Lena wanted to throw her toolkit across the lab and let the useless heap of parts in front of her follow it. Instead she persisted with her attempts to get her latest experiment to work. She had been so pleased to get some time to herself in the lab, after the successful completion of the R&D teams latest project she'd given them all an extra weeks paid holiday - which they had earned by working so much overtime, to the point where she wasn't sure some of the senior staff had seen their families for more than a couple of minutes each day. The thought of the empty lab had been so tempting, she'd been itching to get started on her latest idea after only having time to make some calculations on her computer, so she'd started tinkering as soon as she arrived.
At first things had gone as planned, but as she moved on to the more complex part she faced failure after failure. Instead of stepping back and taking a break, which was the advice she gave to her staff, she ploughed ahead, determined to make it work. She was too focused to notice when the lab door opened, and Kara arrived.
"Lena!"
Kara shot across the room, moving between Lena and the device just in time. Sparks flew into the air, but instead of injuring Lena they were harmlessly blocked by Supergirl's cape.
"Dammit, I also had it!" Lena threw down her tools in frustration.
"Lena you were almost injured, what were you thinking? Where are your safety protocols?"
"I was just tinkering with a new project. Are you okay?"
"Yes, but you could have been seriously hurt."
"I know, thank you for saving me."
Kara's face softened and she changed back into her civilian clothes, "you're welcome."
"What are you doing here?"
"It's lunchtime," Kara picked up the two paper bags, marked with the Big Belly Burger logo, which she had dropped by the entrance when she'd seen Lena in danger, "I thought you might be hungry. I didn't expect to find you down here."
Lena smiled, "thank you. It was a last minute thing, I guess I got a bit carried away."
Kara sat down near Lena and put the bags onto a workbench, "what are you working on? Or is it Top Secret?"
"Not Top Secret, just new. I don't even know if it would work but... this is what I wanted to do with my life, you know? Invent things to make the world a better place, experiment with technology, do something amazing. Instead my brother lost it and I got stuck running the family business, working in an office instead of a lab like this."
"You've helped so many times, done amazing things already."
"Working on things for the DEO isn't the same, usually they want my help to understand alien technology or improve something created by someone else. This is something I'm building from scratch, on my own."
"Well if you can't remember to wear the basic PPE, maybe you should be working with a team who can remind you."
Lena sighed, "I'll grab something from the stores after lunch."
Kara scanned the device, "and maybe check the wires, I think there are one or two which need replacing."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Any other suggestions?" Lena asked, half-joking.
"Depends on what you're trying to do."
Lena suddenly remembered Kara telling her about her childhood on Krypton. She gave her an assessing look, wondering how much she already understood of the project.
"I don't suppose you'd like to stick around and help me?" Lena offered.
"Really?" Kara lit up, excited.
"Like you said, I could use some help."
As they finished their lunch, Lena explained what she was trying to do. Kara listened, eager to help. She went over Lena's notes while the CEO went to get some PPE.
They worked on the project for the whole week, taking turns at reminding the other to take a break. Even though they didn't solve the problem by the time the R&D team returned to work, Lena wasn't too disappointed. They agreed to move the work to Lena's private lab, which was smaller but big enough for the both of them. It became their secret project, in time carved out to fit both of their busy schedules. They worked so well together that Lena felt a little disappointed at the thought of losing that time with Kara as it neared completion.
"What have you got planned next?" Kara asked her as Lena sealed the final panel into place on the device.
"Next?"
"Sorry, I thought if you had something else in mind you might want my help again."
"Oh, no. There's nothing else just yet. Maybe... we could come up with something together?"
Kara's smile gave Lena the answer she had hoped for.
