Through the Looking Glass - SuperCorp

Chapter 18: Homing Rockets? Not Cool Lena!

"Lena?"

"She's fine," Lena managed to say, more to herself than her brother. "Kara's fine."

"That doesn't sound convincing. What the hell's going on?"

Lena considered just opening up and telling Lex the truth. He was one of the few people in this world who knew both sides of Kara, both the wife and the superhero. He was one of the few people who could understand the insanity of this situation. He'd probably drop everything, jump on a plane, and...no. It was something on which she and Kara had always agreed. No matter what awful things were hurtling to the Earth in that moment, they might call their family just to say they loved them and hear their voices, but they'd never say why they called. That was something they'd bear themselves. Supergirl was a force that stood against the evils of this world and stood for hope. Standing for hope meant more than stopping bullets but also stopping certain truths from passing beyond that veil, and Lena was part of team Supergirl.

"Kara, she...she and I are separated." Technically true, but not the truth. Lena had to say something. She was floundering.

"Shit."

Lex was silent then, and Lena imagined him running his hand through his hair, red curls tossed around by fingertips. It was a nervous habit he had. Though a good businessman, he'd make a lousy card player. Lena even noticed it as a child when they played chess. If he were unsure, sacrificing a piece in a gambit he hoped would work, his hand would go to his hair. Lena, on the other hand, had been schooled since birth to sit quietly and upright in a certain fashion. Her mother said there was a certain type of people in this world, and she'd need to garner their attention, but the right kind of attention. Stillness and order were apparently innate to her, and they served her well under the studious eye of Lillian Luthor.

"How long?" Lex asked.

"Not long," Lena admitted with a sigh.

"Is she cheating on you? Has she been cheating on you!?" Lex's anger grew, the accusation boiling off of him.

"God no, Lex. This is Kara. She wouldn't. She'd never...no. It's nothing like that," Lena assured her brother.

"I'm sorry, Lena," Lex replied, breathing more calmly. "You just sound so hurt. I can tell you're upset. When we spoke last month, you were as happy as I've ever heard you. What happened?"

"It...things, Lex. Life got in the way of our life. We're trying to fix it, but right now, we're separated. We both want to change it. We both want things to be the way they used to be, but right now, we can't see our way back together."

"God, I'm so sorry, Lena." A long sigh came across the line. "Mom said Kara took hours to get to the hospital when you were hurt. It makes sense now. You two aren't living together. She had no idea you were hurt, did she?"

Curling up in the chair and away from the woman whose image was an exercise in torture, Lena cradled her phone in her splinted hand and admitted, "No. Kara had no idea I'd been injured. We're not living together right now, and I didn't call her. I...didn't see a reason to. Then Mother called Kara's phone, and suddenly there she was, Kara, standing in my hospital room. Things have just been a mess since that day. Things have been..." Lena's laugh held no humor. "I suppose a mess is as good a term as any."

"Right. Right. I don't know what to say, Lena. I want to keep apologizing, and that's not helping. Does Mom know?"

"Are you fucking kidding?" Lena snorted. "You want me to tell her that my life is anything less than perfect? That's rich. She already nitpicks at me for everything that I do or fail to do or...whatever. No, Mother has no idea."