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The first time takes her by surprise.
Lena had just watched Kara and Alex destroy at three game nights in a row, and she was done with it.
"Okay, Danvers, one of you is gonna have to suck it up and be with me, because I am done watching you win."
Kara was caught mid-chew with a mouthful of popcorn, her face comically off-guard, before she grinned, managing over her mouthful, somehow looking a little evil, but like, in an adorable way. Only Kara Danvers, honestly.
Alex pouted, stealing Kara's usual move. "Boo, Luthor," she said. "You're lame."
"I don't care," Lena said, refusing to take the bait. "I'm leveling the playing field. I'm sure everyone else is tired of watching the Danvers Sisters antics as well."
Alex laughed confidently. "No they're not!" Silence greeted her. "Guys," Alex said, sounding heartbroken, and Kara snickered lightly behind her.
"Alright Alex, it's time to concede the throne gracefully."
"Kara, no," Alex said, sounding a little more panicked. "Don't give in! Don't let her seduce you!"
"Seduce me?" Kara said, bursting into laughter. "You're the one who's gay!"
"You know what I mean!"
Kara was still laughing. "Yeah, but she's got a point. Come on, you can pick your new partner, and we'll be together again soon." Lena watched the exchange with pursed lips, fighting the way her whole being had radiated with hurt when Kara had laughed at the concept of anyone other than Alex in the room being gay. She struggled to push it down. It was ridiculous. She wasn't even into Kara.
It didn't matter.
But it did.
"Fine," Alex was saying, pouting. "I'm going with J'onn when he gets here then. See if I come back to you," she added, with a disdainful sniff, and Kara grinned, unfazed.
"Then I will happily partner with Lena," Kara said, unfolding herself from the floor and standing gracefully to drop next to Lena on the couch, immediately leaning in a little closer. Her warmth bled immediately into Lena's side, and Lena hated that she thought about it while Kara clearly didn't.
"I believe that leaves myself and Nia Nal," Brainy said, and Nia bit back a pleased smile.
"Don't blow this, Brainy," she warned. "We finally have a shot." Brainy looked mildly alarmed at the pressure but brushed it off and moved to reassure her. Lena lost track of their conversation as Kara leaned in closer.
"I know I shouldn't say this, but thanks," she murmured in Lena's ear. Her forehead pressed to Lena's hair, gently, her nose just brushing the shell of Lena's ear, her breath washing over the side of her face. "Winning the same way does get a little boring after a while."
Now who's seducing? Lena thought, and swallowed the surprisingly angry notion. She made an effort and rolled her eyes and pushed at Kara's chest, and Kara fell back, catching at her hand and grinning. "Okay, showoff, now let's see if you can bag a win for your new team."
"Oh please," Kara said, maneuvering her hand to be holding Lena's, weaving their fingers and pressing their palms, and oh, Lena did not appreciate this when Kara had just crushed any romantic notions she might have not thirty seconds ago, "We both know you're the real powerhouse on this team."
Lena felt her jaw clench, briefly, against her will, and was grateful when J'onn came in the door, distracting everyone. She took a deep breath as Kara jumped off the couch to hug him.
I don't have feelings for Kara, I don't have feelings at all. I'm here to play, here to win--no, no, that's not what game night is about, okay, okay, think strategy while you feel platonic affection. That's right. Plato didn't sleep with his students, he was the only one. Be like Plato. Be dignified. Be professional. Be so groundbreaking they'll remember your name for thousands of years. For the good you did.
Being good means not being crushed when someone you're not into isn't into you either. That's the opposite. That's psychopathic. Sociopathic? Certainly vain. It's Lex behavior. Pull yourself together, Lena.
"You okay?"
Lena pulled her eyes up to see Kara handing her a glass of wine with her eyebrows raised.
Lena took a deep breath and pushed all the confusing feelings into a little box. She smiled up at Kara. "Absolutely. Let's do this." And Kara beamed back at her.
It was an hour and twenty minutes later. It was the final game of the night, and Kara had to guess what Lena was thinking in Pictionary. Kara put down her popcorn bowl, dusted off her hands, and reached for Lena's hand.
"We got this," she said, looking halfway nervous and halfway determined. Lena bit back a smile, trying not to laugh at her seriousness. "Just," Kara said, moving her hand up and down and taking exaggerated breaths, "Sync up, like a 2006 iPod Nano loading." Lena definitely laughed at that one, and Kara cracked a grin. "I'm serious," she insisted, still smiling. "In, out, we're thinking the same, we are the same, we've got this."
"Kara, I think we'll be okay."
"Right," Kara nodded. "Just, think really loudly."
"How bad are you at guessing?"
"Think really, really loudly." Lena laughed, and Kara shook her head. Lena was still laughing when Kara put her hands on Lena's shoulders, pulling her closer. Kara pressed her forehead to Lena's unexpectedly, and Lena was taken aback at the intimacy of the moment, wondering if it was truly in pursuit of syncing up their minds or something more.
"I warned you not to get seduced," Alex called, and Kara burst into giggles. Lena started laughing with her, the spell of the moment broken, and got up to play Pictionary.
They won in a landslide.
And then it was before a big pitch.
It was a few months after that game night, and the teams switched up much more regularly. Kara still pressed her forehead to Lena's before games when they had to be synced up, and Lena thought it was sweet. Warm. And nice.
And now Lena was panicky, anxious, and pacing. Kara watched her, sitting on Lena's office couch, still. Kara was exhausted from what she said was a "long night out" even though last night was a Tuesday and Kara wasn't even the type to go out on a Friday, but Lena let it slide, because she had other, severely more important things to be focusing on.
"We need this because--no, we need this, gentlemen, shit, shit shit shit, do I say gentlemen? There are never any other women, why aren't there any other women?"
"Lena," Kara said calmly from the couch.
Lena kept pacing, kept muttering, her healthy sub Kara had brought her with only three bites out of it sitting neglected on the table, too ill to eat. "This represents a huge stride forward, no, no, this is a huge leap forward--shit--"
"Lena," Kara said again, with a bit more force behind it now. "I've never seen you freak out like this. What's going on?"
Lena sighed, her pacing stuttering to a stop, her hands resting on her hips. "I don't know. This is everything I've tinkered with and poured my soul into for three years. Everything I've poured my teams into for years. This is the first thing I've done with L-Corp that has zero percent of Luthor Corp. It just needs the green light from them. I can't fuck this one up, Kara, I can't."
"You won't," Kara promised, standing. Lena missed her wince with sore muscles as she rose. Kara moved around to her side. "When's the meeting again?"
"In…" Lena took a deep breath, panic filling her fresh when she glanced at her watch. "Three minutes. I have to go."
"Okay," Kara said, putting her hands on Lena's shoulders, a solid weight, grounding. "Hey, look at me." Lena forced herself to look up, Kara's face filled with calm confidence, something that looked suspiciously like love shining through. "I'm not gonna say good luck. Because you don't need it. If you can suffer through having me as a partner for game night, you can do anything." Lena chuckled, and Kara smiled, looking a little proud she had wrung a laugh out of Lena. "Okay. Your suit looks amazing, your hair is on point, your makeup is sharper than the words you're going to use to drive your points home. You know this all like the back of your hand and you can show that, no problem. You are powerful. You are fierce. You are in charge. You're ready."
Lena nodded, a little too quickly, palms sweating slightly. Kara smiled a small, encouraging smile, and pressed her forehead to Lena's, gently. "Go get 'em, tiger," she said, pulling back, and with a squeeze of her shoulders, released Lena and pushed her towards the doors.
Lena killed the presentation and got the go-ahead.
"Lena."
Alex sounded harried over the phone. "Hey Alex, what's up?"
"I'm so sorry to do this to you. Are you busy?"
"Nothing that can't wait a few hours," Lena said, punching send on an email and leaning back.
"It's Kara," Alex said, and Lena was bolt upright and at attention. "She won't tell you, but this is the anniversary of her parents' death."
"Oh my god," Lena breathed, and Alex's harassed hum of agreement echoed down the line.
"I always take the day off with her, when it's what she needs, you know sometimes she likes to go in and forget about it--but anyway, she did today, but there's an emergency they need me for, can you--"
"I'm on my way," Lena said, already halfway out the door, and Alex breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're a godsend," Alex said.
"I'm really not."
"Either way," Alex said, an alarming series of noises in the background. "Shit, I've gotta go. Just, you know her favorites, and you're among them. Just be there with her, text me updates?"
"I got her, Alex," Lena said softly, punching the elevator buttons repeatedly and with more force than necessary.
"I know. Thank you. I gotta go."
"Go."
The line went dead, and Lena rushed to Kara's.
Kara, who answered the door only after Lena knocked several times and told her who it was and begged her to let her in, whose eyes weren't red with tears but were suspiciously wide and vulnerable. Her hair was messy, strands falling everywhere, and she was wearing a faded Superman sweatshirt that when she turned to lead Lena inside, had a scrawl across the lower back that looked suspiciously like his autograph. Her pajama shorts were Wonder Woman and Lena felt a twinge for the childhood Kara never talked about, who she might have been.
"You didn't have to come," Kara said, curling up on her clearly just-vacated seat on the couch. The TV played on mute, some sitcom Lena knew Kara'd seen a thousand times before.
"Yeah babe," Lena said, dropping her purse on the table, her coat on a chair, and her shoes on the floor. She sat down several inches from Kara, close but not too close. "I did."
"Alex called?"
"Alex called," Lena agreed, watching Jess give Schmidt advice on where in his room he looked sexiest.
"You still didn't have to come." On screen, Nick joined them.
"Even if I brought my driver with explicit instructions to go pick up whatever food you want?" Lena glanced over to see Kara's lips twist to the side and her eyes watery. "Oh, honey," she murmured, and pulled Kara to her.
Kara gasped into Lena's shoulder, fists clenched tightly, helplessly, and then she broke.
Lena held Kara as she cried, watched numbly as twenty-two minutes of New Girl played out onscreen. Kara shook and sobbed, nearly quietly, as Lena held her, no questions asked, trying to stop herself from crying too.
"I keep waiting for it to get better," Kara said morosely, once she had calmed down, slipped down until her head was in Lena's lap. Lena waited, carding her fingers through Kara's now-loose hair. "And it does, sometimes," Kara continued, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "I think about them and I know that while we'd disagree about things, they'd be proud of me. I know what it is not to blindly hero-worship them anymore, I know what it is to be let down by them." Kara said it with such certainty Lena wondered how she knew. "But at the end of the day…" Kara shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut tight. "They were just people. Flawed, loving people. Every last one of them."
Every last one of them?
"And now they're gone--" Kara's cut off with a sob, and her hands flew up to her eyes, which were leaking tears again. Lena remembered the text Alex had sent after she had hung up. If she cries, stops, then cries again, hang onto her TIGHT. Wrap your arms around her, tight pressure. She needs contact. It'll help. It might sound weird but more the pressure she has on her body the easier it gets. You can use your legs too. I usually press her into the corner of her couch for a bit. Don't be afraid to put your weight on her.
Lena maneuvered herself down so she was laying parallel with Kara, aligned their bodies and wrapped her arms hesitantly around Kara's waist, ribs. Kara was moaning and shuddering like her heart was breaking and Lena's definitely was, and she squeezed her arms, pressing her forehead into Kara's temple. "I'm here," Lena murmured, not knowing what else to say, not wanting to fill the moment with false platitudes. "I'm here."
Kara calmed again after a few minutes, completely exhausted, and Lena adjusted her hold, pressing more of her weight into Kara. Kara's breaths evened out slowly, and she turned her head obviously searching for something. "What do you need?" Lena asked softly.
"Kleenex," Kara said quietly. "Water?"
"Stay here." Lena was off the couch in a moment, climbing awkwardly over Kara, back with water and something for her to blow her nose with. Kara drained the glass and laid her head back down, completely spent. Lena felt her heart stutter and trip in sympathy, a band of pain for her own mother squeezing at her chest, churning at her stomach.
"Will you stay?" Kara's voice was a whisper.
"Of course," Lena said, lying down again without blinking. She wrapped her arms around Kara again, and Kara sank a little deeper into the couch. "Always," Lena murmured, and she pushed her forehead into Kara's temple again. Kara's lips stretched into a tiny, grateful smile, and then she was asleep.
And when Kara woke up, Lena was with her asleep in her slacks and blouse and having migrated to halfway on top of Kara, mouth slightly open and looking just as vulnerable. They called in dinner and Alex came and joined and when Lena left, it was with her fingers slipping under Kara's chin to tilt her head up, one more press of her forehead to Kara's, gentle and full of love.
Kara called on a Friday.
"Can we, um, can we talk?"
Lena chuckled down the line, warmth filling her at Kara's nervous voice. "What about, Ms. Danvers?"
Kara didn't lean into the flirt today. "I have something to tell you."
"Is everything alright?" Lena asked, concerned at Kara's borderline ominous tone. She had been with Kara while she cried over her parents three months ago, there couldn't be another serious anniversary of awful, could there?
"Nothing's happened," Kara said quickly. "I just really need to talk to you."
"Okay," Lena said, on edge now. "What is it? Do you want to come over?"
"Can you come over after work? I don't want to do this over the phone."
Lena could hear the nerves. "Kara, darling, are you sure you're alright?"
"Please say you'll come over."
"I'll come over," Lena promised, truly concerned by this point. "Just tell me you're alright or I'm coming over now."
"I'm alright," Kara said softly.
"Okay," Lena said. "Then I'll see you in a couple hours."
And the couple hours proceeded to do everything in their power to drag by, every minute filling Lena with an anticipation of something awful Kara might have to tell her. At five, Lena called it, shoving everything in her purse and taking off, waving at Jess to take the evening early. Lena rushed over to Kara's, dread pooling low and deadly in her stomach, fear coloring the tempo of her steps. She raised a fist to bang on Kara's door, but Kara pulled it open before she had the chance.
Lena walked in slowly, eyeing Kara's apprehensive face. "Tell me you don't have cancer," she said, and Kara's eyebrows lifted in incredulity. "Or space cancer or something," Lena tossed out. "Or Alex, or any of the others. Tell me someone's not trying to kill you, please."
"I'm not sick. No one is."
"You avoided the part where no one is trying to kill you," Lena said, narrowing her eyes. "Did you investigate someone dangerous?" When Kara's only reply was to take a shaky breath, Lena felt her heart skip and stutter. She was right. "Okay, we have to put you in protective custody, who did you go after--"
"That's just the thing, Lena," Kara said, shaking her head. "Someone's always trying to kill me."
Lena felt herself frown as her brain stuttered this time. "Kara, that's--"
"Not because I investigate them. Sometimes, maybe. But because of who I am."
"Kara, no one wants to kill you, you're too--"
Kara shook her head. "You don't understand, Lena. But you will." Lena was well and truly bewildered by now. "Please," Kara whispered, "Please don't hate me."
"Kara, I could never hate you."
"You might," Kara said, and Lena's frown deepened. "Once you know."
"Once I know what?"
Kara took off her glasses. Lena watched, completely nonplussed. Kara let down her hair, and Lena was hit with the strangest sense of familiarity--Kara pulled open her shirt, and there.
Supergirl.
Supergirl stood in front of her in red, blue, and khaki, and Lena stared.
"Of course," she finally murmured. Kara's head tilted, eyes red-rimmed but curious. "Every last one of them." Kara's eyes widened in recognition of her slip. "I flew here on a bus," Lena continued, stepping closer, yanking the puzzle pieces of Kara Danvers out of her mind to place them on Supergirl's no-longer-unfinished portrait. "Every time you ran. All you eat. The way you write."
"The way I write?" Kara's voice was shaky.
"The way you write," Lena repeated, her eyes still fixed on the crest on her best friend's chest. She pulled her eyes up to Kara's. A new memory surfaced, this one of Supergirl, defensive, Alex by her side. "Alex," Lena breathed, and Kara nodded. "And… And you standing, in that forest, not telling me who you were when I asked."
Kara's head dropped in shame. Now that the puzzle was solved, Lena felt rage seep in. "All those fights, Kara," Lena said, stepping closer, unable to merge that with her best friend. "All those times you made me prove myself. All those times you flung my name at me and didn't trust me, all those times you made me feel like shit for doing what I thought was best--"
"I'm so sorry."
"The hell you are!" Lena turned on her heel, breathing hard, pacing away from her best friend, the superhero. "I get not telling me at first, I do," she said, planting her hands on her hips. "I was just another rescue, then I was Lex's sister, then I was a ruthless businesswoman. But then I was your friend. Then I asked. Then you and I fought, and you didn't think, it never crossed that brilliant mind of yours, that you might talk to your best friend, if you were on the other side of a conflict with her?"
Kara's head stayed hung a second longer before she picked it up to look at Lena, her eyes huge, tears dripping down, and Lena felt her heart twist, viciously, but she wasn't done. "Now I get, I get everything Supergirl did, I do. I don’t blame that side of you for any of that, we've worked it out. And I've never had a problem with Kara Danvers we couldn't work out in a day, but lying to me, repeatedly, what, playing me a fool, for what, for laughs? For more control over me? Who even are you? Why even befriend me?"
"Because you're you!" Kara shouted back, and Lena realized how loud her voice had risen, and she didn't care. She paused at Kara's statement and shook her head.
"Do better." She stalked forward and grabbed her purse, spinning towards the door. "You're going to have to do a hell of a lot better."
"Lena." Kara's voice, broken, stopped her. Lena stopped with an inch between her nose and the door.
"I need time," Lena said coldly to the door. "Then I need the truth."
"They're yours," Kara said, instantly. "Just tell me when you want the truth."
There was a sniffle. Lena closed her eyes, and the only thing she could see was the image of Kara crying, silently, behind her. And dammit, Lena wasn't a monster. Lena spun and stepped towards Kara, reaching out and sliding her hand around the back of Kara's neck, pulling Kara to her. Lena pressed her forehead to Kara's, closing her eyes, tight. Kara sucked in a surprised breath and slumped into her all at once, grateful and tense and scared and sorry.
"I'm not done with you, Kara Danvers," she growled. "Not in any sense."
Kara hiccupped and nodded against her forehead, and Lena was gone.
It was a day and a half before Lena had collected enough cool, calm rage to show up at Kara's unannounced and bang on her door. Kara let her in, wide-eyed and scared, looking unfairly innocent with a flannel and sweats not quite covering her supersuit and no glasses.
Lena glared and pointed a finger at her. "None of the puppy dog eyes at me. I'm yelling at you." Kara gulped and blinked several times, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them to a normal size. Lena nodded and pulled out her printed notes, filled with bullet points of precisely why she was mad at Kara. "Actually, sit down." Kara's eyes widened again before she blinked forcibly and sat, heavily, on a chair, which creaked ominously. Lena was too mad to find it amusing at the time.
Lena spoke at an elevated volume, checking her notes occasionally for reference, for twenty-nine minutes. She paused once for water, Kara fetching it for her without being asked when she paused to clear her throat, Lena thanking her civilly and returning promptly to yelling at her. Lena yelled about the secret keeping, about how on earth Kara could possibly do this to her and expect their friendship to be genuine, how Kara could lie, lie, lie, how her trust issues had been so compounded by this, and more.
"Now," Lena said, folding her notes back up and handing them neatly to Kara, who accepted them wordlessly. "That's enough of that." She picked her purse back up. "Whenever you're ready state your case, I'll be back over."
Kara stared in stunned silence as she exited, having not spoken a word the entire time Lena was there.
Kara opened the door purposefully three days later, her face the exact opposite it had been when Lena yelled at her, smiling hopefully at Lena as she closed the door behind her. Lena sat down at the kitchen table with a deliberately unimpressed look and crossed her legs, adjusting her perfectly-tailored slacks. She was half-surprised Kara hadn't procured a podium for this. She raised an eyebrow and waited for Kara to begin to her story.
"First of all," Kara began, "my name is Kara Zor-El. And I wanted to be human. I've been an alien since I was twelve. When I was twelve I watched my whole planet explode after my mother put me in a pod, and shipped me off, and gave me a life sentence as an alien. I used to wish I had died with the rest of Krypton." Lena felt a lead weight drop in her stomach, but Kara kept going, slumping on a stool. "I don't--I don't wish that anymore, because I know that part of Krypton survived." of course. Argo. Lena realized with a shock she'd met Kara's mother.
Kara smiled wryly, looking like she had guessed Lena realized this. "You met her. Charmer, isn't she? So much so that you can't be mad at her. Alex still is. She's mad enough for the both of us, because I don't know how to be mad at someone I thought was dead. Not when it's my mother. Not when I thought I had lost everything forever and to find part of my home is still breathing, still beating out there. You gave them that," she added, looking so warmly, so gratefully at Lena that Lena felt it down to her toes.
"More time there, anyway. But that's not the point right now." She waved it away. "The point is, I spent my life as a refugee, as an alien, trying to fit in and trying to deal with my trauma or shove it away. And then, I'm so used to hiding who I am, that I don't ever think to tell people. I don't tell people. Only Alex and Eliza and Kal-El know. And then I become Supergirl." Kara took a deep breath.
"It became doubly important to hide, and I didn't have a choice half the time. James knew without me telling him. I told Winn the day after I saved the plane because I needed someone. I'm pretty sure Ms. Grant figured it out, and there are so many bad people out there who know…" Kara trailed off. "I didn't have a choice who knew. The DEO. Everyone who came after me. When it comes to my identity, I always panic. I'm always defensive. I only ever told people out of necessity, and even then, sometimes other things colored it." Kara looked at Lena, smiled just a little.
"Selfishness," Kara admitted softly. Lena frowned. "Even when you needed to know, I needed you to not, and I put my need first. I needed you to not know because I needed to be human with you." Kara heaved herself off the stool and moved to sit down next to Lena, looking carefully into her eyes. "Alex and Eliza and Kal, I love them so, so much, but they never made me feel human. They never realized that was something I wanted. It was never something I realized I wanted. Ms. Grant, she always made me feel human. That's probably why, even on her bad days, I wanted to be around her. I almost never felt like an alien, I was just--just Kara. It wasn't perfect, but it was there."
"But then," Kara smiled softly, "I met you." Lena didn't know what to do with that sentence. "I met you and you took me as I was. You challenged me and accepted me and needed me, and all without seeing all of me. You make me feel like, like--" Kara twisted her lips, gesturing as she tried to find the word. "Like I'm worth it. And you made me feel like that without knowing I could fly."
"Kara, you are worth it." The words spilled from Lena before she had the chance to stop them, and Kara smiled softly.
"See, there it is. That's what I couldn’t give up. You, loving me without knowing. You let me hurt. You let me be. Everyone else, there's a problem, it's about Supergirl. They don't believe in Kara, not because they don't, but because she's not powerful. She's not what they need. You needed me without my heat vision and my super strength. And I need that. I need you." Kara reached out and took Lena's hand. There was a slow, heavy ponderousness to her words, like she had practiced them in the mirror a dozen times over but still hadn't found the right ones. But they were genuine. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. And I'm so sorry that I lied. But most of all, I'll always regret that I made you feel like you didn't have the friend in me that I know I've always had in you. I'm so sorry for making you feel like shit when you're anything but. I'm sorry I was selfish, Lena. I'm just--I'm sorry."
Lena sat back as Kara finished, regarding her thoughtfully. Kara made to let go of her hand, but Lena hung on. Kara glanced at her, surprised, and went back to examining her knees, squeezing Lena's hand in gratitude. Lena turned Kara's story over in her head, not doubting that a single word was true. I wanted to be human. I don't tell people. I always panic. Selfishness. You made me feel like that without knowing I could fly. And I need that. I need you.
Lena leaned over and pushed into Kara's space, leaning her forehead into Kara's. Kara stiffened in surprise before relaxing into her touch.
"Order me a pizza, Kara Zor-El," Lena said. "I want to hear all about Krypton." And like a miracle, Kara smiled.
Kara stopped a train.
Specifically, that new magnetic bullet train that goes faster than the speed of sound. Something went wrong with it, Lena would know, but Kara wasn't thinking about that at the time. All she knew was that were at least six people on that train and at least six thousand in its path if they couldn't get that train to stop.
The thing about magnetic bullet trains, though, is that they exist in airless magnetic tunnels, to get rid of the friction. Or something like that. Something where Kara's ice breath couldn't freeze the wheels and make it stop. A tunnel where she had to hold her breath, fly fast to get in front of it, and grit her teeth and dig in.
She was drained when she got back.
Kara toppled into her apartment that evening, somersaulted clumsily onto the floor to break her fall as she caught her boot on the window's edge, and groaned as she splayed out spread-eagle on the floor. A low chuckle echoed through the apartment, and Kara flew to her feet, exhausted but startled.
Lena laughed again, and Kara sighed, sagging back down. "Don't do that," Kara groaned, and Lena bit her lip apologetically, raising her hands on surrender, looking comfy on Kara's couch.
"I didn't mean to," she said. "You're just cute."
"I stopped a train and won a fight today," Kara whined, wandering into her room, struggling with her left boot, ignoring Lena's laughter as she nearly tripped again. "I'm not cute, I'm Supergirl."
"The two are not mutually exclusive," Lena told her, standing up to follow her. "Do you need help?"
Kara groaned again, every muscle aching. The whole no-oxygen-in-the-tunnel thing had done a number on her today. She flopped onto her bed, spreading her arms out, and stuck out her leg. "Yes."
Lena chuckled, getting down on her knees and taking ahold of Kara's boot, tugging it off gently. "You're still cute," Lena told her, tapping her right ankle until Kara lifted that foot so Lena could de-boot her. "And I was very impressed you stopped that train, there was a lot of force going into that and no oxygen on your side."
"Thank you," Kara mumbled. "Someone understands my struggle."
"I'm not sure I understand how it feels, but I certainly know the science behind it. Do you need help with your cape?"
"When I get up."
Kara glanced at Lena to see her biting her lip against another chuckle. "Do you have any idea when that will be?"
"Next year sometime," Kara informed her, dropping her head back down, and Lena laughed in earnest.
"Mmkay. Would that process possibly be expedited by my ordering of a pizza or running you a bath?"
"I don't have a bath," Kara reminded her. "Baths are for people with non-rent-controlled apartments."
Lena frowned. "You can use mine if you can get over there. I hate to say it, but you're heavier than the average human, I don’t think I can carry you." She paused. "Not that it wouldn't be quite the sight, a Luthor trying to carry a Super away."
Kara chuckled despite her exhaustion. "I think a shower will be fine today. But it would help if you ordered Chinese."
"Chinese it is," Lena promised. "Now sit up so I can get that cape off you, I don't think you can do it yourself."
Kara groaned and accepted Lena's hands helping to haul her up. Lena climbed onto the bed behind her, cool fingers finding the clasps, and Kara groaned again as Lena's fingers dug into her shoulders in a massage. "You're perfect," Kara sighed. "Have I ever told you that?"
"I could stand to hear it a few more times," Lena said dryly.
"I'll put it on the list," Kara promised. "But also, thank you for being so cool with the whole, you know, Super thing. Once you yelled at me."
"I'm sorry about that," Lena told her, hands continuing their work. "I…"
"Had a lot to get off your chest, I understand," Kara said softly. "I was a jerk for a while."
"You were human, and that's alright," Lena corrected. "Now come on, Supergirl. You smell like Elon Musk and that's not something you should ever smell like." Kara slowly hauled herself off the bed, responding to Lena's gentle push on her shoulders. "And hey," Lena said, standing next to her and catching her arm. "Of course I'm okay with you being a superhero. I'm more than okay with it. I'm proud of you." She smiled gently in the semi-dark of Kara's room in the evening. "Today and every day."
Kara tilted her forehead onto Lena's, exhaustion and warmth battling for dominance in her body. "Thanks," she murmured, and Lena pressed her forehead back into hers before pulling away.
"Shower," Lena repeated, a tease to her voice but with an edge of seriousness that let Kara know the smell really was getting to her. "I'll have food when you get out."
Lena froze as the news announcer's voice seeped through her bones.
"A tough fight for Supergirl, she's sitting in the dust, appears to be struggling to get up--"
Lena stared, horror in her every bone. "Get up, Kara," she hissed through her teeth. "Get up."
Kara got up. Slowly.
Lena watched with baited breath as Kara heaved in a breath on screen, shoulders rising and falling painfully, facing away from her victoriously floating enemy. And then Kara turned. Slowly at first, then faster, bringing one hand to meet the other. The sonic power was nearly visible as everything in the clap's path was blasted back.
Lena nearly cheered in her office as a fleet of black vans pulled up, and Alex rushed to her sister on screen, another team rushing the alien Kara had stunned. Lena turned off the TV and ran for the door.
She rushed into the DEO thirty-six minutes later, twelve of those minutes held captive by highly unnecessary security holdups, in her opinion. Lena shoved her way into the medbay, an anxious-but-calm Brainy showing her the way. Lena stopped short by the door, Alex examining Kara's vitals, Kara lying under a few sunlamps, filthy and exhausted.
"Lena?" Kara picked her head up, and the spell was broken. Lena rushed forward, nonsense jumbling out of her mouth, and Kara reached out a hand for her. Lena barely stopped herself from crashing into the side of the bed, and Kara whispered a shhh as Alex and Brainy stepped out of the room, leaving them. "I'm alright," Kara murmured. "Promise."
"You were--you didn't--"
"I know, but I'm okay." Kara lifted her torso off the bed, painfully, and Lena frowned, pushing her back down. Kara held out her hand, and Lena put hers in it, a small resigned smile as Kara tugged her closer. "Come on," Kara said, scooting over on the highly-uncomfortable medical table. "I'm fine, but you can be here with me to be sure."
Lena wasn't sure (lie: she knew exactly) how she got coaxed so easily into doing something domestically romantic with Kara, but she climbed up and laid down next to Kara, not caring about the dust on her suit. Lena took a deep breath and could still smell Kara under all that, Kara, who smelled like the sun and sky and something else totally unique that was probably unique to Kryptonians. Lena pressed her forehead to Kara's temple, and Kara cupped the back of her head for a long moment.
"You scared me," Lena murmured.
"I know," Kara said softly. "I'm sorry. But I'm okay. I promise."
"You're sure?" Lena asked.
Kara gave a small smile. "I think some cuddles would help."
Lena's heart lifted at Kara's easy tone, her voice nearly pain-free, just exhausted. "Oh they would, would they?"
"Lena cuddles, specifically," Kara clarified.
Lena snorted, her chest warm and her stomach fluttery . "If only the populace knew you were such a huge dork."
"It's part of my charm," Kara told her.
"Mhm." Lena wrapped an arm around her anyway, and Kara grinned. "I'm guessing Alex told you to get some sleep."
"Something like that."
"Get on it, then Supergirl," Lena sighed, pressing her forehead into Kara's temple again, not caring if the walls were glass and people were staring, just needing to soak her in. "I'll be right here when you wake up."