13. Chapter 13(1)

It’s sunlight streaming in through her bedroom windows that finally pulls Lena out of sleep.

Her body feels drained, limp and heavy against the mattress, but it’s a sated feeling, the kind that makes her smile as she blinks her eyes open and stretches a bit.

The other occupant of her bed has already beaten her to consciousness and blue eyes are staring happily back at her.

“Morning,” Lena whispers, afraid that if she speaks too loudly their perfect cocoon will be broken. Her hand shifts onto the pillow next to her head and finds Kara’s, twisting around it warmly. The cool metal of Kara’s bracelet hits her forearm and she feels tethered to the bed in a significant way.

“Morning,” Kara whispers back in soft Kryptonian. It makes Lena smile.

“Sleep well?”

Kara nods, shifting closer on the bed and moving her hand to run down Lena’s side, settling at her hip. “How do you feel?”

A smile squirms on Lena’s lips and she laughs a bit. “A little bit like I ran back to back marathons and then worked out afterwards,” she answers, stroking a tangled strand of hair off Kara’s cheek.

Kara shrugs a shoulder, a playful look on her face. “Sex with a superhero will do that to you,” she says in a conspiratorial tone.

Lena laughs loudly and shoves at Kara’s shoulder, laughing harder when Kara makes a show of falling back to the bed with an indignant sound escaping her lips. She follows the motion, slinging her leg over Kara’s hips until she’s straddling the other girl and playfully pulls her pillow over to smother Kara in the face.

Kara’s laughter is muffled by the move, but it doesn’t stop and Lena keeps pressing the pillow down until Kara’s fingers creep up her thigh and press into the one spot that makes her squirm and lose her grip on the pillow.

“Dammit, Kara,” Lena says through a gasp and a laugh as she tries to evade Kara’s knowledgeable fingers. “You know I hate being tickled.”

“You’re trying to smother me with a pillow,” Kara argues, but she’s laughing too as she flings the pillow back to the side and pulls her torso up off the bed. Her hands remain on Lena’s hips, though her fingers have stilled, and Lena’s own hands land on the now tense muscles of Kara’s abdomen.

“That’s no excuse,” Lena manages to reply, but her focus has suddenly been pulled towards the way Kara is curled up off the bed and the feel of the strong solid body between her thighs.

The change of feeling must show on her face because Kara sits up entirely, her hand sliding to wrap around Lena’s waist and keep them pressed together. It puts her a head above Kara, but she bends slightly to meet Kara’s offered lips in a sweet, solid kiss.

When Kara attempts to deepen the kiss, Lena pulls back with a soft laugh and a slight cringe, her nose curling up. “Morning breath,” she murmurs as an excuse, but Kara just tightens her arm around Lena’s waist and twists to the side until Lena’s falling on her back with Kara pressing down on top of her.

“Don’t care,”Kara replies before pressing her lips to Lena’s jawline and beginning a journey south.

When Kara’s mouth hits her collarbone and continues downward, Lena finds she doesn’t care all that much either.

“Kara,” Lena says, the name coming out more like a gasp by the time Kara gets to her hipbones. Lena’s fingers press into Kara’s hair, twisting a little there and tugging to get her attention.

“Yes?” Kara asks in a low confident tone. Lena can feel a smile start to spread out where Kara’s mouth is against her skin and she takes a deep breath, her eyes drifting for a moment to the ceiling of her bedroom.

“Careful,” she tells her and Kara picks her head up to quirk a brow at Lena. “I’m a little…”

Kara seems to understand even though a proud little smile crosses her face that makes Lena tug harder at Kara’s hair and roll her eyes. Kara just laughs and presses a warm soothing kiss low on Lena’s abdomen.

It pools liquid heat between her legs and despite the ache in her muscles her body feels desperate for Kara to do something.

“You’ll be okay,” is all Kara offers before ducking her head and making Lena’s back arch off the bed.

--

It takes them far too long to leave the bed after that. Lena gets lost in a haze of reacquainting herself with a body she hasn’t been able to really touch in nearly four years. Kara seems just as determined to keep them naked and pressed together and she only relents when Lena mentions that they’re both going to be late to work.

At first, that knowledge doesn’t seem to deter Kara until Lena adds, “Do you really want Alex to come looking for you?”

It makes Kara laugh, but nod in concession and she pries herself away from Lena’s body with a wistful sigh.

“I need at least a pot of coffee,” Lena comments as she closes her eyes and stretches out the now even more sore muscles of her legs and back.

“I can do something about that,” Kara says cheerfully and she rolls over to press a quick kiss to Lena’s cheek before bouncing out of bed.

When she finally finds the strength to follow, Lena surveys the damage of her bedroom. Nothing is too badly broken. Her sheets are definitely a disaster and there’s a crack in her headboard that she doesn’t entirely remember doing. The wall by her closet has a slight dent in it and a few books have fallen off their shelves.

All of it is fixable and she’s glad, frankly, that it isn’t worse. She still remembers having to explain to her RA how exactly she kept breaking university provided furniture at such an alarming pace. Eventually she just stopped reporting it and had it fixed herself.

A glance at the grandfather clock in the hallway tells Lena she’s about to be very late to work, but when Kara comes from around the corner with two coffee cups she can’t find it in her to care.

“You owe me new sheets,” Lena says dryly and an attractive blush takes shape on Kara’s cheeks.

“I think that was more mutual responsibility,” Kara says handing over a mug of coffee and all but smirking as she leans her shoulder into a nearby wall.

“You look smug,” Lena comments, taking a sip of her coffee and arching a brow at Kara.

“Not without reason,” Kara says and her eyes flicker up and down suggestively enough that Lena reaches out and smacks her on the arm. It only makes Kara laugh even though she attempts to feign pain for a few seconds. Lena just rolls her eyes.

“I’m going to be late to work and that is definitely your fault,” Lena replies, moving around Kara and heading into the kitchen.

“Again,” Kara says, trailing behind her. “I argue that’s totally mutual.”

Lena hums a noncommittal sound and sets her mug on her kitchen counter, reaching out to grab at a small remote sitting there and turning on a monitor on the far side of her kitchen. The news flashes on the screen and Lena sighs when she sees they’re covering the lead up to her mother’s trial. Kara sets her mug down next to Lena’s and wraps an arm around her waist.

“Don’t watch that,” Kara says quietly, reaching around to grab at the remote and change the station.

“I can handle it,” she snaps but when she goes to snatch the remote back, Kara throws it out of reach. It clatters across the far counter and Lena narrows her eyes. “That wasn’t necessary.”

“Just because you can handle it doesn’t mean you should do it.”

“That feels hypocritical,” Lena murmurs with a roll of her eyes.

“Why ruin a perfectly good morning with all that gross stuff?” Kara asks, her arms wrapping completely around Lena’s waist and her lips pressing against the skin of Lena’s neck.

“Because reality still exists, regardless of how nice our night was,” Lena says, but she’s already sinking into Kara’s embrace, her head tilting to allow Kara more access to her neck and she can’t help the smile that crosses her lips when Kara’s mouth trails upward towards her ear.

“Reality doesn’t have to exist for like...at least five more minutes,” Kara argues and Lena laughs.

“I feel like only five minutes was the reason I was late to my eight o’clock mechanical engineering class five times,” Lena says.

“How long could it possibly take you to get ready?” Kara asks. “In college-”

“I’m afraid I can’t just throw on jeans and a baseball hat anymore and get away with it,” Lena interrupts with a chuckle and she twists in Kara’s arms until they’re face to face. Kara’s face is bright and a grin is widening out across her lips.

“Aren’t you the boss? You could start a new dress code. Casual...what day is it?”

Lena rolls her eyes a little, but lets Kara tug their hips in together and loops her arms around Kara’s neck. “I at the very least need a shower. I can’t imagine what I must smell like.”

“You smell great to me,” Kara says, her face tucking into Lena’s shoulder with an exaggerated sniff that makes Lena laugh and squirm away.

They break apart and Lena grabs for her coffee again, moving to slide into a stool and reach for her laptop sitting there. With a quick stroke of her fingers she opens up her calendar and her email checking it with a quick skim of her eyes. Kara plops down onto the stool next to her and leans back precariously, her legs lifting up to balance on the counter top while she somehow manages to balance in midair and sip at her coffee, watching Lena. Her bracelet catches the sunlight as she tilts the mug back, and Lena can’t help but smile.

“Do I have any sugar left, or did you dump it all in that cup of coffee?” Lena asks. Kara snorts, tilting forward suddenly and setting her mug on the counter.

“I didn’t put any sugar in this,” she says and Lena arches a disbelieving eyebrow that makes Kara add, “Splenda isn’t sugar, Lena.” 

Lena laughs and rolls her eyes, shaking her head at Kara. “It’s better for you,” she says, turning back to her computer and evaluating if any of her emails require immediate responses. 

“I’m invulnerable to the effects of sugar,” Kara boasts and Lena turns to see the smirk on her face as she rocks back on the stool, clearly half-floating.

“Then what does it matter?” Lena challenges and Kara’s smirk thins along with her eyes.

“It tastes good.”

“Splenda tastes the same.”

“It doesn’t.” 

“It does,” Lena insists with a laugh and Kara exhales noisily before taking a sip of her coffee again. 

“If this relationship is going anywhere you need to buy real sugar,” Kara says with a teasing smile that makes Lena laugh.

“You survived just fine in college.”

“Because I kept a secret sugar stash in your dorm,” Kara tells her and Lena makes an exaggerated sound of indignation.

“You what?”

Kara laughs and the sound gets louder when Lena kicks out a foot to tip Kara’s stool over. It’s unsuccessful and Kara just remains balanced on one leg of the stool, her own foot against the counter as she sips her coffee. 

“Don’t you remember those shots we made for your birthday?” Kara asks. “Where do you think I got the sugar for the rims?” 

“Josie brought over all the liquor supplies,” Lena answers as she remembers how excited Kara had been to invent weird and overly sugary shots for the party.

“Nope,” Kara says with a little pop of the word and a proud smirk.

Lena rolls her eyes. “What a weird thing to be sneaky about.”

“So you admit I’m totally sneaky?”

This time when Lena kicks her foot she’s successful in toppling the stool over, but Kara just floats in midair, coffee poised in front of her as she shoots Lena an affronted look.

“Speaking of birthdays, what do you want to do for Earth Birthday?” Lena asks, glancing over to see Kara manage to brighten and frown at the same time as she reaches down to reposition her chair.

“Well, since Alex is ditching me...” Kara grumbles, repositioning her ankles on the counter and continuing to rock backwards.

“Alex isn’t ditching you,” Lena corrects, with a hint of admonishment. Kara tilts her head back and forth, humming unhappily.

“She’d rather go to some stupid concert with her girlfriend than-” 

“This is your sister’s first significant relationship. Certainly you remember what that was like,” Lena says.

“I never ditched her to hang out with you on her birthday,” Kara says with a pointed look that Lena returns.

“You’ve been weird about Alex ever since she started dating Maggie. Why? Do you not like Maggie or something?”

“I haven’t been weird,” Kara denies, but she turns away from Lena and slides her feet off the counter, standing up to dump the rest of her coffee in the sink.

Closing her laptop, Lena just shoots her a look. “Kara,” she says knowingly.

With a heavy sigh, Kara turns and leans back against the counter looking at Lena with a petulant expression. “I just feel like-” Kara blows out a breath, her head dropping back on her shoulders as her eyes dart around the room at a clear loss for words. “I don’t know what I feel.”

“You should talk to Alex,” Lena says, taking a final sip of her coffee and moving to set the mug in the sink next to Kara’s.

“Yeah, sure, if she ever had any free time to actually hang out with me,” Kara says with obvious disdain.

Lena reaches out and tangles her fingers with Kara’s. “Talk to your sister.”

Kara’s lips thin, but she squeezes Lena’s hands and tugs until they’re pressed against each other again. “She’s busy tonight remember?”

The conversation has reached a level of circular that Lena no longer feels the desire to navigate so she just sighs and reaches up to press a quick kiss to Kara’s lips.

“How about I see if I can get out of the office early tonight and we can have dinner. Wherever you want?”

“Wherever wherever?” 

“Is there another meaning to that word I’m unaware of?” Lena jokes with a quirk of her brow.

“Just making sure there aren’t some kind of implicit parameters or something.” 

“Wherever wherever,” Lena answers and Kara’s lips curl up into a grin.

Without another response, Kara just bends a bit and scoops Lena up under her knees. The suddenness of the action pulls a surprised little yelp out of Lena who laughs as she grasps Kara around the neck. “What are you doing?”

“Didn’t you say something about a shower?” Kara asks with a quirk of her lips that coils warmth in Lena’s chest.

--

There’s a horde of reporters camped outside of L Corp Tower, not that Lena had expected anything less. Jess had texted her earlier that morning telling her to use the garage entrance, minutes before Kara had pressed a kiss to her cheek and sprinted out the door. The memory provides a balm, even when she spots protestors with signs mixed into the crowd in the front plaza.

To make matters worse, a team of her lawyers are waiting in the entryway of her office when she gets there and Lena realizes it’s finally time to really face the reality of her part in putting her mother in jail. The morning is spent reviewing her deposition and notes on trial strategy. Far too much of the meeting is spent discussing what she should wear to court and Lena struggles not to snap completely and just fire the entire team.

After they file out of her office, she’s buried in a deluge of paperwork over various real estate initiatives, things she has to read through carefully before signing on every conceivable page. A not-so-small headache is beginning to develop behind her eyes even before the clock strikes twelve.

Just as she’s about to ask Jess to order her something for lunch, her personal phone starts to ring and she has to stare at a set of familiar numbers for a long few seconds before she answers it gingerly.

“Hello?”

“Lena,” a familiar voice greets across the line. “Long time.”

“Jack?”

“Hi.” His voice spikes a wash of memory across her and she finds her throat going a little dry. The last she heard Jack speak was at an airport months ago, but it feels more like a lifetime. So much of her life has changed since then, and so little. And though she hasn’t had much time to think on it, she misses Jack - doesn’t realize how much until she hears the lilting tone of his accent.

“How are you?”

He laughs and she can’t help but smile. “Actually, I called to see how you were doing? So, you answer first.”  

“I’m fine,” she answers immediately, and this time his laugh is sad and knowing.

“I’ve followed the news about your mother,” he says. “That can’t be easy.”

“It’s my mother,” Lena says dryly. “What else is new?”

His laughter warms something in her chest. “I just wanted to call and see if you needed anything. I know we’re not-” He falters a moment and Lena has to swallow against the lump in her throat. “I still care about you Lena. And if you ever need anything...”

“Thank you, Jack. That - means a lot.”

There’s a small stretch of silence, somewhere between uncomfortable and not. She can picture him sitting in his tiny office at Spheerical, the shades drawn so the gleam of the Daily Planet building across the street doesn’t hit his computer screen. He’s probably not wearing a tie. He might even be in jeans. It’s comforting.

“I heard you were testifying.” 

“I am,” she replies, eyeing the stack of files the lawyers left behind on the corner of her desk. It’s easily a foot high.

“The news here in Metropolis has been reporting that you were instrumental in having her arrested.”

The memory of that night comes to her then, the way her mother looked in the back of a cop car and later what Kara looked like - shaky and unsure, frightened. “I’m not really supposed to talk about it,” she says quietly.

Silence stretches for a beat. “Of course, my apologies.”

“It’s not you, Jack,” she says. “I just don’t want to jeopardize any chance of putting that woman away.”

“I understand. I called to let you know that I’m here for you. As a friend. Always,” he says and it’s so sincere that Lena feels an ache spread out across her ribcage. It’s more than she deserves from a man she all but strung along for years.

“You’re too kind.”

“Still haven’t learned there’s no such thing, eh?” He teases and she smiles.

“I heard a rumor Spheerical recently registered a new IP,” she comments in an attempt to change the subject. 

“Ah, you know, I’m really not supposed to talk about it,” he says, turning her words back. She can hear the smile in his voice, the light laughter and teasing tone.

“Just tell me it’s not what I think it is,” she says with a grin.

“What do you think it is?” Jack counters. “Have you forgotten I can’t read your mind? I still can’t, no matter how many microscopes you throw at me.”

“Considering I’m a major shareholder in Spheerical, you have an interest in telling me this information,” she says and she can practically hear the smile on his face.

“As a shareholder, I think you’ll be pleased,” is all he says before changing the subject with it. “And speaking of, the papers have been linking you with a local reporter recently.”

The comment freezes in her chest and she blinks, surprised. “That’s an interesting segway,” she says slowly, as her brain catches up.

He’s quiet for a moment. “I don’t take to reading the gossip column, but my news alert notified me that my name had been coming up.” 

Unseen, she arches a brow and turns to her computer terminal. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“You really should pay attention to your public image, Lena,” he says and sure enough as soon as she googles Jack’s name, there’s a picture of the two of them from a tech conference years ago that shows up, their heads tilted together and wearing twin smiles as they hovered over a small demo device.

It’s part of a recent article speculating on Lena’s dating life and her heart rate increases to see Kara’s name mentioned further down the screen, complete with anonymous quotes about how Kara’s always hanging around L Corp Tower. It’s nothing romantic, not explicitly, but it’s still there, staring back at Lena.

“You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. I believe this website reported Lex was in love with Superman a few times,” she manages to respond, her eyes scanning the article.

Silent again for a stretch of seconds, Jack laughs softly. “I just want to make sure you’re happy, Lena. That reporter they mentioned,” he says, pausing for a moment. “There was an anecdote that you both went to the same university for a bit.”

The implication is so heavy in that moment that Lena has to take a deep breath against emotions she wasn’t at all prepared to confront. “What are you trying to ask, Jack?”

“Nothing,” he says a touch defensively. “I’m just...catching up. Making sure you’re doing okay.”

Biting back a sharp response, she closes out of the article on her screen and spins her chair until she’s facing the bright blue sky of National City outside her window. “I assure you, apart from everything with my criminal mastermind mother, I’m more than okay,” she replies and pumps a certain amount of mirth in her tone if only to lighten the conversation.

He laughs and it seems to work. “And are you happy?”

The memory of Kara’s laughing face as she had scooped Lena up that morning and walked them to the shower pops up in her head and an unstoppable smile spreads over her face. “I am,” she says softly and with conviction.

The sigh that comes over the line sounds more content than anything else and a wave of affection blooms across her chest. “I’m glad,” he says and then after a short clearing of his throat he adds, “You know, I’ll be in town soon, actually.”

“Really? In National City?”

“Yes, we’ve registered a new IP, perhaps you’ve heard,” he jokes.

“A thing or two,” she replies with a chuckle.

“There’ll be a whole thing, you know, a big deal. I’d love to properly catch up,” he says. She feels a flutter at the idea of seeing him again. “Possibly over some overpriced bottle of wine and food we can’t pronounce. Maybe...I could finally meet the oh so mysterious college lover I’ve heard so little about.”

She laughs warmly, the strangeness of the conversation leaking out of her. “That would be great, Jack. The food and wine. Revealing my secrets - I don’t know about that.”

“I suppose a woman must keep some mysteries,” he says, laughing, and another bit of silence stretches between them, comfortable and soft, and the image of him settled in his enormous office chair, leaning over a prototype and grinning when Lena walks through the door makes her feel warm.

“Listen,” he says, suddenly, sounding noticeably more serious. “This stuff with your mom.”

“I can handle it,” she interrupts, straightening.

“I know you can. But I just want to remind you that you don’t have to do it alone.” It makes her think of Kara, this morning saying the exact same thing, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to have a serious conversation with this man and not think of Kara. “I do love you, Lena,” he says quietly but with such sincerity that Lena thinks she might actually cry.  

The truth sits on her tongue for a long moment before she replies. “I love you too, Jack. Thank you for calling.”

“Anytime,” he says before the call ends and Lena’s left to the silence of her office.

--

Her afternoon drags on. She meets with far too many lawyers for her taste, and the rest of her meetings involve handling the press surrounding her mother’s trial, along with a brief phone call with a regional VP who claims Superman is intentionally trying to break all of their buildings. By the time Kara shows up at her office door she’s beyond ready for a break.

“I thought I told Jess not to let in any members of the press,” Lena teases, dropping her pen down on her desk and leaning back in her chair. It’s been hours since she’s seen Kara, but it still feels like far too long.

Kara smirks a little as she paces forward. “Jess likes me,” she says. “Also, she looks really stressed. Is it L Corp company policy to overwork or something?”

“She needs a vacation,” Lena agrees with a sigh. “The whole company does.”

“We could send her to Earth-1 as a gift,” Kara offers and Lena laughs, rolling her head around on her neck to stretch out her shoulders.

“Once this trial is over I’ll give her some paid time off,” Lena says, enjoying the sight of Kara standing in front of her in fresh colorful clothing. “How was your day?”

Kara shrugs, dropping into the chair in front of Lena’s desk. “Long,” she answers. “Snapper rejected like ten of my article proposals today.”

Lena arches a brow. “So did you come here to write a story about the famous Luthor daughter set to publicly betray her mother?”

Kara stills, just blinks at her as if otherwise frozen. “Tell me that was a joke,” she says softly.

It hadn’t entirely been a joke, but Lena can tell from Kara’s expression there’s little humor to be found in the remark. Her chest tightens in discomfort and she goes for a casual smile. “It was, I’m sorry,” she says with a little sigh. Her fingers rub absently at her temple. “I’ve had a long day too.”

With a speed Lena knows is not entirely human, Kara is up out of her chair and next to Lena, propping up against her desk and reaching out pull Lena’s hand away from her head. “Why don’t we just forget about dinner and go home and watch stupid television or something?”

The thought makes Lena smile and she leans back in her chair, her fingers still tangled with Kara’s. “But it’s Earth birthday,” she says with a teasing grin.

“And that sounds like a great way to spend it,” Kara replies cheerfully. “I’m happy to be with you. I think I would have felt more positively about Earth when I landed if I had known I would eventually meet you.”

Lena laughs, already feeling more invigorated just from having been in Kara’s presence for a few minutes. “You’re a sweet talker. We can do both,” Lena says and Kara gets an excited glint to her eyes.

--

They eat dinner at some Thai fusion place Kara wants to go to because they have an unlimited cream cheese wonton deal, Lena.

Kara spends most of the night looking at her phone uncharacteristically often - quick glances between bites of food and a growing look of frustration on her face.

“Hoping Alex will call?” Lena ventures, abandoning her bowl of drunken noodles to focus on Kara.

“I don’t know why,” Kara says, locking her phone and throwing it in the bag hanging off her chair. “She’s with Maggie.”

“Have you not talked to her yet?” Lena asks and Kara’s lips thin in displeasure.

“You told me to talk to her like...twelve hours ago. There hasn’t exactly been time,” Kara says.

“There hasn’t been time or you’ve been avoiding it?” Lena prods with a knowing arch of her brow.

Kara sighs. “I’m not avoiding it,” she says but at Lena’s stare she relents a little. “Not totally.”

“It’s not like you to avoid emotional confrontation,” Lena comments, reaching out to pick up her glass of wine and take a sip. Kara avoids her eyes for a moment, her hands fiddling with the bracelet around her wrist, tugging outward on it, testing its strength. There’s a small measure of pride when it barely bends under Kara’s grip.

“I think I just feel...I feel stupid for feeling how I feel,” Kara says with a sigh. Lena hums encouragingly and goes back to her food.

“Your feelings aren’t stupid.”  

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kara says, still tugging at her bracelet and looking uncharacteristically small.

“Try me,” she replies before taking another bite of her dinner and offering Kara an open encouraging look.

Kara chews softly at her lower lip for a moment. “I guess I just feel like Alex has found Maggie and that’s great,” she starts with an overly exaggerated emphasis on the word. “But I think I’m just used to being…”

“The most important person in Alex’s life,” Lena ventures, dunking her chopsticks into her bowl.

Kara blows out a heavy breath and pulls a face that let’s Lena know she’s hit the mark. “I mean we just figure out everything with us, right, and then I turn around and Alex is...I don’t know,” Kara finishes with a defeated kind of sigh as her elbow props on the table and her face drops sullenly into her palm.

“That doesn’t sound stupid,” Lena says, reaching out to grip Kara’s free hand lightly for a moment.

“I just hate it,” Kara groans with a twist of her lips.

“Hate what?”

“That we figure everything out and then stuff with Alex goes…” Sitting up, Kara mimes an explosion with her hands, complete with sound effects that make Lena laugh.

“Alex loves you and no romantic relationship she has with anybody is going to change that. You’ll figure this out,” Lena tells her. “But not if you don’t actually talk to her about it.”

“I know, I know,” Kara groans, stabbing at her food with a disgruntled expression.

Lena watches her attack the dinner in front of her for a few moments before deciding to change the subject. “I’m concerned that you haven’t asked me what I got you for your birthday,” Lena says.

Kara’s head shoots up, her eyes cutting into Lena’s. “You got me something?”

With a laugh, Lena takes another sip of her drink and smiles at Kara. “Of course. It’s Earth Birthday.”

Kara’s eyes zoom straight in on Lena’s purse, but before she can bring her hand up to tug her glasses down, Lena shoves the purse out of sight and laughs. “Kara, don’t cheat.”

The pout that forms on Kara’s face only makes Lena roll her eyes and laugh again, shaking her head at Kara’s expression.

When they walk out of the restaurant after dinner, there’s a small group of reporters standing outside the door and the flash that goes off the minute Lena steps outside nearly blinds her. Kara reacts much quicker, pulling Lena into her side and stepping in front of the camera to shield her.

They make it to the black car waiting for them by the curb, but not before Lena hears a series of questions get volleyed towards them. The first about her mother, the second asking the nature of her relationship with Kara.

Kara looks ready to turn back and answer until Lena sighs and tugs her further into the car. “Ignore them,” she says as the door shuts and the car starts to pull away.

“They’re extra attentive lately,” Kara grumbles, looking out the rear view window for a moment before sulking back in the seat.

“With my mother’s trial this week I’ve become hot gossip,” Lena says. “I’m sorry.”

Kara’s brow furrows. “Don’t apologize for something that’s not your fault.”

The privacy partition between the driver and the back seat starts to lower and her driver, George, looks over his shoulder. “Home, Miss Luthor?”

She sends a questioning look to Kara.

“You wanna come back to my place?” Kara asks with a playful move of her eyebrows that makes Lena laugh.

She gives George the address and Kara wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling them close together with a soft kiss to her temple. “Thank you for dinner,” Kara murmurs and Lena takes a deep breath, relaxing against the solid feel of Kara’s body. There’s silence as they drive for a few blocks, and then Kara’s chest is rumbling with laughter, suddenly.

“Can you imagine if the press had somehow made its way into one of our astronomy club parties?” Kara asks, her lips pressed up against Lena’s hair as she speaks. “Remember that time you got drunk and tried to climb a tree with warpaint on? I’m pretty sure I still have a picture of you falling out of the tree.”

“You put that warpaint on my face,” Lena mutters, digging her face into Kara’s collarbone. “And I don’t know why it’s always amused you that I fell out of the tree. We aren’t all superheroes. What if I had broken something?”

“I would have never let that happen,” Kara says, and she says it as amusedly as she related the story, but the truth of it is strong between them. Not for the first time, she sends up a thank you to Rao or God or whoever that Kara Zor-El managed to crash land onto Earth and find her way into Lena’s life.

--

“I thought you might be hiding in here,” Jack says, approaching her slowly as he strides across the basement lab at Luthor Tower. He looks cautious; most likely because the last time he had come into the lab unannounced she had nearly tased him.

“I’m not hiding,” Lena counters, her eyes focused on the motherboard on the table in front of her, blinking away the ache hiding behind her eyes. “I’m working.”

“So the fact that you’re still here at nearly half ten has nothing to do with the gaggle of reporters waiting for you out front?”

Lena sighs, dropping a pair of pliers onto the table and finally looking at Jack. “They’re still there?”

“Afraid so,” he answers, pulling a stool up to sit next to her.

“Do you think it would be bad form to have them executed?” Lena asks with a joking, but tired smile.

Jack laughs. “Do you have that kind of power?”

Lena quirks an eyebrow and chuckles a little bitterly. “Apparently this whole company has all kinds of destructive powers I was unaware of,” she says.

Looking at her sympathetically, he runs a hand down her back and scoots a bit closer. “They know that you’re not your brother,” he tells her and her fists clench involuntarily just thinking about everything that’s happened with Lex.

“It’s been a month since he was sent to prison and-”

“Lena,” Jack interrupts, reaching down to swivel her stool until they’re facing each other, knees brushing. Her shoulders sag and she rubs some of the exhaustion out of her eyes. “Overworking yourself isn’t going to make any of this go away. It’s just going to make you sick.”

It’s not Jack’s fault that it reminds her of what Lex had said to her after she broke up with Kara and spent the next months running away from dealing with it. Her eyes feel hot and her chest tight and she doesn’t know how to explain that she’s not trying to overwork herself. The lab is just the only place she feels something even approaching calm at the moment, safe, normal.

She tries not to think of Kara when she sits here in the lab, alone. Knowing she could pick up the phone and Kara would answer. Worrying that she shouldn’t be so sure, especially now; it drives her crazy, when she thinks about Kara. So she focuses on the little projects she’s been accumulating.

“I think I just need a vacation,” Lena admits with a soft laugh and she leans a little towards Jack.

He smiles at her, standing. “Well, we’re both disgustingly well off,” he says. “We can take a vacation if you want.”

A permanent vacation had been more what she was thinking, but she doesn’t say that to Jack. Instead, she smiles indulgently and stands with him. “I think I’ll settle for a glass of wine and that enormous leather couch you have.”

“Happy to be good for something,” he jokes, holding out his arm for her to take. He leans over and grabs the bag leaning up against her desk and shoulders it as she hooks her arm through his.

“You’re good for many things, Jack,” she murmurs, pressing into his side.

“I’ve barely seen you these days,” he says as they walk towards the exit. “I was starting to think I was disposable.”

“I’m just not good company at the moment,” Lena replies, feeling guilty for avoiding Jack - for avoiding everything and everyone really. After everything went down with Lex, Lena felt the need to retreat and reboot and part of that had included Jack.

He presses a kiss to the crown of her head. “I want to be around you for the good and the bad, Lena,” he says softly and she loves him just a little bit more for that.

--

“Hey,” Lena says later, when they’ve abandoned the television in favor of pressing together horizontally on Kara’s couch. “Happy Earth birthday.”

Kara grins, wide and happy. “Happy Earth birthday,” she parrots and Lena laughs, rolling her eyes.

“I hate when you do that,” Lena says, but she’s still laughing and Kara returns the sound, ducking her head until her lips are back against Lena’s neck.

“No, you don’t,” she murmurs against her skin, moving upward and pressing her hips down in a suggestive movement that cuts the mirth out of Lena’s throat.

Her hands are sliding up Kara’s shirt and her knee is bending to wrap around Kara’s hip when a loud knock at the door startles both of them and Kara falls heavily into Lena’s body. The knocking sounds again after neither of them make a move and Kara picks her head up and turns to look at the door, her entire body tensing at whatever she must see.

“Who is it?” Lena asks in a whisper, tugging her dress back down when Kara scrambles upright off the couch.

“Alex,” Kara says and she paces forward towards the door before Lena hisses out her name and stops her.

“Your shirt,” Lena says quietly, pointing at where Kara’s sweater is all kinds of askew, the collar of her button down half in and half out of the neckline.

Kara flushes and shoots Lena a sheepish smile, tugging at the fabric until it’s back to normal.

Another knock this time and Lena can practically hear the impatience. “I can hear you guys,” Alex’s voice shouts out through the door and Lena bites against a smile.

Kara moves to pull the door open and Lena runs her fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle it. In the hallway, Alex is standing there with an annoyed expression, but she’s holding out a cupcake with a candle lit stuck in the middle and Kara seems only concerned with that, her eyes honing straight on it.

“What’s this?” Kara asks and Lena props a hip up against the kitchen counter, crossing her arms and watching the exchange.

The annoyance on Alex’s face seems to shift into something closer to guilt. “Happy Earth birthday,” she tells her sister and Kara’s eyes drift back up to Alex.

“I thought you had plans.”

Alex shrugs a shoulder and just holds the cupcake out. “There’s a K,” she says and Lena can just make out the small design on the cupcake. The urge to laugh bubbles up in her throat, but Alex cuts a hard glance her way and she swallows it. “Blow it out,” Alex instructs and when Kara goes to do so she pulls back a little with a quick, “Gently.”

Kara laughs and does as instructed, blowing the candle out and taking it from her sister’s hands. “Thank you,” she says, turning to walk in. She shoots Lena a little excited look and sets the cupcake down on the kitchen counter.

Alex follows behind, throwing her bag on a stool and giving a nod to Lena.

“Have you talked to J’onn since,” Kara gestures with her hand and Alex’s lips thin into a smile.

“Not all that much. Apparently he had to spend all night convincing M’gann not to go back to Mars.”

“She wanted to go back to Mars?!” Kara exclaims, suddenly distracted away from the cupcake she had been unpeeling.

“So J’onn said. Something about trying to start some kind of underground revolution. I’m not quite sure.”

“You’d think she’d be put off considering two White Martians just came all the way to Earth to kill her,” Lena points out and Alex makes an expression of agreement.

“M’gann’s brave like that,” Kara comments, focused back on the cupcake and reaching blindly into a drawer for a knife to cut it in pieces.

“Speaking of the White Martian,” Alex says slowly, glancing down at her hands and fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. “When it was me…”

“Totally freaky,” Kara adds and Lena quirks her head at the memory of her time with the White Martian version of Alex.

“Yeah,” Alex says and she laughs a little before looking at Lena. “But...did you have a conversation with it?”

“We didn’t talk much while it had a gun pointed at me,” Lena says with a curious smile.

“It’s just,” Alex looks away for a second with a shake of her head. “It’s like having memories that feel kind of like a dream, but also...just real.”

Kara looks between them, her brows pulled down and her hands hovered over the cupcake on the table. “What do you mean?”

Alex shrugs. “I can remember walking Lena to the reactor,” Alex says slowly. “I can even remember pointing my gun at her. As if I was the one that did those things.”

Lena stares at her for a moment. “I suppose if the link is strong enough, the telepathy could go both ways,” she says softly and Alex makes an expression not unlike a grimace.

“So we did have a conversation?”

“Not really,” Lena answers and Kara is still staring at them warily. “Kara showed up pretty soon after it drew the gun on me.”

Alex nods, lips pursed. “It didn’t...possibly...say anything about, I don’t know, you and Kara?”

At that, Lena laughs, finally realizing what has Alex looking so sheepish. “You mean indicating to me that I’m mated? To Kara?”

Kara’s eyes go ridiculously wide and she drops the knife in her hand to the counter with a clang. “Alex,” she hisses with an amount of incredulity in her tone that feels totally inappropriate to Lena considering their conversation just the other night. It’s not as if any of this is in the dark any longer.

“I didn’t do it,” Alex replies, immediately defensive. “And it’s not my fault you didn’t tell your mate-”

“She’s not my-”

“I’m not responsible for the fact that you two are idio-”

“We’re not-”

“Hey!” Lena interrupts in an abrupt snap of the word. “Calm down. Both of you.”

Both sisters snap their mouths shut at the command and turn to look at her. Alex’s wide eyes turn immediately back into more of a neutral expression, but Kara remains looking sheepish.

“It’s fine, Alex,” Lena reassures her even though Kara still has a hint of a glare on her face. “It was clearly a conversation Kara and I should have had years ago.”

Alex makes an amused noise and smiles a bit. “We can agree there.”

Kara rolls her eyes, but trades saying anything else for stuffing a piece of cupcake in her mouth. Alex shoots her a look somewhere between affection and exasperation that Lena imagines is Alex’s default emotion toward her sister.

“I should leave you two to talk,” Lena says, when silence starts to stretch uncomfortably long.

“No, don’t,” both sisters manage to say simultaneously and Lena sighs into a soft laugh.

“You two need to talk. Just the two of you,” Lena says and she reaches for her purse where it’s leaning on the counter.

“Don’t leave,” Kara says softly, reaching out to lightly circle her wrist.

Lena steps in close and presses a quick but solid kiss to Kara’s lips. “Talk to your sister,” she instructs in a whisper. “Happy Earth Birthday.”

Kara’s mouth pulls down in a show of upset, but Lena just smiles, moves around the counter and offers Alex a quick hug. “Good to see you, Alex.”

“You too, Lena.”

With that, she leaves, ignoring the plea in Kara’s eyes that she stay.

--

There are a few reporters that catch her leaving Kara’s building and a few flashes that go off when she arrives at her own. Both instances serve to remind her - as if she could forget - that her mother is on trial and she’s being watched like a hawk to see how she’ll perform. She spends the rest of her night with a glass of wine and and some last minute notes her lawyers had emailed her earlier, trying to ignore how much she misses Kara’s presence to calm her.

As if she had known, Kara calls her much later, just as she’s considering crawling into her empty bed.

“Hello, darling,” Lena says softly, sinking back into her couch cushions and closing her eyes at the sound of Kara’s voice.

“Hey.”

“Did you settle things with Alex?”

“Yeah, she-” Kara makes a noise. “Yeah. We settled stuff.”

“Good.”

“So what are you doing?” Kara asks, a little too eagerly, and Lena fights a smile.

“Nothing of importance,” she answers, tossing the tablet on her lap onto the table beside her. “Why?”

Kara is silent for a moment before asking, “Can I come over?”

Lena suddenly feels more awake than she did a few seconds ago. “It’s late,” she murmurs.

“I know,” Kara replies, her voice lower than before.

Lena swallows, her throat feeling thick and an anticipation in her gut that reminds her of college all over again. “How quickly can you be here?”

The answer is a soft thud on her balcony and the image of Kara standing there with a smile, phone held to her ear.

“Sorry, Kara, but Supergirl just stopped by,” she teases. “I’m afraid I’m going to be busy.”

Kara laughs and disconnects the call, opening the unlocked door of Lena’s balcony and walking towards her.

“Hello, Supergirl,” Lena greets and Kara smirks a little, closing the distance between them as Lena stands.

“Miss Luthor,” she teases and Lena scrunches her nose as the name, but doesn’t comment as Kara approaches and kisses her, strong arms wrapping around her waist to pick her up.

“Tired?” Kara asks against Lena’s lips even as she’s already all but floating towards Lena’s bedroom.

“Exhausted,” Lena lies, her hands twisting in Kara’s loose hair.

The answer makes Kara pause just inside the bedroom, her expression serious as she looks at Lena. “You are?” Kara asks, suddenly concerned as she sets Lena back on her feet.

Lena laughs. “I’m teasing, darling,” she says, stepping back into Kara’s personal space until their fronts are pressed entirely together.

“Well, I care about you,” Kara replies with feigned exasperation as she walks her backwards towards the bed. “I want to make sure you’re well rested.”

Lena arches a brow. “That was never a concern of yours in college,” she comments, enjoying the way Kara picks her up and places her on the bed so easily, settling on top of her.

“I totally made sure you got sleep in college,” Kara says, even as her hand slides up and under Lena’s shirt.

“You made sure I got in bed, maybe,” Lena teases and she can’t stop the way her body arches at the feel of Kara’s fingers creeping up her side. Her own hands spread over Kara’s collarbone.

“You never complained,” Kara mutters, but she laughs and the sound hits Lena in the skin of her neck as Kara presses a warm kiss there, her hips dropping down into Lena’s.

“Take your suit off,” Lena commands in a low voice that Kara reacts to immediately.

In the blink of an eye Kara is off of Lena’s body and undressed, grinning at Lena before she crawls back on top of her. “Bossy,” she murmurs, pulling Lena’s shirt up and placing her lips low on Lena’s stomach before moving upwards. It pulls a soft noise out of Lena’s throat and she presses her head back into the mattress.

“Sorry,” she says softly, but with a smirk and Kara laughs a puff of air against her ribcage until she’s pulling Lena’s shirt off entirely.

“Are you though?” Kara asks, before pinning Lena’s wrists above her head in a move that makes Lena’s hips jump. A wash of heat spreads across her lower body.

Her response is muffled by Kara’s lips suddenly pressing against her own.

--

“What are you wearing , Lena?” Her mother asks with disdain dripping heavily off her tone.

“It’s a Monarchs jersey, Mother,” Lex says companionably as he steps up and slings an arm around Lena’s shoulders. Lena leans into his body, adjusting her sunglasses as her mother makes another series of faces at her outfit.

“I’m aware of what it is,” her mother replies archly, but she smiles indulgently at her favorite son and Lena barely restrains the roll of her eyes. “I was more curious as to whether it’s an appropriate outfit to wear at an event attended by some of our shareholders, not to mention old friends of your father’s that it would be in her interest to impress.”

Lena declines to comment on the fact that Lex is sporting a matching jersey and instead slips out of Lex’s embrace and walks towards the car waiting for them.

“It’s got our logo on it,” Lex insists, offering his elbow to their mother and walking her to the car. “Big and silver, on the front. With Lena’s face, that’s great publicity.”

This time, Lena does roll her eyes, but out of sight from her family as she slides into the back seat of the car and waits for them to accompany her.

Lex slides in next to her as they take the backwards-facing seat, their mother across from them. He slides an arm on the back of the seat over her shoulders and crosses his legs, giving their mother his normal unaffected grin.

It does what it always does. Their mother melts under his expression, rolling her eyes affectionately and laughing. “I just want Lena to be aware of her position. It’s one thing for you to act boyish, Lex, but for Lena, a young girl, to show up in a sports uniform of all things-”

“Mom,” Lex says. “Leave her be.”

“Lex, this is just as important to you as it is to me. Once Lena joins the company, she’ll be on the fast track to become your CIO. You have shareholders to be concerned about and a position on the board to fill and-”

“Mom,” Lex tries again with a laugh and his hand extended outward. “Let her have a normal college life.”

“Luthors don’t need normal college lives, Lex,” their mother says and Lena decides now is good a time as any to join the conversation, pulling her eyes from the window at her right.

“I’ll change before we leave for dinner. You needn’t worry, Mother,” Lena says with a challenging quirk of her brow. “I just felt it would be good to show support for a team that’s done nothing but brought good publicity for the company. A few photographs may do us well.”

Her mother doesn’t have an immediate response to that other than a prim, “Very well.”

They arrive at the field where a large banners reading LuthorCorp Day at the Park are littered across the entrances. Their mother detours from them to head straight to the suite and Lex pulls Lena over to a vendor to buy them matching baseball caps. He puts one on her head with an exaggerated tug and they both laugh.

“Oh, mother will just love this,” Lena says, adjusting the cap on her head.

“As if that’s not reason to buy it,” Lex replies with a grin that Lena returns.

“Thanks for defending me back there.”

He shrugs her off, wrapping his arm back around her shoulder and steering them towards a food and drink vendor. “Don’t thank me for doing something like that,” he says. “You’re my baby sister. What else would I do?”

She sighs a bit and leans into him as they approach the concession stand, where they both spend time eyeing the menu.

“I also may or may not have a surprise for you,” he adds with a smirk, after they order hot dogs.

“A surprise?” Lena asks, quirking her brow at her brother when the concession worker hands over the two hot dogs. They move to the side of the window, and he begins slathering his hot dog in mustard, a suspicious look on his face.

He’s grinning mischievously in a way that seems almost ominous - like that time he reprogrammed her phone to send her random facts about cats every hour - but then his eye catches something over Lena’s shoulder and his smile turns wide. “Actually, the surprise is already here.”

Confused, Lena follows his gaze with a curious expression until she spots an oasis in the desert. Kara in a Monarchs baseball tee, cuffed lightwash jeans and a bright purple cap, smiling brightly as she idles near the ice cream vendor, scarfing down an enormous cone. Her eyes are latched onto Lena, and Lena can tell by the tilt of her head that she’s listening with perfect clarity.

“Lex,” Lena breathes.

“I’ll distract Mom with all the pinot grigio in the suite and the fact that I’m pretty sure Morgan Edge is coming to the game,” Lex whispers conspiratorially and Lena hears most of it, but she’s blinking distractedly at where Kara is still standing. “You go hang with your girlfriend for nine innings. Destress.”

“How did you -” Lena cuts off, turns bewildered eyes back to her older brother. “Why did you?”

“Summers are supposed to be fun,” he says and with the hand not holding his hot dog he pulls her into a half hug, kissing her temple. “Luthors are allowed normal college lives at least some of the time.”

Her chest feels overflowing with love for her brother in that moment as he shoots her one last affectionate smile before turning and heading towards an elevator that leads to the club level. When Lena turns, Kara is pacing forward and Lena doesn’t hesitate before stepping towards her.

Kara scoops her up immediately and Lena barely avoids dropping her hot dog as they embrace. Not that she’d care honestly - it’s only been two weeks since she last touched Kara and Lena feels starved for it, like her entire body is calling out. Mindful of how public they are, Lena pulls Kara around a nearby corner that’s blissfully more private and presses up into Kara’s space until they’re kissing solidly.

“Hi,” Lena says softly.

“Hey,” Kara parrots, pulling away and eying the hot dog still held in Lena’s hand. “You going to eat that?”

Lena laughs and feels better than she has in weeks, with her hands and eyes on Kara.

“All yours,” Lena offers and Kara gleefully takes it off her hands and bites into it, finishing it in two massive bites that have Lena cringing.

“Miss me?” Kara asks with a teasing wiggle of her eyebrows and food stuffed into her cheek.

Lena uses her thumb to swipe a crumb off the corner of Kara’s mouth and smiles. “Desperately,” she admits and Kara kisses her again after swallowing.

“How’s today been? Sorry I didn’t answer your text earlier today. I was super nervous about not ruining the surprise,” Kara’s hands find her hips and they hover in close, Lena’s back up against the cement wall behind her.

“It’s better now that you’re here,” Lena says softly, and she quirks the brim of Kara’s baseball hat, enjoying the way Kara’s eyes sparkle playfully. “This is cute.”

“Yeah?” Kara asks, looking down at her outfit and then at Lena’s. “When Lex sent me the tickets he said I had to dress appropriately.”

“This isn’t appropriate,” Lena teases, clenching her fingers in the fabric of Kara’s shirt over her abdomen. Her knuckles brush against hard muscle that she hasn’t gotten to feel in person for far too long.

“It’s not?” Kara asks, concern spreading on her face.

“No,” Lena confirms with a smirk. “If only because it makes me want to do decidedly inappropriate things with you.”

Color blooms over Kara’s cheeks, but she smiles as she registers what Lena’s saying and steps in somehow closer to Lena with a laugh. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lena breathes out, heat coiling in her gut when Kara presses a kiss behind her ear and down her jawline.

“Tell me,” Kara whispers, but the sound of the crowd starting to cheer loudly pulls them both out of their little cocoon and Lena clears her throat as they glance back out towards the field. Kara mutters something that sounds suspiciously like a curse word in Kryptonian, but her hand threads its way into Lena’s anyway, pulling them down the concourse and toward their seats.

She destresses for nine innings, just as Lex had suggested, mostly by whispering in Kara’s ear and enjoying Kara’s face heating up, her grip on the armrest tightening so much that she leaves a handprint in the metal.

After a boring and sedate dinner with a thoroughly pinot grigio’d mother, Lena arrives to her room only to find Kara Danvers lounging on her bed, a smile on her face that makes Lena’s knees go weak.

--

The week moves quickly. She imagines that’s largely because of how much she’s dreading Friday’s arrival.

“Do you want me to be there?” Kara asks Thursday night as they’re finishing the last of the Indian takeout Kara had brought over. “I can come as a reporter if you want. Or as...just me.”

Charmed by the concerned look in Kara’s eyes, Lena reaches a hand out to stroke against her cheek. “I’ll be fine. This is something I have to do by myself.”

“You are doing it by yourself,” Kara says, pulling Lena’s hand down and tangling their fingers together. “That doesn’t mean I can’t linger in the background for moral support.”

It makes Lena laugh. “I don’t think we need to give the press any more fodder about our relationship.”

Kara frowns. “They know we’re friends. The rest is just speculation.”

“Speculation about the truth,” Lena says wryly.

“Is-,” Kara pauses, her brows coming together. “Are you trying to keep us a secret?”

“No,” Lena denies immediately, squeezing Kara’s fingers. “But if the story is about us then it’s not about my mother. And we need the press on our side for this. L Corp needs it as well.”

“Okay,” Kara replies, deflating. “I just want to be there for you.”  

“I know, darling,” Lena murmurs. “But if you’re there, I imagine I’ll just be distracted.”

Kara sighs. “Whatever you need.”

“I love you very much, you know,” Lena tells her softly and Kara’s frown turns immediately upward.

“I love you too very much.”

--

She puts on a brand new pair of heels the morning of her mother’s trial. It pumps an extra boost of confidence into her walk as she ascends the courtroom steps. There’s something almost comforting about the easy way she holds her head up high, her skirt pulling against her legs as she moves through the flashes of cameras.

It’s surprisingly easy to testify against her mother. Even with Lillian sitting a few feet away with a familiar expression of disapproval etched on her features.

Lena hasn’t seen her mother since she was arrested the night she tried to unleash Medusa. It’s odd to see her now in the calm of the courtroom. Not that Lillian can meet her eyes. Instead she sits there like a statute in a steel grey suit as she stares straight ahead.

“Please state your name for the record,” her lawyer is beginning as she sits on the witness stand.

“Lena,” she answers before clearing her throat and running a shaky hand down the fabric of her skirt at her thigh. “Lena Luthor.”

Her lawyer smiles at her in encouragement and nods. “And your relation to the defendant?”

Lena glances to the defense table just in time to see her mother looking her direction, eyebrow arched an a move so familiar that it tugs in Lena’s chest. “Daughter,” she says and then with a lift of her chin she amends, “Adopted daughter.”

--

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Kara is waiting outside the courtroom, but Lena has to look twice just to notice her. No one seems to be paying Kara much attention as she leans up against a far wall and adjusts her glasses, shooting Lena a soft smile. The group of journalists congregated there swarm her, spewing out question after question. She summons an appropriate expression for someone that just testified against her own mother and answers as politely and evasively as she can, her eyes perpetually glancing at where Kara is standing.

Eventually her lawyer steps in with a hand at her back and another one protectively between her and the horde of reporters. “Miss Luthor has answered enough questions for the day. Anything else can be directed at me,” he says with authority in his tone.

With that, she’s dismissed and two L Corp employed security guards guide her through the crowd towards a back entrance. Just as she turning the corner she locks eyes with Kara and cocks her head in invitation. An invitation Kara readily agrees to, pushing off the wall and striding quickly towards Lena.

Her security guards go to stop Kara’s progress before Lena puts a hand on one of their arms. “It’s okay,” she murmurs and they step aside to allow Kara access.

They’re hiding enough from view now and Kara goes immediately to wrap her arm around Lena’s waist, guiding them further down the hallway. “You did great,” Kara says softly.

“I thought I told you not to come,” Lena says, but she’s already leaning heavily against Kara’s body, grateful for the solid, strong feel of it.

“I didn’t go in the room,” Kara says as they walk towards Lena’s car.

“Then how do you know how it went?” Lena asks and Kara just smirks a little, tapping the side of her glasses in a way that makes Lena smile and hazard a glance towards their two escorts.

They manage to avoid any more press and slide into the back of Lena’s sleek black car. The driver turns to look at them through the partition with a questioning arch of his brow.

“The penthouse please,” Lena says softly and he turns in obedience, closing the privacy partition and leaving Kara and Lena to the silence of the back seat.

“How are you?” Kara asks and she wraps an arm across the top of the car seat over Lena’s shoulders. “I mean, really?”

“Fine,” Lena says and finds that it’s mostly the truth. Her body sags a little into the black leather and she doesn’t resist Kara’s tug to bring their bodies together. “A little tired, but fine.”

“Why don’t we go get changed and then go to the bar,” Kara suggests, stroking soft fingers against Lena’s head near her temple. “We’ll hang out with our friends and drink really disgusting beer and forget about all this gross for a night.”

“I’m not drinking disgusting beer,” Lena protests with a slight laugh, her eyes fluttering at the feeling of Kara’s fingers. “Or beer at all.”

“I think Alex is bringing Maggie and like, introducing her to the group.”

Lena arches a brow. “They’ve all met Maggie.”

“Yeah, but not in a gay way,” Kara replies and Lena laughs with a roll of her eyes.

Lena stretches her legs out, toes off her heels and falls further into Kara’s embrace. “Okay, that doesn’t sound completely awful.”

Kara makes an exaggerated scoffing sound, but Lena can hear the smile in it. Lips press warmly to the crown of Lena’s head. “It’ll be over soon,” Kara murmurs and Lena sighs.

“Not soon enough.”

They’re silent the rest of the ride.

--

Lena changes out of her courtroom outfit quickly, pulls her hair out of its tight bun and runs her fingers through it until it looks presentable enough. Kara lingers around the apartment until she’s ready and then extends her hand with a smile. A silent invitation.

They land in the back alley outside the alien bar, hidden behind two large dumpsters and Kara sets her down delicately, gripping her hand and tugging her towards the entrance.

The rest of their small group is all congregated at a table in the back and they wear matching sympathetic smiles when they see Lena.

“Hey,” Winn says, jumping up from his seat and walking over to wrap her in a hug. “I saw you on TV. You looked great.”

Lena laughs a little, hugs him back. “Thanks.”

James gives her a little nod as if in solidarity and J’onn pulls out a chair for her just as M’gann comes up to the table and puts a warm hand on her shoulder. “I have to imagine you’re due a drink,” she says and Lena laughs again.

“I wouldn’t refuse one,” Lena says with a polite smile as she sits down.

“Another round?” M’gann asks to the rest of the group and a chorus of affirmative responses resound.

Kara falls into the chair next to Lena as M’gann paces towards the bar. Winn leans forward and picks at the label of his beer bottle. “So, did you hear Alex is bringing some new mystery guy to meet us?”

Lena makes a confused face and glances at Kara who has a noticeably forced neutral expression.

James laughs where he’s leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, any inside deets on Alex’s new guy?”

The question is directed at Kara, but he glances at Lena too and she startles for a moment at the implication she might have insider information about Alex Danvers. J’onn has a smile playing on his lips and they exchange glances. Her brow quirks until she remembers that J’onn is telepathic and almost bursts out laughing.

Winn and James are still focused on Kara, ping-pong-ing questions back and forth. “Is he tall and buff? I can see Alex with a brute dude,” is Winn’s addition.

“What does he do for work?” James adds.

“Cop,” Kara answers succinctly and she shoots Lena a look.

“Figures,” Winn says with a laugh. “No way Alex Danvers dates someone that doesn’t own a firearm.”

Just as James looks ready to ask a follow up question, Alex strides up to the table with Maggie trailing behind her. “Hey guys,” Alex greets, hands shuffling immediately into the pockets of her leather jacket.

“Heyyyy,” Winn draws out exaggeratedly with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. Kara shoves him and Lena offers an encouraging smile towards Alex.

“You all remember Maggie, right?” Alex asks, stepping aside a bit for Maggie to move forward. A collective silence falls over the table for a moment as realization seems to dawn on the only two people at the table left in the dark.

Winn seems to choke on air suddenly and James just manages a wide surprised smile. “Uh, yeah - yeah, of course,” he says.

“Wait so,” Winn looks around the table at all of them before back to Alex, his hands gesturing in the air between the two women. “So you two are like, I mean you’re…” he trails off, looks at Kara and Lena a moment and then back to Alex. “You’re-”

“Yeah,” Alex says lowly, bending just slightly to look him in the eye and he leans back a little defensively, hands in the air.

“Hey, that’s awesome, totally awesome. I am all for this. Hi, Maggie,” he says and Kara rolls her eyes, but laughs a little when she looks at Lena.

“Good for you, Alex,” J’onn says with a proud smile.

Alex looks at him for a moment, something passing between them. “You knew?”

“I’m psychic,” he answers and Alex’s shoulders sag as she shakes her head.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

He shrugs casually. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.”

“Hey,” Maggie interrupts, stepping further up next to Alex and addressing the table. “Anyone here play pool?”

Winn affects a confident expression. “Yeah, definitely.”

James and Kara both look at him and provide simultaneous, “No, you don’t.”

“It’s geometry with sticks, people,” Winn answers, standing. Maggie has an amused smile on her lips and Alex just rolls her eyes, trading exasperated looks with Lena. “How hard could it be?”

“This will go terribly,” Kara comments as Winn stands and follows Maggie over to the pool table.

J’onn stands as well, walks over to Alex and scoops her into a solid hug. James follows behind him and does the same.

Lena watches the exchanges, Kara’s arm draping over the back of her chair, fingers teasing over the line of her spine in a warm absent motion.

Mon-El saunters over then and eyes the hugging with a confused furrow to his brow before Alex turns to him and states, without any preamble, clearly riding on the high of the whole situation, “Maggie and I are dating.”

His expression remains unaffected and he looks around the group for a moment before realization dawns. “Oh! Was that the…,” he gestures around and Alex nods.

“Yeah.”

“So that’s like a thing here?” Mon-el asks with a look of genuine innocence.

Alex makes a face and Lena rolls her eyes a little, but smiles when M’gann steps up and hands her a drink, setting one in front of Kara too. They share a look of fond exasperation for their Daxamite friend.

“Earth isn’t always so welcoming of ladies loving ladies,” Alex responds and Mon-El shrugs it off.

“Love is love, right?” He says with a casual smile, but his eyes flit towards Kara immediately and Lena watches as Kara looks away, picking her drink up and taking a long sip.

“Right,” Alex says before moving around the table to drop into a seat next to Lena. Mon-El retreats back to the bar and greets a new customer there.

“That went well,” Kara says and she reaches across Lena to pat her sister on the leg with a friendly smile.

Lena glances to where Winn is lining up a shot at the pool table. He misses the ball wildly and nearly falls over.

“How did it go today?” Alex asks and Lena’s attention gets drawn back to the Danvers sisters.

“Fine,” Lena says with a shrug.

Alex raises a brow, an amused smile on her face that Lena reads as disbelieving. Especially after she adds a, “Fine?”

Lena shrugs again. “I suppose the best part is that it’s over and I’m here with you guys now,” she says.

Alex smiles with a genuine expression Lena finds herself responding to, warmth blooming over chest. “Cheers,” Alex says, lifting her drink to clink against Lena’s. “But if you need me to make anyone disappear for you, I happen to know people.”

Kara laughs at that and Lena joins in. “What a sweet offer, Alex,” Lena teases and Alex grins at both of them clearly on some kind of emotional high that Lena’s never seen before.

Suddenly and without warning Kara’s hand darts out in front of Lena’s face and she jerks back violently, her heart leaping in her chest as Alex reacts as well, jumping away.

“What the hell, Winn?!” Kara shouts out and Lena blinks at Kara’s closed fist that’s hovered in front of her eyes. It’s a pool ball, Lena realizes, when Kara brings her hand down and opens it up.

They all look over to where Winn is leaning over the pool table, his stick extended and a sheepish look on his face. Maggie is wide eyed next to him and she looks at Alex with a bewildered blink.

--

When they leave the bar that night, Lena pulls her phone out of her purse only to find she’s missed at least twelve calls and nearly as many text messages. She stops abruptly and peers down at her phone in confusion. Kara halts a few steps away and peers over at her phone.

“You okay?”

“I think my mother’s lawyers have been trying to reach me,” she says with a grim tone and Kara cringes a little.

“Aren’t they not supposed to talk to you?” Kara says. “At least not without your own lawyer?”

Lena’s lips thin and she arches a brow. “My mother has never been one for rules following and neither have the people she’s employed.”

“What do they want?”

“Nothing good I’m sure,” Lena says just as she unlocks her phone and opens her voicemail.

There are three messages there, all the same content. Her mother wants to see her.

“She wants to talk to me,” Lena says dryly, dropping her phone back into her purse and slinging it onto her shoulder.

Kara pulls a face of distaste and holds her hand out for Lena to take. “What for?”

“Who knows?” Lena says with a bitter laugh. “Probably to tell me my outfit in court today was horrible.”

“Lena,” Kara says with a soft sigh. She lets go of Lena’s hand to sling an arm around her shoulder and continue their walk down the street.

“What?” Lena says with a shrug, but she leans into Kara’s side and just barely resists the urge to ask Kara to pick her up and fly her home. She’s done with today. “It’s probably true. You know how she is.”

“She’s still your mom,” Kara replies and Lena can’t help the way she wants to snap at that.

“I don’t think it’s wrong that I don’t want to talk to her. That woman has been manipulative and vindictive since the day we met. I can’t think as to why this would be any different.”

“I respect whatever you choose to do,” Kara says, tightening her hold. “I just know what it’s like to wish I could talk to people that aren’t here anymore. If it were Lex-”

“It’s not Lex,” Lena says immediately.

“Hey,” Kara says softly, pressing a warm kiss to Lena’s temple. “I’m on your side.”

“I just want this all to be over,” Lena sighs, deflating at the feel of Kara’s lips against her skin.

“I know,” Kara says. “Me too. But I also don’t want you to have any regrets when it is.”

“I might regret talking to her just as much as not,” Lena says as they walk down the sidewalk.

“You never know until you do,” Kara says and Lena laughs.

“How wise.”

Kara shrugs with a playful grin on her lips. “I’m full of all kinds of wisdom.”

--

It’s not the first time she’s visited a family member in jail. Lena nearly laughs at how familiar the experience is. The only difference is that Kara accompanied her and only begrudgingly agreed to remain outside for the visit.

The memory of seeing Lex like this, of not knowing what to say to him, how to reach him, of the way his eyes looked - hollow and distant - comes back to her as she passes through the doorway.

Her mother’s back is to her and for that she’s grateful. It gives her a second to compose herself, drawing a deep breath and lifting her chin, her hand resting on her watch for one solid moment before she steps further into the room.

“You really did a number on me in court,” her mother says, turning just slightly over her shoulder.

Lena stands frozen behind her, unsure of why she’s even here. “I can call the guard back,” she says softly.

“No,” her mother says sharply, turning even more to glimpse Lena out of the corner of her eye. The motion prompts Lena to move herself, pacing around the table to take a seat across from her mother. “I’m sorry,” her mother says and it puts Lena on edge. “I promised myself I’d do better.”

“I won’t hold my breath,” Lena replies, crossing her arms on the cool metal of the table and taking a breath.

Her mother’s face remains impassive for a moment before she smiles a bit. “I don’t want to fight,” Lillian says.

Lena smirks, laughs derisively. “Then what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“I asked to see you because I wanted you to know that I forgive you.”

With an incredulous smile and quirk of her brow, Lena laughs again. “Forgive me,” she repeats in a deadpan.

“I still love you, Lena,” her mother continues and Lena runs a thumb over the clasp of her watch, unsure of how to respond.

“The only time you tell me you love me is when you need something from me.”

“I may not have been the best mother, but I do love you, Lena,” Lillian says, leaning forward towards her. Lena pulls back in reaction. “I still do.”

“Funny way of showing it,” Lena replies darkly. The room feels small, suffocating, and the way her mother holds her gaze is making her heart start to beat faster, heavier against her chest.

“You may not understand it,” her mother says. “I wouldn’t expect you to. Not until you have children of your own.”

Lena’s eyes feel hot and she hates the hold this woman seems to always have on her emotions. “I won’t do to them what you did to me,” she says softly and Lillian’s lips turn upward.

“All I did was try to protect you.”

“How exactly?” Lena asks, sitting up and forcing her expressions to stay hard. “By making me feel unwanted? Like I couldn’t measure up? Like I was an outsider?”

“I did the best I could, Lena,” Lillian says in a watery voice that Lena is sure is forced. “And look at what you’ve accomplished.”

Lena laughs bitterly. “If Dad could hear you now,” she says with a shake of her head.

This time it’s LIllian that laughs. “You hold Lionel on such a pedestal, but you were young when he died. You have a child’s knowledge of who he was as a man.”

“Don’t disparage him,” Lena says, anger bubbling up in her chest. “He was a good-”

“If he was such a great man he would have told you the truth when you were young instead of allowing you to live a lie.”

Lena pauses, the air feeling tense in the room as she realizes that this is why her mother wanted to talk to her. “What lie?”

Lillian looks down for a moment and when she twists her fingers a bit the chains on her handcuffs rattle against the table. Lena braces herself, keeps her fingers against her watch to keep her heart steady.

“I loved your father,” Lillian starts and it sounds almost genuine. “The first few years of our marriage were pure bliss.”

Lena stays still, tries to track where her mother could possibly be going with this.

“And then Lex was born,” her mother says with a short laugh. “And Lionel...well...Lionel begin having an affair.”

A scathing remark sits on the tip of her tongue, but she bites against it. Best to let her mother tell the whole story so Lena can put it all behind her.

“I had no idea. Completely clueless,” Lillian continues, locking eyes with Lena. “Until I went to surprise him on a business trip and I found him with another woman.”

A pause stretches between them and Lena knows the hit is coming, can see it in the corners of her mother’s eyes.

“Another woman who happened to be your mother. Your birth mother.”

It takes a moment for the words to register with their full gravity. For Lena to realize exactly what Lillian is saying.

“My mother,” she repeats in a disbelieving tone, her eyes blinking against the information.

Lilian nods. “She was already pregnant with you back then. We paid her off, of course, and worked on rebuilding our marriage.”

Lena hears the words but can’t get past the conclusion that’s screaming in the back of her head, the rewriting of her entire worldview that’s beating across her chest.

“Then when you were four we got word your mother had died. The state was going to put you in foster care until your father brought you home and we adopted you,” her mother says, almost casually like she’s not completely destroying Lena’s world with a few words. “But he didn’t like my spending time with you. I think it made him feel guilty to see us together.”

Her mother’s eyes are open, trusting in a way that Lena’s never seen them. “So I stayed away. Gravitated towards Lex. To protect myself. And you.”

“Mom,” Lena says softly, tears threatening to fill the bottom of her eyes, her throat feeling thick and achy.

“You look so much like her,” Lillian says in a broken voice, tone full of emotion. “Seeing you was like ripping a band-aid off every single time.”

The significance of this information feels like it’s going to burst out of her chest, but instead it just drops softly out of her mouth around the urgent press of tears. “So I really am a Luthor,” she whispers, blinking against heat.

Her mother’s eyes lock solidly with her own and her palms turn upward where they’re still chained to the table. “We are the only two Luthors left,” she says. “We need to be there for each other.”

“The things you’ve done,” Lena says softly, struggling against the swarm of emotion threatening to engulf her. She’s sure her heartbeat is going to thud straight out of her ribcage and if she’s not careful, a concerned Kara Danvers will likely come bursting through the walls of the prison at any second. “The things I said about you today. They-”

“I want a second chance with you,” Lillian entreats, pushing her hands in offering towards Lena. “I want to make things right. Put this behind us. Please, honey.”

It’s not at all what she had expected when she had come to the prison that day and her head is swimming with everything that’s happened in the last few seconds.

“Lena,” her mother says softly and the sound of it calls out to the young girl she once was constantly yearning for her mother’s approval and affection. “Please, sweetheart. I love you. You’re my daughter and nothing will ever change that.”

Lena reaches her palms out to connect with her mother’s and they slide against each other warmly, spreading feeling up Lena’s arms in a way that does nothing to stem the tide of tears in her eyes.

--

Kara is pacing nervously outside the prison gates with one of Lena’s cars parked a few feet away.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks immediately upon seeing Lena. She rushes over to meet her, hands at Lena’s arms and eyes scraping over Lena’s form as if checking for injury. “Your heartbeat has been going crazy, I’ve been so worried, but I wasn’t sure if it was just-”

“Kara,” Lena interrupts and Kara stops quickly.

“Yeah, sorry,” Kara replies softly, wrapping her arm over Lena’s waist and turning them to the waiting car. “How did it go?”

“You weren’t listening?” Lena asks, not accusing, but just curious.

Kara shakes her head. “I respect your privacy. I just...it’s hard not to listen to your heartbeat,” Kara admits in a soft voice that makes Lena smile.

They slide into the backseat of the sedan and Lena slumps down low, kicking her heels off and pressing her hands against her eyes, feeling herself start to curl up. She feels raw with emotion and drained of all energy. Kara makes a noise, coming closer and setting her hands on Lena’s knees.

“Have you been crying?” Kara asks, lightly tugging Lena’s arms away from her face. “I swear I’ll punt that woman into space.”

Lena laughs, but she can’t stop it from sounding watery and hoarse. “No, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Kara insists and she’s swiping a thumb over Lena’s cheek where she’s sure her makeup is ruined and her eyes red. “What did she say to you?”

Lena doesn’t know where to begin so she starts with what feels like the most important takeaway. “I’m a Luthor,” she says simply and Kara’s brows pull down.

“I know that.”

“No,” Lena says emphatically. “Biologically. My father is...actually my father.”

Kara blinks, her fingers pressing into Lena’s wrists, her eyes widening as the statement sinks in.

“Lena,” she whispers, and that’s when Lena starts crying in earnest. She lets Kara wrap her up, lets Kara take her home and hold her.

--

The only thing keeping Lena warm at the present moment is the beat of the bonfire against her front and Kara’s solid form against her back. The chill of autumn has descended upon campus, but that hasn’t deterred the Astronomy Club from heading out to their favorite woods to stargaze.

Lena had only reluctantly agreed to come along after Kara promised she was bringing extra wool blankets and a thermos of coffee.

“Okay, Kara,” Aaron is saying from across the fire, a bottle of beer dangling between his fingers. “Your turn. Truth or dare.”

“Truth,” Lena answers for her and Josie makes an indignant sound.

“You can’t answer for your girlfriend, Lena.”

“She’s not allowed to answer dare,” Lena replies. “She’s my personal body warmer right now.”

Kara laughs, her chin propping up on Lena’s shoulder and her warm cheek bumps against Lena’s chilled one. “It’s a very important position,” Kara agrees and Lena presses back tighter against her.

“Fine,” Aaron says with an aggrieved sigh. “Truth then.”

The group looks around as if silently conferring before Aaron stares back at Kara with narrowed eyes. “If you could date anyone other than Lena who would it be?”

Kara tenses at the question even as Lena laughs a little, leaning her head back against Kara’s shoulder and tightening the hands Kara has wrapped around her stomach. “I wouldn’t,” Kara answers.

“You have to answer,” Max says, chewing on a stick of jerky and leaning up against a log. “That’s the rules.”