Astra stood, still holding Kara's hand. "You are responsible for this?" Staring at Lena in shock. Lena backed away in a defensive gesture, however, Astra took it as submission. For a moment anger overtakes her, and she flexes her hands. However, this action causes her to squeeze Kara's hand, and in her current state, Kara's hand is slowly being crushed.
Kara stirs, her eyes open, trying to focus, but between the pain and her body's exhaustion, she mistakes Astra for her mother, "Mother, you're hurting me.".
Astra looks down, realizing in her anger she may have hurt her niece. "Oh Rao, Little One."
Through the haze of pain, Kara realized something, no one called her that, no one except "Astra? But you, you're, how?"
Astra releases Kara's hand, and Kara, fearful that it is all a dream, grasp at the loose tunic Astra is wearing, gripping it as best she can. "Aunt Astra, please don't leave me, don't leave me alone, again," she begs.
Lena is about to move forward, to check on Kara's hand but stops when she sees a bit of fear in Kara's eyes. Then Kara blinks, and she remembers, her family is here with her and they will protect her. "Astra, this woman is under my protection, no judgment may be passed until I release her from that protection," she states in Kryptonese.
"Kara?", Astra looks shocked, almost as if her niece slapped her. But it's not her niece, or Alex or even Sam that calms her, she feels a hand in hers, and she looks down. Ruby is there grasping her hand.
"General, please calm down, for Kara's sake," Ruby asks, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Astra looks around, she has stood in this moment before, she looks into Kara's pleading eyes. The last time Astra was in this position, she chose badly and it cost her everything, this time, she would not make the wrong choice, she would choose, her family.
She sits and watches Ruby and Samantha remove Lena from the room. Alex is in motion instantly, looking for all the tools she needs to set and wrap Kara's broken finger. She warns Astra first, then Kara, that it is going to hurt when she sets the finger. She closes, her own eyes, and pops the broken bone back into place, tears stream down Astra's face as she hears Kara's scream of pain. Kara's eyes roll back, as once again she is swallowed by the darkness.
Sam, Ruby, and Lena are in the hallway when Kara screams. Each cringe, knowing that Kara is hurting, accepting that right now, at this moment, there is nothing they can do for her. Sam moves Lena into her lab's office.
"Breath Lena, what were you thinking?" Sam snapped "why would you say something like that to Astra?"
"It was the truth." Lena answered nonchalantly, "What did Kara say to Astra?"
Ruby, who seems to speak and understand Kryptonese better than her mother, answers Lena's question, "Aunt Kara has placed you under her protection and the protection of her house Champion. No one of Kryptonian descent may pass judgment over you for so long as that protection remains in place."
Lena slides down onto her knees crying, "Why, why would she do that for me, after everything I have done to her? I used her, I trapped her, I hurt her, and I betrayed her, yet still,", Lena's tears come even harder. Suddenly a memory flashes through her head, a promise made on a couch a lifetime ago, when a beautiful blonde in black-rimmed glasses made a promise to always protect her. She continues to cry into Sam's arms, tears falling, staining Sam's shirt. Ruby is crying as well, tucked under her mother's arm. Samantha Arias, she has to hold her tears in, knowing that right now is not the moment for her to cry. Her friend needs her, Lena is as alone now, as Sam was when Reign was in control, and once again, Kara, that wonderful, beautiful paragon of hope, is there to protect them. Kara might be broken right now, but she is truly the hero they all need right now. Ruby cries for a few more minutes before settling down. Lena cries for about 10 minutes more till her phone buzzes. Lucy Lane has sent her a text.
Lucy: 'Need clearance to land.'
Lena: 'Lucy?'
Lucy: 'Coming in with more people for Kara. Lois, Alura, Nia, Kelly, Clark Kent and Jon Kent.'
Lena: 'I'll clear you through security. Elevator code 252179'
Lucy: 'Thanks Lena'
Lena: 'You're welcome'
She turned to Sam, "Lucy is bringing people in, Kara is going to need a few days to recover, why don't we set up the other condo for them to use."
"Okay, I'm sure they will appreciate it. What about Kara, is she going to be okay?"
"We need to check her blood again, maybe Alex can get a sample and we can test it. But first, I need to show something to you and Ruby. She helped me tonight, she helped me to see something I should have seen myself." Lena smiled at Ruby.
"Okay?"
"Sam this is important to me, I know you are worried about Kara, but this will give you some insights into how bad I was.", Lena was practically begging.
"Okay, let's see it."
"In my office," Lena pleaded, "Please?"
Sam accepted the fact that Lena needed her at this moment a lot more than Kara did, so she, Lena and Ruby made their way upstairs.
While in the elevator, Lena was notified of the helicopter, Lucy and more of Kara's family were here. She cleared all security protocols and made sure that they wouldn't run into any roadblocks on their way downstairs.
Sam texted Alex and let her know they needed a sample of Kara's blood for testing, and that Lucy was here with everyone else.
The helicopter landed and the group disembarked and moved towards the elevator. Lucy led the way, even dressed down, in jeans, a blouse and her Converse high tops stilled carried the authority of her rank and position, Alura, uncomfortable about the helicopter ride, but worried about Kara followed, Nia, wearing her favorite jeans and t-shirt with tennis shoes was worried about Kara as well, but had faith in her family that they knew what they were doing. Kelly was behind them, lost in her thoughts, she needed to get into Kara's head, but so far, the physical issues and the initial shock of returning to her family, she hadn't had time. Finally, Lois and Clark followed, Jon was in Lois' arms, and Clark couldn't have looked more uncomfortable, between not really trusting Samantha and not trusting Lena Luthor completely, he felt like he was walking into the shadow of a demon. "Clark, you need to relax, I know you are not happy with this, but Lucy and I both agree, Sam would not have put Kara in any danger."
"But Lois, she is a world killer, all the research in the Fortress shows that she is dangerous."
Lois stops, looks to Lucy, and ask, "Can you please take Jon down with you, we will follow, I need to speak with my husband."
Lucy couldn't help but smile, she and Lois, hadn't made up, but her sister was making a huge effort and Lucy was determined to follow her lead. "Of course, Lois, thank you, thank you for trusting me with him."
Lois smiled at her little sister, realizing how much she had missed of Lucy growing up, it couldn't have been easy, Lois cast a huge shadow, and their father, Lucy was so strong to have followed in his path, and to flourish as she had. "Lucy, little sister, I can't think of a safer place for my son right now than in his aunt's arms."
The last thing she saw before the elevator doors closed was Lucy beaming down at her son, Lois smiled for a moment, then turned to her husband, "Clark, I know how you feel about Lex, and I can understand your anger with Lena, but why can you not let this go with Sam. Kara trusts her and according to Alura, Kara named her the personal protector of the house of El."
"Kara shouldn't have done that."
"Clark," Lois was exasperated, "Kara was protecting her family, are you telling me that you wouldn't have done the same if you had to?"
"Well no, but."
"No but's Clark, Kara is in a very bad place and she needs our support if you can't be here 100% go home till you can be.", she said firmly, "I love you, Clark, I will always love you, but you are so concerned with what you see in front of your face, you keep forgetting that Kara doesn't see with just her eyes, she uses her heart as well, if she trusts Sam, I trust Sam. Lena Luthor is another story, but with everyone here, I highly doubt that Lena would do anything to jeopardize herself or her company. If we had all been more supportive of Kara and her decisions about Lena in the first place, maybe we wouldn't be here now."
Clark Kent hung his head, his wife was right, he never could see things the way Kara did, he was too jaded, "Lois, I love you, I'm going to run a patrol, I'll be back later to check on Kara, okay?"
Lois kissed her husband, the man of steel, "I love you too, Clark, go fly, get your head wrapped around this."
She watched as her Superman quickly changed and launched himself into the air, "Be careful." She whispered, then turned and entered the elevator.
Meanwhile, in Kara's room, the tension from earlier has relaxed a bit, Alex, Brainy, and J'onn are standing in the corner, going over the readouts from Lena's equipment. Alex is explaining that while the machine is keeping track of how well the vaccine is working, Lena, like Alex herself, prefers to see things for herself, so Alex has taken three vials of Kara's blood and set them aside so that Lena can take a look when she comes back. She walks over to the bed, with Brainy in tow, and lifts the sheet covering Kara's wound, it has healed slightly, but not as quickly as Alex is used to. She looks at the rushed stitch job she performed earlier after setting Kara's finger, normally she wouldn't mind, but it will have to be cleaned up, because knowing her sister, she is not going to cancel Monday's press conference, and based on the current rate of healing, this wound will still be open in 6 days.
Astra is looking at Alex as she checks on Kara, this woman, who ended her life, was so protective of her niece. She smiled, happy that her Kara was so cared for here on Earth, her niece had seen so much evil, including Astra herself, yet she had never stopped caring, had never stopped believing in Astra, her last words still rang in Astra's head, "You were there Astra, as my family." A tear fell down her cheek and splashed on Kara's sheet. Alex looked up at her, smiled shyly and patted Astra's hand, a gesture of kindness, a step in the right direction for both of them. Astra was still hurt by the lack of honor between her and Alex, but even she had to grudgingly agree that perhaps this little earth girl and herself were more alike than she would care to admit.
Eliza seemed to be lost in her thoughts, she knew in heart that her adoptive daughter would be okay, but she had never seen Kara in such a bad way before. She knew Kara had been hurt and injured throughout her career as Supergirl, but this was the first time she had been witness to how much the poor girl could take. Kara was a hero, with or without her powers, but for the first time since Kara had come to them, Eliza was wishing her powers would kick back in.
The door to Kara's room opened and all heads turned as Lucy, still holding Jon, Nia, Kelly, and Alura started to enter the room. They all stopped, seeing Kara lying in the bed, looking pale, but breathing steadily. But the woman sitting beside her was almost as shocking Kara's condition. For a few heartbeats, the world stopped spinning as Alura, and Astra looked at one another.
A heartbeat passed, matching eyes blinked in unison, breath caught. Neither could speak, what would they say. And then the mirror shattered as the sisters approached one another.
"Astra?" Alura spoke first.
"Alura?" Another question forming on Astra's tongue.
"Kara told me you were dead?" Alura questioned?
"Krypton is gone, how?" Astra asked another step between them made.
"Astra, I made so many mistakes at the end."
"Alura, I hurt Kara in my anger at you."
"Sending you away, not listening to my heart"
"In my stubbornness, I stopped listening to my heart."
The gap starts to close quicker, these two women, twins, who have been brought back together by the force of nature they call daughter and niece. They meet at the foot of Kara's bed and grasp hands, looking at each other, feeling flesh on flesh as they realize it is not a dream, they have been reunited.
Meanwhile upstairs in her office, Lena was preparing to deliver more ammunition against herself. She pulled up the recording of herself the night of the Pulitzer Ceremony. "Sam and Ruby, what I am about to play, this was months ago, so please, please don't get any angrier with me."
Both Sam and Ruby looked at Lena, Sam had a frown on her face and Ruby was unreadable.
"I am playing this because of what Ruby said to me today, and because of what Kara is doing by placing me under her protection. This will set the stage for everything I did up to trapping Kara in the Fortress. I'm not asking for forgiveness or understanding, but I think that it's time I came clean."
The recording begins.
Kara: "Lena, I can't tell you how much it means to me that you were there tonight, that you're even willing to talk to me at all."
Lena: "Thank you for telling me the truth, but, Kara, things can't be like they were before. Do you understand? There can be no more secrets between us, I have to be in on everything."
Kara: "You will be. That's actually why I'm here. You know everything now. And if you ever need me, all you have to do is call."
Lena pulls a watch out of her desk drawer and places it on her desk, twisting it in her fingers.
The recording continues.
They can hear Supergirl fly off.
HOPE: "The file was ready to upload. Why didn't you send it, exposing Supergirl's identity to the world? Did you forgive Kara Danvers?"LENA: "She betrayed me. It broke my heart. I could never forgive her." HOPE: "Then I don't understand."LENA: "How could you? You're not a Luthor. We're scorpions. When someone betrays us, we sting. But I have a calling, Hope, and it's to fix mankind. I never thought Supergirl would tell me who she was, but now that she has, I have an opportunity, and I can use Supergirl to achieve my ends. That is easier to do if she believes there is trust. Load the simulation."
End of Recording
Sam is looking at Lena like she would rather be anywhere but here. And Ruby was in tears.
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to upset you two at all, I realized something when Ruby told me Kara was still protecting me, Kara she doesn't keep her secret just to protect her family and friends, she keeps it because someone could use that person to make her do things, to twist her trust like I did. I did it, I used her secret against her, instead of accepting her, instead of telling her I had known. I used Kara, to get Lex's journals, to get to the Fortress, to steal Myriad, all of it." Lena said in tears. "If I had been honest with her that night on the balcony."
Sam interrupted, "She would have stayed by your side Lena, she would have let you get everything out of your system, your anger, your sadness, everything. We never would have come to this point."
"I know, I became my brother," Lena said, hanging her head.
Sam stood up and came around the desk, she knelt down beside Lena, and looked her in the eyes, "You haven't become Lex. You recognize your limits, you understand what you have done, and now you want to get better."
"That sounds like something Kara would say," Lena said sniffling.
"That's exactly what Aunt Kara would say," Ruby said, placing her hand on Lena's shoulder.
"But how do I tell any of this to Harley tomorrow, or is it today."
Downstairs all of Kara's family had lost track of time, everyone including Jon was tired. No one wanted to leave, but they couldn't all stay here.
Sam entered Kara's room, looking around. Alex was still in front of the readouts, Brainy was dead on his feet, leaning on Nia who seemed to be falling asleep. Lucy and Lois were on the floor in the corner trying to keep Jon occupied. Alura, who seemed to still have to keep her distance from Kara's wound, was talking with Astra and Eliza from the far side of the bed. J'onn was watching everything from the door, and nodded when she came in. Sam cleared her throat, then spoke, "Lena has arranged for you all to stay at her building until the press conference on Monday."
Everyone started to speak at once, Sam rolled her eyes, and put on her most exasperated mom face, "I know everyone wants to stay with Kara, I understand, but we won't be any good to her if we are all tired and grumpy, so please everyone, take Lena up on her offer and head over, One or two people can rotate in and out, but Lena needs to know who is going to be here so she can come in and check on Kara. She would like to avoid getting assaulted, but she needs to look over everything and make sure the vaccine is progressing as it should."
Astra stands, "Samantha, you are asking us to trust her alone with Kara?"
"No Astra, I'm asking that if Lena is in the room, to allow her to do what she must, please, she is the only person, other than Alex and Eliza who have any idea how Kara is progressing. Alex is exhausted and we have all been leaning heavily on Eliza the last few days. Everyone in this room is important to Kara's wellbeing, but," Sam closed her eyes, took a deep breath, "but for the next few days we have to trust Lena." She stopped talking, waiting for the arguments to start.
Everyone in the room looked at Sam, instead of fighting and arguing, they all nodded, agreeing that just this once, Lena gets a free pass.
Everyone starts to shuffle out until only Sam and Astra remain. "If it is acceptable protector, I will remain here for the night, I give my word not to harm Lena Luthor."
Sam is exhausted, she hasn't had enough rest or enough to eat, her nerves are frayed and her Kara is lying in a hospital bed, all she can do is look to Astra, nod and pull the woman into a fierce hug, crying into her shoulder. At first, Astra is at a loss, then she realizes that more than anyone, this woman has become a rock for all the others to come too, she has put her emotions aside for the good of everyone else, including her own Little One. She tightens her grip on the woman, "Go ahead Samantha, there is nothing dishonorable about showing weakness in front of," she pauses, "Family."
"El Mayarah", Sam says, "Stronger together."