Hey, guys! Chapter two as promised. I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and I'm incredibly happy that everyone is as excited about this journey as I am. So far a lot of people have been super supportive of this story and are loving it so far.

More angst ahead. And even more after that. I'm also not purposefully ending each chapter with a cliffhanger, it's just coming out that way. Next chapter is going to be Kara reading Lena's letter and all that fun stuff, so a lot of important details are going be put in. So if you wanna know why Lena left, stick around. I'm gonna attempt to get that chapter up tomorrow after class if I can. Then eventually we'll be hearing from Lena herself. Most of the chapters are going to end up being in Ali's, Kara's or Lena's POV. Spread the love. Stay safe. -Commander

Chapter Two:

"Hey, you're home."

Kara paused just before the apartment door closed behind her completely, her eyes scanning over the teenager that had suddenly appeared before her. "Yeah, I live here."

The Kryptonian couldn't help but smile as she watched her daughter roll her eyes before turning and walking into the adjoining kitchen. "Funny. What I meant was, I thought you said you'd be out late again tonight. Something about a fire?"

The blonde let out a sigh as she dropped her bag on the floor near the door, following her daughter's voice into the kitchen to find the teenager perched on the edge of the kitchen counter scrolling through her cell phone. "I thought I would be, but the fire wasn't too bad. The fire department had everyone out by the time I got there. Weren't you supposed to meet with Sam this afternoon?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara watched as her daughter's eyes snapped up to look at her for a split second before moving back down to the phone in her hand. "Oh, yeah. I did, I just didn't stay very long. She was busy."

The odd answer was enough to peek the Kryptonian's attention, but she refrained from pushing the conversation further. It had taken Ali over two days just to tell her that she would be visiting L-Corp for whatever Sam wanted to talk about. It was a sore subject for both of them, and this week had already taken a tole out of them both.

It seemed that everywhere she went, Kara was catching glimpses of the yearly gossip the tabloids always spun in an attempt to understand why the youngest Luthor had left her "seemingly happy" life and child behind. Every flash of Lena's face on a magazine cover deepened the ache in the hero's chest that had become a permanent resident within the past ten years.

And even though Kara knew, and always liked to remind herself, that Lena's decision to leave the two of them had almost killed her, Ali had gotten the worst of it. It had taken them almost a year to get the three-year-old to trust them when she first discovered her daughter's existence. By the time the girl had turned six, they had all fallen into a fairly normal routine. The three of them had started to become an actual family. And after the other woman had left, it was like all of those years of gaining the girl's trust was gone in an instant. Ali's childhood had been scarred forever by one parent leaving her and as hard as Kara tried, she knew she was never able to fully heal the wounds her daughter would end up carrying around forever.

The Kryptonian had promised herself that, despite how she felt about everything herself, she wouldn't bring up the Luthor woman unless her daughter spoke of her first. Eventually the girl stopped the questions, stopped asking when her other mother was coming home, and Kara had watched her daughter box up her emotions as she entered her teenage years. She wasn't about to risk venturing into those stormy waters this close to the anniversary of it. Not when it felt like things were finally starting to settle down and some life was beginning to bloom within the both of them.

"Jeju?"

Kara was pulled from her thoughts by her daughter's voice, the hero's blue eyes meeting her daughter's own pair of green ones. Ones that sometimes stopped her dead in her tracks because they matched Lena's shade of green perfectly. Had Kara not witnessed her daughter using the same powers she had, she would often think that Ali was a carbon copy of her absent parent. "Hmm?"

"Can we order pot stickers and pizza tonight? I'm starving."

Despite the ever-present pain that followed the Kryptonian around like a storm cloud over her head, Ali had always been her bright spot in the darkness and could, until Kara was alone and left with her thoughts, make it seem like the storm was bearable.

It was 2 a.m. and Ali couldn't sleep.

She had pushed through dinner with her mother, had ate just enough to not arouse her mother's suspicion and had sat through a movie she didn't pay attention to all while the only thing occupying her mind was that she needed to know what was inside that envelope under her mattress.

Ali didn't know what was keeping her from reaching under the mattress, pulling the envelope out and reading whatever was inside of it. It had been a few good hours since she'd heard her mother's breathing even out across the apartment and she had neglected to pull her curtains closed before getting into bed, so the lights of the city made it easier to see in the darkened room. But she'd spent the better part of the night simply laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling and wondering why she was acting like such a coward.

Despite trying to ignore it, a part of Ali had always wanted to know why. Why had her other mother suddenly decided that she didn't want to stick around? Was it something Ali had done or said? Was she just not good enough?

Ali didn't remember much about her life before she met her mothers, but the moments after she didn't think she could ever forget. As far as she was concerned, Ali had thought that their lives were mostly good. She remembered being happy and feeling loved. So what the hell happened?

Pushing past her nervousness, Ali sat up and pulled the envelope out, keeping a well-trained ear to make sure that her mother was still asleep before tearing the adhesive open and letting the contents spill out on the bed in front of her.

Even though the envelope was full of metaphorical heaviness, the actual contents were somewhat light. There were two other, smaller envelopes, one with Ali's name on it and one with her mother's that was attached to a stack of papers.

Placing the papers on her bedside table, Ali ripped open the other envelope and pulled out the hand-written letter with shaky hands.

Ali,

To be honest, I'm not really sure that you're ever going to read this. I knew it was a long shot sending this and asking Sam to give it to you. I would have understood if you rejected it and a part of me has accepted that you or Kara may never see this, may never know the truth.

But if by some miracle that you are reading this, I'm so sorry.

I know it's not an excuse and I that I don't have the right to ask you to forgive me, but I wanted you to know that leaving you and your mother was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I won't go into the exact details surrounding the circumstances of me leaving, not yet. You and Kara both deserve to hear that in person, not in the contents of a written letter that's ten years too late. Just please know that I had to go. I didn't want to, but I had to and not a day goes by that it doesn't kill me knowing that you probably hate me. This was something I never wanted my own child to experience, thinking that their parent didn't want them, that they weren't good enough. None of that is why I left.

From what I've heard, you've managed to turn into a wonderful young woman that I am incredibly proud to call my daughter. I've always been proud of you and the things you've accomplished and will do in the future.

I want you to know that I love you, Ali. I always have and I always will.

If you are reading this, please make sure your mother receives the other things I included.

The letter wasn't signed at the bottom, just containing a simple printed "From the desk of Lena Luthor" in plain text. A fitting, open end to what the letter had just said, the questions it had answered and inadvertently created.

Picking up the stack of papers and the letter with her mother's name on it, Ali flipped through most of them, trying to figure out exactly what they were and wondering if they could give her some sense of the answers she was so desperately trying to find. On the last paper, written in the same handwriting, was a number scribbled down with a simple request for a call or text from her mother.

As much as Ali wanted to tear open the other envelope, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Ali had her own issues to deal with when it came to her other mother and wasn't about to intrude on something that was mostly likely meant for her Kryptonian mother's eyes only. But that didn't stop the teen from entering the number into her own cell phone and opening up a new message feed, the phone resting on her lap as she stared down at the cursor blinking, ready to type as if this wasn't bridging a ten-year gap between parent and child.

The number hadn't been included in her own letter, so would a text from her even be answered? Or appreciated? Did she dare attempt this before letting her mother know? Was she brave enough to do this? It had taken the teenager the better part of the day just to open the envelope.

Before she could chicken out, Ali quickly typed out a lame message and hit send, tossing the device on the opposite end of the bed with the release of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was all out in the open now anyway, no going back from here.

Gathering up the remaining contents of the envelope, because Rao knows that she couldn't keep this from her mother and there was no way she was looking the Kryptonian in the eye when she found out about this, Ali slipped into the kitchen and placed the stack of papers and letter on the counter where she knew her mother would find them in the morning before slipping back into bed to stare up at the ceiling for the rest of the night.