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Lena Luthor was used to not getting a lot of sleep. Her secretary was often absolutely shocked by her boss’s almost supernatural abilities; she would stay up until three in the morning working, then waltz in at eight, a spring in her step and a smile on her face. Even taking into account the coffee she always had in her hand, Jess could not fathom it.
On this morning, however, Lena walked in a considerably more appropriate mood, given the late nights.
“...Long night?” She asked politely, as Lena walked past her desk. Lena stopped, hand on the door handle. She sighed.
“Jess, I think I have two soulmates,” Lena confessed. Jess’s eyebrows shot up.
“Wait, what?”
She tried to school her face into a more neutral expression before Lena looked at her, and mostly succeeded. Lena turned around.
“Do you know what she has been singing this morning? Do you want to know what has been playing over and over again in my head for the past forty minutes?”
Jess blinked. “Um, do you want me to guess Miss Luthor, or--”
“Pink Floyd. Guns and Roses. Some sort of heavy metal rock I don’t even recognize. I hate rock. I mean, my soulmate’s tastes have never been anywhere close to mine, but never this.”
Jess blinked. “But why do you think there are two?”
“Because it just stopped and now all she’s singing is Taylor Swift. People do not just--just sing rock music for an hour and then do nothing but sing Love Story. This has been happening all week.”
Lena rubbed her temples, sighing again. “I’m sorry, Jess, I really shouldn’t be burdening you with all my complaints.”
“...It’s okay, Miss Luthor, really.”
People usually did not just casually talk about their songs with other people; it was a conversation usually reserved for family and close friends. But Jess had always had the feeling, considering that she scheduled all of her boss’s appointments (no casual lunches; nothing but business meeting after business meeting), that she didn’t have many friends to confide in. Besides, what secretary didn’t occasionally also have the job of listening to their boss complain?
“Did you schedule that phone call from Wayne Enterprises?”
“Yes, nine o’clock.”
“Good, thank you.”
She finally walked into her office, Jess going back to her computer. Lena practically collapsed in her chair.
“Ugh, why?”
She could not understand it; she didn’t seriously think that she had two different people singing in her brain, but still...something had changed. Something was making her soulmate, like clockwork, sing hard rock and punk in the mornings and late afternoons, and pop music at all other hours of the day. Some sort of professional singer? She had suspected it for awhile; her soulmate sang so much she couldn’t help but think of the possibility.
Besides, if that wasn’t the case, what the Hell was it?
***
“Take it away, Kara!” Alex shouted.
“Yeah you,” Kara hit her hand against the car’s dashboard to the beat of the song, “shook me all night long!”
Alex joined in; they opened the windows, belting ACDC out for all of National City’s rush hour traffic to hear. When the song was over Alex laughed, turning the volume back down.
“This was a really great idea,” Kara said, grinning at her sister, “we should have started carpooling years ago!”
“Well, my job wasn’t in the same direction as CatCo years ago,” Alex pointed out.
“Still. And I didn't know you still have the same taste in music you had when you were going through your ‘rebel’ phase.’”
“Well, they're good songs,” Alex answered. She skipped through her playlist. “How about Def Leppard?”
“Sure! Do Pour Some Sugar On Me.”
Kara started singing along again.
“Kara, you realize you never stop singing?”
Kara leaned back in her seat with a small smile. “I like singing,” she answered, “and--I don’t know, Alex, I just think it’s important. I want my soulmate to know I’m out there.”
Alex smiled, reaching over to affectionately ruffle her sister’s hair. Kara squirmed away in her seat. “Well, do they sing, too?”
Kara blinked. She frowned a little, tilting her head as she considered the question.
“I mean...not really,” Kara answered, “or like...I don’t get words stuck in my head?”
“What does that mean?”
“Well like--like right now, it’s sort of a,” Kara hummed. Alex turned the sound down.
“...Kara, that sounds kind of like Mozart.”
“Mozart…?”
Alex searched it on her phone. “A little night music, see?”
She played it, and Kara gave a little gasp.
“That’s it!” She exclaimed, “so they...listen to classical music?”
“Apparently.”
“Oh, wow! That’s so interesting,” Kara continued blithely, “what if they’re a musician? I bet they like, play piano for an orchestra. Or maybe they’re a conductor. It’d be so cool if they are.”
“Well, that’s more interesting than my soulmate,” Alex said.
“She hasn’t been singing lately, huh?”
“No. I mean...last time was a couple of weeks ago. I think it was ‘Happy Birthday.’”
Alex stopped in front of Kara’s apartment building. Kara put a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Sorry, Alex.”
“...Honestly it could be worse. She could sing way too much,” she smirked at Kara, “like you.”
“Hey!”
“Hey, yourself,” Alex hit Kara’s upper arm playfully, “I got to get home. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
Kara got out of the car. “See you!”
She bent back in, giving Alex a tight hug before she drove away.
So Kara sang a lot. She loved music; it wasn’t like she was purposefully singing everything. It was just fun. And she meant what she said. It was good for her soulmate, whoever they were, to know that Kara was out there. Surely they liked knowing that.
She reached into her pocket, grabbing her phone and headphones. Kara would sing along to anything--there wasn’t a song she hadn’t been able to find something to like in it yet--but she was not ashamed to say that she liked pop music. There was a reason the genre was short for popular after all.
***
“...Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
Lena rolled over in bed, grabbing a pillow and covering her ears. It didn’t help. And she knew it wouldn’t help, but what was she supposed to do? Lie away while her mind tortured her?
'Cause baby now we got bad blood
You know it used to be mad love
So take a look at what you've done
'Cause baby now we got bad blood
(Hey) Now we got problems--
“WE DO HAVE PROBLEMS!” Lena exclaimed, sitting up. She got out of bed, walking to her computer and putting on some music. Sometimes listening to her own music helped. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata had helped her to drown out the lyrics in her head before.
But it was so late. What kind of person was still singing Taylor Swift songs after midnight? Was she in a different timezone than her? Was that it?
But that didn’t explain why it happened randomly at all hours, when Lena was in meetings, when Lena was trying to get work done, when she was just trying to go to sleep after a long day, dammit!
Now, Lena knew her soulmate was probably not doing this on purpose to annoy her. Why would she?
But Lena was also a bit petty.
And very tired.
It was not a good combination.
Lena was fortunate enough not to turn out bad, given her family, but after growing up with them, who could blame her for being a little passive aggressive?
“That is it.”
She grabbed her laptop, searching youtube. She scoured song after song, trying to find the perfect one. When she hit on it, a devious smile stretched across her face.
“Oh, I will show you how it feels…”
***
Alex didn’t think much of it at first.
Kara hopped in the car, and Alex turned on her playlist of songs. Kara was tapping her hand against the dashboard to the beat, as always. But she wasn’t singing along to the song. She was singing something else.
“...Uh, Kara, what are you singing?”
“I think it’s You’re Beautiful? My soulmate has been singing it like, all morning. It’s nice to actually have lyrics in my head for once.” Kara hummed a little and kept singing softly to herself. “You’re beautiful, it’s true. I saw your face, in a crowded place, and I don’t know what to do…”
Alex turned the volume down a little and let Kara enjoy it. And the song was annoying; she wasn’t a huge fan; but Kara seemed to like it, and Alex wasn’t going to drown her out. That’d be unfair.
Then Kara got back in the car singing Justin Bieber.
“Kara, are you singing ‘Baby?’”
“Maybe my soulmate is just doing, like, karaoke or something.”
“Well, your soulmate has really bad taste.”
“Hey! That isn’t true. ‘Baby’ isn’t a terrible song.”
Alex grit her teeth while Kara sang it to herself on the way home. Still, she was trying not to complain.
It was Friday night, which meant it was sister night; Alex dropped Kara off, promising to grab potstickers, and turned her radio up before she got those songs stuck in her head too.
When Alex returned with the food, and Kara was singing ‘Friday’ by Rebecca Black as they ate, Alex couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Kara, I’m sorry, stop.”
“But Alex, it’s Friday! You ‘gotta get down on--’”
Alex plucked the potsticker off of Kara’s plate with her chopsticks, holding it up in the air.
“HEY!”
Kara went after it; Alex kept it out of reach. “Promise me you’re going to stop singing that godawful song.”
“Alex, I can’t help it! The song gets stuck in my head! I don’t even realize I’m doing it!”
“I’m telling you, your soulmate is doing this on purpose!”
“Why?”
“To drive you crazy?”
“But I’m not being driven crazy. You’re the one being driven crazy.”
“Well they don’t know that!”
Kara frowned. “Alex, you’re being stupid.”
“I’m telling you, no one sings incredibly annoying songs all day for fun!”
“Then how come the video for ‘Friday’ on youtube has so many views?”
Alex lowered her arm a little.
“Come on Alex. My soulmate is not trying to annoy us with songs on purpose. Stop being paranoid and give me my potsticker.”
“...Fine.”
Alex lowered it--and took a bite. Kara gasped.
“That was mine!”
“No, we both got five. This was an extra one. So we each get half.”
Kara’s lower lip quivered. “But you always let me have the extra one…”
“Don’t give me that look, Kara, here’s your half.”
Kara popped her half in her mouth, still chewing sadly. Alex finally sighed.
“Oh my God I can’t believe you’re making me get more.”
“You’re the best sister ever!”
Alex stood up and stretched.
And, as she walked outside, she decided that when she got back, she was going to make Kara listen to some more Justin Bieber before she went home.
If she had to be annoyed, then dammit, her sister’s soulmate was going to get annoyed too.
***
Lena seemed to have inadvertently started some sort of war.
Maybe her soulmate figured out what she was doing somehow. Maybe Lena had steered her toward similar sounding music. Whatever the reason, Lena was determined to win.
She woke up in the morning to ‘Uptown Funk.’ On her way to work, Lena started singing ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ to herself. During a phone call, she could barely pay attention to what was being discussed because her soulmate apparently thought it would be a great idea to sing ‘It’s a Small World.’ Lena grit her teeth. As soon as the phone call ended, Lena grabbed her laptop. She stood up and started playing ‘Cotton Eyed Joe.’
Her soulmate decided to make it a theme and Lena spent her lunch break accosted by the Macarena. Lena hoped they didn’t mind dancing to the Cupid Shuffle.
(Well, she kind of did, but not too much.)
But during a meeting, Lena finally hit her breaking point.
It started out well. Lena was about to secure a very lucrative deal with Wayne Enterprises. All she had to do was listen to their representative and not come off as a crazy woman.
“And overall, I am happy with our projections for this quarter--”
IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME! PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!
“--Miss Luthor, are you okay? You look a bit...disturbed.”
Lena swallowed. “Fine, Mr. Stevenson, please continue.”
She needed to focus. This deal with Wayne Enterprises was massive. She couldn't be distracted by--
NOW WHERE YOU AT WHERE YOU AT WHERE YOU AT--
“OKAY YOU WIN!”
The representatives from Wayne Enterprises were staring at Lena, who had stood up and slammed her palms on the table. She swallowed. “...I accept the terms of the business agreement you laid out, is what I mean.”
She finished the meeting as quickly as possible after that.
“That's it,” Lena said to herself, “I can't take it anymore. I need help. I need this to end.”
Which was why, as soon as she stepped out of that meeting, Lena called Jess.
“Jess?”
“Yes Miss Luthor?”
“Please prepare a list of private investigators for me.”
***
Kara’s soulmate had stopped singing.
She still hummed that classical music, which was comforting at least. At least She didn't die or something. But Kara did kind of miss the lyrics.
Her doorbell rang. Kara answered it.
“Ready to go?”
“Yep!”
“You know, you really should have a license by now,” Alex said as they walked to the elevator.
“I don't need one,” Kara answered, “I live in a city with plenty of public transportation.”
“And a sister you always mooch rides off of,” Alex pointed out, pressing the ground floor button. Kara fell in step next to her.
“You like the quality time we have in the car Alex. Besides, I'm only making you drive me because I want to be sure I'm not late.”
The elevator door opened. Alex and Kara walked out to the car.
“I hope you know I'm really proud of you Kara,” Alex said, “it's really cool that they picked you to cover this event for the new Flash series.”
Kara shrugged. It was really more of a fluff piece than anything; just a little event where the network was unveiling some new info about the series. But it was press only, so Kara still appreciated being picked to go. They climbed into Alex's car, and Alex reached over to turn on the radio.
“Alex, I kind of want to concentrate, could we maybe not listen to music?”
“No songs stuck in your head either?”
“No, whoever it was kind of...quieted down, I guess.”
Asked relaxed. Finally, no more having to feed Kara annoying songs. It felt good to win.
***
“I appreciate you coming here to meet me instead of vice versa, Detective Sawyer.”
Maggie nodded. Lena was happy with her first impression. Maggie was very much what she imagined when one thought of a private detective; dark clothes and leather, a no nonsense expression, and from the way she had immediately sat down, ready to get straight to the point.
“Thanks for calling me,” Maggie answered, “you know when your secretary refused to tell me why you wanted to hire me I thought about saying no, but my curiosity got the better of me.”
Lena tapped her fingers across the desktop, frowning. “I hope you can appreciate that, with my notoriety, it is very important to be discreet about these sorts of things.”
“What sorts of things, exactly? You still left out that detail.”
Lena sighed. “...I need you to find my soulmate,” Lena said.
Maggie’s brow furrowed. “Your soulmate?”
“She is really, really annoying.”
“Do you know anything about her?”
“No. Except that she has very...eclectic taste in music.”
Maggie crossed her arms. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here?”
“What do you mean? You’re a detective! You detect!”
Maggie pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. “Look, I get people like you all the time. They come in begging me to help them find their soulmates, and I always tell them the same thing; unless there is some really specific songs they are singing, there’s really no way for me to help you find out. For all we know your soulmate could live in freaking Cambodia or something.”
“Well, we know she’s a woman, and the lyrics are in english so I assume she at least lives in an english speaking country…”
“That’s really not enough to go off of, Miss Luthor. I’m sorry.”
“Please, there has to be something you can do, she sings all the time and it’s driving me insane,” Lena said, “have a little sympathy for me, please? You have no idea what it’s like when you’re trying to sleep and all you hear in your head is Carly Rae Jepsen over and over again--”
“Hey, believe me, I understand what you’re going through,” Maggie said, holding up her hands, “my soulmate seems to be obsessed with every genre of rock music, the louder the better. Like half my girlfriends have been women I’ve met at rock concerts because I figured I might as well look there.”
“Okay, but does she enjoy singing Peanut Butter Jelly Time when you’re in the middle of an important business meeting?”
“She was singing Peanut Butter Jelly Time not that long ago, actually,” Maggie answered.
Lena frowned. “That’s weird.”
“Yeah, her songs have been really annoying lately.”
“Mine have been too.”
Maggie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “...Was your soulmate singing It’s a Small World too?”
“Yes! Uptown Funk last afternoon?”
“Oh my God,” Maggie stood up, shoving her hands in her pockets. “You don’t think we…?”
“That can’t be possible. Maybe they...know each other?”
“What was the last thing they sang?”
Lena furrowed her brow. “I believe it was The Flash theme song?”
Maggie bit her lip. “The Flash theme song?”
“You know, that song that was just released to promote the show,” Lena started singing a few bars, “‘he’s on the run! He’s never done! Catches the bad guys, he’s having fun! Flash Flash Flash!’ It is a godawful song--”
Lena stopped. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“That song was supposed to be released tomorrow,” Maggie answered.
“It was? So--so the person who sang it must have worked on the show?”
“Not necessarily. They had a special press-only event. So if this is the first time you heard it…” Maggie grinned. “Okay, this I can work with.”
Lena breathed out, utterly relieved. “Oh, thank God we can and this can be over.”
“Alright. Point one: luckily, we now know we don’t have the same soulmate, because wow that would be awkward. Second: whoever she is, she was at a press event for The Flash TV show.” She walked behind Lena’s desk, grabbing her chair and moving it out of the way.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“What you payed me for, Miss Luthor,” Maggie answered, typing into the search bar, “you’re right. I am a detective. Time to start detecting.”
Lena smiled. “Please, call me Lena.”
“Will do Lena.”
Maggie started to hum ‘Eye of the Tiger’ to herself, and Lena couldn’t help but think she was in good hands.
***
Kara had some work she wanted to stay behind and finish, so Alex decided to go inside while she waited for her. Kara was at her desk, Winn and James hanging out near the cubicle, and Alex starting chatting with them.
“Yeah, that theme song for the new show is like, godawful,” Winn said, laughing, “but Kara has been singing it to herself all freaking day.”
“It’s a good song,” Kara mumbled, still staring at her computer screen. James smiled at her fondly.
“I feel bad for whoever has to get that song stuck in their head,” he said.
Alex stifled a laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
Alex put a finger to her lips, motioning for James and Winn to move away from Kara’s desk; Kara was busy working on writing, and fortunately didn’t pay them any attention.
“Kara doesn’t know that’s what I’m doing,” Alex said softly from the break room, “I’ve kind of been...suggesting songs that I personally find kind of unpleasant. Kara will sing literally anything. She kind of takes it from there.”
“Wait, you seriously have been engaging in like...music warfare?” Winn asked.
“That’s pretty bad, Alex,” James said, “what did Kara’s soulmate do to you?”
“Sing Justin Bieber! I’m telling you guys, whoever it is, they’re giving as good as they get.”
“Maybe it’s Mike?” Winn suggested.
“Mike?”
“He seems like the type of guy that’d sing annoying songs on purpose to mess with Kara.”
Alex wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I hope it isn’t Mike. Besides, he should know her well enough to know it wouldn’t bother her.”
“Well, he knows you don’t like him that much--”
“Guys, Kara’s soulmate listened to classical music. Trust me. It’s not Mike.”
“What you’re doing is still really mean,” James answered, shaking his head. Alex gestured vaguely before admitting:
“Okay, it kind of is, but she started it, first of all, and second of all, in the grand scheme of things it is pretty harmless--”
“Who here was at The Flash series press event!”
“--And who is that?”
Alex, James, and Winn peeked out of the room.
“...Is that Lena Luthor?” Winn asked.
“With a woman holding a badge?” James added. The three of them looked at each other and shouted in unison:
“Kara!”
Before Kara could say anything the three of them were standing between her and the two impromptu visitors to CatCo. Lena Luthor looked at the group. After sharing a brief look with her companion, they both walked over.
“Detective Maggie Sawyer,” Lena’s friend said, flashing her badge, “were any of you at the press event last night?”
“Look, both of you, I don’t know what you want with my sister, but you have to go through all three of us--”
Kara peeked between them. “Um, guys?”
“I just want to talk to her,” Lena said, “everyone else we talked to were either men, or married, or else already found someone. She has to be the person I need to talk to--”
“What are you even talking about?”
“Guys, can I please get a word in here?”
“Look,” Maggie said, holding up her hands, “Lena hired me to help her find her soulmate, and whoever it is, they were at that press event because they were singing the theme song of the show before it was publicly released. This isn’t her wanting anyone to be in trouble, so if you guys could just--”
“GUYS!”
Alex, James, and Winn were startled.
“...Yes, I was the reporter at the event,” Kara said, standing up. She looked a little confused, but held out her hand. “Kara Danvers.”
Lena swallowed.
Here she was. Her soulmate.
“...Lena Luthor.”
Kara was beautiful--long, golden hair that was up in a bun, beautiful blue eyes, and when she smiled at her nervously, Lena felt her stomach do a flip.
“Yes, yes you are,” Kara said, “Lena Luthor, famous L-Corp CEO, billionaire, and, um...most eligible bachelorette in all of National City pretty much like wow are you sure I’m…? I mean what do you listen to?”
“Usually, classical music.”
“Wow,” Kara breathed out. She looked at Alex. “Can you believe this? She’s my soulmate! I cannot believe I actually found my--or, like, she found me--isn’t this cool, guys?”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “Wait. If that was you...you were the one that started singing all of those freaking awful songs?”
Lena was so busy admiring how incredibly beautiful her soulmate was to remember why she was so intent on finding her in the first place.
Once Alex mentioned that, though, everything clicked again in her head. She took a step backwards.
“Only because your sister’s singing was driving me insane. Who sings Taylor Swift at one in the morning?”
“I stay up late working on articles!” Kara exclaimed defensively.
“And--and the Uptown Funk and Cotton Eyed Joe and all those other things--”
“Alex played those in the car! It wasn’t on purpose!”
Lena turned on her immediately. “That was you, you bitch?”
James and Winn inched away from the group.
“You should probably leave, guys, before things get uglier,” Maggie remarked.
“Kara,” James asked, “you okay…?”
“I’ll be fine guys. You should probably go.”
James and Winn walked away hesitantly. Alex ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head.
“You started it when you started getting Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black stuck in her head!”
“Me? Me? I couldn’t sleep! Every hour of my day was full of show tunes and pop songs! Were you the one that made her start singing rock songs too? That is not what I want to wake up to in the morning!”
“Guys, maybe we should calm this down,” Maggie said gently, stepping between them. Lena looked around Maggie.
“I will not calm down! Do you know what you did to me? I almost lost a business deal worth millions of dollars because all that was going through my head was PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!”
It was Kara that broke the tension.
She laughed.
Kara couldn’t help it. It was partially from nerves because Alex and Lena looked like they were going to fight each other, partially because, well, it was funny.
And after almost a week of stressing over everything that was happening, that was the last straw for Lena. She started laughing too. Laughing so hard she was crying, wiping at her eyes. She had to hold onto Maggie until she managed to calm down.
“I--I’m sorry I just--this is all so ridiculous. I apologize.”
Maggie gently pushed Lena away from her. Kara took her place, grabbing Lena. She pulled her closer.
“It’s...really nice to meet you, I guess,” Kara said, “and I guess we’ll need to work something out as far as my singing habits?”
“We’ll work on that,” Lena said, smiling, “have you ever listened to classical?”
“Not unless you are,” Kara answered.
“We’ll have to make a playlist for you then.”
“Later,” Kara promised, “right now...Alex,” Kara turned on her with a pout, “you were trying to annoy my soulmate on purpose?”
“...Okay, I will admit it was not the nicest thing to do,” Alex held out her hand, “Lena, can we call it even?”
Lena narrowed her eyes. “Peanut Butter Jelly Time is pretty bad.”
“So is Rebecca Black!”
“Yes, but how many Wayne Enterprises employees were you trying to secure a deal with?”
Alex sighed. “...Fair point, but in my defense, I did not know that.”
“Lena?”
She looked at Kara, who looked at her pleadingly. “Please try and get along with my sister? Alex is sorry.”
If the way Lena was unable to resist her puppy dog pout was any indication, the rest of Lena’s life was about to get very inconvenient.
She didn’t really mind.
“...Fine. For you. Maggie, thank you for helping--Detective Sawyer?”
Maggie hadn’t said anything, too busy staring at Alex. When Alex noticed, she squirmed uncomfortably.
“Um, hi?”
“You love rock music,” Maggie said softly.
“Yes?”
“And for the past week you’ve been singing really annoying songs.”
The implication clicked in Alex’s head, and her jaw dropped slightly. “Did you sing happy birthday a few weeks ago?”
Maggie frowned a little. “It was my cousin’s birthday.”
Alex covered her mouth. A smile spread across Maggie’s face.
“This has to go down as the most amazing coincidence of all time.”
“You need to sing more.”
“You need to pick quieter songs to listen to in the morning.”
“I’m sorry, I’m a morning person.”
“Well I’m not.”
They both laughed, trailing off awkwardly and looking at each other. Alex bit her lip.
“So we’ve all got some catching up to do,” Lena said, “Maggie, will you take a check for your payment?”
“Sure,” Maggie said absently, still looking at Alex, “hey, you want to get coffee?”
“Now?”
Maggie shrugged. “You only meet your soulmate once, right?”
Alex looked at Kara. “I...I need to take my sister home, I mean…”
“I can take her home,” Lena interrupted, “if Kara is okay with that.”
Kara didn’t say anything.
“I have a private chauffeur, if that makes any difference.”
“...My soulmate is so rich she has her own driver,” Kara breathed.
“Is that a yes?”
“YES!”
“Kara wait, you cannot get in a car with some woman you don’t know, soulmate or no soulmate!” Alex exclaimed, “we are all getting into that car--”
“Limousine, actually.”
“--Limousine, Jesus Kara I don’t blame you for being kind of shocked--but we are all getting in there so I can be sure it’s safe.”
Lena rolled her eyes good naturedly. “You just want an excuse to ride in a limo.”
“Hey, she wanted to do it before she knew it was a limo,” Maggie pointed out. Alex nudged Maggie with her shoulder appreciatively.
“Thank you, Maggie.”
“You can all come on one condition,” Lena answered.
“And that is?”
Lena paused for effect and said, “no music. At all. Just peace and quiet.”
“Deal,” Alex Kara, and Maggie said at once. Lena led them to the elevator.
“I just have one question,” Kara said, as they walked toward the elevator. They stepped inside.
“What?” Lena asked.
“Were all those songs really that bad?”
The rest of the group groaned, and Kara exclaimed, “But Call Me Maybe is a classic!” As the elevator doors closed.
***
The next morning, Kara got out of bed and into her sister’s car.
“...So last night was interesting,” Alex said.
Kara turned toward her after she buckled her seat belt. “How are you feeling?”
“Maggie is awful at pool but I had a good time with her. You?”
“Lena is really funny and is kind of a nerd about fancy wines,” Kara said with a little sigh, “I’m meeting her again after work.”
“I’m meeting Maggie. You need a ride?”
“Do you trust Lena isn’t going to try and kidnap me? She can pick me up.”
“...Fine, but tell her if she doesn’t bring you back in one piece, you’ll start singing What Does the Fox say--”
“Alex, stop threatening Lena with those songs. It goes both ways you know. Maybe I’ll see if Maggie will sing some country music--”
“DON’T YOU DARE.”
Kara smiled at her until Alex grumbled, going to turn on her music.
“Alex, wait,” Kara said, “can we play my music?”
She showed Alex her CD. “Really, Kara?”
“I promised.”
“Okay.”
She popped it in. Kara leaned back, closed her eyes, and let Beethoven’s Ode to Joy fill the car while she hummed contentedly.
On the other side of Nation City, Lena Luthor sat down at her desk. When the tune wormed its way into her head, she smiled.
“...Thank you, Kara,” Lena said softly to herself.
And, because she felt she owed her and Kara liked Taylor Swift, Lena started to sing Love Story under breath.
(She had to admit, she was in the mood for a love song, anyway.)