Yeesh, guys. What a time to be alive. Predatory men in power finally getting named and shamed. WOW. Good. I hope they throw the book at these people. And it's always appropriate to tell y'all that women who come forward need to be supported and believed, and the women who do not, should not be condemned for doing so. We all do what we do and some people do not have the star power or the clout to gamble with the fact that they may not have a job if they do speak out.
Again, support and believe the women that do. But support and understand the women that don't. Listen to them.
And... it's always a good time to drop a #blacklivesmatter. Because it always does and this is always something all of you should bear in mind. And before you guys drop the 'all lives matter' bull, NO. If all lives actually mattered, than what the hell is happening to the black population? Concentrate, people. BLACK LIVES MATTER. I love all y'all.
ANYWAYS. On to the chapter!
Before the taxi had even come to a complete stop, Alex had shoved money at the taxi driver, telling them to keep the change and jumped out of the taxi, already calling out for Kara.
"Kara!" Alex burst through the front door, her head turning to the sound of her mother's footsteps hurrying down the stairs from the second floor.
"Alex," Eliza hugged her daughter briefly in greeting. Eliza looked frazzled. "Kara was asking for you."
"What happened?" Alex asks, trying to remain as calm as possible, always remembering that Kara was listening. Alex's demeanour seemed to help Eliza, and the older woman took a deep breath, exhaling shakily.
"Kara has been… changing." Eliza's voice took on a more clinical note. "I've never witnessed it but I think this is part of Kryptonian adolescence and puberty."
Alex was loathe to ask, but the curiosity was killing her. "Why didn't you call Superman?"
"I did, after I called you." Eliza's answer made Alex feel a bit smug. She wasn't even a Kryptonian, but her mother trusted her to understand and help Kara before going to an actual Kryptonian.
"He didn't pick up. I saw on the news he was fighting some… I'm sure the person Superman was fighting was an alien but he just looked like… a member of KISS played by a biker on steroids." Eliza explained, almost rambling. Whenever Eliza was nervous, she rambled on about facts and figures or took an extreme interest in whatever was making her nervous and tried to break it down as rationally as she could. Alex noted this in the back of her mind, dimly aware that at this time and place, she was seeing her mother, not as just her mother who nagged her a lot, but as a human being who was actually a person. It was a strange concept, and Alex didn't have time to really wrap her head around it before this thought was banished by the noises coming from her and Kara's room.
"What do you mean by 'changing'?" Alex redirected the subject back to Kara, starting up the stairs, her ears picking up what sounded like pained groaning.
"It's… well…" Eliza took in another shaky breath. "I wouldn't have called you if I-you know if I-"
"It's fine, mom." The words finally made Eliza still, and Alex could see the deep furrow between her mom's brows, the worry entrenched there and… the deep shame on her face.
"I didn't," Eliza struggled in front of her daughter, her words stuttering out of her, the admission deepening the lines around Eliza's mouth and seeming to squeeze the energy out of her. "I didn't know what to do."
It was just like her mom with the centipede again. Another groan drew Alex away from whatever conclusion her head was trying to wrap around, and Alex flew up the stairs two at a time to get to her and Kara's room, leaving her mother behind.
"Kara!" The door flew open and Alex approached her sister, huddled on Alex's bed in a ball, face on the bed while clutching Alex's pillow.
"Alex, don't touch her, you don't know-" Eliza cut off her next words abruptly, before continuing in a much more measured tone of voice. "You have to… you should wear gloves. You don't know-"
That's when Alex noticed that there were… large pieces of what look liked shed skin littering the bed, and the clothes Kara was wearing were torn and barely holding on at the seams. Through the holes and tears in Kara's shirt, Alex could see that Kara's skin was red and raw; it looked quite painful. The blonde didn't seem to be registering that Alex and Eliza were there at all, possibly catatonic from sensory overload.
"Did you take samples?" Alex asked tersely.
"Yes but-"
"Did you take samples? Is anything toxic? Are there biological hazards?"
"No-"
Two long strides took Alex to Kara's side, and she leaned in, bare hands gently touching Kara's back. The Kryptonian arched into the warmth of Alex's hands instinctively, her spine protruding, it's outline too sharp and smooth to be normal. It struck Alex suddenly, that this girl she called sister, was very literally not from this world.
"Give me some time." Alex's full attention was on Kara. "I'll come down when she's better."
Alex didn't look to see if her mother was gone, having crawled onto the bed next to Kara, ignoring the weird mix of slippery wet and paper-crunch sensation of shed skin under her hands and knees.
"Kara, I'm here." Alex turned Kara onto her side to face Alex, Kara's eyes unseeing, her hands clamped over her own ears, her body folded in so tight that Kara's entire body was shaking from the stress. The fact that Kara's face looked like it was stretched and compressed by an opaque film, molded into something unrecognizable and monstrous didn't faze Alex in the slightest. Alex pressed her hands over Kara's, leaned forward until her forehead was pressed against Kara's forehead. Alex almost flinched away at how hot Kara's skin was to the touch, but resolutely pressed forward skin to skin, her own pale skin against Kara's red and peeling face.
Staring into Kara's eyes, which were dark blue and unseeing, Alex could see… it was like swimming up from the black depths of the ocean… she could see Kara coming back. Kara seemed to be struggling valiantly, eyes blinking rapidly, sucking breaths of air through her nose and mouth in whistling gulps. Alex kept quiet and still, waiting until she felt like enough time had elapsed before trying again.
"Kara, it's me." Alex tried again, gentling her voice even more.
"Alex." The name hissed out between Kara's gritted teeth, the light back in Kara's eyes, hopeful and bright, the darkness banished, Kara staring back at Alex. Kara's hands curled up to touch Alex's chin, disbelief on Kara's face but such raw hope shining from them.
"You're here! I needed you… I was calling for you but-how are you here?" Kara breathed out, sounding overwhelmed with joy. Pain furrowed Kara's brow when she moved a bit more and Alex reacted to the distress on Kara's face. Even though it wasn't the face Alex recognized, it was still Kara.
"I flew." Alex joked. The words were clumsy, too stiff and formal. Alex felt angry at herself for not practicing more. "What do you need me to do? How can I help?"
"I need you to… I need…" Kara's words trailed off into a whimper. "Hold on to me?"
Alex complied, gathering Kara into her arms, feeling the quavering in the Kryptonian's limbs. Alex would pause her movements periodically when her jostling made Kara cry out, but bit by bit, managed to gather Kara up in a loose hold.
"What's wrong?" Alex felt Kara's cries of pain like physical blows. This was something she couldn't help with. Alex wasn't fast enough, hadn't studied hard enough, wasn't smart enough… She didn't know how to help Kara. She didn't even know what was afflicting Kara. Alex had never felt so helpless and could feel her frustration bubbling up, choking her. The feeling only abated a little when Kara chuckled wearily, reaching up to trace Alex's jawline with a peeling finger.
"Kryptonian rite of passage," Kara winced, taking a deep breath. "The Stage of Growth. Don't worry about me, Alex. I just… need you to hold on to me."
Alex nodded furiously, pulling the younger woman closer. Alex watched Kara close her eyes, grit her teeth and start stretching. It was a jerky, hesitant motion, an incremental extension of Kara's body. Her arms had been curled up tight to her chest, but now Kara lifted them above her head, the movement awkward in the circle of Alex's arms. But Alex held on as Kara let out little whimpers, stretching her legs, pointing her toes down. Alex watched mutely as she saw Kara's skin break and tear apart, held Kara carefully as she convulsed in little tremors.
"Can I do anything?" Alex asked miserably, hating that Kara was in pain.
"It's enough. It's enough that you're here." Kara breathed out. Her stretch had broken skin on her face and neck, revealing red, blistered looking flesh underneath. But Kara's face was more recognizable now, just looking like she had barely escaped a four alarm fire in an oil refinery. The old skin had been compacting her features was attached to her face in large, separate flakes, but were no longer mushing her features together. Alex felt so relieved that this wasn't a fatal condition that she didn't even register the tears flowing down her own cheeks until Kara was touching Alex's face in concern.
"I'm fine, Alex. Every Kryptonian goes through this." Kara soothed.
"What about Superman?" Alex hated that her voice squeaked from the tears choking her up. "He never told us this would happen. Or that it happened to him."
"This is a private thing. Only for family and companions." Kara sighed, looking drowsy and exhausted. "This is… at our most vulnerable. I choose you to be with me. No other do I trust more above you."
Alex let out a sigh of contentment, touching their foreheads together again, breathing the same air as Kara. The words, formal and full of gravitas, made contentment settle deep in her bones.
Kara closed her eyes, a slight smile on her lips. "I'm glad you're home, Alex. I'm so tired."
"Go to sleep, sweetheart." The endearment slipped out before Alex could censor herself, blushing furiously at the words that had come out of her mouth. Before she could backtrack, Kara already fallen asleep, completely dead to the world. Alex stayed there for a few minutes, eyes sweeping over Kara's face. Sure that Kara would stay asleep, Alex got up, trying her best not to move Kara as she extricated herself from the Kryptonian.
Alex padded out of the room and back down the stairs, finding her mother at the dinner table, a mug of coffee cupped in both hands, sipping delicately at her beverage. Eliza startled when she noticed Alex, spilling a bit of coffee on the table.
"I got that." Alex grabbed a dishcloth from the kitchen and came back to wipe up the spill. Alex noticed now that her mother had dark circles under her eyes, her hair looking oily and unwashed. It looked like her mom hadn't rested in days.
"I'm glad you're home, Alexandra." Eliza gave Alex a rundown smile. Eliza folded her hands together, looking down at them. "I knew this, thing she's going through would pass but then… and I didn't want to bother anyone but Kara was calling for you. She was calling out for you and I didn't know-"
Alex covered her mom's tightly clasped hands with her own. Eliza stopped talking and just bowed her head, her long hair making a curtain so Alex couldn't seeing her mom's face.
"Mom, do you want to take a shower or a nap? I'll call for food." Alex said, her voice neutral and calm.
"Thank you. That would be very nice, honey." Eliza moved to get out of her chair and Alex ducked her head down, patting her pockets for her phone to pick a take out place, trying not to look at her mom's face again. It made her uncomfortable to realize that her mother could look like that. So… tired and beatdown. Alex glanced up, just as her mother disappeared up the stairs. It was a disconcerting feeling to realize that there were some things that overwhelmed her mother, and it left a tiny ball of anxiety right in the centre of Alex. Her parents were not infallible beings.
Alex scrolled through her saved numbers of all the take-out places she and Kara would call out to, and she finally settled on Chinese take-out. It had been a while since she had been home and Alex felt like Kara and Eliza might appreciate the comfort of familiar food.
"Alex?" Sharon's voice came over the line. "Are you home?"
"Hey Sharon," Alex greeted. "How'd you know it was me?"
"Call display. Are you back home?" Sharon repeated.
"Yeah-"
"Is Kara okay? She hasn't been in school for a while and the teachers just said she was sick. I brought homework to the house but I never saw her."
"She's going to be just fine, she's just a bit sick." Alex explained, touched to know that Sharon was still just as good a friend to Kara as she usually was. "How've you been?"
"You know, working part-time, stressing out about colleges. Stressing out because Kara's not stressing out over colleges."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Sharon laughed. "She's all like 'I'm going to the same school as Alex', and that's it."
Alex smiles fondly to herself. "Well, she probably wants to do that because she knows I'll be paying for all the food she eats."
"Speaking of food, do you want any or did you just call to say hi?"
"Oh, no. Sorry. Yeah, I'm ordering."
Sharon takes her order quickly, promising that someone will be by soon to drop off the order. Alex hangs up, noting the sound of water running in the pipes in the wall. Someone was taking a shower. Probably her mother.
Alex climbed the stairs again, peeking into their room to see Kara curled up in bed, her face turned towards the door.
"Alex!"
Alex crossed the room and was sitting on the bed, smoothing Kara's hair away from the younger woman's face. In the process of Kara's shedding, Alex noticed that most of Kara's clothes had torn apart during her stretch, except for her underwear which were stretched tight around Kara's thighs, already tearing a bit at the seams. Alex tried to cover Kara up with a blanket but the Kryptonian let out a hiss of pain at the touch of cloth against her skin.
"I'm sorry! Does it hurt?" Alex threw the blanket away from Kara.
"Just sensitive with the new skin. Everything I touch, even this bed..." Kara was trying to smile again but it was barely convincing. Alex drew back but a noise of complaint from Kara and her hand were back on Kara, touching her lightly on the shoulder.
"I thought I was dreaming." Kara croaked out. "I was afraid I was hallucinating and you weren't really here."
"I'm really back." Alex pressed the back of her hand against Kara's forehead. The Kryptonian's temperature seemed to have dropped some from the almost-scalding hotness of before. Kara sighed at Alex's touch, nuzzling into it minutely.
"I didn't want you to worry." Kara said apologetically. "You were studying so hard for your exams."
"Oh, I didn't end up doing them. But that's okay."
"No, no, no, no, that's," Kara was more alert, a look of horror on her face. "This is… I read this is how humans, especially in this part of the world, find their vocation. I read that this is very important, especially examinations-"
"It's fine. My teachers give me… time." Alex struggled with the words, slow on her tongue, out of practice. "It will be fine. I want to talk about you. You said… Stage of Growth?"
"Every child goes through this, to their adult stage. I started mine late. Earth's yellow sun has affected me strangely and I didn't think that I would be growing so fast."
"How long does it take? Normal?" Alex tried her words again. "Normally. Regularly?"
"Child stage is quite long for us. Then the adolescence shedding and growing comes once every few of our Kryptonian years. I don't think I'm finished, though. And this could happen a couple more times in the next few years." Kara stretched out her arm, groaning as her skin pulled and stretched, but this new skin stayed.
"Should I-" Alex tried to remove her hand from Kara's forehead, but Kara clasped her hand over Alex's.
"No, please. You make it better." Kara confessed. The rub of fabric against her skin, hearing sounds from states away… all of it was maddening. But Alex's hand, the faithful beat of her heart, banished all the white noise and sensory overload just like it always did. Kara could focus on Alex, her smell, the feel of her hand… and everything would be better. They stayed like this, Alex's hand pressed against Kara's forehead, dry and warm, Alex's heartbeat thrumming through their skins, settling Kara's skin to that same gentle rush of blood.
"I ordered food for us." Alex's thumb stroked along the line of Kara's jaw. Alex traced her fingers wonderingly over the planes of Kara's face, smiling at the unfocused look on Kara's face, knowing she was listening to something far away. When Kara refocused back on Alex's face, delight was clear in the Kryptonian's eyes.
"You ordered Chinese!" Kara said with glee. Alex chuckled. It was still Kara but different. Alex tried to remember their last video chat, now remembering how Kara's face had seemed… oddly pinched the last time they had talked face to face over the laggy connection in her dorm room.
"Only the best for mine." Alex offered the words Viox had taught her, her heart felt lighter at the grin on Kara's face. The sound of the doorbell ringing soon after signalled the arrival of the food. Alex could hear her mother calling to them about going downstairs to eat.
"Do you want to come down and eat? Or I can bring the food up to you." Alex asked.
"No, I've been laying in bed for a really long time. I feel like I should walk a bit." Kara got up gingerly, holding onto Alex's arm to steady herself. Kara had never been shy about her body and didn't make to cover up at all. Kara got up, stumbling awkwardly like a baby gazelle, the flexing of her muscles finally tearing her underwear at the sides.
"Oops." Kara looked down and casually ripped off the rest of her underwear, bunching it up and chucking it into the garbage bin on the other side of the room with super accuracy.
"Kara." Alex could feel her face heating up as her eyes darted below Kara's neck, back up to Kara's earnest face where it was much safer to rest her eyes.
"Alex, I missed you so much." Kara leaned forward, resting her chin on Alex's shoulder with a tremulous sigh. Alex, meanwhile, had frozen completely, unsure of where to put her hands.
"You can touch me. It doesn't hurt when you touch me." Kara reassured Alex, not knowing that Alex was having a different kind of conundrum. Kara took this as a cue to move closer-closer than she already was which was way too close for Alex's comfort at the moment-and grabbed Alex's hands, guiding them to wrap around her waist. At the feel of Alex's bare palms on the skin of her back, Kara let out a happy sigh, the irritation of feeling so MUCH, banished far away.
"Kara," Alex chuckled, pressing her face against the side of Kara's head in a bid to hide her flaming face, trying desperately to understand why she was feeling so flustered. "Did you suddenly grow taller than me?"
Alex took a step back to look up at Kara, marvelling at how much the younger woman had grown. Kara ducked her head bashfully, the gesture so charming that Alex felt briefly stunned by it, had to take a step back and turn away.
"Here," Alex picked up and shook out the long flat sheet Kara had on her bed. "I know you don't like it but if you want to go downstairs, mom might appreciate you wearing something."
Alex carefully draped the sheet over Kara, trying to not wince at every little noise of discomfort Kara made as Alex wrapped her in the sheet in a loose toga style. Kara tried a smile, but it came out as a wince.
"How's walking?" Alex asked, worried.
"Just hold my hand?" Kara asked through gritted teeth. Alex complied readily and Kara finally let out a breath, anchoring herself to Alex. "Better."
"Is this helping?" Alex tilted her head to the side, a bit more inquisitive. "Are you still invulnerable?"
Kara nodded. "Tried to bang my knee on something sharp, see if it would cut. I can feel pain now, and gosh it hurts, but, uh, don't tell Eliza I broke my bed again."
"Don't try to hurt yourself again, please. I know we did it before, just to test. But… it really-I don't like it. I can't help it." Alex shook her head as Kara squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I just don't like you being hurt, that's all."
Kara nodded, tugging Alex towards the door. "Okay."
"I'm worried, though. How are you able to be so sensitive to things right now that it registers as pain, and with your super senses, you're feeling everything-"
"I just need to control it better. Viox said… Viox said it will always give me trouble, like my sight, but I have to adjust." Kara shrugged uncomfortably at the reminder of Viox as they made their way downstairs. Eliza was already setting out the boxes of food when the two young women arrived in the kitchen. Eliza looked cleaned up, hair tied up in a high ponytail, still wet from her shower. Alex tried to let go of Kara's hand but Kara retained a tight grip, seeming to need skin-to-skin contact.
"Girls. Kara. You look better." Eliza smiled at them, definitely looking much better than when Alex had first stepped through the door. Eliza's eyes darted down to their entwined hands, but she didn't comment on it to Alex's relief. Alex was sure her reputation as a hardass at home was well and truly shattered.
Kara nodded sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would happen like this."
"It's alright. We'll keep it in between us." Eliza's gaze turned sharp when her attention turned to Alex. "It's a private thing, so don't tell your dad about it, okay?"
"I know.." Alex shrugged, a bit stung by the sudden bite in her mother's tone. "Kara told me it was a private thing."
"It is, so we'll keep it in between the three of us. We don't want-" Eliza clamped her mouth shut suddenly, as if realizing she was beginning to rant. "Anyways. Let's keep it between the girls. I really don't want to explain to your father about Kara hitting Kryptonian puberty."
Alex shuddered. Before Kara had come to live with them, Alex had had that talk with her mother, and her father had been present. It was highly awkward talking about hair growth on her body and she had been about as mortified as her father had been. Alex was sure her mother had been, too, and it made her feel better that this was proof that it hadn't been a fun experience for her mother either.
Alex made to let go of Kara's hand again, but Kara kept a tight grip. It wasn't unpleasant, but it would just be difficult to eat with only one hand. The first ten minutes or so they ate in silence, Eliza and Kara both seemed super concentrated on their food. Alex watched the both of them, a little bit concerned. She knew it had been a really rough time and Alex was loathe to leave Kara alone in Middleton with her mom, who didn't seem to be handling Kara's growing stages very well.
"Hey," The sudden attention from two pairs of eyes made Alex clear her throat nervously. "Um. I was just thinking. I wanna be around for Kara's… growing. I think it'll be better for her? She's, I think she can feel pain when she's like this but I make it better. Right, Kara?"
Kara nodded, wondering where Alex was leading with this but trusting Alex.
"What if Kara came to be with me when she feels this shedding thing coming on? Like, I need to go back to do my exams, but if you'll let me borrow the car-or I can rent one, I can go there and then drive back with Kara." Alex gestured plaintively with one hand. "She could just stay with me since I have my own dorm room and I don't have to share and everyone on my floor's pretty cool. Plus most everyone is on exam mode or they're packing up and leaving. And then when I'm done my exams, I can drive us both back."
Eliza put down her pair of chopsticks with a sigh. She steepled her hands together and closed her eyes resting her forehead against her hands.
"It's… honey." Eliza looked between Alex and Kara. "But you have your exams-"
"It's fine. The professors are really really chill and I know my stuff like the back of my hand." Alex said confidently. And she really did. Everything she had studied had been super easy. She was incredibly smart, but it was also extremely easy when she knew that this information she was consuming could definitely help Kara.
Eliza looked torn, though. Her eyes drifted over to Kara, weary, so full of helplessness.
"Is that what you want, dear?"
"It's what I want." Kara nodded, her eyes bright and happy at the thought of being with Alex at school. "It's definitely what I want and it'll help. I won't even bother her, I'll just be sleeping. And I don't think I'm shedding again anytime soon, but being with Alex can help, especially right after shedding."
Eliza nodded again, and Alex could see the relief plain on her face, but the guilt again in the lines around her mouth. Since coming through the door, she had noticed these little things about her mother, and Alex was suddenly shocked to see how much time had passed from when Kara had first come to their house. From when Alex had first ridden her bike, even. She remembered her mother, bright-eyed and laughing, her face young and vibrant.
But now her mother had wrinkles around her eyes and worries had deepened the lines on her face. Alex was suddenly afraid. She realized that her mother was getting older, and so was Alex. And there would be times when her mother would not have all of the answers and this time, right here, was one of those times.
Alex held out her free hand to her mother, suddenly needing her mother's touch. Eliza complied, taking Alex's hand in her own.
"Don't worry, mom." Alex said bravely. "We'll be okay."