Lena nervously headed down the hallway to Lex's room, where she was supposed to be meeting him for chess. She had tried to visit Kara earlier, after having a fitful night of sleep thanks to the guilt that was eating at her, knowing she'd heard Kara sobbing and had done nothing, but instead of Kara she was met by Alex quietly slipping out of the room. The older Danvers had her backpack slung over one shoulder and looked unsurprised to see Lena as she shut the door behind her with a soft click.

"How's Kara?" Lena asked.

"Still asleep," Alex said, "I'm going to get breakfast and do some schoolwork. She'll probably be fine when she wakes up, though. I wouldn't be too worried."

Lena hesitated for a moment before giving her a small, uncertain nod. She remained hovering there for a moment, half expecting Kara to wake up at the sound of their conversation and come to the door to greet them. When that didn't happen, she'd bid Alex a halfhearted good luck with her homework and turned to get ready to meet up with Lex, which it now was time to do.

Opening his door slowly, Lena found Lex standing with his back to her, his arms crossed, the chairs pushed in to the chess table. His shoulders were rigid and tense. Confused, she walked in and shut the door, at the sound of which Lex turned and fixed her with an irritated and somewhat disappointed expression. Lena felt her heartbeat speed up in her chest; Lex could be terrifying in a bad mood, and this did not seem like it was going to be a lighthearted meeting by any means.

"Sit down," Lex snapped. Lena quietly took a seat on her side of the chess table, her eyes not wavering from his. He stayed standing as he spoke, his voice dripping with a cold, venomous tone, "How are you still friends with that?"

"It's not that I'm not upset or angry, Lex," Lena protested, knowing exactly what he was talking about without him needing to explain. "I'm… it hurt a lot, actually. But she saved my life, and she didn't do anything seriously wrong. It was a misunderstanding, and now that we know, she will have no reason to lie again. Why shouldn't I offer her the benefit of the doubt?"

"Lena, you can't trust her," Lex said, sounding like he was explaining a basic subject to a foolish child. "Did she tell you Superman is her relative? When we found out that dad was dead and, all along, it had been Superman that killed him, did she tell you that her cousin was the reason? When she was there for you after he died, did she mention that?"

"How do you know all that?" Lena asked. Then, quickly realizing that didn't matter at that moment, she went on, "Did she know that Superman killed him before we did? Even if they're related, that doesn't mean she's in on everything he does, Lex!"

"Well, you wouldn't ever really know, even if you asked her, would you?" Lex asked, his voice becoming much softer than it had been before, like an icy wind. Lena felt a chill trickle down her spine. She didn't want to believe him… but he had a point. "Because all this time, she's been lying right to your face. You fell for it then. Who's to say you wouldn't fall for it again? You have to notice the way she gets lost in thought, and yet no matter how much you open up to her, she just keeps shutting you out. And you're a Luthor. Do you really think that's fair? Has she ever been sensitive to that? How can you trust a word she says ever again, Lena? You don't know anything about her. Pathological lying could be… genetic, even. There's a reason Krypton exploded, her kind should've been eliminated when they ruined their own-,"

"Shut up!" Lena shouted, standing up abruptly and sweeping her arm across the chess table, sending Lex's pieces clattering loudly to the floor and kicking her chair over with the force of her movement. There was silence for a moment, Lex gaping at Lena as she stood, seething, angry unshed tears glistening at the edges of her eyes and threatening to escape down her cheeks. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, and in that moment, she towered over Lex in an intimidating stance.

"I don't know what to think!" she yelled. "All I know is that I can't deal with you—either of you—right now! I can't be around this, Lex. I'm angry, but I'm not a murderer, and I care for Kara, but I can't just go back to the way things were before this. You only want to destroy everyone who disagrees with you, and I can't seem to see anything but the good in Kara when I'm around her. What I do know is that I am the next CEO of Luthor Corp and I have a lot of planning to do, so I'm going to take a break from both of you for a while."

Turning like a whirlwind, she stormed over to the door. Opening it, she shot one last terrifying look over her shoulder at Lex and hissed, "And one more thing, Lex. Kara doesn't have a damn thing to do with dad's death, and I know that to be true. If you dare do anything to Kara, you can forget about having any kind of a future in the business world or in my life." With that, she slammed the door behind her, storming off down the hall to her own room where she could shut herself in and work on her plans for the company in private.

…

"Hey, Winn."

Winn looked up and smiled at the sound of Kara's voice. He was sitting at a computer in one of the labs since the library was being reconstructed, programming something for a project. Kara was leaning against the chair next to her with her good arm. She was wearing a chunky pastel blue sweater and jeans, and her injured arm was in a sling to prevent her shoulder from moving and furthering the injury to her muscles while the wound healed. Her glasses helped to disguise the shadows under her eyes, indicative of a night of sleep that hadn't actually done much for her. Nonetheless, Winn was happy she was out of her room and out and about.

"What's up Kara? You can sit down," he added, gesturing to the empty chair that she was leaning on. She glanced at it as though she had only just then noticed it was there before nodding and taking a seat.

"Have you seen Lena?" she asked. "I went to her room to see if she was there, but I guess she must not be. She didn't answer."

"No, I haven't," Winn frowned. "Come to think of it, I saw her head to Lex's earlier. Maybe she's still there?"

Kara nodded. "Maybe." She fell silent, her eyes drifting off to the side and focusing on some distant point that Winn couldn't quite make out. Her demeanor was quickly becoming disconcerting to him, so he saved his progress and logged off of the computer before standing up and offering her his hand with an encouraging smile.

"Lena might not be around, but I am," he said, grinning. "Come on, you said the sun is what gives you your powers, right? Well, now that Gemma's gone, we can go to the lake and not have to worry about what happened last time! Soak up some rays, maybe splash in the water if it's not too cold…"

She eyed his hand hesitantly for a moment before a smile broke across her face and she took it, allowing herself to be swept along as he marched confidently outside. Once they'd stepped into the sunlight, Kara realized he was right; just being under its rays made her feel significantly stronger, and she immediately perked up when she felt the brisk autumn breeze against her face.

They made their way to the lake, where the trees were beginning to drop their leaves and the air was mostly still due to the cover of the foliage. A few birds twittered in the trees, but otherwise, nobody else appeared to be there and it seemed peaceful. The two of them took a seat by the water, rolling up their pant legs and dipping their feet in the water but not daring to do more since the chilly lake bore a bit of a frigid bite. The two of them made small talk for a bit about the weather, the seasons changing, midterms hurdling toward them much sooner than anyone had anticipated. When they got to that note, things took a more serious turn, Kara casting her eyes downward as she spoke.

"I'm not even sure I'll do well enough on exams to get to stay here," she confided. "Lena was helping me study—I have so much catching up to do, and she's so far ahead, originally it made the most sense to ask her—but lately, I'm even more behind from spending all my time looking for her, she's had a setback because of Gemma, and I know it's only been a day and she said we can get through it, but I can't help but feel like something's… off between us."

Winn looked at her for a long moment before giving her a sympathetic smile. "You care about her, don't you?" he asked. "You know what I mean—you really care about her."

Kara raised her eyebrows, but she realized she wasn't all that surprised by his question. She hadn't been able to admit it to herself for a while; she hadn't wanted to mess things up. But now that things were already so messed up…

"When Alex told me about Maggie, she was so afraid of how I'd react," Kara said softly, smiling at the thought. "And I'll never forget," she added with a little laugh, "just how surprised she was when I was excited. The thing is, Krypton had all sorts of cultural and societal beliefs that I think most of Earth would call progressive, but truthfully, it's just how our people have always viewed the world. When it came to sexuality, there wasn't any reason for a label. You were going to love who you were going to love, and nothing else mattered. Sure, 'heterosexuality' as Earth calls it was common, but it wasn't enforced or expected. When I used to imagine the person, I'd want to be with for the rest of my life… I never thought of them as being specifically male or female. Now, when I picture who I want to be with for the rest of my life…" she shook her head. "I know I'm young. I know it might not work out. But it's her. It's Lena."

"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure," Winn said confidently. "From what I've seen, Lena cares about you too. She'll come around, she just needs some time to come to terms with things. And, of course, you two will eventually talk, and if she said you'll work it out, you should trust her. In any case, if you need a tutor, I can tutor you."

"No way," Kara said, shaking her head, "I couldn't ask you to do that. You'd be spreading yourself way too thin with this whole STEM project you'll be working on. I appreciate the offer, but I'll just have to do my best to catch up on my own. Who knows? Maybe you're right, and Lena will be willing to help me as early as today. I really hope I'm just overthinking it."

"You probably are, you do tend to do that," Winn conceded.

"Hey!" Kara said teasingly, shooting him a mock hurt look as she gently bumped into his shoulder with her good one. "You're supposed to agree with me, but not call me out like that!"

He bumped her back, and then the two of them broke out into a momentary nudge war, before both breaking into fits of laughter and settling down. Sighing as her giggles subsided, Kara tilted her head as she looked out across the water. She found that it felt odd to be so comfortable and serene. She hadn't realized just how much her concern about Lena had filled up her time. Now that they were both back safe, it was strange to be able to relax.

"Thanks for making me come out here, Winn," Kara said, leaning her head on his shoulder. He glanced down at her with an eyebrow raised; all joking had subsided from her voice, and she once again sounded drained, although he could tell she sounded at least more invigorated than she'd been prior to going outside. "I'm lucky to have you in my life."

"I'm lucky to have you in my life, too, Kara," Winn said, smiling as he got comfortable leaning back on his hands with Kara resting on his shoulder. Kara closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sun restoring her energy and the light breeze that managed to get past the cover of the trees. Winn, meanwhile, looked out into the woods, simply enjoying sharing the afternoon with his friend.

After a while, the two of them began to get chilly in the crisp air and with their feet in the water, so they put their shoes back on and headed back to campus. On her way back to her room to change into socks that weren't damp before grabbing a bite to eat, Kara decided to stop and see if Lena wanted to join her. She figured it would give them ample time to talk about things and for her to come completely clean. Knocking on her friend's door—her typical, friendly knock that always alerted Lena that it was Kara—she waited hopefully for ten seconds. Twenty seconds. A minute.

Frowning, Kara hesitated. A thought had crossed her mind, and it was tempting her despite her better judgment. She knew she was supposed to be conserving her energy rather than expending it, but she could also tell that thanks to the sun, some of her powers were at least functional at a diminished strength. Against her better judgment, she slid her glasses down her nose and scanned through the door. Lena was there, sitting at her desk. Kara saw her move, as though glancing back at the door, but turn back to her desk in the end.

Kara felt her heart drop. Had she been right about Lena being more upset than she was letting on? Finding she no longer had an appetite, Kara dejectedly headed back to her room, her head hanging low as she walked in and kicked off her shoes, tossing her damp socks in her dirty laundry bin before hopping up on her bed and laying on her side on top of the covers, staring blankly at the wall across from her. All she'd wanted for the past two weeks was to get Lena back. Now that Lena was there, things had completely changed. Having admitted her feelings about Lena to Winn, Kara was aware of the additional stakes that her emotions had inadvertently raised. Fuck, things were so messed up.

She felt her eyes burning as she thought about how badly she wanted to just amend things with Lena. She wanted to be able to go back in time, to just tell her the truth from the start. If she'd known what was going to happen… she never would've kept it a secret in the first place. But now, it was too late. The damage had been done, and now she needed to live with the consequences. Closing her eyes, a couple of tears slipped down her cheeks.

Kara heard Alex's footsteps outside of the door before the unlocked it, and she quickly took her glasses off and set them on the desk next to her before laying back down, pretending to once again be asleep. When Alex walked into the room, she paused, looking at Kara for a long moment. She could tell the other girl had been up and around, but she still didn't think Kara necessarily needed to be sleeping as much as she was to be making a normal recovery.

"Kara," she said, and though Kara tried not to show any sign that she'd heard, she had moved just a little, and Alex knew her better than that. "Kara, I know you're awake. You should get up. Did you not see if Lena wanted to hang out at all?"

"She doesn't," Kara muttered.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, tossing her bag down next to her bed. Kara twisted her head so that her voice would carry over to Alex better, but remained facing the wall otherwise.

"Don't get mad at me, okay?" She paused, giving Alex a moment to register what she'd said, before saying, "I went to see if she wanted to hang out, but it seemed like she wasn't home, even when I tried again hours later. I… may have looked through the door, and she was just sitting there. She heard me knock and she ignored me."

"That's weird," Alex said, frowning, "and, you're right, probably not the best decision you've ever made, but it could've been worse. In any case, she was looking for you this morning, but you were still asleep. Don't be so down in the dumps about it, though, if she was looking for you earlier, she's probably just busy now."

Kara perked up a little. If Lena was looking for her earlier in the day, that meant that she did at least want to see her. She still felt a bit disheartened and found it a little odd that Lena didn't even come to the door to tell her that she was busy, or so much as send a text, but the news was reassuring to her nonetheless. Beyond her thoughts, she heard Alex asking if she wanted to get a bite to eat to take her mind off of it anyways. Remembering how she'd skipped going to get food earlier, she decided she should accept the offer, and the two of them headed off to the dining hall.

They found Nia getting dinner at the same time, and the three of them sat together, discussing the upcoming week and assignments. Neither Alex nor Nia seemed to notice when Kara fell quiet and stopped eating as quickly when they got onto the topic of midterm exams. Kara was grateful that they passed it off as her being tired from the events of the previous day; discussing her academic struggles with Winn had been one thing, but even though she was aware that it wasn't her fault, she was truthfully feeling pretty ashamed at how far behind she was.

After a while, they began discussing plans for Thanksgiving break. After Nia talked about her family's plans to get together and celebrate in a traditional celebratory style for holidays specific to their home planet, Alex eagerly told Nia about how she and Kara would be going back to Midvale to spend Thanksgiving with Eliza and Jeremiah. Kara nodded bewilderedly as she listened to the conversation, not quite understanding what all of the excitement was about. It wasn't that she didn't know what Thanksgiving was; she was well aware of what the holiday stood for. But she had never celebrated herself, so the concept was still a little odd to her.

"Are you excited, Kara?" Nia asked, beaming at Kara. "I'd bet you would be, you love to eat and Thanksgiving is all about the food."

Kara grinned. "Well when you put it that way, I'm thrilled," she said, chuckling. "Even if it wasn't all about the food, though, I'd still be excited. It'll be nice to get to go back to Midvale for a while."

Alex nodded in agreement. "I miss mom's cooking," she lamented, and Kara explained quickly to Nia that Eliza could make some of the best meals on the planet—or so Alex believed. Meanwhile, as Kara filled Nia in, Alex began to list off all of the food she couldn't wait to eat when they went home for break. Kara found that her mind was no longer on Lena in that moment, and having accepted that she most likely was just catching up—she had been locked in a cell for a while—things already seemed to be getting closer to normal.

By the time they left the dining hall, the three girls were laughing and chatting gleefully. Nia branched off as they passed her room, and upon reaching their door, Alex told Kara she was going to head to the bathroom and that she'd be back in a few minutes. Kara went into their room and broke out her materials to give some much-needed time to her studies, as Alex continued on her path down the hall.

As Alex was leaving the bathroom, she nearly collided with someone walking in her direction. Surprised, she looked up to see that it was Lena. Her expression quickly melted from one of shock into a friendly smile, but Lena's expression remained cold and guarded, as if she didn't want to let any feelings display on her features.

"Sorry," Lena said, finally giving her a small, polite smile. "I should've been paying more attention."

"Same here," Alex said, her tone much more casual than Lena's clipped voice. It wasn't unusual for the Luthor to be so formal, but it certainly wasn't a typical thing when it came to her friends. Alex tilted her head to one side curiously, catching onto this, and pried gently, "Did you ever end up hanging out with Kara earlier? I know she went to look for you, and I figured since you had stopped by this morning that you two would've met up. She seemed pretty upset about something, I wondered if maybe she'd spoken to you about it."

Lena's voice revealed no emotion and seemed controlled, almost mechanical as she responded, "I think our schedules just didn't align well today. It seemed to me that we just kept missing each other. It is a Sunday, though, so I didn't think much of it. She probably hung out with Winn for a bit or went to do work in one of the computer labs, and if she stopped by here, it was likely just when I was out getting a bite to eat or speaking with Lex."

Alex's eyebrows slanted just slightly and the edges of her eyes acquired a slight crinkle as she gave Lena a nod. She hadn't been much better by omitting the fact that she already knew the two of them hadn't hung out that day, but there were quite a few things in Lena's story that weren't adding up; like how she claimed to have simply missed Kara, but she had visibly heard the door when Kara knocked. And of course, something about speaking with Lex didn't sit right with Alex. She was no fool. She'd noticed the way he seemed to sour and shut down after Kara had come crashing into the lab to save Lena.

"That's too bad," Alex said slowly, feeling as though some pieces of a puzzle were starting to click together. "I know she was really looking forward to getting to talk to you. I guess she'll just have to see you next in class tomorrow morning."

Lena's eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to say, Danvers?"

"Nothing," Alex said, putting her hands up and shrugging. "I just think that's a shame."

With that, Alex turned and made her way back to her room, glad she'd walked away before she could blow a fuse. She didn't think Kara would take kindly to her blowing up on Lena, but she also had a theory spinning in her mind. It seemed that Lena stopped having an interest in wanting to be around Kara after speaking to Lex, who started acting odd after seeing Kara's powers in action. Alex knew that Kara was blinded by her feelings for Lena, but Alex was not blind. She was suspicious of Lena and Lex, and as she got her homework out and tried to focus on it, she instead found her mind wondering if she should be worried about the one person, aside from herself, closest to Kara.

…

Lena was skeptical as she went about the rest of her evening, finding herself dwelling on Alex's odd behavior. She had the feeling Alex was suspicious of her, but for what? She was busy. Her father had just died and she was working on her responsibilities for L-Corp, as she was officially calling the company. It was a perfectly believable excuse; and perhaps that was why Lena was so concerned about Alex's questioning.

Somehow, it seemed like Alex was seeing through her excuses. She wondered if the older Danvers knew more than she was letting on. That would explain some parts of her behavior, like her apparent skepticism after Lena had explained why she never ended up meeting with Kara. Annoyance bubbled within her as she considered it. What was it to Alex, anyways? Lena was processing a lot, nobody else had the right to be upset with her for having a valid reaction to shocking information.

Feeling her anger grow, Lena drew further and further into herself. She would simply lock herself away and go on autopilot, a skill she'd acquired and built from a young age when she was having battles of conscience with respect to actions of the other Luthors. This was no different; she would come out on the other side having made the right decision. That, she was certain of. In the meantime, it wasn't anybody else's business how she responded.

A/N Revelations all around. Kara caught the feels ;n; which means things are about to get super complicated. Fun!

Also, this was completely unintentional, but it seems that my little leave of absence led me right up to posting the Thanksgiving chapters just in time for Thanksgiving! So, for my American readers, that should be fun and festive for you!

I hope y'all have enjoyed this chapter and that you're taking care of yourselves. Happy belated Halloween/Samhain and I hope this update finds you well!

As always thank you for your support and for your feedback, I try to consider all input when writing and editing so I greatly appreciate it!

Until next time,

Nana