Reminders
Who is this? Lena asked, staring into the eyes of a teenaged girl. The girl's eyes were unmistakably those of Kara Danvers. Kara had no family, and she had never mentioned another daughter. Lena guessed she was around seventeen or eighteen.
"I'm Elaine Daxam-Danvers. Are you the social worker? I said that I didn't need one." The girl stuck out her hand for Lena to shake, shooting Dr. Robbins a dirty look.
"No, I'm not a social worker. My name is Lena. Lena Luthor." Lena managed.
Elaine Daxam-Danvers? Danvers, as in Lena's missing wife, who has never mentioned having a kid, and Daxam, as in Mike Daxam, Kara Danvers abusive ex-boyfriend, who almost killed her? Kara had a kid with Micheal Luke Daxam and never spoke a word about it?
"You're Mom's wife? She told me about you. She also said you didn't know about me. Kara is my mom and Mike's my dad. Great life story, right?" Elaine forced a laugh.
"I'm sorry, how old are you?" Lena asked, her eyes wide with shock.
"I'll be eighteen in a week," Elaine replied, looking down at the ground.
"So you were born..." Lena trailed off.
"The night of the stabbing," Elaine answered. "Look, I'm wound up. When they kidnapped Mom, she wouldn't talk. They figured that if they found me, she may talk. But they were too soft to torture me the way they did her, and she said she wouldn't say a word. I just got saved, too, and I just met my mom's wife and I've been dreaming of this forever. You know, meeting my family and stuff. I'd met Mom a couple of times a month until she decided we're better off apart, so I knew she was with someone, and I knew she got married. I used to dream that you two would come riding in on your white horse and take me home. It's stupid, but this is not at all what I expected."
"Yeah, I get that. I used to dream that my Mamai would come and get me from the Luthors, but hey, doesn't every kid in a sucky home?" Lena forced a laugh.
"Yeah, I guess." Elaine shrugged. "I think I can go now, right?" She looked to Dr. Robbins for confirmation, but the blonde woman shook her head.
"Sorry sweetheart, but you do need to leave with an adult that has either permanent or temporary custody of you." Dr. Robbins sighed.
"I'm not a patient. Can you stop me?" Elaine asked.
"Yes, you are. You've just refused your examination, but since you're a minor with no guardian, were responsible for you. We have to admit you and run some tests, just to make sure you're okay." Dr. Robbins replied, placing a gentle hand on Elaine's shoulder.
Suddenly, Lena noticed the bassinette placed next to Elaine's bed.
"Who's this?" Lena asked, taking a tentative step towards the baby.
"This is Christa. She's Kara's, too." Elaine answered nervously.
Lena broke. Kara had a mystery kid, and she cheated. She was pregnant already when she was kidnapped if the baby was just born. Kara Danvers cheated.
"Mrs. Danvers-Luthor, there are visitors in Kara's room. They wanted to see if you're okay." A man peeked his head into the room as he spoke.
"I'll come back to the room with you. Can the baby be moved to Kara's room?" Lena asked with a sigh.
"Of course she can! She's completely healthy, she just needs to be discharged by one of her parents. Well, by her mother." Dr. Robbins beamed as if this situation was completely ideal. At that second, Lena hated her for being so happy.
"Thanks," Lena muttered, following the man back into the elevator.
Standing in the elevator, surrounded by people in lab coats, Lena remembered her first-ever job at a lab.
Lena, only sixteen, had just scored her first internship. She was paid very little, so she'd had to pick up a couple of extra jobs. After her late shift waitressing the previous night, Lena was exhausted. Still, instead of going 'home' to her tiny, almost empty apartment, Lena found herself in her criminal brother's old lab. After the police arrested him and raided the place, they left it, bottles shattered and materials strewn across the floor and workbench. Lena, however, found comfort there. Though Lex was a xenophobic criminal, he was her brother.
Lena worked into the night, analyzing poisons and making antidotes. The lab, however, destroyed, was a scientist's paradise. It was stocked full of chemicals, compounds, and endless equipment.
Lena dug through one of the crates that she stored some of her clothes in, which all obviously used to hold some sort of nuclear substance. On each side of each wooden box, there was a yellow circle with what looked like a fan printed in black in the center. Underneath the symbol, in bold, capital letters, 'DANGER, HANDLE WITH CARE!' was printed. Lena had sanded down the chips and applied a quick coat of waterproof paint so that the crates wouldn't give her splinters.
She found her new pencil skirt and looked at it with disgust. Lena was really more of a ripped jeans kind of girl, but the lab she'd scored an internship at, women were scarcely hired. So, Lena decided that showing up in her black, ripped jeans and Superman tank top wasn't the best idea.
There was a huge women's locker room that the former employees used to change into their hazmat suits, and Lena used to shower and get ready for work whenever she slept in Lex's lab, which was often.
After she showered and dressed in her new work clothes, Lena stepped back and studied herself in the mirror. Without her glasses, she looked a few years older, and the brunette's resemblance to Lorelai, her biological mother, was suddenly striking. Lena slipped on her heels and took a deep breath. Here goes.
Lena clasped her hands together behind her back, something she often did when she was nervous. It straightened her posture, so she looked more confident, but behind her back, Lena could fidget all she needed. Even after all of her effort to fit in, Lena stuck out like a sore thumb. Not only was she the only person in the elevator without a lab coat, but she was also one of three women.
One of the women suddenly and unexpectedly spoke to Lena. "First day?" She asked.
"Yeah." Lena sighed, letting out a half-laugh.
"What's your name, newbie?" The woman asked, flicking some of her long, curly hair behind her shoulder. Lena, the lesbian, gulped.
"L-Lena. Lena Luthor," She stammered. Several heads turned, some with looks of disgust, others with looks of fear or confusion.
"You've got guts, kid. With that last name, in this industry? Honey, you're playing with fire." The woman laughed. "I like it. The idiots that run this place hate hiring women, so you must've fought pretty hard." The woman stuck out her hand for Lena to shake, an entrancing smirk on her lips.
"I'm Dr. Angelica Brooks, but my friends call me Ange. I have a feeling you'll be one of 'em." Ange smiled even brighter as Lena shook her hand, and Lena was sure that she wanted to make her smile as much as possible from that moment on.