Chapter 46
“So she kissed you,” Lena stated, giving her best friend an incredulous look. “She bitched at you for saving the world, she kissed you, and then ran away.”
“Yup,” Kara replied, nudging Lena lightly with her foot. It had been a few days since she flew Fort Rozz into space and saved the human race from mass extinction. Kyle had recovered enough while she was lifting the massive ship to fly up and rescue her from the vacuum of space, his Green Lantern powers allowing him easy travel in the harshness of space. After going through a debriefing with the secret agency, both heroes left with their friends in tow, making it clear that they still weren’t planning on aligning themselves with the DEO. Life resumed as normal for the most part, and Kara and Lena were having one of their usual movie nights in the blonde’s apartment with Krypto curled up on the floor in front of the couch. “I don’t think Alex was really mad though, I think she was just scared.”
“Well you scared the shit out of all of us, you didn’t see me smacking a kiss on your lips,” Lena said, rolling her eyes.
“That’s because Sara did it for you,” the blonde snickered. The other blonde has always been rather expressive with her affections, often times more than other people would want.
Lena rolled her eyes, “Yes, I remember, and felt up your ass, which is the reason she’s in the dog house and not here.”
“Other than the fact that we designated these as strictly best friend nights without significant others?” Kara grinned, “And besides, she’s most likely roaming the streets taking her sexual frustration out on unsuspecting drug dealers and other low-life criminals.”
“Whatever,” Lena grumbled out, causing Kara’s grin to widened. “And we were talking about your love life, not mine, so Alex kissed you and ran away, how did that make you feel?”
“You’re not a psychologist Lena.”
“I’m your best friend, same thing,” the brunette dismissed. “Now spill, how did it make you feel when Alex kissed you?”
Kara glared at Lena for a moment before a dopey smile crossed her face. “Amazing,” she replied, settling back against the arm of the couch. “Everything from years ago rushed back, and it was just… amazing, wonderful, but also very, very confusing.”
“Well considering she did ask for a divorce, but then never really did anything about it, I can imagine it would be confusing.” Lena sighed, “You really need to talk to her about being the queen of mixed signals.”
“I would, but she’s not exactly speaking to me, but my primary concern is the fact that my mother isn’t really speaking to me either.”
“Again?”
Kara shook her head, “No, not like before, she’s speaking to me at work, is actually pretty decent to me, hasn’t called me Keira once in the past few days, but outside of work? She’s been pretty quiet. Carter has basically been a koala whenever I see him since his dad brought him back, though he’s starting to ease up since he’s getting back into his normal routine.”
“Nice that the school systems gave everyone a few days off to recover, being mind controlled would be hard for an adult, can’t even imagine how it felt as a kid.” Lena shook her head, “Your mother was probably scared too, and she’s dealing with it by not talking to you.” She let out a snort, “I like how your mother and estranged wife are behaving exactly the same way, you have a type.”
“I do not have a type,” Kara rolled her eyes, “We’ve discussed this before.”
“Yeah, when I thought it was just appearance, but really, the women you’re into have strong, forward personalities, take charge type people like your mother, or that bat lady you’re so fond of, yeah it’s all starting to make sense now.”
The blonde nudged her foot against Lena’s leg, nearly knocking the brunette off the couch. “Not funny Luthor,” Kara bit out, doing her best to cross her arms with chopsticks in one hand and potstickers in the other.
“I’m hilarious Grant, you just can’t appreciate my humor, either way, I’m right about this and you know it, you have a type, either that or you just attract strong women.”
“What does that say about you?” Kara asked, looking over at her friend.
“That I’m obviously the best of the bunch,” Lena scooted closer to the blonde and tossed her arm around her shoulders. “Second to your mom of course, because she’s brilliant and frightening, and I want to be just like her when I grow up.”
“You eat privileged white men for breakfast, I’m pretty sure you did grow up to be just like my mom,” Kara responded.
Questing fingers danced up and down Lena’s side, causing the other woman to shriek and wiggle away. “Not cool, not cool,” Lena wheezed out, trying to escape the sensation. “Evil, evil, so this is how it ends? This is how a Luthor is defeated by a Super.” The brunette hit back against the blonde, her own fingers finding Kara’s sensitive spots under her arms and chin. Kara let out a shriek as she flew back off the couch to get away from the ticklish fingers. “Yeah that’s what I thought,” Lena smirked, “Victory is mine, I finally took down a Super, something my brother never did, who knew all he had to do was find their ticklish spots.” She hummed and snatched the box of potstickers that Kara had dropped in the struggle, “Or take their food.”
Kara’s eyes widened and she scrambled back down to the couch, “I knew you were evil, just pure evil.”
“Nurture babe, that’s all nurture.”
The blonde heard the bitterness in Lena’s teasing tone and opened her mouth to refute Lena’s assertions on her own character, but the crackling of the TV distracted them from their conversation. Static flickered across the TV before a shadowy image appeared on the screen and a robotic voice spoke, “Citizens of National City, several days ago, we were attacked, our minds were violated, our very selves taken over by an alien threat. These aliens that are being welcomed with open arms have proven themselves to be dangerous and destructive to our human way of life.” Images flashed across the screen of the damage in Metropolis whenever Superman battled his many enemies or the few times criminals caused damage in National City while Supergirl attempted to stop them.
“They do know that I don’t really cause that much damage right,” Kara stated, as she snacked on some of the chips she had on her end table. “It’s more the aliens or human criminals that cause a lot of havoc in the city, I mean the government’s Red Tornado thingy did more damage than I do.”
“I don’t think they care too much,” Lena responded, pulling out her laptop. “This has Cadmus and my mother written all over it, so they’re just fear-mongering.”
“We are here,” the voice continued droning on the screen. “To tell you the truth, to expose them for what they are, alien threats. We have been threatened, attacked, violated, and we will-” Before the figure could finish their speech, the screen cute out to display candid videos of Supergirl and Superdog saving people and animals all over the city appeared on the TV. There were shots of Supergirl comforting a family after their house had caught fire during the holidays, and more pictures of Superdog letting assault victims hug him, the presence of the powerful dog helping to calm them and recover from the trauma.
Kara looked over at Lena who had a smug expression on her face as sh folded and stashed away her laptop. “What?” Lena started, “They decided to take over the airwaves to spread their anti-alien message, and I decided to take over their take over and broadcast my own thoughts on the subject. I mean just look, blatant destruction and devaluation for human life.” She started gesturing at the screen, another picture of Supergirl pulling kittens out of the tree and Superdog escorting a lost child home. “You guys are the worst.”
The blonde cracked a smile and wrapped her arms around her best friend, tugging her into her side and squeezing her as tightly as she dared. “You’re the best Lena,” Kara murmured. “You’re definitely our knight in shining armour.”
“Yeah, well, you know, not all heroes wear capes,” Lean replied, winking at the blonde.
“I take it back,” Kara returned, shoving hr away. “You’re the worst.”
“Nu-uh, no takes-backs,” the brunette said, sticking her tongue out at her friend.
“You do know that they’re probably going to trace that hack back to you right?” Kara suggested, looking at Lena in concern. “That means that Cadmus might come after you next.”
“Let them come, I’m not afraid of them,” Lena sniffed. “Besides, it’s about time for a mother daughter reunion don’t you think? Lillian hasn’t been seen since the fiasco with trying to deport all of the aliens living in National City, I wonder what her game is this time.”
“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” Kara mentioned. “Please don’t antagonize her. I know that you can take care of yourself, but with all of this mess with straightening up from Myriad, and everything with Alex, I don’t have time to deal with two Luthors going nuclear in National City.”
“I can control myself you know,” Lena retorted. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Alex slumped her way into her apartment, her jacket and purse hitting the ground as she went. She kicked the door shut and her boots were immediately kicked off and fell alongside her jacket. “I need a beer,” she grumbled to herself, rubbing tiredly at her face. After everything with Myriad and then the anti-alien sentiments sparked by Cadmus, National City was in chaos.
“Then you should probably get a beer,” a voice came from her couch, causing Alex to whirl around. “There’s plenty in the fridge.”
The agent immediately pulled her gun on the figured, still shadowed by the darkness in her apartment, but she could make out a slender form in a relaxed position drinking a beer, one of her beers. “Who are you?” She asked, her grip tightening on the trigger. “What do you want?”
Letting out a hum, the figure sighed as she continued sipping at the beer in her hands. “You could turn on the light and find out,” she suggested, “And we could have a civilized conversation instead of one in the dark with you pointing a gun at me.”
Alex slowly moved to the light switch, her eyes never leaving the figure as she flipped the switch, illuminating the room and the redhead in a cowl and dark suit. “Batwoman I presume,” Alex stated, not relaxing her stance in the slightest.
“Agent Alexandra Danvers I presume,” Batwoman countered, her legs bouncing slightly as she spoke. “Daughter of Drs Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, Jeremiah Danvers presumed deceased but actuality located in a secret base currently being de-programed from his time spent with a xenophobic terrorist group, and Eliza Danvers currently employed as a guest lecturer in Gotham, discussing environmental science and the effects of climate change.” The woman just hummed again and took another sip of her beer, her piercing eyes analyzing the agent, “Star student and athlete all through high school at your local school Midvale High, received a scholarship to Stanford for your undergrad and continued your stellar performance with two degrees, biology and chemistry, along with a minor in engineering. You graduated early and attracted the attention of National City University, and you were granted admission to the medical school. There were many bright and gifted students in your program, and for once you weren’t the only special, intelligent person around. The bad habits you picked up in college to cope with the pressures of school and your mother’s expectations, the drinking, the partying, returned in full force until you were suspended from your program.”
Dread welled up in Alex’s chest the more that the heroine talked but she held her stance and kept her gun trained on the woman. “Nothing to say yet?” Batwoman mused before standing up and walking back towards the windows. “Wait, there’s more, after being suspended from your program, you fell face first into another bottle and another party, until you were arrested and left to sober up in a drunk tank to keep you from driving. That’s when you had your first encounter with the Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz, though he introduced himself as Hank Henshaw, director of the Department of Extranormal Operations. J’onzz recruited you after making a promise to your father who saved his life, and you became an agent of the D.E.O., you who were already suspicious and prejudice against aliens, or at least one alien that ate up a lot of your parents’ time.”
“You seem to know a lot about me,” Alex shifted uncomfortably. “Have you been spying on me?”
Batwoman smirked underneath her cowl, “No, but I have checked up on you.”
“Why?” Alex asked, “What does one of Gotham’s bats want with a simple agent for a covert government agency?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” the heroine replied, turning to look back at the brunette. She slowly pulled the cowl back off her face, and stared at the auburn haired woman. “Now Kate Kane is very much interested in knowing more about the woman who wedded and bedded her little sister and completely forgot about it.”
“Kate Kane,” the agent’s eyes widened as she lowered her gun. “The socialite Kate Kane, CEO of Kane Industries, Maggie’s Ex. She told me about you, how close you were to Kara.”
Kate smirked, “I met that girl a few months after she first started living with Cat, and I never met anyone that could settle in your heart the way that she could.” She stepped around Alex, and moved towards the kitchen, fishing another two beers out of the refrigerator. “I mean, you’ve obviously spent time with her, so you know that she basically just worms through any kind of exterior defenses and just kind of wraps your heart in a warm hug. She’s capable of turning cold blooded murderers into kittens with a smile, and pacifists into bloodthirsty warlords at the sight of tears.” The redhead clinked bottles with the agent before wandering back to the couch. “I mean, she has Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy wrapped around her fingers, it’s ridiculous. Do you know they cause crimes now just to ask me or Batty about how she’s doing, if we’ve heard anything recently. Don’t be surprised if they show up in National City one of these days looking for her.”
“Oh good, something for me to look forward to,” Alex replied, opening the beer the woman handed her. She took a long swig of her drink and sat down next to Batwoman on the couch. “So is this going to be another shovel talk?” She asked, her voice weary from the day she’s had. “‘You hurt my little sister, I’ll hurt you,’ kind of deal?”
The other woman just hummed, “I think you’ll get enough of a cold shoulder from Kara’s best friend, so I won’t even bother. No me? This is a ‘get to know you’ talk, and a ‘how are you doing’ talk, followed immediately by a ‘what the hell are you thinking’ talk.”
Alex blinked, “Well that’s different. Though, I haven’t eaten in… twelve hours, and this sounds like a conversation that should take place over food and more beer.” She looked at the heroine, “Do you want something more comfortable, you really shouldn’t have to walk around in that, though I imagine it does help with stealth and all that.”
“Some sweatpants and a t-shirt would be great,” Kate replied. “I would ask for a bra, but I don’t think you have one in my size.”
Rolling her eyes and the cheek of the other redhead, Alex dug through her closet and tossed the clothes at the woman, including a sports bra and clean pair of underwear. “Don’t even think about it,” Alex said, stopping her before she could strip in the living room. “In the bathroom, go, I’m going to change into something out here and call for some pizzas. There’s a place nearby that delivers late.”
“Two in the morning isn’t late, 6am, now that is late,” Kate retorted as she stepped past Alex into the bathroom. The agent resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, concerned that they might get stuck in that position, and quickly changed into a oversized t-shirt and flannel pajama pants before texting the pizza place her order. When she got the confirmation that her order had been placed and would be delivered in fifteen minutes, Alex retrieved a few more beers from the fridge and set another six pack on the lower rack to chill. “The studio apartment layout is fun,” Kate said as she emerged from the bathroom, setting her bat suit on one of the chairs. “What made you decide on this place?”
“I got it when I was in grad school,” Alex hummed, tossing Kate one of the beers. “When everything went down, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.”
“It doesn't really fit with the badass agent vibe you have though,” Kate mused. “Though when I was poking around, it was obvious to me that you have a romantic streak a mile wide hidden under that gruff exterior.”
Alex blushed but hid it under a cough and another sip of beer. “So, obviously you had time to snoop around while waiting for me,” she said, “What else did you uncover about me while you were waiting?”
“You’re a terrible housekeeper,” Kate mused after a few minutes. “And your cupboards are basically bare, I mean, do you even cook your own food?”
“I manage,” the agent defended. “But I’m pretty much always working so I don’t bother with anything fancy. Frozen meals, chicken, frozen veggies, eggs, toast, sandwiches, all of the basic stuff.” Kate let out a disbelieving hum and the two sat in silence for a few more minutes, disrupted only by the knock at the door from the pizza delivery guy. “So you found my piles of dirty laundry and my takeout menus,” Alex said, setting the pizza down on the coffee table, foregoing plates. “Anything else you found out about me snooping around my apartment?”
“That you don’t really want to get an annulment, or divorced from Kara.” Kate’s words surprised Alex so much that the froze mid-swallow and a lump of pizza painfully slid down her throat. She starting coughing as part of it went down the wrong way and took a long swig of he beer. She felt Kate pounding on her back a few times and Alex waved her away as she let out a few shuddering breaths.
“What are you…” Alex sputtered out, “What are you talking about, how could you…”
“You mean how could I figure out that you actually kind of like that bubbly, giggly, alien who has experienced more loss than any of us could ever imagine? That you might very well be on your way to actually loving that alien, or you’re at least open to the possibility of it?” Alex just looked at Kate wide-eyed and the other woman simply patted her on the cheek, “Dear sweet Alex, can’t you tell, your whole apartment screams that you just want someone to love you. Someone who can be strong when you can’t, and someone that you can provide strength for when they need it, a shoulder to cry on, someone for you to confide in and someone to confide in you.”
“How do you figure that?” Alex bit back, “And what does that have to do with Kara?”
“If you’re wondering if there was anything specific in your apartment that led me to those conclusions, like an ‘I heart Supergirl’ t-shirt, or love letters written to Kara, then no, it was nothing specific like that.” Kate hummed a bit, devouring another slice of pizza, “It was little things here and there, though mainly the napkins you have stashed in your bedside table.”
Alex winced, “You found those?” She didn’t bother trying to deny it, especially since Kate had already found them.
“Your little versions of a diary?” The heroine clarified, “Yes, I found them. I glanced at a few of them, because I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at, but as soon as I figured it out, I put them away.” She hummed again and took a few more bites of pizza, “That’s how I knew you were a romantic though, I mean, you kept napkins from each encounter you had with Kara. You wrote down impressions, information about what was going on around you, standard notes for keeping track of a scene, almost like you were on a stakeout or observing a suspect, but you weren’t, you were just recording the moment.”
“It’s something I picked up from my father,” Alex said after a few minutes. “Recording the moment, particularly moments with people that you feel are going to greatly impact your life. When I met Kara, when I met her the second time, I could feel that my life was going to change, and I just, I wanted to record it so I started writing on napkins, random things, impressions.” She set her head back against the couch, “The ones about Kara, and Supergirl, they’re the only ones I’ve kept through the years though.”
Kate let out a light laugh, “That’s beautiful, but I did find one other recorded moment in this apartment. Was a little difficult to find, stuffed in the bottom of a backpack that had seen better days.” She reached over behind the cushions, fished out a small object, and handed it over to the agent so that she could get a better look at the item.
It was a small, stained cocktail napkin with a logo printed on one side. Alex fingered it softly, feeling the alternating smooth and rough texture of the paper. She turned it over and her eyes widened at the messy scrawl written on the opposite side. “‘Met the love of my life today,’” Alex read, interpreting the drunken words. “‘Blonde hair, dazzling eyes, amazing boobs, and even more amazing smile. I’m going to marry her one day.’” She let out a disbelieving laugh, “I can’t believe I did this…”
“I guess I lied,” Kate said, “I guess I did find a love letter written to Kara, though more like a drunken mess proclaiming how hot and amazing she is, and how much you wanted to marry her.” She grabbed another slice of pizza and waved it around, “Guess what Agent Grumpy, you did! Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked, still clutching at napkin. “What can I do about any of this? I told Kara I wanted a divorce, an annulment, I yelled at her, basically froze her out, then starting talking to her again.” She dropped the napkin on the couch and scratched at her scalp, “I don’t even really know her, so how do I, how does this…”
“How does this work? What does this mean? It’s love Danvers,” Kate said, shoving the agent’s shoulder. “It doesn’t really need an explanation.”
“I don’t- I’m not- I barely know her!”
“So? Love doesn’t always come along slow, developing over time, sometimes it creeps up on you in an instant, like one second you’re one way, and the next second you’re knocked completely off your axis because suddenly you wake up thinking about someone else, or they cross your mind throughout the day without you really noticing. You can’t really explain how these things happen Danvers, sometimes they just do.” The older woman sighed and took a long drink out of her bottle, “That’s what happened to me first time I met Sawyer, though it took her a while to warm up to me. Love has a way of creeping up on people when they least expect it.”
Alex was about to refute again that she was not in love with Kara, she liked her, yes, found her extremely, extremely attractive, yes, but love? They barely knew each other, just months of near weekly breakfast meetings, some with Maggie, which definitely don’t count, long conversations, and then the silence after the truth came out, practically seeing Kara everywhere, the looks of longin- Alex’s eyes widened and she looked over at Kate, who was just looking at her with a smug expression on her face. “See?” She said softly, “I told ya, love.”
“Fuck,” Alex muttered, rubbing her face. “So what do I do? I don’t think Kara will talk to me, not after everything…”
“Kara was in the wrong too, so really, you both just need to sit down and have a long conversation about everything, what you want, how you both feel. And I mean a real conversation, not one of those things you two do over coffee at Noonan’s.”
“What, do I just show up at her place?”
Kate shrugged, “That’s one way to do it, probably best make sure Lena isn’t around though, or Cat, they’d eat you alive, but you know, faint heart never won fair maiden.”
Alex hit the other woman’s shoulder for that, nearly shoving her off the couch, “That was terrible.”
“It is a point though,” Kate retorted once she righted herself. “You do have to try, talking to each other, it’s the only way to sort this out.”
“I know,” the agent sighed. “But the question is, will she listen to me?”