I had an idea for one more filler chapter, but I decided against it since I had such a gap between chapters last time. So, I jumped right into Lena having the baby and as it always, drama ensues.
Lena was technically already on maternity leave, but she had somehow convinced Kara that there was some work in her lab at L-corp that she wanted to place in her vault before her extended time away from her company. Both Kara and Alex had tried to convince the CEO to leave it alone, but eventually the compromise was reached that Lena would go to the lab, but Alex would tag along in case the younger woman had any issues.
Lena worked as quickly as she could given her rather pronounced belly in her way. Alex helped her to lock the files away in a portable safe which Alex insisted on carrying into the sealed vault so that Lena would not be responsible for lifting something lead lined.
"Please tell me that is the extent of what you have to do here today. I love you, but you look exhausted and I promised Kara I would drag you out of here at the 30 minute maker and we are about to hit that." Lena rolled her eyes and began to gather her things.
"No need for dragging. I am definitely ready to go home and get my feet out of real shoes. Plus, your nephew has been kicking my lungs as of late and I am ready for a nap." Alex was about to say something smart when both women heard an unmistakable noise of glass shattering in the direction of the elevators. Alex instinctively reached for her gun and trained her sight on the doors leading into the lab itself.
"Go get in the vault, now." Lena eyed the safe and shook her head. "I can't without overriding it. It automatically locks for 8 hours every time I close it to prevent theft."
Threw gritted teeth Alex shot back, "then override it and get inside of it Lena."
"Alex the override takes almost 30 minutes and even if we had that time, the atmosphere in there is not conducive to human life; I would pass out after a few minutes because of the pressure system and oxygen levels." Alex shut her eyes because she knew Lena was right and the only problem with that is that it left them both vulnerable to whoever was trying to break into the lab. Before Alex could come up with a plan B the lab door opened to a relatively young man pushing through it, gun in his hand and a rather shocked expression on his face. The intruder leveled his gun at Alex, which was arguably his first mistake.
"No one was supposed to be down here. Ms. Luthor is supposed to be on maternity leave." Lena very quickly hit two buttons that lined the floor throughout the lab. One which alerted security to the lab and the other calling for the evacuation of the building. Lena knew that the evacuation message would reach her office first and that once Jess saw it she knew to immediately call Kara and report the situation to her, thus allowing Lena to handle the issue in the lab without drawing attention by using her cell phone.
"I am on maternity leave, but I have work that needed to be wrapped up before the baby comes which explains why I am in my lab. Now who the hell are you and why are you in my lab?" Alex shook her head at Lena managing to be brazen when they were actually in a bit of trouble.
"I used to work here. I got fired, by you I might add, and I am entitled to the work I did. I can sell it to your competition for a lot of money. Get back on my feet and make you pay for what you did to me." Lena scanned her memory for anyone recently let go, but this guy was not ringing any bells, not that it exactly mattered at the moment.
"Whatever you came here for, its already locked in my vault and I locked it a few minutes ago. It can't be opened again for 8 hours so I am afraid you came here for nothing." The man shrugged his shoulders. "I know there is an override code you can punch in."
"There is, but if I punch it in the police get called instantly and trust me, you do not want that." The man seemed to weigh his options, but the silence was broken with Lena's phone ringing.
"That's my wife's ringtone. Please let me answer it because she is going to have to pick up our daughter from daycare and if I don't answer she will come down here and I promise you, that you don't want." The man waved his gun to indicate the Lena should grab the device and Alex stepped with her to pick it up from the table.
"Hey baby."
"Don't hey baby me! What the hell is happening Lena? Jess called and said both alarms went off."
"Look darling I know it's out of your way from work, but I really need you to pick up Charlie from daycare ok, this is taking longer than I planned." Kara of course knew that this meant something different than face value would suggest and she immediately fell into the code system they had developed years ago. Lena asking Kara to pick up anything was her telling the hero not to come to her for any number of reasons.
Kara lowered her voice slightly, "Lena there is no way in hell I am picking her up from daycare, traffic is awful." Kara of course, hates this particular directive the few times Lena has ever used it.
"Kara, please, my feet and back are killing me, go pick up Charlie and if you would, on the way home swing by the grocery store because there are things I need for dinner." Kara was trying so hard to remain calm when every part of her wanted to scream, but she wasn't not sure if the intruder could hear her voice.
"What do you need from the store?"
Lena quickly recalled all the items they had labeled as standing for other things when they created this code, "We ran out of milk this morning so we need one gallon of that, we could use some more eggs and as much as you hate it, please grab kale." That made Kara's heart stop because as a joke Lena had identified kale as their code for firearms: using something Kara truly hates to represent something that Kara hates even more.
"Lena please…" That was all the hero could choke out and Lena had to will the tears not to slip from her eyes. "Darling I promise the way I cook it will change your mind. Just pick up Charlie and I will be home soon as I can."
"I love you, Lena." Lena shut her eyes and hoped more than anything that this wasn't the last time she heard that. "I love you too baby. Let me know when you all get home." Lena hung up the phone before her luck with her armed intruder ran out and she tucked the phone in her pocket.
"Look if you tell me what you are looking for I might be able to access it on the computer and you can take whatever it is you want so badly and go."
The man shook his head, "I need the prototype and you know that. No company would budge without a working model." Lena was about to speak again when she felt a sharp pain radiate up her back, causing her lurch forward slightly and grip Alex's jacket in an effort to find support.
"You ok kid?" Lena shook her head, "I think that was a contraction."
"Please tell me you are joking." Lena shut her eyes when the pain resumed, "afraid not Alex, and I do not know why it is this strong and sudden, I thought this shit took time."
Alex all but growled because this situation continued to grow more insane by the minute, "look dude, let her go and she can take my weapon with her, you can keep me. All you need is one live hostage and the cops will give this place a wide perimeter. Just let her go."
"Why should I do that?"
"Because she is in fucking labor and killing a pregnant woman or a newborn is not the look I think you are going for, so please, just let her leave and I will stay here." Lena was by now gripping Alex's jacket in a death grip with both hands and even Alex wondered how her labor was already this painful.
The armed intruder shook his head, "no chance, she is the only one with the code and DNA match for that vault. She stays."
Alex sighed deeply, "fine, have it your way. But she is in labor and I have to check her out because if we are stuck here I need to assume that she is giving birth here." The man nodded his head and grabbed a nearby chair, making it clear that he was serious about waiting out the clock inside the vault system.
"Lena give me your hand." Lena snaked her hand underneath Alex's arm and the agent quickly helped her to wrap her hand around the gun in her hand. "Listen to me. I am going to help you lay down and put my jacket under your head ok. I know this fucking blows, but while I do that with both hands you keep that gun trained on him ok? If he fucking sneezes, shoot him and hit him because if I remember you have this place lined in bulletproof materials so it will bounce off a wall if it doesn't hit him. Got it."
"Got it." Lena was surprised at how fast Alex spun around and gently helped her get to the floor all while Lena held the weapon level over Alex's shoulder. Her sister-in-law took off her jacket and placed it under Lena's head before looking around for a first aid bag that she knew the CEO had to have in the lab. She pointed to it in the corner, "I need to grab that kit to help her ok." Alex waited for the man to nod and she quickly grabbed the bag so as not to leave Lena on the ground alone for long. Once she had the supplies she needed, she dug out some gloves and quickly put them on.
"Listen Lena, I know I am about to have to put my hands somewhere we both likely never thought they would be, but let's just promise to never speak of this again and we should be fine." Lena managed to laugh despite the circumstance, "deal." As Alex managed to examine her sister-in-law in became plainly obvious that this was not early stages of labor.
"Lena you are 7 if not 8 cm right now, how the hell did you not feel the pain before this?"
"Alex, I swear I did not feel any different. My back has been hurting for the last month, the doctor said only to worry if it got worse, which it didn't till just now." Alex search through the bag quickly grabbing a few things as she went.
"It's ok, first babies are hard because moms aren't sure what their pain tolerance is and yours is apparently high. There is enough stuff in here for me to work with if I have to. Really hope I don't have to, but I can if it comes to it." Alex could feel her phone blowing up in her pocket, but feared reaching for it and chose instead to focus on Lena who, god love her, still had a gun in her hands. Alex tore off her gloves and took the weapon from the CEO.
"Try and just lay back for a while because if you have to push in here, its gonna suck. So just try and reserve your energy ok?" Lena nodded and eyed the man still watching them. "Lena it's ok. Nothing will happen to you or my new friend in there." Alex gently tapped Lena's belly and smiled. Lena did as Alex said and tried to rest, however much she could in this situation. Alex never stopped analyzing the armed man and her best guess was that the guy was definitely on something because even sitting down his movements were erratic and frantic at times, like he was coming down off a high. All of that information did not sit well with Alex since it meant that if he did fire the weapon it could bounce off of anything and still manage to hit Lena, the baby or herself. They had this stand off for about an hour before Lena began to feel mounting pain and Alex knew they had run out of time to wait for help to come. She put on a clean pair of gloves and laid out the rest of the supplies she would need to have on hand.
"Lena I am really sorry I can't give you better leverage, but you are gonna have to push. If you want to reach forward and grab my arm and use that to offer some leverage for you to pull on ok?" Lena nodded and Alex could tell that as brave as Lena was she was terrified at how this was all happening. "It's gonna be ok Lena. I won't let anything happen to him ok?"
Lena nodded and the next 20 minutes saw the women doing their best to deliver a healthy baby while being held at gunpoint. Alex had to give the gun back to Lena to have both hands free and that was a sight to see because despite being rather busy pushing and giving birth to a whole human being, Lena kept that gun remarkably still and level.
"You are doing so good Lena, give me another push and his shoulders will be free and usually the rest follows pretty easily after that." Lena pulled against Alex's shoulder and managed to push hard enough to clear the baby's shoulders and in a smart move by Alex, she did not bother to tell her sister-in-law that and instead let her continue to ride the current contraction. This longer and arguably stronger push did exactly as Alex said it would and successfully delivered the rest of the newborn's body into Alex's arms. Alex quickly put him on Lena's chest, wrapping him in an emergency blanket which was all she had in the materials in the bag. After using her fingers to clear the baby's airway, the tense silence in the lab was cut through by the newborn's clearly powerful lungs. This of course caused Lena to instantly burst into tears and Alex was right behind her, both incredibly thankful that the baby was healthy despite the situation they were in currently. Alex quickly tied off the cord, cut it and helped deal with afterbirth and anything else to make sure Lena was safe at least medically.
The new family was interrupted by the man behind them, who was now standing up, "there, she isn't pregnant anymore. Now you take the baby and leave Ms. Luthor and I to our business." Alex was now truly pissed. She ripped of her gloves and took the gun from Lena, stood up and leveled it at the man.
"No, I am not leaving you alone with her. If you want the first thing my nephew to witness is me killing someone that's fine." The man seemed to be crashing harder now and unfortunately that tends to mean frantic movements and dangerous choices. He moved the gun over to a nearby table that had ongoing experiments on it from other members of Lena's development team.
"You shoot me, I shoot all this." Alex looked down at Lean who clung to her son tighter and shook her head, "Alex 2 of those are flammable in their current state and even if he hits the wrong one the gun fire could cause it to spark." Alex sighed and looked back at the man, knowing full well that she was being asked to make what most people would consider an impossible choice.
"Ok, I will put my gun away, but I am not leaving her." Alex lowered her gun and took a small step back toward Lena.
"You don't get to make that decision. I am the only one left with a gun. You have to listen to me!" Alex took a deep breath and got her sister in law's attention.
"Lena. Tell her I am sorry."
"Alex, don't do this." Alex laughed to hide how truly scared she was, "I'm sorry Lena, she would never survive losing you. You tell the kid I loved him, ok?" Lena would have said more, begged Alex harder to not be the fucking hero as her family is so eager to do. But before any of them could do anything they heard a loud boom near the elevator, saw glass and plaster explode from the far corner of the lab and a few things crashing to the ground in response along with a blur of motion. Alex took the chance offered to her and dropped to the floor, wrapping her body around Lena's, careful not to deny the baby space between them, but careful to shield him from debris.
Alex heard a struggle behind her, but before she turned around she quickly pushed away from Lena slightly. "Are you ok, does anything hurt? Like more than it should having just given birth?" Alex gave her sister-in-law a quick once over and say nothing other than some scratches on her exposed legs but nothing dangerous and the newborn was protected and his only complaint was the loud noises that startled him. Alex was the first to turn around to see exactly what had happened and while she expected to see Kara, that was not who was there, holding their captor by his neck.
"Superman?" Alex was stunned and Lena finally looked up to see the man of steel looking a bit stunned, but nevertheless proud of himself for getting to them on time.
"Kara tried to get, but you know, traffic." Lena had to smile because, yes, Kara listened to her and did not fly in to save her, but her wife would never stand idly by again when her family was in danger.
Clark nodded to the man still fighting for air, "I will go hand him to the authorities and be right back, ok?" Alex nodded and Clark was gone as fast as he had came. Alex looked over at Lean who was gently rocking the baby who was still crying in protest of the noises.
"He's got a hell of a birthday story for when he grows up." Lena shot Alex a glare and she knew instantly she was in for it.
"He does and that story almost ended with 'and that was also the day your bullheaded aunt died trying to save Mama and you.' What the actual hell Alex?" Alex felt bad, but at the same time, she knew she had acted in line with how she lived her life.
"Lena, she would never have survived you dying, and she never would have forgiven herself if we lost him along with you. I am not sorry for what I chose to do." Lena's glare softened slightly, but Alex knew most of that anger was coming from fear.
"It was still dumb. I stand by that. But, thank you, for all of this." Alex smiled, "maybe next time you plan on having a baby, take the god damn maternity leave."
"And miss you saving the day? Not a chance." The back and forth between them was cut off by Clark returning, this time walking in alone.
"They have a medical team ready for you, but I figured you would want me to ask before I let them come in." Lena looked down at her son and smiled, but instantly did not want a regular medical team in her space; she felt far too vulnerable for that. Lena looked to Alex, "could you have us driven to the hospital in a DEO car?"
Alex nodded, "I will call one of my people and have them pull the nearest car to us. Give me a few minutes. You stay with her." Alex pointed to Clark who nodded quickly as Alex stepped a few feet away to make her calls. Clark couldn't tear his eyes off the baby that Lena was gently rocking, and the CEO noticed.
"Would you like to hold him? He's not swaddled or anything and we don't have diapers so no promises he won't pee on your suit." Clark laughed and got down on the floor next to Lena who gently handed the newborn over to him. Lena had never seen Clark truly look humbled before, but he did the second he held Kara and Lena's son. The hero smiled and gently cooed at the baby who seemed to settle when held against Clark's chest.
"Congratulations. You have yourself a beautiful boy here Lena." Lena nodded, "I think so too. And now, you are no longer the last son of Krypton, you've got yourself a buddy." For some reason, that Lena guessed was buried deep inside of Clark, that comment made the hero burst into tears and hold the baby closer to him; being careful to not overdo it with something so small. Lena, while surprised, allowed the hero to have his moment and if she was honest it was moving to watch: a super, weeping with joy over the child of a Luthor and a Super. If Lex and her mother weren't already dead, this would've done the trick.
When Clark settled down, he grabbed a new emergency blanket and helped Lena clean the baby off before wrapping him in another blanket, this time a bit tighter. Alex came back and glad to see that the baby and Lena both seemed to be doing fine so far.
"There is a car outside for us. I had my people tell local enforcement to back off a bit and do crowd control. So they are ready when you are."
"Crowd control?" Alex shook her head and laughed, "Lena, you evacuated a whole building and then Superman showed up. Yes a crowd has gathered. Now lets get you out of here." Alex went to help her sister in law up when Clark waved her off.
"Let me help. Besides, if they see us walk out of here together it might send a message that Supergirl isn't alone in your protection." Lena nodded and let Alex help her up and roll her skirt down to cover her legs and the remaining blood still present on them. Clark wordlessly took off his cape and gestured for Lena to place the swaddled baby in it. He quickly wrapped the cape loosely around the infant and handed him back to his mother.
"Only the best for a son of Krypton." Clark smiled at Lena before picking her up bridal style, while Alex made sure Lena was covered enough to have the press bombard them with cameras as they left. They made their way up to the entrance of the building and Lena could hear the roar of the crowd outside and instantly clutched the baby closer.
"It's ok Lena. I've got this. Just tuck her head close to me and I will get you both in the car before you know it." Lena nodded and used the extra fabric of Clark's cape to shield her son's face from the press, while she leaned her cheek against Clark's chest right as Alex opened the doors for them to walk out. Sure enough, flashes went off everywhere, people were all shocked at the sight and Lena knew the picture would be in every evening edition and be all over the place by morning, but she didn't care because true to his word, Clark placed her in the car and quick got Alex in next to her before closing the door behind them and tapping the hood to signal the driver to go. Lena watched as Alex tried to fumble her way through her missed texts and phone calls: some from Kelly, others from Eliza, but about 32 of them were from Kara. Alex quickly called Kelly to say she was safe, only to be told that she and Eliza were already at the hospital with an over nervous Kara who wouldn't let Charlie out of her sight. Alex told Kelly to relay to the medical team that they were coming and would be there in a few minutes. Lena of course, heard none of this as she was totally lost in staring at her son: a concept that blew her mind.
Eventually they pulled up to the hospital and without Clark around, Lena was transferred to a wheelchair and quickly brough up through a different elevator to labor and delivery where they wanted her to be until she and the baby were cleared. The second they stepped off the elevator they were met with a nervous Kara pacing back and forth until she caught sight of her wife who was very clearly holding their child. Kara didn't let Lena get a word in and pressed a firm kiss on Lens's lips and Lena could taste the tears running down her wife's face before she pulled away.
"Kara, we're ok. Just take a breath. I am ok and so is he." Lena titled her arms down just enough for Kara to see her son's face and burst into tears.
"He's beautiful." Lena hummed in agreement, "just like his mommy." The nurse gently started pushing Lena toward the room they had set up for her and before Kara followed her inside, she pulled Alex by the hand, forcing her to stay in the hall. Before Alex could ask why, Kara wrapped her a tight hug that was so close to being painful, but Alex didn't care. Kara continued to cry and Alex wasn't sure if it was joy or fear, or both, but she let her sister hold on to her until she felt the hero loosen her grip.
When Kara pulled back she glanced Alex up and down, "nothing broken, but are you ok, are you hurt anywhere?" Alex shook her head no. "I'm ok Kara and so is Lena and the little guy."
Kara's lips started to shake and Alex pulled her sister back into a hug and this time the tears were most certainly from fear over what Kara came so close to losing.
"It's ok Kar, nothing bad was ever gonna happen to them ok? I would've never let them get hurt."
"I love you, Alex. And I just…thank you." Eventually they pulled apart and Alex kissed her sister's cheek. "I love you too. Now, go see your wife and baby, while I go see my girlfriend and calm mom down before she meets her grandson." Kara quickly walked into Lena's room where the nurse was just finishing giving her an IV and prepping to do a quick exam. Another nurse had the baby getting wrapped in a hospital blanket after they weighed him, did quick assessments of his health and made sure he was cleaned up. The nurse looked up and saw Kara standing nearby, "he's all ready for his mom."
Kara beamed as they put the baby in her arms and she heard the nurse mention that someone would come in to help Lena breast feed shortly, but Kara did not register much of anything said after she had her son in her arms. Once the nurses finished helping get Lena settled, they left the couple alone and Kara immediately went and sat on the edge of Lena's bed, carefully holding the baby between them.
"We made a pretty good-looking kid babe." Lena smiled and leaned against Kara's shoulder. "I agree. He seems to have a flare for the dramatics, but I suppose he gets that from me." Kara gently kissed Lena's head in response.
"Are you ok? I know that's a loaded question, but…" Lena rubbed Kara's arm and smiled, "I was scared, no sense in denying that. I am glad Alex was there because I don't know what would've happened if she hadn't been. Before Clark showed up she was going to try and shoot him or something equally dumb, knowing full well she likely wouldn't have made it, but that I likely would've been fine with her blocking me and him." Kara's face turned red and she wanted to shout about her sister doing something so careless, but she was torn, because without that brazen attitude her wife and son could have been lost along with her sister.
"Kara, listen to me. I know you are mad and scared that she did that, but you do the same thing everyday."
"Yes, but bullets can't hurt me Lena."
"No, they can't, but you go into plenty of situations where we do not know what could be thrown at you and you do it to keep people safe. Alex and you love our family and you act accordingly. Was it dumb? Yes. Was it brave? Yes. Let's just be grateful that we have everyone safe so that we can be mad at her while she snuggles our son. Let's be grateful we have the chance to be mad at her." Kara nodded, because in the end Lena was right and the outcome, well, Kara could not argue the outcome. The conversation was cut short with a knock on the door and Alex sticking her head in.
"Hey, mom is about to lose her mind if she doesn't get to see her grandchild and make sure Lena is ok. Can I let them in?" Lena nodded and Kara gently got off the bed still holding the baby as Alex let Kelly in first and then Eliza came in behind her holding Charlie. Of course, the elder Danvers broke into a huge grin and quiet tears upon seeing the baby. She offered Lena and gentle hug and allowed Charlie to snuggle with her mother while she made her way over to Kara.
"Ready to meet your grandson?" Eliza nodded with fresh tears in her eyes as Kara gently laid the now sleeping baby in her arms. Eliza all but swooned at the baby and instantly began talking to him in soft tones while Kara went and scooped up Charlie in her arms so she could get a good view of her brother.
"Charlie baby." Charlie softly clapped upon seeing her brother and Kara smiled. "Yep, but now Charlie's baby isn't in mama anymore. So, we have to be gentle with him ok?" Charlie nodded and indicated she wanted to go back to snuggle with Lena. Once there, Kara walked back over to Eliza and leaned over whispering something in her ear. Lena knew what it was, but everyone else was somewhat surprised when Eliza began to cry again with fresh tears.
"I think that is lovely sweetheart." Kara smiled and looked proud as ever and Alex was off to the side clearly lost. "Stop making mom cry you jerk. Also, no secrets, share with the class."
"I was just telling Eliza his name."
"Even worse! I delivered him, how did I not hear his name first. Rude Kara." Alex pretended to pout until her mother handed the baby over to her. "Stop pouting Alexandra and listen." Alex instantly lost her joking tone and beamed at her nephew who was trying to squirm out of his blanket.
"Hey there troublemaker. You already gave us quite the grand entrance so maybe just have a nice boring childhood ok?" She was answered with the baby cooing and Alex melted.
"Well, your troublemaking friend comes by it honestly. His namesake is a bit of handful too." Alex smiled at the baby and in a high-pitched voice ask, "oh really, and what is his name?"
Kara smirked and simply said, "Alex."
Alex stopped and looked at her sister, "what, it's a valid question."
Kara's smile grew, "I know it is and I gave a perfectly reasonable answer. His name is Alexander Joshua Luthor-Danvers, which admitted is a bit of a mouthful, but we figured we call him Alex or AJ Whatever ends up sticking as he grows up." Alex was surprised she didn't drop her nephew when Kara told her.
"You name him after me?" Kara nodded, "and after Jeremiah. We chose a name close to it, but made sure we left his actual name for you to use if you ever wanted. We wanted him to have good strong names, family names. I don't know anyone stronger than my big sister. So if you are ok with it, his name is Alex." Alex blinked back tears and stood up, gently handing the baby over to Kelly before tackling Kara is a tight hug.
"Of course, I am ok with it. All of it. Dad would flip over him Kara, just totally lose his mind. And you didn't have to name him after me just because of what happened." Kara pulled away from Alex and shook her head. "We chose his name months ago, what you did today just confirmed our decision. You have protected him and his mother from the moment his life began to the moment he was born and I do not want him to ever forget that he was named after someone so brave and who loves our family so much they do stupid things to keep us safe." Alex looked over at Lena who looked exhausted, but more happy then Alex had ever seen her.
"Was this your bright idea kid?" Lena shook her head no, "Kara suggested it, but it was the only name we didn't argue over. We knew it was meant to be his name."
"Does this mean I am forgiven for that day I found out you were dating?"
"I told you several times, I forgave you for that long ago. But sure, if this is what it takes to finally bury the past, yes Alex: I punched you in the face and you helped deliver my child. We are definitely even."
