Chapter Eighteen: A Different Puzzle?
"Kara!"
Her name being shouted from across the airport terminal baggage claim spun her around on her heels. Smiling and waving from across the bustling floor filled with moving feet and rolling suitcases were Alex and Sam, the latter now visibly pregnant and stood with a hand pressing flat against her lower back. Kara urged her legs forward begrudgingly, sore from sitting still on the nearly four-hour flight. It was one that she made happily, when it was going in the opposite direction of course. Tearing herself away from Lena had been more difficult this time than those in the past. Kara was becoming more and more aware that "change" would never be something that she could grow used to or be comfortable with. The trick would be trudging through it each time more or less unscathed. But for now, the worst of the upset at home had been settled with Eliza acclimated to her new residence in Austin and the house on the ranch no longer in danger of falling down around its beams. And yet, an intense unease washed over the blonde as soon as the wheels of the plane had left the runway. Kara realized that she didn't want to be wherever Lena wasn't. Even if that was home.
"How was the flight?" Alex asked as she stretched an arm around Kara's shoulders.
Kara smiled weakly. "Flighty."
Alex frowned.
"My tailbone hurts." The blonde added.
Sam chortled a laugh at that. "Wanna trade? Mine aches night and day. Bonus… it comes with morning sickness."
Alex leaned and pecked a kiss on her wife's temple and swiped a palm lovingly across her pregnant belly. "Almost six months in and the kid's already giving her grief."
Kara did her best to smile. She was glad to see her sister and Sam again, but seeing them together and happy had an unexpected, and almost undesired effect. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes and stung there as she fought to keep them trapped. Kara felt silly, and selfish.
"Ay pobrecita…" Sam broke away from Alex, motioning her arms outward toward Kara. Her brow was upturned in a desperate need to console Kara; The maternal side of the brunette making itself known.
Kara quickly nodded her consent and as soon as Sam embraced her, she began to cry. Alex instinctively wrapped her long arms around them both a moment later. Calm, rolling tears poured themselves one after the other from behind blue eyes as Kara stood upright and firm on her feet. Her arms at her sides felt heavy and her head hung low as they squeezed her. The three of them, a static monolith in a sea of moving bodies. There in the quiet shelter of each other amid so much frenetic noise and chaos, they were an island. A refuge, absolute and immovable. Kara was safe, but her heart ached more than it had in a very long time.
Several long and heavy sighs pulled a tightness into her chest that made it more difficult to breathe as the minutes passed by. "Outside—" Kara stuttered all of the sudden behind a small gasp. Both Sam and Alex released their hold of her curiously.
"Outside." Kara repeated, now visibly panicked by the look on her face. Everything just felt a little too tight… Her shirt collar, her belt, the bag hanging from her shoulder that sat a little too close to her neck.
Alex took up her sister's hand and pulled her toward the large, tinted glass with doors to the parking and passenger pick-up outdoors. With Sam in tow just behind, a burst of fresh air hit Kara's nostrils as soon as they stepped out of the airport and into the sun. Her panic subsiding, Kara pulled a few deep, calming breaths in and focused her mind on her feet, shifting her boot heels onto the sidewalk.
You're not dying.
You're not floating away…
You're okay.
"Alright?" Alex asked after a pause.
Kara lifted her head and rubbed the wetness from her cheeks. "Yeah."
They shared a smile and suddenly Sam bellowed an exaggerated groan beside them. "Oh my God- are you kidding me…" Sam exclaimed with a roll of her eyes.
"…mind sharing with the class?" Alex asked, her and Kara both looking at the woman with a sort of bewilderment.
"I've gotta pee again."
For the first and last time that day, Kara laughed.
During the week Kara was able to return to the repair shop in town to help Clark clear some of the bays. Being shorthanded left him in need of help to get some of their customers back on the road again. A few days were all Kara could spare apart from being the only working pair of hands on Danvers Ranch, which realistically needed at least two, maybe three to perform at peak efficiency. She knew she may have to eventually hire a few part-time people who wouldn't mind the hard labor and low pay, but that was a conversation with her sister that she was saving for… well, the very last minute if she was being honest. It wasn't something that she allowed to occupy her mind for long periods of time. She just couldn't. Her head was already too full of missing the way Lena's laugh sounded when muffled in her neck, and those small, tired sighs next to her ear when they would fall asleep. She missed most of all the way Lena said her name.
Kara…
"Kara."
"Kara!"
The crown of her head smacked against the underside of a hood when she snapped back to reality.
"Damn, woman, are you gonna torque that intake bolt down any harder? Damn near have to get it out with a blow torch after that." Clark said, shaking his head.
"Shoot, sorry…" Kara blinked rapidly and rubbed the back of her head.
Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you alright? I got the rest if you need to cut out early—"
"No—" Kara replied immediately. She knew being distracted at work was dangerous, but she was determined to not let her head—or her heart—overrule her emotions and get the better of her. She could get through the rest of the day in one piece.
"I'm good. Thanks, cousin."
Their facial features bared a strong resemblance to one another when making certain expressions. The one Clark wore at that moment Kara knew all too well. He heard her, but he far from believed her. Though, heart to hearts weren't exactly their thing. Clark apparently was just as clumsy as Kara when elucidating feelings and emotions and tended to fumble his words in the same exact way as her. But it appeared that he at least wished to try.
"Can I tell you something crazy?" He said nearly at a whisper after a quick dart of his eyes around the shop. Kara couldn't remember if anyone else was there with them or not. Had she even noticed other people there when she came in or was she already so lost in thought then too?
Kara straightened and shifted the socket wrench with its extension into her other hand. "Sure, what's up?"
He puffed out his chest and crossed his arms there as he exhaled tiredly. "I think this year will be my last rodeo."
Kara widened her eyes. Her cousin had been the town's champion bronc rider and cowboy darling ever since he could climb onto a horse. He was younger than her but had expressed more of a competitive nature where riding and roping was concerned. Never having ridden a bucking horse, Kara's interests were in barrel racing, which most young men left to female riders anyway. Male racers weren't unheard of, but it was about as likely as female bull riders or bronc riders.
"You want out?" She asked with a fair hint of shock.
Clark pulled another sigh and gave a downward nod with his chin.
"What made you change your mind?"
He quickly stiffened at the question, which clearly made him feel vulnerable. Kara was accustomed to the over-posturing via body language some men expressed when uncomfortable but knew her cousin well enough to know that he would come out with it if given time. He just needed to preen his feathers a bit first.
Clark turned a circle on the shop floor agitatedly and pulled the ball cap from his head, revealing dark, greasy curls. He wrung it in his hands for another moment and finally stopped moving his feet.
"I… I don't like it." He admitted quietly.
Kara kept silent and made sure her jaw didn't reach the floor. She merely tipped her head to the side to signal her confusion.
"My last ride…" He continued. "I got a look in his eye. Like, a damn good look." Clark's face contorted into an expression Kara had not seen grace the adult version of her cousin, not for a very long time at least. It was guilt.
"He wanted to be anywhere else in the world but there, that horse."
Kara watched as he crossed his arms at his chest again, something she recognized as a defensive position. He apparently felt bad enough to want to protect himself from his feelings.
"I just don't like it anymore." Clark finished, cutting the whole of the conversation short in an attempt to get away from it.
Kara understood. She had never been fully on board with the PRCA despite all of their prideful statements to have the utmost concern for rodeo livestock and its contestants. She knew the welfare of bucking broncos and bulls were implemented in the best ways most arenas and coliseums knew how and had the budget for, but she had seen too many events where either animal or rider were injured as soon as they left the chute.
"Don't you have another competition next month?" Kara asked.
"It'll be the last one. They're lettin' me walk away. Too much bad press with the PBR lately and I guess they're worried I'll make a big stink."
Kara mouthed a "wow" and pulled at the length of her flaxen ponytail. "Well. Then I guess I'm glad you chose broncs over PBR, otherwise you'd be walkin' away sort of funny. Kinda like this—" She bent her knees then and bowed them outward, exaggerating an extreme limp in one leg as she dragged the other behind in a feigned injured hobble.
Clark laughed, seemingly thankful for the attempt at humor to relieve him of his vulnerability. "Real funny. The ladies must love that." He teased.
"Just one." Kara said, and then immediately froze.
Her words had escaped her before she knew it and now that they were out in the world, she stood up straight and turned back around to meet Clark's eyes. His smile simply said everything. Clark popped the inside of his faded ball cap back out with the backs of his knuckles and tugged it onto his head again, then he looked down at the ground and toed at the poured concrete floor of the shop.
"I'm happy for you." He said with a turn to walk away. "But go easy on that manifold though… Or call her." He shouted over his shoulder.
Kara beamed at her younger cousin's nonchalant acceptance of her being with another woman. She shifted her weight in thought and twirled the wrench in her hand around at its socket.
I mean, he had to have known this whole time…?
Kara's knuckles rapped loudly on the wreath-adorned door to Eliza's small apartment. The decoration was large and obnoxious with its red and gold ornaments and bows. Its red holly berries a pleasant contrast to its dark green leaves. The whole thing screamed Samantha Arias-Danvers. Alex had mentioned recently how Sam was elbow deep into crafting and knitting lately, and that at first, she had thought her wife was either bored or was avoiding finishing her latest mystery/thriller, but it seemed to be that she was merely nesting. A term which Kara found endearing and made her even more excited to become an aunt.
The door suddenly flew open, knocking the ornate wreath against it as it reached its full swing. Kara startled at the abrupt greeting and opened her mouth to say "Hello", but the woman inside the apartment was already several steps back toward the small kitchenette and was opening and closing drawers in a frenzied fashion. She waved her hand over her shoulder at Kara still standing in the doorway and had muttered something, but Kara wasn't able to make out the words.
The blonde stepped inside as instructed and let the door swing back closed. The more times she visited the building, the more she found it had been constructed for the "forgetful" and for those who needed aid with everyday tasks. Among these aids were the spring-loaded hydraulic devices installed at the tops of almost every apartment door which closed them automatically, so residents never left their homes with their doors hanging wide open.
"Is everything alright?" Kara inquired patiently as the older woman continued to slam drawers and cabinet doors shut. Each time the wood cracked loudly against its surface it made Kara jump, setting her nerves on edge.
"That damn Mary Katherine down the hall has gone and lost my car keys." Eliza huffed angrily.
Kara paused at that. She knew Eliza's car keys were safe back at the ranch in the top drawer of her dresser, nestled comfortably next to her socks. "Mama, I have your car keys. You don't need to drive anymore, I can take you—"
Eliza slammed a drawer full of utensils closed and Kara jumped again, her heart starting to pound hard in her chest. "Mama! Stop it." Kara begged as her knuckles turned white with her grip around the edge of the sink basin.
The older woman paused at the raise of Kara's voice and widened her eyes warningly at her.
"Please…" Kara continued and took a deep breath. "Why do you think Mary Kate has your car keys?" She was familiar with the woman her mother spoke of, and often delighted in seeing her every time she visited.
Eliza's hands went to her hips, smacking their sides with another huff. "I—" She sighed. "I don't—"
Kara moved closer then and motioned for a hug to stop her mother's derailing thoughts. Eliza, less prone now to cling to her pride, finally lowered her defenses and wrapped her arms around her. She was smaller than Kara and a bit frail now, but still possessed a considerable amount of strength. Kara loved how tightly Eliza always squeezed at the end of a hug, a small and demanding notion that said, "And don't you forget it".
"Hi." Kara said in a breath of relief, perching her chin on her mother's shoulder for a brief moment.
"Hi, baby." Eliza replied.
Now that Kara had successfully dispelled the franticness in the room and both of them were calm again, she looked around the apartment as Alex had instructed her to do so upon every visit. They had been counseled to pay attention to even the most minuscule of details, as dementia patients often left evidence of their condition in their half-finished tasks and various clutter, especially where clutter usually would not be present. All Kara saw was an unfinished puzzle strewn across the coffee table ahead of them in the living room area. The blonde couldn't remember if it was the same puzzle she saw before her last trip to New York or if that one had been finished and boxed away, and this one was new. Kara wanted to kick herself. Had she really not been paying attention still?
She had been so preoccupied with her own chaos of the dilapidating state of the ranch and spending time with Lena that she feared she had begun to miss things again. It was just like herself to place blame where it wasn't needed, which was always upon her own head. But for now at least, everything seemed fine in Eliza's cozy little home. The oven was off, and the thermostat was set to acceptable temperatures. Kara recalled during one of her most recent visits that the thermostat had been set to eighty degrees and left there because Eliza had admitted she must have "fiddled with it" in the night when temperatures began to drop. It was normal Texas weather for there to be a sharp drop in temperature during a seasonal change, but none that required punching the heat up to eighty degrees. Ever. Wintertime usually made itself known rudely and without warning which usually prompted warm jackets in the morning, but by the afternoon the air conditioning would be of need. Adjusting to the rather unpredictable temperature during this time of year was never constant, and always left room for error. Kara understood then that someone would need to be by to check on the environment inside Eliza's apartment more often because of this.
Kara took her by the shoulders to stare her directly in the eyes. Eliza needed a change of pace, and Kara decided that she wanted to get her out of that building for a while and out into the fresh air.
"What do you say we go for a ride today?"
Eliza smiled, and nodded with a wink.
Signing the oldest Danvers woman out of the building was easy enough, but Kara was under strict orders to return her before too late in the evening in order to receive her medication, which needed to be taken with a meal. The nurses on staff during the week were in charge of overseeing residents who required additional supervision when it came to their meds, and Eliza had already earned a reputation for "being elsewhere" when it came time for her evening medication. The Danvers women knew their mother to not be overly fond of swallowing pills, which was just another thing that brought her face to face with her own ornery nature. Having Eliza move to a retirement facility to begin with was just one thing on a long list of similar decisions that made them both feel like they were slowly taking away her autonomy, and her freedom. Feelings of guilt and betrayal came with the territory, and they leaned on each other heavily when things became too much to bear.
Kara witnessed how Eliza lit up when they pulled down the long oak-lined road that ran alongside the ranch. The drive alone was worth it to see how happy the older woman was at the sight of it. Kara knew then that the decision to bring Eliza back to some much-needed familiarity had been a good one.
After they brushed and cooed at several of the thoroughbreds in the barn, Kara hoisted Eliza's saddle atop a woolen Mexican-knit blanket that rested just behind her favorite horse's withers. The Danvers matriarch had named her Reign, not solely for it being a play on the word "Rein" but also for the horse's cool as a cucumber temperament and authoritative attitude toward other, younger mares. Eliza admired the collected and easy-going nature of her, not to mention her beyond reproach personality during childproofing and groundwork lessons. Hence the name of nobility. Kara had always found Eliza's tactics for childproofing fillies and colts to be silly, but effective. If and when any of the ponies were sold after the fact, they could go at a higher price if known to be family friendly. Reign was not yet a dam, and this was most likely due to Eliza's favoritism over her. She had every intention of breeding her, originally, but somehow resolved to keeping her close even though she stabled her with the rest of the broodmares.
Each of the Danvers women had their favorite horse. Kara had Ducky, who turned out to be just as much of a ranch hand as his rider. Eliza had Reign, and Alex shared a close bond with a champion breakaway stallion who she named Mister as a colt, due to him being fast as a whip and even sharper, which made him altogether unbeatable in roping events. Each of them reflected qualities in their rider that made them perfect for each other.
With Ducky and Reign tacked and saddled, the women nosed each of their horses west and away from the ranch property line. They rode in a comfortable silence for a long way until they came upon the edge of Sawyer's apple orchard, where the dormant trees were mostly bare from having been harvested late the previous year around October. Eliza brought Reign to a halt to view the large expanse of bark now bereft of fruit as well as leaf.
"I used to bring you here when you couldn't bear to be at school." The older woman said plainly, recalling fond memories.
"I remember." Kara said in return, bringing Ducky to stop alongside Reign's shoulder.
"Those days…" Eliza sighed. "I didn't know what else to do. You were so sad all the time." She turned in her saddle to look Kara in the face. "They'd call me up from the school and I'd come and get you… and then we'd come here. I'd just let you climb and cry until you couldn't do either anymore."
"I still do, sometimes." Kara said quietly.
"Do you?" Eliza asked and lifted her brow.
Kara nodded.
"What makes you sad, baby?"
The younger woman drew in a quick breath, unprepared for such a question and exhaled exaggeratingly with a toss of her eyes. "Just… things." Kara replied.
Eliza drew her lips together in a thin line and sighed through her nose. "Kara honey, I want you to know something." She shifted her hips in her saddle then to straighten her back. "I know my girls have always been… different, and it took me a longer than I'd like to admit to recognize that 'different' doesn't mean less. It means 'more'. You've got 'more' in just your pinky finger than most everybody in this town has in their whole body." Her brow furrowed a bit as she cast her eyes down toward the ground them. "I made a promise your mama and daddy after they were gone that I'd do right by you. I'm sorry it took me so long."
The last of her words sputtered into a loud cough, and the older woman shot a hand to her mouth to cover her hacking. Kara thought maybe she was trying to hide the regret inherent in her voice or stop herself from crying, but her coughing sounded less likely to be a farce and was more of a deep chested rattle. She had coughed similarly a few times earlier in the day, but it hadn't seemed to be persistent. Nevertheless, this one concerned the blonde immediately.
"Mama, how long have you had that cough?" Kara asked, whisking away the tears from her eyes while her mother was distracted.
"Oh, I don't know, the air's dry out here this time of year." Eliza managed to reply, clearing her throat with some trouble.
"Alright." Kara paused for a moment. "I love you."
"I love you too." Eliza sniffled a few times and leaned forward to pat Reign appreciatively on the neck. "Let's get back. I need to be at the cafeteria with my deck of cards at dinner. Miss Lane hustled the club last week and we've got some payback to look forward to."
Kara drew her brow together with that, slightly confused. "Isn't Miss Lane your floor nurse?"
"She is." Eliza replied matter-of-factly.
Kara laughed heartily. "I'm not so sure about the ethical implications of a registered nurse playing poker with her patients."
"Oh, it's all in good fun, I only lost my salon coupons. I'll win 'em back."
They laughed together and pulled the reins of their horses around to point back down the lane and toward Danvers Ranch. Kara remarked inwardly how today had been such a good day despite its bumpy start back in Austin. She decided that she'd make more trips back home with Eliza to ride with her in the future. Kara couldn't remember the last time her mother had opened up to her like that, and even though she knew it was a very real possibility that she would not remember saying any of it, the blonde took solace in the fact that the words had even been said at all. The older woman's moments of clarity and memory seemed to have been on an upswing, perhaps due to a change in some medication which seemed to improve her mood as well. It wasn't perfect, as Eliza continued to display confusion and irritability at times, but for the most part Kara felt like she was being given parts of her mother back that she had nearly lost. She chose to cherish each moment as they came, because she knew deep down that they would eventually slow and become harder and harder to come by.
With Eliza dropped off back in Austin in time for the dinner bell and having driven back home for the second time that day, Kara lowered herself exhaustedly onto her couch with her arms spread out along its top. She toed each of her boots off and propped her feet onto the coffee table in front of her. It was there that she noticed the cuffs of her jeans were frayed, looking a little worse for wear.
When was the last time I went clothes shopping…?
Just the thought made her skin crawl. Finding clothes that fit her body type usually meant that she had to shop in the men's section of department stores, which was never fun. In fact, it was always such an ordeal that she'd patch and recycle the clothes she had until they could no longer be mended, and she was forced to shop for more. Staring at herself in mirrors of fitting rooms always made her feel so alien and out of place, and the emotional fallout usually lasted anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Whatever shirts couldn't fit her arms, she'd cut the sleeves off. When pairs of jeans tore holes too high up in the leg and couldn't be stitched shut without an awkward looking patch, she'd cut the legs away to make shorts. Those in particular usually flattered her femininity in a way that she liked, especially when they were short enough that the tips of her front pockets would peek out from the frayed edge of each leg. She would tie a shirt a few sizes too big on her in a knot at her lower back to complete the look. Although her wardrobe was limited, she wasn't completely without a sense of fashion.
Kara laid her head back against the top of the back cushions of the couch then and closed her eyes. She'd rather not think about having to shop for clothes right now. The beer bottle in her hand sweat condensation from its cool glass into her palm as she twisted the top off. No sooner had she brought the mouth of the bottle to her lips than her phone began to ring. She scrambled onto her knees on the couch, nearly sloshing the contents of her beer out of the bottle and leaned to snatch her phone from a nearby end table. Lena's name and the image of her smile lit up its screen. Kara had snapped the photo without Lena knowing as a large firework had exploded in the sky during New Year's in Times Square, the light lit from which illuminated the raven-haired woman's face in the most delightful way, casting sweet little shadows in her dimples. She looked so beautiful and so happy, and Kara missed her badly.
"Hi! Hello." The blonde answered quickly, no longer bothered by letting the phone ring needlessly to pretend that she wasn't dying to speak to her. Lena knew well enough by now that Kara always wanted to hear from her, no matter what time it was.
"It's crazy how much I miss you." Lena's first words were quick and to the point.
Kara sighed. "I miss you too."
"I know it's only been a few weeks but… I think I got quite used to waking up next to you so often." Lena admitted.
"Me too." If Kara were any more honest, she would have explained how difficult sleeping alone in her own bed was for the first few nights she was back home and how the tears fell from her eyes when she'd roll over in the middle of the night to find no one there… But she decided that she'd keep all of that to herself. For now.
"How's work?" Kara asked, instead of spilling her guts. She heard an exasperated huff of breath on the other end of the phone.
"Workish." Lena answered with a chuckle.
"Hey. Silly one-word answers are my thing, find your own thing." Kara joked.
"Love, you are my thing."
The blonde pulled her lips into her mouth and felt a warmth wash down from her chest toward her stomach. "Oh, am I?"
"Mhm." Lena replied with a low tuned hum. "All of you."
Kara's skin lit on fire with that. "Including the—" Her eyes flitted downward between her legs.
"Yes." Lena repeated without hesitation. "I miss the way you feel."
Kara squirmed into her seat on the couch and took a sip from her beer. "I should probably do something about that, shouldn't I?"
"I wish that you would." Lena replied lowly.
If only…
Kara sat and thought for a moment, taking another drink. "When's the next you can get away?"
"Not for another couple of weeks." Lena replied with a bit of a sulk.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to the blonde. "Have you ever been to the rodeo?"
The heels of Kara's boots clicked against the floor of the long hallway as she made her way toward Eliza's apartment with some tea that Alex had asked her to drop off on her way through town. Still several doors away from Eliza's, she could hear loud coughing and sputtering and knew right away somehow that it was her. Alex had said the cough hadn't gone away, but also mentioned that she wasn't in the mood to speak with her mother since their last argument involving a chest scan. Eliza had been stubborn to a fault and would not hear a word of anything involving a hospital visit but had apparently agreed to taking some tea. Sisters are known to delegate, and that's when the errand fell to Kara.
She knocked hurriedly at the door and Eliza answered with a handkerchief covering her cough.
"Mama, for goodness' sake…" Kara rushed inside and took her by the hand. Eliza was red faced from the effort of coughing but otherwise seemed chipper, and in good spirits.
"Hey there baby girl, just getting' rid of the last of this nasty cough- sit down." The older woman motioned toward the living room area.
"I'm gonna make you some of this tea first." Kara insisted and moved into the kitchen. She looked behind her at the coffee table where the puzzle from a few weeks ago sat untouched.
"Any progress on that puzzle there? What is it, anyway?"
Eliza turned to look at the low table. "Oh its—" She bent down and tipped the top of the puzzle box back and forth in a hand. "A seascape, it seems."
"Ah. That would explain all the blue." Kara joked.
"I reckon it does." Eliza laughed and hacked another cough into her handkerchief.
Once the kettle on the stove top sounded its shrill whistle, Kara poured its hot water into a cup and dipped a tea bag in.
"Maybe a different one would be better?"
"Hmm?" Eliza hummed, now sitting on the couch in front of the puzzled table.
"A different puzzle?" Kara clarified.
"Oh. Perhaps. Would you turn this one in and grab me another from the games closet on the rec floor?"
"Sure, Mama."
They sat and talked for a while until Eliza finished a full cup of her ginger and turmeric tea. Kara, satisfied with the less intense coughing coming out of the older woman now, made a quick side trip down to the recreation floor of the building where she dropped off and signed out another puzzle in her mother's name. Once she returned upstairs and helped her place a few of the edge pieces, Kara decided that she would continue on her way toward DFW International Airport where Lena would be touching down in a few more hours. She pecked a quick kiss on Eliza's forehead and made a quick and inconspicuous lap around the apartment to check for anything of concern, then bid Eliza farewell for the weekend with a call over her shoulder at the door.
"I fixed your calendar in the kitchen here Mama, you were still back in December."
"Oh- what's it now?" Eliza called back from the living room.
Kara's heart sank. "It's nearly February…"
"Hah! How about that. Thank you, sweet girl. Bye bye now."
"Bye bye." Kara replied and let the door shut behind her.
Getting a good look around each time she visited was a bit of a toss up, depending on Eliza's mood. She wasn't one to have people fret over her, no matter what. She wasn't naïve either, and knew damn well what her daughters were doing every time they moved around her new home in the minutes before they departed. Kara sometimes had to struggle to not be shooed out through the front door whenever she was caught, with Eliza harping at her the whole way to "quit spying on my things and get out from under my feet." The older woman simply wasn't fond of being made to feel old, or feeble. Kara only felt like this was fair. After all, she'd probably do the same in her position. Eliza had been the one to raise her.
The blonde was relaying what she'd found to her sister on the phone while she drove, as well as the fact that Eliza's cough still persisted despite all of their homeopathic attempts to treat it.
"She won't go, Kara, I went back and forth with her for nearly an hour the last time I came by. She's so hardheaded!" Alex exclaimed with no small amount of frustration.
Kara thought to mention the similarities in that aspect between her sister and the woman whom they were speaking of in an attempt at levity, but ultimately decided against it. "Well, if it goes on, one of us is going to have to drag her to the doctor. Have you tried bribery?" She asked.
"Of course I did! There's nothing she wants!" Alex paused for a moment. "Except to go back to the ranch."
"What?" Kara sat up straight in her seat. "She hasn't said anything to me about wanting to go home."
"Well, she hasn't outright said she wants to go home, but she mentions it in almost every conversation."
"That's probably because I took her riding a couple of weeks ago, it was a good day fo—"
"You did what?" Her sister interrupted.
Alarm bells went off in the blonde's head and she began to stammer in her defense. "I- she—" Kara then stopped and cleared her throat. She'd done nothing wrong. "Everything went fine, she had a good time. And… we talked."
"Oh. Well. Just… pay extra attention when and if you take her out—" Alex started.
"She's not an invalid, Alex. As long as she can still climb up into a saddle and I'm not afraid that she'll fall out of it, we're going to keep riding."
Alex sighed on the other end. "You're right, I'm sorry."
Kara responded with a sigh of her own and they sat like that for a few moments in silence.
"So, you're taking Lena to see the rodeo? Aren't you worried that's the most country version of a date there is?" Alex teased, eager to change the subject.
Kara laughed into the phone. "Well, it's been about a year and a half, and she hasn't run away screaming yet."
"That's because she's smart. You deserve someone smart. And someone who is kind to you." Alex said.
Kara smiled. "She does happen to be both of those things. And patient, sweet, and funny…"
"OH-kay, now you're making me want to go home from work early and hug my wife. Who is nearly five months pregnant by the way, so it's a bit of a toss-up when I walk through the door… she either wants to throw her books at me, heavy books I might add, or jump my bones—"
"Oh my God." Kara interrupted and rested a hand on her forehead. "I'm going to hang up the phone now."
Alex laughed on the other end. "Okay have fun up there, tell Clark I said good luck."
"He would tell you that's bad luck and that you only want him to get hurt." Kara replied dryly.
"I do not!" Alex shouted.
"Bye Alex, love you."
"Love you too."
This is silly.
The blonde fumbled with the rectangle of white cardstock where she had drawn the name "Luthor" in big letters with black marker. Anxiously, she tipped the front of her hat up to see clearly as passengers from Lena's flight piled out into the arrivals part of the terminal. Only a sea of people stood in her way. With DFW International being the fourth largest airport in the world in passenger traffic alone and its square mileage bigger than that of the island of Manhattan, stepping foot inside usually made Kara a nervous wreck for the amount of people that moved back and forth around her. The noise and traffic were chaotic to say the least, but as soon as she laid eyes on the dark-haired woman wearing a white satin blouse with a dark green yoke skirt and black flats, the rest of the world fell away. The thousands of other people hovering from terminal to terminal ceased to exist, and Lena was all that there was.
She nearly forgot to lift her sign, too stunned by the sight of her. Something was flapping around wildly in her chest, and she noticed it only her heart doing backflips beneath her ribs. Kara hoisted her sign it in time to catch Lena's attention and saw the laugh that it earned, although she was still too far away to hear it. Both of them skipped into a fast walk toward each other and met in the middle of the gate with a clash of arms and lips. Kara was so glad to be kissing her, even amongst so many people moving around them. The sound of Lena's carry-on suitcase hit the ground at their feet with a dense -thunk-.
"There you are, a mhuirnín." Lena said with a smile.
Kara was mesmerized by the other woman's painted red lips as they spoke and apparently didn't appear to hear a word she had said. Lena chuckled and pulled the crown of Kara's wide brimmed Reiner further back on her head and let herself be kissed again.
Once Kara felt that Lena had been sufficiently greeted, she stepped back a couple of paces with her smaller, daintier hands in her own and admired the raven-haired woman from head to toe, finally finding use for words. "You look beautiful."
Lena smiled again and stepped back into Kara's space to give her a quick peck of a kiss on her cheek. "I liked your sign."
"Thanks." Kara replied. "Just call me Frank."
"Mm—" Lena scrunched her nose and squinted her eyes playfully. "No."
Kara laughed. "Yeah, probably not."
"But—" Lena leaned in to whisper just at Kara's ear then. "Take me away from here and I'll do whatever you want, Daddy."
A breath hitched sharply in Kara's throat as the breath from Lena's words glanced against the skin of her ear. Stiff bumps of gooseflesh rose along her forearms. Her mind dizzied with the possibilities, and soon they stepped outside and into the covered parking garage where they spent another several minutes making out against the side of Kara's truck.
Before long they were checked into their hotel on East Exchange Avenue in Fort Worth. Lena entered the room first and Kara followed behind with their bags, dropping them into a chair. "What do you think?"
The raven-haired woman spun animatedly beside the bed and fell back against it with a laugh. "It's gorgeous! I'm excited to go back outside, everything's so old and beautiful."
"It's nothing compared to you." Kara said plainly from where she stood and gazed at the woman lying on top of the bed.
Lena lifted her head with a smile. Then she shifted to her knees and lifted herself upright. Her fingers pulled at the row of small buttons in the middle of her ruched blouse and she began to pull it free from the high waist of her knee length box-pleated skirt. "Did you miss me?"
"Painfully." Kara replied as she toed out of her boots and popped the buckle of her belt to pull it from her body like a ripcord.
It sent a shiver up Lena's spine, and made her palm at each of her breasts firmly with her anticipation. The top half of her was bare with the bright topaz of her necklace situated delicately between each of her gloriously full and fair-skinned breasts. "Will you show me?"
Kara was a vision in her black sports bra and tight blue jeans as she crawled onto the bed. The way she prowled hungrily toward her and hovered over her with bated breath sent Lena falling back against the pillows with a deep tremble. Kara stayed silent as she balled her hands into fists and walked them up either side of Lena's body, holding herself at a plank above her. When she bowed her head lower to kiss her, Lena moaned deliciously into her mouth and gripped at her back to hold on for dear life.
"Oh Kara, I'll love you until I die." Lena whispered and pressed her lips against her once again. The exhaled breath from Kara's nose fell upon her cheek as their lips moved across each other unhurriedly. It was then and there that Kara discovered something which made more sense than any engine, any transmission, or any hard day's work that had ever come and gone…
I'll marry this woman one day.