The door creaked as Lena opened it. The room was dark and quiet, so Lena presumed the sisters were still asleep. Lena placed the tray she was carrying on top of the chest of draws, and tip-toed across to close the curtains.
"Lena?"
"I - oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Lena said. If she'd been asked, she wasn't entirely sure she could articulate why she had come back to the hotel. Her house was warm, she had plenty to do, and Mary could have taken care of their guests. Yet Lena had walked back down to town in the dark and the cold, just to check on the Danvers sisters.
"It's all right," Kara said, propping herself up and flicking on the bedside lamp. "What's the time?"
"Just past six o'clock in the evening. It's still Tuesday, you haven't slept for a whole day or anything," Lena replied, giving what she hoped was an encouraging smile. It had taken almost an hour from the time the Lena had brought the Danvers sisters into the hotel to getting them both tucked up in bed. Mary had found them nightgowns and something warm from the large collection of lost and found items they had at the hotel.
Kara nodded and looked around the room. The furniture and decor of the room was somewhat dated but in good condition, and the room felt cosy and warm, with extra blankets on the beds and the ashes of a small fire glowing in the hearth. Kara rubbed her eyes and sat up properly. Her hair was a mess, but there was colour in her cheeks, and something about the slightly-too-big knitted red cardigan she was wearing over her nightgown made Lena smile.
"Alex?" Kara said, looking at her sister in the next bed. "Hey, Alex?"
"Mmm…" Alex groaned. Lena and Mary and washed the lacerations on Alex's hands and knees with alcohol and bandaged them as best they could. She'd been shivering, her breath had been raspy and irregular, and she had fighting to remain conscious throughout. Alex's condition had frightened Lena, but Kara pleaded for them not to call for the doctor. Lena had compromised that if Alex's condition didn't improve overnight, she'd call the doctor in the morning, as she had no intention of calling the mortician.
Kara grinned in relief at hearing her sister's voice. "I think it's dinner time?" she as much to Lena as to Alex, looking at the tray on the draws.
"And fresh hot water bottles," Lena said, handing them out. "The other ones have probably gone cold. Plus, I thought you'd be hungry. I asked Mary to make you something nice and simple. It's beef bone broth with a couple of vegetables and some bread and butter. And tea, of course. Hot and strong. I didn't want you to go all night without anything to eat."
Kara grinned. "I am famished."
"Don't get up," Lena said, bringing the tray over to Kara. She flicked out the legs from under the tray so it sat over Kara's lap without resting on her legs. "Sorry there's only one tray, but I wasn't sure how much Alex would want."
"Alex, you have to eat something," Kara said, pouring a cup of tea, and taking the lid off the big bowl of soup.
Alex mumbled in reply.
"I'll leave you to it," Lena said, making for the door.
"Stay," Kara said and smiled. "Please."
Kara's smile made Lena feel warmer than a hot bath or a warm fire after a walk in the wind, and she smiled back.
"Tell me about this place. Where are we?" Kara said, generously buttering a slice of bread. There were no food rations in Ireland, and Lena wondered when Kara had last had access to so much butter.
"Luthorsport," Lena replied.
"In Ireland? Guessing by your accent," Kara said.
"Yes," Lena said. "How did you end up here?"
"We got - lost," Alex mumbled, her words muffled by the blankets half-covering her face.
Kara nodded, focussed on the food, and held out a saucer with the well-buttered bread, and one of the cups of tea. "Could you pass this to Alex?" Kara asked.
Lena took the plate and cup and put them on the bedside table beside Alex. Alex mumbled something incoherent.
"Yes, you usually are the 'mom'," Kara said, "But right now you're sick and injured and I know exactly how stubborn you are, but you have to sit up and have something to eat and drink, or I'm coming over there and feeding it to you."
Alex mumbled again, then pushed the covers back from her head. Even in the golden lamp-light, she looked pale and sickly. She pulled a face at Kara, and Kara smiled innocently back. Lena wasn't sure if she should stay. It all felt too close, too intimate.
"Tell us about Luthorsport," Kara said, dipping a slice of bread into the broth. "Are you named after the town? You were called Miss Luthor by Mary earlier, right?"
"The town's named after my family, actually."
"Well you better sit down and tell us all about it," Kara said, stuffing the broth-soaked bread into her mouth, and pouring herself a cup of tea.
Lena sat down on the wooden seat by the door. "My great-grandfather, well, my family owns roughly a third of the county, including most of Luthorsport. Years ago though, the town was just a couple of fishermen's huts, and they only lived here for half the year. My great-grandfather realised that the only reason they left during the winter months was because there was nowhere safe to keep their boats, and the rocks were too treacherous during the winter storms."
"Tell me about it," Alex said, propping herself up and reaching for the tea with trembling hands.
Lena knew a number of stories of people having died due to those rocks, and she wanted desperately to know how Alex had survived, how Kara had found her and saved her, but she decided that story could wait.
"So my great-grandfather build the port," Lena continued, happy to have a captive audience. "Within a couple of years, there were year-round residents of Luthorsport, and a few years after that, my great-grandfather founded the building of St Peter's church, and the lighthouse. My grandfather saw to the train line from Dublin being extended out here, as well as connecting the town to the telegram exchange, and built this hotel as the trains, as well as taking fish to market, brought tourists in the summer. My father got the town linked to electricity and telephone line. And now it's all mine. Well, not all of the town. About half. I keep it running, as it were."
"And you live here?" Kara asked with her mouth full.
"Yes. Well, not in the hotel," Lena said, "Just up the road a little further. I have a house. The family home, or country manor, rather, is is bit big and empty for one person."
"Do you have any family?"
"Only one brother. He - doesn't live here anymore. What about you?" she asked, eager to change the subject.
"Have you ever been to America?" Kara asked.
"Once. When I was 19. I went with my father and step-mother to New York and Gotham City. My father had business matters to see to, so Lillian and I went shopping and to the theatre and museums and parks and all that. It was quite an adventure, really," Lena said.
"That would have been wonderful. You'll have to tell me more about what you did in Gotham, because we've been there a few times too," Kara said. It was seldom that people cared about Lena's travel stories, and Lena wasn't sure if Kara was a very good actress, or genuinely interested. "We're from National City. Outside of National City, actually. Not that I've seen much of it, but I think our town was a bit like this," Kara went on, happy to talk now that she had a full stomach. "Similar size, on the edge of a lake - "
"Luthorsport's on the edge of the Atlantic, so you know, a rather massive lake…"
Kara laughed. Lena smiled.
"You'll have to tell me more about. All your adventures. But maybe another night?" Lena asked, looking at Alex who had laid back down and closed her eyes.
Kara looked across to Alex, "Definitely. And I'm guessing you have more stories too for another night."
Lena nodded and stood up. "I'll take this. I hope you have a good night's sleep."
"You too," Kara said, as Lena collected the crockery and piled up the tray. "Thank-you, really. For taking us in. For helping us, and feeding us. Finding us clothes. And blankets. And the hot water bottles."
"It's what anyone would have done," Lena said, feeling herself blush at the praise.
"It's isn't though," Kara said, her soft blue eyes watching Lena.
"It is around here," Lena argued gently. "Goodnight, Kara."
"Goodnight Lena."
Lena closed the door with her foot, and couldn't explain why, but as soon as she was alone, she felt as though she could cry.