Settling In
Gert wouldn’t say the transition from driving aimlessly for days on end to living in an old mansion with two of the most powerful women on earth was easy. Sure, they have a semi-permanent place to sleep, a good supply of food and clothes, and they were all still together, but it wasn’t all just magically better. Gert had suffered for a full week and a half before finally telling Lena about the medication she was supposed to be on. She had initially tried to play it off, dismissing the pain in her head and her snappy attitude. It wasn’t until she snapped at Chase while they were getting ready to spar that she finally gave in. There was something about the look in Chase’s eyes when Gert went on off on him, the hurt laced with a deep understanding that had never been directed at Gert before that caught her off guard. The look in his eyes had hurt Gert more than the pounding in her mind. Lena had Gert’s prescription ready the very next morning and presented it to her with a soft smile that Gert had never seen on an adults’ face before. Lena’s eyes had been absent of any pity, or disgust, or the negative emotions Gert usually associated with adults discussing mental illness. Just a calm understanding, an unwavering acceptance. Kara’s reassuring smile had only served to comfort Gert even more. Her initial idea to at least not trust the women helping her and her friends had blown out the window in that moment, already on unstable ground anyway.
There was still a disconnect within the six friends on whether Lena and Kara, and Alex and Maggie, could be trusted. They had grown up around powerful political, religious, scientific, or just generally important people and knew firsthand how untrustworthy they could be. Gert, Molly, and Karolina were more apt to trust the older women than Alex, Chase and Nico. Gert because of their gentle grace and understanding, without any pressure directed to her or the others, Molly because they were teaching her how to do what she really wanted, use her strength to help others. Karolina, she had formed a special bond with Kara as she helped Karolina explore and understand her own powers. They spent a good hour, if not more, each night hovering above the expansive grounds of the mansion. Sometimes they tested Karolina’s speed, or how her lights affected different things, or Kara taught her some advanced flying movement. Usually, they simply moved to a place out of earshot of the others and talked. Chase and Nico had come to partially trust the adults, Kara and Lena more so than Alex and Maggie, Chase because none of the adults had mentioned anything when he flinched at sudden loud noises, or when someone raised their hand from behind him. Nico because they had helped in getting Karolina comfortable in her own skin, now that she had no idea who or what she really was.
Alex seemed to not trust anyone these days, especially Kara. All five of the other Runaways had asked him about it at one time or another. His answers varied from a pointed glare when Karolina asked him, the silent treatment when Nico did, or simply stating he wasn’t going to trust them just because they were helping them. They had been betrayed before, who’s to say it wouldn’t it happen again. Gert had said something about the patriarchal society fearing powerful women and Alex being a product of that, but none of the people living in the house believed it was the truth when it came to Alex.
Of course, Nico and Karolina’s beautifully blossoming relationship had done little to ease Alex’s bad mood. Karolina lit up when Nico walked into the room (literally, once) and Nico did the same. They gravitated towards one another. When Nico shifted so did Karolina, when Karolina reached for something Nico was ready and waiting to hand it to her. They shared these glances and smiles throughout the day, small secret ones that no one was meant to see. It was sickeningly cute, Gert had said more than once, but Alex did not share the same opinion. Gert could see him slowly accepting the reality of his chances with Nico, which had all but disappeared before they even left LA and were now completely gone, but he still looked heartbroken every time he saw the couple together. The tension was palpable, but lessening by the day, much to the Mansion’s residents’ relief.
Speaking of tension, Gert thought as Chase walked into the kitchen. She and Chase had been in this weird limbo since their…encounter at the dance. It was comfortable, their banter and the smiles Chase sent her when the rest of the group were occupied with something else. It was easy to smile back, to tease Chase and ruffles his hair. It was harder to ignore the flutter that rose in her stomach when she did those things, and the soft look in Chase’s eyes that made Gert feel like her heart would explode from the emotion. It was impossible to deny her feelings for him, but not so much to deny his for her.
How could Chase like a girl like her anyway? Chase was, well, Chase. He was tall and gorgeous, and generous, and the dimple on his right cheek was deeper than the one on the left. He wrestled with Molly and wasn’t scared to pet Old Lace. His voice was the perfect mix of soft and husky. He struggled to find the words to explain things sometimes, but he could talk for hours about engineering and computers. He was perfect, imperfections and all. And Gert, wasn’t.
“Earth to Gert.” Gert snapped out of her thoughts when she finally registered Chase’s hand waving back and forth in front of her face. It isn’t until she catches sight of his smirk that she realizes Chase had been speaking to her, probably since he walked in.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“Are you okay?” Chase asks instead of answering her question. “You were really spaced out.”
“I’m fine,” Gert does her best to sound annoyed even though she isn’t annoyed in the slightest. “Just thinking about the whole Nico/Karolina/Alex situation.” It’s only part of the truth but Chase takes it a face value.
“Oh right,” Chase sounds disappointed for a reason Gert doesn’t want to think about. “Personally, I think Wilder should get over it.”
“He cares for Nico, a lot.”
“So? Liking someone isn’t an excuse to be a jackass.” Chase opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water and a cheese stick. “Especially when Nico’s made it clear she doesn’t feel the same way.” Chase takes a bit out of his snack and continues speaking before Gert can interject. “Besides, if he really cares about Nico, he’d be happy that she’s happy, no matter how much it hurts him.”
“Okay, first of all, gross,” Gert makes a face when Chase opens his mouth enough for her to see the remnants of cheese on his tongue. “Second, that’s surprisingly insightful of you, Chase.”
“I can be deep when I want to be.” Chase schools his face into an innocent expression but Gert can see the mischief in his eyes and feels her own cheeks warm at his words, remembering exactly how deep he could get.
“Can’t you guys keep it in your pants, there are children present?” Nico says as she walks into the kitchen with Molly and Karolina, focusing on the smirk on Chase’s lips and the blush on Gert’s cheeks.
“You’re one to talk, Minoru.” Nico maturely sticks her tongue out at him in response. Chase returns the gesture and tosses the bottle of water Karolina requests to her as the blonde settles on the stool in front of Nico, the shorter girl claimed a seat on the counter top of the breakfast bar. Gert moves to the table to sit with her sister while Chase rounds the island to sit on the stool next to Karolina and Nico.
“You guys act like I don’t know what sex is.” Molly grumbled under her breath as she and Gert sat down, but not so low that she wasn’t heard by Gert.
“What?” Gert turns to her sister. “Who ruined your innocence?”
“Um, the internet? Mainstream television? The bedroom eyes that you and Chase make at each other?” Molly shrugs. “Take your pick, they’re all pretty good answers.”
“We do not make bedroom eyes!” Gert insists while the rest of the group cracks up. “At least not as bad as Karolina and Nico.”
“Hey!” Karolina protests, but she’s laughing too. It feels good to just joke around together. It reminds her of when they were kids. Before Molly’s parents died, before Amy. When they would sit in the Wilder’s guest house during PRIDE meetings and play games and laugh and tease each other until their parents came to get them. “We all know the true culprits here are Kara and Lena.”
“Oh my god, you see it too?” Chase and Molly said at the same time, prompting them to look at one another in surprise before speaking at the same time again. “You noticed that?”
“It’s kind of hard not to notice that.” Chase shrugged, receiving baffled stares from the four girls in the room, and Alex, Chase had belatedly realized, who must have slipped into the room sometime after the girls had. “It is pretty obvious.”
“It must be, if you noticed.” Karolina teases, and Chase lightly punches her arm in response. The motion jostles Nico - whose arms are wrapped around Karolina’s shoulders - and she glowers at him for a second before it turns to a smile when Karolina laces their fingers together over her chest.
“I may be a dude, but I’m not oblivious.” Chase defends himself, crossing his arms over his chest. “I noticed Karolina and Nico had a something between them before any of you did.”
“You did?” Karolina seems surprised by his words, as does Alex who had silently taken a seat at the table across from Gert and Molly. They’d turned their chairs to face the three at the breakfast bar, so they don’t see the frown on his face.
“Nico and I had a little chat about it, before we went to save you Karolina.”
“I forgot about that.” Nico looks over at Chase suddenly, a glint in her eyes that Chase isn’t sure he likes. “But he’s right, kind of.”
“How is he kind of right?” Karolina asked her girlfriend, tilting her head back to see her eyes.
“Well, it wasn’t so much a conversation about us, but more that we both smelled like hookup after we all met up in the hall.” Nico shrugged. “So, yeah, I guess he figured it out about us then.”
“Wait, why did Chase smell like hookup too?” Alex asked, finally joining the conversation. If anyone heard the hurt in his voice, they didn’t comment on it.
“Can we stop talking about hookups around the child, please?” Gert butted in, hoping she had enough control of her blushing cheeks to keep from embarrassing herself.
“I’m only three years younger than all of you.” Molly pouted.
“Wait, no Gert picked up on it first.” Karolina points out. “She confronted me at that gala we had to go too with our parents, when I sent Chase to get drinks for us.”
“You were into me then?”
“Back to Kara and Lena,” Gert turned back to Chase, ignoring the exchange between Karolina and Nico and the resigned expression on Alex’s face, “there’s definitely something, there right?”
“Totally,” Chase agreed, “have you been in a room with just the two of them? They can just be watching dishes and I’ll feel like interrupted some intimate moment.”
“It’s disgustingly sappy.”
“What’s disgustingly sappy?” All six teenagers turned their heads as a new voice joined the fray, Lena walking into the kitchen dressed like she had just walked off the corporate runway with a tablet in her hands.
“Karo and Nico’s heart eyes.” Gert said, a little too quickly, with Chase and Molly nodding in agreement and the couple in question looking appropriately embarrassed. Alex remained silent.
“Ah, yes,” Lena offered the young couple a smile, “you two do an awful lot of staring at one another these days, don’t you?”
“We do not!” Nico protested half-heartedly, knowing Lena was right. She didn’t mean to stare at Karolina all the time, honestly, she didn’t. But then she noticed Karolina looking at something with that little crinkle on her forehead, totally focused, or laughing as Molly and Old Lace chased one another around the backyard or trading teasing jabs with Gert and Chase and Nico couldn’t help but stare. Don’t even get her started on watching Karolina work out on the various machines Lena had bought and placed in the backyard for them to train with. “What’s for dinner?”
“Potstickers.” Lena says, setting her tablet down on the counter top. The kids had been pleasantly surprised to learn that Lena was a phenomenal cook, and equally amused when Kara stated without any hesitance that she was not. “Kara claims she’s dying from potsticker withdrawals, and I found a pretty good recipe for them online.”
“What is a potsticker?” Alex asked, nose crinkled and eyes looking anywhere except where Nico and Karolina sat together.
“A gift from the gods.” Kara answers his question, entering the kitchen with windswept hair and her super suit still on. The Runaways can’t help but stare, still a little awestruck whenever they see Kara in her full Supergirl regalia.
“I personally prefer a good batch of kale,” Lena says, mostly to watch Kara’s animated reaction. Just as expected Kara looks visibly repulsed, her shoulders shuddering and she shakes her head no fiercely.
“Never again will I be persuaded to eat that monstrosity.” Kara shudders again for added affect.
“Kara, you had it once.” Lena reminds her with an affectionate roll of her eyes.
“That was enough.”
The Runaways share a collective glance, Molly, Chase, and Karolina seeming to say ‘what did I tell you’ at Kara and Lena’s interaction, but managed to keep in any laughter.
“Do you need any help?” Karolina asked Lena as Kara left the kitchen to change out of her suit. Lena pulled out a cutting board, knife, and placed various vegetables on the counter.
“Sure, I need to get all of this diced.”
Karolina disentangled herself from her girlfriend, placing a kiss on Nico’s cheek and then rounding the island to start cutting the vegetables. Nico hopped off the counter just as Kara swept back into the room, dressed in the clothes she had worn to work that morning. Chase and Nico moved to the table to sit with Molly, Gert, and Alex while Kara went to help Lena and Karolina cook. It was a familiar scene. As familiar as it could be after only two weeks, anyway. Karolina liked to help whoever was cooking, Nico didn’t know if it was the product of Karolina growing up believing in helping others without a second thought or Karolina’s genuine good nature. She suspected it was a blend of both. The others were content to sit at the table and chat amongst themselves, occasionally joined by Kara or Lena when the other was cooking or monitoring the food in Kara’s case. Once the food was ready, they worked by committee to set the table. Nico appreciated the routine of it all.
“Any news?” Alex asks Kara when she turns from Lena to the kids. Kara shakes her head.
“Nothing yet.”
Kara had told the kids that their parents were being watched for suspicious activity, but it could take a little while to find anything or catch them doing something. As Karolina pointed out when Kara first told them, their parents had been doing this for at least seventeen years, without anyone suspecting anything. They knew to be careful.
“Listen, we know you guys are getting anxious about the radio silence. We promise we are doing everything we can.” Lena spoke from where she was placing the potstickers in a pan to be placed in the oven. “These things take time, more than two weeks.”
“We know,” Nico spoke to the group. She had assumed the role of the leader after Alex proved incompetent, he couldn’t even convince the others to actually try when they were training, but she was beginning to blossom in her new role. Karolina, done with her part of the meal prep, made her way to the table and took the open seat on Nico’s right. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Something that we can use against PRIDE.”
“What’s that?” Kara asked curiously, noting the confused glances the other teenagers sent their leader.
“The Staff of One.”
The Runaways shared surprised and concerned looks over the table. Kara and Lena moved over to the group.
“The Staff that is under your mother’s control?” Kara asked, mainly for clarification purposes. She knew perfectly well what the Staff was, in theory at least. Nico had given them all the information she could about the strange device, but it was difficult to explain without having the Staff in hand.
“That’s the one,” Nico’s expression remained serious, “my mother’s not the only one who can use it. If I can get it away from her, PRIDE will lose a huge advantage over us. I can train with it, like Karo and Molly are training with their powers. We can use it to stop them.”
“Where is the Staff?”
“At their house, in LA.” Nico answered Lena’s question without any hesitance. “We’d have to break in and get it out of her office.”
“So, you want to break into one of the most advanced AI protected homes in the world and steal a magic staff.” Karolina did not sound impressed by Nico’s idea in the slightest. “Anything else?”
“We might be able to get some info of PRIDE if we can hack Tina’s computer while we’re there.” Nico shrugged slightly, as if the whole idea was an everyday occurrence.
“Nico, we can’t do that.” Alex spoke up and Nico bristled. “It’s too dangerous. We can’t go back to LA until we’re ready to face PRIDE and we both know we’re not there yet.”
“I didn’t say we would all go back, Alex.”
“You think we’d let you do this alone? No way. Not a chance in hell.”
“I don’t recall asking for your permission, Alex.” Nico spat back at him, her eyes hard and shoulders tense. “Like it or not, we need to get the Staff away from PRIDE and I’m the only one who can control it.”
“Alright,” Kara’s powerful voice cut in before Alex could carry the argument any further. “Nico, you seem to have done a lot of thinking about this. What’s your plan?”
“Three of us go to LA. Myself, to get the Staff, Karolina to disable Wizzy so we can get in, and Alex to hack the system and get info on PRIDE.”
“How would I disable Wizzy?” Karolina asked before Kara could.
“Your powers. Remember the dig site?” Nico waited until Karolina nodded to continue. “That blast knocked out all the electronics around the whole block, like a giant EMP. You’ve been practicing now, you have better control over your beams. If you focus them on Wizzy’s main breakers you should be able to overload the system, enough for us to get in and get out.”
“That’s a big risk to take, Nico.” Karolina pointed out. “What do we do if it doesn’t work?”
“We’ll test it before we leave. I know we can do this, Karolina. We need to do this.” Nico’s hand gripped Karolina’s thigh beneath the table, a warm, comforting presence. Their eyes met, a silent conversation passing between them. Alex looked away, the tenderness in their eyes too much for him to bear just yet.
“Okay,” Karolina conceded right as the timer went off on the over, signaling that the potstickers were done cooking. Kara pulled them out, no oven mitts needed, and helped Lena place them on the large serving dish. “But we can’t rush into this. We need to be absolutely sure this will work.”
“Agreed.” Alex spoke up but still averted his eyes. As a group, the Runaways turned to Kara and Lena who seemed to be having a silent conversation of their own over the large platter of potstickers in Kara’s hands.
“What do you think?” Nico asked after the silence stretched on long enough for Lena and Kara to take their seats at the table. The pair exchanged one more glance before nodding in unison.
“How can we help?”
Cleaning up after dinner is a joint effort that evening, Kara washing the dishes, Chase drying them and then handing them over to Nico, Karolina or Gert to be put away. Molly hops up onto the counter next to Kara and starts up a conversation about super strength. Chase and Alex banter when the latter brings his plate to the sink for Kara to wash, Lena isn’t sure what the topic is, but she vaguely recognizes the name of some character or another, from a video game she’s never played herself and can’t remember the title of. Lena herself remains at the table, having done most of the cooking, and enjoys the last few sips of her wine while the others clean up. She tries to time it so that she finished her drink just before Kara reaches for the last dish, but she has yet to be successful on that front. That evening, she placed her glass on the counter a few moments after Kara finished rinsing the last plate, but before she reached to turned to water off. Lena considered it a small victory.
They separated for a little bit soon after, not quite comfortable enough to spend too much time lingering in the kitchen together, but the adults wanting the kids to have a chance to relax together before Kara and Karolina went for their flight. Kara and Lena remained for a while after, chatting about nothing the way they used too, before the Daxamite invasion when all Lena was worried about was rebuilding her company and family name and trying to get Kara to eat healthier, so she wouldn’t have a heart attack at thirty. She had missed this easy comradery with Kara. After the invasion, Kara had all but disappeared from Lena’s life, leaving text messages unanswered and never picking up the phone when Lena called. Looking back, Lena knows Kara had been out patrolling the streets as Supergirl during all that time, but that did little to comfort her or ease her guilt. If she could have found a way to defeat the Daxamites without sending Kara’s boyfriend off the planet. Not that she particularly liked Mon-El, she spent little time with him, but he always seemed like a pompous, spoiled brat whenever they were together, but Kara cared for him and Lena cared for Kara.
“Lena?” Kara questioned for the third time, her friend still staring blankly ahead without seeing Kara. “Hey, Lena,” Kara reached out, placing her hand on Lena’s arm and squeezing it gently.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” Lena asks as she came back to herself, her eyes focusing on Kara’s.
“Are you okay? You were a million miles away just now.”
“Oh I’m fine,” Lena tries to wave off Kara’s concerns.
“Lena.” There’s something about the way Kara says her name. Softly, like Lena deserved all the awe and amazement in the world, gently, like her name alone was the most precious word in the world. She made Lena feel wanted, accepted, like she could pour her heart out to Kara without judgement or fear.
“I was just thinking about how much I missed you these past couple months.” Lena speaks without really meaning too, Kara’s earnest expression and soft eyes drawing the truth from her lips. “After the invasion I didn’t see much of you. Not that I blame you, after what happened.”
“What do you mean?” Kara seemed surprised at Lena’s words.
“After what I did.”
“Lena, you didn’t do anything.” Kara insists, the infamous crinkle forming between her eyebrows as they scrunch together in confusion.
“I sent the Daxamite’s away, I sent Mon-El away.” Lena speaks softly, her voice filled with guilt and shoulders slumping after her admission.
“Oh, Lena,” Kara says and uses the hand she still has on Lena’s arm to pull her into a hug, “that wasn’t your fault. It was an impossible situation, we couldn’t have beat them without sending Mon-El away.”
“I should have found another way,” Lena’s words are slightly muffled against Kara’s shoulder, but Kara can hear the emotion in them, the guilt, the blame, the self-doubt.
“Lena,” Kara pulled back, so she could look Lena in the eyes, using one finger to lift Lena’s chin when the CEO refused to meet her gaze, “It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you for anything that happened that day.”
“Promise?”
There’s a ghost of a smile across Kara’s lips as she replied, “promise.”
Lena smiles at her, relieved, but concerned at the same time. Kara didn’t blame her, Lena, for anything that happened that day. Did she blame herself? She’s about to question Kara when she notices blue eyes flicker downwards. Lena licks her lips involuntarily, watching Kara’s eyes follow the movement of her tongue. Lena takes a deep breath, Kara’s eyes flickering back up to look into Lena’s own. Slowly, Lena starts to lean in, Kara following.
“Chase! Give it back!”
The two women jump apart at the sound of Molly’s voice as she and the boy running from her come crashing back into the kitchen. They seem to not notice the tension between Kara and Lena, too busy arguing over the pink ball of yarn in Chase’s hand, Molly’s cat hat that he had apparently stolen from her.
Kara and Lena stare at one another for a moment, the air between them heavy with the almost-kiss they shared, before another yell from Molly breaks the spell over them. Kara chases the two teenagers out of the kitchen, leaving Lena with a pounding heart, a spinning head, and the ghost of Kara’s breath against her lips.
“You’re nervous,” Kara states, landing gently on the roof of the Mansion with Karolina at her side, “your lights keep getting brighter and then dimming. Everything okay?”
Karolina considers lying for a second, but Kara’s earnest face steals the idea from her. She doesn’t like lying in general, never has, but she understands some situations called for a little while lie now and again. This wasn’t one of those situations.
“Nico’s plan,”
“You don’t think it will work?”
“No,” Karolina shook her head, “I know it will work. But there’s so many things that could go wrong. What if her parents are home? Or all of PRIDE is there for some meeting? Or Jonah?” Karolina rubbed her hands on her shorts anxiously. “I’m not ready to face all of them, not yet.” She’s not even close to ready. She was just starting to come to terms with her parents being in a murderous cult when they ran away, pair that with her now unknown origins, and the true identity of her father and Karolina’s head was still spinning. Not to mention Frank, who Karolina had thought, hoped, was a good guy, who sided with Jonah in the end. It hurt her heart and her head.
“You don’t have to go.” Kara reminded her, gesturing for the girl to take a seat on the roof with her. Karolina did so, a heavy sigh leaving her lungs as she basically collapsed next to Kara.
“Yes, I do. There’s no way I’m letting Nico go alone.” Karolina had finally been allowed access to all the deep, dark, parts of herself that Nico tried to hide. They were in this together, in every way.
“Alex is going with her.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Karolina,” Kara started, placing a reassuring hand on the younger girls shoulder and smiling internally when she didn’t flinch away, “it’s okay to be afraid. You’ve been through so much, much more than anyone your age should have to go through. You’re allowed to feel however you want to feel.”
“No one else is scared.” There, was the root of the issue. Karolina feeling like the others had already dealt with everything that happened, had moved from fear to determination and she just couldn’t.
“How do you know?” Kara asked softly. “Have you talked about it with them?”
Karolina shook her head in response. She thought about bringing it up to Nico at night, when they both crawled into bed together in the room Nico had originally claimed for herself. But Nico seemed so at ease then, when it was just the two of them without the others breathing down their necks so Karolina kept silent.
“Then how do you know they aren’t scared, too?”
“They don’t act like it.”
“Neither do you.” Kara continued when Karolina shot her a disbelieving look. “You don’t. You may feel afraid, but you never look anything but determined, protective even.” Kara griped Karolina’s shoulders, forcing the girl to look at her. “Karolina, you may not believe me, but I can guarantee Nico, Molly, Gert, Chase, and Alex are just as scared as you are, but are pretending not to be for everyone else.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Karolina admitted, and Kara couldn’t resist the urge to pull her into a hug. She was surprised, pleasantly, when Karolina hugged her back just as tightly.
“Talk to them,” Kara advised as they pulled apart, “start with Nico. Get everything out into the open, and then deal with it together.”
“Thanks, Kara.” Karolina said as Kara climbed to her feet, intending to let Karolina be alone with her thoughts for a little while. “For everything.”
“Anytime, Rainbow.” Karolina rolled her eyes at the nickname, given to her by Maggie when they started training, smiling slightly as Kara rose from the roof, hovered for a moment and then disappeared back into the Mansion.
Karolina sat outside for another ten minutes, watching the stars and thinking about what Kara had said, before heading to the room she shared with Nico. Nico sat on a chair on the balcony, a book propped up on her knees, her hair still wet from her shower. It was an increasingly familiar sight to Karolina, one that never failed to make her smile.
“Hey,” she greeted as her feet touched down on the balcony. Nico smiled at her, waiting patiently while Karolina powered down. She had been able to turn her lights on and off without her bracelet for a few days now, and Nico was super proud of her for developing her powers.
“Have fun up there?”
“Would’ve been more fun if you were there with me,” Karolina shot Nico a dazzling smile as she moved closer, ducking down to steal a kiss before heading into their room and the en suite bathroom for a quick shower. She emerged fifteen minutes later to find Nico in the same position as before and made her way out to the balcony to join her.
“You must really like that book.” Karolina commented after walking up to Nico, tapping her shoulder and Nico scooting forward in the chair so Karolina could climb in behind her. They settled together, Nico sitting between Karolina’s legs and leaning back against her chest with Karolina’s arms wrapped around her waist.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess so.” Nico shrugged, leaning further into Karolina.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Karolina punctuated her question with a kiss to Nico’s shoulder.
“Just thinking, about the mission.” Nico sighed, closing her book and turning to nuzzle further into Karolina. “Is it bad that I’m scared to go back there?”
“Of course not,” Karolina shook her head. “I am, too.” Of course Supergirl was right.
“It’s just, I haven’t had the best relationship with my parents, and it only got worse after Amy…” Karolina squeezed Nico gently around the waist in comfort, “but I always thought they were at least decent people. That they were actually trying to help save the world.”
“But now you know that isn’t true.”
“I just – I can’t, they’re our parents, Karolina. How can they be such monsters?” Nico sat up and turned in Karolina’s embrace, so they were sitting face-to-face. “If they’re monsters, what does that make us?”
“We’re not them, Nico.” Karolina brushed a stray hair behind Nico’s ear as she continued, “our parents are terrible, murderous people, but we’re not. Okay? We can fix the world that they broke.”
“How?” Nico hated how unsure her voice sounded, but the tender glow to Karolina’s eyes showed no pity or sympathy or any hint of a negative emotion. Nothing but support and the beginnings of feelings Nico was scared to admit she had.
“I don’t know.” Karolina offered Nico a small smile, “but I do know we’ll do it together.”
Karolina leaned in and Nico met her halfway. It was the softest kiss they had shared thus far, no teeth or tongue, no wandering hands and panting breaths. A simple meeting of lips that was meant to convey nothing but affection and comfort. They separated, and Nico laid her head on Karolina’s shoulder to bask in the comfort she provided.
They returned to the bedroom soon after and climbed into the bed they shared in peaceful silence. They were still scared, terrified, but they had each other. That was enough