That's What I'll Be
The child was small, so small and clutching at the cape at her shoulders. His hands had immediately grasped onto it when she'd lifted his sleeping body and held him to her. She brushed light curls from his warm forehead, smoothed the wrinkles from his white tunic, and held him tighter when she saw DEO vans pull to the crash site. He murmured a word over and over in his sleep, "Ieiu, Ieiu, Ieiu," and it pulled her heart stings to hear him call for his mother even in sleep.
It hit her, minutes later, he's still clutching and still muttering, and she feels tears well in her eyes at the thought of him never having his Ieiu because it's been almost four decades since his world had died, and she couldn't get his mother and she couldn't even reassure this tiny boy that she shared a lost world with.
Alex took one look at the boy cradled in her arms, sighed, and resigned herself to cautious affection. J'onn took several minutes of glaring from Kara, sighs and crossed arms from Alex and Maggie both, and a quick peek in the boy's head before he gave his consent to the elder Kryptonian to fly him back to base.
She flies low, not low enough to get close to cars, but right in the ideal flying zone where the wind doesn't whip by too hard and the temperature isn't freezing. When she lands on the balcony, she lands so softly her boots hover off the ground a millimeter until she gets inside.
Winn turns in his chair to greet her, but all the color drains from his face and his hello is cut off at the sight of the boy. He raises his eyebrows, and his face isn't distrustful or judgemental, just confused and cautious. The boy in her arms shifts and that motion causes the rest of the observing agents in the lobby to fully snap back to their senses. They all, excluding Winn, return to their screens.
"Is that- is that, the uh, what was in the pod?" He asks, and she goes to answer him, but the toddler blinks his eyes open and she sucks in a gasp.
His eyes lock onto hers, and they're lost in a staring battle, his blues against hers. A moment passes and then he's shifting them around the room, his heartbeat staccato, and thrumming faster.
She pulls back from him slightly, shushing him, placing a hand against his chest. "Rrup non voi . Khahsh, epol chahv." You are safe. Breathe, little one.
He blinked rapidly, his little fists tightening against the red of her cape.
Her heart softened and she smoothed the front of his tunic. "Tarrehd nahn i threv?" What is your name? She asked, her eyes searching his face.
Sucking in a breath, he murmured, "Khuhtiv threv nahn Dar-Em. " My name is Dar-Em. He looked around again, his lip trembling and eyes squinting. "I kri fis ukep." It's bright in here.
"Khuhtiv threv nahn Kara Zor-El." My name is Kara Zor-El. Then, Kara furrowed her eyebrows, scanning the rooms around them. "Tarraop-si shim vo kehgier vo zharrahn?" Would you want to move somewhere darker?
He nodded, closing his eyes and moving his head back down to her shoulder. She slowly walked them to an empty meeting room, not bothering to turn the overhead lights on. Kara went to set Dar-Em down, but he clutched her and, smiling, she sat down on the table with him attached to her. It was quiet in the room, far enough down the hall that the buzz of talking was low, the lights dim. Kara had a million thoughts racing through her head, but the most present one was confusion as to how this little boy already so openly trusted her.
"Tarriv rraotiv lusu dol-voie-hd?" Do your ears hurt? She asks, and he lets go of her with one hand to touch his ear as if just noticing a lack of pain in the quiet room. His eyes are still squinted a little, but his expression looks less strained.
He nods again, pauses, then says quietly, "Zhi, zhehd non. Raogh ugem." Yes, they were. Less now.
She nods, remembering her first days on Earth. She's on a train of thought before she notices, a dangerous trail of I'll have to get him some noise-cancelling headphones, soundproof his room- Wait. What?
She probably would have continued with those thoughts, had Dar-Em not looked up at her quickening heartbeat. Calming down, she smiled at him reassuringly.
He squinted more, his free hand coming to rest above her heart. "Tanim khuhp ulir rraotiv zhor?" Why can I hear your heart?
And she is struck with awe at how smart he is, how quick he is to notice it's her heart he's hearing. Then, she's afraid all over again. She can't answer him because he's throwing more questions at her before she has a chance.
"Tanim kryp? Voiehd tahn ehvahnu saoviz. Voiehd nahd zha khutiv zedhd. Tarrov zhaiovis shehd? Tarrehd non iovis ehworahzh? " Where are we? This place smells weird. It doesn't look like home. Who were those people? What were they saying? And then his questions stop. Because standing in the doorway are two people, and he's back to closing his eyes and burrowing his head in her shoulder.
She looks to the door, and it's just Maggie and Alex, but she understands his hesitation to keep talking.
Alex leans in the opening, her voice low and quiet, "J'onn called Eliza. He's sending a helicopter to get her so that she can take a look at him." She pauses. "He also called Clark. Who said he would fly over in the morning to meet him."
Maggie grinned at Kara, her eyes shifting between her and the boy. "So, little Danvers, how do you ask him his name?"
Kara looked to Maggie in surprise and then smiled, bright and genuine.
"Tarrehd nahn i threv?" What's your name? She says, slowly and careful to enunciate clearly.
Maggie steps closer, her eyes on Dar-Em. She rolls the words around in her mouth for a second, testing them out. He opens his eyes to squint at her, his nose scrunching.
" Tarrehd nahn i threv?" She asks, slow and cautious.
He sees the hesitation in her eyes and hears the slow and steady beat of her heart. Tilting his head, he says, " Khuhtiv threv nahn Dar-Em."
"His name is Dar-Em." Kara provides, and Maggie just beams at the boy.
Dar-Em smiles at her, a dimple on either side of his mouth just like hers. "Behrosh:Bem. " Greetings.
Kara looks at him with adoration in her eyes. "He's saying hello."
And that makes Maggie smile wider. "Hello to you too, Dar-Em. I'm Maggie."
"Voiehd nim Maggie. Zhed nim khutovbysh. Voiehd nim khutovie, Alex." This is Maggie. She's my friend. This is my sister, Alex. Kara says, her hand resting on his chest as he pulls back to look at all of them. "Kryp zhanahn gem Kryptahn. Kryp nahn gem Rth. Zhedhd zharriv ehwor kryptahniuo." We are not on Krypton. We are on Earth. They do not speak Kryptonian.
All the happiness drained from his face, confusion taking its place. His hand went back to her heart, and his eyes stared into hers.
"Takryp zhanahn gem kryptahn?" We are not on Krypton? He asked, his quiet voice confused and weary.
"Khuhp nim nahvruht. Khuhp nim zhalish." I will explain. I am sorry. Kara tried to reassure him, but her anxious heartbeat made his beat with anxiety as well.
Maggie came to sit beside them, and after a beat, Alex did too on Kara's other side. Dar-Em buried his head against Kara's neck, his heartbeat slowly leveling out. They sat there, on that table in the dim lighting, listening as the toddler's breathing slowed, and when J'onn found them, minutes later, they were all still sitting there quietly.
Behind J'onn stood Eliza. She smiled softly at the four of them sitting there. Kara ever so slowly stood, her hands rubbing circles on the boy's back. As she followed Eliza to the med bay, Alex, Maggie, and J'onn trailed behind.
Eliza dimmed the lights in the lab, and said quietly, "Kara, honey, why don't you two sit over there on that sun bed together. He doesn't seem to want to let go of you."
And later, after all the tests and after Dar-Em had again fallen asleep against Kara's chest, Kara took in their surroundings and smiled.
J'onn stood to the side talking in low tones with Eliza. Alex and Maggie were slumped against the wall, the former asleep and the latter being used as a pillow. Dar-Em's fingers clenched and unclenched around her cape, little sighs spilling from his lips. And Kara, she sat on that sun bed and realized how thoroughly fucked her life was, decided a little bit of happiness was deserved now and resigned herself to protecting this last child of Krypton until her last breath.