Chapter Twenty-Two:
Kara practically whistled when swinging her arms. She put herself in a pair of blue jeans, a white tank top, and also tied her hair back. Alex walked a few steps behind her, a very soft smile appearing on her face when she turned up behind Kara. Alex leaned in and wrapped her arm around her younger sister's shoulders. She pulled her in tight and the two Danvers sisters enjoyed the moment together with each other.
Alex finally broke the silence.
"So, are you ready to go?"
Kara looked positively giddy with anticipation.
"Are you kidding me?" Kara asked. "Of course, I'm ready. I've been ready for this for a long time….so why are we sticking around here? It's still a bit of a drive...unless you want to get there a different way."
Alex shook her head and put her hand on Kara's. The two walked to a nice little car in the parking lot hand in hand. To be fair, today was a good day. The clouds were clear, the sky was blue, the birds were singing. It had all of the hallmarks of a pretty good day, without a hitch in the arrangement.
"We better be normal some ways," Alex said. "I know now our relationship is anything but normal, but we can try to...maintain the illusion that it can be."
Kara just responded with half of a grin as she and Alex settled into the car. Alex drove and there were times where Kara was grateful for super invunerability when Alex got behind the wheel of a car. Although to be fair, she was less reckless behind the wheel on a country road than she was on the highway of the major city.
And, yes, Kara realized that she would have to be on that highway to get on the country road. Still, after fighting Alex, being in the car with her sister for eight hours didn't seem like such a pain.
"So, I'm sure Eliza knows by now," Kara said. "You know about the entire Supergirl thing….I hope that…"
"That's just the most minor of the changes in our life."
Kara hung her head for a second and whistled in agreement. Yeah, that was the most minor of all of their changes to be honest. Alex had her new significant other as well, who just happened to be a sentient alien space suit. There's still a lot of questions to be raised about that. Even though Alex and the suit came to an understanding and that was something which Kara could both appreciate and believe.
"And it's the first time we're seeing Carol after all of this time," Kara added.
Alex broke out into a very swift sigh when she stopped at a four way. This gave her plenty of time to think.
"And she's no doubt coming home with another boatload of achievements," Alex said. "I love her...but damn if she makes me feel that I haven't accomplished anything."
"You've accomplished a lot though!" Kara exclaimed.
Despite herself, Alex broke out into an extremely soft smile. She appreciated the pep talk from Kara, she really did.
"And you know, there are times when we went to school where I thought that I could never be as good as you," Kara said. "Special abilities or not, I wasn't allowed to use them."
"Not that stopped you from trying," Alex said.
Kara offered a sheepish grin in the direction of her sister as they continued their leisurely drive.
"Not that it stopped me from trying."
Kara tilted her head back for a couple of minutes, thinking, very carefully about what she was going to say. She turned her attention in Alex's general direction.
"My point is, I think that you can appreciate where I came from because I know I can appreciate when you come from. I think that overachieving is something that runs in the family. It must, if you think that you haven't done enough and you're still comparing yourself to Carol."
Alex leaned in with a very casual nonchalant whistle. If only it was Carol, who it was the only person that Alex compared herself to. She put a finger on the side of her face and leaned back with a very, very prominent sigh.
Middle child syndrome, it could be an interesting thing. But, regardless, Alex turned herself back around to enjoy the trip. It would be nice for a chance not to worry about any alien attacks or any assholes who were trying to blow up the world or take it over.
Was this something that Alex would voice out loud? Absolutely not. Because, she knew better. Turning a family outing into another life or death battle for the entire control of the world was one of the absolute last things Alex wanted in her life.
The odds of it happening, pretty damn high. Almost too high in her opinion. Still, Alex resolved to be optimistic. Even if some would say she was a pessimistic by nature. Alex would argue that point and say that she was a realist, but regardless, she would be here, for her sister's sake.
They arrived outside of the Danvers Family home. Alex pulled in behind a very fancy and elegant car. Coming out of the car was a tall blonde woman, who wore a very professional blouse and skirt combination, with stockings and her hair pinned back in a ponytail.
Carol Danvers, the oldest of the three sisters. In a short life, she had done a whole lot, more accomplishments than Alex would dare name off of the top of her head. The truth was, Carol was the best, far better than all of the rest.
"Alex, Kara!" she yelled when turning around. "Oh, it's been a long time."
Carol moved over to give Alex a hug. Alex offered a smile towards her older sister.
"Hey, Carol," Alex said. "How have you been?"
"Busy," Carol said. "Working on my new job."
So, she got some other high level position, which she overachieved in something. Despite the fact she had a three year head start on Alex, Alex could not help and feel a little bit inferior to all that Carol's accomplished in her life. She very much ignored Kara's encouraging grip on her arm.
"Kara!" Carol yelled. "You've...you've grown."
For the briefest second, Carol's eyes swept over Kara's chest as it strained over the tank top. She snapped her eyes up to look over Kara height wise.
"You've gotten taller," she smoothly ammended herself and pulled Kara into a hug. "How's working with Cat?"
"Oh, she's Cat," Kara said.
She wondered how Carol had not heard about Kara's other activities. Then again, she was Carol, always busy, always on the move, so perhaps Supergirl had not been a thing that had crossed her radar.
"So, what have you been doing?" Alex asked. "You haven't won the Nobel Peace Prize yet and I've just missed it in your sea of other accomplishments?"
Carol just frowned. There were times where she thought that Alex was envious of her, and kind of resentful. Despite, Alex doing what she could to apply herself, and being damn good at it, Carol could sense that feeling of resentment pouring out of her sister at times.
"Alex, don't worry about it," Carol said. "You should just do what you want to do, and you'll accomplish great things. I don't think this, I know this."
Despite herself, Alex responded with a very crisp nod. It was very hard to keep up with Carol and her multitude of accomplishments, which were growing every single day she achieved something new. She had to live up to everything and she meant anything, that Carol's done.
"So, what have you been up to?" Alex asked, trying to be the polite and curious younger sister.
"I've been in space."
That was a half truth at best and Carol knew it. Alex just smirked and Kara smiled at her accomplishment. If they only knew the truth of what she was up to in space. Eliza, her mother, knew about the fact she was gone for an extended amount of time. This was true.
Although, she was not working for NASA or any other space organization. Thankfully, the ring on her finger was concealed because it would be a talking point. And Kara would potentially recognize it and Alex might as well. Carol knew from some contacts where Alex really was working, even though her mother did not.
Well, Eliza did not, as far as Carol new.
Carol made sure the green ring on her finger was properly hidden before moving in and putting her arms around the shoulders of her younger sisters.
"I'm really glad to see you," Carol said. "And I wish I could have been around for more...but something tells me you're going to see a lot more of me."
"What makes you say that?" Kara asked.
Alex was skeptical, but just smiled. The moment Carol took off to college, they might have seen Carol once or twice a year, and it was always Carol bringing back tales of all of the amazing things that they did.
"Mom's waiting for us," Carol said. "I'm sure she'll be pleased that I'm back, without any problems."
"I know she would be," Kara said.
Kara got a sense that Carol was not telling the full story of where she went. Perhaps, it was just her, but it appeared that all three Danvers sisters had changes in their life that they needed to tackle.
Eliza Danvers looked like and carried herself like a much younger woman. The radiance and charm which built through her body was amazing, the second she turned up to face the three women, and they were women now, no matter how much she remembered them as younger girls.
"Kara, Alex, and Carol, I'm really glad that you could make it!" Eliza cried.
She moved in to give all of her daughters a hug. She lingered for a moment, arms wrapped around Kara's body. It was...a reminder of how much that Kara had grown since her and Jeremiah had taken her in. Shy, awkward, scared out of her mind, well that was many years ago.
"I'm glad I could make it too with everything that has been going on," Carol said.
"Yeah, me too," Alex said.
"Yeah, I am as well," Kara said. "There's really no excuse why I'm not here more often...other than the fact that Cat's grinding me hard at work and not in the good way."
"Well," Eliza said. "You three all have your responsibilities, and I'm just glad to have you here, when you are."
Carol, Alex, and Kara sat down on the couch and made themselves at home. The home that they all three had when they were younger. Eliza stepped into the kitchen to check a few things and she offered a sigh.
"Oh, I was hoping that I got everything for dinner, but I'm all out of of sauce and milk," Eliza said. "I don't know how these things happened."
Eliza moved over to grab her purse and turned to her three daughters.
"I'll come to the store with you," Kara said. "Or I can go myself...it shouldn't take me too long…."
"I appreciate it, but it's only going to take ten minutes," Eliza said. "Although it would be nice to have someone to talk to on the drive up."
Plus, Eliza thought it was just as well, as she wanted to have a chat with her youngest about her recent activities. She knew it was happening, but she did not expect it was going to happen this soon.
"We'll be back soon and then I can fix dinner," Eliza said.
Eliza and Kara stepped out the door to head up to the store. This left Carol and Alex alone in the living room, for the first time in a long time.
"So, you've been up to something else, haven't you?" Alex asked.
"Well, you have as well," Carol said. "But that doesn't mean that I haven't."
Both sisters had their secrets and it was time for them to hash out their tension. Alex smiled, them being alone couldn't be more perfect.
Sometimes, life did give you wonderful things.
To Be Continued.
