Chapter Text
The night after she met Kara, from the comfort of her bed and with a stomach full of something other than Chef Boyardee, Lena pulled out her laptop. She couldn’t help herself. She typed “Kara Danvers” into the Google search bar and let herself fall into the snooping, completely unashamed.
A number of Kara’s CatCo articles pop up and Lena skims through a few of them, including the series that won her a Pulitzer: a collection of articles on dismantling an illegal street gang called Leviathan that sold tainted drugs, claiming to send their users to into realm where the world was at their fingertips, but really just made people experience extreme hallucinations and consumed them in a vegitative state.
Lena was pleasantly surprised to find herself the subject of a few of Kara’s articles. There was one from a few years ago on the renaming of LuthorCorp she co-wrote with Clark Kent, and a more critical piece on her work at L-Corp eighteen months into owning the company and if she had fulfilled the promises she claimed to make happen.
She appreciated Kara criticizing her work and holding her accountable for her mistakes, all while simultaneously acknowledging the good she did manage to do. Reading an article that called her out without ripping her to shreds was new to Lena, and she found herself liking Kara a little bit more.
When Lena makes her way downstairs the next morning for breakfast, she quickly realizes that the cabin is empty. She couldn’t hear the clatter of pots and pans, meaning Sam wasn’t around to be making breakfast, and she remembered that Ruby didn’t jump on top of her bed earlier to wake her up. A bright pink sticky-note stuck to the handle of the refrigerator only confirmed her thoughts.
Took Ruby to a Mommy & Me art class in town. Should be back around noon. Don’t die!
-Sam
Lena sighs at the prospect of having to fend for herself for breakfast. She takes stock of what is in the fridge and each cupboard, coming up with only a single egg, Ruby's sugary cereal, and bread for toast (no butter). Turns out Sam only picked up supplies for dinner food when she went to the market. Wonderful.
An idea strikes her mind just when she’s about to whip out a pan for scrambled egg—singular. Lena puts the egg back and goes to peek out of the back screen door. Across the long expanse of melting snow-slush, Kara’s car is still parked in the driveway of her cabin.
Kara did tell her that she lived in Midvale from thirteen on up until she left for college. She should know where some decent breakfast places were. Sure beats having to look it up on the town’s website that hadn’t been updated since before Lena was born.
The plan was simple enough. Knock on Kara’s door, ask her where she can get something to eat, then leave. The probability of something going on was little to none. So she wrote her own note for Sam and pinned it onto the fridge just in case she and Ruby got back before she did, then she set off.
The journey from the driveway to Kara’s front door was easier now that most of the ice patches from the day before had melted. Lena only lost her balance a grand total of three times, so she’d count that as a win.
It takes Kara a moment to open the door once she knocks. When the door finally does swing open, it reveals Kara looking too wide and too awake for nine AM on a Tuesday. Kara’s smile is blinding when she meets Lena’s gaze.
“Lena! Hi!” Kara steps out onto the porch and shuts the door behind her. “Sorry, don’t want Raptor to get out. What brings you by?”
Kara’s wearing a worn down Harry Potter t-shirt today, tucked down into her jeans. She’s got an unbuttoned flannel thrown overtop and the sock-less Birkenstocks on her feet again. Lena has to keep reminding herself that it’s a normal outfit. There’s nothing special about it. But, god, does Kara wear it well.
Lena clears her throat, “I, uh- Sam and Ruby left early for this mommy and me art class?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kara cuts in. “I know what you’re talking about. Esme and I went once.”
“Yeah, well, Sam left me to fend for myself for breakfast. I was hoping you could give me a suggestion or two for a nice place to eat?”
Kara's grin gets that much wider. “How about Esme and I join you? We haven’t eaten yet and I know this perfect place in town.”
“Oh?” This was not part of her plan. This was supposed to be quick and easy. Get the address, then flee as quickly as possible. Of course Kara would offer to tag along, and who was Lena to deny sweet, genuine, gorgeous Kara when she had been nothing but kind to her since arriving in Midvale? “Okay.”
“Great! I just need to feed Raptor really fast and then we can go.” Kara opens up the door to her cabin. “You’re welcome to come in and sit. C’est glacial.”
The second Lena steps foot into the cabin, she piques Raptor’s interest and he comes over to investigate the new intrusion to his home. He stalks up to her slowly, clearly curious but still apprehensive. He sniffs her a few times, then scoots back when he’s satisfied.
Kara comes back with Raptor’s food bowl and sets it down by the door. “Okay, buddy, eat up.” Raptor immediately goes for his bowl once Kara gives him permission, scarfing down the kibble like he’s never seen food before.
“He’s nice,” Lena says after a moment, referring to Raptor. “What brand is he?”
“Brand?” Kara questions.
Lena frowns, “Yeah, like his dog brand?”
“You really know nothing about animals, do you?” Kara chuckles. There’s obviously a joke that Lena’s missing here, but she doesn’t have the slightest clue as to what it is. “He’s a mix of a bunch of breeds, like most shelter dogs are. The vet says he's mostly boxer though, so that’s what I usually go with.”
Boxer. Lena’s heard of that one. She remembers Jess talking about her boyfriend having a boxer named Tyson. She also remembers thinking about how that was a weirdly human name for a dog.
“Alrightly then,” Kara says, clapping her hands together. “Let me get Esme, then we can go.”
They all huddled into Kara’s tiny Subaru while Kara drove them into town. Esme sang songs from Frozen the entire thirty minute drive. Lena didn’t know how the little girl hadn't passed out because she’s sure she only heard her take two breaths the whole ride.
She finds herself seated in a booth of The Martian, a small diner in town that happens to have the best waffles in all of Maine, according to Kara. The diner is owned by John Jones, an old friend and father figure to Kara.
“I’ve known him since I was a kid,” Kara says, in between sips of orange juice. “He’s actually the link I was telling you about—between my birth dad and my adoptive one. Without him, I wouldn’t be a Danvers today.”
Lena smiles at that, albeit a bit forced. She was glad that Kara had such a sturdy familial unit, she really did, she just wished she could’ve had that sort of support when she was younger. The Luthors had their perks and she’s enterally grateful to have the privileges that she did, but she would trade it all in for a parent who actually loved her.
“Is John working here today?” She asks as she swishes her coffee around in a cream colored mug.
Kara snorts, “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. John never takes days off.”
As if on cue, a tall man clad in a burgundy dress shirt and brimstone hat makes his way over to their table. Based on the way Kara’s eyes light up and Esme’s excited squeal of “Grandpa John,” Lena can infer that this is the John in all of Kara’s stories.
“Hey there, Esme,” John smiles widely. “How’s everything going over here this morning? Waffles taste good?”
“Definitely!” Esme says cheerfully. Kara hums in agreement.
“Good, good. We tried something a little different in the kitchen today. I’m glad my best food critics are enjoying it.” John turns his gaze onto Lena and his grin softens. “I’m afraid we haven’t met,” he says and holds out a hand. “I’m John. John Jones.”
Lena shakes his hand. “Lena,” she says simply.
“Ah, so you’re Lena,” John drawls. He’s got a bit of teasing glint in his eyes now. “Kara’s told me a lot about you.”
Lena’s face flushes at that. Kara has talked about her. She has to fight off the urge to smile like a maniac.
“That’s surprising, considering we only met yesterday, and all,” Lena replies cooly, trying to keep her voice level. She tried to act like Kara bringing her up to other people didn’t affect her at all, which it most definitely did.
Kara ducks her head. The tips of her ears have turned pink in embarrassment, and Lena thinks it’s adorable.
“I may have brought you up in my nightly phone call with John.” Kara turns a pointed glare to John. “But it was only a mention. Nothing weird or anything,” she says through her teeth.
“Oh, of course, not weird at all,” John acquiesces with a nod. “You just went on and on about this lovely woman you met who had these beautiful green eyes—”
“I think Esme needs a refill of her orange juice!” Kara cuts him off with a strained smile.
John just grins and picks up Esme’s half-empty glass. Esme doesn’t seem to notice. She’s focused intently on staying inside the lines of the template of a beach she’s coloring in, her tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth.
Lena has to suppress a smile at the sound of John’s laughter as he walks away. “He’s certainly a character,” she says once she sees that John has disappeared into the kitchen, leaving only a swinging door in his wake.
“John loves to embarrass me. When he and Alex double team me, they’re insufferable.”
“Your sister, right?”
Kara hums in agreement.
“My mom is Aunt Kara’s big sister,” Esme adds out of nowhere. She keeps her eyes on her coloring book as speaks. “Do you have a sister, Lena?”
“Not a sister, but a brother,” she tells the young girl. “His name is Lex.”
Esme’s nose wrinkles, “I’ve never heard of that name before.”
“Well, Lex is just a nickname. His real name is Alexander.”
Esme gasps as she drops her cherry red crayon. She’s up on her knees in their booth in an instant, leaning over the table to be closer to Lena. “That’s like my mom’s name! Her name is Alexandra and she goes by Alex. But I’m not allowed to call her that.”
Lena giggles at Esme’s excitement. Sometimes she missed being a child, finding joy in the simplest of things. “That certainly is an interesting coincidence.”
“Alright, bud, let’s sit back down.” Kara loops an arm around Esme’s waist and guides her back down into the seat.
Kara’s interference doesn’t seem to deter Esme from her sudden tirade of questions involving name logistics. “Is your name a nickname for something? Mine isn’t, and neither is Aunt Kara’s. But my Uncle Jimmy’s name is a nickname for James. And Uncle Brainy's name is actually Querl, but I don’t know how you get Brainy from Querl.”
“Hold on, Querl? As in Querl Dox?” Lena directs her question towards Kara, whose brows furrow in response.
“Yeah, he’s a good friend of ours,” she answers. “Do you know him?”
“Querl was an R&D technician at an L-Corp subsidiary for a while,” Lena grins. “We met at a research gala a few years ago. He’s truly one of the smartest people I’ve ever gotten the pleasure to meet.”
Kara's beaming smile in response makes her heart flutter. Lena chooses to ignore it for her sanity.
“For the sake of his already inflated ego, I am not going to tell him that you said that,” Kara laughs.
Before Lena gets the chance to respond, John appears by their table again. He’s holding Esme’s orange juice in one hand and a styrofoam takeout box in the other.
He sets the glass down on the table, “Fresh cup of orange juice for the little one.” Then he turns to Lena and gives her the box. “And this is for you.”
Lena frowns, but accepts the box nonetheless. “Oh, I didn’t order anything to go.”
“I know. It’s a slice of carrot cake, on the house,” he grins warmly. “Take it as a welcome to Midvale, from The Martian.”
It wasn’t just a Kara thing, Lena realizes. People in Midvale were just naturally kind.
Lena decides to head home after breakfast, much to Esme’s dismay. Esme’s dejection is evident, and while it warms her heart that the girl has grown to like her so much, Lena’s much more focused on Kara. Kara, who has a look akin to disappointment in her face when Lena tells her to drop her off at Sam’s cabin.
“Thank you so much for the breakfast, but I really wouldn’t want to disrupt your day any further,” she says apologetically.
Kara’s shaking her head before she even finishes her sentence, though. “You haven’t disrupted our day all, Lena. I love spending time with you.”
“Me too!” Esme chimes in from the backseat, and Kara scrambles.
“I mean, we! We love spending time with you. We, as in Esme and myself.” Kara takes a steadying breath and flashes Lena a grin. Kara’s smile is rapidly becoming one of her favorite things. “You should come over for dinner tomorrow night. Sam and Ruby are invited, as well. I thought it’d be nice, if you’re up for it.”
“That does sound nice,” Lena nods. She reaches for the car handle and pushes the door open. “I’ll ask Sam.”
She waves at Kara and Esme from the porch before heading inside. When she gets inside, she sees Sam lounging on the couch in the living room with a bag of chips nestled in her hands. There’s an episode of X-Files playing on the TV and Ruby is nowhere in sight.
“Oh, hey!” Sam greets from the couch. “Got your note. How was your date with tall, blonde, and handsome?”
Lena roughly shoves off her coat at Sam’s teasing tone. “It wasn’t a date. The note said I was going to ask Kara for breakfast recommendations, not go out with her.”
“Okay, so why did you pull up in her car just now, hm?”
Lena takes a moment to search for the right words, “My original plan got… derailed.”
“Yeah? She rail you instead?”
Unappreciative at Sam’s attempt at a joke, Lena takes off her beanie and throws it at her friend. Sam, having raised a toddler, is used to having objects flying at her head and catches the hat before it hits her.
“I simply asked Kara for food recommendations and she and Esme offered to accompany me,” Lena explains. “That’s all it was.”
Sam doesn’t get the chance at a rebuttal before Ruby comes barreling down the stairs and into Lena’s arms, effectively putting their conversation on hold.
“Aunt Lena!” Ruby shouts as she wraps her arms around Lena’s neck. The ten-year-old was far too big for her to carry anymore, but she was going to soak it up while Lena still tolerated it.
“Hello, my love,” Lena smiles widely. Ruby was one of the few people in the world who could get Lena’s smile to reach her eyes. “Did you have fun painting?”
“Uh huh,” Ruby nods and pats Lena’s back, a silent gesture to get Lena to put her down. When her feet are back on the ground, she rushes into the kitchen. She grabs a rectangular canvas from the dining table and quickly runs back to show Lena her painting. “Look! I painted a fox!”
The “fox” in question looked more like an orange blob with ears and a tail, but was still perfect in Lena’s eyes. Anything her goddaughter did was perfect and Lena would fight anyone on that.
Lena squats down to her level. “It’s beautiful, sweetheart. You’re quite the artist, aren’t you?”
Sam chuckles from the couch, “The instructor said she took a really abstract take on a concrete subject.”
Lena rolls her eyes at her friend. She turns back to Ruby. “Why don’t you go put it up in my room so we can hang it up later. Okay?” Ruby darts off up the stairs as quickly as she came down. “That was rude,” she says to Sam, though there’s no bite in her tone.
“Hey, my kid is good at a lot of things, but painting is not one of them,” Sam says. “Soccer, singing, matching the state to the state flag, she excels. But put a blank canvas in front of her and she’s lost. She can’t be good at everything.”
“She gets that from her mother,” Lena jokes and narrowly misses her own beanie flying back at her face. She lets out a laugh, “Where’s your fox? Too embarrassed to show it off?”
“Yeah, no, that thing is never seeing the light of day.”
Lena rounds the back of the couch and plops down on the cushion next to Sam. She snuggles up against her friend, tucking herself under Sam’s arm. She can’t remember the shift—Sam going from an acquaintance, a colleague to someone she could bare her soul to. It had happened so many years ago at this point that trying to pinpoint when in time seemed like a futile effort.
The details of when, or where, or how didn’t matter to Lena, though. What mattered was that Lena had found a family in Sam and Ruby. She found herself wishing, not for the first time, that she had come out to Midvale sooner. It felt easier to breathe in Midvale, like the weight of the world was off her shoulders. Here, in this town, with the two people she loved most in the world, she didn’t have to worry about anything.
Well, almost anything.
“She invited us to dinner tomorrow.”
They’re well into their episode of X-Files when Lena brings it up. Ruby’s situated on the opposite end of the couch now. She’s got her iPad in hand and a pair of clunky over-ear headphones on. She’s far too immersed in whatever game she’s playing to notice that Lena had said something.
“Kara?”
Lena nods.
Sam shuffles in her seat and brings her legs up to rest under her. “That’s nice.”
“Do you want to go?” She asks.
Sam looks at her. “Do you?”
It’s an unexpected question that throws her off guard. Mixed with Sam’s inflection and an expression Lena can’t quite read, she can’t help but to think there’s a double meaning hidden within the inquiry.
She wants to analyze, to dig deeper, but after a few moments of searching Sam’s eyes and coming up empty, she gives it up. “Sure,” is what she settles with, “sounds like fun.”
That night, as she’s crawling into bed, she gets a text from a number she doesn’t recognize.
(207) 555-1671
Howdy!! Got any dietary restrictions I should know about before dinner tmr? Or foods you just don’t like??
A few seconds pass before another message pops up.
It’s Kara btw
Sam must’ve texted Kara and let her know they were coming over for dinner… and apparently gave Kara her number.
I’m allergic to bad food.
Hilarious
Anybody tell you that you should become a comedian?
No, but my mother has told me that my life is a joke.
Oh
I’m sorry
Lena tosses her head back on her pillow. Of course. Leave it up to her to be a buzzkill by trauma dumping. She was so used to Sam laughing at those types of jokes that she didn’t even think about how they would sound to someone like Kara.
That was a bad joke, sorry.
I’m actually allergic to peanuts. Like, deathly.
And I’m not too fond of salmon
LMAO
A peanut could take you out?? You’re the weakest link of society
Oh. A joke. That was good. She hadn’t completely ruined the mood. She smiles at her screen.
You're one to talk about weak links, four eyes.
Alright ig that’s fair lol
I’m allergic to bananas so it’s not like I’m one to talk anyway
Anyway… how do you feel about lasagna for dinner??
I know a good recipe ;)
You do know how to cook, right?
You’re not going to poison me with uncooked food?
I took an intro into the culinary arts course in college, tyvm
I said “thank you very much” btw
I don’t know if you understand texting acronyms
Btw “btw” means “by the way”
I don’t live under a rock, Kara. I know some texting acronyms.
And to answer your question, yes, lasagna sounds great.
Just don’t kill me with bad food, please.
You really don’t trust in my cooking abilities lol
Ig you’ll see just how good I am tomorrow ;) ;)
Lena blinks. Once, twice. That... was that an innuendo for sex? No, it couldn’t be. Kara’s just too oblivious to notice that her text came off in a slightly suggestive manner.
Alright I gotta go put Esme to bed, but I’ll talk to you tomorrow ok?
Yes, of course.
You’re so formal when you text
This isn’t english class lol
Aren’t you some sort of journalist? Shouldn’t you be using proper grammar and punctuation?
Good thing I’m not showing my boss these messages then
Gotta blast. Night Lena :)
Good night, Kara.
That went… not terribly. It wasn’t the most painful conversation Lena’s ever had, virtually or otherwise, but it certainly wasn’t in her top ten.
She didn’t have a good read on Kara. She didn’t have any sort of read at all. Kara was a mystery to her. How this woman could make Lena turn into a flustered mess within two days of meeting her was beyond Lena.
Lena goes through the motions of saving Kara's number into her phone, then shuts it off and goes to bed.
The following day started off pretty uneventful.
Lena slept in (to her standards, at least) and didn’t make her way downstairs until half past nine. She joined Ruby for a bowl of her too sugary cereal she had been avoiding the day prior, then watched more episodes of X-Files with Sam.
At noon, after eating a light lunch, Ruby convinced her and Sam to go out in the backyard and kick around a soccer ball with her. Lena opted to stay on the back porch and watch, but one pout from Ruby was enough to get her out there playing.
Well, playing is a stretch. Outside of Ruby’s rec. league games, Lena has had no exposure to soccer. She knew nothing about the game except the basic premise of kicking the ball into the opposing team’s goal—whatever that meant.
Ruby was content with just having her mom and aunt kicking around the ball a bit, not worrying about any of the technical stuff, which Lena was grateful for.
Lena is just about to receive a kick from Ruby when her day starts going downhill. She sees her. Kara, dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, running around her yard, chasing after Raptor. Lena can distantly hear Raptor barking, but other than that, they seem to be in two separate worlds. If Kara noticed them playing soccer, she certainly didn’t make it known.
She’s broken out of her thoughts at the sound of Ruby screaming her name, just a second before the soccer ball hits her square in the face.
The impact knocks Lena flat on her ass. She instinctively throws her hands over her face, reaching for her already throbbing nose. She hears her name being called by Ruby and Sam and the sound of their footsteps coming toward her. Above all else though, Lena hears barking, gradually getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, a cold, wet snout is brushing up against the back of her hands. Lena yelps and turns her head away from the dog.
“Raptor, no! Get back, buddy.”
She feels Raptor being pushed away, then a set of gentle hands trying to pry hers from her face. “Hey, let me see,” a voice says softly.
When Lena finally lets her hands be pulled away, the first thing she sees is Kara.
Kara is crouched on the ground, intently looking down at her. Her face is scrunched up in concern and her eyes are wide and so blue and a damning thought crosses Lena’s mind. She wants nothing more than to reach out and smooth the crinkle between Kara’s eyebrows.
But then Kara says, “Holy shit, you’re bleeding,” and it’s like a wave of cold water has splashed over her.
Kara helps her up into a sitting position. Once she’s off her back, she can see Sam standing behind Kara, a worried, but no less amused look on her face. She’s got her arms wrapped around Ruby’s front in an attempt to keep the girl from rushing forward.
Lena looks down at her hands. Her stomach flips uncomfortably at the sight of blood. She gulps, “Fuck.”
“Here, take this. Hold it to your nose.”
Lena's eyes slowly track to where Kara is holding out a shirt for her to take. Her shirt. Lena's gaze drifts. She blinks sluggishly. She's a simple person, really. If she sees something that catches her eye, she’s going to stare… and right now, Kara’s abs have all her attention.
Of fucking course Kara took off her shirt to help Lena with her bloody nose because she’s such a kind, chivlrous person like that. It makes Lena’s stomach twist.
"Lena? Hey? Can you hear me?" Kara asks. "Do you think she has a concussion or something?"
“No, she’s just a thirsty bit—”
Lena snaps out of her ab trance and snatches the shirt from Kara’s hand. “I’m fine,” she says sharply, particularly eyeing Sam. She turns back to Kara, “I appreciate your concern, Kara, but it’s really not that necessary.”
Kara’s face falls the slightest bit and Lena immediately regrets her tone. She wasn’t mad, really. It’s just, getting smacked in the face with a soccer ball can deflate even the best of moods in an instant.
Lena winces, “I’m sorry, that was rude. Thank you for helping me. I really do appreciate it.”
“Of course,” Kara says, but Lena notes how her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. It’s like a kick to the chest. Of course she had to be the one to diminish the light of the town’s embodiment of sunshine. Kara pushes herself up off the ground. “I should probably head back to my cabin. I left Esme inside eating lunch when I took Raptor out to throw around the ball.”
Lena nods her head. She fights off a groan when the action makes it feel like her brain is rattling around in her skull. She closes her eyes against the suddenly very bright sun. “Yeah, okay. Thanks again.”
Kara reaches out and squeezes her shoulder. “Make sure to ice your nose. It’ll reduce the swelling and prevent further bruising.” After the quick advice and one last smile, Kara called Raptor over and made her way back over to her cabin.
Sam holds out a hand, “Come on, let’s get inside. No more thirsting for you today.”
“Where did she even come from?”
Sam shrugs as she pulls out a bag of frozen dinosaur nuggets from the freezer. She shoves the bag into Lena’s hands. “Beats me. One second she was in her yard, and the next, she was next to you on the ground. It's like she has super speed or some shit.”
“Dollar for the swear jar!” Ruby shouts out from the couch. Sam rolls her eyes fondly at her daughter.
“A dollar for each curse word?” Lena’s voice comes out nasally and muffled. “She must have nearly a hundred dollars by now.”
“We started the swear jar two days ago,” Sam says.
“Exactly.”
Sam shakes her head. “I’m going to ship you off to your new girlfriend. I’m sure she’d love to help you with your atrocity of a nose instead.”
Lena took the nuggets off her face. “Does it really look that bad?” She asks. She hadn’t gotten a chance to look at herself in the mirror yet, but if the throbbing in her nose was anything to go by, she figured it looked bad.
“There’s a bruise across the bridge,” Sam tells her softly as she takes a closer look. She gently tilts Lena’s chin up and touches her nose with a tentative hand. Lena winces. “Sorry, I’m sorry.” Sam backs away and leans against the center island of the kitchen. “But you gotta admit, my kid’s got a good leg.”
Lena huffs but nods along anyway. Ruby was an extremely good kicker-person, or whatever, for her age. At least, that’s what she overheard Ruby’s coach telling Sam once. “She’s good.”
“She’s already talking about wanting to get soccer scholarships from Stanford and UCLA.”
“Colleges already?” Lena questions, and Sam hums in response. “Well, I shouldn’t be so surprised at her ambition. I mean, look at her mother.”
Sam snorts, “More like look at her Aunt Lena. You’re probably the one that put all that stuff about scholarships in her head. I know none of the other fourth graders at school are talking about it.”
“Actually it was my friend Luke,” Ruby says, crossing from the living room to the kitchen and surprising both women. “His brother is going to Stanford to play soccer when summer break ends.”
With her iPad tucked under her arm, she opens up the refrigerator and pulls out a half-empty jug of apple juice. She grabs her special cup (pink and blue stripes, personalized with her initials) from the drying rack and pours herself some juice, all without dropping her tablet.
“Anyway,” Ruby transitions after taking a sip of her drink, “what’s Kara making us for dinner?”
Sam looks at her with a raised eyebrow as if silently saying, “Are you seeing this?”
Lena shrugs her shoulders at Sam but answers Ruby, “We’re having lasagna.”
Ruby, after fist pumping the air and yelling out “Sweet!,” goes back into the living room and settles onto the couch again.
Sam looks over her shoulder to make sure Ruby isn’t paying attention to them, then looks back at Lena. She crosses her arms over her chest. “And how do you know what Kara is making us for dinner?”
“Kara texted me last night,” Lena says with a shrug, trying to make it seem like no big deal. “You’re the one who gave her my number in the first place, so.”
“Yeah, for her to be able to reach you while Ruby had her playdate with Esme the other day, not for you two to digitally socialize without my knowing.”
Lena huffs out a laugh, “You needed to know that I was texting Kara?”
“Yes,” Sam says, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re actually entertaining the idea of getting with someone. This is a big deal.”
Lena holds up her hand to get Sam to stop talking. “Okay, you are reading entirely too much into this. Kara’s nice, we get along. That’s all there is to it.” She stands up from the high top island stool she was sitting on and crosses towards the refrigerator. She sighs, “And besides, I’ve only known Kara three days. That’s not nearly enough time to start liking someone.”
“You only knew that Leslie chick for two hours before you jumped her bones.”
Lena slams the refrigerator door shut and turns on her heels to face Sam. “I was drunk and she was right there, okay? Plus, Leslie’s an asshole. She couldn’t hold a candle to Kara.”
Sam sighs and crosses her arms. “Look, I’m not saying that you have to sleep with her. I’m just saying that Kara’s a great person and you should give it a shot. Let her know you're interested.”
Logically, Lena understood that giving herself a chance to get to know Kara wasn’t a bad idea. Getting to know her didn’t necessarily mean that anything more would happen between them, and that was fine with Lena. And even if something did spark, it would eventually crash and burn, like always. That wouldn’t even be the end of the world either. They'd go back to their own separate lives after the summer was over. Their paths wouldn’t cross. They’d be a set of parallel lines, just like they were before.
However, the thought of never seeing Kara again left a bitter taste in her mouth. Though they’d just met, Lena didn’t think she could just meet someone like Kara and settle without them in her life.
“It can also get really boring around here if you don’t spend it having a little fun.”
Lena looks up at Sam with a raised eyebrow. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You’re seeing someone here?”
Sam just smirks.
When they all walk into Kara’s cabin later that evening, the distinct smell of burnt toast hits Lena full force.
Kara scrambles through an apology about the smell and tries to fan the air with a dish towel.
“I’m so sorry! I forgot to set a timer for the garlic bread and it got a little burnt. I just put a fresh batch in though, so don’t worry!”
Esme walks up to her while Kara rushes to get everyone something to drink. The little girl hugs her around the legs and looks up at her.
“Aunt Kara can get a bit stressed out sometimes. Especially around girls she thinks are pretty.”
And then there’s that, so.
Sam snickers behind her, attempting to cover it up with a couch when Lena shoots her a glare. Lena turns her gaze back down to Esme and just gives her a pat on the back, “It’s good to see you too, Esme.”
Esme takes the dismissal with a shrug and takes it as her cue to grab Ruby and drag her upstairs.
“Okay!” Kara exclaims, waltzing into the foyer with two glasses of wine in her hands. “I hope you both like white.”
Lena smiles as she takes the glass, then glances at Sam once Kara has turned around to go back into the kitchen. Sam just presses her lips together. Lasagna was best paired with red, everyone knew that.
Lena wasn’t going to fault Kara for not knowing how to match up the meal with the perfect wine, though. That would be rude and ridiculous and the thought of coming off as “rich and picky with a sophisticated palate” to Kara was a no-go.
The thing that Lena was going to fault Kara for was her choice in music.
“Okay, the garlic bread is going to need another ten or so minutes. Mind if I put some music on while we wait?”
“Sure,” Sam nods as Lena hums in agreement around the rim of her glass.
After syncing up her phone to a small Bluetooth speaker, a Britney Spears song starts playing. Lena suppresses a grimace at the bright and heavily electronically-produced pop song.
“Is Britney good?” Kara asks them as she peeks at the bread in the oven.
“Well, actually—”
“Could you excuse us to the restroom?” Sam cuts in before Lena could finish speaking. Lena shoots her friend a confused look, but Kara doesn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, yeah, go right ahead,” Kara tells them. “You know where it is, Sam?”
Sam shoots her a quick thumbs up over her shoulder and then drags Lena by the arm through the living room and around a corner into a hallway. Lena wriggles out of her grip.
“What the hell are you doing?” She whisper-shouts.
“I’m stopping you from messing things up,” Sam whisper-shouts back, gesturing wildly with her hands. “You can’t just insult a girl’s music taste then expect to get into her pants.”
Lena blanches. “Get into her— what? Sam, what are you even talking about?”
“Did we not just have an entire conversation about this earlier today?”
“You specifically said that I didn’t have to sleep with her.”
“You don’t,” Sam agrees, then a smile spreads across her face, “but you could.”
Lena scoffs, “Sam! I’m not going to—”
“Is everything okay over here?”
The rest of Lena’s sentence dies on her tongue. She and Sam both turn to look at Kara, who had made her way down the hall towards them unnoticed.
Lena’s voice gets lost somewhere in her throat. The thought that Kara very well could’ve overheard them talking about sleeping with her makes Lena's stomach twist in knots.
Luckily, Sam swoops in before she can stumble through some sort of lie.
“We’re fine,” Sam grins, “Just using the restroom.”
Kara looks at them warily, but not totally unconvinced. “Okay, well, I thought I would come check on you guys. It just sounded like you two were arguing from the kitchen. Um, about me.”
Now if the floor could just open up beneath her and swallow her whole, she’d be grateful. Of fucking course Kara heard them talking about her.
Lena can’t meet Kara’s gaze. She’s too ashamed. “Listen, I’m really sorry—”
“You know, you could’ve just told me that you don’t like Britney Spears.”
Lena falters, mouth gaping in a striking resemblance to some Pikachu image Ruby had shown her once. Just like before, though, Sam saves Lena from embarrassment by chiming in again.
“Right, totally,” Sam chuckles. Lena can tell it’s forced. “Lena’s more of a boy band kinda girl. She just didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Oh, shucks, you could’ve just said so,” Kara laughs, full and genuine. Lena’s positive this is the first time she’s heard someone say “shucks” unironically. “I love boy bands, too! Hey, are you more of an *NSYNC or Backstreet Boys—”
A blaringly loud shrill sounds out from the kitchen, stopping Kara mid-sentence.
Kara glances at her watch, then looks up at the pair with a bright smile. “That’s the timer for the bread. I better go get it out of the oven. Don’t want it to burn this time.” Kara backs away and tells them to come to the kitchen whenever they’re ready before completely disappearing from the hallway.
The moment Kara’s gone from view, Lena slaps Sam on the shoulder.
“Hey!” Sam shrieks. “What was that for?”
“For going on and on about me shacking it up with Kara, so loudly that she actually heard us.”
“It’s not my fault she heard us. She must have super hearing or something.”
Lena huffs out a breath. “Just be glad she thought we were talking about music,” she warns Sam. “Because if she found out you were talking about the possibility of me hooking up with her, I would’ve gotten in my rental, and I’d be on my way to the airport right now.”
Not wanting to drag the whisper-shouting match on any longer, Lena gives Sam one last sharp look, then heads down the hallway.
She spots Kara in the kitchen attempting to set the dining table. She’s got dishes of food huddled up in her arms and looks about one bump of a table corner away from shattering everything in her hands.
Lena rushes over to help. She snags a bowl of what looks to be solely Italian salad dressing right as it tips from of her hold.
“Thank you so much,” Kara sighs as she deposits all the dishes safely on the dining table. “I always overestimate how much I can carry. Cleaning that up would’ve been a disaster,” she laughs.
Lena laughs along politely. “Uh, yeah, no worries.” She eyes the portion size of the salad compared to the dressing and raises an eyebrow. “The salad is in the same size bowl as the dressing.”
Kara nods her head and hums. “Yep.”
“Don’t you think having the same amount of dressing as you do salad is a little bit… excessive?”
“What? No way. You can never have enough dressing. It adds to the flavor of the nasty, green leaves.”
“You mean the lettuce?”
Kara waves dismissively, “Lettuce, shmettuce. It tastes gross either way. But I learned in my culinary class that you can’t serve lasagna without a side salad, so here we are.”
The sound of a radio crackle pierces through the air. It’s followed by a muffled, high pitched voice.
“Is the food ready yet, Supergirl? Over.”
Kara looks at her with apologetically. “Sorry, I gotta take this.”
Lena furrows her brows and frowns. She has no idea what it is Kara has to “take,” but she nods nonetheless.
Kara walks over to the counter and picks up a black walkie talkie from a small charging bank. She shoots a grin at Lena.
“Dinner is a go, Superbud. Over.”
Lena struggles to stifle a laugh.
“What?” Kara asks in an amused tone. “Esme likes to communicate through walkie talkies. She said it makes her feel official.”
“Oh, it’s not the radios I’m laughing at. It’s the fact that Esme’s code name is a type of marajuana.”
Kara looks at her blankly, face now devoid of any amusement. “What?”
“Superbud?" Lena laughs. “That’s a weed strain, Kara.”
“And how would you know about that, Miss Luthor?”
“Well, I did go to college,” Lena drawls with a smirk. “It’s supposed to help with insomnia.”
“Did it?”
“Keyword was ‘supposed.’ I think the increased arousal aspect affected me more than the insomnia combatant. Suffice to say, I did not sleep that night.”
Kara’s eyebrows raise. “Oh?”
At Kara’s reaction, Lena feels her cheeks start to burn. “Sorry, that was inappropriate of me to say.”
Kara quickly waved off her apology. “No, it was fine. I like learning stuff about people.”
Lena scoffs, “But, I mean, that was weird.”
Kara shrugs. “I like weird.”
Kara looks her directly in the eyes as she says it. She means it genuinely. Suddenly Lena’s cheeks are red for an entirely different reason.
The moment breaks at the sound of Ruby and Esme giggling at the top of the staircase.
“Supergirl!” Esme calls.
Ruby follows with, “Supergirl, come catch us!”
Kara breaks out into a mouth trumpet rendition of what Lena can only assume is the Supergirl theme song as she makes her way to the stairs. “Never fear, Supergirl is here!”
Lena breaks out into a full, unbridled laugh at the sight of Kara standing at the bottom of the stairs, chest puffed and her hands on her hips.
Sam rounds the corner from the hallway just as the girls jump into Kara’s arms.
Lena raises an eyebrow at her friend. “What took you so long,” she asks, quiet enough so only Sam could hear.
Sam reaches in her purse. She pulls out an object so only the top of it is shown over the edge of her bag.
“A flask? Really?” Lena barely resists the urge to roll her eyes. "You're turning into Andrea."
“Well, if I have to sit through a whole night full of awkward sexual tension between you and Muscles McGee over there, there’s no way in hell I’m doing it sober.”
Before another whisper-shouting match can break out between the two friends, Kara trudges into the kitchen with both girls on either hip. She flashes Lena and Sam a smile.
“Let’s eat!”
Dinner is a quiet affair. There aren’t anymore whisper fights or misunderstandings regarding early 2000s pop music, just light chatting about the happenings around town.
Throughout it all though, Lena found her eyes drifting towards Kara, even when the woman wasn’t speaking. Kara just had this pull about her that made Lena want to pay attention to her. An air of confidence, maybe, or it could just be her easy-going nature. Either way Lena knows that she's somewhat smitten with the reporter.
As dinner starts to wind down and Esme and Ruby ask about dessert, Kara’s phone rings. She reaches into her pants pocket and pulls out the device, frowning at the caller ID.
“Everything alright?” Sam asks.
Kara nods dismissively. “Uh, yeah. I should probably take this, I’m sorry.”
Kara excuses herself to a faraway corner of the kitchen. She picks up the call and Lena can make out a quiet “oui, allo” before her attention is taken by Esme tapping her on the shoulder.
“You know something,” Esme starts, “Your eyes are two different colors.”
Lena lets out a small chuckle at the girl’s youthful curiosity. “Yes, they are. It’s called heterochromia.”
“Hetrochroma?” Esme tries to repeat.
Lena smiles fondly, “Close enough.”
“That’s really cool!” Esme chirps happily. “My eyes are hazel, and both my moms have brown eyes. Aunt Kara has blue eyes. Oh, and Aunt Nia has—”
As Esme continues to list the eye colors of seemingly every person she knows, Lena’s eyes drift back to Kara. Kara, who is leaning up against the countertop, one arm crossed over her chest, the other up to her ear, holding her phone. Kara talks softly into the phone and Lena can tell she’s speaking a mix of both French and English. She can also tell that Kara doesn’t look all too thrilled with the person on the other end of the line.
Suddenly, as if she could tell someone was looking at her, Kara’s gaze meets hers. Lena stiffens at being caught staring, but Kara smiles at her, softly giggling to herself.
Lena quickly looks away and back to Esme, not wanting to risk Kara seeing the rising blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. Esme is still droning on about eye color, but now she’s roped Ruby in. Ruby is talking about her friend Luke’s eyes when Lena picks back up on Kara’s half of the phone conversation.
“Non, non, Kal. Hey, I’m thrilled. Vraiment! Look, I’ve got to go, I have guests over, but we’ll talk about this again later, d’accord? Bien. Allez, salut.”
Lena spares a side-eyed glance in Kara’s direction. Whatever she said must’ve been the end of the conversation because Kara was sliding her phone back into her front pants pocket.
“Sorry about that,” Kara says as she walks back over to the dining table. “That was just my cousin on the phone. Nothing serious.”
Sam stands up from the table. “Well, thank you so much for dinner, Kara, but I think we should be heading out. It’s getting late and little miss over here,” she points to Ruby, “still has to take her bath.”
Ruby and Esme both whine at the prospect of having to go their separate ways, even if just for the night. “Come on, Mom. Can’t we at least stay for dessert?”
“We don’t even know if Kara had anything planned for dessert, Rubes.”
Ruby huffs. Her brows furrow down and her mouth twists up and she looks about two seconds away from turning into Oscar the Grouch before Kara swoops in.
“Ruby, you should really listen to your mom, okay? And hey, maybe I can take you and Esme out for lunch tomorrow instead? We can go to the diner and get milkshakes after?” Kara directs the last part to Sam to see if she’s alright with it.
Sam looks very relieved by Kara’s sudden offer. “Yes, Kara, that sounds perfect. Thank you.” Sam squeezes Kara’s arm in thanks. “But you can only go out for lunch if you listen tonight, so that means going home and straight into the bath, Ruby.”
Ruby jumps up out of her chair in happiness. “Yes, yes! Thank you, Kara!”
Esme is just as happy, “Yeah, thanks, Aunt Kara!”
“Okay, Ruby, why don’t you go wait by the door?” Sam tells her. “We’ll be over there in a minute.”
Ruby doesn’t hesitate to scurry off towards the front door, Esme right on her heels.
Sam lets out a sigh. “I’m so sorry about her, Kara. She would’ve been complaining all night had you not offered to take them to lunch.”
“It’s really no problem. She’s just a kid and I was way worse at her age,” Kara jokes, gaining a laugh out of Lena and Sam. “Anyways, did you two enjoy the food? I apologize if it wasn’t perfect. I’m not the best chef in the world, despite making it through half a semester of Intro into the Culinary Arts.”
“Everything tasted amazing,” Sam compliments.
“Yes, it was a wonderful meal,” Lena agrees with a smile. “Thank you for having us.”
Kara ducks her head at the praise. When she looks back up, she’s grinning widely. “Of course. I’d love to do this again sometime,” Kara says, looking directly at Lena.
Lena smiles shyly, but teases nonetheless, “With just me, or are Sam and Ruby invited as well?”
Kara breaks into a bout of nervous laughter, “Oh, yeah, of course. All three of you, that’s what I meant. Dinner for all of us. Duh! Why would it just be Lena and me? That’d be weird.”
Lena bites her lip to keep from laughing at Kara’s rambling. “Well, I think we should get going.”
“Yes, of course. I had a nice time eating you—eating with you! Gosh!”
Lena has a smirk on her face the whole way home.
Later that night, just as Lena's head hits her pillow, she gets a text from Kara.
Kara Danvers
I am so sorry if I insulted you in any way.
I have a tendency to ramble and spurt out random words when I’m nervous
Do I make you nervous, Kara?
And there’s no hard feelings. I thought it was quite funny.
Ofc you make me nervous
I always get nervous around beautiful women
It’s funny, your niece said something similar to me tonight before dinner.
She said you get stressed around girls you think are pretty.
Oh god
I am so sorry
I’m probably coming off as the world’s biggest creep
No, you're not.
Lena thinks about what Sam had been telling her earlier—about how she should let Kara know she was interested. She quickly sends another message before Kara can start typing.
You’re quite beautiful yourself.
Aw shucks! You sure know how to make a girl blush
I learned it from the best.
Wdym
Sorry
What do you mean?
Kara, my face has been as red as a tomato all night because of you.
Because of me?
How??
I guess I find you charming, in a way.
Charming, huh?
I’m blushing so hard rn
(Right now)
What did I tell you about the texting acronyms, Kara.
I do know how to use context clues to figure out the ones I don't know.
Sorry lol
Anyway… your nose looks good
Pardon?
Oh sorry I tend to change topics randomly
My b
From earlier with the soccer ball
There’s barely any bruising on your nose
You’ve been icing like I told you to
Well, my face is my money maker. I can’t have it looking banged up.
I doubt that
Yeah ur gorgeous but ur also oober smart
Ur intelligence actually makes you more attractive
Really?
Mhm
It’s getting late so I’ll let you head off to bed
See you tmr maybe?
God, leave it to Kara to admit to finding her attractive and then immediately change the subject.
Maybe.
Good night, Kara.
Sweet dreams Lena :)