Chapter 71

They all head down to the training room. Kara bounces on the tips of her toes as they all enter behind her. She has on her new suit and headgear.

"Okay, Kara." Alex says, taking the lead. She presses a button and the ceiling glows green. "Hit me."

Kara frowns. "Um. What if it works? Then I could break one of your bones. Or worse."

Alex nods. "Right. I didn't think of that. Okay, punch that."

Alex gestures to the punching bag they set up in the middle of the room. Kara nods to herself and lets out a breath. She walks over to it and gets into the stance that Alex taught her. Kara doesn't feel any different, none of the discomfort or nausea that usually comes with Kryptonite exposure. She's hopeful. She punches hard, holding back her strength enough that it shouldn't permanently damage the bag should she have her powers.

The bag, to her surprise, explodes. The grains of sand rush out of the hole her fist created and onto the floor. She shakes herself off and runs a hand through her hair to make sure nothing got in it.

"I think it's safe to say it works." Winn says after a lengthy pause. "That was awesome!" He holds his hand up for a high five.

Alex rolls her eyes fondly at her nerdy siblings. "Alright, alright. We can be done for today. We can run more tests tomorrow, see how direct contact with Kryptonite affects you. But for now-"

"Dinner!" Kara cheers.

Alex raises an eyebrow at being interrupted but Kara's too busy doing an excited little dance to notice. "Yeah. Dinner."

***

That night, Kara ate enough that she felt stuffed and Lena had to drag her from the dining room to Kara's bedroom. Lena sits on the bed, her back leaning against the headboard. Kara hums happily and cuddles up to Lena's side after flopping onto the bed.

"We do have some things to talk about, darling. Don't fall asleep on me." Lena urges quietly. Kara blinks and gives her a worried look. "Nothing bad about us, Kara. I promise." She takes a breath to steady herself then speaks. "Kara, I want to talk about earlier."

"About how I made the punching bag explode? Don't worry, I can control myself. I honestly haven't done that in years." Kara says.

"What? Oh, that's not what I was talking about, Kara. I was talking about how emotional you got earlier about the Kryptonian technology." Lena says slowly.

Kara blinks again and nods resignedly. "Lee, do you mind if I change out of my supersuit for this? I promise I'll be quick."

"Of course not. And I know you'll be super quick."

Lena laughs at Kara's groan as she changes, her movements a blur. Kara rejoins her on the bed, cuddling up just as close as before.

"What about it exactly?" Kara asks.

"I just want you to know you can talk to me about this kind of thing. I'm not just your girlfriend when you're happy. I'm your girlfriend when you're sad or angry or whatever other emotion you feel. You're not going to scare me away by talking about it. The Gods know how much baggage I have." She chuckles softly. "We can help each other shoulder the weights on our shoulders. I think that's the right metaphor." Lena scrunches up her nose as she tries to think and Kara can't resist kissing it.

"You're cute." Kara murmurs. "Yeah. Okay, I can talk about this. I just usually don't with anyone but Alex. I just... I haven't seen Kryptonian technology in a while, not like that. I haven't seen Kryptonese lettering in even longer. I rarely speak Kryptonese anymore."

"Don't Kal and Alex speak it?" Lena asks softly.

Kara lets out a breath. "Yeah. They... I don't know. It's not the same. They both have the same accent. I call it a human accent. I know they love me and I know they would try more if I asked, but..." She shakes her head. "It helps, speaking to Alex in Kryptonese when things get bad. Either externally or when things get bad in my head."

Kara snuggles closer to Lena and they sit in silence for a while, content in the feeling of each other.

"I want to learn Kryptonese." Lena says.

"You... What?" Kara asks, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"I want to learn Kryptonese." Lena shifts so she can look at Kara better. "Darling, we've already said we're in this for a long time. Hopefully forever." Lena pauses to lovingly brush a strand of hair from out of Kara's face. Kara kisses Lena's hand. "And part of that is probably going to include us living together. We can figure it out after all of this is over. But I want you to be able to speak Kryptonese in our home. I want you to feel safe with me, feel loved. And you may not know this, darling, but I am very smart." Lena jokes. "I have learned a couple other languages. I'm sure I'll be able to figure out Kryptonese."

Kara hums and leans in to kiss Lena softly. "I don't know, Lee. It took Alex months to figure it out."

"Well, I guess I'll have to prove I'm better at this than her." Lena murmurs. "I love you, Kara Danvers."

"I love you, Lena Luthor." Kara says back, beaming happily. She leans in and kisses her again, not letting herself get lost in it just yet. "Lee, we do have something else to discuss. Are you going to be okay with all of this?"

"What do you mean?" Lena asks for clarification, though she's pretty sure she knows what her girlfriend means.

"With Lillian. Lee, she's the head of Cadmus. She's behind all of that. And there's a possibility we won't be able to capture her alive." Kara says gently. "We're going to be leaving soon and I want to make sure you know that and that you're okay."

Lena lets out a breath. "I haven't considered Lillian my mother in years. In fact, that fact was a source of comfort. That I'm not really a Luthor." Lena tries to gather her thoughts but they're more of a jumbled mess than usual. "I don't know, Kara. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's losing family members."

"Lee..." Kara whispers, taking Lena's hand in hers.

"It's okay, Kara. I will be fine. Not at first, of course. No matter how terrible she is, as a mother, as a human being, Lillian is the only mother I can remember. If-if she does get killed or even if she doesn't..." Lena huffs and looks Kara in the eye. "I'm going to need you."

"And I'll be right by your side, Lee. For however long you want."

"Forever?" Lena asks in a small voice, still not quite used to the prospect that Kara might be as all in as she is.

Kara's eyes soften and crinkle as she smiles. "Forever. I can do that."

Lena leans in for a kiss that they let go a little deeper, but not enough that they're going to make love. Not yet, at least.

"Kara? Please be careful." Lena begs, squeezing her hand. "I can't lose you."

"You won't lose me. I'll be super careful."

Kara gives Lena an exaggerated wink to make her laugh and it works. "You're a dork." Lena teases.

"You love me."

"I do." Lena confirms, her voice warm.

Kara leans up and kisses her again. This time, they're both ready for it to deepen.

***

"So Sawyer, why do you have your worried face on?" Alex asks as she lies on their bed, tossing a ball into the air and catching it.

"I'm just thinking about the future." Maggie answers cryptically.

Alex catches the ball one last time and tosses is off the bed, gesturing for Maggie to come up. Maggie lies down next to Alex, entwining their hands and resting them on her stomach.

"What about the future?" Alex prompts, her head turned towards Maggie.

"We're leaving soon, to attack Cadmus. This is going to be huge. I just don't know if we're ready." Maggie admits.

"Well, we're almost done with making crossbows for the archers, and then Lena has to teach them how to use it... But other than that, I think we're as ready, as prepared as we can get." Alex says.

"That's good, but I mean emotionally. Mentally. Whatever." Maggie waves her free hand dismissively. "Al, there's going to be a huge fight. This is war. People are going to die, on both sides. I want to make sure we're ready for that. You and me. Because it will happen."

"Have you done this before? Talked about what'll happen after or during a battle?" Alex asks, more curious than anything else.

"Yeah. I try to do it before every battle that we know about. Because I know how much your mental state can alter how well you work."

Next chapter, they continue the discussion! Hopefully this turned out good, I feel like it didn't translate well from my mind, but eh. We'll see. Anyway! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!