#and Katie said she’d be ‘a full Lena’ when Kara gets back

[softlenaluthor]

Hey all, I have changed my URL brand. This was really hard decision for me because smolperalta is a URL I’ve been using for literal years so that’s how many of you have come to know me, but since I don’t post about B99 as often as I used to, I felt like it was time to let go. 😔

I still love and respect the softest man Jake Peralta (and I hope the creation of his character will pave the way for more fictional men like him) but now I love and respect both him and Lena. 🥰

[coeurdastronaute]

Either/Or: Single 4

Previously on Single

Beep.

“Ms. Luthor, your car is here.”

The voice from the intercom cut through the office, but did nothing to stop the two on the couch in the office at the top of the Luthor Building. The announcement earned a growl of complaint that soon turned into a purr.

For the past two months, the makeouts had been occurring with increased fervency and frequency. They were cropping up at very inopportune times, or rather, they were happening and there weren’t any inopportune times to continue or escalate them.

“Kara, darling,” Lena whispered as a hand slid up her side. Lips moved to her neck and her hips moved against a thigh, pushing her dress up dangerously higher on her own.

Nothing really deterred Kara though, and Lena was grateful for that. She wanted to stretch every minute as long as possible. They’d been doing this dance for the past few weeks, of leaving each other breathless and eager, and with no way to fix it. There were dinners, though Kara had a curfew, and when they couldn’t see each other, there were emails and phone calls until late at night.

It left other times for making out, which was something they excelled at, Lena realized when her intercom buzzed yet again.

Nothing stopped her from kissing Kara back though before they lost the breath and had to separate, eyes dilated and chests fighting for air. She was almost certain she’d run a few miles, or at least that what she sounded like. Her poor couch had now seen its fair share of pretty dirty make out sessions, and she had to put it out of its misery.

“I have to go,” Lena sighed.

“Yeah, I know. I should too,” Kara smiled, though neither moved. Instead, Kara kissed her back harder, taking her breath away one last time. “No, I really should.”

“You’ve turned me into a teenager, Danvers.”

With a sheepish smile, Kara leaned back and surveyed the mussed mess that was now the CEO of the largest tech company on the planet. She wanted to kiss her more, but knew that she wouldn’t stop if she started again.

“I’m going to have to start allocating more time for my lunches.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even let you finish telling me about your trip,” Kara shook her head and began to adjust her own clothe as Lena stood and fixed her dress. “I got kind of happy to see you.”

“Believe me, this was much better than regaling you with stories of meetings and dinners. For future reference, I’m not saying that being a teenager is a bad thing.”

“Still. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s almost like you like me,” she teased, adjusting her lipstick in a mirror.

Re-tucking her shirt in, Kara watched Lena fix herself, make herself presentable, all power and might and previously completely filthy on the couch. It made her mouth dry and it made her want to kiss her again, just to ruin the pretty red lipstick. Kara had dreams about that pretty red lipstick.

“I wanted to hear about your trip, too. I didn’t come over just to mess up your couch.”

“It doesn’t mind, and neither do I,” Lena promised. “But you could make it up to me with dinner maybe?”

Beep.

“Miss Luthor, I would cancel, but the lawyers always get so anxious.”

The two shared a look and almost sighed in unison with the imposition of the real world. Kara watched Lena saunter toward her desk and press the button before telling her assistant that she was on her way.

“You look really pretty,” Kara offered. “I wanted to tell you that when I first came in, but I got distracted.”

“You’re the sweetest.”

“I’d love to take you to dinner. But it’s a school night. Unless you want to come over?”

“To your house?”

“Yes.”

Nervously, Kara was started, and it took her brain a second to catch up to her mouth and what she’d just said. It’d be a big step, for Lena to come over, or for Lena to spend an extended amount of time in the same place as her daughter, even if it was after bedtime.

“Are you sure?” Lena waited, feeling out the invitation.

“Yes, of course. Yeah, I want to see you, and we’re doing this slowly, so it should be fine, right?” she convinced herself. “Katie will be asleep the whole time, so you don’t have to look so scared.”

“Me? No. I’m not scared,” she shook her head. “I’m very cool with it all.”

“Cool with it, huh?” Kara cocked an eyebrow and smiled slightly.

“I am, thank you,” Lena challenged, hand on her hip. “And I would love to because I will take any time I can get to see you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

Tickled at the thought of it and still oddly wound up from the session on the couch, Kara moved toward Lena and let arms be wrapped around her neck. Lena always smelled so good, and she always felt so good. It was becoming a problem.

“Come over around eight?” Kara grinned.

She earned a kiss and another buzzing of the speaker and another growl.

“It’s a date.”

It was a complete and total lie, Lena realized as she stood outside of Kara’s apartment and tried to work up some courage to actually knock. Halfway through her two o’clock meeting, the CEO found herself struck by the notion of going to Kara’s and having dinner there. She reminded herself that Lena had a kid and they were going slow. She remembered that she was falling madly in love with a mom.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget, and Lena didn’t get too in her head about what it all meant. Sometimes, they just necked on a couch or had dinner and smiled at each other and talked about things that they didn’t want to tell anyone else. Kara was sweet and kind and funny and oddly innocent and her kisses left Lena reeling. She was someone that anyone would fall in love with, and so she couldn’t ignore it.

That was how she ended up at the door, nervously wringing her hands and trying to muster some courage.

“Nǐ hǎo,” a little voice answered the door, earning a smile from the CEO.

“Wǎnshang hǎo,” Lena nodded with a slight bow. “That’s very impressive.”

“My mom said you went to China and they speak different languages there,” she explained, quite seriously. “I added more pages to my book. Do you want to see?”

“I would love to!”

Even though she was nervous and talked herself out of seeing Kara’s daughter, Lena used the same philosophy she’d used for every part of her business meetings and empire building-- absolutely faking confidence.

“Hey, Lena, I’m sorry,” Kara greeted her from the kitchen as she closed the door behind her. “I was just finishing up and I lost track of time. Can you believe China took a lot of googling?”

“I can imagine.”

“Mommy said you get to go all over the place for your work,” Katie interrupted, not bothered at all that she was awake still. “Where else do you go?”

“Oh, well, I go pretty much everywhere at some point. A few weeks ago I was in Japan, and then before that, Berlin, Peru, Egypt, Australia--”

“Wow,” she whispered, wide eyed as the list continued. “Can you show me on the map?”

“You have a map?” Lena asked as pages were flipped in the notebook.

Sure enough, a printed map of the world was glued and haphazardly colored across two pages, with a little star marking where they currently lived, and another with Lena’s last trip. She took a seat on the couch, already forgetting Kara’s work in the kitchen. So quickly the little girl was able to take and keep her attention without her even noticing it. If she had, she might have caught Kara’s look and softness, or she might have even realized how good she was at having it. But instead, she marvelled at the map.

“One day, I’ll be able to go to all of the places,” Katie explained. “The earth is full of lots of different people. Where is your favorite place?”

“Well, you already have it on your map,” Lena explained, pointing to National City. “There’s no place like home.”

“But where else?”

“I liked every place for different reasons. Each one has a special moment in it. Which reminds me,” she recalled before moving to grab her bag from the chair. “I hope your mom isn’t too mad, but I saw this and thought you might like something. It’s a good thing you’re up past bedtime.”

“You brought me a thing?” the little girl asked, her excitement growing.

Blonde hair, slicked back from the bath, fuzzy princess pyjamas firmly in place, smile full of baby teeth, and bright blue eyes shined at Lena eagerly, too excited by the prospect of the world and the present and everything else.

“I did bring you a thing. I’m not usually someone go buys things at gift shops, but I had some time, and I used to like them.”

With a big tug, Lena pulled the ill-wrapped present from her bag and presented it to the little girl who held it tenderly. It seemed so much bigger than it actually was when it was in tiny hands. It was at that moment, that Lena got a little nervous, because she’d never actually given a child a gift.

“What is it?”

“It’s a snow globe,” Lena explained as Katie stared and shook and smiled. “Inside is some of the things I saw when I was there.”

“Wow,” the little girl whispered, staring intently inside, memorizing every detail from every angle. “Mommy! Look what I got!”

Superspeed and she was already in the kitchen, eagerly showing her new toy. Before Lena could even turn around, she was back on the couch.

“I love it so much. Thank you, Lena.”

“You are very--”

Tiny arms tossed themselves around her neck before she could finish, but Lena tried anyway. FOr a moment, a little body stood on the couch and hugged her, wiggling with excitement. Lena didn’t know what to do with the excitement or the feeling of being thanked by a little girl, and so she just sat there and took it.

“Well now I’m jealous. I didn’t even get anything,” Kara pretended to sulk as she made her way around the kitchen toward the living room. “Lena must like you then.”

“I can share you mine if you want,” Katie offered, smiling happily as she shook up the snow globe, making it snow over the Great Wall.

“I have something I will give you later,” Lena promised, giving her girlfriend a little wink, earning a blush.

“See, Mommy? Lena likes you too.”

“Thank goodness. Now what do you say?”

“Thank you so much, Lena. I am very happy you are back in your favorite place. Mom is too. She is more happy now then yesterday when you were not here.”

“Okay, enough of that,” Kara piped up as she earned a cocky glance from Lena. “I let you stay up too late. Let’s go. Time for bed.”

“But it’s dinner,” Katie argued, looking frantically for reasons.

“For adults. You’ve already eaten and had a bath. Say goodnight to Lena.”

“But or I could stay up and be quiet for a little bit longer?” she countered.

“Try again.”

There was a battle of wills happening, though Lena wasn’t sure how to win it. Instead, she just watched it all happen until one side cracked.

“Goodnight, Lena. Thank you for my present. I am going to put it beside my bed,” she informed the CEO. “Is that okay, Mommy?”

“That sounds great.”

Lena got another hug and thought she was having a dream.

“You are very welcome,” Lena patted the little girl’s back.

“I’ll be right back. Please help yourself to some wine while I put this one to bed,” Kara whispered, finally leaning down to kiss Lena’s cheek as her daughter climbed around the couch toward her room.

“Take your time.”

“You’re spectacular, did you know that?”

“Nope, but please don’t stop saying such cute things.”

With another kiss, Kara pulled herself away and kissed Lena before retreating towards the little girl’s bedroom. Still not quite believing what happened or how well it went, or how weird she'd felt giving out a gift, Lena made a beeline for the wine and poured herself a glass while she listened to Kara read some silly story about a goose.

As weird as Lena still felt, and as hard as she was trying to avoid that feeling, there was a certain sense of relief that came as she washed a few dishes after dinner, and Kara appeared after checking on Katie to tell her that she was out like a light.

“You didn’t have to get her something, you know,” Kara offered as she took a seat and watched Lena dry her hands.

“My dad used to bring me something every time he went on a trip. I never thought of it until I saw that,” she shrugged and topped of their wine. “Do you think she liked it?”

“She loved it. But I’m sorry she was awake. I just got kind of set back and I didn’t realize the time.”

“This was just slow enough,” Lena promised, joining her on the couch. “I like you. I want to get to know you, and that means getting to know Katie.”

“You’re spectacular, you know that?”

“I’ve been told this already today,” she grinned and sipped her wine. “Thank you for dinner.”

“Thanks for just… for being you…” Kara managed, unable to say much else. “I never really got to date or experience anything like this. You’ve been the best. And I just. I like you a lot.”

“We’re figuring this out. Lots of baggage between us, but not so bad so far, right?”

“Nope.”

Kara gulped slightly as Lena sat down her glass and moved toward her.

“Should we pick up where we left off this afternoon?”

There was a bit of a spark in her eyes. The warmth of the wine mixed with the feeling of climbing into Kara’s lap made her feel at ease.

“She should,” the former hero nodded eagerly.

“And um, the littlest set of ears won’t hear?”

“She sleeps like a bear in winter,” Kara explained, finally kissing Lena as she’d wanted to for the entire night.  “Her room is soundproof.”

“Did you plan on this then?”

“No! She just couldn’t sleep--”

“I’m kidding, Kara. I knew what coming over meant. Or at least I hoped.”

“Hoped, huh?” she grinned, hands moving toward her neck and hair, holding her there as a body pressed into her.

“Keep kissing my neck and pulling up my dress on the couch, and I’ll die of hoping.”

It was right there, with Lena straddling her on the couch, tasting like wine and everything distinctly her, looking down on her with such happiness and excitement, that Kara felt her breath physically knocked out of her lungs. She held onto Lena’s hips and she kissed her sternly before carrying her to the bedroom.

“Mmmm,” the spine reverberated with the satisfied hum.

Fingertips moved along the protrusions of bone beneath pale skin as shoulders and ribs expanded with a contented sigh. The bed smelled of two people now, different than it’d been before, but Kara didn’t mind at all. In fact, she very much appreciated it.

She kissed Lena’s shoulder and back once again before letting her arm wind around her hips. Kara found herself burrowing into the loose black hair that covered the pillow.

“That was perfect,” Kara whispered, pushing close, as close as she could get. “All of it.”

“I agree. I quite liked that.”

“Is that what you hoped for?”

“I didn’t even know to hope for some of that,” Lena chuckled and turned over, settling her leg over Kara’s hip and smiling in the low light of the city outside. “Not only is your mouth very pretty and distracting, it is incredibly talented.”

“I’m thinking of having it insured like famous soccer players get their legs.”

“I’d help cover it.”

Kara just smiled and shook her head before pushing hair from Lena’s face. She let her hand drift along her cheeks and chin, settling there. She was very smitten with the girl in her bed, and she couldn’t help it, not that she’d want to at all.

With a yawn, Lena knit her eyes shut and burrowed into the pillows slightly.

“I should get going.”

“The bed’em and leave’em type?”

“I think you did the bedding,” Lena corrected, earning a cocky smile. “Plus, I have to keep you wanting more, so you won’t get sick of me.”

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I always want more.”

“See? It works.”

With a sweet kiss, Lena pulled herself from the warmth and the embrace as she began to scan for her clothes on the floor. Kara sat up and watched her move, watched her slip back on the clothes that made her Lena Luthor. Hair a mess, lips puffy, tiny bruises on her chest, she was still so beautiful, caught between being two different people.

“Was tonight too much?” Kara worried as Lena slipped on her bra.

“Tonight was perfect.”

“Katie likes you.”

“She learned how to greet me in Chinese. That was pretty cool. She’s a smart kid. You should be very proud.”

“I am. I’m also very surprised by you,” Kara realized as she accepted the shirt Lena tossed her and began to slip it over her head. “You might actually really like my daughter.”

“I never said I didn’t like her. I’m more worried about the opposite. I’ve never been around kids.”

“You’re a natural then.”

“You’re just saying that,” Lena shook her head and smiled as Kara slipped on pants and stood before her.

“I mean it,” she promised. “You’re too hard on yourself.”

“That’s the Luthor way.”

With a smile, Kara wrapped her arms around Lena once again, uneager to let her go or leave. She knew they had to, and she knew that it would be a long while before they felt comfortable waking up together, however that was all that she desired more than anything at the current moment. She would settle for these little victories of the night though, and how Lena looked sneaking out after midnight.

“Thanks for cooking me dinner. Can I return the favor sometime?”

“Maybe next week?”

“Sounds perfect. I’m not too busy,” Lena earned another kiss. “Just some tech conference for digital advancements.”

“Maybe you’ll run into someone you know.”

“That wouldn’t be the worst way to spend one of those. You know how Jess worries about me at those kinds of things.”

With a smile and complete amazement, Kara hugged Lena to her. Lena softened, relaxing into the hug, still quite new to feeling such things as physical intimacy in the most honest form. But it was quickly becoming something she wanted more than anything else. Kara ruined her quite completely.

“Just a few more seconds before we have to go back to the real world,” Kara mumbled, inhaling Lena’s shoulder.

“Yeah, just a few,” Lena nodded, gripping back at her just as tightly.

NEXT