Two days later and Lena is back in her penthouse. Kara's made sure that the DEO installed a new security system; one that she knows to be infallible. Lena rolls her eyes at that but she accepts it nonetheless and even sends a thank-you card to J'onn. Well, Kara has to deliver it in person and she makes fun of Lena but Lena doesn't care. It's the polite thing to do, Kara, she tells her. Kara also takes it upon herself to fix the broken handle of the sliding door and she grins proudly when she manages to do it under half an hour. To celebrate, Lena orders pizzas.
They sit on the expensive leather couch and Kara makes a conscious effort to not stuff her mouth with food. Lena seems relaxed and she laughs at Kara's silly jokes. The penthouse has been cleaned up before they arrived and Kara sheepishly picks up her crumbs of pizza crust that fell to the floor. Lena eyes her, amused.
"You know I have a cleaning lady."
"Yeah well. Less work for her."
"I pay her."
Kara just smiles at Lena and picks up another slice of pepperoni pizza.
She isn't really surprised when her phone rings in the middle of the night. Kara blindly reaches for it and, when she sees the caller ID, she sits up in her bed, alarmed.
"Lena?"
"Kara… I'm sorry to wake you…"
"No, no, what's going on? Are you okay?"
"I just—I thought… I had a nightmare. I'm sorry, this is silly."
"No, please, what do you need? Tell me."
"Could you—would you come over? Please?"
She makes it back to Lena's penthouse in record time.
"What was it about? Your nightmare?"
Lena sighs against her neck and Kara shivers, not from the cold.
"Lex. You."
"Me?"
"If I had hesitated a moment longer."
She doesn't elaborate but Kara understands. She remembers Lex's hands around her throat all too well. Clark still checks in with her every day now, clearly also unable to shake the thought away. No doubt Kara's strangled breaths still echo in his mind. She wonders if he has nightmares about Lex too.
"You saved me, Lena. I'm here."
"When I woke up and you weren't with me… There was a moment where I wondered if any of it was real; if you really were alive. Because in my dream I'd failed you, Kara."
"I'm alive. I'm real. You know that. You didn't fail me."
Lena clings to her anyway; one of her hands slipping under Kara's shirt and resting on her abs. Under any other circumstances, Kara would have teased her about being into her muscles but she knows that now isn't the time.
"Did you have nightmares like that before tonight?"
"Not as bad," Lena says. "I think being with you kept them at bay."
"Well. I suppose you could use me then."
She feels Lena's smile against her skin and she realizes what she's just said.
"I—I mean we could sleep together if it helps you! Wait—I—oh Rao."
At least this has the merit of making Lena laugh. Kara likes the sound and she grins in spite of herself. Lena's hand on her stomach moves a little, nails scratching, and Kara twitches. Before Lena can retract her hand, Kara places her own on top of it and keeps it there.
"We should sleep now, before I embarrass myself further," Kara whispers in the darkness of the room.
Lena nods and kisses her cheek before settling back on Kara's collarbone. Sleep comes fast for both of them.
On Lena's first day back at L-Corp, Kara is restless and anxious. As soon as the clock strikes noon, she shoots up from her seat and hurries out of CatCo to buy lunch and bring it to Lena's office.
Once she's there, Kara waits by the desk of the new secretary, her foot tapping nervously on the floor much to the annoyance of the young woman behind the desk. Finally, after ten long minutes, the door to Lena's office opens and Kara straightens up. She isn't expecting to see Jess' parents come out of the room. Yet here they are, arms linked and heads bowed as they leave. They don't acknowledge Kara's presence—they don't know her after all—and head straight for the elevator. From the doorway, Lena waits for her. Kara hurries towards her.
The first thing her eyes see is the wastepaper basket near Lena's desk. It's filled with crumpled tissues and, when she turns around to face Lena who stands behind her, Kara notices that the other woman has cried. She closes the distance between them and hugs Lena briefly.
"Jess' parents?"
Lena nods and leads Kara to the couch where they sit and open the boxes of Chinese take-out.
"They wanted to talk to me."
"Why?"
"They said—"
Lena swallows hard and clears her throat.
"They said they were happy I was alive and safe. That Jess would be happy too. They uh, they told me she loved her job and that she wouldn't shut up about it whenever she visited them."
"That's really nice of them."
"Jess was great at her job. I don't think anyone will ever be able to fill her shoes. Apparently they didn't want her to work for me at first. Like everyone else, they were wary of, well, my last name and its history. But Jess wouldn't listen to them and eventually they came around when they realized how much she loved her job."
"You're a good boss."
"She made everything easier," Lena says with a sigh. "I'll miss her the most."
Their lunch break is filled with a heavy silence that Kara doesn't dare break.
Alex calls early one morning, a few days after Lena is back to work and Mon-El has been cleared to leave the DEO's medical unit. Lena has just left for work and Kara is only now getting up; Lena's large bed too comfy to give up easily when she doesn't have to go to CatCo for another hour and a half.
"We cracked Lex's files. We found her, Kara. The woman who placed the bomb at L-Corp? We know where she is."
Kara's in her Supergirl outfit before she even hangs up the phone. This is it. The piece of the puzzle that's been missing all this time. Lex was behind the attack but he couldn't have placed the bomb himself. The cameras were useless after the explosion so they couldn't identify who was at the scene moments before. After they'd found the bunker, the DEO had extracted all of Lex's encrypted files and it had taken them until now to finally track the bomber down.
J'onn, Alex and Winn are waiting for her by the computers and, before she even reaches them, Winn uses a small remote to project a file and a picture onto the screens.
"What am I looking at," Kara asks.
"This," Winn says as he points to the picture of a red-head woman, "is Lydia Nelson. She's a chemist. Well, was. She got fired from her job three years ago when she was caught stealing various chemical products for her own home lab. We've followed a money trail from one of Lex's many off-shore bank accounts and it led us to another off-shore account registered under an alias which I then tracked down… and bingo!"
"How did Lex find her?"
"Well, his files didn't say."
"How do we know it's her?"
"Because she was in National City the day the bomb went off. And a security camera places her at the corner of the street minutes before the explosion."
"And after?"
"Uh, no. No sign of her. She pretty much vanished."
Kara turns to face Winn.
"No tickets booked to her name? A car, maybe?"
"She doesn't own a driving license. Though I suppose she could still drive without one."
"Our best guess is that she's still around," Alex says.
"Mr Schott has sent all of his findings to the FBI. They'll be taking over the investigation," J'onn adds.
"I want in," Kara declares, her fists on her hips.
"That's not up to me. I'll let the agent in charge know that you're willing to help. I doubt they'll refuse Supergirl."
"Thanks, J'onn."
Kara doesn't tell Lena about Lydia Nelson. She figures that it won't help Lena put everything behind her and her worrying about it will be counterproductive. So she remains quiet on the topic and when they meet at Kara's apartment later that day, long after the sun has set, Kara talks about everything but that.
Lena seems to be getting better with each day. Being back to the office helps. It keeps her mind busy and Kara likes to see how excited she is about the new projects of the company. They exchange fond smiles over dinner and Kara isn't exactly sure why she hasn't kissed Lena yet. Clearly they're on the same page about this if Lena's flirty looks and knowing smirks are anything to go by. Neither of them is trying to hide from the other, but still, nothing has happened. Kara desperately wants to change that, wills Lena to make the first move, but Lena doesn't. It's as if she enjoys this dance and, hell, Kara loves the dance but it's almost ridiculous now.
Kara spends most of her nights at Lena's. They haven't really talked about it but after Lena called Kara a few times in the middle of the night to ask her to come over, Kara figured they might as well fall asleep in the same bed. They have their own ritual by now: Lena sleeps on the left side of the bed, but she drapes herself all over Kara, whose arms rest protectively around her. It is the sweetest torture Kara's ever had to endure.
In the shadows of National City, the FBI works fast. Kara wonders how they manage to locate Lydia so quickly but she knows better than to ask. At least, they let Supergirl tag along. It's an unsurprisingly dull arrest. Nelson, after all, had no idea they were after her. They find her in an apartment just outside of town registered under an alias. The woman offers little to no resistance, and Supergirl is left feeling useless on the sidewalk as the black SUVs drive off into the night.
It's over.
That same night, Kara spends many hours flying from one location to another as several aliens decide to attack the city. Their motive is unclear; Alex tells her. They don't seem very bright but their brute force is dangerous. Guardian offers his help and Alex orders Winn to send him to the less threatening aliens. When they're finally done and the cells at the DEO are full, Kara, James, Winn and Alex debrief with J'onn. As it turns out, the aliens' goal was to take control of the city and Kara rolls her eyes at such lack of originality.
"Let them reflect on their actions for a while," she tells J'onn. "We'll see how they feel about Earth in a week or two."
Before she leaves, Kara informs them that Lydia Nelson's been apprehended earlier without any trouble. The investigation on the bombing at L-Corp is officially closed.
Kara figures she can very well wait until morning to let Lena know about the latest development. When she makes it to the penthouse, it's almost three and there's no light inside which means Lena is most likely asleep. Lena's shower is a delight; the hot water pouring on her shoulders as she looks down at her feet and stands under it for a while.
Less than half an hour later, when she slips under the covers, Kara barely has the time to settle before Lena instinctively scoots closer and cuddles against her.
Of course, Lena is up before her when morning comes. It's Saturday and Kara intents to sleep until at least ten. When she emerges groggily, a good hour after Lena left the bed, she finds the CEO on the couch, eyes riveted on the TV. Lena doesn't even turn her head when Kara clears her throat.
"Kara, they arrested her! The woman who placed the bomb. I had no idea they were even investigating!"
"That's great news," Kara says, clearly not enthusiastically enough.
Lena finally glances at her, a frown on her face. She gauges Kara for a few seconds and then sighs.
"You already knew."
It's not a question. Kara nods and moves to sit beside her.
"A few days ago the DEO found her name. Then the FBI tracked her down and they finally discovered where she was hiding."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just didn't want you to worry about it. Do you think this is something you needed to know about?"
"No, not really," Lena concedes when she's thought it over.
"So you're not mad at me for keeping it from you?"
"No, I'm not."
Kara beams at her, relieved, and Lena can't help but chuckle. Before she stands up to make breakfast, Lena kisses Kara's cheek and Kara has half a mind to pull her back down and give her a proper kiss. Soon, she tells herself. Soon.
The news have brightened Lena's mood and she seems more carefree as they walk through the park Kara has suggested they go to. Their hands brush against each other's and Kara works up the courage to entwine their fingers. She sees Lena smile from the corner of her eyes. If people look at them strangely—probably because they recognize Lena—no one accosts them during their stroll. When lunchtime arrives, Kara drags Lena to a hot-dog stand and insists they both have the biggest one they make. Lena knows better than to protest, not when Kara looks at her with her best puppy eyes.
They settle on an isolated bench underneath a weeping willow and Kara devours rather than eats her hot-dog. Lena has barely eaten a third of hers when Kara puts the last bite in her mouth and hums in delight. When her eyes reopen, Kara sees that Lena is staring at her, a fond smile on her face. She blushes, hard.
"Sorry. That must've been pretty gross to witness."
"Not at all," Lena laughs. "It's impressive, actually."
"Yeah? Wait until you see me at a restaurant. You'll be so embarrassed we'll probably never eat out ever again."
And it's such a simple assumption to make, that they will go out together in the future, that there'll be more moments like this. Kara's eyes widen when she realizes her own words, but Lena is still smiling at her, still watching her with the same amused expression.
"I look forward to being embarrassed then," Lena says quietly as her eyes drift to Kara's lips.
Kara notices, because of course she does. She freezes when Lena, as if hypnotized, moves closer and raises a hand to caress her cheek.
"Kara," she whispers.
Kara doesn't give her a chance to speak more. She leans in and kisses her. It's quick and gentle, if a little clumsy. She pulls back just as quickly but Lena's lips follow hers and they're kissing again, for real this time. The kiss grows heated and one of Kara's hands grips the bench, hard. The sound of wood breaking doesn't register in her mind. It can't, not when Lena's hands are tangling in her hair and pressing her impossibly closer. She hears a whimper and she thinks it might be from her but Lena doesn't even leave her enough time to understand what's happening so she can't be sure. Kara nips at her bottom lip and there's the faintest taste of cherry lipstick that makes her weak in the knees. She already knows she'll never get tired of it.
Lena kisses as if there is no tomorrow and Kara understands the feeling all too well. The thought crosses her mind that she could have never known any of this, never known the weight of Lena in her arms, the touch of her lips, the taste of her mouth. It leaves her reeling. It makes her kiss with even more fervor. Lena moans when Kara's other hand finds the back of her neck and scrapes at her skin.
As it turns out, soon was a lot sooner than Kara expected. Truthfully, her first kiss—well, kisses—with Lena tasting of hot-dog is not what she had envisioned but it's weirdly better. It's spontaneous, a bit messy and therefore perfect.
Neither of them notice when Lena's hot-dog falls to the ground and is promptly pecked at by a couple of sparrows.