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For Kara, it's not just about the sick kids or the supposed lead poisoning. Sure, it's the part of the problem that she tackles head on, but it's not paramount.
Lena is.
Hey, look, I made a metaphor!
Lena, who thinks that everything that she touches breaks under her fingertips. Lena, who thinks that she's worse than Lex Luthor. Lena, who asks Kara to stop believing in her. (She would never!) Lena, who always wanted to be good, but somehow always seems to just fall short. Lena, who looks so strong, but crumbles so easily.
That's why, the next morning, Kara goes back to Sam's house and literally digs through the trash. When Sam asks her what she's looking for, as she gets dressed in the other room, Kara makes up an excuse about having lost one of her earrings, but she manages to find and retrieve the pieces of glass at the bottom of the trashcan before Sam walks into the kitchen for her morning coffee.
"Did you find it?"
"Yup, got it," Kara smiles brightly. "Thanks." As soon as she walks out of the house, she delicately wraps the pieces of glass in a thick layer of napkins and puts it into her bag for safekeeping.
It takes Kara longer than she expected to repair the glass, as not all the pieces seem to fit together anymore, and obviously it's meant to repair things that are less fragile with a few big pieces off here and there and not for a wine glass that's been broken into too many tiny little pieces. Eventually, she manages to do it, though. There is almost more silver (because silver seems to fit Lena better in its simplicity, than gold does) in the glass, in the end, than there is the glass itself.
Yet, somehow, it seems perfect.
"You know, the Japanese have a tradition of repairing broken items with gold or silver. It's called kintsukuroi," Kara says, a little nervously, as she places the repaired glass onto the kitchen counter.
Lena is in the middle of pouring out some wine for the both of them, when she sees the glass. "Kara, what's that?" she asks and puts the bottle back on the counter, even though only one of the glasses is half full.
"It's the wine glass you broke the night you got really drunk at Sam's," Kara answers and nibbles on her lower lip. "The one you said was a metaphor." She doesn't mention Edge or the kids, because she knows it would still be too painful.
There's a long pause where Lena just stares at the glass, at what Kara has made of it. "Oh…" She closes her eyes for a moment, because a part of her doesn't even want to remember that night, even if it's what keeps her awake at 3am on an almost daily basis. "Kara, I'm so sorry–"
"No, you don't have to apologize," Kara says firmly, as she cuts her off. "Just let me finish, please?" She waits for Lena to nod, before she continues. "They believe that something is more beautiful, stronger and worth more for having been broken. It's not a bad thing to be broken or shattered, in fact it's the opposite. Your imperfections make you perfect. And I wish you had never been broken at all, Lena, because there is no one else in the world that deserves to be happy more than you do. But being broken can make something beautiful, and you are so, so beautiful, Lena. And I don't even mean from the outside – because, wow – but from the inside. You always try to do good, to be good. And you are strong, so strong, despite everything that has happened to you, and that's one of the things I love about you, Lena. And believe me when I say that there are so, so many things to love about you."
Kara finally takes a deep breath, as all the words just seemed to come out at once, and catches Lena's eyes. "I will never, ever stop believing in you. I just want you to know that." She places her hand on Lena's and squeezes softly.
Lena doesn't even know what to do or say at first, so she just stares at their hands for a few moments too long. "Thank you," she whispers, finally, and looks up at Kara once more. "I don't know what I could have done to deserve a friend like you." There are tears in her eyes, even though she's doing her best to ignore them.
As Kara watches her best friend, she can't help but to notice how small and delicate and wonderful she is. And that urge to just wrap Lena in her arms overcomes her, the one that's been recently paired with the urge to just kiss her. "I love you, Lena, and I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. Because you're amazing," the words are soft and Kara thinks she might start crying too, so she just pulls Lena into a hug and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.
"I love you too, Kara," Lena whispers, as she buries her head into Kara's shoulder.
"No, I mean, I love you," Kara says, her eyes still closed. It feels as if keeping her eyes shut for this is giving her courage, making it less scary. There is less to concentrate on, and she can just focus on the pattern of Lena's breathing, or the way that her heart slowly, but gradually starts to speed up as she realizes what Kara really means.
After a moment where Lena thinks she won't be able to breathe ever again, she pulls away from Kara just a little, so she could look at her. "Kara," she whispers, "please, look at me."
Slowly, Kara opens her eyes to be met with Lena's watery ones. "I shouldn't have said anything," she looks from Lena's face to her neck and her collarbone and she really wishes that she could run her tongue over the skin there, even if it's such an inappropriate thought to have right now. "Can we just–"
"Kiss?" Lena cuts her off, her brow raised in amusement. Maybe she isn't quite ready to say that she loves Kara like that, but there is no way in hell she's going to let her backtrack on all that or apologize.
Without another word, Kara places her hand on Lena's cheek – and it's wet with tears and Kara's heart clenches – and leans down to kiss her. It's soft and gentle and although it tastes like salt, Kara thinks that she never wants to let go. Simply because this? This feels better than flying, which is saying something.
In the end they pull away from each other and Lena leans her forehead against Kara's. "Wow," she breathes out and chuckles softly. "I hope we can make this a regular thing," she smiles shyly, with all her insecurities shining through in the simple words.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kara laughs and bites her bottom lip. She plays with the hem on Lena's shirt as she holds her close, and she's about to kiss her once more when something occurs to her. "Lena, in the light of recent events," she smiles to herself at the joke, "there is something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Lena says, as her brows furrow in confusion. She thinks that maybe she should give Kara some distance for this, but she refuses to let go. Her hands on Kara's chest feel like the most natural thing.
"Well, um I'm…" Kara takes a deep breath. "Unbutton my shirt." She would do it herself, but Lena's hands are right there.
"Unbutton your shirt?" Lena asks with a frown, as she sounds all too confused. When Kara nods, she does as she's asked, though. After the second button, realization starts to dawn on her. "You're Supergirl?" A few moments later, Kara's chest is exposed and Lena's tracing patterns on the infamous S.
"Yes," Kara nods, even though she can feel her own heart thumping like crazy in her chest. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. But, now, if we're going to, you know… You should know." Right now, she wasn't in a hurry to define their relationship. First, she wanted to make sure that Lena would be all right with this all, and then they could have that conversation.
After what seems like minutes, even though it was probably just seconds, of staring at the crest Lena leans her head against Kara's chest and laughs. "And here I thought that I had made two new friends," she mutters, and although she's still laughing the words sound bitter. "Of course, it makes perfect sense now. No one else can inspire me the way you do. No one else is as amazing as you."
"But you don't hate me, for keeping it a secret from you?" Kara asks softly. Her hand travels up to Lena's hair as if by instinct and she starts playing with it.
"Kara, I could never hate you," Lena smiles, as she raises her head from Kara's chest. "There is absolutely nothing in the world that you could do that would make me hate you."
"But your mother–" Kara starts.
Lena cuts her off with a quick peck on the lips. "My mother is one of the reasons I have all these cracks. But you tried to fix them. Have been trying since we met. I mean, we definitely need to talk about this, later, but right now I would just like to kiss you again because you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
With a smile on her face, Kara leans in for another kiss. Sure, they have plenty of things to talk about. But Lena's right – they can do it later. For now, she's just going to enjoy the feel of Lena's skin under her fingertips, and the small, soft whimper as Lena pushes her tongue into Kara's mouth.