"I haven't been in a relationship since before Ruby was born and even I can see the signs!" Sam sighed to herself as she watched Lena and Kara throw heart-eyes at each other from across the room. Despite both women stubbornly (or obliviously) insisting that they were "just gals being pals", Sam knew clear as crystal that they were in love. Even if they both somehow didn't realize it, that did not change the simple truth that they were head over heels for each other. But after months of watching them act so romantic yet so oblivious, Sam was desperate. She had never been one for this type of drama, but when it came to her two best friends, she just couldn't take the suspense any longer.

"I've got to do something to get those two useless lesbians to realize their feelings for one another!" she said to herself, but she had no idea where to even begin. As she'd noted, she hadn't been in a relationship since before Ruby was born and Ruby was 12. But even though Sam had no idea how to approach this issue, someone else she knew did. Or rather, they just did not care how they came across in their attempt to get the Super and Luthor to finally hook up. And this person was willing to go to far greater lengths than Sam would've ever imagined…

ooo

"Reign! Let her go!" Supergirl crashed through the side of the abandoned warehouse, fire in her eyes and ice in her voice.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up," Reign taunted, swaggering over to Supergirl with a smirk on her face.

"Let. Her. Go." Supergirl snarled back, in no mood to even pretend to be nice. She was on the warpath today.

"Ooooh, kitten has claws!" Reign sounded amused, her distorted voice echoing with a cruel and mocking lilt.

Supergirl's next reply came in the form of a powerful blast of her heat vision. Reign was able to dodge it easily, but at least it got her to shut up for a second. And it further proved the point that Supergirl wasn't playing games anymore. Not if Lena's life was on the line. Maybe in the past, she might've tried to talk Reign down, but knowing that Reign had actually been audacious enough to kidnap Lena just to get to her was such a new low that any trace of compassion that Supergirl might've once felt for the other Kryptonian was gone. All that remained was rage, even more intense than after their first fight when Reign had almost killed her. That was nothing compared to the hatred Supergirl felt now.

She did not hold back as she unleashed blow after blow against the other Kryptonian. Punch, kick, punch, punch, heat vision, freeze breath, heat vision, punch, punch, kick, freeze breath, heat vision! She flew fast and hard at Reign, all of her past fears and cautions gone. All that mattered now was trying to force a confession out of Reign and make her pay for what she'd done.

Reign, meanwhile, seemed content to just let Supergirl attack, easily dodging every blow sent her way. She made no move to actively initiate a counterattack. It was unusual, but Supergirl was too angry to question it. Instead, she was also busily scanning the warehouse with her X-ray vision in attempt to find Lena. At last, the Girl of Steel found her quarry.

As she did her visual sweep of the warehouse, Supergirl noticed a section that had been partitioned off in such a way that she couldn't see into it. It was lead-lined! That was the only clue she needed before veering away from Reign and heading over to that part of the warehouse. Reign followed after, but she still made no move to attack the other Kryptonian.

"Lena?! LENA?! ANSWER ME!" Supergirl cried as she tore through the lead-lined section of the warehouse. She, at last, managed to hear the sound of muffled shouting and knocking from one of the barred-off rooms. It didn't take more than one quick jerk for Supergirl to rip the locked door clean off its hinges and, sure enough, waiting inside, was Lena Luthor.

"Supergirl!"

"Lena!"

Supergirl was so relieved to see the Luthor unharmed that she said no more as she reached out to swiftly take the woman into her arms and fly away with her. Because she didn't even bother to look back, she failed to notice the intrigued smile on Reign's face as she watched Supergirl escape the warehouse. She still made no motion to attack, or even to follow, but she still looked deeply satisfied with the outcome of their "battle".

ooo

"So… Kara… Is there anyone special in your life?" Sam tried to sound relaxed, but underneath her casual tone, she felt genuinely awkward and embarrassed. This was such a humiliating and personal question, but this might be her only chance to explain, so she had to try…

"What? No? Where did that question come from?" Kara gave her a puzzled look and Sam had to bite her lip to keep from groaning at herself.

"Oh, uhhh, well, I, uhhh…" Sam floundered for a reason to be prying into Kara's love life. Despite Kara being related to two of Sam's closest friends, they actually didn't know one another all that well… (And that was actually why they were hanging out at all. They were supposed to be getting lunch with Lena, but Lena had needed to cancel due to a last-second CatCo meeting.)

Even though Sam was glad for the chance to get to know Kara better, she still felt somewhat awkward, especially because of her choice of conversation. Oh! If only it had been the other Danvers, whom Sam felt more comfortable around because of her friendship with Ruby, and- Wait! Alex! That was it!

"It's Alex!" Sam answered quickly. Kara gave Sam an alarmed look and Sam quickly restrained herself, hoping that she hadn't totally botched things by shouting Alex's name with such excitement. "I mean, I know that things didn't end very well for her and Maggie," Sam amended her words. "And I guess I was just wondering if you had someone in your life as well, like, your own Maggie…"

There we go, Sam! Sam silently commended herself for the quick save, because Kara seemed to have bought it and a genuinely pensive look flickered across her face.

"I… haven't dated anyone in a while," she replied, sounding very guarded. "There was someone once… But he… left. Had to move back to his hometown somewhere else…" Kara was suddenly unable to meet Sam's eyes and Sam wilted, instantly kicking herself for accidentally bringing up painful memories for the other Danvers sister. Clearly, the past year had not been good on either of them (at least romantically speaking).

But that's exactly what Sam was here for! She wasn't quite sure what she could do for Alex, but she knew what she could do for Kara! Remembering that helped ease some of Sam's embarrassment at accidentally broaching the touchy topic and some of her confidence returned.

"Ah, I am sorry to hear about that," she said, genuinely sympathetic. "But I guess I was just wondering if you had anyone in your life because… well…" It was time for the moment of truth. "I see the way you and Lena look at each other…"

"What?!" And Sam suddenly found herself covered in a spit-take of raspberry lemonade.

But after about five napkins and 10 minutes, Sam managed to get Kara to see everything that Kara, herself, had totally missed.

"And you're sure she really feels this way for me?" Kara asked, still trying to wrap her head around it all.

"Honestly, yes," Sam replied. "Normally, I wouldn't put words into other people's mouths, but this time, I have a really good feeling about it. I mean, she bought CatCo for you, Kara. How much more devoted can you get than that?"

"Well, that could've been a business decision…" Kara looked down and twiddled with her fork.

"Pfft!" Sam rolled her eyes. "Then how do you explain how soft she gets around you?"

"It's because we're friends!"

"She doesn't get that soft around me!"

"Well, we've known each other longer!"

"I'm assuming she's known Alex and James for about the same length of time."

Sam and Kara steadily went back and forth until Kara was finally forced to concede.

"Wow. Maybe she really is in love with me…"

It took all of Sam's willpower not to shout, "Finally!" at the top of her lungs. Instead, she only gave Kara a reassuring smile.

"Now that you know, what are you going to do with that piece of information?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Kara didn't answer, but the way her face turned bright red seemed to speak for itself…

ooo

But while Sam worked with Kara, her alter ego continued to work on Lena as a strange and unintended double agent.

"Luthor."

"Reign."

Even though she was afraid, Lena did her best to conceal her terror, meeting Reign's icy gaze with an unflinching resolve of her own. Meanwhile, all around her, terrified CatCo employees scrambled to the meeting room door, each of them desperately trying to flee the vicinity even though Reign only had eyes for Lena.

"Have you come back for another round?" the Luthor asked coldly. "Like I told you last time, you won't get anything out of me!"

"Oh, you don't have a choice," Reign replied smugly. "Besides, this time, the test is for you," a wicked smile spread across her face, then suddenly, she was gone. Lena cursed under her breath, knowing at once that Reign was going to launch an attack on some other part of the building. But before she could even reach the meeting room door herself, Reign was back, and this time, she'd brought Kara Danvers with her.

"Kara!" Lena gave a horrified cry, reaching out to the young reporter as she struggled helplessly in Reign's merciless clutches.

"Where's your confidence now, Lena?" Reign chuckled, voice low and raspy as she tightened her grip around Kara's throat.

"You… won't… get away… with this!" Kara gasped. Reign tightened her grip again.

"No!" Without even thinking, Lena lunged at the evil Kryptonian.

Even though she was at CatCo rather than L-Corp, ever since Reign kidnapped her, the Luthor had taken to carrying several high-tech weapons on her person at all times. She literally had several tricks up her sleeve, the first being a metal cuff that could extend out and around her hand, ending in a hand-cannon that could launch intense blasts of plasma. It might not be enough to kill Reign, but it would be enough to distract her. And maybe that distraction would last long enough for Lena to wrestle Kara away…

For the next several minutes, Lena alternated between dodging and shooting as she tried to make her way over to Reign. The meeting room was totally destroyed in the process, but that was the least of Lena's concerns at the moment.

"Lena! Be careful!" Kara tried to call out to her, still clawing uselessly at Reign's hand.

"Don't worry, Kara, I've got you!" Lena replied, eyes narrowing in determination as she took another shot, narrowly twisting out of the way when Reign answered with a blast of her own.

For a time, Reign continued to indulge in Lena's pathetic attempts at a fight, allowing the Luthor to get closer and closer. But the moment Lena stepped too close, Reign took flight, flying back out the office window.

"No!" Lena gave another panicked cry, terrified that Reign would drop Kara, but she didn't. Instead, she only winked at Lena, as if to promise that she wouldn't just drop Kara… But if Lena wanted to get her back, she was going to have to come up with a new idea.

"Why are you doing this?!" Lena shouted desperately, giving Reign a death-glare that would've terrified anyone else.

"I told you, Luthor, this is a test," Reign replied calmly, patronizingly. "You are still just as guilty as everyone else on this Rao-forsaken planet. But I can sense that you and I are not so different, so I want to see just what you can really do when the life of someone you love hangs in the balance."

"Wait. Wh-what?" Lena suddenly looked self-conscious, all of her anger turning to embarrassment, confusion and surprise. Although it was no secret that Lena was very fond of Kara, there was something about the way Reign had said "love" that made her deeply uncomfortable. It reminded her vaguely of the days when her brother used to tease her anytime he found out that she had a crush on someone. He'd talk down to her with that unbearable scoff in his voice, laughing at Lena's softness and vulnerability. That's what it felt like, listening to Reign talk now. And to be quite honest, of all the things Lena expected to hear Reign talk about, her friendship with Kara was not one of them.

"Lena! Don't listen to her!" Kara choked, but it would've been better had she stayed silent, because by calling out to Lena, she redirected the Luthor's attention to her, and all of Lena's anger came back immediately. Who cared what Reign's motives were? Lena didn't have time to try to guess what all these mind-games were for! First and foremost, she had to save Kara, and she was going to do it, no matter what! Lena may not have been proud of her family name, but she wasn't going to deny that the Luthors always got what they wanted. Reign was no exception.

A newfound wave of confidence washed over Lena and she lowered her hand-cannon.

"Surrendering so soon? Was it really that easy?" Reign taunted, floating back into the ruined meeting room. but Lena only shook her head with a smirk of her own. She hadn't lowered the hand-cannon because she was surrendering. There was a button on the side that would switch the ammunition from bursts of raw energy to a single Kryptonite bullet. It was her unfinished "secret" weapon. The reason she hadn't used it sooner was because she didn't want to risk missing the shot. She only had that one little bit of Kryptonite, after all. But she could tell that, this time, Reign wasn't going to move. She wanted to see what Lena could do, but she'd underestimated just how much power Lena was packing.

After switching the ammunition, Lena raised the hand-cannon again and fired. One bullet. It wasn't enough to kill Reign. But it was enough to surprise and injure her. She dropped Kara to the ground with a gasp of pain. At the same time, Lena lunged forward and switched her ammunition back to the hot plasma. She began to fire relentlessly at Reign as she ran to Kara and dragged her back. But Reign was no longer a threat. Instead, she continued to clutch at her chest where the Kryptonite bullet had embedded itself. She gave Lena a horrified look before crashing back out through what little remained of the meeting room wall and fleeing.

But Lena didn't even bother watching Reign flee. Instead, she had eyes only for Kara.

"Thank god," she murmured, retracting the hand-cannon until it had shrunk back into that little silver gauntlet tucked snugly under her sleeve. She did not hesitate to launch into Kara's arms for a hug, wrapping her arms protectively around the other woman.

"Lena…" Kara whimpered and wrapped her arms back around Lena, trembling violently. She was, for the most part, unharmed, but it was clear that Reign's surprise on CatCo had left her deeply shaken. Lena could hardly blame her, though… But she could not stop a relieved smile from spreading across her face as she nuzzled Kara's shoulder. The repairs were going to take a lot of time, effort and money, but she was too glad to have Kara back to care.

ooo

That was the last any of them saw of Reign for quite some time, but even though she was physically gone, she remained in the back of Lena's mind. Even though it had only been one simple remark, Reign mentioning Lena's love for Kara continued to cycle through her head on an endless round. Why that one little remark seemed to have wormed its way so deeply into Lena's brain was a mystery, but she could not deny the validity of it. Lena did love Kara. But for some reason, hearing someone else say it put it in a new light and Lena suddenly found herself looking at Kara in a different way as well.

"Could it be true?" she asked herself one night as she and Kara parted ways at the doors of CatCo. Even though it had indeed taken a while to fix the building, thanks to Lena's massive wealth, the repairs were a lot faster than expected. "Am I in love with Kara Danvers?" It was an idea she normally would've dismissed as silly and impossible, but Reign really had gotten her thinking…

But it wasn't even just Reign at this point. Lena began to notice all sorts of little changes in Kara's behavior around her. Little notes and gifts, stolen glances, more compliments than usual, the occasional hand-squeeze, softer laughs. Had they always been there? Or was Lena only just noticing now because of Reign? Either way, even though Lena hated to admit that Reign was right about anything, she couldn't deny that maybe there was something there that she just hadn't noticed before.

"So what are you going to do now, Luthor?" Lena could almost hear Reign now, taunting and curious. "What's your next move?"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to give you any sort of satisfaction," Lena replied coldly. "But I am not one to back down or run away from a challenge…" So even though the idea mortified her, a rush of anger at Reign gave Lena the courage to begin planning how she might confess her feelings to her friend.

And all the while, Kara was dealing with the exact same problem. But unlike Lena, she wasn't wrestling with her feelings alone. She had Sam by her side! Even though, typically, Sam would've acted as Lena's wingman while Alex played as Kara's, because Sam wanted to help Kara confess to Lena as a sort of surprise-present for the Luthor, she was working in secret with the Danvers to help do something extra special for Lena.

"I'm just really nervous," Kara admitted as she paced her apartment. Being the Mom Friend that she was, Sam had already taken up residence in the kitchen and was busy fixing them both dinner.

"I understand that, but I've been keeping an eye on both of you and I think she's really starting to come around," Sam replied calmly.

"Are you really sure though?" Kara gave Sam a pleading look. "What if you've got it wrong? You're so dead set on seeing us get together that you might be biased. What if Lena doesn't really like me like that?"

"Oh trust me, I'm sure that she does," Sam replied with a small laugh. "She may be oblivious, but I think your little hints and flirtations have started to plant seeds in her head and you know how Lena is. Once something takes up residence in her brain, she's going to mull over it until she finally finds the solution, even if it's something she should've figured out months and months ago!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Kara mumbled. Even though Sam was trying to keep the mood light, and even though she'd been an invaluable source of help, Kara was still worried that maybe Lena just didn't feel the same. She could appreciate Kara's romantic gestures without feeling anything in return. Besides, although neither Sam nor Lena knew it, Kara was Kryptonian. She should've been able to see it better than anyone if Lena truly had feelings for her. She was the one with super-hearing and super-vision after all! But nothing. She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in regard to Lena's behavior about her. So what if it really was just a whole lot of nothing?

"Well, I argue that you're equally biased. You're so scared to believe that Lena's feelings for you are genuine that any time she winds up displaying some sort of romantic affection, your subconscious writes it off as just a platonic thing," Sam replied. Now Kara had to admit, that was an angle she hadn't even considered. It was enough to make her pause, and then laugh.

"Sam, you may say you're rusty because you've been out of the game for 12 years, but let me tell you that you've been invaluable to me!" she said.

"Well, I'm glad to be of service to my two best friends in the whole entire world," Sam replied with an affectionate smile. "Now come here, I've finished dinner and I don't think I can eat it all by myself."

"Oh I definitely can," Kara replied playfully, all of her nerves forgotten in the face of a delicious, homecooked meal. She and Sam exchanged one more laugh, then silence settled between them as they both dug in.

A few hours later, the two had accidentally fallen asleep on Kara's bed together. They'd been in the process of planning that special reveal for Lena when they wound up getting sidetracked talking about past relationships and it had been during a peaceful lull following one of their stories that they both fell fast asleep in each other's arms. The next thing either of them was aware of was… Lena's voice.

"KARA?!" Lena hadn't meant to shout like that, but she'd come over to Kara's apartment (using the spare key Kara had given her some time the previous year) with the sole intent of surprising the other woman with flowers, wine and a love confession, so to see Kara snuggling in bed with Sam had been a little more than surprising and painful.

"Lena!" Kara and Sam both shot awake and reflexively shouted back at Lena, wildly disoriented. Then they both turned to look at one another and each woman gave another cry of fright because they'd both forgotten that they'd been hanging out together. Kara was so surprised to see Sam in her bed that she jerked back hard enough to fall off the bed and onto the floor. It would've been comical, had two of the three women not been so disoriented with the third being quite hurt and embarrassed by all of it. Even though Kara hadn't done anything wrong, Lena was suddenly certain she'd misread all of Kara's earlier signals and the humiliation burned through her body like fire.

"Never mind," she muttered quickly, turning toe and all but fleeing out of the room. Seeing that was enough to snap Kara out of her confusion.

Even if Kara had no idea what was going through Lena's head, all she knew was that Lena had sounded hurt and was making her way to the door in a rather hurried fashion. A jolt of terror coursed through Kara's heart and before she knew it, she was at the door too, her super speed having easily allowed her to overtake Lena's pace. Sam was all but forgotten, still curled up awkwardly on Kara's bed and uncertain of what to do.

"Lena! Wait!" Kara cried, placing her hand on the doorknob before Lena could. Lena's eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you-?" she began. Even though she was hurting, suddenly seeing Kara materialize by the door was enough to catch her off guard.

"Don't go!" Kara interrupted, not because she was trying to dodge Lena's question, but because she was so desperate that the words began to fall out of her mouth without her consent. "This isn't what it looks like!" she cried, but then she cringed at herself. This wasn't some cheesy soap opera! "I mean, well, it really isn't. I know that line gets overused in rom-coms all the time, but it's the truth!"

"I don't know, Kara, seeing you and Sam cuddled up in your bed doesn't seem to have many other explanations," Lena replied coldly.

"Well she was trying to help me find a way to-" Kara suddenly lost the ability to speak and her voice faltered midsentence.

Remembering why Sam had been visiting her at all reminded her that she still needed to tell Lena how she truly felt, and if she'd been nervous before, that had nothing on how she felt right now. She was suddenly hyper aware of her heartbeat, and of the feeling of Lena's hand in her own. And she was aware of Lena's eyes, piercing into her very soul and trying to dig the truth out of her. The mighty Kryptonian began to tremble, mumbling fragments of words and sentences but finding herself unable to say anything.

"Kara, please," Lena's cold expression turned pleading. "I don't mind if you and Sam are together. I'm not judging you, but…" she began to twist out of Kara's grasp. But the moment Kara felt Lena pulling away from her, her mind clicked into place again.

"She was here trying to help me figure out how to tell you that I love you!" she shouted. Lena blinked in surprise, taken aback by the intensity Kara had spoken with. And because Kara had spoken so quickly, Lena only understood about half of what Kara had said anyway.

"I… what?" she asked stupidly, and Kara felt her stomach twist into knots.

"You aren't going to make me say it again, are you?" Kara pleaded desperately.

"I… didn't understand half of what you said," Lena replied, trying again to twist away from Kara. Kara gave Lena one last hopeless look before taking a deep breath in and forcing herself to speak from the heart.

"Lena Luthor, what I'm trying to say is… that… I… might… be… in love with you. No. I am in love with you. And I think I have been for a while. It just… took me a bit of time to realize it," Kara looked back over her shoulder towards her bedroom. Sam had since started to emerge, looking shy and nervous. Kara turned back to look at Lena, silently begging her to understand. "Sam was here trying to help me plan something special for you, but it looks like fate decided to take matters into its own hands." She gave the Luthor a sad smile before looking down at their intertwined hands. It really was not an ideal love confession at all, but what could she do at this point except roll with it?

"But even though things may not have gone according to plan, I still would like to take this time to say that I'm in love with you, Lena Luthor, I really am," she looked back into Lena's eyes, her own shining with hope. "I don't mind if you don't reciprocate, I just wanted you to kn-"

But before Kara could finish, Lena suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Kara's face, kissing her deeply. It was enough to earn a squeak from the startled woman, but it didn't take her long to comprehend what was happening and reciprocate, grabbing Lena's face in return to deepen the kiss.

Sam, meanwhile, stood in the doorway of Kara's bedroom, smiling and looking away bashfully. As Kara had said, today certainly had taken quite an unexpected turn, and Sam did feel a bit bad about the fact that she'd almost gotten Kara in trouble with Lena, but in a weird way, she'd still helped get the two goobers together, so in a weird way, she'd still accomplished her mission.

"I guess I still got it," she murmured to herself, feeling like a proud mama getting to watch the two members of her favorite ship finally become canon. Deciding to give the two lovers their privacy, she slowly backed into Kara's room and shut the door quietly. It was, admittedly, a little awkward to be stuck as such a huge third wheel, but she was happy enough that she didn't really mind. She was content just to relax again and revel in a job well done.

AN: This one's for Boggs Chaucer and sokohmarian, I'm so sorry this took me so long to write, but it's been a busy and stressful time and I just hit a really bad case of writer's block. But it finally let me go long enough to finish this story. I hope you guys enjoy!

This takes place before anyone figures out Reign's identity, btw.

And yes, I slightly altered the plot by giving Lena a bit of Kryptonite this early. In this canon, just like the original, it was something leftover from one of Lex's vaults, she just brought it into play sooner in this story.

Oh, and just another shoutout to Jennifer Baratta, please make an account so we can chat! I'm always happy to meet a fellow SuperCorper!