Andrew has a special name for his sister and Lena has a lot of feels about it


Lex

The first time she hears him say it she's sitting on the sofa with her laptop to the left of her and her tablet in her hand. She's working on something for L-Corp that couldn't wait until she got to the office the next morning, but her senses are still focused on her children. They were playing on the floor nearby where she could get to them quickly if she needed too. Andrew had his cars and blocks, and Alexis was settled on her floor mat. Or at least she had been the last time Lena looked up to check on them. She can hear Alexis cooing at the dangling plush planets, stars, and moons and smiles to herself. But maybe it's not the brightly colored toys her daughter is cooing at, because suddenly she hears her son's voice and her breath catches in her lungs.

"That's it, Lex." Andrew says so sweetly, so purely, with so much innocence. "Like this, look at me."

Lex. Yes they had named their daughter after their respective siblings, but Lena had never thought anyone would call Alexis by that particular shortened version of her name. Hearing her son say it so casually, his voice laced with such encouragement caused Lena's heart to squeeze painfully in her chest. She had never mentioned Lex in her children's presence, nor had anyone who knew her feelings on the subject. Andrew and Alexis didn't know of their uncle and Lena wasn't entirely sure they ever would.

Setting her electronics aside Lena got up to see what her children were going. Alexis had rolled out from under her little gym and was now on her tummy. Lena watches as her baby girl pushes herself up onto her hands and knees shakily.

"Good job, Lex." Andrew praises his baby sister. "Now watch me. Move like this, Lex."

He was teaching his sister how to crawl. Tears welled in Lena's eyes while her chest burned with a flood of overlapping emotions. Emotions that would hit Lena each time Andrew called his sister by that name, because it always made her think of another big brother and little sister.

"Like this Lena." He said to her with a warm smile as he held her hand in his, his other arm around her waist. "To the left, ready, one, two, three. That's it. Well done, half pint."

She beamed proudly at his praise while asking, "Why do we have to learn to dance like this, Lex?"

"Because adults, half pint." Lex had replied easily and with that boyish smile that always made her feel safe and loved and adored because that smile was just for her.

Lena had rolled her eyes at him that day. Alone in the manor without their parents they'd been free to be themselves, to be close, to be brother and sister and nothing more.

She'd realized after the third time Andrew had used that name that he did it when he was being encouraging or supportive and that made how she felt just that much more of hailstorm. She had actually talked to Kara about asking him not to call Alexis by a nickname, but as Kara pointed out, how could they ask him to do that when everyone seemed to have their own name for her. Including Lena.

"What are you going to tell him if he asks about you calling her Bug?" Kara had asked. "Or Sam calling her bean?" She had held her close and kissed her temple. "You can't really explain why it hurts you when he doesn't know about Lex, and I don't think you're ready to explain Lex."

"I'm not." Lena admitted.

"If it really bothers you we'll talk to him." Kara said.

But Lena had shook her head and said to leave him be. She never wanted her issues to affect her children and she didn't want to be petty enough to take something as simple as a name away from her children. She did however make sure everyone knew that no one else was allowed to call her daughter by that name.

Eventually the name became more perimeant and six times out of ten it's what Andrew called her no matter what he was doing. Lena had gotten use to it, had come to accept it, mostly. The first time Andrew called his sister Lex in anger Lena snaps at him. She didn't mean too but the angry tone of his voice and the way he'd stepped into her space, it rattled loose a memory.

"The threat is real!" He screamed at her as bourbon laced spittle gathered at the corners of his mouth. "Someone had to take control. Someone had to protect the world!"

"Listen to yourself, Lex." Lena begged as tears welled in her eyes. "You've lost yourself to this madness!"

"Is it madness to want to protect the people I love?" Lex shouted as her pointed a finger at her while holding his crystal tumblr full of their father's drink of choice. "To protect you, and Mother, from that alien menace!" He advanced on her until their faces were mere inches apart. "Don't think for a moment that he wouldn't subjugate us all, crush us under his boots! Lena! Don't be so naive!"

She swallowed against a dry throat as she said, "I'm frightened, Lex."

"Good." Lex replied. "You should be scared of him."

"Not of him." Lena had replied as tears ran down her cheeks. "I'm scared for you."

His eyes had flickered with emotion as he looked into her eyes. "For me or of me?"

"Both." She admitted. For a moment she had seen her Lex in his eyes but only for a moment. She'd turned to leave but he'd grabbed her arm hard enough he'd left bruises. He'd yelled at her, "Don't turn your back on me, Lena!" When he'd jerked her around to force her to look at him he must have seen her finch in pain, he must have seen the fear in her wide eyes. He'd let go of her and took a step back.

"Half pint." He's said in horse whisper. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

He'd been arrested a year later. When she went to see him in prison the flicker of her brother that she'd seen before leaving the estate that day was long gone and she was now an enemy. Her Lex, her brother was dead and gone and in his place was left a madman, a villain, the infamous Lex Luthor.

She'd fled the penthouse after snapping at her son in anger. She stayed at the office well into the night, well past the time when she knew her children would be tucked into their beds. She felt horrible, knowing that Alexis would ask for her at bedtime, and knowing Andrew must be confused about everything. Kara was waiting when she got home and held her without judgement or anger as she cried. The next morning she retreated to the rooftop garden to collect her thoughts.

"Mommy?" Andrew called out before venturing further than the open french doors.

Lena smiled lovingly at her son. "Come here, buddy."

Andrew walked over and sat beside his mother on the deep red cushions of the bamboo sofa. "Are you still mad at me?"

"No, baby, I'm not mad at you." Lena said as she set her coffee aside and turned to face her son. "I wasn't really mad at you last night either, though you shouldn't yell at your sister the way you did, and I shouldn't have snapped at you the way I did."

"Mama said that sometimes when I call Alexis Lex it makes you sad." Andrew said as he looked into his Mommy's eyes. "I'm sorry I made you sad."

"Oh, Andrew." Reaching for her son Lena pulls him into her lap and hugs him. She sighs softly and explains. "I have a big brother. His name is Alexander but he's always been called Lex for short." She paused to kiss her son's temple and sort out her thoughts. "Lex is a long story for when you're a lot older, but for now what you need to know is that I miss him sometimes, and I get angry at him sometimes, and that's what happened last night. It had nothing to do with you, baby, and I'm sorry."

Andrew wrapped his arms around his mommy and hugged her as tightly as he could. "If it hurts you when I call Alexis Lex I won't do it anymore."

"You don't have to do that, Andrew." Lena told him. "If you want to call her a special name you can. The only thing that I want you to do is keep trying your best to be the amazing big brother you are. Can you do that for me?"

"I can." Andrew promised.

History would not repeat itself. This time around a big brother and his little sister would not be torn apart and pitted against each other. Lena would make sure they never suffered the way she did. "Oh Drew," She sighed softly and buried her face in his hair. "I love you and your sister so much. I am so lucky to be your mommy."

"Love you too, Mommy." Andrew replied.

That night after everyone is asleep Lena goes into her study and opens the safe behind the painting of L-Corp Kara had given her for the anniversary of her takeover as CEO. She pulls out a small ornate green box and opens it. She smiles sadly as she takes out the photograph, her favorite, of her and her brother. Her hair is long and a bit grungy, she has more than a couple of piercings in her ears, one in her nose and one unseen in her tongue. She's wearing black jeans with rips in them, a belly shirt, and she has a flannel tied around her waist. She'd been sent off to boarding school at this point and that had given her a surprising amount of freedom. Lex had shown up at school and whisked her away for a fun weekend in Amsterdam. He was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, and he wore a newsboy cap to hide his thinning hair. His arm was around Lena's shoulder and he was kissing her temple. She had the biggest brightest smile on her face, and his lips were turned up as as well. Lena took a deep breath as she ran her thumb over her brother's image and then put the picture back in the box. Then on top of it she placed a picture of Andrew laying on her and Kara's bed with Alexis beside him, his arm around her, kissing her temple. She closed the box and put it back in the safe and moved the painting back into place.

Big brothers and little sisters were complex things and even when it all goes horribly wrong that kind of love is special, and maybe the memories good and bad were worth remembering.


Hi! So for this story I would be more than glad to hear some ideas and prompts for you guys so leave them in the comments or shoot me a message/ask over at tumblr!

~Reese