After the death of Lilian things moved on, as they often did for the couple, and they tried to find their way back to normal life. Lena had her adopted mother's body buried near her brother and their father. Kara encouraged Lena to be present for the burial, even if she did not hold a funeral, but Lena flat out refused in a way that told Kara that the subject was closed, and she needed to not push her wife further. Lena instead threw her energy into researching the plans for her and Kara to attempt to get pregnant. After a particularly awkward conversation with Alex about finding any way they could extract and use Kara's DNA to truly have a baby that was biologically from both of them they were then able to use Lena's own OBGYN to help them figure out the insemination process.
All that to say, the last few months had been exciting, but also completely frustrating from Lena's perspective. As a woman who was raised to get everything right the first time, not getting pregnant the first try poked at Lena's feelings of failure even though she knew that some women try to get pregnant for months if not years and it is not a reflection of failure, it just is how things are. Kara couldn't have been more supportive, and Lena appreciated that her wife seemed to always know what to say when Lena was stuck in a spiral of negative thoughts about having a baby. Kara reminded Lena, always gently and without a hint of judgment, that they would create a family in whatever way worked for them and a baby would come along when it was the right time.
In the midst of the couple trying to grow their family, work did not stop for either of them and Supergirl emergencies were always consistent throughout the week. One night, when it was actually almost very early morning, Alex called Kara away from a deep sleep for a Supergirl job. Lena remembered kissing her as she left and then falling back to sleep almost immediately. Lena felt like it had been maybe 10 minutes since Kara left, but when her phone rang, waking her up, she caught sight of the clock and realized it was 5am: which meant Kara had been gone for almost 4 hours. Lena saw it was Alex and woke up pretty fast at that point.
"Is she ok?"
"She's fine. We're at the DEO, but I am asking you as her wife to come down here because even though she is 100% fine, it was a very rough night." Lena rolled out of bed and pulled on PJ pants over her sleep shorts and rummaged around the closet to find Kara's hoodie.
"Rough night how?"
"There was a fire and…she wasn't able to save everybody. We both know what that does to her." Lena pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. Kara's version of failure was always not being able to save everyone in danger with her powers. Alex and Eliza tried their best to assure Kara that it was impossible to save everyone and when Lena came along, she picked up where they had left off. Kara knew they were right of course, but it never eased her guilt when she lost someone at a scene she was called to.
"Christ, I am on my way. Is there a car on its way for me or should I drive?"
"I have someone about 5 minutes from you whenever you are ready. They will meet you downstairs." Lena put the leash on the dog, grabbed her wallet and locked up before meeting Alex's agent downstairs and heading to the DEO.
When they got to the facility, Lena made her way to Alex's office and was grateful that the whole place was still mostly empty because Lena Luthor walking into the DEO in her PJs would have been a sight and Lena did not feel like being on display. Alex was sitting at her desk going over files and she looked up when her door opened.
"Hey, sorry to wake up so early on a Saturday, but it was bad and in a rare move she asked me to call you. Which is a change from her usual reaction to these things which is to push everyone away, but my guess is this time is different." Lena was confused and it showed. Alex waved her hand and Lena followed her out of the office, eventually handing Elsa's leash over to an agent who was familiar to the dog so Lena was not dragging her all over the building. Alex led her to one of the observation rooms that had a sun bed in it for when Kara needed it. It had a two-way mirror that could be covered when needed, but otherwise it offered a full view of the room. Lena looked through the window and quickly realized why this time was different. Kara was still dressed in her suit, and pressed very firmly against her chest was a small child, a toddler if Lena had to guess who was clinging onto Kara tightly as she slept with the hero's cape wrapped around her like a blanket.
"What happened Alex?" Alex pulled up some info on her tablet and handed it to Lena, "big fire broke out in an apartment building. Thankfully it was a smaller building, only 10 apartments total, but in the middle of the night things get tricky. Things were already bad when Kara got there, but she got most people out except for the last apartment on the top floor because they thought no one was home. She went in and the place had to have been like 90% full of smoke and mostly on fire by then. Beams had already started to fall, and the woman was trapped under one of them. Kara started to lift it and she could have, but the woman cried to stop because it hurt worse and there is a good chance that moving it would have killed her slower, judging by what Kara described. The women begged Kara to get her daughter out, Kara found the kid sleeping in her crib and bailed out a window, landing on the ground just as the roof collapsed completely. The kid stirred a little and cried, but wouldn't let Kara hand her to the EMTs, we brought her here and now Kara will not willingly hand her over to anyone. She checked her with her powers and let me check her out for smoke inhalation, but only while she held her. Not sure who is more stubborn currently about this: Kara or the kid." Lena smiled slightly at her wife's stubborn protectiveness over the little girl.
"Any family that can take the little one? Another parent that can step up?" Alex took the tablet back and opened another file, handing it back to Lena.
"We checked. Birth certificate had dad's name, but when I ran his name his death cert came up: car accident just before the kid was born. We ran mom's maiden name, dad's name. I swear to God, Lena I ran so deep in this family tree I reached the roots and all I found are death certs and honestly Lena they didn't have many people to begin with." Lena sighed and shook her head, feeling a deep sadness for the mother who was faced with raising her daughter without any support and who in her final moments only wanted her daughter to live.
"Do we know anything about the little one?" Alex tapped the screen and Lena looked closer. "Charlotte Christine Birch, age 2 years, 3 months, born at 39 weeks gestation. Good APGAR score at birth, passed well baby visits so far and has had the vaccines she would need by her age. No known allergies and from the few minutes Kara allowed me to examine her she is within normal range for height and weight for her age. All things considered; she is a healthy kid who just got dealt a devastating loss." Lena handed the tablet back and watched Kara rocking the baby in her arms and securing the cape around her gently.
"So what happens to her now?" Alex sighed and pointed back toward her office, "I was able to push social services off for now, but they will want to know why the "FBI" is holding onto an infant. With no family, they'll likely get her into the system." Before Alex finished what she was saying she was cut off swiftly.
"Over my dead body." Lena crossed her arms and kept looking at Kara holding the baby, tears threatening to fall.
"Lena, I know this is hard for you, and for Kara, but she is so young that she likely will get placed faster because people typically are more interested in adopting babies. I can do a background check that would make the gods cry, she won't go to a family who will have so much as a parking ticket. I promise." Something snapped in Lena and without really knowing where it came from she turned and looked Alex in the eye, this time with the tears falling.
"I said…over my dead body. So unless you plan on dropping me right here, figure out a different plan." Lena was vibrating with what Alex assumed was anger and some level of sadness.
On some level, Alex expected this, and she offered Lena the only other option there was.
"Yeah, I figured that might be what you said, so this is the only other option I could think of." Alex handed Lena a folded stack of forms from her back pocket and waited as Lena read them.
"Adoption application forms?"
"You said over your dead body would she go home with a stranger who could hurt her, and I get that, but we both know you feel something you've never felt before when you look at Kara holding her in there. And yes it probably brings back some messed-up memories and for that I am so sorry Lena, but you look at her the way mom always looked at me and Kara when we got hurt doing shit growing up. So how long are we going to stand here and pretend that you haven't already made up your mind about taking her home?" Lena didn't have a response to that, mostly because Alex was not wrong. She glanced at the paperwork and noticed something strange.
"These are almost filled out Alex, literally all that's missing is signatures." Alex nodded, "yeah I know, I filled them out before I called you. You weren't the first person to look me in the eye and demand I find another option or kill them and honestly two bodies is a real chore to deal with and Kara is almost immortal. This just seemed easier." Lena looked back to Alex and wordlessly leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I will be in my office when you guys are ready. Otherwise, just take your time." Alex left Lena and returned to her office and Lena composed herself before entering the room. Kara looked up and smiled briefly before Lena arrived at her side and knelt next to the chair.
"I see you made a new friend. And here I was thinking only I got to snuggle with your cape." Kara smiled and ran her free hand over the red cape. "Maybe you guys can share it." Lena gently ran her hand along Kara's arm and eventually the hero looked at her wife.
"I tried Lena, but I couldn't get her mom and I just…I just left her alone." Kara teared up and Lena shook her head. "Kara, you honored her last wish on this earth, and she used it to do the most powerful thing a parent can do. You allowed her to die with whatever dignity that kind of death brings by letting her die knowing that her daughter lived and would be loved and cared of even though it is not in the way she had hoped. You didn't fail her or anyone else Kara."
Kara sniffled and pushed tears away, "but now she's alone Lena and I could've stopped that from happening."
"Kara, from what Alex said, her mom was likely badly injured to the point that lifting that beam totally would have killed her instantly and that kind of internal damage is almost impossible to survive. There was nothing you could've done. And this little one isn't alone, ok, we're all right here." Lena reached out and gently touched the toddler's back and smiled when the baby shifted in Kara arms just slightly, only to snuggle in deeper.
"I know she has to go to social services, but come on Lena we know that system is overwhelmed and under resourced. I can't just throw her to the wolves, she is a baby and she didn't do anything wrong Lena. She deserves…more." Lena stood up enough to offer Kara a kiss on the side of her head.
"You right, she does, so let's go home and figure things out from there." Lena stood up and waited for Kara to say anything in response.
"What about her?" Kara stood up and gently lifted the baby, so she rested on her shoulder. Lena reached out and touched Kara's cheek and smiled. "She's coming with us." Kara's lip quivered and Lena nodded and touched their foreheads together.
"We can't save every child in the world Kara, but I felt it too. When I saw you holding her. So we can't bring every child you save home, but this one deserves to go home, and I think our home will do nicely. So, let's go check in with Alex and sign those forms and I'll call our lawyers and we will sort this out ASAP." Kara smiled through tears and nodded as Lena walked out of the room with Kara following still holding the sleeping toddler.
Once in Alex's office, they frantically signed the forms Lena had seen earlier, while Lena called her legal team and told them in no uncertain terms that they needed to figure out exactly what social service needed from the couple and they needed to figure that out today. The legal team began working on that and Alex sent the forms into a friend of her's who could help them with the social services side of things, making sure that for the time being the couple was granted some emergency permission to be guardians over the child until they could do a home visit and background check in Lena and Kara. Much of this, Lena's lawyers assured her could be handled by them and they would schedule the home visit for a few weeks from then to give the couple some time to properly baby proof the house.
As Lena spoke to the lawyers, Kara sat and gently rocked the baby and didn't even really notice she was awake until Lena came back over to Alex's desk to sit back down.
"It looks like someone is awake. Hi sweetheart." Lena spoke softly to the toddler and gently ran her hand over the child's head and all but swooned at how soft her hair was. The baby looked at Lena through sleepy eyes and to Lena's surprise did not pull away and reach for Kara to keep her, instead she reached out a hand to Lena whose eyes went wide as she began to panic.
"What's wrong? Is she upset?" Alex laughed and shook her head, "wow, you are really not used to babies. Lena she wants you to hold her, she is reaching out for you weirdo. Just pick her up." Lena hadn't held in baby in a long time because, well, no one was fast to hand their child over to a Luthor she guessed. She gently picked the baby up from Kara and found herself quickly support the toddler's neck as she snuggled into Lena's chest.
"Hey sweet girl. Did you take a good nap? You got to snuggle with my favorite person and use her cape for a blanket. Usually I get to do that, so you must be a pretty special kiddo huh?" The baby looked up at Lena and just stared at her and Lena wasn't sure what to do, but all she could do was look right back at the smile with a goofy grin on her face.
"Hey pretty girl. You want come home with us? We got a doggy who will be your buddy I bet and you have a grandma who I imagine will be rather excited to spoil you and you've got a very good aunt who grew up with Kara and she can tell you all the funny stories about it." The baby seemed rather in love with Lena's voice. Lena looked up to see Alex and Kara looking back at her with big grins and some tears threatening to fall.
"What?"
"Anyone ever tell you that you are good with babies Lena? Cuz someone should have." Alex rose from her desk and pointed to the door. "I am going to grab you guys a few things to take home and then you can head out. Your lawyers will handle things from here, but you'll need to go on a shopping spree to get some stuff. I'll be right back." Alex left the office and Lena kept walking around in a small circle, gently bouncing the baby as she walked: something that Charlotte seemed to enjoy because she was wide awake in Lena's arms, but very quiet.
"Alex is right, you are very good with babies." Kara appeared at Lena's side and smiled at the happy baby in her wife's arms.
"Thank god for that or this parenting thing would be a real bust wouldn't it?" Kara pulled Lena close to her, like she often did, but this time it felt very different because there was another person being held by the hero.
"I didn't make you do something you didn't want right? Like we aren't just doing this because she wouldn't let me put her down or because I threatened Alex?"
Lena smiled and shook her head, letting it fall back just enough to be resting against Kara's chest. "No Kara. I may be a pushover, but I am not that weak willed. She is coming home with us because I think that is where she belongs. I know we cannot always do this, but if we had adopted a more traditional way I would have made a similar decision: I would have welcomed a child into our family who I felt had a connection with us. I saw you holding her and that told me everything I needed to know. I've seen you with kids before Kara, and never, not once did you ever act like you did when you held her, and you know it. Besides, you aren't the only one who threatened your sister." Kara laughed and kissed Lena's forehead before doing the same to Charlotte.
"I love you; you know that right? And this doesn't change our plans unless you want it to. We can still keep trying to get pregnant, but we can also stop and wait until we are more used to having one baby in the house." The thought of stopping their attempts to get pregnant had honestly never occurred to Lena in the last 2 hours she had been in the DEO with Kara. Kara brought up a good logistical point, but the offer of waiting to add to their now 3-person family made Lena almost cry out of frustration.
"Well, maybe I do not want to take a break. Maybe I want to keep trying like we planned and see what happens." Lena nuzzled the top of Charlotte's head and waited for a response from Kara. The hero eventually tilted Lena's chin up so she could look her in the eye.
"Lena, I'm gonna back whatever decision you make on this. So if you want to keep doing what we've been doing then that's what we're going to do, but it's your body going through the treatments and I…" Kara was cut off by Lena kissing her as hard as she could with the infant still firmly attached to her chest.
"Kara, I want to keep trying. I promise I will talk to you if that changes, but right now I would like very much to go home and change into real clothes so we can frantically drop an obscene amount of money on baby items." Kara smiled like Lena just said 'I do' all over again and she nodded her understanding as Alex came in the office again.
"Alright mommies, I have a car being set up to take you home that has the right size car seat in it for her. I reached out to a friend of mine from med school who is in peds now and she sent over a list of some dietary things to consider for a child her age, foods to avoid, foods she needs a lot of and a feeding schedule with the note that you and the kiddo there will have to figure out for yourselves once she gets settled. Her personal suggestions of crib brands, car seats brands, laundry detergent brands to avoid if this one has sensitive skin and some suggestions for teething toys to buy in bulk because she will eventually destroy them." Alex ran through the forms quickly as she put them all in a folder and held the out for Kara to take, but was met with both women staring at her with shocked expressions.
"What?"
"You left this office maybe 20 minutes ago and you managed to put all of that together in that time?" Lena nodded at Kara's confusion of how Alex managed to do so much in such a short time.
"Well, the car seat took the longest so my apologies on that and when you threatened me earlier this morning I called my friend and then when your blushing bride did the same thing not an hour later I called her back and asked for additional info." Alex came around her desk and put the folder in Kara's hand, closing it for her.
"Kara there is not much on this or any planet I wouldn't do for you, you know that by now. I know that at first you were just protecting a child, but I saw something snap in your eyes when I tried to take her, and I saw it in Lena's too when I told her the reality of the situation. You wanna know where I have seen that look before Kara? When dad was faced with a choice of him or you and he picked you Kara. Something snapped in him and he didn't care what happened to him as long as you were safe. I know it is not a scientific reason, but as far as I am concerned, that moment when you both snapped at me was the exact moment she became your daughter. So yes, I moved quickly to do what I could because I don't want my niece spending all day in a government facility any more than you two do." Alex tried to round things out with some humor, but Kara could see the emotion written all over her sister's face and she wrapped her arms around Alex and to Lena's great surprise, hugged her gently.
"Thank you. You'll be her favorite aunt." Kara pulled away and Alex laughed. "I'm her only Aunt nerd."
"Maybe so, but still, thank you." Alex nodded and got an alert that the car was ready to take the couple and child home.
"Your car is waiting for you and I asked one of my guys to run and get some food to send home for you guys for her so that you can go get more food later, but this way you can get her home and settled without having to rush to the store right away. It should last you for today and tomorrow before you need to restock." Kara went and changed quickly so that when they got home she did not have to make up a very flimsy excuse of why Supergirl was in Lena's penthouse, with a child no less. They picked up Elsa from the agent who had been watching her and thankfully the dog seemed to just be interested in investigating this new human. They said goodbye to Alex once they got to the car and Kara insisted on getting Charlotte buckled into the car seat. This of course led to a 5-minute struggle with the straps as Kara tried to adjust them to safely keep the baby safe while driving. Lena eventually took pity and gently moved Kara aside, reached in and got the straps into place before buckling the child into the seat.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"Kara, I am an engineer. I should hope that in all my years of building things I learned how to get a car seat to work. Now let's go home." Kara smiled at that and with Lena in the backseat and Kara up front they were driven home. On the way Lena was searching websites for lists of things people swear you need before you bring a baby home and was wondering how hard it would be to get some of these things from a store without people wondering why Lena Luthor was buying a crib. She did not have much time to think about it more as they pulled into the garage of their building 10 minutes later. The agent who drove them told Kara that Alex ok'd them taking the carrier part of the car seat until they got one for themselves and they would keep the attachment buckled into that vehicle for future trip when Charlotte had to be in a DEO car with Lena or Kara. Lena grabbed the things Alex sent home with them and Elsa's leash, leaving Kara to quickly take the carrier out of the car and head toward the elevator. Once upstairs and in their home, Kara went into the living room and set the carrier down and quickly took notice at how Elsa was pulling on her leash for Lena to let her go. Kara went over to the dog and took the leash from Lena, but gave the command for the dog to sit.
"You have to be gentle, ok. I know you want to meet her, but you need to be gentle with her." Lena smiled as Kara tried to explain in plain English to a dog why she needed to calm down around the toddler. Kara kept the dog's leash on and led her over to the carrier while Lena followed and sat down next to the carrier so that one of them had a hand on the leash and the other was right next to the baby. Kara slowly let the dog go closer, but only when she stopped pulling on her leash. Once the dog was close to the carrier, both women watched as the dog sniffed the carrier and then began doing the same to Charlotte, something that made the toddler giggle because the dog's nose was all but pressed to her skin. To her credit, Elsa was gentle and was just doing what dogs do: trying to figure out who this new person is that came into their house. Eventually she stopped and returned to Kara and sat down.
"Good girl, being gentle. That's my smart girl." Kara praised the dog and went and gave her a treat to reinforce the behavior. Once they returned from the kitchen, Lena had taken Charlotte out and was holding her; something Elsa wanted in on. Kara removed the leash since Lena had the baby in her arms and let Elsa join the on the couch. Charlotte was sitting in Lena's lap just sort of cooing and when the dog joined them she got much more animated. She reached for the dog and sorted of grabbed her fur, causing Lena to flinch in fear that the dog would nip at the baby as a result. That's not what happened. Instead Elsa licked the baby's face, just like she always does with Kara and Lena. The dog then settled down with her head in Lena's lap in a way that meant she was snuggled right up against Charlotte who kept pulling away from Lena to be closer to the dog. Lena looked at Kara who was already taking pictures with tears in her eyes.
"I guess we don't have to worry about them getting along." Lena smiled as she held Charlotte in a way that let her keep touching the dog's head. This little snuggle session went on for roughly 15 minutes before Charlotte got fussy.
"I bet she's hungry. We fed her after Alex checked her out at the DEO, but that was a while ago now. I'll open some of the food Alex sent and get her fed." Lena nodded and handed Charlotte over to Kara who quickly took the baby into the kitchen, talking in a high pitch tone the whole way there. Elsa quickly followed her, leaving Lena to fish out her cell phone and start trying to make sure they got what they needed for Charlotte and soon. She felt bad calling her assistant on a Saturday, but she had few choices available to her currently and before she could change her mind the phone clicked through.
"You had better not be in the office on a Saturday." Jess answered in a joking tone and Lena smiled.
"You'll be glad to know that I am at home. That being said, I need to ask you a rather significant favor and I need you to not ask questions right away. I hate asking you to do something on the weekend, but we need some help and I trust very few people with this."
"Are you guys ok? That all sounds serious."
"We're fine and it is serious, but not bad. The SparkNotes version is we sort of applied to adopt a baby and it all happened so fast and we have nothing in the house for her other than a few days worth of food and a pack of diapers my sister in law sent home with us."
"You know most people go to Brunch on Saturday or sleep in and then read the paper. Not you two. You guys adopt a child, who I am guessing if your sister in law is involved means that so is the hero of National City, which means there is a longer story in there. But regardless, what can I do to help?" Lena smiled at the sassy observation.
"We need some help getting some basic things and I can't just waltz into a store with a baby and not have it end up in the paper tomorrow. Is there any way you can help up get some basic things for her, like more diapers, food and some clothes. I am going to have to pull strings to get a crib and larger things, but for now we just need her basic needs met."
"I can do that. Give me her size and either a brand of food or flavors, otherwise I'm just grabbing a mix of stuff." Lena froze for a moment because she had no idea what size clothes Charlotte was in let alone what size diaper to get. She went into the kitchen to see Kara feeding the baby best she could without a highchair.
"Jess, add a highchair to the list, cuz we need that today." Lena then looked at Kara, "does her outfit have a size on it, Jess is going to grab some more clothes for her to tide us over till we can buy more. Also, how do we figure out what diaper size she is?" Kara shrugged her shoulder, but then pointed to the things Alex sent home. "I think Alex sent the whole box so it should have the size on there right?" Lena was never more grateful for a box of diapers ever because Kara was right. It did have the size on it. Kara found the sizes on the outfits Charlotte was wearing and Lena shared all this info along with the list of food they needed to Jess.
"Listen Jess, I can't thank you enough for this. I will pay you for today at double and I promise your Christmas bonus will be substantial."
"Lena, you are asking me to go shopping for a child, your child no less. It's not like you are asking me to do something awful. I'm glad to help. I will get clothes and all that first and then go get the food for her, is that ok or do you need food for her right now?"
"No we have enough for today and tomorrow so that's fine. When you get here just park in visitor parking and call me. I'll have the doorman send one of his guys with a cart to bring it all up at once."
"Gotcha, do you guys need anything for you and Kara while I am out? Like lunch?" Lena checked her watched and did not realize how late in the morning it was. It was almost lunch and she knew Kara hadn't eaten since dinner and then went to work.
"When you are at the grocery store just grab things that are ready to eat, and we can have that for lunch. Just use my card that I gave you for when we order lunch at the office." The women hung up soon after that and Lena went and joined Kara in the kitchen. Kara was trying with some difficulty to wipe Charlotte's face clean and the baby found it very funny to make that task more difficult than it normally would be. Lena laughed and quickly grabbed a soft napkin and got it wet before gently rubbing it over the baby's face.
"Why are you laughing at your mommy, huh? Why you laughing? Funny girl, we just want your face clean or the dog will lick all that food off." The baby clapped and Lena shook her head and smiled before looking back at Kara who seemed sort of frozen.
"What?"
"You said mommy. You called me her mommy." Lena felt a mix of emotions and was not sure if she had done something good or bad.
"That was probably in poor taste. I mean her mother died this morning and I'm handing that title around like it's nothing. I'm sorry, it just came out." Kara felt guilty for making Lena feel guilty and pulled her close to her.
"I'm not mad Lena. I don't think it's in bad taste. She's a baby and we will make sure that we teach her about her mom and about what she did for her, but it's ok for us to be her parents. If she gets older and wants to call us something else, then we will go by something else. But I liked it when you called me that." Lena nodded and still felt a pang of guilt, knowing how fast the Luthor's tried to replace her mother's memory in Lena's heart and she did not want the same for Charlotte. Only problem was, they did not have many memories of her mother to offer the little girl as she grew up and Lena hoped they could find some way to remedy that.
"Speaking of mothers, you really ought to call Eliza. Even though everything is not nailed down, we signed the forms and our team will make sure legally everything is done right. Even if we just tell her that we are in the process of adopting a child I think it's better than waiting." Kara agreed and after kissing the top of Charlotte's head and handing her to Lena, she dug out her cellphone and hit Eliza's number. Lena had to smile: anyone else would have maybe planned what they were going to say: not her wife. She was just going to call her mother and had zero idea of how to break the news.
Kara heard the call connect and Eliza greeted her with her usual upbeat greeting, "hi sweetheart, you two ladies having a restful weekend so far?"
"Ugh, not really, Alex and I had to go handle a fire this morning."
"Oh my, I'm sorry Kara. Are you and your sister alright?"
"Yeah, no, we're fine. It was just that one person didn't survive, and it was hard."
"Kara, you can't save everyone. I'm certain you did whatever you could to help."
"I know, but the woman that died had child and I was able to get her out, but not her mom."
"Kara, you saved a child's life and it doesn't make the loss any better, but I promise you that woman would have wanted her child safe. Besides you and your sister can make sure she find a home that's safe so she can grow up with people who love her and want to have her be part of their family." Kara smiled and had to suppress a laugh.
"Yeah, I know. About that actually. We sort of found a place for her already, at least we thinks so if the paperwork is approved and all that."
"That's great Kara. See the little girl will be ok and you can help her learn about her mom when she gets older." At this point Lena was watching from a few feet away and could hear Eliza through the speaker of the phone and watching Kara look like a little kid hiding a secret was funny to witness and apparently Charlotte thought so too. The little girl was reaching for Kara from her spot in Lena's arms and making whatever sound she thought was words to get her point across. There was no way Eliza didn't hear the sound and Kara just waited, though she did not have to wait long.
"Kara what was that noise?"
"So you know how I said we found the child a family?
"Yes."
"So, that family may or may not have been me and Lena." The line went very quiet and for a second Kara thought she lost the call. Technically she hadn't, but her phone began ringing saying a video call was coming in from Eliza. Kara looked at Lean who laughed.
"You had better answer that." Kara smiled and nodded before accepting the call and barely opened her mouth to speak before Eliza's face and voice boomed through the phone.
"Are you telling me you adopted a child…this morning Kara?"
"I mean, the paperwork went through this morning, we're just waiting for it to be approved. But yes, that is what I am telling you." Kara knew Eliza was just stunned and was not in any way mad. She was just understandably surprised. Kara figured she wouldn't beat around the bush and while Eliza was processing the new info, Kara hit the button that turned her camera around and made sure Lena could be seen holding Charlotte in the shot. Lena heard Eliza gasp before dissolving into tears and gushing over the child.
"Oh my goodness, she is so beautiful and so little. Hello sweet girl. Well, that settles that, I will pack up the car and be in National City by tonight."
"Nonsense Eliza, let me send a car or the jet for you." Lena knew it would be faster and she felt better not worrying about Eliza rushing to get to them faster.
"Lena you don't have to do that."
"I know I don't have to, but Charlotte gave me very clear orders to make sure her grandma got here safely to give her snuggles." Eliza made a noise at the word grandma that made Lena laugh.
"Oh my god, I'm a grandma and her name is so beautiful. I will be ready to go in 20 minutes." Eliza hung up the phone and Lena shook her head at the older woman's enthusiasm. Picking up her phone she called and made the arrangements for a car to get Eliza and take her to the airfield to being her into NC. While she did that, Kara went and got the guest room ready for Eliza and then went and checked on one of the spare rooms that the couple hardly used for anything except storage. The townhouse had 5 full rooms and the one that they use as an office space. So there was room for Charlotte to have a nursery and room for when she grew up and still allowed them to have space for one other child before they had to think about upgrading to a house. Kara was interrupted when Lena called for her from the kitchen.
"Can you feed the dog while I call and check in with Jess?" Kara fed Elsa, took her outside and on her way back upstairs she gave the doorman an heads up to expect Jess and then Eliza so they could just be sent up. Once back upstairs she saw Lena sitting in the recliner that she swore when Kara bought it she 'would never sit in that thing'. Charlotte looked to be half asleep and Kara figured the little one was likely exhausted after such a busy morning. She covered Lena with a blanket, making sure to cover Charlotte too before sitting near Lena on couch with Elsa refusing to join and instead choosing to sit next to the chair and watch Lena holding Charlotte. After about 20 minutes they all apparently fell asleep and Kara only woke up when she heard the elevator open on their floor. Kara realized they all had slept for about an hour as she made her way to the front door. When she opened it Jess was standing there with bags piled onto a cart that the front door staff let her borrow to get the items she needed upstairs.
"Sorry it took me so long Kara, I wanted to make sure you guys had what you needed to get you all started. The highchair is still in the car, but I wanted to get this stuff up here first." Kara helped Jess being everything inside and start to organize it in the kitchen.
"Let me wake up Lena and then I can bring the highchair up from your car."
"No need, someone else woke me up." Lena came into the kitchen holding a now wide-awake Charlotte. "Thank you so much for getting all this Jess. We would have been fucked trying to do this without you."
"No swearing in front of the baby." Kara picked Charlotte up out of Lena's arms and giggled as the toddler clapped her hands as Kara blew a raspberry on her tummy.
"Oh my god, she is adorable Lena and you guys already look like such a cute family." Jess gushed over the child in Kara's arms before gesturing to Lena to follow her as she explained what was in the bags.
"So clothes, diapers, baby sensitive detergent and a few random things from the store are in these bags. And everything else is baby food, food that you should be able to feed her at this point in her life and some groceries for the two of you because I did not trust that you accurate described what you two might have needed. There are a few readymade meals that you just need to put in the oven for a while or even microwave. The highchair is still in the car, but everything else made it up here with me.
"Honestly Jess, we can't thank you enough. This makes it so much easier to then focus on buying furniture and all that stuff. At least now she has some more outfits and diapers and we have the ability to figure out what she'll eat." Jess smiled and pointed to the door, "I'll go get the highchair and then get out of your hair."
Kara shook her head, "no way, I'll go get it, you have done more than enough. Any chance you wanna hold her while I'm gone?"
"Oh my god, please." Jess gave Kara her keys and gently picked up Charlotte from her arms. Kara left the house and headed down to the parking lot, leaving Lena and Jess.
"She is so beautiful Lena and seems like such a happy baby."
"The only blessing in all of this might be that she was more than likely too young to ever really remember what happened. At least she won't remember the details because when Kara picked her up she was asleep. Still a tragedy, but it's better than having the image of your mom dying before your eyes." Jess didn't poke Lena to speak more, instead she just bounced the baby on her hip.
"Well, she is a lucky girl Lena. You guys will give her a good life and make sure she knows that her mom loved her and now you guys do too." Lena smiled as she put the groceries away and started to separate the clothes to wash before they put the baby in them. Kara returned minute later with the box and began putting it together, a task that thankfully did not take long. Jess excused herself once she knew the couple had everything she could help them get, offering further help if they needed it later in the day. Kara tried to no avail to give Jess a check as a thank you, but the other woman waved her hand.
"Lena has made sure I am very fairly compensated for today and honestly you guys, this kind of stuff makes me very happy to do, especially for you two. Being parents suits you both. Just holler if you need more help." Jess left and just about the time Lena had started the laundry with Charlotte's clothes in it, Eliza had called her saying she had just touched down in NC and once she got off the plane the car was standing by to bring her to their home.
"You ready to have Eliza running around gushing over Charlotte?" Lena smiled and offered Kara a quick kiss, "I think it'll be nice to have her here. Maybe we can have her watch the baby while we go shopping tomorrow."
"Lena you know I suck at interior décor. The fact that my loft ever looked put together was honestly because random things in a loft make it look cool. You might be better off taking Eliza and leaving me here with this one." Kara tickled the baby's stomach to make her point, but Lena shook her head.
"Nice try. I know you hate shopping with me, but I will show you the stuff that matches and you can help me pick things out. Honestly Kara, I don't care very much if things match, I just whatever is best for Charlotte and I want you with me when we pick it. Plus, when we have more kids this will help us not have to buy more stuff later. Think of it as an investment in not shopping more later." Kara pouted, but agreed.
"Fine. I am going to change her before Eliza gets here." Kara brought the baby into the master bedroom and Lena smiled as Elsa followed her. Soon after their bell rang, and she figured her driver must've sped just a bit to bring Eliza from the airport. She opened the door to see her mother-in-law all but bouncing.
"Hi Lena." Lena opened the door wide and grabbed Eliza's bag from her. "You don't have to pretend to make small talk. I know you want to see her. Kara is just getting her in a new diaper, and she'll be right out." Of course, Lena finished her sentence and Kara joined them in the living room and Eliza all but started crying.
"Now we are all clean and ready to meet grandma aren't we." Kara went over and offered Eliza a kiss on her cheek before shifting Charlotte's weight in her arms so she could see their new guest.
"Charlotte, this is your grandma. Can you say hi?" The baby flashed a shy smile and buried her face into Kara, looking at Eliza while still firmly pressed into Kara's chest.
"Oh so now we're shy are we?" Eliza did not seem to care and just talked to the toddler in very rushed tones.
"Hey sweet girl. Aren't you just a beauty? I know new people are kind of scary huh, you'd rather snuggle with your mommy. That's ok. I have lots of time and I have a present for you." Eliza went to grab her bag and Kara was amazed.
"How did you already manage to get her a present? You found out about her a few hours ago."
"If you think I didn't have things packed away for my first grandchild you do not know me well enough my dear." Kara shook her head and watched as Eliza pulled something out of her bag and brought it back to where Kara was holding Charlotte.
"This is for you honey." Eliza held out a plush toy that looked so familiar to Kara and yet she couldn't place where she had seen it before. Charlotte began immediately interested and reached out and touched the toy, enjoying how soft it felt.
"Alex had something like this on her bed when we were growing up right? Like almost exactly this stuffed toy."
"Your dad bought it for Alex when she was born. She had that thing even in college. When you came home to live with us we tracked down some of the old toys her bought for Alex even though I tried to explain to him that you likely wouldn't know what they were for, but he didn't care. But he never gave them to you and for a long time I never understood why. When you girls were out of the house I was going through things in the attic and I found this small trunk with all those toys and stuffed animals in them. I didn't bring them all cuz I didn't think it was my place, but I think he'd want Charlotte to have this and you to have this." Eliza handed Kara a folded piece of paper that had her name written across it in her dad's handwriting. Lena watched Kara's face change, not to sadness exactly, but to a far-away look she gets when deeper feelings start to set in.
"Babe, how about I take Charlotte and Eliza and get Eliza settled in her room." Kara shook her head no and instead kiss Charlotte's head before gently handing the child over to Eliza, this time feeling relieved when the child seemed rather eager to snuggle with a new person. Kara sat down on the couch and Lena sat down next to her, leaving Eliza to sit in the recliner so Kara could still see Charlotte. Kara looked at the fold paper for a long time before handing it Lena.
"I can't read that."
"Would you like me to read it to you, or should I put it away for later?"
"You read it please." Lena nodded and shot Eliza a cautious look because neither of them know what this kind of message would do to Kara. She and Alex always struggled a lot when it came to their dad. Alex was always chasing his legacy and Kara was always trying to cope with losing another parent figure. Lena cleared her throat and rubbed Kara's leg as she read.
"Kara, if you are reading this then it means that either your mom or sister found this trunk in the attic. I figured it wouldn't be you that found it because you never got over the story Alex told you as kids about our attic being haunted." Kara smiled at that, because he was right, she refused to ever go into the attic after Alex told that story when they were little.
"I am glad whoever found this gave it to you because I wanted to make sure that these things all got to you eventually. It may seem strange, me having saved these stuffed animals and toys for so many years and I am sure your mother thinks I have finally lost it, but as with all scientists, there is a method to my madness. I wanted you and your sister to have the same things growing up so that we sent you the message that you were just as much our daughter as Alex was and I hope that is how you felt and still feel now. I know however, there would be things and memories that Alex had that you could never have from her early youth. Giving you stuffed animals to make up for lost time seemed silly and what 13-year-old wants a stuffed animal. So I decided to find the same toys we had given Alex and put them away for you to be able to one day give to your kids (should you choose to have them). If you don't feel, free to share these with your sister or keep them and know that they would have been yours had you spent your whole life with us. Alex has her own little box of things I set aside for her, so don't worry about making sure she is taken care of: I've got both my girls covered. I hate writing this, because I know there would be no reason you'd be reading it if I wasn't gone. I hope this letter finds you living a happy life and in my heart I hope you have found someone to share that life with because if I can't be there for you, I like to think that someone else can be there instead. If you share these things with your children please tell them that I wish I could have met them, that I love them very much and that should they ever need me, I won't ever be very far away. Take care of yourself Kara and don't sacrifice your needs for anyone, even though I think telling you that is like telling a fish not to swim. Let yourself be happy and enjoy life, it's far too short to do anything else. Tell my grandkids they have a very special mommy who I loved very much and to not talk back to you. I love you very much Kara, and whatever comes from that, good or bad, it will be well worth it. Parents do what needs to be done for their kids, no matter what and I know you'll learn that as your family grows. Snuggle your kids, snuggle these toys when they aren't looking and know that I'll be nearby always to make sure the world treats my girls right. Love you, love you, love you. Ps: I hope the glasses still work. Love always, Dad."
Lena closed the letter and looked at Kara who most definitely had tears in her eyes and Lena did know what to say or do first. She ended up not having to do anything because Kara got up from her seat and kneeled in front of Eliza so that Charlotte was facing her, still with the stuffed toy in her hands.
"So, how do you feel about sharing that toy with me? Cuz grandpa says I can snuggle it when you are not looking and I think that is more than fair, plus grandpa was a smart dude so we should listen to him, right?" Charlotte smiled and Kara felt several tears slide down her face.
"He would have gone absolutely mad over you kiddo. Just spoiled you rotten and I am really sad that he won't get the chance, but I think grandma will cover that so don't you worry about that ok? You just snuggle that toy and mommy and aunt Alex will tell you all the stories about your grandpa ok? Grandma too, cuz she knew him the longest. Sounds good?" Charlotte cooed and gently held out the toy in her hands to Kara who smiled as tears continued to stream down her face.
"It's ok baby, you snuggle it first. I'll take my turn when you take a nap." Kara kissed Charlotte's head as she stood up and went back and joined Lena who slipped her hand into Kara's. They were all quiet for a while and Lena finally broke the silence.
"So, what story did Alex tell you to convince you the attic was haunted?" She was met with laughter and Kara pushing her shoulder playfully and it made her feel better to see her wife smile after a heavy moment. More than anything she was glad Kara got to have this moment to share her child with her parents, both of them, in the best way they all could have asked for.