Kara slept fitfully that night, waking every twenty minutes or so, until she finally gave up sleep and decided to get up and get ready to start the day. All she could think of was Lena's lip and the way her blood had crusted over, making the wound obvious.

But when she dragged her feet through the portrait and into the hallway, she was shocked to find a sleeping Lena hunched over, sitting against the wall, with her head buried in Kara's sweater, which was resting on her knees.

"Lena!" Kara cried, dropping to her knees beside her best friend.

This startled the girl awake, and when she lifted her head to see where the sound was coming from, Kara saw the other two bruises on her cheeks.

"Oh, God," Kara breathed. "Lena."

Instantly, Lena erupted into tears, sobbing, "I can't do it. I can't marry him, Kara."

"Oh, Lena. Honey," the Gryffindor cooed, pulling the girl to her chest and remaining on the floor with her. "You don't have to. You don't have to."

"B-But my—"

"You will always have a home with me, Lena," Kara promised, pressing an exceptionally gentle kiss to her friend's forehead. "You'll never be alone. You'll always have a place to go. You'll always have a family. You'll always have me. Always."

Lena couldn't stop sobbing. Everything she wanted – no, needed – to hear was coming straight from Kara's lips. Everything she ever could have dreamed of but hadn't dared to was unfolding, encasing her in warmth and hope.

"Kara," Lena whimpered. "I…. I lo—I… I…"

"I love you, Lena," Kara blurted, the words finally tumbling out like a dam breaking.

All she could do was pray that that had been what Lena was about to say as well and hope that she could give Lena the strength to say it.

"I want you," Lena told her. "I want you. I l-love you…"

"You have me, Lena," the blonde told her. "You've had me since day one."

"What?"

"Day one, Lena. I've always loved you. But I always knew you'd choose your family over anything else, so I didn't want to make anything harder on either of us. Not to mention, for the longest time, I didn't think you liked me. Then, you told me about the mirror and I just… couldn't tell you. I knew you were suffering already, and I didn't want to add to it."

"I was so scared of this," Lena confessed, wiping her eyes. "So scared of being gay. Of being rejected. Of ruining our friendship. Of losing you."

"None of that is going to happen," Kara promised, stroking Lena's hair and holding her just a little closer. "None of it. I could never reject you, and you will always be my best friend."

"But what about—" Lena asked in confusion, not understanding exactly what Kara meant by this.

"You know…" the blonde mused, looking up thoughtfully. "They say you should marry your best friend, and that friends make the best lovers."

Mouth hanging just slightly agape, Lena stared at Kara in disbelief.

"Just saying," Kara said quickly, when she noticed the look of surprise on Lena's face.

Feeling a sudden burst of bravery, Lena leaned in again and nuzzled her forehead against Kara's chin, and in response, Kara placed a soft kiss to the top of Lena's head, making them both feel exceptionally warm, even in the cold corridor of the castle.

"Kara…" Lena whispered, lifting her head again to look lovingly into the prefect's eyes.

"Yes, dear," Kara answered with a soft smile.

The smile faded when Lena couldn't finish her thought and the bruises on Lena's face caught her attention. Thumbing the unbruised part of Lena's cheeks, Kara frowned.

"I hate seeing you hurt," Kara whispered, pressing their foreheads together. "Can I please use the—"

Sighing, Lena shook her head and firmly said, "No. You cannot use the torture curse on him."

"But why?" the blonde moaned.

"Because that's not who you are. And if you meant what you said about me having a home with you, you have to keep your protective ass out of Azkaban. Understood?"

Reluctantly, Kara had to agree that she had a point and nodded her head.

"Now…" Lena said, voice suddenly low and slow. "Why don't we go somewhere and plan my escape from Luthor Manor?"

"Really?!" Kara gasped, bouncing with excitement.

"Only if you'll have me."

"I'll have you. I'll have you today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. I'll have you every day from here on out."

Kara blushed when she realized that these words sounded incredibly like wedding vows.

Lena smiled, leaning in bravely and pressing her lips to Kara's cheek for the first time, deepening their shade of red.

"Then yes. Let's do this, Kara. I'm tired of pretending and trying to be someone I'm not. I want you to be my family."

"Then I am. That's all you ever need to say. I will always be here for you. I'll always be on your side."

Since Kara was sitting with her legs crossed on the floor beside her, Lena decided to crawl onto her lap and drape her arms around Kara's neck as she looked into Kara's electric blue eyes.

"You're beautiful," Lena said, without inhibitions. When Kara just looked at her with surprise, not used to hearing these kind of words from the young Luthor, Lena added, "I've been wanting to tell you that for a long time." Continuing to blush, Kara dropped her gaze, but Lena lifted her chin and said, "I've been waiting to do this for a while too," before leaning in and kissing her lips.

Kara froze at first, shocked by the sweet, soft sensation of Lena's lips against her own, then finally recovered enough to thread her fingers in the girl's hair, holding her still to deepen the kiss. When they finally broke apart, they were breathless.

"Good grief, Lee," Kara panted, wearing a large grin. "You're an incredible kisser."

"As are you, Miss Danvers."

It was so incredibly good to see Lena smiling that Kara almost – almost – forgot her loathing of Jack. But this feeling of being on Cloud 9 only lasted a few moments as they looked longingly at each other before Kara's thoughts drifted back to causing the Slytherin boy pain.

"I'm telling the headmaster what he did to you, Lena," the prefect announced, voice returning to its previous seriousness.

"Kara—"

"No. I'm going to get him expelled, Lena. Please, come with me to his office so he can see the proof. Please, help me with this. Stand up to him."

With a sigh, Lena slowly rose to her feet, holding out her hand to help Kara up next. Once Kara was standing beside her, she told her, "Alright. I'll go with you. And… my mother's never gonna speak to me again."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Kara said, as gently as possible. "She hurts you more than she makes you feel good, Lena."

As if realizing this for the first time, Lena hesitated as she considered Kara's words. It was true. She couldn't remember the last time Lillian had actually made her feel good or proud of herself. The only person who had ever really made her feel good about herself was Kara.

"Let's go," Lena said, nodding her understanding of Kara's previous comment.

"Then we're getting you to the hospital wing."

"We what?"

"Yeah. Your face is bruised really badly. It needs to be looked at."

"Kara, I don't want to!"

"Shh, or I'll take my sweater away," the Gryffindor teased, tugging gently on the sweater that Lena was clutching tightly.

Immediately, Lena jerked her arm away, holding the sweater behind her back as she countered, "Then I'll take my scarf back!"

"You'll pry it from my cold, dead hands, you mean," Kara laughed, shaking her head and making Lena scowl at her. "It's my prized possession. You're not getting it back, ever. Besides, I'm a Slytherdor, remember? I need it."

Lena had to laugh at this, momentarily forgetting the intense pain radiating from her face as she hugged her best friend and kissed her cheek.

"I love you," Lena whispered. "You'll always be my Slytherdor."

Blush returning, Kara smiled and told her, "I love you too. Now, let's go get this fucker expelled and get you feeling better, yeah?"

Lena, smiling, nodded her head and held Kara's hand the entire way to the headmaster's office, allowing Kara's touch to give her the bravery she needed to push forward.