I was working on the last chapter of "When Steel Falls, Evil Reigns" when this idea got into my head thanks to the latest promo. The last chapter of my post-3x09 AU is coming soon. Grad school applications are a bitch and are taking up most of my time right now.
Trigger warnings: mentions of blood, vomit, and medical procedures
Lena Luthor walked into CatCo just as the sun was starting to illuminate all of National City. She liked coming into work before anyone else was in the office because it gave her a few minutes of solitude and a chance to talk a deep breath before diving into her work-filled day. She smiled slightly at the beauty of the National City skyline in the morning. She put her purse down on the couch and poured herself a cup of coffee before walking out onto the balcony to admire the city, a view most people didn't take the chance to appreciate because they were either still sleeping or stumbling around their apartments trying to get ready for their day. Lena leaned on the railing before taking a large sip. She scrunched her face for a moment at the faintly bitter taste before chalking it up to the coffee being left over from the night before.
She sat out on the balcony for about half an hour before she heard the quiet bustle of the first wave of employees arriving to start their day, among them Kara and James. James stuck his head out onto the balcony and informed Lena that he had to go down to Photography to sort out some problems before the next issue of CatCo magazine was published. Lena smiled at him and wished him luck, knowing how notoriously difficult the acting editor was. With his absence, the top floor was empty save for Kara who had taken her place by Lena's office and begun typing away at her next article. Lena took another sip of her coffee as she heard Kara get up to retrieve something from the copy room on the other side of the floor. Lena smiled at the thought of getting to work with her best friend every day as she drank another mouthful of coffee, this one just a little difficult to swallow. Lena took another and found she could barely swallow. The brunette set her cup down just as a stab of pain ripped through her body, nearly causing her to cry out. Lena took in a shuddering breath as the discomfort subsided, only to be hit with another wave of pain, this one even worse than the last. It felt like someone had stabbed her in the stomach and was slowly, excruciatingly, agonizingly twisting the blade as they drove it ever deeper into her abdomen.
The pain brought waves of nausea along with it, causing Lena to find herself in the undignified situation of vomiting into a flower pot on her balcony. With each round of expulsion, another ever worsening ripple of agony hit Lena as she gripped the vase with white knuckles. She straightened her back and wiped her mouth, surprised to see a smear of red on the back of her hand. Lena tried to make her way to the table to grab her phone, but her legs suddenly felt like jelly as her knees gave way, sending Lena tumbling to the floor with a thud. She dragged her body toward her phone as her chest began to tighten and her lungs refused to cooperate. Gasping, Lena desperately pulled herself toward her only lifeline. Just as she got within arm's reach of her phone, another wave of pain hit Lena and she jerkily dropped onto the concrete, knocking her phone and coffee onto the floor. She flipped onto her back just as her body began seizing uncontrollably, her mouth foaming, her back arching up from the floor, her eyes rolling back into her head, a desperate cry somehow finding its way out of her tightening throat. In her final moments of consciousness, Lena called out for Kara, wanting the blonde close to her in her last moments because it seemed that her luck had run out and this attempt would be the last one. The successful one. The one to take her away. The one she had stopped wanting to succeed. The one to take her life when all she wanted was to live it at long last.
Kara was in the copy room retrieving a printout when she heard someone call her name. Lena. Quickly scanning the floor to see if anyone else was there, Kara supersped to Lena's side as her ears filled with the sound of Lena desperately gasping for air, trying in vain to fill her lungs. When she reached the balcony, Kara froze at the sight of the smashed coffee mug on the ground, its contents spilled, and of Lena seizing on the ground, her mouth filled with pink, almost red, foam. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do when she heard another voice behind her. "Kara, is everything okay? Is Lena out there? I need to ask her a question." Kara's reply died in her throat as she heard James stop next to her when he laid his eyes on the scene before them. "Oh God," he whispered. As the seizure seemed to quell into trembling, Kara knelt next to Lena and gently brushed her raven locks off of her ashen forehead. Kara's hand recoiled at the burning heat she felt radiating from Lena.
The blonde grabbed Lena's shoulders and shook the unconscious brunette as she screamed, "Lena!" Kara shook her again. "Lena!" Kara yelled desperately. "LENA!" Kara cried her voice full of pain. Lena's head lolled slightly to the side when Kara gently put her hand on Lena's burning face. "Lena, please," Kara whispered as her eyes welled up. "Please don't go."
"Kara," Lena gurgled as she opened her eyes. "Kara." Lena reached up with her left hand and grabbed a handful of light blue button up. Lena's jade green eyes searched out Kara's blue ones as she tried to say something that sounded vaguely like "I can't breathe." Lena gasped as more pink foam came out of her mouth and a few hot tears slid down the sides of her face. "It. Hurts," Lena said, struggling to speak and remain conscious. Lena's grip slackened and her arm dropped back down to her side as her eyes slid closed again.
"No, No! Lena!" Kara turned to James who nodded at the blonde as she slid her arms underneath Lena and lifted her up in a bridal carry. Kara launched herself into the air and sped toward the DEO on the other side of National City. Hot, burning tears escaped Kara's eyes as she hurtled through the air, her best friend in her arms. "Alex? Can you hear me?"
"Yea, Kara. What's up?"
"It's Lena."
"What happened?" Alex asked concern seeping into her voice when she heard Kara's distress. Alex heard a faint moan and the whistling of the wind grew even louder as Kara flew faster. "Is that her?"
"Yes. I think she's been poisoned. Alex," Kara whispered so quietly Alex could barely hear her. "I can hear it." Kara felt the tears prick at her eyes as she pushed her body to fly even faster.
"Hear what?"
"Her heart. It's slowing down. It's barely beating!"
"Kara! Kara," Alex yelled, interrupting Kara's impending panic. "Get her to the DEO. We can help her."
"You have to save her, Alex. Please," Kara begged.
"I will. I promise," Alex said despite her brain telling her not make promises she can't keep.
Lena felt her body grow lighter until she was weightless. She felt herself floating and wondered if this is what dying like. It felt remarkably like home.
Except it wasn't. She felt the wind blowing around her as it whistled in her ears as she sped through the sky in… cardigan-clad arms? If she were conscious, she would dedicate more brainpower to trying to process why these arms felt so alien and yet so familiar. Instead, she tried to listen to the conversation happening right above her. Was the voice talking to her? No. No, it was responding to someone. Begging someone.
Then her chest was burning as breathing became even harder and Lena felt like as though she was fading away. The pain in her chest and stomach became unbearable as she moaned, feeling the searing, all-encompassing agony even in her unconscious state. Her stomach spasmed as Lena tried to fight off the impending wave of nausea. The voice next to her was pleading as Lena's throat burned with the acidic bile rising from her stomach. A faint gurgling noise escaped her mouth as the bile expelled itself despite her best efforts. The voice didn't admonish her or punish her. Not like Lillian. She felt herself flying even faster than before as what little awareness she had slipped away, right between her fingers as the whistling in her ears disappeared, as thecomfort she found in these arms faded leaving her body burning and unaware.
Kara grunted as she landed on the DEO balcony hard enough that the reinforced concrete cracked. She ignored the damage as she ran inside screaming for her sister. "ALEX!" Kara cried out as she ran toward the med bay with a pallid Lena in her arms, nearly mowing down several DEO agents who happened to be in the hallway. Kara gently placed Lena on the gurney, sickened at how colorless the white sheets made Lena look. Alex and several other medical workers quickly surrounded Lena as they began shouting out various medical terms and covering her with a gown as they removed her dirty clothes, tossing them to the side. The heart monitor showed Lena's slow heartbeat as Kara stood frozen in the corner of the room, watching as her sister tried to have her… Lena.
"She's seizing!" someone yelled out as Lena's body jerked, more pink foam came out of Lena's mouth, and the heart monitor began beeping erratically before stopping altogether. "Fuck! Someone get the paddles!" the voice, who Kara would later learn was Alex, called out. Kara could only helplessly watch as the love of her life seemed to be slipping away as she silently (or so she thought) prayed for her to stay and sobbed out Lena's name. It took almost 30 minutes for Alex and her staff to stabilize Lena (barely). "Kara," Alex said as she carefully laid her hand on her sister's shoulder to try to snap her out of her stupor. "Kara, I know you don't want to talk right now, but I need you to tell me what happened? Lena's still unconscious and we had to intubate her since her lungs are filling up with fluid, making it hard for her to breathe."
Kara nodded and began to speak, "She was on the balcony drinking coffee. Everything was fine. I left my desk to get something from the printer and I heard Lena call my name. When I got there, she was having a seizure and her mouth was foaming. She could barely breathe by the time I got there."
"It sounds like she was poisoned. Do you know anyone who would want to do this?" Kara looked at Alex incredulously. "So, Edge or one of the Luthors? Right. Kara, do you want to get out of these clothes and off of the floor, maybe?" Kara blinked at Alex, not having realized that she was sitting on the floor until this moment. Alex stretched out a hand to help Kara up, which the blonde eagerly took. As soon as Kara stood and saw Lena's colorless form lying on that bed with all sorts of tubes exiting her body, her knees buckled as her vision was suddenly consumed by growing circles. "Kara? KARA?" was all she heard as she felt Alex's arms wrap around her waist and her world faded to nothing at all.
Kara woke up in a hospital bed of her own about 15 minutes later with Alex's face hovering over hers. "What happened?" Kara groaned.
"You passed out. I think the adrenaline wearing off and you seeing Lena like that overwhelmed you."
"I thought Kryptonians aren't supposed to faint on Earth."
"They aren't. Unless they've solar flared like you did." Kara's eyes snapped up to look into Alex's. "When we were trying to stabilize Lena, you were screaming her name. You screamed yourself right into a solar flare. You love her, don't you?"
"Yes," Kara whispered.
"Does she know?" Kara shook her head. "Are you going to tell her?"
"She's with James now."
"Is she?"
"Alex, can we talk about something else, please?"
"Okay."
"How's Lena doing?"
"Not good. Her lungs aren't working properly and they started filling with fluid. We managed to suction most of it out, but there's still the fact that her throat swelled up too. She wouldn't stop seizing so we gave her Ativan and Diazepam to stop them and sedate her. She woke up for a few seconds and was practically screaming in pain even with the tube on her throat so we had to give her some morphine too. We need to figure out what's causing this or she's going to die. I have the lab running tests now. They'll be done in two hours. Do you want to sit with her after you've changed?" Alex asked, handing Kara a black shirt and DEO-issued pants.
"Wait, you're not mad that I flew her here without my suit on?"
"Oh, no. I'm furious. But I understand why you what you did. I would have done the same for Maggie in a heartbeat. Besides, you saved her life. If you hadn't flown her to the DEO, she would have died."
"Thank you, Alex. For everything."
After changing, Kara left the locker room and went straight to Lena's bedside, refusing to even listen to Alex's pleas to rest under the sun lamps. Kara was determined to be with Lena every step of the way, not wanting the woman to be alone when she was almost at death's door. Kara sighed as wrapped her fingers around Lena's pale hand. The room was silent except for the occasional whoosh of the ventilator and subtle beeping of the morphine pump as it dispensed the occasional dose. Kara hunched over, resting her forehead in her right hand as she began to cry out of fear that Lena would die, fear that Lena would never know, fear that she would never get to tell Lena. Kara lost track of how long she had been crying when Alex walked in the room. "Kara, are you okay?"
"No," the blonde sniffled. "I'm scared, Alex."
"I know. I promise you that we'll do everything in our power to save Lena."
"I believe you—it's just that this is kinda horrifying. This is the first time that any of the attempts ended in something more serious than a concussion. I got used to the idea that Lena was practically indestructible. She's so much larger than life when she's in her CEO persona. Seeing her like this—in this bed, so small and pale—is physically painful. I can't lose her. I won't survive it, Alex."
"You won't. But Kara, you need to try to have some hope. For her. She can fight this long enough for us to be able to figure out how to help her. Lena Luthor is nothing if not strong. She's had enough people in her life who didn't believe in her. Believe that she'll survive this. Believe in her, Kara." Kara's red-rimmed eyes followed Alex's movements as she walked around the bed and gave Kara a hug. Their moment was interrupted when Lena's heart rate began to go out of control and the heart monitor started beeping loudly as the young CEO seized again. "Son of a bitch!" Alex yelled as she ran over the medicine cabinet and grabbed several vials. As she drew the medication into a syringe, Alex turned to Kara and said, "Kara, I need you to go get Dr. Hamilton or someone, anyone." Kara nodded and dashed out of the room. "Come on, Lena. Don't make a liar out of me," Alex pleaded as she injected the medication. As Lena's body stopped jerking, Dr. Hamilton entered the room and handed Alex a printout. Alex looked at her quizzically but read the paper anyway. "You're kidding me."
"Nope. I ran the tests twice."
"Nightshade and hemlock? Jesus, whoever did this really wanted to make sure Lena would die."
"Nightshade?" Kara asked from behind Dr. Hamilton.
"You might have heard its other name: belladonna."
"Oh, yea. Someone mentioned that in some episode of Lost Girl that one time, right?"
"Yes."
"Can you help her?"
"We can now that we know what she was given," Alex and Dr. Hamilton replied together. "It's not going to be pretty, though, Kara. Prepare yourself if you want to be here for it," Alex warned. Kara nodded vigorously and resumed her vigil by Lena's bedside. "Amelia, let's set up for a nasogastric lavage since her throat is still mostly swollen. Let's avoid giving her charcoal, for now, I don't think it's necessary yet. Let's give her more IV fluids and dose her with even more Ativan and Diazepam to keep her out. Once the lavage is done, I want to give her some physostigmine to counteract that nightshade." Dr. Hamilton nodded and brought over a tray of supplies. Alex injected Lena's IV with another syringe full of medicine before turning Lena onto her left side and indicating for Kara to help support Lena's body in that position. Alex carefully threaded the tube through Lena's nose and hooked it up to an IV bag and various other equipment as Kara cringed and turned away. The procedure was over rather quickly. Alex cleaned everything up after giving Lena the antidote and left Kara alone with Lena again.
It took Lena two days to wake up from her coma. During that time, Maggie had called the DEO and reported that she had gotten a tip hinting that Lillian had been behind Lena's near death, not Morgan Edge as they had thought. With some investigating, the DEO was able to confirm that Lillian really was behind the attempt on Lena's life, but as usual, Cadmus had slipped away. When Lena's jade green eyes finally opened, they widened as they darted around the room trying to figure out where she was. Lena struggled against the tube still in her throat as her eyes kept darting around until she found herself looking into Kara's blue eyes. "Lena. Lena! You need to calm down, okay?" Lena nodded as she kept staring at her friend. Kara rushed to the doorway of the room and called for her sister before returning to Lena's side again. Kara gently picked up Lena's hand in both of hers and began to speak. "You're at the DEO right now. You were poisoned. It was Lillian." Lena raised an eyebrow to indicate her lack of shock at the statement. "She put something in your coffee on Tuesday." Lena looked at Kara in surprise at the statement. She wondered how much time had passed since then. "You almost died." Tears pricked at Lena's eyes but quickly disappeared as Alex entered the room.
"Lena! You're awake! Great. I'm going to take the tube out, alright?" Alex snapped on a pair of gloves and stood next to Lena's head. "Okay, cough for me," Alex instructed as she pulled the plastic out of Lena's throat. Once it was out, Lena coughed harshly and gratefully accepted the cup of water Kara handed her.
"Thank you," Lena said hoarsely. "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Two days," Kara answered.
"What happened exactly?"
"Supergirl brought you in after Kara called her. Your heart was barely beating and you weren't breathing when she brought you here. Lillian dosed you with nightshade and hemlock. A lot of it. It was a miracle you survived, frankly. Without Supergirl, you would have died on that balcony."
"Lillian certainly has a flair for the dramatic and loves a good history reference. I'd like to thank Supergirl for saving me."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Alex said cryptically as she left the room. Lena looked at Kara with confusion on her face and Kara simply shrugged.
"Kara, there's something I need to tell you. Actually, two things."
"Okay."
"When I was lying on the concrete, suffocating, I could only think about one thing. About how I wouldn't get to tell you how I felt. I love you, Kara and I can't continue living my life without you knowing. I can't face death again without you knowing."
"I love you, too, Lena."
"I don't mean that in a friendly way, Kara."
"I know. If it's okay with you, I'd like to kiss you."
"What are you waiting for then?" Kara leaned forward and kissed Lena. The world screeched to halt for both women as all they could feel was their lips touching. Kara brought her hands up to cup Lena's face as she deepened the kiss. Abruptly, Lena felt Kara's lips leave hers and whined a little at the sudden lack of closeness. Lena opened her eyes and her jaw dropped as she saw Kara floating with a dreamy expression on her face. Just as Lena was about to say something, Alex walked into the room dropped the pitcher of water in her hand.
"Kara!" Alex screeched. The shout startled Kara causing her to fall back onto Lena's bed.
"Um… I can explain."
"I knew the cardigan was familiar!" Lena exclaimed. Alex and Kara looked at each other and then back at Lena. "When Supergirl—well, Kara—was flying me here, I wondered why she was wearing a cardigan instead of a supersuit and now it makes sense."
"Wait… so you're not mad?" Kara asked, flabbergasted.
"You put your secret identity at risk to save me. You saved my life more than once, you've risked your life for mine. I can't be mad at someone who did something like that. I understand why you kept your other identity a secret." Kara threw herself onto Lena and pulled the brunette into a hug as Alex rolled her eyes.
"Okay, lovebirds. Break it up."
"Shut up, Alex," Kara grumbled.
"I do have some questions though," Lena interjected.
I kinda got into a little bit of a researching loop, which is why this got a little clinical. "Go big or go home" is my motto of the year, so I went for it. Let me know what you think, guys.