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hikarimiyanaga · 11 months ago

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The Queen's Bride (Part 1)

Summary :

Being a rich man's kid isn't as exciting as everyone makes it out to be.

You have no freedom.

Every choice has been made for you ever since you were born.

What you eat. What course you were going to study. What school you're going to.

Even the one you were going to marry.

So to your surprise, your father has finally chosen one thing right for you.

Daenerys Targaryen.

Warnings : Omegaverse. Stark!Reader. Omega!Reader x Alpha!Daenerys Targaryen. Modern!AU.

Look who's finally watching Game of Thrones. Surprise, surprise, I fell in love with Daenerys.

"This is bullshit!" Jon, your cousin, shouts as he paces around you.

Both of you were just given two names.

Two people you never met that you were going to spend the rest of your life with.

"Who the fuck is Ygritte and why do I have to marry her?" Jon shouts in frustration and you shrug.

"I mean, Father could've paired you with one of the Lannisters. Myrcella is an omega-"

"Shut up." Jon glares at you.

"You have to admit it. Ygritte is pretty as fuck."

"Lucky for Robb, huh? He's the heir so he could choose freely."

"She is. But- I don't know her, Y/N." Jon sighs as he sits next to you.

"Lucky asshole." You slap his arm.

"He's my big brother."

"He is. I wish I could be the heir."

"Seriously? You? Jon Stark of Winterfell Corp? Are you hearing me?"

"Shut up." The two of you look at each other then laugh. "Yours is pretty too, by the way. And a Targaryen too."

"Why them? Our mottos are literally parallels."

"Yeah. Winter is Coming."

"Fire and Blood. Like why her?" You groan at the ceiling.

"Just be glad that she's pretty. Some don't get that lucky."

"Are you talking about-" Jon nods and you sigh.

"I just wish we had freedom."

"Me too. Y/N. Me too."

You get your bag and look at the empty apartment around you.

"I need Sansa to room with me. Like gods, this place is fucking big enough for ten people at least." You mumble to yourself as you leave the apartment.

Just like everything else in your life. The apartment was provided by your Father, Ned Stark. You could count the number of times on your fingers that you've actually talked to him rather than just receive orders or scolding from him.

Your phone rings just as you get inside the Westeros University. You answer it as you see your little sister's name.

"Y/N! How are you?" You smile at Arya's voice.

"I'm good, Arry. Where are you?" How is she calling you right now?

"I'm at home. There was a lice problem at school today so we went home! Are you free??" You grin at her exciting tone.

"In two hours, I will be. Why?"

"Can we go play? Mom said she'll let me go to the mall if I'm with you!"

"Sure, can you wait there and behave?"

"Yep! See you later!"

"See you." You say softly and smile as you go to your first and last class of the day. You were so glad that you chose your own schedule. You sit down at your usual seat and hum as you take out your laptop. Looks like professor Varys is late today.

Westeros University is the biggest University in all of Westeros. It has lessons even in magic.

"Did you hear, Y/N?" You look up as Oberyn sits beside you. You were somewhat friends. He can charm anyone in a room while you can outread anyone in a room. Truth be told, even you didn't know why he talked to you.

"Hear what?"

"Not interested in rumors as usual?" He asks and you shake your head.

"Even if Varys tells us otherwise, I still don't like rumors and hearsays." Oberyn nods and grins in satisfaction.

"Which is why you make the perfect audience." You sigh. "Listen to this. Someone is doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Seeing if the dragons will choose them."

"Seriously? That thing hasn't been done in like 200 years."

"Right? But someone is brave enough to do it now. You know what it means, right?"

"Yeah. They get to sit on the Iron Throne regardless of their last name."

"And?" You raise an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"And what?"

"Complete freedom!" You tilt your head at him. "No more choices by parents! No arranged marriages!"

"Damn. Sounds like a dream come true."

"For you guys. I still don't get why you guys won't love freely."

"Because last names have a value of their own. Here at Westeros at least. Oh. And Westeros Conglomerate too." Oberyn shakes his head.

"What you guys should value is talent, not blood."

"Meritocracy rather than blood right. Reasonable." Oberyn looks at you. "I don't make the choices though."

"Marry the king then."

"I'd rather die, Oberyn. I'd rather eat my own shit."

"Still hate men?"

"Only romantically." Oberyn chuckles just as Varys comes through the door.

"You're missing out on like half of the world then." You give him a smile.

"I don't think I am."

You hum as you park your car in front of the Stark Mansion. You were just getting your bag when you feel a pair of arms circle around your legs. You look down and see Arya smiling at you.

"Hey, Arya!" You scoop her up and she squeals. Arya is only 9 years younger but you love doing this to her. "Where's Ma and Father?"

"Dad is still at work! Ma is inside!" You put her down and nod.

"Come on, then. I'll tell Ma that I'll take you to the mall." Arya grins at you and she begins to tell you about her classmates and school.

"And then this one guy-"

"Y/N! You're home!" Catelyn Stark rushes over and hugs you. You hug her just as tightly.

"Hey, Ma. Arya wanted to play with me and it's been months since I've been home so I figured I should take her."

"I'm sure she understands that you're busy with university and all."

"I know, Ma! But school is out and she said she was free." Arya pouts from beside you and you smile.

"I am free, no worries." You ruffle Arya's hair and she smiles at you.

"Be sure to be back for Dinner then."

"We'll buy some before we get home. Are Robb and Father-"

"Busy." You nod in understanding then take Arya's hand.

"You ready for an afternoon with me? Your best sister?"

"YEAH! We'll destroy those high scores in the arcade!" You grin and agree.

You come home with a passed out Arya, a bag full of plushies, and a bag with food.

"You actually made her sleep? You are a godsend." You laugh at your mom and grin.

"Once you get Arya's quirks and use them against her, she can make herself run out of energy."

"Please don't tell-"

"Ma, she wants to. She can afford to learn it still."

"But her marri-"

"She's still 9, ma. She doesn't need to think about that yet."

"Right. Are you staying for dinner at least?"

"Sure. Is Sansa-" Before you finish your sentence, someone has already hugged you.

"Y/N! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" You turn around and find your other little sister, Sansa Stark.

"Well, I had to exhaust this one so." Sansa looks at Arya who was cuddling your neck still.

"Whoa. Arya never sleeps this early."

"Like I said. Exhausted. Are Brandon and Rickon here?"

"Yep! They should be getting back from Winterfell by now."

"What did they do there??"

"Father wanted to show them something. Are you staying tonight?"

"If you're willing to share your bed."

"ALWAYS!" You shush her and smile.

"I'll just be putting this one in her bed then I'll come down. Here." You give the bag full of food to Catelyn and smile. "Some of my favorites."

"I'll plate them up." You nod and begin your walk with Arya still sleeping while cuddling your neck.

"You're becoming heavier, Arya. I wonder if I should do some training just so I can carry you around."

"Y/N! You're back!" Brandon says then hugs you.

"Hey, little brother." You kiss his head and smile as he beams at you.

"SIS!" Rickon shouts then tackles you to no avail.

"Heya, baby bro." You pick him up and grin. "Did you grow??"

"I did! I'm defeating Arya soon!" You grin at him.

"Don't let her hear you!" You ruffle his hair then turn to Sansa. "Did you do your homework yet?"

"No? Will you help me later?" She gives you her puppy dog eyes and you groan at her. You admit that you're too weak to your siblings.

"Fine. But no talking about boys. I swear to God if I hear one more thing about-"

"But Ser Loras is just so dreamy." You look at her with a deadpan expression.

"Try me and I will sleep besides Arya." Sansa pouts.

"Fine. No boy talk." She grumbles. "Stingy."

"I'm gay. I'd rather marry another omega as long as she's a woman." Catelyn smiles as she sees you getting along with your siblings.

"Do not plant ideas in their head."

"Ma, Sansa is as straight as a ruler. These two don't even know what their second genders are." Catelyn rolls her eyes at you. "That reminds me, when's your test?" You look at Sansa as you place Rickon at his seat.

"This Monday! I'm so excited to confirm that I'm an Omega!"

"And if you're a beta?" You ask and Catelyn slaps your arm. "What? There's nothing wrong about being a beta! I wanted to be one before."

"You did?" Sansa asks and you nod. "Why?"

"More options." Catelyn hits your head and you laugh.

"Why? Does being an omega lessen your options?"

"Technically, I can't have another omega as my soulmate. Not that it matters."

"Oh yeah, dad said he sent you someone." You roll your eyes at that.

"He sent a file of someone. He wouldn't just let some stranger in my apartment."

"Who is it?? Can we know??" You groan at the excitement in Sansa's voice. There's nothing more that interests her than love talk.

"She's a Targaryen."

"The Dragon Family!" Rickon shouts and you ruffle his hair.

"Yup! Bran, do you know their motto?" Brandon hums as he gets some food.

"Yeah. Fire and Blood, right?"

"Yup! You all will get some ice cream. I brought some earlier." Catelyn glares at you. "What?"

"Cavities."

"I only visit once in a while, Ma. Just this once." Catelyn pinches your cheek. "Ow! Give! Give!"

"Just this once and don't ever do this again without saying anything to me."

"Yes, Ma! I got it! Ow!" Catelyn finally lets you go and you hold your cheek. You pout at her. "You didn't have to pinch that hard."

"You know how I feel about sweets." You sigh.

"I know. Sorry."

"Good thing the ice cream didn't give Rickon sugar rush."

"Yeah. It was a relief that Ma didn't pinch me."

"Those two boys really love you and adore you."

"They do." You look at Sansa and pat her hair. "I hope you become a beta, baby girl." Sansa scoffs at you.

"Wha- why!?" You smile sadly at her.

"So then you'll have more freedom." Sansa holds your hand. "Sadly. As an Omega, everything is controlled for you here in Westeros. Specially if you have a last name of a noble."

"Y/N." You squeeze her hand and grin.

"Hopefully, you and Arya get to decide your own futures. And your own partners." Sansa gets teary eyed at that. You let go of her hand then pat her hair again. "Time to get ready for bed. I'll just check on Arya for a second, okay?" Sansa nods at you and you close her door before covering your mouth with your hand.

Freedom. What a grand word. For you, it was thrown out the window when you got your test results.

Everyone says that Omegas have equal standings with Alphas. That the world is getting better.

"What a load of fucking bullshit." You mumble to yourself as you make your way to Arya's room.

You open the door and see that Arya is still fast asleep. You get to her bed and kiss her head.

"I hope you'll have more freedom than me, little one." You tuck her in and leave.

PS.

Jon is a Stark here and Catelyn knows he's Lyanna's son but no one knows who his father is. Let's just pretend for a second that he's not a Targaryen.

I actually was going to go the usual route for this aka Alpha Reader but decided against it. Omega Reader just works better for the angst inside my head.

#daenerys targaryen x reader #daenerys targaryen #daenerys stormborn #game of thrones #game of thrones x reader #omegaverse #omegaverse fanfic #omegaverse fic

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inkedroplets · 3 years ago

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Until the Road Runs Out

Read on AO3

After Lena shoots Lex and learns the truth about Kara she's arrested for his murder, and both she and Kara learn just how far both of them are willing to go for one another.

Alex was not at all a stranger to being roused from her sleep by inopportune phone calls. It was both the nature of her work and having a Kryptonian for a younger sister, so when her phone rattled itself across her bedside table, it took her only two clumsy swipes to scoop it up and sit up hunched against her bed’s headboard, letting her eyes acclimate to the darkness.

“Hello?” she croaked, already fumbling for the light switch in the dark, still holding out hope that whatever the emergency was, it could be solved from the comfort of her bed. Her hand grazed it a moment later and she closed her eyes tight as her room flooded with light.

“ Director Danvers. I need you to listen to me very carefully. ”

“Lena?” She sat up, hardly noticing the chill as she threw her blankets back. The shock at hearing Lena of all people on the other end of the call made her miss the strange way Lena had addressed her. “Are you—”

“ If you want to keep Supergirl’s identity a secret, you need to do exactly as I say. I don’t have a lot of time.��

For a moment, Alex had the almost irresistible urge to ask Lena the question that she was sure that Lena expected her to: Do you know? Only if she did, that would inevitably lead to another question and another like a neverending scavenger hunt and if Lena was right and Kara’s identity was at risk of getting out…

“I’m listening,” Alex said, reaching across her nightstand to grab her signal watch. She pressed it two times, knowing she wouldn’t have to wait long, and then held her phone more securely against her ear, determined not to miss a word.

“Are you okay?”

Kara had her wrapped up in a hug so tight that Alex couldn’t have answered if she wanted to. “I’m okay,” she managed to eke out before Kara finally released her, holding her by the shoulders at arm’s length.

“When I heard the watch…” Kara shook her head and she gripped Alex’s shoulders tighter as if wanting to make sure she was really there and not just a figment of her imagination.

“I’m okay,” Alex repeated and managed a weak smile in spite of everything that Lena had told her. In spite of everything that they hadn’t told Lena… She saw the worried expression on Kara’s face slowly morph into an inquisitive one and Alex dropped her gaze to the floor, pretending to brush imaginary lint from her pajamas. Was she afraid that no matter how steady she kept her voice, Kara would somehow know that there was something she was holding back? That they simply knew each other too well to not notice something was off even if they had never reached the heights that some siblings did with something bordering on telepathy between them? Maybe. Or maybe it was just her guilty conscience that was the true culprit.

Why not both?

“Alex… what’s wrong?”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Alex said, mirroring what Lena had told her on the phone, although she felt that things might be even direr than that. Depending on how close law enforcement was to the cabin, how fast they drove, things might have progressed right past ‘we don’t have a lot of time’ to ‘we don’t have any time at all. That sobering thought which seemed far closer to possibility than paranoia made it marginally easier for her to not tell Kara everything, not just yet. “How fast can you fly again?”

The twenty minutes that Kara was away after listening to Alex’s cryptic instructions were some of the most agonizing of Alex’s life. Time seemed to slow to the kind of agonizing crawl it only seemed capable of when things were going badly. She made two quick two nearly identical phone calls to both J’onn and Brainy asking for their help but remained cagey on the details as to why. She braced herself for them to ask her for more details and felt something akin to relief when neither of them did. She had dialed Kelly’s number, not wanting to do anything more than to hear her voice but when she looked over at the clock hanging over the stove and saw that it was a little after three in the morning she set her phone back down without pressing the call button.

When Kara returned, she did so seemingly empty-handed, flying back through Alex’s open window, looking more windswept than usual, a testament to how fast she must have flown to her destination.

“Alex,” she said, reaching into a pocket of her suit. She pulled out a USB stick and held it up but kept it well out of arm’s reach as if she were afraid Alex might somehow find a way to snatch it from her. “What’s going on… The cabin you sent me to, who did it belong to? Who knows my secret?”

“Did you destroy everything in the cabin?” Alex asked quietly, rethinking her decision not to call Kelly, wishing more than anything that she was here with her right now. The relief that came from knowing that Kara had beaten the authorities to the cabin was fleeting and in its absence, a mixture of fear and anxiousness rushed to fill it.

“Yes,” Kara said a little testily. “Computers and cameras and a bunch of other tech that no normal person should ever have. Everything except this.” She jiggled the flash drive in her hand. “I saved all the files I could onto this before I destroyed everything.” She closed her hand into a fist around the flash drive in a way that reminded Alex of the way some types of flowers closed their petals when day turned to night. Nyctinasty . Her brain spat out the term as if it were the answer to a test rather than one last feeble attempt to put off the inevitable for just a tiny moment longer. Before I turn Kara’s world upside down…

“Alex,” Kara said again. “Please…”

Alex allowed herself a deep breath before she answered. “The cabin belonged to Lex.”

“Of course it did,” Kara muttered darkly and raised a hand to her forehead as if she meant to strike her palm flat against it. “I don’t know why you didn’t just tell me that…” She looked partially conciliated, some of the suspicion leaving her gaze, the hand still closed around the flash drive relaxing a bit.

“Kara… I don’t know everything myself… I got the call from Lena and—”

“Lena?” Kara’s voice trembled and her eyes widened almost comically, staring back at Alex.

Alex nodded mutely, watching Kara’s hands twitch together nervously, almost as if she were folding them in prayer. She wasn’t at all surprised by the whip-like change in Kara’s demeanor but it made it that much harder for her to continue. “She didn’t tell me much… Couldn’t tell me much. They monitor all the calls coming in and out.”

“Who does?” Kara asked sharply. “Where is she?”

“Kara… Lena’s been arrested for murdering Lex.”

“That’s preposterous,” Kara spat, goggling at Alex as if she were worried she might have fallen seriously ill. “I’m the one that killed Lex. Lena had nothing to do with it.”

“I only know what Lena told me,” Alex said gently. “She called and told me that if I wanted to keep Supergirl’s identity a secret that I—”

“Lena knows?” Kara asked. The tremble in her voice was far more pronounced, almost a warble as she looked pleadingly back at Alex to take it back or maybe to shout April Fools! When she did neither of those things, Kara’s knees buckled and a hand flew to her mouth muffling a sudden exhale of breath, making Kara suddenly appear so much smaller than she was. “Who could have...” she said and answered her own question before Alex could. “Lex…”

“Most likely, yes,” Alex said. “Lena told me that I needed to get to the cabin before the authorities did. To destroy everything there…” She took a breath and saw from the look on Kara’s face that she knew there was more Alex needed to tell her. “She told me that was where she shot and killed Lex. They took the phone away before she could say anything more…”

“No,” Kara said dully, shaking her head from side to side slowly. “I don’t believe it.” She closed her eyes tight and didn’t open them for nearly a minute. When she did, Alex saw tears standing in them, glittering like sapphires.

“If Lex does have proof that you’re Supergirl, did have it, then it’s probably on that.” Alex pointed to Kara’s clenched hand, hoping she hadn’t crushed the flash drive contained within. She breathed a small sigh of relief a moment later when Kara opened her hand to reveal that it remained whole in her hand, although she would come to regret that hope later on. Later when she saw what the drive contained, she would wish that Kara had crushed it to dust in her fist.

“Play it again.”

“Kara…”

“Play it again,” Kara insisted. She felt Alex’s hand try to close gently over the tight fist her left hand had curled into and jerked away from it as if she had been burned. “If you’re not going to—”

Alex let out a small defeated sigh beside her and leaned forward over her laptop for a moment, replaying the video they had just watched.

Despite knowing what the video contained, Kara still stood horror-struck as she watched the footage for the third time. Her past self deflecting bullets with her bare hands… knocking back gunmen with a breath and burning photos with her heat vision… All things that Supergirl could do in her sleep but not Kara Danvers… At least, not the Kara Danvers that Lena thought she knew so well.

The same Kara Danvers that had convinced Lena to bring down those cold walls she had put up around herself in an effort to protect herself from being hurt again. The one who had lied to Lena in a million different ways, knowing all the while how much it would hurt her if she ever found out the truth. She had carried that awful truth around in her chest for years and all the good intentions and excuses in the world had never been enough to stop the guilt. And now it was too late.

“He showed her this?” Kara whispered, her eyes shut tight, listening to the rapid thrum of her heart beating against her chest. Alex continued to stare at the frozen image on her laptop of Kara with her glasses off, her eyes glowing crimson, a corona of vivid orangish-red like a summer sunset ringed them making it look like the power she had could just barely be contained. “Yes,” she said after a brief silence. “I think so.”

Tears shone in Kara’s eyes that she blinked back furiously. You don’t get to cry, she thought, scolding herself, denying herself what little relief crying might bring. She didn’t deserve a drop of it, not when Lena was in jail, not when she was suffering far more than her. And with that thought came the imagery of Lena in a jail cell that looked as if it had been furnished from the memory of every television or movie based around a prison. Much more Shawshank than reality but what did that matter? The cell she was in could have been furnished lavishly in silk and crammed wall-to-wall with amenities and Kara still would have wanted her out.

“Kara, wait,” Alex pleaded as Kara took a step towards the same window she had flown in through.

“I’m going to go get Lena,” Kara said as if that wasn’t already obvious.

“Kara…” Alex said patiently, trying again to place a hand over Kara’s that was still balled up into a fist. “I know how you feel…”

No, you don’t, Kara thought.

“But you can’t just go, get Lena. She’s been arrested, Kara.”

“ I killed Lex,” Kara said and thudded herself hard on the chest with her fist. “I fought him. I tried to save him and I watched him fall.”

“Did you see him land?”

“No,” Kara said somewhat impatiently, feeling as if Alex was focusing far too much on unnecessary details.

“It’s Lex,” Alex said. “ Was Lex… If anyone could find a way to fake their death and turn up again like a bad penny it would be him. And if he did, if he escaped to that cabin somehow after your fight… She pursed her lips, studying Kara’s face closely. "Isn't it possible Lena might have figured that out? That she might have—”

“Are you accusing her?”Kara asked, her voice so low it was almost a whisper. She looked up to try and spot the truth in Alex’s eyes and saw her flinch as if Kara had suddenly decided to lunge at her.

“No!” Alex shook her head. Her face was drawn into a mournful frown. “That’s not what I meant… I was just trying to say that maybe—”

“Maybe,” Kara spat out, throwing her hands up in frustration that Alex seemed to be having such a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. What did any of it matter when Lena was in jail? “Maybe Lex did survive,” she said, trying to keep her voice level, something incredibly hard to do when all she wanted to do was scream. “And I will get to the bottom of whatever’s happened, I promise, but right now I need to talk to Lena. I need to make sure that she’s okay. I need to try and explain…”

Despite knowing that what was happening was all too real, a tiny part of her still held out hope that this was all a nightmare that she could wake from. We were all together for game night, she thought, remembering how happy Lena had seemed, how she had agonized over finally coming clean about everything she had been keeping from Lena, not knowing that Lena already knew...

“J’onn and Brainy are looking into what’s happened to Lena. Once we have a better idea of what’s going on then we can figure out our next step,” Alex said, her voice the very definition of calm despite the expression on her face being the exact opposite. Her brow was drawn together and the faint worry lines that most often appeared while she was at the DEO looked as deep as furrows in the dim light from the fixture hanging above. She turned to grab her phone off the counter, maybe to show it to Kara, maybe hoping that grabbing it would somehow make it ring. When she turned back around, Kara was gone.

For as full as her mind felt, Kara thought that there was simply no more room in her head for any more thoughts. But as full as her proverbial cup may have runneth over, Kara felt new thoughts worming their way in as she landed not far from the jail where Lena was being held, shielded somewhat by the cover of some low-hanging elm trees.

Kara was familiar enough with the building and its high walls and even higher fences topped with spools of barbed wire. It had always had a coldness she had never liked but tonight it seemed to exude a chill that she could feel all the way in her bones.

How many criminals are in here because of you?

She truly had no earthly idea. How many criminals had she apprehended between all the alien and metahuman threats that she dealt with on a daily basis? Dozens? Hundreds?

How many would like a little payback for putting them in there?

If she were to extrapolate the number of people she apprehended that spent their last moments vowing some form of revenge before Kara either carted them away to be processed or left them to be scooped up by the proper authorities, she imagined the number had to be quite high. It rarely ever bothered her. The repetitiveness of the threats even became somewhat amusing occasionally. Alex had once suggested she try to make a drinking game of it once. But now, all those threats that had seemed so very empty had suddenly grown rows and rows of very sharp teeth, because…

If they can’t get to you, why not settle for Lena?

That horrible thought was enough for her to shove aside the voice of her conscience (that sounded to her so very much like Alex) trying fruitlessly to get her to turn back around, to be a little more patient.

Kara counted dozens of cameras both inside and outside and nearly as many guards. Not that either of them gave Kara much pause. She could slip past both easily enough. Maybe if an eagle-eyed guard watched back the recording they might catch a blur of red and blue but nothing more than that and if they didn’t suspect anything was amiss, they would never in a million years connect it to her. Not that it mattered to her either way. Alex hadn’t been able to talk her out of coming and she wasn’t about to let anything else stop her.

Lena’s cell was situated along the western-most wall and if there was anything even somewhat resembling a silver lining it would have been that Lena had for whatever reason been given a cell far away from all the other inmates. Perhaps on account of who she was or simply a temporary accommodation. Whatever the reason, it meant that they would have (for however short a time) something akin to privacy and that would have to do for now.

“Lena…”

Lena was so sure that she had imagined the voice that she didn’t so much as stir when she heard it. The arm she had draped over her face to stop her from looking out at the bars of her cell was stone cold. She snaked it back under the blanket that was just thick enough to keep most of the chill out of the air. The hard cot she was laying on had no padding to (save for a hard lump pressed into the small of her back) but after spending so many nights falling asleep at her desk or a lab table or the couch in her office, she hardly noticed how uncomfortable it really was. What was far easier to notice was the awful blanket she had been given. An oblong bit of polyester and synthetic fibers that was a far cry from her high thread count blankets at home. Not only was it itchy but it was just barely big enough to cover the top half of her which made it impossible for her to get warm. Since returning to her cell after making her one (and what promised to be her only call after the stunt she pulled) she’d been alternating the blanket from her chest to her legs in a bid to keep out the chill.

“Lena… It’s me, it’s Kara…”

The voice again. Her voice again, more urgent and a bit louder than before. It was harder to convince herself that she had imagined it this time. She shut her eyes tighter. The same way she had done as a child whenever she had a nightmare. A last desperate attempt to stop herself from looking at whatever horror her sleeping mind had conjured up in the watches of the night.

She counted to ten slowly and told herself when she opened her eyes that she would be alone, not truly believing it but wanting to so very much. She opened them slowly and kept her gaze trained on the ceiling for a moment, pretending she hadn’t noticed the change in the room. She turned her head slowly like it was on a rusty hinge and saw Kara peering back at her through the bars of her cell. Her hands were wrapped around the bars in a pose so cliche that it might have looked like she was posing for a picture at some tourist attraction if not for the forlorn expression on her face that looked far too real.

You know how good of an actor she is now, Lena reminded herself and that alone was enough to stoke the still-burning embers of her rage into a full-blown inferno that only grew stronger when she saw Kara's bottom lip tremble, a tear spilling down her face and dripping off the end of her chin, glittering like a small diamond in the shadowy moonlight she stood in.

Crocodile tears….

"Are you okay?"

"Tampering with evidence and trespassing on government property all on the same day. Who could ever imagine Supergirl capable of such villainy? Certainly not me…"

"I can't imagine how angry you must be with me…. How hurt…" Kara leaned closer, nearly pressing her face against the bars. "I am so sorry for not telling you sooner."

"Of course you are," Lena said, sounding almost understanding as if she might actually forgive Kara for what she had done. For what all her friends had done. Or the people she had so foolishly believed to have been her friends. "Everyone is always so contrite once they've been caught out."

"No, Lena," Kara pleaded, almost rattling the bars from how tight her grip around them was. "There's so much I need to tell you…" Her gaze flickered to the far corner of the room where a security camera that had been pointed towards her cell, an unblinking sentry, was now turned the other way, trained on the concrete wall behind it. “Are you okay?” she repeated.

“If you came here in an attempt to assuage your guilty conscience,” Lena said, her voice shaking with the effort of keeping on top of her anger. “You’re wasting your time.” She sat up slowly and could hear her heart beating rapidly in her chest, feel it in her ears, and was seized with a realization that made her want to scream: Kara could hear it too. As if being gawked at from inside her cell wasn’t infuriating enough, knowing that she couldn’t keep the profundity of her anger from Kara was the cherry on top.

“No, Lena! That’s not why I’m here.”

“Leave,” Lena said stonily. She forced herself to face her, feet touching the floor. She had come in wearing Louboutins and was now wearing a pair of orange canvas slip ons that were at least a size too big for her.

“I’m going to get you out here,” Kara pleaded. She swallowed hard, still clinging tight to the bars. “I’m going to sort this whole mess out. I’m the one who killed Lex. Whatever the police think you—”

“I killed him.” Lena relished the look of shock that statement produced on Kara’s face, wiping away the mournful look of contrition like a magic trick, making it that much easier to believe that it was all a very well-performed act, only this time she wouldn’t be fooled. She would not be the fool. “I killed him in the cabin we loved so much when we were children.”

“No…”

“You saw it for yourself,” Lena said, hating that she had revealed another piece of herself (albeit unwillingly so) to Kara when Kara had done everything in her power to stop herself from having to do the same with her. “Did you burn it down? Like how you destroyed the photos of you in Kaznia?” Of us…

"No,” Kara whispered and appeared to shrink in the face of the politely inquisitive expression on Lena’s face. “I swear, Lena…”

“Do you think your word means anything to me now?” Lena asked, not meaning to hurt Kara with the question but not feeling the least bit sorry when she saw Kara flinch back from the bars either. “I killed him for you, for our friends," she said and felt her already iffy hold on her anger slipping. “He was kind enough to tell me the truth about you and everyone else before he died. If only you had known that ahead of time, you might have been a bit more proactive in making sure he was truly dead and then you and everyone else could have kept the charade going. Continued treating me like a fool, ” she spat, pacing like a caged tiger. “Hindsight.”

“We never… I would never do that to you, Lena. I know what you must think, how it looks, but it's not true,” Kara pleaded. She swallowed what sounded like a sob and rested her forehead against the bars, tears sliding down the end of her nose. “I wanted to tell you so many times…”

“Guard!” Lena cried as she stalked back to her cot, being careful not to stomp in spite of how tempting it felt. She mentally scolded herself for not calling for a guard sooner, for letting Kara get a word in and do what she always knew Kara would once the cat was out of the bag; come to her weeping, flexing every last one of those impressive acting muscles and beg her to understand, to forgive.

“Lena… Please…”

So convincing, she thought as she heard Kara bite back another sob, not knowing whether to be impressed or angry with herself for admitting even that.

“Guard!” This time she barked loud enough for her voice to echo around the cold stone walls as she threw herself back down on her cot. She heard the faint sound of approaching footsteps and shut her eyes and again counted to ten slowly, telling herself that this time when she opened them she really would be alone.

When she got to 8 she heard a faint whooshing sound and swore she felt a breeze on her face. When she got to ten she forced herself to open her eyes and was treated to the sight of the room being empty once again, the security camera in the corner of the room now pointed back towards her cell.

A moment later the door opened and the same ruddy-faced guard who had been the one to escort her to her cell poked his head in the door, looking less than pleased that he had been summoned at her behest. "What is it Luthor?”

She took a series of shallow breaths to make sure that when she spoke it wouldn’t come out an unsteady warble, pretending that she had only just noticed his arrival. “If I want a wake-up call, do I ask you or would I need to go to the warden for that?”

The guard stared at her gobsmacked for nearly half a minute, clearly trying to deduce whether or not she was like so many of the other inmates, merely trying to get a rise out of him or if she really was so out of touch that she might think such a request would ever be honored.

“No wake-up call,” he said after deliberating on it for another moment. He shook his head and leaned on the doorway, giving Lena what she assumed was a pitying look. Poor little rich girl, the look said. Poor, naive little rich girl. “You’re lucky you’re being allowed to rest at all considering that stunt you pulled with your phone call.” He popped his gum and pointed a finger at her through the door. “You’ll get another one tomorrow so you can call your lawyer. Heavily monitored,” he added as he made to shut the door. “Sure whatever highfalutin lawyer you have on retainer will have an absolute field day when they hear you tried to get someone to destroy evidence for you.” He snorted. “Not like you can’t afford it, I guess.”

If you think that’s funny, she thought as the door shut and she was left alone again, I have a real knee-slapper for you. I did it to all to protect someone that betrayed me.

Her gaze lingered for a moment longer on the door and slid over to the place where Kara had stood. A large puddle of silvery moonlight lay splashed across the floor casting horizontal stripes of shadow from the bars of her cell. A couple of the shadows were crooked, ever so slightly imperfect, like soldiers that had fallen out of step with the rest of their platoon. Lena chalked it up to a trick of the light until she looked at the bars themselves and saw that two of them (the ones that Kara had been holding onto) had warped. The gap wasn’t nearly enough for her to even dream about using it to stage a daring prison escape but it was there all the same.

“It’s worse than I initially feared.”

Kara had already braced herself for more bad news when she returned to Alex's apartment and saw that both J'onn and Brainy had arrived sometime in the brief window she had been gone, all three of them sitting around Alex’s dining room table waiting for her like worried parents waiting up for their child to finally return home after missing curfew. She had ignored the inquisitive look from Alex that she had fixed her with the moment she had flown in through the window and instead flopped down into the only open chair around the table, her shoulders drooping like the petals of a dying flower.

She believed (very unwisely, very naively) that things couldn’t possibly get any worse. How could they when she had already ruined things so completely? What more could go wrong?

"I was able to hack into the local storage system where the NCPD keep their digital evidence,” Brainy said. “I knew they had to have something because arresting someone like Lena for anything without evidence would be supremely temerarious. I just didn’t expect it to be so damning…”

“And I’m guessing you can’t just erase the footage from the system?” Alex asked.

Brainy shook his head. “I could but it wouldn’t do any good. They’ll have multiple backups that I would have trouble getting to. Not to mention the likelihood of the raw format existing in some evidence lockup somewhere.”

“Of course,” Alex muttered, not sounding like she had ever really expected such an easy solution but looking disappointed all the same.

“How bad is it Brainy?” Kara asked. There was a tremor in her voice that would have drawn the attention of the others if not for the fact that they were already staring at her. She could feel their gaze on her like a brand and wondered if it was because Alex had told them that she had gone to see Lena or maybe because her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

“I think it might be best if you see for yourself.” He swiped his finger across the laptop’s trackpad, glancing furtively over at Alex who after a brief deliberation nodded wearily at him who offered her the same in return.

Kara recognized the room on the video at once. It was one that she had explored just over an hour ago. It was the cabin and standing in a shadowy corner of the room was… “Lena…” Her name slipped from Kara’s mouth in a weak exhale.

“Yes,” Brainy said softly, intruding on the whirlwind of thoughts that had never really stopped storming since Kara had learned that Lena had been arrested. “From the time stamp, it appears to be footage from the day Lex died. An hour after you fought him, Supergirl.”

“We never recovered a body…” J’onn hung his head, pressing a finger against the hollow of his temple. “We just assumed…”

“ I assumed,” Kara said. “I should have made sure…” I should have killed him.

“Disregarding how Lex escaped for now,” Brainy said as he fast-forwarded the clip so that the Lena waiting in the darkness appeared to fidget rapidly where she stood. “Lena arrives nearly an hour before Lex does.”

“She knew he would be there,” Alex said.

“It would appear so and therein lies ours and Lena’s biggest problem.” He paused the video on a frame of Lena pulling out a gun from a pocket of her coat.

“Premeditation,” Alex groaned, glancing from the frozen image of Lena cradling the gun in her hand to Kara and back again like a nail-biter of a match at Wimbledon.

“She did it to protect us,” Kara said, rounding on all of them, taking very little solace in the guilt she observed on all three of their faces, knowing that it was echoed on her own, as well. To protect me…

“Did Lena tell you that?” Alex asked. “What else did she say?”

“She didn’t have to,” Kara replied, a touch more coolly than she intended, sidestepping Alex’s second question. She felt Alex staring at her, willing her to look at her but Kara kept her gaze focused stubbornly on the image of Lena frozen there on Alex’s laptop, refusing to even entertain the idea of getting sidetracked. “Please continue, Brainy.”

“Of course… Lex arrives fifteen minutes later by transmatter portal.” He forwarded the video to the moment in question and Kara watched transfixed as Lex stepped out of the portal. It was like watching some horrible stage illusion. She could almost see the headline that would advertise just such a feat: See the astounding Lex cheat death. Watch him disappear through the portal of mystery.

Except he wouldn't be so lucky the second time around. Kara watched as Lena slipped from her shadowy corner and pressed what looked like a shock baton against the base of Lex's neck. Watched as they had a brief unknowable conversation before Lena once more produced the gun from her pocket followed quickly by two bright muzzle flashes before the video came to an abrupt end. Not that Kara needed to see anymore, she knew what happened next. With what was his assuredly dying breath he would reveal to Lena what Kara knew she should have done so very long ago.

"Shit," Alex murmured, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled over them like a pall.

"Do we have any idea how the police got ahold of the video in the first place?" J'onn asked. “We had no idea…” He shook his head. “I have no idea who else could have known.”

Brainy shook his head. "Only theories for now but if you asked me which one I found most probable, I would say that Lex is the most likely culprit."

"He is dead though, right?" Alex asked, a trembling note of exasperation in her voice. Her eyes darted around to look at everyone else around the table, seemingly to gauge if she was the only one crazy enough to consider it.

“While no body has been recovered, judging from the close proximity and trajectory of the gunshots, I would say that the chances of Lex being alive are astronomically low. But if he had the foresight to prepare a video of Kara using her powers to show Lena, it's not much of a deductive leap to think he could have prepared a similar contingency in the event of his death."

"We can figure that out later. What can we do for Lena, now ?" Kara asked, feeling that they were getting hung up on questions that they could find the answer to after Lena was back home. She turned to look at them in turn, gaze boring into them, wanting answers.

The long silence that followed was its own answer and one that Kara had known deep down was coming. Of course, there was a chance (no matter how tiny) that she was wrong and there was a solution she just wasn’t seeing, and in her panic and her anger wouldn’t that be almost logical? It was that shuddering hope that everything was fine, that everything could be fine, that she clung to as desperately as a drowning person might cling to whatever bit of flotsam they could find.

“Before you arrived, J’onn mentioned getting in touch with some of his contacts in the NCPD,” Brainy said. “Figure out what kind of case they have against Lena…” He glanced over at J’onn who was already digging his phone from the pocket of his jacket. “And we can analyze the video, look for anything that might be useful… But,” he said carefully. “I’m afraid that there’s nothing we can do currently about Lena’s situation. I’m sorry, Kara.”

“You’re being overly stubborn. As usual,” Lillian said.

“And you coming here has robbed me of the only good thing about being in jail,” Lena replied, not tearing her gaze away from the ceiling where she was counting cracks. She had been doing the same thing for two weeks now. Not that there was much else for her to do. There was the book cart that had come squeaking down the hallway pushed by an older man who looked like he might moonlight as a mall Santa in the winter months from how well he seemed to fit the part with his sizable gut and beard that was just as white as the hair on his head.

But the book selection had been meager and after forcing herself to push through a hardboiled detective book with clunky prose and a protagonist that made her want to reach through the pages and strangle she had gone back to counting cracks on the ceiling and trying very hard not to think about Lex or Kara or any of the other people she had once thought were here friends.

“If you had met with the lawyers I hired, I wouldn’t have had to come here,” Lillian took a cautious step closer to the bars of Lena’s cell, seemed to think better of it, and returned to hovering near the doorway as if she was afraid if she got too close they might try to throw her into the cell with Lena.

“You should have told them to tell me that. I might have let them talk my ear off if it saved us from having another one of our delightful mother-daughter chats.”

“Hindsight,” Lillian replied, and Lena had a sudden image of her saying the same thing to Kara when she had come to grovel. “I can only guess that you wanting to stay in jail is an exercise in self-flagellation?”

“No, Mother,” Lena said, counting one last spindly crack near the westernmost wall before finally sitting up. “I’m in jail because I killed Lex. Funnily enough, I don’t get to decide when I leave. It’s why I’m in a cell and they have all the guards posted around the place."

“Not with that attitude you can’t. Not if you insist on pleading guilty,” Lillian said and Lena heard impatience creeping into her voice like an early-winter frost. “Not if you don’t accept my help, Lena."

“And all the little strings that come attached to that help.”

“Not this time,” Lillian said and took a careful step closer to the bars. “No strings. No hidden agenda. No expectations.”

“Have L-Corp’s stock taken that much of a tumble?” Lena sneered, looking for the very strings that her mother assured her weren’t there. One of the first and most long-lasting lessons she had learned after being adopted by the Luthors’ was that any and all gestures in the Luthor household even remotely resembling affection came with terms, conditions, and provisos attached to them.

The possibility that L-Corp had entered a tailspin (especially on account of her own actions) would have normally sent her into a panic. She had put her all into trying to right the ship, undoing all of the damage that Lex had done to the company. It had at times felt utterly futile like she were the Captain of an already sinking ship. For as many small victories as she had claimed there had been just as many setbacks; icebergs that she had somehow navigated around by the skin of her teeth. Unnecessary reminders of just how odious the Luthor name was to everyone else. But now she could barely manage to summon anything more than a polite kind of curiosity. Everything else in her personal life had burnt to cinders, why not everything in her professional life too?

“News of your arrest hasn’t reached the papers,” Lillian said. “I won’t hold my breath for a thank you. Do you think it's been easy to keep your name out of the papers, to keep delaying your trial?"

Don’t hold back on my account, Lena thought.

“I understand your skepticism, Lena,” Lillian said in a tone that Lena was sure she thought sounded patient, maybe even motherly when to Lena’s ears it only sounded patronizing. “Is it such an impossible thing for you to consider that I would want what’s best for my daughter?”

“Yes,” Lena said baldly, unsure what she wanted to do more, laugh at the sheer absurdity of the question or return to her cot and hope that the silent treatment would be enough to drive her mother away for today at least.

“We’re the only ones left, Lena,” Lillian said slowly as if she was afraid that Lena might not grasp the meaning of her words otherwise. “Lex is gone—”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Lena murmured, taking a modicum of grim satisfaction in seeing her mother’s facade crumble for the briefest of moments. The frown, the brief glimpse of what Lena believed might actually be sorrow there and gone in an instant like a flash of lightning.

But you are sorry. The voice in her head was so clear that it could have come from one of the dark corners of her cell. Lex’s voice.

“Lex is dead,” Lillian said in a tone that was all business, “and the stunt you pulled to protect Supergirl’s identity appears to have worked. “There’s no reason for you to—”

“How long have you known?” Lena asked, walking close enough to the bars that she could reach through them and almost touch her mother if she wanted to.

“A lot later than I should have. My lawyers contacted me when—”

“About Supergirl’s identity,” she hissed, her anger growing like the swell of an orchestra in her chest. “How long have you known?” She watched as understanding broke on her mother’s face, could almost see the gears beginning to turn in her head as she put the pieces together.

“How long have you known?” Lillian asked and answered before Lena could even think about replying. “Lex told you…”

“Before he died, yes.” She felt a tightness building in her throat, willing it away. “He always had to have the last word… The last laugh. But you were all laughing at me, weren’t you, Mother?”

“I knew you would figure it out eventually,” Lillian said graciously as if that act alone would put her in the running for Mother of the Year. “Not that you would have believed me if I had tried. But why protect her now, Lena? She betrayed you.”

“I know she did!” Her reply leaped from her throat like a predator emerging from dense undergrowth. She brought the flat of her palm against one of the bars sending a shuddering bolt of pain racing down to her elbow. “Get out,” Lena growled. She grasped the bars separating them, her left hand closing around one of the bars that Kara had bent and relinquished it as if it had burned her. “Don’t come back,” she warned, acutely aware of how empty her threat was. She could no sooner stop her mother from coming to visit her than walking out of her jail cell.

“I can get you out of here anytime you like,” Lillian said, looking unperturbed as Lena glowered back at her. “You know that.” She took a few steps towards the door, stopped, and turned back around to face her, something that Lena had seen her mother do countless times. A move she chalked up to Lillian's compulsion to always get the last word in, something she had likely passed down to Lex….

"You haven't been eating," There wasn't so much as a hint of concern in her mother's voice. Only a note of dull surprise as if she couldn't force herself to care all that much.

Lena clenched her jaw and brought a hand up to brush tentatively against her cheek with the same trepidation she might show when probing a wound to check if it was a mortal one. She ran her hand along what was now the gaunt hollow of her cheek and felt the corners of her mouth tug upward into a humorless smile. She hadn't been eating. A mixture of the food being dangerously close to inedible (that day's lunch had been what the guard had called nutraloaf) and her lack of an appetite had made her skip most of the meals that had been delivered to her cell and only pick at the ones she did eat.

The hunger pangs had been an almost welcome distraction when she tried to sleep, letting her focus on something other than the predictable carousel of her thoughts that made sleep close so elusive. Thoughts of the people she had so foolishly believed had cared for her. Thoughts of Lex… And of Kara. Kara and Supergirl. Only, there was no and, not really.

She had gone out of her way to try and keep the changes to her body a secret from even herself in a vain attempt to stop herself from realizing how much weight she had really lost. Showering which had once upon a time been one of the few luxuries she had always allowed herself was now a fleeting affair, not just because she had no desire to linger under the cold sputtering spray where she felt as if she was being watched but to stop herself from noticing how diminished her body felt just by touch alone.

There was no mirror to speak of in her cell. The closest thing to it was a little square of metal bolted securely over the sink that reflected only a distorted almost shapeless blob that only remotely resembled a human face but that didn’t stop her from averting her gaze whenever she used the sink, trying to pretend she hadn’t noticed how sharp the angles of her face looked even in that muddy reflection.

“Until you come to your senses, I’ll do what I can about your meals here… and your sleeping arrangements.” There was a weariness in her mother’s voice, that of a ruler that had for the first time understood the enormity of the idiom: Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Here was a problem that she would reluctantly solve. Not out of love but out of duty. Maybe even pity. Had there been a moment in her life where Lena had ever felt lower? More pathetic?

“Go,” Lena murmured, not even having the strength to yell, stalking back to her cot and letting herself fall back onto it. The silence that followed was punctuated by the sound of heels clicking against the floor, followed by the sound of the door on the far side of the room opening and closing. Only then did Lena allow herself to take a shuddering breath, furious at the tears she could feel standing in her eyes.

The ceiling appeared to swim, almost pitch sideways as she tried to focus her attention on the cracks in the ceiling, starting to count them again when she heard the approaching sound of the book cart from down the hall. The low unceasing squeaky whine from one of the back wheels made it impossible to mistake for anything else although in the three weeks she had been here, it had come only once a week, every Monday, and that had been only three days ago.

Unless you lost track of time , she told herself. Time which she never had enough of when she was running L-Corp had ceased to have much meaning in jail. No meetings for her to rush to and from, no projects to look over, no board meetings to attend. Was it so preposterous to think that she had somehow lost a few days in her current state? I’ll need to start scratching score marks into the wall to keep track of the days if I can’t keep track in my head. Not that it was entirely her fault. She had remained isolated from the other inmates since her arrival, a measure that she wasn’t quite sure if she had her mother to thank for or if those in charge simply understood how bad of an idea letting her mix with the general population as if they wanted to ensure she stayed alive to make it to trial.

But as safe as her body might have been, mentally she was struggling. She had once considered herself very nearly an exception to the rule when it came to John Donne’s musing that: No man was an island . She had grown accustomed to being alone and to loneliness. But the weeks in isolation had been trying and while she normally welcomed the challenge, oftentimes finding it easier to rise to the occasion when her back was against the wall, she was unimaginably tired.

“Lena?”

She flinched upon hearing her name, at the familiarity she heard in the gravelly voice, despite there being no reason for it to be there. He had never tried to strike up a conversation before whenever he had come by with the book cart. In fact, she had been under the impression that he didn’t even know who she was. There had been no flash of recognition on his face, no sign of a self-satisfied grin like she had seen on some of the guards’ faces as if her being in jail had proven some great universal truth that they had only been able to have faith in until then.

“Don’t want a book today,” she said flatly, not wanting to have any kind of conversation with him but wanting him gone even more.

“You don’t look well…” and the concern she heard in his voice had the opposite effect it might have normally had, making her anger burn that much hotter.

“Fuck you too,” she murmured, turning on your side to face the wall.

The first time that Kara had taken up a post beside the front gate of the jail she had been approached very quickly by the warden, who had wanted to know just what she was doing there. The lie she had prepared about a reliable tip the DEO had received about an alien-looking to break out a prisoner had been all the warden had needed to hear. He had looked relieved to have a Kryptonian there for backup in the event of an emergency.

She had returned daily to stand in the same spot, hardly moving, and while the guards whispered about her from inside, peered out at her from the windows, she barely noticed. Her attention focused wholly on Lena who was still sequestered away in her lone cell, who hardly moved from her cot and only picked at her meals.

The only thing that could get her to abandon her sentry duty (especially today of all days) was an emergency that required Supergirl. She had been called away to stop a bank robbery that she had foiled in a matter of minutes. First by plucking a hail of bullets fired her way from the air like petals from a daisy in a game of effeuiller la marguerite when she burst in through the front entrance before disarming and restraining the thieves with ease, trying to force a smile when the civilians in the bank cheered for her when she had flown away.

When she touched back down in front of the gate surrounding the jail, she was startled when it began to slide open jerkily as if her arrival had set off a motion alarm. There was a rusted whine that bleated out from whatever mechanism operated the gate that abated and she saw Lillian Luthor step through the opening that had appeared.

“Please don’t tell me you’ve been standing out here like a lovesick teenager?” She made a clucking sound with her tongue. “ This imbroglio is entirely your fault,” Lillian said, looking back at Kara with a look of disdain that she was accustomed to but for the first time felt entirely deserving of.

“Yes, it is,” Kara murmured. “How is Lena?”

“I think you already know.” Lillian studied her carefully and let a long silence pass between them before speaking again. “Despite Lena’s insistence on playing the martyr, I planned to secure her release today.”

There was a fleeting sense of triumph followed by a cautious relief that was incredibly short-lived when she realized that Lillian was speaking in the past tense. “Planned to? What changed?”

“You, Supergirl.” The poorly disguised impatience in Lillian’s voice turned a few degrees colder as if she suspected Kara of playing dumb. “I told you what would happen when Lena found out the truth. Do you remember?”

“Yes,” Kara murmured, feeling strangely like she was being reprimanded. “I remember…” Initially, she had thought of what Lillian had said as a threat, a Sword of Damocles dangling precariously over her head that could fall at any time. Upon learning the way that Lena had found out her secret she had come to think of that conversation with Lillian as some ill omen that had finally come to pass. Now though, she understood what it had really been: A warning. One that she had ignored, the first of many that she had turned a blind eye to; too frightened of what she feared most becoming reality.

“She does hate you,” Lillian said, nodding thoughtfully, looking more as if she were merely thinking aloud rather than trying to twist the knife even deeper than it already was (even though hearing those words did just that.) “But she still protected you… Likely the last dying gasp of her affection for you. And that’s why she’ll need to remain here a bit longer…”

“What do you mean?” Kara asked, a chill seeping into her voice.

“A little more time here for her to dwell on what you’ve done and whatever love she once had for you will truly disappear and when that happens, she’ll swallow her pride and come to me for help. And then she’ll be able to put all of this foolishness behind her.”

“You’re her mother,” Kara hissed, appalled that there were still depths that Lillian could sink to that could still surprise her. “If you want to hurt me… hurt me. If anyone deserves to be punished—”

“I want what’s best for Lena,” Lillian said plainly, cutting her off without having to raise her voice. “And that’s why it’s so important that she make a clean break of things now. Even if that means a bit more hardship… Which is why we’re having this conversation in the first place.”

“To gloat?”

“To warn you to stay away from her. You’re free to keep your vigil out here for however how long you like. I’m sure this public display of pentinence must make your guilt that much more bearable. For the same reason, I’m sure that Lena is so determined to remain imprisoned. But I’d advise against trying to talk to her… throwing yourself on her mercy. I’ll make sure from now on that the guards remain vigilant about the possibility of non-human intruders.”

You’re a little too late for that,” Kara thought, wondering if Lillian would have even bothered with such measures if she knew that she had already tried talking to Lena and had only ended up making things even worse than she already had.

“Have a good day, Miss Danvers,” Lillian said, already walking towards a waiting SUV, not bothering to keep her voice down in the slightest, not that there was anyone around to overhear.

Kara could only stare as Lillian’s SUV very quickly become a tiny moving speck on the road leading back into the city before it completely vanished from sight as it crested a hill, never feeling more defeated than she did at that moment.

“Supergirl…”

She heard the heavy tread of footsteps and the crunch of gravel underneath them as they drew closer and turned expectantly towards the source of them. The man approaching her was a stranger, although he had a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. All he was missing was the red suit and reindeer.

The man might have been a stranger but the troubled expression on his face was one that she found incredibly familiar…

“J’onn,” she said as he drew closer. “How is she?”

The frown on the stranger’s face deepened and in it, she saw more of J’onn bleeding through like sunlight piercing through a dense cloud. “Not here,” he said and it wasn’t back towards the jail where his gaze flickered to but Kara’s fists which were clenched so tight they were shaking.

Seated around Alex’s dining room table for what felt like the hundredth time in only the last few weeks, Kara understood just why J’onn had refused to talk at the jail, perhaps knowing that if he had, she might have done what Alex seemed to have been afraid of from day one; that she would simply knock down the walls of Lena’s cell and fly off with her. She knew that Lena wasn’t sleeping well, that she wasn’t eating well but hearing J’onn describe just how absent Lena had seemed, how diminished… The pain of knowing that she was to blame that had already been almost too much for her to bear threatened to overwhelm her.

“Kara…” Alex pleaded from her left. She reached out as if to grab hold of Kara’s hand but seemed to change her mind partway there and only rested her hand atop of Kara’s for a brief moment, perhaps realizing that Kara would derive no comfort from the gesture.

“She can’t be there any longer, Alex,” Kara said in a voice that was eerily calm when inside her chest was a storm that threatened to swallow her whole.

“Kara…”

“If you want to try and talk me out of it, you’ll be wasting your breath and my time. If you want to help me,” she said and felt that calm begin to erode, her voice starting to shake, “then please, help me.”

Tears stood in Alex’s eyes. Her jaw was set, her mouth pressed together so firmly that they looked like they might need to be pried apart. She nodded slowly, a tear slipping down her cheek. “I want to help, Kara but I don’t know what to do. If I thought that I could put Lena up in a DEO safehouse, if I thought she would agree to our help then I would in a heartbeat but even if by some miracle she did, Lillian would know where to start looking.”

“I don’t want the DEO involved,” Kara said. “Honestly, I don’t want to involve any of you…” She looked at all of them in turn, and although she didn’t vocalize the second half of her sentence she felt that she didn’t need to. From the looks on everyone’s faces, they understood completely. I don’t want anyone else I love to get hurt because of me. “But I don’t know if I can do this alone.”

“Then it’s very good that you aren’t alone then,” J’onn said, a sentiment that was echoed around the table, all eyes focused on her.

“Here,” Alex said and pressed a key fob attached to a solitary key into her hand before throwing her arms around her and squeezing very tight. “The car is parked two blocks over underneath a burned-out streetlight. There are fake IDs and cash in the glovebox. The IDs won’t hold up under any kind of scrutiny but they’ll fool a spot check, at least. It’s a grey car. Grey cars are supposed to get stopped less often than other cars… Brainy thinks it’s all bullshit. Called the statistics specious at best… But you never know�� it could help.”

“Yeah,” Kara murmured. “You never know… I’ll be careful. We’ll be careful. I’ve had a lot of practice hiding,” she said and was glad that Alex was still hugging her because try as she might she couldn’t force herself to smile at her little joke.

“Nia and Clark will keep an eye on the city and J’onn and M’gann are in place. Brainy is too. You should have a clear shot out of the city… After that…”

“I know,” Kara said and held Alex tighter, trying to put everything she couldn’t put into words into her embrace.

“Two presses on your signal watch at midnight National City time so I know you’re okay,” Alex said and tapped her finger against the dial of Kara’s watch, finally breaking the embrace.

“Three if something goes wrong,” Kara said, wanting to do what little she could to put Alex’s mind at ease.

“Which it won’t,” Alex said. She sniffed, eyes red, and nodded. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kara said, pocketing the key and pulling Alex into another hug. “I love you, Alex.”

“I love you too…” She sniffed and pulled away from Kara to swipe a hand over her eyes, checking her watch and letting out a little sob that she tried to mask by clearing her throat loudly. “It’s time. The guard change is in ten minutes… Even if Lillian asked them to double their security…” “I’m Supergirl. Nothing’s going to stop me,” Kara replied and did manage an all too brief smile that helped steady her although it only seemed to make Alex more nervous than she already was, her hands twitching out towards her likely debating whether or not to try and stop Kara from leaving. She rose off of the ground, cape fluttering out behind her as she floated to the window and heard Alex ask the question Kara had been known she would since they had started planning that afternoon. “What if Lena doesn’t want to go with you?” Alex asked, sounding ashamed that she dared to voice that particular concern aloud instead of keeping it to herself. “She will,” Kara replied, hoping that Alex believed her, knowing that she didn’t.

Lena woke to the low din of hushed conversation from just beyond her cell on the other side of the door. Now, even sounds as small as those were enough to rouse her. Sleep was something she drifted in and out of so frequently that it was getting harder for her to separate the two. Waking or dreaming, she was still tormented by the same thoughts, a seemingly neverending chain of epiphanies that made her realize just how stupid she was. Kara being at her side one minute before disappearing, only for Supergirl to make a hasty appearance and disappear just as suddenly, just in time for Kara to return. The hazy memory (that she had somehow convinced herself had been a dream) of Kara flying with her after being poisoned.

Those realizations stung like poisonous barbs but it was the ones that followed that made it feel as if her heart was being wrenched from her chest. Supergirl admonishing her, glaring at her the way that everyone else always did when they realized she was Lena Luthor . The mistrust she saw so clearly in her eyes. The pain of knowing better but still being foolish enough to hope that Supergirl might actually see her for who she was and the relief and comfort she had found in the depth of Kara’s love and trust for her. How she had found solace in the warmth of her gaze, not knowing at the time that it was all just an act. You should have known better… The words echoed in her head and each time it did it sounded as if it were spoken by another person. First her own voice, then her mother’s then Lex’s, and finally Kara’s. There was a guffaw of laughter that broke through the silence like a pane of glass shattering before she heard the sound of footsteps getting further and further away. How many guards does it take to guard a Luthor? she thought, knowing that there was a joke there somewhere. She knew without question that the extra guards were her mother’s doing. There was no if or maybe about it. She had no idea as to why her mother thought she needed extra eyes on her. A credible threat to her life? Or maybe seeing her current condition had unnerved her mother enough that she thought it wise that security should be ramped up. Not that it had worried her enough to offer Lena a kind word or a scrap of affection but enough to want to keep her alive, at the very least.

She rolled onto her back and felt a stab of hunger that was like a blunt knife being thrust into her side. Grimacing, she shut her eyes, already feeling herself slip into that liminal place between sleeping and awake that was so much like a fog when she heard a querulous whine of something heavy and metallic from the door before it was forced open. She cracked open one eye, expecting to see a guard poke their head inside. Too tired to think of anything remotely sarcastic or clever she lay stock-still, hoping that would be enough for them to leave her alone. She didn’t expect to see Kara, not after the last time. “Oh, Lena…”Her name left Kara’s mouth in a shuddery breath that sounded as if it caught in her throat. The pity in her voice was unmistakable and that made Lena see red. “I don’t want your pity,” she hissed, forcing herself up into a sitting position so fast that her head swam, shrinking further back on her cot to obscure her more completely in shadow, not wanting Kara to see (not wanting anyone to see) how weak she must have looked. “Why did you come back?” she asked and then realizing the magic word that would get her to leave, yelled, “Guard!” loud enough for her voice to echo harshly back at her. She expected to see Kara vanish right before her eyes, maybe feel the wind blow past her as she sped away. What she didn’t expect was to see Kara’s eyes turn the orangish-red of a vibrant summer sunset and weld the door shut, the metal around the seams turning a bright orange. “What the fuck are you doing?” Lena asked, too surprised to remember to be angry.

“I know you must hate me, Lena… I know you think you deserve to be in here but you don’t. You should never have to do what you did… I should have taken care of Lex. I should have... I should have done a lot of things.” “Being in jail is already cruel and unusual enough punishment for me,” Lena spat. She heard the echoing reply of approaching footsteps, several of them followed by a loud thud as someone threw their weight against the door. “I’ll take you anywhere, I’ll do anything you ask of me, just let me take you away from here,” she pleaded, seemingly ignoring the loud shouts from the other side of the door and the almost rhythmic bangs as the guards outside tried to force it open. Whether it was manufactured or not, Lena could hear the desperation in Kara’s voice. She felt a flicker of anger that had the same effect as tossing a lit match onto a puddle of gasoline. Just like her mother’s offer of salvation, Kara’s rescue came with its own conditions. Let me absolve myself of what little guilt I feel and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, let you spend the rest of your life running from the law. Just as long as I can feel like a good person at the end of the day… But that doesn’t mean I can’t get what I want… she thought. And what did she want? More than her desire to be punished for killing Lex, more than her she wanted a hot shower away from prying eyes or food that she didn’t have to force to keep down? She knew. The answer had been there long before the question had.

I want to hurt you just as much as you hurt me…

“You’ll take me anywhere?” Lena asked, searching Kara's face for any sign of a tell, unsure if she would even be able to spot it if she had one. “Yes. Anywhere." “You’ll do anything I ask?” “Yes."

“Fine,” Lena said, still searching Kara's face for any sign of dishonesty just as the hammering on the door reached a fever pitch, more weight being thrown against it, making the door appear to bulge inward. “Stand back from the bars,” Kara instructed and stepped forward. Both hands closed around the same two bars she had warped ever so slightly on her first visit. Their eyes met and Lena scrabbled back clumsily onto her cot, watching as Kara pulled the entire cell door off, leaning it against the opposite wall daintily. “Just a minute,” Kara said, some of the panicky tightness in her voice that sounded to Lena like overly tuned violin strings was gone, and in its place, there was a shadow of the confidence that Supergirl seemed to naturally ooze. There was a thunderous bang against the door that was loud enough to startle Lena, the shock of it making her flinch. “One more!” a triumphant voice called from the other side followed by another loud crash, the door looking more and more like a discarded bit of scrap metal. When it finally fell, it did so at Kara's feet, the sound like that of a car crash before five guards filed in, guns and batons raised. "Supergirl?!" the ruddy-faced guard said. His gun dipped, perhaps not relishing the idea of pointing a gun at Supergirl or understanding the futility of such an action. "What are you doing here? Was she trying to escape?" He pointed at Lena, eyes flashing. Lena raised her middle finger in return and shot Kara a dirty look, wondering what it would take for suspicion to fall on Supergirl. You could probably march into a bank and clean out the vault and they'd think you were going to bring it all right back...

"Thank God you were here—" "No," Kara said, shaking her head. "Lena's not trying to escape. I'm breaking her out." "You're what?" "I'm sorry," Kara replied and while she looked it, head bowed and shoulders slumped, it didn't stop her from taking a deep breath and letting it out in one strong exhale that was strong enough to knock the entire group back into the hall, the sound of which produced a heavy thudding noise, and while Lena was sure they were all alive, she wasn't as sure if they were all conscious." Sparing them the quickest of glances, Lena watched as Kara stepped into her cell, her presence alone making it feel too confined to house the both of them. Too friendly, Lena thought and in a bid to put a tiny bit more distance between them pressed her back pressed flush against the cold concrete wall, sapping what little body heat she had accumulated by keeping as still as she could underneath her sorry excuse for a blanket. "What now?" she asked, clearly insinuating that she believed Kara was simply making up things as she went along. Kara's attention which had been fixed pointedly on the westernmost wall, turned back towards her, a ghost of a smile touching the corners of her mouth for one brief instant. "We run," she said and raised her right fist, bringing down the wall as if it were made of cardboard.

#supercorp #supercorp fic #lena luthor #kara danvers #tick tock it's angst o'clock #Just a Super and a Luthor on the run from the law #canon divergent because canon sucks #where Kara and Lena both get to unpack their little boxes #and maybe fall in love when all is said and done #my writing #I swear to Rao this was supposed to be like a 1k drabble

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