Five Years Later
La Guardia was crowded. The holidays approached, and Kara had to weave through the crowds of people on her way to her Terminal. She held her messenger bag close to her side so she wouldn't bump into the people walking in the opposite direction. That's when she saw them.
A couple, interlocked in a loving embrace—the PDA was a little bit much. They were all hands all over one another. She recognized them; the man mostly, but the brunette he was locking lips with was also strangely familiar. She stepped closer, bumping into a few people who grumbled as they stepped out of her way.
The man was good-looking, in a conventional way. Tall, dark, and handsome, as Kara's mother would probably say. His hair was disheveled, though it looked intentionally done, and his beard was full, but well-groomed. He wore a sharp navy suit, no tie, and well-fitting pants.
The woman, on the other hand, was beyond beautiful. Her jet-black hair was done up in a tight ponytail, and she wore a maroon pantsuit that was absolutely not designed for comfortable travel, but looked impeccable—all sharp angles and fitted fabric.
Kara stepped closer until she was practically peering over the brunette's shoulder to get a closer look. Sometimes she forgot about boundaries, especially when she was observing so intently, trying to put a name to a face.
The couple froze with a startled yelp as they finally noticed her approach. Without another face in front of his, Kara could finally recognize the man.
"Jack!" She greeted with a smile. "I thought it was you! Kara Danvers."
Jack looked utterly embarrassed; his companion looked like a deer caught in headlights, green eyes owlishly wide as she tucked herself closer to him.
Jack laughed timidly, holding out his hand. "Kara, of course, Kara, hi. How are you?"
"I'm good, I'm good. I thought it was you. Are you still with your father's company?"
"Branched off, started my own a couple of years ago. How about you, are you still..."
Kara shook her head. "I work for CatCo now. Politics."
"The hard-hitting stuff, eh?"
"You could say that"
There was a pause as Jack nodded, and Kara just looked from Jack to the woman beside him, who still looked at her rather oddly. Kara could not place her.
"Oh," Jack said, as if just remembering his manners. "Kara, this is Lena, Lena Luthor. Lena, this is Kara Danvers. She interviewed me and my father a few times while she worked for the National City Enquirer."
Lena nodded; she didn't extend her hand, but smiled cordially, if tightly.
"Hi."
"Hi," Kara greeted back. "Well, great to see you, Jack. See you around."
Lena waited until the blonde was well out of sight before releasing sigh of relief so heavy Jack raised his brows in concern. She patted his chest, shaking her head in complete disbelief she had just run into Kara Danvers.
"Thank God she couldn't place me! I drove from college to National City with her five years ago and it was the longest night of my life. Not to mention the strangest."
"What happened?"
Lena shook her head, remembering that odd evening with distaste. "She made a pass at me! And I said no; she was going with this good friend of mine, uh..." her eyes widened as the name completely escaped her. "God, Jack, don't get involved with me. I'm 26 and I can't even remember the name of the girl I was such good friends with I wouldn't get involved with her girlfriend!"
Jack laughed. "So, what happened?"
"When?"
"When she made a pass at you? And you said no?"
"Oh. I said we could just be friends, and then... this part I remember, she said we could never be friends because now the sex thing was 'out there'." She frowned. "It was a weird drive."
Jack laughed again, leaning in to kiss her once more. "Kara Danvers has always been a bit of an oddball."
Lena snorted. "You can say that again."
He moved to capture her lips again, only to be nearly slapped away when Lena suddenly slammed her hands to his chest. "Lucy Lane!" She yelped with a smile. "That was her name! Thank God."
He kissed her through her smile. "Safe travels, Lena. I'll miss you." He paused. "I love you."
She smiled, green eyes sparkling. "You do?"
"Yes," he nodded emphatically.
Lena couldn't stop smiling if she tried. "I love you, too."
Kara moved toward the back of the plane trying her very best not to bump into anyone on her way. It was a tall order—she had to lower her head not to hit the ceiling of the small aircraft, and her messenger bag was full to bursting. She made it to her seat just in time to clock in a familiar face sitting on the row in front of hers.
Jack's kissing partner—Lena, she remembered. She sat primly at her seat, perusing a copy of the Enquirer with a little smile tugging at her lips; her eyes weren't quite moving as if they were actually paying attention to the paper. Suddenly, as Kara approached, their eyes met for the briefest of moments, green on blue, and suddenly Lena yanked the paper up to hide her face.
Huh. Interesting.
Kara found her seat—directly behind Lena's middle seat—and sat, fastening her seatbelt loosely as she peered over the seats to get a better look. She could see Lena's cheeks pinkening. The man next to her gave Kara an odd look.
It wasn't until the plane was well up into the air, when the flight attendant came by with the drinks cart, that Kara could finally place Lena Luthor.
The attendant approached the row before hers with a smile, and Kara could hear Lena's voice, cordial, but firm.
"Do you have Bloody Mary mix?"
"Yes," the attendant said, starting to pour. Kara could just make Lena's hand shooting off to stop her.
"No, wait, here's what I want: Regular tomato juice, not too much ice, and fill it up about three quarters, and then add a splash of the Bloody Mary mix. Just a splash."
Kara smiled, raising her head and nearly poking it into the next row.
"And a little piece of lime, but on the side, please."
"Lena! Federal University, right?"
Lena looked spooked. "Yes."
Kara popped back down, then waited for the attendant to move away before coming back up. "Did you look this good at Federal University?"
"No," Lena scoffed with a little laugh.
Kara waggled her brows. "Did we ever...?"
Lena nearly spat her drink as the man next to her turned an incredulous look towards them. "No, no! Jesus." She turned her gaze to the man. "We drove from university to National City the day after graduation. It was an 18-hour drive."
The man smiled. "Would you two like to sit together?"
"Oh, that won't be..."
"Great! Thanks, man!"
They switched, and Kara made herself comfortable in her new seat. She looked at Lena intently. "You. You were a good friend of... Linda's, right?"
Lena smirked. "Lucy's. I can't believe you can't remember her name!"
"What do you mean? Of course, I remember. Lucy, right? Lucy Lance."
"Lane."
"Lane, right, that's what I said. Yeah, whatever happened to her?"
Lena felt her cheeks redden, but pressed on. "I have no idea."
Kara looked dramatically scandalized. "You have no idea? But you were such good friends, weren't you? If I remember correctly, we didn't make it because you were such good friends, right?"
"You were with her," Lena pointed out, rolling her eyes. She hadn't exactly forgotten how... annoying Kara was, but she could have done without the reminder while she was locked in a flying metal tube.
Kara smiled widely. "Was it worth it? This sacrifice for a friend you haven't even kept in touch with?"
Lena let out a little scoff. "Kara..."
"Yes?"
Lena patted her arm condescendingly. "You may find this hard to believe, but I never really considered not sleeping with you to be a sacrifice."
Kara's smile was unmarred. "Fair enough, fair enough."
There was a pause—Lena remembered enough of her long drive with Kara to know it wouldn't last. She was correct.
"You were going to be an... architec-"
"An engineer."
"Right, that's what I said. So, did you?"
"At first. Now I'm... I work corporate." Lena said vaguely.
"Ah, great, great. And you're with Jack, that's great. How long have you been together? Three weeks?"
Lena's eyes widened. "A month. How did you know?"
Kara laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, you take someone to the airport, that's clearly the beginning of a relationship. That's why I have never, ever taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.'
"Why?" Lena asked, puzzled.
"Because eventually, thinks move on, right? And you don't take that someone to the airport. And I never wanted anyone to be able to say, 'Kara, how come you never take me to airport anymore?'"
Lena blinked. "It's amazing."
"What?"
She gestured vaguely towards Kara. "You. You look like a completely normal person, but you're actually like the angel of death."
She ignored Kara's giggles. "Are you going to marry Jack?"
Lena nearly choked on her drink for the second time in the span of minutes. "We've only known each other a month. Besides, neither one of us is looking to get married right now."
Kara leaned into the back of her seat, closing her eyes with a little smile. "I'm getting married."
Lena whirled to face her, unable to hide her surprise. "You are?"
"Yup," Kara quipped matter-of-factly.
"You are getting married."
"Yup."
"Who is she?"
"Kate Kane. She's a CFO, she's keeping her name."
Kara cracked an eye open, in time to see Lena smiling as she shook her head. "You're getting married," she laughed.
Kara raised a brow. "What's so funny about that?"
"It's just so... optimistic of you."
"Well, you'd be amazed what falling madly in love can do for you."
Lena patter the blonde's shoulder. "That's wonderful, Kara. It's nice to see you embracing life in this way."
Kara chuckled. "Besides, you just get to a certain point where you get tired of the whole thing."
Lena's hand on her shoulder stilled. "What whole thing?"
"The whole single life. You know, you meet someone, you have the safe lunch where you decide whether you like each other well enough to graduate to dinner. You go to dinner, maybe dancing or a movie. After the obligatory three dates, you go back to her place and you have sex, and the minute you're done, you know what's going through your head?"
Lena shook her head, her expression betraying she was already halfway to disbelief. Kara pressed on.
"You're lying there thinking 'how long do I have to stay and hold her until I can get up and go home? Is 30 seconds enough? An hour?"
Lena opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "That's what you're thinking? Is that true?"
"Of course. How long do you like to be held at night?" Kara regarded her pensively for a short moment. "All night, am I right? That's the problem. Somewhere between 30 seconds and all night is your problem."
"I don't have a problem," Lena retorted emphatically.
"Yes, you do."
They were thankfully distracted by an announcement from the pilot, updating the time to their destination. Lena quickly took the opportunity to raise her paper up again, shielding herself from conversation.
She was successful for the rest of the flight, and was even able to rush out of the plane before Kara, since the blonde had to go back a row to procure her luggage.
Kara caught up with her at the moving walkway leading out of their terminal.
"So, you're staying over?"
Lena sighed. "Yes."
"Would you like to have dinner?"
The brunette levelled Kara with a suspicious look. Kara raised her hands in mock surrender. "What? Just as friends."
"I thought you said we could never be friends."
"That's baloney, when did I ever say that?"
"On the drive to National City."
She waited for the memory to hit Kara; it did in a few seconds and the blonde nodded. "No, no, I remember. You're right. We can't be friends, because of the sex thing."
There was a pause. "...unless we are both involved with other people. Then we can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule—if the two people are in other relationships, then the pressure of possible involvement is... lifted."
Lena raised an eyebrow, sensing Kara was nowhere near done. Once again, she was proven correct.
"Although... no, that wouldn't work, either. Because what happens is, the person you're involved with doesn't understand why you need to be friends with the person who has already come on to you—it must mean something is missing from your relationship and you have to go outside of it to get it. And then you say no, no, it's not true, there's nothing missing, the person you're involved with accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with—which you probably are, let's face it—which brings us back to the original rule, before the amendment, which is we cannot be friends. So where, oh where does that leave us?"
"Kara..."
"Yeah, Lena?"
"Goodbye."
Kara smiled, giving Lena an appraising look. She held out her hand, and Lena took it out of politeness. They shook—Kara's hand was sweaty, like it had been back on their drive five years ago—and then promptly began an awkward walk in the same direction. Kara laughed.
"I'll... stop walking for a minute. You go ahead."