Chapter Nineteen: Extraneous
Rather than the ring of phone or call of dove outside their window that morning, a train horn rang out hollow and deep in the distance. By the sound of it, the conductor had given a long pull to signal its departure from the station just next door. Both women stirred without a much of a start and stretched across each other tiredly.
Lena squirmed sleepily to rest her head on Kara's shoulder who lay comfortably with an arm tucked behind her pillow. The blonde blinked hard a few times, letting her eyes acclimate to the brightness coming through the curtains. It had to have been nearly ten in the morning if the train was leaving… had they slept that far into the morning?
Kara's jaw gave a rude -click- when she yawned. "I thought they decommissioned the Tarantula. We should get tickets." She stretched, wincing with a slight grimace.
The raven-haired woman's inquisitive nature simply couldn't resist. "I'm sorry—" Lena twisted to prop her chin up on Kara's pectoral muscle. "I'm not sure I heard you correctly… We need tickets see a great big furry arachnid?"
Kara chuckled, bouncing Lena's head slightly. "The Tarantula is a train. An old one. It's pulled by a nineteenth century steam engine… Puffy, I think they call it."
Lena stared with just the smallest hint of a twinkle in her eye. A thin, and somewhat proud smile grew along her lips. "You are absolutely fascinating, d'you know that?"
Kara rolled her eyes, unable to hide her own creeping hint of a smile. "Keep telling yourself that when I run out of slightly interesting facts in another year or so."
The dark-haired woman's heart leapt at the mention of another year with Kara. Another twelve months felt so very much like a privilege to take part in. Three hundred and sixty-five more blissful days knowing that there existed a woman in the world who was brave, handsome, and fundamentally good down to the marrow in her bones. Beyond all rhyme or reason, she knew that Kara loved her and would continue loving her until the end of time.
They lay in bed for a little while longer to soak in the stillness of the morning before getting to their feet. The subtle yet pleasant clop of horse hoof and the tired creak of wagon wheel against century old brick road floated upward from the street as they moved about the room. Lena remarked inwardly at how almost everywhere she looked there seemed to be a running theme of a single five-point star captured in a circle, whether it was decorative sheet metal or wood brand or painting, the "Lone Star" certainly had its place here. The rest of the room was adorned in a very rustic, old world sort of feel with tanned leather lamp shades held together with brass rivets, solid oak furniture and crisp white linens. It was as if she could sense a bit of history with every single thing she touched.
It would be longer still before they decided to put clothes, because the both of them were comfortable enough in their own skin around each other to walk about the room naked. This had quickly become habit for whenever they spent their mornings together, as it was easier to remain without clothes than to keep putting them back on just to take them off again. Lena kept noticing how Kara continued to pull her right arm over her head at an angle as if to round out her shoulder from time to time. The blonde would groan quietly with an air of frustration every time she did so.
"Are you feeling alright?" Lena asked from the end of the bed where she sat on her knees.
Kara turned toward the floor length mirror to face it and pulled her arm over her head again. "I'm just stiff. Must have slept wrong." She replied.
"Let me see." Lena said as she stood to cross the room. Her hands went to skate across the sculpted plateau that was Kara's upper back. "Can you point to where it hurts?" She asked.
Kara bent her arm and motioned with her pointer finger toward where her right shoulder blade met the right side of her spine with a small, grunted effort. Her bicep contracted into a bulge when she bent her arm at such an extreme angle, and Lena sucked the corner of her lower lip into her mouth to stifle an unexpected moan. Redirecting her dizzied focus back on the source of Kara's pain, Lena worked a thumb from the middle of the blonde's back and dragged it up along her vertebrae with a small amount of pressure. The tumultuous moan that shivered out of the woman in front of her let her know that she was in the right spot.
"Ouch. But also so, so good."
"Your rhomboid is strained." Lena stated.
Kara chuckled in surprise. "Listen to you, little miss anatomy."
"Hey. You have your interesting facts and I have my almost always useful eidetic memory." Lena teased with a tap on Kara's deltoid.
Kara stuck her lower lip out with a playful pout at the mirror. "My interesting facts can be useful."
Lena laughed with a nod as she continued to apply pressure toward the strained muscle in Kara's back.
"Really!" Kara insisted.
"I believe you."
Kara turned on her toes then and quickly backed Lena into one of the tall bed posts. Surprised, Lena gasped as the cold, hard wood slotted between her shoulder blades.
"For instance—" Kara began as she dragged her lips up the long curve of Lena's neck. "I know plenty of useful facts about… this." She stopped to peck a kiss at the raven-haired woman's pulse point. Then her hands raked over the front of Lena's ribs to cup each of her breasts. "And these."
Lena shivered and pulled her lower lip into her mouth again. How fortuitous it was that she had not yet donned any clothing, because if she had she would be tearing away at it by now.
Kara kneeled then, sliding her thumbs over the crests of her hip bones. "And these…" She said, pressing a single wet kiss to each of them.
Lena's hands flew above her head to grip the post behind her as a tremor wound its way up from her toes. The sight of Kara kneeling before her in the mirror made her feel faint. One of her heels pushed into the round curve of her ass where she sat on it and her back… Gods above, her back. The detailed map of muscles that stretched from the base of the blonde's spine up to the tops of her shoulders were a wonder to behold. Her skin, wonderfully tanned from hard hours in the sun where only the faint, pale lines of where her sports bra would have sat painted the perfect picture. A mane of wavy, golden-blonde hair spilled just past the tops of her shoulders.
It was as if any remaining thought in Lena's head had been put in a blender. This envy of Grecian gods and goddesses bowed before her, and her alone.
A hand grabbed at the back of her thigh and draped her leg over a strong and sturdy shoulder. Kara paused to look up at her through half-lidded eyes. "And this."
Kara's lips pressed against her and darted a tongue inside.
"Ahh- fuck…" Lena whimpered.
She felt as if she were a ribbon being pulled at one end as she unraveled slowly into Kara's mouth. Standing upright wasn't all that hard when she was essentially sitting on the blonde's face. All Lena had to do was hold on to the bed post. When she came, bright white spots speckled behind her eyelids from having squeezed them shut so tightly, and she shuddered intermittently whenever Kara's tongue made a pointed lick over her sensitive clit. The woman kneeling on the floor beneath her exhaled hot, panted breath against her wetness, kissing the insides of her thighs every so often as she trembled.
Lena swallowed dryly and licked at her lips. "I'd say you're the one person on earth who knows exactly all there is to know about that." The raven-haired woman finished with a small laugh and slid down the length of the bed post to sit on the floor with Kara. Oh so satisfied with the wonderful start to her day, Lena took the blonde's face into her hands and pulled her down to lay on the floor with a smattering of kisses.
Kara sighed as she blinked lovingly at her. "How can I not when I love you this much?"
That afternoon, Lena shut the passenger's door of Kara's truck with its familiar hinged -pop- and climbed back out into the Stockyards. As she strode next to Kara toward the front of the show offices, she could see a man walking toward them. He wore a dusty gray felt Stetson hat with a padded brown vest over a dark blue collared long-sleeved shirt. Along with his fringed chaps and spurred boots, he was quite the sight. When he got closer, Lena was able to notice all of the different sponsor patches on his vest and that his facial features bore a striking resemblance to Kara.
"Clark, this is Lena." The blonde gestured toward her with a hand and then out to the man who stopped in front of them. "Lena, this is my cousin Clark Kent. He's competing tonight and tomorrow."
"Ma'am." Clark tipped the brim of his hat with a finger.
"It's nice to meet you." Lena said politely.
When Clark smiled, Lena observed the familiar strong chin and bright doe eyes. She did her best not to gawk or double take as her brain worked overtime to discern all the subtleties of their physical similarities.
"Any luck on the draw?" Kara asked.
Clark grimaced slightly. "Goes by the name 'The Flash'. Got'im a ninety-two percent buck off rate."
"Wow." Kara exclaimed with wide eyes.
"If he doesn't throw me on my ass, I'll get to draw again tomorrow for the short round."
Kara must have caught Lena's eyes bouncing in an effort to keep up and turned to her to explain. "Um- so, Clark rides today and if he scores high enough, he'll get to compete again tomorrow. Horses accumulate scores just like riders do, but Clark is a world champion- so he might not eat dirt."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Clark laughed.
"You bet." Kara said with a wink.
Lena swooned. She could feel how settled and comfortable the other woman was here in her element. There was no doubt in her mind that she was in for a great day, and an even better night.
"A'right then, see you in there." Clark bowed forward slightly with another tip of his hat and headed toward the indoor arena that was the Fort Worth Coliseum.
"And brush your hat!" Kara called after him. She turned back to Lena then and motioned with a bob of her chin toward the livery and exchange buildings nearby. "Wanna see some of the bulls?"
Lena nodded eagerly. A short walk brought them into a tall open building where they were hit with the smell of manure and feed. It was a strong sort of smell that had taken some getting used to, but Lena had long since regarded it as a scent of her "home away from home". Her brain had simply mapped it to be so, and she figured, why fight it?
They strolled from stall to stall inspecting and admiring the different brahmas who either ducked their heads into their troughs or blinked curiously at them. The bucking horses were kept close by, and Kara and Lena moseyed past the different stalled rows of broncos, which were mostly American quarter horse and similar various breeds. Kara explained that any horse could be a bronc if they're athletic enough and expressed an unruly desire to buck. After a while, they came upon a stall where several blue and gold ribbons hung with a sign that read the name "The Flash". In an instant, Kara pivoted on her heel and headed in his direction. The Flash was a bright cherry sorrel color with all four white socks, and he flattened his ears instinctively when Kara approached his gate. When she smiled at him though, his ears propped back up and he stamped a hoof in her direction with a toss of his head.
"Would you look at that… He's gonna give Clark a hell of a try." Kara said with a raised brow.
"How can you tell?" Lena asked.
Kara turned to face her. "Most broncs that have a lot of personality or seem a bit jumpy or jittery usually perform the best in an event. They'll jump high and spin and kick and spit like there's no tomorrow." The blonde's concern wafted in the air between them like a foreboding wind. "After a while you can sort of tell just by lookin' at 'em."
Lena raised her eyebrows in understanding and turned her attention back to the testy quarter horse behind the gate. "Why doesn't he ride the bulls?"
Kara huffed a small laugh. "Because he's not bat shit crazy and doesn't have a death wish." She shifted her weight and leaned her hip against a post, crossing her arms. "Bucking horses will calm down a bit and just run for the gate once you're off them, but bulls on the other hand… they'll keep coming after your ass because they want to hurt you. That's where the bullfighters come in, they're not just painted up clowns who make the crowd laugh- their job is to pull an angry bull's focus to keep downed riders safe."
Lena mouthed an "oh" with so much information.
"Still an eight second qualifier either way." Kara continued, "Clark rides bareback broncs, so no saddle. Just a rigging strap with a handle."
"Would you ever ride one?" Lena asked, facing Kara again once the horse decided he would pay neither of them any more attention.
Kara simply shrugged a shoulder and shook her head. "Never felt interested. To be honest, it's a long way to fall… or be thrown. One broken collarbone falling out of a tree was enough to set me straight. Alex though, she's the roper of the family." Kara said with a smile and looked up at the high ceiling with its large industrial sized fans. "She don't mention it as often as she should, but she's got more blue ribbons than Clark does."
Lena remembered unpacking large plastic storage totes full of framed photos of a much younger Alex, many of which featured her holding up either blue, red, or yellow competition ribbons with a bright smile on her face. She had immediately showed them to Kara, which prompted the blonde to sit with her on the floor of her older sister's bedroom and go through them for hours. Lena had heard so many stories that day and learned more about her best friend's wife in one afternoon from Kara than Sam had told her in years.
"And you're the barrel racer." The dark-haired woman stated with no small amount of pride, which made Kara grin from ear to ear and stare down at her boots to hide the sudden red blush on her cheeks. Lena reached a hand out to touch at the blonde's elbow, but stopped herself just short of her when she remembered where they were. Kara noticed and gave a quick toss of her head in either direction down the long middle run of the building. Then she tapped the brim of her hat up with her knuckles and leaned in to give Lena a quick kiss on her lips. It was chaste, but Lena still appreciated the affection immensely. She knew that their current surroundings weren't the best place to be caught kissing another woman, as Kara had regaled her with the deep-seated traditions and atmosphere amongst rodeo patrons during their drive to Fort Worth the day before. It wasn't exactly what you'd call the most progressive of climates.
As if caught in one another's magnetic field, they lingered dangerously close for a few moments longer when the sound of a bugle roaring triumphantly through the loudspeakers up above in the rafters broke them apart with a start. Kara popped her eyes up and around excitedly at the music.
"Time to go! First roughstock event is coming up soon, and that's Clark." Kara chirped eagerly as she tugged Lena along by a hand. "Pretty sure we missed the mutton scramble, but that's okay."
"The what!?"
Kara and Lena sat third row up in the bleachers watching rider after rider burst out of the three different chutes in use for that day and mark out their broncs to hang on for a qualifying eight second ride. Some had been thrown off and hit the dirt in the arena hard, and some managed to land on their feet into a run, but most climbed onto another horse mid-buck after their eight seconds were up with what Kara had explained were "pickup riders". Two men on horses would pin the bronc between them to allow the rider to climb onto either one or the other, usually leaving the bucking horse to calm itself once it was no longer being spurred. More energetic broncs or those known to have a high score like The Flash never made it easy for the rider to dismount, though.
The announcer on the loudspeaker blaring throughout the arena finally called Clark's name and Kara stood to see more clearly once the number of his chute had been called. Her hand jutted out to point at chute three directly across from them as Lena stood to look with her. Lena's heart suddenly shot to her throat and the palms of her hands grew clammy with her excitement. She held her anxiousness in check as Kara bounced on her heels beside her. With so many competing noises and her burgeoning nervousness for Clark's well-being, Lena was equal parts exhilarated and trepidatious. All of it was absolutely thrilling. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the bright overhead lights and squinted toward the chute where a helmet bobbed up and down. The small enclosure was barely large enough to fit both horse and rider, and the flankmen standing in the rungs of the chute were leaned over and pulling the flank strap on the horse with an obvious amount of difficulty. By the way The Flash was jerking and knocking around inside the chute, Lena could tell that he was ready. She just hoped that Clark was too.
When Clark bowed his helmet forward with a nod, a flankman below yanked at a rope hard to throw open the gate and the angry bronc broke out with a wild leap onto the dirt floor of the arena.
The announcer's voice on the loudspeaker excitedly shouted his appraisals of Clark's efforts in hanging onto The Flash for the full eight seconds as the bronc bucked his hind quarters with a fury. He jumped high and plunged nose down each time, rucking out Clark's legs to spur him again and again from shoulder to rump. Kara's hand shot instinctively to Lena's wrist in the stands at her surprise of how wild Clark's competition was. Lena imagined that they would have bucked into the middle of the arena by now, but The Flash was determined to spin him off in a frenzy, turning tight circles with Clark hanging on with one hand in mid-air. When Lena placed her other hand over Kara's to steady her nerves, a loud buzzer rang out above them when the qualifying time had passed and two pickup men on their horses charged into the arena.
Moments later, a collective gasp broke over the roar of the crowd when The Flash kicked so far outward that a hoof connected with the vested chest of a pickup rider, knocking him like a sack of wheat out of his saddle and onto the floor of the ring. It appeared that he had ridden too closely behind and misjudged the extent of the horse's hoof reach. Clark meanwhile was stomach to saddle on the opposite pickup horse and headed away from the wreck. Before Lena realized it, Kara had leaped down the few flights of bleachers to the arena floor. She was off like a shot, as fast as a speeding bullet.
The chuteboss waved the blonde through and Kara ran onto the dirt in a booted sprint toward the downed rider rolling in the dirt. Lena could see him cradling his ribs with his hands from where she stood in the stands. A hush seemed to roll over the stands as Lena made her way down to the floor in a hurry. An undeniable pang deep in her chest had told her to move, and her body simply listened. Lena did her best to weave in and out of the concerned onlookers who swarmed around the chute and after a few more moments, they parted to reveal Kara and another Stetsoned barrelman carrying the injured pickup rider off the dirt and out of the ring. The crowd soon engulfed both of the men as Kara departed to head straight for her, with both of her eyes wide with an excitement just shy of sheer panic.
Kara bent forward to rest her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, and then pulled her hat from her head to fan the underside of her chin. "That was a hell of a kick—"
"Do you think he'll be alright? Did he say anything?" Lena asked, her voice riddled with concern.
Kara shrugged her shoulders as she straightened and buffeted a few stray hairs from her face with a puff of breath. "He's fightin' to breathe, so not really. No doubt he got some ribs broke. That's been one of Clarke's pickup riders for almost six years." The blonde rasped with her hands on her hips, still nearly out of breath. Then the announcer's voice rang out overhead that Clark's try had earned him a score of eighty nine, a best in The Flash's bucking career and that if anyone could have held onto him for those eight seconds that afternoon, it was Clark "Superman" Kent.
Either out of habit or in an effort to calm her, Lena reached a hand out and placed it just at the hollow dip between Kara's collarbones. An overwhelming sense of pride washed over her with the fact that Kara had sprinted toward danger to help a friend, but Lena knew all too well that she would have done so even for a complete stranger. That was just the kind of person Kara was, down to the very marrow in her bones. Lena was rubbing a thumb gently back and forth over the slight prominence of Kara's suprasternal notch when the blonde leaned forward to pull her close by the hip, but the running stomp of bootheel around the bend of the arena stopped her just short of doing so. Clark jogged toward them with a familiar beam of a smile and whooped his victory loudly, throwing both of his fists into the air.
"Ninety-two percent, my foot!" He hollered triumphantly. When he reached them, Kara turned him around by the shoulders once and then twice before Clark swatted her hands away with a habitually annoyed sort of grimace on his face. Apparently, he and Kara both shared the same aversion to being needlessly coddled or fretted over. Lena found herself continuously taken aback at how similar the two were the more time she spent with them.
"Is Jimmy alright?" He asked as he dusted the bootcut ends of his straight leg jeans with his hands. When he stood upright again, his expression dropped when Kara shook her head with an unknowing sort of emphasis.
"I dunno Clark, they took him outta here in an awful hurry. He's hurtin'." Kara answered.
Clark threw his head into a stiff nod and pulled at his belt buckle to sit higher up on his waist. "I'm done for the day anyhow, I'm gonna go catch up." He started a backpedal toward the arena exit with a slight bounce on his heels and threw out a finger to point at Lena, "Nice to see you again miss, you'll be here tomorrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it." The raven-haired woman replied with a smile.
With a snap of his fingers and another loud whoop into the air, Clark turned and disappeared around the bend from whence he came. Just then out of the corner of her eye, Lena caught the sight of Kara staring toward the dirt ring with a blank sort of expression as if she were looking at something no one else but her could see. A memory, perhaps? Then, another bright and beautiful grin spread across her face from ear to ear. Kara glowed with a kind of happiness that Lena had not seen her wear in quite some time. She shouldn't have been so surprised, as she knew they were standing in what was essentially the heart and soul of Kara's younger years. Lena realized that Kara's joy from being surrounded by the things that brought her comfort during a time when she needed them most was a stark contrast to only a few months ago, when she could hardly get her to entertain the thought of even getting out of bed. Was getting Kara out of that quiet and tiny little town truly the only way to bring her back to life, and back to herself? Or was it the time Kara spent in New York which helped her to be unafraid to take Lena's hand, and kiss her in Times Square? It seemed as though the blonde had managed to bring back some of that acquired courageousness and happiness back home with her. Whatever it was, it sure looked a lot like the rest of her life whenever Lena closed her eyes.
The next morning came faster than expected, as they were so exhausted from the previous day that they barely made it into bed after their short walk around the historic Stockyards. Kara had shown Lena around the hundred-and-fifty-year-old cattle pens and later began to regale her with a fantastical story about the famous bank robbing couple Bonnie and Clyde who took up a room at the very hotel they were staying in. The last images to flit across the backs of Lena's eyelids as she succumbed to the heavy pull of sleep were Kara standing over a pair of thieves, two revolvers spinning tricks in each of her hands and the subtle but unmistakable wink of an eye.
When daylight peeked its way through the drawn curtains over the window the next morning, Lena felt Kara's warmth roll into her, the solid weight of her pressing into the slope of her side. She let herself be wrapped up in it. The quiet buzz of those first few moments each morning with Kara were pure bliss, and every time she awoke to a new one Lena did her best to take it all in. She cherished every inch of skin, every sigh, and every beat of the heart lying just beside her own.
Lena ran a finger softly from the top of Kara's shoulder down to her elbow. It wasn't often that she outslept the blonde, but when she did, Lena took great delight in waking her with a gentle and loving touch. Kara shivered slightly after a moment and then beckoned her eyelids to open. A wide grin spread over her face as if she had just been fondly reminded of where she was, and who she was lying next to. She then folded her shoulders forward with a small stretch and groaned quietly through her nose. Lena's eyes danced over the glow of tan skin and rolling hills of muscle lying in front of her, awestruck yet again.
"I love it when you look at me like that." Kara whispered as she blinked hard into the light of day.
Lena sighed and dragged her eyes up again to stare into Kara's deep blue orbs. Shakespeare had been right… The eyes truly are a window to the soul.
"Truth be told, Kara, there isn't a single inch of you that doesn't perplex me in the strangest and most satisfying way. I could look at you for hours."
The height of Kara's cheek bones flushed a deep pink, and she turned her gaze downward bashfully toward the sheets. "I- I don't know what to say to that."
"Look at me." Lena said, catching the point of Kara's chin with the backs of her fingers. "You are beautiful."
The corner of the blonde's lips turned up in a small smile when she caught Lena's gaze again. "Keep that up and I might believe you one day."
Lena's brow pinched together with that. Kara appeared to churn the sleepy gears of her mind for the right words before continuing, "I didn't much like looking in the mirror for a very long time. My arms, my shoulders…" The blonde gestured towards herself with a wave of her chin. "Men have a way of staring, like they're trying to figure me out. It always made me feel weird and sort of ashamed." Her voice grew quiet then. "…and then you came along." Kara admitted with a smile.
Lena leaned forward and pressed a kiss just beneath each of Kara's eyes. "I wish you could see how powerful you are."
"I think I'm beginning to. When you look at me… I feel like myself. I just didn't know who that person was for a long, long time. You make me feel strong, and I don't feel guilty for that anymore."
Lena scooted and sat upright next to Kara on the bed and reached down to run her fingers gently through the golden hair splayed brilliantly against a pillow. "I want to ask you something, but I want you to let me know if it's not something you're comfortable talking about and we can stop, okay?"
Kara nodded and then propped herself up against the headboard.
"When we're together, with the strap-on… Does it feel natural to you? Like its more or less just another part of you?" Lena asked.
"Yes." Kara answered without an ounce of hesitation.
Lena paused for a moment to choose her next words with care. "How do you see yourself? If you were to consider it right now, how would you identify?"
The woman lying against the headboard shifted her eyes into a long gaze across the room in thought. Then her shoulders gave an apathetic bounce. "I guess... I love being a woman, but also feel quite like a man sometimes?" Kara's eyes suddenly shot open wide. "That sounds very strange out loud…"
Lena smiled and took one of Kara's hands in her own. "Well, I've got news for you, darlin'..."
Kara chuckled at her favorite term of endearment and bowed her head forward to plant kisses atop each of Lena's knuckles.
"I don't think it sounds strange at all." Lena stated with an air of confidence. "Normal is a word which I try to use sparingly, but what you're describing… I think you'd be surprised at just how very normal that makes you. Humans are complex and weird by nature, so from an empirical standpoint, there is no right or wrong way to identify." She explained, and then straightened her back with a proud tilt of her chin. "Etymologically speaking, the word 'strange' comes from the Latin 'extraneous', which is also linked to the simplified word 'extra', meaning 'in addition to'." Lena moved her hand then to cradle Kara's strong jawline. "Simply put, Kara… you are more. And I think that's just grand."
Kara felt somewhat overwhelmed and taken by surprise with the memory of Eliza telling her nearly the same thing some weeks back. The stirrings of tears began to well at the corners of her eyes. She certainly felt like "more" now compared to a time where she had not yet met Lena Luthor. A tight pressure in Kara's chest coiled just beneath her ribs and a large lump grew in the middle of her throat. How was it that Lena could see her so clearly like this when she herself struggled to? Kara's chin dimpled and began to quiver.
How did I get so lucky?
By mid-afternoon they arrived in time to catch some of the children's events, which was when Lena learned that the "Mutton Scramble" was not an event she was overly keen to watch a second time, if ever there were another opportunity. Kids who appeared to be in between the ages of six to ten were one at a time set loose upon the back of a sheep and timed to see how long they could hold on before falling off.
"It seems cruel…" Lena gaped at the arena from her seat in the bleachers.
"I'd have to agree with you. I usually skip it and wait around for the roughstock events. Which, if I'm being honest I don't much like either. But I go to support Clark." Kara leaned forward and sat her elbows on her knees. "Though, there's always a bunch of kids whose day is absolutely made with gettin' to ride a sheep across the arena." She finished with a small shake of her head.
"Has anyone ever said anything?" Lena asked.
"Oh, plenty of times, but trying to convince some folks who just don't want to hear it has proven to be difficult. People used to come and stand out in front of the coliseum with signs and everything. Nothing's changed." Kara sighed. "Well, a few things here and there over the years, but…" She trailed off with a small amount of sadness.
When the bugle sounded its call over the loudspeakers, Kara stood with Lena to muddle through the national anthem before taking their seats again. The announcer began his perfected introductory speech welcoming patrons to the last day of the weekend rodeo when an out of breath vested barrelman wheeled around the bleachers below and called up to them.
"Hey! You Kent's cousin?"
Kara looked down at him and straightened her back. "I am. Somethin' I can help you with?" She asked politely after noticing that he was the same barrelman from the day before who helped her to carry Jimmy off the dirt. He was doubled over with his hands on his knees, wheezing slightly from apparently having run a distance. He took a few more gulps of air and then stood back up, jutting a thumb toward his chest.
"Mike- Mike Matthews. Nice to meet you." He huffed a few more times. "Listen, Clark needs another pickup rider, or they'll turn him out."
Kara's eyebrows raised in shock. "Nobody else wanted to ride for him?"
"Honestly ma'am, that's a conversation I think not meant for you and I, but fact of the matter is nobody's volunteerin'- so he asked me to run and find you."
Kara realized Jimmy must have been too hurt to ride and the fact that no one wanted to step in and lend a hand made her blood boil. She twisted to face Lena then with an apologetic look on her face. "I think people have caught on that Clark's done with the rodeo. I've gotta go do this for him."
Lena smiled and nodded her head agreeingly. "I know. Go ahead."
Kara's eyes flitted to Lena's cheek where she abruptly halted a lean to kiss her there, knowing that they still had at least one pair of eyes on them. It didn't go unnoticed, but thankfully the green and blue eyed woman seemed unperturbed. Lena simply mouthed the words "I love you" and the blonde was up and scaling the bleachers down toward the floor. If it had been anywhere else, Lena knew that Kara would have kissed her. A sudden panic washed over her the further Kara got.
"Kara-! Please be careful?"
Kara spun around and merely tipped the front of her hat at her with a smile. Lena couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something in the pit of her stomach told her something didn't feel right. Wringing her hands nervously into her lap, the raven-haired woman chalked her anxiety up to being over-stimulated from so much noise. Which—when Kara was beside her—was a thing that she could manage easily.
On the other side of the coliseum past boisterous throngs of cowboys and crowds of children, Kara approached Clark who was pacing an agitated back and forth track alongside the wall of the arena. Mike gestured with a nod in Kara's direction to emphasize that he had done his part and located her, to which her cousin sent a dip of his head back in thanks, and the barrelman walked away with his hands back on his hips in exhaustion.
"Hey—" Kara greeted Clark with a long stride and a short wave.
"Hey, thanks for comin' down." He replied with a swipe of a hand through his dark hair to pull it out of his eyes.
"Jimmy alright?" She asked him nervously.
"He is now." Clark said with a sigh of relief. "He bled too much inside of his chest, and they had to take a knife to him. It was touch and go all night and I didn't sleep… but he'll pull through."
"Woah." Kara said. "Clark, you can just turn out, you don't have to—"
Her cousin spun on his heels and tucked his helmet into the bend of an arm. "Lemme tell you somethin'…" He started with a stiff wag of his finger at her and then stopped suddenly. He paused to smooth another curl away from his forehead and took a deep breath. "Sorry. It's just… It's been a day, so far."
Kara knew exactly what he meant. Word had obviously gotten around that Clark was bowing out for good, which meant that there would be a price to pay as far as his reputation was concerned. Rodeo people were a hard lot and riders found sympathizing with groups that made their way of life difficult with all the picketing and accusatory campaigns were known to fall victim to hazing or general disrespect, which was rare, but not unheard of.
"It's alright. I get it." Kara said with clear understanding. "When are you up?"
"Fourth." He replied, kicking the toe of a boot into the dirt.
"Your draw?"
"Name of General Zod. They can't seem to find his stock stats." Clark said with a roll of his eyes and crossed his arms at his chest.
Kara nearly burst. "Where's the damn director—"
"What, you want to go off half-cocked and make things worse for me, cousin?" Clark exclaimed.
Kara stiffened; she knew he was right. "I—" Her hands went to her hips in frustration. "It ain't right."
Clark took the few strides toward her to speak calmly and privately. "Look. I'm here now, and I'm gonna take my last ride and be done. But I'll be damned if I don't make it a good one just because the friends I've had for years won't talk to me now and my feelings are hurt. I can still out ride every single one of them even on a bad day, so that's how I'm gonna go out, okay? I just need you to make sure my ass don't hit the ground." He finished with a pat on her shoulder.
Kara laughed and shook her head exasperatedly. "Alright."
Just then Clark's head signaled to her that someone was behind them, and she turned to see Lena standing with a hand on her elbow up against a small fence partition. Kara knew the raven-haired woman's body language well enough to know that she was nervous. The blonde had pondered just shortly before making it to Clark just how long it would take before Lena's anticipation got the better of her and she sought her out. If Kara was being honest though, she was actually glad that Lena had given in and done so. Away from them, Clark cleared his throat and scratched the curls at the crown of his head.
"I'd best be off. Be ready, Kara?" He asked as he turned to walk back toward the numbered chute.
"Yup." Kara replied, not taking her eyes off of Lena for even a second.
Once they were alone just on the other side of the chute gates where Clark and Kara had stood, Lena raced towards her and threw herself into Kara's arms where the blonde squeezed her and shushed her compassionately.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." Kara whispered. The announcer's voice overhead boomed as the third rider's go-round came to an end and rattled off a list of stats. Lena lifted her eyes to look Kara in the face. She was scared, and Kara didn't know how else to calm her other than kissing her. So, she did, and with as much conviction as she could muster. It was a kiss that said, "Everything will be okay, wait for me." Slowly, Lena began to melt inside of her embrace.
All of the sudden an obnoxious dry cough sounded from behind Kara, and the two of them broke apart with a start. The blonde whipped her head around to see who had so rudely interrupted them and witnessed Mike Matthews once again looking at her, this time with a rough and demeaning glower written on his face.
He hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans and shifted his weight with an impatient stance. "Right foot first." He said gruffly, and then walked out of sight.
"What did he say?" Lena asked, darting her eyes around to spot anyone else.
Kara simply shook her head. "It's uh… just a dumb rodeo superstition that means good luck."
"Which if he had meant the opposite he would have just said 'good luck'?"
"Exactly." Kara sighed and shook her head again. Lena pawed at her penitently, her anxiousness shining through. It unsettled Kara to leave her this way, so she took up each of her hands and pressed them to her lips. "It's fine." She said with a kiss into her palms. "I've gotta go… I'll come find you after."
After a moment Lena nodded, and Kara quickly leaned in and kissed her on her cheek once more before sending her off toward the bleachers and running back around the bend of the arena toward Clark's chute. Once she arrived, Clark was already mounted on top of General Zod, who was an imposing creature, to say the least. From where Kara could see Clark, he nearly cleared the top of the chute. She knew Zod had to be at least eighteen hands high, nearly a foot taller than most broncs, who were generally more compact draft horse and American quarter horse breeds. Clark's competitor was massive, and she instantly doubted the legitimacy of her cousin's draw… but it was far too late to do anything about it now. She broke out of her stupor when the other pickup rider at the gate next to the chute door waved her over, tossing the reins of Jimmy's horse at her and hollered at her to get ready. It set her teeth on edge by the way he haphazardly tossed the steed's reins, but she climbed into the saddle and patted the horse down his neck without so much as a foul word at the other rider.
Just as soon as she turned her neck to look at the back of Clark's helmet, she saw it tip down in a nod to signal his "go" and one of the flankman hanging over the top rung of the fence yanked hard on Zod's flankstrap. In that split second Kara saw and shouted, "Hey!"—but it was too late. The flankstrap on a bronc is the irritant that makes them buck wildly, especially when you add boot spurs to the mix, though it doesn't necessarily need to be so tight for them to grow angry because of it. Most were wrapped in a sheepskin to protect the horse's soft underbelly, but the chutegang clearly had it out for Clark and showed him no mercy.
The door to the chute flew open with the weight of the beast so hard that it crashed against the inside wall of the ring with a loud -clang-. Kara's horse jittered underneath her nervously and she pulled back on his reins to keep him from running early. The announcer was loudly brimming with excitement detailing how Clark was barely clinging onto the bucking horse as Kara's eyes stayed fixed on the giant screen above the arena. It displayed large LED numbers as Clark and Zod rode toward eight seconds, each moving more slowly than Kara had ever counted. Once the qualifying time ran out, the buzzer sounded, and Kara spurred the horse beneath her hard to send him into a gallop out onto the dirt without even bothering to wait for a wave from the chuteboss. He hollered as she bolted past, and Kara grit her teeth instead throwing him her middle finger. The other pickup rider was slow to trail behind to her left, leaving too much of a gap to close in on Clark's bronc. She knew then that it would be up to her to get her cousin to safety, and with another clenched growl she flew across the dirt of the arena toward him.
Coming up just behind them, Kara juked the nose of her horse around Zod's kicking direction and came up to flank him. He was still bucking just as fiercely as he was hot out of the chute and Kara had a difficult time keeping her horse on him without letting Zod spin mid-air and kick in her direction. She finally was able to reach out and grip the shoulder of Clark's vest to pull at him hard, but he didn't budge.
"Let go!" Kara shouted. The thick clamor of the crowd surrounding them was deafening with all their shouting and jeering, and the voice of the announcer was loudly proclaiming that there appeared to be a problem below on the dirt with a wisecrack that "Superman" seemed to be having too good of a time. Zod continued to leap and plunge, and Clark visibly strained to pull his hand free of the rigging. His other hand still hung in the air above his head, which let Kara know he was at least making sure it didn't come back down to grab at the horse—which would have disqualified him. He yanked hard and cussed, and Kara did the same.
"Clark- let go, dammit!" Kara shouted again and tried yanking him from the horse a second time.
"I can't. Hand's stuck!" He shot back. With another expletive and a hard twist in an attempt to free himself, he waited until Zod was in the air once again and brought the heel of his boot up to his wrist and kicked hard at the rigging where riders would loop a hand under to hang onto. It would cost him points off the top of his score, but he was left with no other alternative. Or, at least none that he could think of in a manner of seconds. Things had turned very dangerous, very quickly. The other pickup man finally came alongside Zod to flank his other side and once all four hooves of the bucking bronc met the dirt again, Clark kicked the rigging once more, breaking himself free and very likely his wrist as well from the way he yelled. As soon as he lifted his hand away, Zod's back was up again with another kick which launched Clark several feet into the air. The crowd gasped as Kara tugged her left rein hard and turned her horse to catch him on his way down. The other pickup rider at least pushed Zod in an opposite turn away from them when Clark landed firmly with an audible "oof" across the rump of Kara's horse. People in the stands roared when her cousin slapped the ass of the horse into gear, and they broke out into a run away from the danger. He held on tight to Kara's waist until they were far enough away that he slipped off and down onto his feet at the other end of the arena.
Once they were safely through the gate, Kara leaped down and handed the reins of Jimmy's horse off to a neighboring bulldogger who held his arms out in recognition of the horse. Footfalls from the excited people in the stands hurried in their direction. Clark turned tight circles on his feet just outside of the ring as he struggled to pull his head from his helmet.
"Holy shit, are you okay?!" Kara shouted over the noise and popped the button to his chinstrap, which had somehow eluded her cousin as he groaned his way free of the helmet. He shook his head, still apparently dizzy as his eyes worked hard to focus on just one of Kara.
Clark cradled his wrist and nodded in the affirmative with a pained smile. "Thanks for not lettin' my ass hit the ground." He recalled appreciatively with a pale face as other riders ran toward him to offer their congratulations. Kara admitted to herself that despite what people may feel about her cousin currently for his decision to hang his hat, it would be hard to not be impressed with the ride that he just had.
Her mind immediately jogged back to Lena and she spun around in search of her, which to her surprise she saw that the dark-haired woman was already heading towards her. They crashed into a hug there in the middle of a dozen or more of hooting and hollering cowboys who hovered around her cousin like moths to a flame. Lena squeezed her tightly with her fists bunched into the back of Kara's shirt as her shoulders heaved up and down with heavy breaths. Kara shushed and cooed her again sweetly and when they broke apart, she felt a pair of burning eyes staring at them from a short distance.
Mike was leaned against a post with his arms crossed, that same belittling glower pointed in their direction. He spat his chewing tobacco dangerously close to Kara's boots.
"Can I help you find somethin', friend? Perhaps your manners?" Kara asked with a slight growl. Her hands moved to Lena's shoulders then and she pivoted herself to stand in front of her.
"Nope. Just surprised is all." He retorted.
Kara smirked. "I tend to have that effect." She said with a taunting lilt, knowing full well just what the man had meant.
"I don't doubt that." He tongued at the tobacco lumped in his lip for a moment with a cocky shift in his demeanor. "I'm just surprised you had your head in the game long enough to get ol' Superboy out in one piece after suckin' face with that buckle bunny there."
"The hell did you say?" Clark's voice boomed from behind them as he moved quickly in front and straight into Mike's face. "Boy, say it again- I dare you." Clark's natural accent was aggressively foreboding with the purity of his anger.
"Clark, don't—" Kara lunged after him and hooked her hand around his uninjured elbow, which he shook off with a harsh shrug. He snarled, stepping further and further into Mike's space, effectively backing him right into the wall of the arena.
"Don't get your back up now champ, I was just makin' conversation." Mike said defensively with his palms out into the air.
"And here I am thinking you were foolishly speaking unkindly to my cousin and her friend here." Clark replied gnashing his teeth, his body still filled with the adrenaline from having nearly been trampled or worse. "My mistake." Clark's face was a shade of beet red, a world of difference compared to the pale white just moments after exiting the arena.
Kara chimed in then. "Girlfriend."
The small crowd of men and other riders at her back quietened with the sound of her voice. She then cleared her throat and took Lena's hand in her own, but not before looking her in the face as if to ask, "Is this okay?"—to which Lena nodded with a growing smile. Kara turned back to look at Mike and held her head high. "This is my girlfriend, Lena."
Clark's good fist clenched at his side, and Kara noticed. "Clark." She warned again firmly at his back.
He finally relented and inched away from Mike's face. "Won't you be kind enough to offer an apology to my cousin's girlfriend for your momentary lapse in judgement?"
Kara knew that Clark would never strike another person out of anger, no matter how much they deserved it. He had always come to her defense whenever they were young, his strong sense of justice and general attitude of right versus wrong being the thing that shaped him as they grew older. That hadn't changed with the fact that he now knew Kara was in a relationship with another woman. He knew that she didn't need protecting either, but whenever someone was unkind or cruel to the people he cared about, it did not sit well with him in the least bit.
"I—" Mike's eyes flashed around Clark's shoulder over to Lena. "My apologies, miss. Me and my mouth…"
"Maybe just keep it closed, Matthews!" Someone behind Kara shouted over them. A following "Yeah" and "Right" came just after. Kara beamed proudly. Her chest filled with a sort of peace and validity that no amount of daily affirmations in the mirror could offer her. Not only had her cousin come to her defense, but strangers had as well.
Mike hung his head and walked off, defeated and ashamed. The noisy clamor of yee-hoo's and yee-haw's soon resumed in Clark's direction and both Kara and Lena were left alone with one another again as the small crowd rounded the bend away from them. Lena's hand went to lay flat against Kara's chest just above the breast pocket on the front of her shirt. The lids of her eyes were heavy, and she bit down on the inside of her cheek as she stared the blonde in the face. Kara wrinkled a curious expression down at her.
"Take me somewhere..." Lena insisted as her fingers pulled at the collar of Kara's shirt, bringing her just a breath away from her lips. "Please."
With a gasp and a whimper, Lena's ass landed squarely on a work bench in the smithy stall at the farthest end of the coliseum several minutes later. They had kissed and fumbled their way against door and wall alike until one fell open and they stumbled through. Slender legs instantly wrapped around Kara's waist as delicate hands flew to the buttons of her shirt, unfastening them one at a time as quickly as her fingers could move. Lena had undone about half of them from Kara's neck down as she pulled her lips away and drew in a shaky breath. Her hands trembled.
"That was so scary… but I am so turned on." Lena admitted and kissed the length of Kara's neck. She brought her face away to speak again, "Please don't ever do that again."
Kara ran both of her hands up Lena's back and into her hair where she gripped gently and brought blue and green eyes to stare into her own. "Don't worry, I won't."
It had been strange at first to have someone in her life other than her sister and her mother who worried for her. Someone who not only asked her about her day but made sure that she was taking care of herself and checked to make sure that she was happy, of all things. The latter of which being more than she could have possibly expected from anyone. Kara felt wrecked in her desperation to not have Lena leave again, which apparently chose now as the time to bubble to the surface and make itself known.
"Don't leave… I—" Kara sputtered with small shakes of her head as if to toss the intrusive thought away. Stubbornly so, it latched to the forefront of her mind and spilled out through her mouth. "Stay with me. Be with me."
Kara confessed her deepest wish as she pulled Lena into her longingly, closer and closer. She knew that she was going to need Lena as Eliza's mental acuity continued to deteriorate until they would one day lose her… but Kara also knew that it couldn't be because she was afraid to be alone. That couldn't have been her only prerequisite for asking Lena to move to Texas. She had to be sure, and she was now. She had needed to give herself time in between her recent revelation of wanting to marry Lena and this moment. Admittedly, Kara was many things, but "spontaneous" was not one of them.
Lena brought a finger to silence the erratic movements of Kara's lips, which were still fumbling one over the other in search of words. "Aye, I'll stay with you for as long as you need."