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The Lena Luthor Foundation was hosting a benefit carnival to raise funds for the Child's hospital of National City. That was a big event that Lena spent months working to find the perfect date, location and attractions and, maybe Kara is not the most impartial person to judge, but in her opinion the goal was reached.
Alex, Kelly and Kara arrived at the carnival just after noon and the place was already crowded, the impression was that there were thousands of people playing in the games tents, eating and having fun on the attractions. It was noisy and very colorful and still inviting, the air reached them filled with the smell of hot dogs and popcorn making Kara's stomach growl.
"Hey Alex, I bet I can beat you at that." The blonde says with a teasing smile when she sees the strongman hammer game.
"I bet I win any aim game." Alex answered immediately, ready for a challenge.
"We can play later, kids. Let's find the girls first." Kelly says rolling her eyes at them and pulling her wife by the hand.
Both Esme and Lori volunteered to work in the afternoon at the game booths, so they should have been somewhere in the crowd. The eldest made a surprise trip just to participate in the festival and the whole family was anxious to spend some time with her, as since she started college she only visited her mothers a few times during the semester.
The three walked for some time between the attractions while eating hot dogs, at Kara's insistence. They found Esme sharing the target shooting tent with a boy who looked to be the same age, they were laughing and talking distractedly while no one was interested in the game.
"Who's that?" Alex asked suspiciously before they got close enough for their daughter to hear.
"Might be just another volunteer. Don't go into protective mom mode now, darling." Kelly tried to reassure without much success.
As soon as they reached the tent, the older Danvers' eyes were fixed threateningly on the boy who looked confused and scared for a moment, before Esme saw them.
"Hey, you are finally here!" The girl said excitedly, leaning over the small counter to pull her mothers into a hug.
"What about me? I thought I was your favorite aunt." Kara complained in a fake disappointed tone.
"You know your wife comes first."
"Aunt Lena is my favorite godmother, the best aunt is Kara." Esme replied to her mother as she hugged the blonde, which earned her an eye roll and a smug smile from each Danvers. "Now let me introduce my friend, Louis. He decided to come with me as soon as I told him about the event."
The boy waved at them, looking terribly embarrassed, whether it was natural shyness or just Alex's silent threat still hanging in the air, none could say.
"You guys took a three-hour flight together just to spend the weekend handing out teddy bears?"
"I-I'm a b-big fan of Ms. Luthor's work." He seemed to want to disappear under the suspicious voice and probing gaze.
Kelly put an arm around her wife's waist and gave her a "shut up" look, a look that Alex decided she would ignore.
"I'm just saying it's a slightly unusual choice. Didn't you have any plans for Saturday afternoon that didn't involve following my daughter across the country?"
"Mom!" Esme exclaimed, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Don't mind her, Louis. I'm glad to see Esme made a good friend at university." Kelly tried to fix the situation. Kara watched everything as if it were her own sitcom.
"Of course, a great friend." Alex added, placing a lot of emphasis on the last word.
"Okay mom, we got it. Why aren't you bothering Lori? I'm not the one in the kissing booth."
“What booth?” Kara exclaimed in shock, her voice rising to a terrifyingly high pitch.
"Hm, nothing." Lori tried innocently when she realized what a mistake it would be to throw a jealous Kara into her cousin's lap. "Have you guys eaten the donuts yet? They're delicious and the stand is right there."
The blonde ignored her niece, going in the opposite direction to the one she had pointed to. The only thing stopping her from using super speed to get to Lori faster were the people around her. She was even considering flying over the crowd, after all what was a secret identity kept for years when her daughter was in a damn kissing booth?
Kelly followed right behind saying things like "don't make a scene" or "I'm sure it's no big deal", for any good reason as Kara wasn't listening. Alex, on the other hand, was feeling vindicated and accompanied her sister with a shit-eating smile on her face.
It wasn't that difficult to find the stand next to the ferris wheel, there was a line that went around itself, made up of excited boys who looked like they were barely out of puberty.
"Oh no, that's not happening." Kara said, already walking towards the blushing teenager about to give Lori a peck.
"Kara, breathe. Think about what you're going to do, punch a boy?" Kelly asked as she grabbed her wrist to stop her from continuing.
"No, I'd never do that. I'll just leave him hanging from one of those lampposts or something."
"I don't think there are enough spots here for all of them." Alex said, pointing to the line that was growing at an annoying speed. "But look on the bright side, they are generous."
The three of them watched the clumsy boy leave some notes inside a donation jar already full of money. The next in line approached with a toothy smile and Lori politely returned it.
"Alright, even I don't like this. Kara, get it over now." Alex continued to look disgusted as she watched yet another chaste kiss between the teenagers.
Kara groaned loudly in anger and broke free from Kelly's grip, ready to carry her daughter home if necessary, but again she was stopped by someone holding her arm.
"Kara, I'm glad you're here." Jess, Lena's always so competent assistant, showed next to her and didn't seem to notice the deadly look she received at first. "Ms. Luthor is about to begin the official thanks speech. May you..."
"Sorry Jess, but I have something to take care of first."
"Oh, that?" The woman asked with such disdain for the situation that Kara wondered for a second if they were seeing the same thing. "Don't worry, I'm making sure everyone who gets in line is of appropriate age and behavior. Now, the main stage is about 300 meters from here towards the parking lot, wait on the left side and Ms. Luthor will join you in exactly 10 minutes."
"You are not understanding..."
"Kara, you don't understand. Lori is good, there is a security guard specifically in charge of her well being. So unless you want to be a problem to a very strict schedule, start moving toward the main stage right now." Jess had such a threatening tone that it was very similar to what Lena used in L-Corp's meetings, leaving no room for anyone to question an order, not even Supergirl.
With another frustrated groan and one last look of disgust at Lori's booth, Kara began to walk in the indicated direction with much reluctance. Alex was somewhere between indignation and amusement, but decided to follow her sister just because she didn't want to watch her niece kissing another stranger.
Kelly felt so much admiration for that woman that she wanted to ask for an autograph right there. Before following the others, she placed a hand on Jess' shoulder and, with a grateful smile, she said:
"I'll remind Lena to bring forward your vacation this year, you deserve it more than anyone."
[...]
"Finally, I want to thank the sponsors for their generosity and all the volunteers who made this event possible. Enjoy the attractions and always keep in mind the children who will benefit today."
Lena left the spotlight hand in hand with Kara who had spent the entire speech by her side offering silent support. At the foot of the stage they still posed for some photos for the press, after all they were the most popular couple in National City and the articles that would certainly be on the air the next day were very welcome to help raise funds for the hospital.
"You were wonderful, I never get tired of hearing you." Kara hugged and kissed her wife when they were out of sight of the public and journalists.
"Thank you, darling." Lena responded with even more intensity, deepening the kiss as much as she could due to the context they were in. "I'd love to take you home now, but I think we should show that we're enjoying the carnival too."
"We are, right here." Kara held Lena's waist in a very tempting way.
"Enjoying with others" when the blonde left a kiss in the right place on her neck, Lena needed all her self-control not to give in to the shiver that ran through her body. "Don't make this difficult, baby. I know you'll love stopping by all the food stalls we've gotten."
This seemed to awaken Kara to reality, but not in the way Lena expected as it wasn't an excited smile she saw when they pulled away, but a much more serious expression.
"I needed to talk to you earlier, but Jess convinced me to wait until after the speech."
"Any problem?"
"Not exactly, it's just... Do you know where Lori is?"
"Working in the stands, why? Did something happen to her?" Lena hurried to ask, concern rising within her.
"No, don't worry. I saw her earlier and... Well, do you know where exactly she's working?"
"No, Jess assured me that she'd find a place for her, Esme and her boyfriend to spend the afternoon."
"Yeah, I figured you didn't know either." Kara made a face of disgust as if she felt a bad taste, Lena was increasingly suspicious and curious about the direction the conversation was taking.
"Kara, what's going on?"
"Lori's in the kissing booth." For a second, Luthor could have sworn that her wife was going to throw up when she said that sentence.
"Oh, that's unexpected. I expected she'd be at a hoops game or fishing." Lena shrugged and had to hide a laugh when Kara's jaw dropped.
"And how are you calm now that you know the truth?!" She pointed with both hands in her direction with pure indignation. "Lena, our daughter is kissing a line of boys right now!"
"Jess is with her, right?"
"Yes, but..."
"Jess would never let anything bad happen. If Lori is comfortable, that's what matters." Kara looked at her like she had just said the craziest thing she'd ever heard. "Baby, she's 17."
"Exactly, she's almost a child! She shouldn't be kissing anyone yet."
"At 17 I was sleeping with half of my classmates at boarding school while Lilian thought I was spending the afternoon in the library. We should be relieved that this is happening here, where we can supervise and we know she's okay."
Kara opened and closed her mouth for a long time, Lena could almost see the gears in her brain struggling to process the latest information. This was clearly not what she expected when she started this conversation, her shock was so much that it almost became touching, it made Lena want to hug her.
"No, I don't care if it's here or anywhere else, no boys should be anywhere near my daughter for the next 10 years. I'm going to end this now."
As soon as Kara took the first step to walk away, Lori appeared walking around the stage towards them. Her smile grew and she hurried as soon as she saw her mothers, but she wasn't alone, a girl who was certainly not one of the friends that Lena and Kara knew accompanied her holding hands.
"Hey, I was looking for you," Lori said as soon as she reached them and wrapped Lena in a tight hug. "You gave a great speech, mom. I'm sure we'll hit the donation goal."
"Thank you, sweetheart. Are you enjoying the carnival?"
"I've been kinda stuck in the booth so far and haven't been able to see much. Is it okay if I spend the rest of the afternoon out there with Amber? Jess has already found someone to replace me."
Kara analyzed the red-haired girl blatantly – to be fair, later she repeated several times that she tried to be discreet, it just hadn't gone as expected. Amber blushed and grabbed Lori's hand again, but also gave a charming smile. Lena found the scene adorable and, even though she wouldn't admit it, Kara did too.
"So, can we go?" Lori asked again after an uncomfortable minute of silence.
"Of course you can. Right, darling?" Lena urged her wife to agree.
"Yeah, okay, have fun. Just don't leave without telling us and be careful."
"Thanks, I'll see you later."
The girls excitedly returned to the festival leaving the older ones alone again. Kara had a melancholic expression, almost identical to the one that Lena remember to see on her face when Lori first went to school.
"Oh, don't be like that. She's perfectly fine." Lena pulled her into her arms trying to offer some comfort. "At least she'll stay away from boys for a while."
"That's not much better," Kara's voice was muffled and sly against her shoulder. "I'll still hate it if that girl breaks her heart."
"If it comes to this, I promise we'll deal with it in the Luthor way." Kara laughed at her very serious tone. "Come on, some donuts will take your mind off the fact that our daughter is growing up."
"You'll need to buy the entire stand for this."
"Luckily I'm the owner of the event." Lena gave a little wink at the end that made the blonde laugh again.
"Did you really sleep with women when you were a teenager?" Kara asked curiously as they walked back to the carnival, making Lena give her a smug half-smile.
"Baby, I went to a girls catholic boarding school.”