Author's Note: Hey all. Apologies for the delay in posting. I am a full time teacher and Fall is a tough time to find time for writing, but I managed it! I hope you all enjoy chapter 3!


Eleana's hazel-green eyes opened slowly as the sunlight streamed through the windows. She stretched her short legs towards the end of the queen-sized bed, brushing her toes against the soft quilt. Curling them back into the fetal position she had slept in, she burrowed her face in her ratty, stuffed dog. It still smelled like her mother. Her mother.

Suddenly, she sat up in her bed. Her morning daze quickly faded away as she began to remember. She looked around the still unfamiliar room, three walls with a grey and white imperial trellis design wallpaper — classic yet the colors made the room more modern looking — with a white molding. The fourth side of the room was covered in windows from floor to ceiling with a sliding glass door leading to a balcony. Eleana remembered that a lot of buildings in Metropolis were like that. She supposed National City was very similar. The dresser, desk and closet were all the same shade of white; the bed frame was a basic geometric design carved into more white painted wood. The carpeting was a dark blue-gray color with the bed spread plain and matching exactly. The quilt she was covered in was another shade of blue and gray with six inch panels of classic and modern patterns.

A few landscape pictures hung on the walls; the one over the bed was a black and white photo of Metropolis. The one over the desk was a modern art piece, a painting with four different panels consisting of blue, white, red and brown circles and stripes. It was probably the only thing that had a dash of color throughout the entire room.

With a deep breath, Eleana pushed the quilt aside and slinked off the bed. The carpeting felt very rough and flat against the bottoms of her bare feet. With her dog still clutched in her right arm, she sat down in front of her backpack. Her eyes surveyed the images on the bag. There was a T-rex, a few pterodactyls, some characters she didn't know, and of course the Jurassic Park logo. She had never really seen the movie; she never really watched movies. It's hard to when you don't have a television, but it didn't bother her. From Jurassic Park to something called Star Wars, she would listen to kids talking about them at school and would just let her imagination put in the rest of the details. They would play games in the yard, and a bunch of the kids had Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Transformers, Barbie, Pony and so many other backpacks. They had a bunch of different ones with different dinosaurs, different colors, and some even had keychains. She had begged her mother for one almost every day, particularly Jurassic Park because that seemed the coolest at the time. She didn't understand then, but they were just too expensive. Eventually, her mother had managed to find the bag in a back-to-school clearance bin for five dollars. It was six-years-later, but Eleana was grateful for her mother's loving gesture.

The young girl brushed her tangled curls behind her ears, reached for the backpack and unzipped it four fifths of the way. The last fifth at the end of the zipper had been broken for months after the ear of her stuff dog had gotten stuck. She pulled out a plain yellow tank top, a striped blue and green sweater, and a matching green skirt — she had grown out of everything else she owned and didn't bother taking it. Finally, pulled back a piece of ripped lining from the bag to reveal a pack a fragile-looking papers bound up by a piece of string. She took them out and ran her fingers over the top; a pencil sketch study of lilacs that her mother drew from observing the bushes in front of their apartment. They were so detailed and delicate.

Suddenly, Eleana heard a loud metal clunk coming from the other side of her door. "Shit," she heard a voice exclaim. Quietly, she emerged from her room and stepped down the hallway. Peeking her head around the corner, she found Lena kneeling on the linoleum floor wiping up what looked to be several broken eggs and some kind of batter.

"Oh, hey." Lena glanced up at the girl. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She stood up and tossed the handful of dirty towels in the sink and wiped her hands on her scarlet red apron with a grin.

"I was already up," Eleana replied as she approached the island. The counters were crowded with metal bowls, measuring spoons and cups. There was a carton of milk, some flour, a half-full carton of eggs and an opened bag of chocolate chips. She looked up at the older woman's smile.

"I… uh, made pancakes." Lena said, looking around the kitchen until she finally turned around and found where she had set them down. With a mixed look of accomplishment and doubt, she offered the plate to the ten-year-old. The doubt grew as she looked at the pile of lumpy, kind of burnt, cakes and made a face. "Well, I tried to… I don't… hmm." She glanced at Eleana's confused expression, raised her brow and went to dump the lumps of cooked batter into the trash can beside the counter.

The girl watched the battered cakes fall of the plate and into the bin already filled to the brim with even more burnt and failed attempts.

Lena then turned back to her niece and removed her apron. "Do you like doughnuts?"

O-o-O-o-O

Lena approached the tiny cafe table and set down a cup of hot liquid in front of her niece. She sat down across from the girl with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I'm not much of a cook," she admitted.

"It's okay," Ellie replied, her mouth stuffed with a piece of chocolate glazed pastry. "My mom didn't really cook either. Most of what we ate was from can or made for the microwave." She let out a small grin as she tore off another piece of doughnut, dunking it into her hot chocolate.

With a gentle chuckle, Lena sit contently watching the girl eat. This was the most she had ever been able to talk to her since returning to National City.

Bringing the hot coffee towards her lips, Lena's eyes shifted towards the cafe windows. Several cameras peeked through, trying to get the best snapshot of National City's newest young gossip piece. It seemed as if they had multiplied in the last thirty minutes. Lena was aware that with an infamous family and one of the most powerful corporations in the city, paparazzi and gossip was bound to happen. She had been through her share of it already and understood how to deal with it. But now—she glanced at the ten-year-old innocently sipping her hot chocolate—now she was nervous. Ellie was finally becoming comfortable, talking, even smiling once in awhile. Lena couldn't allow this to become a "one step forward, two steps back" kind of situation. These parasites knew how to get to people.

"You okay to finish that while we walk?" Lena asked as she began to stand and collect her purse. The girl quickly nodded and followed suit.

As the pair swerved around tables and chairs, Ellie began to notice the stares coming from other patrons. Beyond the windows, cameras were flashing towards them.

"I really hope she doesn't end up in the same school," one woman whispered. "Goodness knows how mentally stable everyone in that family is…" It was clear that this woman wanted the pair to hear her.

Lena stiffened her muscles and clenched her jaw. She wanted no more than to shoot a vicious glare in the woman's direction, but that would prove nothing. With a frustrating breath, she wrapped her arm around Ellie's shoulder as they stepped out the door.

The sudden clicks and flashes made Ellie jump. "Just try to ignore them," she heard her aunt's voice say. Flash, after flash, after flash. The girl, unable to even blink, turned her head down and to the left. She felt Lena pull her closer to her body. She listened to the clicks of the cameras, the voices yelling out "Ms. Luthor! Ms. Luthor!" Even with her eyes closed, she could still see the flashes of light obstructing the darkness beneath her lids. She turned her head towards Lena's side, trying to ignore the clicks and flashes and voices.

Without warning, Lena felt the girl suddenly bolt from her side. Her eyes widened as she watched the child push through the crowd of maddening strangers. "Ellie!" Lena yelled. Suddenly, something inside of her pulsed. She shoved two cameramen aside and began running after her.

Ellie continued running, refusing to look back. Her heart raced, her adrenaline pumped, she felt as if she might never be able to stop. Building after building, person after person whipped by her in a blur. She could still see spots from the camera flashes, and could taste the saltiness on her lips from the tears streaming down her face. "Ellie!" She could hear the voice calling, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. Her hair whipped to the side as she ducked into a nearby alleyway. Suddenly, a gust of wind and a figure magically appearing in front of her made her stop. Her chest heaved as she let out a fearful scream, turned and tried to run again. She felt herself crash into the figure that appeared behind her. This time, the person grabbed her shoulders to prevent her from running again.

"Ellie!" the familiar voice said, though the child found herself too afraid to recognize it completely. "Hey. Hey," Ellie continued to struggle. "Ellie, it's me! It's Lena!" Lena bent down so the frightened and tearful child could see her face. "It's okay," Lena sighed. "It's okay. It's just me."

Finally, Ellie broke down from the shock. Wrapping her arms around the woman's neck, she began to sob. Lena could feel the ten-year-old shaking in her arms. She gazed up at the familiar figure standing before them. The blonde alien in blue and red looked on with concern. But Lena did not need to worry about that then. She glanced at the figure thankfully before closing her eyes and placing her hand on her niece's head the way a mother would cradle her baby. "It's okay," she whispered again. "You're okay."

O-o-O-o-O

Lena sat on the black leather loveseat in her office, her arm casually resting on the back while her hand brushed through her hair. Ellie sat beside her with both legs crossed. The girl looked at her aunt, her eyes clearly expressing deep thought, processing what she just heard.

"I didn't want to have to tell you all of this so soon." Lena shook her head. "I guess a piece of me was hoping… that things could be normal. Should have known better," she scoffed to herself. Lena glanced at the young girl whose eyes seemed fixated on the chessboard in front of her. "I know," she began, "this is a lot for you to take in and understand."

"I understand," the girl quickly replied. Finally, she looked up with a cold gaze, one that was all too familiar to Lena. "People think that there is something wrong with me because of my father. Don't they? Because my father is Lex Luthor…"

Lena let out a sigh to give herself a moment to think through her response. She had never had to explain this situation to someone before, let alone a child. It had always been a fight she had to deal with on her own: Lena against the rest of the world. "Sometimes," she began, "people like to think that things in the world are either black or white when in reality there are a lot of gray areas and a lot of complications." She watched the girl's brows furrow in confusion. Another deep breath. "The things that Lex… that your father did hurt a lot of people. Most of these things were unforgivable. And because of those things… people make assumptions about us."

"What're assumptions?"

Lena glanced out at the cityscape. "Assuming is like guessing. People guess things about us; they think that they know things about us that are often not true. Like those reporters today; most of the stories they write are fake. They spread gossip about us because we are related to him."

"Even though they don't know us?" Lena nodded. Ellie shifted her gaze back to the chessboard. "I don't understand why people would judge us because of what he did. Shouldn't it be because of what we do?" She reached forward to move the white knight along the board, taking out the opposing rook quite swiftly.

Lena smiled at the child's intelligence. It was amazing that Ellie could manage to understand in a single conversation what the rest of the world still couldn't understand after years of trying to convince them. "I don't know," she replied. "But I am hoping that, someday, people will be able to understand half as well as you do."

"Ms. Luthor," a voice suddenly interrupted the moment.

Both Lena and Ellie glanced up at the figure standing on the balcony. "Supergirl," Lena greeted with a smile.

The caped alien stepped through the glass doors slowly. With a gentle smile, she nodded to the young executive. "I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay."

Lena brushed her hand over Ellie's hair and replied, "We are fine now. Thank you."

Supergirl looked to the child sitting there. "I am sorry for frightening you earlier."

Ellie shrugged with the shy smile. "It's okay." Looking carefully at the figure, she tilted her head. "Superman has that symbol on his chest."

Lena replied. "Supergirl and Superman are cousins."

"And you two are friends?" Ellie looked at her aunt curiously.

Lena simply nodded with a smirk. "Actually, she has saved my life a number of times," she chuckled.

"Your aunt helped me save the city a few times too."

A smile finally shined through on the girl's face as she tucked a brown curl behind her ear. Lena could feel a sense of great relief from Supergirl's presence. A clear friendship between a Super and Luthor; that could give her hope. As Supergirl returned to the balcony, Lena mouthed the words thank you. Then with a burst of wind, the alien was gone.

Lena glanced back at the girl sitting beside her. "What do you say we start this day over again? We can do anything you want to do."

Ellie smiled as her eyes connected with her aunt's. "Can we watch Jurassic Park?"

Lena cocked her head and furrowed her brows. Of all the things they could possible do… "Okay," she nodded with a chuckle. "Movie night it is then."


Please leave reviews! I also plan to incorporate some Season 3 stuff eventually. Thank you!