Author's Note: All righty. So... this is awkward. I know it's been ages you guys, and I'm very sorry for not updating before. Life just happened, got promoted at work, stress, deadlines... You know how it is. But we're back. Hope there's someone still out there.

CHAPTER 10: ELIZA – AN INTERLUDE

It was Eliza who woke them up, at around 5 am, only because she didn't have any other choice. The babies were hungry, and only one person in the building could take care of that.

Dr. Danvers had actually been up all night.

After the premature birth of the twins, she had begged J'onn to let her stay around to take care of Lena and the babies, just for a few days, just in case there were any anomalies in their physical state. Eliza made her case telling J'onn he wouldn't be able to find a physician with a better background on human and Kryptonian biology willing to take care of mixed-race newborns. The Martian tried to undermine her for his own reasons, saying they had Alex, but Eliza reminded him that the special circumstances of the whole situation were reason enough to let Alex out of the matter, and just rely on her if she needed help.

J'onn didn't buy it for a second.

He asked her how she was feeling after finding out her long lost husband was alive and well – mostly well.

She smiled, that Danvers sad butI'm-tough-and-I'll-be-alright-stop-digging-in-my-emotions-because-I-might-break-downsmile he had seen in both Alex and Kara so many times before. And J'onn didn't push the matter anymore.

Then, he told her that if the special circumstances of the babies were reason enough to pull Alex out of the equation, she shouldn't get involved either. She was the grandmother, after all.

Eliza had scoffed and said something likenonsense, J'onn, stop worrying and put me to work.

J'onn read the determination in her eyes and something else in her mind (literally) and just complied, inviting her to make herself at home in one of the quarters reserved for staff, just a floor above the sick-bay.

Jeremiah was staying at the DEO too, but on a different floor. Although he could roam free around the building, he was kind of isolated, for now, while government officials had him tangled up in passive-aggressive interrogations and all sorts of psychological tests.

Eliza was kind of grateful for that. They hadn't talk. A real talk, that is. And she was glad she had Kara, Lena and the twins to focus on. For now, at least.

So at around 1 am, Eliza was trying to refresh her mind by reading one of her old confidential files on Superman's physiology. And that was when her computer started beeping. It was warning her about Lena's heart-rate, going up like a rocket. Without second thought, Eliza dropped everything and ran to the med-bay, as fast as she could.

When she was running down the stairs, she heard something very familiar: the sweeping noise of someone flying into the building. The sounds that followed were unequivocal: the swinging of her adoptive daughter's cape, her boots landing on the floor.

When she finally turned the corner and the med-bay appeared in her sight, they were already wrapped in an embrace that seemed unbreakable even from afar. Kara, in her super-suit, was rocking Lena in her arms. And the twins were crying, just like their human mother, but for different reasons, obviously. The nurse covering the night shift, Ruth, always ready and capable, was already taking care of them while Kara held Lena.

Eliza had to cover her mouth with her hands to stop the unexpected sob that was threatening her otherwise perpetual composure. She couldn't help the silent tears, though.

The image was so powerful, even in the dim lights of the med-bay and through the crystal walls that allowed her to be witness to it. Seeing them like that, it finally hit her: this was real. The pain, the torture, the unspeakable horrors they all had endured were real, and they couldn't be wiped out by simply ignoring them.

Some people just didn't understand how love works, or they simply refused to face the truth. But Eliza knew better, she had learned it a long time ago; love is simply an elaborate disguise that pain uses to reach us easily, when our guard is down and we are at our most vulnerable. If you are attached to someone because of love, sure, it can be good, it can last. Maybe not forever, but of course it will make an impact on you. For a few years, at least…

Oh, but the moment you are bind to someone by pain –pain, not hate; pain because they hurt you, or just because you share equal pain, or maybe because something happened that broke you–, that moment, it lasts forever.

Eliza didn't know if what bind her to Jeremiah was love anymore. She needed time to figure it out. But she sure knew that the pain between them would be the most unbreakable bond of all, whether she found the strength to let him back into her heart or not. The years lost would cloud their embraces and their shared laughs, even if they didn't notice. Maybe they could be happy again, maybe they could grow old together and forget about the pain. But, still, at any given moment, a color in the sky, a familiar smell or a mundane phrase would take them back to that second of infinite affliction, echoing through their lives, reverberating through their memories like the faint radio-waves of the Big-Bang that have reached us, here on Earth, even billions of years after the explosion. The fact that you need a tool to see them does not mean they are not there.

Eliza knew this as a scientist, as a wife, as a mother.

Some people just weren't ready to accept this. Some people want to make love easy, a one-way street in which you mark your own pace. A chimera that is fed to us each and every day through cheesy rom-coms and lame advertisements of perfume. The happily ever-afters that had been shoved down our throats for centuries of patriarchal control, close-minded expressions of religion or simply by utter ignorance.

It's not that Eliza Danvers didn't believe in love. And yes, love can be a wonderful adventure and she wouldn't have it any other way… But.

But still, the cost was too high. Most of the time, it was worth it, but she could see so many people launching themselves blindly into the arms of love with no intention of accepting the consequences of their acts.

This went far beyond romantic love. For example, she was bind to her daughters by her unconditional affection for them, but also by the pain of not being able to reach through the walls they had built over the years. Alex closed her heart to her for a very long time, after her father's disappearance. Not that she blamed her. But she hand't get her back up until she joined the DEO and regained a sense of purpose in her life. And Eliza did blame herself for not being able to help her own daughter.

And Kara… She had told her something, that luminous day she arrived in their Midvale home, all confusion and nerves, grasping tightly her cousin's hand.

I know I'm not your Mom, sweetheart. But you're safe here.

Safe? Of all the things she could have told her, she chose to say a blatant lie. It didn't matter that she had believed it in the moment. It didn't matter that despite not being her birth mother, she would have given her life willingly in order to protect Kara forever.

She had escaped the destruction of her planet, but no child that survives a tragedy of a magnitude like that can be save from their memories. Kal-El had had the easy journey to heroism, despite his struggle with his identity and his heritage. He had no memory of Krypton. In his head, it was all a dream – moving pictures in Kryptonian crystals, words of grandeur and idealism in the confident voice of his dead father resonating through the Fortress of Solitude…

But Kara. Kara remembered everything, every cry for help, every scream, every life that was no more, and through the long nights that Eliza held her after a nightmare, they formed a bond sculpted in sorrow as much as in mutual affection.

Kara, because the damage was too great to bear. Eliza, because she couldn't take that pain away.

That's why this made sense.

The Kryptonian hero that saw her planet die, that had memories of the place where millions perished in an instant, millions of light years away from her past, but always reviving the explosions inside her mind. And the heiress to a kingdom of lies, death and destruction, constantly struggling to do what's right, carrying upon her shoulders a guilt that wasn't supposed to be hers.

Together, because of pain.

Someone had made an unforgivable act and from that, an infrangible connection had been welded.

It was horrible. It was perfect. It was madness. And it was a fact.

She could see it clearly now, and she wondered if Lillian Luthor had seen it too and used it to her advantage…

Kara Zor-El and Lena Luthor. A perfect match.

Eliza couldn't tell how far it would go, what implications laid buried under the layers of pain and affection that would tie them together. But she knew the bond between them was real. And yes, it made sense. All the sense there could be in the whole wide world.

And that was why Eliza sobbed. They were all connected, all of them – Jeremiah, Alex, Kara, Lena, J'onn, herself… even Lillian. And no matter what happens, the connection would be there, forever.

After long minutes in which she couldn't even move, afraid of being noticed by her adoptive daughter's enhance senses, she headed back upstairs and stayed up all night, drowning her mind in bittersweet memories and long forgotten fears.

When she appeared in the med-bay again, after a few hours, she didn't let any of this shine through her smile and her caffeine inflated mind. She relieved Ruth from duty, thanking her for her professionalism and discretion.

Lena and Kara were still asleep despite the anxious little sounds the twins were making. Eliza took little Luna from the incubator before the whining became a war cry. Out of the two, she had proved to be the most demanding and vocal. Liam, for now, seemed to be an unconcerned little guy that simply followed his sister's lead whenever it was time to eat, poop or demand attention.

Eliza approached Lena's bed carefully with Luna in her arms, wrapped in a white blanket, with a cute little cotton hat covering her head. Lena was sleeping with her back flat against the mattress, her beautiful long hair loose and a little messy, her arms above her head, resting in the pillow in a comfortable position. She was still wearing a hospital gown but Kara had promised to get her a DEO tracksuit or something because, in Lena's own words, she needed to feel like a person again. Eliza had advised them against regular clothes since the stitches from the C-section would heal better under light materials, but Lena was determined to get back on track as quickly as possible and Eliza knew better than to go against a patient with outstanding willpower.

Beside Lena, there was a tangled mess of golden locks and a red cape covering them both. Kara had kicked her boots off at some point in the night, since they were scattered on the floor a few meters from the bed. Her face was buried in the crook of Lena's neck and covered by her own hair. And an arm was tightly secured around Lena's waist.

Eliza smiled silently but quickly shifted back into her Dr. Danvers professional persona. It would be better to do it that way and simply ignore the situation, she certainly didn't want to make them uncomfortable…

"Rise and shine, girls," she said softly, trying to wake them up as gently as possible, "I'm afraid there's some people here demanding your attention and they can get pretty cranky if they don't get what they want…"

Luna made a point by emitting a high pitched cry.

That seemed to wake Lena up. She was the first one to open her eyes. Kara, on the other hand, just groaned and shifted a little, but didn't make any further sign revealing intention to wake up. Lena covered her momentarily photophobic eyes with one hand and frowned. Then she rubbed her forehead as if trying to convince her mind to leave the comfortable embrace of sleep… and she finally focused on Eliza and the baby. Seeing the confused look on her face, Eliza smiled apologetically at her while she rocked Luna in her arms, trying to appease the increasingly grumpy newborn.

"I'm sorry, Lena, I wouldn't wake you up if I didn't have any other choice. You should rest as much as you can, but… I'm afraid we run out of your milk. They need you now."

Dr. Danvers' voice was sweet and calm, but Luna's cries were now on full throttle and Liam decided it was time to join her sister and create a polyphony from hell.

Lena heard Kara groaning louder by her side. She realized then that Kara's arm was wrapped around her waist, that they had shared the tiny bed all night, and that Eliza was standing right there. She felt her cheeks burning from the awkwardness of it all, but she didn't had the time to torture herself with embarrassment. She shook it off by gently removing Kara's arm, as if it was no big deal, and trying to sat up on the bed.

"It's fine, Dr. Danvers," she murmured, voice still hoarse from sleep. "And no more breast pumps, please. I need to do this by myself."

Lena got in position to receive baby Luna in her arms. Eliza helped by activating the mechanism that made the adjustable base of the bed go up, making Lena sit in a comfortable position for nursing.

Kara groaned louder, but didn't move. They ignored her. The movement of the bed made her forehead rest against Lena's shoulder. Her eyes were still closed, apparently.

"As you wish," Eliza said while Lena finally took Luna in her arms. Eliza recovered another pillow from the other bed inside the med-bay and helped Lena get the baby in a comfortable position. "But remember that from time to time breast pumping can be a good idea, that way you won't have to be 24/7 available for them and Kara here can take some of the hard work off your back…"

Maybe it was hearing her name, maybe the fact that Luna's cries came to an abrupt stop, maybe it was the contented silence that replaced them…

"Wha–?"

Kara woke up, finally. She opened her eyes and looked up, only seeing Lena's perfect jawline from her angle. Kara was the image of confusion, her eyes half-closed, her lips forming the beginning of a protest. She tried to sit on the bed, just to finally focus on Eliza, then Lena… and finally, her eyes went wider than a full moon.

Lena was breastfeeding a baby.Theirbaby.

And Kara was… well, on the floor.

Apparently, the Girl of Steel could do some very human things like falling unceremoniously from a bed, given the proper mix of drowsiness and shock.

"I'M OK, I'M OK!" Kara cried anxiously from the floor.

She instantly jumped back to her feet, comically bouncing up and down.

"See? The floor is fine. I didn't break it."

Eliza frowned and dedicated Kara a sympathetic smile, taking pity on her daughter, but Lena laughed out loud uncontrollably. Luna lost her grip on her mother's nipple, so of course she protested. Loudly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby girl, I'm sorry…" Lena said trying to reposition her left nipple on her daughter's mouth.

Kara didn't say a thing. It was awfully comical to see Supergirl standing barefoot, two feet away from the bed, biting her lower lip, nervously playing with the edges of her cape, and staring… at the ceiling.

Eliza and Lena shared knowing looks, but this time, Lena was able to repress her laughter.

"Kara, I'm sorry. Maybe we should've warned you about the baby in the room…"

The fact that Lena was cutting Kara some slack didn't mean she shouldn't use a teasing tone…

Kara scoffed, trying to show some confidence. She accomplished exactly the opposite.

"Warn me? Don't be ridiculous. You're just doing a natural thing. The most natural thing of all things that are natural. I'm ok with natural things. I mean, I love them. The things. The natural things, I mean. I love them. IT! I love it. Nature! I love nature. Haha. Warn me, you say. Nah. It's just, you know, I'm giving you guys space. Three is a crowd specially in that tiny bed. I mean, what is that? A toy?!"

Lena sighed and Eliza just watched in awe as the magic happened…

"Kara, come here, please?"

Lena's voice was soft and firm at the same time. It was a command and a plea. It made Kara melt right before Eliza's eyes.

Kara took a few steps towards the bed, still looking at the floor.

The same warmth on Lena's tone made her look up.

"Look at me."

A reluctant, shy smile appeared on Kara's face, and Lena reciprocated with a shy smile of her own.

"It's ok. You can watch, if you want to. It's not the first time I do this, you know."

Lena turned her attention to the baby and caressed her tiny cheekbone with her index finger.

Kara was suddenly very aware of the way Luna was sucking on Lena's breast and the happy sounds she was making.

"Well, it is the first time I'm watchingyoudo it!"

Lena didn't even bother to turn away from her daughter.

"Sshhh. Just look at her."

And at last, Kara kind of calmed down and was able to appreciate the sheer beauty of the moment. No one dared to say a word for a few seconds, all three women far too fascinated by little Luna.

For a moment, Eliza thought that if they could hang on to this moment, they could be – they should be alright. If they could only hang on to this preciousness, despite the fact that it was born from something terrible...

"Oh, Rao. She's so beautiful." Kara finally whispered. "So um… huh… how… what…"

It was obvious what Kara wanted to ask, so Lena just cut to the chase.

"It's weird, yes. And I still get very anxious… I was lucky I had Dr. Danvers with me the first time I did it. I was a nervous wreck."

Kara could only contain her curiosity for a couple of seconds.

"Does it hurt?"

Lena smiled, still mesmerized by Luna. "No, not really."

"For now." Eliza said with a smirk.

Kara shoot her a disapproving look and Lena raised her eyebrow looking incredulously at Dr. Danvers.

Eliza raised her hands in a matter-of-fact defensive mechanism.

"Well, I'm just saying, darling, you need to take good care of your nipples, ok? You're just beginning but I'm gonna write you a prescription for this wonderful ointment that's gonna keep your breasts nice and soft."

A very uncomfortable Kryptonian groan echoed through the med-bay. A playful smile began to appear in the corner of Eliza's mouth and Lena understood immediately. Dr. Danvers ignored her daughter and proceed on with her explicit advise.

"You don't want any nipple cracks or abrasions while you're breastfeeding, those are painful, let me tell ya. Also, I can recommend an oil that's going to help you wipe out any stretch marks from the pregnancy."

Lena nodded.

"That sounds wonderful, Dr. Danvers. Thank you. I do have some questions about diet and exercise, if you don't mind? I know my hips won't ever be the same, but still… I'd like to get back in shape as soon as possible."

Kara found something very interesting on the floor, once again. If only there was an emergency on the city or something...

"Oh, don't call me Dr. Danvers, darling, you're not one of my students. Just Eliza, please. And consider me your personal physician, from now on, if you'd like that. You can ask me anything."

"So, about milk leakage–"

"OH, FOR THE LOVE OF RAO!"

Lena and Eliza exchanged perplexed looks as Kara was suddenly very aware of how loud she could be sometimes.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, guys, seriously, I am, it's just–"

Kara stopped herself the moment she saw her adoptive mother and the biological mother of her children biting their mouths, trying to suppress amused grins.

"You two are doing this on purpose, right? You want to torture me." Kara complained with an accusatory index finger pointing at them.

Eliza just shook her head and grabbed some of her equipment, knowing it was time to give the girls some space.

"I know you're not as scrupulous as you want to appear, Kara. Lena is going to need your full involvement now, so deal with it, honey. Perhaps you could start by helping out with your son." Eliza turned to Lena. "Ready for Liam, sweetie?"

"Yes."

Kara gasped.

"Can you – can you breastfeed them both – I mean – at the same time?"

Lena chuckled.

"I do have two breasts, Kara."

Eliza smiled and touched her daughter's arm gently.

"Can you get Liam for her, sweetie?" There was no hint of teasing in Dr. Danvers' tone, this time.

Kara just nodded.

"l'll leave you girls to it. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

Lena nodded and smiled warmly at Eliza, with sincere gratitude.

"Thank you, Dr. Dan- I mean... Eliza."

Eliza left the room as a hint of hope for the future put a dreamy smile in her face.

Perhaps they could do this. Perhaps there was a more powerful bond than pain. Yes. Hope. She could feel it. Perhaps.

J'onn intercepted Eliza as she walked towards the command room. Her smile disappeared the moment she met the Martian's eyes.

"We have a problem." Eliza would have known even if he hadn't said a word.

"What is it, J'onn?"

"Lillian Luthor. She's here."

And that's when Dr. Danvers knew that her theory about hope was about to be tested.