"Rao, why am I such a slob?" Kara groaned, utilizing her super speed as she dashed around her apartment, chucking loose articles of clothing into a laundry basket. It had taken her an entire hour to settle on the outfit she was currently wearing and it had turned her place into a fashion warzone. Discarded shirts, skirts, shoes, cardigans, and dresses littered every hallway.

It had been difficult deciding on what to wear, to say the least. The part of Kara that wanted to look well put together whenever she was in Lena's presence had to find a happy balance with the part of Kara that realized this was a casual outing taking place in her home. As much as she was tempted to, she couldn't whip out one of her best dresses for takeout and Netflix on the couch. Instead, she settled on a new pair of maroon pants that perfectly complimented the striped sweater she had picked up from Macy's the other day. Comfy, casual, and stylish all in one.

After taking care of the discarded clothing, Kara powered on, also vacuuming up her place and dusting. By the time she was done, every surface was so clean that they could eat their dinner off of it, if they so desired. Not that she would ever suggest such a thing to Lena Luthor.

Lena.

Thinking about the fact that within the hour Lena was going to be in her home caused a flurry of over-active butterflies to fill her stomach.

"You're being silly, Kara…" she told herself out loud, realizing she needed to reign in her nervousness. This was going to be the first time the two of them had gotten an opportunity to really hang out one on one. Sure, they had their little meetings in Lena's office and there was the time that Kara had attended one of Lena's parties, but none of those really counted. Even at the party, the two had barely gotten to spend any quality time together thanks to the intergalactic weapon wielding robbers that had decided to crash the event. Although they hadn't gotten to really spend time together that night, thinking about the party always put a smile on Kara's lips. Lena had been so brave. Kara might have been there that night as Supergirl, but it had really been Lena that had saved the day. That night, Lena had been her hero.

Kara caught herself standing over her sink, smiling like an idiot as she reflected on that night. Reminding herself she had no time to waste, she got back to work, washing the last few dishes. Once those were done, her apartment would officially be as clean as it was going to get.

~ooooooo~

Kara's foot bobbed up and down nervously as she sat on her couch, waiting for seven o'clock to roll around. Every few seconds, she would check the time even though she was well aware that it didn't make it go by faster. It made Kara think of how Alex liked to tease her when they would cook something together saying, "a watched pot never boils," which always prompted Kara to then use her heat vision to make the water boil immediately. It was one of their inside jokes with one another.

Alex had asked Kara earlier at the DEO if she had any plans for the night, but Kara had skirted the truth. "Takeout and Netflix," she had responded, leaving out the fact that she wasn't going to be doing those things alone. It was because Alex had a bias against the Luthors. At least, that's what Kara told herself. The fact that Lena was coming over was a detail that she wasn't willing to share with other people at this point. It was Kara's own special little secret.

This time, when she glanced at her watch, she noticed that only seven minutes remained. Her foot bobbed faster as a burst of excited energy flowed through her. Kara was really looking forward to getting some quality time with Lena.

Giving into her impatience, Kara employed her super hearing, wanting to see if she could pick up on the sounds of Lena making her way towards her apartment door. Even though there was still seven minutes left until she was supposed to be there, Kara would be very unsurprised to find that Lena had arrived early.

Except, she didn't hear footsteps when she focused her hearing. Instead, she heard an incredibly soft beeping.

Confused, Kara stood. A crinkle formed at the center of her forehead as she closed her eyes and focused in on the noise, trying to locate where it was coming from.

"What on Earth…" she whispered, switching to her x-ray vision. Looking in the direction of the noise, she focused in until she found the source. There was an unfamiliar rectangular figure located underneath her bed. Speeding over there, Kara got down to her knees and pulled up the dust ruffle that obstructed her view. A loud gasp escaped her as she realized what she was face to face with. A bomb.

Kara's first instinct was to reach for the device, but something stopped her. As soon as her hand touched the cool metal of the box, it caused her to wince and jerk her hand back away from it. A light green glow seemed to be emanating from the device. It was in that moment that Kara realized she was dealing with kryptonite.

"What do I do, what do I do…" she whispered to herself, catching sight of the small display fixated on the device. There was a timer and time was running out. There was less than five minutes for Kara to figure out a solution.

Realizing that wasn't enough time to call any of her friends for help, Kara quickly had to think of a different plan. Had this been an ordinary bomb, the easy answer would have been to take it and allow it to explode in the air. However, since it was full of her biggest weakness, Kara knew she'd never be able to take flight with the box in hand. There was really only one choice left.

Evacuate the building.

Wasting no time, Kara raced out of her apartment and sprinted down the hall. Stopping at a small red box, she quickly pried the lid open and reached inside, yanking on the handle labeled "pull in case of fire," causing a loud blaring alarm to erupt throughout the building.

Wanting to ensure that everyone heeded her warning and got out in time, she quickly switched over to her Supergirl outfit and began to usher people out of the building. Kara worked at helping everyone escape, warning them that a bomb was in the building in order to prompt even the most stubborn tenants to leave.

Just as Kara flew out with a family's forgotten kitten cradled in her arms, a loud boom could be heard above her. Quickly placing the kitten in its owner's arms, she shot up into the sky, punching the pieces of wall that were tumbling down towards the streets one by one until all that was left was harmless rubble.

Once that was taken care of, Kara flew back up and stopped right in front of the large gaping hole where her apartment had once been. Although she could hear the firetrucks making their way towards the building, she flew in close and used her ice breath to put out the flames before they could travel outwards and damage anyone else's possessions. Luckily, it didn't take too long to put out.

Realizing that the danger was now over, Kara remained in the air, floating a few yards away from what had previously been her apartment. It felt surreal, almost as if she was looking into someone else's place. "Rao…" she whispered, her head shaking as she tried to process what had just happened.

But Kara didn't have time for that. Even without employing her super hearing, she heard an all too familiar voice emanating from the ground.

"KARA!"

Looking down, Kara quickly spotted Lena. Long legs swung out of a sleek black limousine and Lena emerged, darting off into the opposite direction of everyone else, dashing towards the building while everyone else was running away from it.

"Lena," Kara whispered, quickly flying away from the sight of everyone else so that she could change back. Feet firmly on the ground, she headed in the direction of the front door of the building, adjusting her glasses as she ran.

As soon as she rounded the corner, she was met with the sight of one very angry Lena Luthor trying to fight her way through the wall of cops that now lined the front of the building.

"Let me go, I think someone I care about is in there! KARA!"

"Lena!" Kara yelled back, jogging over to where the flustered brunette suddenly ceased her attempts to push through the police.

"Oh my god, Kara," Lena blurted out, changing directions and running towards the blonde she had been so worried about. As soon as the two of them met, Lena wasted no time in throwing her arms around Kara, pulling her into a tight hug. "I was down the street when I heard the explosion… I… I looked up and saw it was right where your place is and I was so worried… I was so scared…" Lena's arms squeezed tighter, eliminating whatever small semblance of space that still remained between their bodies.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Kara assured her, hugging her back just as tightly. There was still a lot for Kara to process, but for now she was going to allow herself to stop and drink in the comfort that Lena's arms provided for her. Her head nestled in the crook of Lena's neck, inhaling her scent. Kara had caught whiffs of it before, but never had gotten to fully appreciate it before. Hints of fresh peonies, roses, and lotus hit her nose as Kara tried to identify each component of Lena's perfume, wanting to commit it to memory. This feeling of complete safety and security was something that Kara hadn't felt often throughout her life, so she wanted to appreciate every second of it.

When Lena moved to break from the hug, Kara reluctantly loosened her own grip. Much to her surprise, Lena didn't move away completely. Instead, she only pulled back enough to catch Kara's gaze. There were the traces of worried tears in Lena's light eyes and Kara felt this sudden, overwhelming urge to do something that would erase those signs of sadness.

Before Kara could figure out what that could possibly be, Lena interrupted her train of thought.

"Don't ever do that to me again," Lena chastised, her tone soft. "I don't want to have to imagine a world where you're no longer in it. I don't want to lose you."

Kara didn't get a chance to reply before Lena's arms were pulling her back in. Happy to be back in her arms, Kara simply returned the hug and whispered, "You won't ever lose me, I promise."

~ooooooo~

"Alex, I swear I'm fine," Kara assured into the phone before looking over at Lena. 'I'm sorry,' she mouthed, looking apologetic. Lena waved a hand before mouthing, 'Don't worry about it.'

"No, really, I'm fine. My apartment…not so much."

"Are you on your way to the DEO? I have Winn here, looking into who possibly could have targeted you and J'onn is over at your place to collect whatever's left of that bomb."

"I…am not right now," Kara said, dropping Lena's gaze. "I'm… I'm with Lena right now, but I'll be over later."

There was a suddenly silence on the phone. Alex didn't say a word. All Kara could hear was the steady sound of her breathing.

Not wanting to potentially get into an argument about Lena with the woman in question sitting right beside her, Kara decided to tie up the conversation. "Alex, I'll text you when I'm on my way over, okay? I really am fine. Love you."

Before Alex could reply, Kara ended the call. Looking back over to Lena, she rested her phone down on her thigh before thinking better of it and moving it so that it rested face down on the end table beside her. There was a good chance some angry texts would be heading her way and Kara didn't want to risk Lena spotting any of them. It wasn't anyone's business who she decided to associate with and, after the night she had, she wasn't planning on leaving Lena's presence until she had to.

After the craziness had died down, Lena had asked Kara to come over to her place. Too exhausted and stressed to even think about any other course of action, Kara had accepted the invitation. She knew the DEO would be combing through her place right now and was perfectly satisfied with not having to be there to go over the carnage. Even though logically she knew that all of her possessions were replaceable for the most part, the whole ordeal still bothered her. There were so few places that Kara had called home over her lifetime and now one of those few places and been destroyed.

"I don't believe you're truly fine," Lena said, her tone very matter-of-fact.

Kara looked over at her and opened her mouth to protest. She tried to muster up the same lie she had given Alex just then over the phone, but found that she was unable to. There was something about Lena's gaze that made Kara feel as if lying would be fruitless. It was as if Lena could see right through her façade.

Lena's hand found Kara's, resting on top of it. "It's okay that you're not. What happened to you tonight…is devastating. Someone targeted you and violated your privacy. You have every right to be upset."

"They're just possessions," Kara said meekly, repeating her thought from earlier.

"But they were your possessions. In your house." Lena's fingers curled around the side of Kara's hand, solidifying the hold she had on her. "I understand, I do. Really."

"Has…something like this happened to you?"

Lena nodded solemnly. "After what Lex did…being a Luthor was no longer acceptable. So many people hated me all of a sudden, simply because of my last name. Certain individuals took it upon themselves to show me how much they hated me."

Concern found Kara's features as she listened intently. She had heard Lena refer to the aftermath of her brother's decisions here and there but never before heard her really expand on that particular tragedy.

"I've been spit at, cursed at, my tires have been slashed… And to top it all off, when I was staying in Metropolis for a little while trying to clean up Lex's mess, the Luthor mansion was broken into." Lena stopped, taking a deep, calming breath before continuing. The hand wrapped around Kara's squeezed gently. "I was sleeping at the time. The men…they woke me up, taunting me and prodding me out of bed, demanding that I open the safe they had found in Lex's office. Thank god they didn't see me hit one of the panic buttons. I guess they didn't take the rumors about my brother seriously, but Lex truly was paranoid about his security. He had built in safety measures scattered throughout the entire house. Anyway, the police came…and Superman, actually. He beat them there, as usual, and chased off the robbers before anything awful happened. It was…odd, actually. Superman appeared to be sad to be there in Lex's office. Almost as if he was disappointed in my brother for what he'd done."

Kara remained silent, not wanting to interrupt Lena. Hearing her talking about the discrimination she faced for simply being a Luthor made Kara's heart hurt. Wanting to silently express her support, she simply put her free hand on top of Lena's.

"Nobody could possibly be more disappointed in Lex than me, but that's neither here nor there. What I'm saying is… I do get it, Kara. It's scary having someone break into your place. It's a violation and you don't have to bury your feelings about it. You're allowed to be upset. You're allowed to be angry. Everyone is entitled to their emotions. Too often the world tells you to feel a certain way, but I say the hell with that."

Lena gave Kara a small smile, squeezing her hand once more. With that smile, Kara got the feeling that story time was over.

"So…about those potstickers."

Lena's words confirmed the fact that she was done sharing. Kara was beginning to realize that the woman whose hand was currently nestled in her own was much like a fortress. Instead of being frustrated by the way Lena had just shut down on her, Kara felt honored that she had gotten a glimpse into the inner workings of her mind. Although patience wasn't one of her top traits, Kara felt as if she could work at being patient when it came to this growing bond between them. Lena was like a puzzle that Kara wanted nothing more than to solve.

"I am starving," Kara admitted, chuckling at the honesty that was backing that statement. Now that things had settled down, Kara's hunger had hit her full force. On cue, her stomach rumbled.

Kara smiled sheepishly at Lena who was now openly laughing. The sound was music to Kara's ears.

"Okay, we need to get you some food." Pulling her hand from Kara's, she stood, hands straightening out her skirt. Kara had to fight off the urge to pout now that Lena's hand was no longer in her grasp.

Lena walked off in the direction of the kitchen before stopping suddenly. Turning on her heel, she looked back at Kara.

"You're staying here tonight."

"What?" Kara said, surprised. "No, definitely not, I wouldn't want to impose on you. I can stay with… my sister or at a hotel or something."

"It wasn't up for debate, you're staying here. I'll have Cora make up the guest room for you."

"But…"

"How do you feel about lo mein? I'm thinking of getting that along with some vegetable fried rice."

Kara gave Lena a look, her head shaking. "I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"I know the best little place around here, so I'm going to go place our order. You think about what movie you want to watch, the remote is on the coffee table. Netflix is built into the TV, it's one of those smart ones that everyone has been raving about."

Lena turned on her heel again to walk away towards the kitchen. Kara found herself sitting there, smiling. Anyone who underestimated Lena's kindness was a fool. It was so easy to see that the woman had one of the purest hearts around and Kara loved the fact that she was personally privy to that kindness.

"Lena?"

The brunette paused at the threshold of the kitchen, looking back at Kara over her shoulder.

"Thanks."

Lena smiled. "No need to thank me, Kara. Having you here will truly be my pleasure."