Reality Check

Together At Last

A/N- here we go!!! last chapter of Reality Check! aka a love letter to both myself and the characters I've spent years writing about <3 WHO KNEW id get this far?? As someone who's never gotten close to finishing a fic before, I never thought I'd actually finish this.

For a while I put off writing this last chapter bc I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted it to end, and I felt really sad thinking ab how it would be officially over haha. But now I've come to terms with it and love how it turned out!! Thank you ALL for sticking with me through this fic & hope you enjoy this last chapter :')

Coming Of Age (by mxmtoon)

"I watch a montage of moments I thought the world would end. Cut to part two, I realized it was in my head . . ."

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Thirty minutes before five o'clock, Kara pulled into the Sanderson's neighborhood. Admittedly, she was less familiar with it than she was with Owen's, given that the times she visited the nonfictional world were normally spent at his house. Thankfully, the walk from Jupiter City's portal was even shorter to Bethany's house than it was to Owen's, giving Kara less of an excuse to be late.

Still, as always, Kara found herself counting the house numbers as she passed (many of the houses looked the same). Just to be sure that she arrived at the right one. Tightening her grip on her backpack strap, she weaved deeper into the neighborhood, coming across a house that looked more familiar. 293— the number said. A shiver of excitement ran through Kara.

But as it turned out, she didn't need to see the house number to know she'd come to the right spot. Mrs. Sanderson's car was parked in the driveway, with Bethany's parents and Orion standing beside the trunk. They were stacking quad chairs into it, seemingly trying to make enough room for their other bags. As she marched up from the sidewalk, backpack bouncing noisily against her shoulders, three pairs of eyes snapped to her.

"Kara!" Bethany's dad spoke first, his voice echoing across the driveway. "Good to see you! You can give your bag to us— we'll put it in the trunk."

"Cool, thanks!" Kara gave him a grin. Even though she wasn't close with Mr. Sanderson, his presence never failed to put her at ease. Then again, his presence seemed to put everyone at ease. Knowing him now, Kara could see exactly why her half-fictional friend had missed him so badly.

Grateful just to get the weight off her back, she haphazardly tossed her backpack on the ground with the other bags. It hit the asphalt with a thud. When she straightened up, she caught Bethany's mom's eye, who smiled knowingly at her. "Owen's already inside with Bethany. Oh, and tell Beth to bring her bag outside!"

"Okay!"

Kara started to make her way to the garage; one of the sliding doors was already open. Compared to the Conners' garage, their's was far messier, filled with leftover bikes, storage bins, and superhero gadgets— with just enough space to fit one or two cars. Edging around the clutter, Kara reached the door on the other side, which would lead into the house. It'd been a while since she'd been inside— maybe a few weeks, if she was being honest.

Last time she'd been here, it'd been to assist Bethany with some studying for her upcoming history final. But by the end of the night, they'd just ended up laying on the carpeted floor of Bethany's bedroom, swapping Spotify playlists and trying to hit gummy bears on the ceiling. Of course, the second activity had been Kara's idea. She didn't know what she was more surprised by: that Bethany had agreed to it, or that she'd really seemed to enjoy it.

(Yeah, Kara was proud to be such a bad influence on her friend).

Reaching the door, she turned to close it behind her, only to see that Orion had followed her in. She held the door open a little wider, shutting it once he passed through. "Gwen's not here yet?"