...

Dreams

Lena stood up quickly, knocking over a glass of wine she had been drinking, spilling all over the offer letters and onto the warm red rug underneath. "I know what I said, what I promised! I can't explain it--I just have to go back!"

"Is this about Lex, you weren't there Lena, you couldn't save him. No one could!" Kara snapped, "he died doing what he loved, saving those kids in that village. No amount of you going back to risk your life is going to change that."

"Says the woman who won her Pulitzer from a story that you wrote while in Kaznia for two years, embedded with the rebels!" Lena yelled back. "All because Lucy died over there."

"I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just wanted to get the truth out," Kara responded.

"Tell that to the scars in your leg and shoulder! The ones I sewed up! Tell that to the nightmares you still have from what you did and what you saw, hero!" The last word came out with venom dripping and Kara could feel the sting across the room.

Kara's hands came up to her face trying to scrub away the anger. She forced herself to breath in and out and brought her hands back to her side, "it's your choice, Lee. If you go back, I won't be here when you come home. I've never done this to you, but you have to choose. Which is more important? Me? Or your duty?"

Lena hung her head and from across the room Kara could see a tear fall, "I've already told them yes, Kara. I ship out tomorrow. I'm..."

Kara never heard the end of the sentence as the door slammed and she left the apartment.

When she returned hours later, Lena was gone...

>>>

Kara forced herself to stop crying at the sound of Alex's voice, "Kar, what the hell is going on?"

"It's Lena," Kara whispered, her voice low and dead. "She's in Germany Al, and she was hurt, really bad."

"Hold on," In the background, Kara heard Alex dialing her desk phone, and talking into it in a low voice. She couldn't make out the words. She sat staring out her office window, watching as the rest of the world kept on moving forward. "Okay Kar, I talked to a civilian contractor who does work for us from time to time. Be at the airport in three hours. He can have you in Germany in about fifteen hours. I'll call and set things up with the hospital."

"Thank you, Al," Kara whispered. "What if..."

Alex stopped the worried woman, "No, she's a fighter Kar, don't even start with those thoughts."

"Okay."

>>>

Major Lena Luthor's Hospital Room, LRMC, Germany

"Her vitals are good considering the current situation, Doctor," the nurse reported. "Is it true, she pulled two men out before the helicopter exploded?"

The Doctor nodded, humming an affirmative, "and when she wakes up she can enjoy the medal I'm sure she'll receive, but it's going to be touch and go for at least the next seventy-two hours." He made a notation on the chart, "did someone contact her next of kin?"

"Her mother, yes. She can't come. The other one is a civilian, a reporter, Kara Danvers, she's en route now from California," the nurse answered helpfully, taking the chart, looking over the notes and hanging it back at the end of the bed.

The Doctor nodded again and turned, leaving the nurse alone with her patient.

"Ms. Danvers will be here soon, Major," the nurse smiled.