""Mommy!" the four year old ran up to her mother.
It was the first time she saw her after two whole days, so she couldn't contain her excitement at seeing her mom, who picked her up to hug her.
She couldn't help but crying on her mother's shoulder, not understanding the reason why she hadn't seen her for such a long time, because her father hadn't explained her anything.
"I've missed you" she whispered leaning on her mother's embrace. "Where have you been?" she asked.
"I've missed you too, little one" her mom kept her close. "I've been... Um... I've been with Supergirl" she heard the answered before pulling herself away a little.
Halley looked at her mom with excitement, not believing that was true, but there was no reason for her mom to lie her. However, she had heard her mom asking for hurting, even killing, the young Kryptonian, so she couldn't understand the why her mother had been with Supergirl for those past days.
"Why?" she couldn't avoid asking.
"It's complicated, little one" her mom answered her.
"Could I meet her for my birthday?" she asked with hope, she had dreamed of meeting the superheroe.
"Um..., I don't know, we'll see, okay?" she nodded as her mother kissed her forehead. "Let's put your pajamas on, baby" her mother left her on the floor before grabbing her hand and start walking.
She didn't complain when her father appeared wanting to talk with her mom, so she was left alone in her room, only going out when she was completely changed into her pajamas.
When she arrived the room where her parents were, she stayed at the door without making any noise, listening carefully to their conversation.
"No, we won't hurt her" her mom denied angrily.
"Why not? She's only a problem," her father answered. "Humans are worshiping her, Supergirl must die" he said with hatred on his voice.
"I said no, we'll not hurt my niece" her mother repeated again.
She stood quietly trying to understand what she was hearing... Niece. Supergirl was family, so Why wanted her father kill Supergirl? If the young superheroe was family, why would they want to hurt her?
"Is Supergirl family? That mean I will be able to meet her, right?" she asked entering inside the room, her mom making signs for her to stop asking, but it was too late.
"What have you been telling her?" Non asked his wife mad, turning to her, but she hid behind her mom. "I will not let my child meet that girl" he said seriously.
Her mom just nodded before picking her up and leaving the room not wanting to keep discussing that topic anymore, only trying to keep her far away from her father's grip, who called them.
She saw how her mother locked her room after leaving her on the bed, sitting down beside her, making her look up at her for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry, Mommy" she whispered seeing how her mom shook her head while brushing her hair away from her face.
"It's okay, little one" her mom told her. "Supergirl is your cousin, her name is Kara Zor-El..." her explanations were cut because of her father's knocks at the door. "I will explain you tomorrow, okay? Sweet dreams, my daughter" her mom kissed her forehead before getting up and walk outside the room.
She close her eyes with fear, only hearing screams from both of them until she heard a blow, moment in which she screamed calling her mom."
"Mommy!?" her five year old cousin screamed in her sleep.
Kara ran to the room finding her cousin kicking and crying only asking for her father to stop, the child was having a nightmare, a really bad one.
She approached her and carefully grabbed her tiny shoulders to shake her a little as she repeated that it was only a nightmare. However, that didn't calm down the kid because Halley didn't hesitate to hug at her with tears still running down her cheeks.
"It's okay, sweetie" she kept her embraced feeling how the child was shaking. "You're safe, Halley" she whispered before kissing her forehead.
Her cousin's big blue eyes looked straight at hers with so much fear in them, which made her hug the kid again while promising that no one would hurt her ever again, she wasn't going to let anyone do that to her little cousin.
"He hurt mommy" Halley cried leaning her head on her shoulder.
"Your father?" she couldn't avoid asking confused by the child words, seeing her cousin nod. "Was it a nightmare or a memory?" she asked trying to understand what had been happening in that prison for the last years.
"A memory" the kid barely whispered with eyes closed as if she was trying to fall back to sleep.
"You're safe now, baby, none will hurt you again, okay?" she kissed the kid's forehead, tears being contained in her eyes as she held her cousin close to her.
She sang a lullaby, a kryptonian lullaby, which seemed to keep the child calm enough to go back to sleep, her little cheeks still wet because of the tears, but with her crying ceased it was herself who started crying.
It was hard to believe that the child she was holding had suffered that much, but it was even more difficult to believe that Non had been hurting not only his own child, but his wife, her aunt. She knew that her aunt would have done anything to prevent him to hurt Halley, but at which cost... Being hurt by him to protect the sweetest and innocent being that could exist, her daughter.
Kara lost track of time, not even knowing when she fell asleep hugging her cousin's body, but it was dawning when she opened her eyes to watch Halley still sleeping.
Her mind was still thinking about everything that had happened the night before, going back and forth between Halley's nightmare and the boy in the pod that had landed during the dinner. A part of her wished that that boy would be from Krypton, that some else would have scapes before it was too late and, the truth was, that she didn't want to lose hope.
Halley stirred between her arms, but without waking up, only moving closer to her, so she whispered reassured words in the kid's ear. When her cousin was calm enough, she got up from bed and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Her tiredness made her no realize the past of time, barely having enough time to wake Halley up, have breakfast and get ready, braiding her cousin's brown hair in the last minute before grabbing the kid's hand and heading to CatCo. She hadn't planned to bring the child to her work, but she would have been late if she had went to the DEO to leave Halley there.
"Did I ever say this was a daycare?" she heard Mrs. Grant asking, which made her turn to look at her. "Why did you bring a child, Kira?" Mrs. Grant asked her looking at Halley, who was still holding her hand.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't have anyone to stay with her" she apologized getting a confused look by the woman in front of her. "She's my cousin, her parents have died recently and she has none else besides me" she tried to explain, her hand resting on her cousin's shoulder. "Sit here while we talk, kiddo" she picked up the kid to sit her down on the couch.
Her cousin nodded slightly as she went back to talk with , looking at the child from time to time seeing Halley sat with her head bowed down as if she was thinking deeply about something.
She sighed when Cat asked her about her decision, the one she hadn't really thought about, not when she had a lot of things to put into place.
After ending the conversation she picked up her cousin and went back to her apartment, starting to pack up a little backpack for Halley.
"What are you doing?" the five year old asked sitting on the floor beside her.
"You're staying with Alex tonight, sweetie, so I'm packing everything you might need" she explained gently brushing her cousin's hair away from her little face.
"Why?" Halley asked, not understanding the reason. "Are you leaving me?" fear took control of her big blue eyes.
"No, I'm not leaving you, baby" she whispered softly afraid of scaring her. "I'm having a date with James, that's why you'll be staying with her," she said, her cousin still unsecured about it. "But tomorrow morning I'll pick you up and we'll spend the whole day together, just you and me, okay?" she embraced her while kissing her forehead, making the child nod. "Okay, let's get this ready and then we can go to the DEO" she said.
Halley helped her to get everything done before they headed to the DEO, being received by her sister, who kneeled down to the child's height to hug her.
She couldn't avoid smiling while watching how her cousin hugged Alex with a huge smile on her face, the kid laughing when her sister tickled her.
"Papa!" Halley called J'onn while running to him, making him pick her up.
"Can you stay with her?" she asked him, watching him nodded before walking away with the child. "Did you get any news about him?" she pointed to the unconscious boy that was inside the room near them.
"Um..., no" her sister answered. "Are you okay? You look tired" Alex commented.
"I've barely slept" she admitted. "Halley has been having nightmares all night" she explained looking at her sister. "She said that Non used to hurt my aunt and I... I can't understand how he was able to hurt his own daughter and wife" she shook her head not wanting to keep thinking about it.
"About that... He wasn't Halley's dad" her sister said getting her to frown trying to know if she had listened her right. "Remember the blood test? I was able to do a DNA test and Non wasn't her biological dad, she's a Kryptonian though" Alex explained her.
"So you're saying that Non knew and that's the reason why he did all of that?" she asked still processing the information.
"Yes..., it's a possibility, but we'll never know" Alex answered as she frown again.
"What if he, her dad, learns about Halley and takes her away from us?" she couldn't avoid panicking.
"Maybe he doesn't even know or maybe he's even dead, so don't worry about it" her sister tried to calm her down. "I wanted to ask for your permission for testing Halley's abilities" Alex looked at her waiting for her answer.
"Well, I know she can fly, but I guess you can do it, just don't be too hard on her" she asked not because she didn't trust her sister, but because Halley was just a child.
"I won't be, she's a child and doesn't have the same strength as you" her sister told her with a mockery smile.
They both went to the room where Halley and J'onn were, the kid drawing with some crayons, smiling at them when she saw them at the door.
She approached her cousin, tucking the child's hair behind her ear, caressing her face as she smiled at her before crouching down beside her.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she told her. "Do what Alex tell you to do, I promise you'll be safe" she embraced the child.
"I love you" her cousin whispered.
"Love you too, baby" she kissed Halley's forehead before getting up and leaving, still thinking if the child would be fine.
The five year old observed how her cousin walked away from that room before looking at Alex, who smiled at her while approaching.
"Hey, we're going to test your abilities, okay?" Alex told her picking her up. "Do you know which ones you have?" the agent asked her, making her shrugged her shoulders. "I mean..., You can fly, right?" the woman waited until she nodded slightly. "What about hearing? Or superstrenght?"
"Mommy said that powers would be appearing slowly, now I can only fly" she answered remembering her mother's words.
"Okay, I need you to tell me whenever that happens" Alex asked her, so she nodded. "What do you want to do?" the agent asked leaving her on the floor before grabbing her hand and start walking. "Do you want to eat something? Are you hungry?" Alex started walking with as she nodded slightly.
Her cousin's sister took her to a different room before giving her some cookies and a glass of juice after her own request, so she started eating as Alex smiled sitting beside her bringing a book in her hands.
"Can I read it?" she asked pointing to it.
"Sure, it's for you, it's a tale" Alex answered giving it to her. "Do you want me to read it?" the agent asked.
"I can do it" she said proud of her reading skills, which made Alex smile, sitting her on her lap before she started reading out loud.
When she ended reading the story, they both started drawing, trying to do the same thing, hers always colorful, but Alex's only being black because she wouldn't color with the crayons.
It was late in the evening when Alex was called, so the agent picked her up to bring her to the main area of the DEO, Supergirl and Superman were teaming up to prevent a ship to crash on the Earth, everyone celebrating their victory.
"Hey, I'm back, he's my cousin... I think you already know him" Kara said entering the DEO with Superman, which made her try to hide behind Alex.
"It's okay, kiddo" Alex grabbed her hand as she watched how they were approaching, talking to Winn before getting closer to them.
"J'onn" Superman said the name with bitterness.
"Superman" J'onn gave him the same tone of voice as Alex proceeded to hug the Kryptonian.
She couldn't avoid running towards Kara, grabbing her cape with her little hands in an attempt to keep herself behind her, but only making her cousin to kneeled down to her height to embrace her.
She watched how Superman crouched down to her height as well, a smile on his face as Kara kept her embrace trying to reassure her.
"Hey, you must be Halley" he smiled offering his hand. "I'm Kal-El, but everyone call me Clark" he presented himself as she shook his hand.
"Do you tell him how old are you?" Kara asked her, so she barely whispered 'five'. "Good job, sweetie" her cousin kissed her cheek before picking her up. "I bring Clark to show him about the boy in the pod" Kara explained before walking to that room, but she stayed outside with Alex, who sat down with her to play.
A few minutes later Kara and Superman came out of the room, seeing how her cousin picked the backpack they both had prepared before that morning.
"You're ready to go?" Kara asked grabbing her hand.
"What about your date?" she couldn't avoid asking.
"It was canceled, baby, so just you and me for tonight, okay?" her cousin explained making her nodded slightly before they started walking, telling her everything she had done during that evening.
She smiled at her cousin hearing to every single word Kara was saying about Krypton, because her cousin was explaining her about how was before the planet exploded and, she had to admit that, she really appreciated it because she would have loved to see how it was by herself. However, she had to live with just her cousin's memories, so she kept listening until she fell asleep between Kara's arms.
Hi!
Non isn't Halley's dad, Should I introduced that character? And she has met Superman!
Let me know what you think. Thanks so much for reading,
Ayrin