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Lena raises from her stool, eyes wide and body wracked with fear.
Her spell book lies prone on the table, just as it had been the entire time she was casting her spell, but now she regards it in such a way that she fears it might just attack her.
Her spell was never meant to do this, her spell has clearly gone wrong.
“Kara?”
One second she was practising a truth spell for when they have to question people and the next her fiancée is gone, vanished in a puff of smoke.
Her legs unfreeze and she can now push herself up onto her shaky legs, able to stumble around the table, praying that Kara is just playing some cruel prank on her.
Unfortunately, when she gets around to the other side of the table, Kara is nowhere to be found and it’s only when she drops her head down in despair that she spots it; a yellow tail poking out from beneath the table.
Her descent into a kneeling position is slow, she knows what’s happened, it’s obvious. She doesn’t know if she wants it to be confirmed though. She doesn’t know if she wants it to be real.
It is real.
There beneath the wooden table lies a golden retriever, a golden retriever that looks exactly like one Kara Danvers.
“Kara? Is that you?”
A whine pitches from the throat of the pup and she scrambles to her feet, unsure of how to work her newfound paws. She pushes her snout into Lena’s leg, searching for comfort amidst the confusion that she is trapped in.
Kara sinks into Lena as she starts running her lithe fingers through Kara’s fur. “I’m sorry, Kara. I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’ll fix it. I promise I’ll fix it.”
To her credit, Kara isn’t panicking. Sure, she’s confused and a bit scared, but she isn’t panicking. She lets Lena ramble, and once in a while, she tries to talk, only managing a whine or a low buff.
“Maybe try to keep the barks to a minimum, the last thing we need is Alex coming in here and murdering me for turning her little sister into a dog.”
It’s too late.
“Lena Luthor! What in the actual fuck have you done to my baby sister?”
Alex storms over to her, eyes flitting between her and the pooch on the floor, rage emanating off her in waves.
Lena holds her hands up, ready to protect her face from any projectiles that might get thrown her way. “It was an accident.”
To her surprise, nothing gets thrown. She was expecting something to happen but it appears that Alex couldn’t even get halfway across the room because there is a growling Kara standing between them baring her teeth at her own sister.
“You’re actually less scary as a dog than you are as a human and that’s a real achievement.” Alex crosses her arms, sneering down at the golden retriever that is still growling at her. “Kara, if you keep growling then I’ll make you eat dog food.”
Lena stomps forward, slipping into the space between Alex and Kara. “You will not be feeding my fiancée dog food.” Alex is about to retort when Lena turns to face Kara, pointing a stern finger down at her. “Stop growling at your sister.”
Kara backs down right away, falling into a sitting position and lowering her head with a soft whine. Alex is another story though. She stands face to face with Lena, arms crossed and scowling.
“Are you going to tell me what could have possibly happened to result in my sister being turned into a golden retriever? ”
“I was trying to do a truth spell.” Lena sighs, beckoning Alex over to her spell book.
Alex takes her time reading through the entire page, scanning every word and letting each line sink into her brain until she understands what happened. “And you didn’t think to read through the entire page?”
“What do you mean?” Lena pinches her eyebrows together, rereading the page until she spots her mistake.
“The title, it’s not just a spell for getting people to speak the truth. It’s for revealing their true spirit animal. It’s no surprise that Kara is a puppy. At least it says that it will wear off after a few hours.” Alex, seeing that this was a mistake and isn’t permanent, lets herself see the humour in it.
It starts out with a chuckle and then it turns into a full-blown belly laugh with her back arched and her head thrown back, arms wrapped around her own ribs. All the while Kara is sitting on the floor beside her, looking as miserable as a dog can.
Just as Alex manages to calm herself, she sees Kara’s furry face and it sends her right back into another laughing fit, one that Lena tries her best not to get dragged into but ultimately fails, chuckling along with her.
Kara doesn’t like that, so she trots off out of the room while they are distracted, finding a safe place to hide until this wears off and she is back to normal.
She ducks beneath one of the couches in another part of The Tower, crawling right the way under until she can’t be seen anymore.
Just a few moments after she’s crawled completely under, she can hear the dual footsteps of Alex and Lena followed by calls of her name.
“Kara, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to laugh at you. Please come out.” Lena’s voice reaches her ears first but she’s not coming out.
“Speak for yourself, this is hilarious.” Alex chuckles to herself, not an ounce of regret in her body.
The sigh Lena lets out permeates through the air, reaching Kara’s sensitive doggy ears in a stark whisper. “Alex, if you aren’t going to be helpful or empathetic to Kara then you’d be better off letting me handle this. This may be funny to you, but this is probably scary for her.”
Kara’s happy that Lena isn’t laughing at her anymore, she can’t wait for this whole thing to be over, being a dog sucks.
She keeps getting itches in awkward places that she knows she can’t reach and her nose can smell every food item in the kitchen from across the tower. It’s overwhelming in a way she has never experienced before.
The footsteps keep banging in her ears, getting louder and making her ears throb. She has no idea if this is just her super hearing still being intact or if dogs just have really sensitive ears but either way, it’s bordering on painful.
A repetitive high-pitched whistle-y noise hits her next and it takes a second for her to realize that it’s coming from her and she’s crying but like, in dog language. That’s weird.
Then the couch is being lifted with a grunt and she’s staring up at Lena and Alex. To her credit, Alex isn’t laughing or even smiling anymore, she just looks worried.
“Kara, it’s ok. You don’t have to hide, you’re safe.” Lena reaches out to touch her, but she scurries away, pressing herself against the far wall of the room.
Lena and Alex share a look, one that they usually save for when they are looking over Kara when she’s healing on the sunbeds in the med bay, one that simply says, I’m concerned.
Lena tries approaching her again, making her movements slow and obvious. She outstretches one hand, aiming for the top of Kara’s fluffy head. “Come on, darling.”
This time Kara doesn’t flinch away, she lets Lena get closer and lower herself down until she’s sat next to her, pulling her new furry form into her side.
“Sorry we laughed at you, sis.” Alex offers from across the room. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Kara leans into Lena, pressing her snout into her woollen sweater that makes her look like the epitome of softness.
Lena strokes across her head, “Want to go home? We can hide away and snuggle until this wears off and you’re back to your usual self.”
Kara clambers to her feet, all for that idea. The idea of being back home where she can be comfortable and safe is very much appealing to her, away from prying eyes until she is back to normal instead of being a literal dog.
Kara loves dogs, Kara isn’t very fond of actually being a dog.
Lena cracks a smile at Kara’s enthusiasm, glad to have seemingly cheered up the woman she loves. The woman she loves that just happens to now be poochified.
“I’m glad I drove here today instead of having you fly us, it’s one thing to have you carrying me, it’s another to be flying around town on the back of a golden retriever.” Lena strokes the top of Kara’s head as the elevator doors shut.
A low grumble falls from Kara’s mouth making Lena smile.
“Do you actually still have your powers, Kara?”
In response, Kara raises her paws off the floor and floats up until her head is level with Lena’s.
Lena rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “Show off.”
-
Kara flops down into the couch cushions with an over-exaggerated sigh.
Lena wanders across the penthouse tidying up the mess left over from this morning that neither of them bothered to clean up before they left this morning, one eye keeping watch on Kara at all times.
“You’re huffy,” Lena states as Kara rearranges her extra legs with another sigh.
She is greeted with the doggy equivalent of a death glare, although it doesn’t have the same effect when it’s coming from the cutest creature alive, so not much different to a death glare from Kara in her regular Kryptonian form.
“Sorry, you have a right to be. It’s not every day that the woman you’re marrying turns you into a dog by accident.” Lena suppresses a smile as she says it. She knows she can’t admit how adorable she finds Kara in this form because that is the last thing Kara probably wants to hear.
Lena finishes up wiping the countertops and starts working on dinner, wishing that Kara could at least still talk, she already misses their bonding times over dinner where they talk about anything and everything.
She does a little bit of research on what she can and can’t give to a dog, worried that she might accidentally poison Kara if she’s not careful, even if she is still superpowered, she doesn’t want to risk it.
This is definitely the last time she lets Kara volunteer as her lab rat to practice her spells on, but then again, she doubts that after this Kara would even want to offer to let her.
Just as she is about to start preparing some vegetables that she knows are safe Kara leaps up from the couch and rushes to the bathroom door, pawing at it and turning in tight circles until Lena comes to see what’s wrong.
“Oh no. Kara, I should take you outside.” Lena tries to get Kara to come to the front door instead, set on taking her out to the communal garden of their fancy apartment complex.
Kara is having absolutely none of it, she is already suffering through living with paws and having a lack of thumbs, the last thing she is going to do is go outside to pee, that’s pushing her too far.
The defiance radiates out of her fluffy body and Lena just doesn’t have enough fight in her to try and convince her to go outside so she opens that bathroom door and raises an eyebrow as Kara paces in front of the toilet bowl, trying to figure out how she is going to do this.
When Kara looks at her with a high-pitched whine she figures that this is just something she’ll have to help with.
She’s planning on marrying Kara and their vows specifically mention something about the good times and the bad. She’ll count this as a bad day.
With a heave, she picks up Kara’s back end and holds it up over the bowl, Kara’s front paws clawing at the tile to keep her balanced.
Lena closes her eyes at the sound of pee hitting the water below, this is not where she wants to be right now. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
She opens her eyes but turns her head away when there’s a more considerable splash and when she’s sure that Kara is finished she lowers her back to the ground, grabbing some toilet paper and quickly wiping Kara’s doggy butt.
“You tell anyone that I did this and you’re dead. I’ll happily do this for you when we’re old and grey but for now, you should be wiping your own butt.”
Kara twizzles around with a half bark, half howl. Even in dog speak, she got the message. You did this, you get to wipe my butt, stop complaining.
“Alright, you go sit back down while I wash my hands. I’ll turn the TV on for you when I’m done.” Kara scuttles away while Lena does exactly that, flushing the toilet before turning the taps on. She really hopes Kara changes back before another toilet break is needed.
Kara is back in her position on the couch where she was before, eyes drooping and watching her lazily as she meanders over to her.
Lena crouches in front of her and presses a kiss to the top of her head. “Why don’t you take a nap instead of watching TV, darling? I’ll wake you up for dinner.” In response Kara Licks across Lena’s lips in a sloppy kiss. “I’ll take that as a yes. Rest for a little while.”
She pushes herself back up and heads back over to the kitchen, enjoying the sight of her sleepy puppy just across the way.
She isn’t going to lie and say that she isn’t going to enjoy the snuggles after dinner with an extra fluffy Kara though. She’s never had a better cuddle than a Kara cuddle so it’s a mystery whether a doggy-Kara cuddle is better than a normal-Kara cuddle.
It’s comforting to think that no matter what she does or how many dumb mistakes like this she makes, once it’s dealt with, there is no doubt in her mind that Kara will just laugh it off and will keep on supporting her with practising her magic, even if there will be more regulations in place.
It’s how she knows that Kara is the right one for her and she’s the right one for Kara because she would do anything for her. She would wipe her butt every day for the rest of their lives if she had to and that’s true love.