Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

forced move: A move that is the only one to not result in a serious disadvantage for the moving player. Forced can also be used to describe a sequence of moves for which the player has no viable alternative.

This was rock bottom. Lena had never really understood that phrase before. She felt like she could bounce back from anything. She always lived so guarded to protect herself from bad things but still they followed her like a specter. This is where it found her now, on a park bench in the middle of the city-alone. 

Her mother was in prison. Her brother was dead. Her coworker betrayed her. And Kara-her pulse quickened and her throat tightened-Kara had lied to her. For that matter, all of the closest people in her life had lied to her.

It almost didn’t seem real how alone she was now. It didn’t help that she also felt so stupid. She was so easily manipulated by everyone around her. She thought she was doing the right thing but it turned out that right and wrong weren’t black and white but really just a big patch of grey that she was smack dab in the middle of. She wanted to disappear but the best she could do was go some place no one would think to look for her. She had already ignored a dozen phone calls from her so-called best friend and even more from work. She wanted to throw her phone into the closest pond and be done with it. 

Before she could go through with her plan, there was a small tap on her shoulder. She didn’t look up at first because she thought it was just an errant leaf. The tap was more insistent now and she pulled her head up. She was ready to tell off the finger but she stopped when her green eyes met small dark brown ones. “Excuse me ma’am,” he smiled, a front tooth prominently absent. “Are you okay?” 

She was too stunned to say anything. He took her silence as an invitation to sit next to her. “You looked a little sad,” he continued. “I thought you might need a hug.” 

She laughed, almost reflexively. Who in the world was this tiny human? She turned more to take him in. He couldn’t be more than eight with short, dark curls on his head. His striped t-shirts had a few noticeable holes and his white shoes had seen better days. He was clutching a plastic container that she was sure was an old baby wipe holder. He never stopped smiling at her. “I haven’t been having a great day,” she finally said. 

“Wanna talk about it?” He folded his legs under himself. “I’m a really good listener.” 

“Where are your parents?” Lena didn’t want to get in trouble even more because some couple thinks she is trying to kidnap their child. 

“I’m here with my brother he’s -” as he pointed towards the water fountain in the middle of the park, a boy started running towards them. “That’s him!” 

Said boy, stopped in front of them, obviously out of breath. “I’m sorry!” He held up a hand to Lena. “He has boundary issues.” He started to put a hand on the boy’s arm to lead him away. “I think he’s asked every person over twenty in this park if they can teach him.” Lena was confused at what he meant. 

“I didn’t even ask her,” the boy complained, not budging from his seat. “She had a bad day and I was going to give her a hug.” 

The older brother crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder. “Buddy you can’t ask strangers if they want a hug, even if they look nice like this lady. I know you were just doing your best though.” He turned towards Lena again. “I’m really sorry about your day. We won’t bother you anymore.” 

Lena finally got her words back. “He wasn’t a bother at all. It was actually very sweet of him to ask. You have a really good big brother though, you really shouldn’t talk to strangers.” 

The boy put out his hand, “I’m Nate.” 

Lena shook it, “Lena.” 

“Now we’re not strangers.” The older boy laughed as if he’d seen his brother pull that trick before. “Do you know how to play chess?” 

This took Lena by surprise again and she felt a familiar pang in her chest. Her mind flashed back through memories of her and Lex spending hours in the park playing the game. 

“Nate! I told you not to ask.” 

She swiped a tear away from her cheek. “It’s fine...I do, that’s actually why I’m out here. My brother and I used to come here every Saturday to play.” 

“Are you waiting for him?” Nate asked innocently. 

“No,” she swallowed down the boiling emotions, “he passed a few days ago.” 

She was taken off guard by the small hand that wrapped around her own. “I’m sorry.” The older boy sat down next to his brother, knowing they weren’t leaving anytime soon. Lena didn’t know why she felt so calm but the more time she sat with them, the more the heaviness in her chest began to lift. 

After a few more moments, she looked down at the box the boy was holding. “What’s in there?” 

He took his hand from hers and popped open the lid revealing a set of worn black and white, plastic chess pieces. 

“I’ve been trying to learn.” He pulled out a piece, “I can name them all but I don’t really know what they all do yet. This is the King, you’re supposed to protect him or you lose.” Lena flashed back again to the first time Lex had pulled out their perfectly made oak chess set. The king was the first piece he had shown her too. He said all of the other pieces didn’t matter if the king didn’t survive. She realized that Lex had modeled his entire life like a chess board where he was the king and everyone else was expendable. “This is the queen, I think she’s the best. She can go anywhere and is the most powerful piece on the board. It’s dumb that everyone’s trying to protect the king. Why wouldn’t they protect the queen, she can do so much more!” 

Lena smiled. How right he was. It was the queen who controlled the board. 

“Would you like me to teach you?” 

His head shot up in excitement. “Really?” Him and his brother said in unison. 

“Ma’am you seem to have been through a lot recently, you really don’t have to.” 

“What’s your name?” Lena asked the older boy with the same tight curls and bright brown eyes. 

“Jackson,” He gave her a head nod. 

She smiled in return. “I wouldn’t mind one bit...Given that your parents are okay with it.” 

“I don’t think they’d mind!” Nate piped up. “I can go ask them tonight! Can I have your address, I’ll send you a letter if they say yes.” 

“A letter?” Jackson leaned behind his brother so he couldn’t see him and mouthed go with it. “I would love a letter.” She pulled out a pad and pen and wrote down her work address. She handed it over and the boy looked at it as if he were memorizing it just in case. 

Jackson looked at his watch and jumped up quickly. “I am so sorry Miss Lena but if we don’t head back home, we are going to be in a load of trouble.” 

She stood up too as if they were breaking from a meeting. “Of course, I’ll look forward to your letter.” Nate bounced off the seat and stuffed the paper into his front pocket. 

“Can I hug you?” His voice was hopeful and he gave her the most reassuring gap tooth smile. She nodded and he wrapped his arms around her waist, still holding on to his plastic container. Jackson just waved from over top his brother’s head. When Nate released her, he walked over to his brother, putting his hand in his and headed towards the road. “I really like her,” he said, still loud enough for Lena to hear. 

She wasn’t sure what type of karma or fate brought them her way today, but she needed their spirit today, especially given what she had to do next. She pulled out the phone that she wanted to break fifteen minutes ago, and pulled up the contact she had been avoiding. It rang only once before Kara was on the line. “Lena where in the world have you been?” 

Lena took in a deep breath and replied, “My whereabouts no longer concern you...Supergirl.” She hung up and turned the phone off completely. She figured that it wasn’t going to be the end of that conversation but she needed the space. There was a part of her that knew that anything Kara said to her right now would make her forget her anger and betrayal. She had a blind spot when it came to her, one bigger than she ever thought. She just needed to process what this meant and she couldn’t possibly do that if Kara’s puppy dog blue eyes begged her to forgive her. She picked up her bag and made her way back towards her apartment. There was a feeling that she couldn’t quite shake, as if everything was about to change. 

______

A week later, she found herself burying her feelings in paperwork. She sold CatCo to an old friend in a matter of two days and a few phone calls. On the surface, she said it was about good business and the company didn’t fit with her “vision.” In reality, it was about the fact that every person tied to the place reminded her of how gullible she had been. So here she was, dissolving her ties to not only an investment but all of the friends that went with it. As she signed the dotted line and piled it on top of the other papers to the right of her desk, she realized how alone this made her. A thought crossed her mind-if another crazy vigilante with a score to settle came after her, who would she call? Even Sam had lied to her. There wasn’t a soul on this earth that she trusted, not anymore. 

“Ms. Luthor?” She looked up to see her new secretary, Luke, waiting at her door. Maybe she’d call him when her brother tried to kill her again. Her errant thought caught up to reality and she realized at least that scenario couldn’t happen again. She felt an odd sense of relief and sadness. “Ms. Luthor,” he questioned again. 

“Sorry,” she smiled. “Is something wrong?” 

He walked farther into the door. “No ma’am, I just got some mail for you that was marked urgent.” He held his hand out with a small brown envelope. She took it from him and looked at the large red print on the back that looked like it was made in crayon. 

“Thank you Luke,” she said, not looking up. She turned the envelope and smiled when she saw the return address was for one Nate Harris of west side National City. Her name was simply “Miss Lena” scrawled in large letters. She opened it carefully and pulled out a white piece of folded notebook paper that still had a bit of the fray on one of the edges. 

Dear Miss Lena, 

If you are still free I can play on Saturdays between 1-3. Please circle your answer below. I will still like you no matter what. 

YES     NO

Nate

Lena flipped the paper over and there was a small note on the back in different handwriting. It was a phone number and what was probably Jackson’s handwriting commenting “this is the house phone if you want to call.” 

She tapped her fingers on her desk and leaned back. What a strange little boy-why would he want anything to do with her? She thought back to how pleading his eyes were. He just wanted to play chess. She imagined all of the other people who must have turned him down. She then thought about all the people who had let her down recently. She wouldn’t be like them, not today. She pulled open her drawer and filtered around until she found a pad of letterhead. She grabbed her fountain pen, that was more decorative than functional, and began to transcribe a response. She didn’t bother even looking at her calendar, everything else was going to have to wait. 

She finished by circling the ‘yes’ on his letter and putting it all into an envelope. She picked up her phone and called Luke in. “Would you mind getting this into the mail as soon as you can, please?” He grabbed it and she thanked him. 

She turned her chair to face out over the skyline and felt the first bit of peace she had in the last week. The peace was quickly shattered as she saw a familiar figure dart across the setting sun towards what was probably some great disaster. She used to watch for these moments with a sense of pride. Supergirl, for all they had been through, was an ally-a friend. Now, she felt cold again. She wondered if this is how Lex always felt when he watched Superman in Metropolis. She shook that thought from her head. She wasn’t Lex. She wouldn’t let what they did to her change her. She had worked her whole life to get out from under the shadow of this damn name and she would never give anyone a reason to doubt her on that. 

She turned back to her work with a new sense of resolve. These projects in front of her were what mattered. She could change the world, and she didn’t need anyone else to do that, not anymore. 

___

Saturday approached faster than she expected. She had a reminder on her phone, with Luke, and even on her front door not to forget her appointment. She went in to work anyways but left enough time to walk to the park and pick up a salad on the way. She had torn the edge of Nate’s letter to her with their phone number off and kept it in her pocket just in case. She was surprised that his parents would just let him go hang out with a complete stranger so she kept the number in case she would have to call in an emergency. 

As she walked up to the chess tables, she spotted the boys already sitting at the bench they had met at the week prior. Nate was still clutching his plastic container while talking animatedly to Jackson about something. Jackson was laying down on the bench reading, nodding every few beats to indicate he was still listening. 

“Hey boys!” Lena smiled and held up a hand. 

“Lena! You came!” Nate already had her wrapped in a spine breaking hug. She patted him on the back until he set her free. 

“Of course I did, I circled “yes” didn’t I?” 

He backed up a bit and hit Jackson’s shoulder. “Don’t be rude Jack.” 

The teenager spun around and put his book down. He swept a hand over the back of his head, knocking off some of the grass that settled there. “Hi Miss Lena, thank you for coming,” he said in his best uninterested tween voice. 

“Do you have a table that you like to sit at?” She asked. He led them just a few feet away where there was a concrete chess board table with two rickety seats on either side. He put his container on one seat, opened it, and carefully set them on the table. Lena looked down at her own seat and cringed a bit at the moss that was growing from one of the corners. The dress pants she was still wearing were going to have to take a hit. 

Once he had all the pieces out, Nate sat with his knees on the chair and hovered over the board. “So I know where they go but sometimes I get the rook mixed up with the knight.” He started to lay out the white pieces on Lena’s side and the black ones on his own. Lena helped positioning her pieces as she had done a thousand times before. While she let Nate try and figure it out, she peered over to Jackson who was back to laying down and reading. 

“It is nice of your brother to take you out here.” 

Nate waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t let his broodiness fool you, he loves being out here with me.” 

“I do not,” Jackson said in a sing-song voice. 

“Do too!” Nate echoed in the same tone. 

Jackson rolled off the bench and jogged the few paces over to them. He rustled the top of Nate’s head much to the kid’s disdain. “I just figure if you get good at chess, then people will think you’re a genius, pay for your school, and you’ll have a good enough job to pay for me to be your chauffeur.” He tickled him in the stomach. “Instead of now where I do it for free.” He went back over to his bench, leaving Nate’s hair and clothes disheveled. 

“Lena did your brother pick on you?” 

She was laughing so much from the situation, her brain didn’t really register the question. She answered almost reflexively. “Oh gosh yes! Lex didn’t leave me alone sometimes. It was always a competition.” Her eyes started to get a little watery again. “He was still my brother though. Even at his worst, I knew he loved me.” 

Nate could pick up on her sadness. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset.” 

“Honey you didn’t,” she reached out a hand to fix the last bit of curls that was sticking up. “It feels good to talk about him.”

“He taught you how to play, right?” 

“He did. I was about five years old and it was the first thing we ever bonded over.” 

Nate looked confused. “He didn’t help you with anything else until you were five? Jackson ignores me sometimes but not that much.” 

Lena laughed, realizing how that sounded. “I didn’t live with him until then. His family adopted me when I was that age.” 

“No way,” Nate piped up even more. “We’re going to be adopted too!” 

“It’s a small world isn’t it? I guess we were meant to meet.” 

He straightened all of his pieces and made sure they looked exactly like Lena’s. “I knew I liked you,” he smiled. 

Lena’s heart felt so warm. This kid was special. The world needed about a million copies of him and there never would be war again. “Alright kid, we’re going to go slow and learn what each piece does, okay?” 

“Roger that captain,” he saluted. 

They spent the next hour going over and over how he could move each piece. The queen and rook were pretty easy but it took him a while to see how the knight moved. She had never taught anyone how to play chess before but she figured this was the best way to start. She made a mental note to google the best way to teach a six (?) year old how to play. As she thought of it, she realized she didn’t know much else about him except he could write, speak in full sentences, and was in some way going to be adopted. “Nate, how old are you?” she finally asked while they were cleaning up. 

“Seven, I will be in second grade.” He carefully placed each piece into the container. 

“School hasn’t started yet?” To be honest, Lena didn’t know how the school schedule worked in National City, especially now that Ruby didn’t live there. 

“It’s July,” he laughed, “we’re still on summer break.” 

They walked back over to where Jackson was lounging. “What grade will you be starting?” 

“Freshman...hopefully.” 

Lena quirked an eyebrow. “Hopefully?” 

“We moved into where we are now at the end of the last school year. They are weird sometimes about how credits transfer. They may make me repeat at this new school.” He shrugged. 

“That doesn’t seem fair.” She didn’t mean to over step. “Now that you’re getting adopted, I guess there won’t be any more changes.” She tried to add it to be more uplifting, but she noticed a change in Jackson’s face. 

“Hey Nate, tell Miss Lena thank you because we need to get going.” 

He hugged her again, something she was getting used to. “Can we meet again sometime?” 

“Next Saturday, same time?” she offered. The look on his face was worth whatever meeting she would have to move around. 

Jackson reached in his pocket and pulled out some money. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask what your rate was before you started. I have twenty and can get you more next week.” 

Lena put a hand on his. “I don’t want any money. This is actually really helping me more than you know. You two should get some ice cream or something with that instead.” Jackson seemed surprised and thanked her again. 

“Hey bud why don’t you run up ahead to the ice cream stand and get us two sandwiches.” Nate grabbed the money, handed him his chess pieces, and ran off. “I expect change, please.” Jackson yelled after him futilely. 

He waited until he could only see the small outline before turning back to Lena. “I didn’t want to say this in front of him but the family we’re with right now, they aren’t going to adopt us.” His face fell a bit and Lena felt instantly guilty. 

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to say anything...Nate had just said…” Jackson waved her off. 

“It’s no worries at all. That kid is pure optimism and he thinks every place we go is going to adopt us. I just go along with it.” 

Lena put a hand on his shoulder. “You are a really good brother.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the business cards that was always lingering in there. “I know he likes his snail mail but if you ever need anything at all, you call me.” 

He pocketed the card and started to walk away. He got a few steps before turning back to her. “I really can’t tell you how much this means to him.” He looked at the box in his hand and shook it, rattling the plastic together. “These pieces he plays with were our dads. I think it's one of the only things he remembers about him.” His voice got tight and Lena could tell this was hard for him to say. “He’s been here every weekend for months trying to find someone to help him. You taking the time like this, it means something.” He gave her a small salute and ran after his brother. It took about twenty seconds before Lena noticed that she was crying. She didn’t bother wiping the tears away and began her walk back to the office.

There, she took a page out of Nate’s book and began drafting a letter for Kara. She appreciated, at the very least, that Kara hadn’t tried to force them into interacting. Lena knew very well that all Kara would have to do was fly onto her balcony and she would give in. She hadn’t begun to sort through her emotions because whenever she started to go down that road, she felt a dark, deep anger swell in her chest. She knew what she was capable of with that anger and wanted no part of it. Instead, she was trying to deal with it person by person. She started with her feelings towards James’s betrayal. Even if he wasn’t honest about Kara, at least he had trusted her with Guardian. She couldn’t really blame him for not outing her. Every person she went through ended in the same conclusion, her anger was with Kara. 

She hovered her pen over the paper trying to decide how to address it. Should she address it to Supergirl, Kara, both, neither? She decided to leave it nameless. 

You are probably wondering how I know. Lex did not die in that fall. He transported himself away to the cabin where we used to go to when we were children. I found him there, bleeding to death, telling me that my life was a lie. I don’t know if I could have saved him. Nor do I believe that I would have. The world was never going to be safe with him in it but he was still my brother. Of all the people in my world, he was the only one who was every truly honest with me, even in his desire to kill me. And when he told me I was a fool, that my best friend and all of my friends were lying to me, I knew he was right-he was always right. Before he died, he showed me the truth. 

When I came to this city, I promised myself that I would never trust anyone again, then I met you. You chipped away at my armor with your warmth and your earnestness and you convinced me to trust in people and in friendship again. Against my better judgement, I did. All the while telling you about my Achilles heel-betrayal. I confided in you that everyone in my past had betrayed me and about how much it hurt to have someone you love lie to you and betray you. I spelt it out to you over and over again, essentially begging you not to violate my trust and begging you to prove to me once again that I wasn’t a fool. You reassured me ad nauseum that you would never lie to me and you would never hurt me. All the while, there wasn’t a single honest moment in our friendship. 

I am not writing this wanting an explanation. I want nothing more from any of you. Like I said, when I came to this city it was for one reason, and one alone, to make the world a better place and raise myself from under my family’s legacy. We could have done so much together but your fear of my last name has blinded all of you. Consider this our last communication. 

LL

She got up and poured herself two fingers of bourbon. Sitting back down, she looked at the piles on her desk. Behind one of them, still stood the picture that Kara gave her for her birthday. She grabbed it and set it down next to the letter. Should she send the picture back? Burn it? Her eyes went back to letter and she read over it again for the tenth time. This was the end of a chapter of her life in National City. She finished her drink in a single gulp and slammed the cup down onto the counter, hitting the picture frame and shattering the glass. She jumped, surprised by her own force. 

She gingerly pulled the picture out from under the broken pieces. She looked at it one last time before tossing it into the trash. She folded the letter up and put it in a pristine envelope. She would have it delivered immediately and that would be it. She didn’t even bother picking up the glass as she got up to pour herself another drink. 

__

Lena didn’t know what she expected the next week after her letter was delivered. She shouldn’t expect anything. If Kara respected her wishes, she would never hear from any of them ever again. A deep part of her wanted Kara to swoop in and be as annoyingly persistent as she always was. That part was silenced quickly by paperwork and meetings. 

In between her work, she found herself reading dozens of articles on the best way to teach chess. They were all about the same but she found one website that was especially good for young kids. She memorized all the steps they suggested and wrote down a few extra ad libs that she remembered from when she was first starting out. One thing they all said was that new students should keep a journal of what they learned. That put a bug in her ear and on Friday, much to Luke’s surprise, she said she would be leaving early for the evening. She excused him as well and told him to take his girlfriend to a nice dinner on the company card. 

She had passed a small bookstore by her apartment on her way to work several times a week for the past few years but had never ventured in. She walked the six blocks there, enjoying a day in summer that wasn’t overheated. The store was like it had been pulled from a Hallmark movie. It was dimly lit with old oak shelves stacked haphazardly with books up to the ceiling. You could barely breathe between isles and the sections were still labeled by the Dewey decimal system. The older woman at the front desk had wide rimmed spectacles that fell down her nose framed by tendrils of white hair that were slipping out of her bun. 

“Can I help you?” She spoke, looking up from whatever book she was reading. 

Lena walked up and set down her bag. “Yes, I was wondering if you had any journals ...something leather maybe.” 

The woman hit the bridge of her nose with her finger and then pointed towards the far right side of the store. “I think I have just the thing for you.” She showed her a selection of brown and black leather journals some with ties across the front, others with an elastic band. Next to them, there were stacks of fountain pens and bookmarks. Lena found a small one with dark leather and intricate flowers carved into the binding. It tied across the front and had a small pocket for a matching pen. It would be perfect. She thought of Jackson and remembered he was reading the Odyssey. “Do you have any greek or roman classics?” 

The woman laughed. “Honey, this is a book store.” She dragged her to another corner of the store. 

The boys, especially Nate, loved their little gift. The older woman, who Lena found out was named Helen, had wrapped them in some brown paper and the boys tore into them. Nate was appraising his journal like it was going to break if he wasn’t careful. Jackson flipped through the three books and his smile got bigger as he realized what they were about. 

“I saw you reading the Odyssey last week. It might have just been for school but if you like Greek classics, Helen said these are the best.” 

He already had one opened and began reading. “I love them, and I actually haven’t gotten my hands on any of these! Usually I can use the school library but over the summer it’s basically whatever is in the reader boxes in our neighborhood.” He looked up for a moment and gave her a smile she hadn’t seen before. It tracked from the corner of his mouth to his eyes. “Thank you, Lena.” 

“And Nate,” she crouched down to his level. “Any good chess player has a journal of their moves and lessons. I expect these to be full by the time we’re done.” He nodded enthusiastically. “Then why don’t we go back to our table and we’ll go through what we did last week so you can write it down. Jackson are you okay over here again?” 

He laid on his back and wiggled his book. “All good.”

Lena set her things down while Nate proceeded to set all the pieces out. He didn’t mix up anything and she felt a bit of pride. “Want to take me through each piece’s movement?” He started it out and scribbled out pictures and diagrams in his journal as he went. Twenty minutes later, they were all caught up. 

“How are you feeling Miss Lena?” He questioned as he put the pieces back in their starting position. 

“I’m feeling much better, thank you for asking.” It wasn’t a complete lie. 

“Do you want to talk about your brother?” His smile was so reassuring. “Like I said, I’m a good listener.” 

“I don’t know if I know what to say about him,” she said honestly.

“What’s the best memory you had with him?” 

She didn’t have to think about it. “Teaching me to play chess. It was one of the ways he made me feel like I belonged. When we got older, he got sent away for a long time for doing some bad things but even when we were apart, anytime I thought about chess I remembered that piece of good in him.” 

There was a long pause. “Chess reminds me of my dad.” He fiddled with the pawn on the edge of the table. “He died too. I don’t remember a lot about him but I have this,” he reached into the plastic container and pulled out a wrinkled photograph. He handed it to Lena. “Jack says that I would always sit on his lap and try to move the pieces for him.” Lena looked at the picture. It was taken in practically the spot they were. A small boy was carefully balanced on his father’s lap as he reached for the queen in the middle of the board. The older gentleman was looking at the camera, smiling with the same dimples as Jackson. They could have passed as twins. 

She handed the picture back. “He seems like a really special man.” 

“I want to be as good as he was!” 

“Well then we better get back to it, we’re wasting daylight.” 

He looked at her confused. “It’s one o clock.” 

She tapped the top of his queen. “I know, it’s just a turn of phrase.” 

They finished their lesson an hour later and they were already starting to play through a game. He wasn’t using any particular strategy, but she could tell he was already having fun. In between moves, Nate started to talk more and more to Lena about everything. He rambled about planets, inch worms, and whales to name a few topics. She nodded along and contributed a few of her own worldly observations. 

When it was time to go, she walked him back over to his brother.  “Same time next week?” 

“Yes please!” 

For all she interacted and learned about Nate, she felt like she was leaving his brother out completely. “Jackson is there anything else I can help you with while you’re here against your will?” 

He held up his stack of books. “This should do me for at least the next few weeks.” 

“You have my number, so let me know, okay?” He gave her a thumbs up. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out some money. “Ice cream is on me this week.” Nate didn’t give Jackson a second to protest and snatched the bill and ran towards the ice cream parlor. 

“You can join us if you want...seeing as you’re paying,” he offered. 

Lena didn’t want to over step. “Maybe next week. I have to get back to work.” 

He looked disgusted. “Who works on a Saturday, you the boss or something?” 

“Something like that,” she smiled. “I’ll see you next week.” He ran off after Nate. 

Lena made a mental note to call the number he had given her the first day to explain to the foster parents who she was. 

The next week, all Lena could focus on was Saturday. On Monday, she printed off some pro tips and an article about one of the most prolific chess masters in the world. She wrote a small letter and sent them over to her new pen pal. On Thursday, she received a reply. Nate drew her a picture of him playing against a grey haired old man. The title said “Beating Bobby Fischer”. There were two smaller people in the background cheering. Under the stick figure with a ball cap it said “Jack.” Next to him, he had drawn Lena entirely too tall in head to toe black. She looked down at her current outfit: black pants, black blazer, black pumps-maybe he had a point. She grabbed a piece of tape from her drawer and spun her chair around, pinning the drawing to her window. 

She arrived earlier than usual on Saturday and so had the boys. Nate wasn’t his usual bouncy self. He was sitting on the bench next to Jackson, arms folded and lip curled down. Jackson nudged him when he saw Lena approaching but the boy didn’t budge. 

“Hey boys,” she smiled. Nate didn’t look up. 

Jackson bumped him again. “Don’t be rude.” 

“Hi Miss Lena,” he mumbled, looking at Jackson if that was good enough. The glare he got in return told him it wasn’t. “Hi Miss Lena,” he said louder. “Thank you for coming.” 

She sat down next to him. “You okay?” 

He didn’t respond and continued to just swing his legs back and forth and look at the ground. “He had a rough week,” Jackson answered for him. 

“I’m sorry, want to talk about it?” Lena put a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off. 

“Nate!” Jackson chided. “Come on, let’s go home then. We don’t need to waste anymore of Lena’s time.” 

“Nooo,” Nate whined. He grabbed his chess container and journal and trudged over to their table. He set everything down roughly and began pulling out the pieces. 

Lena looked up to Jackson for more of an explanation. “This kid he was buddies with last year said they couldn’t be friends anymore because they won’t be going to the same school.” 

“That seems a little extreme, they couldn’t arrange playdates?” 

“Our last place was actually like an hour from here. They’ve been writing letters back and forth but I think Evan’s parents wanted him to make other friends. They don’t realize that it’s a little harder for Nate to do that. He gets a bit attached.” 

Lena patted his leg. “Well I promise I’m not going anywhere. I may not be as fun as Evan but at least I have a car if you ever have to move again.” 

Jackson was about to take his usual position laying down to read but instead stood up with Lena. “Do you mind if I join you guys today?” 

“Of course.” 

Lena sat in her usual spot and Jackson flipped a chair around from a different table and sat in between them. “So what does the pointy one do?” Jackson flicked the top of the Bishop. 

Nate tried to hold in a laugh but couldn’t. “It isn’t called “the pointy one’”, he pushed his hand away from his pieces. “It is a noble bishop and it goes diagonal like this.” He moved it around to the different squares. 

“And the horse?” 

Nate put a palm to his face. “Rook,” he corrected.

“What did you call me,” Jackson teased. 

Nate got up and playfully tried to push Jackson back to his bench. “Lena please make him stop.” 

“I am Switzerland,” she held up her hands. 

“What does cake have to do with this?” Nate questioned. 

Jackson stole one of the pieces and ran around the other side of the table. “Switzerland not Swiss Roll dummy.” 

“Not the queen, Jackson!” Nate ran to catch him but the older boy kept moving one step ahead of him. 

“Jackson,” Lena said in her best stern voice. He stopped in his tracks, smiling sheepishly. She held out her palm. “Piece, please.” He set it down in her open hand. “Thank you,” she sang. 

Nate stuck out his tongue to his older brother and sat back down. “Why don’t we play a game through and Jackson you can watch how the pieces move.” 

“No touching though,” Nate added.

“Fineeee,” he held it out for a few seconds. 

After two games, Jackson was actually getting interested and Nate was becoming less grumpy. Lena was explaining what moves were better or worse and they both hung on her every word. Every time she made a comment, he would pause so he could write it down. She figured that it would only take a few more lessons and the book would be filled up. 

She didn’t know why she felt compelled to say anything but after they were resetting for the third game she asked, “Do you want to talk about your friend?” She regretted it for a second because Nate’s face turned sour again. “It’s okay, you don’t have to,” she back peddled. 

“Do you have a best friend?” The question hit her right in the stomach. 

“What?” was her only response. 

“Do you have a best friend?” He repeated. 

She thought about Kara. Images of them sprawled on her couch watching a movie or baking some atrociously burnt cookies flashed into her memory. “I used to,” she said solemnly. 

“Best friends suck,” he huffed. 

This made her crack a smile. “I agree completely.” 

“What did yours do?” In her mind, she listed off the countless times that she had been lied to, manipulated, or almost died because she didn’t know Kara’s secret. 

“She lied to me.” Succinct enough for a child. 

“Well mine told me I lived too far away to be best friends. It’s the 21st cemetery shouldn’t we be able to be friends from any distance.” 

“Century,” Jackson whispered. 

“Whatever,” Nate crossed his arms. “Now I’m going to have to wait until school starts to find a new best friend. I’m just stuck with Jackson.” 

“Well that hurt,” Jackson held his chest feigning and injury. “Sorry bud you’ll always be stuck with me.” 

Nate looked across the table and a light bulb went off in his head. “Lena, can we be best friends?” 

“Umm,” she was speechless. 

“You don’t have one and I don’t have one, it’s perfect!” Jackson tensed and Lena picked up on it. 

“Nate, Lena is an adult with a real job and other friends, she doesn’t have time to be your best friend.” He was right about the job. He couldn’t be more wrong about the other friends. 

“Sorry, I just thought-” the boy recoiled back into his chair. 

Lena’s heart was working faster than her brain and she blurted out, “Why not?” 

“Really?” They both said in unison. 

“I’ll make you a deal. Your brother is right, I am very busy but I will be your temporary  best friend until you go back to school.” That meant about three more weeks, reasonable arrangement. 

“Can we have a secret handshake?” 

“I don’t know if I would be any good at tha-”

“And you have to come to ice cream with us,” he interrupted. 

“Are those all of your conditions?” Lena waited a few beats and he nodded. “Well this might be the easiest friendship I’ve ever had.” 

“Best friendship,” Nate corrected. 

“Of course, my mistake.” She held up an apologetic hand. “Shall we play another game, best friend?” 

“Proceed.” 

They played for another thirty minutes before Nate was getting too antsy for some ice cream. As promised, Lena joined them and she was now the proud owner of an extremely overpriced sundae.  “So when does school start?” she asked as they sat down at an empty table. 

“Eager to get rid of your best friend so quick,” Jackson teased. Lena lightly kicked him under the table. “I should start back at National Middle the second week of August and he starts at Vinson Elementary the same day.” 

“Middle?” Lena questioned. 

“They weren't able to get all the paperwork right. I am going to be the smartest, tallest, and oldest eighth grader they’ve ever had.” 

“Do you want me to see if I can do something about it?” She asked genuinely. 

“It’s fine. It’s a different school so at least I won’t be learning the exact same thing. I wish Kyle would lighten up on me a bit about it but he is just trying to get under my skin.” He took another huge bite of his cone and Lena could see him retreating back into his shell. 

“Who’s Kyle?” 

Jackson was still chewing so Nate answered for him, “He is our foster brother.” 

“He is the son of the family we are living with,” Jackson corrected. “He is not very brotherly.” 

“Speaking of your foster parents, I tried calling them a few times but never got an answer or a call back. I wanted to make sure the number was correct.” She pulled out the piece of paper that she had kept on her at all times for the last three weeks. Jackson skimmed it over and said it was right. 

“They aren’t home a lot so I’m not surprised. I’ll say something to them when we go home though.” He wiped off his mouth as he finished his cone. “Is there something wrong? Did we do something?” 

“Of course not! I just wanted them to be aware who their children were spending time with.” 

Jackson crumpled the napkin in his hand. “We are not their children.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mea-” Lena’s words fell on her lips as Jackson got up abruptly and took Nate’s hand. 

“We have to go actually. Thank you.” 

“I’m not done,” Nate complained. 

“Just take it with you,” Jackson said a little forcefully. 

He cleaned up their area quickly and grabbed his books. “We’ll see you next week.” 

Before Lena really had a second to respond, they were already headed off in the opposite direction. Nate waved over his shoulder but had a frown on his face. She wasn’t sure what she had done or said wrong. She wanted to run after them and apologize but she felt like she would just put her foot farther in her mouth. She sat there a few more minutes before making the trip back to her apartment. 

The sight that met her at her door was not what she wanted. The lord was testing her. “Not today, Agent.” She walked past Alex’s imposing figure to put the key into her door. 

“Five minutes, please.” 

Lena finally got her door unlocked and pushed it open. “Funny, that’s the same time it would have taken to be honest with me at any point over the last three years.”

“That’s not fair.” Alex followed her a step in. 

Lena turned forcefully, hand on the door to shut it. “I would be very careful about bringing up the topic of fair with me.” 

“We need you Lena.” For a second, she believed the agent. Her face was so sincere but that was the same look that had convinced her a thousand times before. “Something bad is coming and you are the only person in this universe that might give us a fighting chance.” 

“And where is your sister begging me for my assistance?” Her voice was flat and cold. 

“You asked to never see her again and she is respecting that. I on the other hand think it’s bullshit. Shutting all of us out, especially her, is only going to end up hurting you.” 

Lena pushed the door farther in. “I already am hurt, Alex.” She closed it resoundingly. Putting her back to the door, she slid down the cold metal until she hit the floor. She should be used to crying but it still felt hot and intrusive every time it began again. I don’t need them, she whispered to herself. 

The beginning of the week was miserable. She couldn’t stop thinking about messing up with the boys. It didn’t help that a ghost from DEO past had also ruined her weekend. She tried to focus on work but every time she turned around in her desk, she saw the picture on the window. On Wednesday she got a small letter with the same crayon scrawled ‘urgent’ on the back. She took a deep breath. She didn’t know why she was so worried, they probably just needed to get home Saturday and it wasn’t about them never wanting to see her again.

She opened up the side and pulled out another piece of notebook paper. Dear Best Friend, Jackson says he is sorry for being rude. Please don’t be mad. We were all grumpy but everything is better now! Lena laughed every time at the large handwriting. His few sentences took up the entire page. She turned the paper around and there was a small note in the lower corner. Lena, I really am sorry. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.

God they were good kids, she thought. The envelope had another item inside. She pulled out a second piece of paper with another drawing. This time it had them all sitting at a bench eating ice cream. Lena was still in all black. She grabbed a piece of tape and put it up next to the other picture. She looked at it thoughtfully. She may not need the super friends, but she did need them. 

She did something she hadn’t done in a long time Friday-shopping. Usually, she just had an assortment of things sent to her home. Not today. She needed something less black and less work related. She realized even her work out gear was black. The sales lady at the store pointed her in the direction of an assortment of bubble gum pink yoga pants and the brightest green tops she had ever seen. Going out of her comfort zone didn’t have to mean going off the deep end, she thought. She swerved out of the Lollypop Woods and landed in the safe clutches of neutral pastels. She found a few greys and tans with stripes of other colors that were acceptable. She also took a leap and picked a bright blue jogging jacket. It was about as colorful and casual as she was going to get. 

The next day, she decided to change up her wardrobe and put on a pair of the grey pants with the blue jacket. She even put her hair up in a ponytail. She laughed at her image in the mirror, because the boys probably wouldn’t recognize her. When she got to the park, she was surprised to not see them sitting at their bench. She figured they must have been caught up on the way over. Jackson had told her one of the first times they met that the bus they always took never liked to follow its schedule. 

She waited another fifteen minutes before worry started to set in. She looked at her phone and it was already fifteen till. She knew that their scheduled time wasn’t actually until one but they had been starting early every week. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to dial the foster parent’s number to see if they had left. The call immediately went to voicemail. Lena left a brief message and her contact information. She got up and walked farther into the park where the ice cream stand was. The same man from the past few weeks was serving a young girl in front of her. 

“Can I help you?” He smiled. 

She kept looking around, not exactly paying attention to his question. “Have you seen the two boys I was her with last week?” 

“The Harris boys?” 

“Yes!” she said excitedly. 

He shook his head. “Haven’t seen them since they were here with you.” Her heart fell. “Sometimes they hang around the pond on the other edge of the park,” he offered. 

She vaguely knew where that was. “I am going to go look over there. If you see them come here or over by the chess tables, will you please let me know?” She handed him her card. 

“Of course.” He pocketed the card. “They okay?” 

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. 

She nearly sprinted to the other side of the park. The pond was more of a lake than she remembered. It had a track around the outskirts and she couldn’t quite make out the bodies around the shore. She looped around it, looking at every bench and hideaway. They weren’t there either. She tried to calm her nerves, saying that they were probably just at home finishing up some chores. Something deep in her stomach knew that it was something more sinister than that. In her experience, it was never a simple answer. 

She made her way back to the ice cream stand and its owner shook his head no as she approached. She sat back down at their bench and thought about her next step. She tried the phone number one more time but it didn’t go through again. She didn’t bother with a message. She looked at the time again- 1:30.

Her mind spiraled with the worst possible scenarios. There weren’t any ambulances blazing through town and she hadn’t gotten a notification of any traffic accidents. She couldn’t very well go over to their house and check on them. Could she? She made up her mind and called an Uber. The address from the letter placed her in front of an abandoned building. 

“Are you sure this is the right address?” She questioned the driver. 

“Yes ma’am, put it in the GPS and everything.” 

She thanked him and got out. The building in front of her looked like an old apartment building that hadn’t been lived in in a very long time. It was three stories of solid brick that had shattered windows and peeling paint on every door. The front gate opened with a loud creak. She cautiously walked up the front steps and wiggled the front door open. Part of the ceiling in the hallway was falling in. “Nate,” she called. “Jackson?” Her voice echoed up the stairwell ahead of her. She waited with no response. She walked a few more steps in but didn’t trust the infrastructure. She called one more time before trusting they weren’t there. 

Outside, she spotted a row of mailboxes. She scanned the numbers until she found the one on her letter. She opened the rusted box and saw fresh mail. She pulled it out and they were all addressed to Nate. She opened the other boxes and they were all empty. Was it just him getting mail here? She didn’t understand why a seven year old was using an abandoned apartment to get mail. What she did know was that she wasn’t any closer to figuring out where the boys were. Things were not adding up at all. She wiped a hand over her face, wicking away a small bead of sweat that had formed. 

Her phone rang and she picked it up instantly. “Hello?” 

“Lena please-” she could hear Jackson’s scared voice. The line went silent. She tried to redial the number but it went to voicemail. She immediately called the police. “I’m calling about two foster boys Jackson and Nate Harris. I haven’t been able to get in contact with them all day and just received a call from them for help but wasn’t able to ascertain where they were.” They took more information from her and put her on hold for eternity. She sat on the curb of the sidewalk waiting for some sort of confirmation. Finally, the officer on the other line called out to her. 

“Miss Luthor, we got a hold of CPS and the family, they said everything is fine.” 

That didn’t add up. “Can I speak to the boys, ask them myself?” 

The man cleared his throat. “Actually ma’am, the foster parents told us that they're uncomfortable with you having any more contact with their children.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I’ve been instructed not to give you any more information than that.” 

“Sir, I promise you, those boys are not okay.” She tried to reason with him but it was hard to do over the telephone. 

“Ma’am I’m sorry but this is the extent of what we can do. If CPS gives us the clear, then we don’t have a case.” He hung up on her and she nearly threw her phone. Things were not adding up and she didn’t believe Jackson would have called her if everything was as fine as they made it out to be. 

She did the only thing she could think of. She called another uber and headed back towards downtown. When she got to her destination, it took all of her will power to climb the two flights of stairs up to the corner apartment. She took a deep breath and banged on the door. She wasn’t surprised when she was met at the door with a gun. “Lena?” 

“Alex I need your help.” The woman’s face was sour. “I don’t have time for witty back and forth or rehashing any of our past. There are two boys who could be in danger.” 

Surprisingly, Alex didn’t ask for anymore. “I have more resources at the DEO, you can explain on the way.” They were in Alex’s car in less than five minutes and Lena was explaining in as little detail as possible her relationship to Nate and Jackson and why she was concerned. 

“I might just be overreacting but there are a lot of red flags and the police wouldn’t pursue it.” Alex was nodding along, processing her next steps as she pulled off the road. 

“Lena if we go down this road and everything is just fine, we are going to be in a lot of trouble and could be crossing lines we don’t get to go back from.” 

“Would I be here with you if I didn’t think this was serious?” 

Alex nodded in agreement. “I can’t guarantee that we won’t need Kara for this,” she leveled. 

“I know that too,” Lena admitted. “It’s that important.” 

Alex punched in some numbers on her screen. Brainy answered instantly. “How can I be of service?” 

“I need you to access CPS records for the current address of Jackson and Nate Harris.” 

“Director what is this matter about?” 

“None of your concern, please find the information and send that and any information about their current home to my phone.” He didn’t question her again and within seconds, her phone buzzed. She scanned quickly over the summary page. “George and Mary Kielson, son Kyle.” 

“That has to be them!” Lena piped up. “They mentioned the son last week.” 

Alex uploaded the address and started following the directions to an apartment outside of the city. “This is how this is going to go. I am going to do a welfare check and you are going to stay in the hallway until I say otherwise.” 

“But-” Lena tried to protest. 

“This isn’t a movie Lena. If there is a real danger in there, the more untrained people around will put everyone in danger. I promise that I won’t let anything happen to them but you have to trust me.” That was a big ask but Lena knew the agent was telling the truth. When it came to protecting people, there was no one better trained. 

“I’ll stay out of the way, promise.” They rode in silence for the last few minutes. Alex pulled off the side of the road before they got to their destination. She parked in the closest alley. “We’ll walk over, try not to tip anyone off.” 

They got out of the car and Alex pocketed her gun into the back of her pants. She hoped there would be no reason to use it today. Lena tailed her across the street. The building was only two stories but extended far into the back. “How are we going to get in?” Lena questioned. 

Alex silently pointed to a back door fifty paces away that had a broom in it, holding it open. “That’s probably the laundry room.” They walked over to it and peered in through the window. She was right. Alex quietly opened the door and the both walked in. She pulled out her phone and looked down at the address one more time. Second floor, apartment 213. They took the stairwell and when they got to second floor landing, Alex looked at the number on the first door, 219. They were at least close. 

“Stay here,” she instructed. Lena reluctantly complied. Alex mentally counted out the doors and approximated where their apartment was. She listened carefully for any yelling or abnormal noises. It was eerily quiet. She finally reached the apartment and put her ear to the door. She could pick up some voices. There was a man and a woman arguing. It was hard to discern exactly what they were saying. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. The woman was getting closer to her and she finally heard, “What are we going to do about the boy?” 

That was enough. She banged on the door. 

“Who is it?” A voice croaked on the other side. 

“CPS,” she lied. She could hear a quiet ‘shit.’ There was shuffling behind the door and Alex was preparing to kick it in. The lock clicked and the door was pulled open, just enough to where the chain that held the top lock, strained in its place. 

“How can we help you?” The woman’s red face matched her head of curly fire engine hair. 

“Welfare check.” Alex said sternly. “I’m looking for Nate and Jackson Harris.” 

The husband came into view. Alex could already see the mustard stain on his wife beater and she was sure the faint breeze of alcohol was also him. “We just got off the phone with CPS, why would they send someone?” 

“There were some inconsistencies,” she said quickly. 

“Well the boys are out at their chess lesson, so you’ll have to come back later.” 

Alex had him right where she wanted him. “That’s actually why I’m here, their teacher called and said they never showed up. Then, you told my colleague they were at home with you. Do you understand my concern?” 

She could hear him gulp from five feet away. His wife turned toward him. “George we don’t have a choice.” 

She shut the door and undid the top latch. She opened the door fully and Alex walked in cautiously. “Where are the boys?” 

“Ma’am, I just want you to understand something first, we would never intentionally hurt,” the wife’s hands were shaking like they were pleading. 

“Shut up Mary!” 

Alex reached to her back, “where are the boys?” 

George used his beer to indicate down a hallway. She moved quickly, disregarding her training. She tried the door he indicated but it was locked. “Unlock this,” she demanded. 

George sat down in a large sofa chair and turned on the tv. “I’m done fiddling with them.” 

Alex came back to him and grabbed him by what was left of his shirt. “Where is the key?” she said more sternly. He reached into his pocket and threw it down the hallway. 

His wife began crying. “I’m sorry, we just didn’t know what to do.” 

Alex fetched the keys out of the old shag carpet and quickly inserted it into the door. She didn’t know what she was going to find. She shoved it open and thankfully saw the two boys sitting with each other in the corner of a small room. She got down to their level but they pulled away. “Are you okay?” 

“Who are you?” Before she could answer, another figure appeared at the door. 

“Lena!” The smaller human jumped up and ran over to her, wrapping her up tightly. 

“I’m here, are you okay?” She knelt down to his level. She saw a streak of blood down the side of his head. She moved his hair out of the way quickly, trying to find the source. “Where are you hurt?” 

“It’s not mine.” He nodded towards Jackson. The older boy was still sitting in the corner, his face shroud in shadow. 

Lena went over to him. “Are you okay?” He turned towards her and she could see where the blood was coming from. He had a gash across the top of his head and his nose had dried blood still crusted in the corners. “What happened?” She ran a gentle hand across his face and he winced. 

“It’s their stupid son,” he spat out, nearly crying. “He wouldn’t leave us alone so I told him off and then he punched me. I tried to walk away but he hit me with something else.” 

Lena could feel the rage boiling inside of her. “They locked you in here.” It was a statement not a question. He nodded. “Where’s the other boy?” 

“Locked in his room too.” 

Her mind flashed back to all the times that Lilian had locked her in a closet or bedroom. It was part of her psychological punishment. She didn’t even have to misbehave to get that treatment. She was not going to leave the boys here to that same fate. 

“Pack your things,” she said definitively. “You’re not staying here.” 

Alex looked at her with a warning. “Lena, we don’t know what CPS will do.” 

“They are not staying here one more night,” she said sternly. “Can you please call them?” Alex got up without arguing and did what she was told. 

“Do you need to get your things from another room?” Lena asked. 

Jackson shook his head no. “We share this room.” 

Lena looked around. There was one bed in the corner and a sleeping bag on the floor. There was a small dresser that was being used as a makeshift desk with a lawn chair on either side. All of their clothes were neatly folded on the back wall next to a few pairs of shoes. 

Nate was moving around stacking things up but Jackson hadn’t moved. He stared off to the corner of the room. She leaned down again and put a hand on his. “Jackson, can you show me where the bathroom is? I want to wash this gash on your head. I don’t want it to get infected.” 

He silently got up off the floor and started walking out the door. She followed as he led her into a dated, baby green bathroom. He wasn’t quite taller than her but it still wasn’t going to be as easy to get to his forehead. “Can you sit down here?” He did. 

Before she started looking for supplies, she got out her phone. “I am going to take a picture of this. I don’t want them to get away with any of it, okay?” He nodded again. She took three different angles and put her phone away. She found a washcloth and some antibacterial soap. She started by getting the dry blood off, trying to make it as painless as possible. He still winced when she got closer to his nose. She washed out the cloth and began cleaning the deeper cuts. Luckily, nothing was rebleeding as she wiped over it. 

Alex came by the door on her way back to their bedroom. “CPS and police should be here in ten minutes. I took the liberty of cuffing George.” She said that with an extra bit of glee. “Mary is being compliant, she told me everything that happened.” She took a step farther in and looked at Jackson’s face. “Can I press on your nose real quick?” He braced himself as she did and winced with certain pressure. “I’d place a safe bet that it’s not broken. I also don’t think these need stitches.” She patted his shoulder. 

Once Alex was out of the room, Lena went back to making sure she didn’t miss any blood. “I’m so sorry this happened,” she whispered.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled. 

She put a finger under his chin and lifted up so their eyes met. “It is not okay.” Her voice was shaking. “This is never okay.” 

She could see the tears start to well up in his eyes again. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, much like his brother, and cried into her jacket. She rubbed his back and whispered that she had him now. After a few minutes, he sat back up and wiped the edges of his eyes. “Thank you, Lena.”

“Go pack your things, I don’t want you here any longer than you have to be.” 

While he went into his room, Lena met the CPS worker and officer in the entryway. She recognized his voice from the phone. He apologized for not taking her seriously. She didn’t care, she just wanted the parents dealt with. He took statements from the mother while Lena spoke to the CPS worker. “What is the plan for them?” 

The woman was a lovely Asian woman in her mid thirties who, based on the way she was dressed, was probably just coming from the gym when she got the phone call. “I am putting in calls now but emergency placement on a weekend isn’t as simple as it seems. Jackson will be easy because we have the group home one town over but I’m still trying to find a place for Nate.” 

“You’re separating them?” Lena asked, alarmed. 

“I would do anything to just snap my fingers and get them joint placement but you don’t know how hard it was to get them into this place. Teenagers are hard to place alone, it’s nearly impossible as a pair.”

“That’s bullshit.” Lena could barely contain herself. 

Alex walked over. “What’s the problem?” 

“They can’t find them a place together,” Lena said.

“There isn’t any temporary place they could stay?” Alex asked. 

The woman looked sympathetic. “This is the part of the job that isn’t ever easy. I need them to be safe and right now that isn’t possible if I keep them together.” 

“What’s going on?” The boys were standing in the hallway, one bag on either side. 

“You must be Jackson and Nate,” The social worker walked over towards them. “I’m Jenny. I’m going to get you to a safe place tonight and then we are going to work on finding a new place for you to be together.” 

“You’re separating us?” Jackson asked, distressed. “You can’t, that’s not fair! We didn’t do anything wrong.” He looked over to the couch where Mary and George were sitting. “It’s...it’s a lie. I tripped getting out of the shower and hit my head.” He dropped his bag. “Nothing happened.” 

“Sweetie we know that isn’t true,” Jenny tried to calm him. 

“Nothing happened!” he yelled. “We’re going to stay here and it’s going to be okay. Right Nate?” His heart was pounding. 

Nate looked up at him. “We’re not supposed to lie.” 

Jackson crouched down to his level. “Buddy they’re going to move us apart from each other if we don’t stay here. I can’t protect you if I’m thirty minutes away.” 

Nate put a hand on his bruised cheek. “I have to protect you too.” He moved past Jackson to stand in front of Jenny. “I’ve got everything ready to go.” 

Jackson stood up and looked around pleading for someone to do something. His eyes met Lena and she felt like she was looking at herself. “I’ll take them,” she said in a low voice. She cleared her throat and spoke louder. “I’ll take them.” 

Both boys looked at her in surprise. Jenny turned and shook her head. “I’m sorry but unless you have a license to foster, there is nothing I can do.” 

Before Lena could argue, Alex stepped forward. “She does actually. Last year, our friend Sam got very sick and was afraid that she was going to leave her daughter with no one. Lena and I both got approved to foster, in case of the worst.” 

“Do you have documentation of this?” Jenny asked suspiciously. 

“Of course.” Alex picked up her phone and dialed a number. “Hey Br-Brian, I need you to send Lena’s license to foster to my phone from her personnel file. Yes, all the updated codes on her building as well. Thanks.” 

Lena looked at her in disbelief. She could only imagine what forgery was taking place at the DEO right now but she didn’t care. She was thankful for the agent’s quick thinking. A few seconds ticked by before a loud ding broke the silence. Alex turned her phone towards the woman and she read through the documentation. “It would appear you are fully licensed...somehow.” She looked between the women, still unbelieving.  “Let me make a phone call and if it clears, you may take the boys home with you Ms. Luthor.” 

No one dared to move or speak in fear of jinxing what could be. She walked back inside and closed her phone. “Everything checks out. If you can get them settled at your home tonight, I will be back tomorrow morning to do an inspection.” 

“Are you serious?” Jackson’s face lit up. 

“Yes, if it is still alright with Ms. Luthor.” She turned to the frozen woman. “Miss Luthor,” she repeated. 

“Yes,” she finally breathed out. “Of course. I don’t want them to be separated ever again. I will keep them safe until you find a good family willing to take both of them.” She looked at the boys. “How does that sound?” 

They both nodded excitedly. She reached down towards Jackson and grabbed one of his bags and started for the door in a daze. “It’s settled then, let’s go.”

Nate followed and stopped next to Alex, “That’s my best friend,” he said proudly. She furrowed her brows in confusion and grabbed one of his bags. 

After they carried everything down to Alex’s car, they went back up one last time at Nate’s request. The officer was still debriefing them and ticketing them for child endangerment. Their son was now on the couch too and by the looks of it was getting read the riot act. He had the same firey hair as his mother and the scowl of his father. The difference now was the fear in his eyes.

Lena stayed in the doorway while Nate walked up in front of Mary and George. “Thank you for having us in your home.” He handed Mary a folded note. “I always really liked your meatloaf. If you could send me the recipe to this address, I would really appreciate it.” He leaned over and gave her a hug. He walked back to Lena and gave her a thumbs up. 

They loaded into Alex’s car and it all felt surreal. She was headed home with two kids. Her apartment wasn’t exactly kid friendly. She wasn’t even sure there was anything edible in her fridge besides cheese and wine. They rode in silence and by the time they got back to her apartment it was already seven. She gave Alex the passcode to her parking garage and they pulled right up to the elevator that would take them directly to the penthouse. 

“Everybody have everything?” Alex asked. Both the boys and Lena had their arms loaded up. It still didn’t feel like enough to amount to their whole worldly possessions. “Do you need help getting everything settled?” 

Lena shook her head. “I think we can get it from here.” Alex began shutting all of the doors. “Alex, I appreciate everything you’ve done today.” 

“Just being the friend I’ve always been.” Lena deserved that.

“Can I ask you a favor?” 

“I won’t tell Kara.” Lena didn’t know how she read her mind. “I get you still need space.” 

“Thank you.” 

Alex came up close to her and whispered in a low tone. “Lena this is a big responsibility. You aren’t alone. I hope you know that.” She turned and got into the car, waving goodbye.

The boys shouted their thanks. “I like her, can I write her a letter?”

Lena nudged him on the shoulder towards the elevator with the things she was carrying. “Maybe tomorrow.”

They got in the elevator and began rising the forty levels to the top. Both boys looked out the window in awe as it showed them more and more of the city as they rose. When they finally reached the top, they entered directly into a beautiful white foyer. They looked around at the space, blinking the shock out of their eyes. 

“You really are the boss aren’t you?” Jackson said mesmerized. 

She ignored his comment. “I obviously wasn’t expecting this today so I don’t really have anything made up but I think we can make it work.” 

Jackson walked down the steps and set his things down at the foot of the couch. “I’m good here.” He looked at the long, oddly shaped furniture. “Honestly, I think it can fit both of us.” 

Lena walked down the same steps and grabbed up the things he set down. “You’re not sleeping on the couch, come on.” She led them down a short hallway where three doors diverged. She opened the first one and it was a full guest room. “Nate, this is going to be your room for now. I’ve got some boxes of paperwork in the closet but we’ll sort that out tomorrow, okay?” 

He carefully placed his things at the foot of the bed and ran a hand over the soft comforter. He continued to touch every post and drawer in the room. “This is all mine?” 

“Even the dust,” she joked. He jumped onto the bed, laying out like an angel. 

“Nate!” Jackson moaned. “You’re going to get the sheets dirty.” 

Nate stuck his tongue out. “There my sheets.” 

Lena kept walking down the hallway to a second door. She opened it up and turned on the light. It had an odd mixture of boxes, gym equipment, and clothes strewn about. “This will be your room. I don’t think I’ve opened this door in about three weeks so pardon the mess.” She closed the door behind her. “For now, however, you’re going to be in the master.” She turned left and led him into her large bedroom. He twirled as he walked in. The skyline was sinking out the full panel window and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. 

“Where are you going to sleep?” He asked. 

“That is for me to worry about,” she smiled. “Set your things down and we’ll get something to eat.” 

They picked up Nate from his room as they headed into the kitchen. The entire apartment was stark white and the kitchen was no exception. White marble, white cabinets, white bar chairs. The only color was the silver appliances. The boys naturally found their way to the bar chairs and sat down opposite of Lena. They all let out a large breath at the same time, and subsequently began to giggle. “What in the world are we doing?” Lena said mostly to herself. 

“I don’t know if you know this but you just got two new roommates that can’t drive or buy alcohol.” 

“Well if I had known that,” she joked. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a stack of take out menus. “First rule of this house is that there is no food unless it is delivered.” 

Nate picked up a pizza menu and began flipping. “I’m nervous to learn what the rest of the rules are.” 

Lena turned around and grabbed something else from a drawer. She opened the freezer and began filling a bag. She wrapped it in the kitchen towel and tossed it to Jackson. “We do have ice though. I trust Alex’s judgement but we might go get that looked at tomorrow.” He gratefully but the ice to his face. 

“Pizza or chinese?” She held up to options.

“Both?” Nate asked. 

She grabbed her phone. “I think that is an excellent decision.” 

She ordered enough food to feed an army and gave them a short tour of her apartment. She told them to go ahead and shower and put on their pajamas and she would wait for the food. She realized that she didn’t really have any shampoo or body wash for boys so they would have to settle on smelling like lavender rose. Nate was more excited than Jackson. While they were in the bathrooms, she sat down on her couch and finally decompressed the massive decision she just made. She had absolutely no idea how to parent. She didn’t even have a gallon of milk in her fridge. Wasn’t that like the first rule of parenting? Or was that bread? She didn’t know, which is why she was unqualified for this. She would start putting in calls on Monday to see what she could do about finding them a home they deserve, with a person or people that could give them everything they need. Until then, she would do what she promised and keep them safe-and overloaded with Kung Pao chicken. 

They both came out as the food arrived. She set out dishes and they all started to load their plate with a bastardization of lo mein and pepperoni pizza. 

“By the way, I really like your jacket,” Nate commented. “It’s my favorite color!” 

“Well we’ll have to get you one tomorrow.” 

Nate literally squealed. “Jackson we can get you one too and we’ll all match. Best friend jackets!” 

“It’s a girls jacket,” he whined.  

Nate reached over to Jackson’s plate and hovered his fork over the last potsticker. “Well you do smell like a girl right now.” He plunged his fork down and took off with the deep fried goodness. He was halfway around the island before Jackson could even register. 

“Hey! I’m wounded, give me a break.” He didn’t even try to get up and give chase. Nate gleefully ate the food at a safe distance away. 

Lena lifted her own plate and scooted the potsticker she had been hiding over to Jackson’s plate. “Don’t think you’re going to get to pull that card more than once,” she warned, jokingly. 

“Thank you,” he smiled, forking the food. 

“I’m not that hungry, anyways,” she dismissed. 

He looked over to where his brother was now dancing with a noodle hung over his head, trying to wiggle in the same way. “I mean for everything.” 

Lena hit his fork with her own. “I was getting a little lonely anyways.” She could see him physically relax for the first time since she’d met him. That alone was going to make all of this worth it.

Chapter Text

bind: A strong grip or stranglehold on a position that is difficult for the opponent to break. A bind is usually an advantage in space created by advanced pawns. 

Lena did not sleep well. There was something poking into her back that she couldn’t quite identify but it was somewhere in the realm of a stick or a knife. She moved slightly and felt half of her body crack in agony. Her hair was tossed over her eyes so she couldn’t see but she swore she could hear mumbling, almost like she left the tv on in another room. 

“Don’t wake her up!” An urgent whisper floated over to her.

She heard a cabinet close gently and another hushed voice. “I was just trying to get a cup, breathe.” 

“She had a rough night.” 

“I had a rough night,” the second voice spoke more resoundingly. There was quiet bickering that Lena tuned out until the shattering of glass broke through the last haze of sleep. 

She sat up quickly, whipped her hair out of her face. “Is everyone alright?” She looked up towards the kitchen and the boys were completely still, eyes glued to the floor. Lena moved over quicker asking again, “Are you guys okay?” 

“I am so sorry Miss Lena,” Jackson’s voice had a slight shake to it. “I put it too close to the edge and when…” He trailed off. 

Nate bent down to start collecting pieces but Lena reached down and grabbed his arm gently. “Don’t touch it, you’ll cut yourself.” She didn’t say it forcefully but he still retreated back. She tried to be as gentle as possible. “I have a broom,” she finished. He looked up at her and she could see a faint glaze of tears over his eyes. 

She went around the counter and opened a closet, grabbing the hardly used broom. “Did either of you cut yourself?” They shook their heads no. 

“We can clean it up.” Jackson finally said. “It’s my fault.” 

Lena waved him off. “It isn’t anybody’s fault, it was an accident.” She bent down and quickly swept up the pieces into the dustpan and dumped everything in the trash can. “That just took so much of my energy, I won’t possibly be able to do anything else with my day,” she said sarcastically, making them smile. 

“You’re not mad?” 

“There is nothing in this house you can break that would make me mad,” She said seriously. Nate jumped on the counter and pointed around at the nearly empty loft. “That’s because there’s like nothing in it for us to break.”  

Lena looked around. In daylight, her apartment looked barer than she remembered. She never really paid attention. She had told the decorator minimalistic chic-to kids that probably looked more like expensive prison.

“I paid someone to make it look like this, thank you very much.” Lena returned the cleaning supplies and sat down at the island. 

Nate tried to back pedal. “It has its charm,” he offered with a grin.

Lena narrowed her still half-awake eyes. “Well maybe while you’re here you can make it more breakable.” She rubbed her temple and blinked a few times to get the last bit of sleep out of her system. “Who wants coffee?” 

Jackson looked at questioningly. “You do know how kids work, right?”

“Water, sunlight, food?”

“I think you may be describing a plant.”

Lena walked over to her fridge and opened it, ignoring his witty comment. “I know food is somewhere on the list of keeping you alive.” She looked at what she could offer. Wine. Wine. Cheese. Wine. Leftover Chinese. Questionable head of lettuce. Wine. “Why don’t we go out for breakfast,” she said, opening the freezer hoping food would magically appear. It was somehow emptier than the fridge. “...and then run to the store,” she added. 

“Can we get Go-Gurt?” Nate asked, excitedly. 

Lena furrowed her brows. “I don’t have a single idea what that is.” 

“What?” He dramatically slammed both hands on the counter. “Who raised you, wolves?” Practically, she thought. 

“If it doesn’t kill you, you may get it.” She turned her attention to both of them. “Get changed and we will make a plan.” 

The boys looked down at their clothes. “We are changed,” Jackson commented. He was in tan Bermuda shorts and a green mountain dew brand t shirt. Nate had on similar shorts but a blue and white striped top. 

“Right,” she smiled awkwardly. Kids did not dress in business casual. It was the first mental note of many she would make today. “I guess I am the odd one out. Give me a minute.” 

She walked down the hallway and into her closet. On a normal Sunday, she would have gone for a simple knee length dress and heels. Comfortable but still gave her the option of being presentable at work. She pushed her clothes along the rack one by one, trying to find something that wasn’t as...she couldn’t quite think of the word. Stiff, maybe. 

She walked to the other side where she kept more of her casual clothing. She usually only wore these when she was hanging out with-. She stopped her thought process. These were her game night clothes. Alex had teased so her relentlessly about wearing a three-piece suit to game night that Lena eventually caved and bought a few pairs of comfortable jeans and sweaters. It had been over a month since she had even thought about this side of her closet. She pulled a pair of the dark washed pants off the hanger. It was time to move on. These would now be her grocery store jeans. 

She thought about a sweater, but it was entirely too hot. She pulled open one of her drawers and found a light blue, v neck t-shirt. If she was going to change things up today, she was going to really change things up. She quickly put on the outfit and tucked the shirt into her jeans. She looked in the mirror unsatisfied and added a belt to clean up the look. She combed her hair back into a ponytail and found a comfy pair of low boots. 

She made her way back to the kitchen and grabbed her purse and a set of keys sitting in a basket. “Ready to go?” The boys looked at her strangely. “What?” 

“Where’s the suit?” Jackson asked. 

“Are you feeling okay, Lena?” Nate added. 

Lena ignored them and put a hand on either of their backs, pushing them towards the door. “Yes, I can dress like a human.”

“That’s exactly what an alien would say,” Nate pointed at her accusingly. She reached around him and pushed the ground floor button. 

“Well this alien is buying breakfast so I would count your blessings.” 

Nate reached up and tugged Jackson down to his level. “Is she joking?” He whispered. 

Jackson had to stifle a laugh. “Yes squish, she’s joking.” 

Lena leaned down too and whispered, “Or am I?” The doors opened and she walked ahead of them towards her lexus parked in the back corner. “Coming?” 

Jackson had to push Nate out of the elevator before it closed. They all packed into her car and she assessed all her mirrors as if it was the first time she had ever driven. Well, it had been weeks. Most of her destinations were within walking distance or she was going to an event that was easier just to be dropped off at. She figured a grocery run would be a bit harder to carry home and she didn’t really want to make someone wait around for them. The few times she needed something from the store, the local express mart was enough. Today was not going to be a trip like that. She looked up the closest Wal-Mart and put it into her GPS. There was a diner a few miles from there if her memory was correct. This was going to be a day of a lot of new experiences. “Buckle, please,” she said as she pulled out.

The diner was surprisingly calm for nine on a Sunday. Their drive over was pretty silent because she didn’t really know what to talk about. She hadn’t quite wrapped her head around the entire situation yet. They’d get something to eat, buy a few groceries, and assess the future later. 

More than anything, she needed caffeine to stave off the headache building at the base of her skull.

The woman in a red and white pin striped dress led them to a corner booth and the boys slid in on one side. She set her bag down and gently sat down. The same waitress thankfully brought her a coffee without even asking. She must have assessed her situation and deemed caffeine necessary. Lena had it in her hand before the woman had even set the boys' waters down. “Can I get you anything else to drink?” 

They both turned to Lena for approval. She waved a hand of permission while she sipped the luke-warm sludge in her cup. It wasn’t fresh ground Venezuelan espresso but it would have to work. Nate got chocolate milk and Jackson went with orange juice. The menus were set in the corner and Jackson offered one to Lena. “No thanks, I don’t usually eat breakfast.” She held up her mug. “Coffee is one of my major food groups.” 

Nate reached by his side and pulled out a notebook that she hadn’t even noticed that he had brought. He opened to a fresh page and Lena could make out the word “coffee.”

“What are you writing?” She asked, as if she couldn’t read his large handwriting. 

He held up the blue spiral notebook. “I write down everything I learn about people. It helps me keep track so I don’t forget their favorite things.” 

Lena was impressed. He was the most endearing child she had ever met, not that she had met many children. “And what have you learned about me?” 

To her surprise, he shuffled back several pages and began reading. “The first thing I wrote about you was that your brother died and you were sad.” He flipped a page. “You wear a lot of black so it must be your favorite color. You like ice cream sandwiches. Your favorite chess move is the sissy defense-” 

Lena chuckled. “Sicilian,” she corrected. He got out his pen and scratched out what he had written. His pen hovered over the paper for a long moment. “S-i-c-i-l-i-a-n,” Lena spelled. 

“Thank you.” He went to another page. “You and I are best friends,” he read and then smiled up at her. “You like coffee...a lot.” 

“I think you know everything about me.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the small legal pad she always kept in there. She scrounged around and found a pen as well. “What do I need to know about you?” 

She wrote his name in big letters so he could see and then underlined it twice. “I know you are seven. Your favorite color is blue. You like chocolate ice cream more than vanilla.” She wrote it down point by point. “You like to write letters and...” She looked down at her list, faking a pensive look. “...That’s all I got.” 

“I like pizza!” 

“How could I forget?” she added the final point. 

The waitress walked over to take their order and the boys both got pancakes. Lena caved and got two eggs over easy. She turned back to Nate and her list. “Why don’t we get to know each other a little bit more. If you’re going to be staying with me, I’d like to make sure that we don’t feel like strangers.” She looked at Jackson. “You too.” 

“But I didn’t bring any paper,” he shook his empty hands in the air. 

Lena tore a piece off of her sheet and handed it over. “Lucky for you, I  brought enough for the both of us.” 

He slouched back into the booth and reluctantly took the paper. “This is my least favorite part of all of this,” he huffed, crossing his arms.

“What do you mean?” 

He looked out the window. “Nothing.”

She looked at Nate for some kind of answer but he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sorry if I said something wrong,” she offered.

Jackson looked back and was about to say something but Nate elbowed him. “She’s just being nice.” They looked at each other and Lena could tell they were wordlessly communicating something. Whatever Nate said made Jackson unfurl his arms.

“I’m sorry. That was kind of a reflex reaction.” Lena was confused and he could tell. “Whenever we get moved to a new place, we have to go through this same introduction.” He mimed different voices, “How are you, bud? What’s your favorite subject? Do you like sports?” He let out a deep breath. “It just gets really tiring.” 

“I didn’t even think about that, I’m sorry.” She tapped the pen on the table. “I really do want to know more about you, both of you, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed.” She reached across the table and set her hand over top of his. “I promised to keep you safe and that means from me and my prying too. You will always have a say here. I don’t get to control you just because you’re in my home.”

If the look in his eyes said anything, she knew that he believed her. He cleared his throat and grabbed the paper he had discarded to the side. “My favorite color is green...not like this,” he pulled on his shirt, “more like emerald.” 

Lena pulled her hand back and wrote that observation down. “Thank you,” she winked at him. “And since we are sharing that, I have to correct something you wrote down Nate. My favorite color is not black.” 

“Really? But you wear it all the time.” 

“That would be because they don’t make fire engine red dress pants.” 

Both boys looked at her surprised. “I have layers,” she deadpanned. 

She had never seen food eaten faster in her life. She was careful not to take her eyes from Nate because she was sure she would have to do the Heimlich maneuver at some point. Somehow, they finished everything without major incident. The slight tension that had started their breakfast, quickly dissipated as they talked about more casual things. Like usual, Nate dominated the conversation with inane observations he had made on the drive over. Lena had no idea there were seven ice cream shops between National City and the diner but Nate made sure to bring it up on two different occasions. She was also unaware that her and Nate had the same number of letters in their names. Just another thing or two to add to her list of things she was learning. She also inspected Jackson’s face again. The bruise was prominent but he said it didn’t hurt to press on it anymore. There was a purplish halo under his right eye and a healing cut on his forehead. Both did look better than yesterday. He voted no doctor but she still kept the idea in her back pocket.

Once they paid the check and loaded back into the car, she set her GPS to their next battle. She didn’t know if any amount of training was going to prepare her for what needed to happen next.

__

“I need to be honest with both of you.” She grabbed one of the blue carts and pulled it to the entrance of the store. “I have never been in here before.” 

“Ever?” She shook her head no. 

“Are there any rules that I need to be aware of?” She stared out into the expansive land of aisles and shoppers. “Is there a safe word if you get lost?” 

“Lena it’s a Wal-Mart not a horror film.” Jackson put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her forward. “If we take it an aisle at a time, we’ll all make it out alive.” In front of them, an older woman on a motorized wheelchair backed into another cart, causing the man steering it to fall into a stack of canned beans, crashing them all to the floor. 

“The safe word is pancakes,” Nate said, reaching up to put a hand on the cart next to Lena’s. 

Thirty minutes later, they had gotten through most of the dried food necessities. She wasn’t sure why they needed eleven boxes of instant mac and cheese but she also didn’t have enough time to google “how to keep children alive”. She also thought that it may tip the FBI off to investigate her. Their cart also had an interesting mix of spaghetti, pop tarts, cereal, pudding, granola bars, and chips. So many chips. She initially said they could each pick one kind but Nate looked so torn, she didn’t have it in her to fight. That’s how they ended up with wavy, barbeque, sour cream, and a crime against humanity called “bacon mac and cheese.” 

Lena’s arms were getting so tired pushing that she now understood why Sam always had such toned forearms. Weekly trips like this were better than a gym membership. Add in all of the steps and trying to balance a five pound bag of flour from the top shelf, and she was getting a total body workout. 

Turning down the next aisle, she regretted not making some form of a list because she had no idea if they had included all of the major food groups. Sugar was definitely covered. And chips were technically a vegetable. “Nate where are those ‘gobert’ things you wanted?” That sounded calcium adjacent. She made a sharp turn with the cart into the main lane of the store. 

“With the milk.” 

“Where’s the milk?” 

“The refrigerator area.” 

Lena took a deep breath. “And where is the refrigerated section?” 

Jackson grabbed the cart from her before she went over the edge and smashed it into the nearest display. “It’s in the back, I’ll lead.” 

“Thank goodness.” She swept the free hair from her face and looked around at all the people moving around so casually. “How do people do this all the time?” She said to no one in particular. 

“Lena hurry up before you get lost with the canned goods,” Jackson called. 

She honest to goodness jogged towards them. She had pictured her death many times, usually at the hands of her brother or some crazy minion of her mothers. It used to be one of her biggest fears. How silly she was to fear something as easy as death. This was true terror- aisles that never ended inside a void of time and money. Had it been an hour? A week? She wasn’t even sure anymore. “Lena?” 

She snapped back to reality, “What?” 

Jackson repeated the question she hadn’t heard, “Do we need any eggs?” 

“Umm, sure.” She looked around, unsure of how they ended up in the open surrounded by coolers of yogurt and milk. “Where’s your brother?” 

“He went to go grab juice boxes. Don’t worry it’s just a few aisles over.” 

Nate had a box of go-gurt under one arm and was scanning down the shelves for his favorite drink. On the way, he also found a bag of gummies that he put under his other arm. Halfway down the row, he spotted the capri suns. They were on the top shelf pushed a little farther than he could reach. He set down his items and stood on the bottom shelf, reaching out his arm as far as he could, fingers tickling the front of the box. He tried adding a jump but he ended up just pushing it farther back. He took a step back and reassessed the situation. He grabbed his gogurt container and tried to use it as a stick to pull them closer but it still wasn’t enough. 

He looked down either side and spotted a woman reaching for her own item. Bingo. He made sure his gummies were safe on the ground and ran over to her. 

“Excuse me.” He tapped on her back. She turned, expecting the person to be eye level and quickly adjusted herself down. 

“Yes?”

“Could you help me please?” 

“Are you lost?” She asked quickly, concerned. 

“Oh no, we have a safe word, don’t worry. I just can’t reach the capri suns.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder back down the aisle. “You’re a lot taller than me,” he added with a smile. 

The woman adjusted her glasses slightly. “Then it is my duty as a tall person to help you.” 

She followed him and easily grabbed the drinks he pointed to. She handed them down to him and he thanked her profusely. 

“Can I have your address?”  She was thrown a bit by the question. “I need to send you a thank you note,” he clarified. 

“That’s okay bud. One day when you’re super tall, you’ll help someone too.” She held up her hand for a high five and he met her in the air. He put the gummies back under his arms and tried to balance the gogurt and drink, but it all started to fall. 

“Want me to help you carry that back?” She offered. 

He looked down at his full arms. “Yes, please.” 

She grabbed the drink and let him carry the rest. “Lead the way.” He led them out of the aisle and back towards the refrigerator section where Lena and Jackson were picking out eggs. 

“I made a friend!” He shouted ahead of them. Lena was still crouched down as they approached the cart. 

“Jackson this is-” he turned, realizing he didn’t know her name. 

Lena was finally satisfied with the box of eggs that weren’t cracked. She focused back onto Nate. “Who did you-” she turned and just as suddenly the eggs fell out of her hands and into the cart. “Kara,” she breathed out. 

The blonde was just as shocked. She didn’t lose her grip of the drink in her hand, but her face paled. “Lena?”. 

“Nate!” The littlest added. Jackson was smart enough to pick up on the weird energy and grabbed Nate’s hand, pulling him closer to him. 

“What are you?” It wasn’t a complete question but Lena’s brain wasn’t functioning. 

“What are you?” Kara responded, making a sweeping motion around the cart and boys. Lena didn’t respond so she tried to explain. “I was,” she pointed over her shoulder, not making any sense. “...he...Nate,” she corrected. “I was just helping.” She held up the drinks. 

The moment of silence allowed Kara to fully take in the woman in front of her. “You’re wearing jeans,” she said softly with a slight confused smile. Her eyes got wide like it was a revelation that was meant to stay in her head.

This shook Lena from her trance. She pulled the few marionette strings she could still control and reached over to grab the box out of Kara’s hands. She placed it in the cart on top of the now ruined eggs. “Thank you,” she mustered, “we really need to-” she pushed the cart forward, having nothing else to say. Jackson pushed Nate forward, urging him to leave his new ‘friend’ behind. 

“Lena,” Kara called with soft desperation, but the woman was already racing for the entrance. 

She didn’t really know where they were in relation to the rest of the store. She didn’t care. A direction that wasn’t where Kara currently stood was the right direction. She wiped under her eye at the tears she didn’t even realize were falling. She stopped momentarily and turned around “Do we need anything else boys?” They both shook their heads no. 

“Great...how does one check out here?” She said in a forced happy tone. 

Jackson grabbed the cart from her slightly shaking hands. “I’ll show you.” Nate walked closer to her and slid his hand into her swinging palm. He squeezed once and gave her his signature gap-tooth smile. 

They checked out quickly and loaded the two hundred dollars’ worth of mostly junk food into the car. Lena had finally composed herself by the time they all were buckled in. Once they were back on the interstate, she decided to be open with them. It was something new she was trying that went against her entire Luthor indoctrination but she didn’t want Nate to think he had done anything wrong just because of her reaction. “That woman at the store used to be my best friend,” she started. “I have not seen her in a while, and it startled me. I’m sorry that we left so quickly but it is still very hard for me to be around her.” 

“Lena you don’t have to explain,” Jackson interrupted.

“I appreciate that. I just wanted to be clear than it had nothing to do with you, Nate.” She turned around briefly. “We still need to work on talking to total strangers but I know you were just trying to get some help.”

“I’m sorry that I tried to be friends with her,” Nate said a little sad. “Best friends don’t become friends with their best friends ex-best friend.” After a few moments of processing that sentence, they all busted out laughing. Leave it to the kid to always make a hard situation better. 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Lena read a sign off the highway and added, “How long will the cold stuff last do you think?” 

“Easy an hour, why?” 

She shifted lanes and quickly got off the fast approaching exit. A few more turns later and they were in the parking lot of a furniture store. She turned to the back seat. “You need a bed because there is a knot the size of Texas in my back right now that may become permanent if I sleep on that couch again.” 

“I will take one of whatever mattress you have because that was the best sleep of my life.”

Lena turned to Nate, “Any requests from you?” 

“A bookshelf!” She could see his mind racing a million miles a minute. “No, a desk.” 

He flipped his answers back and forth between them until Lena put a hand up. “I bet they’ll have both.” 

Nate was much less controlled in this store. Everything was interesting to him and if Lena wasn’t careful she was going to be bringing home a leopard print couch and a lamp set to match. Jackson, on the other hand, was beautifully decisive. After a quick survey of a few bedroom options, he settled on a charcoal black set with a full-size bed and matching desk and dresser. He told Lena he only needed the bed, but she reasoned that she might need to use that space for a guest in the future anyways and they might have a use for all of the amenities. 

When her watch read fifteen till, she gave Nate a five-minute time limit to make his final decisions while she sorted out all of the delivery details. The man gave her the figure for same day delivery and she said she would double it if it left the store in the next thirty minutes. “Nate times up, what have we decided?” 

He pointed to a gaudy neon blue desk with a matching black and blue bookshelf. Her apartment did need some color, she thought. “Anything else?” She sighed. 

From behind his back he pulled out a bright red queen chess piece. It looked like one of those decorative pieces people bought when they had more space than family photos. “I thought you could put this on the mantle in the living room, there’s so much space and look it’s red!” Touche, she thought. She was one of those people who had more space than photos. 

“I think it would look great, go ahead and put it on the counter and we’ll get out of here. We have a lot to do before they come with all of this.” She didn’t even look at the amount that was charged to her card. She handed Nate his red queen and they made their way back out the door. 

Carrying twenty bags of grocery up to a penthouse apartment was something she never needed to experience. Jackson said more than one trip was for the weak and she regretfully believed him. Now, she had red marks down her arms from trying to hold four bags on either side. Thank god the elevator opened directly into her apartment or she would have had to kick down the door. They all laid everything onto the island like spoils from war. 

She stared at the tower of plastic, not sure how the best way to tackle it was. Before she could say out a plan, Jackson and Nate were already pulling things out and stacking them in piles. She observed for a moment and picked up on their pattern. Fridge, real food, junk, and drinks. Easy enough. She started unloading the bags closest to her and laid them out to her best understanding. She knew she messed up when Nate would slide the instant mac from the junk pile into the real food pile. Once everything was unloaded, she looked to them for the next step. However, they were also looking at her.

“Where do you usually keep chips and things?” Jackson asked. 

“I don’t,” she said honestly. “The cupboards and drawers are pretty bare; you can arrange it how you like.” 

Jackson surveyed the area. He opened a few places, cataloging their content, and then went back to the stockpile. “I say breakfast in that cabinet so you can reach it Nate if you get up first.” He pointed to the lowest one next to the fridge. “One side of the double can be dinner and the other can be lunch.” He shook his head back and forth, pondering the other items. “I think the junk drawer needs to be the one over the stove.” 

“That’s too tall,” Nate complained.

“Exactly, we both know you don’t have self control when it comes to gummies.” Nate tried to plead but he eventually conceded that it was best for everyone if his sugar intake was regulated. 

“That just leaves the fridge stuff. He walked over and opened it. “Do you want us to have a certain shelf or?” He pointed at the half dozen bottles of partially drank wine that were scattered throughout. 

She embarrassingly reached around him, grabbing up the most empty ones. She looked at their labels before deciding if they were really worth sacrificing. She cursed internally and set them all down in the sink. Returning to the fridge, she rearranged the last of what was there, freeing up almost every shelf. “There, have at it.” 

Like an assembly line, Nate handed Jackson items one by one and he judiciously organized everything. Lena watched over his shoulder impressed with his set up. The final item he was given was the box of eggs. When it touched his hands, drips of goop were already coating the sides. He nearly dropped it a second time. “Are we calling these a wash?” He asked. He opened it up and saw a few unbroken. “I might be able to save two of their fallen comrades.” 

Lena swiped the box out of his hand and put it in the sink. “They are in a better place now.” She looked down and said a silent prayer for her wine too. She could use all of it at the moment. 

“Alright, you two finish packing this away and then meet me in Jackson’s room. We have about thirty minutes to get it good enough for them to move his bed in.” 

It felt a little weird to her that she was calling the junk room ‘Jackson’s room’. It was even weirder that she wasn’t completely freaking out about it or the two children taking over her kitchen. She knew that she should refocus her energy after what happened with Kara, but she might be aiming a little off the mark. She looked back down the hallway and the boys were laughing as they tossed a bag of chips back and forth between them before shooting it into the drawer like a basketball. It was such a stark difference to how they were last night, huddled in silence in the corner of a locked room. This may not have been what she needed right now but she knew it was what they did. 

She moved along into the spare room and surveyed the damage. It really wasn’t too bad, just errant boxes that didn’t really have a place anywhere. The clothes would be easy to handle, she had plenty of room in the back of her closet. The extra exercise equipment could also go in the room on the other end of the apartment where she actually exercised. She couldn’t quite remember how it ended up here anyways. She started to move things around and stack them into piles, much like they had done with the groceries. The boys entered once she was about half way through. 

“What do we need to do?” Lena pointed to the clothes and told them how to get to her closet. They eagerly picked it up and were done in a matter of minutes. She gave the same instructions with each pile and they made quick work. It wasn’t until she hit the back of the room that she ran into some trouble. 

There were two plastic containers stacked in the far corner that Lena didn’t know what to do with. She knew exactly what was in them and there was a reason she put them so far away. Jackson walked up to them, unknowingly, and lifted one up. “Where should I put this?” Before she could tell him one way or another, he lost his grip on it and it fell to the ground. The lid popped off and several newspaper clippings and articles fell from the top. 

Jackson knelt down to pick up the stray papers and quickly Nate joined in to help. They stacked them back into the box while Jackson whispered a quiet apology. 

“It’s fine, I’m probably going to throw that all away anyways,” she lied.

Jackson picked up a glossy magazine with Lena’s picture on it. “Woah, you were on the cover of a magazine?” Nate excitedly dropped the papers he was collecting and sat next to Jackson to look at it. “This is legit.” 

“It was a long time ago,” Lena commented. 

Jackson flipped to the article and read the title, “Lena Luthor: A New Kind of Hero is in Town by Kara-” he stopped reading and handed it over to Nate who didn’t quite catch on. 

Jackson looked at other clippings around him. They were all her articles. He stuffed the rest of them back into the box, except the magazine, and put the lid on it. “You can leave these in here if you want.” 

She appreciated the sentiment, but she could find somewhere else to hide her past. “There’s a little storage room beside the pantry. I think we could put it there. This is your room now.” He lifted up the box again, careful not to drop it, and gave her a simple nod. 

In a matter of thirty minutes, the room was empty. It was bigger than she remembered it. The walls were, of course, white, and there was a large closet to the left and a door on the right that led into the joint bathroom. She hoped it would be big enough for all of the furniture that was coming. Right on cue, her front alarm went off. The sound indicated it was the front desk of the complex. 

While the movers brought in and set up their new furniture, the boys ate leftovers. It was nearing three and Lena was expecting Jenny’s call at any point in the next hour. Until then, she needed to lay the last bit of ground work with the boys. They were washing their plates off and putting them in the dishwasher when she called them over to the couch. “I know this has been a really hectic twenty four hours for all of us but I just want to make sure everything is okay with what is happening.” 

“We’re good,” Jackson shrugged. “Are you good?” He asked Nate. 

“I’m good.” He looked up to Lena, “Are you good?” 

“I am also good,” she finished their circle of pleasantries. “I also wanted to clarify a few things about myself so you have a reasonable expectation from me.” Their silence ushered her on. “I am the first to tell you that I may not be the best parental figure but I am sincere in the fact that I want to keep you safe and provided for. I run a formidable company and as such have a very demanding job. You will be returning to school shortly which will help but even then, I cannot guarantee that I will always be here with you. I will be seeking out a competent person to assist me in this, this coming week, but I wanted to be upfront with you about that.” 

“You mean a babysitter?” Jackson translated for Nate. “We have those all the time. Most foster parents work full time.”

“Oh thank God,” Lena breathed a sigh of relief. “So that would be okay?” 

“Of course, we don’t expect you to be at our service 24/7.” 

“But you still have to do chess on Saturdays!” Jackson gave him a look. “Please,” Nate added with a sheepish smile. 

Lena patted his arm. “Saturdays are off limits for work, promise.” She never thought she’d say that in her life but the words came out faster than she could process them. She filed away that problem for another moment. “By the way, where did you decide to put the queen?” 

Nate’s face lit up. He ran from the couch into his room and back out. “I was thinking up there.” Lena’s tv was framed by a large white bookshelf on either side and a bridge between them. The only thing that currently occupied them were her older, rarer editions of some classic novels. Nate pointed to the middle shelf that was directly over the tv and only held a large copy of a gaelic bible. 

Lena took the queen and reached up on her toes to place the queen on top of the Bible. It fit perfectly, the tip of her crown just missing the bottom of the next shelf. “What do you think?” She asked. 

Nate put up his hands framing the shelf between them like a director. “An inch to the right.” She obliged and looked back again for approval. “Perfect!” 

She sat back down on the couch and folded her legs under herself. “Last point of business before Jenny comes. I will be working from home this week to get everything settled so if there is anything we have to do to prepare for school or anything else, let’s try to do that now.” 

“Sounds good.” They gave her four thumbs up. 

The movers were done quickly and Lena released the boys to go set up their rooms. Jackson came back nearly immediately. “I think they might have accidentally given us an extra book shelf.” 

“It wasn’t an accident.” Lena went over to her own bookshelf and pulled off a few titles. “I saw the way you were eyeing it in the store.” She walked over and handed him the stack. “How are you going to start your own collection, if you have nowhere to put them?” 

He took the books and patted them in his hand. Before Lena could react, he had his arms around her in a hug. As quickly as it came, he backed away, a little embarrassed. He started to walk off to his room but turned back to say, “I really like 60s music, especially blues.” 

Lena tried not to smile too big. “I’ll keep a note of that.” He walked off and, true to her word, she got out her pad of paper and wrote down under Jackson’s column “likes blues music.” 

--

Jenny arrived soon after the movers left and it couldn’t be more perfect timing. The kitchen was clean and stocked, the boys were settled in their room, and she just finished sweeping the remnants of packing peanuts. The home looked like a perfectly reasonable place for people to live. 

The interaction was somewhat awkward at first. Although Lena tried to be friendly, Jenny was all business. She had a clipboard with her, surveying each room and checking off points of entry, number of windows, outlet covers and even the water temperature. Lena felt like she was under investigation. After fifteen minutes of answering questions about building security and CPR certification, Jenny softened and started to talk less regimented. All of them were gathered at the kitchen island and she was directing her questions to the boys. “How are you settling in?” 

“Everything’s great.” Lena hoped they weren’t lying just to pass inspection. 

“Do you want to see my desk?” Nate offered excitedly. “It has three shelves.” He emphasized his point with his fingers. 

“I saw!” Jenny mirrored his excitement. “And what a beautiful color too.” 

“Jackson picked grey for his which is super boring.”

Jenny looked at both of them surprised. “You all picked this out today?” She turned to Lena. The woman thought she was going to be in trouble. If she had a real foster license, she probably should have already had all of this. Maybe she should have told the boys to lie and say it had always been there. Maybe this was going to be over before it even began. “That was very gracious of you Miss Luthor. I have tried to get desks and dressers put on the mandatory list of accommodations to foster for years. I appreciate that you went out of your way to provide that anyways.”

Lena muttered an of course. Jenny finished up the sheet on her clipboard and did one last look around. “I don’t see any reason why these boys shouldn’t stay here,” she finally concluded. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “Like I said yesterday, I will let you know if any joint placement becomes available.”

“So we won’t get separated again?” Jackson asked seriously.

“As long as Miss Luthor is okay with it, you can stay here until we find you your forever home.” 

He hugged Nate tightly and then went around the island, offering Jenny a hand. “Miss Nguyen, thank you so much for everything.” 

“Just don’t give Miss Luthor too hard of a time, okay?” She walked around and patted Nate on the shoulder too. He handed her a small piece of folded paper and she tucked it into her jacket as if she was used to his gifts. “Miss Luthor would you mind walking me out?” 

Lena walked her out the door and stood on the other side, out of the prying ears of the boys. “Why do I feel like you’re about to tell me something bad?”

“It’s not bad,” Jenny reassured. “I just want to be honest. There is a waiting list a mile long for multi-child placement. These boys were separated once last year for four months before I was able to get them into the Kenzie's home. This is not going to be a short process.” 

“I understand.” 

“I hope you do. I have seen too many people get into this with all of the best intentions in the world but they don’t really have what it takes. I know you have the financial means to support these boys but do you have the social? I didn’t see a single picture of family or friends in your apartment.” Lena felt extremely self conscious all of a sudden. “There is going to come a time when you will need someone to lean on. Parenting, even temporarily, is not a game. It isn’t just fun days and shopping sprees. There will be challenges and when the day comes where they tell you they hate you or get into detention for skipping class, you’re going to need someone in your corner.” 

“So I need to do what?” Lena knew the woman was right but she didn’t know how to even begin to build a new rolodex of friends. “There isn’t exactly an app for instant friendship, especially for someone like me.” 

The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a card. “I don’t exactly have an answer for you but until you figure it out, here is my personal number. I like you and what you’re doing for these boys is above and beyond. There will always have to be a professional boundary here but I don’t want you to feel completely alone in this.” 

Lena weighed the card in her hand. “Thank you Jenny, I really appreciate your advice and insight.” 

She put a hand on Lena’s shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. “I don’t want to discourage you, I just want you to know that it should be hard sometimes and it will be frustrating. You aren’t doing anything wrong when that happens. But you also deserve to be able to talk it out with someone and not deal with it alone.” She said a final goodbye and headed for the common elevator. 

Lena pondered her words a moment longer before going inside. She was going to have to make herself more open to the idea of building new relationships. Jackson and Nate were a huge leap of faith but it wasn’t fair to use them as her sole form of companionship. Jenny was right-she needed people her own age that she could talk to about work or life or even the boys. She was bursting at the seams wanting to tell someone about these strange little amoebas that somehow wormed their way into her life. She thought back to earlier and her heart ached. She didn’t just want to tell anyone, she wanted to tell Kara. She wanted to show Kara Nate’s drawings of her from the park. She wanted her to experience the chaos of the brothers fighting back and forth over the last piece of pizza. She wanted to watch her follow the fifteen thousand tangents Nate was able to go on in a single conversation. She just wanted her.

Anger wasn’t the loudest sound in her soul anymore. It had been replaced by the quiet echo of sorrow. She wasn’t sure who was more to blame-Kara for withholding the truth or her for withholding forgiveness.

She closed the door both physically and on the battle in her head. It could haunt her tomorrow. Today, she had more than her own world to keep spinning. The boys were not in the kitchen where she left them. She approached Nate’s room first. He was sitting at his new desk, writing away vigorously. He had already unpacked his belongings onto the shelves, and she could see new life already infused in the room. She spotted the old plastic container tucked away and smiled. “You doing okay?” She asked. He didn’t look up from his writing but mumbled something akin to “yep.” 

She moved down the line and knocked lightly on Jackson’s door. He told her to come in and she found him still organizing things onto his own book shelf. He put the books Lena had given to him on his desk, while setting some of the others on the highest shelf. “Those are the ones I’ve read recently,” he explained. “Once I get done with these, I’ll cycle through them again.” 

Lena looked around the room and was surprised how well everything fit. It didn’t feel as cramped as she thought. The one thing that did seem off was the contrast. The new furniture was a beautiful charcoal but it looked bland against the bleach white walls. She leaned against his bed which had a brand-new white comforter as well. 

“This room is missing something,” she commented.

He stopped what he was doing and turned towards her. “Like what?”

She paused for a second, assessing the room again. “Color," she decided.

He quirked an eyebrow, liking where this was going. "Emerald?" 

"Negotiable." 

Chapter Text

hanging: Unprotected and exposed to capture. A hanging piece may also be said to be en prise

Kara knew this was wrong. She didn’t like violating a trust that she had already broken about a thousand times, but something was off. She could feel it in her gut that there was a disturbance in the force. She flew above the skyline until she got close enough to make out Lena’s building. She lowered herself just enough to where she could see through the large window panels. The last of the sunlight was reflecting harshly off of it and into her eyes. She adjusted herself until she could make out the kitchen counter that she used to spend so much time at. 

She sharpened her vision but didn’t understand what she was seeing. Lena had a pan in her hand and was serving what looked like noodles onto three plates in front of her. She pushed them in front of two bodies sitting at the island. Those must be the boys from earlier. Why were they there, she thought. She didn’t recognize them and she wasn’t sure why Lena would casually be feeding them dinner. Lena never cooked at her apartment unless Kara forced her. Having spied enough, she shot back through the air towards the DEO. Something was not right. She landed forcefully on the landing and ran down the stairs. “Alex!” She shouted to the empty room. It was nearing eight, maybe her sister wasn’t there. “Alex,” she yelled again.

The red head ran out of one of the conference room doors towards her. “What? Is something wrong?” 

Kara grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the conference room, not caring if anyone was in there. Thankfully, it was empty. “I think Barry did something to the timeline.” 

Alex was not prepared for that. “What?” 

“Or we changed universes.” She began pacing, talking through her thoughts out loud. “Maybe there was a temporal shift and we are actually in the future.” She wiggled a finger towards Alex. “That has to be it. We are here but she is there, or well she is here but isn’t supposed to be.” 

Alex had heard enough and grabbed onto Kara’s shoulders, turning her to face forward. “Kara what the hell are you talking about?” 

Her sister blinked rapidly, thoughts still racing. “Something is wrong.” 

“I gathered that…” Alex let go. “What exactly do you think is wrong?” 

“Lena.” 

This took Alex off guard. “Where did you see Lena?” 

“At Wal-Mart.” Kara said like it was a different planet. “In jeans,” she added. 

This caught Alex’s attention. “Jeans?” 

“With two kids!” Kara began her pacing again. “She must be from a different timeline. I don’t know, it was weird. She looked like my,” she cleared her throat, “our Lena. She looked like our Lena but there were kids. Two super cute kids. Alex, I helped her kid get juice boxes.” 

“Kara slow down,” her sister realized what was going on. 

“Maybe in another universe she stayed in Metropolis and had super cute kids with James.” Kara winced at this idea. “She still hated me though. I could tell.” 

“This Lena is our Lena,” Alex interrupted another ramble. “Those aren’t her kids with James. They are brothers that Lena has been tutoring.” Alex didn’t want to break Lena’s trust anymore than she had to but she had to give Kara something. 

“Tutor?” Kara didn’t seem satisfied. “But she was buying them groceries and cooking them-” she stopped herself. 

“How did you know she was cooking for them?” Alex interrogated.

Kara dropped her head like a puppy. “I may have gone and checked on her.” 

“Kara!” 

“I was worried! I thought something was wrong.” She sat down in one of the office chairs, her cape wrapping around her like a blanket. 

“Wait,” she pointed an accusing finger. “How do you know that she’s tutoring them?” 

“Ummm,” Alex was in for it now. “Kara it isn’t my place to say,” she said honestly. 

The alien fisted her hand and slammed it into her lap, sparing the table. “How did this happen?” Her question was rhetorical. “How did I let us become such strangers?” Hot tears began stinging her eyes. “This isn’t how this was supposed to go.” 

Alex kneeled down and rested a hand on top of her sister’s shaking one. “She just needs time.” 

“I was going to tell her. I was going to explain everything and if she hated me then, then I would understand but she won’t even give me the chance to talk.” Kara played with the edge of her cape. “Alex, she looked right through me at the store.”

“You have to let her deal with this on her own terms.” 

“I hate that she is going through all of this alone.”

Alex rubbed soothing circles into her back. “She isn’t alone right now, I promise.”

Lena woke up in the comfort of her own bed and had never been more thankful for tempurpedic mattresses and eight hundred thread count sheets. Her alarm was lightly buzzing on the night stand and she easily reached over to silence the vibrations. She sat up and stretched out her arms above her head. The sun wasn’t quite up but there was a hint of daybreak reflecting off of the glass buildings surrounding her. 

She got out of bed and quickly filtered through her morning routine. She was showered, dressed, and made up within forty five minutes. She had to stop herself from putting on the heels that were being neglected in the front of her closet. 

Working from home wasn’t an unusual experience but it definitely wasn’t ideal. She quietly walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, trying to not wake the hopefully sleeping boys. They hadn’t quite laid out the rules of bedtimes and she could hear them still whispering to each other until past eleven. With any luck, that meant they would also sleep in and she could get some things sorted. She reached the kitchen without incident and pulled out the espresso beans from her freezer. Like on auto-pilot, she moved the parts of the machine around and had a cup of espresso brewing quickly. Mindlessly, she opened the fridge. She wasn’t one for breakfast but it was nice to know that she had the option now. She looked at the one sad egg that sat lonely in its tray. She could have almost anything. 

A bright blue and pink stick in the bottom drawer of the fridge caught her attention. She bent down and opened it, revealing a mix of string cheese, carrots, and the thing she had first seen. The label said “Go-Gurt” in bright white letters. “That’s how you say it,” she said to herself. She picked one up and instantly did not like how flimsy it was in her hand. How did one even eat this? She looked it over like it was some advanced alien technology. She found the serrated edge on the top and was quickly understanding that it was like a popsicle yogurt. 

Her fingers fiddled with the edge, curiosity getting the better of her. It was just one, she thought. 

She could always buy more. She couldn’t even imagine what the faux strawberry yogurt would taste like but for some reason she had an intense desire to find out. The timer went off on the espresso machine, startling her back to reality. “No,” she finally said, controlling herself. She dropped the horrendous item back into the drawer and quickly shut it. She closed the fridge too before her taste buds decided to wander any more. 

Grabbing her cup and phone, she headed towards her office. It was more of a moderately sized closet but it had worked during the few times she needed it. She had a simple glass desk with a desktop computer and a workbench opposite it for when she decided to bring home some tech to tinker with. She settled herself down and booted up the computer. She wasn’t too excited for how many emails she was about to sort through. 

Before she got any farther, she picked up the landline to the right and dialed the office. Luke answered on the first ring. “Good morning Miss Luthor,” he said cheerily. 

“Good morning Luke.” Her cheer hadn’t quite established itself as she was only a sip into her coffee. “Anything develop over night that I need to be concerned with?” She asked, getting directly to the point. 

“Just the usual last minute approvals, an expense report that Jay was a little bit concerned with, and Andrea Rojas left a message to call her.” Lena wrote down his comments and Andrea’s number on a notepad. Two were easy, one could get a little complicated. 

“Thank you. I should be in at some point this week but otherwise I will be taking all of my conferences from home. Call me if anything changes.” He gave her a yes ma’am sound off and she hung up. By the end of the call, her email was up and she winced-113 unread. She took a large drink from her coffee and started working from the bottom up. 

An hour later, she looked down at the clock thinking it must be noon- it was barely eight thirty. She rubbed her wrists that were aching from typing a few dozen responses. She hadn’t heard any movement from the kitchen which was a good sign that the boys were still asleep. She looked at her note from Luke and clicked her tongue, trying to decide what to do first. She went from easy to hard. The approvals took a little brain power because she needed to make sure that there wasn’t something between the lines she was missing. Everything appeared straightforward though and she submitted them back to their respective departments. Jay’s concern about the expense report was her own fault. During Lex’s return, she had used the company jet a few more times than necessary racking up a pretty substantial bill. Not to mention, it didn’t come back all in one piece. She sent a quick email to her telling her to move all of those expenses to her private account and she would deal with them. 

Now for the thing she was avoiding. Andrea Rojas. They had a certain history that Lena was not interested in rehashing. When she wanted to unload CatCo, Andrea came to mind because she had already been interested the first time it was up for sale. Lena knew she could appeal to her quickly and get it off her books. She also knew that there was a chance that personal baggage could be brought back to the surface if Andrea rolled back into town. Old friends. Old school mates. Old rivals. Old lovers. The last one was probably the most enjoyable part of her memory with the woman but also the shortest lived. 

She was going to have to do this eventually so she bit the bullet and picked up the phone. She looked down at her notes and entered in the number. It rang a few times before a bright voice came on the line. “Hello?” 

“Andrea,” Lena said cooly. 

“Lena Luthor,” The woman said back almost seductively. “What a great way to be woken up in the morning.” 

“We both know that you’re up before the sun even thinks to be, Andy.” 

“You always did hate that, didn’t you.” 

Lena leaned back in her chair- two could play this game. “There were some parts of your early morning compulsions I didn’t hate.” 

She claimed a slight victory when there was a beat of silence before Andrea could respond. “Well if that’s what you called to talk about, I can clear my schedule.”

Lena took in a deep breath. They were volatile together but her need for a warm body, any warm body, was starting to weaken her usually strong defenses. “No,” she finally said. “I didn’t call to rehash the past. You left me a message to call, hopefully to discuss our current business arrangement.” 

“Always back to business, Luthor,” Andrea tsked. “I called because I think we will be able to proceed with my VR program sooner than expected.” 

This piqued Lena’s interest. This would be something that she could distract herself with. “What do you need from me?” 

“Your brain, of course.” 

“Go on.” 

“The simulation works and we’re already getting people through guided reality protocols. The problem is in the equipment.” Lena had already read the theory behind Andrea’s product but she wasn’t sure which parts of the equipment could be failing. “It’s functional, don’t get me wrong. It just isn’t…” there was a pause. “...marketable,” she decided. 

“And you think I could help with that?” 

“The current mainframe requires bulky goggles and uncomfortable electrodes. I want it to be sleek, like you don’t even know it’s there. You always had a way with making big problems go away.” 

Lena mulled it over. This was part of her agreement with Andrea. She would take Catco and Lena would use her resources to help develop whatever technology came out of Obsidian North. “Can you drop off a prototype to my office?” 

“You don’t want to come see me at CatCo?” 

Lena thought of the other people she might run into there and winced. “Another time, my hands are a little tied at the moment.” 

“Kinky,” Andrea shot back. “You can’t avoid me forever, Lena.” 

“Goodbye, Andrea.” She hung up without acknowledging her comment. 

She felt a wave of excitement that she hadn’t in months. Work had been a bit stagnant. She couldn’t roll out the “next great thing” every week so there were always these lulls during the brainstorming process. Andrea’s offer was enticing because it was already a formed idea, it just needed to be repackaged. The woman was right, Lena had a gift for making anything pocket sized. The only problem was the baggage that would be attached to this particular project. If she didn’t find some kind of other friends, Andrea was going to start looking like a treat. 

She sent a quick email to Luke, telling him to expect a delivery from Obsidian North and refreshed her inbox. Silence. She didn’t have any meetings today anyways so she could try and arrange the other parts of her life. The still sleeping parts. She went back into the kitchen, putting her dish away, and grabbing the card Jenny gave her the day before. 

She decided to call her on her cell phone that way the woman had her direct line. She was back in her office by the time the woman answered. “Jenny Nguyen,” she answered professionally. 

“Hey Jenny, it’s Lena.” 

The woman's tone softened. “Good morning Lena! Everything okay?” 

“Of course, they aren’t even awake yet to cause any problems,” she joked. “I actually forgot to ask you something yesterday.”

“Shoot.” 

“Jackson had told me that he was going to have to repeat the eighth grade because of how his credits were transferring over to this district. Is there anything we can do about that?” 

She could her the loud sigh on the other end. “Unfortunately, this happens more often than we like. A lot of the public schools have very strict rules on what transfers. If you’re in district, the classes in middle school match what they want so it isn’t a problem. In Jackson’s case, he ended up going to a school that had an alternative schedule.”

“How different could the classes really be?” 

“You would think it could be that easy but these schools don’t budge.” 

Lena wrote down all of the information. “There is no school here that will let him start high school?” 

“Nothing public.” This caught Lena’s attention. 

“Just public? What about private?” 

“Private is a different story. They don’t have the same requirements because they aren’t state funded.”

Lena tapped her pen wildly, an idea forming. “How would I find out which private schools would accept him?” 

“Lena,” Jenny started cautiously. “It is admirable that you want him to be able start high school but private school is not cheap.” 

“That’s-” 

Jenny didn’t let her finish. “I know that isn’t a problem for you but what happens if they go to a different home in three months and those parents can’t afford the tuition?” It was a good point that Lena hadn’t thought of. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do but we would be back to square one and they might even make him repeat the whole year again and then he would be a sixteen year old eighth grader with a moustache and a license.” 

The woman didn’t continue, giving Lena a few moments to process. It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t have to repeat anything just because the system threw him around like he was expendable. The worst part was that she knew he would do it and not complain. There had to be another way. She looked around her office like the answer would be somehow hiding there. 

Her eyes glazed over a plaque hung behind the door. It was from her own high school. The large school emblem took up most of the space with the school motto circling the banner. Honoris. Fidelitas. Doctrina. Honor. Loyalty. Scholarship. That was it. “A scholarship,” she said excitedly. “What if I gave them a scholarship? It would guarantee their expenses paid at any private school even if they move with a different family.”

“Them?” Jenny asked. 

“Of course, I imagine it would be easier if they were at the same place and most of the places here are K through twelve.” Her pulse was vibrating in her neck. What was the point of all this money, if she couldn’t help people?

“Give me a minute.” Jenny put her on hold. 

Lena was already opening an internet tab and searching the closest schools. There was one a stone's throw from the apartment and another nearly a block from her work. She started opening several websites, quickly assessing their welcome pages. It took Jenny ten minutes to come back on and Lena had already narrowed her search down to three based on uniform and location alone. 

“Miss Luthor,” she called Lena back into focus. “If this is something that you are willing to do, the people above me have no problem with it. There are, however, a few conditions. We would need you to formalize the scholarship so that we could have paperwork on record and the boys would have to be amenable to it.” 

“I will talk to them today and have my lawyer organize it by the end of the week,” Lena responded in a fake official tone. 

“Is there anything else you needed,” Jenny asked. 

“I think if this works out we’ll be all set.” They said their goodbyes and Lena returned to her research. 

All of the sites were perfectly organized and showed meticulously groomed children engaging in a number of forced activities. Who did science experiments in suit jackets? Putting that aside, there was also information about class sizes, extracurriculars, and test scores. She figured the boys would only care about one of those so she clicked the extracurricular list for each school and printed it off. She also printed the pdf of the school pamphlet for herself. 

She was going to wait until the boys woke up to address it but, as if on cue, she heard shuffling in the kitchen along with multiple drawers opening and closing. She stacked everything together and headed back into the living room. 

Jackson turned around with the full bowl of cereal and nearly dropped it. “Woah!” He held his free hand to his chest. “Where did you even come from?” 

She pointed at the door behind her. “My office.” 

“There’s another room back there?” He set his food down. “What is this, a spaceship?” Nate stopped what he was doing and looked up at him doe-eyed. “I’m joking, she isn’t an alien,” he said definitively. 

“I actually invented the alien detector so if you want to try it on me you can,” she offered. 

“You invent things?” Nate asked, surprised. 

She sat down at the table across from them, setting down the fresh stack of papers. “All kinds of things, actually.” 

“I thought you were a boss,” he said through mouthfuls of cereal. 

“I do a little of everything.” Lena reached over and used a napkin to wipe up the milk that was now dribbling all over her counter. “Speaking of which, I just got off the phone with Miss Nguyen and we may have come up with a solution to your high school problem.” She pulled out the three pamphlets and proudly set them before the boys.

“Suits?” Nate asked, not understanding. 

Jackson was well aware of what she was trying to say but he decided to play along anyways. “Lena, I know you have an obsession but I don’t think changing our wardrobe is going to help.” 

“No, you don’t...it’s the,” she fumbled, covering the kids in the ad with her hand. “The other stuff.” 

Nate and Jackson both leaned farther over the counter skimming the contents while a few drops of milk stained Willshire Academy. “You want me to go to boarding school?” 

“Correction,” she held up a finger. “I want you both to go to private school.” 

“They’ll let me start high school?” he asked intrigued. 

“I haven’t quite asked yet but Jenny seems to think so.” She lifted the one closest to her. “They are also kindergarten to highschool which means you would be going to the same school.” 

This caught Nate’s attention. “I’m in!” 

Jackson was still hesitant. “Which school?” 

“I thought we would pick together. These three are all pretty close and seemed to have a lot of extracurriculars.” 

“They all have uniforms?” 

Lena patted his arm. “Embrace the suits.”

Jackson set his bowl down and picked up the papers Lena had printed off to actually read them. They all sounded exactly the same. “Nate, what do you think we’ll look better in?” He held up the uniform to his face like a swatch. “Maroon and black with classmate Dylan here?” He exchanged it with the next one. “Or maybe navy and grey with our new friend Kelsee with two ‘e’s’?” Before he could hold up the next one, Lena swiped it from his hand. 

“There isn’t anything about these you like?” 

Jackson stopped joking around and held up Kelsee. “I like that this one has a coding team and an after school program. That could be something new for us.” 

“Nate?” Lena turned her attention. “Questions, comments, concerns?” 

He took the paper out of Jackson’s hand and shrugged. “I like the uniforms.”

“It is also right in between my work and this apartment,” Lena added, finalizing their decision. 

“Lena where do you work?” Nate asked, realizing that was something he didn’t know about the woman.

She started walking towards the window in the living room and nodded her head for them to follow. She pointed across the way where the prominent “L” could be seen on top of her building. “I own that one.” Nate got on his tippy toes, trying to follow the exact line of her finger. 

“I can’t see.” 

“It’s that one.” Jackson lifted him up on his waist so he could see exactly where he was pointing. 

“Why does it have-?” He figured it out before he finished the question. “You own that whole building?” He jumped down from Jackson as she nodded.

Jackson gave her an appraising look. “Why do I have a feeling we should know who you are?” 

She ignored his comment with a wink. “Are we done with breakfast or is there more milk to be spilled?”  

“That was Jack!” 

Lena bent down and wiped away an incriminating drop that had landed on Nate’s pajama shirt. “He is just so messy isn’t he?” She whispered. 

“Hey!” Jackson complained. 

“We’re going to have to teach him some manners.” 

Nate stuck out his tongue at his older brother. “I agree completely.”  The duo walked back to the kitchen leaving Jackson by the window. 

“I don’t like being teamed up on! Add that to your little notepad.” He mimed scribbling into his hand. 

Lena helped Nate up to sit on the counter and proceeded to collect the scattered paper. “Is he done?” She asked jokingly. 

“His whining usually lasts another five minutes.” 

“Noted.” 

Jackson hopped up the stairs to join them. “You two think you’re so funny.” They looked at each other and nodded. “Nate what about the bro code?” 

“She’s my best friend. Best friend obviously trumps brother.” Lena winced, that one hit a little closer to home. How many times had she picked Kara over Lex? Granted her brother was an egomaniacal sociopath but even if he wasn't, she probably still would have picked the blonde. She shook her head back into the current argument. 

“Enough, enough. Sorry Jackson, we shouldn’t team up.” The boy nodded and mouthed thank you. “In more important decisions, are we sure about this school? I am going to go ahead and call them and set this up.” 

“If they let me start high school, I’d go to a hole in a wall in Hack and Sack, Nebraska.” 

“You say so many things that I don’t understand.” She turned to the little one. “Nate?”

He contemplated for a moment. “Well I do like the blue!” 

Lena laughed, “of course you do, bud.” It was the first time she had used a nickname with him and it came out so naturally. She didn’t know if that was something she was allowed to do but a CPS referee didn’t come out of her closet throwing a flag so she figured nicknames were on the table. “I’ll go make a call then. In the meantime, please get changed because if they accept you, we are going to have to go get some new clothes and school supplies.” She grabbed the winning pamphlet off the counter, “Here we come Finley Prep.” 

She knew that the school wasn’t going to have a problem enrolling the boys, even without having any form of transcript and only providing names and dates of birth. Money was an easy incentive to expedite any process. Her next call was to her lawyer who was going to work on a scholarship package for them. Finally, she called Jenny and gave her an update. The CPS worker was, once again, impressed with Lena’s ability to make things happen quickly. Lena had merged multi-national companies in days, this was child’s play. 

By the time she was off the phone with Jenny, Finley Prep had emailed her a list of supplies the boys would be expected to have based on their grade level. They would need their size for the official Finley jackets but otherwise there were instructions for the rest of the uniform. She looked over at the clock-eleven thirty-she was nothing if not efficient. She refreshed her email a last time, making sure there wasn’t anything urgent, and printed out the supply list. If there was a God, this could all be taken care of at a place that wasn’t Wal-Mart. 

For good measure, she googled ‘school supplies’ and was pleasantly surprised to find a number of stores much closer that looked less hazardous. There was a recommended store for their clothes so Lena found an Office Depot closest to that. She hoped after this adventure they would have everything they needed for at least the next two weeks. She left her office and found the boys sitting on the couch watching National Geographic. 

“Finley prep is good to go. Now, we just need supplies!” She tried to make her smile genuine, but she was dying at the idea of more shopping. 

“If you give us like twenty bucks, we can go get everything.” Jackson offered. “You don’t have to chauffer us.” 

“I don’t mind!” He gave her an amused look and she course corrected. “Okay, it’s not my favorite thing but I am always open to getting pushed out of my comfort zone.” 

He jumped up off the couch and grabbed Nate to do the same. “Then let’s get to it!” He pushed his brother towards the door. “But don’t forget the safe word is still pancakes,” he teased. 

She didn’t need a safe word for this place. She wouldn’t let them know but her mouth was absolutely watering at the sight in front of her. The ceiling was high and vaulted with clean, white aisles perfectly organized on either side with every pen or binder she could dream of. Everything looked pristine and there was barely a soul in sight. Even the labels above each section was clear and concise. How had she not been here before? She grabbed a cart and quickly pushed towards a beautiful display of fine tipped markers. Unable to resist, she grabbed two packs and compared them carefully. 

“Did you see these?” She turned the item around. “They have the color depth of a sharpie but don’t bleed through the page.” She put one back and picked up another. “And they even make it in an ultra thin tip.” She put both packs in the cart and moved down the first isle of notebooks and paper. 

“Is she okay?” Nate asked, genuinely concerned. 

Jackson leaned against the side of the display. “This is what happens when you release a nerd into the wild.” Lena was already twenty paces away and out of ear shot. 

“Boys look at these notebooks,” she waved her hands over. “There are like twenty different kinds! How are you possibly supposed to decide?” 

Jackson leaned over her and picked up a ten pack of college ruled, all black notebooks and threw them into the cart. 

She looked at him in disbelief. “But you didn’t even survey the other options.” 

“It’s lined paper inside of two flaps of cardboard, how different could they be?” Nate, for his part, took a little more time before picking up a similar pack of all blue wide-ruled. 

“What else is on the list?” Jackson asked a stunned Lena. 

She looked down at the folded paper in her hands. “Jackson you need four binders and Nate you need one.” 

“Perfect.” Those items were in the same aisle and Jackson turned around and grabbed four generic black binders. He reached up a level and pulled down a blue one for Nate. “What’s next?” 

Lena looked down at the list and begrudgingly continued to read off of it. They were not nearly as into the office supply utopia as she was. When they made it to the writing utensil section, she put her foot down. “You cannot just pick a generic pack of pens!” she argued. “Do you like fine tip? Thick? Click? Cap? There are so many variables you are not accounting for.” 

“The only variable I really need is that it writes.” He could tell Lena was disappointed with his answer but he genuinely didn’t care. He scratched the back of his head and after a few moments conceded this fight to the overly excited brunette. “I need the ones with a cap or I’ll probably click it too much.” 

“See, everyone has a preference,” she narrowed their search down to the capped section. “Thick or thin?” 

“Thin.” 

“Colors?” She held up a finger. “Do not say black.” 

“I was going to say black and blue.” 

She found the perfect combination and put a pack of blue and black in the cart. “Nate, they suggest pencils for your class. I’ll be honest, I have no real knowledge base on that subject as I do not use them but I’m sure there is someone who could assist us.” She looked up to see if any employee was close by. 

Jackson rolled his eyes and grabbed pack of #2 pencils and threw it in the cart. “Lena, they really only make one kind of pencil.” He pushed the cart far away from them so Lena couldn’t regress. “I thought you hated shopping.” 

“This is a different kind of shopping. It smells like productivity in here.” 

She kept walking while Nate and Jackson looked at each other. “I told you she was a nerd.” 

“I heard that,” she called over her shoulder. 

They almost lost her as she veered into the technology section. There was an employee stacking boxes that she flagged down. “Something I can help you with?” 

“Please,” she started. “I need two laptops. One is for a fifteen year old, the other a seven year old. I don’t know if that helps you at all but whatever you think would be appropriate for that age.” 

“A computer?” Nate asked eagerly. 

“Lena you don’t have to do that.” Jackson hated to disappoint Nate but she had already spent so much money on them. 

“It’s on the list,” she said matter of fact. “You can’t start school without a computer. There is so much online learning nowadays, you’d get behind without one.” 

“We can at least share one, then.” He tried to offer. 

“And if you both have online homework?” 

“We’ll take turns.” 

The man standing there was unsure what to do. “Two please.” He left and she turned back to Jackson. “How do you know that I’m not getting these so that you two can occupy yourself and I can get more work done?” 

“I-” He bit his tongue, knowing there wasn’t an argument. 

The man returned and babbled about why they were the best options. She politely nodded along but was going to get them regardless. She placed both boxes on top of the other supplies. “I think we’re done here.” They rolled up to the check out line and unloaded everything. 

“Can I get a sucker?” Nate asked, being no help to the check out process. 

“Yes and grab one for your brother too please.” He held them up for the woman to scan and passed the grape over to Jackson. 

“Anything else?” The cashier asked. 

Lena looked back behind her at the store longingly. “Not today.” While the woman pushed the right buttons, Lena got out her keys and passed them over to Jackson. “You can start loading the car,” she instructed. He took the keys and gave her a salute. Nate hopped on the end of the cart while Jackson pushed it out of the store. 

“Cute kids,” the woman commented with a smile. 

“Don’t let the dimples fool you, they can be little imps.”

She laughed. “Well you’re a beautiful family.”

Lena didn’t know what the appropriate response was for that. She awkwardly took the receipt and shoved it into her bag. “You too,” she said lamely, instantly regretting her words. ‘I mean...have a nice day.” She nearly ran out of the store. The boys had everything packed and were already buckled into their seats.

She opened the front door and slid in as well, setting her purse down. “Who’s ready for some clothes shopping?” No one was particularly enthused. “What if I added there could be ice cream involved after the shopping?” Both hands shot up. “Thought so.”  

The clothing store was surprisingly quick. She understood why it was the recommended place by Finley prep. You went down the rack and picked out your pants, shirt, sweater, belt, shoes, and socks like an assembly line. The clothes weren’t exactly cool, but they had their charm. Nate seemed to like the grade school version of navy pants and white polo. Jackson was less impressed with the khaki slacks and grey button up he was required to wear. There was even an adorable blue clip on tie to match. This made Lena think of her own prep school days. At least the boys got to wear pants, she was stuck with plaid skirts for thirteen years of her life.

The shoes were almost the losing battle for Jackson. He was used to tennis shoes or even flip flops. Dark-brown clogs were never going to be something he willingly chose. They didn’t look bad but Lena could tell he was uncomfortable in them. He hopped up and down a few times, trying to loosen the leather but they still incarcerated his feet. The sales woman promised they’d break in with a few days of wear but Lena almost didn’t have the heart to put him through that. As with everything, he put on a brave face and said they would be perfect- anything to actually start high school.

As promised, Lena took them to ice cream after loading the four bags of clothes and accessories into the car. Nate requested some place with milkshakes. She obliged and they found themselves at a small ice cream parlor off the main road. It was excellent weather so they sat outside, Nate with his chocolate milkshake, and Jackson and Lena with cookie dough scoops. They fell into easy conversation about what they were most excited about for school and the first thing they were going to do with their new laptops. Lena also was excited about the new pens she had acquired.

She was about to ask about what they wanted for an early dinner, when she picked up on sirens headed towards them. Usually in the city, they were so constant that she drowned them out but these were much too close for comfort. Something didn’t feel right. She set her ice cream down and grabbed each of their arms. “We need to go inside.”

“What’s go-“ before he finished his question, a large truck sped down the highway out of control and flipped over in front of them. This was quickly followed by a police car swerving off the road into the guard rail. Lena pulled harder and at least got them behind the menu sign in front of the store. As they moved under cover, there was a small explosion.

“Boys turn around,” she instructed, covering them as best she could and crouching down. Even though they were easily a hundred yards away, she could feel the warmth of the fire. She didn’t know what to do next. She was going to move them farther into one of the adjacent stores but before she did, the heat suddenly dissipated and a gust blew over them.

She stood momentarily, looking behind her. The fire was gone and the truck that was on its side was now sitting up straight. She blinked rapidly, unsure of how that could possibly be. Her confusion was answered when she saw the glimpse of red disappear behind the other side of the road. After a few minutes passed, the other people who also took shelter were getting back up and moving around as normal. Lena took her hands off of the boys and helped them up.

“What in the world was that?” Jackson asked, walking carefully from their hiding place.

“Is everyone alright?” A sweet voice echoed loudly along the parking lot. Jackson was the first person she saw and she honed in on him, not realizing who he was. “Are you alright, kid?”

He ruffled his hair, a thin layer of dust coming out in the process. He pulled Nate up next to him and did the same thing to his brother. Kara walked towards him, thinking his non-answer was a sign of distress. “Are you alright?” she repeated.

Lena came around from the sign as well. This stopped Kara in her tracks. “Lena…I didn’t.”

Lena ignored her and focused on the boys. “Anymore bruises that weren’t there before?”

Jackson patted his face and then the rest of his body. “I’m good.” Nate also gave her a thumbs up.

“We’re fine, Supergirl,” she said evenly, seeing the superhero still lingering in her periphery.

The blonde kept a clear distance between them and gave an awkward hand wave and smile. “Good. Just checking on everyone. Not anyone in particular.” She stopped talking, realizing she didn’t have a very receptive audience. She clapped her hands together and pointed back to the road, “I’m going to get back to that.”

“You know Supergirl?” Nate cataloged that in with the five thousandth reason he thought Lena was the coolest.

“Do you know know supergirl?” Jackson asked with a bit of sass.

“We need to get home. This must have been a very harrowing experience for the both of you.”

Jackson played it off. “We live in National City, Lena. It’s either a car explosion, alien invasion, or some scientist with a god complex every other week in this place. We’re used to it.” They had no idea how ‘used to it’ Lena had become. The fact she hadn’t almost died in the past month was starting to make her paranoid.

“More importantly, what was that with Supergirl?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She started back to the car.

“You totally had a vibe.”

“What’s a vibe,” Nate asked.

“We didn’t have a vibe,” Lena said a little too sternly.

Jackson got into the front seat and just gave her an ‘mhmm’.

“We didn’t vibe!” The only vibe she was feeling was frustration. She spent a month avoiding the woman and now she saw her twice in as many days. Part of it was her own fault because there was still a piece of her that loved watching Supergirl in action and she hated herself for it. Before she knew it was Kara, her energy with Supergirl was different. There was always something forbidden and powerful about their interactions. She attributed it to the danger of a Luthor and a Super working together. The way she felt when she saw the suit was like an unconscious reaction. A reaction she needed to control.

Jackson was still staring at her knowingly. “We used to work together,” she offered. “We just fell out of touch.”

“Who falls out of touch with Supergirl?”

“Me…now can we please change the subject?”

“Can we eat hamburger helper for dinner?” Nate offered no longer caring about any sort of vibes.

She pulled out of the parking lot in the opposite direction of the crash that was beginning to get more attention. “If you explain to me what that is, of course.”

When they got home, Lena ordered showers for everyone because Supergirl’s little wind trick swept all sorts of dust into their clothes and hair. She was out first and began compulsively organizing their school supplies into neat piles they could take back to their rooms. Jackson came out first of the boys and sat down at the bar stool, towel still around his neck while he dried out his hair.

“Want me to teach you how to make dinner?” He offered.

She sat down next to him. “Please because I have no idea what he was talking about.” He started to get up but she but a hand on his arm to hold him back. “Are you really okay with what happened today?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing really happened. You got us to safety before anything could really go wrong.”

“It was still scary.”

“I’m pretty brave.”

“Jackson,” she leveled. “You don’t have to be okay all the time.”

“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”

He really was more perceptive than she gave him credit for. “I’m dealing with things in my own way.”

“Maybe I am too,” he countered.

She tapped her finger on the table, deciding her next move. “Can we make a deal?” She didn’t know if this was the right choice in the parenting handbook but it felt right to her. “Let’s be honest with each other, okay? Even if we put on a brave face for everyone else, right here, between us, we always tell the truth.”

“And you’ll be honest with me too,” he quirked an eyebrow.

“Completely,” she promised.

He mulled over her offer and put out his hand. “Deal.” She shook it, feeling a little accomplished.

“How did you really feel about today?” She asked.

“Scared as shit,” he admitted, not worried about his language. “I feel okay now but I was freaking out while it was happening. It all went by so fast though and I realized it wasn’t anything that bad but in the moment, I thought I was going to pee my pants.” She laughed a little at his admission because she wasn’t far off that feeling.

He didn’t seem to want to offer more than that so she said her own peace. “Supergirl and I have worked a lot together but we don’t anymore because she also broke my trust.”

“Like Kara.” If he only knew, she thought.

“Exactly. Our families have never gotten along but I thought we could be different. We did well for awhile but every time something bad happened, the blame somehow found its way to me. After everything I did for her, somehow she still always had a seed of distrust.” Lena knew she was over sharing but it felt so good to finally say. “The irony was I never found a reason not to trust her. I did it blindly until one day she turned the tables completely.”

“She betrayed you.” It wasn’t a question.

“That vibe you were sensing was because I still don’t know how to act around her,” she admitted.

“If she betrayed you, then why do you have to act any way around her? Shouldn’t she have to pay a fine or go to jail?” He was starting to get heated on her behalf.

“It wasn’t that kind of betrayal. It was something personal, that only affected me.” She took a deep breath. “I am dealing with it in my own way, but I don’t really know who I am anymore in this city. All of my friends knew what she had done and kept it from me. So now it’s just me.”

A warm hand laid over hers. “I know that wasn’t easy to share.” He squeezed tightly. “But you know it isn’t just you right now? You have two very annoying kids to keep you company.” He gave her a dimpled grin.

“I am very thankful that those two very annoying kids decided to talk to me that day.”

He let go of her hand and went around the counter. “I can’t confirm or deny this but I think they are thankful they met you too.” He reached in the top cabinet and pulled out a yellow box. He slid it across the counter and Lena barely caught it before it careened off the edge. “I think that is enough emotions for one evening.”

“Agreed.”

“I am about to teach you how to make the ooiest, gooiest, cheesiest monstrosity you’ve ever tasted.”

She picked up the box and looked it over. “This has thirty percent of your daily sodium in a single serving.”

“No no no,” he walked over and took the box out of her hand. “First rule of my kitchen is you never read the nutritional information.”

“When did this become your kitchen?” She asked in her best parental tone.

He pulled a pot out from under the stove and showed it to her. “When I had to take the price tag off the bottom of this before we used it yesterday.” She couldn’t argue with that. “Now do you want to learn this or not?”

She slid off her chair and next to him. “Step 1, fill this with water. Think you can handle that?”

“I have a doctorate in biomedical engineering,” she deadpanned.

“And yet that didn’t stop you from over cooking the noodles yesterday.”  

She felt a little self-conscious. “You said they tasted fine, why the sudden change of heart?”

He placed the pot in her hand. “We agreed to tell the truth now, right?”

She took it a little too aggressively. “How very kind of you.”  

Chapter Text

overprotection: The strategy of protecting an important pawn or square more than is apparently necessary. This serves to dissuade the opponent from attacking that point, and the latent power of the "over protectors" assembled around an important point, is a significant threat that can bear fruit at a small tactical change in the position.

Lena grabbed her shoulder gingerly and pushed a thumb into the joint. She winced slightly as the ache shot down her arm. This was going to need ice and maybe even a physical therapist if she didn’t stop. “I don’t think I can go on,” she stretched back, trying to loosen the tight muscles. 

“We’re only halfway done,” Jackson said, pointing to the two white walls that were still left. 

Lena set down her paint roller and leaned against the plastic covered bed. “Well I am all the way done.”

He walked over to her and handed her the cup and smaller paint brush he had been using. “Here, you can line the windows and let the big guns use the roller.” He flexed his bicep teasingly. She reluctantly got up and pushed him away by his arm.  

“I didn’t stretch properly,” she insisted, starting to finish painting where he left off. 

He grabbed the roller and began on the third wall. “You better start then if we plan on getting Nate’s room done too.” She looked off in the direction of the smaller room, cursing herself for agreeing to two projects that day. This was her own fault. She had to suggest the boys “own” their spaces. If Nate thought too much about it, she might end up with a bathroom renovation too. 

“Speaking of your brother,” she looked around, not seeing the boy, “Where is he?” The last wall she painted was so labor intensive, she couldn’t pay attention to much else. 

“He took a break, I think.” Jackson shrugged. “Probably watching tv.” 

“He didn’t even do anything,” Lena mumbled to herself, returning to her task. 

Twenty minutes later, Lena needed a break too. She had edged every window, door, and ceiling and couldn’t possibly will herself to start the second coat. Jackson was also rubbing at his arm after finishing the last wall. “Not so easy now, is it?” She teased. 

He quickly let go of his shoulder. “I was just...uh...feeling my bicep...you know...because I’m so strong.” She grabbed the towel she had just wiped her hands off with and threw it at him. “Rude!” he called after her as she left the room for the kitchen. 

When she got there, she was met by an adorable sight. Nate was shifting around all sorts of food around the island. “You guys done already?” He asked as he reached for something else in the fridge. “If you give me like two minutes, lunch will be ready!” 

She took a seat opposite him and looked at the display. He had three plates set out with ham and cheese sandwiches with the crust taken off all cut into triangles. There was also a handful of grapes  and a larger heaping of chips. Out of the fridge, he grabbed an assortment of condiments and laid them out. He finished it off with a juice box for himself and two water bottles for Lena and Jackson. By the time he was finished, Jackson had plopped down in the seat next to her. 

“This looks great, Squish!” He said, grabbing the plate closest to him.

Lena had never been cooked for by a seven year old and it was the sweetest thing she thought she had ever experienced. She also took a plate and a water bottle. “What’s on the menu today head chef?” She asked in a faux sophisticated voice. 

“Thank you for asking,” Nate cleared his voice and put a kitchen towel over his arm like a professional. “Today I have prepared for you a ham and cheese sandwich-uncrusted style-with a side of organic grapes and a classic European potato reduction.” He stumbled over a few of the words but it was a solid presentation. 

Jackson rolled his eyes and leaned over the counter to grab the mayonnaise. “How many episodes of Chopped did you guys watch last night?” 

They tried to hide their guilt but Lena couldn’t take it. “I had no idea how thrilling it could be!” she said enthusiastically, popping a grape into her mouth. “And some of the ways they use the ingredients are ingenious. Who would have thought to make lobster into ice cream?” 

“Wait till you see Cutthroat Kitchen!” Nate added, finally sitting down to eat. “It’s like Chopped but they have to do everything with their hands behind their back or like on a skateboard.” 

Lena had no idea something like that existed. “You’re only just now telling me about this?” She feigned distress. “I thought we were best friends.” 

“We’ve been here four days, there is plenty of time. I have a whole list of things for you!” 

Jackson snorted into his sandwich. Between chews he got out, “You’re going to regret that.” 

They finished their food in relative silence and Nate agreed to clean up while they finished the second coat. “You sure I can’t help you at all?” Lena asked. 

Jackson grabbed her by the corner of her sweatshirt and pulled her along. “You’re not getting out of this that easily.” 

It only took another hour to paste a second coat on because thankfully Nate was some help. He was surprisingly neat with edging allowing Lena and Jackson to both roll at the same time. Taking a step back from their work, Lena gave a satisfying nod. “Emerald was a good choice,” she conceded. In the store, it looked a little too Wizard of Oz for her taste but against the charcoal bookcase it was just the right amount of magic. She swiped an itch on her cheek with the back of her hand and set down the roller haphazardly into its container. Before she could suggest another break, her phone began to ring. She quickly wiped her hands off and picked it up, not bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello?” She put the phone on speaker. 

“Miss Luthor, please tell me you didn’t forget about your one o’clock with L-Corp London.” She looked at the time on the screen- five till. “Lucy from their main desk said you are usually on the line at least twenty minutes prior and was concerned when she hadn’t heard from you yet.” 

Lena composed herself quickly. “No, I didn’t forget,” she lied. She majorly forgot. “Internet from home is a bit patchy. Tell her that I will be on in just a moment.” Without preamble, she rushed out of the room and into her closet. She tossed the painting shirt over her head and put on the nearest dress. She grabbed a black jacket and layered it on top. Not bothering to look in the mirror, she swept her fingers through her hair while she raced down the hall into her office. 

“Lena!” Nate shouted after her but she waved a hand to him. 

“This will be just a minute.” 

“No, but Lena!” He called again, but she had already shut the door. 

Jackson grabbed his arm as he went after the woman. “Dude chill, she’ll be back in a minute. She has a meeting.” 

“I know! That’s why I was trying to tell her she has a huge line of green on her face.” He pointed on his own cheek where the paint had gotten on her. 

Jackson’s eyes got wide. “She’ll notice...right?” 

Lena hadn’t noticed. She was too busy trying to sort out what they were discussing on this conference call to look at the screen when it was loading the connection. That was usually the time that she could see her own reflection before all the other callers came into view. She finally found the file she was looking for and pulled it to her desk as a cheery woman with a posh accent greeted her. “Lena, darling, it’s so good to see you.” 

“Marie, It’s been too long,” Lena returned with fake sincerity. No one was ever really glad to see her. A meeting with the boss usually meant reviewing how they were either spending money or meeting deadlines. In Marie’s case it was the latter. Lena had been very patient with the research and development arm of the London office but they were now over six months past the expected launch date of a new blood sugar monitor. She looked down at the file on her desk and quickly reminded herself of the notes she had made from their last meeting. 

“Is everyone on the call?” Lena asked. Marie was the largest on her screen but there were several other smaller faces scattered around it. Lena also had a list of their names and titles on the paper in front of her. She counted eight boxes and eight names. 

“Good on our end,” Marie chirped. “By the way you have-”

“Excellent, then let’s get started,” Lena interrupted. “If you could begin with an update, please.” Lena sat up straight and stared into the camera. The woman nodded and began to list off numbers and timelines that Lena dutifully wrote down. She nodded along thoughtfully but was only focused on a few key points. Marie had a gift with making even the smallest bit of progress sound like a lunar landing. When she stopped speaking, another man in a powder blue cable knit sweater began clarifying some of that information. Lena inconspicuously looked at his name on the screen and then down at her paper. Melvin Lance-chief production engineer.  She wrote that down next to the points he was discussing. 

A third woman began speaking when Lena heard a quiet shuffle on the other side of the door. Not now, she thought, while nodding along to the petite blonde's impassioned presentation about their marketing strategy. The movement stopped and a triangular shaped object slid quickly under the white door and hit off the side of the metal trash can at her feet with a light ding. Lena had no idea what incited this. She looked down at the mass and back up to her computer. The lines on the sides clued her in that it was a piece of paper, just folded delicately. She wanted to grab it but also didn’t want to seem rude. The whole time she was thinking about how to pick it up, she had completely missed whatever was being said. 

She finally decided on dropping her pen on the floor. “Excuse me a moment,” she said, interrupting the blonde. She grabbed her pen and reached the extra few inches to retrieve the paper. “Continue.” The woman picked up without missing a beat while Lena unfolded the notebook paper, careful not to make too much noise. When she peeled the last leaflet back, she was surprised to see Jackson’s scrawl across the page. You have paint on your face. It was followed by a Sorry :(. Lena’s hand reflexively touched her cheek, even though she wasn’t sure where or how much paint she was coated with. 

“How does that sound?” The woman asked. 

Lena looked down at the few notes she had written before responding. “I like your angle, especially with younger people and Type 1 Diabetics.” She couldn’t stop thinking about what was on her face. “And...the packaging.” How embarrassing. How could they take anything she was saying seriously? “I’m sorry could you excuse me for a moment?” 

Before she could get up, Marie's voice came through. “If it’s the marker on your face, we don’t care.” Lena didn’t even know how to respond. “It’s kind of refreshing to know you are human.” They all hesitated to laugh until Lena sank back into her seat and began laughing herself. This was the most unprofessional thing she had ever done on a conference call but she couldn’t help herself. 

“It’s paint,” she mused with a small smile. 

“Home renovation?” Marie asked. 

“Unfortunately.” 

“We’ve all been there,” she waved the incident off. “We genuinely don’t care but if you’d like a moment, we understand.” 

Lena thanked her and opened the door to her office. Both boys were standing there, a slight panic in their eyes. “Thanks for the heads up,” she whispered, heading quickly to her bathroom. Jackson went to sit down but Nate couldn’t help but peak into her office. His curiosity was insatiable. 

“Hello!” He jumped back, not knowing where the voice was coming from. “Over here,” it called again. He walked farther in and saw a whole screen full of people. 

“Hi!” He waved excitedly. They all waved back and greeted him. 

“Nate, get out of there,” Jackson called. The boy was already in front of the screen introducing himself to each person individually and telling them about all the painting they had been doing. “Sorry,” Jackson gave an apologetic wave and started to pull his brother away. 

He couldn’t get him out before Lena was back at the door. “You have so many friends!” Nate commented. A month ago, Lena may have been angry at the situation. She would have thought the unprofessionalism was unacceptable. Hell, she wouldn’t have been in a situation where she would have forgotten about a conference call in the first place. Since she met the boys, her patience had increased exponentially. More than that, she was learning to accept situations she couldn’t control. 

“These are my work colleagues. We are discussing a very important product that they have been developing.” 

Nate, easily impressed as ever, turned back to the video call. “That’s awesome! You should be really proud of yourselves.” 

Lena stepped past him and sat back down in her chair. “It is very awesome.” The word did not come off her tongue naturally but she added it to her vocabulary anyways. “Team London this is Nate and Jackson my-” she had no idea what the best word would be. Jackson didn’t seem to like the phrase ‘foster kids’ and ‘roomates’ was less than accurate. 

“Best friends!” Nate piped in. The people on the call seemed taken by the answer and were smiling with an admiration Lena hadn’t seen from them in her time as their boss. “Can I watch?” He asked. “I can even take notes!” She didn’t even notice the same blue spiral notebook he always seemed to have strapped to his hip. 

This was probably the professional boundary she should draw. “We don’t mind!” A voice she hadn’t heard came through loud and clear. Lena mulled it over. If they thought this meant she was going to go easier on them, they were wrong. It was just one meeting and his puppy dog eyes were hard to resist. 

She got up and grabbed the tall chair that was in front of her work bench. She scooted it next to her and patted it for him to get up. He eagerly climbed into and opened his notebook to a new page. “Jackson would you also like to stay?” She offered. 

“Not a chance,” he gave her the peace side and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. 

“Where were we?” Lena asked, skimming over her notes. 

“You were giving me feedback about our marketing.” 

“Right.” She rephrased what she had said previously, adding a few points about optics. “Michael.” A black man with a full beard and cleanly shaved head, raised his hand present. “How are we with the human trials?” He began to explain some technical gibberish and listed off statistical significance. She jotted down the highlights, ever so often peering over to her classmate. Nate was intensely listening to the man and would only write between pauses. Lena couldn’t quite read his handwriting from her vantage point but she could tell he had emulated her own notes with boxes and bullet points. 

After him, several other people added their updates. Within forty-five minutes, she had two pages of notes and a mild headache. For his part, Nate hadn’t said a word. He continued to scratch away at his paper, occasionally nodding when Lena did. They had finally gotten to the part that was causing delays. She had tried to veer the conversation back to this from the beginning but everyone was talking circles around the problem. 

“I understand the concept but changing this latch when the previous design was perfectly suitable could delay us months. The device, as produced, has already been approved by the US and European regulatory committees.” She was getting a little frustrated with this team.

Marie jumped in ahead of the man speaking. “Miss Luthor, I just don’t think our team as a whole is still ready to meet even the new deadline, regardless of the design.” Lena could hear the fear and uncertainty in her voice. She hated being the bad guy but this was still business. She had given them every opportunity and they still had failed to meet even the smallest of deadlines. She couldn’t very well pull the plug on the operation or it would cost them even more money but she obviously couldn’t continue to leave them to their own devices. 

“You can’t turn in your homework late.” The quiet voice had finally spoken. “You’ll get a zero,” he said obviously.

He might not know all of the intricacy of what was going on but Lena knew that he understood the principle. They were given a deadline and they didn’t meet it. They had not completed their homework even though she had given them multiple extensions. Leave it to a child to find the perfect way to verbalize her point. “As Nate so aptly put, we can’t continue to turn in our homework late. I understand that there are limits to what you can accomplish based on extenuating circumstances but I feel I have been fair in the time I have given you. I will give you one more extension but I expect this product to be launched and advertised by the first of the year.” 

Nate pulled on the edge of Lena’s elbow. She looked over at him and he nodded for her to come closer. “They may need a tutor,” he whispered. “Sometimes I need a tutor for math but it isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.” 

Lena gave him a half smile. “I think you might be right.” She leaned back up to her captive audience and added a final point. “I am sorry if there is a part on our end that has limited your ability to be successful. I have a colleague who works with a lot of our axillary locations to help pinpoint ways we can work better together and be more efficient without compromising employee satisfaction.” She winked at Nate, thanking him for his suggestion. “Would that be something you are interested in?” Even though it was worded like a request, Lena’s tone made it clear that this was the final olive branch she was going to extend. 

“I think that would be a lovely idea and much appreciated.” There were resounding approvals from all parties. “We appreciate your continued patience with this project.” If this were in National City, the project would have been done, launched, and saving lives. 

“I think that we have addressed what we need to today but I will expect an update in the coming weeks.” 

“Of course.” 

“Any more questions?” She did a visual inspection of all the individual screens and no one appeared to raise a hand. She also looked down at Nate and repeated herself. 

“I do have one.” He leaned his head over so it was now more in frame. “Michael, how do you spell con-fig-a-pation?” He read it out syllable by syllable as best he could remember. “You said it a lot.” This made the man laugh but he dutifully spelled ‘configuration’ slowly.  

“If there is nothing else, I will see everyone soon.” 

“Bye!” Nate yelled, a little too loud. 

After Lena ended the call, she stacked all her notes together, dated them, and stuck them back into their original folder. “What did you think?” 

He flipped through his own notes, trying to decipher the highlights. “I didn’t really understand a lot of it but it seemed important.” He got to one note and tapped his pencil on the bullet point. “I did think the names were pretty cool. My favorite was Glucosense. It sounds funny!” 

“I like that one too.”

“You were really cool, Lena. I don’t think my teachers would be that nice if I didn’t turn in something for six months. Last year, I sat on the stump when I didn’t put my name on the paper.” 

Lena looked a bit horrified. “What in the world is the stump?”

“It’s tree stumps next to the playground that you sit on during recess if you get in trouble.” 

That was a terrifying form of punishment for a child. “I don’t think I can put an entire team on the stumps.” 

“Well you’re nicer than Mrs. Russel, then.” He faked a shiver. 

Lena got up and stretched out her arms. They were now sore from both painting and writing for most of her day. “Maybe I’ll let you take all the notes next meeting so my hand can have a break.” He replaced his own chair and opened the door back into the living room. 

“I wouldn’t mind that at all. I’m trying to get better at it because I want to be a reporter and they have to write all the time.” Lena stopped in her tracks. Of course he wanted to be a journalist, Lena have laughed, half cursed internally. Maybe she had a type of best friend. 

Finishing Nate’s room took more out of her than every murder attempt or hostage situation she had been a part of. Every joint and muscle ached in a way she didn’t know they could. Once the last bit of paint was rolled on, she excused herself for the hottest shower possible. She scrubbed her fingers until they were almost raw to get the mixture of green and blue out. Even after she got out, there was a slight tint to her nails. She tried to be more careful but no matter what she did, the paint got everywhere. She wondered how many colored fingerprints she was going to find throughout the apartment once this was all done. 

When she finally got dressed into silk pajamas and went back to their rooms, she was surprised to find everything cleaned and put away. All the edging tape was rolled into one big ball and the plastic sheets they had covered everything with were neatly stacked in a pile outside the doors. “I would have helped.” She walked into Jackson’s room. With all the plastic gone, the color popped even more. It was a beautiful contrast to his furniture and she could tell by the grin on his face that he was satisfied. 

“You’ve already done enough today. It was the least we could do.” 

“I really appreciate it.” She rubbed his shoulder. “I’m not going to lie, I was considering paying someone to come take care of it.” 

“Well, if you’re still offering.” He held out a hand. She slapped it with her own instead of actually giving him any money. She turned around and walked through their joined bathroom into Nate’s room. They had also cleaned it up and put everything back in its original place. It was starting to feel like a child’s room instead of a generic spare bedroom. She went over to his dresser, skimming over the things that he chose to display. She hadn’t really taken a good look of what they had brought with them and didn’t want to be too intrusive. 

He had a few books, several stuffed animals, and a smattering of tiny cars that were dispersed in no particular organization. The familiar chess container was also still tucked away where it had been before on the highest shelf Nate could actually reach. What was different now was the shiny paper behind the container. It hadn’t been there before. Lena took a step closer and could finally make out the familiar image-it was her magazine cover. Her chest tightened slightly and she started to feel her throat tingle. 

“What do you think?” Nate was pointing to his whole room but Lena was still focused in on her image on his shelf. She didn’t know why this made her want to cry. He probably just didn’t know where to put it. As soon as she thought that, she knew it wasn’t true. Nate didn’t do anything unintentionally. He had her on his shelf because he looked up to her and that was a feeling she didn’t know how to process-not yet. 

She turned around to him. “This looks so much better than how I had it. You are a visionary, sir.” 

“Thank you!” He sat on his bed, now with black sheets. “If you want, I can pick out a color for your room too.” 

“No!” She held up a hand. “We will not be painting again for a long, long time.” Even if her arms weren’t screaming in agony, she didn’t want to imagine what fiery red color Nate would be able to find. “I think that we have killed any interior decorating or home renovation aspirations I may have had. HGTV is officially banned in this home.” 

“We can still watch the cooking channel though, right?” Nate had a slight edge of concern.

“Of course! I was actually thinking that in our current overworked condition, we could just order pizza and watch tv for the rest of the evening.” 

“Do you think that’s the healthiest option for two growing boys?” Jackson came in and jumped on the bed next to his brother, nearly knocking him off. 

“You are absolutely right Jackson. I will get you two some kale salad and I will eat pizza.” 

Nate hit him in the shoulder. “You ruin everything.” 

They had gotten through three episodes of chopped before Nate fell asleep, overdosed on pizza and juice boxes. Lena didn’t notice until he started lightly snoring. He was using Jackson’s thigh as a pillow and was hogging most of the blankets too. 

“Should we wake him up?” Lena asked, pausing the show. 

Jackson slid out from under him carefully, letting his head lay down on the couch. “I’ll get him, he’s still light enough.” He put an arm under either side and gently cradled him into his arms. “Could you get the door, though?” 

Lena followed them down the hall, her heart bursting at the sight. He was the perfect older brother. Even if he nagged or picked, Lena knew Jackson would never let anything happen to Nate. She didn’t think she ever felt as safe and taken care of by Lex. This was a different level of unconditional love, something she hadn’t really been exposed to. Luthor love had nothing but conditions. It was all for the name or the cause, never just because they were family and it was the right thing to do. She wasn’t sure if she had ever felt this kind of love but she was starting to understand it a little bit better.  

She opened the door and peeled back the covers as he set the boy down. Lena covered him back up, making sure the blanket lay just over his shoulder and not his face. A long curl had fallen over his eyelash and she gently brushed it back. 

She looked up to Jackson who was staring at Nate’s sleeping form. “For everything he’s been through, he is still the kindest soul I’ve ever met,” he commented. “Even when he’s sleeping, you can see it.” 

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Lena observed.  

“Neither do you.” He returned with a small smile. “You are doing everything right by us. I hope you know that.” 

She folded her arms, not sure how to accept his reassurance. “I want the best for both of you. I’m not always sure the right way to do that but if you let me know-” 

“That right there,” Jackson interrupted her. “You want what’s best for us...not you. That’s all we could ever want.” He paused, looking back at Nate. “That’s all we’ve ever wanted.” 

She had a new appreciation for the bright blue room. She realized it meant more than just being a new color, it was his choice. Same for Jackson. She sat against the bed, careful not to wake the monster within it.  “You know I’m starting to like our late night talks.” 

Jackson walked around the bed and nudged her with his shoulder. “It’s like we’re becoming friends or something,” he said sarcastically. 

Nate turned over in the bed and grabbed at the edge of the blankets. “She’s mine,” he mumbled into his pillow. Lena reached over and ran a hand over his hair. “I can share,” she whispered. 

____

____

Lena dedicated all of Thursday to work and the boys gracefully respected her schedule. They busied themselves on their own computers while she handled business she had been putting off. Throughout the day, notes slid under her door giving her updates that they were indeed alive and there was a plate of food for her in the fridge. She added each note to a pile on the corner of her desk that she imagined would overtake the area in a matter of weeks. She smiled to herself thinking about the prospect of them still being here in weeks. In less than six days, they had completely rearranged her life and she didn’t mind. She liked the person she was when she was with them. 

That afternoon, she received an email from Finley Prep offering a tour of the facilities before the start of school on Monday. It would be a good trial run for their morning routine and it might make them all less anxious. She decided they could make a full day of it and head over to L Corp and collect the tech that Andrea was supposed to have delivered anyways. 

Finley Prep was beautiful. Lena didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. The gate that led to the main office of the campus was across the street from her usual route to work. Once they got past the guard, they had the hundred yard journey to the office to appraise what they could see of the facilities. There was a large cream building of three stories to the left and a park with benches and a swing set leading up to it. On the right, there was a shorter building of the same light brick that extended farther than she could even see. Trees, flowers, and fountains were scattered around like they weren’t in the middle of a metropolis area. 

When they reached the main building, they had to walk up another set of stairs to get to the large oak door. It looked more like a Victorian mansion than the office of a school. It probably once was and they just renovated around it. A plump woman of over fifty opened the door widely and welcomed them in. “You must be the Harris’s!”  She wore a tight red, plaid skirt and a fluffy blouse. Her heels clicked on the floor as she led them farther into what definitely used to be a house.  

“That would be us.” When the woman finally slowed down long enough to face them, Lena held out a hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.” She politely shook it before opening a wooden door with mosaic glass in its frame. She waved a hand for them to come in. 

“I am Pam Roberts, the assistant dean here at Finley. We are just so excited to have some new faces on campus!” Lena couldn’t tell if this was really the woman’s personality or if she had taken an extra dose of xanax with her coffee that morning. Jackson and Nate seemed to be having the same impression because they hadn’t responded at all. Lena gave them a slight nudge in the back. 

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” Jackson got out first. 

“Hi!” Nate waved. 

“You must be,” she looked down at the file on her desk. “Lena Lut-” she stuttered a bit, obviously not completely reading their file before they got there. “Luthor,” she finally got out with a mix of awe and nervousness. “Wow, I didn’t realize...Beth had been the one emailing…” Lena stared her down until she composed herself. “It is so wonderful to have you on our campus!” 

Lena sat down across from the woman and glazed over the awkward introduction. “Is everything in order for them to start Monday?” 

“Yes ma’am. We always offer families tours before they start to get them used to campus.” 

Lena stood up, not wanting to delay. “Shall we proceed?” The boys hadn’t even had a chance to sit. 

“Of course, right away.” She got out of her chair faster than Lena and collected all the papers off the desk. “The grade school is closest so we can start there.” She led them back down the hallway out the front door they had just come into. 

“She is scared of you,” Jackson whispered, a small laugh in his voice.

Lena rolled her eyes. “She is scared of losing money.” She could always tell the money hungry ass kissers a part from the social climbing arm clingers. Pam was probably a lovely woman but she knew Lena’s name meant funding. They were going to get the ten million dollar tour and she could guarantee a few comments about ‘projects in the works’. It was a dance she was used to playing but she hoped it didn’t interfere with the boys’ impression of the school. 

The grade school was the three story building they had seen upon first arriving. Per Pam’s rehearsed spiel, it hosted kindergarten through fifth grade and integrated the latest technology into age based curriculums. Nate’s classroom was on the second floor and Lena was quickly regretting her heels. After not wearing them for several days, she was really starting to feel the ache in her arches. Pam opened the door and they walked into the surprisingly small classroom. 

The woman picked up on Lena’s concern. “We keep our class sizes below fifteen so every student feels like they have a relationship with their teacher. It means the classrooms are a bit smaller but they still all have their own desk and area. Nate will be in second grade-class c with Mr. Jacobson.” Lena took a mental note. “This will be your desk.” She pointed to a small metal desk with a wooden top. 

He ran over and sat in his seat and appraised it. He rubbed the sides and was surprised when the top lifted off, revealing a storage space underneath. “This is awesome!” He closed it and fiddled with other areas, seeing if they also came off. Lena scanned the rest of the room and noted several desktop computer stations, a smart board, two white boards, and a cubby area. There were also several book shelves and inspirational quotes on the wall as well. 

“What do you think, bud?” He gave two thumbs up. “What would a normal day look like for him?” Pam began going through the grade school schedule including recess, lunch, and assemblies. It seemed just as she remembered but it had been a couple decades since she was in his seat. They left his classroom and on the way to the highschool they walked through the playground and cafeteria. It was all well hidden from the street which Lena liked. She didn’t want some strangers to have easy access to a child that would talk to anybody. 

The highschool was nestled behind the main office and was constructed with the same brick of the other buildings, giving the campus a homogenous look. There was no playground here but she could see the outline of a small practice field, probably for soccer or football. Unlike the grade school, the building was all one floor. The other end of it wrapped around the right and must have been a continuation of the building they had seen before. Pam unlocked the front door and ushered them in. It was dark but it reminded Lena of her own high school. The floor was a black and white checkered laminate tile and all of the doors were old, dark wood that could probably withstand a tornado. The lockers on either side were cream and labeled neatly with numbers and turn style locks. 

The door immediately to their left when they walked in had a large ‘OFFICE’ sign above it and the door to their right read ‘GYM’. Everything else didn’t have a label but had a street sign looking post hanging above it with a number. “This is where you will be Jackson. Homeroom will be from seven fifty until eight and then you will proceed to your first period class.” She reached into her folder and handed him a sheet of paper. “This is your schedule for now, it’s pretty standard for freshmen. If you would like to change it, we have a guidance counselor in the office that takes care of it. Your locker will also be on this floor.” 

He skimmed it over. It looked like the usual public school recipe: a main course of science, math, history, and English with a side of art, and a sprinkle of gym. He smiled when he saw his eighth period class would be Latin. He turned it over to Lena and pointed. “I may have put in a request on your behalf,” she shrugged. They continued to follow Pam down the hallway until they reached a side door that led off into a large open space. 

“This is the cafeteria. Lunch is from twelve to twelve-forty-five and you just check out with your swipe card.” She pointed to a machine at the end of two long food lines that were now empty. She grabbed a red card from her pocket that was attached to a lanyard and mimicked passing it through the machine. When she was done, she handed it over.

Jackson put it around his neck. “How does this get paid off?” 

“It is part of your tuition but if you go over a certain amount, there are fees.” For how much Lena was paying for this, there better not be any additional fees. Jackson could eat six times a day every day and it should still be covered. 

“I’ll try not to do that.” He fiddled with the card before putting it under his shirt. 

They walked and talked for another thirty minutes before Pam led them back to her office. They had learned more about the ‘rich’ history and ‘academic prowess’ of the school than they did the classes and extracurriculars. She also got in three ‘pet projects’ they were working on, Just as Lena thought she would. The one positive was more information about the after school program. It was a little extra per month but there were special classes students could participate in until five thirty every day. That was something Lena was going to have to subscribe to. 

They thanked the vice dean, hands full of more informationals and instructions for Monday. “Oh Miss Luthor,” Pam stopped her before they could leave. “There is one more form you forgot to fill out.” 

“Why don’t you guys wait outside, it’s a beautiful day.” They didn’t need to be told twice and walked towards the front door. She sat back down while Pam slid a paper across to her. ‘Emergency Contact’ stared back at her. 

“We have your information but we need at least three other contacts in case we cannot reach you for whatever reason. One can be your work but we would like the other two to be other individuals.” Lena looked at the paper blankly. She took the pen that was handed to her and hovered over the first box. She easily wrote out the phone number to Luke’s direct line. He would nearly always be able to get a hold of her. She paused over the next line. Her first thought was Jenny but she couldn’t very well put down their case worker. She would be in untold trouble if something serious happened and the only person they could call was CPS. 

She opened her phone contacts. “Sorry, just a moment.” She began scrolling, but no one would possibly be a choice. The head of the art department in London wasn’t going to hop on a plane to come pick the boys up. She got to the bottom and began going back up again, trying to land on anyone she could trust in National City. She paused when she reached two names back to back- Danvers. 

There was no one else. She reluctantly scrawled Alex’s name down first and her phone number. Under “relation”, she circled ‘colleague’ instead of ‘family friend.’ At least Alex knew the boys. If by some stretch of the imagination no one could contact her, she trusted that Alex would make sure they were alright. She tapped the paper on the last box. “You really need three?” She questioned, hopefully.

“Yes ma’am. We have had several incidents where it is only by the third individual, we have been able to contact part of the family. Many of our students’ parents are quite busy so we like to have all of our bases covered.” 

Lena forced a smile. “Of course.” She aggressively wrote the last contact-Kara Danvers. Under relation, she circled ‘other’. There wasn’t a box for ‘ex-best friend.’ She really needed to get some new friends because she couldn’t keep on reaching into her past for security. Maybe Pam would be a friend. She handed the sheet back and the woman thanked her like she had just offered her a kidney. Maybe not. 

Lena walked out of there as fast as her heels would take her. She found the boys outside throwing a pine cone back and forth. Nate tossed it under hand to her and she fumbled it in her palms but somehow managed to hold on. “What did you think?” She asked honestly.

“I’m going to need some hair gel and aftershave to fit in but it wasn’t bad.”  Lena was getting used to Jackson’s certain style of wit. She threw the conifer at him and gave him her ‘truth’ glare and he added, “I think I’m going to like the smaller class sizes...and latin is going to be dope.” She cataloged ‘dope’ in the back of her mind to look up later. Contextually, she understood his meaning but unlike awesome, she didn’t think that would be something she could get away with saying. 

“Nate?” She questioned. 

“I hope Mr. Jacobson is nice.” That wasn’t ‘I hated everything about it’ which was a step in the right direction. Nate couldn’t dislike anything so she wasn’t so worried about him but Jackson was still hard to gauge. 

“Now that’s out of the way, who wants to go see my work?” Two hands immediately went up. “Thought so.” They walked three more blocks and ran across a few sidewalks before arriving at the foot of her building. 

“It’s a lot bigger in person,” Nate commented, craning his neck all the way back to try and see the top. They walked in through the front door, something Lena didn’t often do, so she could show them some of the cool architecture she had bought for the entryway. Nate instantly wanted a picture next to the concrete L that had been destroyed once by faux J’onn. Lena had only recently gotten the new one. 

“Can I use your phone?” Jackson asked while Nate posed with a silly face next to the sculpture. Lena realized then that neither of them had a phone. They had been together for the past week so there wasn’t a reason for them to need to call her. She also didn’t recall him ever having one all the time they had met at the park together. She reached in her purse and handed it to him. She added that to the list of things she still needed to get. Maybe while they were there, Luke could figure that out. If they were going to be going to school, they needed some way of contacting her at all times. 

Jackson took several pictures and even flipped the phone around so him and Nate could be in one together. “Lena!” Nate called over. She came over and he pulled at her shoulder to get into the frame. “Smile!” Jackson extended his arm as far as he could and took a shot of all of them with a faint outline of the L behind them. He went to hand Lena back her phone but Nate intercepted it, flipping through the pictures and commenting on his favorites. While he did that, Lena led them to the elevator. She had both hands on his back guiding him through so he didn’t run into anyone as he continued to appraise the photos. 

When they got in the elevator and she selected the top floor, he shoved the phone close to her face. “I think this one’s the best!” She pushed his hand down slightly so that she could actually see the whole thing. It was the last one they had taken and they all had stupid-big grins on their faces. “How do I make it your background?” 

“Nate, she might not want that as her background,” Jackson warned. 

“Why not? It’s just a wave right now. That’s boring.” He turned around and began clicking things, trying to make it work. Lena reached around him and hit three buttons and then locked the phone. When he hit the home button again, the picture came up with the time plastered across their faces. 

“Perfect.” He handed her back the phone and she stuck it back in her purse. She looked over to Jackson who was communicating ‘you spoil him’ with his eyebrows. She shrugged back ‘sue me.’ The elevator dinged and they exited into the lobby of her main office. Down the hall, Luke was sitting at his desk, typing away at the computer. He didn’t see them but he was alerted by Nate’s ooing and awing at anything shiny they passed.

“Good afternoon, stranger!” He greeted her. “You look a lot like my boss but I haven’t seen her in so long, I have forgotten.”

“You have gotten brave in my absence Mr. Abernathy.”

“Had a little too much freedom,” he joked. “And are these the boys I’ve heard so much about?” He came around from his desk and held out two suckers he must have been saving for the occasion. “I’m Luke and you must be Jackson and Nate.” He distributed one to each of them. They looked down at their flavors and quickly traded each other.

“Nice to meet you Luke!” Nate said, head down trying to open the wrapper.

Jackson took it from him and easily unwrapped it and handed it back. “You the one in charge around here?”

“Ignore him.” Lena pushed at his back towards her office.

She opened the door revealing the large open space with floor to ceiling window panels. “I take that back,” he spun around, taking in just how big the space was, “…you are the boss.”

She walked behind her desk, set her purse down and sat down. It felt so good to be back in her space. She placed her hands on the glass desk and she could feel productive energy vibrate through her fingertips. This was absolutely one of her favorite places to be.

Nate started in one corner of the room and skirted around, touching nearly everything. When he got to the windows, he was so excited to see his pictures. He waved down Jackson and pointed at them excitedly.

“Super cool, squish!” He ruffled his hair. “Maybe you can draw another one while we wait.”

Lena turned her chair around to them. “That’s actually a great idea. I have to run to my lab on a different floor and it isn’t exactly kid friendly. If you could stay here for a bit, that would be very helpful.”

“Do you have any crayons?”

That might be a problem. She didn’t usually keep arts and craft supplies in her desk. “Let me see what we can find.” She opened all of her drawers and produced two black permanent markers, a yellow and green highlighter, and a number of black pens. She hadn’t brought over her new pens or she’d have a little more color. “Think you can work with this?”

He took them out of her hand along with the letter head she also fetched. “I’ve worked with less.” He trotted over to the couch and laid out his supplies.

“Can I get you something to work on?” She asked Jackson.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a book that was horrifyingly rolled up. “All set.” She grimaced at the helpless paperback that was screaming as it unfurled in his hand. He joined his brother on the couch while Lena headed for the door.

“Thirty minutes, okay?” They gave her a thumbs up. On the other side of the door she consulted Luke momentarily. “I’ll be back. They should be fine but page me if you hear screaming.” Luke’s face paled slightly. “Joking,” she reassured. “I do that now.”

“You do have a different pep in your step, if you don’t mind me saying.” He gave her a warm appraisal.

“I feel better than I have in a while,” she admitted. “Like I found my purpose again.” She started off towards the elevator but turned on her heels quickly remembering her thought in the lobby. “How easily could you get two phones attached to my plan?”

“Pretty easily. What kind of phones?” He grabbed a piece of paper to write it down.

“Get whatever I have for Jackson and some kind of kid version for Nate. Do they make that?”

He shrugged. “No idea, but I will ask.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know.”

She spent more than thirty minutes in her lab but it wasn’t her fault. Andrea’s tech was fascinating. She had read the original specs but having it in her hands was a different experience. She understood what the woman meant by “bulky” equipment but the actual functionality was pristine. She hated that she hadn’t thought of it first. The time at her lab bench was spent teasing it a part and trying to assess if it was possible to repackage it. She wrote down a few pages of notes to take home with her and mull over. She put it back in its case and locked it away. She would have all the time the boys were at school to fiddle with it, there was no reason to make them wait any longer.

When she got back to her office, Nate was still scribbling while Jackson had made himself comfortable with his back on the floor and legs propped up on the couch. When heard her heels approaching, he flipped over onto his stomach and planked into a standing position. “Get everything done?”

“Enough for today.” She walked over to them, trying to get a good look at Nate’s newest masterpiece. “What did you draw?”  

He held up a finger for her to hold on while he continued to fill in something along the edge. He capped the marker and looked down satisfied. “Perfect.” He held it up so they could see. The three of them were standing behind what looked like different stove tops. Lena, still in black, had a bowl of fruit in front of her, Jackson had two questionable fish in his hands, and Nate just had a knife and pan. Behind them, there were pots on fire and a big timer that only had a second left. It took a few seconds for Lena to realize it was Chopped, starring them.

“Why do you get knives and all I have are fish?” Jackson complained.

“At least your stove is on,” Lena added. “All I have is a bowl of fruit.”

She grabbed the page out of his hand. “I love it.” She walked over to her desk and grabbed a piece of tape to hang it next to the other two pictures.

“What happens if you run out of room?” He asked concerned.

She pondered it for a second. “I’ll buy a bigger window.”

When they finally got home, everyone was very happy to relax and have their own quiet time. Jackson needed to login in to some online account for school and Nate ‘had’ to write down all of the new people he had met. Even with that, Lena was reminded several times throughout the evening, while she tried to work on Andrea’s project, that the next day was Saturday which meant chess and ice cream. The fourth time, she grabbed a marker out of the drawer and wrote it on her hand and showed him. “I won’t forget,” she promised.  

That marker was still on her hand as they walked the twenty minutes to the park. They had stopped in at Helen’s bookstore and Jackson picked out something new for the afternoon. He stayed away from the original Greek classics and decided on an anthology on mythology. Helen said he was more than welcome to stop by and just read in the back. There was a whole section of couches for people who wanted to see if a book felt right. He took her card gratefully and Lena let them talk about their favorite books until Nate got so antsy to leave, he almost knocked over a whole bookcase.

They settled into their spots at the park and it fell so odd that it was only a week ago that Lena was here by herself and thinking the worst had happened. She couldn’t imagine things turning out any other way than they had. Even though their whole world seemed to have changed, some things stayed the same. Nate went through his usual routine, carefully removing each piece and setting it on the table and Jackson was lounged on the bench a few yards away, occasionally swiping leaves out of his face as he read. It felt like any other Saturday over the past six weeks. But it wasn’t. They had come there together. They would be going home together. They were a team now-for however long they would need to be.

“Where did we leave off last time?” She asked, leaving her musings.

Nate opened his journal to the last page with writing on it. “We were about to start openers.”

Her phone buzzed lightly next to her. A notification from Luke popped up over top of her new screen saver. Package acquired. She smiled at his message and the faces on her screen. “Alright, lesson one,” she began.

Chapter Text

trap:A move that may tempt the opponent to play a losing move

Lena never imagined herself creating a school routine, especially while still in her twenties. But here she was with a checklist and bolded instructions for each day of the week. In blue, she had written out all of the things that Mr. Jacobson had asked parents to send with their second graders on the first day. It was an extensive list of writing utensils, paper, binders, and for some reason tissue boxes and a ream of copy paper. Jackson’s list in green was simple and to the point-binders, pens, and a good attitude. All of his books would be provided by the school the first day which was a blessing because she didn’t think it would be possible to get that much delivered with a few days notice. In the middle of the list was a play by play for when they would have to leave the apartment, what rooms they were supposed to report to, where the after school programs would be held, and where Lena would meet them after school to get them.

The benefit of Finley Prep was that she didn’t have to get a caregiver to get them from school. They walked the short way to school and up the extra blocks to L Corp several times on Sunday so that if anything happened and Lena couldn’t get away, they could simply meet her there. Luckily, she was the boss so she would get a pass for bringing kids to work. She knew of at least three supply closets that were empty and could work as a study space if they needed it. Otherwise, she gave them badges that would get them in the front door after hours and into her office. She also gave them the phones that Luke had acquired. Nate’s did little more than call and text but Jackson’s was fully functional for every social media or useless app he could want. Lena had programmed every number they could possibly need, including Alex’s. She told them it was for extreme emergencies and they seemed to understand that. She still left off Kara’s. She hoped nothing was that level of emergency.

Sunday night, Lena paced the kitchen nervously looking over her list again and again, convincing herself that she had to be missing something. She made the boys put their uniforms out already and pack their back packs. They ended up having to go to the store again earlier that day because the state of their old bags would break with even one of their new textbooks. She had packed a separate bag for all of the extra things for Nate’s class that she would have to carry in. “We’ve gone to school before you know.” Jackson appeared suddenly in the kitchen, a bag of chips in hand. “In my experience, if you forget anything, they tell you and then you bring it the next day.” He jumped up and sat on the counter next to her.  

“Let me have this one, please.” She ran her finger down the paper, looking up and down between it and the stack still left in front of her.

“Oh you forgot something,” he pointed to a random spot on the paper.

“What?!” She tried to see what he was talking about.

 “Your chill,” he snorted.

She pushed him off the counter, annoyed. He wasn’t deterred and put a handful of chips in his mouth, crunching down loudly. “What did I say about junk food after eight?” She observed.

“That is confers..” he put his finger in quotes, “…a long term increase in atherosclerotic disease and mortality related to cardiovascular accidents.”

 “Um…yes.” She was slightly stunned he had been listening.  “That’s actually exactly what I said.”

“You technically didn’t say not to eat it, though.”

“It was implied.”

He rolled his eyes and folded the edge of the bag down. “I’ll put mine away if you put yours,” he nodded towards the list.

“I just want everything to be perfect, why is that a bad thing?”

Jackson reached up into the cupboard and put his snack away. Turning, he grabbed her paper and folded it up and put it in the same place. “Perfect is boring.”

______

Lena barely slept but was still awake by six. She went through her routine faster than normal to give them plenty of room for error. She was beat to the kitchen and the boys were already making a milky mess of the counter. The uniforms made them look older for some reason. Jackson’s tie was hanging around his neck, untied and Nate’s shirt was only half tucked in but they looked so much different than the t shirt and basketball-short wearing boys who were in her kitchen yesterday morning.

On the edge of the counter, there was a small cup with steam rising from it. She looked over it and saw the beautiful brown liquid of her coffee. “I think I made it right,” Jackson commented. “I was a little nervous to add to much so it might be weaker than your used to it.”

She held up a hand sipping the perfectly temperatured drink. “It’s perfect.” Surveying their bowls, she figured they were almost ready to head out the door. She took her coffee with her as she went into her office to get any files she needed to bring to work with her. She packed it all into her arm bag and went back to the kitchen. They had finished and put everything away except their back packs.

“Ready to start our trek?” She put her finished cup in the sink next to the bowls. Nate tied his last shoe lace and gave a thumbs up.

Jackson rocked on his heels and cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with his current outfit. “Would you mind?” He pointed to the fabric still hanging around his neck. “I mean if you know how.”

“Of course.” She set down the keys in her hand and had him sit down in the bar chair. “It’s funny because I think the last time I tied a tie was for my college boyfriend who was also named Jack.”

“You had a boyfriend?” Nate stuck out his tongue, disgusted.

She folded over the tie, pulling it through an intricate motion. “I did…and I had to tie his tie every day for months because he refused to learn.” She tightened the knot closer to his neck and straightened the tail. “Which is not what is going to happen here…so when you get home today we are going to get this down.”

“Yes ma’am.” He pulled at the constricting knot at his neck, loosening it just a bit. “It’s kind of a torture device,” he commented.

“Don’t talk to me about torture.” She pointed to her heels.

“Lena?”

“Yes, Nate?” She collected her things again and started to walk towards the door.

 “Do you have a boyfriend, now?”

She unintentionally laughed. “No, I do not.”

“A girlfriend?”

“I don’t have one of those either,” she smiled.

“Do you want one?”

She grabbed the final bag on the counter and used it to push him farther down the hall towards the door. “It is entirely too early to answer that question,” she deflected.

Jackson walked past her with his own things. “Why would she want a boyfriend, when she has us?”

“Exactly.” She definitely didn’t have a relationship because she was focusing on them not because she had crippling trust issues and a penchant for self-destructive geniuses.

They made it the entire block and a half without another comment about her love life, thankfully. Lena was not surprised that the path leading up to the school was now crowded with swiftly moving bodies. There was a back entrance for car drop off but there was still a lot of foot traffic, most likely from the surrounding high rise apartments. Jackson was kind of enough to carry both his own and Nate’s bonus bag until they got to the fork in the campus which sent him off to his building. “Have a great day,” she said, pulling the bag onto her shoulder.

He crouched down to Nate’s level. “Have an awesome day, squish. You’re going to make so many new friends and if you need anything I’m just over there.”

“Promise?” Lena hadn’t noticed before but the boy looked extremely nervous.

“Pinky.” He held up his finger and Nate wrapped it with his own. He gave him a final hair ruffle before heading off to the back of the campus.

“That reminds me that we still don’t have a hand shake.” Lena tried to distract him from the school looming ahead. “Maybe we can work on that later?”

He just mumbled an okay in response. Before they walked up the steps, she put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. She turned him around and bent to his level. “You okay?” He didn’t make eye contact. “Nate,” she said sweetly.

“What if they don’t like me?” Her heart ached.

“What do you mean? They’re going to love you.”

He rubbed an elbow across his nose, wiping away snot and a few tears that had started. “They probably know each other and don’t want another friend.” He sniffled again. “What if no one sits with me at lunch?”

Lena put a reassuring hand on his cheek and lifted his head up to her. “You are the sweetest, kindest, and bravest boy I know. They would be lucky to be your friend.” His bottom lip was still trembling, breaking her heart completely. “Did you bring your phone with you?” He nodded. “Seeing as I’m still your best friend, if no one sits with you, you call me and I will come eat lunch with you, okay?”

“Promise?”

She imitated Jackson and held out her littlest finger. “Pinky.”

She swiped the last tears away from under his eyes and bopped the top of his nose, making him laugh. “You ready to go meet your new friends?” He gave her one head bob. “If you don’t like it, say the word and we’ll leave.” That seemed to calm him down even further.

They climbed the two floors up and headed to the classroom they toured before. It was buzzing with activity and Lena wasn’t the only adult with a nervous kid. Outside of the classroom, there were several pep talks going on. Nate set his back pack at his desk and quietly began unloading while Lena dropped off everything else in the proper piles on a back table. Before she got back to him, a little girl with dark black hair in two neat braids was already talking to him. She was at the desk directly in front of him and was showing off her sparkly pink pencil holder.

Lena stood behind him quietly while he listened intently to how the girl had acquired all of her pink items that weekend. When she finally took a breath, Lena interrupted. “Do you need any other help, Nate?”

“Hi!” She said excitedly, not letting him speak. “I’m Bella.”

“Hi Bella, I’m Lena.”

“My mom says it’s rude to call adults by their first name.”

“That’s not what I said Bell.” A familiar voice sang over the little girl. “I said not to do it if they didn’t tell you to.” The girl looked at her mom annoyed for embarrassing her in front of her new friends.

“Jenny?” Lena said surprised. “I’m sorry, I had no idea your daughter went here. To be honest, I didn’t know you had a daughter. Is this okay?”

Jenny lowered her voice. “With how many classrooms they have, I didn’t expect an overlap to possibly occur. I’ll of course check with my supervisor but I don’t think it would be a problem. As long as you all don’t have a problem with it, of course.”

“Hi Miss Nguyen!” Nate smiled.

“Good morning, Nate!” She returned.

“You know my mom?” Bella interrupted, not liking the attention too far from her.

“She helps my brother and me sometimes,” he explained.

She didn’t actually care. “Cool, wanna go meet Dylan? He is one of my best friends.”

They ran off in a flurry, not acknowledging either adult in the process. Lena pointed towards them. “I doubt he is going to have a problem with this.”

Jenny laughed at the now trio gathered in the corner of the classroom talking about who knows what. “I’m glad everything is going well,” she said sincerely.

“Can I ask you how things are going on your end, or should I make a more formal call?” Lena kept her voice low.

“Same as last week,” she said honestly. “It’s going to take some time but I promise to keep you as updated as I can.”

Lena sighed. She wanted them to have a forever home as soon as possible but she understood nothing happened over night. “Well if that is any indication of things to come, we may be spending more time together that we thought anyways.” She pointed over to the children.

“It would be welcomed company.” Jenny called her daughter over to say goodbye and Nate followed her back.

“I have to get to work but you can call me any time, okay?” He patted his pocket where his flip phone was. She wasn’t sure what to do next. Did she wave? Pat him on the head like Jackson? Nothing? He took the guessing out of it as he leaned forward and wrapped her up in a hug.

“I’ll be okay,” he whispered into her dress.

She rubbed small circles into his back. “I know you will.”

They separated and Lena headed out the door where the teacher was standing handing out another informational. He gave her the paper and then offered his hand. “Mr. Jacobson,” he introduced himself. “You must be Nate’s mom.”

“Guardian,” she corrected. “I’m his guardian.”

“You don’t have a mask and shield,” he joked, getting no response. Little did he know, she was very familiar with that guardian too. He pulled at the hem of his sweater, obviously uncomfortable. “Sorry, bad teacher joke.”

“It’s early,” she smiled reassuringly. “Just wasn’t ready for it.” This seemed to put him more at ease.

“Anyways, this is just a quick summary of what we will be doing this week. I will send this home with them every Monday and expect it to be signed and return that way the parents…or guardians…are always aware of what their child will be working on. Next week, we will be having an open house where we will talk more if you can attend.”

Lena surveyed the paper. She did love a man with organization. The man in question was a thirty something, slim white man with a short cut goatee and shaggy hair. He seemed like he belonged at a coffee shop writing poetry and not a second grade classroom. He looked away from her for a moment to tell some kids to quiet down and she could see a small twinkle in his eye. Appearances were not everything, she reminded herself.

“Sorry.” He looked back to her. “It would be great if you could come. I think it’s important for me to get to know the pare-guardians,” he corrected again. “I think y’all need to know me too, especially if I’m going to be spending so much time with your kids.”

“I’ll be sure to attend.” She headed away so that he could talk to the next parent in line.

When she got back to the front path of the campus, she almost convinced herself to go check on Jackson. She knew he was probably fine but the over protective side of her was starting to nag in her unconscious. Before she could turn around, her phone buzzed in her purse. She dug it out and found a text from Jackson along with a picture. Homeroom…making new friends. You can go to work now. The picture was a selfie of Jackson and another boy with brown hair, braces, and whose tie was twice as loose as his. They were sitting in cramped wooden desks with not a book or notebook in sight. Another message came through faster than she could type a response. My backpack is on the floor with my binders in it…breathe.

She tapped the phone in her hand with a slight edge of annoyance. He always seemed to know what she was thinking. She wrote back a response. Make good choices.

She wasn’t out of the gate before he returned a smartass response. Wait, does that mean I wasn’t supposed to snort that cocaine in the bathroom?

She hated that she laughed. Another text came in quickly. I’m going to be fine here. A kid just asked me if I would keep an extra inhaler in my bag in case there was an emergency because he’s allergic to dust. I think I’ll survive this school without an addiction or STD.

She almost ran into the person in front of her, trying to respond. She apologized and took a step off the street to respond simply- Thank you, now put your phone away. He sent back an emoji with a thumbs up.

When she was finally settled into her desk at work, it felt almost normal. It was a Monday morning and she was scrolling through her email as she had done for the last hundred Mondays before. The difference now was that she was completely distracted. She couldn’t help but wonder if Nate was having a good time and if Jackson felt comfortable being a high schooler. She had reread the same sentence from an internal announcement three times because she kept glancing over at her phone. If they did what she had told them, they wouldn’t even have their phones out during class but that didn’t make it any less tempting to send them something.

“Miss Luthor,” Luke called from the door. “Your first meeting is here if you’re ready.” A distraction, thank god, she thought.

“Yes, please.” She opened the top drawer of her desk and threw her phone in it. The boys would be fine for the next two hours.

She didn’t get back into her office until eleven thirty and she quickly reached into her desk. There were no messages from either brother. The only notifications she had were about another disaster avoided by Supergirl and the latest CatCo story because she was still subscribed to their feed. She waited another twenty minutes before deciding that Nate had found friends and didn’t need a lunch buddy. At least that made one of them. Luke had her usual chicken salad delivered to her desk and she ate in silence while scrolling through the emails she ignored earlier. It was all boring and inconsequential until a message at the top of the list from Andrea caught her attention.

It was a one liner, probably sent from her phone. Hope you’ve had time too look at the package I sent. I know how much you enjoy my toys. -AR

“Cheeky,” Lena mumbled to herself. She unconsciously got a little flushed reading the message. She wanted to send something as suggestive back but stopped herself. It was easy to flirt and tease when there was an ocean between them. Now, only a couple of blocks could turn innocent words into legitimate temptation. That was a road she did not want to go down again. She’d keep it professional. She only had time for one destructive genius in her life at the moment-herself.

The one thing Andrea’s email did do for her was remind her of the fun project waiting in her lab. She made sure there wasn’t anything else scheduled for the day with Luke and headed down to the basement. She unloaded the boxes that were sent over and carefully put everything together per the instructions. Over the weekend, she thought of how she could transition the concept into something smaller but she needed to see exactly how it worked first.

She attached several electrodes to her scalp and put the head set on in its coordinated position. “Here we go,” she said to herself, turning the switch. Bright lights flashed in front of her until they settled into the logo for Obsidian North. Static crackled in her ear before a voice stated clearly, “Welcome to your augmented world experience. Please wait while we process.” A bar appeared that was clearly uploading something as it became fuller. After a few minutes it disappeared, and the voice returned. “Please select how you would like to proceed.” Lena held the remote in her hand and scrolled through the programs Andrea had given her. She decided on a walk in the park.

She felt a jolt of electricity run down her spine, leaving her fingers slightly numb. The instructions told her to expect that, but it was still unsettling. She blinked rapidly as the image in front of her changed from black to an extremely realistic park. It felt like a dream. The voice spoke instructions, “You are now locked into the simulation. You will not need to move your physical limbs to participate.” Lena didn’t understand until she was able to turn her head towards the sound of a bird chirping above her but didn’t actually move at all. The more the simulation loaded, the less she felt attached to her body. She took a careful step forward and she could feel the gravel dig into her shoe. A breeze moved through the trees next to her and it was cool on her skin.

Andrea had explained the concept and theory behind the technology but the actual experience was incredible. It was a combination of previously designed locations with your own memories and experience to trick the brain into thinking it was having the same experience again. “Are you ready to upload individuals?”

“Yes.” She spoke into the mic.

“Let’s begin.”

Over the next hour, Lena explored all the ways she could maneuver within the one simulation. It took her a while to get used to even her own body but eventually she was even manipulating the simulation in real time. Being able to incorporate people from her own memory was unsettling but impressive. She started with Luke to understand how the program used her own memories. He spoke to her in the same way that he would in real life. It was all based on her perception and memory of him, there was no autonomy. Andrea had said one of their main focuses for this was patients with post traumatic stress who could benefit from addressing and confronting different parts of their memories. Lena thought of the parts of her own memory that she could confront.

She ended the simulation at that, not wanting to start something she couldn’t come back from. She unhooked herself and carefully looked at the components of the equipment. This was not going to be an easy project to reconfigure. Even more, it would not be easy to have access to this kind of technology and not use it to sort through her own baggage. She knew she could find the will power because it was too important for too many people.

She poured over the binders of information Andrea sent to try and see if her original thoughts were even feasible. An unknown amount of time later, her phone alarm went off, signaling the boys were done with school. It also meant she had a couple more hours before she would need to get them. A few minutes later her phone dinged again. She held her finger on the spot she was at in the manual and reached over to turn the device to her. Jackson: Survived. At orientation for after school program. Don’t forget to eat. Before she set it down, another message came through. Nate says he had a great day.

She smiled to herself imagining the littler one dictating the message and bugging Jackson until he sent it. She made sure her second alarm was still set and went back to her work.

They met outside of the school at exactly five thirty just as her schedule defined. She was proud of herself for leaving work on time and not making an excuse for them to come to her instead. She was really getting into Andrea’s project and any other day she might have stayed till midnight or later working on it. She was a little conflicted about it until Nate came barreling at her talking a mile a minute about how great his day was. This was a lot better than being alone in a lab all night.

“Slow…” she instructed with her hand pacing a softer rhythm. “I got half of that.” He took a deep breath, having used all of his up the first time around, and talked about his new class and teacher.

“He’s going to let us be pen pals with students in Germany where he used to teach!” He spun around the sidewalk almost running into a post, a dog, and a disgruntled business man that Lena had to quickly apologize to. “How cool is that? I could have a friend from another country!”

“That is very cool. One might say, dope.” Jackson gave her a horrified look. “One might not say that,” she clarified, thinking she used it correctly. “Regardless, you need to keep your excitement contained to this side of the sidewalk, please.”

He calmed down a bit and tried to remain only in front of Lena. “And how was your day?” She asked Jackson who was tossing an apple up and down. Lena didn’t know how he always managed to have food in his hands.

“It was dope.” He mimed with a cat like grin.

“Do anymore cocaine?” She whispered out of Nate’s ear shot.

“Just a little between third and fourth period to keep me awake until lunch.”

She nudged him playfully. “Glad you know your limit.”

He caught his apple and pointed at her. “Crap, I did accidentally get an STD though.” He took a big bite and chewed it to on one side to say. “We might need to get that checked out.”

The woman standing behind them at the stopped cross walk cleared her throat loudly, an indication that she was both listening and displeased with the conversation. Lena turned around sheepishly and could tell the older lady was judging her. If the long hair and equally long jean skirt weren’t enough, the proudly displayed crucifix around her neck gave Lena a pretty good idea of what the woman stood for. “We’re joking,” she reassured the saintly dressed woman.

“God sees all,” she warned with a bit of fire behind her voice. Lena put a hand on Jackson’s back to focus in front and forget her words.  

Lena wanted to ignore the woman, but she could feel her starring daggers into her back. Of course this was the longest cross walk waiting time in the entire city. She was finally over it when she swore she could hear a whisper of a Hail Mary floating to her ear. “Hey Sister Mary Purity, could you please stop with the silent cursing. He’s fifteen, we were joking, that’s all.”

“What kind of parent let’s their child know of such sin?” she spat back.

The crosswalk finally lit up because there was a God and she liked Lena more than this woman. Lena didn’t know what got into her but she decided to answer the question. “I think my wife and I do a good enough job.” The quick lie was worth the ashen face before her.

“Come on boys.” She trudged ahead and by the time they reached the other side the woman was still there, having missed her chance.

Jackson looked at her with a bit of awe and a lot of pride. “Wife?” He questioned.   

“Don’t confuse your brother, please.” She walked a bit faster, thankful that Nate was still so absorbed by his excitement he missed the whole ordeal.

“This is definitely going to be brought up in one our late night chats.” He shouted, running after them. It did not get brought up.

__

__

By Thursday, they were a well oiled machine. Nate didn’t even need her to walk him past the front gate and was fine with Jackson dropping him off. She had a filing system in the kitchen for papers she had to sign and homework she needed to check. Jackson was still working on the tie but he at least had it to a point where he wasn’t getting written up. Nate and her had even developed a hand shake that was basically a high five, a low five, and her fist pump into his open palm that looked like a turtle. Lena wasn’t a natural at it but she tried.

Everyday afterschool, they dispersed to change and do their homework, not that there was much in the first week. They cooked or ordered dinner, watched something, and went to bed. Work was flowing and Lena was getting farther and farther with Andrea’s device. She felt almost more productive because she took breaks and didn’t bring the work home. Honestly, this felt like her normal except she made a detour on the way to work and didn’t have to eat dinner alone.

On Friday, Nate knocked on her office door after school and asked to come in a tone she hadn’t heard from him before. It was a mixture of sad and nervous. She turned in her chair to find the boys head hung low. “You okay, bud?” She set down the pen in her hand and leaned over to comfort him.

“I have the list,” he said in a choked voice. Lena had no idea what he was talking about.

“What list?” He held up the piece of paper and she read off a bunch of names of people in his class. “I don’t understand.”

He looked up to her, confliction written all over his face. “It’s my best friend list,” he said guiltily. “It’s time.”

Lena had to cough into her hand to hide the laugh. This innocent little flower child really thought he was going to rock her world by picking a new best friend. “I just want you to know that I will still be your friend and I appreciate all the time you’ve given to me as your best friend.”  

She stood up and walked the few paces over to her work bench to grab the chair. She pulled it over and nodded for him to sit onto it. “I know this must be a very hard decision for you to make.” She patted his thigh reassuringly. “I promise that I will not be upset with whomever you choose. I might get a little jealous, but I will try to keep that to myself.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

She grabbed the list from his hand and surveyed the names again. “Well let’s make sure we pick a good one. If I’m giving you up to someone else their favorite color better be blue.”

“Bella’s favorite color is blue!” In an instant, the boy was back to his normal self.

Lena grabbed the pen off her desk. “One point Bella.” She marked it next to her name in big letters. “Who likes chocolate ice cream?” They went back and forth until they narrowed it down to Dylan and Bella, two very worthy candidates. She tapped the pen on her chin, pretending to be in absolute focus. “I don’t know, this is too close to call.” She handed it back to him, full of marks and lines through names.

“How did you pick your best friend? Before me of course.” He looked at her, hopeful for some good advice.

Lena thought about how her relationship with Kara evolved. The word that kept coming to mind was persistence. For all the times Lena tried to isolate herself, Kara tried ten times harder to bring her out of her shell. She was so insistent on including her in everything that their friendship was always a back and forth of business and companionship. Sometimes the lines blurred when Kara needed a by line or Lena needed a hug. Even thinking there for a moment, Lena realized there were so many layers to their relationship that she had forgotten about. All of the uniquely Kara things before everything with Supergirl muddied the water. Still, the one thing that kept coming back to her was Kara’s persistence to be around her and to protect her. It didn’t matter what mask she was wearing for that to be true.

“Lena?”

“I chose her because she was there when everyone else wasn’t. Sometimes I made bad choices or people at least thought I did, and she always had my back. The best kind of friend you can have doesn’t go away when you make a mistake or are having a bad day. They help you through it.” A tear slid out of the corner of her eye and down to the page. “I was wrong of course…with her,” she added.

“You can’t make up?” Such an innocent question to a much bigger problem.

“I don’t think we can.”

“Have you tried?”

Lena felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. The good thing about not having any one in your life was that no one could ever confront you about things like this. She could make decisions and not be second guessed. “She lied to me in a very big way for a very long time. I don’t know if I can forgive her for that.”

His brow crunched together in deep thought. “Sometimes I lie to Jackson when he asks me if I’m okay.” Lena wasn’t prepared for that response. “He thinks that I don’t know what’s going on but I do. I always know when people aren’t going to adopt us. I know when people bully us because we’re foster kids. He tries to make things seem better even when they’re not and sometimes that makes me mad. I get angry but I don’t tell him that because I know it would only make him sad.” Lena wanted to say something comforting but words failed her.  “What I’m saying is that I lie to him to protect him. Just like he lies to me sometimes to protect me.” He shrugged “Maybe your best friend lied for a reason.”

Seven going on seventy, she thought. “What if she didn’t?” She finally got out.

“If you lied to me, I would want to know why.”

“Why?”

He gave her his signature smile, “because you’re important enough to me to forgive.”

Her eyes welled up even more. This damn kid. She swiped away at her eye, willing them to stop.

She tried to direct the topic back to the task at hand. “I think you shouldn’t pick between them. You should just all be best friends.”

He pondered on it and then circled both names. “You’re the smartest,” he said looking approvingly at his new friends.

She punched his shoulder lightly. “You’re not too bad yourself. I think you made some good points.” She moved her hand to his and squeezed it lightly. “I want you to know you can always be honest with me about how you’re feeling. You don’t have to be angry or sad alone.”

“I’m not angry anymore or sad…neither is Jackson.” She gave him a questioning look. He hopped off the chair and wrapped her in a hug whispering, “cause we’re with you dummy.”

He ran out the door to go show Jackson his new best friends leaving Lena alone to contemplate. She couldn’t believe that she made the boys feel as safe as they made it seem. She was touched that she was that important to them. She thought of the people that used to be important to her and pondered what Nate had said. Even with the lies and mistakes, was Kara important enough to her to forgive? Her mind easily answered for her-yes. That was never the problem.  She didn’t know if she had the strength to bring her back into her life only to be let down again. She had already given Kara her most vulnerable self and lost everything. Would loving and losing again really be better than how she felt now? She didn’t have the answer and she wanted to put off that thought for as long as she could.

Instead, she threw herself into Andrea’s project. She only left that weekend for their trip to the park and another dreadful adventure to Wal-Mart. She managed to stay there past the milk section and they were able to pick out some more clothes outside of their uniform. After doing some laundry, she realized that two holes was two too many for any article of clothing. After some back and forth arguing, they said their last good byes to a few t shirts, a poor mangled pair of jeans and nearly an entire bag of socks. When they got to the check out and the cashier surveyed her four bags of socks and stacks of clothing, Lena tried her hand at a joke, “Sunday is laundry day.” The woman didn’t laugh but Lena at least got a chuckle out of Jackson who was usually a hard audience.

When Lena called Jenny on Tuesday it was not for professional reasons. They both had to attend the open house for school and couldn’t bring the now best friends. “I have a babysitter coming here and we are right next to the school if Bella would like to come play with Nate for the hour.”

“That would be a life saver! My wife is an ER physician and has to work tomorrow night now and can’t keep her. We can totally split the fee.” Lena was surprised to hear ‘wife’ and pocketed that information for later.

“Don’t worry about fees…It’s actually my assistant, Luke. I’m trading him two hours of babysitting for getting Friday off without having to take a vacation day.”

“Two hours with these guys is going to feel like an eight hour day,” Jenny joked. “Just send me your address and we’ll come over after school.” As soon as they hung up, Lena texted the address and the garage code to park in her private section.

The next day, everyone arrived at her house by five and the pizza came not long after. Luke was surprisingly thrilled at the prospect of house full of chaos. He had several nieces and nephews on the east coast he never got to see so it was a nice reminder of home. He even had brought a large tote bag with him and laid it on the counter.

“Is this turning into a sleep over?” Lena asked, mostly joking.

“Even better.” He unzipped the bag and pulled out a stack of colorful boxes. “Game night!” The kids excitedly gathered around, reading off what he had brought. No one got a word in before Nate and Bella had grabbed Operation and ran to the couch to play.

“Well, that was easy,” he laughed. He turned to Jenny and held out a hand. “Luke Abernathy, CPR certified, three tours of summer camp, and beloved uncle to many a small child.”

She shook it happily. “Jenny Nguyen, social worker, camp enthusiast and producer of that small child.” She pointed to the couch.

Lena looked at her watch and realized they were running a bit behind. “Luke thank you so much. We should be back in two hours but I really have no idea what to expect.”

He waved her off. “Take your time. Get a drink. I’ve been trying to rope some people into game night for ages. Now, I have a literally captive audience.”

She reached into her purse and grabbed a large bill, sliding it into his hand inconspicuously. “Have a little extra fun this weekend then,” she whispered.  

Lena and Jenny headed out the door and down the elevator. It was a beautiful evening. Even for August, the temperature was warm rather than hot and the extra breeze made it perfectly comfortable. “How do these usually go?” She asked, nervously.

“It’s a mommy meet and greet.”

“You’re going to have to elaborate.”

Jenny put a hand over her heart dramatically. “You have no idea what you’re walking into, do you?”

“Obviously not, Jen.”

“Mr. Jacobson is a young, attractive male teacher. This is going to be a cougar fest for all the middle aged housewives who aren’t getting any from their husbands.”

Lena put a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. “That is the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“No, no, no.” Jenny waved a finger. “We are not on office hours. We are two friends going to make fun of a socialite mating ritual. I get to be a little judgmental.” Lena smiled when she used the word friend.

“I thought we were going to learn about the curriculum for the year,” she commented innocently.

 “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. I’ve been in these meetings for the past five years with these same people and when it’s one of the old nun looking women, none of them show up. Throw in any man under forty with a pulse and they come flocking.”

“Are you not friends with any of them, then?”

“Are you kidding? We’re all the best of friends.” Lena was confused, she was just making fun of them. “They know how crazy they can get. It’s actually scary how self aware they are.”  Jenny tried to explain. “That’s what makes them so endearing as friends, they don’t shy away from the truth.” That was refreshing, Lena thought.

In a few minutes, they were already on campus and walking up the path to the school. Lena was terrible at small talk and didn’t know what to say next. She decided to target Jenny’s personal life. “I’m sorry your wife couldn’t make it.”

“Liza hates this crap. She would home school if she could. The only reason we are sending Bella to this school is because Liza’s parents are some kind of board, benefactor, something or another.” Jenny opened the front door. “I never asked you why you picked here.”

Lena slid through. “Nate liked the color scheme,” she admitted.

Jenny chuckled. “I like your reason better.”

They climbed the stairs and entered the classroom. They were ten minutes early but, as Jenny said, it was already full of dolled up women in their forties. Mr. Jacobson was uncomfortably cornered by two blondes in skin tight dresses and kitten heels. He made pleading eye contact with Lena who graciously waved him over, pretending to have a question. He excused himself and walked over. “Bless you,” he said, just above a whisper. “What are the chances I can just talk to you two all evening?” Another arriving mom twirled her fingers at him and he gave her a curt wave back.

“Just tell them all you’re married.” Jenny offered.

He held up his hand dramatically. “I am married.”

“Right.” She looked around hoping another idea would come to her. “I got nothing.”

Lena could sense the eyes shifting from Mr. Jacobson to her. She felt like new prey. “If you excuse yourself to the bathroom, I have a feeling I am going to absorb most of your unwanted attention.” He looked over his shoulder, seeing the shifting gaze as well. Without a second word, he left the room, leaving Lena stranded with Jenny.

It took mere seconds before women came flocking. In another world or maybe a very good dream, it would be ideal. This, however, felt more primal. Jenny shooed the mob away and decided on a more formal announcement. “Ladies and gentleman of Second Grade Sector C,” she introduced grandly. “This is Lena Luthor, yes that one, and she is the guardian of the new student in this class. Do not overwhelm her, please.” The last remark was heeded, and people kept their distance for the most part.

“Jenny, Jenny, Jenny,” a woman tsked. The brunette with bright blue eyes and barely there lips sauntered over in high waisted jeans and a tucked in tank top. She spoke with a thick Texas drawl that felt very misplaced. “You can’t bring fresh blood to the watering hole and not expect us to attack.” It was fitting that the woman’s heels were leopard print because she was on the prowl.

“I was letting her get used to things first,” Jenny defended.

“Here,” she handed Lena the extra cup in her hand. “This will help.” Before Jenny could warn her and not wanting to be rude, Lena took a large drink, not realizing it was going to burn. She coughed and the alcohol nearly ran out through her nose.

Jenny grabbed the cup from her hand and chided her friend. “Karen, you brought booze to an elementary school…again?” The woman shrugged innocently.

Lena finally got her breath back. She reached out her hand to the woman, not wanting to let it seem like she was phased. “It is nice to meet you Karen.” She could feel the last hot drops of what tasted like tequila roll down her throat. “Who is your child?”

The brunette took her hand daintily not giving the shake any effort. “Dylan Wells,” she pointed to a desk in the front of the classroom like that would mean anything. Lena cursed in her head. Of course Nate’s new best friend was the product of this shinning pillar of man’s achievement. “I also have a freshman in high school, Seth.” The cursing grew louder.

Lena put on her best professional smile. “What a great coincidence, so do I. His name is Jackson.”

“Jackson Harris?” Karen questioned.

“Yes…” Lena drew out the word, unsure of the implication.

Karen put a hand to her heart. “That boy is the sweetest child.”

“I…I know,” she furrowed her brows. “How do you know that?”

“Poor Seth is allergic to damn near everything and he loses his inhaler at least twice a day. He usually kept a spare in his classrooms but now with high school they move all the time and he didn’t know what to do. Your son realized they were in every class together and offered to keep it in his back pack for him.” Lena knew this but Jackson had told her that the other kid had asked him, not the other way around. She got a warm feeling in her chest again-that boy never failed to surprise her.

“He’s a very thoughtful kid,” she smiled.

Karen’s face melted slightly and Lena could see past a bit of the show she put on. “I’m sorry about the booze. I’m not usually like this, I just think it’s fun to be a little extra sometimes.” Lena looked to Jenny for confirmation.

“This is like twice normal Karen. A Karen duplex, if you may.”

“See,” the woman put a hand under chin, expounding her innocence. She took it down and took a serious tone again. “Both of my boys talk about yours all the time and I would really like to get the best foot forward. I’d hate for my foolishness to cost either of them a friend. Seth doesn’t do well in that department and Jackson has been really good for him.”

Lena reassured her. “I wouldn’t let anything here get in the way either. Maybe we could get a more consensual drink another time and arrange some play dates.”

“Miss Luthor are you flirting with me,” she winked.

Jenny pushed her out of the way and towards a seat. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, girl.”

Lena sat down next to them in the small, child sized chairs. “For future reference, I’m partial to all animals barking up my tree.”

“Noted,” they said in unison, a bit stunned.

Lena tried to get comfortable in the entirely too small chair while Mr. Jacobson began his talk but any movement just made it worse. She looked over to Karen and Jenny for a second and then back to the front. She had two friends. One was her foster kids case worker and the other was a drunk debutant, but it counted for something.

Chapter Text

“Absolutely not.” Lena waved her hand in front of her. “I have standards and will not sacrifice them for this.”

“You picked dare,” Nate whined. “You have to do it. It’s like the law.” He looked to Jackson for back up.

“Kid’s right. I’ll have to call the cops.”

Lena glared at him. She did not like being ganged up on. “Then I pick truth, instead.”  

“That’s illegal too.”

She grabbed the item in his hand and shook it around, the tube flopping freely in the air. “I am not eating this.”

“It’s just yogurt,” Jackson rationalized. “You’re probably more afraid that you’re actually going to like it.”

How did he always know everything? Yes, she had occasionally looked at the bright blue goo in her bottom drawer. Yes, she had even thought once or twice to steal just the smallest bite. It was her natural curiosity. But if she ate it now and even showed the hint of enjoyment, she wasn’t going to live it down.

“No.”

 “Yes.”

“No, thank you.”

Nate opened the serrate edge and put it even closer to her face. “Smell the sugary goodness,” he taunted. A waft of blueberry filled her nose and it did smell amazing. Her resolve was cracking and she looked at the little bit of blue goop that was falling over the opening.

She tapped her fingers along the counter, getting just close enough to where she could grab it easily. “Fine,” she caved. She grabbed it quickly from his hand before she had time to reconsider, and gave it a tentative taste. Her first reaction was that it was colder than she imagined. The second was that it was much thinner and she nearly aspirated some of it as her taste buds start to acclimate to the massive amount of sugar. She hmmed in contemplation. She took the tube out of her mouth and continued to assess. Even though the blueberry flavoring was extremely fake, it wasn’t bad. It reminded her of the cotton candy at the circus she used to go to every year as a kid.  

“I think she likes it,” Nate spoke up.

She held up her finger, reserving any final judgement until she got through her first bite. She swallowed and had to grab her water from the counter to fully clear the remnants. She did not appreciate Jackson’s smug look. Her face must have made it seem like she enjoyed it much more than she did. “It’s okay.” Jackson mouthed ‘liar’ over Nate’s head. “I would not choose it as a snack but if it were given to me, I would eat it.” She capitalized her point by taking another swig of her half empty tube.

“I knew you were human.”

She finished the whole thing and threw it away under the sink. She thought about getting a large trash container because with two boys and actually cooking most nights, they were changing the bag twice a day. It was an easy chore to put on Nate’s list but it was becoming tedious to hear him complain about it. “Okay that is enough for game night. It’s a school night so bed please.” She pushed Jackson off his perch on the counter and used her other hand to gently move Nate in the direction of his room.

Nate paused in front of his door and turned up to her. “Are we still going to Chuckie Cheese with Bella and Dylan tomorrow?”

“Yes, for the third time.”

“And Seth and I can hang out at the mall instead?” Jackson asked hopefully.

“No for the fifth time.”

He leaned up against the wall next to his door in protest. “We’re fifteen!” He argued. “We’re just going to walk around and like buy a pretzel or something.”

“Not without supervision.” She used her business tone-even and non-confrontational.

“How are you going to know if you can trust us by ourselves, if you don’t give us a chance?”

“What did Seth’s mom say?”

His face twisted up and he mumbled, “No.”

“What about just an hour?” He tried to get back onto the winning side of the argument. “They are right next to each other. We could go over and then come back to eat.”

Lena mulled it over. She wouldn’t give any consent without talking to Karen first, but it seemed like a reasonable agreement. “I’ll think about it.”

He fist pumped the air while he slinked into his room. She didn’t feel like she lost the argument, but it wasn’t exactly a win either. This must be what compromise felt like. She reached in her back pocket and pulled out her phone to text the woman in question. She already had three notifications from her anyways. It was something that Lena was getting used to again. For the last two months, the only people blowing up her phone were Luke and CNN emergency reports. It was nice to get benign messages about ‘the ugliest cat’ Karen had ever seen or a new lasagna recipe from Jenny. They were in a group chat that Karen had labeled ‘MILFs’ and Jenny had quickly changed to ‘Sector C’ for the class they were in. Lena had to look up the first one.

Karen’s message was a string of incomplete sentences that could have been sent as one message. Lena was also getting used to texting someone who wasn’t a journalist. Karen preferred rapid fire, ten messages in a row with multiple capitals and emojis. Jenny, for her part, was more contained but Lena could tell when the clock struck five and work was over because her grammar slacked and there was much more colorful language.

Karen: Jackson and Seth are not having this kiddie party

Karen : He keeps saying he’s old enough

Karen : LMAO if he’s even half of me at that age he’s gonna walk out of there with a tattoo and a gun

Karen : god but he’s also half of Dick

Karen : He’s going to be in on the back of milk carton

Karen : or lost in Hollister

Karen : poor son of a bitch

Jenny : You told him no?

Karen: Yes because teen boys are dumb and dangerous

Jenny: Or this could be a great opportunity to build a foundation of trust

Karen: I’m going to wait till good time Jenny joins the line before I respond to that

Jenny : Fuck off

Lena took this opportunity to respond as well before they took it too far. Since she had been added to the group a week ago, every time she came back to her phone after a meeting it would have thirty or forty messages. Both of the women had careers but still they found time to talk back and forth almost all day. Karen, she had found out, was the head of a non-profit that supported the local children’s hospital that her husband, Dick, worked at.

Lena:  Jackson haggled me and suggested an hour at the mall in exchange for at least eating dinner with us.

Jenny: see that is excellent compromise.

Karen: She just doesn’t have the balls to say no and stick with it

Lena: I will default to you but I agree that they may be more inclined to be honest with us if we show we trust them.

Karen: Jenny pay you to say that?

Karen: Fineeeeee. We can have more girl time without them.

Monday afterschool, Lena collected the weekly update from Nate and read it over while she snacked on some of the chips Jackson had gotten her addicted to. It was the same boring second grade stuff. They did have one day where they were going to go on a nature walk which sounded like something Nate would enjoy. She rubbed her hands together, knocking off the crumbs and grabbed a pen to sign. On the parent line, there was a small handwritten note. Please give me a call when you can-Mr. J. It was followed by his number. She had no idea what that could be about. Nate didn’t seem to have any complaints when he got home.

She grabbed the paper and her phone and headed into her office to make sure she was out of ear shot if Nate were to come back into the kitchen. He picked up after a few rings with a friendly, “This is Max.”

“Mr. Jacobson,” Lena greeted. “This is Lena Luthor.” She didn’t know what he was doing but it was something he must have been embarrassed about because for the next ten seconds she just heard a clattering of items and shuffling of papers.

“Miss Luthor! Thank you for calling me,” he said slightly out of breath.

“Hopefully everything is okay.” She hoped her tone would indicate that she didn’t like to beat around the bush. If something was wrong, she wanted to know upfront.

“It’s not bad, I just thought you might want to know. Nate isn’t really eating at lunch. I’m on cafeteria duty two days a week and I notice that he just picks around at it. This may just be how he is but I thought it was worth letting you know.” He ate like a starved pit bull at home so she was surprised by this.

“That is odd. I really appreciate you letting me know.”

“Of course! He doesn’t seem upset or anything, he just doesn’t eat it.”

He had preferences but he was by no means picky. She thanked him and hung up. Walking out into the living room, she found said boy rummaging through the fridge for a snack. “Hey bud can you come over and talk to me for a second?”

He removed his head from the fridge, a Go-Gurt in hand, and skipped down the steps to sit on the couch in front of her. “What’s up?”

“I was talking to one of your teachers and they said that you don’t really like to eat at lunch. You okay?” She sat down next to him to be as non-threatening as possible.

He played with the edge of his snack, not opening it. “Am I in trouble?”

“Of course not! I just don’t want you to be hungry. You can’t learn on an empty stomach.” She rubbed his back, a motion she had found calmed him down the most.

“Sometimes that food just makes my stomach hurt,” he admitted. “We have recess right after so if I eat too much of it, I get really sick.” He smiled up at her. “I’m starting to figure out what things I can eat but I’ll try harder so you don’t have to worry.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Jackson plopped on the other side of the couch and picked up the remote to turn on the tv.

“Food!”

“My kind of conversation.” He reached over Lena and snatched the yogurt out of Nate’s hand.

“Hey!” Nate tried to reach past Lena to grab it back but his arm was too short and instead he just got tangled into Lena’s lap. Jackson held it out of his reach and licked the edge, claiming it as his own.

“Ewww!” Nate rolled onto the floor and jumped up to start at his brother. “You’re a buttface!”

“Language,” Lena warned, really unsure if that counted as a curse word. “And Jackson can you act your age, please.” He was currently holding his hand on top of Nate’s head, keeping his away from taking back his snack. “This couch is white,” she said in a flat tone, knowing neither of them were listening and nor did they care. She got up and walked behind the couch to where Jackson’s hand floated out of Nate’s reach. With one quick movement, she swiped the yogurt out of his hand, lucky it didn’t splatter everywhere.

“Hey!” They said in unison.

“Jackson go get your brother another one of these and then I will return to you the one you slobbered all over.”

“You’re no fun.” She raised one eyebrow and he took the words back. He slinked off the couch in a huff and ran up to the fridge. He returned with an extra snack and handed it to his brother. Nate took it aggressively, stuck his tongue out, and ran off to his room. Jackson walked back around the couch and held out a hand to Lena for his.

“Before I return these stolen goods, can you answer a question for me?”

“Shoot.”

“Did Nate ever have problems eating lunch at his old school? His teacher says that he just picks around it.”

Jackson bobbed his head as if he knew something she didn’t. “I forgot about that.”

“Forgot about what?” Lena handed over the yogurt, not wanting the threat of it spilling in her hands anymore.

“Last year, he threw up like three times at recess because he ate the hot food at school so he’s really weird about lunch.” He took a big slurp, finishing nearly half of the container.

This was the first Lena had heard about this at all. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Mah may ah bat lump,” he said through a mouthful of blue.

“Swallow, please.” She rolled her eyes-teen boys were something.

“Maybe make a bagged lunch,” he clarified. “He did a lot better with that.” He started around the couch and laid back down to tune into whatever extreme sport was happening on the tv. As Lena walked towards the office he flagged her down. “Don’t make a big deal out of it or it’ll make him embarrassed.”

“Right,” she smiled. “Thanks.” He gave a thumbs up. She didn’t know how she possibly could make a big deal out of it. It was a bagged lunch. “We’re leaving at five thirty so please get your homework done.”

There was a grunt in response. That was Jackson speak for ‘you got it.’

Lena had never been to a Chuckie Cheese and there was a reason. The place was swarming with sweaty children, loud noises, and flashing lights from every angle. It was no wonder that horror films were set in arcades. As soon as they set foot in the place, she was nearly toppled over by a stumpy kid with a hand full of tickets. Karen led the way to a coin machine and grabbed a hundred-dollar bill out of her purse. She put a cup over the spout and inserted the bill. Lena jumped slightly as the machine shook and distributed hundreds of gold coins.

The kids were bouncing like they had just snorted a pile of cocaine, eyes glued to each coin dropping out of the machine. Karen reached over and grabbed two more cups and evenly distributed everything. She handed one to each of them saying, “We’ll be over there.”

That was it. Like newborn calves, they knew exactly what to do and where to go. They sprinted across the building towards all the lights and sounds without a second word. “They just go?” Lena watched in awe.

Karen grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the parent section. “They go and we relax.” They found a booth open and sat down.

“I’ll grab the food. The usual?”

Karen folded her hands in a prayer. “Please.”

“Lena you drinking?”

Her eyes widened. “You can do that here?” Jenny took her question as a yes and headed towards the counter.

“There is no supervision here.” Lena looked to their section where a smattering of parents were either talking, eating or texting. Looking back to the game floor, parentless children in throngs were banging and bashing their hearts away without a care in the world.

“That’s what the employees get paid for. They make sure everyone gets a turn and no one gets hurt while we get to spend two hours talking about things besides our children.” She leaned back and stretched out her arms. “Isn’t it magical?”

Besides the teacher meeting and work, Lena didn’t know the last time that she had free time that didn’t involve the boys. It’s not that they were driving her crazy but everything was so focused on making sure they were comfortable, she realized she hadn’t done anything for herself. Jenny came back and distributed cups of cold beer in kiddie cups. Lena took a large drink and sighed.

“The new parent and her first drink,” Karen said it a slight baby voice.

“Guardian,” Lena corrected.

“Sweetheart listen, I don’t care if you’re Mami, mom, guardian, mentor or whatever else they’re saying as long as you are taking care of humans under the age of eighteen, you’re a parent.” Karen held up her drink. “And as long as you’re a parent, you need a little suga from time to time.” Lena appreciated the sentiment.

“To parenthood,” Jenny held up her glass. They clinked the plastic together, spilling some of the amber liquid onto the counter. Lena went to wipe it up but Jenny quickly stopped her. “No…we’re off duty. We just let it sit there like those adorable little assholes do.”

Karen reached over, grabbed Jenny’s neck and pulled her over to lay a thick kiss on her cheek. “God I love after hours Jenny.” Lena was suddenly thankful she sat on the other side.

“So what do we talk about?”

“Anything besides our children and work.” Jenny replied.

Lena ducked her head a bit. “I’m afraid I’m going to be rather boring than. I don’t do much else.”

“Who do you hang out with besides us?” Karen offered up, as something they could talk about.

Lena’s slight flush gave her away.

“You do have other friends, don’t you?” She continued.

“It’s complicated.”

“Your ex get them all in the break up?” Karen had no filter. “Or did you run them all off like your br- “ Jenny reached over and smacked a hand over her mouth quickly.

“I’m working on her programming. She still glitches sometimes.” Jenny glared at her friend, hoping it would incite her to behave.

“It’s okay, really.” Lena shrugged. “I’m a Luthor, there isn’t a joke or snide comment a man with an ill-fitting suit hasn’t tried to level at me over the past few years.” She took another drink. “I didn’t lose them because of an ex, per se. They didn’t choose a side, I did.”

“What does that mean?”  Jenny asked.

She felt like she had recounted this information a thousand times so she tried to simplify it. “My friends lied, and I chose myself over them.”

“Hell yeah you did.” Karen put up a hand and Lena high fived it lightly. “Screw em, you have us.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

Jenny, ever the social worker, looked at Lena with an investigative glint. “You’ve cut off all of your friends?” Lena avoided her eyes and looked down into her nearly drowned cup instead. “How long ago?” Her tone was soft.

“Three months…give or take.”

“I’m sorry, that must have been very difficult.” She reached a hand over but Lena removed hers from the table, crossing them over her waist instead.

She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but something told her that this was a safe place. “I wish I could just stop thinking about her…them.” She caught herself but Karen was paying attention more than she let on.

“Her?” Karen’s eyebrow raised, now interested again in the conversation. “Did she steal your boyfriend or break your heart?”

Lena’s head shot up abruptly. “What?” Her hands reflexively extended out from her torso and braced on the edge of the table. “That isn’t…that’s not.”

“Have we hit a nerve?” Karen twiddled her fingers over her chin.

“No,” Lena stammered. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Lay off,” Jenny warned her friend. “Lena you don’t have to defend anything. It’s not our business unless you make it that way.”

Lena was still too flummoxed to respond. Break her heart? How could Kara have possibly... She broke her trust. She broke her faith in friends. She technically was the reason Lena broke the picture frame in her office. But her heart? Lena felt the familiar squeezing pressure in her chest that began whenever she thought too much about the woman. Was that a broken heart?

“Hey,” Karen waved a hand in front of her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to send you into a panic.”

“You haven’t,” Lena put a hand to her chest, feeling the reassuring beat. “I just hadn’t thought about it that way before.” She looked up into the concerned green eyes. “She did,” She swallowed thickly. “I think she did.” A single tear fell from her eye into her cup.

“Oh puddin’, I was just being an ass.” Karen pushed Jenny quickly out of the booth so she could come to the other side and sit with Lena. She wrapped the woman up and pressed her tightly to her chest. “We’re here for you. Don’t think another thing about them.” The innocent gesture made her choke up more because it felt exactly how Kara would hold her when she was upset. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’ve talked and cried more in the last month than I think I’ve done in my whole life.”

“You’re making up for lost time,” Karen said reassuringly, still rocking her. “If you want to talk, we’re here for you.”

“I don’t even know where to start anymore,” Lena sighed.  

“You said they lied to you?” Jenny offered a lead point.

Lena didn’t know how to be truthful without giving up information that wasn’t hers to share. “I can’t really talk about it but it made our whole relationship feel like a lie. Like she was never really doing all of these things because we were friends but because she was keeping tabs on me.”

“Because of your family?”

“Exactly.”

“Honey, that would break anyone’s heart to find out they were being used by someone that close to them.” Karen still hadn’t left her side and was rubbing her arm softly. “That is just being human.”

“Has she tried to talk to you at all since then?” Jenny probed further.

Lena laughed for the first time in that thirty minutes. “Once…we ran into each other at Wal-Mart the first day I had the boys. She must have thought that was a sight.”

“What makes her so special? You’re pretty hung up on one person.” Karen asked.

The waitress came up to their table and set a large pizza between all of them. The heat rolled off of it, steaming up the edges of their cups. Karen shooed her away as politely as she could and focused back on Lena, eyes expectant for an answer.

“I just never had a friend like her.” She played with the edge of her cup, circling her finger around the edge in a calming repetition. “I moved here a few years ago and literally knew no one. I didn’t really want to if I’m being honest. I was very career focused and was trying to get myself out of the hole my brother had buried us into. CatCo was doing a big piece on it and they ended up sending Clark Kent and his cousin.”

“I remember that piece,” Jenny interjected. “I had never read something good about a Luthor.”

“Neither had I,” Lena smiled. “That was because of Kara. She protected me from day one. Our friendship wasn’t something I asked for but it was the one thing that saved me a lot.” They had no idea how true that statement was. Kara, as Supergirl, had saved her life within days of meeting her and so many times thereafter. “We were kind of inseparable for years. That’s what’s been hard. So much of my life here is intertwined with her and all of her friends and family.”

 “It sounds like she wasn’t just a friend,” Karen mumbled, eliciting a kick to the shin from Jenny.

 “What?” Lena questioned.

 “Nothing!” Karen poured some of her own drink into Lena’s cup. “It sounds like a hard friend to lose.”  Jenny gave her a look that said act your age. “It sounds like you need some good old-fashioned closure. “We egg her apartment!” Karen exclaimed, her eyebrows high. “Or ruin her dry cleaning.”

The look apparently had no effect so Jenny threw a napkin at her. “Those are both crimes and beneath us.”

“What would you suggest Mother Theresa?” Karen retorted. “Should we light a candle for her at church?” She folded her hands in faux prayer and looked to the heavens.

“Fighting fire with fire only burns the world.” She crossed her arms like a parent lecturing her kids.

“Do you ever get lonely on the moral high ground?”

“There’s pretty good wifi up here,” Jenny quipped. Karen had to hold her fists tight to avoid reflexively flipping off her friend. Jenny turned back to Lena and gave her a small smile. “Lena I’m saying this as a friend not because I have a degree in this. Closure is a healing thing and it can be very difficult to move on without it.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Lena admitted.

“Why are you so afraid of confronting her?”

Lena looked everywhere but at them. This had gotten a lot more honest than she expected girl talk to be. She knew the answer to her question, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say it out loud. Their expecting looks didn’t help. “I think that I’m scared.”

“Of having to deal with all of those emotions again?”

“No,” Lena chuckled halfheartedly. “I deal with those emotions every day anyways. It’s like they know when I’m not on my guard and they slip into my mind and trip me up.” She took a courageous chug of what was left in her cup before giving them the truth. “I’m scared that I was wrong…and if I let her talk, she’s going to convince me that I destroyed my personal life for nothing. Or…”

“Or?”

“I’m right, which means I have been the village idiot since the moment I moved here and the only reason they ever pretended to care about me was to use me.”

They let that loaded statement hang in the air for a moment.  “Do you want my opinion?” Jenny spoke first.

“Of course.”

“You’ve come up with worst case explanations for what happened. I’m not saying that what happened wasn’t horrible, because I’m sure it was to have hurt you this much. But living with those scenarios playing out in your head sounds a lot worse than getting the truth. Only we know our darkest fears and insecurities, which means that no one is better at hurting us than we are.” Jenny shimmied her shoulders, proud of her analysis.

Lena considered her words for a moment. It was true that no one would ever understand her fear of rejection and betrayal the way that she did. In a way she was tormenting herself by playing it all out in her head, each scenario more painful to think of than the last.

“Okay, I’m gonna need about three more drinks if we’re diving this deep into the human psyche,” Karen groaned.

“You might have a point,” Lena said quietly after a moment. “I just don’t know…”

Jenny patted her hand in a comforting gesture. “Give it some time. You’ll either know when you feel the time is right to talk, or you’ll decide that you don’t need to talk. Nothing this painful is going to be fixed in a day.”

“Lena look!” The three women were interrupted by Nate running up to them with a small polka dotted plastic duck proudly displayed in hand. “Look what I won at the claw machine! I’m gonna get you one to match!”

“That’s amazing!” Lena laughed, wiping her eyes discreetly. “I’d like that very much.”

When Nate ran away again, the atmosphere had shifted, almost as if all women sensed that the conversation needed to take a lighter turn.

“Okay, so this a weird segue... but Ashley,” she turned to Lena, “you know the mom who’s always on Facebook posting weird duckface pictures with her kids.”

Lena shook her head. “I have no idea who that is.”

Karen patten her hand. “It doesn’t even matter, sweetie. Anyways, she it totally pregnant!” Jenny eyes widened in disbelief.

“Why is that shocking?” Lena asked.

“Because her husband has been working in Brazil for the past six months,” Jenny clarified.

“Oh.” She still wasn’t sure what she was missing. It took a few seconds but Lena finally caught up to the implication. “Ohhh!” Karen spent the next fifteen minutes detailing how she came to this assessment.

Their conversation flowed easily and changed to more PG things when the two mall adventures finally showed up to eat all of their food.

When they got home later that night, she nearly had to carry Nate to bed. He clung to the tiny blue elephant he had won with all of his tickets with one hand and the oink duck with the other. Lena had her fireman duck in her purse to match. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she could have bought him thirty of them for the amount of money they spent on tokens. Jackson was also more tired than usual. He and Seth had passed their first ‘responsible teenager’ test and celebrated by seeing who could eat half a pizza the fastest. Seth both won and spent twenty minutes throwing up in the bathroom. Jackson was a human garbage can so Lena wasn’t surprised that he was perfectly fine and even kept eating after the challenge was over.

Lena was thankful for her new friends and their honesty. Karen could be a little too honest but it was a refreshing change of pace. She was going to take her advice, though. She wasn’t going to force a conversation between her and Kara but if the moment arose, she wouldn’t shut her off. She’d leave it all up to fate.

The next day, Lena had spent nearly five uninterrupted hours perfecting her protype for Andrea. She told the woman it would be ready to go by Wednesday and in true Andrea fashion she already had set up a meeting with investors and half of her board. Because of such short notice, Lena needed to make sure that thing worked and she also had a presentation done to pitch it to the deep pockets of National City.

She left work early that day to work on the presentation and was sitting on the couch reviewing some of her new designs when the boys breezed through the door. Bags flew onto the counter and shoes were kicked into a pile by the door, even though there was a perfectly functional shoe rack directly to the left. She heard the fridge open and knew that had to be Jackson for his midafternoon snack. He really was an endless pit.

She put down her tablet and walked up to the island. They had already retreated to their rooms, leaving behind opened cabinets and crumbs on the counter. “Nice to see you too. Hope you had a good day,” she  mumbled to herself, sarcastically. She grabbed a paper towel and swept the remnants into her hand. Pulling open the trash can with her foot, she wiped her hands off into the nearly empty can. As she closed it, she noticed a crumpled up paper with the school logo at the top. She reached down and pulled it up by the corner, unsure of what it may have touched.

She flattened it on the counter with a paper towel and ran her hands over the edges to clearly make out the announcement. It was for the high school soccer team. Usually, the boys put anything from the school in the organizer which meant Jackson didn’t want her to see this. She picked it up and walked down the hallway to his door. She knocked lightly and was given the okay to enter.

“What’s up?” He was folded intricately into his chair and slid off his headphones as he turned to her.

She held up the crumpled paper. “Is there a reason this was in the trash?”

He put his headphones back on and swung back to his computer. “It’s not important,” he said coldly. That was unusually curt of him. She walked in further and leaned against his desk, putting the page over top of his keyboard.

“Jackson.” He didn’t look at her. She gently pulled up on one of his headphones. “Jackson,” she repeated, unnecessarily loud.

“What?” He yanked down his headphones again. “It’s just a stupid soccer flyer.” He pushed it off his computer and into the floor.

Lena took a deep breath. This would be her first argument with a teenager. She had read multiple online articles on the subject and tried to bring all of their advice to the surface. “I can see that this is upsetting you, would you like to discuss why?” Nailed it.

“No.” Or not.

“We tell the truth to each other,” she said more sternly. “That’s the deal.”

He met her eyes and cracked. He bent over and picked up the paper that had fallen to the ground. “They handed this out during gym today.”

“Are you interested in it?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t played in years but it sounded fun.”

Lena crossed her arms and leaned back farther into the desk. “What’s the problem then?”

“There’s no point, is there? Even if I got on the team we’re probably just going to move half way through the season and I’ll have wasted all of that time anyways.” He waved his hand broadly around the room. “Normal people don’t have all of this Lena. They aren’t going to be able to keep us in a fancy school.”

She realized where he was coming from. “Jackson, that isn’t going to be a problem.”

He wasn’t finished. “People who take in kids like us don’t have money for places like that.”

She put a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down. “Jackson no matter where you go to next, you’re going to be able to stay at Finley. You have a scholarship.”

“I do?” He asked surprised.

“It’s good for as long as you want to be there.” She pulled her hand away and lightly punched him with it. “You think that I would just leave you hanging?” She tried to lighten his mood.

It worked and his attitude instantly changed. She could see his shoulders slack and his jaw unwind. He fiddled with the paper again. “I can try out for soccer,” he said mostly to himself. He looked up to her and gave a hopeful smile. “I can try out for soccer?”

“If that is something you want to do, we will figure it out. You don’t have to hide these things from me, okay?” He nodded, a bit shamefully. Lena didn’t want him to feel that way either. “I’m always going to try and help you. Even if you weren’t here in this apartment, I’m going to be there for you.”

“I know, I’m just still getting used to that,” he admitted.

She ruffled his hair the same way he did to Nate, something she found outwardly annoyed him but he secretly loved. “When are the tryouts superstar?” She tried to peek over the edge but the date was hidden in a crumpled crease.

“Two weeks.”

She grimaced a bit. “That’s not a lot of time. We’re going to have to find a way to get you back into shape.” She reached over and picked up three junk food wrappers that were scattered around his desk. “Elite athletes don’t snack.”

He took them out of her hands and shoved them into the trash can behind him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice one of my bags of doritos missing yesterday.”

“That was probably Nate,” Lena deflected.

“He doesn’t like them.”

Busted. “It was a ghost, then.”

He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow in victory. “Give me that,” she grabbed the paper out of his hands so she could get more details about the new endeavor they were getting themselves into. She headed out of his room while he put his headphones back on. “I paid for them,” she mumbled to herself.

That night, Lena slept all of three hours because she couldn’t wait for the meeting she had with Andrea. She spent nearly every moment of work for three weeks perfecting this new design and today was the day she would show her. By five am, she decided that laying in bed wasn’t productive so she got up and dressed. She drank an extra coffee in the kitchen, waiting for the boys to finally wake up as well.

They rolled out of bed by six fifteen and were less than enthused by Lena’s too hyper demeanor. “Good morning!” She sang, half way through her second shot of espresso.

Jackson ignored her and reached in the cupboard for cereal and two bowls. She swore his eyes weren’t actually open and he had just memorized the steps. Nate followed, the stuffed elephant still under his arm as he sat in the closest bar chair. His brother slid over the filled bowl and turned to the fridge for milk.

“It’s a beautiful morning,” she tried again.

Nate looked over his shoulder to the window. “It’s still dark out.”

“Lena we know you have your big fancy meeting today,” Jackson hummed.

“Oh yeah!” That seemed to shake Nate out of his daze, “I’m sure it’ll go great! Good luck!”

“Thank you both!” Lena replied with a smile. “I think it will too.”

It only took them ten minutes to get out of the door, and another fifteen to get to the school. Lena gave Nate a quick hug goodbye. Jackson waved, stepping back like he was afraid she was going try to hug him in public too, and Lena couldn’t help but laugh a bit.

At lunch time, Nate tried his hardest to eat the sloppy joe and fries. He finished nearly all of it before Dylan graciously offered to finish it for him. When they got outside, his stomach was rumbling and he tried to breathe through the little bubbles that were coming up the back of his throat. He looked around at all the kids playing, wondering what he should play. Before he could make a decision, Dylan was calling him over to the monkey bars. Somehow, the boy was already on the third rung before Nate even had a chance to get there. He ran over and got in line behind Bella and watched as Dylan almost grabbed the last bar before losing his grip and falling off.

“You almost got it!” He cheered.

“Bet I can get farther,” Bella taunted and began to climb across. She got to the same place and couldn’t hold on any longer and fell on her knees.

Nate climbed up the ladder and placed his hands on the first bar. He didn’t like this game because he wasn’t very strong and it always hurt when he landed on the mulch. His stomach churned again and he took a deep breath. He started across while Bella and Dylan argued over who was actually better. He strained as he reached out for each rung and really wanted to just drop to the ground. The benefit of making it to the other side though was there was another ladder and he wouldn’t have to ruin his pants. He made it farther than he ever had before and his friends started to take note cheering him on to the finish. One bar left.

“You got it!” Bella yelled.

His hand started to slip but he gripped harder and reached as far as he could for the last part. He grabbed on and as he swung forward his foot catching on the ladder of the other side. He quickly stabilized himself and grabbed the pole holding up the entire contraption. He couldn’t hear his friends cheering him on because he was too focused on the swirling in his stomach. He took one step down and onto the mulch before he clenched his abdomen.

“Dude are you okay?”

Nate started moving quickly to the concrete sidewalk and as soon as he was there, his entire stomach emptied onto the path. He could hear the shrieks of several of the second graders before he wretched again. He sat down on the bit of edge that separated the road and the mulch, feeling the worse was over. A hand patted his back, but he couldn’t look up to see who it was, not wanting to move at all. “It’s okay Nate,” Dylan reassured. “Bella’s gonna get Mr.J.”   

A few minutes later, more footsteps approached him. He was settled back to normal and was able to look up at Mr. Jacobson in his Argyll sweater running toward him. He side stepped the pile of vomit on the sidewalk and kneeled down to Nate’s level. “You okay bud?” Nate nodded, using the back of his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth. “Have you been sick?”

“No.” He said, a little breathless.

“Was it something you ate?” Nate nodded vigorously. “Do you think we can get you to the office? We can get you cleaned up and home.” He silently stood up in agreement.

“Here!” Dylan took off his sweatshirt, a stained white polo hidden underneath, and handed it towards Mr. Jacobson. “He can wear this.”

“Thank you, Dylan. That’s very generous of you.” He took the sweatshirt and tucked it under his arm. He put his other hand on Nate’s back gently guiding him towards the main building. Another teacher passed them in the opposite direction, a garden hose over their shoulder.

When they got to the office, they moved through a few more doors until they came into a room with an exam table and containers of medical supplies. There was a door open in the back corner that led to a bathroom. Mr. Jacobson found a wash cloth and some mouth wash in one of the cabinets and handed it to Nate. “Why don’t you go change into this sweat shirt and clean up anything on your face, okay? I’m going to go get Mrs. Roberts.”

“Yes sir.” He took all of the supplies and headed to the back door. Before he went in, he turned back to his teacher. “Can you get Jackson?”

“Of course.”

Nate felt much better after washing out his mouth out with some water and cleaning off his face. He carefully changed into Dylan’s shirt and folded his soiled one. He found a plastic bag beneath the sink and put it in that. He took a small cup that was in a holder next to the mirror and filled it with water. He drank three of those before heading back to the room and sitting down on the exam table. He knew the drill.  

Mrs. Roberts walked in the room in her usual long tight skirt and fluffy blouse. “Oh my, you poor thing!” She walked over to Nate and patted at his knee. “I heard that lunch didn’t sit well with you.”

“I ate too much,” he admitted, a little embarrassed.

“That’s okay sweetie.”

She was about to say something else when the door opened and Jackson blew into the room. “What happened?” He looked over Nate thoroughly not seeing any obvious damage. “You okay squish?”

“Hot lunch,” Nate said and Jackson instantly knew what was going on. It wasn’t the first time he had been called to the office for this.

“Unfortunately, he can’t go back to class today so we’re going to have to call Miss Luthor to come get you.”

“No!” Nate threw up his hands. “Don’t call Lena, I’m fine!”

Pam narrowed her eyes. “Is there something wrong with her. Do you not feel safe with her?”

“What?” Jackson said appalled. “Of course we do. We’re fine with her.”

“Her meeting is today,” Nate explained. He put his hands out as far as they would go. “Her big meeting. She can’t miss it.”

“Honey, even if you threw up because of food, we aren’t allowed to send you back to class. Someone is going to have to come get you.”

“But I’m fine. It only happened once…well twice…but I’m not even nauseous anymore,” he argued.

Jackson stepped between them. “There isn’t anyone else we can call?” He pointed back to his brother. “He’s obviously fine. We could even walk home.”

“I cannot in good conscious let him go home alone.” She had an apologetic look on her face. “We have to follow policy.”

“Please, there’s not anyone else?”

Pam exited the room momentarily and returned with a file folder. She laid it on the nurse’s desk and opened it the emergency contact page. “Do you know a Miss Alex Danvers?” She read the first line, enunciating each part of her name.

Nate looked to Jackson hopefully. “Yeah, she’s Lena’s friend from college,” he lied. “She even helped us move into Lena’s.” Not exactly a lie. She didn’t seem completely convinced. She wasn’t convinced the day that Lena had written those names down in the first place.

Jackson tried to reassure her as much as possible. “We’ll text Lena so she knows but this meeting is really important to her.”

“Let me see if Miss Danvers will even answer.” She picked up the landline and dialed the number. The boys held their breath waiting but she put the phone back down before saying anything. “It went to voicemail.” She could see the pained look in their eyes and went back to her paper. “And Kara Danvers? Is she another college friend?”

Jackson clenched his fists. What would be worse, having Kara pick them up or having Lena leave her meeting early? He decided on asking for forgiveness rather than permission. “Yes ma’am,” he said through slightly gritted teeth.

She picked up the phone again and this time the person answered immediately. “Hello is this Miss Danvers?” There was a pause. “This is Pam Roberts from Finley Preparatory Academy, you were listed by Lena Luthor as the emergency contact for Nate and Jackson Harris.” Jackson could hear a bright voice on the other end but couldn’t exactly make out what she was saying. “One of the boys got sick during recess today and policy dictates that he has to go home for the day.” A question came through. “They have made it clear to me that Ms. Luthor has an important meeting today and to call you instead. Could you come to the school?” They held their breaths again. “Yes that is the address, the main building is a straight shot from the street. Thank you.”

She hung up the phone and turned back to the boys. “It seems that the other Miss Danvers would be willing to come and get you. Before you leave, I would like to see proof that you have contacted Miss Luthor, though.”

“Yes ma’am.” She walked out the door while Jackson quickly pulled out his phone. He opened Lena’s contact and started a rapid text explaining the situation. He wasn’t sure that she’d even have her phone with her. Don’t freak out. Good start. Nate got sick at recess because he ate too much at lunch. He is totally fine right now but Mrs. Roberts said that we still have to go home. She called your emergency contacts and Miss Danvers said she would come and take us. He conveniently left out which Danvers. He finished the text with a selfie of him and Nate smiling, proving they were fine.

They sat there another twenty minutes and there was still no response. Jackson decided to try calling but it went straight to voicemail. “Hey Lena! Just reiterating that we are fine and don’t leave work please.”

He pushed the phone towards Nate and gave him a look that said add something please. “It wasn’t even the most I’ve ever thrown up!” That was not what Jackson meant. He went to hit ‘delete voicemail’ but the door opened, causing him to quickly lock his phone instead.  

“Boys, Miss Danvers is here.”

Jackson, trying his best not to give away that he didn’t like the woman in front of him and plastered on a huge smile. “Kara!” He walked over and wrapped her in an unsuspecting hug. “Thanks for coming to get us!” His tone was fake and he hoped that she was smart enough to play along.

“Hey…guys.” They were screwed, she didn’t even remember their names. “I heard there was a bit of an accident and Lena is tied up.”

Nate pointed to his stomach. “My tummy didn’t agree with the sloppy joes.”

Kara winced for him. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.” She turned to Pam. “I just sign him out and take him home?”

“Yes,” Pam reached over to the desk and grabbed a card, handing it to Kara. “If you could just give us a call when you get there or if anything gets worse, that would be appreciated.”

She adjusted her glasses and read the name on the card, logging it in her memory. “And J-“ she knew it started with a J but she couldn’t make her mind think of his name. Nate mouthed his brother’s name behind Pam’s back. “-Jackson. Can Jackson come too?”

Pam pondered it. She looked up at the clock over Nate’s head and smacked her lips several time. “I think that would be fine,” she concluded. “He can make up anything tomorrow.” She turned to the boys who were trying to hide their excitement of basically having a half day. “Did you get a hold of Lena? I tried calling her myself but I wasn’t able to get through.”

They shook their head no. “Like we said, she’s in a pretty important meeting. She’ll probably call us as soon as we leave.” Pam looked between the boys and Kara trying to decide if this was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Jackson picked up on her hesitation and decided to put the last nail in the coffin. “I think they’re figuring out their end of the year budget and what corporate donations to make. I’d get killed if I told you this, but I’m pretty sure I saw the Auditorium Campaign flyer you gave her in her bag this morning.”

He could see the spark light up her eye and knew they’d be good to go. “Well, we wouldn’t want to interrupt her, then.” She was beaming. “Miss Danvers, if you could just sign them out at the front desk when you’re ready, please.” She walked through the door, shutting it behind her.

Jackson let his fake smile rest and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked over to Kara who was nervously fiddling with the card in her hand. She was wearing bright yellow kapris with a pink and white polka dot button down shirt tucked into it and her hair in a high ponytail. On first glance, he didn’t understand how this was the woman that had betrayed Lena and turned her world upside down. This woman looked like Susie homemaker barbie.

“What is really going on?” She questioned. She walked up closer to them, just in case there was a nosy third party at the door.

“Exactly what she said,” Jackson shrugged. “Nate got sick and we have to go home but can’t take ourselves.”

“Lena’s in a meeting,” Nate added. “She’s been talking about it all week. I don’t think she’d be very happy if she had to miss it.”

Kara looked down at the boy. She remembered his sweet face from the store, and it broke her heart to see him so wiped out. She didn’t realize that Lena was their guardian. Alex had refused to tell her more after they had ran into each other and she had been trying to respect that boundary. “You live with Lena? Permanently?”

“We’re foster kids.” Jackson’s bright and sunny tone that he had greeted her with was now gone. “Lena is letting us stay with her until we can find a place that will adopt us.” She shook her head, processing that information. That made a lot of sense, especially seeing them in Lena’s apartment all those weeks ago. What didn’t make sense was that she was listed as some form of emergency contact.

“You haven’t been able to get a hold of her though?”

 “We texted her, promise.”

Kara didn’t know what to do. She obviously couldn’t leave them at school but what was she going to do when they got back to Lena’s. Stay there until she got home? Before she could ponder more, Jackson’s phone began to ring in his pocket. He pulled it out quickly and put it to his ear. The voice on the other end was already rushed and panicked.

“No, no, no.” He gestured with his hand to calm down, even if she couldn’t see him. “He’s fine! It was one time.” Jackson, she spoke sternly enough for them both to hear. He walked away from the two of them into the corner of the room, out of ear shot.

“I really like your shirt,” Nate commented. “Is pink your favorite color?”

She couldn’t help but smile at him. “I’m more of a blue fan.”

“No way!” He trapped Kara into an excited conversation while Nate was having more of an argument a few feet away.

“He ate too much at lunch, got sick, and now he can’t go back to class. They just want us to go home for the day, just in case it would happen again.”

I’m coming over there. “Don’t! You’re just going to make him upset if he knows you’re missing this meeting,” he whispered. “Miss Danvers is going to take us.”

There was a long pause on the other line. He could imagine Lena in her office scrambling for things so that she could leave quickly. She’s on her way? He looked up to where Kara was now chatting with Nate. He weighed his options. If he told her she was there, she would want to talk. And then she would find out it was Kara and not Alex. And then she would probably come over in a flurry. “Yeah she’s on her way but she already said she would take us home.” He was lucky that Kara wasn’t eavesdropping because Nate was taking up too much of her attention. Can she stay with you until I get done?

“Yep, already asked that too,” he lied again. He heard some more shuffling which was probably her laying everything down. I will have my phone on me so if there is anything alarming you call me immediately and I want you to text me when you get home too.

“Promise.” He turned around to Nate, giving him a thumbs up. I will see you in two hours and tell Nate I will get him some ice cream on the way home. “I will, good luck with the rest of the presentation!”

He hung up and walked back towards them. “Lena says it’s all fine and she’s getting ice cream for dinner when we she gets back!” He gave his brother finger guns as if he had just closed a multimillion dollar deal.  

Kara looked at him a bit stunned. “She is okay with this?” She twirled a finger between the three of them. “Me taking you.”

“Yeah.” He gave her a faux look of innocence. “Why wouldn’t she be?”

She straightened her shirt reflexively, feeling suddenly very exposed. “I wasn’t sure if you knew our,” she couldn’t find the right word. “…history.” She settled on. “We haven’t been on the best…or any terms for that matter recently.”

“I think Lena knows that this is about Nate and not what you did or didn’t do to her.” He voice was flat and a bit cold. “She’s selfless like that.” He appreciated that she came but it didn’t change the fact he knew she hurt Lena.

Kara retreated into herself a bit. So, they did know. “Let’s just go, please.”

She held her bag closer to her chest and walked towards the door. Jackson walked out first, back pack half slung over his shoulder. Nate followed, only having the plastic bag with his ruined shirt in it. He stopped in the doorway. “Thank you,” he said softly. He looked to Jackson, almost for permission before adding. “I really appreciate you coming to get me. It’s very nice of you.”

“I’d do anything for Lena.” She looked directly at Jackson who now had his arms crossed.

Lena wanted to leave. She sat down at the end of the table in front of Andrea’s board, as well as, some keen investors and wanted to disappear into the leather and escape out the back. She had already finished the first part of her demonstration and was now waiting to actually bring out the protype. In between, she would have to sit through Andrea’s vision that was taking much longer than Lena had anticipated. She kept her phone on the table in front of her, inconspicuously placed underneath a page of her legal pad. Before she had come back into the meeting, she had sent a message to Alex, thanking her. She hadn’t received a response back, nor a message from the boys. She fiddled with the cap of her pen, trying not to break the plastic in half. Finally, a flash of light appeared through the page and she quickly, but subtly, lifted up the sheet, pretending to write something down.

Jackson: In the elevator headed up. Nate is going to shower and I’m going to bleach his shirt. I promise I’ll make him take it easy the rest of the day.

Without looking, she tapped back. Call me if things change. At least they were home. She was going to owe Alex a hell of a bottle of whiskey after all of this. She looked back up and pretended to nod along to another point that Andrea was making.

When the elevators opened into Lena’s front hallway, Kara got a weird feeling of déjà vu. How many times had she come up this elevator and easily walked right into Lena’s front door? It was automatic after a long day to come over, drink wine, and order take out. Something felt different now. Like going back to an old school you haven’t attended in years. The physical walls haven’t changed. Neither had the distance from this door to the next. Still, it felt different, like she had only ever been there in a dream. She followed the boys down the hallway and waited while Jackson unlocked and opened the door. He pulled out a bubble gum pink key from his bag and Kara had to bite down on the inside of her cheek. That used to be her key.

While they walked through the door and did their usual routine of kicking off their shoes and throwing their bags down, Kara lingered in the entryway. Even before she had a foot through the threshold, she could tell that the apartment was different. The usually empty front hall now had a small shoe rack, hooks on the wall with several jackets hung, and a large blue rug that said ‘Welcome Home.’ Were they in the right place? She cautiously ventured farther in and was calmed by the same white tones that predominated. This was the apartment she remembered. The more she looked around, though, the more she noticed the small touches that were definitely not the same place she had been months ago.

The shelves above the tv had various knick knacks now. Lena had always kept books there but now they were accompanied by a few stuffed animals, colorful statues that she couldn’t make out, and a few honest to god pinecones. She turned into the kitchen and set her bag down on the island. The boys had gone to their room, leaving her a few seconds to process. She surveyed this space as well. It wasn’t immaculate like it used to be. She ran her fingers over a dried milk ring next to her bag. Turning, she noticed the organizer on the far counter. Each rack was labeled for Nate or Jackson and had a spot for ingoing and outgoing information.

“Excuse me,” Jackson reached around her and stuck two papers into his top rack. He didn’t acknowledge her reflexive apology and turned to raid the fridge. She watched as he produced an array of junk food and snacks from cabinets that had always been empty when Kara was here before.  He placed the corner of a bag of chips in his mouth and then loaded the rest of the items in his arms. He looked up at Kara. “What?” He mumbled, trying not to lose the item in his mouth.

She took a step back and looked down at the ground, adjusting her glasses. “Nothing.” She met his eyes again. “I just haven’t been here in a while. It’s weird to see it so…” she didn’t have the right word.

“Lived in,” he offered. He dropped the bag of chips, letting it land at the top of his stack. “When we first got here, this place looked like a high end prison.” Kara didn’t expect him to respond to her. Their walk there was silence and she could feel him giving her the cold shoulder.

She tried to keep the momentum going and gave him her best, most sincere smile. “I really like what you all have done with the place.”

Noticing that he was being friendly, Jackson quickly corrected course. “Thanks,” he said flatly. “I’m going to check on Nate.” He pushed past her down the hallway.

“Great,” she said to no one in particular. She walked down the steps and pulled out her phone from her pocket. Sitting down on the couch, she clicked Alex’s contact for the third time that afternoon. Once again, it went straight to voicemail. Why did everyone have some big meeting today? She sent a follow up text as well. Well I’m at Lena’s with her FOSTER kids. They hate me. Please call back. She rocked the device back and forth in her hand, not sure what to do next. Should she text Lena and tell them they were back at the apartment? Jackson said he did it in the elevator, but should she also send one anyways? What was she even supposed to do now, sit in awkward silence in an apartment that was foreign to her with people that didn’t like her? This was going to be great.

She scrolled on her phone for ten minutes before hearing small feet pattering down the hallway. She looked over the couch and saw Nate in bright green pajamas walk towards her with a blue object tucked into one elbow and his other hand dragging a blanket. He walked down the steps and sat on the other end of the couch putting a body length of distance between them. His hair was wet and a stray brown curl hung down his forehead and dripped bits of water onto the front of his shirt.

“Hi,” she greeted, hoping they could start over.

He pulled the blanket up to his lap and laid it over himself. “Hi,” he smiled. She remembered him missing his front teeth but now there were two little stubs coming into their space.  He played with the fray of the blue cloth, not making anymore eye contact.

“I don’t think I ever got to introduce myself properly to you. I’m Kara Danvers.”

Nate looked over the couch, peering to see if Jackson was around. Seeing the coast clear, he leaned over and whispered quickly. “I’m Nate.”

Playing along she also started whispering. “It’s nice to meet you. Are you feeling better?”

He gave two thumbs up. “It happens sometimes. I wish recess was before lunch instead of afterwards!”

“I wish I got a recess.”

This made the boy giggle. “Adults don’t need recess they have jobs.” Kara thought of her two jobs. Her work as Supergirl could technically be counted as recess. At least she got to do it outside.

She scrunched up her nose in an overly dramatic fashion. “You’re telling me that Lena doesn’t have recess every day? That’s not like her at all!”

“We do have a game night on Sunday and chess on Saturday but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her play…like run.” He looked up at the ceiling, thinking about his interactions with Lena. “I don’t think she knows how to run.” Kara had to stifle a laugh. The kid wasn’t far enough. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen Lena run by her own choice. “She probably wouldn’t be very good at tag,” Nate concluded.

“Well I am very good at tag if you need someone.” The words were out before she could think about their implication. She couldn’t promise that to him. He didn’t seem to care. His face lit up at the prospect without thinking about the obvious conflict of interest.  

Before he could respond, Jackson walked towards them and settled on the couch next to his brother.

 “What are you all talking about?”

“I was just about to ask your brother about school.”

Jackson patted Nate on the shoulder. “It’s fine, right?” Nate didn’t look up at his brother but nodded in agreement. “See it’s fine.”

The older boy leaned forward, grabbing the remote off the table. He turned it on and switched to National Geographic. “You know Karie,” he purposefully mispronounced her name. “You can go…we’ve stayed home by ourselves before. Lena will be here in a bit anyways.”

She narrowed her eyes at the tween. “Kara,” she corrected through a forced smile. “I don’t think it would be a good idea, especially if Nate gets sick again.”

There was a tense few moments of silence. Kara took a steadying breath before addressing them calmly. “There is obviously a problem here. I have a feeling I know what it is about, but I don’t think now is the best time to get into it.”  

“What problem?” Jackson said almost too sweetly.

Kara narrowed her eyes at him. “I know you don’t like me very much,” she started. “And after today, you probably will never have to see me again. So, can we just call a truce for a few hours?”

Nate elbowed his brother hard. “You’re being rude,” he whispered.

“Whose side are you on?” He said back.

“Lena wouldn’t want us to be mean.” He looked at Kara and back to his brother. “She would never be mean.”

Jackson breathed out loudly through his nostrils. He hated when his brother was right. He looked over to Kara who was still waiting for a response. “Truce,” he offered. “For him.” He nodded to his brother.

“Thank you.” He didn’t acknowledge her and stood up, walking off to his room.

Nate scooted a little bit closer to her. “Wanna see my room?” Even though he knew this woman hurt Lena, he couldn’t bring himself to shun her. It just wasn’t in his nature. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the first door down the hallway.

She was surprised when the door opened, revealing bright blue walls. She had stayed in this room several times when it was plain and white. It felt like a completely different space. “Your favorite color really is blue,” she commented with a laugh. She looked around while he started talking a mile a minute about all of his books and toys. She started really tuning in again when he reached his bookshelf. He pointed out his hierarchy of stuffed animals, presenting the new elephant he had won that week. Kara would have paid a lot of money to see Lena in a Chuck E Cheese. She held the elephant in her hands while he pulled out a few pokemon cards and his books too.

 Finally, on the top shelf, he grabbed a little plastic container. As he did, a magazine behind it fell of and towards the floor. Kara’s reflexes were quick and she snatched it before it landed on the ground.

“These are my chess pieces.” He proudly opened the lid. “Lena and I play every Saturday.” Kara nodded but was more focused on the familiar magazine in her hand. She flipped it over revealing the first cover article she’d ever written. Lena stared back at her, green eyes piercing as ever. How did he get this?

“Lena had that in one of her boxes she was getting rid of so I kind of took it,” he answered her question. She didn’t miss the fact that Lena was getting rid of this. She imagined the woman had gotten rid of a ot of things attached to her.

“She looks so cool in that picture!” He closed the lid of his chess pieces and put it back up. He grabbed the magazine and flipped it open to the article itself and pointed to a paragraph. “This is my favorite part.”

She read over the words she had written talking about the superhero nature of Lena’s very human acts. “It’s still as true today as when I wrote it.” She handed it back to him.

“You…wrote…it?” He looked at her in awe, clutching the magazine to his chest. “You’re a journalist?”

She had never had that kind of response when someone found out her day job. Usually, that was a reaction reserved for Supergirl. “Yeah, I write for CatCo.” He couldn’t stop staring at her as if she was bathed in a completely different light to him now. “I’ve probably written more articles about Lena than anything else.”

He didn’t respond, instead going over to his desk and pulling out his blue notebook. He quickly flipped to a new page and began scribbling. She looked over him, seeing her own name at the top of page. He stopped writing and looked up to her. “I want to be a journalist.” He held up his notebook proudly. “I love writing, especially about people.” She read the two lines he had written about her: journalist, Lena’s ex friend. That was pretty good summary of her life right now. Even her work as Supergirl hadn’t been a focal point in her life for a while. Crime just wasn’t like it used to be.

“That’s really cool! Have you tried writing any stories yet?”

He pulled another notebook out of his desk and handed it to Kara. “I like to pretend that I am on the school newspaper and I’m the second grade reporter.” She flipped open to the page that was dated a few weeks before. The large print detailed the first day of school and all the new people. There were even two interviews from a male and female student about what they were most looking forward to for the school year. She flipped to another random page that was a sports report about a kickball game at recess. A boy named Dylan’s team won by two runs but there was questionable refereeing.

She couldn’t stop smiling. This was the purest thing she had ever seen. “This is really good, Nate.” She patted the notebook in her hand. “I bet if you ask your teacher he would publish some of your articles in your classroom.”

“Really?” He took the notebook back. “Would he fix the spelling? I’m not very good at that.”

“That’s what the copy editor is for.”

“Right!” He said, not knowing what a copy editor was but not wanting to seem dumb in front of a professional.

“If you ask Lena, I wouldn’t mind reading some of these for you and sending them back to you with my edits.”

His jaw literally hung up. “I…I would really like that.” He bounced over to her with pure energy and wrapped himself around her waist in a hug. “Thank you, Kara.” She fell into the hug a bit and patted his back lightly.

“Anything for a budding journalist.” He let go and dragged her over to his desk. He sat down and opened the notebook to his favorite article and began asking questions about how to make it better.

Thirty minutes later, they went back into the kitchen where Jackson had appeared again. He had his computer on the island, typing away at something. Nate got into a cabinet and pulled down the bag of lays chips. “Not too much,” Kara warned.

He had already put a handful in his mouth. He chomped them down and then smiled sheepishly. “I’ll go slow, promise.” She looked over to Jackson who was absorbed into whatever was going on on the screen. His face was scrunched up in confusion and she could tell he was trying to mimic whatever they were. He swiped his leg back and forth and hit the chair next to him. He grabbed his foot, bouncing in place for a moment before setting it down. Frustrated, he took off his headphones and threw them on the counter.

“You okay?” Kara questioned.

Jackson pushed the chair out of his way. “Fine,” he grumbled. “It’s just this stupid tutorial isn’t helpful.”

Kara saw the crack in the door and jumped into it. “What’s it for?”  

He contemplated it for a second before conceding and turning the screen towards her. There was a man on a large grass field with a soccer ball at his feet. Jackson pressed play and that man moved his foot against the ball, repeating the motion several times before stopping. “I’ve got tryouts in a couple of weeks and I’m trying not to embarrass myself.” He turned the computer back to him. “We are going to get a ball this weekend so I was trying to get my form right...it’s a lot harder without something to actually kick.”

Kara thought for a second. “Do you have saran wrap?”

 “Yesss?” He elongated the word, questioning what she was about to suggest.

“Perfect, grab that for me.” She turned to Nate. “Can you grab me a sweatshirt or two t-shirts?” The boy happily set down his chips and ran off to his room. He returned with both. Jackson handed her the saran wrap and she started to finagle together a make shift ball. She rolled up the sweatshirt and added the tshirt too because Nate’s clothes were so small. She started wrapping the mass in saran wrap and tightened her motions until she had a confluent, roundish mass. Happy with her work, she tore off the edge and tucked the last piece in. She threw it over to Jackson who caught it with an umph. She realized she hadn’t pulled back her strength as much as she should have.

“It’s great but it’s not really going to bounce back to me.”

She walked around the counter and distanced herself a few paces from him. “Kick it to me, then.” He set it down and hit it with the side of the foot, like the man in the video tried. It careened off in an oblong direction, nearly knocking into the shoe rack. Kara walked over to it and slid her foot over the top of the ball, dragging it back to where she was before. “We need to work on your form just a bit,” she laughed.

“She means you suck,” Nate teased from his perch on the counter.

Jackson turned to his brother and grabbed the bag of chips out of his hands. “Aren’t you supposed to be sick?” He held them far out of his reach until Nate almost fell of the counter trying to reach for them.

“They settle my stomach,” he argued. Jackson rolled his eyes and dropped them back into his brother’s lap.

“Are you ready to focus?” Kara asked, jokingly stern.

“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.

She pushed the ball away from her with the top of her foot and lined her other foot adjacent to it. “Okay so you want your left foot to be pointing where you want the ball to go.” She looked up to him for confirmation that he was paying attention. “Then you’re going to swing your leg through like this and hit it right at this part.” She patted the outside of her foot. She reminded herself to control herself and performed the motion. The ball raced across the floor and into Jackson’s shin.

“I can do that.” He reset the ball and practiced a few times without it before passing the ball back to Kara. It landed perfectly at her feet. A little less force than her ball but it was the first time. He smiled up at her, surprised that he had caught on so easy.

“Okay, now see how I stopped it with the side of my foot. Try that when I kick it back.” She launched it to him and he sort of followed her instruction but it ricochet up and nearly hit Nate. It rolled over to the front door and stopped before the now opened door. They were giggling until they looked over to where it had landed.

“What’s going on here?” Lena stood in the entryway, several bags in her hand.

Kara stepped closer to the boys. “Sorry, I was just helping Jackson with- “

“What are you doing here?” Lena’s voice was quiet but Kara could always hear her.

Kara looked to the boys and then back to Lena. “You needed me to pick them up from school,” she answered, confused at Lena’s surprise.

Lena walked quickly into the kitchen and set the bags down next to where Nate was sitting. “Boys go get washed up for dinner, please.” They heard the command in her tone and quickly went down the hallway.

Kara still didn’t know what was going on. “Lena, I’m sorry. I thought you wanted me to stay until you got home.” The woman laughed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This had to be some sick twist of fate.  “Lena?” She wanted her to stop saying her name. It was simultaneously like a siren’s call and nails on a chalkboard.

“I didn’t think it would be you,” she tried to explain. The meeting had taken away all of her energy and she didn’t think she had anymore to give the situation in front of her. “Jackson said it was Miss Danvers, so I just assumed- “

“Alex,” Kara finished. No wonder Lena was okay with ‘her’ taking the boys. She didn’t think it was her at all. She had saw a glimmer of hope all day about getting a moment to talk to Lena. If she was willing to trust her with the boys than maybe she had gotten to a point where she would be open to discussing what happened. That was obviously not the case and Kara felt very out of place again.

She walked past Lena and reached for her bag on the back counter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you didn’t know.” She turned to her and saw that Lena didn’t look mad. She just looked tired. “Are you okay?” She asked reflexively.

Lena took a deep, steady breath. She wanted to fall into that question. She wanted to sit on the couch and tell her best friend that this day had kicked her ass. “It’ll be okay,” she decided on instead. She met the woman’s gaze and tried to offer a reassuring smile. “This isn’t your fault. It was just a miscommunication.”

There were a few moments of silence where they just stared at each other, not sure where to go next. Kara made the first move. She nodded towards the door and lifted her things off the counter. “I’m going to go.”

She made it a few paces before Nate stopped her. “You’re not staying for ice cream?”

Kara looked back to Lena who didn’t give her any indication of what to do. “I have to get back to work actually. I have a few articles still on my desk to review.”

“Please?” He asked hopefully.

Jackson walked past his brother and sidled up next to Lena. He leaned on the counter and whispered under his breath. “It’s up to you.”

Kara leaned down to Nate and patted his arm. “Another time, maybe.” She stood up and turned back towards the other two. “Jackson it was so nice meeting you. I hope the tryout goes well.”

She started for the door and began putting on her shoes. Lena looked between Nate’s broken face and Kara’s retreating form. She cursed internally. “Kara,” she called. “We can’t possibly eat all of this.” The woman turned quickly on her heels, not expecting the invitation. Nate was already jumping towards Lena, thanking her. He wrapped up her waist in one of his classic, bone crushing hugs. Above his head, Kara was looking at her in disbelief. She mouthed, are you sure, and Lena nodded. She took her shoes back off and joined them again in the kitchen.

Jackson grabbed four bowls out of the cabinet and set them down on the counter. Lena reached around him and grabbed spoons to match and a whole roll of paper towels, knowing what kind of mess both Nate and Kara would probably make. Once everything was sat down, she unwrapped the bags revealing three different cartons of ice cream-each of their favorite. Nate grabbed his chocolate and hugged it to himself, not caring if it was still frozen.

“I hope you know you’re sharing that with me,” Kara teased, jokingly grabbing at the container. He hid it farther away and hissed.

“You’re going to have to settle for vanilla,” Jackson said, throwing her the last carton that wasn’t claimed. He had already opened the moose tracks and put two large scoops in bowls for him and Lena. He handed her a bowl and she leaned against the counter as far away from the other woman as she could get. She watched as Kara and Nate fought with their spoons like they were swords. He finally conceded and gave her one scoop of his coveted chocolate. This all felt like a fever dream to Lena. Kara was in her kitchen, playing with her k-. She stopped her internal monologue before it went too far. It was still surreal. She got that familiar knot in the pit of her stomach. Had nothing happened between them, this would have been a familiar scene. If Kara was still around, of course she would be eating ice cream in her kitchen and playing soccer in her entry way. This was what had been missing that sometimes kept her up at night. These were the moments she wanted to share with her all this time. She looked between the three of them and her heart was so full.

As she saw Nate shovel another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, she stopped her over active brain and put a hand over his to stop the spoon. “Can we slow down please?” She gave him her serious look.

“Sorry, Lena.” He set down the spoon down and put his hand in his laps.

“If you’re not going to eat that,” Kara leaned over and swiped the top of a chocolate peak and put it in her mouth.

“Hey!” He quickly grabbed the bowl and ran around the other side to hide by Lena. “She’s not fair.”

“Is anyone going to fill me in on what happened today?” Lena asked, diffusing the situation. Nate started detailing every second from being dropped off at school until just now, in excruciating detail. His ice cream was almost completely melted by the time he was done. Lena couldn’t help but look over to Kara several times throughout, especially when he talked about her helping him with his articles. When he finally ran out of oxygen, she looked over to Jackson. “And you?”

“We were trying to work on my soccer skills,” he said succinctly. “Kara’s pretty good.”

“Well she did play in high school,” Lena commented, the sentence not passing through any filter.

Kara looked at her with bright eyes, touched that she had remembered that detail about her life. “I did. I wasn’t an all-star or any thing but I definitely know the game, unlike Lena.” She tested the water with a joke.

“Is there something you would like to say,” Lena raised an eyebrow to her.

“Nothing that you don’t already know,” Kara shot back.

Lena smiled at they shared a look that made her feel suddenly very unsure of her decision to let the woman stay. “We should clean this up.” She shifted the conversation.

“I should go, too.” Kara quickly picked up on the change in mood. She was a fool to think that it could be this easy just to fall back in step with Lena. It wasn’t real. It was a kindness because the boys were around and Lena was too proper to embarrass her in front of them. Like Nate had said earlier, the black haired woman wasn’t mean.

“Maybe you could help me with my soccer again?” Jackson asked. He looked to Lena quickly. “If that’s okay?” She clenched a fist beneath the counter, trying to transfer all of her feelings to the straining limb. Of course Kara had won over the boys. It was impossible not to love her.

“We’ll talk about it,” she pacified.

Kara once again grabbed her things and put her shoes on. Lena turned to the boys and instructed them to clean up while she led their guest out. Nate hugged Kara goodbye and Jackson gave a single wave. They went back into the kitchen while Lena waited by the open door for Kara to double check all of her belongings.

Lena led them out of the front door, careful to close it to prying ears. She put her hands in her pocket and leaned against the solid metal. “Thank you for everything today. You didn’t have to and I appreciate you taking your whole day for them. I know there was a miscommunication but please understand I am not mad about it, I’m just still processing everything.”

Kara crossed her arms over her waist and hugged it tightly, trying to hold all of the emotions that were threatening to spill out. “They are great, Lena. I don’t think they liked me very much at first but I figure they had their reasons.”

Lena quirked an eyebrow. “Were they rude to you, today?”

She unfolded herself, holding up her hands in their defense. “No, I didn’t mean it like that.” She raised the edge of her lip in a faint smile. “They were just protecting you.”

“Those two would protect a puppy from a mountain lion,” Lena joked, realizing she had started to relax again around the woman. “It’s funny because they remind me a lot of you.”

“Me?”

“They are kindhearted, extremely loyal, and eat everything in my home.” Kara laughed and Lena’s entire body froze. God, she had missed that laugh. It used to be the only thing she had to look forward to in her entire day. There was something so sincere about the way Kara’s eyes scrunched and her teeth barred every time she even made a light joke. It was one of her favorite things about the woman.

Kara could tell that the energy was shifting back to how it had been at the end of the ice cream break.

Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t fall back into how they used to be.

“It’s an amazing thing what you’re doing for them. Even with just an afternoon, I can tell how happy they are with you.” Kara rocked back and forth on her heels, not sure how much more she could talk before breaking. “I can tell how happy you are too.”

Lena leaned her head back against the door and stared up at the ceiling. She knew this was going to happen. Whatever conversation they were about to have was inevitable, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it this exact moment. “It might be the happiest I’ve ever been,” she admitted.

Kara swallowed hard, knowing that it was true and hating that fact too. She hated that she couldn’t make Lena that happy and it was all because she had to always keep half of herself from her. They stood there in silence before Kara finally mumbled, “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” She didn’t know where she was going to go with this but she had to say something. She couldn’t walk away again.

Lena sighed. “And how exactly was this supposed to happen, Kara.” The name rolled off her tongue so easily that she couldn’t even put any malice behind it. It sounded more like a plea.

“I…” Kara looked at her and it felt like she was looking right into her soul. Lena knew if she turned right now she could escape back into her apartment and leave this behind her for good. Nothing in her body would move, though. “I should have told you so long ago.”

“Don’t, please.” Lena held up a hand. Half of her didn’t want to hear an excuse. Half of her didn’t want to be wrong.

Kara swallowed back her words and took a stabilizing breath. “Five minutes, and then you don’t have to see me again,” she pleaded.

“Three.”

Kara took what she could get. “I should have told you,” she started again. “Every time I started to, I would find another excuse not to. I convinced myself that I was protecting you. I had enemies that could have used you to get to me and if I just kept putting this barrier between who I was as Kara and who I had to be as Supergirl than maybe you’d be safe.” She ducked her head and put her hand at the base of her hair, grabbing nervously at the hair. “But then one day you were so angry with me, with Supergirl…but you still loved Kara.” Tears started to sting her eyes and she blinked past them. “I just kept thinking, if I could be Kara, just Kara, then I could keep you.”

She had to stop, barely able to breathe through her tears. She wrapped her arms around her waist again, rocking back and forth to keep herself together for the two minutes she had left. “I was selfish and scared and I didn’t want to lose you. So, I kept pretending and I never stopped.” She looked up at Lena who was frozen against the door, water pooling in her own eyes. “Every time I kept my secret from you, every time, I wasn’t protecting you, I was hurting you…just like everyone else.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “I have read this letter every single day since I got it…I didn’t realize…I was so selfish, Lena. I didn’t understand what I was doing to you. I am so sorry. I am so so sorry that I became another person in your life that let you down.”

Lena didn’t have a response. She didn’t expect Kara to say those words. It was so honest and she could tell how much pain this must have caused Kara as well. The woman wasn’t done. “Lena keeping this secret from you is the biggest regret of my life. I know that I hurt you and I don’t deserve your forgiveness but I’m asking for it anyways because I can’t do this without you.” She took a step forward and lowered her voice. “I always thought that Supergirl was the part of me that I wanted to be. I thought that the human parts of me were weak and couldn’t make a difference. You changed that for me. You made me love Kara…because she was important to you, not Supergirl. She was a person that you trusted to change the world, just like I trusted you as Lena…not a Luthor.” She wiped her eyes again, trying to see clearly. “I think that we were destined to be friends, Lena. You are the only person who has ever really understood me and there is something here that has always felt like more and I don’t want to throw that away because of my selfishness.”

Lena processed all of her words slowly. There was something about their relationship that felt like it was destined. A Luthor and a Super supporting each other was different. More importantly, the way Kara and Lena supported each other outside of their family names meant more. Lena felt the same way as the other woman. Kara had been the one to make her love herself in spite of the family she came from. She had been a constant reminder that Lena paved her own destiny, it didn’t have to be written out for herby anyone else.

“Please say something?” Kara was out of time and out of words. She wasn’t even sure if what she said made sense but it was at least honest.

Lena gathered all of her thoughts together. She put them into little pro and con columns as quickly as they came and tried to calculate some form of rational answer. Even as she did this, she knew there wasn’t a rational answer her. She was going to have to make a decision from her heart, not her brain. “I’ve missed you too,” she started. She could see Kara’s face perk up slightly at this. “I was…I am so hurt Kara…and I’m still trying to come to terms with this. But a friend of mine recently told me that closure is an important step in healing. I think that what you’ve said is going to really help me with that.” She pulled at edges of her pockets, trying to transfer her energy anywhere else. “I would like to talk more to you about this. I think we both deserve that.”

“Really?” Kara almost started crying again out of relief.

“I can’t promise what will happen after that,” Lena cautioned. “But I’m willing to listen, if you’re willing to too. There are things that I need to say to you too.” Kara wanted to reach over and hug her.

Lena pushed off of the door and opened it, finished with the conversation. “Goodnight, Kara.” The woman gave the smallest wave, unable to form words. Lena entered halfway through the door before turning back. “What are you doing on Saturday?”

“Nnn…nothing,” she finally got out.

“Rotary park by the chess benches, one pm. Jackson is going to need all the help he can get.”

Kara laughed through her fading tears. “I’ll be there…I mean unless.” She twirled her finger to the ceiling, implying flying.

“Good,” Lena tapped the side of the door. “We can talk some more after that.”

“Lena,” Kara called a final time. “Thank you…for listening.”

“Thank you for being honest.”

Lena closed the door and let out a stumbling breath.

Chapter Text

breakthrough: Penetration of the opponent's position, or destruction of the defense, often by means of a sacrifice.

The kitchen was clean when Lena stepped back inside. She walked towards the couch on autopilot and collapsed into it as soon as the back of her legs felt the pressure of the cushion. She could feel her pulse in her ears and was struggling to stabilize herself. The pounding in her chest was accentuated by the rising bile in her throat. Her fingers grabbed for the closest pillow, pulling it close to her chest. She held on tight, trying her best to suppress her sympathetic nervous system. She knew this was just a biological response to stress and fear but she felt like she had enough adrenaline running through her veins to out run a bear.

She took several deep, slow breaths and felt some equilibrium returning. She was so focused on herself, she hadn’t noticed Jackson had joined her, a few feet away. She jumped slightly when a hand touched her shoulder. He pulled away quickly, lacing his fingers together so they weren’t tempted to move. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice shaking slightly.

She turned to him and freed one of her hands to cover his. “No, no…” she struggled to get her voice out. “Please don’t apologize. I was just a little startled.”

He leaned farther away, a small shadow of guilt playing across his brow. “I meant about Kara.” He grasped at the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have lied. I’m so-”

Lena stopped him. “Do not apologize for this.” She felt almost normal and set the pillow down behind her. “I know that you were trying to protect my job.”

“That doesn’t mean I had to like her,” he admitted, almost embarrassed.

Lena swallowed a laugh. The poor kid thought he had a chance against Kara’s endearing charm. “Jackson you are fifteen years old. Kara and I are adults. You do not have to fight battles for either one of us. It is not your responsibility.” She gave him her best smile. “You’re allowed to like Kara. You’re allowed to be nice to her. I don’t want you to ever hate anyone, especially not for me. My family is known for how good they are at hating…we,” she pointed between them, “we are better than that.”

Jackson nodded his head towards the kitchen where Nate was writing something on the counter. “That’s what he said you would say.” Lena smiled, glad she had a decent impact on someone in this house.

Jackson scooted a little closer and lowered his voice. “If you don’t mind me asking, what did she say to you that has you so upset?”

“She told me the truth,” Lena said, succinctly.

“So you’re friends again?”

Lena scrunched up her nose. “I think there is a lot more going on still but we both deserve to talk it out at least. I don’t want to hate anybody either, Jack.” She stopped herself, realizing that was the first time she had ever used his nickname.

“What changed?” He asked, genuinely. “I thought you never wanted to see her again.”

Lena looked around her apartment at all of the things that had changed. Physically the place was completely different. It was so warm and lived in, something she had never achieved on her own. It also represented how much she had changed to. Her world used to be so black and white with no room for grey. It kept her protected but it was a perfect standard no one could be held to. Now, everything was a little tinted. She was starting to realize room for error made things beautiful and exciting. “Don’t let this go to your head,” she prefaced with a smile. “But I think you two may be a good influence on me.”

Jackson brushed his shoulder off. “Well, I knew that.”

Lena rolled her eyes. “More specifically, I think Nate has been a good influence on me.”

The boy heard his name and bounded down the stairs towards them. “Whispers don’t make friends,” he pouted. He jumped and landed on the free piece of couch between Lena and Jackson.

“We were just talking about Kara,” Lena said truthfully. The boy’s face twisted in confliction. “I know you had a good time with her. I was just telling Jackson that it is perfectly fine that you liked her and want to see her again.”

“Really?” His eyes were wide in excitement. “I don’t want to if it’s going to make you sad.”

“You not being happy makes me sad,” she said with a small nudge. “You looked like you were having the best time with her.”

He got up on his knees, coming even closer to Lena. He put his notebook in her face and pointed at the title on the page. “She is going to help me fix this article for my class. It’s about everyone’s favorite game at recess!” Lena put a hand on the front of the notebook, pushing it just far enough from her face that she could actually read the title. Recess Report. “Kara helped me come up with the title for my call run.”

“Your column?” She corrected.

“Yeah, that.” He smiled, continuing to turn the pages. Lena wasn’t sure if the emotion she was feeling right now was anger at Kara for being so quick to web herself into Nate’s world without knowing if she could follow through with her promises. Or jealousy because Nate shared this part of his world with Kara instead of her. If she was honest, it was a little of both.

“That is going to be a great story, Nate!” She put on her most sincere face and hid all of the jealousy behind a lipsticked smile. “Do you want me to talk to Mr. Jacobson about getting you an official place to put it?”

“Do you think he’ll listen to you?”

Lena puffed up her chest in a faux sense of authority. “Miss Danvers may be a writer, but I am a business woman…I’ll have him so convinced of it, he’ll think it was his own idea.” She winked at him.

Nate suddenly got very upset and put his hands over both of his eyes. “I didn’t get her address!” He started mumbling to himself but she couldn’t make out what he saying because his hands were muffling the sound. He finally looked up rapidly between the two of them. “What am I going to do? I can’t send her my report if I don’t have her address.”

Jackson flat out laughed while Lena had the decency to keep it in. She calmed his hands with her own and gently reminded him that it was the 21^st century and phones existed. This didn’t seem to satisfy him. “Why don’t you ask for her address on Saturday?” She offered. They both looked at her confused. “She has agreed to continue your much needed soccer lessons in the park, while Nate and I play chess.”

Jackson was dumbfounded but a smile slowly crept across his face. “You’re serious?”

“I’m going to say this one more time so I want you to listen carefully. The only thing you need to worry about is being happy and healthy. Anything else going on in my world or the big world out there doesn’t come before those two things.” She looked at them pointedly. “I appreciate that you wanted to protect me but I’m the adult. I can put aside my personal feelings if it means that you get to work on your journalism and you get to suck less at soccer.”

“Hey!” Jackson threw the pillow next to him at her. “You don’t have to put it like that.”

“I thought I was always supposed to honest with you,” she retorted, trying to keep her face as serious as possible. He clinched and shook his fists in the air in front of his face.

Nate ignored his brother and leaned farther over towards Lena and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning his head against her stomach. “Thank you for understanding.”

She laid her hand on his back and rubbed it gently. “I can’t wait to read all of your articles.”

He pushed off of her and tapped his notebook. “I wrote one about you too.”  Her heart clenched. “But I don’t want you to read it yet.”

“Okay, I guess I can be patient.” She was feeling so much better than ten minutes ago. Her equilibrium was syncing up and she the nervous energy that felt like it could catch fire at any moment was slowly dissipating. “To close this team meeting, we are all on the same page when it comes to Miss Danvers?” It was easier to say than Kara.

“Yes ma’am.” The said together.

“Perfect, then let’s order some real food because I have a feeling Jenny might remove you from my home if she finds out I tried getting away with feeding you ice cream for dinner.”

They had decided easily on Chinese. After eating nearly an entire adult portion of orange chicken, Nate was huddled in a ball on the couch watching the nature channel. They tried to get him to slow down after his episode at school, but it seemed like he had never seen food before in his life. Now, his head rested on a pillow in Lena’s lap. She tried to get him to go to bed but he promised that he was still awake and just needed to give his neck a break. Jackson was on the other side, feet propped on the coffee table. They had started watching episodes of Chopped but Nate started to get nauseous again so they switched it over to a special on an orphaned baby Elephant. Nate had started to become obsessed with them since he won one a few days earlier.

Lena could tell that he was almost out when he started to mumble about wanting his own elephant. He rationalized that it could live in the living room and they could take him on walks down the private elevator. Lena and Jackson just laughed at him and let him have his dreams. She looked at the clock on the microwave and realized it was way best everyone’s bed time. She reached for the remote and paused the tv, much to Jackson’s disdain. “School night,” she leveled. He begrudgingly complied. She shook Nate lightly and he tightened his grasp on the pillow. “Come on, bud. You need to get to your bed.”

After the third try, he finally woke up enough to march towards his room. He never fully lifted his head so Lena walked behind him, changing his direction if there was any real threat of running into a wall. He crawled into his bed and Lena decided she wasn’t going to force teeth brushing tonight. It would be a losing battle. She started to leave and turn on the night light but he regained enough consciousness to call out for his stuffed animal. She looked over his desk and bookshelf but didn’t see it. She finally found it under the bed, the top of the elephants long snout sticking out from the corner. She grabbed it and tucked it under his arm. “Good night,” she whispered.

He turned over, grasping tighter to the elephant. “Goodnight, Lena.” He yawned through her name.

She felt so bad that he had had such a rough day. She should have listened to him instead of encouraging him to try and push through his food aversion. She turned the night light on and turned the overhead light off. Walking into the kitchen, she tried to think of a way she could help him feel more comfortable. Her eyes wandered around again at the complete chaos that these boys had brought into her home. She shook her head, deciding to let the couch be cluttered and the take out bags littered, at least until the morning. Her eyes came to the fridge and Nate’s weekly schedule that was taped there. She took a step forward and read the circled note at the bottom from the teacher again. Instantly, a thought came to her.

She surveyed her kitchen, opening nearly every cabinet, and tried to make a mental picture of the lunch of a seven year old. She selected several things out of various cabinets and laid them out in a pile on the table. She unwound the bread and grabbed two slices, layering them with peanut butter and jelly. She had to open three drawers before finally finding the plastic Ziploc bags. She slid the sandwich into the bag but quickly removed it, realizing she hadn’t cut off the crust. She put it back on the counter and tried to figure out the best method of decrusting bread. Should she cut it with a knife? Peel it off like fruit? She pulled at an edge and was surprised at how easily it came a part. Unfortunately, it was taking some jelly and peanut butter with it. By the time she got around the last edge, she had a strip of unwanted and now sticky crust. She looked around, as if anyone going to actually catch her, and put half of it in her mouth.

It had been years since she had an honest to god peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was only the crust and a fragment of the middle parts but it still tasted heavenly. She quickly pulled off the edge of the bottom piece of bread and ate that too. She cut it into triangles and put it back into the bag. Licking her fingers, she perused the rest of her cabinets for lunch material. She really didn’t want to give him chips but she caved because they were fresh out of any other sides. She poured a serving into another bag and added that to her pile. She went ahead and ate a few of those too before she put them back in the cabinet. She also tossed in a Kapri sun and a packaged chocolate brownie that Nate ‘just had to have’ when they went to the store that week. Finally, she got into the fridge and pulled out the bane of her existence, Go-Gurt. She threw it on the counter behind her, harder than necessary. She also spotted the last stem of grapes and pulled those too.

Once everything was bagged and sitting on the counter, she had sampled nearly every part of his lunch and was satisfied. Now, where to put it all. He didn’t have a lunch box and they started using reusable grocery bags so she didn’t have any plastic from there either. She couldn’t just put it all in his back pack as it was. She walked down the hallway quietly and turned on the light to her walk-in closet. She perused the top shelf for all of the purses and bag she hadn’t used in a while. She spotted a bright teal clutch hiding behind some of her larger Prada. She reached on her tip toes and used a hanger to knock it off to the floor. She retrieved it from the ground and looked it over. It had a latch that was magnetic and enough room to easily fit all the food. It was leather which would probably get ruined in the fridge but it wasn’t like she was going to use it again. She packed everything up and placed the new make-shift lunch box in the fridge on the top shelf. The next morning, she woke up before them and snuck the bag into Nate’s backpack with a note-open me at lunch.

When Nate sat down at lunch, he set down the blue bag on the counter instead of going to get into line with everyone else. He unlatched it and quickly put everything out in front of him. His friends crowded around him and sat down, inspecting both his new bag and new food.

“That bag is so pretty!” Bella squealed.

“Woah!” Dylan reached over the table and grabbed at Nate’s food. “Your mom gave you a cosmo brownie?”

“No way!” Bella set down the bag to investigate more of the food. “And go-gurt? That’s not even fair!”

Nate opened the brownie and broke into pieces, giving his friends a piece. “She’s the best,” he smiled, munching down on his dessert first.

Lena had left work early that day to get some things done at home and was sitting on the couch reviewing some of her new designs when the boys breezed through the door. Bags flew onto the counter and shoes were kicked into a pile by the door. She heard the fridge open and knew that had to be Jackson for his midafternoon snack. Nate skipped the food and hopped down the steps to her. She almost thought he was going to run into her. Instead he stopped abruptly, leant over, and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you.”

He walked back up the steps and carefully placed his new lunch box on the counter next to the fridge. Lena smiled to herself. Then, she realized that she was going to have to learn a little more self control if she would be packing a lunch every night. She had unfortunately seen the nutrition of a cosmo brownie. She looked back to the kitchen where Jackson picked up the new lunch box and Nate was proudly showing off how the latch worked. She knew she didn’t care if she gained a hundred pounds if it kept that smile on the kid.

Lena was anxious for Saturday afternoon. She had talked to Jenny and Karen on the phone for several hours the night before trying to figure out the best way to be kind and gracious in front of the kids but still stand your ground when they actually had their conversation. Jenny suggested making a list of topics that she wanted to cover in their meeting and then determine the ones that were the most important to get out. Karen offered to run interference so Lena had an out if she needed it. She appreciated both of their input. It was a lot less scary knowing she had someone to come back to and talk about what happened.

On Friday, Lena and the boys had gone to a sports store and found cleats, shin guards, and all the soccer equipment a person could want. They went ahead and got a few different outfits to work out in as well. She didn’t think his normal active wear would work very well for this level of intensity. You can’t really run laps in cargo shorts. They also found knee high socks in the school colors too. Nate was much more excited about this development and wanted a pair even though he seemed to have zero interest in organized sports. They completed their large purchase with a dark blue bag to hold all of his gear and a few soccer balls. He insisted on just one but Lena had a feeling that it would be worth the price to not have to return every week to buy a new one when he eventually lost one or Kara deflated it on accident.

They left the apartment around noon on Saturday looking like a regular busy family on their way to the days activities. Nate had his container and journal. Jackson had his bag packed to the brim with whatever Kara might need from him. He even brought an extra pair of sneakers in case they were going to run. Lena didn’t have nearly as many things to carry but she brought a larger bag anyways full of water bottles and a few snacks just in case. They ate at the apartment before they planned to leave but Jackson was on a tight ‘eat every two hour’ schedule.

When they arrived, Kara was swinging her legs back and forth on the bench that Jackson usually occupied. She was wearing a bright green t shirt and black shorts that came down just above her knees. She had sneakers on but there were a pair of bright pink cleats laying on the ground next to her that had seen some better days. Lena wondered if they were actually the same ones she wore in high school. It was a little endearing.

Nate started to run ahead of them to greet her and nearly tripped over the edge that connected the sidewalk to the grass. He regained his balance and continued his dead sprint to the woman. She didn’t see him coming until he was right at his feet. “Hi!” He smiled and waved at her even though they were a foot a part. She greeted him back and looked over his head towards the other bodies lagging behind. She gave a small wave their way which only Jackson reciprocated.

“Nate you know the rules about running in public,” Lena chastised lightly.

He sat down on the other side of Kara and smiled sheepishly. “But I was so excited,” he whined.

“I know but we still need to be careful.” She turned her attention to Kara and took an internal breath. “Kara, thank you for meeting us. The boys are obviously very excited.”

Kara seemed a bit awkward, more so than usual. She continued to fidget with the bottom edge of her shirt and didn’t seem to want to make eye contact with Lena. “It’s no problem,” she said, standing up in the process. “Beautiful day for some soccer.”

“I brought sneakers, cleats, a ball, and some cones. The guy at the store said they help with foot skills.” Jackson lugged the bag off his back and began showing off all of the items. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted.”

“I think we can find a use for all of this.” Kara took the cones he was pushing towards her. “We might want to get a jog in first though to loosen up.” He awkwardly set down the bag on the bench and had to catch the pair of socks that nearly fell out of the side pocket and onto the gravel.

“That doesn’t sound fun,” Nate stuck out his tongue in disgust. “Lena and I play chess. It’s more of a mental exercise.” He shook his container and the plastic pieces rattled around.

“How long have you been playing?” Kara asked.

He started counting on his fingers, extending each one for the weeks he had been coming there. “Eight weeks I think.” He looked to Lena for confirmation.

 “Just about, bud.”

“This is actually the bench I met Lena at!” He added excitedly. “She was really sad and we became friends.” Kara looked back to Lena, knowing exactly why the woman must have been upset two months ago. “She’s been teaching me how to become a chess master.”

“I bet she’s really good at it too,” Kara added honestly. Lena was the smartest person she had ever met.

Nate hopped off the bench and walked towards Lena putting his hand in hers. “She’s the best obviously.” He dragged their intertwined hands towards their favorite chess table.

“We’ll just be over there if you need anything,” Lena added behind her.

“Great,” Kara mumbled to herself, not sure if she should have said more or less. She blew a puff of air up knocking the small pieces of hair that had fallen down out of her face. She clapped her hands together and turned her attention towards Jackson. “Ready for boot camp?” She asked with more enthusiasm then the kid currently had on his face.

“One second.” He put a foot up on the bench and tightened his shoe. “Okay, let’s do it.” Kara led him to a small path ten yards away from the courtyard and pointed out how far they would be running. He took a deep breath, instantly regretting this entire process.

Back at the tables, Nate already set up all of the pieces. He could tell Lena wasn’t entirely there because she kept looking in the direction that Kara and Jackson had just walked off towards. She was also bouncing her knee which was something she rarely did unless she was in deep focus or nervous. “Think Jackson’s going to survive?”

The question brought her back to the table. “What?” She asked.

“Jackson,” he repeated. “Do you think he’s going to survive all that exercise?”

Lena shrugged. He was a pretty fit kid and they did a lot of exercise in his gym class at school, or at least they were supposed to. “Who knows. Maybe he’ll eat less chips if he knows they slow him down.” Nate looked at her with an amused look. “Yeah, I know. Jackson would pick Doritos over medical care any day of the week.”

“Well if Kara can’t help him, then maybe she’ll have more time to help me with my articles,” he said hopefully, not realizing it was making Lena a little jealous that he was so willing to share this with the blonde and not her.

“Enough about your brother, let’s see if you remember the Bird opening.” Nate became laser focused. He looked over his pieces and took one peak at his journal before beginning.

They went through four different openings before Kara and Jackson got back from their warm up. Jackson was already out of breath and saddled up next to the table, hands on his knees, sucking in all of the oxygen he could. There was a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead and onto his sneakers. Lena immediately leaned over into her bag and pulled out one of the waters she had brought. She held it under his bent head and he blindly swiped for the cool liquid. He collapsed onto the ground dramatically and drank nearly the entire bottle. “She’s trying to kill me Lena,” he finally got out.

Kara had her hands on her hip, not having broken a single sweat. “That was less than a mile,” she commented. “In a soccer game, you can run up to three or four.”

He laid on his back now and waved a hand in defeat. “No thank you.”

“Jackson you’re going to get dirt on all of your clothes,” Lena chided.

“I’m dying here, dirt is a non-issue.”

Lena used her shoe to kick his heel. “It will be when it ruins a perfectly good shirt or our very nice washing machine.” He sighed and sat up enough so that at least his shirt wasn’t getting destroyed.

Nate folded his arms at his brother and gave him a taunting look. “That’s it, you’re done?” He asked, a teasing timbre to his voice.

Jackson used the back of his hand to push himself up enough to where his legs could carry him the rest of the way. He jumped in place, shaking some of lactic acid out of his muscles and the dirt off his shorts. “Nooo,” he dragged out in an annoyed tone. “I don’t quit.”

“Really because-“ Nate couldn’t finish because Jackson’s dirty hands were attacking his stomach and he could barely get out a sentence between laughing. Nate wiggled out of the chair but Jackson followed him, continuing to tickle him until the boy was on the ground in a fit of giggles.

“Well, great…that’s now two shirts ruined,” Lena commented matter of factly. While the boys played back and forth, she turned to Kara. “Give it about two minutes and they’ll stop.” Kara couldn’t help herself from laughing. She never expected to see Lena so calm in absolutely adorable chaos.

As stated, they stopped messing around and Jackson had gained enough energy back to continue his lesson. He grabbed his cleats and a ball and him and Kara walked over to the closest available patch of grass. Lena looked over at Nate who was now a little more unkept than usual. She reached over and unfolded the corner of his t-shirt and ran a smoothing hand through the top of his hair. “One day you’ll be taller than him,” she promised with absolute confidence and zero evidence.

They continued on for another hour. Every time Nate went to his notebook or reset the pieces, she would steal a glance over to Jackson and Kara. They started out just passing the ball back and forth. Kara was slowly showing him each motion, patiently waiting until the movements began to click. She transitioned from that into dribbling. She took the same tolerant approach, guiding him up and down the small patch of grass until he looked less like a new born gazelle. Now, she had set up cones like a goal and was having him kick it at her. Lena winced every time Kara flung herself to the ground after a ball. She knew the woman was invincible, now, but it didn’t make the actions look less painful.

She watched them collect their gear and quickly returned her focus to the table. Kara and Jackson walked towards them, seemingly finished with the torture. Jackson seemed much happier than he had been after the run. He had a few more stains on his shirt and his cleats had lost their new-shoe shine but the smile on his face was worth the laundry later. If this all worked out, Lena saw a lot more bleach in her future. The boy pulled up one of the chairs nearest the table and turned it around before sitting down in it at their table. “Could we borrow your pieces?” He asked mischievously.

Lena quirked an eyebrow. “For what?”

“Kara’s going to show me where everyone goes on the field. I just need like…nine of them.”

“Eleven,” Kara corrected.

Nate put two protective arms on either side of the table. “That’s an entire side. She can’t play with five pieces.”

“I bet Lena could still win,” Jackson goaded.

Lena put a hand between the argument that was about to start. “Not the point,” she warned. “Nate we were just about done anyways so why don’t we let these two have this and we can go play with their soccer ball.” The boy was not very happy with the compromise but accepted.

They got up and let Kara and Jackson have their seats. Jackson tossed the soccer ball to Lena who surprisingly caught it gracefully. As they walked over towards the grass, Nate whispered, “Do we know how to play soccer?”

Lena leaned her head down and whispered back, “No, but they don’t know that.” She set the ball down in the grass and mimicked the motions she saw them doing early. The ball did not hit off the side of her shoe very well but Nate was young enough to go run after anything. Instead of kicking it, he picked it up with his hands and threw it back to her. She followed suit and picked up the ball with her hands and began running around with it. Nate chased her, jumping in the air to try and grab it out of her hands.

From their abandoned table, Kara watched them intently. She couldn’t stop smiling watching how happy Lena was. She turned back to Jackson to explain another position, but it was nearly impossible to not look over to the grass. She wanted to get out her phone and take a picture of the moment.

As she moved the midfielder-bishop back and forth between offense and defense, Nate yelled to her, “Heads up!” The ball bounced once besides the chair and flew up to knock Kara in the side of the head. She barely felt it at all, but it didn’t damper the surprise.

Lena and Nate ran over, barely able to contain their laughter. “I’m so sorry,” Lena held a hand over her mouth, trying to hide her smile. “I tried to kick it at the tree and obviously missed horribly.”

“This is why I needed you, Kara,” Jackson took the opportunity to get in a jab against Lena, “look at the talent I’m dealing with.”

Lena recovered the ball and pretended to throw it at him. He flinched even though it never left her hands. “Maybe I was lying and I actually have great accuracy. I was trying to kick it at her.” The joke fell flat and she realized the tension she had just created. “I mean…I didn’t…”

Jackson crossed his arm and took on a high British accent. “It would seem here that a crime has been committed.” He tapped his chin pensively. “Hmmmm, a crime indeed.”  

Lena lightly shoved the ball into his hands, unamused. “I should be paying for acting classes instead of soccer lessons seeing as how dramatic you are.” He gave her a full teeth smile and she rolled her eyes. She turned towards Kara. “I really didn’t mean to.”

Kara ducked her head, not wanting to make a thing out of it. “I didn’t think you did,” she said softly. “I know you wouldn’t.” She looked up, really making eye contact with Lena for the first time that day. The sun was flashing through the leaves as the wind blew past them causing the light to sprinkle over Lena’s green eyes making them sparkle like actual emeralds. Kara lost all track of her thoughts.

“Did you all need more time?” Lena finally interjected the silence. “If so, Nate and I can go get ice cream on our own and swing back and get you.”

“No!” Jackson answered for her. He jumped up out of his seat and quickly ran to grab his backpack, continuing to shout behind him. “I can be ready in two seconds.”

Lena shook her head, not surprised at his desire for sugar. She turned back to the person the question was directed at and asked it again. “Were you done?”

“We can be, especially if that means ice cream.” Lena forgot she had three sugar heathens with her. “I can always finish the other stuff with him later, if that’s alright of course.”

Lena didn’t answer because Jackson had swooped in next to her nearly knocking her off her feet. “Ready to go captain!”

Nate calmly cleaned up the pieces his brother had left disheveled on the table. He was muttering something under his breath about cleanliness and order. Jackson obviously didn’t care because he was already starting to walk away from them. Nate closed his box and put the journal under his arm before running after Jackson.

Kara and Lena lagged behind. Lena trusted that they knew where they were going, and Sal wouldn’t have a problem giving them their treat before she got there to pay. They were probably some of his best customers. Lena put her hands in her pocket, knowing a moment was going to happen when they were alone. “Do you” “Should we” they both started at the same time and nervously laughed at the overlap. Lena gave her a nod to go ahead.

“Do you still want to talk after this or should we do it another time? Whatever is best for you Lena.” Kara looked at her hopefully and Lena knew she wasn’t going to reschedule.

“No, today is fine. I think we can drop the boys off with Helen for an hour.”

“Helen?” Kara inquired.

“She owns the book store we go to. Her and Jackson have really hit it off and Nate likes to write there. We usually go there after chess anyways.” She put out a hand towards the path the boys just ran. “We do ice cream first, though.”

Kara gave her a look she couldn’t quite explain. It felt very intense, like she was being appraised. “You really have a routine don’t you,” she commented.

“Yes and if we aren’t quick they are going to convince Sal to give them more scoops than they know they’re allowed.” Lena headed off in the direction but Kara stayed back a moment. There were all these names in Lena’s life she’d never heard of but seemed so integral to her new life. Part of her was happy that Lena had found this kind of community, the other part was still sad that she was once again missing out on things in her life. The small voice in Kara’s head continued to tell her that it wasn’t about her. She was the reason Lena had to build this life in the first place. As she thought about it, there was a beauty to the chaos she caused. She had never remembered a time in their friendship where Lena seemed this free and uninhibited. And the way she interacted with the boys made Kara feel something she couldn’t explain.

She didn’t realize how slow she was walking towards them until Nate ran back to her and grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards their usual table. “We didn’t want to start without you but you walk like a sloth,” he joked. They sat down and there was a cup of chocolate ice cream in front of her that she graciously took.

“Thank you for helping me today,” Jackson offered in between bites. “I suck at least ten percent less than I did before.”

“You’re actually pretty good. I think you have a natural intuition for the game.” Kara pointed her spoon at him. “If you worked on what we did today at school or home, I think you could make the team.”

Before he could say something, Lena piped in. “You may practice dribbling at home,” she stated with no room for argument. “We’re not breaking the TV for your soccer career.”

“But Lena if I get really good, I could buy you a hundred TVs,” he tried to reason.

 “I don’t want a hundred TVs, Jack. I want the one perfectly nice, unbroken one in our living room.”

Kara and Nate made eye contact and he gave her a little shake of his head that meant do not engage. “Anyways,” Kara tried to change the subject. “Try outs are in another week or so?” Jackson nodded. “We can make you at least decent by then.”

“They aren’t this Wednesday but the next one,” Lena clarified. “Most schools have already started their season, but the private schools always start later apparently.”

“That’s plenty of time,” she reassured the boy who was starting to play with his ice cream instead of eating it, likely out of nerves.

“When you’re done helping Jackson can we work on my article?” Nate asked, hopefully. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

Kara appreciated his consideration, but she figured she had an extra hour in her week for a seven-year old’s paper. “I think I can pencil you in.”

“Can I have your address?”

Kara wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at. Lena leaned over the table, far enough out of Nate’s view and mouthed go with it. Kara nodded that she had received the message and looked back to Nate. “Of course, do you have a piece of paper?”

He looked down at his journal with a little concern. “Could you possibly write it on a napkin? This is my chess journal and I’m really not supposed to put anything else in it. I didn’t even think to bring my notebook.”

Lena reached into her bag and pulled out a small legal pad. “Here, bud. I always have something with me.” She also pulled out a pen and handed them both over to Kara. It wasn’t like the woman really needed to put down her address. Lena knew it by heart. The blonde graciously did it anyways. She put down her work address and her home address and instructed Nate to send mail to either place.

“Maybe I could come by your work some time?” He asked hopefully.

“Nate,” Jackson piped in before Lena had a chance. “She’s too busy for that and we’re taking up a lot of her time already.”

“I was just asking,” he said sadly, shoulder slumping back.

Kara and Lena made eye contact, and this was a moment where Kara really wished there was a pause button on the world. She would like to take Lena aside and ask permission or at least gauge how she was feeling about this entire day. But they couldn’t do that, and she had to respond some way. If there wasn’t so much uncertainty between her and Lena, she would have said yes without a thought. She just didn’t want to overstep even more than she already had. “Why don’t I talk to my bosses and see what they say,” she offered. If Lena didn’t think it was a good idea she could always lie and say that her bosses said no. He would understand that.

“Thank you,” he smiled. “I really do want to be a journalist.”

She handed the piece of paper over to him. “You’re going to make a great one, I can already tell.”

Jackson and Nate grabbed all of the empty containers and walked them over to the trash can, leaving Kara and Lena alone again. “I’m sorry I didn’t know what to say to Nate,” Kara whispered. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

That was the funny thing. Lena wasn’t uncomfortable at all. It was actually the opposite. This felt too normal. Just like when they were in her kitchen a few days earlier, this all felt easy and normal. Like they had all been playing in the park together for months. It unsettled Lena but she tried not to read too much into it. She was there for Jackson to learn soccer and then they would have their conversation. Until then, she didn’t want to make a comment on anything. “Kara, it’s fine. He is very eager about everything, so it is hard to predict what he’s going to ask next. I think that was a very diplomatic answer.”

Kara accepted the response without comment. They all got up and Jackson led the way to Helen’s store. Along the way, Nate talked Kara’s ear off about all of the things he had wrote about that week. He asked how to do better interviews and the best way to quote people too. In the meantime, Jackson and Lena caught up briefly about his week. This was usually their routine anyways. Nate would skip ahead of them and they would take a few minutes to touch base. There wasn’t anything too exciting other than he was starting to have tests so school began to feel like it was actually in full swing. Other than that, it was just the normal run of the mill stuff.

Behind her, Lena heard her name briefly and slowed down. “Are you talking about me?” she inquired, half serious.

“Nate was telling me about his new lunch box and how you make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Kara explained.

“When she comes over again, I’m going to show her it!” He added, excitedly.

Lena didn’t get a chance to comment because they had arrived at the front door and Nate rushed inside around Jackson. He peeled around the first corner and ran up to Helen to give her a hug. The older woman was obviously expecting them because she already had a small book in her hand for Nate and a stack on the counter for Jackson. “I see we played a little harder today,” she commented looking at Jackson’s green and brown t shirt.

He held up his hands. “Can I go wash off a little bit before I touch anything?”

“Please, you know the way.” He took Nate’s hand too and they went off towards the bathroom. “Hello,” she looked past Lena who had finally gotten into the main area and waved to Kara. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” Her voice sang and it had an instant calming effect on Kara’s ever growing nerves.

“Kara Danvers,” she reached out a hand and the woman shook it. “You have a beautiful shop.”

“Thank you dearie, I do love it here.” She pulled out a kettle that had to have been hidden somewhere behind the desk. “Could I interest you in a cup of tea? Lena and I usually have one or two while the boys roam.”

“Actually, Helen I was about to ask you for a favor.” Lena stepped closer to the woman. “Kara and I need to…catch up. I was wondering if the boys could stay here for about an hour while we go to the coffee spot just down the street.” She hoped Helen could read the desperation in her eyes.

She put a warm, thin hand out over Lena’s and grasped securely. “Of course…I love having them. They’re my best customers,” she said with a wink.

“I promise no more than an hour.”

“Fiddle faddle,” she waved a hand. “I’d take them forever if you’d let me.”

Lena smiled. “Let’s start with an afternoon and then I’ll reconsider.” The boys came back from the bathroom much cleaner. Jackson had changed into a new pair of clothes Lena hadn’t known he’d brought. Smart kid. Helen handed Jackson his pile, as promised and gave Nate a small cup of tea that she must have poured a while ago in anticipation so that it wasn’t too hot. “Kara and I are going to run across the street for a little bit, but I will be back in an hour, okay?”

Jackson was already lounged in his regular chair, tearing through the newest book on Helen’s recommended list. Based on the age of the cover, it must have been a classic. He gave a thumbs up, not looking away from the page. Nate took a large gulp of his tea and mirrored his brother’s thumbs up. “We’ll behave,” he promised.

“I know you will,” Lena countered. “But is it okay that I go?”

He shrugged. “You have adult stuff to talk about, right? That’s boring.” Helen came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Shoo…we do not allow boring in my book shop.” The pair giggled together, and Lena was much calmer about it.

They walked out of the book store and Lena led them one more block to a coffee shop she knew had a quiet back patio. They walked in silence, neither of them having the courage to speak yet. Even with all the activity of the day, neither of them knew what to do now without the distraction of the tiny humans. When they got there, Lena pointed towards the back door. “Check if anyone is out there, I’ll meet you with our drinks.”

Kara gave a small nod and walked away. Lena didn’t need to ask her what she wanted. There was no way Miss Iced Chai Latte would ever change. She ordered an iced tea for herself. It was too hot to be drinking coffee and she also didn’t want that much caffeine in her system. Her pulse was racing enough as it was.

Kara hadn’t come back out to get her so she figured the space was available. She walked down the sun lit hallway and opened the door with her elbow. It led into a small outdoor space that had one short glass table, a couch, and a lounge chair. Kara was currently occupying the bright coral chair so Lena sat down on the couch. She set both drinks down and scooted the taller one towards Kara.

“Thank you.” She reached down and graciously took a long sip. Lena wasn’t surprised because she was probably burning up from exercising for so long. Then she remembered-she was Supergirl.  Could she even get hot? Or winded? She decided that would be a question for a later day. They had to get through her first list. “Where…um?” Kara tapped her fingers rapidly on the edge of the cup and looked everywhere but at Lena. “Where do you want to start?” she finally got out.

Lena wondered if she should get the list that she had safely tucked in her bag. She had read it enough times that she practically had it memorized. Having in front of her might keep her focused. She didn’t want to make Kara feel attacked though. She really couldn’t unlearn being protective of the woman. She decided to leave it where it was for now and get it out if she started to get overwhelmed. “I’ll start,” she said, getting more comfortable in her seat even though her emotions felt like they were on pins and needles.

“I’ve thought a lot about what I wanted to say to you today. There are some things that I just need to get out and there are also questions that I have. Okay?” She could see Kara’s hand tighten around the glass in her hand.

“Yes,” the blonde answered succinctly.

Lena took this as permission to begin. She felt like a lawyer about to give an opening statement. “It really hurts that you lied to me. Regardless of the reason, you have to understand how this makes me feel. You once told me that I got to be my own hero, that I didn’t have to do what my family was known for. But you have to understand that I never was the person who would end up like them.” She shook her head in disgust. “Even the thought of hurting people like they have makes me sick. I’ve tried my whole life to get away from that legacy…and I thought…you made me believe that I had done it. Supergirl trusted me to save the day and Kara wasn’t afraid to be my friend.” She had to take a stabilizing breath.

“Do you understand how hard it is to always be the top suspect for a crime even though you’ve never committed any?” She didn’t give Kara a second to actually respond. “The only thing that got me through being accused of anything that happened in this city was Kara Danvers, my best friend. Who sat on my couch and told me that I was a hero. That I didn’t have to prove myself to anyone. To find out, you would then turn around as Supergirl and accuse me of just being another Luthor...” Anger started to seep into her voice. “After everything, I have never been given the benefit of the doubt. The second my decisions have a dark glint to them, you all attack as if I have been conspiring against you this whole time. What did I do to deserve that?”

“Lena,” Kara’s voice was weak but urgent. “I should have defended you more. It is one of my biggest regrets. You didn’t deserve to have to prove yourself as much as you have.”

“Then why not tell me you’re Supergirl?” Lena questioned. “If you believed in me, why not bring me into the fold instead of always keeping me at an arm’s length. We could have done so much more together if I had known what was actually going on instead of only being called in as a last resort.”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Kara argued. “The people who know my secret are put at risk.”

“Kara, I am always at risk. I’m a Luthor…the first time we met was because my brother tried to blow up my plane. The second time was because my helicopter nearly crashed. Do you think my life would have been safer not knowing?”

“You’re right…I should have been more considerate about that when making this decision but I wasn’t. I was making a decision for the both of us without giving you a say, and that was wrong…but believe I have always tried to protect you, regardless if I was Kara or Supergirl.”

Lena tried to bring herself back to center. She mentally went through her list to try and get herself back on track. “I didn’t mean to question your concern for me. I truly believe that you never wanted me to be hurt and I don’t think it is helpful to go back through every interaction we’ve had and try to determine if I was safer because I didn’t know. That won’t change anything.” She took a quick drink of her tea, trying to wet her drying throat. “What I have been trying to say is that by not telling me and keeping this from me you made me feel more like a Luthor than I ever have before. It feels like you kept this from me because you could never fully trust that I wasn’t going to one day use it against you.” She had finally been able to find the right words. The look on Kara’s face told her everything she needed to know. It was a combination of guilt, shame, and disgust.

“No,” Kara said firmly. “Never.” She shook her head rapidly, nearly losing her glasses. “You are not them.” The grip on her glass tightened to the point where it shattered. She didn’t even acknowledge it. “Lena I will never be able to apologize enough for making you feel that. I also can’t change how you feel about what I did, but please…please know, I have never believed you would hurt me. Even with the Kryptonite, I was just alarmed and needed time to adjust to why you had done it. I wasn’t afraid of you hurting me though, I was afraid of other people and what they would do to get that.”

Lena could feel her face getting hot and her eyes began to burn with the light tears and that were forming. “You aren’t afraid of me?” It was a quiet question, just above a whisper.  

Kara came around the table, letting the glass fall to the floor. She sat down next to Lena and hesitantly grabbed one of her hands. Surprisingly, Lena didn’t pull away. “Afraid of you?” She kept her voice soft and low. “Lena, I’m in awe of you.” Lena looked up at her and could see the sincerity in her eyes. “Since the day I met you, you have continued to surprise and amaze me. You are so kind and patient with everyone around you…even to the people who didn’t do the same for you.” Kara reached over and grazed her thumb under Lena’s cheek, wiping away a tear. “You make us all better for having known you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

 “No, I’m not going to let you do that.”  Kara squeezed her hand harder. “I messed up here. I was the one who had a secret identity. Not you…You have always been honest about yourself…and how we all feel about you and what you mean to us hasn’t changed. What you mean to me hasn’t changed.” She over enunciated every word so that Lena would truly hear her. “I would give anything to go back in time to tell you the moment we met if it meant that you wouldn’t doubt yourself like this…but I can’t. I made this decision and I have to live with it and its effect on you.”

She swallowed hard realizing how out of breath she was. “But I promise you that I will try and make it up to you every day if you let me. Even if you don’t want me in your life, I will do my best to still be there for you. I’ll still help the boys with all of their activities and you won’t ever have to see me…” she was rambling by this point and couldn’t read Lena’s face well enough to know if she was saying the right things. There wasn’t even a right thing to say. There was the truth and Lena could decide what to do with that. Kara stopped speaking and let Lena sit with her admission. She could feel Lena’s anger fade again into sadness. The heat that was emanating from the woman started to spill away into tears.

Lena was trying to process. She had said what she needed to. She had made it clear the way Kara had made her feel. That was what she came here to do. She wanted to give Kara an opportunity to say her peace but now the woman’s words felt heavy and she didn’t know what to do next. She sat there a few more minutes trying to let everything settle in her heart.

“It’s hard to imagine going back to what we had,” Lena started slowly. “I don’t feel like I know you at all anymore.”

Kara put a few feet of space between them. “You don’t know me,” she admitted, feeling wetness on her checks. “Not all of me.” Kara had to adjust her glasses because steam started to rise behind them. “I’ve always had to deal with these two sides of me. Kara Zor El and Kara Danvers.”

“Zor El?” Lena interrupted.

“That is my real name…well my birth name,” she shrugged never knowing how to ever merge her past as a Zor El with her existence as a Danvers. “Since the day I came to this planet, I have always had to hide part of myself. Even I didn’t want to, there was always a reason I had to.”

Lena had never thought of that before. She hadn’t taken the time to consider that Kara didn’t just wake up one day with powers. She grew up this way and had to spend so much time hiding that. “I’m sorry you’ve always had to deal with this Kara, I truly am.” There was something about the woman in front of her that she couldn’t read completely. Kara looked broken. Like she had already accepted that this was going to be the end of another relationship in her life and she was just waiting for the final blow.  

“I manage it,” Kara said simply. “But sometimes it’s hard to remember who I really am. I balance so many personas that I think I lost the pulse of why I wanted to do any this in the first place.” She leaned farther into the cushion and rubbed a hand over her chin as if she was putting these words together for the first time. “I have spent so much time trying to make the world better, but without fail it always has a cost. It’s like I can’t do anything right but I also can’t sit around and do nothing. So I keep blazing through decisions and disasters just hoping that at the end of the day I end up on the good side of the line more than the bad.” She crossed her arms against herself tightly, something Lena had always noticed she did when she felt vulnerable. “Sometimes I wish I could just push pause on everything. Just take one freaking second for myself and just breathe…” Her words were shaky like she was on the brink of not being able to speak at all. “…but I can’t. Because when I stop or I make any decisions for myself, people get hurt…and that’s my fault.” There was a long pause and neither of them dared to speak.

A heaviness set between them. Lena didn’t have the right words and wasn’t sure there were right words. It was like she was seeing the woman for the first time. Like she was truly seeing her, past all of the optimism and sunshine Kara tried so hard to maintain.  Kara uncurled herself and leaned forward, elbows on her knees, hands clasped together tightly. “You want to know the biggest reason why I didn’t tell you?” She stared at her feet, hands shaking. “Because you were the only person in this universe who made it easier to breathe.” She looked up to Lena, blue eyes glowing in the light. “You never expected me to be more and you never got mad at me for my shortcomings. You were just…you.” She smiled lightly. “And you liked me even when I didn’t want to be me anymore.” Lena voice left her completely. She had no idea how much Kara had been holding in.

“Did you know that when we were in the park, I had to check in four times with Alex over things that were happening in the city? There were two car wrecks, a scaffolding accident, and a robbery.” Lena shook her head no. “Everything was handled by the police or the fire station but at any moment, I would have had to leave.” She looked up and closed her eyes tight in focus. “Even now, I can hear every single siren in the city. I go through my day and I’m just waiting to be pulled from my life to go save someone else’s…and it’s... exhausting.” She looked back at Lena now, eyes open. “This time with you right now is the most important thing in the world to me but I don’t get a say if I have to leave you. That’s the part that I don’t think anyone can understand.”

Lena didn’t realize the toll all of this must have been taking on Kara. Nor did she ever truly understand why it was so important to her to keep Kara and Supergirl separate. It didn’t make everything instantly better but it framed it in a way she could sympathize with. Kara was important to her too. She was a person that Lena could trust and confide in when everyone else in her life felt distant. She held onto that relationship like a lifeline because she never had to pretend with Kara. If she had been in the same position as Kara, she wondered if she would have done the same thing.

As she pondered this, Kara just stared, waiting for any kind of response. Her nerves were on fire and it felt like she was in the middle of the sun, absorbing every ray. Lena reached over and put a steadying hand over Kara’s shaking ones. “You hold the weight of the world, don’t you?” Lena asked gently.

Kara looked up at her and was able to hold on for a moment before shuttering her last stable breath and letting herself go. The tears and apologizes streamed out together in a mess of emotions. Lena put every bad thought in her aside and moved the foot closer to her friend. Before she had wrapped an arm around Kara’s shoulder, the woman was already collapsed into her chest.

“I’m sorry Lena,” she stuttered with short breaths. “I was so selfish.” She repeated the line a dozen times, each time getting quieter until she didn’t have enough energy to cry and speak.

Lena wasn’t sure how to process what she was feeling. The woman in her arms wasn’t the villain of her nightmares like she wanted it to be. She had made a mistake and Lena, for her part, could sympathize with why she did it. It still hurt that Kara didn’t trust that Lena wouldn’t have seen her any differently if she had known about Supergirl. But she truly believed that Kara didn’t do it because she couldn’t trust Lena as a Luthor. No, it wasn’t that malicious. The girl of steel was just as broken as Lena was and just needed a friend. That was probably why they understood each other so well-they were both two lost people trying to exist under the weight of the expectations of others.

She could feel Kara’s breathing even out against her and she knew she had to say something more. She had to decide what road she was going to go down next. She could see the paths before her clearly. One, alone but with the higher ground and less chance of getting hurt again. The other, a familiar trek that was riddled with uncertainty but also a bond that made her feel understood. She weighed it all in her mind and decided she wanted neither. “Kara,” she whispered softly. “Can you sit up for a moment?” The woman nodded into her chest and pushed up away from her. She wiped the edges of her eyes with the corner of her jacket. She started to say another apology, but Lena stopped her. “I don’t think we can go back to the way we were,” She started. Kara’s eyes instantly started to pool again. “If we tried to just step back into that relationship, it would be full of resentment and distrust. That’s not fair for either of us.” Kara nodded, agreeing that they couldn’t make this just disappear. “I also agree that I don’t want you gone.”

“You don’t?” Kara asked hopefully.

“Kara, when you first came into my life, I didn’t know what to do with you…and now, these past few months…it’s been a pretty rough time trying to figure out my life without you.” The blonde’s smile beamed, and it went straight to Lena’s heart. “I’m still going to need some more time, but I would very much like to start over. No more duplicity and hidden agendas, just the truth. Kara Zor El and Lena Luthor and all of baggage that comes with them.”

Kara looked at her in disbelief. She expected to say her peace and leave, completely removing herself from Lena’s life. A chance to start over was something she couldn’t have predicted at all. “You would do that?” She asked, voice unsure. “Lena you don’t have to compromise for me. What I did was-”

Lena reached over and put a single finger over her lips, an action her body was doing before her mind had caught up to the motion. “Have we not suffered enough because of the expectations of others? I know you ultimately made this decision Kara but when in your life were you ever allowed to be honest? I understand that now…and I can relate to that. My family has never said ‘I Love You’ without an agenda,” she laughed ironically. The high tone broke through the sadness that had been drowning the room. “We deserve more. I could sit here and tell you I never want to see you again but what does that help? The world will always be a better place when a Luthor and a Super work together…and my world has always been better when Kara and Lena were together.” She nodded to herself more sure of her decision than ever. “I want to find out what can happen when all of that gets merged together.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Kara admitted honestly. Her eyes were beginning to dry and their redness gave way to bright blue again. “Of course, I want to start over. I would do anything but is that even possible?”

Lena leaned back to her corner of the couch and put a finger between her eyebrows, pushing firmly. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “But I’m done being angry. I have more important things in my life now than that.”

“The boys,” Kara commented.

“Exactly. I don’t want to set a bad example for them like my mother did for me. We can be angry at people but that can’t drive our life.”

Kara beamed at her. “I don’t think you have to worry about the example you set for them. They are kind, polite, caring, and intelligent kids…and they adore you, Lena.”

Lena didn’t know why her face started to flush. “Thank you…They really like you too, you know.” She scrunched up her nose. “If I’m being completely honest, I’m a little jealous.”

“Of what?” The entire mood in the room felt like home again. If Lena closed her eyes, she could almost imagine them on her couch, talking through their problems like they always did. A knot in her stomach that she felt like she had been holding on to for months slowly uncoiled and for the first time she took a full breath without that constant weight. If they just hadn’t have cried everything they had in them, she might have started tearing up again.

Lena leaned into the feeling and threw up her hands playfully. “You’ve spent all of five seconds with them and they’re all ‘let me show you my articles, Kara’ and ‘your soccer skills are so cool, Kara’…I don’t even get a ‘you feeding me eleven times a day is really nice, Lena’.” That wasn’t completely the truth. They were always grateful. It did still make Lena jealous that there was something they shared with Kara that they couldn’t with her.

“Lena, I’m a journalist and a soccer player. Those are literally the two skills I could possibly have in common with them.” She uncrossed her legs and knocked her ankle into Lena’s. “We both know they’d never thank me for cooking for them because one, I can’t cook and two, I’d most likely eat it all.” They both laughed together and it felt good.

Lena was about to make another comment, but Kara’s head shot up in a way that Lena had seen several times over the years. She had come to learn it was her look when Alex had activated comms and she was needed as Supergirl. Lena waited until she stopped nodding along to the invisible voice before asking, “Duty calls?”

Kara ducked her head embarrassed. “There’s a problem developing in the west end,” she explained. She stood up ready to make her exit. “Lena, thank you for this. I would very much like to start over…and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to keep working with Jackson and Nate too.”

“I think that would be wonderful.” She paused for a moment, trying to summarize how she felt. “Thank you for letting me explain my feelings and for hearing them. I feel like I had some insecurities about our relationship before and I was angry about things that weren’t necessarily true…” she took a breath. “I needed to hear your side of it too. I also want to thank you for being honest about the other stuff…I didn’t understand what you had been dealing with too.” She stood up as well. “I look forward to learning about you, all of you.” She reached out and grabbed Kara’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Do you want to see my new suit?” Kara offered, a little excited.

“Does it still have my anti-kryptonite upgrade?”

Kara pulled out a necklace that Lena hadn’t noticed she was wearing before and pressed the center button. Blue and red started to layer over her skin covering the clothes she was wearing and fitting perfectly to her muscles. After the S on her chest fully appeared, it glowed green for a moment before fading back to red. “I wouldn’t leave the house without it,” Kara smiled.

Lena appraised the suit and was pleasantly surprised at the blue tech now covering her legs completely. “Pants,” she nodded approvingly.

Kara spun in place, showing off how much easier it was to move now. “Pants!” Lena had missed seeing her friend this excited. The kind of dorky light Kara gave on was recharging for her.

“What is it that you’re always saying?” Lena tapped her lip a moment before remembering. “Up, up and away.”

Kara just stared at her, a slow smile taking over her entire face. “Up, up and away,” she repeated to herself, never straying from Lena’s gaze. She took a step around the table to fly off but then realized there was still glass on the floor. She looked back to Lena sheepishly and pointed to the mess.

“Could you possibly?”

Lena rolled her eyes. “Yes…go save the world Supergirl.”

“Yes ma’am!” She took off quickly and the gust nearly blew Lena back down into her seat. Lena followed the stream Kara was now making in the cloud. Time would tell if she made the right decision but right now her world felt exactly as it should.

Chapter Text

Lena looked at her phone for ten minutes. Nothing changed on the screen except the clock ticking closer and closer to midnight. She knew she should have done this hours ago but every time she came to her phone, she hesitated. Now, she was sitting up in her bed, kids asleep, kitchen cleaned, and no more excuses between her and her contact list. Her thumb hovered over the message app and she reluctantly pressed. Lena was the type of person who kept her inbox as clean as possible meaning her only messages currently were from Luke and the group chat with Jenny and Karen.

She clicked the create message and typed in the number from memory. She would pull up the contact but she had deleted it in her original blind rage. For all the time she had avoided this today, one would think she would have thought up a message to send. She liked where they had left things on Saturday and didn’t want to mess with the balance they had created. She would wait for Kara to text her but Jackson hadn’t stopped pestering her all day about when they could meet again to train. He had gotten on the treadmill in her make shift gym and attempted to run three miles which nearly resulted in a trip to the ER. They both deemed supervised training might be the better option. Which left her here, unable to send a simple text. She should have just given Jackson Kara’s number and played it off as a teachable moment for responsibility.  

Instead, she was flipping between news articles and her texts, trying to craft the perfect message. She finally settled on: Any free time this week? Jackson is very anxious to keep practicing. No pressure, I know how busy you are. She decided against a smiley emoji and regretted it. The message dripped with formality and that wasn’t what Lena wanted to portray. She weighed adding another message, but a response came back quickly.

I could do Wednesday for sure! Don’t really know what my week looks like yet…have a meeting with Andrea in the morning. I’ll let you know (:

Lena looked at the warm message. Exclamation points. Smiley faces. Kindness. She knew she was over thinking but she wanted to make sure Kara knew she was really trying to start over with this too. She had thought more about it the rest of Saturday and Sunday and there were so many things she hadn’t thought of before that put the entire mess into perspective. She felt like they had moved a hundred spaces forward and didn’t want an emoji to take them back. She looked over her options and decided on the smiley cat face and added sounds great! Best case scenario, Kara appreciates her effort. Worst case, she assumes Nate stole her phone.  

The next day, Jackson and Nate were almost late to school because the former could barely walk straight. He was sore in every muscle in his body and spent an extra twenty minutes trying to wobble to school. In first period, he had to ease himself into his desk and carefully pulled out everything he could possibly need so he wouldn’t have to lean over again. Seth came up behind him and patted him harder than he realized causing him to wince. “Did you finish the math worksheet? I couldn’t figure out eight and fifteen.”

Jackson held up his hand as he breathed deeply through the achy pain going through his shoulder. “In my bag,” he pointed down to the floor.

Seth rifled around finding the paper in question. “What’s got you acting so weird?”

“Training for the soccer tryouts,” Jackson offered in a whisper, not wanting to alert some of the other jocks in their class who had been talking about it since the first day of school.

“Soccer?” Seth said entirely too loud.

“Shhh,” Jackson looked around, assured that no one was paying attention to them. “I may not actually go through with it. I’m just practicing right now.”

“You any good?”

“I’m not as bad as I thought I would be.”

Before he could say anything else, a large book landed on his desk, shaking it. Jackson turned and looked up at the face attached to the hand. Jacob Runyon. Great, he thought. “You trying out for the team Jacky?” He added an extra bit of sass to the horrible nickname.

“What’s it to you, Jakey?” Jackson threw back in the same tone.

“There’s only five spots for freshman and I wouldn’t want you to get your feelings hurt when you don’t make it.” He picked up the book and maliciously winked. Jackson wanted to stand up and confront him but every muscle in his body protested.

Instead, Seth peeled out of his desk and in front of Jackson. “Maybe you’re just worried he’ll make it instead of you…afra…afraid of a little…com…competition,” he started stuttering as Jacob walked closer into his space.

“Want to say that again, highlighter?” The boy stood a few inches over Seth and his jet black hair and tan skin was a stark contrast to the skinny boys blonde buzz cut and pale, freckled complexion.

“Sit down Mr. Runyon,” the teacher said curtly as she stood up to the board, breaking up whatever was about to start. He gave her a salute and returned to his desk, slouching down and not taking his eyes off of Jackson.

Seth returned to his desk and Jackson could see his pulse pounding in his neck. He took all the energy he could to turn and whisper to his friend, “Thanks for the back-up.” He didn’t need it and it probably made the situation worse but he wasn’t going to chastise his friend for doing something that probably took a few months off his life. Seth gave a thumbs up, throat still too closed to speak.

After class, Jackson ran to his locker to get his phone. He sent a quick text: please ask Kara how much she can work with me this week. I’m making this team even if it kills me. He put the phone back up and rolled his shoulders out. Pain was progress, he reminded himself.

Lena also felt a bit out of her schedule that morning and was only just finishing her usual routine before her first meeting. It wasn’t exactly a meeting because Andrea hated that word. Instead, she was supposed to come over for coffee and a conversation. The woman was punctual as ever and the large glass door opened at nine on the dot. “Good morning, beautiful,” she sang, a tray of coffee in her hand.

Lena stood and straightened out her skirt. She made her way around her desk towards the couch and returned the greeting with a smile, “Good morning, Andy.”

They sat together on the couch and Lena graciously took the warm liquid. She had purposefully skipped out on her morning espresso and was feeling the lack of caffeine already. “We have our coffee,” she commented. “Now what is the conversation you were so insistent on having?”

Andrea sunk back into the couch and crossed her legs. She took a drink of her latte, savoring the taste before answering. “I can’t just come over to see one of my oldest friends?”

“We’re busy women, if you want to socialize buy me dinner after hours.”

“What if I wanted to skip dinner? Go straight to the after-after hours.”

“Andrea,” Lena warned. “Is something wrong?”  

The woman sunk deeper into the couch. “I hate CatCo,” she admitted. Lena was surprised by this admission. Andrea always wanted to be the face of media.

“All of it or certain parts?”

“Well, my editor and chief is on the brink of quitting, my head writer has too much journalistic integrity to run what he considers click bait, and there hasn’t been a news worthy story in this town in months.” She capitalized her last word with a long swig from her drink.

Lena was processing but was still stuck on her first point. “James is quitting?” She asked surprised.

“He didn’t tell you?”

 She would unpack that at a later date. “I’ve been out of touch with all of them for a while now.”

“Well can you get back in touch with them and tell them that you no longer run the company and I would appreciate if they listened to me for a change?”

“Are you taddling?” Lena teased.

“Yes,” Andrea shrugged easily. “I’m tired and these used to be your people. Maybe a little nudge would go a long way. It’s like they are waiting for you to come back on a white horse to save them. I just need them to understand that you and I have the same vision.”

“You want me to agree with you.”

Andrea got knowing look on her face. “I want them to understand that you and I are more in league than you and them.” Of course she did. This was Andrea’s favorite tactic. People fall in line when ever they see someone they trust agree with the person they don’t.

Lena reached her hand over and put patted the edge of Andrea’s ankle that was curled up on the couch. “I will see what I can do.” She leaned back over to her side and changed the subject. “Since I have you, any update on our other project brewing.”

This got the woman excited instantly. “Do I ever?” She was about to go on an excited spiel but Lena’s phone rang. She paused allowing her to read her message. Lena smiled to herself before typing a response. “Cheating on me Luthor?”

“No darling,” Lena rolled her eyes and looked back to her friend. “It’s Jackson. He is really getting into this whole soccer thing and wants to train more even though he barely was able to walk to school this morning.”   

Andrea stared at her for a moment and raised her eyebrows. “This is a new look for you.” She leaned in close like they were at a slumber party and gossiping. “You are loving this, aren’t you?”

Lena pushed her lightly back to her side. “I am enjoying their company, yes.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You like parenting.” It was a statement not a question.  

Lena gave her a warning look. “I like helping them and it’s nice to come home to a little more life.” She shrugged. “Take that as you will.”

There was a light knock on the door and Lena quickly moved herself farther from Andrea, even though they weren’t in a conspicuous position anyways. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had caught them in a compromised state. “Come in,” she instructed, not sure who it could be besides Luke. She was surprised at the person standing at the door.  

“Good morning, Miss Luthor,” Kara started, oddly formally. “Kara Danvers, from CatCo Media. I was wondering if you had a moment to talk.” Kara was surprised to see her new boss siting across from Lena on the couch, especially since they had just been in a meeting not thirty minutes ago. A meeting where she was ‘voluntold’ to get a comment from Lena.

“Kara, I wasn’t expecting you,” Lena looked over to Andrea and narrowed her eyes, not sure what her friend was up to. “If you could just give me a moment to finish this up.”

“Actually Lena,” Andrea interjected. “She can just join us. I was having her get a comment on our project anyways so it is perfect timing.”

Lena bit back a snarky comment she wanted to say. “It would seem so,” she said with added disdain.

Kara looked a bit uncomfortable and Lena felt bad. It wasn’t her fault that Andrea obviously had something up her sleeve. “Let me just pull you up a chair and we can discuss.” Lena got up to grab the seat in front of her desk but Kara beat her to it.

“I can get it,” she smiled. “Thank you though.” She sat down across from the women and reached in her bag for her recorder and a note pad. “Miss Rojas, since you’re here as well, shall I record everything and then work a piece from that or should I be waiting for a specific comment?”

“Go ahead and hit record and we’ll see how this all plays out.” Andrea turned to Lena and leaned in. “If that’s okay with you?” She reached her hand over and touched Lena’s arm in a way that was just on the borderline of friendly and romantic.

Kara dropped her pen and it dinged loudly on the glass table. “Sorry!” She scrambled to grab it up and lay everything flat so nothing else could escape her grasp. Andrea turned her head to her employee with a slight satisfaction on her face.

Lena finally figured out the game she was playing. Andrea was marking her territory. She was making it abundantly clear that Lena was hers first. It wasn’t enough for Andrea to trust that she would talk to her former employees. She was going to guarantee a show of solidarity. She had to hand it to the woman, it was manipulative genius.

“Actually, Kara, before we start. I was just telling Lena about some of the new things we were doing at CatCo. She seemed pretty impressed.” She turned back to Lena with a fake smile on. “Right, Lena?”

“We didn’t get too much into it, but I hear click bait is the new Pulitzer prize.” This caused Andrea to glare and Kara to stifle a laugh. “I actually am very encouraged by your most recent numbers. Although I am not entirely sold on gossip and provocative titles, it has increased revenue substantially and is paying the bills while you can produce the content that has made you so influential.” Andrea was surprisingly satisfied with that comment.

“You really think that?” Kara inquired, still not yet recording.

“I think that sometimes people want to be entertained and sometimes they want to hear the truth. If they can get both of those things from one place, they’re more likely to tune in all the time. It may feel shallow to begin with but think of all the people you may attract to those harder hitting pieces because of it.” Lena leaned back into the couch, convincing even herself of the point.

Kara rolled her tongue inside the base of her teeth, contemplating Lena’s response. “You know I never thought about it like that before,” she admitted. “You make an excellent point.” She turned to Andrea who had a victorious look on her face. “I would still like a little more leeway to write about these important issues.”

“I promise you will,” Andrea placated. “For now, I’d like for you to break the story about Obsidian North’s newest collaboration.”

Kara reached down and pressed the red button on her recorder. “Yes ma’am.”

They talked for an hour about all the intricacies of the new virtual reality simulator. Kara was actually unbelievably impressed with the intended use for the technology. She had known that Kelly had been working with Andrea, but she had no idea that this was the kind of therapy they would be able to offer people. She was even more impressed with Lena’s contribution. Andrea had brought over a prototype and showed the sleek contacts that Lena was able to design.

Even though the meeting was a conversation between the three of them, Kara couldn’t take her eyes off of Lena and how she seemed to light up talking about what she had done. She also couldn’t help all of the touches and looks the two women across from her were sharing the whole time. She felt a little uncomfortable as if she were a fly on the wall to a more intimate conversation.

Thankfully, Andrea received a notification from her phone and excused herself. She told Lena they would meet again soon and expected a draft of the press release from Kara by the end of the day. Once the door shut behind her, Lena stood up and walked back towards her desk. “Kara I am so sorry about that ambush.” The woman followed her, bringing the chair back to sit in front of Lena’s desk.

“I didn’t think it was an ambush.”

“Andrea has a particular method of manipulation that I should be more in tuned with by now. I didn’t know that she would be sending you over here just so I could feed you a line of her manifesto.” Lena sank into her chair and leaned her head back. A small headache was starting to form at the base of her skull so she closed her eyes, willing it away.

“I truly think you made a good point, though.” Lena could hear her shuffling and sitting down. “If I’m being honest, I have been more resistant than I needed to be over this whole take over. I shouldn’t be so set in my ways, but I definitely enjoyed the way you ran things better.”

“The way I handled things made us come closer to just breaking even, rather than flourishing. I don’t completely agree with Andy but she is apt at keeping the revenue trend positive.”

Kara quirked her head to the side. “Andy?”

Lena peeled one eye open and took it Kara’s bemused expression. “That was her nickname when we were younger. I guess she feels she has outgrown it.”

Kara didn’t know why she was so interested in learning more about their history but there was something driving her to ask more questions. “You’ve known each other for a long time, then?”

Lena gave a half hearted chuckle. “Well besides my mother and Lex, I think I’ve known her the longest out of anybody.”

“She does seem very familiar with you.”

This caused Lena to sit up and turn all the way around. She could hear the hint of jealousy in Kara’s voice. Andrea really did get to her. “Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of mixing business and pleasure.” This took Kara off guard. She thought they were just close friends, but the way Lena said it, seemed like a bit more.

“You mean…” Her cheeks got red unconsciously and she dipped her head just a bit, hoping they were less notable.

“We were…something…off and on for a while. I think we were more lonely than in love.” She thought fondly of their time together. Andrea had been such a rock for her when everything else in her life seemed to fall apart. She had to give the woman credit for that at least. “But as with everything we grew a part and realized our friendship was more powerful than any romantic relationship.”

“I had no idea that you…um…” Kara fumbled for the right words. “…that you had dated…”

“Women?” Lena finished her sentence confidently.

“I’m sorry if I never made you feel comfortable enough to say anything.” Kara felt suddenly guilty for not providing the space for Lena to talk about her sexuality.

Lena looked at her confused. “Kara, I have said things about it before, you know.” Kara’s face showed no sign of recognition. “Remember when I talked about my college girlfriend Parker, the one who introduced me to Jack?”

“I thought she was a he!” Lena could understand that, Parker was a gender neutral name and the comment she made about her was in passing at best.

She thought of another time. “What about when I said that Roulette had a soft spot for me because of our ‘passionate relationship’ in boarding school.” She put the part in air quotes.

Kara buried her face in her hands and mumbled through them. “I thought you meant as in a rivalry.” She looked up at Lena, completely embarrassed. “Like those movies where you’re enemies the whole time but then you graduate and put everything behind you because you grew up.”

Lena’s laughter was making her side hurts and she was nearly tearing up. “I’m sorry I don’t mean to laugh.” Kara got over her embarrassment and joined in the laughter.

She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “I’m really proving that I’m an ace investigator right now.”

“It’s not your fault. I’ve never been explicit with any of my relationships. I mean you didn’t even know James and I were dating until it had been almost three months.” This did make Kara feel better. She wasn’t as oblivious at it appeared; Lena was just more private. Or at least that was what she was going to tell herself.

Before she could say something else, her phone dinged and Alex’s name came across the screen in a succinct message-call me. “Duty calls?” Lena presumed.

“Unfortunately.” Kara stood up, adjusting her button up that had come slightly untucked from her green pants. “I’ll let you see the write up before I send it to Andrea, to make sure it’s accurate.”  

“That would be appreciated.”

“Also,” she put a hand up to touch the edge of her glasses and push them farther up her face, even though they were perfectly situated. “I’m sorry for not listening more closely to you. I truly had no idea.”

Lena stood up and crossed her arms, bemused. “You’re juggling a thousand things a minute, Kara, it’s okay.” She remembered something in her bag and quickly reached down into her desk. “Actually, speaking of things you’re juggling, I have something for you.”

Lena reached out a small manilla envelope and reached it over to Kara who took it questioningly. She flipped it over in her hand and read the large “Urgent” written on the back. “Nate was going to have me mail it out for him today but since you here, I might as well give it to you personally.”

“Thank you,” Kara smiled down at the brightly colored envelope. “This is very cute.”

“Wait till you see his notes. They could melt my mother’s heart.”

Kara looked forward to whatever Nate had written for her. It would be a nice change of pace to all the harsh emails she got from Snapper on a daily basis. Kara tapped the envelope in her hand and looked up to Lena, not sure how to close the conversation. “Anything else?”

Lena also remembered the text from earlier. “I’m not sure I should ask, I feel like I’m monopolizing all of your time.”

Kara waved her off. “Trust me, time with you and the boys has been a much needed vacation from my life.”

Lena’s chest warmed at the thought of Kara’s continued presence in their lives. “Well when you put it like that than I have one more request. Jackson wanted to know when you could train with him again. I think this whole soccer thing is really making him anxious and he doesn’t want to embarrass himself.”

Kara felt for the kid. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t get to grow up in private buddy soccer leagues like all of the other rich kids at his school. “He’s actually pretty good. He has natural athleticism which is the hardest thing to teach. Like I said last night, I have time Wednesday and I’ll find something else later this week.” She thought it over in her head and knew the only obligations she had could be easily pushed. Alex had cancelled drinks with her for less. “Is there any way you could get us an actual soccer field to play on? The park is great but it isn’t close to the real thing.”

“I’m sure I can arrange something,” Lena smiled. “Thank you so much. We really appreciate all the time you’re putting into this…I really appreciate it.”

“Like I said, it’s good for me too.” Her phone buzzed again with a more urgent message. “I should call Alex or I’m not going to hear the end of it.”

“Of course,” Lena sat down abruptly as if to say that she also had important work to get back to. “I’ll text you the details about Wednesday.”

“I look forward to it.”

Lena watched as she walked out the door and bit her lip to stop the painful smile that was threatening to overtake her mouth. There was a different energy in the air and she couldn’t explain it. She always admired Kara but the way her stomach was curling around itself at the moment told her that something more nefarious was going on in her unconscious. She pulled out a stack of papers she had to go through and resigned herself to the distraction.

Kara made it to the DEO in five minutes at Alex’s behest. There wasn’t an emergency brewing, so she decided to stick with her Kara Danvers outfit. It also meant that she could carry around her bag without it looking strange. “I’m here, what’s the problem?” She walked onto the platform but her sister immediately linked her arm in hers and took her down the hall into the conference room. Alex closed the door behind them and pointed to a chair so Kara would sit down.

“Hi,” Kara waved, annoyed. “Good morning, nice to see you, how was your evening?” She put on a fake cheery voice. Her sister often times ignored pleasantries to get straight to the point. A trait Kara did not admire.

“Good morning sunshine,” Alex mimed back in the same overly happy tone. “Did you get your morning Wheaties and OJ?”

“This is going to be a great week,” Kara mumbled sarcastically. “What was so important you couldn’t tell me on the phone? I was in a meeting.”

“We’ve a consulate of Artilians coming to speak to the DEO this evening and J’onn needs you to be the poster child for human-alien relations.”

“That’s what you dragged me over here for?” Kara leveled. “That could have been a text, Alex.”

“This is too important not for you to be fully briefed on. They are not a very forgiving people. We need to put our best foot forward so I need you here today to learn their meeting customs.”

“I have a deadline.”

“This is about intergalactic relations Kara, a puff piece can wait.”

This got Kara heated. “My work is important to me.” She said coolly, trying to bring herself back down. “And for your information, I was in a very important meeting of my own with Lena and Andrea Rojas about new technology that could change the lives of thousands of people, aliens included.”

This surprised Alex. “You were with Lena?”

“Umm…” Kara’s flame was quickly extinguished, and she started to panic. She had not told Alex yet that her and Lena had began to talk things out. She didn’t want to overwhelm the CEO with all of their friends also wanting to come back into her life. She also just wanted to keep this one good thing to herself. When she shared, things tended to go horribly wrong.

“Kara?” Alex used their mother’s tone and it sent a shiver down Kara’s spine.

“It was a professional thing, Alex.” Still the truth.

“Your face says otherwise.” Alex leaned over and poked her between her eyes at the crease on her forehead.

Kara damned the gods that gave her such a predictable tell. “We’re talking a bit more, that’s all. But today was professional. Saturday wasn’t. Or last week.”

“I thought you said after you dropped off the boys with her, she didn’t want to talk to you anymore.” Alex crossed her arms, a little angry that her sister would lie to her.

“I may have lied.” She put her fingers together a centimeter a part. “Just a little bit.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

Kara shrugged. “I didn’t expect it to go like this honestly. I keep on thinking that every time we meet, she’s just going to throw in the towel and then say it’s all over. Instead, she asked me to help Jackson with soccer and Nate with this writing thing.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the letter from the boy. “He even mailed me a package.”

Alex looked down at the item in her sister’s hand and decided her next words wisely. “Please be careful with this Kara. Trust me, I’m the first person who would cheer you on to rebuild your friendship with Lena, but her life is more complicated now.”

“I know.” Kara was almost offended at the implication. “I’m not going to let her down again. I’m especially not going to let down the boys either. I made a promise and I’m going to see it through.”

“Kara your life is unpredictable. I’m not saying that’s fair, I’m just being honest. What happens when you make a promise to go to a game and can’t make it because a bank is being robbed? What happens when you have to leave in the middle of a lesson because another multiverse crisis comes up?”

“I can at least be honest with Lena at that point. She knows now, so I won’t have to make up an excuse.” Kara started to retreat some into herself, not expecting this kind of push back from her sister. “I’m sure we can find a way for them to understand too.”

Alex could tell she was upsetting her and decided it didn’t help either of them to be so pessimistic. “Hey, I’m sorry.” She reached over and pulled Kara into a hug. “I didn’t mean to judge so quickly. I’m under a lot of pressure too right now and I shouldn’t have projected that on you.”

Kara pushed away gently and looked at her sister, a bit concerned. “Wow, dating a therapist really has changed you,” she joked.

“I should have said that I am very happy you have been able to work things out with Lena. I know how important that relationship was to you.” She rubbed Kara’s shoulder lovingly. “I’m also happy that you’ve found a way to help her out with Jackson and Nate. I will try my hardest not to call you while you’re working with them.”

“I know the risks here, Alex.” She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. “I think Lena is worth it.”

Alex gave her an understanding look. “Then, I will try to be more supportive.”

“Thank you.”

“Now can we please talk about this meeting tonight?”

Kara grumbled. “Can I open my letter first?” She pouted out her bottom lip, hoping it still had some affect on her sister.

“Quickly, please.” Kara peeled the corner of the envelope gently, careful not to rip it. She slid out the contents and eagerly opened each part. There were two pages of printer paper folder together, a piece of regular notebook paper, and a bright blue piece of construction paper. She grabbed the lined paper first and read the note. Hi Kara! Thank you for helping me. Jackson typed my article so it would be easier and I didn’t have to rip up my notebook. Can’t wait to see you again! The small message took up the entire page and he signed his name at the end in poor cursive. She figured he might just now be learning that in school.  She unfolded the printer paper, revealing a page and a half story in twenty point font. It was one of the cutest things she had ever seen.

She put that aside and finally unfolded the last item. It was a hand drawn picture of all of them in the park. Nate had drawn himself and Lena sitting on one side. On the other, in a big patch of green grass, a stick figure Jackson was kicking the ball and she was across from him with her arms up. He had made her shoes extra pink and her hair long and blonde.

Alex looked over at her curiously. “What is that?”

Kara turned it around to show her. “We played soccer in the park on Saturday.” She pointed to the happy stick figure version of herself. “I think the likeness is uncanny.”

Alex had to stifle a laugh. “It’s very sweet Kara…now can we get back to the diplomat?”

Kara rolled her eyes and acquiesced. She folded up the letter and the article and put in in her bag. She kept the picture out though and studied it a few times. Nate had labeled it The Best Day. He wasn’t wrong. That was the most fun she had had in a long time, not to mention how her conversation with Lena made her feel. Even with the annoyance of having to put everything on hold for another diplomatic meeting, Kara felt a sense of peace that hadn’t been there in a long time. There was also a new kind of excitement she couldn’t explain. Things had become so routine in her life but nothing about the last week had been predictable at all.

The next two days passed in a blur of work and homework for everyone in Lena’s apartment. Had she not had an assistant, she might have forgotten that it was even Wednesday. It felt like she had already done two weeks worth of work in just two days. Kara had come over at about the same time the boys had gotten home from school and now the kitchen was bustling with activity.

“Jackson, Mrs. Roberts gave us access to the campus field this evening so you and Kara can walk over there after you do your homework.”

Jackson grabbed an apple off the counter and took a loud bite out of it. “I don’t have any,” he said through chews. Lena narrowed her eyes and lifted an eyebrow. “I have like one thing,” he corrected. “I can do it when we get home. I wouldn’t want to hold Kara up if she’s already here.”

Lena turned her attention to Kara. “Would you mind waiting a bit longer so he can get that done, please.”

Kara looked between them and knew the safer person to side with. “I’m in no rush at all. I need to talk with Nate about his article anyways.”

“Ugh…fineeee,” Jackson turned around, grabbed his back pack off the floor, and trudged off to his room.

“You’ve got that look down pat,” Kara whispered through a smile. “Very impressive.”

Lena also grabbed an apple and took a more conservative bite. “I didn’t have a great parental role model in Lilian, but the woman did know how to take full advantage of a stern look and a carefully raised eyebrow.”

“Oh I know-” Before Kara could finish her comment, Nate popped up next to her excitedly.

“You finished my article!?” He caught himself quickly, realizing he had talked over Kara. “I’m sorry that was rude.” He looked to Lena as if she was feeding him lines in the school play. “Excuse me Kara, sorry for interrupting.” Lena smiled, appreciating that he was taking her small lessons in manners to heart. He had gotten in a bit of trouble at school talking over teachers and classmates so they were working on his patience.

“I was done,” Kara reassured. She turned around and got into her bag on the back counter. She pulled out a folder and placed it next to Nate. “I do have my initial notes with me. Do you have to do your homework first though?” They both looked to Lena for an answer.

“Go ahead and do this first and we can work on your homework later while they are out practicing.”

Nate pumped his fist in the air in victory and grabbed onto Kara’s wrist. “We can go to my room!”

“Did you get a snack?” Lena asked before he could swoop Kara away. “Dinner isn’t until at least seven because I have a meeting.”

Nate reluctantly let go of Kara’s hand, opened the fridge, and grabbed a prepackaged container of hummus and carrots. He held it up to Lena and she nodded, satisfied in his selection. “Have fun.” They ran off to Nate’s room and Lena couldn’t help but smile at herself imagining Kara crouching by his desk, trying to explain good reporting.

After thirty minutes, Jackson emerged from his room, finished with his homework and changed into work out clothes. “Did Kara leave?” He asked Lena who was now lounging on the couch, working on her tablet.

“She’s with Nate,” she said not looking up.

“I’m ready when she is.” As he said this, the woman emerged from Nate’s room. The boy was bouncing around and clutching Kara’s folder for dear life. He ran down to the couch next to Lena and put it out in front of her.

“Wanna read?”

She set down her tablet and grabbed the folder out of his hand. “Give me two minutes to get them out of the house and then I will, okay?” He nodded, excitedly.

Lena went up to the counter where Kara and Jackson were now talking about training. “Jackson are you comfortable walking there with Kara and showing her around the campus?”

“Yeah?” He used his classic annoyed teen voice. “I’m not a kid, I can show her how to get to the school I go to every day.”

Lena smacked her lips together lightly. “Can we take the sass down like three degrees today, please?”

“I have my phone if anything happens,” Kara butted in.  

“Perfect! Have fun. We’ll wait till you get back to eat.” Jackson said nothing and walked to the door.

Kara reached out a hand and squeezed Lena’s shoulder. “I’ll make him run extra.” She followed him, grabbing her soccer bag on the way.

Lena turned back to couch. “Okay, let’s read this master piece!”

When they got to the field on campus, Kara surveyed the area, trying to figure out the best place to set up. Her and Jackson mostly talked shop on the way there and she had a pretty good idea of the areas he would need to work on to make the team. Fortunately, no one was there except a few kids sitting in the bleachers. They were dressed in checkered tank tops and high shorts so Kara figured they were a part of the track team. Jackson had mentioned more than once, he didn’t want any of the actual soccer players to see him out there.

The soccer field was beautiful. It had one side full of bleachers and the other side had two huts over top a set of benches for the players. There was a track around it that spaced the bleachers a bit farther away from the grass field, meaning even if someone he knew was there, they’d likely not even recognize him from that distance.

Jackson led the way towards the field as if he had been there before, even though he had only ever passed it on the way to the high school building. They walked behind the goal closest to them and set down their bags. “Cleats or sneakers?” He asked, holding up the different shoes to Kara.

“Sneakers first, you’re not getting out of cardio.” He rolled his eyes and huffed as he sunk down to the ground. Kara was already wearing hers and had brought her cleats separate. “This is a nice field,” she commented. “I don’t think I’ve been on a real soccer pitch in years.”

“A what?”

“Don’t worry about it”, she laughed. “Let’s do a few laps and get started before we lose daylight.” As she said it, large lights came on around the stadium. “Or not.” This place was much nicer than the field she played at in high school. Jackson reluctantly got up and followed her to the start of the track. He dramatically shook out his arms. Kara started off slowly but eventually was able to get him up to a reasonable pace.

They did three laps and headed back towards the grass and Jackson was surprisingly less out of breath than he had been Saturday. That was at least something. She began stretching out how she used to before games and he mimicked her movements. Once she figured he had enough time to recover, she decided to try and break the ice a bit more with something not related to sports. “How was school?” She started.

He stretched out his back and pulled one of his arms across his chest. “Same old same old, boring.” There was a long pause. Kara hoped that question would take up a bit longer than five seconds.  

“Nothing…new going on?” He shrugged, both stretching and giving a silent answer. This was going great, Kara thought. She wanted to get to know him and make him more comfortable but she was realizing quickly he might just want to keep it completely about soccer. The other option was he could just be a regular teenage boy who aren’t known for their verbosity. She decided on the former and kept her questions to soccer. “Know anyone else trying out for the team?”  

This seem to turn on something in his brain because he piqued up. There was a look on his face that Kara couldn’t quite read. It looked like he was contemplating something, but she hadn’t been around him enough to figure out his tells. He looked over towards the bleachers and scanned them, making sure there really weren’t any prying ears. “There’s this one kid, Jacob, and all of his ‘bros’ who are trying out.” He sat on the ground and aggressively took off one of his shoes. “He thinks he’s hot shit because all of his brothers are like collegiate athletes or something.” He realized he had cursed and looked up at Kara apologetically. “Lena says I can cuss if I’m frustrated and not doing it at someone else.”

Kara sat down as well, preparing to put on her own cleats. “I think that’s reasonable.” She took off both shoes and put them next to her bag. “Is he any good?”

“I have no idea. He acts like he’s a prodigy though. Yesterday, he told me that I would be lucky to carry his bag to the games and clean his cleats.” He rolled up his long socks and shoved the shin guards inside. “Who says that? It’s just mean.”

Kara began lacing up her cleats. “He sounds like a bully.”

“He is. He calls my friend Seth highlighter because his hair is blonde and sticks up a little bit.”

“Does he say anything else to you?” Kara was shifting from reporter to Supergirl with every comment Jackson was making about this kid.

Jackson shook his head no. “I don’t think he knows me well enough yet…soccer is the only thing he knows about me.”

Kara stood up and then helped him to his feet as well. “I’m sorry this is happening. Bullies are the worst.”

“What would you do?” He asked earnestly.

She was touched that he would want her opinion on it. She thought carefully. If it were an adult, Supergirl would take him toe to toe but this was a kid. And he wasn’t a villain trying to terrorize the city. He was probably just dealing with his own problems and taking them out on others. Even the grown up bullies always seemed to have something else underneath it all they were dealing with. “I would ask Lena too,” she started, not wanting to over step. “But I’d talk to him. Not confront him in a I’m going to fight you way but just ask him why he’s being a jerk to you…maybe tell him how it makes you feel.” Jackson looked at her a little confused, so she clarified. “If you try to get to know him and let him know you, he might lighten up.”

“Or he’s just a terrible person,” Jackson leveled.

“Maybe and if that’s true than you could tell someone higher up about it.” He didn’t like that answer.  

He picked up the soccer ball and waffled it around in his hand. “I was kind of hoping you were going to tell me to get one good punch in and then he’d leave me alone.”

“I’m a pacifist,” she lied, taking the ball out of his hands and tossing it out into the field. “Let’s get to it or he’s going to have a lot more of a reason to make fun of you.”

“Who’s the bully now,” he yelled after her.

Back at the apartment, Lena was setting up her computer for a late conference call. She had all of the folders set out for the different topics of discussion and scribbled onto the top corner of one of them to make sure that her pen was still working. She looked at her watch, noting she had a few more minutes before she needed to call in.

She stepped out of the office and walked towards Nate’s room. She knocked softly and he told her to come in. “Hey bud, I have this meeting for the next hour or so but if you need any help with your homework or anything just come in, okay?” They had spent some time reading over his finished article from Kara but now, as promised, he was doing his real homework.

“Okay! Let me know if you need me for anything too,” he smiled.

“Always.” She walked back to the office and settled into her seat. She opened the video conference link and the annoying entrance tone began to fill the room. She looked at the door and debated on whether or not to shut it. It was just her and Nate in the apartment, so she decided on leaving it open in case he needed something but was afraid to bother her. Looking back to her computer, several video screens came up with smiling faces from around the country.

“Good evening, thank you for being able to make this time work.” There were various greeting in return. She grabbed the first folder and placed it in front of herself. “Okay let’s get started with acquisitions.” Twenty minutes later, she had pages of notes and was nodding along to a very detailed retelling of one of her team members experience in their new facility. She loved being in charge but sometimes she loathed progress meetings that checked boxes rather than made any forward strides.

“Psssst.” Lena was torn from her thoughts by a call from the door. She turned around and Nate was standing in the hallway with his homework folder in his hand.

“Excuse me Jane, do you mind if we pause for just a second.” The woman complied easily and Lena waved Nate in. She had warned them ahead of time that he might be interrupting.

“Sorry Jane!” He said, trying to stand on his tip toes so they could see him.

“It’s okay buddy!” She waved at him through the screen and he reached his hand as high as he could to wave back, not realizing that he was already perfectly in frame.

“Did you need help?” Lena asked, bringing him back on topic.

He opened his folder on top of hers and pulled out the math sheet he was working on. “I can’t remember how to do the big subtraction,” he whispered, slightly embarrassed. Lena looked over the work sheet. He had done the first part that was subtracting single digit numbers but the whole section with bigger numbers was blank. There was a small hole in the answer spot for the first question where he had obviously tried it and erased his answer multiple times.

“Why don’t we do the first one together and then we’ll see if you can’t try a few on your own.”

She turned to the screen full of people. “Would you mind taking a quick break? This won’t take but a minute.” There were multiple understanding voices.

She looked over to the work bench across from her and realized the chair was piled with cords and wires she had been disassembling. “Why don’t you sit up here with me and we’ll go through it.” She scooted her chair out just a little bit and Nate easily climbed into her lap. She rolled back forward and grabbed the pen that was sitting to the side of her note pad. She wrapped her left hand around Nate’s waist, just in case he would start to slip and fall. He was surprisingly very light.

“Alright so let’s try the first one.” She went to point at the numbers but Nate stopped the pen.

“You can’t do math in pen!” Nate said alarmed. He held out the pencil in his left hand and she reluctantly took it. She hated pencils. A person on the call had chuckled and Lena’s eyes went to the screen warningly.

“Okay let’s try this again. So the first number we have is thirty.” She curled around him and pointed to the top of the stacked problem. “The second is twenty-four…do you remember where we have to start subtracting?”

Nate turned his head slightly, looking up at her. “You have to do the second number first but you can’t subtract four from zero, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re right but that means we have to take a number from the three.” She crossed out the three and wrote two above it and then wrote a one next to the zero. “Now what do we have?”

His eyes lit up like she just invented a new kind of cookie. “We can subtract four from ten!” She held out the pencil for him to use. He quickly wrote down six and then looked at the next part. “and then two minus two is zero.” He drew a big zero and then circled the answer.

“That wasn’t so hard!” Lena held out her hand, palm side up and he tapped it with his own. “Okay let’s do one more and then you can go try the rest of them on your own.” She looked up at the screen and surprisingly everyone on the call was staring intently at her. “Do you want to explain what you’re doing to my team?”

Nate wrote out the next problem and once Lena confirmed that he was correct he held up the paper to the camera. Using his pencil, he pointed to each step he was doing. “This is a really hard one so if you don’t get it, it’s okay.” He pointed his thumb back at Lena. “She’s a genius, so she knows how to do everything.” He explained each step and Jane, playing along, even asked him to repeat something as if she didn’t understand. When he was done, he hopped off of Lena’s lap and grabbed his folder.

“I’ll check to make sure they’re right when I’m done.” She promised.

He gave her a thumbs up. “Bye!” He called. He was met with an equally enthusiastic send off.

When he was out of ear shot, Lena addressed everyone again, a little more formally. “Thank you for being patient. Like I said before, he has been having some problems with math for a while, so I always tell him to come get me for that subject.”

“You’re fine!” Jane spoke for the group. “It’s a sign of a good parent when you stop work for your kids.”

Lena didn’t bother correcting here and just moved their meeting back to where they had left off.

When the meeting was finally over, Lena walked to Nate’s room and knocked on the door. “Done?” She called through the door.

“Yes!” He opened the door and she walked over to his desk to look over his answers. He had a few mistakes but she quickly showed him where he went wrong and how to fix it.

“We can look up some more questions to practice later.” He was a little disappointed that he hadn’t done them all correctly, but she reassured him that everyone takes a while to understand math. She tried to think of a way to cheer him up and landed on, “Want to order some food before they get back and pretend we made it ourselves?” He jumped out of his seat and ran like an airplane into the kitchen to find the take-out menus. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

The food arrived five minutes before Kara and Jackson entered the apartment in a clatter of bags and laughter. Nate had put on his cooking apron and was pretending to stir the already made mashed potatoes in a pot on the stove. Lena, for her part, had quickly put the grilled chicken and mixed vegetables in a glass dish and as soon as the door opened, she reached into the oven, taking it out and placed it on the counter like she had been working on it for hours.

Jackson had the ball under his arm still and was looking suspiciously at the duo in the kitchen. “Hey guys, how was soccer?” Lena called, removing her ice cold oven mitts and laying them to the side.

“It was great.” He went up beside Nate and looked over into the pot. “You guys have been busy.”

“This?” Lena said nonchalantly. “We just threw this together.”

Kara also followed closely behind the teenager. “It smells like Di’Angelo’s,” she commented.

Lena willed her face not to break. It didn’t matter though because it took about five seconds before Nate was a ball of laughter. “It was Lena’s idea!” He pointed his potatoed whisk at her.

“Traitor,” she whispered.

“I knew this looked to good to be your work.” Jackson reached for a pepper that was on the edge of the dish and Lena lightly smacked the top of his hand.

“Hey! I’ve been working on it thank you very much.” She took the dish out of his reach and put it on the island. “You two have required a steep learning curve on a number of accounts.”

“I’m just kidding, Lena!” He put his arm over her shoulder. “This looks wonderful.”

She quickly bent out of his embrace and put some space between them. “You are sweaty and gross. Please take a shower before we eat.”

He pulled his shirt up to his nose and smelled it. “You may have a point.” He circled his finger around the room. “Don’t think about eating without me.”

“Go!” Lena pushed. She reached in the drawer and grabbed the aluminum foil. She peeled a piece off and placed it over the glass dish. As she was pushing down the edges, she realized that she had completely ignored Kara. The woman was standing there silent, obviously uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry Kara!” She placed the dish back into the oven and walked over to her. “I didn’t mean to be so rude. How did everything go?”

“Like he said, it went great,” she smiled. “I was going to let him know my schedule for the rest of the week but he,” she pointed over her shoulder where he had disappeared to, “would you mind telling him.”

“You’re not staying for dinner?” Lena asked, genuinely surprised. She didn’t exactly offer but she assumed Kara would see there was plenty for everyone.

“Are you sure?” She questioned.

“Yes!” Nate answered for her. Kara looked to Lena who mouthed please.

“Then can I at least help set the…” she was going to table but Lena’s apartment actually lacked a real dining table. She just had the island with bar stools.

Lena acknowledged the problem. “I’m trying to figure out where I can put a dining table. For now, we’ve been sitting here. It works pretty well for three but we’ll have to be inventive to fit a fourth.” Kara walked around the counter and washed her hands in the sink. Lena handed her a towel and she graciously took it and dried her hands. She reached into the closet closest to her and pulled down four plates and passed them over to Lena’s waiting hands. While Lena laid them out, Kara also grabbed four glasses and silverware out of the bottom drawer. She set them down and neatly arranged them next to each plate.

“Nate, how are the potatoes?” Lena questioned.

He lifted up his whisk and took a bite off the edge. “Perfect!” He was about to set it back into the pot but Kara was able to grab it before it touched down.

“Nice catch,” Lena laughed. Kara gave her a thumbs up and set the now ruined utensil in the sink. “Okay go get changed into your pajamas and by then Jackson will hopefully be done.” He gave her a quick salute and jumped off of the stool he was standing on and ran to his room.

Lena leaned against one counter and Kara leaned on the other directly across from her. Kara stared at the woman intently, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. “Can I say something?” Kara asked.

“If it has to do with my cooking, no.”

Kara knew not to cross that bridge. That would be the pot calling the kettle black. “Nothing to do with that,” she assured. “It’s just an observation.”

“Okay?” Now Lena was intrigued.

“You are really good at all of this.” She gave a nod to the chaos that now was Lena’s apartment. “And…and I want to thank you for letting be here.” She grabbed a serving spoon out of the holder next to the stove and began absentmindedly stirring the potatoes again. “I haven’t been in a good place since…well for a long time if I’m being honest. This last week has been something very special and I appreciate you being gracious enough to listen to me and let me be apart of your life again.”

“I’m really glad too.” Lena walked over and put a hand over Kara’s, stopping her motions. “But I don’t want you to think that you have to prove yourself here or take on more than you can handle.” Kara met her eyes and could see nothing but concern. “I don’t get a leg up in this friendship because of what happened. This is supposed to be a redo for both of us.” She let go and moved her hand to the counter. “You’re enough…” she cocked her head to the side. “…even if you never gave another soccer lesson or only ever came over for ice cream. We don’t expect anything.” A spare hair had fallen out of Kara’s pony tail and over her eyes. Lena gently swiped a finger under it and placed it behind Kara’s ear. “I can say we’d miss your company though.”

“Ahem,” Jackson cleared his throat behind them.

Lena quickly turned around, not realizing just how close she was standing to Kara. “That was quick!” She stuttered out. She took a long step forward, distancing herself from Kara who had gone back to stirring the beaten half to death spuds.

“I was hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” Lena deadpanned. Jackson didn’t argue. Right behind him, Nate slid out of his own room in Lego pajamas that he had to have from the store that weekend. They went to their normal seats and Kara and Lena decided to stand at their place sets across from them.

“Kara would you mind serving that while I get out the chicken.”

She obliged and began putting large dollops of the white fluff on each plate. “Thank you!” Nate smiled.

Lena went behind her and used a fork to plop out a helping of vegetables and chicken to each plate. When she got to Kara’s, she carefully worked around the mushrooms and only delivered the peppers and carrots.

“Not a mushroom fan?” Jackson questioned.

“Bad experience.” Kara replied, vaguely. “Thanks for remembering.”

Lena put the dish back on the stove top and returned to her place setting. “How could I forget? You talked about it for weeks.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing!” Kara gave a sharp look to Lena.

“Come on Kara, it’s not that bad.” Lena reached over and grabbed Nate’s plate. “It was just a tiny little accident.” She began cutting up his chicken into pieces.

“You can’t leave us hanging,” Jackson argued.

Kara huffed out a breath, making sure she controlled herself enough not to blow all of their food off the table. “So I was following up on this story about a local restaurant and I guess the owner didn’t appreciate what I had to say. Instead of having a conversation with me, he had a bus boy pour an entire bucket of sludgy mushroom goop on my head.”

“Ewwww!” Nate put a hand on his stomach and pretended to gag. Even Jackson looked disgusted.

“It got every where and I swear I could still smell it days later.” Now everyone was laughing at her. “And since then, I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat mushrooms. Even the sight of them makes me…” she dramatically shivered.

“No more gross food talk, please.” Lena already regretted having Kara explain herself. She gave Nate his plate back and the boy already started pushing his mushrooms to the side of the plate. She was going to have to cross that vegetable off her shopping list. “Nate, do you want to go first tonight?” Lena asked, wanting to change topics.

“Kara’s our guest shouldn’t she go first?” He countered.

“Go first with what?” Kara asked.

“Good day, bad day,” Nate answered as if it was obvious.

Kara’s look of confusion prompted an explanation from Jackson. “You say one good thing that happened and why it makes you happy. Then, you say one bad thing that happened and how you dealt with it.” He went back to inhaling his food.

“That’s pretty straight forward,” she said with a mouthful of potatoes. She swallowed and wiped her mouth, mulling over the question. “I think the good thing that happened was getting to play soccer on a real field again. It makes me happy because it reminds me of all the fun I had playing when I was younger.” She paused for a second thinking of a bad thing. She obviously couldn’t talk about the bus that nearly ran into a library. “I think the bad thing was definitely having to be within ten feet of mushrooms again…and I will deal with it by one day eliminating them as a crop food.” They all laughed and Lena teasingly forked a mushroom on her plate and floated it towards Kara. The blonde swatted her hand out of the way, warningly. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Lena.” At that, Lena turned the fork on herself and popped the fungi in her mouth.  

When she had swallowed it she turned back to the youngest. “Nate how was your day?”

“It was a really good day! Kara and I finished my first article and Mr. Jacobson said that when I had it done he would put in on the announcement board in my classroom!”

“It was an excellent piece of observational journalism,” Lena smiled.

“I agree,” Kara added. “Maybe you can come over to CatCo soon and we can work on your next story there.” His eyes got big and he looked quickly to Lena for approval. She nodded and he launched over to Kara, wrapping her in a hug.

“Now I don’t even want to say my bad thing!” He joked. Lena gave him another look and he quickly ran back to his chair and acquiesced. “I had a lot of trouble with my math homework and I couldn’t figure it out. Lena tried helping but I still didn’t get it and I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
“But how did we deal with it?” Lena prodded.

“I worked through each problem twice and then we looked up some more to practice so that I won’t forget.” He didn’t sound too confident with it, but it was a step in the right direction. He looked over to his brother, glad to be off the hot seat. “Your turn.”

Jackson shoveled in one more helping of potatoes and washed it down with half a cup of milk before starting. “Good thing was getting better at soccer. Lena, I kicked the ball so far today you wouldn’t even believe it. I even scored on Kara…twice.” He held up two fingers.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…I wasn’t ready yet.” She reached over her hand and Jackson high fived it. “You are doing really awesome though, I’m very proud of you.” He beamed and almost didn’t want to bring up the next thing. He had promised Kara though that he would tell Lena what was going on with school. “So…umm…the bad thing has to do with this kid at school.” Lena could hear the change in his voice and put down her fork to give him her full attention. “There’s this bully in my class who keeps making fun of me for wanting to be on the soccer team.”

“Who?” Lena asked, urgently. “What are they saying?”

“It’s fine,” Jackson leveled. “He’s just a jerk but he also picks on Seth and that’s what really bothers me.”

“Who is it? I’ll call their parents tomorrow and get this all sorted.”

“Lena you can’t call his parents. I’ll never live that down.”

Lena crossed her arms, unsatisfied with his response. “Bullying is unacceptable, Jackson.”

“I know which is why I’m going to take Kara’s advice and talk to him.”

Lena looked over to Kara who had a slightly guilty look on her face. Lena quirked up one eyebrow and Kara knew that meant talk. “He was telling me about it earlier and I suggested that he should talk to the kid and see if there isn’t something more going on and tell him how it makes him feel.”

There was a long pause and Kara wasn’t sure if she should add something else. Lena thankfully began speaking again. “I actually think that is a really good idea.” She turned to Jackson. “As long as you’re comfortable talking to him, I think that would be a good starting point. But if it doesn’t stop, I’m going to talk to his parents.”

“Deal.”

Lena was not happy that he was being bullied but she also didn’t know what the right protocol for this was. She made a mental note to talk to Karen about it later, especially because it involved Seth too. Before she could get too much into her thoughts, Jackson waved a hand in front of her face. She obviously hadn’t heard what he had just said. “It’s your turn,” he repeated.  

Lena blinked the island back into focus. “Right.” She thought for just a moment. “My good thing would be this dinner. It is always the best part of my day.” It was the truth. She had spent years eating dinner alone at a computer or in front of her tv. A dinner full of laughter and conversation was something she never knew she needed as much as she did. “I think my bad thing is realizing I didn’t buy any more ice cream this week.” There was instant protest from all parties around her.

After their anger died down, they fell into easy conversation. Nate talked about what book he was reading which led Jackson to diatribe on the lack of readers in his class. Lena and Kara just nodded a long, occasionally adding a tidbit from their day. Once all the food was gone, Lena looked at the clock and realized it was much later than she expected. “It’s time for bed guys.”

“Five more minutes?” Nate begged.

Lena shook her head no. “It’s already twenty minutes past normal.”

“Can Kara come to dinner again?” He asked hopefully.

Lena looked to Kara, not wanting to put any pressure on her. “Kara is very busy and is already doing a lot for us. Let’s keep that as a maybe.”

“But I can still go to work with her sometime?”

Kara stepped in quickly, “Yes.” She held out her pinky. “nehv vrreiahv.” Everyone looked at her strangely, and she realized that she hadn’t spoken it in English. “Pinky promise,” she corrected.

“What language was that?” Jackson asked curiously.  

“Ummm,” she looked to Lena for help.

“Czech.” “Dutch.” They said at the same time. “Dutch.” “Czech.” They reversed their answers, not helping the situation.

“It’s a Czech phrase, translated into Dutch.” Kara did not sound convincing at all.

“Anyway!” Lena walked around the counter and put a hand on either boy’s shoulder. “Bed now.”

She waited until both doors were shut before turning to Kara and laughing. She put a hand over her mouth quickly, to stifle the sound. She controlled herself and whispered. “For people who have lied a lot, that was embarrassing.”

Kara ran a hand over her head and through her pony tail. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize. Alex and I used to say that to each other all the time. She would say it in this language she learned on a trip to Nguni and I would respond in Kryptonese.” She smiled at the memory. “I guess it’s kind of reflexive to say it that way.”

“It sounds like a beautiful language. I’d like to learn more about it sometime.”

“I’d really like that.”

Lena looked back to the hallway and kept her eyes on the boy’s doors while she quietly opened the freezer. “What are you do-” She quickly sshhed Kara. She smoothly slid open the bottom drawer and stacked a bag of broccoli off to the side. Crouching, she was able to reach a small white container that was hidden in the back corner. She plucked it out and set it down next to her on the floor. She carefully put everything back and slid the door shut. She glanced one more time at the undisturbed hallway before standing up and putting the treasure on the counter.

“Is that?” Kara smiled, deviously. Lena peeled off the lid, revealing half of a container of chocolate swirl ice cream. “I thought you said there was no more.”

Lena walked around her and quietly grabbed two spoons out of the drawer. “If you heard me correctly, I said that I hadn’t bought any. Nobody asked if I had any hidden away.” She handed Kara a spoon and grabbed up the container, peeling out a small scoop for herself.

“I guess I won’t report you to the dessert police…on a technicality.” Kara held up her spoon in warning. “But I’ve got my eye on you Miss Luthor.”

“Shut up and eat this before one of them comes out.” Kara obliged using a bit of her strength to carve out a much bigger bite from the frozen block.

“So how was your day really?” She asked, knowing that Lena looked a bit stressed when she had picked up Jackson earlier.

Lena shrugged. “It wasn’t bad. Things are just getting a little more complicated. In a good way, of course, but sometimes deadlines and new project pile up all at once, and I want to pull my hair out.”

“The new thing with Andrea?” Kara questioned.

“Exactly! It has been really great to work on but now that we are past the development part and headed towards public use, I kind of lost interest.” She sat down in the bar stool closest to her and rested her elbows on the table. “How was your day?”

“Day, fine. Week, not so much.” Kara hopped up on the back counter and let her feet dangle. “I’ve just been under a lot of pressure too and nobody seems to care what I think.”

“DEO or CatCo?”

“Both,” Kara sighed. “Andrea is trying to push me to be a journalist that I’m not. I understand what you said earlier about needing to balance what I write to be more palatable.”

“That’s not what I mean-“ Kara held up a hand, not wanting to start anything.

“You’re right though. This is business and I need to be more flexible but I just wish she would trust me more. I’m nominated for a Pulitzer for Rao’s sake.”

Lena raised up from her seat. “Really? I had no idea, Kara that’s amazing!”

“I just found out and then was immediately told my Andrea to go follow up on a real estate mogul’s new luxury high rises.” She said it in the same superficial tone that Andrea had pitched it to her.

Lena pushed the container almost to the edge of the counter, knowing Kara needed it more. “I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how frustrating that would be.”

“It would be one thing if it was just at CatCo but I feel like I have no control at the DEO either.” She clenched her fists tight around the edge of the counter to the point where she could feel a slight give in the marble. “I’m just a puppet to them right now. Monday, Alex called me over 9-1-1 just so I could schmooze it up with some intergalactic diplomats. I spent four hours trying to learn how to properly address them and when they finally got here, they said one word to me and proceeded to only talk to J’onn.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“All the time. I get called away from something I’m enjoying to go be the face of positive Alien-Human relations.” Lena could tell the blonde had been keeping a lot of this inside. She was nearly shaking with anger. “The worst thing is, if I say I don’t want to do it, I’m called selfish. I could do a hundred of these meetings but the one time I say no, it’s all over. I’m the bad guy.”

“Have you talked to Alex about how you feel?”

Kara let out an exasperated laugh. “No.”

“Maybe that’s where you can start?” Lena suggested. “That’s what you told Jackson to do, right?”

Kara accusingly pointed her spoon at Lena. “Using my own logic against me…you really do have this mom thing down.” She meant the comment as a joke, but something changed in Lena’s demeanor. “I mean…you’re just…with the games…and the homework.” She was fumbling more than usual and wanted to pull her shirt over her head and hide in it. “Like I said, you’re really good at this.”

Lena looked at her with a slightly reserved smile. “You should see my search history. I’ve never read so many blogs about ‘How to tackle the teenage years’ and ‘raising emotionally mature men’,” she gave a half hearted laugh. “I really have no idea what I’m doing.” That was the first time she had really said it out loud. She could do all of the things that google told her was right but it still didn’t feel like she was the right person to be in charge of two children. “And Jenny, their social worker, said it would be months before she found the right home. I just don’t want them to lose out on something because they’re stuck with me for now.”

“Lena,” she kept her voice soft and low. “I think you’re the best thing that’s happened to these boys in a long time.” Lena didn’t let herself believe that. “They aren’t stuck with you.”

“I’m just waiting for the moment when I’m in too deep and I don’t have time to ask someone for help,” Lena admitted.

“I feel like that’s completely normal. You’re not supposed to be perfect. You just have to be present.”

That hit Lena square in her chest. It basically described her own childhood. From the outside, Lilian had curated an image of perfection with all of the houses and fancy schools. What was missing in all of that was a real loving presence.

“I missed this,” Lena looked up at Kara, a hint of a tear playing in the corner of her eye. “I can’t tell you the number of times, I needed you to say something like that to me or tell me everything was going to be okay.”

“I’m here now and I promise I’m not going anywhere.” Kara hopped off the counter and leaned forward. “I need this too.” She put her spoon in the container and scooped out the last bite. “The ice cream I mean.”

Lena couldn’t help but smile-this was her Kara. She pushed off the counter and took a step towards the entry way. “I’m going to make sure the boys are actually asleep.”

Kara pointed to the door. “I should get going, then.” Even as she said it, there wasn’t any part of her that wanted to leave. It had been one of the best days she had had in a long time.

Lena didn’t want her to go either. “I know you have a lot on your plate but I thought we could stay up a bit longer…maybe talk some more.” She gave a small, hopeful smile.

Kara had already reached for her bag but set it back down at Lena’s offer. “Maybe a glass of wine too?”

Lena laughed. “I have plenty of that.” She thought about it and realized she hadn’t had any alcohol except for the one time at Chuck E Cheese since the boys moved in. She was by no means a frequent drinker, but it was definitely a change in habit to have none at all. “Two seconds.” She held up her fingers and walked away.  

It actually took about five minutes before Lena had all the doors shut, night lights on, and stuffed animals situated. Her mind drifted momentarily to the mess in the kitchen and resigned herself to just throwing all of the dishes in the sink and worrying about it later. To her surprise, when she entered the kitchen, Kara already had them stacked up and the sink running. “We can get that later,” she offered.

Kara waved her off and began scrubbing the first dish. “It’s the least I can do.” She nodded towards the dishwasher to her right. “I’ll rinse them off if you want to put them in. I don’t know how you like yours organized.”

Lena sidled up next to her and opened the dishwasher door. “I think I used this thing once a week before and now we barely go a day without it being full.” Kara handed her the first dish and she found a spot for it among the other ceramic.

“Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to wash the dishes because I inevitably broke at least one every time. It wasn’t until I was about fifteen, when I really got my strength under control and Eliza would let me.” She laughed at the memory. “I think that’s why I like doing them so much now.”

Lena just stared at her. It was like she was seeing her for the first time. Sure, she had heard stories of Kara’s childhood but they were always framed by her human experiences. This was something she had never even considered. “How long did it take you to figure out your powers?”

Kara handed her two more glasses. “I still learn new things about them, honestly. I also have moments where I don’t have as much control as I want to.”

Lena stepped away from the dishwasher and reached in the cabinet to the right, grabbing two wine glasses. “Did you have any kind of powers on Krypton?”

“No physical powers but my education allowed me to build and create technology that gave me at least an advantage.”

This piqued Lena’s interest. “You build tech?” She put the corkscrew in the top of the wine bottle and struggled to twist it through the expensive cork.

Kara reached over, putting her hands over Lena’s and grabbing the top of the device. “Let me.” She twisted with what looked like little effort and then pulled out, releasing the topper with a pop. They stared at each other a moment before she cleared her throat and answered the question. “I used to design all sorts of things. On Krypton, our education is much different than earth. Things like calculus, mechanics, and physics are taught…were taught in our primary schools…and my father was one of the leading scientist so I guess I had a natural knack for it.”

Lena was speechless. Seeing this, Kara took the bottle completely out of her hands and poured it into the two waiting glasses. She handed one to Lena who took it reflexively. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Kara nodded towards the couch. “But I’d really like to talk about it.”

Lena followed her down the steps and sat opposite her. She carefully set the glass down, not trusting herself to not spill it on the white surface. She had a million questions crossing her mind now. She had known Krypton was advanced, but she didn’t know how much that played into Kara’s world. “How old were you when you came here, then?” She asked first.

Kara took a drink of wine and laid back into the couch. “Physical or actual age?”

“What do you mean?”

Kara took a deep breath, ready to relive all of this again. “I left Krypton when I was thirteen. The planet was dying and my parents sent me and my cousin Kal to earth to escape their fate. I was supposed to help look after him.”

“Superman,” Lena said, more confirming than asking.

“My pod got moved off of its track and I got stuck in a temporal zone by Krypton for twenty-four years.” Lena was glad she had put her glass down, otherwise she would have dropped it.

“But…how?”

Kara shrugged, never knowing how to explain this part. “It’s called the phantom zone. Time is stagnant there.”  

“Did you know what was going on?” Lena asked, horrified.

Kara’s mind flashed to the memories she had spent so long suppressing. Even though Lena’s apartment was warm, her skin went ice cold with the thought of that place. “Not the whole time. In the beginning, I did. I can’t tell you how long that lasted but it was like one moment I was awake starring at the remnants of my home and the next there was just black nothingness and then I was crashing to Earth.” Lena moved closer to her and reached out a hand, wrapping it tightly around Kara’s free one.

“I am so sorry, Kara.” The woman released her hand from Lena’s and used it to wipe at the corner of her eyes.

“Don’t be…it was a long time ago. I shouldn’t- ” Lena stopped her by reclaiming a firmer grip on her hand.

“Time doesn’t heal everything. You’re allowed to still feel that loss.” Kara looked at her and Lena could see the child that was still in pain, hiding behind her eyes.

“I just don’t want to seem weak,” Kara whispered.

“Never, in a million years, would I ever think about that word when it comes to you. You have survived so much, more than I even know, and yet you still show up every single day for other people. There is nothing weak about that.” Lena pulled her hand away and set it back in her lap, letting Kara make the next move.

She thought about telling Lena everything. The thoughts that kept her up at night. The dreams she could never quite get rid of. She wanted to spill her soul, but something held her back. She was afraid that if she let it all out of the carefully crafted container where she stored it, it would never go back in. One day, she thought, she would start to pour it out bit by bit. But right now, she just wanted to have an easy evening where her ghosts stayed hidden. “I have had such a rough week,” she finally spoke up. “Do you think we could talk about something else?”

“Of course.” Lena didn’t sound disappointed but Kara still felt like she had to rationalize her decision.

“I want to talk about that with you. I do…but right now, I don’t think I have the energy to unpack it all.”

Lena gave her an understanding smile. “Kara, I know. There isn’t a schedule for what we have to talk about. I’m happy just to sit here and say nothing at all.”

“We could talk about the weather,” Kara joked with the first smile in several minutes.

“I’d rather be in silence,” Lena leaned in and whispered.

Kara didn’t know what to do next. She unconsciously reached up to adjust her glasses and a thought crossed her mind. “Can I take these off?” Her voice was so hesitant that Lena almost didn’t hear her.

“We’ve never…” she didn’t know why such a simple act was making her so nervous. Lena responded with a nod.  

Kara looked down and slowly took them off. She held them in her lowered hands, staring intently at the light that glistened off the lens. They had never done this before. Her in civilian clothes with her glasses off and no intent of flying off as Supergirl. It was like lowering the final curtain that existed between her two personas.

Lena picked up on her anxiousness and reached out a finger, touching it gingerly on the bottom of Kara’s chin. She lifted up, allowing their eyes to meet. “I see you, Kara.” She moved her hand down and touched the edge of the frames laying in her hand. “How ever you want to be with me is your choice, but I see you with or without these.”

Kara’s face felt hot and she wanted to reach over and grab her wine to cool off but reaching over would break the moment though and for some reason she didn’t want to let go of this. “I think that I started to take these off in front of you a thousand times, trying to find the right moment.”

“I think now is perfect.” Lena took a moment to take in Kara’s glassesless appearance. She really didn’t know how she never put the pieces together.

Kara took the thought right out of her head asking, “You really never saw through the glasses?”

Lena was a bit embarrassed. “I genuinely didn’t…I think part of it is I didn’t want...The other part is that I genuinely just liked them. I wasn’t focused on imagining what you looked like without them. I’m actually a bit sad to know they aren’t necessary.”

Kara laughed at that. “You know I do need them?”

“I thought you were practically perfect, vision included.”

Kara grabbed the glasses again and threw them over to Lena. “Put them on.”

Lena was surprised at how heavy they were as she lifted them to her face. When she put them on, it felt like they were going to slide off from weight alone. “What are these made of?”

“Lead,” Kara deadpanned. She had never had someone else try them and watching Lena attempt to hold her head back so they didn’t just fall off instantly was priceless. “You know I have x-ray vision, right?”

“Yes.”

“Imagine trying to turn that on and off all day, especially when you’re a kid who has never had to control it before.” She grabbed the glasses back and held them in front of her face. “I remember trying to even look into a field and everything just kept splintering in and out of focus. In my house growing up, I would run into walls because I wouldn’t realize I had been looking through things.” She thought of the holes that still had patch work on them in their Midvale house. “Jeremiah made these for me because he found out that I couldn’t see through lead.” She pulled the glasses closer to where she was now looking directly through them. “When I have these on, it blunts that power so I can go about my day running into things just because I’m a klutz.”

Lena was fascinated. It was so ingenious to make glasses work for her like that. “So they aren’t part of your secret identity…it’s just so you can see normally,” she observed.

“Absolutely! I would be miserable without these. I have much better control over my powers than I did before but why spend any energy when I can do something as simple as put these on. The secret identity part was just an added bonus when I decided to become Supergirl.”

Now Lena wanted to know about all of the steps Kara had done to manage her godly gifts. “What about your hearing? You said the other day that it is like a constant radio station in your head.”

Kara sighed heavily at that. “That is probably the hardest of all of them. I can manage my strength very easy and I obviously get to choose when I fly or use my heat vision but the hearing is nearly impossible to tune out.”

“There’s nothing you’ve tried?”

Kara thought of all of Jeremiah’s failed experiments to dampen her hearing. “There were some solid tries, but nothing seemed to work that was easy for me to turn on and off if I really needed to tune into something that was going on.”

Lena thought on it a moment. She obviously didn’t have the kind of experience Kara’s father had but she wondered if there wasn’t anything she could do for her. “Would you be interested in trying to work on something together? I’m sure your experience combined with my expertise would yield something.”  

Kara thought about her own expertise. “Can I make a confession, first?”

“Yes?” Lena said suspiciously.  

“I actually was also on the science council of Krypton…by the time I was ten…meaning I know a lot more than I think you realize…who do you think has done all of the extra modifications on my suit?”

Lena gave her a once over as if looking at her in a completely different light. “I apologize then for my statement. I’m sure your experience and our expertise would yield something.”  

Kara suddenly got very excited. “Alex doesn’t even know this but sometimes I stay late at the DEO just to tinker. When I first got to Earth, I used to do a lot of projects with Jeremiah but after he died there was never anything around to keep my skills up.” She smiled fondly at the memory, but it quickly turned into a frown. “I had to pretend to not know how to do anything when I was in high school or it would draw too much attention so I’ve definitely lost some of that knowledge…but I don’t think it would be hard to get back.”

“Then come to my lab,” Lena offered. “I have access to double what the DEO has and you don’t have to do anything in secret.”

“Lena, that would be amazing. I don’t want to take up your time though. You have so much going on.” She waved around the apartment, indicating the complete 360 her life had taken.

“It would be my pleasure. We could make it multi-tasking too if you’re so worried. We can talk more while we work.” She smiled, hoping the Kryptonian would take her offer. It would mean a lot if she could relieve some of the pressure and stress that Kara had to deal with every day.

“I would love that, then.” Kara smiled giddily, thinking about getting her hands dirty again. She curled her legs underneath her and relaxed even further into Lena’s couch, just like she used to. “My turn for a question?”

“I think that’s only fair but first…” she got up and sauntered over to the kitchen counter, grabbing the rest of the bottle of the wine. She came back and topped of each glass. “I know this probably does nothing to you, but I haven’t drank in weeks and would feel bad if I had this entire bottle by myself.”

Kara laughed and gratefully picked up her now full glass. “I like the taste regardless of its affect.” She emphasized her point by drinking half the glass. “Okay, my question…” she rubbed the side of the glass nervously with her thumb, knowing what she wanted to ask but not sure if she wanted the answer.

“Okay…” Lena prodded

“What did you first think of me when we met?” She finally asked in a rush of words.

“Kara or Supergirl?” Lena qualified.

“Both.”

“I thought Supergirl was demanding but noble. You did save my life a few times in the first week we knew each other which was a positive…but I didn’t like how you skirted around me like I was going to turn into Lex the moment you took your eyes off of me.” The admission took Kara by surprise. She didn’t remember it like that at all.

“Now as far as Kara goes, I thought you were persistent and,” she smiled to herself thinking of her real first impression. “…adorable.”

“Adorable?”

“I’m just being honest,” Lena lifted her hands up in her defense.

“Adorable like a little puppy? Or…” Kara looked at her expectantly.

Lena leaned her elbow onto the top of the couch and cradled her head into her hand. “I thought you were sweet and kind and didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives for being that way,” Lena explained. “I had dealt with Clark before and he was always harsh and direct. He never gave me a chance to be something other than a Luthor…you seemed different…and I knew that you were the one who pushed him to make that story make me look good.”  

“I didn’t have to do much.”

“Regardless, that’s what I thought.”

Kara still gave a little pout. “Adorable just sounds so young…I’m older than you!”  

Lena paused, biting the bottom of her lip just slightly before saying. “I also thought you were adorable in a beautiful kind of way.” Lena didn’t know why she admitted that little fact but she couldn’t take it back now. They were supposed to be honest and if she was fully honest, she would tell Kara that she was one of the most beautiful beings she had ever seen. Friends were allowed to say that to each other, right?

Kara’s face told a different story. Instead of reddening, it got pale and Lena could see the blacks of her eyes widening ever so slightly. Maybe she had over stepped. She just meant it as a compliment, nothing more but she could tell that wasn’t how Kara was processing it. She realized that they had just had a conversation about her sexuality that morning and her admission could be taken the wrong way. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel-”

“You thought I was beautiful?” Kara said at the same time.

Lena smiled and turned her eyebrows in. “Kara, I think you are beautiful.” The woman felt suddenly unsure of where she was taking this conversation and wanted to pull an about face. “I just…because we’re…we promised to be honest is all,” she finally got out.

Kara brought her hand up to her neck and began playing at the corner of her tshirt, wanting to disappear inside of it. How could Lena possibly think she is beautiful looking like this? “No it’s fine,” she tried to placate. “It means a lot coming from you…because you’re…you know…” she used her other hand to wave in front of Lena.

“I’m?”

“I don’t know.” Kara responded with very little confidence and tiny hitch in her voice. “You’re you.”

Lena decided to prod just a little further. “Well what did you think of me then when we were first met?”

Kara was hoping that somehow Alex would suddenly come into her ear telling her she needed to go save a burning building or even a cat in a tree. Anything to get her out of this conversation. She had never admitted what she was about to say to anyone. Sometimes, she even hid it from herself. “I thought you were going to be terrible,” she said honestly. “I had pictured this cold and witch like figure that made that hairs on my skin raise up as soon as she spoke.”

“So my mother.”

Kara breezed past that comment. “You were a Luthor and I was a Super. It was like preparing Van Helsing to go up against Dracula.” Lena laughed out loud at how dorky that reference was, causing Kara to get even more nervous. That laugh and that smile was the first thing that completely changed her opinion on the woman. “But you were nothing like that. You’re not going to believe this but when you were telling us about how you just wanted to get out from under your families name, the sun literally shone around you like you were an angel.”

“Stop it.”

“I’m serious. Your hair was sparkling so much that I nearly had to cover my eyes from the reflection.” Kara could picture it so vividly in her memory, down to exactly what Lena was wearing. “I know you didn’t have a good relationship with Clark and he came there accusing you on your first day in National city but what stuck with me is how you didn’t hold that against us…that entire week you almost died three times but still at every turn you tried to help and be good.” She had been looking off to the left, caught up in her memory, but turned back to Lena at her last words. The woman was looking at her with such intent that she felt like she had to keep talking. “You have always tried ten times harder than everyone else to make people safe…you also really inspired me to go after being a journalist.”

“I don’t know about that last part.”

Kara reached over and put her hand out on the couch, just inches from Lena’s. “You’ve always inspired me.” She took a deep breath and looked directly into Lena’s eyes. “To be completely honest, I also thought you were beau-“ her thought trailed off as a vibration came through her ear.

“I was what?” Kara held up a finger to pause. She got up quickly from the couch.

“I have to go.” She nodded down the hallway towards Lena’s bedroom where the only balcony existed. “May I?”

“Of course.” Lena got up as well. “Leave your things, I’ll get them to you.” Kara quickly clicked the pendant on her chest and in a blink of a second her body was covered in her suit. They moved towards the bedroom and while Kara put a finger to her ear, listening carefully to someone’s instruction, Lena unlocked the balcony, pulling it open.

Kara walked out, while Lena stayed inside, holding on to the side of the door. She had a great reluctance to venture out onto anything that high up since the last time she’d fallen off. “I’ll see you soon?” Lena asked hopefully.

Kara pulled at the edge of her pony tail, releasing her long tendrils of hair. “Always.” She shot up into the air and once again left Lena alone in a gush of wind. Lena felt a weird sensation floating in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t quite put a name on it but she knew it had everything to do with the woman fading across the skyline. Every bit of reluctance she had felt melted away in that moment.

Chapter Text

It was Sunday night and Lena folded her legs underneath herself and leaned back into the couch. It was a rare quiet moment where the boys had gone to bed early and there wasn’t an email or a phone call to tend to. Instead, she was perfectly content relaxing her head back and listening to the sound of rain hit off of the window. She contemplated putting on the television or even some music but the light taps outside were much more peaceful. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this at ease.

She sat like this for fifteen minutes before the vibration of her phone beside her took her out of the quiet meditation. She didn’t dare open her eyes yet and tried to fall back into the deep, hoping the intrusion would go away. It didn’t and her phone buzzed again. She blindly reached for the device and held it to her face, only opening a bit of her eye to read.

Kara: Got a minute?

Kara: Balcony?

Kara: of your home

Lena quickly opened her eyes and looked behind her to her door as if she was the one with x-ray vision and could see through it to her room. She quickly texted back a yes and stood up. She looked down at her soft grey t shirt and black pants and had to remind herself this was just Kara. Had it been like before and Supergirl showing up, she would have probably changed into something more impressive.

She walked briskly up the few steps and down the hall until she arrived at her door. She didn’t quite understand why, but she quietly opened the door and shut it behind her. Even before she turned on the lights, she could see Kara’s silhouette in the window. The wind blew lightly at her cape framing her in an almost regal way. It was already dark but the lights of the city made it nearly impossible to ever have true night fall. As Lena walked further into the room, she decided against turning on the light.

She walked up to the glass door and knocked lightly on it with her knuckles. Kara turned fully around to face her, and an instant smile filled her face. Lena slid the door open half way and leaned into it, just poking a bit of her head out. “Can I help you? I think you may be lost.”

Kara put a hand at the back of her slightly wet neck and played along. “I was looking for a famous writer goes by the name of Nathaniel Harris, ever heard of him?”

“I’m sorry Master Harris has gone to bed…I can take a message though.”

Kara laughed at Lena’s fake British accent. “Well tell him CatCo Media would like to invite him for a tour Tuesday.”

“Really?” Lena dropped the act because of her excitement. “Kara that would be wonderful.” 

Kara took a step closer to get farther under the lip of the balcony and out of the slightly drizzling rain. “I talked to Snapper and he is on board.”

“That’s surprising.”

“He’s got a soft spot for kids apparently.” The rain started to pick up even more and Kara inched just a bit closer to the edge of the window. Even though her suit was water proof it still dripped and it didn’t make it any less cold.

“Do you want to come in? It’s starting to really come down.”

Kara glanced behind Lena momentarily and back to the woman. “I shouldn’t. I’m waiting to hear back from Alex actually and I wouldn’t want to get any water on your carpet.” She pointed at her feet where a puddle was forming on the concrete she was standing on.

Lena agreed that she didn’t really want to mop up water but she could also tell that Kara had a lingering look in her eyes saying she didn’t really want to go yet. “Do you want to sit here for a minute then?”

“You’re probably busy…I just wanted to come ask you about Nate coming to work with me.”

Lena used the edge of the door to help herself down to the floor and crossed her legs. “Not busy at all,” she commented with a smile. She put her hand across the door and pushed it completely open.

“You sure?” Kara looked at her incredulously.

“Always.”

Kara wrapped a hand around her back and pulled her cape around her waist while she crouched down to the ground. She mirrored Lena’s position and let the cape lay along her side. She scooted a bit closer to where even the wind blown rain didn’t touch her. They sat there for a moment before Lena started to laugh. Kara couldn’t help herself and joined in. “We look ridiculous,” Lena nearly snorted.

“I like it! I feel like I’m thirteen again about to trade secrets at summer camp with the rival cabin.” Kara moved her head a bit closer and whispered. “I heard that Stacy took Adam to the kissing rock yesterday.”

“How scandalous,” Lena put a hand on her chest, feigning surprise.

“It actually really was. They got lost coming back and they had to send out a search party to find them. We had extra guardians in our cabins the rest of the two weeks because of them.”

“That’s a real story? People actually went to camp.” Lena furrowed her brows. “And there was a kissing rock?”

“You never went to camp?” Kara asked in disbelief. “Ever?”

“I went to summer homes. Does that count?”

“Were there s’mores?” Kara questioned.

 “I don’t think so. Those are the chocolate, fluff, sandwich thing, right?”

Kara put a hand over her opened mouth. “Lena, please tell me you’re joking. You’ve had a s’more before.”

“Never.”

“And you never made friendship bracelets or sang songs around a bonfire?”

Lena reached over and put a dry hand on Kara’s slightly cold and wet wrist. “Kara just assume that I have never done any camp related activities.”

“I’m sorry, I just loved camp. I think it was the first time I ever really felt kind of human.” Kara looked off and thought about all of the hot days she had spent soaking up childhood. Lena just watched amused as she could see the big smile forming on Kara’s face as more memories came back.

 “What was your favorite thing?” Before she could start, Lena held up a finger. “One thing...the thing you’d trade anything to relive.”

Kara let out an exasperated sigh. “You can’t just pick one, Lena! It’s camp, every day had a different favorite.” Lena held up her one finger again and Kara rolled her eyes. Kara uncrossed her legs and slid to where her back rested on the wall. She laid her head back, mind rolling through the clearest memories. She figured if she remembered them so well, they must mean the most. She tapped her foot as if she were pedaling through a slide show.

Finally, she landed on a memory that made her whole body feel warm even in the slight cold. “Got it?” Lena questioned after Kara’s foot stopped moving and she sat up straighter.

“I think I do.” She curled her knees to her chest and wrapped her hands around them. “Okay so picture a huge lake and on one end is the dock and on the other there is this big thirty foot drop off that drains into the river.” Lena nodded she was following along. “So me and Alex get into our canoe and she’s trying to help me with my strength because every time I tried to paddle I would just turn the whole boat around because she couldn’t balance it out.” Lena laughed picturing a young Alex trying to make Kara gentler. “I was starting to get it down and we were moving pretty good and the counselor says we’re going to have a race around the lake. We all positioned ourselves together and then he blew his whistle and we took off.”

Kara let go of her legs and used her hands to mime the speed at which she was rowing. “At first we’re doing great and Alex was counting and I was keeping everything in control but then the other group starts to pass us and I was so competitive…so we’re making the turn near the drop off and I start to add a little more power.” Her hand movement became more erratic and she pretended to row. “Alex obviously couldn’t keep up so instead of racing ahead we start spinning towards the drop off.”

“No!” Lena interrupted dramatically.

“Yes!” Kara threw her hands up. “I think it’s all my fault at this point so I stop moving all together. Now, we’re getting pulled backwards down this water drain and it’s just Alex trying to pull us forward. She makes one really big stroke and hits her paddle on something hard and it flies out of her hand and goes right down the drop off that’s like forty feet away at this point.” Kara dramatically paused.

“What happened next?” Lena leaned forward, chin resting on her knuckle, completely enamored by Kara’s story telling.

“Well the counselor was yelling at us to stick my paddle into the water and try and stop us while he came over to help but as soon as I did it broke in half and floated away too.” She exploded her hand in the air like it was the paddle. “Alex tells me not to use my powers unless it was the absolute last resort. We’re both holding onto to either side of the canoe now because the water is picking up and it’s starting to wobble back and forth. The counselor is too far away and even trying to move water with my hand was getting us nowhere. I was about to jump into the water and fly the canoe out or try and push it when something huge hits the bottom of it.”

She wobbled back and forth in her seat position, pretending to try and catch her balance. “We think its just a big rock but all of a sudden instead of moving towards the drop off we start getting pushed to the side where the embankment is. This makes no sense because the current is going the other way.” She waved her hands around. “So Alex leaned her head over the side and she saw like a piece of drift wood or maybe the paddle. It didn’t matter because after another few seconds we had moved so far we were practically in the bank instead of over the edge. Once we slid up the side, I looked over the edge and you’ll never believe what I saw!”

“What?”

“It was a giant turtle.” She put out her hands farther than shoulder length a part.

“What!”

“No lie, it was the biggest turtle I had ever seen.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lena scrunched up her eyes suspect.

Kara leaned forward. “I’m serious!”

“A turtle saved your life?”

“Ask Alex!” Kara defended. “You can ask Eliza too!” Lena still looked unsure. “I swear! I’m going to have her send me a picture of my end of camp award I got for it!”

“They gave you an award for almost dying?”

Kara was about to give a counterpoint but then thought about it. “You actually make a good point but still!” She put her hand on the side of her pants and unsealed a pocket Lena had never noticed before. She pulled out her phone and quickly sent off a text. Noticing Lena staring she explained, “Slight modification to the suit…there was never anywhere to store this thing.” She shook her phone. “It’s kind of tap to open but you have to know where to push.”

“Clever.”

Kara waited a few seconds, expecting an immediate text to come from either her sister or mother but neither came. “Listen, the second they respond, I will prove my honesty.”

“Okay…because that sounded like something Nate would make up.”

“You’re impossible,” Kara huffed. “You would believe it if you ever went to camp.”

“I had my fair share of adventures thank you very much.” Lena raised an eyebrow. She may have not had a traditional childhood but that didn’t mean it was always boring.

“Oh really,” Kara challenged with a slight smile. “Then what was your favorite memory of all of those crazy adventures?” She held up a finger and mimicked Lena’s voice. “Just one.”

Lena did not have to take as long to sift through her memories to come up with a few highlights. Kara definitely had her beat when it came to the quantity of fun but Lena thought she could give her a run for her money in the quality department. She thought carefully wanting to pick something unforgettable. Even after she landed on the memory, she hesitated to begin. She was not the story teller Kara was. She decided to put it succinctly. “I had a private dinner with the Queen of England.”

Kara’s mouth fell open and Lena watched as her face contorted a dozen different ways. “You…what…you had…how?” Lena just shrugged, playing it cool. “The Queen?” Kara said, exasperated. She pointed out across the horizon as if Europe could easily be seen. “Like the Queen?”

“Yes, Kara…the Queen.” Kara looked at her expectantly, wanting to hear the story. “I returned her dog and she invited me to dinner. I was eleven, I think.”

Kara waited for more but it didn’t seem like Lena was going to give away anything. “Come on Lena, that can’t be all that happened! What is she like? Does she really sound that British? What does she smell like? What did you talk about?” Her words came out so quickly that Lena almost didn’t catch everything.

“Okay,” she put up a hand interrupting any more rambling. “I will tell you most of the story, but I must preface by saying, I’m not proud of it.” Kara gave her a questioning look. “Trust me you’ll understand.”

Lena readjusted herself on the floor and decided to take up the same stance Kara had, leaning her back against the wall closest to the door and extending her legs out in front of her. Now, they were parallel and opposite of each other. If she let her ankle fall to the left, she would have knocked directly into Kara’s bright red boot. “My father decided to vacation in Scotland that summer so we were staying in a villa near Craithe that his friend owned. We were there for about two weeks when my he informed us that the Queen was returning to Balmoral Castle and we would have to be careful about her security if we decided to venture out like we liked to do.” She gave Kara a cheeky smile. “I was a very good child, but Lex had a way of convincing me to follow him just about anywhere, including the woods behind the castle.”

“You trespassed?” Kara said in fake shock.

“A little bit.” Lena squeeze her thumb and forefinger closer together. “But it was so beautiful, and we found this interesting garden hidden behind some fallen concrete and spent the whole afternoon studying it all.”

“Nerd,” Kara coughed.

“Anyway…we were about to head back when we heard voices. Lex told me to hide and he went to go see who it was. He came back with this little corgi and said that he couldn’t find any people but found it caught in a bush. We decided to walk home with the thing and by the time we got there, there was already a bulletin to the community that the Queen’s dog Pharos was missing.” She laughed picturing herself and Lex standing in front of their father, clothes stained with dirt holding a very royal animal.

“You stole the Queen’s dog?” Kara gaped.

“I found the Queen’s dog,” Lena corrected. “Whether or not Lex stole it is something we always argued about.”

“How do you return a royal dog?”

“Carefully,” Lena smiled. “My father was concerned that there would be more repercussions if Lex was the one to say he found the dog. He was nineteen at the time and if they determined that he had trespassed and stole the dog, he would actually be punished. They wouldn’t possibly punish a young girl who accidentally walked off the path and found a poor puppy.” She used an almost too sweet tone as she spoke.

“Clever,” Kara mimed Lena’s words from earlier.

“My father drove just me to the gate and I walked up by myself to deliver the animal. I thought they would just take the dog and that would be the end of it. Instead, the Queen herself came outside to greet us. I tried to say the lie my father gave me, but she didn’t care. Instead, she invited me in for dinner…and that’s that.”

“Wow,” Kara beamed but quickly added, “You still answered none of my questions.”

Lena rolled her eyes. “She was very sweet and…delicate. She really is that British and…” she tried to bring back the memory completely, especially the moment when she was leaving and the older monarch wrapped her in a gracious hug. “roses,” she decided on. “She smelled like fresh roses.”

“What did you talk about?”

Lena couldn’t exactly remember actually. “It was a bit of nothing. The usual get to know you things, I guess. The only thing that really sticks out to me is she said my eyes reminded her of her mother…she called them soulful.”

Kara stared at her a bit harder. “I can see why she would say that.” She didn’t explain her comment and quickly moved on to saying, “That’s the most amazing encounter I’ve ever heard. How did you never tell me that story before?”

“I don’t know,” Lena admitted. “We never really did talk about things like this, did we?” Kara shook her head no. “I guess there were so many present catastrophes going on we never had a chance to get into our past.”

“I’m glad we’re doing it now.” Kara smiled and a flash of lightning lit up the sky behind her. She barely flinched but Lena curled her legs up quickly to her chest. “Are you scared of storms?”

Lena nonchalantly resumed her previous position and lightly straightened out her shirt. “I was startled, not scared.” Kara raised an eyebrow amusingly. “It is perfectly natural human reaction to be afraid of balls of energy flashing across the sky when you live in a skyscraper. At least there isn-” as she was about to say the word, a blast of thunder sounded, shaking the frame of the door. It was followed by another flash of lightning that was entirely too close.

Lena scooted just a little bit farther away from the door, a move Kara picked up on immediately. “You really don’t like it.” Another fact that Kara had overlooked in their friendship.

 “Rain, I love. Calm, quiet drizzles that make you want to take a nap…that I can get behind.” Another, quieter rumble of thunder vibrated the floor. “Thunderstorms are chaos. You never know what’s next and I don’t like that at all.” Lena quickly remembered the other person in her apartment who hated thunderstorms. She reached up and leveraged the door handle to stand up.

Kara could see her slight panic and thought it only had to do with the storm. She also stood up and put a hand on the frame of the door, ready to reassure Lena if she needed to reach further. “Lena are you oka-” Lena placed a hand on Kara’s arm and put a finger over her own lips, trying to silence the woman. Kara tried to transmit her confusion through her eyes. For the first time in the last twenty minutes, she tuned in her hearing and picked up on bare feet trekking towards Lena’s door. Now she understood.

Before she could tell Lena what she heard there was a rapid knock on the door and a tiny voice calling Lena’s name. Lena used her grip on Kara’s arm to push her slightly. “Hide,” she whispered. She didn’t have to say anything. Kara was already taking a step back out into the rain.

Lena ran over to the door and opened it wide. Nate was standing there with his stuffed elephant tucked under the arm of his batman pajamas. Lena knelt down to his level and opened her arms. He immediately walked into it and she gave him a hug, rubbing his back in the progress. “I know bud,” she whispered, soothingly. Lena had found out a few weeks ago how much Nate disliked storms when he called her cell phone from underneath his bed during the first big one of the season. It had been a stormy August so they had created a system for dealing with them. A system she had almost forgotten about because the weather had turned from a light drizzle so quickly.

“Grab your blanket and I’ll meet you on the couch.” He nodded and used the back of his hand to wipe at his eyes. She watched him all the way back to his room before turning back to her still open balcony door. She walked over and could see just the edge of Kara’s cape whipping into view. “Kara,” she said just above a whisper.

The woman floated around and touched down again. She was much wetter because of the heavy rain that was now coming down, but she didn’t seem to mind. There was a softness to her expression that Lena couldn’t quite place. “I have to take care of this…but I’ll text you?” Her inflection went up at the end, more of a question than anything.

“Please do,” Kara said, playing with the edge of the suit that overlapped her thumb. “And..uh…Next time I’ll try and come through the front door.”

Lena put a hand on the door handle and began pulling it closed. “I have a feeling that’s not true,” she teased. “Kind of like your turtle story.” She closed and locked the door before Kara could protest. The woman folded her arms over her chest and pouted at Lena. Lena twirled her fingers goodbye and Kara couldn’t help but give her a small salute in return. She took a step back and dove backwards off the balcony, flying high against the rain.

Lena stared a moment longer, wondering if that whole thing was even real or if she had fallen asleep on the couch and was dreaming. Kara seemed like a completely different person and that wasn’t a bad thing. Lena thought about it for a second and realized it had to do with how she was talking to Kara. She was still in her Supergirl regalia but was so soft and easy. Lena didn’t remember many times when she had ever seen Supergirl smile, let alone laugh. It was always business and accusations. Tonight was different. Lena could really feel the persona Kara had to put up fade away into something softer.

She couldn’t ponder much more because there was a small boy needing some distraction in the living room. She grabbed a pillow off of her bed and walked down the hallway and the few steps to the couch. Nate had his blanket curled around him and was sitting criss crossed in the middle of the sofa. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of milk and sat down next to him. She set down the drink and grabbed for the remote. “Animals or food?” She questioned. She placed the pillow she brought on her lap and Nate rolled to the side settling his head down there.

“Animals, please.” She scrolled through the options and decided on a documentary on grizzly bears. The first images were sweeping views of the mountains with soft piano music in the background. She thought that would calm his nerves and get him back to sleep. She put the remote next to her and leaned back into the couch, getting more comfortable with the light weight in her lap. She reached a hand to the side and straightened out Nate’s blanket so it covered him completely. “Thank you,” he whispered through a yawn.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she carefully removed it, quickly turning down the screen brightness. It was Kara already. There was no text just a few attached pictures. She clicked it and it was a screenshot of another conversation she was having with Alex and Eliza. Lena read it, trying to suppress her laughter.

Kara: Please confirm or deny that a turtle saved our life at summer camp.

Alex: Why?

Kara: It’s a yes or no question, Alex!

Alex: But why?

Alex: Aren’t you working?

Kara: …😐

Kara: It is a YES or NO question.

Eliza: Yes

Kara: THANK YOU ELIZA

Alex: But why?

Kara: I’m going to kill you.

Alex: But why?

Kara: mom please make her stop…and also can you get in my scrap book and send a picture of my camp award that year? Please!

Kara: Alex if you say “why” one more time I’m coming over to your apartment in my *very* wet suit and climbing into your bed. I don’t care if Kelly is there.

Eliza: I’ll go look, sweetie. Alex don’t antagonize please.

Alex: But why?

That was the end of the screen shot but Lena could only imagine what Kara ended up doing. She already believed that the story was true, but it was entertaining to watch Kara go to such lengths to prove herself. Lena was about to respond to the messages when another image came through. She clicked on it to enlarge it and still had to zoom it to read the writing. It was a small green piece of paper with an ivy border and bold letters that said, “Camp Rock Creek.” She zoomed in farther and Kara Danvers was handwritten above the “camper” line. Underneath that it said that she showed excellence in “interacting with wild life” and “canoeing.”

Lena put a hand over her mouth trying to contain the small laugh that was threatening to escape-Kara really did get recognized for avoiding death, how appropriate. Lena looked down at Nate and listened to his slowed breathing, knowing he was either asleep or near it. She adjusted herself slightly so it was easier to use both hands to text. I shouldn’t have doubted you at all. You are the turtle whisperer. She thought about it for a second and added. Tell Alex I said hi when you see her tonight.  

A few minutes later another picture came through. It was a selfie of Kara laying down on top of a very angry Alex. Alex’s hair had fallen over her eyes and her hands were obviously flailing towards her sister who was still in her full suit. In the very corner of the picture, Lena could make out a lock of long black hair, indicating that Kelly had been there.

When she closed out of the image, a text accompanied it. She can’t come to the phone right now, but I think she says hi back.

I have a feeling you were a terror to grow up with. Lena texted back.

I was an angel. She added a praying hands emoji. Gotta go J’onn needs me. Talk later about Tuesday (:

Be safe, Lena responded and then locked her phone to set it down next to her. She had always worried about Supergirl before she even knew who she was. Now, that worry seemed to reach a new level. Kara could handle herself but there always seemed to be a bigger, badder evil lurking around the next corner. She hoped they’d never reach the day where it would be too much.

“What are you doing?” Lena jolted up at the voice behind her. Nate roused slightly but then nestled back down.

“Jack,” Lena breathed out rapidly. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” he whispered, walking down towards them.

“Did we wake you up?” She questioned, apologetically.

He shook his head no. “What are you doing?” He repeated again, almost accusingly.

She sat up a bit straighter, not understanding his tone. “We’re watching some bears…Nate couldn’t sleep because of the storm.” His face was tight and unreadable. “Do you want to join?”

He looked between them and the tv and back again. He then noticed the small cup of milk on the coffee table in front of Nate. He took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest, holding tightly to his biceps.

“Jackson?” She tried to bring his attention back to her. “Are you okay?” She moved her phone and patted the seat next to her. “Do you want to sit down?” Even in the dark room, she could make out the slight glint in his eye, but she didn’t understand why.

He contemplated it a moment before taking a step forward and sitting down a foot away. He silently propped his feet up on the coffee table never releasing his arms. Lena reached behind him and grabbed the last throw blanket that was hanging on the couch. She handed it to him, and he took the ends, billowing it over his legs.

Even with the movie playing in the background, Lena didn’t take her eyes off of him, looking for any sign of what was wrong. If he was anything like Nate, it might have just been nervousness from the storm. She felt that it was something different, though. He had gotten better at being more open with her but every so often there would be something that would make him freeze up like this. She knew not to pry and let him decide if he wanted to tell her or not. It didn’t make her worry any less.

Another ten minutes passed, and he didn’t move, eyes glued to the tv. A crash of thunder vibrated the glass window and he scooted closer to her, shoulders nearly touching. He looked over to the window and gulped slightly as a flash of lightning tore across the sky. Lena reached around him and rubbed the outside of his arm gently. “It’s almost over. The weather report said it shouldn’t last much longer, okay?” He took a long, steady breath and nodded in understanding.

She returned her hand to herself and reached for the remote, turning up the volume just enough to drown out the rain hitting the window. With the movement, Nate grunted slightly and grasped tighter to his elephant. Lena mindlessly combed his hair back with her fingers, lulling him back to sleep.

“My…my mom used to do that.” Jackson stared at Lena’s hand on Nate’s head. “She used to do all of this,” his voice hitched slightly.

Lena’s breath also caught in her throat, and she felt a pang in her stomach. Jackson had never mentioned his mother before. She never asked because he was pretty adamant of only wanting to talk about himself on his terms. She never wanted to probe and cross that boundary.  

She waited to respond, not sure if he was going to say more. He moved his eyes to the tv but began talking softly. “I’d come to her room when it was really bad out and she would carry me into the kitchen, make some…some warm milk and we’d watch old reruns or crappy infomercials until I fell asleep again.” He stole a look to where Nate was fast asleep and smiled sadly. “A few weeks after she died, there was this big thunderstorm and I tried to do it myself but ended up boiling the milk. When I grabbed it out of the microwave, it was so hot I dropped the cup and it spilt over my arm.” He held up his hand revealing a scar that went from his thumb down and across his wrist. “My dad was working nights and he was so upset that it happened that I never did it again. Even when the thunder got so bad that our apartment would shake, I would just sit in my closet until it was over.” A tear pooled at the corner of his eye. “And when Nate started getting old enough to be scared of things, we were already in the system so I told him he just had to be brave…” Jackson could feel his throat closing up a bit and he swallowed thickly. “I told him he needed to learn to wait it out…because…because we didn’t have someone who was going to make sure the milk wasn’t too hot.”

He leaned his head to the side, resting it on Lena’s shoulder. “I missed this.”

She moved her hand slightly and wrapped it around his, squeezing. “You don’t have to be brave here.”

He adjusted his head once more, leaning farther into her. “I know.”

She didn’t say anything else and let both boys completely drift off. Even after the documentary ended and she didn’t have feeling left in any of her extremities, she stayed still. She had done a lot of good things in her life. There were plaques, and degrees, and awards that hung in her offices, praising her for all of the worldly things she had accomplished. But as she sat there, she realized this had been the most important thing she had ever done. If everything ended right then and there and she had to meet some form of a maker, this would be what she was most proud of.

The next morning, they all woke up to clear skies and sore necks. They were lucky Lena had a constant alarm on her phone or they would have be late for everything. She shooed them to their rooms to get ready and Nate ran off. Jackson stayed back for a second, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Thank you…for last night.”

Lena grabbed the stale cup of milk and walked towards him. “I’m always here for you.”

“I know and I that’s why I was thinking that after all the tryouts and stuff were over we might take a drive out to Ceredo.”

“Okay.” Lena had never been to that city, but she knew it wasn’t more than an hour away. “What for?”

Jackson studied the floor before looking back up to her. “To visit my parents.” He swallowed hard and a single tear ran down his cheek.

Lena reached up and lightly cupped his cheek, wiping away the tear. “Of course we can…and maybe you can tell me more about them on the way.”

“I’d really like that,” he smiled genuinely.

She removed her hand from her his cheek and placed it on his shoulder, turning him in the direction she was headed. “Now go get ready and I’ll make breakfast,” she said softly. He gave her a suspect look. “I will put cereal in bowls,” she corrected. “Now go.” She pushed off and he jogged up the steps to his room.

When she got to the counter, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. She braced her hands around the sink and gripped hard. Something was swirling around in her brain that she couldn’t hold onto for more than a second and was driving her crazy. It was a feeling that she hadn’t truly felt in a long time. When she closed her eyes tight, she saw a large meadow in the early sunrise and a woman running to her. As the black haired woman got closer, she got taller and all in a second, Lena was moving around in circles in her arms. Before she could think it, she could feel that this was a memory of her mother. And that distant feeling of warmth and happiness was what she was experiencing now with Jackson and Nate.

“Do we have any fruit loops left?” Nate took her from her trance and she quickly turned around, unconsciously wiping at her eyes.

“Let’s hope,” she smiled, pushing whatever revelation she was having back into its little box.

The weather had started to stabilize, and they all survived Monday without incident. Lena had somewhat regretted telling Nate about Kara’s offer first thing in the morning because he had spent the entire day worrying about it. He wasn’t the only person worrying though. Jackson flinched anytime someone so much as mentioned soccer or even ball. He had even set up make shift cone station in the hallway and Lena allowed him to dribble up and down as long as no shooting was involved. At one point, she even heard Kara’s voice over the phone. When she went to investigate, they were facetiming and she was coaching him through more drills.

Lena couldn’t wait for Wednesday to come and go so they would have their answer. It didn’t help that he still hadn’t found the right to talk to Jacob about his bullying either. He wrestled with doing it before or after the tryout and Lena tried to be as supportive as possible even though she wanted to call the kids parents and get that over with too.  

That night, they did what they usually did, and reviewed the week in full. Nate and her would be going to CatCo the next afternoon and Jackson would stay afterschool to practice. Lena had some other business she needed to attend to at CatCo anyways, so Kara’s offer was actually perfectly timed. Wednesday would be tryouts. Friday some kind of motivational speaker was coming to talk to the high school which required a signed permission slip and Saturday they would take a day trip to Ceredo. Even though it was only a few major events, Lena was a little stressed. More than anything, she just wanted the tryout to go well.

The next morning, Jackson decided he was going to find the right time to just rip the bandaid off and face Jacob. Unfortunately, every time he tried, there were either too many people around or it didn’t feel like the right time. He figured he could invite him to eat lunch with him and talk it out then. He tried to approach Jacob in a calm, neutral way but the guy called him ‘bag boy’ and threw his leftover wrapper towards him. Jackson tried deep breathing and counting to ten, but his blood was boiling. He grabbed the wrapper off the floor, crumpled it up, and stuck it into empty bottle of Gatorade sitting in front of the boy. “I’m not scared of you.” His voice was low and even, surprising even himself.

Jacob pushed out of his seat and stood to his full height which was still a little bit shorter than Jackson. “What did you say?” He snarled.

Jackson clinched his fist, not because he was going to use it but to transfer some of his anger away from his face. “I said, I’m not scared of you…in fact you’re making me mad. Grow up.” He looked around the group of boys who were all in a bit of shock.

“Do you want to take this somewhere else?” Jacob threatened, getting a boost of hollers from his friends.

Jackson thought about it for a second and realized it would be the perfect opportunity to get him alone. “Sure, Jacob.” He said with a bit of sarcasm. “After school, homeroom.” He pointed his finger. “Just you.” He turned around and walked towards the door where Seth was waiting with a surprised expression.

“What was that?” He questioned.

“I’m going to get my ass kicked.” He put an arm around his shoulder and dragged them out the door.

Lena left work early to run over to the school to sign Nate out. Kara said that the best time would be in the mid afternoon and Lena got his teacher to agree to have a short day. She walked up familiar steps of the school and knocked lightly on the door. She had texted Mr. Jacobson ahead of time and he said they were just watching a movie so she could come any time.

He swung the door open and a dozen heads turned away from the corner towards her. They all stood up in tandem and chanted “Good Afternoon.” It was a little culty but their adorable, squeaky voices made Lena smile.

“Class this is Miss Luthor, Nate’s guardian.” They responded with chanting Good Afternoon Miss Luthor. She waved and Dylan and Bella waved back enthusiastically. Nate got out of his seat and went to grab his back pack from the cubby. Everyone else sat back down and turned back towards the tv and Mr. Jacobson walked towards them.

“Did you see our wall?” He whispered, pointing to a bright yellow cork board behind her. She turned and found in the center of it Nate’s first article. She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the display.

She walked back over to him, keeping her voice low as well. “Thank you for letting us do this today. I’ll make sure he make up anything he misses.”

Mr. Jacobson waved a hand. “Between you and me, I have a headache so we will be watching this movie until schools out.” They shared a quiet laugh. Nate sidled up next to Lena, back pack in position. “Have a fun time Nate! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you!” They walked out of the classroom and Lena did a double check that he had everything he needed. She also took this time to send Kara the picture she had just taken adding, First stop classroom bulletin board, next stop Time Magazine.

They decided to take an uber over to CatCo because the ten blocks did not seem appealing in the ninety degree weather. When they arrived, Lena flinched a little looking up at the building. She hadn’t been back in months and it still left a reflexively bad taste in her mouth. She shook off the bad feelings and helped Nate out of the car. They walked up the steps and straight to the security desk. Lena didn’t have to do this but Kara said she had left a special surprise there.

“Name?” The tall man said directly to Nate.

The boy took a step back, a little intimidated. “Nate Harris.”

The man flipped through a few things before pulling out an envelope and reaching it over the counter to the boy. “Welcome to CatCO Mr. Harris, we are very happy to have you join us today,” he said with a big smile.

Nate ripped into the envelope, quickly handing the remnants to Lena. Inside was a lanyard with a very official looking badge. It even had his name and picture on it. He put it around his neck proudly and held up the card to his face, investigating every part. “Lena it says I’m a…” he stared at the word a second and squinted his eyes.

Lena leaned closer and put a finger under the word. “Con-sul-tant” she said clearly, enunciating each syllable. He repeated it back to her and smiled broadly. “It means that you are a person who is from the outside that helps them.” 

“Consultant.” He said to himself, not wanting to get it wrong later when he told all of his friends.

“Let’s go upstairs.” Lena reached out her hand and he took it as she led them to the elevators. She hadn’t always used the exclusive elevator that Cat had made but it was a guilty pleasure she partook in during particularly busy times of the day. This was one of those times, but she didn’t want to overstep. They squeezed together with another seven people, some of whom gave her cursory looks. They fortunately got off sooner than most of the people and filtered out into the main area of her old floor.

She looked around for a second, unsure if she should wait for Kara or go find her. The decision was made for her when the blonde approached them warmly. “Nate!” She opened her arms to give him a hug but the boy instead put out a professional hand. She closed her arms and followed his formality shaking just his hand.

“Miss Danvers,” he said, struggling to hold back his excitement.

Lena and Kara made eye contact and Lena just rolled her eyes up as to say just go with it. “I’m so glad you could come. Everyone is excited to meet our new consultant…they were very impressed with the publication in your classroom.” Kara walked past the open desks towards a section of cubicles that were more secluded. They stopped by a door and Kara opened it and nodded for Nate to go ahead. Lena stopped for a second, seeing the silhouette of James standing in her old office. “You coming?” Kara questioned.

Lena looked between the office and them. “Why don’t you go ahead. I don’t have the right credentials anyways,” she joked.

Kara saw where her eyes were going and nodded in understanding. “I’ll text you if we go anywhere else.”

They walked off and Lena headed the few paces towards the closed glass doors in the farthest corner. James was standing in front of the desk, staring up at the screens on his wall. She knocked lightly, pulling him from his focus. He turned, not expecting the person standing in his doorway. “Lena?” He spoke softly, slightly confused.

“Can I come in?” He nodded wordlessly. She took a step in and closed the door behind herself. She could tell that he seemed a little on edge as if he wasn’t sure what she was about to do or say. To ease his tension, she walked up to him and lightly grabbed his bicep. “It’s good to see you,” she said with a genuine smile.

“What are you doing here?” Lena was surprised that Kara hadn’t said anything to him about having Nate there for the afternoon.

“Nate, my…foster…son…he’s very interested in writing and Kara agreed to have him here for the afternoon.” James face was going through several different reactions. Lena realized he didn’t know any of this. Kara and Alex really had kept their word. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?” He shook his head no. “I’ve been helping two boys who needed a place to stay for a while. Nate is seven and Jackson is fifteen.”

“Lena that’s amazing. I’d love to meet them sometime.” He took his words back a bit. “I mean if that is something you would want.”

Lena put a hand towards the couch and they both sat down. “I’d like that too. I think Jackson would really look up to you.”

He looked at her conflicted before saying, “Lena, I’m so sorry.”

She held up a hand, not letting him finish whatever speech he had probably spent months preparing. “We’re not going to do that,” she began. “I’ve spoken with Kara and I’m starting to understand better why you did what you did. There will always be part of me that is hurt because of those decisions but it isn’t the part I’m choosing to go forward with. I think we can all do better.”

“You don’t have to be so accepting, Lena.”

“You’re right, I don’t have to be.” She shrugged. “I am choosing to be, though…and so far it has been the right decision.” She leaned back slightly into the couch. “Which is why I wanted to see you today.”

“Do you want to buy CatCo again,” he joked. “I think it would be a welcomed decision.”

She laughed and shook the thought away. “Absolutely not. One foray into media was enough to last a life time…this is actually about you and your next step.” He gave her a questioning look. “Full disclosure, Andrea told me that you were on the brink of quitting.”

He dipped his head. “I just don’t think I can do this anymore. I need to accept the failure and move on.”

Lena didn’t know why he looked embarrassed. “Quitting is not a failure, it is an acknowledgement that you’ve out grown what this place can give back to you.” She put a hand on his wrist and squeezed. “We both know failure is not in your vocabulary.”

“This place doesn’t inspire me like it used to.” He looked around at his big office and sighed.

“That’s what Andrea said. She also mentioned you were looking into smaller venues, maybe even moving back home.” James piqued up, surprised at how much Lena knew. “I apologize for knowing so much, Andrea has a tendency to over share.”

“It’s okay and also accurate. There are a lot of things going on there and I feel like I could make a difference.” His usual smile and brightness started to come back to his face. “I was even thinking about getting their local paper back into order. It would take about every penny I have and then some but I wouldn’t show up to work every day, hating what I was doing.”  

“That’s what you want?”

He nodded thoughtfully. “It is.”

“Good.” She reached down into her purse and pulled out a folder. “I did a little research myself.” She handed the folder over and James stared at it.

“What is this?” James questioned, skimming the first page.

“It’s an offer,” she said succinctly. “When Andrea first told me how unhappy you were and how much you wanted to go back home, I googled your town. One of the first things that came up was the newspaper going under after almost a hundred years. Unless they found a buyer, they would have to fold and fifty people would lose their job. As soon as I read that, I knew what you were going to do. You’ve always been a hero James whether or not you’re wearing that ridiculous get up.” She gave him a soft smile. “Your kindness and determination to help people has always been something I admired about you.”

“Lena, what is this?” He had obviously gotten to the most important page of the packet.

“The cost of your newspaper is pretty steep as is and it’s going to take even more money to increase the distribution radius.” She reached over and turned the packet a few pages forward. “I’d like to offer you a grant to upstart this project.”

He read the figure at the bottom and nearly dropped the folder. “Lena, I can’t accept this.” He looked up at her in shock. “You don’t owe me this.”

“I am not doing this just for you James. You want to do right by your community. A community that has been overlooked and has suffered because of suppression of information and fear mongering. This is for them…and there is a stipulation here. I want you to help create a model for other places like your town and this grant will help to fund their works as well.” She turned to the final page which read the Marcus Olsen Community Outreach Grant. “You told me once that your father was the reason you got into journalistic photography. He taught you to always tell the truth and to stand up against anyone who tried to hide it. I want you to be able to carry on that legacy. You are meant for so much more than this place.”

James stared at the words on the page for a few seconds longer before putting the folder to the side and wrapping Lena in a hug. She held onto his waist and could feel his tears dripping on her shoulder. “I can’t thank you enough.” He squeezed one last time and pulled away. “Why would you do this for me, after everything?”

“Because we can do so much more working together than a part.” She stood up and straightened out her dress. “Read over everything and we’ll fix it as we need to.”

James stood up as well and couldn’t contain his smile. “You can’t stay and catch up?”

“Another time, maybe. I need to check on Nate first and make sure he hasn’t either destroyed your work room or charmed Snapper into hiring him.” They both laughed. “We will catch up though, I promise. You’ve missed a lot.”

“Apparently.” She turned to go but James stopped her at the door. “Lena,” he called, and she looked back, hand on the door handle. “You always were the best of us.” He held the folder and tapped it in his hand. “I’m sorry that I ever doubted that.”

She smiled and walked out the door, knowing she didn’t need to respond. She never felt like her relationship with James was the one but he always made her feel safe. She was being honest with him about her admiration. He always wanted to give a voice to the underdog. When she thought of the grant, it made perfect sense. James did his work diligently at CatCo and with this opportunity he was going to change a lot of peoples’ world. She looked over her shoulder as she headed toward Kara’s office and saw him holding the folder to his chest, staring at the ceiling. She had a feeling she knew who he might be talking to.

She walked through the next door and heard Nate before she saw him. He was recounting something followed by a lot of laughter. She found him, cross legged in one of the chairs with six pairs of ears hanging on his every word. Kara was standing behind him, leaning on her desk, and apparently taking some form of notes. She quietly stood in the back while he finished talking. It didn’t matter because as soon as he saw her, he stopped talking. “This is Lena!” He said excitedly, not realizing all of them knew who she was. “I was telling them about becoming a chess master.” He pointed to a young man in the front row. “He said that he’d play me sometime to see how good I am.”

“I thought we were learning about journalism, today.”

He shrugged his shoulders as high as they would go. “I was getting to know my co-workers.”

“Mhmm.” She sat her purse down next to an empty chair and sat down. “Don’t distract them too much please.” He gave her a salute and started to finish his story.  

Kara walked around the group and crouched down to Lena’s level. “He’s fine, the news cycle is as dry as I’ve ever seen it,” she whispered. “Where did you go?”

“Had to talk to James,” she replied succinctly.

“Did that go okay?” Kara didn’t know what contact Lena had had with anyone but herself. She made it a point not to talk about their relationship and if she was honest with herself she hadn’t spent much time with James recently anyways. None of her friends had much time for each other anymore or at least that’s what it felt like.

“It went fine. It was nice to see him again.”

“Good, I know he missed you…so has-”

“Lena!” The voice startled the woman and she swung her chair around so fast, she nearly knocked Kara over. Everyone looked over to Nia in the doorway and she apologetically put up a hand. They turned back to Nate and he continued.

Lena stood up and nodded to the door and all three women walked out. Lena looked back for a moment just to make sure Nate was fine and then closed it behind them. “Lena!” Nia said again, just as excited. “You’re here…you’re here with Kara…does that mean?” Kara put a hand on her shoulder, trying to hold down some of her energy.

“Hi Nia, it’s nice to see you.” Lena could tell that Kara was the only reason she wasn’t already wrapped in a bone crushing hug. She decided to initiate herself and held open her arms. The woman collapsed into her as soon as Kara let go and pulled Lena impossibly close.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” she admitted.

Lena pushed away but still held onto her at the elbows. “I needed some time and we,” she looked to Kara, “needed to figure out some things first. I missed you too, especially your cocktails,” she joked.

“Say the word and I will throw a party and we can have as many drinks and food as you want and I’ll get music or like a karaoke machine…do you like karaoke?” Her speech was so pressured it was nearly unintelligible. Kara grabbed Nia’s shoulders and pulled her back some, releasing Lena from her completely.

“You’re a twelve and I think we need you to be about a five.” Nia nodded rapidly in understanding.

“I really appreciate that but I’m not quite ready for a block party. It’s a process and I’ve got a few other things going on right now too.” She nodded through the door where Nate was now spinning around in the chair.

Nia put her hands up, knowing she needed to back off. “I completely understand. I’m not going to ask questions or bother you anymore. I just had to come see you.”

“I’m so glad you did,” Lena said genuinely.

Nia walked away back to what she had been doing before and Kara took a step closer to Lena, keeping her voice low. “I’m sorry. I should have known if you came in here you were going to have to talk to a lot of people you may not want to.”

“It’s fine Kara…” Lena swiped a hand through her hair, flattening it back down, “but if J’onn walks in here I might just have to go home for the day.”

Kara opened the door and let her walk ahead. “If it comes to that I’ll fly you off the balcony myself.” Lena’s eyes went wide. “Joking.”

Nate seemed done with his diatribe, so Kara clapped her hands for everyone to get back to work. She instructed him to grab his things and led him back to the office she had been temporarily given. It gave her the privacy to do both types of her work and it wasn’t too much of a stretch for James to convince Snapper seeing as she had been nominated for a Pulitzer. Lena also followed with her things.

“Did you bring your journal?” Kara questioned. He dug through his backpack before pulling out the worn notebook. “Perfect! Let’s take a story from that and I’ll show you how I think when I write an article. Sound good?”

“Yes ma’am!” She grabbed the seat that was in front of her desk and pulled it around to be next to her. He settled into it and placed his notebook and writing utensils in front of himself.

“Lena if you have things to do, I can always take him home,” Kara offered. She did have things to do but she didn’t want to have to put Kara out. It was enough that he was going to be occupying her entire afternoon. She also worried if she was called off somewhere that he might be stuck somewhere with no one he knew. Kara seemed to read her mind. “If anything comes up, I’ll call and won’t leave until you’re here or I’ll make sure Nia stays with him.”

“I’ll be fine,” Nate assured. “We have to do writer stuff, you’d get bored.”

“Yeah Miss Luthor,” Kara teased. “You’d get bored.”

Lena looked unamused and Kara had to stifle a laugh. “I will see you at home then Mr. Writer.” She ruffled his hair a bit and mouthed thank you over his head. “Any thing specific you want for dinner? I finally got that meatloaf recipe.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Kara what do you want?”

“Oh…um…I don’t think.” She looked to Lena not sure what to say.

“Kara might have plans tonight bud.”

“Do you?” He asked, expectantly. Lena put her fingers on the bridge of her nose. It wasn’t that she would mind the company, but she didn’t want to keep forcing Kara’s hand.

“I actually do have something with my sister tonight.” His face fell and he mumbled an okay. “But maybe we can do something tomorrow night after Jackson’s tryout. If that’s okay with Lena, of course.”

He looked up to Lena for approval. “I think that would be lovely. Maybe we could go out somewhere.”

“Perfect!” Kara smiled.

“I’m going to head back to work then and I’ll see you at home.” She started towards the door and turned back for a moment. “No ice cream unless it’s for everyone,” she warned.

“How did you know I was even thinking that?” Kara asked, amazed.

“Because you’re predictable Miss Danvers.” With that, she left the office and headed back towards the elevator and to work.

When the bell rang at school, Jackson barely heard it. His mind was elsewhere thinking about what mess he had gotten himself into. He went over different scenarios in his head, and it all kept circling back to being punched in the face. He even wondered if he should just call the whole thing off and get Lena involved. If he did that, though, he wasn’t sure if anything would change. It might even make it worse.

He grabbed his back pack and slung it over his shoulder. He was a floor above homeroom and decided to just wait in the room he was at. The students were going to need to start clearing out before they would be alone anyways. As he leaned up against his desk, Seth came up to him. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Jackson laughed to himself. “Not really.”

“I could go with you,” he offered.

“No, I don’t want you to get caught up in this too.”

Seth sidled up next to him and bumped him in the shoulder. “Who are we kidding, I am already caught up in it.”

“Why does he pick on you?” Jackson asked genuinely. “Has he always been an asshole?”

Seth shook his head no. “He actually has never been like this before this year. I’ve known him for awhile and he was never this mean.”

“Really?” The kid seemed to be the kind of bully that spent years perfecting his craft.

 “We were friends for awhile actually. Then, it just ended out of the blue last spring. I thought he was just busy but when we got back to school, he started calling me Highlighter and acting like I didn’t exist.”

“I’m sorry that happened. Did you ever ask him why?”

Seth popped off the desk and tightened his grip around his backpack. “I didn’t want to know…and it’s not all bad, I’m friends with you now.”  

“And I’m not going anywhere,” Jackson smiled. He looked up at the clock and accepted it was time. “Well unless this meeting goes horribly wrong.”

“Thank you for doing this, I know it’s not just for you.”

Jackson headed for the door and gave his friend a thumbs up. “I’ll talk to you later,” he promised. He walked down the quiet stairs and opened the door to second floor hallway that was now almost empty. His homeroom was the first door on the right and it was already propped open. He could see the boy in question pacing back and forth. He took one deep breath before making his way into the classroom and shutting the door behind him.

Jacob turned to him and had a sharp glint in his eye. “We gonna fight or what?” He spit out, taking off his coat and throwing it over the nearest desk. He brough his hand up to his neck and loosened his tie as well.

Jackson didn’t want to before, but the way Jacob was acting, he could feel his muscle clench in anticipation. He knew one punch to this kid’s pretentious face would make him think twice about bothering him again. He stopped that train of thought and took another deep breath because that wasn’t who he wanted to be. He wasn’t going to stoop to Jacob’s level. He thought about his last foster home and the scar over his temple that had only just healed from getting hit by Kyle.

“No, we’re not going to fight,” Jackson said evenly, also taking his jacket off but setting it gently down. “Just sit down,” he pointed to a desk in the front row.

“Why the hell would I do that?”

Jackson ignored him and sat down in the seat opposite the one he had pointed at. He folded his hands on top of the desk and offered again, “Just sit down.”

Jacob glared at him and reluctantly complied. He nearly threw himself into the desk and slouched all the way down. “Now what?” He huffed. “We gonna talk our feelings out like little girls?”

Jackson clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. This kid wasn’t going to make things easy. “Yes, I think we should talk…and if you want to say I’m a girl because of that then it’s not the insult you think it is.” He adjusted himself in his chair.

“Whatever.” Jacob crossed his arms over his chest and looked in any direction but Jackson’s.

“I just wanted to ask why you pick on Seth and me. What exactly did we do for you to hate us so much? Is there something else going on with you?” Silence. Jackson couldn’t have made the questions more clear. He tried to read Jacob’s face but it was completely stone cold and emotionless. “Dude we don’t have to be cavemen about this. I’m just trying to figure out what you get out of being so mean and why you think either of us deserve that kind of treatment from you.”

Jacob made eye contact finally but quickly rolled his eyes. “Seth said you two used to be friends. What happened?” This didn’t elicit anything either. After another minute of silence, Jackson gave up. “This was dumb.” He went to get out of his seat and leave but Jacob stopped him.

“Wait.” Jackson slowly lowered himself back into his seat, not wanting to spook Jacob into not talking. “This doesn’t leave here?” He looked at the door nervously like someone was going to burst in at any second.

Jackson stood up again and walked to the door, locking it. He also looked out the window and didn’t see anyone there. “Just us,” he reassured.

“I don’t hate you.” He said quietly, looking at the desk. “I just…I don’t know how else to not feel bad.”

This confused Jackson. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.” He shrugged. “I don’t feel as shitty when I make other people feel shitty.”

“That’s not good for anybody though. Just because you are feeling bad doesn’t mean you should make it harder on somebody else.”

“I know…” Jacob’s voice cracked. “But it’s not fair that I have to feel like this all the time.”

“How are you feeling?”

Jacob sat there for a few moments, the tapping of his foot getting louder. “Angry,” he got out first. Jackson could see his mind trying to bounce through his feelings. “Sad…Alone.” The last part made Jackson actually start to feel bad for him.  

“You are one of the most popular kids in our class and you feel alone?” It was a genuine question.

“They’re all fake.” Jacob spit out. “They just hang around me because of my family or my money. They don’t know me. When I actually need them, they’re never there.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I can understand that feeling.” It was the truth. He had spent most of his life feeling like the only person who could possibly understand what he was going through.

“How?”

“This isn’t something I like to talk about but I get very lonely too. I’ve been in the foster care system since I was ten and I’ve never stayed any place longer than eight months.” He could see the surprised look on Jacob’s face. “I’ve lost contact with every single friend I’ve ever made. For a long time, the only two people that I can count on to always be around were my brother and my social worker.”

“I…I had no idea,” Jackson sat up straighter, trying to actually be an engaging member of the conversation.

“How would you? You’ve never taken a second to get to know anything about me.” Jackson had a slight hint of malice in his voice. “You’ve had no problem reminding me every day that I’m terrible at soccer and that my hair looks unkept…but you didn’t have time to ask me something about myself.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice was soft.

“Don’t be…just do better.” Jackson shook his head, frustrated that he always had to be the bigger person. “Maybe try learning a little about Seth too. You’d be surprised how cool he actually is.”

“I know all about him,” Jacob let slip. Jackson quirked up an eyebrow. “I mean…I…we’ve been in school together forever.”

“Then why be such a jerk to him?” Jackson pushed. “What did he do?”

“It’s not about him!” Jacob didn’t even realize how loud his voice had gotten and had to stop himself and calm down. “It’s not about him,” he said quieter.

“Is there something that you need to get off your chest?” Jackson tried to catch his eyes but Jacob had them glued to the floor.

“I can’t…” He had a death grip on the edges of the desk.

“Okay,” Jackson said reassuringly. “This is safe place though. Nobody in this school even talks to me except Seth. I’m not going to say anything.”

Jacob was obviously having an internal conflict because he started to whisper to himself and shake his head while Jackson just waited patiently. He looked up and Jackson could finally see that he was crying. “My dad has been kind of a jerk lately.” The words came out slowly. “He keeps pushing me harder and harder with soccer that I barely have anything left. He acts like if I’m not as good as my brothers that I’ve let him down. I mean I get up at five in the morning to run and I can’t even eat dinner until I’ve done five hundred touches in the back yard.”

“Woah.” Jackson thought his work out routine was harsh. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since the beginning of the summer. He…he found out something and has been pushing me ever since.”

“What do you mean ‘found out something’?” Jackson could see Jacob instantly retreat. “Hey, you don’t have to talk about it.”

“I do…I want to but…I can’t.” Jackson couldn’t think of what could be making him so upset.

“Okay…you don’t have to say anything.”

“I think my dad thinks that if I keep training and spend all of my time just doing that, then it’ll go away…or at least he won’t have to deal with it.” Jacob used the edge of his finger nail to dig into the side of the desk. “It hasn’t though.” He looked up and made eye contact with Jackson. He looked so conflicted. “I’m sorry that I’ve been a dick. My dad is proud of me when I tell him about those things. It’s the only time we have a real conversation about anything that isn’t soccer.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “I’ve been so worried about losing that, I didn’t care what it did to other people.”

“Have you talked to your dad about how you feel?”

“No…we don’t talk about feelings…that’s weak.”

“From my experience, feelings are some of the strongest things we have.” Jackson smiled cheekily and Jacob couldn’t help himself from reciprocating.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

Jackson shrugged. “There’s no reason not to be.” He swept his hand around the room. “This place sucks…why make it any harder?”

Jacob thought about it for a moment and nodded his head in agreement. “This place does suck.”

“I have a proposal,” Jackson began. “Why don’t we try to be friends and put all of this other stuff behind us?” He cocked his head to the side. “I’m pretty good at forgiveness.”

“But you’re friends with Seth…” There was a slight catch in his voice.

“I am.” Jackson narrowed his eyes. “Would that be a problem?”

“No…no,” Jacob said hurriedly, avoiding all eye contact.

“What’s wrong with Seth?”

“Nothing!” Jacob sternly corrected.

“Yeah, I know that,” Jackson defended. “What’s your problem with him?”  

“You don’t understand!”

“Then help me!”

“I like him!”

This threw Jackson for a loop. “Yeah, I like him too…that’s why we’re friends.”

“No…” Jacob whispered. “I like like him.”

Realization hit Jackson like a truck. “Oh…OH…” Jacob buried his head in his hands and grunted into them. “You’re…” He didn’t finish the sentence, knowing it wasn’t his place to put any kind of label on anybody. “Hey…” Jackson slid out of his seat and kneeled next to Jacob’s. The boy wouldn’t raise his head off of the table. “There is nothing wrong with that.”

“Yes there is.” He could barely hear him.

“Look at me.” Jackson put a hand on his shoulder and pulled back. Jacob reluctantly sat up but still didn’t make eye contact. “Jacob,” he said softly, gaining the boys full attention now. “I’m sorry if I forced you into telling me that. You don’t owe that information to anybody…” Fresh tears started to drip down Jacob’s face. “And I don’t care what your dad says, being you is never wrong.”

“You’d still be my friend?”

“Of course.” He stood up and reached out a hand, pulling Jacob to stand as well. “My brother says that hugs make a friendship.” This caused him to laugh and wipe away the last of the tears in his eyes. He opened his arms and Jacob stepped into them. Jackson was a few inches taller and wrapped his arm over Jacob’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “I gotcha,” he whispered.

They broke a part and Jacob couldn’t stop smiling. “Thank you for listening.” He didn’t really know what else to say. “No one has ever done that for me.”

“You can always talk to me,” Jackson offered. “And if you feel safe, I would talk to your dad some more too. Maybe you could go see someone together.”

Jacob nodded in agreement but then his face started to take on a distressed appearance. “What am I going to do about Seth?” He put a hand on his face. “I’ve been terrible. I thought if I pushed him far enough away, I’d stop feeling like this.”

“I think you need to start with an I’m sorry and then see where it goes from there.” He gave him a sincere look. “But you have to know it’ll be up to him to decide if he wants to be your friend.”  

Jacob grabbed his jacket off the chair and put it on. “I know…and I promise, I’m going to be better no matter what he says.” He sounded sincere. He also sounded different. The harshness that Jackson had come to expect disappeared.  

“Okay and I’m still here if you need a friend.” Jackson also grabbed his jacket and put it over his shoulder. He didn’t expect the conversation to go like that at all. It was a good lesson in things aren’t always what they appear. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Jacob smiled. “And just so you know, you’re actually pretty good at soccer. I saw you playing last week and I think you’ll make the team.”

“If I do, maybe you can help me get even better.”

“And maybe I’ll carry both our bags,” Jacob offered.

Jackson walked out the door feeling much better than he expected. He pulled out his phone and immediately called Lena. “Hey! Is everything okay?” She asked reflexively.

“It’s fine! I just wanted to let you know that I talked to that kid and worked everything out. He just needed someone to listen to him.”

“That’s great! I’m proud of you for handling it in a mature way.”

He smiled to himself because that was such a Lena way of saying glad you didn’t end up in a fight. “I also wanted to say thank you for always listening to me. I’ve never been afraid to tell you anything and I know you’d always be there for me.”

“Of course…are you sure everything is okay,” she questioned again.

“Everything is perfect. I’ll see you at home.” She said bye and he hung up, stuffing the phone in his pocket. Everything was perfect.

Chapter Text

Wednesday morning was going about as bad as it could. Lena had fallen asleep on the couch and had barely enough time to get ready before they all needed to be out the door. Nate was lunchless, Jackson didn’t have any of his clothes together for the tryout, and she was pretty sure she dreamed sending out the progress evaluation emails and never actually did it. This was compounded by the half gallon of milk that busted on the floor and the jelly that somehow found its way into Nate’s curls. By the time she had them dropped off at school and was able to sit down at her desk, she desperately wanted to hit the restart button on the whole day. She looked down at the floor to take a deep breath and realized that she had put on two different heels. They were both black, but the bottoms had a different shade of cream. That was going to be the day the camel’s back broke- she could feel it.

She decided to try and ignore that sartorial mistake and continue with her breathing exercises. Until she got her pulse under control, there was no reason to start stressing about anything else. She folded her hands over each other and started to count backwards from a hundred, mindful of each breath she took in. It was all going to be okay.

A knock stopped her at fifty and she reluctantly looked up. Luke opened the door slightly and waved an apologetic hand. He must have sensed her stress when she came in because he had a slight look of fear in his own eyes for having to interrupt her. “Yes?” She questioned as gently as her voice would go.

She could see him visibly relax and take a step farther in. “I’m sorry to bother you Miss Luthor, but Kara Danvers is on the phone for you and she says it is an emergency but not a red and blue one if that means anything to you.”

Lena quickly reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone that had two missed calls from the woman in question. “What line?”

“Two,” he held up his fingers.

“Thank you.” He shut the door behind him, and she picked up the phone. She assumed a non-red and blue emergency meant it wasn’t an apocalypse or a city-wide threat, which was somewhat relieving. Given her morning, it wouldn’t have been entirely surprising though. “Lena Luthor,” she said, reflexively.

“Lena, hi!” Kara’s voice sounded slightly out of breath and pressured. “I’m so sorry to call you like this but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to at another time.”

“Is everything alright?” Lena’s muscles started to tense.

She heard a loud sigh on the other side of the phone. “It is and it isn’t. It’s a CatCo thing not a…other thing. Andrea is making me take this last minute assignment and it’s going to require some travel.” There was a thud and a zip. Lena imagined that must have been Kara packing a suitcase.

“Travel to where?”

“She hasn’t even told me yet! She sent me home after the morning report to pack a bag for an overnight trip and then said to come back to get the details about the private plane I’ll be taking.”

Lena knew Andrea was a bit unorthodox, but it seemed highly unprofessional to send an employee somewhere with such short notice and information. “Do you want me to talk to her?” Lena offered, not sure what she could do.

“No,” Kara sighed. “I think this is some kind of test or something. There’s this new reporter she wants me to work with and I can’t really argue with her about it. That’s not why I called…” there was a moment of silence and another long exhalation. “If I am on this trip that means I can’t…”

Lena finally caught up to the conversation. “Jackson’s try outs,” she finished Kara’s thought.

“I really won’t know what’s going on until I get back to work, but I wanted to call you ahead of time and prepare for the worst.” There was a short pause followed by, “Lena, I am so sorry, I didn’t think that this would happen or that it was going to be a CatCo thing that got in the way of coming tonight.”

Lena could hear the strain in Kara’s voice. “Kara,” she said softly, trying to dispel any frustration that might still be lingering in her voice. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not! I promised him I would be there and…”

Lena cut her off with her name again. “Kara you couldn’t have possibly predicted this. Jackson will understand.”

“Are you sure?” The woman now sounded a bit scared. “I don’t want him to think that I would bail on him if it wasn’t an extreme circumstance.”

Lena sat farther back in her chair. She understood the feelings Kara was having. She was just waiting for the day where her job would get in the way of something for the boys and break their hearts. Luckily, it hadn’t come yet but the possibility was always lurking behind a corner. Unfortunately, they were adults with jobs that couldn’t always wait for a soccer game or a parent teacher conference. “Just call him tonight afterwards and let him tell you about it. I think he would appreciate that.”

“I will…and if I am in a good place maybe I could facetime or something and see some of it?”

Lena couldn’t help the smile that was etching across her face. Kara was trying so hard and it meant the world to her. “I think that would be lovely. I can also text you the updates of what is going on,” she offered.

Kara laughed on the other end of the line. “Will you know what’s going on?” Kara teased.  

“I will have you know, I have watched several videos of the soccer and I am more aware than you think.” Lena folded her arms over her chest defensively even though Kara couldn’t see her. “I know what offsides is!” She added for emphasis.

“Then, I expect a full scouting report. We’re going to need to know who the competition is for playing time.” Lena heard a faint knock at the door and wasn’t sure if it was hers or Kara’s. The silence on the other end, accompanied by soft shuffling suggested it must have been the blondes. “I’ve gotta go, Alex is here which can’t be good. I will call Jackson tonight, promise.”

“Bye Kara,” Lena signed off. She really hoped Jackson would understand. This definitely wouldn’t be the last time Kara would have to cancel at the last moment. It came with the territory of two demanding jobs.

She went back to her usual routine of emails and conference calls until she was interrupted again by Luke with a fresh coffee. “Rough day?” He asked, knowingly.

“Is there a full moon tonight?”

Luke thought on it for a second and shook his head no. “Mercury might be in retrograde, though.”

“That must be it,” Lena sighed. Before she could say something else, her phone buzzed. She looked down at it and it was a message from Kara. Flying cross country, won’t land till after seven. I’ll call later. I’m really sorry about this. Lena replied a quick “don’t worry, be safe” with a smiley face. She flipped her phone over and rubbed her temples gently.

“Want to talk about it?” Luke offered, leaning up against her desk.

Lena spun her chair around to the side slightly allowing enough room to cross her legs. “I’m going to really disappoint Jackson tonight and I don’t think there is a way around it.”

Luke scrunched up his nose, trying to think of what to say. “I think disappointment is kind of unavoidable. No matter how much you try, you can’t protect kids from everything.” He slid the coffee closer to her. “You can always be honest about why a situation had to happen that way and validate their feelings about it.”

Lena gave him a thoughtful look. “You are very wise Mr. Abernathy.”

He laughed and straightened the knot of his tie. “Not really…but I was a kid once- “

“Are you suggesting that I was not a kid?” Lena laughed.

“I am fairly certain you were created in a lab, suit and all.” He straightened up and took a step back. “Not that that’s a bad thing.”

“Mhmm,” she folded her arms. “You were saying?”

“Well from the perspective of a teen boy, I can tell you that a lot of time we are conditioned to think you have to suck things up and move on…but you don’t have to encourage that. My dad missed his fair share of things…but he never made an excuse or tried to tell me I needed to get over it. He apologized and always let me be angry if I needed to be.” He smiled at the thought. “So my advice would be…let him be upset. You can’t do anything about the situation, but don’t use his maturity as an excuse.”

Lena thought over his comment. “I appreciate your input, Luke…sincerely.”

“Anytime Miss Luthor.” He gave her a small salute and headed for the door.

When she picked the boys up from school, Jackson was more silent than usual. He had a death grip on his back pack and didn’t look up from the ground. Nate didn’t seem to notice because he was doing his usual post-school debriefing at a million words per second. Who would have thought so much could happen in a second grade classroom on a day to day basis?

When they stopped at a crosswalk, Lena leaned over to Jackson whispering, “Penny for your thought?”

He startled a little bit but gave her a quick smile. “Sorry, what?”

“I was asking if you were okay. You seem a bit out of it.”

He shrugged and adjusted his back pack straps. “Just anxious about tonight. Some of the guys were talking in class today and I think there are a lot more people trying out than I thought.”

“Whatever happens, you’ve worked really hard for this and I’m proud of you,” Lena reassured.

Nate turned around quickly and lifted up a hand to his brother. “I’m proud of you too!” Jackson high-fived him and then moved his hand into Nate’s hair, ruffling it. Nate swatted him away and glared. “I was trying to be nice!” He complained.

Lena took a quick step in between them. “No fighting till we get home, please.” The crosswalk turned white and she pushed Nate along, creating a foot of space between the boys. The small interaction seemed to loosen Jackson’s overall mood. She hated the fact that she was about to ruin it all over again.

When they got home, Nate flew to his room as usual and Jackson was headed that way before Lena grabbed his elbow. “Can we talk for a second?”

“Yeah.” He followed her into the kitchen and used the opportunity to get a snack. He reached into the top cupboard and pulled out the last bag of chips.

“You’re going to be running for hours tonight, you might want to pick something with a bit more protein in it.” They stared each other down for a few seconds before Jackson turned back around, putting the chips back up and reaching for the peanut butter and the loaf of bread. Satisfied with his choice, Lena began the process of breaking the bad news to him.

While Jackson got out a knife to make his heart healthy snack, Lena tried to find the right words. “I have something to share with you.” She tried to keep her voice even.

Jackson’s eyebrows ticked up. “Good or bad?”

“Bad,” Lena sighed. “Kara’s not going to be able to make it tonight.”

She could see his face fall for just a moment before he picked up his cheeks in a fake smile. “That’s okay,” he lied. “Something come up?”

“She got a last minute assignment that has her on a flight out right now. She wanted to be here, I promise but she couldn’t get out of work.”

“That’s okay. She’s gotta work, I get it.” His eyes were glued to the knife as he lowered it into the peanut butter jar.

“I’m sorry that this came up, but I want you to know that you don’t have to get it.” She took a step closer to him and put a hand on his back. “I know it was important for her to be there.” He still didn’t look at her and continued to make his sandwich, but she could tell that he was biting the bottom of his lip. “Jackson?” She questioned softly.

He put the knife down and wiped the edge of his eye with his palm. He turned quickly and put his head on her shoulder and she could feel the vibration of his soft cry. She wrapped both arms around him and continued to rub his back. “I’m sorry, honey,” she whispered. She held him for a few minutes before saying. “She promised to call you later and she wants to hear all about it. I’m going to send her text updates too.”

He pulled back a bit and sniffled. “I don’t think she’s going get much from that,” he said with a slight laugh.

Lena removed her hand from his back and pushed his shoulder slightly. “You both underestimate me.”

“You kept calling the ref the umpire like yesterday.”

She held up her finger. “And I have grown a lot since then…it bears repeating that I know what offsides is.” This made him smile more than she had seen all day. “I will do my best until you can fill her in later, okay?”

He grabbed his sandwich off the counter, leaving bread crumbs to fall to the floor. “I know you will.” He reached across the other counter and grabbed a napkin to put under it without needing to be told. With the conversation seemingly finished, he walked past her and nudged her shoulder. “Thank you, Lena.”

“Always,” she said sincerely.

He walked off to his room and she swept the errant crumbs into her hand and into the sink. She looked down at the floor for any more remnants and she remembered that her shoes still didn’t match. She peeled them off and looked at the nearly identical shoes and laughed. She never imagined a day where something like this wouldn’t bother her at all. Her definition of “perfect” and “put together” were rapidly changing and she didn’t mind a bit. She put the shoes under her arm and headed to her room to change into something much more comfortable. For a hot day like this, shorts might even be on the agenda.

An hour later, Lena tapped her sneaker laden foot at the door waiting for Jackson to get his life together. He had already changed three times and couldn’t quite decide what outfit was going to make him the most aerodynamically sound. “If you don’t hurry, there isn’t going to be a tryout,” she warned.

“Don’t rush me, it’s a process!” He shouted out of his door.

She grabbed his soccer bag and did a quick survey to make sure at least that was ready. She set it down and turned her attention to Nate who was patiently rocking back and forth on his heels, waiting for them to leave. “Did you bring something to work on? This is going to be a couple of hours.”

He pulled on the edge of his back pack. “I’ve got homework and my journal. I figured if it was boring, Kara could help me with my next article.”

Lena’s face dropped. “I’m sorry honey but Kara isn’t going to be able to come tonight.”

Nate’s eyes got wide. “Does Jackson know?” She nodded. “So that’s why he was so grumpy.”

“Done!” The boy in question walked out in a bright pink shirt and black shorts. He reached out his arms and did a slight spin.

“They definitely won’t miss you,” Lena offered, encouragingly.

“You look like a flamingo,” Nate deadpanned.

Jackson reached down and grabbed his bag and tossed it over his shoulder. “Call me what you want but this is the winner. Water resistant, light, and very fashionable.”

“If you’re a flamingo,” Nate repeated.

Lena reached for the door handle, not wanting to start anything and make them later than they already had the potential to be. “Fight on the way, please.”

The fight was more of squabble that ended with Nate imitating what he thought a flamingo walked like. Jackson entertained him and mimicked the same motion. This left Lena with two boys walking half chicken winged down the street with no explanation for the onlookers. She just picked up her pace, hoping they’d turn back to humans before they got to campus.

When they finally got there, Jackson quickly split from them and ran over to the field to find some of the kids in his class he knew, all thoughts of flamingos forgotten. “Bye, good luck,” Lena said to no one. She turned to Nate and shrugged.

“He’s too cool for us,” he reasoned.

“We’re too cool for him,” she corrected with a wink. She turned to the bleachers and was surprised at how crowded they were. Everyone was spaced out into their family units, leaving sparse room for anyone running late. She spotted a free row at the top and pushed Nate towards it. When they got to the empty row, he scooted along and put his backpack down on his left and sat. Lena sat next to him and attempted to get comfortable on the overly hot metal that was slightly burning her thighs. She was regretting the blue, plaid shorts that she had picked out. She looked around and could tell the more seasoned parents because they all had cushions underneath them. She made a mental note to buy some if he ended up making the team.

She didn’t get too comfortable before she spotted a familiar face at the bottom of the stairs. Karen flapped her hand in the air in a sad attempt at a wave and climbed up to their level. “Hey sweetie!” Behind her, Seth and Dylan followed in line.

“What are you all doing here?” Lena questioned. “I didn’t know Seth was trying out.”

Karen fanned her hand in the air. “Oh Lord no. He’s going to be some booker or something.”

“Bookkeeper,” Seth corrected.

“That’s what I said!” He rolled his eyes and walked past her and Lena to sit on the other side of Nate. Dylan joined him and Karen sat between Nate and Lena, leaving the edge free. “He wanted to come out and support Jackson.”

“That’s so sweet, thank you.” Lena smiled at her friend and then had a twinge of guilt. “Sorry I haven’t been responding as much in the group chat. Been jumping through some different hoops at work.”

“Mhmm… It has nothing to do with that other friend of yours?” Karen quirked an eyebrow over her sunglasses. “I know you’re cheating on us with your past.”

“I’m not!” Lena said defensively. “I was taking your advice and trying to get closure.”

“Which led to…” Karen gave her a knowing look.

Lena lowered her voice. “She’s been helping the boys with some things and we realized there was a lot of miscommunication in our past friendship.” Lena thought fondly of her new relationship with Kara. It was so much better now that they were actually honest with each other. “It’s been different but something we both needed.”

“Is that all?” Karen pulled her tumbler close to her mouth and sipped loudly from the straw.

“Now what does that mean?” Lena had come to learn that Karen’s favorite language was subtext.

The woman shrugged innocently. “Nothing baby, I just feel like there is more going on.”

“More what? We’re just…we’re…” Lena didn’t have the right word and she knew anything she said wouldn’t be accepted.

“And where is your lovely blonde friend?” Karen mimed scanning the crowd.

Lena was about to say something but then realized what Karen had said. “How did you know she was blonde?”

“Google… it’s a powerful thing.”

Lena decided to overlook the slight invasion of her privacy and give the woman an answer. “She had a business trip she couldn’t avoid,” she said succinctly.

Karen put her fingers on the edge of her sunglasses and pulled them down slowly, eyes towards the bottom of the bleachers. “Are you sure about that?” Lena’s eyes followed her gaze. She blinked a few times, making sure that it wasn’t a mirage from the heat. In an instant, she could feel her a warm feeling nearly burst in her chest.

Kara stood at the bottom of the bleachers in khaki capris and a white short sleeved shirt polo tucked in. She was scanning the bleachers with a hand cupped over her eyes when she finally met Lena’s gaze. She removed her hand from her face and turned it into a wave, climbing the stairs to meet them.

“Kara?” She scrunched her eyebrows up in confusion. “I thought…”

“I rearranged some things,” the blonde said simply. “Did I miss anything?” Lena couldn’t seem to find her voice. She was still too stunned. Kara placed her bag down below the bleacher and took the last seat on the end. “Lena?” she questioned again.

“No,” she responded quickly. “We just got here too.” She nodded down the line to Karen and the boys. Karen was staring at her with a knowing look that Lena wanted to knock off her face.

“Hi,” Kara waved cheerily to the woman she had only heard about. Before she could do any more introductions, Nate caught sight of her and climbed over top of Dylan to wrap her up in a hug. “Hey buddy!” She reciprocated.

“I didn’t think you were coming!”

She gave him a thousand watt smiled and put on a slightly exaggerated voice. “And miss something as important as this? Never!”

“Jackson’s going to lose it!” Nate leaned in close and cupped his hand over Kara’s ear. “Between you and me, he was pretty sad you weren’t going to come.” Kara felt her throat tighten slightly. That’s exactly why she pulled a few favors to get there.

“Maybe we can flag him down real quick so he knows.” Nate bounced to the center isle and already started down the steps and Kara turned to Lena and Karen. “One second.” She followed down the steps and they stopped where the bleachers were fenced into the field.

Nate waited until Jackson was coming back over towards them before shouting. “Jack!” He repeated himself twice before getting his brother’s attention. Jackson looked up and saw his brother excitedly pointing at Kara. His face instantly lit up. He looked around his surroundings self consciously before lifting up his hand and waving to her. She waved back and gave him two thumbs up. A tan kid ran up next to him and bumped him in the shoulder. Jackson whispered something to him, and the kid put on a big smile and also waved at Kara. Jackson pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the field indicating he had to get back to the tryout. He looked back twice to Kara, waving again until he was lined up with the rest of the team.

Kara put a hand on Nate’s shoulder and turned him around to go back up the bleachers. He skipped up the entire way and Kara followed two steps at a time. When she sat down next to Lena again, the woman had a soft look on her face. “What?” Kara questioned.

“Thank you for coming,” Lena answered with a hand on Kara’s thigh. “You mean a lot to him.”

“He’s a really good kid.” They stared at each other for a moment until Karen cleared her throat next to them. Lena quickly removed her hand and the blonde resettled into her seat.

“Sorry,” Kara began with an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. What was your name again?”

Karen reached an overly tanned hand with gawdy pink nail polish towards Kara. “I’m Karen Wells. Lena’s best friend.”

“A friend,” Lena corrected with a slight eye roll. “She is a friend.”

“You give me a little more time suga’ and that might change,” she winked behind her. “and you are?” She turned back to Kara, knowing perfectly well who she was.

“Kara Danvers.”

“Oh,” Karen raised an eyebrow to Lena. “Well what a pleasure to finally meet you.” Her southern drawl drew out each word. “I have heard many things about you.”

“All good I hope?” Kara said with a fake politeness.

“I did not say that.” Karen winced as Lena’s elbow landed into her side. “Mostly good,” she corrected.

“Karen’s son Seth and Jackson are really good friends…and her younger son Dylan,” she pointed to the smaller blonde, “is in the same grade as Nate.”

“That’s lucky!” Kara said, unsure of what to say. She felt uncomfortable and was quickly forgetting on how to talk to people. It was fine if it was just Lena but adding someone else made her unsure of herself. She wanted to make a good impression on Lena’s new friends, and she had found that historically that happened when she said the least number of things. She was hoping the actual tryout would start so she could divert her attention to the field without seeming rude.

Thankfully, Karen seemed to be a pro at small talk. “Lena said you were helping Jackson with the whole soccer thing,” she probed.

“Yeah we’ve been working for a few weeks on some basic stuff. I think he’s going to be great!” Kara was begging Rao for someone to blow a whistle or something. “Do you…umm…like soccer?” It came out lamely and she wished she could take it back.

“Not a chance. I’m morally against outdoor activities.” Kara gave her a confused look. “I’m from southern Texas hon’, we don’t go outside unless we’re cookin’ or shootin’. The devil himself burned a ball off in Laredo.” Kara didn’t know how to respond to that. She looked to Lena who was coughing back a laugh, so she figured this was just how Karen talked. “Baby I’m kidding.” Karen flapped her hand daintily. “We are just football people…American football.”

The whistle finally blew and Kara breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t prepare enough conversations in her head for interacting with Karen today. She’d prepare better next time but for now she just wanted to focus on the game. “There’s a lot more kids out there than I expected,” she commented to Lena.

“Jackson said fifteen, I think.”

Kara started to get a little anxious. “For five spots?” Lena nodded. “That’s less than ideal.”

“Be honest, what are his chances?”

Kara scanned the field and tried to take in all of the kids. She inconspicuously pulled down her glasses a bit and zoomed in closer to get a better assessment. She watched for a few moments before pushing the glasses back up. “He’s the tallest which is a good sign because he still runs fast with all that height. A few of them look like they’ve probably been playing for a while. They have pretty good foot skills just from what I saw.” Lena gave her an expectant look. “I’d say he’s at least top ten.”

Lena tensed up a bit and she looked back to the field. “There could be worse odds, right?” she asked for reassurance.

“It’s early!” Kara added quickly. “Some of them might choke or fall or something.”

“Kara!” Lena chided. “They’re kids.”

“They are the competition today,” Kara corrected, defensively.

Karen leaned over towards them. “Blondie’s right.” She took another loud drink. “This is high school now…eat or be eaten is law.”

Lena sat up a bit straighter and held the edge of the bleacher tightly. She looked at Kara, her nervousness palpable. “You’re going to have to help me,” she whispered. “I won’t know if he’s doing good or not and I want you to be honest.”

Kara pointed to where they were lining up by the bleachers. “Well the first thing is going to be running laps so hopefully you’ll be a good judge of that.” She tried to calm Lena down a bit adding a joke, “Actually, I’ve seen you run…”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Lena put up a warning finger. She lowered her voice even further. “Seeing me run away from bad guys whilst in heels is not a fair assessment.” 

Before Kara could egg her on anymore, Nate tapped on her shoulder. “Can we go to the playground, please?”

“The tryout just started. You don’t want to watch a bit?” Lena had a feeling he wasn’t going to last long but this was a record time to boredom.

“It’s kind of boring,” Nate shrugged. “And Dylan was going to help me with tether ball!”

“I can take them,” Seth offered. “Jackson won’t care if I watched. I just told him I’d be here when it was over.”

Lena looked to Karen for approval. She trusted the teenager and they were still on campus. The woman looked less trusting of her son. “Why don’t I go with them too.” She stood up and grabbed her bag. “It’s going to be dark soon any ways, so we’ll just go for the boring…I mean beginning parts of the tryout.”

Lena didn’t argue. She just appreciated that they had come. It took them seconds to pack up all of their things and head down the stairs. It left Kara and Lena alone in their row. Lena waited until the group was completely out of sight before whispering to Kara. “How did you possibly get out of that trip?” She knew Andrea and there weren’t many things that woman would compromise on.

“Who says I’m not on the trip?” Kara said cryptically, adjusting her glasses.

Lena cocked her head to the side slightly. “Do I want to know what that means?” She bit her lip slightly. “Don’t tell me you have perfected the art of cloning without me.”

Kara laughed and moved her head closer to Lena’s ear, making sure she wasn’t overheard. “J’onn owed me a favor.”

Lena’s eyes widened and she had to put a hand over her mouth to not laugh out loud. “You’re lying,” she whispered.

“He’s decided to take some time off anyways, so it wasn’t too much to ask. He said he had a Kathy Reichs book he’s been trying to get through for months.”   

Lena laughed again picturing a Kara shaped J’onn sitting in a private jet, reading a murder mystery novel. “You’re just going to,” she mimicked a plane with her hand, “later?”

“The meeting isn’t even until tomorrow, but Andrea insisted that William and I leave ‘immediately’,” she said the last word in a bad impersonation of Andrea’s authoritative voice.

“William?”

Kara reached out and grabbed the top of Lena’s knee in excitement. “Right! I haven’t told you about the newest man child I’m going to have to babysit.” Her voice dripped in disdain. “He is an import from England and I have been told…by him…that it will be a privilege to work with him.”

“He did not say that?” Lena’s mouth was nearly gaping.

“He called be darling three times today and I almost lasered a line through his perfectly coiffed hair.” Lena looked around quickly, making sure no one was paying to close attention to their conversation before laughing. “So he’s supposed to be going on this trip with you?”

“Oh, he is on the trip with me…except me is a martian who will ignore him for the entire seven hour flight.” Kara smiled triumphantly. “I’d much rather be here.”

Lena looked at the field where Jackson’s bright pink shirt really did make it easy to find him. Even though they were running, she could see the smile on his face. She turned back to Kara. “I’m glad you’re here too.” They returned their attention to the field and Kara outlined what she expected the coaches would put the players through.  

Lena tried to follow what was going on, but it seemed like random activities that didn’t resemble soccer at all. She had watched her fair share of games in the past and this was not what she was used to. There were cones everywhere and she watched as Jackson maneuvered around them, sometimes not even having the ball with him. Kara was explaining what he was doing well and how he might improve and Lena nodded along, regardless of her true understanding.

Every so often Lena would add her own, very incorrect, interpretation of what was happening. “They call that one the march of the penguins,” Lena said, completely serious.

“They’re just walking back to the bench,” Kara pointed out.

“Like little penguins.” Lena squinted her eyes and pretended to pick the far off figures up with her fingers, causing to Kara to curl up in laughter.

Karen returned with the other boys once the sun started to come down. They all sat back down in their respective places from earlier and proceeded to still not pay attention to the tryout. Karen was already on her phone and the boys were drawing some monstrosity in one of Nate’s notebooks.

It took another thirty minutes of consuming drills until they got to shooting. “Now this looks like soccer,” Lena said. Each kid was given a few shots from the penalty marker and then their tryout was over. Lena was going to make another witty remark but stopped herself when she looked over to Kara who was laser focused, head cradled in her hand and elbows rested on her knee. Instead, she turned to Karen and asked her a question about an upcoming event in Nate’s class.

Kara was in the zone. She evaluated each kid that came up trying to keep a tally of how well they had done that day. Up to that point, she thought Jackson was at least top seven. This might be the breaking point. The next two boys to go would need to miss a few shots for him to have a better chance but she really didn’t want to wish that on them.

Nate walked behind Karen and Lena and sat next to Kara. He mimicked her position and started looking for his brother. There were a few people directly in front of him and he had to lift his head off of his hands to see the field. He still couldn’t make out what was going on. He nudged Kara’s thigh. “Where is he?” He whispered, unable to find the pink shirt.

Kara leaned over to see his vantage point and tried pointing out his brother, but he kept straining his neck higher. He stood up to see better but the person behind him quickly told him he was in the way and he sat back down again. “Do you want to sit with me? I have the perfect view.” He nodded and she easily lifted on either side of his waist and placed him on her lap. He let his legs hang on either side of her and she was able to better point out what she was looking at. He was slightly hidden behind a few other bodies but once the coach called his name and he stepped forward, you couldn’t miss him.

“Lena he’s about to go!” He yelled, a little too loud. The woman turned her head away from Karen and noticed the new arrangement to her right. Kara had an arm wrapped around his waist now as he excitedly pointed to the field. They were both looking at her with big grins and she directed her attention to the field again. While Jackson set the ball up, she stole one more glance to the duo. Kara was whispering something in his ear and pointing to the goal, probably explaining something about what was going to happen, and Nate was hanging on her every word. Lena wanted to take a picture of the moment. She rarely saw Kara smile like this. It was different than the one she was used to. It even crinkled at the edges of her eyebrows.  

She realized she needed to focus and looked back at the field right as Jackson made his first attempt. He placed it perfectly in the lower corner and right past the goalie. Their whole section cheered, and all of the other parents looked at them strangely. “Sorry,” Lena said to the woman in front of her that she had slightly hit with her hand when she threw them up. He took two more shots and made them both.

Kara placed her hands out in front of her and Nate high fived them both. “We got it in the bag now!” He jumped off her lap and went over to Lena to high five her too. It was better than the first time she had ever done it, but she was still working on it.

“You think he has a chance?”

Kara nodded assuredly. “I would be really surprised if he doesn’t. He did everything he was supposed to.” Lena beamed. She wasn’t too excited about the fast pace life style being a part of the soccer team was going to entail but that was nothing compared to her feeling of pride for what Jackson had accomplished in a few weeks.

Fifteen minutes later, the final whistle blew, and the tryout was over. They all began to collect their things to go and meet their kids at the gate. “That was…” Karen tried to find a good word, but nothing came to mind. “That was boring, let’s all just accept that.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Seth countered. “It was nice to actually see how the game works. I didn’t tell the coach that I knew nothing about soccer when I volunteered.” As he said this, his eyes tracked to the bottom of the bleachers where Jacob was starting to walk towards them. “Can we go?” Seth said quickly, grabbing the back of Dylan’s t shirt.  

“I thought we’d wait for Jacks-”

“I’ll see him tomorrow!” It was too late. Jacob had to have run because he was now standing in the bleacher row below them.

“Hey Seth,” he waved awkwardly. Seth looked at him confused because he wasn’t sure the boy had ever used his correct name in the past two months. “Hi Mrs. Wells.” He turned to Karen and offered a hand. “Jacob Runyon, not sure if you remember me.”

“I do sweetie…and you know you can just call me Karen.”

He turned to Lena. “And you must be Jackson’s…mom-ish…it’s nice to meet you.” Lena shook his hand as well.

“Lena,” she smiled.

“Mom can we go?” Seth completely ignored Jacob’s pleasantries and started walking towards the exit.

“Hey, wait!” Jacob blocked his path momentarily but realized how that looked and took a step to the side. “I just wanted to apologize.” Seth’s face didn’t change. “I have been really rude to you and you don’t deserve that.” Now, Lena, Kara, and Karen were all acutely tuned into the conversation.

“Why the sudden change of jerk?” Seth responded, wittily.

“I had a really good conversation yesterday with Jackson and he pointed out that I hurt other people to make myself feel better…that’s not right.” He hung his head slightly. “I am really sorry for the way I treated you.”

“Whatever.” Seth crossed his arms, not believing in this sudden change. Jackson walked up the steps behind Jacob and realized there was a tense conversation going on. He side stepped and sat down on the bleachers below the two of them, wanting to not interrupt.

“Seth, please.” His voice was soft and pleading. “I want to prove to you I’m not a complete asshole.” “And how are you planning on doing that?”

“Well…well Coach said that you might be the bookkeeper for the games…I thought I could teach you how to do it.” He stuttered through his response, a mixture of nervousness and fear of rejection. “It’s actually a lot harder than it looks.” Seth mulled over the offer and Jacob could see the confliction on his face. “You know what, think it over. I shouldn’t put you on the spot like this. It is whatever you want but I thought I’d offer.”

“I can think about it?” Seth questioned

“Yeah and if you say no, I won’t bother you again. I promise.”

Seth looked to Jackson who gave him a small shrug to say it’s up to you. “Fine. Just text me later and I’ll tell you what I decided.” 

“Great!” Jacob’s smile covered his entire face. He started to walk down the bleachers but quickly turned and ran back up them. He put a hand behind his neck and ducked his head. “I realized I don’t have your number.”  

“You can’t get it from Jackson?”

“I don’t have his either.” Karen looked between the two boys, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“Here, I have a pen.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a thin tipped sharpie.

“Mom it’s the twenty first century, I can just put it directly in my phone.”

Jacob had already taken a step closer though and reached out his palm. “No, it’s fine…kind of retro.”

All of the adults rolled their eyes. “Retro is disco and high top jeans, thank you very much,” Karen muttered with disdain even though she was currently wearing high topped jeans.

Seth took the pen and grabbed the back of Jacob’s hand to stabilize his writing. He scribbled out his number and recapped the pen. “There, just text me later so I have yours.”

Jacob stared down at his hand like it was a famous autograph. “Yeah, no problem!” He ran down the steps again, a little more excitement in his step.

“What was that?” Karen questioned.

“Grade A bully from our class,” Seth said, handing back her pen.

“He didn’t seem mean…he actually was very sweet.”

Jackson got up and joined them on their bleacher level. “He definitely has a few layers to him.” He turned his attention to Seth. “I told you I talked to him yesterday and that I was going to tell you about it today. I didn’t expect him to talk to you first.” He gave his friend a slight nudge. “I promise I’ll tell you everything later.” By everything, he meant what Jacob said he could tell him.  

“In other news,” Karen interrupted, changing the topic. “You did great!”

“I was about to say the same thing,” Lena added. “Couldn’t tell that you’ve only been doing this a few weeks.”

“I had a good teacher,” he looked up and smiled to Kara. “I’m really glad you could come.”

“I will always try my hardest, I promise…I am so proud of you.” Kara patted him on the shoulder. “And you also need a shower.”

He lifted up the shirt and realized how much it clung to him. “Yeah I’m going to go change.” He put a hand over Seth’s shoulder, careful not to hug him with his sweaty shirt. “Thank you for coming.”

“They’re going to come eat with us, actually,” Lena informed him.

“Awesome!” He grabbed Seth’s elbow. “Come with me back to the school and I’ll fill you in, then.” The blonde boy reluctantly came along and they clamored down the bleachers.

Lena turned to Kara. “I know you have a busy day tomorrow, but you are more than welcome to come with us too.”

“Where at? I might be able to free up my schedule.”

“I don’t think I would have ever pictured you in a place like this.” Kara held open the door while Lena walked through, eyes wide to her surroundings.

“Really? This is my favorite place to go and think…It’s so peaceful.” As she said this, a young boy with a string of tickets flying behind him nearly toppled her over while a video game siren went off right next to her ear. Kara had to stifle back a laugh at Lena’s pained face. “So peaceful,” she repeated through a fake smile.

“Come on or we won’t get a table,” Nate insisted, lacing his fingers into Lena’s hand and pulling her towards the seating area. It wasn’t as crowded as Lena expected but there still was only one table big enough to accommodate their whole party. She set down her bag in the farthest corner of the large booth they found and grabbed out three large bills.

“I have cash too,” Kara offered, reaching into her bag.

Lena held up a defiant hand. “My treat…really I should be paying you to be here.” Nate sidled up next to Lena, nearly bouncing out of his shoes. Kara could tell he wanted to go play but was waiting patiently for permission. Jackson put a hand on his shoulders, holding him in place. Lena turned to them and reached out one of the bills to Jackson. “Twenty dollar limit and we stop in thirty minutes to eat,” she instructed.

“Thank you!” Nate was already pushing Dylan towards the token machine.

“They just go off?” Kara asked.

Lena grabbed Jackson’s bag that he just left in the middle of the floor and moved it under the table. “I said the same thing my first time here but it’s true. Twenty bucks and you’d think you bought them a horse.”

Karen came back from the food counter and set down a pitcher of water and pop. “The taps down,” she said disappointed, scooting into the booth.

“How will we survive?” Lena said sarcastically.

“I have a handle of tequila in my trunk, but I didn’t drive.” Kara looked at her stunned. “Jesus honey, I’m joking…I have two.” She winked at Kara who wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her.

Lena happily poured water into her glass and chugged it. She felt absolutely parched from being out in the sun that long. She poured a second glass while Kara was still looking around in amazement. She had been to places like this before when she was younger but none this big, or loud for that matter. There was a tiny part of her that wanted to be ten years old again on the hunt for one more ticket.

“What?” Lena questioned her far off look.

Kara refocused on to the woman and shook her head. “Nothing, this just brings back a lot of memories.” She tuned her ears into every buzz and bing in the place and it made her arms tingle in excitement. No wonder adults loved to gamble so much.

“Can we…uhh…” Kara put a thumb over her shoulder towards the games.

“Play?” Lena asked with an upturned eyebrow.

“Why not?” Kara shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see an age limit sign.”

Lena looked over to the wild scene and wasn’t sure if she could fend for herself. Kara got up and reached out her hand. “I’ll keep you safe from the tiny humans, promise.”

“I don’t know,” Lena swallowed back some of her anxiety. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way.”

“One game.” Kara reached into her back pocket and pulled out two dollars.

Lena looked over to Karen who had a look on her face Lena couldn’t quite place. She waved a hand to Lena. “I’ll hold down the fort,” she offered.

Lena was hoping she would say that she didn’t want to be left alone. She looked back to Kara’s expecting eyes and couldn’t say no. She got out of the booth and used Kara’s hand to stand up. “One game,” she insisted.

“Do I get to pick?” Kara asked excitedly, heading towards the token machine.

Lena carefully walked behind her, using her almost as a human shield-well an alien shield. “I don’t think I’ve ever played any of these so it’s up to you.” Kara put her two bills in the machine and eight coins clinked into the bottom bin. She scooped them out and tossed them up and down in her hand while she scanned around the room. Her eyes caught something interesting because she grabbed Lena’s forearm and started walking towards the back of the building. They stopped at a long table that had two small plastic paddles that looked like tiny sombreros and a brightly lit scoreboard that hung over the top.

“I haven’t played air hockey in years!” Kara was already inserting four tokens before Lena could even ask a question. The table whirred violently, and the paddles started to float across the surface away from them.

“Air what?” Lena questioned.

Kara looked at her in disbelief. “Come on, you’ve never played air hockey?” She reached across the table and grabbed the top of the red paddle. She then bent down next to the coin slot and retrieved a small, floppy piece of plastic.

“I feel I’m going to have to constantly remind you that we had drastically different childhoods. I wouldn’t expect you to know how to play polo,” she leveled.

Kara rolled her eyes and reached for the other paddle, placing it in Lena’s hand. “I will teach you, then.” She walked to the other side of the table and nodded for Lena to stand opposite of her. “This plastic thing is called the puck. You hit it with this other plastic thing called the paddle or striker and try and get it into the other person’s goal.” Kara pointed to the small square hole Lena hadn’t noticed before. She ran her finger over the opening, gauging its size. Her striker wouldn’t completely cover it up making her realize there was some strategy involved in defending the space.

“Do you want to try a practice go?” Kara let go of the puck and, like the paddles, it started to float away.

“Okay but slowly please.” Lena bent over slightly, trying to mimic Kara’s stance over the table. Kara slid the puck towards Lena with the tip of her finger. It slowly traversed across and Lena slid her paddle at it knocking it back towards Kara but also leaving her without anything to defend her goal.

Kara put a hand over face to cover up her laughter. She stopped both the puck and Lena’s paddle and walked them back towards her. “You kind of got the idea but you have to hold on to it the whole time,” she chuckled. She took her own paddle and showed Lena how to hold it. “See you just move it back and forth. I prefer to hold it on the top, but some people like to just barely hold the side because they can move faster.” She demonstrated both techniques and Lena tried to copy next to her.

“I think I got it. Can I see the puck?” Kara put it down in front of her and Lena quickly hit it across the board and into Kara’s goal. The machine lit up green and her side of the scoreboard flashed a one for the points she earned.  

“Hey!” Kara looked between her and the scoreboard. “That’s cheating!”

“I asked you for the puck. It was your fault for not being in the proper defensive position.” Lena threw up both of her eyebrows, daring Kara to challenge her.

“It is so on.” Kara stalked back over to her side, grabbing the puck again and placing it on the table. “I was going to go easy on you.”

“No pow-,” Lena caught herself and lowered her voice. “No special advantages,” she corrected.

Kara gave her a cocky smile. “Trust me, I don’t need them.”

She would regret her words. As soon as Lena figured out how to use the sides of the table to work angles to her advantage, she was scoring rapidly. She still wasn’t quick, but she made up for it in her shot selection. With a carefully placed volley into the corner, she made Kara reach farther away from her goal than she should have. She hit the puck as hard as she could straight on, and it landed slickly in the back of Kara’s goal. The machine whirred again and the whole thing lit up green in Lena’s victory.   

“Did you just lose a sport to Lena?” Jackson appeared behind Kara, a cup of coins in his hand overflowing with tickets.

“She cheated!” Kara tried to defend.

Lena tossed the paddle on the board and folded her arms. “That was one point. What about the other six?”

“Beginner’s luck.”

Jackson took a step towards Lena. “That sounds like a challenge?” He reached into his cup and pulled out another four coins. “Rematch?”

Kara set down her own paddle. “Lena said only one game so…”

Lena knew she was being baited but the satisfaction of potentially beating Kara again made it feel a little worth it. “Technically this is only one game…we’re just playing it twice.”

Jackson didn’t wait for anymore back and forth and inserted the coins. The air began blowing and they each palmed their respective paddles. He handed the puck over to Lena and she promptly put it into her own goal. Kara’s colors lit up and she was already awarded one point. “Now we’re even.” She grabbed the puck again and started to play for real.

After a few minutes, they were tied at three all and it was getting intense. Nate had found them and him and Jackson were on either side, heads bobbing back and forth with the puck. Lena had found a new handle of the puck that made her much faster and Kara could feel her powers slightly coming through with a little more force behind the puck than the last game. She hit it right down the middle and it launched off of Lena’s paddle into the air. Nate ran over to get it and handed it back to Lena. She raised an eyebrow to Kara, silently scolding her for using more strength than necessary. For her part, Kara blushed slightly not meaning to get so into the game.

“Sorry,” she held up a hand apologetically.

Lena waved her off and rolled her shoulder gingerly. “This is a lot of accidental exercise I did not anticipate.”

“You got this Lena!” Nate cheered.

“Hey!” Kara scolded. “I thought we were friends.”

Nate hid behind Lena slightly. “Sorry Kara, but she buys the cosmo brownies.”

“Jackson?” Kara questioned.

He held up his hands defensively. “I’m not picking sides.”

“I’ll remember that,” Lena teased as she placed the puck back on the table.

Lena didn’t gloat in her victory. The game was much more fun that she anticipated. Kara walked around to her side of the table and placed down the paddle next to hers. “Well fought, I concede that it’s more than beginners luck.” Kara reached into her pocket again and pulled out another bill. “Want to test your luck a little more?”

Lena was having fun and no one seemed to care that two adults were intermixed with all the children. It helped that they had Nate and Jackson near them, so they didn’t seem nearly as out of place. “Fifteen more minutes,” she promised. “We can’t just leave Karen alone.” They looked back to the table and the woman seemed perfectly content scrolling through her phone and eating fries.

“I’ll get us some tokens then.” Kara nearly sprinted towards the machine.

Lena walked over to the boys and assessed their winnings. “Having fun?” she asked.

“Tons!” Nate held up a wad of disorganized tickets. “I hit the jack pot on the pig game.” She nodded along like she understood.

Jackson agreed with the having fun part. “I think we’re all going to pool our tickets together and try and get the remote control helicopter.” He pointed over his shoulder to Dylan and Seth who were hunched over a game with a big wheel you cranked and had to stop at a certain point to win. Lena didn’t have the heart to tell them that the helicopter was probably worth half as much as what they spent on tokens.

Kara was back to them in a record time and proudly held out a cup full of fresh tokens. “Want to play a few games with us?” She offered the boys. “There are two basketball stations free over there.”

“The balls are too big,” Nate said softly, a bit of embarrassment in his voice. “I can’t throw them very far.”

Lena put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I bet that you can throw them farther than me.” That made him smile. “We could always team up with one of the super athletes over there too.”

“I want to be on Jackson’s team!” He said quickly, breaking away from Lena’s side and moving closer to him.

“You really are driving the knife in deep today, kid.” Kara sighed. “I guess I’ll have to be on Lena’s team.”

Lena pushed her in her shoulder. “You mean the winning side?”

Kara ignored her and walked over to the back corner where the side by side basketball hoops sat behind large screens. “Can we practice first?” Lena asked, unsure the last time she handled a basketball. Jackson put a few coins in each machine and several basketballs were released into the collection bin in front of each hoop. He grabbed one and tossed it to Lena who fumbled the catch but still managed to hold on. She gave him a stern look and he took a step back towards Kara.

“I can’t say that I’m going to have the right form, but I think I know enough about mechanics to move this thing that distance.” She took a step to the right, aligning herself with the hoop and lifted the ball above her head. She heaved it overhand and it cleared just over the glass and bounced aggressively off the back board and directly back to them. Luckily, Kara was quick enough to reach over her hand and catch the ball before it hit Nate in the head.

Lena didn’t dare to look at the older boy because she knew how smug his face was bound to be. She turned instead to Nate who had jumped back a step. “See I am terrible at this too,” she reassured. He giggled and took the ball out of Kara’s hand.

“Watch this, I can’t even get it over the shield.” He repositioned the ball in his hands and cranked it back over his shoulder before pushing it forward in the air. As predicted, it dinked off the plastic barrier with less enthusiasm than Lena’s shot and plopped back in the pile of balls.

“You guys just need a little more guidance,” Kara suggested. “Lena you have the power but need a little more grace and Nate you have great form but need a bit more umph behind it.” Lena rolled her eyes. She was a lot of things but graceless was not one of them. She had primary school classes on exactly that subject.

Kara grabbed a ball and nudged Nate slightly out of the way. “Give it a little arc and it won’t come back at you.” She shot the ball and it went perfectly up, down, and through the net with a metallic swish.

Jackson took a ball from the other game they had paid for and did the same motion, making the shot easily. “Come over here and I’ll help you, squish.” Nate stood in front of his brother and Jackson placed a ball in his hand and guided his arm through the motion a few times before actually letting him release the ball. It didn’t make it fully to the basket, but it at least cleared over the barrier.

Nate did a little dance and grabbed another ball, wanting to try it again. Kara leaned against the other machine and held a ball out to Lena. “Want a redo?” she said with a not so innocent smile.

Lena snatched it out of her hands and held up a finger. “You’re pretty cocky for someone who just lost twice at wind hockey.”

“Air hockey,” Kara corrected. “and I’m just trying to help so you don’t slow us down when we play for real.”

“How generous.” Lena tried to hold on to her pout but the absurdity of the situation made it nearly impossible. “Fine,” she conceded. “Can you please help me be more graceful?”

Kara quickly popped up from her leaned position and stood behind Lena. “Okay put your hand back like this.” She grabbed onto Lena’s elbow and held it in place while she used her other hand to pull her wrist back. She took the ball out of Lena’s other hand and set it down for a moment. “So you’re going to use your other hand like this and hold the ball in place and guide it through.” She reached around Lena and moved the woman’s other hand next to the already positioned hand as if the ball was already there. Kara was so close and Lena could feel her breath tickle the back of her ear as she continued to speak about form and follow through. It all went right through one ear and out the other because all Lena could focus on was the proximity of her friend and the warm hands that were now guiding her own.

“Did you get that?” Kara interrupted her thoughts.

Lena shook her head slightly, trying to recall any of the last words Kara had said. “Could you repeat the last part one more time?” She tried to save herself and Kara didn’t seem to notice.

The blonde grasped her elbow again and began pushing up. “I said you want your power to come through here as you shoot.” She then reached down and patted the side of Lena’s knee. “Don’t forget to bend too.”

“Right…that’s what I thought.” Kara took a step to the side, indicating it was Lena’s turn to try it herself. Lena was thankful for the space. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, but it was making her heartbeat pulsate in her ears. She cleared her throat and shook out her shoulders a bit, hoping the action would calm down her frayed nerve endings. She picked up the ball Kara had set down and cupped it in the way Kara had taught her. She bent her knees just as she was told and tried to pull all the motions together, launching the ball up and over. It still only hit the backboard and didn’t go in but at least it didn’t ricochet back at her face.

“That was pretty good!” Kara held up a hand for a high five and Lena smacked it lightly. “Try a few more.”

She did and Kara corrected a few minor things. She only made one of a dozen shots, but she felt pretty good about her form. What she didn’t feel good about was the ache in her shoulder. Who would have thought throwing a ball would take so many muscles? Nate was having similar success and had developed his own form that required a bit more of a jump to make up for his size but had successfully sunk several shots.

“Alright, ready for the real competition?” Jackson rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Winner gets…” he looked at Lena expectantly.

“I don’t know…depends on if you want high or low stakes.”

He shook his head back and forth, mulling over his options. “How bout losers have to cook the winners whatever they want and we get to pick the movie for movie night?”

Lena quickly looked to Kara, hoping that they would be able to have a wordless conversation about this deal. It would potentially mean Kara making more time in her schedule for them. Lena already felt like they were monopolizing all of her very limited free time and didn’t want to weigh her down with yet another commitment. Before Kara even looked to her, the woman was already reaching out a hand to Jackson. “I hope you know how to make pot stickers.”

“Does that mean I get to pick the movie?” Lena asked.

“No!” Kara whined. “You’re going to pick some edgy French movie that’s black and white and doesn’t even have subtitles.”

“And you’re going to enjoy every second of it,” Lena teased.

Kara begrudgingly put out her hand and Nate placed four tokens into it. She dramatically picked up two and held them out to Jackson. “One game takes all?”

He plucked them out of her hands with a smirk. “I think the odds are in our favor.” He gave one look over to Lena who was now stretching out her shoulder. Kara smacked her lips together, this was not going to be an easy victory.

The three minutes of game play was a wild flurry of basketballs and near makes. Lena and Kara kept running into each other to grab a basketball and Nate needed too much room to jump and kept hitting Jackson’s basketball out of his hand. Neither of the scores were impressive and ended with a last minute shot from Nate that miraculously made it through the net before the timer went off.

Lena couldn’t be mad that Nate was their cause of defeat. The kid was too excited about the one basket he made for any of it to really matter. Little did he know that his last shot had a little bit of help from an errant gust of wind. Jackson was high fiving him and celebrating leaving Lena a moment to quietly sidle up next to Kara. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that,” she whispered.

Kara feigned innocence immediately, ducking her head and adjusting her glasses like she always did we she was caught in a lie. “What? I…noticed what?”

Lena took the last basketball that wasn’t able to be shot before the time ran out and juggled it in her hands awkwardly. “I bet you can’t do it twice,” she challenged, appealing to Kara’s competitive side. She turned around and haphazardly lobbed the ball over the barrier. She felt a tickle of wind glide over her ear and the ball lifted just enough to bounce off the backboard and into the basket.

Lena turned back to Kara who now had a less than innocent look on her face. “They really need to close that window in here. The gust is just crazy,” she said cheekily.

“Mhmm.” Lena smiled, not actually mad at the woman’s antics. She looked over to Nate who was still happily spinning in victory. “How many tokens do we have left?”

Kara pulled out the handful of coins from her pocket and counted. “Seven.”

“I don’t think my arms can take another one of these games. Want to try and win me something at the crane machine?”

Kara juggled the change in her hand. “Win you something?”

Lena reached over and snatched a few coins out of the air. “I believe you owe me for your,” she nodded with her head towards the basketball hoop, “antics.” She didn’t say the word cheating, although the word played at the edge of her tongue, because she thought Nate might overhear.

“You guys coming?” Kara asked. “I have to go win Lena a stuffed animal apparently.”

“Get her an elephant!” Nate said, excitedly. “Then we could match.”

“I will try my hardest,” Kara promised. “Do you want to help?”

Nate looked over to where Seth and Dylan had just hit big on a bright purple game. “We have more tokens to spend and we need tickets.” He started to walk off towards the other boys before turning back around. “Thank you though!”

Jackson followed him, shaking his cup of tokens to Kara and Lena. “If we spend these before you’re done, we’ll come find you.”  

Kara turned her attention fully back to Lena. “Ready to be super impressed with my claw skills?” She scrunched up her hands, pretending they were mechanical and reached out for Lena.

The woman took a step away, laughing. “Kara don’t…” The blonde persisted and lightly grabbed at Lena’s sides making the woman squeal. Lena took a more definitive step away, putting a random game in between them. “You know how ticklish I am.” Lena held up a finger, hoping it was enough warning.

“I faintly remember,” Kara teased. She put her hands up in surrender. “I’ll stop, promise.” Kara started to walk back towards the edge of the gaming portion of the floor where the claw machine was. Lena slowly moved away from her safety net and followed. As she did, she couldn’t help but stare at Kara beckoning her a long with a sweet smile. She was feeling extremely confused. Her and Kara had moments in the past where they would joke around like this or play games, but this felt entirely different. She couldn’t put her finger on the word to describe this new feeling, but it wasn’t something she had ever ascribed to Kara before. The only thing she could say for sure was that it was warm.  She was getting used to having new experiences she didn’t have names for. Every day with the boys seemed to reveal a new emotion she hadn’t quite tapped into. Her relationship with Kara felt like it was having the same affect. At the moment, she didn’t care if it had a name. All she wanted was for it to never go away.

“Do you really want an elephant?” She caught up to Kara who was closely inspecting their options. There was an elephant buried a bit under some other colorful animals, but it was not going to be an easy sell.

“I will be impressed if you win any of these.” Lena leaned against the side, watching Kara mentally work out how she could get each animal.

“What’s your spirit animal?” Kara asked.

“My what?”

Kara’s head popped up from her crouched position and looked at Lena deftly. “Come on, you know what I’m talking about…spirit animal…like the animal that you relate to or guides you.”

“Kara, I’m joking…I know what a spirit animal is.” She looked into the machine, surveying all of the inanimate animals there. “I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it though.” She turned to Kara. “What is yours?”

“The turtle,” she said confidently.

Lena gave her a surprised look. “The turtle?”

“It is a symbol of persistence, endurance, and longevity. Three things that I constantly have to tap into.” Kara pointed to a small pink turtle that was stacked on the very top of a pile of lions. “They are also very cute.”

Lena nodded in agreement. “I think that fits you perfectly.” She bit at the inside of her lip slightly, trying to think of anything she related to. Her mind was blank.

“I think I have the perfect one for you too.” Kara grabbed the tokens she had left and put them in the machine. “Turn around,” she instructed with a spin of her finger. Lena complied, wanting to steal a glance at whatever Kara was aiming for. She listened as the metal claw swayed back and forth with each jerky movement Kara made.

The blonde walked in front of Lena and pushed her to the side slightly. “I need to make sure the angle is right.” She looked through the glass and then moved back to the control stick. Satisfied, she hit the red button and the claw shot down over top of the prize in question. Kara held her breath and watched as it perfectly snagged the edge of the plushy and lifted into the air. “Yes!” She clapped her hands together, causing Lena to start to turn around. “No!” she quickly yelled at the woman, turning her back around. “You’ll jinx it.”

The stuffed animal made its way to the bin and the claw thankfully released it. Kara reached down and grabbed it and picked a piece of fluff off the side. “Now you can turn.”

Lena did and was surprised to see what was in Kara’s hand. She thought it would be the little lion or even the rainbow colored snake. Instead, it was a purple butterfly with pink and yellow spots and large black antennas. “My spirit animal is not an animal?” Lena asked with a hint of teasing in her tone.

“No,” Kara said confidentially. “Your spirit animal is an insect because much like you they are the exception to the rule.” Lena reached out for the toy, running her hand along the edges. “They represent change, freedom, and beauty. If that isn’t you, I don’t know what is.”

Lena stared at it thoughtfully. “Thank you, Kara. It’s lovely.”  

“Don’t be surprised if you start to see butterflies more often now.” Kara tapped the side of the plush. “Once you find your spirit animal, they never leave you.”

Lena was going to say something else but she noticed Karen’s hand waving behind Kara’s shoulder. “One second,” she held up a finger to Kara and walked towards Karen.

Kara was about to follow but Jackson ran up to her and stopped her. “Hey,” she greeted, eyes still glued to Lena.

“Hey!” He twisted the pile of tickets in his hands and kept looking between the machine and Kara. “Umm…I was wondering if I could ask you a…a favor.”

“If I can do it, of course. What’s going on?” She asked slightly worried.

“It’s for Lena.”

Chapter Text

Lena had checked her phone a dozen times to see if there was any news about the soccer tryout. Jackson had assured her that they weren’t going to release anything until later in the week or even Monday, but she still thought every time her phone buzzed it was going to be the decision. She was so worried that Jackson wasn’t going to make it and then he would be disappointed or even worse not try out for anything ever again. She knew that she was imposing her own insecurities onto the situation, but she wasn’t going to feel better until they had an answer.

Her phone rang and she grabbed for it so quickly she knocked it off the desk. She leaned over in her chair to get it and nearly fell out of that too. “Lena Luthor,” she said quickly.

“I know who you are,” the voice said with a laugh.

Lena caught her breath for a second from the near death fall and readjusted the phone to her ear. “Kara,” she breathed out heavily. “Hi!”

“You okay? You sound like you just ran a marathon.”

Lena could feel her stability come back and she took one last calming breath before stating, “I just was leaning in my chair and nearly toppled over,” she laughed. “Who would have thought the next attempt on my life was going to come from furniture?”

“As a clumsy person, I can say that I’ve seen the face of Rao more times because of loose carpet than a bad guy with a gun.” They both laughed again, and Lena completely forgot that there was a reason Kara must have called. “Anyways, I was wondering if you were free for lunch?”

Lena looked at the stacks of paper on her desk. This was going to take her all day anyways and if she left, went across town, got lunch, inevitably talk for much too long, and then come back, it would leave her there well past seven. “I’m not sure I can. I don’t think I have the time to meet you anywhere, right now.” She hated letting Kara down.

“What if I brought it to you?” the woman offered.

“I don’t want to make you come over all this way just for that…anyways, it’s almost noon, I know how tight your eating schedule is.” Lena tried to mentally calculate what work she could put off until tomorrow.

“If I got lunch, would you be able to take twenty to eat it with me?”

Lena could tell Kara was using her more stern, Supergirl tone. “Twenty minutes I could do.”

“Perfect!” There was a knock at the door and Lena’s eyes shot up. Kara opened it, two large white bags in one hand and a tray with drinks in the other. “Delivery?” She asked with a cheeky grin.

Lena clicked the end call button on her phone and set it down. “You could have just come in from the beginning,” she said. She got up from her desk and walked around towards the couch.  

“I didn’t want you to feel pressured,” Kara said genuinely. “I know how busy you are lately.”

Lena sat down and reached for one of the bags and opened it greedily. “I am never to busy for burgers…this looks sinful.” She started pulling things out of the bag while Kara set down her bag on one side of the glass table and herself on the other. “Is this just a friendly visit or do you have an ulterior motive?” Lena asked with an upturned eyebrow.

“Just friendly,” Kara assured. She grabbed her first burger and quickly unwrapped it and took a bite. It really was sinful. The grease nearly dripped out of the corner of her mouth, but she swiped it up with the side of her tongue before it had the chance. Lena sat staring unable to open her wrapper because she was too caught up in Kara’s display of worship over the food. Another large bite was accompanied by a soft moan and Lena thought she might have dropped everything if it already wasn’t sitting in her lap.

Kara brought her back into focus with a question she didn’t hear. “What?” She asked, quickly unfolding what was in her hands to seem on task.

“I asked if you weren’t hungry,” Kara repeated. “You hadn’t touched your food.”

“I am!” She took a small bite to prove her words and then set the burger back down. “Just a bit…distracted today.” She realized how that sounded and quickly added, “Still worried about Jackson’s tryout.”

Kara bought her words and nodded in understanding. “He still hasn’t heard back?” Lena shook her head no. “He’s going to make it. He was twice as good as half of them and has more potential then the rest. They’d be dumb not to.”

“I’m just concerned because he isn’t part of all of those circles. They seem to be a tight knit group and may pick a different kid just because of their family.” Lena hadn’t spoken that fear she had out loud yet, but it had been running on loop in her mind. “I haven’t exactly made a point to reach out to any of the parents outside of two or three.”

“Do not blame yourself for this if it doesn’t work out,” Kara said firmly.

 “I wasn-”

“Don’t tell me that isn’t exactly what you were thinking.” The blonde tilted her head a bit and gave Lena her usual, knowing look, making the woman concede the point. “I know you Lena, you’re going to find a way to make this your fault when we both know there isn’t anything you could have done differently.” Lena was about to say something but Kara interrupted her, “And no you aren’t allowed to buy the team.”

“I didn’t know mind reading was one of your super powers,” she said cheekily.

Kara popped a fry in her mouth and smiled. “I’m full of surprises.”

Lena leaned back into the couch, a warm feeling settling over the anxiety she had had all morning. She didn’t know how Kara always managed to take all of her tension and make it melt away so quickly-that was her true superpower. “How was your trip?” She queried, wanting to take a mental break from thinking about soccer.

Kara dramatically flung her head back onto the back of the couch and splayed out her arms. She must have had some control with it because the wood frame didn’t break under her force. “He…is…the…worst.” She drew out each word slowly.

“That bad?” Lena goaded.

Kara continued to keep her head back and let out a nearly screeching sigh. Lena had to hold back her laughter. “He is just such a snob.”

“How so?”

“Well one, he’s like the smarmy kind of British.” Lena gave her a questioning look. “He uses his accent to condescend,” Kara clarified. “Just because you say something in a posh way doesn’t make it more correct…ugh…it was just so grating.”

“And two?” Lena prodded.

“Two through six is the way he interrupted me during the interview. I would ask a question and before they could answer he would reword my question but it was basically the exact same!”

Lena couldn’t believe that. That was so unprofessional, especially with a person you’d only just met. “Did you talk to him about that?”

“Oh, I tried.” Kara sat up and turned towards Lena. “More than once I asked him to let me be lead on the interview and he responded that he was ‘just trying to help’” she put the last part in quotes. “He really thought his way of wording my questions was just so much better it required constant interruptions.”

“If that was two through six, I don’t know if I want to know about the rest of your complaints.” Lena grabbed the bag of fries and settled in for more of Kara’s deserved ranting.

“He was just so infuriating. He even made me pay for the Uber back into town from the airport and for dinner last night…I don’t know who filled his head with so much hot air but I’m not going to be able to tolerate it for long.”

Lena hated seeing Kara so frustrated. Red heat was filling her cheeks and she had a death grip on the left over aluminum wrapper in her hand. “Do you want me to talk to Andrea?” It probably wouldn’t solve all of her problems, but if Andrea knew how unprofessional he was being, she might at least say something.

“No,” Kara sighed again. “I have a feeling that this is all just a test.”

“Really?” That seemed to be extremely unprofessional too.

“At first, I thought it was just a bit of insecurity, so he was over compensating, but towards the end he was like a bad caricature of a dude bro.” She shrugged her shoulders. “He is either trying to test how much I’ll put up with or is actually the worst man I’ve ever encountered in my life.” Lena could think of a few more men she might but on that list.

“I’m sorry it went so poorly.” Lena tried to give her a warm smile, but Kara still seemed to be too riled up to reciprocate. “Maybe you can come over this weekend and we can do something. I know two young men who may restore your faith in their species.”

This comment seemed to turn on something in Kara’s brain because she quickly lost the slight fire in her eyes. Instead, her pupils dilated slightly, and she seemed to be uncomfortable. Lena picked up on the subtle change instantly and felt a bit self-conscious. Maybe she was taking more of Kara’s time than the woman had to offer. Another thought crossed her mind-maybe Kara didn’t like being with them. She threw that notion away quickly. If their night at the arcade was any indication, Kara would spend every day with them if she could. She still didn’t want to pressure her. “You don’t have to of course, I just thought I’d offer. The weather is supposed to be perfect so I was thinking about a day in the park.”

“I’d love to,” Kara said quickly but then back tracked. “I mean I would love to, but I can’t.” She tapped her thumb rapidly on her thigh, a motion she did when she was a nervous. “I have…to work. I have to work,” she repeated with more authority.

“Oh,” Lena tried not to sound disappointed. “Working the weekend so you don’t have to interact with the new guy?”

Kara took the comment and ran with it. “Exactly!” She nodded almost too much. “I’m trying to get this write up done without his input.”

“Well if you get it done early let me know, maybe we can salvage some fun.” Lena couldn’t put her finger on the weird vibe coming from her friend. She was usually very good about detecting lies, and she felt something off coming from the blonde. She trusted that whatever it was, Kara wasn’t doing it maliciously.

“Do you want the rest of these? If I eat another one, my zipper might break.” Lena changed the conversation and Kara seemed immediately relived by it. She took the remaining fries and put them all in her mouth in one go. “You’re like a human trash compactor,” Lena laughed.

“Awel-iam” Kara said through full cheeks. Lena gave her the same look she gave Jackson when he talked with food in his mouth. She sheepishly swallowed and repeated, “Alien…I’m an alien trash compactor.”

“You are definitely something.”

Kara left exactly twenty minutes after she arrived, as promised. She also promised to try and free up time that weekend for something fun. Lena assured her there was no pressure, but deep down she almost wanted to beg the blonde to spend more time with them. Since Kara has come back into her life, everything just seemed to be more enjoyable. She was sure she had been happier in the past six weeks than the last six years combined. She couldn’t help but be a bit selfish. She returned to the interrupted work that piled on her desk, but her mind wandered off to all of things she might do that weekend with the boys.

Saturday morning was beautiful. The temperature was supposed to be in the low seventies all day and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. “What time do you want to go to the park today?” Lena asked in between sips of her espresso. She assumed the loud, rapid footsteps coming into the kitchen were Nate’s even though she didn’t take her eyes off of her tablet as she read through the latest happenings in the city.

“Ummm…” Nate’s voice was small and unsure. This prompted Lena to peel her eyes up and assess the usually loud and confident boy. He avoided Lena’s eye contact and opened the fridge door and grabbed the large gallon of milk. This just made her more confused.

“Did you hear me?” She asked with growing suspicion. Silence. “Nate,” she said a bit louder, but he still hid behind the open fridge door and didn’t respond. Before she got up to investigate, Jackson strolled into the kitchen. She thought she hear a quiet thank god come from behind the fridge.

“Morning, Lena!” He said brightly, walking around Nate and grabbing a bowl out of the cupboard.

“I’m glad someone can see me,” she said snarkily. “For a second, I thought I was a ghost.” He gave her a questioning look.

“I was just thinking!” The boy finally piped up. He closed the fridge door after letting out half of the cold air and put the milk on the counter.

“Thinking about what?” Jackson asked, passing him a box of cereal.

“Lena asked what time we wanted to go to the park.” The off inflections he used was not lost on Lena. Neither was Jackson’s abrupt reaction where he nearly dropped the second box of cereal for himself.

“Right…” he caught himself quickly. “Yeah we should go later I think…didn’t you say you had to work on a project Nate?” He nodded as he said it and the boy caught on quickly.

“Yes! The project for school…I need to work on that today…all morning.”

Lena looked between the two boys and narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t you work on the project tomorrow, Nate?”

They looked at each other and she could tell there was an urgent eye conversation going on because Nate’s were as big as saucers. “I have to today because…” he looked at Jackson for something.

“Because it’s a group thing and they are going to combine everything tomorrow…so he has to have it done today,” Jackson finished.

“Who’s in your group?” Lena probed, getting a sick sense of enjoyment at their pressured lies.

“Bella and Dylan,” Nate said quickly. He was getting good at this.

Lena thought about asking more questions to figure out what they were trying to hide but decided to let it be for the moment. Nate was becoming ghostly white and his hand was tapping rapidly on the counter. She was at least happy to know that lies didn’t sit well with him. “That sounds like fun. We can go later today…it’s supposed to be beautiful.” She picked up her drink and headed towards her office. “I’m going to go check a few emails.”

Before she was completely out of ear shot, she picked up on a few hushed whispers between the brothers. “You almost ruined it,” Jackson said first.

“I. can’t. lie.” Nate said emphatically. “Especially not to Lena!” Her name came out a bit louder and high pitched.

She turned around and sang back, “Did you need something?”

“No!” They said in unison. She turned back and smiled to herself, very interested in whatever plan they were obviously up to. If they were going to such lengths to keep it a secret from her, she imagined it was something to surprise her. She didn’t think they were nefarious enough to be up to anything actually dangerous or suspect. Jackson maybe but Nate couldn’t hurt a fly. The day before, she literally had to save one that had gotten stuck in his car window. She sat down at her desk and decided to let the co-conspirators enjoy their breakfast in peace before causing them any more anxiety.

She was happy to see there were no emergent emails. It was actually a little strange, there seemed to be a much lower number of overall emails for a Saturday morning. She hit the refresh key twice and still the same five popped up. She read them quickly and responded to what she needed to. She leaned back in her chair, a little unsatisfied and even more uneasy. She grabbed her phone and sent off a quick text to Luke. It was obviously his day off, but she wondered if he may know why her account was so empty.

“I’ll text IT but I haven’t heard anything was wrong or any maintenance was supposed to be done. I also haven’t gotten any frantic calls because someone couldn’t reach you!” She was satisfied by the response, but her senses were starting to get a bit elevated. She looked to the clock at the bottom hand of her computer and it was half past eight. Another thought hit her-why were the boys up so early on a Saturday? She reminded herself again to let it be and not need an answer immediately. Whatever weirdness was going on must have been for a reason.

She stayed in her office another thirty minutes before returning her cup to the kitchen sink. There was also a stack of bowls and no boys so they must have reconvened to their rooms. On cue, both of them came out of their rooms, fully dressed in khaki shorts and different colored t-shirts. Nate also had his backpack around one shoulder. They walked towards her and Nate laid off the bag by the shoe rack and joined his brother to sit at the counter. It took all of Lena’s effort not to ask where they thought they were going, instead she decided to ask Jackson the same question she had already asked a dozen times, “Any word from the coach?”

“Not since the last time you asked me,” he said sarcastically. “I told you, we’ll probably find out Monday or something.”

“You know…I could always-”

“No!” Jackson held up his hand. “No special treatment or favors.” That was another Lena was holding back in. She knew she could find out the results by simply calling Pam Roberts. Hell, a few thousand dollars and she could have guaranteed him a spot on the team. She was trying to be a normal, hands off guardian, though. She would not intervene unless there was imminent harm or significant embarrassment.

Lena couldn’t think of anything else to talk about because she was mentally trying to piece together the puzzle before her. Luckily, she didn’t have to because there was a loud knock at the door. The boys got devious looks on their face that quickly corrected with one look from Lena’s upturned eyebrow. “Would that be for you?” She asked knowingly.

“Actually, I think it’s for you,” Nate responded with a crooked smile. She took the bait and walked over to the door, unlatching it before even looking through the peep hole. She had a strong suspicion who might be on the other side, a suspicion that was confirmed by a bright blonde smile. 

“Good morning!” Kara sang. She was wearing dark navy shorts that came just above her knee, a white tank top, and a nearly see through blue plaid button up that hung open. In contrast, Lena was still in her long, maroon pajama pants and grey t shirt.

“Is it?” Lena questioned with a laugh. She took a step to the side and Kara walked through, taking off her Jesus sandals in the front hallway. “What good fortune graces us with your presence this morning, Kara?” She closed the door and turned around to the woman.

“I’m here for the adventure,” Kara responded like it was obvious.

“I think you may be at the wrong address.”

Nate jumped up and stood next to Kara. “Nope! This is the right place for an adventure.”

“I thought so!” Kara put a hand around his shoulder and squeezed him into her side.

“I thought you were working in the office this weekend.”

Kara scrunched up her nose and looked to the ceiling dramatically. “I don’t recall…maybe you’re getting your weekends mixed up. I definitely had an adventure on my calendar today.”

Lena walked farther into the kitchen, crossed her arms and leaned against the stove. She should have known any nefarious plans the boys had would almost certainly include Kara. “Where are you adventuring to?”

Nate seemed like he was about to say something, but Jackson quickly reached over and put a hand over his mouth. “It’s a surprise…with a few pit stops along the way.”

“And am I invited?”

“Invited?!” Kara said with a big smile. “You are the guest of honor.”

Lena pondered this for a moment. “I’d love to go…we’d love to go,” she corrected. “But Nate has a group project he has to work on.” She looked at the boy who began to look very guilty.

“That might have been a smidgen of a lie.” He held up two of his fingers very close to together. “But we didn’t want to ruin the surprise and Kara wasn’t here yet!” He added quickly.

Lena leaned forward and poked him in the stomach eliciting a strong twitch and a laugh. “I know…you two are terrible liars…which I should be happy about.”

“So, we can go?!”

“I’d prefer to know where, but if you want it to be a surprise, I can wait.” The boys high fived each other and ran to the front door to put on their shoes. “Hey!” Lena shouted after them. “Can I please change first? I might not know where were going but I know I can’t go like this.”

“Sorry!” They said in unison.

Lena turned her attention to Kara who hadn’t wiped her classic innocent smile from her face. “I expected this from them, but you Kara? I thought we were done with secrets.” She was happy that she was at a point in their relationship that she could joke like that and it didn’t hurt.

“I’m sorry but they’re hard to resist. Not to mention they planned the entire thing today- all the stops and the food. They wanted to give you a good day to thank you for doing so much for them. How could I say no to that?” Lena’s heart clinched. It was one thing to think this was all Kara’s idea. Knowing it was the boys made her feel so much more. Kara could sense Lena’s change in disposition and reached out to grab her wrist, grounding her back to the present. “They really care about you,” she whispered, making Lena have to hold back a tear that threatened to come out.

After a few moments, she pulled away from Kara gently and inconspicuously rubbed at her eye. “I am going to go change. By your appearance, I’m assuming some of this is outside.”

“Shorts and a tshirt would work and I would bring a hoody or sweat shirt for later.”

Lena mulled it over. “I’m not sure I own a sweat shirt.”

“I actually think you still have mine…the uhh…the National City University one.” Kara put a hand behind her neck and ducked her head a bit. “I mean unless…you got rid of it.”

No, she hadn’t gotten rid of it. She didn’t know why she didn’t think of that instantly seeing as it was folded neatly in her top drawer and she saw it nearly every day. It was one thing from her Kara purging phase that she couldn’t seem to part with. “I’ll have to look,” she lied. “But you might be right.” She quickly left the room because she didn’t want the chance to have to explain why she had never returned the item.

It was silly really. She had never been the type of person to lend or borrow anyone’s clothes-not her boyfriends or girlfriends or even just platonic friends. It was not a Luthor thing to do. For some reason, waking up slightly hungover in Kara’s sweatshirt had made her feel so safe and cared for she didn’t want to let it go. After that day, there was more than one occasion where she had put it on when she felt alone or isolated. It was a reminder that somebody cared about her enough to give the shirt off their back-not their literal shirt but the sentiment still felt accurate.

Lena quickly walked to her room and opened that top drawer where it laid. She pulled out the grey and blue cotton and appraised its slightly more worn appearance. She imagined it had to have been at least a year or more since it came to be in her possession. She put it aside again and changed. She decided to match the boys and went with khaki shorts and a solid blue v-neck t-shirt. She grabbed a pair of socks, having a feeling this was going to be a sneaker kind of day. Also grabbing the sweatshirt, she made her way back to the front entry way where the three of them were whispering among each other.

“Found it!” Lena interrupted, holding up the sweatshirt. “I’m sorry I’ve kept it for so long.”

“It fit you better anyways,” Kara beamed. “I mean…if I remember correctly.”

“Well hopefully it doesn’t get ruined by whatever plans you have for this day.”

Kara thought it over for a second. “I’d give it like a seventy-thirty chance of returning to your closet in one piece.” Lena knew she was joking but she still tensed. “Lena I’m kidding…do you need to do some yoga before we go? We can’t have you this wound up for the whole trip.”

Lena hit her in the arm, instantly regretting it as hard muscle made contact with her knuckles. “Let’s just go before I change my mind.”

They made their way down the elevator and Kara directed the boys to the already packed car and intentionally stood to Lena’s left side, preventing her from peeking into the trunk. “No looking, just get in and buckle up,” Kara instructed.

“I wasn’t!” Lena defended weakly because she absolutely was trying to look. She slid into the front seat of the large black jeep Kara must have rented and kept her eyes forward. The boys happily took their seats in the back and were buckled before Kara even had a chance to get to her door.

“Adventure time!” Nate shouted, causing Lena to cover her ears quickly. He realized he was not using an inside voice and repeated, “Adventure time,” just above a whisper.

“Jackson did you make the playlist like I requested?” Kara reached her hand back with an aux cord that Jackson easily plugged into his phone.

“It took me like two hours, but I think I have the ultimate jams.”

Lena looked between the two of them and couldn’t help but smile. “I’m getting nervous how far this adventure is going to take us if we need an entire playlist.”  

Kara started the car, put on her sunglasses, and began their descent out of Lena’s parking garage into the early morning light. “Stop worrying and just enjoy the ride, Lena,” Kara reassured. She clicked the aux button on the front touch screen and the music already began to blare. Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me, I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Yes!!!” Kara turned it up louder and Lena sank into her seat, knowing this was going to be a very long car ride.

They had been in the car for thirty three minutes and twenty-five seconds according to Lena’s very accurate internal clock and they had to stop twice already. Nate forgot to use the bathroom before they left, and his bladder was the size of a pea. Then, there was a stall on the side of the road offering “National City’s Best Snow Cone” and the three children she was with “couldn’t resist”. If Kara wasn’t an indestructible alien, she would have been a little more concerned about ordering drinks from a crumbling shack. She kept a good attitude though and even ordered something, although she watched the man prepare it with eagle eyes.

The stop was a bit of a blessing to her ears. Jackson and Kara had the same taste in music and knew every lyric of every song that came on. That also meant they screamed the words back and forth to each other for the whole ride. She didn’t know how Nate remained so calm because she was about to open her door and take her chances on the highway. It was sweet in its own way, but there were some songs that should have stayed in the nineties.

They all finished their snacks and Lena made sure everything was cleaned up before returning to the car. Her hand hovered over the door handle a few moments longer, enjoying the brief silence and wind on her face. It was interrupted by a honk from Kara. Lena plastered on a big smile and kept repeating in her head be a team player. She knew they weren’t too far because she had snuck a peak at Kara’s GPS which said there was only fifteen miles to the selected destination. She could survive fifteen miles.  

Back strapped in the car, Kara turned back to Jackson who was readjusting his music. “Do you want to go first or last…it’s up to you bud?” Once again, Lena was left out of the conversation.

“How far are we?”

Kara thought it over for a second before answering, “Twenty minutes maybe…then thirty to get to the other place.”

**Lena watched as Jackson was thinking. He had been extremely peppy a few minutes before, but he was suddenly very pensive. He played with the side of his thumb, while he looked out the window lost in thought. Finally, he turned back to Kara. “I think now would be good.” His voice was softer than usual and Lena wanted to say something but resisted. He looked back out the window and hit play on his phone, resuming the loud music from before.

Lena turned to Kara and asked her a silent question with her eyes. Kara caught on instantly. “He wants to show you himself,” Kara whispered. Not exactly and answer but enough for Lena to be reassured.

Twenty minutes later, they pulled down a road slowly and Lena took in the surroundings trying to gauge where they were. They were definitely past the city because the trees grew up tall around them and nearly shielded the morning light from breaking through to their car. The gravel path they were on cut through what must have been a small forest. Long branching ferns and moss layered the small ups and downs of the terrain and there were patches of wild flowers that painted it all in bright white, purple, and yellow. It was beautiful and a far cry from the metal village that greeted her most days.

Kara slowed the car even more as they approached a brick wall that seemed to be the boundary of something. Lena squinted her eyes ahead and made out a large metal gate with a large arch made of flying angels. In an instant, she realized where they must be going. She looked back to Jackson who was already staring at her. He gave her a look she didn’t quite understand. The car passed through the gate and before Kara could ask, Jackson pointed his hand between the seats and towards the right. “Up that path, right past Mary.” She followed the instructions and quickly saw the seven foot statue of the Blessed Mother with her hands outstretched.

She stopped the car a few yards later and put it in park. There was a brief moment of heavy silence. “I’m gonna take Nate first. Is that okay?” Jackson looked between Kara and Lena.

“Honey, do whatever you need to. Is there anything we can do for you?” Lena unbuckled her seatbelt and turned around completely.

“Not yet.” Jackson turned to Nate who had been quiet since they started down this road. “Do you remember what we talked about yesterday, Nate? About coming to visit mom and dad?” He nodded silently. “This is where they are.”

“We can talk to them?” Nate finally asked.

Jackson cleared his throat, struggling to be strong for his brother. “Yeah squish, we can talk to them.”

Nate looked out the window towards the grey headstones that were fading into the nature around them. He grasped the edge of the notebook he had been drawing in tightly and started lightly bouncing his foot. “Can Lena come?”

She could already see the uneasiness in the boy. “Why don’t I stand outside by the car? And if you need me at any second, I’ll be right there.” He seemed to ease at that idea and all three of them got out of the car. Before Lena had her door open, Jackson was already around the back end and was walking through the grass, but Nate was frozen in place. Lena stepped out and regarded Nate. He had his hand clutched on the outside of the door and his eyes on the ground. She closed her door and took a step forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. She crouched down to his level and turned him to her gently. “Nate you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I will stay with Jackson if you want to sit in the car.” He held his head low and shook his head no. She wasn’t sure what to do here. There was a part of her that wished Jackson would have told her his intentions because she might have been able to help explain more about this to Nate. The other part of her understood how private something like this could be. “Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking?” she offered gently.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments. He sniffled and brought up the front of his shirt to wipe at his nose. “I…I’m scared to talk to them,” he whispered. He looked up and his bright brown eyes were full of fresh tears on the edge of spilling out. As one fell, Lena reached up her thumb and brushed it away.

“It’s okay,” she reassured. “You don’t have to be ready to do this like Jackson is.” The older boy stood a few yards away unsure of what to do. “We all are sad and sometimes scared in different ways.”

Nate looked over to the rows of headstones. “I want to talk to them.” He looked up into Lena’s eyes and shuttered a breath before saying, “but what if they don’t remember me…what if…what if my mom doesn’t remember me? She never met me.”

Lena felt the tears on her face before she realized she had started crying. “Nate,” she couldn’t muster anything but his name and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. She felt his hot tears on her neck while she rubbed his back. “She could never forget you,” Lena whispered reassuringly. “Never.”

She knelt on the grass and held his shoulders firmly. “This place doesn’t hold them. It may have their bodies but what made them your parents is right here,” she put her hand on his chest. “And here.” She put a finger on his temple. “I know that your mom and dad have been watching you through everything you do…”

“They are?” His tears were nearly gone, and he wiped what was left with side of his arm. “How do you know?”

She put on her biggest smile before saying, “Because you are simply unforgettable.” She didn’t know if there was some beautiful place in the sky where all the good people went or if we all just converged back into a celestial ball of matter. But she did know that right now Nate deserved something to believe in that made him feel connected to his past. She wished somebody had given her the same chance when she started to understand what loss was.

Nate thought about her answer and his insecurity began to melt away into a smile. “I’m unforgettable,” he whispered to himself. He began nodding and repeating the phrase to himself until he fully believed it. “They’ve been watching me.”

“Every day,” she assured.

He got a concerned look on his face again. “If they’ve been watching me, what should I tell them about? They know it all!”

Lena stood up, opened the back door, and grabbed his blue notebook. She turned back and handed it out to him. “I think they would love to hear one of your stories.” His smile got bigger than before and he took it from her hands. “And I bet your dad would want to hear about how good you’ve gotten at chess.”

“I can tell him about beating Luke twice! And my favorite opening…and our lessons…and my new story to put up in school…” his speech was rapid, and Lena could see his mind racing.

“I think they would like that very much. Do you think you’re ready to go with your brother?” Nate looked between the car and Jackson who was still standing in the same spot he had been before. He didn’t answer Lena and instead ran to him, linking their hands together. Lena couldn’t hear what he whispered up to him, but it caused the older boy to lead them towards a back area another dozen yards away.

Lena released a long breath. She had not been expecting that conversation when she woke up this morning. She did not contemplate the afterlife often. She had been raised to think it was ‘silly’ to believe that talking to your mother’s locket would somehow transmit a message to the beyond. She wasn’t sure that Lilian had even visited her father after his death. They were not overly sentimental people and it had made her feelings towards death a bit jaded.

She leaned against the car and looked to the sky. She wondered what she’d say if she believed again- if there was a moment of open communication to her parents when she visited their graves. Her father would have been easy enough-she would probably tell him that she had rebuilt their family legacy into something he would have been proud of. She would bring spreadsheets of yearly earnings or new acquisitions. He would be reassured that his life’s work hadn’t amounted to nothing.   

Her mother was a different story. She wasn’t even sure if the small headstone that stood for her still existed in the field of an old family farm in Ireland. Lilian refused to acknowledge it for so long and Lena learned never to dwell on the past and had never sought closure. A raven flew overhead and the black sheen of its feathers reminded Lena of the thick black hair she and her mother shared. She thought for a moment, eyes coming down from the sky and landing on the boys. She could tell, even from a distance, that Nate was excitedly reading, and Jackson was miming something with the same energy. This is what she would tell her mother about. That she had found something beautiful outside of the toxicity her name bore. She turned her head slightly and looked to Kara who was watching the boys in the same careful and patient way she observed everything. She had so much beauty in her life now.

Jackson called her name more than once before it finally registered, and she looked to him, drawn out of her thoughts. He waved his hand for her to come over and she wasn’t sure what to do. His movements became more insistent and she began walking towards them. Nate didn’t wait for her to get there and ran up to her, grabbing her hand, and pulling her faster.

Jackson stood in front of a sleek black headstone and waited until Lena was stood near him before talking. “Lena…I wanted…” he suddenly got a bit more nervous than he thought he would be. He had been planning out what he wanted to say when this moment came since he asked Kara to take them here this weekend. He had never wanted to do this before and now he really didn’t want to mess it up. “You’ve done so much for us,” he found his words again. “And I wanted you to come here with us because I think our parents would have really liked you and would want to know who’s been taking care of us.” He took a step to the side revealing the white writing. Marcus J. Harris. Rose N. Harris. There were no dates of birth or death. Instead, there was a beautiful trail of carved butterflies that ran up from one corner to the other. Lena’s breath caught in her throat. Maybe her spirit animal was in fact just a spirit.

Jackson leaned down and put a hand on the front of the stone. “Mom and dad this is Lena…our guardian.”

“And my best friend!” Nate added still sitting on the ground, notebook open in his lap.

“And our best friend,” Jackson corrected. He gave Lena a smile that started at the corner of his lips but shone through his eyes.

She didn’t exactly know what to say. She wasn’t one to commiserate with the dead. However, there was an expecting look on both boys face and she needed to say something. She took a step forward and put a hand on the largest butterfly that seemed to fly off the corner of the black rock. “It’s wonderful to meet you both,” she spoke softly. “You have two wonderful sons you should be very proud of.” She smiled up at Jackson who was still beaming. “I am very proud of them.”

“I was just getting to the good part of my story,” Nate said. “Can I finish it?”

Lena took a step to the side. “Of course, I’d love to hear it too.”

He continued to read and Jackson walked closer to Lena, leaning in so he could talk without interrupting his brother. “Dad was an electrician for the hospital a few miles from here and mom was a nurse.”

Lena looked at him, but his eyes were still trained on Nate. This was the first time he had offered any information up about his parents besides the night of the storm. She didn’t say anything, hoping he would continue. “That’s where they met, actually.” He turned to her finally and gave her an unsure look as if telling her anymore was giving up a great secret. He scratched at the top of his hairline, nervously but continued, “One of the lights on her floor wouldn’t stop flashing and she had to call him two or three times to get it fixed. He said that she was intentionally breaking it just to see him and she said that he was not really fixing it for the same reason.” Lena laughed slightly that was pretty clever on both their parts.

“Which was the truth?”

“I don’t actually know,” Jackson laughed. “They both swore by their stories.”

“Maybe it was neither of them, and it was fate,” Lena offered.

He thought on that for a moment. “Fate…I think I like that better.” Jackson crouched down and used his fingertips to sweep a few leaves that had fallen on the base of the headstone. “Do you think we could come here more often?” He asked hopefully, looking up to Lena.

She pulled out a small cloth that she had put in her pocket earlier that morning because of her allergies and moved down to his level. She used it to lightly rub off some of the dirt that had found its way into the white letter of their parent’s names. “We can come here as often as you want.” She looked over to Nate whose eyes were glued to his notebook as he read aloud still. “I have a feeling your brother is going to want to do at least monthly updates.”

Jackson followed her eye line. “At the very least,” he agreed. He moved from crouching to sitting on the grass. The morning dew had already been dried up by the September sun and the leaves slightly crunched as he settled into them.

Lena followed suit and sat with her knees bent to her chest, arms encircling them. They sat there through another page and a half of Nate’s daring adventure on the monkey bars before Lena asked in a still hushed tone, “Do you want to tell me more about them?”

Jackson leaned back, bracing his hands on the grass and stared up through the trees to the bright blue sky. “Not today,” he sighed. Lena swallowed hard, unsure if she had over stepped. He closed his eyes and took in the breeze on his face. “But soon…” he added with a smile.

She couldn’t put a name to the feelings she was having. Had someone told her about visiting a grave site for two orphaned boys, she would think it would be sad or overwhelming. She didn’t feel either of those. There was a sense of peace that washed over her. It didn’t belong to her, though. It was radiating from Jackson and she was just absorbing it. She looked at him as he continued to take in the sky, eyes closed, and face completely calm. It was impossible not feel some of that same sereneness. The slight line of tension that always seemed to hide in the creases of his forehead was gone. Seeing this, she wished she had brought them here sooner.

She looked over to Nate who was now staring at the headstone, book closed. He also had a look of peace on his face in the form of a bright eyes and a small smile-so much different than the crying boy at the car. What a beautiful gift to be able to feel close to the people no longer here.   

“I think I’m done now,” Nate interrupted her thoughts. He stood up and walked closer to them.

Lena wanted to give them a minute alone again and stood up. “I’m going to go back to the car then. Take your time though.” She put a hand on the corner of the stone. “It was lovely meeting you,” she said sincerely. She looked to the boys. “I’ll take good care of them, promise.” She let her hand down and moved it onto Nate’s shoulder. “No rush, okay?” He nodded.

When she was out of ear shot, Jackson inched closer to his brother and whispered, “Mom and Dad would like her.”

“Maybe they’re the ones who put us with her,” Nate said.

“You think?” Jackson indulged his hopefulness.

“Maybe.”

Jackson thought about it for a moment and realized his brother wasn’t entirely wrong. “We weren’t supposed to be in the park that day we met her,” he remembered. “We were supposed to be with Kyle at a party, but it was dad’s birthday and I wanted to feel close to him. That’s why I told you we could go to the chess park instead.”

“So it was dad,” Nate said it disbelief.

Jackson looked behind him at Lena’s retreating form. “Fate,” he whispered to himself. “and a little bit of fate.” He wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulder and squeezed. “We better say goodbye for now…we’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

Nate crouched down and cupped his hands over his mouth to whisper. “I love you,” he said louder than he thought. Jackson said the same thing from his position. He held out his hand and Nate grabbed it, charging forward to the car.

Chapter Text

Lena was still in her thoughts when Kara took a sharp turn up another dirt path. They drove through more thickets until they emerged into a sparsely used parking lot. There was one RV taking up a whole row of spots in the back corner and two other SUVs. The sun was shining directly into the front window so it took Lena cupping her hand over her eyes to be able to make out the words on the large wooden sign at the entrance of the lot. Kenova Campground. She turned to Kara who had a mischievous grin on her face.

“We’re camping?” Lena’s voice was mostly confusion, but she couldn’t help the tiny bit of disgust that must have tinged her words.

Kara heard it too because she immediately responded, “Don’t say it like that.” She backed into the parking spot closes to a set of stairs and put the car in park. “You can’t judge something until you’ve actually tried it.”

“Camping’s the best Lena,” Jackson unbuckled himself and leaned over in between the front seats. “It’s hot, there’s bugs and dirt everywhere, you have to go to the bathroom in the woods…” Before he could finish, Kara put a hand on the top of his head and lightly pushed him back to his seat.

“Ignore him…There is a public restroom right next to the shelter we rented and plenty of soap and water.”

“And the bugs?” Lena questioned.

“Brilliant scientist like yourself invented spray for that.” Kara turned off the car and put the keys in the cup holder. “This is a non-debatable adventure, team. Tap into your ancestors and we just might survive.” The boys shouted an aye-aye captain and jumped out of the car, slamming the doors behind them.

Lena reached across the console and put a hand over Kara’s, stopping her from leaving. “Thank you for organizing all of this…it might not be the kind of day off I’m used to, but I know they are going to really enjoy themselves.”

“Open your mind a little and you might enjoy yourself too,” Kara smiled and winked, then slid out of the car to help organize the unloading. 

She popped the trunk of the car and Lena met her around the back to observe what was in store for the rest of her day. The large space was bursting at the seams with coolers, blankets, and various bags. She didn’t have a good look into any of it, but it felt like way too many things for four people. “How long are we staying here, a month?” Lena said it jokingly but there was a hint of seriousness.

Kara reached in and easily pulled out the first cooler and set it on the ground. “It’s just a day trip Lena, I promise.” She grabbed another bag and handed it over to Jackson’s waiting hands.

“This seems like a lot for just a day.” Lena had been okay up until this point. She was trying to roll with the punches and be a good sport, but she hated not having any control over a situation. She could give up some of it, but her trust-o-meter was going off and she was feeling a bit anxious.

Kara looked between the bags and Lena and saw the slight change in her mood. She had been friends with her long enough to know this was the point at which she needed to fill her in completely. “Hey,” she set down what she had in her hands and moved a bit closer to Lena and lowered her voice. “I’m sorry for still being so elusive about this. The boys came up with a list of things they wanted to do with you here…I think they used to come to this camp site when they were younger.”  Kara reached into her pocket and pulled out a well-worn piece of notebook paper. She looked around her shoulder and saw the boys were still trying to tandem carry the first cooler up the small incline. “Here…just act surprised.” She slipped the paper into Lena’s hand and walked up the stairs with her much larger load.  

She didn’t open it just yet, deciding instead to be helpful and carry whatever bags she could manage. When she got to the top of the steps, she was able to make out the small shelter Kara was talking about. There were a few long, wooden picnic tables, some of which were out in the grass while the rest were shaded beneath a metal covering. As promised, there was a brick shelter a few yards off from that that must have been the bathrooms. On the way to the shelter, she could pick up on a small space that must be for a fire bit and several, well-worn trails that extended in multiple directions. It seemed like this must have been a popular area, but she didn’t hear or see anyone else.

She wasn’t sure how Kara had planned to organize things so she set what she had on the bench off the ground and waited for clearer instructions. Kara seemed extra focused and didn’t even notice that Lena was there. “Can I help?” Lena’s voice brought Kara up from here shuffling of bags.

“Nope.” She moved around once more, opened up a blue cooler, and pulled out a water bottle. Handing it to Lena she added, “Hydrate and go explore. We will take care of this part.”

Lena didn’t question the order and walked off in the opposite direction of the car. She could just make out the sound of running water and followed it. A short walk later, she found the perfect place to perch and ‘explore’ as Kara had asked. She got situated on the large rock and had a clear view of most of their surroundings. It was beautiful. The trees were threatening to turn into fall and there was an endless path of green brush and wild flowers. The creek they were situated by had a small green hill that led down to a makeshift beach area. The stream that ran through it came from farther up the small mountain. It rushed over a smattering of rocks and drift wood and appeared to be only a foot or two down at its largest depth. She breathed in deeply and relished in the fresh air that didn’t have a single taste of oil or dust, a far cry from the city.

She pulled out the piece of paper that Kara had given her and unfolded it. She debated not reading the list because the boys really seemed to want everything to be a surprise. On the other hand, she probably wasn’t going to enjoy herself as much if she couldn’t set some kind of expectation. She peeled it open and first noticed Nate’s large, red handwriting. He had written the first three things in marker at the top of the page: camp fire, hiking, and fishing. Fishing was crossed out in a blue pen and replaced with Jackson’s handwriting that said, “Lena would hate this.” She had to agree with his comment. She had never fished and never intended to. The rest of the paper was a mix of the red and blue and some parts she wasn’t sure what it was supposed to say. Folding it back together, she silently accepted that sometimes you couldn’t prepare for everything.

She closed her eyes and began meditating to ease any lingering anxiety she might have. She wasn’t sure how long she had been doing it, but her internal clock made her think it must have only been ten minutes. She tuned away from nature and back into the movements by the campsite but surprisingly didn’t hear anything. There were no shouts from Kara or fighting between the boys. She wasn’t sure if she should be suspicious or concerned. She looked back to the campsite but saw no one there. She then slid off the rock and walked close to the edge of the hill, looking down into the creek. There was no one there either. She trained her ears harder for any human sounds but all she picked up on was birds chirping in the tree and the rushing of water. They must have gone back to the car for something, she thought.

Before she could turn to go back to her rock, something hit her back and exploded, leaving cold liquid running down her shirt. She yelped and shook slightly. The water slowly dripped down and sunk into her shoes. She turned around and spotted Kara with a bucket of small balloons and a guilty smile on her face. Jackson and Nate hid behind her, proving they were not the ones who launched the projectile.

“Kara,” she warned as the woman raised her hand again, a bright blue balloon in her hands. “If that leaves your hand, I will leave you on the side of this mountain.”

The blonde tempted fate and quickly launched it towards Lena. Surprisingly, instinct took over and she was quick enough to dodge it. It hit a tree behind her and exploded, only a small bit of water splashing at her ankles. “At least make it fair and give me some!” Lena complained, looking around for anything she could defend herself with.

Kara set down the bucket and took eight balloons in her hand for herself. She stepped back, hands raised in treaty. “I won’t throw any until everyone gets some, promise.”

Lena walked towards the basket cautiously, not entirely trusting Kara. She had never thrown a water balloon in her life. She wasn’t sure she had much experience throwing anything for that matter. She had a feeling this ‘game’ was not going to end well for her. She shook her shirt, trying to get a bit of the wetness off of it but it was useless. The fabric clung to her and she accepted that this was probably the driest she was going to be for a while.

Jackson and Nate quickly grabbed what their hands could hold and backed away from each other in opposite directions. Lena was the last one to the basket and got a paltry six balloons. It didn’t matter much anyways, she thought. She probably couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. “Ready?” Kara questioned.

“No!” Lena didn’t have her hands arranged and was struggling to stack the balloons in her arm while still being able to use her hand to throw one.

“Yes?” Kara questioned, knowing that’s not what Lena said.

“Kara, I swear to god,” she said more forcefully. She gave up any form of balance and ran back to her rock that was evenly spaced away from everyone else. She looked on in fear, wondering what she had done in her life that led her to this moment. Jackson already had one balloon raised and trained on Nate who was skillfully bouncing back and forth, making it impossible to pin him down. Kara somehow had all eight of her projectiles nestled in the crook of her elbow like a clip. Of course, the blonde had this particular skill set. “She couldn’t be really good at baking or paper Mache?” Lena grumbled to herself. That would be a much more fun activity than what she was about to experience.

She took another step back and decided that hiding behind the rock was going to be her best advantage. Kara counted slowly back from three and all hell broke out. Colors were flying in the air and Lena just watched in anticipation as water splashed around her but luckily never hit her. She dropped all the balloons in her arms in front of her and decided to just pick them up one at a time. She grabbed a pink one and stood up briefly, quickly trying to locate one of the rapidly moving bodies. With no clear target, she over handed it with all her strength, and it soared high before making contact with the back of Nate’s head.

She smacked a hand on her cheek in panic. “I’m sorry!” she shouted. She thought the boy was crying but when he turned towards her, she realized he was laughing.

“Nice throw!” He shouted, shaking the water out of his hair like a dog. He moved to the side and launched one of the things in his hand towards Kara, who rolled out of the way before it hit her.

Lena took his reaction in stride and grabbed another balloon. She tracked Jackson all the way across the field before releasing. It only hit the back of his leg, but still exploded, drenching his shoes. He turned around and threw one directly back at her. She ducked behind the rock again and felt a sprinkle of water splatter over her head.

Kara wobbled back and forth in front of Nate, trying to goad him into using up the last of his balloons. He was smarter than that though and waited until she got distracted by Jackson to throw the green projectile at her chest. It burst on contact and sprayed water up and into her mouth and nose. She laughed while she wiped the plastic remnants off her shirt and the water out of her eyes. She grabbed one of her last balloons and chased after the boy who tried to hide behind a tree but was too late. It lightly hit him in the back, and he rolled dramatically to the ground.

“I’m hit!” He yelled in a fake exasperation. “I’m hit!” He repeated as he laid out like a snow angel in the grass. He was out of ammo anyways. “Lena save me!”

Lena peaked up over her hide out and laughed at Nate’s dramatic display. She grabbed one of her last four balloons and rolled it in his direction. “Avenge yourself,” she shouted. The balloon luckily didn’t break on its way there and bumped him in the side. He felt around until he clasped it in his hand. He sat up just as Jackson was nearing him and launched it towards his brother. Jackson wasn’t fast enough, and it hit him square in the forehead, making his hair fall loosely over his eyes. He raised his hand to retaliate and was met with another balloon to the side.

He turned in the direction of the projectile and Lena ducked down again. “Hiding behind a rock isn’t fair!” He shouted. He decided not to use his last balloon on his brother and instead started towards Lena’s rock. He ran up to the side and Lena squealed, grabbing her last two balloons and running around the other side. Jackson followed, trying to aim at a moving target. Lena stopped in her tracks as Kara held up her hand with her last one. She was caught between the two of them and resigned herself to the fact that she was about to get very wet. She raised her arms up and put them over her head, trying to at least protect that much. Both projectiles hit either side of her hands and soaked her thoroughly.

“You guys are the worst!” she shrieked, shaking off as much water as she could. Kara and Jackson walked up in front of her and high fived, not realizing she still had to balloons in her hand. She looked up at their smug faces and reached the two balloons over each of them before squeeze tightly and exploding them over their heads.

Nate joined them and they all looked around at the absolute mess they had made in all of ten minutes. It was like a colorful puddle wonder land and each of them were soaked through. “Who invented this terrible game,” Lena said with a slight shiver. The day might have been warm, but they were under the shade of trees and that water had been icy.  

“Can we play another round?” Nate asked with a bit of a jump. He shook his hair out again, getting all three of them more wet. “I think we have another pack of balloons in the car.”

“Please, no.” Lena begged. It had been fun, but she couldn’t take any more water in places it didn’t belong right now.

“Lena’s right. Why don’t we get changed and go down to the creek to dry our hair?” Kara plopped her hand on top of Nate’s wet locks and rubbed lovingly.

“Changed?” Lena said with narrow eyes.

“Yes,” Kara replied, unsure of Lena’s confusion. “You did bring a change of clothes, right?”

Lena’s pupils dilated. “No, Kara I did not bring a change of clothes as I was left unaware of what today was going to entail…and furthermore I don’t remember anyone instructing me to do so.”

The three of them looked between each other realizing none of them had in fact told her she might want an extra pair of clothes. Kara grinned sheepishly. “At least you didn’t wear my sweatshirt during the battle,” she offered.

Lena patted herself lightly, trying to figure out just how screwed she was. A sweatshirt might actually be good enough. Her shorts had been pretty much spared. Her shirt and socks were not so lucky. “The sweatshirt will have to work,” she sighed. She started to walk towards the car where it was located, but turned back. “If I come back up here and you all have more balloons, I’m taking the car and leaving,” she threatened, mostly joking.

“Yes ma’am,” they all said in unison.

At the car, Lena opened the trunk and was thankful to find an extra towel rolled up in the corner. She took it and used one corner to squeeze some of the water out of her hair. The other side she ran up and down her arms and legs. She pulled at the front of her shirt and peeled it from her skin. She looked up and found the sun in a good position over the car. Deciding she could probably dry the garment out over a few hours, she looked both ways before lifting it over her head, leaving her only in her blue bra. Much like with her hair, she wrung out the shirt and shook it till most of the water was out. She set it down on the side, planning to put it on the front hood eventually. She spotted the sweat shirt tucked in the front seat and threw it on. It was a bit baggy but it would have to work. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the now drenched piece of paper the boys had written. She unfolded it as carefully as possible, but the ink had run through and most of it was unreadable. Hopefully, their next surprise included hair dryers or a Swedish massage. She squeezed at the edges of her shorts to get as dry as possible and hoped they air dried before she froze to death.

When she got back to the picnic area, Kara had already started putting wood together around the fire pit. “It’s a bit early for that, don’t you think?” Lena sat down on a stump close to the working woman and watched her process of forming a small hut of twigs.

Kara was too focused to respond. Once she got some brush into designated corners, she backed off her knees and squatted on her ankles. “I figured we could dry our shoes and socks faster this way.”

“That would be lovely.” Lena took off her shoes and socks and laid them out to the side of where Kara was working, careful not set her feet in the dirt. “Where did you learn to make a fire?”

“Jeremiah,” Kara said, a smile coming to her face. “It’s all about the base.” She pointed to her miniature hut. “If you can’t keep that going, it’ll never light the big stuff.” If on cue, Nate and Jackson walked up with two piles of larger sticks and logs. They dropped it to the side and sat down on the other benches. They were now changed into variations of what they had on before and even new shoes.

“It may not be a great idea to teach these two how to make a fire,” Lena quipped. “I’m not sure my homeowner’s insurance can take that kind of hit.”

“I’ll make them turn around for the most important part.” She twirled her fingers for the boys too turn and they huffed as they complied. “Cover your eyes …can’t be too careful.”

“You know we could always just google this,” Jackson complained, through covered eyes.

She grabbed to pieces of stick and began rubbing them together, the noise slightly grating. She then lowered her glasses. “I’m not sure google covers this,” she whispered as a quick blast came from her eyes and the hut erupted in flames.  

Lena was surprised that Kara would use her powers so close to the boys. It was also cheating. She went to say something, but Kara put a finger up to her lips. She held the sticks up in victory as the boys turned around. “And that’s how it’s done.” She threw the two sticks on the ground and Nate quickly picked them, and began rubbing them together. Jackson tried to take them to show him how to do it, but Nate ran away. Jackson gave chase and they made circles around the benches. Lena decided against saying they were going to poke their eye out and resigned herself to getting warm.  

Kara got up and walked to her backpack pulling out socks and an extra pair of slip-on shoes. “These might help.”

Lena put on both and laughed a bit to herself at how small her feet were compared to Kara. There was a good inch of space left between her toes and the tip of the shoe. “Are they okay?” Kara asked.

“They’re perfect. Just don’t laugh if I trip over myself a few times today.”

“That might actually be a problem.” Lena turned up her eyebrow questioning. “You didn’t read the list?”  

“It got a little wet, Kara.”

The blonde smiled sheepishly. “We’ll go slow, promise.”

Things were not slow. Jackson and Nate had endless energy and Kara fed off every second of it. Lena wasn’t sure when she met her breaking point but it was somewhere between the mosquito filled nature hike and the dirty crawfish hunting. It was barely past one, and she felt every muscle in her body screaming. She wasn’t much of the adventurer on a good day, but still being a bit wet with clunky shoes on made it exponentially worse. They had to put out the fire when they left the camp site so there wasn’t much of a chance hers had dried out enough yet. Even her shirt on the car was only half baked.

When they got back to the picnic benches, she sat down with such a force, three water bottles fell off the table. Jackson sat down next to her and slicked a hand through his hair. “Tired out yet?” He laughed.

“Me?” She scoffed. “I could go run a marathon right now.” She leaned back farther against the table and grabbed a water bottle, drinking almost the entire thing.

“That is good to hear because…” she stopped drinking and stared at him nervous for what he was going to say next. “Nate and I wanted to do a little activity swap.”

Kara and Nate finally reached them, and Kara seemed just as surprised at Jackson’s comment. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to teach you how to play chess!” Nate squeezed Kara’s hand that he was holding.

“And I’m going to teach you how to kick a soccer ball.”

Lena looked between the two of them. “You couldn’t even kick a soccer ball two months ago…I would like the mental exercise instead please.”

“Oh, it’s not a choice.” Jackson grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bench.

“I thought this was my day,” Lena whined.

Kara laughed as she sat down on the bench in Lena’s place. “I promise it’ll be slower later,” she shouted with zero confidence in that statement. Lena gave her a look that said every curse word she couldn’t orate. Kara mouthed a sorry back and turned towards Nate who was getting out all of his supplies.

Lena ended up being a good sport and participated fully with Jackson’s “lesson.” He was a very patient teacher and ended up having to run over the small embankment several times to get the ball Lena had toe-balled too far. She even found herself enjoying getting to spend more one-on-one time with him doing something he loved. It was worth the soreness she was sure to feel tomorrow.

Kara also appeared to be enjoying herself. Lena had stolen a few glances over and saw her listening intently to the instructions she surely already knew. In their recent conversations, Lena learned that on Krypton they had a similar game that Kara was somewhat a master of. It made it all that more endearing that she was patiently sitting through Nate’s explanations of how a rook could move. Nate said something funny and Kara’s eyes got big before she began scrunching up her nose and laughing too. Something in Lena pulled hard and she felt a warm heat on the tips of her ear. She looked away quickly hoping the sensation would go away, but her good sense betrayed her and she stole another look back, causing it to boil up further.

She was brought back down when the soccer ball hit her knee. “Sorry!” Jackson said quickly, not realizing Lena wasn’t paying attention. He ran over to her and picked up the ball that had rolled off to the side. “I think that’s probably enough for right now. You look really tired.” He tossed the ball to her and she caught it more easily than she ever had. “You also almost look athletic.” He already began running before Lena had the ball cocked back in her hand, ready to throw it at him.

She lowered the ball and walked it back to their supplies instead. He wasn’t worth the extra exercise. “Can we please eat something?” She directed her question at both Kara and any god at this point.

Kara and Nate were in an intense staring match, neither moving so much as a muscle to answer her. Lena whistled in their direction and still got nothing. Knowing she had a trump card, Lena walked behind Nate and brought her hands quickly to his sides. It took less than a second of tickling for him to squirm out of his trance and surrender.

“I win!” Kara shouted with a fist pump.

“She cheated!” Nate complained. “You cheated,” he turned to Lena, eyebrows furrowed in anger.

“Yes, yes…I cheated…no winner…you can rematch after lunch,” Lena said, trying to get them refocused to the most important task at hand.

“Lena I never knew you were the hangry type.” Kara slid out from her spot and went to the specific coolers that held the pre-made food.

“Well, I’m usually not waiting on three other humans before I eat.”

Kara threw a bag of chips above Lena’s head and Jackson magically appeared behind her to catch them. “Well, you better get used to it ‘cause you’re stuck with us.” He popped the bag loudly and began putting fistfuls of Lays in his mouth.  

“Did you even wash your hands?” He stopped immediately and set the near empty bag down, walking away from it with his hands up. “That’s what I thought.” He ran off towards the restrooms and was followed by Nate who was still giving Lena the stink eye. “By the end of this day, I will have pulled every muscle in my body and pissed off every boy in my home.”

Kara handed her a stack of saran wrapped sandwiches, while she dug out a few other containers. “You really have been a trooper today.” They set everything down on the empty space available and Kara began organizing the items to the proper person. “I know it has been probably more than you wanted to do, but I know they’ve enjoyed being able to do something different with you.”

“It’s been fun,” Lena admitted truthfully. “I really enjoy getting to see them like this. I think the routine we’ve been doing has been getting a little boring. We might need to come out here more often.”

“Are you saying you have changed your tune on the outdoors?” Kara handed her a stack of napkins that Lena began setting down at each place set.

“There are less bugs than I thought there would be.” Lena looked up to the sky and closed her eyes, taking everything in. “It’s also quieter here. I feel like I can think without getting worried about deadlines or soccer practice.” She looked back down to meet Kara’s eyes. “The company isn’t too bad either.”

“I agree completely.” Kara looked down at the lunch, satisfied with what she had made. She nodded back towards the bathrooms. “We probably should clean our hands too. Who knows what’s in the creek water?”

“And I agree completely with that.” They quickly went to wash their hands and when they returned the boys had already found their spots and were nearly unable to wait to eat.

“What’s on the menu, chef?” Lena asked as she and Kara sat down next to each other.

Kara cleared her throat and put on a horrible French accent. “Well, you see we have a beautiful cut of ham on artisan bread for the tall young man, hold the tomato but extra mayonnaise. For the short one, we have a traditional peanut butter and jelly, hold the crust.” She shifted in her seat towards Lena. “And for the other short one, we have a vegetable wrap with hummus and not a calorie in sight.”

“Because you so kindly prepared this food, I’m going to let the short comment go.” She still jabbed Kara lightly in the side with her elbow though when the blonde sat back down. In the middle of all of this was a container of assorted fruits and vegetables. Nate also had a go-gurt on his side and Jackson had an extra bag of chips. It was so thoughtfully prepared that Lena didn’t know what to say. Thank you just didn’t seem to cover it.

They ate in a comfortable silence with an errant comment about the hike thrown in. Nate decided he wanted to get binoculars and learn how to be a bird watcher because of all the different ones he had seen. Lena wasn’t opposed to the idea, but it was another hobby to add to his every growing list. By the way Kara was responding to his questions about the best books to get on the subject, Lena had a suspicion that she wasn’t going to have to participate too much in this hobby either.

While Kara and Lena began to throw away their trash, the boys quietly went to the supplies and then started to creep back towards the hill. “Where are you two going?” Lena didn’t even look up from re-organizing the table. She could hear their heavy feet against the grass. The movement stopped and she met their gaze. They each had a bucket in their hands and Nate also had a small shovel.

“Kara said there are fossils in the creek!” He said excitedly.

Lena pulled out her phone that she had tucked away in a bag to look at the time. “Thirty minutes please and make sure you can still see us. There are plenty of spots that have a view up here.”

“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.

As their silhouettes disappeared down the hill, Kara’s appeared headed towards her. Lena walked around the table and sat up on the top, feet resting on the bench. “There are fossils in the creek?” Lena questioned with an incredulous tone.

“Probably,” Kara shrugged with a smile. “There were always fossils in the one’s back home.” She put the last things into the cooler and pulled out two hard lemonades she must have been hiding. She offered one over to Lena. “You’ve earned it.”

“Just one because those two need all of our senses at the ready.”

Kara easily popped off the lids with her palm and handed it over. “Perfect because I only brought the two. It’s not really summer camp if you don’t sneak in a little alcohol.”

“There it is.” Lena took a sip and shook the drink lightly towards Kara. “I was wondering when that would come up.”

“What?” Kara jumped onto the bit of table left open and leaned back.

“Your obsession with camp.”

“It’s not an obsession…just a formative childhood experience I think everyone should have,” Kara defended.

“If this is what camp was like, I wouldn’t have lasted a day.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “This is a heightened experience. We are trying to pack a lot into a few hours…if I had it my way, we would have kidnapped you for the whole week.”

Lena laughed and the drink nearly came out of her nose. “It would probably only be the second or third worst kidnapping experience I’ve had.” There was a short pause before they both started laughing again.

Kara had a hand on her face, trying to stop herself. “We really shouldn’t joke about this. Those were serious experiences.”

“I can be serious with my therapist.”

“Since when have you had a therapist?”

Lena shrugged, trying to do the mental math. “Probably four weeks…Jackson and Nate have mandatory counseling they go to every other week through the school and I think they were feeling a bit self-conscious about it, so I signed myself up too.”

“Is it helpful?” Kara looked at her shoes and began absentmindedly clicking her feet together.

Lena could tell Kara was fishing for an answer or a recommendation. “It is something I should have started doing a long time ago. I don’t think I have ever properly addressed my grief or my anger with my family…or with you,” she added honestly.

“You talk about me?”

“Not all the time and not exactly the whole story,” Lena reassured. “It’s helped though to have someone help me understand where some of my reactions come from. She also has framed things for me in a way that I don’t think I would have seen otherwise.” Lena watched as Kara processed this information. She bit at the bottom of her lip which was her sign that she wanted to ask something but didn’t know how. “She just moved here and is starting to build her practice. I could give you a referral.” Kara’s reaction was instant, and Lena knew she had guessed right. The blonde quickly adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms over her chest, closing off from the conversation.

“I couldn’t…I don’t think I’d be able to…you know…”

Lena reached over and put her hand over Kara’s crossed arms. “Kara.” It took repeating her name again before the blonde looked at her. “You don’t have to be alone in your head all the time. I was definitely resistant at first too, but I’m realizing more and more how important it is to have someone there to talk us through some of these feelings we keep bottled up. Someone we aren’t afraid will use it against us.” That last line really struck a chord with Kara. That was always her biggest fear with opening up to anyone-they would find it as a weakness- or worse use it to threaten the people she loved.

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t possibly afford that.”

Lena squeezed harder on her arms. “You do so much for people every single day, let me do this for you. One appointment and if you hate everything about it, we won’t talk about it again.”

“Lena I can’t ask you-”

Lena put her hand up to silence her. “Not another word about what you can and can’t ask me for. You have provided me and those boys with everything these last few weeks. Don’t think that I don’t know the lengths you must go to in order to get time off to practice with Jackson or to focus on editing Nate’s writing…or make special lunches on your one day off in weeks.” Kara ducked her head, uncomfortable with being the focus of praise. “You do so much for everyone else. This is something I don’t want you to have to ask for…I am offering because you deserve someone to take care of you for a change.”

Kara was going to protest again, but she knew Lena was right. “If you could set that up, I would really appreciate it.”

Lena let go of her arm and grabbed her lemonade again. “See, that wasn’t so hard.” She took a longer than necessary drink because she wasn’t sure what to say next. Something her therapist had recommended to her was saying what she was feeling in the moment. Lena had a habit of processing for so long that even simple feelings faded before she had time to put a name to it. She went through one of the exercises they had practiced and took an internal stock of herself before stating simply, “I’m really happy right now.”

Kara beamed. With the sun breaking through the trees and lighting up her hair, she was almost angelic. “You are?” She knew Lena was the kind of person that would lie to make her feel better, so she had to be sure.

Lena bit the inside of her mouth. Her usual formal response of of course, sat at the tip of her tongue, reflexively wanting out. She fought back against it to take a moment to form the words she really felt. “I have never been this included before…” She started, but had to pause for a moment, not realizing how much those words were affecting her. “You three care about me…and you think about me when you’re making plans…and you are always checking in to make sure I’m comfortable…and I always feel like I actually, truly have a choice.” She shook her head a bit and looked at the sky, unsure if you could look Kara in the eyes in this moment. “I’ve never been treated like this my whole life…and it makes me so happy.”

“Hey,” Kara got closer and wrapped her arm around Lena’s, pulling her closer. “You deserve to be taken care of too.” Lena laid her head down on Kara’s shoulder, a move she had often made, but somehow felt different now. “All I want is for you to be happy, Lena. And I know those boys want that too. I’m sorry you haven’t been appreciated or included the way you should have been…but I promise it won’t happen anymore on my watch.”

Kara let go of her, returning her hands to her lap while they sat there a few minutes in comfortable silence, just taking in the beautiful day. Lena was a kind of happy that she didn’t have the right vocabulary to describe. She had always seen it in other people, but felt like she always existed at the periphery of experiencing it. Even when she started hanging out with Kara’s friends and Alex, she didn’t fully involved-like she was missing some part of the joke. No matter how hard she tried to engage with them, she could only make the happiness last for the moment. Today was different. The last few months were different. She woke up happy without a thought about it. From there, it only seemed to grow in a way that sometimes made her uncomfortable. She started looking forward more and more. As a CEO, sure, she was always a planner and she had a years’ worth of expectations on her mind at any moment but those could always be taken on by someone new. That’s not how she had ever operated her personal life. She guarded herself so much that no one could get in long enough to help her free herself from the self-induced prison. Even with Kara, she held back for a long time. But now, she wanted to make plans and it terrified her. She knew two weeks from now she’d be at Jackson’s first JV soccer game. She knew Nate had a parent teach conference the week after that. They had play dates and practices and game nights all planned out because that is how life is supposed to go. You surround yourself with people who are important to you and you make plans with them. She didn’t know why it took almost three decades for her to lean into that. Her long history of scotch alone every night, felt like a distant memory. Still, there was a part of the future just outside of her current vision that still gave her pause. 

“Where did you just go to?” Kara inquired, seeing Lena disassociate.

Lena blinked rapidly, not realizing how long she must have just been staring off, trying to make sense of herself. “Sometimes I just think about how differently I was living before all of this.” She twirled her finger around.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it well, but I feel different…more at peace, I guess…which is saying something because it seems like we never stop moving.” She tapped her foot on the table, nervously. “It’s the strangest feeling...Kara, I want to leave work early. I want to destroy my kitchen having a ridiculous cook off. I want to wear jeans for Christ’s sake.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “What is wrong with me?” She was half joking, but part of her still was surprised by the abrupt change in her priorities.

Kara had noticed the change in Lena the first time she saw her with the boys in that Wal-Mart. From there, it had been like learning the woman all over again. Things that she had only known at a surface level felt deeper. She saw her laugh more and be more open. For all the years they had known each other, Kara felt it had paled in comparison to what she learned in the past weeks. “I know nothing is wrong with you. I mean, you’ve never been put in a situation like this...maybe this is who you were always meant to be.”

Lena sat with that thought for a moment. Then, she stood up from the table and put her hands in her pockets, a light dampness still present from earlier. She didn’t really have a destination she was headed, but her legs felt restless. It was probably because her mind was racing to that part of the future she kept blocking out. She walked around the tree and kicked lightly at its base, watching the leaves move with the vibration. “I like this version of me...” her words trailed off as her eyes caught the wing of a Monarch butterfly floating between two branches.

“But?” Kara had stood up closer to her, arms crossed into her chest.

Lena continued to follow the path of the orange creature until it disappeared behind one of the highest leaves. She turned back to Kara and took a deep breath. “I wonder what will happen when they’re gone.” She said it weakly and Kara wasn’t sure anyone but her would have heard it.

“I don’t think there is any power in the universe that could remove you completely from their life, no matter what,” Kara reassured. “They don’t want that and obviously neither do you.” She could tell Lena was calming a bit, but she needed to say something that had been on her mind for some time. Something that probably was going to rock the boat more than they needed today. “Lena, I have to ask...have you considered ad-”

She was immediately cut off by a sharp, “No.” Lena’s pulse quickened, and she could feel the pressure rising in her ears. Of course, she had thought about it. She had resisted using the “a” word, but it was always there, floating around in her unconscious. “Not today, please.”

Kara melted at the pleading tone of Lena’s voice. “I'm sorry, I didn‘t mean to make you upset.”

“You didn’t,” Lena reassured. “I just don’t think I’m ready for that conversation.” A part of her had already decided that she couldn’t be enough for them and she wasn't ready for someone else to confirm that.  

"I understand." They stood there silently for a few moments with nothing but the wind passing between them. Kara knew Lena well enough to know that she needed as far away from this topic as possible. She searched her brain and said the first thing that came to her mind. “Did you know that I can do over ten dinosaur impressions?” The curious, scrunched up look on Lena’s face confirmed that she had chosen the right diversion. “One, t-rex.” Kara tucked her arms into her chest and began clawing out towards Lena while loafing around on her tip toes. As soon as the first laugh came from the ravenette, Kara continued it to a barrage of other, less than impressive, impersonations. The tension of the future melted away with each pitiful roar. Lena harshly critiqued the actions but internally she was relieved. Kara always had a way to make her smile all the way to her toes. As she began to spread her wings and fly around the tree, Lena came to the realization that maybe camping wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter Text

“Jackson I found two more!” Nate skipped up the small incline to lay a handful of rubble at his brother’s feet. He selected the best piece and held it up to him. “Look it’s a snail fossil.” Jackson took the object and looked it over carefully. It was pretty cool and the biggest one Nate had pulled over the last thirty minutes.  

“This one is the best for sure, bud.” He carefully set it down next to all of the other ones and resumed his laid back position on the hill. “Five more minutes and we have to go back…Lena doesn’t want us gone for too long.” He pointed back towards the camp site and could just make out their heads.   

“Fine…but can we come back later?” Jackson rolled his eyes and gave him a maybe. Nate trampled down the hill and splashed in the small creek until he was back to where he had found the other rocks. Jackson was going to close his eyes and try and enjoy the sun, but he heard a stick snap behind him. He sat up quickly and looked around. He narrowed his eyes and tuned his ears in a bit more. There was another snap and now crunching of leaves. Before he could ask who was there, a young, black boy, no more than Nate’s age, came out of a small thicket. He had on bright green swim trunks, a white t shirt, and flip flops that nearly came off with each lumbering step he took towards the creek.  

Nate didn’t appear to notice the kid coming towards him. It wasn’t until he was nearly standing on top of him that Nate looked up and took a startling jump back, nearly falling into the water. “Hey!” He shouted, alarmed by the stranger. Jackson got up quickly and headed down to them.  

“Hi!” The boy waved and smiled brightly. “I’m Danny. What are you doing?” He didn’t wait for Nate to respond before continuing to talk. “Have you seen any fish? I saw two fish earlier, but I couldn’t catch them. Do you want to see my goggles? I have to keep them in my pocket, or I’ll lose them. What are you doing?”  

Nate didn’t know how to process all of the questions and information coming at him. He looked to Jackson for some help, but his brother seemed equally unsure of what to do. “We’re just looking for rocks,” Jackson said simply. “We have a collection of them.”  

“I like rocks! Can I help?” The boy squatted to where Nate had just been and reached his hand in the water, pulling out a small stone. “Do you like this rock?”  

Jackson grabbed it from his hands gently and looked it over. “Yeah, this is a great rock…hey Danny,” he called the boys name a few more times until he looked up at him. “Who are you here with?”  

“My family!” He said excitedly and pointed back towards the bushes he came from. “Are you here with your family?” His eyes looked across the open area and then up the hill, landing on Lena and Kara. “Is that your family?”  

Nate looked behind him and nodded. “Yeah, we’re here with them.”  

“Are they your moms?” His tone was neutral, but Jackson still felt a twinge in his stomach that was defensive.  

“Is there a problem with that?” He asked, not meaning to sound as harsh as it came out. The boy looked at him a little confused.  

“Danny!” A female voice shouted from not too far away. “Danny!” She repeated.  

Jackson cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled back, “Over here!” Through the same thicket, two pale hands appeared and pushed the branches aside. A tall girl with braided red hair and freckles, who looked nearly out of breath, ran towards Danny and put a hand on his shoulder.  

“Buddy you can’t run off like that!” she said it a stern tone that was still very soft.  

The boy clenched the rock in his hand and ignored her worry. “I’m helping them,” he argued, shrugging his shoulder out of her grasp. “They have two moms, and they need help.”  

The girl looked up to Jackson with a confused look and he felt defensive once again. “Do you all have a problem with that?” He asked again, arms crossed. Even though the boy’s comment wasn’t exactly true, he still felt the need to protect whatever their unit was.   

“No!” Her eyes were wide, and she put out a defensive hand. “Danny is very literal. He doesn’t mean that you need help because you have two moms.”  

The boy reached down into the water and pulled out another rock and handed it to his sister. “They are finding rocks and I’m helping,” he put the wet stone in her hand to prove his point.  

She finally put the pieces together and kind of chuckled to herself. Jackson was not amused and continued to give her a stern look. “He just wants to help with the rocks,” she reassured. “He doesn’t mean your moms need help because…because like they’re two moms…he thinks they need the rocks.” She gave him a get it look and Jackson started to catch on.  

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so defensive,” he offered.  

“It’s cool dude…if a random kid showed up at our camp site, I’d be a little freaked out too.” She smiled big and Jackson noticed her bright blue braces that matched her eyes. “And just so we aren’t random anymore, I’m Hannah…Danny’s older sister.” She moved the rock into her left hand and offered him her slightly wet right hand.  

“Jackson,” he shook it, and it felt a bit awkward. They were teenagers not adults. “This is my brother Nate.”  

Nate who had been rather quiet this whole time turned on his usual charm and gave Hannah his best smile. “Hi!” He turned to Danny whose eyes were still trained on the water, obviously still searching for more rocks. “Hi Danny, it’s nice to meet you.”  

“Do you think your moms would want a fish too?”  

Nate crouched down into the water and saw a minnow wiggle between Danny’s ankles. “I don’t think so.”  

Danny looked up at him and thought about it for a second before saying, “We can get more rocks than fish anyways.” With that, both boys resumed their position and began combing through the water, completely ignoring their older siblings.  

Jackson and Hannah looked at each other and held back a laugh. Jackson nodded his head toward the hill and they both walked over and sat down. Once he stopped a second to really look at Hannah, his stomach started to swirl a bit and he felt his palms get clammy. “Are you guys from around here? I’ve never seen you before.” She looked directly at him as she asked the question and Jackson could see her lips moving but didn’t process a single word.  

It wasn’t until he noticed her eyebrows furrow that he realized she was waiting for him to say something. “What?” He asked quickly, shaking his head back into focus.  

She giggled and Jackson had to force himself to fully focus on the sounds coming out of her mouth. “I asked where you guys are from?”  

“Oh, right…cool.” He realized that wasn’t an answer at all and added, “The city…we’re from National City.”  

“That must be fun! We’re from just up the road…not as many things to do as the big city.”  

Jackson waved her off. “It’s not all that great sometimes. It’s pretty cramped together…not like out here. You can breathe out here.” He emphasized his point by taking a deep breath. What he got was a small gnat that had been flying in front of him, stuck in the back of his throat. He began coughing violently and rolled over onto his side and quickly spit out the offending bug. He turned back to Hannah who had a hand over her mouth stifling her laughter.  

Jackson put his own hand behind his neck and rubbed it nervously. That wasn’t the lamest thing he’d ever done in front of girl, but it was in the top two. “Do you like the outdoors now?” She joked.  

He cleared his throat once, still unsure if he got the bug out and let out a high pitched, “Yep.”  

“Where are your parents?” He asked once he got his voice to sound normal again.  

She pointed back to where Danny had earlier. “Our dads are at the picnic shelter by the lake.” Her emphasis on ‘dads’ was not lost on Jackson. He clicked his tongue, realizing his earlier defensiveness was unwarranted. “Do you have a problem with that?” She teased.  

He put both of his hands over his face and laid down into the grass and said a muffled, “no.” 

“Did anyone every tell you, you make a great first impression?” He spread his fingers slightly, allowing for just a bit of vision. She had her nose scrunched up in a devious smile and her the light off her hair nearly blinded him. This was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and he had already dug his grave twice. 

“It’s one of my many talents,” he said defeated.  

She reached over and grabbed at his hand, pulling it away from his face. “At least you’re funny,” she said genuinely. “And it’s pretty cool you have two moms. I actually don’t think I know anybody else who has a family like ours.” Jackson wanted to correct her and explain that his situation wasn’t exactly like hers, but the way she was looking at him made him hesitate. He’d probably never see her again anyways so what was a little white lie to keep a new friend.  

“It’s pretty great,” he said with an over enthusiastic tone. He reeled it in about a hundred notches and added, “I mean they’re the best.”  

“Jackson, look what Danny found!” The two teenagers turned their head towards their brothers. Danny had a large rock, more than ten inches across in his hands, and Nate was excitedly pointing at things. “It has three fossils, all in one!”  

Danny handed it out to his sister, nearly out of breath from lugging it up the incline. She took it although she didn’t seem too happy with the mossy slime that was now coating her fingers. “This is great.” She pushed it into Jackson’s hand, and he tried to avoid grabbing at the mud but she made sure his hands became just as dirty as hers. He gave her an unamused look which she matched with a wicked grin.  

“So cool,” he exaggerated. “And so dirty.”  

“Your moms will like it?” Danny asked.  

Nate looked like he was about to say something and finally correct the misunderstanding, but Jackson quickly talked over it. “They’ll love it! We actually have to go back to them now, but maybe afterwards we can find some more things.”  

“I thought you said we couldn-” Nate’s words were cut off by Jackson’s hand landing firmly on his shoulder.  

“Maybe around four?” He looked at his watch and then back to Hannah.  

She shook her head back and forth, pretending to think it over. “I think that could work…we need to go back and eat anyways.”  

“Perfect! Why don’t we leave all of these here and then later we can just give them all to our,” he paused for a moment, trying to make the words come out naturally. “…moms,” he finished. Nate gave him an incredulous look.  

“I’d like that,” the red head smiled. “Maybe we can bring our dads and do s’mores or something tonight…I mean if you guys are staying that late.”  

Jackson’s face paled as much as it could. His little lie was not going to hold up if their dads came over. It was barely holding up as is. He didn’t know why he couldn’t tell her the truth. There was nothing wrong with them being there with Lena, their guardian, and Kara, their guardian’s friend. Still, it felt good to tell this stranger that they were just two normal kids, with their two normal parents, out on a normal Saturday afternoon. No explanation about foster care or being an orphan needed. He just wanted one day. He was so lost in thought, he didn’t realize that Hannah and Danny were starting to walk away already. “We’ll see you later,” he shouted after them a bit lamely.  

When they were out of ear shot, Nate looked up to him, a bemused look on his face. “I really thought you were the cool one.”  

“Shut up,” Jackson took a handful of grass and plucked it up, throwing it at his brother.  

“You have like two hours to figure out how to talk to girls. Think you can do that?” Jackson didn’t respond. Instead, he quickly sat up and sprang towards his brother. Nate was well aware it was going to happen and already took off sprinting back towards their camp site. “Hannah and Jackson sitting in a tree…” he ran as fast as his short legs could take him, but Jackson was picking up speed. He thankfully got back to picnic table right before Jackson could reach out and grab him.  

“I’m going to kill you,” the older boy shouted. “She could have heard!”  

Nate strategically stood across the table and Jackson moved from side to side, trying to figure out the best way to get around to him. With one leap, he vaulted over the top of it and nearly had a hand on the back of Nate’s shirt. The boy was quick though and took two bounding leaps until he found safety behind Lena’s surprised form. He grabbed the belt loops of her shorts tightly and hid behind her back. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” he sang, peering out briefly to his brother who was now a few feet in front of Lena, but wouldn’t dare grab closer.  

Lena held the bag of chips in her hand higher, unsure of what she had just gotten in the middle of. “Can I help you?” She asked Nate, peering under her arm at the fluff of hair that was moving back and forth around her waist.  

“Jackson has a girlfriend.”  

Lena looked up quickly to Jackson. His nose was flaring, and he had his fist clenched at his sides. “But you’ve only been gone for thirty minutes,” she said in disbelief and confusion. 

“I don’t have a girlfriend!” Jackson yelled, mostly at his brother.  

“Jackson and Hannah sitting in a tree,” Nate began again. Lena turned around and looked down at Nate with a stern look. He took a step back and smiled sheepishly. “K-I-S-S-” he didn’t finish because Lena’s eyebrow began to raise up and he knew better.  

“Is that necessary,” she asked. He shook his head no. “Be nice to your brother, please.” She turned back to Jackson who stuck his tongue out to his brother in victory. “Having a girlfriend is very stressful, don’t tease him,” she added.  

Jackson face scrunched up in anger again. “I don’t have a girlfriend!”  

Lena chuckled to herself. She shouldn’t have prodded farther, but Jackson was so easy to get riled up. “I’m joking, Jack.” She finally put the chips down on the picnic table. “I don’t even know what you two are talking about.”  

“We made new friends,” Nate said, walking around the table to sit down.  

“No,” Lena stopped him. “Your hands are filthy, go wash up please.” She pointed towards the bathrooms. He took a step back and sighed dramatically. “Who are your new friends?”  

“Danny and Hannah,” he said her name in a sing song voice.  

Jackson walked closer to them and kept his eyes glaring at his brother. “They have a camp site by the lake, but they came over to the creek to look for fossils too.”  

“I’m assuming Hannah is your age?” Lena gently elbowed Jackson who squirmed away.  

“Who’s Hannah?” Kara walked up with another cooler she had the stuff for dinner in.  

“A new friend,” Jackson said before Nate could add anything annoying. “Her and her little brother Danny.”   

“That’s fun!” 

Nate started to reach out to help Kara, but Lena put her hand in the way and pointed again towards the bathrooms. “I’m going,” he whined. “Can they come over for s’mores later?” He asked before leaving.  

Lena looked to Kara, unaware that s’mores were on the menu. “There’s enough for an army so it’s up to Lena.”  

Lena didn’t see any problem with that. If s’mores were anything like Kara had described, it would be a good thing to share the calories around. “I don’t mind. As long as their parents say it is okay or want to join.”  

Nate did a small fist pump and ran off towards the bathrooms like an airplane. Jackson started to follow but then remembered the small problem he created. He twisted back around on his heels and tried to put on his most innocent face. “About that,” he began nervously. Kara and Lena stopped what they were doing at his tone. “I may have said something that wasn’t entirely true.”  

Lena tried to think what he could possibly mean. There really wasn’t anything that could be that bad that came to mind. “Okay?” She tried to give him time to say what he needed to, but he just kept rocking back and forth on his heels, eyes on the ground. This made Lena more concerned. “Jackson?”  

“I may have implied that youweretogetherandourmoms,” he said it so quietly and quickly that neither woman caught any of it.  

Lena took a step closer. “You said what?” He raised his head slightly and his face had changed from the red anger of before to pale terror. “Jackson, what did you do?”  

“It’s not that bad,” he reassured. “We were all just talking, and I said something and Hannah misinterpreted it and thought that it was really cool and I just want her to think that I’m normal.” He got his explanation out without actually telling them what he said. Lena had her arms crossed and eyes narrowed, confused at his non answer. “She thought you two were our moms…and I didn’t correct her.”  

Lena stomach tightened and she couldn’t imagine what her face looked like right now. Her brain went completely blank and she didn’t have anything to say. Luckily, she didn’t have to because Jackson began to ramble on. “I thought that they were like homophobic, but they aren’t! They have two dads and she seemed to like the fact that we had two moms…and before I could say anything, she was talking about wanting to come over later and meet you…and she’s really pretty and I like that she thinks I’m normal.” He gave them a pleading look. “I just wanted to be normal.”  

Lena was unsure of what to say to the first part, but she had an answer for his second problem. “Jackson you are very normal, what are you talking about?”  

“No, I’m not,” he complained. “I’m always the weird foster kid. People act different when they find out I have a guardian and not parents. I just don’t want Hannah to act like that.”  

Lena looked over to Kara who hadn’t moved a muscle. Her eyes were trained on her third sandwich in her hand and she didn’t seem to have anything to add to the conversation. Lena sympathized with him and knew that pretending to be someone else wasn’t always a bad thing. She let out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry you feel that way…and I’m sorry if I’ve ever treated you different.”  

Kara finally looked up to her and Lena tried to figure out what the blonde was thinking. What she was about to say affected both of them, so she wished she had the chance to touch base with her before offering it. “If Kara agrees, maybe we can just play along if they come over later.” She tried to transmit with her eyes to Kara that she could say no.  

“You would do that?” Jackson asked in disbelief. “You don’t have to.” He turned to Kara primarily.  

Kara also could understand the desire to have a bit of normalcy. Honestly, the whole day had felt like an escape from her dual life. “Do I get to change my name?” She said with a bright, slightly fake, smile. “I could make up a whole new character – Marley Sinclair.” She said the name with big open hands like she was revealing it to the world. “I am a world-famous Broadway actress.”  

“Oh, does that mean we met at one of your shows?” Lena played along. “A dedicated fan who happened to catch your eye.”  

“Or,” Jackson interrupted before they could start down a tangent. “You could play yourselves but if they ask anything you’re together and have two perfect children.”  

That comment made Lena’s stomach flip again. It was such a simple statement, but it made her a bit more flushed. “Perfect may be the biggest lie there,” she winked, not realizing what her words meant.  

Kara gave her an appraising look, but quickly focused her attention back to Jackson. “We can pretend for an hour or two if it’s that important to you.”  

“It is.”  

Lena shooed him away to go get clean up and make sure that Nate didn’t get lost. She turned back to Kara who had suddenly lost interest in her food. “Thank you for going along,” Lena whispered. “You can absolutely say no though. I will clear this up…I know he kind of put us on the spot.”  

Kara waved her off immediately. “I am the queen of duplicity. I think I can fake being married to you for an hour or two.”  

“Let me know if it becomes too difficult…my previous exes have cited my compulsion to work and family baggage as the top two reasons for breaking up with me.” Lena meant it as a joke, but it was mostly true.  

“Seeing as you haven’t looked at your phone once all day, I think this may work out after all.” Kara thought about it for a second before adding, “Your mom has tried to kill me but how many people actually get along with their mother-in-laws?”  

Lena gave her an unamused look. Kara ignored her and reached down into the grass and pulled up a wildflower. She bent the stem around and tied a small knot.  She placed it in her palm and held it out to Lena. “Your ring, madame.”  

Lena bit her lip and carefully took the organic jewelry. She slipped it over the proper finger, and it slid down to the base with a perfect fit. “This may not last very long, but it is beautiful.”  

“Much like this marriage,” Kara joked with a smile. She was waiting for Lena to joke back again, but the woman seemed distracted all of a sudden. Green eyes were trained on the buildings the boys had just gone into and Kara could tell her mind was a million miles away. Kara had an inkling she knew where that mind was. “I know you don’t want to talk about it right now, but I’m here when you do.”  

The vague statement seemed to bring Lena back for a moment. “Talk about what?”  

Kara took a step closer and lowered her voice. “Having two perfect children…those two perfect children.” Kara knew she had pushed a bit too far and stepped her words back. “Not today,” she reiterated Lena’s words from earlier. “But I’m here when you do think you can talk about it.” Kara was going to say something more, but she saw the door to the bathrooms open and she didn’t think it was the time or place.   

Lena grabbed Kara’s wrist and squeezed. “Soon,” she promised.  

“What are you two whispering about?” Jackson interrupted, now carrying Nate around on his back.  

“We were deciding how to explain to Nate your little slip up.” Lena thought of it quick, although it was something they still had to do anyways.  

“Explain what?” Nate slipped off his brother’s back and faced him. “What did you do now?” He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow, nearly identical to the way Lena would.  

“Don’t Lena me,” Jackson whined. “I just said something dumb that I need you to go along with.”  

“You say a hundred dumb things a day, which one specifically?” Kara was quick and took a step between them before Jackson could lunge.  

“That wasn’t nice,” Kara said, giving Nate a disapproving look that surprised both Lena and the boy. It was usually Lena who had to chastise them.  

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t entirely genuine, but it was enough to show that he respected Kara’s comment. “What do I have to go along with?”  

Jackson ground his fist in his hand. “Okay so what happened was...I told Hannah that Kara and Lena were our moms, and we’re just going to pretend like that’s true when they come over.”  

“That’s it?”  

“Umm…yeah?”  

Nate rolled his eyes. “How will we possibly pull that off?” He said sarcastically. He didn’t wait for any of them to respond and walked back towards the table of food, selecting the unhealthiest junk food he could find.  

“Well, I guess that’s settled,” Lena said, slightly uncomfortable with the insinuation Nate made. “What is on the agenda now?”  

“Food.” Jackson and Kara said in unison, as if they hadn’t eaten less than an hour before. Jackson honed in on the bag of chips in Lena’s hand and swiped them quickly. Kara at least went for the slightly better fruit snacks. “Come on honey,” Kara called in an annoying sing songy voice. “It’s time for third lunch.”  

“I think this is only second for me,” Jackson replied through a mouthful of Doritos.  

Kara found a little Debbie cake and threw it his way. “Then you better catch up.”  

Lena winced at the processed sugar being consumed. She looked down at the tiny flower on her hand and had what felt like an evolutionary response all women must have when something is on that finger. She at least hoped it was just a natural response because the alternative was that all of the gooey feelings it was evoking were actually because of the blonde who put it there. That was a thought she wasn’t prepare to deal with either.    

It wasn’t quite sundown yet, and they had eaten and hiked their way through another few hours. Lena was thankful for the activity because it kept her mind from thinking about the specter that seemed to be following her the whole day. She was enjoying herself a lot more than she thought but there still seemed to be an unsettling feeling that she kept pushing aside. At first, she thought it was just her trepidation towards surprises. With all the activities out of the way, the feeling stayed, and she was starting to realize it may have more to do with the company than the events of the day. She settled on her log and kept her hands in front of the fire while Kara cleaned up from the dinner she had made. Lena suffered through the hot dogs and mac and cheese for ‘tradition’s sake’ but she was looking forward to something green when they got home.

Lena didn’t get more into her thoughts because there was a bustle of activity coming from below the ridge. When she turned to search out the source, she saw a small silhouette rushing towards them. Before she could do much of an assessment of the boy’s features, he was within the fire circle. He immediately went up to Nate and began talking is a low, rushed voice, ignoring that Jackson and Lena were even there.   

“I’m sorry we couldn’t go to the creek again, we had to pack up and eat dinner.” He blinked hard twice before adding loudly, “But we didn’t eat everything! We still can eat dessert!”   

“I saved a ton of room too!” Nate said with a big smile. “I’m going to see how many marshmallows I can fit in my mouth at once.”

Kara set the pots down and walked back over, hovering slightly over Nate. “Hi!” She greeted warmly with a wave. The boy didn’t respond, instead asking Nate another question about his own dinner.  

Before Nate could respond, Hannah had arrived, slightly out of breath again. She put her hands on her brother’s shoulders and sighed. “You’re getting too fast!” She pulled on his shoulders slightly causing him to look up just a bit and actually take in the blonde woman standing in front of him. “Hi! I’m Hannah and this is Danny.”  

Lena stood up from her log and stood beside Kara. “It’s nice to meet you Hannah and Danny.” Lena had been stoking the fire and realized she had some soot on her hands. She wiped it off on her shorts before extending her hand to the girl. The red head shook it vigorously, but Danny just shifted on his heels, wanting to be released to go continue his conversation with Nate.  

“Danny didn’t you want to give them something?” Hannah patted his pocket lightly and nodded to the women.  

Realizing what she was talking about, he got much more interested in the two women. “I brought the stones for you! Nate said his moms needed stones…so I found you these.” He reached into his pocket and produced a handful of shiny black and brown rocks. Lena cupped her hands in front of him and he placed them gently there.  

“Thank you so much, Danny!” She lifted them closer towards Kara so she could see them. “I’m Lena and this is…my wife…Kara.” The words were hard to get out but it didn’t sound unnatural and nothing on the kid’s faces made it seem like they didn’t believe her. Kara waved awkwardly. Not sure what to do or say next, she took a stone from Lena’s hand and held it towards the fire to inspect it. Before she could make a comment, the two stragglers finally made their way to the camp site.  

“Sorry we’re so slow!” The men stood behind their kids, holding onto their shoulders much like Hannah had done to Danny. “Thank you so much for having us over. We’ve been camped all week and haven’t met a soul!” One man was short and white with fiery red hair cut short and slightly gelled. The other was at least six inches taller, black with a completely shaved head. Their kids were spitting images of either one. They were all wearing a variation of plaid and khaki and looked like an ad for JCPenny.  

The shorter man reached out his hand and said, “I’m Ken Harper, this is my husband Ben…yes we know the rhyming names is ridiculous.” Lena wouldn’t have thought twice about it but they must have gotten enough comments throughout their lives that it was now part of their introduction. 

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Lena said with a smile, extending her hand to Ken first. “I’m Lena, this is Kara.” Ben and Kara also shook hands and then the pairs switched. “I’m glad we could have you over. I think our kids had a fun time today.”  

“I know, Hannah can’t stop talking about...” 

“Dad!” The girl looked back to Ben with wide eyes and a pleading look.  

“...talking about all the rocks they found,” he finished, pleasing his daughter.  

There was a moment of awkward silence before Ken clapped his hands together and offered, “Is there anything we can help get ready for the s’mores party?”  

This kicked Lena and Kara into gear and they both moved towards the table at the same time, bumping into each other. “Yes,” Kara answered after getting her footing. “Help would be great, there’s a lot to carry over.”  

“Why don’t Kara and I get that, and you and Lena can keep an eye on the kids and maybe get some more seating,” Ben offered.  

“Perfect.” Lena looked around at their set up, trying to imagine how they could fit all eight bodies. There were some logs that were full trunks that could seat a few in a row, but the rest were single seaters. She counted each spot and figured if they found one more long one, they could make it work.  

Ken had come to the same conclusion. “Who wants to earn some purple points?” He said like a game show host. Lena had no idea what that meant, but Hannah and Danny both instantly shot up a hand.  

“Purple what?” Jackson questioned.  

“It’s our chore-reward system,” Ken answered with very little explanation.  

Hannah filled in the blanks. “Purple is the highest and is worth more money which means I can get a new controller for my play station in like two weeks.”  

“I want purple points,” Nate complained. “Can we have Charizard system?”  

“Chore-reward,” Lena corrected, enunciating each syllable. “And maybe we can talk about it when we get home. For now, we are going to go by the ‘team work makes the dream work’ system.” She put a hand on Jackson’s back, slightly pushing him up from his seat.  

He grunted in annoyance. “I’m going to have to carry the most, aren’t I?”  

“Don’t you want to impress your new girlfriend?” Lena whispered slyly.   

Jackson whipped around and ssshed her. “Not funny.” He turned his head back toward the Harper’s, hoping Hannah wasn’t within earshot.  

“What was that Lena?” Ken asked, trying to survey the area for a fallen tree.  

“Jackson just astutely pointed out that there are some good logs down by the creek edge.”  

Hannah came up beside him and put up her hand for a high five. “Good call, that would be perfect!”  

He blushed and returned the five. “Just trying to be a team player.”  

The other family walked off and Lena had to nearly push Jackson to get his legs moving. “You’ve really got it bad.”  

He wasn’t mad this time. He just shook his head in agreement, staring off at the girl. “I think I do.”  

“Then go help them, please. Show her how much of a gentleman you are.” He began to pick up his pace after her before Lena added. “Not that she can’t do it herself!” She didn’t know if that was the right thing to say, but for now not enforcing gender stereotypes felt like the right call. Past that, when Jackson actually needed dating advice, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to be much help.  

They found a reasonable trunk on the shore and were able to tandem carry it back to the camp fire, just as Ben and Kara had everything ready to go. As they went to wash their hands, Ken stopped Lena for a moment. He gave her a once over and put a finger to his chin in contemplation. “You look really familiar to me,” he commented.  

Lena smiled, knowing he probably knew a lot about her if she had given a last name. “I get that a lot,” she said, trying to brush it off. “You look a bit familiar too.” It was a lie, but maybe it would make him think they had met at some kind of event years prior and not that her face was frequently the front of national headlines. Ken seemed to let it go and they were able to return to the fire and get situated without any more questions.  

Kara had made platters for the s’mores and it was carefully organized in the proper marshmallow to chocolate ratio, something Lena never knew existed. Each person had their own plate and began mounting the fluff onto their sticks and putting it close to the flames. There was light conversation going on all around between the kids and parents but Lena was silent, trying to observe how the process was meant to go.  

Kara picked up on the trepidation and intentionally sat down next to Lena and slowly did her own process, knowing Lena was watching her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lena repeat the movements, placing the marshmallow in the right place and hovering it just above the flames and not in them. Kara watched as both of their marshmallows browned and reached over to Lean’s hand turning it slightly, until the other side was now immersed in fire. They removed them at the same time and now Kara was a more active player in Lena’s S’more experience. “There is a science to this,” she assured. “You want to stabilize the chocolate to the bottom cracker with your thumb while you carefully sandwich the marshmallow between the two layers. Once you have contact, you gotta meet the back ends the cracker together so they can slide it all off.” She demonstrated while holding the stick between her knees. She presented the perfectly made dessert to Lena before taking a huge bite out of it. Cracker bits and strings of white dripped out of the corner of her mouth, but Kara’s face looked like she was in heaven.  

Lena did as she was instructed but started to fail when she held the stick with one hand and the crackers with the other. Kara reached over and put her hand on top of Lena’s, steadying the stick before it fell to the ground. “You’re trying to fly, when you’ve barely learned to run,” she quipped. She pulled the stick to herself and held it so the marshmallow was just in front of Lena’s waiting hands. “Nice and easy,” Kara instructed. Lena held the cracker and chocolate like Kara had shown and carefully slid the marshmallow off the end. “Now for the bite...it will be messy and unflattering but that is part of the experience.”  

Lena looked around a bit self conscious, but no one else was paying attention to her but Kara. She opened her mouth wide and took as big of a bite as she could. The flavors hit her taste buds instantly and she was in heaven. She didn’t even care that there was a graham cracker dust pile forming in her lap. Before she even swallowed, she took another bite. “Wow,” she said slightly muffled as she chewed through the gooey goodness.  

“I told you this is a formative experience.” Kara finished the rest of hers and was already priming another marshmallow.  

When Lena ate the last bite, she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands. They were an awful combination of sticky and a bit slimey from the melted chocolate. Kara had read her mind and reassured her. “You wash them after you’re done. You will survive this ten-minute experience, I promise.”  

She put her absolute need for cleanliness aside and lightly wiped her hands off on a napkin sitting close by. She grabbed another white puff and set out to do the whole process on her own. After her third, she didn’t think she could possibly eat another thing for a week. She set the stick far away from her and breathed out heavily, trying to keep the food down. Kara, unsurprisingly, was doing just fine on what appeared to be her fourth. “Tapping out already?” the blonde teased.  

“I think I’ve eaten enough for a lifetime.” Lena stomach cramped slightly, confirming her statement. She found a wet wipe among the supplies and was aggressively cleaning her hands and face off. Satisfied, she set the cloth down and leaned back, finding it a much more comfortable position for her growing belly.  

Kara stared at her for a moment before reaching towards her face. Lena didn’t move as her thumb slid over the corner of her mouth down to her chin.  She felt every muscle in her body tense as Kara brought it back down to the ground to wipe on the corner of the discarded towelette. “You missed a spot,” she said casually, returning her attention back to the flames. 

Lena couldn’t even utter a thanks because the motion had completely transfixed her. In her mind, Lena kept trying to say it’s just Kara, as if her body somehow forgot that the woman touching her wasn’t her close, very platonic friend. That’s what they were, right? Close, platonic friends. She bit her lip, watching as Kara’s arms flexed in the glow of the fire. Nate had said something funny and now she was laughing, head tilted back, and eyes squinted until the creases around them began to triple.  

Lena grabbed at the sweatshirt at the nape of her neck and fanned it slightly, suddenly feeling warmer than just the fire. Platonic friend, she recited in her head as she appraised Kara more intently than she probably ever had. Kara was beautiful - something she had always openly told the woman. She radiated in a way Lena couldn’t possibly describe. It was almost unsettling the way her presence filled up an entire room, even without speaking. Kara was also kind beyond all limits. Lena wasn’t sure she ever thought of herself first in anything.  It scared her sometimes that one day Kara was going to go so far as to give up her own life. 

The thought made Lena’s breath hitch slightly in her throat. She watched the smoke of the flames shift back and forth with the movement of the wind and her mind went back to the moment when her helicopter nearly crashed. Kara had put herself in front of a rocket and was thrown so hard into the ground that the landing pad still was cracked to this day. Even through the smoke and fire around her, Lena remembered looking out through the window and seeing her laying there and thinking that she was really dead. At that point, she had barely known her. Lena couldn’t imagine what she would have thought had that been now. Losing Kara scared her more than almost anything. The rational part of her brain would repeat over and over it was because of their friendship. As she shifted her gaze back to the blonde, she knew that it was something much more-and that was terrifying.

Nates scream propelled her out of her thoughts and back to the campfire. She stood up quickly ready to take on whatever happened.  “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t respond and instead fell to his knees in front of the fire muttering a now quiet, “no, no, no.” He had the last marshmallow too close to the center and it met its end in a fiery blaze of white fluff. The boy let out a final anguished sigh as he watched it disintegrate to black. “It was perfect!” He put his stick in the fire poking at it, trying to breathe in new life.  

“Buddy, I think it’s gone,” Kara said with a pat on his shoulder. She kneeled down more to his level and added, “It’s how he would have wanted to go.”  

He looked up to Kara and frowned deeply. “but I wanted him to go in my stomach.” 

Lena couldn’t believe how sad he looked over the lost snack. “We’ll have to get some more supplies and do this at home next week,” she offered as a small consolation.  

Nate put the stick into the fire and sat down roughly in front of her adding a dejected, “Fine.” He leaned back into her, his back against her shins. She put a hand over either shoulder and rubbed lightly, trying to console his great loss. Lena looked up to Kara and gave her a widened eye look to say what do we do? Kara understood and did a quick jog over to the picnic table and back. When she returned, she also had a long black bag in her hand that Lena hadn’t noticed when they were unpacking all of their things. She entered the fire circle and unzipped it, discarding the black plastic behind her, and revealing a light brown guitar. It almost looked like it was made for a child. The gloss finish on the front reflected the flickers of the flames as Kara got closer and sat down on her previous stump. “It isn’t a campfire without music,” Kara stated with a smile more to Nate than anyone else. The boy perked up immediately.  

Lena didn’t know that Kara knew how to play any instruments. That wasn’t a conversation they had ever had and there wasn’t really an opportunity for the blonde to show off that talent in their friendship. She tried to think back to Kara’s apartment and didn’t remember seeing one there either. It was a pleasant surprise. “How long have you been playing?” Lena asked with increasing interest. She had always loved the guitar. 

Kara plucked at each string, listening intently as she moved the tuning keys. “I started when I was on K-” she stopped herself realizing doing more than one task was making her more likely to slip up. “I used to play something that kind of looked like this and then when I moved in with my adopted family, my dad had one and I picked it up pretty easily. It reminded me of home.” Kara looked wistfully to the stars before turning back to Lena. “It’s something I fiddle with when I need to clear my mind.” She finished tuning the instrument and strummed a few chords out before settling back. “Anyways…I promised Nate the full camping experience and that means we have to have some campfire music.”  

There was a mixed response to that idea. Nate and the Harper’s seemed all aboard with a round of clapping and even a holler from Ken. Jackson and Lena looked at each other, a little less sure they wanted to be a part of this. “Do we have to…” Lena was going to ask the question gently until-.  

“I’m not singing,” Jackson said more succinctly.  

Kara walked past him, knocking him in the shoulder with the back of the guitar. “I wouldn’t want to hear your cat cry anyways,” she said jokingly. She turned to Lena. “This is a ‘sing it if you know it’ kind of situation. No pressure.” Lena felt a lot better with that and relaxed a bit. She was not a singer and was even less so in front of people.  

Kara strummed one chord again and seemed satisfied with the sound. “What’s your favorite camp song, Danny?” She asked the boy first. Lena could see from across the fire how excited the boy had become the second he saw Kara’s guitar and her question made him bounce his knee even more as he thought about it. One of Lena’s favorite things about Kara was how perceptive she was of people’s needs.  

Danny got up and ran over to Ben and cupped his hand up to his ear. His fast whispers were almost loud enough for everyone to hear, but they pretended it was still a secret. His dad nodded a long and finally turned to Kara. “Do you know You Are My Sunshine?”  

“That’s my favorite!” Hannah said, grabbing her brother and squeezing him into a hug.  

This caused Jackson to act a bit more interested. “I like that song too,” he added, unconvincingly.  

“Really?” Hannah turned towards him now, nose scrunched up in slight disbelief.  

His face paled a bit, and no words were forming from his slightly opened mouth. Lena waited as long as she could before coming in to save him. “Oh yeah, it was actually on Jackson’s playlist on the way up here…the Johnny Cash version of course.”  

“I love his version.” Hannah’s smile got bigger, and she ducked her head, putting a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Maybe you could…send me that playlist sometime?”  

There was another few seconds of awkward pausing before Lena cleared her throat and Jackson came back to Earth. “Absolutely! I’d love to see yours too...if you have one.”  

With that settled, Hannah turned back to Kara who was trying to remember the exact chords on the guitar. Jackson turned back to Lena and mouthed a thank you. She winked at him and turned her focus back to the blonde. She had figured it out and began strumming consistently. Lena knew that Kara liked music because every game or cooking night had to be supported by a carefully crafted playlist. She also had frequented karaoke night and heard Kara’s overly dramatized crooning of Britany Spears. She didn’t know that Kara was so adept at actually playing the music.   

She gently finger picked out the melody and the sound filled the small camp fire space with an instant calm. Lena closed her eye and enjoyed the beauty. Then, Kara began singing. “The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms.” Lena’s eyes opened quickly at what she was hearing. It was unexpected and absolutely stunning. She had never heard Kara seriously sing and it was a revelation. “But when I awoke, dear I was mistaken. So I bowed my head and I cried.”  

Kara nodded her head and the Harper family joined in on the refrain. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” They swayed back and forth crooning loudly, not caring if they were in tune or not.  

“I'll always love you and make you happy, If you will only say the same.” Kara looked at Lena and the world fell into place. Lena tightened her grip on Nate who was tapping his foot in time. The moment froze and she never wanted to leave.  “But if you leave me and love another, You'll regret it all some day.” Lena swore she saw something flicker in Kara’s eyes and it wasn’t the fire.

“Sing, Lena,” Nate patted her foot, drawing her eyes down for a second. When she looked back up, Kara was now turned to the rest of her audience. She tried to join in the refrain but fumbled over the words as she continued to think about the look.

“Take it away Ben!” Kara continued to pluck out the strings and bounce her knee as he sang the final verse. He emoted each line leaning into his husband or poking at his children. They ended the song repeating the refrain several times before Kara strummed the guitar hard and letting the last chord ring. Everyone clapped and she gave a dramatic bow. She looked around to each of them but once again, couldn’t make it to Lena’s eye line.

“Any other suggestions?”

“I’m sure we can follow along to whatever you know,” Ben encouraged.

Kara thought for a moment and began strumming a fast tune that the Harper’s picked up on instantly. Lena felt like she was getting too hot and patted Nate away so she could get up and move farther away from the fire. She made a move for a few of the plates and acted like she was just being proactive in cleaning. Ken, being polite, followed suit and collected his family’s things and followed her to the trash cans while Kara continued to entertain. She felt much better even a few paces away.

“You okay Lena?” Ken asked perceptively. “It was a hot day today, you didn’t get dehydrated did you?”

Lena wordlessly took his comment into consideration and moved farther towards the benches to fetch a water bottle. He followed and after drinking half of it, she turned to him, feeling much better. “That might be it. I just got a bit overwhelmed for a second.”

“Well, if my wife could sing like that, I might get overwhelmed too,” he joked. She gave him a polite, but forced smile in return. “Can I admit something?” His tone threw her off, but she nodded anyways, finishing off the water. “I do know who you are...it took me a second, but you’re kind of a hard face to forget Ms. Luthor.”

Her cheeks reddened a bit being addressed so formally. “I guess my cover is blown,” she replied cheekily.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know you had a wife, let alone two kids…you have a very good PR team.”

Lena thought about lying but it was pointless to continue the charade with him. “That would be because I have neither.” She rubbed a bit at her eyes, the smoke finally having an effect on them. “I am the boys legal guardian, though.” Ken understandably gave her a confused look. “Jackson was having a good time with Hannah and he was concerned that she might treat him differently if she knew he was a foster kid.”

“Hannah would never,” Ken defended.

“I didn’t think she would…but you can’t convince a fourteen year old boy of anything once he’s made up his mind.” This made him laugh. “We went along with it because it didn’t seem like that big of a deal.”

“I understand completely.” He looked over his shoulder, making sure they were all still consumed in the music, before turning back to Lena. “There have been a few times when Hannah was younger that she called me her uncle or made up a story about her mother the navy fighter pilot that was stationed in Agraba.” Lena gave him a sympathetic look. She had experienced her fair share of adversity. She also knew what it was like to not want to admit your family was your family. “Don’t worry, years from now, this is all going to just be a funny story we tell at their wedding.” The mood lightened instantly and they both chuckled at the thought.

“They do seem pretty smitten,” Lena nodded back to the fire where Jackson and Hannah were now facing each other. Hannah was singing into a pretend mic while Jackson had his own air drum kit.

Ken shrugged. “He seems like a great kid, so I’ll take it.”

“And your daughter helped bring me a dozen rocks, so you’ve basically already paid the dowry.” Lena reached back into the cooler and pulled out another water for herself and offered one to Ken, who graciously took it.

“Thank you, the fire was killing me too.” They both sat down and were content with watching the action from a far. “Ben loves camping and I suck it up for the few weeks a year, but Lord is it draining.” Lena hadn’t heard an accent before but there was a slight twang the more he got relaxed. “Why does anyone actually enjoy this?”

“I know! Kara acts like you didn’t have a childhood unless you rolled around in the dirt and slept on sticks in the middle of nowhere.” Lena really had enjoyed her day, but if it extended into an over night adventure, she would have drawn the line.

“The things we do for love,” Ken raised up his bottle to cheers, but Lena didn’t meet him. He gave her a questioning look before seeing the panic on her face.

“Kara’s just a friend,” she said quickly. “We’re not…” she couldn’t even say it even after calling her ‘wife’ several times already.

“We can’t love our friends?” Ken questioned.

Lena back pedaled more. “Of course we can…I just thought you meant…because you’re talking about your husband.” He raised a knowing eyebrow to her, and she felt very exposed.

“Honey, I get it. We’ve all been there.”

“I think you’re misunderstanding.” Lena didn’t sound convincing and she pulled at the edge of her sleeves, wanting to hide inside her sweatshirt completely. She looked up to him and his kind eyes made her feel like she could be honest. “I don’t know what we are, but it’s complicated and probably one-sided.” There it was. The reason she stopped herself from ever delving deeper into all of the emotions the blonde kept making her feel. Her biggest fear was losing Kara and it would hurt more than anything if Lena was the one to drive her away with an unrequited confession. She would rather live with Kara as she was than risk not having her at all.

“I am going to give you some completely unsolicited advice from a complete stranger who spent years on the outside of happiness before finally giving it a chance…don’t assume you know how someone feels until you ask.” As if reading Lena’s mind, he added, “…and in my personal experience the risk of asking is worth it.” He nodded towards his family, emphasizing his point.

Lena didn’t know what to say and Ken had enough emotional intelligence to know he had prodded probably more than he should have. “Come on,” he stood up offering her hand and affectively ending the conversation. “Let’s go weather another round of Kumbaya before we can blow this joint.”

If nothing else, she was partially relieved at the idea of leaving. “Ken,” she stopped him as they were almost to within ear shot of the campers. “I do appreciate the advice.”

“I hope it works out,” He winked.

Lena couldn’t think that far at the moment. She just needed to take it one step at a time and get home and back to their normal. They took their places where they were before, and Kara gave her a concerned look. Lena mouthed I’m fine but that still didn’t seem to placate the blonde. Lena plastered on her brightest smile and recommended Kumbaya as the grand finale, a choice Ken took exception to with a deep eye roll.

The Harper’s left with a promise to schedule a dinner with the kids in the future. The sun had completely set, and the only light was the raging fire and a small shadow of the waxing moon. They settled into an easy silence with the crackles of the fire creating a soundtrack for the rest of their evening. Lena wasn’t sure how much longer they intended to stay, but she appreciated the silence. She stared across the fire at Kara whose eyes were turned to the stars. The blonde looked more relaxed and at peace than Lena had ever seen her-more beautiful too. She regretted that she would have to tear her away from this reprieve and bring her back to the city that expected so much. She felt selfish thinking about putting any more on her plate. She couldn’t do it, not after starting to understand just how much pressure Kara felt. For right now, this would have to be enough.

“Wanna tell ghost stories?” Jackson broke the silence with a mischievous look on his face.  

“No,” Lena and Kara said in unison, giving each other a small smile at the perfect timing. “The world is scary enough, let’s not add ghosts or ghouls to it,” Lena added.  

“It’s not a campfire if there aren’t scary stories though,” Jackson whined, moving off his log to sit on the ground, knees to his chest.  

Nate scooted closer to Lena and put more of her blanket over his lap. “I don’t like scary stories,” he whispered to Lena.  

“Me either,” she whispered back. She could tell Jackson was discontent with their decision and offered a compromise. “What about some heroic stories?” This piqued the boy’s interest and he turned toward her, a sign to continue. “I’m sure I can make up something.”  

“You don’t really have to make it up,” Kara butt in. “I mean you’ve saved the city and the world like…four times.” Kara mentally went through all the times she had to call Lena to come up with a last minute plan and she realized four was very much underselling the woman’s contribution.  

“I think you’re exaggerating,” Lena gave Kara a look that the blonde couldn’t completely read because of the low light. There was also something about her tone that made her rethink her comment. “My contributions have been complimentary really…nothing actually heroic…not like Supergirl.”  

“Are you kidding?” Kara put the stick she had been playing with to the side and moved closer to where the other three were sitting. “Lena you are more of a hero than m…than Supergirl. You stopped an entire alien invasion with less than an hour’s notice.”  

“I had help.”

“Don’t do that,” Kara said warningly. “You’re amazing all on your own.” They stared at each other for what felt like forever. Lena’s words died on her lips because Kara’s eyes were boring into her in a way that made her unsure if she really could keep anything from the woman.

“Ahem,” Jackson cleared his throat and they both quickly looked to the ground. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but maybe we should save the stories for the car because unless we are really camping tonight, it’s getting pretty dark out and we should go home.”

“You’re right,” Kara gave him a forced smile and stood up. “We should try and pack up while we still have the fire going.”

“Right,” Lena sounded disappointed. “We’ll start carrying things down to the car, I guess.”

The mood sobered from there. It was a quiet assembly line packing things back into the car followed by surveying as much as they could to make sure they didn’t forget anything. After thirty minutes, they were confident nothing major was forgotten and the shelter was as clean as they received it. As soon as they put the fire out and made sure it was soaked through, the tired set it. Even Nate and Jackson didn’t have enough energy to bicker.

They loaded into the car and Lena offered to drive but one look at her drooping eye lids told Kara it was a bad idea. “You have to deal with these guys tomorrow, why don’t you try to take a nap on the way back instead.”

“You’re too good to me.” Lena headed to the passenger side and buckled in. She looked back to make sure the boys were strapped in as well and they both had their heads back, eyes almost closed. As Kara got in, Lena pointed her in the direction of the back. “I think you broke them,” she whispered.

“The result of a day well lived,” Kara corrected.

She turned on the car and did a final check for her and Lena’s phone before pulling out. The darkness made Lena completely unfamiliar with where they were going but Kara seemed confident moving down the gravel path. She struggled to keep her eyes open anyways and felt herself falling back deeper into the seat. Kara adjusted the heat on and turned the radio to just above a hum to give some white noise to the sleepers.

Kara looked in the rearview mirror and it wasn’t ten minutes until everyone but her was completely asleep. She turned onto the highway and settled in for the hour or so journey back to National City. With no other cars on the road, she stole a glance over to Lena’s peaceful form. She never felt so protective over any other person in her entire life. The blanket Lena had brought with her in the front had fallen down slightly and Kara gently pulled the corner back up and over her shoulder. Something tugged at her when the woman sighed in her sleep at the action. Kara gripped the edges of the steering wheel harder, careful not to break it, and fixed her eyes firmly on the road.

When they got back to National City and Lena’s garage, Kara gently pushed on her shoulder. The ravenette was resistant at first but then blinked herself back into wakefulness. “Are we here already?”

“We made pretty good time without all the stops.” Kara put the car in park and looked back to the sleeping boys. She reached back and knocked Jackson’s knee lightly until he stirred. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms out dramatically.

When they got out of the car, Lena realized how much she smelled like fire. It wasn’t a bad smell, but it felt like it was everywhere. She was going to have to immediately wash all of their clothes and maybe trash a thing or too. She looked down at her sweatshirt and touched the fabric at her chest. This she didn’t think she could part with.  Jackson slowly rolled out of the back seat and slowly dragged his feet towards the elevator, completely on auto-pilot. Lena waited for Nate to do the same, but that car door never opened. Kara slid out of the driver’s seat and opened it, revealing a still very asleep boy. She tried to nudge him a bit, but he protested by snuggling deeper into the head rest. “Nate, we’re home.” He still didn’t respond. Kara and Lena looked between each other, unsure of what they should do. Kara went into the front and turned off the car and tucked her keys in her back pocket as she shut the driver door. “Go and make sure Jackson gets to the door and I’ll take care of him.” Lena didn’t question it because she was just as tired. She didn’t even bother asking how Kara planned on taking care of it or even what they were going to do with all of this stuff because her mind was very much focused on her bed.  

Jackson had managed to hit the right button on the elevator through half closed eyes and held it open in waiting. Lena walked in too, immediately resting her back on the wall. Seconds later, Kara entered with Nate draped over her like a monkey. His head was nestled into her shoulder and his arms latched over her neck. His light snores were the only sound in the elevator outside of Lena’s increasingly beating heart. The sight was something. If the singing wasn’t enough that evening, this was about to end her resolve.

“He’s not that heavy,” Kara reassured with a wink, not realizing that Lena’s concerned look wasn’t for how heavy he was but how heavy her heart felt. Lena was too tired to respond with words, and her mind was spending the last of her energy memorizing the moment and every single line of the woman in front of her. The amazing, kind, and thoughtful woman in front of her. She didn’t even realize that the doors had shut and they had nearly made it up to their floor. It took Kara moving through to the apartment for her to take any action. She followed her to Nate’s room and took a quick step in front, opening the door.  

“Should we wake him up to get changed?” Kara asked, still holding him close.  

Lena thought about it and decided she could always get new sheets. “It’ll be fine. Let him sleep.” She walked closer to Kara and reached down to Nate’s shoes, carefully undoing the straps on them and slipping them off. She set them under his bed and then reached up to pull back the comforter. Kara leaned forward and barely got him to unlatch from her. She carefully folded his arms to his side in a more comfortable position before reaching for the edge of the comforter and pulling it over him completely. He snuggled deeper into his pillow and let out a contented sigh. Kara smiled and brushed some dusty hair out of his face. “Goodnight bud,” she whispered.  

Lena lightly adjusted the blanket as well. Without a thought, she leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. At the touch, Nate smiled in his sleep and curled up farther into a ball. “Sweet dreams.”  

They both walked out of the room, leaving him to sleep. When the door was firmly shut, Lena turned her full attention and energy to Kara. “Thank you for bringing him up, I really didn’t want to wake him.”  

“Of course, for a second there I thought I might have to carry all of you.” Lena blushed at the thought, but Kara didn’t seem to pick up on her nervous energy.  

“Thank you for going along with today. I know it was a lot, but I think everyone had a good time.” Kara started to walk towards the same way they came in and Lena followed.  

“It was the best day, Kara. I don’t know how to possibly thank you enough.”  

Kara tilted her head back and forth as if actually thinking about it. “Keep me around? I think that would be enough in my book.”  

“I plan on it.” Kara took a step into the elevator, but Lena stood in the way of it being able to close. She wanted to say something else-something more. She knew she couldn’t though. There was no way Kara was on the same wavelength that Lena now found herself, and she didn’t want to ruin the perfect day they had. “Be safe.” The words sounded as lame as they felt.  

“You know I always try. Goodnight, Lena.”  

Lena bit her bottom lip. What was she supposed to say anyways? Her newfound proclivity for naming her emotions didn’t mean she could just put them out there without any consideration. And this feeling probably needed a lot of consideration. “Good night, Kara.” She took a step back and watched as the doors shut on the blonde.  

As she heard it move through the levels, she took in a deep breath, knowing that this day might have just changed everything. She leaned back into the wall and gripped at her sweatshirt and pulled it closer to her face. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled at the small flower Kara had made for her and held it gently in her palm. What in the world was she going to do?  

“Are you okay?” Jackson’s voice scared her, and she jumped forward a few steps from the wall she had been nearly grasping on to.  

“I’m fine just tired and need to go to bed.” It was mostly the truth.  

Jackson continued to stand there. “We don’t lie to each other.” He wasn’t angry. His voice was soft as if inviting her to be open.  

“Jackson it’s late.”  

“I’m not blind.” He said, ignoring her deflection. “You’ve been off all evening. Like you’re there, but not.”  

Lena always underestimated how perceptive Jackson was. “I have a lot on my mind right now and I’m trying to process it,” she said truthfully. 

He walked towards the kitchen and sat on one of the bar stools, making it apparent the conversation wasn’t going to end quickly. “Can I help?”  

Lena met him across the island and leaned back into the opposite counter. “I don’t know if I can help myself, right now.” She said it with a laugh, but her throat twinged like she wanted to cry. “It takes me a long time to figure out how I feel about things. Sometimes I know I’m being too critical and over analyzing it, but it’s just how I’ve always processed. It’s kept me safe.”  

Jackson tapped the counter rhythmically before stating, “I like Hannah. I think she’s beautiful and funny. I’d like to get to know her more...” His admission was obviously a way for Lena to feel more comfortable, and she appreciated the gesture. “…but it’s hard for me to take that chance. I don’t trust people to stick around…and I hate thinking about spending all this energy on someone that may just stop talking to me one day for no reason.” He cleared his throat and brought his hands together, squeezing one over the other. “Something I’m learning though is that you don’t always get to fully be a part of a friendship or a relationship if you always have one foot out the door. If I want someone to invest time in me, I gotta give it back to them too.”  

Lena was so proud of how far Jackson had come. She never thought they would be having conversations like this when they first met. “That’s part of my fear. If I don’t go through my process and just say exactly what I’m feeling right now, I might regret it later…and I might be the one who walks away and ruins something that is perfectly fine just as it is. These things take time.”  

Jackson shook his head in understanding. “I’m sorry this hard for you…and I’m…” he began fiddling with the edge of the table and kept his eyes low. “If we’re the reason you aren’t able to…” he faltered slightly with his words. “You say you need time and here we are taking so much of it from you.”  

“Jackson,” her voice was stern as she walked around the counter to him. “Look at me.” He spun the chair towards her but didn’t raise his head. “Please?”  

He complied and her heart clenched as she saw the faintest glisten in his brown eyes. “I want you to listen to me very carefully. You and your brother are the reason for so much good in my life right now. Do you understand me? There is nothing I am being held back from because you’re here. I choose to spend my time with you.” 

“I know, Lena.” He used the edge of his sleeve to wipe at the corners of his eyes. “But it’s hard to believe that when you’ve been told you’re just a waste of time for as long as we have.”  

He looked up at her in a way she had only seen the day she took him from his foster parent’s house, and he was locked in a corner, helpless. Lena knew what she needed to say next. Need wasn’t the right word. She wanted to say it because she meant it and it was one of the only feelings in her soul that she was a hundred percent sure about. “I can’t understand how hard that was but here, with me, you are important…you are safe…and you are so loved.” His eyes lost their weariness and they beamed with something she hadn’t seen before which urged her to continue. “I may not know what I’m feeling about Kara, but I love you and your brother unconditionally. That will never change whether you are here or anywhere else in the universe…which means you are never wasting my time or energy…not ever.”  

Jackson responded by wrapping his arms around Lena’s waist and hugging tightly into her chest. She gently put her hands over him, one resting in his hair and the other rubbing circles into his back. They stayed like that for a few moments before Lena felt the tired start to sink in again. “It has been a very long day for everyone, and I think we should get to bed. Okay?”  

He pulled away and shook his head in agreement. He began to walk towards his room before turning around on his heels. “Hey Lena…”

“Hey Jackson,” she echoed with a tired smile.

“I love you too.”