AN: So I am, in fact not, dead. I'm really sorry this is so short - I'm hoping the next chapter will be out a lot sooner and be a lot longer. Hope you like the next installment and thank you for all your kind words these past few months. They've really meant a lot :)

Chapter 10

Lena's apartment is exactly how Kara pictured it, all smooth lines and designer furniture. It's this huge open space and Kara loves it. The view alone must have cost a fortune as she can see almost all of National City from up here.

The kitchen takes up all of the right side of the apartment and at first glance looks to be top of the line, from the absolutely massive fridge to the spacious breakfast bar where Kara can admittedly see herself eating an inordinate amount of food.

Kara lightly caresses the surface of the glossy white kitchen island, made of some kind of stone that she can't quite pin point, but she wouldn't be terribly surprised if it was marble. Lena definitely seemed the type.

Speaking of Lena, Kara notices that she's barely moved from the doorway to the apartment and seems quite happy to let Kara take it with an amused smile.

She's hanging her coat on the rack when she calls out, "Do you like it?"

"It's stunning. How long have you lived here?" Kara asks, sitting herself down on a bar stool.

"A little over a year. I… needed a change."

Kara turns around at that, brows furrowed. Lena's shoulders have slumped slightly as she makes her way over to the kitchen island.

Kara holds her hand out. "C'mere."

Lena obliges and steps willingly in the space just between Kara's legs. Immediately she feels Kara's arms lock around her waist. It's enough to make the smile return to her face.

"I don't like seeing you upset," Kara murmurs quietly, drawing soothing circles along the small of the other woman's back. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but if you do; I'll happily listen and happily kick this person's ass. I'm quite handy with a scalpel, you know."

Lena chuckles. "I appreciate the sentiment, Kara but I'm quite certain even your skills with a scalpel can't reach into Arkham."

At Kara's questioning look, she continues. "My brother? Did you not hear about this in Metropolis?"

Kara shakes her head and Lena sighs so softly, Kara almost doesn't catch it. "I'm not the only doctor in my family. We all are, in fact. My mother- adoptive mother is also a neurosurgeon, my father was quite the famous general surgeon in his day and Lex, well… They said he was going to be one of the best and he was… for a time."

"Lena, we don't have to talk about it if-"

"No, no. It's fine, I thought you already knew so I suppose it doesn't really matter… I was very young when the Luthors adopted me. So young I barely remember my biological mother and it was very hard not to like Lionel and Lex. Lex was everything an older brother should've been and I loved him for it. I… still do."

The look on Lena's face is something Kara never wants to see again. Her heart aches.

"He was the first person I came out to and he was so supportive." Lena smiles a watery smile. It's bittersweet. "The first thing he did was to offer to take me to a gay bar – bear in mind I was 16 at the time. Not entirely legal, but still. By the time he finished his residency, there were already rumours of Harper Averys and naturally, my parents were very proud, but then it all just seemed to go wrong. It was malpractice after malpractice suit and when I found out why I couldn't just… They were children, Kara, children, so I reported him and I testified against him. Very nearly ruined my own career in the process, but it would've been so worth it. The things he did…" Lena shakes her head and steps out of Kara's grip. "You honestly didn't know about this, who I am, who my family is?"

"No," Kara admits sheepishly. "I think I was too caught up in my boards to notice anything else going on in the world, I rarely ever left the hospital, but Lena this doesn't change how I feel about you. If anything, it just makes me admire you even more."

Kara stands up and pulls Lena back towards her, cupping her cheeks. She wipes away any stray tears with the pad of her thumbs and stares into red, puffy eyes. "You, Lena Luthor, are nothing short of incredible and exactly who I thought you were. To have that kind of courage of conviction, that strength of character… it's kinda unfair to us mere mortals how perfect you are."

Lena laughs and Kara counts that as a small victory as she pulls the slightly taller woman into a hug. Even with the height disparity, Lena tucks her chin into the crook of Kara's neck as Kara steadies them.

"When Lex was arrested, my mother was there. My mother saw her son dragged and bleeding and raving from the house," Kara kisses the top of her head encouragingly and tightens her hold, "and when I got there, Lilian was tidying his room as if nothing was wrong, like he'd just gone to a conference… She wouldn't-couldn't look at me and she still can't. Loss does strange things to my family."

"You're not going to lose me," Kara whispers into her hair. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"Promise." And she seals it with the sweetest of kisses.

Things are different between them after that conversation. Not in a bad way, Kara thinks. They're closer, much more so and suddenly everything makes sense. The suspicious glances thrown in Lena's direction when she walks by in the halls, her isolation from most of the other doctors in the hospital, and, Kara supposes, Alex's thorough dislike of her.

She couldn't see it at first, how much the rejection and distrust from her peers hurt Lena, but now that she's been given a glimpse into the all of the hurt behind the mask, well, Kara's made it her personal mission to make the woman smile as much as possible, even if that means making an absolute fool of herself in the process.

All of the "You're such a dork" comments are worth it. And, let's be honest, Kara's quite proud of her nerd status. She'll be a proud Hufflepuff until the day she dies.

(Lena can deny it all she wants, but that green and silver scarf Kara had spotted in her closet once was 100% a Slytherin scarf)

A few more weeks trickle by and for the most part they're quiet. Kara's caseload doesn't budge, but making the tiny humans better make her happy. Seeing Alex and Maggie together makes her happy and, just as importantly, or perhaps more so, seeing Lena Luthor secretely geek out at the latest Game of Thrones trailer makes her heart burst.

Alex is no less suspicious of her sister's "friendship" with Lena, but at this point Kara just thinks she's just jealous of the amount of time they spend together. Schedules permitting, Sister Nights are still a regular occurrence and Maggie is more than happy to hang out with Lena at her place instead, especially once she saw the size of the neurosurgeon's flatscreen.

"You don't understand, Kara. I can finally watch soccer with someone who appreciates it as much as me on a big screen."

Kara pretended not to notice the sudden blush that had taken over Lena's cheeks at that.

It's during her second month that Kara loses her first patient. It was an impossible case to begin with, a pancreatoblastoma in a little girl of four that had already metastatized beyond anything that Kara could repair in time. A fool's hope, but she tried and it just wasn't enough.

Lena holds her and whispers all the sweet nothings she can think of as Kara cries into her navy blue scrubs. It doesn't completely soothe the void and the absolute ache Kara feels in her chest, but it helps and that's when Kara first think she knows.

Kara no longer feels the flutters of butterfly wings in her stomach, it's closer to a swarm and any time Lena so much as looks at her with those soft and so incredibly expressive green eyes, she's closer to putting that feeling into that four letter word.

Let me know what you think!