Pre-amble. AU with no powers, aliens or the like. Lex's crimes are business/white-collar related, no Mon-el to keep things simple for the one-shot. Kara is good friends with Lena's assisstant Jess.
My first attempt at a quick story with a lighter tone, so would appreciate feedback.
The message was sent, Alex was on her way. Kara tapped on the counter and struggled to stay still. She had just got in from work and the early evening sun was poking through her blinds. Before long she was pacing up and down her apartment. Her heart raced as the clock ticked away, she had been blindsided, practically ambushed and had no clue how to deal with the fallout. It was an event of such magnitude that she knew the next steps she took could alter everything in her life forever. One misstep would be calamitous and bring the world crashing own on her. She tried to steady her breath, nervously and instinctually cleaning the lenses of her glasses every few minutes. Fidgeting was all she could manage while she waited. Every time she tried to settle herself and sit down, her body quivered until she was forced to start pacing again. Her clammy hands rubbed against her face as she muttered reassurances and questions to herself. Whatever was taking Alex so long merely added to the cascading worries that had crashed own upon her without warning. For what felt like years, she covered every inch of that space. Her feet got sore from the unrelenting wood laminate. Scenarios and the following disasters raced through her mind as her quickening pulse added to the panic inducing problem that had presented itself. She was startled out of her hypnotic worry by a loud rapping on her door.
"Kara? Are you in there?" It was Alex's voice, she was finally here. Kara dashed over and let her in. Alex quickly came through with a worried expression on her fact.
"I got here as soon as I could," Alex said.
"Thank god you're here. Sit down, sit down," she said, beckoning to a stool by the kitchen counter. She carelessly swung the front door shut with a loud bang and dashed over to the other side to face her sister. She took breaths and tried to collect herself. The mild shaking and butterflies in her stomach remained, she knew she would have to push through them. She swallowed hard to get the words out. Alex looked increasingly worried as Kara largely failed in composing herself. Kara held her, chest, closed her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Lena asked me to go with her to a fundraiser," She said. A hint of confusion crept on to Alex's face.
"Right…" Alex said.
"I mean, she came over from L-Corp in the middle of the day, just so she could ask me to go to this event with her," she said. Her mind continued to race, barely registering her increasingly bewildered sister. Lena Luthor, stunningly beautiful, viciously intelligent and overwhelmingly confident. She had tagged along with Clark on a whim only to be dumbstruck when this woman had locked eyes with her. Since then she had taken any opportunity she could do stories on L-Corp, embarrassedly stumbling over herself to get at such assignments reared their head. She had ended up in her office more than once and tried to do the best job she could to report and even defend her. Though she had to admit she always found herself a bit distracted by her wonderful smile and the smooth Irish twang in her voice. She was ripped away from her daydreaming by the edge of her sister's voice.
"Kara… your message said there was something urgent?" Alex said.
"I mean what is this? Just a friend asking to hang out? More? Less? I need your help right now," she said through short, sharp breaths. Alex planted her elbow on the counter to lean on it and rummaged through her pocket. She fished out her phone and the screen blared the message.
"Yep, right here. Urgent. You even used the words "matter of life and death,"" Alex said as she pointed at it. Her worry and confusion had faded to a flat tone.
"I mean I've only known her a month or so. What if I'm overthinking this…"
"You are." Alex cut in, but Kara had not even paused for breath and ignored it.
"What if I totally misread what she means and I make a fool of myself? What if…" she found herself stopping and slumped her head on the counter, hiding behind folded arms. The smell of sanitiser assaulted her, and her forehead hurt as it pressed against the hard surface. There was a silence between them, only the beat of her heart and Alex shifting in her seat broke it. She felt Alex's gentle touch on her shoulder.
"So are you going to tell me the urgent problem after this Lena thing or…" Alex said. Kara craned her neck up, her glasses slipping off and lightly clattering in the process.
"Alex. This is the urgent thing," she said. Alex sighed as she facepalmed.
"Urgh, of course it is," Alex said.
"Why aren't you taking this seriously?" she said, slumping back into her arms.
"Why exactly am I here?" Alex said.
"Why? I need your insight. What do you think she meant by this?" She said.
"She probably meant she wants you to go this fundraiser with her," Alex said. Kara's nose twitched at her bemused looking sister.
"Is there subtext though? There has to be subtext," she said. Alex sat up and pulled Kara's arms away from her face. The contrast of bright light stung her eyes and she pawed at her glasses to clarify her blurry sister.
"One, we need a serious talk about how you use the word "urgent" in future. Two, I wasn't there so unless you recorded this little interaction I'm going to have a hard time with subtext. Three, you are entirely too worked up to take in anything I say anyway and most importantly, four, you know who would have great insight as to what Lena meant by asking you to this fundraiser?"
"Who?" Kara said, perking up that Alex might give her some useful advice that she was after.
"Lena. You're both adults. Just ask her," Alex said. Kara slumped back this time, letting her shoulders drop and staring at the blank ceiling.
"It's not that simple. If she meant nothing by it, I would die of embarrassment," Kara groaned.
"Uh huh," Alex said, she folded her arms.
"You are being entirely unhelpful," she said.
"You have my deepest sympathies," Alex said.
"Alex," she said, it an irritated tone that only a younger sibling truly new how to master. Alex let out an even heavier sigh and resigned to the desperate look Kara had resorted to.
"Fine, tell me exactly how it went down," Alex said, her palm firmly placed on her forehead.
"I was.." she started
"Wait, pour me a drink first. A large one." Alex cut in. Kara had never been much of a drinker, she knew she had little to offer Alex before pretending to check. She looked around what felt like the right places for what was probably long enough.
"All out of spirits, wine is the best I can offer," she said. Alex raised an eyebrow at her, it was hard to tell what she was annoyed at at this point. Either way, it was a reminder at how bad at bluffing and acting she was.
"Forget the drink, let's just get on with this," Alex said. She finally brought her arm down and sat up as if to listen properly. Kara took a breath, she had replayed the whole interaction in her head over and over. It made it very easy to recall.
"Okay, so I'm at work minding my own business. Writing up a story, drinking CatCo's mediocre coffee, the usual. I'm redrafting it for like the fourth time so my eyes strain and start to wonder, blah blah blah. This time, when I look around I see Lena come out of the elevator with that stern "I own the room now" look of hers. I tell myself she's here for an interview or a story and dive right back into my screen. But I couldn't help sneaking another look, and noticed she's striding right toward my desk. I played it cool…"
"You played it cool?" Alex said, she made no attempt to hide her scepticism.
"Alex, can you just… okay?" she said. Alex put her hands up and leaned back.
"Sorry, carry on," Alex said.
"So, I play it cool," she said, glaring at Alex and emphasising the words as she said them. "And get up to greet her."
"Very cool of you," Alex said. Kara folded her arms, she did not even need to say anything this time for Alex to retreat once more.
"Sorry again," Alex said.
"I get up and greet her and ask if it's just a surprise visit to CatCo. By the way, that steely expression of hers bursts into an incredible smile when she approaches me. Then she says she was there to see me," she stopped, expecting a reaction from Alex. She did not get one. The nervous fluttering in her chest crept back as she was recalling these moments out loud. "She tells me about some gala L-corp is hosting for a children's hospital and says she was hoping I'd come. Before I could say anything she carries on with how most people wouldn't touch a Luthor with a 10ft pole and that'd mean a lot to her if I as there."
"I take it you said yes?" Alex said.
"Of course I did." She said, her words sped up as she spoke. "But it begs the question am I like a proper "plus one" or if I'm just a friend she wants there for support. I mean she could have asked me via message but came in person which could mean something. Although friends go together to parties all the time and there's nothing to it. Maybe she doesn't know anyone else in the city that well. There's just so much ambiguity and I don't know what to do with myself. Is she even into women? I should check a gossip column or something…" She was interrupted by Alex clicking her fingers in her face.
"Focus Kara, you're spiralling," Alex said. She began to protest, before noticing how tense her shoulders had gotten and she had not taken a breath throughout that whole speech. She slowed herself down and looked at Alex expectantly. Alex thought on it for a moment and cleared her throat.
"As apparently asking Lena is off the table, here's what I think. This sounds like a pretty short interaction that you're overanalysing to hell and back. She asked you to go to this gala, you said yes. So just pick out a nice outfit, have a good time and see how Lena acts toward you on the night. Keep it simple, keep it calm and just enjoy the time with someone you like," Alex said. Kara let her sister's advice wash over her. It was something she had not considered. A whole new line of thinking shivered through her and her eyes widened at the possibilities.
"Oh my god, you're right. What am I going to wear to this thing? I mean it's a gala, if I'm underdressed what would she think, or if I overdo it that could be even more embarrassing…"
"Why do I say things?" Alex said to herself, with a resigned look that seemed to regret not accepting the wine earlier.
"We need to go shopping right now," she said. Alex got up and grabbed her shoulders. Kara was taken aback at Alex's intense look and blunt tone.
"Kara. Friendship, more, whatever. Lena asked you to this thing because she likes you for you. What you were doesn't matter. As you would say, play it cool. Then you can see what develops from there. There is nothing more to it than that," she said. Kara nodded at her and pouted.
"You're saying I shouldn't wear my contacts?" she said. Alex's bewilderment reached its breaking point as her arms slumped down.
"You hate your contacts. What I'm saying to you clearly isn't sinking in, so I'm leaving… and why is your phone out," Alex said. Kara had already unlocked it and started scrolling through her contacts, the different names whizzed by as she pawed at the screen.
"I'm calling Jess, if you won't help me with an outfit then maybe she will," she said. Alex rolled her eyes and headed for the door.
"Either ask Lena what she wants from this or stop overthinking it. You wanted my advice "urgently" so there it is," she said. Kara made a non-committal grunt at her, more focused on composing a message to Jess to explain the situation. She looked up briefly to see Alex smiling to herself.
"I love you sis, but you're hopeless. Tell me how this all pans out," she said
"Oh, now you're interested?" Kara said. Alex stuck her tongue and left. Her phone violently vibrated and skipped along the counter. Jess was calling.
"Kara, I saw your message. You said it was urgent?" Jess said, sounding worried
"It really is, can you meet me in town in half an hour?" she said. She clumsily struggled to put her coat on while holding the phone to her ear.
"Of course, of course. What's this about?" Jess said.
"It's about Lena," she said. There was a notable pause.
"Is this actually urgent?" Jess said.
"Yes," Kara said with an aggravated tone. She searched around the apartment for wherever she had left her keys.
"Uh huh. See you in a bit Kara," Jess said. The call ended. Kara was distraught as to how casually Jess seemed to be taking this. After a brief and dull search, her keys were in her bag the whole time. She huffed at herself as the keys carelessly jangled away in her flustered attempts to lock the door behind her.