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Kara is trapped inside the thick ice cage with Kryptonite. She struggles to breathe, not because of the kryptonite or the claustrophobia that had been haunting her for years but because she feels something just broke inside her. Her chest is heavy and she has been crying for what looks like ages now. Lena hates her. She killed Lex for her. Her kind hearted best friend, shot her own brother… for her. She feels the weight of making her best friend a murderer. She feels responsible for breaking her heart.
While Kara is letting guilt consume her, Alex and Brainy appear through the transmeta portal. Alex quickly puts her gun down when she sees Kara trapped and Brainy starts working on rectifying the fortress’s defence controls. Kara for once, does not look happy to be released from the pain that was searing through her veins but quickly realises what Lena did and said and that she has to find her before she does something she’d regret for her entire life. She briefs Alex about what happened and tries to locate Lena with the help of fortress’s technology. Alex is infuriated and confused. Yes, she didn’t trust Lena in the beginning but after all these years, they were friends. And yet, she fails to fathom how can Lena do something so cruel to her little sister. She thinks to herself, “Lena should not have done that. I will never forgive her”.
The polyphasic quantum processor Kara was using so desperately to find Lena finally tracks her. Lena is in Mount Norquay. Alex knows that place. She tells Kara it was a secret hideout facility used by Lex Luthor and Kara immediately realises what Lena is going to do. She knows she has to act fast and so, she begins to leave. That’s when Alex abruptly stops her and asks where she is going. Kara thinks she doesn’t have enough time to explain and she’d do it once she stops Lena from using the myriad and she chooses to say just enough words for Alex to understand, “To fix this”.
Kara flies to Mount Norquay. She stops at the front of what looks like a secret base and tries to find Lena by listening to her heartbeat… a heartbeat that she has grown to love during the past 3 years. She finally hears it but wait…there is one more heartbeat, one more person. While she tries to figure out the another heartbeat, Lena fires ion canons at her to keep her at bay. Kara does not back out. She comes right back, determination filled in her heart.
Suddenly Lena is distracted by the constant buzzing of the weapon system. When she notices that the facility's auto defence system is targeting kryptonite canons at Kara, Lena’s heart stops. Kara is still standing right there raising her hands in surrender while all Lena can think of is how to stop the kryptonite canons. She cannot hurt Kara. She just can’t.
As soon as the kryptonite canons are pulled back in, Kara sees an opportunity and breaks through the roof into the facility. She is determined to win her best friend back, no matter the consequences. And, in that moment, time just froze. Kara is here. Lena is standing right across. She wants to hug her and tell her how sorry she is but she understands she owes Lena an explanation, if only she’d listen.
Kara takes a step towards Lena. “Don’t”, warns Lena and Kara stops. She decides it’s better to honour Lena’s boundaries right now. “Lena, please listen to me”, Kara pleads. “Please, give me a chance to explain”, she says with a cracked voice. “I don’t want to listen to..”, Lena is about to stop Kara from speaking while they experience the ground beneath them shake. Before anyone could make out of what it was, a cloud of rubble forms and Rama Khan appears out of it.
“Give me the medallion. It does not belong to you”, he warns Lena and moves aggressively towards her. Lena was so absorbed in the prospective imminent success of project myriad that for the first time in her life she did not anticipate of all the possible dangers. She panics and raises her arms in cross in front of her face in a failed attempt to rescue herself from Rama Khan. “It’s all so similar”, she thinks to herself and then she remembers the time when cyborg Hank Henshaw was about to attack her at L-Corp. And just how it happened then, Kara comes in front of her to protect her.
“What…What are you doing? I don’t need your pretence to protect me, Supergirl”, Lena says to Kara unsure of how exactly she feels about it. Her words sting like Kryptonite but Kara does not answer and remains at her position.
Rama Khan remembers how the Kryptonian was able to cause him significant damage and decides not to engage in a fight with her but rather manipulate her against Lena. “Supergirl, I mean no harm to you. You are trying to protect a thief. Do you know she has stolen something that does not belong to her? Something that has a value so ancient and so majestic she is not worthy of even touching…yet she denies to give it back.”, He says while he looks at Lena with disgust, “If you give it back, I will do you no harm. Consider it your last warning”, he threatens Lena. “The medallion belongs to me. It is a souvenir to my mother’s memory. It’s all I have now. You cannot take it from me.” Lena spits out of anger.
Kara is still maintaining her position to defend Lena. She may not know the entire story but she trusts Lena enough in order to know Lena would never claim anything that is not hers. “Go back where you came from Rama Khan. Whatever it is that you say Lena has, I am sure it belongs to her if she says it does. I trust her.” Lena is shocked to say the least to hear Kara saying these words. “She just attacked you, tried to kill you with Kryptonite. She is not trustworthy. She is a Luthor.” Rama Khan warns Kara and Lena’s chest is filled with hurt and rage.
“Yes, she is. She is the only good Luthor. The purest of them. She is too good to have the Luthor name. I trust her with my life.” Kara states with unwavering faith in her voice. “Then, you will lose yours to save hers”, Rama Khan proceeds to attacks Kara as soon as he threatens her.
What nobody realises is that meanwhile Lena, Kara and Rama Khan were exchanging these heated words, Hope quickly reached out for Lena’s transmeta portal watch that was laying on the table and a blue light engulfed Lena and Kara. They were gone leaving Rama Khan infuriated.
They are back at the fortress of solitude. “Hope, why have you brought us here”, Lena asked perplexed while a pang of guilt hits her when she realises what she had done the last time she was here with Kara. “This is the only place on Earth that can dampen Rama Khan’s power and moreover it was a quicker alternative Miss Luthor. I just accessed the most recent location.”, she answered obediently.
“Kara, oh thank God…Where did you go? What happened?” Alex asks holding Kara’s shoulder, concern dripping from her eyes in the form of tears and that's when she notices Lena and… Eve Teshmacher? Alex is enraged immediately and moves towards Lena with her hands balled into fists. “You…How could you do that to her? She’s your best friend. You made her feel suffocated with pain. How could you Lena?” Lena does not flinch, does not back off.
“How could I? How could you Alex? and How could all of you lie to me for all these years? You all claimed to be my friends yet you stopped at nothing to make a fool of me proving that once again I was naive to be open and trusting in humanity?” She throws her words at Alex like venom spitting from her mouth. Alex is stunned. She understands Lena is hurt but…but it was not right what she did. “You hurt my baby sister. I know what happened was not right but it never came out of a place of maliciousness, it came from a place of love.” Alex tries to reason with Lena while moving towards her when she is stopped by Kara who is now standing between her and Lena.
“Alex, could you please give us a moment? I need to speak to Lena” Kara pleads. She turns towards Brainy and Eve and urges them too. “Please Alex”, she implores. “Fine” is all Alex can say under her gritted teeth and with a hesitant nod they all leave.
Alex takes Brainy and Eve to another room where she asks Eve what was she doing with Lena. “Director Danvers, I am not Eve Teshmacher, my name is Hope. I am an advanced AI Miss Luthor created to serve humanity and integrated me into Eve Teshmacher’s brain.” she states plainly to Alex. To say the ground beneath Alex just shifted is truly an understatement. Alex tries but cannot bring herself to speak anything. “Impressive! So, what you are saying is Lena integrated an advanced AI into a human’s brain and in a way successfully programmed an organic being. This technology was not known until 100 years from now.” Brainy speaks excitedly like the nerd he is when Alex gives him her best death glare and Brainy knows now is not the best time.
Lena stands frozen. It’s all too overwhelming. A deafening silence fills the space between her and Kara. Lena’s eyes are glued to the floor. She does not want to look at Kara. She does not want to speak to her. And Kara understands… She takes a careful step towards Lena like she is letting her know that she’s here and she respects her boundaries. It seems to be working because Lena finally looks up at her. She says nothing but she is staring into Kara’s eyes as if asking a millions of questions, as if expressing how hurt she is, as if pleading Kara to hold her because she cannot take it anymore.
“Lena”, Kara says in a whisper under her breath. Lena says nothing. “Lena” she says again…so softly as if holding something so precious that if she exerts any force, it will break. Lena does not react at all, she is still staring into Kara’s ocean eyes, tears threatening to flood right out. Kara takes a few bold steps, determination reflecting on her face. She delicately places her hand into Lena’s and takes her to her room in the fortress.
They are now standing in Kara’s room. Lena observes, her mind is distracted with curiosity only for a minute and then she’s back at where she was…into Kara’s eyes. “Why”, Lena is surprised to hear herself as she just uttered something that was running into her mind but she never intended her mouth to drop those words. “Why what?”, Kara asks softly, tears almost threatening to burst out of those beautiful blue eyes. “Why do you still defend me?”, she asks Kara almost sounding like she is accusing her of committing a heinous crime. “Because, you are my best friend. But more importantly, because you are a brilliant, kind hearted, beautiful soul and you deserve to be protected Lena”, Kara said with sheer earnestness, maintaining the eye contact that no one dares to break as if, if they do it they’d break something pure.
Lena is suddenly rushed with emotions. Those were the exact same words Kara said when she confessed to her about Lex’s secret. When Kara heard her with all the sincerity of the world and never once blamed her for anything rather forgave her in an instant. She is flooded with memories of both Kara and Supergirl. Their first meeting where she met the oh so nervous human with untapped potential, Kara Danvers…The time when Supergirl saved her from the helicopter crash…Their first lunch date at Noonan’s when Kara thrashed her walls for the first time with her sweet and earnest smile….The gala where she invited both Kara and Supergirl…the save from Cadmus…The plane crash where Supergirl would not just let her go…The lead poison case and how Kara proved her innocence… Lena breaks and falls on her knees. “I used Kryptonite on you. I trapped you in here and left you in pain. I am a horrible person and an undeserving friend.”, she whispers so lightly that if Kara was human if was impossible for her to understand what Lena just said. Tears carelessly flow from Lena’s eyes touching here cheeks and moving to her neck. “I harmed you when you always protected me. You…you were always my hero. And I tried to-“, Kara stoops down to her knees and hugs Lena. It looks like a promise that no matter what she’ll always be there, a gesture of understanding and forgiveness and a conviction to save their relationship. Lena hugs her back like her life depends on it. “And you Lena Luthor are my hero”, Kara says with what seems like utmost gratitude. “You were always there when I needed you. You saved my life multiple times. You even saved the world when I couldn’t. You, Lena are my beacon of light, you always have been. I am not above you, we are both equals. I can’t imagine my life without you.”, Kara says with voice almost choked from overwhelming emotions.
Lena is still sobbing into Kara’s neck when Kara scoops her into her arms unable to let Lena go. She levitates towards her bed not letting Lena go even for a single second. She rests her back against the headboard and carefully places Lena on her lap while Lena’s arms are still wrapping her shoulders and her face buried into her neck. “Shhh… Lena, it’s okay. Everything, will be okay. I am here. I am not going anywhere”, Kara coos while she rubs Lena’s back.. She places a soft kiss on Lena’s head pouring every emotion she is feeling. “I am sorry Kara, I just…I am so hurt”, is all Lena can say when she breaks down in Kara’s arms and cries uncontrollably. “We will fix this”, Kara promises, her fingers moving through Lena’s loose hair strands in an attempt to soothe her pain.
Lena finally stops crying but Kara is still caressing her. Her one hand is rubbing Lena’s back, fingers drawing shapes in between while the other is soothing her hair. “I am sorry I am such a mess”, Lena apologises to Kara while her face is still buried in Kara’s neck. “Do you think Alex will forgive me for hurting you”, she startles Kara by the question. “She has no reason not to” is all Kara manages to say. She knows it will be difficult but Alex is one of the most reasonable and forgiving humans she knows so she is sure it will all work out. Almost an hour passes by…Neither Kara not Lena has spoken a word but they have remained in the similar position not wanting to let go of each other when suddenly Lena asks Kara,”So, my alien detection device did not work on you”. Kara lets out a sigh that could easily be mistaken for a lost giggle and confesses to Lena that she damaged her device with her heat vision. “You know, with an IQ of 160, I had been acting pretty dumb”, Lena smirks into Kara’s neck leaving a shiver running through her. “Now, when I think about it, I guess Lex was right. I guess, I always knew but I was in denial. Perhaps, I did not want to believe that my fragile, vulnerable, sweet best friend Kara Danvers was the invincible superhero of National City. Maybe I did not want to change how you made me feel.” Lena confesses to which Kara’s breath hitches and she asks Lena, “How did I make you feel?”. “Loved, protected, warm…like home” Lena answers sincerely. For the first time, she raises her head from Kara’s neck and looks into Kara’s mesmerising ocean eyes. Whatever walls she was successful in raising back, crumble once again and she suddenly realises where she is - not somewhere a best friend should be - on Kara’s lap. She is so close to Kara that she could feel her breath on her skin. Lena doesn’t know what comes over her when she leans in and kisses Kara. Kara freezes.
Into the soft kiss Lena has pulled Kara into, Kara has an epiphany. Everything makes sense now. Why she felt so broken when Lena left her in the fortress…Why she has always been so afraid of losing her…Why was it so difficult to imagine her life without Lena…”I love her. I am in love with her”, Kara confesses to herself. It’s been a minute or two when Lena has stopped kissing her and now, she is looking at Kara with an expression that looks like a mixture of confusion, apology, guilt and even fear. “Oh God! I’m sorry Kara. I didn’t..”, Lena tries to come up with an explanation as to why she did what she did when she is abruptly stopped by Kara’s soft lips. This time, Kara kisses her. It’s an exploration at first but it does not take long when the hesitant kiss becomes a testament of certain love. Their lips move in the perfect sync like two missing parts of a puzzle. The kiss is soft, full of warmth, love and…promises. It’s like they are making up for whatever has happened without a need to utter a single word. Kara breaks the kiss first. They are both diving into each other’s eyes, emerald green looking into the ocean blues. Kara cups Lena's cheeks and brings her forehead to touch Lena’s. Her warm breath is touching Lena’s skin. It is a confession. There is no need to say anything right now. They can always speak to each other later. As long as they are with each other, there will be time to learn more about what they have just discovered. But, right now, all they want to do, is to be in this moment, to cherish this comfortable silence. To listen to each other breathing and to confess with this silence that they love each other. And that’s what they do.