Kara runs all the way to Lena's apartment building and uses her private code for the penthouse elevator. Lena is waiting for her when she arrives.
Lena was notified the moment Kara entered the elevator, and since she didn't expect Kara today, she had checked the security camera. Kara was wiping her eyes and blowing her nose, so Lena knew something was up.
"Come in Kara, let me ..."
That's how far Lena got before Kara wrapped herself around her neck and started crying again.
"There, there." Lena just let her cry, and soon enough, Kara starts to explain herself as well as her sniffling allows.
"Alex ... was mean! ... and I don't know why! ... why?"
"Kara, if you use the bathroom over there to wipe your eyes and nose, then I'll make hot chocolate. Then we'll talk. Is that OK?"
Kara nods vigorously, and Lena gives her a gentle push towards the bathroom. She's so not accustomed to situations like this, so she's basically running "what would Kara do" simulations in her head. Let her cry. Make her comfortable. Then ask what the problem is. At least Kara had taught her how to make hot chocolate on this monstrously expensive espresso machine that she never used anyway.
Lena puts down a tray with two cups of chocolate just as Kara comes into the living room. She looks better now, or at least more collected. "Come here, Kara, and tell me what happened."
Kara sits down and sips the chocolate, which at least is rewarded with a sad smile.
"It's Alex. I don't know what's gotten into her. She showed me pictures of Supergirl and told me about her, and then suddenly she started claiming that I was Supergirl, and I had just forgotten. That's ridiculous! But she insisted, and Maggie was there and she didn't say anything, and then she started claiming that my real mother wasn't my real mother, because I was from Krypton, and that's just mean."
"So Alex thinks you are really Supergirl?"
"No she doesn't, it's just something she says. I mean, she has met Supergirl and everything. Supergirl even saved her today, and that wasn't me, I was at work. And I don't look like Supergirl."
Kara takes off her glasses, removes the band holding her hair, and shakes her head to make her hair fall down. "I mean, do I look like Supergirl?"
Lena suppresses her immediate reaction - a sarcastic "No, you just look like her identical twin" - and goes for the diplomatic "I can see what you mean."
Her thoughts are all over the place. Sure, she had suspected that Kara might be Supergirl, but when Supergirl disappeared and Kara was still here, she had put that idea on ice. And when Supergirl started appearing again, even once when Kara was at her place, it seemed impossible. But Alex Danvers knows things, and she would know that too, so if she insists, then ... why would she do that? Random meanness doesn't fit. Could she be right? That Kara really is Supergirl and has forgotten? But why suddenly start pushing her today? Supergirl was gone for months, and has been back for weeks, why today? And what made Supergirl forget? And what does this mean for her friendship with Kara? Strike that, not relevant. Yes it is! She can almost hear Kara's voice saying that. OK, it's important too. She needs something more to go on.
"I don't know Alex as well as you do, but from what you have said, she doesn't seem like someone who is just mean. Maybe he really thinks you are Supergirl. Do you have any idea why she thought that today? Or why she would want you to be Supergirl?"
Kara puts her glasses back on and thinks. It makes sense – Alex isn't mean, she almost never is, and only when she's angry and drunk. She didn't seem angry, or drunk. So maybe Alex really believes her silly idea.
"I don't know. She was wounded today, badly I think, worse than she lets on, and I just knew it. I could feel the fear of losing her. And they say Supergirl was there and saved her. And even though I was somewhere else, they probably think that I had some sort of ... connection to Supergirl."
A chink in the armor, attack their weaknesses. Lena can see why they picked today. They had hoped that they could get through to her. "But what did Alex want from you?"
"She wanted me to remember that I am Supergirl, which is, again, ridiculous, since I'm not. I think I would remember that! And Supergirl saved me once! And I don't even want to be Supergirl!"
"You don't? I thought everybody wanted to be Supergirl. I know I do from time to time."
"No! I don't. I just want to be a normal person like everybody else. I want Alex to have a normal sister. I want you to have a normal friend. Being Supergirl would just complicate everything."
Bingo. You cannot reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into. Kara doesn't want to be convinced that she's Supergirl. That's negotiation 101, you need to offer something that the other part wants, or make the other part want what you are offering. So, assume that Alex is right, and that today is the best day to strike, what can I offer Kara?
"I can see that, Kara. But don't worry, I don't think of you as a normal friend, I think of you as an amazing friend."
"Aw, thanks!"
"But think of what you could do with Supergirl's powers. I'm sure being Supergirl is complicated, but what if you just had her powers, just being Super Kara, what would you do?"
"Oh ... Fly a lot? That sounds fun. And I could help people! I'd just fly in, too fast to see, and save people. Then nobody would need to know it was me. Saved by the Super-dunnowhat. That'd make a great headline." Kara laughs.
"Why do you think Supergirl does what she does?"
"Oh, I guess she wants to help people too. I think ..."
And that's where the spell finally has to capitulate. Kara trying to think like Supergirl is just too close to Kara thinking as Supergirl, and keeping the two apart becomes too much for the already strained remains of the spell. Like a string pulled beyond capacity, the spell snaps and reality comes rushing back.
Kara groans and grabs her head.
"Kara? Kara! Are you OK?"
She takes off her glasses and rubs her eyes. The world is full of sounds, but Lena is sitting right here. Kara focuses on her face. "I'm OK."
Lena waits.
"Really, I'm OK."
She looks into those kind green eyes, those knowing green eyes.
"How did you know what to say?"
Lena makes a self-deprecating smile. "It wasn't that difficult, you gave me all the clues. There had to be something you wanted more than being normal, otherwise you would never have become Supergirl. And I looked at myself – I'm a Luthor, which is somewhere between a liability and a curse. There are many days where I wish I could just be normal. So why don't I? I'm sure I could disappear if I really wanted to, that's just a matter of money and connections. So what keeps me going anyway?"
"You want to help people?"
"Exactly. I would give up all this in a heartbeat if I thought I could help people better in any other way. But I can't. Noblesse oblige. And yet, Kara, you have inspired me again and again. There is no way you would not want to help people."
The spell had fought valiantly. Alex had made a huge impact, forced it to latch onto the core of Kara's desire to be normal and emphasize that as a last defense. When Kara realized that she, and Supergirl, wanted to help people more than she, and Supergirl, wanted to be normal, the final distinction between Kara and Supergirl, the only thing the spell had left, just wasn't there any more.
"So, what happens now? With us?" Kara looks down.
"How much do you remember? Of the last many months?"
"... everything. I remember every moment of being Kara. And everything Supergirl did. I even remember saving, and being saved by, myself – at the same time." A weak smile. "That's really weird."
"I know you said that you want me to have a normal friend, but that's never going to happen. Face it, you have to be extraordinary just to want to be friend with a Luthor. And you have always been extraordinary, in so many ways. So all I need to ask is: Was any of the things you told me lies? Are you not really the Kara I know?"
Kara looks up, directly into the waiting eyes of Lena. "I am that Kara. The only thing I have said that isn't true is what happened before I was adopted. I didn't lose my parents in a car explosion. I lost them when my planet exploded, ... and I did see it happen." She can feel tears well up at the thought. "But everything after that has been the truth, ... just not the whole truth."
"And Kara Sorell?"
"It's a mistake, one I have made too, to think that Kara Zor-El and Supergirl are somehow different from Kara Danvers. I was Kara of Krypton, but she grew up to be Kara Danvers. And Kara Danvers became Supergirl because she ... because I wanted to help people. You got that one right."
Kara looks down again. "The Kara you have seen is the real Kara, one who doesn't have to lie and pretend around everybody just to protect her secrets ... I will miss being her."
Now Lena is smiling broadly. "Then don't lose her!"
"What?"
"I'm sure you don't pretend around Alex or Eliza, or not about that at least. They know who you are, so you can just be yourself. I know too now, and I would hate to lose my friend Kara."
"But ... there'll be things I can't talk about, ... because as Supergirl, I know things, other secrets too ..."
"Kara, you are a reporter. There's already things you can't say, sources you can't reveal. I'm OK with that – I know things I can't tell you too, that's just part of being adult – well, and a powerful CEO! I'm sure we can figure it out. I know I want to." She takes Kara's hand. "Friends?"
"But ... I'm Supergirl ... doesn't that change anything?"
"I'm sure it does, but I sure hope it's nothing important. Someone once gave me a brilliant advice ... You are human, Kara, in so many ways, never forget or deny that. Don't make the Super more important than the girl."
"Thank you." Kara wipes her eyes with her free hand. "Still friends! Definitely!"
There is a knock on Alex Danvers' door. Maggie has to stop Alex from jumping up and running to open it. "Sit! No quick movements, you know the doctor's orders!"
Maggie checks the spyhole and opens the door. "Hi Kara, I almost didn't recognize you without your glasses. Come in."
Alex is standing, favoring her wounded leg, and she immediately starts apologizing. "Kara! I'm so sorry I was mean to you. Please forgive me!" She takes a step towards the door, but her leg buckles below her and she starts to fall. Then Kara is holding her and easing her back onto the couch. "There is nothing to forgive, Alex, and I thank you," she gives Alex a kiss on the forehead, "for never giving up on me."
"You are back?" Kara can hear the hope in Alex's voice.
Kara nods. "I'm back."
"And you remember ... "
"I remember everything that happened as Kara, but I'm sure you have a lot more to tell about it too. I want to hear it all – tomorrow. Then I'll also do all the check-ups that the DEO will surely want. But tonight, I'll just be flying. I just didn't want you to feel sorry all night."
"Thanks, Kara. I won't tell anyone yet. And your glasses are in the top drawer over there."
"Thanks ... Ah, yes, I've missed those glasses." She puts them on. "You can tell mom ... no, wait, I think I'll just go tell her myself."
"Say hi from me, Kara, and fly safely!"
Alex smiles. Maggie sits down besides her and takes her hand. "Good to see you smile, Alex. I was at my wits end before, nothing I said would cheer you up."
"I was that bad?"
"When you thought you had hurt Kara? Yes, that bad. At least now you won't have to worry about her safety any more."
"Oh, I'll always worry. Heck, it's practically my job description!"
"Well, then at least for tonight, you're off duty." Maggie squeezes Alex's hand.
"That I am. That I am."