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Lena was lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling bored out of her mind. She hated being cooped up and unproductive. She has been stuck staying at the DEO 24/7 because Lex has made numerous attempts to kidnap her within the last week. She instinctively looked down and grabbed her pregnant belly. She worried that Lex was trying to get her in order to experiment on the babies. She had two more months in this pregnancy, and she vowed to protect the twins with every fiber of her being. She looked back up at the ceiling and sighed.
“I just wish one thing in my life could be normal,” muttered Lena.
As she continued to stare at the ceiling, she heard footsteps approaching her. She looked up and smiled when she saw it was Kara. However, her smile began to falter when she saw that Kara was approaching her with a frown on her face. Lena looked back at the ceiling in despair.
“Let me guess, Lex figured out where I am now.”
Kara sat on the bed next to her and gently grabbed Lena’s hand. She rubbed her hand softly.
“He has. He is currently trying to get through to the main entrance now.”
Lena felt tears in her eyes.
She turned to her wife and asked, “Do you think the security will hold?”
Kara sighed and said, “At the rate he is going, he will be able to break through within the next 15 minutes. That is why we are moving to plan D.”
Lena laughed sarcastically and said, “I thought that this was plan D.”
Kara looked down and caressed her face.
She looked solemnly at Lena and said, “Once I found out about the pregnancy, I realized that I would do anything to protect you and our little peanuts, even make arrangements with people that I hate.”
Lena frowned and asked, “Kara, what did you do?”
Kara looked away and said, “Your mother contacted me. She said that she is able to help.”
“How?”
Kara gradually guided Lena out of bed and into the main hallway.
As they walked, she said, “Your mother said that she has a place where Lex won’t look for us, and we can hide there.”
Lena raised an eyebrow and said, “I am surprised you are even considering anything from my mother.”
Lena and her mom had been getting along the last couple of weeks since they last saw each other in Chicago. She wants to believe that there is a possibility that her mother has changed. She just hoped that she was being genuine with her offer.
“We exhausted all of our other options. If she can keep you and the babies safe, that is all that matters to me.”
They walked a couple of more minutes until they got to the portal room. They walked over to the furthest portal station where there was a tech waiting for them.
“Where are you transporting us to?” asked Lena.
“Your mother gave us coordinates to a location. Several DEO agents did quick searches on the area and nothing out of the ordinary stands out. However, knowing your mother, she has whatever it is out there hidden in plain sight.”
Kara turned to the tech next to the portal and said, “Once we leave, erase the data from this portal station and the backup.”
The tech nodded and powered on the portal which showed a pinkish large circle.
Kara smiled softly and held up her hand. Lena smiled and gently grabbed Kara’s hand in hers.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Lena.
Kara smiled and said, “There is no one that I would rather walk into the unknown with.”
With that, they walked into the portal, hoping for the best.
****
When Lena and Kara arrived at their destination, they were both startled. Lillian was already standing there when they first arrived. That was expected. However, the unexpected part was the environment. They were in a one-room building. Other than the windows and the front and back doors, there were no other items in the room.
Lillian instantly went over to Lena and grabbed her hand.
“Are you and the babies okay?”
Lena nodded and said, “Thank you for giving us a place to stay.”
“Of course! I know how important it is to have a stress-free environment, and this is the perfect place for that.”
Kara looked around and said, “Well, that makes sense since there is nothing here.”
Lena turned to her mother and said, “Yeah, I know I wasn’t expecting the Ritz, but this seems rather tame even for you, Mother.”
Lillian smirked and said, “I can assure you this place is anything but tame.”
Lillian turned around and said, “Anna, initiate Purple Program 1238.”
The room suddenly got immensely bright with a white light for five seconds and then disappeared. When Lena's eyesight adjusted, she nearly gasped. They were no longer in the small room. They were standing in a forest-like environment. They were surrounded by lavender and trees that had purple leaves and fruit. The sky gave off a purple-like glow. She felt the warm breeze hit her face and engulf her in the scent of lavender. It made her feel tranquil. She turned and saw a light purple path behind them that led to a purple brick house covered in vines.
Lena turned to her mom and asked, “Where are we?”
“We are still in the same location. We are just using a holodeck now.”
“Like in Star Trek?” asked Lena with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes,” said Lillian.
Kara frowned and asked, “How is that possible? Earth’s technology is hundreds of years away from something that advanced.
Lillian smirked and said, “Earth is far behind, but our planet houses alien species from thousands of different planets. It is not really that surprising they would share some of their information with us.”
“Or stole,” muttered Kara.
Lillian just glared at her and Kara glared back.
Lena rubbed Kara’s arm which caused her to sigh and look away.
Lena turned to her mother and said, “This technology is very fascinating. Is this place based on something real?”
Lillian smiled and said, “No, this is something based on my imagination. Purple is believed to be an important color in helping you to relax so I wanted to create a world dedicated to it.”
Lena turned around admiring everything in sight.
She cocked her head at the trees and asked, “What are the purple fruits?’
“Ah, those are just regular apples. I know that is not their normal color, but I wanted everything to match. I thought that we could pick some of the apples and then head back to the cottage and eat.”
“That sounds nice,” said Lena.
Lillian smiled and said, “I hoped so. I remember you used to love apple picking when you had school trips to Nottsville Farm. You would always insist on the chef at home making you apple pies with the apples you picked.”
Lena chucked and said, “I used to think that if it came directly from the tree itself, the apples would give me some sort of magical powers.”
Kara smiled and said, “That sounds adorable.”
“It was adorable until she thought that the apples could make her fly. She tried to jump from the roof. Fortunately, you landed in the bushes and walked away with a sprained wrist.”
“Always the risk taker this one,” mused Kara.
Lena rolled her eyes and said, “I was little back then. What kids didn’t think they could fly?”
Lillian patted Lena on the back and said, “Testing your theories is what got you where you are today. Sometimes, I wish you were a little more careful though.”
Lena raised an eyebrow and asked, “How so?”
“Didn’t you experiment on yourself until you passed out in order to get pregnant?” asked Lillian.
Lena looked away sheepishly and said, “I had things handled.”
“Uh huh,” said Lillian shaking her head.
She turned around and said, “Anna, please provide us with a hoverboard disk and baskets.”
Suddenly, a light purple disk that was about 5 feet in diameter appeared a couple of feet away from them. On top of the disk were three baskets in various shades of purple. Lillian urged them up to the disk. Once they were on, she handed them their baskets and the disk started moving them upward until they were right within reaching distance of the apples.
“Let’s start picking then,” said Lillian.
Lena marveled at how the apples weren’t the exact name shade of purple. Some were almost as dark as midnight and some were almost white with hints of a purple hue.
As they were picking apples, Kara said, “This place almost reminds me of Anta, one of Krypton’s moons. It used to give a purple glow like this with purple fruit growing everywhere.”
“I thought that you might like it. I heard that the purple light from that moon would grant people instant peace,” said Lillian.
Kara turned to Lillian frowning and asked, “How did you know that?”
Lillian smirked and said, “Whether I like it or not, you are my grandchildren’s other mother. I kind of figured you would want to raise your children with your culture and values. I decided that I should learn some in order to keep up.”
“Where did you get the information?” asked Kara narrowing her eyes.
Lillian rolled her eyes and said, “I haven’t been to your cousin’s special ice fortress or anything like that. There are other aliens that have visited Krypton and have kept records about the place.”
“I am surprised that you are taking this much of an interest in the twins,” said Lena
Lillian looked down and fiddled with some of the apples in the basket.
“I know that I don’t deserve the right to hope this, but I do hope that one day I can be in the babies’ lives. I want to be able to see what people they could become, and I have so much knowledge to give…”
“Like how to be a horrible person,” muttered Kara.
Lillian turned to Kara with a solemn expression and said, “I know I have done a lot of terrible things, but I am trying to make up for it.”
Kara scoffed and rolled her eyes.
Before Lillian could say anything else, Lena said, “I believe you.”
Kara stared at Lena shocked.
“You can’t really want her in the children’s lives?”
Lena caressed Kara’s face and asked, “Do you trust me?”
Kara frowned and said, “Of course. You know I do.”
“Then please trust me on this. I am not saying that we’ll instantly let her babysit or take the babies out on her own, but I believe we can start small with short visits as long as one of us is there.”
Kara stared at her for a second before sighing.
“Fine.”
Lillian smiled at Lena and said, “Thank you. I appreciate any little time I have with them.”
Lena smiled and said,” You are providing us shelter from Lex so there is some degree of trust there. Speaking of Lex, I am surprised he hasn’t seen this place before. I would imagine he would want the tech alone for other purposes.”
“Lex is not going to find us here,” muttered Lillian.
“Why do you think that?” asked Kara.
Lillian began fiddling with the apples in the basket again.
“It is kind of morbid…”
“Oh Rao, what did you do?” asked Kara.
Lillian rolled her eyes and said, “It was nothing that I did. There was just a situation that happened here years ago that Lex avoids at any cost.”
Kara narrowed her eyes and asked, “Which is what?”
Lillian sighed and turned to Lena.
“Do you remember Amber Forrester?”
Lena shivered at that name. It was one she hadn’t heard for a long time.
“Yeah, I haven’t thought about her in a long time,” said Lena softly.
“Who is she?” asked Kara.
Lillian and Lena looked back and forth between each other nervously.
“Was she that bad of a person?” asked Kara.
Lena sighed and said, “No, she was actually one of the sweetest people that I have ever met. She was Lex’s fiancé. She got Lex to treat me nicely for a while. She was very big into doing acts of service and even convinced Lex to actually do charity work with her for a while.”
Kara stared at her startled.
“I can’t imagine Lex being anything, but psychotic,” mused Kara.
“Lex wasn’t always this way. Sometimes, there are particular events to lead to a person becoming what they are,” said Lillian quietly.
“Like what?”
“Lex was supposed to pick Amber up from her house one evening. When he arrived, he found her door busted open and the place trashed. He found her blood splattered everywhere but she was nowhere to be found. Police spent five days looking for her. They found her body mutilated in the woods behind her house. Two weeks later, they found that it was a Dominator that did it,” said Lillian.
“It led to Lex’s obsession with destroying all alien life,” said Lena.
“That does give more context,” muttered Kara.
She turned to Lillian and said, “Please tell me that we are not in the house where she was murdered.”
“We are in the pool house, not the main house where the murder occurred.”
Kara gave her a deadpan look.
“What? At least nothing happened in here. Besides, since then, Lex has avoided this city with a passion. He said that there were too many memories.”
Kara shook her head and went back to picking apples.
“I never took Lex as the sentimental type.”
“He was when he was with her,” said Lena softly.
They continued to silently pick apples for a minute until Kara’s phone rang. She quickly picked it up and put it on speakerphone.
“Alex, did Lex break through the security barriers?” asked Kara concerned.
“Actually, something unexpected happened. Plan C actually worked.”
Lena frowned, turned to Kara, and asked, “What was plan C? All you said was that it didn’t work but didn’t give any details of what was supposed to happen.”
Kara turned away sheepishly while rubbing her neck.
“Well, we weren’t sure if this particular person would take the bait.”
Lena gave her a quizzical look and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Your wife had the farfetched idea to put out a fake bounty of $1 billion for Lex on the Intergalactic Bounty Hunters webpage,” said Alex.
“Given how feared he is, someone actually bought that?” asked Lena shocked.
“Lobo did. He rode in on his space motorcycle, drugged Lex, and flew away,” said Alex.
“I am surprised he was caught that easily,” said Lena.
“Honestly, if he wasn’t going through his egotistical rant, he probably would have noticed Lobo sooner.”
“Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but what are you guys going to do when Lobo realizes that the bounty isn’t real?” asked Lillian.
Kara chucked and said, “That was the beauty of the plan. Given how fast his motorcycle goes, it is going to take him 8 months to get to planet Amuk which is five galaxies away from here. The drugs that Lobo gave Lex will keep him knocked out for the entire time so we can have the twins in peace and figure out a way to safeguard the kids before Lex realizes what happened.”
Lillian smirked and said, “It is nice to see that you are not completely inept at protecting my daughter.”
Kara narrowed her eyes at her and asked, “Alex, so everything is cleared for us to come home?”
“Yep, I confirmed that Lobo left this solar system with Lex already.”
“Thanks for the info. I’ll let you know when we’re back at the house.”
Kara hung up the phone and then turned to Lena.
“Did you want to get out of here?”
Lena looked back down at the apples and then back at her mother who looked back at her wistfully.
She turned back to Kara and asked, “What do you think about us staying here for the remainder of my pregnancy?”
Kara gave her a startled look and asked, “Really?”
“Well, think about it. This place is very calming. Limited people have access to it…”
She wrapped her arms around Kara and kissed her cheek.
“…And we could consider it the last vacation we have before the twins are born. We both went on leave from our duties for the next couple of months anyway due to the incoming birth and Lex’s antics.”
Kara stared at her for a minute before smiling.
“I like the idea.”
Lena smiled and turned to her mother.
“Is it all right if we use the place for the next several months?”
Lillian said, “You don’t have to ask. The place is yours. You can use it however you like.”
“Perfect. Now that is settled, I think we are ready to turn these apples into pies.”
Kara looked at the three basket of apples and cocked her head.
“Don’t you think this will be a little too much for pies?”
Lillian said, “Nonsense! We can use the remaining apples for other recipes that I have. We can make apple bread, apple cakes, apple cookies, apple muffins…”
Kara raised her eyebrows and asked, “You have recipes?”
“Well, my other friends said that they bake with their grandchildren all the time. Thought I should freshen up my skills before the twins get here.”
“You baking? Now this I have to see,” Lena chuckled.
Lillian rolled her eyes and said, “Anna, please hover us to the house.”
As they hovered over to the house, Lena snuggled up against Kara and laid her head on her shoulder. She was finally going to be able to enjoy the rest of her pregnancy in peace.