Kara smiled as she sat down in her usual spot at the lunch table. The entrée was macaroni and beef, one of her favorites. With the yeast roll, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the tatter tots and the cup of orange juice, it was almost enough carbs to last her through her next class. With a little luck, she might make it through the day without a glare from Ms. Fulton for eating in class. Well, probably not. She had a habit of eating when she was bored, and Ms. Fulton was probably the only person in the universe who could make multivariable calculus boring, so it wasn't really Kara's fault.

She used her spoon to mix up the pasta and sauce as she looked around for Alex. She spotted her at the back of the lunch line, and sighed, knowing it would be a few minutes before Alex got to the table. It shouldn't be a big deal, but she always wanted every minute she could get with Alex.

She has just taken her first bite of her food, when someone sat down across from her. She looked up to see Grant, and her first thought was that he was sitting in Alex's spot. Her second was that it was rude for him to sit down without being asked.

"Hey, again," Grant said.

"Hello," Kara said without any real enthusiasm. A point Grant seemed to miss.

"So, Alex is your sister, huh?"

"Yeah," Kara said. "How'd you know?"

"I kind of asked around. I thought I might have gotten between you and your girlfriend."

"No," Kara said, feeling a little sick to her stomach suddenly, because she was afraid he had figured out her secret. That she wanted Alex to be her girlfriend. More than her girlfriend, really, because a bond mate was so much more than just a romantic partner. They were a partner in all things, a companion, a true life mate. Kara had accepted that Alex would never fill that roll for her, no matter how much she wanted her too, but if Grant had figured out how she felt, and said something to Alex, it might destroy the relationship they'd built over the last few months.

"She's kind of scary, you know."

"That's one of the things I like best about her."

Grant laughed, and Kara wished she had Alex's gift for making people go away. It wasn't that she had anything against him, he seemed nice enough, but Kara really wasn't interested in making a friend she couldn't be honest with. She had Alex, and maybe it wasn't the healthiest thing in the world, but she didn't want anyone who would take time away from that.

"So, um… You don't have a boyfriend, do you? Or a girlfriend?"

"Uh, no," Kara said. "Social outcast, remember."

"You did mention that. I guess I'm just having a hard time believing it. A girl as pretty as you, who's also a really good artists."

Kara forced a smile, because that's what you were supposed to do when someone paid you a compliment, but honestly, it made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She had always liked it when Kenny had given her compliments, but he had known her. Grant didn't. Something made painfully obvious by the fact that he kept talking about how pretty she was. It wasn't that Kara was unaware of how attractive she was. It was that back on Krypton, complimenting someone on their physical appearance was… Not rude, exactly, but it would be as strange as complementing someone on the fact that they had ten fingers and ten toes. It was a function of genetics rather than personal achievement. His comment on her artistic skill was more appropriate, but the way it came as an afterthought to her appearance was off putting. She knew he meant well, but she wished he would leave her alone. She glanced over to see where Alex was, and felt relieved to see that she was at the register, paying for her food. Hopefully, Alex could get rid of him without causing offense.

"So, would you like to go out with me sometime? You know, on a date."

"What?" Kara asked, wincing at how loud her voice was. "No."

Kara knew she'd said the wrong thing, or at least, had said the right thing the wrong way, from the look on Grant's face. There was shock, disbelief, hurt and anger there, and she hated seeing it and knowing she was responsible, but she'd been so surprised she's just kind of panicked.

"Why not?" Grant asked. Well, demanded really.

Kara stared at him, panic rising as she tried to come up with a reason that she didn't want to go out with him that wouldn't offend him. It wasn't like she could tell him the truth. That she was in love with Alex and didn't want to do anything that would take away from the time they had together before Alex went off to college. She needed something that wasn't personal. Something that would preclude him as a romantic partner, without being his fault. Her first thought was to tell him she was already dating someone, but that wouldn't work because she told him she didn't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, which was a shame because he'd seemed willing enough to back off when he thought Alex was her girlfriend.

Wait! That was it! It was perfect!

"I prefer girls," Kara said. It was only after the words were out of her mouth that she noticed how quiet the cafeteria was. She looked around, her stomach filling with dread as she realized everyone was looking at her. She turned, looking for Alex, and found her standing behind Grant.

"You're in my seat," Alex growled. Grant took one look at her and scrambled to his feet, grabbing is tray and backing away from the table. Alex sat down, and Kara looked down at her plate, not sure if she could take it if she saw disappointment or disgust in Alex's eyes. She wished, for a moment, that she was back on Krypton, where no one cared about stupid human things like gender and sexuality, where bond mates were chosen based on compatibility, and benefit to their families. Back in a place where the matricomp would review your psychological gestalt, genetic profile, and familial needs, and chose a partner, and no one would question the bond. She wanted to reach for her sketchbook, to look at the moments she'd committed to paper, to relive the moments where she could disappear into the fantasy that Alex would love her and long for her the way she loved and longed for Alex. Instead, she was faced with the possibility that her dream was about to be shattered. That Alex would finally, decisively reject her.

Before she could fall to deep into her fear, she felt Alex kick her foot, and she looked up at Alex. Alex smiled at her and the fear disappeared as quickly as it came. She still had Alex, and as long as she did, Kara knew everything would be okay.

Alex waited by the bike rack as Kara came down the steps in front of the school towards. Kara smiled at her, and gave a little wave, and Alex felt the same little flutter in her chest she always did when Kara smiled at her. She couldn't help but smile back, because seeing Kara smiling and happy always made her feel like smiling. When Kara reached the bike rack, Alex fell in beside her and they started the walk home.

The walk was quiet, which was unusual for them. They usually talked the whole way home, but there was a strange tension in the air between them. Alex had a pretty good idea what was causing it. She's seen how Kara had looked away after Alex, and most of the rest of the school, had overheard her confession. She wanted to reassure Kara, but she wasn't sure what to say, or even how she felt about it.

She was surprised. She knew that. Kara had told her she'd wanted to kiss Kenny, so finding out Kara was gay was kind of a shock. She also couldn't figure out why Kara hadn't told her before, and if she were honest, it hurt a little bit. The same way that it hurt to be shut out of Kara's sketchbooks. She wanted to be close to Kara, to share everything with her, but she kept finding little places where Kara was holding back, and she didn't understand why.

She could feel the tension growing as they approached the bridge. Kara kept glancing over at her like she wanted to say something, but was scared, and Alex knew that no matter how hurt she was by Kara holding back, she couldn't let Kara think she was upset.

"So, girls, huh?"

"Yeah," Kara said. "Is that okay?"

Alex looked over at Kara. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

Kara shrugged. "Humans are weird."

"Humans are weird?"

"Yeah. You're all so stuck on gender and sexuality and it doesn't really make any sense to me. Back home, people were just people."

"But you're a girl. Clark is a man."

"Yeah, but that meant different things back home," Kara said.

"What do you mean?"

"You remember when I was first learning English, I would blush all the time?"

"Yes."

"You remember how I would always say 'they' instead of he or she?"

"Yeah, that was weird."

"He and she were considered intimate terms on Krypton. You would never use gendered pronouns with someone in public. It would be like discussing someone's... parts."

"Oh. Okay, the blushing makes a lot more sense now."

"Yeah. But like I said, humans are very… in your face about what... parts a person has. And they think that has some effect on what a person is qualified to do, or who you should bond with. It's all very weird, and kind of barbaric."

"Oh, so we're barbarians now?" Alex asked.

"No! Just…"

Alex couldn't help but smile as she watched Kara squirm as she tried to think of a word that wouldn't be a little offensive.

"Preoccupied with anatomy," Kara finally blurted out.

"So, what, no one had a preference back on Krypton?"

"Of course they did. The same way some people preferred twellian jam and some people preferred scarlet berry jam. It was just something private. Marriage was a public relationship. It was about partnership and companionship and family and community, but here, marriage and… stuff are all tied up together. People expect their bond mates to be their physical partners too, and that makes it a lot harder."

"You mean, on Krypton, marriage people didn't have sex?"

Kara blushed a little at the word, but she shrugged. "Not always. I know uncle Jor and aunt Lara did, because Clark was a natural birth. I don't know if my parents did. I was a matrix birth. I know my mother had a lover named Lyssa Cor-Vex."

"Your mom was gay?"

Kara frowned and shook her head. "Being gay is a human concept. Being bisexual is a human concept. Being straight is a human concept. My mother was Kryptonian, so no she wasn't gay. She might have preferred female lovers, but that preference wasn't a part of her identity the way it would be here on Earth."

"But what about your dad?"

"What about him?"

"Didn't he care that your mom had a girlfriend?"

"Why would he?"

"Because she was cheating on him!"

"She was not!" Kara said. "Marriages worked differently on Krypton. It was acceptable for people to take lovers, as long as it was discreet. Besides, I have no idea if my mother and father were lovers. I only know about Lyssa by accident. I came home from lessons early one day and saw then kissing in the doorway to my mother's bed chamber."

Alex stared at Kara for a minute as the walked. "Is that what you want? A marriage like that?"

"No. Not really. I… I always wanted a marriage like uncle Jor and aunt Lara. That's why…" Kara stopped, and Alex could see color rising in her cheeks.

"Why, what?"

"I had a friend. Thara Ak-Var. I went to my father and asked him to arrange a betrothal."

"You were married?"

"No. I know that mother and father had met with Ak-Var and Tes, but Krypton was destroyed before we were of age for a formal betrothal."

"But you wanted to marry a girl?"

"Yeah," Kara said. "Thara was my best friend. We knew each other so well we could finish each other's thoughts. We worked well together, we enjoyed each other's company, we made each other laugh. I don't think I have ever been closer to someone than I was to Thara. At least, not until you and I started getting along."

Alex looked away from Kara and tried not to think about how that sounded. She had to be misinterpreting it, but it almost sounded as if she was saying she was closer to Alex than the girl she wanted to marry. That couldn't be right. But Thara might explain why Kara was so secretive about those sketchbooks. Was she filling their pages with drawings of the girl she had cared about before Krypton died? It would make sense, if it was something she'd been afraid to talk about, because she was afraid she might be rejected because of it, but she had more questions now than she did at the start of the conversation.

"If you're saying gender didn't matter on Krypton, then why did you tell Grant you prefer girls?"

"Because I do," Kara said.

"But what about Kenny?"

"Kenny was an exception."

"Why?"

Kara looked at her for a minute. "Promise not to get offended?"

"You're about to insult humans again, aren't you?"

"Just some of them."

Alex rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop smiling. "If you must."

"Human boys aren't good at the things Kryptonians want in a bond mate," Kara said. "On Krypton, relationships were partnerships. They weren't about lust and passion. They were about people coming together, sharing burdens, caring for each other in times of need. Your bond mate is meant to be a source of strength and comfort. Most human boys aren't good at those things. Kenny was an exception, but your culture doesn't prioritize teaching boys those skills. You socialize women to do all the emotional labor, and I don't want a bond mate who can't return the same kind of support I would give them."

Alex thought about what Kara said, and honestly, she couldn't disagree with it. She knew some guys were actually supportive and kind, but aside from her dad and Kenny, she was having a really hard time thinking of any. But if Kara was just looking for someone who could be emotionally supportive, that did leave one question.

"What about the physical stuff?" Alex asked.

"What about it?" Kara asked.

"You want that with girls?"

"Yeah. I mean, if it was just physical stuff, I wouldn't care either way. But it's like I said. Human culture ties the physical stuff to marriage. It comes as a package here. So, if I can only get both if I'm with a girl, then I'm okay with that."

"Why did you tell Grant?" Alex asked.

"I wanted him to leave me alone," Kara said. "I thought… I thought if I told him I prefer girls it would be less of a big deal because it wouldn't be personal."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Kara looked away from her, and Alex felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Didn't Kara trust her?

"Kara?"

"Can we talk about it later?" Kara asked.

"Why?" Alex asked.

Kara stopped walking and looked down at the ground. "Can we talk about it later? Please?"

Alex wrapped an arm around Kara. "Okay," she said.

Kara leaned into her. "I love you."

"I love you too," Alex said.

It was a moment or two before they started walking again, but the whole way home, Alex wondered what Kara was so afraid of.