Lex sat in a private room at the DEO, an alien truth seeker wrapped around his arm. He smiled at Kara, Lena and Clark - the latter had been responsible for taking Lena to Lex's hideout to rescue Kara.
Lena asked her questions and Lex answered. To check that Lex hadn't somehow circumvented the alien she asked him things she knew he'd hate telling the truth about.
"Satisfied?" Lex asked when he'd repeatedly assured his sister that he would no longer be working against Kryptonians unless they threatened his family or the planet.
Kara and Clark nodded Lena still felt unsure, but she wanted to get back to her daughter.
"Now will you tell me where you've been all this time?" Lex asked her, "and whether I have a new little niece or nephew. I'm assuming from the way you've been acting that the happy event has occurred and that you're annoyed Kara wasn't there to hold your hand. If you'd trusted me, perhaps I could have been there to support you as well."
"The where isn't important," Lena told him. "I'm not sure I've forgiven you for keeping Kara away when I needed her."
Lex rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, okay. I may have over-reacted, but it's been months and mother's been asking questions. You know how she gets."
"Does she know I was pregnant?"
Lex shook his head, "I thought you'd enjoy surprising her with that bit of news."
Kara held Lena's hand. She'd been making an effort to stay close to her since the rescue, dying to ask Lena about their child but understanding that it was safer not to until they knew whether they could trust Lex.
"Maybe I should wait until you're both here to tell you then," Lena teased him.
He held his arm out so Clark could remove the truth seeker and pouted at his sister, "but I'm your favourite brother."
Lena held up a hand to stall Clark, beginning to relax and enjoy a bit of banter with Lex as she avoided answering his questions. Eventually she gave in.
"I have a daughter," she blurted out, stealing a glance at Kara to see how she'd take the news.
"Oh great, I'm now out-numbered three female Luthors to one male," Lex grumbled.
Lena shook her head, "actually we're not giving her the Luthor name."
Lex raised an eyebrow in surprise, "we?"
"It does take two people to create a child," Lena reminded him, "and apparently when one parent is a Kryptonian it doesn't matter if she's also female."
Lex looked down at the hand holding Lena's, then back up to his sister, "Kara?"
"Yep," Kara nodded and gave an awkward little wave with her free hand.
"So if you have a problem with this tell me now."
She wasn't going to remove the truth seeker until she knew how he felt about it. Lena held her breath as she waited for her brother to reply. Eventually he shook his head.
"I still don't like Superman and I'm on the fence about this one," he motioned towards Kara, "but this doesn't change what I said before. You're my sister, your child is my family too."
Lena relaxed and nodded to Clark. The Daily Planet reporter hesitated before removing the alien, he had so many questions he wanted Lex to answer.
"This world is a clean slate for us," Lex told Lena, "come home and help me build a better future for humanity."
She shook her head, "I don't want power Lex. I never did."
He left the DEO first. Clark lingered long enough to hear about his newest family member, telling Lena how excited Lois was to meet her, before being called away for work.
Alone with Kara at last Lena sat down, feeling drained. With the worries about Lex pushed to one side, she remembered why she had returned to Earth and the sadness and anger returned. Kara seemed to sense the change in her, she hovered near to Lena trying to work out what to say to make things better.
"I'm sorry," she finally settled on the simple apology.
"You weren't there Kara. You missed the birth of our daughter because being Supergirl is more important to you."
"Your brother used Kryptonite to kidnap me," Kara reminded her.
"You shouldn't have been fighting him, you were just supposed to get Alex and come back to me."
"He might have hurt innocent people to lure me out."
"Then someone else could have stopped him."
"It's my job..."
"And how often are you going to use that excuse to miss out on the important moments in our daughter's life? I need to know Kara, if you have to choose what will it be, because I don't want to spend the rest of my life waiting to see if you come home. It's not fair to me or Jora. When I was pregnant I went three whole weeks without seeing you."
"I can't stop being Supergirl, it's who I am and people need me."
"That's not what I'm asking."
"Then what do you want me to say?"
Lena closed her eyes, "nothing. I'm going to go back to Argo. Your mother is probably getting worried. She helped me with those bracelets by the way, they need to be recharged when they get low. I haven't completed testing them yet but I can send Alex and Brainy the details so they can replicate them if Clark wants one."
Kara looked down at the new technology, "thank you."
Lena stood up, and Kara followed her to the door.
"I think I'm strong enough to get us both to J'onn's," Kara assured her, before she could ask.
Changing into her Supergirl outfit, Kara held onto Lena and they left the DEO.
Lena had forgotten about the desk. When Kara went over to investigate, Lena hung back.
"I guess I owe him a new desk," Lena told her. "At least the computer's still in one piece."
"You did this?" Kara was surprised.
"Super-strength, it's how I got into Lex's lair once your cousin dropped me off and helped me to support you."
"Why didn't you use them to overpower Lex? You could have tied him up and had him arrested for kidnapping, instead of talking to him."
"I'm not sure I want Lex or Lillian to know about this and it might wear off at any moment. Plus your cousin knew where we were so if a little muscle was needed he would have brought help. We figured Lex had used Kryptonite to capture you so I'd warned him not to get too close."
Lena wrote a quick note to J'onn, apologising for the desk and promising to be back soon to pay for a replacement. Then she headed for the portal with Kara following her.
The sounds of Jora's cries met them as they reached Alura's home and Lena looked over at Kara. She could tell Kara was nervous, but she wasn't sure what to say so she opened the front door and let Kara go through first.
Following the noise, they found Alura and Jora in Lena's room. While Kara hung back by the door, Lena walked across the room, Alura rose to meet them.
"Kara, you're okay!" she let Lena take Jora, and went to hug her daughter, "what happened?"
While Kara told her story, Lena held her daughter and kissed Jora's forehead in a silent apology for leaving. She waited patiently for Alura to finish questioning Kara and for the superhero to remember they were in the room too. Kara finally cut her mother off by declaring that Lena had saved her and that she really wanted to see her daughter. Alura backed away to give Kara some space, and so that Lena could bring Jora over to her.
For a moment Lena hesitated, recalling that Kara hadn't been there when she needed her, but she pushed her feelings aside and walked towards her. Silently she held out the baby and Kara nervously adjusted her arms to accommodate their child.
"Hey there Jora," Kara smiled down at her.
Alura watched them, her love for her family clear on her face, "oh I should get the holo-recorder. Kara why don't you go and get changed into something more comfortable while I find it. You must be hungry, we can have an early dinner..."
Kara laughed, trying to keep up with her mother's plans, "maybe some food first, then I'll clean up and you can take all the images you want."
Alura rushed off to the kitchen, leaving Lena and Kara alone with their baby. Lena clasped her hands behind her back, impatient to hold Jora again.
"She's beautiful," Kara whispered, moving towards the bed to sit down as Lena nodded her agreement. "I can't believe we have a daughter."
"We should probably talk about the next steps," Lena suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Now that I know Lex isn't a threat, it's safe to go back to National City."
"Oh, of course."
"I understand if you want to spend some time with your mother, it shouldn't take me long to pack up my lab and then you can stay here."
It took Kara a moment to understand what she meant, "without you?"
Lena walked over to the crib, running a hand along the top and avoiding Kara's gaze, "I guess I'll have to leave this here, it uses a little too much Kryptonian technology so I don't think the Council will let me take it to Earth."
"Lena, are you really going back without me?"
Curling her hands into fists so her fingernails pressed into the palms of her hands, Lena turned back to face Kara, "yes."
Kara's face displayed her complete shock and dismay at Lena's words, "but..."
"I think it's for the best. We can work out visitation schedules for you to spend time with Jora when you get back and I'll pay for the crib at your place and all of the other necessities."
"But I thought we'd raise her together."
"So did I, but Kara... I just don't think it would work. Growing up the Luthor's were more concerned with having power and money than being a family, I want more than that. I want someone who loves me as much as I... who can be there when I need them. I can't rely on you to be there for me, not when being Supergirl is more important to you."
Kara was crying. Lena fought back her own tears, tired of her feelings and wishing things were different. When Jora started to cry, Lena let Kara try to soothe her and, feeling guilty, sought out her suitcases to begin packing.