Chapter 67 - Treehouse

Kara looks at Lena and gives her a warm smile, with both women now sat on the bed next to one another.

"So basically, we aren't really sure if Alura will get powers or not. Not only because she is only half Kryptonian, but because of her age." Kara explains. "Okay.." Lena says, nodding her head, still a bit confused, "What does her age have to do with anything?"

"Right." Kara says, now nodding her head too, realising she hasn't explained the full extent of everything to Lena. "So, when Kal, my cousin, came to Earth he was a baby, and he didn't have any powers whatsoever. However, when he was about 13-years-old he started to gain some basic powers. From what he has told me, it began with his super hearing, and then the x-ray vision, and after that, slowly throughout the remained of his teenage years he gained more and more powers, with his last one being flight when he was 20."

"Wow." Lena replies, completely surprised by this all. "That must mean that the powers are triggered by some sort of Kryptonian puberty or something."

"Maybe." Kara says, "But it wasn't like that for me. I got here and had all those powers already. Although, I obviously didn't really test the extent of them. So, I'm not sure if like my super strength, or some of my other powers, increased as I grew up."

"Hmm, yes." Lena says, nodding her head once more. "You arrived on Earth likely after your 'puberty' had begun on Krypton, so perhaps things just worked differently for you because of that." "Yeah, possibly." Kara replies. "I do find it truly fascinating that during Kryptonian 'puberty' something must trigger that allows your body to gain these powers in some form. I mean potentially up until that point the Kryptonian body may just be absorbing the yellow sun's rays, and not allowing the Kryptonian to access their powers, as some way to sort of keep them safe. Or it may possible be an entirely different process, where puberty triggers a change in the Kryptonian's cells, which gives them their powers." Lena says, her mind now going a mile a minute with the scientific possibilities.

Kara interrupts Lena from her scientific thoughts by giggling. Lena in turn looks at Kara with a confused look on her face, not sure as to why her girlfriend is laughing.

"You're cute when you get all sciencey." Kara smiles.

"Thank you darling." Lena smiles back, "It's just, you have kind of shattered my understanding of Kryptonian biology."

Kara laughs again. Meanwhile, as Kara continues to giggle, Lena remains silent, lost in her thought, thinking about everything.

"Anyway, back to Alura." Lena eventually says, "I'm sure I could figure out some way to run some blood tests or something to see if she is going to gain any powers, and at the same time figure out the exact process which gives Kryptonians their powers during/after puberty."

"Uhhh, no. I don't think that is a good idea." Kara says, firmly.

Lena looks at Kara, and sees that her girlfriend has a stern look on her face. Lena now realises she has got a bit carried away, and has completely forgot to think about Alura as her daughter, and a person.

"I'm sorry, you're right." Lena says, "I got a bit carried away there. I don't want Alura to be my lab rat or anything like that, and she doesn't need to experience more medical stuff being done to her."

"Yeah." Kara says, agreeing with her girlfriend, relieved that Lena has realised the mistake of potentially subjecting their daughter to tests.

"Well, we will just have to deal with whatever happens to Alura when she hits puberty, whether she has powers or doesn't." Lena says.

"Yeah." Kara says, nodding her head, "But, if you don't mind, don't tell Alura about all of this." "Alura doesn't know?" Lena asks, surprised Kara hasn't mentioned this to her.

"No." Kara replies, "I don't want to tell Alura that she may have powers, and then for her to look forward to getting them around the same time Kal got his, only for her to be devastated if she doesn't get them." Lena is silent for a moment as she thinks on Kara's words, as she does not agree with her girlfriend on this one.

"Okay.... but Kara.... what if she does end up getting powers? She will end up being totally blindsided by it all, and not prepared for it. You should tell her." Lena says.

"No." Kara says, firmly.

"Kara...." Lena says, trying to reason with the Kryptonian.

"I said no Lena, end of discussion." Kara says, firmly, and then gets up from the bed and walks out of the room.

Lena is just left in the bedroom feeling completely uncomfortable and unsure what to do. Lena knows that there isn't too much to worry about, as all that has happened is she and Kara have just had a little disagreement over Alura. Lena still does think that Alura should know the potential of her getting powers one day, if only to prepare her, so she knows what to do if she suddenly has powers, and doesn't hurt herself or someone else, by being surprised by them. But of course, Lena isn't going to go around Kara and tell Alura, as that would certainly be a good way to make Kara really mad at her.

****************

Over the next hour, Kara gives Lena a bit of a cold shoulder, still obviously mad, or at least triggered, by Lena disagreeing with her. Kara however doesn't ignore Lena or anything, she is just a bit unresponsive, only offering brief answers, and mostly focusing her attention on Alura and Eliza. Eventually Lena has her shower, and once she is out, she wordlessly swaps places with Kara, with her girlfriend not even looking her in the eyes. All this just makes Lena feel very nervous, and anxious. Lena really has never been in this position before. She has never been in a long-term relationship where she has fought with someone and has to figure a way past it. Most of the time, in Lena's previous relationships, all the fights she had either meant the end to the relationship, or were just something she and her boyfriend/girlfriend ignored, and never spoke of again. However, Lena knows that she can't just ignore this fight with Kara, and not talk to her about it. Admittedly, it is not even really a fight. It was just Kara being angry at her, and then giving her the cold shoulder. Lena isn't really sure what to do, because she still thinks that Alura should be told about the possibility of her having powers, so she doesn't want to just try and fix things with Kara by apologising, as she has nothing to apologise for.

While Kara is in the shower, Lena decides to just sit on the bed and do some work on her laptop, while waiting for Kara to get out, hoping that will mean she doesn't have to do any work later on in the day, when hopefully they will be doing something fun. Lena continues to do some work, going through emails for the next 10 minutes. Eventually Kara comes out of the shower, and seems to be surprised that Lena is sitting on the bed, on her laptop. However, despite Kara's surprise, she doesn't make any attempt to say anything to Lena, she just silently begins to get dressed, while Lena continues to type away, not even looking at Kara's beautiful naked body.

After a few more minutes, Kara finishes getting dressed and then turns to look at her girlfriend, who is still typing away on her laptop not looking at her. Kara herself does feel guilty about snapping at Lena earlier, as the shower really allowed her to gain some perspective, and realise she was being a complete and utter ass to Lena. Kara's problem was just that all she wants to do is protect Alura from having more worries and heartbreak. Kara is just terrified that she could tell her daughter that she may have powers one day, only for her to be absolutely devastated if/when she doesn't get them.

"I'm sorry Lena." Kara says, looking at her girlfriend with a guilty look on her face.

Lena looks up at Kara and sighs, closing her laptop.