A Little Bit of Sunshine

Chapter 18: Kara

"Winnie!" I gushed, throwing open the door to see Winn and Siobhan. Siobhan had a bag over one shoulder and a covered dish in her hands. Winn simply had a teddy bear clutched to his chest. It was his favorite, the ear practically hanging off after years of love.

"Kawa!" He threw himself into my arms, nearly knocking us both to the ground. I let out a laugh and did my best to pick him up. He weighed a lot more than Lena did, but he also knew I was the only one who could give him uppies, so he took every opportunity to do so.

"Win, honey, you can't..." Siobhan exhaled, but she turned her attention to me with a shake of her head. "Hey, Kara. I'm sorry. He's been busting with energy all day."

"No worries at all! Always excited to get huggies from Winn. Come in!" I shuffled back to let her through. "You can put the food on the island. Just make space. Mom went a little overboard."

"I would say!"

The island was in fact crammed with food. Eliza never disappointed when it came to food. She believed everyone needed to eat until they were in a coma.

"Kawa, can I play wiff you toys?" Winn asked as I sat him back on his feet to close the door. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

I laughed. "Of course. You know where they are."

He was off like a bolt of lightning across the rapidly filling room, the shirt tail of his dress shirt coming untucked. Seeing him made me miss Lee. She still hadn't answered me about coming to the party. Not that I necessarily expected her to. She was shy. This was all new, but it didn't stop my heart from aching. I wanted my little too.

"Kara, did you hide the whiskey again?" Alex asked, popping her head back out of the cabinet where I usually hide the alcohol with a grumble.

"I'm not breaking that out yet. You haven't even eaten."

"Hey. you ain't my mom."

"I am, and I say, chill," Eliza cut in, shutting the cabinet door in Alex's face. I couldn't help but laugh at the look of shock on Alex's face. Leave it to Mom to literally shut her party down.

In the living room, James and J'onn were hunched forward, eyes glued on the TV where a game was playing. Neither paid much mind to the fact that Winn was currently spilling out toys across the rug, though he did take a fancy to Lee's latest Lego creation. It was a mishmash of pieces with zero color scheme, but it was a rather impressive spaceship. A part of me wanted to put it on a high shelf to preserve one of the things that reminded me that Lena had been there, but he was handling it so reverently that it seemed unlikely to get broken.

"Kawa!!" He held the spaceship up. "Chu make dis?"

"No, buddy. I did not. It's really cool though, isn't it?" I sat down on the open recliner. "Just be careful with it, okay?"

His brow furrowed, but he still nodded. "Who maked it?"

"A very smart little girl."

He was surprisingly pacified with my answer. Winn's regressed age generally floated around 4 or 5, so it wasn't uncommon for him to ask a million questions. Granted, that wasn't much different for adult Winn either to be honest.

Siobhan sat on the arm of my chair. She was practically smirking as she leaned down to whisper, "A smart little girl, huh?"

I glanced up at her and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, you heard that didn't you?"

"'Fraid so. You have a little again?"

"I'm not... It's... Ah, it's complicated," I stammered. I wanted to gush over Lee. I wanted to tell her everything, but I knew the rules. The thought of breaking Lena's trust was devastating. Lena's trust was sacred.