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“Kara, we need more ice! Can you make more?” Alex yelled from the kitchen, but she immediately regretted it since Kara solar flared earlier this week. “Oh shit, wait sorry, I forgot.”
“Oh no worries! It was stupid of me to go fight that giant without any backup. I’ll go get some more from the corner store. Anything else you guys need?” Kara asked the super friends who momentarily stopped playing.
“Kara, could you also get me Tylenol? I have a killer headache and I don’t trust my magic skills yet to cure me.” Lena asked.
Kara touched Lena’s knee as she said “Oh, I actually have some in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. But I’ll go buy you one of those electrolyte drinks.”
Kara went to go get the necessities while Lena asked Alex if she knew which cabinet Kara was talking about.
“Oh yeah, come on over. She keeps these, first for me when I visit after a mission, and then for herself when she solar flares,” Alex opens one of the smaller cabinets, “Here we go, and lately she’s even buying the branded ones, which I’m assuming is for you. In case, you needed it when you come over.” Alex handed the bottle to Lena like she just didn’t drop a bombshell of information to her.
“Oh. She did?” Lena stuttered, “I mean, she should stick to generic ones, it’s the same anyway.”
“Oh, I told her that, but she just brushed me off and said ‘Lena needs the best, Alex.’ I mean like okay go off, and don’t listen to the one that has an M.D.” Alex laughed while she playfully shouldered Lena which caused her to spill some off the water she was drinking.
“Right.” Lena could only respond, awkwardly.
“But, hey, I mean she did try to change the past for your quote unquote friendship, nothing is off limits, I guess.” Alex playfully shoved Lena again.
It truly was such an unfortunate timing to reveal this huge secret, Lena accidentally spat out the water that she was still drinking. “I beg your biggest pardon, what?”
“Oh shit, I messed that one up.”
“I’m back!” Kara yelled.
Alex ran to the door to meet Kara before Lena got to her. She ran like her life depended on it. She then faced Kara with a scrunched face.
“Alex, I know that face. What happened? I was gone like 5 minutes???? What did you do?”
“OKAY SO I DIDN’T KNOW THAT LENA DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT YOUR TIME WITH MXY TRYING TO CHANGE THE PAST TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH LUTHOR AND THE BLABBERMOUTH THAT I AM ACCIDENTALLY SAID IT.” Alex rambled in one single breath.
“ALEX.”
“SORRY I THOUGHT SHE KNEW!”
Suddenly, Lena appeared back in the living room. Looking like she was composed already and not like one of the biggest pieces of information was just accidentally told to her.
“Lena, hi!” Kara said too enthusiastically. “I have your electrolytes, wanna help me with the ice?”
“Sure.”
The pair went to the kitchen, Kara gave Lena the electrolyte drink, the blue one. Always the blue one for Lena.
“So…” Kara started.
“Kara, I’m going to stop you right there and just say that I am not mad. I am just confused?”
“Yeah, I can understand why. Alex always tells me that I don’t know how to have a friend. But I can explain, it was when” Lena held Kara’s arms and stopped her.
“I don’t think right now is the best time to talk about it. But I would love to hear all about it, just not right now.”
“Oh okay. I guess everyone is just a room away.” Kara looked at the floor, almost like she’s ashamed and Lena notices it.
“Can we talk about it later? After they leave? I can stay over?”
“Only if you want to. I don’t want to impose.” Kara’s eyes refusing to look into Lena’s piercing green eyes. If Kara just looked she would see that, in fact, Lena is looking at her in the most gentle way, with so much love.
“Kara, darling, I always want to spend more time with you. Let’s talk about it later, okay?”
Kara just nods, even though she doesn’t have her super senses, she is still so hyper aware of how Lena’s hands are now holding her hands. Her thumbs rubbing calming circles.
“Breathe, okay? It’s quite alright, darling. Now, come on partner, let’s slaughter those fools.”
Game night was over and everyone helped Kara clean up the mess, per Alex’s instructions so that the two can have more time to talk. Afterwards, Alex asked Kara to walk her and Kelly down. The three were quiet the entire way going down, but when they reached the door, Kelly took the keys from Alex and said that she would grab the car so that the sisters could talk.
“Kara, I’m sorry. I truly didn’t intend to tell her. I just thought that since things are going so well with you both, that you would have told her already.”
“Alex, it’s not like I never told you not to tell her. It’s okay. She said she’s not mad, just confused. We’re going to talk tonight about it.”
“Oh thank god!” Alex exclaimed and pressed her two hands together and looked at the sky.
“Stop being so dramatic, Alex!” Kara shoved her sister.
“Fine fine. Oh well, here’s Kelly now. Good luck with the talk, little sister!”
“Thanks, I’m a little nervous.”
“It’ll be okay. I promise.”
“How do you know?”
“Kara, you know how in your romance books the author always describes the character who is falling in love like ‘her gaze softens as she watches her best friend do the most mundane things’?”
“Alex, I told you about them, so yeah, I know about it! What about it?”
“Well, Luthor does that every time. Like tonight, you literally just won charades, like low bearing, if that, and she still looked at you like you hung the moon and stars, and don’t you even think about interrupting with your line of ‘Well, yes you did hang up some stars’.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. You’ll be fine. Call me if you need anything, but I doubt it. Now, go get your girl!”
“She’s not my girl!”
“Well, after tonight, she might be!” Alex joked as she got in the passenger seat, closing the door before Kara could say anything back.
Kara took a second before she went inside again. “You got this, Kara. You’ve fought giants. You’ve successfully defended yourself against Cat Grant. This is Lena Luthor, she will understand.”
Kara took a big sigh and entered her apartment complex again. She walked to the elevator, suddenly noticing how quiet it was when she didn’t have her super hearing. When the door opened, she barely even heard the ding. When she got to her door, she took a big sigh and whispered “You got this.” A couple seconds after, Lena opened the door.
“Lena, how did you know?”
“Maybe…” Lena’s face flushed red. “I was maybe waiting by the door already. Waiting for you to come back.”
“Oh. Rao.” Kara felt heat creeping in her cheeks, she was so sure that her face was now matching the blush in Lena’s face.
“Come in, then.”
“Oh right. Sorry. Let’s go, you want anything to drink?” Kara asked as she came in her own door.
“I made us tea already. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh no, I bought that tea for you. Thank you.” Kara started walking to the couch, and reached out for Lena’s hand so they could sit together.
“So,” Kara started the same time as Lena.
“Oh you can go.” Lena gestured for Kara to continue.
“Okay, so do you remember when we were fighting? Like really bad because I didn’t tell you I was Supergirl?”
Lena nodded, getting ready to apologize to Kara again but Kara stopped her.
“Lena, I see your face. No need to say sorry, we have talked about this, we both were in the wrong. And well, we both overreacted, too.” Kara smiled as she gently touched Lena’s knee. “Anyway, I’m not telling you it again because I want you to apologize, it was just that during that time, Mxyzptlk– Mxy, showed up. He offered me a chance to salvage our friendship.”
“And what exactly did he offer? One of his tricks?” Lena made some tiny sparkles shoot from her fingers.
“Wait, you’ve been practicing, that’s so cool, Lena!” Kara took Lena’s hand and examined it.
“Thank you. Sorry to interrupt, Kara.”
“No, no worries, that was cool! But yeah, basically. He offered for me to go back to the past and change what happened between us. And then we watch the aftermath and decide if I wanted to make that the new reality.”
“Woah.”
“I know. I know. It’s so unethical and me and Mxy playing like gods. I was just so desperate to have you back. Believe me, I didn’t even want to do it at first.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Well, uh…”
“You can tell me, Kara. I won’t judge you or anything like that.”
“He heard me crying your name to sleep. Admittedly, he has a problem with eavesdropping, but yeah, he heard me crying while…” Kara paused. “Nevermind.”
“Oh, okay. You can just tell me what you’re comfortable telling for now, Kara. It’s okay. We can continue some other time.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… it’s a little… like… I was holding our picture together from my birthday.”
“Oh.” Lena understood why Kara was afraid to tell her. She took one of Kara’s hands and just held on to her.
“So, yeah, he came back and I gave it a shot.”
“What happened, then?”
“Mxy and I went back to so many times in the past where I could have told you I was Supergirl, but it was so bad and sad, Lena.” Kara squeezed Lena’s hand. “There were times where you would be so happy for me and even shocked why I would tell you. And there were times where you reacted in a similar manner to how it happened in our current reality.”
“So, why didn’t you choose the one where I was happy?”
“Because, it all ends badly for someone. Either for me or for you.” Kara trembled, tears forming in her eyes.
“How bad?” Lena asked but she saw that tears started to fall down on Kara’s cheeks. “ Oh, my darling, come here.” Lena opened her arms and hugged Kara, letting her sob it all out.
“It’s okay, Kara, we don’t have to continue.” Lena whispered in Kara’s ear as she rubbed her back.
“No, no, I want to continue, you have to know the truth.”
“Yes, but I can know the truth tomorrow too. Or the days after. I’m not going anywhere, Kara. And you once promised me that, too, remember?”
Kara just nods as she continues to cry, trying not to relive the painful memories of losing Lena. After a while, they shifted from sitting to lying down, with Kara’s head on Lena’s chest.
“Good night, my darling.” Lena whispered as she kissed her best friend’s forehead.
The next day
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Kara joked as Lena started to open her eyes.
“For your information, you’re the one that fell asleep last night.” Lena quipped back.
“Ooops. Sorry about that.”
Lena just laughed at Kara, while she stood up and went over to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. When she came back, she was wearing Kara’s oversized sweater and shorts, well at this point, it was Lena’s already. Meanwhile, Kara had put out some pastries on the kitchen table.
“They’re from yesterday, but I tried them and it’s still okay. If you don’t like it, we can go to Noonan’s too.”
“They’re still good. Unless you want to go?”
“No, I’d rather stay in. I’ll go to the bathroom first then we can finish our conversation from last night?”
“Okay. Take your time. Both with the shower and continuing your story.”
After they both ate breakfast, they went up to Kara’s rooftop to get some sunlight and air. Kara just looked at the city skyline for a while, while Lena just stared at Kara.
“Always amazes me that we both chose this place to call home.” Lena just nodded, knowing that Kara was the reason she chose to stay in this place despite having so many chances to get out. "You ready to hear the rest of the story, Lena?”
“If you are.”
“Yeah. I just couldn’t take it last night. I had to experience such horrible things, Lena. It stayed with me. And I know that it technically didn’t happen because I ultimately chose to stay in this reality, but Lena it was so bad. No matter what I did or when I told you, it just ended badly one way or the other.”
Kara sighed before continuing, “There were realities where I died or you died. And everyone that we loved died as well. I sometimes still wake up at night seeing that image of you falling right in front of me, dying. Those are the days where I just listen to your heartbeat, just to know that you’re okay.”
“Darling, hold my hands.” Lena held Kara’s hand on her chest, “Can you feel that?”
“Yes.”
“Good, I’m right here. My heart is beating. I’m alive, standing in front of you. Please call me when you have these nightmares, I want to be there for you.”
“I… I will. You’re not weirded out that I listen to your heartbeat?”
“No, it comforts me that you know my heartbeat and that someone out there is always looking out for me. But thank you for telling me.”
“I… thank you, Lena.”
“You wanna continue, Kara?”
“Yeah, so I watch you die, a lot. And there wasn’t any timeline where it didn’t end badly. So, I thought maybe it was better if you never knew me. So, Mxy showed me and that was the worst timeline. You lost your heart, Lena. Everything that makes you who you are, your warmth, kindness, generosity, your love, it was all gone. You were in so much pain, Lena. Nobody ever showed you love and friendship and family. You wanna know the saddest part?”
Lena just nodded, “Is that I can see it in your eyes that you wanted to be better. That you wanted to be loved, but you can’t because your mother made you literally not have a heart, she gave you a kryptonite heart. And I didn’t, no, I couldn’t see you like that.”
Kara looked at Lena and saw that tears have fallen, she released her hands from Lena and instead she held Lena’s face, gently and lovingly wiping away the tears. Kara hugged Lena, tightly as she whispered, “I will never let that happen, you will always find love with me, always.”
Afterwards, they went back down to Kara’s apartment for lunch, well to order lunch. While waiting for their delivery, Kara spoke.
“You know, Lena?”
Lena shook her head, “What’s that?”
“Well, at first, I thought it was random that he, I mean Mxy, appeared but I realized afterwards that I literally manifested him. Like I called him subconsciously because I wanted so badly to fix us. I wanted us to go back to what we were before it all fell apart. But…”
“Yes?”
“I’m glad that Mxy’s magic tricks didn’t work because it forced me to see that I really couldn’t live in any world where you are not a part of my life. And it forced me to see that I didn’t want to just be your friend.”
Lena looked at Kara with a confused look.
“I was so caught up on my secret that I didn’t realize that I was so scared to tell you because I love you. Not like I love Alex or Nia or any others, but Lena I love you like Clark loves Lois. Maybe more, he was ready to save humanity even if it meant Lois would not survive.”
Lena’s eyes widened, she knew the feelings she had for best friend, which is why it hurt her so much more when she found out Kara had not been truthful to her. However, she never expected this. She never expected it to be reciprocated.
Kara held Lena’s hands. “Lena, I know it’s unethical and I know you’ll keep me in check, but Lena, I love you so much that if given the choice between saving the world or you, I’d always choose you. On any planet. It will be you, over and over.”
“Kara, do you wanna know something?”
“Always.”
“When you were in the phantom zone, I created a beacon to find you. And it works, I went to show Alex what I created and she was so teary eyed while I was telling her, because while I was in the lab, I didn’t know that the phantoms had invaded our earth already. Alex knew. She knew that the device that can be used to save you is also the device that can be used to save everyone. I refused to give it to Alex. She had to pry it out of my hands. That’s when I realized that I loved you. That I couldn’t fathom a world without you.” Lena paused to smile at Kara, “In love’s twisted way, I was ready to sacrifice the world just to save you.”
“Oh Rao.” Kara gasped when Lena finished.
“I know. I know. It’s like the most toxic way to show love.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yeah it is toxic, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s romantic. And you have to admit, normal couples don’t have to worry about these circumstances, but well, I am an alien who have superpowers and you're a genius who happens to be a witch. So, suffice to say we aren’t normal people.”
“Well, when you put it that way, yeah, we’re not normal.” Lena laughed and Kara joined her.
“Wanna know something else, Lena?”
“Sure, but this is the last one, please, we don’t need to reveal anymore today.” Lena joked.
Kara chuckled, “I promise!”
“Okay, then let’s hear it.”
“Before Mxy was about to leave, he reminded me of something I told him when we first met, remind me to tell you that story later. But he said to me ‘Magic can’t be forced, it has to be found.’ And well Lena, magic found me. I love you, Lena.”
“I love you too, Kara.”