Healing
Lena woke up the next morning with a toddler snuggled into her side, and an eight-year-old shaking her awake. She groaned and sat up slowly, a migraine pounding in her head. Lori climbed into the bed with her sister, and Lena slid out of the blankets. She trudged into the kitchen, where her phone sat on the counter. She took two Advil, measured out liquid kids' Advil for Kayla, and picked up her work phone. Three missed calls from Maggie, five, from Alex, seven from Hank Henshaw, and a total of seventeen texts. Her personal cell had eighty-six texts and one hundred and five missed calls from most of the agents that were assigned to Kara's case, along with a few from her private investigator. Lexa joined her mother in the kitchen, grabbing two bowls from a cabinet and pouring cereal into them as Lena called her sister-in-law.
"Hey, I have a hundred and twenty missed calls. What's wrong?" Lena asked anxiously.
"We have a lead," Alex stated briefly, in a hushed tone.
"What? What is it? Do you know who took her?" Lena asked.
"A woman in her mid-fifties with red hair, unidentified, and Mike Daxam, her abusive ex," Alex replied.
"Damn, I usually have to beg to make you talk," Lena muttered.
"Your wife has been missing for almost four months. I'm not keeping anything from you. Henshaw is sending strike teams to search potential hideouts now, but I don't think they'll be too easy to find." Alex explained.
"Where did this information come from?" Lena asked.
"Winn Schott, a new agent on the case found out that the surveillance footage in the lobby was on a loop. They took her from Catco, and then they disappear. No car, nothing to track. But, we got a ping from Kara's phone. It's been powered on." Alex explained.
"She's alive?" Lena gasped, tears of pure joy filling her eyes.
"There's at least a square mile of huge buildings to search, and if it powered on, it's probably made some sort of noise. They could move her. The important part is, we have pictures and videos. We know who has her." Alex explained. In the background, Lena heard the faint sound of Hank Henshaw's voice in the background.
"We've got her."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The steel door of the abandoned warehouse opened slowly, and Kara had to shield her eyes from the light. A group of officers entered the large, vacant space, and found Kara tucked away in a corner, her little cell built into a wall. No one else was visible. The rest of the group continued kicking down doors, but they wouldn't find anyone. They might find knives, whips, chains, and blood, but Lillian was too smart to be caught. Mike would be dragged along. A tall, dark-skinned man with short hair and a firm expression on his face approached Kara, who crouched in a corner.
"Don't touch me!" Kara shouted, wincing at the pain in her stomach.
"Hey, Kara. My name's Hank Henshaw. I work with your sister, Alex. Would you like to talk to her?" Hank murmured, crouching down to meet Kara's eyes. Kara nodded, and Hank handed her his Bluetooth earpiece.
"Alex?" Kara asked weakly.
"Kara! Kara, it's me. It's me and Lena. Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"No, not okay." Kara murmured.
"Kara, love. It's me. It's Lena. Talk to me, babe." Lena begged.
"I've lost a lot of blood. I'm tired, Lee I wanna sleep." Kara sighed.
"Hey, listen. That is the last thing you should do. Just talk to me, listen to my voice, okay? Hank will get you out." Lena explained.
"Lee...Lee, I can't. I can't stay awake. I need...need to sleep." Kara stammered.
"Hey, don't go to sleep," Lena replied gently. No answer. "Kara? Kara, don't go to sleep! Stay with me, please, Kara, stay with me. Don't leave me, not again." Lena broke down right then.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"She's out, Ms. Luthor. I have a weak pulse, and the medics are here. Meet them at Kara's hospital." Hank sighed.
"O-okay. The girls, Alex, the girls can't know until we know she'll be okay. I can't give them hope, just to tear it away." Lena begged her sister-in-law through the phone.
"Hey, listen to me. I already sent Maggie to go pick them up. They'll probably be spoilt rotten, just a warning." Alex assured Lena.
"They deserve it, after all, they've been through, my poor girls. They're strong." Lena sighed.
"They are, just like their moms. I need to announce her rescue. Hank says I should be the one since I was the lead investigator in the case. I'll see you later, with lots of paperwork to do. Love you, sis." Alex smiled into her phone.
"Kara's your sister, not me." Lena teased.
"You're close enough, Lee. Bye." Alex replied, then hung up her phone. Lena set hers down and wolfed down the bowl of cereal she still hadn't eaten. She threw on a pair of jeans and Kara's old favorite shirt.
"Girls, Auntie Mags is coming over! She'll be here soon! Get dressed and pick up a little bit!" Lena called, running a brush through her tangled hair. Kara would need clean clothes, so she packed a little bag with her phone charger, her phone, Advil, and Kara's sneakers. Maggie knocked on the door, and Lena answered the door, still pulling on her shoes.
"Auntie Lee-Lee!" Lyla squealed, wrapping her little arms around her aunt's legs.
"Hey, niece Ly-Ly." Lena teased back.
"I'm not 'niece Ly-Ly', I'm Lyla!" Lyla squealed. Lena giggled, kissing the top of the girl's head.
"Lori's in her room if you want to go play," Lena told her, and Lyla ran off. "Thanks, Mags." Lena sighed gratefully.
"We're family, Little Luthor. Now, I'm gonna go get your kids ice cream for breakfast and we're going to the boardwalk." Maggie smirked.
"Careful, they'll think you're their sister again." Lena teased. Lena, Alex, Maggie, and Kara had taken the girls to the boardwalk once, and Maggie took Lori on one of the littler rides because she fit into the tiny cars better than anyone else, and when they got off of the ride and headed back to the group, a worker had asked Maggie innocently, "Hey, sweetie, are you two lost?" Maggie had told her as calmly as she could, "I'm almost thirty." And the woman had walked away, embarrassed. Maggie had never lived it down.
"Ha, ha. Seriously, Luthor, go. Go see her." Maggie shooed Lena out the door, and Lena ran. She ran down the stairs, taking two at a time, then she ran out onto the sidewalk. Her mind was foggy, and the only thing she could think of was how she needed to get to her Kara. She ran down the familiar streets, her hands gripping the necklace Kara had bought her years ago. She ran and ran, just like Kara had ten years ago, except instead of running from the love of her life, she was running to her. She was going to see Kara.