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Knock knock knock.
Lena’s office door opens and Kara’s face pokes in.
“Can I come in?”
Lena forces a smile, forgetting everything else for a moment.
“Always.”
“I come bearing treats!” Kara announces, shaking the bag. “Can some sweet fried sugary goodness tempt you? I was going to ask you for lunch but when you weren’t at CatCo this morning I figured you were here and busy, and James didn’t say much... Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
“Kara it’s fine, I’m here for L Corp reasons, not avoiding CatCo. It’s a little raw now but we’re both adults, we can maintain a professional relationship after this. So, donuts?” Lena stands and heads to the couch Kara is hovering near.
Kara grins and holds out the bag. “Take your pick.” Lena does, leaving the one covered in sprinkles for Kara, and sits down. She glances towards her desk, paperwork for the trial patient sitting there, waiting for her. Not a hero not a hero not a hero.
“Lena?” A concerned voice cuts through her thoughts. “Are you okay?”
Biting her lip, she turns back to Kara. “Fine, just thinking about the rest of my day.” She forces another smile, but Kara sees right through it.
Kara takes their food and places it back onto the bag she’d discarded on the table, then reaches out a hand to Lena’s knee. “What’s wrong?” She says quietly, a concerned look on her face.
“It’s fine Kara, really, just some things in the lab this morning.”
“You can talk to me you know. About anything.”
And she does know, she does. She places her hand on Kara’s and Kara flips her hand over, gently squeezing Lena’s. “I’m here Lena, and I’m not going anywhere.” And then the dam breaks, and Kara reaches her other hand around Lena’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” she says soothingly, “I’ve got you.”
They sit there for a few moments, Lena’s sobs quietening until she’s silent again, one hand covering her face and the other gripping Kara’s. “God I’m sorry,” she says thickly.
“Don’t be, please. I want to be here for you, do you want to talk about it?”
And Lena doesn’t, not really. She doesn’t deserve this, she doesn’t deserve Kara’s support. But Kara squeezes her hand again, pulling her tighter into the hug, and then Lena softly speaks.
“I was just remembering my mother. My real mother, not Lillian.”
Kara sits quietly, just waiting. Because she knows all about Lillian and the Luthor expectations, and Lena’s struggles with being biologically a Luthor, but Lena has never talked about her birth mother before, and Kara has never asked, because she knows more than most about those emotional issues.
“I let my mother die.” And then with a surprisingly calm tone to her voice, she tells Kara about that trip. Her mother going swimming and not coming back, and Lena there, doing nothing to help. And then her voice breaks and before the tears can start again, she goes quiet.
“Lena you were a child. Barely older than a toddler, what were you supposed to do?”
“Yell, scream, cry, go to her!” Lena says angrily, angry at herself, trying to stop the tears again. “Anything other than that. Can’t really blame the people I grew up with for me not being a good person when I was bad long before I got there. I let go, I didn’t care, I didn’t do anything.” Kara is about to speak, but instead holds Lena closer again, feeling her breathing start to slow again.
Eventually, Kara breaks the silence. “I let mine send me away.”
Lena turns to look at her questioningly, but Kara avoids eye contact. “Instead of dying on my planet with them, mine put me in a pod and sent me away to Earth. I could have fought to stay, and I used to think I should have tried harder to get a few more moments with them, but we aren’t responsible for our parents Lena, and children aren’t to be blamed for things out of their control. You defied every Luthor expectation and became a good person, and a true hero. Your mother would have been proud.”
They both sit in silence, Lena processing and Kara waiting for the inevitable moment of the betrayal setting in. But when Lena moves, it isn’t to yell, or to push away, but to sit up and take her hand from Kara’s and rest it on her cheek, slowly guiding her to look at her, and then so slowly and so gently, removing Kara’s glasses with the other hand. She cocks her head to the side as events start to come together in her head, before carefully putting the glasses back in place and giving Kara a small smile. “Thank you.”
“Lena, I meant every word. You’re a hero, and I’m so sorry about what happened to your mother, but I promise there was nothing you could have done. You went on to become one of the strongest, bravest, most heroic people I know, and you have to know by now how many lives you’ve saved and changed for the better.
Lena looks down at that, but Kara places a hand under her chin and lifts it up so they have eye contact again before wrapping both arms around her in a hug, Lena reciprocating, head resting on Kara’s shoulder as she lets out the breath she was holding. “I believe in you Lena Luthor, and you are a hero.”
They sat closely on the couch until long after sunset, talking of expectation, loss, parents and trying to fit in in a world that wasn’t quite theirs. Reassuring each other constantly, relief in every touch or hand squeeze, all guards down now secrets were out in the open. And after Kara talked of all those she couldn’t save, and the constant guilt of not catching up to her cousin in time, Lena talked of her and Jack’s cancer research, and how excited he would have been about her new discoveries, the first person who’d ever truly believed in her goals and her dreams. And Kara, true to her word in her faith in Lena, and finally having the freedom to be Kara Zor-El, finally got to listen, understand, and share her own thoughts on Lena’s ideas.
Eventually the two women just sat silently on the couch, Kara gently stroking her thumb over the back of Lena’s hand, which was clasped in hers, quietly enjoying the moment together until Kara’s phone went off, a message from Alex querying her whereabouts that afternoon. Kara quickly sent back a reply before standing up from the couch and reaching a hand to Lena. “Come on, it’s late, time to get home.”
“Are you offering me a lift Supergirl?”
“I was thinking a car, but if you’d like...”
“Oh no, remaining on the ground will be just fine.” Lena calls for her driver before tidying the paperwork on the desk, turning to head out of the office before seeing Kara with her hand out again. She smiles before reaching out to grasp it, as the two leave the office hand in hand. When they arrive on the ground floor, it’s empty, all employees long having left for the day. Lena spots her car outside, and turns to Kara. “Can I offer you a lift?”
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow,” and Lena smiles at her.
“You will. Goodnight Kara.” Lena turns back and head towards the door, before Kara reaches out a hand to stop her. She goes in for a hug, eagerly reciprocated by Lena, before placing the softest of kisses to her cheek. “Goodnight Lena, sleep well.” And then it’s Kara who turns to stride out of the front doors, leaving Lena frozen, bringing her hand to rest on her cheek, before smiling and heading out the door. For the first time in years, she feels lighter and free, and that maybe there are good things coming for this Luthor after all.