To Kara's surprise, Lena was eager to start another project. And thankfully, Hollywood was banging down her door to do so. Resigning herself to only serious roles at this point - having gotten the delicious taste of an Academy Award - Lena was picky. Eventually, she chose a script, and shortly after, began work in the studio on what she hoped would be her next piece of art. Kara herself continued to work long hours on her show, and their work continued for several weeks before their busy schedules finally started to clash.

"Hey," Lena said softly, gently grabbing her partner's wrist before the girl slipped away into the bedroom to crash after a ridiculously long day of shooting. "Can we talk?"

Kara hadn't said much upon arriving home. She seemed to be pretty much out of it the moment she walked through the door. She would've looked tired if it weren't for all the stage makeup she was wearing (which she hated more than anything). In fact, she was exhausted.

When Lena asked to talk, Kara let out a heavy sigh and whined, "Now?"

"Yeah…"

Rubbing her temples, Kara sat back down on the couch and stared off at the wall, waiting for the speech that was to come. Knowing full well she didn't have the energy to deal with some kind of conflict, she braced herself for a rough rest of her night. Surely, any conversation that started with 'Can we talk?' wasn't going to be pleasant.

"I feel like we never see each other," Lena started, sitting beside her partner on the couch.

Kara sighed again.

"Haven't you noticed?" Lena asked, the words coming out meek and almost shy. "Doesn't it bother you?"

The blonde thought about this for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"Don't nitpick my words, Lena," Kara huffed. "It's one in the morning."

"I'm sorry," Lena blurted, annoyed but not wanting to lose her partner's attention. "I'm not trying to nitpick at all. Honestly, I'm bringing it up because I was wondering if you wanted tot ry to have lunch sometime this week between shoots."

"You know I eat in between sets and never know when that's going to be."

Searching Kara's face, Lena looked melancholy, the realization that the pressure of fame was starting to crush her partner.

"Well… I can take my lunch whenever I want. I'll make them wait. You just text me when you're taking a break, okay?"

"I'm not going to have time to—"

"Okay, Kara," Lena said, finally losing her cool. "I just thought you'd want to spend some time with me. I wasn't expecting Hollywood to suck you dry like a vampire."

"Lena—" Kara tried, the girl's words stinging deep in her chest.

But the star shook her head and rose to her feet, walking to the bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Collapsing sideways onto the couch with a pillow over her face, Kara let exhaustion take the frustration away as she fell asleep.

The blonde woke up about an hour later feeling at least a little less hazy, but as soon she opened her eyes, the pang of guilt hit her in the gut again. For the first time, she found herself wanting an easy way out. And why not? Everyone else in the industry seemed to endorse it. What would a few drinks hurt? What would a bleary daze of alcohol hurt anyone, anyway?

Kara shook her head rapidly, tearing herself from the thought and scolding herself for entertaining it in the first place. No way. She'd seen what easy answers had done to her partner and knew better.

But it certainly made her mindful of her own emotions. She must've been extremely upset to be considering numbing the frustration she was feeling. So instead of looking for a quick fix, Kara took a deep breath and stood up, quietly entering the bedroom. At first, she just watched Lena sleep for a little while, enjoying the sight of the girl looking peaceful and untroubled. The furrowed brow she had worn earlier that night had faded, and all of her muscles were relaxed in that moment, undoubtedly lulled into peace by her dreams.

Kara sat down on the bed beside her partner and placed her hand on Lena's abdomen. When Lena let out a soft whimper, the troubled expression returning, Kara felt her heartbeat hiccup. With a gentle, careful touch, Kara slid her hand up under the hem of the girl's tank top and slowly rubbed the girl's toned stomach in wide circles, making Lena's expression relax again. Of course, the blonde had come to apologize, but now that enticing hints of her lover's body were on display, she found her heart racing.

Biting her lip and considering her next move, Kara stared down at the sleeping star in her bed and shivered. Eventually, the blonde's hand snuck south, just under the waistband of Lena's panties, just barely brushing the skin there.

The teasing circles continued to soothe her until eventually, Lena's hand slid over Kara's and gently pushed it further south, into her panties, signaling to her partner that she'd woken up.

Breath hitching, Kara's fingers made very different but equally smooth circles, this time over and around Lena's clit.

When Lena suddenly jerked her down and kissed her hard, her eyes snapping open, Kara kissed back.

Only as Lena pulled away did Kara whisper, "I'm sorry."

Lena shook her head.

"No, really. I'm sorry," Kara repeated, holding Lena away when she tried to move in for another kiss. "I'd love to have lunch tomorrow."

This earned a broad smile from Lena, who finally spoke, "Really?"

"Mhmm," the blonde hummed, leaning back in to kiss her partner's full, wet, waiting lips.

Excitement and relief tingled through Lena's veins as she hugged the younger girl tightly, nuzzling her neck. Kara responded by sliding her hands over Lena's sides and moving her lips over her lover's neck, sucking lightly on the skin there.

"No marks!" Lena yelped, when Kara bit down.

Giggling, Kara returned, "Makeup."

But Lena shook her head and pushed the girl away, scowling at her and saying, "Nuh-uh."

"Fine," the blonde huffed, letting her lips connect with Lena's to kiss her slowly.

This lasted a while until eventually, Kara's hand snaked back down into Lena's panties and continued their previous movements. This went on for just a few minutes before Lena's core erupted in climax, soaking Kara's fingers when they slipped into her sex. Feeling the fluttering of her lover's walls made the blonde's body temperature rise what felt like ten degrees, but she didn't stop until Lena let out a final high-pitched whine as her thighs shook from the explosive orgasm.

"I love you," Lena breathed.

Kara nodded and kissed her hard, whispering, "I love you, too, darling."

~!~!~

The next day was packed with an intense, heavy workload for both of them, but Kara made good on her word and texted Lena as soon as she had a break in shooting. The two met up at a popular, elite cafe downtown and had lunch together. Paparazzi, of course, didn't miss the memo that the stars were out and about together, but the girls ignored them to the best of their ability.

Sitting across from her partner at the table, holding her hand, Lena realized that she was falling more and more in love with Kara with every passing moment. Sure, they had their spats, disagreements, and misunderstandings, but they always listened and worked things out. They supported each other. And that was priceless.

Of course, Kara was feeling and thinking much of the same, her stomach erupting with butterflies as Lena looked at her lovingly.

Their playful banter and enjoyable chit-chat continued over the meal until, very suddenly, Kara dropped her glass of water on the stone floor of the outdoor patio with a crash. As the glass shattered, Lena jumped slightly in her seat from shock, but seeing Kara's eyes lock onto something behind her, the celebrity whipped her head around to see the catalyst for Kara's reaction.

"What?" Lena asked, turning back to her partner and finding her still staring blankly, at what, she wasn't sure. "What's wrong, honey?"

"N-N-Nia," Kara blurted, not tearing her eyes away.

To the blonde's horror, her ex's attention was turned exactly in her direction at the sound of the glass shattering on the ground. Kara barely paid attention to the waiter who was rushed over to clean up the mess, so Lena apologized for her before squeezing the girl's hand supportively.

"Kara. It's okay. I'm right—"

But the younger girl wasn't listening. She swallowed hard, cleared her throat, and tried to wipe the shock and horrified discomfort from her face as the worst-case-scenario began to unfold.

Nia was walking towards her with a confident smirk, hips swinging.

"Kara!" the girl exclaimed, clasping her hands together in what the blonde had to assume was fake, exaggerated excitement.

"W-Wha—" Kara tried to ask, but was quickly interrupted by the overly enthusiastic, cheating bitch.

"It's so good to see you! How are y—" Nia sang.

She wasn't able to finish, though, when she noticed who Kara was having lunch with, out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh," she blurted, eyes going wide.

The celebrity felt the lava of fury rise in her chest, remembering every drop of hate she'd been harboring for this girl literally since Day One of meeting her partner.

"Who's this, honey?" Lena cooed, her voice excessively sweet as she rubbed her thumb over Kara's and sported a broad smile, as fake as Nia's was.

"Th-This is—" the blonde tried, gaze snapping back and forth between them.

"I'm Nia," the other girl announced, working too hard to feign confidence. "Kara and I go way back, don't we, sweetie? We were quite a couple, once upon a time. We should catch up sometime, Kara."

Completely ignoring the comment about 'catching up,' Kara's lips parted. What the fuck was going on? 'Sweetie?' 'Quite the couple?' What the—

"Oh, that's interesting," Lena responded passively, taking a long, casual sip of her water. "She's never mentioned you."

At the last sentence, Lena didn't break Kara's gaze and continued to wear a playful smirk as she intentionally didn't bother giving the girl beside them another ounce of attention.

Nia's own mouth fell open as she stared at the celebrity in shock. Kara hadn't mentioned her? Clearly pissed, she tried to speak.

"Well isn't that—"

Before Kara could say anything, Lena flashed a dramatic glance at her $60,000 diamond-encrusted watch - which Nia absolutely did not fail to notice - and announced, "Darling, I'm afraid we'll have to cut things short with your little friend. We're late for the wedding cake tasting!"

As if Nia's mouth couldn't have hung any further down near her feet, it dropped further in shock.

"You're engaged?" she gaped, breaking her resolve to remain stoic and chipper as she stared blatantly at the massive rocks on their ring fingers.

Finally, Kara found herself relaxing at Lena's confident lie about the cake tasting. Incredibly grateful for Lena's display of possessiveness, a wide smile spread over her lips.

"Surprised you didn't see it in on the news," Kara replied, keeping her eyes on her partner. "It was everywhere for a month."

"Yeah, well… I don't watch tabloids."

"It was even on Good Morning America," Kara quipped, grinning as she shared this truth. "Guess you don't watch any news."

Lena had to laugh at this as she waved the waiter over and slapped her limitless American Express Black Card on the table to pay for their meal.

Nia was speechless for a long while, standing awkwardly in front of the couples table, waiting for a reaction from Kara that wouldn't come. Lena's confidence had given the blonde strength. Her nerves had calmed, and she was even feeling a small rush of excitement at her ex's clear reaction of shock and surprise. Not only was Kara dating the most famous celebrity of their generation, but they were engaged. And it may have been true that Nia didn't watch the news, but damn was it funny to see her squirm.

Neither of the girls said anything to Kara's ex as Lena accepted her credit card back from the waiter, thanked him, and rose from the table.

"Pleasure meeting you, Nella," Lena said over her shoulder, flashing a sharp, dangerous grin as she intentionally mis-spoke the girl's name.

"It's N—" Nia tried to correct her, but the girls had already clasped hands and walked away without paying her any mind.