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Lena glanced over the magazine spread one more time, set it down on the low table carefully, precisely. “It’s a good article. You flatter me.”“I only wrote the truth.” Kara smiled brightly as always. “I’m learning to keep digging. Even when all the evidence points one way, there’s always another side.” Her sincerity made Lena’s heart hurt sometimes.“Even when it’s hard to find?”“Especially when it’s hard to find.” Kara peered at her hands for a split second, followed by a shy little smile. “So my office is… is overflowing with flowers.”Lena gave her best look of mock innocence. “Really?”“Yeah…” Kara blushed a little. God, it was adorable. She turned away for a second, then once again angled her glowing smile back on Lena. “You didn’t have to do that.”“Yeah, I did.” Lena mirrored her grin. “Supergirl told me that it was you who sent her.” She glanced to see how that registered on Kara’s face. “I don’t know how to thank you.” Was it a little too flirty? Lena hoped so.Kara paused for a second, and Lena thought maybe she was about to finally divulge her secret identity. What she got instead was sweet but a little disappointing, for more reason than one.“Well that’s what friends are for.” That’s all Kara’s words said, but her eyes hinted at maybe more. “I’ve never had friends like you before.” Lena shook her head. With my last name, I’ve barely had friends at all.Sweet laughter tinkled from Kara.Lena couldn’t help opening up, bathed as she was in the energy that Kara radiated. “Come to think of it, I’ve never had family like you...” She didn’t try to hide the shade of sadness in her voice. Why should she? She trusted Kara, especially now. “No one’s ever stood up for me like that.” Certainly no one in her so-called family.Kara's eyes pierced into her, unwavering. It would feel like some lame attempt to intimidate coming from anyone else, but with Kara there were no hidden agendas. “Now you have someone that will stand up for you always.”Though unfamiliar with the instinct to trust someone implicitly, Lena knew in her bones that Kara meant these words wholeheartedly. She let the forthrightness settle into her body, felt moved by it. Her heart expanded in her chest, and she willed herself to suck back the tears that prickled at the backs of her eyes. Kara put her whole self into everything she said and did. Effortlessly. It astounded Lena sometimes.Meanwhile, Lena had lost her birth mother. Her adoptive mother had betrayed her. She had gained a few school friends, but most had dropped away, and she had settled into a hollow life of success and purchased loyalty. Her genius had no equal. The saying was true. It was lonely at the top. She enjoyed the fruits of her labor and her gifts, but she had no one to share it with.Lena guarded her tender heart with almost the same levels of ironclad security required to get into L-Corp. She had let maybe one or two people through a couple of layers in the past, but they had proven unworthy in the end. Meanwhile, Kara had practically sauntered in with full access. What was it about this girl?Despite the very real, more-than-platonic feelings that Lena harbored for her, she remained unsure whether Kara reciprocated those intentions.So she played the game. “Well, Supergirl may have saved me. But Kara Danvers, you are my hero.” She fully meant it of course, but she followed this declaration with a deliberately coquettish glance in Kara’s direction. A look that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than flirting.Kara looked away again, abashed. She couldn’t quite meet Lena’s gaze. Instead she gazed downward, turned briefly away, then finally back to Lena. She smiled, but her eyes hinted at an underlying sadness. Lena found herself wondering what haunted this sunny, sweet girl. She suspected it might be something they shared – the loss of family, holding up the weight of the world alone, possessing unique gifts no one else understood. Lena was good at wielding power and genius, but not so good at seizing moments like this one.She sat feeling awkward, unsure what to do, so she stood up to offer Kara a hug. “Thank you.” She had never meant anything more in her life. She hoped the depth of it came through even though she couldn’t find the right words.“Anytime.” Lena knew Kara did not exaggerate.She wedged her chin on Kara’s shoulder and indulged in the hug, allowing Kara to hold her for a moment. Obviously, this wasn’t her first time in Kara’s arms… well, it was and it wasn’t. Supergirl had flown her to safety to get free of the soon-to-explode unstable Kryptonite, saving them both in the process. Lena had regained consciousness enough to notice – and appreciate – the overwhelming feeling of safety, despite the altitude.But here she was being held by Kara. Same strong arms, same softness, same smell, same warmth. Kara’s whole body tightened around her, enveloped her, and she felt the other girl’s chin nuzzle into her shoulder. Her defenses fell completely for a moment, and her participation in the ruse collapsed. “No, I mean it. Thank you for saving me.”Kara stiffened in her arms, broke the hug, stepped backwards. “I… uh… um… what? You mean Supergirl? I… um…”“It’s okay, Kara. I know you trust me. I know you would’ve told me eventually.”“I… I… you’re right. I would’ve… but…”“Is this about me being a Luthor?” Lena’s chest compressed. She felt the tears threaten again, this time from the old anguish ready to strike. She had made herself too vulnerable. “Because that’s not my fault.”“What? No, Lena. No no no. Not at all.” Kara moved closer and put a hand on each of her shoulders. Lena relaxed again. The sweet blonde pulled her into another hug and smoothed a hand down her back. She whispered. “No, please. You know it’s not that. It’s just… It’s just I… I try so hard to keep those things separate.” She pulled away a little so she could look Lena in the eyes. “It’s dangerous for me, and for anybody who knows. I just… I trust you, but it’s dangerous. I just don’t want… who I am… to ever hurt you. But you’re a freaking genius. Of course you knew.”“Well, that one time you said ‘I flew here,’ and you and… well, you… never being exactly the same place at the same time, and ... oh let’s be real, the glasses aren’t exactly hiding that pretty face of yours.” Lena found herself gazing into Kara’s eyes. “Oh I mean…” She also suddenly realized they were still in each other’s arms. They both stepped back. “Sorry.”Kara glanced down again, then back at Lena, blushing a little. “Why are you sorry?”“I just… Okay, I guess I’m not actually sorry. I think you’re very pretty.” Lena tilted her head, batted her eyelashes, bit her lip. All calculated to get a reaction.It worked. Kara stepped closer, took hold of Lena’s hand, unable to fully meet her gaze. She whispered, still blushing. “I think you’re pretty too. And I guess since you know my one big secret, I might as well tell you the other one.” She finally tilted her chin up to capture Lena with her bright blue eyes, making her heart pound in response. “I kinda have a crush on you.”Lena felt the blood rush to her face. It was her time to blush now. She pulled her hand from Kara’s and turned away. “I just realized you can probably feel my pulse and hear my heartbeat. So I guess you know my response before I say it.”“I have learned to tune those things out, but yeah I noticed. I still can’t read minds though.”Turning around to Kara again, Lena saw the face of a guileless, uncertain reporter. She returned and slipped her hand back into Kara’s. “I have a crush on you too. I just didn’t know if you liked women or not.”“Well, I haven’t dated a lot of people anyway, and I’ve never dated a woman before. But on Krypton it just wasn’t a big deal one way or another – single, paired, men, women? ya know? – and I uh…” She shuffled her feet. “I like you.” She gazed at Lena, blue eyes shining. “So what do we do now?”The dark-haired CEO paused to consider her next move. For all her intelligence and business strategizing – a borderline chess master for god’s sake – she hadn’t considered this twist in the game, at least not this scenario, today, in her office, right now. She suddenly had no plan.Her body made the move for her. Without willing it to do so, she found her hand reaching up to caress Kara’s sweet, stunned face. Lena took off the studious reporter’s glasses and placed them gently on the table. She drank in the face of the selfless Kryptonian hero and the eager, darling young woman, all at once, no longer pretending to separate the two, no longer hiding her feelings. Kara moved towards her too, rested a hand lightly on Lena’s waist.Their lips touched, softly at first. Lena stroked Kara’s silky hair, traced the smooth skin of her cheek. She felt Kara’s other hand grasp at her back, draw her closer. She melted into the blonde’s sweet lips as they sought hers, grasping, lightly sucking at her bottom lip.“Mmmmm.” Kara emitted little hums and moans of her apparent delight. "So soft." It loosed a hunger in Lena that she rarely let herself acknowledge, much less unleash. She found herself gripped with the undeniable urge to slam Kara into the nearest wall and ravish her. Instead, she pulled the girl closer and ravished her lips. Soon enough, Kara opened the kiss on her own, and their tongues began a slow, luscious dance. Kara tasted like the sun, like warmth. She smelled enticing, exotic, but also like home.The two separated mutually, reluctantly, a soft sucking sound as their lips slowly parted. Their foreheads touched, their arms still around one another.Kara spoke first. “That was… Rao, I don’t even… sorry, even as a reporter, this language still fails me sometimes…”“It’s okay, Kara. My mind is a little blank right now too. That was…” She dipped her head in to sample Kara’s lips again. Kara grabbed Lena’s face with both hands in response.They separated more quickly than before, but still reluctantly. Lena panted. “Oh my. As much as I’d like this to… continue…” Her voice grew gravelly on that last word. “I do still have some work to do, and I imagine you do as well.”Kara looked disappointed. “Yeah, they’re probably wondering where I am.” She looked at her watch. “Oops. Yep, I’ve definitely gotta go. But…”“But can I see you tonight? I’d like to take you to dinner.”“You don’t have to do that. I mean, already with the flowers and everything…” Kara blushed again.Lena’s face burst into a genuine smile, something that really only ever happened in Kara’s presence. She could get used to it. “Please, Kara. Let me take you out. Remember? Saving my life and all? It’s the least I can do.”“Well, I suppose that’s okay. Maybe I can make up for it in kisses.” Kara grinned.“I’m sure you can.” Lena raised an eyebrow and gave Kara her best mischievous look. “I’ll pick you up at 7:00. And, um, you might want to freshen up a little before you go back to CatCo. I, uh, think we traded lipstick.” Lena pointed behind her into a far corner. “I have a powder room back there.”Kara glanced at her feet again, obviously flustered. “Oh yeah, I guess that can happen.” She giggled and kissed Lena on the cheek again before excusing herself.
* * *
Lena fixed her own disheveled look after Kara left, then sat back down on her imported white leather couch and breathed out a sigh. Not of relief but of wonder. Kara now knew of Lena’s feelings for her. Kara knew she knew about Supergirl. In this universe. In this timeline. Who would’ve thought? Some things can’t be engineered. Some things can’t be plotted on a spreadsheet or predicted via an algorithm. Usually, Lena disapproved of unpredictable. But this time, maybe it was okay.She peered at the chess board on the low table in front of her. Her next move had puzzled her for some time. Suddenly, it occurred to her. She’d been engaged in a game with her mother for months, a move every time her mother came to the office. It was a little tradition they kept up, despite whatever differences had developed, perhaps the closest thing to a mother-daughter tradition they ever managed. A cold one to be sure, rooted in ruses and feints and rivalry and a sham of aristocracy. Perfect in other words. Perfect for them. And now Lena had the perfect move.She picked up the white knight – in European medieval lore a symbol of light, goodness, selflessness, dedication, purity. A hero. She placed the knight back on the board, a move hidden in plain sight. The perfect move. The white knight put the opposing queen in check, barring her from any further meaningful moves, trapping her, protecting the white queen from harm. Winning the game. Being a hero. Lena’s hero.She smiled to herself. Lena had never had anyone in her corner before, had never known real attachment, had never known love. Maybe this is what it felt like, like a warmth inside her, like being filled, like newness, like standing in sunlight. It felt like a risky move to hope, but she let herself hope anyway.
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Lena drove herself to Kara’s apartment building in a nondescript company car, one usually reserved for guests of L-Corp. She pulled up the collar of her jacket, wore her hair down, had toned down her makeup a bit, wore her glasses instead of contacts, all in the hope of keeping things relatively incognita for the night. Kara had texted her the building codes and parking instructions – on a secure L-Corp phone, at Lena’s insistence – so she could go right up to the apartment to pick Kara up for their date.Sure, Lena had met heads of state, negotiated hardball contracts with any CEO you could name, and had grown up under the thumb of Lilian Luthor when she wasn’t away at boarding school. What were butterflies? Well, she had a few right now, and she laughed at herself for it. Sweet Kara, her friend, just going to get dinner, right? Harmless enough. But a Luthor going on a date with a Super? That had to be one for the record books. And this crush on Kara was going to be the death of her, especially after the afternoon’s revelations and the kissing. How did Kara manage to be so adorably innocent and so sensual at the same time?A fresh-faced Kara met her at the door almost before Lena knocked. Super speed or super eagerness? Lena had no problem with either, or both.“Right on time.” Kara gave her a hug, held her close for a moment, kissed her gently on the lips as she clicked the door shut behind them.Lena let out a heavy sigh, not realizing she had been holding her breath. Her heartbeat had picked up considerably. She held onto one of Kara’s hands, glanced the reporter up and down, willing her eyes not to linger or leer. Kara wore a blue sleeveless dress that hugged her body just enough to show off her well-honed physique. “You look lovely.”“So do you. You’re so pretty with your hair down.” Kara beamed her sweet smile. “Not that you’re not always… I think I mentioned that earlier today.” She looked down again, clearly flustered.Unable to resist, Lena leaned in for another kiss. Soft, slow, full of promise. She touched Kara’s jaw and slid her hand into her silky, blonde hair. Once again, Kara’s lips searched for Lena’s so sweetly, grasped at her upper lip. Lena sucked gently at Kara’s lower lip, willing herself not to devour the girl when the vibration of faint moans rose up from Kara’s throat and sent an electric buzz through Lena’s whole body.Kara pulled away from the kiss and rested her chin lightly on Lena’s shoulder, her voice a languid haze next to Lena’s ear. “I didn’t know kissing you would be so dreamy. Your lips are so soft. Everything is just… so soft.” She draped herself onto Lena, collapsing into a hug as she sighed and held tight.Lena likewise wrapped her arms around Kara and breathed in the summery smell of flowery shampoo, mixed with a bright but subtle perfume, mixed an underlying natural scent that made Lena positively weak. And she knew precisely why, of course. Olfactory response. Lena had always reacted strongly to smells. They triggered memories, emotions, physical responses. This darling girl in her arms smelled all at once like warm day, like goodness, like an oven full of cinnamon rolls, like a field of lavender and rose, but also like wildness, like fire, like a spice she couldn’t name. It made her yearn, made her whole body flare and pulse and burn. She felt fevered. Her breath sped up even as she tried consciously to slow it down.“You’re hot.” Kara loosened her grip slightly, but didn’t pull away.“Why, thank you.” The brief moment of levity gave Lena a chance to regain a little of her composure. But only a little.“No, I mean temperature-wise. Your body. Your heart. Are you okay?”A sigh escaped Lena’s lips. She stepped back but kept hold of Kara’s hand. “I can’t get much past you, can I?”“What, have I scared you? Am I being too forward? I’m sorry. I…”“No, Kara. Look at me. What do you see?”Her eyes met Lena’s, searching. She scanned Lena’s face, squeezed her hand a little, as if tentatively. Kara moved closer, brushing her fingers along Lena’s cheek. “I see a beautiful woman. Your cheeks have a pretty flush to them. I hear your heartbeat. Your eyes are dilated. Your palm, it’s sweating.” Kara moved closer, leaned in to Lena’s neck, breathed in slowly. “Your pheromones. I sense it plain as day now. You’re… you’re… turned on… by me?” The last several words came out in breathy huffs that teased Lena’s ear.“Yes. It seems I can’t resist you.” She brushed Kara’s hair away from the scooped neck of her dress and licked her way up to Kara’s ear. Lena bit at the soft flesh of Kara’s earlobe, eliciting a sigh. She whispered into Kara’s ear. “I don’t have super senses, though. I hope I’m having the same effect on you. Tell me, Kara. Are you as turned on as I am?”Lena kissed Kara’s neck, sucking and licking her way down to Kara’s deceptively delicate looking collarbone. Kara spoke haltingly. “Um… Yes. I’m so… yes. It’s… uh… different. I didn’t know what kissing a woman… uh… kissing you… would be like, but… oh Rao…” Lena moved upward again to bite at the juncture of Lena’s neck and shoulder. “It’s… I’m so… Oh, Lena…”A distinct rumbling sound rose up between them. Kara grimaced.Eyes suddenly wide, Lena popped back up, facing Kara with a coy smile. “Maybe we should get you some dinner.”
* * *
Lena took them to Armando’s, an upscale Italian place in a Victorian house overlooking the Capitol building. Armando himself greeted them in somewhat hushed tones.“Welcome, welcome, Ms. Luthor. I have your table ready, right this way.”He escorted them into a small side dining room decorated with imported antique furniture, copperplate images of Italian landmarks, and rich, Mediterranean-inspired rugs. Lena brought guests of the company to this restaurant when she wanted to provide a certain homey rapport as groundwork that she might wish to lay for an L-Corp transaction. They had rented out the whole place for a few office parties there as well. So Armando knew her, and he knew her need for privacy. That worked to her advantage now. The room featured an immaculately set, beautifully finished cherrywood dining table and four chairs with ornate carvings, a sideboard for serving, and a marble hearth with a fireplace and two leather Queen Anne chairs.Eyes wide, Kara puffed out a sigh. “Wow, this is so nice. What a beautiful place. I didn’t even know this was here.”“It’s National City’s best kept secret.” Armando’s eyes twinkled as he showed the two young ladies to their seats, pulling a chair out for each of them. Lena made sure they sat catty corner from one another at the table, so their knees and hands could touch freely.Out of seemingly nowhere, a sommelier appeared with a bottle of white wine and poured a little into the glass next to Lena. She sampled it, thoughtfully. “Yes, this is fine. Thank you.” He topped up her glass and filled Kara’s.No sooner had he finished than a waiter appeared and poured each woman a glass of ice water, then stood poised. “Chef’s selection for two, as you requested, Ms. Luthor?”“Yes, and add an extra order of fried ravioli and double the bread for the appetizer course.” Lena winked at Kara surreptitiously. “Ms. Danvers here is quite the athlete and needs her strength.”“Certainly, Ms. Luthor. Coming up.” He exited the room gracefully, shutting the door behind him.Kara’s eyes followed the waiter until the door had clicked. She turned her face quickly back to Lena, full of girlish astonishment. “You really didn’t have to bring me somewhere so fancy, Lena. I already like you.”A smile crept over Lena’s lips as she reached under the table to place her hand on Kara’s. “The food here is so delicious, and I like how private it is. You deserve a little luxury in your life, Kara Danvers. Please let me give that to you.”“Well, when you put it that way…” Kara looked down, then back up through her eyelashes at Lena, smiling, the picture of charm and gentleness. “I really can’t say no.”It almost made Lena’s heart stop at the mere thought that anyone would look at her this way, much less the dear girl sitting here in front of her. She reached over and ran the backs of her fingers over Kara’s cheek, peered into her eyes. Kara gazed back at her with complete sincerity. Lena had to blink, look away for a moment. Tears threatened. Kara grasped Lena’s hand gently, turned and kissed her fingers. Lena noticed her heart speed up again.Kara apparently noticed too. “Are you okay?”“Yes, I’m just…” Lena trailed a hand down Kara’s shoulder, down her arm to hold her hand. “With you looking at me that way, I feel a little overwhelmed is all. I…” She lowered her eyes, then gazed back at Kara, biting her lip. “I just feel happy when I’m with you. That’s not something I’m so used to feeling, not like this.” She lifted Kara’s hand and kissed it. “I’m just glad this is all out in the open now. I was already so happy just being friends with you, and I never would’ve pushed things any further, but just…”“I’m happy too, Lena.” Kara smiled. “We’re a lot alike, you know. We both have a lot of responsibilities, a lot of people depending on us. People don’t fully understand us and what we have to offer the world. That’s hard... and…” Kara blinked a couple of times. Lena noticed a momentary sadness flash across her face. “We’ve both lost family in one way or another. We’re both adopted. It’s…” Kara’s eyes had grown shiny in the lowered light of the room, reflected in the candles on the table. “It’s something deep that we already share. I’ve always felt drawn to you. Ever since I met you.” She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Lena’s lips.Grabbing a napkin, Lena dabbed quickly at the corner of her eye. “Thank you, Kara. That means a lot to hear.” She picked up her wine glass. “To us.”“To us.” Kara echoed the toast and met Lena’s gaze as their glasses clinked.The waiter knocked, then gave them a few seconds before entering the room with a loaf of fresh bread, the fried ravioli, assorted marinated vegetables, and an antipasti plate. Lena learned the full scope of Kara’s Kryptonian metabolism and appetite that evening, watching in awe as Kara devoured about three fourths of every course they received. Finally, the waiter delivered dessert, and paused to stoke the fire. “Ring if you need anything else.” They could leave when they liked. Lena would receive the bill on her personal account at L-Corp. They took their time enjoying dessert.“Everything is so delicious. Thanks for bringing me here, Lena.” Kara looked starry-eyed.“Is that the food talking, the wine, or is it about the company?” She winked at the blonde over the last bite of chocolate mousse. Lena hadn’t drunk more than two glasses of wine over the two hours since they’d arrived, not wishing to hand the reins over to an L-Corp driver when they left.“I think it’s a little of everything.” Kara grinned, stood up, pulled Lena up into a hug then grabbed her hand. “Come sit with me.”Apparently ‘with’ meant ‘on,’ because Kara pulled Lena onto her lap in one of the elegant leather chairs. Lena went willingly. The grin hadn’t left Kara’s face as she gazed up, bubbling over with tipsy giggles. Despite her slightly compromised state, she held Lena as securely as if she’d just rescued her from the explosion at Cadmus all over again.“So is all this okay, Kara?”“All what?”She gestured to the two of them sitting so closely together, Lena on Kara’s lap. “This. This… step in our friendship.”Kara reached up and stroked Lena’s dark hair, smoothing it along the side of her head, threading strands through her fingers, never taking her eyes away from Lena’s. “I want this. With us. It’s different. Sure. But I know I have… special feelings for you. Special more-than-friendship feelings. I’m not scared, if that’s what you mean.”“You’re many things, Kara Danvers, but scared is definitely not something I’d ever consider calling you.”“You know what I mean, silly.” The tipsy superhero looked bemused.“No, I actually don’t.”“I just mean even though I’ve not been with a lady before. I’m not scared of what people will think or something. I’m not scared to be with you.” Kara shifted her gaze downward for a moment. “I… I mean… if that’s what’s happening here. Is that what’s happening here?”“Is that what you want to be happening?”Kara faltered for a moment, averted her eyes. “Short answer? Yeah, yeah I want this to happen. Do you want the longer answer?”Cupping Kara’s face in her two hands, Lena dipped her head downward for a soft kiss. “Yes. I always want to hear what you have to say.”“The truth is, I’m lonely. And I feel like maybe you might get that. Maybe better than anybody else. I’ve dated a couple of guys here and there, but I couldn’t really tell them who I am, where I’m from. I have my sister, but she has her work and her relationship. I love her, but I want her to have her own life. I’ve got the superhero thing, and saving people is good. It’s a lot. It’s fulfilling, really it is. But sometimes… sometimes I just want… more. Someone… something that’s mine. And maybe… maybe, I dunno… I hope maybe you feel that too. And like I said I just… feel specially drawn to you. Like I haven’t before with anybody, and…”Gently, slowly, Kara shifted in such a way that she scooped Lena into both of her arms and held her completely, gazing into Lena’s eyes with something that looked a lot like the hope that Lena also felt. She couldn’t stay under Kara’s gaze that way for long without some long dormant part of her simply melting away, laid bare to the sincerity offered to her now.“I know, Kara. I know. Whatever this is, I feel it too. I want to explore it with you and be your more-than-friend. Or do we want to say girlfriend?”Kara grinned and hugged Lena tighter. “Yes. Girlfriend. Like you’re my friend who is a girl but also my girlfriend. Like my shopping and coffee girlfriend but also my kissing girlfriend. And uh… maybe…” Kara got adorably flustered.“Yeah, about that. We don’t have to do all the things right away you know. I wouldn’t dare push you into any of that. Not that I physically could…”“But, uh, you know. I’m… um… interested in those things… just maybe not all of them right this second. Yet. I mean I am kinda right now but also…”Lena hopped off of Kara’s lap and pulled the flustered superhero upright. “It’s okay, Kara. I’m good with whatever works for you. I already liked spending time with you before. That’s not going to change, whatever we’re doing.”A sigh escaped from Kara, and she flopped a little drunkenly onto Lena for a hug. “So, um hey. While we’re on the topic, and don’t take this the wrong way. But do you like to snuggle?”Snickering, Lena considered for a moment. “I’m not sure anybody’s ever asked me that question. I can’t say I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of snuggling. But yes. I like to snuggle.” The word felt foreign coming out of her mouth.“Would you take me back to my apartment and sleep with me?”With both hands, Lena held Kara at arms’ length by the shoulders. “But you just said…”“No no no. I mean will you go to sleep with me. Like sleep. Like snuggle with me. Nobody has done that for me in a long, long time. And I miss it. Will you snuggle with me, Lena? Please?”“I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
* * *
The drive had sobered Kara up a little, but not completely. They stood in Kara’s bedroom. Still a little more giggly than normal, she produced some flannel pajama pants and a ‘Girl Power’ T-shirt for Lena to wear.“Sorry. These aren’t made of any fancy silk or anything.” She did her best posh, rich lady voice.“Is that what you think I wear to bed?” Lena smirked. “Also, how much time have you spent thinking about what I wear to bed?”“Busted! No but really, you always look so elegant. I just figured you wear some kind of fancy, sexy pajamas to bed every night.”Lena couldn’t help but smile. “Hate to disappoint you, but what I wear looks a lot like the ones you wear. Just picture me with my glasses on like I am now, but my hair up in a pencil bun, poring over a spreadsheet until I fall asleep on the couch. That’s what I’m usually doing.”A sad smile crossed Kara’s face. “You shouldn’t work so much, you know.”“Says the superhero who saves five kittens and foils three bank robberies before breakfast.”“I’ll have you know it was only two kittens, and that was yesterday.” Lena realized Kara probably wasn’t lying. “But, uh, sorry. I don’t have anything nice enough for you to borrow for work tomorrow.”“Lucky for you, I keep several outfits there in case I end up working so late I don’t bother to go home. I’ll just go in early so Jess won’t see me in my date clothes.”Kara put her arms around Lena, pulling her close. “Thanks again for dinner tonight. And for telling me that you know… I mean about Supergirl. But I’m also glad we got the other thing out in the open too.”“I really like you, Kara. A lot. You’re pretty much the best person I’ve ever met.”They kissed, through smiling lips, not hungrily like before. They both realized there would be time for that kind of exploration soon enough. For right now, they felt comfort in each other’s arms. They felt joy and ease, and a sense of calm neither had experienced in a long time.“I’m glad you decided to sleep with me.” Kara wiggled her eyebrows in an exaggerated manner.Lena pretended to hit her lightly on the shoulder. “Oh, stop toying with me. I call dibs on the bathroom first.”The jokes helped break any tension still remaining between them. But as they lay down in the bed next to one another, and Lena felt Kara spoon into her back and drape an arm around her middle, the fiery heat she thought she’d feel her first time in bed with Kara settled into a warmth of embers that spread throughout her whole body. Kara Danvers, this indestructible force in the form of a vulnerable, compassionate girl, literally had her back.Lena Luthor savored the sense of safety and security, a closeness unlike any she had ever known – certainly not from her family and not from any partner she’d ever had. Not even from the all too fleeting embraces of girls she had loved during her school years – the one who had chickened out, the one who had broken her heart, the one whose parents had taken their daughter out of school when they found out. Lena tried not to shake as tears fell onto her pillow, not wishing to disturb the darling girl who now offered her this profound, yet simple gift.She kept herself awake as long as she could, not wishing to miss a moment of the overwhelming sensation of being truly held for the first time in her life.
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Lena woke up alone and in terror. In the dark. Her heart pounded. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps that didn’t bring enough oxygen.Night terrors. Panic attacks. She got them sometimes.Finally awake enough to realize what it was. Her breath slowed a little, just from being able to recognize what was happening. She abhorred pills. She took them sometimes when she had to, but this time she tried the other technique instead. She did what she had practiced countless times with the therapist: mindfulness of breath. She lay with her eyes closed. Coolness at the point where her breath entered her nose, warming as she breathed it in, her chest expanding, then her abdomen, then the opposite process as the air left her body, then again, one moment at a time, one second at a time. Nothing else, just breathing. Minutes went by. The alarm bells slowly silenced. Her heart slowed. Her breathing returned to normal without concerted effort on her part.Oh yes, Kara’s apartment. That’s where she was. Where was Kara? Superhero emergency? Lena breathed herself slowly back to sleep.
* * *
The bed indented gently next to Lena, waking her as she felt a body slide in next to her. Kara’s arm reached around her middle and hugged her close. Warm breath tickled her neck. Soft lips kissed her cheek. Lena opened her eyes partially.“Good morning.” Kara’s voice matched the sunshine streaming into the room.Lena shook the memory of the night terrors out of her mind as best she could and turned over to see Kara leaning on an elbow, smiling, eyes twinkling. “Good morning, darling.” She reached up to pull Kara into a kiss, her hand finding damp hair. “How long have you been up?”“Oh I got an alert at about 3:30. Some renegade Atlanteans hijacking two armored trucks for who-knows-what purpose. Suppose I’ll have to deal with that at some point today. How’d you sleep?”Taking Kara’s hand in hers, Lena saw no reason to hide anything. “The truth? I didn’t really want to fall asleep with you holding me like that. It felt so good, I didn’t want it to end. No one’s… ever made me feel so protected, cared for.”Kara lay back, took Lena in her arms so that she could rest her head on Kara’s chest. “Then I’m glad I asked you to come over.”“But I woke up while you were out dealing with the Atlanteans. I didn’t remember where I was. I um… I’ll just tell you, okay? I know you well enough to know you don’t judge. I have what they call generalized anxiety. It’s from my childhood, from losing my mother, from Lilian. Sometimes I wake up with night terrors. That happened while you were gone. I don’t have nightmares. Just wake up terrified, feeling like I can’t breathe. I finally found a therapist who taught me a way to calm myself down, but sometimes I have to take pills. I fucking hate it.” She also fucking hated talking about herself.Lena found herself breathing hard, working to control sobs that she refused to release, shaking with the effort. She didn’t dare look at Kara for fear her girlfriend would see the tears.Sometimes, no response is the best response.Kara stroked Lena’s hair, brushed the silent tears from her cheek, kissed the top of her head. That broke something inside Lena, or broke something loose. With little prelude, Lena – and just Lena, not the tough-as-nails, world-renowned CEO, not the tenacious Luthor daughter, not the genius scientist-engineer – collapsed into sobs on Kara’s chest. Strong arms closed around Lena, held her, and in holding her gave her permission to dig into whatever vexed her in this moment. Kara’s strength offered her the safety to grip the burning hot coals of her grief.Yet even in her anguish, Lena sensed for the first time that perhaps this deep well of hurt might someday burn itself out to a manageable level if she had the kind of support Kara offered her.She cried until she couldn’t anymore.“Thank you.” Lena burrowed as deeply into Kara’s arms as she possibly could. “Thank you.”“It’s okay. You’re safe.” Kara bent down to kiss her lips. “I know. I’ve always known. You’re not alone anymore. You have me.”
* * *
Lena got changed at the office just in time to avoid any suspicion from Jess, who brought in her agenda for the day. Two meetings with division VPs, two corresponding division reports to review and approve, a ground-breaking on a new research facility, and the keynote speech and photo op at the National LGBTQ Science Fair for high school students. At least that last one would be a fun, extra-rewarding change of pace. She had forgotten that was today. She noted in her calendar to jot down some talking points between the two VP meetings.“Send the press alert to CatCo about the science fair. Request that Ms. Danvers do the coverage.” Lena did her best to suppress the involuntary smile at the thought of getting to work with Kara. Their paths really did cross so frequently. It’s a wonder they hadn’t shared their feelings for one another long before. Then again, after the first few times CatCo had sent Kara, Lena had sort of made sure their paths crossed frequently. How could she not?Kara… Sweet Kara. She had brought bagels back from her crime-fighting mission, had made the two of them a fresh pot of coffee while Lena showered. Did Kara just waltz into the deli in her supersuit and order? Did they hand her the bagels just for being a hero? No. Surely not. Kara would never accept that. Did she keep money somewhere in that tight, deliciously body-hugging outfit? But where? Did she change first? So many questions.The sound of an e-mail alert reminded Lena she needed to get to work.* * *“… and so, I wish to thank the National LGBTQ Science Foundation for inviting me to speak to you today. But mostly to you, students, I thank you for your hard work – both your dedication to innovation and study in math, science, and engineering, and in your work to keep our community visible. There are some who might still underestimate us or try to keep us from achieving, but just keep showing them who you are – brilliant, innovative, full of integrity, and a positive influence on all of your peers. Stay nerdy, friends! It’ll take you far in life! As far as you want to go!”Lena gave a little nod to indicate she had finished. “Thank you all!” She waved to the crowd, paused for camera flashes to pop, then exited the podium area.Backstage, Kara greeted Lena, flanked by a photographer. “Ms. Luthor, would you like to do the interview now, or at your office after the photo ops with the students and their projects.”The bemused CEO gave Kara a wink. “I think you can call me Lena, even in professional settings at this point.”“Oh right.” Kara blushed slightly. “So which do you prefer in terms of the interview?”“Why don’t we do the photos with the students here, and you can come with me for an interview at the office. I can have an L-Corp driver take you back to CatCo when we’re done. Sound good?”Kara turned to the photographer, “Does that sound okay to you, Jerry?” He nodded. “Okay, then. We’re on board with your plan.” The reporter flashed Lena a furtive thumbs-up, clearly in favor of that scenario personally as well as professionally.Rewarding didn’t really begin to cover the level of satisfaction Lena got from her visits with the students. They proudly showed off their work, and a good bit of it impressed her, the truth be told. She even gave a few of them her card and suggested they apply to L-Corp’s summer internship program. Young women took selfies with her, professed their schoolgirl crushes, hugged her, told Lena she was their role model. Naturally, Lena maintained her cool demeanor, but her heart welled up each time. It mended little broken bits of her every time the Luthor name could be associated with good in some way. She looked up every now and again to catch Kara smiling as Jerry snapped photos of some of these interactions. Knowing Kara was there made the experience even sweeter, feeling her personal hero’s silent support emanating from the periphery. Lena stayed at the science fair twice as long as the allotted thirty minutes because she enjoyed the connection to these young people. In her mind, she batted around the possibility of starting a school to nurture young LGBTQ scientists, making a mental note to research what that might entail.
* * *
They arrived back in Lena’s office at around 4:40. “Hold my calls for the rest of the business day, Jess. I need to complete this interview.”“Okay. No problem, Ms. Luthor. Will you be needing anything else before I leave in a little while? Your mail is on your desk. There are a couple of express packages. Probably those closing documents for the L-Bank merger. I can get them out first thing in the morning. They just have to be in by Monday.”“That’s fine, Jess. I’ll sign them and put them back on your desk before I leave. Have a good evening.”“Yes, Ms. Luthor. You too.”Lena clicked the door behind them after she and Kara entered the office.“You can pretty much write whatever you want. I trust you. We don’t actually have to do this. You know I just arranged this so I could see you again as soon as possible.”“What?” Kara looked a little crestfallen.“No no. I mean, I wanted to do the science fair. I loved getting to do that. I just mean the setup of us here alone at the office. And getting you to cover it. I knew you’d understand why it’s so important to me. And I trust anything you write about me anyway.”Kara’s smile brightened again. “Of course. Right. Sorry. I’ve got reporter brain right now… and I can’t say I wasn’t looking forward to being alone with you again too. But I probably need a couple of quotes.” Kara pulled a digital recorder out of her purse, clicked it on as they sat down on opposite ends of the couch.“So, Lena, tell us a little about what the science fair meant to you today.”“It’s just so important to me to support the LGBTQ community in all its facets. We’ve got so many different gifts to share with the world, and I think people sometimes want to see us in only this one light: our sexuality or gender or gender expression. And unfortunately there are parents out there who still tell kids they can’t be queer and be a success, but well, that’s obviously not the case.” Lena grew more passionate as she spoke. “We have all kinds of examples that say otherwise. That’s science, right? Observable evidence. So I wanted to be there to support them and inspire other students out there, not only in science but in other subjects, and say to them: you’re valued members of society.” She eyed the recorder earnestly, as if she were really speaking to all the students. “You’re wanted. You’re important. Everybody has gifts and should feel free to express those gifts.”“I know you have a history of philanthropy and public support of women’s and LGBTQ-related educational causes. Do you have any plans in those areas going forward?”Lena paused for a moment, thinking back to her afternoon. “Yes. Yes I do. It’s just in the planning stages right now, but I’m exploring the possibility of opening a school specifically for LGBTQ students, focusing on math, science, and technology, but certainly not leaving out the arts. The LGBTQ community has a long history with the arts.” She gathered her thoughts again. “An arts and sciences academy for LGBTQ students, privately funded, by application, but free of tuition and heavily prioritizing lower-income students.” Lena sighed. “And since one single school can’t reach everyone, I will also be increasing my involvement with the LGBTQ Science Foundation’s School Outreach program.”Kara clicked off the recorder. Her eyes looked glazed as she dropped the device back into her purse. “Rao, Lena, you’re too dreamy. I can’t stand it.” She launched herself towards the opposite end of the couch, tackling Lena with face and neck kisses, smilingly capturing her lips again and again.Feeling her chest tighten and an ache between her thighs, Lena’s pulse flared, and she grasped Kara’s head and upper back, pulling her close, kissing her fervently. She licked along Kara’s lower lip, desperate for entry, needing to taste her darling girl. The kiss opened, and Kara drew Lena’s tongue into her mouth, then gently sucked. “Mmmmm mmmmhhh.”Lena's corresponding moan muffled by the kiss, she reached down and pulled Kara’s sweater and dress shirt up so she could touch the skin of Kara’s lower back. The girl shivered above her and broke the kiss for a moment. “Oohhhhhh… how do you do that?”“Do what?”“When I… feel like this and you touch me even just a little… I feel it all over.” Kara touched her forehead to Lena’s and breathed out a shivering sigh as Lena continued to graze Kara’s skin with her fingertips.“I don’t know what it feels like for a Kryptonian, but when I’m turned on everything feels heightened. More sensitive than usual. Maybe that’s how I’m doing it?”“Is this what turned-on feels like?” Kara lifted her head and met Lena’s eyes.“Have you never been turned on before?”“I thought I had, but maybe I hadn’t?” The girl looked genuinely puzzled.“Well, clearly this is a new discovery that we’ll have to investigate.” Lena smirked up at her girlfriend. She reached further under Kara’s shirt and rubbed the skin along her ribs and lower back. “You know. For science.”Kara’s legs twitched in response, and she curled into Lena, inadvertently grinding into her, their legs already intertwined. “Oh my, well, who’s turned on now?” Lena breathed into Kara’s neck. That did nothing to help the situation because it caused Kara to twitch and grind into her again. Lena let out a breath she’d been holding and kissed Kara, all open mouth and tongue. The grinding effect happened again. Okay then, they were doing this, she supposed.With little prompting, Kara continued to move on top of her as they kissed. Lena’s skirt bunched up around her hips, and she bit her lip, trying not to moan when Kara kissed her neck and whispered in her ear. “This feels good. Why does this feel so good? Is this okay? Does it feel okay to you?”“Yes, darling. Yes.” Lena stroked Kara’s hair. “You’re okay. Just do what feels natural to you.”Kara continued moving steadily but held Lena like some delicate, priceless thing. Kissed her, touched her face, looked into her eyes. Lena moved her knee obligingly upward to provide more friction when Kara’s rhythm grew erratic. Very suddenly Kara braced her hands on either side of Lena’s head, closed her eyes, and her whole body shuddered as her eyes flew open again. Kara’s eyes shone with wonder but also something that looked a little like terror.Lena tightened her arms around Kara as the girl shook. “Good. Good. You’re okay. Just enjoy it. Feel it.” She stroked Kara’s hair again as the shaking eventually subsided. “Shhhhh… good. You’re okay.”They lay quietly with Kara resting on Lena’s chest for some minutes. Lena idly rubbed Kara’s shoulders, kissed her head, smoothed her hair, waited for her girlfriend to speak first.“Umm… so I guess that was an… umm…”“Orgasm. Had you not had one before?” Lena tried to keep her tone as neutral as possible.“Ummm. Embarrassingly enough, no.”“You don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s not everybody’s thing to have them all the time. Or you know, sometimes it just clicks with a certain person, when it doesn’t really otherwise.”Kara sat up and looked pensive for a moment. “Yeah, maybe so. I mean I’ve emotionally clicked before, or thought I did - but not like with you. You’re just so… you. I’ve liked people, but I’ve not felt this, um, physical before.”“Well, whatever you feel is okay. I guess the question is, did it feel good?” Lena hoped.“Yeah, just surprising. Maybe I’ll be more prepared next time.” A soft smile. A blush.Lena bit her lip. “Next time, huh?”“Um, yeah, uh… I mean if that wasn’t too lame just then.” Kara looked sheepish again.“You are too much. Of course there’ll be a next time, a lot of next times if you want. Did I mention I was already happy just having you as a friend? Well, I’m even happier with this. I didn’t get to say so this morning, but thank you for listening to me. For being there with me. No one’s ever done that for me.”“Well, no one’s ever done, uh, that for me.” Kara smiled in that way she did, through her eyelashes. But Lena could swear this time it was deliberately coquettish. No. Surely not. “But I have to go file this story before I can go home. What was that about a ride to CatCo?”“I’ll call for a driver.” Lena reached for her phone. “But when can I see you again?”“I’ll text when I’m done with this story. It shouldn’t take me too long.” Kara smiled as if suddenly struck by a thought. “Hey, tonight’s my regular TV night with Alex and Maggie. Chinese takeout. You wanna join us?”“Really? With your sister and the cop who arrested me?”Kara looked a little disappointed. “Well, she did apologize, and you are innocent, plus actually a hero who helped take Cadmus down. Maybe give her another shot? For me? We’re going to have to tell them sometime. Alex is my best friend. I know you’ll love her.” She peered at Lena hopefully. “Please?”“How can I say ‘no’ to you, darling?”Kara squealed and hugged her. “You won’t be sorry!”
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Lena found herself standing at Kara’s door, the second time in as many nights. Was this thing moving too fast? She didn’t know if that mattered. Why should it, really? She knew she wanted to see Kara again, to spend as much time with her as possible. She knew she felt safer, more cared-for than she ever had with anyone in her life. And that was even before they had ever kissed or declared any feelings for each other.No, it wasn’t too fast. It felt like a natural evolution in their friendship. They had said “girlfriend,” and it had felt completely right. She loved Kara. That wasn’t news, not really. She hadn’t said it out loud, but she knew. What that meant or where that would take them, Lena had no idea, but of that much she was certain. Lena hadn’t gotten where she was in life by doubting her intuition.She reached up to knock on the door.As with the night before, it flew open after barely one knock, and Kara enveloped her in a hug.“Hey, Lena! I’m so glad you could make it. You remember Alex, and… um… Maggie.”“Yes, Detective Sawyer. How could I forget? And, hello Agent Danvers. Nice to see you again.” She held out her hand to shake each of theirs in greeting.“Uh, it’s Maggie, really. And I want to apologize again for the, uh, unfortunate arrest situation. Based on what we had at the time…”Lena cut her off. “Of course… Maggie. Let’s start over.” She smiled as she shook Maggie’s hand.Alex reached out to her as well. “Yeah, and please. It’s Alex. You helped the DEO get in a real blow at Cadmus, and my sister seems to like you an awful lot, so you’re obviously alright.”Lena let her shoulders relax. Maybe TV night wasn’t such a horrible idea after all.“Let’s all have some drinks.” Kara fished through the fridge. “Lena, do you want a beer?”“Do you have anything stronger?”Maggie chimed in. “I happen to know there’s a bottle of bourbon over here somewhere, because I brought it the last time we had game night.” She smiled at Lena and called over to Kara. “Ya know what? I think that’s what I’ll have.”“A woman after my own heart. That sounds great. Two bourbons, Kara.”Kara returned to the table in no time, two bourbons on the rocks and beers for herself and Alex. “So I ordered pizza and Chinese this time. It’s a special night since Lena’s here.”“Yeah, or it’s a Tuesday and you’re just really hungry.” This thing of Kara’s appetite appeared to be a running joke with the Danvers sisters. “So what’s this big news you wanted to tell us?”Kara grabbed Lena’s hand under the table. Lena gave her a glance that she hoped said, “go ahead.” Kara nodded.“Okay, sure. So, um, you guys know Lena and I hang out a lot.”Alex nodded. “Uh huh.” And was Maggie smirking?“And uh, Lena kinda figured out that I’m Supergirl.”“Gosh, she is a scientific genius and all. How long did that take?” Maggie laughed out loud. “Those glasses… I mean…”Lena smirked back at Maggie. “Yeah, well, there were a lot of clues, actually. But the glasses hid nothing from me. You’re so right.” Did she and Maggie just share some kind of lesbian moment there?“Guys! That was not the point here!” Kara looked mildly annoyed.Lena and Maggie both made a minor show of regaining their composure as Kara continued.“So anyway. We’ve been hanging out a lot, and Lena knows about Supergirl, and we also wanted to tell you guys that we, uh, have feelings for each other. And we’re… um… girlfriends now. Like girlfriend-girlfriends. Like you guys.”Alex made a time out signal with her hands. “Hold it. What? Wait. Girlfriends?”“Yeah. Girlfriends. Like kissing girlfriends.” Kara looked a little taken aback at Alex’s response. Lena reached to put an arm around her.“Since when did you have these feelings? And why didn’t you talk to me about them? Are you… gay too? I thought you liked guys.” Alex didn’t sound angry, just more confused than anything else.“Well, kinda since I met Lena, actually. But I didn’t really fully recognize what was going on until we started hanging out more, and I dunno, I felt… you know… feelings. But I didn’t want to bother you with it because you had your own situation going on.” Kara gestured to Maggie. “And I was kinda weird to you when you came out to me, partly because of the reasons I told you but also because of this… and the gay thing. Well, that’s a little more complicated.”Lena’s eyebrows shot up a little. “This sounds interesting. I thought we already covered that?”“Well, we did, more or less. I made a little side trip up to the Fortress and found out some more.”“When?” The three of them asked more or less all at once.“Super speed. What can I say?” She sighed. “Anyway, so I learned a little more about Kryptonian sexuality. I kind of never got the full scope of that because I well… I was young.” A wave of sadness washed over her features.Lena held her a little more tightly. “It’s okay. You can tell us. We’re listening.”“So as it turns out, things work a little different for Kryptonians than for humans. For one thing – and this is what I told you, Lena. People’s companions being men or women, or even whether you are in a couple or not – not really a big thing on Krypton. Like I found out there’s no Kryptonian word for gay or bi or whatever. That’s mostly an Earth concept.”“It figures. Krypton sounds pretty progressive.” Maggie looked genuinely interested.“But here’s the other thing.” Kara continued. “Kryptonians aren’t particularly sexual. Or they are, but not in the way humans are. They’re only attracted to certain other people, maybe of the opposite sex, maybe not. It’s about an emotional connection. Like if you have a strong emotional connection with someone, then it’s possible to have a sexual connection, and only then is it possible. But not guaranteed, just possible. So meeting someone you have both kinds of connection with is rare. Maybe it only happens two or three times in your life, or maybe only once, or not at all.”“That doesn’t sound all that different from humans to me.” Alex looked at Maggie, smiled, put an arm around her. “We talk about people being ‘the one’ or a soulmate or whatever.”“Well, humans have a little more flexibility, like attraction often comes first, then you can see if you develop an emotional connection. Or the two develop at the same time. Or you can have a strong sexual connection to someone without necessarily an emotional one. That’s next to impossible for Kryptonians, like it physiologically can’t happen. That probably explains how we were able to develop so far in science. It evolved out of necessary population control and ended up serving us well because we didn’t expend all our brain energy pursuing, obtaining, and keeping a series of sexual partners. Either we found one we connected with or we didn’t.”Lena found herself at a loss for words, unable to process all this, grateful to hear Maggie jump in.“So basically Krypton was a planet full of pansexual demisexuals. Fascinating.”Kara snickered. “Well, it’s very human to want to put everybody into little boxes, but yes if that’s what you want to call it, sure, kind of. But there’s also more.”Alex stopped her. “No, wait a second. You’ve dated a couple of guys before. What about that? You weren’t attracted to them? I thought you, you know…”“What? Had sex with them? I mean, yeah, I did but it wasn’t great? I thought what I felt was attraction, but I had nothing to compare it to.”Kara looked over at Lena in a hungry way that made Lena’s mouth go dry, and she suddenly felt her heartbeat between her legs. Lena forgot propriety and semi-forgot that Maggie and Alex were in the room. “So that’s why you… um, the thing that happened… this afternoon?” She grabbed Kara around the waist and kissed her on the cheek, impulsively, without thought. Kara breathed out a tiny moan.“Oh god, please make it stop. That’s my little sister!” Alex shut her eyes and covered her ears. “I can’t unhear that, can I?”Maggie pulled Alex’s hands away from her ears. “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that.”Looking over at Lena, Kara continued. “So Lena, what this means is, you’re chahvia shovuh-zhao te, my – jeez, how do I even translate this – my honored, singular, one-of-a-kind, romantic-sexual but also friend-love I’m very attracted to.” She grabbed both of Lena’s hands. “It’s very special, and I’m very lucky to have found you. Not everyone gets a chahvia shovuh-zhao. And… I know this is very soon by Earth standards, but… but… I see no point in playing games about it, knowing what I know now. I love you, Lena. I love you.”Before Lena could respond, Kara reached over and pulled her into a sweet kiss, full of softness and sincerity that reached into Lena’s heart and squeezed it near to breaking. She had to pull back from the kiss just to catch her breath. “I love you too, Kara. I couldn’t imagine saying it to anyone else so soon – or maybe at all – but I know you mean it, and I don’t have to hold back with you. I love you too.”They kissed again, desperately seeking each other’s lips as if to seal the words that they had just exchanged. Lena grasped at Kara’s waist, her face, whatever she could to find purchase, to anchor herself to Kara. She became dimly aware that Maggie and Alex had excused themselves from the table and had tried to give them whatever semblance of privacy was available. The rest of the world faded away as Kara filled all of her senses and became everything she touched, tasted, heard, saw, smelled.Somewhere in Lena’s periphery, she heard a knock at the door and Alex’s voice.“Ladies. Um…” It grew louder. “Ladies!” They both jumped apart. “Sorry. Sorry to break up what is clearly a special moment. I get it. I truly do. But, I don’t think you want to share it with guy from UberEats, do you?”Kara righted herself and wiped her mouth in case of excess lipstick. “Um, no. Of course not. Uh, sorry about that. We got a little carried away.”“I’m not apologizing.” Lena smirked. “I can’t even say I won’t do it again.”“A little PDA is fine, really. But maybe don’t ravage my little sister in my presence. That’s all I ask, Lena.”“No ravaging. Got it.” She winked at Kara.
* * *
After dinner, Lena helped Alex clear the table and clean up while Maggie and Kara picked out what they’d watch on TV.“So, um, I don’t have the anti-Luthor bias in case you were wondering. You’ve already proven yourself in that regard.” Alex met her eyes across the table as they collected the pizza boxes and takeout containers.“Thanks for that. I mean, I’m barely a Luthor anyway. Lillian never let me forget that.” Lena felt her chest grow heavy thinking of her adoptive mother. “But I know you’re probably concerned about your sister. I can’t blame you for that.”“I mean, yeah, she’s a grown woman, but I’ve spent a good chunk of my life protecting her. So this is the official ‘What are your intentions with my sister?’ talk if that’s what you’re getting at.”“Yeah, that’s the talk I thought we’re having here.” Lena’s shoulders relaxed a little, with all the cards on the table now.“So what are your intentions with my sister?”“Well, I mean we just started dating. But you know we’ve been hanging out for a while, and we’ve both had these feelings for a while. And seeing as this isn’t a human-human relationship, I guess things haven’t proceeded in the order they normally would.”Alex cleared her throat. It sounded intentional. “Yeah, we don’t need to talk about that.”“No, I just meant, we haven’t really done… things. Well, hardly anything anyway.”“La la la la I can’t hear you.” Alex put her fingers in her ears then took them out. “No but seriously, it’s incredibly weird to think of her in that context, so we shall never speak of it again.”“Understandable. But anyway, I just want you to know that I meant what I said back there. I love your sister. No one has ever been kinder to me, no one in my life, and that means the world to me. I’d never do anything to hurt her intentionally. I honestly don’t know where this thing is going, but if I’m her chahvia whatever she called it – which I’ll need to learn how to say really quickly so it doesn’t sound dismissive – I’m going to honor that because, frankly, it’s precious in every sense. I’m going to want to learn as much about Kryptonian culture as I can now. She deserves that. And more.”Alex appeared to mull over Lena’s words. “Well, actually that sounds pretty good. But – and I have to say this, it’s my duty – if you ever hurt her, I have the resources of an entire secret government agency behind me and… yeah…”Lena rolled her eyes. “I know you have to say it. But let’s not, okay? Kara means more to me than you can possibly know. I’ll just leave it at that.”“I know. I saw it back there.” Alex caught her eye. “You’re in, okay?” She reached over and pulled Lena into a slightly awkward, pat-on-the-back “bro hug.” Lena liked it, though. It felt like acceptance, like maybe what being part of a family might feel like.
* * *
Spending the evening with Kara snuggled on the couch, with her sister and Maggie, all of them watching TV, some show about King Arthur’s knights and a hot lady magician who seemed to run things in the background – it felt so incredibly, oddly normal. Lena stepped into this world in Kara’s apartment, and it felt like stepping into a summer day at the beach.The broken part of Lena wanted to resist it, to say, “No, this feels too good.” Or, “You don’t deserve this.” Or, “This happened too fast, and it’s going to get snatched away from you just as quickly.” She heard these deadly voices speaking to her, whispering to her from a lifetime of sadness and loneliness. Despite her success, despite her intelligence, despite how well she functioned on a day-to-day basis, she heard them speak in familiar, seductive tones. They invited her back into a sickly comforting shell of despair and anxiety, where at least she knew what to expect. She heard them, like she always had. But she was learning to ignore their call, learning to experience her life as it came, to live in the moment. Because even shitty moments were better than getting stuck ruminating on the shitty past or myriad possible shitty futures that probably wouldn’t happen. Living in the moment was always better than that.And this moment was pretty damn amazing by any standards.She nestled into Kara’s side, a protective arm draped over Lena’s shoulder, her love playing idly with her hair. Kara occasionally planted a kiss on top of her head. Lena drank in the sense of comfort that surrounded her. The immensity, the solidity of the love that Kara offered her had barely begun to settle in her heart, but she chose to stop questioning and just let herself experience it fully. At times she felt herself dissolve, almost as if she were floating above the room. Maybe this is what happiness felt like. Like flying.
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Lena’s phone buzzed on her desk. She smiled as she picked it up.10:16 a.m. Kara – Thanks for staying over. Sorry I had to leave so early. Again.Lena – I get it. A Super’s work is never done. & thank YOU, darling.…Lena – I mean… what’s sth Kryptonian I can call you?Kara – Weird to type on phone. How bout I tell you later? ;-)Lena - How bout you come to my place? ;-) Want to spend time w you b4 Singapore trip.Kara – Time?Lena – Will be home by 7. Will pick up dinner en route.Kara – Yay! XOThe XO sign-off was a new thing Kara had just begun doing. Lena found it madly adorable. She also found she had a hard time concentrating on the banking merger details. Unfortunately, she had to go over the plans a final time before the trip to Singapore to meet with her trading partners there. L-Corp had gotten into the banking business recently, forming a multinational L-Bank to expedite international real estate and development transactions. She had to make the trip to seal the Asian portion of the merger. This would allow her to work more easily with her development and engineering partners in Korea and Japan. It was a complicated deal, and she had to be there in person as kind of a figurehead and also to make sure the details went off without a hitch.This business trip would keep her separated from Kara for nearly a week, which would have left her pretty lonely before, sure. But now? Now that they had spoken their bond aloud, had shared at least some affections? The melancholy that rose inside her at the mere thought of leaving – even just a week – surprised Lena almost to the point of shock. She knew she loved Kara, but the attachment she already felt, especially after learning about her status as Kara’s chahvia shovuh-zhao, had kind of blown her mind. In good ways, to be sure.But it frightened her too. To go from being this person who had never really known any attachments… well, ever… to admitting a crush that’s… okay actually love, but then Kara blindsides her with this news that, “Oh by the way, based on my alien psychobiology, fate has determined that you’re almost certainly The One.” Not that she doubted her feelings for Kara. This was just… a lot. A lot to process over such a short time. She had no precedent for any of this. Lena had always gotten along okay on her own. Sure she had been lonely, even depressed and anxious, sometimes to a debilitating degree.But she had always fought her mental illness in whatever way she could – medicine, therapy, exotic coping strategies, experimental biofeedback techniques, whatever looked promising in the scientific literature. And she had always filled her life with gainful pursuits, had always taken what opportunities came her way. But the gulf of aching loneliness had always remained, and now that she had something to fill that chasm, it felt strange, even alien. Her anxiety told her it could all be snatched away and to just give it up now because it will only be worse later. She talked back to the monster, sometimes even out loud, if under her breath, which she did now, right in her office.“No. No. You won’t do this. Kara is the realest thing that’s ever happened to me. I won’t give her up, for what? The threat of a future that hasn’t happened? It’s not rational. Shut up, you asshole.”It felt crazy even to her, but sometimes it helped to talk back to the spiraling anxious thoughts that threatened to plague her. Getting them out in the open like that sometimes exposed them for what they really were, totally devoid of logic, in a way that made the irrationality tangible. Sometimes that was enough to make the thoughts shatter. The mindful breathing helped too. And when all else failed, the pills, which she hated. One does what one has to do.But this time the self-talk worked, and soon her anxiety abated, replaced instead by the image of Kara’s sunny face, which warmed Lena’s whole being. She let herself be engulfed by that warmth for a few moments before getting back to work, letting her love for Kara overtake the threatening darkness.
* * *
Only seconds after Lena had locked deadbolt with the security keypad, she heard the whoosh and a gentle touchdown outside on the balcony. She put down the bundle of Thai food and rushed over to unlock the heavy glass door.“You’ve been circling, haven’t you?”Kara blushed, put down a messenger bag hidden under her cape. “I might happen to know the sound of your particular footsteps and your keypad sequence when you arrive home.”“Good thing you’re a superhero and not some creep.” Lena winked, then pulled Kara into a hug and whispered. “My hero, that is.” She felt Kara shiver as her breath teased the Super’s ear.“How do you do that?” Kara backed away from the hug enough to look at Lena in astonishment.Lena feigned innocence. “What?”“How do you just hug me and whisper something in my ear, and it… makes my brain and my whole body all tingly?”“I think you know the answer to that, darling.” Lena smiled. “You said it yourself. You’re psycho-biologically attuned to me in a very special Kryptonian way. And I wish there was some corresponding Earth thing that we humans have, but most of us are promiscuous, at least by nature if not by choice.”“I understand, Lena.” A sad smile shaded Kara’s face.Lena continued. “But I choose to be with you. And I’m honored to be your chahvia shovuh-zhao – I hope I’m pronouncing that reasonably okay – and I want to honor that by being your one and only.”“My one and only romantic-sexual but also friend-love I’m very attracted to?”“Isn’t that what we already are?”The muted light of Lena’s living room shone in Kara’s eyes. “Yes. Yes we are.”Lena gazed at her, hoping to communicate the depth of her meaning. “You know I’ve never had this either, right? I don’t share your culture or biology, so I won’t cheapen what it means to be a chahvia shovuh-zhao by calling you that. But I do feel bonded to you in a singular way.”She kissed Kara’s sweet lips, doing her best to sear those words into her girlfriend’s heart. She grasped Kara by the neck and waist and pulled her closer. Their kiss opened by mutual instinct, tongues exploring slowly, accompanied by soft moans. Lena laced her fingers into Kara’s silky hair, the other hand grasping the rippling muscles of her hero’s back above the skintight suit as their lips and tongues continued their dance. The Super responded in kind and ran a hand under the back of Lena’s shirt, both of them gasping when skin touched skin. Lena melted onto Kara’s shoulder.Kara hummed her delight. “Mmmmm… so soft. I love touching your skin.”“This feels soooo good, darling.” Just the sensation of Kara’s hand brushing softly back and forth on her back mesmerized Lena into a pleasant, drooping haze. Kara continued the gentle motion for some time, holding most of Lena’s weight.“Oh Rao, I just want to touch you all over.” Her girlfriend’s voice sounded as dazed as Lena felt.“Darling, you could probably do anything you want with me right now and I wouldn’t care.”The motion suddenly stopped, and Kara’s hand slid out of Lena’s shirt. “Umm, uhh. Do you mean, uhh? Umm?...”Lena stood upright again and took her girlfriend’s hand. “Kara, dear. We’ll only ever do what you’re ready to do. And only when you’re ready to do it, okay?”Looking down at both of their hands, then taking both in one of hers, Kara looked back up to meet Lena’s eyes. “There’s kinda one more thing about being chahvia shovuh-zhao-te. I don’t want you to take it the wrong way though.”“What is it darling?”“We’re supposed to have a little ceremony… and exchange possessions.”Attempting to school her features, only one of Lena’s eyebrows quirked. “What kind of possessions? And by ceremony, do you mean get married?”“No, it’s not getting married, or even necessarily a betrothal. It’s… like a private ceremony, just you and me, where we promise each other stuff, whatever we want to promise each other. And we just exchange one thing each, something representing our families.” Kara appeared apprehensive. “Look, I’m sorry. I know family is a sore spot with you.”Lena thought for a moment. “I might have something I can offer you… Like I said, Kara. I want to do right by you and your culture and your family.” She reached up and put a hand on Kara’s cheek. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose a whole planet, but I know what it’s like to lose family. I can’t give it all back to you, but I can honor what’s left.”Tears welled up in Kara’s eyes as she pulled Lena in for another kiss, this one melancholy, not heated like before. The kiss pierced Lena completely, felt soulful in a way that nearly broke her heart. Perhaps it was how tightly Kara held her, how much need the girl unleashed in the grasping of her lips. Lena tasted Kara’s yearning for home in the salt of her tears. For the first time, Lena understood how it was possible that Kara could actually need her as much as she needed Kara. It felt like a miracle.She blotted at Kara’s tears with her sleeve. “My darling, you have me. Always. Just like you told me.” She took Kara’s hand. “Let’s have some dinner, shall we?”
* * *
“Thanks for getting Thai. And the extra rice. I guess I was pretty hungry. Sometimes I get a little emotional when I’m hungry.” Kara looked sheepish as she helped clear away the dishes. She had changed into some yoga pants and a sweatshirt, which she brought in the messenger bag.“It’s okay, Kara. You don’t have to apologize for your emotions. You didn’t think it was weird when I told you about my anxiety the other day and even cried a little, right?”“No, I was actually glad. I got to see the real you.” The point appeared to dawn on Kara already.“Not that I’m any kind of relationship expert, but it’s probably good that we’re real with each other, right?”Kara smiled. “Yeah, I guess so. I’m just not used to being, ya know, vulnerable. Not in my line of work.”“It’s not exactly a desired trait for CEOs either. I have to keep that stuff to myself, or with therapists on strict nondisclosure agreements, issued by lawyers who are themselves on nondisclosure agreements. I have a whole database just to keep track of who has signed what NDA. Ugh… So anyway, would you like to see my room?” She grabbed Kara’s hand.“Why yes, I would.” Kara beamed. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like.”Lena favored modern, clean lines, and the same held true in her bedroom. Okay, well, it wasn’t exactly a bedroom. The size of a small apartment itself, she had ordered the space constructed to her specifications. One entire wall was lined with naturally dark, polished-wood, built-in bookshelves, which she had filled with first-edition classics in five languages, travel guides, beautiful art books, graphic novels, children’s books – volumes that she had collected over a lifetime, ones that couldn’t be rendered properly in electronic form. The shelves also housed natural items such as large crystal rock formations and polished shells, small sculptures and exotic trinkets from the far corners of Earth and a few other planets, and items of religious significance from several different religions.One wall, roughly painted exposed brick, featured four tall windows with gauzy white curtains that lit the entire space when she wanted sunlight. Thanks to the tall ceilings of this converted industrial building, the bed, king sized, sat in a half-loft with stairs leading up to it, ensconced in a built-in headboard filled with shelves, cabinets, drawers, and a vanity table. Next to the bed was an exercise area with a yoga mat, meditation cushions, and an exercise bike. A few weights rested on a stand near the wall.Below the loft was a studio area with a sectional couch, a large screen TV, painting supplies, an easel, a simple chair next to a cello and music stand, a bent wood reclining chair with a lamp, and a high-end surround sound stereo system with a vast, glass-fronted record cabinet, holding mostly classical, jazz, and indie rock. The wall opposite the windows, also exposed brick, featured four large paintings, the same size as the windows, expressionist designs mimicking natural phenomena like waves or clouds in bright blues, greens, and whites.Lena spoke as they entered. “Full lights.” The lights popped on, including spotlights in the studio area below the loft. “Full security.” Several clicks engaged around the room. Metal shielding slid over the windows.“Rao. This place is… incredible. I take it this is your Fortress of Solitude?”“Yeah… yeah, I guess it is. Almost no one knows about it except the people who built it. And they signed a…”Kara chimed in. “Nondisclosure agreement?”“Yep. So you’re, um, actually the only one who’s been in here since I completed it. I kinda own this building, so when the neighbors moved out, I took out the wall between my original bedroom and the apartment next door and made it into this. It’s my safe room. Totally secured with the absolute latest L-Corp tech. I programmed it myself. It helps me sleep. And it has all my favorite things in it. Stuff I’ve collected from my travels, my favorite books, things that calm me.” Looking around, Lena now felt a little embarrassed at how over-the-top it all was. “It’s a little decadent, I’ll admit.”“Now who’s honored? Thanks for letting me see it. It’s so beautiful. And so… you.” Kara smiled, filling the space with a warmth that hadn’t graced it before. She walked around admiring the books and other items on the shelves, occasionally touching them.“I mean, who wouldn’t want such a lovely place to feel at home, Lena? It reminds me a little of homes on Krypton. No clutter, everything beautiful and inspiring, a mixture of natural and technological. I just love it. This is exactly the sort of place where you can recharge your creativity.”They gravitated towards the studio area. Kara reached over and touched the cello with obvious delicacy. “Do you play?”“Yes. I learned in school, and I’ve tried to keep up. I take a lesson or two when I have time. I practice a few times a week when I can.” Lena felt a sense of ease wash over her just looking at her cello.Kara put her hands together in a gesture of enthusiasm, almost childlike. “Play me something. Please?” Her eyes sparkled.Taking the instrument in her hands, Lena planted herself on the chair. She didn’t need the sheet music for Bach’s suite for solo cello in G major. It was the go-to solo for any cellist worth her salt, really. Kind of a cliché, but Lena still loved it after so many years.Suddenly aware of how sensual the cello was – she forgot sometimes – Lena placed the instrument between her legs, let it rest on her shoulder, placed her fingers carefully on the strings. Kara settled on the sectional opposite her, leaning on a large throw pillow, her feet tucked up under her.Lena closed her eyes and let the bow slide across the strings as she struck the first notes of the familiar prelude. She began the haunting tones more slowly than she might ordinarily, wishing to play more for passion than for speed. Her fingers danced over the board, pressing to create clear tones when she wished, wavering for extended vibrato tones for longer notes. She leaned in and pressed the bow harder for louder tones, easing up for softer ones. Despite their location under the loft, she had built in a domelike structure above them that created surprisingly resonant acoustics that still echoed into the larger space around them.She loved Bach for his almost mathematical precision and the symmetry of his music, which still allowed room for passion and individual interpretation. Lena breathed the tones into her body, breathed them out of the instrument, almost as if it were a part of her, surprised that she was able to let go this much with another person in the room. Although she played more slowly than usual, she felt like she blinked and the piece was over, suddenly finding herself intoning the last two double-stringed chords.Lena opened her eyes. Tears streaked Kara’s face, but she sensed they weren’t sad tears. Lena carefully replaced her cello in the stand and moved over to the couch to sit by Kara.“What is it?” Lena hugged Kara fiercely, stroking her hair.Kara pulled back to gaze at Lena, smiled. She grabbed Lena’s hands. “That was just… your face looked so peaceful while you played. And it was so beautiful. I’ve never heard anything so beautiful. And it came from you, from inside you. It kinda was you in a way I’ve never seen before. Oh Rao, Lena. I just love you so much, chahvia-te.”“Is that something I can call you too? Is it appropriate for a non-Kryptonian to say?” Lena felt hesitant.“Yeah, without the rest of the title it just means something sort of like ‘my honored only one.’ It’s an extra special term of affection. And… it would really mean a lot to me if you want to say it.”“Well then, we have a special name for each other, chahvia-te. Is it something we say around other people, or only alone?”Kara appeared puzzled for a moment. “I think only when we’re together, or around very close family. Not that anyone here knows the difference…” The shadow of sadness again.Lena brushed her fingers down Kara’s teary cheek, peered into her eyes. “I want to do things right. We’ll have our little ceremony, and you’ll teach me the words I need to say, and I’ll learn whatever else I can about Kryptonian culture. Even the language if you want. I have Lex’s old notes, and if you or Winn Schott can transpose the recordings at the fortress into a format my computers can read, even better. I can create a tutorial program through L-Lang.”“You’d do that?”“Look around you, Kara. Learning is kind of my bread and butter. Music, human languages, computer languages, engineering, biology, art – in my mind it’s all kind of the same thing. A puzzle. With this one, the prize would be that you get to speak to me without a mask.”“Hey, now. I don’t wear a mask when I’m speaking English.” Oops. Was she indignant?“No, no. I’m not questioning your fluency. Just… there’s no substitute for getting to communicate in your native language. I went to school in France and Switzerland, so I know what that’s like. And sure you have Kal-El and the Fortress holograms, but wouldn’t it be a tiny bit more like home to have a chahvia who spoke a little Kryptonian?”“Of course it would.” Kara’s arms closed around her again. “Hey, can you tell your security to let me go get my bag? It has my toothbrush in it.”
* * *
Lena smiled to herself as she slipped on a pair of silk boxers and matching tank top, thinking of Kara’s comment about fancy pajamas. Fine, maybe they were a little fancy. Kara sat in the bed, paging through a book of Kandinsky paintings, having shed the sweatshirt and yoga pants, now in a thin t-shirt and boy shorts. Lena realized it had really only been a few days since they had spoken their feelings aloud, but she had a hard time looking at Kara, sitting there scantily clad in her bed, and not imagine what it would be like to…She sighed. No, Lena told herself, she would do this right. Potentially at least, they had their whole lives to explore that part of their relationship. She would allow Kara to take the lead until her darling girl requested otherwise. She crawled into bed beside Kara, who replaced the Kandinsky book on one of the headboard shelves.Kara moved in close and took Lena in her arms, kissing her lips, softly at first, then more hungrily. Lena let her girlfriend set the pace, let Kara follow where her need took her. Lena felt the earnestness as Kara’s lips sought hers again and again, suckling first Lena’s bottom lip, separating softly, excruciatingly slowly. Then she did the same to Lena’s top lip. Kara drew Lena’s tongue into her mouth and sucked gently as she rolled them over, such that Lena found herself under Kara. She couldn’t stop herself writhing into Kara’s deliciously muscular body, her hips seeking friction in a way that her brain couldn’t stop. This involuntary reaction only increased when Kara began kissing her neck and biting her earlobe.“Ohhhh…” Lena moaned. “Darling, chahvia. Please. I know you said you weren’t ready to…”Cutting her off, Kara whispered maddeningly into her ear, turning the tables from earlier. “I’m still not… not entirely… but… can we do the thing… like in your office the other day? I just need you. Please, Lena.” She propped up on her elbows and looked into Lena’s eyes pleadingly. “Please. I need to feel you.”Lena reached up and tucked the hair behind Kara’s ears, leaned up to kiss her lips. “Darling, yes, of course.” She pushed Kara by the shoulder. “Here, roll over, dear.”Complying with the request, Kara shifted onto her back, and Lena climbed on top of her, propping herself on one elbow and brushing Kara’s face with her other hand. Lena gazed at her girlfriend’s piercing blue eyes and bent down to drink in her soft lips.She whispered softly into Kara’s ear. “You’re so beautiful, chahvia-te.”Slipping a leg in between Kara’s, she whispered again. “You’re safe here.”Lena began to move. She tasted Kara’s lips and felt rather than heard the moan rise.She moved a little faster. “Move with me, Kara. It’s okay. Let go.”Kara matched her rhythm, and they moved together, a gasping, moaning dance. Before long, Kara reached up and slipped a hand under the back of Lena’s top, as she had earlier. Again, they both gasped at the touch.“Yes, darling. It feels so good to have you touch me.” The tension had begun to coil irreversably inside Lena, and she grew concerned she would tumble over the edge before Kara. Her concern didn’t ease when Kara’s fingers strayed up her side to one of her breasts. Lena’s whole body shivered.“Please, Lena. I’d like to… touch…” Lena realized what Kara wanted. She made a little space between them. Kara reached in to cup Lena’s breast, squeeze it. They both moaned when Kara pinched a nipple.Lena reached up and laced her fingers into Kara’s hair. “Darling, I… I… you’re driving me mad.” She dived into Kara’s mouth, kissing her hard.Then rather suddenly, Kara’s body began to quiver. With her other hand she grabbed Lena by the back of the neck and pulled her into another hard kiss, a mess of tongue and lips and sucking and a little biting. “Oh Rao. I think I’m… I’m…”“It’s okay, darling.” Lena continued to move, kissing Kara’s lips. “Come for me, chahvia. You’re so beautiful. Let me see your pleasure.”Kara planted her elbows on the bed. Her back arched, and she moaned out her climax, eyes wide with wonder as Lena continued to move.The sight was almost too gorgeous for Lena to witness. She buried her face in Kara’s shoulder as she continued. She felt Kara’s arms enclose around her back. “Yes, Lena. I want you to feel it too. Keep going.” Kara kept up the rhythm to help her along, and soon Lena tipped over the edge as well. Her whole body rippled as the waves washed over her, and Kara rode it out with her, wrapped a leg around her back as she pushed through the last of it.Lena collapsed onto Kara’s chest, a sheen of sweat covering both of them. Kara held her, kissed her forehead. They stayed quiet for a while.Kara ventured into the silence first. “Nahkluv, zhao-te.”So, fine. Perhaps Lena had already looked at Lex’s old notes some, because she recognized Thank you, my honored love.She could also respond, maybe. “Chao nahkluv, chahvia-te.” She hoped she didn’t completely bungle it.Kara sat bolt upright. “Wait. You understood me? And what did you say?”“Well I guess my pronunciation was probably terrible, but I was trying to say, ‘And thank you, my honored only one.’”The invulnerable superhero, yet completely vulnerable, adorable young woman, clapped her hands together, “Yes, your pronunciation actually wasn’t too bad. Kal-El’s is only a little better, to be honest.” She kissed Lena, smilingly. “I feel so happy right now. I’ve never felt so at home on Earth.”Lena smirked. “Well, news flash, Ms. Danvers. There’s a lot more where that came from. And I’ll let you read between those lines whatever way you wish.”They both slept better that night than they had in months. Or maybe in either of their time on this planet.
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Lena arrived in her hotel room in the early evening, already missing Kara, tired after the long flight as she looked out the window of the high-rise suite onto the lights of Singapore Bay. Despite the fact that she got to fly luxury business class wherever she went, if not a fully chartered flight, twenty-four hours of travel took their toll on her as much as they would anyone. Lena never found herself able to sleep on a plane, so she folded her arms and leaned exhaustedly onto the thick glass panes as she waited for her luggage to arrive. Luckily, the bell staff proved reliable as ever, and she didn’t have to wait long. She had already called down to have a light meal delivered as soon as possible.An experienced business traveler, the CEO of L-Corp kept things light even for a full week of formal meetings: one medium black suitcase, one small roller case that converted into a hangup bag for suits, and her travel computer bag, which contained one change of clothes and a small collection of toiletries just in case she got separated from her checked luggage or to freshen up on the long flight. The bellman set up her larger bag on the luggage stand. She tipped him in local currency and sent him on his way.Lena quickly dug into her suitcase to find her sleepwear, a silky featherweight t-shirt and matching pants in soft gray. She slid out the packing organizer containing her pajamas, and when she unzipped it, a light blue stationery envelope fell out onto the floor. She picked it up, recognizing Kara’s practiced handwriting immediately: “Chahvia,” it read. My only one. Lena felt her heart expand and beat a little faster as she slid her finger under the tab carefully to open the envelope. It contained a card with two penguins sitting on a little iceberg, a heart suspended in the air above the two of them. She smiled so big it almost hurt her face. Only Kara could get her such a silly card and get away with it being purely adorable, not at all corny. Lena knew the sincere emotion that surely motivated her love to slip such a thing into her luggage at the last possible second.Opening the card, Lena discovered what she already knew would be there. The card’s actual inscription was unabashedly heartfelt and utterly ridiculous in equal measure, “You melt my heart.” But of course Kara also included a handwritten love letter that filled every possible writeable surface, and she even attached an extra sheet of paper for the overflow. Lena nevertheless gasped a little at her first glimpse at the volume of writing. No one had ever written her a love letter before, or any kind of personal letter really, certainly not in a long time. She treasured it already, even before she had begun to read.
Dear Lena,
By the time you get this, you’ll no doubt be in Singapore, and we’ll have been separated for at least a day. That’s a day that my heart and my body have longed for you, chahvia-te. It’s hard for me to say these things in person sometimes, but I’m trying to get better at it. I miss you. Terribly. Already. I’m not ashamed to say it.
Every second I’m away from you, even just being at CatCo or out doing field work for the DEO, my heart and mind never stray far from you. Even though you’re on the other side of the world right now, I can guarantee you I’m probably thinking of you this very second.
If it’s evening there, it’s morning here, or vice versa. If you’re just about to have dinner, I’m probably getting up or getting ready to go to work. If it’s midday for you, it’s midnight for me. But you’re probably jetlagged at the moment, so it’s really the same time in our brains I suppose. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you’re exhausted. If so, I hope you get a chance to sleep before all the work stuff and meetings start.
I only wish I could be there with you, to be your big spoon or rub your back to help you go to sleep. Please imagine me there with you as you drift off tonight, holding you, so you don’t get too lonely. Even though I can’t be there with you – we both have our work, and time zones being what they are, and I don’t want to distract you – know that I’m with you anyway. I’m not far. And if you had an emergency, I could be there at superspeed if you needed me. You know I can.
But when you come home, I’ll be here for you then too. And okay here’s the sexy part. I didn’t know if I would “go there” when I started writing this but I can’t help it, chahvia-te. Every time you touch me, I want more. I’ve tried very hard to hold back because this is new with us, and I don’t want it to be only physical, and of course it’s not. But it is also physical. You are my chahvia shovuh-zhao and that means I am drawn to you in every way.
Sure, I don’t really know what I’m doing in terms of sex stuff, but I feel okay about that now. You’ve helped me feel okay about it. And I want to be together with you completely. Because I love you. But also because you’re really hot and I’m so turned on every time I’m near you. But I also love you… and well, those two things are not separate for me when I think about you. Because you’re you. And I’m glad there’s a Kryptonian term for what you mean to me because I wouldn’t have been able to think of one on my own, not in Earth language. I hope that’s okay. I hope you’re ready to be with me in that way too, even though I have no idea how any of this works. I mean, I know theoretically, but not really.
Okay, so I’m babbling on paper at this point. I hope you understand what I mean. My point is, I love you so much and miss you so much already (and you aren’t even gone yet as I’m writing this) that it almost physically hurts. I hope when you get this, if it’s a decent hour here in National City – or let’s be real, even if it isn’t – please call me and tell me you got there okay. I miss you already. I love you. I can’t wait to see you again. For, um, lots of reasons. Okay, I just made myself blush, so I think I’ll sign off now.
Love, Your Kara
Your Kara. Your. Yours. Mine. Kara is mine. The thought rolled over in Lena’s mind as she read the letter a second time as tears welled up in her eyes. She missed Kara now so much it hurt her chest. Her stomach lurched. She knew exactly what Kara had meant when she said she felt Lena’s absence physically. Lena felt the same.But suddenly it dawned on her, and her mood brightened. She looked at her watch and realized that, given the exact twelve-hour time difference, Kara would just be getting up and around at this very moment. She could call right now this minute. She wiped her face and thumbed FaceTime to dial her darling reporter.A wet-haired Kara picked up from her kitchen table. A wide smile graced her face as soon as she answered. “Lena! It’s you! Rao, it’s so good to see your face. How was your flight?”“Long. Uneventful, but long. I finished two audiobooks and watched three movies.”“Oh yeah.” Concern creased Kara’s forehead. “I forgot you don’t sleep on planes.” She signed visibly. Paused. “I reeeeeallly miss you by the way. I had a hard time sleeping without you last night.”Lena’s sigh mirrored Kara’s. “I know. I got your letter.”“Oh Rao. I hope it wasn’t too much.”“Darling, no. It was so sweet. I was… very moved.” Lena caught her breath and tried not to let any more tears form at the corners of her eyes. Surely it was the hunger and jetlag. “I… miss you too. In all the ways you mentioned in your letter.”“Oh really?” Kara’s voice took on a playful, naughty edge. “You want to tell me more about that? I’m all ears.”Lena smirked at her. “How I would love to, my dear. But I’m completely exhausted and you need to get ready for work. But nice try.” She winked, bit her lip strategically. “Seriously though, no one’s ever written me a love letter. You… swept me off my feet. Again, this time without even being in the same room with me or, you know, actually sweeping me off my actual feet. That’s talent. I’ll probably read it about twenty more times.”A proud smile crept across Kara’s face. “I guess I did write you a love letter, didn’t I? I’m pretty romantic.” Kara said this as if she were realizing it for the very first time. It occurred to Lena that Kara had – of course, right? – written the letter only out of heartfelt emotion and concern for Lena, not out of some wish to get any particular reaction.“My love, it’s going to be a very long week. Your letter really did melt my heart. And the card of course.” Lena grinned. “I’ll have a very hard time thinking of anything but you.”Kara sighed again. “Yeah, it will be a long one for me too, chahvia. But you look like you could really use some sleep. And I need to get ready for work.”“Have a good day, darling.”“Sleep well, chahvia shovuh-zhao-te.” Kara made a kissy face and noise at the phone.Lena couldn’t believe she was doing it, but she mirrored Kara’s gesture. “I love you, my dear.”“I love you more. Good night.” Kara’s face disappeared. Lena felt her absence immediately.Just then, a knock came, and a waiter arrived with a tray of dinner, assorted fruit and charcuterie with a bottle of sparkling water. Lena accepted it gladly, signed it to the room, and ran a hot bath while she ate. She slept well, imagining Kara spooned next to her, arm draped around her side, knowing her love wasn’t truly so far away even though she missed her terribly.
* * *
Lena’s week unfolded as planned, filled with meet-and-greets with executives and L-Bank staff from different divisions. Those proved fun in some cases. She enjoyed getting to know the people working for her, if only indirectly working for her in the case of L-Corp’s banking ties. Together with the execs and employees at the main L-bank office, she posed for a photo op after a press conference that included a ceremonial signing of the main merger papers.Weeks before, she had caused a huge stir in the Singaporean press when she insisted on corporate protections for LGBTQ employees at L-Bank Singapore, in a country that lacks a lot of basic protections for its queer citizens. The papers she now signed now included those protections, and L-Bank had hired lobbyists and publicists to start working to change both government policies and public opinion on the matter. Lena planned to air a series of TV spots about LGBTQ rights very soon.During the photo op, the CFO presented her with a meter-tall, exactingly detailed jade Merlion statue, a copy of the half-fish, half-lion figure guarding Singapore’s Marina Bay district. Lena, in turn, announced that they would display it proudly in the foyer of L-Corp headquarters in National City to remind visitors of their Asian partnerships.Her daily agenda varied but ran along similar lines. She met with investors who took her sailing on a yacht on Marina Bay. She spoke with executives and the L-Bank board to go over plans regarding tech developments and planned research labs, answering their questions about specifics regarding the real estate side of their manufacturing endeavors. Despite some misgivings from the board, Lena remained adamant about keeping the company entirely “fair trade.” Her research team in National City had determined that the market would bear the additional expense that this assurance would require.The CFO and two board members accompanied her on a chartered side trip to the groundbreaking of a new R&D site in Jakarta. Cue slightly awkward photo ops of Lena and the team in fancy corporate wear but donning hard hats.When she had a spare moment and felt it would be a conducive time in National City, Lena called or texted Kara.
Lena: It’s 10:25 p.m. here. Long day. I’m ready for bed, wanted to say hi.
Kara: When are you coming hoooommme?? :-(
Lena: I know – This trip is interesting & productive, but I assure you I’d rather be there too.
Kara: Things pretty quiet at the DEO, so all I have is Snapper being his usual jerky self.
Kara: …
Lena: What?
Kara: It’s like he knows I’m texting about him. Jerkface just looked at me.
Lena: Forget him. Give me something nice to think about while I go to sleep.
Kara: Heh heh. Uh, okay.
Kara: …
Lena: ?
Kara: Think about how it’s gonna feel when we’re both naked.
Lena: a;lkdga;lksdf
Kara: Okay then. Success. So think about this too: how much I want to touch you and kiss you. Everywhere.
Lena: Okay then. So much for sleeping. I didn’t need to sleep ever again. Thanks. So here’s one for you:
Kara: Huh?
Lena: A nice thought for you... Imagine me trying to sleep. But now I’m all hot and bothered thinking about you touching me. Ya know, all over? So instead of going to sleep, I’m just going to be lying here with my legs spread, breathing hard, touching myself, thinking about you touching me. All over.
Kara: Holy. Crap.
Lena: Yes. Just checked. You made me totally wet... So anyway. Enjoy the rest of your morning, darling.
Kara: So much for filing this story. I didn’t need to write ever again.
Lena: I love you. ;-)
Kara: I love you too, but you’re slightly evil.
Lena: I merely asked you to give me something nice to think about. Who’s really evil here?
Kara: Okay, fine. Touché. And I’ve gotta go now. Suddenly there’s something I need to … take care of.
Lena: Lol. Funny, me too. Seriously though, I love you. <3
Kara: I love you more. <3 <3
Lena: Not possible, but ok sure. ;-)
With that, Lena put the phone down on the nightstand and really did make an honest effort to go to sleep, but the images Kara put into her head would not leave of their own accord. She couldn’t help but imagine undressing her beautiful superhero girlfriend for the first time. In her uniform? No, no. In her everyday clothes, maybe a pressed, button-up shirt and a cardigan, some tasteful dress pants. Kara would surely be a turned-on, adorable, nervous mess. Lena would need to help her. Maybe the sweet reporter’s hands would shake, and Lena would unbutton her top for her. They would kiss again and again to calm Kara’s nerves, sweetly at first, then more deeply.Lena’s hand traveled into her gray pajama pants as her need grew with her vivid imaginings. When she evoked the feeling of her naked body touching Kara’s for the first time, she hissed as she touched herself. Lena didn't hesitate to give herself what her body demanded, finally able to sleep once the ache of her need was assuaged.Only a few more days. Not long now. She reminded herself as she sank into sleep.
* * *
On the last day of her trip, Lena had an afternoon to herself. She spent it in the hotel’s traditional Korean-owned spa. She booked the full program, VIP with full privacy and her own concierge: showers, soaking pools, herbal steam room, dry saunas at varying temperatures with varying mineral properties, body scrub, and massage with a body moisturizing treatment. She spent the afternoon alternating between the various treatments and lounging in a heated room, drinking tea and reading a trashy bestseller on her Kindle, while wearing a soft, luxurious robe. She wished Kara could be there with her and determined to book a spa day for the two of them back home sometime soon.Lena swallowed hard when she met the young lady who would be giving her the body scrub and massage. Soo Mi, a very attractive and athletically built young woman perhaps in her late twenties, wore a sports bra and spandex boy shorts like all the other ladies working in the pool area. It was meant to be functional, not sexy, but Soo Mi didn’t look like the kind auntie types she usually got on her spa visits. Was it cheating to be scrubbed to within an inch of your life by someone you find attractive? Too late. Soo Mi covered the padded table in fresh towels and patted for Lena to hop on. She shed her robe, hung it on the hook on the wall, and hopped on as requested, face down.Sure, Lena was a woman of the world. This was normal in many cultures. She did her best to relax as Soo Mi dashed her with warm water a few times, which disappeared down a drain in the pristinely tiled floor. She then began scrubbing off Lena’s epidermis with a scratchy washcloth. A body scrub was one of those pleasantly unpleasant experiences, more clinical than erotic, so she decided she didn’t feel so guilty that she had thought Soo Mi was cute. Even though you get scrubbed everywhere. Okay, not quite everywhere, but just about.After the scrub, Soo Mi sat her up and held a towel to her discreetly, professionally. Lena wrapped it around herself to dry off as her skin tingled, soft like a baby after the full exfoliation. She put her robe back on while Soo Mi dried the table and recovered it with fresh, dry towels. Once again, she patted it for Lena to hop back on, again starting face down. This experience was very different from the body scrub. She no longer had the buffer of the scratchy cloth. Obviously, a massage involves being touched directly. Lena took a deep breath and looked down through the face cradle into the floor, wishing to forget that the pretty young woman massaging her right now wasn’t Kara.Lena had often utilized massage over the years as a means to help with her anxiety and depression. Human touch, even in a therapeutic context, can help assuage feelings of loneliness and despair, in addition to the relief of muscle tension. Most people need to be touched. Lena did not get the human contact she needed as a child, and part of her pathology as an adult resulted from that unmet need. A therapist had prescribed massage as a possible remedy to explore, and she had seen massage therapists regularly for the last few years. She had never really thought about whether any of them were attractive or not. Why now?Lena breathed in and out consciously, settling into the strange experience of being mildly turned on by the touch of a stranger. She imagined Kara’s strong fingers digging into the muscles of her back and shoulders, digging into pressure points to release tension she didn’t know was there, stretching out her limbs to loosen joints and tendons. Lena felt herself melt into the table, sometimes sighing audibly and not caring what it sounded like. She found herself unsure whether they were normal massage sighs or if they had to do with imagining Kara’s hands on her, but she decided it didn't ultimately matter. As far as she was concerned, these were her Super’s hands touching her now. And she felt wholly relaxed.As Soo Mi worked, she rubbed a lavender scented oil into Lena’s newly exfoliated skin, and the relaxing scent soothed her into a trancelike state. After Lena finally emerged from the massage room in her robe, she nearly floated to the heated lounge area. She drank a good half liter of cucumber infused water from the cooler as she settled in for a final nap. Her concierge came to get her at five thirty, in time for her hair and makeup appointment before the gala that evening. She left Soo Mi a sizeable tip.
* * *
That final day ended with a lavish party in the National Gallery. Lena was happy to learn that this visit included a private guided tour of some gallery highlights given by a local Art History professor. She managed to learn a lot about Southeast Asian art despite the relatively short ninety-minute tour, and she acquired a hardcover museum catalog to find out about the parts of the exhibit she didn’t get to see.The party proved typical of those sorts of affairs. She found the catering exceptional, the company and conversation rather boring. She had long since grown tired of answering questions about her personal life that a male CEO would never have to answer.“Yes, I have someone special at home.”“No, I like to keep my private life private.”“No, I’m doing just fine with work-life balance. Thanks for your concern.”“Children? Did you ask Bill Gates about that when you signed the Microsoft deal with him in ’99?”“No, I see no problem using my position to influence the Singaporean government towards better treatment of LGBTQ citizens. We’re all human, and we all deserve dignity and equality. I’ll never back off from that.”A few L-Bank employees came up to her and quietly thanked her for her stance. She assured them she was proud to have them working for her and she would continue to fight for their rights in whatever way she could.As the party drew to a close, she shook hands with or politely bowed to her hosts and thanked them for their cooperation and hospitality. She assured them the continued support of L-Corp as the bank completed its transition after the buyout, and they confirmed plans of a summit in National City later in the year that would also include L-Bank Europe.On the ride back to the hotel, Lena reflected on the trip and deemed it a success overall, despite the touchy nature of the LGBTQ rights situation in Singapore. She had chosen that location in part because she believed she could have a positive influence there and in the region. She drew a deep breath in the hope that they were now on their way to making a difference. Lena had opened up avenues for ethical profitability for L-Corp, for the bank they had merged with, and for the new research and development facilities this venture created for them. She had missed Kara to the point that it almost drove her mad, but she had done good work over here.
* * *
The inbound flight back to National City dragged on longer than the one she had taken to Singapore. As the lights of her home spread out below her through the tiny window, she willed the plane to please go faster. Upon landing, she texted her driver Linda her baggage claim number and instructed Linda to pick up the bags as soon as they hit the carousel. She would tip well for it. She always did.“Ms. Luthor, you can wake up. We’re here.” She had dozed off on the way from the airport. Linda had the door open and the luggage already out. The car sat in the underground garage of Lena’s apartment building. “Would you like help getting this stuff into the elevator?”“No, that’s okay. Thank you.” Lena stacked the two larger bags and rolled them, alongside her computer bag, into the secure doors after verifying her fingerprint on the bioscanner. “Have a good night.”She rolled her things along into the nearest elevator as soon as the light turned green and the doors slid open. Despite her worn-out, now even more jetlagged state, her heart sped up at the prospect of seeing Kara in practically seconds. She had texted her chahvia as soon as the plane had landed.Ding. “Ninth floor,” said the unnecessarily sexy elevator voice. The doors slid open, and Lena hustled her stuff across the hall just as the door to the apartment burst open.Her beloved Super stood there, arms open, eyes smiling. Lena fell into the waiting hug, burying her face in Kara’s neck, drinking in the smell of sunshine and happiness and that exotic spice she couldn’t quite name but could never ever get enough of. She tore herself away from the homey scent to grab Kara’s face in both hands and pull her into a fervent but gentle, loving kiss.Kara touched her forehead to Lena’s. “You’re home, chahvia-te. I missed you so much. So very very much.”They fell into another kiss. And another. “Darling. I want you so badly right now. But I’m so exhausted. I need food and sleep.”“Well guess what, my love? I told Jess you’ll be taking off tomorrow. And so am I. And we have the weekend after that. So there’s plenty of time for all of the above. And oh yeah, guess what else? I brought you a meatball sandwich from Rossini’s.”Lena peppered her face with kisses. “Oh you darling, darling girl. How do you keep making me fall more and more in love with you?”“Well, do you hear that sound? I’m also running you a hot bath right this second.” Kara smirked. “I’m getting very good this girlfriend thing, huh?”“Yes, darling. Yes you so are.”That night, Lena didn't have to imagine Kara's arms around her as she drifted into sleep. She was finally home again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Lena awoke to the smell of coffee. For a moment, she had forgotten where she was and got that startled jolt one gets upon waking in an unfamiliar bed, until she realized she was back in her bed, no longer in the hotel in Singapore. She opened her eyes to find a blonde blur that could only be Kara standing above her, smiling, holding two mugs. Light streamed in from the tall windows through the airy curtains. Lena grabbed her glasses from one of the built-in shelves.“What time is it? How long did I sleep?” She sat up, gratefully accepting one of the mugs. Kara already knew how Lena took hers. Cream, a touch of honey to knock the bitter edge off.Her girlfriend sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s around 9:30. You slept almost eleven hours. I’m pretty sure that’s a record, from what you’ve told me.”“What can I say? Jetlag and having you here to protect me. I actually haven’t slept that well in years without… prescription intervention.” Lena sipped gratefully from her coffee, sighing with satisfaction. “This is perfect, by the way.”“I do my best. So what would you like to do today?” Kara set her coffee on a slide-out nightstand, looking eager.“Well, I kind of need to send a few follow-up e-mails regarding some of the merger details…”A fake-stern but bemused look settled onto Kara’s features. “Oh no, ma’am. That’s not allowed. You have today off. So do I. We have no obligations until lunch tomorrow. We’re meeting Maggie and Alex. Then a game night with the whole crew tomorrow night. Those e-mails can wait until Monday morning.”“But I need to…” Lena already realized the futility of her protest.“No, no you don’t. Somehow I feel like the international markets will survive one day without your input. How often are we gonna get a whole day… maybe even a whole weekend together?” A wide smile spread across Kara’s face, and she grabbed Lena’s free hand and squeezed it. “A whole weekend!”“Your logic is flawless, darling.” Lena paused to contemplate for a moment. “And I have an idea how we might spend today and tonight.”“What? What? Tell me?” Kara clapped her hands together. It melted Lena’s heart, as usual.“Well, Lionel left me his father’s old cabin up at Appletree Lake. None of the other Luthors wanted it. Not fancy enough. Too small. He took me fishing up there a couple of times when Lex didn’t want to go, and I loved it. Those were among the very few times I felt like a real member of the family.” Lena fought for a moment to choke down the ache in her chest. “It’s a beautiful place, so quiet. We could go there if you like, spend the night, go out on the lake, go for a hike, enjoy some, uh, special time together.” Lena met Kara’s gaze with a mischievous look, hoping to emphasize her meaning.Kara’s eyes lit up an even more sparkling blue than usual. “Special time, huh? I'm in. I’ll just have to call Alex and tell her where I’ll be… but I’ll also tell her that she’s only allowed to get in touch for earth-threatening emergencies.”“Sounds perfect. I’ll call the caretakers of the old place and have them go in and dust things off, maybe pick up a bag of groceries for us.” Lena already had her phone in hand.“Oh, by the way, speaking of groceries, I went out and got stuff to make pancakes. It’s all ready to go whenever you are. Just say the word.”Lena tilted her face upward. “Come here, you.”Kara leaned over and captured Lena’s lips in a soft, lingering kiss. “Good morning, chahvia.”“Good morning, my darling.”
* * *
They drove up to the lake in Lena’s Audi S5 coupe, sun roof open. Kara picked the music, a sugary mix of 90s and 2000s pop that Lena happily endured because Kara sang along and danced and looked so joyful. Lena didn’t have the heart to dampen the sunny day with her potentially gloomy indie rock favorites. She might’ve even sung along to a couple of Lady Gaga tunes, though she would certainly deny it later if ever accused.Lena savored the sensory experience of driving her car, which she sadly did not get to do as often as she preferred. She favored the control of a manual transmission, the way the car hugged the road to her exact specifications around curves. Driving unfamiliar roads required the same type of concentration she needed when learning a new piece of music for the cello. It challenged her. These roads felt more like an old piece being dusted off. She hadn’t driven up to the lake house in a woefully long time, so the roads seemed just familiar enough but still a challenge, especially so with the distraction of Kara beside her.On straightaways she looked over and sometimes caught Kara gazing at her. She shot her sweet reporter a bright smile, a slow bat of the eyelashes. The sun illuminated the soft planes of Kara’s gorgeous face, making her blue eyes twinkle. At certain moments, it became almost too much, and Lena had to turn her eyes back to the road – both for safety and because looking at Kara for too long felt almost like looking at the sun too directly, the radiance making it nearly unbearable. In those moments, Lena had to take a deep breath to assuage the almost physical sense of falling, that feeling of the bottom dropping out of her stomach. Falling further and harder for Kara every second. Sometimes wonder and terror feel like exactly the same thing. Lena simply breathed.They arrived at the old lake house in the early afternoon. The caretakers had left some groceries in the refrigerator, as promised: items to make sandwiches, ingredients for a simple pasta dinner, a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and a half dozen eggs and some turkey sausage for breakfast. The two of them had brought a few condiments and other ingredients, plus two bottles of wine and a couple of other goodies in a cooler. They had stopped by for Kara to grab a couple of things from her apartment on the way out of town. Not a bad spontaneous weekend getaway for two women with ridiculously demanding jobs.“What a cute place! I never would’ve pegged you for the lake house type.” Kara explored the cozy surroundings while Lena unpacked what they had brought with them.The whole place was built of old, rounded quarry rock. The back of the house facing the lake had a deck that entered onto a windowed sun porch with a well-worn leather love seat and a couple of chairs. The living area featured a matching sofa covered in quilts. Wooden stairs with metal railing led up to a loft with a bed covered in fresh linens and more quilts. Throughout the house, antique fishing gear and lake memorabilia hung on the walls, alongside antique photographs. These included one of a very young Lionel in a Boy Scout uniform, holding a fishing pole, standing next to his father Leo and his uncle Lawrence. They looked so very normal in the picture, not at all like a triumvirate capable of wreaking financial ruin on countless people’s lives. Every time she looked at it, Lena resolved once again to try and make her family’s legacy right, insomuch as she could.In the kitchen stood an old midcentury gas stove. Lena had gotten the plumbing replaced and put in a modern refrigerator, though she had found a retro-looking model to match the existing décor. She had left the clawfoot tub in the bathroom but replaced the detiorating sink with an elegant antique-styled basin model. The bath linens hung fresh on their rails. Everything wiped, dusted, every window opened to air out the house on this sunny day. Quaint, quiet, perfect.Kara pronounced her immediate approval. “I love it.” She whirled around and placed her arms around Lena, pulling the two of them close. Moving Lena’s hair away from her neck, Kara breathed in deeply. “Rao, I love how you smell, Lena.”“How do I smell?” She pulled back and quirked an eyebrow at Kara.“I don’t know. Like plumerias, those flowers you had in your office that time. Like rain. Like Krypton, maybe. Like something that drives me crazy and I wish I knew what it was.” Kara paused for a second. “Actually, I do know what it is – pheromones. Kryptonians have extra sensitive pheromone receptors, especially when they’re, uh, bonded. I learned that while you were gone.”“So are we bonded, chahvia?” This sounded like something very specific and cultural, and Lena wanted to know.“Well, uh, after our… special time… yeah, we will be, physiologically speaking. It’s part of the whole chahvia shovuh-zhao package. My body will be attuned to yours after that. I guess that’s why the ceremony became a thing on Krypton. It kinda, I dunno, marks the occasion?” Kara held Lena’s hand, looked into her eyes as though searching. “Are you sure you’re ready for all this?”Lena took a deep breath once again and felt that falling feeling in her stomach, almost the same as when she tumbled off the balcony of her apartment when those goons were after her.She grasped onto Kara’s hand with both of hers. “Kara, I won’t lie to you. I’m terrified. I’m terrified you’ll find I’m not good enough for you. That maybe I actually won’t be good enough. That I’ll fail you somehow. Like if you really, really know me, you’ll stop loving me.” Lena fell onto Kara’s shoulder and felt the Super’s arms wrap around her. “You’re so incredibly kind, so good, I’m in awe of you sometimes. I’m scared I can’t live up to that.”“You’re okay, Lena. I’ve got you.” Kara ran a hand soothingly down Lena’s back.Lena couldn’t keep from crying on Kara’s shoulder. “I just… I just have a lot of darkness in me. A lot of pent-up anger from my childhood. Even being here is kind of bittersweet. Lionel was never mean to me, but he just wasn’t around a lot. What precious little time I got to spend with him coming here was leftover time that he didn’t spend screwing over investors or lavishing on Lex and Lilian. I do believe he loved my mother, though. He must have. I wish I could remember her better.” She sobbed into Kara’s flannel shirt.Taking Lena’s hand, Kara led them both to the couch. She hugged Lena close again. “I’m not them, chahvia. I lost my family, home, everything. Rao knows I understand your grief. But I also know what it means to be a part of a family and feel loved. Not once but twice even. And I want that for you too. I know I can’t fix your past, but I know you’re working very hard on your own to repair the damage it did, and… and as your chahvia I…” Kara turned to face Lena directly. “I just want to offer you what I have that might help. My love and a place in my family if you want it.”Searching Kara’s eyes, Lena found nothing but the same guileless sincerity and love she had always seen there, two transparent blue pools brimming with something that looked a lot like the hope that Lena felt.“I couldn’t possibly want anything more.”Kara reached over and blotted Lena’s tears with her shirt sleeve, brushed a lock of dark hair behind Lena’s ear. Lena nodded almost imperceptibly, and Kara closed the distance between them.For several seconds their lips brushed together, downy and soft as a whisper. Lena reached up to touch Kara’s cheek, tracing her fingers down her darling girl’s graceful neck. She pulled Kara closer and began kissing her more firmly, grasping Kara’s lips with her own. Lena climbed up onto Kara’s lap, straddling her on the couch, then entering Kara’s mouth with her tongue, tasting her hungrily.They stayed this way for some time, making out on the couch. Their hands and tongues didn’t stray any farther than they had before, but Lena felt a new freedom with Kara, as though she wouldn’t accidentally cross any fraught boundaries. She didn’t try to keep her hips from seeking friction. She let her moans go unchecked when Kara’s hands crept under her shirt. This was foreplay, of course. Lena had no idea when the main event might occur. Tonight, maybe? But they had launched the opening gambit in a scenario for which there could be only one endgame. Sex.At one point, even as Lena bit Kara’s neck and sucked her earlobe, enraptured by the sounds of her girlfriend’s obvious delight, she almost stepped out of herself for a few seconds and mused on the situation. Funny how a moment can turn on a dime when you love someone. One minute you’re crying and unloading your deepest fears. The next you’ve got a one-way ticket on a runaway train to Bangtown.What the hell? Bangtown? Where did that even come from? Lena laughed out loud. Her eyes grew wide as she put her hand over her mouth, but she couldn’t stop laughing.“Um, what’s that about?”“Oh, nothing darling. I’m just losing my mind, that’s all.” Lena struggled to regain her composure.Kara looked confused. “Uh, okay. Sure… Hey, do you want a sandwich? I’m pretty hungry.”
* * *
They took a rowboat out onto the lake after their belated lunch. Lena wore an impossibly wide-brimmed sun hat to keep from burning her alabaster complexion. Kara expertly rowed them out to the middle of the lake. They brought along a bottle of the wine and some imported chocolate in the cooler. A slight breeze rippled the surface of the water. The occasional puffy cloud decorated the sky. A few other boats dotted the lake in the distance but none near enough to see or hear their occupants. Trees lined the edge of the water, punctuated by the occasional lake house or wooden dock.“I see what you mean about it being quiet up here. It really is beautiful. I would want to hang onto it too.”Lena nodded in agreement. “There’s nothing like being in the middle of a calm lake. Even my bedroom isn’t this quiet. There’s always the hum of machines, the buzz of traffic. We forget what quiet really sounds like.”Laying back in one end of the boat with her arms behind her head, Kara looked up into the sky. She appeared peaceful. A quiet smile graced the edges of her lips. “I haven’t been out on a lake since Alex and I were Girl Scouts.”“Of course you two were Girl Scouts.” Lena snickered, imagining how adorable the two of them must have looked in their uniforms.“What? You weren’t?” Kara pushed up on her elbows. “I thought everybody was.”“I wasn’t much of a joiner. But I went to boarding school starting in eighth grade. It was all girls anyway. If they’d given merit badges for sneaking alcohol or smoking weed or having a crush on your roommate, my sash would’ve been full.” Lena laughed at the memories of her harmless delinquency.Kara’s eyes grew wide. “You smoked pot? That’s so… rebellious.”“Oh come on, Kara. You went to college. You never tried it? Really?”“It doesn’t really work that well on Kryptonians. I tried a couple of times, but it just made me cough, and laugh too loud at stupid things that aren’t actually that funny. And food tasted reeeally good so I wanted to eat a lot… more than usual. Which is to say a lot. And then I just felt really relaxed and tired so I went to sleep.” Kara got this adorable miffed look on her face.“Um, I hate to break it to you but I think it did work. That’s kind of what it does to humans too.”“Oh.” Kara bubbled with laughterThey enjoyed the sunny afternoon on the water, chatting on and on about their lives, memories, dreams, fascinations. The two had long since realized they would never run out of things to talk about and never fully plumb the depths of each other’s personalities. They lounged in the boat, talked, kissed, drank the wine, enjoyed the chocolate, smiled into each other’s eyes, kissed some more.Lena reveled in their time together. Her work and even her fears from earlier seemed far away, dissolved somewhere in the gentle ripples of the lake’s water.Kara, however, grew visibly jumpy. Lena began to notice.“What is it, darling?” Lena reached over and placed a hand softly on Kara’s cheek.“I… I… keep thinking about earlier, about making out with you on the couch. How you moved. The sounds you made. I.. I need…”“What?” Lena placed a soft kiss on Kara’s lips. “It’s okay.”“I need you… I… I can’t hold this back any more. We have to get back to the house. Please, chahvia.”“Darling, of course.”Kara had grabbed the oars almost before Lena could get the words out.
* * *
“Are you sure this is okay?” Kara’s hands caressed Lena’s face as the door closed behind them. “You’re not drunk or anything, right? This is consensual. You totally consent, right?”Lena smiled at Kara’s endearing concern. “Yes, chahvia-te, I want you. It’s okay.” She began unbuttoning Kara’s flannel shirt, slowly, button by button, kissing Kara’s lips between every button. Kara stood hands at her sides, shaking almost imperceptibly. When Lena finished, she gripped the shirt to pull Kara towards her for a deeper kiss. Lena brushed the shirt off her love’s shoulders and slid her hands around Kara’s waist to pull her closer still. Kara captured Lena’s lips greedily, first one and then the other, sucking at each one in turn, occasionally biting down gently. Her breath came out in shallow shivers.“Can I take us upstairs?” It took a moment for Lena to register what Kara meant.“Yes, by all means.”Kara shed the flannel, now just wearing a tank top and bra. She scooped Lena up as she had when she had rescued them both from Cadmus and deftly flew them up over the railing into the loft. Lena expelled a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She grabbed Kara and pulled her into a hard kiss when their feet touched the area rug in the loft. She walked the Super backwards towards the bed. Kara went willingly, sat down when the backs of her knees hit the mattress, pulling Lena towards her.The two fell into an immediate open-mouthed kiss, not a neat, tender affair this time. They ached with need and hunger. Kara shivered with every touch. She scrambled to pull Lena’s shirt over her head, which broke the kiss for a second as they cast it off from between them. Lena did the same with Kara’s tank top. A fiery look flared in the blonde’s eyes as she ran her hands down Lena’s stomach. Lena shivered too. She felt herself grow ever slicker.Now’s the time, Lena figured. She might as well give Kara a scenic view while they’re at it. She hopped up off of the bed and stood in front of her girlfriend, reached down to unbutton her pants. Slowly, slowly, Lena undid the zipper of her black jeans. Slowly, slowly she eased them off her legs. Slowly, slowly she stood back up so that Kara could see her fully in her black satin bra and panties, simple but elegant, sexy lingerie that still left some to the imagination.Kara’s jaw actually dropped. “I knew you’d be gorgeous, but I had no idea.” She stood up and grabbed Lena, began kissing her neck and shoulders, placed a hand on her bra-clad breast and kneaded softly. Lena moaned audibly, then reached down to unbutton Kara’s jeans and began sliding them off her hips. Kara drew another shaky breath as she stepped the rest of the way out of the legs as they fell down past her knees. Lena turned the two of them around and pushed Kara back onto the bed, then jumped on top of her, pressing a thigh in between Kara’s. They both groaned at the contact.“Tell me what you want, darling. We can do whatever you like.” Lena whispered enticingly into her love’s ear as she began to move on top of her.“I just… want to… see you. And feel you… taste you… all over. Please.” Kara reached around and fumbled with Lena’s bra clasp, finally unhooking it fully after three or four ungainly attempts. Lena sat up on her knees and let the satin garment fall, exposing her full breasts to Kara’s wide-eyed view. Kara sat up a little to get a better look. She reached up but stopped short. “Oh Lena. You’re so beautiful. May I? Please?”In response, Lena lay on the bed on her side and took one of Kara’s hands in hers. It shook with desire, or nerves. Lena wasn’t sure. She placed Kara’s hand on one of her breasts and then stroked Kara’s face. “I’m here to give you what you need, darling. You don’t have to ask to touch me. But if there’s some special way you want to be touched, or if you want me to do something differently, or if something doesn’t feel quite right, just let me know. And I’ll do the same, okay?”Kara let out a breath, her hand stilled. “I’m just afraid I won’t do things right.”“Chahvia-te, you’ve done everything right so far. Just follow where your body takes you. It hasn’t steered you wrong yet.”Kara climbed on top and took Lena in her arms, held her like some precious treasure, kissed her lips with a heart-gripping passion that stole the breath from Lena’s lungs. “I love you, Lena. You’re so beautiful.”“I love you too, darling. I want this… I want you.” Lena reached around Kara’s back to undo her bra, happy she hadn’t lost her touch as she freed the clasp with one hand, first try. Kara slid her arms out of the straps and tossed it aside. It seemed as though Kara suddenly remembered the reality of breasts because she looked down and gasped as hers touched Lena’s.Kara wasn’t alone in that reaction of course. “Ohhh god that feels so good.” Lena moaned at the contact.They dove mutually into another kiss, a deeper kiss. Kara drew Lena’s tongue into her mouth and sucked. Lena felt as though she had turned to liquid from the waist down. She grew impossibly wet with desire, to the point that her underwear felt superfluous. The scent of their mingled arousal charged the air around them. Lena reached down and began to slide Kara’s underwear down her hips. Kara rolled off of Lena and slid them the rest of the way off. Lena took the opportunity to do the same.Lena poised on her hands and knees above Kara, both of them naked now. Kara was a frantic mess of need, eyes wide, hands roaming to Lena’s breasts, squeezing. She lowered one of them to Kara’s eager mouth, a thigh between Kara’s legs. Lena held herself up by her elbows, her thigh churning into Kara’s silky wetness as her darling girl took one of Lena’s nipples into her mouth and sucked and stroked with her tongue while rolling and pinching the other soft pink bud between her thumb and forefinger. Satisfied moans rose up from Kara’s throat.“Ohhh. Yes, chahvia. Take what you need.” Lena shut her eyes in pleasure. “Yes, my love.”When Kara had sated herself, Lena dove back down to taste Kara’s sweet mouth as she continued grinding into her thigh. She bit Kara’s neck, kissed behind her ear. Kara moved along with her but stopped rather suddenly. “Lena, this is… a lot. I think I’m going to…”“But you don’t want to yet. It’s okay, darling.” Lena eased her thigh away from direct contact with Kara’s wetness. “Just relax. I’ve got you. Just breathe.”And Kara did. Lena kissed her gently, slowly, took her time with each part of Kara’s body. She kissed Kara’s neck, her shoulder, her chest, lavished attention on each breast. The blonde began to breathe more heavily again as Lena took each nipple into her mouth in turn. She nipped her way down Kara’s stomach until she reached the soft, neat curls below. The smell she knew to be Kara permeated her senses strongly now – the goodness of a summer day, freshly mown grass, again the undertones of an exotic spice, something soft that called Lena to a familiar place she had never traversed but knew by heart. She planted herself between Kara’s bent knees, which shook with desire. Lena looked up and met Kara’s gaze. “Is this okay, darling?” Kara nodded without hesitation.Lena parted Kara’s lips and kissed her intimately for the first time. She began by treating it like a kiss above the waist, exploring with her lips and tongue, discovering the textures and tastes of her beloved Kara. She dipped her tongue into Kara’s entrance and was met with a taste like Kara’s summery smell, with an added citrus tang, again with the hint of something exotic and unnamable. It was a taste that didn’t need acquiring. “Mmmmmmm. You’re just luscious, my dear.” Lena continued her intimate explorations until Kara began to writhe beneath her.“Oh, Lena… Oh Rao. This is… I don’t know… I…” Lena had intentionally avoided direct contact with Kara’s clitoris up to this point, wishing to work up to that much stimulation and to make this last for both of them. She realized Kara was ready now, so she began concentrating on the spot where her love needed her, sealed her lips around the sensitive bud and gently sucked while stroking it with her tongue. Kara nearly sprang up off the bed. Lena calmed her by gently rubbing her stomach, finally reaching up to hold her hand.Something in the gesture of holding Kara’s hand while making love to her opened a channel in Lena’s heart, completed a circuit that had felt broken inside her all her life. She had certainly had sex before, but she had never felt so close to anyone as she did now. Her whole body, indeed her whole being in this moment, became filled with her love for Kara and her single-pointed aim was to show that love through this simple act of deep intimacy. Lena poured her whole heart into every second of their shared connection, her face wet with tears of joy and Kara’s increasing pleasure.The pitch of Kara’s moans increased. “Lena, please. I want to feel you… inside.” Lena responded immediately and slid a finger into Kara’s entrance, followed soon by a second, all the while continuing the attentions with her mouth. “Ohhhhh. Ohhhh Rao.”Lena didn’t want it to end. She wanted to stay inside Kara forever, to feel this intimate connection forever, but she knew Kara needed release. She increased the speed of her tongue and pushed deeper into Kara’s silky heat, curling her fingers into Kara’s upper wall as she fucked her. Kara’s moans grew louder and more ragged, as her inner muscles began to pulse erratically around Lena’s fingers. Putting her whole body into the last several heavy thrusts, Lena felt the rhythmic pulsations squeeze her fingers as Kara’s body grew suddenly rigid, then shuddered deeply as she moaned out her climax. Lena continued to fuck Kara gently until her body had completed its release, and Kara uttered a barely audible, “Okay.”Wiping her mouth on her Super’s inner thighs, Lena crawled back up the bed and took Kara into her arms, pulled a quilt over both of them. Silent tears of joy still streaked her face as she absorbed the aftershocks that wracked Kara’s body every now and again.Kara turned to peer at Lena, concern painting her features.“It’s okay, darling. These are happy tears. I feel very very close to you now, and it might be the best thing I’ve ever felt.” Lena kissed Kara’s forehead.“Well, I am pretty sure you just gave me the best thing I’ve ever felt.” Kara put an arm over her face to hide her blush.Lena laughed gently and snuggled Kara closer, pressing her lips to Kara’s cheek and forehead every few minutes as they lay quietly. Lena had always enjoyed sex, though her girlfriends had been relatively few and far between. But being honest with herself now in this vulnerable moment, she had always preferred the taking to the giving. Lena had enjoyed being pleased by her partners. Not that she had been selfish, not that she hadn’t appreciated the pleasures of reciprocation, but she had never given herself to anyone, not like this. She had never lost herself in the act of love. It had never been an act of love. The only thing that compared to the all too brief moment of connecting with Kara was playing the cello, a piece she knew by heart and loved, but this went far deeper. She loved Kara more than the one thing she loved most in the world.Kara had begun kissing her, lightly on the cheek, then softly on the neck, followed by playful bites. Lena squirmed as the pleasure instantly reminded her of her unsated arousal. Kara rolled Lena onto her back and poised above her, gazed deeply into her eyes. An understanding passed between them. “I trust you, Kara. I’m yours.”Taking in one more stuttered breath, Kara looked at her with something like wonder, then began to devour her with little prelude. Relentlessly. Lena should have known of course. Kara never did anything halfway. Why would this be any different? Kara’s hands, her mouth, her legs seemed to be everywhere at once. She held Lena, stroked her face and hair, kissed her repeatedly all open mouth and soft moans. She bit Lena’s neck just enough to elicit a yelp or two, then soothed with her tongue. She rode Lena with a firm thigh, creating a teasing friction that made Lena moan into her mouth.Kara whispered soft encouragements into Lena’s ear.“Everything about you is so beautiful.”“Your skin is so soft.”“It felt so good having you inside me. I can’t describe it.”“I want to give that to you too, chahvia.”She worked her way down Lena’s body slowly, touching, kissing, rubbing her face against every surface, every curve. Kara ran her fingers through the silky folds leading to Lena’s entrance, now wet with desire.“Mmmmhmmmm.” Lena arched into Kara’s touch, then propped on her elbows and looked down to see her contented Super with closed eyes and a half-smile as she explored Lena’s sex.Kara bent down to taste, and the contact sent a ripple of pleasure through Lena’s body as she fell back onto the bed writhing and moaning. Continuing the explorations, Kara swirled her tongue through Lena’s folds, finally settling into the place Lena most wanted her. They quickly found a rhythm that left Lena arching her back and grinding into Kara’s lips and tongue.“Ohhh… Oh god… Kara… darling… I’m… getting very… uhhh uhhh… I need you… on top… fingers…”While Lena regretted the loss of Kara’s tongue, she welcomed her love’s weight back on top of her, and the transition time was mercifully short. Kara balanced herself on her knees and one arm – thank you, super strength! – and played at Kara’s opening with her other hand. Lena suspected that Kara didn’t realize how maddening it was.“I… I need you inside. Please, Kara. Two fingers.”Her darling girl obliged, pushing in both at once, no hesitation. “Ahhhh. Yesss darling. So good. You can... mmmm… start moving.”And she did. Kara instinctively braced her hand with a thigh, which meant her palm hit just the right spot and gave Lena just the right friction with very thrust. Kara was nothing if not physically coordinated in addition to being strong and agile. Things started off gently enough, but when Lena husked into her ear, “It’s okay, you can go harder,” Kara did.“Is this what you like, Lena?”“Yes, love. Yes… Ohgod…. Yesss… Ohhh.” The bedsprings squeaked metallically, and the old iron headboard had begun to rumble against the wall. Lena would have laughed if she weren’t so close to orgasm. “I’m… Oh… uhhhh… just push up with your fingers… uhhhh… towards the ceiling…”Lena’s ability to form coherent thoughts or words collapsed after that. She would later remark that Kara had fucked her senseless, once again making her darling reporter blush like a beet. In this moment all she could do was feel. Kara surrounded her, filled her, inside and out. When they kissed, it felt like they were as connected as any two people could possibly be, as though any boundary between their two separate existences had all but dissolved. Kara gazed into her eyes, and Lena caught a glimpse into an unconditional abyss of glassy blue. Everything Kara was, laid bare, on open offer for Lena, nothing spared, nothing held back.And she fell. But it didn’t feel like terror. It felt like wonder. Like coming home. Everything inside Lena shook – every cell, every atom, every particle inside her quaked, turned inside out. Her toes curled, her back arched, as wave after wave of climax wracked her body, a physical and emotional tsunami. Kara slowed but didn’t stop, and Lena’s body refused to stop too. The waves kept hitting her, so Kara pumped into her, more gently now until the tide of spasms truly slowed and then stopped.Lena’s body went limp, and Kara gathered her up and held her close, enveloped her. Neither spoke for a while. Finally, when Lena had come back to herself after a bit, she turned onto her side so she could face Kara, leaned over to caress her lips in a gentle kiss.The blonde cast her eyes downward momentarily before looking back at Lena. “So, um, that was good, right?”Despite biting her lip to contain her amusement, Lena burst out in a gale of laughter. “Oh dear god yes, my darling. I wish I knew a word for how good it was.”
* * *
They made a simple dinner of spaghetti Bolognese, enjoyed more wine, and had ice cream for dessert. Every time Kara said something adorable, every time she smiled, Lena’s heart swelled again as she sensed the tangible connection between them. Kara emitted a new aura of ease with Lena, as if something in her had relaxed now that they had expressed this bond that her physiology had demanded of her. Lena wished to do everything in her power to honor this aspect of Kara’s nature, even if she didn’t fully understand it.“Kara, I brought something for you… for our ceremony.” Lena placed the last plate back in the cabinet after drying it.“You did? Oh Rao, I didn’t want to ask because I was afraid it would be weird. Because… family.”“I had something that will work.” Lena’s heart nearly burst at Kara’s gleeful expression. “The moon is full so it’s pretty bright out. How about we meet on the back deck?”“Sounds good.” Kara dashed upstairs to get something from her luggage.Lena retrieved two boxes from her purse, one small and cube shaped with a red ribbon, one an elongated rectangle. She went out through the sun porch and sat on the bench connected to a picnic table on the deck. Kara joined her, a small wrapped box in hand.“It’s pretty short, as it turns out, so I can just tell you what it means in English, and you can repeat the words after me. There were modifications to do if one partner isn’t Kryptonian.”“I’m ready when you are.” Lena realized this was now merely formalizing something she already felt, and if the bond already felt this special to Lena, she couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Kara.“Okay so I’ll tell you when it’s a part you need to repeat.” Kara placed her hands in each of Lena’s. “Khap nahn i chahvia. I am your honored one and only… Now you, Lena. ‘Khap nahn i chahvia shovuh-zhao-te’”Lena listened concentratedly to make sure she pronounced it as correctly as she could. “Khap nahn I chahvia shovuh-zhao-te. I am your honored, one and only friend-love who is also your romantic-sexual love.”“Rrip nahn chahvia shovuh-zhao-te. You are my honored one and only friend-love who is also my romantic-sexual love… Now you. ‘rrip nahn chahvia-te.’” Tears had begun to form at the corners of Kara’s eyes.“Rrip nahn chahvia-te. You are my one and only.” Lena reached up and wiped a tear that spilled down Kara’s cheek.“I nahn i zehdh. You are my family.” Kara sniffled.“I nahn i zehdh.” Lena felt this statement like a jab in the gut. But it gave her hope too, if even just a little, that she might know the love of a family.“Krop nanh chahv zhgehv. We are one world.” Tears spilled down Kara’s face now.“Krop nanh chahv zhgehv.” The significance of this statement wasn’t lost on Lena either.“Khap chad i zhor vo rrip. I give my heart to you.” Kara reached up with one hand and pulled Lena towards her until their foreheads touched.“Khap chad i zhor vo rrip.” Lena had already given Kara her heart. She knew now.They kissed for a long moment to seal their words, as if to etch them into each other’s hearts. Lena broke the kiss to reach back and find the smaller of the two boxes.She handed the tiny parcel to Kara, who untied the ribbon immediately and opened the box to find a ring box inside. It contained an art deco style ruby ring set in yellow gold. Elegant, not large or ostentatious. Kara stared at it.“You said it’s supposed to be something that represents family. This belonged to my grandmother. My real mother’s mother. I don’t know why Lilian kept it for me, but she did. I’ve never worn it, but I’ve always hung onto it. I’d be honored if you want to wear it.”“It’s so beautiful, Lena. Thank you. I really am honored.” She slipped it onto her ring finger, on her right hand. They had established that this wasn’t a betrothal. Plus all of Kara’s friends would surely kill them both if it were. Not to mention Alex. God knows what she would do.Lena pulled out the other box. “And I know you can’t wear it all the time because it would get disintegrated or something when you’re out in the field. If you want to wear it under your suit, you can. I got this titanium chain in case you want put it around your neck. Titanium resists heat, magnetism, and many forms of radiation. But I know jewelry can be dangerous in some work environments.”Kara pressed a sweet kiss to Lena’s lips. “I’ll wear it as often as I can.” She reached behind her and pulled out a similarly small box that was wrapped in silver sparkle paper with blue curly ribbon.Doing her best not to muss the paper and ribbon, Lena opened the gift. Inside she found a ring box as well. Inside it nested a silver-colored band with a bright green stone in a diamond-shaped cut that looked suspiciously like the house seal on Kara’s uniform. Lena held it up to the moonlight and looked closely. Carved subtly into the flat stone was the seal of the House of El.“It’s Kryptonium. Not to be confused with Kryptonite. They had some samples at the DEO and I got Winn to laser-cut this piece for me. The band is also titanium, incidentally. So this ring is basically indestructible, like me. Like our love.”Lena rolled her eyes. “You did not just say that.”“Yeah I did.” She grinned at Lena in that infectious way where her eyes crinkled at the edges.Lena slid the ring onto her finger. It was understated, elegant, and the green would look good with the jewel tones or black that Lena tended to wear. She turned back to Kara.“So you said we also make promises to each other.” Lena held both of Kara’s hands again. “So here are mine. I promise to trust your instincts, even when everybody else disagrees with you. I will honor you, and your culture, and your family. I will always have your back just like you have mine, Kara Danvers. And I will never betray your Supergirl identity. If I’m ever crabby with you I’ll regret it and apologize immediately. I promise to love you as much as I know how. And more if I can. As long as I can.”Kara followed suit. “Lena, I will always protect you and never let anyone hurt you or disparage or judge you. I will constantly remind you what a good, kind, ethical, special person you are. I will take care of you if you get sick. I will bring you lunch at the office. My friends and family can be your friends and family, even if they’re annoying sometimes. I will love you every day and be the chahvia you deserve. I may have to run out and work on short notice sometimes. I suppose we both will. But you will never be far from my heart. I can’t explain this bond that I have with you now. But it is solid. I’m incapable of betraying you. Not that I would ever want to in a million years. I’m yours, Lena Luthor. Completely.”Completely. The word bounced around in Lena's head. She couldn’t really say she had ever felt “completely” anything before, but that was before she had been loved by Kara Danvers.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Morning sun filtered through the trees that lightly shaded the skylight above the loft. Lena woke to the sound of a sleeping Kara breathing softly and regularly next to her. On her back and looking up at the gentle shift of the tree branches as the wind and the light played through them, Lena breathed in the fresh air that blew in from the screened windows below.She practiced this. Every day. Just breathing, being calm, letting herself experience this life. Whatever emotions she felt, not grasping at them, not pushing any away. Same with her thoughts. Just breathe. This was as necessary for good times as for hard moments. She let herself have this moment, without judgment, without second guessing, without question. Lena experienced the love that Kara had shared with her the night before, let it float through her like a cloud, let it fill her, let herself be there with it as she lay next to Kara while she watched the trees and the sun dance above their quilted nest.Kara stirred next to her, murmured in her sleep, and it pulled Lena out of her mindful breathing. She turned onto her side, watched the light and shadows dapple the curvature of Kara’s mostly uncovered form. It figured, of course – Kara and her metabolism – she generated a lot of heat in her sleep. She had kicked off most of the quilt and lay there with her golden skin shining with a thin sheen of sweat. Kara lay on her side facing Lena, her face a mask of angelic sleep, the curve of her hip poised enticingly. Her arm draped her over chest, still leaving the underside of her breasts exposed. Her mouth formed a delicate pout.As if magnetized, Lena drew closer to Kara. She wanted to let her hero sleep, but she couldn’t keep her hands out of Kara’s golden hair, couldn’t stop herself from connecting with those pretty lips. A pair of blue eyes sprung open in apparent surprise.“Good morning.” Kara smiled against Lena’s lips, not pausing the kiss.Lena lightly bit Kara’s lower lip, then released it in a slow sucking motion. “Sorry. I kind of couldn’t keep my hands to myself. Or my lips.”“Umm, I’m okay waking up like this.” Giggling, Kara buried herself in Lena’s neck, tickling with her lips and tongue. In no time, she had slotted a thigh between Lena’s legs and had begun rubbing her slowly as they kissed. Lena moaned in frustration and pleasure as she grew slicker with desire. Their kisses grew more heated as Kara moved Lena onto her back and pumped into her.“Ohhh god. Kara. You’re so wet for me.” Lena’s inner muscles clenched on nothing as she felt Kara glide wetly on her thigh. She grasped at Kara’s muscular ass and thighs as they rocked into her. So strong. Lena got an idea. “Stop. Stop.”“Oh no. Lena. Sorry. Too early?” Kara looked suddenly stricken.“No, darling. Not at all. I want you to come up here so I can…” Lena flashed Kara the naughtiest look she could muster and pointed in the general direction of her head. “Lick you.”“You mean…” Kara looked puzzled for a moment. Then she blushed the deepest red Lena had ever seen. “Sit on your…”Lena simply raised her eyebrows and nodded “yes.” Kara didn’t hesitate in making her way to the top of the bed.Grabbing the upper bars of the metal railing, Kara lowered herself towards Lena’s face. Lena spread Kara’s lips eagerly with two fingers and tasted her love’s summery essence for the second time. She pulled on Kara’s thighs to bring her darling girl closer, let herself become immersed in the primal wet heat of Kara’s arousal. She didn’t tease or explore this time. She took Kara’s clit with her tongue and lips and sucked, giving the occasional flick or swirl.“Uhhhh. Oh Rao. Lena. What are you doing to me? Uhhhh.”Kara had begun to writhe now. Lena relaxed the sucking and licked as Kara’s movements became more rhythmic. With each stroke, Lena’s tongue slid from Kara’s entrance to her clit over and over. Each time, Lena tasted her more and more. Kara’s nectar coated Lena’s lips and cheeks. Her entire field of vision, the touch of her hands, everything she smelled or tasted, nothing but Kara. Her ears filled with Kara’s guttural moans. Looking up at Kara’s gorgeous form, pleasuring her like this, it filled Lena’s senses completely. Pure heaven. Raw, visceral, primal. No room for anything else. Her desire in that moment distilled to a single point: to be a conduit for Kara’s pleasure and fulfillment. Because she loved her.Above her, Kara’s hips started to stutter. “Chahvia, you’re so… this is so… I can’t… uhhhh uhhhh…” The Super’s thighs quaked. Lena heard a loud crunch of metal as Kara rode her tongue to a warm, silky release that Lena lapped up eagerly. Kara’s hips jerked a few times before she lifted slowly off of Lena and fell beside her on the bed.Making a lascivious show of wiping her face, Lena eyed Kara seductively.Kara looked abashed. “Uh, I kind of crunched the top of the headboard frame a little.”Craning her neck, Lena peered up to survey the damage. Two vaguely hand-shaped indentions marked the iron of the antique framing.“A souvenir of our special weekend together.” Lena laughed. “I might know a way you can make it up to me, though.” She rolled onto her side, resting her head on an elbow, cocking her knee and stretching her chest forward to make best use of her natural assets.Kara swallowed visibly. “Oh really?” Her voice pitched upwards at the end of her question. Lena couldn’t help but laugh.Slowly, deliberately, Lena rolled over onto her stomach, keeping her eyes locked on Kara’s through as much of the maneuver as possible. She braced her elbows at her sides for stability, then pushed her lower half up onto her knees, ass up. Lena made herself vulnerable to Kara in this way, offered herself to be taken. “This is what I want. To be yours. Like this.”“I… I… umm… I don’t know… uh…”“Please, darling.”She felt so comfortable with Kara. Never had Lena trusted anyone like this, hadn’t ever even wanted to trust someone to this degree. But true, kind, adoring Kara – the woman who loved her down to her very cells? She had given Kara her heart. And Lena wanted, needed to give everything to her too. She desired to open herself to Kara, to submit to her, to give up control to her in a way she never had wanted to with anyone else. A gesture of trust, a measure of her openness to Kara’s love. The CEO, the Luthor that some might call ruthless or even cold, let her guard down completely.“Please. Take me. Make me yours. Don’t be gentle. I want to feel it. I won’t break.”Lena sighed a sigh of deep relief as Kara moved to take up a position behind her. She rested the side of her face on a pillow next to her hands and closed her eyes, waiting for Kara’s next move. Lena jumped a little when Kara first touched her, just a graze of the hands on her backside and upper thighs at first, then a massaging motion, a tentative light scratch on her lower back. “Mmmmmmmmm.” Lena hummed with delight, encouraging Kara to continue. “Please. Touch me.”Craning her neck to glance behind her, Lena paused, momentarily awestruck by a sunbeam streaming into the skylight through some branches at just the right angle. It backlit Kara, lending her hair and upper body an ethereal glow. Their eyes locked for a moment. Words halted in Lena’s throat and she simply nodded, turning to rest on the pillow again.Tentatively at first, Kara’s fingers explored Lena’s exposed wetness. “You’re… you’re so beautiful, Lena. I hadn’t really thought about…” She dipped a finger into Lena’s opening.Lena shivered in response and attempted to back towards Kara’s hand, her body taut with anticipation. “I… I… Please. I need…”Kara grasped Lena’s hip with her left hand. With her right, she slid two fingers inside using the perfect amount of firm pressure. Lena sighed in relief as Kara began moving inside her, pressing into her from behind, braced by strong thighs. It didn’t feel like vulnerability with Kara. It felt like every other moment with her beloved Super – like safety, like love. Lena answered each thrust with her hips, and each time Kara’s fingers brushed that place inside that drove Lena closer to the edge but not quite close enough. It drove her mad.“Uhhhh. Harder. Please.” The response to Lena’s words came instantly. Kara upped the speed and pressure considerably, now pressing in just the right place. With her other hand, Kara reached around and touched Lena’s clit, which caused her to jump. Kara continued to hold her steady, mostly bent over Lena’s back now, kissing her, blonde hair tickling her shoulders. Lena’s every utterance came out as an incoherent moan, each steadily increasing in volume.Finding she couldn’t physically hold herself up under all this stimulation, Lena’s knees buckled, such that Kara now had her basically pinned to the bed.“Are you okay? I’m not hurting you, am I?” Kara paused for a moment.“God, no! Please don’t stop.”Everything started up again, and Lena had lost no ground. She began to writhe under Kara. This was new, this feeling of being pinned down. But again, it felt like trust, safety, and okay naughty fun, but not something she would’ve expected to feel under the circumstances. She let herself go. Let herself feel the freedom of being completely under Kara’s control, and the freedom of knowing she could fully relax knowing that she could trust her chahvia without the faintest question.Lena floated, buzzed in pleasure, muscles grasping at Kara’s fingers as they worked inside her. Everything else within her felt like liquid. It was heaven. She didn’t know how long it lasted, this buoyant sense that flowed through even as Kara so vigorously fucked her. Her whole body buzzed with it, like some kind of drug euphoria. Lena willed for it to stretch into forever, to keep giving herself to Kara like this forever, to stay so open, so free.But Lena’s body had other plans. An animal moaning. Lena realized she had produced it. Her hips began to stutter, and her whole body grew taut. The surge of her orgasm hit hard and crashed through her whole body. Kara rolled off, letting Lena move however she needed to, but she kept her fingers inside as the storm raged and then subsided. Lena gasped for air. Kara slid out of her gracefully and moved to take Lena into her arms, hugged Lena to her, stroked her hair. She buried her face in Kara’s chest.No. No no no. Not this, not now. The tears. They pushed at the backs of Lena’s eyes. She had no idea why, even. She gave in and let them come.Kara held her at arm’s length so she could see Lena’s face. “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”“No, darling. Not at all.” Lena spoke barely above a whisper. “I just. I’ve never been able to trust anyone like I trust you. It’s… just… moving. That’s all. You just make me feel so open to you, vulnerable. In a good way that I’ve never felt with anyone.” Lena nestled back into Kara’s chest and fell into a satisfied almost-sleep, only to be jolted awake when one of had one of those pesky hypnic jerks that happens during half-sleep.“Wha…? Oh.” Lena looked around confusedly.“Hey, what time is it anyway?” Kara rolled over and fumbled for her phone. “Oh, Rao. It’s almost 9:30. We’re gonna have to move it if we want to have breakfast, get ready, pack up, and back get down to National City in time for lunch at noon.”“Or we could tell them we’ll be running a little late. I’m sure they’d understand.” Lena gave Kara a little wink. “We just lost track of time.”“Oh I do not want to have to explain that to my sister.”“What, you don’t think she knows why went away for a night?” Lena snickered.Kara’s eyes grew wide. “Um. Oh, crap. My sister is gonna know we did the deed.”“The deed? What is this, seventh grade?” Lena fell over on the bed laughing. “The deed?”“Well? What would you call it?” Kara grinned, clearly amused at herself now, too.Lena sat up. “Hmmm… well, I would call it ‘you fucked me senseless. Twice. And you sat on my face.’ I would say ‘Kara Danvers is a really good lay.’ That’s what I’d say.”Beet red now, Kara stopped giggling. “Please promise you won’t ever say that to my sister. Ever. We would both die.”Eyebrows raised in mock exasperation, Lena sighed. “Fine. I promise.”“Okay, but is it true?”“Is what true?” Lena played the innocent card.“The things you just said about the stuff we did?”“Oh you mean the deed? The things I said about you being a really good lay and fucking me senseless?”“Yes those things. Are they true?” Kara had the same eager gleam in her eye that she had when she wanted Lena to go over a news story about L-Corp to make sure the reporting met her expectations.“Yes, darling. You’re very… intuitive.” Lena pulled Kara towards her for a warm, loving kiss.Kara’s eyes grew serious for a moment. “So what comes next? I mean for you and me? We’re bonded now, in Kryptonian terms. But in Earth terms, we basically just started dating.”“You’re right. I can’t say I haven’t thought about that. It’s technically ‘weird,’ though I don’t feel weird about it.” Lena gazed into the unfathomably guileless face before her. “I guess we get to decide as we go because there’s no set course for what we are. There’s no map for what comes next.”A grin lit up Kara’s face. “Actually I do know what comes next.”“Oh really?” Lena couldn’t help but smile in response. “What’s that?”“Coffee. That’s what comes next.”Lena pushed Kara down onto the bed and laughed into a playful kiss.