AN: I started writing this for Supercorptober 2022, but it became a little too long (and un-finished).


Today was an Esme-day at the Tower, which meant anything dangerous was locked away and a few toys were left out for her to play with. This sometimes happened when she had a holiday from school while Kelly was working and Alex hadn't been able to find a babysitter for her. They all looked forward to spending time with her.

"Did you get the cookies?" Nia asked as Kara flew in.

"Yep, Esme's favourites."

Lena watched as Kara placed them in clear view of the doorway, taking a sip of her coffee. She grimaced when she realised that it was no longer hot, she'd been a little too busy tidying away magical items after the text message came in from Alex to drink it. As it wasn't the first time she'd found herself with cold coffee, Lena had perfected a spell to re-heat it without worrying about it tasting bad.

She whispered the magic words, and smiled as the mug in her hands warmed up. Just as she was about to take a sip, there was a loud crash from the elevator and the doors opened.

A young woman stumbled out, grabbing hold of the side of bannister as she reached the stairs. Lena stared at her in shock, while Kara rushed forward to see if she was a threat or not.

"What just happened?" she asked.

As the stranger looked up, Lena could see that she was younger than she'd first thought, just a teenager really. Lena had the strangest feeling that she'd seen her somewhere before.

"Oh f... or goodness sake!" the teenager stopped herself from swearing as she looked around.

"Who are you?" Kara asked.

"I'm from the future, which means you can't ask me that," the girl immediately told her.

"How did you get here?" Kara tried a different question.

"No idea, I was trying a spell and somehow wound up in there instead, which is weird because I wasn't even in the Tower. So whatever happened it definitely wasn't my fault, all right?"

"Wait, you know where you are?"

The girl shrugged, "sure. Future, remember?"

The emergency door opened, just a little to the left of the elevator, and Esme came running through. Her eyes lit up when she saw the plate of cookies and she ran right past Kara before stopping in front of them. Then she looked up at Lena and very politely asked if she could have one. A few moments later, Alex appeared in the doorway, having climbed the emergency stairs a little slower than her daughter.

"There's a problem with the elevator," she told them, then noticed the new girl and stared at her, puzzled. "What's going on?"


After they'd settled Esme down with her toys and two cookies, the adults herded the stranger to the other side of the room to try and figure out who she was and where she had come from.

"Okay, who are you? Don't give me that nonsense about being from the future," Alex told her.

"But it's true. How else would I know that... wait, what year is this?"

"2022," Nia told her.

"Hmm, that means I've come back less than twenty years, what can I say to prove that I know you?" she turned to Kara, "you're already out as Supergirl, but Clark isn't, right? He has two sons Jon and Jordan, twins who aren't technically twins... not in the traditional sense."

Kara and Alex shared a look. It was something that no-one outside their family and closest friends knew.

"You mentioned you were using magic, are you a witch?" Lena asked.

"Yes, well on one side of the family. I've got a few gifts from the other side too."

"What spell were you using? Perhaps we can figure out where it went wrong and get you back home."

The girl looked relieved, "thanks."


She told them to call her Ellie. Lena unlocked the room containing her spellbook and magic tools, and got Ellie to walk her through exactly what she'd done. While she was speaking, Lena kept getting the feeling that she looked familiar.

"So you were just using magic to tidy up a room, moving things around and so on?"

"Yeah, I had a Halloween party while my parents were at work and needed to tidy up before they got home. They are not going to be pleased if they get back before me."

"Won't they be more concerned that you're not there?"

"Sure, they'll panic and then when I get back I'll have the lecture about responsible magic use as well as the party one."

"You don't seem too worried about that."

Ellie shrugged, "they're not as bad as some of my friends parents. I'll probably just get grounded for a day or two."

Alex shook her head, "only a day or two? Lucky you."

Lena moved to the whiteboard in the corner of the room, writing down what Ellie had told her about her spell and trying to work out ways to reverse it. Unfortunately time travel wasn't covered in her own spellbook so she would have to figure this out for herself.


By the afternoon, Ellie was exhausted. She had tried each new spell as Lena created it, but nothing worked.

"I don't know what it's missing," Lena confessed, "and the only thing I can think of is to use technology to send you home."

"Do you have something that can do that?"

"Brainy could manage it, he won't share the details about how the Legion ships worked but this is important."

"I'll call him," Nia offered.

Alex was busy with Esme, and Kara had been flying in and out all morning, so Nia had been watching them in-between writing some CatCo articles.

"Yes, finally, a break," Ellie said.

"Sorry, I really thought we'd figure something out," Lena apologised.

"That's okay, weird things seem to happen around o... my family."

"I know you don't want to tell us anything about the future, but... if you know about the Tower, does that mean your parents work here in the future?"

"Yes, I spent a lot of time here, a bit like Esme."

As she spoke, the little girl came running over to see what they'd been up to and to ask if Ellie wanted to play a game with her. Lena nodded to let her know it was okay, and went to tidy up her workspace.

"So I guess that means we'll be getting another magic user some time in the future. That's good, I could use the help." Lena told Nia when she returned from calling Brainy.

"What do you mean?"

"Ellie's parents, one of them, is a magic user too and she knows about the Tower, so..."

Nia frowned, "isn't it more likely that Ellie is related to you?"

"Me?"

"You're our resident witch," Nia pointed out.

Lena shook her head, "not possible. I don't plan on having children."

"Really?" Nia looked surprised, "but you're so good with Esme, and you clearly like kids."

"I'm also the last surviving Luthor. It's probably best to keep it that way."

"I bet you change your mind when the right person comes along." Nia noticed the way Lena blushed at her words and her eyes widened, "wait, do you already like someone?"

"No," Lena shook her head, trying to deny it.

"Oh my goodness, you do like someone! Who?"

"It's nothing, it's... it's not going to happen, it's just a small thing that... doesn't matter."

"Tell me," Nia pleaded, coming over to Lena, "maybe I can help."

"No, they definitely don't feel the same way and in a week or two I'll be over it."

"Lena, that's not how it works. Look and me and Brainy, he tried to deny his feelings and they didn't go away."

"That's different, you two... well, you're cute together, you just... fit."

Nia smiled at Lena, "and maybe you and this mysterious crush of yours will be the same way, with a little help from a friend."

"Please, just let it go," Lena asked. "We've got more important things to worry about right now anyway."

Nia looked over at Ellie, "maybe we should just ask her."

"She won't tell you."

"Not if we're direct, but I'm a reporter, it's my job to get the story behind the story."

"Nia, no," Lena put a hand on her arm to stop her. "If we learn about the future, there's a chance we could change it."

Nia sighed, "fine."

Lena watched as she headed away from Ellie and Esme, waiting for Brainy to arrive, then turned her attention back to their visitor from the future.