Chapter 21

Warning: Heavy Homophobia…

Alex sat on the plain dinner table with Maggie sitting next to her, the awkward silence was almost excruciating. She didn't know how Maggie handled it.

Maggie's mother cleared her throat and looked at Alex who was playing with her food, "So, Alex. Tell me about yourself. Maggie never mentioned you before" her voice was attacking, but not at Alex, it was towards her daughter.

Maggie rolled her eyes and bit back a scoff, Alex had told her that she could handle herself if her parents started to attack her.

"There's not much to tell" Alex replied calmly as she picked up the glass of water, and took a sip of it, trying to get rid of the dryness in her throat.

"I'm sure there is… tell me about your family" she persisted, Maggie wasn't sure if Alex wanted to talk about her family or if there was even a story to tell.

Alex drank the water and wished it magically turned into alcohol, "Well, my mum is Bio-Engineer who's currently working in metropolis and my dad is… well, he left us last year out of nowhere, so I don't really know where or what he is doing" Maggie placed her hand over Alex's, she knew how Alex felt about her father.

Maggie didn't need to look up to see her father's scowling look, but she ignored it.

"Us?" Maggie's mother asked

"Pardon?" Alex asked with confusion.

"You said us, implying that you and?"

"Oh, I have a little sister named Kara" Alex said, she wasn't going to say that Kara was adopted, especially when she didn't tell Maggie.

"Is she a lesbian to?" Maggie's father quipped in, Alex instantly shot him a glare. She didn't care if they were attacking her, but no body attacks her sister.

Maggie was also ready to shout at her father for attacking Kara. She and Kara may not talk that much, but she didn't like the someone picking up on the bubbly little girl. She knew it sounded hypocritical.

Plus, she could tell that something was going on with Kara, she wasn't sure what. But she remembered the heart wrenching scream that echoed through the house in the middle of the night, the first time she slept at the Danvers house

"John" Maggie's mother scolded her husband at his harsh tone.

"She has a girlfriend, if that is what you are asking" Alex replied harshly, she didn't like his tone,

"And that's really none of your business" Maggie chimed in with an edge to her voice.

John clenched his fists tightly, "It is my business when my daughter is having some weird… fling, with another girl for attention"

"Excuse me?" Maggie shouted at her father with great offence, "You think that I'm dating Alex just for attention?" she shouted angrily. She slammed her palm against the table and stood up from her chair.

John scoffed and stood up from his chair, also slamming his palm against the table, "You never liked girls before, so why now? Why are you acting out?"

Maggie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her father thought that she was just going through some phase, "I'm not acting out for her and the only reason why haven't dated any other girls yet, is because they weren't Alex. I love her and if you can't accept that, then… I don't want you to be a part of my life"

Alex grabbed her girlfriends hand and gently squeezed it, she knew how hard this was for Maggie.

Alex had talked to her mum about Maggie, she had asked her mother if it was okay for Maggie to stay with them, even if it was for a short period of time. Eliza was barely home, and when she was, she always had to leave early in order to go to work, so she didn't have a problem with it. Plus, she only wanted Alex to be happy.

She and Maggie had already talked about this, if Maggie's father couldn't handle them being together, then she would leave and stay with Alex.

John couldn't help but scoff, "You are not here to make demands young lady. Stop with this phase of yours and move back in" he shouted angrily.

"If you can't accept, that I'm in love with a beautiful, fantastic, amazing woman, then I don't want you in my life" Maggie shouted back.

"You either stop with this… preposterous act or get the hell out of my house, because I will not have a lesbian living under my roof" John screamed, veins were popping out of his head.

"John!" Maggie's mother shouted at her husband, knowing that he had just went too far.

Maggie couldn't believe what he just said. She couldn't believe those words left her own father's mouth.

She bit her tongue to stop herself from crying, she wasn't going to break, she wasn't going to let her father see her broken.

Alex stood up and didn't bother to keep her anger in check, "You" she pointed her finger at Maggie's father, "Need to get your head out of your fucking, egotistical ass, and stop treating Maggie like she's not a human being. She has feelings, she's a person who has the ability to love, and if you can't accept who, she chooses to love, then you are worst then I thought" she screamed angrily, she couldn't believe what he and said to her.

Maggie stared at her girlfriend, and found it how ironic it was. Alex had told her to remain calm and not to lose it, but here she was, screaming at her father, defending her.

Maggie tightened her grip on Alex's hand trying to tell her it's okay, but Alex wasn't having it.

"You corrupted her, you're the reason why she is acting out" John screamed while pointing his finger at Alex.

Maggie could take her father berating her, but not her girlfriend, "Don't you get it dad?" Maggie screamed at her father, no longer holding back her anger, "I'm in love with her. You are not listening to me, you never listen to me and I'm sick… of trying to make you understand… ""

"Listening to you?" John scoffed, "I have been listening to you, since the day you were born. You have never showed any indication that you were gay. And even if you were gay, why didn't you come to me? Why didn't you tell me? We could have fixed this"

"Fix what?" Maggie screamed, she wasn't broken, she didn't need to be fixed, "The fact that I'm in love with a woman?" she shouted

"The fact that you're a lesbian" John screamed

Maggie couldn't believe what she was hearing, these were the words that were coming out of her father's mouth, the man who was so supposed to love her unconditionally.

"And you wander why I didn't come out to you" she scoffed, "I always knew that I liked girls but… because of you, because of your stupid homophobic values and traditions, I suppressed those feelings"

"I ignored how I felt even if it made me so… angry and sad… just because I didn't want to disappoint you. I felt like… I was a freak, that I wasn't normal because… you made me feel like I would go to hell, by falling in love" Maggie cried

John was too fuelled by anger to see his daughter in pain, "That is stupid" he simply said, "This isn't about you feeling like a freak or about my religion. This is simply about the fact that you are rebelling against you parents to get attention. Don't give me that bullshit about you not feeling normal"

"OH MY GOD" She shouted angry, "How would you know?" Maggie screamed through her tears, "How would you know what I'm feeling? You didn't grow up in a world where loving another person, who happens to be the same gender as you, is wrong. You didn't have to grow up thinking that… being in love, would send you to hell. You are the reason why I hid myself, you are the reason why… I hated who I was"

For so long, Maggie hated herself, she hated the feelings that she repressed to the depths of her soul. She wanted to do nothing more than to change who she was.

John's veins were practically throbbing out of his neck, he stared at Maggie with such anger...

This was her father.

The man who taught her how life worked…

She loved him… even if he didn't love her….

But she was mad, she was angry that he couldn't understand that this… what she was feeling… was love.

It was no different from a man loving a woman… why couldn't he understand that?

Why couldn't he understand her?

She gave her father, one last look, hoping that he would apologise… or change his mind… but he didn't. Instead, he pointed to the door and said, "Leave, and don't come back"

-00—

Alex was still fuming on their way home, she opened the door to her house and angrily slammed the door close once Maggie was in side, "That egotistical bastard. I wanted to stab a god damn fork into his eye"

Maggie shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't have stopped you if you did", she muttered/ Alex's face softened when she heard Maggie's defeated voice. She walked over to her girlfriend and guided her to the couch.

"Hey" Alex whispered softly, she gently cupped Maggie's cheek into her hand, "Talk to me" she knew that Maggie needed to let out. She knew that if Maggie had a choice, she would bottle all of her feelings up.

And she didn't want her to do that. She didn't want Maggie to close up.

She watched Maggie taking in a shuddering breath, "The thing is… I knew… I just knew what he was going to say. I didn't expect him to say, 'I love you even if your gay' or something like that… but hearing him… telling me to leave… it, hurts… so much more than just leaving" Maggie cried, Alex hated that her father made her feel this way.

"It's a lot harder than I thought it would be…." Maggie admitted softly, "I want to hate him… I want to tell him to go and fuck himself… but he's my dad… he was supposed to be the one person who I could count on… who would support me, no matter what…. And my mum she just sat there… letting him say those words…"

Alex pulled Maggie into her chest, allowing her girlfriend to cry as much as she wishes, she remembered what Maggie had screamed at her father. The part about hating herself because she was a lesbian.

"I love you" Alex whispered as Maggie sobbed into her chest, "And I will always love you, for who you are, no matter what"

"You won't leave me?" Maggie's voice broke, it sounded so vulnerable, and only broke Alex's heart even more. Maggie was always the one staying strong, she was also the person who would hold down the fort… but right now, she was the one who was breaking.

"Never" Alex promised, she loved Maggie, and she would die before she let anything happens to her.

Maggie sobbed into Alex's arm, letting all of her pain and anger out through her tears… she had never felt this way before, so damn hurt and angry.

-00-

Kara ate the her 20th piece of pizza. Lena was leaning her head on Kara's shoulders as they watched a movie. The trio had been watching Netflix for the past 4 hours, none of them wanted to leave the couch since they were too comfortable and after that talk, Lena needed some time just to hang out with her friends.

After the movie finished, Winn decided that it was his time to leave, he didn't want to overstay his welcome, especially when he knew that Lex or Lillian could be home soon, "I should get going" he said, he stood up from the couch.

Lena stood up and hugged her best friend, "I will see you tomorrow" Lena muttered.

Winn nodded his head, "Definitely" after they parted from their hug, he looked at Kara who was still eating pizza her pizza, "You need a ride home?"

Kara looked up, in all honesty, she didn't want to go, she wanted to stay here with Lena by her side, but she didn't want to overstay her welcome.

But before Kara could stand up, Lena quickly interrupted, "You know that you can sleep over" she was honestly hoping that she would stay… she wanted her to be here with her.

Kara opened her mouth, ready to argue that she couldn't possibly overstay her welcome, but then she saw the look of hope in Lena's eyes and a small smile crept on her face, "It's okay Winn" Kara stood up from the couch and pulled her friend into a hug, "I will see you tomorrow okay?"

Winn nodded his head and pulled away from the hug, "Your dress is already here and waiting" he knew that there was a chance of Kara staying with Lena tonight, so he asked Alex if she could grab Kara's dress. He gave Lena the plastic bag that had Kara's dress in it.

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow" Kara said as she waved Winn goodbye. After they said their goodbyes, Kara fell back against the couch.

She looked at Lena who was staring at her with complete adoration, she couldn't stop her face from heating up under Lena's beautiful stare, "Is there something on my face?" Kara asked as she patted her face trying to find the source of Lena's stare.

"No" Lena muttered softly, she didn't know how Kara did it. "How do you do it?" she asked softly. Lena knew that she wasn't the easiest person to read… but somehow Kara read her like an open book.

Kara stopped patting her face down, and looked at Lena, she tilted her head, "Do what? Did I do something wrong? Am I over staying my welcome? Oh my Rao, I totally mis—"

Lena placed her hand over Kara's stopping her from her adorable ramble mode, "Kara" Kara broke out from her ramble and stared into her eyes. Lena knew that Kara knew everything about her… but she knew nothing of Kara. She wished she knew more about her…but would it be rude to ask her of her past.

Kara noticed Lena biting her lip, trying to think of what to say, she gave her a small comforting smile and entwined her fingers with Lena's, "You can ask me anything" she knew that Lena was curious, how could she not be? She was an alien for Rao's sake.

Lena didn't want to be insensitive and she didn't want to bring up the Kara's haunting past. She knew Kara's experiences must've been traumatic, nobody had eyes like hers. Filled with pain, misery, betrayal, sorrow, guilt. It was well hidden, underneath all that happy sunny exterior.

"Never mind" Lena quickly said while shaking her head, she shifted her body so she was now facing the tv, "Let's watch another movie, preferably not a Disney movie because you start to believe that Disney princesses are real but they're not. We could watch Forrest Gump, that's a great movie. You will lea—"

Kara quickly grabbed the tv remote from Lena's hand and got into a position that allowed her to look at Lena's facial expression. She wasn't good at reading facial expressions, but Lena was different.

She was able to tell what Lena was thinking, "Usually I'm the one doing the rambling" Kara commented as she turned off the tv.

"Why'd you do that?" She knew exactly why Kara did that.

"Lena" Kara's voice was soft and delicate, she was almost encouraging Lena to ask her question, "You can ask me anything"

Lena bit her lip, unsure if that was true. She wanted to ask Kara about her mother's funeral, what it was like for her… but that would bring bad memories for her and she didn't want to trigger those memories.

"Don't worry about it… I don't want to pry" she muttered softly

"Lena" Kara said softly, "Ask the question" she knew that he had something to do with her past but she wanted Lena to feel comfortable around her.

Lena hesitated… she wanted sure if she should be direct about it, "Ummm… I was going to ask what it was like for you… to go to your mother's funeral", she noted how Kara's gaze instantly dropped and contorted into something painful, "You don't have to answer, I shouldn't have asked"

Kara shook her head, she knew that Lena's question was going to be personal yet she still encouraged her to ask. She wanted to tell Lena, especially if it helped her, but there was nothing to tell. She didn't have the option of going to her mother's funeral, her mother didn't even have a proper burial, nor did the children, mothers and fathers of krypton.

"It's…" She wasn't sure how to word it, how did she explain to someone, that her home planet had exploded moments before she left her planet. Lena put her hand over Kara's, encouraging her that it's okay, "My planet…it um… " she couldn't do it, she couldn't say it out loud. It still hurt to say.

Lena felt guilty, she saw the broken look in Kara's eyes and wished she hadn't asked the question. She just had to open her big curious mouth and asked, "Ka—" before she could finish her apology Kara quickly squeezed her hand.

"My mum" Kara muttered softly, "She died… before I came to earth… I didn't have the chance to bury her. I didn't get the chance to say goodbye" tears started to fall down Kara' pale face, Lena could see it. Could see how Kara tried to hold it in, and she wish she hadn't. She wished that Kara wouldn't bottle up all of her feelings.

Kara quickly wiped her tears away and let out a shaky breath, Lena pressed her lips together to stop herself from chastising herself for bringing up the topic of Kara's mum, "Kara" she wanted to apologise, but she knew that wouldn't make her feel any better.

Lena was never good at comforting people in fact, she was the worst at it. She never had to comfort anyone, it was always her against the world. But now, she had someone who she loved more than anything in the world, trying to hold the weight of the world on her shoulders.

What was she supposed to do? There was nothing in this world that could console the broken girl in front of who as trying so-so hard, not to be broken.

If there was one thing that Lena knew about Kara, it was that she didn't like people to see her broke, to see her pain. She knew that Kara hated crying in front of people, and the only person to see her fully break down, was her sister, Alex.

Lena did the only thing that she could do, she wrapped her arms around Kara's neck and pulled her into a hug.

Kara's face hardened with surprise when she felt herself being pulled into an embrace, she took in the fact that her head was now buried in Lena's shoulders. Her face softened when she took in Lena's scent.

"I know that there is nothing in this world that I could say or do to ease your pain" Lena muttered softly as she gently stroked Kara's blonde luxurious hair, "But… I could be here for you, offer you a shoulder to cry on"

Lena could feel Kara's jaw clench against her shoulder, she knew that Kara was trying to stop herself from crying, "You can cry Kara, it's okay" she whispered softly. She could feel Kara burying her head deeper into her shoulder and her shirt dampening. Kara didn't know what is was about Lena's words… or maybe it was how she said, with delicacy.

Kara wrapped her arms around Lena's waist and allowed herself to sob into Lena's shoulders, having Lena hold her like this, brought warmth throughout her whole body, warmth that she didn't know was possible to feel.

A part of her feared that if she squeezed Lena to tight, then she might her. This was one of the reasons she hated her powers. She could never do anything without the chance of hurting someone else.

"I got snot on your shirt" Kara mumbled against Lena's shoulders causing Lena to chuckle at her girlfriend's comment.

"I didn't think it was possible for alien to have snot" Lena laughed softly, she knew that Kara still didn't want to show her face, so she held Kara in her arms, waiting for Kara to make the first move to break apart.

Kara laughed with humour, "I probably look like a mess" she muttered as she pulled away from Lena's shoulder's, she didn't want to, but she couldn't risk hurting Lena.

She took off her glasses and wiped the tears away but Lena lifted her thumb and gently caught the tear falling down Kara's beautiful pale face.

"Never" Lena muttered softly, even though Kara's eyes were red from crying. Kara was still glowing, even after crying her heart out, she was still the beautiful girl that she fell in love with, "You look beautiful"

Lena placed her hand, gently on Kara's check. Kara reached up to grab Lena's hand that was cupping her cheek and gently placed a kiss on the back of her hand, "Wasn't I supposed to be the one comforting you tonight?" she asked softly with a smile on her face.

"You already have" and Kara truly did, she hadn't let her go through this alone, "You have been here, every day since you found out about my father's passing. I've even seen you linger outside of my bed room window in the middle of the night"

Kara started to blush, not realising that Lena knew about her night time visits outside of her window, "Who? Me? No… that's—that's absurd… I live almost an hour away… there's no way, I'm not… no" Kara rambled nervously.

"Sweetie, you're not very discreet" Lena argued playfully, she had seen Kara flying up to her bedroom window and sitting in the tree outside.

Kara feigned offence as she put her hands to her chest, "I can be very discreet thank you very much", she thought that Lena didn't know about her late time visits.

"Sure sweetie" Lena said, "You can be whatever you want to be but I wouldn't recommend being a ninja or an assassin"

"Lena!" Kara pouted, Lena couldn't contain the adorableness of Kara Danvers.

"Oh honey, I'm just joking. Come here" Lena said with her arms wide open for Kara to cuddle with her. Kara was still pouting but she shifted her body so she was now lying in Lena's arms, "Do you want to watch another movie before going to sleep?"

There was no way that Kara was going to go to sleep, not when she could be disturbing Lena's sleep, but she didn't tell her that, she was hoping that Lena feel asleep before her, "Sure, Oh! Could we watch Romaeo and Juliet?" she's been wanting to watch that movie since the forest.

Lena smirked at the mispronunciation, "Romeo and Juliet it is"