Author: Ashley

Title: Contractually Yours

Rating: M - Mature

Part: 27/?

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

Word Count: 6,171

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: Well, hello. Long time no see. Where have I been? Clearly not here.

I know I don't owe anybody anything, and yet whenever I come back here after a long while, for some reason, I feel like I owe you all an explanation for my absence.

(Feel free to scroll on by and come back after reading the Chapter - or skip my A/N altogether - I'm really just rambling)

Off the top, I'm just tired af. Working 50 hour work weeks SUCK, and leaving my house at 8am only to get back home at 8pm really makes it hard to want to do anything else other than scroll Twitter for 15 minutes and then stare at the wall until it's time to go to bed. So needless to say, I haven't actually written any new chapters in MONTHS.

And honestly, I did my Supergirl rewatch and was getting really into the show again, but the S6 episodes that aired were just disappointing for me. So I moved on to Lucifer again and started that obsession. Then moved on to Community and started up that obsession, which is where I'm currently hanging out. If you don't watch either of those shows, you might not understand just how DIFFERENT my ships there are to karamel, but once I got in those headspaces and started writing fic for them (maybe one day I'll finish those and if you're into that you can read them), karamel just literally left my brain completely.

It wasn't until earlier this week (with the long weekend coming up) that I entertained the idea of finally posting another chapter, but then those new BTS pictures came out on Twitter and just like that, I was drowning in karamel feels all over again and had to come back here.

I can't promise consistent updates, and my shipper heart keeps pulling me in different directions lately, so it's hard to try to focus on karamel, but I have written up to Chapter 37 (VERY ROUGH DRAFTS), and I do have an actual story outline that maps out the entire story to the end + an epilogue, so there's hope, and if you have faith in me, and some patience, we'll get there together eventually.

(And if you're a karamel stan, we KNOW you have hope, faith, and patience so...)

So, on to this next Chapter! It's funny how when you start a story, you have some things in mind, and then by the time you get writing, you just randomly think up things you never thought to add in.

Fun Fact: I can tell you that a LOT of this Chapter was actually written in early 2018. I even posted some clips on Twitter back in 2018, so some parts may seem familiar. In writing the filler around the portions I wrote all the way back then, I randomly thought of three things that I only added to this Chapter in the last year or so. This is why I don't like to post at the same time as writing because sometimes those things you think up after chapters are written end up being GREAT ideas for the story, and if it's not posted yet, you can still add them in.

Anyway, sorry for my rambling! Hit me up on Twitter or in the comments here if you can guess the three aspects that are present in this Chapter that (if I went with my original writing plan) would have never become a part of this fic.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Pressure and Artistry

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Seven

It had been a little over four months since they had signed the contract, but Kara's parents had finally moved over to Daxam. Albeit, they were living in the same little hotel they'd stayed at whenever they visited the planet, but they were here! She could see them whenever she wanted to; Rhys would drive her there at the drop of a hat if she were to ask.

But best of all, Alex had come along with them. She and her own parents had moved into the same hotel and they seemed happy here.

She had to admit that having all of her closest loved ones nearby and on the same planet was a huge comfort.

Kara looked over at her parents across the conference table. They were pointing at different pages, drawings scattered all across the tabletop, chattering on about constructing this, repairing these, tearing down and rebuilding that. She wasn't following the conversation as much as she probably should have been. She was too busy staring at them with a likely too wide grin on her face.

She was just finally happy.

Except for the whole marriage and babies thing, obviously.

"What'd you think of that, honey?" her father questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"Of what?" she asked as she shook herself out of her distracted thoughts.

"We're going to build a library downtown. We'll bring over the books from Krypton. The Daxamites are going to remove some from their libraries in the Palace to help fill the shelves in the beginning, too."

Kara grinned. "You know I love that idea. You shouldn't even have to ask my opinion."

Zor-El slid over a sheet of paper with pencil markings; various colours making up a drawing of what looked to be bookshelves, reading sofas, tables and chairs for workspace. There was a person lounging on one of the reading sofas; legs bent, feet on the sofa as she read, her blonde hair pushed back behind her shoulders.

"Where did you get this?" Kara asked with furrowed eyebrows as she reached over to bring the page closer to herself.

"Mon-El brought over some more sketches yesterday," Alura informed with a smile.

"He came here?" She asked, voice rising an octave, eyebrows raising high on her forehead.

"Well, he had someone deliver an envelope of sketches to us." Her father reached into a briefcase and pulled out an envelope. "They're all great ideas. We think the library would complement the schools, so we're looking at it next, but there's lots in here to think about." He pulled the pages out of the envelope and slid them over to Kara.

"He really is a very good artist," Alura stated.

Kara took the rest of the sheets of paper from her father and flipped through them. They were wonderful. Crisp lines, bright colours, soft shading. Drawings of beautiful apartment complexes, homes, hospitals, a movie theatre. These drawings were beautiful, but they looked nothing like Daxam. Is this the city he wished he lived in? The planet he wished he watched over and protected?

"You should speak to him about guiding some art classes at one of the new schools," Zor-El suggested.

"That would be a fun idea!" Alura exclaimed with a single, excited clap of her hands.

"I didn't even know he drew…" she said quietly as she continued to flip through the pages in front of her. "He never said anything. Maybe he doesn't like to talk about it," she suggested.

"Just mention it," her mother continued to prod. "Maybe he's looking for something else to do. He seems to like to contribute."

Kara nodded silently as she handed the drawings back over to her parents.

"So…." her mother continued. "For the library…"

Later that night, Kara was startled awake by the forceful booming of thunder outside. That new window in her room was nice, at least for the daylight, but it actually made the storms outside much louder. Usually she was somewhat okay, but she was in such a deep sleep this time before being so roughly roused awake, that it freaked her right out.

Why did it rain so much on this damn planet anyway?

She tried to take her mind off of it; tried to think about anything else, and that's when she found herself flashing back to the conversation she'd had with her parents earlier that day. The conversation about asking Mon-El to guide an art class at the new school.

He never talked about art. He never mentioned sketching. He never said he was even interested in the hobby. Just the fact that she'd never seen him drawing before was surprising enough. How did he finish all those sketches without her even noticing while they basically shared a room?

When she'd returned from her parents' hotel that afternoon, she'd passed him in the upstairs hallway.

"Hey," she smiled.

"Hi," he greeted with a quick peck to her lips. "How'd the meeting go?"

"They got your sketches-"

"Shhh!" he interrupted her as he took her hand and pulled her back toward his bedroom while he searched the hallway. When they were safely inside the room, he closed the door. "I don't talk about it," he said firmly.

"To anybody?" she questioned, confused.

He nodded. "It's soft."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Soft? What does that mean?"

"It's weak. Come on, Kara. Drawing? Art? I should be training in the fighting arts or something. I'm a Prince for Rao's sake."

Kara furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Weak? Mon-El, you have a talent. You're really good. You shouldn't be ashamed of being good at something, especially if you enjoy doing it, and it's not hurting anybody."

"Thanks for being open to my ideas about the school, and for letting me share my other ideas with your parents," he said, moving to divert the topic away from his drawings. "And for keeping it quiet with my parents, too."

"Of course," she nodded. "They were great."

He nodded slightly, "Thanks."

And then he left.

Just walked away like the topic was through and he wasn't interested in going into any more detail.

She continued to lie in bed for a while, her heart pounding in her chest, watching the rain hit the window, listening to the panes shake, and the wind whistle through the trees before she slid out of her bed. Maybe the storm had woken Mon-El, too. Maybe she could just sit with him for a while until she calmed down. She moved toward her door, jumping harshly when a loud clap of thunder rattled the house, startled at the unforgiving noise.

She turned the doorknob and pulled her door back slowly, opening it carefully as to not make a sound. She poked her head into his bedroom and her eyes moved along his sleeping form. Guess he could sleep through storms a lot better than she could. He lay on his back in the middle of the bed. She watched his chest move up and down, a slow and steady movement showing his calm inhale and exhale of breath, proving that he was asleep.

She quietly stepped further out of her room and into his. She just needed to be near someone while the storm raged outside. She thought that the last few times were bad, but this time the storm was rocking the windows and whistling so loudly through the dying trees on the property that she didn't think she'd ever get back to sleep. Maybe she could just lie next to him for a little while. Maybe then she'd be able to fall asleep.

She wasn't afraid. She was just…she didn't want to be alone.

She moved quietly across the floor, tiptoeing around his bed to the side closest to the window; the side of the bed that seemed to have the most space while he lay splayed across the middle. Her fingers carefully gripped the comforter and the sheets beneath it before pulling them backward, making enough room for herself to slip inside. She tried to be quiet, tried to be gentle, but her body dipped the mattress a little too close to where he lay and she startled him awake as he somehow rolled right into her. She cringed. Damn his bouncy mattress!

"Kara?" he mumbled sleepily as he propped himself up on one elbow. His hand rubbed across his face as she shushed him.

"Just…don't talk," she instructed firmly; as firm as her quiet, nervous voice in the darkness could be.

A loud clap of thunder rang out and she flinched. Enough that he, as sleepy as he was, had noticed.

"Is it the storm?" he asked, his voice scratchy with sleep.

She didn't answer, but she didn't need to. She knew that he already knew.

"Don't laugh at me, please," she whispered, a painfully embarrassed tone to her voice.

He didn't say a word. Instead, he slid onto his back again, his head falling back onto the pillow as he watched her try to get comfortable on her side with her back to him. He watched as her hands gripped the comforter, pulling it tightly around herself. He waited a few moments, watching her get settled before he moved closer to her, his body only a few inches from hers. His hand slid along her waist slowly, tentatively, before his hand gripped her hip and pulled her body closer to his. She didn't really move, but she didn't fight him; she lay still and allowed his hand to rest at her hip. He moved his own body closer to her instead, his chest resting flush with her back.

"Mon-El," she whispered, about to tell him that that wasn't what she was looking for, but she felt him shake his head against her.

"Just to sleep," he told her, his voice barely more than a breath at her ear. "Go back to sleep, Kara."

His arms wrapped around her and she was frozen for a few moments, her body already beginning to absorb the heat of his own against her back while she tried not to make any movements. His arm tightened around her briefly before he sighed against her neck and relaxed. Her eyes were wide as she tried to stop her heartbeat from speeding too quickly in her chest. His breathing had evened out and it wouldn't surprise her if he was already asleep behind her. However, she would have a much harder time falling asleep now.

After lying there for a few minutes, she'd long since forgotten about the storm, her mind only able to think about how tightly he was pressed to her back; about how close their bodies were; about how this was the closest they had ever really been, even taking into account when he had kissed her all those times. She tried to think about how angry he sometimes made her; about how whiny and spoiled and self-entitled he could be, but she felt herself melting into his hold. Her hands released the comforter she was clutching as she started to relax against him, her eyes finally slipping closed as she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

It wasn't long after that before she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight

Kara's eyes fluttered open before she cringed and shut them again. Why was the sun so bright this morning? She tried to open her eyes again before realizing that the curtains were wide open, red sunlight streaming inside the room and directly on her face. She furrowed her eyebrows. Curtains? Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized that she wasn't in her room. She was once again asleep in Mon-El's room; having snuck in there after being awoken by that massive storm that this morning seemed to have left no trace.

That's when she felt the heavy arm around her waist, a hand flat against her belly and holding her in place against him. Something hard was poking into her lower back and she squinted her eyes as she tried to figure out what it could be.

Then it hit her that it was Mon-El.

He was poking into her lower back. Her eyes widened again as she froze. She listened to his breathing behind her. Surely he was still asleep, so how could he be that hard against her without being fully conscious?

She tried to shift her body away from his, but his arm was wrapped securely around her. She moved her hand to his arm, grasping at his forearm and intending to pull at it; to remove it from herself so that she could slide away without waking him. Instead he suddenly inhaled sharply behind her and she froze again. He sighed deeply against her before pressing a small kiss to her shoulder, right against the skin peeking out from her pajama top.

"Morning," he mumbled against her. She cleared her throat awkwardly, but couldn't find the words to reply to him. She suddenly felt the rest of his body stiffen behind her. "I'm so sorry," he apologized as he released her and she felt him move away. He quickly sat up, embarrassed for some reason at his body's reaction to her.

"Mon-El," she tried, as she moved to sit up herself.

"Sometimes that happens…you know, if I'm pressed up against a beautiful woman all night…sometimes my…I just," he shook his head.

"No," she shook her own head. "It's okay. It's fine," she smiled awkwardly back at him.

He sighed heavily, his palms rubbing against his closed eyes.

"I mean…are you…okay?" she asked, cringing. That didn't sound like a question she should ask.

"I'll take care of it," he stated.

"Oh, you'll…do you mean," she paused. Again, probably a question she shouldn't ask.

He groaned embarrassedly. "Kara, please forget about it."

"I just mean, I could help…"

She was cut off by his coughing fit, he seemingly having choked on air as he sat next to her.

"Not like that!" she insisted as she clenched her eyes shut, realizing what that had sounded like she was offering. Though she wouldn't say that the thought hadn't crossed her mind. "I just meant that we could talk or something, and I could help you take your mind off of it…if that would help it go away."

"No, Kara, I can do it, just…no, please."

She paused as she watched; his eyes were clenched shut, hands balled into fists at his sides, his knee starting to bounce up and down a little bit under the cover of the bedsheets.

She had a nervous energy running through her body that made her feel bold; possibly from being pressed up against him all night, absorbing the heat of his body into her own.

"Can I kiss you?" she suddenly asked, and he heard a whooshing sound in his ears that made him question if she had really asked it. His eyes popped open.

"What?"

"Can I kiss you good morning? Well…if it doesn't make your problem worse."

"Kara, kissing you would definitely make this problem a lot worse."

"Oh," she stated. Not that she was surprised by his answer, she just wasn't sure what his answer meant for her question. "So…I can't then?"

His eyes flicked down from hers to her lips and back again. Then he watched as she subconsciously (or maybe on purpose) licked her lips, her tongue sliding out quickly to make an appearance before disappearing once again.

He groaned, "Kara…"

She took a couple of shallow breaths before she knew she had to make a move or lose her nerve. She leaned in; her lips meeting his with enough pressure that he had to use his hand on the mattress to stable himself. Their lips moved together slowly, leisurely as she started to move closer to him; lifting up onto her knees and moving forward.

His hands found her waist and he squeezed at her body, fingers gripping tightly onto her pajama top and dying to slide underneath it; the hardness in his pants throbbing already, reminding him how badly he wanted her.

But her hands stayed safely on his shoulders; gentle and still timid as if she were worried about their kissing making him more uncomfortable. He slid a hand into her hair, pulling her face into his, urging her into using more pressure with her mouth against him. A small sound escaped past her lips; a sigh that he felt instead of heard against his mouth. His fingers tangled in her hair as he felt her tongue flick against his upper lip; so quick it seemed accidental on her part and he smiled against her at the idea that she had gotten carried away.

He tugged gently on her hair so that their lips parted, and his own trailed across her chin and toward her neck. His kisses were soft against her skin, trailing down her neck and toward that pounding pulse point that he loved to watch when he tried to make her nervous. He kissed it and relished in the trembling beat against his lips. His hand was beginning to slide underneath her top, fingers soft and slow against her lower back, but she felt a fire in her belly that made her want to tell him to just get rid of the top and touch her all over.

And then there was a knock at the door; one that startled Kara enough that she gasped and backed away all too quickly for his liking. "My Prince," the female voice called out through the wood. "Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes," she continued.

He cleared his throat loudly. "Thank you, Mira," he called back.

Kara furrowed her eyebrows at him as she tried to compose herself. Does he call all of the servants by their names now?

"Uhm, you should go and get ready for breakfast," he suggested.

"Oh," she nodded. "Okay. You're going to-"

"Take care of it," he nodded.

She blushed darkly. Her quivering limbs and the fluttering in her stomach made her want to say that she'd rather stay and take care of it for him, but she attributed that to the fact that her lips were still bruised from his kisses and the adrenaline of it all was still coursing through her veins.

She leaned back before sliding out of bed and moving back toward her bedroom. Mon-El groaned as he gripped at himself through his pants. He stared at Kara's closed bedroom door for a moment before finally standing up and moving toward the bathroom to get himself ready for the day.

Kara was pretty sure it hadn't been that long, but she felt like it took a while for Mon-El to finally make his appearance at the breakfast table. His eyes were lowered to the floor as he walked into the room, not meeting her stare, and he walked right to his usual chair next to her and took a seat. He pulled his chair in, and his eyes flicked up briefly, just long enough to catch Kara looking at him. His cheeks heated with a blush. She could feel her own face getting warm, surely darkening at least a shade of pink as she continued to push around the food on her plate that she'd already been given.

"Oh, for the love of Rao," Rhea suddenly snapped. "You two are to be married in a couple of months. Get over your ridiculous shyness and look at each other!"

"Mother," Mon-El started, but his father stepped in.

"Darling, they're still getting to know each other. I'm sure it's strange developing feelings for someone you've been taught to hate your whole life." Lar Gand looked at Kara who awkwardly looked away.

"You've been essentially sharing the same room for four months now." She looked directly at Kara who could feel the icy eyes glaring at her. "You need to start connecting. We're running out of time to conceive this baby."

"Mother!" Mon-El suddenly shouted, his utensils bouncing loudly, clanging angrily against his still empty plate as his hands slammed the table top. "Leave her alone! Grife! All you do is talk about this damn baby. This baby that you're forcing on us. A baby that neither one of us wants to have. Just leave us alone!"

"Mon-El," Kara tried lightly, her eyes shifting between him and his mother.

"No, Kara, I'm sick of this. All day, every day: baby this, marriage that. Let me live my own damn life for once!"

"Mon-El," his father started. "Please watch your tone…"

He stood from his seat, his chair scraping angrily against the floor. "I'm not hungry," he announced to the table before turning and leaving the room.

Kara's eyes were wide, eyebrows raised as she looked over at his parents; his father's eyes were wide, too, his mother's mouth in its usual angry snarl.

Kara didn't say a word, and neither did they. They just continued to eat the rest of their breakfast in silence.

When she was finished, Kara asked to be excused and she returned to Mon-El's bedroom to check on him. He was lying on his back on the bed, his feet still flat on the floor, one arm at his side, the other draped across his presumably closed eyes. She walked toward the bed and sat down at his side.

"That was quite the outburst…" she said, her feet bouncing from heel to toe on the floor. He sighed loudly in response.

"I don't know how it happened. All of a sudden, I just couldn't keep it inside anymore." He moved his arm slightly to shoot a quick glance at Kara before he covered his eyes again. "I don't like the way she talks to you."

Kara shrugged. "I don't let it get to me," she said before she fell back on the bed to lie next to him, fingers of both of her hands interlocking and resting on her abdomen.

He chuckled and she looked at him. "Yes, you do, Kara. I know it gets to you. I know you try to brush it off in front of all of us, but I see how upset and anxious all this stuff makes you."

His arm dropped from his face and he reached over to take one of her hands, simply holding it in two of his own, his fingers tracing the shape of hers.

"I see the worry in your eyes when she tells you that you need to hurry up and be ready for the rest of the terms of this contract." He squeezed her hand in his gently. "I'm sorry we're in this mess."

"I'm sorry, too," she apologized quietly as she watched him stare at their joined hands.

"You deserve better than this. This isn't right. This forced marriage to a guy that you don't even like."

Kara shrugged against the mattress beneath her, the beginnings of a smirk on her face. "Well, I like you a little…"

He turned his head to look at her. "You don't have to say that to make me feel better about all of this."

"I'm not," she sighed. "Mon-El, I like you. I do. I've…I've gotten to know you better and you're not the person you show most people. You're a good person; you're just stuck in a bad situation with parents who…" she paused.

"Aren't good people."

"I wasn't going to say that…"

"Well, I said it, and I meant it," he responded. "They're not good people. My dad might have a chance, but with my mother controlling everything he does…she's terrible, Kara."

"My parents left me here, you know…alone on this planet. In this house with your parents. They aren't exactly great decision makers themselves."

"They're a hell of a lot better than mine." He sighed loudly. "I just don't like them pressuring you."

"I don't feel pressured."

He raised one of his hands, finger held outward as he poked her in between her eyebrows.

She flinched on the impact. "What're you-"

"You get a little crinkle there when you're lying."

She furrowed her eyebrows again. "No, I don't."

"You're doing it right now," his hand moved to poke at the spot again, but she swatted at him with her hand.

"Okay, I feel pressured. But it's nothing I can't handle. What's the worst thing that could happen? We never conceive a baby and in half a year, they let me go?" She shrugged. "That sounds like a pretty good outcome to me."

He looked at her, his eyes trained on her face. "We're not having sex, Kara. In a few months, especially after we're married, they're going to realize that."

"Who said we'd never have sex?" She had asked the question before her brain could stop her. Her eyes widened as she visibly saw the words hit his ears. "I-" she tried to fix it, but of course, this time her brain couldn't think of anything to say. She sat upright and tugged her hand out of his.

"You…" he cleared his throat with a small cough before following suit and sitting up himself. "You want to have sex?"

"I-" she could feel her face getting hot; an embarrassed burning rushing to her cheeks. "I just-I mean-I-"

"I didn't think you wanted to…"

"I didn't mean to say that," she stated as she shook her head.

"So…you don't want to have sex?"

"Yes, wait. No. I do. I mean, wait." She shook her head, her hands coming up to cover her face.

"Oh," he paused for a moment as he made her words make sense in his own head. "I get it. Obviously you want to have sex, because…obviously. But you just meant not with me."

She blinked at him. That wasn't what she was saying at all. "Mon-El, I-"

Her explanation was interrupted by a knocking on the open bedroom door.

"Princess Kara, you're needed for the second dress fitting the Queen had mentioned this morning…" Mira was at the door again, interrupting another important moment between them. Mon-El sighed loudly before standing up.

"Go, please. Before my mother brings herself up here. I've already had enough of her today."

"But I want to-"

"Go, Kara, it's fine. I get it. You don't have to explain anything. I'll see you later."

Kara sighed before looking up at Mira who continued to stand there with a nervous look on her face. "Okay, Mira," she smiled at the girl as she walked toward her. "Lead the way."

He watched as the two girls left the room.

Who was he kidding?

She'd been locked up in this house with a contract that forbid her from hooking up with anyone else. Of course she wanted to have sex, she just hadn't been able to. She was being watched by so many people at the Palace, and surely there was no way for her to hide in public. Even with all that monitoring, she hadn't received any injections. She wasn't fully protected, and a girl like her who was clearly stressed out having to be here in this situation, would probably want all the protection and certainty she could get.

He reached for his calling device and tapped in a familiar number; one that he hadn't called in a long while.

"Hey Kian, it's Mon-El…when you get this, can you give me a call back? I have demand if you still have supply. Thanks."

Today was supposed to be her final wedding dress fitting; the last chance for her to put in requests for modifications to the dresses that were presented to her. She could think of some things she'd like to change, but making those alterations essentially changed each dress entirely, and she was pretty sure that that wasn't what she was supposed to be doing. Rhea wouldn't let it happen at least. She could already guess. She hadn't yet chosen between them, but she still had some more time to make her decision.

It had been a few hours, but she still had something on her mind; the conversation that she and Mon-El had started earlier, before Mira had walked in and interrupted them. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea from their conversation. She was…interested. She just needed more time. Maybe they could talk about it a little more. She was nervous about it. Things were just moving so fast; definitely faster than she was used to. She didn't know if Mon-El had other plans for the day, but she thought she'd check his room to see if they could pick up their conversations where they left off.

When she got back to his room, he was nowhere to be found. She stood in the middle of the room and looked around.

She knew him, right? She trusted him. It had taken a while, but she was comfortable with him. She'd originally been happier on her own planet, but things were getting better; her parents were here, Alex was here, the contract was more than a third of the way over. Maybe, just maybe, being with him wouldn't be the worst thing in the world?

Her eyes landed on his desk, and her thoughts quickly shifted. She remembered that day when she had walked into the room and he'd panicked. He'd shoved something in the drawer of his desk. He'd told her to stay out of there. She looked around the room. He wouldn't know what he didn't see, right?

Her heart began to speed up in her chest. She really shouldn't. Really shouldn't. But she felt herself moving toward his desk anyway, sitting down in the chair. She took one last glance at the open door before going for it anyway, grabbing onto the handle and pulling open the drawer.

Coloured pencils.

That's what he was hiding?

That was his secret? She chuckled out loud.

There were some sheets of paper underneath; either blank or turned over and that's when it hit her.

His drawings!

She realized that, though she wouldn't have thought of it at the time, he must have been in the middle of a drawing when she'd walked in on him all those days ago. She reached in and picked up the box of coloured pencils and moved them to the desk top. She reached in with both hands and grabbed onto the stack of seemingly blank papers and moved them onto the desk in front of her as well.

She flipped the first one around and it was in fact one of his drawings. Dragons. A game of Garotta. She smiled as she ran a finger across one of the dragon's faces. There was such detail to its features. She flipped to the next page. More animals, trees, flowers.

She flipped through a few more pages in the pile and finally saw one with people. It looked like they were in a park, sitting close together on a bench; the boy's arm wrapped around the girl's shoulders. Their faces weren't visible, only the backs of their heads as they looked out toward a sea of flowers, greenery, and a small pond of water.

The next page was a close up of view of a man and a woman kissing; the man's hand cupping her cheek, the other tangled tightly in her blonde hair, dots of brown stubble on the man's chin. She felt her cheeks warm, surely in a blush, as she stared at the drawing. The man's eyebrows were crinkled softly, the woman's lips pressed tightly to his. It was so detailed, so…intimate.

It wasn't until the next picture when she pieced together who the couple was. The blonde woman was descending a long flight of stairs while wearing a white dress; the exact same white dress Kara had worn at her Introduction.

Her dress. The Palace stairs. Her face.

The blonde woman in the drawings was her.

She continued to flip through the drawings, all clearly drawn from memory, but all her. She recognized her clothing; the outfit she wore on her first day on Daxam, others from her new wardrobe that she'd only purchased while on this planet.

She continued on through the papers until she reached the last one at the bottom of the stack.

Wow.

It was clearly her; sketched in the centre of the page wearing what looked to be a wedding dress. It wasn't one of the dresses that she had tried on with Arden. It wasn't even a modification of any of them. It was an entirely new dress she'd never seen before.

Did he draw this using his imagination? Is this what he wished she'd look like on their Wedding Day?

It was beautiful.

It was exactly like what she had imaged for herself.

How did he know?

She looked at the open door before turning back to the drawing again. The wedding dress was supposed to be her choice. This sketch. This was what she would have immediately chosen had it been hanging there on one of those mannequins in the dressing room.

She trusted Arden. What if she went to Arden with this drawing? Could she ask her to find a way to have the dress made in time for the Wedding? That could be problematic considering that Rhea was technically her boss, and she'd sort of be going against her orders in a way.

She ran her fingertip across the bodice of the dress; across the simple three-quarter sleeved lace pattern.

She loved it.

She placed it down on the desk, stacked the other drawings neatly before putting them back in the drawer how she'd found them. She put the box of coloured pencils back on top of the pile before standing up from the chair. She grabbed onto the wedding dress sketch and brought it into her room, closing the door nearly all the way behind her as she hid it under her pillow, hoping that Mon-El wouldn't realize that it was missing until she could figure out a way to get the drawing to Arden to ask her about it.

Just as she was about to go back into Mon-El's room, she heard a shrill ringing coming from the hallway. She heard Mon-El answer his calling device, "Kian! Man, thanks for calling me back again. No, it's cool. I figured you'd need some time to check it out. Actually, you were kind of quick, but if you're calling me back already, I assume you were able to look into it?"

His voice was getting louder as he clearly walked into his room and toward his clothing rack. Kara stayed quiet as she tried to listen to the one-sided call.

"Yes! That's great. You're doing me a huge favour." He paused, and Kara struggled to see if she could catch any of the other side of the conversation. Who was Kian anyway? She'd never heard of him before. "Maybe one hundred pills? Is that possible? I know that sounds like a lot, but-"

Pills?

"Yeah, yeah, just call me back when you have them. I know they're hard to find, so thanks for looking into this so fast for me. For sure, I know an order like that might take a while. I mean, no rush, but just the sooner the better, you know?" Mon-El chuckled lightly before outright laughing, the man on the other line clearly having said something funny in response.

Kara heard some rustling around before Mon-El's voice started to fade away as he seemingly left his room while still in the middle of his call. Kara sighed loudly.

He was buying pills? Why was he doing that?

She knew that in the past he had done some kinds of drugs. Everyone knew about the Prince of Daxam's partying ways, but it hadn't come up in months. She figured that he'd just stopped taking things, not that he'd ever mentioned or shared any of that with her. He wasn't partying as much as he used to, so she'd just assumed. Maybe she shouldn't have.

She jumped when she suddenly heard a loud knock on her bedroom door. She looked up, and swung open the door, a hand held to her racing heart as she saw Mira standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Miss Kara," she apologized with wide eyes, noticing how she'd surprised her. "I was unsure about knocking on your personal door, but last time you said it was-"

"It's fine, Mira," she chuckled. "You just startled me is all."

"Miss Alex is waiting in the car with Rhys," she stated and Kara eyed nodded as she refocused and remembered that she was going out with Alex this afternoon.

"Thank you, Mira," she said cheerfully, patting her pillow one last time, checking to see if any corners of Mon-El's sketch was visible before she moved to leave alongside Mira.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with me for the last two and a half years with this fic (plus all those other years with my previous works).

And hello to all the new readers that have joined us along the way. I still get new readers reaching out to me, and/or favouriting all of my fics in a row (that's some reading dedication), and it makes me so happy that there are still some people out there who are getting to experience karamel for the first time (I'm jealous, but also feel bad for you because PAIN).

Leave me some love in the form of comments if you have the time. They definitely make my day!

Twitter: _ashleymaria_
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