I'm really super sorry about the lack of updates. Things got super busy around here, but I've been getting as much writing as I can done. I'll hopefully manage to update again within the next few days, or at least I'll try to.

As far as this chapter goes, I've written and re-written it too many times to count and I still wasn't completely happy with how it turned out, but I wanted to give you all something before we got into the beginnings of Lena coming back into the girl's lives and some type of chapter where they both learn the truth behind what happened and why Lena was forced to leave all those years ago. After this chapter, there's not much more action or kidnapping or anything other than the occasional instance that happens. It's mainly going to just focus on Lena settling back into Ali and Kara's lives and back in National City and all that great stuff. So it's still going to be kind of angsty for a little while longer, until both girls can finally and fully accept Lena back into their lives. It's gonna get very domestic and very fluffy and sad and all that jazz in the future chapters. And then it'll end on a really happy note, because I can't do that to you guys.

Thank you all so much for the continued love and support. Let me know what you all think. Love, Commander

Chapter Six:

"You're awake. Good."

With a groan, Ali's head and her upper body automatically whipped around in the direction of the partially muffled voice, the straps around her wrists protesting the movement. She could still feel the Kryptonite pounding through her veins, protesting her half-alien genes and leaving the teen in an altered state. But even in this state, Ali recognized the outline of her grandmother's face. "Bitch."

Ali silently reveled in the frown that creeped onto the older woman's face, despite the situation she was currently in. It was a small price to pay for the backhand she received shortly after, teeth clenched in pain as the Kryptonite burned with the forced movement of her body.

"Didn't that alien of a mother teach you better manners, child?"

Sucking in a few breaths in between the bouts of pain, Ali finally managed to face the older woman once again. "For people who deserve it, yeah."

The brunette teen watched as Lilian stepped away from her and rounded a table, the only other furniture in the unrecognizable room she was being held in, the older woman letting her hands drag along the various metal instruments lining the table's top. "If I had any doubts you were half Luthor, they've definitely been put to rest now. You've managed to inherit Lena's inability to keep quiet when the odds are stacked against you. The poor girl always threw around jabs when she was younger, a habit I was never able to fully break."

At the mention of her mother's name, Ali stiffened, her eyes narrowing. "I'm nothing like her."

"Oh, but you are. And therein lies the root of all my problems. Ever since that disastrous experiment resulted in your appearance in my daughter's life, you've done nothing but ruined her reputation, the Luthor name's reputation. She was willing to step down from L-Corp to be with you, you and that Kryptonian. I'd tried to talk some sense into her, make her see reason, but just like you, she was stubborn," green eyes warily watched as Lilian's fingers wrapped around a glowing, green-filled syringe. "And even after I'd finally gotten her away from you both, she still cared for you. I let her believe that every newspaper scrap I'd catch her saving about your 'academic achievements' went right under my nose, that I didn't know she wasn't secretly making trips back to National City. It was done out of pity, honestly. I'm not completely heartless."

Ali's heart lurched in her chest, this newfound knowledge settling in her mind like a weight. "You-you…that's why she left?"

"Because I forced her to, yes. For someone who apparently is a child-genius, you're awfully slow. We'll just chalk it up the Kryptonite."

Ignoring the jab, the teen slid as far into the chair she was strapped into as her weakened body would allow in a desperate attempt to put distance between herself and the woman who was currently walking towards her, liquid Kryptonite in hand. "So why do this now? You got what you wanted. You ruined lives, ruined my childhood."

"Because try as I have, your mother still doesn't seem to recognize what a strain you are on her life. She still cares for you and for your Kryptonian mother. Getting rid of you both is my only choice in making sure my daughter doesn't ruin her life more than she already has."

"If what you're saying is true, if she does care about me, won't killing me only push her further from you? From this incredibly stupid plan you've got going on?"

With a shrug, Lilian sunk the needle of the syringe into the girl's upper arm, watching as the teen's veins pulse a brighter green. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."

The conference room was quiet, save for the sounds of keyboard keys clicking and Kara's boots hitting the floor as the Kryptonian paced the small area inside the room. "Still nothing on Ali's tracker?"

Brainy shook his head, his eyes never leaving the tablet in his hands. "No. Not yet, but fear not, I will keep looking. I also haven't been able to find anything about Lilian or a possible escape route, either. I'm almost eighty-seven percent sure that she's still in the city, which means there is also a seventy-two-point four percent chance that Ali is also within the city as well."

Kara let out a sigh, stopping mid-pace to grasp at the back of the nearest office chair, the backing cracking under the weight of her strength. "Then why can't I hear her? Why hasn't Lilian tried to contact us yet?"

"Can you repeat what you overheard Lilian said in Lena's office?"

"Just that Ali was a…was a distraction for Lena. And something about a deal between the two of them, or something."

Brainy hummed, his fingers tapping the tablet screen at a faster rate. "Perhaps you should go talk to her. To Lena. You may find answers that you've been searching for."

"She already gave you everything she knew about Lilian."

"I was referring to answers about her absence for the past ten years."

Kara sucked in a breath, her heart automatically constricting slightly. Upon their arrival at the DEO, she'd led the youngest Luthor to her sister's lab and listen to the woman give any information that might help them find where Lilian took Ali. Alex had then rushed out to lead the DEO in their own measures to tracking both Lilian and her daughter, and Kara had followed, promising the CEO that she would be back soon, and that they could talk.

"No. I need to worry about Ali right now. I can be distracted or-."

"There is nothing that you can do right now. Even if we did know where Lilian was keeping Ali, she knows that you would run in without thinking and that could be a trap. I'm afraid that we will have to do this by the book. Go and get your answers. I will alert you to any changes."

Taking a deep breath and releasing the back of the chair, Kara left the conference room and made her way back towards Alex's lab, her feet stopping just outside the room as she took in her ex best friend's profile. While she was right in her earlier observations that Lena hadn't changed much looks wise, there was still something different about the woman. She seemed thinner than Kara remembered, and judging by the dark circles under her piercing green eyes, it looked like the brunette hadn't gotten a decent sleep in a long time. It was odd, to see who she thought to be one of the strongest women she'd ever met look so weak and…off.

The CEO's green eyes glanced up at her as Kara pushed through the lab's doors, the Kryptonian giving the woman a tight smile as she took a seat at the empty stool across from her. "Hey."

"Have you heard anything?"

Kara felt herself deflate slightly, the worry in her chest returning with a vengeance. "No. Not yet. Brainy said he would let us know if anything changes."

Silence fell between the two women, neither one knowing how to start a conversation. Not with the weight of their personal lives and Ali's abduction hanging in the air between the two of them. This certainly hadn't been how either imagined they'd come back into contact with the other.

"Why did you leave?"

The question seemed to jar the brunette slightly, her expression turning dark as pale hands gripped each other hard enough for bone to peek through the skin. Kara fought against the natural urge to reach out and cover those hands, to sooth the woman sitting before her, knowing that she needed to hear the CEO's story before letting her feelings get back involved.

"My mother, she…she came to my office a few weeks after Ali's sixth birthday, told me that she was tired of seeing just how far I'd dug the company and the Luthor name into the mud. She said that she expected me to take care of Ali, like she was some kind of problem instead of a child," Green eyes met blue ones, the CEO's voice wavering slightly. "And I refused to give up that easily to her threats. I was appalled that she would even think I could hurt Ali like that, especially after my own upbringing and my own apparent feelings towards her and her sociopathic need to rid the world of alien life. But it wasn't enough. You have to believe me, Kara, I tried. I tried everything I could to fight against her, but she had people all around us. Workers in my penthouse, at L-Corp, even CatCo and I…I did what I needed to keep Ali safe."

"She threatened to hurt Ali?"

"She threatened to kill her. And you. And Alex and every other person I care about. She had her men flanking everyone, she had plans and was ready to kill you all in a second if I didn't agree to come back to Metropolis with her and give up contact with you and Ali."

Kara sunk down on her stool further, the weight of the woman's words hanging over her head. Not once had the Kryptonian thought that the brunette's absence was because she was trying to protect Ali, to protect everyone. And now her thoughts, pent-up anger and emotions were scattered all over the place, Ali's kidnapping looming over all of it and only confusing the blonde further. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped. The DEO could have helped."

The brunette smiled sadly at the woman sitting across from her, her heart aching with the knowledge that she had brought so much hurt to her, and to Ali. "I wanted to tell you, Kara. I fought so hard against her in the beginning, but my mother was always one step ahead of me. She had my phone bugged, my penthouse, my office…she knew my next steps before I ever even took them. I couldn't risk yours or Ali's life."

Before Kara could respond, Brainy's voice was echoing through her comms. "Supergirl, we've got a location."