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Lena spent a lot of time of her life trying to learn how to fit in all the requirements to be a Luthor. Because Luthors don't let themselves be dominated by emotions, don't show weakness, they always look perfectly and don't need anyone but themselves. She was never good at following any of these rules, but she still put all her strength into doing it because of the desire to belong to the family. Then Kara came making her question everything she believed in, with her came a group of friends who became family and, more recently, she got Lori, which definitely made her let all she learned from Lilian behind – or at least she's made an effort to do it.
Talking about the oldest Luthor, she would have an attack if she had seen the scene happening before Lena's eyes at that moment. Lori, dirty with dirt from toe to head, was running in the Danvers’ garden in Midvale trying to follow Kara and Esme playing tag. The girl let out excited screams every time the Kryptonian threatened to catch her and, due to the lack of coordination typical of 3-year-old kids, she stumbled from time to time only to run back as if nothing had happened. She got to break at least five of Lilian's rules in a single game without even trying.
"Why don't you join them?" A voice suddenly came, making Lena jump in scare. When she turned around she saw Eliza standing right behind her also looking at the yard. "You've been standing here so long that you'll soon become part of the forniture.”
"It's not exactly my kind of thing to do with kids." Eliza laughed and walked away to the other side of the room.
Lena watched the three girls through the window that overlooked the backyard, she was mesmerized by the moment and murmured to herself things like "She's turning my daughter into a wild kid", but the smile on her face didn't allow anyone to be fooled about her amusement at the sight.
It was the second day of summer vacation. Since Kelly and Alex adopted Esme it has become a tradition for them all to spend July in Midvale. The children looked forward to visiting their grandmother all year long – because Lori proclaimed Eliza as her "gramma" since she could barely pronounce the word – as it meant a month of free pass to do whatever they wanted.
"Well, so help me making them a snack." The woman pointed to the bag of bread on the counter next to Lena and motioned for her to come closer to her. "How's the Foundation and L-Corp?"
"They're going well. I have some new projects if you want to check them out.”
"I would love it." The older Danvers was the third best person to talk about her L-Corp projects, tied with Alex, because it was impossible not to give Brainy the first place and every topic was better when talked to Kara. "You're not working too hard again, are you?”
"No, I have two people doing a great job keeping me out of the office after hours."
"It's great, I wouldn't like to travel all the way to National City just to make sure you're not killing yourself for that company." Eliza said with a bit of humor in her tone as she sorted ingredients for the sandwiches, yet it made Lena's heart warm.
"I guarantee it won't be necessary, although maybe Agent Danvers deserves a visit."
"Oh, don't even get me started. If it wasn't for Kelly in her life, I'm sure she wouldn't have taken a day off for years."
"Alex is very lucky to have her, even though Kelly can be a little intimidating when she's mad.”
"My daughters have this in common, liking strong women." A blush shows up Lena's cheeks making her redder than the tomatoes on the table.
"Yes, I can imagine Kara would want to be with someone like that."
"I can imagine who exactly she wants to be with." Eliza laughed and Luthor did her best to make sure her expression didn't scream "I'm sleeping with your daughter.”
"Kara said she's interested in someone?"
"Are you telling me you don't know who she's dating?"
"Well, Kara..."
"Lena, you do not need to hide anything from me." She sighed deeply as she accepted that it was pointless trying to lie to Eliza.
"How did you know?"
"I knew it the moment you arrived here yesterday. But now tell me, are you finally dating?" Lena laughed at the way the woman emphasized "finally", it was good to see that she wasn't the only one who thought that way.
"We've talked about feelings and gone on a few dates in the last month, but it's not official.”
"You've been revolving around this friendship for years." Her tone was full of sarcasm when she said the last words. "Don't drag this out for another decade."
"We don't..." Lena stopped herself because, again, it was pointless to lie to Danvers. "Okay, we're a little late, but I'm not planning on adding to the wait. In fact, I'm going to buy the rings as soon as we get home."
"That's wonderful!”
"My plan A was to tell you only after everything was done, but it's ruined, thank you very much for that" they both laughed lightly. "Then I'd be happy to know your opinion about everything."
"Asking for my blessing is a bit archaic, don't you think? I'm not that old.”
"No, I'm just wondering if you think she'll accept it." Luthor's tone of amusement got a spark of insecurity at the end and Eliza's gaze softened as she faced the youngest.
"I have no doubt that Kara had never loved anyone like you. I've seen you fall in love with each other for years without realizing it and I've never seen her as happy as when you're around. Of course she'll accept it, Lena.”
"Thanks." She said a little emotionally, even more so when she allowed herself to be pulled into a maternal hug that only Eliza could give.
"You both deserve to be happy and I'm proud that you're taking this step." The woman held her by the shoulders after they broke the hug and they exchanged bright smiles. "Now, send those three to the shower while I finish the snacks.”
Lena walked towards the garden feeling even happier than before, which seemed impossible a few minutes ago. The whole situation made her feel at home in a way that she was still trying to get used to even after so long.
On the outside, the game seemed to have reached a new level. Kara had her back to the house, Lori was sitting on her shoulders and Esme was held by her waist under one of Kara's arms. The three were clearly filthy, it was not possible to identify an inch of skin or clean clothes after spending the afternoon rolling around in the grass. Lena, who wasn't a big fan of dirt, couldn't decide whether to find it funny or terrible.
Luthor stopped her way towards the group with an idea in mind, maybe she would listen to Eliza's advice about join them.
"Hey!" Kara screamed as a jet of cold water hit her back. She turned quickly, making the girls laugh and faced Lena who had an innocent smile and a hose in her hands. "What was this?"
"Eliza told you guys to take a shower." She said with a shrug.
"I can bet that's not what she meant."
"No, I think that was a personal interpretation." Lena raised the hose again amid laughter, this time hitting the blonde's chest.
"You shouldn't have done that." In the blink of an eye, Kara left Esme and Lori on the ground and was right in front of Lena, inches away. When the hose left her hands it was something she couldn't even say, but she could describe very well the moment she felt her shirt soaked in water. "You know, you look really good like this.”
Her eyes fell to herself, following Kara's gaze that was focused on her clothes that were plastered against her body. Super was no different, with the shirt marking every inch of skin, getting Lena's full attention.
"You don't look bad either." They didn't have time for anything other than an exchange of insinuating smiles, because the water hit them both at the same time.
Taking advantage of the couple's distraction, Esme and Lori took the hose from Kara's hands, laughing loudly. Soon a war started out, everyone against everyone, with the only objective of letting no one less than completely soaked. The ground turned to mud and the situation was visibly worse than before, not that any of them cared at that moment.
"What's going on here?" Alex exclaimed as she walked through the door leading to the backyard with Kelly beside him.
"It was aunt Lena's idea!" Esme shouted pointing at Luthor who, faced with the penetrating gazes, could only give a guilty smile in defense.
"Really, Lena?" Kelly asked in disbelief. "I’d expect a mess of this level from Kara."
"Things got a little out of control.”
"I see it. I can't believe we're spending our vacation with four kids instead of two." Alex rubbed his temple like a headache.
"Don't be so boring." Kara pointed the hose towards her sister, fortunately only wetting her shoes. The Agent shot her a look full of insults that children shouldn't hear.
"Girls, go take a shower." Esme pulled Lori by the hand and they both ran towards the house. "But take off your shoes first, the mud outside is enough." Kelly added before the dort were all over Eliza's kitchen.
[...]
After the four "wild kids" – as Eliza affectionately nicknamed them for Lena's personal amusement – were properly presentable, the family spent the rest of the day enjoying food, movies and board games.
The children insisted on having a camp in the living room for the night because, in Esme's words, "sleeping on beds is boring and at gramma's house we just do cool things." Lena was in charge of making them sleep while everyone else went up to their bedrooms, which was no problem since after one story Esme was already asleep and Lori was struggling to keep her eyes open.
Lena kissed her goddaughter goodnight and then leaned over to do the same to her daughter.
"Mommy." Lori's voice sounded low and thick with sleep. "Want Hugo."
The woman looked around for the stuffed tiger that the child carried everywhere, then found it behind one of the couches.
"Here you go, is everything ready now?" Lena asked, watching her daughter hug the tiger against her chest and nod in response, too tired thanks to the day of playing. "Goodnight, my love."
From the first time she stayed at the Danvers' house, she and Kara agreed to sleep in the her childhood bedroom. It wasn't very big and there was only one bed that they were used to share, but neither of them ever complained or demanded an extra mattress. Stopping to think for a second, Lena had to see the humor in the non-platonic situation she had been living in the last few years with her "friend".
Luthor crossed the hallway on the second floor and opened the bedroom door as quietly as possible in order to not wake up anyone, but to her surprise, she found the bed empty. The lights were off and the window on the opposite wall was open, nothing seemed out of place, but so many threats against her life bring a sense of distrust to anyone.
"Kara?" She called somewhat reluctantly from the door.
Suddenly the blonde appeared on the other side of the window with a casual smile as if being on the roof was the most natural thing in the world.
"What are you doing?"
"Come here with me." She asked softly and of course Lena couldn't say no.
With a little difficulty, she moved to the other side of the window and sat down with Kara's support, the two holding hands as Lena wasn't willing to go through the experience of falling from that height. They both looked at the starry sky for some time in silence, Lena could feel the other getting ready to say something.
"Is everything okay, darling?”
"Yeah, I think being here just makes me a little nostalgic" Kara reached to adjust her glasses the way she did when she was nervous, but stepped back halfway noticing she didn't have them on. "I used to spend a lot of time here looking at the stars when I just came to Earth. Even though Krypton had three moons, the sky was one of the only things that still reminded me of home."
"Do you want to tell me more about what it was like there?" The blonde was silent for a long time, so much that Lena thought that was a "no".
"My best memories are of the great festival in honor of Rao" Kara said suddenly, her voice sounded distant as if in her thoughts she was in a place millions of kilometers away. "It happened on the coldest and longest night of the year, which seemed quite ironic to me at the time considering he is the sun god, but now I understand. There was always music, food and dancing around bonfires to celebrate that even when we couldn't see it, Rao was with us."
"It looks really beautiful. I can clearly picture a little Kara stuffing herself with food and running between the fires.”
"I wish you could see this for real. Lori would be delighted with the festival and I'm sure you'd love everything about Krypton, with the technology we had there is nothing that Lena Luthor wouldn't do."
Kara didn't usually talk about her life before Earth and Lena understood that without question, after all she didn't like talking about her past too, but looking into those blue eyes shining as they remembered everything that was lost makes her want to hear about the old planet every day.
"I'd love to. I'm so sorry that so much was taken from you so soon.”
"Me too" the brunette wrapped an arm around Kara's waist, pulling her into an almost hug, because there was nothing she could say to get the pain of losing an entire world less heavy. "You know, I spent a lot of time grieving about everything. Having to come to a different planet, living with strangers who spoke an even stranger language, suddenly having powers I didn't know how to control, it was a hard time. All I wanted was to feel like I belonged somewhere or with someone the same way I felt on Krypton, but now I realize that things aren't like that anymore."
"And what changed?”
"You. Eliza, Alex, you, Lori, our whole family." Kara turned and looked directly into Lena's eyes with an intensity that she could read until her soul. "You are what I wished for when I spent nights sitting on this roof wondering why I couldn't stay on Krypton too. I miss what I had there yet, but I can't say I would trade it for what I got here."
Lena wanted to respond in the perfect way, because the love she saw in Kara was also everything she ever dreamed of, the blonde's words warmed her heart as they broke it. But nothing came, no choice of words seemed good enough, so she just leaned in and kissed her, slowly and deeply hoping she could convey all the feelings that were almost overflowing from her chest.
"I love you, Kara Zor-El." Lena said as soon as they separated, keeping an inch of distance between them. "Be my girlfriend."
"What?" The other asked in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"I love you and I don't know what I'll do if I have to go another day without being able to say you're my girlfriend.”
This time it was Kara who preferred actions over words and pulled her into a kiss, this one even more loaded with meaning than the previous one since, if Lena was understanding the situation correctly, that was their first kiss as girlfriends and somehow it looked different.
"I think I'll take that as a yes."
"Actually, I thought we were already dating." They both laughed because nothing was more like them than a small miscommunication.
"You could have told me sooner, I’d have rushed the rings a little. Or maybe something a little more Kryptonian?"
"You don't need any of that for me to agree to be your girlfriend."
"I know, but I still want to do something important for this moment, especially if it's something that reminds you of home." Lena watched an emotional smile borns on Kara's face and it was the most beautiful of all.
"Bracelets. At Krypton couples wore bracelets to symbolize unions."
"I can arrange that."
Moments later the new couple was inside the house sharing a bed that was too small for two adult women. They were radiant and nothing in the world could take them away from the private paradise they were living in. After so long, everything was officially in its place.
"I'm sure Alex will love hearing the news tomorrow morning." Kara whispered.
"I can bet Eliza does too.”