Chapter 49

"You know why you're not welcome here." The lizard man hisses.

The entire bar has stopped and is watching this happen. Lena's posture straightens and she stares impassively up at the tall man.

"I would guess it's Lex. But he's dead. And as you can see, I am not him." Lena replies calmly.

Lena can feel Kara practically vibrating with the urge to butt in and push the humanoid lizard away from her. Lena subtly reaches out and squeezes her hand before letting go, trying to communicate to Kara that she should Lena deal with it. If Kara jumps in and defends her immediately, they'll see Lena as weak, as someone who needs someone else to step in to protect them.

Yes, the lizard guy is much too close for her liking. So close that she can smell his awful breath. But she needs to do this.

"You may not be Lex, but you are a Luthor. Leave now." He growls out.

Lena shifts her weight to one leg and raises one unimpressed eyebrow in her signature move. "So you're telling me that because of where I come from, I'm not welcome here. That sounds exactly like what Lex and my mother believe."

"Don't turn this around on me, Luthor! You could've stopped him if you were truly as good as you clearly believe you are."

Lena's chin juts out and her lip twitching into a brief scowl is the only indication that she really wants to punch him.

"You don't know me. You don't know what I've been through, you don't know what I've done." She says, her voice sharp and deadly. The lizard man nearly flinches at the tone. "And if it matters so much to you, then yes I'll tell you that I tried to stop him. Because I did. I begged him to stop, to see reason. He was too far gone. I tried to sabotage his devices, and my own brother punched me in the face when he found out."

"Leave," the lizard man demands again.

"No," Lena says sternly. "I lost my brother while he was still alive. Hearing that he was killed was a relief. A . He was dead long before he was killed. And now, I am trying to bring my Kingdom to the new age of acceptance, which you would know if you read any newspaper reporting on my Kingdom. So don't you compare me to my brother."

The lizard man wavers. "Trust is earned, Luthor. And you haven't earned ours."

"I can understand that." Lena says, her voice a lot calmer. "But I'll never be able to earn your trust if you never give me the chance to."

Some other alien stalks over, seeming furious that the humanoid lizard is hesitating. He has a spiky Mohawk that looks like it's made up of porcupine-like quills. His eyes are a glowing purple, which Lena guesses is a sign of anger in his species.

"He killed my sister!" The man shouts, pointing at her.

"And I'm sorry for that, but I'm not him. Yelling at me, that does nothing. It won't bring your sister back." Lena says.

He doesn't seem convinced like the lizard man was and takes a threatening step forward. Lena can practically feel the others bristle by her side. To her surprise, it's Maggie who jumps in first. She pushes him squarely in the chest, causing him to stumble back a couple of steps in surprise.

"She's with us. Back off." Maggie says, Alex by her side.

"Sir Alex?" The guy asks in disbelief. "Why are you defending her?"

"She's here to help. Lena came here for peace between our Kingdoms and to assist in taking down Cadmus. Plus, Kara trusts her. I trust Kara." Alex explains, her arms crossed defensively.

"Kara? As in Danvers? As in the cousin of Superman? As in an alien?" The man asks, sounding flabbergasted. "Why do you trust her?" He asks Kara, who's been a silent presence at Lena's side.

Lena's pretty sure the only reason that Kara wasn't the one that pushed him away from her is because Kara might accidentally shove him through a wall. Lena reaches down and takes Kara's hand, the dimmer light of the bar concealing it pretty well.

"Lena's not like her family, I knew that from the first time I met her." Kara begins. "I know what it's like to be compared to your family, and what it's like to be let down by your family. I guess I see a lot of myself in her." Kara studiously ignores Maggie's snickering at her wording. "Plus, I mean I wouldn't be dating her if I didn't trust her."

The entire bar has been listening to this happen for the entire time, even the ones who sip their drinks and pretend to be occupied with something else. A couple of aliens actually do a spit take.

"You're... Dating her?" Another alien questions. "How long has that been going on?"

"Um," Kara thinks about it. "Since a little after I met her. I had to go to protect her from assassins on her way here. So... Almost a month now."

The alien in front of Lena looks shocked. He blinks and M'gann comes out from behind the bar to guide him away from them. Luckily, he goes without a fight.

"You know that all of Danvers Kingdom is going to know you're dating Lena tomorrow, right?" Maggie says.

"Good thing we're headed to the forest then." Kara grumbles.

"Should we talk to Miss Grant?" Lena asks.

Kara nods. "Yeah, we can do that after this. Rao, I'm definitely going to need a drink then." She groans.

M'gann, back from escorting the alien away, sets a drink on the bar in front of Kara. Kara eyes it hesitantly.

"It's strong enough to keep you buzzed, but not too strong." M'gann explains.

"Is it safe for me to kiss Lena? Like some of the alcohol messes with or is damaging to humans." Kara questions.

"Yeah, you'll be fine. Just wait at least five seconds after each sip. Otherwise Lena will get a mild burning sensation on her tongue and lips, but it fades after a couple of minutes." M'gann answers.

"Thank you!" Kara says and tries to hand M'gann money for the drink.

"No," M'gann shakes her head. "That's on the house tonight, and so is your drink, Lena. Congratulations on getting together. You look like you make a good couple."

M'gann smiles kindly and acknowledges their thank yous with a nod. She hands Lena a glass of bourbon.

Lena raises her eyebrow again. "Most bartenders assume I'm a top-shelf red wine drinker."

"I'm not most bartenders. I'm a Martian, I can read minds." At Lena's expression, M'gann chuckles and quickly clarifies. "I'm kidding. I don't do that without permission. No, I'm just good at reading people."

Lena thanks her again and sips the bourbon, humming as it slides down her throat. She and Kara join the others at the table they've taken, near an empty pool table.

Lena sits on the other side of the booth, across from where Maggie and Alex are cuddled up. Alex has an arm draped across Maggie's shoulders and Maggie's leaning her head on Alex's shoulder. Kara sits pressed against Lena's side, their hands still entwined and resting on Kara's knee. Winn drags over a chair and sits at the end.

"That was awesome, guys!" He gushes. "I mean not the aliens being mean to Lena part, but the clap backs were awesome."

"Clap back?" Alex teases. "Winn, no one uses that word anymore."

"I'm bringing it back." Winn nods to himself.

"It's already dead, man. You can't bring it back." Alex says.

"I am bringing it back." Winn insists, pausing for a moment before saying. " back."

Maggie and Alex groan while Lena smirks and Kara giggles, both because of Winn and because of Maggie and Alex's reactions.

"Dude, that was terrible." Maggie groans, her dimpled smile on her face.

"The fact you groaned means it's amazing." Winn beams at them.

Alex doesn't have the heart to tell him any different. "Sure, Winn." She ruffles his hair, making him whine in protest.

"Hey Winn." A voice says and his head whips around, his eyes wide.

"L-Lyra! Hi!" He stutters out.

"I'm going to get a drink. I'll be back." She winks at him.

He stares at her as she walks away before turning to the others, hunching over the table and whispering urgently. "You guys actually invited her?"

"Of course we did." Alex answers, reaching over and helping his frantic attempt at taming his hair again. "You have to ask her out, Winn."

Winn's nervous squeak is answer enough. Alex shakes her head fondly and rolls her eyes, hoping one of them will make a move. Sometime this decade would be preferable.

Lyra takes another chair and instead of taking it opposite Winn, she puts it right next to his so they have to squish in together. Winn, in an attempt to calm his nerves, writes down everyone's order and scurries up to the counter.

Fun, right? I had a great time writing everyone's responses to the aliens' skepticism. Especially the part where Lena's like "that's exactly what my family does." I hope it turned out as "oooooo" worthy as I thought it was. Who knows? Maybe I'm just sleep deprived. I'm definitely slightly sleep deprived, because I wrote this a day early accidentally so prom was yesterday and I hung out with my friends until 1 am and had a 8:30 am mandatory school thing (I swear they did that on purpose). Also, I was literally the only girl wearing a suit. I looked really gay, so that was great! :) Next chapter, will Winn and Lyra ever ask each other out? Some more shenanigans happen at our favorite alien bar and then Lena and Kara have to talk to Cat Grant about their relationship! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!