It is now been a good 2 minutes since Kara told Lena that the shadow woman is her mother, and the brunette has not said a single word, or even changed her facial expressions an inch. This, of course, has now got Kara very very worried.
"Lena?" Kara says, hesitantly.
Lena now looks at Kara in her eyes, moving for the first time since she heard the news.
"Are........... Well..... I was going to ask if you are okay...... But that's a stupid question." Kara says, really being a bit annoyed with herself right now, as she can't think of the perfect words to say to her girlfriend in response to all this.
"She's....... really my mother?" Lena finally says.
"Yes." Kara nods, hesitantly, "We ran a DNA test, comparing your DNA, from some of your blood left over at the DEO, with a blood sample I took from the shadow woman. She is, without question, your mother. I..... I'm sorry Lena...."
After Kara says that, Lena simply looks at Kara for a few moments, but gives her a look that makes Kara feel like she is staring miles off into the distance. Eventually, after about 30 seconds, Lena begins to laugh slightly.
"Lena?" Kara asks, now being worried.
Lena, however, continues to laugh, with her laughter getting louder and louder.
"Lena.... I..... please.... you're scaring me..." Kara says, feeling so helpless right now.
Lena continues to laugh, with a big smile on her face as she does. Kara, however, is not smiling at all, as she knows that this reaction from Lena is an extremely troubling one, as it suggests a form of insanity.
"Lena.... please.... you'll wake Alura...." Kara says, hoping that maybe hearing Alura's name will snap Lena out of this. But it doesn't work, Lena just continues to laugh.
As Lena continues to laugh, looking completely and utterly insane right now, Kara has no idea what to do, and she feels so scared. Kara feels utterly helpless, like she can't do anything, and it makes her feel completely awful.
"Mommy?! Momma!?!" Alura yells, suddenly.
Kara now realises that the situation has just got worse, as Alura has woken up and realised that she is alone in the bed. So, Kara knows that now she has to deal with Alura, not Lena, as that is what Lena would want her to do after all.
Kara quickly zooms into her bedroom, and she finds Alura on the bed, crying slightly, with a panicked look on her face.
"Mommy!" Alura sobs, as soon as she sees Kara.
Kara quickly takes Alura into her arms, and hugs her close to her.
"It's okay, Alura. We were just in the other room talking. We just didn't want to wake you." Kara explains, all while she continues to hug the 5-year-old.
Alura continues to cry into Kara's chest, hugging her mommy back tightly, all while Kara can still hear Lena continuing to laugh in the next room. Admittedly, a part of Kara does want to break right now, as she can feel a panic attack beginning to build within herself from everything that is happening. However, Kara uses all her might to push the panic attack down, because she knows if she allows the panic attack to take over, then Alura will be even more scared that she already is.
"Why is momma laughing?" Alura asks, a few minutes later, as she moves back from the hug slightly, and looks Kara in the eyes.
Kara looks back into Alura's eyes, and she does want to tell her daughter that Lena just saw something funny, and she can't stop laughing, but Kara has promised herself that she wouldn't lie to her daughter. Kara has learnt that lying to Alura usually doesn't lead to good things, so she knows she will have to tell her the truth, even if the truth is awful.
"I.... don't know...." Kara explains, "I just.... told momma some news...... and.... I think she is having a breakdown at the moment."
"What?" Alura says, with a lot of worry in her voice.
"I know..." Kara replies, not sure what else to say, "But..... before I could try and do anything..... I heard you..... so I came in here..... But..... we need to call someone...... I need help...."
"Yes. Help momma." Alura says, sounding desperate.
Kara nods her head, and then quickly moves across the room, still with Alura in her arms, and grabs her phone. Once Kara has her phone, she pauses for a moment, and then thinks as to who she should call. Ultimately, Kara decides to call Sam. After about 4 rings, Sam answers the phone.
"He.... hello?" Sam answers, with sleep in her voice, signalling to Kara that she just woke Sam up.
"Sam!" Kara says, in a desperate voice.
"Kara?" Sam replies, sounding worried herself, waking up from hearing Kara's tone.
"I need your help.... I need you and Alex to come over...... I just told Lena the shadow woman is her mom...... and now she won't stop laughing...... I think she's having a breakdown." Kara explains, in such a desperate voice.
"We'll be there as soon as possible." Sam replies, almost immediately.
Kara breathes a sigh of relief as soon as Sam says that, being so thankful that Sam didn't even hesitate or ask any questions or anything, she is just willing to be here for them, no matter what.
"Rao, thank you Sam." Kara replies, in a desperate voice.
"Of course, Kara. Stay strong. We will be there soon." Sam says.
"Okay." Kara replies, and then ends the phone call.
Kara breathes another sigh of relief as soon as the phone call ends, and then looks at Alura.
"Sam and Alex are going to come over as soon as possible." Kara says.
"They need to get here quickly. I can still hear momma laughing." Alura says, still with an extremely worried look on her face.
As Kara looks at Alura's worried expression, and still hears Lena laughing, that is when she realises that her daughter is right. Sam and Alex are likely not going to arrive for another 20 minutes at the earliest, and Kara doesn't think she can allow Lena to continue to react like how she is for that long. Kara worries that the longer Lena laughs, the more mental damage she might be doing to herself. So, Kara then calls another person who she hopes can help them.
"Kara?" J'onn answers.
"J'onn! I need you to come to our penthouse right away! I just told Lena the news and she won't stop laughing! I think she's having a mental breakdown!" Kara says, desperately.
"I'll be right there." J'onn says, and then ends the call.
After the call ends, Kara puts her phone down onto her bed, and holds Alura tightly in her arms, hugging her close to her chest. Thankfully, about 20 seconds later, J'onn lands on the balcony to Kara and Lena's bedroom. Kara then walks over and lets the Green Martian inside.
"Where is she?" J'onn asks.
"In the bedroom next to this. You can hear her laughing." Kara says, "Please.... do something with your powers.... to either put her to sleep.... or help her...."
"I will." J'onn says, and then begins to walk out of the room.
Kara doesn't follow J'onn, she remains in the bedroom with Alura. Kara does this because she does not want Alura to see Lena in the state she currently is in. Alura doesn't need to be even more emotionally damaged than she already is.
Over the next few minutes, Kara continues to hug Alura, all while she hears J'onn in the other room, saying a few words to Lena, with the brunette still laughing. Then, thankfully, a few seconds after that, Lena finally stops laughing. Kara takes that as her signal to quickly go and find J'onn and Lena, and once she enters the bedroom, she sees that Lena is now unconscious, with J'onn having laid her down on the bed in the room.
"What.... did you do?" Kara asks, hesitantly.
"I had a look in her mind, and there is a lot of trauma there right now. Too much to process. So, you were technically right, by the definition, she did have a mental breakdown." J'onn explains, "But, I have eased her mind now. She should sleep until tomorrow morning, maybe longer, and hopefully once she wakes her brain will have a least processed some of the information, and she will be in a better state."
"Okay.... that's good." Kara nods, with worried eyes.
"I want to lay with momma." Alura says, trying to wiggle out of Kara's arms.
"Hang on." Kara says, "I think we should let momma rest on her own for a little while. You and I can stay together while we wait for Sam and Alex to get here, okay?"
Alura looks at Kara, and then at Lena still laying on the bed, and has a very worried look on her face.
"You can go lay with momma afterwards, once we make sure that she isn't going to wake up again." Kara says.
"Okay..." Alura says, in a timid voice.
"Good." Kara says, feeling some relief that she is not going to have that argument with Alura. Kara then turns to look at J'onn. "Would you mind carrying her into our bedroom? I would do it, but I'm holding Alura right now."
"Of course." J'onn says, with a nod of his head.
J'onn proceeds to pick Lena up into his arms, and then carry her into Kara and Lena's bedroom, carefully placing her down on the bed.
"Thank you for coming, and doing all this J'onn." Kara says.
"Of course Kara. You know I would." J'onn replies.
Kara nods her head at J'onn, not saying anything else, and then glances at Lena once more.
"I would offer to stay.... but..... I have to do a few more things at the DEO this evening, before I can head home for the night. Are you okay with me leaving?" J'onn asks.
"Yeah. We should be fine. Alex and Sam are going to be here soon anyway. They'll keep us company." Kara says.
"Okay." J'onn says, and then walks over to both Kara and Alura, giving them each a hug, "I'll be back in the morning, hopefully before Lena wakes. But please, call me if anything else happens, and you need me."
"I will." Kara replies.
J'onn then gives Kara one final nod of his head, before walking out onto the balcony, closing the doors behind him, and flying off into the sky, leaving Kara and Alura alone in the bedroom, looking at a sleeping Lena.
"Momma is going to be okay, right?" Alura eventually asks, after a few moments silence.
Kara looks at her daughter in her arms and absolutely hates that she has to ask that question of her. Kara hates the situation they are currently in. It all just makes Kara hate and hate Levithan even more. Kara knows that she is going to enjoy taking Leviathan down. Kara has never enjoyed taking villains down before, but that is about to change.
"I'm hopeful that she will be." Kara says, not wanting to lie to Alura, and simply say Lena is going to be okay, when she doesn't know that for certain. "Your momma is one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can get through all this, it's her. She just needs her rest right now."
"Okay...." Alura says, in a solemn voice, but Kara simply takes that as the best thing right now.
************************
It is now about 20 minutes later, and Kara and Alura are currently snuggled up on the couch in their living room, with Alura drifting in and out of sleep. Kara hasn't tried to put Alura back to bed again, because she knows that it is unlikely the 5-year-old will willingly go to sleep on her own.
Kara now gets an alert on the security system, letting her know that someone has entered the private elevator to the penthouse. In response to this, Kara goes and has a look at the tablet, checking the security camera, and sees that it is Alex, Sam and Ruby.
"Alex, Sam and Ruby are here, Alura." Kara says, breathing a sigh of relief.
Kara knows that Sam, Alex and Ruby don't really need to be here now, because things with Lena have been sorted for the moment, but she could still do with the company.
A few moments later, Kara moves to their front door, with Alura still in her arms, and opens it, with Sam, Ruby, and Alex using crutches, appearing from the elevator. Sam and Alex both have extremely worried looks on their faces, while Kara can see that Ruby is half asleep.
"Kara!" Sam says, quickly running over to the blonde, and taking her in for a hug.
"Sam..." Kara replies, her voice shaking a bit.
"How is she?" Sam asks, pulling back from the hug, with a lot of worry on her face.
"After I called you.... I decided to call J'onn..... and he came over and got Lena to stop laughing..... and used his abilities to put her to sleep." Kara explains, "I'm sorry.... I guess that means I got you guys to come over here for no reason."
"Nonsense, Kara." Sam says, "I'm glad you called us."
"Yeah, I'm with Sam." Alex says, now having finally joined Kara, Alura and Sam, with Ruby sleepily walking by the redhead's side.
"Okay..." Kara says, nervously, with a lot of emotion still in her voice, "Come in."
Sam nods her head, and then walks inside along with Alex and Ruby.
"Where is Lena?" Alex asks, once they all step inside the penthouse.
"She's in our bedroom.... sleeping...." Kara says.
"Do you mind if we go check on her?" Sam asks.
"Of course..." Kara says, nodding her head.
"Mom...." Ruby grumbles, sleepily, resting her head on Alex's side now.
Sam looks at her daughter and realises that she needs to get her situated first.
"Kara? Do you mind if Ruby uses one of your bedrooms to go back to sleep? She's really tired, as you can see." Sam says.
"Of course not." Kara says.
Kara, Alex, Sam, Ruby and Alura all then make their way upstairs. Once they get upstairs, Sam chooses a bedroom for Ruby, and then goes inside of it with her, while Alex says a quick goodnight to Ruby, and then quickly moves further along the hallway, heading to Kara and Lena's bedroom. At this point, Kara notices Alura also falling back to sleep in her arms. However, Kara knows that Alura will refuse to sleep on her own, so she gets an idea.
"Alura?" Kara says.
"Hgmgmmmm?" Alura mumbles.
"Can I put you to bed?" Kara asks.
"No..." Alura moans.
"What if you share a bed with Ruby?" Kara asks, "Will that make you feel better?"
After Kara says that, Alura doesn't respond for a little while.
"I promise that I'll make sure to keep my super hearing focused on you at all times. I'll come into the bedroom straight away if I hear anything out of sorts." Kara says.
"Okay...." Alura says, about 5 seconds later.
"Good." Kara says, and places a kiss on the top of Alura's head.
Kara then walks into the bedroom which Sam and Ruby are currently inside, along with Alura. Once the mother and daughter are inside, they see that Sam is sitting on the bed, tucking Ruby in.
"Uhhh...... Do you mind if Alura shares a bed with you, Ruby?" Kara asks, in a soft voice, "She is having trouble sleeping on her own, and I'm not going to bed yet."
"What do you say, Ruby?" Sam asks.
"Yeah... okay..." Ruby mumbles, and then shifts over to one side of the bed, while opening up the covers on the other side, for Alura to then move under.
Kara breathes an internal sigh of relief at Ruby agreeing to this, and then puts Alura down under the covers in the bed.
"Thank you, Ruby." Kara says.
Alura climbs under the covers of the bed, but quickly moves closer to Ruby, taking her in for a hug. Ruby, for her part, thankfully doesn't seem to mind at all, and in fact rolls over on the bed to hug Alura back, taking her in to her arms.
"Goodnight, baby." Kara says, placing a kiss on Alura's cheek.
"Night.... night...." Alura mumbles.
"Goodnight Rubes." Sam says.
Ruby just mumbles in response, not even saying a coherent word.
Kara and Sam then take that as their signal to leave the bedroom, putting the door to, having taken in the incredibly cute sight of the two young girls hugging each other as they fall to sleep.
"If the situation was different.... I would just admire how cute that sight was." Sam comments.
"Yeah." Kara nods, and then begins to walk down the hallway, heading for her bedroom, with Sam following her.
Kara and Sam soon make it into the bedroom, and they see Alex sitting on the bed, clearly doing some basic medical checks on Lena to see that she's okay.
"How is she?" Sam asks.
"She's sleeping. Or.... unconscious." Alex replies, "Her heartbeat is normal for someone who is asleep, and everything else looks to be fine. But I doubt we will know anything further until she wakes up. I'm sure J'onn has already said this, but what Lena was suffering from, is mental, not physical."
"Yeah.... I know..." Kara says, nodding her head, with a very worried look on her face.
The reason Kara is so worried is because she knows that the fact that what Lena is suffering from is mental, means that dealing, and treating it, is a lot more difficult than if she were suffering from a physical injury.
"I'm sure it's going to be okay, Kara." Sam says, in a sympathetic voice, placing a hand on one of Kara's shoulders.
Kara sighs.
"I hope so." Kara says.
"It will be." Alex adds, hoping to give her sister some ray of hope, as she knows that what Kara saw, with Lena laughing uncontrollably, must have been absolutely horrible to witness.
The trio then remain quiet for the next few moments, all while they look at the sleeping Lena.
"Come on...." Sam eventually says, "Let's leave Lena alone for now, and we can all have a talk."
"Yeah.... Okay..." Kara nods.
Alex, Sam and Kara all then make their way out of the bedroom, and decide to go back downstairs so that they don't wake Lena, or either of the two children. Seeing as Alex is still using her crutches, both Kara and Sam help Alex going down the stairs. The last thing they need right now is for Alex to fall down the stairs and then get hurt even more than she already is. Eventually, though, the trio make it into the living room area, with Alex resting on one of the couches, stretching her legs out, and Sam and Kara sitting next to each other on a second one.
"Sooooo...... you told me that Lena became like this.... after you told her that the shadow woman is her mother?" Sam asks, looking at Kara, confused.
"Yeah." Kara replies, with a sigh.
"I.... I don't understand Kara.... How.... how can that be true?" Alex asks, "From the Leviathan files that Lex sent to Lena, we saw that Leviathan killed Lena's mom, not that she was, or is, a member of Leviathan."
Kara sighs again.
"I don't really know the details of how it is possible. But earlier.... I went to visit the shadow woman.... and she is currently in a mental state where she isn't saying much..... I think from whatever Leviathan has done to her..... But she was able to say a few words at a time.... and she mentioned Lena and the word 'lake'. After that.... I went to see Lena, and she brought up how she was scared when the shadow woman attacked, and it brought her back to her being a little girl, watching her mom drown at the lake..... So..... that then clicked some things in place for me..... I then went to the DEO.... and talked to the shadow woman...... She didn't say much to me.... as she is still in an awful mental state..... But I was able to draw some blood.... and we then did a DNA test on her blood.... Comparing it with some of Lena's that the DEO had left over..... and we confirmed that they are mother and daughter." Kara explains.
"Wow.... that's...... absolutely insane....." Alex says, stunned by the news, even though Sam told it to her earlier when Kara originally phoned them.
"Yeah." Kara nods in agreement.
"I can't even begin to imagine what must be going through Lena's mind right now..." Sam says, "I mean.... to find out your mother.... who you thought you saw drown over 20 years ago.... is alive...... and has been working for Leviathan...... as the shadow woman that has attacked all of us..... I..... I just can't even begin to comprehend all of it." Sam says.
"Yes..." Kara nods, nervously, "Which is what I think happened to Lena when I told her..... I just think she broke..... I think it was all just too much for her to handle.... I don't know..."
Alex sighs after hearing that, knowing just how much this must be mentally challenging for Kara, let alone Lena.
"But how about you Kara? How are you feeling?" Alex asks, with some worry in her voice, "I know this really must be a lot for you too."
Kara looks at Alex, and gives her sister a little smile, as she always knows that Alex has her back, and will always realise when she is struggling a bit, even when other people may miss it.
"I..... I don't know really..... Earlier.... when all this happened..... I honestly wanted to just have a panic attack.... As at the time Lena was laughing.... and Alura had been woken up by it.... and was crying and calling for us.... because she was alone in our bedroom..... In that moment.... it all just felt so overwhelming.... and I felt so lost.... as I didn't know what to do..... and a big part of me just wanted to fall to pieces..... But.... I also knew that I couldn't, for Alura's sake...... and I knew that if Lena were in her right mind... she would want me to take care of Alura first..... So that is what I did.... I held it together.... and made sure I was there for Alura... and then I called you guys....." Kara explains.
Sam and Alex now both give Kara worried looks, feeling so bad for the blonde. But at the same time, the two are both also so amazed by Kara. They each know that many people would have fallen to pieces in that moment, but Kara didn't. As always, Kara continues to show that she is a true superhero, even when she isn't out there in her Supergirl suit.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Kara." Sam says, "But we are both here now......"
"Yeah." Alex agrees, "I think you should take some time to yourself... Make sure that you are doing better..... because... even tomorrow... things aren't just going to be fixed......."
Kara looks between Sam and Alex for a moment, not saying a word, before she finally nods her head, agreeing with them.
"Yeah.... okay.... you are right...." Kara says.
"Good." Alex nods.
"Yeah. We will make sure to keep an eye on both Alura and Ruby.... So, you don't have to worry about that right now.... Just focus on taking care of yourself." Sam says.
"I will. Thank you, guys.... so much." Kara says.
"You never have to thank us, Kara. We are family." Sam says.
"Yeah, what she said." Alex adds, with a smile.
Kara then grows a small smile on her face as she looks at Sam and Alex, some of the emotionally weight of what she is feeling, feeling a bit less right now.
After this, Kara says goodnight to both Alex and Sam, and then heads upstairs to her bedroom. Once Kara is inside, she checks on Lena one more time, and then decides to take a relaxing bath, instead of getting straight into bed. Kara has a bath, letting her worries melt away a bit with the warm water, and she relaxes. About 15 minutes later, Kara gets out of the bath, dries herself off, changes into her pyjamas, and gets into bed with Lena. Kara just hopes that tomorrow will be better than today was.
************************
If you would like to see the next chapter right now, you can check out these links: https://linktr.ee/Rstories