listen. kara literally named mon-el, dressed him, and fit him into her life. that's not romantic! she's basically his mother! so you know i had to write this baby AU bc of that. and also because katie mcgrath makes me weak and lena luthor is such a huge lesbian
ships featured: lena/kara (though they officially meet next chap), alex/maggie, and james/winn. the last two are side pairings though, but i love them too.
[find me on tumblr djsugar and ask me about this au. i would die for it]
The moment they place the baby on her chest, Kara is done for.
He's so small in her arms, his tiny body swaddled in hospital blankets folded twice; Kara blinks back a rush of unexpected tears as his little red face wrinkles up, memorizing every detail of his face through watery eyes. She brushes her fingertips over every part of him; over his soft tuft of brown hair; over his soft cheeks and small nose; over his little hands and feet that wriggle at her touch. He's light, weighing in at just six ounces, but there is a heavy feeling on her chest that won't disappear and for all Kara knows he weighs twice as much.
A wet cloth touches her forehead, reminding Kara she's not alone; Alex is there, ducking on the floor and wiping the sweat off Kara's brow with one hand while the other comes up to squeeze Kara's shoulder. Alex's eyes are heavy with exhaustion, but there is no mistaking the tenderness to her gaze as she, too, looks down at Kara's son in utter awe.
"He looks like you," Alex murmurs, and she lets go of Kara's shoulder in favor of brushing her thumb over the baby's hand. "Small, though."
"He's perfect," Kara says, voice hoarse from yelling as much as she did throughout the delivery. But every bad memory, every stab of pain delivered and every burning tear shed, has vanished. Now, her entire world has entirely shifted its axis, and every thought running through her head is centered around herself and her baby boy as if they're the only two people on earth.
The nurse comes around a minute later, helping to get Kara situated for the very first breastfeeding. Alex helps unbutton Kara's hospital gown, then untucks the baby's blanket a little so they're skin to skin as Kara directs Mike to her breast. He latches on easily enough, and Kara giggles at the odd feeling; the feeling of his small mouth sucking the meager milk she's producing makes her feel—strange as it sounds—like she's doing something important, being able to provide for her baby in a way everyone else can't.
As Kara nurses, Alex leans close and talks to her about anything and everything; she talks about work, about Maggie, about the lady that always walks into Maggie's precinct when her cat gets stuck in a tree. But eventually, as Kara finishes up, Alex asks,
"Did you and Adam pick a name?"
Just like that, Alex has shattered the illusion of Kara's new world. It really isn't just the two of them, not just Kara and her new baby. There are so many people waiting—so many people involved—and for a second, Kara looks down at her baby and selfishly wishes it wasn't like that at all.
Kara looks up at her sister, head dropping back on the hospital bed pillow as her own exhaustion hits. "Mike," she replies. "And we're going with Adam's last name."
Alex just nods, standing up and brushing a kiss to the top of Kara's head. "I'll let the doctors know, for the birth certificate," she says. "And I'll let the others come in to see him."
"Already?"
Alex pauses at the doorway, picking up on the slightly panicked edge to Kara's voice. "Maggie just got here," she says, and that's explanation enough. "Besides, I'm sure Adam would like to see his son."
Kara bites her lip. "Okay," she agrees, because that was her idea, after all, to have Alex by her side at the delivery instead of Adam.
"I'll be back," Alex promises, and she leaves.
But she doesn't come back immediately; hospital rules say only two in the room at a time, and the first two to come visit are Adam and Cat. Kara feels slightly uneasy; she's been working for Cat for three years, and she's never felt as unprofessional as she does right now, dressed in nothing but a wrinkled hospital gown and with her glasses askew on her face.
"You look awful, Kiera," Cat sniffs, removing a pair of sunglasses off her face as she takes a seat in the hospital armchair by Kara's bedside. There's no real bite to her voice, though; her attention is kept only by Mike, who Adam gently lifts out of Kara's arms.
"He's cute," Adam says with a grin, obviously just as in love with the baby as Kara is. "Hi, Mike," he says directly to his son, voice softer than Kara's ever heard it to be (not that Kara knows him so well, anyway). "I'm your dad."
Kara feels her eyelids slowly slipping closed on their own accord. She's vaguely aware of Cat muttering something to Adam about how "two average people don't make cute babies, it must be my genes" before she drifts off to sleep.
When she wakes up, it's to the the blurry outline of James Olsen, whose smiling face comes into view as he slips her glasses on her face. Kara blinks and takes in her surroundings, noticing that Cat is gone, but Adam is sitting in the armchair she'd been in, a sleeping Mike in his arms.
"Hey, sleepyhead," James says, his wide grin staying as he squeezes Kara's hand. "Or should I say, Mommy."
Kara smiles, sleepy but genuine. "He's so small, James," she says dreamily. "So cute."
James chuckles in agreement. "Yeah, he's a real looker alright."
"Did you hold him yet?" Kara asks. "Wait, how long have I been asleep?"
"Just a few hours," James answers. "We'd have let you sleep more, but the nurse is suggesting you nurse him again. Something about routines?"
Kara knows. She's done research. She knows she has to try and feed him about every two to three hours, so her milk production can increase and Mike can easily regain all weight he'll eventually lose. So she agrees and holds out her hands for the baby, which Adam hands over to James, who then places him carefully in Kara's arms.
"I'll go get Alex," James says, after helping rearrange Kara's blankets so she can open up her gown in (limited) privacy; Adam helpfully looks away, at least. "She's been trying to fight the nurse to come back in, anyway."
"You'll be back though, right?" Kara questions, voice small all of a sudden. She hates to feel so needy, but the shininess of being a new parent is slowly dimming; suddenly, all she wants are the closest people in her life squeezed around this hospital bed telling her she'll be alright. People who aren't...well, Adam.
But James can only reply, "Of course," and brush the hair out of Kara's face gently, smiling in that safe, familiar way of his before he leaves. When he's gone, the atmosphere of the room shifts considerably; Adam seems slightly jumpy, bouncing his leg up and down, and Kara stares down at her chest and tries not to look over at him.
Then, "So how have you been?"
Kara looks up, and Adam's looking right at her, face serious but a tentative smile on his face. "I think it's a little too late to ask that," Kara can't help but joke, smiling a bit herself, "since I'm holding your baby and all."
Adam laughs, genuinely, and it's nice; Kara remembers how easy it used to be with them. "I guess you're right," he agrees. "Sorry I didn't come back sooner."
"That's fine," says Kara. And it is. Adam doesn't owe her a thing; they'd parted, certain they would never see each other again, after an ill-timed fling and that should have been the end of that.
"No, I should've—" Adam hesitates, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't want you to think I'm not in this as much as you are."
Kara decides to ignore the fact that Adam was the one who stayed in Opal City—even after Kara had informed him of her pregnancy—and instead says, "It's okay. I know you have your whole life over there."
"Yeah." Adam doesn't seem too thrilled at himself, at least. "Listen, about that...I was wondering if maybe you and Mike would want to move in. With me." At Kara's bewildered look, he's quick to explain, "My mom has a spare apartment she's renting me here, in National City. It has some spare rooms you and Mike can stay in, and it's near your job..."
The thought is slightly appealing. Kara's been living in Alex's apartment—in Alex's bed—since she found out she was pregnant, and her old landlord has already replaced Kara with a new tenant at her old apartment. But Kara doesn't know Adam; they dated for all of two weeks before calling it quits, and they've only been communicating over text recently during the length of Kara's pregnancy.
"You don't have to," Adam is sure to add, looking nervously at Kara. "I just want to be there for Mike, and I know you've been staying at your sister's. My mom won't even stop by if you don't want her to. It's...up to you."
Kara thinks of Alex, of how she's been wanting to ask Maggie to move in with her for months already, and Kara knows she has to be able to step away from her sister sooner or later.
.
.
.
Kara's room feels as big as Alex's whole apartment does, and a whole lot emptier.
That is not to say the room itself lacks anything. It's wide, with high-reaching white walls and a giant bed against the left wall with matching white sheets (that seems to still take very little space). On the wall adjacent to the bed is a large window, as tall as Kara and only shielded by a set of transparent white curtains; Kara briefly peeks out of it, and is overwhelmed by how high up the apartment is. It feels more and more like she's being locked into a tower instead of moving into somewhere new.
"Just say the word," says a voice from the doorway, sudden and unexpected, "and we drive back to my place."
Kara turns around, body relaxing when she sees it's just Alex. "I've already made James and Winn take all my stuff inside," she says. "They'll hate me forever if I make them take it back down."
"They hate the idea of you staying here even more than I do," Alex negates, and she pushes off the doorway to start examining Kara's room as thoroughly as she must've done to the kitchen and living room. "You don't owe him anything, you know."
"It's not that." Kara takes the spot at the doorway instead as Alex starts to look inside the walk-in closet. From here, Kara can hear the others crashing around in the living room; James and Winn are trying to set up a TV, Maggie is yelling directions at them; Eliza, Kara's former foster mom, is holding Mike and scolding the others for being so loud while her grandson sleeps.
"Then what is it?" Alex reemerges looking less stern than before, her features softened to worry. "I know my apartment isn't as fancy as this one, but it's home. And I like having you there."
Kara grins. "And I like stealing all the covers when I sleep in your bed," she says, but she tilts her head to the living room; Alex steps out of the bedroom in time to see Eliza handing Mike to Maggie, to see the dimpled grin Maggie dons at the sight of the baby. "But you know I can't stay there forever. You have your own life."
Alex melts at the sight (predictably), but she's quick to keep arguing. "You're allowed to want me around."
"And you're allowed to be selfish and live with your girlfriend," Kara says, dropping her head on Alex's shoulder as they watch their family argue. "I'll probably call you twice a day."
"I'll probably let you."
Eliza comes walking up to her daughters, smoothing her hands over their arms. "If you two are done hiding away, come join us," she says. "The boys will never get this TV up if we don't intervene."
Alex shakes her head, sighing, but Kara just laughs and tugs her sister to where their family is. This—this familiarity, in everything from James's smile to Maggie's laugh to Winn's insistent protests that he knows what he's doing—is already making Kara feel a little less overwhelmed, a little more at home.
Mike is awake, but barely; Kara seizes the moment to breastfeed him, taking him out of Maggie's arms and setting up to feed him right there on the couch. Alex fits herself at Maggie's side, and Maggie presses a kiss to her hair; Winn fakes a grimace at the PDA, but James kisses his forehead a second later and everyone can't help but laugh at how Winn blushes. Eliza playfully chides them all, insisting she needs quiet to call for pizza; Mike takes that moment to start crying, so Kara excuses herself from the sanctity of their familiarity and goes to her new room to feed him instead.
He settles in the darkness, dark little eyes gazing up at her as Kara coaxes him into latching on. He starts drifting off a few minutes in, so Kara lifts his feet to keep him awake, leaning back on the big bed and fondly smiling down at her baby.
"It's you and me now, Mike," she whispers, ghosting her fingertips over his neck. "Just the two of us."