"Much to see today?" Alex asked, turning her head towards the window where Kara stood in a nightgown that only just went past her knees, and chunky red cardigan. The world outside was grey, but Alex could see form in the clouds.
"Well, it's stopped raining, and we actually have quite a nice view of the beach, though it looks grey, cold and completely uninviting, plus the lighthouse and rocks," Kara responded. It was the morning after their second night at the Luthorsport Hotel, almost 48 hours since their arrival. Alex had slept for the bulk of the previous day, only waking to have a little to eat. Lena Luthor had come and gone throughout the day, bringing their meals, hot water bottles, and managed to find them a wireless.
Kara turned to Alex and smiled. "Feeling better today?"
"I haven't tried to move yet, so I'm going to say 'yes', but assume 'no'," Alex said. Her throat was raw, and her voice was croaky and sounded far-away. "Come here, before you get cold feet."
Kara tip-toed over to Alex's bed and plopped down beside her sister, pulling the top-most blanket over them. Between them, the Danvers sisters were in possession of almost every blanket in the hotel.
"Lena will be here soon," Kara said. Lena had spent a few hours chatting with Kara the day before, swapping travel stories and old school tales. Kara found Lena's stories fascinating, boarding school in England, finishing school in Paris, numerous trips to the south of France and Italy and all over the United Kingdom and even Spain before the Civil War. "Lena said she'd ask Mary to put honey in our porridge. You have to try to eat some, you can't just eat bread or toast. I know you're sick, but it will help, I promise."
"Which one of us has medical training?" Alex teased.
Kara chuckled and lay down beside Alex, pulling the blanket over her. "I'm just so glad you're not dead. I was so worried," Kara confessed. They hadn't yet spoken about what happened, how they'd ended up in Luthorsport. "You were so cold, Alex. You were barely conscious, and bleeding, and your breathing was so ragged, and I was so afraid."
Alex leant her head into Kara's shoulder. Her body ached, her head ached, it hurt to breathe, she could hardly use her hands, and yesterday had needed to be carried by Kara to the bathroom and back. "I was afraid too, you know," she murmured looking Kara in the eye.
Kara tensed up and looked away.
"Not just yesterday," Alex continued, "For months. Since we crossed the Atlantic, really. Every night I never knew if you were going to come back. And sometimes you come back in a pretty awful state."
"Every night you worked," Kara said. "You were working what, 16 hours shifts?"
"Kara, you were running into burning buildings. You were redirecting bombs and incendiary devices away from populated areas, pulling airmen out of crashing planes…"
"You weren't eating, you were barely sleeping."
"I couldn't just leave," Alex said, getting defensive. "People needed me. I had to help."
"I had to help too!" Kara cried, "That was why we were there! We're volunteers, Alex. London needed us. It - it still does. We knew what we were getting into, we - "
"We had no idea what we were getting into, Kara," Alex said. "None at all. How could we? We had no idea of what hell looked like until we walked straight into it. And it nearly killed us. No one knew they were going to try and flatten the whole damned city. H knew needed a break, and - "
"I didn't need a break or a rest or anything," Kara protested, her eyes full of hot, angry tears. Alex was right, but she was loath to admit it. "I was fine. I am fine."
"You fell out of the sky, Kara," Alex said, her voice barely above a whisper. "As I was falling - I wasn't worried about me. I knew there was water below. I could see the lighthouse. But through the mist - I could see you, too. And I didn't know if you were conscious. I called out and you didn't respond. I didn't know what had happened. What did happen, Kara?"
Kara stared at the ceiling. "I don't know," she mumbled.
"Were you hit by something?"
Kara shrugged. "I don't know. I think I blacked out. Because I remember thinking that I couldn't drop you. I couldn't let you fall. But somehow, I knew I already had. And then," Kara swallowed. "Then I was in the water. And I couldn't find you," she said, choking up at the memory. "The waves were too big, and I - I let them carry me in. And then Lena found me, and - "
"Lena found you?" Alex asked.
"On the beach. She was walking her dog. Did you see Caoimhe yesterday? She was lying on my bed for a while. She's so cute and has the softest ears, and - "
"Kara, how do you know Lena saw you on the beach?" Alex asked, cutting Kara off.
"I spoke to her. She told me her name, but I had to find you."
Alex's eyes widened. "You went back into the water?"
"Yes! I couldn't leave you. I couldn't let you drown."
"But - but you flew, Kara. I saw you overhead. And then you were on the rocks, pulling me up, and - Kara, did Lena see you fly?"
"I - I'm not…" Kara avoided Alex's eye.
"Kara, did she see you fly?"
"I don't know!" Kara cried, "It was dull and wet and misty and I had to find you, Alex. I had to. This is all my fault, so - "
"What? No," Alex said, reaching out from under the covers to take Kara's hand, even though pain shot up her arm and through her shoulder. "Kara, something happened to you. Something outside of your control. We will figure it out, all right? But - there's something else. Something we may need to be a bit sensitive about. Lena mentioned a brother the other night, didn't she?"
Kara rolled onto her side, holding Alex's hand. "I had a bad feeling her name was familiar…"
"And for all the wrong reasons. If that brother is who I think he might be, then - "
"She's not like that, Alex. She's not."
"I - I want to believe that, Kara, I really do. Because she has only been beyond kind and caring and hospitable towards us, but Kara - "
"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Kara said, "Just the same surname. I mean, we're not the only Danverses in the world, and some of them are bound to have done terrible stuff, right? It doesn't mean that we're like that. We're good, Alex. I really think Lena is too, even if…" Kara couldn't bring herself to finish.
"Even if her brother is the Lex Luthor who absconded with military secrets to Berlin and joined the Nazi science division."
"She's not like that," Kara said. "She can't be."
"He's a Nazi, Kara. And I know right now we have little choice but to trust her, but just be careful, all right? Until we know for sure one way or the other, we cannot be too careful with what we say around her."
…
"You are a magician, finding all these clothes," Kara said, as she walked to the shops with Lena and Caoimhe, the spaniel very happy to have an extra companion. With the weather improved, Alex happy to have a nap undisturbed, and Kara getting desperate for a bit of air, Lena had volunteered to show her around village. Lena had found a woollen dress, a pair of tights, a hat, and a ladies houndstooth coat from the hotel's lost-and-found collection. Mary had announced that she had managed to dry out the Danvers sisters' boots without ruining the leather, though their clothes were still with Mrs Morley who did the laundry.
"You have no idea how many things people leave behind," Lena said, "Some we manage to return to their owners, but a coat left on the back of a chair, or things left in the hotel rooms, well, we don't always have a forwarding address and if no one writes to claim their items, then I guess we're now putting them to good use."
"I do look dashing in this hat," Kara said, catching a glimpse of her reflection in a window. Her hair might be a mess, but the hat certainly help to cover that.
"That was one of mine," Lena said, "Though I think it looks better on you than it ever did on me. The maroon looks better with blonde hair than brown, I think."
"Well, I think you have lovely hair," Kara said, admiring how Lena's hair was elegantly swept into a low bun, with her hat pinned at the most perfect angle.
"I - thank-you," Lena said, not used to complements. "Here we are, first stop: the post office." She opened the door, and Caoimhe led the way in.
"Morning Miss Luthor."
"Morning Joe, any mail?"
"There's a little here. And the papers. And Tuesday's papers finally turned up. Don't know why there weren't on the train yesterday, but if you'd like some two-day old news, we got it."
Lena smiled. "Since I've already paid the subscription, I might as well take it," she said. "This is Miss Danvers. She's staying in town and has a couple of telegrams she'd like sent. Put it on my account."
"I'm afraid you don't see Luthorsport at its finest in January," Joe said said to Kara.
"Our one fine day a year is usually in August," Lena smirked.
"Oh, it seems charming so far," Kara said. She sensed that Joe was likely to know all the comings and goings in town, and since she and Alex were likely to be around for a little while at least, they best have some sort of backstory. "But my sister and I, we - she's been unwell. The doctor said we should go somewhere out of the city."
"Dublin?" Joe asked.
"No, London," Kara replied.
"You came all the way from London to Luthorsport?"
"It was a bit of a trip," Kara said, forcing a smile. "The doctor recommended somewhere more quiet, and well, with all the air-strikes, that pretty much rules out the whole of the U.K. Unfortunately, my sister relapsed during the journey. Need to let our friends know we're alive and well, though."
"I hope to see your sister up and about soon, especially if she's as charming as you," Joe winked.
"The mail, Joe," Lena said.
"Of course, miss," Joe said, giving Lena her mail and papers, and Kara handed over the coded telegrams to be sent to London; to H at the office, and to their friends Captain Lance and Miss Kane.
Kara and Lena then walked out to end of the pier, looking at the fishing boats tied up in the harbour. "It's a good safe-haven," Kara said, looking over the edge at the water gently lapping against the pillars.
"All of these boats would have been wrecked for certain in the storm the other night if the wave-break and harbour hadn't been built," Lena said as the walked back towards town. "It's wonderful to have that too," she said, nodding towards the lighthouse.
Kara looked towards it. "The light is certainly bright at night," she said. She had noticed that the light shone through the gap in the curtains in their hotel room at regular intervals.
"Everyone says that," Lena said, "But they also agreed that it's better than finding ships wrecked against the rocks. The light was one of the last things Lex improved before he left."
Kara's stomach dropped. "Lex?" she asked.
"Oh, my brother," Lena said, "Officially, we're Alexander and Helena, but we've always just been called Lex and Lena."
"Oh," Kara said. She could have prodded Lena for more information, but decided to change the subject. "Well, Alex and I are - well, she's technically Alexandra, but I'm just Kara."
"I think it would be nice to have a name you don't have to shorten. Sometimes as a child I'd forget I was technically Helena. Turns out immigration officials and stepmothers don't like it if you get your name wrong, even if you are only nine."
Kara laughed, and they stepped off the pier back onto the street. After a stop at the chemist to purchase hair pins and combs, medication for Alex and a couple of other small essential items, they headed back to the hotel, talking amicably all the way.
"I'd better go up and see Alex," Kara said, looking up at their bedroom window. Even though the wind was picking up, part of her wanted to keep walking. She wanted to know everything about Lena, and found herself wishing she could share her secrets in return. "But if you come up with the lunch, I - would you mind bringing a packet of playing cards? We could play some games. If you don't have anything else you need to do, that is."
"No, of course. I'll go home and see what I can find. Do you mind if I bring Caoimhe?"
"Please do," Kara smiled, giving the dog a pat on the head. "She's so gorgeous. Well, see you in an hour or so."
"See you soon," Lena said, and waved as she walked off, Caoimhe leading the way.
Kara's legs felt heavy as she walked upstairs to their room. "Alex?"
"Mmm?"
"I - I sent the telegrams," she said, taking off the hat and hanging it on the hook behind the door. "And got you some medicine and a few other things, and - "
"What's wrong?" Alex asked, looking towards Kara.
Kara sighed heavily and plonked down on her bed. "I think you're right."
"About…?"
"Lex Luthor," Kara said, her shoulders dropping. "Lena mentioned him by name. Not - nothing about him being a Nazi. Just, well, he must have been a scientist or engineer of some sort. She said that the last thing he did in the town was something with the lighthouse light."
Alex sighed. "Bummer. I wanted it to be a coincidence, but…"
"It doesn't matter," Kara mumbled, untying her boots to give her something to do other than look at Alex. "Lena's not like that."
"I know."
"She's coming back at lunchtime. I asked her to bring playing cards."
"Not sure I can hold them," Alex said, holding up a bandaged hand.
Kara kicked off her boots and went and lay down beside Alex. "I want everything to stop. All of it. I want everyone to stop being awful and just - just stop. I just want to stay here and eat non-rationed food and sleep and go for walks and I don't want the war to be here too, Alex. I don't want it here. I just - I…" Kara cuddled into Alex and let the tears fall.
"I know," Alex said softly, wrapping an arm around Kara, "Believe me, Kara, I want to stop it too."
"I'm so tired. And so scared. I'm just scared all the time. Scared I'm going to lose you. And then I nearly did and - I'm so tired of being scared. I just want it to stop."