Chapter Text
The house is slowly turning into a home. It certainly feels more like a home on this early Friday morning in October.
Kara sprinkles cinnamon over the dough laid out on the counter before her. She listens to the birds chirping outside the opened window, breathes in the smell of fresh rain and allows the crisp air to fill her lungs.
She rolls the dough over itself to make a log shape and then begins to slice it into even circles. Luckily her son loved her breakfast specialty, peanut butter cinnamon rolls. Some people think it couldn’t possibly be a good combination, but her son claims they are a gift from above.
So naturally, she had to make them for her son’s seventh birthday. That’s why Kara finds herself sliding her specialty breakfast into the oven at 7am. She wants to have them ready for Wyatt when he wakes up and the birthday boy has a habit of waking up before Kara. She would sleep in until noon if she had it her way.
With breakfast in the oven, Kara makes her way over to the living room and sinks into the plush couch cushions while snagging the blanket draped over the back and wrapping it around herself. The slightly ajar window in the kitchen is dragging more cool air in than she anticipated.
As she basks in the soft glow of the lights left on in the kitchen, Kara looks around at the home she and Wyatt have been living in for four months.
She fell in love with the cottage feel of the house the moment the realtor had opened the doors. It’s not too small or big. It’s quaint, but spacious. It’s located on a quiet street in the suburbs of National City that offers a great school district and plenty of kids to play with for Wyatt. After the quick walk through, she put an offer in to buy the house before they even left.
Now she looks at the white built-in bookshelves of the living room wall filled with her and Wyatt’s favorite books and games. She admires the warm, soothing shades of colors filling the room. The deep mahogany of the hardwood floors, the cement gray color of the walls and the rich, navy curtains that hang beside the windows lining the exterior wall all create an intimate atmosphere.
Everything about the space feels inviting now that she’s added her personal touches. She feels safe and finally settled, as if this is the place Wyatt will grow up in and Kara will cherish for years to come. She vaguely wonders what changes the house will come to know with her and Wyatt.
The timer going off in the kitchen pulls her out of her thoughts.
Kara pulls the cinnamon rolls out of the oven with her sunny yellow oven mitts and then gets to work on adding the peanut butter and icing. It’s a shame these are Wyatt’s birthday breakfast because they smell and look tantalizingly good. Kara really loves her son to not eat these before he has the chance, she thinks.
She places all seven of the rolls on a plate and then sticks a candle into the center of each one. Next she fills up a tall glass with milk and grabs the matches out of their already proclaimed junk drawer and slips those into her back pocket.
With the plate and glass of milk secure in her hands, she goes to climb the stairs to wake up her sleeping son.
She waits outside the door with a poster of Lightning McQueen taped onto it, listening for any movement. Wyatt is definitely still asleep, otherwise she would’ve heard some type of exuberant shouting. That kid had too much energy in the morning in her opinion. That was definitely a trait from his father.
Kara quietly, slowly creaks the door open and takes in the room. She can see brown curls peeking out from the oxford blue comforter and toes poking out at the end of his bed. With his birthday today and the physical indicator of Wyatt being too big for his bed, Kara realizes all too quickly that her son isn’t so little anymore. She stores a reminder to get him a new bed in the depths of her mind.
Kara walks over to the other side of the room to place the breakfast on Wyatt’s desk and begins lighting the candles. As soon as they are all lit, the once dark room is filled with a comforting warmth.
Easing onto the bed by Wyatt, Kara begins to softly sing.
“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you,” Wyatt takes a deep inhale as his hands reach out overhead to stretch and his big, kind blue eyes begin blinking away the sleep. “Happy Birthday, dear Little Man, Happy Birthday to you.”
As Kara finishes the last note, the man of the day fully pushes the covers off and looks at the gooey breakfast with greedy eyes. Kara can’t help but chuckle.
“Make a wish buddy,” Kara quietly encourages him, partly because the candles are really starting to shrink and her sleep-ridden son is moving slow.
Wyatt closes his eyes and then lets out a massive puff of air as if to show that he really is bigger and badder with another year of age under his belt. He does get all seven out in one fell sweep though, so perhaps he’s on to something.
The kid wraps his mom up in a massive hug and basks in the comfort of being engulfed by her presence. With his head tucked into her chest, Kara hears his muffled voice, “Mom, I think it might be time to stop calling me ‘Little Man.’ I’m seven years old now after all.”
Kara huffs, “Well you’ll always be my baby boy so why don’t you humor me for a few more years?”
Wyatt brings his head back just enough to look into Kara’s eyes, “I guess I’ll allow it. But only because that means I still get to cuddle you when I get scared or have a bad day.”
“You’ll never be too big for that to stop happening, Little Man,” Kara softly replies. She will hold and protect Wyatt until her own dying breath and that is simply a guarantee.
She hugs him closer for a brief moment and then coaxes them both into a snuggly position with their backs leaning against Wyatt’s headboard, legs under the covers. Kara places the now cooled cinnamon rolls in front of Wyatt and holds the milk so he can dig in. Sure, seven is a bit overboard. But, he is seven and she knows he definitely won’t eat more than two. His slim little body couldn’t handle anymore.
That doesn’t stop the look of pure happiness looking at the mound of peanut buttery deliciousness staring him in the face.
“Are you really gonna let me eat all seven?” Wyatt skeptically asks before he takes the first bite.
Kara laughs, again knowing it just isn’t going to happen, “Sure, if you think you can handle it.” She had planned on eating his leftovers, because gosh, she really loved her cinnamon rolls.
As if reading her mind, Wyatt retorts, “I think you already know I can’t eat all seven and I also know how much you love them. Will you eat a few with me, Mom?”
A megawatt smile full of teeth spreads across the blonde’s face. Kara never knew what she did to have such a kind-hearted, and wickedly intelligent, son, but she would never stop being appreciative of his excessive kindness. Wyatt was always looking to make everyone else happy.
“Are you sure buddy? You know I can really put a dent in cinnamon rolls...” Kara warned.
Wyatt looks over to her and leans into her side as Kara wraps her arm around him. “Of course I want to share them with you. You’re my favorite.”
Yeah, Kara really didn’t know what she ever did to have a son this awesome.
They sit quietly as they divulge in the sweetness of their breakfast, sharing the glass of milk to wash it all down. Sure enough, Wyatt taps out at two and leaves the rest for Kara to finish up.
As she takes the last bite, she asks around her full mouth, “What does the birthday boy want to do today? I took off work, so you’ve got me for the whole day. The only thing we have to do this afternoon is go for your physical at the doctor’s office so we can sign you up for basketball. Sorry for scheduling it on your birthday, but it worked out best with work.”
“That’s okay, as long as I can play!” He’s been talking about playing in the recreational basketball league since the move.
“I think I just want to watch a movie with you and then maybe go to that park we went to the other day,” Wyatt decided. He never was one for extremely grand birthdays. He was a low key kind of dude that just went with the flow of things. It never takes much to make him happy.
That decided, they make their way down to the living room and get snuggled up together on the couch. Without even having to ask, Kara selects the movie Cars and they begin to watch the movie for the thousandth time. It has almost become a tradition now that they watch this movie the morning of his birthday.
To be honest, Kara thought this year might be the year Wyatt finally didn’t think about a movie with his mom. He is getting older, but she’s thankful for another year of a quiet morning between the two of them.
Kara gets up from their cocoon of blankets and pillows as the movie ends to grab the present she wrapped last night. She has a suspicion that Wyatt might appreciate the gift before heading to the park.
Upon hearing the rustling of the wrapping paper, the boy immediately jumps up from the couch and meets his mom over in the kitchen, sliding along the hardwood in his socks. He plants himself down on a barstool at the counter and he puts a huge grin on display.
“What is it?” He wonders aloud.
“Let me get my camera and then you can open it,” comes Kara’s reply, who is already headed to grab the device.
Kara has been diligently taking photos of Wyatt ever since he was a little baby. She only has a handful of pictures from her childhood, so she’s always been motivated to capture every moment of Wyatt’s life.
He hears the familiar click when she enters back into the open space of the kitchen and living room area and takes that as his cue to open the present.
“Mom, no way!” Wyatt gleefully shouts, wrapping paper all around.
Kara’s only wanted to make him happy, but honestly this present was the easiest out of them all to pick in comparison to previous years.
Wyatt looks up at her with something close to disbelief in his eyes.
“This is so cool! I love it!” He declares as he looks down at the orange, #21 National City Tigers basketball jersey and runs his fingers over the stitched tiger on the front.
The better question is how would she not have known. Wyatt has been screaming ‘Kobe!’ anytime something goes into the garbage or laundry basket. The boy’s interest in basketball had skyrocketed over the past year.
“Turn it over and look at the back,” Kara instructed.
Wyatt does as he’s told and flips the jersey to see the last name “ELLIS” printed across the back in big, white block letters.
The excitement fades a little from his face and he begins to scratch his temple. The smile is immediately plastered back on his face, but Kara’s already picked up on the stumble.
“Did they spell your last name wrong buddy?” Kara guessed. “I thought I checked to make sure,” but in her defense she did check quickly in the dark last night before wrapping it.
“Oh yeah, no Mom, it’s perfect, really really awesome and spelled perfectly. It’s my name alright, how did you do that? That’s so cool.” The temple scratch was something he’d done on his own for awhile, but the nervous habit of rambling was definitely a reflection of Kara’s own nervousness.
She thinks about questioning him on it, but decides against it since she has a pretty good idea it’s about his father. The brief sadness (or was it anxiousness?) at the sight of his and his father’s last name was a fairly decent guess in her opinion. He had been pumped before then.
Kara just settles for an easy, “I hope you like it buddy. Go ahead and change into some clothes for the park and then we will get going.”
He slides the jersey on over his head. It’s a little big, but she wanted him to be able to wear it for a few years at least.
Wyatt comes over and gives Kara a tight squeeze and yells back a “Thank you!” before bounding up the stairs to his room to get ready.
Kara will definitely be approaching this topic later.
---
They find themselves at the park an hour later, Wyatt with a hoodie on under his slightly too big jersey and shooting at the basket as Kara rebounds for him.
The park is relatively busy today with school out for fall break, but as the weather is cooler it’s less crowded than Kara expected. The leaves are beginning to change color though and it makes for a gorgeous backdrop as woods line the perimeter of the park.
Kara notices Wyatt has actually gotten pretty good at basketball, but she shouldn’t be surprised because anytime they venture to the park all he does is practice. She’ll have to put in a basketball goal at the house now that they have the driveway space to do so.
The mother-and-son duo play a few games of PIG, a few games of one-on-one and then Wyatt persuades Kara into racing to see who can dribble the ball up and down the court fastest. Luckily Kara is in shape for her job. Otherwise, this kid would’ve had her worn out a long time ago.
Still, when Kara feels the sweat rolling down her forehead she knows it is time for a breather.
“Alright, your mom needs a break. I’m not getting any younger,” Kara announces. “You keep on shooting.”
Kara takes the opportunity to snap a few pictures of Wyatt while he continues to play, but it doesn’t take long for him to bound over to her, equally spent.
He collapses next to her on the blanket she had spread out on the cold grass when they got to the park. They drink some water and then decide to head over to the swings.
There has always been something about a swing set that makes Kara feel childish. The peak on the way through is her favorite part; the small moment of complete weightlessness. It’s so freeing, like she is flying.
They enjoy the park as the morning turns into afternoon and then pack up everything, headed to the doctor’s office.
Since they are new to the area and this office, Kara knows to get there a bit early in order to fill out the necessary paperwork.
On the way, Wyatt and Kara listen to the Mamma Mia soundtrack. People have told Kara she sings well enough, which is a good thing because she is constantly singing. Wyatt just smiles and hums along, content to listen to his mom belt out the lyrics.
After winding down the backroads of the suburbs of National City, Kara throws her beloved old Ford Bronco into park. It was her parents at one point in time.
Kara had long ago accepted the passing of her parents. At one point in time, she didn’t think she would ever get over it. She harbored so much anger towards the company that faultily installed the space heater, causing their home to explode. The gall the company had to just throw money at her for a settlement. Yes, now she had more than enough money for her and Wyatt and Wyatt’s kids and even her lineage beyond that, but that doesn’t bring back her parents.
At thirteen and an orphan, Kara went to live with her parent’s best friends, the Danvers. Coincidentally, she was out with them the day of the explosion. She was already loved by the entire family, Jeremiah and Eliza treated her just as they treated their own daughter, Alex. And Alex and her had already been just as close as sisters before the turn of events. But now they truly were sisters, well, adoptive. But sisters nonetheless.
Kara’s seen a lot of death in her 29 years. She needs to get Alex to come visit soon.
“Uhh, are we going to go in?” comes Wyatt quietly from the backseat. He’s seen Kara space out before, deep in thought, so he knows a gentle question or spoken thought will bring her back.
Kara turns around in her seat to look at him fully, “Sorry Little Man, let’s go get you ready for basketball season!”
The reason she picked this office was their old doctor in Smallville, Dr. Spheer, recommended this place. He said the doctor was an old friend of his and was excellent.
They walk through the doors and it is quite noticeable this office building is brand new. It has the lingering smell of fresh paint wafting through and everything is still so polished, as if barely used.
Kara walks up to the woman sitting at the receptionist desk and is greeted with a pleasant smile.
“Hi, did you have an appointment today?” the woman cheerily asks.
Seeing the nameplate on the counter, Kara relays, “Hi Jess, yes, I made an appointment with Dr. Luthor for my son Wyatt Ellis. He’s here for a physical.”
Jess clickity clacks on her keyboard for a moment to check Wyatt in and then hands her over a massive stack of papers to fill out. At least she has an apologetic look accompanied with the action.
The office isn’t very busy, just an elderly couple and a middle-aged man joining them in the waiting room. Kara and Wyatt sit down in a corner that is semi-tucked away.
She’s halfway through the paperwork when Wyatt again scratches his temple. Kara watches the action with a side-eye before prompting him.
“Are you nervous for the physical?” Kara tries. She knows Wyatt understands a physical isn’t anything to be bothered by because he has had them in the past, so she guesses this nervousness is unrelated.
A heavy sigh reaches her ears as she continues to write.
“No, it’s not that,” he mumbles.
She knew it. But she still doesn’t understand why her son has been subdued twice today, he is normally always happy-go-lucky.
Kara gives him her full attention and lays a hand on his knee to give it a little shake.
“Okay, well what’s on your mind then?”
Wyatt looks down at her hand on his knee, making his brown curls cover his eyes. She gives him a minute and when a reply doesn’t come she adds, “Tell me when you’re ready.”
She never did believe in pestering him for information. He always told her, sometimes he just needed to pluck up his own courage. She thinks back on that one instance when Wyatt was four and he knocked over a drink, leaving a stain on the carpet. He had attempted to cover it up with his toy truck, but as Kara was cleaning up later that night she saw it. She left the truck there to see if he would say anything. Sure enough, two days later he ratted himself out. She gave him a massive hug when he told her and then they got the stain out together. She’s trusted him ever since and Wyatt her because her reaction was consoling rather than scolding.
A few minutes later the blue eyes that mirror her own look over to her and Kara can see the question in his eyes.
He mumbles, “Why do I have a different last name than you? I-It’s just that your’s and Aunt Alex’s and Grandma’s last name is all Danvers. Why am I different?”
Oh. Okay, she was not prepared for that question. Turns out she doesn’t have to bring this topic up herself later after all.
“Um, well,” Kara begins, “You have your dad’s last name buddy.”
Wyatt never really asked about Mike, he was only a little over a year old when he passed away. The boy doesn’t have any memories of him and Kara never talks about Mike unless prompted. It’s not that she is trying to shield Wyatt from his dad, she always answers any questions he has when it does come up. It’s plainly that Wyatt has never been too curious about him.
“But weren’t you all married? Everyone else in class has the same last name as their mom and their dad.”
He’s got her there. How do you explain to a seven year old that you took your adoptive family’s last name after your biological parents died and didn’t change it again upon getting hitched at the youthful age of 20?
“Yes, but sometimes people choose to keep their original name even though they are married,” Kara settles for instead of diving into specifics.
He seems to think this over and Kara can see his mind working through everything.
“Am I less of the family because I have a different last name?” is the utterance full of uncertainty that breaks Kara’s heart.
She puts the paperwork on the chair next to her and scoops her son up into her lap. She looks him in the eyes and can see, and feel, the concern he’s wrestling.
“You are my son. You are Aunt Alex’s nephew. You are Grandma’s grandson. Your last name doesn’t change the fact that you are a Danvers and we love you more than anything. Even more than peanut butter cinnamon rolls,” Kara soothes.
“I love you more than peanut butter cinnamon rolls too, Mom,” Wyatt sighs. “I guess I just thought maybe having dad’s last name didn’t make me yours.”
Kara chuckles, trying to lighten the mood, “Trust me, you definitely came from my belly seven years ago today. I carried you for nine months only for you to thank me by coming into this world at 4 in the morning!” Then she whispers seriously with her chin resting on his head, “Wyatt Alexander, you are and will always be my son. I love you so so much.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he softly replies. He stays tucked in the safety of Kara’s arms for a few more moments and then gives her a big kiss on the cheek. Apparently Kara handled that one appropriately because he slides off her and goes back to swinging his legs from the seat of his reclaimed chair, seemingly content with his identity again.
Whew. Crisis averted, for now at least. Kara is going to have to bring this up again in the future, she can already tell. Hopefully not for a few years though if she’s lucky.
She fills out the rest of the paperwork in a hurry and it isn’t long before a man pops through the doors that lead back to the patient rooms and calls out Wyatt’s name. Just his first name, thankfully.
The man takes Wyatt’s height and weight before leading them to one of the rooms down at the end of the hall.
They get settled in with Wyatt rustling the thin, white paper laid over the cushioned exam table and Kara sitting on the plastic chair next to him.
They’ve only been in there for five minutes, but playing I Spy only occupies her for so long. Yes, her.
So she gets up and goes over to the Q-Tips that are in a glass container on the counter and gets some out, internally saying to herself she is doing this for Wyatt’s entertainment and not her own.
She has her back turned to Wyatt and shoves one in both of her nostrils and ears. Just as she turns around, she hears a quick knock on the door and it opens swiftly.
Wyatt immediately bursts out laughing, partly because of the way his mom looks, but more so because she got caught acting childish and looking like that in front of the doctor.
Kara’s blue eyes go wide as brilliant, olive green eyes stare back at her.
“Wyatt, is this your mom or is this some cyborg coming to abduct you?” the doctor humorously teases.
“A cyborg, definitely,” Wyatt cackles.
Kara rips out the Q-Tips so fast as she glares at her only son, feeling betrayed. But at least he is laughing.
“Ha. Ha. You’re really funny, selling out your own mother. I see how it is,” she directs towards the boy before shifting her focus back on the green. The beautiful, earthy green.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Lena Luthor,” the doctor formally introduces herself with a hand extended towards Kara, who takes it and gives a firm handshake.
“Hi, I’m Kara Danvers and this is my son Wyatt,” she says while continuing to shake Dr. Luthor’s hand. “I promise I am not a cyborg, Wyatt was just bored and he dared me to do it.”
Wyatt had just stopped laughing but begins again, although much more reservedly. Dr. Luthor also seems unconvinced with Kara’s reasoning, giving her an eyebrow raise as her eyes close to mere slits but also offering a smirk, too.
Dr. Luthor tries to turn to Wyatt but Kara is still shaking her hand, which she finally drops. Yikes.
“Hi Wyatt, nice to meet you,” she shakes his hand too now that her hand is free.
“Hello Dr. Luthor, it’s nice to meet you as well,” Wyatt looks her in the eyes and gives a firm handshake, Kara can tell. She glows with pride at her polite Little Man. Dr. Luthor seems impressed, too.
“I should also be wishing you a Happy Birthday I see, how old are you today?” Dr. Luthor asks Wyatt as she begins the routine physical exam.
Kara tunes out their conversation as she gets enraptured in watching the doctor. She couldn’t get past the enamoring eyes when she first walked into the room, but now that she takes a moment, she can’t help but appreciate the overall beauty of the woman.
Dr. Luthor’s wavy hair is pulled back into a high ponytail that exposes more of her porcelain skin. Kara can see a maroon dress under her lab coat, but the lab coat is cinched in the back which is doing wonders for her figure. For whatever reason, Kara’s eyes trail down to Dr. Luthor’s hands. More specifically, her left hand. The long, slender fingers move her son’s leg up and down checking his knee and it doesn’t click until she realizes she is looking for a ring. She releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding when she doesn’t find one.
Kara is then presented with a front view of Dr. Luthor and she suddenly realizes the maroon dress is a v-neck that shows plenty of chest and…
“Uh, Mom?” Wyatt snaps her out of her daze.
She quickly transfers her gaze to her son and upon seeing his weird expression she allows her eyes to shift back over to Dr. Luthor, sporting a smug grin.
Yup, she was definitely caught.
“S-sorry what were you saying?” she stutters. She should have taken the other woman’s body position directly at her as a sign she was being addressed. Oh dear.
Dr. Luthor chuckles, “I asked a few times about the history of your family’s health, but it seems you were a bit distracted.”
Kara feels her cheeks light up and looks down at the floor to cover it up.
“My family hasn’t had any medical problems. But, um, his father, my husband, he, um, he died from an undetected structural abnormality in his heart. HCM. He was 23,” Kara supplies as she looks back up from the floor but not making eye contact with the raven-haired woman. “I take Wyatt to have his heart checked regularly.”
Dr. Luthor nods and turns back to examine Wyatt’s heart with her stethoscope. She must not hear anything unusual because she has Wyatt go through the rest of the exam by doing a few squats and stretches. Kara, still flustered from being caught checking Dr. Luthor out, maintains a direct line of sight with her son and her son only.
“Alright birthday boy, you are all set,” Dr. Luthor finally says as she finishes writing off on his report. Wyatt throws both fists in the air when she pulls a lollipop out of her lab coat pocket.
They all shake hands again and Dr. Luthor opens the door to show them out.
Kara ushers Wyatt out ahead of her but turns back around when she feels a hand catch her on the arm.
“Miss Danvers, I didn’t mean to upset you by asking about your family history with such insensitivity. I didn’t realize that about your husband and I’m sorry for your loss. It was unprofessional of me to ask so humorously,” Dr. Luthor quietly apologizes while giving Kara a worrisome look.
At first, Kara really doesn’t understand the apology. But then she realizes Dr. Luthor had asked her the question with a smirk right after being caught staring and that Dr. Luthor must’ve taken her embarrassment as sorrow for her late husband.
“Oh no, please don’t apologize. You did nothing to upset me,” Kara assures. Well, unless you count being ridiculously attractive and distracting as being upsetting. “Mike passed away years ago and Wyatt was too young to even know him, so it’s really okay.”
Dr. Luthor smiles slightly in return and then leads Kara down the hall back to Wyatt, who is waiting for his mom as he talks to Jess.
Jess greets Dr. Luthor with a questioning, yet knowing, smile, “Hello, Dr. Luthor, I didn’t realize you knew your way to the front of your own office building.”
It’s now Dr. Luthor turning red. “I had to give the birthday boy a proper goodbye and make sure you do your job by giving him a sticker,” Lena rebuked towards her secretary.
“Ah, yes. We can’t let you leave without a sticker!” Jess exclaims.
As Jess rounds to get out the collection of stickers, Dr. Luthor offers Kara and Wyatt one last goodbye before heading back down the hallway to other patients.
Kara wonders what the exchange between Dr. Luthor and Jess was about.
Wyatt picks out a Mater sticker, because Cars, duh, and then they are headed out of the office.
Kara allows the fresh air to revive her back to her normal self now that she isn’t under the gaze of those captivating, memorable olive green eyes.
She looks both ways in the parking lot before exclaiming, “Race you to the car!”
Poor Wyatt never stood a chance as his mom is already halfway to the Bronco before he can even process what is happening. “Hey, that’s no fair!” But she looks back to see him laughing despite the protest.
Yet what Kara doesn’t see is Dr. Luthor looking out her office window watching their interaction with a full-blown smile on her face. Dr. Luthor returned to her personal office needing a minute to screw her own head back on straight. The blonde locks flowing through the wind as Kara runs and the care-free way she plays with her son makes her swoon. She’s never seen someone with such piercing blue eyes and did she mention defined, yet feminine biceps? And of course the silliness. Dr. Luthor actually laughs out loud upon thinking about Kara with the Q-Tips in her nose and ears.
“See something you like, Dr. Luthor?” she whips around to see Jess leaning against her door frame. Looks like Kara wasn’t the only person getting caught gawking today.