14. Chapter 14(2)
“It hurts. It’s bleeding,” Kara tells her as Lena cleans the cut and grabs a washcloth to press against Kara’s palm.
“I can see that much, darling,” Lena says, focused on Kara’s hand.
“That’s so much blood,” Kara says but it’s not and Lena almost laughs. Kara’s barely scratched herself and as soon as she gets most of the blood off her palm, Lena can see that it’s already healing.
“It’s just a cut,” she repeats. “It will heal. Quickly, from the looks of it.”
“I’m dying,” Kara insists with wide eyes though there’s a hint of tease in them that would make Lena laugh if the thought of Kara’s death wasn’t something so visceral and real to her lately.
“Can we not talk about the possibility of you dying?” Lena says, and she means it to sound sort of joking, but her voice cracks in the middle of it. Kara lets out a soft surprised puff of air and when Lena glances up at her, her gaze is soft and understanding.
“Humans are so fragile,” Kara mutters, waiting while Lena grabs a bandage from a nearby cabinet and affixes it to Kara’s hand. “How do you live like this?”
“We survive,” Lena tells her, rolling her eyes at Kara.
A whiny sound escapes Kara’s lips until Lena manages presses a soft kiss to her palm near the wound and smiles at the way Kara softens. “Better?”
Kara makes a show of looking unimpressed, shrugging. “Not sure. You should probably try again.”
Lena laughs, but she presses up on her toes and kisses Kara’s lips, smiling when Kara moves her uninjured hand to grip around Lena’s waist and pull them together.
--
The next morning, Lena decides she doesn’t need to head into the office just yet and tries to convince herself that the almost inescapable need to be near Kara at all times isn’t what chiefly informs that decision.
It’s still important she check in on L Corp so she makes camp at Kara’s kitchen counter. Her laptop, tablet and a few files she had Kara retrieve from her apartment get spread out over the space and she spends a few hours scanning through her e-mail. A quick call to Jess takes care of the majority of her messages and she calls Lana after that.
“I’m so happy to hear you’re okay,” Lana says with a fondness that’s becoming familiar. Lena takes a moment to appreciate how much her life has changed in the past year.
“I am, but I’d like to meet with you later this week and go through some things if you’re available.”
“Of course, boss. Just tell me when,” Lana replies easily.
The soft thud of Kara’s feet announce her presence as she flies through the open window of the living room and Lena turns to see Supergirl holding two cups of coffee from Noonan’s and wearing a soft smile. Kara had only just that morning realized most of her powers were at some level restored - flying chief among them - and had decided an early morning patrol around the city would be a good way to test them out.
“Sometime this weekend,” Lena says to Lana as she watches Kara’s approach. A warm feeling spreads over her chest at the sight of it. “I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Sounds great.”
Lena hangs the phone up and takes the offered coffee from Kara, arching her neck when Kara bends down to kiss her briefly. They’ve only been separated not more than a half hour, but Lena already feels undeniably more at ease now that Kara’s back in sight.
“Hi,” Kara murmurs into the kiss she’s still pressing to Lena’s back.
“Hi,” Lena laughs back, reaching her free hand out to curl around Kara’s neck and keep them together for a few more pleasurable seconds.
Eventually, they break apart and Kara’s all smiles and flushed cheeks. It’s a sight that reassures Lena in her decision to spend the day at the apartment.
“One sec,” Kara says and in a quick blur of motion that's only slightly slower than normal Kara is out of her suit and back into the clothes she slept in - soft short shorts and a worn t-shirt that Lena recognizes immediately - Metropolis Robotics Club etched across the front. “Who was on the phone?” Kara asks, picking her coffee back up and pulling the lid off the top.
“Lana,” Lena answers, taking a grateful sip of her own coffee and turning back to her computer. “I’m going to have her help me search for the rest of Lex’s vaults.”
Sliding up onto the counter, Kara presses her lips together in consideration. “You trust her that much?”
It’s a relatively odd thing to ask and it reminds Lena of the strange meeting the three of them had months ago in the basement labs at L Corp. She leans back for a moment to observe the casual expression on Kara’s face that she reads through easily. “You know, you never did tell me why you were so strange about Lana.”
Kara scoffs, but it’s too forced to be believable. “I’m not strange about her.”
“I thought maybe it was jealousy-”
“I’m not jealous,” Kara denies vehemently and this time it’s more believable.
“But you acted strange when you found out she worked at L Corp.”
Kara just stares at her a moment, lips tight as if debating something. “She dated Clark.”
Lena’s brows pull together. “Clark Kent?”
Kara nods. “Yeah.”
“And?”
Kara looks uncharacteristically nervous now, her eyes flitting away briefly and her fingers tapping against her coffee cup. “There’s something I haven’t told you,” she admits softly and Lena arches a surprised brow.
“Did you date Lana too?” Lena asks with a teasing quirk of her lips, hoping the levity of the question will soothe Kara
“No,” Kara laughs, but she shoots Lena a look that conveys be serious.
“What is it then?”
Kara’s nose scrunches up for a moment before she blows out a breath. “Clark Kent is my cousin.”
The information startles Lena a bit and she reaches forward to set her coffee down. “He is?”
“Yes,” Kara says and it’s so emphatic that Lena thinks maybe she’s missing something. It takes a moment before it occurs to her and her eyes go wide.
“How many cousins do you have?”
Kara looks at her a moment. “Just the one.”
The pieces come together then and it’s so obvious that Lena doesn’t understand how she didn’t see it before. “Clark Kent is Superman.”
Kara nods. “Kal-El,” she says and Lena just blinks at her for a moment as her brain scrambles around this new knowledge. A thousand memories get recolored in her mind.
“Does Lana know?” Lena asks because that seems like that might be the reason this has come up.
“I think so?” Kara says, but she’s unsure. “Kal and I never talked about it much. I just know they were together and it didn’t end well. Something complicated about it that I can’t remember. I always assumed it was the Superman thing.”
A memory flashes across Lena’s mind suddenly. “When?”
“When what?”
“When were they together?”
Kara’s brows pull together in thought. “Summer after our freshman year, I think. I can’t really remember. Why?”
Lena shakes her head, not wanting to venture out on pure coincidence. She makes a note to see what she can glean from her lunch with Lana. “No reason, just a thought.”
“Looks serious,” Kara observes, poking a finger forward against the crinkle in Lena’s forehead until Lena swats it away. “Are you mad I didn’t tell you?”
“About Clark?” Lena clarifies and waits for Kara to nod. “No, of course not,” she says, reaching a hand out for Kara’s knee. “I understand why that would be a secret you’d protect.”
“It’s not because I don’t trust you,” Kara tells her.
“Darling, you don’t have to defend yourself to me,” Lena says, standing until she’s pushing between Kara’s legs and wrapping her arms around her neck. “I know you trust me.”
Kara abandons her coffee to the counter in favor of sliding her hands over Lena’s hips.
She’s still in what Kara’s always deemed her lazy clothes - yoga pants and a soft sweatshirt from college - and it feels so comfortable that Lena wishes she could spend the rest of the week like this. It’s warm and good, to be close and be together after the awful few days they’ve had.
Lena doesn’t hesitate before kissing Kara, slotting their hips together in a way that radiates intention. It’s only been a few days since she’s touched Kara, really touched her, but it feels like ages after all they’ve been through.
Kara responds immediately, her fingers sliding up under Lena’s sweatshirt to trace across her spine and then dip lower beneath her pants.
After a few moments of just kissing, pressing together and smiling against each other, Kara slides off the counter and moves to pick Lena up off the ground. The ease with which she goes through the motion makes Lena think more and more of her strength is returning and she sighs contentedly at the way Kara holds her.
“We should probably go back to bed,” Kara says with mock seriousness and Lena laughs, scratches her nails against Kara’s scalp.
“Definitely,” she agrees. “We’re still recovering.”
“Definitely,” Kara repeats, and she’s smiling when she walks Lena back to the bedroom.
“You sure you have the strength for it?” Lena teases and it gets the desired response when Kara scoffs, setting Lena gently on the bed and hovering over her.
“I think I can muddle through,” Kara says with a confident smirk as one hand holds Lena’s hands above her head and the other slides suggestively across her abdomen.
--
By the time they’re done with each other - recovering as Kara insists on referring to it - their coffee is cold where it’d been abandoned in the kitchen. Kara’s heat vision has only barely returned and it’s not nearly as powerful as it usually is, but it’s enough to zap their coffee back to a normal temperature.
Lena watches Kara do it as she pulls her pants back on and reaches for her shirt where it’d been tossed across the room. It’s an enjoyable sight to see Kara delighting in the return of at least some of her abilities and Lena falls back down onto the messy sheets and pillows of Kara’s bed to accept her now warmed up coffee.“Thank you, Supergirl,” Lena teases and Kara laughs.
“Flight, heat vision, some strength,” Kara ticks off, her fingers popping into the air. “Almost there.”
It feels good to just lie there and soak up Kara’s energy until she stops feeling so emotionally and physically drained. Kara seems just as happy to have Lena draped over her, her hand running up and down Lena’s spine softly.
Eventually, after they’ve laid there for a while, Kara retrieves Lena’s laptop from the kitchen and pulls her own out from a bag in the living room and they both sit up in bed and get some more work done.
Kara spends the time working on an article and even lets Lena peek at some of the rough draft.
“You’re a good writer, you know?” Lena says as she reads a particular paragraph detailing Metallo’s attack on the jailhouse. “You always have been.”
Kara preens at the praise, all wide smiles and bright eyes. “Thanks, but you’re probably biased.”
Lena laughs, handing Kara her tablet back and picking her coffee back up. “I’m capable of separating emotional attachment from my professional opinions,” she tells her and Kara makes a face.
“Really? Because I’m totally not,” Kara says and it makes Lena laugh harder. Kara shrugs unapologetically. “I may or may not have ranted my way through CatCo after they put your arrest on the cover.”
“Always standing up for me, huh?” Lena asks and the warmth spreading down her chest has nothing to do with the hot coffee she’s sipping.
“Always,” Kara replies with a grin, but the expression fades abruptly and she stiffens.
“What?” Lena asks, confused at Kara’s sudden change in emotion.
“One second,” is all Kara says before she’s setting her coffee on the bedside table and scrambling up off the mattress to bolt across the room. It’s a faster motion than most humans would be capable of, but Lena can tell it’s nowhere near her usual speed.
She watches as Kara reaches into the small duffel bag they’d taken with them from the DEO, packed with the clothes they’d been wearing when they arrived. After a few moments of searching, Kara seems to find what she’s looking for and she races back over to the bed, shuffling across it until she’s sitting next to Lena again and extending something in her hand.
“This is yours,” Kara says softly, and hanging from her finger is Lena’s watch. The watch Kara gave her years ago in college. The watch Lena recently discovered has some sort of marital symbolism to it and her heart starts to pick up its pace as she remembers the soft conversation with Kara barely a week before.
It feels overtly significant now. Her chest feels like it’s stretching outward with emotion and when she reaches out for the watch her eyes go straight towards the engraving on the back of it.
“Thank you,” she says softly, but she can’t bring herself to put it on quite yet. Nerves start to rattle across her skin irrationally and Kara doesn’t look much calmer.
“In hindsight, I suppose I’m glad you took it off when you did,” Kara comments, her own fingers starting to tug at the bracelet on her wrist and Lena watches as the jewelry bends even less than it normally does.
“Why is that?” Lena’s thumb rubs over the lettering on the back as she attempts to steady her heart.
Kara shrugs. “What if your mother had gotten ahold of it?”
The thought makes a vulnerable shiver pass over her. “Good point,” she says and she tries to laugh, but it breaks a little at the thought of her mother. “The last thing Lillian Luthor needs is a direct line to Supergirl.”
Kara looks at her a moment. “That’s not totally what I meant.”
Lena’s brow pulls down. “What did you mean?”
Reaching out, Kara takes the watch back for a moment, her own fingers tracing the Kryptonian lettering on the back before she unclasps the band. “Your mother still thinks I’m just some college fling of yours,” she says and when she looks back up at Lena it’s like a physical tug against her ribcage.
“But you’re not,” Lena says and her throat goes thick when Kara shifts to slide the watch onto Lena’s wrist.
The metal is cool against her skin, but the motion still burns like a brand up her arm. “I’m not,” Kara agrees softly.
The click of the watch re-clasping onto her wrist beats against Lena’s heart and pools an intoxicating sense of belonging across her stomach. Blue eyes regard her for a long moment, fingers still lying against her wrist before Kara presses forward and kisses her.
Suddenly, Lena feels like she could cry again, but it’s not the same kind of tears as before. The emotions of the past few days are still lingering around in her head, but this is something different, heavier almost, but warm, and Lena doesn’t want to fight it.
A smile spreads over her mouth as Kara continues to press kisses there. Her own fingers blaze a trail down Kara’s arm until she’s circling the metal bracelet at her wrist and everything feels electric when Kara responds by pushing forward until Lena’s falling back against the mattress.
A laugh passes between them, soft puffs of sound against Lena’s lips before Kara is sliding on top of her and her hand shifts until it’s holding Lena’s hip with solid pressure.
It feels ridiculously good when Kara settles fully on top of Lena, their bodies flush against each other. Instinct makes her legs part for Kara to slot their hips together and she bends a knee until she’s bracketing Kara’s hips.
Though her body had felt completely sated less than an hour ago, it comes alive as soon as Kara’s fingers trace under the waistband of her pants and her lips start to trail down Lena’s jaw.
A sigh drops out of her mouth when Kara finds that one spot just under her ear and Lena can feel the self-assured smile on Kara’s lips against the skin of her neck. It’d make her roll her eyes if the feeling of Kara’s hands slowly peeling fabric off her hips wasn’t completely distracting her.
Her own fingers find purchase on Kara’s back and start to tug the fabric there upward when suddenly a loud snapping sound resounds through the bedroom and they both jump so violently that Kara ends up biting down on Lena’s throat in a reaction so unexpected that Lena yelps in surprise.
It only lasts a second though, because Kara jumps off her the next moment, and half off the bed, and the minute Lena realizes there’s a blue orb of energy floating over the bed, she follows suit, letting Kara pull her behind her body.
“What the hell is that?” Lena asks, clutching the back of Kara’s shirt as they both attempt to follow the orb with their eyes as it begins to streak around the room.
It leaves streaks of blue energy in its wake, but it zooms so quickly that Lena has trouble following it and Kara doesn’t seem to be doing much better with the way she’s spinning around, one hand on Lena’s side to keep her behind Kara’s body.
Suddenly the light stream comes to a stop on the far side of the room near one of Kara’s massive windows and with a loud popping sound, a man stands in its place.
They both jolt back in surprise and Kara lets out a confused, “Who the hell are you?!”
“Kara Zor-el,” the man says in a reverent sort of tone as he jumps off his perch and saunters over. He spreads his hands out and looks at Lena. “Lena Luthor.”
Kara glances back at her and backs them up a step, but Lena moves to the side a bit and looks over Kara’s shoulder. “How do you know our names?”
“Whoa, buddy, back up,” Kara says with her hand outstretched as the man keeps moving forward.
He just smiles, unaffected by the threatening tone of Kara’s voice and holds onto the lapels of his blazer. “Sorry, ladies,” he says with a wink. “My name is Mr. Mxyzptlk.”
“Mr. what?” Kara asks and Lena’s grateful for the question because she’s pretty sure his name is some form of gibberish.
He repeats himself, but it doesn’t sound any clearer to Lena nor to Kara judging by the way she glances over her shoulder again and asks, “What language is he speaking?”
With a wave of his hand the blue energy from before reappears and form letters in the air - M X Y Z P T L K. It doesn’t make pronouncing it any easier and Lena just sort of squints at the name silently for a few seconds until laughter prompts them both to look back at the strange man.
He’s grinning when he adds, “You can call me Mxy. Easier that way.”
Confusion extends their silence for a few more moments until Kara finally shifts forward slightly and clearly decides to take some sort of initiative.
“Okay, Mxy,” Kara starts. “Why don’t you start with why you’re here.”
Kara’s still in a defensive stance in front of Lena, her eyes intent on where Mxy is standing.
He claps his hands together jovially and takes another step forward with an excited light in his eyes. “I’m so glad you asked. I, Kara Zor-El, am your biggest fan.”
“Excuse me?” Kara replies and Lena’s brows pull together.
“Well, actually,” he says, gesturing at Lena this time. “I’m your biggest fan. The both of you, I mean. Together.”
“I’m not sure I’m following,” Lena says, looking at Kara to confirm that she isn’t hallucinating.
“I have watched the two of you across the dimensions,” he says with a grandiose wave of his hand in the air. “Across space and time itself.”
At their lack of response to that, he makes a quick disgruntled face before waving his hands in the air again - but this time they form a shape, and suddenly they’re watching some kind of video footage.
It takes Lena a few seconds, but she recognizes what she’s looking at eventually, and it pulls a sharp inhale of surprise into her lungs as she steps forward a bit to get a better look. Kara’s restraining hold on her wrist stops her from getting too close, but her eyes widen when the proximity confirms her thoughts.
“That’s-” she points at the screen, where sure enough an image of herself, albeit years younger, appears on the screen in a dark sweater, jeans and a baseball cap.
“Shh,” Mxy interrupts with a wag of his finger. “Wait, this is my favorite part.”
Kara seems to realize what they’re watching too, because she stiffens next to Lena, her grip tightening almost painfully against Lena’s wrist. The video follows Lena as she walks briskly across a familiar college campus and Lena doesn’t need to watch it to know what comes next. It’s a memory that would never leave her no matter the distance her mind travels from it.
Seconds later Kara appears and the three of them watch as Lena barrels into her side. The video plays the whole thing, even past what Lena remembers, showing Kara’s face as she watches Lena run away.
It’s an odd experience to watch a memory from a detached viewpoint and Lena feels like maybe this is some kind of dream or weird result of her concussion. Maybe she’s actually still unconscious in the DEO, or worse, with her mother.
A million possibilities race through her mind, but Mxy clapping his hands together startles her out of it. “What a meet cute,” he exclaims, turning a wide smile at them as the blue orb projecting the video dissipates out of the air. He sighs wistfully. “I could watch that a million times and it would never grow old.”
Releasing Lena’s wrist, Kara steps forward between her and Mxy. “Okay, seriously what the hell is going on right now?”
Mxy seems unaffected by the steel in Kara’s voice. “I just have to have you,” he says emphatically.
“H-have-” Kara starts, but Mxy interrupts her with a snap of his fingers and Lena feels a poof of air around her body. Suddenly, Kara is standing next to her in a strapless white wedding dress and when she looks down she’s wearing a similar one herself.
“They fit perfectly!” Mxy exclaims with a proud little smirk. “This will truly be the wedding of all time and space.”
“Wedding?!” Kara asks, her voice cracking over the word. “What wedding? We’re not getting married.”
Mxy gives her a disbelieving look and his head gestures towards Lena. “I think the boat has sailed on that one, darling.”
Lena bristles at the sound of someone else calling Kara by such a name and she steps forward. “What do you mean when you say wedding?”
“I’m throwing you a wedding!” He says, his arms spreading out as if to say you’re welcome.
“Are you crazy?!” Kara exclaims, clearly flabbergasted by what’s happening. Lena doesn’t feel much better. “You can’t throw us a wedding and you can’t just put us in wedding dresses!”
“Why not?” He asks, gesturing at the dresses. “It’s Vera Wang.”
Lena glances down at her own dress and then at Kara’s to confirm it is in fact designer. The image of Kara standing next to her in a white dress does things to her heart that’s entirely inappropriate for the situation and thankfully Kara’s not nearly as distracted as she is.
“This is not okay,” Kara is telling Mxy, who finally seems to get the picture that his enthusiasm is not being well received.
He takes a step back with conciliatory hands in front of him. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m coming on way too strong.”
“To say the least,” Lena adds under her breath.
“How do you even know who we are?” Kara asks and that seems like a totally intelligent question to ask. Lena’d certainly like to know that answer.
“I told you,” he says. “I’ve watched you across the dimensions.”
“But why?” Kara asks.
“There’s no one like you two where I’m from,” he explains. “I live in a world of lovelessness. An eternity of it. Endless and all consuming. You two are like…” He seems at a loss for words, but his eyes go a little misty and Lena is very positive this is all some sort of fever dream she’s having. Maybe she and Kara are somehow having some kind of shared dreamstate.
“Thanks for the compliment?” Kara says, turning a confused expression to Lena who can only shrug.
“Which is why I’ve come here to Earth to fetch you,” he says with a definitive nod.
“To fetch us,” Lena repeats in an incredulous sort of deadpan.
“Yes,” he replies. “You will come with me and be part of my - I guess you’d call it a collection. Like I said, I have to have you.”
“Okay, look,” Kara says with a disbelieving laugh. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”
“Come on now,” he says with an exaggerated pout. “It’s no fun if I have to kidnap you. Much better if you come along willingly.”
“Not going to happen,” Kara says and Mxy’s face turns a little shadowed. “And you can’t make us.”
“There are a few things I admittedly can’t make you do,” he says, holding his fingers up as if to tick off a list. “I can’t stop you from killing yourself, can’t make you fall in love and can’t make you drink orange juice for some reason.” He smiles as if amused. “But I can make you come with me to your new home in the Fifth Dimension. And I’ll chase you across the stars if I have to.”
Kara’s jaw drops, but this time Lena answers for her. “We’re happy here on Earth, but thank you,” she says slowly.
His eyes narrow a bit as he regards them before they brighten again and he perks up. “I know what you two are doing,” he says. “You’re playing hard to get.”
“Uh, no,” Kara replies, but he seems undeterred.
“That’s okay, we have time,” he says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I mean I have a wedding to plan after all and you two should probably get your affairs in order. Finalize the guest lists, decide on a first dance, the usual. Anyway, yes, I should be off. So much to do.”
“We’re not going-” Mid-sentence, Kara’s mouth clicks shut as Mxy disappears with a snap of his fingers and a poof of blue energy.
Silence stretches across the room for long moments and they turn to each other with matching expressions of bewilderment. Their wedding dresses have thankfully been traded back to their original outfits in Mxy’s absence.
“What just...who was...I’m sorry, do you understand what just happened?” Lena asks.
Kara just glances at the space Mxy previously occupied. “I’m going to call Alex,” she says after a moment and Lena just blindly reaches for her phone on the bedside table nearby and hands it to Kara, letting Kara attempt to explain what’s just happened to them to her sister, certain she and Kara are never going to have a normal day.