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"Hello, I'm Kara and I'll be your tour guide for today, and this is Alex, my brooding accomplice,"
A chuckle rippled through the small crowd at Alex's scowl before she began her rundown of the rules, though Lena didn't pay her much mind, far more focused on the way the shoulders of Kara's polo stretched with her every move, "we have a few rules in the cave, no food or drink, please don't touch the cave walls as it can damage the cave, you can take as many pictures as you please but be careful as the path can be slick and we don't want anyone getting hurt,"
The bubbly half of the duo nodded seriously before brightening and raising her chin, "now, who's ready to see some caves!"
Ruby and a small boy in the back gave an enthusiastic cheer that echoed off the walls and through the tunnel they were standing in the mouth of. Sam looked to Lena and smiled, clearly happy that Lena ventured out of her lab to help celebrate Ruby's birthday.
Lena found she didn't mind the damp cave so much when she got to quietly ogle Kara's biceps every time she pointed the group's attention in the direction of a formation.
The tour group moved along slowly, being lectured enthusiastically about cave formations and being asked questions, most of which Ruby knew the answer to. After the eighth consecutive answer, the pair of guides stopped to gawk silently, they blinked and nodded, thrown thoroughly off-kilter. Lena glowed with pride.
Once Kara was done scrambling to add onto the girl's explanation of rock layers, Alex leaned over and stage whispered in her ear, "I feel we may be out of a job soon, why didn't they warn us there was a young prodigy in this group?"
A couple of the adults laughed, but Ruby just beamed, grabbed Lena's hand, oozing pride from every pore, "my aunt Lena taught me all about caves on the car ride, she's a scientist,"
Kara's eyes went big and she happily matched the young girl's energy, "a scientist!"
"Yeah, she's a doctor 3 times" she punctuated the boast with three small fingers.
The guide stood in a momentary haze of something between bewilderment and awe, watching Lena as she did her best to shrug off the statement and ignore the uncomfortable heat in her cheeks. The crowd's half-stifled laughs only fueled the flames, "Wow, she must be really smart huh?"
Ruby smiled all that much harder and nodded proudly.
The tour continued on smoothly after that, even if Kara did keep sneaking curious glances at Lena, causing Sam to prod and whisper teasingly in her ear. As her patience wore, and she grew gradually closer to snapping a retort, her feet found the steel of a scaffolding bridge that stretched over a large gorge carved out of the cave floor. Kara chattered on about how many stories deep the trench dove, but Lena was too busy staving off encroaching panic to hear.
Sam was suddenly in her ear once more, smug and irritating, "I bet if you asked nicely, Kara would carry you across in her big strong arms."
Alex snickered to her right, though, mercifully, Kara seemed not to have heard.
Lena's nerves grated too thin and she sniped back quietly, "Samantha Arias, I will leave you in this godforsaken cave"
Alex, it seemed, had a mischievous, malicious, downright evil side to her, as she graced Sam and Lena with a wild-eyed look then spoke, voice a little too teasing and a little too pointed, "If heights give you trouble, Kara here would be more than happy to hold your hand and ensure that you make it across in one piece," she punctuated it with a gentle elbow dug into Kara's side. The blonde gave her a suspicious look through a light blush.
The tour group gave a collective snicker and Lena idly wondered if the whole group was aware of her interest in the tall blonde tour guide or if she was just projecting. Kara eyed Alex for a second longer before laughing along and gallantly offering her hand to anyone in need of the extra security.
For a brief moment of fleeting naivety, Lena dared to believe that it would end there, they would have a laugh and the tour would continue without incident. How incredibly wrong she was.
Sam gave her a small push in Kara's direction, "Why, Lena here has a terrible fear of heights, isn't that right Lena?"
Lena spared her an 'I'm going to kill you' look before turning to Kara and smiling apologetically and lowering her voice, "You really don't have to entertain her teasing, I will be fine"
Kara shrugged and offered her hand, "I get the feeling that we're going to get teased no matter what," her smile was warm and understanding.
Her hand was even warmer.
Lena blushed her way across the bridge, silently reveling in the soft warmth of Kara's hand as she led the group using her free hand to point her flashlight beam. The occasional gentle squeeze also wasn't unwelcome, and by the time they reached solid ground again, Lena found that she had been so preoccupied trying not to make a complete fool of herself over the way Kara's long, strong, perfect fingers curled around her own, that she hardly registered crossing the bridge at all.
And if Lena missed the warmth once Kara let go then that was her own business.
The tour finished with only minimal teasing, and maximum staring at Kara's handsome face. Before long, Lena found herself blinking against the fluorescents of the gift shop. She watched Sam and Ruby excitedly flutter about looking at silly souvenirs, deciding what they wanted to bring home and display on Ruby's bookshelf.
"We have to commemorate this historic moment, it's not often that one manages to lure Lena out of her nerd cave and into a real cave," Lena couldn't bring herself to muster a glare at the pair giggling at her because at least Kara wasn't there to witness it, or worse, be at the brunt with her.
She was happy, they were happy, and Lena couldn't help but let her guard down a bit, to smile while she examined a proud little display geode chunks, listening to Sam and Ruby giggle from somewhere behind a shelf of trinkets. A warning sign that she woefully ignored.
A glossy pink slice of rock off to her left was taken gently from its shelf, a throat was cleared quietly, and a soft, sweet voice met her ears, "So, a doctor?"
Lena caught the tail end of a grimace as her eyes found Kara's face, "Sorry, that was not the most tactful introduction I've ever tried to initiate."
Somewhere behind them, there was an exhausted groan that was quickly shushed.
"I'm, I'm Kara, though you definitely already know that," her smile was sheepish and her hand sat stiffly in the air between them.
"Lena, it's nice to formally meet you," her hand was still warm, still soft, still puzzle pieced perfectly in Lena's.
Sam's exasperated "Oh my god, Lena" could hardly be heard.
"I have to apologize for Alex, she doesn't usually drag people into our teasing matches, not sure what got into her today" Kara's boot toe squeaked against the polished wood floor.
"No need to apologize, I fear it may have been the pair of poor influences I'm here with." Lena laughed at the three indignant huffs that reported behind her.
Kara's amused laughter was even more fantastic to witness in the light of the gift shop, "Well, I can promise that she'll get her fair share soon enough," she shot a glance over Lena's shoulder and the sound of shuffling and frantic whispers could be heard throughout the shop, "contrary to popular belief, I am not the only one that who gets flustered around pretty girls."
Lena was dimly aware of Alex cursing Kara from wherever it was she scampered off to in her panic, but the vast majority of her brain function was dedicated to reciting and reanalyzing Kara's words.
Kara must have realized the implications of what she had said a moment too late, a pretty blush coloring her cheeks and the tips of her ears, it further fuelled the sly smile that overtook Lena's face.
"I, I didn't mean to imply that-- not that you're not pretty, you are, gorgeous even, I just didn't, didn't mean to- I mean," She cut herself off, dropping her head into her hands.
Lena smiled, already beyond smitten with Kara's nervous charm, before she reached out to gently pry Kara's fingers from her face, "For the record, Kara, I think you're pretty, gorgeous even, too."
Kara blushed beet red at the words thrown back at her, but her smile grew tenfold, "Does this mean that maybe we could exchange numbers and you could tell me all about how you became a doctor three times?"
Despite all her best efforts to beat it back with a stick, Lena felt heat crawl up her neck to her cheeks, offering Kara her phone opened to a blank new contact.
Just as Kara pressed the save button the walkie talkie at her hip crackled, letting her know that the next tour group was ready to go, she offered a reluctant wave and walked backwards towards the door of the gift shop, only turning when she ran into a rack of commemorative sweatshirts. She only made it out the door when Alex playfully shoved her through.
Sam was soon at her side, smug and all too satisfied with herself, "So..."
"You're a juvenile." And Sam just laughed, like she knew that she was the catalyst to what would turn out to be the greatest thing to stumble into Lena's life.