winterssystem

[winterssystem]

happy supercorp sunday to me personally

[winterssystem]

The first thing that greeted Lena was pain. The second was sunlight- which also brought pain. She knew immediately what she had done, or rather, what she had forgotten doing: imbibed enough alcohol to give herself both a blackout and a thermonuclear hangover. She hadn’t drunk like this since… since Andrea. She hadn’t even gotten blackout drunk after breaking up with Jack. It had been a semi-regular occurrence while she was in school, but she’d managed to keep it from becoming A Problem- or at least she’d kept anyone from noticing, except for one: Lex, who had gently taken her aside and provided her with the support she needed to prevent an occasional indulgence from becoming a habit.

A habit that would have killed her eventually, as it had her father. One might say that Lex had saved her life with that kindness.

She had repaid him by killing him for the sake of someone who wouldn’t tell Lena her real name. It was as bitter in her mouth as the hint of vomit she tasted. Has she thrown up?

She was at least in her own bed, so she made it home last night. The best thing for a hangover, she found, was a day in Egyptian cotton sheets and some cranberry juice and Tylenol. She would feign illness and tell Jess she needed a day or two and reaffirm herself. She couldn’t let the monkey climb on her back.

(the bottle and a half of Balvenie single malt told her the monkey was halfway aboard, digging grubby nails into her flesh to make handholds)

There was, however, an oddity. Lena did not own a red blanket, and she was gradually beginning to realize that she was was not lying on Egyptian cotton sheets, but a threadbare set of plain ol’ flannel ones, warm and cozy.

(what the fuck did I do)

Visions of scandal flashed in her mind. Paparazzi waiting outside. Lurid TMZ articles about Lena Luthor’s drunken hookup. Stock prices taking a hit. A male CEO could fuck cocktail waitresses from here to Sunday and no one cared, but if Lena were branded a slut she’d be taken that much less seriously.

The world seemed to tilt, lazily throb around her.

No, wait, that wasn’t the world, that was someone breathing. Lena’s head lay not on a pillow but on a soft, relaxed bicep; the owner’s arm lay draped across the bed just so, hand hanging relaxed off the edge. The fingers were long and slender but there were veins on the back of the hand and zigzagging up the arm.

The motion she felt was breathing, the chest of her bedmate pressing lightly against her as she breathed. It had to be a she, Lena thought, because she felt the telltale

(delightful)

sensation of breasts pressed to her back, and whoever they belonged to was either cold or having a good dream.

Dimly, she became aware of yet more details. A heavy arm lay draped across her waist, curled protectively around her body, as though reaching for her breasts but not quite making it. Powerfully muscled thighs were tucked against her own, warm and silky, and soft breaths tickled across the back of her neck.

Lena swallowed hard. She was beginning to apprehend where she was and who she was spooning with. It was confirmed when she looked down and realized that she was not in her own clothes but wearing a long Midvale High sweatshirt and only a pair of underwear beneath it.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!

(fuck!)

She must have stirred enough to wake Kara finally, because she shifted behind Lena and her body tensed slightly as she came around.

Blearily, Kara said, “Are you okay, baby? Do you need me to get something for you?”

Baby? Baby?

The red blanket wasn’t a blanket. It was her damned cape.

“Kara,” Lena rasped, “you better have a good fucking explanation for why I’m in your bed wearing your clothes and I can’t remember anything after leaving work yesterday.”

Kara let out a pained sigh, and there was defeat in her voice, a deep sadness that was more than regret. When Lena was a little girl she remembered a parish priest say Hell was not a lake of fire but the absence of hope, the absence of God’s light and grace.

Kara’s voice sounded like hell.

“Oh,” she said.

Lena tensed, a bone deep remorse creeping through her like a phantom, some unpleasant thing not just under her skin but borrowed into the deepest parts of her.

“Why am I here?”

“Best I can figure, you went for a few drinks after work, and got really sloshed. You ah,” Kara said, “you called me.”

“I called you?”

“Yeah.”

“What the hell for?”

“You were getting sick. You weren’t sure if you just had too much or someone… you said you were alone and you weren’t watching your drink, and you called me to come get you. So I did.”

There was a pause. Kara licked your lips.

“Alex has the glass you were drinking from- the bartender didn’t argue with Supergirl about keeping it.”

“Oh my God,” Lena blurted. “Oh Christ, are you telling me a whole bar full of people saw Supergirl land and carry off Lena Luthor?”

Her head was pounding now. She moaned and rubbed at her temples.

“I don’t think anyone will say anything. The DEO locked the place down, they’re checking security footage. Alex thinks whoever did this was targeting you specifically.”

“None of that explains why I’m in your bed and where my clothes went.”

Kara paused again. “I wanted you to be safe. I brought you back and put you in bed, fully clothed I might add, and I tried to take the couch, but I woke up to you climbing on top of me with no shirt on.”

A heavy silence hung in the air.

“Oh Christ. We didn’t… did we…”

Kara swallowed hard. “No. I would never. Ever. Do that to you. I know I’ve hurt you a lot and I deserve your anger but that was cruel, Lena. I would die before I hurt you again.”

Lena let out a slow breath. The weight of the cape spread across them felt suffocating. Kara, perhaps unconsciously, held her a little tighter.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Kara sighed. “The only way I could get you to calm down was to climb in bed with you. You went to sleep eventually. What’s the expression? Dead to the world.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“I told you how sorry I am. I apologized again.”

“How did I take it?”

Kara shrugged. “You didn’t say anything, you just cried until you fell asleep.”

Lena was still.

“Tell me what you said.”

“Lena-“

“You have an eidetic memory, Kara. Tell me what you said.”

Kara slowly pulled in a long breath. She held it for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” said Kara. “I’m so fucking sorry I don’t know what to do with it, I’m so sorry that it’s too big, it’s filling me up and crushing me from the inside. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was, because you deserved to know. You’ve saved my life. I know I was shitty about the kryptonite thing and that I used my suit as an excuse to vent my frustration with you without risking our friendship. I was wrong to do that. I was wrong to keep you at arms length, but it felt like the only way I could keep you at all.”

Lena said nothing.

“I’m a coward. I’m such a coward. I was so scared of losing you. I knew I’d messed up, fucked up, and I’d ruined us. I knew you deserved the truth, that you deserved to feel angry, that you deserved the right to make your own choice and end our friendship on your own terms, but I couldn’t do it. I would have done anything to keep you another day, another hour, another minute… just one more second so I could burn your smile and your eyes into my memory, because a thousand years from now I’ll never be able to forget how deeply in love with you I was and how I was too bound up by Kryptonian tradition and fear to do anything about it.”

“Oh,” said Lena.

“We could have been great,” said Kara.

Lena didn’t answer. She didn’t move to get out of the bed and Kara didn’t pull away. They lay there, frozen, in this halfway space between confession and admission, lying in a bed of their on denial and fear, the tension, the potential, thrumming between them like a circuit almost closed.

“I love you, Lena. I love you so much, I didn’t know I could. I didn’t think that after everything I’ve lost there was enough love left for anyone. Sometimes I wonder if I even knew what love was, because I sure didn’t know what I was feeling for you. Just that it was consuming me.”

“Kara,” Lena whispered, choking back the tide of emotion lurching in her chest. “I don’t know what the hell to say. I just don’t.”

Kara lifted her hand from the edge of the bed and hugged her tightly.

“If you want me to take you home I will. If you want me to disappear I will. You’ll never have to see me again if you don’t want to, but… please, Lena. Please. Give me a chance and I will make it my life’s work to make it up to you. Hurting you was the worst, most vile, most cruel thing I’ve ever done. If I can’t make amends I don’t deserve to wear that crest.”

A beat of silence.

“You decide,” said Kara. “It’s your right.”

“Kara,” said Lena. “I hurt you, too. You had reasons to doubt me. I let Lex live in my heart, I secretly made the only weapon that can harm you, I had an enemy that almost killed your chained in my lab and didn’t say a word.”

“You once asked me my real name. It’s Kara Zor-El Danvers.”

Lena pressed her eyes shut. “Would you have ever told me?”

“I don’t know,” said Kara. “If I’m going to do this right I can’t lie to you. The truth is I don’t know. Have you ever had a good dream?”

“Not many,” Lena confessed.

“Ever have one of those ones that comes in the morning, just when you’re waking… it’s already starting to fade but you cling to it, fight to get back to sleep, desperately try to keep the dream alive, but no matter what you do, it slips through your fingers?”

“Yeah,” said Lena, in a thick voice. “I don’t know if I forgive but I think I understand.”

After a silent pause she said, “can I turn over?”

Kara nodded.

Lena shifted in the bed, turning in place without moving- without leaving Kara’s arms. As she settled she naturally pressed into Kara’s body.

Slowly, tentatively, as if reaching for a skittish thing that might flee too sudden a movement, Kara Danvers cupped Lena Luthor’s hand with her cheek.

“I don’t know what to think, Kara.”

“Forget thinking. What do you feel?”

Lena felt the warmth of her hand, the softness of her palms and just a hint of callous on her fingers, making a light, oh so light sensation of scratching on her cheek.

Raising her own hand, Lena pressed it to Kara’s and held her there, nuzzling her cheek into the touch. Her hand almost seemed to move on its own and she looped her arms around Kara’s neck. She came in close, eyes constantly darting to Kara’s soft lips. Kara pulled her in by the hips.

The world was utterly still, contracted to the center of Kara’s bed. Nothing else even seemed to exist outside of it.

“Is this okay?” Lena murmured.

“Yes.”

It was impossible to say who kissed who, really. They kissed one another, tenderly at first. The caress of her lips, a light teasing of tongue ready to burst into more- it all felt so natural, so right, that Lena for the life of her couldn’t figure out what had taken so long.

“Kara,” Lena said, breathless. “Did you call me ‘baby’ earlier?”

“Yeah, I kinda did.”

“My head is pounding and I’m parched and I should probably eat.”

Kara smirked. “Anything you want. I’ve got you, baby.”

[winterssystem]

they’re horrors to YOU, however i’m turned on by them

[winterssystem]

I’m not crying. You’re crying.

Good ending, thank you. ;-;

-Lena

This is a sort of an epilogue to the Cyborg Kara ficlets.

She was still dead.

938 poured another shot, downed it in a burning acrid rush. She was alone at the bar here, because she was alone on this planet. All mammalian life had been wiped out; it was one of an infinity of such worlds. She wasn’t sure how it happened; it could have been Darkseid or Thanos or Third Impact or things from todash space or some mystical woodoohoodoo, it didn’t matter. This place was clean, no life, not even bacteria.

But it had liquor. Whatever did this left essentially everything intact. 938 was safe here as long as she didn’t stay, didn’t linger.

(or maybe she didn’t care about safe anymore)

938. She’s stopped thinking of herself as “Lena” or “Spider-Woman” years ago. Even the idea of being Lena hurt.

She took another drink. Shitty blended scotch, not the single malt her brother used to drink before she twisted his head all the way around.

The shot glass shattered in her hand. She planted her palm on the bar, vaulted over, snatched another shot glass, and poured again.

The cuts on her palm were already gone.

The multiverse was a thing of variations upon themes. She had powers that he didn’t. The first one. Somewhere out there, in a world close to the Core World, the First Earth, he was still swinging after he let his girl die too.

938 had something he didn’t. Healing. What she hadn’t told 381 was that she was almost seventy years old and her Kara had died not long after the first death in that other universe.

She wasn’t sure how long she would live, except that when she looked at the mirror behind the bar, she saw no crows feet, no laugh lines (as if she’d ever laugh anyway) no gray hairs or hints of age. She barely looked older than the eighteen years she’d been when It Happened.

For the millionth time she looked at her shot of cheap scotch and wondered why this cup had to pass to her.

Why couldn’t she be one of the infinite number of other Lenas who were just regular people who met a sweet human Kara and settled down to raise adopted children in completely fucking normal worlds.

“I don’t want the power or the fucking responsibly,” she said, then drank.

Her wrist communicator beeped.

It was 381.

938 shot to her feet, stumbling a little from the booze, but her inhuman metabolism was already cleaning out the cobwebs. She skipped jumping back to the ship and dialed her portal generator directly into Earth 381 and opened the gate, stepping through.

A soft breeze brushed her hair from her eyes as she found herself standing on a balcony. Anyone else might have had a shock of vertigo, but 938 and heights were old friends.

The balcony door slid open behind her.

Place was familiar- a lot of her variants had swanky places like this, up in the sky looking down on the world. Except the minimalist decor was off; it was a clash of Architectural Digest and weird hippie boho style. That meant only one thing, that 381 and her girl were together here and had moved into the penthouse.

381 herself was sitting at the kitchen island, sipping from a cup of tea.

“You came.”

“I’m here. Is there a problem?”

“Yes and no.”

“Are you going to give me the Harun-El?”

“No. Not yet. Maybe one day.”

“The cyborg and her Lena. How are they?”

“Pregnant.”

“Lovely. Did you invite me here to further emotionally destroy me or was this an invite to girls night? Maybe you me and Alex and the exact duplicate of my dead love can sit around and braid each other’s hair.”

381 didn’t take the bait.

“You terrify me.”

“Why?”

“When I look at you, I see what I might be if I ever lose her. Not evil, that’s too hokey. Just… hollowed out. Nothing left but the drive and the need for purpose.”

“Fuck you, 381.”

“My name is Lena, and so is yours. Will you sit with me for a minute?”

938 shrugged. She took a seat and didn’t look at her variant.

“Can I get you something?”

“Nah, I just spent the last four hours drinking and moping on a post apocalyptic Earth. I should get back to the ship.”

“Okay then. Will you come with me? We have a visitor at the DEO and I’d like you to meet her.”

938 mulled it over a moment.

“Fuck it, why not.”

“I’ll drive.”

938 knew the building from having been to so many variants of it, so it was easy to follow 381 down to her parked car in the garage. Maserati. Nice.

As they drove, she stared out the windows. Even without the glass she’d have been separated from the world. She was forever a stranger in strange land, a woman without a country.

They arrived at the DEO, and 381 waved at the guards at the front desk.

“We have her in a cell just to be on the safe side, but we’re giving her every comfort and we’ve been keeping her company.”

“Is it another Lena?”

“No.”

938 followed her to the detention level, where a whole section had been cleared out. She found an open cell at the end of the hall and registered familiar voices. Nia. Alex. Ghosts of friends, echoes of those she’d once known.

Kara, of course.

No, two Karas, talking to each other.

381 put a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait.”

“What’s going on?” said 938. “Another Kara variant? Why are you bringing me here?”

“After you left, Querl and I began researching multiversal travel and its mechanics, just to be on the safe side. Thanks to Old Lena, we managed to figure out the rudiments of detecting quantum signatures and-“

“Yeah yeah, that’s elementary school. Get to the point.”

“The person who showed up here this morning marches you.”

938 felt her stomach drop through her knees. What did that mean? Had someone come searching for her? Her spider-sense would be ripping if there was danger in that cell. Who the fuck…

She ran.

938 was superhuman. She was fast. She almost blurred reaching the cell door, where she found the three of them, Alex and Nia and this world’s Kara.

They were sitting with another Kara.

No. It’s not possible.

Lena knew her. She knew her. Variants were almost always identical, though there were always outliers with, well, variation. Hair color, eye color… species and planet of origin.

The Kara sitting in the cell was very human, at least at first glance. She was…

381 followed her in and pulled an electronic device from her pocket.

938 didn’t give her time to use it. She activated the quantum resonance detector in her wristband and stared, open mouthed, as it beeped.

Their quantum variance was precisely the same, the match so precise that there was no way it was a mistake or just a forked timeline.

That was… it was… she was…

“Let’s give them a minute,” said the native Kara.

They piled out of the room, leaving 938 standing there, stunned.

“Kara?” she whispered.

“Hi, Lena.”

938’s heart slammed into her ribs, as if trying to rip free. She could do nothing but stand there, feeling like she’d been submerged in an ice bath. Kara stood up and approached, fidgeting with her hands… like she always did. Not making eye contact, like she always did.

938 was only dimly aware of the tears cutting hot lines down her cheeks.

“It can’t be you. You died in my arms, I couldn’t save you.”

Kara looked up, biting her lip the way she did when she needed confidence, dredging up bravado from some place deep down inside.

“It wasn’t your fault, Lena.”

“What is this? Some kind of illusion? A sick joke? Do you people think this will make me feel better?”

“It’s not a joke, Lena, and they’re not why I’m here. I came looking for you myself, using your notes you left behind for me.”

She reached for the bag she’d brought and pulled out one of Lena’s lab notebooks, the battered cover still bearing her name. It was the real deal. 938 knew it by sight, by the thrum in her soul.

“Is it really you?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Kara swallowed. “It’s… it’s a long story. I did die, Lena. I was gone, then I wasn’t. I came back.”

“How?”

“I’m not the same. I’ve been altered. That’s why they brought me here, I was honest about it.”

“About what?”

Kara swallowed hard, then brought her hand up. The sleeve of her sweater shifted, softening, and melted into a viscous black goo that slid up her hand to form a kind of glove.

“It was confined in your brother’s lab. When he came to take me we scuffled and it escaped its containment, attached to my clothes. The bonding process took days. I woke up in the morgue. It’s become part of my body. It’s an alien symbiote, and…”

“Kara,” said 938. “Tell me later.”

Kara blinked a few times and 938 went for it, scooping her up in her arms, pulling her in. Kara let out a brief squeak of alarmed surprised but when their lips met, nothing else mattered.

“I love you,” 938 breathed. “I love you more than anything. I can’t live without you. I died with you that day. You don’t have to love me back. You don’t have to forgive me. I just need you to know.”

“Lena,” Kara whispered, “do you think I’d spend my life looking for you in the multiverse… platonically?”

938 swallowed hard.

“Kara,” Lena choked out.

“I love you, too. Now let’s go home.”

“Okay,” said Lena.

[winterssystem]

Oh my lord.. this came at the perfect time. I’m not doing great right now but by the gods this was a great read. Thanks for the spectacular writing as always.

Alex and Kara looked at each other. Kara stood before her desk in full Supergirl regalia, cape feeling heavy on her back.

“There has to be an explanation for this,” said Alex.

Kara couldn’t accept that. If Lena had gone no-contact for a time, that would be reasonable. She’d sometimes hole up in her lab for days at a time, barely sleeping or eating, consumed by an idea- but she would warn Kara first. She definitely wouldn’t no-show a brunch da… a brunch friend meetup between friends at their favorite patisserie and then go totally off radar for three days.

“She didn’t show up to our brunch,” Kara said. “We have to find her. I need to know she’s okay, Alex.”

Her sister sat back in her chair and looked back at her over her desk.

“Have you looked? You can cover more ground and do it faster than we ever could.”

“Of course I’ve *looked*,” said Kara. “That’s why I’m so worried. I flew past her apartment and things weren’t right. There was a mug of tea left out on the counter. The place was messy. Lena doesn’t do messy.”

“But no signs of a struggle,” said Alex.

“I called Jess and she said Lena left her a message saying she needed a few days away and she’d be back by Friday.”

“So,” said Alex, “sounds like you should wait until Friday.”

“She missed our date, Alex.”

There was a heavy, uncomfortable pause. Alex went very still, examining Kara with calculating eyes. She picked up a pen and toyed with it in both hands, frowning.

“Maybe she just needs space?”

“Why would she need space. I’m her best friend. We were having Sunday brunch. We have Sunday brunch every Sunday.”

Alex rocked slightly in her desk chair.

“Okay. I’ll order Brainy to start a search and we’ll see if we can pin her down, but Kara… she’s your friend. Sometimes friends need space. Something may have come up.”

Kara crossed her arms. “Then why wouldn’t she tell me? She wouldn’t just ghost me, Alex. I’m telling you she wouldn’t.”

“Okay,” Alex began, “alright, like I said, we’ll start a search.”

She said something else, but Alex’s voice was drowned out by another.

Lex.

“Hello, Kara. Don’t move, don’t react. I’ve hacked the DEO systems and I’m broadcasting on a frequency your charming sister can’t hear, only you. You’re going to follow my instructions. Say okay, or there will be consequences.”

“Okay, Alex,” said Kara, “I’ll go home and try to relax.”

Kara had to use every ounce of her Kryptonian control over her muscles and breathing to appear calm.

“I’ll let you know if we wind anything.”

Kara nodded and turned to leave.

“Go to your locker, and change. You’ll find one of my agents has left a note with an address. Go there, and do not change back into that cheerful little costume of yours. This one is for Kara Danvers.

Thinking along the way, Kara walked silently to the locker room. Once she was inside, and free of cameras, she hurriedly texted Alex, urging her not to react or do anything obvious but that the system had been compromised and there was at least one Cadmus goon in the building.

Then, she changed. The note was in the pocket of her shirt.

Grinding her teeth, Kara left the DEO as a human did, on foot, and traversed National City as a human did, slowly. It didn’t take long for her to spot the drones; she was being watched.

The address wasn’t far, a small commercial building about ten blocks from the DEO, a nondescript brick block with roll-up garage doors not unlike a dozen others on the same street. Kara walked around to the side of the building where a glass door buzzed and unlocked.

Kara opened it and stepped inside. Immediately inside the entrance was just an empty vestibule with an occupied receptionists’s counter and an old chair. A sticky note hung on the wall with an arrow.

Following it, Kara found a solid door that was lined on the inside with lead, as were the walls, of course. She turned the knob, super-hearing amplifying the turning of its oiled core, and stepped through.

On the other side was a large pod hooked up to a variety of tubes and cables. As she walked in, Kara passed a bank of monitors lining the wall with the door. A Bluetooth speaker sat on a folding table. Lex’s voice carried from it.

“Hello, Kara.”

“What is this?”

“I know you’ve been frantically looking for my sister. She’s been here the entire time. Look- but don’t touch. You won’t like the consequences.”

As he spoke, the outer shell of the pod rotated open, revealing a tank of amber liquid. Lena floated inside, an oxygen mask on her face and sensors stuck to her body. She was dressed in a black bodysuit, and looked changed somehow. Kara wasn’t sure how, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Sleeping beauty herself.”

“What have you done to her?”

“Well,” said Lex, “it’s quite a long story and you’re a bit too dull to grasp the complexity so I’ll sum up: a little bit of Harun-El here, a bit of your DNA that my mother stole there, and a tiny sprinkle of a special bespoke Kryptonite with a very short half life… the short answer is that I’ve given my sister superpowers.”

Kara blinked.

“You… what? Why?”

Lex laughed, tinny and distant. “It’s simple really. It’s all about the final, secret ingredient, another type of Kryptonite radiation courtesy of my… what’s the word I’m looking for… my inferior imitator, Max Lord. You may remember it.”

“Lex,” Kara said. “What did you do?”

“Let me show you.”

The pod’s inner transparent walls opened and dumped Lena on the floor. She landed on her knees, gasping as she yanked the mask away from her mouth and stood up.

“Kara?” she said. “Where are we? How did we get here? I was about to leave for… I feel strange.”

Lena looked at her with wide wild eyes and Kara edged closer, her heart pounding harder with every step. Her dark hair was slicked back over her neck from the fluid in the tank and she looked pale, but her cheeks were just a touch fuller.

Then it hit Kara, why Lena had looked different. She looked to have put on fifteen pounds at least of muscle, adding a blocky quality to her shoulders, thickening her legs and biceps. She didn’t seem to notice.

“Lena dear,” said the tinny speaker, “sister mine. I must tell you something.”

Lena winced. “Why is he so loud? Wait, Lex? What is this? What did you do?”

Kara froze, a cold ball forming in her stomach. Oh great Rao.

She could see it. A faint hint of a red sparkle in the whites of Lena’s eyes.

Courtesy of Max Lord.

“Lena,” said Kara. “Listen, okay? Try to stay calm. I’ll get you som help.”

“No, listen to me,” Lex said. “I have a little secret to tell you.”

Lena’s gaze snapped around to the speaker. Behind Kara, the monitors turned on, and Lena’s eyes went wide. Kara paused for a moment and then turned, dread coiling like a serpent in her guts.

One monitor showed her catching a bullet. Another, yanking open her shirt to reveal the crest. Another… another… another. There was even one with a feed of her changing out of her suit in the DEO locker room.

“Kara Danvers,” Lex intoned, “is Supergirl. She lied to you. She’s been lying to you. She’s always lied to you. It’s just as I said- the alien has been using you since the start.”

“Lena,” said Kara. “He’s lying.”

Lena looked at her sharply, eyes narrowing. “About you being Supergirl?”

“No, I am,” Kara admitted, “but I would never use you. I have my reasons why I didn’t tell you and I promise I’ll tell you everything, but first you need help. Lex has poisoned you. You will get very sick if we don’t take you back to the DEO.”

“So she can take your powers!” Lex said. “The powers I gave you. I didn’t poison you, I made you a god. We’re going be gods together, Lena. Once we rid the world of these alien freaks we’ll show the world a better tomorrow.”

“Lex,” said Lena, “shut the fuck up.”

“She lied, she lied!” the speaker cackled.

Lena looked at it. “Where are you?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as you’ve dealt with the Kryptonian.”

Lena smiled, but there was no warmth in it. Only a baring of teeth.

“I see. I need a moment in private with Kara.”

Lena glanced at the speaker and it exploded in a shower of sparks and melted plastic, leaving scorch marks on the table.

Oh Rao. It took Kara years to use her heat vision. Lena had tapped into it in what, a minute?

“Lena,” Kara said, as softly as she dared. “I need you to listen to me.”

“No, you’re going to listen.”

Lena blurred. The impact shook Kara to the bones, rattled her teeth in the sockets. Before she knew what happened, she was against the wall, wrists held firmly in Lena’s hands, pinned above her head. Lena leaned in close, languidly pressing her entire body against Kara’s.

“Do you remember,” Lena husked, “that day in my office when you were being a little brat about doing your job and I called you to the carpet for it?”

Kara blinked.

“Yes,” she said, quietly. “I don’t think brat is the word I’d chose.”

“I would,” Lena said, her voice low and sultry, as she looked at Kara through her lashes. “That’s exactly what you were until I put you in your place, and then you were ready to be a good girl for me.”

Kara’s brain short circuited. It took her a half minute to stammer a few nonsense syllables as a jolt shot up her spine from low in her hips to the crown of her head, like she’d been plunged into frigid water.

Kara stared back at her, feeling a strange squirming pressure that she quickly realized was Lena pushing her thighs apart with one of her own, pressing her knee between them to drive her thigh muscle into Kara, against the apex of her legs.

“Interesting,” Lena whispered, her blow eyes scanning Kara’s features. “The flush is obvious… but the heat bloom on your skin and the pupil dilation.”

Kara gasped.

“See,” Lena whispered into Kara’s lips. “Good girl.”

Kara honest to God whimpered.

“My brother. Silly boy, probably thought I was going to go into a rage and kill you because you lied to me for so long.”

Kara nodded. “Yeah that was probably his plan.”

“He’s such a silly goose,” said Lena. “I’m sure he’ll be surprised when I rip his head off his neck.”

“Lena!”

“Oh come on, you know you want to. You must have thought about it. It would be so easy to just… finish it.”

“I have,” Kara admitted, “but it wouldn’t be right. I can’t just murder a man in cold blood.”

Lena’s body undulated against her.

“Please stop.”

“Why?”

“He exposed you to Red Kryptonite. You’re not thinking straight. I’d be taking advantage of you.”

“It seems I’m the one who’s pinned you, miss Danvers. I don’t think you’re taking advantage.”

“Lena,” Kara said, “I want to talk, okay? I want to talk about all of this and… and take things slow. Your brother is probably watching this.”

“Let him,” said Lena. “I’ll be the icing on the cake. You know all this sturm and drang of his is just Lex throwing a tantrum because Clark wouldn’t fuck him.”

“Lena!”

“I’ve seen the way you look at me, Kara. The way you look at my tits. We both know you want this.”

“Okay maybe I was looking,” Kara admitted, breathing harder. “You’re v-very… very pretty and I’ve been feeling things for you for a long time and… and Lena please I don’t want to do this like this.”

Lena drew back.

“You’re terrified.”

Kara nodded, biting her lip. Slowly, Lena released her grip on Kara’s wrists and stepped back.

“Please come with me to the DEO. It hasn’t been long but the longer you go without treatment the worse you’ll get. Pretty soon it won’t matter if I say no.”

Lena recoiled, horrified. “I would… I would never.”

“When I was poisoned like this, I threw Cat Grant off a building.”

“Apparently, it didn’t work. I’m sure she had it coming.”

“I almost killed Alex.”

Lena frowned. “Oh.”

Kara extended a hand. “Come with me, okay?”

Lena hesitated, then closed a firm grip around Kara’s outstretched palm and let Kara lead her back to the door. Kara took a sharp breath and guided Lena outside.

As soon as they hit the open air, Lena clapped her hands over her ears and screamed.

“Kara! Kara, what’s happening, what is this?”

“It’s your super-senses. Just try to focus on one sound. Here.”

Kara pulled her into an embrace, guiding her ear to Kara’s chest as Eliza once did for her. Gritting her teeth, Lena locked her arms around Kara and breathed hard, squeezing Kara’s ribs.

“Come on, I’ve got you.”

Finally, Alex showed up with five vans full of DEO agents. Kara focused on guiding Lena into the back of one of the vans.

“Was he here?” said Alex.

“Clear the building and all that but get us back to the DEO now,” Kara demanded. “Tell Brainy to get the Red K protocol ready.”

“What? Oh God, Kara, have you been exposed?”

“No, Lena has.”

Alex blinked.

“Wait, what?”

“Just get us back!”

Alex turned and made a motion at the driver and the van backed into a j-turn. Lena was still clinging to her.

“Kara, it’s too much, it hurts.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “We’ll get you some noise canceling headphones when we get back. Just listen to my heart, okay?”

Lena nodded against her chest.

When they finally arrived, Kara gently picked Lena up and carried her inside and directly to the med bay, laying her on a the sunbed, while Brainy helped Alex set up the Red Kryptonite scrubber protocol.

Lena relaxed into the bed as Kara placed the headphones on her.

“Kara,” said Alex. “A word.”

Kara followed her outside, then immediately dumped everything on her.

Alex blinked a few times.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” said Kara.

“You didn’t have to be that detailed, Kara. I could have gone without you describing Lena doing the knee thing to my little sister.”

“The what?”

Alex rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Okay, okay. She’s going to be okay. Except she has superpowers now. She still needs a complete physical, just to make sure he didn’t do anything else, no surprises.”

“Right.”

“I can’t believe that was his whole plan. Make Lena a super and expose her to Red Kryptonite?”

“If he could give her powers, he could give himself powers, or someone else. This is serious, Alex.”

“I know, but seriously, what did he think was going to happen? She’d lose her mind and attack you?”

“I think that was the idea, yes.”

“Okay. Okay. Okay. This is a lot. One step at a time. We’ll need to find him. Let your girl sleep off the treatments and we’ll talk to her, see what she knows that might help us.”

“My girl?” said Kara.

Alex rolled her eyes.

Kara was on the balcony when Lena joined her, having changed into a borrowed set of DEO fatigues. She nervously walked out into the night air and leaned next to Kara.

“Have you adjusted to the noise?”

“Yes, but I…” she trailed off.

Lena stood up and her gaze fell upwards. She stared at the sky, dumbfounded.

“There’s… there’s an aurora. There’s an aurora and… colors. My God, is this how you see it?”

“Yeah,” Kara said softly, too busy staring at Lena.

Finally, Lena looked at her.

“About earlier. I’m sorry. I pushed boundaries and… thinking about it scared me. I would never hurt you, Kara.”

“I know,” said Kara. “I know that, but I also know what it’s like to be exposed to that stuff, to have all your worst thoughts come to the surface. To not feel control of yourself. I forgive you.”

Lena nodded, wringing her hands.

“About what I said, though.”

“About what you said.”

Kara turned and lunged, pulling Lena to her, lifting her slightly off her feet. Lena’s eyes went wide.

“Is this okay?”

Lena blinked a few times and nodded.

Kara kissed her.

She kissed her freely, without worrying about injuring her. She held her the same way, pressing firmly. Lena’s hands curled around her arms with stunning strength and Kara felt her belly do a backflip as Lena actually pushed her back a step and into the balcony railing.

Kara didn’t have to worry about hurting her. She didn’t have to hold back. Lena apparently had never even considered holding back, because she was apparently going for the Knee Thing again. Kara thought she heard the sound of something cracking, but that made no sense.

“Kara!” Alex barked.

Kara broke from the kiss, looking over Lena’s shoulder to find Alex glaring at her.

“Kara,” said Alex, “I’m glad you two dipshits finally realized that you’re dating, but please do not destroy the building.”

Kara furrowed her brows, then looked down to realize that her butt had cratered the retraining wall behind her.

“Oh,” said Kara. “Right.”

“We need to talk about next steps. Lena, I need to know what you know about-“

“Lex is, or was, at an old LuthorCorp satellite lab in Central City. I recognized the background sounds while he was talking.”

“Oh. Okay. We should-“

“Later,” said Lena.

Alex put her fists on her hips. “I don’t work for you, Luthor.”

“True, but your sister does,” said Lena. “Don’t you, darling?”

“Um, yes,” Kara said softly.

“I hate my life,” Alex muttered, as she stormed back inside.

Lena turned her full attention back to Kara, tilting her chin down to look at her through her eyelashes and smirk.

“Now, let’s pick up where we left off.”

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chat I need lazy morning make outs that lead to soft sex with her right now or i’m gonna go absolutely insane

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Natalie cooking once again, this is adorable.

They didn’t know Alex was watching them.

She was the only one awake- Kelly was sleeping in near silence, her breath tickling Alex’s throat, as her head lay pillowed on Alex’s chest. After the reception had formally drawn to a close, the core group, the Superfriends, had all moved on to the sprawling mansion that Lena had generously rented for them to inhabit for a few days before Alex and Kelly left for their proper honeymoon.

Alex was the only one awake. They’d all be tired and hadn’t even finished the drunken game of monopoly they’d begun for old time’s sake. Kelly had changed out of her wedding dress and Alex out of her suit and they lay curled up on a loveseat beside the crackling fireplace. Nia and Brainy were in a similar state on the couch. Between them all, Kara’s little doggie monopoly piece remained where it had last landed on Park Place, forcing her to declare bankruptcy and, of course, end up ceding all her deeds to Lena.

The game was essentially over at that point and everyone knew it, so the drinking began to lubricate the passing of stories and telling of tales. A second buzz in the same day always hit harder than the first and everyone fell asleep where they sat, except Alex.

She had a sick terrible feeling in her stomach, not of regret surely, but a dread she had trouble explaining. It finally hit her as she watched the firelight dance across Kara’s features.

Something had changed. Something was over, a page turned to a new chapter. One where, Alex somehow knew, their lives would no longer revolve around alien insanities and mystical calamities. The world was settling, shuffling back to the state it was in before Kara caught that plane all those years ago and announced herself to the world.

A more normal time, calmer, changed perhaps in many ways but just… life.

Now that Alex was at the threshold with her toes curled back from it and unsure if she was ready to cross, she felt a little loss. Her future was looking less superheroic and more soccermometic; Kelly had her two-thirds of the way convinced to reactivate her medical license and join a practice. When everyone talked about their futures the sounded mundane, even Kara was more excited about her big new job and chasing her dreams.

Wait.

Alex was wrong. Kara was awake, she was just so utterly entranced that one might be misled into thinking that she was merely dreaming.

Kara and Lena somehow ended up in a wide chair together, curled up in a tangle of limbs, wrapped in Kara’s cape as a blanket. Lena was tucked in under Kara’s chin on Kara’s lap, clearly in a deep, peaceful sleep.

Kara, however, was very much awake. She held Lena in a particular way, at once shockingly gentle and fiercely protective, making a fortress of her arms. Kara was intently focused on her chair-mate, either staring at her with the most pitiful expression of fear and anxiety or nuzzling her nose into her dark curly locks and sighing.

Alex frowned, unsure what to do or say. Her sister looked pained, as pained as Alex had ever seen her. She knew for a fact that she and Lena weren’t fighting- they spent more time together than ever now; it had started with them effectively splitting their time between their respective apartments but over the last couple of months had shifted to Lena, for all intents and purposes, shacking up with Kara. They spent no more than one night in ten apart and of those nine they were together, eight seemed to be at the loft.

Whenever Alex set foot inside, Lena was simply there, for no special or particular reason, the two of them just sharing the same space casually and naturally.

So why did Kara look so broken?

“Hey, kiddo,” Alex whispered. “Why the long face?”

“I can’t talk about it now.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t.”

“You guys didn’t have a fight or something, did you?”

Kara was quiet for a time.

“I think I waited too long.”

“For what?” said Alex.

“Don’t you know?”

Alex furrowed her brows, watching intently. Lena stirred, perhaps nudged towards consciousness a little by their murmured conversation and the urgency in Kara’s soft voice.

Then it hit her. Indeed, it struck her like a physical force. Kara looked down at Lena again and Alex gasped at the realization, wondering how the hell she had missed this, of all things.

She’s seen Kara smitten before, like she’d been with Kenny or the fuckboi from the dickhead planet. That was different. That was not this. Kara looked at Lena like she might not be able to breathe if she let her out of her sight.

Oh. Oh shit.

“We’re all moving on with our lives,” Kara whispered. “Taking new jobs, getting married, starting new careers. What happens when she’s too busy for me, Alex? When she finds somebody else and wants a real family and a real life and not… whatever we’re doing? What happens when…”

Kara must have noticed, her incredibly unfair super senses alerting her even before Alex noticed that Lena was awake, her blue eyes dark and soft in the flickering light.

Total silence fell over the room; all Alex could hear was Kelly breathing against her.

“I have a real family, Kara,” Lena said, softly. “They’re right here. You’re right here.”

“Lena?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lena said, lifting her head gently from Kara’s face. “Ever. I promise.”

They stared at each other for long heavy moment and said nothing. Kara’s eyes were so soft, her gaze so heavy with love, beyond love, adoration, almost worship. Lena gave her a little smile and looked up at her through her lashes.

“Oh for fucks sake, will one of you just goddamn do it already?” Alex blurted.

To her surprise, or maybe not, it was Lena who crossed the gap, who sealed the deal. She was the one who kissed Kara but in moments it didn’t matter who started it, and Kara simply stood and lifted Lena with superhuman ease and was already carrying her up the stairs.

Silence again fell on the room.

“Querl,” Nia said, from the couch.

“Yes?”

“You’re from the future.”

“Indeed.”

“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Oh come on!” Nia snapped.

“I’m trying to sleep,” said Kelly, prompting Alex to snort.

Finally, they all did.

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8-foot giant squid pillow.

You’ll need:

2 yards of felt

1 yard of patterned fabric (I suggest a polka dot-type pattern so it looks like suction cups)

1 medium piece of black felt, 1 medium piece of white felt (for the eyes)

white thread, black thread and thread of the same color as the felt you’re using

pins

about 5 lbs. of stuffing

a couple big sheets of paper to draw your pattern

First, you need to draw out your patterns. Here’s a basic template to get you started, although most of the measurements are reasonably fudgeable. If in the likely event you don’t have any four-foot-long pieces of paper lying around, just tape a few pieces together.

Once you’ve drawn out your eight patterns, it’s time to cut the fabric. Pin the pattern to the fabric, laid flat, and cut out the following, leaving a half an inch or so of extra fabric around the edge of the pattern:

FOR THE ARMS: 8 felt and 8 fabric cutouts of piece 1

FOR THE, UH, LONGER ARMS: 2 felt and 2 fabric cutouts of piece 2

FOR THE BODY: 2 felt cutouts of piece 3

FOR THE FIN: 4 felt cutouts of piece 4

FOR THE HEAD: 1 felt cutouts of piece 6

FOR THE EYES: 2 white felt cutouts of piece 7 and 2 black felt cutouts of piece 8

So now you’ve got all your pieces ready, it’s time to start sewing them together. I did mine by hand because my sewing machine is busted and I get a kind of Zen buzz from sewing by hand, but if you have a non-busted one I recommend that you use it as it will be MUCH EASIER. You’re going to be sewing everything with the nice side of the fabric facing in, then turning it inside out to stuff it.

THE ARMS: (To make a quilted pattern that looks like suckers, see this other post). Pin together one patterned fabric piece 1 and one felt piece 1 (with the nice sides facing the inside). Sew down around the U-shape and back up, leaving the top open. Then turn the arm inside out, stuff it (it’s easiest to do both of these things if you sort of scrunch it up like you’re trying to put on a pair of tights, excuse the non-dude-friendly reference) and sew the top closed. Do the same for the other seven arms and rejoice in the fact that this is the most tedious part. Same deal with the two long arms, they’re just harder to stuff.

THE FINS: Pin together two of your piece 4s and sew together the curvy outer edge. Turn the piece inside out, so the seam you just sewed is on the inside, and start sewing up the other side, stuffing gradually as you go along. You should end up with a triangle-ish puffy thing. Repeat for the other two piece 4s.

THE BODY: Put down one piece 3, then place the two fins you have down with the point up and the curvy side pointing in, then make a sandwich by putting the other piece 3 down on top. Pin it all together and sew around the edges with the two fins still inside, as shown. Turn it inside out and move on to…

THE HEAD: So take piece 6 and the ten arms you’ve already done. Lay the arms, fabric side facing you, out with the arms’ top seams in a line half an inch from the top of piece 6. The order should be arm arm arm arm BIG ARM arm arm arm arm BIG ARM. The legs should be almost entirely covering piece 6. Pin them in place and sew a straight line through the individual legs seams to attach the legs to piece 6.

When you pick up the other side of piece 6, you now have something resembling a really weird untied hula skirt. Sew together the two 9-inch ends of piece 6 with the fabric side of the arms on the outside, and keep it inside out for the moment.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: Fit the open end of the body through the arms (still fabric side facing out) and pull the edge all the way through the felt cylinder so it’s even with the edge that DOESN’T have arms attached to it. Sew around the diameters of the head cylinder and the body cylinder to attach them, then pull the legs down over the head and you’re almost done!

Stuff the body, then seal it off by sewing piece 5 over the open end (even if you do have a functional sewing machine, you’ll probably have to do this part by hand).

THE EYES: Sew the black circles on the white circles and whipstitch the eyes onto the head. You do this last because you can’t tell where they’re going to end up on the end product if you put them on before stuffing the body.

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