KARA'S P.O.V
Listening to her sister had never been that difficult. A lump in her throat as Eliza described the device that her baby cousin had inside her brain and the amount of kryptonite that was inside of it.
She felt awful. They had been able to take the device out, but when they were about to remove the bracelet, it had injected even more kryptonite to the little one, which was complicating the recovery.
"Is she awake?" it was her aunt who asked, Alex shaking her head.
"No, that's why we still don't know if it has made any damage to her brain" her sister explained, not even making eye contact with her.
"Could we see her?" she asked, trying to find her own voice, seeing how her sister nodded before starting walking.
She followed her in silence, just wanting to get to her cousin, to take the child in her arms and promise her that everything would be alright, that she was going to be there with her.
The eight year old slept on the bed, her beloved dragon laying right next to her as Comet laid on the floor under the stretcher.
"He was whining, I thought it would be the best to keep them together" her sister explained, to what she nodded, knowing that the puppy could feel that the little girl wasn't okay.
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop looking at her cousin. The child's head and left wrist were wrapped with a bandage, having to close her eyes after realizing how pale the kid was.
However, she contained her tears the best she could, sitting next to the bed while holding the little girl's hand in hers, just wanting to let her know that she was already by her side, waiting for her to wake up.
Hours passed until her cousin moved her arm, pulling away from the grip of the hand as her little face changed shortly before the kid started crying.
"No! It hurts!" the eight year old screamed. "Don't... please..." soon her screams turned into sobs.
"Shh, baby, it's okay" she whispered, gently caressing her hair, but the child kept crying. "You're safe" she felt desperate not being able to take the kid in her arms.
Just as she was about to embrace her, her baby cousin opened her big blue eyes while her little hands pushed her a little before staring at her, moment at which the child sat up to hug herself at her.
She kept the eight year old embraced as tight as possible, just trying to calm her down even if all she wanted to was to cry along with Halley.
"You're safe, baby" she told her, trying to pull her away, but the child refused to let go of her. "I'm here, I'm not going anywhere" she assured her, to what her cousin seemed to calm down a little, slowly pulling away. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, baby" she apologized, wishing that everything would have been different.
"Mommy?" the child asked after calming down, looking for her mom, but Astra had come out of the room a few minutes before.
"She's okay, she's outside" she answered while caressing her face, seeing how Halley nodded slightly.
A few minutes later it was Alex and Eliza who walked inside the room, her cousin gripping tightly to her left arm, refusing to let go as she was afraid of what was going to happen.
"They're not going to hurt you, baby" she told her, but the little girl shook her head. "I'm going to be here all the time" she stroked her dark hair before looking at her sister, being confused about why the child was acting that way.
"We just have to make sure you're alright, okay, sweetie?" Eliza asked the eight year old, who frowned.
"Is it going to hurt?" it was barely a whisper, but it manage to broke her heart, that was why the child was so afraid.
"No, kiddo, and if it does, we can stop" Alex caressed the kid's nose bridge.
Halley relaxed a little, wanting to be held by her as they made sure that the little girl was alright, stroking her cousin's hair just to keep her as calm as possible.
"Everything looks good" her adoptive mom said while smiling at the little one, which got Halley to smile back. "You're feeling even better, isn't that right, sweetheart?" Eliza caressed the kid's cheek.
She managed to distract the child with Saffire and Comet, who was barking to get their attention, especially Halley's, but her cousin smiled widely when Astra came back to the room.
"Mommy" the eight year old stretched her arms toward her mom.
"How are you feeling, sweetie?" her aunt asked, embracing the kid carefully, to what her cousin barely murmured an answer. "It's okay, you're safe now" Astra brushed her daughter's hair away from her little face, moment as she couldn't avoid smiling, being grateful for that little scene.
"When are we going home?" the little girl asked while staring directly into her eyes.
"Soon, okay, baby?" she answered, observing how her cousin frowned. "I know you want to go home, but we have to stay for a little longer, sweetie" she told her, taking the child in her arms.
Halley closed her eyes while resting her head on her shoulder, so she embraced her, keeping the child as close as possible, trying to keep her calm by singing the Kryptonian lullaby.
"Where is he now?" the kid sat up while opening her eyes.
"Lex?" she asked her, seeing how her cousin nodded. "He's in prison" she answered.
"What if he escapes?" the eight year old questioned her, she could sense panic in her voice.
"He won't, okay?" she tried to calm her down, not really wanting to think about that possibility. "He won't hurt you again, I won't let him, baby, none would let him" she tucked her dark hair behind her ears.
"You promise?" her baby cousin looked into her eyes.
"I promise" she whispered before kissing the child's forehead.
She could assured that she would always do anything to keep that little girl safe, not matter from whom she would have to protect her.
HALLEY'S P.O.V
She was excited. Lena had managed to make a new portal after the DEO collapsed and, after three days having constant revisions to make sure she was fine, they were able to use it to go to Argo.
"Auntie!" she exclaimed while letting go of her mom's hand to run toward her aunt, who kneeled down to embrace her tightly.
"Hi, sweet angel" Alura kissed her forehead, gently tucking her brown hair behind her ears, noticing the bandage. "How did you get this, sweetie?" her aunt asked.
"Lex Luthor took her" it was Kara who answered. "But thanks to that we learned that..." her cousin stopped talking the moment Alura stood up looking at the woman that was next to her daughter.
"Astra?" her aunt asked, staring at the three of them like looking for an answer.
However, before either of them could answer, Alura had already embraced her sister as she stood right next to Kara, gripping tightly to her cousin's hand while observing the scene with a smile.
"But how? I don't..." her aunt pulled away.
"There's a lot to explain" her mom answered.
"Well you really have to tell me everything" Alura smiled before hugging her sister again.
"We're going to go to the market, Halley is impatient to see Val, right, kiddo?" Kara ruffled her hair, to what she smiled while nodding.
She took Comet's leash from her cousin, running after the puppy while giggling, being really excited to invite Val to her birthday party.
"Val!" she exclaimed when she saw her best friend at the market.
"Halley!" her friend exclaimed back, running to them.
She hugged Val while smiling, it had been a while since they had seen each other so she couldn't be happier.
When they walked back to where her cousin was standing, Kara was already talking to Val's mom, telling her about the birthday party and how excited she was for him to come.
"Can I go?" Val asked his mom, who stared back at him as if she wasn't sure about what to answer.
"Yeah, we'll be there" his mom finally answered while ruffling his hair.
"Yay!" she smiled widely as he did as well. "Can we go play?" she asked her cousin while pointing to a little playground.
"Sure, but be careful, okay?" Kara told her, to what she nodded shortly before running along with Val.
They spent most time playing with Comet, but ending up playing in the swing set, trying to be careful, but hearing Kara's warnings from time to time.
"Hal, baby, get down, please" her cousin asked her the moment she swang herself in the monkey bars, having bad memories from that time she disobey her cousin.
She frowned while trying to keep herself held, but her hands were getting slippier and she was afraid that she wasn't going to make it to the other end to get down.
"It's okay, I'm here, let go" Kara told her standing by her side, her hands holding her by her waist so she let go. "I got you, baby" her cousin whispered while embracing her.
"Sorry" she whispered.
"It's okay, baby, just be careful" Kara kissed her forehead, to what she nodded again, being aware that it would be bad if she hit her head's wound.
KARA'S P.O.V
"No! No!" Halley pushed her shortly before running to hide behind the couch, her heart breaking at the sight of the eight year old sobbing out loud.
The little girl was sitting with her knees up to her chest, her head resting on them as her tiny body was shaking constantly because of the sobs.
"Hal, baby" she kneeled down in front of her, her aunt and her mom walking closer to them.
"Is everything okay?" her mom asked after observing how the child refused to look at them.
"I tried to get the wound clean and she started crying" she answered, feeling so sad that her baby cousin was acting that way. "Baby, come here" she tried to wrapped her arms around the child.
"No! Don't hurt me, please" the eight year moved away from her, her blue eyes full of tears as she frowned.
She couldn't avoid her tears to escape her eyes, not bearing to see the child like that, so scared of every single one of them as it didn't matter who tried, the kid's reaction would always be the same.
"Halley, hey, look at me" she asked when her cousin calmed down a little, getting the child to stare at her. "It's me, I'm not going to hurt you, sweetie" she told her, approaching her slowly as she didn't want to scare her more than the little girl already was.
She embraced her little by little, increasing the strength of the hug when the child snuggled closer to her.
"I would never hurt you, baby girl" she assured her cousin before kissing her hair, who pulled away a little to stare at her eyes.
"Kar...?" the child asked still in tears.
"I'm here, I'm right here, baby" she answered, wiping the kid's tears.
The eight year old hugged at her, so she embraced her tightly, not even caring about the wound anymore as she couldn't bring herself to go through all of that again, just wanting to keep the kid as calm as possible.
Halley ended up falling asleep in her arms, her little hands forming fists to hold her dress so she wouldn't leave her.
"We're not cleaning the wound?" her aunt asked, to what she shook her head.
"She would have another panic attack" she answered, knowing that her cousin wasn't going to be okay with it.
"I'm glad she has you" Astra commented while observing them.
"When are you telling her?" she asked her, not sure how Halley was going to react.
"Tomorrow" her aunt answered. "Keep protecting her for me, please" Astra asked her, gently caressing her daughter's cheek.
"I will, always" she told her.
She smiled a little while looking at the little girl, her baby girl, she would always keep her safe.
HALLEY'S P.O.V
She gripped her mom's hand tightly, following her to the bench from where they were supposed to watch the stars.
"Come here, little one" her mom sat her in her lap before the embracing her. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she nodded to the question, her gaze focusing on every single little star that was visible from there that night.
"We can go to the safe place once we're back in Earth" she commented, happy that after almost four years she would be able to go back with her mom.
"Um... yeah, we'll do it when I go back visit, okay?" her mom answered, to what she frowned, being confused.
"You're not coming with us?" she asked, pulling away to turn to her.
Her mom wasn't looking at her as if the woman wasn't sure of what to answered, slowly cupping her little face to wiped the first tears that were running down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, little star" her mom whispered.
"Why?" she questioned her, needing an answer as she couldn't understand why they couldn't be together.
"You know that Fort Rozz was a prison, right?" the woman asked her, so she nodded slightly. "I was sent there along with... um... your father" her mom doubted for a second.
"Yeah, but because you were a General in the Kryptonian army" she interrupted her, observing how her mother's face changed.
"No, my sweet angel, it wasn't because of that" her mom sighed while tucking her hair behind her ears. "I was a prisoner" the woman explained as she stared directly into her eyes.
"But you're not a bad person" she pointed out, but frowning when her mother looked away. "Mommy?" she called her.
"I did terrible things, baby girl" her mom answered, she could see tears being held in her eyes. "But now I have the opportunity to make it up for everything I did in the past" those words made her wrapped her little arms around her mother's neck, hiding her face in her neck.
Her mom embraced her tightly, stroking her hair as both of them gripped to each other, just wanting to remain like that for as long as possible.
"We'll keep seeing each other, okay?" her mom grabbed her face, making her nod. "I love you so much, my little star" the woman kissed her forehead.
"I love you, too" she whispered back as they hugged each other again.
She sat next to her mom, her head resting on her lap as she stared at the night sky, eventually falling asleep in her mother's arms.
KARA'S P.O.V
She smiled while opening the door, William was waiting at the other side with some balloons and a bag on his hand, returning a big smile to her.
"You didn't have to" she told him, but seeing how her baby cousin's face lit up, made her smile.
"Yes, I did" he said before kneeling down in front of the eight year old. "Hi, kiddo, I hope you like it" William smiled while handing the bag to the kid, who stared at her a little unsecured, so she nodded.
"Wow... It's a dragon!" the child exclaimed after having taken out a Lego set, pointing to the picture of the box.
"What do you say to William, baby?" she asked her, observing how her cousin doubted for a few seconds.
"Thank you" Halley smiled before hugging him, which took both of them by surprise, but being able to observe how William embraced the child.
"You're so much welcome, kiddo" he answered as Halley pulled away from him, staring at her before running to the table to take one of her birthday's invitation and running back to them.
"It's my birthday next Saturday, we're celebrating it at the park... I want you to come" her cousin told him while giving him the invitation.
"I will be there" he said, to what the little girl smiled happily.
"Can I opened it?" the eight year old asked her, pointing to the box that she was still holding.
"Sure, baby" she answered, gently caressing her hair, just being cautious with the wound.
The child sat down on the floor before opening the box and emptying it all over the coffee table, staring at the packages a little confused.
"William" her cousin called him, surprising her again, it was the first time she had seen her being comfortable with William's presence. "Can you help me?" the child asked.
"Sure, kiddo" he smiled while approaching her, sitting beside her.
She smiled widely at the tender scene, observing how her baby cousin was listening carefully to what William was telling her, following his instructions as both of them started to build the dragon.
A few minutes later she joined them, Halley sitting on her lap as the three of them tried to work fast, knowing that the child was impatient to play.
However, when the doorbell rang, she knew what it meant, so she kissed her cousin's hair before getting up to open the door for her sister to come inside the apartment.
"No, no" the eight year old ran to hid under the table as she sighed felling terrible about having to do it.
"Hal, baby, it's okay" she kneeled down, the child's blue eyes filled with fear and tears.
After what had happened in Argo, she knew that she couldn't do it alone, that her heart broke each time her cousin screamed, begging them to stop.
"Baby, it's going to be fast and then we can keep playing" she tried to convince her.
"No" the child shook her head in between sobs, Comet finding his place next to the child as if he wanted to make sure that the little girl was fine.
"Okay... What about choosing whatever ice cream flavor you want?" it was Alex who tried, but again Halley shook her head, making sure to keep herself in a place where they couldn't reach her. "Kiddo, we have to do it, you don't want to get sick, right?" her sister asked the kid, who looked at them.
She stretched her arms toward her to reach her when the eight year old started to crawl toward her, taking the child into her arms, knowing that what was going to happen wasn't going to be easy for either of them.
She sat on the couch, making sure to be embracing the little one tightly, trying to keep her cousin's head on place for her sister to clean the wound.
"It's okay, It's okay" she whispered when Alex removed the little bandage, Halley starting to breathe with agitation. "I got you, baby" she hold her tears the best she could, seeing how the child was sobbing loudly.
She couldn't even imagine how much it hurt for cousin to react that way or even what was going on through the kid's mind, not sure if the little girl was remembering everything Lex had done to her.
"It's done" her sister wiped the child's tears before kissing her forehead.
"You did so good, baby" she told her, wanting to calm her down, as the child had started crying again, that time with her face buried in her shoulder. "Do you want to keep playing?" she asked her once the kid was a little calmer.
Halley nodded slightly, her blue eyes looking for the only person that hadn't said anything since all of that started, seeing how she stretched her arms to William, so they could continue to build the dragon.
"They seem to get along" her sister commented as she observed how they were playing, her baby cousin smiling shyly to whatever William was telling her.
"Yeah, well, it was a surprise, I thought she would be hiding behind me and not even looking at him" she admitted, being happy and sad at the same time since her cousin hadn't needed her protection. "It took time, but she's finally comfortable around him" she said.
"The only person she trusted since the beginning was Mon-El, except for you, of course" Alex pointed out, to what she nodded because Mon-El had managed to gain the little girl trust with just a few words and a drawing.
"He's her best friend" she shrugged with a smile.
The eight year old fell asleep shortly after dinner, her little face buried in Saffire as she kept her in between her arms, giving comfort to the little one.
Her cousin had come back to have nightmares, which would keep both of them awake during most of the nights, so it wasn't a surprise that the child had fallen asleep so fast.
"How is she doing?" William asked while observing the child.
"Not good, you've already seen how she reacted" she answered, caressing her cousin's hair.
"She has to be terrified" he commented, to what she nodded. "Poor kid" he sighed. "And how are you doing?" William asked her.
"Umm... Trying to be strong for her" she answered honestly. "I'm upset about not having been able to do anything to stop him" she explained him.
"I can't imagine" he looked at her. "But she knows that with you she's safe" he pointed to how the kid was clinging to her sweater.
Not long after that she was alone with her baby cousin in the apartment. She had ended up tucking the little girl in bed, making sure that Saffire was close to her as well as Comet, who had laid down on the floor to keep protecting the child.
She laid down on bed ready to have some sleep before her cousin's first nightmare would wake her up. However, Halley's feet stomped on the hallway, followed by Comet's, so she opened her eyes the exact moment her cousin walked inside her room.
"I can't sleep" the eight year old told her as she sat up to turned on the light.
"Come here, baby" she patted to the spot next to her, seeing how the child ran to sit there. "You okay?" she asked her.
"I thought I was back in that tube" the little one answered without looking at her, so she frowned.
"What tube?" she questioned her confused.
"The one he used to put me inside to check my brain" her cousin explained as she finally understood how the child was feeling.
"I'm so sorry, baby" she whispered while embracing her. "But now you're here and he's not going to hurt you anymore" she assured her, still feeling the kid's uneasiness. "You know I have claustrophobia, too?" she asked her.
"You do?" Halley looked at her surprised, so she nodded.
"I spent years inside my pod, sweetie" she told her.
"And how do you cope with it? it's like I can't breathe" her cousin explained while putting her hand on her chest to show her.
"I know, baby, sometimes it's easier than others" she answered. "Slowly you'll be able to make it stop, but for now I'm here to help you, okay?" she gently brushed the kid's hair away from her face.
Halley hugged herself at her, so she wrapped her arms around the little girl, keeping her as close as possible while caressing her hair.
"I love you" the eight year old whispered, gripping her t-shirt.
"Love you, too, baby girl" she kissed her forehead. "Remember, I'm always going to be here for you, okay?" she caressed the child's cheek. "Always" she told her, hugging her again, wishing for her baby cousin to remain that sweet and little.
Hi!
I've been writing and rewriting this chapter during the last few weeks, but I think I got to the point where I like the whole thing.
I didn't want to make Halley as secretive as she was the first time Lex kidnapped her, but I didn't want her to tell everything so easily. I wanted her to be more mature, to have a little conversation with Kara about something she would relate to so she could help her cousin.
Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you think,
Ayrin