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They’re sequestered up in a conference room at the D.E.O. screaming at the top of their lungs at one another—Lena, James, Brainy, Alex, Kelly (?), Eve… Kara.
Lena can’t decide if it’s fitting, or just ironic for all the wrong reasons.
Because, first of all, Eve should be in prison—she betrayed Lena, conspired with Lex, and really, Lena is approximately two seconds away from taking out Ms. Blonde ’n Bubbly herself with a brazen right hook if she doesn’t stop talking like that and giving Lena puppy-dog eyes and defending herself as if there’s anything with which she can possibly begin to justify her and Lex's long-suffering attempt to mass-murder millions across the United States nation.
(But, according to Alex she’s ‘relevant’ to an ‘ongoing investigation’ into a bigger underground congregation that Eve claims had ‘forced her hand’ in the whole ‘Lex trying to kill Supergirl’ venture.
They’d actually been all gathered here to discuss precisely that, when it had promptly become so violently derailed.)
And, second of all, Lena doesn’t quite know what James is doing here—because, sure, he’s tangentially involved (with a trenchant emphasis upon the word ‘tangentially’), but by no means does this have anything to do with him, or Guardian, or his position as CEO of CatCo. And yet, he’s here, defending Kara and telling Lena she’s being ‘too dramatic’ and saying that of course Kara couldn’t trust her, because Luthors don’t mix well with Supers and it’s not Kara’s fault for knowing that and acting accordingly.
Lena wants to punch him, too.
She hasn’t officially met Kelly Olsen, James’ younger sister, but, again, she isn’t quite sure what she’s doing here surrounded by agents and billionaires and super-powered Kryptonians, because, as far as Lena knows, she’s a licensed psychologist who specializes primarily in trauma (i.e. not in supernatural occurrences). But, either way, she’s here, standing calmly at Alex Danvers’ side and watching with reserved interest as the lot of them duke it out over the conference table—evidently, she doesn’t have anything better to do.
(Not even to mention, her presence here means one thing above all else: that she knows, too. Lena didn’t, and she was Kara’s best friend; and yet Kelly, a woman whom Kara didn’t know up until a week ago, already knows about her paranormal secret.
It only worsens the sour taste of betrayal on Lena’s tongue.)
Speaking of, Alex has yet to speak up with an opinion (shouted or otherwise), and that strikes Lena as particularly odd—she’d have thought Alex Danvers would be first in line to yell at Lena for having the audacity to be angry that Kara lied; heaven knew the elder Danvers hadn’t exactly been a fan of hers up until they’d begun working together (in some capacity) at the D.E.O. whilst Lena experimented upon the Harun-El, and, even now, Lena still isn’t quite sure where the two of them stand.
Still, she’s grateful for Alex’s silence, of course, but she knows better than to hope it might be anything other than temporary—Alex loves Kara more than anything in this life, and maybe she doesn’t dislike Lena quite as much as she used to, but Lena’s still 100% sure that the redheaded agent will have absolutely no qualms about reaming Lena well into the weekend once she gets her chance.
Brainy has also been rather quiet up until now, for his part, but Lena’s not quite sure how she’s meant to interpret his silence; by the looks of things, though, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he was on Kara’s side, too.
And, honestly? Lena’s tired of making concessions; she’s tired of bending every goddamned time, and letting people say she’s nothing but evil, and lying silently in wait for the day they might eventually see that she’s never been anything more than a lonely girl trying to make a positive difference in the astronomical vastness of this world.
She’s tired of being interminably doubted at every turn, of always having something to prove, of having each and every one of her intentions observed on a microscopic level according to literally everyone else’s definition of fundamental morality except hers.
She’s tired, and still, she offers an olive branch (she’ll wonder later if that was prudent or just unquestionably stupid):
“Look, I don’t blame Kara for lying, okay?” she blurts out, thereby effectively silencing everyone else in the room (and thank God for that)—she tries to ignore the pleading stare Kara is giving her with those devastating baby-blue eyes, because she knows that if she yields to it for even a split second she’ll find herself apologizing and forgiving Kara and dammit, but she has a right to be angry right now.
“But, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m feeling angry, and hurt, and betrayed, above all else. It’s not an implication of guilt,” she rushes to add, unwilling to start another bout of heated arguing (and honestly, not quite sure if she can handle it to begin with). "I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault. It’s just how I feel, and I’m entitled to that,” she finishes shakily, her lower lip trembling, tears burning in her eyes all over again even whilst she fights with everything she has to make them go away.
“She’s right,” Kara says decisively after a moment, and Lena’s sure they’ve entered a parallel universe, because there is no way she’s hearing Kara correctly.
James furrows his brows, and Lena can tell he’s thinking something along those lines, too. “Kara—"
“No, James,” Kara interjects, leaving no room for debate as she turns to Lena with a serious expression tinged with sadness. “You're right.”
“Did you really mean that?” Eve asks then, a hopeful look on her features, and Lena feels like screaming. “About it not being anyone’s fault?”
“No,” she negates coldly. “I still don’t like you.”
A rosy flush spreads across Eve’s pale cheeks. “Oh.”
Then, she’s turning to face a fully suited-up Alex with an expectant gaze, still blinking the tears out of her eyes and desperately willing them to abate.
“Are we done here, Alex? I’m sure you can interrogate Eve without my help.”
Alex opens her mouth to respond, looking conflicted with a slight crease between her brows—but, before she can get to it, she’s stopped by Kelly, of all people.
“Actually, can I make a quick suggestion?” the woman questions tentatively, looking briefly to Alex for permission and giving the woman a small smile when she returns it with a curt nod of her head. “Great,” she acquiesces, turning to eye the rest of them with raised brows. “You guys all need therapy,” she tells them, before turning to point a conclusive finger first at Lena, and then at a slack-jawed Kara. “Especially you two.”
“You can’t be serious,” Lena replies flatly, leveling the woman with a hard stare.
“I—"
“Wait, therapy? ” Kara blanches, eyes wide, and Lena valiantly fights the urge to roll her eyes.
Kelly is more patient, however, affording the blonde an emphatic nod paired with a gentle smile. “Yes. It’s called 'talk therapy’—it involves discussing coping mechanisms, and examining nuanced behavioral patterns, and determining how to go about working through your emotions in a healthy way.”
Kara nods dazedly, a stupefied expression on her face. “Th-That sounds good.”
Lena snorts. “Fat chance.”
“'In a healthy way,' you say?” Brainy joins the conversation, hands templed self-assuredly before him to form a peak at his waist.
Kelly nods, raising a single brow as Brainy squints and begins to rub his beardless chin, seemingly deep in thought.
“But, Lena Luthor and I have boxes already,” he states, confusion evident on his features.
Kelly turns back to Lena, an inquisitive expression on her face. “‘Boxes’?"
Crap.
“We all have our own ways of dealing with things, I suppose,” Lena declares as dismissively as she can manage, fighting to keep her emotions in check.
“Right, but some are healthy, and some are not,” Kelly insists, and Lena needs a glass of wine, like, yesterday. “So, what does your ‘boxes’ method consist of?”
Lena clenches her jaw and shoots a warning glare in Brainy’s direction, silently pleading with him not to—
“Whenever she feels an emotion, she envisions an imaginary box, wherein which she forcefully places all her feelings inside and closes, never to be opened until she decides to do so.” Christ, Lena thinks, rubbing tiredly at her temples, cheeks burning with embarrassment. “I believe the words she used were: ‘take your feelings and shove them into those itty-bitty boxes. And then I want you to take those and shove them way deep down ’til you forget you had feelings in the first place,’” Brainy finishes, looking by all accounts rather pleased with himself as James lets out a low whistle from somewhere off to the side.
Lena just pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs heavily, trying her best to ignore the weight of everyone’s stares as they all turn to look at her with varying degrees of disbelief upon their faces.
Unsurprisingly, Kelly is the first one to speak: “So, that? That’s not healthy.”
Lena doesn’t bother looking up as she grumbles, “I need a drink.”
“And, that? That’s not healthy, either,” Kelly informs her, and Lena fights the powerful urge to heave another long sigh, the hot flush in her pinkish cheeks only just beginning to subside.
“I agree, Lee,” Kara affirms softly then, stepping closer and closer until she’s a foot away, her sad blue-eyed gaze seeming to burn through Lena even if she has yet to lift her head and face it. “You know, maybe therapy isn’t such a bad idea. It could be fun!”
Lena’s head snaps up and she fixes Kara with a dynamic glare. “Fun? ”
Kara gulps, seeming to shrink in place under Lena’s glower. “Um… Yes?”
“No.”
Kara blinks. “… Yes?”
“No.”
Kara pouts, brows stitched together—God, it’s adorable, even if Lena is still easily angry enough to throw something. “Please?”
Don’t do it Don’t do it Don’t do it Don—
“Fine.”
She really doesn’t know why she bothers, honestly.
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