18. Chapter 18(2)

--

There aren’t a lot of people Lena allows in her personal lab. In fact, at present there’s really only one – her brother – and that’s mostly because the lab used to belong to both of them, before she was moved up to the Director position. In college, she had shared lab space with hundreds of other engineering majors, but she had always been happier to work in the peace and solitude of her dorm room.

Kara had been a near constant there, and Lena could have imagined, at one point, gifting her a Luthor Corp access card. But that was a dream that had proved impossible. She tried not to think about it too much.

Lena doesn’t really allow Jack access to her lab so much as he just invites himself in it. One moment, she’s trying to tell him that she can’t possibly do dinner over the intercom, and the next, he’s standing in the large space and looking around, stroking his beard and proclaiming that their reservation is in two hours.

“I’m very smart, you know,” he tells her, wandering about her lab and poking about unfinished projects. Her prototype of the rocket boosters on Lex’s supersuit seem to be of particular interest to him, and she can’t help but watch him as he looks over the blueprint and then inspects the fuel wells. He moves closer to her workbench, after a moment, running his fingers along its edge.

“That’s irrelevant,” she says, pulling a wrench out of his hand when he picks it up off the table.

“I could assist you with some of this and then maybe we’d be on time to dinner,” he points out and she rolls her eyes.

“I don’t need your assistance,” Lena says. “Dinner can wait and so can you.”

He sighs, very dramatically, before he flops into the seat on the other side of the bench, where Lex likes to sit and complain about how tiresome he finds board meetings. Jack pulls out his phone, then, flicking through the screen easily. “What are you doing?”

“I was going to play a game wherein I switch around little fruits to form color chains,” Jack says, turning his phone around and grinning. “I’m on level two hundred and forty nine.”

“Impressive,” Lena deadpans. She can’t help the small smile that finds its way onto her lips.

“It is very impressive, I agree,” Jack says. “I am a catch. You’ll understand one day.”

Lena rolls her eyes, attempting to refocus on the work in front of her. For a few minutes, she manages to feel comfortable, fiddling with the screws on the small device on her desk. Jack remains quiet and unobtrusive, and even when he lets out a little victorious noise, Lena doesn’t feel too much annoyance.

She’s focused enough that she holds out her hand without thinking.

“Darling, can you hand me the microdriver?”

The microdriver arrives in her hand quickly, but she can’t quite feel its weight. Her hand is buzzing, and she thinks of Kara, suddenly, sleepily lying on the couch and jotting down notes whenever Lena asked while she watched early morning television.

Jack has already looked back down at his phone, his fingers moving dexterously across the screen as he apparently does a very good job forming color chains. She stares long enough at him that he feels his eyes on him and looks up.

“I know that I’m handsome, but I thought you had work to do?” he says, a smile on his face.

Without so much as thinking about it, she throws the microdriver in her hand directly at his face. It hits him square in the nose, bounces off to fall on the floor as he lets out a yelp of surprise and pain.

Lena’s eyes go wide.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” she says, moving so hastily out of her chair that she almost falls over in an effort to get around the workbench.

“Good lord,” Jack moans, mostly into his hands. “You might’ve just said you didn’t want Italian tonight!”

“I’m so sorry,” Lena repeats, her hands sliding up his arms and onto his shoulders. “Are you alright? I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You’ve killed me,” Jack says, and now Lena is aware that his shoulders are shaking in laughter. “It’s all over. My mother will disown me as you’ve scarred my face.”

“Stop,” Lena says, pushing at his shoulder and trying to quell the laughter rising up in her. Jack mimes falling backwards under her hands, his hands waving through the air. “Stop!”

When Jack resettles in his chair, his hands are resting around her waist, and she finds herself in the space between his legs. He’s smiling up at her, complete with the small red spot on his nose left over from the microdriver. His shoulders still shake under her hands as he tries to hold in his laughter.

“I’ve survived,” Jack says, almost wondrously. His voice shakes. “I’m indestructible. I’m a miracle of science.”

There’s a heat in her eyes at odds with the way she laughs at him, but her feelings are all twisted around her ribcage and she tries valiantly to say present in the moment.

“You’re the worst,” she manages to say and though she rolls her eyes at him, she still allows him to pull her in closer and press a kiss to her cheek.

--

Winn is excitedly waiting for her at the DEO when she arrives, waving her badge through security. He’s nearly bouncing by the time they settle in the command room at a secluded set of computers, running over digital simulations for a suit prototype.

It’s steady work that requires concentration, and over the next few hours it helps some of the anger in Lena dissipate even as her attention is admittedly torn between thinking of Kara and trying to focus on the various chemistry readouts and such she and Winn are pouring over.

At some point, Winn’s attention diverts to the extrapolator he’d been running tests on earlier and he begins to poke it absently. Though Lena’d run through some of the basics on how dimension hopping works, she still keeps half her attention on Winn’s movements to make sure he’s not breaking anything.

“So weird to think something this small is so powerful,” he observes casually.

Slightly assured he’s not doing anything too reckless, she turns back to the screen where a readout on the aerodynamics of adding lead armoring to Kara’s suit stares back at her. “Don’t break it,” is all she says.

She feels him look at her, but doesn’t turn to catch his expression. Instead, she lets silence fall for a bit while she continues her work.

“You and Kara fighting?” Winn asks after a few moments. The way his eyes have strayed to focus on the extrapolator in his hands is an obvious attempt to keep the question casual.

“I wouldn’t call it fighting,” Lena says, watching the numbers pile up as she increases speed on the simulation. Too much drag.

“You’re grumpy is all,” Winn says, a smile on his face.

“I’m not grumpy,” Lena snaps, and then glares when Winn laughs a little. “She’s being frustrating.”

“I know,” Winn says. “When I went to get a snack ten minutes ago she was dragging Mon-El into the training room and even Alex looked wary of her intentions.”

The anecdote makes Lena shoot him a quizzical look and then glance over his shoulder as if Kara might appear there at any moment. “I didn’t realize she was here.”

“You didn’t?” Winn asks with a brief flash of confusion. “Didn’t you guys come together?”

“No,” Lena replies, turning back to her work with a roll of her eyes. “But I can’t say I’m surprised she’s here, I suppose.”

It’s clear Winn doesn’t fully understand and Lena sighs softly. “She thinks I’m liable to be killed at any moment,” Lena tells him in a dry, unimpressed tone. “And intends to lock me in a cage, possibly for the rest of time, to protect me.”

“Seems like a reasonable approach,” Winn says, grinning. Lena gives him a dead stare that has him laughing even harder as he flips the extrapolator in his hands and comes to sit next to her at the workbench. “Oh come on, it’s kind of cute. Kara’s penchant for overprotectiveness.”

“It’s not cute,” Lena counters, her voice firm though it does nothing to wipe the smile of Winn’s face.

“It’s a little cute,” Winn replies, rolling the extrapolator around his fingers as if it were a coin.

She snatches it out of his hand and holds it in front of his face. “This isn’t a toy.”

With a glower, he takes it back from her, but manages to look a little sheepish. “I know that.”

“Good,” she says, turning back to her monitor.

Silence stretches for a beat. “You’re like, really mad at her, aren’t you?”

Pinching the bridge of her nose with the realization that Winn isn’t going to let this go, Lena turns again from her screen and shakes her head at him. “I’m not mad at her. We just disagree about a few important details when it comes to our lives together.”

“Feels like a really polite way of saying you want to throw a Kryptonite brick at her face for trying to protect you.”

Indignant at the suggestion, she straightens and frowns at him. “I do not want –”

“It’s a joke, Lena,” Winn interrupts before she can snap at him. There’s a smile playing on his lips even as he looks appropriately cowed by the glare on her face.

Declining to reply, she just half-rolls her eyes and tries to return to her work, but the feeling of Winn’s continuing attention lets her know that’s not going to happen.

“Winn,” she sighs, shoulders slumping.

His hands shoot up in a defensive gesture. “I just – if you want to talk about it. As someone that knows both of you…”

“I don’t need to talk about it,” Lena denies. “Kara just thinks I have some kind of death wish or something and she’s taken it upon herself to be my personal bodyguard.”

“Well,” Winn starts and then startles at the glare she redirects at him. “I don’t think you have a death wish, but I also think Kara’s just being…”

“Kara?” Lena ventures dryly.

Winn takes a breath, affects a soft expression that draws Lena’s attention in suddenly. “I’ve done a lot of studying on Kryptonian culture,” he says quietly. “I mean, my best friend is a Kryptonian. It felt appropriate.”

Lena smiles a bit, thinks of late nights in an off-campus field listening to stories of Kara’s homeworld.

“Mating is like…” Winn’s shoulders hunch up a bit as he searches for the right words. “I mean we think of it like marriage, right, but it’s more than that.”

A heavy thump to her heart makes Lena glance down at the watch on her wrist. “Yeah,” she admits, unsure what else to say.

“Like on Krypton, if I threatened you or hurt you or whatever, Kara would absolutely be in full rights to attack me.”

“This isn’t Krypton,” Lena replies. “And with the kind of lives we lead, Kara can’t go around attacking anyone that so much as looks at me funny.”

The suggestion makes Winn chuckle, but he shrugs a shoulder as if disagreeing. “I made a joke about throwing Kryptonite at her face and you –” he laughs again and gestures at the expression Lena can feel her face forming “– you made that face. Like you’re thinking about throwing the monitor at my head.”

Affecting offense at the suggestion, Lena turns away from him to hide the flush creeping up into her cheeks. “Why do you think I’m prone to throwing things at people’s heads?”

He reaches out to touch her shoulder softly. “I’m trying to point out that it goes both ways,” he says. “You’re just as crazy protective over her as she is of you. It just so happens that Kara can like lift airplanes out of the water and punt buildings into space so it feels a little different.”

It’s a surprising bout of wisdom from a man she’s starting to consider one of her closest friends. Unerringly, it makes her think of Jack and late nights in the lower labs of Luthor Corp.

In lieu of responding, however, she just gives him a short smile and with a soft, inaudible sigh turns back to her screen. “Can we refocus on the suit?”

Before he can respond, Mon-El comes limping around the corner, clutching at his side as he pushes himself up the platform and flops down into a chair next to Lena.  

“I think Kara is trying to kill me,” he whines. Lena feels her eyes go wide, but Winn just laughs, glancing pointedly at Lena before turning back to Mon-El.

“What’d you do this time, buddy?” he asks, swiveling in his seat to pick up an instrument on the table and starting to tinker with the extrapolator he’d been playing with earlier.

“Nothing!” Mon-El protests, looking at Lena who finds her attention drawn between the pitiful look on Mon-El’s face and continuing to make sure Winn isn’t breaking anything. “I swear.”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” Lena says. “I’m sorry.”

“Mon-El!” a shout comes from down the hall, prompting a groan from the man now slumped onto the table next to the computer.

It’s only seconds later that Kara comes around the corner, cape floating behind her as she strides quickly up the platform. Her steps falter a little as she sees Lena, but they step back into motion almost immediately.

“Hi,” Kara greets. Winn salutes her, Lena nods, and Kara’s face sets into unhappiness as she looks over the room.

“I didn’t know you were here,” Lena says pointedly, trying not to find Kara’s sudden flush adorable.

“I was…” she looks lost for an explanation for a few seconds until she gestures at Mon-El’s slumped-over form. “Training.”

“Right,” Lena replies, lips thinning into a line to avoid smiling. Her conversation with Winn hasn’t diminished the entirety of her frustration, but she allows herself to find the sheepish look on Kara’s face a touch adorable.

Kara’s eyes dart everywhere but at Lena until they lock onto the device Winn’s tinkering with.

“You gave Winn the extrapolator?” Kara asks, glancing over at Lena in confusion, incredulously enough that Winn gets a defensive look.

“Hey, I take care of this baby just fine,” he says, but it’s ruined when he tries to show it to Kara and fumbles it in his hands for a few seconds.

Kara snatches it from him with a scowl. Lena is about to tell Kara to let Winn have the device back when another commotion rounds the corner.

“Look alive, people,” J’onn interrupts. “We have a new prisoner coming in.”

Behind him, a short, dark haired man in handcuffs is being led by the elbows through the hallway toward containment. He looks around with plenty of interest, as if he’s searching for something, and Lena watches him suspiciously even as Kara shifts just slightly in front of her. Alex is trailing in after the guards, arms crossed and eyes watchful.

“He looks fun,” Winn says under his breath to Lena who just shakes her head at him, but smiles.

The man seems to find what he’s looking for the second he spots Kara and his eyes light up in such a way that has Lena standing to shuffle closer to Kara’s back, her fingers lightly touching the fabric of her cape. Mon-El stands with her, his arms crossing as he eyes the man and probably tries to look intimidating.

“All my favorite players in one place, how exciting. And the star of the show!” the man says with a casual smile that has Kara throwing a look of confusion over to Lena. The guards holding him have completely stopped their progress towards containment. Alex looks confused as she steps the slightest bit closer to the group on the platform.

“Who, me?” Kara asked, pointing at her chest. 

The man laughs a bit, looks to the agents holding him up by the biceps. They still look stupefied, and something doesn’t feel right here. “She’s funny,” he comments before turning back to Kara. “Yes, you. Why else do you think I’d let myself be caught? I’ve been looking for you.”

The carefree grin drops from his face, replaced by something more serious and Lena feels something ominous twist in her gut. Her hand tightens in the back of Kara’s cape.

But nothing much happens. The man just stares at Kara for a second, holding her gaze. They stare at each other for what feels like too long a time, before Kara takes a few halting steps forward, halfway down the steps of the platform. Lena tries to keep ahold of her cape, but it slips from her grasp.

“Supergirl?” Alex asks, her eyes concerned as she looks at Kara’s face. Kara goes rigid, frozen in place.

Chaos breaks out. The man’s cuffs unlock suddenly, and his guards fall away. He dashes forward to grab for the extrapolator still frozen in Kara’s hand and grins maniacally as Mon-El and Alex bear down on him, just as Winn tries to pull Lena back from the action.

“Drop your weapon!” Alex yells, gun pointed at his head, but he just looks at the device in his hand with a smile.

“Oh, no this isn’t a weapon, this is part of my brilliant escape,” he says with a wink for Lena as he presses a button on the device and a familiar blue portal opens up behind him. “Ladies and gentlemen, this dimension has been so much fun. I’ve had a blast! But I gotta go chase down the fastest man alive.”

He gives an exaggerated bow before yelling, “Toodles!” And with that he’s throwing the extrapolator out towards Winn and jumping backwards through the portal.

Winn lurches forward to catch the device and just manages. But Lena’s focused on Kara, who hasn’t moved an inch the entire interaction, her hand still extended downward and fingers still mimed like they’re holding the extrapolator. It’s funny to think that just a few days ago, she had been thinking about how all the strange things happening were commonplace for her, how Kara’s penchant for overprotectiveness was something she could, and should, control.

Hypocrisy races through her the moment it seems Kara’s safety is concerned and Lena feels the fear take a grip of her throat that she can’t quell. Winn’s question pops into her mind as she feels anger rise up in the fear’s wake, something dark and heavy.

“Supergirl,” Lena says, feeling alarmed at the stiff way Kara’s posed. As if unleashed by her words, Kara’s body goes boneless - her head falls back, her knees buckle, and her arms drop. Mon-El manages to catch her before she hits the ground, looking frantic when he glances up at Lena and then Alex. Lena is on her knees and feeling along Kara’s wrist for a pulse at the same time Alex is shouting for help.

Kara’s heartbeat is steady and strong, but nothing about Lena feels the same as she grips Kara’s wrist and looks from Mon-El to Winn, who’s still holding the extrapolator in his hand and staring down at Kara’s form.

“What the hell?” Lena asks, her voice edged with heat.

It doesn’t seem like anyone has an answer.

--

They move Kara into a nearby medbay and Alex immediately goes about hooking Kara up to a machine and checking her vitals. Lena pulls the monitor her direction and starts looking over it herself. Nothing about it seems abnormal at all - the heartbeat is steady, the brain waves are active. It’s as though she’s awake and perfectly healthy.

Both of them exchange brief looks of confusion before turning back to Kara as J’onn walks into the room carrying the report on the prisoner.

“He was captured for hypnotizing a few guards and knocking over a bank,” J’onn says. “No name, no registered information.”

“Are we thinking magical, then?” Winn asks. “We know Kryptonians are susceptible to that.”

“I would have to assume so,” J’onn says, looking frustrated. “I don’t understand his motivations, though. When I read his mind, there was nothing to indicate he had any plan at all.”

“Well, clearly that was wrong,” Mon-El says, his arms crossed, hovering at Lena’s side. The relative warmth of his presence gives Lena some comfort as she adjusts the blanket draped over Kara’s body.

“Her vitals seem stable,” Alex says to the room even as Lena double checks the connection and that the machinery is working. “How did they wake the guards at the bank from hypnosis?”

J’onn shrugs, dropping the tablet in his hands on a table and rubbing at his forehead.

“They woke the moment he was captured,” he says. “Perhaps he has to be the one to release her from it.”

“We don’t know where the hell he went,” Alex says, looking more and more angry by the moment. Lena can’t help but feel the same as her hand drifts to rest over Kara’s wrist, feeling the weight of the bracelet underneath her suit.

Winn is sliding into a chair nearby and logging into a terminal. “I’ll work on finding our new friend.”

The idea of tracking him drags Lena’s thoughts away from Kara enough that her brain starts to solve that problem. “Earth-1,” she says, watching as Winn pulls up a tracking program.

J’onn, who is standing near Kara’s body with his hands at his hips, zones in straight on Lena, his brow pulling together in a critical expression. Something feels like it flutters across Lena’s brain, but before she can say anything J’onn’s speaking her thoughts aloud. “Barry Allen?”

Lena nods, a little unnerved by the implication J’onn just read her thoughts, but moving past it in the interest of Kara’s still form nearby.

“The fastest man alive,” Winn says, nodding as he starts typing into the computer program he’s opened up. “That makes sense.”

“What would he want with two superheroes from two different dimensions?” Mon-El asks. “Is he another imp?”

“I don’t care as long as I can shoot him,” Alex mutters. Lena can’t help the soft laugh that escapes as she exchanges a nod with Alex across Kara’s form. Their moment of camaraderie is interrupted by Winn’s excited whoop.

“Okay, I tracked him,” Winn says, pointing at his monitor. “Lena was right. Earth-1!”

“We can bring her to the facility at S.T.A.R. Labs,” Lena says, recalling the resources they’d had available to them while on Earth-1. “Barry has a team there, they might know more about what’s going on.”

Alex doesn’t seem interested in questioning Lena’s plan, just nods decisively and starts to unhook her sister from the monitoring equipment. “You,” she says, pointing at Mon-El when she’s finished her task. “Grab Kara and let’s go.”

Mon-El looks around like he’s misunderstanding before pointing to himself. “Me? Why me?”

Pulling her sidearm out of its holster, Alex goes about checking its settings. “Because I can’t carry her and aim a gun at the same time. And Lena’s our driver.”

Without any further need for an explanation, Lena makes for the extrapolator, making sure it’s set for the correct location, keys it in twice just to be certain.

“Why are we bringing Kara, though?” Mon-El asks, sounding even more confused.

“This guy is the one who put her under, he’s the one who’s gonna bring her out,” Alex says, sounding terse.

Mon-El is clearly still hesitant, hovering by Kara’s bedside, and Lena doesn’t have time for that kind of indecision when the sight of Kara lying unmoving makes her feel like she can’t breathe.

“Mon-El, do what she says,” Lena orders.

It seems to do the trick. Mon-El’s lips thin, but he moves to pick Kara up from the bed.

“On the platform,” Lena instructs, and the group begins moving that way, Alex fiddling with her gun as she leads the way. DEO agents move quickly out of their way as they see the unconscious form of Supergirl in Mon-El’s arms.

“The device should allow you to communicate with us if you need to,” Lena says, turning to Winn.

Winn nods, looking serious and nervous. J’onn hands Lena the tablet with information on the prisoner without a word, and she gives him a nod as well.

“Good luck. Bring her home,” Winn says, offering a fist bump to Lena before she climbs up the steps.

“Be careful, Alex,” J’onn adds waiting for Alex to nod in response.

“We will,” Alex says, nodding again at Winn and then at Lena before stepping up next to Mon-El on the platform. Lena follows her and gives the signal to Winn to open up the portal.

With a final look at Kara’s still form in Mon-El’s arms, Winn presses a sequence of buttons and just like that the world dissolves around them in a tunnel of color. Lena feels a familiar pull in her stomach as the three of them are thrust between universes.

As quickly as their earth disappeared, Earth-1 reappears before them – Barry and Cisco with matching looks of surprise as they remanifest on the platform in Earth-1’s S.T.A.R. Labs.

“Lena?” Barry asks, blinking at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion before his attention turns to her companions and his eyes go wide. “Kara?!”

“Hi, Barry,” Lena says, stepping first off the platform and feeling Alex and Mon-El follow.

“Lena, when I gave you that extrapolator, I was thinking more of like a pen pal situation than a show up with an unconscious alien superhero scenario,” Cisco says.

“What happened?” Barry asks, his concerned gaze raking over Kara’s form.

“We’re not sure, honestly,” Lena says and Barry’s eyes go wide.

“Come on,” he says, “let’s get her into the lab.”

--

The rest of Barry’s team is congregating in the control room of their operation and they exchange hellos and introductions. Caitlin hugs Lena upon her arrival and Iris does the same with a fond smile.

“I wish I could say it was good to see you both,” Iris murmurs, her hand warm on Lena’s bicep.

Lena meets Wally, Iris’s estranged brother, for the first time and though Iris refers to him as Kid Flash Wally makes it very clear he’s not married to that name. “You have the same powers as Barry?” Lena asks, shaking his hand.

“Just about,” he replies sounding proud, but hesitant.

Curiosity must show on Lena’s face because he smiles and answers her next question before she can ask it with a shrug and, “It’s a long story.”

Alex helps Caitlin hook Kara up to a series of machines and stands there as Caitlin runs through the results on the small monitor. Lena feels her heart sink when she sees the numbers there. “Her vitals are low,” Caitlin says. “How long as she been like this?”

Grimly, Alex looks at her sister, arms crossing over her chest. “Not long. She was in a healthy range when it first happened.”

“We're here to find whoever did this to Kara and punch him repeatedly until whatever spell he put on her goes away. And I get to punch him first,” Mon-El says, standing nearby Lena’s side. He pauses a beat and glances at her. “Technically, Lena gets to punch him first, but I’ll do the punching for Lena. Or Alex can. We both can. As long as this dude gets punched.”

Barry watches Mon-El with a confused wariness that lightens Lena’s mood just the slightest. “I don’t understand, are you like,” Barry can’t seem to figure Mon-El out, but his eyes run up and down the defensive posture Mon-El has taken, just slightly in front of Lena. “Lena’s bodyguard?”

“Yes,” Mon-El answers without a hint of hesitation just as Lena says, “No.”

“Lena is a human and Kara will kill me if she gets hurt punching someone, so I’m punching for her,” Mon-El says. “It’s allowed in the dueling conventions.”

“The - dueling conventions?” Barry asks, looking even more confused.

When she catches Alex’s expression, there’s an exasperated look in her eye, but a hint of a smile plays against her lips. “Can we focus?” Alex asks.

“Why don’t you tell us what happened,” Iris says, glancing between the three of them.

“An alien prisoner escaped our custody,” Alex explains. “He did something to her, put her in some kind of coma, but we’re not sure how or why.”

“And then he used my interdimensional extrapolator to disappear,” Lena adds, thinning her lips in Cisco’s direction.

“Rude,” Cisco replies. “He knew how the extrapolator worked?”

“He went for it immediately after he put her under. We tracked him here and followed,” Lena says, looking at Barry. “We believe he came here for you.”

Barry looks a mixture of affronted and confused. “For me?! Why?”

“He said something about tracking down the fastest man alive,” Lena answers, hoping maybe Barry might have more insight himself on the subject.

But it’s Cisco that steps forward. “Okay, clearly we’re talking about a breacher, right?”

“A breacher?” Alex asks, brow furrowed.

“People that hop dimensions,” Caitlin answers for him. “We call the portals breaches.”

“Thus, breachers,” Cisco finishes as if the nickname is some sort of marvel of language. “And if there’s one thing I can definitely do, it’s track breachers.”

He moves over to a computer terminal and the rest of them follow. Barry comes step to step with Lena. “So what else do you know about this guy?”

“Not much,” Lena replies, handing over the prisoner file J’onn had given her, glancing to Alex to see if she has anything to add.

“J’onn said he basically appeared out of thin air,” she offers, a bit of helplessness in the way she shrugs a shoulder. “I got called in for escort by his guards when he got brought in. He seemed pretty harmless, and then he - went nuts.”

“Appeared out of thin air like this guy just did?” Cisco says, pointing at his monitor and blinking in surprise.

Lena shifts quickly to his side and checks the display. Sure enough, on the security camera footage of another part of the lab, their breacher is standing there casually, waving at them with an easy smile.

“On it,” Barry says and not unlike Kara, a gust of sudden air precedes his disappearance. On the screen, Lena watches as Barry reappears on the feed in his red and gold suit.

“He’s fast,” Mon-El comments with wide eyes.

“He’s the Flash,” Cisco tells him lowly and Mon-El makes an impressed expression, nodding.

“Cool name,” he says, attempting to give Cisco a thumbs up, but he doesn’t quite succeed until Lena reaches over and pulls his fist upright. Mon-El gives her a grin of appreciation before leaning close. “Do you think I can get a name sometime?”

“We’ll workshop it once Kara is no longer in a coma,” Lena says. Mon-El nods very seriously.

Turning her attention back to the monitor in front of her, Lena sees the confrontation between Barry and the breacher begin and just as quickly, sees it end.

Not in their favor.

“Barry,” Iris gasps from Lena’s right and just as she says it, she takes off out of the lab.

“Iris, wait!” Cisco calls out and with a low curse, jogs out after her.

On the screen, the breacher is standing over Barry’s prone body for a long moment before turning back to look straight into the camera. And with a wink that feels like it’s aimed directly at Lena, he’s gone.

All that’s left is an empty room, Barry’s still form, and then Iris and Cisco running into the frame.

“This just got a whole lot more complicated,” Alex says, exchanging a look of worry with Lena.

--

With Mon-El’s help, they manage to move Barry into a bed next to Kara and hook him up to the same machines that are tracking her vital signs. Alex spends her time checking and rechecking the results, hovering over Kara like her concern alone might somehow wake her up. Lena is hoping mostly for her anger to do the same, pacing back and forth at the foot of Kara’s bed as Iris worries over Barry.

“This is not good,” Caitlin says after running through a test on her screen. Lena tracks over the numbers on the screen and tries to analyze what it all means. The information Cisco had given her about Barry’s powers and metahumans in general feels like it’s distant in her brain, buried beneath the panic rushing through her over seeing Kara still and unmoving.

“What is it?”

“The Speed Force levels in Barry’s cells have been severely depleted,” Caitlin says and that’s when Lena realizes what she’s looking at. Iris looks near tears as the words sink into the room.

“That’s Kara’s solar radiation,” she says softly, pointing to a number on Caitlin’s screen. Alex moves over quickly to look over Lena’s shoulder and confirm for herself.

“They’re being drained?” Alex asks, the words manifesting a heavy thrum of fear in Lena’s stomach. “How is that possible?”

“They have to be being consumed at a rate beyond what she can take in,” Lena says, popping her watch face open and closed. “Do we know what happens if it drains all the way?”

“Her powers go away,” Alex says. “It’s what happens when she solar flares, but she - that takes enormous usage of powers. She’s laying in bed.”

“If the breacher is the one draining their powers,” Cisco asks, slowly. “Do we know if he’ll stop there?”

There’s silence in the room for a moment as they take it in. Lena feels like she could throw up, start crying, or put a hole through a wall, or all three. She watches the numbers drop a little bit lower and her fist clenches.

“We have to bring this guy in,” Mon-El says, his arms crossing over his chest as she shifts in closer to Lena.

“He’s right,” Wally says and in a blur of gold and red he’s suddenly dressed in a suit not that dissimilar to Barry’s apart from the colors being inverted. “Vibe, suit up, let’s go.”

“I can help, too,” Mon-El offers. “I don’t have a flashy suit, but I can…” he pauses, glances at Lena and shrugs a shoulder. “Jump really high?”

At Cisco’s look for confirmation, Lena nods and offers Mon-El an encouraging smile. “Go with them,” she says before looking back at where Kara’s lying. Still unmoving.

Cisco disappears then, takes Mon-El with him and Caitlin follows with the purpose of finding something for Mon-El to wear in the field apart from the jeans and t-shirt he showed up in. Wally quite literally flashes out of the room after them.

And then it’s just her, Alex and Iris in the room. The beeping of the monitors near Kara and Barry’s still bodies the only sound filling the room until Alex is letting out a heavy sigh and scrubbing her hands over her face.

“What does it say about me that almost getting launched across the universe didn’t feel as stressful to me as this,” Alex comments softly, exchanging a smile with Lena.

Lena shrugs a shoulder, but moves close enough to settle a warm hand against Alex’s biceps. “I know what you mean.”

“I’ve got to do something,” Alex says, moving her hands to her hips and observing the unmoving figure of her sister. “I can’t just sit here and stare at her.”

Iris glances up from where she’s pushing her fingers through Barry’s hair, but doesn’t comment.

“I’m sure Caitlin has something for you to do,” Lena murmurs, looking at Iris and gesturing with her head to the door.

Alex takes a deep breath, but nods, squeezing Lena’s wrist quickly before pacing out of the room.

It leaves Lena alone with Iris then and she steps up to Kara’s bedside, looking down at her and trying to stop the compact feeling twisting around her ribcage. Without thinking of it, her fingers travel to Kara’s wrist, stroke the ridge of the bracelet pushing up through the fabric of her supersuit.

After a few moments of watching Kara and Barry do nothing but lie there, it’s Iris that breaks the silence. “I hate this.”

Lena hums her agreement, nearly laughs at the simplicity of the feeling, and tightens her fingers around Kara’s wrist. “Me too.”

Eyes flickering to Lena’s touch on Kara’s arm, Iris gives Lena a short smile. “So you two figured it out?”

The memory of being on Earth-1 with Kara feels like a lifetime ago. It’s odd to think of a time when they were still figuring out how to come back together, of a time they were still uncertain. It makes Lena smile. “We did,” she answers. “Actually, being here on your earth sort of set things into motion.”

So did the fact that Lena nearly took Kara to bed in that small hotel room they shared not too far from S.T.A.R. Labs. Despite the gravity of the situation, Lena remembers the heat of that moment intimately.

“I’m glad,” Iris says, punctuated with a genuine look of empathy.

“And you and Barry…” Lena replies, trailing off a bit. Though Kara and Barry had kept in touch through the communication functions of the extrapolator, Lena can’t remember any salient details regarding their relationship. When they had visited Earth-1, Lena’s priorities hadn’t been about working out all the relationship drama happening around them. She had enough of that in her own life.

From the look on Iris’s face, she and Barry aren’t quite as figured out as Lena and Kara. “He proposed to me,” she says, softly as if confessing something.

Lena nearly says congratulations until her eyes dart down to the bare ring finger on Iris’s left hand.

“Yeah,” Iris laughs, responding to the question Lena wasn’t sure if she should voice. “We’re not – I mean he – it’s complicated.”

“I get the feeling things in your life usually are,” Lena replies for lack of anything more profound to say.

At the least, it makes Iris smile, but it falters off her lips a bit when she looks back down at Barry. “It doesn’t feel so complicated right now.”

Lena’s throat feels tight suddenly and she blinks heat out of her eyes as she studies the peaceful expression on Kara’s face. “Kara and I have been…arguing the past few days,” Lena admits, sharing a wry smile with Iris. “She thinks I take too many risks and I think she’s being overprotective, but right now…”

Her words trail off, but a sympathetic look of understanding takes hold of Iris’s face. “There’s not really a handbook for dating a superhero, is there?”

Lena laughs a little, the sound thicker than she intended. “I think Kara would be like this powers or not.”

A glossy look creeps into Iris’s eyes. “Yeah, Barry too,” she says softly after a moment.

Lena blows out an exaggerated breath that lifts Iris’s gaze back up to connect with her own and they both share a laugh.

Before any more words can be exchanged, Alex comes jogging back into the room, a triumphant light in her eyes that Lena responds to immediately.

“They got him,” Alex offers, smiling as Lena steps forward.

An aura of relief washes over the room and though Kara and Barry remain unmoving on the bed, Lena starts to feel like they’re getting somewhere.

--

They lock their new prisoner in an elaborate sort of prison system S.T.A.R. Labs has set up. The cells, Lena’s told, mutes any sort of metahuman powers and are nearly impossible to escape from.

They watch some footage they’ve loaded into the database of the encounter with the breacher. It seems as if he’s not just draining Kara and Barry’s powers, but transferring them to himself. Watching him use Kara’s powers makes a flare of anger spike so sharply in Lena’s chest she nearly punches a desk.

It doesn’t seem like Alex is much better. A determined glint settles into her eyes. “Let me talk to him,” she commands the moment the group is done debriefing the capture.

“Alex,” Lena warns softly, remembering Alex’s aggressive interrogation of a prisoner at the DEO not too long ago.

“Just to talk,” Alex insists in a whisper just for Lena.

“Maybe we should figure out what we’re going to say first,” Caitlin says. “Someone should call Joe. He has experience with this sort of thing.”

“So do I,” Alex says, her hand sitting against the gun at her side.

“I’d just like to remind everyone that Lena and I called first dibs on punching,” Mon-El says, raising his hand to draw the room’s attention.

“We’re not punching him,” Alex replies sharply.

Cisco shrugs a shoulder from his perch against a nearby desk. “Yeah, Wally already took care of that,” he adds, miming a punch with his fist and holding his palm out for Wally to high-five him.

The exchange makes Caitlin roll her eyes before she’s turning back to a computer monitor. “I’m trying to figure out what kind of metahuman this guy could be, but there’s nothing in the database and –”

“I don’t think he’s a metahuman,” Alex interrupts and Cisco joins Caitlin at her computer and the group continues to throw theories back and forth.

Amidst the chatter of conversation, Lena notices Iris has started for the open door toward the containment area and with a quick glance to where Alex is focused on something Caitlin is showing her, Lena follows. They both slip away unnoticed.

Out in the hallway, Lena darts forward to grab for Iris’s arm and stop her out of earshot of the group. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to tell him to let Barry go or else,” Iris says, her voice cold and angry. Lena feels it reflecting in her own mind, can’t help but agree with the impulse. “I’m not sitting around arguing about it while Barry’s dying on that table.”

The very reminder that Kara could die sends a cold shock through Lena that has her letting go of Iris’s arm, letting her lead the way in silence down into containment. Iris locks the door behind them and calls up the cell they just shoved their prisoner into.

Lena watches him appear down the hallway as she and Iris make their way that direction and he turns with a flair and wide smile to greet them.

“Hello, featured players!” the man yell as they approach. “I’d been wondering when you two would show up.”

“Tell us what you did to them,” Lena demands, just as Iris asks, “Who the hell are you?”

“The passion,” he replies, drawing the word out and miming a frame with his fingers askew in front of him. “It’s all over your faces. Beautiful.”

“Answer her question,” Lena orders lowly with as much threat and authority as she can muster. “Now.”

The only reaction she gets is a slow crawl of a smile widening across his lips and the way her grins at her is unnerving. “Lena Luthor,” he says in a slow careful annunciation of her name. “You really don’t disappoint, do you?”

“How do you know my name?” Lena asks and she’s reminded of their encounter with Mxy, of the smug omniscient aura that surrounded him.

She can feel her heartbeat start to race at the idea of having to confront another Fifth Dimension-er, but she tries to see the logic of it. Mxy had been impossible to contain. The mere fact that this guy is successfully locked in a cell means he can’t be from the Fifth Dimension. Right?

“Oh, I know all about you,” he says, flicking his gaze between them. “Both of you.”

“How?” Iris asks, stepping forward and drawing his attention. “Who are you and what do you want?”

He smiles. Completely unaffected. “I’m the Music Meister,” he answers simply. “And I’m here to teach your dear sweethearts a very important lesson.”

“And what lesson is that?” Lena asks.

With a click of his tongue, he wags a finger at her. “Tsk, they say to show, not tell.”

“Why don’t you show us how to fix them,” Iris suggests and he laughs.

“I’m not the one that can fix them,” he says, his hands up defensively like he has no part in this.

“Fix them,” Lena demands anyway. “Fix them and we’ll let you go.”

A look of disappointment crosses his face and he shakes his head at her. “Lena, Lena, Lena. We’re not bargaining here. Though I’m sure it looks great for the audience. All that desperation and rage.”

The rage he’s referencing coils bitterly in the back of her throat and she wonders what would happen if she had Iris open the cell door so she could punch him.

“This isn’t some show,” Iris says. “This is real life and –”

“Ah, all the world’s a stage and all that,” he dismisses, interrupting Iris with a wave of his hand. “Now listen. We’ve all got our little parts to play. Even you two.”

His gaze goes critical as he glances between them for a moment. “You’re in control of how this narrative ends. Can you rescue our heroes?” He twirls in place with a showboaty grin. “Stay tuned to find out.”

“Tell us how to help them or you won’t live to see the ending,” Lena threatens, but he just laughs. Loudly, like he’s happy she said that.

“You think you can kill me?” he asks, incredulous, but still smiling. Suddenly, his grin drops into something more serious. “Would you try? If it would save her?”

The answer to that is obvious. The yes nearly bursts quickly from her throat, but she takes a breath and just levels him with a glare.

He doesn’t seem to care that she doesn’t reply, just grins again. “You would do anything wouldn’t you?” He looks at Iris. “Both of you would. That’s why I’m here, after all.”

“You’re not making sense,” Iris snaps.

The happy expression hardens briefly. “You want Kara and Barry back from the world they’re in, you can go get them yourselves.” When he smiles again it’s much more unnerving than his happier grins of earlier. “You have that power.”

“How?” she and Iris manage to ask at the same time, exchanging a quick look before turning away.

“Love will find a way,” is all he gives as an explanation. “You can do it. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have a whole lot of nothing to get to in these lovely new accommodations of mine.”

He turns away from them and unceremoniously plops onto the ground.

Iris moves forward as if to bang on the cell window, but there’s an audible commotion coming from behind them that Lena somehow knows is Alex. With a quick look to Iris, they both move back towards the door just as it’s opening to reveal an indignant looking Alex Danvers.

“What the hell, Lena?” Alex says, grabbing ahold of Lena’s arm and preventing her from moving down the hallway as Iris makes her way back to the medbay. “I think Kara might be on to something with that whole locking you in a safe house thing.”

“We needed answers,” Lena replies, trying not to snap at Alex. She can see the worry and fear etched around Alex’s eyes, feels them in her own chest. “I wasn’t going to sit around and argue about it.”

“Going off to interrogate a prisoner without a plan or backup is reckless,” Alex says, stomping along with Lena when she resumes walking towards the medbay. “This is exactly the kind of thing Kara’s been –”

“I don’t care what Kara thinks,” Lena snaps, whipping around to face Alex again and halting them abruptly just outside the lab. “Kara is getting her powers drained by a crazy person and we don’t know how the hell to fix it. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do –”

“I get that,” Alex interrupts, sounding just as angry. “But you’re not going to help anybody if you get yourself –”

“Lena!” Mon-El’s voice exclaims as he suddenly appears beside them. “What the hell?”

“That’s what I said,” Alex grumbles, looking pointedly at Lena before shaking her head.

“How am I supposed to bodyguard you if you just run off without me?”

“That’s not a verb and you’re not my bodyguard,” Lena dismisses, rolling her eyes.

“Still,” Mon-El replies, lifting his chin a bit.

“I was just talking to him. Just because Kara’s not here doesn’t mean you both have to embody her insane overprotectiveness.”

“It’s not insane,” Alex says. “Clearly.”

The last thing Lena wants to do is fight with Alex and Mon-El. Or anybody. Not when Kara’s still unconscious on a nearby bed and not when she still can’t figure out how to save her. There’s only enough room in her brain right now for the problem before her – helping Kara.

“I’m not having this conversation. We need to figure out a way to rescue Kara.”

“Well, did you find anything out from the prisoner?” Alex asks, crossing her arms.

Lena feels her jaw go tight. “All he had to say is that we had the power to save them from the world they’re in. But he wasn’t exactly expressive on the details.

“Great,” Alex sighs, blowing out a breath.

There’s an insistent, hot pressure at the back of Lena’s eyes and she hates the feeling of uselessness thrumming through her. “Multiple degrees and years of experience and I can’t seem to figure it out,” she murmurs, mostly to herself.

Alex doesn’t look much better than she feels. “Look, maybe we’re overthinking it. Maybe the answer is simple and we just can’t see it.”

“Occam’s razor,” Lena says, shrugging a shoulder and taking a breath. “Maybe.”

“Yeah,” Mon-El says, nodding imperiously and crossing his arms to match Alex’s posture. “Occam’s razor. Totally.”

“You have no idea what that is,” Alex says and the air feels a bit lighter for a moment when Mon-El looks to her in question, clearly expecting an explanation.

Before Lena can give a response, an loud alarm comes blaring down the hall from the medbay. Panic sinks in Lena’s stomach atop the already heavy anxiety and she sprints down the hallway.

When she arrives in the room, the problem is immediately apparent. Barry is shaking in his bed, his vitals blinking red. Iris moves swiftly to grab at Barry’s suddenly seizing body. Lena moves around to pull the monitor towards her and see what’s happening. “His vitals are going all over the place,” Lena reads, watching as Barry’s blood pressure takes a sudden inexplicable dip.

Alex is suddenly skidding to a stop next to her. Mon-El not far behind. “What’s happening?”

“I think we’re –” Her voice stops in its tracks when Kara’s body begins moving in much the same way, her vitals dropping suddenly as well. Lena grabs for her, feeling Kara’s feverishly hot skin and pressing down as Alex and Caitlin start attempting to figure out how to address the problem.

Cisco looks wide-eyed at his computer terminal as Alex requests a sedative. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Caitlin says, looking over the vitals over and over. “Their vitals are dropping like crazy.”

“We have to do something,” Lena replies. Alex looks desperate, her hands fluttering across Kara’s skin and then the computer next to her.

“I don’t know what to do,” Alex admits, sounding equal parts frustrated and terrified. “I can’t figure out what’s causing the problem.”

Lena locks eyes with Iris suddenly and something determined sets into the other woman’s eyes. “We need to go to whatever world they’re in,” Iris says, keeping her gaze locked with Lena.

It’s the simplest solution, right? She has no idea how they’re going to accomplish such a thing, but Iris looks like she’s figured it out and the determined set of her expression bubbles hope into Lena’s throat.

Alex looks at them both like they’re crazy. “How do you think you’re doing that?”

“Cisco, you can vibe us there,” Iris says suddenly and Lena doesn’t immediately follow Iris’s plan, but trusts the certain way she looks to her friend.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Cisco says, shaking his head rapidly and taking a step back. “I can’t just –”

“Yes, you can,” Iris says vehemently. “You sent me into the speed force, you sent Barry and Wally into the future.”

Lena spares a moment to shoot a surprised look at Caitlin who makes a face and nods when she sees it.

“What does she mean?” Alex asks, staying on topic just as Mon-El looks at Lena and asks softly, “What’s a vibe?”

“I’ll explain later,” Lena tells him just as Cisco takes a deep breath.

“Okay,” he says, and he jumps towards a nearby desk to grab a pair of mechanical looking glasses that he puts on his face before moving to the foot of the bed and placing a hand on Barry and Kara’s shoulders. “Grab on to me.”

Lena does just that and exchanges a determined nod with Iris.

“Let’s hope this works,” Cisco mutters.

Seconds later, Lena’s head feels like it turns over inside itself and gets pulled upward. Earth-1 disappears and the walls of the world turn a muted sepia-toned color as they suddenly reappear.

They’re on a city street. That much Lena registers immediately. But the car to her right is old, antiquated really and Lena blinks at it a second before she hears the slamming of a door and a familiar voice calling out, “Barry!”

It’s Kara. Kara in a shimmery dress and heels, looking gorgeous. Her hair is in waves that look appropriate for whatever time this is supposed to be, and Lena has a sudden urge to sink her fingers into the curls there that shakes through her. She’s skipping towards a prone figure lying on the street that Lena realizes must be Barry. “Kara!” Lena calls out and it draws Kara’s attention immediately that way.

She gets one moment of Kara’s bright smile blooming across her face as she recognizes Lena.

It’s like something out of a nightmare. The second she and Kara connect eyes, a gunshot rings out loudly in Lena’s ears. So loudly that she flinches away from it, but still catches Kara’s eyes go wide and frozen, her hands dropping to her stomach in surprise.

Lena doesn’t know how to react. It’s like her brain freezes and becomes incapable of processing the look on Kara’s face and the growing red stain against her stomach. She’s had a thousand awful nightmares of Kara being bested by monsters, by her brother, and irrational ones like this - but this is real. Kara is falling to her knees, blood on her fingers, and Lena is frozen.

Iris, however, doesn’t seem to have the same problem. The cry of Barry’s name that bursts out of her in a raw yell startles Lena out of her shock.

It should probably occur to her to look around for a shooter, or to take some kind of cover, but she does neither of those things. Kara’s collapsing down to the street next to Barry and Lena just takes off in a run that direction.

Her knees hit the pavement and it radiates a phantom kind of pain up her legs, but she doesn’t care because Kara’s bleeding. Crimson is staining the gold fabric stretched across her stomach and Lena can see the way Kara’s face is going pale and oh god.

It feels like her chest is falling out of her body, like her guts are twisting up into her throat. She presses her fingers into the wound at Kara’s side, tries to see through the tears in her eyes and the blood pouring over her hands.

“I’m fine,” Kara is saying, a slurry mumble of words as she tries to lift her hand to Lena’s face.

It feels like there’s no time. Like Kara’s life is slipping through her fingers and Lena slogs through the cloud of emotion in her brain in an attempt to focus. For a moment she wishes Alex were here instead of her. Alex who is trained for high pressure situations, whose medical expertise matches Lena’s but whose hands would surely be steadier, more decisive in this situation.

She turns to where Iris is hunched over Barry, cradling his face in her hands. “We have to get them out of here,” Lena says, but Iris can’t hear her, can’t see past the way Barry is slipping away just like Kara.

“Lena,” Kara whispers and when Lena turns back, Kara’s smiling.

“Stay with me,” Lena orders, brain scrambling for a plan. Her hands stay pressed against Kara’s stomach even as Kara reaches up to play with a strand of Lena’s hair.

“I’m sorry,” Kara says and the heat in Lena’s eyes is so intense she can barely see through it.

“Don’t say that,” Lena replies through the tears escaping her eyes. “Don’t say that. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to get you out of here.”

“It’s okay,” Kara gasps out and Lena can feel her body go rigid, in pain or something else.

“No it’s not,” Lena says, abandoning the wound to grab at Kara’s face. The blood on her fingers smears there a little, but Kara leans into the touch and Lena thinks her heart might give out with the realization that Kara’s about to die. Kara’s going to die and Lena couldn’t save her.

“I’m glad you came back,” Kara gets out between pained breaths and Lena’s throat is so impossibly thick with tears and hot emotion she thinks she might collapse. “To me.”

“Kara, please,” Lena pleads. “Don’t. Please.”

“Tell Alex –”

“No,” Lena interrupts in a snap of the word.

“It’s okay. I love you.”

A choked sob rips out of her throat and Lena falls forward until their heads are together, her lips pressing against Kara’s.

“I love you too,” Lena says, the words nearly impossible to pull through all the desperation in her body. “I love you so much.”

Kara goes limp underneath her, but before Lena can even deal with that the world is shimmering around her again and disappearing, replaced quickly with the more familiar looking walls of the S.T.A.R. Labs medical bay.

“Lena?” Kara’s voice whispers and Lena’s eyes focus to see Kara, all the color returned to her face, blinking confused blue eyes up at where Lena’s hovering over the head of the bed.

As if startled, Kara shoots up in the bed, nearly conks Lena in the head on the way. Alex, who’d been standing at the foot of the bed standing vigil, takes Kara into a quick hug immediately. Her eyes connect with Lena’s over Kara’s shoulder and the relief and joy on it burst straight into Lena’s chest.

The moment Alex releases her sister, Lena’s around the bed, pulling Kara straight into her chest and pressing a reassuring kiss to the crown of Kara’s head. Just feeling the warm solid feel of her is easing the tension still thrumming across Lena’s skin and Kara sinks into the hold, lets Lena manipulate her closer.

“Hey,” Kara murmurs looking up at her when Lena finally pulls away. “You okay?”

The clear concern in Kara’s eyes makes Lena laugh, a watery sound as tears pool in her eyes and she just falls forward until her forehead is pressing into Kara’s temple and she can breathe in the feel of having Kara alive and nearby. Distantly, she’s aware of Alex taking Kara’s hand and of Barry sitting up in the bed next to them.

“Bravo!” A voice calls out from behind them and Lena startles, twirls to see the Music Meister striding casually into the room. “Standing O. I loved it. That was a hell of a show.”

Lena immediately steps more fully in front of Kara and keeps her stance ready just as Alex draws her weapon.

“How did you get out of that cell?!” Cisco exclaims and the Music Meister laughs.

“Cisco, did you really think that cell is just going to, like, hold me?”

A bewildered look is the only response Cisco gives before Barry is sliding up off his bed to stand. “No, hold on, what’s going on?”

Barry looks unsteady on his feet, but Iris holds him up at his side.

“I told you when we first met,” he answers, shrugging. “It was to teach all of you a lesson. Because I see everything. Sorry I had to like, mess with you a little bit,” he says, looking at Lena and the Iris. “I was just trying to get you to, you know, play the song and dance.”

He says the last bit with a little shimmy of his hips and a snap of his fingers and Lena really wishes they were in the DEO where there might be some kind of weapon lying around she could shoot him with. Alex looks like she is only moments away from destroying him with her gun.

“Are you like from another Earth, universe, multi-verse thing?” Barry asks. He looks mostly confused, curious. If she weren’t so angry at the sight of the Music Meister, she might find it endearing, the groggy look on his face.

“You wouldn’t even understand where I come from.”

“The Fifth Dimension,” Lena hazards a guess, a glare setting in her expression as she remembers Mxyzptlk.

“Ah, no,” he replies, a bit confused by the suggestion. “Though it sounds like a fun place.”

“It’s not,” Kara grumbles from behind her.

“Anyway,” he says, clapping his hands together. “I must be off. More people to see, more lessons to give.”

He starts ambling away, whistling to himself. Alex seems to give up on holding back her violent urges, and fires a shot his way. But it doesn’t even hit him, ricocheting into the ceiling and sending a round of sparks down.

“Seemed worth it to try,” Alex mutters, reholstering her gun and turning around to reach for Kara’s hand.

“Are we not going to, like, stop him?” Cisco says, pointing at the retreating man, but before anyone can reply he’s disappearing into thin air. “I guess not.”

--

The second they confirm that Kara and Barry are okay and not suffering any ill effects from the power drain, Alex starts to demand they head straight home. A few hours under the sunlamps seems to be in Kara’s future, but Kara rebels against the suggestion with the hope of staying a touch longer.

Barry comments over how hungry he is and a light hits Kara’s eyes that deflates the authoritative posture Alex had adopted.

“A few hours won’t hurt us,” Lena says to Alex softly, watching Kara laugh at something Barry is saying.

Alex relents, though she runs Kara through another quick test to reassure herself everything is in working order. Kara doesn’t protest. Not with the way Lena looks at her over Alex’s shoulder as if daring her to disagree. Kara’s smart enough to know when she’s outnumbered apparently.

The group makes their way out of S.T.A.R. Labs to a nearby restaurant that Cisco suggests. Lena spends the walk over trying to replace the vivid image of Kara bleeding out on the ground with the image of her now – walking and joking with Barry, humming some terrible song they’ve clearly made up about being super friends.

Alex actually laughs when Kara shuffles into some kind of mini tap routine. It’s a far different look than the harried expression Alex had back at the labs. Lena feels the entire group relaxing step by step.

They’re waiting at a crosswalk and Kara is picking Barry up off the ground in a move that clearly shows her powers are fully reinstated when Lena thinks to contact the rest of their friends back home.

Cisco watches with interest as Lena pulls out her extrapolator and goes about connecting with Winn – she uses one of the modifications she and Winn had worked on and runs the call through her phone.

“Everything’s fine,” she says the moment the connection goes through and Winn is picking up with a worried sounding Lena? “Kara is up and moving. We’re grabbing dinner and letting her recharge before we head back.”

“Oh thank God,” he says, the sound of his sigh crackling over the connection. “Okay. Good. And the prisoner?”

Lena takes a breath, glances to where Kara is leaning into her sister and laughing. “Disappeared. It’s a long story I’ll tell you all about when I get back.”

His okay is a bit more skeptical this time, but he doesn’t seem keen on protesting. “Well, if you’re staying, can you grab me a copy of Game of Thrones while you’re there? Kara told me once that he’s finished the last books over there.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lena says laughing when Winn lets out a short cheer.

They disconnect the call just as they arrive at the restaurant. Abandoning her duet with Barry, Kara finds her way to Lena’s side and slings an arm around her shoulders as they make their way to a large round table.

“You okay?” Kara murmurs, pressing her lips against Lena’s hairline quickly but with solid pressure that does something to relax Lena’s still-frayed nerves.

“Yeah,” she says, smiling up at Kara. It’s not entirely the truth. Not with the way she can’t stop feeling Kara’s blood spilling over her hands, or hearing Kara’s soft apologies while her life slipped away. But Kara’s here now. Alive and laughing and Lena takes a breath against the urge to whisk them both away somewhere far and keep them there for a long time.

They all settle at the table, Lena in between Kara and Mon-El and across from where Barry is whispering something to Iris.

“Does this earth have orange soda?” Mon-El whispers, looking over his menu.

Though the question had clearly been directed at Lena, it’s Cisco who answers as he plops into a chair next to Mon-El. “Any universe without orange soda is not a universe I want a part of,” he says, pulling a smile out of Mon-El.

“This earth isn’t that different,” Lena says patting him on the arm.

“Well, Krypton never exploded here,” Kara adds, reaching out for the glass of water a waiter has just set in front of her.

The comment pulls Mon-El forward until he can look at Kara with wide eyes. “Really?”

“There’s no Superman,” Kara answers with a casual shrug. Alex, from her position on the other side of Kara looks startled, like she hadn’t thought about the possibility.

“No Supergirl then either,” Alex observes, a little wide-eyed as she connects gazes with Lena who nods slowly. “Wow. Weird. I wonder what I’m like here.”

“I googled myself when we were here a few months ago,” Lena says, shrugging. “It was strange.”

Kara hums in agreement, but her eyes are typically trained on her menu. “What is everyone eating?”

“Wait, so then Daxam…” Mon-El’s voice trails off as his expression turns into something much like Alex’s and he blinks at Lena in surprise, as though he’s still working through the possibilities. A small surge of empathy comes through Lena for him.

“Daxam?” Caitlin asks suddenly from across the table and Lena’s eyes dart toward her suddenly remembering the rest of their companions.

“My home planet,” Mon-El offers. His eyes flicker between Kara and Caitlin before he continues. “When Krypton exploded, it took Daxam out with it.”

“I’m sorry,” Caitlin says, but Mon-El just shrugs.

“It’s okay. I like Earth,” he says simply.

“It’s your homeworld though, right?” Cisco interjects. “There must be some things you miss about it.”

Lena catches the soft scoff Kara lets out, but she thinks it must be quiet enough that Mon-El doesn’t because he just shrugs in Cisco’s direction, only a slight frown on his face.

“Some things, sure,” he says. “But I like being on Earth with my friends. Helping people and…” His words trail off into another shrug and when he looks at Lena she smiles softly enough that he returns the expression.

Lena glances over to Kara and finds her face contemplative as she looks over Mon-El. Her blue eyes are focused, a little confused. Lena winds her fingers through the ones splayed across her thigh and squeezes.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Mon-El adds, shooting Kara a small smile. “Krypton exploding brought us all here, right?”

It reminds Lena of Kara saying much the same all those months ago in a small hotel room not too far away. “Every moment is a bridge to the next,” Lena says, nodding at Mon-El and feeling Kara squeeze her fingers.

They’re interrupted by their waiter returning for drink and food orders and the conversation turns towards Kara and Barry’s adventure into the Music Meister’s world – apparently a world in which they were forced to live out a musical.

Lena nearly chokes on her drink when she hears Barry mention one particular detail and she locks eyes with Iris across the table.

“Wait, Iris and Lena?!” Alex says, with an incredulous look of surprise on her face that bleeds into deep amusement. “Like together?”

A look of slight disgust takes hold of Barry’s face and he nods. “Yeah, it was a forbidden romance story.”

Next to her, Kara makes a similar expression and visibly squirms. “Still so weird.”

Iris laughs, raises her glass in Lena’s direction and winks. “I don’t know, I think Lena and I would make quite the couple.”

Amused by the matching looks of horror on Kara and Barry’s faces, Lena laughs with her, raises her own glass as well just as Kara shakes her head and Barry raises his eyes to the sky.

“Too soon, Iris,” he says. “Too soon.”

A wave of amusement waves across the table and Lena bumps her shoulder into Kara until Kara allows herself a soft laugh.

--

If Lena were being entirely honest, she’d stay on Earth-1 with Kara for another month. Maybe find some bungalow up in the mountains and hole up there safely ensconced away from the near constant danger their life puts in front of them.

But that’s the kind of unrealistic thinking she’s been chastising Kara about for what feels like months now and Lena just barely avoids voicing her feelings to Kara as they’re preparing to head home.

They exchange goodbyes and promises to keep in touch. Lena in particular assures Cisco that the next time she uses the extrapolator it will be for an impromptu vacation and not because Kara’s in some kind of magical coma.

When they get back to the DEO, Winn and J’onn are waiting for their return. Winn hugs them all immediately and, to Lena’s surprise, J’onn steps forward with little hesitation to pull Kara into his arms and then Alex. He even nods warmly at Lena with what feels like some kind of approval she didn’t know she was waiting for.

Alex debriefs the entire thing after forcing Kara to sit under the sunlamps. Lena’s not sure it’s necessary, but there’s no room for argument on Alex’s face so Kara does what she says.

By the time they finally leave and head to Kara’s apartment, Lena’s exhausted.

They move around each other mechanically, Kara speeding out of her suit and into something more comfortable while Lena shuffles into the closet to find her own pair of pajamas to change into.

Eventually, they’re falling into bed and Lena shuffles as close as she can towards Kara. The sudden darkness of the room making her feel shakier than she’d like. Kara must read her mind because after just a few moments of silence she’s blowing out an audible breath up towards the ceiling.

“So that happened,” Kara says and Lena allows herself a laugh.

“It did.”

“Our lives are pretty crazy,” Kara replies, turning her head to look at Lena.

“They are,” Lena agrees, reaching out to tangle her fingers with Kara’s. The need to keep in contact is buzzing so insistently across her skin that she can’t resist it.

Silence descends again until suddenly Kara whispers an, “I’m sorry,” at the exact same time Lena says the same thing.

They share a laugh, but Lena shakes her head. “I don’t think you’re the one that needs to apologize.”

“Neither do you,” Kara says quickly and Lena takes a breath.

“I do though,” she says, shifting in close enough that Kara’s face is clearer in the darkness of the room. “I still think you’ve been overprotective, but…I get it now. And I’m sorry I didn’t before.”

Kara’s quiet for a beat, her brow pulling down. “What – I mean – what changed?”

A wry smile tugs across Lena’s lips. “Watching you nearly die like that put a few things into perspective.”

It had been like that time with Metallo when Kara had lain on the ground unconscious, bleeding from her temple as Lena'd been ripped away from her. But this time was different. This time Lena'd had a front row seat to the way the life started to dim from Kara's eyes, to the way her blood had felt as it poured out of her stomach and the terrifying realization that there was nothing Lena could do to stop the inevitable. 

“I’m fine,” Kara tells her, the words whispered but firm as a look of concern crosses Kara’s face. It pulls Lena out of her memories and back into the present. 

“I know that,” Lena replies, her fingers reaching out to press against Kara’s sternum and then up towards her neck where she can feel the steady thump of a heartbeat there. “But I still had your blood all over my hands and I saw the way your face –”

“Lena,” Kara interrupts, gripping Lena’s wrist, right where her watch sits and holding it there firmly. “I’m okay.”

The thick feeling in Lena’s throat feels impossible to talk around, but she swallows the emotion down and nods. “I just – I get it now. I’d do anything to protect you.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” Kara says and Lena laughs even though it’s not funny.

“I know,” she says. “But I’m going to do it anyway.”

There’s something contemplative about the way Kara’s eyes search Lena’s face, but she smiles after a moment. “I love you. If this is what our lives are going to be like together, I want us to be on the same team. I’m sorry if I’ve been suffocating lately. I’m going to try to be better at that stuff.”

“I’m going to try to be more understanding,” Lena returns before threading forward to press a kiss to Kara’s lips that’s immediately and fervently returned. For half a second, Lena feels like she did in the street, feeling Kara’s life drift out of her as they shared one last kiss. But Kara shifts underneath her, her hands settling with assurance on Lena’s waist as they roll sideways.

“I love you,” Kara says, a smile on her face as they part briefly. They come back together soon after, like always.

“I love you too,” Lena murmurs against Kara’s lips and then everything else is drowned out by the feel of Kara pushing against her.