<Author note: This takes place in our dimension with the characters from the other dimension.>
"They serve pot stickers here?" Kara asked folding her napkin in her lap as she took her seat.
"They serve whatever you want anywhere if you know how to ask," Lena replied, her finger running up and down the stem of her water glass. "My company has booked a few parties here. It makes them very happy to have L-Corp's business, so they like to make me happy in return."
"I imagine making you happy must be..." Kara searched for a word that wasn't one of the flirtatious ones jumping to mind. It was hard not to flirt with Lena. After all these years, it was a reflex. Finally, she settled on, "...good for business."
"Oh, certainly," Lena replied, not seeming to notice the pause. "We all have itchy backs in need of scratching."
"Well if you ever need someone to..." Kara managed to let that statement die on the vine. "Here comes the waiter."
The man was young but impeccably dressed. He stopped, nodded, and said, "Miss Luthor. I've been told your food order was already placed. Would you like menus for anything additional?"
"Potstickers?" Kara said, smiling brightly.
As if summoned by the word, a server showed up with a large platter, putting them on a fold out table she opened up next to Kara. The blonde's eyes popped open as she pulled the metal lid off the serving dish. There were perhaps two dozen pot stickers there. Taking her plate in one hand, she piled six of them on it with the chopsticks from her place setting. When she looked back at Lena, there was a salad in front of the other woman, but Lena was watching her with amusement.
"What?" Kara asked as she put her plate down.
"You, your metabolism," Lena replied. "Honestly, Kara, you're blessed. If I looked at half the food you eat, I wouldn't fit in my elevator let alone through my office door."
"Well, I work out a lot," Kara replied, taking a bite of pot sticker and smiling happily, her eyes closing as she did so. "Mmmm, these are good. Are you going to eat any?"
"No thank you."
That just made Kara's smile grow. "You know, Lena, you're perfect. You let me crash with you, take me out for potstickers, and you don't even eat any. As far as I'm concerned, my infestation problem can go on indefinitely."
Lena laughed. "Well, hardly perfect. I'm sure I have some simply awful habits."
"Name one," Kara replied, pointing with her chopsticks.
"Well, I'm quite demanding."
"A perfectionist," Kara countered.
"A work-a-holic."
"An overachiever." Kara smiled.
Forearms on the table, Lena stared at Kara and said, "I bring up issues from long ago that would be best forgotten."
Elbows on the table and hands folded under her chin, Kara grinned while she said, "You have an amazing memory, an astounding mind, Miss Luthor."
"I sometimes leave the top off the toothpaste."
Throwing her napkin on the table, Kara stood up, raising a hand and said, "Check!"
Lena laughed. "Oh, sit down you." She waved off the waiter who came over while Kara sat back down. "It seems like you're still in a good mood this evening. How was work?"
"Ummm..." Kara nodded, picking up another pot sticker and examining it. "It was interesting. That Snapper Carr is an odd bird. He's grumpy, isn't he?"
"His manners could use some polishing, but I've found that his ilk are often honest, and that's a refreshing change from other sorts. Did he give you issue today, darling?"
Kara grinned at the term of endearment while she chewed. "Nothing I couldn't handle. He kept calling me Ponytail and acting like I couldn't do my job. There was a Senator in town, and he didn't want to let me get information on his dirty dealings. He said he was going to give the story to a 'real reporter, not some girl scout trying to sell some extra cookies.' Honestly, do I look like a girl scout to you?"
Lena shrugged. "I'm a Luthor. Everyone looks like a scout to me. I assume everyone wants something from me, which is generally accurate, but that everyone is usually less capable of devious thoughts than I am. However, you Kara Danvers may actually be a girl scout."
One arm on the table, Kara leaned toward the other woman and asked, "Would you buy my cookies, Lena?"
With a small laugh, Lena replied, "I don't think I could afford the calories."
"Oh, I'd work them off of you," Kara replied, her voice a bit husky. She watched Lena's head tilt to the side, the smile starting to slide away as understanding registered. As Lena had said, she assumed everyone wanted something from her and was usually right. In this moment, she was becoming aware of what Kara wanted. Forcing a bright smile onto her face, Kara added, "We could go jogging. That's great aerobic exercise. It will burn those cookies right off."
Lena squinted, and her smile returned. As she stabbed at her salad, she ate and looked back at Kara, perhaps a bit uneasily, but shook her head. It was far easier to blame her misgivings on her own lifetime of learned mistrust than on her one true friend. When in doubt, Lena had learned to doubt herself.
The rest of the meal was quieter, more chatting about each other's day, and Kara minded her manners. She needed to keep her toes on this side of the line. It was around the time that dessert came, well dessert for Kara as Lena was only having coffee, that Kara was lost in her thoughts. She'd promised Alex she'd talk to Lena and tonight seemed like a good time, but this was the wrong place.
"Kara, penny for your thoughts," Lena said with a small smile.
"Oh come on. You can afford more than a penny."
"True, but we Luthors always start the bidding low. So, what's your counter offer, Miss Danvers?"
"Miss Danvers," Kara mused to herself, then shook her head. "Would it be okay if we took a walk after dinner? I'd like to walk off a few of those potstickers."
"I'm amazed you can still walk."
"Around you, I can—"
Tires screeched, causing first Kara, then a few moments later, others to turn to the front of the restaurant. A car crashed, smashing into parked cars outside. The passenger and two people from the back hopped out amid the sound of sirens. They made their way inside the restaurant with haste, weapons drawn.
"On the ground, get on the ground, and no one gets hurts!" One of the gunmen yelled.
Kara jumped to her feet out of pure reaction. She looked left and right, seeing how many people were there: witnesses, potential hostages, and victims. She saw Lena still in a chair, the woman's head tilted back slightly and a look of defiance in her eyes.
"Crap, they shot Stan! What do we do?" One of the gunmen said.
"Just stay chill," another replied. "We grab a hostage and make them get us a helicopter to get us out of the city. Get that kid," he said, pointing at a girl of maybe six or seven.
One of the other gunmen grabbed the child, her parents moving in and both getting pistol-whipped for their trouble.
"Anyone gets in our way; they get shot!" One of the gunmen yelled, his weapon pointing all around.
Kara was struggling not to react, trying to find an exit, when she heard Lena's voice.
"Children make horrible hostages."
When Kara turned, Lena was halfway to the gunmen, their weapons trained on her.
"Stop! I said stop!" One of the gunmen yelled, pointing at Lena. "I will shoot you!"
"Oh, I'm certain you will," she replied, still walking casually at him, "But that would be a horrible mistake. As I said, children make horrible hostages. They cry, don't listen, whine horribly, and everyone villainizes you for taking them. Why I could barely stand myself when I was a child. Now Luthors on the other hand, we make wonderful hostages."
"Luthors?" The gunman pointing at Lena asked, his arm growing less tense.
She nodded. "Yes, Luthors. I'm a Luthor, Lena Luthor. You've heard of me?"
The man nodded.
"Good, that will make this easier. Now, it just so happens I'm quite compliant when kidnapped. I have my own helicopter, several actually. Also, people don't care for me. Kidnapping a Luthor might actually be seen as a public service. Oh, I also have a generous insurance policy against kidnapping. It automatically pays out five million dollars, no negotiating. I assume that's more than you have in that little bag there?"
The gunman looked down at the bag in his hand, then spoke over his shoulder. "Let go of the kid. We've got a new hostage. Grab the Luthor woman." As one of the men grabbed Lena's arm, the first gunman said, "No tricks and no fussing from you."
Lena replied, "I don't fuss. It's beneath me."
Kara shook trying to not fly directly at the man who held Lena. As the little girl ran back to her parents, a feeling other than rage overtook Kara. Her heart filled with pride. She looked back at Lena, standing alone and fearless not knowing the woman who had her back was the Girl of Steel. In that moment, Kara fell in love with her wife all over again.
"Now then," Lena began. "If we get my phone, I can order us up that helicopter and get you your ransom money. You'll all be very rich men. You'll like that, won't you?"
As the trio walked back to the table with Lena, Kara said, "Lena, let me help."
"Kara, darling, just finish your dessert. Go wait for me at home. I'll be back in a few hours," Lena replied, pulling her phone from her purse.
"I can help—" As Kara reached across, putting her hand on Lena's, a gun appeared in her face.
"Back off, bitch."
It took everything in Kara not to snatch the gun from the man's hand, breaking his fingers in the process and just taking out his friend's in the same second. No one would even be able to react. However, she'd out Kara Danvers as soon as she did it.
"Get that weapon out of my friend's face!" Lena demanded. "As soon as one of you fires a shot, the police will be in here. If the police show up, there will be no helicopter and no money. You choose."
The man looked uncertain, but the others nodded at him, and he backed off. Lena walked away with them, her cellphone in hand as she made a call.
Hands balled up into fists, Kara was shaking. She couldn't just let this happen. Kara Danvers might not be able to act, but Supergirl could. Pulling her glasses down to the tip of her nose, she shot out a light display with her heat vision. It caused sparks that distracted everyone and allowed Kara to slip out the back. Within seconds, that allowed for someone else's entrance.
Supergirl was there, flying in through the entrance and stopping in front of the gunmen. She saw them all as if they were frozen in place and Lena with them. She pulled the guns out of the hands of the two who weren't touching Lena, tossing the weapons away and cracking their skulls together. She disarmed the third one, then turned to look at Lena, taking a moment to smile. By Rao, she was beautiful.
As Supergirl slowed down, people around her seemed to move again. She grabbed the wrist of the gunman holding Lena, squeezing until he released Lena even as she picked him up by his throat. Her eyes glowing angry, yellow, threatening to burn him away with her heat vision she said, "Never, ever place a hand on her!" She removed the hand holding his wrist, smacking him in the chest with an open palm that sent him hurtling across the restaurant, through the lobster tank, and into a wall which finally stopped him.
"Supergirl!" Lena said, then looked up and down at what her rescuer was wearing, the dark blue outfit with the silver lined cape and the dual symbol on the costume's front. "Supergirl?"
"Lena," Supergirl replied, smiling. "Are you all right?"
"Of course. It's not like it was my first kidnapping. What are you wearing?"
"Ah...well, this is a nice place, so formal wear?" Supergirl replied. When Lena only stared, she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Lena's shoulders. "Are you sure you're all right? That was extremely dangerous."
"Well, lucky for me you arrived then."
Wrapping Lena in a firm embrace, Supergirl replied, "I'll always be here for you."
"...ah..."
Whispering in the other woman's ear, Supergirl said, "Lena, I need to talk to you in private. I know this, what I'm wearing, all of this, is confusing, but I can explain it. Will you meet me in the park tonight, by the big fountain, say 10:00 PM?" Supergirl stepped back but didn't take her hands off of Lena's shoulders. She smiled encouragingly, nodding.
"I..." Lena looked down at Supergirl's suit, the L-Corp symbol with the S within in. She ran her hand down the silver L, feeling how it was embossed into the material. Whatever was going on, it was something for which a curious mind would want an explanation, and Lena Luthor had a curious mind. Looking up at Supergirl again she nodded and said, "All right."
"Thank you," Supergirl said happily, hugging Lena again. "You won't regret this." Stepping away, she kissed her own fingertips, then pressed them to Lena's lips. Smiling, she flew off into the night.
Lena was still standing there stunned when Kara's hand touched her shoulder, pulling her from her reverie.
"Ummmm, are you two always that close, Lena?" Kara asked, a little smirk on her lips.
"What? No that was...actually, that was quite strange. Did you see what she was wearing?"
"Yeah. I liked it. Did you like it?"
"It was...that was the L-Corp symbol. Why would she be wearing that?"
"You should ask her," Kara suggested.
"I'm going to when..." Lena smiled. "Kara, we should get out of here. The police can contact me through my lawyers. Let's go."
"Oh, all right." Kara sadly eyed the rest of her cake on the table. She'd have to grab some ice cream while she was out later.
After their 'fright', Kara and Lena headed straight back to the penthouse. There was no walk, and Kara's usual playful mood was gone. Lena's concentration was on the meeting she had to keep, and Kara was all too happy to let her make an excuse to keep it.
When Lena left after saying something vague about work, Kara holding a book while sitting on the couch, waiving but not really giving the other woman much mind, the blonde was immediately out the balcony and watching Lena the whole time. Kara kept a safe distance, but after tonight's near-miss, she wouldn't be letting Lena out of her sights. When Lena made it safely to the fountain a few minutes early, Kara took those few minutes just to admire her wife's look-alike. She smiled, happy she'd be able to come clean now and even happier she'd be able to go home soon.
"Hello, Lena."
Lena turned at that familiar voice and then raised an eyebrow at the yet again unfamiliar costume. Seeing her company's symbol mixed with Supergirl's, a dark blue and silver costume, the oddity begged exploring.
"Hello...Supergirl."
Supergirl laughed, slowly lowering herself the few feet needed to reach the ground as she walked toward Lena. "The way you say my name, the way you look at me, you doubt who I am. I can see the doubt in you. Your mind is taking this all in and telling you that something's wrong, but you haven't been able to place it yet."
"All right. Well, you dragged me here in the middle of the night. What am I missing?"
Cupping Lena's face with one hand, Supergirl replied, "I miss you. I bet you're missing me too."
"I'm missing you?" Lena replied, that eyebrow-raising again.
Supergirl reached out, her thumb stopping just short of that eyebrow. The desire to stroke along it was so strong, but she stopped herself. She turned away, hands behind her back as she spoke. "Lena, what do you know of the multiverse?"
"Well, hypothetically speaking..."
Looking over her shoulder, Supergirl shook her head.
A look of shock on her face, Lena gasped and said, "Oh good God. Who are you?"
Smiling and turning back, Supergirl shrugged. "I'm Supergirl. I'm just not your Supergirl, and you're not my Lena. This isn't my National City, my world. I'm not from this dimension, and I'd very much like to go home. I'm hoping you can help me with that."
"I...of course. Anything. What can I do?"
Supergirl began to walk toward Lena as she replied, "From my experience, you can move mountains and where there aren't any, you can grow them. Lena, you're amazing. You're the smartest, kindest, most caring and compassionate person I know, and I'd really like to get home to you. We have a lot of good work left to do you and I. Somehow I ended up here, and somehow you'll figure out how to send me home. I need you."
As the superhero stopped mere inches from her, Lena looked into blue eyes that stared back with such intensity. Her eyes flicked down to the symbol on the other woman's chest, the one she could barely see due to proximity. Still, her hand was drawn to touch it once again, feeling it set in, strong, straight lines feeling protective around the symbol she'd come to know as truth, justice, and hope. Lena had so many questions, mainly about how she'd be getting this woman home, but she had another one first.
"This symbol, these symbols together, what do they mean? It's my company and your symbol. I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," Supergirl replied, grabbing Lena's hand in hers when the other woman tried to step back. "Lena, things are different, better on my world. I've heard how people speak about the Luthors here, but where I'm from, your name is very much respected. When I was a young woman and first came out to fight crime, the Luthors stepped forward to protect me from anti-alien persecution. You and I...we work together very closely. This symbol is the symbol of Supergirl, but it's more than that. It's our symbol. Luthor Corp and the House of El are stronger together. We're a team. You and I work together to protect National City, to protect the world, and we've saved them both countless times. My strength and your science are an unstoppable combination. Will you team up with me again? Will you send me home?"
Smiling at this woman's intensity and the idea of a world where her family was a force for good, where her name wasn't feared but revered, Lena immediately replied, "Yes, yes of course."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Supergirl smiled and pulled Lena into a big, gentle hug. "Thank you, Lena Luthor. You're my hero."
With a slight laugh, her smile carrying along her voice, Lena said, "A Luthor and a Super a team. Well, that's astounding."
Stepping back slightly, but still holding Lena in her arms, Supergirl's smile never faltered as she said, "You have no idea."
<><>
When Lena got home, Kara was already in bed, Lena's bed. The lights were off, and the blonde was curled up, facing the wall, her head sandwiched between pillows. There was a book lying open on her, face down.
"Kara," Lena whispered. "Kara," Lena repeated giving the girl a gentle nudge, but still there was no response. "Kara." This time Lena was a bit louder, the nudge closer to a shove, but still Kara didn't react. "Goodness, you sleep like the dead. I have four bedrooms in here, and you keep ending up in mine. What will people say?" She laughed. "Well, certainly nothing worse about me than they say now, but your reputation is in danger, Miss Danvers. You should worry about the company that you keep."
Taking the book off of Kara, Lena closed it and put it on the side table. Then she got out her night clothes and went about preparing for bed. A Supergirl from another dimension where the Luthors weren't hated, and she and Supergirl worked together. Lena smiled. That seemed like a dream, a fantasy. How she wished she could go to that world, even if only for a day. Supergirl had said the Luthors, plural, had stepped forward to protect her and had called the company Luthor Corp. Did that mean somewhere she had a family, a good and loving family? Even thinking about that made Lena smile. That was something Supergirl did consistently, apparently all Supergirls across all dimensions; they filled people with hope.
Returning to the bedroom, Lena smiled again when she saw Lucas sitting on her spot on the bed. "You, Sir, are a bed hog, and you steal the covers. You're going back to your shelf." She had just reached the foot of the bed when she stopped, looking at the teddy bear again, her smiling growing. "Oh, all right Lucas. Just for tonight. If you snore you're out of the bed though, you and Kara both. I won't have noisy roommates." Climbing into bed, Lucas curled into her and Kara behind her, Lena settled in for the night.
Smiling, Kara listened to Lena as the other woman made her way around the bedroom. There was a pleasant familiarity to it. It felt like home. The room was different, the way the sounds bounced off the walls were harsher, but then there was Lena. Kara could have sworn this Lena sounded more like her Lena tonight than the woman had the night before, but perhaps it was just wishful thinking. As much as Kara wanted to go home, and she truly did, there was this part of her that hoped she could begin a healing process for the Lena that was here. As much as she was worried about her wife being stuck with her look-alike, she also hoped it would be an eye-opening experience for the other Kara.
After a few minutes, when Lena's breathing had started to quiet and become regular, Kara rolled over and snuggled up behind Lena. She was the big spoon. Sometimes she was the small spoon, as her Lena was strong and protective just like this one, but right now she was the big spoon. This Lena needed it.
Sandwiched between Kara and Lucas, with dreams of a world where the Luthor name was met with smiles and warm greetings and where Luthors and Supers worked together, Lena slept soundly. Since she was four-years-old and her mother died, and she was brought into a strange home, told she had a new mother, father, and brother, her days and nights had been troubled. Lena Luthor slept soundly for one of the first times in her recollection and dreamt of possibilities.