Author: Ashley

Title: Contractually Yours

Rating: M - Mature

Part: 26/?

Pairing: Mon-El and Kara Danvers (Zor-El)

Word Count: 3,567

Summary: Long ago, the Daxamites chased the Kryptonians off of their shared world. They were forced to live on a nearby moon. That Kryptonian moon is now running out of resources, while the Daxamites' planet is becoming a wasteland. The Royal Families have decided to come together in a truce to help everyone live better lives; a truce made with a signed contract involving their children; a contract that the children have no say in. Arranged Marriage Karamel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supergirl, DC Comics or anything related to such things. The ideas, dialogue and plot points of this AU were inspired by the show, but they are my own. Plagiarism isn't nice. Please don't steal my ideas.

A/N: Welcome back!

I'm surprised at myself that it's been less than a month between updates, so don't expect this too often hehe. You may know that I've been rewatching the show to prep myself for the final season, and it's also surprising me how much I've come to love the show again. I guess a lot of my anger and bitterness towards it has sort of faded away with time (it's been probably about 2 years since I actually watched the show), and I've been able to find Kara and Mon-El's voices a lot easier.

I only like to release a chapter when I've made some writing progress. Normally I wouldn't have posted anything without it being already complete, but back then, I was just tired of holding this one back all for myself. Current updates are VERY dependent on how much I'm able to write. Hint: I like to stay about 10 chapters ahead of what I'm currently posting...

Enjoy!

(also head to the #ContractuallyYours Twitter tag for pictures of the actual dresses Kara is trying on - my imagination had a lot of help)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Four Choices

Day One Hundred and Eleven

Breakfast that morning was quiet as usual, but before everyone could escape the Dining Hall, Rhea broke the silence in the room and told Kara that she was going to see her final wedding dress choices that afternoon.

A part of her was excited about picking out a wedding dress. Picking the dress should be one of the most exciting parts of a wedding for a bride. Shouldn't it? But then another part of her was starting to dread the task.

They had set the date, organized the guest list, finally finished those invitations, sent them out, and people were actually starting to RSVP. The whole city knew about her; that she was a Kryptonian Princess. She wasn't heckled in public; people didn't spit on her in the streets. She may not want to be on this planet, but she was probably safe and welcome here after all.

Though she had to admit, the more time that passed, the more comfortable she felt around Mon-El, and the more she actually enjoyed being in his company.

But whenever she thought about the Wedding Day, she'd get this knot in her stomach; a tightening coil that made her sweat with panic and nerves. She just wasn't ready.

Just a little under four months ago, she was single, free and living on a different planet. Now she had been moved away from her family, her friends and everything she knew and loved, and was marrying a Daxamite. That would make anybody nervous.

But she couldn't even entertain the real reason why she was nervous.

The real reason that she would never confess aloud.

She was nervous because the closer she got to him, the more she realized that maybe she really did want to be with Mon-El, and perhaps eventually marry him.

Eventually!

After a long relationship, filled with a lot of time getting to know each other and learning new things about each other.

She thought about what life in the Palace would be like with him; living with his parents. Maybe after some time they'd move out of the Palace and into their own home; somewhere nice that they could build themselves. It didn't have to be far away. It could be next door for all she cared. At least they'd be out of their house and living in their own way. He could design it; they would build it together. They could even get a pet.

Wait! What was she talking about?

Living with him? Starting a life with him?

She was only twenty-five. She wasn't ready for marriage, babies, household pets and furnishing a new home.

She wanted to hang out with her friends, go out to dinner when she felt like it, stay at home and read until the late hours of the night, and get lost in a book without having to worry about where her husband was and what he was doing, or if a child was crying out for attention.

No. Definitely not ready for marriage and babies.

After lunch had come and gone, and after she'd tried for a while to read and get her mind off of things again, she'd realized that the time had come for her to meet Arden and try on the potential dresses.

She crossed over the threshold of the dressing room and saw Arden already waiting for her; standing there in the middle of the room with four wedding dresses, two on either side of herself, all of them propped up on mannequins. All extravagant and shiny and gorgeous. Arden was grinning widely as she stepped toward Kara, reaching out and taking her hands in her own to pull her further into the room.

"Here they are, Miss Kara," she continued to grin as she left Kara standing there so that she could shut the door to the room. Arden came back to stand behind Kara, her hands on her waist as she pushed her toward the dresses again. "Your four potential choices for the big day!"

"Wow," Kara breathed. "These…these are them?" All four of them set up in the centre of the room was almost overwhelming. So much elegance, so much fabric.

Arden nodded excitedly. "I think each and every one is gorgeous, but of course, the decision is yours and must be made by you alone," she assured her. "We will try them all on and we will discuss them and then you will decide."

"Today?"

Arden shook her head. "No, of course not. In a few weeks' time."

"Oh," Kara nodded. "Okay, good."

"Let's get started, shall we?"

She nodded as Arden moved to take the first one from the mannequin and Kara began to undress.

The first dress was almost silver; layers upon layers of sheer, glittering material fluffing out the voluminous skirt. The bottom edge of each piece had a thick band of solid white fabric. The bodice was also sheer except for more solid white pieces shaped to cover her important parts. It had a deep v-cut down to her bellybutton which would likely make the entire centre of her torso visible.

Arden moved the material around while Kara stepped inside the skirt. For being so sheer, the neckline made up for it in covering her chest and all the way up to the base of her neck, the sleeves capped and high on her shoulders. Arden zipped up the back and Kara could feel her fluffing out the skirt behind her.

"What do you think?" Arden asked with a grin as she moved around to face Kara.

"It's pretty," Kara said quietly as she moved toward one of the mirrors in the room. "It's very light," she continued, "especially considering how many layers there are of this material."

Kara turned around to see the back view of the dress. The zipper was high at the base of her neck, the entire back see-through. She crinkled her eyebrows as she squinted at her reflection.

"Can you see my butt?" she asked self-consciously. "I feel like you can see right through this one."

"I don't believe so," Arden replied with a giggle. "Surely the Queen wouldn't choose a dress that you could see through."

"I personally think that she'd enjoy embarrassing me with something like that," Kara shrugged as she returned to Arden.

"An embarrassing act such as that at the Royal Wedding would also embarrass the family. I believe she'll be happy with whichever one of these dresses you choose," she stated firmly. "This is why you are only getting to see these dresses now. She has already narrowed down the choices to what she approves of."

The second dress felt a little too risqué for Kara in terms of her usual choices in clothing. It was a solid white; a tight bodice covered in a flowery design. The neckline was another long, deep v-cut, but there was no sheer material covering her skin. The cut ran down to her bellybutton and back up, barely covering her chest before twisting out into off-shoulder sleeves.

"I don't know if my boobs are big enough for this one," she stated bluntly to Arden.

Arden pulled at the material on the dress. "We can take it in a little more, or close up the front?" she suggested.

"I don't like the sleeves," Kara stated as she picked at them with the fingers on her right hand. "I'd want them to sit higher on my arms…and the back is too low," she said as she shrugged her shoulders a couple of time to see if the dress would fall down. She turned around in front of the mirror before shaking her hips back and forth. "And what's with this giant bow on my butt?"

Arden laughed at Kara's wiggling around. "I'm not sure, Miss Kara, but even I must admit it's a little over the top."

"Over the top?" Kara's eyebrows raised high on her forehead. "Arden, all of these dresses are over the top!"

"Not by our Majesties' opinions," Arden assured her. "What about the third one?" she asked as she unzipped Kara before moving toward the third mannequin. Kara hopped out of the dress and walked toward her.

"This one is a little better," she sighed as she moved to step into it.

It was a simpler dress; a solid white, fluffy skirt, off the shoulder sleeves. The bottom areas of the skirt had some detailing; leaves, squiggy shapes. Kara wasn't exactly sure what they were, but they added a little something extra to the otherwise basic skirt. Arden pulled the dress up her back and Kara slid her arms through the sleeves. The neckline met deep between her breasts, but trailing nowhere near her bellybutton this time.

Kara looked at herself in the mirror again. "Better," she shrugged before glancing at Arden through the mirror. "I'm sort of 'meh' about it to be completely honest with you," she sighed. "I'm not a fan of the sleeves again," she stated. "Or the," she shook the skirt around, "whatever this pattern is."

Arden crinkled her nose. "This one is not my favourite either," she stated quietly. "Maybe the last one," she suggested as she watched Kara's face crinkle in what she guessed was disappointment.

Kara sighed again. The wedding dress was supposed to be her choice. Now she apparently only got to choose between four obnoxiously over the top dresses? What about looking at bridal books and magazines? Going into shops and looking at what was on the rack for ideas?

This was technically supposed to be her only wedding. Shouldn't she get to do all these things and decide for herself?

"Kara?" Arden's voice shook her out of her thoughts. She was crouched on the floor, pooling the dress so that Kara could step into it. "Are you okay?"

Kara nodded with a fake smile before moving to switch into the fourth and final dress.

It was a lacy piece. It had a big fluffy skirt; so poufy that she could probably fit herself, Arden, and another woman inside of it all at once. The sleeves were long, all the way down to the wrist and made of a sheer lace. She liked that part. The neckline was a little high; a little suffocating in addition to the massive pouf that was the skirt. The skirt had lace detailing up, down and along it sporadically. Kara glanced at her reflection as Arden buttoned the back.

Out of the four, this was probably her favourite, but if she had her own choice, the skirt would be way less dramatic, the cut of the neck a little lower, the sleeves a little less itchy. She ran her hands down the front of the dress.

"I don't know, Arden," she said quietly. "This is going to be a hard choice."

"All of them are beautiful," she said as she moved to stand next to Kara. "It may be hard to choose between them, but whichever you choose, you'll look beautiful on your Wedding Day."

Wedding Day.

This was scary real. She was picking her dress for her Wedding Day. She didn't want any of these dresses. The more times they said wedding or dress or ceremony or marriage, the tighter her stomach would clench inside of her.

"Thanks, Arden," she responded anyway. "Can't wait."

When he had returned to his room just before dinner, there was a black suit sitting on a hanger, laying on his bed. Mon-El stepped closer to the suit covered in plastic.

Was this it?

His suit for the Wedding?

He didn't know why they had to be so formal. Formal Daxamite wear should have been fine; it was what every other Daxamite male wore on his wedding day.

But he wasn't just any Daxamite male. He was a Prince. Apparently, he had to wear this suit and another bow tie for the ceremony, as well as for the reception afterward.

The white bow tie sat loose inside the plastic; wrapped around the collar of the suit, and he scoffed at it. He assumed that with the suit being on his bed, he was supposed to be trying it on. He huffed loudly before picking up the garment and moving to change into it.

Later that night, Kara was lying on her bed, clad in pajamas, head on her pillow, tears in her eyes. She was exhausted. It was exhausting being betrothed. Especially when she wanted nothing to do with any of it in the first place. After a minor sob session to make herself feel better, there was a gentle knock on her bedroom door. She groaned in response to it.

She didn't want to see anyone. She just wanted to lie here and cry when she wanted to; to release the emotions she was stuck bottling up inside of herself all these days while around Mon-El and his parents. At least she could feel better with the release of them alone in her room.

There was silence for a moment before the knock was repeated.

"Kara?" His voice was as quiet as his knock when it came through the door.

"Go away, Mon-El," she whined back at him.

"You didn't come to dinner…" he stated quietly through the door. His ear was pressed to the wood. "I brought you something to eat," he continued.

"I don't want it," she said firmly as she sat up and leaned against the wall. Her hands wiped at her cheeks to get rid of any remnants of her earlier sob session.

The door opened slowly, Mon-El's head peeking in only slightly. "Are you okay?" he asked, surprisingly timidly.

"No," she answered sharply as she clenched her jaw and shut her eyes tight. Even hearing him ask stirred up the emotions inside of her again, and she felt her eyes burning, preparing to water. She coughed lightly, trying to get the lump out of her throat that the soon-to-come tears were causing. She didn't want to cry in front of him.

"Are you sick?" he asked as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind himself, his other arm clutching a tray with her aforementioned dinner on it.

"Yes."

He waited a moment. "You don't look sick…"

"Well, I feel sick!" she shouted, her eyes popping open to look at him. "My head hurts, and my stomach hurts, and my everything hurts, and I just want my mom," she ended in a whine, her eyes quickly filling with tears as she sniffled. She knew she sounded like a child, but so be it.

He placed her dinner down on the vanity before moving to sit beside her on the bed.

"Maybe you're just tired. The stress of planning the wedding and all that," he shrugged slightly.

"I don't have wedding planning stress, Mon-El, because I'm not allowed to plan anything. I just have to sit there while your mother tells me what she's going to organize, and while she throws dresses at me even though it was supposed to be my choice. My parents have barely been here for any of it. They've sent most of their responses through the portal the entire time or-or through lists that they hand over to your parents without even consulting me. They're more focused on bringing our people here than on the wedding of their only daughter that they're forcing me to have in the first place."

He was silent for a while. "And you're probably tired," he suggested again as he moved to lean against the wall next to her, their shoulders brushing softly. "And hungry? We can go out to eat if you want to?"

Kara shook her head to reject his proposition. "I don't want to go anywhere right now," she stated firmly. They were both silent for a long while until, "Mon-El," she whispered, her voice cracking, tone quiet. "I don't want to be here anymore. I don't like it here. I'm tired of all of this. Of being here. I just want to…" she trailed off as she closed her eyes and sighed.

He slid away from her slightly, reached over and grabbed her pillow. He placed it in his lap. He tugged her gently to lie down, her body readjusting, her head falling to the pillow easily, no strength left in her to fight him. He stroked his fingers through her hair. "I know," he soothed. "I know how much you hate it here. I know you miss your family. And I know that my mother sure as hell isn't a comforting alternative when you feel like shit."

She was quiet, focusing on the soft tug of his hands stroking through her hair. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you," she said quietly.

"Why not?" he asked. "I'm the one who's here. And my mother yells at my father all the time. I thought that's what husbands were for."

"Well, not really…" she mumbled with crinkled eyebrows and a small crack of a smile that he surely couldn't see. "Besides, you're not my husband yet."

"I will be soon."

She was quiet while thinking it over in her head. In a little over two months, he would be her husband.

When she was silent, he continued. "Sorry, I know you probably don't want to be reminded of that right now, but I'm here for you, Kara. If you want," he shrugged. "If you'll let me."

She didn't answer him, but he felt her nodding slightly against the pillow in his lap.

"Just please, Kara…please don't cry. You don't have to worry. I'll take care of you." He felt her shifting in his lap and he panicked, his eyes clenching shut. Too much, Mon-El. "I just…I mean, as your husband…I mean, that's what a husband is supposed to do. Take care of you and stuff. And I-"

"Mon-El," she said quietly as she continued to move. He looked down at her and that's when he realized she was only try to take hold of her blanket. "Just, be quiet," she instructed. She covered herself up and he nodded, helping her with the blanket as he relaxed against the wall.

He was quiet, like she'd asked, but eventually he started to wonder if she expected him to stay there with her head in his lap. He looked down at her head resting on the pillow sitting on his thighs. All he could see was her blonde hair, straight and neat from the caressing of his fingers. She wasn't moving, just breathing softly. He readjusted against the wall behind himself. Looks like he was staying right here. No way was he going to wake her up and leave; not when she'd essentially asked him to stay. Of course…without actually saying it. Well, she didn't tell him to leave, did she? Well, maybe she did. But that was before they talked. Surely he could stay here?

He stopped contemplating, closed his eyes, and let out a silent sigh. Goodnight, Kara, he whispered inside his own head. It wasn't long before he drifted off to sleep himself.

When Mon-El opened his eyes again, the room was dark and Kara wasn't there. He rubbed at his eyes before looking around. Where did she go?

Maybe she'd gotten uncomfortable there with him and had wanted to leave. His back was aching and his neck was stiff from sleeping upright against the wall for hours. He sleepily stood from her bed, moved into his own room, and he nearly bumped right into her.

"Hi," he stated as he watched her sleepy face.

"Where're you going?" she whispered.

"Uhm," he paused as he thought for a moment. "Back to my bed?" Well, not that he wanted to, but he'd assumed that's why she had left…because he was still sitting in her bed.

"Oh," she nodded.

When she was silent, "Goodnight," he said quietly.

"Yeah," she continued to nod. "Goodnight."

He leaned in and kissed her cheek softly before she moved aside to let him pass her. She watched him stumble sleepily toward his own bed before collapsing on top of it; face flat on the mattress, his body not even under the covers.

A little smile crossed her face. He must have been uncomfortable sitting up like he was for the last nearly five hours. She returned to her room and closed the door, only leaving it slightly ajar. She got back under her blanket and readjusted her pillow.

She'd had to pee.

That was the only reason she'd gotten up. She'd waited a long while, hoping that the urge would go away so that she wouldn't startle him by moving; so that she wouldn't wake him up, too. Eventually, she couldn't wait any longer. She got up, flicked off the light that they'd been sleeping under, and quietly snuck back out to the bathroom.

When she almost ran into him while returning, she would have asked him to stay because she didn't actually want him to leave. But he had looked like he had wanted to go, so she went along with it.

She peeked out of her room to look at him again. He already looked to be fast asleep. She lay back down on her pillow once more.

"Goodnight, Mon-El," she whispered to herself, as she closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep.

A/N: Thanks for being here - hope it's not too long from now before we gather here together again!

Leave me some love in the form of comments if you have the time. They definitely make my day!

Twitter: _ashleymaria_
Twitter Tag for Sneak Peeks, etc.: #ContractuallyYours