A/N: Thank you for the comments.

Guest (1) - I do wonder how many of Batman's famous foes will make an appearance or, if they try to separate him and his foes from her.

Guest (2) - Thank you! I find Ruby one of the harder characters to write so I'm glad you like the reaction.


"Why does this look nothing like that?" Kara asked herself looking at the cake she had attempted to make and the cake on the TV.

"Because you made it?" Alex suggested as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey." Kara said throwing a tea towel at Alex.

"Why are you baking?...if you can call it that." Alex asked looking at Kara's failed attempt.

"It's meant to be therapeutic."

"You're grief baking? When did you move onto grief baking?" Alex asked.

"When Snapper fired me."

"That was nearly two years ago. How did I not know?"

"Because I have never made anything that would not cause harm to humans."

"But you still try." Alex pointed out.

"Starting to believe practice doesn't make perfect." Kara sighed as she threw the cake in the bin.

"You used to paint, which was far less dangerous to the rest of us." Alex reminded her.

"Yeah." Kara said.

"Any reason you stopped painting?" Alex asked.

"When I first got here, painting allowed me to remember Krypton. I could paint scenes from home and feel connected to everything I had lost. But now, I don't know, maybe I don't want to be connected to Krypton."

"You could paint scenes from National City." Alex pointed out before saying. "Smoke."

"What?" Kara asked confused.

"The oven is smoking."

"My brownies." Kara said opening the oven door letting even more smoke escape. Not needing a glove she grabbed the tray from inside the oven and removed the charcoal like brownies.

"Mom is going to kill you for ruining her oven." Alex said.

"Me? You're meant to be the one babysitting me." Kara pointed out as she threw the brownies in the bin.

"No, I'm meant to be resting. I didn't even know you were baking." Alex countered not hearing the front door open. "Although the smell should have given it away. You are worse than I am in the kitchen."

"What is going on in here?" Eliza asked walking into the kitchen.

"Mom, you're back early." Alex greeted as Kara used her powers to inhale the smoke before blowing it outside.

"Clearly not early enough." Eliza said.

"Before you blame me, I was upstairs sleeping, like you told me to." Alex said. In response Eliza turned to Kara who meekly said.

"I tried to bake some cakes. I'm going to go and replace all the ingredients I wasted. See you later."

-00-

"Here you go." Eliza said handing Kara a mug of hot chocolate as she joined Kara on the porch that evening.

"You don't need to sit with me." Kara said.

"I know." Eliza said sitting next to Kara and wrapping an arm round her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kara asked confused.

"You are a terrible liar, which as a parent I am eternally grateful for. But I should have known that you were struggling."

"I didn't want you to know. I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Kara, it's my job to worry about you and look after you. Not the other way round." Eliza reminded her.

"You had enough to worry about." Kara said.

"I will always worry about you."

"You shouldn't. You have done so much for me."

"Family isn't about owing a debt of gratitude." Eliza reminded her. "It's about being there for each other no matter what. And whenever you are ready, I'm here."

"I know. But I don't want to talk." Kara replied.

"What do you want?" Eliza questioned.

"A hug?" Kara asked. The request causing Eliza to hold her tighter. Eventually Kara said. "I'm sorry I let you down."

"You didn't let me down." Eliza said.

"Yes I did. I didn't protect Alex, I wasn't there for you. I failed you."

"You didn't and you have never failed me. I just wish that you wouldn't always shut down when you are in pain. I can't imagine how hard it is for you to keep losing people you love, but no matter who you lose there will always be people around who want to help. Don't separate yourself from them and don't live in fear. I wish I could protect you and Alex more. Shelter you from the pain, but I can't. It is part of life. But no matter what happens just remember you will never be alone. There are so many people out there who love you. Even the mighty Cat Grant dropped everything to help you." She let her words sink in before her voice turned sterner and she said. "But Kara, I need you to promise me that you will never shut yourself off again and you'll never lie to me again. I know you thought you were helping but all you did was make yourself sicker. If you had been honest from the start we could have got the Kryptonite out and made you better so much quicker. I can't help but think that if Alex hadn't turned up you would have isolated yourself until it was too late and I would have lost you too." She finished, her voice cracking slightly.

"I'm sorry." Kara replied.

"I know." Eliza said squeezing her tighter. "And I'm sorry too."

"For what?" Kara asked confused.

"For somehow making you not feel part of this family. That was never my intention."

"You've always made me feel part of the family." Kara said confused.

"I can't have. Other wise you wouldn't shut yourself off and feel like you owe me some kind of debt." Eliza pointed out.

"I just want to thank you for everything." Kara explained.

"I know. But you don't have to." Eliza replied. "But, there is something you could do."

"Anything." Kara agreed enthusiastically.

"Stay away from my oven." Eliza smiled.

-TBC...


A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.