She's still reeling from the back and forth flirting, the unequivocal high at the excitement of Kara's promise that their conversation was to be continued. Gone was the black hole of longing and in its place a shining light of hope which had been just within her grasp. Only for it to be wrenched away the moment Kara disappeared from view, leaving them in the small shop safely tucked into the back corner off the main strip of the amusement park.
She was a scientist. A biochemist. An engineer. Her mind was a wealth of information and she understood better than most how the body worked. So she knew intuitively that the feeling of her heart bottoming out in her chest was the chemical dump of all the fear hormones. It didn't take her long to realize that she was on the verge of a panic attack. The gunshots, the sudden and abrupt change in location, the concern in Kara's eyes before she disappeared. All of it playing in a loop over and over as her muscles tensed, her heart raced, and her eyes glazed over. Her breaths had become shallow and her mouth had gone dry. The panic was settling in. She knew all this logically, her brain supplied her with the information well enough, but that didn't help her control it.
"Lena, do you still have your portal watch?" Alex asked.
She was still processing how Kara got them here so quickly. It was near instantaneous. The gun shots still reverberated distantly and that caused her eyes momentarily to shift, seeking out the direction they came from. Then there were the screams. So much screaming as children and adults alike seemed to lose all traces of composure as their own panic and fear gave way to outward expression. She remembered telling Kara to go. To leave and save the day like so many other times she's done in the past. Why was this time any different? Why was she still staring out the front of the store, her eyes fixed and her mind empty except for one thought?
"Lena?"
It had been a perfect day. A perfect day. It's almost funny how quickly everything spiraled out of control. She's Supergirl, she reminded herself. She's Supergirl. Kara isn't defenseless, quite the opposite. Her confidence in telling her to go was insured by that fact alone. Kara was anything but helpless. She's going to be ok, because she is nearly invincible. Nearly. Her heart stuttered at that, leapt inconsolably at the fact that for all of Kara's amazing abilities she was still vulnerable in certain ways. This didn't help her climbing fear as it pooled heavily in her chest and wanted to burst forth in her own desperation to follow after Kara. Damn the consequences.
"LENA!" Alex shouted, shaking her shoulder a little too roughly to gain her attention.
Lena startled out of her thoughts. "Wh-what?"
Alex, for all her own worries which were etched across her face, actually paused momentarily and placed a comforting hand on Lena's cheek and the touch helped ground her, anchored her to the moment and pulled her from her despairing spiral that would have likely ended in Lena being stricken in her own fear and not much help to anyone. "She's going to be fine. Ok?" She said gently, her voice still laced with anxiety of the growing need to focus on the problem at hand. Lena nodded, blinking back the tears she hadn't realized were about to fall and shook herself out of it.
"Yeah, ok, sorry."
"Do you still have your portal watch?" Alex asked again with more urgency. Lena could hear the gunfire getting louder. Closer. She nodded quickly lifting her left hand with the watch in question, her attention and focus now on high alert.
"Yes."
"Good, use it to get these people to safety." Alex turned to face Sam and Ruby. They all collapsed into a strong embrace and Alex kissed both of their foreheads. "You two are my world." She said emphatically, as she pulled away and looked at them both. "Don't stick around here, you got it? Any of you." She stressed as she looked pointedly at Lena.
"I'll leave when these people are safe." Lena complied. She had no intention of going through the portal, but Alex didn't need to know that.
Alex looked at her own wrist, the bracelet on it morphed into an alien weapon Lena didn't immediately recognize. A large groaning of metal scraping metal sounded and then a cacophony of noise as steel, glass and everything in between seemed to explode with sound, the ground literally rumbling beneath their feet. The entire shop erupted into more panicked screams and chaos as people trampled over each other in a scramble. Lena glanced out the window to see that the large ferris wheel had just collapsed. A distant thought whispered in her brain that regular guns wouldn't have the capacity to take that ride down.
Alex looked at her, a worrying frown etched across her forehead. "Call Diana. Kara might need back up."
Lena raised her wrist "I can do better than that."
She twisted the dial and a large portal opened in front of them and after a short moment Diana stepped through in full Wonder Woman armor, her sword and shield both unsheathed. Lena sighed in relief and Alex looked just as similarly pleased if not a bit surprised. Diana's eyes seemed to take a minute to focus on the new environment before they settled on Lena's and she smiled an easy smile that was far too relaxed in the current circumstance. "You know, it's one thing to talk about portal jumping during our lunches and meetings, quite a different thing to see it open in front of you and travel through it."
"Thank God, we need your help." That was all Lena managed to say when more gunfire erupted and then fear washed over her as she heard distantly a loud strangled scream that sounded like it came from Kara. Lena and Diana both veered around in unison at the sound and Diana was gone in an instant. Worry and dread filled Lena up as she willed the uneasy feelings aside.
Alex stood on the countertop trying to get the other civilians' attention to very little avail. Between the chaos and their own worry everyone was focusing on themselves and their families. Sam moved out in front of her, stuck her fingers in her mouth and delivered an ear piercing whistle and most of the adults and some of the older children in the room turned to the sound. Alex started giving out orders directing the groups of families towards the portal as Lena held the portal gate open with her other hand. She turned to see Ruby still lingering in the back corner of the room.
"Hey Rubes. How are you doing over there?" Lena asked, trying her best to remove her own anxiety from her voice. No response. The first few people started pushing their way through the portal, and Alex and Sam did their best to keep it orderly and prevent people from trampling over each other.
"Ruby?" Lena asked again and the teen finally looked up but not at her. A little girl had fallen and a couple of panicked teens were about to stampede over her. Ruby took off in a sprint and just barely got to the girl when one of the clueless boys came barrelling at them. In her haste her momentum carried her into the boy and she tucked her shoulder slightly nearly tackling him to the ground. He grunted and stumbled backward. "What the hell?" He yelled at her in consternation. She glared at him and lifted the little girl up walking away without giving the boy another thought, to her relief he seemed more interested in escaping and let them be.
"Are you ok?" Ruby asked.
The little girl couldn't be much older than four, dirt and flecks of pavement were caked into her har and smudged her face. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were swollen from tears. "I want my mommy."
"Where is she? I'll bring you to her." Ruby rubbed the back of the little girl's head, it was wet and sticky and when she pulled her hand back her eyes widened at the blood she found there. "Mom?" Ruby called out, unable to take her eyes away from the blood.
"Sam!" Lena yelled just as quickly, her eyes now fixed on Ruby and the little girl. She couldn't move without disrupting the portal and people were still filtering through it. Sam spun on her heels, her eyes finding Lena first then following her line of sight to Ruby. She ran to her, dodging racks of clothes and merchandise that were in the way.
"I- I think she's hurt." Ruby said shakily. Sam scooped the little girl out of Ruby's hands and turned her carefully to see her head better. She frowned then looked at Ruby and pointed towards Lena. "Go back to Lena and stay away from the windows. Now!" Ruby didn't hesitate and ran towards Lena. "ALEX!"
Alex was at Sam's side in an instant and she immediately started evaluating the little girl's wound. When she sighed in relief Sam felt her own exhale as her worry subsided. "It's not as bad as it looks, head injuries bleed more so it was misleading. She needs medical attention though." She looked at the child and smiled kindly at her. "You are a very brave little girl."
She tucked her head into Sam's neck as her arms folded into her chest. Sam wrapped her arm around her back and patted her gingerly. "Where's your mommy or daddy sweetie?"
"I don't know." She cried. "I can't find them."
"Then you are going to stick with me until we do ok?" Sam said soothingly and the little girl just burrowed further into her chest in response.
"Take her through the portal with Ruby, most of the people here have already gone through, hopefully her parents are there already. If they are, I'm sure they are worried sick." Alex said. Sam nodded and leaned forward kissing Alex quickly.
"I love you." Sam looked at Alex squarely, unwavering in her confession. "I didn't want to say it like this, but–" Sam's eyes welled up and she squeezed the little girl tighter to her chest as she fought back the rush of overwhelming emotions.
"I love you too." Alex pulled her into a hug, awkward in its attempt due to the child. She kissed Sam again and pushed her shoulders lightly. "Please go, I'll be right behind you as soon as I can."
"Be careful." Sam said as she took a step back.
Glass shattered and Alex spun around as a man in a mask holding a large cannon-like gun leaped inside followed by another larger man in a similar mask wielding a smaller version of the same gun. "Run!" Alex shouted. The larger man saw the movement and lifted his weapon and Alex swung her legs over the man's neck twisted in a deft and fluid move using the momentum to knock the man down, kicking the gun out of his hands and rendering him unconscious. Sam tucked the girl into her arms protectively and leapt over fallen merchandise and sprinted towards the portal.
The other man shouted something indistinct and raised his gun, Lena grabbed Ruby by the back of her arm and thrusted her in without preamble as Sam chased in after her. She twisted the face of her watch just as the first shot was fired, erupting the entire shop into a bright hue of blue, narrowly missing Lena and blasting a giant hole in the back of the store right where the portal had just closed. Lena reeled backward into a coat rack, twisting out of it and dodging the next energy blast. She heard a whirring noise of what she assumed was the cannon that had just nearly been her death. It was recharging, she realized, a small reprieve.
"Lena!" Alex shouted, raising her own gun up and incapacitating the assailant. She stood up, making sure the man she had just knocked down was in fact unconscious before taking her eyes off him to find Lena.
"Lena?" She shouted again.
"I'm here. I'm ok." She called back.
"Thank God. Sam? Ruby?" Alex called back, unable to see from her current position whether they made it through or not.
"Safe." Lena said and Alex turned as she saw Lena approaching her from the side. "Just barely." Alex let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and nodded as she swallowed down the anxiety and squared her shoulders as her instincts as a soldier took over. Lena crouched down and took the large energy cannon that had been fired at her off the man's hands and nodded to the smaller one Alex had kicked away. "I think we can safely assume they no longer need these. Huh?" Lena asked dryly and slung the strap over her shoulder to better carry the clunky weapon.
Alex shook her head. "Ditch that one and grab the smaller one. It's lighter and you'll move easier with it. If you are going to stay here you don't need to be weighed down. That one seems like an older model anyway." Alex said as she grabbed the smaller of the two and Lena obligingly switched them out. Alex made quick work of disabling the larger gun, finding the firing pin and removing it.
"I'm surprised you're not demanding me to follow after Sam and Ruby." Lena commented as she squatted and began removing the bullet proof vest from the unconscious man's chest. She threw it over her head and strapped it quickly then continued to pat him down. She found a radio and a small pistol and took both. Alex shrugged and walked carefully to the side of the broken window, her back against the wall as she peaked around it to see if any others were following after these two.
"You wouldn't have listened, this just saves time." She glanced over at Lena, who raised an eyebrow and her lips curled in an attempt to smirk before the weight of the circumstances pulled them back down into a thin line again. "So what's the plan?"
"Lay low." Alex said, pointing in a direction Lena couldn't immediately see from her current position.
"What's over there?" Lena asked as she saw the grim look on Alex's face. She followed Alex's path to the window and Alex stepped aside for Lena to take her place. She cautiously looked to where Alex's eyes had been trained and felt her heart sink into her stomach. It wasn't a sight she was expecting to see, a large group of about six similarly clad men all marching down the street in their direction.
"What the hell is happening?" Lena whispered quietly. "We are at an amusement park. Why are they targeting this place?"
"I don't know, but it looks organized." She looked down at the two men on the floor. "We got lucky."
Lena twisted her head back to look at Alex. "I don't think luck had much to do with it. Your combat skills were a huge factor in Sam and Ruby not getting shot."
"As was your portal." Alex threw back. They eyed each other with a common respect, a small grim smile was shared between them. Alex glanced back down at the larger man, her eyes spotted a familiar tattoo on the wrist of one of the men half hidden under his black long sleeve shirt. She knelt down and grabbed his wrist and scoffed in disgust when she pulled the sleeve back further, confirming what she already suspected. "Sons of Liberty." Lena looked back worriedly at the group of men drawing closer by the second.
Kara left the souvenir shop with her heart feeling like it just split in two. The need to protect Lena, and Alex, Sam and Ruby warring with the need to protect everyone else. She had moved them to the furthest side of the park, away from the gunshots. She knew they were safe. At least for now. So her focus diverted to the people still in harm's way.
Three things happened instantaneously when she drew closer to the gunfire. She realized horrifically that she was too late to save everyone. Men, women and even children lay lifeless on the pavement. She clenched her jaw and fought back the visceral reaction to the horror below her. She wouldn't be any good to the survivors if she didn't have a level head. There was a small army of about fifty masked men all armed with similar weapons scattering about in groups to other paths throughout the park and lastly that those weapons were not normal guns.
The latter she finds out first hand when she witnesses two men open fire on the ferris wheel. Blue energy rays erupting from the guns and blasting straight through the metal support beams. She looks up and sees three gondolas still have people trapped inside. She reacts as quickly as she can, flying to the first gondola and lasering it off the hinges and then the second, holding each with outstretched arms and flying the people inside to safety, setting them down in a remote corner away from the attackers.
The metal groaning alarms her and she turns back and sees that a third man has started on the final support beam. The ferris wheel starts to collapse, the third gondola holding a mother and her two sons still inside all huddled close together. Kara sucks in a shuddered breath, her eyes widened in fear.
"Please no." She whispers to herself then at breakneck speed she shoots off for the third gondola.
The support beam snaps and the Ferris wheel tips and wanes. The screams, she thinks, will be forever embedded in her memory. Her arms stretched out in front of her as her clenched fists fling open and grab the falling ferris wheel by the one gondola that holds precious life. The bucket can't support the full weight of the collapsing ride and it buckles easily. She makes as quick work as she can of releasing the bucket from its supports and as soon as it breaks free, the ride crumbles fully onto itself.
She sighs in relief, thanking Rao that she had made it in time for this small family and lands them in the same area as she placed the others. She notices that this is a family of Almeraci, a race of aliens she hasn't seen since before the fall of Krypton. She smiles kindly at them and helps the family out pointing to the other side of the park. "Stick together and run that way. There's an exit on the other side of the park." The language is broken and fractured, not having spoken it in a long time, but it does the job and the mother grabs her two boys by the wrists and takes off. She doesn't linger shooting off into the sky with venom in her blood approaching the large group of men.
"Supergirl! You think you can save everyone? These people don't deserve protection! Especially from an alien menace like you!" A man leered from the ground. "BOYS!"
In unison they all raised their weapons up and took aim at her. They opened fire at her and she easily dodged the blasts. Flying low and fast taking out a large portion of the men in quick succession destroying their guns in the process. With a thunderous clap she sent about ten flying backwards due to the shockwave.
It came out of nowhere.
Her focus so intently centered on the men on the ground she didn't see the two in the clock tower. The two beams hit her with a force that she hadn't anticipated and instead of just knocking her to the ground otherwise unharmed, she felt an acute immeasurable pain radiating from her chest outwards. She hit the pavement hard creating a small crater on impact. Before she could register what happened five more guns had also opened fire on her and she cried out in agony as the pain clouded every other coherent thought. She tried to stand, but six more energy cannons were now firing down upon her as the men surrounded her.
"Not so tough now are you Supergirl?" One of the men jeered.
She fixed her eyes on the two men in the tower and with all the strength she could muster she willed her heat vision to come forth with much more effort than she ever had to in the past and aimed it at their guns. It worked but just barely and only for a second before three other men on the ground surrounded her and took aim. Her vision blurred and her mind exploded in a burst of white hot agony. She willed herself to move straining her neck to sit upright, but there were simply too many.
The gold lasso that looped around three of the men in front of her seemed out of place in her current torture ridden brain. When they disappeared from sight with a howl, it too seemed like a dream. Then she saw her and in a blur of motion as Diana lasso'd another man with one hand, yanking the golden rope with precision and throwing him into five others. The surprise attack had caught them all off guard, but one of the men lifted his gun and opened fire at Diana. She was already on the offensive however, and prepared, lifting her shield up easily blocking the beam and it ricocheted off and the two standing next to him. The final few dropped their weapons and ran leaving one stupidly brave soldier alone. For a moment, time stood still as they stared at each other in a silent face off.
"It would be wise of you to stand down now." Diana said cuttingly, her eyes burning with rage as she stood battle ready, her legs bent, shield out and in two swift movements her lasso was replaced with her sword. She looked deadly and her stance gave no room for leniency. Kara was still reeling from the attack, her body felt sluggish, but now that the energy cannons were no longer trained on her she felt her strength returning quickly. He clenched his jaw defiantly and Kara saw from her spot on the ground the moment he made his decision.
The gun was out and fired in a split second. Kara however was faster. She pinched the bullet between her fingers before it fully left the barrel of the gun and then dismantled it piece by piece just like Alex had trained her. When she came to a stop in front of the man and the gun fell, in pieces, to the ground at his feet, he startled and stumbled backward, falling to the ground in surprise. "She said stand down, not fall down."
"Semantics." Diana said as she took a step forward standing next to Kara. She glanced at Kara, relief flooding her features when Kara smiled back at her.
"D-don't hurt me. Please." The man begged as he scrambled away in a spider crawl. "I'm sorry."
"Too little, too late." Kara said as she approached him and lifted him up by the collar. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the tattoo on his neck. "Sons of Liberty." She seethed. He flinched as if she was going to punch him and his hands came up in a sorry attempt to wrestle out of her hold. Diana smirked. In a quick motion of her hands she tapped his face and neck and he slumped down unconscious. Kara's eyes widened and she stepped back in wonder. "What did you just do?"
"Knocked him out." She said simply. "Pressure points," She explained. "There's several on the human body that can render the same results." She shrugged.
"Well ok then." Kara said. She floated up and assessed the area. Between her and Diana they had taken down most of the makeshift army of anarchists. Some had scattered in the brawl. In a burst of speed she created a rudimentary holding cell using pieces of the broken Ferris wheel and put all the incapacitated men inside. "That should hold them for now." She suddenly felt like the world was spinning and her legs buckled from under her. Diana caught her and held her up. "Kara?"
"Dizzy." Kara said weakly. "I'll be fine, I think I just over exerted myself after being blasted with those energy cannons." She found her footing and looked around. Her heart was heavy with the loss of life she was unable to save when the initial shots rang out. "There's so many." She said brokenly. "I could've, should've done more."
Diana was about to say something, her hand reaching out to offer comfort only to hesitate in this new dynamic they found themselves in. Her own heart aching at the loss of so many from such senseless violence. Kara's sharp intake of breath and quick turn of head, however, caused her mouth to shut and her hand reflexively unsheathed her sword as she turned to face in the direction Kara's head darted to. "Alex." She sucked in a breath as her face contorted in horror. "Lena too."
"I'm right behind you."
"Come on, we can't stay here. They'll be on top of us soon. Two is one thing, but I don't think we have much of a chance against six heavily armed men." Alex said as she made her way to the back of the store. There was a back exit and she opened the door cautiously and looked in both directions. "Let's go."
Lena followed close behind her as they stealthily moved through the alley and at times through the back of game booths trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the men.
"There!" Lena and Alex spun around and saw one of them had turned in their direction and was pointing at them.
"Shit." Alex said and they ducked in unison as the men opened fire on them. A mixture of gunfire and energy blasts took out the top half of the booth they sequestered themselves into. "Stay low, move!" Alex urged as they tried to make their way behind a concrete half wall that offered more protection than the wooden booths. "Portal?" Alex asked as she returned fire over the wall.
Lena looked around and shook her head. "To open. I can't risk them shooting through it and hitting someone on the other side, we don't have much cover here." Lena started returning fire as well and reeled back when one of the energy blasts hit too close for comfort spraying concrete debri into her eyes. "Agh. Can't see!" She felt Alex grab hold of the back of her vest pushing her low to the ground and forcing her to move blindly in a direction she assumed held more cover. She was pushed to the back of a wall and tried her best to clear her eyes from dust and debri. "I'm sorry."
"You didn't intentionally throw dirt in your eyes, Lena." Alex said hurriedly as more gunfire spattered against the corner of the wall and Alex knelt down beside her and did her best to help clear her face of more dust. Lena blinked back the tears that had accumulated and wiped her face once more with a subtle nod that she was able to see again.
"Well well well. Looks like you're out of places to run." Alex looked at the man as he came around flanked by two others. She looked to her right and saw the other three men approaching from the other side blocking off any escape. She raised her hands in surrender, kicking her gun away in an attempt to look like she was no longer a threat. Lena stood slowly beside her and raised her own hands, jaw clenched.
The leader of the small pack of wolves looked hungrily at them and turned to his men. "I think they've given us enough trouble, wouldn't you agree?" The men raised their guns in unison and the leader turned to face them, a wicked smile on his face. "Send my regards to Hades." Alex reached for Lena's hand.
"Hades has his own problems, right now." Diana said and the men looked startled and faltered.
"Drop. Your. Weapons." Everyone looked up. Lena took in a startled breath. Kara was hovering over them, eyes glowing red, fists clenched at her sides. She had never seen her so angry before, she was dark and menacing and looked like the angel of death. It wasn't a surprise at all when a clatter of weapons sounded as the men complied without question.
All except the leader. He snarled at her then lifted his gun pointing it at Lena opening fire. Lena flinched, but her eyes only saw the red of Kara's cape. For a moment she thought she had died, her breath caught in her lungs at the surprise attack.
Thunderous noise exploded around her as the weapon unloaded. She heard several Thippp thiiip thhipps as Kara took the brunt of the attack. Her hands came up over her ears to shield them from the deafening sound.
From there it was a blur of movement, Diana and Kara made quick work of the rest of the men, then soft hands were on her face. Warmth flooded her body and she gasped as her eyes focused on Kara's worried face. She was saying something, Lena was sure of it, her lips were moving, but her damn ears were still ringing from the bullets.
"—''Kay? Le—!" Kara bent slightly so she could meet Lena's dazed face. "Are you okay?"
Lena's hands came up to Kara's, still clinging to her face and she nodded slowly as she snapped out of the shock. "I- I'm yes. I'm —Alex?" Lena tried to look to her left, but Kara's hands prevented her from turning fully.
"She's ok. She's ok." Kara said as her hands started sweeping across Lena's face gingerly. Her head fell to Lena's forehead and she sucked in a shaky breath. "I wouldn't live with myself if you– I can't imagine –" Kara whispered, her forehead pressing against Lena's. "I almost lost —" Her voice broke and her hand fell to Lena's shoulder as she realized the weight of what the past few seconds would have meant.
"You didn't." Lena moved her hand from Kara's to her face. She leaned up and kissed her cheek and tasted the salt from tears she hadn't realized Kara had shed. "You didn't." She kissed her cheek again closer to the corner of Kara's mouth. "I'm still here." Kara wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in close. Kissing her face and burying her face in the crook of Lena's neck kissing the juncture between where her neck met her shoulder. They stayed like that for a long moment before Kara sucked in a breath and jumped out of Lena's arms and twisted around. "Sam? Ruby?" A sharp look of terror on her face when she couldn't see or hear them.
"Safe, they're both safe." Alex said and Kara flung herself into Alex's arms and hugged her. "Thanks to Lena. Her portal watch really came in handy." Kara pulled away and looked at Lena with deep affection and relief that sent Lena's heart racing. Alex stumbled and grunted and Kara's eyes drew to the growing red spot on Alex's shoulder. "You got shot." She grabbed Alex's sleeve and ripped it to see the fresh bullet wound.
"It went straight through." Kara assessed quickly "I'm going to have to cauterize it." She looked up at Alex with sympathy. It was not a pleasant feeling and she needed Alex's permission to do it. Alex pulled her belt off and placed it in between her teeth and took in three short breaths then nodded and closed her eyes. Kara zapped the wound as quickly as she could and Alex came away with only a short whimper of protest before spitting the belt out of her mouth.
Kara sighed in relief and Diana patted her on the back. "You did well."
"I'm tired." Kara said and slumped down, Alex and Diana caught her in unison.
"Kara?!" Lena approached her quickly looking at her in disbelief. "What happened to her?"
"She took on about fifteen of those energy cannons simultaneously. I think she may have exerted more strength than she realized." Diana informed with a worried frown. "I'll stay here and make sure the authorities take care of these men. She needs medical attention."
Kara woke up to sun lamps. It was a strange, disorienting feeling. Her head felt a little hazy, and she tried to sit up when a pair of hands gently pushed her back down again. "You only just started your treatment Kara. Lie back and rest." Lena said softly.
"Lena?" Kara tried to focus but was having a difficult time of it. When her eyes found Lena's, her body relaxed into the bed. "So beautiful." The haze overwhelmed her senses her eyelids felt too heavy to stay aloft. She reached for Lena's hand fumbling in her inability to see clearly and she heard a light chuckle as Lena took her hand in her own, leaning forward to brush the hair out of Kara's face. Her fingers lingered on her face before trailing away. "Rest."
"Stay?" Kara asked, and subconsciously tightened her grip on Lena's hand.
"If that's what you want." Lena smiled.
"Hmmm." Kara hummed, pulling her hand up closer to her chest. "You comfort me."
Lena stroked Kara's hand with her thumb. "Then I'll stay." She whispered.
The next time Kara woke up she stretched, feeling well rested and frowned when she looked to the side of the bed where Lena had been perched to find it vacant. She sat up and looked around and heard talk out in the main foyer of the Tower. "Kara will be waking up any minute now. I have to get back."
"We need to discuss the weapons that were—"
"Brainy. We can address that later. Right now I have somewhere I need to be."
Kara sat back on the bed, quickly propping the pillows up behind her back. Lena stepped in quietly, her eyes looking down, not yet noticing that she was awake. She held two large bags in her hand and when she softly closed the door Kara smiled. "You know…" Lena jumped and whipped around her eyes like saucers before they narrowed on Kara. "You don't have to be sneaky around me. Doesn't really work anyway." Kara pointed to her ears. "Light sleeper."
Lena straightened and nodded. "Good to know." She lifted the bags and smiled. "I figured you might be hungry."
Kara's eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously. "Oh Rao, you know me so well. I'm starving." She reached out and made grabby hands and Lena chuckled lightly as she approached the bed. She set the food down on the tray next to Kara and sat down on the bed twisting slightly to face her better. Her hand came up and swept over Kara's face tenderly.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I could take on another fifteen cannons." Kara said jokingly and Lena feigned a stern look. "I feel a lot better." She answered truthfully.
"Good." Lena turned and started pulling out the food and Kara stopped her movements. Lena looked up at her worriedly. "Is something wrong?"
"No. No I just." Kara looked down and worried her lip. "Lena there's something between us right? I'm not making it up?" Lena parted her lips, surprised by the bluntness of Kara's question. "It's just, I've had feelings for you for a long time and there's moments where I feel like maybe, you might feel the same way?"
Lena looked down at where Kara had a hold of her hand. They had come a long way, she felt closer to Kara now than she had ever felt before. They had been flirting more openly and the new dynamic wasn't wholly unwelcome but it did still give her pause when she thought about all that was at stake. Flirting and toeing the line was one thing, but Kara was turning it into a reality and that had her heart racing. She rubbed a small circle on Kara's hand as she took in a shaky breath and willed herself to be honest. "There's something." She whispered thickly, her eyes slowly rising up to meet Kara's. What she found there was breathtaking. Pools of blue shining back at her. "There's definitely something." Lena said more confidently.
Kara smiled brightly, her eyes crinkling up in that adorable way that Lena found so endearing as relief seemed to flood her features. Lena smiled back her own eyes shining with emotion, but she warred with her own fears and Kara's smile faltered slightly. "But?" Kara asked and Lena nearly broke at the way her voice shook.
Lena stood up, apprehension and fear suddenly clouding her features. "It's— how could you want me? It doesn't matter how desperately I long for it, how I crave to be touched by you." Lena's face heated up at the admission and Kara stood up from her spot on the bed. Lena backed away. "I hurt you Kara. I can't change that." She said weakly as she looked back at Kara with deep longing. "If I ever hurt you again. If I ever did anything to sever this bond between us, I - I wouldn't be able to survive that heartbreak. Not again. Not twice in one lifetime. I couldn't bear it."
"Don't I get a choice?" Kara asked tenderly as she moved closer to Lena, her hand making a path from Lena's arm up to her neck, cradling her jaw.
"What?" Lena felt dizzy, her control slipping through her hands like water and her mind clouded with the touch of Kara's fingers on her face.
"Do you think I don't share those fears too? I hurt you too. You aren't alone in that. I thought we were going to share that load together. Can't I choose you? Can't I decide my fate in this with you? This tie…this bond that we have, isn't it something worth exploring?"
"I want to. God I want to." Lena whispered. Her breath ghosting over Kara's lips, and the closeness was almost too much and yet not enough, she wanted to melt into her embrace but her body was stiff, rigid with the final defense in her battered façade of control.
"Can I…" Kara's heart pounded in her chest, fear of rejection and abandonment weighing heavily upon her. She swallowed as if trying to force the emotions back down. Her fingers unconsciously gripping Lena's waist ever so slightly as a way of keeping her, afraid she might bolt. She searched Lena's eyes looking for what she wasn't sure but she didn't see anger there or contempt, but something else, something on the verge of hope welling within and barely contained. She leaned in ever so slightly, aware and waiting for any sign of Lena pulling away, but none came.
The kiss was soft at first and Lena felt Kara pull her in closer and she let out a strangled sob as she kissed her back. Her hands coming up to Kara's face tracing it disbelievingly as she felt Kara open her mouth from the quick, closed lip kiss to something else entirely. Lena darted her tongue out determinedly. The whimper that erupted deep in Kara's chest gave Lena the confidence to deepen the kiss further, one of her hands moving to Kara's lower back to pull her closer and her body leaned forward into Kara's reflexively, molding to her where it once was rigid. Kara seemed to suddenly realize Lena's reaction to her advance and when Lena pulled back to catch her breath, Kara took the opportunity to attach her lips to the underside of Lena's jaw. It was all too much, too fast.
Lena struggled to wrap her brain around what was happening, and yet she was too afraid to speak to shatter the moment. Everything she had ever wanted, craved for so long culminating into that one desperate kiss. Kara seemed to slow in her ministrations her fingers stilling at Lena's waist as she slowly pushed away. The look in her eyes was one of trepidation, like a cornered animal, exposed and threatened, unsure of the final outcome. "I want something more from you. Something infinitely more meaningful than friends. I want us to be an us." Kara's voice broke and a tear fell from her face. She trembled with emotion, her chin quivering, no longer able to hold back as more tears fell. Her hand moved from Lena's waist to her jaw, a thumb swiped over a tear that was making a slow track down her porcelain skin. She looked at Lena imploringly "Please tell me I'm not too late. Please tell me that you can push past your fears and worries and take a chance on me." She hesitated and then captured Lena's lips again, not desperate but imploring pushing against the softness pleadingly before pulling back. "Take a chance on me."
There was a pregnant pause that filled the space seemingly suffocating Kara as she searched Lena's eyes for something, anything that might give her reason to hope. Maybe it was her own emotions running rampant within her, maybe it was the overwhelming silence, maybe it was her frazzled nerves, but she couldn't interpret what she saw in Lena's eyes gazing back at her and she looked down preparing herself for the coming rejection.
"Ok." Lena whispered. She was still reeling from the kiss, her mind fogged from desire. The beautiful earth shattering kiss that affirmed her affections were mutual, but this new thing that Kara offered her sent her heart into a new realm entirely.
"What?" Kara reeled back in shock. She shook her head in denial and her lip quivered as she dared to stare into emerald eyes. She couldn't control the sudden rush of emotions that filled her body up and she clenched her eyes shut as she broke down, waves of bewilderment and hope and disbelief fought for dominance within. She felt Lena move slowly forward in her arms, warm hands found their way to her neck pulling ever so gently until their foreheads met. Kara breathed in the faintest of gasps at the touch. Then a touch of lips was on her cheek before another was slowly felt on the corner of her mouth and Kara's eyes finally opened. Lena looked at her with so much adoration and reverence that it radiated off of her fully and unencumbered.
"Ok." She repeated unable to contain the smile illuminating her face.
Kara's exhale seemed to divest her of all the built up tension that had accumulated between them and a soft disbelieving laugh escaped her lips before they crashed back into Lena's.