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It was a cold night of autumn in National City and Kara was arriving at Lena’s office, hoping that both had their heads cooler and their emotions more in control than in the morning, during a big fight that they had earlier that day.
It was rather late and Lena had seemingly forced Jess once again to leave to her house instead of waiting for her as usual; Kara hoped that her girlfriend was alright given that they haven’t talked in the entire day.
“Lena ?” Kara said after knocking on the door.
“Come in”, Lena’s voice came from the other side of the door.
As Kara entered the office, she noticed that Lena seemed to be in the process of packing things on a couple of cardboard boxes.
“What are you doing?”, Kara asked.
“Packing my belongings”, Lena replied as she picked a couple of framed photos that were on her desk and then carefully putting them in one of the boxes.
“Why?” Kara said while Lena continued with her task with her back towards the door.
“To send them to my new office in Metropolis”, Lena answered.
“Your WHAT?” Kara said surprised and a little louder than she would have wanted.
“I’m moving back to Metropolis”, Lena said as she glanced through a pile of folders.
“Lena, I can’t do that, all my life is in National City, I can’t move to another city especially so suddenly”, Kara said in denial of what she had heard Lena say.
“I know that, so that’s why I’m not asking you to come with me”, Lena said as her voice tone started to become softer and shakier.
“So do you want me to fly to Metropolis and back every single day?” Kara said not wanting to hear what she was pretty sure Lena meant.
Just a soft and little no came out of Lena’s mouth, but it was enough to set the alarms in Kara’s brain and start panicking about the previously inconceivable possibility.
“Lena, please, I know that you are hurt and still upset about what happened this morning”, Kara said still in denial, “So let’s take a moment to breathe and reconsider all the possibilities”.
“Kara, I’m exhausted”, Lena said finally turning around and facing what was very possibly her soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, “It was not just this morning, it was last month, it was Andrea’s kryptonite knife that you found in the lab, it was EVERYTHING”.
Taken aback by Lena’s small outburst, Kara could only whisper her girlfriend’s name in response as she saw Lena’s eyes getting redder and on the verge of tears.
“Do you remember what happened when I was trying to save Sam and stopping Reign from gutting you like a fish?” Lena said as she crossed her arms.
Kara remembered that very well, it was when her relationship with Lena as Supergirl started to deteriorate, and the rift that created between them is still just as big as always even though it has been years since that fight.
As she stood there motionless, and both remained silent while Lena finished packing and then sealing the pair of boxes with tape, Kara struggled to build up the courage necessary to ask the question that was too painful to even think about.
“Are breaking up with me?”, Kara said as she finally was able to push the words out while her eyes started to water up.
Lena sighed and then said still in a shaky voice: “Maybe, I don’t know”.
“But what about us? We have something special”, Kara said as her voice started breaking down as well.
“Maybe it’s just for the better, a Luthor and a Super can work together and even be friends”, Lena said, “But there is just too much baggage between us”.
“What about the Superfriends and the game nights?”, Kara said.
Lena let out a rather sarcastic and very bitter laugh and then said: “Kara, you may have not noticed, but I was never a superfriend and they never were my friends; to them, I was always either your friend and later girlfriend or a supervillain”.
“What about Brainy? You two seemed to get along”, Kara said running out of arguments to get Lena to stay and change her mind.
“I will always appreciate the companionship that Brainy offered me, and that’s why I’m leaving him my position of what since tomorrow will be known as the National City branch of ObsidianCorp”, Lena said as she unplugged her phone and the charger from the wall and put them on her long coat, “But that was more of a mutual intellectual admiration than anything”.
Kara just stood there open-mouthed, not knowing what to say and trying to understand what Lena meant by “ObsidianCorp”.
“And before you try and mention your sister, she doesn’t seem to remember our bonding over while we were trying to take down my brother and his children of liberty”, Lena continued.
“ObsidianCorp?” Kara blurted out as she finally snapped out of her pseudo trance.
“Yeah, as I promised Andrea that I would protect her from Leviathan, the process is finally over and approved, so we will formalize the fusion with Obsidian North tomorrow with the new name”, Lena said lifting the pair of sealed boxes from her desk and carrying them out of the office.
Kara stood immobile for some moments while her brain processed what Lena was trying to tell her, while the words “promised”, “protect” and “Andrea” echoed repeatedly in her head and created a knot in her stomach.
Eventually, Kara reacted and left the office where Lena was waiting for her, so she could close the door and lock the office.
“So when are you leaving?” Kara asked as her voice was on the verge of breaking completely.
“Tomorrow, as soon after Andrea announces her replacement at CatCo”, Lena replied as she left the key of the office’s door in one of the drawers of Jess’s desk.
“Replacement?” Kara said as her eyes started to fill with tears as well dreading the obvious answer that she was about to hear.
“Of course, as the new CEO of Obsidian Corp in Metropolis, she can’t continue being the editor-in-chief here in National City”, Lena answered, “This is maybe a little rushed, but Sam is going to let us stay with her while we finish setting everything up”.
Kara felt like each word of that last sentence was an additional stab to her heart, the thought of not only Lena breaking up with her, leaving National City, but leaving accompanied by Andrea, and on top of that, moving to live with Sam and Ruby were too much for Kara and finally broke down as tears started to fall down her face.
“Lena, please”, a whisper escaped Kara’s mouth, as Lena got close to her and softly grabbed her face.
“Kara, we were fools by thinking that this could have worked beyond working together to save the world”, Lena said before giving one last passionate kiss to her soon to be ex-girlfriend as tears fell down her face as well.
“Goodbye, Supergirl”, Lena said after pulling apart and picking up the boxes that she had left on top of Jess’s desk.
Kara was too shocked by everything that was happening to even react or say anything.
“And don’t worry, I already packed all the stuff that I had on your apartment”, Lena said from the other side of the hall waiting for the elevator doors to open.
Kara opened her mouth but then decided to not say anything and don’t ask her where she would spend the night, fooling herself by thinking that Lena would go to a hotel room was much more comforting than hearing the truth and imaging Lena running to Andrea’s arms and then cuddling together in the same bed.
Once Lena entered the elevator and the doors closed, Kara finally broke down crying and almost falling to her knees, it would take her almost half an hour to regain her composure and leave the building.
Eventually, Kara would return to her apartment, and while Lena didn’t have much stuff besides her clothes, their absence made the apartment feel utterly empty; like the fluffy grey bunny slippers that always were next to the sofa, her white sleeping robe that would be hanging on the coat hanger, or the long coats for that matter, or the book that she kept on the coffee table.
Kara was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to even cry anymore, so she just went to sleep in the cold, barren void that the double bed in her bedroom had become.
The Next Day.
After dragging herself out of the bed and to work, Kara was telling Nia about everything that had happened the day before including her breakup with Lena, when Andrea called everyone to reunite for an announcement.
“As you may have heard since today I’m the CEO of the newly formed ObsidianCorp, so I will not be able to continue fulfilling my obligations as CatCo’s Editor-in-Chief”, Andrea started, “And by this reason, I would like to introduce you to my successor, our star journalist, Nia Nal”.
The poor Nia would have liked a heads up for this kind of news, so she was very shocked and had the classical deer-in-the-headlights expression all over her face, while everyone clapped and Kara tried to comfort her.
Nia ultimately reacted and said approaching Andrea: “Ms. Rojas, I’m extremely grateful for considering me for the position, but I know nothing about running about business or being an editor-in-chief”.
“Lena didn’t either, and how long I’m aware, the things went pretty well”, Andrea replied with a nonchalant smile.
“Also, I think that the position should be given to someone with more experience and seniority than me like Kara”, Nia continued, “She worked under Cat Grant herself”.
“I know, but you were the only one to understand my vision for the new CatCo”, Andrea said putting her hands on Nia’s shoulders, “Your articles and Kara’s are starting to lift the readership numbers, so just keep going and you will be fine”.
Nia tried to continued protesting her new sudden promotion, but couldn’t think of any other arguments.
“Besides, my decision is final, so why don’t you take the rest of the day and prepare yourself for tomorrow, your big first day in charge of Catco”, Andrea said before going to her office to answer her phone.
The still very much shocked Nia got lost on her thoughts, trying to process the announcement, while her coworkers congratulated her on her new position.
Not being able to help herself and following her gut, Kara decided to eavesdrops Andrea’s call by using her superhearing, correctly guessing that the caller was Lena.
“Hey Lena”, Andrea answered the call.
“Yeah, I already made the announcement”.
“She is still assimilating the news”.
“I’m pretty sure that she also would have appreciated it, and I could have done it if certain someone had given me more than 24 hours to set up the change”, Andrea said after letting out a small giggle.
“No, I already packed everything as well”.
“Got it, see you outside in five minutes”, Andrea said before hanging up.
A knot on Kara’s stomach formed at thinking about Lena and Andrea, about them sharing the previous night, sharing a new beginning in Metropolis, and maybe even the three of them sharing a bed at Sam’s place.
Making her best effort at hiding her feelings and resist the urge to scream and punch something, Kara observed how Andrea picked up her coat, put her phone in her pocket, and said her goodbyes.
Once Andrea left, Kara pulled out her phone and tried to call Lena only to be sent to voice mail each time, then she saw a black vehicle arriving, that Andrea proceeded to board confirming that it was Lena’s car.
At least helping Nia getting used to her new job’s perks and responsibilities would keep Kara’s mind busy for a couple of weeks.
3 months later.
Kara was physically having lunch with Alex and Kelly, but her mind was somewhere else, specifically, in what Alex had denominated as the “daily self-inflicted torture session”, that in other words amounted to obsessively checking the social media account of Sam and mostly of Andrea, for new posts and updates of Lena’s life away from National City and Supergirl.
Due to Lena’s not having accounts on her own, and thanks to the initial arrangement of staying with Sam becoming a permanent thing, Sam and Andrea’s posts almost always included Lena in some way, even if it just as an unseen voice in the background.
“Earth calling to Kara, is someone in there?” Kelly said as she tried to get Kara’s attention while moving her hands in front of her.
“Forget it, reality doesn’t exist for her until she is done with her torture session”, Alex said in a mocking defeated tone.
Unfortunately, Kara’s attention was completely focused on her phone to make a reply at her sister’s remark or to even heard it in the first place.
What was keeping Kara so distracted was a short video that Andrea had just posted on her Instagram, it was Andrea greeting her followers while Lena and Sam laughed about something intelligible behind her; accompanied with the caption: “Lunch with a world-saving genius”.
And despite what Kelly constantly told her about being all in her head, Kara still couldn’t help herself from thinking that Lena has looked much happier in these last months, than in the years that she and Kara spend together as friends and then as girlfriends.
Finally lifting her stare, Kara extended her arm to show the video to her sister and said: “Alex, look, Lena is laughing again”.
Alex and Kelly looked worried at each other, sensing another incoming rant from Kara.
“Kara, it’s normal that people laugh, even someone like Lena”, Kelly said trying to calm Kara and not let that her thoughts overwhelm her again.
“Besides, you made her laugh a lot as well”, Alex said softly brushing her sister’s extended arm.
“But never this hard, just look how happy she is without me”, Kara pouted.
“Kara, do you want another serving of potstickers?” Kelly asked in a failed attempt to distract her.
Kara just nodded and nailed her stare back down to her phone.
When the waitress was bringing the potstickers plus another round of drinks, Kara received a call that made her drop her phone, jump on her seat, and let out a shriek that spooked the waitress and almost making drop her tray as well.
“It’s Lena”, Kara said as her sister and her girlfriend looked at her concerned.
This was the first time that Lena was calling her in all of these months, normally she would occasionally answer Kara’s calls instead.
While the waitress finished serving the drinks, Kara answered the call and Alex wondered if these calls with Lena were always this awkward, because, to their amusement, it was painful watching Kara trying to play it cool while talking to Lena.
Once the call was over, Kelly asked: “So?”
“Lena said hi”, Kara replied.
“So that’s it?”, Alex said as she was curious about the reason for the call.
“No, she is coming to National City to sign some papers for Brainy to finish an acquisition or something”, Kara continued, “And wanted to know if we would like to go with her, Sam and Andrea to the karaoke bar that we used to go once she is done”.
“Sure”, Alex replied a little puzzled by the sudden invitation.
“Ok, I will text Nia and invite her as well”, Kara said before going to her phone.
By reading her girlfriend’s expression, Alex knew that Kelly was also feeling that uneasiness about the invitation as well, not that there were close or anything, but Lena had pretty much disappeared after the breakup and moving to Metropolis, only to talk to Kara from time to time, and now out of nowhere inviting them to a karaoke bar like if nothing had happened, it didn’t felt right.
“So Nia said yes”, Kara said unaware of Alex and Kelly’s wariness, “I’m going to text Lena and tell her that we accept”.
Alex opened her mouth, but then stopped herself from saying something at seeing how this had cheered up her sister, so maybe it couldn’t be that bad.
“It seems that we are all going to meet up at the bar instead”, Kara said, “And Brainy has to catch a flight after meeting with Lena, so he will catch up to us later”.
The Next Night.
Kara, Alex, and Kelly were the first to arrive at the bar and occupying the large semi-circle reserved table, with Kara at one of the extremes, followed by Alex and Kelly.
Shortly after Lena, Sam and Andrea arrived as well, almost at the same as Nia, who was visibly exhausted and left in the center, followed by Lena, Andrea, and Sam at the other end of the semi-circle.
“And Brainy ?” Lena asked.
“He sent his apologies and said that his connecting flight was delayed by a snowstorm, so he won’t get here until tomorrow”, Nia replied before resting her head on the table.
After ordering drinks for the whole group, Alex said to Nia: “Long day, huh?”.
“You have no idea, SO. MANY. MEETINGS”, Nia said lifting her head from the table and turning to Andrea, “How do you guys do it?”.
Lena just giggled and Andrea said: “We have been doing it for years, it’s just a matter of getting used to it, but you have adapted pretty fast to the new rhythm”.
“Well, I can’t take all the credit, if I hadn’t had Kara to assist me and help me out, I would have been overwhelmed so bad”, Nia said.
“Thank you”, a flattered Kara said as a waitress approached their table.
After taking their order, the waitress handed them a tablet with the song selection for the karaoke, also showing the order of the participants.
Eventually, by the time that it was their turn, they were already on their fourth round of beers and had passed the time talking about almost everything, while avoiding mentioning the break-up or Lena moving to Metropolis, as not to spoil the lighthearted mood of the night and bringing back bad memories, so Sam and Andrea were first to sing, sharing a song as a duo.
“Now, here we have Sam and Andrea that will sing Skater Boi by Avril Lavigne”, the announcer’s voice boomed through the speakers.
So after they got up from the semi-table and went to the small stage, they were handed a couple of microphones and Sam started the song.
♫“He was a boy
She was a girl
Can I make it any more obvious?
She was a punk
She did ballet
What more can I say?
She wanted her
She'd never tell
Secretly she wanted her as well
But all of her friends
Stuck up their nose
They had a problem with her baggy clothes”♫
At first, Kara wasn’t sure if she was mishearing or if the pronouns of the song had been changed, but the answer would soon come to her when Andrea joined in the chorus.
After getting confirmation about the pronouns really being changed, Kara was confused about it, something that wouldn’t make click in her head until Andrea sang the next part.
♫“Five years from now
She sits at home
Feeding the baby, she's all alone
She turns on TV
Guess who she sees
Skater girl rockin' up MTV
She calls up her friends
They already know
And they've all got tickets to see her show
She tags along
Stands in the crowd
Looks up at the woman that she turned down” ♫
As the light bulb went on her head, Kara understood that they referring to her and Lena through the song, and more specifically, their break-up, but Kara still wondered why Sam and Andrea would do that as Sam joined the song again.
♫“She was a skater girl
She said, "see you later, girl"
She wasn't good enough for her
Now she's a superstar
Slammin' on her guitar
Does your pretty face see what she's worth?”♫
Meanwhile, Alex as drunk as she was, was able to put the pieces together with the help of her earlier suspicions about what was the real point of this seemly innocent karaoke night, and Kara noticed that they were weirdly focused on her while singing the next part
♫“Sorry, girl, but you missed out
Well, tough luck, that girl's ours now
We are more than just good friends
This is how the story ends
Too bad that you couldn't see
See the woman that girl could be
There is more than meets the eye
We see the soul that is inside”♫
This is when Kara finally figures out what was going on, Sam and Andrea were using the song to gloat, to taunt her about her breakup with Lena, about them being the ones that now had Lena and not her, and the next part before going into the last chorus was like the coup of grace.
♫“She's just a girl
And We’re just a girls
Can We make it any more obvious?
We are in love
Haven't you heard
How we rock each other's world”♫
By the time that the song was over, Kara was seething with rage and could feel as her blood boiled, and while she wanted to, she resisted the urge to lunge and attack them, because well, Andrea could turn into smoke and Sam was much stronger and more powerful than her, so she only would end up feeling even more humiliated.
Once Sam and Andrea left the stage, Kara was so upset that she didn’t notice when Lena got up from the table, all she could concentrate on was their satisfied smiles mocking her as they sat and took their places back on the table.
“Hey, where is the fun if you don’t change the lyrics once in a while”, the announcer said, “Anyways, coming up next, here is Lena singing What The Hell by Avril Lavigne”.
Lena started to sing and her voice was able to snap Kara out of her anger-fueled trance, and while Lena didn’t change the lyrics unlike Sam and Andrea, Kara noticed that she did put a noticeable emphasis on the chorus of the song while staring directly at Kara.
♫“All my life I've been good, but now
I'm thinking, "What the hell?"
All I want is to mess around
And I don't really care about
If you love me, if you hate me
You can't save me, baby, baby
All my life I've been good, but now
Whoa, what the hell?”♫
Once Lena finished the song, Kara stood up and intercepted Lena before she returned to the table and said: “Lena, can we talk outside?”.
While it was announced that it was Nia’s turn to sing Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, Kara and Lena went out to the outside terrace of the bar, given that was a little more quiet place to have a conversation.
“What was that?” Kara asked.
“Karaoke, it’s fun, you know”, Lena said cheekily.
“Lena, I’m serious”, Kara huffed.
Lena sighed and then said: “Okay, fine, you got me”.
“Just tell me why?” Kara said.
“Why? Do you want to know why?” Lena said crossing her arms, “Do you know what is it like to have friends that won’t turn on you and won’t think the worst of you the moment you deviate from some imaginary ideal or mention the word kryptonite”.
Kara didn’t know what to say, and contrary to what she had thought for all these months, Lena wasn’t over their breakup either, and still could that same hurt on her eyes that she saw in Lena’s eyes every time that they fought during their relationship.
“Of course you know, you have friends, you have a sister that cares about you and vowed to protect you from the cold and uncaring world, an adoptive mother that genuinely loves you, and even your biological mother turned out to be still alive”, Lena continued with a significant amount of bitterness on her voice, “So Andrea thought that this was the best way to tell you that”.
“But Lena, you had friends here in National City as well, you had me”, Kara said.
“That’s true, I had you, for the years that I spent in this forsaken city, I only had you”, Lena replied with still bitterness in her voice, “But for everyone else except Sam and Andrea, I was the genius rich girl that they only bothered to say hi when they needed me to save their asses for the nth time”.
“Lena, you can’t continue living like this, alone and guarded up inside your walls”, Kara said in a pleading tone.
“And I’m not, I may have my walls up, but I’m not alone”, Lena said, “Sam and Andrea are here with me, on the other side of the wall”.
“Lena…”, Kara said as she grabbed Lena by the arm and pulled her into a very passionate kiss that was quickly reciprocated by Lena as well.
Minutes later, Lena and Kara pulled back from their impromptu make-out session.
“Kara, you still are as good of a kisser as I remember”, Lena said still dazed by the kiss, “But I can’t”.
“You can’t what?” Kara asked.
“Return to all of this, going to back to the same vicious cycle, that the only reasons that your friends tolerate my presence are that I’m your girlfriend and they are dead without me”, Lena said feeling relief at getting those words out of her chest.
“The things don’t have to be like that, I can talk with them, we can invite you to the group activities more often”, Kara replied.
“So you are not going to snap at me for any mention of kryptonite anymore?” Lena asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kara froze, kryptonite always had been the most sensitive topic for her, and the sorest point of their relationship, and probably that gap between them will remain as big as always has been.
Interpreting Kara’s silence, Lena simply said: “Thought so”.
“But…”, Kara tried to say something but at that moment her mind was completely blank.
“You can’t imagine how happy I have been away from all of this”, Lena said.
“And away from me?” Kara asked in a somewhat softer and mournful tone as her eyes started to tear up.
Lena was suddenly invaded by a sadness that was rather noticeable in her voice and facial expression as she said: “No, not from away from you, Kara, but away from Supergirl and the Superfriends”.
So while it was comforting to know that Lena still loved her, Kara had to force herself to accept the cold and hard truth, Lena didn’t want to get back together with her.
“So can we at least still be friends?” Kara’s voice trailed off in the last part.
“Of course”, Lena said cheerfully, “I’m so sorry for disappearing like that, but I needed time to put my head back in order”.
“Oh no, don’t worry, I understand”, Kara said.
“What about a hug?” Lena said with that same warm smile that never failed to make Kara’s heart flutter.
“Of course, come here”, Kara said as both embraced into a long and tight hug.
Eventually, they broke off from the hug and went back to the inside of the bar, where they saw as a very buzzed Alex was singing and dedicating her performance of Into You by Ariana Grande to her equally drunk and rather embarrassed girlfriend Kelly.
“Where are Sam and Andrea?” Lena asked as she and Kara took back their original places at the table.
“They went to the bathroom”, Nia replied before continuing to sip from her cocktail.
A couple of minutes later, Sam and Andrea returned to the semi-table, but their smeared makeup, their hair, and especially their clothes were all messed up, along with the knowing smiles implied in a pretty obvious way what had happened in the bathroom.
Lena glared them as they sit and then said: “Did you just started without me?”.
“Hey, you and Kara seemed pretty busy, so we wanted some fun too”, Sam retorted.
“You two will pay dearly for this when we get back to the hotel room”, Lena said in a fake hurt tone.
“Promises, Promises”, Andrea said mockingly.
“Are you threatening us with a good time, Lena?” Sam said teasingly.
So in response, Lena stuck out her tongue like a small child, causing some giggles from Nia, Alex, and Kelly, while the playfulness of the moment served as a harsh reminder of the cruel reality for Kara, and the state of the things between her and Lena.
“So how long do plan to stay?” Kelly asked.
“If everything goes smooth, until tomorrow afternoon”, Sam answered.
As the night continued and more beer rounds were ordered, Lena changed places with Andrea, leaving Lena in the middle of her and Sam, all the while Kara had to carry conversations as she suffered silently seeing them getting progressively more touchy-feely with each other until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I didn’t know that it was so late, I better be going home”, Kara said abruptly standing up from the table after faking checking her phone, not being able to think of something better to say.
“Yeah, it’s getting late but it was a fun night”, Kelly said mostly unaware of what happened that night between Kara and Lena.
Due to sharing Kara’s kryptonian physiology, Sam was the only other one that wasn’t drunk and effortlessly picked her drunk friends, just like Kara did with her sister and her girlfriend, unlike Nia, who still was able to stand on her feet thanks to having been drinking her light cocktails instead of beer as everyone else.
Once outside the bar, Sam, Andrea, and Lena said their goodbyes and went their way to their hotel room, while Kara drove everyone else to her apartment mostly because Kara didn’t want to spend the night alone.