The Rescue

Chapter 25

Lena leads Kara into the middle of the room and slowly unbuttons her shirt. Kara lets her manipulate her body however she needs to get her out of her shirt and bandages. Lena takes her time to rub in the cream and rewrap her torso. Then, she finds the fuzziest, softest zip-up for the blonde and gets her into shorts. Lena speeds through changing into pajamas herself before leading Kara into the bed. She doesn't say anything as the blonde lays on her stomach with her face buried in Lena's chest. Kara's hands automatically slip up Lena's shirt to rub her bare skin.

"Do you want to talk about it, darling?" Lena whispers.

Tears well up in Kara's eyes. They start spilling from the corners as her entire body starts to shake. Lena is quick to scratch up and down Kara's back and loops her legs around Kara's thighs.

"I'm here, baby. Just let it all out. I'm here, and I will keep you safe."

Between sobs, Kara slurs out, "'m scared, Lee."

It breaks Lena's heart. "The lawyer is going to take care of it, Kar. And if she doesn't, I'll hire a 24/7 protection team for you. He won't get anywhere near you again. I promise."

Kara buries her face into Lena's neck as her fingers start to scratch at her torso. Her breath gets out of control. It's very fast and shallow. Lena brushes back blonde hair to see unfocused blue eyes.

"Darling, darling. Listen to me. Listen to my voice. Come back to me. You're here with me in the penthouse. You're safe. You're safe in my arms, just come back."
Kara blinks slowly. Lena keeps talking to give her something to focus on and hold onto. Lena's had enough panic attacks to know that Kara is in the midst of one right now. Lena tries to get her to match her breaths. While she is keeping her own breathing even and her voice soft and slow, her heart is hammering. She has her own concerns about tomorrow. She is battling an inner turmoil about wanting to make Mike experience everything he put Kara through for her satisfaction versus having him sentenced to prison time for Kara's sake. She swallows down her own opinions and thoughts to keep walking the blonde through her panic attack.

As Kara became aware of her surroundings, she whispers apologies incessantly into Lena's neck. She clutches onto skin as much as possible and sobs fresh tears. She buries herself as far into the Irish woman beneath her as she can. Her cuts throb, but it does more to link her to the present than anything else. Kara feels guilty. Not about Mike getting arrested, but that Lena has to take special care of her. The blonde thinks that she used to being such a force of nature, but here she is, crying into another woman about something that may or may not happen. She feels weak. And the weak don't survive. The blonde swears to herself that she will become harder, stronger, better. She thinks it right as she starts to pass out from emotional exhaustion.

Lena sighs once the woman in her arms falls asleep. The CEO was barely keeping it together letting her imagination run wild. Kara barely talked about Mike without Lena explicitly asking questions. There are certain questions that the ravenette didn't know if she wanted the answers to. She is vibrating with rage at the scenarios she conjures in her mind. She's not sure how she will hold it together in court. She continues to run her fingers through blonde tresses as she tries to calm herself. It's hard. All she wants is to protect her. Not too long ago, Kara was protecting her.

Lena falls asleep thinking about all the possible revenge scenarios. She wakes up in the middle of the night with Kara whimpering in her sleep. Lena takes the time to wake her gently and reorient her with the present. Kara cries and reveals more of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Mike. She falls asleep while crying again, swearing that she isn't going to the hearing that morning. Lena patiently accepts whatever Kara tells her, knowing that the morning will very well be a different story.