Title: The story of Kara Zor-El

Chapter 11: May the shipping war commence

/.\

"You look awfully chipper today." Lena observes, she was sat behind her desk, looking over some designs for a new project. I was sat on the couch and smiling at my phone, Alex had invited myself, Lena and Astra to game night with her friends. Apparently, Maggie would be there (reluctantly) and I get to spend more time with the people I like outside of a working environment.

"You could say that. You're free Saturday night, right?" I say, proposing it as a question even though I knew she was free. I message Alex back with an affirmative and send one to Astra, asking her if she was free also.

"Why do you ask?" Lena says, her green eyes peeking over the top of the laptop in front of her. I feel something catch in my throat at the sight, her hair was pulled up into an intricate bun, showing off the shape of her face and the light makeup that made her look all the more… hot. I look back down at my phone at the vibration, catching the answering message, Astra had agreed.

"Alex wants you to come over to her apartment with myself and Astra for game night. I already said yes so you have no choice in the matter." I tell her, making sure that I don't look at her directly because her captivating green eyes were still looking over the monitor with her brow quirked in question.

"You're my bodyguard, not my boss." She says lightly, making it an obvious joke, a slight laugh escaping her before continuing. "I suppose I have to now. Are you going as my protection or friend?" She asks playfully, her lips quirking deliciously. I smirk and tap my chin with mock thought, making it seem like I have to think about the answer that I was about to give her.

"Maybe a bit of both." At that, Lena shakes her head, the smile still tugging her lips as she looks back down at her work. I lock my phone and put it down on my lap, my own, smaller, smile loosened my face, I did enjoy the banter we shared, it was almost effortless to be in the same room with her for the hours of the day that she spends here. I clear my throat, a thought making me remember to say something to Lena.

"Oh, and... Thank you." I start, earning the attention of my boss. "I am grateful that you… made me realise that I couldn't do everything by myself and that… my anger should be directed at something more productive other than destructive." I say, my throat tightening from the intensity of this talk and how unusual it was to speak to anyone this personally. "I'm glad to call you my friend." I finish, offering a weak smile as I try to battle the emotions welling up, they were ridiculous and uncalled for in this situation, in my personal opinion. Lena's face changes into a softer expression, her head cocking slightly as she looks at me, her green eyes having a more tender look to them.

"I'll be here for as long as you'll have me, Kara Zor-El."

/.\

Saturday night

I decided to wear a black and red casual plaid shirt that was buttoned up completely apart from the top button, under a black leather jacket and a pair of blue skinny jeans with my usual style of boot but black in colour. The shirt was tucked into my jeans, showing the black leather belt. I pulled my hair up into a lazy ponytail and made sure to pack my sunglasses, phone and wallet into my pockets. Tonight, I was going to game night at my sister's apartment with Lena and Astra being the only people I know. Maggie would also be there, hopefully, she could talk with Alex, but I could always persuade her with my boot.

I walk out of my room to see Astra in a more casual dress to what she usually wore, she had a white shirt that was tucked into black jeans and a black leather jacket like my own, with a pair of black boots that reached mid-calf. I looked her over and gave her an approving smile, she wasn't used to the fashion on Earth, usually choosing something similar to her suit to wear, but she did great today, even if she based a lot of it off most of my attire choices.

"Are we ready to pick up Lena?" Astra asks, her hands brushing down her jacket as she picks up her phone before slipping it into the right pocket of her jeans.

"Yeah. We can fly over there but she wants to take her car from her apartment to Alex's. She doesn't like flying so much." I say, explaining Lena's reasoning for going against the fastest route to places. Astra smiles slightly, giving me a look that hinted at something before speaking.

"Gives us plenty of time to speak then." She says, heading towards our window with a smirk playing on her lips as I figure out what she means, my head almost snapping off my shoulders with the rate I turned it to glare at her.

"No. You won't say anything!" I say, quickly tailing my aunt who laughed out loud before opening the window and looking back at me.

"Won't say anything about what?" She says in mock innocence that only your elder aunt could have, before using her speed and flying ability to hop out of the window and up into the night sky, I sigh and quickly follow her, making sure to keep up so she doesn't have the chance to speak to Lena by herself. She was going to be the death of me.

/.\

Lena let us in through the balcony door, this time, we went through the set of doors that lead directly into the living room where Lena was finishing up with getting ready. She looked far more casual than I've ever seen, making my jaw drop slightly at the extreme change. She was wearing a regular black t-shirt that showed her figure but left plenty to the imagination, a black zip-up hoodie over the top, where it was left open, a pair of black skinny jeans that did wonders for her ass and legs which lead to the green converse high top trainers. I look back up at the lack of makeup and thick black glasses on Lena's face her hair hung loosely around her head with a smirk playing on her lips.

"Like what you see Miss Zor-El?" She asked playfully, tossing some things that she might need into a dark green leather satchel. The question booted my brain back into gear, I could feel Astra revelling in my demise but I quickly cover myself with Lena.

"S-sorry. You look… d-different." I say, almost kicking myself for the lame excuse that I had made up. Lena smirks, closing her bag and pulling it over her head like a messenger back so the rested on one shoulder and the bag was on her opposite hip.

"Well, I can't go out looking like Lena Luthor. And you said it was a casual gathering, didn't you?" She continues, her brow peaking slightly in question, it was blatantly obvious that she was teasing me.

"W-well, yeah but- You don't look bad or anything! No, you look…" Hot. "Nice." I was just about ready to throw myself out of the window at this point. Why couldn't my goddamned mind get itself out of the gutter when I needed it the most? Lena seems to catch on this and luckily lets me off, picking up her keys and looking back at Astra.

"Are you taking the stairs with Kara or riding the elevator with me?" She asks, I turn back to look at my aunt also, she almost dropped the previous topic completely before she continues her sentence. "Unless she wants to come in the elevator to carry on staring." I feel my head whip back to her, my neck would have protested if I was a human at the speed and strength of it. I feel my mouth open and close, trying to think of a good reply to put her back in her place but coming back with nothing.

"The elevator sounds nice." Astra says, an obvious smirk in her tone as she walks past me and towards Lena. They both start walking to the front door and I find myself quickly following, deciding that I could suffer through an elevator ride, just to make sure Astra doesn't spill any more beans about a certain conversation. Lena locks the door behind us when we exit, the elevator, not 2 meters away since Lena had the penthouse. When I go to the elevator and press it's button, a look of concern washes over Lena's face, her brows furrowing slightly and her eyes searching my face.

"You don't have to come in the elevator, Kara. I was only playing with you." Lena tells me gently, her hand reaching up to hold my forearm as we wait for the elevator. She knew that I was scared of rides in confined spaces and figured that I would only do it in her car, all teases left her as she looks up at me with those beautiful green eyes behind the lens of her glasses. I shake my head slightly.

"I'm fine. I have to get over myself at some point. Might as well start trying now." Lena wasn't convinced, her hand holding my arm tight now as she continues to look up at me. Her eyes were pleading me, they almost seemed brighter without her contacts in.

"Kara, you can't just get over a fear that has haunted you for years. Please don't make yourself uncomfortable to get in an elevator with us." She continues with her case, her brows raising in concern as she looks up at me, she was very similar to a child in some respects. "You know that I'm okay meeting you down there. If you come in here with us, I'll be worried sick about you. Just go down and we'll meet you in no time." With every word and the pleading eyes, my resolve was crumbling. And by the time that the doors slid open to reveal the small box, I nod my head gently. Lena relaxes visibly, a small smile tugging her lips as she gives my arm one last squeeze before letting it go. Astra follows Lena into the elevator, there was some concern from my aunt, but she already knew of my fears for confined spaces and was majoritarily happy with me taking the stairs.

The door started to shut, and as I turned towards the emergency stairwell, I heard one last thing from Lena.

"Race you."

/.\

The rest of the trip to Alex's apartment was fairly easy, the car ride was much more bearable with the window cracked open slightly and with Lena and Astra there with me. I took the stairs up to the floor that my sister was on in her apartment building and for the second time that day, Lena had beat me on the ride. We knocked on my adoptive sister's door, glancing at the time and noticing that we were slightly later than Alex had asked them there for, but when she opened the door, the wide smile she gave us made me at ease with that fact.

"Hey." Alex says, stepping out of the door frame to give me a sisterly hug. "It's good to see you." She says into my shoulder, she was obviously slightly tense and I could only guess that is was from the company in her apartment. She pulls back and offers a warm smile to Lena and Astra, the former passing a bottle of whisky to her.

"I thought you might like some considering that there is a bunch of people in your apartment. If they're your friends, they probably know how to make a bomb out of things in your home." Lena teases lightly, Alex takes the offering, laughing slightly.

"You aren't wrong with that one. Please, come in." She says, ushering us all inside. She closes the door behind us and walks us all towards the main part of her apartment. When I see her living room, I'm surprised that there are only three others in there and how diverse they are.

There was a woman sat on a couch by herself, she had thick brown hair that was let down in waves with honey brown eyes, she must have just come from work with her more formal attire but she was happily conversing with a man that was wearing equally formal wear with his shirt, tie and cardigan. He had chocolate coloured hair that was spiked slightly and blue eyes, he had a slight stubble with a tiny scar on his jaw, he looked quite nerdy and there was a slight flicker of thought that made me think that he was gay, though, I'd have to do more of an observation. And then there was Maggie, that looked back from the two that was in a conversation to look between the three of us and Alex. Her eyes shifted back to Lena, taking a moment to realise who it was before her brows furrow slightly in judgement. I feel my defensiveness spike, but I decide that I won't do anything unless she does something herself.

"I didn't know you wore glasses, Lena." Alex says, cutting me away from looking at the other people and looking at the two talking right now. Lena smiles, her fingers coming up to shift the glasses on her face a little self consciously.

"I usually wear contacts… Not many people recognise me with my glasses which is a good thing for going out in public for a casual outing." She says, obviously Maggie was listening because she lets out a small exhale as a laugh, too quiet for anyone but myself and Astra to hear. I feel my anger bristle, looking at Astra, she gave me a warning look and I just nod, I knew that I had to be calm.

"Understandable. Do any of you want a drink? I may have smuggled some alien alcohol for you two if you want it." Alex says hinting towards myself and Astra. I groan in approval.

"Oh Rao, yes. It's been too long since I drank." I say to compliment my noise. Alex pours me a glass first, passing me a drink and pointing to the couches.

"Make yourself comfortable. They'll introduce themselves when you get to them." Alex says, moving on to get drinks for Astra and Lena. I nod beside the fact that she couldn't see it and make my way over to the couches. The two strangers that were engrossed in their conversation turn to look at me as I get closer, Maggie was already watching me carefully as I move towards them. The man was first to talk through, his grin was infectious.

"Hey, you must be Kara. I'm Winn Schott, I work with Alex at the DEO." He says, offering a smile at me that made me tick an extra box on the gay-dar. I give him a slight smile and a nod.

"Yeah, I'm Kara Zor-El."

"Hi, I'm Sam." The woman who he was speaking to greets me, offering a small smile that did make her look rather pretty.

"You're the one that keeps on making crime scenes for me." Maggie says rather coldly towards me, I could tell that she didn't trust people easily by how harsh she was to myself and Lena. I raise a brow at her, almost questioning the attitude that she was giving me. My aunt makes an appearance just now, she was holding a half-drunk tumbler of alien alcohol, she was probably worried about what I had to say back to Maggie.

"This is Astra, my Aunt." I tell the group, some of them looking mildly shocked that I brought her, I roll my eyes as Astra takes the seat next to Maggie, probably a precaution to make sure that nothing bad will happen, she must have seen the look she gave Lena. "And this is Lena." I announce as said woman walks back with Alex by her side, holding a glass of whiskey. She offers a slight wave, probably hearing them announce themselves bar Maggie.

Alex forces me to sit next to Lena who was sat beside Sam now, They all got on well, Alex, Sam, Winn, Lena and Astra being the ones who were speaking the most as I just listened and Maggie watched them all interact. I could tell she cared for Alex, her eyes were on her constantly and she softened slightly when she was pulled into a conversation by her, but I could also see some tension in her, she didn't enjoy this and when Alex next got up for drinks, I followed her.

"Have you spoken to Maggie?" I ask her in a hushed tone so only Astra could hear. Alex glances at me before looking at the Hispanic, going back to get the drinks that she said she would get.

"Briefly. She knows that there is more to say but she wants to wait until later… I don't know what to expect Kara, if she's serious about not wanting kids then I don't know if I can carry on living like this… It'll hurt more if I broke it off later so if she is serious about not having kids, then I think that I'll just have to let her go." Alex says, her voice quivering slightly from the topic. I knew that she really liked Maggie, but she was trying to look at it from a perspective other than her own and what she is saying is right. I nod and give her a supportive smile, my hand coming up to rest on her back gently.

"You're doing the right thing Alex… I know that this is hard for you, but if the worst comes to the worst, it'll be easier to just let her go… I'll always be here for when you need me and so will all your other friends because they all genuinely care about you… You have my number, call me when you need to, even if you just want to talk about nothing." I say, being the supportive sister I was supposed to be all these years that I spent on Earth, I need to do some making up. Alex nods slightly, a slight sniffle coming from her as she tries to will the blobs in her vision from falling.

"Go to the bathroom, I'll deal with the drinks." I tell her, she was about to protest but with her emotions pilling up, she quickly took the invitation to be quiet about how she was feeling, nodding before walking down a corridor and towards her bathroom. I take the drinks to their respectful owners, Sam asks where Alex went, I tell her that she needed the toilet and would be out soon.

Sure enough, Alex came back a minute later, she hardly looked like she was upset, but if you looked close enough, you could see the slight redness that showed the evidence. Either no one noticed, or they didn't want to bring it up because it wasn't mentioned again.

The rest of the night went smoothly, we all said some things about ourselves like our jobs and what we like to do in our spare time. It turns out, Sam is a single mother of a young girl and is currently out of work but her credentials were amazing and she was more than capable in the business field. At the end of the night, I see Lena give Sam her number, and I hear her telling her that she has a job open for her if she needs it. I smile slightly at Lena's generosity, it was exactly the kind of person Lena was, if only people saw that side more often.

/.\

Astra had left me to take Lena home by myself, giving me a small wink before taking off into the sky, I silently damned the woman that I called my aunt but didn't protest her intentions. Lena had offered a cup of tea to me when we got to her apartment, it was getting late and I should go home, but I found myself nodding my head and following the woman upstairs.

"Do you like any particular tea?" Lena asks, putting her stove top kettle on the heat as she starts preparing some cups.

"An English breakfast tea would do." I say, referring to the regular tea that most people have, Lena, seems to get this and gets to work getting the cups ready before waiting for the water.

"Have a seat, it doesn't take long to boil and I'll bring it in." She tells me, I decide to follow her direction and go into the living area and take a seat on the couch, she wasn't wrong because, in a couple of minutes, she had come through and passed me the cup, taking the seat beside me.

I take a sip of the still boiling liquid, it did nothing to hurt me other than making me feel the warmth it possessed, I see Lena smile slightly at this, she obviously knew how hot it was. Lena looked down at her cup for a while, she was slouched on the back of the couch as she looks into her own tea. I figure that she is trying to figure out what she wanted to say so I left her to it, looking around her sparse apartment that smells slightly of the young CEO.

I had half drunk my cup by the time that Lena turned her head back to me, probably having figured out whatever she wanted as she looks up at me. I look down into her green eyes, relaxing slightly at how much content was held in them, but there was something else in there too, hesitation? I didn't have to think much before she spoke her thoughts to me.

"Can I ask you something, Kara?" She asks gently, I frown slightly and shift in my seat slightly, turning to face the dark-haired woman.

"You can ask me anything you want." I assure her, this seemed personal to her and I wasn't going to deny her this even if it did make me uncomfortable, she was much more important than my own thoughts and feelings.

"It's about earlier…" She starts, making me think back to the game night we had just come from, had I said anything to offend her or to make her question my loyalty? "Before we left for Alex's apartment…" She says like she saw what I was thinking and was quick to reassure me. Lena paused for a moment, looking back down at her tea as she continues to think about what she wanted to talk about. Her brows were furrowed slightly like she was having an internal conflict.

"You know, you can tell me anything." I tell her my right hand reaching out and brushing her hair out of her face slightly, tucking it behind her ear. Lena glances at me from the corner of her eye, tilting her head slightly to look at me better. A moment later, she sighs heavily, leaning forward to place her cup down on the table before leaning back and turning lightly like I had done, making her body face me a little more.

"Am I wrong to think that there is chemistry… between us?" She asks gently, her eyes looking up at me so honestly, there was a flicker of fear behind her eyes, like she was afraid that I would reject her. I decide to follow her previous motion, placing my own cup on the table before facing her. I take a deep breath, looking at the couch cushions, willing some of my confidence up, I could do this. I look back up into those green eyes, there was a moment where I lost myself, she really was beautiful without makeup and with those big glasses perched on her nose. I feel a small smile tug on my lips.

"I'd like to think that I have… attraction towards you." I say, trying to veer away from many vulgar words that I would call what I feel for her. I see a flicker of hope on her face and decide to continue. "You're beautiful, smart, cunning… did I say beautiful?" I joke lightly, making Lena's lips quirk in a smile as she leans her arm against the back of the couch and rests her head on her upper arm, making her head cock cutely. "I… I do like you Lena Luthor… more than I would have the courage to admit… I just…" At those words, Lena's face visibly fell and I feel a panic well up inside me, making myself finish my sentence. "When I first met you, I didn't deserve you… I was arrogant, an absolute nob… but ever since you've been around… I've wanted to be a better person, I have been a better person." I finish, making Lena smile slightly, her face turning slightly to partially hide it in her arm.

I reach forward and trace the edge of her face with my fingertips, loving how utterly soft her skin is, I smile gently at her slowly cupping her face in the same hand and running my thumb over her perfect cheekbone.

"You would make me the happiest Kryptonian to ever live." I whisper to her, earning for her cheeks to flush red as she leans into my hand.

"And you would make me the happiest Human…" She mutters slightly, though it was as clear as day for myself to hear. I smile bashfully and look down at the couch, but before too long, long, slender fingers run their way under my jaw, pulling my face up to look at someone who is easily as equal to a goddess. I feel her tug me forward and don't resist, our faces becoming inches away.

We were so close that I could feel her heartbeat drumming in her chest rather than hear it, her breath washed over my face as soft as a butterfly's wings and her musty green eyes look up at me with so much care and devotion.

"Can I kiss you?" I hear her whisper softly, a slight whimper in her voice that no other human would have heard, I don't give her a verbal answer or keep her waiting any longer, I push forward and gently press my lips against her own, soft, pink, plush lips. She reacted in kind, our lips moving slowly together as we meddle softly. I sigh in content while there, it didn't turn further than a closed-mouthed, gentle and affectionate kiss, but it was all we needed to prove how we felt for each other. When we pull away, I couldn't face being too far yet, bringing my forehead to her own to try and remain contact for as long as possible. The silence that followed was perfect, we didn't need words to say how we felt about the kiss.

Though, if her heart was any indication, she loved it.