The Ward
Lena was standing in the lobby, leaning casually against a wall as she surveyed her surroundings. The hospital was bustling mid-afternoon, but not particularly crazy. The open layout and sun filtering in through the many windows should have soothed her stress levels, but she instead found herself tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the Super to arrive.
Surprisingly, the stars had aligned; her meetings ran like a well-oiled machine and with a startling lack of traffic, Lena found herself at the hospital early. 12 minutes, a quick glance down at her watch told her.
Those 12 minutes should have been spent drafting new proposals on rebranding this world’s L-Corp, juggling the financials, keeping the investors happy, outlining her next pet project...
Instead, probably because of her pending meet up with the girl wonder, all she could think back to was yesterday’s disaster. The woman let out a huff of annoyance. Lena – for a lack of better word – had been feeling odd these past few months. And her feeling odd had led to her making uncharacteristically odd, perhaps wholly inappropriate, comments to National City’s hometown hero.
Kara had been distant since the truce they had formed to take down Lex. There was a certain gap that prevented them from returning to normal and Lena, for all her genius-intellect, couldn’t figure out why the other woman was so reluctant to take that leap of faith.
But their broken friendship was as much Lena’s fault as it was Kara’s (probably more so Lena’s if she’s being honest). Due to…. circumstances, Lena had indubitably overreacted to her friend’s secret identity and turned what should have been a minor crack in their friendship into an abyss with almost no way out.
But through sheer necessity and guilt (mostly guilt), Lena found herself laying her heart near bare on her sleeve. And coupled with Kara’s naturally forgiving nature… well, they had managed to all but close the gulf in the chasm. Almost.
But for that gap.
And so, Lena had tried. She tried making jokes…she tried to tease. But human relationships had always been something she was particularly poor at it. A dysfunctional family, ulterior-motive driven friendships…she had absolutely no genuine experiences to pull from. She had even considered watching crappy daytime TV if it’d help her figure out the best way to get back to normal terms with Kara.
Because Kara had always been the human element in their friendship.
The one putting herself out there when Lena had been, at least initially, coolly indifferent to anything but a professional relationship. The one who first invited her to game nights, who all but inserted herself into the life of a CEO who was – for lack of better word – a hermit (sans the required company meetings). Kara had always been the one with food, the one with quips and the one who all but stole her heart in the way only a true friendship could.
So… given the role that Lena had played in their friendship becoming an acquaintanceship, Lena had tried. But even she was only good at being rebuffed for so long, and 3 months was a long time for someone to try and fail at something. Particularly long for someone who was not used to failing at all, let alone the dozens of times that stemmed from her current predicament.
She felt her pulse quicken and her cheeks flush as she closed her eyes and drifted back to last night.
“…is it a good sign that you waited until everyone left to continue that thought?” Lena joked, fixing Kara with a sly smile.
But the teasing nature of the comment apparently flew over the older woman’s head because Kara soon fixed her with a curious look.
“They didn’t have to leave…” Kara chuckled as she trailed off. “I’m not sure why they did.” Her expression turned pensive as she thought back to Lena’s previous words.
“What would be a good reason that I didn’t want the others to hear?”
Lena could have literally died out of embarrassment. If she had to explain that she was teasing about sultry motives, Kara might actually think she was serious… Lena found herself taken aback. Was this not what friends joked about?
But Lena Luthor was a Mensa-certified genius for a reason and came up with an almost instantaneous response.
“I mean, William still doesn’t know about your secret identity, right?”
God, she had been so mortified. Thankfully, Kara had bought her dullard reply…or at least pretended to. And so, with that final nail in the coffin, Lena had resolved to give up. There were only so many times Lena was willing to put herself out there and fail, and this last attempt had failed so spectacularly that she half-questioned if Kara might start avoiding her altogether.
Lena pushed away the sickening pit in her stomach.
Well, she had resolved to give up. But Lena had been unable to help herself last night and took one last shot which Kara had kindly set up oh so well by herself.
“So…this is new.”
And for the first time in 57.5 attempts (the half attempt was a long story), Lena had hit the bullseye.
Lena could feel the corners of her lips start to twitch upwards. Because when good things come, they come in spades. And Lena hit the bullseye once more in her next attempt.
“I must say, I have a strict policy of dinner before any illicit hand holding.”
Lena had to admit it – the flustered look on Kara’s face when she finally got it was worth every single one of those miserable, failed attempts. Because in that moment, if for only a moment, it was like they were back to normal. Better than normal even. The euphoric feeling at having finally, finally succeeded was…
“Well someone’s in a good mood.”
Lena hummed in response, still not opening her eyes. “You would be too, if you finally succeeded in something you’d been failing at for three months.”
There was a pregnant pause.
“You’ve actually failed at something? Like…repeatedly?”
Lena’s eyes shot open and she found herself looking up at one confused looking Supergirl.
Oh shit.
“I…” for once, Lena was at a loss for words.
“Not only once but for three months?”
The gears in Lena’s mind were turning quickly. She had absolutely nothing to counter with, absolutely –
“It’s just a pet project that I’ve been working on,” Lena blurted out, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“For three months?” Kara’s eyebrows were so high they had practically disappeared into her bangs. “The only thing I’ve known you to work on that long was… well…”
Lena faltered. The failed Q-wave project.
“It’s not something I’ve been able to commit to as much as I would like.” Lena responded, honestly.
Not that she would have been able to work at Kara all day and night like one of her…realizing where that line of thought was going, Lena felt herself heat up.
What the hell. Get ahold of yourself Luthor.
“Okay…” Kara drawled, giving her a side eye. Lena was quite sure Kara didn’t believe her, but the young CEO was not about to give the other woman the 411 on her master plan to get back in her good graces.
Shaking herself out of whatever that was, Lena tugged Supergirl’s sleeve as she trekked towards the spiral staircase in the middle of the lobby. “Come on, she’s on the second floor.”
“You know I just interviewed her a few days ago, right? I have an eidetic memory. I’m not going to forget her room number.”
Lena could practically hear the smugness in Supergirl’s voice.
“Oh really – are you moonlighting as a reporter now, Supergirl?” Lena glanced over her shoulder at a startled looking Super before giving her a small smirk. “Should Kara Danvers be worried about the competition?”
“Lena,” the superhero practically whined. It was an odd sight – the mergence of Kara and Supergirl. “You’re not playing fair.”
Lena chuckled, “Since when do Luthors play fair?”
Kara found herself willingly dragged to the doorway of Room 242, as Lena carefully knocked on the door to garner Lily’s attention.
“Lily?” The young CEO peered over at a small, auburn-haired girl grinning peevishly up at the two women standing in the corridor.
“LENA LUTHOR!” she squealed, bolting from her bed covers and dragging her IV with her. Lena didn’t have so much time as to let out a strangled, yes? before the girl had wrapped her in a tight hug.
“Imsoxfighteddoseeyou,” came the gargled reply from the girl, still buried in Lena’s suit.
Lena glanced at Kara in alarm, shaking her head as she mouthed, What am I supposed to do?
Kara was chortling under her breath as she found herself staring at the Luthor who was growing increasingly more alarmed. Kara could almost read her thoughts – Is this kid going to suffocate herself?
Finally taking pity on the other woman, Kara gestured….Well, hug her back first of all.
Lena didn’t seem to get the memo though as Kara watched the younger woman gently extricate herself from the young ward. Kara noted in amusement that Lena had surreptitiously checked to make sure there was no lasting harm done to the overexcited elementary-aged kid from lack of oxygen.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?” Lena gave her a small smile as she stared down at the smaller person, unsure of how to handle the situation.
If Lily noticed the CEO’s awkwardness, she didn’t let on. “I’m so sorry, I’m just so excited to see you.”
“Well, we,” Kara finally decided to take pity on Lena and jump in. “Are just so excited to meet you too.”
The girl’s head whipped around to focus on Kara.
“SUPERGIRL!” she yelped, dashing over and wrapping the blonde woman in another hug. For show, Kara pretended to take a step back from the force of impact.
“Whoa there, Superwoman, you’re a strong one. It might be you in this cape someday,” Kara laughed, patting the girl’s head gently. Lily looked up, beaming at her.
“Dr. Janet always says I’m a trooper,” she said proudly, giving Kara a toothy grin.
Kara smiled, squatting down so she could look Lily in the eye. “Well, with strength like that, I’m not surprised in the slightest. You remind me a lot of my friend Lena,” she said, looking up at the startled woman with a twinkle in her eye. “Lena’s one of the strongest people I know.”
The brunette’s eyes went wide, and she uncharacteristically seemed at a loss for words. “But you can lift a truck!” Lily said loudly, lifting her free arm to emphasize the brilliance of the ability.
Kara chuckled. “I can lift a lot of trucks. But sometimes there’s strength here,” Kara prodded her own arm. “And sometimes there’s strength here,” Kara intoned gently, lightly tapping the capricious girl in the forehead with just enough force to send her stumbling back a couple of steps.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kara could see Lena had turn away. Kara frowned. Had she somehow upset her friend?
Unfortunately, Kara didn’t have much time to contemplate Lena’s reaction because Lily had whirled around and careened back into her room dragging a rather vacant looking Luthor blearily behind her. Kara followed closely behind, not wanting to miss any further interactions between the Luthor and the rather rambunctious 9-year old.
“This really is the absolute best birthday ever,” Lily cheered, steering Lena towards her bed and gesturing for the older woman to sit. Once Lena had mutely complied, the girl happily jumped up next to her talking a mile a minute about her friends in the ward and how absolutely excited they’d be to see both Supergirl and the Lena Luthor. And then – to both women’s surprise in the room – the girl starts going off about the latest and greatest innovations from L-Corp.
It took Lena a second to warm up, but once she realized that the 9-year old more or less spoke her language, all traces of previous awkwardness vanished and the two of them spoke so animatedly that Kara found herself feeling…well…feeling almost jealous.
But that was ridiculous, she couldn’t be jealous of a 9-year old.
And it wasn’t because the young girl had a clear favorite between the Super and the Luthor.
But the 9-year old that was animatedly playing with Lena’s hair. Hugging her every few minutes. Wait…was she trying to sit in her lap?
“Okay, how about we see if you can fly,” Kara interjected, interrupting some random discussion on quantum entanglement. Kara could see the confusion on Lena’s face in her peripheral vision, but the superhero refused to meet Lena’s questioning gaze.
Thankfully for Kara, Lily’s eyes had widened to the size of impossible saucers as her mentality once again reverted back to that of a typical elementary school kid.
“No. Way,” she practically yelled, lifting her arms in what Kara could only describe as the universal up, up movement.
Laughing, Kara floated upwards while lifting the girl, IV stand and all. Lily was positively besides herself. Kara entertained Lily in the air for a few minutes, letting the girl enjoy the feeling of weightlessness before gently landing back on the ground.
“You will have to show the other kids on the floor too,” Lily gushed, hands making grand gestures in the air.
Kara laughed easily, “Of course, of course. Anything.”
Lily beamed up at the Super while grabbing Lena’s hand in her two small ones. Kara felt her smile waver as she watched the movement. Unfortunately for her, that also meant that she had looked over at the one person the Super had pointedly spent the last ten minutes ignoring. Green eyes were boring into her own and Kara was starting to grow increasingly uncomfortable at the underlying question swimming in those eyes.
This was a situation that she could not have envisioned.
Thankfully, she was saved by the source of her jealousy.
“I really need to thank the Cat girl,” the girl quipped, staring at Lena.
This caught Lena’s attention, and she looked over at Kara with a wicked glint in her eyes.
Uh-oh. Whatever Lena was up to…
“Cat girl?” Lena was trying to smother a grin that practically extended ear to ear and Kara could have just left right then and there if not for that blasted promise.
“Yeah, Cat girl was such a nice lady. A reporter I think. She kind of looks like you, Supergirl.” The girl blinked, head tilted to one side as she looked more closely at Kara.
Kara let out a nervous laugh, “Well Cat G-…er, Kara Danvers and I are good friends, so I’m flattered.”
Lily giggled. “You’re so much cooler than Cat girl though.” Judging by the look on Lena’s face, Kara suspected she was going to spend the next good portion of eternity nicknamed ‘Cat Girl’.
She was not amused.
Noting Kara’s evident discomfort, Lena apparently decided to return Kara’s earlier favor and put the Super out of her misery.
“Hey Lily,” Lena turned to the young girl, smiling. “We had one more present for you, as a gift for your birthday.”
Lily’s eyes widened. With maturity that no kid her age should have, she stuttered. “N-no way, I can’t accept it. You two coming is more than I could ever want.”
Lena smiled at her, pulling a small stuffed dog out of her coat pocket.
“It’s really more of a favor to us…to me.”
Kara blinked down at Lena. The spotted dog was in good condition, if a little worse for the wear. But it wasn’t new; it wasn’t straight out of the store.
With a start, Kara realized that this stuffed animal was personal to Lena.
This time it was Lena’s turn to pointedly ignore the Super. Despite practically boring holes into the back of the Luthor’s head, Lena refused to look up and meet Kara’s gaze.
“This is Lex. He helped me out when I was in a bad place at a much earlier part of my life.” Lena gingerly passed the dog over towards Lily, who was cradling it like it was the most precious thing in the planet.
“With all my meetings and projects, I haven’t been able to take as good care of him as he deserves. I was wondering…if you wouldn’t mind taking care of him for me?”
Lena gave the girl a small smile.
Lily started bouncing up and down, nodding vigorously. “I’ll take care of him with my life, I promise,” Lily said with utter sincerity.
The older woman’s eyes crinkled softly. “Thank you,” she whispered. Kara thought it almost sounded like a goodbye and was surprised to feel tears pricking the corner of her eyes.
“You two are amazing,” Lily whispered, looking back and forth between Kara and Lena with fascination in her eyes. “You are everything I heard about and more.”
Kara blinked as she furrowed her brow. Well that was an odd statement…
“I hope someday I get to have as epic a love story as you two have.”
There was a loud clatter as Lena stood from the bed in shock, dropping her phone in the process.
As it was, Kara was having a hard time processing what was happening.
“What?” she finally managed to squeak out. “No, Lena and I – we’re just friends, Lily.” Kara, for her part, was surprised she was having such a visceral reaction to the accusation. But that was a problem to figure out on another day. Right now, there were bigger things afoot.
Namely, a 9-year old who had completely misunderstood the relationship between the Super and Luthor.
Lily fixed the superhero with an incredulous look. “Look, you don’t need to worry. Your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell a soul, I promise.”
Kara glanced over at Lena beseechingly, looking for some help, but the shorter woman was looking at her phone and assessing the damage.
At the very least, Lena was going to need a screen replacement, Kara thought wryly before shaking herself out of her thoughts.
“Lena, she’ll listen to you,” Kara queried, forcing the young CEO to look up from the phone she had been so fixated on.
Blinking a couple of times, Lena finally responded smoothly. “She’s right, Lily. I’m very sorry you misunderstood the nature of our relationship. We really are just friends.”
Lily frowned, looking between the two of them rapidly. “But…but you almost died for her Lena! You put yourself in the way of Kryptonite!”
Kara was taken aback. What?That couldn’t have been true… Her head whipped around to Lena who was staring at Lily like she’d seen a ghost.
“I-I knew she wouldn’t kill me…” she murmured, rubbing the back of her head. “And that was different, I owed it to Supergirl.” Lena had gone back to pointedly ignoring the woman next to her.
Kara couldn’t believe this. What did she mean…she owed me? She was willing to die over some make-believe IOU?
Lily shook her head in growing frustration. “Then what about you, Supergirl?”
Kara blinked at the girl, suddenly very afraid at what she might know.
“Lena, I think I hear an on-going al—” the words died at the tip of her tongue as the woman in question turned to fix her with a scathing look which spoke volumes.
Are you planning on keeping more secrets, Supergirl?
“You went back in time, so many times, to get Lena back.”
Oh Rao.
Kara could have died. Shriveled to a crisp. Been stabbed with kryptonite a thousand times over.
“What?”