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Dawn breaks like a quiet miracle, spilling the sun's rays across the recently tilled earth of the Danvers' family farmland. Jeremiah is already working the fields as the new light of day fills the sky overhead, the well-worn tractor chugging along beneath him and drawing lines in the soil.
Inside the house, Eliza makes the morning coffee over the fire as her daughters rise from their beds. She reminds them that today will be busy. That Kara will need to go into town for supplies while Alex helps in the fields.
"You know Kara will get that stuff done twice as fast as me," Alex gripes, pulling on her boots after breakfast.
"Just because she can doesn't mean she should have to every time, Alex." The reminder is well-used and wears on Alex enough that she stalks to her feet and out the door, slamming the door behind her. "Don't worry about her," Eliza says to Kara, who looks forlorn at her sister's annoyance. "Take your father's truck."
The road to town is quiet but the main street is already awake and bustling when she arrives. She parks outside of the feed shop and steps out of the truck, waving at Winn, the greengrocer's son, who's sweeping off the stoop in front of the store across the dirt road.
He's a nice boy. Kind and gentle natured, handsome too, and Kara knows their fathers have spoken of a potential union between their children. Knows how happy that would make Winn.
She brings the list Eliza had sent along with her into the store and hands it to the man behind the counter, Mister Olsen. He and his family have been in the area as long as the Danvers, as long as the Schott's, and as long as most of the other people who call this town their home. It's a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone and no one is shy about lending a helping hand.
The seed shop is next, then the greengrocer, and Kara makes small talk with Winn while they both collect the things on her list from the shelves. He helps her load everything into the back of the truck and she smoothes the paper out against the tail gate so that she can cross off the last of the things Eliza had written down for her. Looking up again, her eyes are drawn to the end of the street where a new building is having the final touches checked over by two men in suits while a woman and a girl around her and Winn's age trail behind.
And Kara has heard about this, of course. Heard Jeremiah ranting to Eliza, heard other shopowners exchanging harsh words to each other; a new general store owned and operated by a new family, new money, moving into their town to take away business from those who put their blood, sweat and tears into building it up from the earth beneath their feet.
"That's going to be trouble," Winn murmurs to her, drawing Kara's attention away from the dark haired young woman who should be too far away to make out, but who Kara can see clearly. She doesn't reply, but feels something heavy settle in her gut at his words.
It's weeks until the next time she sees her. Kara has been to town a few times in the interim but never ventured close to the new store built with new money. It doesn't seem like many of the townsfolk have either; Kara sits in her truck for a while and watches, waits to see if anyone that passes underneath the sign for Luthor's General Store and Wares actually goes inside. No one does, not while she's there at least, but she does see someone come out of it.
It's her. Dark hair and pale skin, eyes that are a piercing blue-green even from a hundred yards away. She leaves the store and heads for the bakery a few doors down. She tries a few polite greetings on the people she passes, receives only curt nods or stilted smiles in response and eventually casts her gaze down towards the word wooden boards beneath her feet until she reaches her destination. She's out of view for a while then, but if Kara concentrates she can hear the hushed voices of the patrons inside.
"--the Luthor girl."
"Must be nice being born with a silver spoon."
"I bet that dress cost more than a month of my Da's wages."
"--won't even look us in the eye."
She's not surprised to see the stiff set of the girl's shoulders as she leaves, bags of baked goods in her hands.
What she is surprised by is the hot surge of anger that swells within her at the scene.
"I just don't think it's right, Eliza." Jeremiah Danvers' voice has always been easily heard through the floorboards of the bedroom Kara shares with Alex. Maybe it's something about the deep baritone of it, unable to be hushed even when words are whispered. "We've worked this land. Our hands are stained with the dirt of it, the dirt stained with our sweat. It's part of us and vice versa. We've all worked hard to make this town what it is. Why should they be allowed to buy up the earth we've cultivated and try to stamp out those who've come before them."
"Maybe you're looking at it the wrong way." The ever-rational Eliza Danvers likes to look for the best in people before assuming the worst. It's one of the things Kara loves most about her. "Maybe all they want is a place to call their own, just like we did. Why judge them by their wealth before their character? What if that wealth turns out to be a blessing? Brings more people to town and helps us grow into-"
"We don't need to grow, Eliza! This town was fine the way it was. We don't need the Luthors' help to do anything."
"God, it's the same damn conversation every time." These words come to Kara from across the room, from Alex's bed. "I wish they'd shut up about it."
"I don't understand why he hates them so much. Maybe they're here to help make things better." Kara can't help but wonder aloud and a scoff reaches towards her from the shadows.
"You would say that."
The next time something needs picking up from town, Kara makes herself scarce and watches from the field as Alex reverses the truck out to the road and takes off in a cloud of dust.
"Alex?" Kara enters the barn as dusk is settling down around the farm. The big wooden doors creak to announce her arrival even before she speaks, but neither garner a response. Kara considers turning around and just going back to the house, but she has a stubborn streak too and sometimes she can wield it as well as her sister. "I know you're in here, I can hear you."
"You aren't supposed to do that." Alex's voice lashes out from somewhere near the back stalls. "Mom said. It's not fair."
"I wasn't doing anything," Kara protests, truthfully. "It's not my fault you're noisy." She hears Alex huff, hears a low "whatever" and could take that as her cue to leave, but doesn't. She has things to say and she doesn't care if Alex doesn't want to hear them, she needs to get them off her chest. "Can we talk?"
"Isn't that what we're doing?" But it's always a challenge with Alex.
"Fine." Kara makes her way further into the barn, pausing to stroke the noses of the horses in the stalls as she goes. "I'm sorry," she says, fingers drifting over soft skin and stubbly hair. "I know your life was easier without me and that things were better for you before I got here, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for ruining the life you had." Her feet kick up discarded stalks of hay and straw as she walks, catching bits of gravel that scrape along the dirt. Her heart feels like it's being squeezed and there are tears in her eyes that she's trying so desperately to stop from falling. "But you've made my life so much better. You, and Jeremiah and Eliza. I had nothing before they took me in. I was scared and alone and they made me feel like I was wanted. That I was safe. Part of a family again. But I never wanted my being here to take those feelings away from you."
She comes to a stop before reaching the end stall. She can see Alex inside, her back to Kara, sitting on a stool while she inspects one of the shoes of the horse in there with her. She's motionless at that moment, horse gently snuffling as she holds its hoof in her lap.
"I didn't ask to be sent to Earth," Kara continues, eyes closing as she remembers those final moments with her parents on Krypton. "But I'm so glad that this is where I landed. That your parents were the ones to find me and take me in. Give me a home." She wipes away an errant tear and is sure she hears Alex sniffing around a few of her own. "Give me a sister."
Alex does look at her now. Turns her head to look at Kara over her shoulder, eyes shining in the dim candlelight, an unreadable expression on her face.
"I don't want to be a burden or an annoyance. I just..." Kara takes a deep breath and exhales noisily before gathering her bravery and finishing with, "I just really want to be your sister."
Silence, heavy and agonising, and then….
"Can you bring me the hoofpick?" A shaky sigh from where Alex sits. "I could use a hand with this."
And Kara's smile is watery and wide.
It's Kara's fault. She isn't paying attention. She's looking at Alex as they stroll together along the uneven boardwalk and listening to her tell a story about a time she got the small swather stuck in the field after a heavy rain.
She isn't paying one iota of attention to her surroundings. Isn't watching where she's going or where other people are coming from.
And that's how she ends up colliding with someone coming out of a store on her right, passing by the open door right as someone is exiting through it. Kara feels the impact but doesn't budge, though does let out a yelp of surprise and turns in time to see the person fall to the ground. A handful of small paper bags scatter in all directions and an entire loaf of bread slides out of one of them and into the dirt road.
"Oh my gosh," Kara gasps, "I'm so sorry. I didn't-" She pivots on a heel and is automatically reaching down to help the person up before blue-green eyes seem to freeze her in place. "-see… you."
Something inside her chest constricts, squeezes all of the air out of her lungs and leaves her breathless.
It's her.
Up close, she's beautiful. Almost regal, in a way. The rise of her cheekbones and line of her jaw. Kara's eyes flicker across the young woman's face, trying to take in every feature, each small, breath-taking detail, but there isn't enough time.
Absently, Kara wonders if there ever would be, even if she were given the entire world's supply.
"That's alright." Her voice snaps Kara back to attention and she realises the woman is already picking herself up, as Kara's offered hand hangs uselessly half way between them.
"Here, let me…." She closes her fingers around a slender wrist and then reaches out to take the other woman's hand in hers. Kara helps her to her feet as Alex bends to collect the bags that had been dropped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't-"
"Really, it's fine. I clearly wasn't looking where I was going." Her voice is different, Kara notes. Sounds different from the ones she's grown up around and gotten used to over the years. "Mother's always telling me to keep my head out of the clouds." A small laugh leaves her lips and Kara's gaze drops for an instant before returning.
Her hair is ebony black.
Kara can smell her perfume.
Her wrist feels smaller than Kara's own.
The skin of her hand is so soft, but there's a certain strength hiding beneath her grip.
"Here, you dropped these."
Paper bags are suddenly thrust between them and Kara follows the line of the outstretched arm until she finds Alex at the end of it and all at once things crash back to earth. The sounds of the town that had somehow disappeared rush back in to fill the silence and the space between them, forcing them apart. Kara lets go and the woman takes the bags with a quiet thank you, then ducks her head and takes off towards the General Store.
"You know, you should really practice falling when someone walks into you. Even just a light swaying," Alex jokes. Kara turns to answer and spots the forgotten loaf of bread still lying in the street.
"Yeah, I'll get right on that."
The freshly baked loaf sits beside her on the bench seat of the truck, bouncing a little in its paper wrapping all the way into town and rolling forwards and back along the well worn material as she comes to a stop. She picks it up and slips out of the truck before she can convince herself to do otherwise and blocks out the sound of her own voice as it starts to fill her head.
There's a bell above the door and it jingles as she enters, announcing her arrival. The lingering smell of fresh paint clings to the walls and the shelves are neatly stacked with everything the average townsman might need. It's nice and tidy, but empty of other people. Still, the man behind the counter flashes her a wide smile as she approaches, as though unbothered and unworried by the lack of patrons.
"And a very good morning to you, my dear." He's older, bald beneath his bowler hat, and Kara recognises him as one of the two men she's seen appraising the outside of the building that day with Winn. "My name is Lionel. Welcome to Luthor General. "
"Thank you," Kara returns his smile with an easy one of her own and glances around. "Golly, you sure do have everything in here."
"We do try our very best." He seems warm and friendly. He seems nice. She spares a thought towards all of the bad things she's heard people say about him, his family, his business, and wonders how many of them have actually spoken to the man. "Now, how can I help you today?"
Ah. The unforeseen rub; how to explain why she's here without sounding entirely too strange.
"Oh." She stalls, worrying her lower lip. "I uh, actually I was looking for-" she doesn't even know her name, "-someone."
He raises his eyebrows in surprise, then brings them back down with an amused smile and says, "While I do endeavor to keep a variety of things in stock, I'm afraid we don't sell those." He chuckles and, after a moment's awkwardness, Kara does too, and then the door behind him opens.
And out she walks to steal Kara's breath from her for a second time in a week.
"Ah, Lena, there you are." Lionel lifts a clipboard off the counter and hands it to the girl, to Lena, who takes it without looking because her eyes are drawn elsewhere. "Mr and Mrs Lord's standing order is due this afternoon. Would you finish gathering the rest of the things on the list?"
She's looking at Kara.
"Of course." Lena's tone betrays nothing of the surprise Kara can see colouring her features and Lionel doesn't seem to notice anything at all. Simply turns back to Kara as if to finish their conversation.
As if Kara's world hadn't just slid sideways a little bit without warning or expectation and, apparently, entirely unfelt by anyone else.
"Now, where were we, Miss…." Lionel probes, bringing Kara's attention back to him.
"Kara," she says, then blanches, quickly correcting herself. "I mean, Danvers. Kara Danvers." Then pushes on and takes a step towards the other girl before she can think to do otherwise. "I was actually looking for you." Sea-green eyes blink widely at her. "I don't know if you remember me, but I-"
"I remember." Lena's gaze is unflinching and curious, and Kara finds herself drawn forward again.
"The other day in the street, after you left, I noticed the loaf that had fallen into the dirt. And since it was my fault," she extends the paper wrapped parcel out into the space between them, "I thought it only right that I replace it."
"Oh, you didn't have to-"
"I wanted to," Kara rushes to assure her. "I did bake it myself though, so I can only hope it comes halfway close to Mrs Noonan's."
Their fingers brush as Lena takes the gift and Kara feels something electric expand inside her.
"Thank you, Kara."
And even her name sounds pretty falling from her lips.
Church is something Kara and Alex attend because it's expected of them. It's what Sundays are for and if it means a morning out of the fields, they're happy to take it. The entire town attends, packs into the small steepled building on the hill for an hour or two; it's routine. Always the same.
Until the first time the Luthor family decided to attend.
Nasty, hushed whispers that hadn't quite been quiet enough had filled a space usually reserved for sermons that preached about how one should love thy neighbour, thy fellow man, and the sickening irony of it was not lost on Kara. And it would have been far easier for the Luthors to leave that day, to then stay away from the harsh judgements of the congregation, but they had returned the week after, and the week after that. They've been there every week since and Kara admires the tenacity that must take. The bold braveness.
"It's stubbornness." People say, despite their pastor's attempts to teach them kindness through the words of their God. "They delight in making everyone uncomfortable."
Kara can't help but wonder if maybe they just want to feel like they belong.
After a few weeks, people finally stop murmuring whenever they arrive, but there's a tension that lingers for far, far longer.
There's a town-wide celebration at the end of every harvest season. There's a bonfire and cookouts, and everyone is invited.
Even the Luthors.
It isn't an olive branch, but the Luthor's attend as though it is and Kara watches throughout the night as Lionel and his wife, Lillian, attempt to make conversation with their neighbours. For the most part, Kara sees polite interaction, but nothing that suggests any long term friendships might be formed.
The son - Kara thinks his name is Alexander - has somehow managed to work his way into a friendship group of his own despite his family's reputation. She sees him standing center stage, a group of young men encircling him as he talks animatedly about something Kara doesn't care to hear. She's not really interested in him.
It takes longer than she'd like, but she does eventually find Lena in the crowd.
She's keeping to herself, sitting near the bonfire, perhaps in an effort to stave off the nipping breeze that slices through the gathering every so often. Or maybe it's because no one else is currently sitting fireside.
Until Kara drops down into the deckchair beside her.
Lena jumps and Kara realises she must have been lost in thought.
"Sorry," she says, face twisting into an apologetic grimace. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's…." Lena trails off, tucking the hair she's left down today behind her ear before crossing her arms and leaning forwards, a little closer to the fire. "I was miles away."
"Anywhere fun?" Kara makes a show of glancing pointedly around them, silently expressing that anywhere other than where they currently are would have to be better. Lena laughs, the tilt of her head conveying agreement, but then her expression becomes shadowed. Distant again.
"No," she sighs. "Not really."
There's a moment of heavy silence then. Kara shifts awkwardly in her chair.
"Sorry, do," their eyes meet and Kara's words trip over themselves, "do you, um… should I go?"
"It's your town." Lena lifts her shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. "You can sit where you like." It's a melancholy reply, but it isn't a dismissal.
"Well then, I want to sit right here." She offers up a smile and, slowly, almost trepidatiously, gets one in return. "Sorry, I'm-" Kara reaches out with her hand and Lena laughs her off before she can finish.
"I know who you are, Kara." Lena's smile widens. "You don't have to keep introducing yourself." She ducks her head. "I remember." And shakes it with a chuckle. "You're… memorable."
Kara's body flares hotter than the fire in front of them and her grin threatens to overtake her face.
"Oh," she sounds a little breathless but can't bring herself to care. "Thank you." Then wishes the earth would open up to swallow her.
But Lena just laughs through an amused, "you're welcome."
And the rest of the night passes by them unnoticed. They're alone together at that fire, as if the other people of the town had been put on mute or blipped out of existence while they talked and didn't talk and sat and smiled.
"So," Alex says, later, when they're in their beds and darkness has long ago crept into the room they share.
Blinking up at the ceiling, body still buzzing, Kara doesn't say anything. Isn't sure what would leave her mouth to fill the ensuing silence if she tried.
"You were with her all night." It isn't an accusation. More than anything, Alex sounds curious. "I just turned around and you were gone. I thought you'd left at first. Gone back home without us." Alex clicks her tongue and continues on, "And then I saw you."
"I just wanted to say hi," Kara rushes to defend. "She looked lonely." Somewhere in the darkness Alex hums, but it doesn't sound convinced. "I just… want to get to know her, I guess. No one else seems to want to get to know her."
"Okay," Alex gives in, but adds a quiet, "but be careful."
Lena feels like she's worth knowing, is what Kara doesn't say.
Jeremiah would never allow it. Would never allow any sort of fledgling friendship to even inch towards getting its wings.
And it's for that reason that Kara lies to her adoptive parents for the very first time. It makes her feel sick to her stomach but the belief that there really is no other way soothes her slightly.
A book club, she tells them. Some of the other girls in town had decided to get together once a week to discuss whatever book they'd decided on. It would be a chance for Kara to make some new friends, help her feel a little more like she belonged. She'd be careful, would make her own way there and back and it wouldn't cost them anything in gas.
They couldn't really refuse.
So, they didn't.
Kara waits behind the oak tree at the end of Luthor property, peaking around the side of it to admire the large, white house with the pillars out front and a vehicle Kara doesn't even recognise the model of parked in the driveway.
"It's beautiful," Kara tells Lena as they take off down the narrow dirt path across the road that leads into the trees.
"I suppose." Lena frowns then, glancing behind them. "Where did you park?"
"Oh, it's fine." Kara tries to shrug and shake her head at the same time. "I didn't have to walk far."
It turns out, neither do they.
They follow the beam of Lena's flashlight and are ensconced inside a thicket of trees within a minute or two. Then they walk in silence for a short while until they find a spot that's partly open to the sky overhead, allowing some illumination into the darkness.
"You didn't want to stay at yours?" Kara ventures, taking a seat on the mossy fallen trunk of a tree.
"Sometimes I need to…" Lena tapers off, licks her lips as she considers her words. "Escape." It's an interesting choice and Kara says as much. Lena looks at her, through her, and Kara shivers in the slight breeze. "Don't you ever feel like you need to get away? Like you… belong somewhere else?"
Kara stares at her silently for what feels like an age.
"Yeah."
Book Club is a success that first week. It's a success the week after and the week after that, and even Jeremiah and Eliza have commented on how much happier she seems. Ask if it's because she's making new friends, if she's finding somewhere she fits in.
Kara beams and tells them yes, trying to ignore the guilt that's niggling at her because technically it isn't a lie.
Alex eyes her from across the room but doesn't say anything until later, when they're alone mucking out the stables. Well, Kara is mucking them out as payment for Alex's continued silence. She doesn't mind, doesn't think Alex would tell on her now even if she refused.
"They'd never believe it if it were me, you know." Alex points out from her perch up in the hayloft. She doesn't sound annoyed though, more impressed. She snorts and Kara sees a flash of movement in her periphery as her sister throws herself backwards into the hay with a snort. "I can't believe they haven't noticed you're never actually reading any books."
The thing is, a true and proper friend is something that has evaded Kara since she arrived in town. At first, she thought it was because she was the new girl. The stranger from Elsewhere that had arrived under mysterious circumstances and assimilated seamlessly into the Danvers household. Questions posed to her adoptive parents were met with simple answers that became stilted the more they were asked.
The whispers at school stalled any attempts at friendship until Winn, an oddball himself, had sat beside her one day. He sat beside her every day after that, too. But even he, as kind and lovely as he is, wants more from her than she is willing to give and that raises a barrier between them. Standing tall and invisible, but felt nonetheless.
With Lena, the total lack of barrier feels almost dangerous to Kara. Like their burgeoning friendship is a cliff edge that she'll fall over if she gets too close. Still, it pulls at her. The promise of such a thrill tugging her towards the drop inch by inch. She wants to get closer. Wants to leap. Wants to fly.
She wonders if Lena feels it too. That same irrepressible pull. Wonders if that's why Lena's eyes linger on her; maybe she's waiting to see if Kara will jump.
"A scientist?"
They're lying on a bank in a field behind Lena's house and the grass tickles the back of Kara's neck when she turns her head to look at Lena side-on. Her profile is pensive, features tight for a second at the note of surprise in Kara's voice. She watches as Lena processes, the cogs and gears turning her mind playing shadows across her face, until she understands that it's a happy note of surprise, not one of disbelief.
"Yes," Lena admits in a whisper. "More than anything."
"So do it." It can't be a lack of money that's stopping her, Kara ponders silently. The Luthors could afford to send Lena to any school in the country.
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
A few seconds of silence pass and then the wind seems to change, moving them along its breeze.
"My father loves me but he doesn't… see me." Lena's voice is somewhat shaky, uneven. " He's too busy pouring all of his attention and unfulfilled dreams and desires into my brother. Lex is brilliant, I admit. More than intelligent enough for our fathers' lofty aspirations." It's bitterness causing her words to tremble. Skimming them like a rock across a usually calm lake. "He's been called a genius while I've been called to help behind the cash register." They're biting, like a snake, leeching venom that hurts both the speaker and those around her. "I'm smarter than him and he knows it. That's why he keeps to himself, away from me. So I can't prove it. Show him up. As if I'd expend that kind of mental energy on him."
She's hurting. Kara sees that plain as day and she wants so desperately to help somehow. Her arms ache and itch, wanting to reach out. She has to clench her fists to remain still, lying in the grass beside her friend who deserves so much better.
"I'm sorry. It's… awful that they treat you like that." It makes Kara angry in a way that's unlike anything she's ever felt before. "I'm sorry they don't see how amazing you are." She rolls onto her side and lifts her arm, propping her head on it as she looks down. "But, for what it's worth, I think you're going to do great things. You're meant for so much more than this, Lena. I really believe that." Then, whispering like the wind, "You're special."
Lena's eyes flick to hers and Kara sees her throat bob as she swallows hard.
"I think you're special, too."
"I'm just a farmer's daughter," Kara chuckles, fond and flattered, but unconvinced.
"No," Lena insists, her gaze like a lead weight, pinning Kara in place. "You're so much more than that. That's what *I* believe."
And then maybe. Just maybe….
With the promise of returning it with a full tank of gas, Kara is allowed to take the truck. Lena is already at the end of her driveway waiting when Kara rounds the bend and the big, white house comes into view. Kara pulls over, engine still running, and reaches along the bench to open the passenger door. Lena climbs in, grins at her.
"Where to?" Kara asks, head resting against the back of the seat and tilted towards Lena, who shrugs like she doesn't care. Like Kara could take her to the manure pit and she'd be happy about it.
"Surprise me," she says.
Kara sits up, thinks for a moment, hands flexing against the steering wheel.
"Okay."
They spend fifteen minutes driving in the dark with only the headlights of Jeremiah's truck to guide them. Lena never asks where they're going. She's closer to Kara now, though Kara hasn't once seen her move, and sits in the middle of the bench seat. Their arms could brush if Kara let them. She can feel the static electricity occupying the thin slip of space still separating them. It's maddening and wonderful.
She's taken them beyond the outskirts of town and along a winding road that climbs towards the peak of Copper's Hill. The truck chugs along all the way to the top and Kara's proud to have only stalled once by the time they're leveled out on flat earth. She turns the key in the ignition and everything falls silent. Kara opens her door and steps out. Wordlessly, Lena follows, and after a few paces, they stop and stare at the sight laid out like a blanket before them.
The lights of the houses shine like pinpricks of starlight through a black veil in the valley below. Stationary fireflies, bedding down for the night. It's pretty and picturesque, and Kara has come here often to sit and think, and put things into perspective. To clear her head, feel at peace.
Escape.
"You said you wanted to sometimes." Kara glances sidelong at Leah, who looks out towards the sleepy town, an unreadable expression on her face. And Kara is about to say something else, but whatever it is falls out of her head when she feels Lena's fingers slide between her own. Lena doesn't look at her. Just settles her hand in Kara's and then lets out a sigh.
Kara's eyes are drawn down by the warmth spreading from her palm, winding around her wrist and along her arm. Over her shoulder and then south where it blooms inside her chest. Unfurling like flower petals.
"Thank you," Lena breathes into the quiet night, gaze still set until the gentle tug of Kara's hand turns her easily and then they're looking at each other.
Kara's feet slip against the earth beneath them, dirt crumbling as the edge of the cliff starts to fall away.
And with a surge of untethered longing and blind bravery, she jumps. She steps right into Lena's space and kisses her. Chaste, just a brief press of their lips, and she hears Lena's gasp over the thumping in her ears and worries.
For all of a second, before Lena leaps after her. Tangles her fingers in Kara's hair and holds on as they fall together, into the kind of perfectly inelegant kiss that youth is known for. Their teeth clash and their noses bump, and all of it goes unnoticed beyond the veil of excited delight surrounding them. The breathy giggles and pops of electricity.
Finally easing back a little, Kara presses their foreheads together with a contented hum and blinks open heavy lids.
It's her own gasp that leaves her then, sharp and loud.
"Keep your eyes closed," she rushes to say, snaking an arm around Lena's waist and pulling her in tight. Lena starts to laugh but it breaks off before it can really start with Kara's next word. "Please." She can't hide the panic in her voice. Can't move them both without giving herself away. Can't ignore the way that Lena is asking what's wrong, if she's okay. There's only one way out and that's down. Kara takes a deep breath, gets ready to dive. "Do you remember when you said I was special?" She keeps her eyes open and feels Lena's brow furrow against her own. Feels her nod. "Do you… do you still believe that?"
"Even more than I did when I first said it." Her response is so simple and said with such ease that Kara wonders if it can possibly be true. Lena brushes their noses, huffs impatiently and says, "Kara… just kiss me again."
Somehow, she resists, but disentangles their fingers and slides her hand up along the back of Lena's neck, resting it there as if she's about to bring her forward against her lips once more.
"Do you trust me?" Tremulous, afraid.
"Of course I do." Unwavering and sure.
"Okay," Kara's heartrate spikes at her own words and she feels a little like she can't draw in a proper breath. "Okay then, open your eyes but please… just remember that when you do."
Before they open, Lena is smiling the kind of half-smile that's normally reserved for Kara when she does something silly and is about to be playfully admonished.
But then Kara is looking into pools of ocean-green and has to watch as that smile slips. Watches it fall between their bodies and continue the few feet that separate them from the ground. Feels it smash into pieces when it's replaced by a frantic look of fear.
"Please don't scream."
Lena's fingers twist into the material stretched across Kara's shoulders, a wild look in her eyes.
"What is happening?"
"We're floating."
"How are we floating, Kara?" Her grip tightens.
"I want to tell you but I don't want you to be afraid of me." Kara's voice sounds weak and broken even to her own ears. "Please, Lena…" her breath hitches, catching painfully in her throat, "please don't be afraid of me."
Then, like dusk settling, everything calms. Lena's expression softens and Kara sees the efforts she makes to try and gather herself before lifting a hand to cup Kara's cheek. Places a painfully tender kiss against her lips and says over Kara's small sob, "I could never."
Kara sniffles, feels hot tears spill onto her cheeks.
"Hold on," she tells Lena before slowly lowering them. Once they touch down, Lena pulls away but doesn't go far. Her face is a mixture of disbelief and confusion, as though she's being presented with a scientific impossibility. "You know that-that I'm adopted." A nod. "When I tell people I'm not from here…." she gestures towards the town, forgotten below them. "What I leave out is that I'm not from here." She lifts her hands as she speaks, holding them out with her palms flat and facing the grass as she lowers them down towards the earth beneath their feet. "I am so sorry I didn't tell you before now."
Lena gapes at her. Starts to speak and then stops.
"Why didn't you?" She eventually manages, looking a little wounded but still doesn't move away.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I'm… supposed to hide. To keep myself safe. To keep Jeremiah, Eliza, and Alex safe. There are less than a handful of people on this entire planet that know who I really am." Taking a risk, Kara extends a hand to take Lena's in her own. Squeezes it when Lena lets her hold it. "And I wanted so badly for you to be one of them. And now you are. I hope…" Kara shakes her head, feeling helpless as more tears follow the tracks on her cheeks. "I hope you're okay with that."
It's an eternity between the end of Kara's sentence and when Lena reaches for her, but Lena does reach for her. Brushes the dampness from her cheeks and holds her close.
The calmness from earlier returns to Kara, who closes her eyes and breathes Lena in, and hears, "I knew you were special" whispered into her ear.