Annnd, yet again I just couldn't stop writing. So here's another chapter. Consider it an early Christmas present. Lol.

Again, it never fails to amaze me how much love this story is getting. I seriously had my doubts about this story when I first started it. I never attempted to write a Supercorp story because I was afraid I would never be able to do the ship justice. But apparently I must be doing something right.

As I stated in the last chapter: THERE IS MENTION OF SELF HARM AND ABUSE IN THIS CHAPTER. DO NOT READ IF IT'S GOING TO UPSET YOU, PLEASE.

Enjoy. -Commander

Ch: 9

She shouldn't be this nervous.

At least, not with her mother. Of all the people in her life, her mother had been one of the few she ever felt comfortable sharing everything with. Or almost everything. She liked to think that she shared pretty good relationships with both of her parents, most likely because both of her mothers had such terrible past experiences with their family members and had made sure Ali never had to go through any of that.

So, Ali wondered, why was she currently standing on the edge of the roof of the building directly across from her mother's office at L-Corp, stalling for as long as she could before she had to make the short trek over?

She'd left the DEO not long after confirming to Brainy and the others that the 3-D model he'd put together based off Lex's files was almost identical to the device Brice used in the fight against her mother and Superman. The only flaw in their plan was that the device required a biometric sample to start up, and they needed to find Brice before she could alter the device from Lex's DNA to hers. Or so she had told them.

Ali was quite aware of the wild goose chase she was sending her family on. The small tidbits of information she was leaving out and the false leads she was handing out. She knew everything about the device they were looking for…a device that wasn't of any concern in this timeline. Not yet at least. They had a good few years before Brice would even start her own versions of the experiments, before Ali's existence could even be thought of, let alone before anyone needed to worry about the device.

She just needed the time for her plan to work itself out.

Against the better judgment of her family, especially her mother, she had went behind their backs to send herself back to a timeline a few years before Brice had created her. She had calculated it this way to make sure that her mother's death could be prevented in the future, to make sure that the others wouldn't be destroyed during her phase of the experiments completely, without the risk of someone else picking up where others had left off.

No. Ali didn't come here to stop Brice from making just the doomsday device. She was here to make sure that Brice never had the chance to create anything.

Herself included.

In the building across from her, Ali could hear the sound of her mother's heels clicking against the floor of her office and let out a light sigh. Figuring that she might as well get this conversation with her mother over with, the young Kryptonian dropped off the edge of the building, quickly making her way through the sky until she reached the edge of the balcony.

The door was waiting open for her, and as she walked through into the office her mother only glanced up for a quick second before pointing towards the couch. "Sit."

Deciding to just do as she was told, Ali took a seat on the couch, running her hands over her knees as she waited for her mother to say something instead of doing what she was doing in that moment.

Her mother had this weird way of getting her to talk by simply staring at her. It had been the very bane of Ali's early teenage years, not being able to get away with anything after one pointed look from her mother. Jeju had always thought it was funny that she would crack so easily with her other mother, and on more than one occasion had she sent the younger girl through the same balcony door she'd just come through knowing that Lena would get her talking in a matter of minutes.

And it was almost disturbing to know that her mother had apparently always had that look, because it was the same look Ali was receiving now and it she suddenly felt the need to confess for something she didn't even know she had done.

"Did I ever tell you about what happened when I came to live with the Luthors?"

Surprised by the question, Ali shook her head. "Uh, not really. I mean, I know a little bit about it. But you never went into a lot of detail about that. Why?"

The CEO let out a sigh as she stood up from her desk, shrugging her blazer off her shoulders and giving her squirming daughter a break from her intimidating gaze. "There's a folder on the coffee table. Look through it."

Picking up the folder, Ali carefully folded it open on her lap, her eyes scanning over the various papers and notes, confusion bubbling in her mind. "What are these?"

The raven haired woman took a seat directly across from her daughter on the coffee table, smiling sadly as she was handed the papers the girl had already read through. "The first ten pages or so are any notes my therapist took when I was first adopted. After that, it's mostly just psychiatric doctors notes and some things I wrote while I was there."

Pausing when she'd come across the words 'danger to self', Ali glanced up at her mother. "You've never told me about this."

"I'm assuming that I don't know about your workout routines then?"

Blushing from embarrassment, the Kryptonian discarded the folder to the empty space on the couch next to her. "I didn't always do it. One day I just accidentally upped the amount of Kryptonite in the room and didn't realize it until I'd landed the first punch and almost broke my hand. It was a few months after Jeju…it was the first thing I'd felt in a while that wasn't sadness. And, I don't know, everything was always healed before I ever went back home. I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

Sure enough, the girl's knuckles were healed, save for the faint scars that ran across most of the girl's pale skin. Which confused the CEO. "You scar after an injury?"

Ali shrugged. "Side effect of being half human, I guess. I heal pretty quickly, but if an injury is bad enough it always leaves a scar."

"How many of these scars are from yourself?"

That was something Ali didn't want to answer. Not here or in the future. Her life before had always been a touchy subject amongst Ali and her mothers. She couldn't speak for them, but there were still some things that Ali when through that her mothers were still in the dark about. She'd filled them in on most of the important things as needed, but they rarely spoke of it, thankfully.

"Ali. Can you please answer my question?"

"Most of the ones on my hands and some on my arms are from my workouts."

"Are there others?"

Letting out a sigh, Ali crossed her arms over herself, leaning as far back into the couch as she could. "Can we please not talk about this anymore?"

"I think we need to, kid."

Getting slightly anxious at the thought of being forced to talk about everything, Ali narrowed her eyes. "No. We don't. It doesn't concern you. You're not even my mom in this time. Don't worry about it."

Seeing the brief moment of hurt flash across the older woman's features forced every ounce of annoyance out of the girl's system. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just…I didn't give myself the other scars on purpose. They're from before I met you guys. It was part of the testing Brice ran on my healing factors."

"They forced you to hurt yourself?"

Ali was slightly concerned by the tone of voice her mother had asked that in. There had been a few times the girl had heard that voice, and only once had it been directed at her. That voice meant her usual level headed mother was about to become not-so-level headed. "It's fine, Mom. Please don't make a big deal about it."

"It is so a big deal! Does Kara know about this?"

"No! Please don't tell Jeju. It doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past and that's where it needs to stay. You of all people should know that revenge isn't a road anyone should travel on. I've moved on."

After a few minutes Ali could see some of the tension easing from her mother's posture, but her face still remained scowled slightly. "I won't tell her unless you want to. It's not for me to tell, anyway. But I'm not going to just put that knowledge behind me. There's a million and one things they did in that lab that pushes far beyond the realm of normality-."

"Like me?"

Deflating at her daughter's quiet question, Lena reached out, settling her hands over the girl's knees. "No. Not you. If anything, I'm sure you're quite possibly the only good thing that will come out of all of this."

"Just wait until my pre-teen years."

Chuckling slightly, the CEO removed one hand from her daughter's knee to gently brush a stray strand of hair that had fallen in front of the girl's face. "Funny. But my point is, you didn't deserve any of what happened to you. I can't even begin to fathom what you went through, but don't ever belittle yourself. I spent a majority of my life thinking I would never amount to the Luthor name and then another part running from it. I don't want you going to the same place I had to before I realized that despite everything I'd been through, it would all work out in the end. So don't doubt for one second that your existence is a mistake. And don't get too caught up in the past. You don't have to cause yourself pain."

There had always been a part of Ali that wondered if her mothers had taken her in because they felt they had to. They, obviously, hadn't intended for her to happen. Her parents weren't even together then. Having that unasked question answered and knowing what was going to be taking place rather soon made the girl's heart sink.

Not only had she decided to settle on this timeline for the ability to figure out the best way to get rid of Brice and all the information on the KR-113 experiments, but she also wanted time for her mothers. Time with both of them before she did anything drastic. She missed so much with them while under Brice, and even more after her mother's death. There were things she wanted to say to them, to experience with them before she through all caution to the wind. But now…Ali was thinking maybe this part of the plan hadn't been such the best idea.

They were getting too invested, too quick and so was she. But she hadn't been able to help herself. Here both of her mothers were alive and happy, for the most part. There was the problem of the two of them still barely speaking to each other, but that would eventually work itself out. Her parents were always meant to work out. They were made for each other.

But could she really go through with this plan? Could she risk never having this? Never existing?

Leaning back away from her mother's touch almost as if she'd been burned, Ali cleared her throat. "Are we, uh, finished? It's getting kinda late and I'm really tired."

Wondering where the sudden change in her daughter's posture and voice came from, Lena shrugged it off. Chalking it up to thinking that she no longer wanted to talk about her past. "Sure. Are you too tired to fly back to Kara's? You can always stay at the penthouse."

Standing up quickly, the young Kryptonian shook her head. "No. I'm fine. I'll see you later, Mom."

Without waiting for a response Ali was up and in the air, taking a detour around the city and away from any heavily populated areas (she was mindful that she didn't need to be seen by the public in this timeline if she could help it) to clear her mind. She needed to remind herself exactly why she was here in the first place. She came here to put an end to the suffering. Not just the suffering of her her family, but the world. The world needed Supergirl and Superman.

And the world would survive just fine without her.