Work Text:
One
"Nia, hey!" Kara practically bounced over to the new reporter who was having another episode of sleeplessness. Though Nia felt like death warmed up, Kara's jovial personality was instantly infectious and caused the dark haired woman to smile back.
"Heyyyy." Nia trailed off, not trusting her brain to produce proper thoughts just yet.
The 1000 mega-watt smile dropped from Kara's face as soon as she realized Nia was not doing okay. Kara started asking questions rapid fire at Nia, about her well being, her sleeping, even Brainy and if everything was okay. Nia kind of understood the words coming out of Kara's mouth but all she really wanted to do was sit at her desk and slowly, slowly edit her article.
Somehow Nia managed to get Kara 'Mom-Friend' Danvers off of her back for long enough to do just that, sit at her desk as she sipped her coffee and slowly, slowly edit her article.
At some point Nia woke up and looked around. It didn't appear that anyone noticed she had dozed off at work, everyone too busy doing their own thing. Nia looked at her computer screen and noticed her article was done, or at least all of the tags she added had been removed and replaced with content and edits. Nia looked down further at her desk and noticed a medium sized box with a note on top.
Each of these drops have a cup of coffees worth of caffeine and antioxidants. Lena swears by them for really busy days. Stay healthy my friend! -KD
Cute, Nia thought as she opened the box and mentally counted what looked like hundreds of drops of varying colors that seemed to indicate flavors. Oh boy Nia was going to be on time for work at least once this week if she kept these bad boys in her pocket.
Two
Nia really wanted to explore her powers more but it seemed like every time there was a need for a super hero she was asleep, or Kara got there and finished it before she even told Nia about it. Not that Nia was keeping track or anything but it had happened at least two dozen times already.
Nia meant to bring it up to Kara the next time they were at the DEO together but something…interesting…happened first.
Kara asked Nia to go to a spinning class with her.
Which is odd because for one Kara is Supergirl and doesn't need human exercise machines and two, Nia would rather die than ever take a spinning class, she ain't that kind of white girl.
Yet Nia somehow found herself on a bike next to Kara 'You Can't Resist My Pout' Danvers who was pretending to struggle while Nia actually struggled.
She really would bring this up with Kara once they were in private, for real, this was downright torture. Nia panted away while Kara turned up the resistance on the bike as far as it would go, frowning when it made no difference to her god like thigh strength.
"I could really learn to hate you." Nia managed to pant out, and regretted her joke immediately when Kara snapped her head toward Nia and frowned harshly.
"You'll get nice and strong and then you'll find that you may actually love me torturing you with exercise!" Kara rebounded off of her frown and leaned forward over the bike handle bars as the instructor requested.
After class Nia caught Kara alone in the corner gathering their belongings. "This was…a thing to do and all, but why can't we just train at the DEO? I really want to be able to tap into my powers, I still feel so useless…" Nia trailed off as Kara put on her frowny face yet again.
"No you're right," Kara started after a moment, "I just had the classes booked already for..." Kara halted her speech and dropped her head, "…for Lena and I to go. We would usually go every Friday on my lunch hour. I'll ask someone more human next time Nia, sorry about that, you probably don't need human exercise!" Kara cycled her emotions faster than a pinball machine and it left Nia blinking in confusion.
Nia didn't have the heart to correct Kara's assumption on her abilities either, Nia was sadly as human as they come in terms of strength and endurance.
Three
Nia felt like she was in school again, sitting in the back of the class goofing off and waiting to get scolded by the teacher. Kara would not leave her alone at work.
At first it was just the morning greetings and light conversation, small talk that Nia could nod through. Then it became the hanging out during lunch then going out for lunch and of course the disastrous spinning class that Nia was grateful to never hear of again.
It took a couple months but now every time Kara approached her with lunch or a drink or papers or just looked in her direction, Nia could feel the entire office stop and wait with thirst in the air.
They wanted the girls to kiss. Prove the office betting pool correct that they are going out. That someone could actually handle Kara "Actual Beam of Sunshine' Danvers in her mortal form. Someone besides Lena Luthor of course.
Nia thought the idea was ridiculous, she was clearly dating Brainy, had mentioned a 'Barney' to coworkers, had received gifts from Brainy at the office and literally never given any indication she had any romantic idealization toward Kara.
That's just the magic of Kara 'You Mom Calls me Daddy' Danvers though, isn't it. No matter your sexuality you fall for her, she just charms everyone. Nia thought to ask Brainy about that as another one of Kara's powers but decided against it. Bringing up Kara around Brainy lately had made the man confused and slightly jealous and Nia did not have the energy for anymore drama.
It all came crashing down on them when Nia gets her first big article published. She did months of research and investigation on the for-profit hospital in National City and how the executives paid off the government agency responsible for slapping fines on it for the astronomical number of readmits due to poor quality care. It put people in jail, not just any people, white men, in jail, because of Nia.
Kara covered her desk with flowers and cookies and when the rest of the office saw it a mini riot broke out. Heads shook, hands went up, a flurry of exchange of money occurred in a short period of time. Nia just shook her head and let them have their fun. When an oblivious William Dey congratulated Kara on her girlfriends article Kara shook her head and claimed Nia was just a friend, then nailed the last nail in the coffin with, "When I wrote my first big article on Lena she filled my office with flowers, it's just a friendly thing to do!"
'Oh honey,' Nia thought, it was all starting to hit her, what was happening.
Four
It was game night at Kara's place. The regular crew was here sans Lena and her absence was noticed if only by short glances toward Kara during certain exchanges and the spot left open on Kara's left big enough to fit one small Luthor.
Nia had been meaning to gently, gently, bring up their former friend to Kara at some point. She never realized the full potency of a friendship with Kara until Lena was no longer there to take the brunt of it. That woman was truly a sink for love and affection, to which Kara had endless amounts to give.
The 'We Make Lifetime Movies Look Real' Danvers sisters dominated game night, again. No surprise even though Nia and Brainy had really tried this time. Brainy got a call that required his presence elsewhere close to the end of the night and a very tipsy Nia promised to sober up a little before going home.
Kara looked a little nervous as Nia silently sat on her couch, sipping water and trying to sober up. Maybe she didn't want Nia there, maybe Lena was coming over, oh god Nia was preventing a secret booty ca-
"You can stay the night here if you want." Kara said gently fiddling with one of her couch cushions, sitting across from Nia. "I mean, you can go home, but you're already on the couch and tired and kinda drunk...so if you want to stay...."
Nia blinked, slowly, slower than she'd ever blunk before, and now she couldn't recall if blunk was a word or if it meant drunk blinking or it is the past tense of blunk and oh she still hadn't answered Kara. "Blunk whaa?"
Kara stared silently.
"Oh, I was blunking, or I blunk...I blink slowly." Nia tried to explain.
"You are staying the night." Kara stood up decidedly, gathering a blanket and a pillow from her bed. "Lena said this couch is more comfortable when she would sleep over before we sh-Anyway here's a more comfortable pillow." Kara finished making the couch into a bed and Nia slowly made her way over to the other couch, got under the blanket, and promptly passed out.
Five
"You have to talk to her!" Brainy said firmly as he sat across from Nia on their date.
Nia cringed but knew he was right. "Can we like, do an intervention or something? I don't think I can do it alone."
"It has been decided." Brainy stated as he pulled out his phone, no doubt sending messages to the gang to confront Kara. Nia wanted to be friends with Kara, but it was just, so, so much. She decided she needed answers before and told Brainy to plan it for next game night, she had at least a week now to plan...
"Miss Luthor will see you now." Not Jess The Secretary said to Nia, waving the woman into Lena's office. That was definitely another weird thing about this new universe, no Jess, no Kara and Lena, no Pete's Subs on 3rd and Granfield, and Dunkin' Donuts was just Dunkin' now in some bizarre corporate twist. Anyway, Nia had business to attend to, questions to get answered, glares to ignore and Lena was doing so much glaring.
Lena probably accepted Nia's interview on accident, not realizing or remembering Nia's name but hey Nia would take was she would get. "Thank you for seeing me to day Le-Miss Luthor."
"Cut the crap, what are you really here for?" Lena said as she stared Nia down.
Nia dropped her head as she sat down, not even a minute into it and she was caught. "Don't kick me out immediately please, I actually need your help. You are the literal only person who can help me in the entire universe I promise or else I wouldn't bother you!"
Lena immediately softened and leaned back in her chair, her bleeding heart shattering, metaphorically of course, all over her office. She let Nia continue.
"It's...it's Kara. No just listen!" Nia held out her hand as soon as Lena shut down at the sound of the hero's name. "She doesn't need help, I need help, with her. I need you to tell me how you handled her."
Lena looked confused, not understanding. "Handled her? She isn't a child, we were friends, we did friendly things then she broke my h-it doesn't really matter, she is a normal compassionate person when she isn't lying to you for years." Lena waved her hand as if to brush off their shattered relationship from her desk.
Nia sighed, "No, she isn't. She is incredibly overwhelming to the point that everyone at Catco thinks we are dating, Brainy is getting jealous, and she made me go to spinning class! You know how hard Kara 'Puppy Dog Eyes Trade Marked' Danvers is to turn down!?"
"I mean, I never thought she was overwhelming..." Lena trailed off, trying to reassess the relationship on the fly. Lena would ultimately be able to provide no insight on how to handle Kara, but she did tell Nia about her boxes and thus Nia set forth her invention extravaganza!
Intervention:The Crack Sequel
"This better work, I'd like my girlfriend back." Brainy said as he fussed with the items on the table in front of them. Kara was out on a Supergirl emergency while they set up for 'game night.' Really it was an intervention for Kara, she really needed to talk about her feelings over Lena because she was starting to bring it up in every conversation, about anything.
"Supergirl, are you finished?" Brainy asked into his com. He was getting fidgety, wanting to resolve this and get his Nia time back.
Alex smacked him lightly on the shoulder, "Don't rush her." then into the com, "Don't rush Supergirl." J'onn agreed with Alex.
Kelly looked around the room at the scene. Two secret agents, two aliens, and her. Did they forget she didn't know Kara was Supergirl? Was she supposed to know? Kelly would have to unpack that in her own therapy session later on, for now she just sat silent and supportive next to Alex.
Kara flew into the room wicked fast and went straight into the bathroom. It sounded like she had started the shower after a moment while they all awkwardly sat there waiting for her return. Kara stepped out sans Supergirl outfit while the shower was still running to check on her guests. "Hey sorry guys, there was a fire and a lot of soot, you would not believe how smelly real leather is when it burns and...oh what's going on, is it someone's birthday?" Kara asked as she noticed the boxes on the table in front of the group.
With the shower still running, Kara sat in front of the group as Nia went into her pitch. She had a nicely practice speech and she was going to give it even if it killed her. By the end Brainy had to pat her on the back as she almost swallowed from of her own spit in her haste to get all of the words out. It was quite moving actually, kind of melancholy, Kara was definitely teary-eyed.
The room was silent except for the sound of running water. "It's a nice idea, I guess.." Kara said as she opened up the box. Nia wanted her to write down her thoughts about Lena every time she had them and put them in the box. Write Lena letters if she wanted, write anything at all, just write it and put it in the box...and definitely stop trying to make Nia the new Lena because she just couldn't do it anymore and oh god who just turned off the shower.
The group snapped their heads toward the bathroom then back to Kara 'I Would Never Jeopardize My Secret Identity' Danvers who was shrugging. The group waited with baited breath, wondering who Kara brought into her apartment but too afraid to ask. Kelly already knew it was Lena, but being a background character she already had her allotted one thought of the day, but wait, no she hadn't said anything yet!
"Hi Lena!" Kelly said brightly as the woman walked out of the bathroom sheepishly. Kara absolutely beamed at Kelly for acknowledging Lena nicely, Kelly would have to check herself for sunburns later it was such a bright smile. Alex gave her a supportive CW approved shoulder hug to top it all off.
"Can I-" Lena started as Kara said, "You can-" at the same time. Lena wordlessly went to Kara's dresser and pulled out some clothes that were definitely hers and not Kara's yet at Kara's place in this new universe where they were 'partners.' Alex would have thought it was the gayest thing she'd ever saw but she wasn't allowed to have gay thoughts associated with Kara and Lena, so she just looked between the two girls suspiciously.
Nia clapped her hands in excitement, "Good, you guys made up, we can all live happily ever after."
Brainy put two fingers up to his temple, "There is a 92.45% chance of living happily ever after if, and only if, the story ends now." Brainy snapped his fingers.
The end