This takes place in the early days of Kara and Lena's budding relationship, with specific reference to Season 2 Episode 3, "Welcome to Earth." I like the idea of exploring certain key moments from Lena's perspective, since we get so much of Kara's through the camera lens. Eventually, my hope would be to complete a series of chapters or one-shots through the end of season 3. Supercorp is endgame, but lesbihonest, their friendship is worth writing about too.

I own nothing except the thoughts in my head, all praise the CW.

/

Lena Luthor, poker face firmly in place, ushered Kara Danvers out of her office with a smile. The two exchanged vague assurances of seeing each other again soon, and Lena watched Kara until the elevator doors silently closed. She turned to her security detail, Connors, Lena mentally rehearsed before speaking, "Find out if Wu is still in the planning office. If he is, I want to see him before he goes back downstairs."

Connors put his sleeve to his mouth and murmured succinctly into his microphone. He nodded at Lena. Lena retrieved the alien detection device she had left on her desk and studied it carefully. A fortune in sales. The corner of her mouth twitched. Promptly, she heard footsteps approaching, and as turned back to her open office door, Dr. John Wu entered carrying his familiar case.

"Ms. Luthor, you wanted to see me?" He stopped a few feet from her desk and nervously adjusted his wire-framed glasses.

"Yes, John, I hope I didn't interrupt your meeting." She circled her desk and held out the detection device.

"No, no, just finished actually." Wu gingerly switched his case from one hand to the other, taking the device from Lena's outstretched hand. "What's wrong? This is your prototype, I thought you calibrated this already."

Lena's mouth twitched again, threatening to break out in a smirk, but she turned away from him to hide it, walking back around to her chair. She settled into it before replying. "I'd like you run a diagnostic. Full sweep. I want you to clear it personally… before the shareholders meeting. Tell me if you need assistance with other deadlines. I expect this to be your top priority." She fixed him with a pointed look.

Though he had more questions, Wu recognized the dismissal. "I'll start right away." He slipped the device in his pocket and glanced back at his boss, now immersed in her computer. Without another word, he turned to leave.

"No nights or weekends, John," he heard her call after him. He smiled and swept out of Lena's office. Eighteen months later, and his wife still liked to bring up the care package Lena had sent when their daughter born, every time he talked about his work at home.

While he couldn't understand how her own prototype could be flawed in any way, John Wu suspected that the lightness in his step was due to the knowledge that Lena Luthor trusted him to find out.

Flew here on a bus?

Lena smiled but shook her head, a way of formally clearing the meeting with Kara from her mind. She still had at least six hours of work to complete before she left for the day. What a dork.

It wasn't until she had settled into the back of her car that her thoughts turned back to Kara. Her mind jumped first to the device and the new changes it would need, but she forced herself to start at the beginning. As her driver steered the car around this turn and through that intersection, Lena's mind played back the meeting, scrutinizing every moment. They were on a first name basis now. Kara flew there on a bus, and she forgot to take notes. Don't skip anything. Lena took a breath, relaxing against the headrest.

It might have been unfair to try and bait Kara, but despite her cool, polished disposition, Lena had bristled at the idea of a story from the angle that Kara seemed to be after. The sister of Earth's most notorious alien hater. What a reputation… no matter how hard she worked, no matter how smart she was, no matter how much money she dumped into good works, Lena would always be just that… the sister of a true monster.

And since they were family, since they had grown up with the same influences and the same hate mongering, Lena and Lex must be the same. And so, she had shown Kara her detection device, and played devil's advocate when Kara protested it. L Corp is in the business of making money, and Lena planned to make as much as she possibly could. She'd use whatever tactic she had to, from both sides of the amnesty argument, to earn billions. If Kara hadn't figured out by now that the money was put to good use, then she deserved to be baited.

So Lena had tested herself to show the baseline for a human reading, and then turned the device on Kara- a calculated risk, to be sure. She figured Kara would do something to it… Lena had given her plenty of time, allowing herself to be sidetracked by Kara's questions about freedom and American values.

She could admit now that she felt somehow disappointed in Kara's naïve opinions. Lena had lost far too much to feel optimistic about anything grand like trusting the population to have the same idea of what it meant to be American… or live a moral life. She couldn't help but want Kara to feel the same way as she did. She couldn't help feeling the need to call Kara out, because she knew that Supergirl was listening.

She was still impressed that Kara had gotten a negative response out of the device, though. Lena admired her ingenuity, especially in the face of the bumbling, nervous reporter persona Kara had perfected. Lena knew who Kara could be, and it was, on occasion, irritating to have to play the game. Supergirl was far too formal with Lena, and Kara was pretending all the time.

You wanted to catch her. You wanted her to tell you.

Pushing that thought away, Lena unfastened her seat belt and reached for her bag as her driver opened the door. It was a stretch to think that either Kara or Supergirl would trust her. She was the enemy. Fucking Luthors. But even then, she felt the familiar constriction in her chest at the thought of her brother. Destined to disappoint, but never far from her heart. She thanked her driver, Joseph, she recited, and she promised him muffins in the morning as an apology for the late night.

She made her way upstairs, still lost in thought. Away from Kara, it was easier for Lena to feel righteous. No one could be trusted. Selfishness was caused by 100,000 years of evolution built around the simple purpose of survival. Supergirl was wrong to pretend she was selfless, and her alter ego was wrong to act so damned… wholesome. She would get hurt. Lena would get hurt.

Ultimately, she had concluded that the Luthor name was the reason why she had decided to let Kara Danvers in... Lex, and his endless pursuit of Clark Kent. Lillian, and her disgusting crusade. The dark hatred that defined both had always threatened Lena… even succeeded to influence her in her lowest moments. But she had made her decision, to do the one thing that would hurt both Lex and Lillian- turn the family's money into a force for good. She was no superhero. She couldn't fly, she wasn't bulletproof. But she could make money, and she could spend it. And she had her most valuable asset: her mind.

Illogically, Lena knew that she did it all at least in part for Kara… for Supergirl. To prove that she wasn't cut from the same cloth as her brother and mother. She knew that to ignore this motivation would be foolish, that to master her feelings, she had to acknowledge them. In honor of its importance, she referred to this need to impress her affiliations upon Supergirl as her "obsession." She was also willing to admit that she hadn't quite come to terms with why she was obsessed with convincing Supergirl of her good intentions. Or why she desired to make Kara Danvers confess to her…

As she undressed, peeling away layers of the day, Lena finally allowed her thoughts to linger on Kara herself. How she had responded when Lena held the device out to her, her smile huge even as she accused Lena of violating the American ideal. How the light from the window illuminated her eyes, intensely blue. How thrilling it was to argue with her, such a different tone from their previously polite interactions. The way her sweater stopped just shy of her waistband. How Lena could feel herself biting her lip as she held the device out to Kara, but how she hadn't wanted to stop herself.

And already she was planning her next appointment with Kara Danvers, junior reporter.

Next time, no security.

Lena scanned the email from John Wu, catching the general sense without reading every word. Basically, her prototype had been fried. Lena ignored his questions about how she knew, limiting her reply to pertinent details regarding the device's prognosis and rebuild. Marking her last unread email as "read," Lena checked her phone again.

Jess had assured her earlier in the week that she had left a message for Kara Danvers, but Lena hadn't received so much as a text from her. Lena's opinion on the lack of contact kept changing. As the distance between their meetings increased, Lena's intense resolve to confront Kara had waned. This at least she was glad of… It would have been foolish to show her hand too early. The longer she thought about it, she could only think that keeping Kara's secret was more valuable to her than not.

At the same time, the longer she went without seeing Kara, the harder it was for Lena to deny that she wanted to.

By the time Kara did drop by, Lena found her appetite for confrontation had nearly gone. The apprehension she'd felt before the article dropped was assuaged when she finally read it... and re-read it. Kara was just as good at her second job. Lena hadn't lied when she said she had been worried about Kara's bleeding heart, and she was pleased when Kara told her the truth about her original article. Though she expected she should feel affronted to learn that Kara had wanted to blast her, Lena only felt warmth in response to Kara's honesty, which Lena found compelling. There was something equally strange and completely familiar about having her in this office, allowing her to drop by without announcement. Kara was so informal. Around Kara, she was Lena, not Ms. Luthor. In a flash, the CEO realized that the need to draw Kara's secret identity out into the open was not as important as actually being in her presence, in one way or another.

She decided to share with Kara, too. Not a lot, but enough to hope that Kara had understood her devastation at discovering Lex's true motives. Enough to hope that Supergirl would believe her, maybe someday soon, that they were on the same side. She had sensed that Kara remained unconvinced, but they had shared a comfortable enough silence afterward not to worry. Lena knew she couldn't force it; she just had to keep showing Kara, and Supergirl.

She had to keep grooming her obsession.

A/N: Please let me know what you think! As a queer person, I think I identify with supercorp so much because I've experienced that blurring of boundaries in friendships. I love Supergirl, not just for the sexy jawlines. I don't dislike Mon-El; I actually like that his character has developed from the one note song he was 6 years ago. I don't dislike James and Lena together… in fact, I wish the writers had explored the Kara and James relationship. And I don't dislike fighting Lena and Kara- passion shows in anger and in love. What I find so rich about this show is that so many of us from so many different experiences can watch the same 42-minute program and find in it what speaks to us personally. Even the friendship between Kara and Lena is so rife with potential for storytelling, because it is so complicated anyway, but I've always been attracted to the friendship just on the cusp of becoming something more… we'll see where this goes.