Work Text:
“And so it would be advisable for people to stay indo-” The screen in front of Kara turns black and she blinks herself back to reality as a box suddenly -and roughly- nudges her arm.
“Orders aren’t going to wait for you, Danvers!” It feels like Snapper’s voice grabs her mind and forces it back to the present.
“They just said on the news that it’s dangerous to-”
“I don’t care what some ditzy reporter said on the news, Danvers. Do you want to get paid or not?”
“I do,” Kara hates every second of all of this.
“Then pack up your orders and go!” The man slaps a sticky note on the top box that has the order and the name on it and pushes Kara out the door.
The raindrops whip Kara’s cheeks as she speeds down the road on her worn-down scooter, the water splashing against her helmet and glasses, making it hard to see. Three deliveries down, one to go. All she needs to do is get to that apartment, on the other side of the city, deliver the stupid burger and then get back home to celebrate Christmas with everyone. Easy enough, she has more than enough time to do that. That said, however, whoever thought it was a good idea for people to be working on Christmas Eve had a terrible sense of humor.
She’s caught in a red light when the call from Alex gets to her and she taps the side of her helmet to answer. She feels a little bit like a badass, she has to admit, the silly rainbow helmet Alex got her a few years back does look kind of cooler with the Bluetooth addition she installed to it.
“Whatever it is, say it fast cause I’m on the road,” she says already knowing who it is.
“Are you actually outside right now?” Alex’ voice comes in muffled.
“Last delivery of the day and then I’ll be on my way back. Save some pre-drinks snacks for me!”
“I honestly have half a mind to sue your boss for reckless endangerment of an employee, did you guys not see the news? Or the outside for that matter... It’s pissing rain all day and-”
“I know, I know,” Kara rolls her eyes as she light turns green, “Snapper was being annoying again… Look, I promise, this is my last delivery for the day, I’ll be there soon, okay?” her voice hitches slightly when she takes a right turn tighter than she expects.
“If you’re speeding, I’m going to kill you,” Alex says in her serious, sister voice and Kara chuckles.
“I’m not, don’t worry,” she says. She’s definitely speeding. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way back, I have to go.”
“Okay, you better. Take care, love you.”
“Love you too.” It happens before Kara even has a chance to blink. Her hand rises to tap the side of her helmet just as a surprisingly deep puddle appears in front of her and she tries to swerve to the right using only one hand to steer. It’s a bad idea, she realizes, as she feels herself losing all control of the scooter and heads straight towards a parked car.
It takes her a second to realize she’s fine. Drenched to the bone and with an aching wrist, but fine.
“Okay. Okay, everything’s okay,” she says to herself as she gets up and goes to pick up her scooter which, in contrast with her, is unfortunately not fine. Seems like the delivery box got the brunt of the hit as it is now laying there all open and broken and sad, the burger box surprisingly still inside, however. Kara wonders if she should just give up. Call Snapper, tell him what happened, go home to Alex and their friends and celebrate Christmas like she was supposed to do before she got roped in for an extra shift that day.
“Hello?” The intercom crackles to life about three seconds after Kara pulls her finger away from the button.
“Big Belly Burger,” she says as she moves towards the door, ready to push it open. She frowns at the silence that follows.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” the voice asks.
“Um…”
“It’s usually polite to say hello, is it not?” Kara swears she can hear a smirk in the woman’s voice.
“I said hello,” she says. “I said ‘Big Belly Burger, hey’.” She is not in the mood for this. “I always say the same th-”
“No, you didn’t. You just said ‘Big Belly Burger’.” More silence follows after that and it has Kara wishing she could be anywhere else. “And it’s also polite for people to apologize when they’re late.”
Kara sighs. “Sorry… I got- held back…” The woman doesn’t say anything after that. “Are you… Are you going to let me in or…?”
“Or I could be a pain. I could… I don’t know, ask for a free burger or a complimentary dessert, couldn’t I? Your order is free if you wait for more than twenty minutes. Isn’t that what your flyer says?”
“It’s been twenty minutes?”
“Forty.”
“...oh.”
“So what now?”
Kara resists the urge to hit her head against the glass door. “I don’t know, Mrs Thorul…”
“It’s Miss. And my name isn’t Thorul, that was the previous owner. People were supposed to change the name but they didn’t and I just left it as is. Easier for deliveries,” the voice explains. “Anyway, that’s none of your business.” Kara simply sighs. “I’ll open the door but, honestly, I’m very annoyed,” the voice says after a moment and Kara feels a tiny smile making its way to her lips. She kinda likes that woman, she thinks. “Thirty-eighth floor, there’s only one door as you exit the elevator. It’s easy enough to find, I should hope.” ‘Even for you,’ it sounds like she wants to say.
The buzzer goes off and Kara pushes the door only for it to not budge at all. The sound stops for a second before it begins again, marking Kara’s second chance to get this right. Three attempts later and Kara is absolutely convinced she’s stupid. What’s so hard about opening a door anyway?
“You have to wait for the sound to stop and then push. Otherwise, the thing gets stuck.” Kara nods, her hand resting on the door, ready to push at the right time. The buzzer goes off, stops, Kara pushes, and the door- and the door remains locked. “Still nothing?” the voice asks.
“Still nothing,” Kara sighs, her head resting against the cool glass of the door. “Can you… Can you come down and collect it?” she asks in a quiet voice, almost scared to ask. She flinches ever-so-slightly at the sigh that makes its way through the intercom.
“Yeah, give me a minute.” Kara nods, not thinking of the fact that the woman can’t actually see her, and rests her back against the wall. It’s only a moment later when she decides to peek into the box just to make sure the order is okay and she thanks her lucky stars she does so.
“I’ll be right down!” comes the voice again before Kara even has the chance to stop pressing the button.
“Don’t bother,” she says with a sigh.
“Why?”
“The uh… The burger and I had a little accident on our way here. I’m afraid we’ve had casualties.”
“What happened?”
“Well, it looks like someone took the burger, chewed it up and then spat-”
“I meant the accident. Are you hurt?”
“Wh- what? No, I’m fine. It was nothing serious. Thanks for uh… thanks for asking.”
“You should get a new job. You’re not a very good delivery person.”
“I know. My boss always tells me the same thing.”
“Well, maybe you should listen to him.” The woman chuckles softly and Kara finds herself following suite.
“Maybe…” she says. “Look, you should just order another burger. Tell them what happened. They’re… they’re used to it.”
“Wow, you must be terrible at your job…” the woman chuckles again and Kara rolls her eyes.
“Have a good night,” she says as she makes her way to the main exit. Of course the rain has gotten worse; it’s just her luck for everything to go wrong the one day she needs to be home early. With yet another sigh, Kara takes a seat on the marble bench just by the door.
...
“Are you still there?” The sudden buzzing of the intercom nearly ten minutes later scares Kara half to death.
“Sugar,” she mutters as she tries to clean up her pants from a freshly dropped blob of sauce, ignoring the muffled laugh that makes its way to her ears.
“Shitty night, isn’t it?” comes the voice again, making Kara glance outside to her abandoned and absolutely drenched scooter. She opens the main door a little and chances a look up, some water droplets splashing on her face.
“Thirty-eighth floor, huh?” she asks as she lets to door shut. “Makes me dizzy just thinking about it…”
“Is that my burger you’re eating?” Kara only shrugs and hums in response. “Is it good?”
“The added broccoli was a bad idea.”
“Ha, everyone’s a critic.”
“What do you see from up there?”
“I can see your scooter. Poor thing looks so sad.”
“I meant when you look straight ahead.”
“Oh… Nothing. Well, nothing vertical anyway. Only the horizon.”
“Sounds pretty lonely…”
“What? I can’t hear you.”
“I said it sounds kinda lonely,” Kara says again, not even knowing where that bluntness just came from. “Being cut off from the world like that… To see nothing… Hear nothing…” she trails off as she makes her way back to the intercom. “Can you hear the rain?”
“Rain doesn’t make any noise up here,” the voice says. “It only passes through.” Kara frowns slightly. ‘Yep. Lonely.’ “I can hear the wind, though. And sometimes, when the wind is very strong, I can feel the building moving. It’s kinda… I don't know, comforting- in a weird way, I suppose…”
Kara wants to respond. To say that it sounds weird and lonely but also kinda peaceful in a way only a swaying building can be, but she doesn’t. She just hums softly, her eyes drifting shut and her mind traveling up those thirty-eight stories on a windy day. It makes her dizzy.
“You should go,” the voice says a couple of silent moments later. “It won’t last long.”
“What won’t?”
“The rain. I think it’s calmed down.”
“Oh… Yeah, it has. I should uh… I should get going, then.”
“Otherwise you may be stuck here all night. That would be silly...”
“Yeah…”
“Goodbye, Delivery Person.”
“Bye, Miss Thorul. Happy Christmas.”
It’s been six days and Kara most definitely isn’t still hung up on the woman on the thirty-eighth floor. No matter what anyone says, Alex is a blatant liar. And she definitely hasn’t spent hours imagining what the woman looks like or anything. No, that’s creepy and Kara isn’t even going to talk about the mystery sketches on her sketchbook of a woman she has never met. That’s even creepier.
It’s New Year’s Eve, a time for family and celebration and change and big decisions that no one ever follows through with and Kara is all about that. She’s also all about pleasing everyone in her life and putting them before her own self so of course she says yes when Snapper calls her in for an extra evening shift. She’s going to quit one of those days, she swears she is. Until then, however, all she can do is smile and nod and wait for her shift to be over so she can go home and- not potato cause she said she would host everyone this evening, why does she always have to go above and beyond?
The bell above the door signals the arrival of a customer and Kara’s eyes fall on the clock above her. Eleven twenty. ‘Go home,’ she thinks before plastering a big smile on her face and turning around. The woman standing in front of her does not look like she’s supposed to be there at all. Kara eyes the fur coat that’s draped on her shoulders and the undoubtedly expensive jewelry she’s wearing and suddenly feels very underdressed even though she’s wearing her work uniform, like she’s supposed to, and the strange newcomer is dressed like she’s on her way to a red carpet.
“Hey, welcome to Big Belly Burger, what can I get you?” she asks in one breath before her voice and all coherent thoughts decide to completely leave her body.
“Hi, sorry, my car just broke down and I need to be somewhere soon,” the woman says in a voice Kara can vaguely recognize but not quite. “Is there a phone I can use or…?”
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! There’s a phone over here.” Kara picks up the wireless phone and offers it to the woman who grabs it with a look of gratefulness in her eyes. “I don’t think you’re gonna find any taxis or anything now, though,” Kara says softly. “Everyone’s home already…”
“You’re right…” the woman says. “And I gave my driver the day off too…” she mutters and Kara stifles a chuckle. Of course she has a driver, how could she not. “I’ll just- I’ll call my friend. I’m so sorry about this.” The woman apologizes almost on autopilot as her fingers are flying over the buttons. She hesitates for a second before pressing the call button. Kara can hear it ring twice before someone picks up and the woman tentatively walks away from the counter. “Hey. Yes, I know what time it is… My car broke down. [...] Some burger place, does it matter? [...] No, my phone is dead and Lucas has the day off. [...] Because he has a family and he went to see them. Look, can you send someone to pick me up? [...] Yes, I know you can’t leave your guests, I didn’t ask you to come. [...] Okay. [...] Yeah, okay, I’ll wait by the station. [...] Okay. Thank you.” The woman sighs as she hangs up the phone, her shoulders slumping visibly when she makes her way back to the counter, her lips pressed in a tight, forced smile. “Thank you,” she says softly. “Again, sorry about this, you probably need to be on your way home, too.”
“It’s honestly no bother,” Kara smiles. “Can I get you anything while you wait? On the house!” The woman lets out a laugh at the words and Kara can feel herself blush.
“It’s okay,” she says, her smile more honest this time. “I’ll just wait by the station, they should be here soon.”
“If you’re sure… I can wait with you if you want?” Kara offers.
“No, no, it’s fine,” the woman insists in a way that tells Kara she should stop offering her help. “I might take you up on that offer, though. How about a milkshake for the road? Chocolate. I’ll need all the endorphins I can get tonight.”
“Rough night?” Kara asks as she gets to making the drink.
“Rough family is more like it,” the woman lets out a bitter laugh. “Not the kind I would want to be spending new year’s with, anyway.”
Kara can only shrug slightly in response. “Oh… I’m sorry,” she offers "Well, here's to a better family," she jokes and shakes her head when the woman reaches into her bag for her wallet. “On the house, remember?” she asks. “It’s my last good deed of the decade, don’t ruin it for me.” They both laugh at that but Kara can tell the woman is having none of it.
“Okay… Let me do my last good deed of the decade too, then,” she says as she fishes out a crisp note from her wallet and folds it carefully before Kara even has a chance to see the amount. She goes to put it in the tip jar but hesitates for a moment; hands it to Kara instead with a smile and a wink that the blonde knows should have maybe creeped her out a little bit, but has just made the stomach do a flip instead. “I should get going,” the woman says after that, milkshake cup in one hand and a pen and a piece of paper in the other. “I’ll see you around.” She offers a small smile along with the piece of paper and Kara copies it tentatively.
“What about your car?” she asks as the woman steps into the cold night.
“I’ll have someone collect it in the morning,” the woman replies. “Thanks again for your help.”
It’s fifteen minutes to midnight when Kara finally makes it back to her apartment and she doesn’t think he’s ever been happier for having given Alex a spare set of keys. Everyone’s already there, the table is set, there’s a countdown for the new year on TV and a bunch of board games scattered around the floor. It all brings a beaming smile on Kara’s face.
“There she is!” It’s Winn the one who notices her first, immediately followed by Alex who gets up for a hug.
“Cutting it a bit close there, aren’t you?” she laughs as she wraps her arm around Kara who rests her head against her sister’s shoulder.
“I’m here now so let’s not talk about work, please?” Kara pleads with a smile and Alex nods.
“Tomorrow,” she says and it’s Kara’s turn to nod now.
“Tomorrow,” she agrees. “Now where’s the food? I’m starving!” They’re both laughing as they make their way to the kitchen, but it doesn’t take Kara too long to stop dead on her tracks and glare at the table.
“Why is there broccoli here?” she asks, a mask of disgust settling on her features. “This is disgraceful. Sam is great and everything, Alex, but this is a step too far!” Her anticks make Alex laugh.
“It’s not for Sam, you dope,” she chuckles. “It’s for Lena, Sam’s friend.”
“Who eats burgers with…”
‘Is that my burger you’re eating? Is it good?’
‘The added broccoli was a bad idea.’
“...broccoli…”
“Hello, earth to Kara.” Kara has to blink herself back to the present. “You alright? You spaced out for a moment there.”
“I thought she wasn’t coming?”
Alex raises her shoulders. “She texted Sam just before you arrived. Apparently, New Year’s with her family was worse than she expected so she’ll be joining us in a bit.”
Kara frowns at that. “I’m onto you and your girlfriend, Danvers,” she says, making Alex roll her eyes.
“Alright, Sherlock, calm down,” she laughs. “There’s no grand plot here, just someone who had a shitty time and we’re helping them have a better New Year’s.” The doorbell rings almost as if on cue, Sam’s voice echoing through the apartment.
“I’ll get it! Lena, hi! ”
“She’s here. Go be hospitable!” Alex grabs the burger from Kara’s hands and pushes her towards the living room.
Kara sees the fur coat before anything else. Sam is helping her friend take it off and her back is turned to her so she can’t see the newcomer’s face, but she’s seen that coat before.
“I didn’t know what to bring so I just brought red and white.” she hears Lena say in that same, vaguely familiar voice “And rose,” she laughs and it’s only a millisecond before she turns around and her eyes fall on Kara who’s standing frozen by the kitchen. A frown passes across her face before recognition settles in. “I know you,” she says, her eyes shining as she takes a step towards the blonde. “You saved my ass earlier,” she says brightly before turning to Sam. “That’s who gave me a phone to call my mother, unwise as that idea was,” she explains with a smile and Kara has to laugh at the disbelief that crosses Sam’s features.
“Fuck off… Seriously?” Lena nods before making her way to Kara, her arm stretched for a handshake.
“I’m Lena,” she says with a smile. “It’s good to meet you under better circumstances.”
“Kara,” is all Kara manages to say before her brain completely fails her. “I’m uh… This is my apartment, hi.” She resists the fact to physically slap herself and settles on doing it mentally.
“Well, nice to meet you and your apartment, Kara. I apologize for my earlier state, I was… Well, let’s just say it wasn’t my best look.” Kara wonders what said best look is like.
“It’s fine,” she says and lets silence wash over them. “Are you hungry? There’s food in the kitchen and Sam made sure we have your favorite.”
Lena frowns at that. “Kale?”
“No, burgers with broccoli,” Kara states. “I thought it couldn’t get worse than that, but you just proved me wrong… Kale…”
“Oh, see someone told me a few days ago that adding broccoli to my burger is a bad idea… So I’ve decided to listen to them and their obviously superior taste.”
Kara gapes at the woman like a fish, her mouth opening and closing without any sound coming out. “I… You… The…” Seems like her brain is incapable of completing a single thought, let alone forming a coherent sentence.
“Kar, come on! It’s time for the countdown!” Kara shakes her head at the sound of her sister calling her but makes no move to go to her, her eyes still glued on the woman standing in front of her instead. The woman from the thirty-eighth floor. The woman who Kara hasn't spent days thinking about and who is definitely not the subject of her most recent sketches.
They all count the year down together, wine dangerously close to spilling every time the number changes and Alex sways enthusiastically. They all cheer when the clock chimes twelve, marking the end of an era and, quite possibly, the beginning of a new one, drinks forgotten as they all hug and kiss each other with huge smiles on their faces.
“Happy new year, Delivery Person,” comes a low voice from Kara’s left and she jumps slightly in surprise.
“Happy new year, Miss Thorul,” she replies with a smile and a blush that she’s pretty sure is reaching her ears.
“That’s not my name,” Lena says as she leans in closer to Kara.
“I don’t know your name,” Kara whispers, her heart beating a mile a minute. Is this going where she thinks it’s going? Does she want it to go where she thinks it’s going?
“I’ll see what I can do to change that, then,” Lena says and Kara knows, at this very moment, that she definitely wants this to go where she thinks it’s going and then, hopefully, even further.