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National City is under attack. Again. Alex has been on her feet for the last thirty hours doing everything in her power to keep people safe. The alien invaders don’t have overwhelming numbers, but they are massive and their skin is nearly impenetrable to most weaponry. They also have a large fleet of armed drones which make it next to impossible to sneak up on them. Worst of all, some of them are armed with kryptonite which has nearly grounded Supergirl.
Alex makes her way down to the labs once she gets back to the DEO to check on Lena and Brainy. The two geniuses have been working on a way to neutralise the drones and Alex is pretty sure neither of them have left the lab since the invasion started. She makes it two steps past the doorway when she stops in surprise. Brainy is sprawled on the floor in the corner of the room asleep and Lena is bent over a pile of metal and wires at the counter. Her dark hair has been pulled up into a messy bun and Alex’s mouth goes dry at the sight of the other woman in a pair of dark framed glasses. She’s always objectively known that Lena Luthor is gorgeous, but seeing her now with her smudged eyeliner and tired smile makes Alex’s heart thud erratically in her chest.
“How’s everything looking out there?” Lena asks as she flips a switch on the machine in front of her.
“Casualties are at a minimum and somehow we’ve managed to keep them mostly contained to the warehouse district. Please tell me you’ve got something.” Alex sighs and runs a hand through her hair, grimacing at the flecks of dirt that come loose.
“I’m pretty confident that I know how to shut down the drones.” Lena grins excitedly and starts pointing out graphs and numbers scrawled onto a whiteboard nearby. Alex comes closer and is startled to notice that Lena is barefoot. Her heels have been discarded somewhere across the room and Alex is surprised to notice that she is actually taller than the brunette.
“Great work Lena. How soon can we disable them?” Alex beams and pats Lena on the back. Her tactical glove leaves a faint dirty spot on the expensive material of the brunette’s dress, right between her shoulder blades causing Alex to quickly pull her hand away. Hopefully she won’t notice.
“Whenever you’re ready. This remote will permanently shut them down.” Lena passes Alex a small black box with a button on it.
“You’re amazing! Thank you for all of your hard work over the last couple of days.” Alex beams and before she can think too much about it she presses a gentle kiss to the soft skin of Lena’s cheek. She catches a whiff of Lena’s hair as she pulls away. It’s a clean floral smell and Alex immediately becomes aware of how filthy she is from running and fighting over the last few days. She can feel the way her tactical suit is unpleasantly sticking to her skin and she clears her throat. “Anyway I have to go deal with this. Thank you again!”
Alex runs off to round up her agents for another fight against the invaders. Hopefully Lena has given them the advantage they need to beat them for good. Kara meets her in the control room and it isn’t long before they are armed and ready to fight.
The battle rages well into the night but the invaders are eventually defeated. Alex feels like her bones are shaking with exhaustion but she needs to know that her people are safe. She personally shakes hands with every agent that was involved in the fight and she helps remove the frightened civilians from the area. She is coated in blood, grime and bruises but she made it through the fight remarkably unscathed. The first rays of sunlight are breaking across the horizon when they are finally ready to leave the scene of the fight.
Alex is standing on a pile of rubble letting the warmth spread across her face when Kara lands next to her in her Supergirl suit. The girl of steel is just as filthy as she is, but she is smiling in relief. Kara rests a hand on Alex’s shoulder and squeezes reassuringly. Neither of them realise but this moment will be captured and printed across every news outlet in the city labelling them as the saviours of National City.
“Are you ready to go home?” Kara asks softly.
“Definitely.” Alex wraps her arms around her sister and holds on tight as the blonde lifts them into the air.
Kara flies to Alex’s apartment and drops her sister off in the kitchen. The blonde rushes into the bathroom and returns a few minutes later clean and dressed in pyjamas. She calls in an order for takeout while Alex uses the bathroom. Her muscles ache and protest as she peels off her tactical suit but the shower does a remarkable job of making her feel human again. She shuts off the water and reaches for her towel. She gasps in surprise at the sight of a tiny flower printed on the palm of her right hand. It can’t be. How did she not notice her soulmate mark forming? She’s been wearing gloves for two days, so she has no idea when the flower actually appeared. She has touched hundreds of people in that time so she has absolutely no way of knowing who her soulmate could be. She makes a strangled noise that has Kara barrelling into the bathroom with a mouthful of pizza.
“Wha’s wrong?” Kara chokes out as she swallows a too large mouthful of food.
Alex wordlessly holds out her hand and Kara squeals in delight. The blonde holds up Alex’s hand to inspect the tiny flower. It’s white with rounded petals and a lavender centre. It’s delicate in a way that Alex never considered that it would be.
“Oh my Rao, I can’t believe you found your soulmate! This is so exciting!” Kara bounces happily and pulls Alex into a crushing hug, both women realising at the same moment that Alex is still stark naked. Kara pulls away and mumbles something about the food getting cold before super speeding away.
Alex takes her time getting dressed and she eats a couple of slices of pizza before curling up in her bed with Kara and passing out. She sleeps for fifteen hours and then she heads straight back to work to finish dealing with the fallout of the attack. It’s a week later before she and Kara have time to start a list of all of the people she may have crossed paths with in the time her mark could have formed. It’s a despairingly long list but they are determined.
Kara covers a lot of ground in the search as both Supergirl and as a reporter but none of the people seem to have recently discovered soulmate marks and for each name that gets crossed off the list Alex seems to lose more and more hope. She is also starting to develop symptoms of an unrequited match. She is getting headaches and fevers and her mark has started to grow. Small vines have grown out from her flower and started wrapping around her hand and trailing down her forearm. The vines are a beautiful dark green with lush leaves and small clusters of colourful flowers.
It has been four weeks since the alien attack and Lena finally feels like she has caught up on all of her work at L-Corp. She knows that she has been pushing herself too hard and spending too many late nights at the office. She has had a throbbing headache for three days and she is starting to worry that she might be coming down with a fever of some kind. In the interest of her health she decides to head home early today, so she shuts everything down and calls her driver.
Once she is home she soaks in a nice hot bath and orders in a healthy dinner. She is getting changed for bed when she notices it. At first she thinks it must be a shadow but when she looks closer she is stunned to see that she has her soulmate mark. Right in the centre of her shoulder blades is a delicate white flower with a lavender centre. Vines are sprawling in all directions from this flower and there are small clusters of other flowers in a variety of colour spotted across her back. It’s actually quite beautiful compared to some of the marks that she has seen, but her main thought is that she has no idea how it got there. Clearly she has already had it for some time but she has no way to know when she got it or who her soulmate is.
She spends the night researching unrequited soulmates and the information leaves a queasy feeling in her stomach. Her symptoms will only get worse until she finds her person and if she can’t track them down in time there is a good chance that she will die. She hates that her life is now essentially in the hands of someone she doesn’t know. It’s just not fair.
Weeks pass and the tattoo continues to grow. Alex now has a full sleeve of vines and flowers that have spread up over her shoulder and down her chest, tapering off down the side of her torso. Her fingers are all covered in clusters of flowers and thorns and she would think the effect is beautiful if it wasn’t killing her. Her symptoms are getting much worse and Kara is becoming more and more frantic in her search for Alex’s soulmate.
She decides to go to Lena for assistance because she clearly can’t help Alex on her own. She goes to one of Lena’s favourite restaurants and picks up some lunch for the CEO before making her way to L-Corp. She hasn’t seen her friend since the invasion but she knows the brunette was busy catching up at work and they have sent a few messages here and there. Kara hops off the elevator and wanders towards the office but she is stopped by Lena’s secretary. Apparently Lena is very sick and she hasn’t made it to work for the last three days.
Kara rushes out of the building at the most human pace she can manage before finding a quiet place to get changed. She flies to Lena’s penthouse and knocks frantically at the door. No-one answers so she uses her X-ray vision to see through the walls. Lena is lying on the floor in her bedroom so Kara breaks the door and rushes down the hallway towards her friend.
Lena is pale and sweaty and her breaths are coming in short, painful gasps. Tears prick Kara’s eyes at the sight of her friend looking so unwell and she crouches down next to the brunette.
“Lena, it’s Kara. I’m going to help you up okay?” Kara says softly as she scoops up Lena and lays her on the bed.
“Kara?” Lena chokes out. “I’m scared.”
“What are you scared of?” Kara asks as she gently brushes the hair away from Lena’s sweaty forehead.
“I don’t want to die.” Lena’s voice breaks and a few tears trail down her cheeks.
“What makes you think you’re dying?” Kara asks fearfully.
“I have an unrequited soulmate mark and I can’t find my person.” Lena cries in earnest at the stunned look on Kara’s face.
“Lena this is important. Can I please see your mark?” Kara asks, fear and hope burning in equal measure.
“It’s on my back.” Lena sniffles and Kara helps her sit up so that she can pull her shirt up.
Kara makes a choking noise at the sight of the flowers and vines covering Lena’s entire back and sides. There is an alarming beat of silence before Kara squeals causing Lena to flinch.
“I can’t believe it’s you, but of course it’s you! I couldn’t think of a better match.” Kara helps readjust Lena’s shirt before pulling the brunette into her arms.
“What are you talking about?” Lena grumbles as Kara launches them both out of her bedroom window.
Alex groans as Kara comes loudly crashing through her window. Her entire body is aching and she just wants to be left to die in peace. She opens her eyes in time to see Kara drop someone onto the bed beside her and she blinks in surprise at the sight of a windswept, disgruntled Lena Luthor.
“What…” Lena starts before her eyes lock onto Alex’s exposed arm. “Oh my God!”
“What is happening?” Alex grumbles as Kara stares at her with big, excited eyes.
“So you guys are soulmates! I’m gonna go, but call me later yeah? I’m so happy that neither of you are going to die!” Kara shouts as she rushes back out the window.
Alex gently runs her fingers across Lena’s cheek and they both sigh happily as their headaches and fevers immediately disappear. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to check if it was you!” Alex laughs.
“What do you mean?” Lena asks.
“My mark started on my hand, but because I was wearing gloves I had no idea when I got it. Kara and I checked out hundreds of people after the invasion to see if they had a matching mark but it was you all along.” Alex smiles softly as Lena watches her in wonder. “How is it that we have been friends for so long, but it’s only now that we have touched for the first time?”
“I have no idea.” Lena chuckles at the fond look on Alex’s face. “I’m glad it’s you though. I couldn’t imagine being matched with some stranger.”
“I’m glad it’s you too. I’ve been into you for so long.” Alex grins and sits up, feeling refreshed for the first time in weeks.
“Wait, what?” Lena sits up as well and blushes at the soft look Alex sends her way. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“Because you are way out of my league.” Alex admits with a shy laugh. “Now get up, I need to take you on a date.”
Lena strolls into the DEO six months later on a mission to take her girlfriend out for lunch. Brainy happily leads her down to the training room where Alex is busy throwing around the new recruits. The redhead is only wearing a tank top and the sight of Alex’s sleeve never fails to make Lena’s heart skip a beat. Alex immediately notices her presence and sends the relieved recruits off to the showers. Lena slowly walks over to her girlfriend before softly kissing her. Alex’s right hand wraps around and rests on the small white flower sitting between her shoulder blades. The fact that their marks can touch while they are kissing never fails to make Lena smile.
“Come on my love, we’re going out for lunch.” Lena grins as Alex’s hand slides down her spine and gently grazes her backside.
“Sounds like fun, just let me get changed first.” Alex kisses Lena again before picking up her drink bottle.
“Did I hear that we’re getting lunch?!” Kara shouts as she slams the door open causing Alex to groan and Lena to laugh. “Alex, have I told you recently how much I love your soulmate?”
“Only every day.” Alex swats at Kara causing the blonde to swiftly dodge. They immediately start play fighting each other and Lena stands back and wonders just how she got so lucky.