The Luthor name was enough to get Lena's visit to Lex fast-tracked. Either that or she'd been put on his approved visitor list already. She'd phoned the prison from her penthouse, expecting to have to wait until at least the next day but had been told visiting hours weren't over and with the LCorp helicopter she could make it there with plenty of time to spare.
Lena had changed into new clothes for the visit, spending twenty minutes staring at her wardrobe, then double-checked her appearance before heading into the prison in case the chopper blades had dared to mess with her hair. She knew Lex would scrutinise her, looking for some sign of weakness to taunt her with.
The room the guard led her to wasn't the usual visiting room. Clearly Lex had money stashed away and wasn't hesitating to spend it in order to provide himself with some comforts.
"And what brings my busy sister away from the office today?" Lex asked with a smirk. "Don't tell me the company is already in trouble and you need my help?"
"Oh please, your little spies would have told you if there were any problems at LCorp..."
"I can't believe you renamed it that."
"Since my takeover the company has been doing very well, as I'm sure you're aware."
"This is the first time you've come to visit me, I was at least hoping for a letter or a phone call."
"Getting bored already?"
"The intellectual prowess of the other inmates leaves a lot to be desired."
"Oh? It's not because you miss me, then?"
"You are my sister Lena, of course I have some affection for you. In fact I was playing a game of chess just the other day and remembering how much fun we had as children."
Lena sighed, "actually that's what I'm here to discuss."
"Our chess games?"
"No, the other part."
Lex suddenly looked intrigued, "hmm, and what can big brother help you with today?"
"I need you to promise me something, as my brother, if you really do care about me..."
"We're family. Luthor's stick together."
"Good. Well, I have a son."
Lex sat back in his chair, then looked Lena over, "I haven't been in here that long have I?"
Rolling her eyes, Lena shook her head, "he was born... a long time ago, but I want your promise that you won't hurt him. Swear it."
"Or what?"
"Conversation over, I'll walk out of here."
"And run away? You're right of course, my spies have been keeping an eye on LuthorCorp but they've also kept me up to date on you. I get so worried when you're out there on your own. Want to tell me why you packed a suitcase and brought a private plane using an alias all on the same day?"
"It's complicated."
"I'm not going anywhere, I'd love to hear the story."
"Swear that you won't do anything to harm my son first."
"If he's a Luthor then he's safe from me, my dear. Mother on the other hand..."
"Fine, what do you want? We both know that if you tell her to back off she will, so what will it take?"
"Other than the story? I think I'd like to meet my nephew, have a few more visits from my sister and... perhaps hear your escape plan from whatever trouble you've gotten into with the DEO. Oh yes, I know that you've been spending some time there. You were driving around in a company car after all."
Lena gave him her best I-hate-you smile and pretended that she had the luxury of considering his offer. Unfortunately he wasn't asking for anything she couldn't give, she could easily avoid mentioning Supergirl was Jamie's other mother.
"Fine, I'll show you a photo but you can't meet Jamie until he's older. I'll visit once a month, and if you can arrange access to the internet we can play chess when I'm not too busy."
"Jamie, eh? Not short for anything beginning with 'L' I assume. As for the chess I'll expect one move each day, mine will be made before midday and you will have until midnight. I'll email the moves to your work account. If I don't email until after midday you won't have to move until the next day and you will still have until midnight to do so."
"Agreed."
Lex held out his hand and Lena shook it, remembering how he insisted on ending each chess match the same way. She half expected some kind of trap. Even as she was telling him the story of falling in love while in her first year of college, she watched for some sign that he would back out of their deal.
"You fell in love with an alien?"
"I didn't know that at the time. We broke up when I found out the truth."
"That's why you went to Europe! I knew it had something to do with a heartbreak. Mother insisted it was the pressure of all those classes."
"And that's when I found out I was pregnant and Jamie was born. I knew you'd never accept him, because he's only part-human, so I put him up for adoption."
"Eleven years is a long time to keep a secret, I'm impressed."
"Well he knows who I am now, he came to find me."
"And after this part-alien child came back into your life you went running to the DEO?"
"No. Supergirl was injured, I was asked to help."
"By the DEO?"
"No. As for leaving, having my son find me... I was scared. I didn't want to face the failed relationship and I thought going away was the simplest solution."
Lex shook his head, "Luthor's don't run from a fight. I thought you were braver than that Lena."
"Well clearly I'm not," she folded her arms and turned away from him, fighting desperately not to cry.
"Hey, I'm sorry."
She laughed, Lex never apologised.
"Lena, you know I just want what's best for you."
"Best for the family."
"And now our family is getting bigger."
"Even if he's part-alien?"
"Well I'm sure the Luthor part will help overcome any deficiencies from his fathers side of the family, and growing up on Earth will mean he's less likely to want to destroy it. You know that's always been my concern with these visitors."
"Uh huh."
Lena felt Lex's hand on her shoulder. She allowed him to turn her around so she was facing him once again.
"So...?"
"So what?" she asked.
"Where's this photo? I want to see if he's inherited the Luthor's good looks."
Lena smiled.
Leaving the prison, Lena looked up at the sky trying to empty her mind of all of her worries. Instead, she saw Superman hovering up above. She frowned, wondering what he was doing there. Was there a problem with Lex? Or had Kara sent him to check up on her while she spoke to her brother? She watched him fly away, then ordered her driver to take her back to the DEO, determined to get an answer from Kara.
As soon as Lena told her the plan to visit Lex in prison, Kara felt worried. She knew how much Lex hated aliens, and Kryptonians in particular. So she'd called her cousin and asked him to check on Lena, to make sure she was okay and that Lex didn't over-react when he found out the truth. He'd reported back that everything was fine, so she didn't expect Lena to come bursting into her room looking so angry.
"You sent your cousin to spy on me?" Lena stormed over to the bed and glared down at the blonde.
"To protect you, if you needed it."
"Lex would never hurt me."
"How am I supposed to believe that, after everything he's done? What would I have said to Jamie if something had happened and I'd let you go there on your own?"
"That I'm an adult and I don't need your help. It's not like I told him about you, he just knows that Jamie's father is an alien and he didn't even ask for details so it would have been fine. Now someone will tell him that Superman was hanging around during my visit and he'll start to wonder why. What if he figures it out? Or worse, what if he thinks Superman is Jamie's father?"
"You didn't tell him about me?"
"Of course not, I'm not stupid. I need to ease him into things slowly, give him time to accept Jamie and then maybe in another ten to twenty years admit to the truth."
"Oh well that sounds fine then, I'm glad I didn't worry about your crazy brother..."
"He's not crazy, just misguided."
"Alex gave me a tablet, I've been reading the headlines and I know what he..."
"Oh sure, because the articles written by Superman are so impartial..."
"Are you saying you agree with Lex?"
"Of course not!"
"Because he..."
"I know!" Lena clenched her hands into fists, wishing she could hit something. "Lex has made mistakes, he's paying for them right now, but he's still my brother."
Kara opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, thinking.
Lena took a deep breath before continuing, "look I wanted to let you know that it's going to be fine. Lex will probably start trying to gather some information on Jamie, but I've been careful and as long as Jamie stays in Midvale where he's safe it'll take Lex a long time to get anywhere with his searches. He's promised not to hurt him, he even made it sound like he accepts Jamie is part of our family so as long as you can persuade Jamie to hide his powers everything will be fine."
"And that's it?" Kara raised an frowned at her, trying to figure out what Lena had left out, "Lex doesn't want anything in return? He hasn't asked you to break him out of jail, or continue his anti-alien research?"
"Nothing like that. I'm just going to visit him once a month and we'll play chess, it's fine. You don't need to send anyone to supervise the visits."
"So you're not planning on leaving anymore?"
"It doesn't look like I'll need to now."
"Okay. That's good."
"Kara, you do realise that we can't see each other again? You can't just show up at my apartment, or at work unless it's for a real CatCo article."
"What?"
"We have to keep our distance, to protect Jamie."
"But..."
"Lex knows about the DEO, he already knows I've been here to help Supergirl and he'll have more questions if his spies see Supergirl breaking into my home the way you did the other day."
"I don't remember that."
The door opened and Alex entered the room. She was surprised to see Lena there, but quickly regained her professional demeanour and smiled at them both.
"Jamie is insisting on visiting again. I've told him he can come back in the morning. How are you feeling Kara?"
Lena took one last look at Kara, then turned back to Alex, "I should get going. Thank you for trusting me to help before."
"You're welcome, I'd love to go over some of those changes you made and any other ideas you might have..."
"I'm a little busy at the moment, running LCorp and everything, but I can leave the contact details for the head of my research team in case you have any issues," Lena offered, heading to the door.
"Wait, Lena..."
Lena kept walking, determined to leave the room. She needed some time to let things settle down and some space to work out what to do next. Staying ahead of Lex was going to take a lot of effort.