Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

“You need to get laid,” says Alex, plainly, while sipping her coffee. In front of her, Kara chokes on her bagel.

“Alex, what the fuck!?” she manages to say in between coughs. Alex pushes the water bottle closer to her sister.

“You heard me,” answers Alex, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. “You, my sister, need to see some action.”

Kara’s face falls and Alex regrets her word choice immediately.

“I see enough action, thank you very much,” she mumbles, crossing her arms over the table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m an idiot,” Kara sighs.

“It’s fine, I know you didn’t, and yes you are.”

“Kara, I still think you should ask for a reassignment. Your post is taking a big toll on you,” Alex reaches for her sister’s hand and squeezes. Kara frowns.

“We’ve already discussed this. You, me, Eliza, and Jeremiah. I’m not changing my mind.”

“Even if I tell you that National City University Hospital is willing to take you as new Head of General Surgery?”

“Even with that, not happening,” Alex’s turn to sigh, slouching on her chair and crossing her arms.

“You know? Military doctor in active conflict zones in the middle of nowhere is not the only way you can help people, Kara”

“And how many doctors do you know that can run through a rain of bullets or avoid snipers to get to a patient AND both getting out of there?” Kara argues. “MIA and KIA percentages have dropped since I’m there. Families that no longer have to mourn a loved one. I’m needed Alex, and its not like you have to worry something will happen to me. I’m super, right?”

“Only that the secret gets out and certain General finds out.”

“Alex, you know J’onn would never allow him into that information and, in a way… its already out,” Alex can feel the headache coming. “I mean, after that sniper bullet bounced off of my head in front of those soldiers there was little I could do,” Kara starts fidgeting, a little guilty about it. Not her fault though. And the secret had stayed within the unit so all good. J’onn really would never allow Lane to know. Xenophobic bastard.

“At least you were smart enough not to mention the whole extent of your abilities.”

“They just think my skin is invulnerable. That I’m a half-human orphan that inherited her abilities from her alien father and her good looks from her mom,” she winks at Alex and her sister finally relaxes. Of course she conveniently leaves out that she also showed off her strength to impress a couple nurses, but Alex didn’t need to know that. She finishes her almost forgotten latte and bagel. “Also, I can’t believe we are talking about this again.”

“Call me stubborn,” replies Alex. “I just think that with all your advanced Kryptonian knowledge you could make some massive breakthroughs in medicine. Heck, even in science in general! After all, You are the one that aced every test in colllege without really studying like us mortals cause, and I quote, ‘I took this class when I was seven’. Potential wasted.”

“Cry me a river, Alex. I don’t remember you complaining whenever I helped you study,” her sister rolls her eyes. “I’m happy where I am. Isn’t that enough? You chose to go Dr. Strange and go into neuro surgery. I decided to go Rockbell and go be in the field. We are both where we are meant to be.”

Alex can’t refute that, so she falls into an unconfortably tense silence. Kara hates it when that happens. She breaks the ice.

“Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“That I need to get laid?”

Now its Alex’s turn to choke.

“Alex! Oh Rao! Breath, come on, bre- are you laughing?” she was

Kara loves her sister, she really does; there was even a time when Ales was her whole world. But in moments like this its not surprising that Kara is tempted to throw her into the Sun.

Thanks to Alex, she learned to cope and be a little sister. She learned to depend on someone during hard times when normally people would depend on her. She learned to accept her new life with the Danvers, to enjoy her new life with the Danvers. Her new parents were as amazing as her new sister was. Loving, patient, understanding people. They grew together and Kara wouldn’t change that for the world.

The day Kara turned 16, her cousin came to visit. Not like he never did but, being Clark Kent AND Superman didn’t leave that much free time.

“Kara, my favorite cousin!”

“I’m your only cousin Kal,” she laughs returning the hug he gave her. Full force. It felt good to let the control slip with him. Kal thought the same. Humans were too fragile sometimes.

“That is true. We are family. Blood family. We need to stick together.”

“Ok? Why do I feel there is something deeper to this?”

“Today is your 16th birthday, and I have a gift and a proposition for you,” Kara makes a ‘go on’ hand gesture. “The proposition first: I would like for you to come leave with me and Lois in Metropolis. I should have never left you here. I should have taken full responsibility of your well being, as Lois always reminds me. For that I’ll never finish apologizing. So, what do you think? You can finish High School there and go to college later. We could even be Super together! I could teach you-”

“No,” Kara interrupts him with a soft but firm voice. “Thanks Kal, but I’m fine here.”

“You are? You truly are?”

“Yes. I won’t pretend that I always was. There was a rough time at the beginning when I wished you would have taken me with you, but that’s water under the bridge. I’m fine.”

“So Metropolis…?”

“That’s all you,” she says. “I see what you do there and it suits you, but its not for me. The world is fine with just one Super and Im fine knowing that my cousin cares enough to come here and tell me all this today of all days.”

“Well, 16 is a pretty big deal back at Krypton, is it not? You would have been officially acknowledge as an active representative of House El and given all the responsabilities that title came with. A great honor,” they stay in companioble silence for a few moments.

“So, are you sure? You’ll stay here with the Danvers?”

“Yes, lil cousin (Kal laughs at that) the Danvers have become my family and, to be honest, I already know what I want to do on this Earth.”

“You have?”

“Back in Krypton I was already a member of the Science Guild, junior member of course but with many proposals for my future. My brain is academically oriented and I can use my Kryptonian advantage so I will pursue a similar path on this planet.”

“What is it then?”

“A doctor. I’m going to become a doctor,” she replies, proudly.

She explained that with her alien inmune system she didn’t need to worry about virus and other infections. She could go to quarantine zones, her invulnerability would allow her to help in violent areas without the fear of getting injured. She could go to poor places and help fix bones or internal damage without the need of complex imaging equipment, her eyes could do the job just as fine. She could go into research, Kryptonian bio science implemented to human biology. Maybe even cure cancer. So many possibilities.

“You will save more lives than Superman ever will.”

After that they talked a bit more and Kal stayed for cake. The Danvers were thrilled that Kara decided to stay and Alex joked that there would be so much confusion in the future when someone called asking for “Dr. Danvers”.

Before he left, with cake for Lois, he gave Kara his gift: the red baby blanket he arrived with all those years ago. An indestructible memento from home. Really soft and warm. She’s slept with it since then.

Kara never regretted her decision that day as she would also never regret her decision later on. Everyone was shocked when, after college and receiving her MD, she announced she had enlisted in the USA Army, Med Corp, and had requested to be send to active conflict zones as a surgeon.

“I thought about it for a long time and I feel this is the right path for me. Helping around the world, that’s my calling and, lets be honest, there is no one with more chances at surviving that than me.”

It took her two years to build a name and a reputation. She got to the grade of Colonel and got assigned her own medical team. It was a lot of hard work and close calls, but she liked it… and the fact that she got to explore other things was also a plus. Cause that’s the thing, when you are single and far from home surrounded by other available very fit singles you get to do stuff.

It was never her main priority nor she looked for it, but apparently there was something in Kara Danvers that attracted people. At 26 she had broken more hearts that she ever thought she could, men and women alike, only because she never looked for something serious. She had flings, who didn’t, but nothing in the past several months.
If she was honest, Kara wasn’t looking for love, had never being in love, or more like love hadn’t found her yet. Not like it mattered to her. It would come eventually.

Back from memory lane to her apartment, Alex had finally stopped laughing.

“I hate you sometimes,” says Kara walking to the sink to clean after breakfast.

“Hate you too, don’t worry,” Alex replies helping clear the kitchen isle. “But getting serious here, last time you seemed interested in someone was 5 months ago. Then nothing.”

Kara smiles remembering who Alex is refering to.

“Beatriz Simons, nurse, 25. One of the kindest hearts I’ve ever met. Injured four months ago. Relocated.”

“Injured? How?”

“Bullet wound. Rebels in the area attacked the Humanitarian Help convoy she was in. Six soldiers and two doctors died that day. I was in the medical rescue team. When we found the survivors Bea was barely conscious with a bullet in her abdomen. It had pierced her kidney and damaged her liver. Emergency surgery. Saved her liver and got to extract the kidney. It was a long night.”

“That is some major surgery right there. Im impressed!” Kara blushes.

“Thanks. Bea was impressed as well.”

“I feel there’s more to it.”

“J’onn ordered the injured to be transferred and while I was preparing her she asked me to go with her, she-”

“She loved you,” completes Alex. “But you didn’t love her back.”

“Not the way she wanted. It wasn’t serious. Just two people fooling around, having fun, and I made it clear from the start. I never gave her hopes it would be something else so, I broke her heart. Haven’t heard from her since.”

“My little sister, the heart breaker. Who would have guessed?” Alex grins

“You are one to talk Miss ‘all the nurses have the hots for me’ Danvers,” Kara laughs when her sister blushes.

“Not all of… what do you… shut up!”

“So, were you thinking about a nurse in particular when you said I needed sex?”

“Not anymore! Last thing I need is a nurse giving me death glares cause my sister didn’t call back,” Alex looks at the clock on the wall. “Same nurses that must be wondering where I am. It’s almost time for my shift and got to prepare for surgery today,” Alex picks up her coat and backpack and walks to the door. “So, how long until you have to report back to base?”

“Way to finish in a sad note, Alex,” her sister shrugs. “In four days. Reporting tomorrow with Lane, not looking forward to that, to see what projects the military sees worth funding and yes, before you say it, pretty sure there will be deals under the table disguised as humanitarian help intentions.”

“And yet you accepted to go.”

“It was a last minute change, J’onn was gonna go but he got called somewhere else leaving me to the sharks,” complains Kara. "Anyways, I got 4 days. Convention starts tomorrow until Friday, got today free to prepare.”

“To laze around you mean,” Kara rolls her eyes.

“Then on Friday I have my return flight at 2200 hours back to meeting point and then back to base.”

“Then, dinner today? I’ll try to finish early. We can take a few selfies for mom and dad, as you won’t be able to see them, and then a stroll around the city. Maybe then you’ll see how much the city has changed and you’ll want to stay around,” Alex opens the door.

“Perhaps, but don’t get our hopes up ok?” Kara hugs her sister.

“I don’t know. Things are going much better since the Luthor girl moved here. She has proven herself good for National City. She is so not her family. See you later,” Alex winks and closes the door, leaving an intrigued Kara behind.

---

Kara spent the rest of her morning reviewing the Convention material. Lots of panels she wanted to attend that she was sure Lane wouldn’t allow her to. She already knew all she was reading, to be honest. It was more to have something to do as it was to early to go for lunch (meaning her favorite place was still serving breakfast) and she didn’t feel like going anywhere by herself.

She finishes reading all she has and glances at her laptop to her right. Curiosity finally wins so she opens it and goes to Google.

“Let’s see what you have for me, Google. Search ‘Luthor + National City’”

Of course Kara knew about the Luthors. Lex was Kal’s best friend turned nemesis, after all. But besides evil bald rich guy with too much time to spare, she had to admit she didn’t know as much as she should. Specially cause she served in the USA Military, one of Lex’s greatest former clients.

“Shame on me, shame on me. I should already know about-” the page loads and Kara loses her train of thought cause, up and front on her screen, is THE most beautiful woman she has ever seen.

In a perfect world, Kal and Lex would still be friends. In a perfect world, Lex wouldn’t be a xenophobic ass. In a perfect world, Kal would have introduced her to Lex and he would have introduced her to his sister.

His absolutely BREATHTAKING sister.

“Lena Luthor,” says Kara with reverence in her voice. She starts clicking and reading different articles and press notes about the woman and her company, now renamed L-Corp, and is pleasantly surprised. Alex was right. This woman has improved the city a lot.

“Beauty and brains, my favorite combination. I wonder what else there is here,” she then finds an article from earlier in the year that catches her eye.

“L-Corp’s (formerly known as Luthor Corp) rising CEO Lena Luthor has made the move no one expected and risen even higher. The young CEO has sealed a deal with the one and only Man of Steel in which Superman has given Luthor his permission to use Kryptonian technology and research for the good of humanity.

When asked about his intentions, Superman declared the following.

“I know Miss Luthor will be true to her word and use my planets legacy for the greater good. She is not her brother and she has my full trust. Besides, it will be a nice change to see Kryptonian tec being used for something different than my early demise.”

Miss Luthor’s only comment was that this was an overdue deal and that these actions would finally put an end to her brother’s own evil legacy.

“A Super and a Luthor working together, who knew this day would come right? We still has a long way to go, of course, a lot to learn and change; but I believe that time and hard work will get us there. El Mayarah.”

Later on, this reporter found out that Luthor’s last words were Kryptonian for…”

“Stronger together,” Kara tears up a warm feeling starting to form inside her chest.

House El’s legacy, the teachings she grew up with, starring at her from her computer screen thanks to this amazing woman. Her culture saved from oblivion living on to bring peace and prosperity to her new home. A piece of Krypton outside Kal’s fortress and her own memory.

Kara wasn’t sure if what she was feeling at the moment was what love felt like or if this was something completely different, but for Rao she was going to figure it out.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

“This is Alex Danvers, please leave your me-”

Kara disconnects the call. No use in trying again. The phone was off and Alex only did that when she was in the OR. She could only hope her sister would see her lonely lost call and contact her later. Next one on her list…

“Clark Kent speaking.”

“Hey its me!”

“Kara?”

“Bingo!” she falls back into her couch. “new phone? Just guessing as you answered as I was a stranger.”

“That’s correct. Need to put all my contacts back again. This time, though, it was Lois fault. I was talking with Jimmy when she got out of the bathroom with just a towel and…”

“Hey! Wow! TMI! I don’t need to know how much my future cousin in law affects you,” Clark clears his throat.

“Sorry. So, what’s new? Heard you are back in town.”

“Only for a few days. Tell me, are you home? Can I speak freely?” silence “Clark, I can’t see you. If you are nodding tell me”

“Yes, I’m home. Was doing some research for a expose piece I’m working on”

“Good, then I’ll go straight to the point, why didn’t you tell me about your deal with L-Corp?”

“What?”

“The deal with L-Corp, or more like with Lena Luthor. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to learn about it through a press release from months ago?” she could picture her cousin taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose. Pretty sure she was giving him a headache, or as close of a headache he could get.

“Tell me Kara, did you call to tell me you disapprove, that you are mad that I did, or something of the sort?” Kara noticed the change in Kal’s tone of voice. He sounded anxious. Maybe even a little bit scared. She smiles to herself.

“No Kal, not at all. If anything I wanted say I’m proud of you.”

“Really?” she feels the anxiousness drift away from his voice.

“Yes, really. Knowing that you made this power move of a Super and a Luthor working together to bring back Krypton’s true teachings, fighting against prejudice, building bridges instead of walls, it made me happy,” and she adds with a bit of a bite. “I would have just liked for you to tell me personally instead of reading about it. You do have your unique ways of contacting me when I’m deployed after all.”

“Flying all the way there to tell you the news would have been… a tad too much”

“You’ve done it before. I remember that time when you were all smiles shouting ‘she said YES’. It was adorable.”

“And then had to live through gossip and speculations for over a month as to why Superman did an impromptu visit to our boys out there. Worse when Lane started using that press on his favor,” Kara makes a very unladylike noise.

“I swear, if that man wasn’t Lois and Lucy’s dad I would-” she leaves the idea open to Kal’s imagination. He gives her a hearty laugh.

“I can’t say I share the sentiment but I get your point. At least everything always calms down when the next monster attacks,” he makes a pause. “But its weird, cause I did contact you. More like tried, now that I think about it. I got worried so I called Alex and she told me to stop worrying so I did. Guessed you would call me later. Things got crazy around here shortly after and I guess I forgot about it.”

“You did- wait. Do you remember when exactly?”

“A couple weeks before it went public so-” she can hear him making calculations. “Eight, nine months ago?”

“That would explain it,” Kara gets up and goes to her calendar. “Yes, I was right”

“Did something happen out there?”

“Internal sabotage. It was kept under wraps so I’m trusting you to keep this to yourself. We lost all contact with civilization for several weeks. No phone, internet, or satellite. All cut. When we got it all back there were hundreds of messages. They must have discarded yours in favor of first priority ones.”

“Ok rude. And that sucks, I’m sorry”

“It’s fine. Occupational hazards”

“So, all good between us?”

“Of course it is, cousin! Can’t wait to see how our technology works here for something not meant to kill you!”

The rest of their conversation was light hearted. Just family catching up. Kara told Kal about the Convention she was attending and complaining about Lane and her bad luck. Kal told her about his last article and about Lois being nominated for another Pulitzer. She agreed to visit next time she was free and in the city.

“Its nice talking with you Kal,” she checks the time. “but I think I better let you go back to work.”

“Its always nice hearing from you, don’t be a stranger,” Kara agrees and was about to hang up when Kal stops her. “One last thing before you go”

“Yes?”

“That Convention you going to tomorrow, it sounded familiar so I Googled it”

“Of course you did”

“There was a last minute addition I think you will like,” continues Kal ignoring Kara’s comment

“Really? I thought all spots were taken”

“Well, when you are a Luthor I think they make exceptions”

“What?”

“Friday 4pm, Conference ‘New theories for cancer treatment based on Kryptonian investigation’ by L-Corp, presented by Lena Luthor,” silence. “Kara? Are you still there?”

The call drops.

---

Kara was having a panic attack.

A panic attack of the gay kind.

She was basically a big gay mess.

She could meet Lena Luthor that Friday. Three days from now she could be in the same space as Lena Luthor. She could be able to listen to LENA LUTHOR talk about Krypton research applied to human biology in the next three days.

And she would be wearing her formal uniform and shadowing General Lane.

She wanted to throw up.

At least the General was nicer to her than to 90% of the people, only because of his daughters. What they didn’t know was that the deal only included that he yelled less at her that to everyone else. It still baffled her that Lois and Lucy were, in fact, his daughters.

“We take after mom,” was the only explanation Lucy gave her when they met before dropping the topic and never touching it again. And given that they dated for some time after that, it was saying something. They broke up when Kara enlisted, but that’s another story, never mind.

Ok, she needed to talk with someone. She tries Alex one more time. She curse when it sends her directly to voice mail again. Alex was still in surgery. She could call Lucy, she was one of her best friends after all, but she was vacationing in Aruba, according to her Instagram, with her boyfriend James. Kara was pretty sure she would not answer.

Lucy met James Olsen at Kal’s birthday party 2 years ago, Lois took her, and they clicked immediately. Now they were THAT couple. She was happy for her friend, specially cause she knew (Kal told her) that James would propose soon. Or as soon as he grew a pair and asked the General for his blessing. Like he needed it. Lucy would most likely slap him when she found out why he made her wait.

And wait she would. A long while.

Back to the problem at hand, she considered calling Eliza, but no. She wasn’t ready for all the awkward.

Kal? More awkward than Eliza.

Lois? Nope. She would tell Kal.

One of her unit friends? Dead first.

Alex? Its being 5 minutes, most likely still in surgery… Alex…

And then she saw the light.

Kara grabs her jacket and keys and runs to National City’s Police Department.

---

Detective Maggie Sawyer was stuck with desk duty today, making sure every damn document was properly filed. Damn her if Evidence lost another key element again. They almost screw up her last case for a couple hundreds. Bastards. They were locked up now, she made sure.

The detective finishes writing pending report number six and stretches. She really needed to stop leaving them for the last minute. She looks at the time, 12:36, one more report and then she would go grab some lunch. Maybe Alex would be out of surgery by then. No, most likely she will go eat with Kara. When your sister returns unscratched from the front you make time for her. Even if it’s impossible for said sister to get hurt, physically speaking at least.

“Maybe I could join them,” thinks Maggie loading report number seven. “or would that be imposing on their sister time?”

She kept going on about it, not typing report seven, when someone calls her.

“Hey, Sawyer! Someone’s looking for you!” bless the soul who interrupts paperwork.

Maggie wonders who was it. The officer didn’t stop long enough to tell her that. She had no appointments today and most of her on going cases where on stand by so to speak. So, who?

Her answer comes in the form of a blonde comet that tackles her as soon as she steps into the lobby.

“Maggie! I missed you!” says Kara loud enough for the whole building to hear and lifting her from the ground as she weighted nothing making Maggie yelp in surprise (something she would later deny). After all this time Kara’s strength still surprised her.

Anyway, even if this was a bit embarrassing – and Maggie would sock any officer that dared to say something – it was adorable brave little Danvers. So it was ok. She hugs back.

“God, Kara! It’s so great to see you! You looking good,” Kara smirks and puts Maggie back on the floor, “And as strong as always. You make all the people around here look like wimps”

A couple officers frown their way. They just laugh.

“Healthy diet and exercise, Mags, what can I tell you,” she says, flexing on arm. Maggie rolls her eyes.

“Show off. Ok fine, keep your secrets,” Maggie winks and guides Kara back to her office. “So, and its not that I’m not happy to see you but, why come to see me instead of spending time with Alex?”

“You are as important to me Maggie, future sister in law. I need no reason to want to see you,” that makes Maggie smile. “Besides, Alex is super busy at the moment, lunch time has officially begun, and we are both alone so, why not? Also, uhm, I wanted to get your opinion on something,” Kara blushes a pretty pink, almost unnoticeable, but not to Maggie.

“So a hidden agenda, huh?” Kara eyes get wide as saucers, Maggie grins. “Easy little Danvers, I’m messing with you. Let’s go eat. Come on, I know a place you’ll love.”

The place ends up being a Deli close to the station. It was a cozy and private place with sandwiches to die for.

“Oh God! Best double beef with cheese ever!” Kara was ecstatic. “The thing I miss the most when overseas is the food.”

“It’s because your chefs do a shitty job. You need real cooks, not soldiers who know how to cook.”

“If you say so,” Kara takes another big bite.

“I know so,” says Maggie. “Now, stop stalling and spill already. Who is this girl who has you like a mess?”

And for the second time that day, Kara chokes with her food.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

The first time Maggie Sawyer saw Alex Danvers was over 4 years ago. She was visiting an old friend who was diagnosed with a brain tumor, possible to remove surgically after radiation treatment, thank God.

Alex had just finished her pre op assessment when Maggie entered the room and saw the hot doctor. Alex said a quick hello and left. Maggie then proceeded to tell Sidney that he was a lucky soon of a bitch to have THAT doctor. “Man! Make sure to get her number!”

Sidney starts to make hand gestures for Maggie to shut it and to look behind her.

“What?” she turns… and pales. There was the doctor again. She didn’t even heard her approaching and she was wearing heels for Christ’s sake! Alex stared at her with one eyebrow raised. Maggie felt her pulse spike. After what felt an eternity to the Detective, Alex turns to Sidney and reminds him not to eat after midnight among some other instructions. She leaves without a second glance or a goodbye.

Maggie goes to visit Sidney a couple more times after that, but she doesn’t see the doctor and couldn’t apologize.
The second time Maggie Sawyer saw Alex Danvers was due to a case of domestic violence. This guy had beaten up his wife with a bat hitting her several times on the head.

Alex was called to assess the damage and possible treatment. Maggie was sent for a testimony. They clashed.

“You can’t go in there yet!” said Alex, raising her voice. “She is not stable to talk less to give a testimony!”

“I need all the details now that are fresh on her mind! The more time it passes the more holes will be in her testimony and that piece of shit that beat her could walk free due to a technicality!”

“If that happens then you are not really that good at your job, right De-tec-tive?”

Maggie saw red. Worst is, she remembered this woman. Sidney’s doctor. She had planned to apologize. Fuck that. Not happening.

The exchange between doctor and detective was intense (some nurses even said they could feel latent sexual tension) and only ended when a weak voice from inside the room said that it was ok. She would testify now.

Maggie flips Alex of. Alex huffed and returned the gesture.

At the end, the patient fully recovered, the useless husband went to prison, the woman divorced him, and with the help of a social worker and a bit of Maggie’s influence, she could move out of town with her kids for a fresh start.

And Alex Danvers got stuck in Maggie’s brain.

Little did she know that the same happened to the neuro surgeon.

The third time Maggie Sawyer saw Alex Danvers was also the first time she saw Kara Danvers and she got jealous.

It was a Friday night and Maggie went to her favorite bar to unwind from the long week, relax, maybe take a beautiful girl home. Who knows?
While waiting for her drink, she started people watching and spied a short hair red head in one of the tables. She recognized that red head and her heart skipped a beat. She scowled at her heart. Traitor.

Maggie was deliberating if she should go and say hi. Let bygones be bygones about their last encounter some weeks ago. But then the idea died as fast as it came when a pretty blonde sat down with the doctor carrying two beers.

Maybe it was kind of creepy and totally not Maggie, but she watched the pair for the next hour. Discretely of course. She watched them laugh with each other, smile at each other, hug, hold hands, have a blast.

“This is pathetic,” she declares, so she stands up and goes for the dart board. It was taken, so was the pinball machine. Pool table was free. Ok, not her best game, but maybe she could blow off some steam hitting the balls harder than needed.

Twenty minutes into her solo game, no ball had gone down. No surprise there. She sucked.

“Hey, sorry to say this, but you suck,” said someone behind her. Maggie doesn’t turn and gets into position for her next shot.

“Let me guess, you can do it better,” she shots. White ball completely misses the target. “Fuck”

“Well, better than that,” says the voice. A woman, she now notices.

Maggie turns, ready to tell this stranger to fuck off, and freezes. She had been so into her bad mood that she didn’t recognized Alex Danvers’s voice.

“Want some company detective or should I leave you sulking away?”

Maggie just nods.

“So, sulking away or…?”

“You can stay,” she says quickly, blushing and feeling stupid.

Alex smiles, takes a swing of her beer, and moves to fix the balls over the pool table. She then proceeds to teach Maggie the art of the game for the next hour. Maggie was in such bliss that she forgot why she was mad to begin with.

“You are a quick study, Sawyer. I like this side of you better instead of the one that yells in my ER,” says Alex while Maggie prepares a new game.

“If my memory doesn’t fail me, I wasn’t the only one yelling that day Danvers.”

“I guess you weren’t,” she finishes her beer. “Another game?”

“Sure, I need to show that I’m as good as my teacher,” answers Maggie. The Cheshire cat grin Alex sends her way freezes her on the spot and makes her heart go from steady to HOLY SHIT.

“Detective, I am better. So. Much. Better,” Maggie gulps.

What the fuck was wrong with her? She was never this off of her game. She was such a useless lesbian at the moment. She clears her throat. She needed to say something back.

“I saw you earlier. You looked happy with that girl. Had a nice date?” Maggie kicks herself as soon as the words leave her mouth. Useless lesbian indeed.

“Date?”

“You know, girl, blonde, wearing glasses, looked like she would break into song at any moment?”

“Oh! Kara, you mean Kara. She left already,” says Alex, relaxed, nursing a new beer.

“And left you here? That’s rude”

“You are smiling, detective. Happy for my bad luck in my- date?”

“Well- I mean- No?”

“Before leaving she told me ‘that girl over there can’t keep her eyes away from you’. You weren’t as stealthy as you thought if my sister noticed you.”

Sister

Maggie could only laugh. Years down the road, Alex would always tease her about being jealous of Kara.

Maggie didn’t take Alex home that night… but she did get her number and a “you better call me” followed by the sexiest wink she had ever seen. So you could say that after that day at the bar, they became close friends. They mainly texted or called – you guys flirt so openly Alex you are so gay, according to Kara – but didn’t get to meet in person until a couple months later. Detectives and newly appointed Directors of Neuro Surgeon departments don’t have that much free time.

The fourth time Alex Danvers saw Maggie Sawyer, the detective was on a gurney, oxygen mask on, and bleeding for a head injury. She was also unconscious with a weak pulse and deadly pale.

It was a car chase gone wrong. Maggie’s car got rammed by the suspect’s accomplice. She fell into a ditch after her car turned over five times. That she was still alive was a miracle on itself.

The only thing that helped Alex to not go into shock was sheer professionalism. She had an on point poker face and exuded confidence on the face of adversity. On the inside, she was screaming. Alex couldn’t believe that this amazing woman who sent her cat videos every morning cause “come on! They are cute!” and who she planned to ask on a real date that weekend was on the verge of dying.

No, Alex had to try. Alex had to do more than try. Maggie Sawyer would NOT DIE on her watch.

The fourth time Maggie saw Alex was after waking up on a hospital bed with a cannula on her nose and cables and wires everywhere. The blasted beep beep of the heart monitor woke her and was giving her a splitting headache. She felt like crap all over. What the fucking hell happened? She remembered the chase and the car coming fast into her side and… was that Alex? Yes she was. Alex Danvers, sleeping at her bedside, holding her hand… holy shit she was holding her hand!

And she couldn’t feel it... or move.

Maggie entered in panic mode. She couldn’t move. WHY COULD’T SHE MOVE?!

The heart monitor picked up her panic state and the noise woke up Alex. When she saw Maggie’s eyes open all her walls crumbled and she did the only logical thing. She cried.

“I knew you would wake up, I knew it,” cried Alex, clutching her hand even harder. Now she felt it. Maggie sighed with relief and concentrating as hard as she could, she squeezed back. She barely moved her fingers and it hurt like hell, but the teary smile Alex gave her in return was worth it. That’s the last thing she remembers before falling asleep again.

“You were out for five days, detective,” tells her the nurse next morning. “Dr. Danvers spent every free moment she had with you, even at night. Most of us had already lost faith, but not her. Never her. You know, Dr. Danvers – Alex – tries to look tough, but we all know she wears her heart on her sleeve. Don’t break it.”

Maggie stayed on the hospital for months. They told her a lot of medical jargon about her diagnose that she honestly couldn’t remember. She only needed to know that she had badly injured her head and brain and that it was a miracle she could still talk and move.

“Not a miracle, Mags,” said Sidney, keeping her company during one of her PT sessions. “It was that doc. The one who opened my head also opened yours and saved you. Cool scar, by the way”

“Chicks dig scars,” her therapist rolls her eyes.

Alex went to see her many times after, in a very professional setting. She was her doctor after all. No more the sobbing mess from that first day. No more staying the night or sleeping by her bedside.

“I don’t know man. She flirts and cries one day and she is stoic and serious the next. I just don’t know.”

“You never know anything. Anyways, if she is no longer into you, can I have her number?”

“As soon as I recover my full strength I’m gonna slap you.”

When Maggie was finally deemed well enough to go home with appointments for outpatient therapy, it was Alex the one to go give her the discharge instructions. Weren’t nurses in charge of that? 45 minutes later, Maggie is even more confused.

“Wait, in here it says to go for follow up with Dr. O’connor,” reads Maggie

“That’s correct”

“I thought you were my doctor”

“Not anymore. I discharged you”

“But why?”

“Conflict of interests”

“What do you mean by that?”

Alex walks to Maggie and she can feel her hands on each side of her face. Alex makes Maggie look up into her eyes.

“It means that, now that I’m no longer your doctor, I can finally do this.”

Maggie never had a more perfect kiss. Except, maybe, every single one that followed.

Now Maggie has lost count of the number of times she’s seen Alex.

Meeting Kara was whole different experience.

Alex had told her that Kara knew of her and was super excited about their relationship and was also dying to meet her. But Alex didn’t want their first real meeting to be through a computer screen. No. Alex wanted a real face to face.

The opportunity came on Thanksgiving that year. Kara would be in town and they would celebrate at Alex’s apartment.

“Normally its at her apartment but she is cutting it short this year arriving on Thanksgiving morning, so we moved it to mine. Come around 3. Bring the wine and let yourself in. Gave you a key for that purpose, didn’t I?”

Maggie did as instructed. Bought Alex’s favorite wine, and some other options. She almost dropped everything when she let herself in and went into the kitchen. She DID NOT expected to see Alex’s sister heat vision cooking the turkey.

It was… an interesting dinner.

Eliza, Jeremiah, and Alex were nerve wreck. Kara thought it was amusing.

“I’m so happy I don’t need to hide anything. Like, I’m sorry you had to find out like that. Not the way I was planning to tell you.”

“You were going to tell her? But you just-”

“Met her? Na. Alex gushes to much about her. It’s like I know everything about Maggie and if Alex trusts her then so do I. So, detective, welcome to the ‘I know Kara’s secret’ club. By all means you are now family,” Kara raises her glass to that.

Maggie smiles and toasts with her. This girl was something. She turns to see a blushing Alex. She grins.

“Erase that grin from your face, I don’t gush”

“Yes you do,” say the other three people at the table at the same time.

Maggie couldn’t believe her luck. The Danvers family was so out of this world, literally in Kara’s case. She swore to always be there for all of them as much as she could. To protect the secret, always.

So, after knowing Kara for around three years, she also was aware that little Danvers was the gayest mess whenever around pretty girls.

That knowledge let her see beyond Kara’s reason to look for her that day.

That reason was a crush.

That crush was a girl, hence seeking her.

So she asked again, after Kara drank some water.

“Will you tell me now? Who’s the girl?”

“Giiiiiiiirl? Whaaaaat? No, pfffft, I mean… Am I that obvious?” Kara hides her face in her arms.

“Only to me little Danvers, and maybe your sister, so don’t worry. Just had to put all the clues, that you didn’t know you were giving me, together,” explains Maggie patting Kara’s blonde locks. “Besides, I’m a detective so I-”

“Detect,” completes Kara lifting her head and making a face. “you’ll never tire of that joke, will you?”

“It will be written on my wedding vows”

“And then put down as reason for divorce,” jokes Kara. They both laugh.

“Ok, stop stalling. I know you came to me, the alpha lesbian, for advice on girl problems.”

Kara was going to make a pun, but Maggie’s stare stopped her. Kara gulps.

“Fine, you win. You are right. I came to you, oh wise one, for advice. I just didn’t know how to ask.”

“Is it some kind of conflict of interest like me and your sister?”

“No, nothing like that. Just gay panic. I don’t even know the woman… yet”

“Blind date?” Kara shakes her head. “I’ll need more than that little Danvers,” Kara sighs and tells Maggie all about her morning and new crush.

“Let me see if I got this. Because of what Alex said now you want to get hot and heavy with Lena Luthor?”

“Oh my Rao NO!” Kara blushes hard and yells. People turn their way and the blonde lowers her volume. “No, its not like that.”

“Then why? Its her looks? Her brain? Her high moral ground?” Kara nods to every single point.

“It’s just all that and… the Krypton part,” Kara confesses. “She is giving so much back with that. Things Kal never thought of sharing and that I would never be able to share. Changing the public’s view of things, cleaning Kryptonian tec name from what her brother did. It just means a lot to the world… to me”

“So this goes deeper, personal, why?” Kara rolls her eyes and points at herself

“Alien? Last daughter of Krypton? Ring a bell?”

“I see. Luthor is not only all we have already agreed on, she is also your culture savior so to speak. She will bring back the technological advances and also the etic and values attached to them that you grew up with. It’s more meaningful for you than Supes cause you actually remember it. You feel grateful,” Kara nods. “Tell me Kara, have you ever being in love?”

“What’s that supposed to do with this?”

“Just answer the question,” Kara slightly blushes

“No, I haven’t. Not really. I have people I love but I’ve never being IN love.”

“Cool, then I can assure you that this is a textbook case of celebrity crush,” Maggie explains. “you like her, physically and intellectually. You have a connection through Krypton, but that’s it. You don’t know the woman and doesn’t even know you exist so, honey, you don’t love her. You admire her.”

“Ok, that makes sense, but then why am I such a gay mess?”

“Who isn’t when told they could meet their crush? Tell me I’ll meet Cate Blanchet and I would start freaking out”

“Then what do I do? It’s not like I can wear my best Sunday dress. I’ll be in uniform! And worse I’ll be shadowing Lane who will most likely corner her to ask about military potential of her new technological power for the “good of our proud nation” and she’ll see me with him and think I’m just another happy trigger moron and I’ll never even get to speak to her or get to know her an she’ll hate my guts!” Kara ends her rant dropping her head heavy on the table. Maggie was surprised the table didn’t break.

“First of all, wow! That’s what I call drama! Bravo!” Maggie claps, Kara whines. “Second, you do know that women in uniform are like THE hottest view that exists, right?”

“We are?”

“Yes, you are. Unfairly so for us who no longer need one. One time I wore my old uniform for your sister and-”

“Oh come on!”

“Relax, I’m kidding (she wasn’t) the thing is you already have some advantage. Eye candy advantage. What you need to do now if convince Lane to let YOU do the talking with Luthor. Shouldn’t be difficult as I’m sure that woman doesn’t want to be in his presence. He is already marked by past dealings with Luthor Corp and she won’t want to even breath the same air as that asshole.”

“Lois. She can help. That woman has more power over her father than the President. At least that’s what I’m hoping right now”

“There you go, the beginning of a plan.”

“Now let’s hope I don’t forget how to speak English if I get to meet her”

They laugh at the joke.

Ironically… she totally would.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

She got the text from Lois early the next morning “General tamed, you go”. She needed to remember sending Lois a bottle of wine. Now, she was in front of her full body mirror finishing getting ready. She looks at herself and smiles. Maggie was right, she looked hot. To be honest, this was the first time she felt good in the formal uniform. Also the first time she was glad she had medals to show on it and the very first time she felt somewhat proud of them. She decides on her Combat Medical Badge and her Silver Star. The other two stay safe in their boxes. She got them for things like “going above her duty” and “bravery and self sacrifice in the name of the country”. She shakes her head. She remembers exactly what those actions were and how many died those days.

“Bad memories, bad memories,” Kara takes a deep breath and tries to think a little more like her best friend in the unit. She kinda bragged about her Purple Heart and how Kara would never be able to get that one for “obvious reasons”.

Someone knocks on her door snapping her back to reality. It was quarter to eight so she was pretty sure it was Lane’s lackey. She needed to remember NOT to say that word out loud. Kara puts her much uncomfortable shoes on and goes to open the door.

“Colonel Danvers, Ma’am,” the soldier salutes. “The General is waiting downstairs. We are ready to leave.”

“At ease, Nicolas,” says Kara recognizing the man. She got an assignment with him a couple years back. “You can drop the formal act, its not like Lane is watching. And good to see you too, by the way,” Kara puts her cap on and grabs her bag with her laptop.

“I’m sorry, force of habit. Good to see you too, Kara,” he blushes. “Looking fly as always. Hey! Want to grab something after we are done today? We could catch up or-”

“Save it, Nick. Not interested,” she cuts him, with finality in her tone. Kara joins him in the hallway, closes her door and starts walking to the elevators. Nicolas following close behind.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he says sending a wink and a smirk her way. Kara was pretty sure he thinks that gesture is alluring. Rao help her, cause its NOT. He looks more like a creeper. They stop and Kara calls for the elevator, jut ignoring the guy. If he had stopped at that Kara would have let it slide. But no, he had to keep talking. “I mean, have you seen you? Someone as beautiful surely-”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Kara shuts him up. “I already told you NOT interested, so grow a pair and take it like the man you are supposed to be.”

The elevator arrives and Kara gets in. Nick tries to follow and Kara pushes him out using some extra strength. He falls on his ass in the middle of the hallway.

“Sorry, this elevator is only for people who know how to take a no for an answer.”

“But it’s the 16th floor”

“Then start walking”

Kara lets the doors close on his face.

She knew Nicolas wouldn’t move his ass to use the stairs, he would wait for the elevator to return, so Kara did the only logical thing: she pressed ALL the buttons so the car would stop in every single floor on its way back.

Immature? Maybe. Childish? Oh most definitely!

Whatever, she didn’t care. In fact, Kara was very pleased with herself and had this little evil smirk all the way to the waiting car. Mood suddenly better.

That is, until she stepped into it.

“Captain Liam, General Lane,” she greeted the two men after closing the door. Seems Nick was just the errand boy as Liam was driving.

“Where is Seargent Haval?” says Lane as greeting, his eyes cold and piercing. Kara might be invulnerable but she still felt the chill going down her spine when those eyes looked into her own.

“Well… you see…he is…”

The passenger side door being yanked open interrupted her.

“You fucking bitch! How dare you-!”

“Seargent!” Nicolas pales. In his rage he forgot Lane’s presence. “What kind of behavior is that! Disrespecting a superior! Insubordination!” he turns to Kara. “Although I wonder what exactly said superior did to gain that treatment”

They both started talking at the same time. Lane promptly shut them up not wanting to hear “sad stories with no relevance to him”. Instead, he started his self absorbed sermon about proper military behavior, respect, and power abuse. Full hypocrisy.

To say the ride to the Convention was awkward would be sugar coating it.

It was so bad, Kara considered blowing up her cover just to get out of that damn car. She even got to think that the Phantom Zone was a better place to be at the moment.
The Seargent sent death glares and Liam annoyed glares like everything was her fault the whole drive. Nicolas also cursed her under his breath every few minutes, curses she could clearly hear.

She was a good person, why was Rao above punishing her?

They really couldn’t arrive at the venue fast enough.

---

The National City Convention Center was all she expected and more. There were so many expo tables with groundbreaking research she had read about and was dying to see firsthand. Advances in anesthesia. Studies in wound care. New methods in laparoscopic surgery. Research in narcotic usage, bone damage, extractions, skin graphs…

“Danvers! Don’t fall behind!”

… and here she was, stuck with the devil and his minions. She hated whoever had replaced J’onn with that little man.

---

Kara knew the very moment J’onn was taken out that there was something fishy about the whole deal. She was not mistaken. As USA Military representatives they were supposed to look for projects that deserved the funding of the USA government. She was there as the medical expert and consultant to the General in charge. Lane, he didn’t give a fuck about anything worth mentioning ignoring the Colonel every chance he got.

Kara noticed a pattern. Lane was walking in a bee line directly to specific people that greeted him like he was king Midas. These people had weak almost useless presentation of outdated research. One Google search later – not like anyone was paying her any attention – she discovered that each one of these people worked for companies with weapon development divisions. Obviously.

So her first day went like that. Ignored, hungry, shaking sweaty hands of disgusting men who only cared for their bank accounts to later be ignored because “this is no place for a woman, right General?”, and bored out of her mind.

Wednesday and Thursday.

The second and third day were a tiny bit different but not necessarily better.

With the easy prey out of the way it was time to catch the bigger fish.

Now she was presented as Dr. Danvers, Senior Surgeon in the USA Army – one of the youngest ever to serve in our proud military - and a pleasure to work with. “Did you know that she saved the life of her Commanding officer under heavy fire?”, “Yes, that’s a Silver Star. I pinned it to her personally. Such an honor.”

Kara felt sick. Or as sick that she could feel on this planet.

She was bait and hook.

She wanted to scream. Rao how she missed morning drills and target practice! And she hated guns so that was something!

Long days. She couldn’t think anymore.

“Tomorrow is the day, Danvers. The only reason I took J’onnz out of the way and bared with you these last three days-”

Lane was talking, he was saying words, but Kara’s mind was far far away. Her hearing focused in something other than the General’s voice.

She bumps into something. That some was a person. That person was wearing a uniform.

Oh fuck… she had bumped into Lane.

“You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you Danvers?” she can hear Nicolas laughing behind her, discretely of course.

“Apologies, Sir. It was a long day and-”

“Save the excuses for someone who cares,” rude as always, no surprise there. “just don’t ruin things with Luthor tomorrow. You’ll be alone. No more following me like a lost pup,” he gets closer to her. Kara resists the urge to take a step back. “I’m not doing this just because your useless cousin convinced my daughter to talk me into letting you take the lead on this. I’m not an idiot. I know that Luthor kid won’t get close to me. Hatred goes a long way, but maybe someone like… you, can convince her,” with that Lane takes a step back and makes signs to the other two to follow. “Don’t ruin it”

She is left alone after that.

Finally free from the General and his shadows.

She stretches. Better go home and prepare for meeting Miss Luthor the next day.

She freezes.

Holy smokes! She was meeting Lena Luthor tomorrow!

“Oh Rao! I’m meeting her tomorrow!”

Kara ran home that day, so elated she felt like flying.

She probably did.

---

Friday.

She got an encouraging message from Alex, Clark, and Lois. She smiles.

Then she receives another message, this time from Maggie: ‘enjoy your date’. She rolls her eyes.
It wasn’t a date.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t go the extra mile, right?” she says in front of the mirror, uniform glammed up, all within military standards of course.

She was about to leave when a last message arrives. From Lane.

She doesn’t even care about it, erasing without opening it.

Kara didn’t need the negativity today.

---

Kara arrives at the Convention Center a few minutes after it opened for the last day. Now free to do as she pleased, Kara wandered around making time until the L-Corp conference was scheduled to begin at 4pm. Enough time to see all she hadn’t been able to. By 3:30 she was already seated, classifying all new information and contacts she had gathered, waiting for the party to begin.

---

Lena Luthor doesn’t get nervous, except maybe right this moment. She was a nerve wreck hidden behind a poker face and Sam could see it as clear as the day from the other side of the room. Not like she could blame her best friend. Lena was closing the Convention with this conference that the board committee at L-Corp called “applied Science Fiction” to then laugh at her face. She so wanted to shut them up.

Stupid close minded white old men who think they know more than her, Lena, who has buried herself in research inside her lab for so long she almost forgot how the Sun felt like on her skin.

God she was so pale!

“Lena, you were born pale. Not even a trip to the Sun could give you a tan,” Sam’s amused voice snaps her out of her head.

“Do you read minds now?”

“Only when you say what you are thinking out loud,” Lena hides her face in her hands. “You’ll be fine Lee, you’ll blow their minds.”

“But what if I don’t? What if no one takes me seriously, Sam? What if Lillian was right and this is only useful on Kryptonians and to kill Superman?”

“First of all, I don’t want to hear you say the phrase “Lillian was right” EVER again,” Lena smiles a little at that. “Second, believe in your research. You are the greatest mind of this last decade, believe in that as well. And if everything else fails, then believe in me that believes in you”

“Kamina, Gurren Lagann”

“You are such a nerd”

“Says the one who said the quote,” Lena felt truly relaxed now. “What would I do without you, Sam?”

“A lot, Lee, but with less fun and far less alcohol,” replies the woman giving her a one arm hug.

“Miss Luthor? We are starting in five,” says a stage help. She nods, they leave.

“Ready boss?”

“Let’s show them how to apply Sci-Fi into real life.”

---

“I thank you all for coming. My name is Lena Luthor CEO of L-Corp, as you can read in the brochures you were given at the entrance – slight laughter, as if they didn’t know who she was – and I’m here to talk about the latest research my company has been working on”

As it was a conference about new theories for cancer treatment, Lena started with a crash curse on the disease.

“I’m sure we have some great MDs here with oncology specialties so, I encourage you to keep playing Candy Crush in your phones. But worry not, this introduction will only take 10 to 15 minutes,” when some people in the public did take their phones out with little amused smiles on their faces, the whole room laughed. Just as Lena wanted, the original tension in the room melted away.

Lena talked about the condition in general: detection, early detection, symptoms, stages, treatments (pros and cons), and survival rates according to age group, gender, and other factors.

“This is, of course, a graph that combines all types of cancer and the stages. For this to be more accurate to each type of cancer known to us it would look more like this,” Lena clicks a button and the image changes to a more complex flow chart classification. “But this would take us all afternoon and ain’t nobody got time for that.” She walks to the podium and puts a much more serious expression. “Now I ask for your full attention, easy part is over. The fun begins now. I’ll show you the real reason why L-Corp is here today.”

She proceeds to make a direct easy to follow presentation about Kryptonian technology. She makes emphasis in the fact that they had advances that humans didn’t even dream about. She goes full force in the discoveries this alien race had made in the medical field. How she had find notes about a disease similar to human cancer and how it was treated in a similar way humans treated the flu. She reveals a serum prototype capable to identify, attack, and kill the sick cells and tumors in hours or days the same way quimio or radiation worked for weeks, months, or even years.

“But the biggest difference wouldn’t just be the treatment period. No. The biggest difference would be the lack of side effects. No more soreness, redness, or nausea. No more losing your hair or needing to go through painful surgeries. What’s more, this new method could later be modified and perfected to act as a prevention. A simple vaccine given during childhood and then renewed a few years later. An agent that could identify these cells the moment they form and eliminate them.”

Lena makes a dramatic pause. The room was deadly silent hanging to her every word. Lena had the audience captivated, specially a blonde blue eyed woman in uniform sitting in the middle roads.

“Ladies and gentleman, we most likely have in our hands the key to end this disease. The potential to this alien tec though, does not end here. We in L-Corp believe, I believe, that we not only have the cure for el cancer, we might have the cure for el everything,” another pause. “Now, I’ll take your questions.”

While every person in the room went crazy speaking one over the other trying to be heard, Kara Danvers was speechless. This woman was all she had expected and more. Her heart was going miles per hour and she was sure it would come out of her chest at any moment like a cartoon. Kara noticed that she had nailed the theories. Not so much the language, though, she still needed to work on putting several notes in understandable English. How much Kara wanted to help her on that. To make things move smoother, quicker.

Apart from that, those were the same theories she had studied so many years ago on her planet and remembered while on med school on Earth. She felt frustrated during those classes cause she knew way better treatments but also knew that the technology to implement them was none existent so she remained quiet. Now though, NOW this amazing woman was developing the technology. HER technology. Sure, she still needed to work on the math and specifics but she was doing fine. Kara sighs and discretely dries the tears that had escaped her eyes.

An to top it all, Lena Luthor was not only a beautiful genius, she was also a nerd. Cause yes, Kara had recognized the Deadpool reference at the end of the speech, thing that she noticed no one else had catch on. She liked her even more now. So much more. She was something out of this world.

Unbeknown to Kara, Lena had noticed her among the crowd. The only person present not trying to get her attention. It intrigues her, specially when she notices the uniform but sees no one else wearing a similar outfit on site. For a moment she feared to see General Lane’s face. She calms down.

The room does not.

Lena nods to Sam. Her friend goes to the podium and silence the room in a quick effective way.

“ORDER HERE!” the room does fall silent immediately. “Let’s act a little more civilized, ok? Miss Luthor will answer your questions in 10 minutes, time you will have to write down your inquiry and put them on the podium. We have a limited time today so we will choose six papers at random. If you have a deep interest about this research please contact L-Corp and ask for an appointment. Your 10 minutes start now.”

Sam joins Lena in the back room. She was perfectly sure her friend could have easily controlled the room but it was beneath a CEO to do so. Sam got to have more fun.

“That was something, don’t you think? Although I’m not sure if they were supporting the research or shouting against it. Difficult to know with so much noise. You wouldn’t think the room was full with professionals with PHD’s and MD’s. Looked more like a High School rally. What do you think, Lee?” silence. “Lena?”

Sam looks around and spots her best friend and boss glued to her tablet. She peeks over her shoulder and grins at what Lena was looking at.

“Cute blonde, who is she?” Lena jumps, startled, almost dropping the device

“Sam, what the fuck!? You want me to burst an artery or something?”

“Now why would I want that?” her grin goes bigger and Lena glares at her. “Hey, its not my fault you were bewitched by those bright blue eyes on your screen and didn’t hear me come in,” Sam sits down. “So, who is she?”

Lena fixes her hair and dress and passes the tablet to Sam.

“Kara Danvers,” she answers. “She is here as a USA Army representative with Lane”

“This one works for that slezeball? Suddenly she is not attractive anymore,” Sam drops the tablet on the coffee table. Lena picks it up again.

“I thought the same at first, but then I did a tiny little research-”

“Meaning you hacked someone”

“-and found out that Lane and his entourage was a last minute change. Miss Danvers was supposed to come with some other General.”

“Interesting. What else?”

“That apparently Miss – I’m sorry, Doctor or Colonel Danvers – is not affiliated with Lane whatsoever. And her achievements talk a lot about her moral compass. Its actually quite impressive,” Sam takes the tablet again.

“Wow! I see what you mean. And she is quite young. 26. Only one year older than you,” Sam smiles at her friend.

“I don’t know why that’s relevant?”

“Sure you don’t”

“Miss Luthor, Miss Arias. To the stage in one minute, please”

“Coming,” says Sam getting to her feet and noticing her friend was unmoving. “What are you thinking?”

“I want to talk to her”

“You sure? I mean, I get it. She is cute and obviously not with Lane as far as we know. But she is still military. If the press finds out you are talking with the Army after all Lex did then-” Sam stops when Lena sends one of her CEO glares her way. “Sorry”

Lena relaxes her face.

“I know all that Sam, believe me, but I have a good feeling about her. Call it intuition”

“If you are sure”

“I am. When we finish out there, please escort her back here”

Sam nods and they go back to face the crowd.

---

Kara starts putting all her notes away, happy with the outcome of the conference. It had a mostly positive reception. A few skepticals. Not everyone was so open for alien technology.

But she mostly didn’t care about the close minded unfortunate souls. She was more interested in remembering Lena’s every word. How she tried to explain the Kryptonian concepts and basically butchered the alien language with her pronunciation during the Q&A. It was adorable and it made her heart skip a beat or two. Or several. But who’s counting?

Anyways, to the next issue at hand. How to get an audience with the CEO before she left for the evening?

“Colonel Danvers?” says a voice to her right. She turns to end up face to face with the woman who had been with Lena on the stage.

“Im Kara Danvers, yes,” she offers her hand and the woman takes it. Firm hand shake. This woman was trying to be intimidating. “You are with L-Corp, right?”

“Samantha Arias,” she introduces herself. “Let’s get to the point. Miss Luthor sent me to get you.”

“She sent you to get me? I don’t-”

“Understand? You will, but before we go I warn you, if this is a trap from Lane you’ll regret it. Whoever works with that guy is not trustworthy in my book. For now, you are fine and it better stay that way.”

Kara sighs.

“Cant blame you. He is the reason we can’t have nice things anymore,” Kara sees the woman repressing a smile.

“Whatever, Colonel. If you’ll follow me?” and not waiting to see if Kara was indeed following, Sam walks away.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Kara is escorted to a spacious room inside the Convention Center. Originally, Miss Arias had taken her backstage, but a huge gorilla type guard gave her a note with instructions to go somewhere else.

Now, inside the room, Kara can see a big mahogany table, a tea set and a plate with cookies… and just one other person, a woman, looking out the big window.
Lena Luthor.

Kara felt her mouth go dry. In person and up close Lena is even more stunning. Her hair was loose now, giving her a more relaxed aura around her. Different from the strict air she gave during her conference. Kara can’t take her eyes off her. Not like she is trying anyways.

The woman in question hears them enter and turns around. If the Colonel thought she was a goner before now she was sure. She knew it the second Lena’s green eyes looked directly into her own. She never knew a green like that existed in this universe.

On her part, Lena had to admit that Kara Danvers also looked different in person. Dirty blonde hair that looks silky to the touch, even when styled in a military style bun. Bright blue eyes – the brightest she’s ever seen – even behind those glasses, and SWEET LORD IN HEAVEN! No one should look that good in uniform.

“Your picture doesn’t do you justice, Doctor Danvers,” says Lena with a sly smile walking towards the new arrivals and swaying her hips. Sam rolls her eyes. Seems like her friend was into blondes now.

“Doctor Danvers,” Sam chirps in. “This is my friend and boss, Lena Luthor, L-Corp CEO”

“I’m sure she already knows that Sam. She was at the conference after all,” Lena turns to Kara again. “So, Doctor, or you prefer Colonel? Did you like the presentation?”

Kara was still under the green eyes spell. She knew they were talking to her but her response time was way off. Her brain was stuck in “wow”.

“I think you broke her,” Sam laughs, finally dropping her tough façade, and shakes Kara’s shoulder. “Danvers, you ok?”

Kara snaps out of it and answers, only to get a confused face and a surprised expression in return.

“Sorry what?” says Sam

“I said I’m fine?”

“Ok, but in what language? It sounded familiar, but I’m not sure.”

Sam’s answer makes Kara go pale. Oh shit. Rao please tell me I didn’t do what I think I did. Lena’s expression goes from surprised to suspicious.

“Sam, I just remembered I need to check on the status of a couple side projects. Would you mind?” Lena smiles at her. Sam reads into her expression, face going serious, and nods. She knew what Lena wanted. They had used the code before. Lena wanted her to be on stand by with their security team. Sam didn’t know what had changed in, basically, the last few seconds. But she knew Lena and trusted her judgement.

As soon as the door closes behind Sam, Lena turns to look at Kara. Now, the doctor could be naïve and a bit of an airhead sometimes in the presence of pretty girls, but years at the front lines taught her many things; identifying fake smiles was one of them. Adding the fact that the warm green eyes that had bewitched her were now distant and cold confirmed Kara that something had changed and she was pretty sure about what did. She mentally kicked herself.

Lena walks to the table and pours herself a cup of tea. She points to the empty cup looking at Kara, silently asking if she wanted some. Kara shakes her head. The CEO moves to the window and Kara follows, hands clasped behind her back.

“So, Dr. Danvers-” Kara raises a hand, interrupting her.

“Just Kara, please,” she says. “Too many Dr. Danvers in my family. It can get confusing,” she chuckles. Lena doesn’t.

“Colonel Danvers then,” she replies. The coldness of her tone freezes Kara on the spot. “Tell me, Colonel, how long have you worked for General Lane?” Lena asks casually, sipping her tea, with an elegance that could fool anyone.

“I don’t work FOR Lane, Miss Luthor,” answers Kara with more bite than intended, but the idea of being tangled with that man’s business puts her on edge. Lena raises and eyebrow. She noticed the absence of the General’s title.

“You don’t? Then how do you explain both your presence here?”

“He moved his strings like the puppet master he is to replace General J’onnz who was originally appointed to come as my superior. That happens when the High Command is full of cowards with no backbone that prefer to throw people into the sharks instead of fighting for what’s right.”

Lena walks around the woman, defenses still up, putting together the puzzle in front of her. Kara clears her throat catching her attention.

“I feel I shouldn’t be saying this, Miss Luthor, but you don’t trust me, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” Kara feels a pang inside her chest. “At least not yet. Nothing personal… or not entirely. Given past history between my brother and the military, your current immediate superior specially, you can’t blame me for being cautious, right?” Lena puts the tea down and leans on the table, arms crossed, facing Kara.

“I can’t blame you, no,” replies Kara, leaning on the window not losing eye contact with the other woman. “But now I’m wondering, why did you call this meeting?”

“I don’t know, why do you speak Kryptonian?”

There it was. Kara pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs heavily. Her assumption was right. She fucked up. What to do? What to fucking do? Obvious answer. Truthful answer. Alex was going to kill her.

“I can explain.”

“What will it be? Some clever story you guys came up with during the Kryptonian crash curse to impress me? They sent you, a pretty face, thinking I would drop my defenses? Is that it? Look, Colonel, you can tell the General to forget about it. I won’t give up not even the slightest piece of information. This research is too important to let it be stained by people with only war and violence inside their brains.”

Great, now Lena was throwing her in the same sac as Lane. She needed to change her mind or… wait, did she called her pretty? No Kara! Bad gay! It’s not the time for that!

Getting back on track, Kara focuses in one thing Lena just said: that she considered this to be too important. Lena cared. She truly cared. That gave Kara the final push she needed to do what got to be done. Rao help her. She got only one shot.

“It was never my intention to trick you, Miss Luthor,” Kara begins. Lena’s eyes go wide like dinner plates.

“I honestly shouldn’t be doing this. I promised to keep it a secret. Only my family was supposed to know, but I guess the cat is already out of the bag.”

Lena was speechless, to put it lightly. Kara was speaking to her in fluid Kryptonian. Something not possible with a simple crash course. Heck, she had been studying the language for months with that AI Superman provided for her and she still couldn’t speak it as Kara was doing now.

“How-?” she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Can’t say,” Kara points to the door. “I don’t think your friends outside will be able to keep the secret I’m trusting you at the moment.”

Kara knew? About Sam? But- but-

“How?” she asks again. Her brain was busy keeping up with Kara’s words in an ALIEN language to think clearly.

“One thing I can say, Miss Luthor,” says Kara reverting to English. “is that Lane doesn’t know. He did say something about someone like me having more chances to get close to you, whatever that means, but I never intended to do as he asked. He also thinks he has certain power over me because of my relationship with both his daughters and is sure I’ll do as he pleases. He is dead wrong.”

That makes Lena recover her bearings.

“Wait, go back. Relationship?” Kara nods.

“Lucy Lane is one of my best friends. Lois Lane is engaged to my cousin. Who Lane hates with a passion”

“Your cousin? Lois Lane is engaged to- You mean to tell me you are related to Clark Kent?”

“Yes. He is my older cousin, although he acts like he is 12 sometimes.”

“That would mean… you know Superman?” she nods. “I'm guessing he taught you?”

“Actually he didn’t. My parents did”

“Your parents?”

“Dr. Eliza Danvers and Dr. Jeremiah Danvers, known experts in alien biology with a specialty in Kryptonian biology and culture. They have worked with Superman in the past as consultants of sorts. They taught me. Superman corrected a few things from time to time,” ok, more like she taught and corrected them through the years, but Lena didn’t need to know that. “I’ve been studying the language for 13 years now. Feel free to ask Superman. I won’t hold it against you.”

Lena sits down. She felt like and idiot.

“No, no need. I- I believe you. Gosh, I owe you an apology Doc.. Kara. I owe you an apology, Kara. I can still call you Kara, right? I was quick to judge and-”

“Nothing to apologize for, Miss Luthor, and yes you can call me by my given name. Although… no, never mind”

“What? Please tell me,” Kara grins.

“You see, being compared to Lane well, that hurts”

Lena blushes prettily, avoiding Kara’s playful gaze.

“Worse than calling you a bitch, I guess.”

“Can’t say you are wrong with that,” Lena laughs, relaxing. Warmth was once again present in her eyes. Her smile making them brighter than before.

Kara was on Cloud 9. She took a risk and it pay off. She was once again on Lena Luthor’s good grace.

“So, Kara (Rao, her name sounded so good coming from her) you didn’t answer my original question. Did you enjoy the presentation?”

“Absolutely,” she answers, happy that the hard part was over and that they could now fall into a pleasant conversation. “I specially enjoyed that quote at the end. Wade Wilson does have a way with words. Tell me, is it too much if I ask you what’s my name?”

“I would fucking spell it out for you,” they both laugh with that. “I honestly didn’t expect anyone to catch that”

“What can I say, I’m a nerd”

“Want to know a secret,” she makes Kara to step closer. Lena whispers. “So am I”

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me”

“So is yours,” says Lena, seriously. “You know, I think we will become good friends, my dear doctor.”

“That I would like, Miss Luthor”

“Lena. If I call you Kara you can call me Lena,” she offers her hand and Kara takes it.

“It will be my pleasure”

“If you play your cards right”

Kara’s eyes go as wide as can be and a furious blush appears on her face and neck.

“Wh-What?” she stutters. Lena looks at her puzzled.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-You – you just – you just said…” Kara couldn’t get herself to repeat it.

Lena looked even more confused

“That you can call me Lena?”

“No… after…” and that’s when it clicks for her: Lena had whispered to herself. She wasn’t supposed to hear THAT.

Stupid super hearing!

“Kara, really, are you ok? You turned really red all of a sudden. Are you ill?”

Lena closes in on her trying to feel her temperature. Kara reacts moving away from her pretending not to notice Lena’s intentions. She covers her escape going to the table and pouring herself some tea. If Maggie could see her right now she would call her “useless bisexual”. Of that she was totally sure.

“So,” her voice is hoarse. She clears it and tries again. “So, Lena, I saw a few untranslated symbols in the presentation today”

“Yes. Still a work in progress. The AI Superman gave me is not the greatest teacher and even a worse helper.”

Distraction accomplished.

“I know that AI. It’s an information program not a teaching one. An ‘alien wikipedia’ so to say”

“That’s an accurate description, actually. Wonder how I didn’t think of that comparison before.”

“You need a proper teacher,” Kara makes a pause and side smiles to herself. “And I think I have the perfect person for the job.”

“Are you serious?” the doctor nods. “Oh my! I mean - that would be…” a knock on the door interrupts them. Sam opens, gloomy expression on her face.

“Sam? What’s wrong?” Lena walks to her best friend. Sam looks from Lena to Kara and then back to Lena.

“Did I miss something?”

“Yes, I’ll tell you later. You can drop the alert,” Sam nods, but her expression remains dark.

“That’s good. Unfortunately I have two… gentlemen waiting outside asking for the doctor,” two men in uniform enter the room.

“Gentlemen my ass,” thinks Kara when she sees Nick and Liam.

“Hey guys! What an unpleasant surprise! Weird to see you so far away from Lane’s power tit!” yeah, she would love to tell them that.

“Well, well, well. Lane’s two favorite puppets. This should be interesting,” Kara turns to Lena, satisfied grin in place.

“Where is the puppet master? Old man scared of little me?” Her grin gets bigger. Nothing better than a woman who doesn’t pull her punches. The two men look at her with disdain.

“That, Luthor, is none of your business,” says Nick.

“And we are not here for you, we are here for her,” adds Liam, pointing to Kara. She crosses her arms and arches an eyebrow, pose relaxed.

“For me? Why would you two need me?”

“That’s…”

“Classified? Give me a break. Last time I checked Colonel beat Captain and Seargent so, as your superior, I demand you to tell me what do you want with me. Or you will go against my authority?”

Both men grin wickedly.

“Our orders come directly from the GENERAL, my dear Colonel, and until you return to your base in the middle of nowhere you are under his orders as well.”

Shit, she couldn’t counter that.

“Fine, you win this one. Give me a minute. Wait outside.”

“We were ordered to-”

“AND YOU WILL!” says Kara raising her voice and punching the table, startling everyone in the room. “Wait. Outside.”

They do. Sam follows to make sure they stay outside and closes the door leaving the two women alone again.

Lena now sees Kara under a new light. A hot light. Yep. That was hot.

“Sorry about that. I usually don’t lose my temper.”

“Oh, don’t mind me,” Lena gets closer to Kara, little sexy smile on her face. “That was hot, darling.”

Kara blushes yet again and avoids looking directly into Lena’s eyes. She needed to avoid them as to not do anything stupid.

“I, well, I guess gotta go. I’ll text you.”

“Text?”

“Or you prefer the 10 times slower postcard and letter exchange?” Lena rolls her eyes.

“I would prefer a call or facetime. Even the unreliable Skype. I’m not picky.”

“Unfortunately, texting is as far as I can go. I have texting privileges thanks to my rank but that’s it. Mainly to have quick contact with my superiors. All social media is blocked. I did facetime my sister one time. I was caught and they removed my privileges for a week. We do have a desktop with a wider internet access but it lags so much we only use it for special occasions like anniversaries or birthday calls. And even for that we need to submit a two weeks notice.”

“You could always request reassignment to a less secure location,” Lena suggests

“You sound like my sister,” Kara chuckles.

“Then texting it is,” they exchange numbers. “so, after you are done here we could meet again. Want to join me for dinner?” Kara’s face falls.

“Sadly, I will have to run home to pack. I’m leaving tonight,” Kara doesn’t miss Lena’s disappointed expression.

“Sad indeed. Anyhow, I hope this is not the last time we see each other?”

“I hope the same”

Lena offers a hand shake and Kara doesn’t hesitate to accept it. What she didn’t see coming was Lena pulling her forward and kissing her on the cheek.

“Take care of yourself, Kara. Promise?”

---

After Kara leaves, with the goofiest smile ever, Sam joins Lena once more.

“So, how did It go?” asks the woman like she didn’t just see the red lipstick mark imprinted on the doctor.

“She ended being more than I expected, Sam. All that happened earlier was just a misunderstanding. My intuition was right. We can trust her.”

“After seeing her defiance against Lane I would trust her my own life. And she has a temper. Never thought I would see army men flinch like that. They couldn't get to the door fast enough. One of them even yelped,” Sam laughs. Lena joins her.

“Yes, that was-”

And that’s when Lena notices the crack on the wood. This was a thick, sturdy, top of the line, mahogany table… and Kara had cracked it all the way to the floor with one single punch.

Now Lena wondered, what other secrets does Kara Danvers keep?

Who exactly was Kara Danvers?

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Kara was back. The military plane transporting her was about to land so she makes last minute checkups. Combat boots well tied and sparkling. Camouflage pants well tucked inside boots, with no stains, and minimal wrinkles. Green issued short sleeved shirt tucked into pants and also without stain. Stained green shirt she had to change after spilling chocolate on it hidden at the bottom of her duffel bag. Hair tied into a high ponytail. Green cap on. Alex’s parting gift secure on her wrist and, last but not least, her mom’s necklace secure on her neck. Her last memento from Krypton, from her family, it had never left its place over her heart for the last 13 years.

The plane lands and the ramp lowers. She unbuckles, takes her bag, and follows all the other soldiers out. All new faces in this forsaken part of the world. Some are transfers who already know battle. Others look fresh out of High school, too young to be here. Didn’t matter, these were lives she would try to protect and save at all cost.

“Hey doc! How far is the base from here?” asks one of the new guys. He gets slapped on the back of his head by Sergeant Allison Walters, Kara’s best friend in the Army. She had been gone for a month due to obligatory leave. ‘Vacations, Walters. Do you know the term?’ were General J’onnz words before sending her home. Now she was back and enjoying every bit of the fact. Kara had missed her so.

“Show some respect, soldier, that’s Colonel Danvers for you.”

Kara shakes her head managing to keep a straight face, but on the inside she was chuckling. Allison would never change. Good to know she was still someone Kara would trust any life to.

She was herself appointed bodyguard and one of the few that knew her secret. She was there when the sniper bullet bounced off her head. She was also the one who took down said sniper with a precise shot accompanied with a shout of rage and grief thinking Kara was dead.

Allison was also the kind of superior that prefer the ‘tough love’ approach with the new people – and some of the veterans. ‘They need to learn fast. This is fast,’ was her reasoning and most just went with the flow. Unfortunately, this newbie proved to be a hot headed one. He pushed Allison away not caring she was a higher ranked officer.

“Don’t you touch me again, whore! If you even breath close to me I’ll-”

“You’ll what, bitch, kill me? Wanna see you try you piece of-”

“ENOUGH!” yells Kara entering Colonel mode. “First AND last warning for both of you – YES ALLISON, FOR YOU TOO – no more of this bullshit or you’ll have cleaning duties until Trump develops a brain. Understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” answers Allison, snapping out of it. The other soldier doesn’t do the same.

“Yeah, whatever,” he says and starts walking away.

Kara catches up quickly, boots making a stomping menacing sound on the ground, and stops his advance with an iron grip. He tries to get free, emphasis in try, but Kara is an unmoving force. Allison smirks evilly.

“I said, understood?” Kara doesn’t raise her voice. In fact, it was almost a whisper; but her eyes, normally bright blue and full of warmth, were now ice cold and promising murder. She can see the man go deadly pale and also feel the shiver going down his spine.

“Ye-” he gulps and tries again, not daring to take his eyes from her. “YES, COLONEL!”

Kara lets him go, still with what Alex calls her “if you were ever exposed to red kryptonite” look. They once saw Kal fall to its influence. Nasty stuff.

Anyways, quoting Maggie, “time to put all these new punks in line”. Normally she would wait to give her briefing in representation of the medical unit until the next morning; after they had all rested from the trip and settled in their barracks. But she had all their undivided attention now – even from some airport employees in the platform – so now is as good as later.

“Listen well, all of you,” she begins. Kara can see all of them fall in line in record time. Cute. “You already know who I am, and on my part I already know the name of some of you. We got to talk and laugh and have a good time on the flight over. You all got to know my good side. My best side. Friendly doctor Danvers. Well, friendly doctor can and will kick you sorry asses if you, like him, decide to act like assholes. Ask the Sergeant, I don’t like violence. I’m here to heal, not to hurt. Don’t make me regret that decision and become the firsts to be send to the Medical Bay on my hand. I’m a doctor, but I’m also your Colonel. I demand respect,” she pauses and looks around. Not even one soul daring to turn to look at her, talk to her, or breath too loud. She smiles and drops her tough act.

“So welcome! Welcome to our troop, our little family,” she adds now as her true self. “Welcome to our little personal space of Hell,” Kara hears a couple gulps. They must think her mad. “Follow Sergeant Walters, we are lucky today. There’s a supply chopper going to base that can transport us. We will arrive in about 45 minutes, against the three car caravan with which we would arrive in four hours.”

She turns her back on them, picks up her duffel throwing it over her shoulder, and starts walking. She can now hear Allison shouting orders and the new troops moving.

Allison catches up.

“Welcome to Kara’s Roughnecks,” she whispers to her, grinning, before guiding the group forward and passing her on a light strut.

She smiles.

“Starship Troopers,” she says to herself. Rao she loved that stupid movie.

---

“Heard you had problems back in National City, doll.”

“Shut up De Soto or I will shut you.”

“It’s fine Al, don’t mind him,” says Kara, going around her office, putting all her new supplies in order. De Soto laughs.

“Kara’s bitch, as always,” he says, slouching on Kara’s chair and putting his muddy boots on the table.

“Al? I’ll be blind and deaf for the next 15 seconds”

Allison is fast. She socks him right on the nose. One swift punch. POW. The chair tips all the way back and he falls to the floor.

“Son of a bitch! You broke my nose!”

“…13, 14, 15!” Kara turns. “Marcus De Soto, why am I not surprised to see you covered in blood?” She kneels and checks his nose, a little X-Ray vision coming in handy.

“Doesn’t look broken, I would just need to-” Kara applies pressure with her fingers and fixes his nose. He screams. “There you go. Ice. Go get ice.”

Marcus goes away cursing up a storm as loud as he can.

“Hell of a first day back, eh K?” Allison picks up the chair and sits.

“Indeed.”

Kara finishes tiding up her office. One week away and the place was a mess. She picks up some muddy reports from her table that she’ll need to redo. Stupid De Soto and his dirty boots.

“So, is it true?”

“What is?”

“That you got in trouble back home, with Lane,” news travel fast.

“Yes, you could say that,” Kara doesn’t elaborate and Allison doesn’t ask.

Kara goes back in time to the day before. Entering Lane’s office after a long silent drive with Nick and Liam. It wasn’t a pleasant meeting. Maybe it would have gone better if she hadn’t appeared with a kiss mark. Lena’s kiss mark to be exact that her escorting officers failed to inform she had. Also the happy-go-lucky smile. Yeah. That had done it.

“I’m guessing all went well with Luthor?”

“It did,” she answered still dazed. “But for me, she hates you”

She shouldn’t have said that.

“Clean your face and wipe that stupid smile from your face,” he spats, bursting her bubble. “You are a disgrace.”

What followed was over one hour of Lane trying to make her feel like a bug and of Kara imagining she could easily squash him like one.

Nick and Liam enjoyed the show. She made sure to heat vision their tires on her way out.

She went to her apartment to shower, change, and finish packing. She was surprised when she opened the door to find Alex and Maggie waiting for her with pizza, popstikers, and beer. She may have teared up.

“You guys are the best”

While she showered and changed, they helped her finish packing. 40 minutes later Maggie was teasing her about Lena.

“Should have worn this pretty little outfit instead. Short sleeves, showing those guns. Seriously kid, wish I had your alien genes.”

“I don’t know if the outfit would have made a difference Mags, I kind of froze in front of her,” she half confesses. No way in hell she would tell them about her kryptonian slip.

“Useless gay,” chuckles Maggie. Kara turns to Alex.

“You gonna let her talk to me like that?”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. We all know its true.”

“Ok, fair point”

A couple hours later it was time for her to head to the airport. She was going to request a Lift until Alex took away her phone, handed her the duffel, and pushed her to the door.

“Don’t be an idiot, we’ll drive you”

They insisted on walking her up to her gate. Maggie took their picture, then a selfie with the three of them. That went to Kara’s Instagram who Alex made sure to keep updated with the pictures Kara was allowed to send.

“I’m also sending these to mom and dad,” she declares.

After their final goodbyes Kara leaves, not noticing Alex taking one final picture for her own Instagram. She tags her and adds “My brave little sister”. Kara checks her notifications later, waiting for her plane to arrive in the military zone. She cries, and then cries a bit more when she finds Alex’s gift inside her bag. The watch was one she had seen on her last visit but couldn’t get. Alex had remembered. It had an inscription. To Kara, love Al. Kara laughs. It was obvious that the person doing the inscription had messed up. The words weren’t centered, causing her sister’s name to be shorter than intended. Didn’t really mattered now.

“And people say I’m the only sappy one in the family”

“DANVERS!” The yell snaps her back to the present. “Heeeeeey! It’s really you! Thought you would bail on us, request some transfer to stay all comfy in the city. National is sure better than here.”

The new arrival walks in and gives her a one arm hug. Kara hugs her friend back.

“As if I could just leave you guys to your own devices. I mean, exhibit A: one week ago you had two functional arms,” he looks at her left arm on a cast.

“This time I didn’t have your head to stop the bullet,” he jokes

“Not funny, Forrest, not funny,” warns Allison

“Come on, you were there. We were all like “bullet” and “Kara no!” and she was like “what the fuuuuuck?” and then we “whaaaaaat? No blood?” and yeah ok its not funny” Forrest sits down. “We did miss you around here, you know? Except De Soto and his bullies. They were rooting for Lane to force your transfer.”

“First dead than working for him. He actually tried to put strings on me. Not a chance. So, anything interesting happened while I was out?”

“Not much, my arm here was the most exciting thing the whole week”

“Then why do I have so many pending papers? It’s ridiculous. I left Jonah in charge exactly for this reason! I’m gonna kill him.”

“You can make a formal complain at the General’s office, you know that”

“Maybe when J’onn gets back.”

“What you talking about? He got back yesterday”

---

“J’OOOOOOOOOONN!”

That’s the only warning he got, but he is used to it. He stands up from his chair in time to catch the flying Kara coming his way. Literal flying Kara. At least she had the sense to take the leap when she was already inside his office.

“I missed you! You have no idea!”

“Missed you too and all the trouble makers here, as well,” Kara lets go. J’onn puts her back on the floor. “Heard you were thrown to a viper pit for a few days after I was out of the National City trip. You doing ok?” Kara’s crinkle appears. “That bad?”

“Don’t even mention it. I’m sure you would have tried to change the Medical expert in charge and keep me here. Even after all this time I still can’t compute that Lois and Lucy are his daughters. They are so not like him.”

“But if you had stayed then you would have never meet Lena Luthor,” he says with a knowing grin. Kara feels the blush coming up her neck.

“Well… that… we are… friends?” J’onn raises an eyebrow. “J’onn please”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” he puts a hand on her shoulder. “But just so you know. Lane sent a passive aggressive e-mail to all high rank. He didn’t mention specifics but basically blamed you for not getting the L-Corp deal and praised himself for getting all the other funded projects to sign with the Military. He also mentioned your ‘lack of professionalism’ and ‘putting personal matters first’. Care to explain?”

“It’s only that Lena-”

“Lena? First name basis already?”

“Sometimes you are worst than Alex and Maggie. Yes. I call her Lena and she calls me Kara and it was a bumpy start. She thought I was one of Lane’s puppets. Got to convince her I wasn’t and things went better and better. J’onn you wouldn’t believe it but…” she starts ranting. J’onn just smiles at how happy she looks. Nodding when he is supposed to and making a lil comment here and there. “… And she is so incredibly amazing and smart and beautiful. Rao… she is so beautiful, J’onn.”

“I bet she is. Inside and out.”

“And she kissed me! Well, not kiss me kiss me cause it was on the cheek, but I never felt such soft lips and I couldn’t stop smiling and that’s what angered Lane. That, and the fact I told him to his face that Lena hates his guts.”

“I would have given anything to see his face when you did”

“It was nothing overly amusing.”

“Anyways, I can assume you never intended to lure Miss Luthor to the dark side.”

“Nope,” she answers making the p pop.

“And I guess you realized the real reason I was taken out when Lane asked in.”

“Yep,” same popping sound. “Had my suspicions since before the trip and confirmed them on day one,” J’onn nods and walks to the door. He makes sure no one is on hearing range before closing and locking it.

“Tell me Kara, what Luthor is planning, is it possible?”

“Before I answer that, I have a question of my own. Are you asking this as DEO or as a worried friend?”

“A bit of both. Got my orders, which I couldn’t carry out when Lane kicked me out and sent me somewhere else. But I’m also worried about you. How involved you would be willing to get in all of this,” Kara nods, satisfied with his answer. Sometimes the lines between their ranks were too blurry. Sometimes Kara acted more like the General she wasn’t.

“She has the theories mostly nailed down. After she finishes understanding them, Lena will know exactly the type of technology she needs to start developing to apply the science. At her pace, I give her less than a year until the first prototype is ready for trial.”

“Potential to go wrong?”

“High. But only in the wrong hands”

“Lane”

“Lane,” Kara parrots.

“Then we need to make sure he stays as far from her as possible. I’ll need to contact the base back in National City. Maybe even the one in the desert at some point,” Kara’s eyes go wide

“Wait, you are not thinking on involving her, right?”

“If its our only option left, then yes”

“Sweet Rao. It’s more serious than I thought then”

“It is a potential disaster, yes. But we are not at that point. Not yet. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”

---

When Kara returns to her room that night, she notices two text messages. They were hours apart from each other. She takes her phone out of her charger and checks.

“Of course, my phone was already on plane mode when this one was sent and the second arrived just a few minutes ago. Let’s see,” her eyes go wide when she sees the sender. Her smile does as well. Lena.

‘Hope you have a good journey. Take care. XO’

‘I think you must have arrived by now. Remember I’m just one message away ;) XOXO’

She is beyond ecstatic. Kara replies immediately.

‘Hey! Nice to hear from you! Good flight. Cant complain. Already on base.’

And then another.

‘Night time here. Long day today and another long one tomorrow. But feel free to write!’

Lena’s answer took a little time to get to her

‘And write I will. Have a good night!’

And Kara did. Oh Rao she did.

---

“I just can’t believe you,” Kara says, standing beside a soldier’s bed in her med bay. “From all the potential hazards that could injure you here you decide on gall bladder stones. Like some common civilian. I just can’t with you, Leslie. I can’t,” Kara laughs at her friend’s frown.

Over a month had passed since her return. Kara was back into her usual pace. She had put everything in order, given gifts, seen patients, had meetings with J’onn, and exchanged messages with Lena almost daily. Also with Alex and her parents and a couple with Maggie, but mostly Lena. The woman was trusting her with her daily advances with the language and her investigation. Kara was impressed, beyond impress really, with her progress. That on the professional level. On the personal level… well, there had also being advances there and Kara was beyond elated with that too.

They were already talking about seeing each other when Kara went back into town. About strolls in the park, going to dinner, dates. So much promises. Promises Kara intended to keep no matter what. She believed she was falling fast for the woman.

“Stop sick shaming me, Danvers, I’m in pain,” complains Leslie.

“What can I say? I like to have my fun,” Kara takes a few notes. “All in all, you need surgery. Lucky for you we have a nice OR down the hall to the left and the Head of the Medical Team, me, available tomorrow afternoon. No foods or liquids after midnight.”

“I’m not stepping into your butchery, Danvers!”

“And yet you will,” counters the doctor with a smile before walking away. She can clearly hear Leslie’s curses. Not because of her super hearing, she was saying them out loud with no shame.

“Wanda!” she calls the nurse taking care of the afternoon/night shift. “Here are the instructions for bed 4, Sergeant Rodriguez. Make sure she behaves, will you?”

“Sure, Kara. At least tonight won’t be boring with her here”

Kara says goodbye to everyone (Hate you, Kara! – Hate you too, Leslie!) and goes to her private office on the other side of the building. She still had some pending reports she needed to take care off.

One hour later, while she is wondering what will be for dinner, she gets a text from Lena.

‘Brace yourself’

Its all it says. Weird.

Five minutes later she hears it. A helicopter approaching. Weirder. The last supplies heli had arrived two days prior. It was way too early for another incoming vessel and they had received no notification for a new arrival. At least she hadn’t. Kara steps outside and hurries to the Heliport. It was already packed with people. No surprise there. She sees Forrest among the curious all the way to the front.

“Hey! Forrest! You know what this is about?” she stops beside him.

“No clue, doc. No clue. No one is supposed to arrive in at least another 3 weeks.”

The helicopter lands. After security checks the doors open and the passengers start pouring out.

Kara can’t believe her eyes when she recognizes one of the new arrivals.

“Miss Arias?” The woman sees her and approaches.

“Well hello, Colonel Danvers. Its good to see you again”

“Yeah, what a surprise,” they shake hands. “Sorry if I’m blunt but, what are you even doing here?”

“That’s a question better suited for me, I think,” a voice says behind Sam. The woman steps aside revealing the second new arrival.

“Hello, Kara. I knew we would see each other again”

Lena.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

+ National City – 1 week ago +
L-Corp labs…

Lena was close to a breakthrough, she could feel it. The samples under her microscope couldn’t be lying. Lena checks her notes again and adds a couple more bullets. She smiles. Her penmanship still needed improvement with the foreign characters but, according to her teacher, it was legible enough.

“You just need to keep practicing,” she told her. “So from now on I want you to write all your lab notes in language. I’ll know if you don’t.”

Lena just sighed and accepted the task given. She learned early on that you don’t argue with Eliza Danvers.

When Kara had mentioned, the day they met, that she had the perfect teacher for her in mind, Lena had hoped she had meant herself. And then, a couple days later, Eliza Danvers was calling her office. Kara had asked her mom for the favor and Eliza jumped at the opportunity.

“She also gave me your private number, but I guessed it would be better to not use it, yet. Wanted to go for a more professional approach first.”

“Of course she did. Not that it matters, I trust Kara.”

“And she you,” Eliza makes a small pause. “So, what do you say? Are you interested in the lessons?”

“Yes! Of course, Dr. Danvers. It will be an honor.”

“Eliza, please. Too many Dr. Danvers in this family,” she jokes. Lena smiles to herself. She was definitely Kara’s mom.

“Then, I’m Lena.”

“Of course, and I hope you are ready for some hard work. I can be very strict. Ask my daughters.”

“I think I can handle it. I’m the CEO of a multibillion dollar science company after all,” she says, acting a bit cocky. Maybe not the best idea at the moment.

“Oh yeah? Then let’s begin.”

“Wait what? Right now?”

“No better time than present time,” and that’s how her first class, a two hour lecture on Kryptonian history and culture - to understand a language, you also need to understand the culture it comes from – began.

Later on they decided on video conference classes, two hours 4 times a week. Lena may have come with a video conference device, a private line of sorts, for this.

“Phones and internet connections can be hacked, have connectivity problems, or be to slow. This is safer, faster, and more direct.”

“I’m impressed. No wonder Kara likes you so much,” Eliza pretended not to notice the intense blush on the girl on the screen.

Between her L-Corp duties, her research, and her classes (bless Jess and her mighty scheduling powers), it was a miracle Lena had time for social life…

…if texting a woman she talk to in person for a little over an hour, and then gush about her to Sam could be call that.

“You do realize that the Colonel pulled the quickest ‘meet the parents’ in history, right?”

“You are supposed to be my friend, why do you like torturing me?”

“Because I’m your friend?” the CFO laughs at Lena’s try of evil stare. It would have looked more credible if she wasn’t as red as an apple.

Days passed, her Kryptonian improved, her research advanced, and her relationship with Kara got better and better. Sam said she was glowing as she had never glowed before. Life was good and Lena was never as happy.

She focuses on her microscope once more. There was something missing, a key piece that eluded her. She was so close on creating an alien compound on Earth. At that moment she wished science was as easy as in Marvel movies. She sighs cause, to be honest, she cringes at them. She remembers that time Sam invited her for a MCU marathon for Ruby’s 5th birthday, just the three of them. She had thrown popcorn at the tv in Sam’s living room and yelled “that’s not how science works”. Sam laughed at her antics until Ruby also started doing it. Lena was not allowed to have food at hand at her house during Marvel movies anymore.

“Maybe I missed something,” Lena goes back to the Kryptonian annotations and does a quick scan looking for the relevant information. That’s when something catches her eye. A symbol. An unknown symbol. At first all the text had looked the same, but now she knows better. This new symbol looked similar to the alphabet she’d been studying, but Eliza had yet to mention it. Maybe it was for a future class? Lena goes through the text slowly. She notices more symbols scattered around. Ok. It must be of some importance if they appeared so often. She scanned page after page, finding whole sections and tiny annotations all over the place on the unknown language.

That was it.

She needed to know.

Lena puts everything in its rightful place and runs upstairs to her office. She turns on the “Eliza line” and waits for the connection. It rings three times before the older woman answers.

“Lena? Sweetie? Is everything alright? I didn’t forget a lesson, did I?”

“No, no you didn’t. Everything is alright. It’s just that I found something in the original notes, something that I can’t read,” Lena pauses to take out the text and put it in front of the screen. “This here, do you see? These symbols. They looks Kryptonian, but they are not, I guess? Is this some kind of more complex form of scripture? Like Japanese with their katakana and kanji? That sort of thing?”

Eliza stays quite for a long time. Lena could see her writing down things, consulting her own notes, thinking, and analyzing.

“It’s a different dialect,” she declares. “That’s all I can think about.”

“Well, that surely makes sense,” says Lena now slouching on her chair. “but that means an unseen step back. Important information hiding on plain sight. So much for advances and breakthroughs. I thought I was close to something when in reality I was walking blindly into nothing.”

“No you weren’t. We just need to, let’s say, ‘decode’ this new language. It will take some extra time, yes, but you can’t give up. Lena, you are so close,” she looks at Lena with pride and the CEO feels like crying. “You are an amazing young woman. If someone can do this, it’s you. I know Kara shares my opinion.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, and I know you do as well. Don’t pretend you don’t talk with her,” Lena smiles fondly, she can’t help it. Happens every time the blonde is mentioned. Eliza notices and files that fact for later. “Going back to the problem at hand, I have an idea. But I’ll need to ask my husband to contact an old friend of his first.”

“An old friend?”

“Yes. His name is J’onn. Might take a couple days. I’ll keep you posted.”

Eliza disconnects before Lena can react.

She stares at the black screen for a few moments, then gets up and goes back to the lab.

Might as well try to do some work on her own.

---

UNSTABLE COMPOUND. MODEL FAILED.

“Guess that’s not the one either,” Lena notes down the last component used to try synthesize the alien element. “Trial number 70, Failed. Ok, what’s next?”

She’s being at this for the last few days while waiting for Eliza to contact her. Meanwhile, Lena was trying to decipher thing on her own without much success. If she was honest, she was starting to lose faith little by little. 70 tries and she wasn’t even close to anything.

“Come on Lena, you can do this. It’s only trial 71. Edison had to go through 1000 trials before inventing the lightbulb. 71 is not even close to that number and no way in HELL are you losing to Edison, that son of a bitch.”

“That is some good self motivation, girl,” says Sam entering the lab.

“Hello, Sam. What brings you down here?”

“I come bearing offerings of food and water to appease the hunger god,” says Sam making space on Lena’s table and putting down some take out. “You are aware you haven’t eaten anything since this morning, right?”

“What are you talking about? It’s still – 4pm?! What the heck?” Sam gives Lena her best mom glare. Lena fidgets in her seat and avoids Sam’s eyes turning back to her microscope. “Thanks for the food, I’ll eat in a minute.”

“In a minute, yeah right. You think Ruby hasn’t used that line with me already? I took away her video games, don’t force me to take away your microscope,” Sam walks to stand next to her. “Come. Eat.”

“I said in a minute,” insists the CEO. “Not hungry yet.”

“Not hungry, huh? Ok. Fine. You asked for it,” Sam walks away and Lena thinks she’ll finally have some peace, until the sample she was analyzing goes totally black.

“What the-?” She turns to her friend who was holding a plug and grinning her way. “Did you just unplugged my microscope?”

“I did”

“You do realize I have another 3 in this lab, right? I just have to move to another station”

“Then I’ll turn off the main power. We can have a candle light meal. So romantic. Or you can come sit down and eat and then I’ll leave you alone until you forget all about dinner. Choose.”

Lena huffs in response. “Fine”

40 minutes later three empty take out containers litter the table in front of the CEO and her friend.

“Who wasn’t hungry again?” teases Sam.

Lena rolls her eyes. “Fine, you were right. Happy?”

“Very much so,” answers Sam. “Lee, I know your work here is important and world changing, but you need to take better care of yourself. You won’t make any breakthroughs if you get sick.”

Lena sighs, freeing her hair from its tight ponytail and massaging her scalp.

“Its just that… I don’t know Sam.”

“What is that you don’t know?”

“In this case? Everything, and I’m not used to not knowing the answers or taking so long in finding them.”

“Is the board nagging you?” Lena nods. “Let me guess, Henderson is the instigator?” another nod. “That old fart. You should have taken him down the same day you took down your mother”

“Did you really just called him old fart?” she laughs. “What are you 8?”

“Made you laugh so worth it,” Lena smiles and puts her heels back on. She stands up and stretches. “Thank you for lunch. Now I better go back to work before I fall sleep on this couch.”

“A nap wouldn’t kill you,” Lena glares. “but apparently it would kill me. Go back to work. That missing piece won’t find itself.”

Lena plugs her microscope and goes back to work while Sam tidies up around a little. She finds Lena’s phone connected to the charger, on silence, on the other side of the room. Talk about avoiding distractions. At that moment the screen lights up with an incoming message from Jess. Sam reads it and grins.

“Lena, you got a message from Jess,” Sam singsongs

“Must be the schedules meetings for tomorrow. I’ll need you to cover for me in some of those by the way,” Lena answers not taking her eyes away from her research.

“Again Lena? Look, you know I-” Sam stops and takes a deep breath to calm down. “Never mind that, but no. The message is not that.”

“It can wait”

“Ok, then I’ll tell Jess to tell DR. DANVERS to come back another day.”

Lena turns so fast she almost falls from her chair. She’s at Sam’s side in seconds. “Wait! Don’t send that! I’ll go. Tell Jess I’ll be in my office in 5 minutes and to let her in.”

Sam waits until the lab door closes before laughing. Her friend was such a gay mess.

---

Lena was going to kill Sam.

When she got to the top floor she went directly to her office ignoring Jess’s sly smile. She stops at her door, fixes her dress and hair, and enters calling “Kara?” and then freezes.

“Wrong Dr. Danvers, Lena,” says Eliza. Lena turns to close the door, trying to hide her intense blush.

She was SO going to KILL Sam.

“Eliza! What a nice surprise!” she hugs her and Eliza hugs back.

“I’m sorry I’m not my daughter, though,” she laughs.

“Would it me possible to ask you to never mention that again?” Eliza pretends to think about it.

“No, I’m sorry. It’s already classified in my long term memory. Nothing to do,” Lena sighs and sits on her couch. Eliza sits beside her. “Don’t worry, sweetie. If anything, Kara will think you are cuter than she already does.”

“She thinks I’m-?” Lena stops herself mid sentence to avoid further embarrassment. “So, moving on, to what I owe this pleasant surprise?” Eliza decides to go with it and drop the teasing. She can always go back to it later.

“Remember what I told you a few days ago? About my husband’s friend?”

“Yes, J’onn was it? The name sounds familiar but I can’t place a face to it.”

“I’m sure Kara has mentioned him to you a couple times in the past,” explains Eliza. “He is the General in charge of the base she is currently deployed at. He and my husband go way back.”

“Small world. You must fell better about Kara serving in such a remote place knowing he is with her.”

“You could say that, yes,” she agrees. “Anyway, my husband got to contact him for me and ask a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“One that will benefit you in great measure,” Eliza turns on the couch so she is facing Lena directly. “You showed me these new Krypton dialects. I studied them, analyzed them, and came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to translate them. It’s not my specialty. I work better with science in a lab. But Kara, she can help.”

“Kara? How?”

“Just trust me on this, Lena. Kara can,” Lena is a little skeptical but decides to roll with it. “Nevertheless, we have a little inconvenience in the matter. You know what that is,” it wasn’t a question.

“She is unavailable at the moment,” says Lena. “Geographically speaking.”

“Exactly. That’s were J’onn comes in,” Lena looks puzzled. “We asked him to allow-”

“Kara to come home?” interrupts the woman, eyes wide and full of hope. Eliza stays silent for a minute.

“That was our original idea. But its not possible. Only if she were to be officially reassigned could that proceed, but the only option for the moment in National City is Lane. We can’t do that to her.”

“Yes, it would be… unnecessarily cruel,” agrees Lena. “then, what’s option B?”

“You go to Kara,” answers Eliza. “J’onn got you a special permission to be on base to work with her. Something simple that can be managed in-house as to not raise red flags,” Lena smiles

“In other words, to keep Lane in the dark”

“Lane and every other person on his side that wants your research at any cost,” Eliza takes her hands. “Lena, now its up to you. You need to be aware that the place you would be going to is one of the most dangerous on Earth right now. It’s an active war zone and no one, except a few trusted ones, would know you are there. You need to think about it carefully and-”

“I’ll go,” she answers. “No need for second thoughts. I’ll do it.”

“I’ve seen that look before,” says Eliza with pride in her voice. “It’s the same Kara had when she announced she had enlisted. Ok, let’s not waste precious time and start planning, shall we?”

And that’s how, 3 days later, she was being greeted by General J’onn J’onnz and then hopping into a helicopter together with him and Sam to travel the last stretch of the journey.

Sam had insisted on tagging along when Lena told her. She, by no means, would be staying with her but Sam wanted to make sure her friend arrived safely.

“Kara will be happy to see you,” says J’onn. “She can’t stop talking about you. I’m not exaggerating when I say everyone at the base knows who you are.”

Lena’s yes brighten and a little satisfied smirk finds its way to her lips. “Good to know”

J’onn turns to Lena’s friend, Samantha Arias, he recalls. She just rolls her eyes and looks out the window. Now J’onn is wondering if all this was a good idea after all.

Lane was still after the Luthor deal. J’onn had read the contract he was planning to use and it made him shiver. With it, he was basically claiming ownership of anything L-Corp manufactured with the alien technology and had rights to modify it and use it to the military’s “best interests”. He knew Lena would never sign it willingly. So he feared what the General would be willing to do to make her sign it unwillingly.

The DEO needed to come up with a game plan. Something to protect the young CEO without Lane realizing about it at the same time they kept an eye on him, also without him realizing about it. Logistics nightmare.

So, how to keep the young Luthor safe and away from Lane’s clutches?

Jeremiah Danver’s call gave them the answer.

Two birds, one stone. Lena would work with Kara on base, far away from Lane and under J’onn’s watch and that of his soldiers. But most important, under Kara’s.

Ok so, maybe taking a civilian to an active conflict zone wasn’t the safest idea. Really dangerous, but also it wasn’t like the woman would go on romantic midnight strolls under the moonlight. Or at least he hoped so.

“We are almost there ladies, Sir,” announces the pilot.

J’onn can see the people gathering around the heliport and he spots Kara up and front when they descend. He notices that the two women with him see her as well. They move like they are used to this kind of situations. Sam acting like a screen for Lena so everyone in front of them can’t see her. They both approach Kara that way. When Sam takes one step to the side after a short dialogue with the doctor to reveal Lena, Kara’s expression convinces J’onn that they made the right choice about bringing her here after all.

In all the time he has known Kara, he never saw her as happy.

After recovering from her initial shock, the blonde had lifted Lena off the ground by her waste and started spinning her around, both of them laughing like little kids.

J’onn nods. Good idea. Definitely.

---

Kara got over he shock quite quickly.

Lena is here. Lena IS here.

HOLY SHIT LENA IS HERE IN FRONT OF HERE AT ARMS REACH!

She screams like a teenager, lifts Lena by her tiny waste, and starts spinning round and round. Lena yelps and puts her hands on Kara’s shoulders for support, then starts laughing in ecstasy.

After a few moments Kara puts Lena back on the ground. It is then when she notices the other woman’s outfit. Tight dark blue pants, black heavy combat boots, red zip up sleeveless hoodie, and black short sleeve top underneath. Her hair up in a plain ponytail and minimal makeup.

Kara could only think “wow”.

She made a super kryptonian effort to add words to that “wow”.

“Wow, look at you. Not in a dress and heels. You are shorter than I remember,” Lena elbows her playfully.

“Hey, be nice. To be honest this is way more comfortable than all my power suits and dresses back home and it’s the perfect excuse to wear the boots,” she steps closer to Kara. “But can’t win against the uniform and the white coat, Colonel,” she says fixing her coat lapels. Kara’s gulp doesn’t go unnoticed by Lena who grins at her and bites her lower lip.

Sam clears her throat behind them making her turn. Lena sends her friend an annoyed glare. Kara takes the moment to get her gay under control.

“If you two could stop the heart eyes for a moment, we got a lot to do to get Lena installed,” Sam starts going back to the Genral’s side. Lena winks at Kara and goes after Sam.

“Killjoy,” she says catching up with her friend

“Come on, you’ll basically live together for the next weeks. Enough time to ogle her without making me wanna roll my eyes into the back of my skull.”

“Ladies,” says J’onn when they reach him. “Private Lowes will show you your quarters. I’ll be with you in a minute. I gotta… go save Colonel Danvers,” he chuckles.

They turn… and laugh.

---

Poor Kara was surrounded.

The moment Lena stepped away all hell broke loose. Everyone at the heliport started asking (yelling) questions at her. Among them she could distinguish honest curiosity questions, crude questions, and some nasty comments. She also saw a couple teary heart broken faces that she definitely didn’t want to deal with at the moment.

She needed to find a way out. Lucky for Kara…

“Ok everyone, back off. Let her breath”

… J’onn took pity on her.

They all parted like the Red Sea.

“Danvers, come with me please. Everyone else back to duty,” he starts walking. Kara follows. She still gets a few glares.

“Thank you, General. Didn’t know how I was gonna get out of that.”

“You’ll have time to figure it out. For now, you’ll have a new job around here. Want to guess?”

“I can imagine, Sir”

---

They find Lena in her new quarters. Sam was with her, of course, helping her unpack.

“Is the room ok, Miss Luthor? I know its not a 5 star hotel but-”

“It’s perfect, General, thank you,” she says. ‘Cause it was. She had a big closet, a comfy bed, and a private bathroom (Bless). She didn’t need anything more. There was enough space for two people to work in plus the minimal equipment necessary for her experiments. The most complex part would be done back in her lab at L-Corp when she returned. She eyes Kara. “Perfect to learn a new language. Don’t you think Colonel?”

Kara is confused by the comment. “Wait, wasn’t my mom teaching you? What happened?”

“Something no one could predict,” says Lena reaching for the papers on the desk. “Look for yourself”

Kara reaches for them when a strong beeping noise interrupts them. “Sorry, my phone. One second,” Kara checks the incoming message. Her eyes get wide and she pales. “Fuck!” Everyone jumps, startled.

“What’s wrong Danvers?” asks the General

“Accident down at the shop. Gotta run. Some bad injuries to take care of.”

“How bad? Can’t Jonah and Cristina take care of them?” Asks J’onn

“Protocol. I need to assess the work and you know it...Sir. They are listed as PA, so unless SOMEONE finally changes their status, as I’ve requested several times, I’m stuck in the med bay,” she looks at Lena. “I’m sorry. I’ll be back as fast as I can”

“Won’t be going anywhere. Take your time”

“Thank you, if you’ll all excuse me,” and she leaves

Lena follows her with her eyes until she disappears from view.

“Earth to Lena, you copy or you still on Planet Danvers?”

“Haha, very funny, Sam. I can hear you loud and clear.”

“Just making sure,” she glances around the room. “Come on, we still have things to unpack,” Lena nods and they both go back to it.

“It seems everything is under control. I’ll be back in around two hours, Miss Arias, so I can escort you back,” J’onn salutes and leaves.

“Two hours. Lena, are you sure-”

“I’ll be fine, Sam,” Lena interjects. “You know you are needed back in National and I’m not talking about L-Corp. Ruby needs her mama”

“She also needs her auntie, so you better come back in one piece Luthor or I’ll kill you myself,” they hug. “Also, I wasn’t going to ask you to let me stay. I was going to try convince you to come back home with me”

“Worrywart”

“It’s a mom thing, you’ll understand one day”

Two hours later, J’onn comes to get Sam as promised.

“Remember to eat,” Sam hugs her one last time. “I’ll have our private line active 24/7 for anything you need. I’ll be calling every other day, ok? And most important, try not to get too distracted, you hear?” she wiggles her eyebrows. Lena chuckles at her best friend’s antics.

“Yes, mom. Tell Ruby I say hi”

“I’ll tell her you’ll bring her a gift. Expensive one. Love you, Lee. Take care.”

“You too, Sam.”

The woman follows J’onn, turns around, waves one last time, and leaves closing the door behind her.

---

A couple more hours pass and Lena, after she finished giving the final touches to her room, is once again looking down a microscope and taking notes.
Someone knocks. Must be Kara, so she says “enter!” without looking up. The door opens slowly and heavy steps sound against the tile floor. Too heavy to be Kara’s she notices, so Lena looks up. She stands up quickly and takes a step back, almost knocking off her chair. That soldier was definitely NOT Kara.

He was big, with a clean shaven head. His uniform wasn’t the cleanest but at least he didn’t look filthy. But what startled Lena was his eyes. Dark brown, sunken, and cold. So cold. She could even say they were lifeless. He was laughing at her reaction. Lena could notice unkempt yellow teeth.

“Little scaredy-cat, huh?” he says taking a few steps closer. Lena stands tall, puts her board meeting face on (narrow eyes, calculating cold gaze), but still takes the same amount of steps back. She would be a fool not to keep a face distance from this man.

“You wish,” she says. “Who are you?”

“Oh my! How impolite of me,” he mocks. “My name is Marcus. Family name De Soto. And I just NEEDED to see the little doctor’s new play thing. I gotta admit, she has wonderful taste,” he does a once over of her. Appraising Lena up and down. The woman tenses and takes another step back… bumping into the closet door.

Fuck.

She had ran out of space. She sees De Soto grin evilly and realizes that had been his plan all along.

He raises a hand to touch her. Lena grinds her teeth and shifts her body, ready to fight or run, when another hand appears behind the man and stops him with a tight grip on his wrist.

“What do you think you are doing?” asks the new arrival.

Kara.

Lena has to do a double take. She never thought Kara Danvers could look so… dangerous.

“Colonel,” he greets talking between his teeth. “Didn’t expect your arrival so soon. Weren’t you busy back at the med bay?”

“I was. Still have work to do. But a little bird told me that a maggot was coming this way and that it would be better for me to look into it,” she tightens her hold. Lena can see in the man’s expression that it hurts, even if he is trying to hide it.

“Let go of me”

“Alright,” and she does.

Lena’s eyes go wide at the strength demonstration. With only the arm she is using to hold him back, Kara throws De Soto all the way across the room. He hits the wall and lands close to the door.

“Bitch!” he yells, making an effort to stand up. He looks unsteady on his feet.

“Get the hell away from here,” she says. “If I ever see your ugly face lurking around this place again, you’ll be sorry,” De Soto spits on the ground and walks out of the room.

“And don’t even think I’m not reporting this to the General!” Kara yells before he disappears down the hall and then closes the door. Lena can see her slightly shaking. She walks closer to the blonde.

“Kara?” she woman turns around, her expression back to what Lena is used to. Warm caring eyes, even if filled with worry, look back at her.

“Lena! Are you alright? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Kara pulls Lena into her arms. The CEO gladly hugs her back.

“He didn’t. Your timing was perfect, thank you.”

“I’m glad,” Kara breaks the hug but doesn’t let go of the other woman. Her hands staying on her shoulders. On her part, Lena has her own hands on Kara’s hips. “I have to go for a bit. I want to report this as soon as I can before De Soto has a chance to invent some fake version. I’ll see you later, ok?”

She kisses Lena’s forehead and goes away before Lena can think of an answer.

“Ok,” she whispers to an empty room. Lena stays standing there for a few more seconds, one hand touching her forehead were Kara’s lips had touched, and sighs.

What a day.

She needed a relaxing bath.

---

Bless hot water.

And bless privacy.

Her room didn’t have a bathtub but she couldn’t complain. Yes, she missed her long baths with scented oils and candles while nursing a good glass of her favorite wine, but this was good too. At least she had her favorite shampoo.

She could feel the day tension washing away down the drain. The long trip, saying goodbye to Sam, De Soto’s attempt… she shudders. Some things are better forgotten.

On the bright side, there was Kara. Beautiful, strong (heck was she strong), amazing doctor Danvers.

She was not, as Sam puts it, “into blondes” now. She was into Kara. Who could blame her? Their communication was so open. They are definitely friends (developing fast into something else, she is sure) and shared so many common interests. Lena was 100% smitten.

It also didn’t hurt that she found Kara to be hot as fuck. Not like she would tell her that anytime soon.

Lena steps out of the shower when the water starts getting cold. She looks around and realizes she left her robe inside her closet so she wraps herself with a towel and goes back into the bedroom.

She had taken two small steps when her door opens. Someone calling her name.

“Fuck! I really need to start locking that!” she thinks to herself.

Lena starts panicking. She clutches her towel closer to her body and was getting ready to go back to the bathroom when she realizes her visitor was Kara. She releases the breath she had been holding and relaxes. She knew she was safe with the good doctor.

Kara’s reaction was…well, a little bit different.

---

While she was making her report to J’onn, De Soto had walked into the office without permission and started yelling that whatever she was saying was bullshit. It all had evolved into a screaming match that drew spectators and that only ended when J’onn’s voice drowned the other two.

They were both scolded by the General. Kara got away with a warning and De Soto with a punishment that J’onn would tell him the following morning after he had time to think. For now, he would be on house arrest; meaning that he wouldn’t leave the barracks space until further notice.

She was tired. It had being a long day and because of De Soto she had missed dinner. She would have to sneak into the kitchen later. Kara knew she needed to sleep, but the need to see Lena was stronger. So instead of her private quarters, her feet took her to Lena’s. The General had put her in an empty barracks building on the other side of the compound. She had one of the officers private rooms on the second floor. Kara could see light on her window. Good, Lena was still awake.

Kara catches her reflection on the mirror by the buildings lobby. She had a dopy smile on her face. The dopiest she’d seen so far. Just because of Lena. Kara sighs, smile not going away.

Rao, she was so gay.

And she was 99% sure Lena was too.

Kara felt a real connection here. She knew they could be something. You don’t text someone everyday if you don’t feel something, right?

So here she was, now standing in front of Lena’s door. She opens.

“Hey! Lena its…me”

And that’s basically how far she gets.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Have you ever called a number and gotten a recorded message saying “this number is not available at the moment, please try again”?

Then you’ll be able to understand Kara Danver’s current brain state.

Heck, a unicellular organism had more process power than Kara right now.

But, to be fair, no one could really blame her. I mean, you would also become catatonic if you had a very naked, very wet, only covered by a tiny towel Lena Luthor in front of you. Cause, come on, that white towel covered almost almost nothing. Lena had the top of her breasts on display as well as her long smooth legs. Her hair was loose and coming down her front and still dripping. Her face still flushed due to the hot shower. For Kara it was a vision. A sinful vision.

Try to function properly after seeing THAT.

How Kara didn’t get at least a nose bleed, she will never know.

Also, was staring with your mouth open still considered improper?

She would ask later. Too busy trying to think something that wasn’t “HOT DAMN!” at the moment.

---

After realizing that the intruder was Kara, Lena relaxed.

It was Kara. She was safe with Kara. She was… naked in front of Kara.

Fuck.

What to do? What to do?

The rational part of her brain takes charge and Lena comes up with different options:
a) She could start screaming and throwing things at her friend.
b) She could squee like a teenager and run back to the bathroom for cover.
c) She could keep her cool, politely ask Kara to please step out so she could change, and later laugh about it or…
d) She could turn this into that scene she once read in one of those trashy porn romance novels she would never admit she owned.

Options a and b were out. To late for them anyways. Option d was the most tempting, if she was honest with herself, but they weren’t there yet. One thing was promising dinner dates and movie nights over text messages and flirt a little but this… this was way bigger. If she had read it wrong she could ruin things with Kara forever.

Logic made Lena chose option c.

She cleared her throat and started moving carefully to avoid her towel from falling.

“Kara?”

The sound of her name snaps the good doctor back into this world. Lena sees her deer caught in headlights expression turn into one of pure embarrassment and anxiousness. She tries to say something to calm her friend down but it seems that Kara would have none of it.

“I am so sorry. So sorry Lena, I… I should have knocked. I didn’t think... Why I didn’t… oh Rao! I’ll go. We could… I mean I can… you… we… SORRY!” and Kara basically flees the room slamming the door shut behind her. The strength she put into that made the windows vibrate and some dust to fall from the ceiling.

Lena stays there, in the middle of her room, staring at the door. She sighs and drops the towel. She hurries to her closet to get dressed.

She had a blonde to find.

---

Lena was wondering who she could ask where to find Kara when she spots her.

The woman was sitting on the floor, her back against the only tree she’d seen so far at the base. Her hair was loose flowing down her back, her legs to her chest and her arms around them. She was looking up at the stars, her glasses nowhere to be seen.

Lena stayed there for a few minutes, just watching her from a distance. More like admiring if she was honest because, she had to admit, Lena had never seen someone as beautiful before.

Lena then notices the other woman’s facial expression. It was calm, relaxed, but sad. She had this sad smile while looking up at the stars. Lena found herself wanting to take that sadness away.

After another couple minutes of staring (no, it’s not creepy), she started wondering if she should walk to her when Kara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I know you are there, Lena,” Kara calls turning to look a her. Her gaze intense without her glasses blocking the view. Lena blushes and looks away. That intensity may have been a little too much for her poor heart but she cant just turn around. She goes to sit beside her friend.

“I'm sorry, I just didn’t want to interrupt,” says Lena turning to look at Kara who was once again wearing her glasses and looking down. “Is everything ok? About… earlier? You got out of the room so fast. Didn’t give me time to say anything,” Lena moves to look at Kara’s face. “Just so you know, I’m not mad.”

“You are not?” Kara asks in a small voice

“I’m not, so please, don’t run away again, will you?” Kara chuckles and finally looks up and meets Lena’s eyes.

“Believe me, when I saw you coming this way I almost bolted. But I imagined that if you had come looking for me then you would have also ran after me-”

“I would have”

“- so I stayed,” Kara sighs and looks up at the sky again. “I’m sorry for-”

“Stop it,” Lena interrupts her. “you are blowing this way too out of proportions. No one got hurt, let it go.”

“I can’t let it go. It was wrong of me to walk without proper announcement and then to run.”

“Well, maybe if I had locked the door in the first place we wouldn’t be discussing this now. There, its on both of us.”

“Locked or not one always knocks, Lena,” says Kara, stubborn. “It’s common decency of respecting personal spaces.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t have forgotten to take a change of clothes with me. It’s also common sense to do so when not at your own home. Boom! Shared blame.”

“It’s not! Lena you… you just don’t get it… you should be ANGRY at me!”

“Well, I’m NOT!” Lena was starting to get irritated.

“But I saw… I saw you…”

“Butt naked? Hardly, I had a towel!”

“And I…I…”

“You what Kara!”

“AND I WANTED TO SEE YOU WITHOUT IT!” Kara blurts out. A few seconds of silence pass before she realizes what she just said. The redness comes quickly. “I-I-I didn’t… oh Rao! I just- I just wanted- I just wanted to.. to say- OR NOT SAY! I-I-I think I… what? Someone seems to be calling me so… I… BYE!”

She tries to run, again, but this time Lena is close enough to react and avoid it. She had seen it coming as the panic increased in the doctor’s voice. She tugs Kara’s coat and makes her sit down again.

“Well, if I wasn’t mad before, I sure am now,” and she was. She really was.

Lena was mad as hell… at herself. Because DAMN IT! She could have gone for option D! They could be enjoying themselves right this fucking moment! She takes a deep breath.

“Fuck,” she mutters. Kara opens her mouth, ready to apologize again. Lena holds up a finger to her lips. “Don’t even think of saying sorry again”

“But you are mad”

“Not at you”

“Then with-”

“Why?” Lena interrupts

“I’m so- I mean, what? Why what?”

“Why did you wanted to see me… you know,” Lena asks avoiding Kara’s eyes.

“Oh… that… I…” she sighs. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag now so" Kara takes a deep breath and avoids looking at the woman at her side. "I like you,” Kara breathes. “I like you. It started as a tiny crush but, as we interacted and I got to know you, I guess it was just unavoidable that my feelings started to change. Here there was a beautiful, smart, funny, hot as hell woman. So the real question would be, how could I not? And then we started talking about going on dates and I let myself dream… and then I woke up cause, what if for Lena these “dates” are just as friends? What if that’s all you are to her?”

“Kara-”

“So that’s what I was gonna be. Unless you gave me a sign it meant more. I was just gonna treasure whatever you wanted to give. No pressure. Heck, at first I didn’t even think you would want to talk about something that wasn’t science. I never thought it would get us to now. Never. Not even in my wildest dreams.”

“Kara”

“And now I go and ruin it. Ruin it before it could even begin. Again, how could I not? I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t know what to do, how to react and-”

“KARA!” The woman finally reacts at Lena calling her name and turns to her.

“What?” she says softly

Lena doesn’t answer. She just kisses her.

It was short. Just a second. It did the trick.

“Lena?” the doctor asks softly

“Yeah?” says Lena in the same fashion

“Does this mean what I think it means?”

“If you are thinking ‘she likes me too’ then you are correct,” she cups Kara’s face and leans in until their foreheads touch. “I like you too, Kara.”

“Good,” says the blonde

“Well, that’s eloquent,” Kara chuckles. She leans back and takes Lena’s hands in her own. They lock eyes.

“May I kiss you?”

Lena answers by leaning in and connecting their lips again.

Kara felt like flying. No. Scratch that. It was better than that. So much better.

She remembered those lips very well. Sometimes she could still feel them on her cheek. She would touch the spot and smile. She would stay up, imagining that she had moved her head on time for that kiss to land on her lips and how that would have being.

Now Kara had her answer. It was better than anything she could have come up with. Firm and soft (oh Rao so soft) lips. Delicious even. Bewitching. Addictive. She wanted to kiss her forever.

Lena ends the kiss to soon for her liking. She hears her laugh softly when she tries to follow her lips wanting to continue kissing her.

Lena concedes and leans in for a small peck.

“You know, even if I’d love to continue doing this, maybe we shouldn’t be out in the open,” she whispers.

“Everyone here knows I’m out,” answers Kara leaning in for another kiss. Lena stops her with a hand on her chest. Kara wakes up from her daze. Lena shakes her head, amused.

“I think those kisses made your brain a little foggy, my lovely doctor,” she says, putting a strand of Kara’s hair behind her ear. “I meant out here, as in outside. No privacy. Someone could walk by and spot us.”

“Oh! That,” Kara looks around. “Yes, I think you are right,” she stands up and offers a hand to Lena. She gladly accepts, stands up, and doesn’t let go. Not like Kara is complaining. Lena steps closer to the blonde.

“To think all this could have played completely different,” says Lena. She starts playing with a lock of Kara’s hair.

“Different how?” Kara feels Lena inching even closer until her mouth is right next to her ear.

“I could have dropped that towel, darling,” she whispers. Kara’s eyes darken.

“Oh, Rao.”

Kara can’t help it. She takes Lena’s face in her hands and kisses her, hard. Lena needs to grab onto Kara’s white coat to not fall, knees suddenly weak. Kara moves her hands, one behind her head and the other on the small of her back, to try and bring her as close as possible.  Lena responds by playfully biting Kara’s lower lip. She can hear Kara’s moan as clear as crystal. She grins on the kiss and bites again, stronger this time. Kara gasps and Lena takes the chance to deepen the kiss. Lena tasted wonderfully and Kara felt she couldn’t get enough. This woman would truly be her undoing. And she loved it.

She feels Lena’s hands start to move. She feels them get inside her coat and move slowly up and down her back and her sides sending chills down her spine. Lena then grabs her shirt and starts untucking it. She could almost feel her hands on her bare skin when bright lights turn on and a siren starts blaring loudly.

They brake apart, Kara looking in the direction the noise is coming from. Lena sees her face turn from surprise, to realization, to worry.

“Shit!” yells Kara making Lena jump a little. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” she looks at Lena. “I have to go. I’m sorry but… I have to go,” Lena reaches for Kara’s face

“Darling, what’s wrong?”

“Convoy approaching,” explains Kara. “That alarm indicates the unit has wounded people and that medical personnel should be ready to receive them. Meaning that-”

“Go. Don’t worry about me, just go”

Kara nods, kisses her hand, and starts running. She stops, screams something, and runs back. She kisses Lena again. They break apart after a heartbeat. Kara looks directly into her eyes.

“This will most likely take all night. Go and sleep. I’ll look for you tomorrow and, well, we can talk about this. If you want.”

“I do,” Lena gives her a final peck on the lips and then Kara is running again.

Lena stays there for a moment. Eyes fixed on Kara until she can’t see her anymore. She touches her kiss bruised lips and sighs contently. That was the best make out session she’s ever had. She could still feel Kara’s soft lips on her own, still feel her touch. Kara Danvers would be her undoing and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lena’s smile widens. Tomorrow couldn’t get fast enough.

---

The convoy that came back had being sent on a recon mission less than two days prior. It was supposed to be an easy thing. They were going North for one day and then back. It was basic training for the newbies they got last week. Ten soldiers, two officers included. It should have being easy.

What Kara saw said otherwise.

The wounds her and her medical team were seeing weren’t from an easy recon mission. Broken bones, bullet wounds, deep cuts, and…

“He died on the way here. Ten minutes before we could make contact with the spare radio,” says a voice behind Kara, a voice she would recognize anywhere.

“Allison!” she moves to hug her friend. “You were with them? Are you hurt? Shit you are! You have blood on your face!”

“Easy there, K. It’s not mine. I’m fine. Me and Juan Carlo are the only ones who made it out unscathed,” she turns to see the rest of the group. “Wish I could say that for everyone else”

“You were with them,” Kara realizes. “You went with them. What the fuck? Your name was not on the list they gave us.”

“Last minute arrangement,” she explains. “They sent me to replace Leslie. I had to pack in ten minutes. No time to say goodbye. I’m sorry, K.”

“I’m going to have some words with J’onn,” she was pissed.

“Save it for later K, got shit to do,” Kara looks at Allison and then around her, nods, and starts to work.

The final tally was three wounded with minor injuries, four with need of surgery, and one dead.

So Kara’s night went like this:
-Two surgeries for fixing broken bones due to expose fractures.
-One surgery to stop internal bleeding and take out bullet fragments.
-One amputation.
Not necessarily in that order.

She finally stepped out of the final procedure at six the next morning. And she wasn’t the only one. The other two doctors, Christina and Jonah, were as tired as her. Same for the nursing staff.

“Hey, doc! I’m assuming my surgery won’t be today?”

Shit, she had forgotten about Leslie. “You wish! After we all get some food and sleep we’ll be back. Until then, no food or water.”

Leslie groans. “Fine. Guess it could be worse,” and she adds under her breath. “At least I’m not poor Miller.”

Private Miller. Kara tries not to think about the body inside their tiny morgue. She needed to remember to request the Medical Examiner to come in for him. Or sent Miller over. Either way they would need to send him back. Kara would decide that later. Now, food.

After eating breakfast, don’t ask her what it was cause she won’t remember, Kara collapses face first on her bed, not bothering about changing her dirty uniform. She couldn’t move. She was physically and emotionally spent. Kara may be a super and many things couldn’t hurt her, but last night wasn’t one of them.

She glances at her clock. She groans. It was almost eight. At six, Kara had officially being awake for 24 hours. Her record was 33 hours, 27 minutes, and 10 seconds thanks to a similar situation some years back. She was not looking forward to break that record, but her brain was refusing to shut down.

“K? You here? You decent?” Allison knocks and opens the door slightly, peeking in. Kara makes a noise similar to that of a dying whale in response to indicate that she was, indeed, there. Al enters and closes the door. “You ok, Danvers?”

“Dead.”

All sits on the bed. “You look like shit”

“I thought we were friends”

“We are,” laughs Al. “You need a shower and a change of clothes”

“Can’t move”

“You are acting like a child.”

“Go away!”

“Ok, enough. Come on. Get up,” Kara refuses to move. “Fine, be that way.”

Kara, still lying face to her bed and eyes closed, hears her friend walk away and a door slam closed. Peace. Finally. She decides to focus on her breathing to cut out all sounds and distractions and maybe, maybe, be able to sleep. Ten minutes later she is still awake and hears a door opening and Allison’s steps coming closer again.

“Last chance, K. Get up. I won’t let you sulk away. It’s not healthy and you know it.”

“Bite me, Al.”

“You asked for it.”

And that’s when Kara feels the freezing water fall on her. She screams, jumps, and falls off her bed.

She looks up at her friend with daggers in her eyes. She can even feel her heat vision charging up. Kara needs to close her eyes and take deep breaths to regain some control.

“You son of a…”

“Language, K. Language.”

“You can’t tell me that after freezing me to death!”

“Hardly to death. More like revived you,” She sits on a dry patch on the bed and looks down at her friend. “Look, K, I’m sorry but that’s all I could think of to make you react,” Kara frowns and opens her eyes, heat vision under control. She looks up and glares.

“Dick move”

“Again, hardly. You know I hate all kinds of dicks,” she says playfully. Kara rolls her eyes. “Come on Danvers, a smile?”

Kara sighs and stands up. “I’m going to take a shower and change. This place better be dry and clean when I get out or, Rao help you, I’ll kick your ass”

“Yes, Sir,” Allison starts tidying up the place

“And Seargent Walters?” she woman looks up at her friend. “Thank you”

Kara closes the bathroom door missing the unmistakable look on her friend’s eyes.

---

When Lena woke up next morning her mind went immediately to Kara and the kisses they had shared the previous night.

God was that woman such a good kisser! Lena was certain that if those alarms hadn’t sounded, the blonde would have spent the night with her. Lena wondered what was in for them. How should they go about this new development. They were going to work together after all. They needed some ground rules.

But she would think about that later. Right now, she wanted to enjoy these feelings.

Her “Sam phone” started ringing. Lena gets up, grabs the device, and falls on her bed again.

“Sam, morning! Is everything ok? There’s no video”

“Maybe morning to you,” Sam replies. “I went back in time. Its evening here. I’m getting ready to go to bed and I don’t want you to see me naked, hence the no video. Girl, you are going to be so jet lagged when you come back.”

“All ok with your flight?”

“Yes, just long. I’m beat. Came directly home. Will take care of L-Corp stuff tomorrow but, don’t worry, already spoke with Jess. Best assistant ever. I’m giving her a raise.”

Lena chuckles. “Sam, I gave her a 10% raise last month.”

“And I’m adding another 10% tomorrow. Try stopping me, Luthor.”

“Ok, Sam, you win,” Lena stretches. Her back felt tight. Must be the bed. Not used to it.

“I always wi-” that’s when Lena’s back pops and she makes a moaning sound. “Lena what the fuck! Are you having sex while talking to me? Really? Oh God! It better be Danvers or-”

“Sam! Why would I… I’m not having sex! Jesus Christ! I just popped my back! And what do you mean it “better be Danvers”?”

“Oh please. Like I didn’t notice the heart eyes flying all over the place. You two are so into each other,” Lena sighs.

“Sam…”

“Wait,” she interrupts. “Did I read it wrong? You are not?”

“No. No you… Yes, we are. I mean we already… Her and I…”

“Lena Luthor you dog!” Lena can hear the smile on her friend’s voice. “Damn girl! Kara, if you are there, congratulations!”

“What? No! Sam, it not like that! We just kissed!” The line goes silent. “Sam?”

“Are you 16?”

“Fuck you, Arias.”

“Jeez, Lee, relax. Look, I know you are free to do as you please. Personally, I say to go and tap that ass soon,” she receives a groan as reply. “Just listen. The sooner you take that out of the way, the sooner you’ll both get some work done. Even if I’m happy you got the girl, you have to remember this is not a sexcapade vacation.”

“I know, I know. I’ll get it all done, Sam, and I mean the research not Kara so shut that mouth,” she hears Sam laughing over the line. “I have everything under control, you know? I’m not a teenage boy.”

“And yet you are fulfilling every teenage boy fantasy of banging the hot tutor”

“I’m not banging anyone, Sam.”

“Not yet, you mean. Don’t worry. You’ll get there,” Sam yawns.

“I swear, Arias, if you weren’t my best friend-” a knock on the door interrupts her. “Never mind. Someone’s at the door. Go sleep. I’ll threaten you later.”

“Roger that. I’ll ask for details later. Bye!” and with that, Sam disconnects.

Lena gets up and looks at the mirror. She had fallen sleep with the same clothes she had changed into to go looking for Kara. Black leggings and a red hoodie. She was bare foot and her hair could use a comb. She grabs it and starts fixing her hair. They knock again.

“One second, please,” she calls back. Lena checks herself one last time and opens. There was a soldier, no, a Captain (she could see the bars on his uniform) waiting for her.

“Good morning, Miss Luthor, pleasure to met you. Let me introduce myself. I’m Captain Rogers and I’m here to show you around base. Colonel Danvers was supposed to be in charge of it but, given last nights circumstances, she is undisposed at the moment.”

“Please to met you as well, Captain, but no need to be so formal. You can call me Lena”

“I appreciate the gesture but I rather not, Miss Luthor. Any questions?”

“About last night, I was with the Colonel when the sirens started so I know a little of the situation but, how did everything went?”

“As far as I know, it’s still going”

“What?”

“We had one loss and four people needed surgical interventions. Doctor Danvers was involved in all of them. If I’m not mistaken they must be wrapping up the last patient.

You should be able to see her during breakfast.”

“I see”

“Anything else?”

Lena decides to lighten the mood a bit. She grins and asks “Yes. Is your name Steven?” the Captain face palms dropping his formal act entirely.

“Oh come on! Not you too! When will people get tired of those bloody jokes? No, my name is not Steven, is Nathaniel. No, I don’t have a shield. No, I didn’t spent the last 75 years frozen solid. No, I don’t know Iron Man or Robert D. Junior. And yes, I hate Marvel.”

“Then we have that in common, I’m more of a DC fan,” Lena offers her hand. The Captain accepts it. “So, what’s the plan for today, Captain? Breakfast?”

“Breakfast is served from 7 to 8 after the morning drills that I got to skip today thanks to this special assignment,” Lena laughs and they fist bump. “As it’s 6:40 am we have time to walk to the cafeteria while I start explaining some things on the way. Shall we?” He starts moving

“Wait,” Lena stops him. “Can I put my shoes first?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

“To knock or not to knock, that’s the question.”

After spending all morning touring the base with “Captain America” (she couldn’t help it. It was too easy), Lena was now standing in front of Kara’s door, debating if it was a good moment to see the blonde.

That morning, when she entered the cafeteria to eat breakfast, she noticed that the medical staff was already there; meaning that Kara would also be there. She wanted to go and say hi, but thought better about it when, upon a closer look, she noticed that all of them looked like zombies. And her Kara was no exception.

Her Kara. Lena felt giddy thinking about it.

Sure, they still needed to talk about it, but maybe not right now. They could wait. Lena could wait. Kara needed to sleep more than anything else at the moment so she makes a bee line to where Rogers had sat down.

“Any news, Captain?”

“No, not really,” he says, pushing a tray in front of her. “Here, food.”

“Thanks,” after a few bites she is really glad she had a whole suitcase with her favorite instant food and an electric boiler back in her room. The Captain sees her face and chuckles.

“Don’t worry, its not always this bad. Depends on who’s on duty. Personally, I make some mean eggs and bacon”

“And Kara?” she asks naturally, taking another spoon full of… whatever she was eating.

Rogers goes pale. “She is banned from the kitchen.”

“Banned-?”

“We don’t talk about it. It was a dark day”

“Alright then,” movement catches her eye. All the medic staff was leaving.

“They sure look beat up. No wonder, most of them have being awake for over 24 hours”

“24 hours?” yes, definitely letting her sleep. She glances down at her breakfast (she’s still not sure what it is) and pushes it away.

“Full already?”

“More like showing my stomach some mercy”

“Yeah, can be tough if you are not used to it,” he also pushes his plate away. “So, ready to go Miss Luthor?”

Now, four hours later, she wasn’t sure if Kara had had enough rest. Would she be waking her up? Would she want to talk? Yes, of course she would, its Kara. Putting others before herself all the time. So, was it too selfish of Lena to want to talk about them after the stressful long night she just had?

“Yes, Lena, it is,” she tells herself. “The world doesn’t go around you. This amazing woman had an awful night. You should be here for her, to make her feel safe,” she raises her fist to knock and stops midway. “And maybe you should just let her sleep and go back to work instead of possibly waking her up. Let her be the one to go looking for you. Give her some space. After all, she told you that she would look for you.”

Lena sighs and leans her forward until her forehead is touching the door, arms limp on her sides.

“Still, Lena, you are worried about her. What if AAAAAHHHHHH!”

Lena found herself suddenly falling forward and face first into the floor. No time to lift her arms to soften the fall. Just her luck. Kara had opened the door.

“Oh my Rao! Lena! Are you ok?”

“Fine. I’m fine,” she sits up. “Just wounded my pride. And maybe my nose,” she touches it and flinches. Kara kneels beside her immediately.

“Don’t touch, let me see”

Kara’s hands were soft and gentle. “But also strong” Lena thinks. She hadn’t forgotten the crack on the table or her encounter with de Soto. She looks up at her eyes, bright and intense looking at her face from every possible angle, searching, analyzing.

“You’ll be fine,” Kara declares, smiling at her. “Nothing broken,” she boops her nose adorably and that was it for Lena. She couldn’t help it. She was only human. Lena took Kara’s chin and guided her lips to her own.

“What’s with you and kissing people on the floor?” jokes Kara when they break apart.

“Not people, just you,” that makes Kara blush. “I’ll stop doing it if you want.”

“No! I mean, I don’t mind. I- I like it ve- very much,” her blush goes a few shades deeper. Lena gives her another kick peck and stands up, offering her hand. Kara takes it.

“So, all good? I was worried.”

“No need to be. Everything is good. More than good, Lee. You and me, it’s-”

“Not about us,” interrupts Lena. Kara frowns, puzzled. “About last night, after you left.”

“Oh, that,” Kara walks over to her bed and sits down. “What makes you think its not?”

“I saw you during breakfast,” she sits beside her

“You did?” Kara groans. “I looked like a mess”

“You looked like a mess, I agree,” Kara slaps her arm playfully

“Hey! Be nice”

“You look much better now, though,” Lena bumps shoulders with her. “Really pretty,” Kara rolls her eyes, a smile on her face.

“Sweet talker”

“Truth talker,” Lena takes Kara hands. “but really Kara, are you alright? I heard what happened last night from the Cap.”

“Who is-? You met Rogers,” Lena nods. “And the first thing you do is calling him like he was Captain America”

“It was the logical thing to do”

“He hates it”

“I’m not calling him that to his face”

“You bully”

“You diverter,” says Lena catching on Kara’s plan. “You are actively distracting me from the topic of last night”

“Yeah, I kinda am,” Kara goes to the window and opens the blinds a bit to look outside. She stays silent for a while. Lena waits patiently. “People get hurt and die everyday”

A pause. Lena keeps waiting.

“They do,” she continues. “Everyone knows it. So, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“People get hurt and die, yes. But not everyone is your friend, Kara. Not everyone is someone you swore to get back home intact even when you know its not always possible.”

“It was!” Kara raised her voice. Points to Lena, she didn’t flinch. “This time it was! If only one, ONE medic or nurse had gone with the group. But none did. And I want to blame J’onn, but I saw that list. I approved that list. With no medic. Because it was a quick mission. 48 hours. Training mission. And now-” Kara turns to Lena, tears in her eyes. “Now I got one body in the morgue, one kid going back to his mother missing a leg, other two also in bad shape going back home and most likely staying there, and another two who can’t go cause, apparently, a broken bone is not bad enough for a leave even when they needed surgery to fix it. Not counting the PTSD that all of them will develop due to this and-”

Lena hugs her. Kara stiffens for a second before hugging back, hiding her face on the other woman’s neck. Lena can feel the tears falling. She makes no comment. She just let’s Kara let it out. When she sees that the woman is calming down, she guides them back to bed.

“His name was Miller,” Kara begins again, softer this time. “Private Frank Miller, 38 years old. Everybody loved him, if you don’t count his two ex-wives. He was a good dad, too. Three little girls that he always bragged about. Went to see them whenever he could. He taught me the proper way to throw a punch while I was putting his hand in a cast cause he broke it punching someone. He was everyone’s favorite uncle and he died yesterday do to bleeding that no one in the group knew how to control.”

A pause. Lena dries Kara’s tears with the bedsheets. Kara leans into the other woman who doesn’t hesitate into putting her arms around her again. Kara feels how Lena kisses her head. She just closes her eyes and steadies her breathing.

She felt safe in those arms. Only Alex, Eliza, and her mother had made her feel as safe and at ease as she now felt with Lena. So, this was what falling in love felt like? Was she in love with Lena Luthor? She knew she liked her and had confessed as much, but was she truly in love?

“I’m here, Kara. I swear I’m not going anywhere”

Yes. She was in love with Lena Luthor. She sighs and hugs a bit tighter, a smile finds its way to her lips.

“I got you Kara, everything is going to be alright. I got you.”

---

Kara is not sure when she fell sleep but she stirs awake when she feels Lena tucking her in. It seems that she had spent the little energy that four hours of sleep had given her. She sees Lena closing the blinds and then walking to her desk. She sees Lena writing a note and going back to Kara to leave it where she would be able to see it as soon as she wakes up.

“Stay,” she says. Lena looks up, note still in her hand. “Stay,” she repeats, her eyes pleading.

Lena’s heart couldn’t deny her this, so she nods. Kara makes space for her and Lena goes under the covers after taking of her shoes. The blonde cuddles to her immediately, arms around her middle, head on her chest over her heart. Lena wasted no time in hugging her back.

“Thank you,” Kara says before sleep claims her once more.

“Anytime, darling,” Lena whispers. She gives her one last kiss and gets comfortable. Sleep also comes for her in no time.

---

Allison was worried. Even after the most taxing days, Kara’s stomach woke her up in time to eat.

“You can say I’m like Maria Von Trapp,” she said one time years ago. When no one reacted to her comment she sang. “She’s always late for everything, except for every meal.”

That made everyone within ear shot laugh. By the end of lunch that day, everyone knew about the new doctor or was curious about her. Allison certainly was both.
She thought Kara an airhead at first but was proven wrong quite quickly. Kara had compassion, she was strong, funny, hella smart, she was… well, she was Kara Danvers. And Allison loved her for that. Mind you, she wasn’t in love with her (or so she claimed), but Kara was the most important person in her life. Her best friend. One she swore to protect even before knowing the secret. Cause as strong as Kara was, she was also frail. Always wearing her big beautiful heart on her sleeve. Allison wouldn’t stand anyone hurting her.

She had seen Kara go from fling to fling. She had delivered many shovel talks that Kara knew nothing about. Overprotective much? Maybe. But no one was good enough for the blonde. No one. She thought that maybe Beatriz could be a good match. They had a lot in common so she arranged that blind date. She had set them up and it had worked, at least at first. But after that attack and the injury and Kara telling her Bea had asked her to go back with her, maybe not such a good match after all.

Guess they would just have to wait and see. Maybe that person was just around the next corner.

What Allison refused to see was that, deep deep down, she hoped that person could be her.

There’s not worse blind than one that didn’t want to see.

“Lance!” a nurse stops on his tracks and turns, bags noticeable under his eyes. “God, you look like death”

“Like you look any better, Walters. Fuck off!”

“Such a ray of sunshine, like always,” he glares. “Have you seen Kara?”

“Not since breakfast,” Lance walks away.

The next two people she asked said the same.

“Kara? No, hadn’t seen her. But most likely she is with Luthor. Have you looked there?”

Luthor. Wasn’t that the chick from National City Kara has been texting lately? “Luthor?”

“Shoot! Right! Sorry. You were with the convoy, werent you? Impossible for you to know this yet. I mean, after all that shit last night…”

“Get to the point”

“Yeah, sorry. Let me explain,” so he did. “And then Danvers just lifted her from the ground and started spinning, like one of those romantic movies my mom loves so much, you know? She made me watch them with her and my sister when we were little. Never got to liked them as much as she did, but there is one that…”

“Neville, I swear to God!”

“Ok! Ok! Calm your tits, will you? The thing is that they are to work on some kind of groundbreaking secret shit for Luthor’s company. General’s orders. So if you are looking for Kara she must be with Luthor.”

“Thank you. Where?”

“The unused east barracks,” Allison starts running that way. “You are welcome! Jeez…”

She arrives to the east barracks, but sees no sign of someone living there. Ok, now what?

“Hey, Alli! What’cha doing around here, lass?”

“Marnie! Hey, have you seen Kara?”

“Nope! Only people I’ve seen today are the Luthor girl walking with Captain America (don’t tell him I called him that) cause he was gonna show her around. That was before breakfast. Skipped it. Mateo’s turn to cook. Wasn’t eating that. Haven’t seen anyone else since.”

“Damnit, Kara, where are you?”

“Logical thinking? Her room, lass,” says Marnie. “After last night…”

“But her stomach always wakes her up to eat and lunch was two hours ago”

“There’s a first time for everything. Don’t overthink. Where did you saw her last?” The obvious, of course. Allison feels like kicking herself.

“Her room”

“See? Simple”

“Sure, ok. Thanks Marnie!”

“Anytime, lass!”

20 minutes later she was walking down the hall on Kara’s floor. She could hear light snoring coming from a couple rooms so maybe Marnie was right and Kara had indeed just stayed in bed. She rounds the corner and find Kara’s room, the one with the Pride flag on the door. She was about to knock when she notices the door was ajar. Allison was sure she had closed it when she had left earlier and if Kara hadn’t gone out then…

“Someone’s in there,” Allison unclips her tigh holster hand ready on the gun, but not drawing it just yet. Was it de Soto looking for revenge on his broken nose? No. Couldn’t be. That happened too long ago for the gorilla to still care about it. Besides, she remembers someone telling her he was on house arrest for some dumb shit. One of his friends? Maybe playing a prank now that Kara was vulnerable? Yes, must be. She goes in quietly. The room was dark. She senses no movement. No sound either, apart from the steady breathing coming from the bed.

She walks to the blinds, careful to step where she knows the floor doesn’t make a sound. She opens the blinds a fraction to get enough light to see around but not so much as to wake up the one sleeping. She sees blonde hair and relaxes. Kara was fine. Sleeping peacefully. She walks closer to fix the blanket and freezes. There was someone else there.

She didn’t recognize this woman. Had never seen her before in her life. Black silky hair. White smooth skin. Logic made her draw the only possible answer.

“Luthor” she whispers

Lena Luthor holding Kara tenderly to her chest and been held in return. Both of them with the most peaceful expressions on their faces. She slides silently to the floor, biting her hand as to not make any noise. She had walked in on Kara a few times before, but this was different. First of all, they weren’t naked. No tousled hair, no foggy mirror, or heavy after sex atmosphere. This had other type of intimacy written all over it. The dangerous kind.

She felt out of place. She felt sick. It felt wrong.

“I gotta get out of here.”

Allison runs. Slams the door on her way out. She could hear a panicked “what was that?” from inside the room, but no idea who she had woken up. She kept on running. Only when she reached the South entrance did she stopped to breath and think.

She couldn’t think. This was an unforeseen development.

Kara and that woman. They were supposed to only be text buddies.

It was true that Kara spoke about her a little… no… more than a little. Kara had mentioned her a lot lately. Always with that smile on her face and that special twinkle in her eyes. And how Neville described their encounter the day before…

Damn it! How could she had being so blind!

Kara had a crush!

But that looked more than just that.

No… not a crush. Kara might be…

“No. Not on my watch and not before I see about this Luthor.”

So she starts walking back. She had things to do.

She would make sure that woman was good for Kara.

She was sure she wasn’t. No one ever was. She didn’t expect a different outcome this time around.

Lena Luthor. She would be going back home soon enough.

Allison would see to it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Lena woke up startled sitting up on the bed. A door (Kara’s door?) had slammed somewhere and the noise dragged her out from the dream realm. She pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head trying to shake of the sleepiness from her brain. Lena looks around the room. Everything looked the same under the afternoon light coming from the window. Wait a second… light coming from the window? Didn’t she closed the blinds? Whatever. Better close them. The afternoon light was uncomfortable on her eyes.

Lena moves and feels a tug on her hoodie. She looks down to see that Kara had a firm grip on her clothes. Impossible to move without waking up the blonde. Guess she would just lay down again for now. No hurry. But it was actually quite impressive, if she was honest, that Kara didn’t wake up after such a loud noise. She makes herself comfortable putting her arms around the woman once more. She felt refreshed, content, and fully rested. Last time she felt like this was… was…

“Damn, I can’t even remember when that was.”

“When was what?” says a sleepy voice besides her

“Hey you,” greets Lena. She reaches up and moves Kara’s hair from her face discovering bright blue eyes. “Did I wake you? How are you feeling?”

Kara leans forward and kisses Lena softly on her lips. “Hey you,” she parrots. “I’m doing wonderful and no, you didn’t wake me. It was that blasted door somewhere.”

Lena bops her playfully on the nose. “Sneaky, pretending to sleep”

“More like trying to go back to sleep,” Kara lies down on Lena, snuggling against her. “You make an amazing pillow. Last time I slept so well was… was… Wow! I can’t even remember when it was!”

Lena chuckles. “Me too”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? But not a bad weird. A good weird. I like weird,” Kara untangles herself from Lena, reaching over for her phone beside her alarm clock. It reads 5:56 pm. They had slept through lunch. Guess there’s a first time for everything. Lucky she didn’t have anything important to…

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” she curses jumping out from bed and looking for her shoes. At least she was already wearing some normal clothes. But she couldn’t go out like this. Uniform. Where was her uniform?!

“Kara, sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“Surgery. Leslie’s surgery. Damn it! I’ve had her on no food or liquid orders since yesterday! She is going to kill me! YES! UNIFORM!” She super speed changes. Lena rubs her eyes. Did that really just happened? Maybe she was seeing things out of some left over drowsiness. “I’m sorry. I gotta run. I’ll look for you, ok?” Kara gives her on last kiss before bolting out of her room.

“Weird, yes. Definitely weird,” Lena touches her lips and smiles. “But good, definitely good as well”

Lena gets out of Kara’s bed feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she woke up there. She puts on her shoes, closes the blinds, and starts the walk back to her room. Better to start organizing her own work.

---

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Kara can’t believe the scene in front of her. She walks closer to Leslie’s bed using her Colonel strut. All the people present fall into attention. No one messes with Kara when she goes Colonel mode. No one.

“Yo! What’s up doc!”

Except maybe Leslie.

“What is this?”

“A sandwich! Want some?” she takes another bite. Kara takes a deep breath, counts to 10, and turns to look at the team on guard.

“And exactly WHY is SHE eating?”

“Cause people die if they get no food or water, Danvers. Duh!” answers Leslie on their behalf.

“This is not with you, Leslie. So shut it!” One of the nurses steps forward.

“I’m sorry, doctor. I know she was scheduled for procedure, but it was getting late and over 24 hours have passed and as neither room is ready after what happened last night and you weren’t here-”

“That is enough Janice,” a woman interrupts. “It’s on me, Kara. I gave the order. It was getting dangerous for her and you know it. It’s common sense. Besides, we can now clean thoughtfully and work at 100% tomorrow.” Kara sighs.

“Can’t say you are wrong and it is my fault in a big way not yours,” answers Kara. “But this delays my orders, Cristina. I mean, if you or Jonah could just do it without supervision I wouldn’t be… Rao… I hate burocracy.”

“Don’t we all?”

Everyone looks at the door and falls into attention once more. This time Leslie included. She drops the sandwich.

“J’onn- I mean, General. Sir, to what do we owe the pleasure?” J’onn chuckles good naturedly. Seeing Kara all formal with him was always amusing.

“Well, Colonel, its about some business that I finally got to formalize. I think you’ll be happy with this development,” he says, walking to the center of the room so everyone present could see and hear him clearly. “Even if last night was a dark moment for all of us, the report that I sent made some people see the good work done here and I got some promotions to give,” he turns to Kara.

“Colonel Danvers,” Kara steps closer. She eyes him suspiciously. “This should be done in an official ceremony like when you were awarded your current rank, but we don’t have the time or means to do so at the moment and besides I thought you wouldn’t like a pompous gathering anyway. Also I already got the green light to proceed. So, with no further delay I bestow upon you, your new rank of Major General. Congratulations.”

Everyone is silent. Mouths and eyes wide open in total surprise. Kara included.

“Wait a minute. Major General? That’s two ranks. Shouldn’t I be Brigadier General. That’s the one following Colonel. Why-? I don’t-? I mean, a two star general-officer rank?”

“You earned it, Danvers. I can explain the workings that came upon this decision later, but its already on the books, Major General it is.”

“I… I… Thank you, General. I’d be honored”

The tension breaks and everyone starts clapping, whistling, and hollering.

“Way to go, Danvers! Now I’m not as worried about entering your butchery,” everyone laughs.

“About that,” J’onn continues. “I have another two announcements. First, to Jonah Brier and Cristina Ramos,” both soldiers step to the front. “Congratulations, I’ve been informed that you are no longer PA. You passed, Doctors.”

“YES!” Jonah jumps and high fives everyone. Cristina just looks up, closes her eyes, and whispers a thank you to the Heavens.

“And finally, due to seniority in the unit, I requested another promotion and it was approved. I think the new Major General will find this very helpful so congratulations, Colonel Ramos,” Cristina turns her head so quickly to look at J’onn that Kara doesn’t know how she didn’t get whiplash. Her eyes snap open and go wide as plates. Jonah also turns to J’onn with a ‘WHAT THE FREAKING?’ face.

“Brier, don’t start. I clearly mentioned seniority so the promotion goes to Ramos who has belonged to this unit for a whole year longer than you. Any comments, keep them to yourself,” Jonah flushes, embarrassed by his reaction and apologizes. J’onn turns to the new Colonel. “You think you up to the task, Colonel?”

“What do you mean, General?”

“That as from today, the Major General will be busy with other assignment and you’ll be in charge.”

“I… don’t…”

“You can do it,” says Kara who by now had understand what J’onn’s intentions were. “And you won’t be alone. We are all a team, right?”

“Right… YES! I’m up to the task, General!”

“Good, then we can begin now with your first order regarding this patient here,” they all turn to Leslie. She sees Kara pointing to Cristina and winking. The situation downs on her.

“Oh crap!”

---

Lena had being working for about an hour, organizing everything when her stomach started making uncomfortable noises. 7pm. Dinner was served at 8pm. She had missed lunch due to that amazing nap (worth it!) and now she was hungry. She stands up and goes to a little table in the opposite corner of the room. There was an electric water boiler, a couple mugs, instant coffee, tea bags, you know, the works. But what interested her was in the suitcase below the table. Instant ramen noodles cups.

So sue her. She liked the stuff.

Easy and quick to make. Tricked her stomach long enough until Sam (in college) and Jess (at work) gave her something real to eat.

“Add boiled water to the mark and let it rest for 3 minutes. Easy. Ok, water”

15 minutes later Lena was sitting at her desk again enjoining some spicy shrimp noodles… if the three little orange things in the cup could really be called shrimps. Whatever, it would keep her alive until dinner. That if she remembered to go eat dinner. If not, well, she had more noodles.

“Ok now, so this part would be…” a knock on the door interrupts her. “Yes?”

“Lee? Can I come in?”

Lena’s face lights up. “Kara! Yes, its open!”

As soon as Kara opens the door she can feel Lena against her. She hugs back, burying her face on her hair.

“I know it has been a bit over an hour, but I missed you”

Kara chuckles, breaking the embrace to look at Lena’s face.

“I think I said that weird is good, didn’t I?”

“And I agreed after you left, yes,” Lena reaches to close the door. “So how did everything go? Surgery all done?”

“When I got there Leslie was eating a turkey sandwich,” says Kara taking Lena’s hand and guiding her further into the room. She sits in Lena’s vacant seat and pulls the woman to her lap arms around her waist.

“So I guess tomorrow you’ll be working down at the medbay?” Lena sounds a little disappointed. She gets closer putting her arms around the blonde’s neck.

“Actually no. J’onn surprised us all, me especially, telling us that my two PA were now doctors. And not only that, he promoted Cristina to Colonel. Now she is my second in command and in charge of the medbay while I work with you.”

“Oh! That’s helpful! But wouldn’t you clash, though? Having the same rank?”

“Not really, no, as I was also promoted. You are now dating a Major General”

“That’s amazing! Congratulations, darling! You- wait. Did you say dating?” Kara’s face falls.

“You don’t want to? I mean… I thought…” Lena shuts her up with a kiss. “Ok. I’m getting mixed signals here.”

“It’s a yes,” says Lena. “I’d love to date you,” Kara sighs in relief. “But now that we are on the topic, we need to talk about us. Don’t you think?”

“We do, yes,” Kara stands up, taking Lena with her. The woman yelps, surprised. Kara deposits her on the edge of the bed and sits beside her. “So, what do you have in mind?”

“Privacy,” she says. “I’m not ashamed of what we have, but I don’t want rumors going around about us before I’m ready to come out publicly about our relationship. But especially because…”

“Lane,” completes Kara. “He would take advantage of this to have his way. Blackmailing, going to the press, tabloids. Public pressure. Better to stay closeted until what you need to do is done.”

“Are you ok with that? For us to wait?”

“I’ll wait what it takes,” she glances at the work table. “and I’m sure that the faster we work on that the less of a wait it will be”

“The less time I’ll be here as well, with you”

“Nothing is perfect, except maybe you,” Lena smiles

“Sweet talker” Kara kisses her softly

“I call them as I see them, babe,” Kara blushes and looks panicky after realizing the pet name she had just used. Lena was blushing too. “I’m sorry, too soon?” Lena relaxes.

“Not at all, Danvers. You just surprised me, but I like it. Let’s just stick to it in private, ok, darling? At least for now,” Kara nods and averts her gaze from Lena. Least she did or said something else. She glances at the time.

“It’s almost time for dinner. Want to join me?” she then notices the cup of now cold noodles. “Unless you already ate enough of those. They are not healthy, you know?”

“Save it, Kara. Sam has tried that logic since we were roommates back at college. And yes, I would love to join you unless-”

“Unless what?”

“Tell me, the one on breakfast duty today is also in charge of dinner?”

Kara laughs and shakes her head.

---

They entered together. Of course they would enter together. Allison looks their way, calculating eyes taking in every detail. People walk to them immediately. They were congratulating the new Major General and also requesting a formal introduction to her “friend”. That’s what she could see. Kara telling everyone Luthor was her good friend. So, they were keeping it under wraps. Smart move.

“Smart, yeah right. Like half the base didn’t already suspected there is something else going on there,” she takes a bite of her food. Lasagna for dinner with a salad on the side. Cesar dressing. She loved it when Paolo was on cooking duty.

It takes Kara a couple more minutes, but she finally gets to send the people away back to their tables. She scans the room and sees her, sitting on the farthest table on the back. She smiles and waves. Allison waves back with a forced smile on her lips. Kara says something to Luthor, pointing at her, and they both walk to her table.

“Hey, Al! Didn’t see you today. All good?”

“All good, although not as good as for you, Major General Danvers,” she stands up and hugs her. Kara hugging back without a second thought. “Congratulations, K. You leaving me on the dust!” she lets go and turns to Lena. “And this is…?”

“Seargent Allison Walters, let me introduce you to Lena Luthor, CEO of L-Corp. I’ve mentioned her before. She is the… friend I’ve been texting the last couple months. She is here to work on a secret project for her company and I’m assigned to help her,” she turns to Lena. Allison notices Kara’s hand on the small of her back. Her voice also going softer. “Lena, this is my best friend, Seargent Allison Walters. If there is anyone worth trusting around here beside me and J’onn, its her.”

Allison feels that Kara’s statement should have sting somewhere. Maybe made her feel some guilt. She checks.

Nope. No guilt.

She extends her hand to Luthor for an unnecessary tight handshake. Point to Luthor, she returned the favor with one of the best poker faces Allison had seen.

“Nice to finally meet the person everyone around here has been going on about all day. Same person who just happens to be Kara’s helpless little cru-,” Kara’s hand flies to cover her mouth. She sees the blonde looking around, making sure there were no eavesdroppers.

“Al, I love you and you know it, but if you do that again I swear I’ll kill you,” she pushes Kara’s hand away.

“Do what? Tell the world you have a high school crush on your ‘friend’?” she sees both women blush. “Ha! I knew it! You both are so cute,” Allison sits and continues eating her lasagna.

“How did you-? I mean I kinda know how for me but, Lena?” both women sit to each side of Allison.

“I could see you both from here. I guessed who she was. I mean, only new face around here and all that,” she turns to Kara. “Let me tell you this: Luthor doesn’t realize it, but she looks at you like you hanged the stars, K. Anyone with eyes can notice there is something here and its not plain friendship.”

Lies of course. Lena was careful in public. Too careful, the Seargent noticed. Allison just needed to plant the tinniest seed of doubt. She needed a mistake.

“Do I really-?”

“Yes you do, Lena. Can I call you Lena?” she doesn’t wait for an answer and continues. “I would be more careful if I were you. If someone else noticed… let’s just say that Kara here has a couple fans that don’t like competition. Less of it from an outsider. I would hate for a situation like the one with de Soto to happen again. Not adding the rumors that would start about the promotion. Two ranks? Maybe Luthor moved some pieces here and there for her LOVER using her family’s influence? I know it’s not true but-” she leaves the idea open.

Allison is proud of the silence that follows. Luthor’s eyes had gone darker. Seed of doubt planted: check.

And then Kara stands up and goes to sit beside Luthor. She sees her friend take the woman’s hands in one of hers and using the other to make her look up directly into her eyes. Allison noticed that Kara’s eyes were of an intense blue. She had never seen them like that.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Lee. You’ll be safe with me, I promise. And I’ll go talk to J’onn later to clarify anything and drown any possible rumors. We’ll both be ok.” she looks up to Allison with a frown. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, but that was uncalled for, Al. Stay here with her, I’m gonna ask Paolo to wrap two portions to go,” she turns back to Lena. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with some real food and then we’ll go back to your room, ok?” Kara leaves.

“I bet you think its funny,” says Lena as soon as Kara was out of hearing range. “Trying to scare me like that. I never imagined that someone as good as Kara would be friends with a bully like you”

“Bully?”

“I call them as I see them”

“Oh that’s such a Kara thing to say. You really think you two are close, don’t you?”

“I don’t think so, I know so”

“Well, trust me Lee, you are not,” says Allison, using Kara’s pet name to mock the woman. “I’ve seen her like this before. Many times. She crushes for a while and then moves on. I’m not bullying you. I’m trying to protect you. Tell me, between us, who knows her better? You or me?”

Allison expected a tense silence with intense doubt growing on Luthor’s eyes. She expected her to become a stuttering mess who couldn’t find an answer. She even expected a couple of well placed tears.

What she never expected was the calculating smile that reached the woman’s eyes.

“Oh I see. That’s your game. Well, let me tell you this now: you will lose”

“What the-“

“All ready, Lee, we can go,” Kara senses the tension. “You two ok?”

“Wonderful, darling. We have come to an… understanding. Right, Allison? I can call you Allison, can’t I?” she says returning the favor and without waiting for her answer she continues. “Let’s go, K. I’m starving” and she takes Kara’s free hand to get out of the cafeteria. Kara has time to look back and mouth ‘we’ll talk later’ to the Sergeant. People watch them go, puzzled.

“Shit. This will be more difficult than I first imagined”

Lena Luthor. Not the easy target she thought she would be.

---

“What happened back there?” asks Kara as soon as they are back to Lena’s room. “You kinda looked like you wanted to rip off Al’s throat.”

“She hates me. I don’t know why but she hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you, I promise. Allison just has… trust issues. More so when it has something to do with me. She can be… a little…”

“Flipping paranoid?” suggest Lena

“I was going to say overprotective,” Lena crosses her arms and raises one perfect eyebrow. Kara sighs. “I’ll talk with her tomorrow. Sort this out”

“I can work with that,” and she leaves it there. It would be unwise to press further.

She was putting herself in Kara’s shoes. What if it was the blonde talking about Sam? She knew she would also find excuses for her friend and turn on a blind eye. Better to wait it out for now.

“Ok, I’m starving and that lasagna looked good. Shall we?”

They eat and make light conversation. Not how she expected their first dinner together to go, but she wouldn’t complain. After they finish and clean up, Lena starts explaining about the problems with her research. Kara finally sees the documents written in different dialects and assures her that she can help. No problem.

Kara ends up staying the night. They don’t think much about it. They worked until late after all.

They both fall into a peaceful slumber in each others arms, not knowing about the storm that was slowly growing outside thanks to a well placed comment from a certain officer.

---

Next morning – 6:30 am

Kara was in a delightful good mood.

She had woken up once again in Lena’s arms. “I could get used to that. Lena, the first and last person I see everyday.”

She didn’t want to part with her to be honest, but the new Major General needed to get ready for the day. She needed to change her sleep wrinkled uniform and freshen up before breakfast. They had an image to uphold after all. If she was lucky no one would noticed she had spent the night elsewhere. Not really the most appropriate behavior even if the only thing they did was sleep. Kara could hear the early morning drills going on by the track field and shooting range. Perfect scenario for her. No one would see her sneak into her barracks and then her room that morning.

Would this one be considered a walk of shame?

If it did it was the less embarrassing one she’s ever had. In fact, she was kinda proud of it. The smiles still plastered on her face was proof enough of that.

Kara enters her building and goes straight to her room. She enters and…

“Is this the time to return Danvers? Out all night. Who knows what people will say if this gets out?”

… finds Allison sitting on her bed, back to the headboard, and arms crossed.

Kara frowns, steps in, and closes the door behind her.

“Al, what exactly are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Waiting for you to get back from an obvious wild night of sex”

“Wild night of…?!” Kara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Less she does something she’ll regret. “You have no idea what you are talking about and for the love of Rao, get your shoes of my bed!”

Allison stands up and walks to her.

“And exactly what do I have no idea what I’m talking about?”

“Everything?” answers Kara putting some space between the two of them. “Look, you were right about me and Lena, we do have a thing going on, but it’s not as you think! Al, I really like her, please, could you try and get to know her before going all older sister and giving shovel talks?”

“And why, mind you, would I do that?”

“Because that’s what friends do,” says the blonde giving her a hard look. Allison rolls her eyes.

“Fine, that’s reasonable, but your girl hates my guts. How do you plan for us to get to know each other, huh?” Kara tells her. “No”

“Al! Come on!”

“I don’t have time to baby sit a snob billionaire, K!”

“She is not a snob and its not baby sitting,” Kara argues. “I thought about what you said yesterday and I agree that maybe something like what happened with de Soto could happen again and maybe I wont be there to prevent it”

“Your point?”

“You can teach her,” Allison raises an unamused eyebrow. “You train all the new people here already, what is one more?”

“What is one more? Do you hear what you are saying? Kara, she doesn’t belong here. Stop making her feel like she does. It would be better for all of us if she went back to that ivory tower she spawned from.”

Allison’s attitude surprises Kara. Her best friend never acted like that. “What is wrong with you?”

Allison crosses her arms and looks away.

“Al, is everything ok? You are acting weird.”

“I’m acting weird? You are the one who disappeared all day yesterday and got me all worried! And for what? That woman? Please, as soon as her oh so special project is done she’s going to forget about you and I’ll have to pick up all your broken pieces.”

“You speak of what you don’t understand,” Kara was starting to get pissed.

“Oh I understand all right,” Allison walks until she is in Kara’s personal space. Close enough for her next words to not be missed. “You think we all don’t know exactly who your new babe is? You think we are all a bunch of poor bastards that can be fooled by a pretty face? That woman. We know. A Luthor. Heck. I saw her brother once. He was as charming. Ended up being the biggest piece of shit, but he was smart about it.”

“Stop talking now and I will pretend this conversation never happened,” Allison chuckles

“You are so smitten you just can’t see the obvious. She is playing you. Using you. I bet you everything I have she used her influences for that fancy promotion you got yesterday. All to have you all to herself, to have your loyalty like you weren’t more than a pup,” Kara starts shaking. The night before she had said she didn't believe in what she was saying to her right now.

“Allison, I’m warning you”

“And I’m warning you. After all, you can’t expect much from a Luthor.”

And suddenly Allison found herself pinned to the wall. Kara had her by the neck, high enough for her feet to not touch the ground. The woman was applying enough pressure for Allison to be able to breath but not be able to talk.

“I don’t know what game you are playing, but I’m not gonna play it with you,” she applies a little bit more of pressure to make her point. Allison starts panicking and gasping for air. Kara maintains her hold for a few more seconds before letting go. Allison falls like a sac of potatoes. The blonde kneels, eyes still hard.

“You broke something today, Allison and, to be honest, I don’t know if it can be fixed,” she stands up and goes around her room, picking everything she needed to get ready for the day. “I don’t want to see you or talk to you, unless our professional setting requires it so please… just go,” Allison stands up, but doesn’t move. “For Rao, just go!”

“Fine, I’ll go,” Allison moves and opens the door, but doesn’t go just yet. “If I may, Major General, say one last thing?” Kara nods. “What will happen when Luthor knows the truth? What happens when she asks about Rao? Are you so sure she won’t do as I’ve told you and just walk?” Silence. “Maybe I broke something today, but don’t come crying when she breaks you”

---

Allison slams her door close and falls to the floor.

“Damn it!”

This was not going as planned.

Luthor should be doubting Kara right now.

Kara should be questioning Luthor right now.

But they were FUCKING NOT.

She needed to up her game. This was not over.

Luthor needed to go and… she may know the perfect person to get that done.

A General that might appreciate her collaboration.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Lena gets out of the shower in a hurry, only draping a towel around herself. Sam had to choose the least convenient moment to call.

"Lena here!"

"Hey Lee! How was your- wait… Any particular reason I’m flat on your table looking at the ceiling?" she mock gasps. "Are you maybe indecent and in the pleasant company of certain Colonel?"

Lena rolls her eyes and starts dressing. "Wrong, like every time you try to guess about my personal life."

"You are no fun."

"And you have way too much fun on my expense," now clothed, Lena proceeds to untangle her hair and towel dries it. The weather here was so hot her hair would be completely dry in a few minutes.

"So you are telling me that there had being no development at all in the Danvers front?" Seeing that Sam wouldn't drop the subject unless she gave her something she took the bait.

"I wouldn't say that," she begins. "She was just promoted to Major General."

"Ok, even if I have to admit that is pretty cool, you know that is not the kind of development I’m talking about.”

"We also started working on the research and resuming my Kryptonian classes," she hears Sam sigh. Lena finishes with her hair and moves the screen so they can see each other. "And maybe, just maybe, we kissed a little more," and Sam can see Lena looks smug about it.

"Now that's what I wanted to hear. Tell me everything"

///

Kara felt... watched.

She turns. No one in sight. Kara continues walking and feels that same sensation again. Like someone's eyes are on her.

She stops and turns again. No one. Maybe hiding somewhere? She lowers her glasses and uses her x-ray vision.

Empty.

Must be some kind of paranoid idea caused by her fight with Allison. A fight she was already regretting.

That must be it. The guilt. Yes.

She continues walking, trying to ignore the sensation of being under vigilance.

///

"She knows we are here," says the man. "See her body language? She knows we are following and observing."

"Maybe, but she obviously didn’t spot us," answers a second guy.

"Will you two shut it? You are distracting me! Can't miss that moment when they meet," says a third accomplice. "I don't know why I let you come with me. This is a one man job."

"Yeah right. And who's idea was to observe from this third floor, huh?"

"Mine," says guy number 3, as a matter of fact.

"Ok, but, whose camera is it?"

"Also mine."

"Sure sure... but who was-?"

"Again, me. Shut up!" guy number 2 sits against the wall under the window and curses under his breath.

"Are you sure they will meet?" asks guy number one.

"They better, or we'll be arriving late to breakfast for nothing. I'm hungry and sore. Damn that Walters. She didn't need to go so hard on us today."

"She looked mad as hell, that's for sure. Think it has something to do with Danvers?"

"I bet its the hottie hanging around our new Major General. Lesbian problems. Fighting for the same girl?"

"More like fighting for a sugar mama," guy number one jokes. he goes for a high five from camera guy. He is left hanging.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," says camera guy. Loud and clear so the other two don't miss it. They flip him off. He doesn’t care. Camera guy focuses. Zooms in some more. He needed this shot.

A few seconds later, he is rewarded.

///

Kara can't help it. The moment she sees Lena walking to her in the distance she starts running to her encounter as fast as humanly acceptable, perhaps a little bit faster. When she reaches her, Kara takes her in her arms, French dips her, and kisses her deeply on the lips like in the movies.

At that moment all her senses were so focused on Lena and only Lena that she misses the noise of the camera shutter a few buildings over. Kara ends the kiss after a few amazing moments. Lena had moved her hands to her hair, she noticed. Kara grins.

"I've always wanted to do that," she whispers against Lena's lips, teasing the beginning of a new kiss.

"I'm not opposed to you trying new things, love," replies Lena just as teasingly. Kara straightens them before things got out of control. Not like she would mind, but it was not the time. "Really, Kara. I wouldn't mind more kisses like that."

"Of course you wouldn't," winks Kara and goes in for another kiss. This one slower, with more meaning behind it. Kara's hands move to Lena's hips, thumbs drawing circles close to the waistband of her pants, touching hot skin. On her part, Lena had her hands on Kara's hair again. She had unclasped her hair pin and was playing with her gold locks as she pleased. They both couldn't get enough of the other. They only stop when their stomachs start making noises. Kara chuckles at Lena's blush.

"Not enough ramen noodles?"

"Oh shut up!" says Lena lightly slapping Kara's shoulder. Kara laughs some more while fixing her hair.

"Well, Madame, would you allow this humble soldier to escort you?"

"Well. yes, my good woman, please, lead the way." Lena takes Kara's offered arm and they laugh at their silly game. They walk like that to the cafeteria.

Up on a third floor of a nearby building, the soldier from before lowers his camera and grins evilly.

///

The place was very busy, as usual, but Kara saw a couple vacant tables they could chose to seat at. Kara's hand moves to Lena's back to guide her to the food line. No one pays them attention, everyone busy with their own conversations. Some, of course, salute Kara as higher ranking officer, but nothing else. Kara didn't hear her name or Lena's mentioned in the crowd. Weird. A gossip like Lena shouldn't have died so soon unless something else had happened. She dismisses it. If there weren’t rumors then they would be left alone.

Kara and Lena get their food from a way too happy woman and sit down to eat. Lena makes a sinful noise with her first bite.

"I take its good?"

"Compared to my first breakfast here you can bet it is," Lena keeps eating happily. Kara may fall a little bit more in love with her. "When will I have the honor to taste your food, Major?"

Kara takes a couple bites before answering. "While here? Probably never. I’m banned from the kitchen after... let's call it an incident," Kara changes topic before Lena can continue prying into her cooking inability. "Have you noticed? It seems we are no longer the hot topic around."

"I did notice that. Not that I’m complaining, I have enough gossip going around myself back in National City to also deal with it here, but I wonder why."

"Let's find out," Kara stands up and looks around carefully. She founds what she's looking for, whistles loudly, makes gestures with her arms calling someone over, and sits back down. A man appears a few seconds later.

"Kara! My favorite new Major General! About time you talked with me, man!" He slaps her strongly on her back. To anyone else, that slap would have made them topple over the table, but Kara didn't move an inch. It was like she didn't even feel the slap. The man didn't look impressed. Must be a regular occurrence. He takes a seat.

"So tell me, what do you- oh my golden goddesses," his eyes go wide when he finally notices Lena siting with them. "Well, hello there, Madame. Kara, it's rude not to introduce such a fine lady to a gentleman."

"Then I see no problem as I see no gentleman," answers Kara as it was the most natural thing in the world. There is silence for about 5 seconds before the newcomer starts laughing loudly, slapping his knee.

"Oh my! You got me Danvers! That was good. Ok," he calms down. "How about introducing her to a friend."

"That I can do," she turns to look at her. "Lena, this is officer Raymond Simur. Ray, this is Lena Luthor, my... good friend."

"Good friend, right. You may as well call her your gal pal," he laughs. "You thought I wouldn't notice? Maybe I wasn’t the first to know this time, but believe me, I WILL know eventually."

"What does that's supposed to mean?" asks Lena. Kara just shrugs.

"Nothing happens at this base without him knowing. You think high society women are gossipy? They are nothing compared to Raymond here. But, unlike those vipers back home, all of Ray's information can be trusted."

"You flatter me, little one," he reaches over to eat from Kara's tray. She slaps his hand away. "So, what exactly do you want to know? I know you didn’t call me over just for me to see your angel," Lena looks down to her food and continues eating, trying to hide her coming blush. "You want something. Tell Ray what."

"Nothing big, just curiosity really, did something happen in, say, the last 12 hours? Something that made everyone stop talking about us," she points to Lena and back to her. "Not like I want them to, its annoying, but for something so new to die so quickly something else must have happened and I would like to know what."

"Yes, something came up this morning. It has everyone seriously pissed off."

"That's interesting, what was it?" Lena interjects.

"It's more of a 'who' pissed them off and not a 'what', my fair lady," Kara rolls her eyes. Ray would never change. "Because you see today, Seargent Allison Walters, barged into the morning drills today, acted like the Asshole Queen, and made everyone her enemy."

"Oh fuck."

"Oh fuck, indeed, dear Major," continues Ray. "She acted like your typical bully from those boot camp movies. Yelling at everyone, insulting, you name it. A major bitch. We think something made her mad. We think that something was you two. But at the moment we are all more interested in what punishment she will get from General J'onns. That's what everyone is talking about right now. Making bets, hoping is this or that, waiting the final verdict. Its not like we all forgot you, you'll regain the spot light soon enough, it's just that more pressing matters are afoot."

Kara starts cursing under her breath. Raymond ignores her and gives his full attention to Lena. "So, what exactly is such a beautiful specimen from humanity doing around here?"

Kara groans. Lena can't help but laugh and indulge Raymond. No harm done.

///

Allison was walking to the cafeteria, should be almost empty at this hour, after having to put up with J'onn's high moral speech. She acted like the repentant girl in front of her strict father, promising change and whatnot. In reality, she hated him. Hated all Generals at the moment.

Lane didn't answer her call. She tried from the unsupervised control room while everyone was distracted with morning drills. She knew the door passcode, hadn't changed in months since she had replaced the one in charge for a few days due to illness. She made the call, got put on hold, and then this assistant told her that the General was too busy for her nonsense and to call back in 20 years, when she got a promotion that counted, and hung up on her.

She put her frustration and anger to good use and kicked everyone’s asses during morning drills. Long story short, she humiliated a lot of soldiers until J’onn put a stop to it. Yes, she knows she over did it, by a lot, but she couldn't help it. She was furious. And until she got Luthor to get the hell away from Kara she would stay like that. Kara who always saw the good in everyone, but didn’t know what she was dealing with this time. It was Luthor, a lost case. So, until that bitch was gone, Allison would not rest.

She turns the corner and sees three soldiers in the middle of a heated argument. She recognizes all three of them: de Soto and his lackeys. She walks to them, unnoticed, to give them a scare.

"Well, well, well. What do we... What the fuck is this?!" They react to that, surprised at being caught. They had a little box full of paper prints in black and white. Photocopies from several different photos.

Photos that showed Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor (Allison wanted to throw up) together. She looked around. They also had paint brushes and glue. She understands the plan. Cover the wall with the photos and let everything fall under its on weight. And fall they would, hard, for Kara. That was not how a Major General, even one just appointed, behaved.

"What do you shit heads think you are doing?!"

After recovering from the initial shock, the three men fall into a menacing stance. They face Allison three to one.

"Go running along little Sarg, you are not welcome here."

"And you should be cleaning bathrooms De Soto, or you want me to go run to J'onn and tell him what I saw?"

"See what? These? You tell on us, you condemn Danvers and her hoe. You can't win this one. You can only- OOF!" De Soto falls to his knees, clutching his stomach, after Allison kicked him with all her might. She looks up to the other two bullies. They both take a few steps back, hands up, advantage lost. She kneels down and takes De Soto by the front of his shirt.

"The negatives and the originals. NOW"

"Negatives? What year you think it is, the 90's? It was a digital camera, bitch!" Allison punches his face. He groans and spits. A piece of tooth comes out. He looks up at Allison, her eyes promising Hell. No need to say it out loud, it was obvious what she wanted. De Soto may be an idiot, but one with good survival instincts. "Front pocket."

She digs, finds a memory card, and pockets it. "Original prints?"

"Bottom of the box. We used them to make the photocopies," answers one of the lackeys, hands still up.

Allison shoves De Soto down, takes the box, kicks the guy on the floor one last time, and disappears.

Back in her room she walks to the bathroom, and takes the metal trashcan. She puts all the photos there and lights them with a match. She sees the images burn with a lot of pleasure.

She takes out the memory card and was about to also throw it into the pile when an idea strikes her. What if...?

She waits until the burning is done (didn’t want an uncontrolled fire) and boots up her computer. She inserts the memory card and saves the pics she can use, deletes the rest. She then proceeds to Photoshop Kara out of the pics as much as possible.

Finding out Lane's personal email would be easy, she just needed to sneak into J'onns office after midnight. She noticed, while he was lecturing her, that he started session to record their conversation. She saw his password. Bunch of numbers, a birthday, and three letters. Now, this was something Lane would want to know. And no one needed to know it was her. Even if De Soto and his friends pointed her direction, no one would ever believe them.

She finishes her project, saves, and relaxes. She was suspended for the day, meaning she had enough time to plan her break an entry. She keeps working.

If the universe wanted Lena Luthor here, then it would have never let these photos fall into her lap, right?

///

Back in National City Samantha Arias, FCO of L-Corp, begins her day in a bright note.

It was day 5 since Lena went to the base. They had talked last night (last night for her at least, Lena was way too many hours in the future) with Kara present this time. They were doing great, both with work and their personal relationship. She was happy for them so obviously she teased them every chance she got. It was her right as Lena's best friend.

Sam sighs, stopping at a red light, thinking about the woman. Lena had changed, she noticed that now. She had always worried for her, since they met, and no one could really blame her. Not with the family Sam knew she had.

Since before taking over L-Corp, her friend wanted to appear like a tough, suave, hardened person. Sam knew better.

Not that Lena wasn't the toughest, smartest, most take-no-shit-from-anyone person she had met, but she was also a soft, caring, gentle soul. A survivor from her family's wrath. She stayed uncorrupted but got wounds Sam believed were still tender if not open. Sam feared they would never heal. Looking at her now, Sam knew they would.

And all that because of Danvers. Sam felt she should be jealous, but it was an alien thought for her. There was no logical ground why she should be. It's true that the soldier had captivated Lena since the moment her friend saw her in the crowd. That she had never shut up about her since their first conversation, but jealousy wasn't something that ever crossed her mind. Sam knew their friendship was strong enough to handle anything and it wasn’t like Lena would push her aside. The part, though, that surprised Sam the most was the easy trust. Lena never trusted, so Kara must really be something else. Sam just hoped it was something good because, if Lena got hurt in any way, she would personally kill Danvers.

Overprotective much? Maybe, but Lena was worth it.

"Miss Arias," calls her Jess as soon as the elevator doors opened in her floor. "The General is here."

Sam growls. She had totally blocked the fact she had a meeting with him today. There it goes her happy morning. That man has not leave her alone since Lena left town. Coming every single FUCKING day. He knew Lena would never receive him so he waited, and waited, and then waited some more before he pounced like the predator he was.

"Thank you Jess. I need you to attend the meeting with me. I want all my concentration to be on that man so I want you to take notes, as detailed as you can, and not only about what it's said but about how he behaves. Body language, facial expressions, everything. Did he bring an escort?" Jess nods. "Also watch him. Like a hawk."

They both put their business faces on and march to the office where the devil was waiting.

Sam remembers all the instances that had guided her to this encounter.

Lane's first appearance in that office was the day after Lena left, requesting to talk to the "one in charge". Jess had dismissed him immediately saying that Miss Luthor had given strict instructions about not wanting to talk with the General.

"But I'm not here for Miss Luthor," he said. "She is not here after all."

Jess' poker face never broke but on the inside she was worried about the fact that Lane knew. "Then, please, stop wasting my time. You are not the only person with pending work."

"But its your work to announce my presence to your boss."

"Who you just said its not here."

"Luthor is not your only boss, or I’m mistaken to think that Samantha Arias is in charge for now?"

At the end, Jess could send him away saying that the day after a change in Administration was always too busy.

"Miss Arias is fully booked for the day. Come back, I would prefer you didn't, another day."

"I will, good day."

Jess told Sam about the visit. They weren't fools, they knew he would be back.

"Shouldn't we tell Miss Luthor?"

"No, we would only worry her and its not like she can do anything about this while staying in a secret military location where she shouldn't be at in the first place."

Lane returned the next day. He trapped Sam as she was entering the L-Corp lobby. There was already activity around them and Sam knew he would make a scene if she denied him an early meeting.

That first time Lane acted like a passive-aggressive son of a bitch. Trying to convince Sam that Lena was overreacting. Called her friend a "bright mind" at the same time he implied she was "neurotic". Calling her a "clever business woman" while stating that a board room was a place for men.

Sam never knew how she didn't snap.

She gave instructions to not let him or his men in the building again. They were not welcomed. So of course, he ambushed her outside L-Corp when she left for the day. And he continued like that for the next 2 days. Finding the loopholes. Suddenly going to the same place as her for lunch or, the one that really ticked her, appearing at her daughter's school because he had a "meeting with the Principal about scholarship programs".

Sam realized it was a confrontation she wouldn't be able to avoid. She was more vulnerable than Lena, had more to lose, so she conceded.

Today was the day.

She enters the office, Jess in tow, opening the double doors at the same time. A little power move to show dominance. It was tragically missed as Lane was looking around Lena's mini bar, choosing from the expensive liquor she kept there. Fucker. His plus one was standing in a strategic corner that allowed him a full view of the room. Jess moved to stand next to him, out of arms reach.

"General Lane, you are early," he turns and opens his arms in a welcoming manner. He looked too happy. Sam didn’t like it.

"Miss Arias, good morning. You look as beautiful as ever. I always say-"

"Cut the crap, Lane. You don't mean the compliments and I don't want to hear them so stop with your games and get to the point. I'll give you 5 minutes before calling security."

Sam walks over to the desk and sits on Lena's chair. Another power move. It showed she wasn't intimidated. But Lane looks amused more than anything else. Sam is pretty sure that can't be good.

"The Luthor attitude doesn't suit you, Arias," Lane decides on a bottle and fills a glass with the liquid, neat. He smells the bouquet before taking a sip, nodding and walking to the middle of the room. "Good stuff. Have to admit that Luthor has good taste, for a woman."

"I said, get to the point," Sam's voice is hard and cold. Not even 3 minutes with the man and she already wanted to throw him out the window. "You have 3 more minutes."

"No I don't. I have all morning if I want to."

"Well I don't. Unlike you I have other responsibilities. Mainly a multimillion company to run. Not like you know the meaning of being productive or a day of honest work."

That does it for Lane, the tiniest of hints of insult. He slams the glass on Lena's pristine desk, cracking the fragile material and spilling amber liquid over its surface. Sam saw it coming. She looks up, stoic.

"Two minutes. Tick. Tock."

"You better tell Luthor to come back."

"Go fuck a cactus," she answers standing up. "If that's all-"

"It's crazy, you know? How volatile war zones can be," Sam freezes for a fraction of a second. Enough for Lane. "Days can pass uneventful, weeks even, and suddenly half he platoon is wounded and the other half is dead. People who trained for those situations. A civilian wouldn't be able to last. Not even with a skilled doctor attached to their hip."

He was talking about Lena and Kara. He must be. But how did he find out? Didn't matter, she needed to divert.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sure you do," he signals to his assistant and the man moves. He starts putting different photos in front of Sam. She pales. "Until yesterday I had a whole different speech prepared for you today, but this morning these magically fell on my lap thanks to an anonymous source."

"Anonymous or fake?"

"They are real, Arias, made sure of that. I don't make empty threats with fake evidence. That's beneath me," Sam feels a chill going down her spine. A threat. She didn't like were this was going. "It seems that someone in General J'onns' team is displeased with certain developments," he makes a disgusted face at the images on the table. "I would be to, if I had to witness Luthor and Danvers giving a show like that."

He knew. She panics. "How do you-"

"Perfect! Thanks for confirming that this is Danvers. That's all I needed."

Sam falls back on the chair, feeling like an idiot. She fell right into his trap.

"Take this as a warning. Convince Luthor to come back and sign the contract I have for her, or I will," he marches to the door. "And before I forget, tell Danvers I say hi next time you girls talk."

///

"Lock the door," she orders and Jess makes quick work of it. She reaches for her 'Lena line' and calls. "Pick up. Pick up."

Nothing.

"Damn it!"

"What do we do, Miss Arias?"

"First, cancel everything I have today, its irrelevant at this point. Second, get the extra line I know Lena gave you for emergencies and try to contact General J'onns. Explain everything. Third, be safe. Lane knows you also know. I don't want you risking your life on this. Understood?"

"Yes, Miss Arias. What are you going to do?"

"Profiles. Try to find out who is the rat."

"Ok... how?" Sam gives her a side smile.

"You really think Lena Luthor would go blindly to some military base so far from home?"

///

Kara smiles. Seems the only expression she could manage these past days. Her fight with Allison aside, Kara had never felt as happy.

"That was very good Lena, although a bit too formal. In this scenario this conjugation is not needed as you would be talking to someone close to you. Save the formality for someone higher up in the social scene who, in your case, would only be the President," Lena laughs and Kara rejoices with the sound. She would never get tired to hear it.

"Are you sure about it, Major General?" says Lena. "Technically you are my superior around here."

"Technically," she answers. "But I don’t want this kind of power play between us."

"Oh?" Lena raises one perfect eyebrow and adds with a sultry voice never used before with her. "And exactly what kind of power play would you allow?"

Kara gulps. This was a new side of Lena coming to the surface.

"Eh? What?"

"I can very much show you what I mean, if you'll let me," Kara nods vigorously and takes Lena's offered hand. They settle on Lena's bed, the CEO moving expertly and putting Kara on her back. Kara was pleasantly surprised. She normally took the lead in these situations. A very much welcomed change. Lena straddles Kara, hands already undoing buttons, and leans in for a kiss when a very loud beeping interrupts them.

"I’m going to kill her," Lena swears under her breath. She stands up and goes retrieve her 'Sam line'. The device had been off most of the day, charging, and not 10 minutes after turning it on again it sounds. Lena waits 3 seconds before Sam's face comes to the screen.

"Sam, you have THE worst timing ever, you know?"

"Then maybe next time you’ll answer the fucking phone the first 50 times I call. So, get over it Luthor, we have a problem," Kara reacts to that. She moves to Lena's side first two buttons still undone.

"Problem? Of what kind?"

"Great! Kara is there... Oh, Kara is there," Sam goes from serious to teasing way to quickly for comfort. "Bad timing huh? I cock blocked you, didn’t I?"

"Sam, to the point"

"Yes, I cock blocked you."

"She kinda did," laughs Kara.

Sam sees Lena putting the tablet down against the wall, walk to her bed, grab a pillow, and throw it. It hits Kara's face. The blonde doesn’t mind, it seems, a she closes in on Lena, picks her up, and sits on the bed in front of the camera, with her girlfriend on her lap.

"You guys are so gross already, but back to the important issue. I’m sorry to burst your bubble but..."

"I’m all ears, Sam," says Lena hugging Kara closer, nothing could ruin this. "But what?"

"Lane knows you are there."

Moment ruined.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Kara stands up abruptly, shock evident on her face, after Sam's words. Lena, previously on her lap, falls to the floor.

"Ouch!"

"Lena! Shit! I'm so sorry! I... Sam, repeat what you just said?" Kara asks, helping Lena to her feet. She was fine, just wounded pride. Lena noticed the lack of laughter on Sam's part. Well, that meant they were really in deep shit.

"Lane. Knows," she repeats, slowly, to give the message the impact it deserved. "The bloody mother fucker came today and he basically threatened you two. Mostly Lena, to be honest, but I didn't like how he expressed himself about Kara."

"Threat?" Lena goes pale. "How does he- wait a minute. What do you mean with 'came today'?" color started returning to her face and soon Lena was red, but with anger. "Sam, you RECEIVED him? HIM! That piece of trash! How could you be so- KARA LET ME GO!"

Kara had put her arms around her and lifted her. She put her over her shoulder (Lena kicking like a little kid) and walked to the bathroom. She put Lena down in there, closed the door, and barricaded it. Sam could hear the muffled screaming and Kara answering she would let her out when she calmed down. The blonde reappears on the screen.

"Sorry about that," she says. "Had to stop her before she said or did something she would later regret."

"Eeehhh... Kara... you know THAT will come back later and bite you in the ass, right?"

"I... didn't think about that," now is Kara's turn to pale. "Will it be bad?"

Sam stays silent for a few seconds and then bursts out laughing. "Oh man, you are so perfect for each other. Also, wow, you ARE strong."

Kara gets a pretty pink color on her cheeks. "Thanks, Sam. Feeling better?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. So, back to business. What happened, Sam? What did he do to convince you to talk to him? I know it wasn’t out of the goodness of your heart."

"He gave me no choice, Kara."

Sam explains how she tried to avoid him, how she banned him from L-Corp, how he basically stalked her after that, the pressure he put on her into that meeting.

"He even appeared at Ruby's school, Kara. He made sure I understood that not even MY DAUGHTER could be save from him," Sam stops, taking a deep breath, "And I did understand, Kara. I’m not like Lena. I have too much at stake. Too much to lose. He knew where to strike, where it would hurt me the most."

"I see," Kara says softly, and the adds louder. "You heard that?" Sam can hear Lena's muffled response. "Good, I'll let you out now, then. Behave."

Lena reappears on the screen, flushed and looking a little embarrassed.

"Sam, I-"

"Save it, Lena," she says, "I kind of saw that reaction coming. We both know you react badly whenever that joke of a man is mentioned. But I'm still telling the story of Kara locking you in the bathroom and exaggerating it. You owe me that."

"That's... fair, I guess," Lena shakes her head back into the game. "Ok, so Lane literally bullied you into granting him an audience. What happened next?"

"He came with a silent minion so I entered with Jess. Gave her instructions to watch them like a hawk. There wasn't much to see at first. The minion didn't even move and Lane was acting like an asshole as expected. I told him to cut the crap. He told me to tell you to come back. I told him he could go fuck a cactus."

"That's more like the Samantha Arias I know," says Lena. "What else?"

"He called his minion forward and showed me some pictures he was holding," Sam let's out a long sigh. "Lena, they were all of you. You with... someone else," she side looks at Kara.

"What?!" both women say at the same time.

"You can't really see who the other person is, but it's obvious what they are doing so I just added one plus one. Also the background of the photo was clear and there was no mistake where they where."

"Wait, if the other person was taken out, how did Lane know it was me?" Sam looks guilty.

"He tricked me. I should have seen it coming. He tricked me and I said your name. I'm sorry."

"Hey, Sam no, listen to me," says Kara. "It's not on you. Lane is an expert. Who do you think they call for tough interrogations? And he caught you in a vulnerable moment. Did you hear me? Is not on you," Sam nods, drying a couple of stray tears. "Now, what we need is a plan of action."

"I think we need to tell J'onn at once," says Lena. "He has more insight on this."

"Don't worry, he already knows."

"What? How?"

"Because unlike you, he does answer when you call him," says Sam. "I told Jess to used the emergency line you gave her. Bless her soul, she tried to pretend she didn't know what I was talking about. She is loyal, keep her."

"Wait, how did you know about that line?"

"How could I not? I know how you operate, Luthor. You don’t have just a plan A and B. You go all the way to Z. Jess was the obvious choice, so was the General," Sam looks at a weirdly silent Kara. "Hey, Danvers, you alright there?"

"What? Yeah! Yes, I'm cool. Just thinking."

"Are you mad I didn't tell you about that emergency line? It's not that I don't trust you it was just..."

"A need to know basis?" she completes. "Don't worry, babe, I understand that. No biggie. I’m thinking about something else entirely. Something that just came to me."

"What?"

"Who took the photos?" she says. "And why erase me? I mean, they could have taken us both pretty easily. It doesn't make sense."

"Go talk to J'onn," urges Sam. "I'll keep digging on my side. Maybe call in a few favors. Anything you fin tell me, I'll do the same. Gotta go, it's Ruby's bed time."

"Wait, Sam, one last thing," Kara stops her. "What was Lane's threat?"

"He kindly reminded me how dangerous the place you are can be, even with a doctor at arms reach. Please, be careful."

And with that, Sam disconnects.

///

"Finally, come in," J'onn urges them inside his office and locks the door. "I've been waiting all day."

"You could have told us, you know?" complains Kara, letting herself fall in one of the vacant chairs.

"I thought it would be better if you heard it from Miss Arias."

"He has a point, darling," Lena stands behind, hands on her shoulders massaging gently. Kara visibly starts to relax. J'onn smiles at them.

"Now that we got that out of the way, we need to think a plan of action now that we've been discovered," he says walking to his desk. "I'm still in the clear as I have all in order and approved about Luthor's presence here, but Lane will put pressure on us. This caught everyone involved by surprise."

"Did it really?" asks Kara. "J'onn, you truly didn't know? Not even a small hint passed your mind?"

"No," he says plainly going back to his chair.

"But you could have known," Kara takes a jab at him. Lena looks puzzled at her attitude. J'onn looks a bit coldly at her.

"You know I don't do that anymore, Kara. It's an invasion of privacy, no matter if it's for a good cause. And in some cases it could injure the subject if they have a strong mind. In conclusion, it's not ethical."

"And now? Now that you wouldn't just be wondering checking at random? Now that you have a specific target to find?"

J'onn pinches the bridge of his nose. "I would still need to go through all superficial thoughts if what I'm looking for is not in the fore front of their minds. If it's not the case, I would still need to do a deeper intrusion and I refuse to do that."

"I’m sorry, time out," says Lena. "I'm lost here. What are you guys talking about?"

Kara grins mischievously at J'onn. On his part, he throws daggers at her. "You did it on purpose."

"You are the one who spilled the beans," counters Kara. "Besides, you can trust her."

"As you have?" Kara cringes. J'onn clears his throat. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

"Hello? I'm still standing here. What are you guys talking about?"

"I would help our case if she knew, J'onn, tell her, please?"

J'onn sighs. "Ok, fine. I guess this would have come out of the bag soon anyways. Especially if your relationship keeps growing at a steady pace," he pauses for dramatic effect. "You need to take her on a proper date soon. I think I can manage to give you a free weekend and arrange a flight to the nearest town."

They blush.

"How did you know?" asks Lena at the same Kara says "You spied on us?"

"One doesn't have to be a genius to notice and no, Kara, I didn't spy on anyone," he clarifies. "You two just think too loudly about each other, most when you are together. My mind is in sync with Kara's due to our familiarity and you, Miss Luthor, are mostly with her so your mind gets into the mix by proxy. It gets really easy to catch your thoughts even if I don’t want to. And believe me, the things you two think are something I DIDN’T want to know. I have enough practice blocking Kara's mind, and I do, but it's difficult to ignore something being screamed directly to your brain."

Kara hides her face in her hands, redder than anytime in her life. Lena looks at her, then at J'onn, then back at her, and it clicks. Her eyes go wide.

"You are a telepath?"

"One of my abilities," he transforms and Lena has to sit down. "My name is J'onn J'onnz, but I’m also known as Martian Manhunter."

No one talks for several minutes.

"You are an alien," Lena whispers the obvious. In the silent room, it felt like a scream. J'onn retakes his human form.

"Yes, Miss Luthor."

"That... That is... Absolutely... AMAZING!" She jumps of the chair. "I have so many questions! All professional, of course, it would help quick start a couple pending projects I have back home. I would love your inside with..."

She keeps on ranting, making plans for future investigations and developing science. To her left, Kara can't stop smiling. At that moment she knew it. She loved Lena Luthor. She feels J'onn's eyes on her. He had a fatherly smile on his face.

'She's a keeper,' he sends her way.

'I know,' she sends back. 'Planning to keep her.'

'For now, I think you better stop her or we'll never get to the point of what we need to do.'

'Right,' she thinks and then add out loud. "Lena, honey, I'm sorry to interrupt as you sure seem to be having a lot of fun, but we still need to work here."

"What? Oh! Yes! Yes of course. Sorry, got a bit excited there," she sits down. Kara takes her hand and kisses it gentlemanly.

"Never apologize for being you, Lee," they smile at each other. J'onn clears his throat, loudly.

"Seriously, guys, I’m happy for you both, but I'm hearing everything in surround sound. Have mercy."

"Sorry, General"

"Sorry"

They get back in track and talk about what they know. Kara remembers feeling observed a few days ago while she was going to get Lena to go for breakfast. Maybe the photos happened then. They talk about what Lane could do, trying to guess his next move. Many ideas on that front, every single one worse than the last. Lena proposes to trick him with Sam's collaboration, but the idea is discarded. Lane would see the manipulation miles away. So they focus on finding the photographer first. They make a list of people in the base who would want Lena out. Lena laughs when half the female population gets on that list ("I had a life before meeting you, ok?" "I’m sure you did, heartbreaker"). They hesitate on Allison's name.

"Kara, we can't discard her. The hostility she shows towards Lena can't be ignored."

"I know, but-"

"If we want to get to the bottom of this, we need to explore every option."

They add her.

Their plan was simple enough. Find the person and then all would fall in place.

"But we can't just go around asking. Word would spread like wildfire. The culprit would have time to prepare. Maybe even go to Lane to be removed," says Lena.

"We need backup," agrees J'onn. He gives them a conspirational smile. "And I know exactly who," Kara's eyes go wide.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes, I do. I'll call her in the morning."

"I’m sorry, who?"

"I do apologize, Miss Luthor, but this is a need to know basis kind of information. It is also outside the USA military and I don't have the clearance to further discuss it."

Lena looks at Kara. She had a smug expression. "You heard the man, need to know," Lena rolls her eyes.

"So I guess karma does exist," she says. Kara laughs.

They talk for a few more minutes before breaking up their meeting.

"Keep going as normal. Remember, you know nothing."

"Easy as we really don't," says Kara. At that moment something comes to her. "Say, J'onn, you think Lane could go as far as to come here under any pretense?"

"If he thought it would bring him the most gain, then yes, no doubt about it."

///

4 days later...

No changes.

No news.

They did what they could while keeping a low profile as to not alert Lane's agent.

Living their life at the base while exchanging information with Sam and J'onn.

Trying to go on with their days as normal as possible.

"Stop that thief!"

Which now included chasing a cat.

Everyone on ear shot turned around. They saw the cat rounding the corner, full feline speed power, carrying something on its mouth. The kitty was running away from local celebrity Lena Luthor and the object seemed to be hers.

Two seconds behind Lena, Major General Danvers appears. She was also in hot pursuit, calling the cat's name on an effort to make it stop.

"Fury! Stop! Come back here you hellion!" Kara runs faster, passing Lena and wishing there were no witnesses. Kara knew that catching him would be a child's play with her real full speed, but as she couldn't use it, Fury had gained a lot advantage on them.

Some soldiers joined the chase, others just stayed where they where to enjoy the show. Fury ends up being smarter than Lena gave him credit for as she sees him dodging every person trying to stop him.

"Rogers, on your left!" calls Kara. The Captain blocks the kitty's path. Fury tries to jump back, but the Captain manages to catch him mid air. He mews and fights against his captor, dropping the paper he had stolen. A sudden gust of wind carries said paper away. Kara makes a drastic change of direction.

"Fucking hell! Someone catch that paper!" she yells.

A soldier appears, exiting the barracks building, and the paper hits them square in the face.

"Oh thank you Rao!" whispers Kara, running to the soldier. "Hey! Nice catch! We don’t know what- Al."

"Major General," she salutes, looks at the paper in her hand full of weird symbols, gives it back without another word, salutes again, turns, and leaves. She doesn’t look back.

"Awkward," Kara hears someone say. "So Ray was right again. They are fighting."

"Shut it, will you? She'll hear you!"

'Too late', she thinks. She glares at the two soldiers as she passes by them. They freeze on the spot. Rao, if she didn’t know better she would believe she was back in High School.

She walks back to Rogers to thank him for his help and sees Lena with him. Her whole attention was now on the cat who had already stopped struggling and was now enjoying Lena petting him. The Captain holding the cat looked full of himself.

"Who's a good kitty? You are! Yes, you are!" Lena coos Fury. The little calico purrs back to her, pleased with the petting.

"Ok, cat lady, got the page, we can go back to work," Lena looks away from Fury to Kara, big smile in place.

"Kara Danvers, you are my hero," Lena takes the paper with one hand and Kara's chin with the other. She kisses her full on the lips for several seconds totally ignoring the fact they had an audience. Soldiers that now could be seen with their jaws hitting the floor and their eyes out of their sockets.

Lena winks at her after breaking the kiss and starts strutting back to her room. There was really no other word to describe how she was walking. A sexy strut moving her hips from side to side. Kara's could only look as she walked away. She was so under Lena's spell nothing else mattered.

"You lucky bitch. I hate you so much right now."

Rogers' words snap her out of the trance. She glares daggers at him.

"How did you call me, Captain?" she says with a frigid and dangerous tone. Rogers pales.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry, Major! It- It slipped out, I swear! Totally accidental!"

"Relax, Nathaniel, I'll let it go this time. Consider it payment for catching Fury," she scratches the cat behind the ears, a known favorite spot. One eye blinks back at her, the other missing (hence the name). Nathaniel clears his throat, opens his mouth, closes it, looks around, and repeats the motion. Kara rolls her eyes.

"You look like a fish," she says, crossing her arms and looking into his eyes. He blushes. Fury, seeing he no longer had human attention, jumps down and scurries away. They watch the cat go. Rogers opens his mouth once more to talk, but words don’t come out. Kara sighs exasperated.

"If you wanna say something, just say it. This is not a very Captain behavior, you know?" Kara turns away from him and freezes. She had been so distracted paying attention to the cat and the Captain she didn't notice the other threat closing in. All other military personnel present had already gotten over their shock and were slowly approaching. Kara gulps. Now she knew how the prey in those Animal Planet shows felt. She realized they were waiting for her to make the tiniest mistake to pounce.

"Captain? Be a doll and walk with me," she calls. "Hurry."

Nathaniel falls into step with her. He looks around and tenses some. He can also see the predatory looks on everyone around. They wanted Kara and he knew she knew. Kara intended for him to act as a shield. 'Oh well,' he thinks. 'Guess there are worse ways to die.'

"Why are you all still standing here? Shows over! Go back to your chores!" She uses her commanding voice to try and make everyone desist. "Captain, with me!" They walk fast. Rogers needs to jog a couple times to keep up with Kara's pace.

After going steady for a couple minutes, Rogers looks back and sighs with relief. "Major, wait!" he calls. "Kara, slow down! No one is following!"

She stops abruptly and turns to make sure of that. The Captain stops in time no avoid colliding with her.

"Oh thank God!" she exclaims, and continues her march at a leisurely pace. "Thanks for acting as a shield. I know I can take them all, but I prefer to avoid confrontation."

"Sure, no problem, and not like I could refuse a direct order, right?" they chuckle. "But you got to be more careful, ma'am, can't go giving shows like that with Miss Luthor. Not with so many hyenas around."

"I honestly don't know what got into her," she says. "We agreed to keep it 'in the closet' for now. I'll talk to her later."

"So you two truly are an 'item' as Ray said?"

"Yes, we are. Also, remind me to put Ray in the next month graveyard duties. No, make it the next three months. That will teach him not to run his mouth about his superiors."

"But, you ask him things too. Isn't that a little hypo- Yeah, ok. Shutting up now," you don't argue with an officer who looks at you the way Kara did. He diverts to a different topic. "And what about Walters? It's the first time we ever see you two fighting."

Kara was about to answer, when an announcement through the speakers sounds loudly.

'Unidentified vessel approaching. All personnel to their stations. I repeat. Unidentified vessel approaching. All personnel to their stations.'

"What the-? Unidentified?" says Kara. "How can it be unidentified? Aren't all arrivals scheduled?"

"They are. There wasn't anything for today. Next arrival should be a supplies run in two weeks," Kara fears the worst.

"Go," she urges. "I need to go get Lena. Find Forrest, he is in charge of the Control Tower. If someone knows its him. Then find me."

He salutes, and they split up, running in opposite directions.

///

As soon as she was in the clear, Kara super speeds her way back. She stops in front of Lena's door and gets inside the room. She finds her looking out the window. She turns when she hears the door shutting close.

"Kara, what was that announcement? Who's coming?" Kara could see fear hidden inside her green eyes.

"I don't know," she says. "An unscheduled vessel is arriving. I don’t want to think about it, but..."

"You think its him, don't you? Lane."

"You heard what J'onn said. He wouldn't be surprised if he came in person, unannounced. And not just everyone can come here without previous clearance."

"Then we need to be there when he lands. He needs to see we are not going to allow him to manhandle us as he pleases."

"And that's why I came looking for you," Kara extends her hand. "Come on, let's go."

Lena takes the offered hand and goes with her. The silence between them was too heavy, so Kara decides to lighten the mood a bit.

"By the way, Lee, what was that kiss in front of everyone?"

Lena blushes. "Well, I've been thinking, we originally decided to keep it private so word wouldn't go back to Lane, right?" Kara nods. "So, now that he knows, why keep it hidden? I’m dating this amazing woman, and for the first time I feel- I don't even have words. I know it's only been a week or so, but I want the world to know that Kara Danvers is out of the bachelorette market," she bumps into Kara, who had stopped walking. "Kara?" the woman turns and Lena needs to take a breath, overwhelmed by the intensity of Kara's eyes. She had never seen such a deep blue.

"You are the amazing one," says Kara pulling Lena to her and circling her arms around her. "Although I would have liked a heads up."

"I'm sorry, it was a spur of the moment. You got in trouble?"

"Let's just say it wouldn't be a good idea for either of us to walk alone at any time for the foreseeable future. After you left and everyone got over the shock, they turned into bloodthirsty creatures. I now know how it feels to be a bunny surrounded by wolves," they laugh. Then Kara closes the space between them and kisses her tenderly. When the kiss ends, Lena notices the intensity in the blonde's eyes hadn't gone away.

"Kara? Is everything ok?"

"Yes, it is," she starts. "Lena, I want you to know that I-"

"Kara!" a scream interrupts them. "Hey, Kara! We got news!"

Two men stop in front of them... then take some steps back to increase the distance between them and the Major General with murder in her eyes.

"Forrest, Rogers, this BETTER be good," Lena shakes her head at her antics.

"Easy there, tiger," she says putting a hand softly on Kara's chest. "Let them talk before you do something rash that you'll regret."

Both men witness how the fury in Kara's eyes disappears instantly and her features relax.

"Ok, you are both obviously in a hurry, what is it?"

"What? Oh! Yes! We have news, Kara," answers Forrest. "Captain America here told me you needed to know about the helicopter arriving and, of course, I deliver. The landing request got clearance. They had a high command code. Two guesses on who's clearance it is and the first one doesn't count."

"Lane," she says.

"Bingo," adds Rogers, stealing Forrest's thunder. "They'll land in five minutes. We need to hurry," they run.

When the group gets there, a crowd has already formed. Kara makes way between the people, shielding Lena, until they get to the front. Forrest and Nathaniel follow them and position themselves one to the left and one to the right. Protective positions. Kara realizes they have appointed themselves as their guards. Although, in Forrest's case, the sling on his arm made him lose some of the appeal.

Time seems to suddenly slow down. They watch the helicopter land, the security protocols being followed, the engine shutting off, the door sliding open. Lena holds her hand. She squishes back. Seconds later a person gets out of the vessel. Standing tall and looking directly at the crowd, directly at Kara.

They smile at each other.

"Who is that?" asks Lena.

"It’s Lane," answers Kara and she starts to walk toward the new arrival pulling a confused Lena with her. The newcomer extends her arms in a welcoming gesture. Kara hugs her, confusing Lena even more. "Stealing your father's codes again, I notice."

"Those poor codes, gathering dust. Its only fair for them, don't you think?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely," Kara turns to Lena. "I want you to meet Lena Luthor, I’m sure J'onn already told you about her."

"He did," the woman inclines her head towards her. "A pleasure to finally meet you in person, Miss Luthor. Heard a lot about you."

"Really? Cause I’ve heard nothing about you," Lena's response makes both women laugh.

"Lena," Kara continues. "My dear, I have talked to you about her. Let me introduce you officially to a very good friend and ally: Second Lieutenant, Lucy Lane."