Chapter Text
Lena sat alone in her office, absentmindedly swirling whiskey around in a lowball glass. A computer was spread across her glass desk, hardware removed from its casing and further deconstructed. A soldering iron sat in its stand on the far corner of her desk, unplugged and cooling. Lena eyed the bits and pieces of electronics scattered across her desk as she thought.
It had been hours since Jess had gone home and several more since she had asked the woman to clear her schedule for the next day. She needed time to think about what she wanted to do with the research she had recovered from her mother’s Cadmus project.
Destroying most of the files had been a simple decision and was quickly done, but that wasn’t what nagged at her. There was one more problem, one more thing that she had to talk to Supergirl about first.
Or Kara, Lena supposed. Even before she had gotten access to her mother’s files, she had already known that the innocent-looking reporter that routinely visited her was also the savior of the city. She wasn’t mad that her only friend hadn’t told her, a little sad maybe, but not mad. She understood.
Just as she was musing, there was a soft knock at the door.
“It’s Kara,” said a familiar voice. Kara opened the door just enough to stick her head into the room. “I’m sorry I haven’t called you or anything in a while, it’s just that I-“
“It’s fine, Kara,” Lena said quickly, cutting off the other woman. “I actually needed some time alone.”
“Oh.” Kara fought hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She had wanted to visit Lena first thing when she got back from Barry’s earth, but she was willing to wait if Lena needed time.
“But I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Lena continued, hoping to quell any distress in her friend. She paused for a moment before finishing. “It’s about my mother– Lillian’s – project.”
“What about it?” Kara asked, finally fully letting herself into the office space.
Lena motioned for her to sit on the couch, taking the time between closing her laptop and joining Kara to think over her words. How do you just tell someone something that big?
“We have a child,” she blurted out after she sat down. Great going, Lena, she thought to herself.
“We have- what?” Kara stammered. “We have a chi- this is a joke, right?”
“To clarify, we have a fetus,” Lena replied. “But no, it isn’t a joke.” She sounded a lot calmer than she was.
“A fetus?” Kara’s face reddened. “I still don’t- I’ve only been – we haven’t even had sex, not that I’d be opposed, but how?”
“My mother fused Supergirl's and my own genetics together,” Lena began. She saw more than felt her hands and fingers gesturing in her lower peripheral vision.
"Supergirl's?" Kara asked dumbly. "Yours and... and Supergirl's?"
"Meaning yours and mine." Lena briefly looked away from Kara and took a deep breath before looking back.
Kara was stunned. Words seemed like they were trying to come out but no sound passed her moving lips.
"I know you're Supergirl, Kara," Lena continued. Kara promptly closed her mouth.
Minutes passed.
“So we have…” Kara fumbled, trying to find the right words, “a baby?”
“Not quite.” Lena sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. The conversation was going much better than she was expecting, but it was still stressful. “She’s almost to term. Mother and her team managed to stabilize her genome and age her rapidly. She’s perfectly healthy for a human-Kryptonian blend. “
“I have a daughter?” The question came out so softly Lena also didn’t hear it. There was a small glimmer in Kara's eyes and Lena realized that the woman looked like she was about to cry.
“…Yes,” Lena answered tentatively, hoping it was the answer Kara wanted to hear, but then started backtracking when she realized it might not be. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I can -”
“I can have a family?” Kara’s face broke out into a smile and Lena found herself relaxing. “I have a daughter!”
Lena was taken by surprise when Kara suddenly shot up, picking Lena up by her waist, laughing and spinning her around. Just as suddenly, she was dropped back onto the couch while Kara started pacing and rambling.
“Oh Rao, we have to get a crib and everything. What if she has my super strength, how did Kal’s parents handle that? Oh no, what if I’m not a good mom?"
Lena watched, amused, as Kara thought aloud about everything needed for a baby. Cribs, babysitters, the DEO- which Lena assumed was the agency Agent Danvers was actually working for-, and so many other things that spilled out from Kara so quickly that it was barely intelligible. She caught wind of something about cost and was about to offer her own money when Kara stopped.
The blonde turned to Lena, fear and doubt prominent in her eyes.
“Do… do you want her?” Kara half-stuttered out.
Then it was Lena’s turn to stop.
She had spent the last few days wondering how to tell Kara that she hadn’t even considered her own thoughts about the child- her child? Sure, she had domestic fantasies including the woman in front of her, but this was so sudden and they weren’t even in a relationship. She looked away from Kara and found a blank space of wall to stare at while she thought, not even realizing that more than a few seconds had passed without her saying anything.
“I’ll take care of her on my own!” Kara nearly shouted, shocking Lena out of her reverie. “You don’t need to do anything, I shouldn’t have expected to suddenly have a relationship with you and be our own little family and… and…” Kara’s voice drifted off as she struggled to find words to say.
“I- I want her,” Lena stuttered out when Kara settled. “S-she deserves a family.”
So maybe Lena was terrified out of her mind about this. Maybe having a baby with someone she had only known for a few months was a terrible and crazy idea. Maybe a Super and a Luthor working together to raise a baby wasn't the safest plan. But the baby was hers. The baby was hers and she just lost another family and to hell with it and bad ideas she was not going to let her baby lose a family too.
Lena's more confident when she said it again.
"She deserves a family."
//
Lena led Kara down to the lab where the baby was kept. The building was devoid of others and their footsteps echoed through the hall as they walked to the elevator and then once again as they walked to the lab. Lena leads Kara down a hall off to the side from the other labs with big glass windows and opened a door that was missing the white label the other labs had.
The lab was much smaller than the other ones in the L-Corp building. Bereft of any other equipment, the room only contained a pod-like incubator that emitted a soft yellow glow. Lena opted to leave the lights off in favor of letting the incubator illuminate the room.
The incubator was small, standing only about three feet high. It was like a glass tube almost completely encased by metal aside from a small window to peer inside. Through the window was a small form, suspended in yellow liquid.
Kara knelt in front of it, brushing her fingertips along the glass window. Her touch was gentle, as if she was afraid she could break it or hurt the baby behind it. From behind Kara, Lena watched as the baby squirmed at the touch.
“Hush hush, little one,” Kara whispered, fingers still stroking the glass. “I’m your mama, sweetheart, and I’m going to take such good care of you.”
Kara turned her head and looked at Lena. She gently took Lena’s hand and guided her to her knees next to Kara in front of the incubator.
“This is your other mama,” Kara continued, looking Lena right in the eyes like she was willing her to participate. Hesitantly, Lena raised her hand to the glass as well.
“I’m going to love you,” she began. She looked at Kara who nodded at her to keep going. “We’re going to love you so much.”
//
Lena had offered for them to go back up to the office but Kara had been adamant about staying near their baby. They had ended up removing some of the more comfortable chairs from a nearby conference room to sit near the incubator instead.
“So, what are we?” Kara asked while continued stroking the glass window.
“What do you mean?”
“We have a baby together, right?” Lena nodded. “And we’re going to raise her together?” Another nod. “So what does that make us?”
“Parents,” Lena said easily, not thinking much on it.
“We’re not going to be… involved?” Kara asked. Lena could see Kara’s ears tinting red, even in the low lighting.
“Do you want to be involved?” Lena wanted to be involved. Sure, she had pictured going on a date or two, then asking Kara to be here girlfriend instead, but she could roll with the punches life hit her with. And this time, the punch was a possible new family after losing her old one so this was a much better punch than previous ones had been.
“If you want to be,” Kara said, refusing to give a definite answer or make eye contact with Lena.
“I want to be," Lena said, trying to sound casual. This was definitely not how she pictured it happening.
“So we’re involved now, like, romantically,” Kara said, nodding to herself. “Maybe I’m a baby in too late to ask this, but do you want to go on a date with me?”
“You’d be surprised how long I’ve been waiting for you to ask that," Lena laughed. "For the record, that's a 'yes'."