PART 11
Lena sighed as she looked at the paper that she had picked up on the way in.
She smoothed her hair back which was pulled back into a tight ponytail and brought a finger to her lips as she imagined Kara reading the morning paper and seeing the image on the front cover.
It was of the two of them; Lena's hand was resting on Kara's leg, Kara was blushing as Lena leaned into her.
Lena closed her eyes and lent her head back.
They hadn't been careful enough. Kara would be livid.
Lena reached for the phone when the doors to her office burst open.
"Kara." Lena breathed as the blonde stormed in.
"Did you see the paper?" Kara asked, holding up a copy of her own and showing it to Lena.
The Luthor nodded.
"I did...I didn't see the photographer, Kara. I'm so sorry."
Kara sighed but she was shaking.
Lena stood, taking Kara into her arms and holding her.
"We'll deal with this, I promise."
"How? It's out now, Lena. Everyone will know. They'll start asking questions."
Lena pulled back a little and held Kara at arms length, making her look into her green eyes.
"As far as I'm concerned, all they've got is a picture of two friends out together. The fact that my hand is on your leg means nothing and that's what we'll tell them."
Kara frowned, slightly confused.
"Tell them what?"
"Nothing." Lena answered.
Kara stepped out of Lena's hold, scrubbing at her face tiredly.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw the paper this morning; if you were anyone but a Luthor, they wouldn't make such a big deal out of this."
Lena nodded in agreement.
"I love the headline though; 'Does Luthor Like The Ladies?' Very original." She said with a roll of her eyes as she went over to her desk and picked the paper back up to look at it.
"What are we gonna do?"
Lena looked back at her girlfriend.
"You're not ready to make this public?"
Kara shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Lena...I wish I was but I just can't. Not yet."
Lena nodded her head.
"It's ok. I understand. There'll be a lot of pressure if we came out to everyone."
Kara agreed and bit her lip.
"I don't want to stop seeing you."
"That won't happen." Lena assured her.
"But we'll be followed everywhere."
"I know but we don't have to say anything. They don't have anything concrete on us. No witnesses, no pictures of us kissing or anything other than a slip of the hand."
Kara let out a breath.
"So, you think this will all blow over?"
Lena gave Kara a warm smile.
"I'm sure of it. We'll just continue to do what we want and I'll answer their questions with as few words as possible. I won't lie and say that nothing is going on between us because I'm not ashamed of you, Kara but I won't confirm it either."
Kara smiled and hugged Lena.
"How did I get so lucky?" She whispered.
"I ask myself the same question everyday." Lena replied with a smile that matched Kara's own.
Lena went out for lunch that same day.
Kara had gone home, unable to face being at work right now. They would ask questions, she would be their main news and she was a goddamn reporter! They'd probably do an interview on her!
She had to calm down. Lena wasn't worried. They were saying as little as possible and Lena said that if she were ever hounded by the press; to call her immediately and she would sort it.
Lena stepped out of the L Corp building, straight into the path of photographers and reporters. They shoved their mics in her face and shouted questions at her.
Some were straight forward questions, some more provoking, trying to get a reaction out of her.
She ignored them all until one brave reporter stood in her path as she walked to her chauffeur driven car.
"Miss Luthor, the people want an answer. You have to say something."
Lena kept calm, even though she wanted to break the little maggot's mic in two and throw the pieces into the road.
"No comment."
That was all she said and she eventually made it to her car, closing the door quickly.
Once inside, she rested her head back and took a few calming breaths.
The partition rolled down and her driver looked at her in his interior mirror.
"Are you ok, Miss Luthor?"
Lena forced a smile and nodded.
"Fine, thank you. Same place as always, please." She instructed.
He nodded, rolled the partition back up and she felt the car pull smoothly away from the curb.
She had told Kara that this would all blow over. How long would it take for that to happen? Did they know where Kara lived? She couldn't risk going to her, she was willing to bet that she was being followed right now.
Lena hoped that if they were going to come after anyone, it would be her rather than Kara.
She didn't want Kara to have to deal with all this.
They would find out who she was eventually. It wasn't difficult; her interviews and pieces she'd written were in all the CatCo magazines.
She hoped that the people at CatCo would protect her but then Kara was now a story herself and they'd jump on it, even if she was one of their own.
At the end of the day, she was news, and news sold. Big time.
Kara sat on her couch, flipping through the channels. All the news channels said the same; Lena Luthor, new love interest? A woman?
They commented on her appearance, if anyone had seen the signs in her, her past love interests.
One chat show defended it all, saying that women in friendships were close and this whole thing had been blown out of proportion.
One, an unnamed source ( she knew what that really meant, no one, just speculation, nothing more), said that Lena had tendancies in her past and they wondered why they hadn't seen it before.
She hadn't had many boyfriends and if she did, they didn't last long.
Kara sighed and turned the tv off, picking up a book instead but even that couldn't hold her attention.
She felt restless but she didn't know what to do.
She could always go out as Supergirl but if anyone was watching her and they saw that, then that was another thing she would have to deal with.
Kara dropped the book, put her head in her hands and cried.
She loved Lena and she wanted nothing more than to be with her but all this, it was too stifling; she couldn't breathe and she couldn't hide anywhere but here.
Her phone rang and she wiped under her eyes before answering it.
"Hello?"
"Kara?"
"Lena? Are you ok?" Kara asked, clearing her throat.
Lena sighed sadly as she noticed the quiver in her girlfriend's voice.
"You've been crying..."
"No, no I haven't. I just..." Kara licked her lips as she gave in.
"I mean, yes, I have."
"Darling don't cry. Everything will be fine, I promise."
"It's on all the channels, Lena. They think-they know-what we are."
There was a slight pause on Lena's end.
"Lena?"
"Sorry. I've just seen an email from a magazine...they want to do an interview."
Kara frowned.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to do the interview." Lena told her after a moment's thought.
Kara's eyes widened.
"What?"
"If I do, it'll show them that we have nothing to hide and hopefully, I can give them enough to make them back off." Lena explained.
Kara worried her bottom lip nervously.
"Do you really think it will work?"
"I'll make it work." Lena promised her.
Kara smiled and relaxed slightly.
"Why are you the only one in the world that can make me feel like everything will be ok even when it looks hopeless?"
Lena chuckled lightly.
"Because it's not hopeless, Kara. There is always a way around things."
Lena was so calm and collected while Kara felt like a complete mess.
She was inwardly panicking, or had been a little while ago before Lena had called.
Kara nodded, believing everything that Lena was telling her, it seemed to be the only way she could cope with this.
"So...will it be televised?"
"Yes. You can watch it live tomorrow morning at 10:30."
"Ok. I will. I would come and support you but that would just look-"
"Strange? Considering I'm about to leave a trail of cryptic answers and the one person they're all looking at is there with me? Yeah, it might make things slightly awkward." Lena said with a light laugh.
Kara rolled her eyes at saying something that sounded silly but that was one of the best things about Lena.
Even when Kara said something stupid, Lena would never make her feel any worse for it, she'd either laugh along with Kara or she would gently correct her without sounding punishing. She was always caring and gentle.
It was hard to believe she was a Luthor.
Well, she's not technically. She was adopted.
Just like Kara wasn't technically a Danvers.
They had a lot in common and they understood each other pretty well which was why this worked. Which is why it would work.
"Ok, well I'm going to prepare myself for tomorrow's interview and you, Kara, try not to worry about anything. I'll sort it out. I promise."
Kara smiled. Lena never broke her promises.
"I know you will. I just wish there was something I could do to help."
"You can, Stop. Worrying." Lena said kindly but firmly.
Kara nodded.
"Ok...I will, I'll...watch a movie or something."
"Good. I'll call you tomorrow after the interview."
Kara smiled.
"Ok. I'll speak to you later."
"Sure, and Kara?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you...no matter what they throw at us or what I say tomorrow, I love you, always remember that."
Kara nodded.
"I love you too."
She could picture Lena smiling as she hung up slowly and Kara did the same.
Everything would be fine... wouldn't it?
Lena sat on the the chair that had been provided for her while they hooked her up with all the wires and whatever was needed to make this go live.
The interviewer sat opposite her, a bulky man whose suit was a little tight on him.
His graying hair was short and he had thick rimmed glasses almost hiding bushy eyebrows.
"Before we start, I just want to say that it is an honor to meet you, Miss Luthor."
Lena smiled brightly at him.
"Not at all. Thank you for having me."
"Ok, we're ready." Someone called.
The interviewer, his name was Brad, gave her a nod and she sat up a little straighter.
Lena was dressed a little more casual today; jeans, black high heeled boots and a pale blue halter top with her hair long and loose.
Lena glanced at the cards in Brad's hands and wondered what sort of questions he would be asking.
The camera centered on them both and before she knew it, the interview had begun.
"Good morning National City, I'm Brad Herman and I'm here with Lena Luthor."
He turned his attention to Lena then.
"Good morning, Miss Luthor."
"Morning, Brad." Lena said back, keeping that same smile on her face.
"Ok, so let's get down to business." He started, shifting in his chair and crossing his legs, facing her completely but trying to appear relaxed.
"The papers have come up with some pretty risky pictures of you with another woman who we can name now as CatCo reporter, Kara Danvers."
Lena bit the inside of her cheek.
Kara would be closing her eyes right about now.
"Can you explain then... what was going on with the two of you?"
Lena shrugged.
"Nothing."
Brad picked up the paper from the floor and showed her the picture.
"Well here it clearly shows that you have your hand on her leg."
Lena nodded.
"I was leaning in to say something to her."
Brad nodded.
"Yes and we do have a witness that said they heard what you said."
Lena felt shocked. Yes, there were people around at the time but she didn't think anyone had heard her!
"They said that you told Miss Danvers, 'I would very much like to take you home right now'. What do you say that something like that?"
Lena gave him a bored look.
"It's not true."
It was.
"Whoever said that they heard me say that is lying, out to make a quick buck."
"So what did you say?"
Lena thought quickly.
"I asked her if she had seen the cute waiter at the bar inside. It's not the sort of thing you can ask out loud now, is it?""
"I'll turn your attention back to the picture again, Miss Luthor-"
"Lena's fine, Brad." She cut in, taking the friendly approach.
Brad smiled at that and continued;
"Miss Danvers here looks a little flushed."
Lena nodded.
"She had been drinking a little at the time, as had I."
Brad frowned slightly but an amused smile still lingered on his thin lips.
"So, you claim that nothing is going on between you and Miss Danvers?"
Lena wanted to tell him that it was none of people's business if anything was going on with them.
She wanted to stand up and tell Brad to go and screw himself for even questioning who she chose to love.
Maybe one day she would but that day was not today, so she smiled again, preparing to answer his question.
"Look, Brad. Kara is a very dear friend of mine. She was the one who was kind to me when I first came to National City. She is a smart girl and I care about her deeply."
Brad looked from side to side.
"So...you're saying that you and Miss Danvers are just friends?"
Lena nodded.
"What else would we be?"
She could imagine Kara grinning at the tv, knowing that Lena was playing the oblivious card.
"Well...people are saying that you might be...into women."
Lena shrugged.
"Why would that bother people?"
"So is that confirmation that you are?" Brad pushed.
"Brad, I have loved a few men in my life and I care about each one of them for the positivity they have brought into my life."
Brad frowned but he knew she was avoiding the question.
Brad could speculate all he wanted but without her actually commenting on her sexuality, they couldn't do a damn thing and Lena knew it.
"Do you believe in labels, Lena?"
"No. I think it makes people feel categorized."
"So do you agree with alien amnesty?"
Lena paused.
She was the one who had planned to bring about the device that could tell a human when an alien was in their presence. Was this was a trap she was slowly walking into.
"I do...to an extent." She added carefully.
"We heard that you wanted humans to feel safe around aliens. You had a plan to make it easier for them to tell who was human and who was not."
Uh oh. If them finding out about herself and Kara didn't put her in hot water, this surely would.
"I did." Lena admitted.
Yes, she'd pulled the device from the market but it had been made. She couldn't deny it's existence.
"But you pulled it from the market."
Lena nodded.
"I did. I felt that by creating that device, I was only following in Lex's footsteps and even though I want to protect my own kind, aliens shouldn't be feared. We should all be able to live as equals."
My girlfriend taught me that. Lena wanted to add but obviously she couldn't.
Brad smiled and thankfully dropped the question, seeing no where else to go with it.
"Ok, so we're almost out of time, Lena. One last question-"
Lena waited expectantly.
"Now remember, there's no judgement here...what does Kara Danvers mean to you?"
Lena smiled inwardly.
She's my world. My reason for pulling that stupid device. She's...everything.
Lena glanced at the screen, hoping that Kara would see the look in Lena's eyes and know that her next words were not meant.
"Kara is a very dear friend to me."
Lena could see Brad's jaw tightening.
She still hadn't answered the question properly. She hadn't confirmed or denied anything.
Yes, she had called Kara a friend and she was, but behind closed doors, she was that and so much more.
She was her friend, her lover, her partner in all things, her equal, well...when she wasn't flying around being Supergirl that is.
Brad extended his hand to Lena and she gently shook it.
"Thank you for coming in today, Lena."
"It's been a pleasure, thank you, Brad."
"And we're out." Someone shouted and they quickly unhooked Lena, taking away the wires as she stood and smoothed her top down.
Brad let out a breath.
"Sorry if I was bit pushy on the questions there, Miss Luthor." Brad said, not meaning his apology and going back to formalities.
She wasn't surprised at all.
It had made tv for him and that was all he cared about, but he still hadn't got what he came for and she could sleep easy knowing that.
Lena smiled at him.
"It's fine. I understand you were just doing your job."
Brad nodded and Lena went to walk away when he stopped her.
"Off the record; are you having a relationship with Miss Danvers?"
Lena glanced around and saw a man with a camera conveniently pointed in her direction. He was pretending to clean the back of it.
Lena grinned and looked down then back up at Brad.
"We're friends."
Brad nodded and Lena left the room, letting out a breath and thanking God that it was over.
Author's Note- Oh wouldn't it be nice if things were that simple? Stay tuned ;) x
