Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The phone on Lena’s table rang loudly enough to startle her and make her drop her screwdriver on the ground. Cursing under her breath, she picked up the receiver while pressing on the button to lower the volume on the corded phone.

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry for the interruption Ms Luthor,” the warm voice of her assistant said over the line, “Ms Danvers is here. She says she has plans made with you over lunch but there is no mention of this on your calendar.”

Lena looked at her watch and winced when she realized it was a few minutes before noon. Time had flown from her again like it always did when she was down here. Sadly it was the only time she could spend on her project for the week but she was glad that she had listened to her therapist and included personal lab time on her schedule. Unfortunately it was time to go back to reality.

“I’m so sorry, Esperanza, I forgot to put it on my calendar. I need to tidy up down here, can you escort Ms Danvers here? You can take a ninety minutes break if you want, I probably won’t be back before one thirty.”

Lena started to put away her tools.

“Better yet, go get Astra and go to Spooner’s. I’ll call Leonardo and tell him you’ll be using my table. On me of course.”

She removed her safety goggles and untied her hair before she passed her fingers through to comb them. She probably would have to brush it before her afternoon meetings but it was fine for now.

“That’s very generous of you, Ms Luthor but it’s not necessary. I’m already taking my wife to Dolly’s for lunch,” Esperanza said.

“Then I insist you take ninety minutes, both of you. I’m sure the legal department can manage without its director for a little while.”

“Thank you, Ms Luthor, we appreciate it. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Lena hung up then went to get her screwdriver. Just as she put the tool at its place, an idea hit her and she put her goggles back on and hastily tied her hair. She got lost in her tinkering until there was a knock on the door. Esperanza entered followed by Kara.

“Here you are Ms Danvers. Ms Luthor, you have a conference call with Ms Arias at two and a meeting with Dr. Lambert at four. Your messages are on your desk with your mail. Have a nice lunch!”

The short woman left, her high heels loud on the tiled floor. Lena looked at Kara who smiled softly at her.

“Hi! I just need a minute to finish this and tidy up and I’m all yours,” Lena said.

“No problem, take all the time you need. Your new assistant seems nice. What happened to Jess?” Kara asked.

Lena replaced a panel on the device in front of her.

“Sam poached her from me, can you believe it? Jess missed Metropolis so she jumped at the opportunity. But it’s okay, she’s happy and that’s all that matters. Esperanza was recommended to me by her wife, who is the director of L-Corp’s legal department, and I’m quite happy with her work.”

She was fussing with a small screw that didn’t seem to fit.

“Just… give me a sec… there we… damn it!”

The screw had flown from the device to the ground and rolled away. Kara went after it and gave it to her.

“Can you tell me what you’re working on?”

“Thanks. Off the record?” Lena asked.

Kara nodded.

“Off the record. Ms Rojas would never let me cover the science and technologies section.”

“Oh?”

“Can’t have her ‘star reporter’ on something so… trivial. She gave me a new assignment this morning. I am now in charge of covering Kasnia and mentoring Nia. Even if Nia doesn’t need that much mentoring if you ask me but I wasn’t asked.”

Lena stopped her tinkering.

“Oh. And… how do you feel about it?”

Kara thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure. Not about mentoring Nia, that part is great! But the whole Kasnia thing… I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Would you like to discuss it over milkshakes at Big Belly Burgers? Seems like a milkshake conversation to me.”

Lena tried not to react at Kara’s genuine smile of delight but she still felt a butterfly flutter in her stomach.

“Really? But we went last time we had lunch and it’s your turn to choose!” Kara tried to protest.

“And I choose Big Belly Burgers. But if you’re not interested, there’s a new place that opened recently that I wanted to try, they have a kale salad bar.”

“Too late, you’ve already picked!” Kara yelled quickly.

Lena smiled.

“Alright then. Let me put this safely away and we’ll be on our way.”

“So you never did tell me what it was.”

“Oh, it’s from a planet called Okeo.”

“Oreo?”

“Okeo. I take it you don’t know it?”

Kara shook her head.

“I had a meeting with an alien named Gralg a few weeks ago. They wanted to thank me personally for the image inducers because it had made their life better. They told me about how their planet had developed technology that could be useful for Earth. They offered this technology because they felt I had the potential to continue their life’s work. This device produces an enzyme that could help with oil spills and I’m hoping to modify it so it could eat plastic one day.”

“Wow! That’s great! That alien was right, you do have the best potential to adapt alien technology and use it to help Earth. I wouldn’t want Earth to end up like Krypton. I’m sure you’ll find the solution,” Kara beamed.

The butterfly in Lena’s stomach fluttered some more. She didn’t understand why her body was still reacting so much when Kara said or did something. Her head had known for months now that Kara didn’t love her, couldn’t love her as much but her heart stubbornly wouldn’t understand.

“That device would have been useful a few years ago. Have I told you about my first few days as Supergirl?”

“You’ve told me the big lines and I’ve read about it but I would love to hear the details over lunch. I just need to screw this panel back and we can go. I’ll come back later to tidy up, nobody but me will be mad if the place is messy.”

She quickly screwed the panel back and flipped a switch. The device started to buzz and shake.

“Uh… is it supposed to do that?” Kara asked.

“No. I don’t know what’s going on!”

Lena picked up the device and flipped the switch again.

ZAP!

“Ow!”

The device had discharged a purple ray and hit Lena’s left hand. Bright translucent green goo was oozing out of the device. It had splashed over Lena’s lab coat and was spreading on the table.

“Lena! Are you okay? Let me see!”

Kara was by Lena’s side in two seconds and took her left hand in hers to inspect the injury. Kara’s warm hands sent a shiver from Lena’s arms to her spine but did nothing to calm the burn on her palm. Kara’s proximity was too much to handle, Lena had to stop herself from doing something stupid like kiss her. She tried to pull her hand back but Kara wouldn’t let her.

“It’s fine, Kara, I’m okay. Just a minor burn, I’ll go to the infirmary before we go eat. You can let go of my hand now.”

“Lena…”

Lena didn’t look up from their hands. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t get lost in Kara’s ocean blue eyes and see the concern in them. She wasn’t strong enough.

“I’m fine, let go of my hand, Kara,” she said softly.

“I can’t.”

Lena finally looked up.

“Please.”

It was too much. Feeling Kara’s skin on hers, it was torture. She needed to put some distance between them.

“I can’t. It’s stuck.”

Lena pulled her hand toward herself but Kara’s hand followed.

“Kara, it’s not funny, let go of my hand.”

Kara seemed very calm and spoke softly.

“Lena, I swear to you, I’m not playing any games. The back of your hand is glued to my palm, I’m not holding your hand. If I try to move my fingers or pull away my hand, I could rip off all layers of your skin and muscles or tear off your hand or your shoulder and we don’t want to do that, right?”

Before Lena could answer, alarms started blaring.

“It’s the biohazard protocol. The whole building will be evacuated and the DEO will be contacted,” Lena explained.

She was worried and annoyed at herself. Why was she always in these ridiculous situations? And why had she been careless with safety protocols? Again! She had totally let herself be distracted by Kara despite all the promises she had made to herself.

“Okay. Okay, that’s good. Alex and Brainy will help. While we wait, we should try not to touch anything else. I don’t think we want to make things worse,” Kara suggested.

Lena sighed. Kara was right, of course, she didn’t want to be stuck to anything or anyone else.

“Okay. Seems like we have plenty of time for you to tell me about Kasnia.”

Kara looked at her for a while and Lena forced herself to stare back and not avoid Kara’s eyes.

“I could but your beautiful brain is not focused on me right now. You’re trying to find a solution to our current situation,” Kara stated.

Lena looked down, a bit ashamed.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I do want to know how you feel about covering Kasnia after everything that happened with my brother and Red Daughter,” Lena reassured her.

Kara gave her a little smile.

“And we will talk about it but once we’re out of here and unglued. I know you, Lena, you’re anxious to start testing and trying to find a solution.”

“Of course! But what if I start experimenting and we end up stuck together even longer or hurt or worse? We’re dealing with alien technology and I need help and I need to know more about Okeonians.”

Kara nodded.

“Alright. How long before Alex and Brainy arrive? Are the alarms going to stop eventually?”

Lena winced.

“Not until the building is evacuated and secured, sorry.”

An hour later, Lena had a headache and her legs ached. They had stayed standing still, facing each other and not touching anything else. Her elbow was stiff and her shoulder was screaming at her to move. The alarms suddenly stopped.

“Finally!” she sighed in relief.

“Lena? Do you still hear ringing or do I have nerve damage or something?” Kara asked.

Lena listened for a second. Her ears were ringing too and the sound was very low. She recognized the tune of her desk phone.

“It’s my phone but I can’t pick it up.”

Kara muttered curses in kryptonese and Lena raised an eyebrow at her.

“Sorry, I’m very hungry.”

“Right.”

She was about to ask her to teach her her first language to pass the time when she felt her headache worsen.

“Lena, can you hear me?” said J’onn’s voice.

Lena looked around and didn’t see anyone else in the room.

“J’onn?”

“I’m outside your lab with Alex and Brainy, I’ve established a psychic link with your mind.”

“Because cell phones don’t work here and I haven’t answered the phone, I should have thought of that!”

“We’ll review your security protocol later. Are you alright? What happened?”

Lena spent the next several minutes explaining the situation. Kara was looking at her with worry, unsure of what was going on. When J’onn broke the connection, the pressure eased a little on Lena’s head and she told Kara what had happened.

It took another forty minutes before Alex phased through the wall with J’onn, both wearing a full hazmat suit.

“Hey guys! Thanks for sticking around,” Alex said behind her mask.

Lena chuckled at the joke but Kara wasn’t laughing.

“About time you show up! What took you so long?” she snapped at her sister.

Alex stopped in her tracks and exchanged a look with Lena.

“She’s just hungry,” Lena explained. “It’s not a side effect of exposure to an alien substance. At least I don’t think so.”

“Okay. You don’t keep food in here I suppose?”

“I have a few snacks in a cupboard but we determined it was safer not to touch anything else.”

“What!”

Kara’s cry of indignation was cut short by Alex with a glare.

“Smart thinking. Kara, stop behaving like a child. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get into this space suit? And Lena, some of your employees really don’t understand the meaning of ‘immediate evacuation’. Okay we’ll start by checking if it’s safe for us and if you guys are at risk to get stuck to anything else. Brainy is outside, ready to intervene if there’s anything that goes sideways.”

Lena nodded.

“Is there a way you can get in touch with my assistant?”

Alex smiled.

“She’s the one who helped us get the last pig headed people out of the building. She might be small but she’s scary. She said to tell you the Omega protocol has been activated and that the children are safe and unharmed. The shield worked perfectly.”

Lena was relieved. Alex and J’onn started their analysis and Kara looked at her with questions in her eyes.

“Omega protocol? The shield protected the children? It sounds like a Bond villain!” she said with a little smile.

Lena took a deep breath to avoid snapping at her. She was pretty sure Kara had meant it as a joke and not an accusation and she knew that Kara tended to be a little meaner when she was hungry.

“The Omega protocol is activated if I’m incapacitated. Sam becomes de facto acting CEO until I can come back or permanently if I die,” she explained.

Sam also had power of attorney if Lena ended in a coma or if she was kidnapped and Ruby had been designated her heir but Kara didn’t need to know that.

“And I have opened a daycare for my employees in the building and it’s protected with the strongest shield we could build and it activates when the threat level is anything above 0.”

Kara at least had the decency to look sheepish.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like an accusation. I didn’t know about the daycare, I think it’s a great idea. Your employees must love this. It’s been a while since I’ve written a puff piece on you and L-Corp.”

Both women felt silent after that, both knowing very well why such article hadn't been written in over a year. They were saved from the awkwardness by Alex and J’onn removing their headgears.

“As far as we can tell there are no radiations coming out of the room. The only alien thing we can detect, other than Kara and J’onn, is the… goo on the table. What is that? It looks like Flubber,” Alex said.

“Except it’s not moving around and dancing,” J’onn replied, surprising all three women.

“O...kay...I...uh… I’ll go update Brainy and a few other people and I’ll get out of the space suit because I’m cooking in here. Lena, please tell Brainy everything you know about that Grawp alien, maybe they can help us.”

“Gralg,” Lena corrected.

“Alex? Can you figure out a way to feed me? I’m getting seriously hungry here,” Kara whined.

Alex glared at her sister again.

“If you don’t stop complaining about food I’m throwing you pre chewed food through a straw and that’s all you’ll get,” she warned.

Alex and J’onn left through the door this time and Brainy came in a few minutes later. He didn’t waste time and immediately started tests. When he was fairly sure that they were only stuck to each other and wouldn’t have anything else stuck to them, Lena forced Kara to walk to the cupboards and retrieved a bag of kale chips and a granola bar. Kara didn’t hesitate before she tore the bag of chips with her teeth and she wolfed down half the content before the taste hit her. She spat out and grimaced.

“Ew! Yuck! You’re evil, there’s no other explanation why you would eat that!” Kara complained.

Lena felt a sharp pain in her heart but chose to ignore it. Just a confirmation of what she had suspected when she had learned Kara’s identity. Kara thought she was just a Luthor and by definition she was evil. They walked back to the work table, this time Lena walking backward and avoiding to look at Kara. Brainy had wisely stayed quiet and hadn’t commented on Kara’s accusations. He had moved two chairs to face each other and the women sat without a word, their joined left hands in front of them. Lena stifled a groan of relief. Her legs and lower back were burning. She removed her goggles and massaged the bridge of her nose while Brainy started to examine every angle of their hands and exchanged theories with her. He agreed with Kara’s initial instinct not to pull on anything at the risk of injuring Lena permanently. Lena tried to close her hand in a fist but she couldn’t move her fingers even with the help of her right hand.

They were debating on whether or not nanobots would be able to separate them when Alex came back with a bag of food. She took a sandwich and threw it at Kara who caught it and struggled to open it one handed until Lena took pity on her and helped her. Kara devoured the sandwich in three big bites and gave Alex a goofy smile and a thumbs up.

“Finally! Someone who knows me.”

Lena rolled her eyes and Alex frowned.

“Alright, let’s pack this up and bring everything and everyone to the DEO for further testing.”

“What? Why? We have everything we need here, you know I’m fully equipped,” Lena protested.

“Yes, I know you’re fully equipped, you even have your own MRI machine, but you’re fully equipped for taking care of a human and I need to do a full examination on a Kryptonian and she better be under some alien influence because otherwise she’s just being an ass and I know my sister is not like that. So let’s get going, I have a team coming to get your work table and the device.”

Lena thought for a moment. Alex had a point, they had alien tech at the DEO and her alien problem would probably be solved with alien technology. As for Kara… She looked at her misfortunate companion who was demolishing another sandwich and ignoring her. Lena doubted that Alex was right, Kara was simply her true self with her. Besides, she had been fine while they had been waiting to be rescued. Maybe she shouldn’t have listened to her therapist about having a second chance at a friendship with Kara. But now was not the time to debate whether or not Dr. Flynn had been right.

“I need to talk to my assistant before we leave,” she said.

Alex gave her a little smile.

“I’ll go get her. Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of this in no time. How do you feel? Any side effects? Would you like a… never mind, Kara ate your sandwich too.”

She looked like she wanted to hit her sister in the face with a chair. Kara blew her a raspberry and kept eating.

“You never said there was one for Lena too!”

Alex sighed.

“Definitely under alien influence,” she mumbled. “We’ll get you something on our way to the DEO.”

“No need, I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

Lena nodded.

“Okay, I’ll get your assistant.”

Alex left and Brainy decided to pull on Lena’s hand.

“Ow! I don’t think blunt force will be the solution, Brainy!” Lena complained.

“Apologies. Although I am stronger than a human, it appears you are correct.”

“Yes. That’s why we should try with the nanobots.”

Before Brainy could reply, Alex came back with Esperanza. The assistant remained stoic at her boss’s predicament but she seemed curious.

“Ms Luthor, how can I help you?”

Lena gave her a genuine smile.

“I’m in a bit of a sticky situation here as you can see. I have to go to the DEO to resolve the issue. The Omega protocol stays in place for now but I will try to work remotely. Can you bring me my phone, my charger, my laptop and my emergency change of clothes and kit, please? I will call Ms Arias tonight to sort everything.”

“Of course Ms Luthor. Anything else?”

“Tell everyone they can go home for the day. Full pay.”

Esperanza gave her a little nod.

“Thank you Ms Luthor. I’ll be right back with your things.”

“I’ll send agent Vasquez with you, we need to get going,” Alex said.

Esperanza nodded then left.

“Before we leave, do you mind removing my lab coat?” Lena asked. “As you can see, some of the goo landed on it and we could study its effects on fabric, maybe it will help us find a solution.”

Alex looked around herself for a second.

“Do you have scissors here?”

“Second drawer on the left.”

Alex worked quickly to remove the coat and gave it to Brainy who carefully placed it in a plastic bag. Lena let out a relief sigh.

“Thanks, I was getting hot in it too.”

Alex noticed that the back of Lena’s green silk shirt was wet from sweat. She put her hand on Lena’s forehead for a minute. There were no signs of fever.

“We’ll get you at least some water at the DEO,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Alex helped Lena get up. They walked out of the lab, Lena’s eyes firmly fixed on the ground ahead of her, avoiding looking at Kara who was walking backward. Lena was deep in thoughts and almost jumped when Alex put her hand on her arm.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind. Thinking about the best way to get unstuck. Reconsidering my choice to study alien tech at L-Corp. If anything had gone wrong… or worse today and the shield had failed, I… I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to the children,” she admitted.

Alex gave her a comforting smile.

“Maybe it’s time to accept the lab space I offered you at the DEO. That way, we’ll be closer if anything happens when you play with alien tech and the kids would be safe. Plus, our labs have an intercom system that would have been very practical today. Neither of you thought about using your voice activated assistants on your phones?”

Lena shook her head.

“I left my phone in my office because no cell phone works in my lab. I’ll think about your offer.”

They exited the building by a discrete side door and waited for a DEO van to come pick them up.

“Is this why my coms didn’t work either?” Kara asked.

Lena nodded.

“No signal can come in or out. I don’t want the things I’m working on to be affected by technology and vice versa.”

“Smart. It’s great what you did for your employees, sending them back home after today. Most employers wouldn’t care about that,” Kara said.

Lena shrugged.

“It’s the least I could do. Especially with the kids frightened. Nobody would be very productive.”

“Still. Oh I have an idea! What if Supergirl came to visit the daycare and play with the kids when we’re two separate individuals again?”

Lena’s face lit up.

“Really? That would be amazing!”

She smiled genuinely at Kara who smiled back. The van finally arrived and Kara walked in first and helped Lena in.

Chapter Text

At the DEO, Lena waited patiently for Alex to do a full exam on her, drawing blood and asking a lot of questions about how she was feeling. Lena answered truthfully and Alex seemed content with her answers. Vasquez arrived with Lena’s things just as Alex was starting to examine Kara. Lena eagerly grabbed her phone and saw that there was an impressive amount of notifications on the screen but ignored them all to call Sam instead. It rang a few times before Lena heard her friend’s voice.

“... She’s actually calling on the other line right now… she’s fine… No… I can assure you she’s not doing that… Listen… I have to go now, okay, bye! Lena! Sweetie, for my next birthday can you get Mr. Spitfire off the board?”

Lena smiled.

“I’m working on it, love, believe me.”

“I don’t need him getting in my face every time our stocks are moving because you’re trending on Twitter. Which you are by the way. You and L-Corp.”

Lena sighed.

“I figured. I just got my phone back, haven’t checked anything yet. I’ll try to do some damage control while we work on resolving this issue.”

“I got your back, I talked to Esperanza and she got me up to speed. You focus on getting unglued. We’ll talk more when you’re alone, I have your company to run and my phone is going to go on strike. Keep me updated and call me when you’re free, please.”

“I will. Bye.” 

Lena hung up and looked at the Danvers sisters arguing and bickering.

“Alex, I’m telling you, I’m fine, I feel fine!” Kara insisted.

“And I’m telling you, you’re not! So get your ass on the sunbed now!”

“NO!”

Lena was getting tired and she had another issue that would be very problematic soon.

“Kara? I need to go to the bathroom if you don’t mind?” she asked softly.

The sister went quiet for a moment.

“Of course! I’m sorry, I should have thought about that before,” Kara said.

“Do you need help?” Alex asked.

“No! We’ll figure this out. Thanks Alex!”

It took them fifteen awkward minutes during which Lena managed to distract Kara by convincing her to get on the sunbed to see if it would affect their hands. They walked back to the lab, this time Lena walking backward, ignoring the knowing smirks of the people who saw them. Kara didn’t say a word to her sister as she lay on the sunbed and Alex wisely didn’t comment. Brainy brought a chair so Lena would be more comfortable. 

“Kara, your phone has been ringing constantly while you were gone. Do you want to see what it is or should I just put it on mute?” Alex asked.

“Ugh! It’s probably Miss Rojas wondering where I am. I was supposed to meet with her and Nia this afternoon to discuss our next article. Can you bring me my phone, please?”

Well, at least Kara was back at being pleasant. Alex went to fetch the device that started ringing as soon as it was in Kara’s hand, Andrea Rojas' name flashing on the screen.

“Don’t tell her what’s going on,” Lena said quickly. “L-Corp will release a statement soon about what happened.”

Kara rolled her eyes at her.

“Of course, Lena, I know how to do my job.”

So much for being pleasant. Lena exchanged a look with Alex as she turned on the sunlamps.

“Hello? Miss Rojas, I can explain…”

“How can you do this to me?!?”

The scream was so loud, everyone could hear it without the call being on speaker. Lena winced before she tuned out the conversation. Seemed like her former best friend was still as centered on herself as she had been in boarding school. She was telling Alex everything she knew about Gralg and the Okeonian technology when Kara’s annoyance with Andrea became too loud to ignore.

“For the third time, Miss Rojas, it's not what happened! No I don’t! I will work from home for the rest of the week and you can fire me if you want, I’ll go ask Perry White if he’s interested to work with a Pulitzer winner reporter who’s interested in reporting the news and informing people and not some stupid gossip to get more add revenue to fill his already overflowing pockets!”

She hung up and slammed the phone on the nightstand. Lena had no choice but to follow her movements.

“Kara, I know you’re upset but I’d like to keep my arm attached to my body,” Lena pleaded.

“Sorry. Better get your phone, she’s probably going to call you next, she’s not happy.”

Lena’s phone started to ring just as Kara had predicted. Lena fished it from her pants pocket and glared at Kara.

“Stay quiet no matter what you hear,” she warned.

She accepted the call just before it went to voicemail.

“Andrea. Now is not a very good time, I have my hands full with L-Corp.”

Andrea snickered.

 “You had the biggest, juiciest scoop of the decade and you didn’t give Catco exclusive? It would have been perfect to launch my new website ¡Ahora! How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends!”

Lena frowned. Either Andrea had managed to bug her private lab or she had a blabbermouth in her inner circle and neither option was good news.

“We’re far from ready to go public with this, Andrea, and when we are, you’re not the one we want to go to with this,” Lena explained.

After all, an enzyme to help with oil spills was more of a subject for Nature and Science than Catco.

“L-Corp should release a statement soon about what happened today, that’s all I can say for now.”

“Well, in that case you won’t mind if I publish Mackenzie’s article about how L-Corp CEO Lena Luthor was cavorting with girlfriend and Catco reporter Kara Danvers while L-Corp goes into lock down, do you?”

Lena almost fell off her chair.

“What!”

“Don’t play coy with me, Lena, I know you. You were seen leaving L-Corp holding hands and laughing with Kara. The pictures have been everywhere for at least an hour. The only good news for Catco is that Kara hasn’t been identified yet but I know it’s her. She’s denying everything and since you won’t talk to me either, I have no choice but to go ahead and give something to my devoted readers.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Lena protested.

“Lena, please, I know you. You never looked at me like that.”

Lena wanted to scream. Everything was going wrong today. She took a deep breath to calm down and regain control of herself. She had been in worse situations than this. Andrea didn’t care about the truth, she cared about money, and she would publish what she wanted no matter how much she denied that Kara was her girlfriend.

“I have to go Andrea, I don’t have time to argue with you. I won’t comment on anything. Bye.”

She hung up and understood Kara’s earlier frustration.

“You okay?” Alex asked.

“Fine. Nothing I can’t handle. I’m sorry about all this, Kara. I’ll fix this. How are you feeling? Any changes, Alex?”

Alex looked at her for a moment, probably debating on interrogating her further or not.

“Well, as you can see, the sunlight didn’t do anything on your hands but it’s improving my sister’s mood. Another hour and she should be back to her charming self. I’m leaving you and Brainy in charge of the experiments while I search for Grawp.”

“Gralg,” Lena corrected again.

“Gralg, sorry. I’ll be back later with food.”

She left and Brainy cleared his throat, looking all serious.

“Since blunt force from a human and a Coluan didn’t work and using the force of a Kryptonian is not an option, I would suggest we try to insert something between your hands.”

Lena looked at him, dumbfounded. 

“Like what, a razor blade? Push our hands apart instead of pulling? I’m pretty sure it’s not a physics problem, Brainy. I worked with an alien enzyme, it’s chemistry.”

Brainy blinked.

“I believe you are correct. I might have let myself be influenced by my latest television discovery. Nia has introduced me to the Mythbusters and I find them fascinating and educational although a bit dangerous sometimes.”

Sensing that he was about to go into a fanboy spiral, Lena tried to get him to focus back on the problem.

“Since it’s an enzyme, it should be easy to break. Let’s try temperature variations for starters. Then we’ll see where we’re at.”

“Do you mind if I keep the record of everything?” Kara asked. “Because “remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.’”

Brainy was beaming.

“Of course! I’ll be right back.”

He left in a hurry and Lena was left alone with Kara. They stayed quiet, Kara staring at the ceiling and Lena trying to avoid staring at her but failing miserably. She looked even more beautiful bathed in sunlight, her golden hair cascading down to her chest. Lena wanted to snuggle to her side, close her eyes and pretend they were on her private beach in Maui. She shook herself mentally. It was pointless to keep dreaming about things that would never happen. Kara holding her hand like this was the closest she would get.

“So...” Kara broke the silence after a while. “Miss Rojas has told you about the pictures of us like this?”

“She did.”

“What are we going to do about it? What can we do about it?”

Lena sighed.

“Not much more than we already did. We’ll be here until we’re separated so we’ll be shielded for now and once we’re out, I’ll arrange to be seen in public with a high profile actor or musician or the son of some banker and they’ll leave you alone.”

“I’m not worried about that right now. I mean, I am but it’s not my main concern. Let’s worry about that later. Like you said there’s not much we can do right now.”

Lena gave her a little smile.

“Deal. What is your biggest concern then?” she asked softly.

She felt Kara’s thumb gently caressing her own and her heart skipped a beat. 

“I’m thinking about your hand. And what will happen if we don’t find a solution. Your hands are important to create, to invent, we can’t let anything permanent happen.”

“I have faith in Brainy, we’ll figure it out.”

“But if you don’t, we may have to take drastic measures. I was wondering if my heat vision would be too much?”

Lena was a bit stunned.

“I… I haven’t considered that to be honest. I don’t even know the extent of your powers, I’ve seen them in action but I have no data of my own to compare to. Lex had notes but…”

She stopped herself before the conversation devolved into a full blown argument. While they had talked at length since Lena had agreed to give their friendship a second chance, Lex was still a sore subject.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kara reassured her. “I understand what you mean. If we need to get there, we’ll do all the tests you need before we proceed.

“I think before we get there, I’ll get the best hand surgeon in the world to consult.”

Kara nodded and gave her a little smile.

“I think that’s wise.”

Brainy came back with a laptop and Lena was glad because she knew her heart wouldn’t be able to stand much more of Kara smiling at her like that. They set up as best as they could with Kara still on the sunbed and one handed and for the next two hours they tried several different temperature settings on the joined hands, hoping it would deactivate the enzyme. 

When Alex came to check on them, Lena was fighting tears of pain and arguing with Brainy.

“I can take it,” she insisted. “One more degree!”

Brainy moved away from them and crossed his arms on his chest.

“No! I refuse to be responsible for causing permanent damage to you. You are too important for the future.”

“Fine! I’ll do it myself!” Lena yelled at him.

She tried to get up but Kara wouldn’t bulge and the tablet controlling the temperature test was just out of her reach. Her hand was throbbing as much as her head but she wouldn’t let it stop her.

“Okay! I think I got here just in time,” Alex said. 

She went to check on Kara’s vitals and seemed satisfied.

“How are you feeling, Kara?”

“Still fine. I told you there was nothing wrong with me.”

Alex sighed and showed her the tablet.

“Yes there was but you’re okay now. Alright, everybody to the cafeteria, it’s time for food! I got a Supergirl size order of potstickers from Dragon House, three extra large meat lovers pizzas with extra everything from Luigi’s for Kara, a medium apple and olives pizza also from Luigi’s for Brainy and for miss Lena I have a delicious kale salad and hummus with naan bread and veggies and two freshly baked peanut butter cookies which she will all eat if she knows what’s good for her,” Alex announced.

“What about the rest of us, we don’t get cookies?” Kara asked.

“You mean you’ll have room for cookies after eating all this?”

“There’s always room for cookies, Alex, you know that.”

“Okay I’ll arrange it.”

Brainy frowned.

“Luigi’s have banned that pizza after the incident I had with them. They changed their minds?”

“Well apparently because it’s part of their Superfriends menu,” Alex said before leading the way to the cafeteria followed closely by Kara and Lena.

Walking backward, Lena was in a perfect position to see the confusion turned to joy on Brainy’s face. She hid a smile and felt her annoyance vanish. She had bought the little restaurant not long after the incident and fired the man who had disrespected Brainy just because he was an alien. Her new staff had better work conditions and the place was now known to be alien friendly. The board at L-Corp hadn’t approved of the purchase so she had spent her own money and had only told Sam about it. The pure expression of joy on Brainy’s face was payment enough. His face lit up again when he saw that Nia was waiting for them in the cafeteria and Lena thought he was so endearing. She didn’t see Nia right away but she heard her chuckle.

“Oh wow, Alex warned me but it’s still something to see. How are you guys holding up?” she said then realized her choice of words. “I… I mean how are you feeling?”

“I won’t lie to you, my young Padawan, it has been a challenge but it could have been much worse,” Kara answered. “Now, gimme those potstickers or I will have to use the Force!” she continued.

Everyone laughed as they sat around the table and started eating. The joined hands were resting on the table and sometimes Kara’s thumb caressed Lena’s and every time she felt her heart flutter. She didn’t comment on it and avoided to look at Kara, focusing her attention on Alex and Brainy while Kara talked with Nia. It almost felt like they were having a game night and Lena basked in the moment. She hated to admit it, but Alex had been right, the food was good and it had been necessary. Her headache had calmed a bit and her hand wasn’t throbbing as much now that it was back to a more normal temperature. She was debating eating the second cookie now or later when Nia cleared her throat. All eyes turned to her.

“Alex has asked me to be in charge of you lot since she’s now a responsible adult who delegates,” she said as Kara snorted. 

Alex glared at her and told Nia to continue.

“So I’m in charge of the sleeping arrangement for tonight. I’ll be assisting you to get ready for bed and get anything you need.”

Lena smiled at her. She knew she was only enforcing Alex’s new policy of no work between midnight and six AM unless the DEO was in crisis mode. And apparently the current situation wasn’t a crisis for the Director of the DEO. She looked at Kara who lifted an eyebrow then nodded. Nia would be much easier to reason with than Alex if they wanted to work more. A good strong cup of coffee, a big one, would get her going for a few more hours. 

They went to the dormitory escorted by Nia, this time Kara walking backward to chat with her protégée. Despite everything, they were pretty good at taking turns to be the odd one walking backwards. Upon entering, something became very clear to Lena. There were only single beds in the room.

“Uh, Nia? How are we going to sleep?” she asked.

“Oh! I was thinking we push two beds together to make a bigger one and one of you sleeps with her head at the foot of the bed. You’ll each have your set of blankets and pillows so no blanket hog,” Nia explained.

“Okay, smart thinking. I suppose my emergency change of clothes has been brought here?” Lena said.

“I have your clothes for tomorrow and I got you a pair of workout pants to sleep in. I also have your hair and makeup kit and a pair of scissors if you want to change your shirt but I’m not very good at sewing so we can’t really MacGyver you something else to wear so maybe keep the top half for now?”

Lena had a tiny panic moment at the thought of being half naked in front of her crush. She was already mortified every time they had to go to the bathroom, if she could avoid another occasion to be partially clothed in front of Kara, she would.

“Oh! No need for the scissors. I can sleep in my clothes. Like you said, it will be complicated to put clothes back on and I’d rather not walk around here wearing only a bra and pants or wearing a sheet like a toga. What do you think, Kara?”

Kara looked as if she had spaced out.

“Hum? Oh! Yeah! We’ll be okay like this Nia, thanks!” she stammered.

“Okay! Very wise.”

“That’s why I’m the master and you’re the apprentice. You got all of Lena’s stuff but what about me? I know she’s your hero but I’m your mentor. Twice over!”

Nia blushed and pointed the second dry cleaner bag before she turned around and grabbed Lena’s hair and makeup kit and another bag and handed them to them. Lena took hers and tugged Kara toward the bathroom.

“Thank you, Nia. We’ll shout if we need your help. See you in a bit,” Lena said.

She didn’t comment on the hero part, Nia was already embarrassed enough and it was something that Lena needed to process alone. In the bathroom, she let Kara get ready first, stealing glances every time she thought she could get away with it. She longed to caress the soft face, to gently trace the delicate features and run her fingers through the golden curls before kissing the tempting lips. She swallowed a sob and looked away. Now was not the time to lose control of her emotions. She still had several hours before she would be alone in her own bed, if not days. She took a deep breath and focused on her plan to pull an all-nighter.

When Kara was done, they switched places and Lena explained her idea. Kara agreed then gawked at her while she managed to remove her contacts lenses and put on her glasses.

“What?”

“Why do you wear glasses?” Kara asked.

Lena frowned.

“To see? It’s not the first time you see me with them, is it?”

Kara nodded slowly.

“You… uh… you look good. Great even.”

Lena couldn’t control the blush from coloring her cheeks.

“Thanks,” she croaked.

She quickly removed her makeup, untied her hair and brushed it. She looked at herself one last time in the mirror and smirked. It should be enough to trick Nia. When they exited the bathroom, they found the young woman in a passionate kiss with Brainy. Kara used her freeze breath on them and Nia screamed.

“Cool it off kids, we have a guest present,” Kara teased.

“Stop it, Kara, I think they are sweet,” Lena said. “Goodnight Brainy, thanks for your help today.”

Brainy nodded at her.

“Always a pleasure to work with you, Lena. I have several ideas that I want to test with you tomorrow. Goodnight ladies!”

He gave a quick kiss to Nia and left. Lena could see that Nia was deeply embarrassed and quickly put her plan in motion, hoping that Kara would play along.

“Hey Nia, I can’t sleep so shortly after eating, is it okay with you if I catch up on my emails for a little while?”

Nia hesitated.

“And while you’re here, we should go over out plan to keep Miss Rojas from firing me,” Kara added.

Nia’s eyes widened.

“Oh shoot, I had forgotten about that for a moment! She was really pissed about being scooped by the Planet, especially with a story about one of her employees. She’s going to make your life hell.”

“Well, we better come up with a plan to calm the dragon lady,” Kara said.

Between the three of them, they managed to set up the laptops in a comfortable setting. While Kara and Nia were working on their articles, Lena had some headphones on to cut the noise and was going through the hundreds of emails that were waiting for her.

Chapter Text

When Alex and Brainy arrived the next morning, Kara and Lena were having breakfast in the cafeteria.

“Good morning you two! Where’s Nia?” Alex greeted.

“Oh, she’s sleeping. I was hungry so I convinced Lena it was better to eat before you forced food down her throat,” Kara answered.

Truth was Nia had crashed around 4 AM and had been sleeping since. Lena and Kara had gone for a pot of coffee and kept working until Kara couldn’t delay breakfast anymore and Lena had agreed to go. They had gotten ready for the day as best as they could and if Lena had thought it had been torture watching Kara getting ready for bed the night before, it had been nothing compared to the sensation of Kara’s fingers going through her hair to help her apply dry shampoo. She was still processing it when Kara had dragged her to the cafeteria. Lena wasn’t hungry anymore but she really had no choice but to follow. She was going to book an appointment with her therapist once this whole ordeal was over. Well, that and her doctor to get her arm checked out. She would also give Nia some Taylor Swift VIP tickets to apologize. Alex seemed doubtful about her sister’s story but didn’t challenge it.

“Hey Lena? Can we go get cereal?”

Lena looked up from her bowl of muesli and saw Kara’s empty plate.

“Where’s the pancake mountain drenched in maple syrup?”

Kara patted her stomach with a smile.

“Goofy,” Lena teased as she got up and let Kara take the lead. She was lost in her thoughts again when everything went sideways. One second everything was fine, the next she was showered in Rice Krispies.

“Kara!” Alex yelled. 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Butter fingers plus super strength! I’m sorry Lena, it’s been years since it happened. I can help clean it up!”

“NO!” Lena screamed. “No super breath, you’ll make everything worse,” she quickly said more calmly.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Kara apologized again.

“It’s okay darling, it can happen to anyone.”

Lena realized too late she had used out loud the term of endearment she called Kara in her head. She panicked and looked away, wondering what she would do now. It was better to act as if everything was normal and she hadn’t said anything.

“Stay where you are, I’ll get a vacuum,” Alex said. “And then we’re off to the l lab for a complete physical exam.”

“Again?” Kara whined.

“How else am I supposed to know if there are symptoms that appear several hours after contact with the alien substance?” Alex replied.

Kara sighed.

“Fine. Hey, what do we do if there’s a Supergirl emergency?”

“Where do you think J’onn has been since you got here? He’s patrolling as Supergirl and before you ask, no, he won’t take your place at Catco for the day. And I have Superman as back up if we need to. Focus on getting unglued while I keep looking for the alien who started this whole thing.”

“Any luck on that?” Lena asked.

“Not yet. I’ll be right back with a vacuum.”

They were left to wait standing in a sea of Rice Krispies and Lena regretted not taking Nia’s offer of more comfortable shoes last night. Her feet were already killing her and the day had barely started.

Two hours later, they had been freed of the cereals and their medical exams were done. Brainy was waiting for the in the lab and had several ideas he wanted to try.

“Are you okay without me taking notes today? I really need to send at least one article to Miss Rojas before the end of the day or she’ll fire me and maybe Nia too.”

Lena smiled at her.

“We’ll be fine. I’ll take care of keeping the records.”

Brainy looked at her.

“Do you wish to work on L-Corp business? I am quite capable of running the experiments on my own but your input is valuable and appreciated,” he said.

Lena thought about the hundred of emails she had answered during the night and the hundreds more that were probably going to arrive throughout the day despite the fact that Esperanza would remove all the media requests for comments or interviews regarding the pictures. A break from that would be more than welcome.

“No, I’m good. Sam is taking care of things for now. What should we start with?”

“Since a variation of temperature didn’t affect the enzyme, I was thinking we could test with different PH levels and soaps and dissolvent,” he explained.

Lena winced. It was some good ideas but she had a feeling the skin on her hand would need a lot of pampering when everything was over. When Nia came to join them, they had covered the basic solutions and were now starting the acids. She didn’t say anything about Kara and Lena tricking her to stay up all night and they didn’t bring it up.

Unfortunately, testing the PH levels didn’t work so Brainy moved on the soaps and dissolvent. When that didn’t work either, he started mixing solutions and things started to go wrong. One temporarily turned Kara’s hand blue while another burned Lena’s skin so much Kara had to use her freeze breath. After that, Brainy went to the Legion ship to study their archives and what information Lena had on the enzyme. Kara had given some work to Nia and convinced Lena to go walk in the hallways to keep the sleepiness away. Most of the people who saw them ignored them since they knew what was going on but some still looked at them with a smirk. Lena glared at them and they kept on walking.

“Do you mind if we stop for a snack before we go back to the lab?” Kara asked.

“As long as you don’t eat cereal again, I don’t mind.”

Kara’s face lit up.

“Oh don’t worry. I’m staying away from them for a while. I’m a cereal killer and I need to atone for my sin,” she said seriously.

Lena couldn’t help the chuckle.

“What? All those cereals wasted because of me!” Kara explained.

Lena’s chuckled turned into a yawn that she tried to stifle but Kara saw it.

“Do you want to go for a nap instead?”

Lena shook her head. She would do everything in her power not to share a bed with Kara, including exhausting herself so she would be sure to fall asleep immediately if she had no other choice.

“I’m okay, nothing coffee can’t fix.”

“Coffee it is then. And cake! And I really think we should sleep tonight if we’re still together. I mean like this. Nia has been a good sport but I don’t want to abuse my position as a mentor.”

Lena nodded. In the cafeteria, Kara got herself a big piece of cake and several baked goods with her extra sugary coffee while Lena settled on a piece of biscotti with her black coffee. Alex came to join them not long after and tried to steal a bit of Kara’s piece of cake but she almost ended up with a fork in her hand. She went to get her own cup of coffee and piece of cake then came back to sit next to her sister.

“Any development in finding Gralg, Alex?” Lena asked.

“Still nothing. Nobody seems to know anything about Okeo and its habitants. We have no way to track Gralg and nobody has seen or heard of them.”

Kara frowned.

“Do you think it’s a set up?”

Lena frowned too.

“To do what?” she asked.

“Poison the oceans, kill a specific species living in it, affecting L-Corp’s stocks, hurting you,” Kara enumerated.

Lena’s frown deepened. While Kara had some valid points, she considered herself a good judge of character and Gralg had made a good impression. An image of Lex came to her mind followed by one of Eve and Rhea… maybe her judging skills weren’t what she thought they were. Before she started to spiral in her own mind, Alex intervened.

“It’s all good theories but let’s not jump the gun. We haven’t spoken to everyone in our contact list and we don’t know every species in the galaxy. I’m keeping your suggestion in mind but for now it’s not my main angle.”

Lena calmed down and finished her coffee.

“Do you mind if we go, Kara? I need to call Sam for an update and I probably have three voicemails from Andrea asking for a comment or an interview.”

Kara looked down at her unfinished snack.

“Can you help me bring the food to the lab?”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to carry all this. You might need a basket, Goldilocks,” Lena teased.

“I don’t know, she’s probably more of a Gretel to me,” Alex snickered.

Kara blew her a raspberry.

“If I’m Gretel then you’re the Wicked Witch of the West. Green with envy.”

“Me? No way, I’m Prince Charming,” Alex stated smoothly.

Lena got up, wanting to avoid another bickering match between the Danvers sisters. She took as much food as she could and pulled her left hand to force Kara to move. Kara grabbed the rest of the food slightly too fast and squished the banana bread a bit before she led Lena out of the room.

“If Alex is the Wicked Witch of the West, which one am I then?” Lena asked as they walked.

“Oh that’s easy, you’re Snow White. Ebony hair, blood red lips and skin as white as snow, plus heart of gold.”

Lena was a bit surprised by the comparison. She had always felt a kinship with Elsa. Conceal don’t feel had been her motto since she had realized she was in love with her best friend and that it was one sided.

“Do you really think I’m Goldilocks?”

Lena gave her a little smile and flicked a golden lock.

“For the hair, yes. But you are more of a Cinderella, you work hard and you’re kind to everyone. That’s one of the things I lo… l like about you.”

She felt her heart beat harder. She had almost spilled her biggest secret. Kara shoved a whole donut in her mouth. Lena tried to change the subject.

“Do you have more work for Catco to do while I work on L-Corp business?” 

Kara shook her head.

“With what I did last night and this morning I was able to write two articles and pitch for a third. If Nia isn’t done and doesn’t need me then I’ll work on my paperwork for the DEO. I’m a little behind.”

“Oh. I had no idea you had to do paperwork here. I always thought you would fly in, save the day and fly out.”

“It used to be like that before Alex got in charge of the place. Now she has to defend her budget to Colonel Hayley and I have to file paperwork for all the property damage I cause when I save the city. I understand even if I find it boring to do,” Kara explained. 

Lena nodded. It made sense. Nia wasn’t in the lab so they got settled as best as they could and got to work. As the hours passed, Lena felt sleep pulling her under. Kara insisted that they stopped at a decent hour to eat dinner and do something else before bed. Lena only agreed because her brain felt like mush. They ended up playing an epic Uno tournament with Alex, Nia, Brainy and Vasquez.

This time Alex was supervising the night time routine herself and neither Lena or Kara tried to bargain for more work time. Lena was bone tired and she knew she would fall asleep very quickly. They got in the twin beds and Kara volunteered to be the one who slept with her head at the foot of the bed, their joined hands resting between them. Alex put a thick blanket on each of them and tucked them in.

“Okay, I have all your electronics so you won’t be distracted. I have Carter and O’Neill standing guard on the other side of the door and they have my permission to stun you if you try to go to the lab to work.”

“Do you have a weapon strong enough to stun me?” Kara sassed.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Try to sneak out and find out,” Alex warned.

Lena suppressed a chuckle, barely.

“Good night you two. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night Alex, thank you,” Lena said.

“Good night, thanks mom!” Kara teased.

Alex pulled her tongue at her then left, turning off the lights on her way out. The room was pitch black and quiet and Lena could already feel sleep taking over her.

“Lena?”

She jerked her eyes open.

“Yeah?” she whispered.

“I’m sorry I called you evil yesterday. I never thought that about you.”

Lena hesitated a moment.

“It’s okay, Kara, I almost was,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?”

Lena sighed.

“I wanted to tell everyone who you were at your Pulitzer prize ceremony,” she confessed. “I wanted you to suffer just like I was suffering. And then I realized I wouldn’t be any better than Veronica who outed me as bisexual when we were in college. When I first met you, I asked you to judge me on my own merits and not my name. And if I had executed my plan to out you to the world, it would have been the first step to becoming a villain and embracing my family’s evil legacy. So…”

“So?” Kara asked after a moment of agonizing silence.

“So I kept your secret and I went to therapy.”

“Oh.”

The room went silent again and Lena fought to keep her eyes open. She felt Kara’s thumb caressing hers and swallowed a sob. She closed her eyes and hoped to be asleep as soon as possible to escape any more conversation.

“Thank you. It must have been very hard for you.”

Lena nodded even if Kara couldn’t see her.

“It was. Going against everything you were taught as a child is a challenge but I don’t regret my decision. Unlearning bad behavior is part of changing as a person and I’m glad I’m doing it,” Lena said honestly.

“I… Wow! You’re so wise, Lena.”

“I’m simply learning to be a better person and to have a positive impact on the world. How can I change the world if I’m not willing to change with it?”

“If I could clap my hands now I would, it’s beautiful,” Kara said enthusiastically.

“You know you can move a little don’t you? Why are you so stiff?”

“I’m afraid I’ll kick you in the head and kill you while I’m sleeping.”

“Oh. I hadn’t considered that. We should have asked Alex to turn on the red sun lights before she left.”

Silence. Maybe they could get up and ask one of the agents guarding the door.

“The what?”

Lena blinked in disbelief.

“The red sun lights? You’re telling me after all this time here you haven’t developed that yet? How are you eve able to…”

Lena stopped herself before she went down a slippery slope.

“To what?” Kara asked.

“Never mind, it’s not important,” Lena dismissed. “Add that to the list of things I need to do once we’re unglued.”

“What were you going to say?” Kara insisted. “We agreed not to keep secrets from each other when we reconciled.”

Lena stayed quiet. She could pretend she had fallen asleep but she knew Kara would see through her bluff. Plus her mind was bubbling with ideas on how to create the red sun light so sleep was slipping away.

“How are you even able to have sex with your powers? Are the glasses enough?” she finally asked.

“Oh. Er…”

“You don’t have to answer!” Lena said quickly. “It was a stupid question. Forget about it, it’s none of my business.”

“No, I want to tell you. It’s the kind of things that friends tell each other and I want you to be my best friend again and I want to share that with you.”

Lena wanted to scream that she didn’t want to be best friend, she wanted so much more but she knew that best friend was the best she would get.

“To answer your question, the glasses aren’t enough. I’ve had four boyfriends as a teenager and I managed to break all their noses because I was a bit too eager. I still managed to have sex by being very, very careful and basically doing a little more than the starfish. And then there was Adam Grant but it didn’t go that far and James and I had… something and then… it was different with Mon-El, I didn’t have to hold back except not to break the bed.”

Lena felt sick at the mention of the fratboy from the stars.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you of him, I know he was the love of your life,” Lena said softly.

“He wasn’t,” Kara said as softly. “He was… someone I thought I had strong feelings for at a moment in my life but since then there has been someone else who has made me feel so much more than I ever thought possible…”

Lena couldn’t breathe. She’d had years to get ready to hear the news that Kara was in love with somebody else and yet she wanted to run away as far as possible. She whipped away the tear that was falling on her cheek and forced herself to breathe and calm down. Kara could not know who she felt. She had to think fast.

“Is it Brainy?” she asked.

Kara burst out laughing, a full belly laugh that Lena loved to hear and it made her smile.

“Because as his adopted big sister I will have to ask you what your intentions are,” she continued.

Kara laughed even more and it was contagious. When they calmed down, Lena whipped another tear from her eye.

“So if you have adopted Brainy, I’m adopting Nia,” Kara joked. “Because if you adopt her too they can’t be together and we don’t want that for them.”

“Deal!”

They stayed quiet after that, Lena really didn’t want to know who Kara loved so much. She finally fell asleep with the feeling of Kara’s thumb caressing hers.

Chapter Text

When she woke up, she was feeling sore all over. She wasn’t used to sleep on her back and she didn’t seem to have moved a lot during the night. Kara was already awake and munching on an energy bar.

“Morning sleepy head. How do you feel?”

“Coffee,” Lena grumbled.

“We got some right over there but we need to get up.”

Within a few minutes they were up and Kara poured coffee in a mug. Lena almost scalded her mouth on the dark roast brew but she didn’t care.

“What time is it?” she asked, running a hand through her hair. It felt very bad and would probably need a whole bottle of dry shampoo to get it somewhat presentable. She felt gross all over and longed for a hot deep scrub shower.

“Almost noon,” Kara replied.

“What!”

“Alex came by around seven and we decided to let you sleep because you were exhausted.”

Lena wanted to protest but they had been right.

“Okay fine. Let’s get ready and get to work. I want to try a new approach today.”

In the lab, they found Brainy studying the device.

“See Kara, that’s why I’m adopting Brainy, we think alike,” Lena said. “Better be careful though you don’t want to end up like us,” she told Brainy.

Brainy quirked an eyebrow at her.

“While we do have similar views on how to solve a problem, I don’t remember discussing me being a part of the Luthor family. Perhaps the alien substance is affecting your brain or maybe it’s your corporal odor that’s troubling you.”

Lena was stunned.

“Are you saying we stink?”

Brainy looked uncomfortable.

“Under the circumstances, it’s understandable but you need not to worry, I can deactivate my sense of smell and we can keep working.”

He put his fingers to his forehead and closed his eyes for a second.

“Done. Please remind me to reactivate it at the end of the day, I would not like to miss the delicate aroma of… never mind. I have isolated the power source of the device, I was about to remove it when you arrived.”

Lena nodded in approbation.

“And hopefully eliminate the risk of another discharge. I was thinking about the fact that we’ve spent the last two days trying to undo the effects of the alien goo on us but we haven’t studied the goo or the device. And the fact that the device gave me a shock before I got splashed with the goo. So maybe it’s the combination of the shock with the good that makes it so sticky.”

“I came to the same conclusions when I was on the Legion ship last night.”

“Great! You study the device and I’ll study the goo.”

Brainy frowned.

“Shouldn’t you study the device since you know it more than I do?”

Lena shook her head.

“We need fresh eyes and I trust your judgment. Let’s work like this for the next couple of hours and then we’ll compare notes and switch.”

Kara raised her hand.

“Before you start the science, would you mind if we go see Alex for an update of the research for Gralg?” she asked.

“Of course! And you’re probably hungry too, right? We’ll go get some food and go see Alex for an update. Brainy, do you want to come with us?”

“I think it would be better for me to start working now. Agent Shaw has brought homemade churros and I do not want to be tempted to eat more than the one I already had,” Brainy said with resolve.

Kara put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll be happy to remove all temptation for you my friend. Where are they?”

“Thank you. They’re in the cafeteria and they’re delicious.”

Before Lena could realize what was going on, she was wrapped in Kara’s arms and they were flying in the hallway. She didn’t have time to process the whole thing that it was over and Kara was stuffing her face with churros.

“Kara!” Alex walked up to them, coffee sloshing out of her mug. “What did I tell you about flying in the hallways?”

“Mmfry?”

Alex raised an eyebrow at her.

“Want to try to answer like an adult?”

Kara finished her churros and gave her sister her brightest smile.

“Only in case of emergency but I don’t care what you think, homemade churros definitely qualify as urgent.”

Alex rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Leave some for the rest of us. Lena, are you okay, you look pale.”

Lena stopped fixing the table in front of her and took a deep breath. She had been wrapped into Kara’s strong arms and held against her chest but it had happen so fast and so briefly she didn’t have time to savour it. But she couldn’t tell Alex that. Or anyone for that matter.

“Motion sickness, I’m okay,” she told Alex instead.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Lena!” Kara said.

Alex guided her to a chair and helped her sit.

“Are you going to be sick?”

“No.”

“Okay. Don’t talk for now.”

“Can you give us an update on your search for Gralg?” Kara asked.

“So far we’ve asked every alien or ally who came to Al’s bar and nobody knows anything about Okeo or Gralg.”

“Are you saying I’m a liar?” Lena protested.

Was Alex ever going to trust her?

“What? No! You might have been duped but I believe you. We still have a few people to talk to. I might ask a sketch artist to talk to you, see if we can get a picture of Gralg.”

Lena relaxed a little. Apparently she was still quickly jumping to conclusions.

“Let me check my security videos, I might be able to get a good picture.”

“Oh! That reminds me I have something for you.”

Alex reached for her back pocket and pulled out Lena’s phone.

“It rang quite a few times last night and this morning. I saw Sam’s name often enough to get worried so I called her from my phone. I told her you were sleeping and she said her news could wait until you were rested.”

Lena took her phone and quickly went through her notifications. Twenty-two missed calls and about twice as many texts and various pop-ups. Research would have to wait. She thanked Alex and called Sam.

“Lena! Were you in a coma?” Sam greeted her.

“Just very tired. What’s the emergency?”

Sam stayed quiet for a few seconds.

“Sam? What’s going on?”

“L-Corp is fine but… Mr. Spitfire has been reading the tabloids and he’s now convinced that you’re… on a sexcapade with a whore instead of dealing with the crisis caused by the lockdown. Some of our investors are worried as you probably already know.”

Lena groaned.

“Yeah and it gets worse,” Sam continued. “He managed to convince other board members and now they want to talk to you. In person.”

“What did you tell them?”

“The usual. While the Omega Protocol is in place, I’m in charge and I will deal with the investors. That you were alright but busy for a little while. They still demanded the meeting.”

Lena groaned again. What was the point of having the Omega protocol if the board members didn’t respect it?

“How many members had he convinced?”

“At least nine as far as I can tell. I haven’t talked with everyone yet. I know that you have the support of Bering, Wells, Swan, Mills, Picard and Crusher. Oh and Lady Pendragon. And mine of course. And I haven’t talked to Peralta, Santiago or Diaz yet but I’m pretty sure they will back you as well.”

“Sam, I’m still attached to Kara, I can’t go to an emergency board meeting!” Lena protested.

“I know, sweetie, calm down. Can you do a videocall?” Sam asked. “If you place the camera a certain way they won’t see your hand or Kara.”

Lena looked down at her wrinkled shirt that had a yogurt stain from yesterday.

“Not an option. When is the meeting?”

“Tomorrow at one. I’ve booked an early flight so I’ll have to cut my date short tonight.”

Lena’s train of thought was derailed.

“Wait, what? You have a date tonight and you didn’t tell me? Is it the same person as the last two times you went on a date?” she eagerly asked.

“The last three times actually,” Sam corrected.

Lena blinked in surprise.

“Samantha Arias, you went on a third date and you didn’t tell me anything?!? You owe me a bottle of Prosecco and a chat!”

“I’ll try to swing by the DEO tomorrow if Director Danvers lets me in. What do we do about the board?”

Lena sighed.

“You’ll have to do it if I’m still incapacitated. I’ll call if I have to but no video, I look very bad, Spitfire will remove me as CEO if he sees me like this.”

“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow when I land. Keep me updated if you can make it. By text, no calls during my date, please!”

“Only if it’s an emergency, I promise.”

Lena hung up and saw that Kara was picking up the cinnamon sugar on her empty plate.

“Everything okay at L-Corp?” she asked as if she hadn’t heard everything. 

Lena appreciated the attempt at human behavior even if it wasn’t necessary.

“A man who thinks he’s better than me because of what’s between his legs instead of what’s between his ears. Nothing Sam can’t handle.”

Kara nodded.

“How is she?” she asked casually.

“She’s good.”

“She’s dating someone?”

“Yes, but she refused to tell me who it is.”

Kara gave her a little smile.

“So you guys never…”

“Hooked up?” Lena said at the same time Kara said “Dated?”

Kara bit her bottom lip and lowered her head.

“Oh,” she said softly.

“When we first met we were each other’s pressure relief but it’s been years.”

“Oh,’’ Kara said again

Lena’s phone chirped with a new notification and brought her back to reality.

“Let’s go back to the lab, I’d rather deal with alien goo than a misogynist right now.”

Kara agreed and they walked to the lab where Lena spent several hours analyzing the alien goo and its effect on different matter while Kara took notes and had another heated conversation with Andrea Rojas over the phone. Lena felt a bit guilty for selling Catco to Andrea but what was done was done.

Brainy was growing more and more frustrated with the alien device and he still didn’t understand how it had produced energy. After dinner, he went over Lena’s observations about the goo while Lena looked at the device. At midnight, Kara was the one who insisted they stopped for the night since Alex was nowhere to be found. She tried to convince Lena to go to the showers to at least wash their hair but Lena refused. She was tired and she didn’t want to deal with the image of a wet Kara, especially before going to share a bed with her.

“Okay, but tomorrow morning we really need to shower what we can. Or I’m asking Nia to hose us down,” Kara stated firmly.

Lena nodded, resigned. Maybe the cold water of the hose would help keep her cool when she’d see Kara’s shirt plastered to her chest. But for now she wanted to sleep even if it would be poorly. Her brain was saturated with information about alien tech, worry about L-Corp and not letting her feelings for Kara show, she needed a reboot. She let Kara be in charge and be led to the beds, their way in the dark lit by Kara’s cell phone.

“Lena?”

“Hum?”

“‘I’ve been thinking and do you think you’d be comfortable sleeping on your left side instead of your back? I didn’t sleep very well last night so I’d like to try on the side if it’s okay with you?”

Lena thought for a second.

“Won’t your arm be sore in the morning?”

“We’ll put a pillow or something. And I’ll go in the sunbed to work off the kinks,” Kara assured her.

“Okay then.”

Once they were settled, Lena realized they were facing each other and it was a more intimate way to sleep than on their backs.

“Good night,” she murmured before closing her eyes. She was almost asleep when she felt something brushing her cheek softly. Thinking it was the blanket, she didn’t move.

“Sweet dreams my love.”

Chapter Text

"Sweet dreams my love,” she heard whispered so softly for a moment she thought she had imagined it. Before she thought better of it, she opened her eyes and stared in front of her even if she could barely see Kara in the darkness.

“Did you call me ‘my love’?” she asked.

Kara stayed quiet for so long, Lena wasn’t sure if she had fallen asleep or she was purposefully ignoring her.

“I did. Because that’s what you are to me. When I said yesterday that there is someone who has made me feel so much more than I ever thought possible, I was talking about you, Lena. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for a long time. I never said anything because I didn’t think you were into women and I knew… I know that you’ll never love me like that because I’ve hurt you so much. And why would you? You can do so much better than me. I’m sorry to burden you with this, I understand if you don’t want to be near me after this, if you want to go back East or just not see me again, I just… You were sleeping and so peaceful and I couldn’t help myself and…”

“Shut up!” Lena interrupted her. “Shut up you beautiful alien, I’m in love with you too!” she blurted before she pulled Kara toward her and kissed her. 

It was messy and wet from their tears but it was them. Lena couldn’t process all the emotions going through her so she let them wash over her as Kara’s lips on hers removed all her abilities to think. Kara deepened the kiss and pressed Lena harder to the mattress. Lena kissed her back despite the growing pain in her arm and shoulder. She wanted to melt into Kara and never let go. Kara tried to move her left hand and Lena felt something stretch too much. She moaned in pain and Kara immediately stopped and pulled back, putting their hands in a more neutral position while still lying on top of Lena.

“I’m sorry,” Kara panted, “I forgot about our hands. Let me… I’ll check your arm with my x-ray vision, where does it hurt?”

“I’m okay, Kara, just a muscle stretching too much in my wrist, you won’t see it with x-ray. Can... could you turn on the light on your phone, please? I want to see you.”

“I’d rather stay in the dark and kiss you silly,” Kara tried.

Lena smiled.

“You’ve already done that, darling,” she said.

“I like it when you call me that. My heart almost exploded when you said it yesterday. I had to work hard to calm down so it wouldn’t show on Alex’s exam and freak her out. She would have asked so many questions!”

Lena’s smile grew wider. Kara slowly removed herself from her and reached for her phone and turned the light on. The brutal change hurt Lena’s eyes and she closed them quickly.

“Open your eyes, zhao, you’re the one who wanted lights,” Kara teased.

Lena obeyed and endured the short pain. Kara was lying on her right side and had put her left hand in an awkward angle so it would cause less stress on Lena’s.

“What does it mean, zhao?” Lena asked.

“It means my love, because it’s what you are to me. My love.”

Lena lifted her free hand and delicately traced Kara’s cheek from her brow to her chin before going up to her lips where she lingered long enough for Kara to kiss her fingertips. She caressed the tip of her nose up to the scar next to her starting point on the brow before she repeated her journey with her lips. The kiss was softer this time, less rushed, more heartfelt. Lena put an end to it after a while when she realized that her right hand was dangerously close to Kara’s exposed midriff. Now was not the time or place to start something they wouldn’t be able to finish and be satisfied. She let her forehead touch Kara’s and whispered close to her lips.

“As much as I want to have my wicked way with you and explore all of you with my mouth, we still have some things to discuss. I want… I would like for us to take it slow, I want to be courted, I want to court you, take you to new places and discover new food and I want… I want to make you red sun lamps so you can be with me without worrying and I want to get to know you even more, I want us to be sure. I need you to be sure. Being with me... it’s not easy. You’ve seen how crazy it can be with the paparazzi and board members and assassination attempts. I know you can protect yourself, that you can protect me, but you will be brought to the spotlight as Kara Danvers and they will dig everything about you. You’ll be at risk to be exposed as Supergirl and…”

Kara interrupted her ranting with a deep kiss. Lena kissed her back and soon she was straddling Kara, their left hands squished between them. Kissing Kara was better than she had even imagined and she didn’t want to stop. Kara’s hand was already caressing the skin of her back, sending delicious shivers all over her body. She let herself get lost in the sensations until Kara ended the kiss.

“I agree… we should take it slow. And I fully intend to seduce you slowly and thoroughly. You know I’m always willing to try new food and anything new with you is my favorite. As for being sure… Lena, I would like to bring you to Argo and meet my mom.”

Lena smiled at her.

“I already met your mother. Both of them in fact,” she pointed out.

Kara gave her a quick peck on the lips.

“I know, smartass, but I want you to meet my mom when we’re not in a crisis to save the world and I want you to see Argo. It’s not exactly where I grew up but it’s close enough,” Kara explained.

Lena snuggled her head in Kara’s neck.

“Then I would be honored.”

Kara wrapped her right arm around Lena’s back.

“What do you want to tell the others?” she asked softly. “I’m okay with being discreet if you’re okay with it too. We can wait until we’ve talked some more before we talk to our friends and family.”

“I think that’s very wise. Maybe we could have some fun with the image inducers to confuse the press,” Lena suggested.

Kara chucked.

“We could make them believe that you’re a womanizer and make them chase their tails, you’re deliciously genius.”

Lena giggled.

“Deliciously genius?”

“What? You are a genius and I know for a fact that you taste delicious, so deliciously genius.”

Lena laughed.

“You won’t know how delicious I taste until we’ve had… at least four dates.”

“Okay. I better start planning then. Are you free Saturday?”

“Well I think there’s a high probability that we’ll still be stuck together on Saturday. What do you have in mind?”

“Oh… uh I was thinking dinner and a movie but you’re right.”

Lena sighed.

“I’ll call doctor Khan tomorrow.”

“Doctor who?”

Lena chuckled.

“Doctor Sarah Khan. She’s the best hand surgeon in the country. I’ll ask for a consultation if Alex agrees to give her clearance. And I’ll start on programming my nanobot to help. It’s going to take some time but hopefully Brainy will speed up the calculations.”

Kara stayed quiet for a moment.

“Why haven’t you tried the nanobots before?”

“Oh! I… I haven’t quite figured out how to override the mind control part yet.”

“That would be an excellent reason to try other options first,” Kara said.

“Mmmm,” Lena agreed as she stifled a yawn.

“But you can’t do that if you’re dead on your feet so let’s sleep and we’ll talk some more tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah,” Lena said softly, her eyes already closed. Kara was very warm and she felt very comfortable.

“Sweet dreams my love,” she heard before falling asleep.

BANG

“WE FOUND THEM!”

“Alex! Damn it, did you have to yell!” Kara hissed.

“Sorry, I thought you’d be happy to know we found Gralg, Why is Lena on top of you like this?” Alex said.

“Because I started sleep floating in the middle of the night and I was pulling on her arm. So I put her like this. How about you go wait for us in the cafeteria?”

“I can’t, I’m on my way to get Gralg, I just told you!”

“Go on then, let us wake up like normal people, we’ll see you when you get back.”

“Fine. I’ll stop by Noonan’s on my way back and I’ll bring coffee and sticky buns.”

“Thank you!”

Lena counted to thirty before she groaned. 

“Is she gone?”

Kara caressed her back and kissed her temple.

“Yeah. Good morning.”

“Mornin… I can’t feel my arm.”

“Oh… Maybe sleeping like this was a bad idea after all. I’ll get us up, okay? Hang on.”

Within a few seconds, they were airborne and then standing on their feet. Kara delicately placed their jointed hands in a neutral position.

“Owowowowow!”

“Sorry! Sorry! It’ll be better in a few minutes, I promise,” Kara soothed.

“I know, I just hate when it happens. I think I’ll take some ibuprofen with my coffee and hopefully all the pain will go away,” Lena said.

Kara frowned.

“I know it’s probably because of how we slept but do you think it could be a side effect of the goo?”

Lena considered Kara’s observation. It was a possibility that the goo was affecting her, after all it had affected Kara with a delay, the reaction could be different with a human. Her head was pounding, her upper body was sore but the rest seemed fine.

“How about we go shower and eat something and we’ll see how you feel after?” Kara suggested. “By the time we’re done, Alex should be back with Gralg and she can examine you if you don’t feel better, what do you think?”

Lena massaged her forehead with her right hand.

“I think it’s too early for your good idea. Okay for the shower but just me and you and hot water, no Nia or nothing.”

Kara gave her a quick kiss.

“As you wish.”

Almost an hour later, they were walking to the cafeteria to get coffee and breakfast and Lena had to admit she was starting to feel better. They ran into Vasquez before they could reach their destination.

“Ah there you are. Director Danvers sent me to get you. We just got back with Gralg. They are setting up in your lab with Brainy and Director Danvers. She says that you both have to eat before you can join them.”

Lena exchanged a look with Kara who shrugged.

“Thanks Vasquez,” she said. “Alex was supposed to bring back breakfast from Noonan’s, did you have time to go?”

The agent nodded.

“Shaw is in the kitchen right now, putting the sticky buns in the oven so they are warm and gooey. There are two dozen for you Kara and the rest is for us. And Root is preparing the coffee.”

Kara’s face lit up and Lena smiled softly at her. Maybe the next restaurant she would buy should be Noonan’s if only to be able to see that smile on Kara’s face on a regular basis.

“Yes! Thanks again, Vasquez! Come on, Lena!”

At least this time Kara didn’t fly them to the cafeteria but power walking backward was not Lena’s favorite. It took more time for Lena to eat one sticky bun than it took Kara to eat twenty-four but she didn’t care. Her head was feeling better but her brain was working hard trying to find answers to her predicament and what to do about the board members.

“How do you feel?” Kara asked suddenly.

“Better. I still feel sore and there’s still pain in my elbow and my wrist but my headache is mostly gone. Probably some caffeine withdrawal and the way we slept. I promise I’ll tell you if it’s getting worse,” Lena reassured her.

Kara caressed her thumb with hers.

“Okay. Are you ready to go to the lab?”

Lena forced herself to eat another bite of the sugary pastry before she gave Kara what was left.

“Let’s go.”

Kara stopped to get a coffee refill for the both of them and took an apple and gave Lena a banana. Lena raised an eyebrow at her.

“For you to eat later. Half a sticky bun and coffee is not enough.”

“I know but I wasn’t hungry.”

“It’s okay, that’s why I got you snacks.”

Lena rolled her eyes at her but didn’t comment further. They walked to the lab with Lena leading the way when Kara remembered a crucial detail.

“Oh shoot, wait! I need to put my glasses on,” she said, patting her pockets to find them.”

“Why? Gralg will need to know about your biology if we want to be separated. Ow! Stop squirming, here, you have them to me for safekeeping while you showered,” Lena said as she handed Kara her glasses.

“Because they might need to know I’m Kryptonian but they don’t need to know I’m Supergirl. There’s a picture of us like this so we need to be careful,” Kara explained as she put on her glasses.

“You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that,” Lena apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. Okay good to go.”

In the lab, Brainy was working on the device while what appeared to be a little old and frail lady was being shown around by Alex There was softness in her demeanor that Lena hadn’t seen often and it made her smile.

“Good morning everyone, sorry we’re late,” she said softly.

Gralg’s face lit up and their smile widened.

“Lena! Oh my darling girl, how are you?”

Gralg had wrapped Lena in an awkward but warm hug. Lena welcomed the embrace and returned it as much as she could.

“Hello Gralg, it’s nice to see you again. I’m doing okay despite everything. How are you?”

“Oh never mind me, you got yourself in a pickle! Lexie here was telling me all about it.”

Kara chuckled and Alex blew her a raspberry. Gralg walked to her and looked at her for a moment. Kara smiled at them but didn’t say anything. The staring grew uncomfortable with every second. 

“Do you think you can help us?” Lena asked to break the tension.

“May I hug you Kara?” Gralg asked.

Kara opened her arm and the pair fell into a short embrace.

“Yes I will help you Lena. I will need time to read everything you have tried so I can recalibrate the Helgenbargenflergenflurfennerfen.”

Lena couldn’t help herself and bursted out laughing along with everyone in the room. It took several minutes before everyone calmed down and had dried their tears.

“How about we call it a device for short?” Alex suggested.

“I agree. Show me your experiments so I can put an end to these poor girls' misery.”

“Right, let’s get to my computer and I’ll show you what we’ve done so far,” Lena said.

Gralg placed a comforting hand on her arm. 

“Don’t worry, dear, we will fix this and you’ll be back to saving this planet.”

“Uh... before we start, I have some questions if you don’t mind,” Kara said.

Gralg smiled at her.

“A very inquisitive mind indeed. What do you wish to know?”

Kara took a moment to formulate her question.

“Why did you lie to Lena about where you are from? Are you hiding from someone? Maybe we can help if you’re in trouble.”

Gralg laughed.

“I appreciate your altruism, child. I haven’t been in any trouble since I arrived on this planet. I didn’t lie about where I was from. I haven’t been here long so when Lena asked me where I was from, it was natural to answer with the name of my village. A simple misunderstanding as I explained to Lexie when she came to my house.”

“That explains we weren’t able to find you,” Kara said.

“That and the fact that Gralg uses their human name in public,” Alex added. “And they don’t go to Al’s. Once we had the picture from L-Corp’s video surveillance it was easier to find them.”

“I should have thought about it sooner, I’m sorry,” Lena said.

“Hey none of that, you had your mind full with L-Corp and trying to figure out a solution to our problem,” Kara protested. “What matters is we’re okay and we found Gralg and they will help us. Right?”

Gralg had a big smile.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now show me your experiments if you don’t want to spend the rest of your lives attached to each other.”

Lena looked at Kara for a second and saw the sparkle in her eyes at the idea of spending their lives together. She caressed her thumb with hers then led Gralg to her computer. By the time Lena and Brainy finished explaining all their scientific process and how some of the equipment worked, it was well over lunch time and Kara couldn’t wait any longer.

“Alright, enough boring science talk, I need food stat!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her.

“I’ve been patient all morning, I let you talk science, even if everything you believe is completely wrong, I let you talk without saying a word, now mama wants a steak as big as her face. And mashed potatoes and gravy and one, no two loaves of bread warm and buttery and three chocolate milkshakes.”

“Will it be all, miss, or you’d like some dessert after?” Nia half joked while miming taking an order. “Or maybe a big salad as a side dish?”

Kara grimaced.

“No vegetables, I’m not a rabbit! Get me a cheese cake, a chocolate cake and a chocolate pecan pie,” she ordered.

“Well, she certainly has an appetite this one,” Gralg said. “I don’t believe you’ve told me everything I needed to know to solve your little problem.”

Kara opened her mouth to reply but Alex was faster.

“Can it, Kara. I’m the reason some information was withheld, Gralg, I apologize. It was necessary. It would seem like the goo produced by your device is affecting Kara. I thought I had fixed the problem but apparently not.”

Gralg waited for her to continue. Alex sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Brainy, you’re in charge of Kara, Gralg come with me please, I have more papers for you to sign.”

“Lexie, please, tell me what’s going on. We have plenty of time later for paperwork.”

Alex looked at Lena who nodded.

“Fine. Kara is Kryptonian. She needs to eat a lot or often. Since she was infected with the good, she gets bitchy when she’s hungry.”

“And it’s unusual for her?” Gralg asked.

Alex nodded.

“She never gets like this when she’s hungry. When it happened the first time I noticed her cortisol levels were high despite the fact that she had eaten and exposing her to yellow sun radiation seemed to have cured her but now I’m not so sure.”

“I would like access to their medical data please and a fresh blood analysis,” Gralg requested.

“May we give her something to eat first?” Nia asked. “She looks ready to bolt out of here and damn the consequences for Lena.”

Lena only had to look at Kara for two seconds to realize that Nia was right and that she had to act now.

“Alright Kara, let’s go get the snacks you sneaked into our room and then Alex will draw some blood and while we do that Nia and Brainy will get your food ready, okay?” she asked with a gentle tone. 

Kara sighed and rolled her eyes at her.

“Fiiine. I’m not a baby, Lena Luthor, no need to talk to me like I’m three years old. Make sure the bread is fresh out of the oven and the steak medium rare,” she said to Nia before she dragged Lena out of the room. 

In their room, Kara almost inhaled the two packs of chocolate chip cookies she had snuck in three nights ago and Lena wisely stayed quiet and looked away. Once the last crumbs had disappeared, Kara let out a satisfied sigh.

“Feeling better?”

“A little, yeah. I’m sorry I got so bitchy, I should have asked for a break instead of biting everyone’s head off.”

“Why didn’t you?” Lena asked softly.

“I don’t know, things were going well, I didn’t want to break the flow I guess.”

“Did you mean what you said? About us being wrong on science?”

Kara looked embarrassed.

“I see. Do you know how to separate us? Did you know this whole time?” Lena accused.

“No! Lena I swear I don’t know how to undo this, I wouldn’t do this. We understand science differently and I would love to talk at length about it with you but would you mind if we do this another day? And not because I’m hungry, ‘cause I am, but I know you’ll have tons of questions and I want to answer them all as much as I can. So I’m asking if we can put that on the list of things we need to talk about when this situation is over?”

Lena raised an eyebrow at her.

“That’s the official name of the list?”

“Yes. We’ve talked a lot but we need to talk some more, especially after last night.”

“Yes we do. You promise you’ll answer all my questions about science and not hide anything from me?”

Kara put her right hand on her heart.

“Khap vrreiahv,” she said solemnly. “I promise.”

Lena gave her a quick peck on the lips.

“Okay then. How about we go catch some artificial sun rays while Alex is doing another blood analysis? We haven’t been outside much in the last few days or at all really so you need to recharge.”

Kara opened her mouth to protest but Lena shut her up with a kiss. 

“And before you say something that you’ll regret later, remember that’s where Nia and Brainy will bring the food you… requested.”

Kara bit her lower lip and remained quiet. Lena took the lead and brought her to the medical lab where Alex was waiting with Gralg. Kara took place on the sunbed without a word and extended her right arm so Alex could draw blood.

“Thank you for bringing her back, Lena,” Alex said as she turned on the sunbed and grabbed a syringe with a kryptonite needle.

She quickly drew Kara’s blood before doing the same to Lena. Lena couldn’t help but notice that Alex was gentler with her than she had been with Kara. Alex left without a word for her sister and Gralg followed her. Kara winced and Lena had a feeling it wasn’t because of pain in her arm.

“Why do I feel like I’m missing something?”

Kara sighed. 

“Alex is a bit mad at me. She doesn’t like when I mention that Krypton was technologically superior to Earth. I used to bring it up all the time when we were teenagers. I’ll apologize when she gets back.”

The next person to come back to the room however was Nia with several plastic bags hanging from her arms.

“I got everything you ordered plus extra and I got food for Lena too. I hope you don’t mind, I used your name and your credit card, Lena. I thought it would get things done faster and I was right,” she explained as she unpacked everything. “I went to Spooner’s and Leonardo personally took care of everything so you know it’ll be good.”

She set up five plates for Kara, one for Lena and one for herself. Kara didn’t wait to dig in with gusto. With food and a boost from the sunbed, Kara’s mood improved and she apologized to Nia for her horrible behavior. Nia accepted the apologies and informed them she was on ‘Lenara’ duty for the rest of the day and she had to bring Kara food every two hours. Lena smiled at the nickname while Kara’s cheeks got pink.

After lunch, they all agreed that they had work to do so Nia set up some laptops and tablets. Lena went through her ever growing inbox while keeping an eye on her cell phone, half expecting Sam to call her to participate remotely to the extraordinary board member meeting. When she received a text at quarter to five telling her that everything had been taken care of and that Sam didn’t have time for a visit to the DEO that night, she relaxed on her uncomfortable chair and allowed herself a moment to refocus. 

Chapter Text

They were debating on what to eat for dinner when Alex came back with Gralg and Brainy.

“Ah Alex! I’m sorry about earlier, I was rude. Gralg, I hope you won’t judge me too harshly for my horrible behavior, I’m usually quite pleasant to be around and I apologize. Brainy, it was wrong of me to act this way and I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, Kara,” Alex said. “I knew you weren’t yourself and I let myself be petty. The good news is it should be the last time you get hangry because we think we have a solution.”

“Really?”

“Finally!”

Alex had a little smile.

“Wait until you’ve heard what you’ll have to do before you rejoice,” she warned.

“Oh stop being such a killjoy, Lexie, let them enjoy this!” Gralg said. “First, let me explain what happened, I have a feeling Lena will want to understand.”

“Of course I want to understand! I need to know why I failed and how I can fix it myself if it happens again,” Lena stated.

Gralg put a reassuring hand on her right shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault, child, you didn’t have all the facts and the device was broken.”

“Yeah, I know, I broke it.”

“No, it was broken before, when it was still on my ship. There’s nothing you could have done to fix it,” Gralg explained.

“What?”

“After all your and Brainy’s explanations, I did an exhaustive examination of the device and I found a broken key component. That’s why there was an energy discharge and the energy transformed the properties of the… goo inside. And it reacted differently with the two aliens it came in contact with. It made Lena's hand fuse to the first thing it came in contact with and it mutated again and entered Kara’s system and affected her brain.”

Lena felt the blood rush away from her face and her heart beat faster. Had Kara’s confession of feelings been her under alien influence all along? Her heart was beating so fast now she was sure everyone could hear it. She tried to keep her breathing calm and regular to avoid passing out or alerting Alex that something was wrong.

“What do you mean?” Kara asked.

Seconds lasted hours as Lena waited for her heart to be destroyed. Again.

“Apart from the moments I was hangry, I behaved normally, didn't I?”

She looked directly in Lena’s eyes.

“Apart from those two incidents, my actions and my words were my own, right?” Kara insisted.

Lena could feel tears prickle her eyes but she knew she shouldn’t let anyone else see them.

“I haven’t been around you in the last few days and I don’t know you so I’m not sure,” Gralg said. “Your friends would be in a better position to tell us. Lena would know since you’ve spent so much time together.”

Lena wanted to roll her eyes. Of course it was off to her to determine if Kara had been truthful. Of course she had to decide if she trusted that Kara had been sincere the night before or if it had been the stupid goo messing with her brain. After everything that had happened between them, all the lies and the hurt, she had to choose between her heart telling her to trust Kara again and her head telling her to run tests and be sure the goo hadn’t compromised Kara and to protect her heart. Everyone was waiting for her to speak. She stared at Kara who seemed on the verge of tears as well. She looked uncharastically distressed and Lena longed to take her in her arms and tell her everything would be alright and she knew.

“I agree with Kara, outside of the two hangry incidents, she has been her normal self.”

“I concur,” Brainy said.

“And me three,” Nia added. “I’m not a big fan of arrogant bossing Kryptonian but apart from that she was normal. Well as normal as she could be while stuck to somebody else.”

Gralg had a huge smile.

“It fills me with happiness to hear that. Would it be convenient to you both if I study the phenomenon further in the future?” they asked.

“Er… We’ll talk about it later,” Kara answered. “You found a way to undo the goo’s effects on us?”

“Yes! I’m sorry, my head is all over the place when new scientific discoveries happen.”

Kara laughed.

“Don’t worry about it, I know a few people like that.”

Lena couldn’t resist and blew her a raspberry followed by Alex.

“What do we have to do? It doesn’t involve me getting zapped again by the device, I hope,” Lena said.

“No nothing of the sort, dear child, don’t worry. The solution is simple but it won’t be pleasant I’m afraid. You will have to ingest the goo and the taste is horrible.”

There was a moment of silence while Lena, Kara and Nia processed the information.

“You want us to eat it?!?” Kara yelled.

“Ewww! Better you than me!” Nia mocked.

“Because it’s the easiest way to get it into our systems without diluting it,” Lena said calmly. 

Gralg looked at her with the pride Lena had been craving from Lillian all her life. She felt warmth all over her body and hanged on to it.

“Exactly! It would take too much time to adapt it to be injectable and I would have to adapt it twice since it affected you differently. Ingesting it is faster and it has a better chance of success right now.”

Lena nodded and Kara sighed.

“You’re right. How much do we need to eat?”

“I’ll go get it, it should be ready now. Brainy, you can turn off the sunbed. Why did you leave it on, Kara?” Alex said.

“Oh! I didn’t realize it was still on, we had a good work flow going with Nia and it felt good to feel the sun rays on my face so we stayed here. Are you stalling not to tell us how much we’ll eat?”

“Pfff! No! Be right back!”

She left quickly, almost running out. Brainy turned off the sunbed and helped Kara off. Lena was glad for the change, the chair was getting uncomfortable.

“Now, as I said, the taste of the goo will be most foul but you must drink it all or it won’t work. So it’s very important to keep everything inside of you,” Gralg said.

“I’d say it’s a good thing you guys haven’t had dinner yet but just in case I’ll go get cleaning supplies and a bucket,” Nia offered. She left almost as fast as Alex had.

“Gralg, how long do you expect it will take before the treatment is efficient and do you expect side effects?” Lena asked.

“Are you secretly hoping for superpowers, Lena?” Kara teased.

“I’m more concerned about internal damages after ingesting an alien substance that I haven’t studied and that I don’t know the properties of but now that you mention it maybe I should be worried about that too.”

Kara turned to Gralg and Brainy. 

“I need to use the bathroom before we do this so if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be back shortly,” she said before taking the lead and bringing Lena away from the med bay. 

Once they were alone, she gently pushed Lena against the wall and captured her lips with her own. Lena let herself get lost in the sensations of having Kara’s body pressed on hers. The kiss ended after a little while and Kara nuzzled Lena’s neck.

“Thank you for trusting me, I know it wasn’t an easy decision to make.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate it but did you bring me here to make out?” Lena deflected.

She wanted to have that discussion with Kara but not then and there.

“No, sorry, I really need to go to the bathroom but I wanted to tell you something in private too. It’s okay with me if you want to run some tests to make sure the goo is safe to ingest or if you want to call your doctor friend or work on the nanobots. Your safety is important to me, I wouldn’t want something to injure you or have permanent consequences.”

Lena hid her face in Kara’s shoulder. She needed to control her emotions before she ended up a blubbering mess.

“It means a lot to hear that but I’m not the only one to consider here. The world needs you, we’re lucky there were no emergencies in the last few days, the more we delay the more we’ll be playing Russian roulette. I trust Gralg, if they say that it’s safe, it’s safe.”

Kara hugged her as best as she could.

“Every time I think I can’t love you more, you do something extraordinary that makes me fall in love with you all over again. I really want to kiss you but if I start now I won’t stop for the next hour at least and we don’t have that time. Alex and Nia will be back any minute now. Are you ready to go?”

Lena nodded. After their bathroom break, they went back to the med bay. Everyone was back but Brainy was the one who came to them first.

“I understand your concern, Lena, and I assure you that I ran every calculation and did everything to make sure that ingesting the goo won’t cause any harm to you. Either of you. Apart from the taste and texture that reminds me of the time you made me eat escargots, everything is safe.”

“Thank you, Brainy. Thank all of you for helping us,” Lena said. “Okay let’s do this.”

Alex brought two mugs.

“Here it is. Do you want to stand or sit?”

Kara puffed her chest in mock bravery.

“Standing up like a woman!” she said, sounding like a caricature of herself. “We will face adversity… golly that’s a lot of goo!”

“Yeah, it’s about a cup.”

“A cup?!?”

Lena chuckled as she took her mug. It really didn’t look appetizing. She held her mug to Kara.

“Cheers!”

Kara didn’t look convinced.

“Let me go first, okay? Just in case. Cheers!”

She drank the goo in one go and did a whole face journey that didn’t encourage Lena. When the mug was empty, Kara gagged and Alex quickly thrusted the bucket against her chest while Nia grabbed the mug.

“If you hurl you’ll have to do it again!” Alex yelled.

Kara winced and grimaced and squirmed as she tried her best not to be sick.

“Water!” she croaked after a few minutes.

“It can’t be diluted,” Glad told her. “Or it will affect the goo’s properties and it will be all for nothing. You can’t drink or eat anything until it’s effective. I’m very sorry.”

Kara groaned.

“Ugh! Eww! It tastes like kale!” she whined.

“Oh! It’s not so bad then,” Lena said with relief. She liked kale so it wouldn’t be a problem. “Bottoms up!”

The texture did remind her of escargot but instead of the delicious taste of garlic butter, she was met with the most foul taste she could think of. She tried to take the mug away from her mouth but Alex came to her and helped her finish, pushing the mug up to empty it.

“Come on, you can do it… almost there… atta girl!”

Lena gagged and coughed hard. She shook her head in disgust and pinched her nose to try to block the aftertaste. She was going to need a whole bottle of scotch to get over that!

“Damn that was bad! Bleh! It didn’t taste like kale at all! It tasted like salmon! Rotten salmon! Can we please take a breath mint?”

Gralg gave her a little smile.

“I’m sorry, child, you cannot. Especially not mint, it would counteract the effects of the antidote,” they explained calmly.

“Not even brushing out teeth?” Kara asked.

“Kara, Gralg just said that mint is bad!” Alex said.

“I heard them, Alex, I have bubblegum toothpaste in my locker!” Kara replied.

“Children, enough bickering,” Gralg intervened. “As soon as Lena isn’t stuck to Kara and Kara’s blood test comes back normal you can eat anything you want. You need to be patient. You should feel the effects momentarily.”

“Does tingling in my hand count as felling the effect?” Lena asked.

“Oh! So soon! Excellent! Are you in pain?”

“Not exactly. It’s not enjoyable but it doesn’t hurt… that much. It’s like pins and needles so far.”

Gralg frowned.

“Noted. Any other effect?”

“Not yet. What about you Kara?”

Kara opened her mouth and let out a loud and long belch and everyone cringed.

“Ew! So sorry about that! Wow! I think I have… acid reflux? I think that’s what you call it. Yuck! That is most unpleasant.”

She belched again and grimaced. Gralg seemed concerned.

“Any other effect?”

Kara shook her head slowly and then hiccupped.

“If she starts farting, I’m out!” Alex said. 

“Lena, can you move your fingers in your left hand? Try with your index,” Gralg asked.

Lena slowly flexed her finger away from Kara’s palm, the pins and needles got worse as she moved.

“It’s working! Try the other ones!” Kara said enthusiastically.

Lena flexed the next finger and the next until all her fingers were detached.

“Very good, Lena, how do you feel?” Gralg asked.

“It got a little more intense but it’s still bearable.”

“Very well, try to move the rest of your hand now, slowly.”

Lena slowly pulled her hand away from Kara’s, finally free.

“It worked! It worked! We’re free!”

Kara wrapped her in a fierce hug and Lena let herself melt into the embrace. She didn’t care that her hand was still pins and needles, that her arm and shoulder were sore, she had never felt as safe as she did when she was in Kara’s arms. She had been craving to feel this way for years, she wasn’t going to let anything or anyone rob her of this moment.

“Uh… guys? I think I’m the one stuck now,” Kara said after a moment.

Chapter Text

Lena tried to free herself but she couldn’t.

“What?!?”

Alex was on them in seconds, pulling on Kara’s arms helped by Brainy, Nia and Gralg. They tried for a few minutes until Kara bursted out laughing and released her grip on Lena.

“Kara Danvers! That wasn’t funny!” Alex yelled. She flicked her sister’s ear in annoyance. “See if I help you next time you’re in trouble!”

Kara sobered up.

“Fine! I’m sorry everyone. Thank you for your help. Especially you, Gralg. Without your help we couldn’t have done it without major pain for Lena.”

Gralg gave her a big smile.

“I’m glad I was able to help. After all, I'm responsible for the whole thing and I’m really sorry. I hope you won’t mind if I do research with everything I’ve learned here today?”

“Of course not,” Alex reassured them. “I can set you up a lab right next to Lena’s. What do you say?”

“That would be wonderful, Lexie, thank you!”

“Well, I’m leaving you scientist to your science stuff, I have a date with four pizzas and a double order of potstickers,” Kara said as she moved toward the door.

“The only place you’re going is my examination table,” Alex ordered. “I’m not releasing you until I know for sure there are no other side effects to the goo.”

Kara sighed.

“Let me guess, more poking and probing?”

“You know the drill. I’m keeping you for observation for 24 hours. If you behave and the test comes back normal, I’ll free you for the weekend.”

“May I eat before we start?” Kara asked politely.

“I’m sorry child, I need data before you do. I promise we’ll make it fast,” Gralg said.

“Before we start with the poking and the probing, can we take a shower and change clothes?” Lena requested.

“I’ll escort them while you set up the lab,” Nia offered.

The three of them went to the shower and Kara held Lena back just enough so Nia wouldn’t hear.

“Do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow night?”

“You mean you’re not tired of me yet?” Lena teased.

Kara smiled at her.

“Never. Dinner and a movie at my place?”

Most of Lena’s instincts were telling her she should spend the weekend at L-Corp to try to go through the mountain of work she had but for once she didn’t want to. It was time for a change. 

“It’s a date.”

“May I ask you something else?”

“Sure.”

“When we’re on our date, may I hold your hand?”

“Always.”

Some time later

“No peeking!”

“I can’t peek, you’ve put lead in the blindfold, Lena. And my eyes are closed, I swear.”

“Okay, I just need to adjust something.”

“Lena? Why did you drive me all around town blindfolded only to come back to your home lab?”

Lena stopped dead in her tracks.

“Kara! You just told me you weren’t peeking!” she complained.

“I’m not! I’m even wearing my red sun earrings. But even with my senses dulled I can recognize the smell and the sounds of your home lab,” Kara explained patiently. “I like the new air freshener you’ve made. I would have thought that you’d go with plumeria or even kale but chocolate is a good smell. A very good smell.”

Lena grinded her teeth. If she didn’t hurry up, Kara would accidently spoil her own surprise. She delicately put everything in its place then took Kara’s hands in hers.

“Kara, you know that French chocolatier you keep rambling about?”

Kara’s smile grew wider.

“Wait, you teamed up with him to create the perfect air freshener? That’s awesome! He’s the perfect person to help you achieve that! He really is a genius and…”

Lena silenced her with a kiss which quickly deepened. She got lost in Kara’s embrace, it had been two weeks since they had been able to see each other for more than three minutes. Kara had slept at the DEO to deal with the latest emergency and Lena had left work every day so late it was almost early to deal with a massive cyber attack and its aftermath. But everything was back to normal now, it was Friday night, they had the next week off to spend with each other.

Lena felt the blindfold against her face and it brought her back to the moment. She kept kissing Kara and undid the blindfold slowly before she removed it. Kara kept her eyes closed and started to pull on Lena’s shirt to get it out of her skirt. Lena placed her hands on hers to stop her.

“Please? I need you right now, if I don’t take you against the nearest flat surface I’ll combust!” Kara whined.

Lena quickly kissed her.

“Five minutes darling, I promise. Open your eyes.”

“I swear Lena I…”

Lena beamed as Kara discovered her surprise.

“As I was saying, I reached out to your chocolatier and I had a custom piece made.

“It’s… it’s me! Made of chocolate! Me!”

The life-size statue of Supergirl had cost a small fortune but seeing the result and Kara’s reaction was absolutely worth it.

“It’s amazing! The others won’t believe it! Alex is going to flip so hard! Oh! And Cat! She’s going to kill us if she doesn’t get an exclusive on that!”

Lena rolled her eyes. Or course Kara would think about her mentor in a time such as this.

“Well she won’t get an exclusive anytime soon because Tess Mercer placed the order and she likes her privacy so she paid extra and no pictures or video of the sculpture will end up on social media,” she stated. 

Kara pouted.

“I have ways to convince her that her plan is a terrible idea,” she said as she got closer to Lena.

Lena wrapped her arms around her waist.

“You’ll have to be very convincing, I’ve heard she’s a hard ass.”

Kara put her hands on Lena’s ass and squeezed.

“I’m confident in my arguments. Let me show you.”

Lena kissed her lightly then took her distances. If she didn’t do this now, she would explode with stress. She had underestimated Kara’s libido over her excitement and her plan was getting derailed by the minute.

“In a moment, darling, I want to look at your sculpture. I want to know how he did the cape, it was his biggest concern.”

Kara frowned.

“Is everything okay Lena? We can go have dinner now if you want, I don’t mind waiting a little more.”

“I just want to see if he did a good job and take notes to compare with the real thing after,” Lena said.

“Okay.”

Lena took her time to admire the sculpture and kept an eye on Kara who was doing the same.

“Lena? Did you notice the hinge over my family’s crest?” Kara asked after a while.

“A hinge?”

“Yeah, like there’s a secret compartment or something.”

“That wasn’t on the schematic I approved. Why don’t you open it, maybe he put something extra.”

Lena placed herself behind Kara as she delicately lifted the red, yellow and blue symbol and revealed a jewelry box. She took it and replaced the chocolate piece before she turned to Lena and opened it. Lena pulled a silk plumeria from behind her back and handed it to Kara.

“Marry me?” 

She had a big speech prepared and memorized for weeks but right now she couldn’t remember anything. Kara was stunned and was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of the water.

“I…I… hold that thought!”

Before Lena could realize it, she had the jewelry box in her hand and her hair was blowing in the wind. She was left alone with the sculpture of the woman she loved. The woman who had run away. The other shoe had finally dropped.

She should have known better. She knew better. Submerged with emotions, she let herself sink to the floor, still holding the ring she had spent months designing and getting made by the best jewelers she could find. Her vision blurred with tears and she let them fall.

“I wanted to wait for dessert but it’s more appropriate now and… Lena?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll get out of your hair… I’ll… I’ll go to a hotel…”

Kara kneeled next to her but didn’t touch her.

“What? Why? Oh! Lena, no! No, no, no! I mean yes but no! I mean… Argl! Gimme five minutes, okay? Five minutes and you decide what you want to do next, okay?”

Lena nodded. At this point she didn’t see how five minutes would change anything. Kara helped her up and guided her to her work table where a big white box was waiting.

“Open it. Gently.”

Lena put the ring box on the table and undid the ribbon of the cardboard box to reveal a golden cage. Inside the cage stood a heart, bright and red.

“Lift the cage and open the heart,” Kara said softly.

Lena slowly removed the cage and opened the heart. She had never seen a bracelet like the one she found inside the heart.

“This is my heart that I give to you for safekeeping. On Krypton, we used bracelets to indicate our attachment to someone. I know I’m only repeating your words but, marry me?”

Lena was shocked.

“You… you went to see the chocolatier too?”

“I asked him if he could make a slightly bigger version of his proposal cake so the bracelet box would fit and he agreed,” Kara explained.

“So you’re not leaving me?”

Kara wrapped her arms around her from behind and placed her chin on Lena’s shoulder.

“Not only am I not leaving you, I want to be with you forever. Will you?”

“I asked first. You never answered.”

“Yes I did! I… Oh! You’re right, I didn’t. Yes, I want to marry you.”

She took the ring and put it on her finger. Lena took the bracelet and put it on.

“Yes. With you forever.”