"Morning!" Kara said, plastering a fake smile on her face as she walked into Lena's hospital room.
"Don't you have a job? It's Monday, isn't it?" Lena replied without looking at Kara.
Kara took the papers out of Lena's hand, some kind of work, and said, "Well technically you're my domestic partner—"
"Give me those back!" Lena said, trying to snag the work that Kara held out of reach.
"So I can just apply for FMLA," Kara added with a smile, grabbing Lena's water cup and holding it down to her friend, flexi-straw bent perfectly for a sip.
Lena scowled, then took several, small sips swallowing between each one. She had quickly learned it was the safest way when you were stuck flat on your back.
"Thank you, Kara," Lena said after she swallowed. "You didn't really apply for FMLA, did you?"
"No, but I grabbed the paperwork in case I need it. After the gunman tried to kill me and shot you feet from me instead, work has become incredibly understanding especially as it was all due to an article written for work. I think Snapper is terrified you'll sue them. Do you have any plans to sue?"
"CatCo? Please. I only sue publications after they defame my character…which I'm sure they'll get around to doing in time. If you're enjoying your time off though, feel free to tell them I'm considering it. May I have my contracts back please?" Lena asked, reaching for the papers Kara took again.
"Did you get the results from your MRI yet?" Kara asked, ignoring Lena's question.
"I did," Lena replied with practiced ease.
"And?" Kara asked, leaning forward. She could do this. If Lena could say it, she could hear it.
"You were right. We shouldn't have done it yet."
Heart pounding in her chest, Kara managed to ask, "What does that mean?"
"The results were inconclusive. There's too much swelling. We're going to wait another week before we try again."
"A…inconclusive? A week?" Kara shook her head.
"Yes. I don't need any more radiation in my system than necessary. The doctor said that in a week the steroids should have gotten rid of the swelling, so we'll wait a week. We'll try again then. May I have my—"
"Excuse me," Kara said, tossing the contract onto Lena's torso and nearly spilling the water cup as she put it on the table. She walked back to the door as she said, "I just remembered that I need to make an important call."
"Kara?"
Kara ignored Lena calling after her and walked quickly, one sharp click of heel falling after the other, as she made her way to the stairwell. She marched up the stairs at a normal human rate. Fuming, she was fuming. Kara had done everything, and all she'd gotten so far was rejection from Lena. Lena didn't have to want anything with her, but there was no reason for the lying.
"Hey, Kara," Alex said as she answered her phone. "What's up sweetie?"
"Lena's lying to me!"
"Uh…I need some context. What's going on, Kara?"
Kara sighed loudly. "Lena just told me that her MRI came back as inconclusive and they'd have to repeat it in a week. That's bullshit!"
"That's not true?"
"No! She's lying!"
"Kara, just calm down. How do you know she's lying?" Alex asked.
"Fine," Kara said, deflating a bit. "This time was different though. I stopped by her window last night, just to look in on her before I headed home. You know, like you do."
"Right, like you do," Alex agreed, not wanting to get into how different her sister's life was from everyone else's.
"So she wasn't asleep. She was talking with her neurosurgeon in the middle of the night. That's weird, right?"
"Actually, it is."
"Thank you. Thank you, Alex. I wasn't listening even then, but Lena looked so upset. If you'd seen her face you'd have known she wasn't okay. I was just checking up on her. It's a good thing I did too because today, she lied to me!"
Alex took a moment to collect her thoughts before she asked her sister, "So Lena did get her MRI results?"
"Yes!"
"And?" Alex asked hesitantly, assuming the news was bad. When the answer didn't come, she knew she was right. Then there were tears, the anger that had been there moments earlier gone like smoke in the wind as the true emotion underneath rose to the surface. "Oh, Kara. I'm so sorry."
"It's not fair," Kara finally managed to get out between sobs.
"Honey, Lena can afford the best physicians in the world. Maybe there is something that can be done."
"Her doctor said she'd never walk again."
"…fuck. I'm sorry," Alex repeated, instantly regretting it. That wasn't enough. Lena had stepped between her little sister and a man with a gun, and now she'd spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Lena, the woman whose last name was Luthor and who wore that like a scarlet letter, who everyone in National City, Alex among them, never gave the benefit of the doubt. No, not everyone, Alex remembered correcting herself. There was one person in National City who treated Lena with the respect that she apparently deserved, and she was crying on the other side of the phone right now. Saying 'I'm sorry' was a platitude not worthy of this situation. Instead, Alex asked, "What can I do?"
"I don't know," Kara admitted, still crying. "What do I do?"
"Well, don't make this about you. I know you're hurting. I can feel it from here, and I'll be here for you any way that I can be. If you want to be there for Lena, be there for Lena. Maybe she isn't telling you because she doesn't want to accept it yet."
"You think?" Kara said, sniffling.
"Yeah, I do. Sometimes we can't tell someone else what we fell not because we don't think they're ready to hear it, but because we're not ready to hear ourselves say it. Does that maybe sound familiar?"
"Yes," Kara admitted a tad dramatically. "So what now? I just sit around with Lena for the next week and hope she's ready to talk then? What if she's not, or what if she lies to me again then? How do I get her to let me in?"
"You can't force someone to let you in, Kara. All you can do is be there when they need someone and hope they choose to let you in. Does that make sense?"
"Ugh. I hate being a grown up. I'd much rather be out fighting Metallo than dealing with all of this grown-up stuff."
"And how is fighting Metallo not grown up stuff?" Alex asked.
"It's just…different. A few light gibes, a lot of punching, that's all I'm really up for right now. All of this relationship stuff is just too much. I'm not in the right headspace for it. I could really use some good meta-human bad guy action. Any of that on the horizon?"
"Uh…unfortunately not, and that feels strange to say. I'll let you know if that changes," Alex promised. "So, we still haven't had that dinner. How about tonight?"
"Why do you keep bugging me about this?" Kara asked.
"Bugging you? I'm not bugging you. I'm your sister, and I'm offering you food. In our language that's love, and you'd usually jump at that. Hey, you don't want to spend time with me and eat pot stickers, I'm sure Maggie will be happy to eat your share. Well…maybe not your share, but you know what I mean."
"No…I like pot stickers. What time?"
"How about 7:30?" Alex suggested.
"How about 8:30? Visiting hours at the hospital will be over by then. I just want to be here in case she decides to let me in."
"Okay, sounds good. I'm inviting Maggie too. She's been working a ton, so I don't know if she'll be able to join us, okay?"
"That's fine," Kara replied. "See you tonight."
When Kara hung, Alex called Maggie, and the other woman picked up immediately. "Detective Sawyer."
"Hello, Detective Sawyer. This is Agent Danvers."
"Oh, hey babe. I didn't even look to see who was calling," Maggie said with a grin. "Things are crazy around here. What do you need?"
"Dinner tonight?"
"Uh…maybe. Can you put me down for a maybe?"
"If you can be here I'd like you to be here. Kara is going to come over for dinner tonight, and I need to talk with her. I'm pretty sure she's going to come out to Lena soon."
"Come out?" Maggie moved the phone from one ear to the other as she shifted from business to personal mode and scanned the office for prying ears. "What kind of come out?"
"Come out as Supergirl,"Alex clarified.
"Oh. Well, you've got more experience with that than I do. I don't know how helpful I can be."
"You can be very supportive to me, plus you just give good advice in general. Right now Kara could use all of the friends that she can get. I don't want to talk to J'onn about this. Things with him and Kara are already strained. I don't know if Winn and James will be on board with her coming out to Lena."
"Came we come out with a different phrase for this than 'coming out'?" Maggie asked. "I just feel like this could get confusing down the road, all things considered."
"Outing herself?"
"Marginally better, but still confusing. How about we just say she's thinking about revealing her secret identity to Lena, and is she? Did Kara tell you that?"
"Not directly. Actually, we didn't talk about it, but she did admit to having a crush on Lena. If not for this Lori person, who supposedly is Lena's girlfriend, I think Kara might have admitted something to Lena by now."
"I told you I got a gay vibe from her, Lena I mean," Maggie gloated.
"Yes, yes, your gaydar is exceptionally well attuned, and mine is out for repairs. I suppose I should do something about that. Any suggestions?" Alex asked.
"When I can breathe again at work, we'll go hit a gay club and try and get you a tune-up."
"How will that help me at a gay club? They'll all be gay?"
"Nah," Maggie replied. "Lots of straight women go to gay clubs. Some of them just don't want to get hit on by men, and others just like the atmosphere. Gay clubs are crazy fun. Straight guys go there too. Like that club that Kara and Lena went to the night that Lena was shot, just because it was a gay club didn't mean Lena wasn't straight."
"Wait, Lena took Kara to a gay club?" Alex asked, suddenly much more interested in that than in her own non-existent gaydar.
"Uh, yeah. It's called 'The Out Crowd.' You didn't know that was a gay club?"
Alex thought about that for a moment. "Oh. So why would Lena take Kara there if Lena has a girlfriend? Is that relevant?"
"I don't think so. Straight men and women can go out for drinks just as friends, right?"
"Right," Alex admitted. "I guess I really just want this to work out for Kara."
"With Lena Luthor?"
"She took a bullet for Kara, two bullets. I'll be the first to admit I haven't been Lena's biggest fan, but I think Kara's been right the whole time. Lena isn't her family. There's something else Kara just told me about Lena…"
"Sawyer, no personal calls!" Maggie's lieutenant barked as she walked by.
"I'm talking to the FBI," Maggie said as she pointed at her phone.
"The FBI?" Her lieutenant asked.
"Yes, ma'am. They called me. Did you want me to just hang up on them?" She held the lower part of the phone away from her mouth slightly, finger over the symbol to disconnect the call.
"Uh, no. If it's the FBI, then do what you can to assist them. When you're done, though, come and see me. I have some more case files for you to look through."
"Yes, ma'am," Maggie replied as her lieutenant walked away. "Jeez, I gotta go babe. She is so far up my ass right now, every time I stand up, I've got her boot prints on my chair."
"Everything all right?"
"Yeah, just this organized crime task force. They have us digging through fifty years' worth of organized crime files trying to make a connection and were coming up with bupkis. I tell you, I think these guys are new."
"That doesn't sound good," Alex commented.
"New, old, none of them are good. Criminals are just like rich folks. New money or old money, they all think they're different, but they kill people just as dead. They also keep me from spending time with my amazing girlfriend."
"She is pretty amazing. Anything she can do to help you?"
"Well, since she's also an FBI agent, if I were to send you some information I have on their weapons, any chance you could check them out for me?"
"What kind of weapons?" Alex asked, intrigued.
"New tech, good tech," Maggie clarified. "It isn't the kind of thing you see on the street. It doesn't look alien, but it is incredibly high tech. They've taken the Dushku area quickly, and now they're spreading out a bit, not taking over other areas, but setting themselves up as upper-level crime lords. It's going to be a problem."
"Send it to me. I can take a look," Alex replied.
"Great then I'll…Uh, I'm getting the stink eye from my lieutenant again. I'll talk to you later."
"Dinner at 8:30," Alex reminded her. "I'll hide some food from Kara."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll try," Maggie said.
"Love you!" Alex said.
"You too," Maggie replied as she hung up.
Face dark, Alex sat back and considered both conversations she'd just had. Neither were good. Her sister was in a bad place because Lena was in a bad place. Kara's reaction to Lena's injuries had caused a chain reaction that had, if possible, made the organized crime in National City more organized and more criminal. Things in their little corner of the world were going from bad to worse. Alex drummed her fingers on her desk. Hmmm…it must be Monday.