Lena doesn't have to be here with her classmates outside of Dr. Danvers' door.
These students were hoping that their sweet collie of a professor would take pity on them.
They had barely passed while Lena's here because she's 0.25 off from a perfect, but she'll be damned if the TA thought he could unfairly deduct her marks.
Of course getting to see Dr. Danvers outside of class time was an added bonus.
"Just give me sec guys; can I have your names to find your multiple choice sections?" Kara's glasses are perched on the top of her head and has a marking pen's red smeared across the side of her chin.
Lena pressed her mouth into a thin line to avoid smiling; her professor was adorable.
Kara shuffled her pile of half marked papers away to reveal her keyboard. No one had spoken their name yet and just when Lena was about to, the professor graced her with a warm smile. "I know your name; I just need everyone else's."
Lena blushed at the remark while her classmates seemed none the wiser.
Kara was approachable and considerate to a fault, but she also stood by the material tested, refusing to budge when her students tried to weasel for a bell curve
Her classmates left unsuccessful and dissatisfied.
"You got a haircut." Lena noted offhandedly, easily falling into the camaraderie they've built now that they were alone. "It looks good."
"Thank you!" Kara gushed and it's so genuine that the pleasure showed pink on her cheeks.
Lena blushed, momentarily forgetting why she was here in the first place.
"Now, how can I help you?" Kara tilted her head a little as she leaned her chin onto her palm; the red mark smudged a bit more.
"You've just got a bit of…" Lena tapped a finger on her own chin. "Pen."
"Oh." Kara rubbed around the spot Lena indicated and fussed around her drawers. "I thought I had a hand mirror."
Lena reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle of Purell, "may I?"
"Huh?"
"This'll get the colour out immediately but you'll have to put lotion on afterwards because it can dry out your skin." Lena reached across the desk and dabbed a small portion onto Kara's skin and rubbed at the mark with her thumb. "There, perfect again."
"Perfect?" Kara murmured but doesn't pull away…which meant Lena was essentially cupping her professor's face in her hands and NOpE.
Lena coughed and moved to find her exam paper in her bag. She had kept the exam in a folder to avoid creasing it but she pretended search like she couldn't find it just for another moment to collect herself.
"I'm just curious why Eric thought it prudent to deduct marks here," Lena motioned at the T.A.'s penned notes which chastised her for using examples not discussed within the class lectures, "do peer reviewed sources hold no value when they are outside of our class curriculum?"
"Let me see." Kara worried the corner of her lip as she took the paper from Lena's hand. "Normally you have to speak with the TA before coming to see me on the long essay segment but I can see this is straight forward."
Lena watched Kara dutifully read through the pages. The other woman was so focused and still, her eyes so blue that all Lena can think about was the approaching summer skies and their eventually parting. Winter break was coming soon but those two weeks would be nothing compared to a summer apart. She felt heat on her face and averted her eyes to stop her staring. She was glad they weren't talking right now because she was suddenly speechless with how much she'd miss Kara.
She was going to miss everything about Dr. Danvers. Her prof was effervescent and knowledgeable but a tad nervous whenever she got thrown off track during class. Kara got out of sorts when a video clip refused to play, when the projector displayed nothing but white or when her mic ran out of batteries.
Lena had crossly thought the technician Winn was trying to woo the professor with meet-cutes, but their interactions remained only friendly and platonic.
Kara was taking her time reading over Lena's work. Lena wasn't exactly in a rush; she liked the extra moments they got to spend together.
When she's done with the paper, Kara turned and changed Lena's grade to 100 on the computer. "Good job, a perfect score."
"Only because you decided to omit that multiple choice question, I found the wording rather ambiguous."
Kara rounded her desk and sat in the chair next to Lena, the exam now set between them. "This one was a bit of a trick question, I had mentioned it only in passing during class and it's not anywhere in the text book, that's why I took it out."
Kara had an unfairly nice scent, but Lena had enough of her wits about her to know not to share that particular remark.
"Hey, you did great; you don't have to look so worried." Kara's hand moved just short of touching Lena's. "If I were to write a reference letter; I would say you've achieved full mastery of the course material."
"It wouldn't have been a perfect if you didn't omit that question." Lena blinked rapidly at the tears she felt well; Kara's sincere praise caused an unexpected rush of emotion. She doesn't need a reference letter, even after what Lex did, her family name was enough.
"Lena, you've set extreme standards for yourself and surpassed every one, you should be proud." Kara took Lena's hand into hers and gave it a firm squeeze. "I know I'm proud of you and if you were interested, I would be happy to have you on as my grad student."
"Thank you." Lena answered; her focus solely on their joined hands. She wasn't sobbing but she has teared up and if she wasn't so distracted by how soft and warm Kara's hands were she would've been mortified. "I would like that."
…...
"You barely minored in psychology." Jess noted, as she made her way through the towers of psychology textbooks.
"So?" Lena paused her typing and blinked innocently up at her roommate.
"You can't just cram four years of psych classes on your weekends and become her graduate student." Jess just dared her confident friend to spit out the barely contained 'watch me'.
Jess doesn't doubt that Lena could do it but god does she have to? Just because she was capable, smart and overtop doesn't mean she had to be this extra.
Lena closed her laptop and moved towards the kitchen to start dinner. "I've already sent in my application."