KARA'S P.O.V
It had been a really long night discussing what were their options to avoid the fact that her baby cousin was obligated to live with Lex.
However, it didn't matter how much they tried because they wouldn't be able to find a solution before the 24 hours left would finish.
At that moment she was trying her best not to start crying again, like she had been doing for the whole night, not wanting to imagine how her baby cousin was going to react, wondering if that little girl would hate her for not being able to stop it from happening.
"Do you want me to go with you?" her aunt asked her, to what she shook her head since it should be her the one to tell Halley what was going on. "You okay?" Astra stared at her, both of them knowing that she was going to break down as soon as she would see the kid.
"Yeah, just tired" she answered in just a murmur, taking her time to observe everyone else, they were all working to help her. "Hey, guys, I think we all should rest" she told them, Mon-El staring at her as if he was refusing to stop.
"There has to be something else we can do" he said as she sighed, being able to see how her sister shook her head slightly. "Are we really going to let that happen?" the daxamite asked them.
"We don't really have other option" Alex answered.
"What if I take her to the 31st Century?" Mon-El asked them, but only looking at her, waiting for her answer.
"Mon-El, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but I don't think it's the right thing to do" she answered him, even if she had to admit that she had been looking for a way to take her baby cousin to Argo without Lex noticing. "I can't risk losing her" she told him with tears in her eyes, knowing that if they didn't stick to what the lawyer had said, she would lost that little girl forever.
"You wouldn't lose her" the daxamite argued back.
"She would. She would lose Halley's custody" it was her sister the one that talked. "At that point, Lex may win or even Halley going with a complete stranger" Alex explained as she shivered, not really wanting to experience that.
"But then I could fight to get her custody and she wouldn't be with a stranger" he insisted, but she shook her head.
"As much as I want Halley not to end up with Lex, there's nothing else to do" she told him. "Lena has offered to stay with them so she can make sure Lex won't hurt Halley" she explained to all of them, observing how Mon-El finally nodded slightly.
She sighed while turning to leave, her sister grabbing her arm to stop her from flying away.
"It's going to be okay, she'll understand" Alex looked directly into her teary eyes as she really hoped for her baby cousin to understand what was happening. "Call me whenever you're back, I would like to see her" her sister asked her, to what she nodded slightly before finally flying away from there.
Her tears rushed to ran down her cheeks as she let herself break down for a few minutes, just the time it would take her to get to Smallville.
As soon as she arrived, she tried her best to look as if she hadn't been crying, taking her time to knock on the door.
"Hey" Clark smiled while opening the door, to what she fake a smile. "How are you doing?" her cousin asked after observing her.
"I'm..." she started murmuring, a crinkle appearing on her forehead as she was ready to lie. "I'm scared" she ended up admitting.
"We all are" Kal-El pointed out, getting her to nod, every single one of them were scared of what was going to happen to Halley. "She's still asleep. Jonathan is with her, he's being really overprotective because of what happened yesterday" he explained while letting her walk inside the house.
The little girl was soundly asleep on the bed, her face buried in her soft toy, Jon sitting by the child's side as a small orangey kitten laid by her cousin's feet.
After insisting a little, Jon finally left with his dad as she stayed in that room alone with just the little one, really doubting about how to wake her up.
She kneeled down on the floor in front of her baby cousin, gently caressing the child's brown hair away from her face, just taking her time as she tried to think about the way she was going to explain to her everything that had happened.
"Kara?" the nine year old asked, rubbing her eyes before looking at her.
"Hi, baby" she tried to smile as the little girl sat up excitedly to hug at her.
The tight embrace brought new tears to her eyes, keeping the child as close as possible, her baby cousin clinging tightly to her coat, burying her little face in her neck.
"Look! This is Nova!" the kid exclaimed while picking up the tiny kitten that was still sleeping on her bed.
"She's beautiful, baby" she told her, slowly caressing the cat's fur.
"Clark said that you had a cat named Streaky" Halley looked at her as she nodded, trying to keep the smile on her face. "What's wrong?" the nine year old asked after observing her for a few seconds.
"Why don't you have breakfast and get ready to go out for a walk?" she asked her, not wanting to tell her, not yet.
"No" her cousin shook her head. "Did he hurt you?" the child asked her while sitting back on the bed.
She sighed. Her eyes meeting her cousin's, who was staring at her while frowning, waiting for her answer, but she didn't know what to say.
Had Lex hurt her? Technically yes, but not physically though, so she wasn't sure of how to explain it.
"Um..., We talked" she started saying, gently grabbing her cousin's hands in between hers. "He made a request that, even though I hate it, I have to follow his orders" she told her, observing how the nine year old frowned. "Lex tricked your mom to give him your custody..." she sighed while trying to contain her tears, the little one looking at her as if she didn't understand what that meant. "You know that when we thought your mom had died, I became your guardian, right?" she asked her.
"I don't want to live with him" the child whispered, fully understanding what she was trying to say, which took her by surprise.
"I don't want that either" she admitted, seeing the silent tears that were streaming down her cousin's cheeks. "Hal, we're all working to stop it as soon as we can, but for now there's..." her voice cracked when she saw how the little girl shook her head angrily, taking her hands away from hers.
"He's going to hurt me" the kid told her in between sobs as she tried to embrace her, being aware that the nine year old was fighting a panic attack.
"Lena is going to stay with you..." she couldn't keep talking as the little girl pushed her away from her.
"No, he will anyway!" Halley shouted shortly before running away from the room.
She sat down on the bed while letting all her tears escape her eyes, being angry about having to put her baby cousin through all of that.
"Hey, she went running to the barn, Clark is trying to talk to her" it was Lois the one standing by the door. "Are you okay?" the reporter asked and, even though she wanted to nodded, she shook her head.
"I hate that there's nothing I can do to avoid it" she admitted, looking down to the floor as the tiny kitten meowed, getting on to her lap. "She has every right to be angry" she sighed, knowing that her baby cousin was even more scared than she was.
"We have to hope that she's going to be back with you soon" Lois told her, to what she nodded, wanting to believe that as well.
After giving her baby cousin a few minutes, she took Nova in her arms to go find Halley.
As she walked inside the barn, she was able to hear the child crying, finding Clark embracing the nine year old.
"Hal, baby" she whispered, sitting by her other side, gently brushing her cousin's hair away from her face before leaving the kitten in the kid's lap. "I know you're scared, I am too, sweetie" she admitted, getting the child to look at her. "We're all working to stop it from happening or, at least, for everything not to last too long" she tried to explain, embracing the little girl against her.
"But I... I can go to Argo until..." the child said in between sobs, her heart breaking as she shook her head.
"If we did that, I would lose your custody forever, Halley" she told her, her cousin shaking her head while her hands turned into fists, holding tightly to her coat. "I don't want to lose you, baby" she admitted, afraid of if she had already done it.
She was pacing from side to side of the Tower, being a little afraid of the fact that she hadn't received any answer from Mon-El, not knowing what to expect as she couldn't stop thinking about the Daxamite having taken her baby cousin to the Future.
Her sister was trying to calm her down, but she couldn't relax, at least not until she would have Halley there with her.
The moment the door of the elevator opened and she saw the little girl's hand holding her best friend's, she almost started crying, approaching them while trying not to scream at Mon-El even if she wanted to.
"I'm sorry, I lost track of time" he apologized. "She told me that she didn't want to take Saffire just in case Lex would break it, so I took her to pick a different stuffed toy" Mon-El explained as her cousin took out a teddy from her bag, walking to her.
"I want you to keep it" the nine year old told her while giving her the stuffed animal.
"Hal…" she was about to refused, but the child insisted, asking her to press the teddy's paw only to hear her baby cousin's sweet voice saying 'I love you'. "Oh, baby, come here" she kneeled down to embrace the kid. "I love you so much, baby girl" she whispered before kissing her forehead.
"I love you, too" the child smiled for the first time after she had told her the news, which managed to make her smile a little as well.
"We should get going home, you're mom is waiting for us, okay?" she told the kid, who nodded before running to say goodbye to every single one that was there.
The truth was basically everyone had wanted to spend a few time alone with the little one, just trying to make her forget what was about to come, the only thing that she hadn't been able to stop not matter how hard she had tried.
She sighed. If only there was a way to make her baby cousin disappear until everything would be solved.
The moment the doorbell rang, the nine year old tensed, almost bursting into tears while holding tightly to her hand, refusing to let go.
Alex was the one who opened the door, only Lena walking inside the apartment, which made her frown slightly as she had expected Lex to be there as well.
"I thought that only being me would be less distressing for her" her friend explained while pointing to the little girl that was already crying. "Whenever you're ready, we have time, okay, sweetie?" Lena told the kid, who nodded as she kneeled down in front of her.
"It's going to be alright" she took her baby cousin's face in between her hands, trying to wipe her tears, even if she crying as well. "Just a few days, I promise, baby" she look directly into her eyes before finally pulling her into a hug.
The child broke down into tears, sobbing against her shoulder as she tried her best to calm her down, wanting to show her that it was okay even if it was not.
She pulled away, knowing that if she kept embracing the little one, she would never let her cousin go, really trying to avoid those thoughts that told her to take the kid and fly away from there until everything was safe.
"Lex just made one request and it's for her not to be wearing the necklace" Lena barely whispered as if she was afraid to break that moment between both cousins.
"But…" Halley frowned, refusing to leave behind the only thing that attached her to her cousin.
"It's okay, Hal" she told her while taking her cousin's necklace off. "I love you so much, baby girl" she whispered, embracing her one last time.
"Love you, too" the kid whispered back as she kissed her forehead.
While Halley was saying goodbye to Alex, she gave Lena her baby cousin's suitcase, really whishing she didn't have to.
"Keep her safe for me, please" she asked her friend.
"I will" Lena nodded. "She'll be back soon, Kara" the woman told her, to what she sighed while observing how the child was embracing Comet tightly.
She helped the child to get her backpack, neither of them being able to look at each other the moment the Lena's hand grabbed the little girl's.
Her sister embraced her as her friend and cousin walked away from the apartment, her head resting on Alex's shoulder as she continued crying, promising her self that she would take that little one out of there as soon as possible.
Her heart was racing after hearing her friend's voice, trying to keep herself calm.
"What do you mean she's missing?" she asked with shaky voice, just as everyone else crowded around her, so she put her speaker on.
"She's nowhere to be found, we've been looking for her for two hours or so" Lena answered to her, to what she sighed. "Lex can't find her solar radiation, it's like if she has vanished from Earth" the CEO explained, which only got her to panic, not understanding how it was possible for her cousin to disappear from Earth so easily.
"We're going to try to look for her, too" her sister said while embracing her.
"Okay, I'll let you know if we find her" Lena told them before hanging up.
"Hey, we're going to find her" Alex assured her, getting her to nod as she observed how her aunt was really calm about the fact that her daughter was missing.
"Astra, Where is she?" she asked directly, really hoping for an answer.
"All I can tell you is that she's safe or, at least, I hope so" her aunt answered.
She frowned while staring at her, not knowing if she should be believing her words or not. However, what worried her the most was the fact that they have to lie about where her baby cousin was.
Hi!
It's been a while since I posted the last chapter, almost two months!
The truth is that for a while I wasn't sure about how to continue the story and by the time I had made a choice, the week of exams came over, so I really didn't have much time.
This chapter will continue on Teen Halley's fanfic, which is a little clue about where Halley may be.
Thanks so much reading, let me know what you think,
Ayrin