"Alright Lori, what do you want to do now?" Alex asks the 7-year-old, as they walk out of L-Corp, hand in hand.
"I don't know." Lori replies, in a sad voice.
Alex notices Lori's sad voice, and makes a good guess that it's because the young girl is sad about leaving Lena, and not being too sure when she will see her next.
"Hey, you'll see Lena again soon. Don't be sad over it." Alex says, in a soft voice.
"Yeah..... okay...." Lori nods, biting her lip slightly, still in a bit of a sad voice.
"Come on. Let's go have some more fun so you can forget about things." Alex says, "We can either go to the arcade, or go bowling."
Lori is silent for a little while, before she finally looks up at Alex again.
"I've never been bowling.... I don't know how to do it." Lori admits.
"Oh..." Alex says, surprised, but realises she probably shouldn't be, as it's likely Lori didn't get to do a lot of things because of being a foster kid, "Well..... I'd be happy to teach you.... Plus.... a lot of bowling places also have some small arcades in them too.... So even if you don't like bowling, we can still play in the arcade after."
"Okay.... We can go bowling then." Lori replies, with a nod of her head.
"Great!" Alex smiles, happily.
Lori and Alex then walk hand in hand down several blocks until they eventually reach a bowling alley. Once they are inside, they walk to the front desk, with Lori looking around, taking in all the sights of the arcade and everything, while also hearing the crashing of pins in the background. After they arrive at the front desk, Alex pays for them to have two games, before giving the person her shoe size.
"Here are your shoes." The person at the front desk says, handing Alex her bowling shoes.
"Thank you." Alex smiles back, taking the shoes.
"What size shoes does your daughter need?" The person at the front desk asks Alex.
"Oh... uhh... she's not my daughter." Alex says, in a bit of a flustered voice.
"Oh, my apologies." The front desk person says.
Alex then looks down at Lori and realises she has no idea the size of Lori's shoes.
"Uhhh... do you know your shoe size?" Alex asks.
"No." Lori replies, shaking her head.
"Okay." Alex nods, and then crouches down, "Let me take off one of your shoes, so I can see the size and check."
"Okay." Lori says.
Alex then undoes one of Lori's shoes and reads the size, before standing up to look at the person at the front desk again.
"Uhhh..... her shoes here say she's a 13 and a half. So.... whatever you think will be best for her?" Alex says.
The person at the front desk nods his head, and then turns around to retrieve some shoes for Lori, before placing them on the desk again.
"You can try these." The person at the front desk says, "Bowling shoes tend to run a bit big, so these are a kid's 13, so hopefully they'll fit her."
"Alright. Thank you." Alex smiles.
Alex then crouches down to Lori's height again.
"Here. Let's put these on." Alex smiles.
"Okay." Lori says, and then lets Alex undo her other shoe, watching on in silence for a little while.
Alex then begins to help Lori put on the bowling shoes, which thankfully fit perfectly, before standing up again and handing Lori's shoes to the man at the front desk. After this, Alex crouches down, undoes her own shoe, and puts on her bowling shoes, before standing back up to hand her shoes to the person at the front desk.
"You will be lane 16." The front desk worker says.
"Thank you." Alex smiles.
Alex then takes Lori's hand, and the two begin walking up to the bowling lanes.
"Alex?" Lori eventually asks.
"Yes, sweetie?" Alex replies.
"Why do we have to wear these shoes?" Lori asks, in a confused voice.
"Oh..." Alex says, realising she hadn't explained it to Lori, "Well.... you see this floor here?"
"Yeah." Lori nods, "Well, it's a special floor that is used for bowling, to make sure the balls roll properly and everything. Bowling shoes make sure that we don't mark the floor and damage it or anything."
"Oh.... okay..." Lori nods, "But.... why don't they just have different floors?"
Alex chuckles, thinking that Lori really just asked a smart question.
"It's probably because the bowling shoe industry makes a lot of money, and wouldn't want bowling places to do that." Alex explains.
"Okay." Lori nods, although not in a voice where Alex is sure if Lori understood what she said or not.
A few moments later, Alex and Lori arrive at their bowling lane.
"Here we are. Lane 16." Alex smiles.
Lori simply looks on, taking in all the sights of people bowling and everything. Meanwhile, Alex sits down at the seat so she can type in their names.
"Okay." Alex says, "So, I can put our names in here.... and set everything up.... and then we can play."
"Okay." Lori nods, as she stands by Alex's side, and then looks up at the screen above them.
"Done." Alex smiles, standing up from her chair, "So, do you know how to play?"
"No." Lori replies, shaking her head.
"Alright." Alex nods, "So, basically the point of the game is to bowl the bowling ball down the lane, and try and knock over as many of those pins as possible. You get points depending on how many pins you knock over. We have 10 rounds each, and for each round we get 2 tries to knock over all the pins. However, if you knock over all the pins on your first try, that's called a strike, and if you knock them over on your second try, that's called a spare. You get more points for those. Understand?"
"Yeah. I think so." Lori nods.
"Good." Alex smiles, "Now, we should probably find you a nice light bowling ball that you can use."
"Yes, okay." Lori nods.
Alex and Lori then go about searching the bowling lanes, and the racks behind them, for a nice light ball for Lori, and eventually they find one.
"How's that one?" Alex asks, "Not too heavy?"
"No. I can do it." Lori says.
"Okay, then." Alex smiles, "There are also these rack devices here that you can use if you want. We basically just place your ball on top of the rack, and then you push it. You might want to try that first."
"Yes. Okay." Lori nods.
"Alright. It's my turn first. So, you can watch me." Alex says.
Lori nods her head.
Alex then proceeds to bowl, and knocks over all but 3 of the pins. A few moments later, Alex goes again, but only knocks over one further pin.
"See, that turn I didn't knock over all the pins. Now it's your turn." Alex smiles.
"Okay." Lori nods, and picks up her bowling ball again.
Alex then gets the bowling rack into place, and helps Lori place it on top of it.
"Alright.... do you think the rack is in a good place? You want to make sure it's in the centre." Alex explains.
Lori now has a focused look on her face, and then moves the rack a few inches to the left.
"There." Lori says, with a confident smile.
"Alright. Now you can push the ball. But you don't want to push it too hard, or it might veer off to one of the sides, but you don't want to push it too lightly either." Alex explains.
Lori nods her head, and then pushes the bowling ball. The bowling ball makes it way down the lane, in a bit of a slow fashion, but eventually knocks over several of the pins.
"I did it!" Lori says, excitedly.
"Yeah, you do." Alex smiles happily.
After this, Lori and Alex continue on with their bowling game, having a lot of fun. Throughout it Alex does notice how Lori honestly doesn't care about the score or anything. Lori's only real objective seems to be to knock over all the pins on one of her turns. Eventually though, the two come to the last frame of their second game.
"Alright, this is your last turn, Lori." Alex says, and goes to grab the bowling rack.
"I want to do it myself this time." Lori says, confidently.
"Are you sure?" Alex asks.
"Yes." Lori nods.
"Okay, then." Alex smiles.
Alex then watches as Lori grabs her ball, and walks towards the bowling lane, with her tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth, with a focused look on her face. Lori then proceeds to throw the ball down the bowling lane, and it eventually hits the pins, knocking all but 2 of them over, the most amount of pins Lori has knocked over in one turn.
"I did it!" Lori says, excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Yeah. You did." Alex smiles, happily, so glad the 7-year-old is clearly having a good time.
"I want to try and knock over the last 2 pins now." Lori says, and walks over to the rack that returns the bowling balls, and soon picks up her ball once it arrives.
Lori then walks over to bowling lane, looking at the 2 remaining pins with a lot of determination on her face.
"You can do it, Lori!" Alex says, in an encouraging voice.
Lori nods her head, confidently, and then throws the ball. Alex then watches on in anticipation, and sees the ball slowly make its way down the lane, and eventually hit both of the pins, knocking them over.
"I DID IT!!!" Lori says, jumping up and down in such excitement.
"Yeah, you did!" Alex smiles happily, walking over to the 7-year-old, celebrating with her.
Lori turns to Alex, and then jumps into her arms, with the redhead having to quickly catch her, and take her in for a hug.
"Ooo... Lori." Alex chuckles, happily, and surprised.
Lori proceeds to bounce in Alex's arms for a few moments, as she celebrates, before the redhead returns the 7-year-old to the ground.
"Sorry I jumped up at you." Lori suddenly says, deflating.
"Don't worry about that, Lori." Alex smiles, falling even more in love with her future niece. In fact, at this point if Kara doesn't actually adopt Lori, and make her her niece, Alex might just find some way to beat up her sister, "You were excited. I'm happy you felt comfortable enough with me to jump up and expect me to catch you like that."
Lori grows a big smile on her face after Alex says that.
"Anyway, we've finished our game now." Alex says, as she continues to smile, "How about we get our shoes back, and then play some of those arcade games before we leave, and get you back home?"
"Yes." Lori nods happily.
After this, Lori and Alex get their shoes back, and then have a good time playing a bunch of different arcade games together. The two start off by playing some random co-operative shooting game, before moving onto a competitive driving game, then once they do those, they play a game of air hockey, where Alex lets Lori win. Once they've finished all those games Alex does consider seeing if Lori wants to play a game of snooker with her, but she decides not to, as the 7-year-old might be a bit too short for it.
***************************
It is now just after 5PM, and Kara has already returned back home to her apartment. The reason Kara was able to get off so early from work, finishing just after 4, is because she decided to use her superspeed to get through the remainder of her work quickly, so all she had left after that, that kept her at the office, was a few meetings she needed to attend. But now Kara is home, and ready to start her long weekend with Lori, where she hopes the two of them will be able to make Lori feel more at home, and decorate her bedroom accordingly.
Kara is currently sitting in her living room area, looking at a few things on social media, when she hears the door to her apartment begin to open. Kara turns around, and a few seconds later, she sees Alex and Lori walking inside, with Lori smiling happily as she sits on Alex's shoulders. Kara can't help but smile widely at the sight, so glad the two are bonding, and obviously had a great day together.
"Hey, guys." Kara smiles, happily, standing up from the couch and walking over to them both.
"Kara!" Lori says, excitedly.
"Oh, hey, sis." Alex smiles, taking Lori off of her shoulders and putting her on the ground, "I didn't think you'd be home yet."
"Yeah. Well, I got all my work done quickly. So I came home early." Kara explains.
Lori then goes running over to Kara, and takes her in for a hug around her legs.
"I missed you." Lori says, as she hugs Kara tightly.
Upon hearing Lori say that, Kara's heart absolutely swells, and she very much feels like bursting into tears from how touched she is from Lori saying that to her, even after they have only been together like this for a week.
"I missed you too, Lori." Kara says, crouching down, and taking Lori in for a proper hug.
Lori and Kara hug for a little while, and Alex simply watches on, with a wide smile on her face.
"So, what did you and Alex do today?" Kara asks, as she places a kiss on one of Lori's cheeks, before releasing her from the hug.
"Oooo....we went to the park and played in the playground together and even went on the swings and everything, then we went to buy sandwiches for lunch, I had a sandwich with melted cheese mayonnaise and steak, then we took our lunch and met Lena at her office and had lunch with her for a while, after we left Alex took me to go bowling where she taught me to bowl and I was able to get a spare on my final go! Then after that we played a bunch of arcade games together!" Lori explains, hardly taking a breath between any of her words, simply due to her excitement.
Kara chuckles, amused by Lori's excitement.
"Well, I'm glad you had such a good day." Kara smiles.
"Yes. I did." Lori nods, happily.
"Alright...." Alex says, after a few moments silence, "Well.... seeing as you are home now Kara, I'm going to head home too."
"Aww.... you're leaving?" Lori says, in an upset voice, as she turns around to look at Alex.
Alex grows a smile on her face, and then crouches down, gesturing for Lori to come over to her and give her a hug.
"Yes, sweetie." Alex says, as she takes Lori in for a hug, and gives her a kiss on the top of her head, "My girlfriend texted me when we were talking back home, and told me she got off work early. So, I want to go home and see her."
"Okay..." Lori replies, in a sombre tone.
"But don't worry. We will see each other again pretty soon. I'll be over here on Sunday to have dinner with everyone." Alex says.
"Yes. Okay. And I get to meet your girlfriend!" Lori says.
Alex chuckles.
"Yes, you will." Alex smiles, and ends her hug with Lori, standing up once more.
Lori simply smiles back at Alex, now looking happier than before. Kara then joins Lori and Alex, and takes her sister in for a hug of her own.
"Thank you for taking care of Lori today." Kara says.
"You're welcome. I had a great time." Alex smiles, and then whispers into her sister's ear, "And if you don't adopt this amazing girl, I'm going to beat you up."
Kara and Alex part from their hug, and the blonde now just has a blush on her face, knowing that this is already where everything is heading, even though she and Lori have only been together for a week. Lori already has a hold on Kara's heart that she doesn't think could be broken, even if she wanted to.
"Okay." Kara smiles, with a nod of her head.
"Alright." Alex smiles, "I'll see you both soon."
"Bye Alex!" Lori says.
"Bye Lori." Alex smiles, and then leaves Kara and Lori's apartment, closing the door behind them.
Little does Kara know at this point, but as soon as Alex gets home to Kelly, she once more makes it clear as to how much she wants to be a mom herself, and that is when Kelly brings up a little alien girl called Esme, who is currently in an unfortunate position in the foster system.
Now that Kara and Lori are alone once more, in their apartment, Kara turns and looks to her likely-future-daughter.
"It's a bit early for us to have our dinner yet. How about we watch a movie together?" Kara suggests.
"Okay." Lori nods, "Can we watch Frozen again?"
Kara chuckles.
"You know there's a Frozen 2." Kara says.
"Really?" Lori asks, wide-eyed.
"Yeah." Kara nods, "How about we watch that?"
"Okay." Lori nods, happily.
Kara and Lori move into the living room, where Kara puts on Frozen 2, and the two then snuggle up on one of the couches, with Lori looking at the TV screen intently. About 5 minutes into the film, Kara gets a text on her phone.
Alex (to Kara): By the way, I didn't tell you because I didn't want to do it in front of Lori. But we had a little issue when we went to the park today.
Alex: We came across about 7 dogs being walked, and Lori got very scared. I had to pick her up in my arms. But after we were past them, she was fine.
Alex: Afterwards Lori told me that she's a bit scared of dogs, because previously one chased her and jumped on top of her.
Alex: I don't think it's anything to worry about, but I just thought you should know.
Kara (to Alex): Okay. Thank you for letting me know Alex. And thank you again for taking such good care of her today.
Kara then puts her phone away, and as she does, she thinks on about all the issues that Lori clearly has, and thinks that she really does need to find Lori some help or something, just so the little girl can work through everything. The last thing Kara wants is for Lori's issues to not be dealt with, and then slowly build and build over the years, and become unbearable for her.
Lori and Kara then spend a nice evening together after this, snuggling on the couch, eating their dinner (eventually), and watching Frozen 2, which Lori enjoys, but not as much as Frozen 1. Kara then puts Lori to bed with a kiss, and the hope that the little girl won't have any nightmares.
**************
It is now the following morning, Friday, and Kara has already gotten Lori out of bed and everything, and the two are just having their breakfast right now, all in a relaxing fashion. Thankfully, Lori didn't have any more nightmares last night, which Kara is happy about. However, Kara knows that Lori's nightmares haven't been consistent or anything, so just because she didn't have a nightmare last night, doesn't mean that she won't have any in the future.
"What are we going to do today?" Lori asks Kara, as the two sit on the couch in the living room, both eating cereal for breakfast.
"Well.... I thought that today we'd focus on deciding how you want to decorate your bedroom and everything. So, we can paint it however you like. We can buy you all the furniture you want. And we can just generally make it so you feel more at home here." Kara explains, with a loving smile, "Plus, I also want to spend some time with you going through all the foods you like and don't like, so from now on I know what your favourite foods that we can have for dinner are. How does that sound?"
"Good." Lori smiles, happily, "Can we paint my room today, together?"
"Of course we can. Although if we paint your room today, it's probably not going to dry in time for you to sleep in it tonight. So, you'll have to sleep in the other bedroom, or with me." Kara says, with a smile.
"Okay." Lori nods, happily.
"Good." Kara smiles back.
There is a knock at the door, and Kara then turns around a bit confused as to who it could be. Kara then lowers her glasses, to use her x-ray vision, and that is when she sees that it's Helen, the social worker.
"Oh Rao." Kara says, having completely forgotten that she had arranged for Helen to come and do her weekly check right now.
"What is it?" Lori asks.
"Uhhh..... Helen, your social worker is here to check in." Kara explains, getting up from the couch and walking over to the front door and opening it.
"Hello." Helen says with a smile, before noticing Kara is in her pyjamas, "Oh... am I too early or something?"
"No!" Kara quickly says, "It's my fault. I totally forgot that I'd arranged for you to come now. Lori and I were just having a bit of a lazy morning before we start our day."
"Ah. Okay." Helen nods.
"But please, come inside." Kara says.
"Thank you." Helen smiles, and walks inside the apartment, with Kara closing the door behind the social worker.
Kara and Helen then turn to look at Lori, who is still sitting on the couch, now looking at both of them, with a confused look on her face.
"Lori, come over here." Kara says, with a small smile.
Lori bites her lip, and then slowly makes her way over to Kara and Helen, looking nervous the whole time.
"Hello, Lori." Helen smiles, "How are you?"
Lori looks up at Kara, before finally looking at Helen.
"Okay." Lori says, in a sombre tone.
"That's good." Helen nods, "So..."
"I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE KARA!!!" Lori interrupts, now bursting into tears.
Kara and Helen both grow surprised looks on their faces.
"Lori I'm not here to...." Helen begins.
"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING! I LIKE IT HERE! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!" Lori cries, and then goes running out of the kitchen/living room area, and down the hallway to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Oh Ra.... I mean.... oh god." Kara says, before turning to look at Helen, "Sorry, this is my fault. I totally forgot to tell Lori that you would be making your check in this morning. She must think you're here to take her away or something."
"Oh.... I see." Helen nods, with a sympathetic look on her face.
"Let me just.... go talk to her." Kara says.
"Of course." Helen nods, "Do you mind if I take a seat out here?"
"No. Please, be my guest." Kara replies.
Kara then quickly leaves the kitchen/living room area, and makes her way to Lori's bedroom. Once Kara arrives, she knocks on the door, before then entering. As soon as Kara steps inside the room she sees Lori curled up in her bed, crying her eyes out.
"Oh, Lori." Kara says, her heart breaking for the 7-year-old right now.
Kara quickly makes her way over to Lori's side, and takes her in for a hug. Lori simply cries into Kara's chest, but allows herself to be moved into the hug.
"I don't want to go." Lori sobs.
"You're not going anywhere." Kara says, "Helen is only here to do a check in, to make sure that everything is going well with us. She isn't here to take you away from me or anything. This is my fault. Helen told me yesterday that she would be coming for a visit today, but I just forgot to tell you. I'm sorry."
Lori continues to softly cry into Kara's chest for a few moments, before she eventually shifts herself to tilt her head and look Kara in the eyes.
"Helen's really not here to take me away?" Lori asks, with several sniffles.
"Yes. She's just here to do a check in." Kara says.
"You promise?" Lori asks, in a cute voice.
"I promise Lori." Kara says, "And I also promise that I'm never going to let anyone take you away from me. You're mine now, and I'm never ever ever going to let you go. The two of us are bound together forever now."
"Really? You mean it?" Lori sniffles.
Kara nods her head, and then holds out her pinkie finger for Lori to take. In response Lori looks at Kara's pinkie finger for a few moments, before wrapping her own pinkie around Kara's.
"I promise." Kara says, as the two shake their pinkies.
After this, Kara and Lori spend a few more minutes together in the bedroom, just calming Lori down, and wiping her tears away. Once they have finished doing that, they head back into the living room, with Kara carrying Lori, and then have their chat with Helen. Helen talks with both Kara and Lori for about an hour, before leaving with a smile, and letting them both know she is very happy with the current foster situation, and will be back in about a week's time.
****************************
If you would like to see some of my other content, check out these links: https://linktr.ee/Rstories