Chapter 14
“You two are disgustingly cute,” Lena commented as she looked at the pictures Kara had handed her that she and Lucy had taken when they went to the fair the week before. The two had been dating for a little over a month but going to the fair together was only their second official date since they were both busy with school work and their extra activities. They still managed to see each other most days during lunch though.
The fair was an annual tradition in National City, an autumn festival during the third week of October that usually coincided with the fall break for most of the local schools. Cat had taken Kara every year since she started living with her, and when Lucy asked her to go to the fair with her, she didn’t want to break family tradition. She ended up going twice, once with Cat, Carter and Lena during the day, and went with Lucy in the evening on a different day. Kara got to eat as much fair food as she wanted twice, and she got to spend time with her family and her girlfriend.
“I’m also kind of disgusted that you managed to win that hotdog eating contest,” Lena continued, “I didn’t really need to know how much you could fit in your mouth at one time. That was a little gross.”
“But it was free hotdogs and I got that check and a nice trophy,” Kara replied, “And a coupon for free hotdogs for a year, within reason.”
“They’re probably glad that they put that stipulation on there,” Lena muttered, “I mean, you ate 24 hotdogs in five minutes, if it had been the full ten minutes like standard contests, you would’ve blown the women’s eating champion out of the water, maybe the men’s too if you didn’t slow down to savour the food.”
Kara scrunched her nose slightly, “They were boiled hotdogs, I’m not a big fan of boiled unless they’re from a street cart and they’re covered in stuff. Plain is just… Boring calories.”
Lena cackled a bit at Kara’s words, “That’s what you said about all of the salad and vegetables that Miss Grant made you eat for dinner that night to make up for the amount of hotdogs you consumed. She didn’t even let you dunk the vegetables in something.”
“Boring calories,” Kara shivered slightly. “I mean, I like vegetables just fine, so long as they have cheese on them or I can dip them in something. They do make me full though, and nuts, so many nuts.”
The brunette just hummed and returned to her lunch, handing the photos back to Kara. “So what are you doing this weekend? Any time for study-buddy session or are you having another date with Lucy?”
“I’ve got study time on Sunday, but I’m watching Carter on Saturday,” the blonde replied. “There’s a halloween carnival at the planetarium and I promised Carter I would take him. Costumes encouraged by not required of course, do you want to come?”
“Sounds fun, us nerds have to stick together,” Lena laughed. She and the little boy had bonded over their love of science and nerdy things. It was difficult to see the stars in National City, so Cat had taken Carter and Kara to the planetarium every chance she could so that Kara could tell them of the stars. Trips there were intermixed with visits to the natural history and natural science museums for Kara to learn more about Earth and so Carter could stare at the rocks and gemstones. Lena has accompanied them occasionally and listened to Kara tell stories about the stars once she learned the truth about her friend.
“If you want to come with us though, Carter will insist on you wearing a costume.”
“Who’s wearing a costume?” Lucy asked overhearing what was said as she approached the table. “Hi sweetie,” she said, pressing a quick kiss to Kara’s lips before sitting down next to her.
“Hi Luce,” the blonde replied with a wide smile, “I was telling Lena that I’m taking Carer to the planetarium on Saturday for their Halloween festival. Carter and I are wearing costumes and Carter will definitely demand that anyone who comes with us must wear a costume as well, a ‘real’ one as he said, not a lame one.”
“So what are you two going as?” Lena asked, “Since Carter has insisted on a ‘real’ costume.”
“He wanted to be Batman, so I’m going as Batwoman,” Kara smirked, a slight twinkle in her eye when she glanced over at Lena. “He kept pushing for Robin but I insisted.”
Lucy missed the amused look between her girlfriend and Lena, and just hummed as she bit into her apple. “Batwoman, she’s a pretty new hero in Gotham, but she’s made a significant dent on crime in the city, not to mention what she did to Superman a few weeks ago.”
“You mean with the incident with the paint? I thought they couldn’t prove it was her?” Kara asked, fully knowing that Kate was the one to pelt her cousin with paint. Lucy didn’t know about her though, about who she really was and her cousin, and that her pseudo-older sister was the lady dark knight of Gotham.
“It was kind of obvious with the red bat symbol plastered on his chest,” the older girl pointed out, “Not to mention that she pelted him with batarangs that exploded into a sticky, tar like substance, causing everything to stick to him.” Lucy smirked a bit thinking of the images of Superman covered in feathers when a pillow ‘mysteriously’ ripped over his head. “I don’t know what Superman did to draw her ire, but must’ve been something significant.”
“Probably was,” Lena returned before turning back to Kara. “So I’m in for this Saturday, and let Carter know that I’ll have a ‘real’ and proper costume.”
Kara nodded her head excitedly, “Awesome, I’ll let him know.” She turned her attention to her girlfriend, “Do you want to come too? I promise not to let my little brother and best friend make you feel inadequate in how nerdy they are.”
Lucy chuckled a bit at Kara’s words but sadly shook her head, “I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. I have drill competition for ROTC on Saturday, it’s a few hours away so it’s going to take all day.”
The blonde girl pouted, “Awe, I wanted to see what you would choose as a costume.”
“Trust me, I definitely want to see you in your Batwoman costume, so we’re in the same boat there.” She smirked as she saw Kara’s cheeks reddening, “I would say that if Miss Grant didn’t have that rule about no dates on a weeknight, we could go out on Halloween but since it’s on Tuesday…”
“You could always wear an elf costume for her over Christmas, Tiny,” Lena muttered, breaking the two out of their bubble. “It’s like you both forget I’m here sometimes.”
“Probably because you’re annoying,” Lucy bit back, “And don’t think I missed that short comment Thorul.” Lena just smirked at the older girl. In the past few months, Lena had started to come into her growth spurt. While it was clear she wouldn’t be as tall as her best friend, she was definitely taller than the senior. The older brunette rolled her eyes and pushed away from the table, “I’ve got to head out, I have to go to the guidance counselor's office to finish some paperwork, I’ll see you later Kara?”
“Bye Luce!” The blonde replied, a bright smile on her face. Lena made gagging sounds when the two kissed again, this time a bit longer than a brief peck and Lucy shot her a withering look before she got up from the table. Once she was out of sight, Kara sent her best friend a similar look, “You’re terrible.”
“You ready to go to the planetarium buddy?” Kara asked as she pulled at the stretchy cloth material making her Batwoman costume. She chose to leave the mask off and just painted a red bat symbol around her eyes, and left her hair blonde rather than attempting to dye it red or wear a wig.
“I’m not buddy, I’m Batman!” Carter proclaimed, hands on his hips, chest puffed out proudly. Unlike Kara, he went with the whole costume, complete with the mask pulled on over his head. The gray suit with the yellow and black bat symbol on his chest was completed by the black mask on his face and the cape he had attached to the back of his costume.
“I’m sorry,” Kara apologized, fighting the grin on her face, “Batman, are you ready to go? Lena said she would meet us at the planetarium, in costume of course as per your specifications.” Carter nodded seriously, grunting slightly in approval and Kara stifled down even more laughter. “Come on, let’s take a few pictures to send to Mom and Kate, and maybe she’ll even show the pictures to Batman and Batwoman.”
Carter’s face lit up and he started to bounce excitedly, “Really?”
Kara finally let a giggle escape as she nodded. She had Carter pose for a few pictures and then snapped a couple of herself holding Carter and sent them to Cat before ushering the little boy out of the apartment. They headed down to the street and stopped at the bus stop a block down from the apartment building. Kara knew that she could walk the blocks to the planetarium without any problems but Carter would get tired. Cat offered to have her driver take them but Kara insisted that they would be fine taking the bus.
Around half an hour later, Kara and Carter were getting off of the bus at the stop just down from the planetarium and walking towards the building. She saw other children with their parents or guardians in their costumes gleefully making their way up the stairs to the planetarium. The blonde girl couldn’t help but grin at their exuberance, and their bouncing excitement when they saw her and Carter. When Kate heard that she was going to dress up like her for Halloween, she sent an exact replica of her own costume to the girl made of a softer material. It was a better quality than the one being sold in stores and judging by the looks on kids’ faces nearby, it must’ve look good enough to make her look like a blonde Batwoman.
“Where’s Lena?” Carter asked, peering around as best as he could at three feet tall.
Kara glanced around, her height and superior vision allowing her to scan the crowd and faces at a faster rate than her brother. She spotted her friend and bit back a grin at the sight. Bending down to pick up Carter, she pointed out Lena to him, “There she is, she’s waiting in the shade for us over there.”
The boy’s eyes lit up when he saw her and he wriggled for Kara to set him down, dashing off in the direction as soon as his feet touch the ground. She followed behind him, making sure that he didn’t trip on the stairs as the tiny Batman sped up the steps towards the green Ninja Turtle waiting for them. “Hey Carter!” Lena greeted when she saw him making a beeline for her. She spotted the slight shake of Kara’s head and the small smile on her face so corrected her words, “I’m sorry, Batman, how are you today?”
Carter just grinned, his excitement evident despite the mask that was slipping off his head. “Hi Donny!” He greeted, recognizing the purple bandana tied around her head and the staff strapped to her back. “You ready for the planetarium?!”
“You bet,” Lena grinned. She glanced back at Kara with mischief on her face. “Batwoman,” she intoned and Kara grinned.
“Donatello,” she returned, “I always knew you were a huge geek.”
“I was going to get a Wonder Woman costume,” Lena corrected as Carter returned to Kara’s side and took her hand. “But they were out and then I saw this one and I was like why not, who doesn’t love the Ninja Turtles?”
“Mikey is my favorite,” Carter said looking around, “Kara likes Raph and Leo, Mom’s favorite is Donny.”
Lena straightened a bit and adjusted her costume, “Hear that, I’m Miss Grant’s favorite.”
“You’re hilarious Lena, oh wait pictures.” Kar took her phone out again and snapped a few pics of Lena and a few of them all together before they headed into the planetarium. The building was slowly filling with families and children decked in various costumes. Kara made sure that Carter knew not to let go of her hand, sandwiching him in between her and Lena so that she could grab his other hand as a precaution. The girls let the little boy tug him from booth to booth, playing games and collecting different prizes at each both. Eventually Lena gave up keeping up with alien and little kid stamina and went to the observation room to look through some of the telescopes. The main show for the event wouldn’t be until later that afternoon, so she was content to look at the stars herself while Kara took her little brother around to play the games.
The star show started at 3:00 and everyone slowly trickled into the auditorium, Kara and Carter catching up with Lena as she entered the room. They watched as the ceiling spun tales of constellations and stars, creating images of mischief and fright that dazzled and amazed the audience. While the rest of the visitors were entertained by the stories of the staff narrators, Lena and Carter were listening to whispered words as Kara spoke, telling stories of the stars her father told her as a child. The constellations looked different on Earth than they did on Krypton, her former home being twenty-seven light years from her new planet, but the stories were still mystical and fascinating.
After the show was over, Kara, Lena and Carter left the auditorium to find that the booths and games have been covered with makeshift cardboard houses decorated with different themes, all dealing with space in different ways. Kara pulled out what was left of the money that Cat had given her that morning and used some of it to buy Carter one of the souvenir bags and she escorted him to each house, a loud ‘trick or treat’ coming from the boy every time he knocked on a ‘door.’
It was close to five when the event started winding down and families were taking their exhausted children home. Kara was carrying Carter with bags bursting with candy and prizes looped over her arm. “And he’s asleep,” the blonde murmured, glancing over at her brunette friend, “You want to come back to the apartment? We can have a sleepover and work on homework tomorrow like we planned.”
“I’ll come over, but I want to head back to the dorms first and get my books and take a shower.” Lena winced a bit as she scratched at her neck, “No one ever told me that this paint would be so itchy. I’ll be over at your place around seven, just order my usual.”
“See you later Lena,” Kara waved before heading down the street back towards the apartment building. It was easier for her to carry Carter back to the penthouse than attempt to take the bus at that time of day with him asleep curled around her. She imagined that it was an unusual sight, to see a teenage carrying a little boy for any distance, but she ignored the odd looks and made her way back home.
“Well don’t you two look adorable,” Cat said once Kara walked into the penthouse. By that point, Carter was slowly waking up, his short power nap giving him a second wind.
“Mama!” He cried, wiggling to be set down again. Once Kara set him down, he ran to his mother, proudly showing off his costume, “Do you like my costume? Kara said that Kate might show a picture of it to Batman and Batwoman.”
“She might, if she runs into them,” Cat chuckled. “Now, Batman, why don’t you go change so you can have dinner. I don’t want any Bats at my table.”
Carter just grunted and zoomed off towards his bedroom, his cape flying behind him as he ran. Cat shook her head ruefully and turned her attention to Kara in her own costume. “I’ll change, don’t worry,” the girl said, “Lena is coming over in a bit. We were going to order in, have a sleepover, and study tomorrow if that’s alright?”
“Of course, you can have dinner with Carter and I first, and then order food for you and Lena later, after you’ve taken your shower and changed.”
“Yes Mom,” Kara said with a slight giggle as she disappeared down the hallway and reappeared only a few minutes later, freshly showered with her still slightly damp hair floating around her head.
“Sometimes the use of your super speed is extremely annoying, though a great time saver, and my water bill isn’t as high,” Cat sighed before motioning Kara to the kitchen. “Go, you can help me fix dinner and tell me about your day before Carter comes back out and gives his own version of it.”
They talked while they made dinner, Kara’s speed and heightened reflexes from the mediation and training she’s kept up with made chopping ingredients go much faster, and the teenager told Cat all about their day. Carter came back out a short while later after having gotten distracted by grabbing a few of his action figures to better illustrate the story for his mother. The older blonde smiled as Kara helped Carter re-enact the day, complete with dramatic voices, sound effects and a plot of Kara fending off an evil monster (Carter was scared of one of the other kids dressed up as Predator). Kara ate her own dinner, complete with the entire serving of vegetables that Cat insisted that she have throughout the day, and went to order pizzas for herself and Lena.
Lena arrived with the pizza and had already helped herself to a slice when Kara managed to open the door. It was constantly amazing to Cat, to see the adopted daughter of Lionel and Lillian Luthor giggling and laughing on her couch, but to see her standing in the hallway balancing her overnight bag, backpack, pizza box and managing to eat a piece of pizza at the same time; it was definitely a sight to behold. The two started bickering about the food as Cat half listened in amusement while she helped Carter take a bath and wriggle into his pajamas. Kara was complaining that Lena had grabbed one of her pizzas and started eating it, and it was only fair that she eat some of Lena’s in exchange. The brunette just declared that she would have to fight her for them if she wanted a slice of her pizza.
Cat laughed and shook her head, marveling at how much fuller her life had gotten in the past few years. She heard a crash and knew that one of the girls had ended up breaking something in their fight for the pizza and headed out to the living room, hoping that it was one of the vases her mother had sent her for Christmas. It would make her already full life that much better.
Months flew by, and before anyone really knew it, it was nearly spring break, meaning that the semester was half over and it was a race towards finals and graduation day for the seniors. It was one of the few days during the week when Kara didn’t have club activities or plans to meet Lena in the library, so she was headed home. Bruce had finished a device that emitted light that mimicked the red sun rays of Rao that she grew up with and greatly reduced her powers. Cat had purchased one of the smaller apartments a few floors below her own, just a simple one bedroom apartment, around 700 square feet, for Kara to use as an art studio and gym for her to use the lamp Bruce built her without needing to worry about other people. The small bedroom was filled with art supplies and numerous easels to support her budding talent while the living room was outfitted with a treadmill, weight machine, and other items to keep up the training that Kate told her would help with her powers. She had taken to working out every now and then with the use of the red sun lamp; she liked to feel the strain on her muscles that was normally non existent, and she didn’t have to worry about damaging something when she started working on the self-defense techniques Kate and Bruce had taught her.
“Hey sweetie,” Lucy’s voice came from behind her and Kara turned around and smiled when she saw her girlfriend. They had been dating for about six months, and Kara knew that she was on the verge of falling in love with the older girl if she hadn’t already.
“Hi Luce,” she returned, bending down to press a quick kiss against Lucy’s waiting lips. The brunette hummed when Kara broke the kiss and followed her back, pulling her in for a quick but definitely not chaste kiss. The blonde’s face was as red as a tomato when Lucy finally released her. Their relationship had grown more heated in the past few months, more petting, more tongue and definitely more passion, nothing further though. Despite dating for nearly half a year, the older girl still managed to fluster her. “Do, um, what?”
Lucy giggled at her girlfriend’s flustered expression and grabbed her hand, lacing her fingers together. “Come on, I know you don’t have any club activities this afternoon and neither do I, I want to spend some time with my girlfriend before my friends drag me off for spring break for a few days and then we’re consumed with studying for finals.”
“What do you want to do?” Kara asked, grabbing her backpack and shutting her locker as she let the smaller girl tug her out of the school.
“Well, I figured we could go to the park and look at the ducks you love so much. If you play your cards right, I might even buy you a few cheesesteaks from that vendor you like so much.”
Kara smiled brightly and immediately started pulling Lucy to the park, excitement evident in her eyes as she was eager to see the ducks. The brunette didn’t understand Kara’s fascination with the water fowl, but she thought it was adorable so she enjoyed taking her to the park for dates and watching the blonde fawn over the birds. Once they reached the park, Kara’s body seemed to calm as she watched the ducks floating peacefully on the water and ambling on the shoreline. Lucy left her girlfriend sitting on one of the benches staring at the water for a few minutes and returned holding three cheesesteaks. She set two of the sandwiches next to Kara and bit into her own, eating half of it before giving the rest of it to her girlfriend. She had noticed early on that the younger girl ate a lot and tried to downplay how much she needed to eat during their dates. Lucy just shook her off and continued to provide her with meals, using her monthly allowance her father sent rather than just letting it sit and collect interest in her bank account.
The blonde munched on her food happily while she watch the ducks and Lucy just gave her a soft, fond smile. The girl had an innocence about her that Lucy marveled at despite the hardships that she had faced. She knew that Kara had been adopted by Cat Grant, but she didn’t know that it was right after witnessing her parents die in an explosion. It was one of the things that Lucy loved about Kara, though she wasn’t ready to say the words out loud.
“Kara,” she said, gaining the younger girl’s attention. “I’ve been wanting to ask you something, but I didn’t want to just toss it at you while we were at school.” Kara looked at her with questioning eyes and a ring of cheese around her mouth, causing a wide smile to cross her face. She wiped at the cheese with one of her napkins and looked into Kara’s bright blue eyes. “Um… will you, will you go to the prom with me? It’s kind of short notice, only a month until prom, but I’ve been kind of afraid to ask you…”
“Yes,” Kara said, but Lucy continued, not registering what she said.
“... Prom’s not usually my thing, but I didn’t go last year, so this is my last chance to go, and I just, I really want to go with you.” Her eyes widened when she realized what the other girl had said, “Yes? You said yes!”
“Of course I did! I was wondering if you were going to ask me,” Kara giggled, “I mean, even Lena is going to prom and she wondered if you had asked me yet.”
“Wait, Lena is going to prom?”
Kara nodded, finishing her food before answering the brunette’s question, “Yeah, one of the juniors in the chess club, Morgan, she’s super quiet. She wanted to go to prom, but didn’t want to go alone and didn’t feel comfortable asking anyone so Lena agreed to go with her as a friend.”
“Morgan, Morgan, Morgan Fevier?” Lucy clarified. At Kara’s nod, the brunette leaned back in her seat, “Hmm, she is really quiet, though she’s a wiz a math. Why is she insisting on going to prom this year though?”
“Apparently she was granted early admittance to Princeton. Lena said she wrote an article correcting some math problems by this famous mathematician, and it attracted a lot of attention. She has enough credits to graduate with the AP classes, so this is her last year too.”
Lucy nodded, “Then we can all go together? You and me, some of my friends, and Lena and Morgan if they don’t mind.”
Kara smiled as her girlfriend thought to include her best friend in their evening and darted in to press a warm kiss against her lips. “Sounds perfect.”
“There is so much glitter,” Lena muttered as she looked around the room, an unimpressed expression on her face. “Like I get that the theme this year was Enchanted Forest, but did there really need to be this much glitter?” She looked over at Kara, accusation in her eyes, “Did you have something to do with this? I know the art club made most of the decorations.”
Kara shook her head and held up her hands in defense, “The only thing that I did was paint the backdrops, the table decorations and the props were done by the other club members, not me.”
Lena narrowed her eyes and poked Kara viciously in one of her ticklish pressure points, “I’m still blaming you though.”
The blonde winced and rubbed at her side before returning to Lucy who had been talking with Morgan. “The backdrops look great sweetie,” Lucy said, wrapping an arm around Kara’s waist when the girl approached, tugging her in for a hug.
“They really do Kara,” Morgan said, and blue eyes shifted to look at the dark-haired girl. “I can’t imagine to ever hope to be able to do stuff like that, numbers are easier to me.” Kara smiled and the older girl and nodded her head in thanks. Lena came up a few minutes later and the two girls started talking, and Kara overheard Lena say something about how the other chess club members had set up a few boards at one of the tables in the back and she chuckled as the two walked away.
“The backdrops really do look nice Kara,” Lucy said and Kara gulped, instantly mesmerized by the green eyes in front of her. The brunette had selected a long, back evening gown style dress that had a high neckline that covered her entire chest and back, but a long slit that left the majority of her leg uncovered. She had paired the dress with a tall pair of heels that put them at about equal height since Kara went with a pair of strappy, flat sandals rather than heels. Cat helped her pick out a royal blue dress that wasn’t the puffy, princess prom style dresses that the older woman hated. It had a generous cleavage that was still tasteful for a teenage, and flared out slightly on the legs to allow for more movement.
Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off of her when she opened the door and Kara was as equally mesmerized by the older girl. “Come on Kara, let’s dance and then you can drag your best friend away from the chess tables and eat all of the hors d'oeuvres.”
Kara giggled and followed Lucy onto the dance floor, her body instantly finding the rhythm of the music. They danced for a little while before stopping for a breather and to get some water. Lucy instantly found a few of her friends and started talking to them while Kara went in search for her best friend. She found Lena and her date in a ‘fierce’ battle over a chessboard, neither willing to give an inch. Kara rolled her eyes at the two nerds but dutifully sat next to Lena as her king’s knight moved to take the queen’s rook. It was a few more moves and the brunette managed to corner her date into check, but Morgan just smirked and moved her remaining rook, putting Lena into checkmate. Lena’s eyes narrowed and the short-haired girl sitting across from her just giggled.
“I demand a rematch,” Lena stated, and Kara just groaned, grabbing both of them by the hand.
“No, come on you guys, you have to dance just a little bit, come on!” The blonde pulled both girls onto the dance floor during a fast paced song, and her girlfriend found them a few moments later. It was a song that you didn’t have to have a partner for so they all just moved together with the music. The two girls begged off when a slow song came on and Kara just moved to Lucy, wrapping her arms around the older girl’s shoulders.
Something had changed between them in the last few weeks, something that changed the tone of their relationship. It wasn’t that Kara’s feelings for the girl diminished, she was still very much in love with Lucy Lane, but it felt like their time was coming to an end, that what they had was like a shooting star, beautiful and spectacular but ultimately short lived. Despite how naive people think she is, Kara knew the reality of their situation. She was nearly sixteen years old and Lucy was eighteen and graduating high school, going off to West Point and joining the military. A long distance relationship wouldn’t be ideal, really impossible in their situation.
Lucy felt a change in her girl’s body language, and she knew that the younger girl felt it too. A sad smile crossed her face and she pulled away from the taller girl. “You want to get out of here?” She asked. It wasn’t unreasonable, they had already been there a few hours, and Lena had told them before she left the dance floor that Morgan was going to give her a ride back to the dorms before heading home herself. Kara nodded and followed Lucy outside to the lobby of the building that the school had rented for prom. They moved away from the entrance towards the wings of the building where they wouldn’t be noticed and looked out of the glass windows down to the street.
“This is the end isn’t it,” Kara stated, her eyes not straying from the streetlights.
The brunette let out a sigh and nodded her head. “Theoretically we could keep dating all the way up until graduation, but I think we both deserve better than that.” She unclipped her short tresses and raked a hand through them, glancing over at the blonde, “I don’t want to break up, you must know that, but I don’t see anyway for us to go forward. Our lives are moving apart. I’m going east for school, going into the military which still frowns at relationships like ours. Long distance relationships are messy, and I would rather have you as a friend in my life than not at all.”
Kara gave the girl a sad smile and nodded her head, “Me too. I knew what you were going to do after you graduated when we started this but I guess… I wanted to be with you for however long I could. I just forgot for a while that we were on limited time.”
“Maybe in the future if we haven’t found anyone then we can pick back up where we left off,” Lucy replied. “I doubt that’ll be the case though. There will be people lining up for you, and who knows, maybe someone you like as much as me, maybe more.”
“Don’t sell yourself short Lucy,” the blonde cracked a grin, “They’ll be lining up for you too.”
Lucy grinned but then sobered a bit at remembering the conversation. “You’ll still come to my graduation won’t you?” The brunette asked, a pleading look in her eyes, “And we’ll still talk.”
Kara nodded, “Of course, we were friends before we started dating it’s just… It’ll take me awhile to get back to that, to just being friends.”
“It’ll take me awhile too,” Lucy murmured before straightening slightly. “Come on, it’s getting late, and I promised Miss Grant I would get you home by midnight.”
The blonde followed Lucy down out of the building and they caught a taxi back to the apartment building and Lucy asked it to wait while she saw Kara up to the penthouse. The elevator ride was no less quiet and awkward than the ride over in the taxi. They lingered just down from the door, neither wanting to get caught by the older woman no doubt waiting inside.
“So I’ll see you in school on Tuesday?” Kara asked, Monday being a scheduled teacher workday.
“Yeah, um, I might not sit with you guys at lunch that day, but I’ll definitely see you,” Lucy said, “It might be a good idea to take a few days though, get back in a different place.”
“Yeah that’s probably a good idea,” Kara murmured. Lucy hesitated for a moment in front of the blonde before she started to head back to the elevator. A thought filtered through Kara’s mind, a regret, and it was enough of a push to cause her to reach out towards the other girl and stop her in her tracks. The brunette looked back at her in confusion and Kara pulled her close, pressing their lips together.
It was a last kiss, their last kiss, and they both knew it; it was a kiss goodbye. Not to each other, but their relationship. “I love you Lucy,” Kara whispered when they broke the kiss, breathes coming out in pants. Lucy’s eyes widened and Kara put a finger over her lips. “I know, I know, not great timing, it doesn’t change anything, it shouldn’t. I just wanted to tell you, you deserved to know.”
Lucy’s eyes changed, a sad understanding entering her green eyes. “I love you too,” she returned, a light smile on her face.
“Bye Luce.”
“Bye Kara.” Lucy disappeared back into the elevator and Kara stood in the hallway for a moment before taking a shuddering breath and unlocking the front door. She could hear that her mother was still awake and waiting in the living room, typing away at her laptop to pass the time. She contemplated briefly if she could make it to her room before the woman noticed she was home, but she knew as soon as the woman halted in her typing that Cat knew she was home.
“Kara?” The voice came and Kara sighed before moving to the living room.
“Hi Mom,” she greeted, willing the tiredness and emotional strain out of her voice.
“Did you have a good time?” Cat asked, not looking up from her computer.
“Yeah, um, yeah we had a good time.”
The older blonde paused and shut her computer before looking up at her daughter. She took in the slightly slumped posture, forced smile and exhaustion in her eyes, something she knew only came from emotional pain. “What’s wrong?” Cat asked softly, gesturing towards the space next to her on the couch.
Kara’s eyes watered and her lip trembled as she slowly shuffled to the couch, collapsing down onto the furniture and slumping against her mother. Cat carefully ran her fingers through long blonde hair, knowing that the girl would speak when she was ready. “I,” Kara started, sadness evident in her tone, “Lucy and I broke up tonight…”
Cat’s eyes instantly narrowed. “What?” She hissed, “Did she do-”
“No, Mom, no, she didn’t do anything, neither did I,” Kara explained. “It’s just, it was a mutual thing. We both knew it couldn’t last, not with her graduating and going into the military, and me still be here and…” She gestured her hand around, indicating that she was a woman without having to state it.
Her ire calmed significant at hearing her daughter’s words but her heart still clenched at the heartbroken expression on Kara’s face. “Knowing that a relationship won’t last and actually ending it are two different things,” Cat murmured, pulling the girl in closer, “Doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
Tears started to fall out of ocean blue eyes and Kara pressed her face against her mother’s shoulder. “I loved her mom,” she whispered through broken sobs, “I really did.”
Cat held her as she cried, doing her best to soothe the heartache and wishing that this would be the last broken heart her daughter would have to deal with; she’s already dealt with more than her fair share of heartbreak.