the one where there are speeches and Kara gets heart-warmed
"We will not be gone for long, my dear. This is an in and out rescue mission." Kara held Lena tight. "You will barely be able to tell I was gone at all. It will be like I was here the whole time."
"You know it will not." Lena scoffed. "I will be thinking of you and be missing you the entire time. I want to know you know that. I want you to know I am here and I am rooting for you and waiting for you and praying to whatever deities might be out there for you to come home to me."
Kara's cheeks blushed a light pink and her breath caught with emotion. She squeezed Lena just a bit tighter and for a handful of moments could not imagine ever letting her go. Kara hoped Lena got all of that from the hug because she could not possibly find the words. She buried her face in Lena's hair and shoulder in an attempt to hide from whatever was going to come next. Kara was not used to having people concerned about her well-being.
"I love you, Lena and I will do everything I can to bring Sam home to you." Kara promised, pulling back to hold Lena at arm's length to look into her eyes, cupping her cheek in one hand. The vast majority of Kara's dread came from the raging fear she would disappoint Lena.
"I know you will... just please, please come home to me; safely if at all possible." Lena's voice broke as choked out the words. Lena could not imagine having her heart ache more than this, but knew at any given point it could get a whole lot worse.
Kara backed away slowly though it broke her heart to let the other woman go. She felt crushed to have Lena leave her side at all. Just as she finally forced herself to turn away, the tears fell down Lena's face. Kara could not bear to look back at her. She was comforted by Maggie at least, and it made Kara feel maybe a modicum better.
"Hey baby sister, I wish I was coming with you." Alex came up to Kara and placed both hands on her shoulders. Kara immediately felt significantly settled as soon as Alex's eyes met hers. "I feel like I only just got you back."
"I know, me too. On both counts." Kara sighed, suppressing her feelings. When Alex stepped in to hug her younger sister, Kara broke down and finally allowed a few of her own tears to fall. "Please, just take care of Lena while I am gone. I love her, Alex and I would not be able to take it if something were to happen to her while I was gone..."
"I will. You know nothing gets by me." Alex did her best to force a smile. "I will put my life on the line if I have to. She will be the queen of this kingdom one day and you did not have to ask. You should know I have your back."
"I do, Alex. I do. I can never thank you enough." Kara said, looking heavily into her sister's eyes.
"You just be sure to come back. I am your sister and I love you. Just please come back to me. Come back to us. We need you. We need you more than you know." Alex wrapped her hands around Kara's and shook her as though it would rattle her point into the other woman.
"I love you too, Alex. Long before these people started to look up to me, you were my hero, big sister." Kara leaned against her sister's forehead for a moment, took a deep breath, then headed to the small team.
James and Winn each wrapped an arm around Kara's shoulders and did their best to be there for her after all of the goodbyes. They wore their most flexible leather armor, heavy bags on their backs, and weapons on their hips. She knew she needed to do this, but all she really wanted was to turn around and run back to Lena.
"We have got you, girl. It is all going to be fine. We will rescue the damsel in distress and bring her back to your girl and we will be the heroes the bards write songs about." James said in that low tone of his in an attempt to comfort the young woman who had slowly wormed her way into his heart. He had been one of maybe three or four holdouts on the council, but she had eventually won everyone over, including him.
"Yeah, the more quickly we get her out, the more quickly we can get her back with us." Kara said firmly with a choked inhale and with that, she straightened her spine, set her shoulders back and headed forward towards the fight she desperately wanted at the moment. Kara could not wait to punch someone right in the face. Kara needed that kind of catharsis right then.
What made things just a bit better for her was to have her best friend at her side. Winn said nothing, but met Kara's eyes every now and then just to double check she was okay and after a while, she did get there. Kara took a minute to think instead of what she was heading towards as opposed to what she was leaving behind. She focused on saving Sam. For the remainder of the trip, Kara made the boys quote the plan back to her again and again.
Finally, after what seemed like years worth of traveling that only really amounted to about ten hours, the Luthor capital palace's shadow loomed over them. Fear of that entity and all it entailed struck the small group straight in the heart. Kara had never planned to return to this awful place and yet... here she was.