Chapter 7
Lena groans as she wakes rapidly from a thudding noise and the sudden departure of her personal body heater. Her head would have dropped comically to the pillow if Kara hadn’t taken the time to gently lower it before superspeeding out of the bedroom. Lena relaxes more fully for a split second, hoping to fall back under when she hears shouting from her living room.
“Let me see her!”
Lena’s eyes shoot open when she hears another thud with a loud groan. She scrambles out of bed and rushes to see what is going on. Alex is doubled over with a smug looking Kara with her arms crossed, blocking the hallway to the bedroom.
“Alex?” Lena drawls. “What’s going on?”
Kara turns her head fully and smiles at Lena before wandering closer to her side.
“You- you weren’t… answering,” Alex grunted out as she stood up properly.
Lena’s stare shoots daggers at Kara’s proud grin. “You better not have done any real damage.”
“It was just a flick.”
“With superstrength,” Alex grits out.
“Kara,” Lena scolds as she breaks away to check on Alex.
“What? I didn’t want her waking you when you clearly needed the sleep,” Kara says a little sharply.
Alex takes a step forward, but Lena stops her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I needed to make sure you didn’t kill her in a fit of rage.”
“I’m okay, Alex,” Lena is quick to interrupt anything Kara would say in response. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer. Kara convinced me to get some rest, and I should have texted you that you wouldn’t be hearing from me.”
“You shouldn’t have to apologize, Lee,” Kara seethes.
Lena takes a deep breath as she turns around on Kara with red highlighting her veins across her face. “Kara, can you wait for me in the lab? Please?”
“This is my home! She has no right to barge her way in here!” Kara doesn’t break eye contact with Alex, not even for a second.
“Darling,” Lena approaches slowly. She brings her hands up to Kara’s angry face. She threads her fingers into Kara’s hair to bring her face down. “Please? For me?”
Kara softens slightly at the loving tone. Kara leans forwards to rest her forehead against Lena’s before taking a deep breath. The red retreats some. “For you,” she whispers.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Lena says as Kara presses a kiss on her cheek. She waits until Kara is in the other room. “Are you okay, Alex?”
“This is so much worse than the first time.” Alex can’t keep her voice steady. She rubs her stomach where her sister ‘flicked’ her. “Have you made any progress?”
Lena shakes her head. “Kara remembers some more, but I’m no further in figuring out how to reverse it. Any luck with tracking my brother down?”
Alex shakes her head. They stare at each other for a moment before Lena moves to walk towards the door. “You should go before we test her patience more.”
“Please, keep in touch. I’ll try not to panic in the future, but… just… please,” Alex begs.
“Of course. I’m sorry.”
Lena takes a moment to herself with her head resting on the door after locking it. She takes a deep shuddering breath before steeling herself to go reprimand her girlfriend. When she opens the door to her lab, she is surprised to see Kara already laying back on the exam table.
“What? I knew the first thing you’d want to do is look me over.”
Lena moves over to her side and picks up one of those warm hands. “You need to stop antagonizing your sister. Somewhere in there, you love her.”
“I would stop if she would stop causing you harm.”
“Harm? She hasn’t harmed me any of the times you acted out.”
Kara scoffs and rolls her eyes. “She grabbed you. And tried to interrupt your much needed sleep over something she should never even worry about.”
“None of that constitutes actual harm, darling. Now, may I?” Lena points towards Kara’s shirt.
“Of course.”
Lena peels up the sleep tee slowly and carefully around the bandages. She gasps when she pulls back on one. “They’re- they’re healed!”
“Golly, they are…” Kara mutters as she runs her fingertips over the area.
“This is great news. I want to run a couple tests though.” Lena moves about grabbing everything she needs. She takes a regular needle to try to draw blood, but it bends just as it would normally. Her cautious optimism grows slightly. “I need to draw some blood. Is that alright?”
Kara nods and braces for the kryptonite-tinged needle.
Lena makes it as quick as possible, her brows furrowed at causing Kara any type of pain. She mutters a quiet, “Thank you.”
As soon as the kryptonite is locked away, Kara makes sure to superspeed a quick kiss to Lena’s cheek. She knows that as much as Lena does it needs to be done, but Lena still hates to be the one to inflict any sort of pain, especially when it involves kryptonite. “I should be thanking you.”
Lena smiles softly, and with a pinch of sadness, before taking the blood over to her workstation. She knows the tests will take time, but she still uses a drop or two to examine under the microscope without any alteration. Everything is looking the exact same.
“Darling?” When Kara hums in response, Lena continues, “Are you still feeling the effects of the red kryptonite?” Lena knows that the odds of Kara being magically cured within the past five minutes is nil, but she still holds out hope. If Kara is cured from the effects of green, maybe the red has resolved itself.
“I would hope I would be able to feel it’s absence, but I- I can’t say for sure.”
Lena looks away from her testing at that. A frown starts to form with nothing but concern etched into her eyes. Kara knows she wants the blonde to elaborate. Kara sighs. “With the real stuff, my conscious? Yeah- I guess that works. My conscious self is completely subdued. The filter is completely gone and it’s like my psychological id just takes over. With this, it’s different. I’m still in here. Sometimes my desires align with my id’s desires, and I couldn’t tell you the difference. It’s only when they are in disagreement that I’m more aware of the internal struggle. Does that make any sense?”
Lena’s worry only increases. “I think I understand. So, do you think your id is happy just sitting in this lab with me poking and prodding you?”
Kara smiles warmly at this and shakes her head. “No, Lee. My id is perfectly content with doing anything to make you happy and comfortable. I know you’re worried and stressed. All the parts of me want to do anything that I can to help you feel better.”
Lena crosses her arms and pins Kara down with a look that says if she wasn’t currently being questioned about still being under the influence… it would definitely mean Lena would have her pinned down in a completely different context. Kara blushes like she always does when Lena gives her that look.
Lena relaxes her stance and returns to Kara at the table. She takes her hand in both of her own. “I am worried. We don’t know the long-term effects of this exposure.”
“We will figure this out, Lee. We always do.”
Lena sighs heavily. “Do you remember anything else from when- when you were exposed?”
Kara’s face drops as she thinks back. Lena has to bite her lip from pulling her back from such painful memories. She knows it’s necessary for Kara to try to remember. There may be clues to help them cure the superhero before anything can go awry.
“I- it’s foggy. I remember Lex blowing red dust in my face.”
“It wasn’t a crystal?” Lena perks up at this new detail.
Kara furrows her brow further. Her eyes are looking in Lena’s direction, but she’s not looking at anything in particular. “No. It wasn’t in the crystalline structure. It was definitely a powder.”
“That’s good news, darling.” Lena quickly grabs her phone to call Alex. “Maybe some residue is still on your suit. Alex! Hey. I need the supersuit brought to my penthouse as quickly as possible.”
Kara can’t stop her muscles from tensing at hearing Alex’s name.
“Yes, it’s a new lead.” Kara purposefully withholds her superhearing. “Alright, I’ll unlock the balcony door. Thanks, Alex.”
Kara is quick to her feet, following Lena into the living room. “Balcony?”
“It was faster if I delivered it,” J’onn says in his green Martian form.
Kara grits her teeth and her body tenses. “Where were you?”
“Darling?” Lena’s head whips around to look at the angry Supergirl. Red is glowing all the way to her temples.
“I was off world.”
“We needed your help,” Kara says in a dangerous, low voice. “I needed your help.”
“J’onn, it’s probably best that you go,” Lena murmurs without taking her eyes off of Kara for a moment. She didn’t even think that Kara would harbor ill feelings towards J’onn.
“Don’t you dare,” Kara seethes out.
Neither J’onn nor Lena were entirely sure who that was directed at, but they both knew they were in a precarious position. Kara was livid, and it put them both at risk of her fury.
“I’m afraid it is unwise for me to leave at the moment,” J’onn responds calmly.
When Kara takes a step forward, Lena steps in Kara’s way. She is quick to bring her hand up to Kara’s sternum, rubbing lightly. “Kara, please. Just let me run my tests on your suit. You can hash this out with J’onn when I have you back to yourself.”
“Somehow, I am always there when you need me, but when I need you,” Kara seethes, floating up with red streaking across her face.
J’onn remains stoic. He doesn’t flinch, turn away, or respond. He simply stands there, rigid and unmoving. When he notices that Kara is breathing too heavily in her rage to continue in her rant, he simply states, “I came as soon as I received the message. I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
Kara lets out a humorless laugh as she floats higher. Lena’s hand drags down Kara’s body, but she reaches for her hand instead, as if she could hold her back or pull her back down.
“Darling…” Lena whispers desperately. “Let J’onn go back to the DEO. He gave me what we needed. It can be just us again.” When those glowing red eyes shift back to her, Lena consciously has to keep her face neutral.
“How are you not angry? The people we both trust to help National City, help me, did nothing when I was in danger… in pain. Somehow, the one person they didn’t trust, had to save me. You had to step in when you aren’t even part of the DEO to find me before I was murdered.”
Lena can’t stop her brows from furrowing or her head tilting. She hadn’t even thought about it. “I don’t need them telling me they need my help. I don’t need to be involved or contracted with the DEO to come to your aid, Kara. I love you. And I would do anything -anything- to protect you.”
There is a heavy silence that lasts just a few moments before Kara speaks low and slow, “Clearly, you’re the only one I can count on.”
Lena doesn’t turn to look, but she doesn’t need to. J’onn’s face would be full of regret and shame, regret and shame from Kara feeling that way, because J’onn does love her. He loves her like a daughter, and he couldn’t even protect his own. Lena just hears the gentle woosh of him leaving the balcony and she pulls on Kara’s hands to come into a hug.
Lena whispers as she squeezes the blonde tight, “We will talk about this later. I need you to know that I would burn this world in order to save you. I would go full Luthor to find you.”
Kara nuzzles into Lena’s arms. She feels spent. In the back of her mind, she knows that this is not the norm. But right now, she can only focus on how drained she feels from the emotional whiplash from extreme rage to overwhelming love.
“Let’s get you back into the lab, alright love?”
Kara nods as Lena guides her back through the apartment and onto the table. Lena is quick to turn on the yellow sunlamps, sensing the energy shift. She wordlessly places a kiss on the Kryptonian’s cheek before turning her attention back to the supersuit. She feels eyes on her as she takes swabs, focusing on the emblem and cape clips in particular. Lena hopes that some of the Red Kryptonite is still present in some of the stitching or clasps to help her figure this out.
“What if-“
Lena looks up immediately. She waits a moment but realizes Kara’s not going to continue on her own. “What if what, darling?”
Kara can feel the Red K spreading in her veins. She tries so hard to keep her lips sealed, but Lena is looking at her with such openness. “What if we left?”
“Left?”
“Left all of this. You leave L-Corp. I hang up the cape. All of it.”
To Lena’s credit, she just blinks a couple of times. “Do you want that?”
The red starts to retreat from Kara’s face. She whispers out, “Sometimes.”