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Lena Luthor’s shoulders immediately slump as she walks into her apartment building. She lives in a 4th floor loft with Kara, lately a walk-up, as the elevator has been out of service for almost two weeks. Every day she forgets until she sees the the hastily scribbled sign on a torn-out piece of notebook paper scotch-taped to the doors. It drives her crazy, not only because of the challenge of 4 flights in heels, but because every single day her first instinct is to make some calls; throw her name around until someone feels adequately bullied enough to fix the situation. And every day the pride she feels about getting out from under her parents’ thumb that usually accompanies the site of her modest apartment building in the Bohemian part of town gets drowned in the shame of admitting she sometimes misses the perks of being a Luthor.
Today the shame hits her especially hard, after the argument she’d just come out of with Jack. When she cut ties with her family, she had more than enough wealth in her name they weren’t legally able to wrestle away to live off of, but she poured almost all of it into Spherical Industries, a startup she and her best friend from grad school mounted six years ago. It’d been a pretty smooth ride, even after the end of their short-lived romance somewhere around year two. She loved working on projects that actually mattered with a partner just as invested as she was. They constantly made each other better in every aspect of the business.
Until the last few months.
After the launch of their neural-controlled prosthetics last year, big companies and investors started to take notice. They can become an actual player in the industry which is great in terms of scaling their projects but is exactly the life she ran away from. If she wanted to worry about board members and shareholder profits, she would have taken the path that led her to CEO of LuthorCorp by now. Ending up on exactly the same path after she turned to Spherical as a safe haven is a tragedy worthy of the Greeks.
She’s good at the business side of things when necessary, and so is Jack. He’s really good. He deserves all of the opportunities coming his way and he desperately wants to take them. She knows he didn’t grow up like her. He wasn't poor by any means, but this is a way for him to break into some real access to wealth and power. She hates herself for threatening to keep him from it. She hates him for wanting it. She hates him for giving her so many logical arguments for why they should expand. She hates that she loves him enough that she’s going to cave. And she hates that she’s already miserable about what comes next.
She’s replayed today’s argument, and half of the one they’ll have Monday before she gets to her front door. Then she stops herself to catch her breath and reorient herself. It’s Saturday evening. She promised Kara Saturday night and all of Sunday, and she wants to start it off right. If her professional haven is going to be taken from her, she doesn’t want it to ruin her personal one too.
She smells garlic as soon as walks in and most of the stress melts off her as she sees Kara’s back in front of the stove, swaying to whatever 90s pop song is pouring through her phone.
Kara must hear her because she turns around, eyes bright and huge smile on her face, and immediately all of the tension returns to Lena’s body.
“What’s wrong?”
“What?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing”, Kara lies as Lena walks towards her and pecks her on the lips. “I’m cooking you dinner.”
Lena’s entire body unconsciously leans into Kara’s warmth as she views the contents of the stovetop. “You’re making the garlic bread you love and that fettuccini I like. Comfort food for both of us. That bottle of wine decanting on the counter is 30 bucks, about 24 dollars more than you’d normally spend. I can see the wrinkle between your eyebrows. And you’re pretending that everything is fine, which means you’re worried about how I’m going to react.”
“Lenaaaaaaaa”, Kara whines as she drops her head to Lena’s shoulder and sways them for a bit.
Lena laughs out a “you’re a terrible liar, Kar. What’s going on?”
“It not a b-” she stops herself and corrects “it’s nothing urgent. I just need to talk to you. It can wait until after dinner.”
Lena’s heart stutters as she realizes that Kara implied that whatever it is, is in fact a big deal, and follows up with “the sauce can simmer and the bread can warm for awhile, right? Why don’t we talk this out so we’re not both sweating our way through dinner.”
“Sweat- Lena. It’s fine. It’ll keep.”
“Will you? Or will you ask me overly cheerful questions while your left leg bounces and you inhale your food without tasting it?"
Kara deflates. “You really want to do this now?”
“Please”, Lena replies looking directly into Kara’s eyes as she softens her voice just enough to know Kara wouldn’t ever deny the request.
“Fine. Grab two glasses of wine and wait on the couch. I’ll turn all this down and be over in a minute."
When Kara joins her on the couch, she takes the wineglass from Lena’s hand, puts it on the coffee table, gently grabs both cheeks, and kisses her, real slow.
Alarm bells go off in Lena’s head, but she ignores them as she melts into the kiss. “Uh oh”, she exhales as Kara pulls away with a soft smile and says “I love you” at the same time.
“Uh oh?”
“You told me we needed to talk and then you kissed me like that. 'Uh oh' seems appropriate.”
“Or I’ve been waiting to do that all day, and I didn’t get to properly greet my girlfriend when she walked in because she immediately started interrogating me”, Kara replies with raised eyebrows.
“Fine. Then hello.”
Kara kisses her again, quicker, but still sweet, until she pulls back with the same warm smile. “Hi. How was your day?”
“Kara…” Lena answers warningly.
“What?” Kara says feigning innocence, then relents, just an inch with, “What is your need to get down to ‘business’ as soon as possible?”
“Is that what we need to talk about?”
“It could be?”, Kara smiles, as one last ditch attempt to derail the conversation. Lena denies her with just a look and then Kara’s entire posture changes.
She stays close to Lena and takes her left hand in both of hers, feigning casualness, but Lena knows her well enough to know her body is wracked with anxiety.
“Something happened to me today. And it’s something I think we need to talk about. I don’t want to keep any secrets from you, and I want to do this right.”
“Are you okay?” Lena asked, squeezing Kara’s hand back.
Kara relaxes minutely as she smiles down at Lena and confirms “yeah. I mean for the most part. Geez. This is such a weird conversation to have. I don’t know how to start.”
“Just start at the beginning” Lena urges, trying desperately to stifle the dread rising in her stomach.
“I was planning to propose to you.”
Lena pulls back from Kara’s hands instinctively, as she blurts out “was?” with enough anxiety creeping into her voice that it would mortify her in any other situation. Now, she barely notices due to the thoughts racing through her mind. About how everything fell apart so swiftly. About how this wonderful little life she’s cobbled together the last four years, where she got to be personally and professionally happy, is finally crumbling down around her.
Kara realizes what she’s implying with a start and almost shouts “No! No. That’s not what I- I’m sorry. Just”. She takes Lena’s hand again. “Just let me get this out. I’ll try to go quick, and then we can talk about it, okay?”
Lena agrees because she doesn’t see any other option. She figures she might as well get this over with quickly.
“Okay. Good. Alright how do I? So...you know how your parents hate me, right?”
“What?” Lena exclaims, eyes wide, as she almost pulls away again.
Kara holds on tighter. “Just stay with me, okay? You know how your parents hate me?”
“Yes, Kara. I know that.” While Lena didn’t want to be under her family’s constant control, she’s tried not to cut them out of her life completely. She visits for holidays and special events, politely deflecting questions about her life with patented Luthor charm as she subtly manipulates guests into whatever the Luthors' goal for the evening is. She can still play the part, and indulges them as long as they’re clear that she’s doing it by choice.
While her parents pretend to be politically correct liberals in public, having a daughter that’s both gay and a disappointment is too much for them to bear. And Kara is proof of both. Their daughter’s girlfriend from the wrong side of the tracks. They’ve been adamant that Kara is just a phase, while Kara has been pitching strategies to win them over, or at least tolerate their behavior towards her, for the rest of her life.
Kara rarely joins her, because she hates those functions, and as much as Lena loves riling up her parents in public, she respects her girlfriend too much to force her into situations where she’s uncomfortable.
“Okay. Good. So, um. They hate me, but I love you. And I know that it’s hard for you that we don’t really like being in the same room as each other. And I want to make that better for you. And I know they don’t think I'm good enough for you. Even though, somehow, you do.
So I uh...I wanted to do this right. Your parents don’t need to love me. But I want them to know that I love you and I respect you and I want to make you happy. And so, I was planning to propose to you... So I told you I was spending the day with Alex, but I actually put on that tailored three piece you got me for my birthday and drove up to the manor.”
She looks at Lena like Lena is supposed to know what any of that means, but her brain, which has been certified genius by two different institutions, can't connect the dots.
Until, in one split second, it does.
Her voice breaks as she asks “You asked my parents for permission to marry me?”
Kara’s eyes shine with unshed tears as she confirms with a soft “yeah”.
Even though dread still courses through Lena’s veins, she settles now that she realizes what this conversation is actually about and can’t help but touch Kara’s cheek with her right hand and kiss her. As she pulls away, Kara’s tears have started to fall, and Lena realizes hers must have too, because Kara brushes one away with her thumb as she gazes at Lena with a smile.
“So I ugh.” She clears her throat. “I talked to them. And, uh, they weren’t happy.”
Lena laughs at the understatement. “Yeah I’ll bet they weren’t.”
“And to clarify, I didn’t really ask them for their permission. The only one who decides for you is you. It was more of asking for their blessing.” She drops her eyes down to her lap as she says, “but they wouldn’t give it to me.”
Lena thinks that of course they didn’t give it to her, until the reason Kara’s been so upset clarifies into startling focus. She thought they would.
She takes Kara’s hands from her lap, which still holds her focus, and exhales, “Kara”.
Before she can continue, Kara jumps in as she starts to cry for real, “I’m so sorry Lena. I thought I did it right. I dressed up, and I brought your mom flowers that cost the same amount as my car insurance payments, and I shook your dad’s hand. And I had, like a whole speech and I gave it, well, I thought. And they listened, even. They just sat there quietly, until I was done and then they just said “no” just like that, and I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’ll figure it out, and-”
Lena can’t take it anymore, so she gently raises Kara’s chin until she finally makes eye contact. “Kara, stop. It’s okay.”
Kara adamantly shakes her head “ no it’s n- Lena!”
“What, darling?”, Lena indulges.
“Your parents don’t want you to marry me.”
Kara says it like it’s the end of the world, but Lena replies with a casual “no they don’t.”
Kara asks, “Well, how do you feel about that?”
“About my parents being terrible people?”
“About you having to deal with this thing between us forever?”
“Well not forever, just until they die.”
“Lena!” She admonishes. But Lena just laughs gently as her body continues to flood with relief.
Kara continues, “If we do this thing, I want to do it right. I bought a ring.” At this Lena turns more serious. “And I planned a proposal. And I had this whole speech for you too, and I was going to tell you how I got your parents’ blessing. And now...Well, now I guess I just need to know if you’re willing to go into an engagement with someone your parents hate.”
Lena doesn’t think she’s ever been more in love with her girlfriend than she is in this moment. She didn’t realize how much stock Kara had actually put into her parents coming around. That Kara thought she could actually mend the psyche of the Luthors just by explaining to them how happy she makes Lena. That it never occurred to Kara that parents sometimes oppose their daughters’ happiness.
Lena left a life she hated, on her own terms, specifically to try to be happy, and her parents legally disowned her for it. Whatever lukewarm relationship they’ve managed to salvage after will never overcome that. And the happiness of which Lena once thought herself incapable is sitting right in front of her, after her new life made sure she crossed paths with Kara.
As though being a miracle Lena never thought she deserved isn’t enough, Kara went back, to try to extend some of that joy and peace into Lena’s old life.
In that moment, Lena can’t think of anything else to say, except, “where is it?”
“What?”
“The ring. Is it here?”
“Um. Yeah. I mean not here, but in our bedroom.”
“Okay. So go get it, and then ask me.”
Kara’s eyes widen as she pulls back with a “what?”
“Ask me.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
Lena chuckles,"yes.”
“I can’t. I mean, alright, when I said I had a speech, I really meant I had like twenty percent of a speech and I still haven’t-”
“Kara?”
“Hmm”. Kara stills.
“Go get the ring.” Lena gently orders. And she doesn’t know if it’s the sincerity in her voice, or Kara’s constant desire to make her happy that finally works.
Kara leaves the room and then comes back in, both hands behind her back, hesitating, as she says “Lee, look this thing with your parents...We don’t have to rush into anything just because you’re feeling-”
“Kara, we’ve been together four years. We're not rushing. And I’m not feeling anything. About my parents, I mean. They’re not going to give us their blessing. They never were. They’re not going to change and that’s fine with me. We’ll agree to invite them to the wedding if they're on their best behavior. And they’ll agree to invite us to their galas if you do the same. We’re gonna keep going on, like this, for the rest of our lives. And I made my peace with that along time ago.”
“Are you sure?” Kara asks, in a voice so small, that Lena feels more fury at her parents than she’s been able to rile up on her own behalf in years.
“I am sure. The only thing that bothers me about the situation with my parents is that they hurt you. And the only thing I’m feeling right now, is complete devotion to my girlfriend. So take that box out from behind your back and ask me.”
Kara looks into Lena’s eyes again for confirmation and then steels herself with a deep breath.
Then she drops down to one knee in front of Lena on the couch, and holds the closed maroon box in front of her.
Lena gasps as Kara slowly opens it, the image catching her completely emotionally off guard even though she knew intellectually what what was about to happen.
Kara starts, voice slightly shaky, “Lena Keiran Luthor, I love you more than anything, and all I want in this world is for you to be happy. And that is why, no matter what you say, I’m going to keep trying to get that blessing from your parents, even if it doesn’t come until our 50th anniversary, because I am always going to do anything I can to make sure your life is as good is can possibly be. If you give me the chance, I will spend the rest of my life fighting for your happiness. Will you marry me?”
Kara starts to take the ring out of its pouch as Lena leans forward in one swift motion to kiss her. They stand up, as the box drops to the floor, its contents now casually resting on Kara’s index finger, on the hand pressed to Lena’s jaw.
“Yes. Yes. Always.”
Kara giggles as she says, “I thought you were gonna say no after you demanded I do this. That would have been a funny joke.”
Lena giggles too, giddy, as she presses her forehead to Kara’s and says “I’m sorry I ruined your proposal with my sincerity.”
Kara pulls back and says, “you know I did have a better speech, and like a whole plan…”
“Nope.” When Kara’s smile falters Lena clarifies with “we can do all of that stuff if you want, but I don’t want you to try to change this moment at all. It was perfect.”
“Really?” Kara asks with so much skeptical sincerity that Lena starts laughing again, and nods as she continues to chuckle against Kara’s lips.
Lena had a lifetime of too much planning and pre-written speeches, until she burned it down in favor of a messy life with a broken apartment elevator and a too brilliant business partner, and terrible liar of a girlfriend. The idea of Kara dressing up and spending money they're trying to save just so she could convince her parents she’s good enough, when she’s the best thing Lena’s ever known, is more than enough to know she couldn’t marry anyone better for her. A spontaneous too-teary proposal surrounded by the scent of slightly burning garlic bread is exactly the perfect beginning for the life she wants to share with Kara. She pities her parents for not being able to allow themselves this pure a happiness, but mostly she’s just glad that they rejected Kara today, because them denouncing this how she knows it’s exactly what she needs.
Maybe tomorrow she’ll dress up in one of her power suits to personally deliver them thank you flowers.