I'M KARA DANVERS

Chapter 3: the balcony

That night, Lena sat in her office, late, as per usual. She normally found she was more productive at night, but tonight wasn't exactly working out for her. The words on her laptop swam in front of her, stubbornly refusing to make sense. With a sigh, she closed her laptop and sat back in her chair.

Her hand absently reached for a small drawer on the underside of her desk and slid it open. Inside were only a few items. The first was a handgun: small, compact, and so far unused. The second was a picture inside a black frame. It was Lena's graduation photo. She wore a red gown, looking at the camera with a neutral face—"your teeth look too big when you smile like that, Lena"—and Lex stood next to her in a dark suit. Only he wasn't looking at the camera; he was looking at her, smiling. He looked so proud.

The third item was the bullet that was stopped in its tracks by Supergirl only a few nights before. The morning after the attack she had placed it into the drawer. It felt important: a reminder of her own mortality, and that if she was going to do something meaningful with her life, she couldn't afford to hesitate.

She reached for the bullet and ran her fingers over the metal, feeling the undulations caused by the projectile meeting Supergirl's impenetrable skin. Any other person would have been graced with death, instantly, but to Supergirl she may as well have been hit with a spitball. Our weapons are just toys to her, Lena thought to herself. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

A sudden tapping coming from over her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. Her heart leapt into her throat and her reflexes, honed by her daily combat training sessions, kicked into overdrive. She reached back into the drawer and pulled out her gun, and had the safety switched off and pointed at the source of the noise within moments.

"Is this a bad time? This looks like a bad time."

Lena exhaled sharply at the familiar voice and lowered the gun, slipping it back into the drawer and pushing it shut. Her heart was still racing, but her exterior remained calm as she walked outside to where Supergirl was eyeing her cautiously with her palms up in a universal 'don't shoot' sign.

"Sorry, I was just flying around the neighbourhood and I saw your light on."

"I'm working," Lena said, a bit more sternly than she meant.

"I'm sorry, I'm interrupting, I should let you get back to it." Supergirl turned away and prepared to take off, but Lena quickly reached out and held onto her arm.

"No, don't. I...I was actually wondering when you would drop by, if at all. Stay. Please. "

Supergirl glanced down to where Lena held on to her arm, and Lena felt the muscles in her forearm tense and relax beneath her hands. "If you're sure..." Supergirl said slowly. At Lena's nod of approval, a smile made its way onto Supergirl's face, looking perfectly in place on her pink lips.

Lena breathed a sigh and found herself mirroring Supergirl's smile, like she couldn't help it. She returned inside to the small bar stand she had in her office. "You want a drink? I've got wine, scotch, gin, vodka.... juice if you're into that."

Supergirl raised a brow, leaning up against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. "You running a bar up here?"

Lena smirked in response. "Businesspeople drink, believe it or not. I've had deals fall through at the last minute because I didn't stock the right brand of scotch." She rolled her eyes at the memory, and muttered under her breath, "pricks," as she poured herself a glass of amber liquid. "Want some?"

"No thank you, Lena. Technically I'm on duty."

"Of course." She respected a woman who took her work seriously. She swilled her glass and took a small sip, feeling the warmth of alcohol spread from her stomach to the tips of her fingers as she stepped back out into the cool night air.