PART 1
It had been some time since Kara Danvers had bid Mon El farewell in her Kryptonian pod. The planet Earth's atmosphere was as encompassed in Kara's shattered heart fragmentation's as it was filled with lead. But still, life went on for both Kara and her superhero alter ego Supergirl. Unable to withstand being around Alex and Maggie, J'onn and M'gann, or Winn and Lyra, with all their romantic glory, a sad and heartbroken Kara found that she was fully embracing her newfound friendship with Lena Luthor in the aftermath of the Daxamite invasion. Kara attended many fancy events and dinners with Lena, doubling as a reporter for CatCo Media, but she also spent many quiet nights in her apartment and the L-Corp building with the Luthor heiress.
Kara actually found it comical how both alike and unalike her and Lena were. Lena grew up with a stern and withdrawn family while Kara gained nothing but love from the Danvers' family. Yet, they both stood for very similar values. They both wanted to ultimately save the world from itself—no matter the consequences upon their own lives. It was this like-mindedness that brought them closer. And over time, Kara began to crave Lena's presence and natural prowess.
Even now, while Lena was on a platform accepting a charity award from National City, Kara wanted to be by her side. Lena was wearing a tight-fit black dress that was sophisticated and classy, but she wore her hair down in a straight black cape around her neck and shoulders. Shiny diamonds dangled from her ears, but they were not brighter than her clear eyes. She smiled with serenity and humble kindness as she accepted her award for donating and assisting in the rebuilding of National City after the invasion. Kara wanted to be up there with her, supporting her. Nevertheless, she stood on the sidelines within the substantial pool of reporters snapping photographs of the great L-Corp CEO. She was an admirer from afar.
As Lena gave her thanks and appreciation, though, Kara felt their eyes connect. They were both standing in a large steel and glass hall within one of National City's luxurious skyscraper hotels and there were hundreds of people huddled around them. Still, Lena and Kara made eye contact. Lena's smile brightened as Kara took a quick picture, her eyes on her friend and her friend only.
It was in that moment that everything shattered.
Many screamed as turmoil spilled out within the charity event. None other than CADMUS' star pupil, Cyborg Superman, had crashed the party—literally. To Kara's immense surprise, Cyborg Superman—also known as the real Hank Henshaw—bypassed the shrieking crowd and targeted Lena. Kara never would have thought that CADMUS' leader, Lena's mother, would ever outright attack Lena in such a manner.
No, Kara thought, she must have an ulterior motive. Lillian Luthor was a master manipulator, of course.
In a panic, Kara dashed out of the hotel and into a dark alley empty of the fleeing crowd. As she went, she shed her soft blue and slightly preppy dress as well as her glasses and donned her Supergirl attire. No worries of anyone seeing her, for she moved faster than the human eye could catch and comprehend. Her hair undid itself from its delicate knot as she shot into the air.
Back in the hotel, Lena was doing fairly well defending herself from the onslaught of Cyborg Superman. The hotel had been staffed with guards who were shooting at the monstrosity that was now Hank Henshaw, and Lena had moved to lower ground behind some broken building pieces. Kara was surprised and slightly annoyed to see that Lena had not fled altogether. Instead, she had removed a hidden weapon from her handbag and was shooting some sort of engineered L-Corp laser gun.
Trying to ignore Lena's passion for heroism, Kara embraced her own heroic nature. She felt the red-hot stream of heat vision as it poured out towards Cyborg Superman. Her mind went blank from everything else but her rage towards him and her need to prevent further destruction.
Cyborg Superman gladly turned his attention to Supergirl. The battle that ensued between the two was beyond human physics. He dodged Kara's heat vision, leaping beneath her and grabbing her by her legs. He flung her into the outside of the hotel. There was a loud crash, but Kara bounced back in a flash. She flew at supersonic speed with a right hook to Cyborg Superman's jaw. He flew back and somersaulted into the ground. Coming back up instantly, the enhanced human and the alien girl began to dance with punches and kicks.
Meanwhile, out of the corner of Kara's eye, Lena moved out from her shelter and towards the hotel's platform that she had formerly stood upon. Reaching underneath the platform, Lena pulled out a device that was hidden from the now gone crowd. Upon her command, her guards began to evacuate the premises.
She must have planned for possible danger, Kara managed to think as Cyborg Superman's fist doubled her over with a smash to her stomach. Since when was she his punching bag? In an instance of determination, Kara began to wail on him.
"Supergirl!" Kara heard Lena call out, "Divert him over here!"
Kara glanced at Lena when she could. The genius engineer and scientific woman had activated whatever device she had pulled from within the platform and was quickly moving away from it. A small button was pressed within her hand. It was a detonator.
Cyborg Superman went to leap away from Supergirl and towards Lena, but Kara let out some of her frost breath on him. He slowed down as the icy cold slowly crested his arms and legs, and Kara flew in with several hard blows that pushed him towards Lena's device. Once the goal was achieved, Lena clicked her detonator. Kara managed to fly away in time as an explosive bomb went off, hitting Cyborg Superman with full force.
The ground began to tremble as the blast exploded the hotel. Lena was exiting the hall to the outside, but she was barely going to make it out with the regular sprinting pace of a human. Kara watched as large chunks of the building and glass fell from above. Her eyes widened in fear as Lena tripped over debris and keeled over as the roof caved in fully.
Kara shot forward and barely made it as she caught the falling roof pieces. She was squatting above Lena and holding the chunk of roof with her arms and shoulders. Lena twisted around to look at her. The fear in her clear eyes dissipated as she saw Supergirl. Their eyes met and, after a moment, Kara worried that Lena would recognize Supergirl as Kara Danvers. It was surreal, but even though Supergirl and Lena had many previous encounters, it seemed as if Lena was looking at Supergirl with a different perspective than before. She was looking at her as she looked at Kara.
The building continued to fall around the two, but Kara could not turn away from Lena. She held the broken parts of the roof and just stared with both awe and fear. She knew in her heart the Lena would feel betrayed if she found out that Kara was in fact Supergirl, but she risked these possibilities because she could not look away from her close friend—who looked so beautiful. Her dress was torn and her hair was tossed, her eyes were wide and her knees were scuffed, but Lena was still as composed as ever. She had the front of a warrior and the steeliness of a queen, and Kara's heart nearly skipped a beat as they stared at each other.
What is this feeling? She wondered. She still couldn't look away from the beautiful and bold woman lying beneath her.
It was when DEO agents flooded their surroundings that Kara finally flew away from Lena and removed the rubble on her shoulders. She stayed in the air as her sister Alex helped Lena to safety, but she kept her distance from her fellow agents for fear that they would see her cheeks stained red.
PART 2
Kara had been nervous when Lena called her a few hours after the attack at the charity event. She was flying around the city and searching for Cyborg Superman's body, for it had disappeared from the debris of the bomb that Lena had detonated. She knew from Alex that Lena had been taken into custody for medical treatment as well as the recording of her statement about the attack. Her phone call signaled to Kara that she had been released from the DEO headquarters in National City.
But now she wanted Kara to come over. And she didn't want Kara to come to L-Corp. She had invited Kara to her own personal loft. And Kara was anxious.
She arrived at Lena's about a half hour after their phone call. She had allowed herself to go home and shower. She didn't want Lena to see her covered in plaster and dirt from the fight with Cyborg Superman, but she also didn't want to look even remotely like Supergirl at all. She was terrified that Lena had finally figured out that she was Supergirl after all this time. Despite all the people she had let in on her secret, she was the most unwilling to tell Lena out of fear of losing her forever.
Kara stood outside of Lena's loft door for what seemed like eons before finally knocking. She was surprised by how quickly Lena answered, shooing her inside.
Lena closed her door and locked it, setting the alarm, before turning to Kara with her serene smile. To her immense surprise, Kara's heart fluttered.
Lena had cleaned up after the attack. She had a few bandages covering some cuts and bruises, but she had remained mostly unscathed. Her hair was pulled back in a light pony tail and she was wearing a slimming black shirt and a comfortable pair of jeans. And she was barefoot, too. Kara wondered if she had ever even seen Lena without heels or boots on. She also wondered why she had never noticed how perfect Lena's face was.
"Would you like a glass of wine?" The cool and sophisticated woman asked, pulling Kara by her hand. They delved further into her loft. Lena let go of Kara once they were in a small, sleek but cozy den. She went to pour two glasses of wine even though Kara barely managed to stutter a response.
"Here," Lena handed Kara her glass before sitting on the sofa, "I was meaning to ask if you were all right. I know I sounded a bit brash on the phone. Did you get hurt in the attack?"
Kara sat across from Lena on an ottoman, and she averted her eyes while taking a sip of her wine. "Oh, no. I managed to get out quick. A-are you okay?"
Lena nodded. She pulled Kara's eyes back towards her with her gaze. "Thanks to Supergirl," she acknowledged.
There was a pause. Kara thought she saw a knowing glint in Lena's clear eyes. She had long ago learned to recognize the flicker of genius realization in Lena's facial expressions. Her heart skipped out of anxiousness this time. Clearing her throat and pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, Kara said, "No, no. I mean, yes. Well, no. Are you okay? As in, not physically, but—"
"Am I okay because my mother sent her handy-dandy cyber-dog to assault me in a highly populated and public space?" Lena sighed in exasperation. She took a few sips of her wine and gracefully placed it on a table by the sofa. Quietly, she lifted herself up and placed herself next to Kara on the small ottoman. "You know, I have a theory about why my mother continues to threaten me."
Intrigued, Kara sat up straight and placed her own wine on the table. She turned to Lena, questioning. Lena bit her lip and turned away. Then, she turned back to Kara, showing more vulnerability than Kara was used to in Lena. This strong, intelligent, rich and powerful woman was giving her a look that took her breath away. Kara opened her mouth and then closed it, embarrassed in her own flabbergasted behavior.
"A woman like my mother does not love," Lena spoke softly, "She merely manipulates. And as of late, her manipulation is set in the goal of winning my loyalty. She so far has not been successful… But had she pushed just enough to pique my interests—perhaps my most sensitive emotions—then she might be able to provoke me to joining her."
Kara became hyperaware as Lena's entire body turned towards her. Their knees began to touch on the tiny ottoman, and Kara realized that she and her close friend were entering uncharted territory. And her intuition told her that Lena was about to change her world forever.
"What do you mean, exactly?" Kara barely managed to ask. Her voice was shaking. Despite her shocking excitement from Lena's closeness, Kara still felt an underlying nervousness about her alter ego being at jeopardy.
Lena leaned towards Kara. Even vulnerable, Kara realized that the woman was domineering and composed. At least, she was in Kara's perspective.
"Theoretically speaking," she began, "My mother knew a secret that I did not know. And say this secret affected a personal aspect of my life… And say exposing that secret would incite feelings of betrayal and resignation."
Kara gulped and prepared for the worst. Even though Lena had moved closer and closer to her, her initial excitement and lightheadedness had turned to heightened nervousness and the expectation of hurt. To her surprise, though, Lena did not grow angry or even look betrayed at all. She pushed closer to Kara, allowing their knees to not just touch but interlock, and she slowly lifted her hands and removed Kara's glasses.
"The problem with this theoretical situation," Lena continued, "Is that my mother does not and never did truly understand me."
Kara couldn't respond. Lena had dropped her glasses and placed her hands, cupping Kara's cheeks instead. Kara was filled with shock and an intriguing amount of desire as Lena placed her lips on hers. The Luthor smelled of soap and lavender, and her lips were soft but persistent. Her hands moved from Kara's face to her hair. She pulled Kara's hair down so it was free flowing like Supergirl's.
Lena pulled away just enough for her to say, "She could never understand that I would ever love you less for being so much more than I thought you were." Her clear eyes were earnest and honest. Her face and being was still vulnerable but determined.
She went to say something more, but Kara interrupted her by pulling Lena into her. She hadn't known that she needed Lena's acceptance of Supergirl so badly until this moment. Nor had she known that after her heartbreak of losing Mon El that she would ever feel these feelings again. Desire and burning adoration and affection engulfed her very being. There was nothing on her mind but Lena Luthor, and Lena Luthor telling her she loved her. It was true that Kryptonians felt emotions more deeply than that of the human race. And Kara was exploding with many emotions all at once.
Eventually, she pulled away from Lena. There was a question in her eyes. In fact, there were many. She started out with just one, though, "When did you know? When did you know that I was—"
"With how much time we have been spending together," Lena whispered, putting her hands in Kara's hands, "How could I not know your eyes even when a roof is falling on our heads?"
Kara laughed. The sound fluttered through the air. Before she knew it, she continued to ask, "And how did you know that I—"
The genius woman, who knew what she was asking before she even asked, said, "That was a gamble, I'll be honest. I was hoping you felt the same, but I didn't know how to say it."
"Well," Kara smiled warmly, "That was one hell of a way to say it."
Lena raised her eyebrows and laughed. The sound was music to Kara's ears. "Did Kara Danvers, ace CatCo reporter and the moral high ground, just say 'hell'?"
Kara laughed even harder. Lena laughed with her. As they calmed down, Kara looked at Lena with curious eyes. Her formerly broken heart was healing as she looked at Lena. She was amazed that Lena accepted her and loved her. And she was amazed that, after all this time, she felt the same.
"I didn't even know," Kara shook her head. When Lena opened her mouth, Kara continued to shake her head.
"I didn't even know, but I fell in love with you. I wasn't even paying attention, but I did. I fell in love with you, Lena Luthor."
Lena smiled brightly and pulled Kara towards her. Their lips touched and they melted together perfectly. Kara's heart was healing.