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As soon as Kara leaves Lena’s office, she goes straight to Alex’s apartment. She desperately wants to talk to her sister, needs to talk to her sister, needs advice on the one thing she’s been keeping from her. Kara can’t deny it any longer, doesn’t want to deny it, especially after the past few days. She likes Lena, she really likes Lena, and she doesn’t know what to do about it, she’s just hoping Alex will.
Kara knocks and waits patiently to see if Alex is home. She learnt last time to never again use super hearing or x-ray vision to see if Alex is home so this time she listens with dulled senses and is relieved when she hears footsteps approaching the door.
Alex smiles as the door swings open, “Kara, hey, what’re you doing here?”
Now that she knows she’s safe, Kara uses her super hearing and isn’t surprised when she hears another heartbeat from inside Alex’s apartment.
“Hey,” Kara smiles nervously, “sorry interrupt your night with Maggie but if you’re not too busy can we talk? I need your advice on something.”
Alex reaches out and basically pulls Kara into her apartment, “of course, what’s up? Is everything ok?”
Kara follows Alex over to the couch and greets Maggie as she takes a seat beside her. Alex vanishes to the kitchen and returns a moment later with a glass of water for Kara. Maggie and Alex already have a beer each.
“So, advice?” Alex asks as she takes the seat on the other side of Kara so Kara is sitting between Alex and Maggie and suddenly she’s nervous again about what she’s come here to say.
Kara can’t look at Alex as she gathers the courage to talk, can’t look at Maggie either, so she closes her eyes and wills herself to speak, that is the reason she’s here after all. “I think I like someone.”
Kara opens her eyes when she hears the smirk in Alex’s voice, “you think?”
“No,” she pauses, “I definitely like someone.” The word love pops into her mind and she knows that’s right, she’s in love, but that feels too big to admit right now.
Alex smiles as she reaches over and lays a hand over Kara’s, “ok, you like someone. And you don’t know what to do about it?”
Kara nods. She really doesn’t know what to do. She thinks Lena likes her back. Or is everything Lena’s done just been a result of being Lena’s only friend? And that’s where the second problem comes in. Kara is Lena’s only friend. What if Kara’s wrong and Lena doesn’t like her back and it ruins their friendship? Kara doesn’t want to lose Lena and she doesn’t want Lena to lose her either, especially after she’s just promised she’ll always be there for her. Then on top of all of that, Kara doesn’t want to push Lena towards something she’s not ready for after the events of the last few days.
All these thoughts rush through Kara’s head and she takes a breath to calm herself while she waits for Alex to speak, all these reasons are why she’s here speaking to Alex about it in the first place.
Alex squeezes Kara’s hand, “for what it’s worth, I think Mon-El likes you too.”
Both Maggie and Kara frown at the same time and speak, “Mon-el?”
Alex’s eyes flash to Maggie’s and then back to Kara’s, can see their confusion, “it’s not Mon-El?”
Kara huffs out a laugh, internal panic momentarily forgotten, “no, of course not.”
Alex frowns, trying to think who else Kara could be talking about. It is clear that Mon-El has feelings for Kara but Alex had thought her sister liked him in return, “who then?”
Kara shuts her eyes again, doesn’t want to see Alex’s reaction because she’s ninety-nine percent sure Alex won’t approve even though Lena has just been cleared. But she has to tell her sister this, needs someone to talk to about it.
“Lena,” Kara mumbles, too quiet for both Maggie and Alex to hear.
Alex laughs, “not all of us have super hearing,”
Kara’s eyes are still closed and she takes a breath, letting the name fall from her mouth, loud enough to here this time, “Lena.”
Kara opens her eyes when the name is met with silence and she looks to her left to see Alex looking shocked but then she turns her head and Maggie is grinning and Kara feels herself relaxing slightly.
Alex is the first to speak, “Lena?”
Kara just nods, she can’t be much clearer than she’s already been.
“You’ve got good taste,” Maggie says and Alex throws her a look. Maggie shrugs, “your sister could do a lot worse than Lena Luthor.”
“So are you,” Kara pauses, “is it…is it ok that I like her?”
Finally over her surprise, Alex raises an eyebrow at Kara, “do you mean because she’s a woman or because she’s a Luthor?”
“Umm…both?”
Alex smiles and Kara is the one who’s surprised now, “I can’t exactly judge you for having feelings for another woman.” Alex throws a glance at Maggie and the soft look Maggie gives her in return almost makes Alex lose her train of thought so she looks back at Kara before she continues, “and as for her being a Luthor? I’ll admit I was wary of her at first, but after turning in her mother and then being found innocent in helping her mother escape, she deserves a chance. I guess I understand now why you didn’t give up on her.”
Kara shakes her head, “my feelings for Lena had nothing to do with me believing in her, in thinking she was innocent. I did that because she’s a good person and I trust her.”
Alex nods, can see how serious Kara is about this, “ok then.” She pauses, “you wanted my advice?
Kara sighs, the tension she’d felt about how Alex would react about her liking Lena leaving her body. She buries her face in her hands, the words coming out muffled, “what do I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to ask her out.” Kara wants so much more than that but that’s where it starts.
“Then why don’t you?”
Kara gives Alex a look, “that’s easier said than done. I don’t even know if she’s gay.”
Maggie laughs, “she’s definitely gay.”
Alex looks at her suspiciously, “how do you know?”
“I have an excellent gaydar.”
“You didn’t know I was gay?”
Maggie laughs, “Babe, you didn’t know you were gay.”
Alex can’t help but laugh too, “ok, fair point.”
Kara cuts in, “ok, I don’t know if I can trust you on that but let’s just say she likes women but does she like me?”
“She wanted you to stay when I arrested her, that’s a good sign.”
Kara groans, “that’s my problem though, that could have just been considered friendly, like most of our interactions.”
Maggie shrugs, “I haven’t seen you interact very much.”
“Most?” Alex cuts in.
Kara blushes, “sometimes I catch her staring.”
Maggie grins, “that’s definitely a good sign, staring at what?”
Alex glares at Maggie but her words are directed at Kara, “don’t answer that.”
Maggie shrugs again but grins, “what? That’s important.”
Kara is getting redder as this conversation goes on.
“What else?” Alex asks, ignoring Maggie now.
“There’s times where I think she’s flirting, she always smiles at me and she invited me to that gala with her but I’m scared I’m just reading too much into it, seeing what I want to see. She’s so pretty and smart and funny, why would she like me when she could have literally anyone.” Kara sees Alex is going to interrupt, knows exactly what she’s going to say so Kara quickly continues, “but today she umm…” she pauses, trying to figure out how to word it properly, “she sent me flowers.”
“That could just be a thank you for believing in her even with the overwhelming evidence?”
Kara hesitates and Alex realises there’s more so she waits for Kara to continue, “she sent me a lot of flowers.”
“How much is a lot?”
“My office was full of them.”
Alex and Maggie both start laughing, “ok, I think she likes you.”
“Really?” She sounds so hopeful and Alex is only just now realising how much her little sister feels for Lena.
“Yes, but the only way to know for sure is to talk to her.” Alex sees the panic in Kara’s eyes and squeezes her hand. “But you don’t have to do that now, you can do that whenever you’re ready.”
Kara sighs, “I want to, but what if it ruins our friendship? Or she’s not ready right now, after everything that’s just happened?”
Alex hesitates because she knows how her and Maggie’s friendship was affected by her feelings but from what she’s seen of Kara and heard about Lena, she thinks they have something real. “Talk to her, tell her what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling and it’s up to Lena what she does with that information but I know you’ll regret it if you don’t.”
Kara turns to Maggie who nods, “life’s too short to not kiss the girls we want to kiss.” Both Danvers sisters blush at that and Maggie can’t help but smirk.
“Ok,” Kara nods, “good, yes, I’ll talk to her.” She stands from the couch at both women look up at her.
“Now?” Alex asks.
“Now,” Kara nods again because now that she’s decided to tell Lena, she can’t wait. She looks at her watch and sees it’s almost 11pm but she knows Lena will still be at her office.
Kara’s almost at the door before Alex gets up to follow her, “wait.”
Alex pulls Kara into a hug, “it’s your turn to get the girl, ok? Text me later.”
Kara smiles, “thanks for the advice, and will do.”
Alex releases Kara and Kara calls out her thanks to Maggie too and then she’s out the door, ready to go see Lena.
xxx
By the time Kara gets to L-Corp, which takes less than a minute, all the confidence she felt earlier is gone. But she takes a deep breath and enters the building anyway because as well as talking to Lena, she also wants to see if her friend is ok because she’s been through a lot and Kara is worried about her. A short elevator ride later and Kara is at Lena’s door.
Lena looks up from her desk as Kara knocks and enters Lena’s office, “Kara?”
The smile Lena gives her is enough to make Kara’s heart stutter in her chest and she knows she has to be brave and do this, she’s never felt like this about anyone before and would regret it if she didn’t try.
“Hey,” Kara smiles, trying not to appear too nervous as she consciously makes an effort not to twist her fingers together or adjust her glasses.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you again but to what do I owe this visit?”
Kara blushes and tries to think of something to say but her mind comes up blank. Gone is the easy conversation from earlier as Kara’s stomach churns at the thought of what she’s about to do.
Lena realises something is wrong and is up and walking around her desk to stand in front of Kara. “Kara, is everything ok?” Lena reaches out and places a gentle hand on Kara’s arm and that certainly doesn’t help because now Kara can’t help but notice how close Lena is.
Kara clears her throat, “there’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Lena smiles again but it’s not as bright before and she leads them over to her couch, “is something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” Kara quickly says before she pauses, “I just, I don’t know exactly how to say what I came here to say.”
Lena’s eyebrows furrow but she remains quiet as she watches Kara carefully, waiting for her to speak.
There’s a pause and then Kara groans and leans forward and sticks her face in her hands.
Lena’s eyes widen as she shifts closer to Kara and places an arm on her back, “what’s the matter?”
Kara feels the gentle hand on her back and lowers her hands slightly to look up at Lena at her side. “I like you.”
Lena pauses, “and that’s reason to bury your head in your hands and groan.”
Kara quickly sits up when she realises what this looks like, dislodging Lena’s hand. “No!” She pauses, “I just didn’t really know how to tell you that or how to have the conversation that I’ve come here to.”
Lena’s eyes widen when realisation dawns on her, “oh, you mean you like like me?”
Kara nods and worries her lip as she watches Lena, trying to work out what she’s thinking.
Lena frowns, trying to figure out Kara’s behaviour, “is that a problem?”
Kara buries her face back in her hands, her words muffled as she speaks, “I’m doing this all wrong.”
“All what?”
Kara takes a deep breath then sits up properly again so she’s looking Lena in the eye when she speaks, “do you want to go out on a date with me?”
Lena’s mouth drops open, too surprised to say anything, even though Kara has just admitted to liking her she still hadn’t expected this.
Kara takes Lena’s silence as hesitation so she quickly speaks, wanting Lena to hear everything before she makes up her mind. “I don’t even know if you like women or like me like that but I figured you deserve the truth. You talked about me being your friend earlier and I want that, but I also want more, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. And I know that even if you do feel the same about me, you may not be ready, you may need time after everything that happened with your mother and I’ll wait as long as you want me to if that’s the case or I’ll just continue to be here for you as a friend if that’s what you want too. I just don’t want to continue pretending I don’t have feelings for you and regret not telling you.”
Kara finishes her little speech and Lena is still staring at her open mouthed and this time Kara can’t help but reach up and adjust her glasses, her nerves getting the better of her.
The movement snaps Lena out of her shock-induced silence and she closes her mouth only to open it again to speak, “you like me?”
Despite her nerves, Kara huffs out a laugh, “I think we just covered that.”
“Ok,” Lena says as she smiles and reaches out to slip her hand into Kara’s, twining their fingers together.
Kara’s eyes flick down to their joined hands, “ok?”
“Ok, I’ll go out on a date with you. In fact, I’d love to.”
Kara can’t help the grin that spreads across her face, “you would?”
Lena nods, “I would. And for the record, I do like women, and I like you. A lot.”
Kara grins but it quickly slips from her face, “you don’t want to wait for a bit, after everything that you’ve been through?”
Lena shakes her head, “definitely not. I’ve been waiting basically since we met to go out on a date with you and now I know you like me too, I don’t want to wait any longer.”
Kara’s eyebrows shoot up.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you but I guess it will since you didn’t know I had feelings for you too but I’ve been flirting pretty heavily with you since we met. Did you really not notice? I wasn’t exactly subtle about it.”
Kara blushes, “I’d hoped that was you flirting but I wasn’t sure.”
Lena smirks, “it definitely was.” She pauses, her face turning thoughtful, “why today? Why now? Was it the flowers?”
Kara laughs, “that was part of it. But I realised my feelings for you were too strong to ignore anymore and I spoke to Alex and Maggie and they were convinced you liked me too and said I should talk to you.”
“I should thank them then,” Lena says, “if they got you to come speak to me.”
“Oh yeah!” Kara says, remembering her promise to text Alex. She pulls out her phone with the hand that Lena isn’t holding and quickly opens a message to send to Alex. She types in about twenty emojis, all variations of happy faces and then for good measure, adds a heart at the end and presses send.
Lena smirks as she sees the message and Kara just shrugs even though she’s blushing again because she’s happy, and she wants to show her sister (and Lena) that.
“What happens now?” Lena asks once Kara has put her phone back away.
“Now, we both go home because it’s late and tomorrow night I’m going to come back here at 7pm and pick you up for our date.”
Lena can’t help but smirk as she asks, “home together or separately?”
“Tonight, separately. Tomorrow? We’ll just have to wait and see,” Kara says and then she winks and Lena can do nothing but stare because Kara just said and did that?
Kara laughs at Lena’s reaction as she stands, pulling Lena up behind her with their still joined hands.
“Come on, you’ve had a long day, you need to go home.”
Lena nods because she knows Kara is right but right now she doesn’t want to leave Kara, not after what she’s been through. The only reason she’s still at work is because she doesn’t want to go home alone.
Kara feels Lena’s hesitation and turns back to look at her, “are you ok?
Lena shrugs, “I know what you just said, but if I asked you to come home with me, would you? I don’t want to be alone right now.”
Kara releases Lena’s hand and Lena feels the loss of contact for only a moment until she finds herself in Kara’s arms, Kara pulling her into a hug. Lena lets herself do what she’d wanted to do the last time they’d hugged and she sinks into Kara’s embrace.
“Of course,” Kara says, and Lena can feel Kara’s lips brush her ear as she speaks, “I’ll stay with you as long as you want.”
Lena smiles when Kara eventually pulls away, “I don’t know what I did to deserve someone like you.”
Kara’s heart skips a beat because now they really are standing close, all she’d have to do is lean forward and she could kiss Lena. Instead, Kara reaches up her hand and places it on Lena’s cheek, her thumb caressing the soft skin under her eye, “I could say the same thing about you.”
Even though Kara’s been thinking about it, she doesn’t have to courage to so when Lena leans forward, Kara’s eyes go wide when she realises what’s going to happen and her eyes flutter closed when she feels the gentle press of Lena’s lips against hers. It doesn’t last long, just a peck, but Kara’s lips are tingling from the contact. Kara can hear Lena’s racing heart beat matching hers.
“Come on,” Lena says, hand slipping down Kara’s arm to take her hand again, “let’s go home.”