Lena Luthor is extra. That fact is undeniable though she may try to dispute it at times. She spends an extra-long time at work, pours extra effort into her research, is extra determined to salvage her family name, and even tries extra-extra hard not to punch any of her board members. So it's no surprise that when her body decides to have an adverse reaction to something, that reaction is extra.
Her immune system overreacts to sesame the way a MAGA-head reacts to someone speaking Spanish. Though a completely benign presence, her basophils and mast cells go into full Karen overdrive and releases a massive amount of histamines in an attempt to sweep the 'alien invader' out. The result is that she swells like the size of a Trump inauguration crowd when the tale is related, ad nauseum, for years to come.
Her cheeks balloon out like the vocal pouch of a male frog in mating season. She gets the lips of Angelina Jolie after bad collagen injections. The swelling even squeezes her eyelids almost completely closed, just the barest lashed slits remaining so that she can see the justifiably horrified expressions of those who stumble upon her. The normally stylish and elegant CEO looks like a stress relief toy that's been gripped so hard at one end that its top seems ready to pop.
"Lena, I'm soooooo sorry." This isn't the first time Sam has said this since what will forever be known as the great brownie debacle of 2020. It's not even the tenth time. At this point, it's unlikely that the CFO, an accountant by trade and quite good at math, even knows how many times she's apologized. "I had no idea halvah was made with sesame."
Sitting mostly upright on a hospital room gurney, Lena doesn't respond. She can't. The most she can do right now is a fairly spot-on imitation of Darth Vader heavy-breathing post marathon.
"I just... I know you were talking about going vegan, so I didn't want to use chocolate or eggs. I thought carob and halvah were good choices, and the recipe had five stars so—"
Though disarmed of the glare that can halt a cis-gender, straight, white mysoginist at twenty paces, that doesn't stop Lena from trying. She whips her head around until she can see the torso of the woman standing next to her and tilts her head back until a face comes into some kind of focus. Sam has stopped speaking, though it's more likely guilt than the power of Lena's stare. Lena opens her puffy lips to tell Sam to stop apologizing, it's only making her angry, but only a slurred mumble comes out.
"I'm soooo sorry," Sam whispers, and if she wasn't desperately in need of medical intervention, Lena would walk out right now.
Even as she considers it, considers leaving and buying a case of Benadryl on her way out, a new voice comes from Lena's other side.
"Okay, Miss Luthor, I'm Dr. Danvers. It says here you're having an allergic reaction to— Holy cow!" Lena can only see a white lab coat over scrubs as she turns, but the doctor's view must be clearer. 'Holy cow' is one of the more diplomatic things she's heard.
"She's allergic to sesame," Sam explains. "It's my fault. I didn't realize what I gave her had sesame in it."
"Not a very common allergy. Let's get a better look at you." Bright blue eyes peer out at Lena from behind a pair of tortoise shell glasses, and warm fingers gently touch her face and down her throat. "Head back please." Lena does and gets a better look at loose strands of blonde hair. She's intrigued, and the fact that she can't get a better look at this woman is frustrating. "Okay, that's cool. Do you have any tingling in your extremities?"
The doctor steps back to write something on the chart, and Lena gets a better look. The hair is pulled back into a ponytail with several stray hairs framing her tan face. The ponytail curls over one broad shoulder, and from her lapel the name Danvers is clearly printed on an ID badge. When the doctor looks up again, a strong jaw comes into view. Then she smiles. If Lena could draw a deep breath, there would have been a gasp. The doctor is a stunningly beautiful woman, and Lena is entirely aware that she looks like a pale version of the Great Pumpkin.
"Lena, the doctor asked if there's any tingling in your extremities," Sam says, pulling Lena out of her ill-timed distraction from reality.
She flexes her fingers, making certain of her answer before shaking her head.
"That's good. I'm ordering a shot of epinephrine, and we're going to start her on oxygen, just to be safe. I'll have a nurse set up an IV with some antihistamine and cortisone to reduce the inflammation, and some albuterol to help her breath."
"When can she go home?"
"Tomorrow if everything looks good."
As the doctor finishes writing up her orders, Lena flails furiously in Sam's direction. She had plans to curl up with a good contract and a glass of wine tonight. Overnighting in a hospital does not fit her schedule.
"Okay, I see you. Calm down," Sam assures. "Doctor, does she have to stay overnight? Can't you just give her some medication?"
"I'm worried about her breathing. The swelling will go down much faster here, and she'll be safer. Anyway, the medication is going to make her sleepy." She clicks her pen closed and slides it back into her pocket, hanging the clipboard on the bottom of the bed. "What's the matter, do you have a big date tonight, Miss Luthor?" Then she smiles that frustratingly attractive smile, and Lena is all the more put off that she can't make a quip back.
"If you need anything from your place, I'll go get it for you," Sam offers. "Oh, doctor, will she have a private room?"
Even the doctor's laugh is attractive. "Her name is on an entire wing here. I think we can manage a private room."
Lena doesn't make it through her contract that night. She's still holding onto consciousness when Sam returns with pajamas, a blanket that actually blocks the cold, her tablet, and some paperwork. After only about five minutes of Sam reading to her, Lena drifts off, only vaguely aware of soft lips kissing her forehead and wishing her a good night.
When she awakens, Lena is pleased to find her swelling is mostly down and her voice and appetite have returned. By the time she's dressed, Sam has shown up with non-hospital food and hot coffee. At the sight of the steaming cup, everything from the prior night is forgiven.
"I love you," Lena says, fingers curling in and out in a 'gimmie' gesture.
"I'm pretty sure you're talking to the coffee," Sam says, handing over the object of Lena's affection, "but I love you too. How do you feel?"
"Fine. Fine. How do I look?"
It's an honest question, and the way Sam's gaze does a careful examination let's Lena know she's taking it seriously. "Better much better. You may be a tiny bit swollen still, but I don't think I'd notice if I didn't know you so well. You have your lips again, at least."
"Whose lips did I have last night?"
"Oh, you know those fake wax lips the kids get?" Sam purses her lips far away from her face and curls them out before returning to her normal smile. "Those are the lips you had."
"Ugh, fabulous. Figures I'd look like overripe fruit when I meet an attractive doctor. She was attractive, wasn't she? It was hard to see her through the slits where my eyes normally are."
"Yeah, she was cute and pretty friendly. Sorry to have introduced you two under such unpleasant circumstances. Lena, I really am—"
"Drop it, Samantha. We've been together through too much to get hung up on this. If anything, I think you trying to kill me brings us closer. Now you really are like family to me."
Sam snorts, and some of the tension leaves the room. Their friendship is the foundation of Lena's sanity, at this point. She's not going to let something as silly as a little poisoning get in the way of that.
"I finished that contract this morning and made some edits. I want to get it over to legal before—"
A woman walks into the room, her demeanor and clothing practically screaming nurse. "Oh, you're up and dressed. I don't think you've been released yet."
"Then let's fix that," Lena says. "I need to get to work."
"It's Saturday, Lena," Sam reminds her.
"I always work on days that end in Y, Samantha. Miss... Can you please get me signed out? I have things to do."
"Um... Let me find out who your doctor is and—"
"Danvers," Sam provides. "Her name was Dr. Danvers. Actually, if she's here, can you send her over? I'm sure the doctor would want to check out Miss Luthor personally before she leaves."
"Dr. Danvers? Sure, I just saw her. Give me one minute."
No sooner has the nurse left when Lena spins on Sam. "What are you doing?"
"Arranging for you to meet a cute doctor with your normally gorgeous face. You can thank me later."
"I won't thank you at all. To her, I'll forever be pumpkin head."
"You're being ridiculous."
"Says the woman who tried to kill me."
"Hey, I was just—"
Sam is cut short by a knock on the door. Standing there is a woman in a leather jacket with a motorcycle helmet shoved under her arm. Her red hair is cut very short on the sides and flops over on one side to around eye level. Her brown eyes sparkle as she looks back and forth between the two women. She's very attractive and entirely unfamiliar.
"Can we help you?" Lena asks.
"Miss Luthor?" She takes two steps closer at Lena's nod. "I was told you wanted to see me. I'm Dr. Danvers."
"You're...?" Lena looks this newcomer up and down before glancing at Sam, who is grinning rather shamefully at this woman. "You're Dr. Danvers?" When the woman nods, Lena purses her lips and digs in her heels. "You're not Dr. Danvers."
"Um... I'm pretty sure I am. That's what it says on my birth certificate."
"Your first name is doctor on your birth certificate?"
"In my family, it probably should have been." The redhead smiles brightly as behind Lena, Sam laughs much too hard at a joke that wasn't that funny. "You're right though. It says Alexandra on my birth certificate, but don't call me that. I'll think I'm in trouble."
Lena's teeth grate as Sam laughs again. "Look, no offense, Miss—"
"Doctor."
"Fine, no offense, Doctor, but you're not my doctor. I couldn't see very well when I came through the ER last night, but you're not the person who admitted me."
"Oh, you came in through the ER. That makes sense. You saw Dr. Kara Danvers. She was working emergency."
"Kara Danvers," Lena repeats, and she likes the way those words roll off her tongue. She could get used to saying them.
As if summoned by her name, the blonde appears with a bright smile that is even more stunning to Lena now that she can take in the whole package. The doctor's lab coat sleeves are rolled part way up her arm, showing off surprisingly toned forearms. Those eyes are even bluer than she remembers and the smile absolutely stunning. She would gladly eat a sesame bagel to relive this moment.
"Yup, the better Danvers," Kara says as she sweeps into the room and grabs Lena's chart. "You trying to steal my patients again, Alex? You know they don't tip, right?"
It's Lena's turn to chuckle at a joke, and she'd be horrified with herself for her school girl behavior if she wasn't entirely charmed.
"Nah, I'm not interested in your," Alex's gaze sweeps Sam, and they hold eye contact for just a bit too long, "patients."
Sam smiles broadly in return, and Lena would tell them to get a room if she wasn't more anxious to get them out of hers. She smooths down imagined stray hairs and shifts her weight, happy to see when the doctor notices the jut of her hip.
"One of the nurses grabbed me and said a patient had asked for me. It was a mistake of mistaken identity... again."
"Jeez, how long am I going to have to work here before they remember I exist too? It's like being back at school and being Alex's baby sister."
"You're sisters." Sam and Lena's gazes lock as they speak together. With confirmation that Kara and Alex aren't a couple, it's like some telepathic communication forms between the CEO and her CFO. Within seconds, they've silently agreed in which one each of them is interested and made a plan to divide and conquer.
"Yup, technically sisters from different misters since I'm adopted, but we're sisters... and I'm the better one."
"Brat," Alex says, thumbing over her shoulder as she takes a step backward toward the door. "Well, I'm going to leave you ladies to it and grab some breakfast. It was nice meeting you both."
"Samantha, didn't you say you were leaving too?" Lena gives Sam a less than gentle shove toward the door, and the leggy brunette stumbles for three steps before righting herself. "You said you were starving."
"I did? Oh, I did. I'm so hungry." Alex must catch on because she waits at the doorway for Sam and smiles broadly. "Tell me, Doctor, can you recommend any place good around here?"
"Sure, Newmans has a great breakfast. I was just heading there if you'd like to join me."
"Sounds wonderful," Sam replies, and they step into the hallway.
"My bike is downstairs, and I have an extra helmet if..."
Their conversation drifts off, and Lena finds herself alone with Kara who is studying her chart like memorizing it is the goal.
"Well, they certainly hit it off," Lena says for lack of anything else.
"Yup, she's definitely Alex's type." Kara finally looks up from the chart, her expression inscrutable. "I'm reading that right, aren't I? Your friend isn't straight, is she?"
"Sam?" Lena chuckles. "Hardly. And your sister is..."
"As gay as she looks." Kara lays Lena's chart on the nearby side table and pulls out a pen light as she steps closer. "How about you?"
"Me? Am I—?"
"How are you feeling? Say Ah." Her fingers are warm, one thumb pulling down slightly on Lena's lower lip as she flashes the light in Lena's mouth. It's entirely clinical and also somehow erotic. "Your throat looks much better, and your vitals are perfect. You ready to go home?"
"Definitely," Lena says when Kara returns the light to her pocket and steps away, hovering on the edge of Lena's personal space. "Thank you for taking such good care of me last night, Doctor. I truly appreciate it."
"Don't mention it... except at the new hospital board meeting. Mention it a lot then. Remember, it's Danvers with an S, Kara not Alex."
Her smile is as warm as her hands, and Lena can't help but smile back. "I won't forget you."
"Well, I guess that makes me unforgettable." As she steps away, not even out of the room yet, Lena already misses her presence. "I'm going to get you signed out before you get desperate and try the hospital coffee. Then we'd have to admit you again." She pauses at the door, looking back at Lena. "After I release you, you won't be my patient any more."
"Oh? And what does that mean?"
"Well, we're not allowed to date our patients. Hospital rules."
"That sounds like a very smart rule," Lena agrees, following where Kara is going. "What time does your shift end?"
Kara glances at the clock on the back of the room. "Eight minutes. What are you doing eight minutes from now, Miss Luthor?"
"Getting out of here, maybe grabbing a coffee that won't land me in the emergency room. You?"
"The same. What a coincidence. Maybe I could talk you into grabbing a bite to eat too."
Ignoring the muffin that sits untouched in a bag on the table and the half-finished coffee, Lena says, "Sounds fantastic."
"Great, where do you want to go?"
"Oh, I'm not picky. I'll eat anything... so long as it isn't sesame."
She can hear Kara's laughter echoing down the hallway. It's a sound she could definitely get used to.