Lena stood over her dead brother, her entire body shaking. Kara, feeling much better, stood up and walked over to her.
"Lena?" She said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Kara could feel her trembling and she gently pulls her away from Lex and into her arms. She barely had enough energy to fly but she used all of her remaining strength to make it happen. She knew she had to get Lena far away from Kaznia as soon as possible.
In the air, Lena stuffed her face into Kara's shoulder and Kara could hear small sobs escaping from her. She made sure to fly slowly enough to make Lena as comfortable as she could be and she hugged Lena tightly to reassure her. Kara's heart felt like it would break with every small heave that she felt against her chest.
For ten minutes, Kara flew steadily above the clouds. She headed straight for Lena's apartment in the fancier part of National City without even thinking to report back to the DEO first. Her original mission didn't even cross her mind once.
"I'm sorry, Kara." Lena whispered so quietly that Kara wouldn't have heard her if she didn't have super hearing.
Kara had just gotten to her apartment and hesitated, wondering how she should enter. She didn't want to break through her door or window but Lena pulled away from her and reached into her pocket for the keys. She sniffled, fumbling it before Kara took it from her hands and opened the door.
"Don't say that, Lena." Kara held open the door for her. "You did nothing wrong. Stop blaming yourself for things you couldn't have known about."
"I helped them, Kara. I am to blame." Lena's voice broke and she tried to hide her tears.
Kara walked over to her and caressed her face. She used her thumbs to wipe away Lena's tears before they rolled down her paled cheeks.
"If you blame yourself for that, you should be mad at me again." Kara whispered, guiding Lena to her couch a few feet away.
"What, no-" Lena protested.
"Because," Kara said. "I was the one who made you upset and that was too much for you. The only relief you could get was from Lex and Lillian. It's not your fault, it's mine."
Lena shook her head sharply. By Kara's logic, Lena knew she was right. She couldn't blame herself but she felt so guilty that she wanted to blame herself.
"I was so stupid. I should've known." Lena wiped her hand across her face.
"You're not. And you couldn't have." Kara said, her eyebrows furrowing.
They were sitting crossed legged in front of each other on the large couch. Kara looked into Lena's eyes, desperately hoping that her words could ease Lena of some of her pain and guilt. She hated that Lena always blamed herself for things that she couldn't control. She knew it was what made her so chaotically good but she couldn't watch Lena blame herself all the time without feeling helpless herself.
Lena calmed down after a few minutes of silence. Kara was sitting on her feet, waiting to pounce Lena and hug her if she said anything else. Lena took a deep breath and leaned back. Kara watched wide eyed as Lena took off her light fall jacket. Lena then slowly unbuttoned her blouse, each button at a time. She had a tight fitting tank top under it and it showed off her curves perfectly.
"You know, Kara." Lena broke the silence. "Nothing you do is ever wrong. Not a single bad thing in this world is because of something you did."
Kara was still staring at her but she tried to just focus on her eyes, afraid that Lena might think that she was shallow.
"And that's why I love you so much, Kara." Lena said, rubbing her eyes.
Kara's heart sped up but she thought Lena must've been so tired that she was just saying anything. She told herself she didn't mean it in the way she had hoped but she was glad that Lena did, in fact, love her.
"Lena, come on." Kara stood up. "Let's get you to bed. You're exhausted."
"No, I'm not." Lena shook her head, obviously trying to suppress a yawn.
Kara giggled. "Yes, you are. Come on, you should change out of your dirty clothes first. You need sleep."
Lena could barely stand from how worn out she was but Kara was right. Her clothes were stained with dried blood and it reeked of the dirty Kaznian ground. She let Kara hold her hand to guide her to her own bedroom.
Kara led Lena to her king sized bed and told her to sit down while she finds her some clean clothes. She rummaged through her dresser for clothes comfortable enough to sleep in.
"How's this?" Kara turned around to ask, holding up a thin, white set of pajamas.
Lena mumbled randomly, her eyelids barely open.
"Okay, this'll do." Kara muttered to herself. She placed the pajamas next to her on the soft bed and told Lena to change while she took off her shoes so she wouldn't be able to see.
She knelt down on the fluffy white carpet and untied Lena's shoelaces. She had changed into winter boots before they left for Kaznia, and Kara knew Lena was glad she didn't have to wear those painful heels for a while. She took her time with the zippers in case Lena hadn't finished changing but she couldn't stall for much longer.
"Lena? Are you done?" Kara asked, keeping her eyes on the ground.
There was no response.
"Lena?" Kara asked again. She looked up when Lena stayed silent.
She smiled when she saw that Lena was asleep with only half of her body in the pajama top. Kara made a weird noise when she realized that she had absolutely nothing underneath and half of her torso was showing. She reached out but retracted a few times, hesitant to dress her, but she decided to anyway. Lena was somehow sitting, which was an uncomfortable sleeping position, and sleeping while barely dressed wouldn't make it better.
Kara reached over and closed her eyes as she put Lena's right arm through the armhole and froze for a second when her hand brushed the warm skin. She opened her eyes when she knew she was done and let Lena fall gently onto the white bedsheets. She backed away and her mouth hung open. The top was thinner than she had thought and she could see more of Lena than she should've. She cleared her throat and felt her cheeks grow hot. She quickly moved her gaze downwards.
Kara groaned. She had just noticed that Lena was still in her dirty pants.
"How in the world would I be able to get her into these?" Kara sighed, holding up the pants.
Kara glanced up at Lena and neatly folded the pajama bottoms before putting it back into Lena's dresser.
"Sorry." Kara said to a sleeping Lena before making her way out of the room, quietly shutting the bedroom door behind her.
She wasn't about to change Lena without her permission. As much as she wanted to, it would've been creepy and inappropriate. She plopped down on Lena's living room couch and sighed.
She knew Lena had wanted to tell her what she had really done for Lillian and Lex right before she urged her to get sleep. To be honest, a part of her only suggested that so she wouldn't tell her. Kara trusted her and knew none of it was Lena's fault. She didn't want Lena to feel guiltier than she was because she knew Lena would convince herself that she doesn't deserve Kara's love and trust. She hated having to think that Lena was manipulated into this horrible mindset of herself from such a young age by her mother, who was supposed to protect and love her no matter what.
Kara's thoughts were interrupted when her phone rang.
"Alex?" She asked, stifling a yawn.
"Kara, what the hell?!" Alex yelled into her phone. "The DEO had been trying to reach you and Lena for hours! I called your phone twenty times but I couldn't reach you! You owe me an explanation and it better be a damn good one."
Kara cursed when she pulled her phone away from her ear and noticed seventeen missed calls from Alex and many more from her other friends.
"Why didn't you report back to us? Where are you? Where is Lena?" Alex continued to yell.
"I'm sorry!" Kara yelled back to try to calm her sister down but immediately lowered her voice when she remembered Lena was sleeping. "I'm sorry I didn't let you know we were safe. I was... busy."
"Busy." Alex fumed. "That doesn't mean-"
"I know, I know. I'm sorry and I'll explain when I get to the DEO." Kara raised her hand in defeat even though Alex couldn't see her.
She walked back into Lena's bedroom to check on her one last time before she took off for the DEO.
"Supergirl!" Alex yelled at her sister when she arrived as if she hadn't yelled at her a minute ago on her secret phone call.
Dozens of agents and the rest of the Super Team gathered around with mixed expressions on their faces.
"I'm so sorry, everyone." Kara apologized, looking at the agents.
The DEO agents nodded. They very rarely questioned what National City's hero did, figuring she always had her reasons. They respected her enough. But as much as they and Kara's friends respected her, they were annoyed this time. It wasn't like Kara to forget the mission and she never puts it behind anything. Everyone stared at her, waiting for an explanation.
Alex dismissed the agents and turned to Kara with the same expectant expression.
Kara cleared her throat. She wasn't sure how to approach the matter.
"Lena is fine at her apartment." Kara began. "But... Lex is not."
Her friends listened carefully as she explained everything that had happened in Kaznia. They were surprised when they heard that Lex had died but they were more surprised to learn that Lena was the one who killed him. Everyone knew that Lena's soft spot was for her family.
Alex eased up when she heard about Lena, too, but she narrowed her eyes when Kara mentioned Lena first and foremost. She figured that there was more to the story but Kara hesitated after explaining she brought Lena home first. Alex thought it was suspicious when she had been back in the city for hours but had just gotten to the DEO but she let it go.
"I'm glad you and Lena are okay." Maggie spoke up.
"We all are," J'onn chimed in. "But we still have one big problem we need to resolve."
"I'm extremely ecstatic Lex Luthor is finally dead but J'onn's right." Nia said sarcastically. "Lillian Luthor is still out there and she's probably going to go forward with the plan. Knowing her history, she probably made a Plan B for if Lex wasn't going to help her."
An uncomfortable silence set in. Lillian might be even more difficult to stop than Lex and it won't be fun. Finding and defeating Lex was hard enough but now they had to do it again, with another megalomaniac.
"Supergirl," Alex said, pulling Kara away from the group. "I'm still upset with you even if you guys are back in one piece."
"I know, Alex. I'm sorry. I was distracted." Kara replied.
"I could tell." Alex sighed.
Kara looked up in surprise but Alex acted like she hadn't said anything.
"I'm just worried. It was a dangerous mission but you convinced us to stay back. It could've gone so wrong." Alex lectured her younger sister.
"I know, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. It's just that I only thought about Lena." Kara admitted.
"Kara-" Alex began to say.
"Sorry to interrupt but we need to discuss what we're going to do about Lillian. We need you guys with us." Nia tapped their shoulders awkwardly, having heard most of their conversation.
Nia noticed Alex's stern but comforting expression and Kara's rosy cheeks but she didn't ask. She followed them back to the group meeting that had now gathered in the center of the room.
"We need to prioritize this mission again. Get our top agents to lead this like before." J'onn suggested.
"Definitely." Alex agreed just as she joined the group. "I'll assign the agents first thing tomorrow morning."
The sun had come up a few minutes ago but no one noticed. They all needed some rest before tracking down Lillian again.
Kara's hearing picked up on a small sound half a mile from the DEO's main doors. She ignored it, trying to focus on the task at hand first.
"We need more agents on it. This is more important than getting to Lex." Kara said. "Lillian must be closer to finishing and executing the plan to invade America now and she must be stopped as soon as possible."
Everyone nodded in agreement and they continued to discuss the best ways to find Lillian. Brainy immediately headed to the computer screens, trying to track Lillian Luthor's signature. J'onn offered to fly around to see if he could sense her.
Minutes passed and everyone was still racking their brain for ideas when all of the agents that were still in the building froze. Everyone went silent and the remaining members of the Super Team looked up.
A woman was standing in the main doorway of the DEO. She had a jacket wrapped around her shoulders. Her pants had specks of sand but her winter boots were coated with it.
"I know where my mother is." Lena announced, stepping into the light.