Even though they're both tired, they lie awake for a while. Staring up at the ceiling, their thoughts running over their day.
Kara's thinking about the fact that her best friend is having a baby. An actual baby! Though the circumstances are a little less than desirable, and she's sure Lena would've liked a human kid from someone she actually loved more. Kara still can't believe Rhea actually did that. Sure, the woman was awful, but to go to such extremes. To abuse someone else like that, isn't it essentially rape? Her heart aches for what Lena must've gone through on the ship, even though she said she doesn't know because she was unconscious. Not knowing starts up imagination and she's sure Lena's is even wider than hers and Kara herself can already think of enough terrible things that could have happened aboard that ship.
It makes her heart ache even more to think about how Lena feels like she only has two friends. It makes her feel guilty that those friends are the same person and that person is her. It claws at her that she's still too afraid of Lena's reaction to actually tell her. She doesn't want to lose Lena, she doesn't want to put Lena in more danger. Lillian had told her Lena wouldn't like it, when she would find out Kara is Supergirl and Kara is not ready to be pushed away. Lena and her need each too much right now. Though, maybe she should start a game plan. Talk to Alex, see how she can soften the blow. Alex is always better at those things. Maybe ask Maggie. Anything to make sure it goes smooth, and anything Kara does by herself never goes smooth.
Lena lies on her back, eyes up but not actually seeing anything. Her mind is making the trip from waking up to sitting in the parking lot of the abortion clinic to ending up in Kara's bed again. It's made a very long stop at Kara being alien, contemplating all possible other explanations for Kara's behaviour and evaluating and comparing all of them. Each time, Kara being an alien wins. Lena refuses to start the trip of finding out what kind of alien. When Kara's ready to tell her, she'll tell her. Lena trusts she will. Though she couldn't help exploring her options briefly, Kryptonian got knocked off the list pretty fast because it is common knowledge that there are only two Kryptonians on earth and Kara and Supergirl are not the same person. Lena's sticking with 'maybe Jupiterian' for now. She moves her hands from her stomach and turns to lay on her side, back to Kara. She closes her eyes and lets Kara's deep even breaths lull her to sleep.
Kara hears Lena's breath even out and deepen and looks over at the sleeping form of the brunette next to her. She hugs her covers a little closer and lets Lena's breathing guide her to dreamland.
Kara is drawn from her slumber by a sudden movement of the mattress. She groggily opens her eyes to see what's going on. She feels like her limbs are too heavy to move and forces her head sideways to get a better look. The spot on the bed next to her is empty, the covers clumsily discarded to the side. She remembers Lena's sleeping over and should have been laying there. Then she picks up the sound of someone being sick. With great effort, she drags herself from the bed, it must be Lena and even if she feels like dying inside she'll be there for Lena. Always. She makes her way over to the bathroom and kneels down next to Lena, holding the brunette's hair back and softly stroking her back. When the CEO is done emptying her stomach, they lean back against the wall together. Lena's eyes are closed tight, trying to keep the nausea at bay.
"Do you want some water?" Kara whispers, her hands having moved from Lena's back to her leg and now giving a small reassuring squeeze. With a very slight nod of Lena's head, Kara is back on her feet to get a glass of water from the kitchen. She hands it to Lena, who gratefully takes a few sips. Lena hands the empty glass back to Kara, who places it on the sink and extends a hand to help the brunette up. Hands still locked together, they make their way back to Kara's bed. They both lie down on their sides, Lena's back towards Kara whilst Kara continues rubbing circles on her back. After a few minutes, Lena rolls over to lie on her back. Kara's hand lingers in the air, unsure what to do. Lena takes a hold of it and places it on her stomach below her own hands. Kara scoots a little closer, dropping her head above Lena's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I woke you up." Lena whispers.
"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault." Kara whispers back.
They fall back into the easy silence they are used to. Listening to each other breathing, feeling their skin connect and thoughts wandering.
"So, you've got morning sickness. And maybe you're a little more tired than usual, am I right?" Kara says quietly.
Lena hums in affirmation.
"What else? Any other weird pregnancy… things going on?"
Lena swears she can feel Kara's breath tingle the skin of her neck as she speaks. She can almost feel Kara's lips, so close and yet so far away at the same time. She imagines those lips inching closer, connecting with her skin. Then, when she'd move her head, connecting with her own lips.
"Oh, you're back asleep. Sorry." Kara whispers as she gets no response. Lena is roughly brought back to the real world and shakes her thoughts off, burying them deep somewhere in the back of her mind to never venture to again. Thoughts like that are definitely not thoughts to have about your best friend. Absolutely not. It's utterly inappropriate. Lena berates herself for it internally and tries to close them off.
"I'm still awake. Sorry." She says when she's cleared her mind a bit and feels Kara starting to move away.
"I've got the morning sickness and exhaustion, I have to pee all the time, and sometimes I get a little dizzy when I get up too fast." Lena says softly, watering the dizziness down a little. Okay, a lot. She doesn't want Kara to worry. Which she clearly failed at, judging by how Kara's arm tightens on her stomach. "It's normal, Kara. It'll go away. And maybe I'm getting a little more emotional, but I'm not sure. But before, I hadn't cried in years.
"And-" She hesitates for a moment, contemplating whether to tell Kara something so personal. Kara's arm has started to relax a little again and she's turned it to give Lena's wrist another reassuring squeeze. Kara won't tell anyone and she won't judge. "And my boobs are growing, and crazy sensitive. I swear, I've gained at least one cup size already." Lena finishes. Kara can't help the laughter that bubbles up and earns herself a swat from Lena on her shoulder. "Not funny, Kara." Lena whispers, but Kara hears the smile on her lips. Still, she apologises and tells Lena to get some more sleep, the heaviness of slumber already tugging at herself.
Lena wakes up from the warm rays of the sun hitting her skin. Kara's arms are warmly around her and she closes her eyes for a second, enjoying the moment while it still lasts. She finally pries herself from Kara's grip to make breakfast. Lena knows Kara eats a lot, but she doesn't know exactly how much her friend needs to feel fulfilled. She stares at the contents of the fridge wondering if five portions would be enough to start the day. She settles for making a few batches of pancakes, a stack of toast and a load of eggs. She plates a piece of toast and some of the eggs for herself and puts the rest on a tray for Kara.
When she walks into the bedroom to wake up Kara she finds it a lot harder than she thought. The blonde refuses to join the land of the living. Lena, not wanting to be late for work when she's skipped all of yesterday already is determined to make sure Kara isn't late either. Gently shaking the reporter doesn't work, neither does roughly shaking. Whispering, talking and almost shouting –Lena's not one to actually shout at a friend for no reason– are not working either. Finally, she resolves to getting a wet washcloth and putting it on Kara's face. That seems to do the trick as the blonde shoots up from the bed, almost knocking Lena over in the process.
"Rao, sor-" Kara starts to say, throat so soar she doesn't even get to finish her second word. She ends up in a coughing fit after trying to clear her throat and tears spring up in her eyes at the effort. Lena runs out of the room and, before Kara's coughing fit is even over, is back with a glass of water. She sits down next to her friend and gently helps her sip some of the soothing cold liquid.
"Better?" She asks with worry in her eyes when Kara's finished half the glass.
Kara merely nods, afraid to start coughing again.
Lena places a cool hand on Kara's forehead, Kara guesses it's to gauge her temperature –when Alex was sick as a kid, Eliza did the same thing– but she's not entirely sure.
"You're burning up, Kara. How do you feel?" Lena asks, again worried.
Kara shrugs and takes a moment to assess her body. There's a deep ache in her bones that doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, her throat feels like sandpaper and her head is pounding. Lena takes the shrug as enough of an answer and tells Kara to stay put as she walks out again.
Kara is happy to obliges, she doesn't feel like getting up is a good idea at the moment. She leans her head back against her headboard and closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, Lena is back. There's a tray of food and bottles of Gatorade and water on her nightstand and Lena is holding the medicine Kara's once bought for Alex when she was sick. Kara listens as Lena tells her to stay hydrated and eat however much she feels comfortable eating. She lets Lena medicate her and just nods as words flow into her one ear and out the other. Lena's voice is just the right kind of deep and soft and Kara doesn't even notice but she's falling right back asleep by the lull of Lena's voice.
Lena worries for a moment what exactly to do. She's never actually cared for a sick person, or been around one for that matter. A thought pops up in her head and the first thing she decides to do is call in sick for Kara. She's sure that's something that needs to be done when someone is sick. Before she makes the call, she tries to think of how to call. She can't really say that she, Lena Luthor, stayed over at Kara's place. She thinks. Come to think of it, she's never actually had to call in sick herself so she doesn't even know who Kara should call in sick to. Probably Snapper, he's her direct boss.
Lena roams the apartment trying to find Kara's phone and come up with a better way to call in sick for Kara without using her own name. She's sure Snapper won't recognise her voice so she decides to come up with a cover name and just pretend that she and Kara were supposed to meet up for breakfast but she'd sent her home because Kara's sick. That should work.
It does work. Snapper's not happy Kara's sick and at first demands she comes in anyway but Lena is quick to shoot that idea down because Snapper sure "wouldn't want to be responsible for getting the whole office sick, right?".
Next, Lena checks up on Kara, who's still blissfully asleep. Then Kara's phone suddenly rings. It's Alex. Lena's not sure whether she should answer or not. She should. She's not sure however, how Alex will react to her answering Kara's phone. The persistent ringing of the phone continues so Lena presses answer and raises it to her ear.
"Kar, how did it go with Lena? Are you still solar-"
"Agent Danvers?" Lena interrupts Alex. She can hear a small gasp from the other end of the line before Alex composes herself.
"You're not Kara." Is the simple answer.
"No, I'm not. Kara's sleeping, she's sick." Lena decides to just get it over with, damn what Alex Danvers thinks of it.
"Lena?"
"Yes, this is her."
"You stayed the night?"
"Your sister is sick and this is what you take from it? That I stayed the night?" Lena can't help the disdain shining through in her voice.
"Sorry, no. I just- she was worried about you. About she and you. I guess she's got that figured out now. Sorry, she's sick? I can come over and take care of her if you need to work."
"She's sick, yes. But it's fine. I can stay. If she didn't look so pale, I would have thought it was a setup to make me work a little less." Lena says with a small laugh.
"Okay, thanks. I'll come over right after work then. I'll bring dinner."
Lena's about to reply –wondering if Alex meant dinner for Alex and Kara or for the three of them– when she hears a lot of noise coming from the other end of the phone. An insistent "Agent Danvers!" is yelled somewhere in the background and Alex is quick to excuse herself and hang up.
Lena makes one more phone call; to Jess, telling her she won't be in today and if she can send over her paperwork, and get Avid to also pickup soup somewhere. Soup is always great when people are sick, or at least, a quick google search tells her that. She also tells Jess to take the day off herself but Jess will have none of it and Lena is left with a promise that Jess won't make it too late.
Lena sits down in the kitchen and slowly eats the food she made for herself. She has to actively try not to forget eating. After a quick shower, she dresses herself back in Kara's comfortable clothing from the day before. If she's not going anywhere, why dress like she is?
She gets her laptop from her bag and starts another google search. Since it's a new day, she can also worry about new decisions. Today on the top of her list: adoption or not?
She ventures into the world of adoption agencies and after scouring around a few she suddenly remembers this would not be a regular adoption. There are thousands of adoption site for regular human babies, but finding one that also allows aliens and half-aliens takes a lot more digging. The is briefly interrupted by Avid at the door with her paperwork and some soup. She thanks him and tells him to take the rest of the day off, she'll find her own way to her apartment. A quick check ensures her Kara's still sleeping and Lena is sucked right back into the world of adoption sites. She quickly learns that even the most alien-inclusive agencies don't just allow any species. There's a list of banned species, Lena recognises some of the alien species that have poisonous or burning skin. There's also a green list, which does not include Daxamites. Lena decides she will need to call to make sure. She dials the number and a friendly older man answers it.
"Hello, this is Tamir speaking. How may I help you?"
"Hello Tamir, I'm Tess Mercer. I was looking at your website and I had a question about the alien species you allow to be placed for adoption." Lena decides to go with her alias, not wanting to get the fact that Lena Luthor is pregnant out in the open.
"Ahh, yes. Well, we have a strict rule of no alien species that are almost certain to be harmful to the adoptive family. They should not be put in danger by the child they will receive."
"I understand, I actually have a question about a specific kind of alien that's not on the banned list, nor on the green list."
"Yes, ma'am, and what species would that be?"
"Daxamite."
The silence on the other end of the line is already telling Lena enough, but she refuses to hang up before hearing it.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. But after the recent… incident, we will not be allowing this violent species to be placed through our adoption agency anymore. Besides, isn't the very air we breathe toxic to them?"
"Yes, thank you." Lena chokes out, unable to manage saying more. She hears Tamir say something on the other end of the line but she doesn't listen anymore as she hangs up the phone.
She refuses to let one call dampen her spirit so she gives herself one moment to be sad and finds a dozen more agencies and gives them all a call.
They all tell her the same thing. Daxamites are volatile and dangerous and are not safe for any family, therefore they will no longer be allowed to be placed for adoption.
After the thirteenth call Lena's had it. She can hardly keep the tears from her eyes. How can these people think they know this child growing inside her before it's even born? Before it's even grown hair, nails and separate fingers and toes. She feels an anger start to boil inside her and, with a little more force than strictly necessary, shuts her laptop. She starts working on the paperwork Avid brought over, happy to get her mind off of things.
The paperwork helps, she relaxes a little from the task as she signs forms and reads over proposals, ideas and financials. Within a few hours she's breezed through the stack and it's a small shock to find that there's no more work left to do. She blames Jess, her secretary knows she's been working a lot lately and must've thought this was the ideal opportunity to have her boss slow down. Jess is sly like that when necessary, but deep-down Lena is actually grateful for the forced break. Even if it's also driving her insane. There's no more paperwork and Lena might be feeling a little less emotional but is now sporting a nice headache to compensate for it.
Her clock tells her it's actually way past lunch time and she briefly berates herself for forgetting about it. She heats up the soup and fills two bowls. Before she brings the soup to Kara, she cleans up the leftovers from breakfast. Kara must've woken up for a moment because clearly someone has eating a little from the food. Then Lena brings in the soup and wakes up Kara again. She sits down at her feet and hands her a bowl, telling her to eat or else she'll be fed. Kara's eyes light up for a moment in defiance but then they dull over again and Kara starts sipping the soup, happy to watch Lena eat too. When both bowls are empty, Lena takes them and puts them on the nightstand. As she tries to get up and walk away however, Kara pulls her back and lifts the covers for her to sit next to the blonde. She almost tells Kara she's got some things to finish, but the blonde uses her puppy eyes and it's really unfair. In the blink of an eye Lena is sitting next to Kara, tucked beneath the comforter.
"I think I have what you had yesterday, Lena." Kara says, still looking a little grey.
"I doubt you have morning sickness Kara. Unless there's something you want to tell me." Lena says with a small laugh.
"But it wasn't even morning!" Kara pouts.
"Well, tell that to whomever gave it its name because trust me, it's not isolated to mornings. I wish it were."
"Then your veggies are trying to kill me."
Lena rolls her eyes. "You got sick. Germs are trying to kill you, not vegetables."
"It's not fair." Kara's still pouting.
"Life isn't fair." Lena merely shrugs and hands Kara one of the bottles. "Drink a bit, else you'll feel even worse tomorrow."
Kara obligingly drinks from the bottle and lets Lena guide her down and tuck her in. Lena's fingers are in her hair, their soft touch drawing her back to sleep. Kara fights it though and earns a small berating from Lena for it.
"Kara, you need to sleep. Sleeping it off is what works best." Lena tells her.
Kara pulls Lena's arm until Lena's laying down next to her.
"You should sleep a little too. You look tired and you even told me you are tired all the time yesterday." Kara says.
"I'm fine, Kara. I don't need sleep." Lena's actually more convincing herself than Kara and she knows it. She also knows Kara's almost as stubborn as she is and won't let it go.
"You're not fine. And I won't sleep until you promise you'll also sleep." Kara tells her, a determined look shining through the sick dull of her blue eyes.
Lena wants to fight it, she's more stubborn than Kara and she knows it. But she's also promised herself to take better care of herself and she knows Kara's right. Even without the emotionally draining morning she'd have been tired. Now she's exhausted. And she can't say no to Kara, ever. Kara, who's so close again. Who is now pulling her even closer as she feels that Lena's giving in. Who likes to cuddle, apparently even more so when she's sick and sleepy.
No! Lena won't let her mind wander that path again. She turns around, back to Kara and closes her eyes. She tries to clear her mind. Which is not an easy feat as Kara is now pressing her front to Lena's back and snaking arms around her waist. Lena is however dead set on not letting her mind go there again and she tries to think of anything but Kara. She starts by thinking of new L-Corp inventions, but they all come back to Kara one way or another. She then thinks of the boring side of L-Corp, the business side and the finances. But her mind gets distracted, because she's not the biggest fan of this side. And Kara's hands are not helping, as they begin rubbing circles on her arm and stomach. She even resolves to thinking about Lex when Kara presses her cheek against Lena's shoulder. She's lost, she utterly lost and she doesn't know how to feel anymore. So, instead of battling herself even longer she resigns to enjoying this feeling for the moment and let Kara hold her. Eventually she drifts off to sleep.