15Alrighty!
So I have plenty of fics all geared up to update, but then I saw Monday's ep and I got super inspired to write a what-if. Completely based on the fact that Lena could've totally just backtracked, gone to the elevators, and found Kara there, and voila!
This isn't a super long one, but I figured it would be fun to write. Not overly supercorp in the romance sense, but I hope everyone enjoys nonetheless!
Lena paused after walking away. She knew it would be tough to be her best friend's boss, but having to be the scathingly strict one was even worse.
She also knew that, despite Kara's insistence otherwise, she was going through plenty of things, and while tough love was sometimes the way to go, she figured that it wouldn't hurt to reassert the fact that at the end of the day, Lena would be there for Kara as her friend.
So she walked back towards Kara's desk, but saw that the other girl was gone. Asking around, Lena found that Kara had last been seen heading to the elevators.
She walked with a purpose, heading towards the elevators, hoping she could catch her friend, and much to her surprise, one of the elevators was still on the level. Pressing the button, Lena wondered if she would see Kara behind the door.
And then the doors opened.
"Kara!" Lena breathed, seeing her friend sitting on the floor, backed up against the wall, clutching the railings like her life depended on it.
A million thoughts were swimming in Lena's head: the Supergirl suit partially showing underneath Kara's dress shirt, the way the handrails were bending under her fingers, but the only thing that was crystal clear in her mind was the fact that Kara was not okay.
She glanced back outside the elevator and saw no one there. A good thing, considering her friend's current state of undress.
"Kara?" she softly asked. She didn't know how to start, how to calm her shaking and breathless. She figured that normal conversation might quell whatever was making her friend act like this. "What floor were you going to?"
It didn't work. Kara mumbled something unintelligibly, and raised a shaking hand to point at the buttons, eyes foggy and seeming as if they were staring at some unknown horror behind Lena's shoulder.
Lena had no idea which button Kara had pointed to, but she slammed the topmost button. She figured Kara would prefer the open air and not a musty elevator.
As the elevator went up, Lena slowly approached her friend. "Kara, can you hear me?"
Yet again, Kara just mumbled something softly.
Lena let out a breath once the elevator let out a ding and opened the doors. She grabbed Kara's glasses and put them in her discarded bag, using the bag to keep the door open, before helping Kara to her feet, and shuffling them out of the elevator, the bag in tow.
She gingerly led them up the stairs, and opened the door to the terrace.
Kara let out a gasp beside her once they were outside, and Lena loosened her grasp on Kara, letting her friend move around freely and get her bearings back.
With a gasp, Kara broke away from her friend in shock, mouth opening and closing as though she were trying to figure out what to say.
"Lena, I-" Kara began to say, seeing that her suit was half-showing, and when she went to touch her glasses, she noticed she was missing them.
Lena shook her head, a small comforting smile on her lips. "It's okay, we can talk about it later."
Kara looked grateful, finishing her changing and then flying around the building for a few laps.
Lena watched in wonder as her friend defied the very laws of physics and zoomed around her.
Once Kara landed again, Lena frowned, gesturing to her friend. "You didn't have to go anywhere?"
"She got away while I was in the elevator," Kara explained sheepishly. "So, that talk?"
"Well, I doubt that this roof is the best place to talk, and seeing as I don't have an office…"
Kara smiled. "I've got that covered."
Before Lena could even react, Kara had scooped her up and, carrying her bridal style, flew off.
In a very uncharacteristic move, Lena let out a surprised squeal and clutched her arms tightly around Kara.
When they landed, Lena found herself in Kara's loft. Kara let Lena stand up and then stood nervously to the side, hands fidgeting.
When Lena didn't immediately start, Kara blurted out, "I'm sorry."
Lena frowned. "For what?"
"I didn't tell you...about this," Kara mumbled, pointing to the symbol on her chest. "It wasn't that I didn't to tell you…"
Lena's brows crinkled in confusion. "Then what was it?"
"I took too long to work up the courage to tell you, and by then I figured that if I told you, you'd be angry, that you'd think I didn't tell you because you're a Luthor or something," Kara explained.
Lena shook her head with a smile. "I'm not angry, Kara. I mean, I am a bit sad that I'm only finding out now, because I found you shaking in an elevator. How long would it have taken if I hadn't?"
Kara shuffled a bit. Not even bringing herself to look at Lena, Kara quietly truthfully said, "I don't know."
Lena nodded once. "Do you trust me, Kara?"
"With my life," Kara responded, not missing a beat.
And Lena believed her. "So then what made you so reluctant?"
Kara bit her lip, taking a moment to formulate her response. "I didn't want things to change between us."
"How would they change?"
"That's the thing, I didn't know. With my friends, I figured they would find out and that would be it. But you, you're...special to me, and we were in a good place, and I didn't want that to change, even if it meant I was keeping such a big part of myself a secret from you."
Lena nodded again, face inscrutable, not saying a word.
When Kara grew nervous with all the silence, she asked timidly, "So, are we good?"
"Of course," Lena reassured her with a smile. Seeing Kara's worried frown, she added, "I didn't meant to create suspense, I was just thinking about how so many things make sense now, like you running out of here so many times today."
Kara nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that."
Lena then figured she'd turn to the other topic boggling her. "What did happen in the elevator? Were you having a panic attack?"
Kara scoffed. "No! I don't get panic attacks."
With a hum, Lena left it at that. There was no need to press her if she wasn't ready to talk. "Then?"
And so Kara told her about the newest villain and how she got into people's heads and attacked them via their fears.
By the end of it, the cogs were turning inside Lena's head. "How about I help you and we defeat her, together?"
Kara's grin was blinding. "I'd love nothing more."
And that was that!
I have been mulling on another take, which is that Kara does escape, leaving that nice Supergirl-shaped hole in the elevator. Cue Lena's investigation. If there are people interested, I'll write it.
Otherwise, I'd love to know what you thought, and I'll be updating A Superhero in Her Own Right soon!