Disclaimer: I still do not own any unoriginal characters.

A/N 1: Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. And my apologies for the delay, my lovely readers.

On with the show – flashbacks in between are in italics. Yes, I stole the infamous Supercorp scene from 2x01 and adjusted it a bit to fit into my story. :D

xxxx

Chapter 2: Love Me As I Am

"And when you build those walls to keep you safe, it's like a prison that you can't escape. You tear them down, you might just hear me say I love you as you are. And when the whole damn world don't know what they got 'til it's gone, I love you. I love you as you are."

Kara Danvers was not a woman of anger, or even rage. She always tried to help people out when she could, tried to keep her mood sunny and see the good in everything and everyone. The second morning of Lena's absence, however, she was awfully close to shove her pen up Snapper Carr's nose and to smack him over the head with her note pad.

The blonde had spent the majority of her week researching for and writing an article about L-Corp's new CFO, Samantha Arias, sitting through interviews with the brunette and trying to show her as a strong, independent single mom, using up all her extensive vocabulary on female empowerment discourse to shed light on the subject without losing her neutrality. Now here she was, however, with her article being ripped apart by her boss, "Listen, Ponytail. If you think this is something that I will let you have printed, I don't really know what you're still doing here. I suggest you start rolling up the sleeves of your horrendous pastel blouses and report real news. Otherwise you'll be out of a job by the end of the week."

Feeling the heat creep up her neck and settle in her cheeks, Kara averted her gaze to her shoelaces and nervously pushed her glasses up her nose. She tried very hard to keep her composure, willing her voice not to waver when she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked Snapper dead in the eyes, "With all due respect, but I am not under the impression that I deserve such a reprimand for an article that represents exactly what CatCo stands for and what it was founded for by Miss Grant. To give a voice to women and empower them. To show the world that women are more than walking hangers for expensive designer clothes."

Raising his eyebrow, Snapper smirked, "Oh, for Christ's sake, Ponytail. I can almost hear the violins. Please spare me the pain of my ears bleeding."

Kara felt the blush that tinted her cheeks and cursed herself for her inability to stand up to her boss, her mouth opening and closing uselessly, no sounds coming out. Giving up, she straightened her posture and marched out of Snapper's office, fuming, while her boss just amusedly stared after her over the rim of his glasses.

xxxx

Kara was sitting at her desk, sulking while researching for her next assignment – an article about National City's security expenses. While Snapper had called her in to go hunting for information on some football player, on a Sunday of all days, she turned out to only have been his second choice because he had sent someone else to do the job – someone male.

This was how the blonde had ended up in the bullpen, silently fuming over her boss's douchebaggery toward her. She wanted to stand up to him, but she did not know how. With blue eyes intently fixated on her screen, her fingers were flying across her keyboard a little more forcefully than necessary; Kara did not know which one of her many emotions was the most prominent one. Her anger at Snapper, her anger at herself for being such a push-over, or the disappointment that she had been unable to open the next slip of paper in her jar this morning.

Typing away, her thoughts drifted to Lena and how much she missed her girlfriend. Staring at the large glass cubicle across from her, she saw James Olsen spin back and forth in Lena's desk chair, the burly man having taken over the CEO's duties while she was gone. She thought about that morning when she had stumbled into the kitchen and was just about to switch on their coffee machine, when her phone went off, a very demanding Snapper Carr yelling at her that she better come in if she wants to keep her job.

The blonde had showered and fixed her appearance in record time, hasting out of their shared apartment without having breakfast or coffee; most importantly, however, she had to rush over to CatCo without having had the chance to read her girlfriend's second message to her, the fact tugging at her heartstrings unpleasantly.

With her fingers clicking on the keyboard, she contemplated texting or calling her love, just because she could. On the other hand, she did not wish to come off as needy; as a person who could not function without her partner for more than a day when she still had twenty-eight days to go.

So Kara kept sitting at her desk without pulling out her phone, typing away on her computer until it was time to go home.

xxxx

It was just after 4 p.m. when the blonde shuffled through the spacious foyer of their apartment building, the shiny marble floor and walls staring back at her so glaringly that it hurt her head.

Charlie was sitting behind the counter again and Kara exchanged pleasantries and sunny smiles with him when in reality she could not wait to get to their apartment to finally sink down into the fluffy cushions of their couch and open her jar. She needed a piece of her girlfriend, and she needed it now. To let the CEO's soothing words drizzle into her yearning soul and to just relax for the evening.

Kara was all the more grateful for the peace and quiet that the confines of the elevator provided her as she leaned her head against the cool metal of the wall, staring up at the illuminated red numbers, waiting for them to tell her that she had arrived on the private penthouse floor. A faint throbbing was making its way into her forehead, the headache impending, but not yet there, nudging her very unpleasantly and persistently.

While she was proud of herself for what she had accomplished shortly before she went home that day, which was telling Snapper Carr to shove his arrogance where the sun don't shine, she was exhausted from the time that it had taken him to actually accept the article about Sam Arias to be printed. He knew that it was very well-researched, all underlined with comments from the CFO, but her boss always tried to give her a hard time just because he could.

It made the blonde tired and irritated, her always bubbly and sunny personality, her sense of justice and righteousness, slightly dampened by Snapper's ever present nagging and animosity.

The elevator stopped and with a soft ding and the doors slid open. Fumbling to get out her keys, Kara hurried down the hallway to the door, ready to change out of her clothes and settle down for the evening.

xxxx

Flopping down onto the couch after showering and changing into something comfortable, Kara hugged her jar tightly to her chest, a light flutter making itself known in her belly at the thought of just being a few moments away from unfolding her girlfriend's second note.

The lid flopped softly when opened, and Kara gingerly picked a piece of paper before carefully setting the jar back down onto the coffee table. She was giddy as she slowly unfolded the note and read.

I love how you tell me that I am amazing and beautiful, loving me even when I feel like I'm none of these things. You love me just as I am, regardless of my last name, and I, just Lena, have always been enough for you. This fact still amazes me every day.

Her love's written words had become blurry with the tears that had been forming in cerulean eyes and Kara could not hold herself back any longer and grabbed her phone, sniffling lightly. After the second ring, she could hear Lena's raspy, honeylike voice, "Hi, darling."

A familiar warmth was spreading through Kara, the soothing tone of her girlfriend's voice seeping into her and settling in her belly with an eruption of butterflies, "Hi, Baby. Is this a bad time?"

There was a chuckle on the other end, "Kara, you know that I always have time for you and that when you call me it's never a bad time. I might be hard to reach by design, but I'm always available for you. But to answer your question: no, darling. My first meeting is in three hours. So we have time. How was your day?"

The blonde groaned at the question, "I swear to God, there will come a day when I will set Snapper Carr's eyebrows on fire. I mean you read the article that I wrote about Sam and he tore it apart like it was nothing. It is a good article."

Kara could hear the contempt in the other woman's voice, "Baby, I'm your boss, but I'm also his! Do you want me to talk to him after all? I will do it if you want me to, and when I'm done with him, his testicles will have shrunken to the size of raisins."

The blonde laughed at the picture Lena painted, her eyes crinkling lightly as she spoke, "While I'm not keen on picturing the state of Snapper Carr's testicles, I appreciate the offer, Lee. But I'm really not the person who pulls out the I'm-Dating-the-Boss card. That's just not me. Besides, I dealt with him."

"Love, I hope you don't see my last comment as an implication that I think that you can't fight your own battles. I know you can and I know you always will; I just want to help. But I'm incredibly proud of you. Snapper Carr can be a giant asshat at times and the fact that you told him off makes my heart beat a little faster and it makes me want to ravish you on the spot."

Kara's face flushed at her girlfriend's words, an adorable pink tinting her cheeks as she fiddled to push her glasses up her nose. She opened and closed her mouth uselessly, a tiny squeak coming out instead of actual words.

There was another raspy snicker on the other end, "I love you, Kara Danvers. And I miss you a lot."

Blue eyes sparkled softly as Kara smiled, "I love and miss you too, Lena Luthor. And I can't believe it's only the second day that you are gone."

The blonde heard excited clapping and Lena's voice was a little higher pitched than usual, "Ooooh, have you opened your jar yet?"

"Yes, I have. And I do love you just the way you are, you know that? And you are not 'just Lena'. To me, you are everything and more."

Her girlfriend swallowed hard and cleared her throat softly, "God, I love you."

"I am really glad to hear that, especially because I spilled three whole coffees all over you when we first met," Kara laughed.

The CEO joined her in laughter, "I remember."

xxxx

It was a sunny spring day and the sun was ever so slightly peeking through the fluffy looking clouds in the otherwise bright blue sky. There were streaks of exhaust lines painted against ocean blue, the air traffic over National City on a busy schedule as usual while Kara pushed her way through the mass of people on the sidewalk, trying to get to Noonan's in time to get Cat Grant's latte along with her own. The café was bustling with energy like it did every morning, and Kara absentmindedly placed her order while at the same time scheduling a therapist appointment for her boss because Cat was going to have lunch with her mother that day. Fumbling for the two large disposable to-go cups, the blonde gave the barista her sunniest smile before fighting her way through the crowd in order to get over to the counter that held the lids and cardboard trays.

Kara was just ending the call with the therapist's front desk, balancing the two cups in one hand while trying to hang up with the other, when she slammed into a body in front of her, three cups of coffee spilling over the front of a ridiculously expensive designer blouse; the two she was holding and the woman's whom she had just ran into.

Horrified by her actions, the blonde blushed furiously and immediately started apologizing, scrambling for the napkins on the counter and dabbing at the other woman's blouse. She was so immersed in her task that she did not react to any of the woman's gentle probing and only stopped when soft, pale fingers grabbed her wrists to get her to stop. Cerulean eyes focused and staring back at her through the now see-through white blouse was a lace bra, the realization hitting her that she had just dabbed furiously at the woman's breasts. Her eyes widened and her blush deepened while Kara kept apologizing profusely, fussing with her glasses, but the woman's raspy, gentle voice sounded amused, "It's perfectly fine. I have a spare outfit in my car. My assistant just got them from the dry cleaner's, so today is our lucky day."

Intrigued by the voice, Kara noticed that she was still staring at the woman's boobs, which did not help her in the predicament she was in, which was being a blubbering and sputtering, blushing mess.

She tore her eyes away, and they landed on silky, raven curls instead. They wandered up a pale neck, a pulse thudding steadily in a bulging vein, a tiny mole peeking at her from its place against porcelain skin. Their journey continued over a jawline that went on for miles and up to the most intriguing green eyes Kara had ever seen. They sparkled in the faint sunlight that spilled into the café, the emerald swirling with light specks of hazel depending from which angle they were hit by the sun.

'Wapow!'

The blonde realized that she was still staring at the woman and snapped out of it, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears with a raspy croak, "I'm so sorry, really. Let me give you my number, so I can take the blouse to the dry cleaner's. This is so embarrassing. I'm such a klutz sometimes. Are you hurt?"

A perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose and a flirty smirk made its way to the raven-haired beauty's full, red-painted lips, "Well, well. Is that your way of giving a girl your number? Nice touch."

Kara choked on air at the implication, frantically shaking her head as her right hand once again reached up to her glasses, "No, no, no! That's not what I meant. I-"

The woman chuckled, placing a gentle hand on the blonde's forearm to spare her from further embarrassment, "I was kidding. Relax."

Huffing out a relieved breath, Kara managed a small smile, but before either of them could say anything else, a man burst out of the crowd, yelling at the woman that her family had ruined his life. A tall, muscular man hurried over, yelling something into his ear piece and everything was happening so fast that the blonde could not follow. While the woman tried to soothe the agitated man, two other men barged in and in their attempt to restrain the attacker, they pushed Kara to the ground. They wrangled and wrestled with the struggling man, and while the woman was trying to get to Kara to help her back up, she was quickly ushered out by her security.

While she watched the scene outside unfold, stunned, two strong hands reached for her and she was standing upright again. Two cars sped away and when she turned around, a pair of bespectacled eyes as blue as her own was staring back at her, a crinkle of worry between her cousin's eyebrows as he checked her over, "Are you okay, cuz?"

She leaned in to give the raven-haired man a hug, "Hey, you. I'm fine, Clark. I'm just super late for work and Miss Grant is probably going to kill me. I have to re-order those coffees and I have to do it fast."

Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, Clark leaned in, conspiratorially whispering, "Well, Miss Danvers. Today is your lucky day, then. Cat Grant asked me to come in to do a piece on Lena Luthor. She just moved here and that belongs to the perks of being a freelancing journalist. I bet I can charm her to get you out of trouble."

Kara crinkled her nose in disgust, "Ew, so I have to look at her checking you out all day and listen to her comments about your impeccable backside? That's gross and traumatizing."

Her cousin laughed heartily, squeezing her shoulder gently, "I apologize profusely in advance, cuz. Coffee's on me. Come on!"

xxxx

Kara and Clark were standing in the Luthor Corp elevator on their way up to Lena Luthor's office and when the doors opened, the CEO's assistant was already expecting them, ready to lead them one step closer to get a comment from Lena Luthor on the attack on a plane the day before.

They were brought to the waiting area right in front of the Luthor heir's office. The door was wide open, indicating that the CEO was not yet there, which was immediately confirmed by her assistant, "Miss Luthor will be with you shortly. She extends her apologies, but there was an emergency that she had to take care of."

Just as the brunette was done explaining, the elevator dinged, once again, and the clicking of high heels echoed through the reception area. Kara turned her head and was awestruck at what she saw. The raven-haired beauty that she had soaked in coffee just one hour prior was breezing through the room, signing pieces of paper for her assistant on her way to her office. She was now wearing a deep red blouse that matched her lipstick, neatly tucked into a black pencil skirt. A form fitted blazer and three-inch heels were topping off her outfit and yet again all that Kara could do was stare.

Clark got up and Kara stayed behind, still in awe and unable to move, as her cousin approached the business woman to get a comment. He introduced himself and they shook hands, a kind smile on Lena's face as she invited him into her office. When Kara realized that she was still sitting down, she rushed in behind them before the CEO's assistant closed the door.

"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation why I wasn't aboard the venture yesterday. There was an emergency regarding the planning of the ceremony I'm holding tomorrow. I am renaming my family's company and I had to cancel."

Kara was watching Lena the whole time as she stalked over to a coat hanger to hang up her purse. Clark chuckled and the blonde wanted to smack her cousin over the head for the sarcastic tone in his voice, "Well, that's lucky."

The CEO smiled when she turned around to face him, once again, "No, lucky was Captain Lance saving the day by pulling off the emergency landing in the river."

Before Kara could stop herself, she was blurting, "And her co-captain was there, too."

Lena stopped dead in her track at hearing the blonde's voice and emerald green eyes snapped up to her own blue ones, that charming smirk making its way back to her lips as she recognized Kara and stalked past her, "And who are you exactly?"

"Uuuuh, I'm Kara Danvers. I'm not a reporter, but I'm with CatCo Magazine. Sort of… I'm just tagging along."

From there, everything was a blur for the blonde, the back and forth between Lena and Clark totally lost on her because her eyes were too busy staring at the other woman's lips, still shell-shocked that the woman she had almost knocked over that morning was actually Lena Freaking Luthor, billionaire and Fortune 500 CEO with two doctorates at twenty-four.

She was brought back into the present when Lena handed Clark a USB drive with information on the project, containing everything he needed to know. Green eyes were back on her and Kara felt the heat creep up her neck, once again, "And what about you, Miss Danvers? Will I see your name on the byline?"

There it was again, the flirty smirk and the slightest quirk of a perfect eyebrow, and Kara was lost for words. Clark nudged her lightly to get her to answer and she stammered, "Uuuh, well, like I said, I'm not a reporter."

Nodding, Lena winked, "Well, you could have fooled me."

With that, she turned around and walked back behind her spacious desk, green eyes once again locking onto blue when the CEO turned around, "I hope this is not the last time we talk?"

Opening and closing her mouth a few times, the blonde managed a shaky smile and sputtered, "I… I hope not either."

They left with Lena seeing them to the door and her cousin steadying her shaky self, Clark smiling impishly when Kara breathed out another "Wapow!" on their way back to the elevator.

xxxx

Biting her lip, the blonde smiled into the receiver, "I am still very happy that it wasn't the last time we talked, Lena Luthor. I'm still in awe of the fact that you even looked at me twice. I was a blubbering, sputtering, blushing mess. I still am."

The CEO huffed, "No, you're not. You are kind and sweet, with a sense of justice and an urge to always see the good in people. Like you did with me."

The blonde protested instantly, "I didn't have to see the good in you, Lena. You are good. With all your heart. You are the best person I know and I don't give a rat's ass about your last name."

Lena chuckled, "Language, Miss Danvers."

Kara knew she was being teased and it made her grin. A giddy kind of grin that came with warmth spreading through her body, "I love you a lot, Lena."

The blonde could hear the smile in her girlfriend's voice, "Well, then today is your lucky day, because I, too, love you a lot, Kara."

Lena's words reminded her of what Clark had said to her at Noonan's all those years ago, and she thought that being with Lena, made every day of her life a lucky day and herself the luckiest woman alive.

Her girlfriend's next words interrupted her musings, "You actually know that I heard that 'Wapow!' when you left my office that day, right?"

Kara groaned and flushed, burying her face in her free hand, embarrassed, "I hate you!"

Lena chuckled, "No, you don't."

The blonde bit back another smile, "No, I don't."

"You can come out of the shadows. They're only scared of what they don't know. But I love you as you are. You waged this war within yourself, wasting time dying in a shell. They don't define you – just know they never will. I love you as you are."

xxxx

A/N 2: Thanks for reading. The quotes at the beginning and the end are taken from the song As You Are by Daughtry.

Reviews are love.

Until next time.