15. Chapter 15(2)

“We don’t need you to-”

“You certainly need something,” he interrupts and with a snap of his fingers the room falls dark.

Alarmed, Lena takes an involuntary step backward. It knocks her desk chair over and her fingers go straight to her watch, popping the face open, but another snap breaks out through the office and her watch vanishes from her wrist.

Mxy tsks at her and even in the darkness of the room she can spot her watch now dangling from one of his fingers. “We’ll call for your mate in due time,” he says to her and a chill passes over her skin.

Before she can think to say anything else, the television hanging off her office wall switches from the interface that tracks the stock market to a still image of Kara.

“It was gripping, truly,” he starts, flicking his finger in the air and the image starts to move - Kara’s in her apartment and Lena can tell it’s not a recent image by the small differences in decor from what she’s watching and what she knows of Kara’s apartment. “Those years you two spent apart. You were a mess, Kara was a mess.”

True to his words the image of Kara’s face is noticeably muted, distraught even. “What are you doing?” Lena asks, the question slow and full of trepidation as she watches Kara slump on her couch. Seconds later Alex is joining her and they huddle together under a warm looking blanket. It’s clear Kara has started to cry with the way Alex brings their heads together and Lena feels an answering emotion squeeze in her chest.

“Showing you the mundanity of your narrative as of late,” he says, as if that means anything, and with another flick of his fingers the image shifts to one of Kara standing out on a balcony that Lena thinks might be at CatCo. There’s a similar expression on her face as before as she stares out at National City.

“Stop,” she says, already feeling fragile at seeing such a broken and forlorn expression on Kara’s face.

“It’s just the same over and over again,” he says, not heeding her command as he flicks to a new image. This one is strangely more recognizable, but only because Lena wouldn’t forget Kara’s outfit no matter how distanced she is from the memory - it’s the one she wore the last time Lena saw Kara before getting on an airplane and ending their relationship. “I mean all the crying got a bit old.”

“I said stop,” she says and her voice cracks on the word as they watch Kara. Lena’s retreating form disappears down the gangway as Kara falls heavily into a chair, her eyes trained out the window - her x-ray vision clearly at work. The image fast forwards, and it’s dark outside suddenly as Kara retreats to her car in the airport’s parking garage. She doesn’t turn it on, just sits in the driver's seat and stares out the windshield looking so lost and confused, with tears falling down her face. Lena aches with the urge to reach back in time and comfort her, tell her everything will work out in the end. Kara’s fingers are tugging endlessly at her bracelet as she seems to think.

“Not that you were much better,” Mxy says with a sigh. “I mean that whole thing in Japan was almost as bad as the week Kara decided to transfer schools.”

At the idea of possibly having to witness such a thing, Lena slams her hand on the desk hard enough of that her coffee cup topples over again and spills tepid liquid across the surface. “Enough,” she shouts in a low, dark tone.

His gaze flicks to hers, but his expression remains still for a moment - the image of Kara sitting in the front seat of her car remains frozen on the screen behind him. “Just trying to get you to see the big picture, Lena,” he says in a slow, smarmy sounding tone that makes Lena want to pick her computer up off her desk and hurl it at him.

Another snap of his fingers erases the image of Kara off her television and the lights come back on.

“Get the hell out of my office,” she says, trying to get her emotions under control. Her fingers rub against the bare skin of her wrist and it pulls a tight, painful feeling across her chest. “And give me my watch back.”

A smile quirks on his lips. “Of course,” he says, holding up the watch on his finger. In a blink it’s back on Lena’s wrist as if it never left there, but Mxy doesn’t obey her first command. Instead, he paces through the flower arrangements still littered over her office floor to drop onto her couch.

“I said-” But before she can finish, he’s snapping his fingers once again and Kara is poofing into existence right in between them.

It only takes a second for Kara to take stock of where she is and she speeds to put herself closer to Lena even as her eyes seem to stay on Mxy. “You okay?” Kara asks in a soft murmur and the feel of her warm hand spreading across the small of Lena’s back makes the dark feeling buzzing across her skin calm for a second.

“Yeah,” she says, leaning into Kara. “Mr. Mxyzptlk here would like us to pick flower arrangements.”

It likely does very little to explain why her heart is still thumping faster than normal and Lena can tell that Kara can hear it by the small furrow in her brow as blue eyes search her face.

“Indeed!” Mxy exclaims, standing up from the couch with a clap of his hands. He gestures around to the assortment of flowers. “It’s an important wedding detail we must nail down.”

“What did you do?” Kara says with an angry narrowing of her eyes.

Mxy seems unaffected by it. “I mean do you want roses? Traditional, simple, but a variety of colors to choose from. Or maybe more of a personal theme. Red and blue? I just can’t decide.”

“Do you not understand English?” Kara asks and Lena brings her own arm up around Kara’s waist, trying to absorb comfort from her commanding presence. 

A smug look crosses Mxy’s face. “I understand far more languages than your tiny Kryptonian brain can even conceive of.”

“Then understand that there is no way in hell you’re throwing us a wedding or having anything to do with planning it, so leave us alone,” Kara says in a low even tone.

Mxy just smiles. “You’re right, I’m not,” he says. “You’re planning it. I’m just the facilitator. So pick a flower arrangement.”

Something crackles in the air that Lena’s come to associate with Kara’s powers and she squeezes the fingers she has settled on Kara’s hip until the sense dissipates.

“We’ll discuss it,” Lena says before Kara can speak again. Her chief concern - the only concern really - is getting the man out of her office and away from the both of them. “Alone.”

With a skeptical narrowing of his eyes, he observes them both for a moment. “Very well,” he says eventually and Lena lets out a grateful exhale when he flicks his wrist and disappears.

The second he’s gone, Kara’s turning towards her and searching her face with worried eyes. “Are you okay? You didn’t sound okay when I got here.”

“Fine,” Lena says, shaking off the residual emotion of Mxy’s visit and disengaging from Kara’s embrace to pick up her tilted office chair.

“Lena,” Kara says and it comes out like a warning - low and even. “What did he do?”

“He filled my entire office with flowers,” Lena says gesturing around at the arrangements still littered across the room. “And not in a fun way.”

Kara makes a noise of disgust as she observes the flowers. “I can clean this up for you,” she offers.

“And yet that’s not the most pressing problem,” Lena says wryly, hands on her hips as she looks at a nearby arrangement of red and white roses.

“Yeah,” Kara sighs. “Kal called me back.”

Lena quirks a brow. “I’m guessing he didn’t have any brilliant secret weapon to use against Mxyzptlk.”

With a defeated looking shrug, Kara shakes her head. “He says he’s never really been able to get rid of a fifth dimensional being. They just kind of leave when they feel like leaving.”

“Great,” Lena deadpans and Kara steps forward to put her hands on Lena’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“We’ll figure something out,” she says and Lena tries to focus on the soft smile creeping over Kara’s face and not on the lingering images of Kara crying that keep replaying in her mind.

“Yeah,” Lena says softly, lacking any sort of confidence. Kara must hear it because she pulls Lena into a hug and kisses the crown of her head.

“You sure you’re okay?” Kara asks again, likely tuning into the unsteady drumline of Lena’s heart.

“Just a little shaken,” Lena admits before lightly pulling out of Kara’s hug and taking a step back. “I’ll be fine.”

Kara doesn’t look entirely convinced, but she doesn’t press, just nods a bit and looks around. “Well, I’ll get these out of here,” she says, hands on her hips as she looks around the office. “And then you can get back to work.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Lena protests, but Kara just arches a brow at her.

“And how are you going to explain why your office is full of flowers to Jess?”

Lena laughs, concedes the point with a tilt of her head. “I gave Jess paid leave so it’s someone else from my team of assistants I’ll have to convince, but I see what you mean.”

With a quick gust of air that ruffles her blouse, Lena watches as the flower arrangements pop out of view one by one as Kara whizzes around the office. Eventually the office is restored to its usual spartan appearance and Kara is standing in the middle of the now empty floor with a smile and fists propped on her hips.

“Well,” Lena says with a quirk of her brow as she retakes her seat at her desk. “Knowing you certainly comes with some perks.”

Kara strides forward, chuckles softly. “Oh, all kinds of perks,” she says in a tone that’s far too suggestive for Lena not to take notice. When she glances up at Kara’s eyes they’re dancing with mirth, a light flush dusting Kara’s cheeks.

“Do you want to have dinner later?” Lena asks, twirling a pen around her fingers as she leans forward at her desk.

The smile on Kara’s face widens. “What? Like a date?”

Lena shrugs a shoulder. “Do you know what that is?”

With a roll of her eyes as her only reply, Kara turns to walk towards the double doors that lead out of the office before Lena stops her. “Seeing as my assistant didn’t see you arrive in my office and that I’m supposed to be on a conference call with our partners in China, I’d advise you take an alternate route,” Lena says, gesturing towards her balcony door.

“Right,” Kara says, twirling on her heel and walking that direction. “Good call.”

Pulling her laptop towards her and waking it up, Lena keeps her eyes on the screen even as she says, “So I’ll see you for dinner?”

“It’s a date,” Kara answers with a cheeky grin that Lena barely catches before Kara’s propelling off the ground and spinning into her supersuit before taking off into the air.

--

It’s a bit startling how quickly Lena falls back into routine with Kara. Even with the looming threat of an other-dimension trickster liable to interfere with their lives at any moment, Lena’s life starts to become a kind of predictable she hasn’t experienced since college. 

They don’t spend every single night together, but it starts to become familiar again to have Kara in bed next to her. There are nights where she’ll wake up randomly and feel her chest start to ache at the sound of Kara’s snoring and the sleepy way she reaches for Lena without opening her eyes.

The telltale sound of Kara’s feet thudding onto the balcony - either at home or her office - starts to become something her hearing reaches out for in the silence of her long days.

What’s not familiar is the sound of Supergirl crashing into a conference room table during a meeting with her PR team. The entire room jumps up as it happens, chairs flying backwards as the table cracks and breaks under Kara’s weight.

Lena’s grateful she’s already standing and against the far wall when it happens.

Clearly just as surprised as everyone else in the room, Kara groans as she gets up from the now completely destroyed table and Lena sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. How she’s going to explain how Supergirl just manifested into the building she’s not sure, but that feels like a problem for another time.

As it is, Lena’d like to usher Kara out of the room before their trickster friend inevitably shows up.

“Supergirl,” Lena greets formally with a nod of her head and a glance to the rest of the room filled with ten of her employees, all of them gaping as the Girl of Steel brushes debris off her shoulder.

“Miss Luthor,” Kara says, looking about as frustrated as Lena feels. “Sorry for the interruption.”

“Not at all,” she answers with a polite smile, wanting to get Kara out of the room while her employees are still frozen in the shock of the moment. “Let me see you out.”

It’s a bit ridiculous considering Kara could just fly out the windows lining the conference room walls, but Lena walks to the door nonetheless and opens it, gesturing for Kara to take the exit.

Her assistant - Hector - is sitting outside the room, answering e-mails on a tablet and she stops near him. “Could you have a cleaning crew sent up to take care of the office and relocate the meeting down the hall?”

“Right away, Miss Luthor,” he answers promptly, stuttering only a bit when he catches sight of Supergirl standing behind her. 

As he leaves to follow her instructions, she shows Kara towards the privacy of her office, smothering a smile at every L Corp employee they pass that can’t help but double take at the Girl of Steel strolling around the hallway.

“That table was expensive,” Lena says as she closes the doors to her office behind them. It’s half teasing, half serious admonishment. The budget L Corp has to account for just to clean up after Kryptonian-caused messes is becoming far larger than Lena’d prefer. “And so was the hologram device on top of it.”

“I’ll pay you back,” Kara says looking mostly apologetic.

“Were you in the middle of a fight?” Lena asks and she tugs a broken piece of desk out of Kara’s hair.

“Trying to stop this gang of car thieves over on the north side of town,” Kara explains. “Do you think I’m safe to leave or am I just going to end up crashing back into your office?”

Lena shrugs. “I’m not sure why our friend hasn’t shown up yet.”

With a soft noise of disgust, Kara surveys the office as if Mxy is hiding somewhere. “I can’t imagine what he wants this time that couldn’t wait until I was done fighting crime,” Kara adds, the last bit a little louder into the room.

At that, a pop of air announces the entrance of Mxyzptlk, who appears perched on the back of Lena’s couch. “Ladies,” he greets with a wide smile.

“What do you want?” Kara bites out, spinning on her heel to face him and keeping Lena slightly behind her.

“I’ve been thinking venue,” he says, crossing his legs and propping an elbow on his knee. He taps at his chin in thought.

“We don’t have time for this,” Lena says, frustration bubbling up that Kara can’t just punt this guy back to the fifth dimension. “I was in the middle of a meeting.”

“This is your wedding, Lena,” Mxy says, jumping off the couch to pace towards them. Kara grabs for Lena’s wrist in reaction and keeps them close together. “You only get one of those.” He tilts his head a bit, eyes bouncing around. “Technically.”

“Fine,” Kara says with a calm Lena doesn’t really feel. “We’ll talk about it. But you have got to leave us alone. And stop interrupting our days with this.”

“It’s important,” he says with a bit of heat in the way his eyes narrow.

“We know,” Lena replies, stepping forward a bit even as Kara stops her from going too far. “But we’d prefer to take care of these details on our own schedule. Or at least at a time when we are already together instead of just -”

“Teleporting us,” Kara snaps at him and he rolls his eyes.

“If you’d just start taking this more seriously I wouldn’t have to force you to come together like this,” he says, putting his hands out like what he’s saying is entirely reasonable.

“Do you think we wouldn’t take our own wedding seriously?” Kara says, sounding deeply annoyed. Mxy rolls his eyes again, stepping onto Lena’s couch and down onto the ground, his hands drifting in front of him as he starts manifesting different photographs out of thin air and watching them fall from the a space above their heads to her desk.

“If I left you two to it, you’d go down to City Hall,” Mxy says. “All this too busy and having lives. As if that’s more important than the wedding of the century - nay, the millenia!”

“That’s not the point-” Kara starts, but is interrupted when a photograph hits her in the face and Lena reacts just quickly enough to catch it. The picture is immediately recognizable and she feels her eyes nearly roll up into her head. 

“The Metropolis Public Library?” Lena asks in a droll tone, but Mxy just smiles.

“It’s quite the venue, I assure you,” he says with a grin. “You should really consider it.” 

“I’m not getting married in Metropolis,” Lena says and Kara snatches the picture out of her hand, looking down at it and flipping it over to reveal a series of details on the size of the venue and its rates.

“Progress! What other destinations are a no-go?” Mxy says, as more pictures start fluttering around them.

“The Rockefeller Center?” Kara asks after plucking another picture out of the air and observing it.

Lena snatches another one, mostly out of curiosity, and a barking laugh comes out of her. “We’re certainly not getting married in Westminster Abbey.”

Kara is now back to glaring at Mxy. “You really don’t know us at all,” she says darkly.  

“Oh please,” he says, waving her off. With the gesture, another series of pictures fall and Lena catches sight of what looks like the Taj Mahal. “I’ve seen the best and the worst of you.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with City Hall,” Kara says, as if that’s the important part of the argument, but Lena doesn’t interrupt. “Maybe that’s what we want. Something quiet and-”

“Kara,” Mxy interrupts with a laugh. “You can’t get married as if it’s an afterthought or something to squeeze in your schedule between lunch and an afternoon meeting.”

“We’ll get married where we want to get married,” Kara bites out, frowning.

Mxy’s smile never falters. “Well yes of course, darling. That’s why you’re here. To decide where you want to get married.”

Kara’s frown only deepens and she picks up a photo from where it’s fallen near her. “Like Wayne Manor?”

Lena laughs. “You clearly don’t know Bruce very well,” she comments idly and Kara turns questioning eyes her way, but Mxy interrupts before anything more can be said.

“Look, ladies. You two are a power couple the likes of which the universe won’t see for a long time. All the other fifth dimensionals will be jealous when they see what a coupe I’ve scored - getting our favorite Earth lovers married and taking you all around. I mean, you’ll be famous.”

Kara takes a protective step forward as if Mxy’s liable to kidnap them right that second and glowers at him. “Leave us alone.” 

With a roll of his eyes, Mxy flicks his wrist and the photos organize themselves across Lena’s desk. “All I’m saying is that you need to pick a venue that reflects who you are.”

“Get out,” Kara says, her jaw clenching. “Let us look at our stupid wedding venues in peace.”

“Okay, okay,” Mxy says, putting up his hands. He smiles at Lena.  “Lena, be a dear and do your magic thing with your fiancé, okay? She looks like she might tear a hole in the wall.”

He pops out of existence nearly as quickly as he came. Kara does, in fact, look like she might try to take out a portion of the wall, but her shoulders drop when Lena grabs for her hand, gathering her attention.

Her gaze goes to the scattering of photographs across her desk and she picks one up with a short laugh. “How would you like to get married at Luthor Manor?” Lena asks, showing the photo to Kara with a grin when Kara’s face pales like she might throw up.

“You know that place is haunted, right?” Kara says.

“It is not,” Lena tsks, swatting Kara with the picture.

“Yes it is,” Kara insists. “And now you’ve brought that clock into your apartment. Your apartment is probably haunted too. With your ancestors. Who all hate aliens.”

“They must enjoy the show then,” Lena says, grinning, and Kara’s face goes bright red. 

“Lena!”

--

The next time Mxy teleports them, she ends up in Kara’s tiny CatCo office and the look on Kara’s face when she arrives puts her immediately on edge.

Mxy is smiling - the same casual grin he always has - but Kara’s jawline is tight and her body posture is that like she’s bracing to get hit.

“What’s going on?” Lena asks slowly and she keeps her eye on Mxy as she rounds Kara’s desk to arrive at her side.

“Just checking in,” Mxy answers and Kara’s arm feels like stone when Lena wraps her fingers around it, tugging slightly on the heavy bracelet against Kara’s wrist.

“Get. Out,” is all Kara says and Lena can almost feel the rolling waves of anger Kara’s putting out.

“Kara, darling,” Mxy says in a placating tone that makes Lena want to smack him. “It’s important to talk about these things before your nuptials. Air out all that dirty laundry and everything.”

“Talk about what?” Lena asks warily, looking between the stony expression on Kara’s face and the calm, entreating one on Mxyzptlk’s.

“Nothing,” Kara says in a way that conveys the exact opposite. Lena glances at Kara’s face again, notes the way it vibrates with tension and focuses on a problem she might be able to solve - getting Mxy out of there.

“Well, whatever it may be, I’m here now,” she says calmly, trying her best to convince Mxy. “Surely Kara and I are meant to talk about it alone.”

“A mediator never hurts,” Mxy says, falling into one of the plastic chairs in Kara’s office.

“Lena and I don’t need a mediator,” Kara tells him, flinching forward in his direction.

He sighs, lets his head flop back in an exaggerated motion. “You know, you two take all the fun out of wedding planning. I mean, honestly.” When he picks his head back up and looks at them he just makes a little noise of reluctance before adding, “Very well then.” And with a snap of his fingers he poofs out of the room.

As soon as he’s gone, Lena turns to Kara and searches her face - still tight with emotion. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” Kara says, shaking her head and closing her eyes briefly.

“What did he want us to talk about?” Lena asks but Kara disengages from her grasp and moves away, adjusting her glasses in a fidgety motion and shuffling some papers on her desk in an obviously forced manner.

“Nothing,” Kara repeats and out of sight Lena rolls her eyes. “He’s crazy.”

“Kara,” Lena says, drawing her name out in a knowing tone.

Kara sighs, drops the papers she’s been playing with and looks at Lena with a sad tilt of her lips. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

The expression tugs hard at Lena’s ribcage and it’s a cold feeling to be isolated from Kara’s emotions like this, but she tries for a smile anyway. “Okay, I respect that,” she says, propping a hip against Kara’s desk.

“It’s nothing bad,” Kara says and this time she takes another step towards Lena, puts a hand at her bicep as if she can convey the truth of it through touch.

“I said it’s okay,” Lena says with quirk of her lips.

The expression on Kara’s face is forlorn - almost lost - and as she takes it in, it occurs to Lena what might have happened.

“You know,” she starts, reaching up to grab for Kara’s hand and twisting their fingers around each other. “When Mxy visited my office that time he wanted us to pick out flowers, he showed me some things.”

Kara’s eyes widen then and Lena knows she’s hit her mark. Her throat goes thick both at the memory of what Mxy had shown her that day and what he could have possibly shown Kara. “He did?” Kara asks, a frown deepinging on her lips.

“Yeah,” Lena says softly, clearing her throat against the sudden threat of emotion. “He did. He showed - he showed me -” She doesn’t know how to explain it. The creepy, vulnerable feeling of having been watched buzzes over her again coupled with the unstoppable feeling of guilt at the lingering images of what Kara looked like during their time apart.

“He showed you me,” Kara finishes for her in a soft, broken sounding voice.

Their eyes connect solidly and Lena nods. “Yeah.”

Kara lets out what sounds like a curse, but it’s clearly in Kryptonian and Lena’s never heard it before.

“He showed me you, too,” Kara says, slumping against her desk. Lena steps a little closer, fitting herself up against Kara’s side and fiddling with their entwined fingers. “He showed me you with Jack, and - arguing with Lex.”

“I’m sorry,” Lena says. It was one thing to see Kara sad over her, but she can imagine it’d be quite another to see Kara attempting to get together with James, for instance.

“I don’t like it when you’re sad and I can’t fix it,” Kara admits in a soft broken sounding voice.

Lena isn’t sure what to say to that other than express a similar feeling when it comes to Kara. So she sets her head on Kara’s shoulder, sinking into the familiar warmth, and lets Kara wrap her closer in a strong side hug. She blinks her eyes shut when Kara presses a kiss to her temple. 

“I’m not sad anymore,” Lena murmurs and she feels Kara’s lips curl into a smile.

“Me neither,” Kara whispers.  

--

They decide to have lunch together in the hopes that being in the same place might stave off Mxy’s need to interrupt their daily lives.

It turns out not to do what they intended because halfway through the meal he pops into Lena’s office, right into her office chair which spins around as he appears.

“We have to choose a cake,” Mxy says and with a snap of his fingers the room is filled with various cake samples.

Lena sighs as she drops her salad on the coffee table in front of her in between a piece of chocolate cake and one slice of red velvet. Before she can stand to tell him off, however, Kara reaches out to snag her wrist and keep her seated.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try them,” Kara says out of the side of her mouth and Lena looks at her incredulously until Kara shrugs. “I don’t want to waste cake.”

If the situation with Mxy weren’t so alarming, Lena would laugh.

--

In light of her recurring Mxy problem, she cancels on Lana with a carefully worded email about how she’s had to rely on newer assistants, now that Jess is on leave, and how she’s busy trying to put out various fires. Lex and his vaults are another problem for another day.

Lena’s down in the labs tinkering with some new medical device technology they’re working on when she feels the sudden an unexpected feel of pulling in her gut she’s come to associate with being teleported.

Sure enough the lab blinks away and next she knows she’s falling into a pair of familiar arms.

“Hi,” Kara says, almost uneventfully as she just gives Lena a bland expression.

“Hi,” Lena laughs as Kara sets her down and Lena looks around to realize they’re in some part of the DEO. Kara is sweating, the walls of the room glowing a vague green color, and Mon-El isn’t wearing a shirt. Winn looks to be happily enjoying his non-athletic activities, sitting behind a laptop set up at a small desk.

“Hey Lena,” Mon-El says, giving a wave and then kicking haphazardly at one of the cardboard standees around the room. Kara groans, her arms still sort of wrapped around Lena.

“That was a hostage,” Kara says with clear exasperation. “Again.”

Mon-El manages to look slightly sheepish, but he just kind of shrugs, goes to pick the cardboard visage of a small girl up from the ground.

“Winn, turn the Kryptonite off,” Kara says. “I have to fly Lena back to work before our stalker shows up.”

“Bye Lena,” Mon-El says, with a grin and another short wave.

“I can take a car,” Lena says to Kara, but it only earns her a pointed look and she smiles even as she makes a show of rolling her eyes.

“Trickster still tricking?” Winn says, making some small talk as he hits a series of buttons and the green glow drifts away. Kara’s shoulders straighten up and she rolls her head around as the effects of the Kryptonite start to wear off.

“Clearly,” Lena says, walking over to Winn and knocking her fist against his when he offers. She eyes the computer in front of him. “I thought Superman got rid of all the Kryptonite at the DEO.”  

Kara comes up next to her. “We kept just enough for the room,” she explains. “It can’t be extracted or anything so it’s safe enough.”

“That’s good,” Lena says, eying the training room with a small amount of interest.

“Come on,” Kara says, taking Lena’s hand in her own. “I think I can manage to fly you back.”

“Your confidence is so comforting,” Lena jokes, winking at Winn as Kara pulls her out of the room.

A couple agents give double takes as she passes by with Supergirl’s hand in hers, but most people seem intimidated by Kara’s presence as they head towards the small platform Kara uses as an entrance and exit.

“What do you think it is this time?” Lena asks, knowing they’re likely seconds away from a visit from Mxy.

“I don’t know,” Kara says with a shrug. “Last night I woke up to a stack of travel books on my bedside table. I think he wants us to pick a honeymoon destination.”

“You too?” Lena asks, thinking of a similar stack of books and brochures on her kitchen counter. “Any favorites? I was thinking Bora Bora.”

Kara rolls her eyes a bit, swings their hands as they step up onto the platform. “You actually looked at them?”

Lena shrugs. “They were there and I was bored this morning,” she admits, having flipped through them over her morning coffee. “Plus, it’s somewhere I’ve never been, and it’d be nice to get a tan in before we have to go be toured around the universe as some sort of gold standard of love and romance.”

Kara laughs. “I think you’re mixing up the words tan and burn,” she says, and Lena pokes at Kara’s ribs in mock indignation. It pulls an exaggerated pained sound out of Kara until Lena shoves her again and they’re both laughing.

“It’s not as if our honeymoon will involve much of going outside,” Lena adds and after a second of confusion at what she meant, Kara’s eyes go a little wide and she flushes.

It’s nice, for a moment, to pretend like this is a conversation they’re having of their own free will, one that’s not steeped in the threat of being carted off to another dimension.

Kara seems to be thinking the same thing because she tugs Lena in close. “As much as I enjoy talking about our fake honeymoon, we really need to do something about Mxyzptlk.”

Lena hums agreement, puts a steadying hand on Kara’s shoulder and smiles when Kara bends to slide an arm under her knees and lift her into the air. “I agree. If only so I can stop living my life waiting for the next moment I’m randomly teleported into your arms.”

Said arms tighten their hold on Lena. “I’ll call another team meeting tonight, see what we can come up with.”

Kara’s body coils, makes as if to jump into the air, but before it happens they’re being pulled through space again and the next thing Lena’s aware of is blue green ocean and bright sunshine.

“Seriously?!” Kara exclaims, looking around as she sets Lena down on what looks to be a wooden deck.

Underneath their feet is a trail of rose petals extending outward towards a solitary hut with a massive white canopy bed in the middle of it. It looks exactly like the brochure Lena had flipped through just that morning and she sighs.

“Bora Bora,” she says, though she imagines it’s obvious to Kara who is observing the sky with an unusual amount of disdain while her cape flutters softly in the breeze.

They walk towards the hut and it’s then that Lena takes notice of the obnoxious sign strung out over the railing of the deck that reads Newlyweds-in-Training

Kara kicks it and it splinters off its chain into the ocean below as Lena hides a laugh behind her hand.

With a popping sound that’s beginning to sound familiar, they both turn to see Mxyzptlk manifest on in front of them. He’s got a lei around his neck and is sipping out of a pineapple as he winks at them.

“Welcome!” He greets, and simultaneously, Kara and Lena cross their arms over their chest.

“The books weren’t enough?” Lena asks him and he just strides forward with a cheery grin.

“There’s nothing like experiencing it in person,” he says, with a wide gesture to their surroundings. “Books can’t do this justice.”

Knowing no amount of talking is going to convince him otherwise, Lena remains silent and so does Kara even as Mxy takes a circle around them, eying them up and down. “Now, we should probably get you out of those stuffy work clothes.”

A snap of his fingers and suddenly Kara’s out of her supersuit and standing in flip flops, board shorts and a bikini top. Lena’s eyes react to the sudden amount of skin showing, but then Mxy’s snapping his fingers again and her pencil skirt and blouse is suddenly replaced by a black swimsuit and flowy sarong.

“Much better,” he says with a pleased nod even as Kara’s arms tighten around herself in indignation. “Well then, I’ll leave you two to it. Always good to practice for the honeymoon.”

The last is delivered with a tilt of his head towards the bed and a wink that fills Lena with a thread of disgust, but then he’s gone with another popping sound and they’re both left standing half naked on a deck in Bora-Bora.

Kara scrapes a hand down her face and groans softly. “I’m rethinking my position on killing him,” she says and that makes the tension in Lena’s shoulders deflate a little as she laughs.

“I wouldn’t blame you,” she says, hands perching on her hips.

“Tell me you read enough about Bora Bora in those books to tell me which direction I need to fly us,” Kara says and Lena takes the hand Kara offers.

“I think I can get us there,” Lena replies as Kara scoops Lena back up into her arms. It’s a completely different feeling from before with a significantly less amount of clothing between them. Lena’s hands trace over the now bare skin of Kara’s shoulders and Kara’s fingers find perch on the skin of Lena’s thigh.

Despite the circumstances, Lena feels a warmth beat into her cheeks and Kara must notice the slight pickup of her heart because she shoots her an odd look that requires Lena to clear her throat before speaking.

“I can’t help but admit the appeal of a location that requires this kind of apparel,” she manages to say in a slow, steady tone that doesn’t betray the way her stomach is heating up.

A grin slowly spreads across Kara’s lips and her eyes flick down to take in Lena’s own black swimsuit. “I don’t disagree.” A hint of seriousness retakes Kara’s face. “But don’t make any more comments like that while I’m flying. I don’t want to drop you.”

Lena laughs, tugs affectionately at a strand of Kara’s hair. “No promises,” she says. “It’s a long flight, isn’t it?”

Kara doesn’t respond, just bends her knees like she does before launching into the air and Lena presses a quick kiss to her jawline. It makes Kara hop unsteadily for a moment before shooting Lena an exasperated look and finally jumping up into flight.

--

“What kind of name is Bora Bora?” Mon-El asks, his words altered by the spoon in his mouth. He’s carried over a pint of ice cream and a bowl to listen in on the meeting they’re having over the fate of Mxy.

“It’s from a longer Tahitian phrase,” Lena says. When Alex looks at her curiously, Lena shrugs. “It was in the book.”

“Let’s focus,” J’onn says, his arms crossing as he looks sternly across the group of people assembled.

“I almost flew us through a typhoon on the way back,” Kara says emphatically, pacing back and forth across the DEO central control platform. The entire team has been gathered after Kara got them a change of clothing and called an emergency meeting. “This is getting out of control. Tell me you have some ideas. Any ideas.”

Winn shrugs from his seat at one of the computers. “There are definitely some things down in the archives that might work on him. This one weapon in particular that-”

“I don’t want to kill him,” Kara interrupts. “If we don’t have to.”

“That might be the only way,” Alex says softly though she doesn’t look entirely pleased with that idea either. “If it comes down to that or to you two going back with him then…”

“There has to be another way,” Kara says forcefully and Lena steps forward to put her hand at the small of Kara’s back until her spine softens just the slightest.

“Well you can always try the get him to say his name backwards thing,” Mon-El adds casually as he scoops ice cream out of a pint in his hands.

They all turn to him with matching incredulous expressions. “Excuse me?” Kara asks and he looks at them with a confused expression.

“The get him to say his name backwards thing? It seals them back into the fifth dimension? Did you not know about that?”

“Uh, no,” Kara answers, hands on her hips as she narrows her eyes at Mon-El.

He shrugs. “Well, yeah, if he says his name backwards he gets ported back to the Fifth Dimension. It’s not like a permanent fix, but it gets him out of here.”

“How did you not bring this up before?” Kara asks, irritation leaking through her features. Mon-El blinks, uncertain.

“I assumed you knew that it was too hard. It’s not like his name is even easy to say frontwards, and he knows his weakness, right? He’s not just going to say it for you.”

Lena concedes that point with an arch of her brow and Kara turns to her on a heavy exhale. “It’s something at least,” she says, reaching out to tangle their fingers together.

“It’s something,” Lena agrees.

“Well then,” Kara says, observing the rest of the room. “Operation Get Mxyzptlk To Say His Name Backwards is a go.”

“You’re terrible at naming things,” Lena laughs just as Winn cringes and adds, “Leave the naming to the experts, Kara.”

Kara looks completely offended, but Lena kisses her cheek until the look goes away.

--

“These steins are deceiving,” Lena says, bumping into her brother’s side and picking up the heavy glassware. “I’ve only had two of these, but that’s actually - ”

“Like six beers,” Lex says before throwing the rest of his back and pounding the glass back down on the table in a triumphant gesture. “Happy birthday.”

“I can’t believe you got me drunk on beer,” Lena complains, eyes blinking up at the string of lights hanging between the trees that litter the beer garden they’re sitting in. “I hate beer.”

“You’re in Munich,” Lex says. “What else were we going to drink?”

“Literally anything else,” Lena points out and Lex jumps up to move towards the bar behind him selling beers.

“We need more if that’s the way you’re thinking,” he says, and before she can protest he’s pulling cash out of his pocket and striding quickly to acquire them two more beers.

Blowing out a low breath, Lena props her elbow on the wooden table in front of her and lets her head drop into her palm. Across the way there’s a young couple sitting at another table, steins half full and heads close together. They’re smiling and laughing and Lena looks away at the ache that presents in her chest.

Thankfully, Lex returns, two steins dropping loudly on the table, the beer sloshing over the top a bit and splashing on Lena’s arm. It makes her laugh and she swats at her brother who laughs at himself as he drops back down onto the bench.

“Okay,” he says, pushing one of the heavy steins her direction. “Drink up until you stop having that look on your face.”

“What look?”

“It’s your twenty-first birthday, Lena,” he says, as if that’s an answer and he reaches forward to pinch her cheeks until she shoves him off. “You shouldn’t look like someone shot your dog.”

“I do not look like that,” she protests before taking a grumpy sip of her beer.

“I’m just saying...it’s been enough time since…” The silence that follows is significant and Lena doesn’t need him to finish to realize what he’s referring to. It settles something heavy in her gut and her jaw tightens.  

“I don’t know what you mean,” she says, turning away from him to observe a group of tourists clanging their steins together in a loud chorus of some kind of cheer.

“You know,” he says and he scoots closer to her on the bench, slings an arm over her shoulder. “I’m sure we could find someone to wipe that look off your face and make you forget for a night.” He gestures towards a woman across the garden that’s stolen glances at them ever so often. Lena had noticed her earlier, but couldn’t decide if the looks were directed at Lex or at her.

“I don’t need to forget anything, Lex,” she says because even though the interest is flattering, the idea of a one night stand for the express reason of forgetting Kara makes her stomach churn a bit.

“It could do you some good,” he insists. “I have some experience in this arena.”

“Oh yes, because you’re the poster child for healthy coping mechanisms,” Lena says dryly and he scoffs.

Pulling away from her he puts his hand to his chest in exaggerated indignation that brings a quirk of a smile to Lena’s lips. “That hurts, Lena.”

“It was meant to, you ape,” she teases. When she shoves him he makes a show of falling over with the push and it spikes a hot piercing memory through her heart of Kara so suddenly she chokes on her laugh.  

If Lex notices he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he picks his stein up and clinks it against Lena’s before taking a long impressive sip of it. “Look, if you’re not going to go for some birthday companionship, the least you could do is be a good wingwoman.”

Before she can stop him he’s jumping up from the bench with his beer and reaching for her with his free hand. She barely has time to grab her own drink - as it is she spills it on the way up - before Lex is tugging them towards a group of people about their age congregated around another table.

“It’s my birthday, Lex,” she hisses to him in an attempt to stop his progress but he just laughs. 

“Sharing is caring, baby sister,” is his only indecipherable answer before they get in hearing range of the group.

His arm goes back around her shoulders as they approach and his smile goes wide and charming. Lena barely stops herself from rolling her eyes as he greets the group with loud enthusiasm. 

He almost mortally insults the group as he introduces himself as Clark Kent, mispronouncing a couple words so atrociously that Lena can’t help but cringe underneath her beer haze. But the group is excited to be making American friends, and they teach them some songs and one of them buys them another round, and the next thing she knows, she and Lex are stumbling through the streets of Munich, back to their hotel.  

“I don’t know why you didn’t take that girl - what’s her name - Carina, Carrie, Caroline - what was it?” Lex is practically draped over her as they walk, his arm heavy across her shoulders, but she’s grateful to have him close enough to lean on. “She was blonde and cute and she did biology. The suite has separate bedrooms, you could have-”

“I’m not taking any girl anywhere, no matter what her name is or whether she does biology,” Lena says as they swerve to avoid a late night biker and nearly run into a lamp post.

“Because you’re still all hung-”

“Because I’m drunk,” Lena interrupts and Lex hums in consideration of what is an obvious fact.

“It’s okay that you still miss her,” he says and it drops between them like something casual, like it’s not the reason why sleep still eludes her some nights or why she focuses so single-mindedly on work whenever she can.

“Lex,” she sighs, because she’s drunk and the world looks blurry and the last thing she wants to do is think more about Kara than she has to. That just spells disaster. Tear-filled disaster.

“I’m just saying it’s okay, but it shouldn’t prevent you from living your life,” he continues and she shoves him off her a little bit until he’s pulling her to a halt and wrapping her up in a hug in the middle of the sidewalk. “We don’t have to talk about it. I just want you to be happy.”

Lena lets herself sink into the embrace, comforted slightly by the solid, strong feeling of his hug. “Thanks.”

“I love you,” he says quietly and she laughs if only to stave off the hot prickly feeling in the back of her eyes.

“You’re drunk,” she says, pulling away from him.

He smiles proudly, slings his arm back around her shoulders to continue their walk home. “So very true, Lena. So very true.”  

The morning comes along with a raging headache and the kind of nausea that tells her she won’t be doing anything involving movement for the better part of the morning.

Lex orders a ridiculous amount of food to their suite around lunchtime and when they finally wander back out into the city it’s with matching pairs of sunglasses even though it’s overcast and nearly evening.

They walk to a nearby restaurant that had been recommended by the concierge and Lena nearly falls over when Lex orders them both two steins of beer. Just the thought of imbibing again is making her stomach turn over.

Lex dismisses her indignation with a wave and leans across the table towards her. “Time to get back on the horse, baby sister. It’s your birthday trip.”  

It’s said with a pointed look over the top of his sunglasses and Lena feels like it might be about more than just drinking. Thankfully, he doesn’t elaborate any further, just slides her one of the menus on the table and asks her what she’s hungry for.

As their beers arrive with an ominous thud on the table, Lena lets herself observe her brother - leaned back in his chair, sunglasses slipping on his face and his hair not as put together as it normally is. She doesn’t want to talk about Kara - wants to think about her even less - but there’s something comforting in having someone else at least be aware of the ever-present elephant in the room.

“Lex,” she says softly, waits until he looks at her. “I love you. Thank you for taking me on this trip.”

He winks at her, smiles casually and clinks his beer against hers. “Anytime. Happy Birthday.”

--

In an effort to avoid being randomly teleported to each other, Lena and Kara both decide to work remotely from the DEO.

They find a conference room with which to work from and even Winn sets up shop there to keep them company. Mon-El shows up for a portion of the time, this time toting a larger Rubik’s cube and spinning it around in the silence of the room.

Kara spends the time typing away at her laptop on an article Lena knows is about the sudden mysterious disappearance of Cadmus and her mother. She’s spotted Kara typing evil bitch in place of Lillian Luthor a few times before deleting it.

For her part, Lena works on delegating projects and sending over some information to Lana about an upcoming meeting. She has her new primary assistant – Alana – field the majority of her calls and reschedule any meetings she can’t handle by phone.

Around lunchtime, Alex takes the opportunity of having Lena in the DEO to pull her aside. “I thought with you here we could talk about my dad,” Alex says softly as they walk through the base.

“I haven’t had much luck,” Lena admits. “I’ve gone through a lot of what you’ve given me, but nothing has come up.”

“I know you’ve been busy,” Alex says. “I’m not trying to rush you or anything. It’s not like you don’t have a million other things to worry about with your own family.”

Lena pauses at that, looks at Alex for a moment before reaching out to circle Alex’s forearm. “You’re my family too,” she says softly and Alex’s face goes still.

She doesn’t get a response other than a brief nod and Alex’s jaw going tight with emotion. They both let the moment pass and Lena goes back to the subject at hand.

“I’ll go through some more files while I’m here and let you know if I find anything.”

“Thanks, Lena,” Alex says and she pushes forward to hug her tightly.

--

Despite protests from both Alex and Lena, Kara refuses to cancel game night. “I’m not going to let some trickster imp from a fifth dimension ruin the first time Lena can actually come over for games,” she cites as a reason.

“It’s not like he won’t like it,” she tells Lena. “I mean we’ll be together, right? So he should be fine and no one will have to get teleported.”

When Lena gets to Kara’s apartment everyone is already there and Winn is the one who opens the door to greet her, reaching out to pull her into a quick friendly hug. “Tell Kara you want to play Arkham Horror. She’ll listen to you,” he whispers into her ear.

“I can hear you, Winn,” Kara calls out and then she’s up next to them pulling Lena away from him and into her side. “We’re playing Catan. Lena’s never played.”

“How do you know that?” Lena asks with an arch of her brow.

Kara’s head whips over to her. “You played Catan with someone that wasn’t me?!”

“It’s a popular game,” Lena teases, but she relents when Kara looks like she’s actually hurt at the idea that someone else taught her how to play a board game Kara tried for ages to get Lena to play in college. “I’m kidding, darling. I’ve never played.”

James walks over then and hands Lena a glass of wine with a soft smile. “Hey, Lena. Welcome.”

“Thanks, James.” He lingers then, as if he wants to say more, but must seem to think the better of it and just nods at her before moving away.

Lucy is there too and she’s arguing vehemently over something with Alex while Maggie just watches them both with her brows pulled together and a bottle of beer hovered near her mouth. J’onn nods at her with a kind smile from the corner of the couch.

“What’s that about?” Lena asks quietly as Kara walks them towards the living room.

“Trust me, you do not want to know,” Kara says.

They all settle around a table Kara has set up with the game already open and spread out across the surface. Lena reaches for the rulebook sitting near the box but before she can even start to read it, a loud pop makes her jump and the whole group startles as Mxyzptlk announces his presence with a loud clap.

“Excellent!” He says as he waltzes forward and Mon-El, who is just coming in from the bathroom presumably, points at him and looks at Lena.

“The imp?” He asks and Mxy looks offended at the name but doesn’t say anything.

Lena nods and without any preamble, Mon-El steps forward to take a swing at him. A NO is barely out of Kara’s mouth before Mxy dissipates and Mon-El’s punch just smacks into nothing but air.

“Not worth it,” Kara hisses and she hauls Mon-El backwards. He gives her an unapologetic shrug.

“You’d be surprised by how many problems can be solved with punching,” he says.

Behind them Lena can hear Mxy sigh and she turns to him.

“Anyway,” he says. “Before I was so rudely interrupted by the neanderthal here, shall we get started?”

“Get started with what?” Alex asks and Lena can just spot the way she’s reaching behind her back as if to grab for a weapon. Maggie and Lucy are both flanking her with defensive postures like they’re prepping for battle.

“The wedding!” He exclaims and with a snap of his fingers Kara’s apartment transforms into a chaotic blur of white and red and blue and something resembling an altar takes shape across the room.

Another snap and Lena feels a dress settle over her body like it had the first time they’d met Mxy. Around the room, people’s casual clothing disappears into formalwear.

“Oh hell no,” Lena hears Alex say and in a flurry of motion guns get drawn and a shot of energy goes off. It hits Mxy straight in the chest and for a brief moment Lena thinks maybe Alex actually killed him. He hunches over as if in pain and stills, but seconds later he’s laughing and wagging a chastising finger in Alex’s direction.

Lena spares a moment at how odd it is to see Alex Danvers in a red bridesmaid dress holding a weapon out - or perhaps it’s really not odd at all. In fact - everyone has been transformed into wedding attire it seems.

Winn and Mon-El are both in suits with matching blue ties, while Lucy is in a matching blue dress. James and J’onn are wearing suits with red ties, and Maggie is in a red dress that matches Alex’s.

Just as it looks like Mxy’s about to snap his fingers - likely to pop Alex out of existence - Kara is sliding in between them and holding her hands out, her own wedding dress swinging about her legs. “Wait!”

“She’s standing in the way of your eternal happiness, Kara. Let me take care of her. Think of it as an early wedding gift.”

“They’re not getting married,” Alex snaps out and then seems to think about that for a second. “At least not because you’re forcing them to, you creep.”

“I’m an all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being,” Mxyzptlk says. “If I don’t get what I want...it could be very bad for your world.”

He makes a move as if to snap his fingers again, but Kara just moves forward quickly, her palms outstretched. “Mxy!”

He keeps his eyes on Alex, but acknowledges Kara with a quirk of his lips. “Yes, Kara?”

“I can’t get married without my sister,” she says with a hesitant smile. “So don’t zap her out of here.”

Narrowed eyes, he seems to consider that a moment before relenting. “Very well,” he says. “So does that mean…”

With a look at Lena, Kara takes a deep breath and nods. “We’ll get married. I mean, you were right. The boat has already sailed on that one.”

Lena feels her eyes go wide, but she bites her tongue, can tell Kara has something planned.

“But not here,” Kara adds. “Not now.”

That seems to reverse any sort of relief that had begun to spread on Mxy’s face and he frowns again, his hands starting to rise into the air. “Kara, I’m running out of patience here.”

“We’d like to do it in the Kryptonian tradition, on Kryptonian soil,” Kara tells him and Lena tries to figure out where this is going, but can’t follow.

Mxy, however, looks entirely pleased. “Kryptonian soil,” he muses and then raises his fingers as if to snap some into existence before Kara darts a hand out to stop him.

“We were thinking the Fortress of Solitude,” she clarifies. “Tomorrow.”

The excited glint in his eyes doesn’t leave and he just claps his hands together. “Tomorrow. I suppose we can postpone until then. Noon, shall we say?”

Kara looks over to Lena who steps forward and decides to go with Kara’s plan - whatever the hell it is. “Noon is perfect,” she says with a forced smile.

“Ah, wonderful. I will snap up the caterer. And - you all,” he says, gesturing around the room at their friends. “Please do not get a speck on your outfits. See you tomorrow for the wedding of the century!”

And he disappears with a snap of his fingers

“Kara, what the hell?” Alex is hissing as she steps forward and while Lena’d like a similar answer, she steps in between the sisters just slightly enough to glare at Alex. 

“I thought Kryptonians just had to exchange bracelets and speak the vows to get married,” Mon-El says, tugging at his tie to loosen it. “Why do you need to go to the Fortress?”

“I have an idea,” Kara says, ignoring his comment for the most part. “I think I can get him to say his name. Or at least write it.”

J’onn crosses his arms over his chest, observing them. “In some cultures, writing something down is the truly saying it,” he says and Kara nods. “That should work just as well.”

“What’s the plan then?” Alex asks, stepping forward.

“The plan is to get married,” Kara says simply, holding her hand out for Lena’s. Lena takes the offered hand, but her brows pull together. Before she can say anything, Kara pulls her in close, lips next to her ear as she subvocally reminds Lena that, “Just follow my lead.”

“You know, I know that no one else wants to be the one to say this, but don’t you think red and blue is a bit on-the-nose for a color scheme?” Winn asks, reaching over and pulling at James’s tie. 

“Everyone else is worried about alien trickster villain who wants to kidnap our friends, I think,” Lucy says and then pauses a bit before adding, “But I do agree.”

“I am excited to be chosen for the blue team,” Mon-El says, successfully unknotting his tie until it hangs loose around his neck.

“They’re not teams, bud,” Winn says, patting him gently on the shoulder. It’s a small comfort in the face of an unnerving tomorrow.

--

Lena’d only learned of the Fortress of Solitude after her mother and Cadmus broke into it to retrieve the Medusa virus. Kara hadn’t spoken much of it back then other than her note that it served like a vault of memories - all of Kal and Kara’s possessions that related to Krypton, including a full database of information.

It’s nothing like she expected. Though, to be fair, she hadn’t ever really been sure what to expect.

It takes much longer to fly there than she had anticipated and when Kara sets them down on what looks like an iceberg, Lena looks around in confusion.

“Let me just get the key,” Kara tells her, walking over to the side and kicking some snow away.

It’s nothing short of freezing where they are. Lena pulls the parka around her shoulders tighter and fights a shiver while Kara digs into a nearby pile of snow to pull out a giant golden key that she slots into the side of an ice wall.

The doors open with a grandiose shake and Kara pulls them both inside.

The first thing Lena notices are giant statues holding up a blue orb in the middle of the space.

“Uncle Jor-El and Aunt Lara,” Kara tells her softly as they stare up at the imposing figures. “Kal’s parents.”

Kara pulls her further inside and explains some of the content - the pod that brought Kal to Earth, a pedestal featuring a small ring with a symbol that almost looks like an L on it, and a half-built robot.

Kara cringes a little upon seeing the last bit. “I sort of destroyed Kelex when I was here last,” she says. “Henshaw hacked into him so he registered me as an intruder.”

Lena gingerly picks up a piece of the broken robot and eyes Kara with raised brows. “Seems excessive.”

“I told Kal I’d rebuild him,” Kara grumbles and Lena laughs.

“You’re terrible at robotics,” Lena says knowingly.

Kara scoffs, hands on her hips as she turns an affronted look upon Lena. “Just because you’re like ridiculously good at something doesn’t mean I’m terrible at it. It’s all relative.”

“Sure,” Lena drawls out, trying not to laugh again, but Kara’s struggling against a smile too.

Before they can say more a pop of energy alerts them to Mxy’s sudden presence and they turn to see him leaned up against the center console in the middle of the fortress.

“Ladies!” He greets. “Welcome!”

With a flourish of his hands the fortress around them explodes into color as flowers fill the space and a band appears in the corner playing soft music.

“Mxyzptlk,” Kara tries to interrupt, but he’s undeterred. A bottle of champagne is in his hands now and he pours two glasses with a smile.

“What a day, what a day,” he murmurs to himself and Lena watches as Kara moves over to the console he’s drifted away from. “No guests, but that’s understandable - clearly not the sort of people you’d want ruining wedding photos. Though I will need those suits back. We can talk about that later, of course…”

“We’re not getting married, Mxy,” she tells him and he pauses abruptly midpour.

Lena’s not sure exactly what Kara’s plan is, but she stays close by and keeps an eye on everyone’s movements.

“Kara,” he says with a condescending kind of lilt to his voice. “Must you jerk me around like this?”

“We’re not jerking you around,” Lena says. “We told you that we didn’t want to get married.”

“Is it cold feet? Because we can talk about that,” Mxy says, pressing the tips of his fingers together like he’s about to start spouting psychotherapy.

“No cold feet,” Kara says definitively, her posture tall and frame strong. Mxy considers her for a moment before he deflates a little, looking annoyed.

“It’s in your best interest and, frankly, the best interest of your world that you do what I want.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Kara says, wagging a finger at him in an almost cocky kind of manner that has any nerves inside Lena easing. It’s always quite a sight to watch Kara fully lean into her role as Earth’s protector and throw around the kind of confidence that would come unsurprisingly to someone who is indisputably the most powerful being on Earth.

“What’s the thing?” Mxy asks, confused as he glances between the two of them.

“You can make us do a lot of things, but there’s something you can’t make us do isn’t there?”

Lena looks over at Kara and tries to follow where she’s going. Her memory calls back to when they first met Mxzyptlk and he listed off the few things he couldn’t compel them to do. It occurs to her just as Kara begins pressing a series of buttons on the console what the plan might be.

“What are you doing?” Mxy asks with urgency, but Kara’s too fast for him and the computerized voice of the fortress rings out.

Now sealing the Fortress of Solitude, it says and he looks up around them now.

“I’m setting the Atomic Cauldron to self destruct,” Kara tells him and the pieces finally click together for Lena.

“The Atomic whatnow?”

“The Fortress has one of the most powerful fusion furnaces on Earth,” Kara explains, stalking forward with a triumphant smirk on her face. “I’m overloading the sunstones at its core.”

Atomic Cauldron fusion increased two thousand percent.

Mxy’s eyes go wide in realization. “Kara, let’s not be hasty,” he says. “You can’t - I mean you don’t want to - Lena’s in here.”

“Yeah,” Kara says and when she puts her back to Mxy and looks at Lena her expression clearly says trust me. Lena doesn’t hesitate, just reaches for Kara’s hand and steps forward into Kara’s side. “You can’t stop us from killing ourselves. It’s in the rules.”

It spikes a momentary tendril of fear down Lena’s spine - that’s quite the bluff Kara’s about to play - but she takes comfort in the strength of Kara’s fingers where they intertwine with her own.

He laughs a little, but he nods, wagging a finger at her. “Oh, you’re good. You’re good, aren’t you?”

Lena clears her throat. “When the cauldron finally overloads it will explode with the force of a 400 megaton bomb,” she tells him, venturing a guess really, but saying it with the kind of confidence she knows he’ll believe.

“You two really are made for each other, aren’t you?” he says almost reverently before taking a deep breath. “But I know you, Kara. You’re not going to kill the love of your life. Lena here might have some kind of death wish, but you…you’d never do anything that would hurt her.”

Kara’s grip on Lena’s hand goes a little tighter and her expression looks a little lost in the face of that flawless logic so Lena clears her throat. “It was my idea,” she tells him with a lift of her chin. “As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter what happens to us.”

Mxy looks at her, a genuine shadow of fear in his eyes. “So you’d rather kill the woman you love than marry her?!”

Lena lifts her chin, trying to seem authoritative even though she feels nothing like it. “You’ve forced our hand.”

“I can’t believe this. You’d kill each other, destroy the last remainder of your beloved planet, all because you don’t want to get married?!” He exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air as he turns to them. “What is the big deal? It’s not as if that’s not where you’re headed anyway!”

“It’s not getting married that we have a problem with,” Kara says and Lena’s fingers play quietly with the bracelet on Kara’s wrist. “It’s the living with you forever part.”

Lena stares him dead on. “We’d rather die here than be forced off this Earth with you.”

Kara’s fingers squeeze her own and Lena smiles.

“Look, let’s not get hasty. Why don’t we just, um, control-alt-delete this? We can talk about it when our deaths aren’t imminent.”

He skips around them and looks down at the console. It’s all in Kryptonian, Lena can see, and it’s clear by the way he just stares at it that Mxyzptlk doesn’t read a lick of it. So much for knowing more languages than Kara’s tiny Kryptonian brain could conceive of.

“I’m not telling you the code,” Kara says, and he brightens.

“So there is a code?!” In a flash, there’s a book in his hand and they both watch as he flips through its pages, clearly trying to make sense of the buttons.

“I don’t have time to learn your stupid moon language,” he says in a frustrated growl, throwing the book to the side.

Atomic Cauldron detonation in one minute.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Mxy groans and he drops to his knees. “I’m begging you. Don’t do this, please. What if you survive this, Kara? You’re nearly invulnerable. What if you wake up a couple months from now as super as ever and you’ve killed Lena?”

Kara pauses again, real fear playing on her face, and Lena grips her hand tighter.

“You’ve given us no choice,” Lena says, looking down at him.

“I’ll give you anything,” he offers, looking at them. “World peace? You want world peace? I can give it to you. Your brother,” he says this time at Lena, his hand outstretched. “You want your brother back! I can make it happen. I can do anything.”

Lena feels herself freeze and Kara must too because she releases Lena’s hand and steps forward as if to hit Mxyzptlk who scrambles back upward to his feet.

“Please, Kara,” he continues to beg. “The world needs Supergirl. You can’t just abandon this Earth.”

“The world has Superman,” she says and it pulls Lena’s eyes towards Kara for a moment, reading the short crack in Kara’s tone as she says it.

Mxy’s eyes turn towards Lena. “And L Corp. Are you really ready to leave L Corp? What kind of legacy are you abandoning it to?”

It’s all a bluff, Lena reminds herself. There’s no way Kara’s going to let anything happen to either of them, but the thought of it still sends a short shiver across her skin. When Lena doesn’t respond, Mxy lets out a loud groan, turning back to Kara. 

“You know how important she is,” he says. “Lena Luthor is going to change the world with science and business and L Corp will be a force for good, and - even with no L Corp! Lena has a hospital, and a billion charities, and millions of people who look up to her! Kara, you can’t take that from the world!” 

Kara’s jaw goes nearly so tight that Lena is certain she might break it, but she squeezes at Kara’s hand as hard as she can. Mxy turns to her then, clearly just lashing out wherever he thinks is weakest.

“The world might have Superman, but Supergirl is about hope and compassion and the Earth needs that, more than ever! And Kara Danvers? You loved her before you ever thought about Supergirl. You know how good she is. Don’t take that away!” 

“You were going to take it away anyway,” Lena says, slowly, trying not to let the hot feeling in her chest distract her.

“We can do some negotiations! You love negotiations!”

When he gets no response, he throws his hands up in the air and spins in a circle almost four complete times, clearly unsure what to do. But he centers his gaze back on them. 

"And the two of you together! You can change the world. A Luthor, a Super. You could have kids, and a family and a life! You've always wanted that. I know you have! Please. Turn off the stupid Cauldron. Think about your future. Together."

There’s a moment of silence as he looks at them pleadingly, until Kara lets out a long sigh.

“Fine,” she says and he puts a triumphant fist in the air. “I’ll tell you the code.”

They both walk up to the console and Kara walks him through it. “That one,” she says pointing and Lena moves forward to see what they’re doing. “That one. That one.”

Lena sees it immediately. It’s in Kryptonian, but it’s spelling out Mxyzptlk’s name backwards. Genius.

When it’s finished the computer indicates their success.

Atomic Cauldron detonation cancelled it says and the code he just inputted appears on the holographic screen in front of them. Kara reaches out to press another button and the code suddenly translates: K L T P Z Y X M

A victorious feeling crashes through Lena - a satisfying feeling of pleasure at having bested this all-knowing all-powerful creature takes hold of her and she can’t help but smile as she feels it.

Mxy freezes, his jaw dropping in shock as he slowly straightens up from the console. “You made me write my name backwards,” he accuses, turning incredulous eyes to Kara who steps back and retakes her place next to Lena.

“Yup. On some planets, writing something is truly saying it,” she says and Lena curls her arm through Kara’s, watching as Mxy sputters in indignation.

“You tricked me!”

“Time to go home, Mxy,” Kara tells him and just as he starts to walk towards them his hand begins to disappear in a swirl of blue energy.

“This isn’t over,” he threatens Kara, but she just smiles.

“It is.”

With that, the rest of him dissipates and Kara lets out a long exhausted breath, tension seeping out of her as they’re left in the fortress alone.

They’re silent for a bit in the wake of his absence as if waiting for him to pop back in front of them. Long seconds pass before they both seem to feel satisfied and Lena sags into Kara’s side, laughs a little as she strokes a hand down Kara’s back. 

It strikes her that it doesn’t feel that unfamiliar to be standing here next to Kara having just bested some kind of extranormal being or other threat to their lives. She runs her eyes up Kara’s red and blue suit and asks, “Do you think we’ll ever have a normal life?”

Kara laughs, quirks a brow in Lena’s direction. “Do you want one?”

Staring into Kara’s smiling blue eyes, the answer comes easy. “I want any kind of life with you,” she says seriously and Kara steps forward to kiss her.

“Me too,” Kara murmurs when they separate.

Lena drinks her in for a long moment before pulling back a bit and looking around. “Would you really want to get married here?”

“What?!” Kara asks, choking on the word a little as she stiffens.

“Do you want to get married here?” Lena repeats, amused at the blush that spreads across Kara’s cheeks considering they’ve discussed marriage before - considering apparently Kara’s considered them married for years.

“I - uh - I - what? I’ve never thought about it,” Kara says. “I mean, like, I guess I’ve thought about it. There are like marriage protocols in the archives that you can initiate and-”

Initiating the Jewel of Truth the computerized voice says and Kara’s eyes go comically wide.

“Abort!” Kara yells out looking around as if there’ll be someone physical for her to stop.

Lena laughs at the terrified flush in Kara’s face and reaches out to tangle their fingers together.

“Oh Rao, I don’t even know what it does for that,” Kara mutters, glancing around. “But, uh, no. I don’t need to get married here. Mon-El was right, Kryptonians don’t need anything special for their weddings, just the bracelets and the vows.”

“Oh, so we’re already three fourths of the way there?” Lena asks, teasing, popping the clasp on her watch and flipping it over. The etchings on the back are still there, clear as day, barely even worn down. Kara makes a noise of annoyance.

“Put that back on before some other thing decides to attack us,” Kara says, and Lena does, the watch settling back onto her wrist. Thankfully, nothing else decides to attack them.

--

They report their success to the team back at the DEO and it feels like everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Alex looks slightly furious when she hears the details of Kara’s plan, but is mollified by a tight hug from her sister and reassurances that everyone went perfectly. The two of them drift to the side a bit in hushed conversation and Lena lingers near Winn and Mon-El.

“So, you and Kara are like together now, right?” Mon-El asks randomly, swiveling back and forth a bit in his chair.

Lena and Winn both give him matching looks of confusion. “Dude, get there faster,” Winn says and Lena laughs.

Mon-El shrugs. “No, I mean like...it’s something we’re acknowledging now, right? Not something we’re all pretending not to know? You’re mates, you’re the bracelet, all that stuff?”

The urge to roll her eyes and walk away runs through her, but she settles for just nodding politely. “Yes, Kara and I are together.”

The grin that spreads across his features is admittedly unexpected, but it makes Lena smile. “So when’s the party? Do you guys do parades here?” 

“What?” Lena and Winn both manage to say at the same time.

His eyes bounce between them, brows pulling together. “Is that not a thing here?” 

“Is what not a thing?” Lena asks. 

“On Daxam, we throw parties when people get together,” he explains, slouching down in his chair. “This planet really needs to loosen up.”

Winn makes a face of agreement that stutters into something more serious when he glances at Lena, but before anything more can be said, Kara and Alex rejoin the group.

“What are we talking about?” Alex asks, hands on her hips and looking far less tense than earlier.

“Mon-El wants to throw us a party,” Lena says vaguely.

Alex’s lips twist in amusement. “An engagement party? Because you’re about five years too late for that,” she jokes and Lena and Kara both shoot her indignant looks as the rest of the group laughs.

“Okay, you guys get exactly fifteen minutes to make all the wedding jokes you want and then it’s done,” Kara says with a commanding finger pointed at all of them.

Mon-El puts a finger in the air, makes as if to stand, but Kara silences him with her hand forward his direction. “Not you,” she says and he freezes - mouth open - before falling back into his chair.

“Should we ceremonially burn all the suits and dresses Mxy left with us?” Winn asks, looking far too excited at the thought of fire.

“Yeah, Kara, the dresses were bad,” Alex says.

“It’s not like I picked them!” Kara says, looking defensive.

“Darling, I think you might have accidentally picked the dresses when he dropped in on our dinner a couple nights ago,” Lena says, smiling when Kara turns to glare at her heavily.

“Good to know. Kara’s not in charge of dresses for the real wedding,” Alex says, smirking at the way Kara blushes even as her eyes stay narrowed.

“So we get to burn them?” Winn asks eagerly, effectively sidestepping the implication of what real wedding might mean.

Lena pokes Kara in the side a little before sliding her arm around her waist. “Why don’t we get something to eat first?” And it’s so clearly an effort to placate the frowning Kryptonian that Winn laughs. 

“Totally. Happy wife, happy life,” Winn teases, grinning until Kara throws a nearby pen at him. It hits him in the arm and he winces like it actually hurts, but laughs.

“I hate all of you,” Kara says.