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Lena hates flying. She absolutely hates it. She hates every moment of it. People can spew facts and statistics, but she swears by the fact that human beings should not be up 39,000 feet in the air trapped in a metal tube that physically should not fly. It’s against the laws of nature and physics; Lena does not like it. Unfortunately, she has to fly, often. She probably could’ve gotten out of this particular flight, but her conscious would have nothing of it. Each year, four days before Christmas, Lena visits Lex in prison, praying that there’s a sliver of her brother left, but there never is. She almost doesn’t visit this year, but in the end decides to, which is how Lena ends up in coach, in the very last row, shoved between an overweight, smelly, old white man, and possibly the most beautiful girl Lena’s ever seen.
Kara loves flying. She’s been doing it since she can remember. Before her parents were killed, and the Danvers adopted her, Kara’s parents were insistant that Kara see the world. They went on countless vacations and visited nearly every state in the continental U.S. If she closes her eyes for too long, the plane puts Kara right to sleep. She books her plane tickets just a little too late and the only open window seat was in the very last row. Kara unfortunately never acquired the skills to sleep anywhere else, so it was always a window seat.
She feels bad for the pretty girl who sits in the middle before she even appears; the man on the aisle is not only sitting his seat, but is taking up some of the raven-haired woman’s. The woman does not look pleased, and Kara just assumes it’s just the fact that she’ll be rubbing up against the strange man for five and a half hours. In effort to be of assistance, Kara lifts the arm rest between them and pushes herself against the window.
Despite the extra space the woman still looks like she’s in extreme agony. “Um, I’m Kara.” Kara tries introducing herself in hopes that her cheerfulness will ease the woman, but it doesn’t.
“Lena.” The woman says quickly, her jaw clenched as she fastens her seatbelt and tugs to make sure it’s tight. Kara can see the rigidity in Lena’s entire body and what Kara assumed to be fear in Lena’s eyes.
“You a nervous flyer?” Kara asked gently. She might be mistaken, but Kara thinks that maybe Lena relaxes a little as they exchange words.
“You could say that.” The pilot comes over the intercom telling the crew to prepare for departure and Lena pales. “I’m sorry, I should’ve gotten something for the flight.” Lena chokes out and Kara places her hand lightly over Lena’s. It’s a bold move, but something inside Kara just wants to comfort Lena so badly.
Kara pauses for a few moments to see if Lena will pull away, but she doesn’t. “Well, I’m pretty good on flights, so maybe I could distract you or help you get to sleep?” For the first time Kara can really appreciate Lena’s eyes. They’re so green, so beautifully green.
Lena shrugs before giving Kara a small nod; she’s never been much good at asking for help, but Kara’s mere presence sets her slightly more at ease. Kara must take this as encouragement as she takes Lena’s hand into her own and gives it a gentle squeeze. Lena’s sure the entire plane can hear her heartbeat increase and for once it’s not because they started giving the safety lecture. “So tell me about yourself Lena.” Kara asks as the plane starts moving, causing Lena to suck in a breath.
“I uh, I own a company in National City. I uh, fuck.” The plane jolts and Lena squeezes Kara’s hand in fear.
Kara, the patient wonder woman she is, motions for Lena to come closer and Lena obliges. “You’re safe, I promise.” Kara whispers, sending a shiver down Lena's spine. Kara was just so soft and secure… and a stranger and probably straight but Lena can fantasize a fairy tale. “Tell me about your plans for when you get home?” Kara tries again and Lena sighs.
After a small internal debate Lena decides to lie. “Well um work during the week. Blind date, then time off at Christmas.” Only one of those things was true, but Lena wants Kara to ask about the date. Lena wants Kara to be jealous. Lena knows this is just a good samaritan trying to sooth her, but she wants something different.
“Do you know the lucky guy’s name yet?” Kara asks and the plane speeds up, making Lena grasp at Kara once again.
“Girl actually.” Lena chokes out, “and no.” Kara can feel her pulse increase and she hopes Lena can’t. Lena is just a stranger on the plane and Kara is only helping out of the goodness of her heart. Nothing more; or at least that’s what Kara tells herself in attempt to shove down whatever feeling she has for this beautiful girl. “Oh dear lord Jesus.” Lena breaths as the engines fire up and they start to move faster.
Kara smiles a little and takes her hand from Lena’s. “May I?” She asks, right as Lena is about to shoot her a look of panic. It takes a few seconds, but Lena realizes that Kara is asking to put her arm around Lena. Lena quickly nods; hoping the arm around her body feels just as secure as the hand in hand. Kara’s embrace does not disappoint. Kara is fishing around for something in her bag when they start to speed up and Lena can feel her breathing get faster. The wheels are about to leave the ground and Lena is just about to panic when Kara sits up a plant in her hand. She holds it above them a small smile on her face. “Mistletoe?” Kara asks quietly. In the moment it takes for Lena to nod and lean in, Kara nibbles at her lip undoubtedly nervous. The moment Lena's lips touch Kara's, the entire world dissipates. Lena is calm - well, mostly, her heart still races as her hands settle on Kara’s bicep and cheek. She doesn’t feel the plane lift off the ground nor the typical bumps that frighten her in the first few minutes of airtime.
Only when the man sitting next to Lena snores loudly does Kara pull away from Lena. Lena tries not to let her heart sink, but the fear gripping at her stomach has been replaced by jittery gay nerves. “Wow.” She breathes, then blushes at the fact her thoughts actually came out of her mouth. Maybe it’s wishful thinking but Lena thinks Kara might have a blush on her face as well.
“Yeah.” Kara can’t help the smile that crosses her face. She had really only meant for the mistletoe to be a distraction, something for them to joke about, so Lena was laughing when the plane took off. When Lena leaned in, Kara’s body acted independently from her mind. Kara can already hear the teasing from Alex. Kara lets her thumb touch her lip lightly, remembering the feeling of Lena’s lips on her own.
“Did you want to try and sleep?” Kara asks, “You can uh, lean on me if you’d like.” Lena’s not sure she really wants to sleep, but after being at such a high anxiety level, then being nervous because of Kara, is making her a little tired and she feels so safe with Kara, so she nods.
Lena places her head on Kara’s shoulder and joins her hand with Kara’s hand on the blonde’s left thigh. Lena’s head drops in fatigue and she can hear Kara’s heartbeat. It’s quickness surprises her until she realizes how high up their joined hands are and that more or less her head rested on Kara’s chest. Despite the fact that the position would prove challenging mentally to sleep in, physically Lena was so comfy and tired. She figures Kara must fall asleep as well when the hand resting on her hip drops behind her and she feels her pillow lean left a bit, probably Kara leaning up against the window.
Kara is the first one to wake up and she almost doesn’t recognize the sight. There’s a brunette, lightly snoring, in Kara’s lap and it takes a few moments until Kara remembers the previous exchange and smiles at the peaceful sight of Lena asleep. If Lena’s mouth wasn’t pressed against Kara’s leg, she wouldn’t have heard (or felt as the case was), Kara wouldn’t have even been able to tell Lena was snoring. The pilot comes over the intercom and says they have about ten minutes before they land and Kara actually beams with pride. As long as Lena didn’t manage to wake up without waking up Kara, she slept the full five and a half hours. As gently as possible, Kara brushes the hair from the side of Lena’s face with a soft smile. Logically she knows she shouldn’t, but Kara leans down and gives Lena a soft kiss on her temple. Lena stirs and Kara curses herself for waking the woman up, she’s sure Lena won’t enjoy landing.
“Hey.” Lena is slightly mortified with the position that she woke up in, but the smile on Kara’s face tells her, it’s okay.
“Hi.” Kara chirps, sending Lena’s heartbeat into a whirlwind. “We’ll be landing soon.” Kara says softly and Lena shoots up, terror in her eyes. “Hey, hey,” Kara grabs Lena’s hand, “we’ll get through it together.”
“I don’t suppose there’ll be more kisses?” Lena says conjuring all of her courage, yet still has to laugh it off as a joke to pull it off. Kara seems to think, a slight twinkle in her eyes and small smile on her lips.
“If that’s what you’d like I have one condition.” Kara says after agonizing moments of silence. Lena raises an eyebrow in a silent question. “Tell me your last name.” Lena’s heart sinks, sure that once Kara hears that everything will change. Kara’s whole perception of Lena will change. “Mine is Danvers, or Zor-El, but uh, Danvers legally speaking.” Kara babbles and Lena is even more certain that Kara won’t want to kiss her after she hears her last name. Lex had kidnapped a couple with the surname Zor-El. Sure they had been lucky enough to survive because their nephew Detective Clark Kent had found them. Eventually he got Lex into custody, but there was no way Kara would see Lena the same way. “Lena?”
“Luthor.” Lena whispers as they get closer to the ground and she tries not to squeeze Kara’s hand because she knows the comfort will be gone soon, but it happens.
“Well,” Kara breathes, “it’s nice to meet you Lena Luthor.” Kara smiles and Lena feels like she’s on cloud nine. The plane lurches and Lena hadn’t realized that they were so close to the ground. Lena pulls Kara into a kiss without asking, but Kara kisses her back and the doubt fizzles away from Lena.
It was certainly an entertaining flight that would change both of their lives forever.