Chapter 50
“Hey,” Alex said hours later when the two of them finally got away. Neither of them had slept but Cat had given Kara the day off so they decided to grab an early breakfast before going home and grabbing a few hours of shut-eye. “What’s wrong? You’ve been out of sorts ever since Lena’s penthouse, what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing,” Kara shook her head, focused on the large stack of pancakes on her plate. She could feel Alex’s eyes boring into her forehead and she glanced up to see the older woman giving her a disbelieving look and sighed. “I just, I can’t believe that my father and uncle were responsible for creating something so vile, something that was designed to wipe out other races, species, just because they were different.”
“It’s terrible what they did,” Alex agreed, “But is it any different than developing nuclear weapons to take out enemies? Each culture does terrible things out of fear and a desire for safety, doesn’t make it right but it also doesn’t mean that your people were alone in terrible deeds.”
“I know my people have done terrible things, I memorized the history of our world before I was eight years old, the real history, not that crap Jor-El stuck in the Fortress of Solitude for my cousin,” Kara rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised Uncle Jor-El was involved in something so heinous, he always had a skewed worldview, but my father… he always taught me that life was precious, he wanted to study life, the world, the universe, not take away from it… Though I also never thought that my mother could lock up her own sister and use me as bait to do so…” She shrugged as her voice trailed off again, “I guess I didn’t really know either of my parents. I’m sorry for ruining our breakfast date with this problem.”
Alex just shrugged, “You’re not the only one with parent problems. My father was actually brainwashed by a terrorist organization and made multiple attempts to rid the world of alien life. And my mother, well, she’s just placed a lot of pressure on me through my life, and kind of shut down after it was reported that my dad died years ago. I love her and I know she loves me, but sometimes it’s just too much for us to be in the same place for too long.”
“Looks like we both have excellent parents,” Kara replied. “Hopefully this doesn’t indicate the type of parents that we’ll be.”
“Already thinking of having kids with me Kara?” Alex asked, an amused smile on her face and a warmth blossoming in her heart. She hadn’t ever gotten far enough in a relationship to really discuss children with her significant others, but she knew that she wanted to have kids someday. Alex knew that Maggie was reluctant to have kids of her own, but at the same time she knew that the detective would take in kids that were in similar situations to her when she was a teenager. She would only do so with the right person though, and while the two were good friends, Alex was well aware that the two were unsuited for each other, even when they were dating she knew they were better off friends.
“Eh, what, um, n-no, of course not, pst.” Kara finished shoveling her food in her mouth. “Are those sirens? I hear sirens, I need to go.” The blonde left some money on the table but before she could leave, Alex reached out and grabbed her wrist. “I think, whatever it is, you can leave it to the first responders,” the redhead said. “I didn’t mean to tease you, I just felt like we’ve had enough of serious conversations for a while.”
Kara stared at the older woman for a moment before slowly sinking back down in her seat. “It’s fine,” the blonde replied. When it looked like Alex was going to say something else, Kara shook her head. “No, really, it’s fine, I just, I just didn’t want to scare you with how much I’ve thought about things.”
“What kind of things?”
The blonde shrugged as a reply, “All kinds of things, different things, I’ve never really put that much thought into it, or said them outloud.”
“So why don’t you tell me a bit of what you’re thinking?”
“Won’t that be a little awkward, since you’re… you know, and we’re-”
“Let’s pretend,” Alex interrupted, shifting her hand to hold Kara’s, massaging her fingers lightly. “Let’s pretend that we’re not marri- in a relatio- something, for a moment. Let’s just pretend that we’re just two friends having a conversation about the future, nothing more than that. No secret agent or superheroes or anything like that, just two people.”
“Okay…” Kara stated, unsure of where to start but Alex was looking at her with encouraging eyes that she knew that she had to try. “I wanted to be an artist, I went to school for art with a minor in journalism, that was more for my mom than what I was really interested in though. Plus my cousin is a journalist and I already get enough comparisons to him to last me a lifetime.”
“I can understand that, same with me and my parents, everyone always comments on how much I’m like my dad or my mom, it’s ridiculous.” Alex rolled her eyes. “So how did you start working at CatCo as Cat Grant’s assistant? Not to be… you know, but isn’t that a nepotism thing?”
“Only if I want to be promoted through the ranks I think.” Kara tilted her head and shrugged ruefully. “I want to be an artist, like I said, but it’s always hard when you’re starting out. I have a trust-fund and my mother bought me my apartment, but I didn’t want to not do anything productive. I was working at Noonan’s, which was my job all through college, when I found out that mom had gone through like six assistants in a two week period, or something close to that. I decided to apply for the job because I can put up with her moods and she’d be able to focus on other things than firing assistants.” A wry smile crossed her face as she remembered her 10:15 interview. “She wasn’t convinced, but I eventually talked her into it and we set a few ground rules. All of those rules have been broken by this point, but we tried.” She took a long drink from her water still sitting on the table before looking at the older woman again. “So what about you? You wanted to be a doctor?”
It was Alex’s turn to shrug as she thought about her answer. “I don’t know really,” she replied honestly. “Both of my parents were scientists, doctors, and I guess I grew up knowing I was meant to be a doctor too. I settled on medical doctor in hopes to do research, I had dreams of curing cancer, or finding effective treatment for genetic disorders but well that didn’t work out as well as I had planned.”
“That doesn’t mean that you still can’t be a research doctor in the future,” Kara pointed out. “What about personal life plans?”
“Traditional nuclear family, partner, 2.5 kids, dog, white picket fence, just, you know, a wife instead of a husband.”
Kara’s nose crinkled slightly at Alex’s statement. “I’ve never understood that about humans, what does 2.5 children mean, what is a half child?”
“I don’t know,” Alex laughed, “That’s just what I’ve always heard, so Miss Non-Human, what about you?”
“I’ve always wanted the fairytale,” Kara sighed. “Or a version of it, Mom bought me all kinds of books when I got here, and I loved fairytales, fantasy novels, they were so different from what I had growing up, magical, mystical with virtuous knights and heroes, sorcerers and witches, portals leading to other worlds. I will admit that I was a bit enthralled with the idea of a knight in shining armor, but I never bought into the ‘heteronormative storyline’ as my mother calls it. I grew up in a culture where women and men were both warriors, my Aunt was the head general of the kryptonian army, so I never believed that my knight had to be a man. Just knew that they had to be kind, brave, strong, and be willing to have a lot of kids and dogs and be fine with me being an alien.”
“So a fairytale, a knight in shining armor, how has that been working out for you?”
The blonde hummed and squeezed Alex’s hand. “I think I’ve found a pretty good one so far.”
Alex’s face pinkened, but she cleared her throat as a way to cover it. “Ri-right, that was um, that was a good exercise, that was good, for us, yes, good, we should, um, we should go, lots of sleeping to do and um…”
Kara couldn’t help but giggle at the flustered state of the older woman. “Did I break the big bad secret agent?” She teased, her eyes alight with laughter and mischief as Alex glared at her.
“No, I just, um, we should go sleep,” Alex started before she realized what she said. “No! I mean, well, we should go sleep, separately, we should go sleep separately because we’ve been up all night and I don’t know about you, but us humans need sleep.”
Doing her best to stifle her laughter, Kara nodded and the two left after paying the bill. Alex took her back to her apartment and lingered for a few minutes outside of her door. “Despite the interlude in the middle with Cadmus goons, I had a really good time,” the redhead said, her hands stuffed into her pockets. “We should do this again, without the goons and drama.” Kara cut her off from her rambling by pulling the older woman in for a soft kiss, her tongue briefly teasing at Alex’s lips before pulling away. “I um, I don’t really kiss before the second date,” Alex replied, her eyes glazed over. “Though considering everything, I think it’s a bit too late for that.”
“Well, lucky for you, on my count that’s our third date. The first one when we got married, second one was last night, and third one was breakfast. If you don’t like counting the first one, then it is still after our second date.”
Alex hummed and leaned her forehead against Kara’s and ran her nose along the other woman’s. “I like your math,” she whispered, their lips connecting once more. This was hotter, messier, full of passion as hands clutched at hips and fingers fisted in hair. Tongues dueled, breath mingled, and a loud thunk came from Kara’s body being pressed against the door.
“Oh Rao,” Kara gasped out as their lips disconnected and Alex’s lips traveled down her neck.
“We, we should probably slow down,” Alex murmured, her lips brushing the skin she had just been biting.
“Do we have to though?” Kara countered, blinking away the lust-filled haze that covered her mind. “We’re married, technically, already been on three dates…”
“Four if you count beating up bag guys,” Alex added. “Which I do.”
“Right, four dates, that’s not so bad, and we don’t have to go anywhere today, so…” The blonde turned around and unlocked her door before stepping into her apartment. “Are you coming?” She asked over her shoulder, giving the redhead a wink before she disappeared from view.
“No but I will be,” Alex whimpered as she followed the other woman into the apartment, the door closing with a resounding click.
“She’s starting to drive me crazy,” Lena announced as she barged into Kara’s apartment, making a beeline straight for her fridge. She opened the freezer and pulled out the bottle of tequila she had stashed in the back, and fished around for the blonde’s collection of souvenir shot glasses in her cabinet.
“Lena?” Kara grumbled, sticking her head out of the pile of blankets on her bed. “What are you doing here?” Her hair was wild around her head, and she ran her fingers through long strands in an attempt to calm it down.
“Hiding from Sara,” Lena replied, knocking back a shot. “She’s getting on my nerves, hanging all over me, crowding me, she was never this clingy before.”
Kara sat up in bed, holding the duvet to her chest with one hand as she rubbed at her forehead with the other. “You’re here because Sara is getting on your nerves? What time is it?”
“It’s a little after seven at night, you’ve clearly had a rough day.” Lena hummed, knocking back another shot. “You can tell Alex to come out now, I know that she’s here.”
“Shit,” Alex grumbled from the lump on the bed next to Kara. “How did she know I was here?”
“Your clothes are tossed all over the apartment and Krypto is currently camped out at my place when he isn’t out patrolling the city,” Lena answered. “And Sara gave him a piece of pizza, and that just wasn’t pleasant. She went to work, and I came here to escape Sir Gassy, and to get some breathing room, literally and figuratively.”
Alex poked her head out from underneath the covers and looked at the brunette. “You’re just full of sunshine and daisies aren’t you?”
“And you looked like you’ve been thoroughly fucked,” Lena countered. “Of course, judging by the state of Kara’s hair, you gave as good as you got.”
“Lena,” Kara groaned, her head in her hand. “Can you give us a minute? At least to get dressed.”
“I’ve seen you naked before Kara.”
“What?!” Alex sat upright, a furious expression on her face as she glared at the smirking woman in the kitchen.
“Al- Lena,” Kara said, giving her friend an unimpressed look.
Lena just shrugged, “Fine fine, I’ll be on the balcony, but I’m taking this with me.” She picked up the bottle of tequila and took her glass with her on the way out the door.
Kara got up and pulled the sliding doors to close her bedroom off from the rest of the apartment. She turned around and found that Alex’s eyes were glued on her backside, brown eyes dark and dilated as they traced up her figure. “None of that,” Kara chided, pulling her robe on. “That’s how we ended up going on round three.”
“Certainly was a fun day,” Alex purred out, releasing the duvet as she stretched. “Now can you explain why Lena claimed she’s seen you naked?”
“Nothing as sordid as what you’re thinking, we’ve been friends for years, there were times she just barged in on me while I was changing or in the bathroom, boundaries have been blurred over the years. Same with Sara, though completely different reasons, Sara’s just… well Sara, she has no boundaries.” A thought crossed her mind and she looked at Alex curiously. “I think you have some explaining to do as well, such as how you were able to keep up through all of that strenuous activity.”
Alex hummed, “You can thank the DEO labs for that. I was attempting to create something that functioned like a vitamin shot, vaccine, and adrenaline boost, and I tested it on myself first, dumb I know.” She held up her hand to prevent Kara from speaking when it looked like she was going to interrupt. “I know, it was dumb, but anyway, I had a reaction to it and it basically made me more than what I was if that makes sense? Stronger, slightly better senses, but not like you, basically a version of a super human, a more enhanced version. I wasn’t able to replicate the effects, and Hank, J’onn, he destroyed all of my notes on the subject and basically any evidence in case anyone got wind of it.” She shrugged, “Apparently it was one of those freak occurrences, a one in a million chance those serums combined would behave that way .”
“Beautiful, and brilliant, how is it possible that you just got even more attractive?” Kara murmured to herself as she slid back in the bed, her figure molding against the redhead. Wrapping her hands around Kara’s neck, Alex tugged her down for another kiss, one that was quickly becoming heated as naked bodies pressed against each other.
A banging noise sounded on the door and Lena’s voice came through from the living room. “Hey!” She called. “I’m hearing sounds I shouldn’t be hearing if you two are supposed to be getting dressed!”
“Lena!” Kara groaned out, pulling the bedspread over her head. “I’m sorry about my insane best friend,” she muttered out, her fingers brushing against Alex’s. “She’s… well she is who she is.”
“It’s fine, I have to go home soon anyway. I’ve got work tomorrow, and I need to get back to my apartment.” Alex slipped out of the bed and started picking up her clothes while Kara pulled on a pair of shorts and a large t-shirt.
The blonde slid the doors open after Alex was dressed and gave her best friend an unimpressed look. “We’re dressed, happy?”
“Hate to ruin your fun, but since you’ve probably been doing that all day, I don’t feel too bad,” Lena replied. She noticed Alex making for the door and turned towards the agent. “You don’t have to leave, just need to put clothes on.”
“No, I have to get going, I have work tomorrow and I need to get cleaned up, some food, and rest.” Turning towards Kara, Alex stuffed her hands in her pockets and fidgeted slightly on her feet. “So I’ll see you later?”
Kara smiled and tugged Alex in by her belt loops, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll text you later,” she whispered when they broke away from each other. Alex smirked and nodded before walking out the front door, shutting it with a soft click behind her. Kara turned around and found Lena staring at her with a sappy expression on her face. “What?” The blonde asked.
“You guys are so cute,” Lena slurred out. “But I can’t believe you slept with her already… again… Though I do understand it, she’s hot in a badass kind of way, probably all of that tactical gear and the look in her eyes when she gets a gun in her hands.”
“You and Alex have more in common than you think,” Kara countered, prying the bottle of tequila out of Lena’s hands. “You’re both huge nerds, really into science, if you actually spent time with her, you might find out you like her.”
“Well I kind of have to spend time with her since she’s married to my best friend, but I still reserve the right not to like her.”
“I know, I know, I know,” Kara sighed, handing her friend a glass of water. “Now why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you and Sara.”
“Nothing really,” Lena sighed, slumping down on the couch. “I had some time to think while you were getting frisky with the Missus, and I think the whole ordeal with everything that happened, the break-in at L-Corp, the kidnapping… I’m not a child, the abduction, I think she was just worried.”
“And you reacted poorly?”
Lena nodded, “You know I don’t like being fussed over like that, being crowded…”
Kara looked at her friend critically for a moment. “You’re starting to get serious about Sara aren’t you?”
“I’ve always been serious about her,” Lena refuted.
“Yeah, you’ve always been serious about having sex with her,” Kara retorted. “And you’ve been dating, but have you guys been seriously dating or casually dating interspersed with some really intense sex, and don’t deny it, super hearing remember?”
“The fact that you can hear us having sex disturbs me,” the brunette muttered before propping her feet up in the blonde’s lap.
“Lee, I can literally hear everyone in this city whenever they’re having sex, and let me tell you, there are some nymphos in this city, so I don’t single you and Sara out, in fact I do my best to block you out along with my mother, and Lucy and M’gann.”
“I’m going to need you to tell me about M’gann and Lucy a bit later, but first, your aunt and your mom? I need more details on that arrangement.”
Kara groaned, “I’m trying to forget about that, I have no idea why I told you.”
“Trust me, if I hadn’t been working, and then that whole abduction thing, I would’ve interrogated you before this, I must know more details, you actually caught them in bed together?”
“Yes,” the blonde groaned again. “And I really need you to invent brain bleach.”
“Suck it up Kara, you caught your mother in bed, it happens.”
“Did you ever catch Lillian and Lionel in bed?”
“I’m still convinced that Lex is the product of artificial insemination, I can’t really picture them doing anything, let alone sleeping together.” Lena shuddered at the thought before continuing with the conversation. “But your mom though, she’s always seemed a little healthier with relationships, if a bit of a mess at picking partners, didn’t she date a bit our last few years in high school and in college?”
“A few men and women, nothing serious, but this is different, this is my aunt.”
“And you disprove?”
“No! No, I want my mom and my aunt to be happy and if they like each other, love each other, then that just means that my family is coming back together.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Kara sighed and glanced away from her friend. “What if they don’t stay together?” She murmured, her voice low. “What if they realize that all of this is just mutual affection for me or appreciation for being there, what if it’s not real? What if they both get hurt from this?”
“And what if they become one of the greatest love stories ever?” Lena countered. “Or what if they do crash and burn, they’re both adults Kara, they know what they’re getting into with this relationship.”
“I know, it’s just...” Kara sighed again, “It’s just hard, I love them both. I always treated Astra as a mother on Krypton, and Cat is my mother here, them being together is just amazing, but I don’t want either of them to get hurt.”
“Getting hurt is part of the relationship process Kar’,” Lena replied softly. “Ms. Grant couldn’t keep you from getting hurt during your romantic entanglements, and you can’t keep her from getting hurt. All you can do is support your mom and your aunt’s relationship, and be there for both of them.”
“I probably should talk to Mom about it.” The blonde hummed, and leaned her head back against the couch. “Carter and I are going to the science museum tomorrow, so I’ll talk to her after.”
“I did not just hear that you’re going to the science museum without me,” Lena gasped, placing her hand on her chest. “I thought we were friends?”
Kara rolled her eyes. “Do you want to go to the science museum with Carter and I?”
“Yes, thank you, how kind of you to consider me.”
“Don’t you have a business to run?”
“The weekend is mainly the skeleton crew and people who like to work on projects,” Lena waved dismissively. “If I don’t have to go in, then I don’t.”
“Fine, you can come with us, but don’t think this gets you out of talking about your and Sara’s relationship.”
“Shit.”
“So where to first?” Kara asked, looking down at the museum’s map. It had been a few years since she had been there with Carter, and the place had gone through some massive renovations and new exhibitions. “Space, weather, physics, or outside for the botanical gardens?”
“I want to go to the new rope course,” Carter proclaimed. “Please Kara, it looks really fun and all of my friends have gone on it.”
“All of them?”
“Well,” Carter shuffled. “Okay, not all of them, just Stacie, and she told me it was really fun and I want to try it, please?!”
“And Stacie is your… friend?” Kara continued, not looking away from the map.
“Stacie’s cool, she’s on the girl’s soccer team and she’s in the environment club and she loves penguins and the National City Renegades too, and she’s really, really, really cool,” Carter said in one breath and Kara had to bit her lip to hold in her smile. “So please can we go on the rope course?”
“I never said we couldn’t though we do have to get tickets for it I guess.” Kara turned around to look for her absentee best friend and found her not too far away with her sunglasses on and a baseball hat pulled down firmly over her loose hanging hair. “Lena, what are you wearing?”
“Shh,” the brunette hissed. “Lena is at work, I’m Lee today, just out for the day to have a good time. This is my disguise.”
“You look ridiculous.” Kara rolled her eyes, “But fine, Lee, do you want to go on the rope course?”
“I have my fill of being up in the air with planes, helicopters, and my best friend who is a flying menace. There’s a coffee kiosk near the rope course though and that is where you will find me.” The woman pulled her oversized hoodie tighter around her body as she wandered off towards the outdoor section of the science museum.
“Your best friend is weird,” Carter pointed out.
Kara sighed and slung her arm around his shoulders as she guided him back towards the botanical garden. “I know, but who else is going to put up with an alien?”
The rope course, aptly named Sky Walk, was situated above a section of the botanical gardens, suspended high in the air with poles and the larger trees, providing a bird’s eye view of the greenery. It was a recent addition to the museum, only a few months old, mainly due to a survey taken two years ago asking for ways to improve the attractions and exhibits. So far it was one of their more popular attractions, but thankfully since it was still early in the morning, Kara and Carter were able to purchase tickets and suit up without any difficulty.
“If you don't follow the rules and fall, I'm going to let you dangle there while the rescue team comes to get you,” Kara hissed to her little brother. He had been goofing off a bit while the guide was explaining the rules, and if he fell from his own stupidity, she wasn't going to help him. If he was in danger of actually falling, she would catch him in a heartbeat, but a quick check on the ropes and rigging told her that everything with the equipment was solid.
Lena sat down on a bench in the garden near the coffee bar, ruminating over the flowers as Kara and Carter climbed on the ropes above her. While it wasn’t difficult for a gravity bending Kryptonian, Carter struggled a bit the longer the course went, and his arms were burning by the time they finished. Once they were done and Carter had recovered a bit with the help of a smoothie, the three decided to tour around the exhibits. Kara had brought her camera to take photo references of flowers and plants for her paintings while Carter and Lena discussed potential uses of artificial photosynthesis technology in producing energy.
They moved through the weather and geology exhibits, stopped for lunch briefly in the cafeteria with food named after scientists and equations, before moving to the physics exhibit and ending in space. “What was it like?” Carter asked, looking up at the star projection as the planetarium show played. “Being out there among the stars?”
Kara hummed, and tilted her head back, her eyes distant, looking beyond the ceiling to the actual stars above. “Cold,” she murmured. “Lonely. There are countless inhabited worlds out there, but I was removed from all of them. It was a… it was not a good feeling.”
“It’s funny, I always imagine the stars to be warm, with how hot they are, burning balls of gas, but it does make sense. They’re so far away, even from each other. Light years away really, I mean when will we ever know when a star has died?”
“You guys are depressing as shit,” Lena muttered, her hat drawn down over her face as she leant against Kara’s shoulder. “Wake me up when it’s time to go home or they start doing something cool.”
The blonde rolled her eyes and shrugged Lena off of her. “Come on sleepy head, it’s time I get Carter home anyway, and you have to actually talk to your girlfriend rather than just running away from her.”
“I didn’t run away from her,” Lena muttered indignantly. “I’ll have you know I saw her last night after I left your place.”
“You had sex with her didn’t you.”
“... Yes, really good sex though.”
“You’re impossible,” Kara sighed before nudging her brother. “Come on Carter, I promised Mom that we would be home for dinner. Lee, you’re not invited, and if Mom saw you dressed like that in public, you would be disinvited from everything forever.”
Lena turned her nose up slightly and sniffed. “I can tell when I’m not wanted, I’ll see you later Kara, Carter.”
Kara bustled the teenager out of the museum and back to home, ignoring his cajoling for a small ice cream cone from one of their favorite ice cream shops. “Buddy, you and I both know that Mom would find out, she would just know.”
They arrived home a few minutes later, and Carter gave his mother a hug before vanishing into his room to call his friends and tell them about his time on the rope course. “Where’s Astra?” Kara asked when she walked back into the kitchen where her mother was holding court over a couple of steaks.
“Your friend M’gann managed to get her a legal resident card while she’s waiting on citizenship papers, and gave her a job at that delightful bar she runs.” Cat gave Kara a quizzical look. “How does your aunt have such a wide knowledge of alien alcohol?”
“Obviously my aunt was an alcoholic on Krypton.” Kara snorted. “No, she traveled a lot with the diplomacy team as the head General of the military guild, so she was probably exposed to a lot of different drinks on the different worlds.” She paused for a moment. “At least, I hope that’s the answer and not that my aunt was a drunkard.”
“I guess there are somethings that are universally difficult to talk about with your children,” Cat mused. The steaks sizzled in the cast iron pan and she carefully flipped them to allow an even crust on both sides. “I know we haven’t really talked about it much,” the older woman started. “But are you really alright with your aunt and I…”
“Yes Mom, yes of course,” Kara replied. “I guess I just… I guess I’m just afraid, what if you get hurt, what if you don’t make it?” She looked away from her mother. “I would love for my family to come together as a whole, but I wouldn’t know what to do if you guys got together just for me, or stayed together…”
“Kara,” Cat cut the younger woman off before she could work herself up even further. “When have I ever done anything I didn’t want to do? Your aunt and I care for each other, and it might grow into love or it might not. Either way, we both love you and no matter how our relationship turns out, we won’t let it affect you.”
“I just want you to be happy Mom,” Kara replied. “I want both you and Astra to be happy.”
“I’m happy already Darling,” Cat replied. “I’ve got amazing children, an impressive empire, a world that bows to everything I say-”
“Mom…”
“I am happy,” the older blonde continued. “Anything else is just a bonus.”