Author: Ashley

Title: Contractually Yours

Rating: M - Mature

Part: 20/?

Pairing: Mon-El and Kara Danvers (Zor-El)

Word Count: 4,371

Summary: Long ago, the Daxamites chased the Kryptonians off of their shared world. They were forced to live on a nearby moon. That Kryptonian moon is now running out of resources, while the Daxamites' planet is becoming a wasteland. The Royal Families have decided to come together in a truce to help everyone live better lives; a truce made with a signed contract involving their children; a contract that the children have no say in. Arranged Marriage Karamel AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supergirl, DC Comics or anything related to such things. The ideas, dialogue and plot points of this AU were inspired by the show, but they are my own. Plagiarism isn't nice. Please don't steal my ideas.

A/N: Happy New Year everybody!

This fic is officially 1 year old. As of posting, that is. Please drop by my Twitter if you have the time to read a quick note of appreciation for you readers (with a little self-complimenting, oops).

Enjoy Chapter 20!

Chapter Twenty: Finding Our Way

Day Seventy-Six

Mon-El's eyes fluttered open and he immediately jumped. Something was tickling along his thighs. He looked down and there was the culprit: Kara.

"Whoa, Kara," he chuckled, his voice scratchy with sleep.

"Good morning," she responded, her fingertips tapping along his thighs, followed by her lips as she kissed across his skin.

"You must be feeling better after last night," he stated, drunk Kara seemingly gone, hungover Kara nowhere to be found.

"You always make me feel good," she insisted as she continued to kiss his thighs up to the bottom edges of his boxers. She slipped her hands under the material and trailed further upward along his thighs.

"You should be resting," he said, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"No more resting," she whispered, shaking her head at him.

Her hands continued to slide around under his boxers until she found what she was searching for.

"Oh, Rao," she groaned, and he furrowed his eyebrows at her. She was so close to him, yet her voice sounded so far away, and so pained. He waited a moment as he stared at her, confused as to why she'd sounded so strange to him.

And then he woke up.

Her hands on his body may have been a dream, but that groan was not. He sat up in Kara's bed and deduced that hungover Kara had just woken up in the other room.

He ran a hand through his hair as he got out of bed and walked from Kara's room back into his own bedroom.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he cracked.

"Whyyy?" she groaned, sitting up in bed, the palms of her hands pressed tightly against her forehead.

"This is why I said you shouldn't drink so much," he said as he walked toward her.

"I'm never drinking again in my entire life," she nearly panted as she tried to grapple with the pain pounding against her skull.

He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and reached for the elixir still sitting on the table next to her. "You didn't drink this. I told you to drink it before the morning."

"I couldn't drink it because I slept right through the night," she whined. "I'm going back to sleep. It's so bright in here. It hurts to be awake." She tried to slip back under the covers, but he stopped her.

"Kara, wait," he said as he cracked open the bottle. When he looked up at her again, her palms were back up and covering her eyes. He smiled as he ran his hand through her hair, straightening out the strands that were wildly standing up at all ends. "Drink," he instructed as he reached for her hand to place the bottle in it. She clutched onto the drink that he offered with both of her hands, and pulled it to her lips quickly. She cringed as she gulped, clearly not enjoying the taste.

His hand slid some of her mussed-up hair away from her face as she drank, pushing it off her shoulders and toward her back.

"That's it," he coaxed. "Until it's all gone."

She tipped her head back to get every last drop, gasping as she finally pulled the empty bottle away. "That stuff is awful," she stated firmly as she tried to catch her breath.

"I know, but it works, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," she whined. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

He laughed. "You feel better, though? Just a headache?"

"My stomach hurts," she stated sadly, and he couldn't help himself, he ran a hand across her cheek in comfort.

"The elixir will help that, too. Just give it a little while to work."

"Can you stay for a bit?" she asked quietly, as she started to move further under the covers.

He felt his heart jump in his chest. "Of course," he nodded. He thought she'd meant just continuing to sit there on the edge of the bed, but she moved aside the covers next to her, and he questioned nothing. He immediately moved to crawl into bed beside her.

He leaned back against the headboard and she curled right into his side, both arms wrapping around his middle as she placed her head on his chest.

"Normally my mom gets this honour when I'm sick," she mumbled against him.

He chuckled, "I'm happy to take over for her this time."

She was silent for a while and he was almost sure she had fallen asleep against him, but then she spoke softly. "I heard that your heart is on the other side of your chest. Is that true?" she asked as she pressed her face tighter against the right side of his bare chest, seemingly searching for the sound of his heart beating.

"Yeah," he sighed as he watched the top of her head. "Well, if you ask other Kryptonians, I'm sure they'd say that we Daxamites don't have hearts at all."

"You have a heart," she said quietly as she yawned against him. "You're just not good at showing it to people."

He smiled a sad smile. "I'm trying," he said back quietly as he stroked his hand through her hair.

"It's okay to care about people, you know," she whispered. "It doesn't make you weak."

"My parents wouldn't think so."

"You should do what you think is right, regardless of what your parents think. They're not exactly the best influence, you know," she sighed.

He smiled. "You're right about that," he agreed.

She was quiet again and eventually her grip on his middle loosened a bit as she fell back asleep. He continued to sit there until Mira came to the door. She was about to knock on the slightly ajar door when she noticed that Mon-El was sitting on the bed with Kara in his arms. He waved at her to come closer before speaking.

"My Prince," she whispered as she pushed the door open a little further. "Breakfast is ready and you're late. I've been sent by your parents to retrieve you both."

"Tell them Kara is sick. We won't be attending breakfast."

She nodded and bowed silently before exiting the room, shutting the door behind herself. He looked down at Kara.

He wasn't moving for anything.

Day Eighty-Five

It had been over a week since Kara had fallen asleep in his arms while in his bed. Albeit, she was hungover and felt like shit, but it was a wonderful moment for him. She was so tiny and soft in his arms and he had just wanted to hold onto her for as long as she'd let him. It was nearly perfect (it would only have been better had they been naked or something). They'd stayed like that until almost noon when she suddenly woke up, pushed him away and retreated to her own bedroom without saying a word.

Well, it was wonderful for the short time that it had lasted.

Since then, she'd gone back to the old Kara; eye-rolling, no-nonsense tolerating, bookworm Kara. Which was fine with him. He continued to seek out what he needed from the girls at the club and she continued to attend the meetings about the wedding along with him, as required. Things seemed to be moving along as per usual.

But something was bothering him.

He just couldn't get it out of his head. Not that it should matter in the slightest considering how he spent his nights, but he couldn't stop thinking about finding her at the club; Kade all pressed up against her beautiful body, Jase's lips all over her neck and shoulder. From the sound of things, it didn't get that far, but he needed to know how close it came; how close this came to being over for them.

Sure, he wanted to break the contract. Of course he wanted to break the contract. He wanted nothing to do with marriage or a baby, but the whole Kara part of it all; he'd come to realize that he wanted that part. Anything and everything that she was willing to give him.

He'd grown to love the fluttery nerves she made appear in his stomach; the sweatiness of his palms with the thought of holding her close; the way the…other parts of his body enjoyed her company.

It all felt very foreign to him and seeking out comfort in the arms of other non-committal women made him feel a little less tense and panicky about the Kara situation.

He stood in his room in the perfect place where he could look at her in her mirror while standing inside his own room; could watch her while she was sitting on her bed. Yeah, it was probably creepy, but she hadn't noticed him yet and he needed time to figure out how to approach the subject of that night at the club again.

Mon-El had been staring at her for almost ten minutes now.

Did he really think she couldn't see him?

He was staring at her reflection in the mirror, but apparently he didn't realize that if he could see her in the mirror, she could probably see him in the same mirror…

She made it look like she was reading, but she hadn't been for a long while now. She kept thinking about a few nights ago when she'd fallen asleep in his arms.

How had she let that happen again?

She was just feeling so terrible at the time, and all she'd wanted to do was cuddle in bed before falling asleep; the same way her mother used to hold her when she was sick on Krypton. She obviously hadn't been thinking clearly since she'd asked Mon-El of all people to cuddle with her. While it was happening, she hadn't really been all there consciously; leaning into him and mumbling some stuff about him having a good heart. Ridiculous. But as soon as she'd woken up, it all hit her at full force; his arms wrapped around her body, her chest flush with his side as she gripped onto his bare torso, her face smushed against his chest. She couldn't even remember saying anything before she jumped up and literally ran away, back to the safety of her own room.

She'd felt sort of bad for running away afterward, but it was all just too much. His arms around her while they lay in bed together? No. Far too much for her to handle.

Considering how she'd originally planned to spend her night, she really kind of went the wrong way in the end.

So she planned to ignore the fact that that moment had ever happened.

By not discussing it.

Just like the shower incident, this was another one of those times to be shoved in a box and hidden away, never to be brought up again.

And now here she was, sitting on her bed watching him watch her out of the corner of her eye, praying to Rao that he wasn't going to eventually come in here and bring up what she was trying so hard to forget.

He was going to do it.

He was going to go in there and ask her about that night at the club.

He had to do it sooner or later, and he'd finally found the nerve.

He stepped up to her doorway, standing right over the threshold as he waited for her to acknowledge him.

She didn't look up at him, but after a few moments when he neglected to speak, "Did you need something?" she asked, her eyes shifting from the pages of her book to his form standing in the corner, her head staying still as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I wanted to ask you something about-"

"Mon-El," she interrupted him as she continued to pretend to focus on her book. "I really don't want to talk about what happened."

"I knew you'd say that, but I just wanted to ask you why you chose Jase and Kade."

She blinked a few times before she looked up at him. This is what he wanted to talk about?

"Well," she started slowly, "I didn't really choose either of them. They kind of chose me, I guess," she shrugged. She put the bookmark back into her book as she realized that she was likely going to have to have this conversation now. "I was just sitting there drinking and they came over and asked me to dance."

"Well, I'm just going to say it," he announced as he moved to sit down on the bed beside her, "I've known Jase and Kade for a long time. They're always at the clubs I go to. They're not good guys, Kara. So it's a really good thing that you didn't sleep with either of them."

"I don't think that's really any of your business," she said nonchalantly.

"Well, I guess it's not, but in my opinion, it's good that neither one of them was who your first time was with because they would not have treated you like they should."

"And how would that be?" she asked as she turned to look at him. His eyes connected with hers and she realized that she really didn't actually mean to ask that out loud. His eyes flicked down to her lips and she noticed that there was barely a foot of space between them and before he could say anything, she continued with an, "Uh, never mind."

Her words seemed to break him out of his staring-at-her-lips trance, and he refocused his attention on the window across from them. She did the same.

"Why didn't you? Sleep with them, I mean."

She shrugged. "I was feeling bold while I was sitting here thinking about it, but as soon as I got to the club, it was overwhelming. I don't do that kind of stuff, obviously, and I just got there and got all freaked out and nervous. Even if you didn't get there when you did, I don't think I would have done anything with them."

"Alcohol lowers your inhibitions," he said quietly.

"It apparently doesn't get rid of them completely, and so here we are."

"Out of curiosity though…you didn't actually get anywhere with the guys otherwise, did you? I mean, I got there before anything could actually happen, right?"

"Right," she continued.

"I mean, you didn't even…like make out with either of them, did you? Especially not right in the middle of the club where everyone could see? I mean, I just don't want it getting back to my mother or anything. Unless that's what you wanted, of course."

She sighed heavily. "Nope."

"I'd say you dodged a bullet, but you sound disappointed."

"I wanted to get that over with, too," she said simply.

"Get what over with?" he looked at her confusedly and she just blinked back at him, waiting for him to get the picture. The hint seemed to fly right over his head because he continued on. "Well, I've been thinking…"

"Shocker," she quipped.

"Ha, ha," he fake laughed for a brief moment. "Seriously, though. Our parents are out there telling everyone that we're so in love and that we're inseparable and stuff, but the wedding…when you think of it, it's actually pretty soon-"

"Don't remind me," she cut in as she tried to return her focus to the scenery outside the window.

"-and I think we're going to have to figure out how we're going to play this."

"Play what?" she asked as she turned back to look at him.

"I just mean, we're going to have to be at that wedding…at the front of the Hall saying how much we love each other and how happy we are to be with each other. We're gonna have to kiss in front of all those people at the end of the ceremony. People aren't gonna buy it if it looks fake."

"I will have you know that I'm a wonderful actress."

"You're really not," he shook his head. "You have the uncomfortable grimace down pat, but that's about it."

She scoffed at him, "Well, nobody's caught on yet."

"I'm serious, Kara. You said before that you needed practice…I mean, well maybe we should practice before the wedding."

"Practice?" she repeated with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Was he saying that he wanted them to practice having sex before the Wedding?!

"Kissing," he stated, as if it were obvious.

"Excuse me?" she questioned, her voice going up an octave as her eyes widened further.

"I think we should practice kissing," he stated boldly. "We're going to have to look comfortable doing it. You know, as if we do it all the time. Must I remind you again, Kara, I'm a Daxamite. All those people invited to the wedding are pretty sure we're constantly having sex now that we finally get to live on the same planet. If we look uncomfortable kissing each other, they're really going to get suspicious of this truce."

"And so your suggestion is what? We just keep kissing all the time until we look believable enough? We'll be the ones kissing. How will we even know if it looks believable?"

"I'm just saying that we should look like we do it all the time. You know, when you're used to kissing someone, it's not awkward. You know who usually tilts their head what way, whose nose goes where, how to avoid teeth," he laughed. "You get to a point where you don't have to see or think about what you're doing. It all just goes naturally because you do it so often." She just silently stared back at him. "Come on, Kara," his eyes connected with hers. "You know what it's like when you've kissed different guys. It's never exactly the same. We have to find our way," he said while gesturing between them. He paused as she continued to just stare at him. "You know what I mean right? Like you…you have kissed multiple guys before?"

She started to blush, an uncomfortable heat rising in her cheeks and flowing down her neck. Her eyes avoided his as she stared at the closed book still in her lap.

"Well, whatever. That's okay. At least you've kissed a guy before, so you get my point - it'll be different with me than it was with him."

She continued to stay quiet and his eyes quickly widened. He clearly caught the hint this time!

"You've never even kissed a guy?!" he shouted the question and he almost jumped right off of her bed when she didn't respond. "Kara…" he stared at her in shock before pausing. "Have you ever kissed a girl?" he tried, his voice taking on a hint of genuine curiosity, and her eyes finally connected with his, just enough so that she could roll them at him. "Wow," he stated, his hand coming up to rest across his forehead. "How have you never kissed anyone before?"

"Can you please stop saying it like that?"

"Like what?" he returned.

"Like I'm some sort of abomination or something! As if everybody on this planet has kissed someone except for me."

"Kara…this is Daxam. I'm ninety-nine percent sure you are the only person on this planet who hasn't kissed someone…"

She sighed exasperatedly, her hands coming up to cover her face as she leaned back against the wall behind her. He laughed lightly as he took the book from her lap and dropped it on the floor.

"So…maybe we actually should practice kissing," he suggested with a small shrug. "I mean, you probably do need the practice." He paused, the words having slipped out before he realized how rude that would sound. "I mean, we're going to have to kiss in front of hundreds of people at the wedding. Maybe it would be best if your first kiss wasn't actually when you were up there on the day of." He reached for her wrists with both of his hands, pulling them from her face. "I'm not saying that you need to, but I'm saying it might be something to consider."

"Mon-El," she whined.

"It's just a suggestion," he told her. "We could do it right now. Just get it out of the way so that you wouldn't be stuck thinking about it too much. Only if you wanted to, of course."

Her eyes flicked from his lips back to his eyes repeatedly as she debated with herself. Her heart was pounding, the fluttery feeling in her stomach making her so nervous she wondered if she might accidentally pass out just talking about this.

"Mon-El," she whispered, unsure.

"No pressure," he said firmly. She watched as he licked his lips. She wasn't sure if he did that on purpose or if it was just his body's reaction to the idea.

"Okay," she finally said. He blinked at her.

Did she just say okay?

"Okay?"

She nodded to confirm it again.

"Oh," he stammered. Now he was nervous. He didn't think she'd actually say yes.

"You don't want to?" she asked, nervously furrowing her eyebrows in reaction to him.

"No, no," he shook his head. "I do," he insisted. "Uhm," he laughed. "I just don't think that I've ever been anyone's first kiss before."

"Please don't tell me you're nervous because I think I'm nervous enough for the both of us," she sighed.

"I'm a Daxamite," he smirked. "I don't get nervous." He started to lean toward her, hoping that she didn't spot his fib.

"And don't laugh at me if I do it wrong," she continued and he shook his head at her with a smile.

"C'mere," he mumbled as he continued to lean toward her, his hand gently cupping her face. "You won't," he insisted. She let him pull her up from her place leaning against the wall and toward him. Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.

He paused a centimeter away from her lips, just watching the way her eyebrows were furrowed in worry, the nervous crinkle across the bridge of her nose. He cupped her face in his two hands, thumbs stroking across both cheeks and he watched her crinkle fade as she relaxed. He leaned in, his lips meeting hers.

She barely felt his kiss; just his lips sitting against hers softly. Then he was pushing against her in the smallest of pecks. She finally pushed back against him, returning the kiss just in time for him to pull away. Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked at him. His own eyes were staring back at her; a soft smile on his lips. She blinked back at him in surprise.

That was it?

She was about to say something, but then he was coming back toward her, her eyes fluttering shut once more just as his lips met hers again; his mouth opening enough to trap her upper lip between his own this time. He was gently sucking at her lips, one and then the other. She felt his tongue slide along her lower lip as his hand moved to the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair.

Her hands landed on his chest as she nearly fell into him, following his lips as he pulled away. It likely hadn't been very long, but when he retreated completely, she was calm, warm and tingly. She lazily opened her eyes and saw him staring back at her.

"Hi," he said quietly, a sleepy smile of his own visible on his face.

"Hi," she whispered back. "That was…"

"Yeah," he said softly. "It was."

Fireworks.

She'd read the cheesy romance novels; seen the predictable romantic movies. The characters always talked about seeing fireworks behind their eyelids, feeling sparks as their lips met. Even being the romantic-at-heart that she secretly was, she'd never believed it was possible.

At least, until now.

She stared back at him. This Daxamite boy. She was being forced against her will into marrying him, and yet she could still feel sparks; the tingling of her lips that made her want to lean back in and kiss him again.

"Well," he said quietly. "I guess you got that out of the way then."

"I guess so," she nodded in agreement. He leaned away from her, their hands falling from each other's bodies. She cleared her throat and tried to steel her face into something less dreamlike. "I think that's enough practice for now," she stated firmly.

"Are you sure?" he asked, a cheeky grin slipping onto his face.

She licked her lips.

No.

She wasn't sure.

This felt dangerous. This felt too good. She wasn't supposed to be letting him make her feel good. She was supposed to be blocking him from her mind and just going through the motions of her new Daxamite life until a year passed and she could leave this Palace.

But he was looking at her with this needy look on his face, his gray eyes nearly sparkling at her, asking if she was sure she didn't want to kiss him again and she found herself leaning toward him this time. He laughed lightly against her mouth and she pulled back.

"Sorry," she said, her own hand coming up to cover her mouth as she backed away. "I didn't mean to…"

"Never apologize for that with me, okay?" he told her with a chuckle, his hand brushing her hair behind her left ear. She nodded and he backed away. "It's getting late," he said quietly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh huh," she mumbled.

He stood and looked down at her. She hesitantly looked up at him. She could feel her cheeks turning pink; a blush that she couldn't stop. He grinned at her; a bright, toothy smile before leaning down again to press another chaste kiss to her lips.

"Goodnight, Kara," he whispered against her lips.

"Night," she sighed as he backed away.

He left her room and she heard him walk out of his own room and into the hallway before she finally let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

Holy crap.

A/N: You're welcome.

(Also, thank you for waiting twenty chapters for a measly KISS).

Twitter: _ashleymaria_

Twitter Tag for Sneak Peeks, etc.: #ContractuallyYours