As Lena drained the vodka from her glass, she began to relax into the booth. The sharp rhythmic tapping of her black stiletto against the hardwood stilled, though her body still shuddered if anyone ventured too close to the table. She watched wistfully as the couples danced, laughed, and kissed across the bar. So free. The sight took Lena back to the last gift Lionel gave her before he died: a snow globe purchased on his final business trip to Russia. Two ballerinas glided through the St. Petersburg snow inside delicate, hand-painted porcelain with ease as a Tchaikovsky opus played. Painfully beautiful and too fragile to ever touch, Lillian took it away before the young Luthor could break it.

Wincing at the memory, Lena watched on as Kara interviewed a tall bearded man. The reporter spoke animatedly before adjusting her glasses self-consciously in the perfectly adorable way that made Lena's heart swell. Kara typed notes quickly into her phone, glancing down just briefly, mindful of the man's time. She grinned wide at something he said, glancing in the direction of their table.

Lena, encouraged by the dimness that shrouded the room and the seclusion of the booth, smiled back. She wanted desperately to drag herself out of the dark booth and run to Kara. To pull her away from the surely nice man, to dance with her, to kiss her in front of all these people. But she couldn't move. Instead, she stayed firmly in her seat where she was pulled out of her reverie by a bottle of beer sliding onto the table. Lena looked up in confusion to see a feminine redheaded woman in tight black jeans and a cropped white t-shirt.

She nodded toward the melting ice in Lena's glass. "Noticed yours was empty. Name's Ashley."

"Hi," Lena greeted somewhat stiffly. Her mind was racing. Would someone notice them? She certainly didn't want the attention, but how would she explain why? It suddenly felt wrong to lie. She rubbed her hands against the rough, raw denim on her thighs.

"You seem a bit out of place here." The blunt statement felt like a sucker punch and it must have showed, because the redhead backpedaled. "No, no—I just meant you're overdressed."

Lena glanced down at her Diane von Furstenberg blouse, covered by a flashy floral embroidered bomber of similar origin, boutique denim, and Jimmy Choos. Maybe it was too much for Pat's but it was a casual outfit by Luthor standards. She shrugged and sipped at melting ice through a straw. "I'm from out of town."

"Well, that's too bad." A beat. She tilted the beer bottle in her hand to gesture over her shoulder toward the bodies moving in sync. "Would you like to dance?"

"I…" She trailed off, but the sentence had limitless endings in her mind. I have a girlfriend. I can't be seen here. I don't do that anymore.

"It's okay, hon. I've danced with a straight girl before." Ashley soothed. "You just looked like you could use some company."

Lena gave her a tight smile in response. "Sure, why not?" The question was rhetorical, meant to display an ease she didn't feel. Still, her mind screamed with too many obvious answers in response.

As the pair made their way to the small dance floor, Lena recalled her clubbing days. The music was different but the principle was the same. Ashley led her through bodies toward the center of the room, rolling her hips to the music (an unidentifiable remix) at a close but respectful distance. It felt like second nature as old muscles reawakened at the feel of the bass pulsing in her feet. It wasn't long before a contented smile was sparkling across the previously stiff businesswoman's face as she lost herself in the music, forgetting her previous anxieties.

Maybe it wasn't so bad.

Beat after beat rattled in-between her ears and she was sure to have a headache by morning. (An unfortunate side effect of being decidedly not nineteen anymore.) Bodies gyrated all around as the patrons enjoyed the music and their shared community.

The brunette caught her new acquaintance's eye, watching as a mix of trepidation and amusement washed over the other woman's face when two familiar hands settled on her hips from behind. Lena froze for a moment. The fear she had just shaken came racing back, screaming: This can't happen. Not like this, not here. Not for everyone to see.

"Is this okay?" Kara asked, a perfect mirror of just hours earlier when her arms embraced the CEO in the shower. Except then, there was no one around to see Lena fall.

Lena gave a bashful smile to the redhead who grinned back as her hands brushed over Kara's forearms, pulling her closer before turning her head to meet her girlfriend's eye. She was safe. "Yeah."

"Let me know, okay?" Kara said, squeezing the brunette's hip for emphasis before beginning to move her body to the music. As Lena settled back into Kara's movements, her anxieties washed away. She felt no judgmental stares or lingering eyes, just the comforting weight of her girlfriend's arms.

The song ended and Lena turned in the reporter's arms, slowing their movements. Instead, they moved out of sync with the music that blared over the speakers as the brunette relaxed into Kara's arms, finally heaving a sigh of relief after the unrelenting tension of the night. Stress began to ease out of her heavy bones as she swayed gently with Kara, who leaned closer to ask, "How are you doing?"

Though her heart was racing and she could feel sweat beading in all the wrong places at the public display of intimacy, Lena responded in the affirmative with a kiss. The floor hadn't opened up to swallow her whole. The world didn't stop spinning. She was okay.

Kara pulled away, grinning wide and radiant. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Lena nodded shyly.

Kara - goofy, adorable Kara - lifted her off the ground into a bone-crushing hug, overwhelmed with excitement and pride. They both giggled as Kara placed her back down on the ground, leaning in for another joyful kiss.

—

When they returned to the house that night, Lena's hands were soft and reverent as she explored Kara's muscular frame; a supplicant to her tender god. There was nothing rushed about her movements as her fingertips traced Kara's jaw before pressing a series of chaste kisses along the same line, finally capturing her lips. Or, when she unbuttoned each individual button of Kara's shirt with the careful hand of an artisan.

Each touch felt heavy with emotion and strong enough to hold the weight. Moments froze in time, like they could last forever, and each woman wished it so. They moved in unison. Each caress and thrust reverberated twofold as their bodies tangled from head-to-toe, mirroring their pleasure unto one another.

When their trance finally broke, Kara came tumbling with a gasp, "I love you."

Lena looked back at her, all soft eyes and trepidation and unspoken words - like, are you sure and I love you too, but Kara was sure. Pulling her in for another kiss, Kara repeated herself - this time, with exigent sincerity. "I love you, Lena Luthor. I'm so glad I get to be here with you."

With a watery grin, Lena responded. Her heart was fuller than she thought possible. "I love you too."

Kara smiled, wide and sparkling. "Say it again."

"I love you," she whispered, their lips brushing in the small space between them before they sealed the declaration with a kiss. The couple fell once more into a heated embrace. By the time they woke, both women were sated and not particularly well rested. (When Lena glanced at the alarm clock somewhere around her fourth orgasm, it was just past three o'clock and Kara said don't worry about it.)

Stretching out stiff muscles, Kara felt her tendons release built up kinetic energy. She rolled back over to her girlfriend to pull the brunette in close, resting the woman's head on her chest. "What's for breakfast?" She sighed out, hungry.

"Good morning to you too," Lena laughed lightly, propping her head up on her elbow with a smirk. "Remember yesterday when I said bring food and you said I have snacks and I said you'll get hungry in the car and you said I'll be fine and then ate all of your snacks in the car?" Kara's eyes narrowed playfully. "No? Okay, well, we have coffee."

Kara groaned in response, dropping her head onto the pillow dramatically.

"Get dressed and we can go food shopping. I'll make coffee."

Lena rose from the bed with a brief kiss, not bothering to slip on her clothes again as she headed toward the kitchen to brew a fresh pot of coffee. When she returned to the bedroom with two hot cups, Kara was half asleep, disheveled as she lounged haphazardly across the mattress.

Her heart swelled at the sight. Adorable.

The blonde's tired features perked up at the scent. "Coffee?"

Lena raised an eyebrow, smiling as she handed over the beverage.

"I was showering in my dream," Kara defended, mumbling into the green mug.

Okay, so maybe she was less dreaming and more fantasizing about Lena in the shower again but…breakfast, right?

—

As the pair strolled through the produce section of the grocery store, Kara groaned. "What are going to do with kale for breakfast?"

"We need food."

"Exactly. That's not food." Obviously. Kara sped toward the pastry case as they escaped seemingly endless rows of fresh, nutritious foods. Grabbing excitedly at a strawberry frosted donut with multicolored sprinkles, she looked pointedly at her girlfriend as she placed it in a bag, "See? Breakfast."

They strolled through the rest of aisles as Lena selected sensible items like pasta and pre-canned marinara while Kara filled the cart with various snacks ("It's one day," Lena complained at the rising pile. "I'm hungry," Kara shrugged obviously.) until they reached the frozen food section, because Kara did not want to wait for anything that needed more than one-minute-and-thirty-seconds in the microwave. She could maybe be pressed to wait for a toaster, but that was pushing it. Lena drove the ominously full cart toward the breakfast items, the ravenous reporter's stomach leading the way.

"What were you thinking? Potatoes? Waffles? Burritos?" Kara asked absentmindedly over her shoulder as she lingered in front of the fully stocked freezer. "Lena?" She pressed as the other woman failed to respond.

When she turned her head, Lena was on the phone looking even paler than usual.

"…No, mother I haven't checked twitter…

"…Of course it's not true. That's ridiculous…

"…Yes, I know the gala is coming up. It's not as if I planned—

"…I'll come in right now."

The freezer door hung open as Kara stared at a version of her girlfriend she'd never seen before. She was cold; colder than Lena Luthor, Director of Research and Development. This was a much more carefully crafted version and she had armor suited to survive a nuclear war. It bordered on sexy - not that Lena needed to do much for that - but Kara's concern won out. She looked on, trepidatious.

The businesswoman slid her phone in her purse and looked up. "That was Lillian." Start with the obvious, the easy part. "Someone took a picture of me last night. They…well, they recognized me. I have to go back to the city."

And Kara knew what that meant. It meant I'm leaving and I'm not coming back, so she asked what seemed like the most important question in the world at the time. "What about breakfast?" Can you stay just a little bit longer?

Lena started to look like her Lena again, no hard edges just watery eyes and pure softness. "I can't. I'm sorry."

Kara nodded as a lump formed in her throat. Everything felt so final. Even the thought of closing the freezer door seemed impossible, as if the act alone would shatter her. "Um, I love you, okay?"

And suddenly, Lena was paying for a cartful of groceries she was never going to eat and Kara wasn't sure she would either.