Kara Danvers sat at the counter of the bookstore she worked at and watched her lone customer circulate. The frizzy-haired woman had been here for an hour, picking up books at random, carrying them around, and then depositing them on the wrong shelves. Already on the hunt for her next victim, the irritating woman turned a corner out of Kara's sight. Her colleague Winn Schott sent Kara an exasperated look and followed her into the rest of the shop. At this point, they would both dearly love to throw the customer out on her ass, but a possible sale is a possible sale. Instead, Kara resigned herself to going through the stock on the computer to find which books had been good sellers and which hadn't shifted a copy in longer than a few months, a task she reserved for Monday mornings, since they were already bad enough what with the sudden lack of sleep.

Kara had been working at the Candlelight Bookstore for eleven years, ever since she had moved to New York on a whim and never left. Lured to the Big Apple by the promise of anonymity and freedom, she had stumbled into a bar her first night at the age of 16 with a false ID and flirted with the bartender until they'd poured her a quadruple Maker's Mark. It hadn't occurred to her until after she'd drunk it that she should've eaten something first. Rookie error. The liquor had hit her fast and hard, and it was only the kindness of a stranger that saved her from ending up in an unknown person's bed, or worse. Grasping her by the arm, the stranger, a young woman, had led her outside, held her hair while she threw up most of the bourbon into a handy bush, and walked her to the nearest 7/11 to buy a sandwich. At that point, Kara hadn't remembered the address of the hostel she was staying at, so Alex had taken her home, made up a bed on her own sofa, and plopped her onto it with a bucket by her head and a pint glass of water on the nearby table.

When Kara woke up the following morning, she hadn't had the faintest idea where she was. Alex had waltzed in wearing a fitted black tshirt and a pair of black cargo pants, with another glass of water and some painkillers for Kara's throbbing head, and they had become instant friends. Alexandra "Alex" Danvers was busy, always rushing around, and a terrible influence on Kara's waistline, but she was also kind, loyal, and had a heart of gold. Kara had moved out of the hostel and into Alex's house in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, within a week, and started working at the Candlelight Bookstore a few weeks after that.

Candlelight Bookstore was owned by Alex's mother, Eliza. She herself had inherited many small businesses from her parents, mostly small diners which she had strung together into a chain. There were now eight of them across New York, and one in Rochester, where Eliza had been born. Eliza's Diners were very successful and the income from them allowed the bookshop free reign to sell whatever it wanted. It had been run by Alex's grandparents until they both passed away in a car crash. It was a little bolthole across the street from her flat, which Alex had also inherited. Alex's grandmother had been rather a free-spirited hippy and hadn't spent much time around her, but the affection had been there when it was needed, and that was enough. Eliza had eventually taken Kara under her wing as well, and they had made the adoption legal just before Kara turned 18, giving Kara a beloved new family.

Kara had started working at the bookstore a month after meeting Alex; she had immediately fallen in love with the place. The bookstore was an open space, full of old leather armchairs of various colours, and tall bookshelves that Eliza's husband Jeremiah had made himself out of walnut. The previous owners of the building had knocked out most of the floor between the first and second floors, but left the full window there, which threw a lot of natural light into the store. Thankfully, the buildings opposite blocked any direct sunlight into the store and thus saved the spines of the books from premature fading, and the result was a relaxing, light, and airy space that looked both clean and yet lived-in. None of the bookshelves were filled entirely with books, the rest of the space being taken up by cheerful succulent plants, adding colour without making any mess.

Candlelight Bookstore had sold many different types of books in its day, but at the moment, it specialised in gay and lesbian literature, both fiction and non-fiction. That had been a decision made by Kara several years ago; she had noticed that while general fiction sold very well, the clientele in the area requested gay or lesbian books far more often than any other type, and the decision was made to restock. While the business ticked over nicely, it wasn't exactly the busiest of shops. However, in a changing world, Kara was very proud of the help the shop had given people; a safe space for gay people and their allies to browse books or learn something new. Kara only wished she had had access to such a place when she had been younger.

Taking a sip of her now cold hot chocolate, Kara opened up the pages of several lesbian authors that she had been following for a long time to look at what they were working on currently. A few romance novels here, a few crime novels there, and some fanfictions she had been keeping an eye on were due to be published in paper format in just a few months, which was very exciting, including one by an author that Kara knew a little bit, at least via Twitter. As she opened the ordering software, the bell over the front door that Kara hadn't had the heart to get rid of dinged as a new customer entered the store.

"Good morning, and welcome to Candlelight Bookstore," Kara stated, glancing up just in time for the customer's large-brimmed hat to obscure the view of their face as they looked towards the shelf to their left. Kara rolled her eyes. It wasn't that sunny outside. "If you need any help, please just ask me," she tacked on, hoping to see their face. No such luck. The customer was a woman, that much she could see, and one dressed very finely at that, even to Kara's untrained eye. Kara gave the woman a once-over. Pale skin, glossy dark hair falling gently just under her shoulderblades, toned arms bearing one black bangle, and calf muscles that gently stood out, thanks to the strain of the enormously high heels she was wearing. Beyond being able to see that the woman filled her sleeveless dress in a very nice way, she wasn't able to tell much more. Kara's interest was piqued in a distinctly non-literary manner and, standing up and moving around the counter, she made her way towards the customer, and grabbed a promotional leaflet on her way over.

Quietly clearing her throat, Kara stopped next to the customer. "Is there anything in particular I can help you look for?" she asked, and finally, the customer turned towards her. Immediately Kara's mouth dried up as the softest green eyes looked intensely into her own at the interruption. The woman was gorgeous; those seafoam eyes were framed by high cheekbones and a strong jawline, and immaculately plucked eyebrows. Lightly applied makeup accentuated her already dark eyelashes, and her lips… Kara felt anything else she was going to say choke up and die in her throat. Those plump lips wore a dark red lipstick. The only thing that marred her otherwise perfect face was a small but distinct scar underneath her right eyebrow that Kara felt a sudden desire to run her finger along. There was something familiar about her face, but in a moment of stupefied idiocy, Kara couldn't place her. She felt a blush rise up on her face and she thanked Bare Minerals that it wouldn't show up.

The brunette smiled slightly under Kara's scrutiny, as though she were waiting for her to say something else. When nothing else was forthcoming, a look of slight relief passed over her face. "No, thank you. I'm just browsing." Her voice was like dark chocolate and sex, and Kara immediately felt the blood in her face rush to a different part of her body. She was about to speak when the customer spoke again. "What kind of books do you sell here? The name of the shop is… decidedly ambiguous."

Relieved that this was a question she could at least answer without thinking too much about, Kara smiled. "We cater mostly to the LGBT community. Fiction, non-fiction, self-help, travel guides, history, academic gender studies, that sort of thing. We try to be as wide-ranging as possible; we know we're a niche place, but it's a definitely a friendly place to be." The brunette's smile widened as she connected with Kara's gaze and held the eye contact; in response, Kara felt her voice quaver, but she ploughed on regardless. "I wanted this to be a place where people could learn about themselves and others with no judgement or feeling like they're standing at the adult section of a major bookstore, which is where you mostly have to look for books like these."

"Why is it called Candlelight?" the customer asked, removing her hat at last and smoothing out her hair.

"To be honest, I don't know," Kara started. "My housemate's grandparents owned this place, her father built all the shelves, and named it before he passed away a long time ago. I don't think Alex had ever asked him why."

"Alex?"

"My housemate. Her name is Alexandra, but nobody calls her that. Her mother owns the shop now and she didn't want to change it."

"It's interesting that her grandparents picked this… theme for the store," the customer replied, her eyes still fixed very much on Kara's, but she looked pensive. "I would've expected that their age would preclude them from stocking books like this."

"It was me who picked the theme, actually. I had always wanted a place like this when I was growing up and so I decided to make this place to help out others who might need it. Everyone needs a place to feel welcome, right?" At this, the brunette's smiled widely, making Kara break into a grin in response.

The frizzy-haired customer chose this moment to walk out of the store, putting a book on the shelf to Kara's side. Winn hurried behind her and with an apologetic look at Kara, and then a double-take at the brunette customer, grabbed the book and scurried off back behind the bookshelves. Kara could almost feel Winn's eyes boring into her back.

"That's very good of you. I'm afraid I have to leave," she said, glancing at what Kara had thought was a bangle but was in fact a watch, "but if I'm ever in the market, I know where to come looking." The brunette smiled once again, then turned gracefully, opened the door, and walked back out onto the street.

Kara stood still for a second, absorbing the last words the mysterious customer had said. That could have been misconstrued as flirting, but surely not. Surely not, Kara thought stiffly to herself as she sat back down at her desk. She must have just meant the books. A goddess like that would never look twice at a girl like me! It was only when as she was tapping her fingers slightly harder than necessary on the keyboard, not really seeing what she was doing, that she nearly ordered 408 copies of Curious Wine, and decided she needed to go out for a coffee and shake it off, whatever it was.

"Winn? Do you want anything from Joe's?" she called out.

"No thank you," he replied politely, walking out of the stacks with books piled in his arms. "I'm going to put these in the library pile."

"Okay. Could you man the shop for a while? I'm going to take my lunch."

Winn looked like he was going to ask something else, but then put the books down and waved his hand. Kara left.

Ten minutes later, wandering down the street after picking up her extra-hot coffee and a large pizza from the Italian restaurant who knew her order before she opened her mouth, Kara was lost in thought. There was something about the customer's face that was so familiar, but Kara still couldn't place it. Maybe she was a regular at the bar she and Alex frequented? No, that couldn't be it, she was far too elegant for that dive. A lady like that belonged somewhere exclusive. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew her face from somewhere, or at least that she knew someone who looked very much like her. Kara was sure though, she thought with a smirk, that if she had known someone who looked as beautiful as that customer did, she wouldn't forget their face in a hurry.

As she made her way towards the corner of her street, she spotted one of those gossip rags hanging up in the newsagent stall. A quick glance at the headline which read, "Lena Luthor spotted at Yankees with friends" with a close-up of the actress' face, laughing, and Kara finally got it.

No shit. The customer in the store had been Lena Luthor, the scientist whose lab was on the point of curing cancer. Scientist turned Oscar-winning actress in her spare time. Holy shit. Nobody was going to believe this! Except maybe Winn? He had done a double-take. Kara felt the grin nearly split her face in two as she started walking briskly back to the store, pulling out her phone with her spare hand, not looking where she was going.

All of a sudden, she felt her hot coffee tip out of her control as she collided heavily with someone else on the sidewalk. Her phone clattered to the floor, but her momentary worry that her screen would smash was nothing to the near-shriek that erupted from the person she had crashed into. With a rising sense of horror, Kara realised that out of the two of them, she was not the one wearing her boiling hot coffee.

"This is Givenchy!" spluttered the voice. Without either looking or thinking, Kara grabbed some tissues out of her back pocket, stood up and started to dab at the first brown stain her eyes came across.

"I am so sorry, golly I'm so-" she started, and then the owner of the ruined dress batted her hands away.

"Do you mind?!" the woman snapped, and Kara's eyes rose to meet the furious green eyes she had only recently realised belonged to Lena Luthor. Scientific genius. Oscar-winning actress. Goddess. And Kara was dabbing away at her chest with some old tissues. She snatched her hands away at once, and nearly quailed under Lena's angry gaze.

"I'm so sorry! If you'll just come with me, I live just t-"

"You can't seriously think I'm going anywhere with you. I have no idea who you are."

"Woah, Le- er, Miss Luthor," Kara started, holding up her hands. "I live just across the street in that building with the red door. I've got something you can change into. Let's try and get this cleaned up? And not argue in the street?"

Lena looked across the street, seemed to make up her mind in a split-second, and marched quickly across the street towards the door Kara had indicated, leaving Kara to chase after her. Ignoring the blare of a yellow taxi she had run out in front of, she reached the door just before Lena did. Green eyes turned to look at her in, a flash of apprehension in them, and Kara understood.

"Don't worry. You're perfectly safe with me," she said quietly, "despite the dress. I'm so sorry." As Kara shoved the key into the lock and opening the door, Lena pushed herself inside and off the street, unfortunately not noticing the bicycle that Alex had left in the entrance hall, and stumbled over it. Kara managed to catch her around the waist, and then immediately let go. Lena turned to look at her, and her expression was entirely impassive. Kara swallowed.

"I… um. Here, let me just… close the door." Kara pushed it to, and briefly rested her forehead against it.

Shit. Lena Luthor is in my house.