Astra heard footsteps coming down the hall and slowly untangled herself from Kara. How her niece could sleep in such an awkward position was beyond her. There was a knock at the door, then Samantha, her youngling, Ruby and the one called Nia entered.
"Good morning Astra did you two get some rest?", Samantha asked.
"Good morning Samantha, yes we slept quite well after Ms. Luthor visited." Astra smiled, Sam looked at her nervously, "She's still alive Samantha, she and I spoke and shared a small meal. Kara spoke to her as well. Although she was frightened, but she overcame the fear."
Sam smiled with pride that Kara had been able to overcome her fear and speak to Lena. She was sure she would get more information when she headed upstairs.
"Good morning General," Ruby said, seriously.
"Good morning young warrior, how are you doing, did you sleep well?" Astra smiled at the young girl, this one reminded her of Kara when they were still on Krypton.
"Quite well General," then Ruby spoke in Kryptonese, "may Rao's light protect you through the day."
Impressed, Astra answered the formal greeting in Kryptonese, "And may his light stay in your heart through the dark of night."
Sam was impressed and Nia was grinning ear to ear, they had worked on pronunciation all the way over in the car.
"Your youngling is an excellent representation of her bloodline, Samantha." Astra smiled.
"But I don't know our bloodline," Sam said, confused.
From behind Alura, a sleepy voice spoke, "Samantha and Ruby Arias, of the House of Zod, Honor, Endurance, and Loyalty, a strong house with a long history. May Rao honor your name and bless your descendants in the future." Kara said softly.
"Aunt Kara." Ruby walked towards her bed and wrapped her arms around Kara. Kara smiled at the attention. "How do you feel?"
"Tired, but it will pass," she answered.
"Kara, it's so good to see you awake. Any pain, do you need anything?" Sam asked.
Kara blushed and whispered to Sam, "Can you help me get to the bathroom? Please?"
Sam helped Kara sit up, she hopped off the bed, and her legs almost gave out. Tears formed in her eyes as Sam gently stood her up. Kara shuffled to the bathroom, slowly, but under her own power. Sam got her in and left the door cracked. When Kara finished, she moved her back to the bed, getting her settled in. Kara's face was red, and she was sweating slightly from the effort, but mostly she was angry with herself. "Sorry, Sam."
"Nonsense Kara, you don't have to apologize, you have been through a lot and blood poisoning is not easy to recover from," Sam answered.
"Lena said last night, that it will take another 5 or 6 days for the Kryptonite to clear my system and then 3-4 months before my powers are back," Kara said, still upset by the situation, but refusing to cry.
"We will get through this Kara, I promise, we are all here for you." Sam patted her hand gently. "Now is there anything you need, are you hungry? You must be bored; you want a TV or something?"
While Kara was thinking, Nia was getting to know Astra. "So, you are the badass hero Kara is always bragging about."
"Is this a compliment?" Astra asked.
"Oh sorry, I sometimes forget my filter, what I meant is that, oh god." Nia blushed.
"It's okay Ms. Nal, thank you, it is nice to hear that Kara thinks so highly of me." Astra smiled. "Now I have a question for you."
"Yes, ma'am?" Nia answered with a question.
"Do your friends know that you are Naltorian?" Astra asked.
"What? Oh yes ma'am, all of my friends know, my mother was Naltorian and father is human." Nia answered happily. "How did you know?"
"I noticed the blue swirls in your eyes yesterday during my outburst with Ms. Luthor. It is a trait I have only seen in Naltorians." Astra answered frankly.
Nia never realized that before. "Thank you, ma'am, sometimes it is nice to be seen for who I am."
Astra smiled then turned when she heard Sam and Kara talking.
"Kara, I don't mind getting you a tablet, but you cannot hack Lena's system," Sam said.
"Sam, I don't want to hack her system, I just want the treatment information that she is using on me and Aunt Astra. It is my body and I promise I won't dig around for anything else." Kara pouted, "Please I am going to go nuts if I don't have, something to do?"
Sam hated that pout, she couldn't say no to it and honestly, she didn't care if Kara hacked the system, hell, she probably would anyway, as good as Kara was, no one except maybe Lena would ever know. "Fine, I will bring you a tablet and give you the internet password, okay?"
"Thank you, Sam, I promise I will only look at the data about my treatments" Kara smiled.
"Nia can you stay here with Kara and Astra till Lucy gets here. I'm going to take Ruby upstairs and get started on my day, I'll send Ruby back down in a few with Kara's tablet." Sam asked.
"Yes ma'am" Nia answered.
"Thank you, Ruby will be back, then you, her and Astra can go shopping for some clothes and you two can take Astra to breakfast" Sam responded.
"Shopping?" Astra asked.
Nia turned and looked at her, "It's like therapy for your soul Astra, you'll love it."
Sam and Ruby left to head upstairs.
In Lena's office, Andrea had been up for a few hours, taking care of both her businesses, CatCo needed a few signatures from her, but Obsidian North was functioning like the well-oiled machine it was. She was looking at Lena, 'This is the latest I have ever seen her sleep' she thought to herself. Once again, she was wondering where exactly Kara was. Ms. Danvers hadn't bothered to send any stories in, and Andrea had to terminate her contract, but that was business, Lena was personal, and she and Kara were best friends. Oh well, she would happily take Kara's place if Lena would have her. She would let Lena sleep a little longer. Then she heard the elevator ding outside.
She moved to the door, straightening her clothes, it was still early, only about 7:30. Of course, it could be Lena's executive assistant, the woman started work at ungodly hours and expected her staff to be the same way. She stepped out of Lena's office just as Sam and Ruby exited the elevator. Sam stopped, stepping between this woman and Ruby.
"Good morning, I'm…" Andrea started to say.
"I know who you are, your Andrea Rojas, Obsidian North, Lena had me look into your company a while back when she was looking at purchasing it," Sam answered.
That was a detail Lena had left out of her conversations recently, not that Andrea was surprised, Lena kept everything bottled up. "And you are?"
"Samantha Arias, Vice President of Outsourcing and Contracting. This is my daughter Ruby. Is Lena available?" Sam answered, sounding, only a little defensive.
"She is not available at this moment," Andrea answered, matching Sam's tone.
"Is she okay?" Sam asked, prepared to enter Lena's office with or without this woman's permission.
Lena picked that moment to make an appearance as she opened the door, "I'm fine Sam, Andrea came to help me through a bad night." She caught the look on Sam's face "Not like that Sam, I had an anxiety attack, Andrea isn't just a business relation, we've known each other since boarding school."
Sam visibly relaxed, Andrea looked at her and smirked, although she couldn't quite figure out why, but this woman, Samantha radiated power.
Ruby just charged between the woman. "Good morning Aunt Lena." Hugging her, bringing a smile to Lena's face and convincing both Sam and Andrea to relax. Sam decided that maybe she should offer an olive branch, she held out her hand.
"I'm sorry, I tend to be a bit overprotective of my friends," Sam said with a smile.
"Apology accepted; I seem to have that same problem when it comes to Lena," Andrea answered, smiling all the way to her eyes while accepting the hand in front of her.
"Lee, can I get a tablet and internet access for our project downstairs please?" Sam asked,
"Yes, of course, any particular project?"
"The K Vaccine" Sam cringed a bit.
Lena raised one eyebrow at Sam, who shrugged. Lena nodded and turned to head into her office, Ruby followed. Andrea was about to follow when Sam stopped her. "Ms. Rojas, may I speak with you for a moment."
"What can I do for you, Ms. Arias?" Andrea answered.
"I'm sure you have noticed that Lena is a bit stressed. I was wondering if you would be kind enough to help me keep an eye on her until she gets through this.' Sam pleaded.
"Maybe we started off on the wrong foot Ms. Arias," Andrea said immediately changing her mind about this woman who seemed to have Lena's best interest at heart.
"Sam, you may call me Sam." she interrupted.
"Sam, Lena is a dear friend and I played with her trust years ago, I have regretted it ever since. Purchasing CatCo was a chance to see her again and maybe repair those issues. She is seeing a psychiatrist now, so I will do whatever needs to be done to support her. And please, call me Andrea." She answered.
Sam visibly relaxed, she hadn't looked too far into the company when Lena mentioned it, just the basics, but this woman seemed to truly care for Lena, and she could use an ally on this side of her current chaos formula.
Ruby came out of Lena's office with an L Corp tablet and a sticky note for Kara, the server name, file names and passwords for all the data related to her treatment. Ruby got a hug and kiss and a credit card from Sam with orders not to spend a fortune, then she headed back downstairs.
"What a beautiful daughter you have Sam." Andrea complimented,
Sam puffed like a peacock. "Thank you!" She was smiling from cheek to cheek, Ruby was her pride and joy. She only hoped she could afford the amount of damage Ruby, Nia and Astra were about to do to her card.
Both women then entered Lena's office together. Lena was sitting at her desk, trying to concentrate on her computer. She looked up and realized she was completely outnumbered.
"Lena what are you doing?" Andrea asked. "You can take the day off, you need a break and I promise L Corp will still be standing tomorrow."
"Not to mention isn't today your first therapy session with Harley?" Sam asked.
"You two do realize that this is not fair?" Lena asked the two smiling women in front of her.
"Absolutely" they answered in unison. Then they smiled at each other.
"What time is your appointment? And where is it?" Andrea asked.
"3:30 at my condo," Lena answered, knowing what was coming next.
"I will be back at 2:00 to pick you up. Is that enough time to get a shower and get ready? Andrea asked smiling at Lena.
"That should be enough time," Lena answered.
Sam was looking at her phone, sending a text. "Good that gives us enough time to interview your new CFO."
Both Andrea and Lena looked up at that one, Lena asked "Who and why?"
"Quite simply Lena, you need a break, you are doing too much, you need to get back to the basics, back to your labs and most importantly, back to normal hours, no more 14 plus hours a days as for who, she is more than qualified and I have vetted her resume already, your interview should be quick and simple." Sam smiled.
"Who?" Lena asked again.
"Jessica Huang," Sam answered smirking.
"Jess? She wants to come back. Is she qualified?" Lena seemed to be excited at this prospect.
"More than me, she has an MBA in Accounting and a Bachelor's in Management, and she learned at the feet of a master," Sam said pointing at Lena. "She is currently working for working as a consultant in Gotham for Wayne Enterprises, so she can start immediately if necessary."
"Not to mention, she is someone you know and trusts to watch out for me." Lena smiled.
"That is a plus that is not on her resume," Sam answered. "Now let's get you and Andrea some breakfast, then you can come and work till lunchtime, will that leave you enough time to check on your project."
Lena grabbed her shoes, slid them on and headed out the door, behind her Sam and Andrea were doing a high five.
Downstairs, Lucy had arrived to watch over Kara and bring Astra some human clothes. Ruby brought in Kara's tablet. While Lucy and the girls were going over the day's plans, Kara logged in and realized that Lena and given her very limited access, 'Oh well, a little hacking wouldn't hurt', she thought to herself. She logged into the network, typed up a real quick cloaking program she had learned from Brainy and proceeded to jailbreak the tablet. Then she downloaded Netflix, then she linked the tablet to the monitor Lena was using to display her bloodwork on, logged in using Alex's account and made certain it couldn't be tracked. She downloaded her favorite music player and logged in so she could get her playlist.
"Aunt Kara," Ruby said, touching her shoulder. "Earth to Aunt Kara."
"What, oh Ruby, I'm sorry I was working on something" Kara apologized.
"No big deal Aunt Kara, we are getting ready to leave and didn't want you to worry," Ruby said.
"Thank you, Ruby, that means a lot to me," Kara spoke, giving Ruby a huge hug.
Nia came over for her hug, "Do you need anything Kara?" she asked.
"Some pajamas and can you ask Alex if I can have a new cell phone," Kara asked.
"I can do that, DEO issued?" Nia asked.
"No, tell her private carrier please?" Kara asked then hugged, Nia.
"Little One will you be safe?" Astra asked.
"Yes, Aunt Astra, Lucy is more than capable of taking care of me. She will make sure I stay safe." Kara smiled, she had known she missed her Astra, but she didn't realize how much until now. Astra kissed her niece on her forehead and headed out the door. "Love you, Aunt Astra."
Astra turned as she reached the door "And I love you, Little One."
As the door closed Lucy came over, Kara patted the bed, offering her a seat. "So, Kar, how are you doing? Really doing?' Lucy asked.
"I'm so weak I can't go to the bathroom by myself, my powers aren't going to return fully for 3-4 months, so to be honest, I'm pissed," Kara said.
Lucy smiled, everyone thought Kara never swore, but when they were around each other, Kara wouldn't hesitate to occasionally let a word slip, she had even taught Lucy a few Kryptonese swear words. Then she pulled two Mountain Dews out of her bag, an original for her and a Code Red for her favorite Kryptonian. "So, what are we up to doing today?"
"We have Netflix, Pandora or," Kara paused for effect "we can hack Lena's system for a little bit."
"I vote for hacking" Lucy smiled as she lifted her drink. "To being the little sisters."
"Little sisters." Kara smiled.
"So, what are we looking for?" Lucy asked.
"Anything related to my treatments, she gave me the names of the files, but I pulled them up and they seem incomplete," Kara said, not angry, just a bit confused, why share incomplete files.
"You want me to backseat hack, or are you going to give me access through my tablet?" Lucy asked as she pulled her tablet out of her bag.
Kara tapped three commands on her tablet and a code box showed up on Lucy's tablet, she entered her and Kara's usual code. "Remember Lucy, just files related to my treatment."
"Kara, I'm angry at Lena not you, I promise no peeking at anything else." Lucy smiled at her friend.
The two friends would spend the rest of the morning moving through Lena's servers, looking for the files related to the two master files Lena had given them.
Upstairs, Lena Luthor had finished breakfast and watching the two hackers sift through her files. She was impressed. "20 minutes Sam."
"Hmmm? 20 minutes?" Sam wondered absently.
"It took Kara 20 minutes to hack my security, install Netflix, Pandora and start running through my files on two different tablets," Lena said.
"Dammit, Kara, I told her not to Lena." Sam was a little aggravated.
"Don't be mad at her Sam, I did it on purpose." Lena laughed. "I gave her two incomplete files, I figured she would call Brainy, but she did this completely on her own. She was my best friend for three and a half years Sam. Did you know on Krypton she was the youngest person ever selected to join the Science Guild? Astra was bragging last night, this morning, whatever. I never realized it. Why hide how smart you are?" Lena asked, confused.
"Because people will underestimate you if they don't know how smart you are," Sam answered.
"As fast as she and Lucy are moving through my system, I have been underestimating both of them. They move like they have done this more than once, they are even double-checking each other's work, in less than 30 minutes they have found all but one of the missing files." Lena paused a moment. "And that is the last one."
Suddenly her computer and Sam's tablet locked up, the screens went blue and red, and a message scrolled across in gold. "Did we pass?"
Sam and Lena both leaned back and laughed.
There was a knock on Lena's office door and she and Sam sat up and wiped the tears out of their eyes, cleared their throats and welcomed the future CFO of L Corp, Jessica Huang. The gorgeous brunette walked in wearing a designer suit in navy, with matching shoes and a bag. She smiled at Lena and Sam as she handed each one a copy of her resume. Sam took one look at her's and laughed. In large bold letters, it asked, "Can you afford me?"
"Yes, I believe we can Jess, would you like to come to work for L Corp as CFO?" Lena asked.
"Yes Ms. Luthor and if you like I can start the day after tomorrow." Jess smiled. "I recently finished my contract with Wayne Enterprises."
"That would be wonderful, Jess, thank you so much."
"Now that we are on equal terms, Ms. Luthor. How are you doing?"
"I'm doing okay Jess, I am seeing a doctor to help with my issues, and I need some help around here," Lena answered. "No more Ms. Luthor, Jess. We've known each other for quite some time. Please, it's Lena. Besides, you make me feel so much older than I am."
"Where's Kara?" Jess asked innocently.
"That's part of all this Jess, I can't explain it right now," Lena answered.
"Is she okay?" Jess asked.
"She's getting there Jessica, she is. I'll have her give you a call okay?" Sam reassures her.
"Okay, Sam, I'm going to hold you to that," Jess said, looking Sam dead in the eye.
The three women would spend the rest of the morning going over financials and getting all of Jess' paperwork out of the way.
Downstairs in her room, Kara and Lucy were watching a movie on Netflix while Kara went over the data they had found. She giggled to herself that Lena of all people had tested her hacking skills, but now she had found not one, but four calculation errors in Lena's work. She was not looking forward to this confrontation.
"Lucy, can I borrow your phone?" she asked.
"Sure Kar, what's up?" Lucy was concerned, Kara's nerves were acting up, which meant she was worried.
"I found four errors in Lena's work. They aren't major, and it looks like she was working with an incomplete sample, but still, the thought of confronting her with an error in her own work, I don't know if I can Lucy." Kara admitted.
"I'm right here Kar, you know I will always stand by you, just like you did with me," Lucy said gently as she handed her phone to Kara.
Kara: 'Sam it's Kara'
Sam: 'Kara, are you okay?'
Kara: 'I found a few errors in Lena's calculations'
Sam: 'How many?'
Kara: 'Four, but her initial sample was incomplete'
Sam: 'You sure Kara?'
Kara: 'I did the calculations four times, and Lucy checked my work.'
Sam: 'We'll be down before lunch, okay?'
Kara: 'You're coming too, right?'
Sam: 'Always Kara, take a deep breath, we will be down in just a little while okay.'
Kara: 'Okay :)"
Sam spent the next 45 minutes rearranging the location for Kara's press conference and making sure all of Jess' paperwork was in order, but her mind was racing, not because she was worried about Kara, after last night, she was pretty sure Kara would be able to handle herself as long as someone was in the room that she trusted. Lena on the other hand, when you questioned her science, tended to fall down a rabbit hole.
Finally, it was time to head to the lab, Jess was gone, headed to Gotham to get her things and Sam and Lena were on their way down, She warned Lena that Kara had found some errors, and Lena took it in stride, but Sam had her doubts, Lena Luthor took nothing in stride.
They knocked on the door, and Lucy jumped up and held Kara's hand. Kara took a deep breath, and Sam and Lena entered. Her bad hand started to shake, and she reached for the sheet, trying to get it to stay still. Lena stopped, she could see the fear in Kara's eyes, but she also knew that Kara was working to control it so that she could live her life again. "Kara, I know you are scared, can you show me what you see, what you saw?"
Lucy released Kara's hand long enough to send the calculations to the larger screen. Lena approached and looked closely. She saw her own notes, and there were Kara's right beside them. "Where did you find the error Kara, my calculation is correct, the math is right," Lena asked, confused.
Kara took a deep breath and called up another screen. "It wasn't your formula Lena, it was the initial sample, it was either measured incorrectly or it was labeled wrong."
"Who the bloody hell?" Lena yelled.
Kara cringed, shrinking as Lena raised her voice.
"Lena" Lucy whispered harshly.
"Oh, Kara, I'm sorry" Lena whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Kara took a breath, and reached out to Sam "Can you help me, please?"
Sam was at her side, helping her off the bed and offering her strength to help Kara move across the room. Kara stood as tall as her weak body would allow, and pointed to the sample, the initials at the bottom. E.T., Eve Tessmacher.
"You must have been on the verge of a breakthrough Lena; this was done on purpose. I'm sorry but this is what caused a few of your trials to fail." Kara's breathing was getting short, her nerves were taking over even with Sam standing right there, "Lena I'm sorry."
Lena turned and looked into those fearful eyes, Kara flinched, and grasped tighter at Sam's hand, but she refused to look away. "Kara, this is not your fault, you did nothing wrong. Do you understand, nothing?"
Kara nodded, shaking. "If you change the calculations, the potency of the vaccine will increase by 45% and should benefit your cancer trials and your new antibiotic trials. It would also increase the K vaccine by 56% which could help my cousin and mother."
"But not you?" Lena asked.
"No, my body is already processing the vaccine, an extra dose would do me no good at all." Kara smiled weakly.
"I'm sorry Kara" Lena whispered.
"Lena, this was not your fault, not at all, you save me, you brought back Astra, your work is amazing, it is not your fault what Eve did, as usual, you accomplished what others thought was impossible," Kara said. "Once again thank you, Lena." Then she turned and leaning on Sam she made her way back to bed. Sam and Lucy tucked her back in. "Did me and Lucy pass Lena, did we pass the hacking test?"
"Yes Kara, and if I hadn't known what to look for, I never would have been able to track you." Lena smiled, proud of the woman she had once called her best friend.
Lena completed her other test, Kara was still on track, but she recommended some physical therapy for the weakness and took a quick look at her watch. "Sam, we have to go, Andrea will be here in an hour, and we still need lunch."
Sam looked at Kara who was asleep. "Lucy, tell her I will see her before I go back to the Condo okay."
Lucy smiled, "I'll let her know."
"Alex will be here around 5:30 for the night shift, you want to ride back to the condo with me?" Sam asked.
"Sounds good to me, just going to sit and watch Netflix for a little while, can you send me down something for lunch?" Lucy asked.
"I gotcha," Sam smiled.
She got Lena upstairs and fed, then quickly brought Kara and Lucy some food. Then rushed back upstairs to make sure Lena and Andrea got off okay.
"Andrea here is the key to her Condo, her tea is in the cabinet. Harley and Pamela may have Helena with them." Sam was babbling, she was nervous for Lena.
Andrea grasped Sam's shoulders and looked her in the eyes "Sam, relax. I've done therapy okay; Lena will be fine."
"Sorry Andrea, I'm just worried about Lena," Sam said.
"Sam it's okay, we are a team now, and we will take care of her," Andrea reassured. "Lena, are you ready to go?"
"I'm ready," Lena answered. She hugged Sam.
"You'll be fine Lena" as Sam released her.
"Let's go meet Harley."