Kara meets Lexington, adorableness ensues.
Lena used to be my favorite character in this series, but now I'm pretty sure it's Lexington
"I don't think I've seen you this nervous since our wedding."
She turns to see Kara watching her, blue eyes full of concern.
"We're just talking about adopting a child. A little girl who hasn't spoken in the past 6 months; who from what Dr. Engrett has told us has had a pretty traumatic first three years of life. And she jumps at loud noises, and even if we manage not to break her - because she's tiny- then how are we supposed to make that better"
Kara's hands settle on her shoulders and she feels her fluttering heart start to slow.
"You care about all of that, and we both know that already starts to make it better!"
Lena sighs, and further allows herself to invade Kara's space; wrapping her arms around Kara's waist and settling her head on her chest.
"I just want to give her a hug, because she looks so lonely. But I'm not even sure if she likes hugs! What if she doesn't like hugs?!"
Kara's arms wrap around her and some of the tension melts out.
"Hey, hey. It's gonna be okay."
After a moment, Lena pulls away from the embrace - her nerves finally getting the better of her.
"She doesn't like loud noises, and you know she doesn't talk, and she startles really easily, so don't be too fast - or too loud."
"When I first came to Earth," Kara whispers softly, in case anyone happens to be listening. "Everything was too fast, or too loud, or too see through. And even now sometimes I feel overwhelmed, I know what sensory overload is like."
"Right, of course. Sorry, sometimes I forget. You're just so good at hiding it most of the time."
"It's okay. You're nervous, I get it - I'm nervous too." Kara smiles and reaches in her messenger bag. "Wanna color?"
She's holding out a Supergirl themed coloring book and a pack of crayons and Lena feels her heart meltl.
"You brought a coloring book?"
"Well, she said she likes Supergirl, and art always helped me feel better, so I thought we could color with her." Kara shrugs.
"Have I told you today that you're perfect?"
"Not since yesterday?" Kara tilts her head. "I think? Or maybe it was two days ago? I don't really remember."
Lena can't help but roll her eyes.
"You're impossible."
The door to the office opens and Dr. Engrett sticks his head in.
"Are you ladies ready?"
Kara nods and reaches for Lena's hand dragging her inside before she can protest.
"Now remember, I know it's impossible for you to have not gotten your hopes up after last time, but you want any sort of connection to form organically - you don't want to force it."
"Of course." Lena looks to Kara, who nods again. "We just want what's best for Lexington."
"Dinner is at 5:30 so you'll have about an hour with her, and then I'll have some paperwork for you to look over, things like that."
Lena takes a shaky breath as he lets them into the common room, her hand sweating in Kara's.
"I don't see her." She mutters nervously, eyes darting around the room.
"She's here, its not like she can just disappear." Kara teases gently.
"I know, I know." She jumps when she feels a tiny hand slip into her free one.
Bright blue eyes are staring up at her, and she smiles down at Lexington, her grin growing when Lexi smiles back. The little girl pauses though, when she sees Kara standing on Lena's other side.
Lena holds her breath as Lexi looks Kara over, as if trying to determine what to make of her.
Ever so slowly, Lena kneels down until she and the little girl are at eye level.
"Hi, Lexington" She whispers so softly she can barely hear herself, but Lexi doesn't jump, only offers the hint of a smile.
"We never really had a proper introduction the other day, I'm Lena."
The little girl waves slowly before turning to eye Kara.
"This is my wife, Kara." Lena whispers softly, and Kara crouches down beside her.
"Hello, little one." Kara's voice is gentle, and Lexi studies her thoughtfully.
"Lena told me you like Supergirl, so I thought you might like this." Kara holds out the coloring book and Lexi's eyes grow wide at the sight of Supergirl on the cover. Taking the coloring book and holding it against her chest, Lexi tugs Lena (and consequently Kara), towards a small picnic table in the corner. When they come to a stop, Lexi releases her hand to take a seat at the table.
Lena looks to Kara, unsure exactly, of where to go from here; but Kara only shrugs back at her before sitting next to Lexi on the bench. Lena hesitates a moment before taking a seat on the Lexi's other side - mainly because she's starting to feel a little out of place just standing there.
Lexi flips slowly through the book, eyes roaming over the outlines.
She goes through every page twice before pointing to one of the pages.
Kara gently tears it along the perforations and hands it back to Lexi before popping open the pack of crayons on the table and selecting a page for herself.
It's odd, Lena thinks, sitting there and watching them color - but she doesn't really know what else to do. She glances around the room at the other children, feeling a wave of sad memories threatening to overwhelm her. She had been in an orphanage for almost four months before Lionel had seen fit to take her out. It didn't help that he had known she was there the whole time - had been aware from the very day her mother had died but had still delayed in taking her in. Some sort of power play she was sure. It always was with him.
A tapping on her arm startles her out of her thoughts and she looks up to see Kara holding out a piece of paper. It's one of the scenes from the coloring book and Kara winks, gesturing for her to take it.
She hasn't colored in . . .
Well, she doesn't really remember the last time she colored.
It's been years, certainly.
As she picks up a blue crayon that perfectly matches the color of Kara's eyes, she supposes that it's an activity that's about to start happening a lot more frequently.
They color in silence for the better part of the hour, until Kara pulls out a blank sheet of paper and begins drawing flowers. Lexi is enthralled, and carefully copies the designs; slightly shaky and uneven, but rather good for her age.
At least, according to the books Lena's read on childhood development - not that she has any real life experience to go off of.
The tables turn, however, when Kara passes the crayon to Lena.
"Draw something, Lee." Is the whispered request and Lena starts to protest only to look up and find two pairs of bright blue eyes pleading with her.
Something tells her this is the first of many times that she's going to be compelled by a joint effort pout from those two and her heart stutters just a little bit.
Carefully, she sketches out a stick figure. His arms are lopsided, and his head is kind of oval but hey, she's used to drawing her designs on graph paper - not to mention her designs usually don't involve stick people.
Somehow she doesn't really think Lexi would appreciate a drawing of her latest reactor field design.
A soft giggle erupts from beside her, and she looks down to see Lexington covering her mouth with her hands. Her eyes shoot to Kara who's face mirrors her surprise. It's the most noise she's ever heard from the little girl, and she can't help but feel a little proud of that.
Even if it was because of her horrible art skills.
She passes the crayon back to Kara who takes out a fresh sheet of paper and a begins to quickly sketch out a face. Both Lena and Lexi lean over to watch the form quickly take shape.
Lena always loved to watch Kara draw. There was just something about the way she could bring something to life so effortlessly. It quickly becomes evident that the sketch is of Lexi, and she can feel the grin stretching her cheeks.
When Kara is finished, she hands the picture to Lexi who studies it carefully before smiling up at Kara. The moment is short lived when the teacher calls the children to dinner and Lexi looks at them questioningly. Lena senses the girl's wordless query and tucks the drawing into the coloring book before passing both it and the pack of crayons to her.
Lexi smiles brightly up at them, hesitating for a moment before moving to join the rest of the group.
"How is she so adorable without even saying anything?" Kara whines. Her face scrunched up like it is when Daisy or Mac does something particularly cute, and Lena can't help but laugh.
"I'm glad you see it too."
"I just want to wrap her up in a warm blanket and buy her a bunch of teddy bears and never let anything bad happen to her ever again."
Lena laughs again, taking Kara's hands in her own.
"So, does that mean you want to talk to Dr. Engrett about the next step?"
"I think we should."
"Yeah?"
Kara nods
"Yeah."
"It's a little more difficult to determine, sense she's nonverbal, but I believe Lexington has taken to you two rather well. We firmly believe that the less time children send with us, the better; so if this is something that you're sure about, I suggest we move forward immediately." Dr. Egrett says from across his desk.
"When you say immediately . . ." Lena lets the question hang, squeezing Kara's hand tightly.
"I mean that Lexi could come to live with you by the end of next week." The doctor answers with a smile and Lena feels her heart jolt to a momentary stop before stuttering on.
"Next week?! That's so soon! I'm glad it's soon but we have so much to prepare!"
She glances at Kara who appears shell shocked.
"Are you alright? You look terrified."
"We're gonna be parents, Lee, in less than ten days, we're gonna be parents. "
Surely Kara isn't second guessing this, not when they're so close. She swallows the nervous energy rising up in her throat.
"It's good though, right?"
Kara's eyes lock on to hers and she swears she can see the happiness shining straight from the other woman's soul.
"It's perfect."
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