She had taken the day. The people of National city were flooding into the streets, cheering, screaming, hugging loved ones and popping what champagne hadn't been destroyed in the chaos and destruction let in the wake of fleeing Daxamite troops.
And she was alone.
Winn had gone to find whomever he cared about, a girlfriend, a best friend, she assumed. Her mother had floated down on haughty airs, monopolizing whatever news feed she could, touting her victory, clipped tone and no minced words: Lillian Luthor had saved the earth.
And Lena was alone.
She took a last swig of the scotch, swirling it in her glass for good measure before tossing it back, without ceremony. Why stand on ceremony when there was no one there who might care enough to watch. Nothing but rubble and ruin. Loss and lacking.
She almost dropped the highball as a sharp rap shattered her concentration, or, more accurately her spiral into self-pity. She raised her chin and, before she was even consciously aware, her face split into a wide grin.
"Kara!" She stood and rushed the blonde, squeezing her in a fit of warmth and concern. "You're alright."
The girl was stiff and unyielding to the offered affection, rigid in her arms. lena drew back and took in the stoic resolve painted across the other woman's face.
"Kara," the woman gave no indication of having heard Lena call her name, "Kara, are you alright?"
She watched as Kara blinked once, twice, her eyes growing glassy under the sheen of unshed tears. The blue of her eyes shone like sapphire, alive though unwell.
"I am so far from alright." Her voice was small, far from the jovial laughter they so often shared. So far, too, from the strong and strident tone of the Girl of Steel. This was a broken voice, belonging to a likewise broken woman. Lena took her elbow and walked Kara over to the couch, lightly dusted in rubble, sitting where they had previously shared so many confidences.
The Luthor heiress placed a comforting hand on Kara's shoulder and noticed the slight tremor as it raked and rattled under her touch.
"I'm so, so tired, Lena." Kara brought her eyes up to meet the icy green of Lena's own, truly acknowledging her for the first time since entering the room. "I'm so tired of losing. I lost my home, my family. I lost my planet." Kara paused as a solitary tear cut a well-worn path down her cheek.
She was breaking her own rule, talking to Lena in this way, acknowledging their unspoken secret, their unspoken truth. Revealing herself casually to Lena in a such a way as to give all due respect to the Luthor's intelligence. How could she not know her best friend was the Kryptonian savior of National City? Lena seemed to take it all in stride, still stroking Kara's shoulder gently, holding her unflinching gaze.
"I finally let myself be happy. Finally let myself have something, someone. And they're lost too." Kara dropped her face into her hands and wept openly. Lena drew a shaky breath and continued her attentions, sliding closer to push small circles into Kara's back as if she were drawing the tension from the woman's shoulders with her very palms.
"The only thing I can think of to say to you is the one thing that's ever truly helped me when I thought all was lost." Lena hummed softly and looped her arm around the woman beside her, settling in quietly, so as not to upset their positions. "I know it feels terrible right now; you made an impossible decision and your heart feels rent in two. You can't see fit to connect or to love anyone again; what's the point of loving someone if you're simply going to lose them?
"Kara, you don't have to be afraid. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise." Lena pressed a quiet kiss to the woman's forehead and together they sat in silence as twilight faded, dwindling into to a black night punctuated by a vibrant scatter of stars.