As she walked down the hallway, Lena couldn't remember the last time she had walked out of a board meeting with a smile. After two months of research, their investigation was developing better than she could have foreseen and faster than they had originally estimated, the scientific and medical team were brilliant and worked together with the ease and precision. Her smile kept getting bigger as she rode the elevator up to her office and thought about calling Kara to tell her the good news, not that she wasn't constantly taking about her lab work and her team. She actually hoped her friend wasn't already getting tired of listening to her talk about work. But Kara never did complain, never stopped smiling as she listened to her and actually always had lots of questions. It made Lena happy to know she could now be completely honest about her real intelligence and they could talk more seriously about science. It turns out Kara had been highly educated at Krypton and had studied science from a young age.
The meeting had actually run late and she had barely an hour left of work before she could go home, so calling Kara to meet up for dinner sounded like a great idea. She walked inside her office and her smile morphed into a grin as she spotted a familiar red and blue superheroine floating outside her office. She fought the silly urge of running towards her and walked out to meet her at her balcony instead.
"Kara, I was just about to call you!"
"Really?" Kara landed in front of her with a matching grin.
"Yes, I was just in a meeting. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I was preventing a car crash nearby and um, I flew by." She scratched the back of her neck with a blush. Lena laughed.
"Well I was about to call you to ask if you wanted to have dinner. If you don't have any plans…"
"I'd love to." Kara smiled as they walked inside together. "So how was your meeting?"
"It was great, actually." They sat on the couch. "I can't remember the last time we talked all good news, really."
"Sounds amazing." Kara leaned back against the couch. "Research is going good?"
"Better than our initial estimations." She looked at Kara, who had closed her eyes with a smile as she laid her head on the back of the couch. Lena smiled. "Long day?"
"Yeah." Kara opened one eye briefly to look at her. "Mostly at the office, I'm working on an investigation with Nia and we had a brain storming session today that had me drained."
"Do you want me to order you a coffee from downstairs?"
"I think I mostly need food, although I could drink a glass of water."
"Sure thing." Lena got up to fetch it for her. "So what's the story?"
"Do you remember those stolen weapons from the DEO?" Kara sat up straight on the couch, running her hands through her hair. Lena nodded as she handed her the glass. "Thanks. Well, there was a robbery at a lab a week back and security footage showed the thief had one of the missing guns we've been looking for."
"Did you trace the thief?"
"We did." Kara nodded, side-eyeing Lena as she set the glass on the coffee table. "That's where our investigation connects with this robbery."
"Is there something you have to tell me? I know that look." Lena sat straighter, turning sideways to better face her friend.
"It's this group of fans." She grimaced at the word. "Lex's fans."
"Oh." Lena's face fell. Kara reached to take her hand.
"They want to vindicate him, they're doing it by attacking aliens, FBI agents… what they essentially want is for him to be let out of prison."
"That is never going to happen." Lena gritted out. "He's a maniac! What excuse do they have to ask for such a thing?"
"They're calling him a political prisoner. They're saying he got framed by alien members of government who want to take over the country." She squeezed her hand as Lena pinched the bridge of her nose.
"That's… insane."
"I know." Kara pressed her lips together with a frown as she looked at Lena. "We'll stop them, don't worry about it."
"What if they have weapons the DEO doesn't know about?"
"I can't safely say that's not possible." Kara shrugged. "But we're working hard on catching them before they do anything dangerous."
"Lex's hatred for aliens ran deep." Lena frowned, her other hand joining to hold Kara's in between her own. "What if they have some weapon that can hurt you?"
"Those weapons are at the fortress." Kara shook her head. "There is no way they could have access." She tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me."
"That's easy to say." Lena scoffed. "Before, I could actually work to upgrade your suit and do something to protect you."
"You actually saved my life." Kara smiled genuinely this time. "I'm glad I still have you around."
"Don't joke about that, please." Lena rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Kara laughed affectionately, leaning forward and wrapping Lena's shoulders in a hug. "I promise, we're doing everything we can to catch them."
"Okay." Lena smiled as they pulled apart. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overreact. I just worry."
"Don't apologize, it's okay to feel that way. I can relate." Kara shrugged one shoulder. "Humans are so fragile, that thought scares me sometimes." She jumped as her phone vibrated in her suit pocket. "It's Alex." She frowned as she stood up and took the call. "Hey."
Lena perked up and frowned at Kara's expression as she listened to her sister on the other end.
"Okay, I'm on my way." She said to the phone and then looked at Lena. "I have to go to the DEO, they have information on a possible robbery from these people."
"Okay." Lena stood up. "Be safe, please."
"I will." Kara smiled. "About dinner… I'll call you as soon as I can. Maybe I can make it."
"Don't worry about it." Lena forced a smile and, in a second, Kara was gone.
Lena walked over to her desk and opened up her laptop, she could finish up a report due in two days as she waited. She tried not to worry, Kara did these things all the time, fight villains and criminals, and these were just some crazy humans, not advanced aliens. But alien-hating humans were really dangerous, she knew first hand; they were driven by hate, they had no morals and no mercy. If they thought her brother innocent after all his proven crimes and believed in crazy conspiracy theories to justify their world views, they surely were unstable people who might do radical things to achieve their end: releasing an alien-hating, megalomaniac lunatic into the world, and one who had substantial power to manipulate people and accomplish his crimes.
Lena sighed, even in prison her brother disrupted lives and put people in danger, and she hated feeling responsible even if she wasn't. This guilt she was so accustomed to feel wanted to eat away at her and make her feel like it was her duty to fix her brother's mistakes, even if she rationally knew she wasn't obligated. But he was her brother; it was her family name that made so many aliens suffer, directly and indirectly. Lex's hate speech dug deep in some people, who then went on to discriminate aliens and commit hate crimes. It was more than not wanting her name associated with those despicable things, she didn't want them to happen, period. Lena knew the world was a cruel place, but she wanted to at least stop bad things from happening if it was within her capabilities. Her therapist told her she was a sensitive person, she cared a lot, but she couldn't hold herself responsible for other people's actions, even if those people were family members. She rationally knew that to be true, but it was hard to fight those feelings. She also knew the need to save everyone from the evils of humanity had led her down a dark path she never wished to walk down again. She should focus on the things she was able to do, her therapist had also told her, instead of tormenting herself over all the things she couldn't help. It was hard to fight her mindset of over twenty years, but she was working on it. It was a start. And luckily for her, she had many means to achieve her goals, she was a privileged woman, and she could put that privilege in the service of others.
Looking at the opened and unedited document in the screen in front of her and noticing half an hour had passed without her writing a single line, she closed her laptop with a sigh. Maybe a little lab work could help. She dismissed her secretary on her way to the elevator and rode it down to the basement lab, following a hall to the left where she had her private workspace. It was true that right now she didn't have a contract with the DEO to work on improving Kara's suit, but maybe someday things would change, and there was no harm in exploring the ideas that were running through her mind.
Another hour had passed without her realizing it, an hour and a half since Kara had left. She decided to go home and called her driver, who was at the building entrance ten minutes later. Anxious, Lena searched for the news on her phone as the car started to drive along National City's main avenue. There was nothing on Supergirl besides the car crash she had prevented two hours ago, Kara was surely still at the DEO.
Once home, Lena changed from her pencil skirt and shirt to some jeans and a hoodie. She hoped Kara would want to stay in instead of going to a restaurant. Lena had had enough of dealing with people for the day. Checking her phone, she found five missed calls from a private number. Someone must have called her while she was changing. Before she could think about who it could be, the phone started vibrating in her hand.
"Hello?"
"Lena! Thank God you picked up, it's Alex."
"Alex?" She asked, confused. It took a second for her mind to catch up and her heart jumped up to her throat where it started to do very uncomfortable summersaults.
"Please Lena, there's no time. Kara's hurt. Please, I know we're not in the best –"
"Where is she? I'm coming right now." She interrupted.
"I'll send J'onn to pick you up. It's that ok? It's urgent."
"Yes! Send him, I'm at home."
Alex hung up without saying anything else. She sounded frightened, and Lena felt her own hands already cold and clammy. What could have possibly happened that they had decided to call her? It had to be bad. It had to be very bad. Her legs started shaking, she knew those fanatics would go after Kara, Lex hated her and Superman, they were the main obstacle between him and controlling the world.
"Miss Luthor!" J'onn called on her from behind her closed balcony door.
She ran to him, opening the door and closing it behind her.
"Let's go." She didn't think to ask anything, questions could wait.
Lena forgot her anxiousness about flying as J'onn sped them through the sky faster than Kara had done that night after the fundraiser, but instead of running all the possibilities on which Kara could have gotten hurt, her mind was blank with fear. If she started thinking, her brain would conjure up the worst. It took them only a minute to land at the DEO's headquarters. She followed J'onn almost in a sprint as he took her to the medical wing.
The first thing she saw was Kara lying on a gurney, alive. But she looked sick, and Alex was applying a compress to her forehead.
"Kara?" Lena rushed towards her and the blonde turned to her with a pained smile, her eyes glossy. "Are you okay?" Kara had the audacity to laugh. "I know, stupid question."
"She has a fever." Alex answered instead.
"What? How is that possible?" She took Kara's hand between her sweaty ones.
"They… stabbed me." Kara whined.
"Lena, I don't know how that is even possible, but they actually stuck a needle on her." Alex ran her hands through her hair anxiously. "It's like she blew out her powers, but worse. She passed out, J'onn brought her here, and she started sweating and her temperature started rising."
"Did you take a blood sample?"
"Yes, we're processing it right now."
"Good." Lena nodded, thinking. Then she saw something on Kara's arm and turned it sideways. "What is this?" She ran her hand along the Super's arm, it seemed like a rash. She lifted Kara's shirt and saw it spreading though her stomach and ribs.
"What…" Alex breathed out, immediately checking her sister's legs. They were clear.
"It's affecting her immune system." Lena said almost to herself. She brought her hand up to arrange the compress on Kara's forehead and pressed the back of her hand on her cheek to feel her temperature. Kara brought her own hand up to still Lena's, who turned it to cup Kara's face. "Does anything hurt?"
"Whole body hurts." Kara pouted. "I feel terrible."
"We weren't able to catch those bastards, they ambushed her, they knew she was coming." Alex gritted through her teeth.
"Nia… will find them." Kara mumbled, closing her eyes.
"Won't human medicine work if she doesn't have her powers?" Lena turned towards Alex, Kara had let go of her hand and seemed to be drifting off.
"We tried, but we're not seeing any results." She shook her head, frowning in anger. "I've never seen her like this, at worst she would catch a common cold when she blew out her powers."
"Let's try to keep the temperature under control and hope no other symptoms show before we can analyze that sample."
Kara started shaking as soon as she finished that sentence.
"Febrile seizure." Lena frowned. "Time it!"
Alex shook her head from looking wide eyed at her sister and looked down at the watch.
"I've never seen an adult do this." Lena breathed out as she held Kara's hand with one of hers and the other cupped the side of her face.
"Two minutes." Alex announced when her sister stopped shaking.
"Lena." Kara groaned, opening her eyes and trying to focus her sight.
"It's done, Miss Danvers." A DEO agent in a lab coat announced a few feet away.
"I'll make you better, you just wait." Lena smiled reassuringly at her friend, stroking her face before walking away to follow the agent.
Alex stared at her as she walked away before turning towards her sister and holding the hand Lena had been previously holding.
"Good thing you got your genius best friend back." She joked with worry on her face.
"Good thing." Kara echoed with a smile.
"I might as well start to trust her after she saves your life."
"Again." Kara chuckled, then grimaced in pain.
Alex changed the compress and watched her sister drift in and out of consciousness while she waited for news either from Nia or Lena. She didn't want to think about what would happen if the Luthor wasn't there for her sister, or if she had gone over to the dark side like she thought she would. She felt a little guilty now for not having the same faith in her as her sister had, but Lena's actions had made her a threat, albeit temporarily, and she couldn't have taken any chances back then. But now she couldn't deny the change she saw in Lena, she was frightened for Kara, and there was no way she was that good of an actress. The way she had held Kara and stroked her face couldn't have been fake; she had to trust that Lena had changed.
"Alex." J'onn suddenly appeared at the medical hall entrance. She walked up to meet him. "Nia's located them, we're sending a team and I'm coming with them."
"I'll go with you."
"No, you have to stay here and take care of Kara. Please Alex."
"Okay." Alex sighed, nodding. "You're right. Please be careful."
J'onn nodded and walked away swiftly. As Alex turned to walk to her sister's bedside she saw Lena marching towards her.
"We have to isolate her." Lena proclaimed. "This thing that's inside her, it's acting like a virus would." She explained as they strode towards Kara together. "It's using Kara's cells to replicate itself, wrecking her immune system in the process. She could catch anything right now."
"Shit." Alex spat. "I never thought…"
They moved to each end of the gurney to roll it to an isolation room but stopped when Kara groaned, sitting up and doubling over with her arms around her middle.
"My stomach…" Kara moaned. "I –I think I'm…"
Alex grabbed a trashcan just in time for her sister to bend over and throw up in it.
"Done, let's go." Alex urged as her sister lay back down with a grunt.
"Digestive system." Lena muttered as they pushed the gurney and Alex opened the door with one hand.
"Kara, can you stand?" Alex asked softly. "We need you to lie in another bed."
Kara nodded, slowly sitting up with Lena's help and lowering her legs from the bed, standing and wobbling slightly.
"Just a few steps." Lena encouraged, wrapping her arm around Kara's waist and guiding her onto the bed. "I think it would be better if we put her inside the protective suit." She said to Alex.
"Is that okay?" Alex asked her sister who nodded, changing into her supersuit. "I'll activate it now." Alex warned before pressing the symbol.
"Hang on Kara, okay?" Lena requested although she couldn't see her friend's response.
"It's better if I stay outside." Alex told her, squeezing her hand and walking away with Lena.
They closed the door and Alex watched as Lena ran a hand down her face with a frown.
"Are you okay?" She asked, Lena just let out a breath and shrugged. "Nia's located these nutheads and we sent a team to catch them, hopefully we can get a sample of whatever it is they've injected her with."
"That would be excellent news." Lena sighed. "I should get back."
"I'll go with you. If that's okay." She added at Lena's stare. "I can't stay here and do nothing."
"Sure." Lena conceded.
They walked inside the lab and Alex sat on a stool next to Lena as she examined the sample through a microscope.
"If I can get a live sample maybe I can make it reverse the damage." Lena mumbled after a while. "I think it's trying to make Kara human, permanently."
"How on Earth…" Alex mumbled.
"This is eerily similar to Medusa." Lena looked up to meet her eyes, moving aside and motioning for Alex to look for herself.
"These men are not just lunatic goons." Alex said, looking up. "If someone modified the medusa virus to attack kryptonians…"
"I don't think that's it." Lena shook her head. "Medusa killed aliens instantly, this is replicating itself, replacing Kara's cells with human cells. Her body is fighting back and reacting this way, but I don't know how much longer this can go on before…" She squeezed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I'm not sure how it would end." They locked eyes.
"Lena…" Alex frowned. "I know we're not in the best of terms right now, and I… I want to say I'm sorry." Lena raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't approach you sooner so we could… I don't know." She shrugged. "I have to confess, I did lose my faith in you for a moment."
"I can imagine." Lena replied dryly.
"Kara never did, and I didn't understand… I was worried; she cares so much about you and no matter what happened, she always told me she could still save you. I can see she was right, now, but back then I was afraid she couldn't see past her feelings."
"I'm doing a lot on my part to change." Lena confessed. "I know I did many wrong things, I don't deny it, but I'm working on it. Kara and I talked about this many times."
"I know." Alex nodded. "She told me, and she's always talking about your project and… she's so happy now." She frowned. "But after you left her there at the fortress… I never saw her like that, she loves you and she was devastated."
Lena looked away at that, feeling her heart jump inside her chest, feeling that overstuffed box threatening to burst.
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just want you to understand. You're so important to my sister, and I don't want to see her get hurt."
"Me neither." Lena whispered. She looked up to lock eyes with Alex. "I… I don't want to hurt her."
"I can see that now. That's why I wanted to say, I'm sorry for giving up. And… maybe we could… not start over but, turn the page?" She offered.
"I can do that." Lena nodded with a side smile.
"Okay." Alex nodded. "We're not hugging, though." They chuckled.
"Okay, it's here!" Nia exclaimed, running towards them with one raised arm carrying what looked like an Epipen. "Oh, Lena." She stopped in front of them.
"Yes." Lena smiled politely, taking the device from her outstretched hand.
"Are they here?" Alex asked Nia with a scowl.
"Yes ma'am, containing cells and interrogation room."
"I'll leave you to it." She nodded towards Lena and walked away.
Lena immediately got to work, trying not to think about Kara getting worse. It had always been easier when she didn't know the patient or wasn't emotionally attached, and this couldn't be farther from that scenario. And thinking that she was the only one able to save Kara didn't help, either.
She had always been good at containing her emotions, setting them aside on a neat little box, putting that box inside a bigger box and piling it up in a corner of her mind. But for the last few months she had started working on it, her emotions, so that they could never again overflow her and take control of her actions, cloud her mind and take her down that dark path she could still see, cold and isolated. She thought about it like a move, all those unmarked boxes piled up; she had to classify them, categorize them and organize them in tidy shelves she could then pinpoint, acknowledge and work on. It was going well for the most part, some boxes were smaller, easier to work on; some, like her childhood trauma or her family abuse, were big metal boxes that occupied entire rooms in her mind. But there was a box, red and blue and overstuffed, threatening to spill, she hadn't been able to classify; or rather, the little words written in black ink were just out of sight, but she knew if she got close enough, she would see. That red and blue box, filled to the brim, was pulsing, about to explode like a can of worms, and she didn't know if she ready.
"How is Kara?" She asked a while later when Nia walked into the lab again, holding a cup of coffee.
"She's stable, but her fever won't drop and she threw up a couple of times." Nia grimaced, setting the coffee on the table. "Drink, it's two am."
"Thank you." Lena smiled tightly.
"How is that going?"
"Almost done. If she's the same as when we put her inside the suit, I think our chances are good."
"Kara did say you were a genius." Nia smiled.
"Yeah, well…" She trailed off awkwardly.
"I'm glad you worked out your issues. Kara is so happy." Nia sat on a stool in front of her, resting her head on her arms.
"I am too." Lena mumbled.
An hour later she had successfully modified the virus to do its opposite job, neutralize the cells the previous serum had commanded to replace kryptonian DNA. She left Nia sleeping on the lab table and walked briskly towards Kara's room. On her way she met Alex, who was talking angrily with J'onn. They both seemed upset.
"Lena!" Alex exclaimed as soon as she saw her.
"I've got it." Lena lifted up the injection, not bothering to stop her walk. Alex caught up with her in a few long strides and they walked towards Kara's room together.
"I reversed the serum so that it neutralizes the cells that are trying to replace Kara's DNA." She informed her as Alex opened the door to let her in.
"Okay, thank God." Alex sighed, running a hand over her face. "Kara?" She called sweetly, resting her hand on her sister's arm.
"I feel sick." Kara mumbled.
"I know, we're going to make you better, okay? I'm taking you out of the suit." Alex pressed the symbol on the suit and it disappeared.
"I fixed it." Lena smiled softly. "I need to give you this injection, okay?"
Kara turned her head sideways and smiled at Lena, trying and failing to focus her sight. Her arm was cold and she flinched when she felt the sting.
"Thank you." She breathed, closing her eyes again.
Lena didn't say anything, she stood still and watched for a reaction of any kind. Alex dried her sister's face with a cloth, and a few minutes later Kara had stopped sweating. She checked her temperature and it was effectively dropping.
Lena sighed, holding herself up with both hands on Kara's mattress and dropping her head between her arms, breathing hard.
"Lena." Alex rested a hand on her shoulder and it immediately started shaking with held back sobs. "Okay, I'm going to hug you now." She announced. Lena turned sideways and let herself be wrapped in Alex's arms. "Thank you, you did it. You saved her."
They pulled away when they heard the door open, wiping their tears discreetly as Nia walked into the room.
"Why didn't you wake me?!" She whisper-shouted. "What happened?"
"Kara's getting better, Lena did it." Alex smiled.
"Yes, I knew it!" Nia punched up, disregarding personal space completely as she pulled Lena into a tight hug. "I knew Kara didn't have so much faith in you for nothing." She grinned as she pulled away, walking over to Kara's bedside.
"I should finish the interrogations out there. I don't think I can leave any of it for tomorrow." Alex pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Go, I'll check on her." Lena nodded. She turned around to find Nia looking at her.
"I know Alex has probably said this to you already, but if you break Kara's heart again, we'll lock you in a mobile DEO cell and send you to the North Pole."
Lena looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm kidding." Nia waived her hand. "Unless…" She glared.
"I resolved my issues with Kara." Lena replied dryly, moving to stand on the other side of her friend's bed and pressing the back of her hand to her forehead.
"I know." Nia nodded solemnly. "She was really hurt, and I'm sure you were hurt, too." Lena looked up, surprised. "I know we haven't interacted as much outside of game night, and I gotta say, I wasn't sure whether you had gone to the dark side, but Kara had faith in you. She loves you, so I'm glad she wasn't wrong." She smiled. "So I hope you'll maybe come to game night again soon. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to know each other better."
Lena was dumbfounded, this girl was going to give her whiplash. First she threatened to send her to the North Pole and a minute later she extended an offer for friendship. Although she could see why Kara liked her so much.
"Maybe someday." She conceded.
"If you don't mind, I need to rest my eyes a little." She walked to lay down on the other bed in the room.
Lena didn't answer, she looked at Kara and could already see color returning to her cheeks, her face no longer frowning but relaxed. She smiled, in this light she could see tiny freckles on her cheeks. That thought filled her with warmth for some reason; she never imagined aliens had freckles. She took her hand, stroking it with her thumb as she watched her sleep. The day had ended up far from what she had imagined when she went out of that meeting with a smile and thoughts of her best friend. She wanted to call her to share good news, eat and laugh with her before going to sleep. Alone, of course, not that… She sighed.
Her chest was brimming with emotion, trying and failing not to think of what would have happened if Alex hadn't called her for help. What if Kara and her had never made up? What if she had held on to that fear and never confronted her? Would Kara still be moaning in this very bed? Would she be… she couldn't even say it in her mind. The world could have very well lost its hero tonight. She could have lost her friend. She could have lost Kara, and in that world, even with all the other things that kept her life together, she never could have found a way to be happy. She could live in a world where Kara didn't forgive her, a world where they weren't friends; it would be dull, but she could live with that. But a world where Kara was completely gone? It was awful and dark.
The words Nia and Alex had spoken to her today resonated in her mind. Kara was so sad, and now she's so happy. Kara loves you. That… made that overstuffed box, full to the brim, tumble over on its weight. She had also been miserable, she was also so very happy now that Kara was by her side, now that they spent so much time together, saw each other several times a week, sometimes to watch a movie, sometimes for dinner, or lunch, and just because. There wasn't anything new to tell, sometimes. Sometimes all she could think about when it was time to go home, was of how her day would be significantly better if she saw Kara, if only for a little while. And then there were times when she didn't want her to leave. That thought scared her. Of course she couldn't ask her to stay, that wasn't something friends did past their high school age. But she wanted her to stay. Because… because she was so happy now, too. Because she loved Kara.
She had loved her for a very long time, and that little box had started to grow with every good thing her friend did for her, for every time she brought donuts or any type of food to cheer her up, for the times she took care of her when she was drunk, for the times she had stood up for her when no one else had. There were so many little things she kept storing inside, and when her brother had told her the truth about Kara's identity, she had grabbed that box and kicked it back to the very far end of her mind. Because she had been made to believe every single thing inside it were lies. But Kara hadn't given up on her, and that box had started to vibrate, to keep her up at night. That box had helped her in her darkest moment, when she was being manipulated into killing the one person who had unwavering faith in her, the only person who brought a light into that overcrowded space with her bright red, bright blue box that radiated warmth late at night when her defenses were low.
And now that they saw each other so often, now that she had put up shelves and classified her emotions in neat rows, Kara's box kept on growing and occupying every space, and she could no longer ignore it. Now she wasn't sure she even wanted to ignore it.
"Hey." Kara's voice sounded raspy and tired.
Lena lifted her head from the mattress where she had been resting it, sitting on a chair beside Kara's bed.
"Kara." She breathed out. "How are you feeling?"
"I don't remember much but, I think I feel a lot better."
"Do you want water, anything?"
"No, it's okay." She smiled. "I do remember something about you saving my life?"
"Well… I sort of did." She smiled awkwardly.
"Lena Luthor, my hero." She laughed as Lena scrunched up her nose and squeezed her eyes in a shy smile. "Is that Nia?" She asked when she saw someone else in the next bed.
"Yes. She's been resting her eyes for the past hour."
"Come with me?" Kara patted the side of the bed. Lena hesitated. "Please, I don't want you sleeping like that."
"Are you sure? I could go home."
"I don't want you to go." Kara said lowly.
Lena tried her hardest to stop her heart from beating strongly inside her chest, but then she remembered Kara probably didn't have her powers yet so she couldn't tell. She took off her sneakers as Kara scooted to one side of the bed to make room for her. She lifted up the covers and Lena slid inside, resting on her side and feeling Kara's arm sneak around her shoulders under her neck. She tucked a hand against her chest between their bodies and carefully laid her other arm across Kara's stomach.
"Are you comfortable?" She asked, looking up when there was no answer. Kara had fallen back asleep.
Lena took a deep breath and, despite everything that had gone down that night, she swore she could feel Kara's perfume. It wasn't just a fragrance, it was her sent, the one she left on the clothes she would sometimes forget at Lena's apartment. Lena felt warm inside, she loved that smell. She loved Kara. It was liberating to admit, but vertiginous nonetheless, because she kept on falling.
