A/N: I don't know where this came from and I don't know where it's going. Actually, that's not true, because I have the second part already written. Once this idea got in my head and I started writing, I couldn't stop... so, I present to you a nice, fluffy Lena/Kara sickfic that I probably had too much fun writing.
I hope you enjoy!
"Hey," Kara said, door swinging behind her as she entered Lena's office, intent on checking on the brunette after assassins had broken into her penthouse the previous night. Supergirl had arrived before any of them got hands on Lena, but her place had been effectively trashed and blood had been spilled. Kara paused when she didn't receive a reply, head tilting slightly to the side as she took another step closer. "Lena," Kara said again.
The CEO's head snapped up, dark hair pulled into a ponytail flipping behind her shoulder.
Kara raised her eyebrows and Lena dipped her head again. "Hey," she responded softly, rubbing a hand across her face and pressing her palm against her forehead.
A moment passed before she looked up, eyes meeting Kara's concerned glance. "Are you okay, Lena?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Lena straightened, but a sniffle betrayed her façade of composure. Her skin was a shade paler than usual, eyes glazed, and a slight wince on her lips at each movement that was a little too quick or a little too hard.
"You don't… you don't look fine," Kara said and edged closer, hesitation punctured her steps, but still she forged forward, dropping her bag and coat on a chair.
"It's just a headache," Lena said, waving a dismissive hand and shifting papers across her desk.
Kara furrowed her brow. "Do you get them often?" she asked, worry etched across her features.
Lena shrugged. "Sometimes…I-" she was cut off by a sneeze that shook her shoulders and left her squeezing her eyes closed for a moment. A multitude of symptoms had descended on this morning and she could feel it get progressively worse as minutes ticked away.
"Here," Kara said, offering Lena a tissue from the other side of the desk.
"Thanks," Lena said and her voice sounded different.
"Lena, I think you're sick," Kara said.
The brunette shook her head and it magnified the pounding, she closed her eyes again as dizziness fell over her. Reluctantly, Lena dropped her head into one hand and clutched the edge of her desk with the other until her knuckles turned white. "It's no big deal, I can manage," she said, raising her eyes to meet Kara's. Lena was used to managing; used to taking care of herself. Her greatest coping mechanism, even as a child, was simply to power through and push forward on her own.
"You shouldn't have to. C'mon let me take you home."
"I can't, Kara, there's too much work for me to do here and I feel fine, truly." She swallowed and tried to hide the grimace at the pain in her throat.
"Lena, please, let me take care of you." The brunette froze at those words, eyes closing for entirely different reasons than before, heart thumping in her chest. "You look bad—I mean not bad bad. You always look great, but-" Kara paused and looked upward, blowing a puff of air at the hair loose from her bun. Despite the chills sending shivers through her frame and the ache radiating through her body, a small grin slipped across Lena's cheeks at Kara's flustered attempts to find the right words. "What I meant to say is that you look like you feel bad."
Lena sighed and rubbed her face. She looked up at Kara with red rimmed, glossy eyes. "Okay."
"Okay?" Kara asked, a small smile spreading across her face.
Lena nodded, wobbling as she rose to gather her things. Kara stood to the side, wanting to hold Lena up, but unsure of how the woman would respond. "I'm afraid my apartment was quite nearly demolished in its entirety last night by a group of assassins." She all but rolled her eyes. "So I'm pent up in a hotel right now while my house is getting fixed."
"You can come to my place!" Kara said, brightening.
"I couldn't, not-"
"Don't be ridiculous," Kara cut in immediately, reading into Lena's hesitant tone. "I'm serious. No one should be in a hotel when they're sick, and my place is in good condition. I just cleaned it yesterday." Kara was feeling immensely grateful for Alex's constant Kara, this is gross; Kara, you can't keep living out of your clothes dryer; Kara, this paint brush hasn't moved in five days. It wasn't that Kara liked leaving things messy, it's just that between reporting and superhero-ing, things sometimes got a little out of hand; and Alex really didn't have that much room to talk. It wasn't like her fridge had seen real food in days considering how much time the agent was spending at the DEO.
Lena gave a sigh of submission. "I'd call my driver, but I gave him the day off."
"You picked a really crappy day to get sick, huh?" Kara teased and pulled her own coat and bag from the chair in front of Lena's desk.
The brunette gave a halfhearted laugh. Kara registered the pain lacing the noise, sending worry spiking through her body. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, she wasn't quite sure), the Kryptonian's human sickness gage was not well refined. Kara felt a pang of regret for not remembering more from her biology courses in school, or Alex's medical 'fun facts' that, in all honesty, weren't very fun in Kara's opinion. "It's no problem, though," Kara said, shifting her attention. "We'll get a cab. My apartment isn't too far, anyway."
As Lena took a step forward she swayed and Kara was by her side quicker than humanly possible. "Is it okay if I…?" she gestured to Lena's side, reaching out.
The CEO gave a tense nod and before she knew it, Kara had wrapped an arm around Lena's waist and tucked her against her own side. "Are you all right?"
Lena nodded again, this time more relaxed than before as she leaned heavily against Kara and felt warmth radiating from the blonde. They took a few shaky steps and Kara hooked her arm under Lena's shoulder to get a better grip. Lena made a soft sound of discomfort as more dizziness hit and her body ached in protest at the movement. Kara pulled Lena closer and whispered against dark hair. "Don't worry, I've got you."
By the time the cab approached Kara's apartment building fifteen minutes into the ride, Lena was a warm weight against Kara's side, eyes pulled closed by light sleep. Kara threaded her fingers gently through Lena's hair and in her half-conscious state the CEO leaned into the touch and its foreign softness. The blonde took advantage of the moment to press the back of her hand against Lena's forehead. Heat radiated off Lena's skin onto Kara's, it didn't feel good, Kara determined. She knew this wasn't how humans were supposed to feel, but at the same time she genuinely had no idea if it was really bad or just a little bad. She needed to call Alex as soon as she could and figure out this whole human getting sick thing.
The taxi jolted to a stop and Lena blinked, sitting up a bit and straightening off of Kara. The blonde turned to her after handing the driver money. "Hey," she said softly, wearing an easy smile. "We're here."
Lena gave a small nod and took Kara's extended hand, helping her out of the car. Lena's legs felt unstable as she stood, the world whirling around her and she tightened her grip on Kara's fingers. "Let me help you," Kara said, holding out her arm for Lena to come closer and rest against the blonde. She complied, letting out a sigh as her eyes opened and closed drowsily as Kara led them through the building, up the elevator, and into her apartment.
With a hand on Lena's back, Kara steered her into the bedroom.
Lena shook her head. "I can't take your bed."
"Sure you can," Kara said, ending the conversation by slipping an arm under Lena's shoulders and knees, scooping her onto the sheets.
"God you're strong," Lena muttered, turning her head on the pillow to face Kara.
The blonde ducked her head and adjusted to her glasses to hide the blush rising on her cheeks. "I—Alex, my sister, makes me train with her… being in the FBI and all, y'know she works out a lot."
Lena nodded, her fever fogged head accepting the explanation without much consideration. All she could think about was how nice it felt to be taken care of, to have someone else molding their whole day around making her comfortable when she felt so bad.
"Here, I hope these are okay," Kara said, passing a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and an old, soft t-shirt from college to Lena. "I'm going to go grab a thermometer and take your temperature, just to make sure it's not too high," Kara said. "Are you good for a second to change?"
"Mhmm. Thank you," Lena hummed, her eyes drooping closed as Kara disappeared into the bathroom. The blonde shuffled through her drawers, looking for the thermometer she kept for all the occasions Alex pretend not to be sick when she clearly was. Having undisputable evidence, such as Alex's temperature, proved to be quite useful when the oldest Danvers sister was denying her ill state. While Alex acted like she had a superior immune system, her track record proved otherwise—something Kara blamed on Alex's absurdly hard training schedule and general lack of sleep.
Kara shook the memories from her head and wrapped her fingers around the device, making a quick stop in the kitchen before returning to the bedroom to meet Lena.
"Hey, I'm sorry," Kara said as she gently nudged Lena awake, who'd somehow managed to change and fall asleep in a matter of minutes. "I need to take your temperature and then you should drink this." Kara raised a glass of water and deposited on the nightstand.
"Open up," she quipped with a small smile and slipped the thermometer under Lena's tongue. So far so good, Kara thought. Maybe she could handle this stuff without an Alex level intervention.
The device beeped and Kara gently pulled it from Lena's mouth. 102.8. What the hell did that mean? Kara pursed her lips. She was pretty sure human temperatures were supposed to be in the 90's, but to be honest, she really didn't—
"What is it?" Lena asked, her words slurred by sleep.
"Uh… it's 102.8?"
Lena nodded and Kara tried to read her facial expression to get a hint, but nothing came. "I'll go grab you medicine?" she attempted, helping Lena sit up and passing the glass of water to her.
The CEO shook her head. "I should be fine, let me try to sleep it off first."
"Are you sure?" Kara asked, brows pulled down in concern.
Lena nodded again and returned the half-finished water back to Kara's outstretched hand. She was pretty sure you were supposed to drink a whole glass when you were sick, but Lena's lips were so pouty and her eyes so watery that Kara placed it on the nightstand without further comment. Lena watched Kara's hesitation, whenever the Luthor had come down with something as a kid, the care she had received was clinical and from distant doctors. It was too much of a risk for her parents to make any sort of contact, as they had claimed, and too much of a time commitment, anyway. But Lex would come and sit by her bed and when she was really little he'd read to her and when they got older they'd play games together and watch movies until she felt better. The thought sent a pang through her chest and she bit her lip.
"You know what, you really should finish this," Kara said, turning back around and giving the water Lena again. "I know you don't want to, but it'll make you feel better later."
Someone was taking care of her, even though it was difficult. Someone was willing to argue with Lena, because they were thinking of her long term wellbeing. "Okay," she agreed, her voice thick with emotion. She coughed in an attempt to hide it.
It was the wrong move.
Kara's head shot up. "You weren't coughing before," the blonde declared. "That's bad, right? You're getting worse, oh Rao. I'm not good at this." She dragged a hand across her face. She groaned. "Shit."
Lena laughed, a smile blooming across her pink lips. Kara rambling was normal; Kara cursing was not.
"What?" Kara questioned, a smile replacing her worried grimace.
"You're getting panicked and cursing over nothing." Something in Lena's voice conveyed how much she loved and appreciated it.
"It's not nothing, it's you!" Kara said, only spurring a giggle—a literal giggle—from the CEO.
"You're being ridiculous."
"No, I'm being concerned." Kara attempted to school her features, but Lena raised her brows in challenge as she laid down against the bed, splitting the blonde's lips into a smile. She tossed a pillow at the CEO's face.
"Hey!"
Kara made a face in response. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping or something?"
"I would, but some madwoman is throwing things at me," Lena retorted, her eyes crinkly even though they lacked their usual brightness.
"Mhmm." Kara moved the pillow to Lena's side and sat on the edge of the bed, growing serious. "Can I get you anything?"
"No, thank you," Lena said with a small shake of her head. "You've been very kind. None of this was necessary."
"Now you're the one that's being ridiculous," Kara said and Lena peeked her eyes open to see the blonde grinning. "You deserve someone taking care of you. I've got your back."
She pressed her eyes closed as emotion swelled inside her, warm in her stomach and chest. Tears pressed in her cheeks and she felt her lips quiver. Lena pulled the blanket to hide her face and turned against the pillow. "Thank you," she murmured into the fabric.
"You're welcome," Kara said with a hand on Lena's shoulder. The pressure was comforting through the pile of blankets Kara had carried in when she saw Lena shivering. The brunette felt herself melting. "Just call if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay," Lena whispered and felt the mattress shift as Kara stood.