Jess follows Kara around the store morosely. The cart squeaks with each corner they take, and with each item that is tossed inside the cart Jess takes a deep breath to prevent herself from getting diabetes just from looking at what Kara is picking up. She definitely shouldn't criticize her boss' partner's snack choices.
"Kara, are you sure we need this many snacks?" Jess imagines that this is what she would feel like if she was the mom of a very stubborn toddler.
Kara stops when she hears Jess' question and evaluates the amount of food in the cart. They may have grabbed more than just a little bit of cheese.
"Oops. We should probably go check out before I buy the whole store."
Jess gives her a look that says, 'you think?'
Kara can sense that Jess is in a bad mood and works to begin rectifying that. "Can I get you something in particular?"
"No thank you, Kara."
Well, that didn't work. "Do you have any plans for the weekend?"
"Not really."
This is not easy. Well, if she can't get on her good side, she can at least badger her for advice. "Do you think Lena actually has a problem with me moving in but doesn't want to say it?"
For the first time since they left the penthouse, Jess actually takes more than just a glance at Kara. She isn't really sure how the other woman's brain works for her to go from awkward small talk to deep personal questions. "What makes you ask?"
Kara begins to fidget, picking at the skin around her nails nervously. "I guess I'm just worried that she is only letting me stay out of pity and that I'm just sort of…" She struggles to find the right words. "…encroaching on her space and she is too nice to just tell me to go find somewhere else to go quickly."
Jess stops the cart. She is far too tired to be dealing with this, but Lena is a dear friend and if that means she has to reassure her golden retriever girlfriend then that is what she will do.
"Honestly Kara, I don't think that it is an issue at all." She watches Kara look up at her hopefully. She is pretty cute, she can see why Lena likes her, when she's not talking at least. "Lena has only ever let one person have unrestricted access to her and that is you. She has always told me that if she has visitors I have to come in with an excuse to end the visit after 45 minutes because she can't tolerate it for longer than that, but she told me not to do that with you."
Kara scrunches her nose slightly. "I'll have to talk to her about that 45 minute thing."
"What I'm trying to say is that you are the only person she not only tolerates being around her for long periods of time but also enjoys being around." Jess smiles at her softly when Kara ducks her head as her cheeks flush.
"Thanks Jess, that really helped me feel better. I guess I will just talk to Lena about it anyway to make sure we are on the same page still."
Jess carries on walking, "she once told me social interactions make her feel drained but after your visits she is always ten times happier than she was before. You don't drain her, you make her feel invigorated."
Kara smiles brightly and is about to respond when she sees something out of the corner of her eye.
There is a camera poking out around the corner of the aisle, pointing right at her. She takes a second to understand what she is looking at and when she does she taps Jess' arm and points at it. When she does it is clear that the owner of the camera knows they just got made because they whip it back around the corner quickly.
She follows it, heading over to where she saw it. Jess right beside her.
"Did you see that too?"
"Yep, is it a good idea to go after it?"
They keep on moving, reaching the end of the aisle and looking both ways. They see a man dressed in all black with a baseball cap on and a camera in hand duck into another aisle a little ways ahead of them, glancing back over his shoulder with wide eyes when he sees them coming after him.
"Probably not so we won't tell Lena that we did."
"Deal."
They ditch the cart, they can always come back for it in a few minutes after all. They turn their heads as they pass each aisle, looking for the one the camera man turned down.
There is no way he isn't shady because you don't run unless you're doing something bad.
They reach the end of the store and the last aisle and find it empty, so they head back the other way, still searching for the man but alas he appears to have escaped.
"Can we both agree that dude was definitely up to something bad?" Kara scratches her head in confusion at the scene that just occurred.
Jess looks equally perplexed, that is a new one for her. "Yeah, let's just go get the cart and check out. I don't want to stay any longer than I have to with a psycho on the loose."
"Ok, let's go."
They immediately head back to where they left the cart, still swivelling their head down each aisle as they pass it but not expecting to see him. He's long gone.
Within a couple of minutes, they are back at the cart but what is strange is that it has been messed with. The snacks have obviously been rearranged into an order where everything is clearly visible.
"Oh god, that's super creepy." Jess doesn't even want to touch the cart now. "I think he came back and took a picture of what was in the cart. He was certainly taking a picture of you."
Kara stands wide eyed, looking between the cart and Jess frantically. "Me? He could be after you."
"You're the weird one, it's unquestionably you." Jess is absolutely convinced, she is relatively normal whereas Kara is more…eccentric.
Kara pushes the cart away from them. "I'm not taking that now, let's just go back."
"That's for the best, he might have put a tracker in your Oreos or something." They make their way out of the grocery store, eyes on look out for anything odd.
"Don't say that!"
The door is pushed open quickly and locked behind them. Jess and Kara share a look of relief at being back before heading into the living room.
"Hey guys, you took longer than I thought you would. Where's the charcuterie board?" Alex smiles up at them from the couch.
Kara sits next to Lena, acknowledging their other friends now that they have arrived. Nia and Brainy are sat together on the couch and Winn and James are on the floor in front of the coffee table.
"We were…um…just trying to find one, they didn't have one, so we just came back. Right, Jess?" She shoots her a pointed look. She doesn't want to worry everyone and would rather just tell Lena and Alex in private.
Jess sits next to Alex. "Yeah, I convinced her not to just fill the cart with garbage instead."
"Oreos are not garbage."
"I beg to differ."
Kara turns to Lena, who looks a little worried. "I'm never going grocery shopping with Jess again."
Jess calls from the other side of the room. "Good."
The others are looking between the two like they are watching a verbal table tennis match.
Alex let's out a long drawn out, "Right."
She takes a sip of her drink and prepares the game Jess picked out earlier. Monopoly is going to get everyone tearing each other to pieces very quickly so it should be fun to watch at least, if not to play.
They jump right in, Kara and Jess exchanging looks every now and again that Lena pretends that she doesn't see and that it doesn't bother her until Kara excuses herself to get a drink and asks Lena to help her.
They reach the kitchen in record time and Lena leans into Kara. "What's going on? I can tell that something is happening, and you don't want to tell me for some reason."
Kara holds her hands out. "I know, you know. I just wanted to wait until we could get away from the others."
Lena takes Kara's hands in hers, angling their bodies away from their friends as they keep on playing, ignoring them since they went bankrupt a while ago. "Did something happen at the store?"
"There was a guy trying to take pictures of us and when he we spotted him he made a break for it. All I could see was that he was wearing all black and had a baseball cap on."
Lena gasps, immediately checking Kara over to make sure there isn't so much as a hair out of place. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"No, nothing like that but we checked the store after to see if we could see him but couldn't find him and when we got back to our cart it had been messed with." Kara tries to reassure Lena that she is alright, rubbing her forearms soothingly.
Lena scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. "Messed with in what way?"
"Like it had been laid out so he could take a picture of what was inside. We left it there in case he did anything else to it."
Lena brings her hand to her head, raking her fingers through it from the stress. This fully confirms what Alex had theorized earlier. Someone is after Kara.
She goes to answer but they are interrupted by James.
"Hey ladies, what are you doing hiding over here?" He comes up behind them, placing an arm over each of their shoulders.
Lena immediately shrugs it off, so he puts a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "Well, I never."
"We're avoiding you, can't you tell?" Kara laughs, her smile wide but ingenuine. Lena can tell she is still shaken from what happened but is putting on a brave face for the sake of the group. James takes it all at face value.
"Alright, I can see where I'm not wanted." He turns away dramatically, sauntering off but shooting them a smile over his shoulder to show he was only kidding.
Lena wants to find out more about what happened, but Kara is already pouring them more drinks and dragging her back over to the others by her hand, this time dropping them down next to Jess and Alex.
Kara is directly next to Jess and whispers to her. "I told Lena, did you tell Alex?"
"Yes, I'm really glad that's what that strange wide-eyed eyebrow raise meant, it was very baffling to decipher." Jess elbows Alex lightly to get her to join the conversation.
"Kara Danvers, you are never allowed outside ever again, do you hear me?" Alex points a finger at her and she looks to Lena for help but instead she gets betrayed.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm ready to keep you hostage in here with me forever. At least I know you are safe here because of how much security I have downstairs." Lena keeps a tight grip of her hand on kara's thigh.
It is a clear sign that Lena is feeling scared and stressed about the situation and that fact alone makes Kara feel bad, despite knowing that it isn't totally her fault, but Kara does enjoy the feeling of Lena's hand nevertheless as it helps to keep her grounded and calm.
Kara sulks back into the couch. "At least I can add this to my article."
Lena, Alex and Jess all look at her like she has two heads.
Alex jams her elbow into her ribs. "Want to fill us in on that?"
Kara sends her a puzzled stare. "What?"
"The article, dummy. Do you think it's related?"
"Oh!" It clicks in Kara's mind. Today has been stressful so she has a reason to be a little off. "It's about a new deal made between Maxwell Lord and the government. According to a few inside sources, they are working together to use prisoners for human testing for his science projects."
Lena scoffs, disgusted. "I'm going to guess that they aren't about to give the prisoners a choice in the matter for the government are hiding the deal? That's morally reprehensible."
Kara points at her. "Gold star for Lena. I talked to a few past employees, and it has all been building up for the past few years. They are planning on opening a new prison designed with a science lab and only transfer prisoners with life sentences there that have never had any previous visitors and familial contact, so they don't get exposed by their relatives."
Jess shakes her head, visibly outraged. "That's sick."
"I know, that's why I was doing an article to expose them, but someone must have reported back to Maxwell Lord that I was planning on outing his plan."
The other three women sink back into the couch too, joining Kara in her sulking.
"I don't think it was any of my sources, I didn't get a read on any of them that would suggest that they were still working for Lord, and I like to think I'm pretty good at deciphering people." Kara says with an even tone.
Alex leans back forward again. "So, the only other people that knew about the article would be your co-workers at CatCo. That gives us a place to start looking."
Before they could ask her what she is looking for they get interrupted by Nia whooping across the room, having won the game. "I win! Come on guys, you can gossip later, I want to do Pictionary next!"
They join the others, putting on fake smiles. Lena leans over and whispers into Alex and Jess' ears. "If Maxwell is working with the government then this is going to be really bad, I'm going to need both of you to help me if we are going to stand a chance at keeping Kara safe."
They nod quickly in agreeance before they are rapidly dragged into a competitive game of Pictionary.
