"I need a drink," Lena announced, pushing a flustered hand through her hair as she swam towards the yacht's ladder, leaving Kara stunned in the wake of her abrupt departure.

Back on board, as Kara ascended the ladder as well, Lena poured herself a scotch, not bothering with the ice, and downed it.

"Lena," Kara started, stepping back onto the yacht and looking concerned.

"You wanna head back to port? Go get a change of clothes?" the star asked, tone suddenly chipper again, as if nothing had happened.

"Lena."

"You're soaked, and I wanted to have a picnic for lunch. By the way, you haven't eaten any of your fifteen pounds of fruit."

"I got distracted," the blonde pointed out. "Can you blame me?"

"Anyway," Lena said, once again changing the subject. "Let's go back and dry off, then head to Plage de la Moutte."

"Head where now?"

"The Plage de la Moutte. It's this awesome little private beach in a protected cove, but you have to hike to get there - which is the awful part - but it's so worth it! I figured we could have a picnic there."

"Okay, sure," Kara agreed. "Wait… What's wrong with hiking?"

"Ugh. Steps."

Kara laughed at this, rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you have, like, a vigorous, Captain Marvel workout routine?"

"Don't compare me to Brie Larson, okay? That girl has abs of steel. She's really nice though."

"You know Brie Larson?!" the blond gaped.

Scowling, Lena shot back, "Don't get all star-struck. I thought you were my biggest fan, not Brie's."

"I am!" Kara howled. "I am, I am! I just… She's cool too?"

Huffing with exaggerated disdain, Lena walked away to tell her yacht's driver to bring them back to shore.

~!~!~

Lena might have been in better shape than anyone Kara could think of - except maybe Brie Larson - but she complained the entire 45 minute hike to the beach anyway. Kara, on the other hand, took in the beautiful sights and sounds with wonder, feeling blessed to have the opportunity to be hiking in one of the most gorgeous, elite cities in France. In fact, she was so enthralled with her surroundings that the 45 minute hike seemed to pass in just moments, and before Kara knew it, they'd reach the little cove on the beach.

"Finally," Lena whined. "I hate that hike."

"You are so weird," her partner chuckled. "I don't get you."

"Yeah, you do."

Blinking a few times as she followed Lena's lead by sitting down on the blanket they'd brought, Kara stared at her partner in confusion at the girl's surprisingly serious tone.

"I do?"

"Better than anyone else does, anyway. I mean… There are parts of my lifestyle that don't make sense to you… but as you said before, that's only because we've been raised in very different environments and had very different experiences. But as for who I am as a person? Like, who I really am? You get that. You get me."

Looking surprised by the touching nature of Lena's words Kara opened her mouth to speak. But before she could say anything, Lena popped a raspberry into her mouth and flashed a devious smile. Obviously, she didn't want to elaborate, and a subject change was in order, so to lighten the mood and prevent Kara from taking things to too deep of a level, Lena decided on a flirtatious distraction.

Kara, though slightly confused by Lena's aversion to furthering the conversation, welcomed the edible surprise with a smile and a face displaying the internal bliss her mouth was experiencing from the vivid flavors of the fruit.

"Amazing," she said softly, reaching for the napkin her partner was holding out to her.

But Lena didn't let go of the napkin. In fact, she used her other hand to grab Kara's wrist and pull her forward, connecting their lips and licking the raspberry's juice from the blonde's lips.

"Agreed," she said triumphantly, pulling away with a grin. "Delicious."

"Turd," Kara laughed, giving Lena's shoulder a teasing shove.

They sat on the beach for a while, happily alone in their surroundings, watching and listening to the gentle waves. Once they'd finished their picnic lunch, Lena started to pack up their belongings, earning a very loud frown from Kara.

"I don't wanna go," Kara whimpered, looking up at her girlfriend with big, bright puppy eyes.

Lena knelt back down with a smile, cupped the girl's cheek, and said, "I want to show you the Môle Jean-Réveille promenade."

"But we're alone here…"

"We'll be alone again tonight in the hotel room. Let's go see the rest of the city. It's pretty, I promise."

"You're pretty," the blonde pouted, crossing her arms and refusing to move from her seat.

"Come on, Kar. We've been here two hours already, and it's a forty-five minute walk back."

Frown intensifying, Kara stood up, picked up the rest of their things, and followed Lena out of the cove and away from the beach.

~!~!~

The Môle Jean-Réveille promenade was beyond was Kara could've hoped for, and her protests about leaving the beach faded the instant she caught the view.

"Wow," she breathed, staring out at the luxurious yachts in the harbor. "Can we move here?"

Blinking, Lena asked, "We?"

"Oh, um… I just meant…" Kara stammered, blushing at the realization of her own words.

She'd made it sound like she was asking Lena to move in with her, in so many words. It was hardly what she'd meant, and she was mostly just kidding, but now that she thought about it…

"Kara?"

"Huh?" the girl asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

"I, um…." Lena tried, searching for her words as she entwined her fingers with the blonde's. "I asked if you'd ever want that."

"To move here? Nah… It's lovely, but I don't speak French, and—"

"I'll teach you French. And… that's not what I meant."

"W-What did you mean then?" the younger girl asked softly, knowing full well exactly what Lena had been asking.

"Would you really want to live somewhere with me?"

Kara drew in a calming breath and committed to the five seconds of bravery it would take to answer Lena's question with honesty.

"I mean… not now, but… sure. I mean… We're together almost every second I'm not in school or you're filming or promoting or whatever. We spend all of our free time with each other. We're kind of inseparable. So, like… why not?"

This earned a broad, surprised smile from Lena, who was pleasantly shocked by her partner's answer. It hadn't been what she'd expected at all. In fact, she had imagined that Kara would simply say, 'I didn't mean it like that,' and move on. But here they were, suddenly talking about moving in together. No, it wasn't being planned for the immediate present, but still… they were planning for their future, and that was something Lena had never had before.

Leaning in until her lips were nearly touching Kara's ear, Lena whispered, "Je t'aime de tout mon coeur."

"Uh… Come again?" the blonde asked, a shiver electrifying the length of her spine as the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention.

"I can make that happen."

"Lena!" Kara gasped. "Don't be a perv. Tell me what you said."

"I said…" the brunette purred with a smirk, "that I love you with all my heart."

Feeling her blood pressure increased dramatically as her breathing became shallow, the younger girl replied, "Te amo, mi amor. Quiero lamberte hasta que te vengas en mi boca mil veces."

Mouth dropping open, Lena gaped, "Wait, what? You speak Spanish?!"

"Maybe a little…" the blonde replied shyly, dropping her gaze and loosening her grip on her partner's hand.

"Nuh-uh," the celebrity scolded her. "Don't you dare get shy on me now. What did you just say? Spanish isn't one I ever really got to learn. I had to learn Latin, French, and a little bit of German, because my mom found Spanish to be low-brow."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Lame, I know. So, what'd you say?"

"I said… I want to lick you until you cum in my mouth a thousand times…"

"Bullshit," Lena cursed, calling Kara's bluff.

"No, that… That's actually what I said."

Mouth once again hanging open, the star stared at her partner in disbelief as her cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson.

"Cat got your tongue?" Kara giggled, pecking her girlfriend on the cheek.

Lena just nodded and started to walk again, tugging the blonde along with her.

After quite some time - with Kara's embarrassment building, based on Lena's wordless reaction - the brunette finally spoke, saying, "It's so beautiful here. The Môle Jean-Réveille promenade has inspired many Impressionist painters. I wish I could paint."

"I… I dabble," Kara confessed. "I might be terrible at it, but I like art."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah… Why? Is that dumb?"

Immediately, Lena shook her head and said, "Not at all. I love art. I just never really got into creating it myself. My mother never fostered that type of artistry in me. She was too busy trying to make me famous. And make herself money."

Frowning, Kara stopped in her tracks and pulled her partner into a tight embrace, saying, "I'm sorry, Lena. I know things haven't been easy for you."

"No, they haven't," Lena told her with a shrug. "But it is what it is. Come on. Let's go. It's getting dark and I wanna find my spot."

"Your spot?" the blonde asked quizzically, following along beside the older girl.

Lena just nodded and continued to walk as the sunset lit up the sky in the most brilliant colors Kara had ever seen, which reflected off the shimmering water in ways that astounded her beyond belief.

Finally, they reached a bench at the top of a hill, looking out on the water and the harbor.

"Okay, so the promenade is pretty awesome," Kara conceded. "I like it here, even though there's a lot of people."

Turning her head at the sound of a camera flash, Lena sighed heavily, noting the paparazzi that had just snapped several pictures of the two of them sitting beside each other on the bench. Despite wanting to flip them the bird, she simply gave a smile and a wave while Kara looked on, cheeks red and embarrassed.

Shortly thereafter, the paparazzi left them alone when Lena's body guard - who had been following them at a reasonable distance, per Lena's request - escorted the small lot away from the two girls.

"I hate that," Lena huffed. "It's so annoying to have every moment of your life documented and spewed all over the T.V. I just wish… I wish I could have some privacy. But I guess I brought you to a pretty famous place, where a lot of celebrities hang out. So it was kind of my own fault, and I should've known they'd catch up to us eventually."

Biting her lip, Kara asked, "Isn't… Isn't it bad that they saw us together?"

"Nah. It is what is is. My mom will freak, but it's not like they saw us making out or anything."

"Yeah, true."

"And besides… They all think I'm with Bradley."

Feeling both anger and an intensely uncomfortable amount of jealous roll over in her stomach, the blonde dropped her gaze.

Looking disappointed and apologetic, Lena gently lifted Kara's chin and looked into her eyes, telling her, "I'm not ashamed of you, Kara. Coming out in the public eye is just really, really hard."

Giving a curt nod but averting her eyes once more, the younger girl bit her lip again.

"I love you, buttercup" the brunette assured her. "I swear it. I love you." Then, after a pause, Lena added, "Tu es l'amour de ma vie."

This caused Kara to finally lift her head and meet Lena's intense gaze.

"What?"

"I said…" Lena tried, words momentarily getting caught in her throat. "I said, 'You're the love of my life.'"

Lips parting, Kara stared at her partner in shock. Lena had never said something quite so serious before, and it felt like she was taking things to another level.

Not quite sure if she was ready or mature enough to bring things to that level of commitment, Kara stammered, "I-I…"

"Sorry," Lena mumbled, looking down as her cheeks once again turned crimson.

This time, the butterflies in her stomach weren't a good feeling, but rather a sensation of pure shame and rejection.

"Hey," Kara said gently, cupping Lena's face in her hands. "It's okay. You don't need to apologize at all. That was very sweet. I'm just surprised you said it is all."

Shrugging, Lena turned her head and pulled away.

"Lena," Kara chided her. "Don't do that."

"Let's go back to the hotel. I'm exhausted."

"Lena. Stop. You don't have to hide from me."

"You didn't exactly say it back," the celebrity pointed out, rising from her seat on the bench.

"Come on, Lee," Kara pleaded. "It took me by surprise. I just got nervous. I'm sorry."

When the blonde tried to take her hand, Lena tore hers away and continued walking towards the car where her driver was waiting.

Heart sinking at Lena's reaction, Kara followed in silence, knowing that any further protests would fall on deaf ears.