After the day they had on the beach the family decided to order take out and have a movie night. They ordered from Kara's favorite restaurant in Midvale in hopes that the girl would eat more but she only ate a little and then pushed her food around the plate before she gave up eating it all together. After dinner the family all sat down on the couches and started the movie. Kara once again fell asleep a few minutes into the movie and stayed asleep for the whole thing. Lena woke her up gently at the end and got her to go upstairs and into bed. They laid there for a while before Kara was asleep and Lena followed not long after.
It was the middle of the night when Kara woke up. She had been looking up at the ceiling for a while but grew tired of it, so she got out of bed and quietly made her way outside. She got out onto the front yard and made her way through the woods to a little clearing and laid down there. She had found this sport early on when she first came to earth and liked it because when she looked up, she felt like she could see the whole universe. It had become her spot she went to when everything became too much for her to handle. She hoped by coming here tonight she would feel some sense of relief from the never-ending thoughts filling her mind. She wasn't sure how long she had been laying there but suddenly felt someone lay down next to her and immediately knew it was Alex. Once Alex had learned about Kara's spot when they were younger, she would come out and just lay with Kara, so the girl wouldn't feel as alone.
"Do you remember the first night I found you out here?" Alex asked as Kara nodded her head. "I woke up and you weren't in our room. I checked the rest of the house and started panicking but I didn't want to wake up dad and mom, so I thought I would check outside. I was about to give up and go get them to help me look when I was drawn to the woods for some reason and that is when I found you just laying alone in the grass looking up to the sky. I remember I just laid next to you and we didn't talk at all that night but we both fell asleep and woke up the next morning," Alex said as she watched Kara who was still looking up at the sky.
"We scared Eliza and Jeremiah though. They couldn't find us the next morning," Kara said as Alex laughed.
"Yeah they weren't too happy about that one were they," Alex said as she looked back up to the sky letting the silence take over once again.
"I can't picture where it used to be anymore," Kara said as Alex looked over to her.
"Krypton?" Alex asked even though she knew the answer.
"Yeah I remember when I had been here for a while Jeremiah helped me map out where it might have been, but I just can't seem to be able to picture it anymore," Kara responded.
"Kara yesterday at your apartment when you said you wanted to go home, you didn't mean Midvale did you," Alex said as she watched her younger sister nod her head.
"I didn't. It's not because I don't love you or love Midvale it's just, well I don't know," Kara said as she trailed off.
"You miss them," Alex finished for Kara.
"Every day," Kara responded as she once again looked up to the sky. Alex sensed Kara didn't want to talk anymore so she just cuddled closer to Kara and held her hand. They made it to about 5am before Kara spoke again.
"I guess we should go back in. I don't want to worry anyone more than they already are," Kara said as Alex stood up and the two made their way back into the yard. They quietly entered the house and closed the door as they made their way upstairs. Kara slipped back into her room and successfully made it back into bed without waking Lena up. Alex went back to her room and tried to quietly get back into bed but wasn't so successful. Being a cop made Maggie a light sleeper and she always woke up easily.
"Were you with Kara," Maggie said her voice thick with sleep as she rolled over and cuddled into Alex's side.
"Yeah we were just laying outside looking at the sky. How did you know?" Alex asked her wife.
"I just knew. I know you and I know Kara and if you are going to be up during the middle of night it most likely has something to do with her," Maggie said as Alex laughed softly.
"I love you," Alex responded.
"Well good because I love you too," Maggie said as the two slowly started to drift off to sleep wrapped in each other's arms.
0000
Alex woke up a few hours later and slipped out of bed so her wife could sleep a bit more. She went down the stairs and wasn't surprised to see only her parents awake. It was still early in the morning and she knew Kara had spent most of the night outside.
"Hey," Alex said as her parents turned around on the couch and smiled at her.
"Morning sweetie," Eliza said as Alex came over and sat down on the couch between her parents.
"You and Kara were out at the spot last night," Jeremiah said.
"Yeah I didn't realize you saw us," Alex responded as Jeremiah smiled.
"You two were never very good at sneaking out of the house as teenagers. I guess some things never change," Jeremiah said as Alex smiled back at him.
"Yeah I woke up and had a feeling Kara wasn't sleeping and guessed right because she was laying out there staring at the sky. She told me she couldn't picture where Krypton used to be anymore and that she missed her parents. She also told me that when she said she wanted to go home a few days ago she wasn't talking about Midvale," Alex said.
"I was hoping that wasn't the case, but I figured that much," Eliza responded as she looked at her oldest daughter.
"Yeah so did I," Alex said as they heard someone come down the stairs. They all stopped talking and Alex watched as her wife came down the stairs followed by Lena.
"Hey good morning girls," Jeremiah said as the two made their way over.
"Morning," they both mumbled as they were still waking up.
"Is Kara still sleeping?" Alex asked as she looked over to Lena.
"She woke up when I was coming out of the bathroom but said she was going to go back to bed for a bit," Lena said as Alex nodded her head.
"Alright I'm going to make pancakes, who wants some?" Jeremiah said as everyone responded that they did. He got up and went over to the kitchen as Eliza helped get stuff out for breakfast. They ate 30 minutes later, and Lena decided to go up to see if Kara wanted to eat anything. She opened the door to the bedroom and saw that Kara was awake and lying in bed. She was on her side looking at the wall and didn't seem to notice Lena had come into the room. Lena went over to the side of the bed that Kara was on and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Hey honey, do you want to eat anything? Jeremiah made pancakes," Lena said as Kara looked up to her.
"I'm not hungry but thanks," Kara said as Lena nodded her head. She sat with her for a few minutes before she went back downstairs. She knew she couldn't force Kara to eat but needed some backup. She walked downstairs and found the rest of the family sitting at the table still.
"Does she want some pancakes?" Jeremiah said as Lena shook her head.
"No, she didn't, she said she wasn't hungry. I can't force her to eat but she needs something," Lena said as she sat back down.
"Your right she does. I'm going to make her a smoothie and see if she will drink that. She used to like them when she was younger," Eliza said as Lena nodded her head grateful for the help. Eliza spent the next few minutes making a smoothie and made her way upstairs with it. She walked into the room and saw Kara look over at her.
"Hey sweetie, Lena said you weren't hungry, but I was hoping you would drink some of this smoothie. I know you used to like them when you were younger," Eliza said as Kara sat up on the bed and held out her hand.
"Thank you," Kara said as she took the smoothie and drank part of it. She set it down on the counter next to the bed and laid back down. Eliza sat down on the bed next to Kara and waited until Kara fell back asleep. Eliza kissed her head and got up and headed back down the stairs.
"She drank some of it and then fell back asleep," Eliza said as Lena nodded her head.
"Thank you, Eliza," Lena said.
"Of course," Eliza replied as she went over to the counter to get more coffee.
"Hey dad would you be able to help me with something?" Alex said as Jeremiah nodded his head and followed Alex outside to the garage. "I want to do something for Kara and I think you might be able to help," Alex said.
"Of course, sweetie whatever you need," Jeremiah sent as the two went into the garage.
Inside Eliza had been working on washing the dishes with Maggie. Lena had gone down to the beach to go for a walk leaving the two women alone inside. They were just finishing up the dishes and Maggie decided she was going to go take a shower. She headed up the stairs and was just outside Kara's room when she stopped in front of the door. She heard a noise that sounded like crying as she opened the door to find Kara laying in the bed crying softly.
"Kara, what's going on?" Maggie said as she made her way over to the girl. "Hey, talk to me," Maggie said as she sat down next to Kara.
"I want my mom," Kara said as Maggie's heart broke. She knew that was the one thing she couldn't get for Kara, so she decided to get the next best thing. "Alright Kara I know you do, I will be right back," Maggie said as she ran down the stairs. "Eliza, I need you," Maggie said as Eliza sensed the urgency in Maggie's voice and followed her up the stairs. On the way up Maggie quickly told her what was going on. Eliza went into the room and found Kara curled up crying on her bed. Eliza got onto the bed next to her and laid down. Kara turned into her and curled around Eliza.
"I just want my mom," Kara said again as she started crying harder.
"Shh, honey I know you do," Eliza said as she rubbed her hand on Kara's back. "I know you miss her, and I wish I could bring her back, but I can't. Kara, I know I'm not your mom but I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere," Eliza said as she just held Kara while she continued to cry. Maggie came back a few minutes later with a warm washcloth and Eliza thanked her as she wiped Kara's face with it. Maggie stayed in the room sitting in the chair as Kara finally spoke up.
"Sorry," Kara said as Eliza looked at her.
"For what sweetie," Eliza asked.
"I don't want you to feel like you aren't important," Kara responded.
"I don't want you to ever worry about that. I know I am important to you Kara," Eliza responded as Kara shook her head. The three girls sat in silence for a few minutes before Kara quietly spoke again.
"How do I make it go away?" Kara asked looking at Maggie.
"Make what go away?" Maggie responded to the younger girl.
"This feeling inside of me. I want to feel better but every day I wake up and everything inside of me hurts," Kara said as Maggie looked at a loss for words. She was about to say something when Alex came in followed by Lena. Maggie knew by the looks on their faces that they had probably heard most of the conversation that just took place.
"Kara, I wish like hell that I could take away that feeling for you but unfortunately that's not how it works kid. You know what you do though, you lean on all of us. You come to me and Lena and Maggie and Mom and Dad when things aren't going well, and you trust that we will always have your back and take care of you. You remember the victories no matter how small they are. There are going to be days when you don't want to get out of bed and that's okay but the days that you do you remember that it is a victory in itself. You remember the good memories so on the days when you feel absolutely broken like today you have something to hold onto," Alex said as Lena had switched places with Eliza and Alex had sat on Kara's other side. Kara's entire attention was on Alex. "and above everything else you remember that we all love you no matter what," Alex said as Kara nodded her head. She didn't feel any better, but she had something that she didn't have before, a faint glimmer of hope that maybe someday things would get better.