Three months after becoming the head of L-Corp West, Lena Luthor had yet to give an interview, and she rather liked it that way.
That was what her brother was for. He was CEO of the company, people liked him (for some reason), it was all very simple. Lena had never wanted to leave the lab in the first place, had only done so when her mother was arrested for embezzlement and the company required all hands on deck.
"Look, kiddo," Lex had told her, "We need a show of strength. Remind people that this is a family company."
"Which is why you're changing the company's name to a consonant?" Lena snarked.
Lex, like always, just laughed. "How you'd find out about that? That was supposed to be your birthday present."
"How is that a birthday present?"
"Because it's not just my company. It's our company now, and we're going to great things with it."
So, against her better judgement, Lena had packed up her lab, left her happy home in Research and Development, and accepted her promotion to Head of L-Corp West, in National City. She answered only to the CEO. And today, that CEO had demands.
"Lord is muscling in on our territory. Edge too. And that ex of yours, the one I never liked..."
"Veronica?" Lena supplied, offering up the name of her most recent ex-girlfriend. It had been two years since she'd gone out with anyone, but of course Lex had to keep bringing up how he was right about her.
"No,," Lex shook his head, "Hear she's in Vegas. Which is where she will stay, if she knows what's good for her."
"Jack?"
"Oh, no, I just felt sorry for him."
"Why?"
"Because you're like a 5.9 on the Kinsey scale and the second a pretty blonde came along I knew he was gone."
"That is not..." Lena began. "I can't believe..."
"You're just mad that I knew you were gay before you did," Lex said. "But it was pretty obvious based on the way you were obsessed with Xena!"
"I was into Greek mythology!"
"Yeah, Xena is super lore accurate when it comes to that."
"Shut up! I hate you!"
"Nah, you love me," Lex snickered, and he was damn lucky that there were now several thousand miles between himself and his sister, or Lena would have punched him for that. Yes, it was true, but he shouldn't say it. Not when he was acting like this. "Oh, and it was Andrea Rojas, by the way. Obsidian North is opening a new branch in town soon."
"Andrea wasn't that bad," Lena responded automatically. Andrea Rojas had been her first love, the person Lena had dated through all of boarding school and the start of college, and she was still maybe not quite entirely over her, all these years later.
"She abandoned you in Mexico!" Lex insisted.
"She was going through a lot."
"That's still no excuse!"
"You just don't like anyone who I date, as this conversation has amply demonstrated."
"Well regardless," Lex said, completely ignoring her argument. He did this a lot when he was losing, and it drove Lena up a wall. "I don't look forward to their press tour. Fawning article in the Daily Planet, segments on CNBC. I want to strike back."
"You want me to do an interview," Lena concluded grimly.
"It's really a favor to Clark."
"I am not doing an interview with your boyfriend."
Now, it was her brother's turn to sputter and seethe. "He is not... that is not... he has Lois, and we are just friends."
"Right, right, keep telling yourself that," Lena teased, glad to have the upper hand back.
"It's for his cousin, thank you very much. She just started as a reporter at Catco, they're not giving her stories, and she needs a break, y'know?"
"Couldn't Sam do it? Single mom, corporate executive... the media loves that sort of thing."
"I don't know" Lex said, sucking air between his teeth on the other end of the line. "I already told Clark it would be you, his cousin was super excited to meet you..."
"Ugh," Lena groaned. "Alright, alright. You win. But I do this one time and I get to skip dealing with Mom at Christmas."
"Deal," Lex agreed all too easily. In retrospect, it should've made Lena suspicious. But she wasn't thinking of that. She was already planning how she could get through her interview with this... Kara Danvers?... as quickly as possible.
"A date?" Kara asked, skeptically.
"Yes, Kara. A date. Y'know... dinner, drinks, maybe a movie if she can stand musicals," Clark told her with a chuckle.
"I know what a date is, Clark!" Kara shot back. "I went on plenty with Mike!"
Clark didn't respond with words, but the sound of him sucking in air between his teeth was enough to elicit an, "And what's that supposed to mean?" form his cousin.
"Nothing, nothing. I didn't say anything."
"But you were thinking it."
"Well..." Clark began awkwardly, "It's just that... when you with Mike... wasn't the only, uh, 'date' he could afford a trip to McDonald's?"
"Everyone loves McDonald's, Clark!" Kara shouted, causing heads to turn on the bus and her cheeks to flush. Lowering her voice, she added. "Their logo is a smile! They have a meal designed to make you happy! They're in countries all over the world!"
"Okay, okay, alright. Jeez. Didn't know you felt so passionately about it."
"I just miss him, is all," Kara said sadly.
"I know you do, kiddo. But..."
"He cheated on me with Eve, and I was too good for him anyway, and there's nothing wrong with being single, it's a great time to work on yourself. I know. Alex has given me that lecture, like, a hundred times."
"Well I wasn't going to say all of that," Clark replied, but the tone in his voice was completely unconvincing. He's always been a terrible liar, ever since Kara was a kid and her parents used to send her out to spend summers under the Kansas sun with her older cousin. When she was six and he was nineteen, he was back from college, very full of himself, and he tried to impress her by driving a tractor. Only problem was he drove the tractor straight into a pond. And he had tried to stretch the truth back then, make up some story about having to steer away from the family dog, but one look from Martha Kent had the truth spilling out of him. Kara just wishes she were with him in person so that she could have a similar effect. But, unfortunately, they are talking over the phone, so Clark just continues after a wounded pause, "I was going to say that... well, okay, it was really Lois who said... But I can't say that."
"Give it here, Smallville," Kara heard a voice order her cousin.
"Wait... Lois is there?"
Clark didn't have time to respond before his girlfriend took the phone. "Listen, Midvale. Mike was a f*ckboy, and I hope you got that out of your system. Hope the sex was good. Hope he had a nice, big..."
"Lois!" Both cousins objected simultaneously.
"Fine, fine. Jeez... buncha prudish Midwesterners..."
"Midvale is in California!"
"Whatever. Anyway, what your cousin was too much of a Boy Scout to tell you is that the fastest way to get over someone is to get under someone."
"But..."
"But what?"
"Well, for one thing, she's a woman."
"And?" Lois asked, completely unphased.
"It's....it's just been a while." Since the summer after Kara's freshmen year of college. "And we didn't really go farther than kissing." Actually, she and Abby had made it all the way to second base-- twice-- but no one knew that, and Kara intended to keep it that way. Alex would probably get into the car, drive to Colorado, and kill Abby herself. Which would be a real shame, because Abby looked so happy in those wedding photos she had just posted on Instagram next to her new wife.
"It shouldn't be too hard. Like riding a bicycle You both have the same...y'know...the same...bits," Lois argued.
"Now whose the prude?" Kara crowed.
"Look, I'd get into anatomical detail, but I think if I did, I'd kill your cousin. Tell you what, I have a friend from J-School, she's been writing about this kinda stuff for years. I'll send you a few of her articles. They're very informative."
"Lois!!!"
"Hey, I gotta go, here's your cousin!" Lois said, before Clark's voice came on the line, accompanied by the sound of foots steps running away.
"So, um..." Clark began, awkward as ever when it came to any kind of talk about sex. Which was odd-- and incredibly awkward-- based on the outfit that Kara had once found while looking for a dress to borrow the summer she had worked an internship at the Planet.
"Er... yeah," Kara agreed, because she could, unfortunately, be just as much of a dope as her big cousin.
"Look, if you want, I can tell Lex that it's a bad idea. I don't know why I even listen to the guy sometimes, he always has such co*ckamamie schemes..."
"No!" Kara told him quickly. She sighed, "Look, Lois is right, it's been way too long since I went on a date and even if it sucks... it's good practice, right?"
L
"Yeah, yeah. I mean... I wouldn't be the best judge, both Lana and Lois asked me out, but I hear ya."
"Good, good. Well, uh... yeah, tell Lex that I can go on the date, and, er... that I'm looking forward to it? Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it."
"Okay, great!"
"Oh, and Clark?"
"Yeah?"
"Stop using words like co*ckamamie. It makes you sound, like, a million years old."
"I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word."
"Clark!"
Lena reached down to the button that activated her intercom. "Jess, can you send Sam in?"
"I think she's on a call with the supplier in Singapore right now..." Came the trepidatious reply.
"Well, it's urgent, so tell her that she needs to wrap it up and get in here right now."
"Of course, Miss Luthor. Will you be needing anything else?"
"No, Jess. That will be all," Lena replied, and went back to staring dazedly at her screen.
Five minutes later, a knock came at the door, and Sam Arias swept in without waiting for a response. Normally, Lena would've reprimanded her-- she hated when Sam did that--but today, she was lost in the image on the screen in front of her. The only thing she could manage was to weakly beckon over Sam with a breathless, "Come look at this."
Sam strode around Lena's desk on her long legs and squinted at the monitor. Shook her head. Squinted again. Finally, with a long, low whistle, she let out a soft and impressed, "Holy sh*t."
"I know," Lena nodded, eyes wide.
"Just..." Sam paused, searching for words, and when she was unable to find any adequate to the situation, just repeated, "Holy sh*t."
"I know!"
"No... seriously Lena. What the f*ck?"
Before her, on the computer,iwas a picture of Kara Danvers. A picture of Kara Danvers from her instagram, lying next to a red haired woman (tagged as "@lexxdanvers" so probably a cousin of a sister, despite their differing appearances) on a towel at the beach. Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders, and her face was lit by a smile that gave her blue eyes the sheen of a twinkle.
But Kara's eyes and hair and smile were not what was drawing Lena's attention, pretty as they all were. Kara wasn't just toned, she's positively buff. Her arms are well defined, biceps bulging with strength. Her thighs were pillars. And her abs... Oh, Lord, her abs...
Lena just shrugged helplessly, as Sam stared. And stared. Finally--after a long five minutes of ogling, Sam closed her gaping mouth and whispered the question that has been unfortunately running through Lena's mind for the last thirty minutes, "Is she single? She can't be, right?"
"I don't know," Lena moaned helplessly.
Sam shook her head. "Well if she is..."
"I know," Lena nodded, eyes still fixed on the screen. She sighed, "I wish..."
"You wish?! Lena, that redhead is ridiculously hot..."
"The redhead?" Lena asked, turning to her friend in confusion.
"Yes, Lena, the redhead. Obviously. With that short hair? And those muscles? And that scowl..." Sam trailed off, sucking air between her teeth. "I bet she's all tough and stern but like... with a good heart underneath? All tough and tender? Y'know?"
Lena rolled her eyes. "Of course you think that."
"Wait, what? Why?" Sam squawked.
"Because," Lena smiled, "you have an absolute, utter, and well documented weakness for butch women. And if you are even the slightest bit attracted to anyone, you always start projecting your desire for a rough and tough around the edges girl with a heart of gold."
"I do not..." Sam began, indignant. "That is not..." She straightened, hands coming to rest on her hips. "First of all, how dare you. Secondly..." Sam paused, lips pursed, and then recognition dawned and her eyes narrowed. "Wait... we were both talking about the red head, right?"
"Ab-absolutely" Lena agreed quickly, but there was a small, high pitched hitch in her voice.
"Oh my god!" Sam groaned, pointing at Lena. "You're talking about the blonde, aren't you."
"N-no..." Lena protested weakly, her eyes flicking back to the screen and not leaving it.
"Absolutely my ass," Sam muttered under her breath. She straightened, and gestured towards the computer. "This is so classic you..."
"How is it 'classic me'?" Lena huffed.
"Blondes. You have a weakness for blondes. And that all American schtick? Yeah, people would peg you for a cynic, but you love that sh*t," Sam told her confidently, hands on hip.
"Andrea wasn't like that at all!"
"Yeah, which is why you two didn't work. Opposite attract."
"Which is why you favor women who are so much like you, just with shorter hair," Lena muttered loudly, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Sam smiled. "But seriously, d'ya think her sister is single?"
"I'll try to ask, but remember: this is an interview."
"Right, right."
"Seriously, Sam. It would be horribly unprofessional to actually hit on her."
"I know, I know," Sam sighed. "And, realistically, you probably shouldn't ask if it's cool if I bang her sister. Guessing that won't lead to a good article."
"Thank you."
"It's just a shame. The dating scene here is kinda..." Sam wobbled her hand.
"I know. Haven't had much luck myself. I know I should try online, but..."
"Yeah, don't get me started, everyone hates it, I don't know why we all do it," Sam shook her head.
"It's a mystery," Lena tells her. "But hopefully my thoughts on online dating won't be Kara Danvers' focus."
"Why would it? Look, all ya gotta do tonight is talk about what you're already passionate about, promote the company a little bit, and not sleep with a woman whose totally your type. Shouldn't be too hard for you."
Lena laughed, "Yes, I think I can manage that."
"Oh my gosh, I am so glad you picked this place! I've been meaning to try it for ages!" Kara Danvers was everything that her instagram had advertised--blonde, sunny, and her shoulders rippled with muscles. Lena has to resist the urge to bite her lip, to make her thirst for this woman as obvious on her face as it feels in her throat. But this is an interview, and she is going to be a professional, goddamnit.
"Well... I didn't exactly pick it," Lena admits, unable to stop the blush that colors her cheeks. Damn this woman. She's giving Lena credit for their reservation at Mr. Wong's, when it was not her idea. Time to come clean, and nip any kind of affection in the bud. "My brother recommended it. He said you liked Chinese?"
"I love Chinese!" Kara exclaims, then, as heads turn, she too blushes. But unlike Lena--who just looks awkward and pink when she blushes--Kara becomes truly, ridiculously, unfairly pretty when she is in the same state. But that's not important right now. Kara's blue eyes are flicking side to side, and she lowers her voice to ask, "But isn't this place expensive?"
Lena has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course her brother didn't bother to check if Catco would reimburse their reporter before he selected the restaurant. That's exactly like him. Kara's nervousness has nothing to with ordinary ol' Lena Luthor. It has to do with money. To reassure the woman, Lena smiles conspiratorially, "It can be my treat."
Kara isn't swayed. She fidgets with her hands. "Are you sure? I don't want you to think that I'm some kind of--"
"It's fine," Lena cuts her off. "Reporters are underpaid enough as is. But if it makes you feel better, you can pay for dessert."
"I do love desert."
Lena shakes her head and smiles. Kara Danvers must be a great reporter, with all that charm. Better to go on offense, and make the first move. She leans forward on her elbows, and looks directly into Kara's deep blue eyes. "So... what do you want to know about me?"
"Wow, um... so, so many things. Like if you grew up with dogs, or cats, or if you want dogs or cats... or maybe birds, birds are really neat too," She stops, and chuckles at herself. "Gosh, I'm so nervous. I guess what I'm asking, in really, really roundabout way, is what your favorite animal is?"
It's an odd question for an interview with a tech exec. Certainly not one that Lena prepared for. But perhaps it's an icebreaker, or a tactic. It would be just like a reporter (and just like her brother) to set her up with a series of innocuous, inane questions and then hit her with the cross when she least expected. Best to take this seriously. "Hmmm...." Lena begins, showing she put some real thought into it. "That is a tough one. There are so many options." She begins moving her hands to illustrate her point, and doesn't notice how Kara's eyes never leave her long, delicate fingers. "I unfortunately wouldn't do to well with a big pet-- a great dane or a Maine coon, that sort of thing. But I'm not sure that a smaller animal would be great either-- they tend to be nervous little things. In either case, I'm not sure a standard housepet really fits my current lifestyle."
"Aw, really? Why not?"
"Because Kara," Lena laughs, "I live in an apartment. Granted, it's a penthouse apartment, but I don't have a lot of grass, a lot of trees... just not much room to let a dog out."
"Yeah, me too," Kara tells her sadly, but brightens up an instant later, all eager and bright eyed. "But if I ever had more space, I'd love to have a dog and a cat who are best friends. I could put it up on my Instagram!"
"It could only serve to enhance your account."
"You've seen my instagram?"
Lena shrugs. "I like to know who I'm dealing with."
"Oh, no, totally, but like..."
"Like what?"
"Some of the photos are embarassing, Lena," Kara whines, and the pink that tinges her cheeks renders her really, truly, unfairly pretty.
"Like your workout photos?"
"My form really needs work." If those muscles are a result of imperfect form, Lena doesn't want to see what perfect form would achieve. She might be trying to seduce Kara in this very restaurant if that were the case.
"It looked fine," Lena rolls her eyes. "And to circle all the way back to your original question that started all this, I'd have to say that my favorite animal is jellyfish."
"Jellyfish? Really?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" Lena's raises a lone brow in challenge. "Jellyfish are fascinating creatures."
"Oh, no, that... I didn't mean..." Kara's blush turns an even deeper shade of red. She takes a deep breath to gather herself. "What I meant to say is that I've had a bad experience with jellyfish, so they're not my favorite, even if it's totally cool that they're yours."
"What happened?"
"Senior year of high school, senior skip day," Kara leans forward, as if letting Lena in on a secret."My sister was already back from college so we went to the beach together. Anyway, we were out in the water, I get stung badly by a jellyfish. I had to be brought to the emergency room!"
"Oooh, I'm so sorry."
"And it all could have been avoided if Alex didn't forget her own name in front of the gorgeous life guard. She was trying to help! She knew first aid! I love her, but I like to joke that Alex was already checking out girls in bikinis long before she knew she liked girls in bikinis."
"Oh, is your sister...?" Lena asks, trying to confirm what she already suspects.
"Gay? Oh, yeah. Very much so," Kara tells her. "And while I realized it in college--although I didn't come out to my family right away, and took a bit to really decide if was bi or pan--Alex didn't realize it until she was in her mid 20s."
"That sounds..."
"Tough? Painful? Frustrating? Sad? Heartbreaking? Yeah, it was all of those'" Kara nods, then shakes her head, blushing. "Gosh, that was TMI, huh? Just verbal diarrhea, Danvers, which... oh my gosh,yeah, that was smooth! Lena, I am so sorry, I don't know what came over me, normally I do not open up this much..."
Those words send a surge of warmth flooding through Lena, and she cuts Kara off with, "No, no. It's fine. I guess I just have one of those faces, huh?" She chuckles awkwardly at her own joke, desperate to put the other woman at ease.
This is an interview, she reminds herslef. Not a date.
Kara's next sentence confuses the issue. "Well, duh! You're... well, Lena, if, uh, you don't mind me saying... I don't want you to get the wrong idea or come off too strong but, uh.... well, I mean, have you seen yourself?"
Pink rises to Lena's cheek, "And what, exactly, is that suppose to mean?"
Kara--who until this point has been a bit shy--meets Lena in the eye, and grins. "Oh, come on, you're supposed to be the genius. I think you can figure it out."
Lena is saved from a total meltdown by their server, a lovely butch brunette, who comes over and gets their drink orders. Kara orders something fruity and fun, guaranteed to give you a bad hangover, while Lena sticks to scotch.
"You're forward," she observes, as their server leaves.
Kara blushes. "Oh, gosh, I don't mean to be. I'm just trying to get to know you--the real you--but I was raised to be honest."
"And honesty requires that you compliment my looks?" Lena arches an eyebrow.
Kara's eyes sweep shamelessly up and down Lena, and the grin she issues should not be as charming as it is. "Your looks? Definitely."
Hot blood runs through Lena's face at these words. She coughs, almost sputters, "I thought you were trying to get to know me."
"I am!" Kara protests, grin still in place. "Like, uh... oooooh. What music do you listen to on your way to work?"
"Well I sleep in the lab half the time," Lena tells her, trying to brush it off. The concerned look Kara gives her tells her it was the wrong answer.
"Lena, that's not good!" Kara says. "You already work so hard!"
"And how would you know?"
"I uh... might have looked you up at the US patent office," Kara glances away in embarassment, even though that kind of research is really just good journalistic practice. Still, Lena can appreciate someone who is appropriately wary of digging too deeply into other people's lives, even if it's their job, and even if Kara is confusingly treating this interview like a...
Well, it feels almost like a date.
But Lex wouldn't do that. He wouldn't set her up on a blind date. He values his life far too much to be that stupid.
(And Lena is a scientist, and there are so many odorless, tasteless substances that could ruin her brother's day if he tried.)
Still, even if this isn't a date, it's still fun. And Lena so rarely gets to feel like she's in her twenties, to truly have wild and uninhibited fun. So, she flashes Kara a grin, leans forward (possibly exposing some cleavage), and asks breathily, "So, you've looked me up?"
"Well, y-yes, of course. I mean, I know that's a bit invasive, but..."
"But you like to know who you're dealing with," Lena finishes for her. "We seem to have more in common than I intitially assumed."
Kara gulps visibly, her throat bobbing in such a way that makes Lena want to put her lips over it. Jesus, the effect that this woman is having on her. It's getting harder and harder to resist the urge, to stop treating this meal so professionally, even if that is a terrible idea. To distract herself, she hears mouth saying, "So, I'll make you a deal, Kara Danvers. You tell me something about yourself, and I'll do the same. Deal?"
Kara smiles brightly, and extends her hand. Lena reaches across the table to shake it. "Deal."
Once she finally relaxes into the conversation-bolstered by Kara's agreement to give as much as she gets- Lena finds that talking to Kara Danvers is easy. Easier--and more fun-- than any conversation she can remember.
Kara laughs at her stupid science puns and sarcastic complaints about coworkers and lab conditions. The former is impressive because Lena generally assumes that anyone who majored in the humanities (as a journalist must have) will generally get lost when she's making a joke about the subcomponents of DNA; the later is endearing because Lena feels truly seen (and quite clever) when Kara tilts her head back to laugh at Lena's latest story or complaint.
But it's more than that. They actually have a decent amount in common: from a mutual if embarrassing love of 90s boy bands, to something far deeper and more personal- the shared experience of losing their mothers. Of being adopted.
"Yeah, the Danvers are great..." Kara tells her.
"But?" Lena fills in for her.
"But it wasn't easy at first... like, at all. Alex was super moody and angsty- she had just turned 14 so everything sucked, everyone was lame... just unpleasant to be around, in general."
Lena confides, "Lex was a great brother at first- really great- but when he hit puberty, the last thing he had time for was his little sister."
"Girl crazy?"
"No," Lena laughs, "Master of the Universe crazy. He had some very grand plans to take over the world."
"Like Pinky and the Brain?"
"Who?"
"Oh, Lena, there is much I have to teach you."
The conversation is so engrossing that Lena hardly notices when their food is brought over, but Kara does. She inhales the potstickers and the moo shu pork, and she really shouldn't find a woman stuffing her face to be so cute... but with Kara, Lena does.
It doesn't feel like an interview. It feels like a date. And it's the best date she's ever had. Sure, it can't last. Yes, it isn't real. But for once, Lena lets herself go with the flow, gets lost in the moment, and has some real fun.
When the time comes to pay the bill, Lena doesn't let Kara. Sure, she can almost certainly get a reimbursem*nt from Catco. But it's been such a lovely evening, and it seems wrong to spoil it with money.
"Honestly, on a reporter's salary?" She arches an eyebrow.
"Hey!" Kara objects, face flushing, eyes flashing, "I make good money."
"You don't make 'head of a corporate division' money."
"Lenaaaa," Kara whines, and there is something so magical about hearing her name come from between the other woman's lips, "I can't let you do that. I have to pay for something."
"Well... I can't really think of..."
"Karoke!" Kara interrupts brightly. "I know a karoke bar right near here!"
"Um..." Lena replies, nervous. Karoke was certainly an... uncovnentional... interview tactic, and the last thing Lena needed was to hear about her poor singing on the front page.
"You don't have to sing," Kara reassures her, "Although I might. But they have super fun drinks, and I could buy you one."
"I don't know..."
"Aw, please," Kara pouts, and dear God is that unfair. Lena would give anything to that pouting face.
"Fine," Lena says, "One drink."
----------------
The rest of the night is a bit… blurry.
Between the wine she has at dinner and the co*cktails she has at karaoke and the shots they got…. somewhere…Lena has every excuse for an inexact memory. But there are a few moments that stand out, snapshots imprinted on her memory:
- Kara pulls her by the hand—so warm, so right, a current of electricity passing between them—under a neon sign into a karoke bar. Lena has never been to a karoke bar. “You’ll love this place!” Kara loudly assures her, talking over a man in the main room belting out Sinatra with a tie around his forehead.
Kara takes the microphone, breathes deep, and sings. The first note enraptures Lena, catches her off guard, knocks the breathe from her body. Kara is a lovely singer, none of this night has felt like an interview, and Lena wants more. She needs another drink.
A shot of scotch sits before her on a wooden counter at an unknown bar. Lena hears her own drunken voice, a little Irish lilt in it, tease Kara, “Oh, I bet I could drink ya under the table if I really tried, Kara.”
Kara is lifting the back of a taco up as another hands keeps it folded close. Lena cranes her neck forward to take a big bite, her lips brushing Kara’s fingers, even though they ate only hours ago.
They're standing under a streetlight, and Kara's face is close, so close, and her eyes are blue, so blue, and Lena has never seen a more beautiful sight, holy sh*t does she want to kiss this woman.
They're walking along the streeet, Kara's hand finds Lena's, and that is it. She spins to face the other woman, grabs her face, and her lips capture Kara’s in a bruising, breathtaking kiss.
They’re in Lena’s apartment and she’s desperately pulling Kara’s shirt over her head, needing more than the smooth sliver of muscled skin she can see.
Kara Danvers naked, in all her glory, is a sight to behold, like a goddess has come to life. Soft, straw colored hair falls to her shoulders; the swell of her breast and her stiff pink nipples invite the eyes and lips and tongue; the curve of her bicep and the span of her tricep is so lickable, so desirable; the muscles of her abdomen beg to be grinded on, as do the taut, round muscles of her thighs; the soaked patch of hair between her legs begs to be explored.
Kara’s hands twine across Lena back, her arms firm, as Lena undulates her hips and grinds down hard onto Kara’s thigh.
Kara lifts her effortlessly by the middle and deposits Lena’s bare thighs on her shoulders. It’s a sexy display of strength, made all the hotter when Lena cranes her neck and looks down, to see Kara’s blue eyes staring at her naked body with wonder and worship. She lowers her head to Lena's cl*t, and begins to gently suck.
Kara’s two fingers slide through soaked, swollen lips straight into bliss, but before Lena can cry out her lips are captured in the gentlest, softest kiss she’s ever had.
Lying, naked and sated and having lost count of her org*sms, in Kara’s arms, fighting off sleep.
Lena wakes up sore in all the best ways, slightly hungover, and completely naked.
Wait... naked?
Oh.
Oh sh*t.
There's a light on in the bathroom, the sound of running water, and the soft sound of beautiful singing.
Good. She has time.
Despite her body's protests, Lena slips on a robe and opens the door to her balcony as quietly as possible. She grabs her phone from the bedside table--thank God she didn't lose that-- and scrolls her contacts as the brisk morning air of National City kisses her skin. It takes only one jerk of her thumb to find the person she needs to talk to.
"This had better be good," Lex growls sleepily after picking up on the second call.
"We have a problem," Lena tells him, glancing nervously inside towards the bathroom that Kara is still hopefully inside.
"What is it?" Lex asks, suddenly sounding much more awake.
"I slept with the journalist you sent to interview me!"
"Oh, is that all?" Lex laughs. "Jesus Christ, Lena, don't scare me like that," he pauses then adds, "And don't tell me about your sex life, either. That's gross."
"Gross or not, how are you not getting that this is a big deal? I... It's grossly unprofessional, Lex!"
"Wouldn't it be more unprofessional on her part than yours? I mean, she's the journalist, not you."
"That doesn't matter Lex!" Lena shouts, unable to stop her voice from rising. "This could be so bad for the company, for my division... they'll probably call me some kind of predator... oh, and you can just forget about any journalist ever giving me or you or any other member of our family a fair shake ever again... which isn't even to mention..."
"Woah woah," Lex interrupts her rant. "Lena, Lena, slow down. Nothing is f*cked, everything is fine. The only trouble you'll be in is if Clark objects to you banging his baby cousin, and I can't see how he can really do that given this whole date was his idea..."
"A what now?" Lena asks. "It sounds, dear brother, like you just called my meeting with Kara a date."
"Well..."
Her voice is sickeningly sweet as she interrupts him. "You wouldn't have gotten together with your friend and set me up on a blind date, now would you? Because you're a smart enough boy to know that you would be dead right now and..." She turns around, back towards the door, to see Kara standing on the other side of the glass, in her clothes from yesterday, mouth open and agape. "And sh*t I have to go, but we are not done with the 'your dead' thing."
She hangs up before he can respond and she pockets the phone for the longest walk of a few short steps that she has ever taken.
She hasn't known Kara long enough to read her face, to know what thoughts are going on behind those beautiful blue eyes. They don't seem stormy with anger or clouded with sadness- that's good? And the small half smile that has replaced her open mouthed astonishment-the one that quirks her pink upper lip-probably isn't a smile of derision, a sign that she's just going to laugh in Lena's stupid face.... right?
Kara speaks first. "You thought that this was an interview?"
Lena, very soft and very small, responds, "Well... my brother..." No, don't blame your adopted brother. That'll surely lose you everything, an old voice from her childhood that sounded like her mother reminded her. "You must understand..." No, there was nothing that Kara must do. You must explain yourself! "What I'm trying to say..." Do or Do Not. There is No Try. "If I could just..." You've f*cked up.
Lena gave up, and withered under Kara's scrutiny. It was the longest few seconds of her life, as those blue eyes assessed her. Finally, laughter began to bubble up Kara's belly, until it erupted out of her mouth and she threw her head back, laughing.
That was... better? Worse?
Damn it.
When Kara could breathe again, she wheezes, "Oh my god, you're an idiot."
"Hey now!" Lena responds, automatically irate.
"Okay, okay, you're not an idiot," Kara holds up her hands. "I mean, you're obviously brilliant. But... like... still. Why did you think I was asking you so many questions?"
"I thought you were being a thorough professional!"
"And when we kissed?"
"I was confused, but I went with it!"
"Okay, well, we're gonna have to work on reading social cues, babe," Kara told her and... wait, were they already on the "babe" stage? Not that Lena was objecting but you can't just use that on a girl without telling her!
"It was my brother's fault!" Lena blurts out as a blush begins to redden her cheeks.
"How is it your brother's fault?"
"He told me it was an interview!"
"Ohhhhh," Kara nods, "that makes sense. My cousin told me it was a date. Your brother sounds like a dick."
"Kara--"
"Okay, fine's he complicated. Or whatever," Kara's opinion of Lena's brother is interrupted by the growl of her stomach. "Oh, um.... can we talk about this more over breakfast?"
"Breakfast?" Lena wonders how this woman can have such a strong effect on her, how a single question can throw her off balance.
"Yeah!" Kara smiles, and it glows with a thousand watts. It was a smile you could get used to, a smile you could cherish. "What kind of girl do you think I am? I mean, after what we did last night... er... well... you were there, you know..." She blushes, and how dare she. How could she do such filthy things in the dark of the night and then be a blushing mess the next morning? It was unfairly adorable.
"You want to take me to breakfast?"
"Yeah!" Kara smiles. "Of course I do, silly. What kind of girl do you think I am?"
Lena doesn't know what kind of girl Kara was. But she wants to find out. She links her arm with the other woman, and smiles back, "We'll see, Kara Danvers, we'll see."
.
Epilogue
See she did, over the months and over the years. Through sickness (God, that stomach nasty was and) and through health (she regretted it after her first yoga class with Kara). Through good times (They had fun in Hawaii) and through bad (the death of Lillian hit Lena far harder than she expected).
Sam and Alex beat them down the aisle, but only by a year. Besides, for two busy women- one the CTO of L-Corp, the other an editor at Catco- a long engagement suited them just fine.
Of course, at their wedding, both Clark and Lex tried to take credit. It was utterly ridiculous, and totally in character, as Lena reminded them both during her speech.
But as the two women swayed together for their first dance, it didn't matter who was responsible for their relationship, who got credit for their love.
What mattered is that they had found each other, and in each other, found the greatest love that either had ever felt.
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