12. Chapter 12(1)

Kara takes an uncharacteristically long time to return to the apartment and Lena spends the time pacing around her kitchen as she tries to stop feeling so incredibly infuriated that Kara would just walk - fly - out of a conversation like that.

By the time Kara lands on her balcony for the second time that night, she looks caught somewhere between sheepish and just as angry as Lena’s been feeling.

“I didn’t come back to fight with you about this,” is the first thing Kara says as she steps back inside and Lena has to take a deep breath and count to ten to stop from snapping. She props her hands up on her kitchen counter and waits for Kara to step more fully into the room.

“We’re not fighting,” Lena says, trying to relay a calm she does not feel at all.  

Kara looks skeptical of that. “Feels like we might start,” she says in a slow articulation of the words.

Lena’s lips thin. “Why would you say that?”

“The look on your face?” Kara ventures and Lena takes another deep breath.  

“I would just like to discuss a few things with you. Like how you do not just get to fly out of my apartment in the middle of a discussion, Kara,” Lena says, just barely restraining herself from pointing an accusatory finger at Kara’s face. “Of all the childish things-”

“Don’t call me a child,” Kara retorts, her expression shadowing.

“I’m not calling you a child,” Lena denies. “I’m calling your behavior childish.”

“I’m the only one being an adult about this.”

Lena startles, lets out an incredulous laugh and Kara’s face darkens further. “I honestly can’t believe you right now.”

“This is the right thing, Lena,” Kara says lowly, stepping forward.

“You are so far off base at this point-,” Lena starts, but Kara takes another step forward, her jaw tight in anger.

“Of all the people to say that to me, as if you weren’t the one four years ago breaking up with me for my own good,” Kara counters and it shuts Lena up suddenly, eyes going a little wide.

At the sudden silence, Kara relaxes just a bit as Lena feels her own shoulders go tense in indignation.

“Is that what you think happened?” Lena asks, surprised and incredulous. “We broke up for a variety of reasons, but not because I was making some sort of ridiculous self sacrifice to protect you!”

“This isn’t ridiculous,” Kara argues.

“This is the very definition of ridiculous,” Lena counters. “I understand that you’re scared and that’s fine, but you can’t let that kind of feeling make decisions like this one. And you certainly don’t get to make decisions for me when you-”

“It’s not about fear,” Kara denies, hands propping up on her hips. “It’s about realizing a threat exists and taking steps to eliminate it. I refuse to be the reason you get hurt and I-”

“You’re hurting me right now,” Lena says.

“I am trying to-”

“Oh get off it, Kara,” Lena snaps, feeling her anger get the best of her. 

“Stop dismissing this, Lena,” Kara says heatedly, pointing a finger accusatorily in Lena’s direction. “This is real. This is the best thing for both of us.”

“If I were the one saying this...If I were telling you that I didn’t want to be with you because my mother is apparently some kind of evil supervillain and my brother tried very hard to kill your cousin, what would you say?”

“I told you earlier-” 

“What would you say, Kara? If that’s why I didn’t want to be with you. If I said that I’m a Luthor, and I’m constantly in the public eye, and am just in general a threat to your secret identity and wellbeing as Supergirl. That’s all true. I’m far more dangerous to you than you are to me.”

Kara’s chin lifts a moment and she lets out a noisy exhale through her nose. “I would say that I can protect you from Lex and your mother. And I can handle myself. I can protect both of us. You’re not-”

“Exactly,” Lena says.

“This is different.”

“It’s not.”

“Lena,” Kara says, cutting her hand in front of her in what Lena’s sure is meant to be a gesture of finality. “It is.”

“No,” Lena counters. “This is-”

“We stood at an airport four years ago and you told me we couldn’t be together anymore and then you got on a plane and literally flew away. And now I do it and I’m the bad guy? I’m the one being ridiculous? All because I care about what happens-”

“I don’t know how many times I have to apologize for-”

“You haven’t,” Kara interrupts forcefully.

Lena’s brow pulls down. “Haven’t what?”

“Apologized,” Kara answers. “In fact all you’ve said is that you don’t regret it. And that you’re sorry you had to make the decisions you made. The decision to abandon me.”

Abandon. That’s what Kara feels Lena did to her, when there’s hardly been a day since that one where she hadn’t thought about Kara.

A tense silence stretches out between them and Lena feels transported for a moment back to that small airport, an answering spike of heat blooming behind her eyes at the thought of it. Her anger ebbs away a bit and she looks at Kara dead on. “I don’t owe you an apology for that,” she says and a flash of hurt spikes across Kara’s face.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Lena continues, softer this time and with less ire than before. “That was never my intention, and I wasn’t trying to - I didn’t - I wasn’t abandoning you. I’m not going to apologize for making a hard decision all those years ago. I thought it was the right one for me at the time.”

“Then why can’t you understand what I’m doing here? That this isn’t any easier for me than it was for you-”

“That decision was about me and my life and all the reasons why our relationship was about to become logistically difficult to manage-”

“Logistically difficult to manage? We weren’t a business deal, Lena.”

Lena pinches the bridge of her nose in irritation. “I am not going to sit here and argue about something that happened four years ago, Kara. If we can’t get past that now then this is going nowhere.”

“We are past it,” Kara says. “I’m just trying to get you to see that what you did then and what I am trying to do now are-”

“Completely different things,” Lena interrupts, unable to keep her voice from going shrill.

“Stop interrupting me.”

“Stop saying the same ridiculous thing!”

Kara’s jawline is a sharp, angry line as she takes a deep breath and continues. “Four years ago. You made a decision for the both of us.”

“I made a decision for me that happened to affect both of us.”

“Well, that’s what I’m doing,” Kara says with a lift of her chin.

“So you don’t want to be with me?” Lena asks, propping her hands on her hips. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Are you implying that you didn’t want to be with me four years ago because-”

“For the love of God, Kara. I am not going to run around in circles with you about what happened in college.”

“You brought it up!”

“You brought it up!” Lena all but yells. A second of silence stretches between them and Lena takes a deep, calming breath. “We have to calm down.”

“I’m perfectly calm,” Kara replies with a pointed look that immediately flushes away when Lena cuts a glare her direction.

“Look,” Lena says in a more even tone. “We’re not college students anymore, Kara. There’s no need for this kind of dramatism.” 

Kara’s shoulders sag and she looks away for a bit. “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

Stepping forward until she’s inches away from Kara, Lena manages a small smile. “I want to get back together,” she says without any pretense and an unexpected look of shock startles for a second on Kara’s face. “Do you?”

“Do I?”

“Do you want to get back together with me?” Lena asks. “Simple question.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Forget everything else. Pretend we’re on Earth-1. Do you want to be with me?”

Kara just stares at her for a long moment, eyes darting around Lena’s face before she answers. “I told you before,” she says in a soft voice. “In any and every universe.”

The memory makes Lena smile. “And I told you years ago that I didn’t want to look back and think I had wasted a moment of my life with you.”

The tense lines in Kara’s face relax a little at the memory and Kara manages a half smile that Lena returns. “You did.”

“I did,” Lena agrees. “And then I went and spent four years making all kinds of mistakes and wasting considerable time not being with you.”

There’s a wave of surprise on Kara’s face that shows her just how much Kara doesn’t realize that Lena does regret the time that she kept them apart, even if she’s not sure she’d go back and make a different choice. It’s a paradox of feelings that Lena’s not sure how to unpack, but she forces herself to focus on the here and now, on the possibility of moving forward.

Lena reaches up to cup Kara’s cheeks. “I want to figure us out and I don’t want things like fear and paranoia to get in the way. Not anymore. We have enough obstacles without adding things like that.”

Kara doesn’t respond other than nodding and Lena’s throat feels a little achy at the restraint it takes to keep from crying.

“Okay,” Kara says, her voice croaking.

“I love you, you know,” she whispers, swiping a thumb over Kara’s cheekbone.

Silence passes for a beat before Kara moves forward just a bit until their foreheads are touching. “I love you too,” she says quietly.

“We can figure this out,” Lena says. “But we have to do it together. Neither of us can run away just because it gets hard.”

“I just - feel crazy at the idea that I could lose you again. Especially if it was because of me. Or what I am.”

“Pushing me away so that you don’t have to lose me again is just blatantly counter intuitive,” Lena says with a quirk of her lips. “Surely someone as smart as you can see that.”

The last bit makes Kara laugh, an unbidden noise that relaxes the tension in her face. “I did have better SAT scores than you.”

Lena makes a noise caught between a scoff and a groan and rolls her eyes. “I should have never told you that.”

The atmosphere noticeably eases, but there’s still a shaky feeling to the way Kara’s standing and Lena aches to take care of it, the anger from earlier slowly being replaced by exhaustion.  

“I hate feeling like this,” Kara confesses. “I know I’m supposed to - I shouldn’t be this -”

“Hey,” Lena interrupts with a soft shushing sound. “It’s okay to be scared, but let’s be scared together instead of apart for a change. No more dramatic reactions to fear or unilateral decisions about things that affect both of us.”

“That wasn’t a dramatic reaction,” Kara argues and Lena laughs.

“Kara, you flew out my window after attempting to break up with me.” 

Kara arches a brow. “We’d have to be together for us to break up.”

Lena’s chest squeezes abruptly. “That’s a fair point,” she says, but her voice goes thicker than she intends it to and she’s suddenly much more aware of how close she’s standing to Kara. “Have you rethought your position on rescheduling our date?”

A moment passes with Kara just looking at Lena silently before she answers. “I don’t think dinner would make us any more together than we already have been.”

The truth of that is far too apparent to ignore. Lena hasn’t thought of Kara as an ex in some time now and ever since they got back from Earth-1 it’s felt like they were just circling the obvious. “So, that’s a yes about dinner? My schedule is a finely tuned instrument, and if you want to get pencilled in, you need to be assertive.”

Kara laughs a little, reaching out to wrap an arm around Lena’s waist. “I’m sorry I left the way I did,” she says sincerely.

“It’s okay,” Lena replies. “I’m sorry we haven’t talked about some of this before now.” 

“Are we done fighting now?”

“We weren’t fighting,” Lena says with a roll of her eyes.

“You called me a child.”

“Oh, for the last time,” Lena groans and Kara chuckles.

“Kidding.”

“Kara?”

“Yes?”

Lena thinks to say shut up. It’s what she wants to say. Instead she just moves forward until her lips are pressed up against Kara’s with solid and sure pressure.

It feels overwhelmingly good when Kara kisses her back, tightens her hold around Lena’s waist to keep their bodies pressed together. Lena’s fingers twist in the fabric of Kara’s suit, tug insistently enough that Kara obeys and pushes in closer, backs them up. It hurts a little when the small of her back gets shoved against the kitchen counter top, but the pain barely registers, because Kara’s hips have pressed up against Lena’s and all she can think about is the pool of hot and unstoppable pressure building at the base of her spine.

Kara’s lips taste familiar and warm and she smiles into the kiss, laughs a little when Kara picks her up to slide her onto the counter and step between her legs. The skirt she’s wearing bunches up her legs and the feel of Kara sliding against the bare skin of her inner thighs makes Lena inhale sharply, the sound swallowed by the insistent press of Kara’s mouth against her own.

All the adrenaline of the past few days, the emotion of Kara disappearing, the tension since Livewire broke out of jail, it all comes pouring out of both of them and Lena feels a spike of desperation throb low in her gut. Kara makes a noise she hasn’t heard in years and Lena just reacts to it, her legs wrapping around Kara’s body to pull her in closer and her fingers sliding up to tangle in Kara’s hair.

This part of their relationship never took much maneuvering or figuring it out. After they finally discovered a way to come together without Kara constantly worrying about controlling her strength, this physical connection was the easiest part of their relationship. This kind of conversation always said things far deeper than Lena ever knew how to say in words.

It feels like she’s shaking, and Kara doesn’t feel much better considering the tremble Lena can detect in the fingers that are currently sliding up her thighs. “You okay?” Lena murmurs between kisses, the words barely detectable with how little she wants to pull away from the taste of Kara’s mouth. 

Kara doesn’t respond, just nods and presses back in, nips at Lena’s lips in a way that shoots feeling down Lena’s spine, makes her hips jolt a little into Kara’s.

Her heart is beating so fast and hard she’s sure it must be deafening Kara but she can’t think about it. Not when Kara is suddenly kissing down her jawline, fingers clenching against the skin of Lena’s thighs in a way that radiates need.

Her fingers are scrambling over the fabric across Kara’s back, desperate to feel bare skin when suddenly Kara’s lips pull away from her neck and her entire body sags heavily against Lena’s. The hands that were once climbing dangerously high up her legs leave their purchase to prop up against the counter on each side of Lena’s hips and Kara lets out a noisy exhale. They just sit there for a moment, Lena swallowing against the insistent taste of arousal in the back of her throat.

“What’s wrong?” Lena asks when she feels like her voice won’t come out hoarse. It’s still throaty and thick sounding, but she’s able to articulate her words and focuses on trying to get her body to calm down. She should be used to this by now. Used to Kara abruptly stopping them whenever anything gets too heated. It’s happened the last two times they’ve gotten close again and it happened so often in college that it’s a wonder Lena doesn’t just expect it.

Kara’s forehead sits heavily against Lena’s shoulders and she shakes her head a little until Lena runs a soothing hand down Kara’s spine, presses a kiss into blonde hair.

“Sorry,” Kara murmurs, taking a deep full bodied breath. “It’s just been a long time.”

It makes Lena laugh a little and she feels how real the sentiment is for both of them. “For me too,” she says, but Kara shakes her head again. Lena keeps rubbing Kara’s back, fingers pressing into the skin at the back of her neck to try and get her to relax.

“I feel like I might break something,” Kara confesses in a voice so soft Lena strains to pick it all up. When she does, it’s like being in college all over again, like if she closes her eyes she’ll be in her small dorm room bed, its headboard in pieces.

“Do you want to stop?” Lena asks, still running soothing fingers over Kara’s back, her neck, scratching against her scalp. It’s so thrilling to be able to touch her openly, to not have to worry about what it means for them.

“Want to?” Kara jokes with a laugh that does nothing to stem the tide of arousal that’s still thrumming across her skin. Finally picking her head up, she looks at Lena with sad disappointed eyes.

“We can,” Lena tells her and she cups Kara’s cheeks, presses another kiss to her lips, swift but reassuring. “It’s been a long day.”

“I don’t want to stop,” Kara says and her eyes dart down to Lena’s mouth.

“Me neither,” Lena admits, licking her lips against the lingering taste of Kara there. There’s nothing Lena wants more than to stay pressed into Kara, to divest them of their clothing and retreat to her bedroom. She wants to know if Kara still makes the same noises she made in college, wants to know if her knowledge of Kara’s body has held up over the years.

But the exhaustion of the day, a mixture of physical and emotional, is starting to catch up to her and Kara doesn’t look that much better either. Despite the low thrum of need across her skin, Lena knows they should probably table this activity for another day, save it for a time when she’s not worried about passing out at any moment.

Kara pulls back a little then, and her eyes flick down further than Lena’s mouth this time to where she knows her chest is still heaving, her blouse all kinds of askew. Kara swallows visibly, blinks. “I am definitely going to break something,” she say but it’s with a teasing lilt to her voice and it makes Lena laugh.

They smile at each other for a long moment, Lena’s hands moving to settle over Kara’s where they’re still pressing against the counter top. 

“Okay. Then you need to step away from me,” Lena says forcing the rational part of her brain to overpower the side of it drowning in want. Kara doesn’t move for a few seconds and Lena laughs a little. “There are a lot of very expensive things in this apartment, Kara.”

“Right, sorry,” Kara says with an amused exhale as she pushes away from Lena.

Sliding down from the counter, Lena straightens her clothing and runs her fingers through her hair. “Are you hungry? I can order pizza or something.”

“Honestly?” Kara says, rubbing her face a little. “I think I’m too tired to eat.”

Lena puts on a show of surprised and puts the back of her hand up against Kara’s forehead. “Are you sick?”

Halfheartedly swatting at Lena’s hand, Kara laughs. “Stop. It’s been a long day. You said so yourself.” 

“It has, you’re right.” They regard each for a silent moment before Lena makes a decision. “Do you want to stay?”

Kara’s answer is soft, but immediate. “Yes.”

It pulls a smile across Lena’s lips and she reaches out to tangle her fingers with Kara’s. As she pulls them both the direction of the bedroom, Lena starts to feel the exhaustion of the day creep up. Stifling a yawn, she leads them further into the apartment and goes about finding Kara something to change into.

It only takes a few seconds before Kara’s out of her supersuit and idling around Lena’s bedroom in worn sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“So, tell me about what happened with Mon-El,” Lena says as she goes about changing. “It sounded fun.”

Kara sighs dramatically, drops down onto a chair in the corner of the room and lets her head fall backwards. “Nice choice of mood killers.”

Lena laughs as she pulls her earrings out and sets them on her dresser. “So he finally confessed all his feelings?”

Kara picks her head up, manages some kind of glare towards Lena. “You know, he did mention that you encouraged him to do that.” 

“I did not,” Lena denies, but she can’t stop from laughing. “He just kept coming to me to talk about it because apparently Winn told him that we’re…” she pauses, makes an air quote gesture. “BFFs?”

“Great,” Kara laughs. “So it’s Winn that I need to hit in the face?”

Lena walks over to fall into Kara’s lap, stroking a reassuring hand over Kara’s forehead. Kara’s hands wrap around her, one landing on her back and the other just above her knee, instinctual. “So how did he take the rejection?”

“Awful,” Kara answers, blowing out a low breath. “I hate doing that.”

“Have you had to do it a lot?” Lena asks with an arch of her brow.

“All the time,” Kara says with an exaggerated amount of seriousness in her tone. “I mean, people just throw themselves at me.”

“Must be tough.”

“Exhausting,” Kara says with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t want to add to your burden.”

“You did literally throw yourself at me in college.”  

Lena’s eyes go wide with indignation and she shoves Kara’s shoulder. “Running into you because you’re built like a damn truck does not constitute throwing myself,” Lena says, but Kara just laughs enough that Lena has to shove at her again.

“I’m glad you did though,” Kara says softly, still smiling and Lena feels her cheeks warm just a bit. 

“Me too,” Lena murmurs, leaning forward to press her lips solidly against Kara’s. 

They stay tangled together for a long moment before Kara stands up from the chair and floats them both into bed. She falls asleep with Kara’s arm slung across her body, holding onto her. Making her feel at home.

--

For the second time in a week, Lena wakes up to the sound of Supergirl clanging around in her kitchen. Except this time when she shuffles into her kitchen to the smell of cooking and the sight of Kara dancing around her stove, she just laughs and allows herself the pleasure of imagining what it would be like if this was her everyday morning.

“You know, in college you slept in until at least ten,” Lena comments, reaching out to grab the cup of coffee Kara is extending towards her.

“I didn’t have to fight early morning crime in college,” Kara replies, leaning forward to kiss Lena good morning.

“It’s Saturday,” Lena points out with just a hint of complaint in her tone. “Surely criminals take weekends.”

Kara laughs, kisses Lena again with a smile. “Criminals in National City are overachievers apparently.” 

“Apparently,” Lena parrots, taking a sip of her coffee and moving to sit at her kitchen counter. “Does Supergirl have other responsibilities today?”

“Nope,” Kara answers with a grin, returning to whatever it is she’s cooking. Eggs of some kind from the looks of it. “And neither does Kara Danvers.”

Lena laughs a little. “Well unfortunately Lena Luthor does.”

Kara frowns a little, turning slightly from the stove. “It’s Saturday,” she says with considerably more whine in her voice than when Lena had said it.

“My mother’s trial begins this week,” she says, her tone conveying just how enthused she feels over the event. 

“Fun,” Kara deadpans.

“Yup,” Lena agrees with a little pop of the word. She takes a long sip of her coffee and enjoys the sight of Kara cooking, bouncing slightly to some music Lena can’t hear.

“Well, I can leave you be once we eat,” Kara says, smiling down at Lena as she slides an omelette onto Lena’s plate.

“First pancakes and now this? When did you learn to cook?” Lena asks, eying the perfectly made omelette in front of her. In college, there was a reason Kara had been a frequent purveyor of any restaurant that offered delivery or takeout. The memory of one particular fight with the community oven comes to mind suddenly and Lena’s lips quirk.

Kara shrugs, leaning forward on the counter. “I had a lot of free time before I was Supergirl.”

Lena laughs a little and picks up her fork to take a bite. “It’s good,” she says and tries to keep the surprise out of her voice. Kara chuckles, standing up and turning back to the stove. 

“I should probably admit that this is the extent of my skills.”

“Pancakes and eggs?” Lena asks, swallowing her food and reaching for her coffee.

“Breakfast foods,” Kara clarifies. “So I guess, yeah. Pancakes and eggs.”

“People eat other things for breakfast.”

Kara pours liquid egg into a pan and laughs. “I tried cinnamon rolls once and I almost burnt Alex’s apartment down.”

“Should I be worried?” Lena jokes. 

“I think it’s just ovens I have a problem with,” Kara says with a quick glance over her shoulder.

Lena’s about to respond when Kara’s phone lights up from its place on the counter and Kara abandons her pan in favor of the device, picking it up and swiping the screen open.

Whatever is there must be important because Kara’s eyes go wide immediately and seconds later she’s furiously typing away at your screen.

“Everything okay?” Lena asks, spearing another piece of her breakfast and watching Kara’s face remain intent on her screen.

“Yeah. M’gann woke up,” Kara answers absently and Lena tries to remember if she’s suppose to recognize that name.

“M’gann…”

At that, Kara looks over, a little startled. “Oh, sorry. Yeah. Our friend M’gann. She’s the other Martian. Like J’onn,” Kara answers, but then she shrugs a little. “Well I guess not exactly like J’onn. She’s a White Martian. Sort of. She’s also...a green one?”

“There are different colors of Martians?” Lena asks, because it seems like the easiest thing to tackle first.

“It’s a long story,” Kara says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But the point is, M’gann was totally in this life threatening coma or something and now she’s awake. J’onn must have found a way to help her.”

“That’s...good,” Lena offers because she’s not sure she’s totally following any of this conversation.

“Super good,” Kara murmurs, typing again on her screen.

“So M’gann was the other Martian we helped at Veronica’s little pop-up?”

“Yeah,” Kara answers, seeming to become satisfied with her conversation and setting her phone back down. “J’onn thought he was the last of his kind and then he found M’gann and it was this whole thing and they’ve had their ups and downs you know being from like two rival groups of their own species intent on killing each other and all that.”

“What?” Lena asks trying to follow along with Kara’s rambling.

“White Martians basically exterminated all the Green Martians on Mars. Except J’onn obviously.”

“Right.”

“I should probably let J’onn explain it. It’s his story, after all.”

“Doesn’t sound like something he’d be eager to speak about,” Lena comments and Kara shrugs.

“Maybe.”

It’s only then that Lena notices the smoke rising out of the pan over Kara’s shoulder and her eyes go wide. “Kara,” she says slowly and Kara’s brow crinkles.

“What?”

Lena points behind her and tries not to laugh when Kara turns and startles, quickly blowing out a cold breath of frozen air in the direction of the burning food.

It’s silent for a moment and Lena eyes her now frozen over kitchen, icicles dripping from the hood over the stove. A laugh bursts out of her when Kara turns sheepish eyes back at her.

“I guess some things really don’t change,” Lena says, still laughing when Kara throws a dishtowel at her.

“I guess I’ll...fix this,” Kara mutters, her hands arriving on her hips as she surveys the situation. “How did Eliza and Alex put up with me doing this kind of stuff all the time?”

“Don’t use your heat vision,” Lena says, interrupting the glow of Kara’s eyes. Kara makes a disappointed noise, reaching for one of the icicles and snapping it free, then tossing it in Lena’s sink. “They love you. It’s why I could put up with you breaking my bed at least seven separate times.”

“Those were all your fault,” Kara says, snapping more icicles free and wiping the stove counter free of the dripping water. “Every single one.”

“Sure,” Lena says, watching the bright red of Kara’s cape move around in the light of her kitchen, the icicles glittering in her hands, her smile as she bounces around. It’s so nice, to have Kara in her space and being carefree, and she can’t help herself.

“When you’re done with that and you’ve managed to get your own food made, why don’t you change into some real clothes? We can hang out,” Lena says. Kara turns her head to look at Lena, a small smile playing on her face. “As long as you promise to let me get some work done.”

“When have I ever not?” Kara says, and Lena rolls her eyes just before Kara presses a kiss to her forehead. 

-- 

They spend the majority of the day lounging around Lena’s living room. Kara sprawls at one end of the couch and marvels at how many channels Lena has in her cable package. But you don’t even watch TV. Lena sits on the other end, her feet tucked up under her as she reads through her testimony.

Midway through a RoboCop marathon that Kara’s managed to find, Kara’s phone rings loudly from where it’s perched on the coffee table.

Whoever is calling must be a surprise because Kara’s eyes go immediately wide when she looks at the screen and she fumbles around a little trying to answer it.

“Ms Grant!” Kara greets when she gets her phone to her ear, standing up from the couch. “Hi.”

Lena watches with a bemused smile as Kara starts pacing a little and she can just barely make out the tinny sound of Cat Grant’s voice on the other line.

“Yes, Supergirl let her go. Yes, I know she probably should have informed you, I’ll tell her. Are you okay?”

Whatever Cat is saying must appease Kara because the tension seems to slowly creep back out of her and after a few seconds of just listening she sits back down on the couch. 

“No of course, I wasn’t implying otherwise,” Kara says quickly. “Look I just want you to know that if you ever need anything -” Kara pauses, her brow contracting. “Ms. Grant?”

Silence must be the only answer Kara gets because she just sighs and pulls her phone away. “Okay, bye,” Kara says to no one.

“Everything okay with Cat?” Lena asks, flipping a page over and making a note.

Kara throws her phone back down on the coffee table and sags back into the couch. “Yeah,” she says, leaning to the side until she’s horizontal and her head is bumping up against Lena’s thigh. “I can’t believe I forgot to call her.”

“You were understandably distracted,” Lena replies, reaching out to run her fingers along Kara’s forehead soothingly. Kara’s eyes flutter closed and she hums in contentment as Lena continues to track her fingers over Kara’s head. “I didn’t know you and Cat were so close.”

“I was her assistant for a long time,” Kara answers, craning her head towards Lena’s touch.

“I didn’t know former assistants still call-” 

“Lena,” Kara interrupts with a laugh, her eyes popping open. “Is this another joke about how I have a crush on Cat Grant?”

“Well, now it is,” Lena replies with a teasing smile and Kara rolls her eyes before sitting back up and arranging her body next to Lena’s. 

“Livewire kind of hates Cat,” Kara tells her, and Lena puts her papers down on the table next to the couch in favor of pressing against Kara’s side. “Like wants to murder her in the middle of downtown kind of hate.”

“From what you told me, she feels that way about most people.”

Kara hums agreement. “Yeah, sure. But with Cat it’s just...extra personal I guess,” Kara explains, her head falling back on the couch. “And now she’s out in the wind and Cat’s...wherever Cat is.” 

“You don’t know where she is?”

Kara gives her a look. “It’s Cat Grant.”

That makes Lena laugh as she remembers her few encounters with the woman in question. “She had always mastered that elusive millionaire quality I could never quite get.”

“Aw,” Kara says with a teasing smile. “You’re totally elusive.”

“Thank you, darling,” Lena replies with an amused grin.

“I mean, you’ve got the whole look down, for sure,” Kara muses, knocking her head sideways onto Lena’s shoulder. “The lipstick, the skirts, the pale skin, the glare thing you do at people that annoy you. Plus your mysterious ability to always get into trouble.”

“Well, thankfully I’ve got you to get me out of it,” Lena says.

Kara laughs a little, pushing in closer and smiling. “What would you do without me?”

Lena presses a soft kiss to the crown of Kara’s head and declines replying to a question she’d already answered years ago. Instead she smiles at the feeling of Kara so close at hand and the comfortable way their bodies fit together.

--

Somewhere in the middle of RoboCop 3, Lena sets down her papers for half a second and finds Kara watching her intently. It’s a familiar look, in the sense that she’s seen it a million times before, usually followed by a specific set of actions. 

“Hi,” Lena murmurs, low and inviting.

It quirks a smile across Kara’s lips. “Hi,” Kara parrots, sliding closer on the couch. “What are you doing?”

“The same thing I’ve been doing for the last three hours,” Lena answers, amused as Kara cranes her neck to spy the pile of documents spread out over the coffee table. 

“Do you need a break?”

Lena arches a brow, moves the pile of papers between them over to the table and gives Kara the room to scoot even closer. “Did you have something in mind?”

Shrugging with feigned innocence, Kara just settles next to her, their sides pressed together now and the warmth of it seeps across Lena’s skin. 

“How is the movie?” Lena asks just to fill the silence. Kara’s eyes feel hot and intent on her face.

“I haven’t really been watching it,” Kara answers, the sound low and close to Lena’s ear.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Lena protests, but it comes out weak sounding and Kara smiles a little at it before reaching down to scoop up Lena’s legs and pull them into her lap until Lena’s falling back against the arm of the couch.

“You need a break,” Kara states definitively.

“When I said you could stay for the day, I didn’t say you could distract me,” Lena teases, but she’s already giving in to the feeling of Kara’s strong hands against her legs, sliding up under her soft sweatpants and tracing the skin of her calf.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t distract you.”

“It was heavily implied,” Lena says with a short laugh.

“English is my second language,” Kara points out, shifting until she’s sliding between Lena’s legs and hovering over her. “I’m not good with the implicit stuff.”

With a small smirk, Lena repeats the words in Kryptonian. Tells Kara, “Stop distracting me. I have work to do.”

Kara’s eyes narrow a bit and she just drops farther down against Lena’s body. “That’s really not going to achieve what you want it to achieve,” she warns and Lena can already feel how behind she’s about to get on all the work she wanted to get done.

She reaches up and hooks her arms around Kara’s neck, her knee bending until she’s cradling Kara’s hips and the pressure of their bodies pushing against each other feels sinfully good. “Maybe it’s achieving exactly what I want it to achieve.”

Kara’s nostrils flare, her hips canting against Lena and the whole room feels thick with tension suddenly. Lena’s heart starts to thud steady and sure against her chest as if it’s struggling to reach Kara.

Dropping her mouth to Lena’s collarbone, Kara presses a kiss there, then another, and another, trailing upward until her lips are near Lena’s ear. Soft words are whispered there, familiar Kryptonian phrases that make Lena sigh.

“I love you too,” Lena whispers back just before Kara reaches her mouth and presses their lips together.

It’s a quick escalation of welcome feeling. Heat starts to pool low in her body and Kara presses her against the couch cushions, one hand hooking under her thigh to bring their bodies in even closer contact.

It feels exactly like it did in college when Kara would push Lena’s homework out of her hands and tangle their limbs together on her tiny couch in her dorm room. But it’s not all the same. Kara’s body somehow feels even more defined than it did when they were teenagers though Lena’s not sure if that’s even possible or just a figment of her imagination - a product of not having been able to touch Kara in years. 

The leather couch she had taken with her when she left Metropolis is infinitely more comfortable than the couch in her dorm and wider too, allowing them both more room to maneuver. They no longer have to rely on Kara’s inhuman strength to keep them balanced against the furniture and Lena can’t decide if that’s an improvement or if she misses the display of power.

“Is this okay?” Kara asks softly, a hand trailing up Lena’s shirt to sit hotly against her rib cage, fingers teasing the underside of her chest. It’s an old question she’s heard thousands of times before in the exact same context and she sinks into the familiarity of it.

“Yes,” she answers easily, nodding and clenching her fingers against Kara’s hair.

Lena’s seconds away from abandoning the endeavor of getting work done for the rest of the day, seconds away from biting against Kara’s lower lip and asking her to move this to the bedroom, seconds away from not caring if they don’t leave the apartment all weekend. Which is of course when the grandfather clock down the hall chimes out and Kara drops down against her body with a low groan.

“Is that the clock from the Manor?” Kara asks in what sounds like a whine and Lena laughs when she realizes what happened. Kara had once visited Luthor Manor over summer break while Lillian was away only to be woken up every hour by what was apparently a persistently and uncommonly loud chime.

Her hands travel up Kara’s shirt to soothe down her back, fingers trailing up and down her spine until Kara seems to relax. “It is.”

“Why do you have that here? It’s so loud,” Kara complains, shifting until she’s resting her cheek against Lena’s chest in a familiar position. Her ear sits over Lena’s heart and presses down solidly while the clock finishes tolling the hour.

Lena kisses the top of Kara’s head, continues to run her hand up and down Kara’s back. “I’m sure that’s why my mother gave it to me,” Lena answers.

“To annoy me in the middle of distracting you?”

Lena laughs. “I was thinking more to annoy me, but I’m sure she wouldn’t be upset with the side benefit.”

“Your mother always hated me,” Kara says and she shifts again until her back is against the back of the couch, her knee hooking over Lena’s thigh and her hand resting high on Lena’s stomach. “I guess that hasn’t changed much.”

“I doubt my mother paid much mind to my college fling,” Lena tells her in a teasing voice, but a memory strikes her then.

“College fling,” Kara scoffs and it makes Lena smile.

“Kara,” she says softly, maneuvering a little to better face the other woman.

Kara makes a humming noise, her body leaning in to the touch Lena’s delivering to her side and then up into her hair, scratching at her scalp.

“Do you think my mother knows you’re Supergirl?”

Kara’s eyes pop open wide, her body tensing for a moment. “Why?”

Lena sighs, her fingers twisting in a tendril of Kara’s hair. “Just a gut feeling I guess.”

“You think she knows about you and me?”

Lena considers that. Adds it together with what she had talked to Alex about regarding Hank Henshaw and shrugs a shoulder. “No. Not necessarily. I don’t think she ever even bothered to really learn your name back then.”

“But you think she knows about Kara Danvers being Supergirl?”

Lena feels herself move closer to Kara in an attempt for reassurance. For which of them, Lena’s not sure, but she obeys the pull of Kara’s body and pushes close to kiss her quickly. “I wouldn’t put much past my mother these days.”

Kara’s lips form a small frown, concern etched into the wrinkles around her eyes. “Then I guess I should stop distracting you and let you keep working on that whole sending your mother to jail thing.”

“Nice choice of mood killers,” Lena jokes, mimicking Kara’s words from the night before. Kara laughs, sitting up on the couch and pulling Lena with her.

Adjusting her now completely askew clothing and watching Kara do the same, Lena reaches out to grab the stack of papers from earlier, settling back against the couch and sighing.

“I hate that you have to do this,” Kara murmurs softly after a few seconds, her feet curled up under her and her elbow propping her head up on the back of the couch.

“Do what?” Lena asks, glancing over.

“This stuff with your mom,” Kara says with a soft smile. “I know it’s hard.”

Lena’s throat feels thick and tight suddenly, but she manages a small smile anyway. “It’s not that hard. She tried to kill hundreds of people. The lines are pretty black and white at this point.”

Kara’s face is full of understanding that Lena is only recently getting reacquainted with. “It’s okay to be conflicted about it,” Kara tells her.

Lena has to look away, focus on the documents in her hands. “I don’t want to be conflicted about it.”

“I know,” Kara says. “I felt the same way when I realized my parents designed Medusa. Your mother was going to use it, but my parents were the ones that created it.”

Lena hadn’t really thought about that and they hadn’t talked about it much, but when she looks back up at Kara the understanding there feels like a tether between both of them, grounding her and making her feel stable and sure. 

“I really do love you, you know,” Lena whispers and Kara takes the statement for what it is, flopping back against the couch and stretching her legs out until they’re resting against the coffee table. 

“I really do love you too,” Kara says, refocusing on the television with a sincere smile.

--

That evening, after Kara convinces Lena that pizza is a suitable option for dinner, they sit on the floor of the living room and Kara teaches Lena Imperiex chess. It only takes a half hour of explaining and a few trial rounds for Lena to grasp the mechanics. It’s not all that different from the chess she knows. Just new pieces to understand, movesets to memorize and objectives to obtain.

“You made this game sound much harder than it is,” Lena says after beating Kara twice in a row. Kara had handily won the first game, but once Lena had gotten a better grip on the strategy of it all, it was no problem for her to start winning. 

“I’m rusty,” Kara complains, squinting at the holographic board and hovering her fingers over the pieces. “And you have beginner’s luck.”

“There’s no such thing as beginner’s luck.”

“Clearly there is.”

“Maybe you’re just not as good as this as you think you are,” Lena teases and Kara turns a glare her way. 

“Maybe I’m letting you win.”

Lena quirks a brow, lips thinning. “Are you?”

“You’ll never know,” Kara says with a suddenly evil looking grin spreading out over her lips. 

With an indignant scoff, Lena reaches behind her for a small pillow on a nearby chair and smacks Kara in the face with it. It lands on the board, the hologram fritzing for a moment at the intrusion until Kara swipes it away with a laugh.

“Do you want to play something else?”

“Tired of losing?” Lena jokes and Kara falls backward until she’s lying on the ground with an exaggerated groan.

“You were much more humble in college,” Kara says, an arm coming to rest over her eyes.

Lena flips a switch to turn the chess board off and scoots closer to where Kara is lying. “I told you, we’re different people now,” she says with a smirk, pulling Kara’s arm off her eyes.

“That’s a terrible joke,” Kara says, but she’s smiling up at Lena and Lena can’t help herself. Not when everything feels so good again and Kara looks so pretty. She kisses her then, swiftly but with significance and Kara keeps smiling against her lips, reaching up to tug Lena down until they’re both tumbling on the floor and Kara’s perched on top of her.

“I feel like I should inform you that I had a really good day today,” Kara says softly and Lena feels her chest go tight and warm.

“Me too,” she says.

--

Kara leaves somewhere around eleven with a, “If I stay I feel like I won’t be able to stop kissing you.”

Lena fights a smile at that, leaned up against the doorway to her balcony. Kara’s hair is glowing in the lights of the city, and she looks beautiful in Lena’s clothes, her hands in her pockets and a grin on her face. 

“Yes, what a terrible thought.”

Kara laughs softly. “I have work to get done and so do you and as much as I’d like to think we could both do that together…”

“Today proved that you’re entirely too distracting for that,” Lena finishes and Kara puts on a face of indignation.

“Me?! You’re the one with the-”

Lena laughs, steps forward to put a hand against Kara’s chest before reaching up to kiss her soundly. “I love you,” she murmurs.

“I love you too,” Kara replies, relaxing into the kiss and reaching around Lena’s waist to pull them together, lifting her up a little in the air. It’s warm and inviting and Lena wants to forgo all the words they’ve just exchanged, to pull Kara into her apartment and test out whatever control Kara could have gained today. But Kara’s right; they’ve never been great at getting things done in the same room.

“Dinner this week?” Kara asks when the break apart.

Lena nods. “Call me.”

--

“You’re staring,” Lena comments, jotting a note down on her project design. Kara’s eyes are hot on the side of her face, and have been for the past few minutes. Her girlfriend had asked to come over hours ago, and though she wouldn’t classify it as a regret, she’s certainly second-guessing telling Kara that she wouldn’t distract Lena if she stopped by.

“I’m bored,” Kara complains as she hangs upside down off Lena’s bed. Lena doesn’t turn her eyes toward her, but she imagines Kara’s utilizing some of her powers to remain stable in her position.

“Do your homework. Study or something,” Lena replies dismissively, focused on the design specs spread out over her desk.

“I already did it,” Kara says, rolling over and peering at Lena. “Do you want me to do yours?”

“You can’t do mine,” Lena says.

“I could help,” Kara offers, propping her chin in her hand and adjusting her glasses.

“It’s supposed to be an original design,” Lena points out. “You can’t help.”

“No one has to know.”

Lena laughs and looks over at Kara. “Some of us have integrity.”

With an offended snort, Kara rolls her eyes. “Boring. It isn’t due for another week anyway.”

“Kara,” Lena says, returning to her work. “I told you when you said you wanted to come over that I had work to do. Why don’t you go and do something and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Kara sighs, falls back against the pillows on Lena’s bed. “I’ll be quiet.”

“Honestly, darling,” Lena insists, flipping a page over in her notebook. “You don’t need to sit here being bored. Go call Max or something.”

Shrugging, Kara twiddles her thumbs, blowing a breath out towards the ceiling. “I’d rather be bored here with you than with someone else.”

It makes Lena pause, her eyes jumping back to Kara’s form, stretched out on her bed. She’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with the university mascot, her hands pressed into her defined stomach, and when Lena looks back down at her project, well - she knows which option is more appealing.

Kara squeaks in confusion when Lena clambers up onto the bed, but she accepts the kiss Lena offers happily.

--

Monday morning, Kara calls her.

“We’re going to have drinks this afternoon at the bar to celebrate M’gann waking up and everything. Do you want to come?”

“I’ve never met M’gann,” Lena says cautiously.

“All the more reason,” Kara says brightly. “She’s great, you’ll like her. She’s working, but we’re going to go and celebrate her anyway.”

“I have a lot of work to do.”

“You work too much. Come to the bar for a drink. L Corp will survive.”

“It’s not just L Corp, Kara,” Lena says with a touch of exasperation, but she can feel herself already giving in. “You seem to keep forgetting that my mother’s trial begins soon and I have about a million things-”

“I’m not forgetting, Lena. But your big brain needs a break sometimes. You can handle a drink with friends,” Kara insists. “And I haven’t seen you in like... an entire day.”

It charms Lena to hear the sincerity behind the tease in the tone and she laughs a little. They had spent Sunday apart and Lena had gotten through the majority of the work she needed to get done. It was a miracle with how often Kara spent the day texting her random things and selfies taken around Kara’s apartment. “With all the updates I got yesterday it feels like we were together the entire time." 

There’s a pause before Kara sheepishly says, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Lena says with a warm laugh. “I’m always pleased to see your face.”

“Well, if you come to the bar you can see lots of my face. In person!”

“I’ll see how my day goes. I have a conference call that could run late,” Lena says, shuffling papers around her desk and chancing a glance out the window. “How’d the big pile-up go on the highway? I saw you rescue a school bus on the news this morning.”

“Did I look good?” Kara asks with a cheerful laugh.

“Your suit was on backwards,” Lena deadpans and Kara lets out a surprised yelping sound.

“What?! Really?!” 

Laughing, Lena shakes her head. “Of course not. Is that even possible?”

“You’d be surprised,” Kara replies and it makes Lena laugh harder.

“Well I can assure you that you looked impeccable this morning. The camera did you justice.”

Kara hums. “All part of the job,” Kara says cheerfully. “Some dude tried to give me his phone number and was really insistent that he wanted to thank me, but he made it sound...gross.”  

Lena makes a face, but laughs a little. “Sounds charming.”

“I told you,” Kara says with a haughty lilt to her voice. “People throw themselves at me.”

“Well, far be it from me to stand in their way,” Lena teases, watching as an email reminder for a meeting pops up on her screen, she reaches out to dismiss it with a quick tap of her fingers.

“Come to the bar tonight,” Kara entreats. “If only to protect me from...you know...”

“Would be suitors?” Lena jokes, leaning back in her desk chair and trying to imagine what Kara looks like in her own office over at CatCo. 

“You’re way better at glaring than I am.”

“What a skill,” Lena laughs. “My mother would be so proud.”

Kara makes an annoyed sound that makes Lena grin. “Will I see you tonight?”

“I’ll text you when I’m done with my conference call,” Lena says, and when she finally gets off the phone, she finds it hard to not grin her way through her next meeting.

--

Kara is already sitting at the bar when Lena arrives, with a glass of club soda in front of her and a serious look on her face. Mon-El is behind the counter and he catches Lena’s eye immediately, giving her a short wave before reaching behind him and holding up a bottle of her whiskey with a questioning look. “Dry Manhattan, right?”

Kara looks up at that, turning to spot Lena’s approach. Her eyes are wide and she mouths help me as Lena sits down. Stifling a laugh, Lena just nods at Mon-el. “That would be great, thanks.”

Mon-El turns to make the drink but not before hesitating on Kara’s face and giving her a soft but awkward looking smile. “Talk later?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kara says, but the look on her face conveys how uninterested she is in that proposition.

“That looked fun,” Lena says softly, glancing over to where Mon-El has moved away to grab a clean glass for her drink. 

“I’m the worst,” Kara grumbles, sagging onto the bar top a little.

Lena laughs and runs a hand down her spine, but before she can say anything else, Alex is striding up to them with a bright and uncharacteristically happy, “Hey.”

“Hi,” Lena greets, but Kara just kind of groans into her drink from where she’s slumping over the counter.

“What’s wrong with you?” Alex asks. 

“I’m the worst,” Kara repeats and Lena tsks softly.

“You’re not the worst,” she tells her. “Stop saying that.”

“What am I missing?” Alex asks and she slides into the stool on the other side of Kara.

Mon-El suddenly appears in front of them and Kara straightens so abruptly that all three of them jump a little.

“Uh, hey,” Mon-El says, eying Kara but clearly directing the words at Alex. He sets a drink down in front of Lena. “Do you want your usual?”

“Please,” Alex replies and Mon-El reaches behind him for a bottle of beer, uncapping it and sliding it next to Alex followed by a shot glass he promptly fills with whiskey before leaving them be. Not, of course, without one last wary look at Kara who is pointedly looking anywhere except his direction.

Alex takes a long sip of her beer and arches an eyebrow at her sister. “Well that seems fun,” she comments. “Did he finally confess his undying love for you or something?”

Lena laughs, but Kara glares at Alex. “You knew?”

“Knew what?” Alex asks, sending Lena an amused smile. “That Mon-El is into you?”

Kara nods and Alex just arches an eyebrow at her with an expression that must communicate duh because Kara groans again. “How was it so obvious to everyone else?”

“Well, he told me,” Lena says. Kara frowns unhappily as Alex barks out a laugh. “Not that he had to.”

“He didn’t tell me,” Alex says. “And you’re right. It’s not like he would have needed to. Though now I’m really wishing I could have witnessed the two of you talking.” Alex smirks a little at Lena and it makes her roll her eyes.

“I assure you it wasn’t that interesting.”

“So what happened?” Alex asks Kara, picking up her shot and throwing it back. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”

Kara grimaces at her sister. “See mouth. Insert foot.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Alex says, patting Kara on the shoulder comfortingly, but Kara just shakes her head.

“Oh, I guarantee you it was. He told me, and I sort of stared at him for like - too long, and then I just was like - no, thank you, I would not like to do dating with you. And then I left my own apartment and went to-” Her words cease abruptly and a faint blush dusts her cheeks as she glances at Lena.

It occurs to her quickly exactly where Kara went after she finished rejecting Mon-El and her memory of the night and their fight makes her have to swallow a laugh. She strokes her hand down Kara’s other arm. “At least it’s over with now. Better than allowing him to pine away in silence.”

“Can we talk about something more interesting?” Kara perks up suddenly and whips her head at both of them. “Like Earth Birthday tomorrow!”

Alex catches Lena’s eye suddenly with an expression Lena doesn’t know how to read, but Kara is still talking. “I know it’s usually just you and me,” she’s saying to Alex. “But I figured since it’s the first time the three of us are in the same place we could maybe do something all together. I heard about this-”

“Actually,” Alex interrupts, and Lena feels a wave of foreboding at the slightly anxious look to Alex’s eyes. “I was thinking that since, you know,” she gestures at Lena, “Since Lena is here and you guys are...whatever you guys are...that maybe you’d want to do something together.”

Kara’s brow pulls down. “But we always celebrate it, you and me.”

“Yeah, I know, but,” Alex starts slowly and Lena reaches out to settle her hand on Kara’s thigh when it suddenly starts bouncing up and down rapidly. “Maggie sort of got us concert tickets that night. Barenaked Ladies. VIP, actually, because she knows a guy who knows a guy.”

“Of course she does,” Kara says with an accompanying eyeroll.

“So you and Maggie worked things out?” Lena asks, if only to distract from the sudden glower deepening on Kara’s face.

Alex eyes manage to go even wider than before, but she nods quickly. “Uh, yeah. We did. Sort of.”

Lena arches a brow. “Sort of?”

“I apologized for my freak out,” Alex says with a shrug, picking her beer bottle up and taking a sip. “And she sort of told me she knows about Kara. So it was all fine.”

“She what?!” Kara and Lena blurt out simultaneously, so loudly that a table nearby all turn to look.

Alex’s look changes completely from chagrined big sister to DEO agent and the glare she directs at their spectators turns their eyes away immediately. “She already knew, I didn’t tell her,” Alex says quietly, leaning in towards Kara.

“How did she know?!” Kara asks with indignation and a narrowing of her eyes.

“I don’t think you can get mad at me considering you’ve basically told anyone you’ve ever gotten close to,” Alex says defensively, glaring back at her sister. “Present company as a clear example.”

Lena shoots Alex a look, but Kara scoffs. “That’s because it’s my secret to tell,” she argues.

“I didn’t tell her anything. She already knew!”

“I thought you broke up with her,” Kara adds with a narrowing of her eyes.

Alex laughs and looks at both of them. “Like either of you are in position to lecture me over that.”

Lena just holds her hands up defensively and turns to face the bar with a short chuckle. “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

Before anything else can be said, a woman Lena vaguely recognizes walks up to them from behind the bar and Kara sits up a little straighter and puts on a genuine smile. “M’gann,” she nearly yells, looking thrilled.

“Hey, Kara. Alex.” M’gann’s gaze moves to Lena. “Lena, right?”

“That’s right,” Lena answers, extending her hand to shake M’gann’s. “It’s nice to officially meet you.”

M’gann’s gaze seems critical, but not malicious as it lingers on Lena’s face for a second longer than normal. “You as well. I heard you had a hand in taking down Roulette’s fight club. I owe you a thank you.”

“Not at all,” Lena dismisses with a polite smile. “All I did was give Kara some information.”

M’gann smiles, glances at Kara. “I’m sure it was a lot more than that.”

Kara’s lips thin for a moment before she smiles again. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better, M’gann.”

“Thanks, Kara.”

“Slow enough in here to have a drink with us?” Alex asks, gesturing around the mostly empty bar. “I’m sure Mon-El can handle it alone for a few minutes.”

M’gann smiles and glances at the man in question, where he’s making what Lena supposes is meant to be some cocktail. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“He’ll be fine,” Kara insists, reaching out to place her hand over M’gann’s. “Have a celebratory drink with us.” 

With a conceding nod, M’gann smiles. “Sure. Let me just take this trash out first and let Mon-El know.”

“Great!” Kara replies, perking up.

They move to a booth against the wall while M’gann walks over to Mon-El to speak with him. Alex slips into one side of the booth, centering herself on the bench, letting Kara and Lena take the opposite side.

“Where is everyone else?” Lena asks as they slide into their seats.

“James and Winn are doing their,” she gestures around and Lena laughs at the movements, her thigh pressing warmly against Kara’s.

Alex takes a sip of her beer and looks at her sister pointedly. “Was that supposed to mean Guardian stuff?”

“Yes,” Kara says with an irritated set to her mouth. “Guardian-ing or whatever is they do.” 

“What was this supposed to be?” Alex asks, exaggeratedly mocking one of the gestures Kara made. 

Kara swats at her sister’s hand movements and Lena laughs. “You should go easier on them,” Lena says. Kara groans, tossing her head back against the vinyl of the booth and lolling her head to the side to glare at Lena. Under the table, a hand settles on Lena’s leg easily as if it’s natural and Lena feels the touch burn across her.

“Of course you would say that,” Kara says, and Lena laughs even more at the look of frustration on Kara’s face. “You love danger, or whatever.”

“So true. I’m thinking of taking up freediving,” Lena says, and Kara’s eyes go wide as Alex starts laughing.

“Don’t even joke,” Kara insists, an adorable crinkling to her brow. “I don’t want to rescue you from some deep ocean trench somewhere. Have you seen the fish down there?”

“Yes, because you’ve made me watch Deep Sea far too many times than any human should have to,” Lena says dryly, smiling as she takes a sip of her drink. Kara makes a petulant looking face, but laughs after a moment and takes a gulp of her own drink. When she glances over at Alex the other woman is observing them critically, eyes darting between them.

“Anything you guys want to tell me?” Alex asks suspiciously and Lena’s brow furrows as to what she could mean by that.

“About what?” Kara asks, looking confused. Lena’s hand drops down below the table to twist around the one Kara has against her thigh, their fingers interlocking easily.

“I don’t know,” Alex shrugs, leaning forward to prop her elbows on the table. “Life?”

That clarifies exactly nothing for Lena, but before she can answer, Kara is straightening abruptly, her head cocking to the side in a dead giveaway that she’s hearing something Lena and Alex can’t.

“What is it?” Lena asks, watching as Kara’s eyebrows pull together in concentration. Across from them Alex is reaching behind her back and watching her sister avidly.

“I’m not sure,” Kara says, but after a few more seconds her eyes go wide. “Gotta go,” is all she adds before she’s jumping up from the booth and walking briskly towards the entryway.

“I hate when she does that,” Alex grumbles, sliding out of the booth and following Kara. Lena stands as well just as Mon-El comes up to her.

“Everything okay?”

Lena watches Alex’s retreating back and seconds later hears a loud crash resonating from outside of the bar that startles both she and Mon-El. “I’m going to guess no,” she says softly before moving quickly towards the front door with Mon-El hot on her heels. 

When they get outside, Lena nearly runs straight into Alex’s back.

“What happened?” Lena asks, looking around and seeing Kara nowhere. Two Green Martians stand a few feet away. Lena recognizes J’onn, so the other must be M’gann.

“A White Martian,” J’onn says as he steps forward and transforms back into his human form.

“Where’s Kara?” Mon-El asks, stepping around them.

“She went after it,” Alex answers, but seconds later, Kara is flying back towards them in her supersuit and touching down in the alley.

“It got away,” she grumbles stalking forward. She stops next to J’onn, looks over to where M’gann has transformed back into her human form as well. “You guys okay?”

“We should get to the DEO, see if we can track it,” Alex says, holstering her gun in the back of her pants.

“Good idea,” Kara says and Mon-El steps forward with a quick, “I can help.”

“No,” Kara replies immediately, holding her hand out. “You stay here, watch the bar and let us know if anything else happens.”

He seems generally displeased with the idea, but obeys, his shoulders deflating a bit as he turns to walk back into the bar. Lena tries for an encouraging smile, but he doesn’t look at her.

“I’ll call Winn,” Alex says, “See if he can come in and work on a tracking program.”

“Don’t bother him,” Kara says, gesturing towards Lena. “Lena can do it.”

Alex glances at Lena, her lips pushing together. “Lena doesn’t work for the DEO.”

“Not officially,” Kara replies, hands on her hips.

“Not in any way,” Alex corrects, mimicking her sister’s posture. She spares a glance over her shoulder at Lena. “No offense.”

“I don’t know why that would be offensive,” Lena replies, going for levity. There’s a tension in the air between the two sisters. “My real job isn’t too bad.”

“We can argue about that later,” J’onn says, stepping forward next to the girls. “For now we need to get to the DEO and find this thing as soon as possible.”

“It’s here for me, J’onn,” M’gann speaks up. “The White Martians want me to pay for my war crimes. They’ve been telling me psychically for the past few days.”

Psychically? Lena wants to interject just to ask after that, but there’s too much tension in the air around them, and Kara’s coming closer to her as J’onn turns to focus on M’gann.

“All the more reason to get you to the DEO as soon as possible,” J’onn replies, but M’gann shakes her head.

“I’m not going to put you all in any more danger.”

“We can protect you, M’gann,” Kara says. “That’s what we do.”

“I won’t have any of you get hurt because of me.”

“M’gann, be reasonable,” J’onn adds, but M’gann is pushing past him back towards the bar.

“It’s not up for discussion,” she says and J’onn sighs audibly.

“Go talk to her,” Kara tells him. “I’ll get everyone over to base.”

--

The DEO is the quietest Lena’s ever seen it. When they walk into the central room, Winn is already there, sitting at one of the computers and leaning casually in his chair. Apart from two other agents hunched over a different station, they’re seemingly the only ones in the base.

At their approach, he turns suddenly, a look of surprise crossing his face. “Hey, what’s up?”

Kara stalks forward, eying him warily. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Kara makes the same gesture she made earlier at the bar and says, “I thought you’d be out with James doing...you know.”

He squints a little at her hands. “Dancing?”

“Guardian-ing,” she corrects with a narrowing of her eyes.

“We were,” Winn says, turning back towards his computer with an irritated roll of his eyes. “But we called it a night early. James had a date.”

“A date?” Alex asks, suddenly interested in the conversation, an amused smile playing over her lips. “With whom?” 

Winn makes a show of zipping his lips. “I’m sworn to secrecy.”

In a sudden movement, Alex reaches out to pinch at an area between Winn’s shoulder and neck and he immediately yelps in pain, trying to cower away from the touch. “Okay, okay, okay,” he says until Alex releases him. “It’s with Lucy. Chill.”

Winn rubs at his neck with a disgruntled look at Alex and Lena steps up to Kara. “If Winn is here, I should probably go home.”

At that, Winn turns towards them. “Why? Something happen?” 

“A White Martian attacked M’gann and J’onn at the bar. We need to see if we can track it,” Kara answers. 

Winn’s eyes go wide. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

Alex forcefully turns his chair back towards his monitor. “White Martian,” she says. “Tracking.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, reaching out to type in a few commands. “And you guys wanted to hear about dates when a White Martian is running around.”

Kara turns towards Lena and swipes a hand down her arm until their fingers are twisting together. “Seeing as there’s now a crazy White Martian on the loose...why don’t you stay here?”

Lena gives her a look. “I’ll be fine, Kara. I’ll call you if I need you,” she says, tapping at her watch so Kara can see. “I mean, if anything that’d help you guys find it, right?”

“Hilarious,” Kara says, but she smiles a little. “If you hang out for a bit, I can fly you home. We can grab something to eat.”

Lena considers that a moment, doesn’t feel a pressing need to be too far from Kara anyway and concedes.

“Okay,” she says with a nod and a smile, squeezing Kara’s fingers. “I’ll see if I can help Winn at all while I wait.”

“Thanks,” Kara murmurs, leaning forward to press a warm kiss to her cheek.

Just as she’s sliding into a chair next to Winn, J’onn is marching up to them with a frown on his face. “No luck?” Alex asks.

He shakes his head. “We’ll see,” he says. “The decision is up to M’gann, but I’m hoping she’ll let us help her. Where are we on finding that thing?”

“So I’m not sure about tracking it,” Winn says, eyes focused on his monitor as he types something into a command terminal. “But we can compile a list of likely places it will attack and monitor them. That way we’ll know the minute it pops back up.”

J’onn nods, looking over Winn’s shoulder. “Good. I’ll prep our strike teams.”

“You should stay here, J’onn,” Kara says. “Where it’s safe.”

“This is my fight, Supergirl,” he replies heatedly, his tone leaving little room for argument. “I will not stand on the sidelines.”

Something in his expression seems to convince Kara and she offers him a conceding nod. “We’ll get to work on finding it.”

Lena and Winn spend the next twenty or so minutes fiddling with different algorithms while Kara leans up against the center table behind them and watches their progress. Alex stands next to her, but both sisters seem to mostly ignore each other in favor of keeping their eyes on the monitors at the far wall.

Eventually a voice resounds from behind them all and Alex turns to spot their visitor. “M’gann!”

Lena stands up, feeling Kara come closer to her as Alex walks over to M’gann. Kara’s hand comes up to rest on her lower back, spreading warmth up her spine that momentarily distracts her.

J’onn, who was just walking into the room himself spots her and smiles. “M’gann,” he parrots. “You came.”

“I can help,” she says. “I want to help. In any way that I can.”  

“What changed your mind?” J’onn asks, but from the pleased look on his face Lena imagines he’s not too invested in the why.

M’gann shrugs a little and looks at him with a half smile. “I hate them even more than you do.”

Alex steps forward. “We’ll do everything we can to keep you safe.”

“Agent Schott,” J’onn says. “Let’s brief M’gann on what we know so far.”

“Yeah, of course,” Winn replies, jumping up and taking J’onn and M’gann towards another desk to pick up a tablet.

Something catches in Lena’s peripheral and she glances towards the stairs where...M’gann...is entering the room. Her eyes widen in realization and her hand darts out to grab Kara’s wrist. “Guys,” she says slowly.

“J’onn,” the new M’gann is saying as she walks closer and Lena’s gaze darts between the two identical copies of the same woman. “I’ve been thinking about what you said-”

Everyone seems to figure out what’s happening at once and it feels as though the room stills. Kara pulls Lena behind her quickly and steps closer to the situation just as Winn is halfway out of his seat with a, “Wait, if she’s here and she - oh God.”

Alex immediately draws her weapon and the first M’gann, the one standing closest to J’onn scowls. “You Greens . Never learn, do you?” She says before moving forward. She only gets a few feet before J’onn is grabbing her forcefully and pulling her back, throwing her into a nearby desk while Kara shoves Lena behind Alex and moves to grab the real M’gann.

They all watch as J’onn engages with the fake M’gann in the front of the room, equipment breaking as they grapple each other. Sparks of electricity begin to fly out the broken bank of monitors on the far wall and Lena shields her eyes. It’s not long before the power in the facility seems to stutter a few moments before completely shutting off and shrouding them all in darkness.

Winn scrambles past Lena to an unharmed computer and types in a quick command that brings on auxiliary power. The lights turn back on to reveal J’onn standing by himself at the front of the room and M’gann’s worried, “He’s gone.”

J’onn stalks forward to the same computer Winn just used and pulls up the controls for the base. Lena watches with wide eyes as he types in the command to put the building on lockdown and a second later the security doors are sliding shut on the far end of the room.

“Why did you put us on lockdown?” Kara asks, backing up towards Lena and grabbing for her hand. Lena takes it, feels the spare lighting of the building close in a little bit.

“The only way to catch that thing is to trap it in here.”

“With us?” Winn hisses, looking from Lena to Kara to Alex in confusion, as if any of them could provide him with answers

“We don’t even know where it went,” Alex adds. Kara’s hand grips tighter at Lena’s, and Lena watches as Kara’s eyes dart around the room distrustfully.

“It could still be in here,” Winn says in a hurried whisper. Lena is unsure of what he means for a moment, until Kara speaks.

“It could be any of us,” Kara breathes out in realization and Lena feels a cold choke of anxiety at the thought.

“If one of us could be the White Martian, how do we tell which one of us is really themselves?” Alex asks, folding in towards Kara and Lena, her gun still in her hand. It looks like Alex, in the way that her eyes always go first to her sister.

Lena feels isolated in that moment. Distrustful of pretty much everything. It’s not a new feeling entirely, but to look at Kara and consider that it might not be Kara but just someone wearing her face is a terrifying thought.

“That’s easy,” Winn offers with a gesture so casual it seems out of place in the tension of the moment. “We just ask personal questions. Like things only we would know.” He points directly at Kara. “What’s that candle scent I hate.”

“Teakwood and tobacco,” Kara replies promptly.

J’onn shakes his head. “They’re psychic. They know all of our personalities, our quirks, everything about us we think is secret. That won’t work.”

The unease among the group feels palpable and they all eye each other for an uncomfortable moment before an agent Lena doesn’t know accusatorily asks the other agent, Vasquez, Lena remembers, “What are you looking at?”  

“Nothing,” Vasquez answers, but the two of them stare at each other warily for a second until they’re simultaneously pulling out their weapons and aiming them at each other.

Alex aim her gun as well. “Holster your sidearms,” she orders just as Kara centers in a defensive stance, her arms spreading wide to block Lena from view.

“She’s the White Martian,” the agent accuses, narrowing his eyes and keeping his weapon trained on Vasquez.

“Everyone needs to calm down,” Kara says, eyes darting between all the guns.

“Put your guns down,” Alex tries again in an authoritative voice, but all it does is cause the agent to turn his weapon on her. Kara moves immediately in front of her sister.

 “Okay now you really need to put your gun down,” Kara says in a dark tone. “Now, Demos.”

“It could be any of us,” he insists, moving his weapon away from Alex, but tracking it amongst all of them. Kara moves with the motion, stepping again in front of Lena.

“J’onn,” Kara says. “You can read minds. Can’t you scan us to see who is who?”

Lena startles for a moment, thinks to ask further about the revelation that apparently J’onn’s been reading her mind this entire time, but J’onn’s face goes taut in concentration. Lena considers commenting that J’onn could actually be the White Martian himself and this exercise would therefore be futile, but he’s speaking before she can say anything.

“There’s some kind of psychic interference,” he says.

“He’s after me,” M’gann says. “Maybe if I turn myself in he’ll let the rest of you go.”

“Great idea,” Demos says. “Mission accomplished.”

“Absolutely not,” J’onn replies and Kara nods. “That’s not how we do things.”

“It’s all my fault,” M’gann says. “You don’t understand. This isn’t just any White Martian.”

“What do you mean?” Kara asks, still half-shielding Lena’s body.

“Armek was my...mate,” she explains seeming entirely uncomfortable with the word.

Kara straightens, her fingers moving to clasp around Lena’s hand as Alex’s gun lowers slightly. “He’s your husband?” Alex asks a tad incredulously.

“It’s not the same for White Martians,” M’gann answers. “It wasn’t a choice, more like an arranged marriage. But yes. We were bonded. And you should know that he is the worst of my kind.”

“Oh, well, that makes me feel better,” Winn comments with an inappropriate amount of sarcasm.

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” J’onn says.

“J’onn’s right,” Kara says and there’s command in her voice that Lena finds herself responding to. “We’ll find him.”

“First things first,” Alex says. “I’m going to collect everybody’s weapons.” 

“Are you crazy?” Demos replies, immediately raising his gun up again. Vasquez and Alex both respond by putting their own guns back up and Kara takes an angry step forward.

“Enough,” J’onn interrupts forcefully and they all fall silent. “There’s another way to figure out which one of is the White Martian.”

--

“I’m not playing if they’re on the same team,” Max protests from his perch on a nearby couch. Josie laughs loudly, but agrees with a, “Yeah me neither.”

Kara startles from where she’s sitting curled up next to Lena, sipping on a drink. “What, why?”

Lena can imagine exactly why Max doesn’t want to play with them, but she stays silent behind a bemused smile and watches their friends all make matching exasperated faces towards Kara.

“Because you guys win every time and it’s boring,” Aaron answers.

“She’s my friend,” Kara argues. “So I get her on my team.”

Josie quirks an eyebrow at Kara. “She’s our friend too, Danvers.”

“I think she’s a lot more than a friend,” Max adds with a smirk on his lips that Lena rolls her eyes at.

“I don’t get it,” Kara says, looking at Lena in confusion. Lena takes a sip of her drink and shrugs, trying to ignore the hot feeling rushing through her when Kara shuffles closer, throwing her arm around Lena’s shoulders.

“Of course you don’t,” Josie says, laughing. “Point still stands. No charades unless you two break up your unholy alliance.”

“I can’t believe this. What about a, uh, a - what’s the word?" Kara asks, her eyes turning to Lena’s in more abject confusion. She makes a motion with her hands that Lena interprets easily to mean golfing and realizes what Kara’s trying to say.

“Handicap,” she offers, and Aaron rolls his eyes so hard that Lena’s surprised they don’t get stuck in his head.

“I think that’s proof enough of why we don’t wanna play against you two, Kara,” he says, laughing. “You guys have freaky mind reading skills.”

“No I don’t,” Kara says abruptly, back straightening until Lena puts a comforting hand on her leg.

Her mouth hidden behind the rim of her cup she smiles. “He doesn’t mean literally,” she whispers and Kara relaxes.

“Seriously,” Aaron continues. “I don’t know how two people who met like two months ago know so much about each other.”

“Sounds like you’re jealous,” Kara huffs, her hand tracking up Lena’s neck and up to the hairline at the base of her neck.  

“Who wouldn’t be?” Max says, and even though he laughs, he still sounds the littlest bit sincere.

-- 

They follow J’onn to a nearby lab and watch as he lights a bunsen burner on the table. Lena watches it nervously; she’s been a thousand labs in her life, but never with a murderous, shape-changing alien amongst her midst.

“What does the fire do?” Kara asks, arms crossing.

“This,” M’gann says, stepping forward and putting her palm up towards the flame. Her flesh seems to burn away, revealing the Martian skin underneath.

“Okay, okay,” Winn says, stepping away from her. “That’s not creepy at all.”

J’onn moves up next and takes a deep breath, his eyes focused on the flame. M’gann reaches out to him, wraps her fingers around his wrist and whispers something in Martian that Lena can’t understand. After a moment he extends his palm out and reveals his own green skin before exhaling in relief.

Vasquez and Demos go after him, both of them eying the other suspiciously until they’re cleared as their human selves. Demos turns his suspicion towards Lena then with a narrowed gaze. “She goes next,” he orders and Lena can sense Kara bristling in front of her.

Both Danvers sisters are standing like a guard before her, so she reaches between them to extend her palm towards the flame. Demos looks almost apologetic when nothing happens.

“Winn,” Kara says, and he startles.

“What?” 

“You’re next,” she says, gesturing towards the fire.

He laughs a little. “What? It’s - it’s me.”

“Everyone has to do it,” Kara says and she extends her own palm quickly towards the flame, holding it there unmoving for a moment. “Now you.”

“Okay, jeez, fine,” he says and he steps slowly towards the device.

Lena tracks the motion with her eyes, a tendril of fear starting to work its way up her spine when Winn’s eyes flicker over to her, an almost sinister smile inching over his lips.

She thinks to say something, but Winn’s picking up the burner, holding it to his palm, which immediately transforms into the hand of White Martian and he smirks at Kara.

“You got me,” he says before he’s flinging the fire in an arc around him and Kara’s turning, grabbing Lena and throwing them to the ground. 

They hit the wall with a crash and Kara shelters Lena from the impact with her body, before shoving her behind an upturned table and jumping up after the Martian wearing Winn’s skin. Lena flinches away from the sounds of more crashing and the spray of electric discharge from equipment breaking.

The Martian manages to throw Kara into a wall before racing out of the room and vaulting over the railing to the first floor. Seconds later Kara is following and the rest of the group races after her, but the Martian is suddenly nowhere to be seen.

Kara hisses out a low curse word in Kryptonian and punches a dent into a nearby wall.

--

They regroup back at the central platform and take stock of what they have.

“I can’t believe it was Winn and I didn’t know,” Kara grumbles angrily, and Lena wraps her hand around Kara’s forearm until the other girl relaxes a bit.

“None of us knew,” she says softly, while J’onn and Vasquez pass around weapons. Alex slides into a nearby chair and pulls up a status terminal of the base.

“The motion sensors are offline,” Alex says, reading from her display. “Thank God the containment cells are still locked. As Winn he had access to the whole system.”

Suddenly an alarm bursts out through the room and a red light starts to flash. “Reactor temperature nearing critical,” a robotic voice announces and Kara looks at Lena.

“That can’t be good,” she says as Vasquez rushes to a station, sliding into the chair and opening up a command terminal.

“It’s the reactor that powers the building,” she says and Lena comes up behind her to read the alert coming up on the monitor. “It’s going into overload.”