It all came to a boil, by the second week of school with Kara, being called at least once a day to the office whenever the younger girl went catatonic and freaked out and needed her, having people avoid Kara and in turn, avoid Alex…
So the third week, Alex stayed in her room, didn't answer Kara's soft calls for her in the middle of the night, nor the tentative scratching (safer than knocking) at her door when everyone else was asleep. The first few nights she had opened her door, to reassure Kara and to coach her in what to do when she was freaking out. But there was only so much a teenager can take, with a new foster sister who wore weird headphones to school and either talked like an encyclopedia or characters out of Kim Possible. It was stressing her out and the only good thing to come out of this was that Brendan would seek Alex out every day to check in on her. Rick, the second-coolest guy in the school, would tag along, too and this little bit of attention meant she was SOMEBODY at school at least.
On Thursday of the the third week, Alex, who would usually walk Kara to class before heading to her own, left Kara quite abruptly to find her own way to class. Alex had felt immensely guilty as she walked away from Kara, but she had felt incredibly relieved. Her relief, of course, was short-lived when Kara had a panic attack right before lunch and Alex was called again to one of Kara's classes.
"Must be your new sister again." Rebecca had laughed glibly. "Guess you won't be having lunch with us after all."
Brendan had lagged behind to throw Alex a sympathetic look before following after the group and leaving Alex in the hallway, alone. The brunette stood there, annoyed with the whole situation, but made an about turn to walk as quickly as possible (no running in the halls!) to whatever class Kara had frozen up in.
"Ms. Danvers." The teacher in the class straightened up from where she was crouched beside Kara, relieved to see the brunette there. "She's not responding again." The plump, motherly teacher sighed. "I really think it's the lunch bell that sets her off.
"I've got her." Alex shrugged off her backpack, letting it fall to the floor, immediately squatting down in front of Kara so she could look into Kara's eyes.
"Kara." Alex touched Kara's shoulders gently. "Kara, it's ok. I've got you."
The blonde's eyes locked on hers, her breathing coming in wheezing gasps. In one of their nightly girl-talk sessions, Kara had spoken to Alex at length about the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere and it's significant difference from Krypton. And the smells. And the sounds. And how it translated to debilitating sensory white noise that would shut her down.
"Mrs. Patterson, do you mind leaving the room?" Alex sent the teacher a reassuring smile. "Kara just needs some space."
"Of course." Mrs. Patterson smiled, patting Alex on the shoulder kindly. "You're a good girl, Alex."
Alex nodded, waiting impatiently until they were alone and the door was shut. In the privacy of the classroom, Alex pressed her forehead against Kara's, pushing off the headphones and covering Kara's ears with her hands.
"Look at me, Kara. Come on, I'm right here. I'm here." Alex smoothed Kara's hair back, away from her face and tucked these golden locks behind her ears. Kept her hands over Kara's ears, remembering how Kara had shyly told Alex that she listened to Alex's heartbeat to calm down and focus.
"Listen to me." Alex said soothingly. Her own irritation at her situation faded slightly at the fear in Kara's eyes, the tears streaking down her face. "I'm here, Kara. I got you."
Kara's rapid blinking steadily slowed down, along with her breathing as she focused on Alex desperately.
"I'm… sorry…" Tears still ran down her face. "I'm s-sorry."
"No, it's okay." Alex said brusquely. "Just concentrate on my heartbeat. I'm right here. We'll just go home early today so you can rest up."
"No.. No…" Kara shook her head emphatically. "I w-want to try. I can do it. I don't want to wear the headphones anymore."
"You can't." Alex snapped, finally at her wits' end. "You just can't, Kara. You can barely last an entire day without freaking out! It was too soon-What were my parents thinking?"
"I can do it." Kara's lower lip trembled. The older girl let go of Kara and didn't answer, bending down to pick up the headphones that had dropped to the ground then tried to put it back on over Kara's ears.
"I don't want it." Kara ducked away from the headphones, swiping at the tears on her face with the back of her hand. Her jaw was set determinedly. "I can do it. I can be normal."
"Kara." Alex's exhale was more a growl than anything else. "You can't. You can barely get through a day of school-"
"I… can… do it." Kara's breath hitched, but she had her hands on her hips, looking completely, pig-headedly stubborn.
Alex's face darkened and she could feel the anger well up in her from the frustration of this impossible situation. It was impossible for her to keep a watch on Kara, it was impossible for Kara to adjust to Earth, it was just impossible! It was impossible for anything to go right!
"You can't! You can barely get through a day without me coming to look for you!" Alex let out a sound of pure frustration. "Fine. Fine, you go ahead, then. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Alex spun on her heels, picking her backpack off the floor and angrily stalked out the door.
It didn't take much for everything to explode in Alex's face. Like quite literally. The sequence of events lead to Alex lying in bed (even though she really didn't need to) and her mother fussing over her and tucking her in. She had given Kara the cold shoulder, despite knowing that Kara needed the support. Alex had refused to talk to her and maintained a stony silence, even at home and at night, turning her back to the door when she knew Kara might come to her for comfort.
Then, when they went to school on Friday, Alex had quickly left Kara's side, hoping that the sounds of the school would scare her back to using the earmuffs. Kara had refused to wear them, even when Eliza asked her, but Alex had snuck the 'noise-dampening over-ear cups' into her backpack when they left the house. If it got to be too much, Kara could still wear them. But of course, Kara, even though she had her hands over her ears from all the noise at school, refused to throw in the towel.
Surprisingly, Kara had lasted an entire day through school, so Alex took her to the beach with the rest of the kids determined to bully her into putting her headphones back on. And then, there had been a car crash which Kara had responded to like she was made for it. Alex had ran after her desperately and was just in time for the resulting explosion to hit the older teenager and send her flying. Alex wasn't sure, but she had probably blacked out for a few seconds because in the next moment, Kara was blubbering over her at the scene. All Alex could do was throw her arms around Kara, relieved that she was okay. Alex herself was bleeding profusely, though, and that caused Kara to freak out even more.
"I'm fine, mom." Alex protested but was secretly pleased that Eliza was fluffing up her pillow for her.
"Alex, you are not." Eliza clucked her tongue, eyes glancing at the bandaging on Alex's arm. "You have to be more careful! Look what happened!"
Alex rolled her eyes. Of course it was her fault. "Sorry, mom. I didn't expect a car to blow up in my face."
"Just be more careful next time." Eliza sighed, still tucking Alex in until she resembled a burrito. "Things could have gone a lot worse."
"Yes, mom." Alex rolled her eyes again but felt grudgingly happy as Mrs. Danvers leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. "Why don't you take a nap? You've had a long day."
Despite Alex's protests that it wasn't even dark outside yet, the excitement from the day had drained her and by the time Eliza's footsteps faded down the hallways, Alex was fast asleep. The day had exhausted her and while she was in the hospital getting checked up alongside the driver of the destroyed vehicle, she had lied. Lied through her teeth as the police and doctors asked her what she saw. She said she was there at the car crash and the door was already damaged enough that it didn't take much for Kara to pull it open. She lied and said that the woman inside the car must have imagined Kara flinging her out of the car, or the flying leap that she took to escape with the woman's baby.
Alex lied and said that Kara HAD saved the woman and the baby, but the circumstances were not as miraculous as the lady had said it was. The doctors and the police, of course, believed her version of the story. Even the woman Kara had saved was starting to believe that story. Because who would believe that a teenager ripped a door open, threw the mother out of the car and then jumped more than 20 feet away from the car with the baby in her arms?
Alex slept fitfully, but didn't wake up fully, always aware that people were walking in and out of her room. But she woke to a dark room, slightly disoriented. Alex thought she had heard someone talking to her in a language that she didn't recognize.
"What… who's there?" Alex called out. There was a beat of silence, then Kara stepped out of the shadows and into the square of moonlight cast through the window of Alex's room.
"Hi." Kara shifted from foot to foot nervously. "I'm sorry I woke you. I will leave-"
"Kara, stop." Alex sighed. She shifted over a bit and patted her bed. "Come sit with me."
The blonde obeyed wordlessly and perched on the edge of the bed, looking seconds away from fleeing as she clasped her hands together nervously.
"Are you okay?"
"Why are you asking me that?" Kara huffed, suddenly looking very upset. "You were the one that was hurt in this! You could have died-"
"It's just a scratch." Alex shrugged.
Kara shook her head, still very much distressed. "I heard the physician, he said that it would definitely scar-"
"-scars are cool-"
"-And you will have to be careful so the stitches don't rip!" Kara's eyes were wide with fear. "How will you ever survive? The medicine here on Earth is positively primitive!"
"Hey!" Alex chuckled and sat up a bit. "It's not that bad. And we work with what we got."
"I just keep messing things up, like Ron Stoppable." Kara looked like she was going to cry again. "I just wanted to be better, I did not want to stand out with the noise-dampening over-ear cups. I tried to be more normal. I wanted to do it for you."
"For me?" Alex was confused. "Why?"
"I realize you are embarrassed by me." Kara explained. "I heard people talking, saying that you have to take care of me. Because I'm special. And… special has a different meaning sometimes and I am not the good kind of special."
"Hey, hey, hey." Alex grabbed Kara by the shoulders, forcing Kara to look her in the eye. "You are absolutely the definition of the good kind of special. Don't listen to other people."
"They say I'm a freak."
"Freak...ing awesome. That's what they mean." Alex's tone of voice brook no argument and made Kara giggle. Alex reached up and touched the new frames perched on Kara's nose. "And what are these?"
"Oh! Jeremiah Danvers made these for me. They are lined with lead and will at least help me control my x-ray vision, which is the most jarring of these new super-powers." Kara touched them self-consciously. "Do I… do I look 'okay'?"
"You look great, Kara." Alex pulled Kara into a hug impulsively. "I'm sorry, too."
"For what, Alex?"
"For… everything. Everything that's happened to you. For sometimes being impatient with you. And for yelling at you before and for being really snappy." Alex could feel Kara's hands slowly reach up and press against her back tentatively. Her first attempt at a hug.
"Well, I have heard that females do get a bit snappy when they are menstruating." Kara patted Alex's back awkwardly. "It's okay."
Alex stiffened in the loose embrace, then pushed Kara back, horrified. "Are you… can you smell me?!"
Kara took a deep breath and smiled at Alex beatifically. "Yes. You smell like the birthing pods back on Krypton."