A/N: Usual disclaimers apply: I'm not profiting, I don't own anything, all rights reserved etc.

As always, apologies to any American readers for the British English but I just can't help it.

This has been a story bug that's been bothering me for a while now so here it is. It'll probably take a two-shot to resolve but we'll see what happens.

This has been roughly edited but not well, so I take full responsibility for all inevitable mistakes


"Come on tipsydoodle, let's get you home."

Alex wrapped her hand around Kara's upper arm and tried to haul her out of the booth but the Kryptonian relaxed into her seat, turning into a big, dead weight that Alex lacked the determination to move.

"Kara," she warned, using her mom voice, and that was enough for the younger Danvers to huff in submission and start sliding out from behind the table.

Alex had been out for a nice drink with her girlfriend, just the two of them, on the first night in a week they happened to both have off when Kara had come crashing into the bar and started hitting the Aldebaran rum without explanation.

After an hour of her sister happily third wheeling and with said sister now approaching hammered, Alex had reached the end of her tether. She loved Kara. She loved her like she loved few other people in the universe but that didn't mean she appreciated the alien playing gooseberry on her date.

Alex lead a stumbling Kara across the floor of the bar, having to use all her Kryptonian-wrangling skills to stop Kara from breaking anything or anyone. It was a lot harder for Supergirl to control her strength drunk and she didn't have much practice. They weaved between tables and pool games and the odd dancing couple to make it to the door and, to her credit, Kara only nearly fell over twice.

The sisters burst outside into the brisk late October air and Kara broke out of Alex's grip, spread her arms wide and twirled in a circle.

"Woooooo," the reporter hollered, drawing odd stares from passers-by.

Alex shook her head and looked to the heavens before grasping Kara firmly by the shoulders and holding her in place.

"I'm going to take you home, you're going to sleep this off and tomorrow I'm going to come round with four pints of ice cream and you're going to tell me what's going on, okay?"

"Awwww," Kara whined. "Bu' I don' wanna go home. I wanna have fuuuuuun."

"You can have fun tomorrow. Sober. When you won't accidentally cause any mayhem or destruction."

Kara pouted pitifully but Alex wouldn't budge, instead flagging down a cab and dragging her sister over to the car. She yanked the door open and loaded Kara in first before starting to clamber in after her.

"Wha' you doin'?" Kara asked her, confusion written across her features.

"I'm taking you home," Alex explained slowly for the third time, like Kara was an especially dim elementary schooler.

"Nooooo," Kara groaned. "Go be... Maggie."

Alex's upper body and right leg were in the taxi with her left foot still planted on the ground as she stared, intently scrutinising the state of her sister.

"I'm fiiiiiine," Kara insisted although the way she lolled her head lessened the impact of her statement.

Alex just kept staring. Normally she would never dream of sending a drunk woman home alone but, well, Kara was Supergirl and even off her face she was more than capable of overcoming any threats that might present themselves to a 20-something year old woman on a 15 minute ride back to her apartment. Plus, the cab driver was a lady and Alex really wanted to be hanging with Mags right now so...

"Okay, fine, but if you don't text me in 20 to say you're home I'm sending in a whole strike team, you got it?"

"I got it, I got it," Kara drawled and Alex gave her a long, lingering warning look before backing out of the cab and slamming the door.

"Where to, Miss?" asked the driver and the reporter found herself unexpectedly stumped. Sure, she'd promised Alex she was going home, but she didn't wanna go home.

"Miss?" the driver prompted after close to a minute without a response. "You're on the clock here."

"Oh!" Kara had an idea. She gave the cabbie an address and scrabbled around in her bag for her phone. The taxi had pulled out onto the main strip by the time her fumbling fingers wrapped around the device. She poked at the screen for longer than she should have needed to before she found the number she was looking for.


It was nearly 10 on a Friday night and, unusually, Lena Luthor was at home, if you could call it that. She spent so little time in the penthouse apartment that she'd never bothered to fill it with many personal effects. It was a luxurious house, but home would be a generous description.

At this point in the evening she'd normally still be at the office, but tonight she'd left at half seven. It had been a killer week and the thumping headache she'd developed meant she was making no progress on the end of quarter reports so she bailed early. Sometimes, even when you're the head of a huge multinational, you just need to come home, slip into some sweatpants, take off your bra and pour a huge glass of wine.

Her chill Spotify playlist was running through her state-of-the-art sound system and she was stretched out on her enormous couch, savouring her Pinot Noir, when her phone lit up on the coffee table. If she hadn't spotted the picture on the screen out the corner of her eye, she would've ignored it but instead she reached across so fast she almost slopped wine all over her cream shag rug.

"Kara! Hi!" Lena cringed as soon as the greeting came out of her mouth. It was so... overeager and un-suave. She was one of the most powerful women in the entire United States and yet Kara Danvers still turned her into an archetypal useless lesbian. Lillian would be disgusted.

"Heyyyyyy bestie," Kara replied in a tone that Lena had never heard from her before.

"What can I do for you at this hour?" Lena asked calmly, salvaging some of her dignity.

"You home?"

"I am actually."

"Great!"

Before Lena could respond, a loud beep sounded in her ear as Kara hung up.

The CEO eyed her phone suspiciously before dropping it back on the coffee table and taking an unrefined gulp of wine to soothe her nerves. She had enough Kara Danvers problems without weird late night calls.

She wanted to text Kara immediately and ask if she was alright but she didn't want to over reach. She settled on chugging the rest of her Pinot instead before flopping back onto the couch and rubbing her hands over her face. This little... crush of hers was a problem and it needed to be fixed.

(It wasn't actually just a crush and it couldn't actually be fixed because Lena was actually irrevocably in love with her straight best friend like a walking lesbian cliche, but that was too intense to admit to).

She flicked the volume up on her music and shut her eyes, hoping to drown out the sound of her own thoughts, but the method's efficacy was questionable. On the one hand her thumping headache returned but on the other it meant she was too sore to ruminate. She chalked it up as an overall, albeit unpleasant, win.

She lay unmoving for 15 minutes until the ding of the doorbell shattered her equilibrium. It was almost a surprise she even heard it over the pounding in her ears and 70 decibels of Regina Spektor.


Kara ended the call and then instantly regretted it when Lena wasn't talking to her anymore. She knew she had a reason for hanging up but she just couldn't remember it anymore. She thought about ringing straight back but that seemed like overkill given she was about to arrive on Lena's doorstep. Her head was all fuzzy and buzzy and it was nice to stare out at the passing city lights, too out of it to dwell on anything stressful.

The cab made it to Lena's building in impressive time and Kara stuffed too much cash into the driver's hand before tumbling out of the car onto the curb. She managed to walk in a relatively straight line into Lena's lobby and put on her best show of sobriety for security and the doorman. It wasn't the most convincing if the doorman's "are you okay, ma'am?" was anything to go by.

Lena had given Kara free access to her apartment building as well as to her office, so after a quick ID check the reporter was left to stumble over to the elevators. She reached the 18th floor in about 18 seconds and popped out into Lena's private hallway. Alex would approve. Having the lift open directly into the apartment would be a horrible security risk.

Kara tottered across the hall and practically fell on the doorbell before leaning on the doorframe while she waited. When Lena finally opened the door after a very long minute Kara enveloped her in a bone crushing hug before the CEO even got the chance to say hello.


Lena groaned dramatically as the sound of the doorbell reverberated around the apartment. She hadn't got a call from downstairs and the only other person with unrestricted access to this floor was Kara which meant the person at the door was either her or an assassin who'd managed to evade security. Lena hauled herself up off the couch and slowly padded towards the front door, bypassing the kitchen on her way. She didn't have the emotional fortitude to deal with Kara or a murder attempt without more wine.

She took a long draw straight from the bottle then squared her shoulders and walked to face her visitor.

Of all the things she expected when she peeked through the peephole and spotted Kara waiting in the hall, getting smothered in a hug as soon as the door opened was not near the top of the list. Lena had to revise her Kara or a murder attempt prediction because this seemed like attempted murder by Kara. The reporter (and unacknowledged Kryptonian) was like an adorable boa constrictor in a button down, slowly squeezing the air out of Lena's lungs. But hey, if she had to die today, going wrapped in Kara's arms wasn't a bad option.

Then, just as the CEO started to worry her ribs were going to crack, Kara released her. Lena sucked in a deep breath before properly looking at Kara who was staring back at her with eyes wide and mouth agape.


It wasn't until after she pulled back from the hug that Kara noticed what Lena was wearing. When her best friend gasped for air like she'd been underwater for too long, Kara worried she'd held on too tightly but that thought quickly got extinguished by the sight of Lena Luthor in black sweatpants and a deep purple t-shirt. Kara had barely ever seen the CEO in jeans let alone in full blown home clothes, with her face bare and her hair messily loose. She was beautiful and it was frying the few of Kara's brain circuits that had previously remained functioning post-rum. She couldn't make herself do anything but stare.


"Kara, are you okay?" Lena asked gently, examining her friend with a mixture of confusion and concern.

"Uh yeah, I'm gooood. I jus' uh... Um... I mean, look at... pfft," Kara rambled, waving her hand up and down at the bamboozled woman in the doorway.

"Okay then," Lena said, her eyebrows briefly shooting up towards her hairline before she regained control of her facial expressions. "Would you like to come inside?"

"Ooooh yes! I'd lurve to come inside," Kara singsonged, surprisingly flirtatiously, as she brushed past Lena and entered the penthouse.

Once she made it into the apartment, the youngest Danvers tripped over her own feet trying to take her shoes off then broke into a fit of giggles.

"Hey Lena, didya see tha'? I coulda fell on my face!"

"I did see that actually, yes," Lena stated dryly, still visually scanning Kara from head to toe, trying to diagnose what was wrong with her. Lena had never, ever seen her like this. She was so...

"Kara, are you drunk?!" the CEO exclaimed with shock and alarm as soon as the penny dropped.

"Yup," Kara confirmed, popping the P before breaking into another fit of giggles as she staggered over to the dining table and took a seat.

"How did you even get here?" Lena asked, worried Kara had been out wandering the streets inebriated and alone.

"Al-ex put me inna cab. Don' worry, I didn' drink and fly," Kara replied before snorting like she'd told a hilarious joke.

Lena had circled around so she was standing opposite Kara at the table and when the reporter cracked that comment, Lena had to unwrap her arms from across her chest and grab the back of a chair to maintain her composure. Of all the ways she'd expected, hoped, dreamed this confession would come, this was not one she'd prepared for and she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

"Oooh!" Kara shouted, flinging her arms in the air, having obviously failed to process Lena's reaction. "I needa text Alexaaaandra or she gonna send SWAT t'come ge' me."

Lena just looked at her questioningly and somehow through the rum haze, Kara got the hint to explain.

"I p'omised to text her when I home so she know I'm safe and she can sex Maggie and not worry 'bout me."

"But you're not home," Lena half stated, half inquired, trying her hardest not to think about Agent Danvers and Detective Sawyer and any X-rated activities.

"I'm am!" Kara protested before gazing up at Lena softly. "I'm home whenever I'm wif you."

For the second time in as many minutes Lena found herself struck mute, choked by emotions. That was one of the most meaningful things anyone had ever said to her. She was suddenly glad Kara was so intoxicated and busy prodding at her iPhone because it meant she escaped interrogation over the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

"Hey Lena," the reporter said suddenly as she chucked her phone down before fidgeting with her glasses and knocking them askew. "D'you know why I'm drunk?"

"No, I don't know why you're drunk," Lena said as she took a seat across from Kara because she didn't know how many more revelations she could handle and stay standing. She wasn't entirely sober herself, after all.

"'Cos of you," Kara alleged, pointing her finger accusingly at Lena over the table. The CEO opened her mouth to say something but Kara's verbal train wasn't to be stopped.

"'Cos I wanna kiss you."

Lena's open mouth formed a silent 'oh' and the surprise made her frown involuntarily for a second before she smoothed her features so Kara didn't freak out. Before Lena could actually get any words out though, Kara kept going.

"'Cos you're really pretty an' then I wanna kiss you all the time. An' you're really smart an' you're really nice an' you make me laugh an' you're really really pretty. An' I wanna kiss you. All the time."

If had Kara had been sober, she wouldn't have made it to the end of her sentence without Lena collecting the rest of her words in a kiss and by now they'd probably be halfway to making out on top of Lena's polished oak dining table. As it was, she instead employed all of her Luthor self control to keep her expression neutral, her posture relaxed and her ass in her chair. She wasn't one to take advantage of women who weren't in possession of all their faculties.

"An' then today," Kara barrelled on, waving her hands around wildly, oblivious to Lena's internal struggles. "Today! You were like extra pretty at lunch an' I extra wanted to kiss you an' then I was sad that I wasn't kissing you an' when Alex is sad she gets to drink so why can't I? Jus' cos I'm Supergirl doesn't mean I don't getta have fun!"

Lena couldn't recall ever being so lost for words in her entire life. Thankfully, Kara didn't seem to mind being the sole source of conversation.

"Oops," the Kryptonian snorted. "I'm not 'posed to tell you that. Alex is gonna be so mad at me. Oh no. You're gonna be so mad at me."

Kara's face fell and her glasses slid down her nose as she shook her head despairingly. She looked devastated and Lena couldn't bear it.

"I'm not mad at you," she said, reaching across the table to grab one of Kara's hands that had dropped limply onto the surface.

"Really?" Kara asked tentatively, curling her warm fingers around Lena's cold ones.

"Really."

"You don't hate me?"

"Of course not."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

Kara released a long, shaky breath of relief and propped her head up on her free hand, knocking her glasses further out of place. She gazed across the table at Lena who was looking back at her with affectionate amusement.

"You don't need these to see, do you?" Lena asked as she leaned over to pluck the glasses off Kara's face.

"Nope," Kara confirmed as Lena carefully placed the frames on the table.

"You do need sleep," Lena said as she let go of Kara's hand, levered herself out of her chair and made her way over to the open plan kitchen. "I'll get you some pjs and we'll talk in the morning, okay?"

"Okay," Kara groaned, instantly missing the contact and choosing to lay her head on the table. The buzz was wearing off and the sleepy was setting in and she could feel her eyes drifting closed.

Her nap time was interrupted by Lena clunking two glasses of water down in front of her.

"Drink. Alcohol is dehydrating."

Kara groaned again and didn't move so the CEO poked the back of her best friend's head until the reporter finally sat up and downed the fluid.

"How did you get drunk anyway?" Lena asked as Kara paused between the two glasses. "I thought Kryptonians were immune to alcohol."

"Aldebaran rum. Very strong. Lethal to humans," Kara explained before throwing back the second glass. "Oh, I needa pee."

"Go," Lena chuckled. "You know where the bathroom is."

The reporter staggered through the apartment to the toilet and Lena laughed before walking to her bedroom to fetch Kara some clothes from her dresser.


"I've got you something to wear," Lena said a little while later as she knocked on the bathroom door. It swung ajar and Kara's bare arm snaked out through the gap, hand waving around, hunting for fabric.

"Thanks," Kara acknowledged when Lena put the clothes bundle where she could grab it and then the reporter's arm slithered back into a bathroom before the door closed with a quiet click.

Lena retreated to the kitchen and avoided her thoughts by clearing up drink receptacles for a few minutes until Kara emerged. She caught sight of her best friend and had to stifle a giggle. The Kryptonian was a few inches taller than she was and it showed with Kara's exposed ankles poking out from the bottom of Lena's blue pyjama pants. The grey shirt though, that fit quite well, and Lena had to actively not think about a future in which she and Kara shared clothes regularly.

She must not have hidden her mirth well though, because Kara was pouting at her like something out of a tragi-comedy and Lena desperately wanted to capture that bottom lip between her own. That was another thing she wasn't supposed to be thinking about.

"Come on, beanpole," the CEO said, walking over to Kara and patting her on the shoulder. "Let's get you to bed."

Oh how she'd like to get Kara onto a bed. Or a couch. Or a floor. Anywhere would do, really. Ooh, what about her L-Corp desk...

Lena shook her head imperceptibly to rid her mind of such inappropriate content as she lead the way to her bedroom and Kara trailed obediently behind her, managing not to trip over a single thing on the journey. One of the benefits of never being home was that Lena had an immaculate floor.

"Get in," the CEO instructed once they made it to her very large room, gesturing at the king sized bed in the middle of the space.

"Oh no, I can take couch," Kara tried to argue but Lena just fixed her with a brutally effective executive stare.

"Don't even dream of it," she warned. "You're my guest. Get in."

Kara sighed dreamily and took a moment to stare at the deliciously lovely bed in front of her before collapsing face first onto the covers with a womph.

Lena's mouth curved into an amused smile as she watched the reporter wriggle up the bed and flop her head onto a pillow. Actually getting under the duvet seemed to be too hard in her compromised state so Lena hit the switch for the blinds then left to retrieve a big blanket from the linen cupboard. By the time she returned, Kara had curled into a little ball on her side and was snoring softly, mouth hanging open. Lena had never seen her look so small or so young. It made her heart clench with affection (or with love, actually, but she still wasn't acknowledging that).

She draped the blanket over the sleeping Kryptonian and stood watching her for a moment before dropping an illicit kiss on her temple and retreating for the safety of the lounge, snagging a pillow for herself on her way out.

As soon as the bedroom door swung closed, Lena let out a tense breath. She didn't know how to describe the past hour of her life. It was like an emotional tornado had ripped through her and she had to figure out how to pick up the pieces afterwards. She was half convinced she was going to wake up in the morning and discover it was all a bizarre fever dream. And yet, as she climbed into the bed she'd made for herself on the couch, she couldn't stop the glimmer of hope that unfurled in her chest.

She knew it was unwise. She knew that she had no idea how alcohol affected Kryptonian physiology or psychology. She knew that meant that she had no idea how much Kara had actually meant anything she said, but hope was a stubborn creature and it bloomed regardless of logic.