Lena smiles to herself when she gets Kara's text to come over. She rather quickly wraps up at L-Corp and runs home. She packs an overnight bag, changes into more comfortable clothes for the evening, and decides at the last minute to take a bottle of wine from her stash. Lena is catching onto how frequently she usually lets self-doubt run her life. She is identifying it more readily and squashing it faster and faster each time. She starts doubting herself with Kara as she ascends the stairs to get to the blonde's loft. She thinks that maybe she is eating up too much of her time. They haven't even spent a night apart. Lena notices the thought pattern and replaces it with the fact that Kara invited her. Kara would let her know if it is a problem.
By the time she is in front of Kara's door, she is smiling brightly again, so thankful that Sam convinced her to go to therapy. Lena lightly knocks before just trying the doorknob. It opens easily, and Lena practically drools at the aromas of whatever Kara is cooking.
"Hey, Kara! I just let myself in. Whatever you are making smells delicious, darling!" As she approaches the kitchen area, she holds up the bottle of wine to show that she didn't come empty handed. She freezes the moment that she picks up on the tension in the space. She sees Kara skid to a halt in front of her, blocking a proper view of the man that is in her apartment. Lena goes onto her tiptoes to look over Kara's shoulder. She doesn't miss the fact that Kara is completely tense and her hands are in tight fists at her side. Lena quickly shifts into CEO mode with her resting bitch face and straightened spine. Whoever this guy is, he isn't a friend. She walks up closer to the blonde and stands a step behind, but by her side. She reaches her free hand out to grasp onto Kara's.
Lena clocks the guy tracking her movements and stares at their interlaced hands. "Got yourself a replacement, huh? Switched teams, too?"
"Don't. Get out of my home. You know you aren't welcome here," Kara's voice is steady and firm.
"Well, if I recall, you said to come on in," the man smirks. It puts Lena on edge. There is something about him that screams red flags.
"Clearly, I didn't know it was you. Leave or I will call the police. I still have my order for protection out on you." Lena's eyes snap to the blonde in concern. She goes as far to step in front of Kara and whips out her phone.
"You don't want to do that, sweet cheeks."
"Don't even speak to her." Kara pulls Lena behind her again.
"Or what?" The man grins at the blonde before turning his attention back to Lena. "I don't think we were introduced. Excuse Kara's rudeness. You must be, Lee."
"Leave now, and I won't inform the cops," Kara says through clenched teeth.
The man moves deeper into the kitchen. "Aren't you going to invite me to join for dinner? I thought I taught you better manners."
"You are not welcome here."
While the man is distracted by looking at what Kara was cooking, Lena sneakily dials 911 and holds the phone out of sight. She turns down the speaker volume and hopes the dispatcher listens before disconnecting the call.
"You seem to know my name, but I don't know yours. How do you know Kara Danvers?" Lena interrupts their stare down. She squeezes Kara's hand, hopeful that she gets the message to trust her.
"Oh, Kar and I used to date until she went off the deep end, and I decided to break it off."
Lena can feel the blonde's rage at the statement. She is quick to reply to keep Kara from saying something that escalates the situation. "Oh, well very nice to meet you. Was she living here at the National City Commons when you two were together?"
The man's eyes squint. Lena's heart is racing. She isn't sure how he will react if he finds out 911 is on the phone and listening. He suddenly smiles and turns his attention back to Kara. "See? Your girlfriend certainly knows how to behave. Being polite, asking questions."
"Just leave, Mike!" Kara erupts, unable to contain her anger.
"Oh, you must not have heard. I actually changed my name. It's Mon-El now."
"What pretentious, bullshit name is that," Kara seethes.
"Probably just as pretentious as 'Zor-El.'" His smile gets wider as tears start to form in Kara's eyes.
"I should have never told you that," she says quietly.
"Why don't you go wash up, then you can join us for dinner, hm?" Lena tries to intervene. Kara eyes shoot daggers at the raven haired woman.
Mike seems to light up at Lena's invitation and nods. "If you ever want someone who has manners and would treat you right, feel free to dump her. I'll make myself available. What's for dinner, Kar? Hopefully your cooking skills have improved since we were together."
Kara's teeth grind. Lena squeezes her hand again.
Mike turns his attention to Lena again. "She was never able to get anything right. She messed up even the easiest of dishes."
Lena is getting the full picture of Kara's ex. She has no doubt that the relationship was abusive, verbally and emotionally. It is taking everything she has to keep a neutral expression and to not hit this manchild.
"Everything she has ever made me has been absolutely delicious," Lena says as innocently as possible. Apparently, it's not that innocent the way Mike's face drops. He moves off to the bathroom, presumably to wash his hands for dinner.
"What are you doing?! He needs to leave. Why are you inviting him to stay?!" Kara whisper-yells the moment Mike is out of range.
At the same time, Lena brings her phone to her ear as she tugs on Kara's hand to leave the apartment. "Have you dispatched the officers? ... Yes, NC Commons, apartment 322 ... The door is unlocked, and he is in the bathroom ... I don't believe he is armed, but I can't be sure. We feel very threatened ... Thank you, I'll leave the line open until they arrive."
Kara stares at her with disbelief. "Darling, they are just 2 minutes out. Just 2 minutes. We need to leave before he comes out."
"This is my apartment."
"I know, darling, I know. But clearly you and I both feel threatened and with that order of protection, we need to leave while we can. Please. We can wait for the police outside."
Thankfully, Mike takes his sweet time in the bathroom. It gives the women plenty of time to scurry down the stairs and go into the lobby of the building. Kara has no doubt that he is going through her medicine cabinet and snooping in her belongings. They keep eyeing the staircase and elevator bank, waiting for him to come down fuming. Lena has burning questions about who this man is and why Kara has to have an order for protection against him, but she knows she needs to wait until they are alone. Kara just can't relax until he is gone. The blonde can't believe he just showed up out of nowhere, again.
Unfortunately, he is running down the stairs before the police can show up. He is clearly enraged that the women left the moment he was out of sight. Kara puts herself between him and Lena again, knowing what is coming. He winds his hand back. Kara is able to block the first punch, but misses the second one completely. It lands right on her temple.
"Kara!"
"NCPD! Freeze! Hands in the air!"
The two women immediately comply. Mike's eyes burn with fury. "You called the cops on me, you bitch!" He moves to hit her again, but a police officer quickly subdues him and pins his hands behind his back.
As soon as Mike is restrained, Lena quickly cups Kara's face to inspect the damage. She is going to have a nasty shiner in the morning, but nothing that requires immediate medical attention. Kara winces at Lena's gently prodding. They stay in the lobby to provide statements to the police. Since he violated the court order, Mike was going to jail until a ruling can be made. The police officers provide their information in case they think of anything else or have questions later on.
Lena and Kara go back to the apartment in silence. Lena keeps Kara's hand firmly in her own. She leads her to the kitchen to make sure the stove is shut off and to grab an ice pack before pulling her to the couch. Kara collapses immediately and bursts into tears. Lena holds her in her arms and rocks her. She patiently waits for Kara to let it all out. It breaks Lena's heart that she had dated that douchebag and likely suffered under his fist before.
Kara hiccups. "I-I'm s-sorry, Lee."
"Darling, you have nothing to apologize for."
"I-I ruined d-dinner."
"You didn't ruin anything, Kara. Can we ice your eye? It'll help with any swelling and pain."
Kara just nods and tilts her head up. Lena wraps the ice pack in a thin towel and holds it to Kara's face. "I'm here if you want to talk, darling. But if you don't, that's okay, too."
Silence fills the space for a few heartbeats. "That was my ex. We obviously didn't have a great relationship. He- he started out very loving and caring. He wanted to be with me all the time. Soon, I wasn't seeing or talking to my friends or family. It quickly turned into verbal and physical abuse. It took me years to get away from him. He would threaten to kill himself anytime I tried to leave. He made me feel responsible. As if my leaving was what killed him. No one knew, or if they did, no one did anything about it."
Lena feels tears building up behind her eyes. It starts to make sense. It explains why Kara can't let go of questionable situations. It explains how she gets into altercations, and why she is so fierce to defend anyone against any predatory man. She's just trying to be what she wishes someone had done for her. Lena gently swipes away tears from Kara's face with her thumb. "I'm glad you got away from him. You are so strong, Kara."
"Only because I refuse to be that weak again."
"I doubt you were ever truly weak, sweetie. It would have taken an enormous amount of strength during that time."
Kara shifts, uncomfortable talking about it any further. "Y-you can go home if you want, Lee. This isn't what we had planned."
"Do you want me to go? Do you need alone time or maybe your sister instead?"
Kara stays silent for a few moments before whispering, "No."
"Then, I'll stay. I'll order us some food to be delivered. We can put on whatever you want to watch or do whatever you want to do." Lena kisses Kara's non-bruised temple before grabbing her phone to order some pizza.
"C-can?" Kara snaps her mouth shut.
"What is it, darling?"
"Nothing. Nevermind."
"I won't judge you, Kara. If there is something I can do, just name it. I'll do what I can."
"I- I want to soak in a hot bath, but I don't want to be alone right now," Kara whispers so faintly that Lena barely hears it.
"D-did you just want me to sit in the bathroom with you?" Kara nods her head ever so slightly. Lena gulps. "Of course I will, darling."
Lena gently pulls Kara up from the couch. They probably have an hour before the pizza arrives, but she brings her phone with just in case. Lena runs the bath with steaming hot water. Kara points to where she keeps her supply of bubble bath and epsom salts. Lena sets it up how she would want it. She carefully averts her eyes while Kara undresses until she is fully submerged under a pile of bubbles. Lena sits by the tub on the hard floor to hold Kara's hand. She rests her elbow on the edge and props her head up facing the blonde.
"Is there anything else I can do?" Lena asks softly.
Kara shakes her head no. "Thank you, for staying. For getting us out of there."
"I'm glad I was able to. Just know, no matter what is going on, I'll do my very best to always be here for you."
The women mostly sit in a comfortable silence. Occasionally, Kara chips in a random thought about her relationship with Mike. Lena just listens to whatever the blonde is willing to share. Both women startle with Lena's phone rings, announcing their delivery. Lena promises to be right back when she moves to pay the delivery person. By the time she comes back, Kara is in tears. She is crying silently with only little gasps for air. Lena rushes to her side again and wipes them off her face. Kara doesn't hesitate to throw her arms around Lena, completely soaking her with the dying bubbles and lukewarm water. The CEO doesn't even care.
She holds onto her tightly and whispers in her ear comfortingly. "Let's get you out and dry, darling. Then we can get some food in your belly and watch something terribly mind numbing."
Kara just nods her ascent. Lena did not think any of this through because before she knew it, she had a fully naked, soaking wet Kara Danvers in her arms. Lena tries to be as respectful as possible as she steadies her as she climbs out of the tub. She reaches for a fresh towel from the exposed shelves on the side. She keeps her eyes up as she wraps the towel around the muscular woman. Kara doesn't let her hand go as they move into the bedroom to get some warm pajamas. Kara gets dressed the best she can with one hand, but needs help with the shirt. Lena is quick to pull the fabric down.
"You should change, too. I got you all wet," Kara says quietly.
Lena freezes in internal debate. She doubts Kara will let her out of her grasp the rest of the night if the way things are going is any indication. She lets out a breath. "Can you look away while I do? You can keep your hand on my neck the entire time."
Kara nods in agreement. Lena digs through her duffle bag to pull out her sleepwear. After moving Kara's hand to the back of her neck, Lena checks to make sure Kara is looking away. She changes as quickly as humanly possible but shivers when she feels Kara lightly scratching her scalp. After Lena pulls over her tee, she grabs Kara's hand to let the back of the material fall down and into place. She breaks out in goosebumps as Kara's fingers trail down the skin of her back before fully holding Lena's hand.
"Let's go eat."
The women move together to grab the pizza and some plates. Kara insists that they drink the wine Lena brought over. They settle into the couch with Kara's head resting on Lena's shoulder, turning on 'Tiger King'. Kara decides to eat lefthanded to make sure she can keep ahold of Lena. Once they are both full, Kara shifts to lay her head in Lena's lap. It doesn't take long for Lena to play with the blonde hair and massage her head. They don't talk much for the rest of the night. Once Lena notices that Kara is snoring lightly, she can't bring herself to wake her to move to bed. Lena's fallen asleep in much more uncomfortable positions over her desk or in the lab, so she settles in and lets sleep take her.