Kara was startled. She had been drowning in a deep misery, and this was the last thing she could have ever possibly expected. In between sobs, she choked out. "I... I can't b-believe... Winn?"

Winn was dumbfounded. He had so many questions. Where had she gone? Why had she disappeared so suddenly, without telling him anything? What had happened to her in the time they were apart? Why was she crying?

The list went on much longer, but Winn was too shocked to articulate his swirling thoughts. "Kara..." he breathed. "It's really you?"

She raised her head and nodded, the movement causing another tear to spill out of her misty blue eyes. "What are you doing here, Winn? I- I don't understand... How did you know where I- What is... I'm so-"

Winn gently interrupted. "It's okay, Kara. I am equally confused and surprised. I don't... Where did you go? Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? What happened?"

Kara seemed very overwhelmed by all these questions, and just this situation itself, and wasn't exactly eager to explain herself. To expose herself to someone so quickly. Winn took her lack of response as a sign that he was being too pushy, and took on an apologetic half-smile.

"Look, Kara. Never mind all of those questions. Clearly, something is wrong here and I want to help. I haven't seen you in... a decade. I just want to know how to help. What's got you down?"

Truth be told, Kara had been feeling conflicted over her fight with Clark. She knew it was what she had to do to save the people of the city, but couldn't stand how he had wanted to kill her.

And almost succeeded.

That wasn't exactly something she could tell Winn, without exposing her secret. But for some reason, a small part of her still wanted to tell him.

It also deeply saddened her that she had to hurt her cousin. That last punch, though necessary, had been painful for her. Physically and emotionally. Everything from the past couple months, all the emotions she refused to acknowledge. All the things she bottled up and pushed deep inside. It was all coming back to the surface.

She blamed herself for her fight with Kal. Her only cousin. If she had been braver, embraced herself sooner, she may have been able to prevent all of this from happening. She could have stopped the person who poisoned her cousin, who forced him to hurt innocent people.

Her mother's dying wish for her had been to protect Kal at all costs, and instead, she was forced to deliver a full force blow to his head, effectively knocking him out.

Especially after he had been shot with kryptonite by her sister, who had shot her cousin to protect her.

Right then, she felt a slight spike of pain. Ever since her altercation with a kryptonite-embedded Clark, she had been feeling slightly sick and nauseous. Maybe it was the kryptonite, maybe it was her guilt. She had no idea.

Again, she felt a pang in her abdomen, and doubled over, flinching from the pain.

Winn looked at her, concerned for his childhood best friend, and placed a gentle hand on the small of her back, rubbing soothing circles. "Kara, are you okay? Are you hurt? Is something wrong? Please talk to me, you know you can trust me."

Kara breathed,"I was different then. I used to be so trusting. Too trusting."

She thought back to that fateful day at the beach, and the night that had started this all. How she had only gotten into the car thinking Jeremiah and the Danvers family would be safe. Because she trusted Henshaw.

How she opened the "reward box" that was supposedly there to commend her bravery and selflessness. How that box had been her first introduction to kryptonite.

Because she had trusted Henshaw.

Then she thought back to how the man she thought she could trust had wound up using her as a lab experiment for five years. And how after that, she had been his personalized punching bag.

She didn't know if Winn was someone she could still trust. She learned the hard way that people change.

However something nagged at her to believe in him. To trust him. There had always been something special about this kid, and she could see it was still there.

Kara had been through her fair share of trauma in her lifetime. She had the right to distrust Winn, and did, but only slightly.

There was something about him that was the exact same as it had been ten years ago. His kind eyes, his care for friends, his passion and ambition. Some things never changed.

Kara became lost in one of her memories, that of their third day together as friends.

Flashback

Winn sat at the table, waiting for Kara to meet him so they could get lunch from the cafeteria together.

He waited twenty minutes into lunch before starting to feel genuine concern. Winn stood and began roaming the halls looking for his best friend.

He rounded a corner and heard bullies. More specifically, Kara's bullies. They had a track record of bullying him as well, but he was usually able to escape.

Kara and Winn had only become friends a few days ago, and they already shared a close bond. They were each other's only friends, so they were inseparable.

Winn saw Kara get shoved to the floor and couldn't stand by any longer. He stormed into the room and commanded,"Hey! Get away from her!"

The bullies all slowly turned towards Winn, and smug grins came across their faces.

The main boy, Hayes, bore his eyes into Winn. He mock pouted,"Aww, are we hurting your wittle fwiend?"

Winn's face turned a bright shade of red, but he stood tall. "I think you should stay away from her. It's mean to bully a defenseless student, and logistically speaking, the percentage of which you will be disciplined is quite high if you factor in all the possibilitie-"

Hayes walked up and punched him in the face, effectively dropping Winn to the floor. "Shut up, twerp. You're the biggest nerd in this whole school. You're smart enough to calculate the likelihood of me getting into trouble, but you aren't smart enough to prevent your dad from bombing his workplace. Tell me, how's that possible? Huh?"

Winn was equally shocked as he was sad. His eyes began to water, wondering how Hayes had found out about his dad.

Kara was on the floor, and she was pissed. When Hayes punched Winn, she started to stand, ready to come to his aid. However, when Hayes mentioned Winn's father and he began to cry, she saw red.

Winn hadn't yet told her about the explosives and the true identity of Toyman, but she knew his father was a sore subject for Winn.

She stood and ran up to Hayes. Kara delivered a mean right hook to his jaw, and he was sent flying. She made sure to pull her punch back slightly, but wanted to get her message across.

Hayes' buddies, Ryan and Kyle, up and ran as soon as they saw him go flying.

Winn sat there, looking up at Kara, amazed. "How- How did you do that?!"

Kara sat down beside him and hugged him from the side. "You're my friend, and no one hurts my friends. I can't stand up for myself, but I can stand up for you, so that's what I did. He made you sad, which made me mad, so I channeled my anger into my punch."

Kara hoped her friend would believe her half-truth. She didn't need anyone finding out about her. But she also meant what she said. She had never had the guts to stand up for herself, but found it easier to stand up for others.

Winn looked at her gratefully, and asked. "Hey, Kara? Do you wanna be my best friend?"

Kara laughed and happily nodded.

They walked back to class together, all smiles.

Back to the DEO

Kara was jolted out of her memory by another pang of dizziness. She tried to stand, and she was able to for a moment, before falling right back down.

Winn watched her rise to her full height, and the moment she stood, he noticed what she was wearing. That same all black uniform the girl from the news had on. When she fell back down, he realized they were one and the same.

He stood there, mouth agape, overcome by shock. "Wait... Kara? You're..." The black outfit... the hair, the eyes... the dizziness, the injuries... "I can't believe this- Supergirl?"

Kara sighed in resignation. "Winn, I... I have something to tell you."