Chapter Text
Lena glanced at her watch during a meeting with an otherwise disgruntled business partner. Productivity was slow and she understood that, but not having a prototype or product in a three month span was unacceptable. For the last couple of weeks, the meetings were all the same: no product or a barely functioning product. Her frustration was so high that she had resorted to rebuilding and recalibrating whatever prototypes were given or making mock blueprints. For some, mock blueprints were not enough. Lena checked her watch again, trying to maintain her stoic composure as the presenter began making facetious comments about the expectations and allotted time for their project. A project that Lena had to completely reconfigure because the mechanics wouldn’t work for the specific application. Her tolerance had already been running short and that crossed the line.
“Excuse me, sir.” She stood up and pushed her chair in. “So what you are trying to say is that even though I have provided the funds, materials, and reconstruction for an idea that you pitched to me a little over three months ago, you still have nothing to show me?” The tone of her voice was chilling.
“That’s not exactly–” he started.
“It’s a yes or no question, Mr. Pierce.” She interrupted, swallowing the built up anger. She was tired and fed up with the empty promises of her client. “One month.” The brunette walked past the presenter and to the door. “You have one month to bring me a prototype or I’m withdrawing from our commitment. Good day.” Lena headed to her office and Jess, sensing her disappointment, checked the schedule for the remainder of the day. Two more meetings and whatever work on upcoming project releases. Due to the amount of meetings Lena had been having, her days had been getting longer and longer and Jess was beginning to see the toll it was taking on her. Hell, she was having to grab coffee three to four times a day. Her assistant reviewed the names of the upcoming meetings and saw that they weren’t desirable considering the result from their last visit. Jess printed out the meeting reminders for her boss and walked into the office.
“Ms. Luthor, I have the last of your meetings of the day here.” She handed them over and Lena sat them down on the desk and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “You’ve seen these three groups in the last week and a half. Also, your car is prepped and ready.” The brunette flipped between the pages and recognized who she would be seeing and set the papers back down.
“Thank you, Jess. That is today, isn’t it? Everything is booked?” The CEO wasn’t one to take time off but after a busy work night with her VP, Samantha Arias, she was convinced to take a week off. If Sam could’ve, she would’ve ushered her out the door the same day but they came to a compromise.
“Yes, everything has been booked and will be awaiting you in an hour and a half.” Lena sighed as she ran over the paperwork again. There wasn’t enough time to have both meetings and part of her didn’t want to be disappointed again.
“Can you please push those clients back a couple of days and call Sam in? I need to brief Sam on both subjects as well as the board meeting for next Wednesday.” Jess nodded and left the itinerary on the desk.
Lena leaned back in her chair, hesitating to grab the papers. Would it be better if it was a surprise? How far had Sam really gone to ensure she had a “vacation away from home?” As nice as that sounded, Lena gave her boundaries to her planning: close enough in case of emergency, nothing mid-city, and a place with a garage so she could tinker with some of the ideas she had put away. She fought Sam about making morning appearances but the VP resorted to agreeing to morning calls. That was it. All these long days, months, and years of being present and active in building something long term left Lena feeling fulfilled but tired. Now, she was going to have a week without working and the scary realization she had was what else did she have outside of work? Little friends and an expensive loft in the city. The last thing on her mind was vacation and if it had been, she wasn’t sure where she would want to go and what she would want to do. It’s not that vacationing wasn’t an option for her but she had always thought that once she was successful then she would indulge herself. That time is now, hell, that time has passed. Perhaps it was time to start the things she had put off for so long.
A knock pulled her out of her reverie and she stood to answer. Sam walked in and greeted Lena with a long hug. “So, today’s the day! Have you had a chance to look at the place?” She said excitedly.
“I haven’t seen anything yet, I’ve been so busy.” The shorter woman walked back to her desk to pick up the itinerary. “It looks nice. Spacious and on the beach.”
“There’s more. I booked you for kayaking in La Jolla–it’s beautiful this time of year and the caves are a must see. There’s also reservations in there for the natural history museum, the aquarium, and a dinner for two,” She wiggled her eyebrows, “y’know just in case.”
“You thought of everything. If I didn’t know any better I’d say it looks like you’re trying to keep me busy.” Lena said in a playful tone.
“You caught me.” She raised her hands in defeat. “It’ll be good for you. Remember the old days in university when we’d walk Metropolis and look for bookstores and art exhibits? You were always dragging me somewhere.” They both laughed.
“We did quite a bit of exploring, didn’t we?”
“Just a little bit,” Sam winked, “by the way, the owner of the house, Eliza, will be there to hand over the keys. I’ve known her for a while now, she’s great; say hello for me.”
“We don’t have much time then, Jess has made the arrangements an hour from now.” Lena pulled a thumb drive from her computer to hand over. “I’ve made a schedule for you with attachments for the upcoming meetings. I wanted to go over the partnerships we are engaged in so you’ll know what to expect.”
Lena spent the next hour going over what Sam’s work week would consist of, oftentimes getting too in depth and Sam had to stop and provide reassurance. This wasn’t the taller woman’s first time as acting CEO, Lena knew that, but she couldn’t help but to be thorough. L-Corp is in good hands, despite the anxieties she had about leaving.
——————————————
What was a thirty minute drive turned into an hour. Classic city traffic made her grateful for chauffeurs as she’d rather spend the time to be productive while mobile. She called Eliza to let her know she would be a bit late but there was no answer so she left a brief message. She wondered what she would do for the remainder of the night; go through all the reservations Sam made again, check her email for any updates, and browse through her old, forgotten work. Lena missed doing research, it was one of the things that inspired her to get into biotechnology. There was something about the human body that made her dig deeper. Shortly after graduation, Lena worked with a team of scientists and engineers to make a series bionic prosthetics. From that experience she learned that she loved building things and that she had a budding love for biology, specifically that of the nervous system. She made a mental note to make time for her own experiments and lab time.
Now that L-Corp was established, Lena should have more time but she hasn’t been able to slow down and be less involved. It hadn’t been but forty five minutes and she was already worrying about how and if things were getting done which was a silly thing to think but she made work her life. From youth, Lena dreamed of having what she has now, not the usual married with kids kind of life. She seldom thought of relationships and when she did date people, the usual disconnect was her work schedule. Lena considered herself to be an easy person to be with and there were few things that she couldn’t or wouldn’t compromise on and one of them was her work. There’s only so much time in one day, She used to tell herself and after the parting she questioned if there would ever be a person that wouldn’t call into question the amount of hours she poured into work instead of a home. Or perhaps there would be someone that she would want to compromise for. She didn’t yearn for partnership but she’d be a liar if it hadn’t crossed her mind occasionally; to see and feel what being in love is like.
In university Lena had a strong curiosity for the reasoning behind why and how cone and rod cells work so she did some research and spoke to a couple of professors and medical students. When she gathered enough information for the framework of a study, she decided to do interviews to get firsthand knowledge straight from the source with a list of questions that were collectively compiled: do you use corrective lenses? What emotions did you feel? Was the feeling and the color both immediate? Has your sight degenerated or improved since? Have you lost a partner? Has that affected your sight? Over a period of three weeks she’d heard stories about the overwhelming emotion of feeling enveloped in love and the color that fills the space as if the color was a gift from their significant other. The emotions were described so deeply that when talking about seeing the color, the mere memory brought people to tears. At first she thought that an unknown neurochemical was released initiating regeneration of cone cells but the probability of the neurochemical becoming a part of normal body function was of lesser coincidence, though there was no testing done to ascertain whether the theory was plausible. Unfortunately, Lena had put away the study in search for better opportunities in the field of engineering but she was sure her research had to be on her laptop.
The CEO reached for her laptop when the car stopped in front of the beach house. I’ll look later. She slipped the laptop back in the bag and slung it over her shoulder to exit the vehicle. It wasn’t that late but it was a lot cooler than she expected. Her chauffeur pulled the bags out for her and she made sure to tip him before heading to the door. She checked her watch to see how late she was once she was at the door. A little over half an hour late. She sighed in disappointment. Punctuality was very important to her, she didn’t like making people wait. Hopefully Eliza would be understanding. She knocked once. No answer. She rang the doorbell. Still no answer. Just as she was about to call Eliza again, the door swung open.
“Hello, I’m sorry if you were waiting long. I was,” She paused when she saw her, effectively stunned, “I was on the dock. C-come on in.” Kara offered to help with her bags so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. It wasn’t every day someone as beautiful as Lena Luthor walks through the door.
“Thank you. I wasn’t waiting long. I tried calling you earlier but I had to leave a voicemail. I’m sorry for being late, the traffic was atrocious.” Lena walked through the threshold and into the living room. The space was bigger than what the pictures showed and so clean and well put together that she pondered whether people stayed in the house at all.
“I’m also sorry about that. Eliza is my mom, she got called in an hour shy of when she was expecting you. I’m Kara. Kara Danvers.” She stuck her hand out and Lena met her halfway. Keep it cool. Kara reminded herself.
“Lena Luthor.” The brunette finally got a good look at the owner’s daughter. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and all of her facial features were on display. She had sparkling eyes and a bright, welcoming smile. With being clad in board shorts and a tank top, Lena found it hard to stop herself from gawking at her muscle definition. What a catch. Was Sam expecting Lena to meet Kara? Oh, Sam.
“Well,” Kara cleared her throat, trying to make conversation, “here are the keys. I, uhm, I’ll give you my email in case you need anything. I’m next door if you do need immediate help but I’m pretty good at staying on top of my emails too, if that’s your preferred method of contact.” Just stop talking.. Kara chastised herself.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I think the only thing I’ll be needing is the wi-fi password.”
“Oh, sure.” Kara spun round and Lena watched her walk to the kitchen. Not a bad sight. “Here is my email,” she scribbled out something on a spare notepad, “and here is my number if you can’t get ahold of my mom.” Kara moved to pass on the piece of paper and then realized she could have just as easily given Lena her business card. What a mess she was. “You know what, I’ll leave this here and here’s this. Sorry, my mind is everywhere.” Lena smirked and took the card. “Also, we share the dock out back and I’m typically out there every morning before work to either take the boat out or check on it but if you need any help mooring anything to the dock, let me know.”
“I haven’t been on a boat in years and didn’t bring anything so I’m sure I won’t be needing any help.” Kara looked surprised, many people that occupied the coast either rented equipment or had their own equipment whether it be boats or sea-doos.
“I don’t know how long you’re in town for but if you do decide you want to take a boat to sea I’d be more than happy to take you.” Good looking and charming. Lena bit her bottom lip and smiled.
“That’s awfully nice of you.” She thought about it, the last time she was on a boat was to Staten Island with Sam. She wasn’t particularly captivated by the beach but it could be soothing being away from the city. “I have to check my schedule but I’ll let you know if I can take you up on your offer.” The blonde nodded in response.
“Alright, I’m gonna–Oh!” Kara turned back to the notepad to write something down. “Wi-fi password,” she said with a toothy grin. “I’ll let you go and I’ll tell my mom that you arrived. Have a good night, it was nice to meet you.” With that, Kara was gone. Lena sighed when she started thinking about unpacking things. Scotch and laptop first, everything else tomorrow. When she finally poured herself a glass, she thought about the exchange she had with the Danvers. Very peculiar and entertaining, in a cute way. It had been ages since a woman hit on her and for the first time in a long time, it felt nice. Her boundaries weren’t being crossed and the blonde was polite. She laughed to herself remembering how nervous Kara was. Adorable. She fished the business card from her pocket and examined it.
“Kara Danvers, marine biologist at Birch Aquarium. A scientist. Interesting.” She took a sip of scotch and opened her laptop. Slipping the card onto the table, she pulled her laptop into her lap and began searching for the research that was on her mind on the drive over. She searched high and low, then alas, buried in multiple folders, there it was. A compilation of voice recordings, scientific journals, graphs of data, and notes. For a short study, there was a lot of information stored. Before she got started she decided to text Sam.
Got here safely. It’s a nice place. Thank you for arranging everything. Btw, you never told me about Kara. Lena was about to set her phone down when she got a notification from Sam.
Who’s Kara? Lena scoffed.
Eliza’s daughter. Athletic. Marine Biologist.
I knew she had daughters but I’ve never met them. Athletic, huh? Did she make an impression???
She was very kind and helpful. And, yes, pretty muscular. I think she hit on me. She offered to take me for a boat ride.
!!!! Let her take you. ;) Seriously. I’ve stayed there a bunch of times and Eliza has always been nothing but sweet. Plus, you owe yourself some fun. Lena shook her head and rubbed her forehead. Sam being Sam, always pushing her to get out there and date. It couldn’t hurt to try, she supposed, and she did find her attractive. She put that thought on the shelf and began to look through all the information of the study. Lena spent the rest of the night going through everything, taking new notes, and looking for more research.
——————————————
Lena woke to warm streaks of sunlight permeating the house. She had fallen asleep on the couch. Already up and looking for coffee, she checked the time, Ugh. 6:05 AM. It was incredibly bright but once her eyes adjusted to the light, she was able to watch the waves crash on the sand. Although she didn’t have a fondness for the beach, she could appreciate the view and the ocean from a scientific standpoint. Her thoughts flickered to Kara then looked to the dock where a large, white boat was stationed. Lena decided not to think too hard on it, she had a lot of things to do and thankfully nothing with reservations for today. She took her coffee in the kitchen and went over the notes from last night. It didn’t take long for her to get reinvested in the research. Before she knew it it was 9 o’clock. You take time off and it runs faster than when you’re working. The next hour was spent talking to Samantha about how work was going between the engineers and fabricators of some aerospace hulls that were to be built. Where Lena could design and build a machine to make perfect, air tight welds, NASA preferred the human touch on some pieces of their equipment. While Sam stayed attentive during the plans of the day, it didn’t take her long to ask about the sailor from yesterday.
“So, did you let the athletic captain sail your waters?” Sam snickered over the phone.
“I was expecting you to say something worse but that was surprisingly tame in comparison. No, I didn’t. I’m still thinking about it.” She said, looking out to the dock.
“What’s there to think about? A hot sailor wants to take you for an innocent boat ride, I think that’s self-explanatory.”
“I haven’t dated in a while and, who knows, maybe I mistook her generosity and nervousness for something else.”
“You told me yesterday that you thought that she was hitting on you, I don’t think you misunderstood anything. I’m not saying to marry the woman, just see what’s out there. There’s so much more to life than business and you deserve someone who is going to make sure that you can have both–business and pleasure.” Lena pulled the phone away when Sam guffawed at her own expense.
“And you? Why don’t you date?” She changed the subject.
“It’s different, you know that. I barely have enough time to spend with Ruby, I don’t want dates to impinge on my seeing her. When she gets a little older, maybe. Plus, finding someone who wants to be with someone with a kid is even harder, especially when you don’t want more kids.” She knew it was hard on Sam to date, she was there when the taller woman would call about failed dates. Her friend had struggled when raising Ruby in university but always stayed diligent when it came to her daughter’s upbringing. That kind of nurturing was something Lena envied when she was young so she held a high respect for Sam.
“You’re equally as deserving of having a partner that loves and understands you. There’s someone out there for you that will wholly love you and Ruby.” She said sincerely.
“I think that’s more of a reason for you to go out and see what this Kara Danvers is all about. Maybe she will surprise you, maybe not, but you’ll never know if you don’t try. L-Corp is doing fine, all you need to do is take your time off and enjoy it. Do all the things I remember young Lena would do. Remember, there’s no such thing as failures, only lessons.” There was love in her voice and the CEO knew she meant well. “Also, I knew you were going to take your work laptop so I packed some protective gear in there, to be safe.” Lena groaned.
“You have a good heart but you sure are insufferable, you know that?” She said with a joking tone in her voice.
“I’ve got to live vicariously through someone and who better than the single, intelligent, and gorgeous Lena Luthor?”
“I could say the same about you too. Just wait till I start dating and meeting people, then your schedule will be full of potential dates that I will urge you to go on.”
“Not uh. This is a one way lane.”
“And you call me stubborn. I’ll tell you what, I will willingly go on a date with Kara if you go on a date. I will take care of Ruby.” Lena challenged.
“Only if you actually commit to the agreement.”
“Deal.”
“Deal.” What was done was done and now Lena had to make true to her promise. She would approach the young Danvers when she saw her.
The day moved quickly with venturing through the house and looking at the research twice and thrice over. The day was nearly over and nobody made their way over to the docks. An early night wouldn’t hurt. She thought as she made her way downstairs to the master bedroom. She took a shower, did her face routine, and then set alarms for 6 AM. The CEO didn’t have many expectations of the following day save for hitting everything that was on the to do list. As she lied in bed, Kara appeared in her mind again. She could feel nervousness bubbling in her stomach. Should I email her? She couldn’t think of a way, if there was a proper way, to approach the blonde. Lena rubbed at her tired eyes, just go with the flow. There was no sense in hashing and rehashing something that she couldn’t control. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and when she did, she dreamt of Kara Danvers.
——————————————
An alarm blared in the room and Kara reached out frantically to shut it off. She was still tired. Yesterday was a long work day, she didn’t get home until midnight. She’s been running so many samples that she even dreamed of running them in her sleep. At least it’s Friday. Kara ran around the house to get ready and go check out the boat. She grabbed the keys, put a piece of buttered toast in her mouth, and pulled on a jacket on her way out the door. It was a nice day, the sun was out and there was a nice cool breeze. As she made her way down the beach, she thought she saw a figure behind the boat. Too hopeful. She shrugged it off. Kara had already convinced herself that she didn’t stand a chance with Lena especially since she made a fool of herself. It was embarrassing how nervous she was. The over talking and inability to think properly made her feel like a babbling idiot. The blonde shoved the rest of the toast in her mouth and stepped onto the dock and just when she had abandoned the thought of seeing the Luthor again, there she was, standing on the dock looking out into the ocean. Kara stopped in her tracks and took in the sight of her form with the view of the ocean. She wasn’t sure when she started walking again and when she had made it three quarters of the way there she was taken aback when Lena turned slightly to look over her shoulder at her. Her long, dark, and wavy hair blowing in the wind and how soft her features were made Kara’s heart skip a beat.
“Hi.” The brunette said with a gentle smile and something inside Kara melted.
“Hi,” was all she was able to get out, still captivated by how beautiful the woman in front of her was.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to take you up on your offer.” Lena turned and walked over to hand a insulated tumbler. “I brought you coffee.” Kara gratefully took the tumbler but couldn’t find it in her to tell her that she doesn’t drink coffee.
“Thank you. I’m glad you had a change of mind. It’s the perfect day to sail. Are you ready now or. . ?” She trailed off.
“Whenever you are.” Lena sipped her coffee and all Kara could think was that it was going to be a long day.
“I have to trim the sails, it’s not the most exciting bit. Let’s get you on the boat.” Kara walked over to the edge of the dock and stretched her leg out to make contact with the boat then pulled herself aboard by one of the handles on the side of the boat. She set her coffee in a stable place and asked for Lena’s so that her hands would be free. The brunette cautiously walked to the edge and looked up to see Kara extending her hand out to help her aboard. There was something about the way that the marine biologist looked at her. It was sweet nearing endearing and for a split second, Lena could have swore she saw a sliver of color in her eyes. What kind of adventure are you going to take me on Kara Danvers?