Kara stared at her phone, shaking in an attempt not to crush it in her hand. She had insurance on the phone for just such an occurrence, and that thought tickled the back of her mind. Mainly she imagined Lillian's throat, her hand wrapped around it, and the light in the woman's eyes flickering out as her grip tightened. Lillian's futile clawing fingers would finally slide away as the human's body hung limp and lifeless, a sack of evil rendered inert. It would be justice. It would protect the people Kara loved. It would protect the world. In the broader sense, that was what Kara did, protected the world. How would ending Lillian not be part of Supergirl's responsibility?

Suddenly her phone jumped to life, text after text alert popping in. It was startling as they practically tripped over each other. Lillian had obviously freed her phone from whatever means held it captive before. The texts started with James, moved through Winn, and ended with Alex. There were none from Maggie…curious. That was probably only a matter of time.

Then the missed calls came through. It was the same group of people: James, Winn, and Alex. Again, there were none from Maggie. Maggie was the last person in the line, so maybe she was still dealing with things on her end and hadn't gotten around to reaching out yet. Kara knew it would be coming. She would happily put it off as long as possible. Opening the texts, she read the string from James first.

James: "Kara, what's going on? Why did my interview just turn into an assassination attempt? I've got the cops on their way, but I don't know what to tell them."

James: "I really need to hear back from you before the cops get here."

James: "Okay, I'm calling. The cops are downstairs and on their way up."

James: "You're ignoring my calls? Are you all right? I've got to tell the cops what I know which isn't a lot, but it's what you told me. Please call or text me."

James: "I've got to go give a statement at the police station. Can you meet me there? The guy you hit is being taken to the hospital under guard. He's hurt. What's going on?"

Kara exhaled heavily. She needed to explain this, but she wasn't sure how exactly. Could she tell anyone about the pager? Could she tell anyone about Lillian? This was a nightmare. She switched to the texts from Winn and kept reading.

Winn: "Holy crap! What was that!? Who is that guy?"

Winn: "Kara?"

Winn: "Hey Kar, you okay?"

Winn: "So, trying to reach Maggie because we kind of need a cop. She's not answering. Suggestions?"

Winn: "I just spoke to Alex. What the hell Kara! What's going on!? She's freaking out! Like Alex is seriously freaking out! I have never seen Alex freak out. I once saw a female Almeracian pin Alex to the wall by her throat. Alex emptied her clip into the Almeracian. When the alien just smiled, do you know what Alex did next? She reloaded and did it again! Alex doesn't freak out! Alex freaking out is making me freak out!"

Winn: "I'm better. I'm doing better. J'onn is sending someone here. Not sure that's legit, but like whatever. Beggars…choosers…you know the drill. You really need to call Alex. She needs you Kara. This is serious. Call your sister."

Brow furrowed, Kara re-read that last text. Then she went back and read the one before that. Maybe Alex hadn't heard from Maggie either. Crap! Okay, she needed to drop Alex a text and let her know that Maggie was fine. Stupid! Stupid! Of course, Alex was freaking out. She'd left her on a 'Someone is going to kill your girlfriend.' And 'I'm so sorry.' Ugh, so freaking stupid Kara. Way to go. She almost called Alex, but she didn't want to hear yelling that she could hear without a phone. With Kara's hearing, that might not be an exaggeration. She jumped into texts, seeing something about going to the hospital and deciding to back up to the beginning to find out why her sister was showing up to yell at her in person.

Alex: "Is she okay?"

Alex: "Kara?"

Alex: "?"

Alex: "Kara, I don't know what's going on. I'm sure it's serious or you'd be in touch. I need an update. I can't get in touch with Maggie. The station won't tell me anything since it's an active operation. I'm driving down there right now. No ranting, I pulled over for this text. If I haven't heard from one of you by the time I get there I'm whipping out the biggest badge I have. I don't care if J'onn makes me scrub toilets for a month. I need to know she's okay."

Alex: "Jesus Kara, they called me. I'm Maggie's emergency contact, and they called me. What the fuck happened? They won't tell me over the phone. They just said she's hurt and to get to National City Memorial Hospital. Tell me you got to her in time. Tell me she's not dead."

Kara just stared at the phone, shaken beyond action for several seconds. When she could move again, she called Alex immediately.

"Kara!"

"Alex! I got there! I stopped him! I…I don't know why they'd take Maggie to the hospital. I stopped him!" Kara's words were a combination of stuttered confusion and rushed anxiety.

Alex panted, her breathing harsh on the other side of the phone. "Okay. Where are you?"

"The hospital."

"Are you with Maggie?"

Kara listened to the sound of traffic and muffled air, no doubt her sister's Bluetooth under her motorcycle helmet. "No, Lena was…there was an attack on Lena too. I was too late and—"

"Oh, my God! Is Lena—!?"

"No," Kara wiped at her eyes, crying again. "Lena's fine. I was too late, but…later Alex. I'll tell you later. Oh, Rao, I know we need to talk. This is such a mess. I promised Lena I'd be back to talk to her. I kind of smashed through her window."

"Ugh, fucking Luthor," Alex mumbled. "Look, I need you to check on Maggie for me. Kara, I'm terrified. Do this for me?"

"Of course," Kara replied without hesitation. "I'll find out what I can. When will you be here?"

"I headed to the station, so I was in the totally wrong direction. My GPS says I'm eleven minutes out, so I'll be there in eight."

Kara sighed. "Alex, you don't need to join Maggie in the hospital. You're not the invulnerable sister."

"Just find her and call me."

Kara was about to put her phone down since Alex had already hung up, but she remembered James and Winn. She shot them both off a quick text, telling them she could explain, but she was still in the middle of things. She promised she'd be in touch as soon as she could be. Dropping her phone into her purse, Kara changed in seconds and headed back downstairs. Lena was already in a wheelchair, Kalia packing up a few things.

"What's going on?" Kara asked.

"Supergirl redecorated," Kalia replied, pointing to the hole that had once been windows. "We're moving Ms. Luthor to another room. It won't be a corner, but it's private. It's the best we can do on short notice."

Kara nodded, looking over at Lena. "You okay?"

Lena returned the nod. "I'm glad you're here. We should talk. Walk us to the new room?"

"Actually, I need to go do something."

"Kara," Lena said, her voice a warning.

"It's Maggie," Kara explained. "She's being brought into the hospital. Alex isn't here yet, and she wants me to find Maggie."

"Oh. What's wrong?"

"I have no idea. No one will tell Alex over the phone. That's why she wants me to find Maggie. Alex needs to know that Maggie is all right. She loves her."

Lena nodded slowly, but as Kara turned to leave she said, "Kara, are you certain Detective Sawyer is all right?"

Kara turned, seeing the way Lena studied her. "She's fine. I'm sure of it."

"Hmmm. Kalia, what's the new room number?"

"712."

"Very good. Meet us there, Kara."

"I will."

"Hurry back," Lena said, eyes narrowed and watching Kara intently.

Kara attempted a smile, but she knew it was weak. She turned, getting out from under the weight of Lena's gaze as quickly as possible. As she made her way down the hall and then the stairs, she had no doubt that if Lena continued to watch her, the woman would somehow know exactly what happened even if she never said a word. For not the first time, Kara felt pity for anyone sitting on the other side of a boardroom table from the young CEO.

Down at admitting, Kara headed to the front desk. "Excuse me. Has Detective Maggie Sawyer been brought in?"

The nurse looked at the paperwork in front of her and asked, "And you are?"

"Kara Danvers. My sister is her girlfriend, Alex Danvers. Alex is her emergency contact. She's on her way in. Is Maggie here yet?"

"Sweetie, I can talk to your sister when she gets here. I can't talk to you about a patient."

"So she's here," Kara said in full investigative reporter mode.

"Just wait for your sister."

Looking around the ER waiting room, Kara saw a group of police officers. When one of theirs was hurt, they always showed up in force. As luck would have it, she recognized one of them. As luck wouldn't have it, she didn't like him, and he would only know Supergirl. Actually, the later might be a good thing.

Going up to the group of cops, she cleared her throat and said to Detective Erickson, "Excuse me, but are you all here for Detective Sawyer?"

"Who are you?" Erickson replied.

"I'm Kara Danvers. My sister is Alex Danvers, her girlfriend."

Erickson gave Kara a quick once over. Kara noticed he wasn't checking her out, more of an assessment, fairly professional. It wasn't what she'd have expected after their meeting in the van and his comment about Alex, about things in general.

He gave a quick shake of his head. "You don't look like you can be her sister. I know Alex Danvers. No way."

"Oh." Kara adjusted her glasses. "I'm adopted, well, technically a foster I guess. We're not related by blood, but Alex is my sister. Here." She dug her wallet out of her purse, pulling out her driver's license. "This is me. Oh, wait." She grabbed a picture of her and Alex and showed the detective that. "This probably makes more sense."

"Oh, sorry kid," the detective said, holding out his hands and refusing to take her ID or the picture. "I didn't mean to jump down your throat there. You wouldn't believe the kind of crap the press will pull to get a story…fucking vultures."

Kara winced. "Um, full disclosure. I actually am a reporter. That's my job, but I'm here because my sister is losing it and Maggie's my friend. I'm not trying to write a story."

Putting the ID and photo back into her wallet, Kara dropped it into her bag and pulled out her phone, opening her photo section. She scrolled to some from game night, finding one of Alex and Maggie snuggled together on the couch, Alex's arm wrapped around Maggie's neck and them both holding beers. Their smiles were ear to ear.

"Please, I just want to be able to tell my sister that Maggie is okay. Is she okay? Please?"

Erickson turned around and said, "Eldridge, come here!"

A uniform cop joined them

"Eldridge, you were on the op with Sawyer. What did the medics say when they picked her up? This is Danvers' sister, the girlfriend."

"Hey," Eldridge said with a nod. "She was unresponsive, uh, breathing and had a pulse. We checked on that. They took her blood pressure on the scene, and I guess that was good. The first ambulance took that rookie off. Whatever smashed through us fucked him up but good."

"What happened?" Kara asked, relaxing a bit now that Maggie was apparently okay.

"Something, some blur or something, just streaked through our unit. We couldn't see it. It was dark in there, and the thing moved way too fast. Suddenly the rookie was falling two stories through a hole in the wall and Sawyer was smashed into the wall. She hit the doorframe head first, went down like a rock. We figured it was part of that ultra-gang. We called in for back-up and medical support. We had to carry her out of there. Not sure if we hurt her doing it, but we couldn't leave her up there."

Face darkening, Kara's hand folded into a tight fist. She'd hurt Maggie. Trying to rush to make it to Lena in time, she'd sent Maggie to the hospital. "She was alive though. She was okay?"

"She was alive," Eldridge replied. "She didn't come to while we were there. We never saw what hit us or anyone or anything else."

"Thank you." Kara stepped off to a secluded area and called Alex.

"Kara!?"

"I talked to some of the cops here. They said she's alive. The hospital won't talk to me."

"Okay, okay," Alex said, breathing a little bit easier. "I'm almost there."

"Do you want me to wait in the ER for you?"

"I'd like you to. Why? What's up?"

"I need to go see Lena. I smashed my way into her room. She wants to know what happened and I just walked out on her for the second time since it happened. She wants an explanation, and I think I owe her that."

"You don't owe her anything," Alex replied. "She had a chance at a relationship with you. Lena couldn't even manage a friendship. Don't go crawling back to her now. Wait for me, and when we talk, we'll decide through what official channels we're handling whatever is going on. We'll send an agent to speak to Ms. Luthor or maybe to her lawyer. Let's see how she likes it."

Kara cringed, grateful that Alex couldn't see her. Maybe she and Lena should renegotiate the terms of their secret relationship. If possible, Alex seemed to dislike Lena even more than Alex did before the shooting, and Lena had been suspect number one on most anti-alien activities. It didn't matter that Lena had actually saved the life of all the aliens by neutralizing Myriad. Lena's last name seemed to trump her good deeds.

"I'd rather just speak with her Alex. She was in a hospital bed, not even able to walk, and I covered her in broken glass and pieces of the wall. This has nothing to do with Lena and me. You do that to anyone; they deserve an explanation."

"You're too nice, Kara," Alex replied. "Call me once you're done. I'll text you Maggie's room number, and you can come and see her."

"Sounds good. I love you and Maggie too."

"Love you too, Kara. See you soon."

Heading back up the stairs, Kara started to collect her thoughts for this conversation. Lena wasn't going to be put off. She didn't deserve to be put off. This was all a mess, and it started with Kara running headlong into danger and trying to handle Lillian herself. She was trying to protect Lena, but the path to hell was paved with good intentions, and Kara felt like she had that paving contract right now.

Standing outside room 712, Kara knocked on the door and said, "May I come in?"

Kalia looked up, not responding, only looking over at Lena.

"Please do," Lena said from her wheelchair. "How's the detective?"

Entering, Kara replied, "Alive, but the hospital wouldn't tell me anything else. Alex is almost here though. She felt better once I told her Maggie was alive. She needed to hear that."

Lena nodded. "Kalia, Kara and I need the room for a bit. Would you mind?"

"We need to finish setting up your room, and you need to get some sleep. Your body still has a lot of healing to do, and you heal when you sleep," Kalia replied.

"Did you just tell me no?" Lena asked.

Heading toward the door, Kalia replied, "I just gave you the facts of what you should do. I'll be outside when you're done with your conversation." She left, closing the door behind her.

"I like her," Kara said with a small smile.

"You like everyone," Lena replied.

"Not everyone," Kara mumbled in response.

"Are you ready to explain what happened tonight? Someone tried to kill me, and you know who was behind it. It was my mother, wasn't it? That poem and the flowers, they were a warning. Was it about you? Does she know who you are?"

Eyebrows high, Kara pulled up a chair and sat down so that her knees were almost touching Lena's legs as she asked, "Do you actually need me for this conversation?"

"A nod would be helpful."

Kara nodded.

"Hmmm. Well, this is problematic."

"Problematic? I was leaning toward disastrous," Kara said.

"Actually, there is one thing that confuses me."

"Just one thing?"

Biting at the pad of her thumb, Lena remained in quiet contemplation for a few moments before she said, "This seems off for Mother. It's sloppy, unfocused. Why send a warning if she's going to make an attempt on my life? Why try to kill me in this manner when there are such more effective means? No, I'm missing something. I can't see the whole board."

"Board, what board?"

"When playing chess, you can predict your opponent's moves by seeing what they've done and what is still available to them in relation to what you've done and what you can do. That's the very basics though. Truly, you need to play as your opponent, not just as yourself. You need to see what the very best moves would be for your opponent and be prepared to counter them. This, this makes no sense. This gains her nothing. There are several things my mother would do if she were striking against me but not this. Mother would do what would hurt me the most, and this doesn't…" Lena looked up, staring sharply at Kara. "She's not playing with me, is she? This isn't about me. Aiteann! Kara, how did you know I was in danger?"

Closing her eyes, Kara let out a slow breath. "You're going to be mad at me."

"I believe I get to make that decision."

Reaching into her purse, Kara pulled out the pager and held it out to Lena.

"Explain," Lena said, taking the pager.

"It's from your mother."

"Explain better."

"Lillian is behind the gang that's been taking over the waterfront. I roughed up one of her men a bit and found out she sent him information for meetings on that thing. I thought I could just wait for the next address and show up and surprise her. I got the address tonight, but when I showed up, she had a surprise for me. She had people with body cameras with you, Alex, James, Winn, and Maggie. She told me that she was going to kill all of you, and if I were Kara Danvers, then I'd know who you were and how to find all of you. She gave me this." Kara pulled the bracer out of her purse. "It had all of your names on it and a timer. It started counting down. When it got to zero, the person with each of you would kill you. James had the least time, so I had to get to him first. Then it was Winn, Alex, Maggie, and you Lena. She told me I could skip someone else, and I'd have time to get to you but I…I just…I…"

Laying a hand on Kara's, Lena asked, "You got to all of your friends in time?"

Kara took several deep breaths, nodding. "It was so close with Maggie. I didn't know where she was and Alex couldn't tell me. Lena, I was going to leave her to die. I was going to let Maggie die to get to you in time, but then Alex remembered the bar Maggie was going to after her operation, and it was close to the op. I headed over there. I got to her just in time. I caught the bullet in my hand, dropped the guy who tried to kill her off the second floor, but I must have hit Maggie. I was flying fast, and I didn't even notice. That's why she's in the hospital. She's hurt."

Concern etched in her face, Lena asked, "How badly?"

"She's alive. She sounded stable, but I don't know. I was just…I was so scared, Lena. I had to get to you in time, but I didn't. When I got here and saw that needle in your neck, I thought you were dead. I failed you."

"Kara, I'm fine. Kalia was here. I'm fine," Lena said opening her arms and letting Kara fall into a comforting embrace. "Everything is fine."

"I didn't save you."

"You can't do everything by yourself. You have friends, family. Someplace you have a secretive team of some kind. Lean on them. Look at me. Darling, look at me." When Kara lifted her face, Lena said, "Lean on me. You don't need to carry these kinds of burdens alone. I know you're strong. No one doubts your strength and constitution. No matter how strong you are, you need to remember that we're—"

"El mayarah."

"…what?"

"El mayarah," Kara repeated. "Stronger together."

"Certainly," Lena replied. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the phrase though."

"It's Kryptonian, my family motto. El Mayarah means stronger together."

"Kryptonian," Lena said, her eyes a bit wide and a touch of awe in her voice. "You speak Kryptonian. Do you think…? I mean, would it be possible…? Would I be allowed to…?"

As her smile grew, Kara said, "Lena Luthor, stumbling over her words. I never thought I'd live to see the day. Are you asking if I'll teach you to speak Kryptonian?"

"Is it allowed? I'm a fast learner."

"Oh, I believe that." Kara leaned in again, this time applying a gentle kiss to Lena's lips. "I'd love to teach you my language. It would be so beautiful to have someone to speak with again."

"I'd love to be that someone."

Kara sighed deeply, leaning in for another kiss, but she met Lena's hand.

"Details, Kara, I need details. What you're telling me about my mother still doesn't add up. If she did this, then she already knew who you were."

"You think?"

"Oh, yes. This was something else. This wasn't about your identity. What did she get from you by doing this?"

"Well…" Kara hesitated.

"Spit it out."

"Okay, but you're going to be mad."

"I'm already furious."

"This is you furious?" Kara leaned back, studying Lena. "You seem fine. How am I going to know when we're fighting?"

"I'll leave a horse's head in your bed." With a small laugh, Lena said, "Goodness, your face. That was a joke, darling. I'm furious with my mother. I'm displeased with you, but you didn't grow up in a snake pit. Quite frankly, I'm rather glad you don't know how to deal with her. If my mother's machinations are successful against you, it's only because you're the pure soul I suspect you to be. You shouldn't change. You shouldn't ever be capable of standing against her. Just come to me with anything to do with Lillian Luthor. Let me handle Lillian Luthor. Unfortunately, I know how her mind works."

"You're nothing like her. You know that, don't you?"

Taking Kara's hand, Lena replied, "I'm more like her than you want to admit, but thank you. So long as there are Lillian Luthors, there will be room in this world for people like me. So long as there are people on my side like you, I'll never be a Lillian Luthor. Don't ever think for a moment I don't know that. I've clung to you like a limpet since you first came to my office with your cousin. You're like a lodestone for my morality. Anytime I go astray; there you are pointing me back on course."

Scrunching up her face adorably, Kara said, "I'm not perfect."

"No one is," Lena agreed. "You're better than most though. Now, what was my mother's move that I've yet to see? What is it you're not saying?"

"Ugh." Flopping back in her chair, Kara spoke toward the ceiling. "When I left before, the first time before, it was to call Lillian."

"You're speaking with my mother?"

Kara lolled her head to the side and nodded.

"Well, that can't be good."

"It's not. She's blackmailing me."

"With…? You haven't done anything wrong, so what can she…? Ah. It's about the lives of those for whom you care, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kara admitted with a heavy sigh. She sat up, facing Lena head on again. "Lillian told me to stay out of her business, or the people I loved would get hurt. I guess she was proving it here."

"Her opening gambit. Well played Mother. A bit ostentatious, but it drove the point home. It did take a bit of a chance though. If not for Kalia, I would have died. My mother may not care whether I live or die, but killing me at this point wouldn't keep you in check, and that is the whole point. She needs to leave you without any moves. I wonder what her end game is."

"No idea. I can't even figure out how you've figured out as much as you have sitting in a hospital room."

"I'm a Luthor," Lena replied.

"And…somehow that explains it." Kara's phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out. "It's my sister. She texted me. Alex says Maggie is in x-ray. Maggie was unconscious when they brought her in, but she was stable. Alex is demanding her medical chart." Kara looked up from the phone. "Alex is a doctor."

"Hmmm."

"She's still downstairs in the ER. She wants me to come see her."

"Are we done here for now?" Lena asked.

"For now. Everyone else wants to know what happened tonight. Someone tried to kill them, and I just barreled through without an explanation. What should I tell them?"

"What do you want to tell them?"

Kara thought about that for a few moments. "El marayah."

"That's what I thought. If my mother is targeting your friends through you, they deserve to know. They'll need to be able to defend themselves. I can get resources working on things on my end, but the more we have working on this, the better. Perhaps we can even manage a bit of a coordinated search of sorts."

"El marayah," Kara said with a smile.

"El marayah," Lena agreed.

"That was Kryptonian. You spoke Kryptonian," Kara said with a little clap. She leaned forward, kissing Lena again.

When Kara tried to pull the pager from her, Lena closed her hand tightly over it and pulled back. "No. You are not getting this back."

"But…but it isn't safe for—"

"Not up for discussion Kara."

"But if your mother sends a number, she'll be expecting me to call. I have to be the one who has it. You can't call her, Lena. I need it," Kara said, extending her hand.

"The discussion is over. You're not getting it back. My mother isn't having easy access to blackmailing you. I need to figure out how to trace anything that comes through on this thing. If anything does, we'll figure out how to respond together."

Brow creased, Kara extended her lower lip pouting heavily.

"Put that away," Lena said, pointing at Kara's lower lip. "I'm fairly certain that pout is against the Geneva Convention. I am not giving into what is clearly a terrorist action. I'm already dealing with my mother's criminal activities. I won't be blackmailed by you also."

"Fine," Kara replied, withdrawing the dangerous lowering lip, though if a pout could be a sound, her voice still held it. "Lena, are you going to break up with me?"

"Break up with you? Why would I break up with you?"

"Well, you didn't want to date me because of your family. This, what just happened, that was pretty much your biggest fear, right? I'm sort of waiting for the 'I told you so' and the dumping."

"Ah," Lena nodded. "Well, you won't be getting either. I'm sorry you have to deal with my mother. If you'd care to break up with me because of my family I'd—"

"No, never!"

Smiling, Lena kissed Kara gently. "You're amazing, honestly, far too good. How did I get so lucky?"

"So we're good?"

"Well, we're both still toes above the dirt and moving forward. At this intersection, I'm not sure we can hope for much more. Breaking up with you won't undo what my mother knows. It's about emotional manipulations with her. She knows about our feelings, and she's using that against you. Even if we broke up, it wouldn't stop you for caring for me so it wouldn't matter." Lena watched Kara visibly relax. "Go take care of your sister, and please let me know how the detective is doing. If she needs anything, anything at all that I can provide, don't hesitate to ask. She and I may have a rocky past, but I know she's important to you."

Standing, Kara squeezed Lena's arm gently. "And you say I'm amazing. Um…so what do you think about telling my sister about us?"

"Tell Agent Danvers? I thought we agreed not to tell anyone."

"We said we'd tell Lori. That's someone. That's your someone," Kara pointed out.

"You were the one who wanted to tell her."

"That's true. I still want to." Kara sighed. "It's just…my sister's pissed at you."

"As opposed to?"

Kara shook her head. "No, things were getting better before. You saw her. She and Maggie were coming here while you were in the hospital. Alex and I had been talking about you, and Alex admitted she was wrong about you. She said she'd watched that video of you jumping in the way of the gunman a bunch of times and she realized how selfless that was, how much you cared about me. Alex had really started to like you, Maggie and Winn too. Since you told me you wanted to pretend you didn't know I was Supergirl, my sister is pretty upset with you."

"Huh." Lena bit the pad of her thumb for a few moments and let that sink in. "That's what it took? It took my getting shot for you for your people to start warming up to me?"

With a timid smile, Kara shrugged.

Lena rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to say it now, Kara: tough crowd."

"They'll love you once they get to know you. It's impossible not to," Kara assured the smaller woman.

Lena looked down, examining her own hands. "Until we can assess the threats against me, against us, better I think it would be best to keep our relationship private."

"I really want to tell people."

Meeting Kara's gaze, Lena asked, "Do you want to tell people because you think it will make everyone safer or because you think it will make them like me better?"

"…the last one maybe."

"Life is not a popularity contest, Kara. We can't all be Miss Congeniality. Some of us are just that weird science chick, and we learn to accept that."

Kara shook her head, smiling at Lena. "Look at you. How were you not homecoming queen? You must have been the prettiest girl in the school."

"I graduated from high school at fifteen, darling. There was no official 'least popular girl in school' category, but trust that in the unofficial voting, I won that one. Now go see your sister, and let Kalia back in here. I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep, but she won't let me do it until this room is set up. Sometimes I wonder which one of us is signing the paycheck here."

Kara laughed, leaning in and giving Lena another quick kiss. She walked over to the door, turning and quietly saying, "Hey, I love you."

Lena gave a small smile in return, nodding and waving her hand toward the door to encourage Kara to leave which the blonde did. She watched Kara's retreating back saying nothing at all.