Chapter Text
Kara took a deep breath, landing on the balcony of one of the most high-profile hotels in the city. Steadying her nerves, she rapped her knuckles lightly on the window.
It took a few minutes, but the cream colored curtains briefly parted and green eyes peered back at her. Kara managed a weak smile before the eyes disappeared, instantly wiping the smile from the Superhero’s face in the process.
I thought we were okay? Kara’s heart clenched. A lot could have changed in a couple of months.
A second later, the balcony doors opened and assuaged some of Kara's doubts. Lena was staring at Kara, the latter who found herself momentarily taken aback by her friend’s appearance. A faded grey college sweater, jeans and hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Completely unlike the CEO that she had grown to care for.
“Kara,” Lena murmured, crossing her arms. “Come in.”
“I – uh…” Kara stuttered, suddenly losing her words. “Yes. I’d love to. If that’s okay?”
Lena chuckled fondly, and Kara felt herself warm.
“Since when have you been so formal, Supergirl?”
Kara felt her heart speed up at the half-smile playing on Lena’s lips, and she mutely stepped over the divider and into the room Lena was supposedly staying at.
She blinked, frowning slightly as her eyes adjusted to the room. The layout was surprisingly simple for a supposed billionaire. Kara was so used to the never-ending hallways, shimmering floors and obscenely expensive artwork that she was completely taken by surprise.
This…this was not at all what she was expecting.
The room was simple – a wooden desk in a corner, a single queen mattress, a small kitchenette near the foyer. It probably cost more than Kara’s monthly salary given where Lena was staying, but by Lena’s ridiculously high standards it wouldn’t be a stretch to say her friend was slumming it.
“You – uh – you didn’t stay too long.” Kara stumbled over her words, finding herself wringing her hands in nervousness. She decided against blasting her friend's living conditions...a lot could have happened since Kara had been...away. “I missed you – with the others.” Kara added that last bit hastily, not wanting to come on too strongly and test the tenuous nature of their friendship.
“I…” Lena paused, looking down. “I didn’t want to get in the way of the celebrations. After I knew that you were safe, that was enough.” Kara’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to interject, but Lena anticipated and cut her off. “And besides…” Lena gestured to the pile of paperwork. An open laptop sat in the middle of it all, a pen cast haphazardly next to it. Kara couldn’t help but notice the “FINAL WARNING” printed in bold, red lettering across several of the documents scattered across the desk. “I had a few things to deal with that I’d been putting off.”
Kara peered across her friend's shoulder, the reporter in her trying to discreetly get a better look. “Is…everything okay?”
Lena laughed. “You can look, Kara. It’s not a big deal.”
Needing no second invitation, Kara took a few steps closer to the desk. Kara’s hands swept across the papers in urgency, eyes rapidly darting back and forth as she quickly processed the information.
“Lena…this is…this can’t be right.” Kara’s head snapped up, just in time to see an uncharacteristically soft look on Lena’s face instantly disappear. It was gone so quickly that Kara wondered if she had altogether imagined it.
“Oh, it’s not true.” Lena laughed, but the tone left a bitter taste on Kara’s tongue. “But Lex, as normal, has somehow managed to perpetuate that this is by twisting fantasy into reality. And I was so caught up in –” Lena trailed off, biting her lip. “Well, I just put it off until now. And it’s a lot harder to unravel a few months of ludicrousness, coupled with his blatant attacks in the media...”
“Lena, but this is saying…”
Lena leaned against the desk, letting out a low breath. She looked so different…yet still so much like the friend that had taken such a large part of her heart. And it had been so long after the Phantom Zone…
Lena’s eyes seemed fixated on the ceiling, but Kara found her own fixated on the one person that... Kara found herself momentarily confused. The one person that...what?
“…Jamaica.”
Kara blinked, having completely tuned out of the conversation.
“What?”
“I know!” Lena rounded on Kara, finally meeting her gaze properly for the first time since Kara had landed on her balcony. “It’s ridiculous isn’t it? Holy hell, at least pick something that makes a modicum of sense. Europe maybe. Canada even! But Jamaica? Is he trying to prove that the world will believe him no matter what?”
Kara’s mind spun, finally catching up with the conversation.
“Wait…he’s saying you were born in Jamaica?” Kara practically spluttered the sentence, looking up at Lena in shock. “How is that…you don’t look, sound or act Jamaican.”
Lena was looking at Kara like she’d grown an extra head. “I just said that Kara…” Lena’s eyes crinkled in slight concern. “Are you okay? You literally just got back from the Phantom Zone, and you’re still decked out in the Supergirl outfit. Should you really be here?”
“I want to be here,” Kara said firmly, shaking her head. “Sorry – I was…I’m just having a hard time concentrating.” That was true. She just wouldn’t admit that Lena was the one distracting her. “What do you mean…why is Lex doing this? God, everyone knows you were born in Metropolis. You’re literally the most famous person in National City.”
Lena gave Kara a wry smile. "I would think that would be Supergirl."
Kara chuckled, "Well technically, Supergirl is an Alien."
Lena frowned. "Aliens are people too, Kara. You of all people should know that."
Kara blushed. "I know, I was making a dumb joke...sorry, I was..."
Lena laughed lightly. "I know, I know. Sorry, it's just..." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I left L-Corp.”
Kara’s mouth dropped. “What? Why? Lena, you loved –”
Lena shook her head and whatever Kara was going to say died instantly on the tip of her tongue.
“It would have been a never-ending war with Lex over the company, and I…I decided I wanted to be happy. To be a better person. And that meant I needed to cut him out of my life.” Lena was looking at Kara chin up, but Kara could see the slight falter in her eye. The quiver in her lip. The temporary, momentary passing of self-doubt.
“Lena…I am so, so proud of you,” Kara gushed, unable to help herself. “You’ve grown so much – you really look great.”
Kara found her mood noticeably perking up at the flush that passed across Lena’s face. Another feeling that Kara would think about...later or maybe never.
“I just thought – you always wanted me to be better the person. You always thought I could.”
“You always were the better person, Lena.” Kara beamed at Lena who finally offered a tentative smile in return.
“But if he got what he wanted, then what is this?” Kara gritted out, gesturing to the desk.
Lena laughed dryly, crossing her arms once more. “One last screw you, I suppose. He just couldn’t stand that I was happy letting him go. Me losing the company wasn’t enough – he wanted to make me lose my home as well.”
“But this is ridiculous,” Kara retorted, indignant. “You have a birth certificate, paperwork. Surely you can get Lillian to do something. She’s your mother, for crying out loud!” Kara’s voice grew increasingly more hysterical with each word.
If Kara had been honest with herself, she’d admit the growing panic was not entirely for Lena. Kara had literally just gotten Lena back in her life, she’d be damned if that bald-headed freak took her best friend away.
Lena smiled, genuinely this time. “I appreciate your support, Kara. But I’ll figure something out.”
Kara frowned, eyebrows furrowed. “Lena, these say Final Notice in big, red letters.”
“I can read, Kara. I lost my company, not my sanity.” Lena’s eyes crinkled as she watched Kara. The Superhero found herself growing warmer, and she averted her eyes quickly.
“I’m – I’m just saying. There has to be a reason you haven’t tried the birth certificate, Lillian, hospital records…” Kara quirked an eyebrow, looking at Lena expectantly. “You’re a genius and no matter how little time you had, if it was that easy, you would have taken care of it already.”
The corners of Lena’s lips quirked upwards. “You have an awfully high opinion of me.”
Kara scoffed, staring at the ground while she stubbed it with her foot.
“You’ve more than earned it,” she said softly. When she didn’t hear a response, Kara looked up questioningly. Lena was staring at her with an almost vacant expression, mouth slightly askew. Her eyes almost seemed misted up. Kara opened her mouth to say something, but Lena beat her to the punch once more.
“He has managed to forge almost impeccable records. It's begrudgingly impressive. He's ensured a long and painful legal battle, and without the power of L-Corp beside me..." Lena trailed off. "When I left L-Corp, I meant to cut him out of my life completely. But apparently Lex isn’t happy unless we're engaged in this never ending game of cat and mouse.” Lena rolled her eyes. “But the joke’s on him.”
Kara felt herself pale, and she swallowed painfully suddenly dreading what Lena was about to say.
“What…do you mean?”
“I don’t have anything left for me in National City, Kara.” The grin playing on Lena’s lips didn’t reach her eyes. “And Jamaica isn’t such a bad place to start a new life.”
“What –” Kara’s voice cracked. “What do you mean you have nothing left?” You have me. But Kara couldn’t bring herself to say the last words, too afraid of Lena dismissing them.
Lena laughed bitterly. “With L-Corp gone and…well I’ve fixed my wrongs.” She gave Kara a pointed look, indubitably referring to the massive role she had in extricating Kara from that Rao-forsaken place. Kara felt her lip tremble and did nothing to stop it. “Most of them anyways.” There was another humorless chuckle.
Emotions started to build inside of Kara – ones she had never felt before in such magnitude.
“It’ll be a blank slate. There’s no point getting into a pointless legal battle that will take years to prove I am who I say I am, for a city that never managed to see past my last name anyways.”
Kara’s hands trembled. Her feelings were eating at her from the inside out, clawing up her skin and threatening to boil over from every orifice in her body.
And eventually they did.
“Marry me.”
The words were out of Kara’s mouth before she could stop them, and Kara found herself go bright red. Kara didn't even know that was biologically possible as a Kryptonian. The blonde let out a series of indecipherable stammers as she averted her gaze, not believing the words that had just fallen out of her mouth.
The silence was heavy, and Kara still couldn’t bring herself to look up. Her mind had betrayed her, going completely blank in a moment when she needed to deconstruct exactly what had just transpired. Because if Kara didn’t understand what had happened, how in Rao’s name was she supposed to explain it to Lena?
But Lena, ever the social diplomat, broke the ice through a light laugh. “Why Supergirl," she drawled. The stilted nature of her words weren't lost on either of them. "I’d never want to be the person that broke the hearts of all your many fans.”
And just like that, Lena gave her the perfect out. Kara could just laugh it off. Pretend it was a joke.
Yet somehow, despite her mind not working, her mouth seemed to be functioning just fine.
And completely of its own accord.
“Not Supergirl. Kara. Marry Kara.”
Her Rao-forsaken, blasted mouth...
Unable to find a way back from this situation any longer, Kara finally gathered the courage to look up and meet Lena in the eye. Kara never thought the day would come when she rendered Lena Luthor speechless, but apparently an impromptu proposal in the middle of a fragile friendship did the trick. Her friend was staring at her wide eyed, brow furrowed and mouth agape in complete disbelief.
“Do you want a ring? Because I can come back with a ring.” Kara meant to say it as a joke, to break the tense atmosphere as her mind started to catch up to the ridiculous predicament her loose mouth had created. But, to her surprise, she found more than a little nugget of truth in that proposal. She found herself even knowing which ring, which should have scared Kara completely.
For some reason, it didn't.
Kara decided she’d think about the implications behind that later as well. She was building up quite the list.
“Look, I don’t know who you are…”
Suddenly, Kara felt a pool of dread start to well up in her stomach as Lena schooled her features into an oft-practiced blank expression, and her eyes clouded over.
“But you’ve had your fun. You can leave the same way you came in.”
“Lena, it’s me.”
Lena’s lips thinned, and she faced Kara with a hard look. Kara felt like she had been stabbed through the heart with Kryptonite.
“Get out.”
Lena’s face might have been a mask of indifference, but Kara noticed her friend’s eyes start to well with unshed tears.
“Lena…why do you think….” Kara tried softly, reaching out a hand. Lena jerked back abruptly, and Kara withdrew her hand like it had been stung. Kara couldn't hide the hurt look that flashed across her features.
“Why? Why? It was my fault, Kara ended up in the Phantom Zone. My fault, her friends and family nearly died. My war with Supergirl that nearly ended the world…I don’t even know if we have a basic friendship left and you want me to think that you’d….”
Lena’s jaw trembled, and she turned away in haste. But not before Kara caught a single tear gliding down her cheek.
Unable to stop herself and despite being explicitly told to get out, Kara closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around Lena. Her friend fought her off for a good couple of seconds, muttering angry frustrations about this all being a lie and throwing weak punches into Kara’s sides. It took a few minutes, but eventually Lena gave up, burying her head into Kara’s embrace.
“I’m here Lena. It’s just me. I promise.”
Lena let out an almost inaudible whimper, and Kara tightened her grip as she subconsciously started to gently stroke Lena’s hair.
“None of it was your fault Lena. None of it. There were mistakes made but…” Kara’s voice cracked. “I arguably made the worse ones. I-I called you a villain, and almost turned you into one. And I am so sorry.”
Noticing that Lena had calmed down, Kara pulled away. She still kept a firm grip on Lena’s arms as she willed her friend to look up at her. It took a good couple of seconds, but Lena eventually did. Kara’s heart broke when she saw the watery, vulnerable gaze peering back at her.
“You will always be my best friend. Always.” And because Kara’s an idiot, she couldn’t help but add… “Even if I’m no longer yours.”
“You…” Lena’s voice was unsteady, and she fixed Kara with an unfathomable expression. “You are completely unfair. What kind of proposal is this,” she deadpanned.
Kara laughed, a low and throaty chuckle that came from the deepest part of her core. “Does that mean…” Kara trailed off, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “Does that mean it worked?”
“I don’t know,” Lena trailed off, backing away from Kara as she made a show of smoothing out some unnoticeable wrinkles in her sweatshirt. After she was satisfied, Lena looked up. Her eyes had noticeably cleared and were glowing, shifting in color like one might see from the northern lights. Kara almost found herself drawn in completely had it not been for Lena’s indescribable expression. The look sent a jolt of electricity through Kara and left her buzzing, mouth dry. “No ring, no knee,” Lena drawled, she shook her head in mock affront. “One would think I was a kept wom—”
Lena trailed off as Kara momentarily disappeared and reappeared, holding a bouquet of red roses, and a small black box.
“What – Kara, I was joking,” Lena flummoxed, dropping the sultry act immediately.
Now too far gone to pretend this was a joke, Kara dropped to one knee.
“Lena Kieran Luthor…”
“Kara…”
“Will you do me the honor of…”
“Kara….”
Lena was bright red at this point, her head bent over as she tried to shield her face with her hand.
Kara found it adorable and was wholly about to continue with the show when Lena cut her off.
“Yes, yes, I agree. I’ll marry you for the sham of it, please stop hamming it up.”
Kara let out a squeal, leaping to her feet and picking Lena up to twirl her around.
“Kara, my god,” Lena finally laughed at Kara’s ridiculous antics.
“Does this mean you’re staying?”
Kara should have let go at this point, but she was a bit reluctant to let go of the woman gazing up at her so fondly.
Lena frowned, but Kara could tell it was only because she was trying hard not to smile.
“It means I’ll try.”
And that was enough for Kara to laugh with delight and twirl Lena around in the air once more for good measure, trying not to think too hard about exactly why this felt like the happiest moment in the Superhero's life.