Flying

Kara watched, her tears shimmering in the street lamp-light, as Alex and Hank rode away on the motorbikes she and Major Lucy Lane had used to free them. The fear of losing them and not having a clue where they were going, made her heart clench painfully and she offered a silent prayer to Rao to ask him to take care of them as she sniffled softly.

"Hey…" Lucy moved closer to her friend and gently rubbed her arm. "They'll be ok. They won't let anything happen to each other, you know that."

Kara pushed her hair back and sighed as she took off her motorcycle jacket. "I know. I'm just worried about them." She rolled her eyes. "You know how much I LOVE not knowing what's going on with my sister."

The smaller woman chuckled and then looked around. The truck, from which they had rescued Hank and Alex, was out of commission and they were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. "So I guess we're walking," Lucy commented as she stripped off her own jacket. The night air was pleasant and the thought of walking wasn't actually awful.

"Oh no, I've got it covered," Kara replied and when Lucy looked back at her, the hero had already changed into her super suit. "I'll fly us back."

For a second, Lucy was completely frozen. "F..fly… us?" Then she pointed upwards and made a swooping motion with her hand. "Y…you mean…"

Kara crossed her arms and nodded, smiling big. "Sure."

"Um… I… uh… am not… crazy about heights," Lucy replied slowly, making a face. "In fact, complete, crushing, controlling, terror of heights might be more accurate." Her green eyes were frightened and Kara realized that she was being serious.

"You and Winn will get along great. Hey, it's ok. You trust me, right?" Since Lucy's hands were lifted as if to fend off a phantom attack, Supergirl gently grasped her forearms and ducked her head to look right into her eyes. "I will not let you fall."

"Of course I trust you," Lucy replied. "But I'm not sure I can do this, Kara."

"Yes, you can," the blonde replied. She moved behind the smaller woman and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her against her own chest and lifting her up to stand on her boots. "Try to relax and breathe and let me support you. Close your eyes."

Lucy did as she was asked and tried to relax against the warm, solid body of her friend. She tipped her head back and leaned it against Kara's shoulder, grasping the hands linked at her waist. It surprised her somewhat how good it felt to have Kara wrapped around her. She smiled to herself as she realized that even she wasn't immune to having a tiny girl-crush on the superhero. Lucy felt safe with Supergirl.

The wind picked up a little and lifted their hair, entwining the blonde and dark strands and Lucy felt the brief sensation of being in an elevator, but she was too focused on her thoughts to register it. She knew that she and Kara were very different people but their common goals and mutual admiration of Cat Grant had bonded them into a friendship at CatCo that neither had expected… even when Kara had come out to Lucy as Supergirl, despite Lucy's initial resistance, it had just ended up bringing them closer together as friends.

Then a soft whisper tickled Lucy's ear. "Look up."

Opening her eyes and tipping her head back further against Kara's shoulder, Lucy sucked in a breath. "Oh wow." The night sky was so clear that the stars were shining brilliantly above them. Even the slightest pinprick of light seemed brighter than she had ever seen before. "It's so beautiful."

"Yes, it is," Kara replied with a sigh. "This is why I love to fly so much. At this height, you get to see so much more than you normally do from the ground."

"F…from this h… height…" Lucy swallowed but kept her eyes focused on the sky above her. "Um… Kara, if I were to look down, would I see that we're flying?"

She felt a little laugh move through her friend's body. "Well," the hero replied. "Technically, we're mostly floating but yeah. We're not on the ground anymore."

Lucy wanted to be annoyed with the superhero but instead she smiled. "You tricked me. This is not what I was expecting." She felt Kara's grip re-settle around her and the hero's cheek pressed affectionately against her temple. "This is actually not terrible."

Again Supergirl laughed. "Yeah, I'm having a not terrible time myself. If it's easier, just don't look down." They were quiet for a moment, then Kara took a breath. "I want to thank you for everything you've done, Lucy. I know being caught in the middle hasn't been easy for you and I'm sorry. I never meant for you to feel uncared for or betrayed."

Lucy strained to look back at Kara so the hero quickly repositioned her friend to where they were facing each other and, after letting the terror abate and gripping Kara's biceps like her life depended on it, Lucy finally opened her eyes again. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel those things at first," she replied. "But I realized that none of this is about me. Kara, you risk your life every day to help people and you have to make unfathomable sacrifices. I want to help you and Alex and Hank because I believe in what you're doing. My father was wrong about you and Hank. His fear led him down a path of dumping all aliens into the same bucket and he can't see past that. I don't want to be like him, Kara."

Supergirl nodded but she was distracted for a moment by the clouds she saw rolling in. "I think it's going to rain. I'm going to fly us back to the DEO now." She leaned forward, tightening her grip on Lucy as the smaller woman wrapped her arms around Kara's neck and held on. The hero applied enough thrust to get them quickly moving. "And you're not like him. You've never feared me, Lucy. Not like your father does."

Lucy grinned. "Well, in fairness, you're much too gorgeous to actually be scary."

"Gorgeous?" Kara chuckled, her eyebrow lifting in question. "Nah."

"Yes!" the dark woman grinned. "You're gorgeous, you have superpowers and you're a really kind person. Hell… I want to date you! Seriously though…" Lucy's grin turned into a grimace as Kara hit an air pocket and some turbulence made her stomach bounce. "How are things going with James?"

"Right now, they're not," the hero replied sheepishly. "There's so much going on, my love life is sort of on hold." She swerved to avoid some bats, making Lucy gasp and tighten her grip even further.

"He loves you, you know. Don't wait any longer, Kara. If you love each other, don't wait. I'd tell him the same thing."

Kara didn't say anything for a long moment but allowed herself to hope that things might actually work out. "We're almost there. Doing ok?"

And Lucy smiled, applying that question to a few different areas of her life and reaching a quick conclusion. "Yeah," she replied, nodding. "Yeah, I'm actually doing ok."

Kara spotted the DEO Base Camp and within moments, they were touching down in the launch bay. For a long moment, Lucy continued to just hug her friend, letting her heart settle as Kara rubbed her back. "We're here," the hero said. "We're on solid ground."

Lucy lifted her head slowly from where her face was pressed tightly against the taller woman's shoulder and sighed with relief. "Thanks for being so understanding of my fears." They both knew that the thanks had more than one meaning. She stepped off Kara's boots onto the floor and grinned. "I actually enjoyed flying with you."

"You're welcome. Now, go get changed so you can pretend you're outraged over the prisoners' escape."

A short time later, Major Lane rejoined Kara, dressed in her army uniform, and they headed to the command center. The hero immediately felt Hank's and Alex's absence and was glad to see Agent Vazquez at her post.

"Atten-hut" a nearby soldier exclaimed.

Vasquez stood up. "Ma'am, we've had a security breach."

"I know," Lucy replied. "What are we doing to re-apprehend the detainees?"

"Ma'am?" Vasquez replied, confused.

"What are Colonel Harper's orders," Major Lane clarified.

"Ma'am, Colonel Harper just resigned and named a new acting director of the DEO," Vasquez informed them.

"Who?" Lucy asked, glancing at Kara in surprise.

"You."

For a moment, Lucy just blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. He was quite adamant about your appointment."

Kara leaned close to her friend and murmured. "I guess J'onn's gotten good at that whole mind control thing."

"You're going to help me do this, right?" the smaller woman replied worriedly.

"Yeah, of course," Supergirl reassured with a smile. "But you're going to be great. This is where you belong."

They were interrupted by Vasquez as she was checking something on her screen. "Ma'am, there's a bank robbery at 10th and Shukert. No alien involvement, but I just thought you might want to know."

Kara nodded as Lucy crossed her arms. "And YOU belong out there."

The hero shrugged. "After what I did, the people don't trust me anymore."

Major Lane shook her head and pinned her friend with a serious look. "You got me to trust you. That's a start."

And with that, Supergirl left the DEO and headed towards the address Vasquez had given her. Maybe today would be a new day to fly.