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The first sign wasn't a big deal, so Alex only really recognized it too late. Kara and her were in a meeting with John, Nia and Brainy discussing how to deal with an alien group that had been causing problems in the city all the last month.
"They acted mainly in the north..." Brainy interrupts himself when Kara couldn't hide well enough a giggle and everyone notices that the blonde was on cellphone. "Well, they acted more in the northern part of the city and..." Another giggle.
"Kara" Alex tried to get her sister's attention. "Kara!" She said louder, making the blonde look up at her surprised.
"Did you hear anything we discussed?" John asked.
"Yes, of course! We're talking about...um, aliens." She sounded more like a question than a statement as intended.
"What is so important to make you act like a teenager cheating on a test?"
"She's texting her girlfriend." Nia said with a teasing tone.
Kara ignored her friend just after a roll of eyes, apologized, placed her cellphone on the table and returned her attention to the meeting as if nothing had happened. If Alex had known what was coming she'd have paid more attention to the fact that, a second before the screen locked, she could read the name "Lee" above the chat.
[...]
The next time was worthy of a little more attention. It was the last Saturday of the month, which meant it was the official Danvers sisters' movie night.
Alex had everything ready in her living room: bawls of warm popcorn, iced drinks, a selection of the best and least healthy candies she could find and two movies – one romance and the other horror – just waiting for someone to play. Everything was ready for the perfect night, or almost everything, Kara was already late and wasn't answering her messages. It wasn't uncommon for Supergirl to have an emergency and delay their dates, so Alex wasn't really worried when her phone rang with the sister's name appearing on the screen.
"Hey, where are you?"
"Sorry, Alex, I need to cancel our plans tonight." Kara sounded totally guilty.
"What? Why?"
"I had a problem, sorry for not calling you sooner."
"Are you okay? What happened?" Since they started the tradition when they moved to National City, they never, ever canceled it, not even when the city was attacked or Alex got sick.
"Lena had a really bad day and I want to make sure she's okay. I'm sorry for missing our night, but she needs me right now, I can't leave her alone."
It's not like Alex isn't upset, she definitely is, but there was no way she could be mad when she could clearly imagine her sister's eyes filled with worry and concern. Kara is the most caring and protective person of her friends, it's obvious that she would do anything to make sure everyone is happy. Although, even she would never admit it, Luthor became important for her too, she was happy to know that her friend wouldn't be alone in a bad time.
"It's fine, I understand."
"I promise I'm gonna make you up for it."
"Oh, of course you will. Tomorrow night at your place, if you get one of the whiskeys from Lena's collection I'll forgive you much faster." Kara laughed, relieved that her sister wasn't really mad.
"Let's see what I can do for you"
When they hung up, the oldest woman just sat on the couch for a while, unsure of what to do with all the food in front of her, until the door was opened by the person who always made her nights better.
"Is Kara late again?" Maggie questioned after greeting Alex with a kiss.
"Not exactly, she needs to help Lena with something and she won't be able to come."
"She canceled sister's night for Lena?"
"Yeah, she had a bad day or something like this" Maggie nodded, but she had an expression on her face that said much more than her words. "What?"
"Nothing, I'm just wondering what Little Danvers is going to do to cheer her up."
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, baby. You don't want me to say that out loud." She laugh loud when Alex's expression turned to pure disgust.
"They won't... Kara will not... Maggie, they're friends!"
"Believe whatever makes you feel better, but I bet twenty dollars they'll be having sex before the end of the year."
Alex didn't say anything because the idea of her little sister doing... that came of her worst nightmares, but she couldn't deny that that conversation got stuck in her mind somehow.
[...]
Then things started to become too clear for anyone not to see. Alex saw the signs and knew there was something going on, she just didn't know what exactly – or was too much in denial to admit what was right in front of her eyes.
It was game night and everyone was in the youngest Danvers' place. She and Maggie shared the couch with Nia next to them, Brainy sitting on the floor next to his girlfriend, Lena in the armchair and Kara on the floor leaning on her legs. They were more entertained by the conversation than by Monopoly on the coffee table, it was already clear that Brainy would win so no one was really committed to finish the game.
"I'm going to get more ice cream, does anyone want anything?" The Kryptonian stood up, taking her bowl and Lena's empty glass without needing a request from the brunette. Maggie, who was making her personal mission to prove the veracity of their relationship, gave her girlfriend a smug smile.
"So, Lena, it's so good that you could come this week. I thought you'd be stuck at L-Corp again."
"Someone almost threatened me to come, I didn't have many options." Luthor said with a smile and a quick glance towards the kitchen as if she could see the woman in the other room, which only increased Sawyer's confidence.
"Nothing surprising, she's always happier when you're around."
Before Lena could reply, Alex interjected in a less than gentle way:
"Wait, is that my sister's sweatshirt?"
"Oh, she lent it to me." The brunette shrugged.
At the same time Danvers returned with a bowl full of chocolate ice cream and a glass of wine.
"Kara, did you borrow your clothes?" The blonde looked at the other woman wearing NCU sweatshirt, black leggings and socks with kittens printed on them, all straight out of her closet.
"Of course, she couldn't spend all night in her work clothes and high heels. Besides, they look such better on her than they do on me." The two girls gave complicit glances and lovely smiles, which left Maggie thrilled and Alex almost burying himself in the couch to avoid seeing that.
The others accepted the answer naturally, after all, Kara would give her own clothes to a stranger who needed them, obviously she'd worry about her best friend's comfort. But it also doesn't surprise anyone that Maggie counted the moment as an undeniable proof of her case and Alex shamelessly lied and said she didn't see any big deal.
[...]
The fourth was personal. It shouldn't mean anything if the person wasn't Kara, but it was, so it's fair to say Alex was freaking out.
They had a couples' date – in Maggie's words, Alex rather to think of it as a lunch between four friends. Everything was going perfectly normally, everybody updating each other about work and things like that when, without any warning, Lena stole a french fry from Kara's plate. The couple on the other side of the table froze because everyone knew that no one touches Kara's food, it was like the eighth deadly sin in the Danvers family. Without breath they watched Luthor take the fry to her mouth, the blonde looked at it and then... nothing. The unconformable speech, with angry looks and powerful posture that they expected didn't come, she just smiled and kept going with what she was saying.
Alex didn't really pay attention to anything else after that until she was turning the corner of the restaurant with Maggie after they said goodbye to the other women.
"What. Was. That?" She almost shouted, attracting the attention of people walking around.
"That, my love, was your little sister showing how surrendered she is to that woman."
Alex let out a frustrated growl. "Kara isn't in love!"
"So how do you explain what just happened?"
"I don't know, maybe she just didn't notice" Maggie laughed and she moaned again. "They're not together!" The smaller girl held her hand, making them stop next to a store.
"Tell me, what's the problem if they really are? Lena is wonderful to all of us."
"It's not a problem. It's just that she would have told me, we don't have secrets. Why would she keep it from me?" Maggie had a serious expression but her eyes were soft with understanding.
"I don't think they're hiding it, maybe just taking their own time. It's a new relationship, I wasn't even sure if they both liked women. Just calm down, Kara will come tell you everything when she's ready."
Alex knew this was the truth. Her sister wasn't lying and Lena and her would be the perfect couple, she knew all of that, but it was hard to let go of that little feeling of betrayal. She was always Kara's person, she was the one the youngest ran to after having a nightmare when she arrived on Earth or when a past relationship failed. It felt so unfair not to be part of this important moment, but she also knew that she couldn't do anything but hope that everything went well.
"Okay, I'll stop freaking out about this." Alex hugged his girlfriend, happy to have someone to help get her head straight. "But it's funny to talk about calm when you're the one who started the bet about them."
"One thing has nothing to do with the other, darling. Besides, it won't take long to prove that I'm right."
[...]
At this point, Alex was already tired of counting how many supposed proofs that Kara and Lena were a couple had been thrown in her face in the last month. Now all she wanted was to have breakfast with her sister to start the day in the best way, she wasn't asking too much. But of course things couldn't go so smoothly.
She probably should have taken as a red flag the very fancy coat and purse that definitely wasn't Kara's next to the door when she walked in. Or the fact that she didn't even have a trace of the coffee smell that would normally be in the air at this time of the morning. Or that Kara didn't welcome her excitedly like she did every time Alex arrived with food.
She left the bag of donuts on the kitchen counter and decided to go check the bedroom, thinking that Kara probably went to bed late last night and ended up missing her alarm. But halfway there, Alex turned around, because the noise coming from the other room was definitely a warning that Kara was awake and was certainly not alone.
Covering her ears with both hands, the woman practically ran out of the apartment, abandoning her keys there. She didn't care about having to ring the doorbell next time if it meant she never had to hear that again.
"Damnit, Kara, now I owe Maggie 20 bucks." Alex muttered angrily as she reached the street.
[...]
It was another day at work with stressful meetings and endlessly boring paperwork at L-Corp. Barely lunch time had ended and Lena was already wondering when she could go home or if she'd be able to do any real interesting work in her lab.
"Miss Luthor," Jess's voice sounds from the intercom at her desk. "Miss Danvers is here to see you."
She stops for a moment in surprise. Her girlfriend usually texts her before shows up or just comes flying in through the porch, something in between is unusual to say the least.
"Let her in, Jess. Kara has a free pass to my office at any time."
"Not that Miss Danvers." Well, now she was definitely surprised.
Jess opens the office door to Alex, who has a pettish expression. Lena even has a moment of deja vu when memories of when they were introduced to each other invade her mind.
"Alex, what a surprise to have you here."
"Look, I'm going to be very direct here" the older woman had a finger pointed at Luthor in an accusatory way. "I know you and Kara are together."
"So did she tell you?"
"She didn't have to, it's not like you did a good job hiding it."
"From the friendly way you're guiding this conversation, I imagine you're not our biggest supporter." Lena uses her best business mask to not show her disappointment. "It's not like I can say I'm surprised, after all, a Luthor and a Super…"
"Hey, wait a minute" Alex interrupts her in the middle of her rambling. "I didn't say anything about that."
"It's not necessary, we all know what everyone will think when they find out about us."
"Damn it, Lena! Can you make things easier here and shut up?" Alex fell in one of the chairs in front of her desk looking exhausted. This was getting too confusing in Luthor's opinion, but she decided to cooperate and keep quiet.
"Just listen, I don't care what others think, I know you're much more than just the name of a crazy family" Alex continued in a much less threatening tone. "I don't doubt you'll make Kara very happy, but I'm still the big sister and I gotta make sure she's safe."
"So you're about to threaten me in case I break her heart?"
"Yeah, it was in my initial plans" Alex's frown deepened when Lena couldn't stop herself from sneering. "Luthor, I swear to God that…"
"Alright, I'll be quiet." Obviously the redhead didn't believe it, but she preferred to ignore it and give her a threatening look again.
"If Kara drops a single tear because of you, It's better that you be out of the country by the time I find out, because there's nothing in this world that can stop me from getting my hands on you."
"Noted, Agent Danvers."
"I've not finished yet." Alex leaned on the chair getting closer to Lena and with the most serious expression possible continued "you better remember very well what I'm going to say now: if Kara be an idiot any time let me know, I'll make sure she regrets it."
Lena tried hard not to seems surprised when she realized that the strangely threatening concern was also directed at her, but Danvers noticed it anyway.
"Don't look at me like this. You became part of my family a long time ago, don't pretend you don't know that. I don't care if it's Kara, no one is going to hurt you and get away with it."
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a very curious way of showing affection?" The brunette kept her tone provocative and playful, just to not admit her gratefulness for hearing that.
"Fuck you, Luthor."
"Can I assume Kara will receive this same conversation or am I the only one who has earned the privilege?"
"Sure, as soon as she decided to trust me enough to talk about what's going on between you two."
"Do you think she doesn't trust you?" Alex looked away, not wanting to face the sudden concern on the younger girl's face. "Alex, Kara is going crazy for hide it from you."
"So why hasn't she said anything yet?"
"Not telling anyone was something we decided together to try to keep things slow" Lena's tone became softer because of the spark of hurt she saw in the woman in front of her. "Once the media and the company's lawyers find out it will be hell, keep a secret give us a welcome peace for a while."
"You guys know I wouldn't tell anyone, right?"
"Yes, thank you for that. But also, you know, we took a long time to understand these romantic feelings and it's our first non-straight relationship, so…"
"Oh, sure, you're still baby gays in this world." Now it was Alex who had a teasing smile while Lena rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, you could call it that."
"I'm sure Maggie will love introducing you two to the whole lesbian culture. Better get a free night in your schedule for a marathon of The L word."
"Ask Jess to do it before you leave." Luthor responded laughing.
They talked a little more about all the major points that Lena would need to know about the sapphic world, but soon the eldest had to go back to work as she had used her lunch break for this important visit. While leaving the office – not before making a quick stop at Jess's desk – Alex felt much better, not only for know that she was fine with Kara, but also knowing that she got a new sister