AN: Ahhhh ok, so I'm slowly overcoming my writer's block but I'm still actively writing I promise. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 10: Girls and Time Machines
When Arryn landed on the DEO's terrace, Kara let out a sigh of relief. She figured the big reveal would either make or break the two, and she had a good feeling about Liara. She walked up to the duo and smirked.
"Are you anything like Lena and afraid of heights?"
Liara shook her head, "thankfully, no. Maybe Arryn's more of a smooth flyer."
Kara chuckled; she definitely liked this one. "Just so you know, you'll be signing an NDA."
Liara raised her brow, "really, an NDA? Is that all? I figured I'd be locked in an L-corp lab forever, which honestly wouldn't be the worst thing ever, or maybe under constant surveillance by these uniformed agents." She scanned the DEO floor and noted that the agents didn't even bat an eye in her direction.
"Let's just say you had very good references," Kara shrugged and led the two towards the main lab. "Plus we're kind of desperate."
"Desperate?" Liara inquired.
"The Lena and Kara from this time are stuck in the future I come from." Arryn explained. "Along with the Lena from my time. It's a huge mess. The problem is I need to be able to create a rift once I jump ahead."
"So a portable time machine?" Liara caught on quickly.
Arryn smiled brightly and nodded, barely containing her adoration. Kara rolled her eyes at how smitten Arryn clearly was with the silver-haired genius. She couldn't blame her though, genius women seemed to be a shared type.
"I have a few ideas already, but I'm missing something…" Arryn set out her data on the multiple holo screens.
"Here ya go," Liara handed Arryn a small drive. "Not sure if it's coincidence or some weird fate thing, but my research, the very thing that got me kicked out from MIT and noticed by Lena Luthor, is what you're missing. Granted it still needs some kinks worked out so we don't splice ourselves, but I'm betting we can tackle them together."
"Liara Larent… one of Lex's many acquisitions." Future Lena pulled up various data sources on her holo screens.
"You mean?" Lena's eyes widened at her future self's declaration. "She works for Lex?"
"In this timeline, yes. She was kicked out of MIT for ripping the time/space fabric; Lex took her under his wing. No one works for Lex; he just uses them until he no longer needs them. She died testing her final theory; Lex's device is complete because of her sacrifice. You sure this is the girl Arryn is seeing?"
Lena nodded. "Yeah I recruited her as an intern when I saw…" she paused and remembered the unusual email she had received. It had been from a professor she had known… intimately. "An email from Sarah."
"Sarah Connor?" Future Lena raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Like the terminator lady?" Kara asked.
"Nope, but just as hot," future Lena added.
Lena slapped her future self on the shoulder. Future Lena chuckled and shrugged, "it was so long ago."
"What was so long ago?" Kara asked, still thoroughly confused.
"Nothing." Lena answered brusquely.
"An old fling." Future Lena countered. "A college professor at MIT."
Kara's mouth formed an 'o' before exclaiming, "you slept with your professor?"
"I wasn't her student, so she wasn't my professor…" Lena protested. "It was a one time thing."
"Couple of times." Future Lena corrected her much to her younger self's chagrin.
"Who cares?!" Lena raised her voice and Kara stood quiet, she had never seen Lena lose her cool. "I can now safely assume it was you who intervened." She glared at her future self.
"Whole chicken and egg dilemma, seeing as you gave me the idea."
Lena groaned and Kara settled for giving her a small back rub.
"It was a long time ago," she repeated.
Kara smiled, "I slept with Mon-El when he was not such a good guy; would have taken a Sarah Conner anyday."
Lena whimpered out a half laugh, half sob.
Future Lena rolled her eyes. "Yeah that never makes sense to us by the way."
All three women laughed before focusing again on the picture of Liara. The picture was taken during Lex's self-imposed inauguration as World Leader, as he then called it. Her eyes were at once soulless and dangerous.
"She looks different," Lena attested. "Before she started as my intern, I mentored her… it was part of the deal. She started out on a bigger team, but eventually I put her on my "personal" team." That's where she met Arryn."
"Lex leads people down their darkest roads," Future Lena sighed; hopefully the Liara that Arryn had come to like was on a brighter path.
Liara glanced to the right and saw Arryn working on an equation that she had started but couldn't quite finish. There had been a time when she felt like she couldn't trust anyone to help. Back at MIT she had become such a lone wolf that she couldn't see how self-destructive she had become. If Lena hadn't come and steered her in a different direction… she shuddered at the thought.
"You look cute when you're concentrating." Liara murmured as she moved closer to Arryn's side.
"Cute?" Arryn blushed and nearly deleted all her work.
Liara giggled, "careful there, we don't want to be missing any fingers when we jump through time."
"Oh yeah of course not, need those for important stuff." Arryn wiggled her fingers awkwardly.
"Oh really?" Liara teased and mimicked her finger wiggles, "such as?"
"Ummm, uhhh, for holding things…" Arryn felt her face heat up exponentially warmer than the moment before.
"Such as?" Liara continued to tease.
"Uhhh… cups?" Arryn made her hands into cups.
"Or," Liara wove her fingers with Arryn's and held her hand. "Hands."
Arryn inhaled sharply and couldn't believe how soft Liara's hands felt in hers.
"Hey… remember to breathe ." Liara dropped her teasing tone and gave Arryn's hand a squeeze before letting go.
Arryn quickly but carefully wound her fingers back with Liara's. "I like this."
Liara smiled and replied, "me too."
"I promise no fingers will be lost." Arryn reassured before letting go and completing her equation with her lips fixed into a small smile.
"How goes it?" Kara spoke up and watched as both jumped a little. She smirked and asked, "did you not see me come in? And I completely agree, I'll be needing my fingers." Kara wiggled her fingers deviously and added, "for holding hands and more."
"There's more?" Arryn asked earnestly.
Liara laughed as Kara's teasing backfired. The elder kryptonian shook her head.
"Nevermind, ask your other mom, figured it out or not?"
"Just finished," Arryn pressed enter and watched her program run to completion. "All thanks to Liara."
Kara smiled wide and pulled the silver-haired girl into her arms without any ceremony. Liara oomph'd as she collided into Kara's chest and would have protested more if she could catch her breath.
"You're squeezing too hard!" Arryn protested as she carefully maneuvered Liara out of Kara's kryptonian hug.
"Sorry, just excited," Kara apologized and then glanced at the small blush on Liara's cheeks as Arryn held her protectively against her. "I'll give you two a minute. We leave first thing tomorrow, so make sure to get some sleep." She left with a wink.
Arryn rolled her eyes but then felt Liara's hand rest gently on her collarbone. She peered down and locked eyes with the silver-haired girl. Strangely her knees felt weak and her heart felt like it might create shockwaves. The butterflies were also back, and Arryn remembered what they meant. She liked Liara… a lot. No one had ever looked at her the way Liara was looking at her right now.
"Can I kiss you?" Liara's voice tickled Arryn's lip.
"Please," Arryn slowly closed her eyes as Liara's lips pressed against hers. Arryn controlled the rush of emotions that coursed through her body. Desired buzzed through her veins but she knew she had to be careful. When she felt Liara pull back, she opened her eyes and her lips pulled into a smile.
"We're floating," Liara stated and grinned as Arryn glanced down and gasped. "I like it," Liara added before Arryn could bring them back down. "It's nice to know I can literally kiss you off your feet."
"I'm pretty sure it's a kryptonian thing," Arryn admitted sheepishly.
"Is it hard… controlling your powers?" Liara asked.
Arryn sighed, "sometimes." She didn't want to scare Liara, but she couldn't lie. It wasn't that long ago she had lost control of her heat vision on the outskirts of National City. "I know I have to be careful with you."
Liara planted a quick kiss on Arryn's lips. "Then let's have a safe word."
"A safe word?" Arryn raised her eyebrow.
"In case you feel overwhelmed and need me to slow down." Liara explained.
Arryn smiled, "that sounds good. What word do we use?"
"How about… butterflies?"
"Butterflies." Arryn agreed and leaned in carefully to kiss Liara.
The next day, Arryn was suited up in Brainy's latest creation. It was a sleek black uniform that was able to cloak all of her for short intervals of time. Her family crest was stitched in red, barely visible as requested. She looked to her right and saw Supergirl in a similar uniform save for the crest.
"Where's our crest?" Arryn asked as they packed their gear.
Kara sighed, "I asked Brainy not to put it on mine."
"Why not?" Arryn pushed.
Kara growled. Arryn's questions frustrated her, but she knew it would be better to answer than to brush the girl aside. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with her curious daughter.
"I don't deserve to wear our crest." Kara muttered. "I abandoned your mother, gave in to anger and despair… became the darkness I swore to defend Earth against."
Arryn immediately frowned but then quickly perked up and sped away only to reappear a moment later.
"There, all better," Arryn stated and pointed to a clasp that held Kara's cape that was right above her heart.
Kara glanced and chuckled. Arryn had stuck a metallic sticker of their house crest right on her chest.
"Liara gave these to me." Arryn added. "Everyone deserves a second chance, even grumpy kryptonians who always take the last slice of pizza."
Kara smiled and pulled Arryn in for a hug. She was a weird kid; wise like Lena, but oh so cheesy like the woman she used to be. Somehow she had grown up kind in that post-apocalyptic world that had torn her heart to pieces. Not once had she blamed Kara for leaving Lena and her alone, even before unraveling the whole time traveling shenanigans.
"El Mayarah," Kara whispered before letting go of Arryn.
"Are you two ready to go?" Brainy interrupted as he tapped away on a data pad. "Contrary to most time-traveling conceptions, we do not have time to spare."
"We're ready," Kara replied and Arryn nodded.
They headed towards a sterile room with hardly anything in it, save for the two women who were about to leap through time. The room was dark until Brainy activated the equipment, and Arryn felt her stomach clench as they approached the portal and an earlier conversation with Brainy occupied her thoughts.
"You know, my mom embedded a component of you in my stuffed lion." Arryn spoke softly as she worked in the lab with Brainy.
She was keeping a hushed tone because Liara had fallen asleep in the corner of the lab where a small couch had been placed. Kara insisted that if the young scientist wasn't going to sleep in her DEO-provided bunk, then she should at least avoid sleeping on the floor. She had also insisted that all worthwhile romances had a couch involved.
Arryn wondered if it was a human thing. Perhaps hunans needed couches to fall in love, just as they needed sleep. Something her and Brainy and Supergirl didn't need much of.
"A component?" Brainy asked while finishing up the nodule he was working on. Arryn smiled; of course he would pick up on what mattered most.
"Lex damaged your core; my mother recovered what she could." Arryn explained, "your processing remained, but what made you human… that was gone."
"And you're sharing this dismal future with me, why?" Brainy continued his work without pause.
"You were my constant companion. We used to play this game," Arryn chuckled. "I'd ask you the likelihood of something. Like once I asked "what are the chances of me getting sick if I went outside?" and you answered "80 percent", so I took my 20 percent chance much to mother's dismay. I always ran my bad ideas by you; other times I asked you dumb questions. I asked you "what's the likelihood that mother would love me forever?" and you answered "100 percent". I always wondered if that was accurate or if that was a sign of your residual soul."
Arryn glanced back at Liara. "I think I have another dumb question. Do you think if I take Liara…would she survive in the world I come from?"
Brainy stopped his work and put down his tool. He saw the tears that had welled up in the corner of Arryn's eyes and watched as they rolled softly down her cheeks.
"Statistically there's a 88.62 percent chance that she could die in such a volatile world," Brainy answered truthfully. "My component could probably not differentiate between dumb or not dumb questions; this is not a dumb question, Arryn."
"I don't know what to do… she's human and fragile. I've never had to watch myself as much as when I'm with her… I've never been so afraid in my life." Arryn bit down on her quivering lip.
"It means you love her," Brainy added with a small, sad smile.
Arryn smiled but her tears continued to roll down her cheeks. "My mother once said falling in love was the scariest, most wonderful thing that ever happened to her. I finally understand… with Liara. She can't come with me. I want her to live a full, happy life even if it's without me."
"You should know… this is a one way trip." Brainy glanced at Liara. "You're using a good deal of this Earth's elemental resources jumping, and even more in the transportable time device. Lex in your time has already used the majority of your timeline's resources. You'll never see her again."
"I know," Arryn's voice cracked. "I know, but I come from a dark place. My mother was once soft and fragile like her… but to survive in our world she had to change." She thought of cardigan Danvers and how different she was from Supergirl from her time. She thought of her mother having to become more than human to raise her. What would become of Liara?
She made sure Liara would still be sleeping on the lab couch when the time came. It took everything she had to not wake her up, to tell her one more time that she liked holding her hand and that she didn't mind the butterflies anymore. She had never been in love before, but from what her mother told her about falling in love with Supergirl, she was sure that she had fallen in love with Liara.
Liara was from a world where if you were hungry you could just tap a few buttons on a phone and twenty minutes later food was delivered. Back home, when she was hungry, she settled for her nutrient blocks and artificially grown produce. Living underground made growing things difficult. If Liara was bored there were a million and one things she could do- go to the movies, play in the park, stargaze at a real sky. When Arryn got bored she watched old vids that contained segments of media, read the same books over and over again, or trained.
Arryn couldn't offer her a full life in the world she came from. She had asked Brainy to keep the whole "one way trip" thing a secret from Supergirl; she didn't need her feeling sorry for her. She waved up towards the room where Brainy was operating the portal and took another step forward. She activated the helmet on her suit that would protect her from the kryptonite-laced air that awaited her back home and steeled her resolution. Then, right as she was about to cross through, her body vaulted forwards.