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Lena was hyperventilating.
Okay, maybe not hyperventilating but she was breathing very hard. In her defense, it’d be hard pressed for anyone to not be breathing hard in this situation.
They were in the green room at the DEO, and she was on the far side of the room trying to do sit-ups with Kara’s sister’s girlfriend’s help, but that wasn’t the reason for her labored breaths. It was a contributing factor, but not the main reason.
Instead, it was because of the very attractive woman on the other side of the room, clad in shorts and sports bras.
She tried to focus on her sit-ups, but she could see Kara swinging up the salmon ladder in the corner of her eye, racing against her sister. She looked at Maggie, who was applying weight to Lena’s feet, and could see that the detective was equally distracted. Lena lied down after she finished her third set of twenty and just admired blonde hero’s abs and back flexing as she swung onto the last rung before dropping down.
“I win!” Kara cheered after she landed, pumping her first into the air.
Lena watched her jog over to the control panel and turn down the exposure level. She flew over to the top of the salmon ladders afterwards to take down the bar and hovered while she waited for Alex to drop. After replacing the bars to the lowest rungs, she reset the control panel to limit her powers and started to jog back to her sister before she stopped and pivoted towards the door.
“Sara!”
Lena frowned as she watched Kara bolt towards another woman and nearly tackle her to the ground. She still found herself giving this “Sara” credit for managing to not be completely bowled over by Kara. They hug and Lena’s frown deepened.
“What’s with the frown, Luthor?” Maggie teased. Lena smiled a little, appreciative of the lack of malice in the name. Maggie followed Lena’s eyes to the two hugging blondes before smirking. “Someone’s a little jealous, huh?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Lena said. She locked eyes with Maggie and resumed her sit-ups.
“You don’t need to be, you know,” Maggie said anyway. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”
“Have you?” Lena panted out as she does another sit-up.
“Yeah, she-,“ Maggie looked over at Kara and Sara. Kara’s hand was resting on Sara’s arm and they’re both grinning broadly. “I retract my statements.”
Lena’s frown was back full force when she looked over at Kara again.
“I think I’m going to take a break,” she grumbled, pulling her feet out from under Maggie’s knees. She stood up and turned just in time to see Kara racing Sara – stripped down to a sports bra and pants – up the salmon ladder. Her mouth went dry and she tried to swallow. “Oh.”
“I take it back, you’re not jealous.” Maggie laughed when Lena glared at her.
Lena watched as Sara won the race and Kara pouted before both dropped from the top, swinging back a little as thet dropped so the bar wouldn’t hit them. Kara moved on to push-ups on her fists while Sara continued with the salmon ladder and Lena couldn’t help but stare at the flex of Sara’s muscles.
Sara caught her staring.
With a wink, the White Canary launched herself up another rung, never breaking eye contact with Lena. Lena bit her lip. Kara looked up at Sara and then to Lena, making eye contact with Lena while she did push-ups. Lena gulped and looked back and forth between the two.
Training just got a lot harder.
//
Sara showing up during their near-daily training sessions was not a one-off thing, apparently.
Lena could hear Kara talking with someone as she made her way to the green room. Little snippets of “prototype malfunction” and “power source”. She wondered if she would be needed to help fix it and briefly contemplated the new battery discovery before she walked in and saw that it was Sara. Again.
Lena tried her best to look like she wasn’t paying attention until Kara suddenly appeared in front of her with a gust of wind.
“Le!” Kara grinned at the CEO, enveloping her in a hug. Lena did her best not to grimace from the sweat rubbing on her skin. She was less successful when Kara started dragging her over to the other blonde. “I don’t think we ever actually introduced you and Sara!”
I don’t think I want to be. But Lena did her best to hide her frown and followed anyway, for Kara’s sake.
“Sara, this is Lena. Lena, Sara,” Kara introduced. Lena gave a half-hearted wave and kept her face mostly neutral. Sara grinned and waved the staff in her hand in turn. “Lena’s a CEO around here and Sara’s from… well, another place?” Kara looked at Sara for help and Lena was annoyed again.
“From another earth,” Sara explained and Kara nodded vigorously. “My ship broke and now I’m here.” Sara was still grinning and Lena was still annoyed.
“Yup!” Kara said with a pop. “So she’s been staying here.”
“Here? At the DEO?” Lena raised an eyebrow. “That can’t be very comfortable.”
“I’ve had worse.” Sara shrugged. “At least there’s plumbing and hot water. Plus, they’re paying me to learn more about the tech and helping with the people saving.”
“And where have you stayed that doesn’t have plumbing and hot water?”
“Here and there.” Sara shrugged again. “Anywhere with pretty girls.” Sara smiled at Kara suggestively and Lena twitched when the alien blushed.
“That reminds me!” Kara nearly shouted.
“Reminds you of what?” Lena asked, directing her eyes to Kara once again.
“Do you want to stay over at my place?” Kara was turned to Sara now. Lena clenched her jaw. “It can be like a sleepover! Besides, I have better blankets and you can shower somewhere not in a locker room!”
“Don’t you only have one bed?” Sara stared at Kara questioningly. “That’s not to say I don’t mind sharing a bed with a pretty lady.”
“You can stay in my apartment!” Lena blurted. She was not going to let that woman share a bed with Kara. “I have more than enough space! More rooms than I can count and I only use two.” She cursed herself. Just take in the girl you’re jealous of, Luthor. What a fantastic idea.
Sara and Kara looked at each other like they were having an entire conversation with facial expressions.
“If you’re sure.”
//
Living with her rival for Kara’s affection was not as terrible as Lena thought it would be.
The one-sided rivalry soon dissolved as Lena found that she actually liked Sara. If she were being honest, it was rather similar to how she felt about Kara. She found that the two were similar. Both were fit individuals – very fit, Lena noted – who were trying to be heroes. And, even if they never really talked about it, she knew that they hid pain. She could see it. Their eyes held the same dull glint that she knew her own had. She couldn’t help but be endeared by the woman.
It also helped that Kara took to visiting Lena’s apartment to smooth over letting a, previously, virtual stranger stay with her and keep her company during late work nights.
At some point, Kara started bringing Alex over to watch movies and do nothing. Then Alex started bringing Maggie. Winn would come over sometimes because he needed to give something to Kara or Alex, now that they weren’t still angry at him and James about Guardian, or give an update about the ship to Sara. Somehow, it all culminated in the next game night being held at Lena’s because everyone was already there.
And it was nice.
With the living remains of her family in prison, her already empty house had felt even emptier. Until now, that is. It was nice having a person to come home to, even if it was just a friend. Well, two friends to be precise. Kara had taken to crashing in another spare room a few days into Sara moving in. For once, her apartment felt lived in, not just a place where she laid her head. Home was no longer a theoretical concept or a cold living space, but a warm environment where she could be frustrated and rant about work or listen to the two heroes’ day to avoid thinking about her own. It also meant physical affection, a lot of it from Kara and Sara, something she had been deprived of in her childhood. She had come to look forward to it, like she was right then as she unlocked her apartment door nearly a month since Sara had moved in.
Sara and Kara were pajama clad on the couch, leaning on each other while watching some documentary. Well, less watching and more mocking. Lena smiled, enjoying the domesticity.
“Le!” Kara greeted from the couch. Lena could see her turn her entire body before disappearing in a blur and reappearing in front of Lena. She opened her arms in invitation for a hug. “How was work?”
Lena leaned into Kara, letting herself be hugged.
“Tiring? Frustrating?” she offered. Kara frowned and led her to the couch, seating the brunette between the two blondes. “I’m not a fan of letting old, white men tell me how to run my company.”
“I can kill them for you,” Sara offered. She pulled out a knife from… somewhere Lena couldn’t figure out, and waved it. “Then they can’t annoy you.”
“As much as I appreciate the offer, I must decline,” Lena waved off. “People here already don’t trust me, I can’t give them another reason not to.”
“Then you at least deserve cuddles,” Kara chirped. She pulled Lena into a hug and tugged Sara into the hug as well. “Comfy?”
“Mhm.” Lena laid her head on Kara’s shoulder, humming with approval. Sara picked up Lena’s legs, turning her around so she could lean on Kara while her legs were propped on Sara’s. “Tell me about your day?”
“Well,” Sara started. “Someone ate an entire gallon of ice cream without sharing.” She gave Kara a pointed look. The alien had the decency to look abashed.
“I shared my potstickers!” Kara huffed.
“You gave me one,” Sara scoffed. “I don’t think that counts as sharing.”
“At least you gave you one.” Lena rolled her eyes. “I remember her threatening to melt my face the last time I tried to take one.”
“I did not!” Kara pouted. At a twin stare, she shrank into herself. “Okay, maybe I did.” She fidgeted under the unwavering stares, until she suddenly perked up. “Lena, have you eaten?” Kara bolted up when Lena shook her head and the CEO’s eyes widened as her head suddenly dropped on the couch cushion.
Kara vanished out the balcony window, something that Lena had only recently installed after Kara had revealed that she was Supergirl. Lena and Sara rolled their eyes at their friend’s excitement.
“So how was your day otherwise?” Lena asked as she repositioned herself so her head was on Sara’s lap. “Did you get anything to eat other than a single potsticker?”
“Snuck out and got a pizza for lunch on the way to the DEO. We got the potstickers because you know how Kara gets when we watch anything involving space.” Sara let her fingers card through Lena’s hair. “Did you eat anything today? I know how you get.”
“Sandwich,” Lena hummed. “How is the progress on your ship going?”
“Still nothing. I’m stuck here until my team figures out what time and dimension I’m in.” Sara was casual with her words, but she didn’t look at Lena when she tried to make eye contact.
“Is that so bad, being?” Lena asked. A small part of her hurt, thinking of how Sara might want to leave. She had taken to the blonde, truly. “Do you want to leave?”
Sara never got a chance to answer. Kara was suddenly back, holding out several bags of takeout and grinning. Her cheeks bulged with potstickers.
“Do you think she actually chews?” Sara stage whispered. Lena rolled her eyes.
Kara swallowed the potstickers in her mouth whole. “I chew!”
“Just right now, you did not.”
//
Another month went by and there was still no progress with Sara’s ship and the White Canary’s friends hadn’t shown up either.
There had been a transmitter attached to Sara’s ship that was supposed to broadcast where and when the ship was located to the WaveRider, the main ship Sara had been the captain of, but it was broken and was sending completely wrong signals. According to Sara, it wasn’t even sending the right information about which universe they were in.
Lena tried not to look too happy when Sara told her the news, but she was glad that her friend was staying indefinitely. While she did have friends by extension through Kara, Sara was the only other person other than Kara that Lena considered a friend of her own and she wanted her to stay. Even if it was a little selfish.
Sara had finally settled comfortably into her room, Lena no longer considering it a spare room. It wasn’t the same white sheet, standard furniture that was initially in there. Sara had taken the liberty to buy a beanbag and hammock chair to decorate her room with. Some pictures of her time in this world decorated her desk and shelves. They mainly consisted of Lena and Kara, as they dominated her time, though there were some of game nights and places Lena had taken her to get to know this world different from her own. Lena also bought Sara a cell phone after she loses the assassin for the second time and Kara wasn’t available to search for her. Lena also had a stock of phones with all the apps Kara liked using stored in her office and apartment for the inevitable weekly moments where Kara broke yet another phone.
Kara had also practically moved into the spare room that was now just simply hers.
Pillows and sheets that Lena knew for a fact didn’t belong to herself found their way into Kara’s room and throughout Lena’s apartment. A bright and soft blanket was constantly on or near the L-shaped couch in her living room and soft rug was rolled down the length of the half of bedroom doors. Silly place mats with animal and floral designs replaced the basic white mats that used to protect Lena’s dining room table.
They didn’t live on takeout as much anymore, at least not the type Kara was used to. Lena started ordering delivery from various restaurants that typically didn’t do delivery – at least not without Lena’s reputation and money to persuade them – as she was leaving her office so it’d be there by the time she arrived. Sara was happy to accept the fancy food while Kara bemoaned paying so much for such little food.
At some point, their relationship tilted.
Sure, they had cuddled all the time previously. Sara and Kara were adamant that Lena needed to feel loved especially after everything that had happened and it had somehow become… more. More than just hugs and cuddling.
That wasn’t to say hugs and cuddling weren’t nice.
But handholding and cheek kisses were added to the mix, courtesy of the ever-excitable Kara Z. Danvers. It started slow. Kara would hold Lena’s hand during their movie nights, which were becoming most nights of the week. Lena would take Sara’s hand in turn. Cuddling switched from Lena leaning on one of the and using the other as a foot rest into one leaning on another and that one leaning on the last one. It was nice. Confusing to Lena, but nice.
She had an undeniable crush on both women. Crush. Lena cringed at the word. It sounded so immature. And, as far as she was aware, people didn’t typically have crushes on more than one person. Do they? A quick online search showed that many people do, much to her relief. But she was living with her crushes. Well, one officially and one unofficially. She had two crushes and they were stuck in this awkward grey zone between platonic and romantic and she could just scream.
Maybe her feelings were reciprocated? Maybe they weren’t? She couldn’t tell with Kara and Sara. Both of them shared the same amount of physical affection with her as they had with each other. Maybe that’s how friends behaved? Or maybe they had feelings for her and each other as well?
Lena groaned. She didn’t have that kind of luck. Her luck was more along the lines of one of the people she had a crush on was from another planet and the other was from another dimension.
//
They got to know each other in the time that they spent together.
They discovered that each of them had crippling nightmares. Kara and Lena had burst into Sara’s room when she had had a bad nightmare and had screamed. They stayed in her room for the night. Kara had taken to sneaking into Sara or Lena’s room whenever she had a dream about Krypton and her sister had been too busy to pick up. Kara had heard Lena whimpering one night and crawled into bed and spooned her until they fell asleep.
Whenever anyone of them had a particularly rough day and knew they would have a nightmare, all three spent the night in living room and let the television blare. If they were up to it, Sara would scout out every single pillow in the apartment and then some to build a massive pillow fort. They’d sit in silence, underneath pillows and blankets, until whoever was having a bad day was ready to talk.
At some point, they stop sleeping in separate rooms altogether. Between the three of them, nightmares were rampant enough throughout the week that time was saved by simply already being next to one another.
Kara didn’t wake Alex up in the middle of the night to talk as often. Sara doesn’t wake up screaming as often. Lena doesn’t dream about murder attempts as much with the two heroines surrounding her.
They slept better, limbs tangled on Lena’s massive bed.
//
The line between platonic and romantic blurred to the point where it might as well have been there at all. The hand-holding, cheek-kissing, and cuddling left the bounds of movie nights.
They held hands, all three of them, as they walked down the street to a small restaurant that Sara had taken a shining to, claiming there was no better food in all the places she’d been to. They shared entrees, sides, and appetizers, stealing from each other’s plates and feeding each other.
It didn’t start like this, Lena mused as Kara made airplane sounds while she fed Lena another bite. It really hadn’t, though. There was nothing cute about it at first. Lena had been stressed and refused to eat while she worked on blueprints, then Kara and Sara had gotten frustrated – both being avid supporters of eating as much as physically possible – and had followed her around her home office, feeding her bits of toast and eggs while she worked. It became common place and spread to other parts of their lives.
Lena was pulled out of her reverie when she heard a ‘splat’.
“How did you miss?” Kara asked incredulously. There was a pea stuck to the side of her nose as she looked at Sara, bewildered. “Isn’t your whole thing about being super accurate?”
“I did not miss! You moved!” Sara flung another pea off her spoon. It landed right in the small gap between Kara’s lips. “Told you!”
Kara scrunched her nose, swallowing the pea Sara had shot at her.
“Cute.” Sara grinned. Kara glared.
They finished up their meal and wandered back to Lena’s – now their – apartment and settled in for another movie night. They changed into matching pajamas Kara swore they needed, arguing that fuzzy colorful clothing decorated with bunnies was a necessity.
//
Months of borderline religious working out had Lena much more fit than she had been the previous year.
She had finally gotten the courage to wear a simple sports bra and shorts like the others now that she was leaning out a bit. Not that she looked bad nor was she ashamed of her body, it was just intimidating when literally everyone else had defined abs.
It was currently only Alex and Sara with her in the green room.
Lena was giving the salmon ladder another attempt when something bumped into her and she felt her grip slip away from the bar. She tumbled down on the person who bumped into her.
“Sorry!” It was Sara. Sara, in a blind fold and crushed underneath Lena. She lifted her blindfold and looked at Lena, who was sprawled on top of her legs. “Long time, no see, Le.” Sara grinned cheekily and Lena rolled her eyes at the nickname Kara and Sara had adopted for her.
“You saw me literally ten minutes ago when we came in, Sara.” Lena’s soft smile and tone didn’t match her words.
“But babe,” Sara whined. “It was so long ago.” Sara scrambled out from under Lena as gracefully as possible and gave Lena a look over appreciatively. “The abs are going great.”
“Thank you.” Lena blushed. She pushed herself into a standing position and rubbed her now sore butt. “Why were you wearing a blindfold?”
“Oh, this?” Sara held it up like Lena could have been referring to other blindfolds. “I was trying to be like Daredevil.”
“Daredevil?” Lena tilted her head in confusion. Who?
“Oh, you guys don’t have him here.” Sara scratched her head. “He’s, uh, he’s this kickass blind guy. Met him once on accident. Had my ass handed to me on a platter.” She shrugged, but she was still grinning. She slipped the blindfold back on and slowly started moving again. “If you’ll excuse me…”
“If you take a step farther, you’re going to hit a wall,” Lena warned. She watched Sara slowly reach out in front of her to feel for the wall before she turned and started moving again.
“Thanks!”
Lena rolled her eyes as she resumed trying to climb up the salmon ladder. She had just managed to get to the fourth rung, her record as of yet, when she heard a “hey babe” shouted from the entry of the green room.
“Hey, Kara,” was shouted back out of reflex from both Lena and Sara. It had become a standard greeting after some jokes about how they were practically dating. There was a thud in the corner of the room from Alex, who was doing renegade rows, suddenly dropped down.
“W-what?” Alex sputtered. She rolled over to face Kara.
Lena dropped from the salmon ladder, replacing the bar on the lowest rung, dashed over to Kara, giving her a kiss on the cheek while giving Alex a taunting look. Sara followed suit, tripping over a dumbbell on the way over, and tried to give Kara a kiss on the cheek. She missed and got her mouth. Sara rolled with it and Kara blushed. Lena, in a small bout of jealousy, kissed Kara, too. Maybe a little harder than necessary.
“Wait – so you – Kara?” Alex looked at Kara incredulously. Kara just shrugged. Her face was a hot, burning red and she was too embarrassed and stunned to properly say anything.
//
They were sparring.
Well, Sara and Kara were sparring. Sort of. Alex and Lena sat off to the side against the wall to the side of the salmon ladder, watching. Alex still gave the three of them sketchy looks but no one talked about the kisses.
Sara still had the blindfold on and, even though Lena could tell Kara was going easy, the assassin was still getting her ass kicked. Kara had just flipped her onto her back for the fourth time and Sara landed with a deep groan. She remained on the floor and panted as she tried to regain her breath.
“You sure you don’t want to stop, Sara?” Kara asked concernedly. She hadn’t even broken a sweat from the “fight”. Sara was about to say something when Lena cut her off.
“You are stopping now because I want to take one Sara Lance home and not a body,” Lena stated firmly.
“That’s fair,” Sara groaned as she attempted to roll over to Lena. Kara grinned and moved to pick her up and settled her down gently on the side of Lena that Alex wasn’t on.
“Okay, I have to go.” Alex moved to stand up. She stretched her arms above her head and groaned. “I’ll see you love birds later.”
“What?” Kara turned sharply to Alex, who was already to the door.
“I won’t question other worldly cultures.” Before Kara could respond, Alex already left with a “bye alien girl, time girl, tech girl.”
//
Since then, kissing just became part of their routine, just another way to show affection. Good morning kisses, good night kisses, welcome home kisses. They didn’t talk about their relationship and just accepted it as it was.
And then Sara left.
Her ship had been fixed and she needed to return to her crew, she had been away for too long. Lena felt a clench in her heart when she watched her friend leave. She didn’t know if Kara would stay with her or if her apartment would just be empty again.
She meant to ask Kara to officially move in. Kara had only spent two nights at her own apartment in the last three months. She meant to ask, but she couldn’t. Instead, she told Kara that she wasn’t going to put the alien detection device on the market, that she was selling the patent to the DEO.
Kara didn’t leave, but there was a quiet in the apartment that neither enjoyed. In the end, it was Kara who asked for a key, now that Sara wasn’t home to let her in. She told Lena that her lease would be up soon and Lena immediately offered for her to formally move in. Kara’s apartment was emptied by the end of the week and game night was permanently at Lena and Kara’s apartment.
They celebrated Kara’s birthday with their other friends but celebrated Kara’s naming day alone at the apartment. A space was set for Sara, just in case.
Sara was gone and they both felt it.
There was a missing person from their outings. They never stopped using the group text they had set up with Sara, but it was only the two of them. They left Sara’s preferred spots at the table and couch empty and Lena let the hand Kara wasn’t holding wander over to where Sara used to hold it. Her room had been completely untouched.
“I miss her,” Lena mumbled, head rested on Kara’s neck as they watched another documentary. It was about time travel, but it wasn’t the same without Sara’s making fun of the inaccuracies.
“Yeah. Me, too.” Kara turned to look at the empty seat. “You know, I had a huge crush on her? I mean, I had – have – a huge crush on you, too. Since a little after I started basically living here.”
“That would have been nice to know before, Kara,” Lena mused.
“Hm? Why?”
“I had feelings for her, too.”
Bzz. Bzz.
Kara and Lena reached for their phones, wondering why both their phones had gone off. An identical text was on both of their screens, much to their confusion, from a name that they hadn’t seen in months.
Lancelot: Do you still happen to?
“Turn around.”
And there she was, Sara Lance, dirt smeared battle clothes with a broken staff in hand, standing right behind the couch, grinning.
“I’ve missed you.”
//
And just like that, they fell right back into place.
Sara sat in her usual seats while she told them about the adventures she had gone on and they told her about the Fort Rozz escapees that tried and failed to kill Kara. She held their hands and aim food at Kara’s mouth just like she used to.
They didn’t all share a bed again on the first night, at least not initially. Sara slept in her own bed, not having been with them for months, but then she had a nightmare and Lena and Kara were crawling into her bed to hold her. The next night, she followed them to bed.
Kissing had been easy. It was just like how it had been before, kisses whenever they felt like, but now they knew that it meant something. It wasn’t just small pecks like before and it didn’t just stay kisses anymore either.
Sara’s reintroduction to their friend group was not as smooth.
While Kara and Lena didn’t hold ill will towards Sara for leaving, their friends did. Everyone had taken it upon themselves to make Sara feel guilty for leaving Kara and making her sad. Except Maggie. Maggie took it upon herself to be angry for Lena as well when she realized no one else really was.
“I can’t believe you dumped them like that and expected it to be okay,” Maggie whispered into Sara’s ear.
“Dumped?” Sara was confused.
“Yeah, when you left, Lance.”
“But we weren’t together?”
“Don’t give me that bull, you broke my girlfriend’s sister and her girlfriend’s heart.”
“I –“
“Don’t you dare do it again.” Maggie nodded and leaned away.
“Yes, ma’am?” Sara was still confused.
She wasn’t intimidated by Maggie Sawyer, the deep dimpled detective, but she was a very, very little bit intimidated by Maggie’s girlfriend and everyone else in the DEO. Especially when they were all sitting around her and she could see Alex casually holding a gun and glancing at her while they played Sorry.
//
The next day, Sara brought back a dog.
“Maggie said I broke your hearts when I left,” Sara explained. “So I thought I’d get something to show you that I’m not leaving you two.” She lifted up a small golden puppy and waved her paw. “She’s fixed and everything.”
Kara squealed and rushed over to take the puppy to the couch and happily scratched her belly. Lena smiled on.
“Does that mean you forgive me?” She wasn’t typically one to be awkward, but she wanted Lena and Kara to know that she really planned on staying. “I mean, I still need to leave sometimes to do things with the crew, but… I’m going to come back.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” Lena pulled her over to Kara, smiling softly. “You came back.”
“What’s her name?” Kara looked at Sara expectantly.
“I haven’t named her yet.” Sara shrugged. “I didn’t really think that far.”
“What about Laurel?” Lena offered.
Sara looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah… Yeah, Laurel sounds good.”