Chapter 1

Intelligent green eyes and full lips covered with perfectly applied, dark pink lipstick. Kara's chaotic thoughts kept coming back to rest on those two things. Those two beautiful things. Except, she reminded herself, she shouldn't find them beautiful. She stared down into the cup of cold, murky liquid clasped in her hands that had once resembled a drinkable coffee. James and her, their relationship, if you could call it that, was supposed to be developing. She was supposed to be excited about going out on an actual date with him, hopefully this time one uninterrupted by Supergirl-type scenarios. She was most definitely not supposed to be suddenly enraptured by a woman she had only met for less than 5 minutes.

When she had gone with Clark to interview Lena Luthor after the Venture explosion, she hadn't known what to expect from the sister of the infamous Lex Luthor. The reputation of the Luthor family alone was probably enough to put anyone off Lena. Kara however, liked to believe there was good in everyone until proven wrong. The CEO of Luthor Corp seemed to genuinely be trying to make a new name for herself outside of the Luthor legacy and had appeared to be telling the truth about why she hadn't been on board the Ventures' ill-fated maiden voyage. Kara had known from Clarks' demeanour as they had left Lena's office that he was still suspicious of the raven-haired woman but she just couldn't bring herself to judge Lena prematurely.

"Hello? Earth to Kara." A hand waved in front of her face, tearing her thoughts away from green eyes and pink lipstick. Alex was stood before her in the kitchen of Kara's apartment, a bemused expression playing with her facial features.

"You haven't been listening to a single word I've said, have you?" Alex asked, crossing her arms as she watched her blonde sibling closely.

"Errrr...," Kara paused and then laughed when she met Alex's gaze, knowing the game was up. She placed her now redundant mug of coffee on the counter and held her hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry, I guess I zoned out for a second, what were you saying?"

"I was saying that the device that triggered the explosion on the Venture was located under seat 23B, the seat that was supposed to be taken by Lena Luthor. It looks like she was the intended target, not the one behind the explosion, like we originally thought." Alex moved to Kara's sofa as she spoke, motioning for her sister to join her. The blonde nestled into the opposite side of the seat, looking thoughtful as she considered this new information. It appeared that Lena's word could be trusted after all. The entrepreneur seemed to be doing exactly as she had said, simply trying to give herself a fresh start and use her company as a force for good. Kara couldn't stop the small smile that forced the edges of her lips to curl upward at the thought of Lena. Oh Rao, she thought with an almost imperceptible shake of her head. What was happening to her? She willed herself to focus on Alex, trying to derail her one-track mind.

"We're missing something, I just can't figure out what it is." Alex said, frustration evident in her voice.

"Don't worry we'll get there. Whichever piece of the puzzle we're missing will fall into place eventually."

"Yeah, I guess…" The red-head sighed, then leaned forward to place a hand on Kara's knee, "But enough about work. How are things with James?"

"They're good. Great, even." Kara replied quickly, with a big smile. A smile that she knew would have fooled most people. Alex Danvers however, was not most people.

Alex eyed Kara suspiciously, keeping her eyes narrowed until the Superhero started to squirm under the pressure of her gaze.

"Ok, so things might not be all that good," Kara admitted, staring down at her hands. "I just...I was so sure that he was what I wanted, you know? I had all these plans for the perfect date. Then the Venture exploded and we didn't get to finish our evening because once again I had to be Supergirl," she said, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration before continuing, "I spoke to Clark about his relationship with Lois and it just seems so perfect. He juggles being a great boyfriend, being Superman and being Clark Kent so well, and dammit Alex, I want to be able to do that!"

Alex smiled and took Kara's hands in her own, pulling them into her lap and squeezing them reassuringly. "There's no reason why you can't. You just need to take some time to figure things out."

"Clark said that it's just as important to be Kara as it is to be Supergirl. Only, I don't really know who Kara even is…and do you know the worst bit?" She asked dejectedly but didn't wait for a response, "When my evening with James got ruined, I don't even think I was that bothered …I just don't know if James is what I want anymore." The words seemed very final as they left her mouth to float into the empty space of her apartment. They hung heavily in the air almost as if they were daring someone to break the silence.

Alex cleared her throat. If she was at all surprised by Kara's words, a bystander would never have guessed from her expressionless face. "If you don't feel the same way anymore just tell him. Even if you aren't sure how to be Kara or exactly what the Kara part of you wants in life, if you're not sure you want to be with James then you need to be honest with him about it."

Kara nodded, only briefly allowing herself to picture eyes greener than a St Patricks' Day parade. Her stomach twisted with guilt over the thoughts about Lena that remained unspoken. She hated keeping things from Alex. They'd always told each other everything, first crushes, first kisses, first break ups but she just couldn't allow the words to slip from her lips while everything was still so uncertain in her head. Or could she?

"Alex, I think I…" Kara paused for a fraction of a second then stood up suddenly, her sentence trailing off. "I need to go."

She sprinted for the window, pulling apart her shirt as she ran, to reveal the Super-suit beneath. She flew quickly across the skyline to the danger she had sensed from her apartment.

"Hold on, Lena."

/

Lena Luthor stared in shock at the two military-grade drones hovering in front of her helicopter. There was no way for her to protect herself from the danger they posed. She was completely powerless over the situation and if there was one thing Lena hated, it was not being in control of everything around her. The CEO was always so poised and prepared for every possibility when it came to board room meetings, enticing prospective business clients and dealing with the media. At this moment, her fate rested not on her charming smile and quick wit but on the whim of a, she assumed, mentally unstable individual who had access to some serious weaponry. Boy did she really hate flying.

At the sound of gunfire, she instinctively closed her eyes, keeping them tightly closed as she awaited the sensation of the helicopter falling from the air. Except, the feeling never came. After a few moments, she opened her eyes to be met with the sight of Supergirl and Superman blocking the helicopter from the drones' onslaught. She watched as, after a brief conversation between the two caped aliens, Superman flew away, leaving just Supergirl to protect her.

This was Lena's first opportunity to observe Supergirl in action and she was struck by how petite the superhero was close up. She looked on as the blonde hero used a beam of energy to destroy one of the drones and Lena felt momentarily elated until the remaining drone fired a missile. She watched in horror as it connected with the caped heroines' chest, knocking her from the sky to collide with the tarmac of the helipad, the impact cracking the once smooth surface.

The drone opened fire and Lena felt the helicopter shake as it was hit. Smoke started billowing from behind the cockpit and she screamed, then immediately chastised herself for being such a damsel in distress. She was a Luthor, God dammit and Luthors' didn't scream. Her eyes locked on to the drone as she tried to slow her frantic heartbeat; panicking wasn't going to help her right now.

Luckily, Supergirl had quickly recovered from her brief interlude with the concrete and smashed straight through the flying device, scattering twisted pieces of metal in every direction. Lena felt the superhero gently lower the damaged helicopter to what remained of her helipad and a second later the door opened allowing her to come face to face with her saviour.

"You're safe now." Supergirl said, flicking her eyes over Lena, before reaching out to tend to the unconscious pilot.

"What the hell was that?" Lena snapped, the reality of how close she had just come to dying sinking in now she was safely on the ground and had more than enough time to panic.

"Someone's trying to kill you."

The words stunned Lena into silence. She should have expected that her family name would have made her public enemy number one but the news was still hard to take. She was trying to start again and turn LuthorCorp around, why couldn't everyone see that?

Lena looked to Supergirl, who smiled at her, a warmth present in her deep blue eyes that she hadn't seen from another person in a long time.

"It's ok," Supergirl said softly, "I'll protect you."

/

CatCo Worldwide Media was a hive of activity, everyone moving quickly across the workspace as the deadline for submissions approached. The only person who stood still was Kara, a silent observer amongst the throng of people. She was waiting to speak to James, looking for the perfect opportunity but each minute that passed only served to make her more nervous. She'd decided to invite him over and explain how she felt, or rather to explain how she didn't know exactly how she felt anymore. Kara hoped that maybe she could salvage their friendship in the process. Finally, she spotted her chance as he walked across the bustling room alone. She jogged after him, zipping between the desks until she caught up.

"James."

"Oh, hey." said James, only slightly startled by her sudden appearance at his side as she dropped into step beside him.

"Listen, I was thinking. Do you fancy coming over? We could get Italian? I'll fly there and-"

"Kara…," he sighed and stopped walking, turning to face her. He rubbed a hand across his forehead tiredly before continuing, "Stop. Just admit that something's changed for you."

"I…" she started, not really sure what she was about to say. She hadn't wanted to do this here in the middle of their workplace, surrounded by people.

"Don't try to tell me I'm imagining it, Kara. I thought you wanted this."

"I did!" she said, perhaps a little too forcefully. It was important to her though, that he understood she hadn't meant to hurt him. She hadn't meant to become so confused over everything.

"But you don't now?" His eyes sought hers, seeking the truth.

"I…I don't know"

"Well at least you're being honest." He said sadly and walked away from her. She watched him go and felt a weight settle in her chest. That hadn't exactly gone to plan.

Even several hours later, as she lay in bed she couldn't stop replaying the sad look she had seen on his face over and over in her mind. That is, until sleep finally claimed her and her thoughts drifted into realms occupied by emerald green eyes and pink lipstick.