Lena opened her eyes when she heard a knock on the door. She groaned, barely awake. She flipped herself so that she was lying on her back and she reflexively shut her eyes again from the bright sunlight coming through the window. She threw an arm across the bed and she remembered where she was when she didn't recognize the texture of the bedsheet.
She heard a louder knock on the door and she looked around for Kara but realized the shower was running in the bathroom. She debated whether or not she should answer the door but she finally decided she had nothing to lose.
Lena slowly got up from Kara's bed and headed towards the door. A third knock made her walk faster. She opened the door and saw Alex standing on the other side, a hand raised as if she was about to knock again.
"Lena?" Alex blinked.
"Um, good morning, Alex." Lena stepped aside nervously to let her pass, her cheeks warm.
"You're here earl-" Alex was about to comment but she realized Lena had on Kara's clothes. A small satisfied sound escaped from her but Lena didn't seem to notice.
Lena was straightening the National City University sweatshirt she had on and pointed to the bathroom, indicating that Kara was in there.
"Well, I brought a lot of breakfast. There's enough for three." Alex plopped down on the living room couch, reaching inside a paper bag for a donut.
"Thanks." Lena took a Danish pastry and sat down on a kitchen stool. "What are you doing here? It's barely seven in the morning and it's a Saturday."
"Mm." Alex swallowed before answering. "I wanted to come by earlier to talk to Kara about what we should do next about Lillian."
Lena had forgotten about her mother after last night. She heard the water turn off in the bathroom and she turned her head as Kara stepped out of the bathroom.
Kara was staring at the floor, her hands furiously drying her hair with a towel. Lena glanced at Alex and they both suppressed a laugh. Kara was wearing a blue bathrobe with little ducks on them and she had on fluffy, white slippers.
Kara finally looked up and did a double take. There was no doubt that she had expected Lena to still be asleep and that the living room would be empty. She had not expected her sister to be sitting cross-legged on her couch with a donut in hand. Then, she noticed Lena staring at her and she cleared her throat shyly when she remembered Lena was still wearing her clothes.
"Alex!" Kara exclaimed. "What...?"
"Morning." Alex winked at her sister. "I got you breakfast."
Kara's eyes followed Alex's finger to a paper bag that was sitting right next to Lena.
As much as Alex wanted to tease them, she figured she shouldn't. Yet.
Kara gave Lena an apologetic look when she slid onto the stool next to her. Lena smiled at her but Kara could tell she was embarrassed.
"What are you doing here so early?" Kara finally asked her sister, her mouth full of food.
"What?" Alex struggled to hear and turned to look at her.
"She was going to talk to you about Lillian." Lena answered instead.
Alex was amazed at the fact that she could understand Kara but she nodded in agreement.
"Oh, did something come up?" Kara reached further into the bag but came up empty handed. "Are you going to eat that?"
Lena passed her her half-eaten danish. "Go ahead."
"Not really." Alex wiped her mouth with a napkin. "But, now that Lena's here, I have to ask if you know anything at all. You know her better than us."
"Yeah, anything could help." Kara agreed.
"I barely know a fraction of her plan." Lena said. "I just know that Lex and Lillian had planned to invade America and rebuild an entire society by enslaving everyone with the robots they asked me to make. But you knew that already."
"Wait, how could she use the robots to do that? It'd have to be programmed in or something." Alex asked.
Lena nodded, a wave of guiltiness washed over her. "I had programmed it so it connected to a headset. The headset reads the brain waves and brain activity and the robots can do anything that is commanded."
Kara sensed her discomfort and reached over to rub her shoulder. "It's going to be fine."
"Maybe." Lena was thankful for Kara's support but she hesitated. "It still would be my fault if she succeeds."
"Hey, don't say that. Lillian's choices aren't yours. You made the robots, sure, but Lillian chose to use it." Alex said sternly. "Don't ever blame yourself."
"She's right." Kara raised her eyebrows and gave her a signature smile.
Lena patted Kara's hand and turned to smile back. She blushed when she realized Alex was staring at them and she got up from her seat.
"I have some work to do back at my lab. I need to further analyze the device they found in Sam's eyes, see how my brother made it. I don't know why Lillian would need it if she's planning to use the robots but..." Lena cleared her throat. "Call if you need anything."
Kara bit back a disappointed sigh and her eyes followed Lena's every movement until she closed the apartment door behind her.
"Kara." Alex's eyes were on her. "What in the world was that?"
Kara's eyes shot up to look at her sister and her face flushed red. "What was what?"
"Don't play dumb." Alex shook her head. "Why was Lena here so early? And why was she wearing your college sweatshirt and those terribly short shorts? The same shorts you said you wouldn't wear, even to the beach? I saw more than I bargained for, Kara."
"Alex, what are you implying?" Kara giggled nervously, trying to appear oblivious.
"Wait, did she sleep here overnight?" Alex gasped loudly at the realization.
"That's ridiculous!" Kara blushed even harder. "She needed a fresh change of clothes after being out in the rain last night."
Alex rolled her eyes. "She did sleep here, then."
Kara sighed. "She just happened to fall asleep here."
Alex looked around the apartment. "Your bed clearly shows that two people had been sleeping on it."
Kara followed her pointed finger and held back another awkward giggle. Alex was right. The blanket was gathered right in the middle of the queen-sized bed and it looked like it had been bunched up from both sides.
"Fine!" Kara threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "We stayed on opposite sides the whole night. We're friends."
Alex groaned in disbelief when Kara shrugged casually, acting as if she didn't just lie to her.
"Okay, fine. Maybe we didn't stay on opposite sides the whole night." Kara admitted.
Alex raised her eyebrows and gasped again. "Oh my god, did you guys-"
"No!" Kara jumped up from her seat and started pacing. "No, we did not."
"But you said-" Alex laughed at how flustered Kara was.
"I know what I said." Kara snapped around to look at her. "I-I don't know, Alex."
Kara stopped pacing around and started tugging at her fingers. Alex had never seen her so nervous and flustered when talking about someone.
Alex grabbed her sister's hand and dragged her to the couch. She crossed her legs and patted her own shoulder, motioning for Kara to place her head on it. Kara leaned down and sighed.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked softly.
"I like her so much it hurts." Kara's voice broke but she swallowed it down. "I think I've been in love with her for years. I mean, I didn't really know if I were but now I do. I didn't know I could like someone so much for so long. I wish I figured it out sooner."
Alex stroked her arm, comforting her and urging her to continue.
"She left before we could talk about it. I wanted to tell her last night but I didn't want to ruin things. Lena looked so peaceful and happy." Kara smiled when she remembered Lena sleeping calmly on top of her.
"Go get her, Kara." Alex looked at her.
Kara frowned. "She's busy right now and we need to go to the DEO. Lillian is still out there."
"Kara," Alex said, turning her whole body towards her sister. "Go get her. We'll be fine without you for a few hours."
Brainy paced from his computer to where Nia was standing, brows furrowed from thinking. Alex had finally been able to convince Kara to go to LCorp and had made her way to the DEO by noon. It had been nearly a day since they had last seen Lillian Luthor and the entire DEO had been on high alert for her again. Alex had filled the rest of the team in on everything they needed to know.
"Why would Lillian need Lex's mind-control tech if she's using the robots?" Nia asked.
"Lena wondered the same," Alex said.
"Maybe one could be the backup to the other?" J'onn suggested.
"That's possible but it's Lillian," Alex reminded them. "She's an evil genius. She never has a plan B."
Brainy suddenly stopped moving and folded his hands, his face serious. "What if she needs the device to control someone else?"
"Like a new partner?" Nia wondered.
"Exactly. Even though she would deny ever needing Lex, a partner in crime would be helpful to her. This is a big and complicated plan. After Lex died, Lillian must've found someone else. Or maybe even more than one person." Brainy explained.
"Oh my god." Alex murmured.
"What?" Nia and Brainy said at the same time.
"What is it?" J'onn asked, concerned.
"What if it's Metallo?" Alex exclaimed.
They all internally shuddered from the name. Metallo had worked with Lillian Luthor a while ago when Lillian had started Project Cadmus. Almost two years ago, Kara had followed a few leads that led her to believe Lillian was behind the engineering project and she was horrified when she found a man with a chunk of Kryptonite in his chest instead of a heart. They had fought many times but the Kryptonite heart had almost always bested Kara. Even with backup, Metallo was hard to beat, especially when he had backup of his own. He just kept reappearing with more and more Kryptonite. After Lillian was caught and prosecuted for Project Cadmus, Metallo had disappeared but the DEO had always believed he was still alive.
"It could be," J'onn agreed. "He was always coming back to Lillian because she always promised him more and more power. If Lillian made him a deal again, I doubt he'd say no."
"Great." Nia threw her hands into the air. "A guy with a Kryptonite heart that can't be killed is back. Wonderful."
Alex loosened up at her sarcasm. "If we stop Lillian, Metallo won't be able to be revived again."
"Could you be able to find Lillian through Metallo?" J'onn looked at Brainy.
He nodded. "It's possible if they had been in contact recently. It is much easier to track down such a large Kryptonite signature."
"Great," Alex said, relieved. "We actually have a lead."
"Hey, Jess." Kara greeted Lena's secretary. "Is Lena in her office?"
"Hey, Kara." Jess smiled back at her sweetly. "Yep, go on in. Her schedule is open today."
Kara nodded in thanks and knocked on Lena's door twice before walking in. Lena was standing on her balcony with her back to her. She had changed into her usual office clothes and Kara noticed her sweatshirt and shorts were neatly folded on the couch.
Lena turned around when she heard the door open and she froze. She hadn't expected to see Kara walking towards her. She had left Kara's apartment to work in her lab but she couldn't seem to focus so she headed upstairs to finish up some paperwork. Again, she couldn't seem to focus so she walked out onto her balcony. She thought about all the times that she had stood there, arms crossed, waiting to see if Supergirl would fly by.
They looked at each other for a minute, neither of them saying anything. Kara was standing right in front of Lena, playing with her fingers and noticing how fuzzy she felt.
"Sorry for leaving." Lena squeaked before Kara could say anything.
Kara slammed into her, pressing her lips on Lena's. They leaned into each other, both of them breathing heavily. Lena's hand rose up to caress the back of Kara's head and Kara's hands were placed on the small of Lena's back. Lena wanted to pull back so she could explain how awkward it was for her that morning but the taste of Kara cut off her train of thought. Kara refused to let her pull away and she pressed against her even harder. Her hands ran along Lena's back, itching for more, but they had to eventually break away to catch their breath.
Kara's chest heaved and she licked her lips nervously, looking at Lena. Lena was breathing just as heavily and she smiled when she saw Kara's messed up hair.
"I came to talk to you." Kara calmed down enough to say.
"There wasn't much talking." Lena raised an eyebrow teasingly.
Kara's face grew hot and she sputtered. "That wasn't very professional, was it Ms.
Luthor?"
They were standing directly in front of each other, their bodies two inches apart, and
Lena's voice became a low growl when she answered. "No, it wasn't."
Kara leaned in again and their mouths moved together passionately. She walked forward, pushing Lena backwards, and Lena's back hit the balcony railing. When Kara pressed Lena harder against the railing, Lena felt a warmth growing in her stomach. Her own body heat spread over her body and she gasped into the kiss in surprise. Lena's rosy perfume swarmed around Kara and her lips parted slightly in response. Lena groaned, yearning for more, and closed her lips around Kara's again. Kara shuddered when Lena's hands made their way under her shirt and landed on her toned stomach, the heat from Lena driving her insane. Lena didn't remove them until after she pulled away from Kara.
"I had so much I wanted to say before I got here but I can't find the right words." Kara said, looking into Lena's sharp green eyes.
"Forget the words." Lena joked. "Actions speak louder than words."
Kara laughed and buried her face into the crook of Lena's neck. Lena wrapped her arms around Kara and ran her fingers up and down her back slowly, taking in the feeling. They stayed like that for seconds, maybe minutes, hoping the moment won't end.
"I love you so much." Kara whispered, her warm breath tickling Lena's ear.
Lena's heart fluttered and her head spun. A million thoughts rushed through her head, taken by surprise. The light breeze made the hair on her neck stand up but it calmed her enough to snap her back to the moment.
"I love you." Lena finally said, placing her forehead on Kara's. "I always had."