Kara doesn't need an alarm clock. Everyday, she simply wakes up with the sun and is ready to roll. According to Alex, it's one of her most annoying traits. Well a lot of her traits are her most annoying traits if she listens to Alex. It doesn't mean that she doesn't like lounging in bed, stretching like a cat under the rays peeking through the window, but most days she doesn't get the luxury and is up at the brink of dawn ready to help one law enforcement unit or another before she even has breakfast. It's not her favourite thing to say the least.
On Krypton she used to sleep in a lot, and then her mother would have to send Kelex to drag her out of bed so she wouldn't be late for her morning classes. Her favourite mornings were on rest-days, when she could slip into her parents bed to sleep for a couple more hours under Rao's blessed rays. The older she grew and the harder she trained to make it into the Science Guild, the less she indulged in this ; some days, she still regrets it bitterly. She almost did it, back on Argo, almost slipped into her mother's room to nap next to her, but she didn't ; it would have been too unlike her memory of it. This, she doesn't regret, not really. Alura is too different from the person she grew up with for her to really know how to reforge a connection with her. And it's not like her mother is really trying either.
She shifts under the sun, following it as it moves across her bed. It now falls directly on her face and she looks at it, indulging in something that has been deemed -suspiciously non-human- by Alex very early in their sisterhood. Humans don't stare straight into the sun ; Kara does, and she loves it. It makes her feel both tingly and powerful, like she's drunk on raw strength and there's nothing she cannot do. It has the added advantage of not giving her a hangover, which on second thought might be why Alex is so against her doing this, she's jealous.
When she feels satiated enough, she's just on the verge of being late and has to superspeed through breakfast and getting ready. When she crosses the threshold and leaves her home behind for the day, she's wearing mismatched socks and her shirt is misbuttoned ; all in all, it's a perfectly normal morning.
She makes it to work only five minutes late and Nia isn't there yet, which considering that sometimes Kara wonders if the young reporter lives right here under her desk, means she's perfectly on time. She does already have seven emails from Cat wondering why she wasn't here two hours early but that's not particularly unusual. Wherever she is in the world, there's no doubt Miss Grant is still aligned on National City's time just so she can, gently, berate Kiera. Not that she really minds, it's better than when she disappeared for a whole year after thrusting a new job and a new boss upon her. And she also still has nightmares from the recent year Lena left James in sole charge of CatCo ; that was an interesting mess. Every year, if not every month, is different for the media conglomerate, and whatever happens next, between her and Lena at least, she hopes CatCo will remain somewhat of the same ; she needs the stability. Or relative stability, since this particular building finds itself in the crossfire of Kara's other life on a semi-regular basis.
Nia makes her appearance a little after 10am with a smudge of smoke on her cheek and two tall take-away coffees, both for herself. "Crime fighting," she mouths conspicuously before plopping down unceremoniously on her chair and taking the biggest gulp of coffee one can possibly manage. She's missed the pitch meeting and complains about her assigned article for the better part of the following fifteen minutes, her sentences bisected by still impressively large sips of coffee. It's good-natured though, and Kara doesn't mind. She's finished her own report on Supergirl's most recent stint, carefully keeping all speculations about Taylor at a minimum, and is now researching L-Corp's newest technology to get a head start on her series on green initiatives. A warm ray of sun skirts around her back to create a flare on her screen and a rainbow through her glass and though it's a little distracting, her eyes drifting to the side to follow the colours every few minutes, it's also nice, and she welcomes happily this little touch of non threatening magic.
Around noon, and though she's had a hefty second breakfast as usual, she starts getting hungry, and she's considering making a round to ask if anybody wants to get lunch when Cat's formerly private elevator slides open and a hush falls upon the previously bustling bullpen ; Lena is here.
She struts into the office, silence following in the wake of her pencil skirt and absolutely illegal burgundy blouse. She doesn't seem to notice anything however, as she makes her way to Kara, only briefly stopping to greet Nia before she resumes her course with purpose. Suddenly incredibly thirsty, Kara hurries to gulp down her water before Lena reaches her ; half of the liquid ends up trickling down on her chin, and she chokes on the rest. Lena smirks, and she tries to smirk back but realistically, she knows she looks closer to a bright red chipmunk than anything else. She can almost hear Alex laugh and she knows Nia's snickering is not just in her imagination.
"Do you think your boss would let you take an extended lunch break ?" Lena asks when she reaches her desk, leaning over it like it's an appropriate thing to do.
"I'm sure," Kara squeaks, forcing her gaze to stay at eye level, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"Your boss seems nice," Lena muses.
"Oh she's amazing," Kara replies, finally finding it in herself to smile back with confidence. She fails at replicating Lena's smouldering gaze but does manage to pull her lips in a little half smile. "We can eat on the balcony."
Lena clears her throat, manages to trip while standing still as she clumsily raises a take-out bag. It appears she didn't really plan past Kara agreeing to get lunch. "Lead the way."
Prying eyes follow them all the way out of the bullpen and Kara has to stop herself from snapping at her colleagues. Instead, she levels the room with a harsh gaze of her own and lets her hand hover protectively on Lena's back.
The weather is nice, perfect even, with a light blue sky and a comfortable temperature. Kara presses Lena to sit in the shade, teasing her about her vampire-like complexion, before she rolls her sleeves up and starts unpacking an astronomical amount of food. She takes her time laying the containers on the table, putting a little bit more effort than is necessary in flexing her muscles ; Lena's eyes are glued to her forearms, and it feels nice.
"They seem surprised to see me," Lena says when they're both seated and Kara already has a forkful of pasta halfway to her mouth.
She has to swallow quickly, curses herself when sauce drips back in the cardboard box. "I think they are," she says, "you, um, you haven't been there in a while. There was even a rumour about you selling CatCo."
"You heard about that ?"
"So it's true ?" Kara fires back, feeling a pang of disappointment in her chest at the confirmation that Lena did intend on selling CatCo and wouldn't have said anything about it if she hadn't asked.
"I considered it," Lena admits, averting her eyes to her own food. "I needed a starting investment for a new project and a friend of mine was interested in acquiring the company."
"Andrea Rojas from Obsidian North."
"You know about that too ?"
"Investigating is literally in my job description Lena, and I wanted to know who was going to take over." She doesn't mention how Cat is the reason she knows about it. Or how she cried herself to sleep the moment the rumour turned out to have real foundations.
"I trust Andrea with my life, and she's a fine CEO. We went to boarding school together."
"You went to boarding school together," Kara echoes slowly, attempting to wiggle her eyebrows tauntingly.
"We did," Lena whispers, blushing heavily, "she's a good friend."
"Were you going to sell my job to your ex ?" Kara asks point blank, the beginning of a laugh teasing her throat.
"I'm not selling anymore," Lena deflects, cutting all other questions by shovelling salad in her mouth at breakneck speed.
"And your investment money ?"
"I extorted it from my usual sources," she deadpans, straightening up and setting her fork down. "It's uncanny how easily people can be persuaded to invest in green technology when you have dirt on them."
"Is that legal ?" Kara asks though she doesn't care much for the answer. She just wants to keep Lena talking, revelling in the way she radiates now that she's managed to steer the conversation away from her presumed ex-girlfriend and back into known territory.
"Depends," Lena replies, leaning back in her chair and taking a small sip of water. "Are you asking as a friend, or a reporter ?"
"As a friend."
The -always- goes untold, but with the way Lena looks at her, soft and trustful, Kara is sure she can see it in her eyes.
Lunch flies by much too quickly ; even if they try to extend it way past what's acceptable. Lena lingers long after both of their coffees have been drank to the dregs and she has no real reason to be here except to stare at Kara and listen to her talk. So Kara finds more things to say, even if she knows she has to get back to work and Lena has to go back to L-Corp. She talks and talks, going from one story to the other, talking about her articles until this topic is exhausted and she drags her chair as close to Lena as possible so they can rank pictures of all the puppies she's seen on the street since their friend-break-up.
Lena has been here for more than two hours when her phone starts ringing with various meetings' reminders. To Kara, it feels like no more than five minutes. She'd spend all the time in the world with Lena, and more, and it still wouldn't be enough.
Their sighs disappear in one another when Lena starts gathering her things, an apologetic smile tugging at her lips. "I'm afraid I have to go," she says softly. "And I've taken enough of your time. I hope I haven't hijacked your day by staying that long."
"You haven't," Kara reassures quickly, her words rushing out before Lena can think for one more second that she's an inconvenience to her. "We should do that again soon. I've missed doing this with you."
Lena's eyes drift to her feet. She stays silent for a moment, long enough for Kara to consider backtracking ; maybe confessions are meant for the night only. Before she can say anything though, Lena looks up, teeth gnawing on her lower lip. "I've missed this too. I've missed you."
Before Kara can stop herself, she wraps Lena into a hug.
She considers backing off for half a second, deeply aware that she should have asked for consent first ; but Lena drapes her arms around her, hesitantly at first, then tighter, until she buries her head in the crook of her neck and stays there like she has no intention of ever moving again. Kara lets her head fall in her hair, inhaling deeply to surround herself with her unique scent of white flowers. She knows she shouldn't, but she doesn't resist laying a soft kiss there, on the crown of her head.
A bag of crisps hits Kara's square in the forehead, and because of course it's open, its content spills down her shirt. She blinks out of her daze, and starts mechanically fishing snacks out of her sport bra.
Next to her, Alex barks out a laugh. "Are you even listening to me ?"
"Yes I am !" Kara replies, indignant. She just took a shower, smells like her favourite soap, and now there's salt and vinegar clinging to her skin. "Linda Hamilton's got great arms. You've watched the trailer seven times already."
"No. Well yes, Linda Hamilton's got great arms. But I moved on to Mackenzie Davis about ten minutes ago." She picks a rescued crisps straight out of Kara's hand, crunches it down with zero grace and continues with her mouth full. "And I've watched the trailer eleven times."
"You're obsessed."
"And you have your Lena face on."
"I don't have a Lena face," Kara bites back, schooling her features to erase all trace of emotion.
"Yes you do," Alex chuckles, "it looks like that." She frowns for a second then contorts her face into the perfect imitation of a love sick puppy, holds it for another two seconds then bursts out laughing.
"I do not look like that !" Kara protests, petulantly crossing her arms which only results is to crush a forgotten crisp between her bra and her breast. "I do not look lovestruck !"
"So you admit you're lovestruck ?" Alex teases.
"I'm not admitting anything." It's a lost cause though, Kara can feel herself blushing and Alex levels her with a death glare. "Fine," she concedes. "I'm a little bit lovestruck. But in my defence, she's amazing."
"So I've been told," Alex hums. "By you. Multiple times."
"She brought me lunch at work today," Kara says, trying really hard not to slip in a Lena induced ramble. "And we talked. Just like before. I missed her so much and now she's here again so, so I'm really trying to, I don't know, I'm really trying to not freak out."
"I know, and I'm proud of you." Alex reaches out across the couch, takes the empty crisps' bag out of her hands and tugs at her until they can meet for a hug. The atmosphere gets heavy for a second and Kara feels the sudden urge to cry. What for, she isn't quite sure, but she can feel pressure building up behind her eyes and she buries her face in her sister's shirt breathing in the clean scent of her laundry detergent. "But you're also a lovestruck idiot," Alex mumbles in her ear, expertly cutting the tension with just a few words.
Kara scrambles away immediately, over-acted shock inscribed on her face. "Excuse me ?" she huffs, "have you seen you and Kelly ?"
"Yeah but we're you know, actually dating."
"You're an ass !"
"And you love me," Alex shrugs.
"Yeah I know," Kara groans, bumping her shoulder with her own. "It's the worst."
Kara follows Alex's heart all the way to her apartment ; even if she knows her sister will text her when she's home like she always does. Once she's sure she's safe, Kara lets her ears drift after Taylor, finding them on the brink of sleep in their temporary home. Lena isn't there with them however, but still at L-Corp, because she never learns. Kara hesitates for a minute, she's already in her pyjamas and she's had a really good day ; she doesn't want to push her luck too far. But the urge to see Lena again is stronger, pulls her out of bed before she's fully decided to go, and after a quick super-change, she's soaring through the sky in direction of L-Corp.
She finds Lena on the balcony, swirling a half empty tumbler and looking off wistfully into the distance. Kara hovers out of sight for a moment, hesitant to disturb her. She looks beautiful, her pale skin shimmering under the moonlight, her hair creating a halo of void around her face. It's not a new realisation, but Rao, Kara is so in love with her. She could stay there, simply watching her, for hours, but admittedly it's a bit creepy, and so after another minute of soaking her in, she touches down next to her.
"Good evening Supergirl," Lena says with a tired smile and a glint of amusement in her eyes.
"Miss Luthor," Kara replies, bowing her head slightly.
A gust of wind ruffles their hair and Lena shivers violently. Silently, Kara unclasps her cape to drape it her over her shoulders. She pretends not to notice when Lena buries her nose in the fabric and inhales deeply.
"Shouldn't you be home already ?" she asks after long minutes of gazing upon the city. "It's a little late."
Lena sighs, drains the rest of her glass. "Last minute conference call with Paris. I'd rather have not dealt with entitled white men at this hour of the day but unfortunately, it comes with the pay check."
"If you want me to throw them into the sun, all you have to do is ask."
Lena throws her head back, bursting out in a throaty laugh. "Wouldn't want you to get in trouble for me," she says, her eyes sparkling almost mischievously. "But I appreciate the offer."
"Can I offer you a ride home then ?"
"Maybe later. Can we stay here for a little while ?"
"Sure." Anything for you.
Lena shuffles closer tentatively ; and Kara lets her come to her, lets her take her time until they're standing shoulder to shoulder. "Tell me about your day ?" Lena asks shyly. "How was sisters' night ?"
"It was good," Kara hums. "But Alex attacked me with snacks."
Lena laughs. "I'm sure you don't really mind."
"I had crumbs in my bra ! It itches."
"You're virtually invulnerable. Crumbs aren't going to defeat you."
"Commiserate with me for a second, I'm miserable."
"I'm commiserating," Lena chuckles. "I'm commiserating."
Kara shoots her a sideway glance, finds her looking up innocently. She looks too devilishly cute for her to really be mad.
"What does Alex think about the new trailer for Dark Fate ?"
"Not you too !"
"What can I say," Lena muses, "Mackenzie Davis' got nice arms."
"I have nice arms too," Kara grumbles, flexing to prove her point.
"You do have nice arms darling."
Her hand comes wrap itself around Kara's bicep. It stays there for a moment, slowly squeezing before treading down the length of her arm. Kara looks down to find Lena blushing uncontrollably, her cheeks flaming under the pale light of the moon. She seems on the verge of internal combustion, but she doesn't take anything back, not her appreciation, and not the pet name. Kara feels her feet leaving the ground and she isn't sure if she's blushing, or just going through an out of body experience.
Unfortunately, Kara's reprieve barely lasts 24 hours. Sure, it's only a drunk alien causing mayhem behind the dive bar, but still, it delays her return home enough to be annoying and she has to make a detour by the DEO to take a decontaminant shower after ending up covered in corrosive puke. If she ever was to give one of these "tell-all" interview, that would probably make the top of the list of things that annoy her. Granted, it's not that big of a deal, especially compared to other times. Tonight, she wasn't beat into a coma by a friend, didn't have to ship anyone into space to save their life, didn't have to see her sister get mind wiped and didn't have to save Lena from any incoming threat. Still, she's had a nice day and would have rather it stayed that way until the end instead of breaking a drunkard fight and getting puked on. Though with the number of times she's thrown up on other people, she supposes it's deserved pay back.
It's well past midnight when she finally gets back to her apartment, reeking of chemicals and with her hair fluffed up from the high pressure decontaminant. She wants nothing more but to crash in bed and sleep until morning but she doesn't have much choice but to take another shower, or three, to get rid of the smell. She wonders if she could bribe Lena into creating a decontaminant that doesn't stink. Realistically, all she'd have to do is ask nicely, and it's a nice though to fall asleep to ; that, and the single red heart emoji waiting for her on her phone. Things are not quite the same, they will never be, but Lena is here again, and that's enough of a reason to go on. Even if her hair still somewhat smells like death.
She falls asleep like that, thinking about Lena and clutching to her face a throw pillow that still bears her scent. It might be a little creepy, but no one has to know. She hopes to dream of her, but when she wakes up in the middle of the night, glued to her bed, the figure hovering over her is definitely not Lena, and it definitely is not a dream.