2. Chapter 2
Kara respects the boundaries Lena set out and they don’t see each other for an entire week. Lena can’t decide if she’s grateful or disappointed.
It’s strange to realize that Kara’s a sort-of part of her life again. Like Lena could just pick up the phone to call her and it wouldn’t be weird. Well, not any weirder than normal.
They’ve breached that we haven’t spoken in four years wall and now Lena itches to see Kara all the time, talk to her, touch her. It’s like the months right after their breakup all over again, where she buried herself in her work to avoid calling Kara and begging her to come be with her.
Boundaries, she reminds herself. Boundaries. That’s the only thing that will help them rebuild a friendship they never really had. Lena can learn how to do this. She has multiple degrees and a working knowledge of most disciplines of science and technology. She can handle this.
She lives in National City now and Kara lives here too and it’s just a reality that their lives are going to keep colliding into each other.
The more distance she has from their last meeting the easier it is for her to focus on other things. She puts her energy into dealing with end-of-quarter financials and sorting through the tonnage of unfinished projects left lying around from her brother’s reign.
Which is how she ends up in the basement of L Corp Tower, where the R&D floor resides, a floor she hasn’t actually set foot on in almost a year. The musky smell of it and spartan look of the hallway sets off a wave of nostalgia for her first few years at L Corp when Lex was still in power and she spent all her time in labs like this.
“Miss Luthor!” A familiar voice calls out at her just as she’s walking towards the front door of their development labs. She turns with surprise to see Lana Lang walking towards her in a white lab coat and glasses.
“Miss Lang?!” Lena smiles, steps towards the other woman and shoots her a quizzical look, eying the ID badge hanging from Lana’s breast pocket. “I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know you were here.”
Lana waves her off, smirking a little. “The minute I heard you were taking over and moving HQ to National City, I got my ass out of Metropolis and applied for a transfer here. Your old job actually,” Lana says, tapping at where Director - R&D is written on her badge.
It’s weird to see someone from Metropolis in National City - someone she actually knows. Even if they were never very close. Lana had interned and later worked for the company back when it was still Luthor Corp and Lex ran the business.
“We’re lucky to have you,” Lena responds politely.
“What brings you down to the basement?” Lana scans them into the large lab there and they walk together towards Lana’s office.
“I’ve been going through the in-progress list and trying to purge it,” Lena explains. “I thought perhaps a more hands on approach would be beneficial.”
Lana arches a brow. “There are a lot of projects down here. Your brother was quite prolific.”
“I know,” Lena says, jaw tight. “But most of those projects need to be halted. Likely destroyed.”
Lana shrugs. “I guess I can’t disagree.” She waves around the floor. “Well the place is yours. Obviously.”
“Thanks,” Lena says with a tight smile.
She spends the next hour rummaging through prototypes and checking them off on a spreadsheet. It’s cathartic to actually be doing something with her hands - pulling apart objects and fitting them back together, studying how they work and what they do.
A majority of the leftover projects have to be completely scrapped and Lena makes notes on which ones to destroy, which ones to save. Some of the research is more worth salvaging than the project itself and Lena starts to compile as much data as possible, a list of new ideas forming in the margins of her notes.
Eventually a cup of coffee gets put next to her elbow where she’s leaning it on the desk, pulling apart a small object with a screw driver. She startles to see Lana Lang smiling down at her. “Thought you might want some coffee.”
“Thanks,” Lena says, brow furrowed a little at the thoughtfulness. She picks the cup up and takes a quick sip before returning to her tablet and studying the innards of the device on the table. She makes a few notes with her stylus absentmindedly, but stops when she can still sense Lana’s presence to her right.
“That’s interesting shorthand,” Lana comments when Lena looks up.
It’s then that Lena looks at the tablet and realizes what she’s done. Her brain scrambles around as she stares at a language she hasn’t written in or thought about in years.
“Oh, yeah,” she says, trying to laugh it off, but closing the application on her tablet immediately. “It’s an old thing I made up in college. To keep prying eyes away. You can never be too careful these days.”
“Looked kind of familiar,” Lana says and Lena’s sure it does. Because she’s been writing her notes in Kryptonian like a complete idiot. She hasn’t done that since college when Kara first taught her the native language of her home planet. They’d taken to passing notes that way and Lena had found herself writing in it ever so often when she’d take quick notes during class or in the lab.
In an effort to turn Lana’s mind away from her slip up, Lena picks up one of the devices on the table. “What can you tell me about this?”
“Oh!” Lana says brightly, plucking it out of Lena’s hand. “It’s like a DNA scanner for aliens.”
“Pardon?”
The device is nothing more than a small box, a little crude in its design - definitely not market ready. Lana fiddles with it for a second. “So you put your finger on this part, right? And then it can detect if you have human DNA or something alien instead.”
Lena arches a brow, picking up the device herself. “Interesting,” she says, turning it over. A simple idea, really, but Lena can see the profits in such a thing. Especially with the sudden surge of more and more aliens coming out of the woodwork. Briefly, she thinks of Kara before forcing the thought from her mind and focusing on the tangible issues at hand.
“Do you think you could make me a more aesthetically pleasing prototype?”
Lana looks at her, surprised. “Sure. Are you planning on going ahead with this one?”
“It has promise,” Lena answers, shrugging a shoulder. “And I have a board meeting in a week. With the rumors that the president is to announce her Alien Amnesty Act it could be the perfect time to launch such a product.”
Lana hums, considering. “I suppose. I could have something ready enough for a presentation in a few days.”
“Perfect,” Lena says before returning to her work and dismissing Lana with a turn of her shoulder.
--
It’s a Wednesday morning and Lena is dreadfully late to her 9AM physics class. She just barely made it out of her dorm on time, throwing on the nearest pair of jeans and a sweatshirt as she stuffed books into her bag. Her hair's a mess, but hidden underneath a Metropolis Mammoths baseball cap, and she’s practically sprinting across campus and into the science building with little regard for any obstacles in her way.
Which is the only reason she runs straight into a taller form waiting in line near the small cafe in the lobby.
At first, she thinks she’s run into some new statute or wall because whatever she hits doesn’t even budge. It’s hard as rock.
It isn’t until she’s bouncing off said unidentified object, stumbling backwards unsteadily, that she realizes she’s run into a person. A girl, actually. A girl who is grabbing her around the waist to keep her upright with surprising strength.
“Whoa, you okay?” The girl is asking, clear concern etched into her pretty blue eyes.
Lena steps away from the touch immediately, rubs at her now sore right arm and eyes the stranger. “Yes, fine,” she answers, adjusting her messenger bag. “I apologize for running into you.”
The other girl just smiles at her and Lena hates the way her body reacts to that - she tamps down the natural reaction her whole being has when pretty girls smile at her. It’s so damn inconvenient. She plays with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, pulling it down over her hand as she eyes the stranger, taking in her skinny jeans and henley.
“No problem,” the girl is saying, fiddling with a pair of dark rimmed glasses on her nose. “You late for class or something?”
It reminds Lena that she is, in fact, extremely late for class and she jumps back into action. “Yes, actually. Thanks for -” Lena waves vaguely and moves past the stranger to stride quickly down the hall. “Sorry again.”
“Nice to meet you!” The stranger calls out and Lena just shakes her head, brow furrowed and doesn’t look back.
--
Her reprieve from Kara lasts exactly nine days.
“Miss Luthor,” Kara greets when she walks into her office on the tenth day and Lena chokes a laugh back - an automatic response to Kara greeting her so formally. Her eyes rake over Kara’s form, taking it all in. As much as Lena’s wardrobe has changed in the years they’ve been apart, Kara’s has also. It concerns Lena how attractive she finds Kara in button downs and cardigans.
She waits for her office door to shut before eyeing her ex with a confused grin. “Miss Luthor? Really?”
Kara shrugs and takes a seat on the other side of Lena’s desk, setting her bag down. “We’re starting over, right?”
It’s asked with a smile Lena knows is genuine, but the words still chip away at Lena’s defenses. Even here, in her work clothes and in her pristine office, reminders of her own success all around her, Lena feels uncharacteristically vulnerable. She manages to plaster on her trademark professional smile anyway. “I’m not sure we need to start over that much. Should I be calling you Miss Danvers?”
Kara’s nose scrunches up with distaste immediately and this time Lena lets a laugh fall out of her. “That’s what I thought.”
“I was trying to be professional,” Kara grumbles, pulling a notepad out of her bag. It’s adorable.
“I heard you decided to give reporting a shot,” Lena says good naturedly. “A bit of a shock to hear my assistant inform me I had a meeting with a CatCo reporter by the name of Kara Danvers.”
Kara laughs. “It shouldn’t have been a shock. You suggested it.”
“Did I?”
“In your own way,” Kara says, voice low, personal.
Lena tries to stay composed, gives Kara a polite smile. “Well, are you enjoying it?”
“Actually you’re my first,” Kara says and Lena knows Kara doesn’t mean anything by the statement, but Lena has to recross her legs and fight a blush.
“Is that so?”
“Yup,” Kara answers, the word popping out of her mouth. “First assignment. Fingers crossed.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
“I hope so.”
“So,” Lena draws out. “I must imagine that if you’re here on the same day the president is in town to sign her Alien Amnesty Act…”
“Yeah,” Kara says, looking sheepish. “I’m sorry. Snapper wants a quote from a - ah,” Kara cuts off, looking uncomfortable.
“A Luthor,” Lena finishes for her with an unaffected expression. “Because my brother is the world’s most notorious alien hater and I’m his little sister, newly appointed CEO of the family company.”
“I know you’re not like that,” Kara says and it’s too knowing for Lena to deal with right now. Kara doesn’t know her that well, not anymore. Kara knows a different version of her, a softer one. If they’re going to be friends again, it’s time for Kara to stop living in the past.
It occurs to her then that they’ve never really talked about the disclosure of their mutual history. “I must ask, Kara. Have you told anybody about-” Lena loses her words halfway through the sentence. They had both, by some unspoken agreement, played the part of strangers at their first meeting, but Lena’s not sure if that was by design or purely a reaction to the visceral shock they likely both experienced in that moment.
“About what?”
She gestures between them, hoping that conveys the message.
“Us?” Kara asks and just thinking of them as a collective entity, an us, makes Lena’s gut clench.
“I’m just curious how many people know that you and I aren’t exactly strangers.” She laughs, playing it off as casual. “I’d imagine if your boss knew-”
“Just Alex,” Kara replies, quietly interjecting. “And only because she already knew.”
It’s strange to think that Kara wouldn’t talk about them to her friends, but Lena understands. It’s not as if she’s ever been able to talk about Kara to anyone in the four years they’ve been apart. “Okay, good.”
“Good?”
“I imagine it would be complicated trying to explain such a thing to people,” Lena says which is completely ridiculous. It’s not complicated at all - she and Kara dated in college. That, on some level, is the whole of it. The troubling part is explaining why they aren’t still together, why Lena feels incapable of thinking clearly if she’s around Kara for more than a few seconds and why Kara keeps looking at her the same way she did when they first fell in love.
Kara must be thinking something similar because a confused sort of grin spreads over her face. “Not that complicated.”
“There’s a lot going on right now,” Lena offers in exchange. “I think adding all of our…,” she falters, thinks of how to frame it, “relationship drama to it wouldn’t be the wisest course of action. If we’re leaving the past in the past then we should... leave the past in the past. It’s not that far from the truth anyway. We are basically strangers at this point.”
It sounds laughable when she hears it, but she doesn’t say anything else, waits for Kara to agree.
“Sure,” Kara says, but she looks entirely unconvinced.
“I would never deny it if asked,” Lena replies with a kind of honesty that bursts out of her unbidden.
A pause. Kara looks at her with just the slightest crinkle to her brow. “Neither would I.”
They fall silent for a bit, Lena trying to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest. She hates that Kara can probably hear it, is probably receiving a clear signal of exactly how all this is affecting her. “Anyway,” she says after a second, pulling her gaze from Kara and to a laptop at her right. “You’re here for a quote and I’ve taken us completely off track.”
Kara laughs. “That’s okay,” she says with a little wave. “The article is really just about the Alien Amnesty Act in general and I can-”
“Actually,” Lena interrupts, standing up if only to try and steady the shake in her hands. “Perhaps it would be a good time to promote a new product I’m considering rolling out.”
She walks over to a small, lead lined safe that she keeps on the side of her office and pulls out the prototype Lana had delivered to her just yesterday. She feels Kara follow her over.
“What is it?” Kara asks, peering at the device quizzically.
“An alien detection device,” Lena responds, holding it out.
“A what?”
“It scans for human DNA,” she explains. “Here, I’ll show you.”
She puts her thumb up to the scanner and holds it there, waiting for the light to change to green. “See?”
Kara’s brow is furrowed, confusion and apprehension all over her face.
Lena holds the device out again. “Here, you try.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Kara extends her thumb, presses it to the scanner and they both watch the light turn red. Lena pulls it back, pleased with the device. “Works perfectly,” she says, setting it down on her desk.
“Lena,” Kara says, and when Lena looks up there’s still confusion across Kara’s face. “Don’t you think that’s kind of-”
Kara hesitates and Lena moves back towards her desk chair to sit down. “Do I think it’s kind of what?”
“I mean, that seems contrary to what the president is trying to accomplish. And to everything America stands for.”
Lena crosses her arms, leans back in her chair and watches as Kara reseats herself. “Such as?”
“Freedom,” Kara offers vaguely. “America’s always been a country of immigrants.”
“I agree, but people are scared. Every day, you fight monsters and people see it on the news every night,” Lena argues. “This device could give people peace of mind. People have a right to know if their neighbor isn’t who they say they are.”
“You don’t actually believe that,” Kara says and Lena wants to snap at her. What part of keep our past in the past is so hard for them? Starting over as friends doesn’t really work when Kara’s so comfortable and confident in pointing out things about Lena’s character like that. They knew each other once, but that was four years ago and it’s time Lena makes Kara realize that they aren’t those same kids anymore.
“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”
Kara looks at her, a stubborn tension in her jaw. “Yes I do. And you know exactly why aliens want to hide. This will only - force them out of the closet and into danger.”
“What I believe,” Lena says, leaning forward on her desk and pumping all her CEO attitude into her posture. “Is that this device will make this company a fortune. Millions of dollars that we need right now.”
“At the expense of basic civil rights.”
Lena scoffs. “L Corp is in the business of making money, Kara. Not in playing politics.”
Kara is silent at that, observing Lena with a critical eye. Lena feels too exposed, but she forces herself to keep the gaze with Kara.
“You’re different,” Kara says. Soft and simple.
It shouldn’t hurt to hear such a thing - Lena knows it’s the truth - but it does. “I’ve been trying to tell you that.”
A wry smile crosses Kara’s face and she waves her pen at Lena. “So that’s where I heard it,” she jokes, but it comes out sounding broken.
Lena blinks rapidly and turns away from Kara, opening her laptop and typing in a few commands. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I do have some work to do. I hope you have enough for your article. If not, feel free to email any questions you need answered.”
“Of course,” Kara responds quietly before picking up her bag and exiting the office. “Thank you for your time.”
--
There’s a coffee shop on the far end of campus that Lena likes to frequent. It serves espresso like she remembers from boarding school abroad and it’s never that packed - most of its inhabitants come to study, tucked away in their separate corners.
Which is what Lena is doing - headphones in, laptop open and eyes intent on her work - when she hears a bright, “You’re the girl that ran into me!” It’s loud enough that it breaks through the music in her ears and she pulls an earbud out, turning to look at the source of the voice.
It’s the stranger from a few days ago. The one Lena ran face first into on the way to class.
She pulls out the other earbud and tries for a polite smile. “I am,” she says slowly, pulling back a little from the enthusiastic grin on the other girl’s face.
“Kara Danvers,” the girl says, extending her hand so abruptly that Lena jumps back a little.
It’s a good thing manners are something so automatic in her body because her brain is having a hard time catching up to what’s happening. “Lena,” she offers, reaching up to shake the girl’s hand. She declines to add her last name, imagines it’s obvious anyway.
“Nice to meet you,” Kara says before taking the seat across from Lena and smiling at her.
Lena looks around the coffee shop trying to figure out if she’s being pranked or something. “You too,” she says, fiddling with her headphones. It’d be rude to just put them back in and ignore the newcomer, but Lena can’t deny that she’s considering it.
“So I figured since you totally ran into me and like -” Kara makes a gesture with her hands that Lena presumes is supposed to simulate the way Lena practically bounced off her body. “I should probably buy you a cup of coffee.”
“That seems backward,” Lena answers.
Kara shrugs, eyes the small cup of espresso near Lena’s laptop. “I could get us muffins instead. I hear they make this lemon cranberry one that is awesome.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Lena says and she puts one of her earbuds back in. She expects Kara to stand up and leave, but Kara stays seated, eyes intent on Lena.
Kara fiddles with her fingers, bites a little at her lip. “My sister says I should make an effort to make new friends,” she says.
Something unsettles her about the sad look in Kara’s face. They don’t know each other, but Lena can recognize the lost, lonely expression on Kara’s face. She see’s a similar one in the mirror every so often. “Does your sister go here?” Lena asks, for lack of anything better to say.
“No,” Kara shakes her head with a sad smile.
They’re silent for a bit, just looking at each other before Kara speaks again. “So do you want to?”
“Want to what?”
Kara grins. “Be my friend?”
Lena’s not sure why of all the people at school that Kara would think Lena is available to be a new friend, but before her brain can catch up and tell her no , her heart answers with a casual, “Sure.”
--
The newest issue of CatCo magazine is in her inbox when she gets to work and Lena studies it for a second before picking it up.
It doesn’t take long to find the article in which she’s mentioned and Lena smiles a little at the Kara Danvers scripted under the title.
If she’s honest, she expects any mention of her to be rather unfavorable. With the way Kara had looked at her throughout the interview she can’t imagine what Kara would have to say.
Except it’s not unfavorable at all. Kara talks about Lena’s vision for turning around L Corp and the distance Lena’s been trying to make between herself and the legacy of her brother. There’s no mention of the prototype she had shown Kara, but there’s a blurb about Lena being a once in a generation executive that makes her heart start to flutter uncomfortably.
It contains next to nothing of the things they actually discussed in the interview and Lena knows Kara must have drawn from their considerable history together.
She shuts the magazine and drums her fingers on her desk, considering.
There’s an uncomfortable ache when she thinks about how they last left things and Lena does want to try this friends thing out. Kara is literally the only person she really knows in National City. Now that she’s a reporter there’s both a personal and professional benefit to fostering their friendship.
She presses a subtle button on the underside of her desk that calls her assistant into the office. Jess studies her expectantly and Lena takes a breath before asking, “Can you tell Kara Danvers over at CatCo that I’d like to meet with her at her convenience?”
Jess nods obediently. “Right away, Miss Luthor.”
--
Kara shows up later that afternoon in a pretty dress and blue sweater and Lena should be more immune to the attraction she’s always felt towards the other girl, but she’s just not .
“I don’t mean to just drop in unannounced,” Kara says as she paces into the room. “I know we talked about that-”
“It’s okay, Kara,” Lena appeases from her place on her office couch. “You’re not unannounced. I asked to see you.”
Kara sits, deposits her purse on the ground next to her and gestures to an arrangement of flowers on the table. “Those are pretty,” Kara says, eying them with a little wonder.
“Plumerias,” Lena tells her. “Pretty rare, actually.”
“They remind me of my mom,” Kara says with a sad lilt to her voice. Lena wants to soothe the sound away and has to shift on the couch to stop herself. She remembers the quiet nights Kara told Lena all about her parents and Krypton - the way Kara had cried into her shoulder.
Before Lena can inquire exactly why plumerias of all things would remind Kara of her mother, Kara continues to talk, eyes on the flowers and voice soft. “You know, I have this AI program of her.”
“An AI?” Lena asks, curious. “What do you mean?”
“Yeah,” Kara says with a sad sort of nod. “It’s like a hologram in my mother’s image and with all of her knowledge. I talk to it sometimes. Tell it about my day even though I know it’s not her.”
“That must be…” Lena doesn’t know what to say to that, thinks it’s probably a more complicated thing than Kara is letting on.
“You should meet it,” Kara says suddenly, turning to look at Lena. “Or see it, I guess.”
“See it?”
“Yeah, why not? I mean, we dated for two years and you technically never met my birth mother,” Kara jokes, but it doesn’t sound that funny and Lena doesn’t laugh. Kara is still staring at her, her eyes so blue and wide and too trusting.
“Kara,” Lena says carefully, her heart starting to thud heavily at the direction the conversation is taking.
Kara must realize it too because she rips her stare away and swallows, jaw tight. “Sorry,” she replies, her hands twisting in her lap.
Lena has to clench her own to keep from reaching out.
For a moment, Lena wonders if Kara still has nightmares. She wonders if there’s anyone in Kara’s life that soothes that pain for her, that cradles her through the worst of the dreams and tells her everything will be okay. Lena’s not sure she wants to know the answer.
“I read the article,” Lena says, attempting to divert from the sadness she can see creeping into Kara’s face and her own spiraling thoughts. “You have a way with words.”
It does the trick and Kara’s face shifts as she turns to look at Lena. “Yeah?”
“To be honest I thought you’d do a complete hatchet job on me,” Lena confesses. “I was happily surprised to see you didn’t. That was why I asked to see you. To thank you.”
Kara’s smile falters a bit, her brow contracting. “Why would I do a hatchet job on you?”
Lena shrugs, leans her elbow on the back of the couch and props her head up. “After our conversation the other day I assumed the article would have taken a different tone.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Kara says and it’s serious, like she’s trying to convince Lena of something unspoken.
“We don’t exactly see eye to eye on certain things.” She bites against not anymore.
Kara smiles a little. “Disagreement doesn’t mean I’d write a disparaging article about you.”
“Well, I’m grateful for your journalistic integrity.”
Kara laughs and Lena smiles and everything feels okay for a second.
“I heard you met the president,” Lena says, laughing when Kara’s whole body goes almost rigid with excitement.
“I did!” Kara exclaims, clapping her hands together and turning towards Lena. “It was amazing.” Kara pauses, tilts her head to the side. “Well except for the part where she got attacked by Scorcher, I guess.”
Lena watches with an amused smile. She had watched the event on the TV in her office. It unnerved her to see Kara throwing herself in front of fireballs, shielding the president as they were attacked. “She was apprehended, was she not?”
“Yeah, eventually.” Kara’s head dances side to side for a second. “With some help.”
“I’m sure Supergirl did all the heavy lifting,” Lena teases and watches a smirk cross Kara’s face.
“Always,” Kara jokes, pulling a face and exaggeratedly flexing an arm. Lena’s stomach flips at the easy way they fall back into teasing and it makes her think that maybe they can make this work, maybe they can be friends as these new versions of themselves.
They’re quiet again for a moment before Kara starts to fidget nervously, her hands playing together in her lap. “Lena,” Kara starts and Lena’s not sure she wants to hear whatever comes next.
“Yes?”
“Do you want to have lunch this week?”
“Pardon?”
“Lunch,” Kara repeats. “With me.”
It feels entirely too much like the first time Kara ever asked her out and Lena feels her chest flush with anxiety. Just like that, Lena’s sure that they actually can’t be friends. There’s too much history that keeps blindsiding Lena every time they’re together. “Kara I don’t think that’s-”
“Or a drink,” Kara amends and Lena’s all ready to tell her that that’s not better , but Kara beats her to speaking and adds, “With my friends.”
“Your friends?”
“Yeah, it’ll be like a group hang thing. No pressure, and you don’t even have to talk to me if you don’t want.”
Lena just blinks at her. She doesn’t really know how to respond. The idea of hanging out casually with Kara and her friends makes her mouth go dry. “I’m not sure.”
“I’m not trying to -” Kara cuts herself off, shakes her head in that way Lena knows is because she can’t figure out all the right words to say. “We’re trying to be friends again, right? Start over and everything.”
“Yes,” Lena breathes.
“So this is like an easy step. You can hang out with all of us, meet some new people in National City. Hey, you know Alex! And you’ll like Winn, he’s a total nerd like you.”
The response is so automatic that Lena can’t stop it. “I am not a nerd.”
Kara snorts at that, shaking her head at Lena with familiarity. “Okay sure, nerd.”
“Says the girl who took a relativistic quantum field theory class at 8AM because she just needed to fulfill an elective,” Lena teases.
Kara looks at her softly. “You know that’s not the reason I took that class.”
An uncomfortable clench settles in Lena’s stomach and she tries to breathe through it, keeping an easy smile on her face. “Right,” Lena breathes out, fighting a cringe. Lena’s the one that set boundaries on their newly forming friendship - she should probably try to respect them herself.
“So you should come,” Kara entreats yet again. “Like I said, Alex will be there so there’ll be another familiar face.”
Lena has to glance away from the soft look in Kara’s face and take a deep calming breath. “I’m sure I’m not exactly on the top of your sister’s invite list right now.”
“You saved her life, Lena,” Kara says with a narrowing of her eyes. “She’ll be fine with you coming.”
The flash of memory - the feel of the gun as it went off, the blood on the ground - makes her fist clench, but she schools her expression into something neutral.
She does want to be friends. As painful and ridiculous as the idea may be. And it’s not like she has a busy social calendar since moving out to National City. Kara is at least someone she knows, and Alex is a familiar face and it’d probably be a more fun night than her usual plans - a bottle of cab franc and whatever work she decides to take home.
Except Kara is looking at her expectantly and she’s so pretty and Lena knows that hanging out is a very clear violation of the boundaries she keeps adamantly advocating for.
“Thank you for the invite,” Lena starts and Kara’s smile fades. The urge to put that smile back on Kara’s face thrums through her just like it always has and Lena swallows against the pain bubbling up in her throat. “But I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s just a-”
“Kara,” Lena interrupts before Kara continues on stubbornly with her argument. Kara was always so headstrong when she had an idea. “I can’t. Not yet.”
It seems to do the trick. Kara’s shoulders sag a little in defeat and she thins her lips when she grabs her purse and makes to stand. “I’m glad you liked the article,” she says softly and Lena stands up as well.
“Thank you for stopping by,” she says with a polite smile and Kara moves to the door. Lena stops her before she exits with a soft call of her name.
When Kara turns back to look at her, Lena takes a deep breath and looks everywhere but at Kara’s eyes.
“I’m not saying never,” she tells her. Hoping her meaning is clear. If they want to be friends they have to do it at Lena’s pace, slow and steady so she can handle the constant exposure to a part of her life she thought she’d left behind.
Kara just adjusts her glasses and shifts her bag over her shoulder. “Okay,” she replies, soft.
“I’m just saying not yet.”
It seems to put a little more life into Kara’s posture and her ex-girlfriend smiles, nodding a little before exiting the office.
--
“Kara, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Lena says one night - the fifth night Kara has unceremoniously just show up at her dorm room and demanded they hang out. They’re friends, Kara argues and Lena has no idea how to react to anything appropriately. She can’t remember the last time she had a casual friend.
Except she’s starting to think maybe they are friends or at the very least she’s not getting rid of Kara any time soon and Lena’d like to lay everything on the table early on if she can.
Kara turns to her with a potsticker hovered just in front of her face, wiggling in her grasp. “Okay,” she says smiling warmly before stuffing the food in her mouth. “What’s up?”
Lena thinks to laugh at the way Kara talks around her food, but doesn’t, takes a deep breath instead. “Do you know who - ” Lena pauses, considers, “You know my name right?”
“It’s Lena,” Kara says with a proud grin. “I know.”
“Right,” Lena says, narrowing her gaze. “But my full name, I mean.”
“Full name?” Kara looks completely confused, but it doesn’t stop her from snagging another potsticker and chomping down on it. “What do you mean?”
“My name is Lena Luthor.”
“Oh!” The confusion clears on Kara’s face. “I didn’t know you had a last name.”
“Didn’t know I - what do you - why wouldn’t I have a last name?”
“Naming conventions here are just so different,” Kara says sagely before her eyes go wide and she glances away. “I mean, some people don’t have last names right? That’s a thing. Here. On this plan-country. Which I am from.”
Lena’s brow comes together at her friend’s sudden babbling, but she lets it go and focuses on the point of the conversation.
“My last name is Luthor.”
Kara stares at her blankly. “Okay.”
It’s a bizarre experience to not have someone react to her last name in any way, good or bad. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”
“You’re Lena Luthor,” Kara says clearly having trouble following the conversation. “Didn’t we just go over that?”
“My family,” Lena starts, crossing her arms across her chest. “The Luthor Family.”
Realization seems to dawn on Kara and her jaw drops a little. “Oh! Your name is on a building!”
Lena laughs a little, if only in surprise, but she doesn’t correct her friend - Luthor is on more than just one building around campus. “That’s correct.”
“So you’re like a big deal,” Kara says wisely, gaze curious as she looks over at Lena. “That’s a big deal here, right?”
It occurs to Lena that Kara has a strange habit of referring to here as if Kara is from somewhere far away. But Lena knows Kara’s from Midvale and, sure, it might be a small middle of nowhere town, but it’s not that different from the rest of the region. Maybe the Luthors aren’t well known in Midvale.
“You really don’t know anything about me, do you?”
Kara sets her food down, turning to give Lena her full attention. “Well that’s what I’m trying to do.” Lena arches an eyebrow and Kara answers the unspoken question. “Get to know you.”
“Why?”
Kara’s brow furrows. “Why what?”
Lena shakes her head, laughs softly. “Why do you want to be friends with me?”
The usual answer is obvious to Lena. Most people have tried to befriend her in the past solely because of her last name and all that it means - money, connections, power. Even at a young age she’s a hot commodity in some social circles. Everyone always seems to want something from her, but there’s just something in the way Kara talks to her that makes Lena think this might be different.
“You crashed into me,” Kara answers easily with a small shrug.
“And that made you want to be friends?” Lena laughs at the absurdity of the answer and thinks maybe Kara is joking.
Except Kara’s face is serious when she tilts her head and answers Lena with a simple but sure, “Yes.”
--
They don’t see each other for another week and Lena spends the majority splitting time between sorting through projects down in R&D and sitting in her office reading e-mails from her PR team about what charity to support or what type of fundraiser to throw.
On a particularly dull afternoon of sorting through e-mails, Lana Lang walks into her office holding a small box and a bright smile.
“Afternoon, Miss Lang,” Lena greats, closing her laptop and turning to give her visitor her attention.
“Miss Luthor,” Lana says, placing the box in her hands on her desk and sliding it towards Lena.
“What’s this?”
“We finished that prototype you asked for,” Lana tells her. “The DNA scanner? Alien detection device?”
Realization dawns and Lena pulls her fingers away from the box so violently that Lana jumps a little at the motion.
“Sorry,” Lena says, trying to compose herself. “I had completely forgotten about that.”
“You did still want it, right?” Lana’s expression is clear confusion and Lena tries to steady the beating of her heart.
The memory of her conversation with Kara slices back into her and despite everything she said to her, everything about business and playing politics and making money, Lena can’t fight the sick feeling she got at the look on Kara’s face.
“Destroy it,” Lena orders, pushing the box back towards Lana. “And all the associated research and paperwork.”
“Destroy it?” Lana asks, quizzical slope to her brow. “Why?”
Out of frustration, Lena exhales noisily and fixes her best glare on her face. “As far as I’m aware, Miss Lang, I needn’t explain my decisions to you.”
Lana’s eyebrows shoot up, but she takes the box off Lena’s desk. “Of course, Miss Luthor. My apologies.”
--
A few days later she gets a text from Kara.
friends can text right? It reads and Lena’s fingers hover over the keyboard for a long moment.
Of course. Lena replies though she’s not sure that’s the best idea. Opening up a line of communication with her ex could possibly prove disastrous.
But then all she gets back in reply is a series of indecipherable (though clearly excited) emojis and it makes her laugh so loudly that her assistant comes into her office to check on her.
--
On Tuesday, Kara sends her a picture of what must be her lunch - it’s a massive sandwich that Lena thinks might actually just be two separate sandwiches stacked together. Are you really going to eat all of that? Lena sends back, but Kara just sends her a flexed bicep emoji and no food is safe around me.
On Wednesday, Kara sends her a I just remembered I have to show you this donut place here that is - swear swear swear - better than Galaxy Donuts. It’s followed by about sixteen donut emojis. Lena hasn’t eaten a donut in four years, but her mouth waters at the memory of the chocolate cake donuts Kara used to bring her during late nights in college.
On Thursday, late Thursday, Kara sends her a simple question - chocolate is a vegetable right?
No, Lena types back with a smile. She thinks back to how Kara was always trying to rewrite the food pyramid to suit her own needs.
but it comes from cocoa beans, Kara argues. beans are vegetables .
Lena doesn’t counter that, just sends back the chocolate bar emoji with a thumbs up.
On Friday, as Lena’s walking down the hallway outside her office, scrolling through email on her phone, Kara sends her a selfie and Lena unceremoniously drops her phone on the ground.
A passing intern scoops it up and hands it back to her with a smile, but Lena snatches it back so quickly and with such force that the intern scurries away immediately.
The photo stares back at her in their text thread, just Kara holding up a ridiculously sized ice cream cone and smiling, but Lena hasn’t seen her in days and it reminds her so acutely of college that she feels a cold wash across her skin.
She doesn’t respond. Just pockets her phone and paces back down the hallway to her office.
The text on Saturday just reads brunch? and Lena sighs when she reads it.
I can’t, is all Lena sends back without an explanation.
Kara seems to understand anyway, like she always has, and responds within seconds. not yet ?
Not yet.
--
“So there’s this thing called Astrofest,” is all Kara says to her when she plops down in the grass next to Lena.
A pamphlet is dropped over Lena’s open textbook where it’s laying against her lap. She leans back against the tree behind her and pulls an earbud out of her ear. “Hi, Kara,” she greets dryly.
They’ve been friends for a month now and Lena is finally starting to get used to the way Kara just kind of randomly pops up wherever Lena happens to be.
Kara grins and cross her legs. “Hi, Lena.”
Lena picks up the pamphlet gingerly and eyes her friend. “Astrofest,” she repeats.
“Yeah, so it’s this thing the astronomy club is doing this weekend. A bunch of people are going to hang out and bring their telescopes and we’re ordering a bunch of pizzas and stuff. Max thinks he’s going to get a good shot of the Cigar Galaxy which-” Kara scoffs. “I don’t know why he cares about that, but he seems oddly invested.”
Lena squints at her friend. “Cigar Galaxy?”
Kara nods, gestures with her hands. “The one that kinda looks like…” she draws a shape in the air that Lena tries to follow.
“Messier 82?” she ventures with a laugh.
“Yeah,” Kara nods rapidly. “So we’re all going out to that park about an hour off campus so we can get away from the city lights and stuff.”
“Sounds fun,” Lena comments, handing the pamphlet back to Kara and returning to her textbook.
“So you’ll come with me?”
It startles Lena and she looks back over at Kara. “So I’ll what?”
“Come with me. With us.”
Lena hesitates, eyes darting between Kara and the pamphlet clutched in her fingers. “I don’t know, Kara,” she says. “I have a lot of work to get done and-”
“Come on,” Kara pleads, abandoning the pamphlet to wrap strong fingers around Lena’s bicep, tugging lightly. “It’ll be fun. What’s the point in being friends if we never do stuff?”
“Fine,” Lena concedes if only to get Kara to stop looking at her like that.
It doesn’t help though because Kara practically squeals in delight before tackling Lena in a deceptively strong hug.
--
She’s working late in her office one night when the doors to her office get thrown open and the sound of her assistant apologizing quickly bursts in along with a determined looking Kara Danvers.
Lena stands at her desk and observes the scene with an amused grin. Kara looks intent and purposeful in that attractive way she always has, pacing into the office confidently like she belongs there. The sight of it squeezes Lena’s heart. It’s been days since they’ve last seen each other in person and Lena drinks in the image of her in real time for a long moment.
“I swear I just blinked and she got right past me,” Jess is saying and Lena bites against a laugh.
Kara puts her hand up towards Lena, face pleading. “Lena, I’m sorry. This is my fault-”
“She’s so fast.”
“I just need to talk to you,” Kara finishes.
There’s clear desperation in Kara’s voice that Lena feels utterly weak to. She smiles at her assistant. “Jess will you make a note downstairs that Kara Danvers is to be shown in right away whenever possible?”
“Really?” Kara asks with surprise as Jess moves away to do as she’s been asked. Lena gives Kara a look, her stomach fluttering at the open expression on her ex’s face. “Thank you,” Kara says softly.
Lena smiles and waits for the doors to her office to close before sitting back in her desk chair.
“So?” Lena asks, picking up a pen and fiddling with it. “What do you need to talk to me about?”
Kara paces forward towards the desk, wringing her hands together. “A friend of mine got involved in something shady,” she says.
“A friend?” Lena jokes with obvious skepticism.
“No, an actual friend,” Kara pushes and Lena chuckles.
“So this isn’t like the time you accidentally bought illicit narcotics from that-”
Kara cuts her off with a sharp glare. “We agreed never to speak of that.”
It makes Lena laugh again. “I apologize. You’re right. So tell me. What can I do to help your friend?”
“It’s actually-” Kara pauses, biting at her lower lip before dropping into the chair opposite Lena. “It kind of has to do with an old friend of yours.”
Lena’s eyebrows raise at that. An old friend? Lena could probably count the amount of friends she has - old or otherwise - on one hand. And one of them is currently sitting in her office. “Who?”
Kara’s lips thin for a moment as if she doesn’t want to answer. “Veronica Sinclair.”
It pulls a sharp laugh out of Lena. “I wouldn’t classify Roulette as a friend.”
“Well I don’t know what else you’d call her,” Kara retorts crossing her arms over her chest.
“How about an old acquaintance from boarding school that I never liked?”
“She sure liked you,” Kara replies and Lena knows she’s referring to the fact that Veronica often took every opportunity she saw Lena to make crude passes at her. The three of them had only been in the same room together twice, but neither time had gone particularly well.
“I can’t control what other people feel. That’s not my responsibility,” Lena says, amused at how familiar this argument is. “As I’ve told you many a time.”
“I know that and I completely agree, I just really don’t like her,” Kara says with a petulant set to her mouth and Lena laughs again. “With her tattoos and her-” Kara gestures angrily.
“Tight dresses,” Lena finishes for her, an amused smile playing at her lips.
“I just don’t like her, Lena,” Kara says with exasperation.
“I know you don’t. And neither do I.” It was an old conversation between them. “What does she have to do with your friend?”
Kara leans forward. “She runs this sort of alien fight club thing,” Kara explains. “The invite list caters to people in your circles. I thought maybe you might be on the list.”
Lena knows exactly what Kara is referring to and her fists clench. “I am,” she says with a heavy exhale. “Not that I’ve ever attended. I’ve never been particularly fond of her offered form of entertainment.”
“I broke up a fight just a few days ago,” Kara tells her, shaking her head and glancing away. “Got my butt kicked actually. We’re trying to shut it down.”
“Are you okay?” Lena asks without thinking and Kara’s eyes snap back up.
“Yeah,” Kara answers with a soft smile. “My pride on the other hand-”
Lena chuckles softly. “And then what happened? Your friend is one of her fighters? He’s a...” Lena trails off, not following where Kara is going.
“He was kidnapped,” Kara says without answering Lena’s unspoken question. “We think so at least. It’s kind of a long story that I would absolutely tell you, but I’m on a bit of a time crunch.”
Lena thins her lips, worry for whatever Kara’s gotten herself involved in scratches at her rib cage. “So what can I do?”
“I thought maybe you might know where she moved her operation for tonight. I went to the last location and it’s completely bare, no trace of her.”
“That’s the thing,” Lena says with a roll of her eyes. “Her stupid pop up stays mobile.”
“Do you know where she’s holding the next one?”
“Of course I know.”
Kara looks at her expectantly as if Lena’s just going to tell her the location. She wants to help, but instinctual worry claws at her and she finds herself protective of the invulnerable girl in front of her. Kara was always a punch first, make a plan later kind of person and Lena knows if she just gives Kara the address Kara will do something reckless.
“You’ll never get in,” Lena tells her, “not without being on the list.”
“I don’t need to be on the list,” Kara says with an eye roll. “I’m Supergirl.”
“So you’re just going to fly in there, in the middle of all of it and hope for the best?”
“That’s sort of what I do,” Kara answers plainly.
A plan forms in Lena’s mind. If Kara’s going to run after Roulette halfcocked then the least Lena can do is be there to help with the fallout. She might not be bulletproof, but Lena has experience in dealing with people like Roulette, in navigating that world. Experience Kara certainly doesn’t have.
“I’m on the list,” Lena offers simply and Kara’s face goes dark.
“No.”
“No, what?”
“Can you just give me the address?”
“If it’s Veronica you’re after it might be wiser to go there as Kara Danvers, try to infiltrate her ring from the inside.”
“I’m not trying to infiltrate her criminal organization,” Kara says with exasperation. “I’m trying to save my friend.”
“And you need my help. Help I can give you.”
“Lena, I just came here to see if you knew where the fight club was going to be. I don’t want to get you involved.”
“You’ve already gotten me involved,” Lena says with a pointed look.
“Not in the way you’re suggesting.”
Lena purses her lips. “This is my city too, you know,” she says slowly. “I care about what happens in it.”
“I know you do.”
“Roulette is notoriously slippery and she is a woman of many connections,” Lena tells her. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. She might have friends in high places, but I’m a Luthor.”
“Lena,” Kara says with clear warning, but Lena can see that Kara’s starting to resign herself to it. She just needs one more push.
“You can’t just approach every single situation with a punch first, hope it works out mentality. Roulette is clever. You might get your friend out, but…”
They stare at each other for a long moment. Lena fights a laugh when Kara’s mouth twists into an angry sort of pout.
“Fine,” Kara concedes and Lena swallows the triumphant smile that threatens to take hold of her face. “Let’s go.”
Lena stands, but she chuckles a little, eyeing Kara up and down. There’s nothing wrong with her outfit - in fact the roll of Kara’s sleeves up her muscular forearms is admittedly distracting - but it won’t work for where they’re going. “You can’t go like that.”
“Like what?” Kara says, looking down at herself.
“Go change,” Lena orders, closing her laptop and shuffling some papers on her desk. “Something fancy.”
Kara cringes just slightly. “Like going to a nice restaurant fancy?”
Lena bites her lip. “Like you’re going to meet my mother fancy,” she says wryly and Kara’s eyes go wide.
“Right,” she says. “Okay, yeah I can do that.”
Lena scribbles an address on the paper and walks around her desk. She holds it up in front of Kara but moves it back when the other girl looks like she’s going to grab for it. “Meet me here,” Lena says, “but promise you won’t go in without me.”
Kara rolls her eyes. “I promise.”
Lena remains unconvinced. “Swear on Dinkel’s,” she commands, referring to a bakery Kara practically lived at in college.
Kara glares a little, crossing her arms in defiance for a quick moment. “I swear on Dinkel’s,” she grumbles.
With a smile, Lena hands her the paper and leans back against her desk to watch her leave.
--
When she shows up to their meeting location, Kara is standing there in a tight black dress and heels, her hair pulled up on her head to expose a long slender neck and Lena’s hand shakes with the urge to reach out and grab her.
Kara turns and spots her, runs her eyes up and down the length of Lena’s body in a familiar way that makes Lena’s gut clench.
“All set?” Lena asks when she’s finally in front of Kara. It’s only then that she notices two other figures over Kara’s shoulder, talking lowly. Alex, she recognizes easily. The other shorter woman is unfamiliar.
“Maggie Sawyer,” Kara fills in for her with a quirk of her lips. “NCPD science division. Alex has been bringing her in on a few cases.”
“Does she know about?” Lena makes a small gesture with her hand, scooping it between them like a plane taking off and Kara follows the motion with a small smile.
“No,” she says in a low whisper. “She thinks I’m here as a reporter and you’re just Alex’s liaison.”
Lena’s not too sure that’s true judging the way Maggie keeps glancing over and she almost says as much about Kara’s terrible ability to keep a secret, but then Kara’s talking again. “Alex seems to like her,” she says. “It’s nice to see Alex have a friend. She spends way too much of her time at work or worried about me.”
Lena watches the two women talk to each other, standing just a little too close to be considered professional and she quirks an eyebrow, shooting Kara an amused grin. “Friend?”
Adorable confusion crosses Kara’s face at Lena’s tone and Lena just shakes her head. Kara was always kind of oblivious to certain things. “Let’s go in. It’s about to start,” Lena says, gesturing forward. She and Kara walk towards Alex and Maggie.
“Hi, Lena,” Alex greets her, looking entirely displeased to see her there.
“Alex,” Lena replies with a soft incline of her head.
“This is Detective Sawyer with the NCPD,” Alex introduces and Lena shakes the other woman’s hand.
“Pleasure,” Maggie says, eyeing Lena with that critical gaze all police officers seems to have.
“Maggie and I will take point out here while you two-” Alex points at her and Kara with a continued look of displeasure. “Go inside and get a read on the situation.”
“Right,” Kara says with a nod, hands on her hips. Lena watches the posture with amusement. It’s so like Supergirl it’s a wonder the rest of the world hasn’t figured it out yet.
“The second you see J’onn you call us in,” Alex says with clear command, eyes hot on Kara’s face. Alex’s eyes cut quickly to Maggie for a second. “Then you get out of there and we’ll send in Supergirl.”
Kara has a look of innocence on her face. “I will.”
“Keep your eyes on Sinclair as well,” Maggie adds.
Lena and Maggie eye each other for a short second - Lena doesn’t know what to do with the little smirk on the detective’s face, but she doesn’t have time to think about it because Kara is leading them towards the entrance to the warehouse.
--
The fight club is exactly as Lena expected it to be. Roulette was always so damn dramatic.
The guest list is incredibly impressive and Lena hopes the mask she’s wearing hides her face enough and that no one looks closely enough to recognize her. She hadn’t thought of the fallout that could befall her were she to be spotted at this event. Discretion, however, is the kind of thing required for attending an event like this so she thinks she might be safe enough.
On instinct, she threads her arm through Kara’s as they walk inside and they walk like that for a good ten feet before Lena realizes what she’s done.
She goes to pull away, but Kara tightens her arm at her side and keeps them connected. “It’s fine,” Kara murmurs softly to her as they head for a high top on the far side of the room, close to a massive metal cage.
A waiter passes them on the way and Lena plucks a glass of champagne off his tray. She takes an immediate gulp of the bubbly liquid before setting it on the table and avoiding Kara’s curious stare.
Kara spots Veronica before Lena does and Lena only knows that because of the dark shadow that passes over Kara’s face, visible despite the mask she’s wearing.
Lena looks over her shoulder to see Veronica, tight red dress and tattoos on display. She resists the urge to roll her eyes and turns back to Kara with a small smile. “Do you want to talk to her? See if we can get her to tell us where your friend is?”
“Want to?” Kara parrots, frowning and indicating how little she would like to interact with Veronica Sinclair.
The choice is made for them when Lena hears the arrogant sounding, “Lena Luthor,” from over her shoulder. Apparently the mask isn’t as effective as she had hoped. Lena turns and scoots closer to Kara on instinct, their arms brushing suddenly. For half a second, Lena feels Kara’s hand brush against her lower back and drop away as quickly as it came.
Kara is still glowering, but Lena puts on a polite, though tight, smile and turns towards Veronica. “Roulette,” she greets.
“I was beginning to think my invitations had gotten lost in the mail.”
Lena doesn’t reply, just takes a practiced sip of her champagne and watches as Roulette’s gaze traces the short distance between her and Kara.
“I see some things,” Veronica observes as she eyes Kara, “Haven’t changed.”
“Hello,” Kara says in greeting and it’s unclear if Veronica actually recognizes Kara or is referring to something else entirely.
“You’ve always had such awful taste in women, Lena,” Veronica says with a sardonic smile directed Kara’s way.
It makes Lena want to punch the smirk off the other woman’s face, but when she sees the way Kara’s fists clench where they’re resting on the high top, Lena channels her anger into something less violent. Kara’s never really been capable of keeping a lid on her temper around Veronica and now would be about the worst time for Kara to lose her cool.
“And you in fashion,” Lena says coldly, eyes running up Veronica’s red dress.
“What made you decide to finally grace us all with your presence?” Veronica asks with a smirk, chin lifted in that haughty way she always had.
“Curiosity,” Lena says, a bland look on her face. “I hear you have quite the event planned tonight.”
It’s fishing, to see if Veronica will disclose anything about Kara’s friend, but Veronica, as always, evades giving any direct answers. “I always have quite the event planned. You should know that.”
“I must admit, these fight clubs seem a bit beneath you,” Lena says. “Are you not afraid of the fallout in the event you’re caught? Running an underground fight club never seems to go over that well in the press.”
Veronica laughs and Lena can feel the heat rolling off of Kara in angry waves. She presses in a little so their arms are skin on skin, the touch of it seeming to soothe Kara just a little. “Fallout? They’re aliens fighting aliens. People care about dogfights. No one cares if a couple aliens get knocked around.”
Lena has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the flood of angry words that wants to come out. She manages a smile and a lift of her chin, mimicking the arrogant pose Roulette has taken. “I suppose you were never one to shy away from a risk.”
Veronica’s lips purse and she hums through it, observing the two of them critically once more. “Well, it was good to see you, Lena. As always. I do hope you enjoy yourselves tonight,” Roulette offers, with a final disdainful look towards Kara. “Let me know if you grow tired of the mousy girls you favor between your legs. You have my number.”
Lena refuses to rise to the bait, just keeps a steady, narrowed gaze on Roulette as she turns and walks away, but Kara bristles noticeably, an angry huff of air leaving her mouth.
“I hate her,” Kara says with a frown once they’re alone again.
“Ignore her for now,” Lena dismisses. “Focus on finding your friend.”
Kara’s fist is still clenched so tightly on their table that her knuckles have gone white and without thinking about it, Lena reaches over to run a soothing palm over her skin. It relaxes the hand almost immediately and Kara’s shoulders sag a little.
Then, as soon as their eyes connect and Lena registers what she’s doing, she pulls her hand away quickly and reaches for her champagne flute.
Kara looks like she’s about to say something when suddenly the cage in front of them lights up and Roulette’s booming voice fills the warehouse.
It all goes to hell after that.
The main act must include Kara’s friend because her back goes rigid immediately and Lena hears her gasp before murmuring something with a hand at her ear - talking to Alex she presumes.
“You okay?” Lena asks, an eye on the spectacle in front of them. The two - martians, Lena realizes - square off against each other refusing to fight and Kara looks about ready to bolt into the middle of it.
“I’ve got to go,” Kara tells her in a quiet whisper, moving close enough so they can hear each other without tipping anyone off. Kara’s hand slides to the small of her back so naturally that Lena doesn’t notice it for a few seconds. Blonde hair falls forward as Kara leans in to talk directly into her ear and suddenly Lena’s whole body feels hot.
They’re in the middle of a semi-dangerous situation, surrounded by National City’s elite and all Lena can think about is tangling her fingers in soft hair and pressing her lips against Kara’s.
Kara doesn’t seem as distracted as Lena is and she imagines that’s because Kara is here on a mission more than anything - her friend in danger not twenty feet away. “Are you going to be okay?” Kara is asking, still pressed in close. Her other arm, the one not on Lena’s back, is resting on the table in front of Lena. She’s practically enveloped in Kara.
Lena nods, inhales through her nose and regrets it immediately. The sudden invasion of scent does nothing to stamp down the desire to press up against Kara and she coughs a little before looking back up at her ex-girlfriend. “Yes,” she manages to get out. “Of course, do what you need to do.”
Kara looks skeptical, as if she knows the direction Lena’s thoughts have taken, but she steps away. “Be careful,” she orders. “Stay here and keep an eye on Veronica, but don’t do anything.”
“Okay,” Lena says, but the word comes out a little shaky and she clears her throat.
“I’m serious, Lena,” Kara says, frowning. “Don’t be reckless. Stay here.”
“I will.”
Kara thins her lips, leans in for a second like she’s going to say or do something else - fly Lena out of here probably, she thinks - but then nods and steps away.
Kara’s out of sight in seconds and Lena returns her attention to the fight happening in the cage. A new alien has joined them - a huge brutish thing - and now both martians are being flung around the large space.
The fight doesn’t last long before Lena hears, “Everyone, freeze!” from behind her and turns to see Alex and Maggie entering the space with a SWAT team. Seconds later, Supergirl touches down across the warehouse and enters the fray.
Lena watches, heart in her throat, as Kara gets flung like a rag doll into a nearby shipping container, the sound of her slicing through the side of it crunching uncomfortably in Lena’s ears.
But then Kara is getting up, running back towards the other alien, and with a series of well executed maneuvers has him on the ground.
Which is about when Lena notices Veronica attempting to slip away. Keep an eye on her, Kara had said. So Lena follows, tearing the mask off her face and leaving it at the table.
“Roulette!” Lena calls out when they turn a corner into an emptier part of the warehouse. “Veronica.”
At this, the other woman turns, gives Lena a haughty look. “You’ll have to excuse my manners, Lena. I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
“You’re not getting away with it,” Lena tells her, stepping forward. It’s then that Lena notices a group of aliens emerging from around a back corner, stepping towards them. Lena thinks maybe this is what Kara meant when she said don’t do anything reckless. But she just needs to stall Roulette a little, wait for the cavalry to catch up.
“Get away with what?” Veronica asks with a laugh. “Don’t tell me Lena Luthor of all people is here to bust up my little show? I should have known.”
“What you’re doing is wrong,” Lena tries. “Not to mention illegal, and you’re not going to get away with it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Veronica says darkly, stepping forward. “You know how this works. And you know exactly how I’ll get away with it.”
Lena does in fact know how Roulette has managed to stay afloat all these years. She’s no stranger to the kind of power that the right connections can have.
“You’re outnumbered here, Lena,” Veronica tells her and Lena eyes the group of aliens with a wary eye. They seem to take a collective step towards her, shielding Veronica. “Go now before you get hurt. I’d hate to have to kill you. We’re such old friends after all.”
She thinks to say something else, but a burst of noise comes from behind her and she turns to see Alex running towards them, gun raised.
“You’re under arrest, Veronica Sinclair,” Maggie says as she comes up behind Alex, gun in hand.
Alex comes up next to Lena and spares her a tight glare before subtly pulling her backwards and stepping in front of her. A few other agents in tactical gear surround them, faced in a standoff with Veronica and her small band of alien fighters. The aliens surrounding Veronica look braced for a fight.
Just as Alex looks ready to speak, Kara comes bursting into the room with a loud, “Stand down!”
Lena moves aside as Kara paces forward, arms spread out and a pleading expression on her face. She watches as Kara walks straight towards the group of aliens in front of her and addresses them in that careful, hopeful way she has.
It’s strange to experience this in person - Supergirl in her element. Kara somehow manages to be nothing like Lena remembers her and yet at the same time still the same wide-eyed earnest girl she fell in love with five years ago.
Kara talks everyone down with ease and Lena watches as one by one every alien once on Veronica’s side falls easily under Kara’s spell. Veronica turns to walk away, but Kara’s speech worked and her own people block the way, allowing Maggie to step forward and arrest her.
Kara steps up as it happens and Lena watches, arms crossed. “I’m sure you figured it out by now, but it’s not a good idea to bet against me.”
Lena wants to laugh at that, the brave, proud way Kara plants her hands on her hips as she says it. The look on Veronica’s face makes Lena smirk, catching the other woman’s eye for a pleasant second.
--
When Lena wakes up it feels like her head is being weighed down by invisible bricks and she struggles to pick it up off the pillow behind it. The groan she lets out causes something to shift at her right and she turns to see Kara there, watching her with wide eyes from a nearby chair.
“Hey,” Lena croaks out, her throat painfully dry. She thinks to reach out a hand towards her girlfriend, but she’s stopped by the barricade on the side of her bed. Looking around, she finally registers where she is and the memory of her car crash comes barreling back.
Kara’s standing at her bedside in a blink, leaning over with watery eyes. “Hey.”
“What happened?” Lena asks, trying to take mental stock of her injuries. She doesn’t feel too terrible. It’s just her head mostly that feels a little foggy and slow. There’s some soreness in her arm, hip and lower back but nothing feels too bad.
“You were in a car crash,” Kara tells her, voice breaking as she says it.
Lena lifts her hand up to brush across Kara’s cheekbone, seeing the tears that are threatening to fall. “You okay?’
Kara lets out a watery laugh. “Yeah, I’m just worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” Lena insists, she looks around the room again, tries to see if she can see where they put her chart. “I think.”
“Your brother called,” Kara murmurs.
“He did?”
“He says he’s going to try to make it down tomorrow, but work is busy. He was glad to hear you’re okay.”
Lena doesn’t ask if anyone informed her mother. She already knows the answer. “I’ll call him later.”
Kara nods, her smile tight. “I almost didn’t make it there in time,” Kara says so soft that it takes Lena a second to register it all.
“How did you get there?” Lena remembers driving, remembers being late for her lunch date with Kara, and remembers the second before impact when she realized the car had run the red light. Kara had to have been halfway across campus with no way of knowing Lena was in trouble.
“I heard it,” Kara says, voice hoarse and thick.
“You heard it?” Lena asks.
“You have a very distinctive heartbeat. Did you know that?” Kara replies with a small smile. Lena looks at her girlfriend with clear disbelief. Heartbeats aren’t distinctive or different. Apart from medical abnormalities or small differences in volume, human heartbeats sound the same.
But, Lena reminds herself, Kara is different and she’s looking down at her with such honesty. “I do?”
Kara nods. “It’s not - it’s not super different. Maybe I just know you or something, but I can pick out your heartbeat across all of campus sometimes. I can hear Alex’s too, and Eliza’s if I really try. It depends on how close they are really.”
It startles Lena to hear this. She knows Kara has superhuman hearing, but she hadn’t thought about what that would imply on a personal level. “And you were listening to it - to mine - when I crashed?”
Kara seems to blush then, expression a little sheepish. “I’m not trying to invade your privacy or anything,” Kara says. “It’s just sometimes I tune in for a second to make sure you’re okay, or to see if you need anything. Sometimes hearing it calms me down if I’m feeling nervous.”
Warmth blooms up into Lena’s throat and she falls impossibly more in love with Kara. “And that’s how you knew about the crash?”
A dark look washes over Kara’s face and Lena watches the hands clutching the bed rail tighten. “That idiot,” Kara starts. “Blew through a red light and hit your car right in the side. Your car went clear across the intersection and he hit another car and flipped over.”
“What happened to him?”
Kara’s eyes spark dangerously. “I don’t care.”
There’s heat in Kara’s voice and her knuckles have gone pale white. Lena thinks she catches the sound of the metal creaking under Kara’s grip and her eyes go wide. “Kara,” she breathes softly. The anger rolling off of Kara feels palpable.
“Hey,” Lena says in a soft soothing voice. She picks her hand up and puts it over one of Kara’s, softly stroking over the skin there. “It’s fine, I’m fine, you’re fine. Everything is fine.”
Heavy emotions always put Kara completely out of sync with her own strength and Lena knows they’re about two seconds away from having to explain broken medical equipment to the nurse. She tugs at Kara’s fingers, whispering reassurance until they finally give way and Lena tugs them towards her lips, pressing a soft kiss there.
At this, Kara’s tears fall, but her shoulders sag with it and she lets go of the bed rail.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Kara whispers, moving forward to press her forehead against Lena’s. Lena closes her eyes and inhales the feeling of being this close to Kara, letting it calm them both in a way little else can. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t,” Lena tells her quietly before kissing the tears away.
--
Kara corners her as the room clears out, tugging her into relative privacy on the side of a shipping container.
“I thought I told you not to do anything reckless,” Kara hisses as soon as they’re alone.
Lena tugs a little against the grip Kara has on her arm until Kara releases her. “And I didn’t.”
“You went straight after Veronica the minute she fled.”
“You told me to keep an eye on her,” Lena points out, arching an eyebrow.
“Not that close an eye.”
“It’s Veronica,” Lena argues. “If she were going to kill me it would have already happened. Like that time I informed the headmistress of her unsanctioned gambling ring.”
“People are different after so many years apart,” Kara says and her tone is dark with accusation. “Or so you keep reminding me.”
Lena knows that Kara’s attitude is being affected by adrenaline and worry so she fights against the instinct to snap at her. “I’m fine,” she says, stepping a little closer to Kara, seeing the way she’s clenching her jaw and her whole body is tense.
Everything in her body is telling her to wrap Kara up in her arms, to run her palm down Kara’s spine in that way she knows always turns Kara’s body into liquid. Lena wants to know if it all still works, if she still knows the tricks of Kara’s body the way she once did. The urge to wipe away the furrow in Kara’s brow with her thumb is so strong she has to put her hands behind her back in order to resist it.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let you come,” Kara grumbles, pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. The tone of it makes Lena bristle.
“Last I checked, you don’t control me,” Lena bites out and Kara’s face sags from the tight expression of before.
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.”
“It sure sounds like it is.”
“Lena,” Kara pleads and she takes a step closer, close enough that Lena has to lift her chin to keep eye contact. “I’m just worried about you.”
“You needn’t be.”
“I do when you’re running headfirst into danger like that.”
“I ran after a woman I’ve known for years to stall her. There was a SWAT team that included your sister right behind me and Supergirl. It was hardly as dangerous as you’re making it out to be. Roulette fights with her brain not her fists anyway, always has.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Kara, I’m an adult and I make my own choices.”
“Those choices affect me,” Kara says with an intensity Lena doesn’t know what to do with. There’s fire in Kara’s eyes and she’s close enough that all would Lena would have to do is lean up just a little -
Kara’s eyes dart down to Lena’s lips and the thought is like a tangible thing between them. Lena knows they’re about to cross a line - thinks maybe they already have - but she doesn’t know how to stop it. Her fingers tense with the desire to reach out and pull Kara in close.
It isn’t until Kara let’s out a strangled, “Lena,” that the spell gets broken and Lena takes a step backward, sucking in air as fast as she can.
“Can we - can we not do this?” Lena asks, voice breaking.
Kara’s eyes stare steadily into her own for a long moment. “Boundaries,” Kara whispers.
Lena nods, maybe a little too quickly, but there’s heat in her eyes. “Boundaries,” she repeats.
--
When they walk outside, Veronica is taunting Maggie even as she’s handcuffed and Lena makes out the words clearly enough that she decides to walk over, Kara hot on her heels.
“You’re wrong,” Lena says as soon as she hears Veronica say something about being released in a matter of minutes.
“All it will take is a phone call,” Veronica says with a cocky smirk. “You know how this goes. Right friends, right time.”
Veronica’s not that off base and Lena swallows against that knowledge even as she goes through the long list of her own connections, tries to decide which ways she could make Veronica’s life miserable. It’s highly likely Veronica will manage to dodge this arrest, as Lena is sure she has many times in the past.
Kara shifts behind her and Lena feels the motion as if she could see it. It draws Veronica’s glance for just a second.
“I wasn’t aware that you’ve changed sides,” Veronica continues and Lena’s jaw tightens. “Wouldn’t your mother be proud.”
“I haven’t changed sides,” Lena argues, stomach turning at the mention of her mother. “You’ve just always misjudged me.”
At that, Veronica looks over Lena’s shoulder where she’s sure Kara is still standing - Supergirl is still standing.
“I suppose I have,” Veronica murmurs. “A Luthor and a Super,” she laughs, eyes darting between the both of them. “How the times have changed.”
Lena’s not sure how to tell her that in some ways, nothing’s changed at all.
Maggie tugs her away after that to pull her further down the sidewalk and Lena’s left alone with Kara again.
“Come on,” Kara says softly, a hand at her elbow. “I’ll take you home.”
Lena tugs away from the touch and swallows. Everything feels too raw right now and she’s so sensitive to Kara’s presence that she knows she’s seconds away from saying fuck it to any boundaries she’s been pretending they need. “I can get home on my own, thank you.”
“Lena, let me take you home,” Kara says, looking about as unsteady as Lena feels. She looks so ready to fall into Lena’s arms. Lena wants to let her, so badly.
“I’ll take her,” Alex’s voice interrupts as she walks up to them, eyes darting between them, narrowed.
“Alex,” Kara starts, but Alex puts up a firm hand to stop her.
“You need to go debrief back at the -” A quick glance to Lena. “Back at base. I’ll make sure Lena gets home.”
Kara looks like she wants to keep protesting and frankly Lena definitely does not want to be left alone with Alex Danvers. Especially not with the way she feels right now. But Alex has a determined look on her face and the two sisters just stare at each other for a long charged moment.
“Fine,” Kara concedes.
“Get out of here,” Alex tells her. “I’ll call you later.”
With one last heavy look at Lena, Kara nods and turns to jump back into the sky.
--
The air in Alex’s car is thick with tension and Lena watches National City race by outside the passenger side window with her arms crossed.
Alex is silent and Lena’s not going to be the one to change that. Frankly, a silent ride is more preferable than one in which Alex reminds her yet again of how she broke Kara’s heart four years ago.
They’re about five minutes into the ride when Alex finally says something, fingers drumming on her steering wheel. “I told Kara it was a bad idea to bring you in on this.”
“I’m sure you did,” Lena murmurs, keeping her eyes directed at the road.
“Not because of-” Alex pauses, looks over at her for a second. “You’d actually be quite an asset to our team.”
It shocks Lena into looking over at the other woman, her jaw dropping a little. “Is that a compliment I hear?”
Alex rolls her eyes, scoffs. “You did okay in there. You’re smart, you have decent instincts and you have this annoying fearlessness about you that’s actually useful in high pressure situations. You’re not afraid to make snap decisions.”
Lena smiles a little. “But?”
Alex sighs, sagging a little in her seat as if she’s already resigned to something. “You’ve got Kara all twisted up.”
It rubs painfully against Lena’s already stretched out emotions. “I don’t mean to,” she says quietly. “I told her we have to-”
“I’m not saying it’s your fault,” Alex interrupts and it’s the most honest and open she’s ever seen Kara’s sister. “Kara never really gave up on the idea that you guys would get back together.”
It’s like getting stabbed. Or so Lena imagines. The words jab into her chest painfully and she takes in a lungful of air. “I’m not trying to give her that impression,” Lena argues, pulling the words out of her mouth slowly and with a great deal of pain. “She wants to be friends and I - I’m-”
“Helpless to say no to her,” Alex finishes with a bitter laugh. “That was always your problem.”
Lena doesn’t know exactly what that means, but she looks out the window and swipes a finger at the corner of her eye, begging her body not to cry.
“Sometimes Kara just needs to be told no,” Alex continues and Lena’s jaw tightens.
“I don’t think we should be talking about this behind her back.”
“Neither of you are talking about it and that’s the problem,” Alex counters and Lena feels backed into a corner, defensive.
“We have talked about it and frankly, our relationship is none of your business.”
“So it’s a relationship?”
“Friendship,” Lena amends with a sharp tone. “Don’t nitpick.”
“Friendship,” Alex repeats, scoffing. “Right. Because you guys were so good at being friends the first time around.”
“I think that we can be friends,” Lena replies in a careful tone. “We just need some time. Everything is too new and raw right now.”
Alex laughs, the sound hollow. “Then you’re both fools.”
--
When Lena finally gets home she collapses in her bed with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues. The side of her bedroom is floor to ceiling windows and Lena spends the night watching the sky, eyes darting between the various buildings across National City and the stars that are barely visible above.
It’s close to midnight when she gets a text. Her phone vibrates on the glass surface of her end table and she snatches it quickly.
i’m sorry if things got weird tonight, it reads, and that i got mad. i just want to protect you. thank you for your help with everything.
Lena just blinks at the words, her eyes feeling dry and tired. She falls asleep with her phone in her hand.