Hi everyone. I wasn't sure if this was going to catch on or not. It seems to be doing okay over at Ao3. I hope ya'll like it. I just wanted to give these two amazing women a beautiful journey. Anyway, feedback and comments are appreciated.

Happy Reading

She was so beautiful. Her hair was splayed about the pillowcase, the raven strands contrasting starkly against the muted pinkish-purple of my sheets. Her pale skin glowed in the early morning sunbeams peeking through the window curtains. My eyes journeyed from the porcelain of her face down to her bare, cream-colored neck, following a path of dark freckles adorning her skin. Yep. The consensus was in - Lena Luthor was the most breath-taking being who had ever existed.

"It's not polite to stare," the soft yet husky voice ripped me from my thoughts.

A deep blush flooded my cheeks. I had been under the impression that she was still asleep. I guess I was very wrong.

"I… I…" I couldn't talk. I couldn't form the words to defend myself or my actions. Lena always could make me stumble over my words like an idiot.

"Caught," she smiled slyly at me, her eyes still closed.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, centering breath.

"It's okay," Lena hummed softly, snuggling into her pillow and reaching out to me, her fingertips grazing the skin of my forearm ever so lightly.

The brunette had no idea what effect she had on me… or maybe she did and that's why she continued to do specific actions. Regardless, when Lena brushed my bare skin with hers, I became a fluttering mess. My heart thrashed against my ribcage, my nerves felt like electricity was shooting through them in the most delicious of ways, and I, oftentimes, forgot to breathe. Thankfully, being a Kryptonian, I didn't need air in the same way as humans. Still, oxygen was beneficial.

After a few passing moments, I finally got the courage to open my eyes and immediately saw the timeless angel gazing back at me. My breath hitched and I was unable to move. She was even more majestic like this - her hair framing the perfect contours of her face as she rested against the pillow, one arm stretched out, fingers toying with mine, lips barely parted as she breathed slowly, deeply, and nervously… her eyes trailing along my face, locking with mine, and bringing me home.

"Good morning, my darling," she whispered, a smile tugging at her perfect red-tinted lips.

The term of endearment hit me straight in the heart. It wasn't the first time she had said it, but I was the only one I'd ever heard her say it to. And the way she put "my" before darling had hit me extra hard. I was…hers. I always would be. Nothing and no one had ever compared to Lena. Nothing compared to our friendship… to whatever 'this' was… nothing compared to how I felt about her or how I knew she felt about me. Not the way I had previously felt about James, not Mon-El…no one.

I smile shyly at her, overwhelmed by the love I saw in her features.

"Hi."

Lena lifted herself up slightly and inched towards me. "Feeling better?" she asked, rubbing the back of my hand with the pad of her thumb before bringing my hand up to her lips and gently kissing my knuckles

I closed my eyes briefly and nodded, trying not to internally combust. "Yea. A lot, actually."

"Even Supergirl needs rest," she stated matter-of-factly.

I sighed. I knew she was right. I didn't know why I fought it so hard, but I always did.

"Let's get up and get ready," she continued. "I think I left an outfit here from the last time I slept over –"

"You did," I confirmed. "Some jeans and a top. I hung them up on the left of the rack."

"So, I'll just wear those and then we'll head off to the DEO, okay?"

"That sounds good. I'm sure Alex is probably worried by now."

"I texted her yesterday and let her know that you were with me and that you were safe."

"You did?" I lit up. I shouldn't have been so surprised; Lena always took care of things like that. Forever the businesswoman.

"Of course I did. Have you met Alex? Had I not, she would have sent a search and rescue crew for you – probably would have broken down the front door," the brunette chuckled at the thought.

Lena wasn't wrong. Alex would have almost certainly sent an entire force of DEO agents out to search for me - only to be utterly and wholly ticked off when she found out I was cuddled up on the couch, asleep.

"I'm sure you have a few text messages, though," she speculated, letting go of my hand and extracting herself from the comfort of the bed.

I hadn't realized that our lower legs and feet were tangled together until she began to get up. I took a deep breath to try and hide my disappointment of our separation before sitting up and grabbing my phone. The loss of contact left me feeling empty. As I looked at my phone, I noted that Lena had been right. There were several text messages from Alex, one from James, two from Nia, and one from Eliza, my adoptive mom.

"Wow, seems I'm popular," I joked.

"I hope you don't mind. I set it to vibrate because every time it went off, you'd stir and I knew you needed the sleep," Lena admitted, a hint of worry in her eyes. Lena was obviously concerned she had crossed a line. Still, she ultimately did what she thought needed to be done to achieve her goal – the goal of me sleeping. Typical Lena.

"It's okay. Thank you," I answered reassuringly.

The brunette smiled back at me. "I'm going to get a shower."

I nodded at her. "Okay."

I quickly typed out a text to Alex, letting her know that I was fine and that Lena and I would be at the DEO shortly. I didn't want to get out of bed. It was warm and cozy, and it still smelled like Lena. One of us would have to do something about this. It was getting a little ridiculous.

With a small huff, I crawled out of bed and made my way to the coffee pot to make some magical bean juice. We didn't have coffee on Krypton. We actually didn't really have tea on Krypton. I mean, we had something like tea, but it wasn't the tea that was here on Earth. Coffee actually had no physiological effect on me. The caffeine didn't jumpstart my alien physiology. However, it did taste so good and it was a habit of many humans. I could never deny good ole' fashion human protocol.

As the coffee started brewing, I retrieved my and Lena's favorite coffee mugs from the cabinet.

"The best part of waking up…" Lena's voice carried through the small apartment as she rounded the almost-nonexistent corner of my bedroom to walk toward the kitchen.

"Here's your bitter water in a cup," I offered, pouring Lena a cup of black coffee and handing it to her. "I really have no idea how you can drink it like that."

"More caffeine in my mug and takes less time to prepare," she replied, taking a long, drawn-out drink.

I added sugar and some pumpkin spice creamer to my mug.

"Some coffee with your sugar?" Lena quipped, raising an eyebrow at me.

"It may actually need a little more," I teased, taking a hearty sip of the warm liquid. "It's not Noonan's, but it's still so good," I praised.

Lena leaned against the table that doubled as a counter, her eyes focused on mine.

"What?" I asked curiously, feeling like I was a specimen under one of her microscopes.

She averted her gaze and shook her head. "Nothing," she lied.

I set my coffee cup down and gravitated towards her. "No, what?" I asked, placing a couple fingers under her chin to draw her attention back towards me.

The tension was thick; my heart raged in my chest. I could hear Lena's hammering away too.

"I love spending my mornings with you, Kara," she admitted, her voice barely audible.

I searched her eyes, waiting for some sort of resistance or permission – I wasn't really sure. My gaze traveled downwards to her lips and then darted back to her brilliant, glittering eyes. Their depth, like the night sky, gave me the same sense I had when flying, the feeling of infinity, of unbound freedom. Lena's eyes burned me. I could feel her gaze mirroring mine – traveling between my lips, my cheeks, and my eyes.

The brunette stood a little straighter and brought her hand to the side of my jaw, her thumb trailing along the skin she found there. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. The only thing I could process was Lena… that she was here… that she smelled so good…that she felt so good.

The loud ring of my phone blasted through the apartment. Lena and I both exhaled sharply, though neither of us moved.

"It's probably Alex," she suggested as her hand fell away.

I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed before barely nodding. I tenderly grabbed the back of her wrist and brought her palm to my lips, and kissed it firmly before walking to my bed to grab my phone. It was Alex – and I was effectively going to kill her.

"Shit, Kara," Lena put her hand on her heart, breathing heavily as she looked over at me with 'how dare you' eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," I apologized, a smirk plastered on my face.

Upon entering the DEO, I took my glasses off and activated my supersuit – which meant that in one moment Lena saw me dressed in a crisp, white oxford button-up and jeans with my hair put up in a bun, and the next, she looked over and saw my dark blue suit, red cape, and my blonde locks falling over my shoulders.

"You could at least warn me," she chided playfully.

"But what's the fun in that?" I teased, flashing her a wide grin. I really hadn't meant to scare her, but sometimes, it was fun to watch her reactions.

We climbed the stairs to the central control room side by side – the backs of our hands brushing against one other intently. J'onn and Alex were standing at the white circular table in the center of the room. As soon as Alex saw me, she left her post and rushed to me, engulfing me in a protective, big-sister hug.

"I'm okay, Alex, I promise," I reassured, hugging her back tightly.

"You're a pain in my ass," she scolded, releasing me from her intense grip and giving me a light push.

I smiled warmly at her. Alex was overprotective of me – always had been. She was tasked with watching out for me since we were little, and I didn't always make that easy – intentional or not. Alex felt responsible for me. So, when something happened, she took it very personally.

I followed Alex as she led the way back to the table. Lena tailed me so closely that I could feel the slight graze of the back of her knuckles against my hip as she swung her arms in tandem with her standard 'power-walk'.

I listened intently as J'onn and Alex recounted the events to Lena. She was listening and reading the data on Brainy's computer screen, always the multi-tasker. Brainly kept pointing out pertinent information; Lena nodded with small "hmm's".

"We were able to extrapolate some of the substance from J'onn's and Supergirl's suits," Brainy asserted, pulling up a screen on the computer.

Lena's face contorted as she read the screen. "That's the base chemical composition of kryptonite, but its…" she paused and turned to J'onn. "Do you have a board I can write on?"

J'onn called for someone to get Lena a dry-erase board. She glanced in my direction, her eyes turning soft for but a nanosecond before resuming her critical thinking face. Lena uncapped a marker and began scribbling feverishly onto the board.

My heart stopped as I watched her. Lena's face was set, her brow furrowed. I could almost see her brain working and calculating and manipulating information. When she'd get stuck or was trying to reason something, she'd unconsciously tap the back end of the dry erase marker on her bottom lip rhythmically.

"Brainy, do you have the molar mass of the substance?"

Ah. Science words I didn't understand.

The pair worked in tandem: discussing, writing, erasing… They talked over each other, consulting the computer, looked up different - well, I wasn't really sure what the duo was looking up, but they were looking up something. I was happy to have Lena here, helping. If anyone could keep up with or challenge Brainy – a 12th level intellect – it was Lena.

"This could take a while," Alex commented, leaning her head towards me slightly.

I nodded slowly, still in awe of the brunette and her extraordinary brain.

Alex nodded towards the conference room, gesturing with her thumb in a "let's get out of here" manner before turning around and heading in that direction. I tried catching Lena's attention to no avail. She was fully consumed by the work in front of her. I chucked to myself before following Alex and promptly sitting on the table, my legs hanging over the edge.

"How are you feeling, Kara?" Alex asked concernedly, leaning back against the wall, her hips jutted out to make space for all her tactical gear.

"Better today. I just got so drained," I admitted, looking at my sister suspiciously. "How are you?" I asked tentatively.

"It appears James and I didn't get hit as hard as you and J'onn. I pretty much feel like I have a really bad flu. I'm just tired, really."

"You should go get some rest."

"No," she said firmly. "I need to be here," Alex demanded.

"Does Kelly know?"

Alex peered at me with a tilt of her head, giving me her signature "stop being annoying" look.

I raised my eyebrows at her, waiting for a response.

She took a breath. "No. She doesn't know."

"Alex, you've got to tell her," I implored.

"I know… I know. We're just… Esme's still trying to get settled in…" she defended, pacing the room.

"All the more reason to be honest and upfront," I argued, my arms waving around trying to emphasize my point.

Alex stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath as she faced me.

"You know I'm right."

She shook her head lightly – she knew I was right.

"But what about you?"

"Me?" I questioned rhetorically. "Alex, I'm fine. I promise."

"But, I should be here so we can –"

"You should be with your family right now, Alex. Your priorities have changed. They have to change," I interrupted her. "Go… go home. Talk to Kelly. Snuggle Esme. I'll let J'onn know, and we'll contact you when we figure out something, I promise."

Alex's expression softened as she nodded lightly. "Okay." My sister gave me a quick hug. "Thanks, Kara."

"Now get your butt out of here," I playfully scolded.

I playfully swatted her arm and followed her out of the room, but instead of heading out, I made my way back towards the control room.

"Any progress?" I asked, stepping into the space.

J'onn stood tall, his arms crossing over his chest. "I can't tell. They're talking in a language I do not understand."

"Apparently, it's called science, and I don't understand it either, so…"

J'onn shrugged his shoulders at me. I sat up on the table and grabbed my phone out of one of my protective, hidden pockets.

Several hours and innumerous kitten videos later, Lena and Brainy still made no progress. Lena was obviously flustered and tired, her brain overworked.

"Let's call it a night," I proposed, scooting off the table, my limbs excited to stretch.

After briefly watching Brainy and Lena work, J'onn and I decided our time was best used elsewhere. While we didn't have any immediate threats, he and I took a few hours and flew over the city. We rescued two cats and one dog who got away from its ten-year-old owner… the dog saw a squirrel and apparently got very excited. We did manage to stop a potentially fatal collision on the freeway. But aside from the more minor stuff, nothing exciting popped up. By the time we got back to the DEO, the duo was still working feverishly. So, we decided to train. J'onn had been starting to teach me how to resist mind control. While J'onn couldn't read Kryptonians' minds, he had Brainy build a computer program that could impact me. While it wasn't dangerous, the exercise was simply to resist and defend my mind, which was exhausting to say the least. But even after all the flying and the training, Lena and Brainy were still neck-deep in their work.

"No, I'm okay. I just need some more coffee…" Lena trailed off, unable to fully focus on any one thing.

"No," I shook my head, taking a couple steps towards her. I stood in front of her and touched her arms lightly to comfort her. "It's been nearly fourteen hours. It's time to take a break. We'll figure this out… you'll figure this out," I corrected. "But not right now. You need sleep."

"I'm fine, I – "

"What you need… is to take a break. You made me take one yesterday. No double standards," I asserted.

Lena looked at me helplessly. I was not relenting.

"Okay, okay…" she finally gave in after a few beats. "I'm going to call Sam and see if she can take over at L-Corp for a few days so I can be here to help."

"I'll keep working on this," Brainy began. "I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while."

"Kara, I really should stay –" Lena protested.

"You really should get some rest…," I started, moving my head to catch her eyes. "And some food… and water…"

Lena locked eyes with me, pleading for me to reconsider. I refused. When she realized I wasn't going to budge, she sighed deeply in defeat.

"Let me know if you make any progress?"

Brainy nodded.

Lena was obviously upset and scared. She wasn't handling her emotions very well.

"Little boxes," Brainy whispered to Lena as he walked by her to sit back down at his computer.

"Little boxes," Lena repeated in barely a whisper. "Okay… if you're going to get me to leave, we had better go now," she pressed, turning her head towards me.

"See you tomorrow?" I asked J'onn.

"Tomorrow," he confirmed with a nod of his head.

I tangled my fingers with Lena's and walked us out of the DEO, dematerializing my suit as we exited.