The next few days Kara buries herself in work. She sends Lena a few text messages. "I hope you're okay"; "Let me know if there's anything I can do." She hears nothing back.

When after a week she still hasn't heard from Lena and is starting to get desperate, she stops by Alex's apartment after work.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks as soon as she sees the troubled look on Kara's face.

Kara walks inside. When Alex has closed the door behind her, she lets out a sigh.

"Lena knows I'm Supergirl."

Alex stops dead in her tracks. "You told her?"

"Lex told her."

"Oh no. That's not good."

"No."

"Come sit with me."

Having installed themselves on Alex's couch, Kara unburdens herself. She tells Alex about how defeated and crushed Lena had looked in her office all those days ago. About how Lena had recklessly thrown herself off the balcony to show Kara she knew she was Supergirl. About the fight in the air. About the days in Midvale when it had seemed Lena might come to understand and even forgive. About the awful conversation in Lena's office. About how Lena hadn't responded to any of her text messages after that.

Having shared all of this, Kara casts a wary glance in Alex's direction and then adds, "And she kissed me."

"What?"

"We kissed."

Alex frowns. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know how it happened. It just did."

"So, you like girls too?" Alex looks almost excited.

"I don't know." Kara realizes she sounds annoyed. She's surprised by the exasperation she feels. Where is that coming from? She tries to steady herself. She takes a deep breath and tries again. "I honestly don't know Alex. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what I feel."

"Hey, that's okay," Alex says, her tone now calm and conciliatory.

Kara looks at her sister. Feeling in her gut that she wasn't being completely honest just now, she says quietly, avoiding Alex's eyes, "I do think I like her."

Grabbing hold of a pillow and hugging it tightly against her chest, she forces herself to look into Alex's eyes and says, "I do like her."

Alex gives her big sisterly smile. "Hey, that's okay. That's great."

Kara feels so uncomfortable.

"Why is this so hard for you?", Alex asks, seeming genuinely puzzled.

"I don't know."

"You know I'd never judge you."

"I know."

"And Lena is wonderful. You could do a lot worse."

Hoping to lighten the mood with this last comment, Alex soon realizes the dark cloud hovering over Kara's head won't be blown away that easily.

Kara looks at her sister morosely and then says, "It doesn't even matter anymore. Lena will never trust me again. So, whatever I'm feeling, it doesn't matter. Everything's so pointless now."

"Kara, that doesn't sound like you. When have you ever given up hope so easily."

"You should've seen her yesterday, Alex."

"I know. But she's hurting. She's lashing out. You always knew finding out her best friend had lied to her for so long would cut her deep. Especially considering how much betrayal she's already been subjected to. You have to give her time."

"Alex, I really don't think that will help though. I think time will only make things worse."

"Kara, you have to have faith. Have faith in Lena and in the friendship. She's made it very clear that she needs time. All you can do is make sure she knows that when she's ready to rebuild whatever relationship she might still want with you, you're here. But let her come to you. You can't force her in this."

Kara thinks about Alex's advice for a moment. Alex is probably right. Somehow knowing what to do doesn't make her feel any better though. She gives Alex a mournful look and says, "I worry about her."

"I know you do," Alex says softly.

Alex thinks for a moment and then asks, "Does Lena know James and Brainy and J'onn and Nia and I know?"

"I think so."

"So she'll feel let down and excluded by us too," Alex says sadly.

Kara nods. She starts to tear up. She looks at Alex and says, her voice breaking, "I should've told her sooner."

Alex gives her a sympathetic look. "You can't change what happened, Kara."

"I know."

Alex scoots over and gives Kara a big hug.


After Kara has returned to her own place, she texts Sam Arias.

"Have you heard from Lena recently?"

"No, not recently. Why?"

"I think she could do with a friend right now. Can't really go into specifics."

"No specifics needed. I'm on it. Thanks for letting me know."

Having received Sam's last message, Kara feels slightly better.


A week later, Kara is at work when word reaches her that a construction crane has fallen onto a daycare center. Eleven children and their three teachers are trapped inside the building. The roof is about to collapse. When Supergirl arrives to the scene, a small crowd has already gathered outside. Supergirl warns them to stay back. She carefully moves away some of the rubble and makes her way inside. Inside it's dark and there's dust everywhere. Kara has a hard time breathing. She finds the teachers and children hiding together in a corner. Two of the teachers are holding a baby each. Most of the children are crying. Kara tells the teachers to start guiding the children out of the building using the path she had cleared for them on her way in. She will make up the rear of their group. Slowly the group starts moving. Two three-year-olds remain seated on the floor paralyzed with fear. Kara picks them up, one in each arm. They cling to her neck. Slowly they move across the rubble and through the dust. Kara gently urges the children on. When they finally make it outside, she hears coughing all around her.

Kara quickly walks over to one of the teachers. "Were there eleven kids in today? Is everyone accounted for?"

The teacher is in shock. "Yes. Eleven", she says distractedly. "There were eleven children today. I think so." She casts a panicked look in the direction of the building. "God, I hope so".

"I'll go and check," Kara says as she puts a reassuring hand on the woman's arm. She rushes back inside. In the midst of the rubble she listens carefully for any sign of human breathing. She calls out a few times and checks every place a child might be hidden. Confident that all the children are in safety, she's about to make her way outside when the whole building collapses on top of her. She hears screams outside. Pushing the rubble off her, Kara slowly makes her way out of the building. When she steps outside, the bright daylight makes her squint. She puts a hand above her eyes. One of the children she had carried out of the building runs over and grabs hold of her leg. Looking down, she realizes she's completely covered in dust.

Within the hour mobile phone footage of Supergirl helping the children and their teachers out of the building and of Supergirl emerging from the rubble of the collapsed building have made it onto the local news.

Back at CatCo, Kara is typing up a few notes from an interview she conducted the day before, when a text message comes in. It's from Lena. "Just saw you on the news. You okay?"

Kara almost forgets to breathe.

"Yes, I'm fine" she writes back, her heart beating like crazy.

"Good."

Kara feels so happy she could burst.

A few days later, Kara reads a news article about a major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's one of L Corp's divisions has made. She quickly types a message. "Heard about the Alzheimer's treatment. Amazing stuff." She reads it over about twenty times. She's about to delete it when she changes her mind and quickly hits 'send'.

For a few hours, there's no message back. Kara is just starting to wonder whether it was a bad idea to reach out, when a message comes in.

"Thanks. Working hard on that. There's more to come."

Kara grins from ear to ear.

More days pass. When Kara arrives at the office one morning, a bottle of wine is waiting on her desk. Cat Grant sent it in order to congratulate her on a major article she got published that day. Kara picks up the bottle and looks at the label. She's vaguely familiar with the vineyard. It's probably a really nice bottle. Kara thinks how wonderful it would be to be able to share it with Lena. She stares at her phone for a while.

A few hours go by. A colleague stops by her desk. He picks up the bottle. "Ooh nice," he says.

"Yeah." Without thinking, Kara adds, "I was going to share it with a friend."

"Was?", the colleague asks.

"Well ... I ..."

The colleague waits for her to finish her sentence. When it becomes clear she won't, he shrugs. "Well enjoy!", he says warmly.

"Thanks."

When the colleague has walked on, Kara picks up her phone and types Lena a message.

"Hi."

"Hello."

Buoyed by this quick response, Kara continues, "How are things?"

"They're okay. Congrats on your article. Really good."

Kara's glances over at the bottle of wine. Her heart starts to race. "Cat sent me a really nice bottle of wine. Was going to try it tonight. Want to try a glass as well?", she types.

She looks at the message wondering whether she's doing the right thing, then quickly hits 'send'.

A few hours go by with no response. Kara starts to feel silly for hoping Lena might say yes.

A message arrives. Kara's heart starts to race again.

"Sorry, busy tonight."

Deflated, Kara puts her phone away. She should focus on work; all this time thinking and worrying about Lena is doing her no good. No good at all.

Kara gets absorbed in her research and it's few hours before she checks her phone again. There's another message from Lena. Kara looks at the time stamp. It was sent right after the previous one.

"How about tomorrow night?", the message reads.

Kara can't believe it. "Tomorrow night sounds great!", she quickly types back.

Immediately a new message comes in. "9?", it says.

"Perfect."

When she sees a few colleagues look in her direction, she knows the squeal didn't only happen inside her head. Feeling herself turn red, she stares down at her desk, pretending to be fascinated by something she just read.