Work Text:
“Mommy, mommy, look! There goes a falling star!” Said her overexcited four-year-old daughter in complete amazement.
Today was perfect weather, and the skies were clear and full of stars. It was warm outside, that’s why they decided to eat dinner on a fluffy picnic blanket by the lake, not far from their house. They had finished all food and her daughter wanted to do a bit of stargazing.
“Sweetie, the stars don’t fall.”
“Huh? What do you mean, mommy? This star is clearly falling right now.” Pointed out her little angel.
“Well, the stars don’t really fall; they wander through the endless sky. They are looking for happiness just like us. And if they find their own happiness, their lucky star, then the whole sky will shine brighter than the night before.” She answered with well-hidden longing in her voice.
Alura started thinking about her mother's words and didn’t notice how Lena, clutching her little hand firmly and affectionately, smiled at something of her own and looked at the stars in the sky with nothing but love in her beautiful eyes.
There was a day when She, also gently squeezing Lena’s hand in her soft one, responded to Lena’s enthusiastic cry that she had seen a shooting star. The brunette remembered Her words well and now repeated them to her little girl. With a sad smile on her face, she remembered their conversation after Kara’s explanation about the wandering stars seeking their happiness.
“Have you found your lucky star?” Lena asked quietly then.
“Yes.” With confidence and intense love in her eyes, Kara replied. “That happy star is walking beside me now and asking silly questions!” Kara smiled fondly. Lena smiled back with tears in her eyes and drowned in the pair of her favorite blue eyes.
When she got home that night, Lena decided to do her little research on why the stars didn’t actually fall. She was a nerd after all. She found a lot of scientific material on the subject. It all boiled down to the fact that meteorites, hurtling through space at great speed, burn up and burst into flames, leaving a trail of cosmic dust behind them. This phenomenon was called a “shooting star”.
These were all proven scientific facts, of course, but Kara's answer about the happiness she loved so much more, without any doubt.
And then she was gone and never came back.
All because of a stupid alien who somehow managed to get to Kryptonite. They were together on one of many dates, celebrating their second wedding anniversary when a very aggressive alien appeared and started terrorizing downtown. Kara was torn at that moment between her reluctance to leave Lena and her duty to save innocent people.
Lena cupped the face of her favorite Kryptonian and whispered. “You should go, my love. It will be okay and I’m going to wait for you somewhere safe, I promise. Just come back to me, okay? I love you so much, Kara.” She briefly kissed her wife.
“I will always come back to you. I love you more, beautiful.” And with the last anguish look, Kara disappeared with a familiar whoosh.
Little did Lena know that it would be her last interaction with her beloved wife, that it would be the last time she kissed her.
If only she had guessed, she would have done everything in her power to keep Kara safe.
One minute Supergirl was close to winning a battle with the alien twice her size and the next her chest was pierced through with a thick Kryptonite blade. An agonizing cry of horror burst out of Lena’s mouth. The DEO’s help came, but it was already too late…
Kara died in Lena's arms while the young CEO was carrying their baby girl under her heart.
“Mommy, why are you crying?! Is everything okay?” Alura asked with concern. She reminded Lena so much of Kara with her blonde hair and the same shade of blue eyes. Oh, and a little crinkle that appeared when Alura was angry or worried.
She kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Everything is okay, honey. I just remembered something really painful.”
“jeju?”
“Yes.”
“I miss her mommy, even though I have only seen a hologram of her.”
“I miss her too, Alura, every day.”
“Do you think she would love to do stargazing with me?”
“She would be happy to do anything with you, my love. Because she would love you so so much, you have no idea.” Replied Lena with tears streaming down her face.
“I love her too! Just like I love you.”
“And I love you too, sunshine. It’s time to go home. Come on.”
Lena looked up at the sky one last time and saw another shooting star. Again, she made a wish, as she had always done for the past five years. Just so Kara somehow would know, so Kara would hear that Lena loved her just the same. But unfortunately, Lena sighed, her wish will never come true. After all, the stars didn’t fall from the sky, they wandered through it. She cast a final look upwards and lowered her head, not noticing the smallest and most mischievous star shone brighter in her direction…
***
They walked slowly home, holding hands, along the familiar road. It was a house, in the suburbs of National City, where they spend some time every summer, just the two of them. The familiar narrow path to the gate, the steps, the porch, and... Her. She was sitting on the bench by the front door, looking up at the stars.
Lena stopped dead in her tracks, hiding Alura behind her. Was it another hallucination or cruel joke of the universe? Hadn’t they been mocked enough by this life? The picnic basket fell to the ground with a thud. Hearing the noise, Kara jumped up abruptly and looked straight into Lena's eyes and the whole world stopped. Time no longer mattered and Lena wasn't so sure she was still breathing. It all seemed like a dream she saw almost every day. Kara looked thinner than she had once been and a little weary, but happy. She was dressed in sweats and a jumper with the DEO emblem and it was clearly visible that she was nervous. Kryptonian slowly descended the porch and stopped ten feet away from them.
“jeju?” Alura peeked out from behind Lena's legs.
“i inah?” Whispered Kara with unshed tears in her eyes.
“jeju! Mommy Kara!” Happily squealed Alura and ran straight into Kara’s arms, who picked up the little girl and held her tightly to her chest. Alura hid her face in the crook of the blonde’s neck and held tightly onto her, while tears were staining her chubby cheeks. After a while, Alura calmed down and Kara lowered her daughter to the ground beside her and looked at Lena.
“I… I know I'm a little late, but I came back to you, i :zhao. I’m so sorry it took me so long to find my way home to you, both of you.” Said Kara holding Alura’s hand and fighting back tears.
Lena, who had been standing motionless the whole time, came out of her trance and her whole body shook with heavy sobs. Kara opened her arms in an inviting gesture and Lena ran, colliding with Kara and hugging her back tightly as if afraid that if she loosened her grip even a little bit, her beloved wife would vanish into thin air.
After her tears stopped, Lena slightly pulled back and looked at her wife’s face tracing oh so familiar lines. “How? How is it possible?”
“Mommy, maybe you made a wish, and the shooting star we saw before helped you to find your happiness again!” Stated with a cheerful laugh Alura, who was too smart for her age.
“We saw the falling star, darling.” Lena beamed.
“But stars don’t fall, i :zhao.”
“Yes, but maybe they can grant wishes.”
“Indeed.” And with that Kara leaned in for a long-awaited kiss.
While their lips were moving in unison, Lena felt the huge wound in her heart begin to heal, just from the one touch of her beautiful, perfect wife. When her lungs started begging for air, Lena once again reluctantly pulled back and looked into her hero's eyes.
“I love you forever and beyond, Kara Luthor-Danvers.”
“I love you too, Lena Luthor-Danvers. Always.”
“And I love you both!” Exclaimed Alura demanding attention from her mothers.
The newly reunited couple shared a laugh and with that their happy life started again.
And the little star shone smugly and flew on to find happiness for many, many more people.