AN: Hey Everyone, its Wednesday woo!
Right first of all sorry for not replying to your amazing reviews last week, I had a lot going on after a family member was taken ill and was in a rush to make sure you still had the chapter, things have calmed down now so I have now been able to write replies to all your reviews from chapter 8 and chapter 9!
Secondly, thank you to everybody who is reading and reviewing! I really do love to hear from you all its great to know that there are people out there who are enjoying my story woo!
Jango27: Thank you for all the work you have been doing on my latest chapters, its been such an amazing help, and I think this story is looking so much better now that you are helping me with the chapter formatting etc! hehe those cliffhangers are only getting worse now ent they…
Night Flare: Thank you for your review on chapter 8 and chapter 9, Yes sorry about those, but they just work so well and you love them really be honest! Little Kara is so cute isn't she? I just love writing scenes with her and Lena together they are both so sweet! Hope that you like what's to come with this next chapter, let me know what you think!
superkoalacraftCJ: Thank you for reading and reviewing on chapter 8, haha sorry yeah that was a nasty one! Hope you enjoyed chapter 9 and like this next chapter and whats left to come as well, let me know what you think!
TamTam86: Thank you for your review on chapter 8, Hahah it was a good cliff hanger wasn't it! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, yes Lena is very protective and good with little Kara, I love writing them together this chapter is good for Kara and Lena moments! Hope you enjoyed chapter 9 and you like this next one and whats left to come with the story, Let me know your thoughts on the latest chapters would be great to hear from you!
Krysolsen: Thank you for reading and reviewing chapter 8, I know right poor Kara is having a proper bad time of it at the moment, good thing she has her big teddy bear Lena around right? Hope you enjoyed chapter 9 and that you like this next update, cant wait to hear what you think!
Guest who reviewed on 18/01/18: Thank you for reading for your review on chapter 8, I am glad you enjoyed and chapter and am liking my story so far! Sorry I cant update sooner, but in the meantime if you need more Supercorp times I usually upload a one shot to my one shot series every Sunday, which might help ty you over? Lol. Hope you enjoyed chapter 9 just as much and you like this chapter too! Let me know your thoughts on it!
Impulse: Thank your for your review on chapter 8, I know, quite the cliff hanger eh? Hope you enjoyed chapter 9 and that you like this next chapter, let me know what you think!
A7F: Thank you for your reviews on chapter 8 and 9! Glad to be able to offer you something good after a long week at school! Haha that was a nasty cliff hanger I must admit in chapter 8, but yes it gave you all so many more questions, that will get answered soon! Lena is great with Kara right? I just love writing them together, they are so cute! Poor Kara though she really doesn't have much luck at the moment, but she has her new big sister Maggie looking out for her as well now! Yes the plot thickens now our baddies are coming into it more, you will see some more of them very soon! Don't worry, James is not in this story too much, I must admit he is not my favourite to write, he was added more so as a need to explain why he is not around so much and how Lena is able to be around so much, so I think in a whole you should still hopefully like this chapter…let me know what you think!
Fandomlove17: Thank you for your review on chapter 8 and thank you for reading, I am glad you are enjoying the story so far, hope you liked chapter 9 too! Cant wait to hear your thoughts on this next chapter, let me know what you think!
Guest who reviewed on 24/01/18: Thank you for your review on chapter 8 and for reading, hope you enjoyed chapter 9 and here is your next update! Let me know what you think!
Supersmut: Thank you for your review and for reading, hope you enjoy this next update, please let me know what you think!
Guest who reviewed on 25/01/18: Thank you for your review on chapter 9, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter, here comes chapter 10, let me know what you think!
The Lancaster Matsuoka: Thank you for your review on chapter 9, glad to see you are still enjoying the story, I hope it is able to give you a break from all the studying! Wishing you well with your studies! I know, poor Kara right, kids having it tough at the moment, good thing she has her awesome girlfriend, and big sister as well as sister in law (soon to be) Maggie there to protect and help her right? Hope you enjoy this next update, don't worry, the chip will start to make a lot more sense soon! Let me know what you think!
AN: Thank you for all your reviews guys, the feedback on this story has been so good, please keep it up I really do love to hear from all of you!
Thank you to Jango27, who is my amazing beta reader for this story, its only as good as it is because of you!
Reader Information: This chapter has a flashback scene in it which is written in italics. The scene is separated from the rest of the chapter by having / before and after it.
Warnings: Mentions of child assault in this chapter, as well as mentions and references of eating disorders.
Chapter Ten.
She could feel something tickling her cheek as she slowly came to, she could feel the sunlight beaming in from the windows and feel the warmth on her skin before she could even see it.
Even with the tickling sensation if felt peaceful and warm. She felt completely content to just lay and bask in the sunlight for long as possible- if that tickling sensation would just stop. Tiredly blinking open her eyes, it took a moment for Kara to see what it was that was tickling her, but she couldn't stop a smile from forming when she realised what caused the feeling.
Slowly and carefully moving her head to the side, Kara could see she was laying directly on top of her girlfriend's chest while Lena- still fast asleep- lay on her back. Some of Lena's hair had become loose from the bun she had swept it up in for bed, and that strand of hair had been what was tickling her, moving gently along her cheek as Kara's own body lifted up and down with the even breaths that Lena made while sleeping.
As Kara began to come to her senses more, she could feel Lena's arms wrapped around her, gently applying pressure so she would not fall off the bed. One hand was underneath her pyjama top making the skin on her back feel warm and tingly, while the other was wrapped around Kara's one leg that she had thrown over Lena's stomach, the hand there squeezing her thigh.
Leaning up slightly, with her hand pushing into the mattress for support so she was not pushing onto Lena herself, Kara slowly pushed the stray stand of hair behind her girlfriend's ear, taking a moment to admire her. Lena was beautiful, always, but when sleeping she looked so much younger. All the stress from the day was gone and she was just at peace. On the rare occasion that Kara was the first to wake she adored these moments where she could just watch her girlfriend be completely at peace, and she aimed to be able to offer her girl that same peace while awake. Lately, though, it seemed she had been failing even this.
Kara knew that a lot of the stress that Lena had been feeling recently was down to herself, down to her reliving the fears she had when younger and trying to go through it all alone by not asking for help like she had promised her girlfriend she would do. Though Lena hadn't been angry with her for it, Kara could tell the CEO was extremely worried and that made her feel incredibly guilty, even more so now she had been turned into a child. The feelings that she had of fear, pain, guilt and unease had only multiplied since the device was used on her, it made her wonder at times if she was beginning to lose the part of herself that allowed her to fight through those emotions. It made her wonder if she would lose herself to the child she could feel battling to take control of her body.
Unconsciously, Kara found herself slowly tracing the edges of Lena's face with her fingertips as she wondered how she was so lucky to have the CEO in her life, to be honoured to have her as her best friend, her girlfriend and, in more ways than one, her protector. Lena had saved her from the darkness her mind at times got stuck in more than once, most of the time doing so without even realising. As she continued to gaze at her girlfriend's beauty, fingertips lightly tracing over her lips, she knew that Lena would make sure she didn't lose herself again, not completely.
Having felt Kara's fingertips grazing softly over her face, Lena stirred slightly- not much, but just enough to make Kara lose her balance and fall on top of her which in turn startled Lena awake.
"Hmmm, shhhh, you're okay…back to sleep now," she mumbled tiredly, having assumed the movement she felt was Kara stirring from one of her bad dreams, which had happened a few times throughout the night. The little blonde had managed to sleep through the whole night without nightmares waking her, and the few times she'd stirred, almost waking, Lena had been able to soothe her back to sleep by pulling her close and talking to her softly.
Kara giggled at her mumbling girlfriend, lifting her head up again to look at her face and watch as her brow creased in confusion for a moment as she slowly began to wake up. "You're awake, aren't you?" Lena asked, one eye popping open to peak a glance at Kara who was mere inches away from her face, watching her intently with bright blue eyes.
Lena took a moment to look at her childlike girlfriend, taking in the slight paleness to her skin, as well as the angry red skin of her one cheek that was badly bruised. She frowned, imagining the pain it must still be causing the girl
Giggling at how she could see Lena inspecting her so thoughtfully, Kara leaned closer to kiss her cheek. "Morning Lee!" she said as she grinned cheekily, causing Lena to chuckle softly, pulling her head up from the pillow slightly to place a gentle kiss on Kara's nose.
"Morning darling," Lena murmured huskily, her voice still thick with sleep, as she ran her hand up Kara's back where it rested under the girl's pyjama top.
Kara sighed in response, relaxing into the touch as she dropped her head back down into Lena's chest, tucking her head into the space below her girlfriend chin. "That feels nice," she replied, eyes closing in contentment.
She loved mornings like this, waking up surrounded by the peacefulness that Lena's arms brought her, feeling relaxed and calm. She just wished she was her normal age and size right now, she wanted to be able to kiss her girlfriend properly, to hold her back and run her hands over her body, but she couldn't right now. Not when she was this size. It would feel far too strange, and she knew that it would almost definitely freak her girlfriend out. Lena was good with the weird, but even she would have issues at being touched up by her girlfriend who currently looked like a five-year-old.
The room was silent as Lena slowly came to while lightly ghosting her fingers tips up and down Kara's back, the little blonde content to just lay on top of her. They were both happily lost in their own thoughts and the fogginess that mornings could bring, when a sudden loud growling noise caused Lena to burst out laughing and Kara to blush profusely.
Calming her laugher, Lena patted the young superhero's back. "We should probably feed the bear in your stomach," she joked, moving her hand from Kara's back to tickle her side causing her to squeal and laugh out loud, wriggling as she tried to evade being tickled.
"Leeennaaa! Stop! Stop! You're going to make me pee myself!" Kara said between laughs, Lena laughed along with her continuing to tickle her for a few more moments before relenting.
Sitting up in the bed, she pulled Kara into her lap, the little blonde's arms automatically wrapping around her waist as she rested her head against her girlfriend's chest, breathing deeply as her laughing calmed. Lena kept an arm around the girl's waist as her other hand held the back of her head, stroking her hair softly.
"Lena?" Kara asked quietly after another silence.
"Hmmm?" Lena responded, mumbling the noise into Kara's hair as she rested her head on top of her girlfriend's, swaying them both from side to side.
The little blonde slowly pulled one hand from around Lena's waist, bringing it up grip a handful of her girlfriend's pyjama top, prompting Lena to squeeze her gently and kiss her head.
She recognised this action as being one that Kara had been doing a lot the last few days, she did it more so when she was upset, tired or nervous. It was an action that obviously brought her comfort. It made Lena wonder if she realised she was even doing it or whether it was a subconscious action to try and make sure the person she was holding onto could not leave her.
Feeling Kara pull back from her slightly, Lena snapped out of her thoughts, looking back down to where Kara looking at her, the crinkle apparent on her face. "What is it darling?" she asked softly, using the hand that was on the back of Kara's head to take the hand that was griping her pyjama top gently, threading their fingers together and squeezing reassuringly.
Lena watched as Kara stared down at their joined hands deep in thought. She was silent for some time before looking up to meet her girlfriends worried eyes. "I love you," she said quietly.
Bending down a small amount, Lena kissed her forehead softly. "I love you too," she replied. Lena had a feeling that wasn't really what Kara was going to say, but that didn't stop her from replying and reassuring the little blonde of her own feelings.
She would let it slide for now, but a part of her knew it would have to do with what Kara had begun to tell her last night, and if it was she would prefer that the conversation was had while Alex was with them too so that Kara would only have to go through it all once. She could tell from the way the girl had been acting that it was something that scared her.
Lena sighed as she let her girl cuddle into her again, her hand leaving the girl's waist to gently rub her shoulder as Kara snuggled into her chest.
The moment was peaceful and quiet, until Kara's stomach rumbled again, even louder than before. "Right, your stomach has spoken. It's time for food," Lena commented, standing from the bed with Kara in her arms. As they made their way from the bedroom through to the kitchen Lena could feel Kara's arms and legs lock around her in a bear hug as the little blonde buried her head against her shoulder.
Smiling softly, Lena ran the fingers of her hand that was holding Kara up under her legs along the back of the girl's thigh gently. "You're very cuddly at the moment aren't you," she commented with a chuckle.
Who was she kidding? Kara was always cuddly, but since being turned into a child she did seem even more so than usual, every possible chance she got she wanted to be in Lena's arms.
Kara nodded in response to the non-question, relaxing into her girlfriend's arms as they entered the kitchen. She could hear Lena start preparing coffee and could hear her girlfriend looking through her cupboards and fridge to see what food was in the house. "How about waffles today?" Lena asked.
"I'm not that hungry," Kara mumbled in response, her arms tightening around Lena's neck after feeling the CEO bounce her higher up on her side.
Lena frowned at the response. "Darling, you- more than anybody- need to eat," she reminded the girl softly, she had noticed last night how little Kara had eaten. She hadn't mentioned it at the time, knowing that sometimes when Kara was particularly stressed or upset over something she would shut down and refuse food. It wasn't uncommon but usually the next day Kara would eat ten times more to make up for it, unless something was majorly wrong.
Bouncing the girl up higher against her side again, Lena made her way back over to the fridge and opened the door again, "Well, I'm going to have some Greek yogurt and berries this morning, would you like some too?" she offered, receiving a head shake in response.
"No thank you," Kara mumbled again, her voice muffled from her girlfriend's shoulder once again, "not hungry," she continued just before her stomach rumbled again loudly.
Lena decided to leave the issue for now, instead opting to kiss the little blonde on the head before taking the items she would need from the fridge and placing them on the counter. While mixing her breakfast yogurt and berries together, Lena made sure there was more than what she could eat herself in the hopes that she would be able to coax her girlfriend to eat some of the food with her. If not, she would have to talk with J'onn about it, she couldn't, and wouldn't, let Kara do to herself what she'd done last year.
Kara needed to eat. If she didn't get her normal intake of daily calories it could make her very sick and weak, and with her being so small and vulnerable already they couldn't risk her putting herself in more danger by not eating. Lena had a fair idea as to why Kara was refusing food, she knew it was probably a reaction to the fear that she felt yesterday and the fear over the symbol she had begun to tell her about last night causing her to want to shut down from it all.
Finishing preparing her breakfast, Lena put all the items she didn't need back in the fridge, before taking two spoons out of a drawer and placing them into the bowl of yogurt and fruit.
Picking up the bowl in one hand, with a clingy Kara still attached to her hip being held up by her other hand, Lena made her way over to the breakfast table placing the bowl on the table and taking a seat with Kara on her lap.
"Kara," Lena prompted, gaining the girl's attention as she slowly lifted her head from its place against the CEO's shoulder, "can you try to eat a little bit for me?" she asked, dipping one of the spoons into the yogurt. She couldn't suppress the disappointed sigh that left her lips as Kara refused the offered spoonful, hiding away in the crook of her neck to avoid having to eat.
Dropping her spoon back into the bowl, Lena wrapped her arms around the young superhero, holding her tightly for a few moments before pulling the girl away from her hiding spot so that she could see her face while talking to her. "Baby," she began, causing Kara's eyes to meet her own right away, "why won't you eat? I know you are hungry, you barely ate a thing last night. You need to eat, please Kara, please. Just a little bit for me."
Hearing Lena call her baby made Kara feel bad.
Lena only called her that when she was scared or extremely worried for her, and Kara hated to be the reason for her girlfriend being any more worried or stressed than she was usually due to her job.
Staring into Lena's eyes, Kara nodded gently.
She still didn't want to eat anything right now, it was just far too overwhelming, and she wanted to shut down and hide away from it all.
For Lena though, she would try, as the last thing she wanted to do was cause her girlfriend any more worry than she had already done.
Turning around slightly in Lena's arms Kara faced her back towards her girlfriend's chest and picked up one of the spoons from the bowl. Slowly bringing it to her lips with a small amount of food on it Kara took the spoonful and swallowed with a gulp as Lena wrapped an arm around her stomach and kissed the back of her head.
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Yawing and stretching her arms above her head, Maggie made her way into the kitchen smiling at the sight that greeted her as she stopped in the doorway for a moment to watch silently.
Lena was currently standing in front of the coffee machine making herself a cup of coffee while slowly swaying a half-asleep Kara in her arms, the little girl had her arms wrapped around Lena's neck, head resting on top of her girlfriend's shoulder.
Lifting her head just slightly, Kara smiled tiredly, "'orning Magi'," she mumbled, slurring her words before dropping her head back to Lena's shoulder.
"Morning little Danvers," Maggie responded, making her way further into the kitchen, Lena turning around to face her, "morning Lena," the detective continued, watching as Lena dropped a kiss to an almost-asleep Kara's hair and patted her back.
"Morning, Alex still asleep?" Lena asked, bouncing Kara gently as the little blonde mumbled something incoherent into her neck.
Maggie chuckled at the sight. "Nah, she's chatting with Eliza. Looks like little Danvers could do with some more sleep though," Maggie commented.
The coffee machine behind Lena beeped, making Lena turn around to try and take the coffee in one hand while still holding up a half-asleep Kryptonian child with her other arm.
Maggie watched her struggle for a moment finding the sight comical before walking forward, "Here, let me take her," she offered, opening her arms as she got closer to where Lena and Kara where.
Smiling in thanks, Lena moved to meet Maggie to try and help gently shuffle the half-asleep superhero over to the detective, which resulted in Kara grumbling and gripping on tighter to her girlfriend.
"Or, maybe, you can finish making the coffee?" Lena suggested with a laugh, settling Kara back onto her hip, softly shushing her as she continued to whine and mumble.
Kara had only become clingier as the morning progressed, not wanting to be away from Lena or leave her arms after eating a few mouthfuls of breakfast. The reaction made Lena sure that her reluctance to eat was due to fear as she had thought earlier. Fear she could deal with, she just needed to help the girl feel safe and hopefully she would eat more.
Maggie nodded in response to the suggestion, moving to the machine to finish the coffee Lena had been making and starting another cup for herself.
Lena walked back over to the kitchen counter, taking a seat and settling Kara into her lap. "Maggie," she began, turning her head slightly to address the detective from over her shoulder, "I owe you an apology. I treated you unfairly last night and blamed you for something that wasn't your fault."
"To be honest, I think if I had been in your shoes I would have reacted the same way," Maggie replied as she turned to face Lena, "you don't really owe me an apology, I get it, you were just being protective of little blondie there."
Lena chuckled as she heard Kara grumble into her neck hearing the girl say something along the lines of 'shut up'. "Either way, I am sorry if I was short with you last night," she continued, apologetically, patting Kara's back gently to stop her from mumbling, as Maggie nodded with a small smile.
"Did she have a bad night again?" Maggie asked after noticing how tired the little blonde seemed. It made her wonder how much sleep both of them had last night, even though Lena herself did look a lot more rested than yesterday.
Lena continued to softly pat her girlfriends back, bringing her other hand up to stroke through blonde hair as Kara tiredly moved herself around to cuddle into her girlfriend's chest, pressing her ear closely to where she could hear Lena's heartbeat as she fell back to sleep, holding onto a fistful of the CEO's pyjama top.
"No, she slept through the night to my knowledge," Lena began quietly, answering the detectives question, "she stirred a few times but didn't wake. I think she's just exhausted from everything that's happened the last few days. Add that to the fact she's not eating enough, and you get this as the end result," she continued, frowning in worry.
Kara had reluctantly eaten a few mouthfuls of breakfast but hardly enough to count as an actual meal, and definitely not enough to feed the number of calories she usually needed.
Finishing making the second coffee, Maggie picked up both cups and brought them over to the table, taking a seat before answering. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience?" she half commented, half asked, "I remember Alex saying once, that when Kara was younger she would get these depression-like episodes and almost starve herself, but she hasn't mentioned a recent one," she continued, looking concerned.
"She went through a very bad patch last year, I managed to help her through it, but, I don't know if she fully worked through everything that caused it," Lena responded with a sigh as she wrapped her one arm around Kara's back holding her in place while using her other hand to pick up the cup of coffee and carefully take a sip.
Maggie watched her intently, resting her head atop her hand, elbow leaning on the table. "What was the cause?" she asked, using her other hand to pick up her own coffee cup.
"Kara never actually said so, but I think the start was when Alex forgot her earth Birthday," Lena began thoughtfully, using the hand wrapped around a sleeping Kara's back to pull her closer. "the main cause though, was everything that happened with Jeremiah's return and then his betrayal." She continued, pausing to take a mouthful of coffee. "She was hurting and very lonely, we were still only friends at that point, it wasn't till after we began dating and started spending a lot more time together that I really started to notice it. I'm not one hundred percent sure if it was due to me being with her for more meal times, or whether it just got a lot more worse, but it became apparent about a month into our relationship that she was struggling badly."
Maggie turned to look towards the kitchen doorway, not being able to look at Kara, or Lena in the eyes, as guilt tore at her heart. Part of her felt as though she may have played a part in what had happened, her and Kara hadn't always got on that well to begin with. She'd begun to wonder how much her remarks on Kara's work as Supergirl had hurt the girl without her knowing. It also made Lena's protectiveness now make a lot more sense.
After a moment, Maggie turned back to face Lena, asking the question that had just been on her mind. "How bad did it get?"
"She almost died," Lena answered quietly, causing Maggie to gasp in shock, looking confused as well.
"But…I…there wasn't any fatal, well… near fatal fights that she had…Alex would have said?" Maggie asked in confusion, she couldn't understand how Kara could have almost died without her being told about it, without Alex telling her about it.
"That's because it wasn't Supergirl related, and Alex doesn't know. The only other person who knows is J'onn," Lena answered, hugging the little blonde sleeping in her arms even tighter to herself as she remembered what had happened.
Sighing Lena took a deep breath before speaking, "It was pretty soon after Alex had almost drowned in that tank. The weather had been terrible, and Kara doesn't do well without sunlight. She had been really down and had been pulling away from everyone after what happened to Alex, so I took her away with me on a business trip where the weather was going to be better. It was our first time away as a proper couple, and that made her excited, it was the happiest I had seen her in a while, but she still wasn't herself," Lena began to explain.
Maggie nodded, she could remember that Kara had been very distant after the events that caused Alex to almost drown in the tank.
"The day before we were due to come home I finished early and convinced Kara to come swimming with me," Lena continued, "she was exhausted but I thought being able to relax in the water would do her good, and it did for a while. We were playing around, racing and just having fun, when she suddenly just went under the water." Lena explained, pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts.
Looking to Maggie she could see the worry on her face, the detective in her already knowing where this story was going, "I thought she was joking around and was just diving under water to pop up behind me and scare me. She didn't resurface, she was just laying at the bottom of the pool. I thought she was joking again until I noticed she was just staring and not breathing," Lena continued with a shudder as she remembered the stillness of Kara under the water.
"Somehow, I managed to drag her out of the pool on my own- how, I will never understand, I guess it was the adrenaline. I gave her CPR, I was smacking her chest so hard it would have broken her ribs if she wasn't Kara. It did bruise her pretty badly still, but, it worked," Lena said with relief, "I got her back and I hugged her so tight for such a long time. I think she felt so guilty that she started eating again just so I wouldn't worry about her," she chuckled at the irony of it all, Kara was the one who almost died, and she was the one that had ended up comforting her.
Looking to Maggie's face again, Lena could see shock, and another emotion she couldn't quite pinpoint. "She begged me not to tell Alex," Lena explained, "and I agreed- but only if we told J'onn and only if she promised to never let it get that bad again," she paused, wondering if Maggie was angry with her for not telling herself or Alex about what happened. "I made her promise to always tell me when she was overwhelmed by something to the point she didn't want to eat and made sure she had some time away from her Supergirl duties when that happened, so she could recover from what she had been doing to herself." Lena finished.
"She's been doing really well since then, she had a blip last week after the encounter with that physic, she tried to shut me out again at first but eventually came to me and let me help her. She seemed to be okay again – until yesterday."
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"Lee, Lee?" Kara asked quietly, her one hand holding tightly to Lena's as they neared the elevator.
"Hmmm?" Lena responded distractedly as she checked a message on her phone from Winn, he was close to calculating how to reverse the effects of the 'Krin-Drive', and currently they were talking about how to test whether their theory was correct without using Kara as the test subject.
Lena and Maggie had spoken in more detail about Kara's eating habits while Alex and Eliza were still talking. They had come to the agreement that for now they would monitor Kara, and if they felt it was getting out of hand they would have to let Alex and Eliza know, but until then they would try to deal with it themselves.
Kara had awoken shortly after Alex and Eliza joined them at the breakfast table, and it was then that Lena decided to bring up the conversation she had with Kara last night about the symbol.
Though Kara had been clearly nervous and uncomfortable talking about it, she did tell everyone about the dreams she had been having in more detail and about how, in these dreams, she had seen the symbol. This resulted in Eliza asking Alex to call J'onn, to see if he could fly herself and Alex back to her home in Midvale for the afternoon. She believed there was something there that could help them.
Lunch time had come around and made both Maggie and Lena feel as though they made the right choice earlier as Kara did eat most of her food without a fuss, though she still refused to leave Lena's side. It was becoming very clear that Lena would be spending the day with a clingy Kryptonian attached to her side, so they would need to come up with a cover story for if anyone was to question why Lena suddenly had a little girl with her at all times.
After lunch, Maggie had gone back into work, wanting to try and question Morgan Edge again to see if they could find out any more information on who he was working with, while Lena spoke with Kara about possibly going into CatCo for a short while so that she could sign some papers and they could see James who had been asking after her.
Feeling Kara tug on the hand she was holding, Lena put her phone away in her pocket before looking down to meet nervous bright blue eyes. "I wanna go home," Kara said nervously, her eyes flitting around the busy building as she tried to move herself closer than she already was to her girlfriend.
Bending down, Lena scooped the girl up into her arms and hugged her closely after feeling the tension in her muscles. "You're okay darling, we won't stay long I promise," she assured her girlfriend, speaking softly into her hair as she felt Kara's arms and legs wrap around her. "You'll be staying with me the whole time. I'll sign the papers and we'll say a quick hello to James then go straight home, okay?" she continued.
Holding the girl close, Lena cursed herself silently as she walked them into the elevator, with all the conversations that had been going on earlier she had forgotten about the fact that to get Kara up to the office she would have to take her in an elevator, and the last time that Kara had stepped foot in one she had ended up having another panic attack. Granted, it wasn't as bad as the first one which caused her to make a giant Supergirl shaped hole in the roof, but, it still wasn't good, and Kara had been avoiding being in elevators since then. Lena couldn't help but wonder if this had anything to do with why she now wanted to go home again, if seeing the elevator as they came through the doors had scared her and made her worry about having another panic attack.
She had thought that Kara would have been happy to get out the house and go somewhere she knew that wasn't the DEO, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect on her right now. She hadn't wanted to leave the house, and only agreed to go after Lena had promised she would be with her the entire time. Lena could tell the little blonde was still reluctant, and thought it probably had a lot to do with what happened yesterday at the store making her scared to leave the safety of her house. Kara had become even more clingier after talking about the symbol with everyone, and that clinginess had only increased when they left the house. Lena was impressed she'd even managed to convince the small superhero to walk from the car park to CatCo, rather than being carried, even if Kara did have a death grip on her hand the entire time.
It worried her how Kara was acting, her reluctance to eat, her nervousness at being anywhere that Lena wasn't, her need to be in constant contact with if not herself then Alex or Maggie.
Taking a deep breath Lena stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the floor she needed, bouncing the girl in her arms gently as the doors closed sealing them inside. "Do you remember the story we came up with?" Lena whispered quietly into Kara's ear, patting her bottom as she bounced the blonde in her arms again after feeling he go rigid.
Kara nodded in response clinging to Lena tightly as her breathing began to pick up, she felt too closed in and she didn't like the feeling, it made her feel hot and cold all at the same time.
"It's alright Kara, just concentrate on me and remember to take deep breaths," Lena remined her, stroking her hair softly while still patting her bottom gently as she bounced the young superhero in her arms hoping to prevent the girl from having another panic attack like the last time they were in the elevator.
Her mind flashing back to the first time she had seen Kara have one of these attacks last week.
/
It was the end of her first busy day at CatCo and it have been…eventful.
She knew the transition would be hard for them both, with Kara having her Supergirl duties as well as working for her, but she had not expected it to be as hard as it was. She hadn't expected to find it so stressful trying to find a balance between being Kara's girlfriend and her boss, but it was. She knew Kara was trying, but she couldn't help the fact National City needed its hero.
She knew that Kara had been stressed and maybe she shouldn't have made that worse for her by calling her out for not doing the work she had assigned, but she had to. She was Kara's boss and she couldn't let the other employees think she was giving her special treatment for both of their sakes. It was a hard situation to juggle and she tried to do it the best she could, but Kara was being distant and not very forthcoming with what was going on. So, as Kara wouldn't let her help her as her girlfriend, she had to act as Kara's boss to make her see that she couldn't let her human side down as she tried to battle whatever alien threat she was facing.
She felt like the worst girlfriend in the world when at the end of the day Kara came to her in the office, looking as though she had been crying and apologising profusely telling her how she had been trying to stop this physic woman Psi from robbing banks all other the city. She told her how this woman had managed to get into her head and make her relive the worst moments of her life, bringing back all the fears and insecurities she had when she first arrived to earth.
She had felt her heart break at the fear in her Kara's eyes as she begged for Lena to forgive her for keeping her at arm's length all day because she didn't know how to deal with it all.
Lena hadn't known what to say, she didn't know how to make it better for Kara as the girl kept on apologising over every little thing that had happened that day, she apologised for not supporting Lena properly on her first day at CatCo, apologised for her behaviour, for the way Lena had to deal with her, for the Supergirl shaped hole she left in the building, for being weak, for not being able to stop the villain quick enough, for not concentrating on her work; the list of apologies just kept going on and on and on as Kara rambled on further saying how she would try better if Lena gave her another chance.
Lena had seen the girl ramble when nervous before, but this was impressive even by her standards, and as she stood there, mouth slightly open, watching the blonde continue to apologise and ramble, tears building in her eyes, she began to realise this ramble was so much worse because Kara was not nervous- she was afraid. And that was something that Lena had never once witnessed before in this magnitude from her girlfriend.
She couldn't bear to witness it any longer, seeing her girlfriend blame herself for things that she had no control over and getting so pent up to the point she was barely breathing as she rambled on further.
Quickly, hoping to stop her girlfriend, Lena had charged up to her, wrapped her arms around her snugly and effectively cut her off mid-word by kissing her fiercely on the lips.
Kara had stood completely still, probably too surprised to even return the embrace or the kiss, while Lena continued to kiss her, trying to pour as much emotion as possible into her lips as she could. She wanted Kara to see in this one action how much she loved her, how much she cared for her, how proud of her she was.
She wanted the woman to know that she did not blame her for anything that had happened.
Pulling back, Lena rested her forehead against Kara's, breathing deeply as Kara finally took a breath as well. "It's okay, there is nothing to forgive, and even if there was I forgive you," she assured, speaking barely above a whisper.
"But-"
"Shhhh, not buts, it's okay," Lena assured once more, cutting Kara off before she could argue, smiling softly as she pulled Kara closer to embrace her fully. She wrapped her arms around Kara's back, one hand rubbing up and down the length of her spine in an effort to ease out the tension she could still feel there, while her other hand was wrapped the blonde's lower back, holding her closely.
Kara was completely still for a moment, before she slowly returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Lena's back, both hands holding a fist full of the CEO's blazer as she held on to her tightly, her head over her girlfriend's shoulder, hiding against her hair that Lena had now let down as most of the employees had already left for the day.
They stayed huddled together for some time as Lena held the Girl of Steel in her arms, helping her put herself back together breath by breath, repeatedly telling her that everything was okay, knowing that right now Kara didn't need to talk anymore. What she needed most was the physical contact and affection that she had been staving herself of all day as she had tried to deal with all the emotions that had been hitting her at once on her own.
After some time, Lena felt Kara take a couple of much bigger deeper breaths before slowly pulling away from the embrace, her eyes slightly redder than they had been beforehand and moist underneath showing that she had been crying again as she let all the emotions out. Lena gave her girlfriend a few moments to collect herself as she gently lifted the glasses from her eyes and used her thumb to wipe away the tears before placing the glasses back in place and pressing another quick kiss to the girl's lips.
"Let's get you home," Lena said softly, wrapping an arm around Kara's waist and leading the reporter out of the office in line with her, both of them making their way over to the elevator. Kara kept her head down the whole way to avoid any looks from the few people who were left in the building.
She had been concentrating so hard on trying to seem composed that she had failed to notice they were in the elevator until she heard to doors close.
Lena frowned and inwardly cursed herself in her own mind as she saw Kara's head snap up quickly, her eyes widening as she took in her surroundings. Her only thoughts had been on getting Kara home, in her hast she had forgotten the one key detail that Kara had mentioned during her rambling before.
The fact that she had panicked so badly in the elevator earlier today that she has created a massive hole in it while trying to escape.
She could feel as her girlfriend tensed underneath the arm Lena had around her waist, she could see Kara's hands balling into fists as her eyes frantically looked around the elevator, she could see sweat beginning to form on the blonde's brow and could hear the change in her breathing.
Using the arm that she had around Kara's waist to move the girl, Lena gently pulled Kara to stand in front of her and brought both her hands up to cup the blonde's cheeks, pulling her head up from where she was looking to the ground so that blue eyes could meet green.
"Kara, stay with me. Concentrate on me okay, can you hear my heartbeat?" she instructed, trying to calm her own racing heart and watching anxiously as Kara nodded her head in response to the question. "Okay, that's good. I want you to focus on my heartbeat and try to follow my breaths, alright?" she continued, taking purposely large breaths for her girlfriend to follow.
"Good, you're doing really well darling, almost there now," Lena said, letting her hands drop from Kara's face to her shoulder blades as her girlfriend rested her head on her chest, so her ear could be closer to the sound of Lena's heartbeat with her eyes closed.
Both girls released a massive sigh of relief as the elevator made a ping like sound and the doors burst open. Lena moved a hand in the range of the sensors to stop the doors from closing again as she clutched her girlfriend to her tighter for a few more moments. She gave Kara a few moments to come to her senses about where she was before moving her hand to reach down and take Kara's hand leading her out of the evaluator and towards where the driver was waiting for them in the parking lot so they could go home and relax.
/
As she came out of her memory, Lena smiled at the feeling of her now childlike girlfriend cuddling up to her chest, with her head pressed tightly against her ribcage trying to find her heartbeat. It made her feel so incredibly happy that she had been able to offer her girlfriend the level of comfort and safety she needed to get through that first panic attack and the others that had come after. To know that she was able to offer the girl in her arms the same safety that she had always felt herself when with Kara was a humbling, yet great feeling.
As the elevator pinged and the doors opened, Lena bent her head slightly to drop a kiss to the little blonde's hair before bouncing her up in arms and walking out of the elevator, making her way towards the office where she knew James would be waiting for them with the paper work that needed to be signed.
"Good morning Miss Luthor!" Eve said brightly, her eyes widening in surprise as she took in the sight of the little blonde cuddled up in her boss's arms. "I didn't know you had a daughter?" she asked, unsure for starters if she was right in the assumption, or if she should really even make such an assumption to begin with.
Feeling Kara tense a little in her arms, Lena patted her back softly, letting her know she would deal with the question, as her stroked her fingers along the girl's thigh with her other hand that was holding her up onto her hip. "I don't, this is my niece. She's going to be staying with me for a short while, until her home situation is sorted out," Lena said smoothly, remembering the lie they had all made up before leaving the house.
If people were to ask about Kara, they had decided that Lena would say the little blonde was her niece and that she was taking care of the young girl until social services could find a permanent home for her. That way they would easily be able to explain what happened when little Kara is suddenly no longer around. If anyone was to further ask why the girl had horrible bruising all over her face from the repeated hits she had been receiving in the last couple of days they would say that Kara had just been brought out of a very bad home situation, which would also help explain her quietness and clinginess to Lena.
"Oh! Your niece! Oh, I see, that's very good of you to take her in! How old is she? What's her name? Oh, she looks so adorable," Eve said, beginning to speak louder and faster, causing Kara to cling to Lena even tighter and for Lena to gently bounce her again both actions making Eve stop talking right away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare her."
Kara's reaction to Eve, who the little blonde knew well, only making Lena all the more worried about her. It seemed that so far today, she had been stuck in her smaller mindset a lot more, she was becoming easily overwhelmed and frightened.
Lena smiled reassuringly at her assistant, "That's okay, she just gets a bit nervous with strangers, she's been through a lot. We're not staying long, just signing some papers then I'll be taking her home," she answered, lying convincingly before turning to walk into the office where she could see James was waiting for them, leaving an apologetic looking Eve behind at her desk.
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"Lillian," The stranger greeted as he entered the bottom floors of the hidden CADMAS base, holding a small gadget in his hands. He smirked as Lillian Luthor turned to him in shock, having not heard his approach, before turning back to the monitors she was sitting in front of.
Tapping a few keys on the keyboard on the desk, she brought up a screen that had six different CCTV camera images on, "We have placed the camera's in all the locations that you asked for, Dan-El," she mentioned as she moved the computer mouse over the different images.
The mouse highlighted over each location until Lillian clicked on one that showed the office of CatCo where Lena could be seen sat on the couch, Kara in her lap and James stood to the side, from the angle of the footage it was clear that the camera had been placed near the drinks station.
"Good, that way I can see how close we need to be when they turn her back for this to work," Dan-El replied indicating to the device in his hands. "This device will short-wire the memory blocker remotely, but with the different atmosphere here on earth I am not sure how close it needs to be. I will test it at different points throughout the day."
Lillian nodded, her eyes stuck on the screen, staring hatefully at the child sat on Lena's lap, "Will it hurt her?" she asked hopefully, she hated the girl deeply, she hated everything that she and her cousin stood for, she wanted to cause her as much pain as what she had felt when her son had been taken from her.
"Not physically no, at least not until I completely disable the blocker," Dan-El began, "today I will be just probing her mind, giving her short flashes of the memories she has been forced to forget. They will disorientate her and frighten her greatly though." he continued to explain, taking a seat at the desk and beginning to turn on some of the dials on the small rectangle shaped black device he had brought in with him.
The machine began to make a whirling sound as a small wheel inside began to turn, lighting up purple.
Dan-El turned to Lillian as she watched the machine intently, "Make the image bigger and tell me how she reacts, you should see an instant reaction if this works right," he asked waiting until Lillian had done as he asked before pressing a series of small buttons on the machine, writing a series of Kryptonian symbols into the very small screen that was on the machine.
After finishing the code, he briefly looked up, "Ready?" he asked.
"Give her a big one, let's see some fear in this so-called Girl of Steel," Lillian replied, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the child version of Supergirl on the screen, watching as she laughed at something James had said while leaning back into Lena's chest.
Nodding, Dan-El pushed a larger button on the machine causing the whole machine to light up purple making a buzz sound as the Kryptonian code was entered and sent out into the atmosphere.
The room was silent for a few moments, bar the machines buzzing sound, both Lillian and Dan-El now watching the screen intently waiting to see if there would be a reaction – there wasn't one.
"Damn it! We're not close enough," Dan-El yelled, slamming his hands into the table and causing the metal to bend where his hands had hit in frustration.
Glaring at the screen Lillian turned to face Dan-El with a smirk in place, "Are you ready to go with my plan now?" she asked casually.
Sighing Dan-El looked from the screen then back to Lilian, "You are sure your agent will be able to get close enough?" he asked unconvinced.
"Yes – they will let him right through the front door, just like they did last time," Lillian replied confidently, smirk still in place.
AN: Dun, dun, dunnnnnn!
So, I may have done it again with the cliff hanger…just a tiny bit…
Don't forget to review and let me know what you all thought!