For Rhino(RhinoMouse) and UndineB
HI everyone. Struggling to write at the minute for the conversations one shots so my fried UndineB recommended I do something else and she gave me this prompt: "Shovel talk." This is shameless wish fulfillment on her part but I suppose it could be a nice side conversation that happens when relationships are growing. It was a lot of fun to write and came much more easily. Hopefully I will get back into the head space for the conversations stories with Rhino soon. Apologies. Hope you enjoy this anyway. _"Oh" Kara whispered as her head cocked to the side and a remorseful expression stole across her face.
Lena smiled indulgently and nodded towards the window, "Go on, go save the day. Alex and I will head over to the bar and grab a table. Join us when you can; and be safe."
Kara hesitated another moment, even as she shifted from foot to foot with tense energy, unconsciously eager to help others, "I'm so sorry, I'll be as quick as I can. It's just a boat in trouble a few miles offshore."
Alex smiled at her sister and walked up to Lena slinging her arm over the stoic Luthor's shoulders, "Go on Kara, I'll keep your girlfriend company. Lord knows you have had to do it often enough with Maggie when I am running late. Now get! If you need help call the DEO."
Kara smiled at her sister's reassurance and the friendly companionship between her two favourite people in the world.
"I'll see you both soon, order me some snacks!" Kara called and shooting Lena one more apologetic look she was gone in a blur of red and blue.
Lena sighed and shrugged out from under Alex's arm to retrieve her jacket.
Lena rolls her eyes as she pulls on the jacket, "Just a boat in trouble she says, just a few miles off the coast she says. Like it's nothing!"
Alex laughs dryly as she follows the youngest Luthor through the door, her hands stuffed into her jean's pockets, "Still struggling with the big S revelation there Lena?"
Lena casts Alex a dirty look, "We're fine, it's just how cavalier she is about saving the day. Sometimes I think she really doesn't grasp how amazing she is. How selfless and wonderful…"
Lena's eyes softened as she spoke and if Alex isn't mistaken Lena has totally lost herself in thinking about how 'amazing' Kara is. Uh, Alex does not need this level of sappiness. Surely her and Maggie aren't this bad?
Lena comes back to herself with a faint blush and strides out to the elevator. Lena pushes the down icon on the elevator but to her dismay there is no response. Frustrated, she hits it again and when the button fails to light up she begins pressing it furiously, mumbling under her breath, "Useless…poorly engineered…garbage…How does Kara?..Superspeed…my elevator is never…"
Lena's furious diatribe is interrupted by Alex who steps up beside Lena and grips her wrist, preventing further vicious button pressing.
"Calm down little Luthor," Alex says with a smug smile at her use of Maggie's pet name for Lena. Alex offers a casual wave of her hand to the dead screen above the elevator doors, "It must be broken again, the power is out to the floor indicator."
Lena's eyebrows scrunch, "But I used it not half an hour ago when I arrived!" Lena mutters mulishly.
Alex shrugs again even as she steps away from the elevator dragging Luthor by the wrist towards the stairwell, "I used it not ten minutes ago too, but it's an old building and it's temperamental. I'll have Kara call the super when she gets to the bar."
Lena sighs in defeat and begins walking down the stairs with Alex, at least it is some cardio that will help burn off some of the horrible carbs that Kara will have her snacking on tonight. If only Lena could learn to say no to Kara and those damn puppy dog eyes.
Lena is ready to curse Kara for living on the tenth floor, she knows she needs the altitude for more seamless Supergirl landings and covert take-offs from her window but this is ridiculous. Lena even begins wondering if she should secretly send a team of workers over to replace the elevator herself. A little money and a new elevator, the building owners would surely jump at the offer.
Lena is dragged from her thoughts as they reach the 9th floor by Alex casually asking, "So you and Kara seem to be doing well?"
Lena is immediately more alert. This sounds ominous, "I like to think so. It will be our three month anniversary next week," Lena replies cautiously.
She obviously doesn't do a very good job of hiding her trepidation because Alex smiles widely and through soft laughter tells Lena, "That's good Lena. Calm down, you look like I'm about to tell you to stay away from my sister or something."
Lena flinches at the idea because it was one of the thoughts that had briefly run through her mind. The first two weeks of dating Kara had almost made Lena a nervous wreck, she has expected Alex to turn up on her doorstep and start threatening her, or like James had, try to talk Kara out of dating her. Alex had been surprisingly supportive, quietly observant the first few times they met and hung out before giving way to a quiet acceptance.
"You're not?" Lena asks hesitantly, trying, and failing to make it sound like a joke.
Alex's face falls slightly at Lena's question before she reaches across to squeeze Lena's shoulder.
"You make Kara happy Lena, more than anyone else ever has, and more than that, you accept her for who she is. You don't try to change her, you just love her."
Before Lena can put rational thought into what she is saying she replies, "I do love her." Lena's mouth slams shut. Words she has only ever uttered to Lionel, Lex and her birth mother have just escaped Lena and to Kara's sister of all people. Not even Kara herself yet!
Lena's face must betray her shock as they have screeched to a halt at the top of the sixth floor landing.
Alex squeezes Lena's shoulder again and her face becomes a strange mix of joy and guilt.
"I'm glad to hear that Lena, and I know Kara will be too. I'm just annoyed you had to say it now because it makes this next part really awkward but all the more necessary."
Before Lena can grasp what the hell Alex is talking about Alex snaps into motion. The hand that had been squeezing Lena's shoulder with gentle comfort becomes an iron vice and Alex hauls Lena forward, spinning her around so her back faces the steep stairwell and pushes her forward.
For one heart stopping moment Lena feels like she is falling and time seems to stand still. Lena's usually genius mind stalls and the only thought she can compute is that she is going to die here in Kara's stairwell, at the hand of Alex Danvers, for some unknown reason. Alex's face which was warm and gentle but a moment ago is set into a cold mask as she watches Lena fall, her arms wind milling and her 4inch Christian Louis Vuitton heels fail spectacularly to find purchase on the stair's edge.
Time speeds up again and like a viper striking at its prey Alex's hand snaps out and grabs Lena by the front of her shirt halting her fall.
Lena tries to reach forward to grab Alex's arm but all her weight and gravity is pulling her down. Alex gives a little shake and Lena squeaks in fright, her feet desperately trying to find purchase on the teetering edge of the step. One false move, or if Alex lets go, and Lena will plummet down the stairs, the steep, old stairs of this dreadful building which will likely break her God damn neck.
Lena can feel her heart racing and her breaths gasping in and out.
"Alex!" Lena gasps buts before she can manage much more Alex interrupts her.
"I may approve of you Lena, we may even be friends but lets get one thing clear. If you hurt ever betray my sister, break her heart… in any way, I will kill you. Where your so-called genius brother failed, where millionaire masterminds like Edge and futuristic technology failed I will succeed. There is nowhere in this universe or any other you can hide from me, and if I ever come for you it will be like this. There won't be some obscure poison or expensive drone. The obituary will just read that you tripped going down some stairs one morning, or that you slipped and cracked your skull in the shower or choked on a cherry vine tomato in one of your $80 salads. Something so mundane no-one will even wonder about it. Do you understand me?"
Lena's mind struggles to process Alex's speech…she approves of her and Kara but she is threatening her? What the fuck sort of psycho is Alex Danvers?
Alex grunts and shakes Lena again reminding her of her precarious position. A small part of Lena's mind can't help but be impressed by Alex's upper body strength as she hold's Lena's body weight on the stairs edge with a single hand.
"Do you understand?" Alex repeats aggressively.
Lena nods rapidly, "Yes!" she gasps in a terrified whisper.
"Good" Alex declares in that same cold dead voice before heaving Lena back away from the stairs and onto the safety of the landing. Lena lands in a tangle of limbs but almost immediately scurries backwards fixing Alex Danvers with a poisonous look and plastering her back against the safety of the wall.
Alex stands back as far as possible and raises her hands as though in surrender, her cold mask breaking and a guilty, worried expression tears across her classic features.
Lena gasps for air, trying desperately to get her breathing under control and tamp down the terror that is roaring through her veins. Lena has nearly died many times, but never has she felt so close to death, never has she felt like she was on the cusp of it and what makes it worse is that it came so unexpectedly from someone she trusts.
"You…You stay back," Lena says shakily to Alex.
If possible, Alex looks even more guilty and upset which is just fucking wrong in Lena's book because she is the one who just threatened murder!
"You need to calm down Lena, nice deep even breaths. I swear I'm not going to hurt you, I just…shit, you're important to Kara, you had to get the shovel talk like all the rest, it's a thing."
Lena manages to calm her breathing enough to finally grasp the logic of what Alex is saying, "A shovel speech? How fucking old are you Alex, we're not 14 or bloody red necks! You scared the shit out of me!"
Alex looks mildly chastised and even a little shocked at the usually reserved Luthor's use of profanity but ultimately she shrugs helplessly, "That is kind of the point. And hey, you're not going to avoid Kara over this are you?"
Lena looks offended before a smug smile graces her lips and she cocks an eyebrow, "I can hardly shun Kara for having a psycho for a sibling."
Alex snorts, "You would be surprised. You're doing better than Jace Stevenson."
Lena looks equal parts intrigued and wary, "Who?"
Alex gestures for Lena to proceed her down the stairs, "Please, the threatening part of the day is over. I'll explain on the way but we can't be late to the bar or Kara will know something is off."
Lena's eyes become steely, "Who says I won't tell Kara? I can hardly imagine she would be fine with your threats."
"You won't tell her, and even if you do it wouldn't matter," Alex shrugs unconcerned.
"And how do you work that out?" Lena sniped, anger overriding her fear now.
Alex shrugs again and smiles at Lena, an almost proud air to the gesture, "You know how much I love Kara and how much she hates being angry at me. You won't tell Kara because you don't want to damage our relationship, because you don't want to hurt Kara by making her argue with me."
Lena opens her mouth to argue but slowly closes it again. Well shit, Alex is right. When the hell did Lena become so easy to read? Lena knows she won't say anything because hurting Kara isn't worth Lena's own hurt pride or fear.
Lena scowls and deflects, "Who is Jace Stevenson and why wouldn't it matter if I told Kara?" Lena asks.
Alex smiles smugly at the silent admission that Lena won't tell Kara of her threats.
Alex gestures again at the stairwell and with only mild hesitance which Lena tries valiantly to cover she steps forward and begins walking down the stairs again, her hand gripped tightly to the banister and her eyes watching Alex at her side like a hawk.
Alex sighs but follows suit, "Jace Stevenson was Kara's first, sort of boyfriend in High school and also the reason I know that ultimately it wouldn't matter if you told Kara about my shovel speech."
"Sort of boyfriend?" Lena asks, her curiosity and no small amount of jealous peaked.
Alex smiles as they reach the fifth floor and nods, warming to the tale, "He asked Kara out and she agreed but he had a bit of a reputation. Anyway, before their first date I waited for him after school. He was a real jock, star of the wrestling team and he always stayed late on Wednesday. He came swaggering out of practice over to his truck where I was sitting waiting for him. He couldn't figure out why I was there but I had a little demonstration set up for him. I used a slim jim to open his truck, and opened the bonnet. He thought it was funny at first. Then I pulled out a needle and pointed to his brake line and explained how I had calculated the amount of break fluid in his car and the time at which I would need to puncture the line in order for enough fluid to leak out for his breaks to fail just as he comes to the bad bend by the coastal drop on his drive home."
Lena looks equal parts amused and horrified, "how old were you?"
"17" Alex replies with a guilty shrug.
"I gave him the shovel talk, said if my sister wanted to date him it was fine but if he didn't treat her right then he would meet an unfortunate accident one day. Needless to say he cancelled his date with Kara the next day. Kara was pissed when she found out but eventually, she came around, she realized that if he was scared off by little old human me then he could never deal with her alien-ness."
"So it's a test?" Lena asks.
"Sort of, but also a statement of fact. I do like you Lena, you do make Kara happy but we're protective of each other, if you hurt her I will come for you." Alex says almost apologetically.
"You mean you're a protective psycho, Kara may mother hen the Superfriends but she isn't going around threatening people."
Alex gets an introspective look and her voice seems to come from far away as though reflecting on something from the distant past, "I was always told by my parents it was my responsibility to look after Kara, to protect her. I was 13 when it started and after Dad died and mom had to work so much it got worse. Kara was my responsibility, mine to protect. This girl, the last of her species, totally indestructible but so very fragile, with a heart so easily bruised. I know my protectiveness is obsessive, I have the therapist reports telling me so, I put my own sexuality, identity and happiness second to Kara's safety, I chose a job based on her needs when I joined the DEO and I have thrown myself into more near suicidal missions to protect my near invulnerable sister than she will ever know about. I know my protectiveness is weird, that it makes me a bit of a psycho Lena but I won't apologise for it, for the juvenileness of the shovel speech because to me it's necessary."
Lena watched Alex, examining the woman in a whole new light.
"Thank you," Lena whispered.
Alex jerked from her reverie at the words, "What?!"
Lena smiled softly and reached across the safe space she had cultivated between herself and Alex to take her hand in a soft squeeze of gratitude, "Thank you for protecting her. For always being there for her. She is everything to me and I never really grasped how much of who she is, is because of you."
Alex blushed violently and turned away, brushing tears from her eyes and coughing, "Whatever, Kara is the ray of sunshine because that is who she is, I'm just the badass secret agent who cleans up her messes. Besides, turnabout is fair play."
Lena cocked a brow deciding to let Alex's self-deprecation pass. It seems they have done enough deep emotions this evening. "Care to elaborate?"
Alex's smile turned mischievous, "Kara gave Maggie the shovel speech too ya know?"
Lena snorted at the idea of her stuttering girlfriend trying to seem threatening to Maggie. Maggie had the unique ability to fluster Kara with her innuendoes and her gregarious personality seeming impervious to embarrassment or fear, "What did Kara do, threaten to pout at Maggie if she was mean to you, or wait, no, she probably put her hands on her hips in the Supergirl pose and said she would 'make her regret it.' Ha, I bet Maggie was quaking in her boots, poor Kara she is about as threatening as a golden retriever."
Alex's smile if anything grew before she casually replied, "Nah she just told Maggie that she would melt her face off with her heat vision and throw her body into the sun so there was no evidence if she ever hurt me."
Lena nearly topples down the stairs as she misses a step in shock. Alex's quick reflexes alone catching Lena before she falls. Lena can't help but be amused by the parity of the action, from threat to saviour in only 4 flights of stairs.
"She what?" Lena almost screeches.
Alex's eyes dance with merriment.
"I have never seen Maggie go so pale."
"That is an oddly specific threat, "Lena replies, trying to find something to say in the face of this new facet of her girlfriend.
Alex laughs, "I know, when I asked Kara about it she said that a vague disclaimer is nobodies friend."
Lena nods in agreement. From her limited use of threats she supposes that makes sense but Lena can barely comprehend the idea of Kara being threatening, although now that she thinks about it Lena has a whole new respect for Maggie. Dating the sister of one of the most powerful beings on the planet, and teasing her often about their sex life, that takes guts.
They have come to the last flight of stairs and Lena can't help but ask, "So did every potential partner of Kara's get this little shovel speech? Is it like a right of passage?"
Alex hums, "Only the ones who actually have the potential to hurt Kara. People she actually seems to feel something for. I didn't bother with James for example. I knew that wasn't going anywhere even before Kara did, she liked the idea of him because he already knew her secrets but that was it. They fizzled before it even began. Mon El got it twice."
Lena snorts, "Well he was either too stupid to listen or I have less to worry about from your threats than I thought. "
Something dark flashes in Alex's eyes for a moment before she calmly replies, "He was gone after the invasion before I could make good on my threat and as for the second time when he came back…well he wasn't here long was he? He toddled back to the future where he belonged."
Something in Alex's voice made Lena pause. Something dark and threatening, filled with unspoken knowledge.
"You had something to do with him deciding to return to the future?" Lena accuses in a whisper.
Alex scowls, "He was toying with Kara's feelings, hurting her. He had a wife and he was repeating the same mistakes as before, playing with Kara's emotions, manipulating her, making her question her abilities. I may have had a conversation with him about the low number of friendly fire instances the DEO has had in the past ten years and how statistically we were overdue a friendly fire incident, perhaps even with a causality considering the live lead rounds we use and the often frenzied combat conditions we fight in."
Lena knows she shouldn't smile but she hated Mon El and besides, without him, she got her shot with Kara. "Holy shit, you threatened to shoot him."
Alex's face goes blank again and Lena's heart stutters in remembered fear of what happened the last time she saw that look, "No," Alex whispers, "I didn't threaten him. I told him point blank if he didn't go back to the future and leave my sister alone I would "accidently" blow his fucking brains out the next time we had a live ammo alien incident in the city."
They have reached the pokey lobby of Kara's building and Lena is trying to digest the revelations about this woman she has tentatively called a friend. Alex Danvers is definitely not the benign big sister she had thought she was.
"So…are we good?" Lena asks hesitantly, hating how her voice shakes a little.
Alex seems to shake off her dark thoughts and offers Lena a small smile.
"You may hurt Kara some day Lena, that is the amazing thing about the people we love, they have that unique power. But, so long as you love my sister and don't break her heart I have no problem with you. Hell, it's nice having someone around who can understand half of the stuff I talk about instead of just nodding and smiling indulgently like Kara and Maggie do half the time."
Lena laughs, "Yes, the riveting work of xenobiology and engineering."
Lena makes to head to the buildings door when Alex steps past her, "One second, " she says before vaulting like some parkour expert off the old lobby radiator and landing seated astride the old behemoth of a postal unit to reach the fuse box in the top right corner of the lobby. With practiced ease Alex opened the fuse box, pulls a fuse from her jeans pocket and plugs it back in.
The hum of the elevator sounds to Lena's right and the lights on the panel come to life as Alex jumps down.
"Ready?" Alex asks casually.
"You engineered this whole thing?" Lena asks in astonishment.
"Yep!" Alex replies, popping the p at the end.
"The boat emergency Kara went to?" Lena asks with narrowing eyes.
Alex smiles unrepentantly, "I was owed a favour by NCIS. Now come on, my girlfriend will be waiting and we need to order Kara some snacks at the bar, she'll be back soon."
Lena can't help but think how well Alex played her. Hesitating for but a moment she sighs and follows after the cocky elder Danvers sister. Maggie is truly a bad influence on her.
Nevertheless, Lena has no intention of ever truly hurting Kara or breaking her heart so the threat means very little. No that is a lie, it means a lot. It is acceptance from Alex that Lena Luthor is someone important to Kara, someone with such a unique hold on Kara's heart that she is worth threatening.
Perversely, Lena suddenly feels very warm and flattered by the threat. How very Luthor like of the Danvers