Unsupervised

"But... but... three hours! I left you alone for three hours!"

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The meeting at L-Corp ended, and Lena packed the last of her things into her bag. She checked her phone again, but it still didn't show any updates from the worm she had planted in the files she handed off to Agent Vasquez. With a slight frown, she slid the phone in her pocket and turned to find the frowning face of her CFO, Sam Arias.

"What's wrong?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," Sam replied. She gestured toward the pocket where Lena had just put away her phone. "You were only half checked-in during the meeting, and you kept checking your phone under the table. Mind telling me what's up?"

"I did fine in the meeting Sam. You're exaggerating about—"

"Is it Kara?"

Lena stopped, caught verbally flat footed, and it took her a moment to recover. "Why would you ask that?"

"Because I've known you long enough to know what gives you this level of concern, and it's family. I know your brother isn't texting you. I hope to God you mother isn't texting you. That leaves Kara." With a gentle smile, Sam reached out and squeezed Lena's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Lena relaxed and returned the smile. "You're family too, you know."

Sam chuckled. "Thank you, but I know I'm not texting you during meetings."

"Oh, I don't know," Lena replied with a laugh. "Maybe we could talk about how murdering Mrs. Kandorich would be favorable to listening to her bullet point of objections on each and every topic suggested by everyone at the meeting."

"Lena, people go to jail for murder. I shouldn't have to remind you of that."

Lena shrugged. "You don't. Solitary confinement sounds preferable to listening to Mrs. Kandorich."

"I... can't really argue with you right now," Sam admitted. "However, we will never discuss murder via texts. What are we, amateurs?"

"Until we get paid for it, yes."

"Oh, true." When Lena made a move to walk away, Sam held her upper arm. "Nice deflection, Luthor, but I know your ways. Now, what's going on? Who was texting you? Was it Kara? Is she okay?"

"No it..." Lena looked down for a moment. "Kara's away. Her mother is sick."

"Eliza? Is she all right?"

Squeezing the back of her neck, Lena sighed and met Sam's gaze. "Honestly, I don't know. I haven't heard from Kara in days. I'm worried about her."

"That's not like Kara. You two text all the time."

"Well, she's one of my two best friends." Lena wandered over to the window and examined the skyline.

"Right." Behind Lena, Sam smiled. "You two are close. I haven't seen you grow this close to someone this quickly in... well, in ever."

"Kara's special." Lena had a small smile on her face when she looked back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I can see that." Closing the distance between them, Sam said, "I've got an idea. Let me talk to Alex. Eliza is her mother too, and she usually keeps pretty good tabs on her sister. I'll let her know that Kara's friends haven't heard from Kara and are worried. Maybe I can get an update."

"I'd appreciate that."

"Hey, what are CFOs for?"

"Mom," Ruby said as she entered the conference room. "Aunt Lena!" She hurried across the room and into Lena's arms for a hug.