Just a couple of things I want to clarify at the start of this chapter - no, there won't be a love triangle. Don't worry about that. I think with the introduction of the 'crimson haired woman' it might be a concern for you guys but don't worry, it's not gonna happen, though I do want Lena to have her own storyline too.
Also the pronunciation of Hisa = Hee-sa. :)
Enjoy!

Lena let out a soft sigh as she subtly tugged up the sleeve of her blazer to check her watch. She'd only been waiting for her coffee for a couple of minutes but she wanted to get out of the coffee shop as soon as possible. She could feel everyone staring at her, their eyes burning holes into the back of her neck. She wasn't surprised. Most people in National City knew her by reputation if nothing else. Most of them knew her for her work and a few of them, she was sure, still simply knew her as the sister of Lex Luthor.

At the sound of her name being called, she looked up to see the impatient blonde woman behind the counter holding out her coffee to her. She took it, forcing a smile to her face and muttered her thanks before she turned around on her heel. She bumped into something solid and her already loose coffee lid popped off, the coffee from inside the cup splashing out between herself and the person she'd bumped into. She gasped as hot coffee spilled out onto her hand and her grip instinctively loosened.

Thankfully the person she'd bumped into reached out and took hold of the cup to make sure it didn't fall to the floor.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going! Are you okay?"

Lena grimaced at the panicked tone of the woman she'd bumped into. "I'm fine. It seems most of it ended up on you." She stared at the coffee dripping from the woman's leather jacket for a moment before she glanced up to check who she'd actually bumped into. Her brow furrowed slightly as she took in worried green eyes and striking red hair.

"I'm sorry." The woman said again. She straightened up, taking Lena's coffee from her to set it down on the counter. "Were you burnt?"

"I'm okay," Lena answered with a slight shake of her head. She had to admit that she was a little bit irked but she wasn't about to snap at the woman. "Have we met somewhere before?"

"I don't think so. Oh, I'm Hisa. Hisa Evergreen." The woman said with a bright smile. She offered her hand out to Lena. "And I don't need to ask you who you are, of course."

Lena automatically shook the woman's hand, her brow furrowing. "My reputation precedes me then?"

Hisa gave a gentle chuckle. "You shouldn't be surprised. Almost everyone in the city has heard of you. I happen to be a big fan of you. Your work too, of course." She noticed Lena's gaze flick to her now mostly empty coffee cup on the table. "Shit! Let me buy you another coffee!"

"That's not necessa-"

"It's the least I can do." Hisa interrupted, waving off Lena's protests. "What are you drinking?"

"Black coffee," Lena answered with a small smile, figuring she wasn't going to win the argument. The two of them rejoined the short queue together, trying to ignore the distasteful look from the barista who'd been sent to clean up their mess. Silence settled between the two of them and Lena felt herself slowly growing uncomfortable. "So you clearly know about my work. What do you do?"

Hisa looked to Lena with a slight smile. "I'm a Lieutenant in the Canadian air force. Trauma surgeon. I'm not from here exactly. Just visiting."

"Oh, I see." Lena nodded thoughtfully. She'd thought she had detected an accent. "So your name is from…?"

"My father's side. His grandfather is half Japanese which makes me a quarter Japanese. I'm named after my great grandfather's mother." Hisa explained as she stepped forward. She turned her attention away from Lena for a moment to order her coffee.

Lena took the moment of distraction to look the red-headed woman over. Something about her was strikingly familiar but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. When Hisa finished ordering coffee, they stepped to the end of the bar.

"You seem to be far from home. If you don't mind me saying." Lena said, not wanting to let silence settle between them. Truthfully she was somewhat intrigued too.

Hisa chuckled softly. "Oh, I'm not sure where I'd even call home right now. I'm just..."

"HISA!"

Hisa grimaced at the sound of her name being called. "Crap…"

Lena frowned as a brunette appeared behind Hisa, grabbing her forearm to turn her around.

"What the hell are you doing?" The brunette hissed angrily, her gaze briefly flicking toward Lena before she looked back toward the redhead. "We have things to do and you're wasting your time in a goddamn coffee shop?! Why are you...dripping? Can you do anything right?"

"I can do what I want in my free time, Siobhan. I'm just…"

"What did I tell you about saying my name in public? Just hurry up! We wouldn't want your sister to wonder where you are, would we?" With that said, the brunette pushed Hisa's arm away, clearly making every attempt to inflict as much pain as possible without being too obvious about it, before she turned and stormed out of the cafe.

"I'm really sorry about that." Hisa said, staring after the brunette. "She can be a little...bossy."

"Your...friend? Girlfriend?" Lena asked, frowning in concern. She could see that Hisa's eyes had misted over slightly.

"I should go. Again, I'm sorry she caused a scene. It was nice meeting you, Lena."

"Wait!" Lena reached out and grabbed Hisa's hand as she started to walk away. When the redhead looked back at her in confusion, Lena felt a wave of regret. She'd said she wouldn't do this anymore. Not after Kara. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. She used her free hand to fish around in her back until she emerged with a business card which she quickly checked before pressing into Hisa's hand. "My personal number is on the back. You should call me if you're in any trouble."

"I appreciate that. But I'm fine. Have a nice day." Hisa drew her hand away from Lena before she rushed out of the shop.

Lena watched with a furrowed brow. She was sure she'd seen the brunette from earlier before. She just couldn't remember where.

"Miss! MISS, your coffee!"

Lena sighed and turned around, taking her coffee from the visibly annoyed barista. She bit back the urge to snap at her and nodded her thanks instead before she left the shop, her mind still fixed on her strange encounter.

-

"Is she okay?"

Kara turned her gaze to the door at the sound of Alex's voice and found her walking into the room, an irritated look on her face. She grimaced and started to push herself off the bed.

"She's better." Nia answered, nodding in response. "She seems stronger and she isn't showing any signs of being affected by the kryptonite now. I watched her for any, like you said."

"Good." Alex gripped Kara's shoulder and lightly pushed her back down onto the bed. "Because we need to talk and I don't want you flying away."

Kara sighed, throwing her arm over her eyes. "Alex, I don't have time for this. I have to get back to work and…"

"Oh really? Because I heard you haven't been to work in a week." Alex retorted sharply. "What the hell happened out there, Kara?"

"I did my job." Kara answered without moving her arm. She didn't want to look at Alex and see the anger and disappointment on her face. "Nobody died and nobody was hurt."

"Besides you, you mean. Because you did get hurt. You nearly died, Kara! I gave you a direct order and you disobeyed me!"

"Disobeyed?" Kara pushed herself up, staring hard at Alex. "Are you talking as my boss or my sister right now?"

Nia swallowed thickly as she glanced between them. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen them in such a bad fight before and the last thing she wanted was to see it continue. "Kara, if you…"

"Don't!" Kara snapped, her eyes flitting toward Nia. "Please. Not yet."

"What's wrong with you?" Alex asked, genuine worry mixed in with her anger now. "You're acting reckless, you're ignoring my orders, you're not going to work, you're snapping at everyone. Not to mention what you almost did to Nia's arm a few days ago."

Nia guiltily bit her lip as Kara glanced toward her. "I didn't say anything about it, I think J'Onn…"

"J'Onn did the right thing by telling me." Alex interrupted with a frown. "I need to know if you're not safe."

Kara gritted her teeth at the insinuation. "You think she's not safe around me? It was an accident!"

Nia decided to step in, worried by the hurt look on Kara's face beneath the anger. "I don't think that's what she meant."

Alex held up her hand to stop Nia. "It's exactly what I meant. I think when you're like this you're a danger. Especially to yourself."

Kara's shoulders slumped and she bowed her head slightly. "I would never hurt any of you."

"Not intentionally." Alex softened ever so slightly and reached out to rest her hand on Kara's shoulder. "I'm worried about you, Kara. Just talk to me. If there's something wrong we can figure it out together. Like we always have."

"There's nothing to talk about." Kara shrugged Alex's hand off and got off the bed. "I have to go."

"Kara." Alex called as Kara walked away from her. She watched as Kara paused. "Take some time off."

"Is that an order?"

Alex sighed. She didn't want it to be like this. "Yes."

Kara scoffed and walked out of the room, heading down the hallway.

Nia sighed heavily and perched on the edge of the bed. She wished that Kara would just come to her senses and tell Alex what was going on. If anyone could help, it would be Alex.

"If I didn't know you could fly I might be worried."

Kara jerked in surprise, turning her head to see Lena walking across the roof toward her. "Lena!" She pressed her hand to her chest, taking a deep breath. "You scared me! How did you get up here?"

"I have my ways. I used to own this building, remember?"

"I didn't hear you come up." Kara murmured, frowning at the idea. Her super-hearing should have kicked in as soon as Lena got to the roof. Before that even. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Lena stopped next to the ledge and offered her hand to Kara, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to help me up?"

Still puzzled, Kara gently took Lena's hand and helped her up onto the edge, bracing herself for any sign that Lena was going to fall. She relaxed slightly only when she was sure that Lena was steady. "Did you do something to your hair? It looks a little...shorter."

Lena subconsciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gave a slight shake of her head. "No. I didn't do anything." She lowered herself down until she could sit with her legs dangling over the edge of the building. "It's a long way down."

"Yeah." Kara murmured softly, glancing down at the city streets below them. She let out a soft breath before she sat down next to Lena. "Why are you here?"

"I was looking for you," Lena answered honestly. "Why else would I be standing on the roof of CatCo?"

"No, I mean...why were you looking for me?" Kara asked in confusion. "I thought you still hated me." She noticed Lena flinch out of the corner of her eye and turned to frown at her. "I don't understand."

"Nothing is ever as simple as love and hate. I thought you of all people would realize that." Lena was silent for a long moment while Kara stared at her. She leaned forward, watching cars go by beneath her feet. "I saw what happened. On the news."

"Oh." Kara swallowed thickly, recalling her argument with Alex. "I…"

"You think that now you're destined to die, you're invincible." Lena's voice came out sharply but she still didn't look up at Kara. "You think that as long as this crisis you've seen isn't here yet, you'll survive anything. That's not how this works, Kara. You've been given knowledge of your future. You know what's to come but you could die tomorrow and create a new timeline. Maybe one you haven't seen yet. This isn't the time to be reckless. If anything you need to value your life now more than ever."

"What if I value my life too much?" Kara's voice was strained as she spoke and it drew Lena's gaze toward her. "What if I don't want to die? I know it's selfish but I have a life. I'm not just Supergirl, Lena. I have friends, family...and I'm supposed to leave them behind? It's not fair! How am I supposed to tell Alex and my mom I'm..."

Lena's expression softened with sympathy as tears brimmed in Kara's eyes. Her grip on the edge of the wall tightened and she briefly glanced over her shoulder before letting out a soft sigh. "This doesn't mean I'm not angry with you. Or that we're friends again. When I see you tomorrow, we don't talk about this, okay? This never happened. Kara, I need you to promise me."

Kara nodded, her head bowed though she wasn't even sure what she was agreeing to. She didn't care. She saw movement from the corner of her eye and suddenly arms were wrapped around her, drawing her into a warm body. She turned instinctively, burying her face into the crook of Lena's neck as a sharp sob escaped her.

Lena sighed, gently stroking Kara's hair as tears brimmed in her own eyes. She stubbornly blinked them away and focused her attention on the building across the street instead.

"I don't know how to tell her, Lena." Kara whimpered, grasping the back of Lena's shirt. "I don't want to hurt her and i-if Alex knows, it's…"

"Real." Lena finished softly for Kara as the kryptonian trailed off. "It makes it real."

Kara nodded and slowly drew back to look at Lena. "How do I do it?"

Lena let her hand come to rest lightly on Kara's shoulders, her gaze fixated to the tracks of tears on Kara's cheeks. "I don't know, Kara." She said quietly, her expression pained. "This isn't something I have much expertise in, as you know. I'm sorry."

Kara closed her eyes for a brief moment before she seemed to steel herself and nodded. "I shouldn't be asking you. You're already helping me more than I deserve. Do you want me to take you home?"

Lena answered with a sad smile. "I can walk. I'll be okay."

Kara looked like she was going to argue for a moment before she nodded in response. "Alright."

Lena slowly shuffled her way off the ledge, aware of the way Kara tensed in case she fell. When she was back on her feet, she turned toward Kara, idly fidgeting with the ring hanging from the necklace around her neck. "You remember what you promised me? We don't talk about this tomorrow. Tonight never happened. I didn't sit with you on this roof, we didn't talk. None of it happened."

Kara frowned slightly in confusion. "I remember. But...why?"

"Kara."

"Okay, I-I promise." Kara answered hurriedly. The last thing she wanted was to make Lena angry. She stared at Lena's back as the brunette turned to walk away. "Are you sure you didn't do something to your hair?"

"I'm sure, Kara." Lena called back. She lifted her hand up in a slight wave without turning around. "I'll see you in my office tomorrow. Don't be late."

TBC