Lena slips onto the bed beside Kara, her hands fidgeting with the loose threads of the sheets. "I think it's time we are both fully honest with each other and we discuss our options."
"I agree."
Kara slides her hand over Lena's forearm, snaking it around until their arms are entwined. "Then I think it's about time I fully acknowledge my feelings because I love you, Lena."
Lena shifts, her knees turning inward on the bed to look at Kara. "And I think that it's become really quite obvious that I love you too, even if I have been avoiding telling you that."
Kara breaks into a beaming smile. "I kind of suspected that my feelings were mutual but I never fully let myself believe it so despite our circumstances and the problems we're going to face, I am really happy to hear that."
Lena's brow softens. "Of course I feel the same, how could I not? You're everything."
Kara's cheeks flush a cherry red and she instinctively ducks her head.
They bask in the moment for a minute, leaning into each other, arms tightened around each other's and faces close before Kara locks her eyes on Lena's shining orbs. "Can I kiss you?"
"I've spent every minute of our time on this planet trying to resist kissing you to try not to ruin the mission."
"Is that a yes?" Kara whispers, face gravitating closer to Lena's by the second.
"Yes."
Lena closes the distance, tentatively pressing her lips against Kara's with a light pressure. She can barely believe that she is actually kissing her, that she is finally feeling the sensation of Kara's soft lips pressing eagerly against her own, begging her for more but not daring to demand it.
Each pull of their lips conveys their desire to bring the other closer, to keep their faces, their bodies and their souls as close as possible.
Lena tangles her fingers into Kara's hair, the tips pressing against Kara's head just behind her ear. "Holy fuck." She whimpers out between kisses.
"Definitely holy fuck." Kara agrees, pressing right back into the kisses that are growing in intensity by the second.
Kara's hands wind into Lena's shirt, dragging her closer and trying to press herself forward even further, trying to blend her own body with Lena's. In response, Lena's hands move to cup Kara's face but upon her thumbs mindlessly brushing against her cheekbones she unintentionally catches the bruising around Kara's eye.
She flinches back with a wince. "Ow."
"I'm sorry, are you ok?" Lena's eyebrows press inward, concerned and startled out of her focus that was on Kara's lips.
She takes in the look on Kara's face that has now settled from a pained pinch to a more relaxed look. Her pupils are blown wide and her lips are swollen from the pressure of their frantic kisses. The swelling has gotten a little worse and the bruising contrasts her skin in the most intriguing way, she wants to stare at her forever.
"Never better." Kara goes to lean in again but Lena very gently presses against her shoulder to stop her.
With a shake of her head, Lena explains why she's hitting the brakes. "We're meant to be talking."
"I think we've found a better way to communicate." Kara tries, leaning against Lena's hand to see if she's going to give in and let her close again. She gets her answer when Lena's arm holds firm, keeping her close enough to satisfy their need to be with each other but far enough away that their faces aren't about to become one again.
Lena has to admit that she is a little enamoured by Kara's charming desire to kiss her again but they really do need to talk, even if she was trying to put it off before. "We can test that communication method later when we aren't about to do a jailbreak."
Kara pouts with a cute little huff but nods nonetheless, knowing in her right mind that they do need to talk and get everything straightened out before they sneak out of here and make their getaway and with the way their kissing was going, they would probably end up with Astra walking in on them dry humping like a pair of horny teens and be so traumatised that it would affect the space-time continuum.
"First we need to make a decision on what we are going to do about our mutual feelings." Lena declares.
"I don't know what you mean by that."
"Are we going to date now? Try and build our relationship as more than friends? Or we could wait until after the mission and we're back on Earth and try and build our relationship there, or we could just ignore it altogether if you would prefer?" Lena offers a few options.
Kara's eyes are wide, her brain catching up but not liking the majority of the options that Lena is offering but understanding where each of them is coming from. "I know what the sensible choice is but I don't want to do this the sensible way."
Lena flits her gaze between Kara's eyes, even if one is almost swollen shut. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing, darling?"
"When you call me that, it can only be a good thing because I don't think there is anything bad about us being together no matter what that would look like. We just have to hold each other accountable to make sure that we aren't losing sight of the mission and the safety of our family."
Lena's face softens and her body relaxes, her muscles softening when she wasn't even aware that she was tensing before. "I think that's an excellent idea so let's do it."
"When you say it…" Kara trails off, unsure exactly what Lena means and waiting with bated breath for her to clarify, praying that she means what she thinks she means.
"I mean that we should let our relationship evolve and I wouldn't be opposed to calling you my girlfriend instead of just best friend."Lena's smile awkwardly shifts to one side, her nerves getting the better of her as she admits what she has been wanting for a while now.
Kara can't contain her smile the same way you can't contain the sun, it's glowing brighter than anything that Lena has ever seen before. "I would love to be your girlfriend."
That is enough conversation for Lena, she's more than happy with that progression and is now more than willing to settle for their new form of communication. She leans into Kara's space and once again takes Kara's lips with her own. They have some time to kill before they leave anyway.
Alex is not at all happy to see the state of Kara's face and it takes one of Lena's strongest glares and a few hushed words from Kelly to get her to back off the edge of a complete rampage.
"I know it's bad but right now we need to get as far away from here as possible and complete the mission." Lena positions herself in front of Kara, watching Alex glower as she traces her eyes over the bruises on Kara.
With a stiff nod they all fall into silence, waiting down just outside of the accommodation where Astra left them after sneaking them out with a few whispered threats that if they get caught, she's only protecting herself and Kara.
The wind is whistling through the trees and the way the branches creak from the force of it puts them all on edge, the noise crackling through their bones and setting their nerves alight.
A whisper cuts through the tension-thick atmosphere. "Are you all ready to go?"
Astra gestures for a middle ages blonde woman to bring forward a modified pod. The lights are out and she is moving slowly to keep the sound to a minimum.
Nia and Alex double-check that they have all the packs while Kelly balances a sleeping Esme on her hip. Kara and Lena load each pack into the pod as they are handed them and once they are all inside, they help the others in.
Astra steps forward before they can get inside themselves. "I have some things for you."
Kara and Lena share a surprised look and step forward for Astra to show them what she has. From behind her sweeping cloak that she is wearing to fight off the sharp winds she pulls out the sword. "Take care of this Kara. You are of the In-Ze bloodline, not just that of the house of El, don't forget that. Do us proud little one."
"I will," Kara promises, reaching around the offered sword to launch herself into Astra's arms, embracing her aunt for all she's worth. Only once she pulls back does she take the sword.
Astra changes her focus to Lena next and hands her something without a word, letting her figure out for herself what she's getting. She looks down at the items pressed into her palm with a smile. There sits the remote to their Kelex and Kara's spy beacon.
"Take your little friend with you, he is in the pod waiting for you, and I think you should take the beacon for now, as the woman that my niece is courting, I can trust you to take care of it."
"How did you know that Kara and I agreed to be together?"
Astra just smiles at her knowingly and pulls her into a brief hug, whispering into her ear when she's held to her chest. "I can see the joy in your eyes. I welcome you into the house of In-Ze, Lena."
Lena mumbles back to her. "Thank you, I'll use the beacon to let you know when we're approaching Kandor."
They pull back and head to the pod. Lena climbs in first, seeing that the others crammed themselves into the back with the packs, leaving space in front with their driver for herself and Kara. Kelex is laid flat in the footwell of the front, a bag of food resting just beside him so she has to carefully position her feet so she doesn't stand on him.
Kara climbs in after her, taking her hand as she settles into her seat.
"Be safe and do not ask my friend any questions, it is to ensure her safety and I hope you understand. Good luck." Astra bids them farewell and waves them goodbye as the pod eases them through the trees until they are far enough away to pick up the pace a little bit.
Kara keeps facing forward, not wanting to give the others any more of a view of her injuries than she needs to, it will just agitate them and make her feel self-conscious. Lena does periodically check up on them though, seeing Alex crammed between Kelly and Nia with Esme asleep across Kelly and Alex's laps, blissfully unaware of what is happening around her.
"Chins up everyone, we're getting back on track," Lena whispers to the group, giving Kara's hand a squeeze as she does.
Kara appreciates it and squeezes her hand right back to show that she does but doesn't look at her, just stares out of the window, keeping track of where they are. She notes their path, noticing the landmarks that they passed before, the stream, the slope they slid down, and the trees they hid in.
They go quite a bit further than that, further than she thought they would go. They never made it all that far in their journey because of everything that happened so finally making some ground eases the stress of the mission on them.
They are going to be pretty close to being right on schedule for where they should be, give or take a day or two. It's pretty perfect really.
The pod slows to a stop in a dried-up ravine, tall walls of mud and rocks surrounding them on either side leaving them with a long path that they are forced to follow.
"Mizhrosh." Astra's friend directs them as she lowers the pod to the ground so they can get out.
"She's telling us to move forward." Kara lets the group know as they climb out of the pod and dump their packs in a pile to be distributed to the right people.
The moment they are all out of the pod along with Kelex and all of their stuff the woman is gone, leaving behind a cloud of dust from the speed of her takeoff.
"Well, she was chatty." Nia comments, digging through the packs to find her own, grabbing the flashlight from the nearest one to see which is which.
Kara shakes her head, taking her pack off her when Nia holds it out to her, passing them out as she searches for hers. "She's protecting herself. We can't blame her for that."
"And we should follow her lead and protect ourselves., Alex adds, cradling a still-sleeping Esme in her arms while Kelly shoulders their packs.
Lena brings Kelex back to life and uses him to carry the bag of food just how they designed him to. She's actually pretty glad they get to keep him, despite him just being a remote-controlled robot to carry their food and the odd pack, he's sort of grown on her.
"Nowhere to go but forward." Kara reminds them once everyone has their packs and is ready to go. "We may as well walk until we find somewhere to hole up for a few hours and then keep going. My aunt told us that it isn't safe to stick to one spot for long."
"Let's go then, the sooner we head off, the sooner we find somewhere to stay for a few hours so we can rest and I can check over Kara's injuries." Alex hits her with a piercing look, letting her know that she doesn't have a choice in the matter.
Kara turns towards Lena, silently begging her for help but Lena just shakes her head. "Don't look at me, I'm with Alex on this one, we need to get you checked out."
Kara's defeated sigh is lost in the wind, the ravine's shape directing the flow right towards them.
Their footsteps crunch, the ground beneath them cracked and dry, seemingly unaffected by the recent downpour of rain they got trapped in a few days ago. The constant sound of it isn't pleasant but it does serve as a good reminder to them that they are moving forward and they are getting one step closer to getting off this planet and finding their way home.
A couple of hours of slow trudging and Lena and Kara walking side by side in front of Alex and Esme to block the vicious wind from attacking their sleeping niece go by in a tired blur, their bodies taking them forward but their minds drifting off to a million different places.
Nia spots a massive rock right ahead on one side of the ravine, blocking a good portion of the wind and leaving a decent-sized dent in the side of the ravine wall that will be perfect for them to set up camp until morning. They probably have at least three hours until sunrise and they can spare another couple on top of that.
"Let's stop here, this is probably the best place we will find tonight." Nia decides, slinging her pack off her shoulders and starting on her tent.
Kara and Lena help Kelly with hers so they can get Esme inside before they start on their own but thankfully their tents are nice and easy to put up and take down, it's almost as though a genius came up with them…oh wait, she did.
Esme is put to bed and Alex climbs into Kara and Lena's tent with them. "Let me see, Kara."
"It's not the worst I've had, not by a long shot. I can tell that it's mostly just bruising and I don't think there are any fractures or breaks. Astra already checked me out as well so if you can make this fast that would be preferred. I'm exhausted. We all are." Kara murmurs out, too tired to put up a fight but not willing to sit here for hours while Alex checks every inch of her skin to make sure she's not dying when it's obvious that she'll be fine.
Alex nods slightly but kneels in front of her. "Ok, I'll just check your face tonight and then we can go over anything else in the morning."
Lena is actually pretty surprised by the interaction, she thought Kara would be the one giving in, not Kara.
"It's mostly just bad bruising and swelling. It should have been iced right after it happened but obviously wasn't. It will heal fine but it will be slower than usual because of the lack of care you received right after. Be honest with me before I go though, is anything else hurting you?"
Kara answers honestly. "My back aches but that's just bruising too, I can feel it but it's just a dull feeling, no sharp pains and it's only at a two out of ten if I was to scale it, so not too bad."
Alex fishes out some pills for her. "Here, this is Ibuprofen so it will help with the pain so you can sleep and it's an anti-inflammatory."
"Thanks, Alex." Kara takes the pills and downs them with a gulp of water.
Alex takes one last quick look at her before bidding them both goodnight and leaving them to lie down and press themselves as close to each other as they can.
"Tomorrow will be better," Lena mumbles into Kara's hair, snaking her arm around Kara's waist to hold her near and share the heat between them but still being mindful of Kara's injuries.
"I know it will. Goodnight, girlfriend." Kar replies, a sleepy smile creeping onto her face.
"Goodnight, dork."