Chapter Text
The following morning, Lena wakes to an empty bed. She squints as the sunlight settles across her face, and she wonders what might have needed the hero’s attention. She pushes up on her elbows and opens her eyes, taking in the small wooden nightstand to her left and the rack of clothes near the window to her right, and smiles slowly as she realizes she likes waking up at Kara’s.
She stretches her arms above her head. Even if Kara herself isn’t - her hand rests on the sheets to her right and they’re still a little warm. Wherever Kara had rushed off to, she couldn’t have been gone long, and Lena wishes she would have woken her to say goodbye.
She hears movement in the kitchen and pulls her shirt down, throwing the covers back and slipping out of bed. She turns the corner and finds Kara, still in her pajamas, rummaging through the refrigerator, and Lena watches as she pulls out orange juice and the almond milk that Kara had purchased entirely for Lena’s use.
“What are you doing?”
Kara closes the refrigerator door. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry.” She gestures to the open window. “Just give me a second to change and I’ll get some breakfast, okay? Maybe Italy?”
“No.”
“Oh, New York again? Absolutely, that -”
“Kara, you don’t have to keep doing this.”
Kara frowns in confusion. “But you, you don’t want this?”
“Exotic breakfasts?” Lena puts her hands on her hips. “No.”
“Okay,” Kara says, licking her lips, “I mean, I can get you whatever you want, from wherever you want.”
Lena softens as Kara’s look turns frantic. She reaches out and Kara takes her hand instantly. “I want you,” Lena says, stepping closer. “Why are you… oh.” She tangles their fingers together. “Do you remember how I said nothing was going to change after I found out you were Supergirl? That I wasn’t going to treat you differently?”
Kara nods, prepared to take mental notes on whatever it is that Lena is about to say, despite the sinking feeling in her heart. It always happens, at least a little. Anything that Lena needs her to do, or not do, Kara knows she’ll try to the best of her ability.
“That means you can’t treat this, us, differently.” Lena withdraws her hand from Kara’s and places it against her chest, right where her crest would be. “You don’t have to cook dinner every night and I don’t want breakfast from New York every morning.” She runs her hands through the slightly mussed blonde hair, smiling when Kara finally relaxes. “I want to wake up with you beside me and maybe cuddle with you until we have to get ready for work.”
“You need breakfast,” Kara protests the exclusion of food in Lena’s scenario.
Lena takes a breath. The truth. “I don’t like waking up and you’re gone,” she admits.
Kara melts, understanding. She takes a half-step closer, hands settling on Lena’s hips, feeling the soft fabric of the old worn t-shirt Lena had borrowed. “Okay,” Kara agrees easily, “no more of that. But if it’s, you know, a Supergirl thing -”
“Wake me before you go?”
“I can do that,” Kara smiles.
“Emergencies come up, but don’t leave bed every morning just to make breakfast, okay?” Lena kisses her softly. “I’d rather have cereal if it means I get to spend more time with you.”
“But I can make us pancakes sometimes?”
“How about pancakes on Sundays?”
“Oh,” Kara tugs her closer and Lena caresses her cheek, “does this mean we’ll be spending Saturday nights together?”
“And Fridays?”
“Yes, good, I like this plan,” she smiles, kissing Lena gently, “keep going.”
Kara abandons her breakfast preparations when Lena leads her back to bed.
*****
Lena runs her fingers through blonde hair, smiling at the weight as Kara lays her head against Lena’s stomach. She feels a kiss against her hip and then Kara throws an arm over her legs, thumb stroking the soft skin at the outside of her thigh.
“All day,” Kara sighs, “let’s just stay like this all day.”
Lena smiles. “That sounds good to me.” Sometimes she wonders if their relationship feels as complete to Kara as it does to her, if the reporter feels the same. Then Kara will say something that echoes exactly Lena’s own thoughts and she knows they’re in this together. “I love you,” she says, and she can feel Kara’s smile against her skin.
“Hm,” Kara hums happily, shifting to kiss Lena’s belly button, repeating the move when Lena laughs, “I love you, too.” She trails gentle kisses up the woman’s bare stomach and then rests her head on her shoulder, burying her nose in dark hair, kissing the elegant neck.
“What if we go out to dinner next week?” She gives a happy sigh as Kara pulls her in for a hug. “I’ll double-check Monday morning, but I should be free Thursday night.”
“Really?” Kara’s hopeful smile tells her it’s unexpected and Lena narrows her eyes.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“Well, I thought, maybe, with the press and all, if you didn’t want to, you know, be together in public,” her voice trails off at the end and she gnaws her bottom lip.
Lena frowns. “Where did you get that idea? Kara, I’m not, god, I’m not ashamed to be dating you. I’m not trying to hide.”
“Okay,” Kara shrugs but Lena ducks her head, finding her gaze.
“We sort of had that date at the diner, didn’t we?” She traces the edge of Kara’s ear. “Why would you think now that I wouldn’t want to go out with you?”
“Well that wasn’t a real date, you know,” she breathes, refusing to meet Lena’s eyes, “it was pretend and no one knew who we were, really. You weren’t the CEO of L-Corp dating a junior reporter.”
Lena shakes her head. “That’s still not the case - this is me dating you. That’s all that matters. Not whether I’m a CEO or you’re a reporter or even that you’re Supergirl.” Lena kisses her. “I want to be with you, Kara.” She quirks an eyebrow. “You aren’t dating me just to get your hands on a CEO’s income, are you?”
Kara’s head snaps up and her cheeks flush, missing the teasing. “Of course not! Lena, I love you, I want to be with you, I don’t care about your money or, or your job.”
Lena smiles gently. “And I don’t care about yours.”
“Oh.” Blue eyes blink rapidly as it sinks in. “I was kinda… that was silly, sorry. “
“It isn’t silly if it’s something you were worried about, darling,” Lena assures her. “We can talk about these things, right?” And one day we’re going to sit down and talk about where all this is coming from. Kara nods. “And now we can decide where to go to dinner on Thursday.”
Kara grins. “Yeah, but that’s so far away.” She kisses along Lena’s neck to her collarbone. “Five. Whole. Days. We can figure it out later.” Lena lifts her chin to allow better access and Kara raises up on an elbow to oblige.
“Mmhmm,” Lena agrees, surrendering to the gentle kisses, “dinner later.”
*****
After a lazy Saturday, Kara spends Sunday at Lena’s, laptop open as she sits on the sofa working on an article, her legs over Lena’s. Lena sits nearby, scrolling through her tablet, absently rubbing her thumb against Kara’s knee. After dinner, they curl up on the couch for a movie and Kara carries Lena to bed before the credits roll.
Monday morning, Kara walks into CatCo, a smile on her face as she remembers the long minutes kissing Lena before she’d had to leave the apartment. She considers the date, realizing they’ve been together for three weeks, and does some quick math, counting over a dozen nights where they’d stayed at one or the other’s apartment. A few times had been interrupted by an emergency that required Supergirl’s attention, but for the most part, Kara spent each of those nights wrapped around Lena, holding her close, and woke each morning with Lena’s head on her shoulder.
Well, she’d woken with Lena’s head on her shoulder for at least a few minutes, before she was climbing out of bed to get breakfast, but since their talk on Saturday morning, she knows now she’ll get even more time cuddling with Lena.
Perfect.
She waves at the receptionists at the front desk and detours toward James’ office. Eve motions her on, indicating James is free for a quick chat, but Kara knocks on the open door anyway.
James turns and smiles, beckoning her inside. “What’s up?” he says, and motions for her to sit.
Kara stands near the sofa but does not sit. “Um, so, about game night.”
Both eyebrows go up and James spreads his hands. “Hey, I wasn’t trying to start any problems.”
“No, no, you didn’t… I wanted to say thank you.” Kara clears her throat. “I know we’ve had our differences about Lena.”
“Not really. I was suspicious because of her name,” he admits. “You were talking about your friendship with Lena, I was arguing about your trust of a Luthor.” James sighs. “That isn’t fair, to either of you.”
Kara smiles warmly, but before she can reply, “Danvers!” can be heard from across the floor.
“Go on,” James says, chuckling at Kara’s wide-eyed look as she hurries to the reporter’s den.
“You called, chief?”
The man doesn’t even look up. “Need an article on Lena Luthor. She’s got this -”
“Sorry, um, no.”
Now he slowly raises his head and she smiles nervously at his glare. “What?” he gruffs.
“I mean, I can’t.” Kara clears her throat. “I can’t do an article on Lena Luthor or L-Corp… violation of ethics.”
Snapper stares at her. “Why now? You’ve covered her for over a year. What dilemma suddenly appeared?”
Kara rocks back on her heels. “Um, we’re dating.”
He takes off his glasses and rubs his temples. “You’re killing me, ponytail.”
“Sorry, chief.”
“You aren’t supposed to date your interviews.”
Kara shrugs and can’t stop her smile, though she kind of tries, in order to keep Snapper’s ire to a minimum. “The heart wants what it wants.”
Snapper groans loudly. “Get out of here with your cliches. Johnson,” he roars, as Kara skirts out of the den, “you’re covering L-Corp, effective immediately.”
Johnson scampers to Snapper’s desk.
“First assignment, the Supergirl statue Lena Luthor is unveiling in two weeks.”
Kara drops her notebook and narrowly avoids running into the wall.
Supergirl statue?
*****
Kara arrives thirty minutes late to dinner Thursday night, getting caught up helping first responders deal with a multi-car pile up, but if Lena had any lingering frustration at the delay on their first actual date, it all melts away the moment she sees Kara walk in.
“I’m sorry,” she says, hurrying to the table, and she has her hair up in a high bun that Lena associates with Kara Danvers, the reporter. The cardigan and pencil skirt are replaced by a mid-thigh length black dress that, when Kara turns and steps out of the way of a waiter with a tray laden with dishes, Lena realizes the dress has an open back, and, by extension, that means Kara is not wearing a bra.
“It’s fine.” Lena’s reassurance comes out a little strangled and she clears her throat, smiling at the blonde. “It’s fine,” she repeats.
Kara takes the seat across from her and returns the smile. “You’re beautiful,” she says, openly admiring Lena’s off-the-shoulder red dress. It’s the first time she’s seen her girlfriend since Monday morning, between a rash of armed robberies and a hectic schedule at L-Corp, and Kara hadn’t realized how much she’d missed just being around her. “Did you order? You didn’t have to wait for me.”
“Of course I waited, darling.” Lena realizes her throat has gone dry and she takes a sip from her glass of water, forgoing the wine for a moment. “That dress is… something else.”
Kara blushes to the roots of her hair and when she raises her head, Lena is smiling at her so fondly that she ducks her gaze and her blush turns a darker shade.
Lena chuckles softly but the waiter appears to take their order before she can say anything else. After he’s jotted down their requests and promised to bring an extra order of bread for the table, Kara regains her composure and raises her glass of wine as the waiter takes his leave.
“To our first date.”
Lena agrees, echoing the words with a smile and touching her glass to Kara’s, taking a sip. “The first of many,” she adds quietly, and Kara grins.
“Yes!” The blonde smooths her hands across her thighs. She loves Lena, they already practically lived together for like a week, there’s no reason for her to be nervous just because it’s the first time they’ve officially gone on a date… but she’s definitely nervous. “Um, how was your day?”
They talk a bit about their respective jobs, about Lena’s upcoming conference with Morgan Edge and the policymakers of the city and Kara gushes again about how amazing it is that Cat Grant is the press secretary.
“Oh, Tuesday afternoon,” Lena says, remembering that since they hadn’t had much time to talk in the previous days, she hadn’t caught Kara up, “I found a new CFO.”
Kara smiles at Lena’s obvious excitement. “That’s great! I know you’ve been looking for someone to take that position for a while now.” She leans forward, eager to hear Lena speak about anything and everything.
“My friend Sam will start in a few weeks.”
“Oh,” Kara perks up, “you’ve talked about her, I recognize that name. She has a daughter, right?”
“Right,” Lena confirms, pleased, though not surprised, at Kara’s recall of the handful of times she’d spoken about Sam, “Ruby is… twelve now, I believe. Sam didn’t want to take her out of school so it will be a little bit of a drive, but she can work at L-Corp without having to move.”
“I’m glad that’s going to work out! Finally having that CFO position staffed will free up your schedule a little, won’t it?” Kara asks, already planning for longer lunches or additional quick visits to the L-Corp balcony.
“Some.” Lena clears her throat. No more business tonight. “Did Alex text you today?” When Kara cocks her head in general agreement, Lena realizes she needs to clarify - of course, Alex probably texts her daily - and explains, “About Maggie’s birthday?”
“Oh, she didn’t say anything about that.” Kara squints as she mentally filters through Earth’s calendar and Maggie’s date of birth. “Isn’t her birthday in like three months?”
“Apparently Alex is already trying to plan.”
Kara chuckles. “Yeah, she kind of stresses about birthdays.”
Lena worries her lip. “I gave her a couple of ideas.”
“I’m sure she appreciates that,” she smiles gently, “but you know, you don’t have to tell me what you guys talked about.” Come on, babe, they’re your friends, too.
“I just don’t feel like I know Maggie well enough to be offering gift suggestions.”
“Maybe we should do a double-date next time,” is Kara’s idea, and Lena finds herself smiling.
“That might be fun.”
Kara nods and is about to rattle off a few ideas for places they could go, when their food arrives. Her eyes grow wide at the amount of dishes, seemingly never-ending as they’re set on the table. The waiter adds two baskets of fresh bread, refills their waters, and then moves on.
“I didn’t realize it would be this much,” Kara whispers, glancing around at other tables, comparing their three plates to the seven Kara has in front of her. Her shoulders come up as if she’s trying to hide.
Lena frowns, not understanding the sudden shyness over food. “Is it not what you wanted? We can order something else.”
“No,” Kara says quickly, before Lena can signal their waiter, “it isn’t that. This is great. I just… it’s kind of a lot.”
“Is it enough for you?” Lena asks.
“Yeah.”
“Then it isn’t too much.” Blue eyes glance at their neighbors again and it finally dawns on Lena. “Oh, are we comparing meals now?” She raises an eyebrow playfully. “If I’d have known this was going to get competitive, I would have ordered the lobster.”
Kara shakes her head, smiling a little.
“Darling, it doesn’t matter one bit what they’re having and I doubt they care in the slightest however much was brought to our table.” She takes a drink of wine. “All that counts is that we get to enjoy our dinner, and all I need for that to happen is that you are happy.”
“You’re the best.”
Lena smiles at the compliment. She watches Kara closely throughout dinner, but her posture relaxes and she doesn’t seem to care about the other diners, so Lena figures she must be feeling better. She remembers Kara’s hesitance over the weekend, the concern that Lena wouldn’t want them to really be seen together. I need her to know that I’m proud to be dating Kara Danvers.
With that in mind, Lena takes a bit of whipped cream from the top of the chocolate cake that Kara ordered for dessert, swiping a dollop with her index finger and holding it across the table. Kara stares for a long moment, as if to check if Lena is serious, and then leans forward, cleaning the whipped cream with her tongue and finishing with a soft kiss to the pad of Lena’s finger.
This might have backfired, Lena acknowledges in the back of her mind as her heart starts to race.
They trade bites, feeding each other, though they switch to forks because Lena isn’t sure she could handle hand-feeding Kara again.
Lena texts David to bring the car around, signs the check. She amends her previous thought. Hand-feeding is fun, but not in public, she decides.
Kara notices the pause when Lena rests her hand at the back of her chair, and she comes around the table, taking Lena’s arm gently. “You okay?”
Lena nods. “I’m fine,” she says. Ready to get you home. “Shall we?” They hold hands through the restaurant but when they’re outside and there’s a little more room, several people waiting at the valet but not as cramped as trying to maneuver around tables, Lena wraps her arm around Kara, hand tracing random shapes against her lower back, bared by the dress.
Kara turns her head and kisses just beneath Lena’s ear. “What are you doing?” she whispers, and the warm breath against her skin makes Lena shiver.
“Appreciating your dress,” she states, the puff of air against her neck telling her Kara is amused by the reply.
The sleek black town car pulls up to the curb and David climbs out of the driver’s seat, coming around and holding the rear door open for them. He nods politely when they thank him, and adds a, “Yes, ma’am,” when Lena tells him to drive to her apartment, the words tossed over her shoulder as she follows Kara into the backseat.
David closes the door firmly but gently, settles himself in the front seat once more, and makes sure the divider is fully closed. He also turns the radio up just a little, until he can’t hear the rustles behind him.
Lena tosses her purse on the floorboard and reaches for Kara, cupping her face with both hands, drawing her close for a series of fierce kisses. Kara responds earnestly, always a fan of kissing her girlfriend, but she squirms a little when Lena breaks from the kissing and nearly attaches herself to Kara’s neck.
“Um,” Kara begins, and Lena nips once more, “can we, um, hang on a second?” She knows her nerves at dinner were painfully obvious and of course Lena is going to want to reassure her, but if this is just for Lena to make Kara feel better, maybe it shouldn’t happen right now. She wants it to be Lena’s idea, not some pity affection.
Lena pulls back, breathing hard. “What is it?” Her pupils are blown wide, mouth slightly parted, a few strands of hair pulled loose from her bun, and she’s staring at Kara as if she can barely restrain herself.
Rao, this… is this desire? She listens to the rapid heartbeat, the increased respiration, notices the way Lena’s hands are still near her shoulders, thumbs tracking across the ridges and dips of her collarbone. Kara recognizes the passion, she’s seen it, felt it before, but these moments have always been in private… and while they’re not exactly in public right this instant, everyone that saw them together likely knew where they’d end up, their affection leaving little doubt as to their relationship.
Kara blinks when that thought hits her. In public, in private, she wants this…. she wants us.
Before Lena can ask what’s wrong, Kara darts forward, kissing her again, and there’s a thrill up her spine when she hears Lena moan.
Nothing else exists, the sounds of traffic or the gentle idle of the car, it all fades away for the women in the backseat, lost in each other.
David knocks softly on the window but does not open the door, giving them time to regain their composure - he’s too professional to speculate that they’re needing to redress - and when he hears the latch shift as the handle is engaged, he slowly opens the door.
“We’ve arrived, Ms. Luthor, Ms. Danvers.” He smiles. They’d actually been sitting at the curb for almost twenty minutes, and if it weren’t for building security beginning to get a little nosy, he wouldn’t have interrupted. He doesn’t comment on their hair falling from styles that had been immaculate when they climbed in, or that Lena’s dress is a bit more off the shoulder than intended. “Have a good evening.”
Lena smiles and takes Kara’s hand. “Thank you, David. Good night.”
They hold hands as they enter the building, through the lobby, into the elevator, where the presence of a single other passenger is the only thing that keeps Lena from kissing Kara senseless, and down the hall to Lena’s apartment. Lena unlocks the door and swings it open, hand still gripping Kara’s.
Kara uses her free hand to push the door closed as they enter and Lena tugs her toward the bedroom.
*****
When they’re both still awake at two in the morning, placing lazy kisses on any skin in reach, and Lena’s stomach growls, Kara declares it’s time for early morning pancakes. Lena makes scrambled eggs, standing beside Kara as she mixes the batter. Lena nudges Kara’s hip with her own and Kara grins, kissing Lena’s shoulder in response. They continue with the back-and-forth affection - a hip bump turns into a pat which turns into a caress of skin under the shirt, the shoulder kiss moves to the cheek and the ear and then becomes a string of kisses at the throat - until they lose long minutes standing in the kitchen, wrapped around each other, and the pancakes are only a little burnt.
They sit and eat well-done pancakes with slightly dry scrambled eggs on the couch while watching a few reruns of old sitcoms from the 90s, and a scene inspires Kara to braid Lena’s hair. With only a few hours until dawn, Lena knows she should decline and try to get some sleep, but Kara’s fingers are already combing through her hair and she’s asking so softly, and Lena doesn’t want to deny either of them the closeness.
Lena accepts the offer, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her back to Kara, exhaling slowly at the gentle scratch along her scalp. There are no words as Kara works, but whenever she has to find a runaway strand and pull it back in to be braided, she presses a warm kiss to the back of Lena’s neck.
Somewhere in the depth of her contentment, Lena acknowledges she is utterly in love with Kara Danvers.
“Lena,” Kara asks, as she finishes the braid, “you aren’t really putting up a statue of Supergirl, are you?”
Lena takes a moment to answer the question, the words startling her after the long silence. “I told you I was. I asked you about it. Well,” she amends, “I asked Supergirl about it.”
Kara sighs. “I kind of thought you were joking?”
“I most certainly was not. I commissioned it the day after we spoke.”
“It’s… is it small?”
Lena laughs. “You’ve never looked under the tarp by the waterfront, I take it?”
Kara groans and rests her forehead against Lena’s upper back.
“Darling, it’s a little too late for me to cancel this now. Does it really bother you?” Lena turns and cups Kara’s face in her hands.
“It’s just,” Kara sighs, leaning into the touch, “a statue seems so… narcissistic?”
“Only if it was your idea,” Lena says, with a small smile. “Besides, doesn’t your cousin have an entire park in Metropolis named after him? And a statue, and a museum, and a -”
“Yeah, I know,” she chuckles, before Lena can continue listing all the tributes to Superman that have been erected in Metropolis in the past two decades. “It’s just… I don’t do it for recognition, you know?” Kara shrugs, uncomfortable. She likes helping people, making a difference, saving lives, but the other thoughts about deserving credit and a savior’s due are never far behind. “I don’t want people to think I requested it as some sort of reward.”
That won’t be an issue, Lena knows, thinking of the inscription at the base of the statue.
Lena tucks a few stray strands of blonde hair behind Kara’s ear. “The city just wants to show you how much we appreciate what Supergirl has done, especially in the past year. You’re Earth’s champion.” She rests her hands on Kara’s thighs, thumbs stroking gently. “The mayor was very excited when I mentioned the idea; the statue would be a way for you, and the citizens of National City, to always remember the good that you do, the lives you save.”
“For me?”
Lena nods. “He didn’t give specifics, but mentioned an event two years ago that was… difficult for you and the city.”
Kara ducks her head. “Oh. Yeah.” They were going to have to have a conversation about red Kryptonite at some point, even if only so Lena is aware of the symptoms, but it’s not a discussion Kara is looking forward to.
Lena lifts her chin and places a kiss on Kara’s forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Kara replies, her smile a little watery.
“Do you know what else the mayor said?” Kara shakes her head, and Lena continues, “He told me how you kept fighting, kept protecting the city, and when you needed them, they rallied to your defense. At the end of the day, Supergirl is their hero… let them say thank you.”
Kara nods and leans forward, resting her head against Lena’s shoulder. Lena puts both arms around her and rubs her back, holding her close, for as long as she needs.