Poor baby Kara is going through some shit and needs a hug.

As expected, things with Siobhan didn't improve. Not even in the slightest.

The second day had been just as bad in terms of Siobhan doing nothing and fighting her every step of the way. By the third day Kara had learned it was best to just keep Siobhan in the trailer to "clean and organize" or whatever the hell it was she claimed to be doing. And she also let her handle the food. Kara and Nia stayed on set, but they were stretched pretty thin.

Nothing ever seemed to stay stocked for over fifteen minutes, and the two of them were constantly running around. That left no time for Kara to do receipts at work, so she was still doing them at homes afterwards. And she had to send Siobhan to the store because she and Nia were struggling on set as it was. So, of course, either things weren't bought, or Siobhan had bought the wrong thing, so Kara went back to the store after wrap the second day, too.

When she finally got to bed on that Tuesday night her alarm let her know she had only four hours to sleep, but by the time her medicine kicked in and knocked her out, she'd really only gotten about three. She was so tired when she pulled away from her house on day three that she yawned the whole way to set.

The location was different than it had been the first two days. There was a scene where Erin and Dean went to the library to look for books about dogs, and since school was out for the summer, they were using the library at National City High School.

Thankfully the parking lot to the school was wide and open and easy for her to park the trailer in. But it was still a pain dragging all the gear from outside and into the hallway where they were setting up. Like the first two days, Kara didn't feel like they were officially done with the setting up until around lunch. It was ridiculous. She'd barely managed to push Siobhan to get a pass-around of Greek salads out in time, and when lunch finally came, Kara skipped it all together just so she could get in the truck and drive around the corner and sit and be by herself for just five fucking minutes.

Thankfully she had a vaporizer pen with a THC cartridge to pull her back from the brink of a meltdown nearly constantly. Sad as it was, she didn't know how she'd be getting through the days without it. Sometimes she just felt so overwhelmed and frustrated it was like there was a weight on her chest, and she had to sneak away to hit her pen just to keep herself from either screaming at someone (most likely Siobhan) or bursting into tears. After a couple hits of the pen she felt calmer, and oddly enough, clearer. Everything seemed to suck a little less, and she performed better because when people asked for something, she was happy and quick to help, as opposed to stressed and answering with unintentionally rude remarks.

But no amount of weed in the world could have stopped what happened at the end of the third day.

It had started with Siobhan doing the usual of not helping and questioning all Kara's decisions. The pass-arounds were okay, but honestly still pretty lacking. But every time she suggested something, Siobhan shot it down, so she just let her make whatever she wanted because she didn't have the time or energy to care.

They'd been so slammed that no one had been able to go shopping, which wasn't that big of a deal since the next day was the Fourth of July and they were off. It wasn't like they needed something for the next day. But they would need things for the following day, so that meant Kara would have to go shopping on her day off—on top of catching up on more receipts and paperwork.

It was going to suck to have to work on her day, off but at least she could sleep in. It was that silver lining that was on her mind when the UPM J'onn J'onzz approached her near set. She wasn't sure what UPM stood for, or even what they actually did, but she knew he had a lot of pull over the money, and that he'd been the one to hire her and Clark in the first place. So, he was kind of a big deal. So far all of their interactions had been pleasant. She liked him well enough. He was a middle-aged African American man with short-cropped hair and a deep, gravely voice that she'd never heard him raise at anyone. And his eyes were kind and his face almost always held a smile.

"So, we're thinking second meal," J'onn said immediately when he approached her.

Kara tried not to let her face fall. Second meal was something that crafty ordered and served because catering was gone for the day. It all came down to time—once crew worked for six hours, they were owed a meal. So that meant when they hit twelve hours on their workday, Kara and her team had to have a whole meal ready to go. Normally it wouldn't stress her out so much. But normally she had Clark there to order while she just picked up everything, and she'd never had to deal with it while being so completely slammed. The first two days they were lucky and hadn't needed it. It appeared Kara's luck had run out, though.

"Sure, anything specific?" she asked, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice.

"Whatever," J'onn said with a shrug. "I know we're kind of springing it on you last minute, so whatever would be quickest."

Kara nodded briefly before pulling out her phone and checking the time. By her calculations second meal was officially owed in a little over an hour. That didn't give her much time to find a place, or one that was able to do the quantity of food she would need in such a short time. There was really only one option that she knew of that was almost a sure thing.

"How's pizza sound?" she asked.

J'onn's face lit up. "Perfect, sounds great." He patted her on the shoulder, almost fatherly, and said, "Thanks, Kara. Appreciate your hard work."

She smiled a little, warming at the compliment. She'd been having such a hard time that it was nice to hear from one of her bosses that he saw the effort she was putting in. "Thank you, J'onn."

She looked up the closest pizza place, which was just a generic chain, but at least she knew they would be quick about it. Even though she always made sure to tip well, she felt bad asking the pizza shop workers to make thirty pizzas in an hour. But she had no other option. So that was what she did, paying with the credit card by phone so it was all taken care of. And then she went off to find Siobhan and Nia to tell them. She knew she could walkie for them, but she felt weird calling out for them on channel one.

Nia was sometimes hard to track down because she, like Kara, never stopped moving. But thankfully she was at the setup making coffee, and when Kara told her about the pizzas, she instantly offered to go get them. But she needed Nia to stay and let Siobhan, the deadweight, be useful for at least a portion of the day. When found Kara found Siobhan at the trailer though, she scrunched up her nose and pursed her lips.

Kara had just about had it, so when Siobhan made that face, she just sighed and asked, "What?"

"It's just that pizza is so overdone," Siobhan said in a judgmental tone. "Why don't we do something else?"

"Because there's no time and no money," Kara said bluntly. "Pizza is cheap and quick. And it's already paid for. So, whether you like it or not, that's what we're getting." She reached into her fanny pack and pulled out her wallet, retrieving the credit card. "I need you to stop at the dollar store up the road and get more paper plates before you go to pick them up."

Siobhan did a small eye roll but took the card from Kara. "Fine. Do you need me to go now?"

Kara looked around the trailer, which was nowhere near clean or organized. There was still food out from the pass-around Siobhan had prepared earlier, there were dishes in the sink, and something had spilled on the floor that Siobhan hadn't bothered to clean up.

"Uh, no, I need you to clean up in here for about twenty minutes, then go," Kara said.

The smaller woman sighed deeply. "It's a lot, can you help me?"

In truth Kara probably could have helped her, but she'd been getting under her skin so much that she really didn't want to. "Just do as much as you can, and we'll finish later," the blonde insisted. Not to mention that was what she thought Siobhan had been doing all that time. "I've gotta go help Nia get ready for second meal on set." Another eyeroll from Siobhan. "What?" Kara demanded.

"I mean I don't see why you can go help her but not help me."

"Because I need to be on set," Kara said again, wishing she were already there so she wouldn't be having this frustrating conversation any longer. "Just… Clean a little then go, okay?"

She didn't wait for a response. She couldn't. Instead she ran out of the trailer and back to set so she and Nia could clear off one of the tables to make room for the pizza. It didn't take them very long, but before they got the chance to bring the boxes of extra food to the trailer, someone mentioned they were out of coffee, so Nia had to set some to brew, and then someone opened a cooler and Kara noticed it was almost empty, so she had to stop and stock that.

When they did get back to the trailer Siobhan was thankfully gone, but the trailer looked almost the same. All she'd done were dishes, and she hadn't even finished. Kara huffed as she looked around at the disarray, her throat tightening as she realized she'd had to clean all of this now.

But Nia was there, and she shook her head as she looked at the mess Siobhan left behind before turning to Kara, hands on her hips. "I'll clean this up if you want to go back to set."

Kara felt her tension ease ever so slightly. "You sure?"

"Positive." Nia nodded, already taking out her phone and connecting it to the Bluetooth radio they kept in the trailer. "I actually like cleaning."

"That's amazing, because I fucking hate it," Kara said, almost laughing. "It's seriously, like, torture."

"That's why we're a good team, boss," Nia said with a smirk, music starting at full volume. It was classic rock, which Kara loved, and it made her like Nia even more.

"Yup, just you and I," Kara said as she made her way out the trailer, thinking wistfully how nice it would be just her and Nia. Sure, they'd still be getting their asses kicked, but at least they got along.

On her way back to set her phone started vibrating, and she couldn't stop the frown that made its way to her face when she saw Siobhan's name flash across the screen. There was no reason for her to be calling. She'd given her simple tasks; how could she possibly be having a problem?

"Hello?" Kara answered.

"Hey, so I don't think people are going to like just pizza for second meal, so I'm going to go to a grocery store instead to get some stuff to make something," Siobhan said, decision sounding made. Except it wasn't her call to make.

"Siobhan, no. We don't need to do that," Kara said quickly. What the fuck was wrong with her? "We do pizza as a second meal all the time. It's a classic. People love it."

"I just don't think they will," she said in a condescending tone. "I don't want people to be unhappy with it."

Kara let out a loud sigh. She saw J'onn walking towards her and turned her back quickly so he wouldn't see how angry she was. "They won't be. It's fine. Just get the plates and pizza and get back here, please."

"No, listen, I'm just going to get those things and then make this salad really quickly," Siobhan insisted. "It'll take me five minutes."

But Kara had seen Siobhan work and prep food. It would take way longer than that. Besides being completely unnecessary. "Siobhan, I'm telling you, no, do not do that. We're doing pizza, and that's it."

"No one's going to like it, though!" Siobhan shot back, her voice high. "This is my name and my career attached to this show, and I want to give them something better than fucking pizza."

Oh fuck no.

Kara had to move the phone away from her ear for a moment and stare down at the screen blankly as millions of thoughts went through her mind. First of all, the audacity Siobhan had to be concerned about her name. She was an assistant, no one cared what she did. Kara was the key. It was her name and reputation that was on the line. Which brought her to the second issue. She was the boss. Why couldn't Siobhan just listen to her?

"Can you just please get what I told you to and nothing more?" she asked weakly when she replaced the phone to her ear.

"I'm getting the stuff for the salad," Siobhan said defiantly.

And that was it. That was when Kara lost it.

"No you're not!" Kara said loudly. "You're getting plates, and pizza! That's it!" Her voice rose to a shout, and normally she'd be worried about her voice carrying to set, but all reason or care had left her. "I don't know why you have to fight me on everything, but I can't fucking do it anymore! Just do what I asked you to do! It's not that fucking difficult!"

"Well, it's your show," Siobhan stated, and to that Kara threw a hand up in the air.

"Yes, yes it is, thank you," she said sarcastically. Um, yeah, Siobhan. That was the whole fucking point.

Siobhan hung up on her then, and Kara slid the phone back into her fanny pack with shaking hands. She hated yelling, and confrontation never sat well with her. She knew the moment the words left her mouth that they were wrong, that she shouldn't have said them, at least not in that way.

And when she turned around to start going to set again J'onn was standing behind her with a concerned yet reproachful look on his face. Kara's shoulders fell. Of course he heard everything.

"J'onn, I'm so sorry," she said quickly. "I know that was inappropriate."

"It was," J'onn agreed with a small head nod. "Kara, you can't talk to your employees that way."

"J'onn, I've never had to," Kara said, her voice going high again. "I don't like to talk to anyone that way, ever." Her face felt hot, and she had to ball her hands into fists to stop the shaking. "I've never had someone who fights me at every turn and hinder literally everything I try to do." She knew she shouldn't have been telling him this, but there was something about J'onn that made her feel like she could, that he wouldn't hold any of this against her. But also, she wanted him to know. She wanted him to understand why it had happened. "We've just been slammed every day, and I am trying so hard to do a good job, but I feel like I'm failing every day, and it sucks." She sniffled and ducked her head so that if she started crying J'onn wouldn't see. "And I keep having to do stuff at home off the clock because I have no time to do it here, so I'm not getting enough sleep. I'm not even eating." She looked up again, gave a defeated shrug of her shoulders. "I'm already doing everything I can possibly be doing, and it's still not enough. The only thing I can think of to get everything I need done is to just stop sleeping all together."

"No, don't do that," J'onn said quickly. "You need to take care of yourself. You need to sleep and eat." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Kara, no one is doubting your work ethic or your commitment to this job. I see how hard you work. I just think you need to get better at delegating. You're taking on too much." He raised his eyebrows. "You need people to be on set so you can be doing paperwork."

"But if I'm not on set, it shows," Kara insisted. "That's where I need to be."

"No," J'onn said, shaking his head. "You need helpers who are actually going to help you."

"Nia—"

"Nia is amazing," J'onn said, stopping Kara's argument before it began because that was what she was going to say anyway. "As far as Siobhan… I think maybe you need to make a staff change."

Kara's jaw tightened, but she knew what he said was true. "I hear you."

"Best of luck with that," J'onn said, his eyes never leaving hers. "And in the meantime, no more blowups. Don't have conversations like that in the open, at least. It's not appropriate for the workplace, and if a producer sees you could be in real trouble."

"Copy," Kara said, her heart sinking to her stomach.

J'onn offered a smile. "Chin up. It'll get better." He patted her on the shoulder as he walked off, to his car parked across the street from the trailer.

Kara watched him drive away, feeling numb with guilt and regret. He was right. She was unprofessional. She'd let her anxiety and stress get the better of her and handled herself in a way that was completely improper. She'd known better but had done it anyway. And J'onn had seen, and though he wasn't mad, it made her look terrible. And who was to say he wasn't just putting on a nice face, that he wasn't going back to his trailer so he could make a call and have her fired right then and there because she obviously couldn't handle being the key?

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she tried to blink them away, but they kept coming. She had to get away, so she quickly set off with her head down in case she came across anyone. Thankfully she didn't see a soul as she sneaked into one of the back entrances to the school.

They weren't technically allowed to roam the halls of the school, but she didn't see anyone to stop her as she ducked into a stairwell and climbed up to the second floor. When she got to the landing, she found it eerie that all of the lights in the hall were off, but it made sense. The library was on the other side of the school, and with no classes there was no need for lights. But it still made a shiver run up her spine.

It was risky coming back into the school at all to cry, but she didn't want to breakdown in the trailer where Nia was and anyone could come in, and it was too fucking hot outside to sit somewhere crying—also out in the open, where anyone could see. As she crept through the deserted halls, though, she knew she made the right choice.

The only light came from behind the blinds lining the windows inside the classrooms, and thankfully all the doors had been left open for the summer. She ducked into one of the first classrooms she saw and went to sit at one of the desks. Then she took her hat off and threw it on the ground before folding her arms across the desktop and burying her face in them, and then fully let the tears come.

A sob broke through almost immediately, followed by a sharp intake of breath, and then she was bawling.

Lena almost quit on day two.

The first day had been fine. Her scenes weren't ridiculous, and Jack and been pleasant to work with. Plus, she'd been allowed to pet the cast dog, Shelby, in between scenes when she was at her chair. That was always a plus. She loved dogs, even if she had no time for one personally with her crazy schedule. But the Golden Retriever was sweet both on and off camera, and she indulged in petting him when they weren't filming.

But it was the last day at the vet's office, so they were filming one of the final scenes—the one where Dean went into her workplace and won her back by declaring his love for both her and the dog. And her character had to look this man in the face, eat up his bullshit, and walk around the counter and kiss him for everyone to see.

It was probably the most difficult scene she'd done in her entire life, and that included the small role as an assassin she'd had once that required her to learn a complicated fight sequence. But then she'd been fighting a man, and she could play on her hatred of his gender to fuel the drive for that character. Pretending to be in love with a man, to play a character who was attracted to the total piece of shit that was her love interest, it was almost impossible.

And apparently it was easy for Maxwell Lord to notice, because the first couple of times they ran the scene he stopped them in the middle to give Lena notes. Even after they'd gotten through the whole scene, kiss and all, Maxwell was severely unsatisfied. His beady eyes constantly narrowed at Lena, lips puckering before he shook his head of brown hair and made them do it over again.

Normally Lena would be agitated by this behavior if she felt like she was doing a good job or truly into the scene. But she wasn't, and it was showing. Every word she said sounded false, even to her own ears, and when she kissed Jack there wasn't an ounce of passion behind it. Not that it was Jack's fault. He'd been nothing but kind to her, and she'd been surprised to find herself enjoying his company. But she had to pretend he wasn't Jack, that he was Dean—and she despised the character, so that made it even more difficult. Even trying to forget the pretending for one moment and telling herself that it was actually Jack that she was kissing did nothing to help because she still wasn't attracted to him.

It wasn't until she glanced out of the glass doors to the clinic and saw Kara running by that she was able to find something that worked.

She simply looked over Jack's shoulder ever so slightly and imagined herself saying the words to Kara. And when she went to kiss him, she closed her eyes tightly and pretended it was the blonde instead. It didn't work brilliantly—Jack's lips were still too rough, and his beard scratched her face unpleasantly, but she just kept picturing that smile and those blue eyes, and then she heard Maxwell yell, "Cut, moving on!" And she was back, wiping her hand on the back of her mouth before excusing herself to the bathroom for a moment to regain composure.

But then they had to do the scene several more times at different angles, and by the end of it, Lena felt like absolute shit. The more Maxwell corrected her the worse she felt, and what made it all more agonizing was that he was right. She wasn't believable, and she wasn't delivering her best performance. And as much as she wanted to blame it on the script and the characters, she knew it was partly on her.

Any decent actor could take on any part and become it, regardless of who they were in real life. So, her being a lesbian shouldn't have hindered her playing a straight woman. And normally it didn't. Then again, she felt her best performances were when her character had no love interest at all, because if she ever did have one it was always a man. She was much more interested in characters who had thoughts, feelings, and goals outside of men. And even though this character—Erin—had those, they were barely touched on and she practically threw all of them out the window for Dean.

To top it off, the only thing Lena was even remotely excited about coming to work for had been Kara. She didn't know why, but just thinking about the enigmatic woman was enough to get her out of bed in the morning and make her way down to Jess's waiting SUV. But she'd had little chance to get away to the crafty setup on day two, and the only time she saw Kara was when she was passing around smoothies in the morning. Lena had grabbed one, not even wanting it, because when Kara offered and grinned down at her, for some reason she just couldn't say no.

But that had been the only interaction they'd had, and it was disappointing to say the least. So, when she got back to her penthouse it took everything in her not to call Lillian and say that she didn't care what had to be done, but she needed to get out of the project. But then she took a long, hot bath and had a couple of glasses of Scotch, and she felt better.

When she woke up on day three, she still had her reservations, but at least the scenes for the day weren't nearly as romantic as the day before. Everything they were filming was at the beginning of Erin and Dean's relationship, so at least there would be no kissing. She hoped day two had been a fluke, that her struggles had come simply from her not having enough time to settle into the character and that going forward she had more chances to prove herself.

That was another reason she hadn't quit. She hated to fail and giving up wasn't in her nature. She just hoped that one day she could look back on this film and reflect fondly on at least some part of it, that she could say this show helped her to grow as an actor.

And thankfully the first scene they did went off without a hitch. Maybe it was the library setting, but Lena felt much more at ease in this location. Also, her character was talking about books. Lena didn't read books about dogs, but she read all the time. It was literally her favorite thing to do besides sleeping and drinking. Something about the familiarity of the sensation of holding a book in her hands somehow grounded her and brought out a spark she'd been missing the day before.

The praise came from Maxwell Lord, and the moment she got it, Lena realized how much she'd been craving it. Suddenly a weight lifted off her shoulders, and she felt a thousand pounds lighter. The rest of the day went quickly, with Lena able to take ample breaks and trips to the crafty setup. Unfortunately, though, she didn't see much of Kara, and when she did see her, the blonde was on the move.

As quickly as the day went, though, there was quite a lot to film. They were only at the high school for one day, and the work was extensive. Not to mention the harsh lighting from the cheap, florescent bulbs overhead proved difficult to work with, so there was a good bit of time between setups. Lena just never noticed because she picked up a book from one of the shelves and read in between scenes. Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head when she finished it not long after lunch, but she just laughed and said speed-reading was one of her many talents.

She'd lost track of the number of coffees and bottles of water she'd gone to get simply to catch a glimpse of Kara, but Lena also had to run away between takes to find a bathroom somewhat often because of that. The first couple of times she'd gone to the one closest to set, not wanting to run back to her trailer at basecamp just for that. But in between one setup very late in the day she did want to go back to her trailer.

They were about to go into the last scene of the day, and she'd been told it would be a half hour to setup. She felt comfortable leaving then, and though Jess offered to walk back with her, Lena insisted she'd be able to find her way on her own.

But apparently Lena had underestimated either how big the school was or how directionally challenged she was—or both—because she ended up just roaming the halls for a few minutes until finally she saw a different bathroom and ducked into it out of desperation.

She had to turn on the light and breathed out a sigh of relief when the bathroom appeared to not only have been recently cleaned, but unfound and untouched by crew. That was a huge plus. It wasn't that she had a problem sharing a bathroom, but she did have a shy bladder and had trouble going with an audience. Everything else she did was under a microscope. If this was one of the few things she could have privacy for, she wanted it.

It was only when she was done that she began to worry about finding her way back to set, but she hoped that if she just started wandering around she'd either end up back there or find a crew member who could point her in the right direction. But apparently, she was more hopeless than she thought because after a good five minutes of walking around she wound up at the same bathroom. She tried a different direction after that, but still didn't see any signs of set or the crew.

Being in a school was weird for her. She'd never gone to an actual school or had classmates. The closest she'd ever gotten was playing a character who went to school and the other kids being tutored on set. But as she walked around that day, she tried to imagine what her life would have been like without the fame and the fortune—if she'd just been a normal kid skirting through these halls on her way to and from class. Would she have been happier, or would she still be constantly searching for something, anything to fill the lingering void that crept in at night when she was alone, and her brain was restless?

All of her fantasies of a better, simpler life were interrupted, however, when she heard the sound of someone crying from somewhere in the distance. She wasn't even sure what she was hearing at first, but then she stopped and listened closely, and there was unmistakably someone sobbing somewhere in the school.

Lena was unsure what to do. She knew if she was off somewhere crying, she'd probably want her privacy. But if someone was hurt, maybe they needed help. She didn't know what she'd be able to do, but she at least had her phone and could call Jess to get the medic to them.

But something was pulling her towards the sound, a weird tingling in her gut that told her to follow it. And when she did it led her upstairs, into a dark hallway. She crept up to a classroom doorway and peeked inside, her heart leaping to her throat when she did.

A familiar blonde was sitting at one of the desks, her head buried in her arms as sobs shook through her. Even with her face obscured, Lena would know that ponytail and those basketball shorts anywhere.

Lena froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Kara hadn't noticed her, so there was still a chance for her to sneak away without the other woman being aware of her presence at all. But something about how hard Kara was crying and how truly broken she sounded made Lena want to stay and try to find some way to comfort her.

She didn't know why. She'd never been an overly emotional person. The Luthor household hadn't showered her with love and affection growing up. She'd never made many friends when she was a child, and as an adult found the effort to keep up these relationships tiring. Hugging was even a challenge for her sometimes, unable to keep her body from going stiff at actual human contact if she wasn't overly familiar with the person. The only time she was able to overcome this was when she was having sex. Then she was fueled only by her need for release, and touching was encouraged and welcome because it gave her what she needed.

But sex was the furthest thing from Lena's mind as she watched Kara fall apart in that classroom. She had an unexplainable, inherent need to do something. So, she stepped into the room and cleared her throat, but the blonde appeared not to have heard.

"Kara," she said tentatively instead, and all of a sudden, the crying stopped with a loud inhale, followed by a sniffle.

Kara's head picked up slowly, revealing red, swollen eyes and a pink nose. Her cheeks were damp, and when she saw Lena standing there she sat straight up and hastily wiped her hands across them to dry them. "Lena, hi," she said, her voice nasally.

"Are you alright?" Lena asked in a soft voice, though she felt stupid the moment it left her mouth. Of course Kara wasn't alright. No one hiding and crying by themselves was alright.

But Kara didn't seem to notice her foolishness because she was too busy closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No," she choked out, opening her eyes again and looking to Lena with the saddest expression she'd ever seen as fresh tears began to fall.

Lena didn't know what came over her, but something in her brain must have short circuited because in an instant she was at Kara's side, taking one of those rough hands in her own. "What? What's wrong?"

Kara opened her mouth and tried to speak, but all that came out was garbled words as she tried to articulate herself while having little control over her faculties. She was taking in deep breaths, only for them to break out in another sob, and eventually Lena surprised herself by taking Kara by the arm and pulling her from the desk, and then she was hugging her fiercely because she had no idea what else to do. The blonde hesitated at first before strong arms snaked around Lena's waist, holding onto her for what felt like dear life.

Lena didn't know how long they stayed like that, Lena simply rubbing Kara's back and urging her to cry if she needed to. She didn't even care if her tears got on her wardrobe.

"Shh, Kara, it's okay," she whispered continuously. "Just cry."

When Kara eventually calmed down and seemed to remember herself, she broke away from Lena, wiping at hear eyes again as she sat on the desktop. "Thanks," she muttered, eyes cast on the ground.

"You're welcome," Lena said and bent down to pick up Kara's cap from the ground. She held it out, and Kara took it with a sniffle. "So, you ready to tell me what's going on?"

"It's…" Kara stopped, swallowed thickly. "It's a long story, and I probably shouldn't be telling you any of it." She looked up then, eyes bright blue amongst the redness. "What's going on with crafty isn't the cast's problem."

"No, but I asked," Lena said as she sat atop the desk across from Kara. "If you don't want to tell me, I get it. You and I don't know each other." She shrugged. "You just seem upset, and I don't know… I guess I just want to help you."

The blonde blinked a few times, obviously curious. "Why?"

Lena was taken aback. She didn't quite know why herself, but she attempted to put it into words. "I—I honestly don't know. I just heard someone crying and wanted to see if there was anything wrong, and then I saw you, and you just looked so distraught. It made me—" she sighed, glanced away for a second, "It made me really sad."

"I'll be fine," Kara said with a sigh. "I'm just…It's dumb. I'm being dumb."

"If something has you this upset, I doubt it's dumb," Lena said and crossed her legs to get more comfortable. "Look, you don't have to tell me everything, or even anything. If you want to talk about it, though—vent—I'm willing to listen. And if not, just tell me, and I'll leave right now and let you be alone."

Kara stared at her for a few moments, wheels spinning in her head. "You really want to know?"

A nod from Lena. "Lay it on me."

And so Kara told her. The words came tumbling out, Kara barely pausing to catch her breath as she ranted about every issue she was having, how she wasn't eating or sleeping, how hard it was to work with Siobhan, how every day she came to set and felt like she failed. By the end she was almost crying again.

"Honestly, I don't—" Kara paused, sniffled, and sighed, "I don't think I can do this."

Lena's heart squeezed unpleasantly, and she leaned forward and placed a hand on Kara's knee. "Yes, you can," she insisted, green eyes trained on Kara's. "Your boss put you in charge for a reason. He believes in you."

"Yeah, but I don't believe in me," Kara said, looking down at her knees, at Lena's hand. Her cheeks started to go pink again. "Honestly, I was way better as an assistant. This is too much."

"It's too much because you're putting too much on yourself," Lena told her, feeling self-conscious and taking her hand back. "J'onn's right. You need to delegate, and you need to find someone who is going to work with you, not against you." She shook her head. "I don't know much about crafty, but it sounds like the majority of your problems come back to one source."

Kara's jaw tightened. "Siobhan."

"Bingo," Lena said.

"I've never fired anyone, though," Kara said, twisting her cap nervously in her hands. "And I don't know who to find to replace her. All of Nia's people are busy now because they took other jobs." She sighed heavily as she shook out the hat and put it back on her head. "A few will be available soon, but that doesn't take care of my problem right now."

"We have tomorrow off," Lena mused. "Maybe use the day to try to reach out to people and see if they know anyone?"

"On top of shopping and doing paperwork," Kara listed and then groaned. "And back to work on Friday." The corners of her mouth twitched for a second, a smile almost coming. "But at least it's the weekend after that."

"There you go," Lena said, trying to sound cheerful in hopes it would rub off on Kara. "There's always that to look forward to." She looked to Kara meaningfully. "In the meantime, just try to get through today, okay?"

"Yeah," Kara said with yet another sigh. "Just take it one day at a time, right?"

"Exactly," Lena said with a smile, and her heart skipped a beat when Kara actually smiled back. It wasn't huge, but it was something. It was a start.

But then it was gone, and Kara's eyes widened slightly as her hand went to her earpiece as she listened for a second before her hand went to her mic. "Yeah, I have eyes on Lena," she said into the headset, and Lena jumped up as she realized they were looking for her on set. "Copy that," Kara said, then to Lena, "They need you."

"Immediately?" Lena asked, her pulse racing. "Because to be completely fucking honest, when I found you, I was lost and have no idea how to get back to set." Kara laughed at this, the sound filling Lena with a warm feeling.

"I know the way," the blonde said, hopping off the desk. "Follow me."

They began to make their way back through the school, both of them silent for a while. The closer they got to set, the more familiar things started to look familiar, but them arriving meant her time with Kara drawing to a close. She knew they needed her on set, but she almost wished Kara sucked at directions just as much as she did so they could have gotten lost a spent a little more time together. But the library doors came into view all too soon, and Kara stopped much too short of them and turned to Lena.

"This is where I leave you," Kara said, gesturing to the doors.

Lena stared at them. She should have gone in right away. But she couldn't resist the urge to linger with Kara just a bit longer. "Thanks for showing me the way."

Kara shook her head. "No, thank you for listening and being there." She glanced down shyly. "I really needed that."

"You're welcome," Lena said softly, her gaze on those blue eyes.

Kara smiled a small, sweet smile before nodding her head towards the library. "Should probably get in there."

Lena nodded shortly. "Probably."

"See you around, though?" Kara asked, as if there was any doubt that she would.

But Lena just smiled back. "See you around."

And then she turned away and walked the rest of the way to set, forcing herself not to look back over her shoulder to see if Kara was still standing there, watching her leave—liked she wanted her to be.

Thank you, Lena, for giving Kara a hug.

Until next time.