Nerves buzzed in Kara's stomach as she walked into the DEO. She was a little worried about how everyone would react to finding out Lena knew her secret. While many of her friends and family had come around when it came to Lena, some, like James, were still holding back on trusting her. His history with Clark, and Clark's with Lex, continued to taint his judgement when it came to Lena. Kara could talk herself blue in the face telling him that she wasn't like the others, but all James saw was her last name. It was really frustrating. Stepping up to the central control table where everyone was gathered Kara took a deep breath and began, in her very Kara like way, to explain.
"Ok, so I have something to tell you all and you might not like it but there's nothing I can really do about it now. I didn't really tell her, I just kind of confirmed that she already knew, but I guess confirming it was telling her in a way. Anyway, my point is, Lena knows I'm Supergirl."
Alex blinked. Winn shook his head like he was trying to sort out Kara's flood of words. J'onn merely stood there, unreactive. After another few seconds of awkward silence Alex finally walked over to her sister. "Kara."
"Please don't be mad." Kara said quickly while looking into her sister's eyes.
"I'm not mad." Alex ressured.
"I really don't like it when you're mad at me." Kara whined softly.
Alex chuckled while putting her hand on Kara's upper arm. "Kara, you don't like it when anyone is mad at you." Kara made a face and nodded her head in a way that said Alex was right about that. Alex smiled reassuringly. "I'm not mad, and I'm not really all that surprised that Lena knew. She's a smart woman who spends an awful lot of time with both Kara and Supergirl. You care a lot about her, Kara. It was really only a matter of time before she was pulled into the inner circle. I just wanted to ask if everything was alright. I know you were worried about how she would react once you came out to her."
The way Alex phrased that threw Kara for a moment, but she finally answered with a simple. "We're fine, we're good. She admitted to being angry at first but she doesn't hate me for it."
"Good." Alex replied. "I didn't think she would. I actually think it would be pretty hard for her to hate you at all over anything."
Before Kara could reply, Winn shouted. "Finally!"
"Agent Schott?" J'onn barked at the young man.
"I have been trying to trace a location for an alien energy signature I picked up about a week ago." Winn began to explain. "It was pretty weak at first, but I was able to determine it was similar to either Kryptonian or Daxamite in orgain. I've finally managed to get a solid lock on where it's coming from."
J'onn, Alex, and Kara all looked over his shoulder at his screen. Kara took in the location and nodded. "I'm on it."
"That kind of power it's going to be bigger than a bread box, Kara." Alex advised.
"Whatever it is, take it to the delta site." J'onn ordered.
Kara gave him a cute grin and a playful salute before flying off.
The strange heat signature Winn had picked up led Kara deeper into the ocean than she'd ever gone before. The pressure this fair down actually made her feel physically uncomfortable. As she made her way towards the dark shape below she knew that as soon as she got back her sister would make her spend time under the sunlamps to make up for the amount of energy she was using up, and it made her pout. She'd been hoping to squeak out a little more time with Lena, maybe tag along on whatever plans Lena had with Sam. Kara liked Sam, she liked her alot. In fact that'd become really good friends since Lena introduced them and she liked spending time with her. But there was this tiny part of Kara who didn't want Sam spending too much downtime with Lena, and had no problem intruding on their one on one time.
As Supergirl drew closer she could finally make out what the dark mass was. A spaceship, or at least part of a spaceship. It wouldn't be easy, but Kara had to retrieve it and bring it back to the DEO. They had learned from past experience that it was best if they got to alien tech first. The world's governments, their militaries, could not be trusted with it. And Kara was damn sure not going to let anyone like Cadmus get their hands on it. After getting into a good position she began the slow process of lifting the wreckage from the ocean floor. As she pushed the wreckage skyward she made a mental note to get a thank you gift for Winn for the small breather device he'd come up with for her. Even a Super couldn't hold their breath forever.
When she reached the delta site Alex and Winn were waiting for her. The hidden site was home to a lot of their finds, but nothing they'd come across before would be anything like what they were about to discover. The wreckage was a section of one of the fallen Daxamite ships. One that was completely self contained with its own power source, defensives, and operations. Kara opened the sealed door and led the way with Alex right behind her and Winn following.
Inside they found a single large room that seemed to be totally dedicated to the single pod like tank in the center of the room. The pod was oval in shape, kind of like a huge egg, only an egg that was the size of a tire, and opaque. There was no way to know what was inside, unless you knew what it was. Kara had stopped in her tracks upon seeing it and gasped softly. She hadn't been sure what they would find inside but this wasn't even on the list.
Alex turned her head to look at her sister. "Kara? What is it?"
Kara blinked unbelievingly at the pod as she approached it. She hadn't seen one of these since leaving Krypton. "It's a breeding tank." She explained when Alex reached out to stop her from touching it.
"A breeding tank?" Alex asked as she looked at it less like a special agent and more like a scientist.
"An artificial womb. We used them on Krypton." Kara told them as she walked around the pod, following the leds and wires to the controls and monitors that were connected to it. "We weren't limited to conceiving children through intercourse. We could use the genetic material of the parents to create the embryo and then grow it in one of these pods. Kal and I were born of our mothers, but I remember my Mom's, um bailiff, I guess is what he would have been here, he and his husband were planning a birthing ceremony before…"
Alex put a hand on her sister's shoulder. The pain in Kara's eyes hurt Alex because she knew there wasn't anything she could do to make reliving the memories any easier on her baby sister.
"It's on, it's working." Winn said softly as he looked over the readouts. "Do you think…"
"One way to find out." Kara said as she went to a control panel.
"Kara." Alex warned. "Be careful."
Kara nodded as she tapped a few symbols on the softly glowing panel. The pod's surface began to fade away like ice melting off a window. The three of them took a few steps closer to peer inside the pod and this time it was Alex who gasped. The fetus looked to be almost fully gestated. Alex looked it over with a medical eye. It was between eighteen and twenty inches in length, hard to tell especially since it was curled up in the fetal position. She'd guess it weighed somewhere around six pounds. It shifted, stretched its limbs in reaction to the light now coming through without the protection of the tinting of the pod's surface. This made Alex's heart flutter a bit and she realized with a soft gasp that this wasn't just a fetus. This was a living unborn baby, and she was seeing it up close with her own eyes. This was astounding!
The baby's eyes were closed, and it was curled up in a way that they couldn't see it's gender, but she could clearly make out the strands of dark hair on its head. Alex was in awe. "This is… this is…"
"Some really freaky weird sci-fi stuff." Winn offered up. He went to tap the surface of the pod like a fish tank and Alex's lightning reflexes caught his wrist in a painful vice like grip.
Alex shot him a death glare, then let him go when he took a step back, before softening her gaze as she looked back down at the baby. "Amazing. This is amazing." She stared at the baby for a few more long moments before finally looking around at the room, at the tech. "Is there anyway to get this back to DEO headquarters? We can't just leave it here."
Winn was unsure so she turned to her sister. "Kara?" It wasn't until now that she realized Kara was still looking at the screen near the control panel. Something about the tense way her sister was standing there and the fact that she hadn't heard her caused Alex concern. Walking over to Kara she stood beside her, close enough for their shoulders to touch. "Kara? What is it?"
Kara finally looked up when she felt her sister's presence so close. Her warmth, her scent, the comforting sound of Alex's heartbeat. Kara blinked as she said softly, "The baby."
"Is there something wrong?" Alex asked, even more concern filling her tone of voice.
Kara shook her head which made her long blonde curls bounce around her shoulders. "It's Lena's."
Alex's eyes went side. "What?"
Kara showed her the medical logs she'd pulled up. While Alex read them over Kara turned to look at the pod that held the tiny unborn child. "That's Lena's baby." She reached out and placed her hand on the pod as if it were something that held a great deal of reverence. "Lena's." She repeated, and then added, "And Mon-El's."
The fact that her sister emphasized that the baby was Lena's first, that she mentioned Mon-El almost as an afterthought, told Alex a lot about her sister and her feelings for her best friend. In any other circumstance she would have found it funny. The Danvers sisters seemed to have a lot more in common than either would have guessed. "Kara." Alex said firmly as she stepped up behind her sister. "Can we move this to headquarters? We can't leave it here."
Kara nodded. "They're portable so they can be moved to the couple's home once it's confirmed gestation is viable."
"Then let's get this little one back to where we can decide what to do next." Alex ordered.
Do next? What they did next was tell Lena. But how? How was she supposed to explain something like this to Lena?
Once the pod was safe and secure at the DEO HQ the debating started. The baby was nearly full term and close to delivery. It would need to be removed from the pod soon, but there was some concern. If the baby was, as the medical data said, part Daxamite delivering it into an atmosphere full of lead could be deadly. Alex would get right to work on trying to figure out if it was safe for the baby to be born. And since the fate of the unborn child was unsure it was felt by some that they should hold off on telling anyone.
"You mean telling Lena." Kara said hotly as she glared at everyone.
"Until we know…" J'onn began but was quickly cut off by the blonde.
"I will not keep this from her!" Kara said. "She has the right to know! That's her child!"
"Kara." Alex said gently, trying to sooth her sister's anger.
"No." Kara said shrugged away from Alex and heading for the balancy. "I'm going to get Lena. End of discussion."
Lena was sitting at her desk when she heard the soft whoosh followed by the soft thud of Supergirl landing on her balcony. She didn't look up from the proofs she was looking over, she didn't have too. She could feel Kara's presence, sense her getting closer.
"Lena." Kara said gently.
"Supergirl." Lena replied, finally lifting her head to look at the blonde, a witty comment at the ready. The moment she saw the look on Kara's face, when she looked into her bright blue eyes, that comment melted away and she was standing in a flash. "What's wrong?
"There's something you need to see." Kara replied. She figured the easiest way to tell Lena about this is to simply show her.
Lena didn't even hesitate. She stepped closer to Kara and simply said, "You're way of traveling or mine?"
"Mine, if you don't mind." Kara said softly.
Lena smiled. "Then let's go."
As she followed Kara through the DEO HQ Lena did her best to keep a cool, calm, professional demeanor as she looked around taking it all in. On the inside she was totally geeking out. The possibilities of what she could do here were mind blowing. She really hoped that whatever Kara was leading her too was a project she could get involved in, a way to help out, a way to help Supergirl. When she walked into what was clearly a medical engineering lab from the looks of the equipment she could recognize, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her jade eyes locked onto the piece of equipment beside Alex. It was situated in such a way that she could see what it contained. She watched as a tiny head moved its face towards her while tiny limbs cut through the fluid that surrounded it. Her heart stopped beating and her lungs refused to take in air as she watched a tiny fist make its way to a tiny mouth where an even tinier thumb was thrust into it.
"We found it in the wreckage of a Daxam ship." Kara said as she moved towards the pod. She would have said more but her hearing picked up on the abnormal way Lena's heart was beating and the lack of air passing through her lungs. Spinning on her heel Kara turned to look at her friend and then rushed over to her. "Lena. Lena, sweetie, breathe." She moved in front of the dark haired woman so those beautiful eyes were looking into her own and not at the pod. "Lena, come on, seriously, take a breath!"
Lena sucked in air when she felt the warmth of Kara's hands on her face. "Kara?"
"Are you alright?" Kara asked, her voice and eyes full of concern.
"What is that?" Lena asked as she nodded a little to let Kara know she was ok.
"It's a breeding pod." Kara explained. "They were used on Krypton sometimes, but they were used on Daxam pretty much all the time."
Lena's mind flashed to the dreams she'd been having. The forgotten conversation on Rhea's ship that forced its way into her mind almost every night recently. "The child." Lena's voice was surprisingly steady but soft, almost a whisper. "It's, it's mine isn't it?"
Kara nodded. "According to the data we recovered, yes."
"Oh my god." Lena breathed out. "She actually did it. She'd already done it. Before she even said anything."
"Who?" Kara asked as she watched Lena side step her and move towards the pod.
"Rhea." Lena answered. Now that she was closer she could fully take in the baby, it's movements, the hair on its head. She could see the readouts on the monitor, watch the pattern of it's heartbeating. "While Mon-El and I were on her ship. She told us we would marry and give her an heir. I pretty much told her to go to hell, but Mon-El said she didn't actually need us for the heir part."
"You never mentioned that." Kara said softly.
"To be honest, so much happened and has happened I didn't remember." Lena said as she stared at the baby, her head tilted ever so slightly. "Not until recently. I started dreaming about what happened."
Kara and Alex shared a look and then Alex asked, "About a week or so ago?"
"Give or take." Lena answered, finally looking up at the other two women in the room. "Why?"
"That's when Winn first picked up the energy signature." Alex said. "I doubt that's a coincidence."
"I'm not really sure how the pod works." Kara admitted. "It could have reached out somehow."
The Danvers sisters conversation faded away as Lena's attention returned to the baby in the pod. There were so many emotions swirling around inside her that Lena's head was spinning. She had wavered over the years about wanting to have children. There were times when she did want to be a mother and then there were times when she thought how selfish that would be. How could she force a child to carry the burden of being her child, of being a Luthor in a world where being a Luthor meant being seen as a villain? The baby inside the artificial womb moved, pulling Lena out of her thoughts. Any choice she might have made either way had been taken out of her hands. This child was very much real, very much alive, and very much hers. Reaching out as if on instinct Lena pressed her hand against the cool outer casing of the pod. The baby within streached out it's little arm and pressed it's tiny hand against the membrane that contained it. Lena's heart stopped, she gasped, then it started beating again as if rebooting to match the heartbeat of the tiny human in front of her.
"Lena?" Kara's voice was soft as she whispered into Lena's ear.
Her friend's hand was warm on the small of her back and it helped clear away some of the fog Lena had been in for the last several minutes. "Kara." She said softly. Turning her tear filled jade eyes from the baby to her best friend she said, "I have a son."
"Yeeaap." Alex said from the other side of the pod. Lena had gotten the little one to move and stretch out so they could see him more properly. "That's a boy aright."