of kisses.

At this point, Kara’s brain gave up any attempt at coherent thought.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine 

Lena couldn’t quite believe that this was apparently going to be her new normal, that she would be able to reach up and trace her finger along Kara Danvers’ lips just because she wanted to, that she could, when the impulse struck her, pull Kara Danvers into a kiss.  

And what a kiss…. 

Kara wrapped her strong, strong arms around Lena and kissed her like she was as completely addicted to it as Lena was. The little sound of relief and desire that came from Kara’s throat made Lena feel like she was flying, but in a good way. 

So incredibly good… 

The way Kara held her, as if she was the most precious thing in Kara’s world, as if she would never get enough, as if… 

As if she really does feel the same way about me that I feel about her… 

It was positively mind-boggling that Kara really had been oblivious to Lena’s increasingly uncontainable feelings for her, but she knew what it looked like when Kara lied and when she told the truth, and Kara had not lied today. Besides which, even if Kara hadn’t been shining with earnestness before, the way she was kissing Lena now told her everything; the way she was holding her, that overwhelming strength held at bay just enough that Lena could feel it surrounding her, making her feel safer than she’d ever been. 

If mother could see me now… 

She couldn’t stop the thought before it reared its ugly head. She knew there were few things that would scare her mother more than the thought of having a Kryptonian’s super-strong arms wrapped tightly around her, and yet here Lena was revelling in the feeling.

She really didn’t want to be thinking about her mother now though, not when Kara Danvers was kissing her, but apparently the thought had thrown her enough to make Kara notice. She pulled back, her beautiful blue eyes hazy for a few long moments as she tried to focus on Lena’s face and Lena couldn’t help her own blushing grin at the thought that she could have this effect on Kara, on Supergirl. The superhero was, after all, still in her suit. 

“A-Are you ok?” Kara asked quietly, her voice a little hoarse which made the fluttering in Lena’s stomach intensify. The blonde brought a gentle hand up to trace slowly along Lena’s jawline in what Lena was sure was intended as an innocently comforting gesture but which made heat flood through her body. 

“Yes,” she said firmly, covering her shaky breath and taking that hand to wrap it back around herself; much as she was looking forward to exploring the many ways in which Kara could make heat flood through her body, she didn’t really think this was either the time or the place. “Yes, it’s just there’s a lot to process.” She realised in that moment that the most truly comforting thing she could imagine right then was to have Kara just hold her close, to have one of those truly spectacular Kara Danvers hugs but to know that this time she didn’t need to pull away too soon in order to at least attempt to be platonic. She pushed herself closer and couldn’t help smiling as Kara immediately shifted to hold her closer, slotting them together so perfectly that Lena’s heart seemed to be swelling like some impossible balloon. 

And then she realised that, for the first time ever, she might not have to hold in that urge to nuzzle closer against Kara’s neck, to breathe deep of the light, sweet honey scent that fell in waves from Kara’s thick golden hair. It was all but impossible to hold in the groan of delirious satisfaction that was bursting from her throat as she not only gave into these long-resisted desires, but felt Kara’s response, felt the whisper of the Kryptonian’s warm breath on her own neck, the minute tightening of the arms around her. 

This is heaven. 

They managed to have almost a full minute of this blissful quiet together before a loud clanging sound came from the building beside them and, with a creaking wrench, a stairwell door the far side of the elevator door began to open. 

“Nooo…” Kara groaned in a tiny voice that made Lena’s heart sing as the superhero gripped her tightly for another second before slowly beginning to release her, turning with great reluctance to see who had come to interrupt them. Lena’s heart was still singing however as Kara seemed unable to let her go completely, her left arm still curled almost possessively around her waist. Lena couldn’t not smile as she let her left hand drift over Kara’s at her hip and Kara instantly threaded their fingers together. 

“Kara?” Alex Danvers’ voice floated hesitantly from behind the door a good few seconds before the agent stepped out onto the roof; clearly Alex was keen to not walk in on her sister in any kind of romantic situation, a trait that Lena was immediately grateful for. 

“Hey, Alex,” Kara said, her voice unnaturally loud, and Lena had to bite her own lip to keep from smirking. 

“Hi,” Alex said, relief clear in her voice and on her face as she realised that she wasn’t going to see anything that she couldn’t handle seeing. “Uh, I just thought I’d tell you that I’m heading back now. Mon-El got kind of knocked out earlier and he’s still out cold so I should probably get him seen to back at the DEO.” 

“Mon-El?!” Kara sort of squeaked and Lena couldn’t help but notice the weird looks being exchanged between the sisters. “I, uh, I forgot about him. He’s still here? How did he manage to get knocked out?” 

Alex practically snorted. 

“He was being an ass and getting in the way and Cisco just- I don’t even know what he did but he hit him with something pretty hard. It’s a pretty satisfying memory to reminisce on, I’m not going to lie.” 

Lena heard Kara snuff a laugh beside her and her curiosity was definitely piqued; it wasn’t exactly like Kara to laugh at the thought of someone being hit so hard they were out cold for a significant period of time. 

“Uhm, who’s Mon-El?” 

As soon as she said the words, Kara’s whole body tensed and Alex’s eyebrows shot upwards, her widening eyes flitting from Kara to Lena and back again. Glancing up at Kara beside her, she could see the colour had drained from her face, her blue eyes clouding again with fear and regret as her eyes darted between Lena and Alex. 

“Ok guys,” Lena said, disengaging herself slightly from Kara with a small sigh, “here’s a tip: silently looking at each other all wide-eyed and nervous when I ask a question isn’t really a particularly reassuring way to respond.” 

At that Alex actually laughed, her eyes resting on Kara for a long second with an expression somewhere between a grimace and a grin, before she looked to Lena again. 

“You know, we might actually get on better than I’d thought, Luthor.” She shook her head, the grin widening. “Look, apparently Kara still has some explaining to do so I’m going to leave you guys to it, but don’t go too hard on her. It’s at least partly my fault; I encouraged her to go for it because I thought it was what she wanted but evidently I was wrong about that. I never thought I’d be saying this, to you of all people, but I’m glad I was wrong about what she wanted.” She paused, shaking her head before turning back to Kara. “Let me know when you get home, Kara. I’m gonna take the oscillator but Cisco says he can get you back without it, ok?” 

“O-ok,” Kara croaked out beside her as Alex wrenched the stairwell door open again. Somehow, Alex’s evident amusement at the situation allowed Lena to relax again; clearly whatever it was about this Mon-El person (and she had an idea of what it might be) was not so bad that Alex thought that Lena wouldn’t be able to forgive it. 

“Oh,” Alex spoke again, “and just in case there was any uncertainty on the matter, I will always be grateful that you saved her today, Lena, but if you ever hurt her I will find you and I will end you.” 

“Alex!” Kara’s voice was indignant but Lena found herself smiling; she wasn’t sure how, but she felt fairly certain that that had been about being Kara’s significant other, not about being a Luthor.  

But the silence rang pretty heavy after the door clanged shut behind Alex. Lena still had one hand entwined with Kara’s and tugged on it gently as she turned towards the taller woman beside her. 

“So,” she said and Kara’s blue eyes rose warily to meet hers again. “I take it I’m not going to love what you’re about to tell me about this Mon-El person?” 

“No,” Kara nodded, her eyes almost pleading as she reached for Lena’s other hand and Lena allowed her to take it, “you’re not. But I promise this was absolutely something I was going to talk to you about as soon as possible, I just- I guess I just forgot about him with you here.” 

It was impossible not to feel warmth coursing through her chest; how on (any) earth was she supposed to be stern and stand up for what she needed when Kara said things like that with that completely guileless, sincere look on her face? 

This is going to get problematic.  

As problems go, it’s not so bad. 

“You know you’re not allowed to just sweet talk your way out of trouble every time, right?” she said with an effort, just about resisting the urge to pull Kara in for another kiss. 

“I didn’t mean to- No, I mean, of course, I-” 

“Kara,” Lena murmured, stopping Kara’s adorably flustered ramble and pulling her closer. She leaned up and pressed her lips to the superhero’s, feeling Kara instantly relax and feeling her own heart lift as she did. She realised that there was no point in denying them this deep new well of comfort; she was certain that nothing Kara was about to say would make her want to turn back now. She could feel Kara melting into the kiss, her warm, strong body curling around Lena and drawing her closer, her soft, soft mouth so tender and needy and so easy to get completely distracted by… 

“Ungh, no,” Kara whined even as she pulled herself away with an obvious effort. Lena had to smile, even as she too ached at the loss, consoling herself by pressing a few last soft kisses to Kara’s jaw before leaning back against the strong circle of Kara’s arms that had apparently migrated back to her waist. “I don’t want to forget to tell you things you ought to know.” 

“Ok,” Lena nodded, allowing her hands to trail along the muscular outline of Kara’s arms from her shoulders to her hands as she stepped back out of Kara’s grasp to hold her hands again. If this was to be a serious conversation, they’d probably both do better without the distraction of full body contact right now. “It’s ok, Kara,” she said gently as Kara’s eyes took on a slightly nervous edge again, “I’m not going anywhere.” 

That beautiful broad Kara Danvers smile reappeared almost instantly and it was very hard work to not kiss it now that she knew that Kara would probably welcome such an advance. 

“Well good,” Kara said, her head ducking with an impossible level of endearing shyness. “Because I meant it, what I said in that other world.” She raised her head again, her hands squeezing Lena’s gently as her crystal blue eyes bore into Lena and took her breath away. “I love you, Lena.” 

It was impossible to hold in the quivering smile that burst onto her face at those words; hearing them from Kara, here and now in the clear light of day with no imminent death to mar them, made them feel real in a way they hadn’t before. Kara’s whole face softened, her eyes shining and her smile bright as she brought one hand up to Lena’s cheek. 

“It feels so good to actually say that out loud, to your face,” she snuffed a small laugh and Lena could practically feel the relief rolling off her in waves. 

“It’s wonderful to hear too,” Lena replied, her chest aching with the force of her own happiness. She had to close her eyes for second, savouring the moment as she held Kara’s hand to her face and leaned into it, pressing a kiss to her palm before pulling it away, allowing their hands to tangle and dance between them again. 

“But,” Kara started again, taking a deep breath, “I should tell you about Mon-El.” Lena swallowed and nodded, trying both to brace for the impact of whatever this was and also to not brace too hard – she didn’t want to make it harder for Kara than necessary. “Do you, uh, do you remember Mike?” 

“Of the interns?” 

“Of the interns,” Kara confirmed with the slightest hint of a wince. Lena’s suspicions about where this was going grew stronger; the rush of jealousy she’d felt at the sight of them dancing together at the gala was hard to forget. 

“I’m guessing he’s not really called Mike, and also that he’s possibly not a native of Earth?” 

“You, uh, you got it,” Kara nodded, a tight, almost embarrassed smile on her face. “He’s from Daxam, a planet in the same system as Krypton.” 

Oh my… 

Lena’s theory that Kara had had a relationship with Mon-El rooted in some kind of alien mutual experiences hadn’t gone so far as to put Mon-El from the same part of the universe as Kara. 

No wonder… 

“How, uh- How much do you know about- well, about my history? About- about where I really come from?” 

“I know that Krypton is the planet that you’re from,” Lena replied, trying to weigh her words carefully; this could not be an easy thing for Kara to discuss. “I know that it was destroyed.” She also knew that Superman was sent from Krypton before he was old enough to remember the place, but that Kara had memories of her parents and a life there, a paradox she was yet to understand given that Kara was definitely younger than Clark Kent. She did not think this was the moment to ask about that particular question, no matter how much it bugged her. 

“Yes,” Kara nodded, her voice understandably strained. “The two planets were geographically pretty close and it, uh, it turns out that Daxam was rendered more or less uninhabitable by the destruction of Krypton.”  

Lena’s heart ached horribly as Kara spoke of the destruction of her home planet. She didn’t know all the details of Kara’s story yet, but she had inferred from what Kara had told her as Supergirl that Kara had memories of Krypton and therefore probably remembered its end; even she, a person who had suffered some significant losses in her life, could not imagine the depth of that kind of pain. She squeezed Kara’s hands gently, rubbing her thumb along the other woman’s knuckles, and felt Kara squeeze back, her eyes meeting Lena’s again before she took a breath and carried on. 

“Mon-El escaped on a Kryptonian pod and landed on Earth not long after I met you, but he had been stuck in the Phantom Zone, just like I was, suspended in time, so for him Daxam’s destruction had only just happened. He was the first person from that part of the universe I’d met and I had to tell him that we didn’t think there were any other survivors. It, uh, it was- It was really hard.”

“I’m so sorry you had to do that, Kara,” Lena murmured as Kara’s eyes met hers again, the glisten of water in them betraying a glimpse of how painful a subject this was. There were a million questions buzzing in Lena’s mind, not least of which was ‘What is the Phantom Zone and how does it suspend time and is that why you remember and Superman doesn’t!?’, but the pain on Kara’s face made it easy for her to push them down. Kara swallowed and nodded before continuing. 

“Well, I guess I felt a sense of responsibility for him. He came from a planet that had essentially been destroyed by mine, a planet that shared a history with mine, and was about to go through something like what I went through when I arrived on Earth; I wanted to help him find his way here in a way that Superman just wasn’t able to help me.” 

“That makes sense,” Lena nodded again, trying to convey all the love and comfort she could through the press of their hands together. “Someone as compassionate as you, of course you’d help him. Hence,” she carried on as her mind put the parts together, “the internship at CatCo?” 

“Exactly,” Kara nodded, taking another deep breath, seeming to relax a bit as Lena spoke. “I mean, it was a complete train wreck which, knowing what I know about him now, makes complete sense, but I wanted to be nearby because I remember feeling so alone, so isolated when I first got here, and I didn’t want that for him.” 

“Of course you didn’t,” Lena smiled, unable not to feel her heart swell and ache for the sheer goodness of the girl she loved. 

“But, w-well,” and now Kara began to blush and stammer and Lena knew what she was going to say. 

“He took your compassion for something more?” 

“I- He- Well, I mean, yes and no.”  

Lena couldn’t stop her eyebrow from arching. 

“I mean,” Kara continued hastily, “yes, because he- well he apparently developed feelings for me in that time which was absolutely not what I intended, but I- I don’t think I always did a good enough job at shutting him down.” The expression of guilt on Kara’s face was already enough to make Lena realise she was doomed to always forgive her anything. “I mean,” she swallowed heavily, “there was one time when everything was crazy and he got hurt and we thought he might die and- and I let him kiss me…” 

Lena nodded, swallowing down the jealousy that clawed immediately at her throat. 

“And, well, I guess I just kept messing everything up more and more from then on. He- he was so sad, and said he loved me and I just- I had no hope that you and I would ever- I never thought you might actually- And he seemed like a sensible choice in many ways, having almost super strength too, having lost his planet too… Oh Rao, the more I talk, the more it sounds like I’m giving a terrible list of excuses for having- having dated someone when I knew I was in love with someone else. You must think I’m a horrible person.” 

“Kara,” Lena murmured, her heart aching on all sides as those deep blue eyes welled over, unable to meet her gaze. “Kara, darling,” she pushed closer, raising her hands to wipe at the tears that had spilled, cradling Kara’s face as she did so and pulling her down so she could press a soft kiss to her lips. Kara’s hands were hesitant for a moment as they reached for Lena’s waist but as Lena kissed her more deeply, she felt the solid warmth of those strong hands as they gripped her close again, Kara’s tense body softening against hers. “Darling, you have to be categorically one of the best, most compassionate, most giving people to have ever walked the Earth; how could I ever think you’re a horrible person?” 

“But- but I-” 

“Hush, darling, listen to me a moment,” Lena cut her off, feeling the fire of conviction power her words. “Yes, you made a mistake and a messy one at that, but it was an emotionally messy situation. Very few people, if any, can come out of those without a few messy mistakes to their name. Trust me, I know.” 

She felt Kara take a deep, shuddering breath, felt her hands slide around her waist to hold her tighter, closer, as the hero bent her head as if to take refuge in Lena’s shoulder, her breath coming to drift warmly across the sensitive skin of Lena’s neck. It was a feeling beyond Lena’s power to describe it, her own aching joy that Kara so evidently found comfort in her, her wonder that this was real, her wonder at the fleeting thought of all that awesome strength and power being curled into her shoulder right now, nuzzling gently at the side of her neck. 

And then Kara mumbled something quietly, but her face was pressed so close into Lena’s neck that Lena couldn’t make it out. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Kara snuffed a small laugh as she pulled back just enough to murmur her words with a tired but golden smile. 

“You’re just so good.” She almost sang the last word, humming it with a kind of reverent satisfaction. “You’re so kind and generous and good.” 

Lena, amazingly, felt herself blush. 

Of all the things to make me blush. 

“Kara,” she protested, as embarrassed by her own bashfulness as by Kara’s words. 

“You are,” Kara insisted, her deep blue eyes shining. “So willing to do the hard things, so quick to forgive, so selfless and gracious.” As she spoke, she reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair back behind Lena’s ear, the warmth of Kara’s fingers lingering as they moved across Lena’s skin. “It’s no wonder I fell in love with you, really, is it?” 

It was hard to compute, to even figure out why this was affecting her so much but, she supposed, after so long with the family’s reputation for being flat out evil following her every step, being told so firmly that she was ‘good’, and by someone like Kara…. 

She gave in to the inevitable, the irresistible pull, and leaned up, pressing her lips to Kara’s again and allowing herself to revel in her joy, to bask in the unmatched wonder of being loved by and in love with Kara Danvers.

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten 

It was a real struggle to remember that this was reality now. She was holding Lena’s hand in the elevator again, her chest feeling several thousand times lighter with all the secrets that she’d shaken from it, and she also had the very recent memory of several extraordinarily thorough make-out sessions with Lena on the Star Labs rooftop to make her heart soar; and yet, apparently, this was reality. Having spent a significant part of the last 24 hours in a musical dream world with Barry, it was hard to completely trust that something this utterly and impossibly wonderful was in fact real. 

“So, is Barry from another planet too?” Lena asked, her eyes lighting with the fire of interest that signalled that her genius brain was about to dive down an impressive rabbit hole of theorising. “And Cisco? It’s just fascinating! A whole alternate universe full of possibilities! And I’m betting that there’s more than just one….” 

“There are loads apparently,” Kara replied, unable to contain her smile at Lena’s enthusiasm, at the relaxed happiness that she was radiating. “According to Barry, ours is ‘Earth 38’, but clearly that’s just wrong.” 

“Thirty-eight!?” 

“Yup,” Kara almost laughed aloud at Lena’s expression and her heart practically buzzed in her chest. “But as for Barry and Cisco, they’re not aliens but ‘metahumans’. Thus far, there hasn’t actually been much alien contact on this earth; nothing friendly anyway.” 

“None at all?” Lena looked shocked, her eyes going distant for a moment. Kara wondered for a moment if she was thinking of Lex and what a world without aliens might have meant for him but then she continued, eyes bright with interest. “So where do their powers come from, or is that just normal in this universe? I guess I’m assuming a lot-” 

“No, humans having powers isn’t exactly normal here, but it’s recently become more normal than it is back home. Barry told me once how it happened for him, something to do with getting struck by lightning when a particle accelerator exploded-” 

“A particle accelerator?! But-” 

Kara grinned again at Lena’s still-widening eyes but before she could really get into it, the elevator dinged to signal that they had arrived back downstairs and the doors opened into the lab again. 

“Perhaps we can attempt to satisfy my endless list of multiverse questions another time?” Lena said, squeezing Kara’s hand with a grin. 

“We can certainly try,” Kara laughed as they made their way into the room, pulling Lena’s hand up to press a kiss to her knuckles, just because she could. 

“You guys,” Barry practically cooed at them as he turned towards them, his face alight with pride. Kara could feel her blush blossoming all over her face, but there was no point trying to conceal her happiness, even if she wanted to. 

“How are you feeling, Kara?” Caitlin asked, always one to get straight to business, although even she had a warm smile on her face as she walked towards them. “Are you feeling back to normal strength after some time in the sun?” 

“Honestly I feel like I could do pretty much anything right now.” The slightly embarrassing answer made its way out of her mouth before she could even try to stop it but, really, with the way Lena smiled at her words, she was glad her heart spoke before her mind could step in. “But how are you, Barry? You don’t really have as easy a fix as I do?” 

“I’m fine actually,” he said with an almost baffled grin. “It’s like my speed’s just been flowing back to me ever since I woke up and now I’m fine again. Like, I think maybe Music Meister actually didn’t do any damage at all.” 

“I have to say,” Lena spoke up, her eyes flashing almost guiltily at Kara, “I know I didn’t have to deal with him as long as the rest of you did, but honestly I’m kind of grateful he came along in the end.” 

“Well, much as I spent a lot of time wanting to punch him, I kind of agree,” Iris laughed. 

“Hey, we would have figured it out,” Barry pouted a little, his eyes darting from Iris to Kara and back again. “And Kara would have plucked up courage before too long, I know it,” he said looking pointedly at Lena. Kara could feel the blush intensifying on her own face. 

“Has Kara told you the story of their little otherworldly musical adventure yet, Lena?” Iris asked, with a grin that clearly showed she didn’t understand how mortified Kara was about to be. “It’s quite the tale.” 

“We hadn’t actually gotten to that,” Lena said with a little smirk, but she squeezed Kara’s hand as she glanced at her and somehow even just that made the mortification easier to deal with. “We had a few other things we needed to discuss a little more urgently. Care to fill me in, darling?” she directed the last at Kara, her smirk getting more mischievous by the second. 

Oh dear. Oh golly, how am I supposed to be coherent when she’s calling me ‘darling’ and looking at me like that? 

“Oh- umm, well- Uh, we- uh, Barry and I, that is, were singers in a club-” 

“You can sing?” The mischief was gone from Lena’s voice, just wonder and that soft and intense look that Kara was beginning to recognise as the look that Lena only gave to her. 

Because she loves me. 

Which is the craziest and most awesome thing ever. 

“Oh man, can she sing,” Barry answered for her, making Kara blush again. “You should get her to sing for you sometime.” 

“Oh, I definitely will,” Lena murmured, her hand squeezing Kara’s again and now Kara’s heart was thundering and skipping and doing all sorts of silly things. 

“Barry’s got a great voice too,” she said, her voice a little squeaky as she tried to deflect at least some of the attention. 

“Oh, I know,” Iris said, looking at Barry with a glowing smile. “We used to sing together as kids. But come on, get to the story!” 

“Well,” Kara cleared her throat, looking slightly desperately at Barry for help but he just grinned and shrugged at her. “Well, we were singers at a- a club, and- and it was kind of like a West Side Story or Fantasticks kind of thing, where there were two rival gangsters, one of whom owned the club we sang for, and- and-” She could feel her heart rate increasing as she scrambled to tell the story without completely embarrassing herself. Barry was apparently just going to let her embarrass herself as much as she could. “And, each gangster had a daughter, one was called Millie and the other L-Liza, and they were in love, so it was a kind of star-crossed forbidden love kind of situation-” She could see one of Lena’s eyebrows rising, saw her bite her lip to keep from smirking, a move which was distracting enough at the best of times and now- “And- uh, uhhm, uh- and we had to try to help them to get their fathers- the gangsters- to- to accept their love and reconcile, but it didn’t entirely go to plan, hence the, uh, gunshot wounds….” 

She trailed off a little pathetically, not quite able to think how to tell Lena that she had had a starring role as ‘Liza’, one of the ill-fated lovers in this tragic tale. 

“Uhm, there are a couple of fairly important details you missed out there, Kara,” Barry said with a grin. 

“Just one or two,” Iris laughed along too and apparently all Kara could do was grimace apologetically at Lena, whose eyebrows were really doing their thing now and Kara completely lost any grasp of words. 

“I mean,” Barry continued, “to start with, the part where it was a musical meant that everyone kept bursting into song all the time which was kind of fun looking back on it but at the time was kind of bewildering, but, more importantly and more strangely, the cast of actors who played the major characters were made up of people from our lives, people that Kara and I care about, most particularly the characters of Millie and Liza.” 

“I was Millie apparently,” Iris chimed in at this point with a wide grin, “and you, Lena, were Liza. Apparently we made quite an inspiring couple.” 

“How could we not?” Lena replied and Kara could hear the smirk dripping sexily from her voice without even looking; it was enough to make her whole body feel a hundred times hotter. “Does this mean that I should have just tried to make you jealous, Kara, is that what it would have taken?” 

“Uh,” Kara practically squawked, swallowing hard in an attempt to regain control of her voice. “I, uh, don’t think I can answer that right now without completely embarrassing myself.” Lena’s beautiful, silvery laughter washed over her as the shorter woman pulled her a little closer, one hand still holding hers and the other rubbing comfortingly up and down her arm; there was so much fondness, such deep affection blazing in her eyes as she looked up at Kara that the blonde had to wonder how she hadn’t seen it before. 

“It’s ok, darling,” Lena said gently as she smiled at Kara. “We probably shouldn’t hang around here much longer anyway. Jess will be going through the roof thinking something’s happened to me again if I don’t reappear in my office soon.” 

“Yeah, Alex always gets antsy if I’m in another dimension for too long too,” Kara nodded. 

“Can’t imagine why,” Lena murmured with a sigh, but she squeezed Kara’s hand which Kara took to mean that they would have the discussion about Lena worrying about her work as Supergirl at another time. “But, completely bewildering as it has been at times, it really has been lovely to meet you all,” Lena continued, her eyes drifting back across Barry, Iris and Caitlin and at that point Kara noticed Cisco was missing. “We really must be going, but I hope we all meet again soon, in one universe or another.”  

Kara had to grin; she knew that Lena’s inner nerd must be out of its mind with excitement at being able to say a sentence like that and mean it. 

“Yeah, guys,” she sighed, her heart swelling with love and friendship as she looked at Barry and thought of the incredible journey that they had just been on together. “It’s been- it’s been amazing, but we should really get going. Is Cisco around? Alex said he could get us back?” 

“Yeah,” Barry said as he wrapped his arms around Kara for a good, long hug which Kara carefully returned. “I think he’s down in the cells trying to figure out how Music Meister escaped his cell. I suspect it’s a lost cause, but he won’t rest without at least trying to figure it out.” 

“Sounds like Cisco,” Kara said with a smile as she hugged Iris and Caitlin too, her chest tightening slightly as she saw Barry hug Lena out of the corner of her eye, saw Lena’s almost uncertain but then grateful smile as the goodness in Barry’s warm heart flowed around her. 

Even now, it was clear for Kara to see how much Lena appreciated this kind of casual, friendly affection but was just completely unaccustomed to it; she really hoped that that was something she might help to change.

They made their way down to the cells below Star Labs having made their farewells and their ‘call-me-if-you-need-me’s, excitement clear on Lena’s face as Kara told her that the cells were actually a relic from the very same particle accelerator that had created so many of the metahumans like Barry. As they walked through the halls, she could practically hear Lena’s brain whirring through the possibilities and practicalities of the structure they were walking through and had to marvel at Lena’s incredible mind. 

And she chose me. Out of all the people in her world, she loves me. 

Kara was pretty sure she would never not be amazed and overjoyed at that thought. 

“Cisco!” Kara called out when her x-ray vision showed her that they were close to where he was standing, staring at the cell which had presumably held the Music Meister. 

“Kara! Lena! Hey!” he called back as he turned and saw them round the corner onto the gangway approaching this particular cell. “Are you guys heading back already?” 

“Yeah,” Kara said with a slightly tired smile. “We’ve got things we need to get back for and, honestly, I think we probably need a little time to process all this in our own dimension, you know?” 

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Cisco nodded, but he was still frowning. “It’s just I’d been hoping to chat with you, Lena,” he said, his eyes darting across to her. “Alex told me you’re some kind of engineering genius. I do a little engineering myself and it would be great to pick your brains some time?” He looked hopefully from Lena to Kara and back again. 

“Uhm, well, of course, I’m flattered,” Lena said hesitantly, her eyes darting to Kara for a moment before returning to Cisco again, “but, I mean, is that entirely sensible? I don’t know whether- I mean, obviously you have far more understanding and experience in this field than I do, but sharing technology across dimensions? Isn’t that a little risky?” 

“I shouldn’t think so,” Cisco said, cocking his head slightly as he considered. 

Oh man, Winn will be so jealous if Cisco gets to have a proper nerd-melt with Lena before he does… 

“It’s not like with time travel,” Cisco said with a casual shrug. “We have to have strict rules with that because damaging existing timelines can have serious consequences but with this-” 

“I’m sorry,” Lena cut him off abruptly. “Did you just say time travel? And that you have rules for it…” She trailed off, her eyes widening and Kara heard her heartrate increasing as she carried on, her words spilling out quickly in her excitement, “….because you guys are familiar with interdimensional travel so of course you’re familiar with time travel!” 

“Yup,” Cisco replied with only a slightly smug grin that Kara really couldn’t blame him for. 

“Ok, Kara and I have to go home now, but we are going to have that chat at some point before too long, Cisco.” Kara could practically feel her buzzing with excitement beside her and could barely keep her grin from completely taking over her face. “Are all your friends this interesting, Kara?” 

“Uh,” Kara laughed slightly, unable to deny it, “well they’re not all genius tech guys, but a lot of them are pretty interesting.” 

“Ok,” Cisco grinned, “well, Kara knows how to contact me with the oscillator that Alex has at the moment, so when you’re ready let me know.” 

“Absolutely,” Lena said, almost a little breathlessly and Kara had to laugh. 

“Alright then,” Cisco smiled. “Where and when am I taking you? I imagine you’d like to go right back to where and when I took you from when I came with Alex?” 

“You can do that?” Lena almost gaped at him and Kara felt her heart thrill with warmth again. “Of course you can do that,” Lena shook her head sharply, her eyes closing for a second and a brilliant smile flashing on her face. “I’m guessing that theoretically at least you could spend hours and hours here and go right back to the second you left our dimension?” 

“You can,” Cisco grinned, “but it’s not sensible to do that too often – it’s like a- a kind of interdimensional jet lag effect. Your body still goes through time, even if it’s not time from your dimension.” 

“That makes sense,” Lena nodded, murmuring. “Oh I have so many questions. I’m very much looking forward to picking your brains, Cisco.” 

“Right back at you,” Cisco laughed, “but for now-” 

He pulled on his glasses and gloves and shot forth a beam of swirling blue light from his hands, a portal forming right before their eyes. 

That’s still cool every time I see it. 

“Thanks, Cisco,” Kara said to him and he grinned in response. “Let’s go then,” she said to Lena, squeezing her hand gently and leading her towards the portal. 

“Oh, I seem to remember not particularly enjoying this experience on the way here,” Lena grimaced slightly.  

“Sorry,” Kara grimaced back and Lena laughed, squeezing back. 

“It was definitely worth it, darling, don’t worry. Let’s go.” 

Kara smiled, feeling her whole chest swell like a balloon of gratitude and love and happiness; she pulled Lena closer, one arm firmly around her waist, and together they walked forwards into the portal. 

As always, the experience of travelling between dimensions left Kara blinking hard for a couple of seconds, but clearly the experience was a lot more unpleasant for Lena whose whole body was rigid, her face somehow even paler than usual and her eyes wide. She turned and clung to Kara almost immediately as they set foot in their dimension; Kara lost no time in wrapping her in a close embrace, slightly relieved to feel her tense body relaxing and her thundering heart rate slowing. 

“Um, maybe we should get Cisco to come here for your brain-picking meet up thing?” 

“No, I’m fine!” Lena protested firmly, even as she buried her face further into Kara’s neck, making it impossible for Kara to not smile. “I’m not going to let a little travel discomfort stop me from making the most of the opportunity for interdimensional travel, Kara, come on.” 

“Of course,” Kara snuffed a laugh, “what was I thinking?” Carefully, she squeezed Lena that little bit tighter, held her that bit closer, and she pressed a small kiss into her sweet-smelling raven hair. 

Because I can. Because I know it won’t weird her out if I do that like I always want to. 

By now Lena’s body was almost completely relaxed again and Kara felt as much as heard the low rumble of satisfaction that started somewhere in her chest and came from her throat. 

And then she felt Lena’s lips on her neck. 

Oh…oh my…  

It was impossible to understand how something so simple could make quite so much heat flood so suddenly through Kara’s entire body. Kara’s knees literally began to feel slightly weak as Lena kissed her way up her neck, along her jaw and finally met Kara’s mouth in a kiss that felt more important than breathing. 

Lena’s mouth was so soft and warm and Kara could not get enough. She felt Lena’s tongue gently dance along her own lips and a shiver of white hot heat shot down her spine as she welcomed her in, her whole body completely ablaze with desire at something so simple and- 

The horrible, awful, world-ending gentle ding of Lena’s office intercom sounded. 

“Miss Luthor,” Jess’s polite and professional voice sounded in the room. “Just to let you know, the delegation from the Green Cities Foundation has arrived for your three o’clock with them; I’ll get them set up in Conference One.” 

Kara froze, her whole body now ablaze with slightly embarrassed disappointment. She and Lena glanced almost in unison to the row of clocks on the wall and groaned at the sight of the one that read the time for National City as 2.55pm. Lena’s forehead dropped onto Kara’s shoulder with a sigh, her fingers gripping tightly at Kara’s waist for a moment before she took a deep breath, removed herself from Kara’s arms and walked over to her desk, pressing the intercom button on her desk phone. 

“Thanks, Jess,” she said, turning to meet Kara’s gaze apologetically as she continued. “I’ll just be a couple of minutes.” 

It was almost like a physical pain, the realisation that returning to their reality actually meant returning to their actual reality where they both had jobs and responsibilities and could not spend every moment making out and declaring their love for each other. 

“I’m really sorry, Kara,” Lena said, her face crawling with guilt as she walked back towards the superhero. “I really can’t miss this meeting; I’ve had it scheduled for months and Green Cities are doing some really important things that I want to support and-” 

“Lena, it’s ok,” Kara smiled, rationality winning out even as she ached a little. “I know you have responsibilities you can’t just abandon; trust me, I know what that’s like.” 

Lena snuffed a laugh, shaking her head slightly as she walked back into Kara’s embrace, her face burying into Kara’s neck again; the ache in Kara’s chest eased. 

“Of course,” Lena murmured, “you of all people would understand.” 

“I really do,” Kara replied, again kissing her hair, again just because she could and because she delighted in it. She felt Lena squeeze her tighter, burrow a little closer, and her heart soared. “So, I should really go now, but- but can I see you later?” 

Lena instantly squeezed her tighter still. 

“Yes, please,” she mumbled into Kara’s neck before pulling back enough to meet Kara’s eyes, the pale green in hers making Kara’s breath catch as always. Lena lifted a hand, her fingers drifting gently, almost reverently, across Kara’s cheek and making Kara’s heart race. “This already feels a little unreal, what with the whole alternate dimension aspect; it’d definitely be good to have some confirmation that this hasn’t just been one wonderful hallucination when I start to really think it might have been later this evening.” 

“You’re going to think it was a wonderful hallucination?!” Kara couldn’t help protesting. “I got stuck in a musical and then got to make out with you! I kind of already think it’s probably a hallucination.” 

And then Lena laughed her beautiful laugh, pulled Kara down, leaned up and kissed her. 

“Best hallucination ever,” Kara breathed against Lena’s lips as she pulled away enough to rest their foreheads together. 

“Kara,” Lena laughed her protest lightly, shaking her head before kissing her gently one more time. 

“Ok, ok,” Kara groaned as she regretfully pulled away. “I should really go because you have your meeting and I should probably check in with Alex to stop her worrying and everything, but,” she paused taking a breath and trying to absorb every detail of the vision that was Lena Luthor looking up at her with love in her eyes, “I will text you, probably a lot just to keep checking that this is real and also because I love you and also so we can arrange something for later.” 

There it was again, that almost quivering smile that had burst onto Lena’s face when she’d told her she loved her earlier, almost as if Lena couldn’t quite believe it, couldn’t quite believe her own happiness. It was beautiful, but Kara was going to do everything she could to make sure Lena believed it. 

“That sounds like a plan,” Lena said, her voice quiet and just on the edge of tremulous. “I love you too, Kara.” 

Kara could feel the smile practically taking over her entire face – there was no stopping it, not even with super-strength. Her entire body was buzzing and her heart was soaring and floating and doing all the clichés; it could not be helped. 

She leaned in again, unable not to kiss Lena ‘just once more’, holding her as close as she dared, trying to memorise the feeling as much as possible so she could relive it again in the hours before they would see each other again that evening; a few hours seemed like a horribly long time right now. They’d only just found out that their feelings were mutual, surely they shouldn’t have to be apart again right away? 

No, Kara; responsibilities, jobs, being a mature adult. You will survive a few hours without making out. You have to, or you won’t get to make out with her again. 

“Ok,” Lena said as she pulled away, and Kara was slightly relieved to see that it appeared to be as much of a wrench for her as it was for Kara. 

“Ok,” Kara nodded, her hands sliding along Lena’s arms until they reached her hands; she lifted Lena’s hands to her mouth, pressing kisses to both of them. With a deep breath, she met Lena’s beautiful green eyes, felt her heart cracking even as it swelled with love. “I’ll see you later then.” 

“You will,” Lena said, squeezing Kara’s hands slightly before dropping one and leading her towards the balcony door with the other, although she did stop rather conspicuously at the door; evidently it was going to take a little while for Lena to be comfortable on her balcony again. “And you’d better text me, Kara Danvers. It’s very stupid, but I know I’m going to be missing you until I see you again.” 

“Me too,” Kara grinned, swallowing and dropping her gaze for a moment before raising her eyes to meet Lena’s again. “But it’s actually Zor-El, not Danvers.” 

“Sorry?” Lena blinked. 

“My true name, from- from Krypton.” 

“Kara Zor-El?” Lena said, her voice almost a little breathy as if in wonderment. Kara’s own heart was full of wonder at the effect that hearing her true name from Lena’s lips had on her. 

“That’s- That’s me,” she managed to reply with a shy grin. 

“It’s beautiful,” Lena smiled, biting her lip in that truly unfair way that she did. “You’re beautiful.” Kara couldn’t not blush.

The most beautiful woman in the world thinks I’m beautiful; how ridiculous and how very wonderful. 

“I love you,” she murmured, unable not to, and also unable not to lean down and kiss Lena again – just one more, ok!? – melting again against the soft, welcoming warmth of Lena’s mouth. 

And then the distant chime of the city clock tower tolling the hour sounded, just loud enough for Lena to hear it too. 

I hate time. 

With a noise of deep discontent, Lena pulled away from the kiss, her brows furrowing in evident frustration. 

“I love you too, Kara,” she murmured, her eyes softening again as they met Kara’s, both her hands coming up to push Kara’s hair back behind her ears before cupping her face. “I love you and I will see you later, ok?” 

“Ok,” Kara nodded, somehow her heart already stuttering in excited anticipation for seeing Lena later even as it ached at being parted from her now. 

And with the greatest of efforts, Kara stepped away and rose carefully into the air. She hovered a few feet above Lena for a couple of seconds, just gazing at her as she gazed back, each of them drinking in the sight of the other, before Kara turned and forced herself to leave. She knew that no amount of time was going to feel like enough. 

But I will see her later.  Soon, in fact. Tonight.  

We might go on an actual date like people do.  

Or we might just stay in and snuggle on a sofa and talk about all the things we still need to talk about.  

And also make out a lot.  

I get to make out with Lena now, because she loves me.

She loves me, and I’m gonna see her tonight and- and everything is perfect! 

I think even Alex is ok with it! I mean, she hugged Lena! Hugged her! 

She’s probably going to grill me about it now though…  

But I still get to make out with Lena later. Because she loves me, like I love her. 

Kara couldn’t help it; the energy running through her from the sheer joy of it needed expelling. She shot straight up into the sky, getting so high it wouldn’t matter if she broke the sound barrier, whooping and laughing her happiness into the air, spiralling and twirling and looping her joy as she flew. 

She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this, feeling a love so deep and full and completely without reservation.  

And she loves me too. She loves me so much that she saved me from a magical interdimensional coma.  

She loves me. 

She let go, basked in the rush of joy as this thought consumed her, the sun shone its powerful energy upon her, and the wind flew around her in wild torrents that seemed to echo the song in her heart, a song of kindness and courage and deep wells of inner strength, of soft, pale skin and green eyes and thick raven hair; in short, a song for Lena Luthor.