Author's Note: Welcome back!
Kara walked back inside the building with her sight fixed to the floor, while closing the last button of her blouse to hide her suit.
She was supposed to go back to work, but instead, she entered the main office, finding Lena sited reading all over again the letter. She shut her eyes and pressed the glass of iced water against her temple.
"Hey" Kara said from the entrance.
"Kara" she composed herself "Come in"
"Whe-where's Lera?"
"I asked her to go to the mini fridge and help herself. I needed a moment to soak in all this"
"Yeah" she sat next to her "How are you holding up?" she knew it was a ridiculous question, but nothing else came across her train of thoughts.
"Just last night we were celebrating Lera…" she left the sentence hanging.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Right now…just…stay, please?" she said almost pleadingly, her eyes failing to contain the tears.
"Hey" she wrapped her arms around Lena and allowed her to rest against her chest, cuddling her "Lillian won't hurt you, I promise"
Lena shook her head hiding her face even further into her shoulder "I thought she wouldn't be able to do it anymore, but now I have something to lose again, I have someone" she sniffed, her voice cracking "I know all the wrong my family has done, I know they belong in prison but… they were my family nonetheless, they were all I had and everyone overlooked the fact that without them I was alone in the world. And now I have Lera and I might lose everything again and I'm-I'm" she hugged her even harder unable to hold the tears.
Kara held her tighter to make her feel guarded from the world, she then softly started to hum into her hair. As she felt Lena relax, she began to rub her back rhythmically to try soothing her.
Lena started to breath normally again, her heartbeat settling, she could feel the woman's body let go of the tension. Kara was unable to resist pressing a kiss on top of her head as she hushed continued to hum.
"She's not going to take her away" she mumbled "I won't let her" she added to herself, making sure Lena wouldn't hear that.
Kara was glad no one was nearby the office, on the other hand she couldn't care less who could see them. That until some footsteps walked in.
"M-mom?" Lera called a bit struck by seeing her always powerful role model so broken.
Lena flinched at her voice, grabbing into the fabric of Kara's blouse tighter as she tried to regain some serenity. She didn't want to worry her daughter.
"Le-Lera" she sniffed still hiding her face into Kara's chest as she wiped the tears "H-hey, sweetie" she breathed in deeply before turning to her.
"Are-are you ok?" she tentatively walked in.
"Ye-yeah" she swallowed the knot in her throat "It's just the news about your grandma"
"It upsets you?" she asked a bit confused.
Lena hunched forward resting her elbows on her knees "Yes, more than I would like it to"
"But-She's your mom" she said confused.
"Come here" she stretched her hand for her to take as she drove her next to her "I don't know how much you know about her, but…she has done some bad things, specially to me and your-" she cut herself off "and the city and the people in it, including Supergirl" she finally said.
"But…she can't be bad" she reasoned talking in whispers.
"I wish I was wrong" she admitted heartedly.
Kara gently laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Lena placed hers on top, weakly smiling her way.
"Can I help?" Lera asked concerned.
"I'm afraid not, sweetie" she turned to cope her cheek "just stay safe, that will keep me at ease"
"Ok"
"Kara, come in" she heard Alex's voice on her ear.
"I'll bring you some tea" Kara excused herself, allowing Lena to have some time alone with the girl to explain her the whole situation revolving Supergirl and the hate of the Luthor's towards the heroes.
"Alex, I'm here"
"You know I almost called a whole squad to look for you?" she said using her commanding voice of the older sister.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I fell asleep, I forgot to call, things have been moving too fast"
"Well, buckle up for what you are about to hear. Remember the guys from the robbery? The ones you asked me to look at their backgrounds?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I couldn't find a single thing, they are off the grid and when I went to question them at the police station, the officials told me someone had paid their bails. Very substantial bails. So I went back to the museum to look for another lead and I found out there was actually something missing from the mineral exposition"
"They did steal the diamond?"
"No Kara, they took a red rock you are familiar of"
"Red Kryptonite?"
"Yes" she said "Apparently the whole thing was indeed a set up. So be careful and if you notice any change in your behavior come to the DEO right away"
"There's something else, Alex. I might know how all this connects" she hid behind a wall "Lilian Luthor escaped" she mumbled.
"What?!" Kara had to take the earpiece out, since her super sensitive hearing made Alex cry feel like thunder in her eardrum.
"Yeah" she put it back on "It happened about three hours ago. Cat Grant came to give a heads up to Lena, but if the DEO could also look into it, I would feel more assure"
"On it" Alex said.
"Great, thank you" she spied over her shoulder at the office "I think I'm going to stay with them. Make sure they are safe"
"Are you sure? What if you get infected with Red Kryptonite?"
"I'll be careful, I just don't want to leave them alone"
"Maybe Supergirl should be the one having the stake out"
"No. Lena needs me as her friend, not as a hero"
"But shouldn't the other DNA donor be also protecting Lera?"
"Tonight, I can't be both" she whispered defeated.
"Ok" Alex exhaled "Just call if you need backup"
"Will do" she ended communication.
Kara took all her work into the main office and stayed by Lena's side until the sun went down and every worked abandoned the building.
The reporter hid a yawn behind her hand as she continued to type into her computer.
"Kara, please take a break" Lena said putting her own files aside.
"No, it's fine, I'm almost done" she excused massaging her neck "are you going home late tonight?" she sneaked the question she had been meaning to ask.
"I think I'm going to stay here, actually" she confessed "I know Cat said to keep the routine, but I don't feel safe doing so. My mom could look for me at L-Corp or my apartment, and I've been informed that several agents are surrounding all my buildings as safety measures, but I feel somewhat better in here. At least I can see her coming in this room"
"She won't get to you" Kara repeated.
"Sadly, that's more wishful thinking than facts" she stood up going to the door to call for Lera "If you found the cookie jar I at least hope you'll bring it in here to share!"
Kara chuckled as Lena made it back inside, deciding to take a moment to sit down next to Kara.
"But if you on the other hand must go, please do. I don't want to keep you for a second time"
"No, no way, I said I would stay with you"
"And you already did, marvelously. You spent the whole day here"
"Then" she fixed her glasses "I'm going to stay with you until this whole Lilian situation settles" she smiled her truest grin as she looked into her eyes.
Lena couldn't handle such kindness "You know, you are the only person that has always been there for me, Kara. Thank you"
"Always" she nodded.
Lera made it back with the cookies.
"Mom, can we go home now?"
"Actually sweetie…"
"We were thinking of having a little slumber party here!" Kara jumped in with her usual cheerful tone "There are some blankets on the storage, we can build a fortress, watch some movies on all those screens, eat all the stuff that we want" she locked sights with both pair of green emeralds "How does that sounds?"
"Awesome!" Lera cheered.
"Ok then, let's get everything we need to get this party started" she stood up "I'll look for something to watch, we can order some food and meanwhile you can go for the blankets so we can get the fortress started"
"On it!" Lera ran off. It seemed odd that at her age the idea of all those things was appealing, but once more she never had any real experiences, it was all ceros and ones encrypted to give her knowledge.
Lena gazed at the reporter in awe "Kara…thank you, that was brilliant"
"I mean, who wouldn't want to do all those things?" she smiled.
They did all that to keep Lera happy and to chase away the thoughts of Lillian trying to ruin such joy.
They close the blinds before getting the couches together to put the blanket over and called it the Fortress of Solitude 2.0 as Lera had named it. They spent hours watching films and eating every last bit of junk food that was on that floor until finally Lera's strength gave away and she was asleep on one of the couches.
"She's finally out" Kara mumbled "I thought she would give in an hour ago"
"She's resilient" Lena whispered back.
Kara hid another yawn "I think I'm not" she sighed shifting position on the couch. By that point, her shoes were lying next to the sofa as well as Lena's heels.
"I honestly don't think I'm going to be able to sleep at all" Lena commented "I should stay awake in case anything happens"
"Nothing happened so far, plus, you said it yourself, a bunch of agents are surrounding the building, I don't know how much safer you can get"
"Contacting Supergirl" Lena said.
"Ow" Kara shrugged "Do you want to call her?" she offered knowing that the price would be to trade one identity for the other.
"Actually…no, I rather be here with you" she kicked her feet up the couch "Right now that's all I need" she smiled, but was taken over by a yawn of her own.
Kara smiled tenderly opening her arms "Come here" she called
"What?"
"Rest against me. There's not much we can manage with only one couch. Plus, I'm known to give great hugs, I can assure you, you'll fall asleep, no bad thought, fears or whatsoever"
Lena held her smile unable to decide if she would take upon the offer, but the idea of being held to sleep suddenly became appealing. Kara had comforted her before many times, just hours ago she had fully cried against her shoulder, so the idea of being under her embrace wasn't foreign or unwelcome. In fact, it was in her arms when felt must welcome.
"Ok, then" she tentatively allowed herself to fully rest her weight over her as Kara also got her feet up the couch and wrapped her arms around the Luthor allowing her to cuddle against her chest.
Once she was firmly held over her body, Kara began to stroke lovingly her hair all the way to her back. Lena slowly allowed her body to relax and enjoy herself, she hadn't felt that safe in ages. She sighed calmly as she laid a hand carelessly on Kara's side. The hero flinched for an instant making sure not to disturb her, but Lena had touched the almost completely healed wound that she herself had patched up. If the raven-haired woman took notice of the movement or not was unknown, as she was swiftly giving into sleep.
Kara readjusted as her nose was being tickled by dark hair and laid her cheek on top of her head as she once more decided to hum. She could hear her heartbeat crystal clear. Whatever tension had been upon her was now fading away.
Once sure Lena was settled and in the safety of her own dreams, she allowed herself to take her glasses off "I'm here, Lena" she mumbled "I've always been, as Supergirl or Kara Danvers. I'll be there for you" she kissed the top of her head and placed the glasses back into place.
That night she couldn't be both, but it didn't took a hero to keep her safe, it took a friend.
Thank you for your support! It has been awesome! Let's see what comes next...