"Lena? What are you doing here?" Sam asked indifferently.
"I-," Lena trailed off. "I wanted to see Kara."
Sam guffawed. "You mean like the over four hundred times she tried to see you? Every day for 5 months until she finally gave up because you threatened to get a damn restraining order? She went to you three times a day, every day, for five months, Lena. You don't deserve to look at her, let alone speak with her. There's only so many times you can push someone away before they stop trying to be with you, and you reached your limit!"
"I thought you had the hots for James!" Lena yelled at Sam. "Why are you smooching on Kara?"
Sam furrowed her brow. "Well, because we're dating? Which, I'm sure you would have known if you'd stayed in contact with anyone. You didn't even say goodbye, Lena… You abandoned us all! Me, Alex, Ruby, and most importantly Kara. You destroyed her for months, Lena! You had no right to treat her the way that you did, and moreover, you had no right to abandon everyone, especially Kara, for something so stupid!"
Kara shook her head and stepped in between the quarreling ex-best friends. "Stop it! I'm not a damsel in distress, Babe. I can take care of myself." She asserted.
"Sorry. I'll go inside and let you handle this. But don't forget we have dinner with your sister tonight." Sam announced loudly.
Lena broke at that revelation. Sam had Alex's approval… which meant that there was no way in hell that they'd just gotten together. They'd had to have been together for at least two or three months… minimum.
"She hates me now… Huh?"
Kara made a 'so-so' gesture with her hand and then laughed half-heartedly. "She was pretty pissed when you left."
"I should have called her… I should have called you too, but I was so ashamed, Kara… I knew that if I looked at your face, I'd lose it. The guilt still eats me up to this day. I should have never threatened you with that restraining order. I should have done a lot of things differently."
Kara nodded. "Yeah. But the past is the past I suppose. We've moved on, right?"
That comment chipped a little bit more at Lena's heart, but she nodded. "Of course!" She lied.
"Well, I have to get around. Sam, Ruby, and I have to get to Alex's by six. Give me your number, and I'll text you so we can schedule that coffee, okay?"
Lena frowned, hating that this was what she came back too, but she nodded and did as requested, giving Kara the number she'd switched to in an effort to avoid Kara getting in contact with her. "I will talk to you soon?" She asked hopefully.
Kara nodded. "Yes. Soon. See you later, Lena."
Lena smiled sadly. "I'll see you later." She replied before turning back towards her waiting car.
As she walked away, it took everything she had in her to stop herself from crying… Kara was happy without her, and although that broke her heart, Lena refused to interfere with it.
"You have a lot of nerve." Sam seethed behind her.
Lena turned around to see Kara had already gone inside and frowned. "Sam, I'm sorry that I never called, I was ju-,"
"Soooo ashamed." Sam mocked. "Yes. I heard. I heard your bullshit excuses for your cowardice, and I'm here to tell you to stay away from her. You've hurt her enough."
"Why are you even with her, Sam? Just to spite me?" Lena asked, anger running through her.
"No," Sam stated firmly. "I'm with her because you abandoned us both, and we helped each other cope, and eventually along the way, we fell in love. That's why I'm with her. Not everything is about you. You would understand if you were actually here to see the fall out of your rash exit. It was bad, Lena… Really bad, which is why I need you to stay away from her. You're just going to bring back up old hurt, and she doesn't deserve that. She deserves happiness, and that's what I'm giving her."
Lena's heart was on fire with envy, guilt, and regret. "If you are making her so happy you have nothing to worry about."
Sam shook her head. "I have Kara, and I will always worry about her. I'm not jealous, in fact, I'm perfectly secure with where our relationship stands, but I cannot, and will not let you hurt her again by disappearing after you have become friends again, because you will. She'll forgive you eventually because she's such a kind person, and as soon as she does, she's going to start caring for you again. So don't do this. Don't come back and make her care about you if you're just going to lave us all over again."
Lena had tears falling from her face; her heart was in pieces. "I'm moving back to National City, Sam. I'll never hurt her again."
Sam stared at her for a few moments, seeming to be appraising her sincerity. After a few moments, she sighed in resignation. "You don't deserve her, but you aren't going to hurt her again so I can't interfere."
Lena swallowed back the lump in her throat. "Really?"
Sam sighed and pinched her temples with her index finger and thumb. "Really. I don't want her to be friends with someone who has no respect for others, but I can't stop her."
Lena's heart yearned to hug Sam, to apologize and make amends for her past wrongdoings, but by the looks of it, it was going to take years for that to happen. So, all she could do was say how she felt. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Sam."
Sam scoffed. "Actions speak louder than words, Lena… and your actions say otherwise."
XXX
Three days later, Lena was still awaiting Kara's text, and although she was anticipating it, she was also straightening everything out with her company.
So, she was knee deep in paperwork when her phone finally went off.
She immediately ran to her cellphone and unlocked it to read the text.
Kara: Hey, it's Kara.
Lena smiled, her heart alight with joy from finally receiving the text she'd been longing for.
Lena: I never lost your number darling. I knew who you were. :)
Kara: Oh. So you could have called…
Lena's heart fell.
Lena: Kara, I wanted to…
Kara: But you didn't, and you made me feel like an ass for trying to get to you.
Lena: Please give me a chance to earn back your friendship.
Lena held her breath and hoped for the best.
Kara: This afternoon, at 3… Noonan's? We can talk there.
Lena squealed.
Lena: I'll be there.
XXX
Lena sat in the dining room at Noonan's a little before 2:30… just in case Kara showed up early too.
She sat and thought back on all the dates she and Kara had shared there. The kissing, the whispering, the giggling. She missed it all. She wanted Kara back more than anything, but Kara's happiness meant everything to her, and she was happy with Sam, so Lena decided that she'd take the high-road and go back to pining for Kara in the silence the way she had before they'd gotten together.
Soon enough, the clock hit 2:56, and in stepped Kara Danvers in all her beauty. She was breathtakingly gorgeous as she walked over in her flannel shirt. "Hi." She greeted Lena as she sat down across from her.
Lena's heart skipped a beat. She smiled. "Thank you for seeing me."
Kara shrugged. "I'd like some answers, you want to give them, so I guess this is mutually beneficial."
"I'd first like to start by ordering you a coffee. Is that okay?" Lena asked nervously.
Kara nodded. "Sure. That'd be nice."
XXX
After Lena had ordered their coffees, they sat in a long, awkward silence until finally, Lena could no longer take it. "I'm sorry."
Kara inhaled profoundly and fiddled with er glasses as she nodded. "I know."
"I need you in my life, Kara."
"Why now?" Kara asked irritated. "You had over a year. Why now?"
"Because I missed you more than I could ever imagine." Lena shook her head, reminding herself not to tell Kara how she truly felt. "I missed you as my best friend more than anything,"
Kara nodded. "So, why were you so angry with me? Why threaten to have me arrested? Why threaten to get a restraining order? Why not instead of having Jess do all the talking to me, come and just tell me how you felt? Regardless if you wanted to be with me back then or not?"
Lena let out a shaky breath. "I threatened you because I was scared. I refused to see you because I was ashamed, and I knew that if I saw your face, the guilt would consume me. I was a coward, and I couldn't face you even when I wanted to. I know I hurt you, Kara, believe me I do, I hurt myself right along with you, but I couldn't face you. I hate myself for the way I reacted, and I am honored to be friends with Supergirl, I just wish that you felt safe enough to tell me."
Kara shook her head. "It had nothing to do with that, Lena. It had everything to do with me being scared that you would be an even bigger target than you already were if you knew my identity. I wanted to tell you, but every time I got ready to, my fears kept me from doing it. But it was my secret to tell, and your mother using my identity to (successfully) break us up was not part of the plan."
Lena swallowed a hot gulp of her coffee. "I'm sorry she did that."
Kara shrugged. "You made your own choice, not your mother."
And oh did that hurt to hear. "I-I know that."
Kara nodded. "I know you do. I'm just saying; it wasn't your mother's fault you left."
"You're right. It wasn't. It was mine, and I am sorry, Kara."
"I know you are, and I'm trying to forgive you, but it's hard," Kara admitted, her voice shaky. "You have no idea the unimaginable pain I went through when you left me, Lena. Alex tried her hardest to be there for me, and it worked, but she didn't know you the way I did. Only Sam and she was going through the same betrayal I was, so we started to comfort each other. Alex helped, she really did, but not the extent that mine and Sam's mutual bonds to you did. Even with Sam though, it took forever to get over you."
Lena's heart broke… Kara was over her. "How long?" Her voice broke, so she cleared her throat and started over. "How long have you and Sam been together?"
Kara smiled the first genuine smile of the night at the mention of her new relationship. "Four months officially."
A knife jabbed into Lena's chest… She'd come back four months too late. "Oh. So right at a year after I left?"
Kara nodded. "About nine months after you left I started realizing that I had feelings for her, but I wanted to make sure they were serious before I did anything about them, so I waited three months to be sure. Then when the time came, I asked her out, she said she'd been wanting to ask me out for months, and the rest is history."
Lena hated this. Hated that her ex-best friend and her ex-girlfriend were together. Hated that Kara was with someone that wasn't her. Hated that she had hurt Kara so severely… She hated everything about this damned situation. "That's lovely." She lied. "I'm happy for you,"
Kara's smile grew brighter. "Thank you, Lena. That means a lot."
Lena smiled, glad that her opinion still meant something to Kara. "You're welcome, Kara. I just want you to be happy."
