Chapter 48

Alex and Lena excitedly approach the gel. Their amused girlfriends watch them from a distance while Winn scurries after them, wanting to see the results.

"The arrow penetrated deeper," Alex remarks in surprise. "I thought it would be the bolt, especially with the strong drawback power of the crossbow."

"I thought the same thing." Lena murmurs. "Perhaps it's because the bolt is thicker, less aerodynamic."

Alex's eyes light up. "The bolt is shorter, too! There's less mass per diameter."

"So it loses velocity quicker." Lena nods. "That makes sense."

"It would be better closer up to an enemy. Do you mind if I try to improve the bolts too while you and Kara are gone?" Alex asks.

"As long as you don't stay cooped up in your lab the whole time, sure." Lena teases, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"Like you haven't done that." Alex scoffs and Lena smiles, not denying it. "See? Plus, I have my girlfriend to make sure I don't accidentally work myself to death."

Lena hums. "True. I can see her dragging you out by the ear if you didn't stop working."

Alex rubs the back of her neck. "She almost had to do that once, when Cadmus was about to attack the bar. I kept wanting to add more traps."

"Those traps sounded brilliant, by the way. Do you have the blueprints to them still?" Lena asks curiously.

"Yeah, I do. I'll take them out for you when you and Kara come back."

"Hey guys," Winn says from where he has been standing nearby, soaking in their ideas and theories. "Your girlfriends seem like they're getting bored. Um. Since Lena and Kara are leaving tomorrow, how about you guys all go out to eat tonight? Have some sibling and girlfriend bonding time?"

"Only if you come too!" Kara calls from where she's standing.

She and Maggie walk closer until they're next to their girlfriends.

Winn shifts, his cheeks pink. "I don't know..."

"Come, it's your idea and you're our little brother." Alex persuades. "You can bring Lyra."

"She's not my-" He sighs, then squints. "Hey, why am I the little brother? I'm older than Kara!"

"Technically, I'm older than all of you." Kara reminds him. "Phantom Zone, remember?"

"How old are you really, then?" Maggie questions.

Kara shrugs. "I never figured out exactly how long I was in there, but I'm somewhere around 50."

"I hope I look that good when I'm your age." Maggie says with a joking whistle.

Kara sticks out her tongue. Alex swallows a laugh and then her eyes widen and she smirks.

"Hey Kara. You know what that means?" She asks, looking between Kara and Lena. "You're a cougar."

Kara drops her head onto Lena's shoulder and groans loudly.

"It's okay, babe." Lena presses a kiss to Kara's forehead, trying not to let her shoulders shake from the laughter she's holding back. "I love you, white hairs and all."

"Love you too," she says, her voice muffled by her girlfriend's shoulder. She jolts. "Wait. White hairs?" Kara gasps, horrified, bringing some of her strands of hair into her line of sight.

"I'm kidding, babe. Can Kryptonians even get white hairs?" Lena muses.

"Kal doesn't have any." Kara replies, lifting up her head. "Lois kind of hates that he doesn't."

Kara readjusts herself so she can put an arm around Lena's waist.

"So..." Winn says awkwardly, seeing how Lena and Kara are gazing lovingly at each other. "Dinner? It's getting pretty late!"

Kara's eyes light up. "Great, I'm starving!"

"The alien bar has pretty good burgers," Alex suggests.

They all agree on going there and start walking to National City.

"No getting drunk." Kara points at her sister and Maggie for emphasis.

"Fine." Maggie nods. "But will you be having a drink too, Little Danvers?"

"If I do, it won't be one of the stronger ones." Kara says. "We have to leave tomorrow and we haven't packed yet."

"You have superspeed, you can pack in like two minutes." Maggie waves her off.

"Does alcohol actually affect you?" Lena asks, curious.

"Not human alcohol," Kara shakes her head. "But alien alcohol does."

"The last time she went there, she got drunk for the first time. It was hilarious." Maggie says.

"Well, I'm not getting drunk tonight." Kara declares, silently hoping that she won't. Being hungover sucked the first time, and tomorrow she and Lena have to walk a lot.

"So what happens to humans who drink alien alcohol?" Lena asks.

"It's insanely concentrated, or made up of weird off-world stuff." Alex begins. "So either you die or have fun side-effects. According to M'gann, one of them is on it's way to being banned in the Kingdom because it has the same affect as a hallucinogenic drug."

"Is it safe for Lena to kiss me after I drink some?" Kara questions worriedly. "Because if not, I'll never drink alien alcohol again."

Lena's heart skips a beat and she has to work on calming herself. Kara probably didn't mean to imply that they could be together for a long time, long enough for Kara to never drink it again. Forever.

Lena's thoughts detail and she walks absentmindedly beside her girlfriend, her mind full of ideas on what forever with Kara could be like. It won't be easy, not just because she's a Super and Lena's a Luthor. Also because Lena's Queen and Kara's a Princess to another kingdom and first in line for the throne (Alex decided when she was a teenager that she never wanted to be Queen). But they could make it work. If they they married-

Lena cuts her thoughts off there, both because it's so improbable that someone, even Kara, would want to be with her forever that she nearly laughs, and because if she continues thinking about this, she'll walk into a pole or something.

"I would ask M'gann." Alex suggests. "She should know."

Kara nods and squeezes Lena's hand when she notices how she's looking around nervously. They turn down the alley the bar is in and Lena's hand tightens around Kara's.

"Are you okay?" Kara asks quietly.

Lena swallows and nods, speaking in a whisper. "I'm about to see all of the people my mother tried to kill."

Kara gently lifts Lena's hand to her lips and presses a gentle kiss to the back of it.

"It may take time, but they'll see how good you are eventually." Kara murmurs.

"Dollywood." Maggie's confident voice says, snapping them out of their own little world.

The slot closes and the metal door creaks open a bit. Maggie pushes it all the way open, holding it for the others.

"Hey." Maggie puts a hand on Lena's shoulder to stop her before she goes in. "We're with you, Lena."

She doesn't have to say anything more because one look at Lena's eyes tells Maggie that she understands what she's trying to say. Lena gives her a small smile and thanks her softly but genuinely before heading inside to rejoin the others.

The bar isn't what she expected. It's a dive bar, which Alex and Maggie had told her. But it feels almost safe, like a home. There are a ton of aliens here, some obvious, some not so obvious. If Lex were here, he would have an aneurysm. Lena's lips twitch up into a sad smile at the thought.

Kara reaches out to retake her hand, giving her a questioning look. So she didn't use her super hearing, which Lena appreciates. Lena smiles at her, another small one, but it's enough to calm Kara's worries.

A beautiful black woman behind the bar sees Lena and Kara and does a double take. Kara guides Lena over to the bar so they can talk.

"Kara? It's good that you're back, but are you sure you want to bring a Luthor to an alien bar?" M'gann asks quietly, which is kind of useless because quite a few species here have super hearing.

Quite a few people stop what they're doing and whip their heads over to look at Lena and Kara. Lena doesn't even have to look behind her to know there are eyes on her, she's grown used to being able to tell when people are watching her.

It's almost comical, how pretty much everything stops. The ones who didn't hear M'gann look over to see what everyone's staring at.

Someone puts their hand (paw? Lena isn't sure what word to use for a scaly hand) on Lena's shoulder and she freezes automatically. She breathes in and out through her nose, reminding herself that it's not her mother, it's not her mother...

"You aren't welcome here, Luthor." A raspy, deep voice says from behind her.

"Is it because I'm human?" Lena asks, practice from her family being the only thing that's keeping her voice from shaking. She shrugs off the hand and turns around, coming face to face with what appears to be a humanoid lizard. "Because I see a few other humans here. Or is it because of my last name?"

Next chapter, Lena and lizard man talk/we see what happens next. And whoo, research! I had to look up why bolts don't go in ballistics gel as far and that's what came up! Soon, Lena and Kara go off on their little adventure and I have a nice Sanvers surprise for you coming up in the next couple of chapters after they leave ;) Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!