Chapter Text
Kara climbs out of the cab with a grunt, her muscles stiff from sitting in one position for so long. She winces as her bare fingers make contact with the freezing metal of the car door and slams it shut.
The driver is already out of the car and pulling her bags out of the trunk for her, stacking them neatly on the sidewalk just in front of the front gate. “Have a nice evening, Miss.” He waves her off and pauses just before sliding back into the driver’s seat. “Merry Christmas!”
“You too.” Kara smiles back at him, grasping the handles of her bags and lugging them all up in one go. There’s no way she’s going to be making several trips up the long, steep driveway with all of her stuff when it’s this icy. She doesn’t have a death wish.
She’s barely halfway up the driveway before she’s gasping for air, winded from the number of times she’s had to reclimb sections because she keeps slipping backwards. Talk about a real ‘three steps forward, one step back’ scenario. Her sneakers barely grip the ice and snow, instead just soaking through and leaving her feet uncomfortably wet.
She pays no mind to her visible breath and tries not to think about how cold she is as she keeps moving, her bags getting heavier in her arms with each passing second.
She stops to readjust them and stretch out her shoulders from the weight of her oversized backpack for a second before marching on, one goal in mind.
Reaching the summit makes her feel like she should be awarded a medal of honour. She just achieved something that nobody else ever could. She carried all of her bags up the hill in one go whereas, everyone else would have done it in two trips to make it much easier, and probably faster too. Kara’s no quitter though, she follows through with her bad choices, for better or worse.
Looking up at the house, Kara can’t help but smile. It’s exactly the same as it’s always been at this time of year. The lights have been strung up across the front of it, the light-up reindeer have been placed, the wreath hung on the door. Even the nearby fir tree has been wrapped in lights and has a giant star placed atop it, something Eliza hasn’t bothered doing for the past few years. It looks like Christmas.
Dropping her bags in an unruly pile at the bottom of the porch stairs, Kara races up the stairs, her hand knocking the snow off the railing as she uses it to stabilize herself on her ascent. She tries the front door frantically, eager to get inside to see Eliza for the first time in a while. She’s still sad she had to miss out on Thanksgiving due to being away on assignment. She spent the week reporting on some pretentious banker that was involved in a shocking number of white collar crimes, so this is her chance to make up for that.
The door is locked, which is slightly odd but both she and Alex have been trying to get Eliza to lock her door during the day for a while, so maybe she’s started doing that. Instead, she raps her knuckles against the door to the tune of ‘Rocking Around The Christmas Tree’.
She fidgets excitedly while she waits for someone to come and get the door, preparing herself to wrap whoever answers in the biggest hug known to man and surprise them. She wasn’t supposed to show up until tomorrow but she just couldn’t wait any longer. Alex should already be here since she and Eliza have spent the last week at some boring science conference that she was more than happy to pass on.
Her fingers thrum against her thick winter coat, her nerves growing with each passing second as she hears no movement from inside the house. Backing up, Kara takes another look at the house. There are no lights on. That doesn’t mean they’re not at the back of the house, but Kara’s losing hope rapidly. She knocks again, this time just a solid rhythm, no happy jingle.
After another minute passes, Kara sighs dejectedly and turns away from the door. Carefully lowering herself down to sit on the top step of the stairs, she fishes her phone out of her pocket and jabs at the screen, noting how her fingertips have turned bright red from the cold. Pulling up Alex’s contact, she calls her, putting it on speakerphone and resting her phone on her knee.
It rings for what feels like an eternity before Alex actually picks up. Kara immediately frowns when she hears nothing but rustling coming down the line. “Alex?”
“I’m here. I’m here.” Alex’s muffled voice comes though. “Sorry, I’m trying to find a quiet spot.”
“Where are you?”
“So, funny story…” Alex’s voice is filled with nerves and it puts Kara on edge. “So, while we were meant to fly back last night, our flight got cancelled, so we’re still in the airport hoping the flight will get rescheduled. It’s not looking too great though.”
Dropping her head down until her chin sits against her chest, Kara lets out a sad little breath. “So you might miss Christmas if you can’t get a flight?”
“Yeah, it’s looking that way. We’re going to do everything we can to get back though, I promise. We’re looking to see if we can get flights to either National City or Metropolis, that way we can rent a car with some damn good winter tyres and get home, or just stay in National City and spend the day there.”
“I’m in Midvale.”
“What?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Oh…”
There’s rustling on the line before Eliza takes over. “Kara, we’re going to get home as soon as we can, ok?”
Kara looks out at all of the snow, struggling to find the joy in the picturesque views now she knows she’s not going to have anyone to share them with. “It’s ok, it can’t be helped. I’ll be just fine. Don’t do anything dangerous to try and get here. The roads are really bad, it was pretty precarious when I got here so just get a hotel or something, make the best of it together. I’ll probably just go and volunteer in town or something so I’m not alone.”
“Kara…” Eliza’s voice is soft. Nothing more needs to be said.
“I know. Take care of yourselves. That’s what’s most important. We’ll probably still get to spend time together for the new year anyway.”
Alex’s voice returns. “Hey, don’t touch any of the stuff on my side of the room while I’m not there.”
“Alex, we’re adults.”
“And you’ve been eyeing up my CD collection for years. Touch it and I’ll never return those shirts I borrowed from you last week.”
“I never let you borrow any of my shirts.”
“Yeah, but I took them while you were in the bathroom.”
Kara’s jaw drops and she’s just about to shout at Alex when, based on the scuffling down the phone, Eliza snatches the phone back. “Just be safe. We’ll let you know what’s happening as soon as we know. Merry Christmas, Kara.”
“Merry Christmas.” Kara returns, trying to keep her voice light when all she can focus on is the empty feeling in her chest knowing that she’s about to have a lonely Christmas.
Sliding her phone back in her pocket, Kara’s lip curls and her eyebrows furrow in anger and disappointment. She stomps her foot as hard as she can, eager to get that rage out so she can move on and just make the most of the holiday however she can.
The stomp doesn’t just release her rage though. It also loosens the snow gathered atop the slightly sloped porch roof so it all starts falling. The stairs are covered in a matter of seconds, along with Kara and all of her bags.
She sits there stunned. The snow is heavy and hit her harder than she knew it could. It was like being bellyflopped by a snowman. She’s just glad she was leaning back enough that it missed her head for the most part. Her legs and torso were not so lucky and now she’s wincing from the sudden crushing sensation against her body.
“Motherfucking snowballs!” She brushes herself off as quickly as she can, scampering to her feet. Looking down at the place she left her bags, she doesn’t even have the energy to sigh. She can’t see them at all through the mound of snow. At least they’re hidden so she doesn’t have to lug them with her while she heads next door to grab the spare house key from the neighbours.
Lingering on the porch, shivering and trying to get her brain to warm up enough to work, Kara stares down at the snow covering her bags. Digging those out later is going to be a pain in the ass. Her current predicament is that she has to get past them to go see the neighbours. If she clambers over them, she could break the gifts she has in there, if they’re not already. The other option is, well, the one she’s going to have to go with.
She takes a couple of steps down the stairs before making an abrupt turn to swing her leg over the railing. She aims to wedge her foot between the slats on the other side so she can control her manoeuvre, but completely misses and ends up sending herself flying over it and into the bush on the other side. Rolling out of the twigs and leaves, she lands heavily on her back in the snow. “Oof.”
“Today sucks.” Kara spits out, rolling onto her knees and pushing herself up until she's standing. Starting to walk down the driveway, already hating that she’ll have to walk back up it a second time, Kara starts pulling leaves out of her hair, trying to make sure she’ll look somewhat presentable when she shows up at the Smith’s door.
Because the world hates her, the momentary distraction of untangling one particularly stubborn leaf leads her to a misstep. A misstep that leads to her landing on her butt and sliding down the driveway sans a sled.
She lands in a crumpled heap against the gate, winded and in the worst mood she’s ever been in. She hates Christmas now. It can go suck a candy cane for all she cares.
“Ow, I think I just decked my halls.” Kara doesn’t even bother to try and get up right away. Nothing is going her way today. “At least nobody saw.”
“Are you ok?” A familiar voice calls out.
“Mr and Mrs Warner, how are you doing today?” She asks, forcing herself to sit up. “Enjoying the snow?”
“Clearly not as much as you are. Did you slip?”
Rubbing the back of her neck and accepting Mr Warner’s offered hand to pull herself up, Kara brushes herself off for what feels like the hundredth time. “I did, yes.” She stretches out her shoulders and hears them crack. “I was just heading over to the Smith’s place to grab the spare key since Alex and Eliza have been stranded thanks to cancelled flights.”
The pair look at each other before Mrs Warner speaks.” Oh, honey. They’ve gone up north to stay with their daughter and her family for the holidays.”
“Great, just great.” Kara huffs. “I’m sure Eliza hid a key somewhere around here. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” They look worried and unsure of what to do with the sopping wet woman shivering in front of them with the world’s biggest frown on her face.
Kara nods. “Yeah, I’ll figure it out.”
“If you need to, you can always come stay in our guest room for the night, just come on over and we’ll be there.”
Summoning up a smile, Kara sighs. “Thank you, I really appreciate that. I’ll be just fine but I’ll keep that in mind. “
“Please do. Merry Christmas, Kara.” They wave her off and continue their walk through the snow.
“Merry Christmas!” Kara calls out behind them, waiting until they’re out of earshot before adding. “And a happy fucking new year.”
Turning back to the driveway, Kara groans.
The second trip up takes a lot less time than her initial journey for two reasons. The first being that she isn’t carrying a load of bags, and the second being that she has lost all dignity at this point and just scurries up the bank on all fours like a sad little squirrel scrambling its way back to its empty nest because it went through a nasty divorce a few weeks ago.
Her next step is to start trying the windows. The living room window has always been a solid choice for slipping in and out of the house so surely it’s unlocked.
Kara grasps onto her first bit of luck she’s had all day as it slides open. It’s not the biggest window in the place but if she breathes in and slides through like a worm on a slip and slide, she should be good.
“Bags first.” She mutters, leaving the window open as she goes to start digging out her things from the snow. She checks each over as she removes it from the pile with stiff fingers. They all appear to be alright but she’ll have to check them over again later when she can feel her limbs again.
Lugging them to the window, she starts tossing them inside, trying to clear a good distance so she has space to land when she shimmies through. The last two bags are more of a challenge since they’re so big. She has to unzip them and take a few things out and throw them inside separately so they fit.
The backpack with the gifts inside it is, of course, one of the problem bags. She takes a couple of them out and cringes when her fingers make contact with soggy wrapping paper. Something tells her she’s going to have to go into town tomorrow and replace them. Just in case they are salvageable though, she tries to set them inside as carefully as she can.
She gets to the last one, Alex’s gift, and drops it beside the others. The second it makes contact with the ground it does something that makes Kara want to go lie in the middle of the yard and let the snow cover her over. The end rips away, Lego scatters across the ground in front of the window. The ground she’s going to drop onto when she forces her way through the window. She just Home Alone-d the house against herself.
Kara lets her head thunk against the window as she prepares herself for the pain of flopping onto a floor full of Lego for all of ten seconds before she decides to just get it over with. Taking her coat off and shoving it through first so she doesn’t get stuck and to hopefully soften the fall, she throws herself through the gap head first.
She ends up doing an awkward sort of somersault through the gap where her legs fly over her head when she scoots through the window so before she knows it, she’s on her back with tiny Lego bricks giving her an unwanted acupuncture session. “Honestly, that hurt less than the bush so I’ll take it.” She wheezes.
Her first course of action is shutting the window before she stumbles out of the room whilst tugging off her shoes and socks. Without stopping, she heads directly for the shower, the promise of hot water fuelling her after being attacked by the cold so many times. She deserves this.
Since it is the worst day of her life though, the hot water in contrast with how cold she is makes her skin itch and it’s not as relieving as she hoped the shower would be. After that, since she left all of her bags on the floor in the living room, she has to wander through the cold house in nothing but a towel to turn the heat on and to grab the bag with her clothes in it to try and find something to wear. Of course, it’s all soaked through thanks to the snow it was buried under for several minutes, so she has no choice but to find some of the old clothes she left in her closet before leaving for college. Those clothes are one outfit. One singular outfit.
Sitting on the couch in her Midvale High shirt and shorts she used to wear for P.E., Kara has never felt quite so beaten down by life. Literally. She’s cleaned up everything she dumped through the window knowing that if she didn’t do it right away she’d be likely to leave it there until she has no other choice but to do it. Her clothes are in the washer so she can get them dry by morning so she won’t be trapped in this horrific outfit for long.
Now that most of her own problems have been dealt with, all she can focus on is her family. Alex and Eliza are stranded and she’s worried. She knows they’ll be fine, they have each other, but it doesn’t stop her from worrying. They said they would call when they know anything but she can’t wait. She’s antsy to know what’s going on but doesn’t want to interrupt if they’re in the middle of trying to get new flights booked. She settles for a text asking for an update and leaves it at that. They can get back to her when they have time.
Kara doesn’t let herself mope for much longer though. She knows she shouldn’t let herself get so down, especially at Christmas. She’s had a shitty day but things can still look up. For example, she saw that her favourite Chinese restaurant is open on the way here so she can order food. She just has to figure out how to get it up the driveway.
Staring at the perfectly decorated Christmas tree and the colourful, shining bulbs, Kara hatches a plan. A plan that starts with ordering the food and leaving a note with very specific instructions for the delivery person. If she were in a cartoon, there would be a bright, blinking Christmas light shining over her head.
The next stage of the plan is simple. She has to find both the backdoor key and the key to the shed. Easy enough, they’re always in the same spot hanging in the laundry room. She grips onto her phone with one hand and hangs the keys from the fingers of the same hand to leave one hand free.
Beside the back door she finds Eliza’s blindingly bright, red, waterproof boots and so she shoves them on. She doesn’t see a coat but decides to brave the cold since she’ll only be out there for a minute. A choice she regrets immediately upon closing the door behind her.
She dashes across the yard and towards the shed, her knees lifting unnaturally high to help her traipse her way through the snow. Kara can only imagine she looks like a prancing deer but maybe one that’s missing one or all of its legs.
Kara fumbles with the key and panics when it doesn’t slide into the lock easily, suddenly all too aware that it might have frozen so her plan won’t work. Luckily for her, it turns out she’s just terrible at putting keys in locks so she manages to wiggle it into place and get it unlocked.
She twists the padlock off the door and sets it down in the snow beside her before she grabs the handle and yanks as hard as she can, fully expecting it to be a challenge to get open because of the snow piled up in front of it. Her miscalculation is evident when the door flies open and Kara essentially sends herself face first into the snow and ice, the waterproof boots keeping her feet dry but unfortunately, no other part of her body.
Spitting out a mouthful of snow, Kara gasps. “Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold…” She keeps repeating as she stands up, shivering more than ever in her tiny shorts, t-shirt and red boots.
The plan is still in motion, she doesn’t have time to slow down now. Food will arrive soon and she needs to be ready for it.
Turning her phone’s flashlight on, she shines it into the cobweb filled shed. It’s clear the spiders are using this as a place to hide from the cold weather because there must be at least a few families here. That or it’s just one massive family all gathered for a wedding. Must be an expensive one too, they flew in the second cousins and everything.
With a curled lip and an unsteady hand, she pushes a bunch of gardening tools and the old, broken lawnmower out of the way to drag out one of their old sleds. Despite the fact that she’s an adult and it doesn’t actually matter, she turns it over and shines her light underneath to make sure it’s the one that has her name carved into the wood, not Alex’s.
She throws it out of the shed door before starting to rummage around for rope. She knows there are several coils of it in here, she’s seen them before and thrown them at Alex’s head because she was being annoying.
She paws around through the couple of large tubs nestled in the back corner that are used just for storing miscellaneous items. She could probably make her own rope out of the cobwebs that get stuck to her hand as she searches for a coil but eventually finds a couple, a grimace fixed on her face from the thought of how many spiders she might have just touched in the process of grabbing it.
Shivering and soaked through once again from her fall, Kara isn’t about to dawdle, so she works on her plan as quickly as possible, tying one rope to the sled and the second rope to the end of the first to make a massive tether.
Kara locks up the shed and then rushes around the side of the house to the front. Not being able to use the front door is going to be a pain but she can manage with just the back door. It’s certainly better than the window.
Reaching the top of the driveway, Kara kicks the sled, sending it down the hill until it hits the gate at the bottom with a bang, one that sounds awfully similar to the one that rang out when she hit it earlier. With the sled resting against the gate, she backs up, unravelling the rope and laying it out on the ground as far as it will stretch. It maxes out somewhere around halfway to the back door so she simply grabs one of Eliza’s plant pots and sets it over the end of the rope so it doesn’t slip or fall anywhere.
With that done, she bounds back to the house, slipping twice along the way, but only one of those slips results in a face plant so she’s convinced she’s getting luckier. The outcome of her plan will either prove her to be right, or dreadfully wrong.
The second Kara gets back inside she heads for the living room and wraps herself up in one of Eliza’s big fluffy blankets. She’s definitely getting it wet but at this point, that can be a problem for later. She just has to get through today.
She keeps her phone nearby, looking between it and the window so she can keep an eye out for her delivery.
Kara has never been let down by her local Chinese place and it seems as though today will be no different as she sees a tiny red car pull up outside the gate. She really has no clue how such a tiny car is managing to get around in the snow but she’s so happy that it’s proving to be trustworthy, nonetheless.
A guy climbs out of the driver’s seat so she stands up but stops in her tracks with a frown as she sees him bend down in front of the gate staring at something. He leans back up and pulls his phone out, then Kara gets the call.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Kara! It’s Danny.”
“Hey, Danny. It’s so good to hear from you.” She can’t help but smile at the friendly voice. “How have you been?”
She walks away from the window, preparing herself for one last trip outside for the day. “I’ve been great and you’re my last delivery of the day and I’m about to head home after this.”
“That’s awesome. How is Daniella doing?”
“Fantastic, and if my Christmas gift goes down the way I plan, she’ll be my fiancée very soon.” Danny’s excitement is audible and Kara can’t help but grin. She’s always been a big supporter of Danny and Dani.
“That's wonderful news, remember to invite me to the wedding.”
“Of course you’ll be invited.” Danny laughs. “Now, what are these strange instructions about leaving the food on a sled?”
Kara barks out a laugh as she leaves the comfort of the warm house to go and grab the end of the rope. “Just leave it on the sled. I’m going to pull it up so I don’t have to fight against that icy bank. I’m not risking dropping the food, we both know it’s too good to end up splattered all over the ground.”
“That it is. You also have a gift here. It doesn’t have a label on it but it was hanging from the lower bars of the gate so I assume it’s yours. Were you expecting it?”
“I wasn’t. It might be the secret Santa gift. I wouldn’t be shocked if whoever had to get our gift didn’t want to slip on the driveway. I still have to take the one from us Danvers out for delivery tomorrow. Hopefully some of the ice will have melted by then.”
Danny grimaces, his eyes tracing over the thick layer of ice everywhere. “I doubt that, Kara. Plus the forecast says we’ll be getting more snow. You might just have to find some extra-grippy boots.”
Kara sighs and hears Danny snicker slightly. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.”
“Me? Never.” He laughs. “Anyway, your food and gift are safely on the sled. Do your magic and get this up and eaten before it’s cold.”
“You got it. Merry Christmas, Danny.”
“Merry Christmas, Kara. Have a good one.”
“You too.”
She can’t see Danny from her spot at the side of the house but she hears his car pull away a few moments later and deems it safe to wander closer to the top of the driveway. She was not about to show Danny what she looks like in her old P.E. kit.
She squints down at the sled and can see the food and a sparkly gold gift bag sitting on top of it. Tugging at the rope experimentally, she sees that Danny managed to wedge both the gift bag and the bag of food between the slats of the sled so it’s secure. She still purposefully pulls it up the slope as smoothly as she possibly can and actually cheers to herself when she gets it to the top without anything falling off it.
She bends down to grab the handles of the bags and head inside but thinks better of it. Given how many times she’s already fallen over today, that probably isn’t the best idea. Kara straightens back up and cracks her knuckles before picking up the rope once again. She slides her way back inside, being careful to lean ever so slightly to her left when she walks so she won’t fall on top of the sled and bags.
A few metres out from the doorway to what seems like heaven, Kara grabs the bags and rushes inside, slamming the door behind her and firmly locking it. She leans against it for a long moment, just catching her breath and basking in the relief that comes with leaving the outside world firmly behind her for the day.
The heat surrounds her, warming her bones and chasing away the nightmare this day has been. Since she has no other clothes to change into just yet, Kara knows she’s just got to put up with being uncomfortable for a while. It’ll be easy to keep her mind off it when she’s eating though, especially considering the food she’s got. The smell makes her hurry back to the living room, where she quickly dumps the gift bag on the coffee table in favour of flopping into the nearest armchair with the bag of food.
It takes almost three quarters of the food to fuel up Kara’s curiosity meter enough to make her stand up, albeit very briefly, to snatch the gift up so she can inspect the bag thoroughly and see who it’s actually for.
There’s no label to be found. It’s just a tacky gift bag with a single wrapped present inside it. She pulls it out, testing the weight in her hand. She can tell what it is right away. It’s a book of some sort. It’s probably for Eliza from someone in her book club. Still, there’s no label and she does love to unwrap presents. If it is something for Eliza, she can always rewrap it.
A decision is made and the gift bag is tossed over her shoulder with a flourish, an act that doesn’t sit right with her. Eliza wouldn’t be very happy if she saw her throwing anything, let alone her trash on the floor behind her. She sets the gift down before crawling onto her knees on the chair to reach over the back and attempt to grab it.
With all the grace of an elephant tap dancing, Kara succeeds in grabbing the bag as she tips the entire chair over and sends herself clattering to the ground, wiping out one of Eliza’s side tables with her too.
She winces both from the pain of face planting for the millionth time today and also from the sound of something smashing. Peering over to where the side table lies broken on the ground beside the remnants of an ashtray she made Eliza years ago. Surprisingly, Kara is actually relieved. That thing was ugly as hell. It had two tiny, misshapen dragons sitting on the edge of it surrounded by a ton of foliage and it’s just awful.
It was the first thing she ever made for her though, so Eliza has always refused to get rid of it and Kara has never had the heart to tell her that she only made it for her because her therapist made her do arts and crafts during the sessions for a while because she thought it would help her open up about her parent’s death. Boy was she wrong about that. Eliza got a crappy ashtray out of it though. It would have been better if she actually smoked so she could use it. She even designed it so there was a hole in the back of the head of one of the dragons so a cigarette could be placed there and the lit end would sit in its mouth making it look like it’s breathing fire.
Kara might be happy but Eliza will be devastated. This isn’t good. It’s not like she can just run to the store and pick up another one to replace it. Damn it. Kara pushes herself to her feet and sets the chair back up on its feet before grabbing the gift. Screw the trash on the floor and all the broken crap surrounding her, she needs something good. Hopefully, this book is something good she can read for a while and escape reality. God knows she needs that right about now.
She tears off the paper, unbothered about being careful. She frowns when she sees an elaborate green and gold hardcover. The gold swirls across it in magnificent strokes and it’s beautiful. Turning it in her hands, Kara checks the spine in search of a title. When she comes up empty, she flicks it open.
The first page is blank and so is every page after that.
“Seriously?” Kara sighs dejectedly. It’s a beautiful notebook but she needs to escape for a while. TV it is then. She grabs the remote and rolls her eyes as she gets nothing but static when she turns it on. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
The TV gets switched off and Kara opts for her final plan of the day: going to bed and praying she can leave her bad luck behind as today becomes yesterday.