The first time Kara brings Lena home, it's Thanksgiving. Their casual 'not dates' dates drop the façade after one night of falling asleep together watching Netflix turns into a series of morning time, pulse-pounding kisses that go on for over an hour. They only stop to hurriedly dress and race out the door to meet Kelly and Alex for brunch.
It's three weeks later, with Kelly watching them oddly and Alex more interested in Eliza's perogies, that Kara brings Lena, her 'friend' Lena, home. Though Alex seems to either remain clueless or in denial, it's clear that Kelly and Eliza sense something has changed. One meal, three incidents of nearly being caught kissing and only saved by Kara's super senses, and a painful night in beds ten feet apart in Alex and Kara's old room later, Kara and Lena are ready to escape back to National City and the oases for their secret relationship that their apartments provide.
Lena sits in the driveway with the engine of her car running while Kara heads back to grab the phone she left on the coffee table. She isn't trying to eavesdrop, but voices carry especially when you're Kryptonian.
"I'm just worried about her," comes Eliza's voice from the kitchen.
"She's an adult," Kelly says patiently. "She's also a superhero. I think she can take care of herself."
"It doesn't matter how old she is or what she can do. You always worry about your children. I'll be more than happy to say, "I told you so," when Aiden is grown."
Kara pauses there, her phone in her hand and her curiosity piqued. They're talking about her, so the normal rules about her listening in don't count, right?
"I look forward to that," Kelly responds, though her tone says otherwise. "Look, all I'm saying is you don't get to live her life for her. You did an amazing job of raising two strong, capable women. Trust in yourself and them."
"Oh, I do. It's the Luthors I don't trust."
Kara's muscles tense, and she hears the tell-tale sound of yet another of her phone screens cracking. She takes a step toward the kitchen, but she knows her temper is far from in check. With a gust of air fluttering the magazines on the coffee table, she's gone. When she closes the car door, Lena's little sports car shakes.
"Hey, easy there. Unless you count as an act of nature, and you might, I don't think my insurance covers you." Lena smiles, and though it would normally calm Kara, knowing that smile is due to the ignorance of what's being said inside just makes her angrier. "Kara, what's wrong?"
Her first instinct is to vent, to tell Lena exactly what she heard and how it makes her blood boil, but the soft expression on Lena's face, the concerned eyes that peer out at her, they remind Kara of that old Earth expression: ignorance is bliss. There's plenty of time to shatter Lena's perspective of their idyllic life, so she forces out a smile and says, "I'm just tired. Can we go home?"
It seems like Lena's going to argue, but instead she nods and puts the car into gear. "Want me to take you back to your apartment? I can still have Chinese food delivered to you, and we can do a movie night later in the week."
"No," Kara says and she takes Lena's hand in her own. "I want to be wherever you are. That's home."
<><>
It's a month later when the girls head back to Midvale for Christmas. This time, Alex watches them differently. The older sibling has caught Lena at Kara's place for too many 'early morning drop-ins (with wet hair)' not to be suspicious. Kelly smiles supportively, speaking to Lena about scientific advances in virtual technology and what they could mean to PTSD therapy. It's Eliza who's oddly quiet, though what she doesn't say is written all over her face. So when Eliza goes to baste the turkey, Kara follows her to the kitchen with an argument brewing.
Kara waits, glare burning (though not literally) into the back of Eliza's head.
"Lena looks well," Eliza says. "I read about some advances L-Corp has made in the field of medical nanobot technology. It's pretty exciting stuff."
It's small talk, the kind of thing strangers would share or people avoiding a different subject. Kara is tired of avoiding. It's been an entire month of Kara practicing this conversation mentally, an entire month of being certain that if Eliza tries to make Kara choose between Lena and her, she won't like the outcome.
"I'm not a child," Kara says. She thrusts out her chin and stands with arms folded across her breasts. She's too angry to let her arms flail loose in a fragile house of some of her best memories. "I can take care of myself."
The way Eliza steps back, eyes wide and mouth chewing on air in the search for words, makes it clear only one of them was prepared.
"I heard what you said. I'm not a child, and your ignorant bigotry isn't welcome in my life." There, she's said it. She's drawn a line, set a boundary. The next move is Eliza's.
That move is confusion, as she pulls out one of the kitchen chairs and sits, staring up blankly at her younger child. "Kara, I have no idea what you're talking about. What are we discussing here?"
"I heard what you said about Lena."
"About Lena? I haven't said anything about—"
"I heard you and Kelly last month, talking in the kitchen when you thought we'd already left. You think she's just like the rest of the Luthors, that she's going to hurt me, but you don't even know her. Honestly, Eliza, I expected better from you."
A long silence permeates the air as that sits between them. Then Eliza nods. "Well, now, I don't blame you for feeling that way, or at least I wouldn't if that was what I said."
The way Eliza sits there primly, hands folded and legs crossed as she stares, makes Kara falter. She's been expecting excuses or more aspersions toward Lena, but an outright denial was not in any of the scenarios she's practiced. In the end, it only makes her angrier. Bias is one thing but added dishonesty is a whole new low.
"I heard you," Kara says, digging in deeper. "I heard you clearly, so don't try and deny it."
"Let's make sure we're on that same page. What did you hear, Kara?" Eliza's voice is patient, pandering. It's the voice she used when Kara first came to Earth hurt, confused, and painfully alone. It's the voice of a mother dealing with a child.
Right now, it's a voice that makes Kara's anger bloom. "You said that you trusted me, but you didn't trust the Luthors. It was ignorant and hurtful. It wasn't the kind of thing the woman who helped to raise me would say."
There are no more denials. Eliza just rolls her hand in front of her, encouraging Kara to continue. "And then?"
Something in that question makes Kara hesitate, but she knows what she heard, and being in the right fills her with confidence. "And then nothing. I was so mad that I left. I was afraid I'd do or say something I regretted."
"And came back today to call me a bigot. Lovely." Eliza sighs, and in her most disappointed voice, the one that makes Kara flinch away from certainty, she says, "Kara, I will admit that I said that, but it isn't all that I said. Sit down, please."
Kara does, though she tries desperately to hold onto her anger. "If you say anything negative about Lena I'll—"
"I wouldn't dare. Lena seems lovely, the exact kind of person any mother would want in their child's life. Lena isn't the problem. Lena's family is the problem."
"Lena isn't her family!" The whole table shakes as Kara palm slaps down onto it, and the sound echoes through the house. It's a good thing it wasn't a closed fist, or the table wouldn't have survived.
"Hey, I know. I know." Eliza reaches out, taking Kara's hand in her own, trusting Kara's gentle nature over the anger that emanates from the powerful alien. "I believe Lena would never purposefully do anything to harm you, but your... relationship with her, that's dangerous. If her family found out how close the two of you have gotten, her mother would redouble her efforts to hurt you, to kill—" Eliza's voice cracks, and Kara's hand turns over to interlock fingers. "Kara, I'm not worried about Lena. I'm worried for you and for Lena. I don't want to see anything happen to either of you. You've already lost so much."
"Is everything okay in here?" Alex asks as she pops her head in, no doubt summoned by the sound of Kara's anger being taken out on the table.
Neither woman responds. Their gazes stay locked until Kara nods once and rises. "You're right, Eliza. I have lost too much already."
"Kara, wait I—" But Kara is gone, blasting past a stunned Alex, and all Eliza can do is trail after her to where conversation stops in the living room.
Kara roots around under the tree, pulling out a small, thin gift that's less than two inches high. She sits next to Lena, practically shoving the gift at the confused brunette. "Open this."
"But, Kara, it isn't Christmas yet."
"Please. Please, open it."
With an audience looking on, Lena unwraps the gift to the velvety gift box underneath. It snaps open to reveal a gold bracelet with a string of rubies on one side and sapphires on the other. Lena shifts it in her hand, opening the clasp so it swings wide like a gate. Engraved inside, one one side is the L-Corp symbol and on the other is the House of El crest.
Eliza gasps even as Alex mumbles a quiet, "Holy shit." Being the only person who truly understands not just the facts but the culture behind them, Kara has brought many traditions from her home planet. Lena's eyes widen, and it's clear it's one with which she's well versed. On Krypton, they didn't have engagement rings. They had marriage bracelets.
"Marry me," Kara says, taking the bracelet from Lena's hands to hold it out to the woman she loves. "Please, marry me."
Lena's gaze swings briefly to their audience before returning to her best friend, the only truly good thing in her life, the woman she loves. "Kara, don't you think—"
"That this is a little fast? No. I think I've loved you for years. I think we lied to each other and ourselves about just being friends. If I'm being honest, for me it was love at first sight. If anything, I think this is long overdue." She slides to a knee, earnest as she holds out the bracelet again. "I've already lost so much, Lena. I don't want to lose another minute of a life with you. I love you. Marry me."
As her watery eyes overflow and tears spill down her cheeks, Lena nods. "I love you too," she says and stretches out her arm, her wrist presented for an adornment Kara wastes no time in providing. "There's nothing I want more than to be your wife."
They kiss for more than is probably appropriate in mixed company and then receive hugs and congratulations from Kelly and Alex. It's a solid minute later when Eliza joins them, offering them both hugs and a simple, "Welcome to the family," to Lena that makes the young woman cry all the harder. Still, Kara doesn't miss the look Eliza shoots her, the concern quickly covered under a ready smile. Unconditional is a word Kara has always associated with Eliza's love, but this feels like conditions.
She tells herself it doesn't matter, that she doesn't need Eliza's approval or that Eliza will come around, and it seems to work. Eliza throws them a bridal shower and smiles through the wedding she helped to plan. Three years pass from the engagement, two from the wedding, and Kara has almost forgotten Eliza's apprehensions... almost. When she watches her foster mother and her wife sitting and laughing, she thinks it's all okay, but Eliza's little, "Be careful... both of you," as she departs each time is a nagging reminder that perhaps reservations still remain. She says nothing to Lena who loves Eliza like a mother and cherishes her new family. She leaves that little bubble of happiness in place because that's what love does. Still, she never forgets.
<><>
"Sweetie, what are you doing in there?" Kara knocks on the bathroom door, leaning a bit closer even though her hearing makes that action redundant.
From within the bathroom comes the sound of a flushing toilet and Lena saying, "That best be a rhetorical question, Kara. I realize you're not human, but I think this process works the same across our species."
Before Kara can respond, running water starts in the bathroom, and Kara quietly hums the happy birthday song to herself. She can hear Lena doing the same in the bathroom. Even though she's immune to all known germs on this planet, good hygiene is still important.
When the water stops, and Kara can imagine Lena carefully drying her hands before checking her reflection in the mirror again (She's flawless, of course.), she tries to use her patience, but that seems to be in short demand today. Kara knocks one more time, toe tapping insistently as she says. "Sweetheart, Eliza will be here any second. Hurry."
"For fuck's sake, Kara," Lena whips the door open, eyes fire and looking, as Kara expected, perfect, "your mother is a doctor. She won't have any questions as to why a human is using the bathroom. Just relax."
"I can't." Kara paces the hallway like an expectant father in a 1950's movie. "I want today to be perfect."
"It will be." Lena snags Kara's hands on the next pass by, stopping her nervous wife from literally wearing grooves in the floor. "What has you so worked up? We always spend the holidays with your family."
"They're your family too."
"I know. I know. Technically, that makes Lillian your family." Lena grins wickedly, but when Kara just tenses up more, the humor fades. "Okay, what's going on?"
"Nothing I just... This is an important day. It's our first time hosting Christmas. It's our first time in the new house as a married couple having my whole family over. I just want everything to be perfect when—" Like a dog who's caught a scent, Kara's head snaps to her side. "Damn it. They just pulled into the driveway."
"Well, it's a good thing we're ready for guests." Lena winds her way through the upstairs and down to greet her guests, her entirety as relaxed as Kara is tense. "Food is in the oven, wine and whisky are aplenty, and there are fresh towels in the guest rooms. Everything is going to be perfect." She stops by the front door and pushes up on her toes to plant a kiss on her wife's lips. "There is nothing to worry about. Trust me."
Kara does. With her whole heart, soul, being, Kara trusts Lena, but Lena isn't the problem. Even when Eliza sweeps in with a smile and exclamation of, "My girls!" as she hugs Lena before Kara, the apprehension remains. It's been brewing for years, and today it may come to a head.
Dinner goes well. Eliza praises Lena's cooking even while Alex seamlessly feeds the baby while correcting Aiden's table manners. The others take part in a heated debate to which Kara only half-listens. Her thoughts are on post dinner happenings.
Dessert is served in the living room, though Eliza declines in regret after eating extra sweet bread with dinner. "Kara, don't eat all that cake. I do want a piece later. It looks amazing."
"It's fine. I'm not having dessert, Eliza."
With the finely attuned senses of a mother, Eliza's head snaps up. "What's wrong? Why aren't you eating? Are you sick? You can't get sick. Are you sick?"
"Goodness." Lena slides a piece of cake onto the coffee table just shy of Aiden's grabbing fingers thanks to Alex's throat clearing (a reminder of manners). Presents are piled under the tree, and Lena plucks one from the top of a stack and hands it to her wife. "Give this to your mother already. Your neurosis seems to be catching."
With an awkward smile, Kara holds out the gift to Eliza. "Merry Christmas."
Eliza studies the foil wrapped package in her hands as if she's the one with x-ray vision. It's a cube with a bright red bow on top looking quite festive with it's golden wrapping paper. She carefully picks at the tape to open the paper without tearing it. It's a habit she and Lena share and which makes unwrapping painfully long between the two of them. The box inside is white cardboard and within that a plethora of tissue paper. It isn't until that's removed that she's able to pull out the gift from within.
"I know you're usually the one getting all of us Christmas ornaments, but since we're hosting, we thought we'd do it." Kara rocks on her heels as she taps out a nervous pattern against her thighs. "So, any thoughts?"
"It's a lovely gesture, but I don't—" Kara knows the moment Eliza sees it, recognizes the ornament for what it is and freezes. The ornament spins slightly, suspended by a cord hanging from Eliza's finger. The words "Love at first sight," come into view, the picture of a baby's sonogram, of her and Lena's baby's sonogram, just above it. Eliza rises slowly to her feet, and her gaze skips between her adopted child and the woman she married. "Who—"
Lena barely gets her hand up to shoulder level before she's enveloped in a hug.
"My girl, my beautiful girl. You're having a baby." She smooths Lena's hair, holding the brunette close before meeting Kara's gaze and repeating, "You're having a baby."
"Merry Christmas," Kara says again, stepping forward to hold her wife and mother, neither of whom seem eager to end their embrace. After a few moments, she steps away, watching the way Eliza cradles Lena's face with such gentle love that her heart soars. "So, no words of caution?"
"What?" Eliza looks over almost as if she's forgotten Kara is still there. "Caution, why would I be cautious? There's nothing wrong with the baby, is there?"
"She's perfectly healthy," Lena assures.
"She?" Eliza reaches out, hand stopping short of touching Lena's still flat abdomen. "Are you sure you're having a girl? How far along are you?"
"Only eight weeks," Lena says, "But we're sure."
"Yup." Kara pulls her wife close and drops a kiss on the top of Lena's head. "No Y chromosomes were used in the making of this baby."
"No way." Alex has come around to offer a one armed hug to her sister. "You managed to fertilize an egg from one of you with the other's genetic material? You got your wife pregnant, little sister?"
Kara chuckles, certain that's not the last she'll hear of that joke. "Technically, Lena got herself pregnant. I just supplied the genetic material," she nudges her sister and adds, "and had lots and lots of practice of the really fun part that goes into making a baby."
Kelly joins in the celebration, and Aiden claps when he's told he's going to have a little cousin. It's another reason for joyous celebration, but one thing still simmers in the back of Kara's mind, a nagging she just can't let go.
"Eliza, I know you're probably going to be... worried, but I want you to know that Lena and I discussed this a lot. We know what we're doing. We want a family. We're going to have a family."
"Of course, you are. I couldn't be happier for you."
Kara frowns, watching her foster mother for any sign of deception as Lena says, "Kara, why are you acting so strange? What's going on?"
"Well Eliza... She... You see she thinks..." With a heavy sigh, Kara finally admits, "Eliza thinks our relationship is dangerous, that your family is a bigger threat with us together. I think she's wrong though. It's like I always say: Stronger together."
"You're right."
When it's Eliza and not Lena that agrees with her, Kara does a double take. "I am? I mean, I know I am, but you know I am? How long have you known that you know I am?"
"Goodness, soon I'm going to have two people in the house that babble," Lena says. "At least the baby will grow out of it. Kara, Eliza and I discussed her concerns years ago. We had a long heart to heart on the weekend of the bridal shower."
"Yes, Lena listened to my concerns, but she's right. Nothing in life is certain. You can't live in fear."
"And I can't live the life my family would have me live, or the world will be worse for my presence, not better." Lena stretches a hand out, smiling broadly when Eliza grips it. "We'll face whatever comes and be stronger because we do it as a family."
"Exactly," Eliza says.
"So I've been worried for years about nothing?" With a dramatic wave of her arms, Kara marches off toward the kitchen. "Just for that, I'm going to eat the rest of that cake."
"You save me a piece, young lady."
"No promises!"
Kara isn't surprised when her sister follows her with a sleepy baby cradled in her arms. "You do know how to make holidays memorable, Mrs. Luthor-Danvers."
"Hey, go big or go home." Kara eyes the cake critically before cutting the rest of it in half, keeping the slightly larger 'half' for herself, and putting the rest of it back in the fridge. "I can't exactly go home, so I guess I have to go big."
"Well, I'm very happy for you and Lena. You're going to be a super parent... pun intended." While Kara stuffs a piece of cake into her mouth that would probably choke a human, Alex asks, "This is a lot though. How are you feeling about all of this?"
It's only after drinking most of a large glass of milk that Kara says, "Surprised."
"How so?"
Kara sighs, her mind drifting back through memories from several years ago to only weeks ago. Each one is a bright spot in her life. "I never believed in love at first sight, but Lena proved me wrong, and when we had the ultrasound..."
"Love at first sight?"
"Yeah, it happened again. I watched her little heart beating, and I knew I would literally stop the Earth if it's what I needed to do to protect her."
"As you should." Alex kisses the forehead of her sleeping baby, her own smile winsome and loving. "I've got news for you, Kara. When that baby is born, and they lay her in Lena's arms, it's going to happen again."
"Yeah." Kara smiles. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too... Mom."
"Mom." Kara pulls her sister close, careful of the infant wrapped in a warm blanket and love. "I'm looking forward to that too."