After a long day of constantly switching between her jobs as a reporter at CatCo and Supergirl, Kara Danvers was ready to go home. There was a bank robbery that lasted nearly 16 hours today, and Snapper wanted Kara on the scene, which was hard because how is she supposed to report about an alien bank robbery when she is needed to stop the robbery and save the people in trapped in the bank? It's a hard logic to work around, but the priorities are hers to figure out alone. It was worth nearly getting fired, because there are 75 people at home with their families right now. But now that Supergirl and the team saved the day, Kara was exhausted.
It's not that she wasn't already mentally and emotionally exhausted nowadays, with seeing Mon el and Imra everywhere. Kara wasn't angry or upset at Mon el or Imra, truly, she wasn't; but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt any less. The whole situation completely sucks, especially since she can't even be angry about it. Kara didn't blame anyone, like she said to Mon el, they're just three good people in a crappy situation, but that doesn't mean she really wants to be Imra's BFF or something. Even though Imra seemed to really admire her and she seems like a lovely woman, she doesn't really know Imra, and she is not wanting to get to know her anytime soon.
Nonetheless, Kara has decided going to be fine, no matter how long this broken heart lasts.
Kara was heading out of the DEO, when her phone rang. She stopped walking and looked at the caller ID to see it was Lena. "Hey, Lena," Kara answered. "What's up?"
"Hi, Kara, sorry to call you so late, I was meaning to earlier, but I'm sure you were busy. I was just wondering if you had time tomorrow to stop by for lunch, since it's been a while since we've had some girl time?" It's true, they haven't had much girl time, and Kara feels slightly guilty for that. The best friends haven't really hung out since the gala, and Kara had been avoiding talking to her about this situation with Mon el. Since it's better to talk about it now, especially because Kara could explain why Mon el isn't dying from lead poisoning, this would be a good idea.
"Of course, that sounds great, Lena," Kara replies and the two decide on a time to meet and proceed to chat about the robbery that day for a little bit. "Well, I better let you go Lena, I am ready to drop. I'll tell you about this whole Mon el situation tomorrow at lunch."
"Yes, I was meaning to ask about him. I'll see you tomorrow Kara," Lena replied and the two said their goodbyes and hung up.
Kara went super sped into her pajamas and under the covers, and within minutes, she was out like a light.
The next morning, Kara was able to superspeed to get ready, and get to CatCo, all while thinking about how she was going to tell Lena about how Mon el is back. When it comes time to meet up with Lena for lunch, the two order some Thai food and end up eating in Lena's office.
"How long have you known Mon el has been back? Are you guys still together?" Lena finally asked.
"Not long," said Kara. "Only for a few months now. And no, we're not together… It's a complicated situation, but no we aren't, and we aren't working on anything to get there." Lena seemed worried at that.
"Why not?" She asked, anxiously. Lena did see Mon el there with Supergirl. She hoped it wasn't because of her. Lena remembered the way the two looked at each other on the Daxamite ship last year. It was as if they were the only two in the room, like they wanted to touch each other but couldn't, because they were just barely aware of the fact that there were others in the room. You could see the desire for each other a mile away.
"When Mon el left earth seven months ago, he disappeared into what he described as a sort of wormhole. He ended up time travelling to 1,000 years in the future and was stuck there for seven years." Kara took a deep breath to prep herself for her next words, considering they were still a hard pill to swallow. "In those seven years, Mon el got married to someone else. They probably won't stay for long, they didn't even mean to come here. They got here by accident, and they plan on going back…" When Kara finished, the look Lena gave her was exactly why she had avoided this conversation. It was full of pity, sympathy, and Kara wished she would look away. "But how's your day going? I am so glad we got these potstickers. I've been meaning to try this new Thai place." Kara stammered, desperate to change the subject.
"Kara," Lena started, ready to console her best friend. "I'm so sorry about that. I wish you would've told me so I could have helped you with this."
"There's nothing to help with or understand," Kara replied in a grateful but exasperated voice. "It's a sucky situation, but I will be ok."
Lena smiled. "Still, I want to help. Why don't we have a girl's night out? You, me, and Sam. My treat. I was already planning on sending Sam a gift basket or something because I've been slacking over at L-Corp, but I think you both could use a night out. What do you think?"
"I don't know," Kara replied. "It sounds like fun, but it's been so busy lately. Snapper has me on back to back cases, and Sam would need someone to watch Ruby."
"Leave me to figure it out," Lena said excitedly. "But Kara, you have been walking around with the knowledge of the love of your life being married to someone else on your shoulders for months. I'm sure with Alex working with them, you must've seen them around which must be really tough. You've been dealing with this alone for months. What you need is to get drunk or get laid. Or both…" Lena finished thoughtfully.
Get laid? Kara quickly crossed that off, she wasn't ready for that yet. She wasn't even sure if she was ready to meet anybody. If Alex were here, she would have immediately been on the 'moving on' board. It seems like it would be a good thing to do, especially after all these months, but that doesn't mean Kara was ready. If she were to want anybody, it would someone kind, loyal, funny, brave, and frankly the only person she can think of that she could really love and have all of those traits she valued is currently unavailable.
"No, it's alright, Lena. I don't think I'm ready for that," Kara said, making sure her friend didn't try to hook her up with some stranger. "I would definitely be up for a night out with you and Sam. It's been too long, and I haven't seen Sam around too much lately."
"Great! And Sam is fine, she's been stressed lately. I've been having her hold the fort down in L-Corp most of the time for the last few weeks. So this is a night away from your situation, and a treat for Sam," Lena said excitedly. She looked at her watch and realized it was nearly time for some interviews. "It's been a good lunch, but I should head off. I have people I've scheduled interviews with for a public relations specialist." Lena said getting up and cleaning up her food.
"Public relations specialist? What do you need one for? CatCo isn't in trouble, is it?" Kara asked, confused.
"It's not just for CatCo, it's also for me. Ratings have been going down, and after some surveys and calculations, the reason for lowered ratings are because of the activity happening in CatCo which the public has associated with me." Lena explained.
"It's not your fault, Lena. Edge is the one who was trying to kill you and ruin your image multiple times and Reign's actions aren't your fault either." If anything, it's mine, Kara thought.
"To an extent, sure, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let CatCo go down because the public doesn't trust me." Lena explained. "But I promise everything will be fine. There are 32 interviews, which I'll be splitting the interviews into three business days, starting today. I'm going to pick the most qualified person for the job and they will work with me and our public correspondence coordinator to help build the loyal and unbiased image CatCo deserves." It made sense, but Kara still thought Lena should wait, but the most she could do is offer what she can through the process.
Mon el walked out into the DEO and headed straight to the training room. Anybody who saw him walk in could tell he was furious, and had no issue staying out of his way. If any of them had been through everything he had, with a group of people he considered family, and found out said family had lied to him for years, they'd be upset, too. It's been three weeks since Imra revealed to him that they planned to go back in time. It turns out that if you were to get your hands on the right kind of 31st century technology, you could figure out what was on the other end of the wormholes, and even use them to find other wormholes. The entire time, they knew how to get him back to his own time. Back to his home. Back to Kara… and they lied to him for seven years, while he was honest with them. The thought of their betrayal hit him like a brick every time. And every time he thought about it, the angrier he got. All those years he could've been home with Kara. They would have been together and happy- something he hasn't seen in Kara for a long time. Mon el remembered back when she found him on the legion ship, how relieved and happy she was when she found him. He hasn't seen her bubbly and optimistic self since before he left earth in that pod seven years ago. Mon el could see Kara hurting and struggling every time he or Imra were around, and if he could've gone back before everything, it would have saved Kara from the pain.
"Hey, you good, buddy?" He heard Winn say through the intercom from the training room. He realized he may have been beating up the dummy a little too much.
"Yeah, I'm good, Winn. Just a little irritated nowadays." Mon el replied.
"A little?" Winn said sarcastically. Mon el looked at the dummy, which was now has a better chance of being recognized as a bunch of ripped up sponges surrounding a large stick.
"Yeah… Just a tad.." Mon el said, lightly laughing at himself.
"Want to talk about it?" Winn asked, remembering his friend's brief argument with his wife a few months ago. Winn decided to come to the training room instead of speaking back and forth through the intercom.
Mon el took a deep breath, knowing he should talk about this before he destroyed another dummy. "Lately, it's been hard to be around Kara. The more I'm around her, the more all of my old feelings come back."
Winn nodded knowingly."I've noticed. But is that really why you're irritated?"
Mon el chose not to find out how Winn had caught on to him. "No. I told Imra about it, tried to talk to her about it. Then she said she needed to be honest with me. Imra and Brainy made a plan for the team to come to this place, during this time. They came here to ensure the destruction of all the World Killers. The team knew that they could go back in time by manipulating wormholes like the one I got stuck in. And they never told me." Mon el said bitterly. "So here I am. I was lied to by my team, people I've trusted, for years. My marriage is getting rocky. And to top it all off, I still have feelings for Kara, and she barely looks at me the same anymore." Mon el finished.
"Why would they lie to you? For years, how could they do that to you?" Winn asked, shocked at the revelation.
"The point of the mission Imra and Brainy planned without my knowledge is to ensure the deaths of all of the World Killers to change the timeline so that in the future, the things the Blight isn't created to start with. I still don't understand why they lied to me for so many years. I was a mess when I first ended up in the 31st century. It took a long time to get into a place where I was content. Now, everything is a mess again."
A silence went over them for a good minute before Winn spoke up. "This is… tough."
"Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice." An exasperated sigh came from Mon el. "I'm gonna go back up. I've spent enough time down here today." Mon el said as he was picking up his things. "Also, if it's all the same to you, I would appreciate if you could just keep this between us?"
"Yeah, no problem. Let me know if you need to talk some more, ok?"
"Thanks, buddy." Mon el replied as he left the training room.
After showering, he went up to the main floor in the DEO. As he walked in, he heard a familiar laugh and unconsciously looked towards it, to see Kara laughing with Alex and J'onn. He smiled at the sight. Gods, he missed her laugh so much. He's only heard it a handful of times since he got back, but it wasn't anything like she was now. She didn't have a strain behind her eyes or in her voice, she was wholeheartedly laughing at something Alex had said, and she didn't pause for a moment to inhale, and she didn't look away when she was done. It was refreshing to see.
Then Kara turned her head and caught sight of him, and the smile fell from her face. So much for refreshing. She pursed her lips in a smile at him, then continued her conversation with Alex. He hated seeing her like this. He hated being the reason she was hurting. Mon el would go to the ends of the earth if he could just take her pain away and bare it as his own. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards her. He knew he probably shouldn't but he remembered he wanted to train and patrol the city for a little bit this week, and he was going to see if he could join Kara tomorrow. He remembered she used to do that twice a week, usually on Fridays and Wednesdays.
He waited until Alex left to get her attention. "Hey, Kara." She looked over surprised, and he could see the strain in her eyes again. Why did she always have to look so surprised when he spoke to her?
"Mon el, hey, what's up?" Kara asked him politely.
"Just seeing how you're doing." Mon el said. "Also, I was wondering if I could tag along with you when you patrol the city tomorrow." The apologetic look on her face gave Mon el his answer.
"Sorry, Mon el, I'm actually not doing that tomorrow, I'm going out with Lena and Sam." Kara answered him.
"Oh, sure, yeah. No problem. Umm… Who is Sam? I don't remember a Sam." Mon el questioned. Was Sam a guy her and Lena had met? Another friend or something?
"Sam is the new CFO at L-Corp. When she started the position, we all spent more time together, and she's been a really good friend since." Kara smiled, talking about her new friend, and he was glad she found another good friend. It's one of the things he loved about her, how much she loves and values her friends.
"That's great. She must be a good person," Mon el said. "Well, while you're out, make sure to stay away from the aldebaran rum," Mon el laughed.
Kara laughed, shaking her head. "Believe me, I will."