Tough Love
Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.
Summary: Three times shit hits the fan for the couple.
Or...
Kara and Lena are in a relationship. Lena doesn't know Kara is Supergirl. An alien fight leaves the hero severely injured. Lena finds scars on Kara and the latter awkwardly stumbles through an explanation. They switch bodies and discover more about their partner. Madness ensues and it has just been a rough week for the both of them.
TRIGGER WARNING: ANGST, VIOLENCE, AND LANGUAGE.
I
"Kara?"
"Hey, Lena!" the voice chuckled nervously over the phone, "So, about our date..."
The Luthor frowned, then her lips morphed into a bittersweet smile, "Can't make it?"
Again.
"I'm sorry," she apologized genuinely, "I'll make it up to you. Promise. Okay?"
There was a rush of wind through the phone and a grunt.
"Kara? Are you all right?"
The blonde huffed and bolted into the air to grapple the alien threat, "Y-Yeah! It's just...really windy where I am right now and I have to..." she made a choked sound as it strangled her, then she landed a kick into its groin and she was released, "babysit some kids. Yeah! I have to go now, one of them is really eager to mess around and I have to take care of it – him! Him! Bye!"
Lena had a puzzled expression adorned on her face, Kara's reasons, or excuses, for suddenly cancelling their dates out of the blue were...confusing, to say the least.
The billionaire's attention was pulled out of her office windows when she heard a loud crash and the screams of panicked citizens.
She rushed out to her balcony and glanced at the flying alien opposing National City's hero, it was a slender humanoid; thin and gaunt were descriptions short of what its appearance was, it was more...emaciated, and its skin was wrinkled and leathery. Its limbs were abnormally long, so it was probably eleven feet tall if it stood up straight.
A green glow emanated from its caved in torso.
Kara groaned, lifting herself from the rubble of concrete that surrounded her vicinity following her crash landing.
Her earpiece activated as her sister's voice resounded through the discrete device, "Contrary to its physiology, this thing's strength is probably on par with yours."
"Yeah, I had no idea," the blonde sarcastically replied, tone bitter as she dusted herself off, "What is that thing anyway?"
"An amalgamation of several dangerous alien species from the looks of it."
"So...like Frankenstein's monster?"
"Not exactly, it's not grafted or stitched up body parts; it was born that way, spliced from different alien D.N.A. It's a whole new manmade species with Kryptonite embedded within it, explains why you're getting your ass handed to you."
"Shut up," Supergirl barely evaded its charge and ambled away, "What do we call it then?"
"Metallo 2.0. Just hold it off until back up comes to help."
"Lovely," Kara scoffed, dodging another one of its attacks by flying high up into the sky, "Just great, I love fighting Cadmus's new toys."
"They seem to be manufacturing those new 'toys' at a slower rate, but they're getting smarter and stronger. Except this one doesn't seem to be targeting you."
"What do you mean?"
"It's been trying to inch closer to L-Corp. Haven't you been paying any attention?"
"How about you try fighting this asshole and talking at the same time?" she grunted, landing a fist in its gut, "Do you have any good news?"
Supergirl darted around in circles, hoping to tire the alien scum.
"Well, if you get this taken care of fast, I can get us some potstickers and pizza tonight."
"Sounds good to m–"
Kara was swung into a tall building across from L-Corp.
She groaned, shaking the dizziness from her head in an attempt to correct her blurry vision.
The being descended upon Lena, the glow from its chest intensifying.
The hero's earpiece crackled to life, static in sound, "Supergirl! It's going to self-destruct! I don't know its radius, but it could potentially bring the whole block down! Get out of there!"
Kara ignored her sister's orders and tackled the alien in the air, imprisoning it in her iron, but weakening, grip.
"Lena! Get down!"
The Luthor backed away and crouched onto the floor, ducking behind her desk.
Boom.
A neon green light enveloped around the hero and the sound of shattering glass followed.
Afterwards, there was silence.
Lena peeked out from her cover and assumed the threat was taken care of, but her head turned towards the pained whimper behind her.
Her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight, cautiously approaching the injured hero sprawled in a pool of blood on her office floor, the only sound made were the clack of her heels.
The Luthor knelt before the Kryptonian, voice cracking, "Supergirl..."
She responded with a sharp intake of breath, weak and broken, "Le-na..."
Her heart ached at the use of her name, how it sounded so familiar, how it was filled with love and adoration when Kara let it roll off of her own tongue.
The C.E.O. took a shaky breath and scanned the superhero, finding two sickly green shards impaled clean through her stomach and chest.
A single cough wracked throughout her body as she sputtered up blood, wheezing out something almost intelligible, "–out..."
Lena only saw her lips move but found no sound, so she bent down, hovered her ear over the bloody mouth that struggled to maintain even puffs of air, "What?"
"Take... Them... Out..." she panted, desperate.
The Luthor eyed the glowing shrapnel, reluctant to go through with the order, "But you'll bleed to death."
"Trust... Me... It's...b-better if they're...out..." she choked.
Lena placed the hero's head on top of her lap and gripped the first, the one that pierced through her stomach.
The blonde released a groan at the tension as the woman's hands trembled in its hold.
She hesitated momentarily, then the bright blue eyes bored into her own pale green, reassuring her that it would be all right.
Lena took a deep breath and heaved the shard out of her gut, making a hideous squelch.
A strangled scream escaped from Supergirl's lips, more blood dripping from her chin and wound, down her neck, onto the polished floor.
The Luthor flinched at the sound and winced when she gripped the final shard.
Then she hauled it out with yet another abominable sound.
Kara screamed once more, the pain dreadful and gruesome.
Lena watched as National City's hero's consciousness slowly faded, watched the grisly scene within her arms; it was ghastly and she was utterly appalled that Supergirl could be rendered so weak, so mortal.
And so...
Human.
II
It had been three days.
Three days.
Since the incident.
Lena found herself holed up in her penthouse, working from the comfort of her home.
Alone.
The first day she had not received any phone calls from Kara, which worried her immensely.
The second day she finally received a text from Kara, stating that she would be back soon and that she was concerned for her wellbeing.
The third day was silent again.
Lena paced around her home, obsessively washing her hands.
She could still feel Supergirl's dried blood under her fingernails.
She could still hear Supergirl's screams of pain.
The Luthor shook her head and blinked her eyes rapidly, forcing the traumatizing memory into the depths of her mind.
She did not even hear her front door slowly creak open as she was so keen on washing the already clean dishes for the umpteenth time.
The C.E.O. jumped at the sound of her name, startled, then relaxed as she recognized the familiar sweet and gentle voice.
A pair of arms embraced her, "Lena, I'm so glad you're okay."
The Luthor was shocked, but eventually reciprocated the loving gesture.
Kara smiled when the hug was returned and she pulled back, placing her hands comfortingly on her girlfriend's shoulders, "How are you feeling though?"
A hand trailed up to the crook of the C.E.O.'s neck, thumb brushing over her cheek and gently stroking the bone there.
"I'm..." she struggled, "I'm fine."
The blonde's face crinkled with worry at the brokenness of her tone and she tilted her chin up, cupping her face, "You know that's not going to work on me."
Suddenly, she felt her collar roughly pulled and Lena was kissing her passionately, pressing their bodies flush against each other.
As quickly as it started, it stopped, and the Luthor leaned back, foreheads and noses touching, "I missed you."
Kara smiled softly, then whispered, "Me too."
They resumed kissing, languidly.
Lena was stressed, she wanted to unwind and not talk about it, not until later anyway.
Her cold, pale fingers, slipped under the blonde's shirt, eliciting a shiver.
Then it trailed up, but she halted her movements when she felt an abnormal texture on her partner's abdomen.
The Kryptonian hissed, grimacing at the pain and recoiled backwards so that they were a foot away from one another.
"Kara, what was that?" she inquired sternly.
She shrank under Lena's gaze, shying away, "N-Nothing."
The raven-haired woman stepped closer, folding her arms, "You know, you're a really bad liar."
The blonde sighed, conceding the battle as she helped her lover lift her shirt up and over her head.
Lena gasped into the palm of her hand, tracing the large, stitched wound with her fingers, "What the hell happened to you?"
Kara chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, her abs twitching as it was tickled by the feather light graze of the other woman's skin, "One of the kids sort of got out of control?"
Lena shot her back up straight, narrowing her eyes and scowling.
The blonde sighed, "I...I was there."
The Luthor tapped her fingers impatiently.
Her voice was quieter, "When...when Supergirl and that thing were fighting..."
Lena's eyes widened, then she growled, "And you couldn't tell me? Give me a phone call? A text?"
"I didn't want to worry you! You're always so busy with the company, I didn't want to add to your stress!"
"I actually welcome the stress you give me! It's better than focusing on paperwork and business-related matters for a change!" the C.E.O. huffed, "At least I would've known!"
"I didn't want you going out there to look for me! That's what would've happened if you had known! You're just so...so reckless sometimes! Why can't you just be calm whenever things like that happen?"
"Because I can't!"
"Why?"
"Because it concerns you!" Lena pressed an accusatory finger against Kara's chest, making her flinch away.
The Luthor retracted her hand, eyes guilty and apologetic, voice tiny, "I'm sorry. I just..." she took a deep breath, "When it comes to you...I'm always reckless. It all comes down to you, Kara... I can't..." her voice faltered, "I can't bear the thought of losing you..."
Lena's expression was somberly contorted. The blonde's heart broke at the sight of her silent tears and she quickly enveloped the shaking body in her strong, warm arms, "It's okay. I'm alive. I'm here. And I don't plan on going anywhere. Not without you by my side."
"I just...I can't think straight when you're around."
Kara chuckled, "Pun not intended."
Lena pulled away from the embrace and smacked her girlfriend upside the head, rendering her glasses askew. She fixed the frame and, regardless, she also chuckled lightly at the quip, pecking the jester on the cheek.
III
Kara startled awake to a bloodcurdling scream and shot up from bed.
Her eyes widened when they rested on a floating form.
That looked like herself.
"Kara! What the hell is going on? I'm flying for God's sake!"
She rubbed her eyes, "Lena?"
Then she glanced at her own body.
Which was not hers.
Kara jumped from the bed in a panic, "What the–"
"I'd like some help...Kara," Lena sneered, now floating upside-down.
"Y-Yeah, of course," she replied, easing her girlfriend down onto the edge of the bed.
They stared at each other, or rather, themselves. Though their consciousness was in their significant other's body.
"Did we just–"
"Switch bodies?" Kara finished, "Yeah...I think so..."
Lena groaned, running her hands down her face, "You have a lot of explaining to do. You can fly?"
Kara dove out of the way as a blast of blue heat vision scalded the bedroom wall.
"And you can shoot lasers out of your eyes?" the C.E.O. growled, clearly uncomfortable with the predicament.
Kara's answer was bashful, "I'm...kind of...Supergirl. Not how I pictured this conversation to go actually..."
"What the hell, Kara. Seriously? You drop the bomb on me now?" Lena paced around her bedroom and threw her hands up in the air, unintentionally breaking off a piece of her nightstand, "Shit. We need to do something, call your sister, make her fix this!"
"No!" Kara shouted, swiping the phone from her grip, "She doesn't know about us!"
"And?"
"She might think this is your fault and interrogate you! And the D.E.O. has many methods of getting answers. We have to be careful about this!"
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
Lena narrowed her eyes, "We'll talk about this later."
She stormed off and stalked towards the door.
Kara quickly chased after her, "Lena! This is technically not your home! Kara – me – I can't be seen here!"
But it was too late, she swung the door open and was greeted with a familiar face and her jaw dropped, "Ms. Danvers?"
The agent mimicked the action, "Kara? What're you doing here?"
"Little Danvers?" Maggie poked her head from behind her partner.
"Alex!" Kara squeaked from the side.
The woman turned her attention towards the other person and squinted her eyes, "Lena?"
The agent quickly maneuvered herself inside and pinned who she thought was the Luthor roughly onto the ground.
"Hey! Don't touch her!" Lena shouted, grabbing Alex's shoulder to pull her away. Only she miscalculated how strong she was and she sent the body flying into the wall.
"What the hell, Kar?" the agent shouted, frustrated, drawing her gun and pointing it at 'Lena'.
"I can explain!" Kara yelped.
"Shut up, Luthor!" Alex spat.
Lena stepped in front of her girlfriend, "If you hurt her–"
"Hold it!" Maggie shouted, stepping between the hostility, "Let's all just calm the fuck down!"
"Just let me explain!" Kara stepped forward, but Alex retaliated, pulling the trigger, the bullet grazing her arm.
"Alex!" Maggie scolded, "Can we all just chill for a second!"
"Kara!" Lena shouted, crouching next to the woman to stem the blood. Thankfully, it was not profuse.
The agent and officer shared a look, "What?"
"So...you mean to tell us that...you switched bodies?" Alex repeated, eyes darting between the two.
Kara and Lena both looked at each other, then back, nodding and shrugging, "Yeah. Kind of. Pretty much."
"Ugh...I have a headache..." she commented, rubbing her forehead.
"Wow," Maggie sighed, "That explains a whole lot."
"Yeah," Alex commented, then added, "Now we know what the Kryptonite does."
"Wait, what?"
The agent turned to face her actual sister, "The alien you fought, apparently, it had some synthetic Kryptonite in it as well. We analyzed its molecular structure and it was scarily similar to a bacterial infection. I'm assuming Cadmus doesn't know what the infection does since they really don't have any Kryptonians to actually test it on."
Kara gave a confused look, "Is it contagious?"
Maggie snorted, but held in her laughter when Alex glared at her.
The agent continued, awkwardly, "Y-Yeah...it's contagious..."
"Do we have to be quarantined?" Lena asked, concerned.
"No, not necessarily..."
"How exactly does it spread then?"
"Ummm..." Alex scratched her head, twirling her hair in her fingers.
Maggie burst out in laughter, body shaking hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Lena inquired, chin tilted up defiantly while Kara only shared a puzzled expression.
The officer chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes, "It's transmitted orally."
An intense red painted Kara's and Lena's faces.
"Yeah," Alex commented, glaring at the two and crossing her arms, "Is there something you'd like to say?"
"Heh..." Kara gulped, nervous, "Well, you see...we've been, ummm, together for a while..."
"And how long might 'a while' be?"
She cleared her throat, rushing the sentence out, "A couple of months."
Alex's nostrils flared and she rubbed her temples, "Oh my God..."
"I swear I was going to tell you, but–"
"But what?"
Kara threw her hands into the air, exasperated, "Maybe because I didn't want you and J'onn kicking her office door open and going in guns blazing?"
"You know I'd never do that."
"You mean you'd never, I don't know, pin Lena onto the ground and shoot her?"
Alex shut her mouth.
Even Maggie's brows arched at her, "Your sis has got a point there."
"Shut up, Sawyer."
She shrugged, patting her partner on the back, "I'm going to let you guys handle this while I go find something to drink. I'm parched."
The officer nodded her head towards Lena, "Hey, Luthor, mind if I steal something from you?"
"In the kitchen, there's a closet leading to the cellar, there's plenty of alcohol in there."
"See, Danvers?" Maggie nudged Alex in the ribs with her elbow and winked, "I like her already! She's nice, don't know why you have such a problem with her."
"I hope the drink you pick is poisoned," she snapped back, though playfully.
Lena smirked at their exchange.
Except Kara was not as amused, she buried her head into her hands, "What are we going to do?"
"I'm sure they've managed to create a cure to counteract the effects," Lena comforted.
"We've tried. There's no cure."
"What?" the couple exclaimed.
"It has a supernatural element to it, and we've deduced that it'll wear off in the next day or so, maybe two."
"I have a company to manage!" Lena scoffed.
"And I have an article to report to Snapper and I can't help people as a human!" Kara complained.
"Oh stop whining you guys! Just give each other tips! I can train Lena and have several agents help her out with Biter."
"I'm sorry. Biter?" Kara repeated.
"Clapper?"
"What?"
"Trapper?"
"I don't..."
"Your boss."
"It's Snapper."
"Whatever."
The trio jumped from their seats when they heard a scream and rushed into the kitchen.
"Maggie! What's happening?" Alex called out, worried, "Is everything okay?"
"Holy shit, it's better than okay!" the officer shouted, returning up the stairs with an armful of alcoholic beverages and a wide grin.
Alex rolled her eyes, "Unbelievable..."
"Calm down?" Kara whispered harshly into her earpiece, "What do you mean 'calm down'? I don't own an international company and have meetings every second of the day!"
"That's why I'm here to guide you, step-by-step, so just repeat after me, okay?" Lena soothed, "It's just two men and a woman that want to purchase the alien detection patent."
"What?"
"And you're going to tell them, kindly," she stressed, "that I'm not interested in handing it over, so please don't rip their heads off and keep your bleeding heart pro-alien views to yourself."
"Fine," she grumbled, "How's Snapper by the way?"
"I've had to deal with worse men, he's honestly a sweetheart compared," Lena mumbled, "He made me write an article on the incident between Supergirl and that alien, and L-Corp's involvement."
"How did he..."
"He tossed the first draft."
Kara choked on her water and set the bottle down, "Come again?"
"He tossed it, said it was too monotone, style was too dull. Made a comment on how it was supposed to be neutral and interesting like his work, not neutral and boring like mine."
"Oh no, Lena, please don't tell me–"
"I might've remarked that interesting is boring and criticized his articles."
"Lena! You're going to get me fired!"
The woman chuckled, "Well, he was angry at first, but honestly, he was pleasantly surprised with my turnaround article, so you're saved."
"Ms. Luthor."
Kara jumped at the sound of 'her' name, "Y-Yes?"
She looked up, noticed that two men entered the premises and sat down on the table.
"Shall we conduct our meeting? On the discussion of your device? Our other coworker will join us quite late though, but you're familiar with her already."
Who?
She gulped, anxious.
"If you fidget..." Lena warned.
Kara halted her movement and forced herself to stay as still as a statue.
Unfortunately, midway through the meeting, the D.E.O. had to take care of several alien miscreants wreaking havoc at a local bank.
She may or may not have stumbled over her words and fidgeted endlessly for a quarter of the second half, earning her some curious looks and murmurs, which frustrated her to no end because she did not have super hearing.
However, Kara eventually regained her composure and confidence, though her words were not sliding out of her mouth with articulate fluidity as easily as Lena, she managed.
But her mind was occupied with her girlfriend's wellbeing with the alien menaces.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the meeting room creaked open, and in walked a tall, regal woman, who vaguely nodded in her direction, "Lena."
Lillian Luthor.
Kara narrowed her eyes, forcing her hands to clasp together so they would stop shaking.
She mimicked the action, "Mom."
Lena fell on her back after taking a hit from one of her six enemies.
She silently thanked whatever divine being that civilians managed to evacuate so they did not have to witness their hero's ass getting kicked.
"Come on, my sister goes on and on about you being a badass, but it doesn't look like it from what I see," Alex remarked, "You're a Luthor, you learn fast and you did ten times better than Kara did when we trained, I expect more from you, especially since these are weaklings compared to others she faced."
Lena scoffed as she evaded several of the aliens' attacks, her tone snide, "I'm sorry, you didn't prepare me enough to fight these so-called 'weaklings'. Plus, there are six of them. After all, a pupil is only as good as her master."
The Luthor smirked when she heard the woman on the other line grumble vexingly, "Cat got your tongue, Agent Danvers?"
"I don't know why Kara finds you the least bit charming."
"Well, I'm sure her reasons for liking me are the same reasons you like Officer Sawyer."
"Wha – I don't – I don't like her!"
"I apologize. Let me rephrase that," Lena chuckled, "You love her."
"Shut up and focus on the fight, Luthor."
One of the aliens kicked her in the chest and she flew into a building, decimating its structure.
Lena grunted in pain, "You distracted me."
Alex snickered through the earpiece, "That's what you get for not shutting up and focusing on the fight."
The Luthor rolled her eyes.
I'll show you.
Lena charged straight for two of her opponents and smashed their ugly faces into the concrete, cracking the cement and caving it in.
Then she lifted the downed aliens and threw one of them against two of her enemies and the other against the remaining.
Lena panted and folded her arms proudly, smirking, "Have anything else to say, Agent Danvers?"
"Oh shit," Maggie's voice rang from the communicator.
Then it was J'onn's, "Well I'll be damned."
"Shut up, you two," Alex muttered.
Lena speed changed into Kara's civilian clothes and entered L-Corp, nodding at Jess before jogging to the meeting room.
She was met with a peculiar, and appalling, sight.
The two visitors she was supposed to discuss the device with speedily hastened out of the hallway leading to the room, eager to escape whatever it was that struck fear into their very bones.
Then Lena glanced away and caught sight of Kara, hair a bit messy and unruly, hands clenched into fists, shoulders broadened, and not to mention she was absolutely seething.
What surprised her the most was that her mother trailed belatedly after them, her pace less frantic, but still a bit uneasy from the encounter with her 'daughter'.
When they left her line of sight, she whipped her head around to face Kara, her voice bordering madness, "What'd you do?"
"I told them, not-so-kindly, that they couldn't have the patent," she replied, grinning, "And I might've told them that they could shove their bigoted anti-alien views up their asses."
Lena chuckled, "I didn't know you had it in you."
"I just...no offense, but I really don't like your mom."
"That makes two of us, tell me something I don't know."
"Alex called and congratulated me for making a great catch," Kara smiled.
"Seems I was finally able to impress, and gain her respect."
"Which doesn't happen often whenever I introduce her to most of my friends."
"I'm flattered."
Lena let out a sigh, "I don't think I'm cut out to be a superhero. Everything is so loud and your eyesight is difficult to control," she shuddered, "So many things I wish to unhear and unsee."
"You get used to controlling it," Kara giggled, "And I don't think I'm cut out for being a businesswoman."
"I agree, judging from the way our stocks, investors, and revenue dropped."
Kara chuckled nervously at the sight of Lena's smirk on her own body, rubbing at the back of her neck, "Heh... Yeah... Sorry about that..."
"Don't worry about it, we're even."
"Even?" Kara repeated, her brow raising inquisitively.
"Mr. Carr may or may not have fired you."
"What?"
"But, I managed to pull some strings."
"What 'strings'?"
Lena smiled, "Let's just say J'onn, Alex, and Winn were more than willing to help out with the situation. Oh, and your sister said that this body swap predicament would wear off around tonight."
Kara was relieved, "Really?"
"To be honest, I'm sort of happy and sad about it."
"Why?"
Lena whispered into Kara's ear, "I'm going to miss the time I had admiring your body,"
Kara flushed, the reddening spreading up her neck, through her cheeks, and to the tips of her ears.
The Luthor breathed out again, "But I'm glad that we can sleep together without looking like we're fucking ourselves, because that's really weird."
Lena patted Kara's cheek with the palm of her hand, taking great delight in her awkward reaction, "I'll see you tonight then. Duty calls."
Kara gulped.
Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.