KARA'S P.O.V
Halley was gripping her hand tightly as both of them walked through the portal, ready to celebrate the little girl's birthday a few days early.
"Auntie!" the kid released the grip before running towards her aunt.
"Hi, sweetheart" her mother embraced the child tightly, it was the first time in a long time that her baby cousin was smiling after everything that had happened with Lex. "How are you?"
"Good" Halley answered with a shyly smile as she approached them.
Her mom didn't release the child from the hug before embracing her as well, her cousin gripping her hand again, the seven year old was starting to get nervous, so she squeezed her tiny hand trying to calm her down.
"It's okay" she whispered while picking her up. "I'm here, baby" she kissed the kid's hair as her mother observed them worrily.
Once Halley was a little bit calmer, the child let her left on the couch, but still needing her to be close, so she sat down beside her, wrapping her arm around her as the little girl laid her head on her shoulder.
"Hey, look who's here!" Kal-El exclaimed making her smile, but getting the child to hide her face, which was starting to worry her. "Hey, What's wrong?" he questioned after observing the kid.
She didn't answer, just keeping her baby cousin close to her while staring at him like if she was trying to tell him that she would tell him later.
"Do you give Kal a hug?" she questioned Halley while pulling her away a little.
The little one looked at him for a few seconds before stretching her arms to hug him, so Clark picked up the child.
"It's going to be your birthday soon, huh?" he tickled Halley, the kid giggling a little.
"Hey, girls" Lois smiled entering the living room, her baby bump showing a lot more than last time they had seen her.
"How are you doing?" she asked approaching them.
"Pretty good" Lois answered. "But it moves a lot" the woman complained.
"You still not knowing if it's a boy or a girl?" she questioned.
"Lois doesn't want to know" Kal-El said kind of complaining about it.
"Hey! You didn't want to either" Lois told him getting her to laugh. "Okay, the baby is kicking"
Soon Halley was sitting beside Lois with her hands on the baby bump wanting to feel the baby, a little smile on her cousin's face after feeling it.
She wasn't sure what triggered it, but Halley started having a panic attack, the child was breathing with agitation while crying, so she kept the little one embraced against her.
"Shh, it's okay, baby" she whispered trying not to cry. "He's not here, you're safe, Halley" she assured her cousin.
Slowly, the little girl started to calm down, her cousin's head resting on her shoulder, falling asleep as she embraced her tightly while whispering reassuring words in her cousin's ear.
"What's wrong with Halley?" her mom asked her, everyone else staring at her.
"Lex kidnapped her" she answered in barely a whispered.
"Wait, Lex Luthor?" Kal-El questioned her, to what she nodded. "What happened? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is okay" she told him wanting to calm him down. "A lot of things happened, he kidnapped her and... Halley is still not talking about it, but she's been having panic attacks ever since then" she explained keeping the seven year old in her arms.
"She has to be terrified" Lois commented gently caressing the child's hair.
"She's a strong child" her mom whispered, getting her to nod.
Halley would be alright, she needed to believe in that, that her baby cousin would get over it, that soon the child would be smiling and laughing happily just as she used to do.
She smiled observing her baby cousin asleep on the couch, the little girl had had a rough night, barely sleeping because of being ill.
Halley had thrown up several times during the night, plus her high fever, had made the child cry for most of the night. However, she couldn't avoid observing the child with pity, it was her eight birthday and she was ill.
The kid stirred opening her bright blue eyes as she smiled a little while approaching her, trying not to scared her because the little one was still a little bit asleep.
"Hey, Where is my birthday girl?" she asked sitting on the couch before embracing her baby cousin in between her arms. "Good morning, How are you feeling?" she questioned worrily.
"I'm hungry" Halley answered snuggling closer to her.
"Really? That's great, baby!" she exclaimed.
"Can I have my special breakfast?" the eight year old asked pulling away from her as she frowned.
"I'm not sure ice cream is the best thing for your stomach, sweetie" she told her observing how her baby cousin pouted. "Are you sure you're feeling fine?" she questioned, to what the kid nodded. "Okay" she sighed sitting up before picking Halley up from the couch.
She smiled observing how the child was enjoying the fact that she could choose any topping for the ice cream, such as chocolate chips or sprinkles, it was too much sugar for the little one, but it was just for one day.
However, shortly after the eight year old ate the ice cream, the child started throwing up just as she had been doing all night.
"Hey, hey, it's okay" she wiped her mouth before touching her forehead, the fever was back. "You're okay, baby" she whispered to the child, who looked at her with tears in her eyes, so she couldn't avoid picking her up to embrace her.
After giving Halley a bath, she let the child laying on the couch embracing Comet as she rested some wet cloths on her cousin's forehead, hoping that it would get the fever down.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" she asked the child, who barely nodded as she put her hand on her cousin's forehead, the kid was still burning. "Maybe we should pick another day to celebrate your birthday, kiddo" she whispered softly, getting her cousin to look at her with tears in her eyes.
"But I want to do it today" Halley whined as she just stared at her with sadness, feeling sorry for her baby cousin.
"Okay, we'll do it today" she assured her observing how her cousin smiled a little.
After Halley fell asleep on the couch, she took the eight year old to her room, tucking the kid in bed before laying Saffire by her left side as Comet jumped into the bed to lay down beside the little girl.
She decided to call her sister, so Alex could come over to check if the child was alright as she was really worried about her cousin.
"Hi, girls" she smiled while opening the door to find Alex and Kelly waiting on the other side. "Come in" she let them walk inside the apartment.
"Hey, Where is Halley?" Alex questioned worrily looking for the child.
"She's taking a nap in her room" she answered taking them to the kid's bedroom.
"Since when she's been throwing up?" her sister asked measuring the child's temperature. "She's burning, Did you give her any medicine?" Alex looked at her as she frowned.
"Um... No, I didn't know if I should" she said confused.
"Okay, Remember I gave you a medicine the other time? That should get her fever down" her sister explained, to what she nodded.
"When was the last time she threw up?" Kelly asked observing the child.
"After breakfast" she answered.
"So she had breakfast, Did she eat something...?" she shook her head before her sister could keep asking.
"She's been throwing up all night and when she woke up, she asked for her special breakfast" she tried to explain.
"Which is?" Alex questioned already knowing that she wasn't going to answer a typical breakfast.
"Ice cream" she whispered not really wanting to be heard.
"You gave her ice cream for breakfast?" her sister looked surprised at her answer, so she looked away only to focus her attention on her baby cousin. "Kara, Have you been giving her ice cream every birthday she has been with you?" Alex asked, making her nod.
"It's only one day in the year" she tried to defend herself knowing how excited was her cousin when that moment arrived.
"She eats fast food most of the nights, that's unhealthy" her sister scolded her.
"But she's a Kryptonian" she pointed out, but her sister shook her head.
"She doesn't have the same fast metabolism as you do, she's growing up" Alex told her. "She needs a balance diet" her sister said as she couldn't avoid laughing.
"Since when you've became Eliza?" she smirked, her sister not laughing about it.
"I'm serious" her sister looked directly into her eyes.
"Okay, I will start giving her real food" she surrendered. "Anyway, thanks for coming, she's going to be so excited" she told them with a smile. "She didn't want to cancel her birthday party" she explained.
"That's good, it will help her to be distracted" Kelly commented.
Her sister woke Halley up only to give the child her medicine, so a few seconds later the eight year old was asleep again.
The three of them started decorating the living room for the birthday party, but the moment she saw Comet, she knew that her cousin was awake, so she ran to stop the little girl.
"Hey, Where do you think you're going?" she asked getting in front of her baby cousin, who tried to push her to keep walking, but she just laughed while picking up the child to take her to her room.
"I want to see it" Halley complained the moment she left her on the floor and anticipating her cousin's next movement, she stood in front of the door.
"Not yet, it's not finished" she told her, but the eight year old pouted. "No, don't look at me like that" she said looking away, but her cousin's gaze was intense.
Halley sighed before sitting on her bed as she relaxed a little, knowing that the child wouldn't open the door, so she approached her cousin while smiling, being glad that her cousin was feeling better than that morning.
However, her cousin took advantage of the fact that she relaxed, managing to get to the door before using her super speed to run through the hallway as she just stood there confused.
"She tricked me" she commented amazed, her cousin smiling widely. "Do you like it?" she asked her as the child observed everything.
It had been a long time since her cousin had become interested in astronomy, so that's why she had decided to make a galaxy theme party.
"Thank you" Halley hugged her legs with a huge smile on her face.
"You're so much welcome, baby" she smiled hugging her cousin back.
Halley played with Alex and Kelly, being really excited about her birthday, which made her smile while observing them, the eight year old sitting in between both women. However, when the doorbell rang, Halley ran to open the door before she could do it.
"Where's the birthday girl?" Nia asked while kneeling to hug the kid, her cousin giggling when the girl tickled her. "You're so much bigger!"
"Happy birthday, kid" Brainy ruffled the child's hair.
"Thanks" Halley smiled pulling away from Nia to hug him, which took Brainy by surprised, getting her to laugh. "I have to show you something!" the little girl exclaimed grabbing Nia's hand to take her to her room.
She couldn't avoid laughing while observing how they walked away, those two were inseparable, ever since Nia had started to babysitting the child, her cousin was always asking about staying with the girl.
In the next few minutes James and J'onn arrived to her apartment, but there was someone who was still missing and she knew that her cousin wouldn't last long before asking about that person.
"Hi" she opened the door smiling to her best friend. "I'm glad you've made it, I didn't know if you would come" she commented.
"I wouldn't miss it, Where's Halley?" Lena asked looking for the little one.
"Lena!" Halley exclaimed while running to hug the woman's legs. "You've came" her cousin smiled happily.
"Why wouldn't I?" Lena asked, to what the child shrugged.
However, she knew what Halley was referring to, because for the last few weeks her best friend had been avoiding her, and she didn't have even a response when she told her about Halley's birthday, which broke her heart not understanding what had happened for Lena to behave that way.
Halley started feeling ill shortly before opening her presents, the eight year old sitting on the couch while being held by Nia as she measuring her temperature, the fever was high again.
"My tummy hurts" Halley complained while pouting.
"Oh, baby, I know" she caressed her cousin's face.
"It sucks to be sick in your birthday" Nia commented embracing tightly the child.
She took the child in her arms to give her the last present, observing how her cousin's face lighted up the moment they walked into the rooftop.
Halley asked her to leave her on the floor before approaching the telescope that was there with such a huge smile on her face, daring to use it as she couldn't avoid remembering Kenny, he used to love to spend nights observing every single star in the sky.
"Thank you" Halley whispered when she approached her, kneeling beside her. "I love it" the child told her as she embraced her still trying to figure out how it was possible that her cousin had grown up that much.
"Stop growing up, please" she asked her while grabbing her cousin's face.
"I don't know if I can do that" the child frowned.
"Just try, okay? Can you promise me that you won't grow up?" she asked her baby cousin, Halley nodding. "I love you, baby girl" she kissed her forehead.
"I love you, too" her cousin whispered resting her head on her shoulder as she embraced her, hoping for the little girl to stay that little.
Hi!
I needed to write this chapter. I love Halley as a teenager, but as a child... I love the relationship between cousins. It's a special bond.
So Lena is mad at Kara because of the reveal, but I don't think she would make a child suffer because of her cousin's choice, so that's something I'm going to be writing about.
Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,
Ayrin