"Why didn't you tell me?" Lena snapped, throwing her phone down on the bed with a scowl in her partner's direction.

"Tell you what?!" Kara gaped, shocked by Lena's sudden snappy tone.

"That your show got renewed for another season!"

"Oh… Um…"

"Kara! Why?!"

"I just… didn't think it was that big of a deal, you know? I mean… Your premiere was the big thing, and I didn't want to try to make anything about me. Right now if your time to shine, not mine. This is no big deal."

"No big deal? Babe, this is huge! I can't believe you didn't tell me! Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just… I don't want to mess it up."

"Well, obviously you're not if they're renewing it with you as the lead!"

Blushing, Kara looked away.

"I'm proud of you," Lena told her, squeezing her hand, "but you should've told me. I don't want to read about your successes in headlines. I wanna hear it from you from now on. Okay?"

Nodding, the blonde didn't lift her gaze.

"I mean it," the star pressed. "I'm proud of you, Kar. You're amazing. I knew you could do this."

"Anyway…" Kara hummed. "Back to our regularly scheduled programming. You excited for the Oscars?"

Shrugging, Lena replied, "I don't think I'll get a nomination, but it's nice to celebrate those who do."

"You will," the younger girl asserted. "Haven't you read all the headlines and reviews?"

"The Academy is… well… its own machine. It's not based on popular opinion."

"Exactly," Kara said sharply. "It's based on talent demonstrated through the performance. Right?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"You will at least get a nomination, if not actually win the Oscar."

"That's ridiculous. I'd never win it, Kara. This is the first film I've ever been in that's been worth a damn. Even if I got the nom, I wouldn't expect to win it. Honestly, I'd just be thrilled and amazed to be nominated at all."

"Just watch," the blonde said with a smirk. "You'll see."

Rolling her eyes, Lena laughed, shoving Kara's shoulder playfully.

"You're a turd, you know that?"

"Yeah," Kara giggled. "But I'm your turd."

With a nod, Lena pushed Kara down onto the bed and kissed her hard.

~!~!~

"KARA!" Lena screamed into the phone, scaring the other girl half to death.

"What? What?! Are you okay?! What happened?!"

"I was nominated for best actress!"

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Kara shouted, jumping up and down.

At the time of the call, she was on set - thankfully, not filming in that particular moment - but that meant that everyone was staring at her, which Kara didn't really mind at all. This moment was bigger than anything she could've imagined, and nothing was going to stop her from celebrating, even if she looked a little silly jumping around like a schoolgirl as she yelled in excitement into the phone.

"You were just dying to say that, weren't you?" Lena laughed.

"Oh, you bet your ass I was! Congratulations, honey! You deserve this!"

"Thank you, Kara, in all seriousness. I'm so grateful to have had you by my side this whole time."

"You'll always have me by your side, babe. I promise you that."

"You're the best, Kar. I love you!"

"I love you too, honey. I gotta go, though. We're about to film again."

"Good luck, babe! You're gonna do great!"

"Thanks, love. See you tonight!"

"I look forward to it, sexy."

Blushing, Kara ended the call and tried to focus on work (quite unsuccessfully).

~!~!~

"And the oscar goes to…"

The silence in the massive auditorium was deafening for Kara. The roar of blood pumping in her ears made her unsure as to whether or not she'd actually be able to hear the announcement. Although he knew damn well that being nominated for an Oscar was huge accomplishment in and of itself, Kara also knew that even though Lena had been dismissive about winning, her heart was painfully hopeful. So at her sides, the blonde's fingers were crossed. The intensity of the moment even made her forget how uncomfortable she was in the gown she was wearing. More elegant than the one she'd worn to the premiere, the sleeves and skirt were covered in lace. To her distaste, once again, the reporters on the red carpet had taken notice and complimented her on her choice of gown (which her partner had been the one to pick out). But sitting in the seat, staring up at the stage, she forgot all about it and focused only on trying to hear the winner of the category over the bass drums echoing in her brain.

"…Lena Luthor!"

Head whipping to the side like a rubber band snapping, Kara glanced over at her partner with a broad grin. The girl's mouth was hanging open.

"Go! Go, baby, go!" Kara whispered with glee, nudging Lena to stand up, as the star had clearly forgotten how.

When Lena finally stood up on shaky legs, with the support equivalent to melting fudge, and slipped out of the row to walk towards the stage, Kara clapped loudly, the smile on her face never faltering as a feeling of pride swelled heavily in her chest.

The blonde only stopped grinning when she heard the shaking, terrified tone of her partner's voice as she began her acceptance speech. Shocked by Lena's sudden shyness and fumbling lack of articulation, Kara stared at the partner. Lena stared back briefly, locked eyes with her lover, and felt a wave of relief as the younger girl mouthed, 'I love you.'

Only then did Lena have the strength to press on through her electrified nerves.

"This award is literally the most unexpected surprise I could ever have imagined or hoped for," Lena said, voice trembling. "First, I want to thank my partner, Kara Danvers, for being my… well… everything. I want to thank my agent for his tolerance and hard-ass approach with me and for sticking with me through all of my… um… shenanigans. And I want to thank the entire cast and crew of this film for building me up. I couldn't have done it without you all. Teamwork makes the dream work!"

By the end of the short speech, Lena's smile appeared and turned proud and even excited as she raised the Oscar in the air and looked out at the crowd.

As soon as the celebrity saw the tears in her partners eyes, she started to cry too and clutched the award tightly as she made her way down the steps, praying to whatever gods existed that she didn't trip on the way back to her seat.

"So fucking proud of you, babe," Kara whispered, kissing Lena's cheek as soon as she sat down.

And Lena couldn't stop smiling.

~!~!~

To Kara's surprise, Lena had declined a traditional afterparty with the stars. Instead, she'd elected to have a gathering at her place. 'Just friends and family,' Lena told her partner.

Unfortunately, some of the 'friends' turned out to be less-than. Two of Lena's 'friends' had approached her shortly after the party had started while the star was standing to the side, watching the medium-sized group of people dancing and having fun. Clearly lacking in insight and judgment, one of the individuals pulled a small baggie of white powder from his pocket and wiggled it suggestively in front of the celebrity as Kara looked on, too shocked to speak.

"Wanna get—" the young man started, grinning at Lena, but before the word 'high' could fall carelessly out of his mouth, the star cut him off.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Get that shit out of here!" she cried with a scowl, shoving him backwards, but not with enough force to hurt him or even make him stumble - just enough to send a clear message.

"But don't you—"

"Out!" Lena shouted, starting to shake as her hands clenched into fists.

Wide-eyed and obviously not having believed the star's report that she was maintaining sobriety, the young man and his companion turned and scrambled out of the building, not daring to challenge Lena further.

When Kara finally stopped staring at the man who had offered her partner what Kara had no doubts was cocaine, she looked over at Lena and was surprised to find a relatively intense level of fury on her face.

"Lena?" Kara asked gently, lightly touching the girl's shoulder.

But the celebrity didn't respond or look at the blonde beside her, which worried Kara even more. But as the younger girl watched, she noticed that Lena was making great efforts to breathe deeply. So, Kara decided to give her a minute of silence to process and calm down, but the more time passed with Lena staring off into space, the more anxious Kara felt. Did she regret saying no?

Eventually, Kara had to break the silence between them, so she said, "I'm proud of you, Lena. Do you need anything?"

"Could you please get me a soda?" Lena asked with a sigh, rubbing her temples.

Nodding quickly, Kara answered, "Of course," and rushed off to get her partner the drink. On the way back to Lena, though, she noticed the girl leaning in to whisper something in a female guest's ear. The blonde couldn't help but reflexively squint in concern as she looked on, awkwardly stopping in her tracks to stare with nervous curiosity. More than anything, she hoped that Lena hadn't been triggered enough to break her sobriety. Though she couldn't see well through the crowd of people loudly celebrating her partner's immense accomplishment, she could see enough to notice the person Lena was talking to pushing something small into her hand.