Jess follows Kara around the store morosely. The cart squeaks with each corner they take, and with each item that is tossed inside the cart, Jess takes a deep breath to prevent herself from getting diabetes just by looking at what Kara is picking up. She definitely shouldn't criticize her boss' partner's snack choices.
"Kara, are you sure we need this many snacks?" Jess imagines that this is what she would feel like if she was the mom of a very stubborn toddler.
Kara stops when she hears Jess' question and evaluates the amount of food in the cart. They may have grabbed more than just a little bit of cheese.
"Oops. We should probably go check out before I buy the whole store."
Jess gives her a look that says, you think?
Kara can sense that Jess is in a bad mood and works to begin rectifying that. "Can I get you something in particular?"
"No thank you, Kara."
Well, that didn't work. "Do you have any plans for the weekend?"
"Not really."
This is not easy. Well, if she can't get on her good side, she can at least badger her for advice. "Do you think Lena actually has a problem with me moving in but doesn't want to say it?"
For the first time since they left the penthouse, Jess actually takes more than just a glance at Kara. She isn't really sure how the other woman's brain works for her to go from awkward small talk to deep, personal questions. "What makes you ask?"
Kara begins to fidget, picking at the skin around her nails nervously. "I guess I'm just worried that she is only letting me stay out of pity and that I'm just sort of…" She struggles to find the right words. "…encroaching on her space and she is too nice to just tell me to go find somewhere else to go quickly."
Jess stops the cart. She is far too tired to be dealing with this, but Lena is a dear friend and if that means she has to reassure her golden retriever girlfriend then that is what she will do.
"Honestly Kara, I don't think that it is an issue at all." She watches Kara look up at her hopefully. She is pretty cute, she can see why Lena likes her, when she's not talking at least. "Lena has only ever let one person have unrestricted access to her and that is you. She has always told me that if she has visitors I have to come in with an excuse to end the visit after forty-five minutes because she can't tolerate it for longer than that, but she told me not to do that with you."
Kara scrunches her nose slightly. "I'll have to talk to her about that forty-five-minute thing."
"What I'm trying to say is that you are the only person she not only tolerates being around her for long periods of time but also enjoys being around." Jess smiles at her softly when Kara ducks her head as her cheeks flush.
"Thanks, Jess, that really helped me feel better. I guess I will just talk to Lena about it anyway to make sure we are on the same page still."
Jess carries on walking, "she once told me social interactions make her feel drained but after your visits, she is always ten times happier than she was before. You don't drain her, you make her feel invigorated."
Kara smiles brightly and is about to respond when she sees something out of the corner of her eye.
There is a camera poking out around the corner of the aisle, pointing right at her. She takes a second to understand what she is looking at and when she does she taps Jess' arm and points at it. When she does it is clear that the owner of the camera knows they just got made because they whip it back around the corner quickly.
She follows it, heading over to where she saw it. Jess stays right beside her.
"Did you see that too?"
"Yep, is it a good idea to go after it?"
They keep on moving, reaching the end of the aisle and looking both ways. They see a man dressed in all black with a baseball cap on and a camera in hand duck into another aisle a little ways ahead of them, glancing back over his shoulder with wide eyes when he sees them coming after him.
"Probably not, so we won't tell Lena that we did."
"Deal." Jess agrees.
They ditch the cart, they can always come back for it in a few minutes after all. They turn their heads as they pass each aisle, looking for the one the cameraman turned down. There is no way he isn't shady because you don't run unless you're doing something bad.
They reach the end of the store and the last aisle and find it empty, so they head back the other way, still searching for the man but alas, he appears to have escaped.
"Can we both agree that dude was definitely up to something bad?" Kara scratches her head in confusion at the scene that just occurred.
Jess looks equally perplexed, that is a new one for her. "Yeah, let's just go get the cart and check out. I don't want to stay any longer than I have to with a psycho on the loose."
That's a sentiment Kara is one hundred percent on board with. "Ok, let's go."
They immediately head back to where they left the cart, still swivelling their heads down each aisle as they pass it but not expecting to see him. He's long gone.
Within a couple of minutes, they are back at the cart but something strange catches their eyes. It has been messed with. The snacks have obviously been rearranged into an order where everything is clearly visible.
"Oh god, that's super creepy." Jess doesn't even want to touch the cart now. "I think he came back and took a picture of what was in the cart. He was certainly taking a picture of you. I have no doubts about it now."
Kara stands wide-eyed, looking between the cart and Jess frantically. "Me? He could be after you."
"You're the weird one, it's unquestionably you." Jess is absolutely convinced, she is relatively normal whereas Kara is more…eccentric.
Kara pushes the cart away from them. "I'm not taking that now, let's just go back."
"That's for the best, he might have put a tracker in your Oreos or something." They make their way out of the grocery store, their eyes looking out for anything odd.
"Don't say that!"
The door is pushed open quickly and locked behind them. Jess and Kara share a look of relief at being back before heading into the living room.
"Hey guys, you took longer than I thought you would. Where's the charcuterie board?" Alex smiles up at them from the couch.
Kara sits next to Lena, acknowledging their other friends now that they have arrived. Nia and Brainy are sitting together on the couch and Winn and James are on the floor in front of the coffee table.
"We were…um…just trying to find one, they didn't have one, so we just came back. Right, Jess?" She shoots her a pointed look. She doesn't want to worry everyone and would rather just tell Lena and Alex in private.
Jess sits next to Alex. "Yeah, I convinced her not to just fill the cart with garbage instead."
"Oreos are not garbage."
"I beg to differ."
Kara turns to Lena, who looks a little worried. "I'm never going grocery shopping with Jess again."
Jess calls from the other side of the room. "Good."
The others are looking between the two like they are watching a verbal table tennis match.
Alex lets out a long drawn-out "right."
She takes a sip of her drink and prepares the game Jess picked out earlier. Monopoly is going to get everyone tearing each other to pieces very quickly so it should be fun to watch at least, if not to play.
They jump right in, Kara and Jess exchanging a look every now and again that Lena pretends that she doesn't see and that it doesn't bother her until Kara excuses herself to get a drink and asks Lena to help her.
They reach the kitchen in record time and Lena leans into Kara. "What's going on? I can tell that something is happening, and you don't want to tell me for some reason."
Kara holds her hands out. "I know, you know. I just wanted to wait until we could get away from the others."
Lena takes Kara's hands in hers, angling their bodies away from their friends as they keep on playing, ignoring them since they went bankrupt a while ago. "Did something happen at the store?"
"There was a guy trying to take pictures of us and when we spotted him he made a break for it. All I could see was that he was wearing all black and had a baseball cap on."
Lena gasps, immediately checking Kara over to make sure there isn't so much as a single hair out of place. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"No, nothing like that but we checked the store after to see if we could see him but couldn't find him and when we got back to our cart it had been messed with." Kara tries to reassure Lena that she is alright, rubbing her forearms soothingly.
Lena scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. "Messed with in what way?"
"Like it had been laid out so he could take a picture of what was inside. We left it there in case he did anything else to it."
Lena brings her hand to her head, raking her fingers through it from the stress. This fully confirms what Alex had theorized earlier. Someone is after Kara. She goes to answer but they are interrupted by James.
"Hey ladies, what are you doing hiding over here?" He comes up behind them, placing an arm over each of their shoulders.
Lena immediately shrugs it off, so he puts a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "Well, I never."
"We're avoiding you, can't you tell?" Kara laughs, her smile wide but ingenuine. Lena can tell she is still shaken from what happened but is putting on a brave face for the sake of the group. James takes it all at face value.
"Alright, I can see where I'm not wanted." He turns away dramatically, sauntering off but shooting them a smile over his shoulder to show he was only kidding.
Lena wants to find out more about what happened, but Kara is already pouring them more drinks and dragging her back over to the others by her hand, this time dropping them down next to Jess and Alex.
Kara is directly next to Jess and whispers to her. "I told Lena, did you tell Alex?"
"Yes, I'm really glad that's what that strange wide-eyed eyebrow raise you gave me meant, it was very baffling to decipher." Jess elbows Alex lightly to get her to join the conversation.
"Kara Danvers, you are never allowed outside ever again, do you hear me?" Alex points a finger at her and she looks to Lena for help but instead, she gets betrayed.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm ready to keep you hostage in here with me forever. At least I know you are safe here because of how much security I have downstairs." Lena keeps a tight grip of her hand on kara's thigh.
It is a clear sign that Lena is feeling scared and stressed about the situation and that fact alone makes Kara feel bad, despite knowing that it isn't totally her fault, but Kara does enjoy the feeling of Lena's hand nevertheless as it helps to keep her grounded and calm.
Kara sulks back into the couch. "At least I can add this to my article."
Lena, Alex and Jess all look at her like she has two heads.
Alex jams her elbow into her ribs. "Want to fill us in on that?"
Kara sends her a puzzled stare. "What?"
"The article, dummy. Do you think it's related?"
"Oh!" It clicks in Kara's mind. Today has been stressful so she has a reason to be a little off. "It's about a new deal made between Maxwell Lord and the government. According to a few inside sources, they are working together to use prisoners for human testing for his science projects."
Lena scoffs, disgusted. "I'm going to guess that they aren't about to give the prisoners a choice in the matter based on the fact that the government is hiding the deal? That's morally reprehensible."
Kara points at her. "Gold star for Lena. I talked to a few past employees, and it has all been building up for the past few years. They are planning on opening a new prison designed with a science lab and only transfer prisoners with life sentences there that have never had any previous visitors and familial contact, so they don't get exposed by their relatives."
Jess shakes her head, visibly outraged. "That's sick."
"I know, that's why I was doing an article to expose them, but someone must have reported back to Maxwell Lord that I was planning on outing his plan."
The other three women sink back into the couch too, joining Kara in her sulking.
"I don't think it was any of my sources, I didn't get a read on any of them that would suggest that they were still working for Lord, and I like to think I'm pretty good at deciphering people," Kara says with an even tone.
Alex leans back forward again. "So, the only other people that knew about the article would be your co-workers at CatCo. That gives us a place to start looking."
Before they could ask her what she is looking for they get interrupted by Nia whooping across the room, having won the game. "I win! Come on guys, you can gossip later, I want to do Pictionary next!"
They join the others, putting on fake smiles. Lena leans over and whispers into Alex and Jess' ears. "If Maxwell is working with the government then this is going to be really bad, I'm going to need both of you to help me if we are going to stand a chance at keeping Kara safe."
They nod quickly in agreeance before they are rapidly dragged into a competitive game of Pictionary.
Lena sits on the couch, slouching back into the cushions. Kara is snuggled under her arm, head resting against her chest as she holds her close.
Reruns of an old sitcom they've watched a bunch of times murmurs on in the background, but their eyes are already half closed as they enjoy the quiet closeness of their snuggling.
Lena turns her head to press a kiss to Kara's forehead. "If you think that you're ever going to be let out of my sight again then you're wrong."
A tired chuckle escapes Kara's lips. "I'll keep that in mind but unfortunately, I will have to leave for work tomorrow."
Lena's face takes on a guilty expression. "Actually…"
Kara turns her head so she can see Lena's face. "What have you done? Why do you look guilty?"
"…I may have contacted Cat and had you approved to work from home." Lena avoids eye contact, afraid that Kara will be angry.
Kara looks at her without saying a word, waiting for her to look back at her. It takes a few seconds, but she does eventually sneak a glance. "Well, you've saved me a job, I was going to do that myself, but I still have to go in and get some of my files. You're welcome to come with me though."
Lena lets out a relieved sigh that Kara can't help but find adorable. "Of course, I'm going to come with you."
"Good." Kara mumbles, already burying herself back into Lena's comforting grasp. Another kiss is dropped on her head then she feels the pressure of Lena's head resting atop her own.
"Good."
They step out of the elevator together, ignoring the questioning glances they receive as they enter the bullpen. Lena keeps a steadying hand on the small of Kara's back as they walk.
As they are about to head to Kara's office, they are summoned with a sharp snap of lithe fingers.
They redirect their steps to enter Cat Grant's office instead, a little bit off-put by the number of eyes watching them through the glass walls.
Cat must sense it because one stern look and the clearing of the throat send all of the heads in the bullpen swivelling in the opposite direction. "Hello, ladies. Based on our previous communications, I was under the impression that I wouldn't be seeing you any time soon."
Cat delicately perches on one couch and offers a hand to the other, directing them to sit. They do so with haste, wanting to be out of there and back to the safety of the apartment as soon as possible, especially since it looks like there is a rat within CatCo.
Kara answers first. "Yes, I was planning on sorting my work-from-home status with you myself today as I need to grab some of my files for my articles however it was brought to my attention that it was already handled." She side-eyes Lena, a little amused.
"Understandable, however, you have been taken off all of your previous articles and I will personally assign you new ones," Cat says so casually that Kara doesn't know whether or not her anger is founded.
She stutters for a second. "Y-you can't do that! Those are my pieces, I already started on them, and I have done all of the legwork."
Lena can sense the building rage and presses a hand to her arm to try and calm her. "Cat, do you really feel that this is necessary at this time?"
Cat nods resolutely. "I think the pair of you have known me for long enough to know that I don't do anything without a purpose. In this particular case, that purpose is to keep my star journalist safe."
Kara furrows her brows, trying to come up with an appropriate response. "With all due respect, Ms Grant, I believe that should be left up to me."
Both Cat and Lena are taken aback by the stern tone from Kara, she has never been one to stand up to Cat. Cat, herself, takes the time to come up with a response, staring Kara down as if she is reading her soul.
"I disagree. I am under no illusion that you are being targeted based off an article you are writing and that there is a CatCo employee spilling information on you left and right. The only way to take you out of the equation and keep you safe is to make it very obvious that you are having nothing to do with the article."
Lena nudges Kara's shoulder as though she can literally knock some sense into her. "She's right, darling. It's the best way to keep you safe in this instance."
"Who would take over the article on Lord? It's too important of a piece to scrap altogether." Kara rakes a hand through her hair and Lena catches in between her own as it comes back down.
Cat nods at the question in approval, happy that Kara seems to be at least thinking it through instead of arguing blindly. "I will personally be taking over the investigation and article as a whole."
"That's absolutely not happening…" She trails off and the women allow her a few seconds to finish her thought before she continues. "I'm giving you a counteroffer. We work on it together or you take over and I keep doing what I'm already doing but without your approval."
The only movement from Cat is the stiffening of her upper lip and the scraping of her heel against the carpeted floor. As much as Lena wants to intervene and make Kara give up the article for her own sake, she knows her girlfriend and she knows that this isn't something she can let go of so all she can do is support her in her decisions and see how it all plays out.
Kara grows increasingly unsure of herself the longer Cat stares at her. She evaluates every twitch of her face just as she had trained herself to do when she was her assistant, but it seems that she has lost her touch because she can't read her at all.
Cat finally takes an overexaggerated breath before she speaks with a hint of sharpness in her tone, showing that she means business. "I accept your counteroffer, but I am in charge, if I tell you to do something, you do it. If I tell you to run and hide then you do it. If I tell you to jump, you ask how high. Got it?"
Kara beams a smile that juxtaposes the atmosphere of the room. "Got it."
She reaches out her hand for a handshake. Cat sneers at her hand but shakes it nonetheless although she does wipe her hand down her own pant leg afterwards as if it is now covered in a thick layer of muck and grime.
"Awesome, I'll go get the files, I'll be back in a minute." She jumps to her feet, smiling at the two women before making a beeline to the door. "Keep each other company!"
Lena and Cat share a look.
"Ms Luthor sometimes I really do wonder what you see in her and other times I want to steal her from you."
Lena smiles at her wryly. "You couldn't handle her if you tried, Grant."
Cat smirks back. "But boy would I try."
She earns a glare in response but doesn't get the chance to respond as Kara rushes back into the office. "The file is gone, and my office has been torn apart!"
That has the two CEOs on their feet in seconds and marching their way to Kara's office. They peek their heads around the door to find that Kara was most definitely underplaying it. Her office isn't just torn apart, it is practically destroyed.
Her desk is completely broken where they have pried the locked drawers open, and every single piece of paper has been either shredded or had water poured all over it so it's unreadable.
Kara sneaks past them and into the office. She picks through the soggy papier-mâché on the floor and pulls out her picture frame. The glass is shattered but the picture is still mostly intact.
She holds it to her chest and squelches back over the paper to the doorway. "I already checked and the file on Maxwell Lord is gone, the rest must have just been to try and throw us off the scent that they didn't want us to know about that specific case."
Cat's eyes scour the room, always a journalist at heart, searching for clues. "Is there anything else missing?"
"Not that I can tell but I haven't gone through the rest of my stuff, I just checked for the file." Kara shrugs and takes Lena's hand.
Cat walks away back to her office, snapping her fingers to show that she wants the women to follow her.
"I want you to spend the afternoon figuring out if anything else is missing and in the meantime, I will get in contact with your sources and see if we can get another copy of the file you had. Lena, please go find Kara's dwarf friend in IT and get him to find any footage he can from the last few days showing anyone in or around the office."
Lena turns to do as she's told but is stopped by Kara's hand on her wrist. "I already have the file."
Cat tilts her head in more of a dog-like fashion than her namesake but raises her eyebrow in a silent question.
Kara pulls the photograph of herself and Lena out of the frame and hands it to Lena, who takes it with a fond smile as she recognises the picture from their first date. It is of them huddled up together in front of a dinosaur skeleton from the National City Museum and staring at each other with beaming smiles.
She pries the frame apart and reveals a small USB from within the wood, holding it up triumphantly once she has it completely free. "This story was too important to lose the data so I made backups, I had one at my loft too but can't check if it's still there since I haven't been able to get in the building since the night it happened."
Lena turns to Kara, concerned. "If this article is that important that you had hidden copies of your files hidden then why didn't you suspect anything when the pipe burst?"
Kara looks a little guilty. "I didn't want to worry you and I was also kind of hoping that it was just bad timing. It's also why I'm not sure if staying with you is a good idea, I don't want you to get dragged into anything because of me."
Cat interrupts. "That's out of the question. The two most heavily guarded apartment buildings in National City are my own and your girlfriend's so that's where you will be staying. Despite how I have treated you over the years, Kara, I do hold a certain fondness for you."
Uncertainty clouds Kara's expression for a minute and she moves away from Lena for a second to grab Cat into a hug before she has the chance to push her away.
She ends the hug after a few seconds and Cat pats her clothes down. "Well, that's enough of that. Get to work."
Lena takes her hand again as they leave Cat's office, and they make their way to Winn's desk together. He looks up at them with surprise when they appear beside him. "Hey guys, what can I do for you?"
"Someone broke into both my loft and my office to destroy evidence for a story I was writing."
He looks completely and utterly bewildered by the blunt response.
Lena takes pity on him. "Can you hack into any cameras from the day before yesterday around Kara's loft and review any CatCo security tapes since that time around the area of Kara's office please?"
He nods rapidly and sets to typing quickly on his computer. "I will text you when I have anything."
They stood there for another few seconds before concluding that he was dismissing them, so they head back to the mess of an office, grabbing some empty cardboard boxes and cleaning supplies on the way.
Lena enters first and maps out how they should organize. "The water was poured over the top after the paper was shredded and the shredded paper was purposefully drenched so whatever was on it, they don't want us reading it."
Kara takes a closer gander. "I can see a page number on that one piece so jokes on them I suppose."
"How does a page number help us?" Lena queries, peeking over her shoulder at the number. Two hundred and thirty-four.
"Because, my love, I only had one other file that had enough pages to go up to the two hundred mark and that was one where I had documented as many staff member profiles from Lord Industries as I could find. Nobody even knew I made that since I did that the day of the flooding and never told anyone."
Lena takes a deep sigh and drags Kara into a deep hug. "This is getting more dangerous the more we find out, I might have to change the rules from never having you out of my sight to never having you out of my arms."
"I could be persuaded to go along with that."
Lena ties up the last trash bag with a tight knot. They couldn't find much in the office that wasn't completely ruined so they only have one small box of things to look through whilst they have several bags to dispose of, all full of work papers and Kara's own personal effects.
She can see the sadness in Kara's eyes as she has to lose more of her things, but not once does she complain, she simply gets on with the task at hand and moves on.
Kara is currently standing over the now dry desk and is trying to piece together the remains of the papers that haven't been completely soaked through. "Hey, Lena?"
"Yeah, darling?" Lena looks up at her from where she is crouched on the floor, doubled checking that they have cleared everything up.
"I've been trying to think who would know about the employee files and I think that the only people that would know are people that I trust."
Lena stands and leans against the desk, trying to understand the point that Kara is trying to make. "I thought you said that you didn't tell anyone."
"I didn't but there are very few people that could walk into my office without being suspicious, even the janitor doesn't come in here without me present." Kara lets herself fall into her office chair, face scrunching as her butt lands right into a forgotten pool of water.
Lena winces as she realises what just happened. "I think that's our cue to get out of here, here take my coat and tie it around your waist."
Kara sighs as she stands up and holds back a shiver as the cold water runs down her legs. "Alright, let's go." She takes the offered coat and secures it around her to hide the giant water stain on her backside. The last thing she needs right now is for all of her co-workers to think she peed herself in the office.
Together they grab the trash bags and toss them beside a garbage can in the hallway to be taken by the janitor when they come around later in the day. She grabs the box from the desk, she can always go through it once they get home. She makes sure to lock up after herself despite the fact that there is nothing left in there except for her soggy desk and chair.
Lena leads her back through the building with a comforting hand on the small of her back. "I'm not going into Cat's office with wet pants. Can you please tell her we're leaving, and I'll meet you in the car?"
Lena smiles at her fondly. "Of course, darling. The car keys are in my right coat pocket, lock the car once you get in." She senses the eye roll she is about to get so she continues as earnestly as possible. "Just in case, it will make me feel better."
Kara smiles back at her, giving in before even pretending to put up a fight. "Anything for you."
They part ways, Lena going to say their goodbyes and Kara aiming for the stairs. She is not willing to be stuck in an elevator with other people and have to explain why there is a coat tied around her waist like she is a middle schooler.
She can count on one hand the number of times she has taken the stairs whilst working at CatCo and it was only because they had one day a couple of years ago when they did maintenance on all of the elevators at once.
Cat put a stop to them shutting them all down at the same time after she found out she would have to walk up to the top. If her memory serves her right, Cat didn't actually climb the stairs, she turned on her very expensive heel and worked from home that day after having someone fetch her work from her office for her.
Unsurprisingly, she doesn't see anyone else on the staircase, like her, they know they probably couldn't survive walking up and down all of those steps all day without feeling like their ass cheeks have been torn apart from the strain.
She meanders down, just taking in the unfamiliar space. It is pretty boring, just a few old, framed articles and magazine covers here and there but nothing too important, the important ones are kept in offices or hallways of each floor, not the stairwell.
There is one major thing she does notice. Or doesn't notice. There is a distinct lack of cameras so if the perpetrators used this route, they would be practically undetectable.
Whoever did destroy her office would have still been caught on camera, but it brings the window of capturing them down significantly. The more she thinks about it the angrier she gets, this psycho has taken so much from her in the last few days that it is unreal.
The joke is on them though, after everything she's been through she isn't going to give up now because she's being fuelled by pure spite. Her steps turn into stomps as she finishes going down the main stairwell and walks across the lobby to the second stairwell that leads her to the parking garage.
As the door at the top of the stairs closes behind her with a slow thump she becomes aware of a quiet murmuring coming from below her. She takes quiet steps so as not to disturb them as whoever they are, they seem to be in the middle of a conversation.
She is grateful to have reached the very bottom of the stairs and heads right for the door into the garage, finding it propped open as it usually is since it is an emergency exit.
The further she walks the more she hears of the stranger's conversation.
"I can't get back up there to wipe the footage-"
She can't hear every part of the conversation but can see the hooded stranger pacing between cars.
Something about this person puts her on edge so she slows down and ducks behind a truck, hoping to make it back to the car without alerting them of her presence.
"They found the office quicker than I thought they-"
Her ears prick up. That does not sound like an ordinary phone call.
"The target was supposed to be out of work, our information told us she switched to out of office-"
Holy crap. This is not good for her. She surveys how far she needs to go to get to the car and whether or not it would be better to simply head back to the lobby or not.
The problem she has is that she can't get safely to either place because she will have to run right out into the open. The car is closer, just a few metres ahead of her.
She takes casual steps, trying not to draw any attention as she heads towards the car, keys in hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see that she has caught the attention of the man on the phone. He is dressed very similarly to the man from the grocery store and could very well be the same person.
She quickens her pace as the man begins to come towards her. The small distance seems to take hours to reach as she scurries over and clicks the button on the fob. She realizes her mistake when she pulls the handle open and is greeted by a rapid clicking sound.
Out of pure instinct, she throws herself away from the car and to the ground. She slams against the concrete floor hard, the force exacerbated by the fiery force of the car exploding before her.
Her ears are ringing with a violent force, making her unable to hear anything except that awful sound. It is almost more overpowering than the rush of pain across her body.
Her eyelids burn as she pries them open, trying to see where the stranger went but the overwhelming pain stops her from sitting up enough to see. She tries her best to see him from her position, but her range of view is blocked by a couple of security guards who must have rushed down once they heard the explosion.
Their lips are moving but she can't decipher what the security guards are saying. She feels warmth and a slow dripping sensation down her face, the smell of burning fuel filling her nostrils.
Kara tries with all of her might to keep her eyes open, to get up and find safety and to figure out what in the world just happened but she feels completely drained of energy. Her eyes begin to flicker closed, but she gets a surge of energy when she feels familiar hands on either side of her face.
"Kara? Kara, can you hear me? It's Lena. I'm here. I'm here."
Lena's words cut through the ringing, her voice the light at the end of a hallway. Her eyes won't focus but she can make out the outline of pale skin and dark hair as she leans over her.
"L-Lena." It's a struggle but she manages to show her that she can hear her and that she is still with her.
"Shh, don't speak. The ambulance is on its way and I'm right here. I'm not leaving your side, ok?"
She tries to move any part of her body she can and struggles. Lena must be on her left because she can feel the soft material of her pants against her left hand. Her fingers inch as close as possible, grasping onto the material, holding onto her with what little energy she has.
Lena's hands don't leave her, they hold her cheeks gently and once the paramedics arrive, she holds her hand.
As the minutes pass, she becomes minutely more conscious but with the clarity it brings, she feels an increase in pain from the wounds the shock prevented her from recognising. Sirens fill her ears and the bumps in the road jerk her a little but Lena's hand grips hers tightly as though she could ground her by sheer power of will.
The time goes by in a blur, one second she was in the ambulance, a bustling paramedic tending to her, and the next she is on a gurney in the hospital, surrounded by doctors and she can feel a burning ache in her abdomen. She can only assume it is from the impact since it feels like she has been struck with a baseball bat.
She must have either been given anaesthesia or passed out at some point in the chaos because the next thing she knows she is awoken by the steady beeping of her heart rate monitor and her dry throat plaguing every breath she takes.
The awful feeling in her throat forces her to cough as she wakes and her eyes water as she opens them from the sharp scratch. She isn't sure if her throat is just really dry or if she has swallowed a handful of nails.
"Kara?"
There she is again. Her angel is right there with her, by her side. Her unfocused eyes find her quickly, finding comfort in her favourite person.
She tries to speak but another painful cough escapes her. She doesn't know that Lena was holding her hand until she feels a rush of cold air on her palm, but it is quickly replaced by the sensation of a cup being pressed into her hand.
"Here, it's water. Just take small sips." Lena pushes her hair out of her face and helps her sit up slightly, wincing with her when the pain in her abdomen takes over.
The water feels amazing down her throat, and she wants to chug the entire cup and the pitcher beside her bed to keep her throat soothed but Lena reminds her to take it slow and to pace herself.
"Crazy day, huh?" Her voice is raspy, but her joke still lands.
Lena lets out a relieved sigh and smiles at her tenderly. "I see your humour survived the explosion."
The mention of the explosion wakes her up from her stupor. "Did anyone else get hurt?"
Lena wastes no time before soothing her fears. She knows that Kara would blame herself despite it being nowhere near her fault. "No, no, darling. Everyone is alright, you were the only one by the car when it happened."
Kara shakes her head, despite the stiffness in her neck from being in one position for so long, she really must have been unconscious for a while. "There was someone there, he was talking on the phone about me, and he looked like the guy from the store-"
Lena cuts her off. "I know, baby. We've looked through every last minute of footage from that day and we saw everything. I've got everything sorted and everything is going to be alright. All I need you to do is focus on getting better."
That day? What does that mean? How long has she been out?
"How long ago was it?" She can feel herself growing tired again but can't let herself rest until she knows.
Lena hesitates to tell her, which is an answer in itself and not a good one at that. "It's been three weeks, now rest. Please."
How the hell has it been that long? Was she hurt that badly? How is Lena so put together? Kara's mind is racing as she only wants one thing.
"Please come cuddle with me."
"I don't think that's a—"
"Please, I need to feel you." She stares into Lena's eyes, begging her to give in. She just needs to be held, to have Lena piece her back together.
With a nod Lena carefully positions herself beside her, delicately placing an arm around her chest, obviously avoiding letting it go further down and showing Kara that she has some damage to her stomach area since she is avoiding touching it.
She lets the thought drift away in favour of relaxing into Lena's safe embrace and closing her eyes once more.