15. Chapter 15(1)

It takes ten minutes of Kara trying to explain to her sister what just happened before Alex tells them both to just come into the DEO.

They change quickly and Kara flies them there right away, both of them with hyper aware, eyes flitting around to check their surroundings.

Alex is waiting for them as they walk in and Lena finds herself startled at how familiar the sight of that has become. Kara steps forward a little too quick for Lena to follow closely and she rolls her eyes as she has to almost jog to keep up.

They stop in front of Alex, whose gaze zones in on Lena with a confused crinkle to her brow. Lena looks down self-consciously and Kara looks over as well. “What?” She asks.

Alex squints. “What’s on your neck?”

Her hand shoots up to where she realizes there’s probably a bruising mark from when Kara involuntarily bit her earlier. It draws her eyes to Kara who seems to realize what Alex’s seen at the exact same time because her eyes go wide.

“Oh my God, never mind,” Alex says, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I don’t want to know.”

“Sorry,” Kara says quietly to Lena as Alex sighs.

“Come on,” Alex says, turning away from them. “I told J’onn a little of what you told me and he thinks he knows what’s going on.”

--

“A Fifth Dimensional being,” J’onn explains when they finally group together up on the central platform.

“So, you’ve encountered one before?” Lena asks and J’onn shakes his head.

“Not here on Earth,” he says.

“On Mars?” Kara asks and M’gann laughs a bit from where she’s standing next to him. She and J’onn share a smile.

“One of them moved the Xan’Xie Mountains halfway across the planet during the Zook Uprising,” she explains, her voice sounding a bit wistful.

J’onn nods. “They have the ability to warp our reality to their own whims,” he adds “From the outside it looks like...magic.”

Mon-El, who’s lounging in a chair next to Winn, leans back and waves a Red Vine in the air towards them. “Yeah, we had them on Daxam too,” he says. “Those guys know how to party.”

Kara shoots him a bit of a glare for the comment, but he just shrugs. “They totally do,” he insists. “But they’re also dangerous. Like super dangerous. We had a zero tolerance policy for them.”

J’onn turns to Winn who’s been watching the conversation with casual interest. “Agent Schott, scan the archives for anything resembling Fifth Dimensional incursions here on Earth. Let’s see if there’s any information on how to defend against them.”

Winn fake salutes and turns to his computer. “Close encounters of the fifth kind,” he sing-songs, typing away. “On it, boss.”

“So, he wants to collect you?” Alex asks, watching Winn work for a moment before turning back to Kara and Lena.

Kara shrugs. “That’s what he said.”

“He seems oddly obsessed with our relationship,” Lena adds. “Apparently he’s been watching us for years.”

“Yeah, they used to do that on Daxam a lot,” Mon-El adds casually. “I knew some guy who would sell footage of like whoever you wanted. Super expensive and highly illegal.”

“That’s disgusting,” Kara tells him and Lena wholeheartedly agrees. Just the thought of someone sending out even the most benign moments of her life with Kara makes her feel exposed. A shiver runs across her skin just considering it and she has to shake it off, pressing closer to Kara.

“Oh yeah, totally creepy,” Mon-El agrees, but he doesn’t seem that put off by it and Kara sighs. “Makes a lot of money though.”

Alex cuts him a glare before putting a hand on both Kara and Lena’s arms and leading them away into some sort of relative privacy.

“Maybe you guys should try to stay away from each other in the meantime,” Alex posits. “Seeing as he wants you two as a unit.”

A quick reactionary, “No,” rips out of Lena’s mouth loudly enough that Alex glances to the side and shuffles them even further away from the rest of the agents roaming around the base.

The last thing she wants after everything that’s happened in the last few weeks is to be separated from Kara. Especially when a fifth dimensional being is intent on collecting them and her mother is out there somewhere as well.

“It would be harder to collect you if you weren’t together,” Alex points out and Lena can’t really follow the logic of that, but even if it were rational she can already feel her entire being resisting the idea. Her chest starts to ache a bit. She feels a sort of panic start to slip over her, like a phantom Metallo is ripping her away from Kara while she screams her name.

Kara must notice, or at least hear the way Lena’s heart starts to quicken, because she scoots over and wraps an arm around Lena’s waist. “We stay together,” Kara tells her sister with finality in her tone that starts to relax her.

Alex sighs a bit, but doesn’t protest. “Then we need to figure out a way to stop him before he portals you both off to his dimension or whatever.”

Lena nods. “Hopefully Winn finds something in the archives about previous encounters.”

“Maybe there’s some weapon in here that will work on him,” Alex adds and Kara frowns.

“Nothing lethal though,” she says and Alex shrugs.

“Between killing him and having you both carted off to another dimension with a strange man, it’s sort of an easy choice.”

Kara makes a pinched face at that, but Lena spreads her palm out across her lower back until her spine relaxes and she agrees with a sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I’m right,” Alex jokes with a wink for Lena and an exaggerated lift of her chin. “Anyway, I have to go. I have stuff to do.”

Kara’s brow furrows again. “Stuff?”

Suddenly Alex looks uncharacteristically sheepish and the beginnings of what Lena thinks is a blush starts to creep up her neck. “Yeah, stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Kara asks, propping a hand on her hip and shooting her sister a teasing smile. The fingers of her other hand, the one settled over Lena’s hip, strokes softly at her side and pulls her closer into Kara’s embrace.

“Valentine’s Day stuff,” Alex finally answers in a grumble and she turns to walk away then, stalking back towards the central area of the base.

It’s clearly not what Kara had been expecting because her hand drops off Lena’s hip immediately and the smile wipes off her face as her whole body tenses. “Valentine’s Day?!”

Lena mentally counts the days and is startled to realize that it is in fact Valentine’s Day and she hadn’t even noticed. It’s not like it’s a holiday she traditionally celebrates, but she’s also aware that Kara does.

Dropping her arm from Lena’s waist, Kara moves to follow her sister, grabbing Lena’s hand as she passes and pulling her along. “Alex,” Kara calls out as they move towards her. “Valentine’s Day?!”

“Did you forget?” Alex asks and this time she’s the one with a teasing smile directed at Kara as she stops back up on the huge platform and she grabs for a nearby tablet to check something.

“There’s been a lot going on,” Kara protests.

“Didn’t you get mom’s cards?” The question spikes a memory in Lena’s head of Kara receiving a bounty of valentines in college from Eliza.

“There’s been a lot going on!” Kara repeats with a little indignant stomp of her foot that makes Lena and Alex laugh.

“I’d think you guys would be all about the V Day extravaganza this year,” Alex says with a feigned kind of casual tone that makes Lena roll her eyes. Kara, however, seems completely flabbergasted to find out one of her favorite holidays has arrived without her knowing about it. 

“It’s not like keeping track of the date was high on our priority list,” Kara insists. “Valentine’s Day doesn’t really take precedence over like-“

“Terrorist mothers,” Lena offers dryly and Kara sighs even as Alex tries to smother a smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lena catches Mon-El standing to join the conversation with a small smile. “This Day of Valentine, is that like a thing I’m supposed to-”

“No,” Alex and Kara both say to interrupt him, turning matching expressions his way. He puts his hands up defensively and backs away with a look to Lena that so clearly conveys oops that she almost laughs.

Kara looks at Lena with a worried expression. “Did you know it was Valentine’s Day?”

Lena keeps a neutral expression on her face until Kara’s eyes start to widen and she laughs. “There’s been a lot going on,” she says, echoing Kara’s own words. “I’d forgotten.”

That seems to assuage Kara’s worry and she gestures at Lena while looking pointedly back at Alex. “See?”

Alex doesn’t look impressed by that, but suddenly an uncharacteristic look of worry spreads over her face. “You know, I maybe could use your help,” she says. “Both of you. Maybe.”

Lena gives her an encouraging smile and Kara steps closer to wrap her arm around Lena’s waist. “What can we do for you?”

“It’s about Maggie,” Alex starts and Kara brightens up swiftly.

“Oh yeah! It’s your first Valentine’s Day!” Kara says with a giddy little smile. “Oh my god that’s so exciting.”

Alex smiles, clearly in reaction to the infectious way Kara’s happiness always is, but it falters a bit. “Yeah, except Maggie kind of hates Valentine’s Day.”

Kara makes a face. “No way, who hates Valentine’s Day?”

Alex’s lip push together. “She called it a manufactured holiday for patsies.”

That makes Lena laugh abruptly, but the sound cuts off when both sisters turn matching glares at her. “Sorry,” she says with a clearing of her throat. She looks at Alex. “Maybe you just need to show her that it’s not that bad.”

“Oo,” Kara exclaims. “You should go to Il Palazoo. Their bolognese-stuffed calamari is like the greatest human invention ever.”

Lena smiles at the glazed look in Kara’s eyes at the mention of food. “They’re probably booked,” she offers softly, not wanting to dispel the excitement, but trying to remain realistic.

“Sure, but you’re Lena Luthor. You could get Alex a table,” Kara says confidently.

“Guys, I don’t need a reservation,” Alex interjects. “Did you not hear the part where Maggie hates this holiday? She doesn’t even think it’s a real holiday!”

“Maggie’s dumb,” Kara says to that and Lena bumps her hip in admonishment. “Sorry, but anyone that hates Valentine’s Day is a buzzkill.”

Lena shrugs. “I didn’t care much for it until I met you,” Lena says softly and Kara’s features go all melty when she looks over, a small smile spreading across her lips until she surges forward to kiss Lena quickly.

Alex makes a short noise of disgust. “I should have known better than to ask National City’s It Couple for help.”

“You think we’re National City’s It Couple?” Kara asks with an exaggeratedly pleased look on her face. Alex rolls her eyes in response.

“Why don’t you just plan a night of stuff Maggie likes,” Lena offers, hoping to ease the death glare Alex is sporting at Kara. “What is she interested in?”

Alex seems to ponder that a moment, her face looking uneasy. “Guns?”

Kara and Lena exchange a look. “Anything else?” Kara asks.

“Scotch?” Alex tries again, looking up at the ceiling as if the answers are painted there. “She loves tiramisu. Like would eat it for every single meal if she could kind of love.”

“That’s something,” Kara says. “There you go.”

“So, I should plan a dinner of tiramisu and scotch and guns?” Alex says with a hopelessly skeptical look on her face.

Lena laughs a little. “Just do something you both want to do, you don’t have to make a big deal of it,” she says and Kara nods.

“Yeah, I mean Valentine’s Day is really just about being together,” Kara adds. “And think of it this way: you’ll have plenty of Valentine’s Days to convince her that it’s an awesome holiday.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Alex says after a few seconds. She looks down as if contemplating something before nodding definitively and taking a deep breath. The smile she gives both of them is genuine. “Thanks, guys.”

“Of course,” Kara says and she lets go of Lena to hug her sister tightly. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Alex says from over Kara’s shoulder, winking at Lena in a fond gesture.

--

Alex has been gone for maybe only a minute - a minute filled with Kara and Winn attempting to explain Valentine’s Day to Mon-El - when J’onn steps up to them with a smile. “Kara, can I speak with you a moment?” He asks and Kara throws a quizzical look towards Lena, but obliges him.

“Yeah of course,” she says, following him off the platform and down a hallway.

Lena wanders closer to where Winn is sitting and pulls up a chair near him as he goes through the DEO archives.

“Hey,” he says, twirling a pen in his fingers as he glances over at her. Mon-El is in a chair on his other side looking down at a Rubik’s Cube with a bewildered expression, having moved on from his confusion regarding the holiday.

“Hi,” Lena greets, smothering a laugh at the way Mon-El is twisting the sides of the cube endlessly, clearly flabbergasted with the toy. “How’s the search?”

Winn sighs, types something on his keyboard. “It’ll take forever,” he tells her. “The archives here aren’t exactly small.”

Lena’s eyes glance over the rest of the screens in the command center and something catches her attention. “What’s that?”

Winn’s eyes follow where she’s pointing and he sits up a bit. “A tracking program,” he tells her as they both look at the screen to their right.

“That much I can tell,” Lena says dryly. “What’s it tracking?”

“Cadmus,” he answers simply, but Lena knows what he really means.

“My mother,” she says and the memory still feels too fresh, too threatening. She wonders if it will ever feel differently.

“I guess, yeah,” he answers, looking at her with a worried expression.

“Have you had any luck?” Lena asks, not sure what she wants the answer to be.

“Nothing since that night in the warehouse,” he tells her and he reaches out to put a hand on her wrist. “But we’ll find her. No one can hide forever.”

Lena’s not so sure about that, but before she can say as much, Kara and J’onn are returning.

There’s an unreadable expression on Kara’s face as she approaches and Lena’s a bit startled when J’onn looks straight at her and says, “Miss Luthor, a moment of your time?”

It feels a bit like the time she and Kara had to explain to the department of student housing why Lena’s modular dorm furniture kept breaking and they were alternately called into the Dean’s office. But Kara doesn’t look worried this time, just kind of - blank.

Lena squeezes her fingers as she passes and follows J’onn to a small room off a nearby hallway.

“What’s this about?” She asks as J’onn takes a seat at the head of a tablet next to a small stack of papers. He gestures for her to take a seat to his right and she does.

“You’ve been a great help to the DEO in the past few months,” he says matter-of-factly and she smiles just the slightest bit. “I realize some of that is influenced by your relationship with Supergirl.”

It seems so odd when it’s put that way that Lena almost laughs. “I suppose that’s accurate,” she tells him with a half smile.

He sighs as if he doesn’t want to be having this conversation and pulls the stack of papers in front of him. “I think it’s beyond time to properly bring you into the operation.”

“Properly?” Lena inquires and she looks at the forms he’s shuffling through.

“There are a few standard forms that I’d like you to fill out. Non-disclosure, confidentiality, liability waiver and some things from HR.”

Lena does laugh this time. “You have an HR department?”

His face doesn’t react as he answers simply, “Yes.”

Watching for a moment as he sorts out the forms, Lena tries to put it all together. “I’m still not sure I entirely follow.”

“You and Kara are dating,” J’onn states and Lena startles.

“Excuse me?”

It’s a bit ridiculous to feel so shocked by the words or defensive at all, but Lena can’t help it. She hasn’t put much thought into defining her relationship with Kara. It’s just that. A relationship. The same as it has always been. To say they’re dating now or again feels so insignificant against the tonnage of what she feels for Kara.

“You and Kara,” he repeats, unaffected by her reaction. “And beyond that, you’ve been brought in on far too many DEO activities for me to allow this to go on without reading you in.”

“I understand,” she says slowly as he puts the first form in front of her. A seemingly standard NDA. “But I’d like to have my lawyer present before I sign anything.”

J’onn smiles. “I hope you also understand why I can’t have that. Bringing in a civilian like we have without going through the proper channels was a breach of protocol,” he says and then he looks over her shoulder. “But if you’d like to speak to a lawyer we do happen to have one on staff.”

“I suppose that will suffice,” Lena says, eyeing the stack of papers filled with all sorts of government legalese.

“I’ll call them down,” J’onn says, but just as he turns to leave, he turns back and eyes Lena. “Miss Luthor, Kara is something like a daughter to me. I lost my own children on Mars.”

“I’m sorry,” Lena says, unsure where this is heading. 

“I was surprised to learn that Kara had told you about her identity years ago,” J’onn says. “Somehow, she and Alex managed to keep it under wraps, even when it would have likely been prudent to tell the DEO that the sister of Lex Luthor knew Supergirl’s alter ego.”

Lena can’t help but wince, fingering the papers in front of her as she waits for J’onn to arrive to his point.

“I don’t distrust you,” J’onn says, a soft look coming over his face. “You love Kara. But I believe it is the duty of the father on this planet to remind you - I hope their faith in you was well-placed. Or else.” 

Lena blinks for a moment, before a short laugh escapes her, and J’onn gives a smile in return.

--

A few minutes later, Lucy Lane arrives in the doorway in full military dress uniform. She gives a short wave and a smile as she walks in. “Lena,” she greets as she comes in and sits down, followed by J’onn who lingers behind her.

“Good to see you, Lucy.” Lena smiles warmly at her.

“I’m here if you need any clarification,” Lucy says and Lena quirks a brow.

“Quite a conflict of interest I’d imagine.”

Lucy shrugs. “It’s the best we can do under these circumstances. Our organization doesn’t exist, remember?” Lucy says. “Most of this stuff is just confidentiality agreements, NDAs, that kind of thing.”

Calmed by Lucy’s nonchalant presence, Lena reaches for a pen J’onn has sitting there and starts to fill out the form in front of her, letting Lucy point out various clauses of importance as she goes.

J’onn stands then, nods at her. “I’ll leave you to it,” he says before exiting the room.

Lucy twirls back and forth in her chair a bit, watching as Lena scratches her name across the page. “So, you and Kara, huh?”

Lena gives her a dry look that Lucy laughs at.

“It’s just that at Christmas you said-”

“I know what I said,” Lena interrupts, focused on checking boxes on the form in front of her.

“And then when we saw you guys after the whole White Martian thing, James was really close lipped about the situation and I’m just-”

“Yes,” Lena says with a laugh and a warmth dusting her cheeks. “Me and Kara.”

“Again,” Lucy adds and Lena nods with a slight roll of her eyes.

“Again,” she agrees.

Lucy leans forward then, puts a warm hand on Lena’s wrist and it draws her attention away from signing the agreement in front of her. “I’m glad,” Lucy says softly and Lena takes a deep breath.

“Thanks,” she says and even though she and Lucy don’t know each other well, it warms her heart to have that kind of acknowledgement.

--

When she’s finished signing the mountain of paperwork J’onn had set out for her – and double checking each point with Lucy – she heads back out into the central room to find Kara again.

“How did it go?” Kara asks, jumping to her feet the moment she spots Lena.

“You could have warned me,” Lena teases, smiling at the way Kara nervously adjusts her glasses and looks away.

“Sorry.”

“I’m teasing, darling,” Lena says, reaching out to grab Kara’s hand away from her eyewear and twist their fingers together. “It was fine. Just a lot of paperwork. I’m sure I could scrounge some up for you as well - Jess is most likely foaming at the mouth that I haven’t yet anyway.”

A noise of triumph erupts from Winn across the way and the three of them turn to see him spinning in his chair.

“Did you find something?” Lena asks, stepping away from Kara and pacing forwards toward him.

“Yes,” he says with a wide smile that only falters a bit as he adds, “Maybe. Possibly. I think so.”

“What is it?” Kara asks, coming up behind them.

“Well I don’t really know,” Winn admits as he turns back to his computer. “It’s one of the relics we have in the storage and from the records here it looks like it has something to do with fifth dimensional energy.”

Mon-El, who abandons the half-done Rubik’s Cube in his hand to stand up and peer at the screen, puts a hand on the back of Winn’s chair and tilts his head. “What will this do to the imp?”

“No idea,” Winn says and Lena sighs.

“I think your victory shout was a bit premature,” she comments and Kara gives her a short laugh.

“As soon as I can get the spectrometer and pull this baby out of storage we’ll know more,” Winn says.

“You know, on Daxam we learned the hard way that the best way to handle these guys is by crushing them,” Mon-El says, making a fist with his hand as if to indicate his meaning.

Kara glowers at him. “We’re not killing him.”

“They’re dangerous, Kara. You might not have a choice,” he says, stepping back only a bit at the look on Kara’s face.

“We don’t kill, Mon-El. This shouldn’t be a hard concept,” Kara bites out.  

He puts his hands up defensively. “Hey, I know the no killing rule. I know. I just want to make sure you guys don’t get hurt.”

“Thank you for caring,” Lena says before Kara can snap at him again and Mon-El tilts his head and grins his wide, eager grin. Kara mumbles something under her breath that Lena can’t quite hear.

“Let’s go home,” Kara says, reaching for Lena’s hand. She takes it.

--

Realizing she’s in love with Kara is something that comes to Lena in inches, a slow crawl of feeling that is suddenly overwhelming one day, impossible to ignore. When it occurs to her - when the emotion finally has a name - it doesn’t even feel like a revelation. It’s more like accepting something she’s known to be true for ages.

It happens randomly. They’re in the large atrium of their student union where Kara had just dragged her because there are dogs, Lena. The dogs have been brought in by the health center as a stress relief measure for students, and the second Kara had caught wind of it, any hope of actually studying that afternoon had gone out the window.

Which is how she ends up one moment watching Kara get chased by a pack of rambunctious puppies - a chase that ends in Kara collapsing to the ground so they can crawl all over her - and the next moment confronting a variety of emotions bubbling up in her chest.

It strikes her in a quick heartbeat - just as a golden retriever puppy is jumping up Kara’s chest to lick at her face - a single unstoppable thought runs through her brain on repeat: she’s in love with Kara Danvers.

“Lena, Lena, look at this one,” Kara is saying, picking up a small black puppy that’s come to join the fun and holding it in front of her. She’s grinning so prettily from her perch on the ground that Lena can’t stop the expression from mirroring on her own face.

There are other students around, doing much the same as Kara is, but none quite as enthusiastically, and Lena spares them a glance before pacing closer to her girlfriend.

“It’s a dog,” Lena deadpans with an arch of her brow. Kara rolls her eyes before setting the dog down and smiling when it immediately rushes towards Lena’s legs, bumping its nose into her shins and letting out a soft yip.

“It likes you,” Kara says with a happy smile that makes Lena roll her eyes.

Having been tasked with holding both their bags while Kara ran around with the dogs, Lena sets them down on the ground before taking a reluctant seat next to Kara and allowing the small puppy to climb up onto her lap.

“He’s cute,” Lena admits, stroking a hand over his little head.

“His name is Hammond,” Kara says conspiratorially.

“How do you know that?”

Kara reaches over and fingers the small collar around the puppy’s - Hammond’s - neck. The name is carved into a small steel circle hanging from the collar.

“Hello, Hammond,” Lena says, eying the puppy as he tries to chew lightly at Lena’s fingers. “Strange name for a dog.”

“It’s a kind of electric organ,” Kara says with a shrug, laughing when the puppy jumps from Lena’s lap back into Kara’s. “Like the instrument.”  

“It’s also a city in Indiana,” Lena counters. “Neither of those things make sense for naming a dog.”

Kara ignores Lena’s statement, just continues to make faces at the puppy as she scruffs its head affectionately. “She didn’t mean it, Hammond. It’s a great name.”

“I did mean it, Hammond,” Lena says, leaning over until her shoulder bumps against Kara’s. “It’s a weird name.” Kara shoots her an unimpressed look, but Lena just shrugs. “What? I don’t want to lie to him,” she tells her with a teasing grin.

“And what would you name a dog, oh master of dog names?” Kara asks.

Lena shrugs, a bemused smile playing on her lips. “Something more appropriate for a dog, like Leo or Lovelace.”

Kara’s eyes bug out just as the puppy attacks her glasses and Lena laughs. “Lovelace? Like Linda Lovelace?”

It takes a second for Lena to register the name, but the blush in Kara’s cheeks helps her and she makes a face, pushing Kara’s shoulder. “No. Like Ada Lovelace. The mathematician.”

“Oh,” Kara says, her eyes going back to a normal size and her smile turning sheepish. “Good.”

“How do you even know who Linda Lovelace is?” Lena asks, charmed at the way Hammond is now attempting to curl up into a ball on Kara’s chest.

Kara watches the puppy with a soft smile. “I know things about American history,” Kara says an exaggerated look of confidence that’s betrayed by the teasing wrinkles around her eyes. “And I know how to use Google.”

“I really don’t want to know what you were searching for that would come up with that,” Lena says just as Hammond seems to find the perfect position for sleep and snuggles completely up into Kara.

There’s a brilliant smile on Kara’s face and she reaches out to take Lena’s hand. “Yes you do,” she says and it’s teasing and suggestive, but all Lena can think about is: she’s in love with Kara Danvers.

The feeling buzzes and vibrates across her skin, takes a tight hold onto her chest and for a moment her eyes go hot with emotion like it’s going to come bursting out of her at any moment. How it got this intense, Lena’s not sure. It’s as if it happened when she wasn’t paying attention.

Kara’s looking at her as if she can read her mind - as if she can sense the emotional turmoil happening deep within Lena - but it’s more likely that’s she’s tuning into the sudden heavy pounding of Lena’s heart. She’s half sure it’s loud enough for people without superhearing to hear.

“You okay?” Kara asks softly. “Because if you’re not, there’s more puppies over there to help you. I’m not sharing Hammond.”

It makes Lena laugh, but that just makes Kara smile again, and just like that it falls out of her before she can catch it.

“I love you.”

It’s simple and true and even though she hadn’t meant to say it, she’s not upset that she did.

Kara’s expression doesn’t change apart from her head tilting a bit to the side like Lena’s confession isn’t something revelatory. “I love you too.”

The feeling settles, but doesn’t lose its intensity. If anything it feels bigger now, reaching out to Kara and swirling around them.

“Is that why your heart is beating so fast?” Kara asks, eyes flickering down to Lena’s chest and back up.

Her heart is indeed thundering against her ribcage and Lena doesn’t know how to get it to stop. It had occurred to her that Kara could probably hear it, but she was hoping she’d categorize it as some other anxious student’s heart. “Yes,” she admits with a shrug of a shoulder.  

Kara shifts, just slightly as to not disturb the puppy sleeping on top of her and studies Lena’s face. “Is that normal?”

“Sometimes,” Lena replies, not really knowing how to answer that. Half her anxiety comes from the all consuming feeling of being in love, but the other half comes from somewhere deeper. She had never intended to fall in love. Not with Kara. Not with anyone. In fact, her mother has warned her away from such inconveniences on more than one occasion.

And yet here she is. Unavoidably in love with her best friend turned girlfriend. It feels a lot like the point of no return, like wading into uncharted territory without a plan.

Seeming to sense Lena’s reluctance to venture further into this conversation, Kara turns her attention back to the sleeping puppy on her chest. “So Lovelace, huh? Figures you’d name it something nerdy.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lena says with a laugh, grateful for the change in subject. Her heart hasn’t slowed yet, but she lets some of the tension flow off her and focuses on the image of Kara cradling a small puppy. “What are your brilliant ideas?”

“Pluto,” Kara answers immediately.

“Pluto is a planet, nerd,” Lena says. “And also already the name of a famous dog.”

Kara’s face goes contrite, but it’s so exaggerated that Lena knows it's insincere. “I hate to break this to you, Lena, but Pluto isn’t really a planet and it’s silly that your scientists ever thought it was one.”

Eyes rolling, Lena shoves at Kara’s shoulder and her girlfriend goes with the motion, clutching the puppy to her chest protectively. “You’re going to wake Hammond up!”

As if on cue, the puppy startles awake with an adorable yipping sound that Lena finds herself grinning indulgently at. That is, until Kara lets go of him and he launches himself at Lena and she yelps, sending Kara into gales of laughter. Somewhere beneath the extremely excited puppy, the warm feeling of being with Kara - of being in love with Kara - washes over her. Makes her feel at home.

--

They leave the DEO and Lena insists this time on heading to her own apartment. “I haven’t been home in a few days, Kara. I need clothes. Among other things.”

Kara makes a noise of protest, but flies them there and offers to order something for dinner.

“I would think all you’d want would be Il Palazzo after you mentioned it to Alex.”

Kara’s eyes go wide. “You’re right,” she says before schooling her features into something more neutral. “But it’s Valentine’s Day, so I want whatever you want too.”

Lena laughs and presses a kiss to Kara’s cheek. “Order whatever you want, darling. I’m just happy to be home.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out to dinner?” Kara says. “I feel kind of weird spending Valentine’s Day in the apartment.”

“What happened to Valentine’s Day is all about just being together?” Lena asks and Kara’s lips curl up into a warm smile.

“It is,” she says. “But this is also our first Valentine’s Day together since college and I want it to be special.”

“I don’t know what would be more special than eating with you in bed,” Lena answers and Kara’s cheeks flush a little at the implication.

Just as she’s about to respond a buzz of energy wraps around them and Lena gasps as their environment snaps out of existence.

“Ladies!” A voice exclaims from their right and Lena looks around to realize she’s no longer standing in her apartment but instead on some kind of rooftop. When she spots the source of the voice - a well-dressed Mxy standing a few feet away - she sees the Eiffel Tower in the distance and realizes she’s in Paris.

“What the hell?” Kara exclaims, keeping Lena pressed in close to her side as Mxy approaches them.

“You can’t spend Valentine’s Day in your apartment eating takeout,” he says entreatingly. “What better place to spend this holiday than the city of love?”

“You can’t just teleport us to France,” Kara says, jaw tight. Lena’s still trying to get a grip on what just happened.

“Why not?” Mxy asks, his arms gesturing around him. He sweeps a hand towards a table for two across the rooftop, lit by candles. “I made dinner.”

“Send us back,” Kara orders in an authoritative tone that even Lena reacts to. It’s still a bit jarring to hear Kara’s - Supergirl voice - as she’s come to think of it.

“Kara, darling,” Mxy says and Lena has to take a deep breath again just to prevent herself from snapping at the man.

“We’d prefer something a little less opulent,” Lena tries, interrupting whatever he’s about to say and Mxy squints at her as if thinking over what she’s saying.

“You know, you’re right,” he says sagely. “I’ve watched you for a long time, I should know better. This isn’t you.”

He looks at them for a moment, the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower as a strange backdrop to the scene. “But I know what is,” he says after a few seconds and with a snap of his fingers they’re suddenly teleported again.

This time, Lena recognizes their surroundings immediately. In front of her is a bench she’s sat at numerous time and she knows that if she looks to her right she’ll see a familiar quad. Farther down from that is a science building that houses a coffee shop where she first met Kara.

They’re back on campus.

“Stop. Teleporting. Us,” Kara growls out, but her face flashes with shock as she takes in where exactly they are.

“I’m just trying to give you a romantic setting,” he says. “Some of my favorite scenes have happened here! You know, the first kiss, the dramatic, harrowing explosion, Lena’s car crash - ”

“Can you just - please leave us alone? We don’t need to be anywhere special for a romantic setting,” Kara says, but she grips Lena’s hand tightly as she looks around and Lena knows that if it weren’t for the Fifth Dimensional Being in front of them that this would be an emotional moment.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” he says emphatically. “And according to my extensive research on the subject, it’s quite a serious day of love for people on Earth. I still remember that last Valentine’s Day you spent together. Oh the emotions. I feel it as though it was yesterday.”

That creepy, uncomfortable feeling Lena gets every time she thinks about this creature watching different moments in their lives spreads over her. That, coupled with the February chill in the air, pushes Lena closer into Kara’s body in an attempt to leech some of her warmth.

Kara’s body is all tension, an angry cut of muscle where Lena’s pressed in and she can tell Kara’s seconds away from attacking Mxy. It’s unclear what Kara’s chances would be against a fifth dimensional being and Lena’s not interested in finding out at the moment.

“If you don’t send us back, right now,” Kara starts to threaten, but Mxy’s ignoring her as he snaps his fingers and a blanket shows up on the bench, followed by a picnic basket and then-

“Mxy!” Kara snaps until he stops fussing with the bench and turns to her.

“Right, yes of course. I’ll leave you to it,” he says with a smile. “I have a wedding to plan, after all.”

“No, wait,” Lena says, but with a wave of his hand he’s gone and they’re alone.  

Kara throws her hands up in the air dramatically before letting out a heavy groan of frustration and flopping down onto the bench in front of them. It rattles the items skewed across it, but none of them fall.

Lena watches it all with a soft smile on her face. It very well could be five years ago with the way Kara is slouching on the bench with an unhappy look on her face. A memory of Kara complaining about the way Earth set up their periodic table of elements for an hour after a chem test one year comes to mind.

“Kind of odd,” she comments and when Kara turns a questioning look her way she clarifies, “Being back here.”

At that, Kara looks around them again before connecting back with Lena’s gaze. “Yeah,” she says softly, it barely carries over the chill air between them. “It is.”

Lena paces forward, studies the items Mxy left on the bench and picks up a bottle sticking out of the picnic basket. When she reads the label she laughs. “Wow,” she says, showing it to Kara when she looks over.

“Oh my God,” Kara says, a smile growing on her face as she reaches out and takes the bottle from Lena’s hands.

“Still entirely creepy that he’s been watching us all this time, but I haven’t had Woody’s in forever.”

“You can’t even get it anymore,” Kara says almost reverently. “At least not here, and not unless you-”

“Have ridiculous amounts of money to spend on illegally importing booze?” Lena ventures with a wry twist of her lips that makes Kara laugh.

“Yeah, but you made money on it too,” Kara says, referring to the small operation Lena ran under the table in college with their friend Max selling sweet flavored liquor to over eager freshman.

“Wouldn’t my mother have been so proud at my business prowess,” Lena laughs.

“She would have if she realized you were just taking over from Lex,” Kara says and Lena smiles at the memory.

“Some things never change I suppose.”

A sad, contemplative silence drops over them for a bit before Kara stands abruptly and puffs her chest out like she’s decided something. 

“Do you want to go to the uh…the…” Kara trails off, looking off to the side for a moment in an odd contrast to her confident posture.

“Do I want to go where?” Lena asks when no more words are forthcoming and she laughs a little at the blush she can make out on Kara’s cheeks.

“The field,” Kara answers and Lena sucks in a breath involuntarily.

Despite the sudden rattle of emotion that comes with thinking about a field she’d spent hours alone with Kara in, Lena doesn’t hesitate much before responding. “Yes.”

--

The field isn’t too far from campus - not with how Kara flies them - but just far enough that they leave the lights and sounds of civilization until all Lena can hear is the wind whipping past them.

They land near the one huge tree Lena used to spend her time leaned up against watching Kara float around the open space and her heart seizes up with the memory of it - sudden and visceral as she stares at the familiar sight.

“Still looks the same,” Kara observes as she sets Lena down on the ground and looks around.

“It does,” Lena agrees in a soft murmur, her body still close to Kara’s. It surprises her a bit that this much undeveloped land has remained untouched since they left college, but it’s exactly as she remembers it.

The lights of their university and the neighboring small town are barely visible in the distance. Nothing else as far as the eye can see apart from wildlife.

It’s a little colder here than on campus and Lena finds herself shifting towards Kara’s warmth. Thankfully, Kara had the presence of mind to bring the blanket Mxy left them and she wraps it around Lena’s shoulders with a soft smile.

Kara’s grabs two bottles of the Woody’s vodka coolers she brought with them and hands one to Lena with a grin.

“When I puke on you, we know who to blame,” Lena says, holding the bottle out for Kara to twist the lid off with a quick flick of her finger.

“Sure,” Kara says with an easy shrug. “Mxy.”

Lena laughs. “So who should I blame for that time over Easter break when-”

“You were the one that decided to bring those-”

“-because you refused to drink anything else!”

“Why did we even have to be drinking? You could have just enjoyed my company sober,” Kara points out and Lena scoffs into a laugh.

“You clearly don’t remember what you were like in college.”

Kara makes a show of acting hurt, bring her hand to her chest and dropping her jaw open. It makes Lena laugh again and when she shoves at Kara’s arm, Kara goes sprawling backward as if punched.

“Stop it,” Lena admonishes with a chuckle and Kara obeys, sitting down and gesturing for Lena to follow, their backs to the large tree.

“Do you remember the last time we were here?” Kara asks,

And Lena does. Vividly, in a way so many of her memories of Kara are. It had been late spring, just before the end of the school year, and the field was lush and full of life. So had Kara been – zooming around Lena with a happy smile. “I do.”

Kara smiles. “I missed this place,” she says quietly but with a soft smile that warms Lena’s chest.   

Lena takes a sip of her drink and grimaces. “These tasted better when I was nineteen,” she comments and Kara laughs, taking the bottle away from Lena and setting it aside. “Thank you.”

A comfortable silence threads around them as they both take a moment to settle in the field. It’s Kara who breaks the silence first, soft and questioning.

“Lena?”

She quirks a brow at Kara in response. “Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can,” Lena answers with a quizzical smile.

“When did you know...?” The question is so hesitant that Lena almost doesn’t pick up on it, but even when she does her brow pulls down in confusion.

“Know what?”

Kara looks away for a second, makes a face Lena can’t quite make out before clarifying, “Know that you were going to break up with me.”

It pulls a sharp inhale of surprise through Lena and she goes still, staring at the tense expression on Kara’s face for a few seconds before responding, “Why would you ask me that?”

Picking at a blade of grass, Kara shrugs a shoulder. “It’s just something I’ve wondered,” she says softly, looking out across the field. A quiet laugh drops out of her. “I guess I’ve just always assumed you didn’t decide to do it when we got in the car for the airport.” There’s a smile on her face that Lena knows is supposed to be casual, but she can see right through it. “I’m a bad driver, but I’m not that bad.”

Lena swallows, her throat aching a bit. “No,” she agrees.

Kara’s eyes lock with hers again. “So, when did you decide?”  

“It’s not like there’s a single moment I can point to,” Lena replies.

“But you knew for a while,” Kara insists and Lena’s chest feels like it’s starting to stretch out at the memory of those last few weeks of college.

“Kara,” Lena sighs, sitting up. Kara follows the motion, trying to keep eye contact with Lena. “I thought we were getting past this.”

“We are. I am,” Kara sighs. “I’m trying.” And it’s so defeated, so pleading , that Lena’s eyes get drawn back to Kara. “I just want to know. For the longest time it was all I could think about.”  

“I’m not sure what you want me to say,” Lena says and she doesn’t want to have this conversation – doesn’t want to feel like this in a field that’s only ever held happy memories.

“I want to know how long you were planning to break up with me,” Kara says. “And why you didn’t tell me.”

“Is it some kind of custom I’m not aware of to tell people you’re planning on breaking up with them?” Lena says somewhat bitterly as she blinks against heat in her eyes and turns to look away from Kara’s pretty blue eyes.

“I don’t know,” Kara says with a kind of honesty that’s always entranced Lena. “There’s not really a lot of breaking up where I come from.”

Lena makes a noise, gives Kara a dry look. “Don’t play the dumb alien,” she says warningly, but Kara just shrugs again.

“I’m not playing anything. I’m serious.”

With a sigh, Lena stares out over the field for a moment, watches the trees bend in the slight chill breeze. “I didn’t decide,” she starts and when she can tell Kara is going to protest, she puts a hand up. “I didn’t. It was just…” There aren’t really words to describe the feeling, the sad inevitability of their parting. “It was something I knew – thought – would have to happen.”

“But why?” Kara asks, her voice soft and pleading and tugging so hard at Lena’s rib cage it’s painful. “What did I do?”  

“Nothing,” Lena answers immediately and emphatically. “When I said it was about me, I wasn’t lying.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? I knew something was wrong, but you never wanted to talk about it.”

Lena sighs, feels the sad resignation of those last few months in school as if it were happening all over again. “I knew you would talk me out of it somehow.”

“Talk you out of breaking up with me?!” Kara asks with a scoffing sound. “Yeah, I would have.”

With a sad smile, Lena reaches out and cups Kara’s cheek, runs a thumb over the frown on her lips. “You have to understand. I didn’t think my life and our relationship was compatible outside of college. With my mother and the obligations I had to my family, the company…I wanted to end it when it was still good, when we still loved each other and not when it went bad and got ugly.”

“Why would we have stopped loving each other?” Kara asks as if the idea is unfathomable. It squeezes Lena’s heart the way the depth of Kara’s faith in their love always had.

“Even if we hadn’t,” Lena explains, knowing Kara is probably right. Their time apart had certainly proven that Lena doesn’t know how to stop loving Kara. “That somehow seemed worse. To think our relationship just wouldn’t work out, but-“

“You should have talked to me,” Kara interrupts, reaching up to grip Lena’s hand and bring it off her face to tangle their fingers together. “We could have worked that out together.”

The idea takes hold in Lena’s mind – memories warping to an alternate reality where she had been more upfront with Kara, where they had tried to forge a path together instead of apart – and she smiles a little. “You’re right,” she concedes, her eyes feeling tight with emotion. “I should have.”

There’s a soft stretch of silence for a moment before Lena smiles, squeezes Kara’s hand. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “For making decisions that affected you without at least involving you.”

“For lying,” Kara adds with a hint of heat around the edges and Lena takes a deep breath before nodding.

“I’m sorry for lying,” she says and blinks against the urge to cry.

It’s like something lifts off Kara’s face and Lena kicks herself for not making this more clear earlier – for holding too tight onto the stubborn idea that what she did was right. “I wish you had given me a chance to fight for us,” Kara says and it rips pain across Lena’s chest.

It takes her a second to respond. “Every moment is a bridge to the next, right?”

Kara’s lips thin into a smile, sad but genuine as she nods. “Right.”

“I am sorry, Kara,” Lena says, searching blue eyes. “For the things I did that hurt you.”

Scooting closer to wrap her arms around Lena’s shoulders, Kara presses a soothing kiss to Lena’s temple and the motion finally breaks through her resistance against crying. “It’s okay. I forgive you,” she murmurs there. “I’m sorry too.”

“For what?” Lena asks with a watery laugh.

“For making you feel like you couldn’t talk to me,” Kara says, pulling back to look at Lena’s face. When she does, her brow furrows and she swipes at the tears that have escaped.

Lena shakes her head. “I told you. It wasn’t anything you did,” she says. “It really was me, not you.”

“Promise you’ll talk to me now,” Kara entreats, pulling Lena’s legs over her lap until they’re as close as they can get for the moment.

After a deep breath, Lena smiles. “I’m not so young and stupid anymore,” she says a bit wryly. “I promise I’ll talk to you.”

“About your feelings,” Kara adds and Lena rolls her eyes a bit, but her smile doesn’t falter.

“About my feelings,” she repeats with a little amusement.

A chill breeze blows by them and Lena shivers until Kara pulls her even closer, sheltering her with the warmth of her body. “If I had known we were spending Valentine’s Day outside in the colder part of the country I would have worn a jacket,” Lena jokes, trying to indicate her desire to move on from the emotional moments of before.

Kara seems to take the hint and laughs as she pulls the blanket around Lena’s shoulders tighter and rearranges her until she’s settled between Kara’s thighs, her back warmed suddenly by the heat of Kara’s chest. “Would you like me to fly us back?”

Lena settles against Kara’s body, observes the field in front of them and the speckling of stars appearing in the sky above. “In a bit,” she murmurs, sinking into the feel of Kara wrapped around her. “You can’t see stars like this in National City.”

Kara hums agreement down into Lena’s shoulder, presses her lips there softly for a moment. “True,” she says, looking up to follow Lena’s gaze. “It’s nice.”

“Yeah,” Lena agrees, letting her head fall back onto Kara’s shoulder and sighing when she gets another kiss to her cheek in return. “It is.”

--

They end their night back at Lena’s apartment, but not before Kara insists they stop at Tonelli’s – an Italian place near Lena’s building that serves the best cannoli, Lena I swear – and eat their dinner out of takeout boxes on Lena’s couch.

Kara calls Alex later to report their encounter with Mxyzptlk after Lena comments she’s worried he might show up again if he catches wind of their Valentine’s Day dinner plans.

“Alex still thinks we should try to stay apart, just in case,” Kara says, coming into the bedroom just as Lena’s finishing getting ready for bed.

The idea of it sends another icy chill down her spine, but she forces herself to shove that feeling aside. “I still don’t see how that will be of any use considering he can snap his fingers and make us be wherever he wants,” Lena says dryly, pulling pillows off her bed.

In a quick zoom of air that ruffles past her, Kara is gone in a blink and then walking back into the bedroom changed into sweatpants and a soft shirt. “That’s what I told her,” she replies, casually re-entering the conversation as if superspeeding into pajamas is something normal. Lena smothers a smile.

“Has Winn found out anything more from the DEO archives?”

Kara makes a little sound and flops down onto the bed before Lena can even pull the covers back. With a fond exasperation, Lena rolls her eyes at the cheeky grin on Kara’s face. “Nothing super helpful yet, except that my cousin apparently dealt with one a few years ago.”

Lena puts a knee on the mattress as if to get on the bed, but Kara reaches out and tugs her over until she’s straddling Kara’s lap. “That sounds like it’d be helpful.”

With a shrug, Kara runs suggestive hands up Lena’s thighs and the stomach under her tenses as Kara props up a bit off the bed. “Do we have to talk about this right now?”

Even though she knows Kara wouldn’t have to so much as tense a muscle to resist Lena’s push, she still puts a hand on Kara’s chest and makes a show of trying to push her back to the mattress. It never fails to be charming when Kara just goes with the motion – obeys the silent command – and falls back down with a sigh.

“There’s an unknown all-powerful entity trying to kidnap us to another dimension,” Lena points out with a meaningful arch of her brow. “That’s not really something we can ignore.”

“I’m not trying to ignore it,” Kara grumbles, her fingers sliding up the bottom of Lena’s soft shorts and tracing the skin there. “There’s just nothing we can do about it right now and I can think of way more interesting things to do…”

Lena laughs a bit, stops the trail of Kara’s fingers with her own hands. “So Superman’s fought a fifth dimensional being? How did he defeat it?”

“I don’t know,” Kara answers and Lena tries not to get distracted by the hooded look in Kara’s deep blue eyes or the way her hair spreads out over the pillow.

Brow pulling down, Lena quirks her head. “Why don’t you call him and ask?” The question feels obvious, but there’s something in Kara’s expression she’s not reading.

“I will,” Kara says and she sits up again, this time all the way until her arms are wrapping around Lena’s waist and bringing them closer together. It forces Lena’s hands between them, clutching softly at the fabric of Kara’s shirt.

Before the clear intention on Kara’s face can be realized, Lena pulls back a little and looks at her. “Why do you sound like you don’t want to find out?”

“I do want to find out,” Kara says a bit defensively.

“Why don’t you call Clark then,” Lena says and it still feels weird to remember that Clark Kent is Superman, but she’s getting used to it. Before she can bend to the side and retrieve Kara’s phone, Kara’s pulling her away from it easily.

“I will. Later,” Kara says emphatically and Lena is pretty sure she’s missing something.

“Are you and Clark fighting or something?” Lena ventures and the shift of Kara’s eyes convey discomfort.

“No, that’s not it.”

“But it’s something,” Lena says knowingly, bringing her hands up to stroke the soft skin of Kara’s cheeks and then scratch into her hair in a soothing gesture that does the trick – Kara softens a little, lets out a breath.

“I haven’t exactly told him about…” Kara pulls back a little, a guilty kind of shadow on her face that Lena can’t read right away.

“About what?” As soon as the question leaves her lips, the answer pops into her brain and Lena puts the pieces together. “You haven’t told him we got back together?”

Biting softly at her bottom lip for a moment, Kara doesn’t answer, just looks away again, but keeps her hands firmly on Lena’s back.

An irrational thought crosses Lena’s mind and she has trouble fighting against it. It’s a credit to Kara’s respect of Lena’s personal space that she doesn’t stop Lena from shifting backward to put some distance between them. “Superman’s feelings about my brother are no secret,” Lena says lowly and Kara’s face reacts immediately.

“That’s not why,” Kara says insistently, trying to close the distance then, but Lena halts the motion with a hand on her chest.

“I don’t see what else it could be.”

“I never really told him we were together in the first place,” Kara says and she keeps her hands on Lena’s hips, eyes pleading for understanding. “And that was a long time before anything happened between him and Lex, okay?”

Lena lets go of the ugly feeling trying to take control of her heart – the part of her that can’t stop seeing her last name as the reason for all her interpersonal pitfalls. This is Kara . Kara who has only ever seen Lena as Lena and has never once given her a reason not to trust that.

On a deep breath, she tries for a reassuring smile that gets the tension in Kara’s face to relax just enough. “Okay, then why didn’t you ever tell him about us?”

Kara shrugs, but her face is honest. “I just didn’t. The only person I really talk to about stuff like that is Alex.”

Something occurs to her then. “So, the time at my office when I first saw you again…”

“He had no idea,” Kara finishes for her and Lena laughs abruptly, her body relaxing a bit into Kara’s.

“That must have been awkward,” she says, smiling down at Kara until she sees an answering expression in return.

“Oh, totally. He was trying to talk to me about like Metropolis and Lois and the stuff with the Venture explosion, but all I could hear was-“ Kara gestures around her ear and warmth blooms across Lena’s chest.

“I can imagine,” she replies, remembering the overwhelming feeling of seeing Kara again for the first time since college.

“I don’t really want to try to explain all that to Kal,” Kara says, her hands returning to the outsides of Lena’s thighs.

“Wasn’t it you that said our relationship wasn’t that complicated to explain?” Lena points out, remembering one of the first few conversations they had together after reuniting.

“It’s not,” Kara replies with a little roll of her eyes that makes Lena laugh. “But this is Kal.”

“And I’m Lena Luthor,” Lena says dryly, but with less of the defensiveness from earlier.

Kara’s lips thin. “More like Clark Kent’s best friend is Jimmy Olsen,” Kara says and that startles Lena a bit out of her thoughts.

“I hadn’t considered that,” Lena says thoughtfully.

“Yeah, and when he was here, James and I were still kind of doing – whatever it was we were doing.”

“Dating,” Lena provides for her with a teasing quirk of her lip.

“Almost dating,” Kara corrects and Lena makes a face, but doesn’t argue. “And I know James talked to Kal about it and we haven’t really talked a lot since then and now I’m-“

“Dating the sister of the guy who almost killed him,” Lena says and when Kara looks like she’s going to protest, Lena puts a finger at her lips. “I know you don’t think that, but I don’t begrudge Clark Kent or Superman for feeling that way about me. He doesn’t know me.”

“Yeah except I don’t think I could get through a conversation with him that maturely,” Kara says before falling backwards onto the bed with a whoosh and a tired breath.

Lena laughs. “You’re probably right.”

With a familiarly feigned gasp of indignation, Kara pokes Lena in the side until she squirms and slaps at her hands. “Rude,” she says. “Are we done with this conversation yet?”

Successfully avoiding Kara’s wandering fingers and trapping them in her own hands, Lena quirks a brow. “Something else you’d like to talk about?”

The start of a blush dusts across Kara’s cheeks that makes Lena smile. “It’s Valentine’s Day,” is Kara’s only answer like that means anything.

The fingers Lena had clasped in her own, worm their way out to settle back on Lena’s hips and the abs underneath her tense as Kara picks her chest back up from the bed. It’s distracting for long enough that Kara’s sheepish expression turns to one much more seductive.

In lieu of acknowledging it, Lena just puts her hands back to Kara’s hair and weaves forward until their lips are pressing together, soft and sure. A smile lingers on Kara’s lips for a moment until Lena pushes in closer and kisses it off her.

Kara responds immediately, slides her palms forward until they’re under Lena’s shirt and hot across her back. It slots Lena’s hips snug against Kara’s body and she lets out a little noise against Kara’s mouth that makes Kara smile again.

With soft fingers, Kara tugs the hem of Lena’s shirt up until they have to disengage from their kiss to pull it off and Lena gives Kara’s shirt the same treatment.

“Do you remember Valentine’s Day sophomore year?” Lena murmurs when they collide back together and Kara’s fingers freeze where they’re dipping in the back of Lena’s shorts.

There’s a flush in Kara’s cheeks that could easily be from their heated kissing, but Lena suspects it might also be from the memory of the day – night – in question. Kara licks out at her lips briefly before answering. “Yes,” she says and it comes out throaty in a way that beats between Lena’s legs.

“Do you want to…” Lena doesn’t voice the rest of the question, suddenly shy just thinking about it – her own cheeks warm up against her own volition.

But Kara seems to understand or so it seems by her vigorous nodding. “Do you…do you have a-“

“Yeah,” Lena interrupts in a breathy whisper before she pushes forward again to put their lips back together. Her teeth bite a little at Kara’s bottom lip and she rolls her hips down a little suggestively and just like that Kara’s rolling them over until Lena’s back hits the mattress.

“Tell me where it is,” Kara says, but she’s already looking around – her eyes squinted like they always are when she’s using her x-ray vision – and Lena laughs a little breathlessly.

“The hall closet in a-“

Abruptly, before she can even finish, Kara is up off the bed and zooming towards the place in question. As fast as she left she’s back in bed, colliding back on top of Lena a little clumsily, but depositing the object of her quest on the bed.

Lena can’t help but laugh and then Kara’s laughing too, but they’re kissing again and it tastes so sweet and hot at the same time that Lena feels it wrapped all around her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Lena,” Kara says with a happy smile, peppering soft kisses to her lips.

Fingers tangled in blonde hair and her legs bending to accept Kara’s hips between them, Lena smiles back at her. “I love you, Kara,” she replies in Kryptonian, her voice in a low tone that makes Kara’s eyes go dark.

“I love you too,” Kara says softly before hooking her fingers in the waistband of Lena’s shorts and ceasing all further conversation with a firm tug.   

--

They’re halfway through lunch - Kara, Lena and Josie - when Max and Aaron step into the dinning hall and Kara catches sight of them immediately.

Lena’s gaze goes straight to Josie, who hasn’t seen the two boys yet and that’s the only reason she doesn’t successfully stop Kara from calling out to them.

As it is, Kara puts her hand in the air and waves them over with a brief call of their names, undeterred by Lena kicking her shin under the table.

Aaron notices Kara’s motion and actually takes a step towards them before he seems to think better of it and looks warily at Max who is looking straight at Josie. The moment feels frozen for a bit until the boys step away and take a seat at a different table.

Kara frowns, turning confused eyes to Lena and then to Josie, but their friend stands abruptly before Kara can say anything.

“I just forgot I have to finish that thing for philosophy,” Josie says hastily and Lena reads through the thin excuse easily, even as Kara’s frown deepens.

Lena doesn’t stop Josie when she picks her tray up and turns swiftly on her heel to walk away, but she does send an unimpressed look at Max who is watching the interaction from across the room.

“What was that about?” Kara asks so innocently that Lena almost laughs. Instead, she rolls her eyes and sighs.

“Max and Josie broke up,” Lena tells her, reaching over to steal one of Kara’s fries.

“What?!” Kara exclaims, abandoning her fork to lean across the table towards Lena. “They did? I didn’t even know they were dating.”

With a shrug of her shoulder, Lena spares another glance at Max who has now turned his focus onto his lunch, Aaron leaning close to speak in a hushed tone. “Maybe dating is stretching it.”

A familiar look of confusion shadows Kara’s face as she looks at Max and Aaron and then at the door to the dining hall that Josie just exited by. “What do you mean?”

“Do you not remember that Mathlete house party last month?”

“Of course I do,” Kara says with an affronted look. “As if I’d forget our tenth straight beer pong tournament victory.”

Lena laughs softly. “Yes, but I’m talking about Max and Josie.”

“What about them? They lost in the second round.”

“Kara, forget the beer pong,” Lena says with a fond shake of her head. “Max and Josie slept together that night.”

“What?! How do you know that?”

Lena shrugs, picks up her glass of water and takes a sip. “Josie told me. Not that she had to. They both went to the bathroom together and then no one saw them the rest of the night.”

There’s still a hint of confusion in Kara’s face as her eyes dart around as if trying to put all the pieces together.

“Because they were having sex, darling,” Lena fills in for her with a short chuckle at the disgusted look Kara makes in reaction.

“Gross,” she says, looking over to where Max and Aaron are sitting.

“Sex is gross?” Lena asks with a quirk of her brow that makes Kara blush when she looks back.

“No. It’s gross to think about Max and Josie together,” Kara clarifies, turning back to her food and picking up her sandwich to take a bite.

“Well I’m sure you won’t have reason to think of it any longer considering they’re not even speaking to each other,” Lena muses, her foot hooking absently around Kara’s ankle in a warm motion.

“Why did they…” Kara trails off and her brow furrows for a moment as if searching for the right word. “Break up?”

“I’m not sure,” Lena answers. “But I don’t even know if it really is a break up if they were never really dating in the first place.”

“Well they should un-breakup,” Kara says, turning and glancing again, her fingers plucking mindlessly at her lunch tray.

Lena laughs at the definitive way Kara says it. “It’s not that easy.”

“Why not?” Kara asks, genuine confusion shadowing her face.

An immediate answer to that doesn’t come to mind, but Lena just shakes her head, stabs at the salad on her plate. “It’s just not. People break up for reasons. Usually good ones.”

“What’re their reasons then?” Kara asks, looking over at Max again. “They’re best friends.”

Lena sighs. Isn’t sure how to explain something like this to a person like Kara, who sees things so much more simply and honestly than anyone Lena’s ever met. “Don’t worry about them,” she settles on, reaching over to take Kara’s hand from where it’s pulling apart the plastic of her lunch tray in a nervous motion.

“They’re two of our closest friends and now they’re not speaking,” Kara says, but she lets Lena slot their fingers together. “We should fix it.”

“It’s not our place to fix it,” Lena says.

“But if we don’t-”

“They’ll figure it out,” Lena interrupts. “Sometimes things can’t be fixed. Let them be.”

“Of course things can be fixed,” Kara says. “This is Max and Josie we’re talking about.”

“You didn’t even know they were dating until two minutes ago,” Lena reminds her with a soft laugh.

“Still!” Kara insists. “I’m sure if they practiced they could be just as good at Pictionary as we are.”

“I don’t know how that equates, necessarily,” Lena says, cocking her head to the side and smiling at her girlfriend.

“They love each other,” Kara adds and Lena quirks a brow.

“Sure,” she replies. “As friends maybe.”

“What’s the difference?”

Lena’s eyebrows both raise at that. “Do you feel the same way about me that you do about Aaron?”

A flush dusts Kara’s cheeks and she sits back a little. “No,” she concedes, glancing over at the boy in question.

“That’s the difference.”

“Still,” Kara says again, clearly picking up more steam for her argument and sitting up again. “If they love each other whatever way they do they can fix it. At least so we can all eat lunch together again.”

Lena shrugs. “Sometimes love isn’t enough.”

“What do you mean love isn’t enough?”

“Relationships aren’t sustainable just on love alone,” Lena points out and lets out a deep breath. She can already tell Kara’s not going to accept that truth and isn’t looking forward to the argument that might ensue.

“You really think that?” Kara asks as if the notion is absurd. Her fingers play with Lena’s, reach down to stroke against the watch band on her wrist.

“Think what? That love isn’t always enough?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not that I - it’s - it’s true,” Lena says with a shrug of her shoulders.

“People that are meant to be together will be together,” Kara states with a kind of conviction that Lena doesn’t entirely understand.

“In my experience that hasn’t always been the case,” Lena says soft and slow at the fiery expression on Kara’s face.

“Have you had a lot of experience with soulmates?” Kara asks with a pointed arch of her brow before she adds, “Apart from us?”

It stills Lena completely as the words register. There’s no reaction on Kara’s face - it’s as if their status as soulmates was a given, something she was supposed to be aware of and not something completely life changing. It takes every ounce of Luthor training not to react to it and keep her expression impassive as she answers.

“You believe in soulmates?” Staying generic feels like the safest bet at the moment.

Kara looks taken aback by the question for a moment. “That’s like asking if I believe in science.”

Thankfully, it makes Lena laugh enough that some of the tension ebbs off of her. “I just - I don’t think - sometimes things happen,” is what she says. “Whether or not two people are - soulmates - doesn’t change the fact that not everything can be fixed. Being..meant...for someone doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to work out.”

“I don’t believe that,” Kara says simply.

With a sad smile, Lena nods. “I know, but relationships aren’t simple things. They’re complicated. They take work. And sometimes no matter how much you love a person, you just...don’t work out as a couple.”

Kara makes a face at that. “So no matter how much you love me, you think we might not work out...as a couple?”

It stabs pain into Lena’s chest just to think about it, resurfaces an ache she’s been trying to avoid feeling for the past few months. The closer graduation looms, the harder it’s been to ignore it. “Why are we talking about us?” Lena asks, trying to dismiss the serious look on Kara’s face with a laugh. “I thought we were talking about Max and Josie.”

When Lena tries to pull her hand out of Kara’s to return to her lunch, Kara traps her fingers there and keeps her eyes locked on Lena’s. “Because we’re talking about us now.”

Lena sighs, tilting her head back and forth. “Of course I don’t think that. No one goes into a relationship thinking it inevitably won’t work out,” she says which isn’t entirely the truth, but Kara’s expression is starting to turn sad and Lena just wants to go back to playing footsie and talking about other people’s problems.

Kara’s eyes are narrowed in a skeptical kind of look and they stay on Lena’s for a moment before falling to her tray and observing her food. “Okay,” she says, but it’s soft and sad and when she lets go of Lena’s hand it feels cold immediately.

Emotion thickens in the back of Lena’s throat and she sits forward before she can stop herself, chases the retreat of Kara’s hand. “Hey,” she says quietly, urging Kara to look at her. When she does, Lena smiles. “I believe in us.”

The hardness in Kara’s face softens immediately and her shoulders sag a bit as if Lena’s words had some sort of physical effect. “I believe in us too,” Kara says just as quiet.

“I love you and I’m going to keep loving you for as long as I’m able,” she says, trying to get Kara to hear the truth in the words. Because they are true. She can’t imagine a day arriving in which she doesn’t love Kara. That’s about the only guarantee she believes in.

It seems to work, Kara smiles - that same pretty smile that’s had Lena’s stomach fluttering since they first day she saw it. “I love you too,” she replies.

Their gazes hold for a long significant moment and Lena feels the pull of their relationship against her chest. It’s an overwhelming feeling, just like always, and she lets herself get lost a little in the idea that it never has to end - that everything will work out like Kara believes. It’s an intoxicating feeling, and it blooms warmth into her extremities.

“I still think we should fix Max and Josie,” Kara says, breaking the silence and Lena groans a bit, her head falling forward into a laugh as she sits back and releases Kara’s hand. The seriousness of their conversation flows away just like that.

“Leave it alone,” Lena says with a wag of her finger. “They’ll figure it out themselves.”

“We’re talking about a guy that set his dorm on fire last week trying to microwave popcorn and a girl that thought she could out-eat me at the Sunday pancake buffett,” Kara points out and Lena laughs again.

“You have a point, I suppose,” Lena agrees and Kara brightens.

“So Operation Get Max and Josie To Un-Break Up is a go?”

Lena rolls her eyes, but she smiles. “We’re not calling it that.”

Kara just grins and hooks her foot around Lena’s ankle warmly.

--

It shouldn’t be such a comforting feeling to walk back into a place she was just recently arrested, but as soon as Lena stalks into L Corp and follows a familiar path to her top floor office it’s like putting on a suit of armor.

There’s a hot cup of coffee already steaming on her desk in anticipation of her arrival and Jess is waiting with a tablet in her hands just like every morning, prepared to go through the morning schedule and messages.

Rounding her desk, Lena sets her bag on the floor and picks up the cup of coffee to take a grateful sip of it. It tastes like the overpriced import blend they stock in the executive lounge and it pours down her throat with comfortable heat.

“Good to have you back, Miss Luthor,” Jess tells her when she sits in her desk chair and boots up her computer.

“Good to be back, Jess,” Lena replies with a smile for her assistant.

Before Jess can continue with their usual morning routine, she reaches to the side and plucks a manila envelope out of her bag. Jess eyes it quizzically when Lena hands it over.

“Something you need mailed?”

“No,” she says with a short laugh. “It’s for you.”

Confusion is all over Jess’s face, but she’s trained to obey and when Lena tells her to open it she does so immediately.

“It’s a paid leave agreement,” Lena explains as Jess reads over the paper. “Take a month off. On L Corp’s dime.”

It’s obvious her assistant is worried she’s done something wrong. “I don’t understand,” Jess says softly, looking up. “Are you unhappy with the way I’ve-”

“Not at all,” Lena interrupts taking another sip of her coffee and reaching over with one hand to key in the passcode to her computer. “In fact, you’ve done everything right and you deserve a vacation.”

“I don’t need time off, Miss Luthor,” Jess protests. “This is such a busy time for the company and I know how much work you-”

“Jess,” Lena interrupts with a hand in the air to halt her secretary’s words. “I’m not asking you to take the time off. I’m telling you.”

It’s clear that Jess still feels like she’s being punished instead of rewarded and Lena sighs before standing to round her desk again until she’s in front of the other woman. “I have a team of assistants for a reason,” Lena says. “And you’re the best of all of them.”

The praise seems to soften some of Jess’s features and she smiles slightly, glancing down briefly. “Thank you.”

“You deserve some time off after everything that’s been happening,” Lena says. “Go be a real person for a few weeks, see a movie, read a book, go on a date, don’t think about work for a bit and then when you come back…” Lena laughs. “I assure you there will be plenty of work for you to do.”

Jess looks down at the agreement in her hands for a few moments before taking a deep breath and nodding. “Thank you, Miss Luthor.”

“No, Jess,” Lena says reaching out to squeeze her assistant’s arm in a friendly gesture. “Thank you.”

--

It takes the entire morning just to get through all the fires she wasn’t able to put out remotely.

The fallout of her arrest is surprisingly not that terrible - it seems that Kara’s article detailing her innocence in the matter has done the job of mitigating any sort of damage to L Corp’s reputation. A glance at how they’re trading on the market that morning tells her as much.

It’s a relatively productive day until she’s just about to order something for lunch and her stomach starts to turn over as the walls of her office pop suddenly out of view.

“You haven’t seen each other in hours,” a voice announces as her office is replaced by what looks to be a small restaurant – though devoid of any patrons. “And there’s so much to be done.”

Kara is standing in front of her looking just as confused as Lena feels and they both look to their right to see Mxyzptlk leaning against a far wall and grinning at them.

“What the hell?” Kara says immediately, and that’s becoming a recurring track out of her mouth ever since they’ve encountered the man in front of them.

“Lunch,” he says gesturing to an already set table with two place settings. “Like the old days. You two used to eat together every single day. Surely you remember how it’s done.”

Lena just gapes at him, Kara does much the same and he continues with a grand sweep of his hand. “Sit down. You can discuss your catering options! You need to start taking this wedding seriously, ladies.”

“We’re not-” But before Kara can even finish, he’s vanishing again with a snap of his fingers.

Lena pulls her phone out of her pocket, grateful she wore a dress that has such storage and that she still had her phone when Mxy teleported them. A quick glance at her map application indicates they’re at least still in National City.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Kara says as she looks over Lena’s shoulder and then scans the walls of the restaurant with her glasses slid down her nose just enough.

“He may not be immediately dangerous, but he’s certainly irritating,” Lena comments, sighing as she pockets her phone again.

Kara laughs. “You know, if you told me a year ago that I’d be annoyed that someone keeps teleporting us together…”

It makes Lena laugh in kind. “Yes, well his ability to teleport us on a whim is alarming.”

“That’s an understatement,” Kara says dryly. “Considering he wants us to live with him in the fifth dimension.”

Lena hums her agreement. “Have you talked to Clark yet?”

The expression that crosses Kara’s face answers that question for her and Lena sighs. “Kara,” she admonishes softly and Kara picks her hands up defensively.

“I’m doing it right now,” she says with a sigh, before pulling her phone out and swiping through to the correct contact. 

Sitting down at the small table Mxy prepared for them, Lena listens idly while Kara makes the phone call. “Voicemail,” Kara tells her after a few seconds of holding the phone to her ear.

Kara’s voicemail for her cousin is brief – call me when you get this, it’s important – and she follows it up with a quick text message.

As she finishes, she plops down into the chair across from Lena and blows out an exaggerated breath. “You know, I had an entire box of donuts waiting for me before he teleported us,” Kara complains, slouching in her chair.

It makes Lena laugh even as her brows come together. “You were going to have donuts for lunch?”

“Yes,” Kara answers like it’s something that shouldn’t be questioned.

Lena just rolls her eyes and with a shake of her head grabs a breadstick from the basket on the table and throws it at Kara who proudly catches it in her mouth.

--

She’s in the middle of a conference call with an overseas subsidiary when Mr. Mxyzptlk suddenly snaps into existence in the middle of her office. She jolts so hard that it knocks the cup of coffee on her desk and the man talking on her phone stops mid-sentence.

“Miss Luthor? Are you okay?”

Clearing her throat and trying clean up the now spilt coffee on her desk, she manages to get a, “Yes, sorry. But something’s come up. We’ll have to continue this at a later date. I’ll have my assistant contact you.”

Mxy saunters over and with a snap of his fingers her desk is clear of any spill and her coffee cup is refilled, steam rising up out of it lazily as it sits on her desk.

With an unnecessarily forceful push of her finger, she hangs up the phone and looks at him, trying to get her heart to stop racing. She’s sure Kara’s going to come crashing through the window at any moment.

“Sorry, dear,” he says and with another pop he suddenly flashes to her cabinet, sitting there with his legs crossed.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, standing to face him. Her fingers play with the catch on her watch that will open up the face of it and have Kara here in seconds. As if the rapid staccato of her heart wouldn’t do the trick.

“I need your help with the flower arrangements,” he says and as soon as the words are out of her mouth Lena’s office is full of a multitude of different flower arrangements. “I really can’t decide. So many choices.”

“I’m not sure how many times we have to tell you that we’re not -” she stumbles on how she wants to phrase it. “We’re not letting you plan the wedding.”

“Well someone has to do it,” he says with a sound caught between a scoff and a laugh. “If I leave it to you two it could very well take another four years.” 

Lena quirks a brow at that, but declines replying. It seems Mxy doesn’t require a response because he just jumps off the cabinet he’s perched on and continues speaking. “I do appreciate the drama of it all - any great romance has it - but I mean honestly, Lena. Four years?” He paces in through the variety of flowers, reaching out to flick a nearby rose. “The pining was fun for a bit, but then it did start to get stale, I must admit.”

Her eyes track his movements through the office and her fingers continue to fiddle with her watch until he seems to notice it and his gaze snaps there as a smile catches on his face. “You’d think Kara would be a bit more eager to make good on her glorified promise ring,” he comments.

Realizing what he’s referring to immediately, Lena pulls her hands away from the watch in question and crosses her arms to keep herself from going back to it. “That’s not-” she tries to find some kind of calm inside her, but irritation is mixing with fear in her chest and her heart is reacting accordingly. “We’d really prefer you didn’t interfere with our love life,” is what she ends up settling on, grateful her tone stays even and casual.

A droll look crosses Mxy’s face. “You certainly need someone’s interference,” he says, sounding condescending more than anything. It does nothing to stamp down Lena’s irritation and her fingers twitch where they’re clenched around her bicep. “Had you two not figured it out, I was going to have to do something seriously drastic.”

“Because throwing us an unwanted wedding and threatening to kidnap us to another dimension isn’t drastic,” Lena says before she can stop herself and it makes Mxy pause in his pacing near the large glass windows of her office.