Harmless
Sometimes she slips. Kara Danvers is… an affectation. Not to say she isn’t part of the Danvers family, because she is. Her love for Alex and Eliza is as unbreakable as her love for Jeremiah and her birth family is complicated. But the personification of Kara Danvers the human, is a mask. As much of a costume or simulation as her mask of Supergirl.
****
“Please, Lena. I didn’t mean to hurt you. And I was going to tell you, tried to—”
“Save your pathetic explanations, Supergirl.” Lena’s eyes flashed with hurt and anger. “I can’t believe I fell for your deceitful act. You’re just like everyone else. Get close to the Luthor, make sure they don’t do anything dangerous.” Her smirk twisted into something cruel. “Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer, right?”
“No!” Lena stepped back with a look of uncertainty, so Kara quieted her voice and released the built-up tension from her posture. “You were never my enemy, never.”
“Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for you and your group of lying friends, actions speak louder than words. Now that I know the truth, I’ll never again be swayed into friendships that seem too good to be true.”
Kara closed her eyes as the pain lanced through her. She placed a hand on Lena’s counter to hold herself up. Look in on Lena’s face was more agonizing than any Kryptonite exposure, worse than the betrayal of her parents or her aunt. “Please, Lena…”
Tears swam in Lena’s eyes when Kara moved her gaze back to her best friend… ex-best friend’s face. “It’s Ms. Luthor to you, Supergirl. At least now I know you see me the same as everyone else.”
The granite countertop crumbled in Kara’s grip and Lena stepped back abruptly, alarm coloring her features. Her racing heart was deafening to Kara’s ears. But it was her expression that cut Kara the deepest. Kara met that wounded gaze one last time from the safety of Lena’s penthouse and sighed. “Well, now you see me the same as everyone else too. I’m sorry.” Then she turned and exited through the balcony door, careful to shut and latch it before flying away.
****
Kara learned about masking her first year on Earth. She knew that Dani only spoke like all the other cookie cutter teenage girls when she was at school because she’d witnessed the shift many mornings on her way through the car park. Dani changed her posture, demeanor, language, and even mannerisms when she was in the car with her family in the drop-off lane. But as Kara walked by, she was privy to the transformation that happened as soon as Dani stepped onto school grounds. Dani Ramirez had light skin, an immigrant family, and just wanted to fit in, to hide. To make others feel more comfortable.
It was a sentiment Kara understood well because she struggled with that very thing her first few years on the planet.
Joey was the same, but different. Well-dressed, always smiling for the crowd. Funny, a little dramatic at times, but popular in a way Kara could never imagine. But Kara saw them behind the bleachers on her walk home after school. Joey and Rob, fooling around where they thought no one could see or hear. But even at fourteen, and barely in control of her powers, Kara saw and heard a lot.
Her every day mask was one years in the making. Her teens were spent struggling to control both powers and emotions, hammered on every side by expectations of family, friends, and strangers. Every bit of advice was another brick added to her prison, a layer to the facade.
TV pundits commented on her cousin like they personally knew him, or like they didn’t. “Superman is dangerous! How long before someone of such power turns against the people of Earth?” She knew what Kal was capable of and knew that he tempered himself most of the time, but she didn’t fully understand what that meant until she came out as Supergirl.
But powers, pundits, and high school weren’t what dominated her thoughts at the moment. Sister’s night brought it all out in the open. Cracked her shell and Kara struggled to hold it all together.
****
“We’re thinking of a fall wedding, you know?” Alex shook her head. “I can’t believe Kelly said yes. It’s both terrifying and exhilarating to have everything I’ve ever wanted within my reach.”
Kara shrugged and gave a proud smile. “I can believe it because you two were meant for each other. I’m happy for you, Al. Happy for you both. Kelly will be the best sister-in-law.” Even with her thoughts heavy and mood low, that much she knew to be true. The devastation of lost friendship didn’t take away her joy in the people she loved most.
Alex’s DEO phone buzzed on the table. She was off tonight but technically the director was always on call. She frowned at whatever message was on the screen.
“Do you know why Brainy can’t get through to Lena? He thinks that she’s either changed her phone number or blocked the DEO.”
Alex fired off a quick text message from her personal phone and frowned harder. “She’s blocked me too.” Her gaze was confused and slightly accusing. “What’s going on?”
Kara was tired. Weary beyond belief. She didn’t meet her sisters gaze as she answered. “I don’t know.”
Maybe it was the tone of her voice. Maybe it was the way she picked at her food, but her mask slipped. Alex saw her. “Did something happen between you and Lena?”
“I told her I was Supergirl.”
“And?”
Kara shook her head. “You know she has trust issues. Who wouldn’t when raised by Lillian and growing up with the likes of Lex? I should have told her years ago. But I didn’t, and that’s on me.”
Alex ran a hand through her hair and Kara regretted saying anything to bring her down on such a great sister’s night. “Did you explain that it was for her protection?”
A broken laugh escaped Kara’s lips. “Lena’s has been in danger since I met her. She told me that actions speak louder than words. The only reason she can believe that I… fuck, that all of us kept her in the dark was that we didn’t trust her.” Alex sat back at the uncharacteristic expletive. Kara gave her sister a broken look. “But I did trust her. As much as you or Eliza. This is my fault and I’ll have to live with this hole in my chest for the rest of my very long life.”
Maybe she said too much, dropped the façade too long, but Alex tilted her head in contemplation as she took another pull of her beer. It was quiet for a full minute, or sixty-five beats of Alex’s heart.
Kara swallowed down her tears when Alex slid over on the couch and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Give her time to come to terms with the truth and she’ll come around. You two are a team.”
Unfortunately, the truth was one that wouldn’t make Lena come around. Kara Danvers was Supergirl was DANGEROUS. Did it matter if that danger was to heart, mind, or health?
****
Kara met Bruce Wayne after she’d been on the planet a little more than a year. Everyone was curious how she would differ from Kal, with him raised on Earth, while she spent the first thirteen years of her life on their home planet. That wasn’t even taking into account that Kal was a natural, unmodified birth, but Kara Zor-El was engineered to be the best of Krypton. Would it make her stronger or weaker?
With Kal’s and the Danvers’ approval, she went through a series of tests that ran the gamut of physical, mental, and emotional function. His determination afterward was that Kara Zor-El was too powerful and dangerous. If there was one thing Kal did right by her back then, it was to fight for Kara to stay on planet and grow up with a loving family. Though she did spend summers training with the Amazons to better understand all the good and bad she was capable of.
The weight of memory is onerous when she thinks back to that fateful afternoon. With Batman standing in Jeramiah and Eliza’s living room in all his pretentious glory. It was wrenching to learn that she was a danger to everyone she’d come to care about. Sitting in a room full of solemn faces, Kara knew she’d have to dive deep into the role that was thrust upon her to protect her new family.
That was the first understanding of the fine line she’d need to walk for the rest of her life. Be smart, but not too smart. Fit in, but you can’t be too pretty or too popular. Watch what you do or say, and always control the simmering anger inside. Most importantly, Kara Danvers had to keep her head down and never let people think she was anything other than harmless. One of the most powerful beings on the planet and she was relegated to acting innocent, innocuous, and naïve to make humans feel comfortable.
And Supergirl… that was more complicated. Kara thought that once she burst free from her Danvers skin and donned the cape to utilize her powers publicly, she’d finally feel unfettered and unchained from her ordinary ‘human’ existence. It didn’t take long to realize that Supergirl was as much of a mask and twice as restrictive.
As a beacon of hope, help and compassion for all, Kara was forced to maintain a certain image. She had to be strong, but not too strong. Helpful, but not take away meaning from critical service jobs like emergency responders. Much like Superman, she had to be friendly but aloof, temper her strength in all things great and small, smile for the cameras, never display anger, and appear perfect in every way. Supergirl was an icon, not some orphan girl from a destroyed planet who never properly came to terms with her loss or betrayals. And she definitely didn’t rage at the unfairness of immense loss suffered too young.
Basically, Kara Zor-El was stifled on all fronts. But there were moments when she felt free. Flying through the upper atmosphere with the wind in her hair and sun shining brightly on her skin. Or, deep in the process of chasing down a new story and on the verge of a truthful expose’. And when she was with…
She physically shook the thought from her head.
Kara floated high above the clouds. The sound of the planet was nothing more than white noise to soothe her frayed nerves. It was a meditation of sorts, a safe place. The upper atmosphere was one of the only places she could safely drop the mask, unafraid of causing fear, confusion, or disappointment in those around her. She could rage, curse the universe in her native language, and cry if she needed to. And she had. The amount of times Kara had let loose great gasping sobs while hidden within the wispy cirrus clouds equaled the number of times she released her heat vision from the highest mountains on the planet.
Therapy would probably be safer for everyone but that would require dropping a mask or two, exposing her innermost thoughts and fears. And unless she found a therapist living on another planet, one not terrified by the thought of a Super going rogue… no, it was too risky. The problem with great power, wasn’t the great responsibility part. It was in constantly living up or down to everyone’s expectations, never able to be true to yourself.
But the masks, they are what keep everyone happy. And, if others are happy then Kara is happy. Mostly. Only now the masks had let her down. How could she fix it? To one person, the one that meant the most, she was no longer harmless Kara Danvers, and no longer hopeful Supergirl. She was a failure, a disappointment, and worst of all, dangerous.
Kara floated in place and dashed her tears away before they could freeze in the −65 °F temps. The look on Lena’s face when she confronted Kara about her secret identity, it was more than Kara could bear. How could she explain to Lena that their time together was maskless when the entire world only knew the two versions of her. The youngest Luthor had been raised in a den of distrust and became deaf to explanation in the wake of Kara’s betrayal.
Two months had passed since the reveal with no contact from Lena to Kara or her friends. She tried time and time again to reach out, to explain. Each one was met with obstinate and angry rejection. Kara’s access was revoked from L-Corp. Lena sold CatCo, and had sensors installed outside her condo and office so she could darken the windows whenever Kara flew too near. It was obvious that Kara was no longer wanted in her life.
But the ache persisted, and Kara knew without a doubt that wanted or not, she needed Lena. And she knew on some level that Lena needed her too, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it. They shared a connection, a quantum entanglement. That was the discovery Kara had made in the Fortress of Solitude that prompted her to finally reveal her identity.
The more Kara thought about the issue, the more she realized the trap she’d stumbled into. She’d been trying to convince Lena of her sincerity, of the fact that her best friend knew the real Kara, by approaching her wearing one mask or the other. It was a farce and Lena saw through it. Maybe it was time to introduce herself as Kara Zor-El.
The clock ticked in the corner of Lena’s home office, and she threw a glance at the offensive object. It was a reminder of so many hated things in her life. Lost time, wasted time, and worst of all, the Luthor family. The large grandfather clock was the only thing she took from the manor before she had the contents auctioned off and the estate sold. The clock used to sit in her father’s office, and his father before him. A reminder of unrealized moments and that even in the darkest hours when the world was quiet, it was never completely silent.
Lena took a healthy, or unhealthy, swallow of her scotch and picked up the framed photo of her and Kara that she kept on the desk. She’d forgot about it until moving a stack of files earlier. That was how she found herself drinking away the pain long after midnight.
Tired of the dark office and resounding tics and tocks, Lena carried the picture and whisky glass into the living room. The funny thing about betrayal is that it wouldn’t hurt so much if you didn’t love the person in equal measure. In a fit of rage, Lena hurled the picture across the room. Then, just as abruptly, regretted her decision and sank onto the nearby couch cushion to weep.
It was in that moment that Lena was glad she never admitted her deepest feelings to Kara. While the truth would be equally agonizing with or without that secret knowledge shared, at least her humiliation was tolerable.
Lena’s late-night introspection was triggered by the realization that, after months of Kara’s desperate attempts to connect, she’d finally stopped. All had been quiet for the past four weeks. A fact that didn’t make Lena feel better or resolved. But Lena got exactly what she wanted, right?
An alert sounded on her watch. She silenced it and lifted the tablet from the nearby end table. Someone was outside her balcony, but pressure sensors detected they had not landed. The face of the robed figure was shadowed in darkness and a tendril of fear made her heart race. The balcony lights came on with the tap of a button and Lena gasped.
Kara, no, Supergirl, no… a vision floated just off Lena’s balcony. White flowing robes that looked ceremonial in nature, a regal stature, and an expression Lena had rarely seen graced her former best friend’s face. Her left hand was clenched into a fist, but Kara’s posture wasn’t one of anger. Lena knew what she was looking at because she’d seen Kara make the same fist when she was nervous. The other hand grasped a decorative envelope. Curious.
Against her better judgement, but with the approval of her heart, Lena Luthor tapped the buttons necessary to untint the windows and unlock the door.
“You can come in,” she said quietly, knowing Kara would hear. Then Lena stood and walked to the center of the room, awaiting what she didn’t know.
Kara entered her home, nervous but resolute. Her fist unclenched long enough to open the balcony door, then she wiped her hand on the white tapered pants and curled her fingers again.
“Thank you, Ms. Luthor.” Kara nodded toward her, an acknowledgement of Lena’s broken distance.
Lena swallowed and nodded back. “Supergirl.” She was startled by the firm response.
“No. That’s not my name.”
That got Lena’s attention and sparked another round of irritation. “No? Are you admitting to yet another façade perhaps? Does Kara Danvers moonlight as a lounge singer, or comic book artist in a city far away?”
Kara opened her mouth to respond, then paused, nonplussed. “That is, uh, weirdly specific and wholly inaccurate. What I meant to say is that I’m neither Supergirl nor Kara Danvers. My name is Kara Zor-El.”
Even more curious. Lena bought herself time to rein in her emotions by walking back over to the forgotten whisky. She took another sip before turning to face Kara again, glass in hand. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I try not to lie on the daily. Why are you here?”
Kara grimaced but continued. “This is a visit of diplomacy. My name is Kara Zor-El. I am last daughter of Krypton, the youngest initiate into the Kryptonian Science Guild, and an emissary sent to Earth after the destruction of my planet.”
Lena raised a single eyebrow before taking another sip, unwilling to show how much her curiosity raked against her insides at this new vision standing in her home. “And?”
“My people highly valued brilliant minds and visionaries like yourself. I have personally travelled with my father on diplomatic trips of scientific recruitment and partnership.”
“And how does this affect me, exactly?” Another sip.
Kara tilted her head and gave Lena a small smile. “A scientific partnership is traditionally started with the exchange of resources, a gift of information, and truthful discourse between two ranking Science Guild Members of their respective societies. While Earth doesn’t have a science guild in the traditional sense, I think it can be assumed that as the most intelligent human, you are the Earth Science Guild in its entirety.” She added a long phrase in what Lena assumed was her native language.
Both eyebrows lifted at the complimentary wording and official sounding, if foreign, speech. While one was on brand for Kara Danvers, the other couldn’t be placed to anyone Lena had met, up to and including Supergirl.
Kara chuckled before continuing into Lena’s persistent silence. “Technically, you started a diplomatic scientific partnership years ago by becoming friends and later providing a member of the Science Guild with needed technology and aid. Because of that, I am obligated and honored to do the same in return.” She held out the envelope.
Against her worse judgement, Lena walked across the room and took it with the hand not holding the scotch. “What is this?”
“An invitation. You can respond to it however you wish, but I’m leaving the final decision up to you. You can dissolve the unfinished scientific partnership, you can leave me in silence for the rest of your life, or you can learn everything there is to know, about myself, my people, and the worlds beyond your stars. The choice is yours.” She reached into a deep pocket of the robe and pulled out a bag made from shimmering fabric. “Because of my home planet’s scarcity in the last few decades of existence, resources were an important part of any diplomatic partnership, no matter the originating guild. As a gesture of trust, and my part of the offer, I present to you a selection of valuable resources.”
Kara pulled out items one by one. The first was a large lump of coal.
“Didn’t you say valuable? I get that coal is an energy source—”
Kara’s grip tightened and a flash of light escaped between the fingers of her fist. When she opened it again, a small, rough diamond had replaced the coal. Of course, Lena knew the process, but she’d never considered the amount of power Kara possessed.
“Oh.”
Kara placed the diamond on the nearby dining room table and pulled out the next few items. A formed cube of gold, a few more precious stones, and a strange crystal that Lena recognized from Lex’s notes as something purely Kryptonian in origin. “What is that?”
“A data crystal. It holds the history of my people up to their destruction. Unfortunately, the only way to view it is with technology in the Fortress of Solitude.” She added that to the growing pile on the table.
The last item Kara removed was a small, dull gray box. She stuffed the empty bag back into her robe pocket and held the box out to Lena, much the way she’d done with the envelope.
Lena downed the rest of the scotch in one go while staring at the box. In an effort to get control of whirling thoughts, she looked away from the strange final offering and down at the letter in her hand. She let the glass dangle from her fingers as she ran her thumb across the thick paper. “Why?”
“Because, Lena, while you’ve been so focused on the falsehoods of my life, you’ve missed the deeper truths. You bore witness to all the parts of me I was never allowed to show. You’ve seen my sadness, my anger, and my fallibility. I was more myself with you than I’ve ever been with anyone else. I’m sorry that it took your pain for me to tell you that.”
Kara looked away and swallowed, her free hand once again clenched, but her wrist was straight indicating loose forearm muscles. Nerves, not anger. When she looked up again, Lena was lost in the depths of blue, eyes unfiltered by the lenses of Kara Danvers or the righteous duty of Supergirl. “I’ve been hiding and playing different roles from the moment I landed on Earth to appease everyone. I was so focused on masking my alienness, my strength and intelligence, that I forgot who I really was until—”
Lena stepped closer. “Until?”
Her eyes were heartbreaking. “Until I met you. You made me free, and at the same time, you made the masks bearable.” Kara opened the box to reveal a glowing piece of Kryptonite. The sound of her pained gasp was loud in the condo.
Lena’s reaction was instantaneous. “Shut that, immediately!”
Kara shut the box but held it out again. “This is yours to do with as you wish. I won’t confuse my fear with distrust every again. My believe in you was not misplaced, isn’t a mistake, and remains unshaken.”
The whisky glass fell from Lena’s fingertips, but it never hit the floor. There was a rush of wind and Lena found Kara kneeling in front of her, left hand holding the glass aloft like an offering.
Lena opened her mouth, then closed it again. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the lack of sleep, but genius though she was, Lena struggled to comprehend the last ten minutes of her life.
Seeing that Lena wasn’t going to take the glass, Kara sped it over to the table to deposit it and the lead box with the rest of her offerings. She returned to the space she’d previously occupied by the balcony door. “I’ll let you think about it. You don’t have to decide anything right now, or ever. I know we probably can’t get back the friendship we shared. In an effort to protect my own feelings for you through a series of incorrect actions, I’ve ruined that future. But I would enjoy a professional partnership in lieu of anything more casual or emotional.”
If Lena were a computer, she’d say her lagging brain was buffering. But her silence apparently spoke volumes. Kara paused for a few seconds, then added, “I’ve taken up enough of your time. Good day, Ms. Luthor.” With that, she spun in place to head toward the door.
Brain and heart racing with all Kara’s revelations, she caught on that last admission. “Wait.” Kara froze, then slowly turned around. Her face was as study of hope and fear. Lena held up a hand to hold the other woman in place then carefully opened the envelope. It was a beautifully written invitation to visit the Fortress of Solitude and enter official negotiation for a scientific partnership. She looked from the envelope back to Kara. And it was just Kara who returned her gaze. “Is this real?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll ask again, why?”
Kara clenched both her fists and looked away briefly. “I think we’d could do a lot of good for the world if we worked together—”
Lena narrowed her eyes and interrupted. “You said this was a truthful discourse and called me an equal. Try again.”
Kara Zor-El swallowed and took a deep breath. “I do think we could change the world together, that’s not a lie. But the deeper truth is that I miss you. Not having you in my life took away one of the few people I feel safe with. And it’s left a hole here.” Kara placed her hand over the House of El crest in the middle of her chest.
It was the look in Kara’s eyes that prompted Lena to make her own admission. “Despite the pain you’ve caused, I’ve missed you too.” She chuckled mirthlessly. “No matter how much I tried to push you away, it was like this band connected us and I felt the uncomfortable pull of it every day we were apart. I hated how dependent on you I’d become. The stretch was an awful feeling, and I didn’t understand it, which made me hate it as well.”
Kara nodded, knowingly. “It is the entanglement.”
“The what, now?”
“Quantum entanglement. It’s when two—”
Lena swiped her free hand through the air. “I know what quantum entanglement is, Kara! What does that have to do with us?”
Kara scratched her temple and looked uncomfortable. “Well, uh, the Fortress has a version of the Kryptonian Matrix downloaded to its database. I may have scanned our data and genetics for compatibility.”
“You what?”
The other woman held up her hands to placate Lena. “It wasn’t on purpose, I swear. I was there investigating the program months ago and happened to be wearing the MIT hoodie you loaned me the last time I came over for movie night.”
“That’s where it went? I thought my stylist threw it out when she refreshed my wardrobe.”
“Uh, anyway, I wanted to see how it worked so I plucked a big of hair from the sleeve, thinking it was my own and dropped it in. When it said it wasn’t Kryptonian, I knew it must have been yours. So, I pulled one of my own hairs to try again but must have triggered the compatibility program by inadvertently adding two genetic samples.”
Lena rubbed the bridge of her nose. There was almost too much data coming at her to properly analyze, but she was a genius and needed to put together the last few pieces in order to move forward into, what, she wasn’t sure. “That explains the how and why, but not the what. As in, what does it mean?”
“We scored a 98% interspecies match, which can only occur when quantum entanglement is a factor. It’s unheard of otherwise.”
Her brain short circuited for a few seconds. If she were Brainy, she’d say she were rebooting her hard drive. Lena sputtered, “Are you telling me that we’re meant to what, be together? Be in each other’s lives? Be friends? What does the matrix do in your society?”
Kara’s cheeks flushed a delightful pink color. “The matrix was the system used to test for best bonding potential between two Kryptonians. It analyzed genetics and house potential. The computer at the fortress has a semi-autonomous version of AI and must have researched who the other genetic material belonged to determine match potential. But it doesn’t mean anything, Lena.”
Lena’s voice pitched upward. “Doesn’t mean anything?”
“The matrix isn’t important and has no bearing on my offer of scientific partnership. This is Earth, and humans don’t bond based on matrix determined compatibility. It doesn’t care about my feelings for you, or your lack of feelings for me.”
Everything screeched to a halt. Kara paled and stepped back as her words caught up to Lena. She clearly never intended for that last bit of truth to come out and Lena found a little of her own bravery through the forest of her heartache. She moved slowly toward Kara, afraid to scare off the fastest woman on Earth. “Say that again.”
Kara swallowed and shifted nervously. “The matrix has no bearing on my offer—”
Lena swiped a hand through the air, cutting her off. “No. The last part.”
Fist clenched, Kara said, “It doesn’t care about my feelings for you.”
“And what are those, exactly?”
Blue eyes met her own as Kara admitted, “I’ve loved you for so long that I forgot I was loving you through a mask. Like wearing an image inducer. I could see you just fine and love you through it all. But you couldn’t see the real me. I trusted you understood that my words and emotion were real all while you were kept in the dark.”
Lena moved until she stood right in front of Kara. So close she could feel Kara’s shaky exhale caress the loose hair around her face. “So why did you wait so long to tell me?”
Kara’s face twisted with anguish. “Because I’m dangerous!”
“Kara, I don’t care about your enemies. I had a target on my back the moment my last name was changed to Luthor.”
“No. Not my enemies, Lena. Me. I’m the danger and I didn’t want to see the look on your face when you realized your harmless friend had the potential to destroy worlds.” Kara brought her fist up and thumped her own chest. The same fist Lena watched crush coal into a diamond. And she got it.
Kara let out a pained laugh. “But I saw the fear in your eyes the last time we spoke and realized it was too late.”
Lena couldn’t let that go. Not after she’d been gifted with Kara’s last truth. It was only fair she returned in kind. Especially if there were to be any kind of partnership going forward. “You’re wrong, you know.” Kara tilted her head, perhaps to discern Lena’s cryptic comment. “I think anyone would be afraid of so much power, but I’m not afraid of you. I am… I was afraid of my feelings for you. I grew knowing that the more you love someone, the more potential they have to hurt you. And you, Kara Zor-El, have more power than anyone I’ve ever met.”
The double meaning wasn’t lost on either of them.
Leave it to the hero to be the brave one. “Does that mean you feel the same way? We are equals in more than guild and house?”
Lena smirked. “Are we not entangled on a quantum level? Surely a Kryptonian matrix can’t be wrong.”
“Rao,” whispered from between Kara’s pretty lips and Lena wanted nothing more than to swallow it with her own mouth. Be it word or prayer, she wasn’t sure. Unconsciously, she leaned in, and Kara met her halfway.
The kiss was divine, a touch of holiness that left Lena believing in the higher computing power of Krypton and taking the word Rao for the prayer it truly was. Lena moaned when that diamond-creating hand came up to cradle the back of her head. The touch gentle, but firm. When they finally pulled away, Lena let the smile come unbidden. It was her first brush with enlightenment and she wasn’t disappointed.
Kara whispered into the early hour, and Lena knew that, chime or no, the clock in the other room would show one hour after midnight. “I’ve wanted to do that since the moment I met you.”
Lena was startled by the admission. So many years wasted. “So have I.”
“What now? Are we going to be okay?”
Kara frowned when Lena stepped back from her embrace. She already missed that warmth she’d grown to love over the past few years. “Well, I’d suggest you introduce yourself again. This time, neither of us will be wearing masks or armor. It’s just me and you, Lena and Kara.”
Kara drew herself up to her full height, her smile bright enough to power one or two solar farms. “Hello. My name is Kara Zor-El. I am last daughter of Krypton, the youngest initiate into the Kryptonian Science Guild, and an emissary sent to Earth after the destruction of my planet. And I…” She swallowed but forged ahead anyway. “I wish to court you, Lena Luthor. I hope my offering was enough to appease your house.”
She smiled at the oddly formal request. “I believe the pleasure of your acquaintance is all mine.”
“And my offer?”
Lena smirked. “Which one?”
Kara huffed back at her. Those lips tempting Lena back to oblivion. “I’m terribly and irrevocably in love with you.”
Her gaze softened and she couldn’t maintain her composure after the beautiful admission. “Well then, consider me courted. And Kara?”
“Yeah?”
“We definitely have more talking to do, and a first date to plan, but we’re going to be okay.” The smile she received made a few months of heartache fade into the night.
Lena’s fears fell away. No, Kara wasn’t as harmless as she pretended to be for the world. Nor was Supergirl as strong as infallible as the world liked to pretend she was. But Kara Zor-El had strength and heart enough to see though Lena’s own masks and love her anyway. It was more than enough. Their partnership would be one for the ages, on every single level.