Lena makes her way across the bullpen, aiming right for Kara's new office as editor-in-chief. She peeks through the door to see if she's busy or if she's good to head on in so they can have lunch.
She can make out the sight of what looks like a junior reporter standing in front of Kara's desk, shoulders hunched, and head dropped. The young man suddenly snatches up some papers from the desk and marches out, tears in his eyes.
He opens the door with a little more force than was really needed and from the look on his face, he's absolutely fuming. He turns back to Kara one more time before leaving. "I really did try, Ms Danvers, and it wouldn't hurt you to say at least one good thing about my work."
Kara replies just as he is stalking past Lena. "I'm not going to lie to you to make you feel better, Jeff."
Lena's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at Kara's snippy tone. She slips into the office, take out bag in hand, and carefully clicks the door shut after her. "Hey, that didn't sound good."
Kara drops her head down onto the desk with a sigh. "Ugh."
"Everything ok?"
"I'm terrible at being a boss." Kara mumbles into the wood of her desk.
Lena drops the bag onto the desk and takes a seat opposite her. "You know, it's part of your job to reject bad articles and criticize their work where they need to improve. That doesn't make you a bad boss Kara."
"Maybe not, but I don't like talking to anyone that way, but Cat said that I was being too soft on the junior reporters and interns by not calling them out enough. Her exact words were, 'Kara, you need to be spicier, maybe fire one or two if you feel like it and then they'll all work better'. That's not how I work though so it's hard and now I feel bad."
Kara lifts her head up to look at Lena, leaning back in her chair and pouting.
"She's right, you know?"
Kara frowns at Lena, not expecting her to actually agree with Cat Grant."
"Not the firing part, that would open the company up to a lawsuit, but you do have to establish professional boundaries, let them know where they are going wrong and tell them when they have just put a pile of shit on your desk in lieu of an article. You will also have to have a candid chat with that gentleman about his aggressive manner leaving the office before I came in. It's about respect, without it you can't help them grow."
Lena starts unpacking their lunch, she picked up Big Belly Burger today. She slides Kara's burger and fries across the desk to her and stabs the straws into the shakes.
Kara hums, taking a sip from the offered drink and thinking. Lena lets her mull it over, unwrapping her own food and digging in. After a few bites Kara finally comes to a conclusion. "I hadn't thought about it like that. I guess you are right, if I didn't have people above me telling me where I was going wrong then I'd never be here today and hell, even you pulled me up on my behaviour when you were my boss."
"I did, and I didn't enjoy it." Lena smiles wryly. "I know you can do this, you are great at pretty much everything you do. It's actually kind of annoying."
Kara can't help but blush, bashful at Lena's unwavering belief in her. "Thank you, but just for the record, I'm really glad you called me out back then. I needed someone to tell me I was acting like an asshole, and you were the only one that actually got through to me."
"I never thought you were being an asshole, Kara. You were in pain, and it was obvious, just unprofessional in the workplace. Besides, I was terrified of showing favouritism to you if I didn't. I don't think I've ever been subtle about my fondness of you." Lena chuckles, tossing a couple of fries into her mouth and washing them down with her shake.
Kara smiles openly at her admission, always enjoying it when Lena reinforces that they are a team, always having each other's backs no matter what the situation. Her true partner in crime.
"I guess it was good from the opposite end too, based on the articles I've written about you, it was good to show that we could be impartial to each other so nobody could accuse us of bias. I miss having you as a boss, you are damn good one." Kara chuckles at her own words.
"You don't miss me as much as you missed having Cat as a boss." Lena states, fully aware of where Kara's loyalty lies in this circumstance.
"Of course not, she's my favourite boss, you're my favourite person, it's different. You are my second favourite boss though if that counts for anything."
Lena just shakes her head at her, not bothering to hide her smile. "I appreciate the clarification. Now, I did come here for a reason other than just a casual lunch."
Kara tilts her head in questioning.
"This probably isn't going to bode well since we were just talking about professionalism, and I came to talk to you when you're at work." Lena begins, nervously placing her hands on the edge of the desk to stop herself from fidgeting.
"Is something wrong?" Kara leans over to take Lena's hands, worried for her friend now because she looks so worried and nervous, like a scared little puppy about to make a break for it at any given moment.
Lena shakes her head vehemently. "No, no. I don't think it's bad. It's actually to do with us."
Kara doesn't interrupt, just lets Lena talk and leans closer, listening to Lena and making sure that she's heard, ever the attentive one.
"Since everything that has happened, since our fight and then you getting sent to The Phantom Zone then coming back and dealing with Lex and Nyxly, it's given me a new perspective on everything – on us." Lena twists her fingers, giving into her need to have something to fiddle with while having this conversation and playing wit the tips of Kara's fingers.
Kara doesn't mention it, keeping her eyes trained on Lena, a little confused crinkle forming between her eyes. "How so?
"It all made me realise that we don't have time to mess around, we have to take the leap and go for what we want and that means that I have to be honest and say that for a little while now I have been wanting to ask you out on a date, so this is me asking; will you go on a date with me?"
It isn't a massive surprise that Lena has been feeling the same way, Kara can name at least a half dozen moments that they have shared recently that toed the line between platonic and romantic. She is surprised that Lena actually brought it up though, she was so convinced that Lena wouldn't want to actually date her after everything they've been through.
Being her friend is one thing, they still rely on each other, and their trust is slowly but surely being rebuilt. Trusting someone as a friend and trusting someone as a girlfriend are two separate things and she wasn't so sure that Lena would ever be up for it. Kara has never been so glad to be wrong.
Kara searches Lena's face, trying to figure out if she is being serious and the nervous energy that is radiating off the usually confident woman tell her that she is being deadly serious.
"I would love to go out on a date with you sometime."
Lena's eyes meet Kara's looking shocked that Kara actually said yes. "Really?"
"I don't think that either of us can deny that we've always had chemistry and you're right, since you guys rescued me and brought me back, it's only gotten stronger. Besides, you're the one person I can trust to genuinely not give up on our friendship if it goes south, not that I think it will." Kara stills Lena's nervous fingers, holding them between her own and rubbing a soothing thumb over them.
Lena nods along with Kara's words. "I don't think that I could cope without you in my life at this point, not again. I pretty much lost my mind without you."
"I can't say as though I was any better." Kara lets out a sad chuckle, remembering how lost she was without Lena being her guiding light. She hadn't noticed how much she relied on Lena to keep her grounded until it was too late.
They toss their food wrappers in the trash, not wanting to remember this moment with trash strewn about between them.
"I'm free this weekend, Alex and Nia are on patrols because I wanted to go check out the new museum downtown. Maybe you'd like to go together?"
If Lena wasn't already smiling, which of course she was, that would have been the catalyst for the world's widest grin. "That sounds great."
"Awesome, I'm really looking forward to it."
"I am too." Lena checks her watch, fully aware that she has a meeting coming up that she has to rush back to the office for. "As much as I'd love to stay a little longer, I have a meeting I have to get to."
Kara gets it, standing and making her way around the desk to hug Lena goodbye. "I hope it goes well for you."
"It will just be the same old nonsense I've always dealt with, nothing to worry about, but hey, remember what I said. You really are a good boss and I have no doubts that once you're used to it, you will flourish."
"You always know how to make me feel better."
Lena doesn't want to pull away from the hug, holding Kara tightly and not letting her go, "that's because it's practically my full time job at this point."
After one more squeeze Lena lets her go, taking a quick grip of Kara's biceps just because she loves them. Kara's lips quirk up at the action. "Save that for this weekend, I'll call you tonight so we can talk more about it."
"Sounds great." Lena dares to lean up and leave a quick peck to Kara's cheek before scuttling away, looking back to see a dazed Kryptonian holding her cheek with a dazed, giddy expression and revelling in her win.