Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ice clinked in full, sloshing glasses while everyone cackled at some lewd joke. Two dice tumbled across the table and Alex leaned into Kelly’s side. Lena listened to all the joy and merriment as shadows danced on the wall behind her. Late evening in a good game night held only one disappointment: Kara had disappeared.

Not without reason, no the blonde hero was down the hall coaxing a hesitant Esme back to sleep. About half an hour ago she had appeared: clad in cotton-candy-pink unicorn pajamas clutching a teddy bear, begging for water and perhaps a second story.

Alex was about to insist she return to bed when Kara, patient to no end Kara, swept the girl up in her arms and said:

“Certainly, water and a story coming right up.”

The words squeezed a squeal from Esme, and everyone chuckled. Lena listened to the movements in the kitchen—the opening of a cupboard, slide of a plastic cup, cold tap water spilling into the vessel, a small thank you.

The two of them—partners in hijinks and shenanigans —disappeared down the hall, hushed voices debating the merits of various picture books. Esme was well aware she didn’t need a cup of water and a story, but she also knew her aunt would give in. If Kara, for some reason, didn’t succumb to fluttered lashes and a whine, Lena would.

Tonight, though, Kara had succumbed first. And now Lena watched as her wife carried the six-year-old down the hall.

Even from the living room, Lena could hear giggles and the low timber of Kara’s silly monster voice as she read Esme’s favorite story, A Monster Goes To School.

“Your turn, Lena,” Alex said.

Lena bit her smile and rolled. She moved her token six pieces and bought Park Place. Alex whistled and Nia smiled. Down the hall, if Lena listened closely, she could hear Kara making sound effects and Esme’s drowsy giggle.

The game played on, and Lena reclined in to the plush sofa, nursing her scotch.

…

“It was huge. As big as your head, and they came in all sorts of flavors—there was one like grape, one like bacon; my favorite was a flavor somewhere between blue raspberry and pineapple. When we went to the fair, my father bought me two at least. Oh, and the rides! Krypton had incredible rides. They were all based on watching a screen while the seats would move and air would blow on your face—like the Star Wars one at Disney, but so much better—and,” Kara’s ramble cut off as she noticed the figure in the doorway.

“Hey you,” Lena said softly.

Esme was basically asleep, her eyes shut, one small hand gripping Kara’s as the blonde sat cross-legged on the floor next to the bed.

“Telling her about the New Year’s Festivals on Krypton?” Lena asked.

“Yeah,” Kara said sheepishly, “she likes it, and it feels nice, telling someone who… I mean, like, I’ve told you and Alex. But someone with…child like wonder? It’s a little different. I still remember going as a kid and everything being huge and bright and I just like… to tell her.” Kara looked at the floor, pressing the bridge of her glasses up her nose. She watched Lena’s feet move from the doorway until her toes tapped her shins.

Kara looked up and found Lena’s smile—genuine and deep.

“That’s wonderful,” she whispered, “and I’d love to come next time you tuck her in, but it’s nearly eleven and Kelly wants us to leave but is too polite to say it.”

“Oh,” Kara laughed, relieved by Lena’s easy acceptance, “of course, let’s get going. I just need to grab my jacket. Are you good?”

“Are we walking home?”

“I thought we might,” Kara said.

Kara and Lena often walked home from game night, it was about a forty-minute walk, but typically, it was warm enough. Before they’d gotten together, Kara had walked everywhere, but Lena “‘I’m-Famous-And-Hated” Luthor couldn’t. It was just Kara adored walking, and so they found times they could sneak it in. If anything happened, Kara was always ready to fly them out of danger.

Lena learned she loved it too. The warm air and city noise. Walking with Kara’s hand in hers. Seeing birds take flight from telephone wires and stopping to buy a late night snack from a street vendor.

Lena also loved Kara’s chivalry. She insisted on walking on the outside of the sidewalk. She grabbed Lena’s hand whenever they approached a puddle. And when they got home, Kara always made the same joke: ‘well this is me, can I have a goodnight kiss?’ And Lena would kiss her. ‘Oh you wanted to come in, I don’t know, that’s quite a lot for a first date.’ And Lena would kiss her again. ‘Wow, you certainly drive a hard bargain, just this once.’

Game Night usually also meant they’d been drinking, and so often they’d stumble into bed and make slightly sloppy love on their pristine sheets. And in the morning, as the sun peaked through the curtains of their penthouse on the 46th floor, Lena would press her face into Kara’s neck, able to actually breathe.

“Then let me pee,” Lena whispered, pressing a kiss to Kara’s cheek.

When she came out of the hall bathroom, Lena found Kara and Alex talking by the door. Kelly had turned in. Kara was leaned casually up against the kitchen doorframe, a snug blue sweater under her rain shell. Tight jeans and black boots. Her hair was in a bun and she looked delectable. She held a Tupperware full of brownies and Lena’s coat.

Lena took the coat silently and pulled it on.

“And that’s why I’m never trusting Thompson to run a database check again.” Alex finished with a shake of her head.

“Well,” Kara said, reaching above her head with her free hand. “It’s late, I think we are going to head out.”

“Get home safe,” Alex said, hugging her sister.

“Of course,” Kara said firmly.

Lena got a hug, and they were off, taking the elevator out and heading onto the street.

As they walked back to their apartment, Lena leaned heavily into Kara, the taller woman wrapped an arm around her wife. They didn’t say much, just shared a peaceful silence as they passed street corners and streetlamps. Finally, after ten blocks, Lena coughed to clear her throat.

“Fuck me with the strap tonight?” Lena asked.

Kara was silent for a moment, but in her mind she pumped her fist.

“Sure. Want to be tied up?”

“Not tonight, just, want you to fuck me. Maybe from behind?”

“I can do that.”

And then they were silent again, until they came to their building’s door, a gold and glitzy revolving number that Kara always liked to crowd Lena into—sandwiched in the same small segment Kara could press her hips against Lena’s, solid and suggestive.

The elevator was hell, and as Lena fumbled her keys, Kara bit her tongue in frustration. Finally, once they got inside, Kara had Lena up against the wall, she was vicious and thorough in her attack on Lena’s neck.

Once their jackets were removed, Kara’s strong hands were under Lena’s thighs, lifting her. The hero carried her wife to their bedroom—the master suite all the way down the long hall with its deep green walls and dark navy sheets. She tossed Lena on the bed and began stripping her clothes while Lena did the same.

Finally, Lena lay on the bed, flushed and bare, a finger teasing her slit while Kara gathered their favorite strap-on from the chest in the closet.

“Put it in,” Lena said urgently into Kara’s ear.

“I am,” Kara grunted in her ear as she lubed up the silicone shaft.

“Now,” Lena urged.

“Here,” Kara said as she slipped in. Lena groaned. It only took six minutes for Lena to cum. She came with a moan. Kara kept going, surprisingly close to her own orgasm, until Lena tapped her back twice—their sign for Kara to pull pout.

“Sorry, do you need?” Lena said, vaguely, jerking her hand towards Kara’s center. Kara shook her head, loosening the straps of the harness.

“I’m okay, that was good, I just—I mean, unless you want to go again?”

Lena shook her head.

“Sorry, I’m having a one and done night, but you should, I mean you must be close.”

“Let me ride your face?” Kara asked, “I mean, only if you feel up to it?”

“Get up here, Supergirl.”

And Kara did, she came on Lena’s tongue only a few minutes later. Staring at the space above the headboard, pinching her features into a tight knot of pleasure as her body released extra slick onto Lena’s reddened face.

Soon they were cuddled under the sheets, Lena’s head on Kara’s chest, the lights off, both staring at the ceiling.

“I like our sex life,” Lena whispered. “I like that it’s not always romantic, and we can just…get off and go to sleep.”

“I like that, too,” Kara said.

“I like our life right now. You have CatCo and the DEO. I have LCorp. We have friends, and Esme. I like that you do the dishes and I pack your lunch. I never thought I could have this, and I love it.”

Kara’s fingers played with the wedding band on Lena’s left hand.

“I love it, too. When I got here—to Earth, I mean—I thought I’d lost everything, but now it’s, well, it’s absolutely perfect, Lena.”

“Really?”

“Truly.”

…

Monday came two days later; Monday came much too early, and Monday found Kara staring at the ceiling. There was no Lena beside her in bed because Lena loved to get an early start on Mondays—which was utter depravity in Kara’s book. She could hear Lena in the kitchen, sipping a black coffee and reading the paper. She closed her eyes and pleaded with her alarm clock to somehow elongate the five minutes granted by her snooze button.

She was exhausted, and a drowsy sleep returned easily. So easily, she could swear no more than ten seconds passed before the infernal device on her bedside began blaring once again.

“Lena!” She called.

She could her Lena setting down her paper and coming down the hall. Her wife appeared in the doorway, then casually leaned against it.

“Yes?” Lena asked, looking at Kara, who had pulled the duvet over her head.

“No work today. Let’s fly to Spain. Drink Sangria on the beach. Wear skimpy bikinis.”

“Kara, I’d sunburn.”

“Lena, I love you.”

“Kara, you know you want to turn in that article on interspecies adoption.”

“Lena, shhh.”

Kara smashed her face into her pillow, and did not move until the bed dipped, and a gentle hand began caressing her back.

“I’ll make pancakes if you want, I have some extra time this morning.”

Kara considered this. Lena made the best pancakes. Kara still wasn’t sure what the best part of their first time was: the five orgasms she’d had that night, or the pancakes she’d gotten the next morning. Lena used pearl sugar and vanilla and lemon, and they were always so, so fluffy. There was little on Earth Kara wouldn’t do for a stack of Lena Luthor-Danvers’ pancakes.

Finally, Kara sat up. And suddenly Kara felt something she’d felt a handful of times. She stilled immediately, Lena looked at her—

“Lena, move, please, just—“

As soon as Lena stood, Kara was out of bed and across the room, throwing herself in front of the toilet in the en-suite. She wretched silently twice before a torrent of vomit loosed itself into the bowl.

“Kara!” Lena said, rushing beside her wife. She grabbed a hair tie from the vanity and began putting Kara’s hair up into a messy bun.

Finally, it stopped and Kara leaned against the wall, heavy and breathing hard.

“I did not enjoy that,” she said, looking at Lena.

“Of course not, Sweetheart,” Lena said, gently pressing a cool palm against Kara’s jaw.

“It was gross and bad.”

“Throwing up isn’t fun. And you barely ever do it.”

“I should, um, flush the toilet.”

Lena flushed it for her, and frowned slightly as a tear fell down Kara’s cheek.

“Sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying, it was just a lot first thing in the morning.”

“It’s normal to cry when you're sick, Kar.” Lena said.

“Yeah, but I mean, I fight monsters and this was just a bit of throw-up.”

“Well, it was actually a fair bit of throw-up, and you don’t throw up—ever. Besides, all those super powered muscles regurgitating something can’t feel overly pleasant.”

Kara looked at the floor.

“So perhaps no pancakes, I’ll make them this weekend. Maybe some porridge and tea?”

Kara nodded.

“And maybe we can call Alex while we eat and see about med bay running some tests?”

Kara shook her head.

“It’s nothing, Lena. If we call Alex and then my whole day is going to be spent in med bay. If it happens again, then sure. But I’m sure this was just a one-off.”

Lena looked less than certain. But Kara was sitting up, and she could watch her at breakfast. If she still seemed sick, Lena would insist they call, but she didn’t feel like fighting the stubborn hero this early.

“Okay, but first sign of trouble at work, you call me.”

“Of course,” Kara said.

…

One concession, Lena insisted her superhuman wife make was that she let Lena drop her at CatCo on her way into LCorp.

Kara didn’t really mind taking the car, sure she preferred a quick flight, but she also liked saying hi to Frank. She liked reclining on Lena’s shoulder and dozing while the CEO got a start on emails. When they arrived at CatCo Lena grasped her hand and signaled for her to pause.

“Kara, if you feel anything out of the ordinary, call me. Nothing on my schedule today can’t be rescheduled. You,” she paused to peck the blondes crinkled forehead, “are always my first priority.”

“I know, and I wouldn’t be going into the office if I didn’t already feel tons better, but at the first sign of trouble I’m calling you. Promise.”

“Okay, go get ‘em, Supergirl,” Lena said, gently pushing her wife towards the car door. Kara smiled at her and left.

…

“Well Mr. Evans if that truly is the case I’m afraid there’s no way forward for a deal between Nuetech and LCorp…yes, but as I said…no you misunderstood,” Lena was talking in the phone facing the large windows in her office which overlooked her private balcony and all of National City.

She didn’t notice Kara standing silently by the door, arms full of take-out, waiting for her wife to conclude the call.

“If you would like to we can have you speak to legal again in the morning, but I must be honest I don’t see a path towards forward at this time…of course…goodnight,” Lena hung up and placed her phone in its cradle on the desk, she dropped her head to the smooth glass surface and groaned. The dramatic action earned a stifled chuckle from Kara.

Lena’s head shot up.

“You, what, why are you here? I mean this is lovely and too perfect, but when I called to say I’d be late you were in your pajamas and—“

“And,” Kara said, cutting off her haggard wife. “ I thought about you here late, on a Monday, probably having worried about me all day after I threw up, so I changed out of my PJs, picked up takeout, and brought you dinner.”

“I love you,” Lena said, already coming around the desk to grab the warm bag and spread its contents on the coffee table by the sofa.

“Mmmnn,” Lena moaned at a sinful register, “this is delicious, it always is, but gosh, I needed this.”

Kara smiled bright and broad; she shifted on the couch, grabbing one of Lena’s stocking clad feet and dragging it into her lap. She ignored her potstickers to rub her wife’s feet, delighting in the soft sounds of pleasure Lena made.

“Mm, thank you, Darling, but you should eat too, you must be starving.”

Kara shrugged.

“I ate two freezer pizzas as soon as I got home and you just, you look so tense. I like making you feel good, Lee.”

“Well, I appreciate that, but I also think you really need to eat potstickers,” Lena said with a twinge of a pout.

“Oh ho!” Kara cackled, “you want to sit in my lap and hand feed me potstickers, don’t you?”

Lena nodded, setting her mostly eaten plate on the low table and scooching over on the couch. Kara scooped her up, and soon she was straddling her wife’s lap, her skirt bunching up a bit as the legs of Kara’s denim jeans rubbed against her inner thighs.

Kara opened her mouth and closed her eyes, waiting for Lena to deposit a dumpling. Which she did, placing a finger under Kara’s jaw to close her mouth. Finally, once Kara had chewed and swallowed, she pressed a kiss to her pursed lips.

They did this a while before Kara laughed.

“I remember our wedding night,” she whispered into Lena’s neck. “How neither of us had gotten to eat at the reception…too busy dancing and singing, laughing—feeling up your ass in that dress. And so you had the brilliant idea to order us Chinese takeout. And I ate forty-seven potstickers—“

“AND YOU PASSED OUT STILL WEARING YOUR DRESS SHIRT!” Lena interrupted. It was one of her favorite stories.

“That I did. And you refused to eat potstickers for six months.”

“I’d been looking forward to getting laid, Kara. It was our weddingnight.”

“Pshhh…we did it in the morning. And that afternoon on the jet. That night, the morning after…the night after that morning we did it so much you had to tap out.”

“Kara!” Lena hid her face in her hands. “It’s the principle.”

“I’m just saying we made it work. That’s you and me, we always make it work. We are the perfect team.” Kara’s hand had begun to rub up and down Lena’s waist. “There’s nothing we couldn’t do.”

Lena smiled.

“I need to pack up, but then maybe we can go home?” Lena asked. Kara smiled and nodded.

“I’ll text Frank and get the food packed up.”

“You never want to text Frank.”

“I don’t want to waste time asking you to let me fly you home tonight, I just want to get into the car and snuggle and then get home to the apartment and snuggle. It was a lot today. I don’t like being sick, I don’t like that you worried.”

Lena paused in righting her skirt and picking up her shoes.

“You didn’t do it on purpose,” she pressed a quick kiss to Kara’s mouth. “And it hopefully won’t happen again, if it does, we have a plan.”

“That we do,” Kara said, grinning slightly from her spot on the couch.

…

They ended up having sex. Something about cuddling in the car, and Kara’s tender caring that evening, lit a fierce want in Lena’s lower belly. Just as Kara was about to brush her teeth, Lena grabbed her and kissed her. They didn’t even manage to get completely underdressed.

Kara’s top stayed on, while Lena’s was shoved up to her armpits, so Kara could suck two erect nipples. Lena pulled Kara’s sweats down just enough to finger her. With Kara underneath her, she positioned three fingers inside her wife and used her whole body to push them in. Her thumb rubbed the Super’s clit, and in five minutes she was squirming and working to keep her legs apart.

“So close,” Kara wheezed. “So fucking close, Lena. Another, give me another finger. Give it to me.”

Lena obliged and soon Kara was coming, hard enough she squirted a little, wetting Lena’s sweats.

As she came down, Lena leaned over her face, murmuring loving nothings and gentle compliments.

“Such pretty girl, so gorgeous when you come, I can’t believe you're mine,” she pressed against Kara’s jaw.

Once their heart rates had returned, still tangled together, Kara spoke:

“Always make me feel so good, I mean you, you always make me feel so good. Better than good. Perfect.”

Lena smiled.

“Do you want to come?”

“Yeah, maybe, can I grind on your thigh?”

“Yeah, just let me,” Kara said, moving her pants down to her shins. “This good?”

Lena nodded as she rolled onto her back to pull her pajama pants off, it wasn’t sexy, but it was quick.

“Here,” Kara said, gripping her hips and setting a rhythm.

Lena looked glorious, exposed breasts and heaving chest, her slick center moving against Kara’s strong thigh.

“Mm close.”

“Let go, Lena, be a good girl for me.”

Lena came.

They got their clothes back on—including a new pair of sweats for Lena—and brushed their teeth.

Just before climbing into bed, Lena paused:

“I’m setting my alarm for half an hour later, so don’t wake me up if you see it’s past the normal time for it to beep at me.”

“Mmmhm,” Kara grunted, already succumbing to slumber.

“Goodnight, Darling,” Lena said, wrapping an arm around Kara and kissing her neck. “I love you.”

…

The next morning Lena Luthor-Danvers’ alarm did not sound because at 6:00am Kara found herself staring into the white of the toilet bowl again, emptying her stomach and feeling that horrid pressure behind her eyes.

Lena jumped out of bed when she realized what she was hearing. Again, she tied up Kara’s hair up. Again, she paused considering what to do, but this time they had come to an agreement.

“I’ll be right back,” she said to Kara.

She grabbed her phone from the bedside and called Alex.

But the time she’d returned to the bathroom, it had gone to voicemail. She sent a text:

Kara vomitted, bringing her in, please advise.

The phone rung in Lena’s hand five seconds later, Alex’s profile picture replacing the text conversation.

“Lena! Is she alright?”

“She threw up yesterday and today—“

“I also threw up on Sunday,” Kara said quietly from her position in front of the toilet.

“Apparently she threw up Sunday, something she neglected to mention,” Lena said, stroking her wife’s back.

“Bring her in for sure then. I have no clue what it could be, she’s barely been out in the field the past couple weeks. And everything she has seen has been very typical.”

“Okay, I can drop her on my way to LCorp, I would come in, as well, but I have some things this morning that would be hard to reschedule. I’d rather finish them up and be available if she’ll need care at home the next few days,” Lena paused, “unless you really want me there, Kara.”

“I’m all good,” Kara said with a rough voice.

“Okay, yeah, please drop her off, and I’ll head in now to get all the tests prepped. Give her some water and electrolytes this morning. If she can manage it, a simple breakfast would be good.”

“Porridge again then,” Lena said, “Thanks Alex, expect her in the next two hours.”

“You got it.”

“Hear that Kara? We’re going to fix this. And as soon as I’m done with my meetings, I’ll come over. Oh, Love, I’m sorry you feel awful.”

Kara leaned away from the toilet to slump against the wall.

“Well, at least we know I’m not pregnant.”

Lena laughed.

“I’d say no chance—seeing as I don’t have the parts to make that happen, unless you’ve been having a scandalous affair.”

Kara laughed this time.

“Nope, I’m horribly faithful, besides have you seen my lady? She’s so hot other people don’t even compare.”

“I’m glad,” Lena said, pressing a kiss to Kara’s forehead. “Now let’s get you a Gatorade and see what sounds manageable for breakfast.”

Chapter Text

“So you’ve vomited three times in as many days,” Alex said, shining a light into Kara’s pupil. “But other than that, no fever, no aches, no cough?” Here, Alex pauses, swapping the small flashlight for a tongue depressor.

“Not really—“

“Say ah,” Alex interrupts.

Kara does, extending her tongue and rolling her eyes.

“Throat looks good. Sorry, so, no cough?”

“No! Nothing! I feel fine, except I vomit every morning. Okay, maybe I’m a bit more tense than usual, but that’s just because work is hectic and Lena is—“

“Lena is?” Alex asks, turning from the set of kryptonite needles she’s choosing from to prep a blood test.

“Lena is just stressed at work, too. She’s been a little distant. Nothing major. We just haven’t been on a date in a month.”

“Okay, so my superhero sister is sad she isn’t getting any from her hot CEO wife. Small pinch.” A needle pierces Kara’s arm, tanned and toned and tense under the prick.

“I am getting laid! I’m just…not getting fed pasta and taken to a musical beforehand.”

Alex cackles, removing the needle and placing cotton on the puncture.

“Kara! Cry me a river! Wait until you and Lena have a kid or two. Kelly and I are lucky for one date night a month. You aren’t getting pasta before your marathon sex. Please.”

“Well…sometimes it is a marathon. Carbo-loading is important.”

“But everything is fine at home.”

“Yeah, but I have been moody.”

“Okay, so moody and vomiting?”

“Yeah, that’s all,” Kara said, plucking a nonexistent thread on the med bay bed.

“Well, I drew blood. We can check for some infections and cancer,” Alex said, “We’ll also do a metabolic panel and check your basic vitamin levels. Kara?” Alex was now standing in front of her sister, “I’m not trying to imply anything, but there’s no chance you could be pregnant?”

“Alex! No, of course not, I’d never cheat on Lena! And she doesn’t have a–Lena is—we both have girl parts! And so no! Besides, Kryptonians have to induce ovulation. And I’m not, I didn’t.”

“Whoa, whoa, Kara—I’m not trying to imply. I mean. Okay, I had to ask. But I know you wouldn’t cheat on Lena. So we can rule out pregnancy—though we will still run the test for the paperwork.’

'Hey, look at me. This is stressful. But you’ll be okay. Do you want me to call Lena and see if she can come earlier? I’m sure she would.”

Kara shook her head.

“She has meetings, no need to bother her. This will be fine.”

Alex looked at her sister—with her hung head and tense shoulders.

“I’m going to go run these to the lab. What flavor lollipop do you want?”

“Lime. No cherry. Ugh—“

“I’ll bring one of each.”

“You're the best,” Kara said, looking up with a small smile.

Alex collected the vials and turned to leave.

“Alex, I didn’t cheat on Lena. You don’t think she’s at work right now…thinking I’ve been unfaithful?”

“Kara, I think right now your wife is staring at some businessman droning on, counting down the seconds until she can rush here and wait for these results with you. You and Lena are sickeningly in love, and I have zero doubt that Lena is only worried about getting you to feel better.”

Kara nodded with her lips in a tense purse. She was trying not to cry, gripping her sweater with white knuckles and knitting her brows.

“Oh, honey, come here.”

Alex set the vials down on the table near the door and moved to scoop Kara up in a hug.

“Shhh,” Kara had begun to cry, “Let it out. It’s okay, Kar.”

“I’m not even that stressed, just crying.”

“I know, still, it’s okay.”

Alex held her fierce and firm until her sobs softened into sniffles. Slowly, Kara’s breathing evened. And eventually, she was back to sitting on the bed, eyes were but clearing.

“I need to take the blood to the lab, but I’ll be back,” Alex said.

Kara laid down and stared at the ceiling. The white tiles had small holes. Once, after a fight that had caused Kara to nearly solar flare, she had been laying on the sun bed. Nothing to do except count the myriad minuscule holes, and grimace as the flesh of her body slowly repaired its bruises.

Lena had changed that. Lena had created Kara’s med bay bag. It was stored under a sink and had everything the hero might need: a change of comfortable clothing, a cute water bottle, an iPod touch of all things loaded up with music and audiobooks, a sketch pad and charcoal, and some chocolate. Kara had already grabbed the sweater she was wearing—an old one of Lena’s worn and soft from many washings. She figured while she waited for Alex, she could use a snack.

She grabbed the chocolate and the sketchbook. Popping a square of dark chocolate in her mouth, she began to sketch a bouquet of flowers. Plumerias and chrysanthemums. Like the ones Lena had carried at their wedding.

She was anxious to get the tests back. Cancer? Disease? Maybe it was a weird Kryptonian vitamin deficiency. Maybe Alex would suggest she start eating some weird alien nut. Maybe she was mostly fine.

Kara knew she wasn’t, no, deep down something inside her knew something was wrong. Some part of her understood her body was different. Something major was happening.

She breathed through her nose and out her mouth.

Alex was taking an inordinately long time.

“Hey, sorry. I’m back,” Alex said, appearing in the doorway. “One of the lab techs had some questions about a test we are running on the Zyngardian we apprehended last week. But I’m here. With lollipops!”

Kara set her book down and reached a hand for the lollipops. She plucked the line one from the bunch and unwrapped it. Sliding it into her mouth, she said:

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Tests should take a couple of hours.”

Kara nodded, looking down at her sketchbook again.

“Do you want company? I can probably hang out for a while. J’onn said it’s alright. I know you’re nervous. We could watch a movie?”

“Um, I kind of just want to draw. You could sit in here, though, read or something.”

“Sure. Yeah, I can do that. Let me go grab a book from my office. I’ll be right back.”

Kara nodded silently, lollipop bobbing between her lips, brows tight in concentration as her hand drew an arcing line across the page. She drew a second line, then a third, connecting the charcoal paths into a puzzle of dark marks. She smudged a line, then shaded a neglected space in the bottom corner.

All the while she thought of Lena: at her funeral, at the birth of a child that wasn’t hers, at Kara’s bedside as she lay in an irreversible coma. All the torments Kara was going to subject her to. Kara found her hand moving quicker, darkening the page. The plumeria was slowly swallowed by a swath of black, the entire paper transforming into a still life of a segment of asphalt.

“At least text her,” Alex said, having suddenly appeared by Kara’s shoulder. “You are very anxious, if texting Lena would help—“

“I’m not anxious, Alex.”

“Mm, I’m not sure your sketchbook agrees. Do you wanna talk?”

Kara looked at her paper, tracing a finger over the blackened page.

“I don’t want to talk, I want to get the test results back. And I could text Lena, but she’ll just insist on coming over now, and she’ll be behind and—I can hang on a few more hours,” Kara said, tossing her sketchbook to the foot of the bed. “I just can’t stop thinking about Lena at my funeral or whatever. Nothing like this has happened since we got married. I, Alex, I can’t leave her.”

“Kara, you aren’t leaving her. Oh, and I know I mentioned cancer and all that, but you might just have some weird exposure to an alien fungus that will require fluids and sunlight. It could be any of a thousand things.”

“And if it’s not? What will Lena do?”

“If you died, Lena would probably never get over it. No argument from me. But you need to remember: Lena has all of us. She’d still be Esme’s favorite aunt, one of my best friends. She’d still get stuck repairing J’onn’s ship. Brainy and her would still invent all sorts of things. Kara, if anything ever happens to you, we’ll take care of her. But right now, you’re most likely fine.”

Kara’s eyes were shimmering with tears, and she held her jaw tightly as she nodded. She reached to hug Alex. Two strong arms wrapped her up, pressing her head near to a hammering heart.

“Both of you are so loved, Kara.”

Kara couldn’t do anything but cry. She sobbed like she hadn’t for years because she had a family, she had a world, she had something big enough and full enough that to lose it wouldn’t be Krypton repeated: it would be worse.

…

Lena was stuck in a meeting. She was nodding every so often as a man in his fifties gestured to graphs and charts and visual aids that would have fit perfectly in the attachments of an email.

She did not need to be here, and the more she thought that, the more she thought of Kara. Kara, who was probably nervous and uncomfortable. Kara, who had looked so small in the town car. Kara, who was wearing Lena’s lucky socks.

To curb her boredom, Lena had opened the online ordering page of a Chinese restaurant between LCorp and the DEO. Adding various dishes she thought Kara might like pairing each with a dessert and a drink.

Currently, she was set to spend six hundred dollars on what probably amounted to a week of meals.

She cleared the cart for a third time. She looked up and saw the presentation still continued to cover nothing of import, and when the presenter looked at her, his eyebrows raised, she nodded, and hated her job.

Finally, the meeting concluded. Lena was the first person out of the room. She power walked back to her office, pausing only at her assistants' desk to ask:

“Jess, could you please order lunch for me and Kara, to pick up just after three? Make sure there’s sweet and sour pork—Alex will be there.”

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

“There’s been no calls for me?”

“Oh, yes, Ms. Luthor,” Jess said, referencing her notes. Lena swallowed, imagining the worst, “a Mr. Jenson from Hansk Reality called about the new property in Dublin.”

“I’ll get back to him tomorrow. I’d like to remain undisturbed until my next meeting.”

Lena had forty-five minutes until her next meeting. So far, she had attended two and two more remained. She bit her lip, debating if she could indulge.

Lena Luthor had developed a dangerous habit. If she needed a break at work, she would open a private browsing window and search two little words:

INFANT CLOTHING

Lena loved looking at baby clothes. She loved looking at teddy bear onesies and tiny pairs of overalls. She adored looking at shoes—small pairs in pastels, or perfect replicas of adult counterparts. Baby clothes had become Lena’s secret obsession.

She would spend ten minutes looking at the diminutive articles of dress, then another five staring into space, imagining Kara tugging them onto a small body. She’d imagine herself or Kara doing up the snaps. Kara dressed in a matching dress. Or Lena wearing a scarf made of the same material as a baby shirt.

It wasn’t all Lena’s fault, a few months ago, Kara had gotten a little tipsy on some Aldebaran rum and after a languid session of sinfully good sex she had said:

“Sometimes I wish I could just get you pregnant the normal way.”

Lena’s eyes had been drifting closed when they shot open.

“Not in a weird way, I just, I think I’m ready. At least to start talking about it. Before I met you, I never thought I’d get to have a family, but now—I mean, our children would be geniuses.” Here, Kara rolled over to face Lena. “And gorgeous. And I’m sure they’d be horribly behaved. But they’d be so loved.”

Lena just nodded. She couldn’t manage more. The idea—children with Kara—flabbergasted Lena. It punched her in the gut and stole her breath. Children with Kara ransacked Lena’s better judgment and stole her sense of calm; it left her reeling and silly and full of so much want.

Lena somehow convinced her body to reorient itself so she was facing Kara:

“I’d be open to talking about it. Probably would be open to doing something about it, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

And they had—kind of. They’d ordered in one night with a plan to discuss Children and Next Steps. They knew they wanted a child, more than one. And they knew they wanted to start soon. However, as they discussed, their upcoming commitments, they realized this year was probably not the year to start a family.

They agreed they’d start committing to less, open up sometime in their hectic schedules and hopefully in six months then they could start to plan for the new year and starting IVF.

So now Lena stared at baby clothes when she was stressed.

She saw a onesie with Kara’s house crest. Grabbing her phone, she sent Kara a simple text.

Thinking of you

…

Kara had abandoned her sketchbook an hour ago. Now she lay on the med bay bed watching Tangled over Alex’ shoulder.

Her phone beeped and she reached for it.

Thinking of you

She smiled. She snapped a photo of the movie and a bit of Alex’s hair. She sent it off.

Then she added:

tests should be done in a few minutes, I’ll keep you posted

The scene at the end of the film, where Flynn and Rapunzel are in a rowboat surrounded by so many floating lanterns, played and Kara smiled.

“Hey, I just got the notification, I’m going to run over to the lab to get the test results, I’ll be right back.” Alex said.

As Kara waited, she considered her situation—were these her last moments before she learned she was going to die?

Alex came in three minutes and thirty-six seconds after she left—Kara had begun counting to deter her anxiety. Alex smiled with hesitation and pulled a stool to sit in front of her.

“Good news! You are completely healthy. No cancer or infection. Vitamins and metabolic came back perfect,” she grinned and Kara grinned and slumped in relief and felt like a fool for being so worried—“but,” Kara sat up, “one test came back positive.”

Alex handed her the findings of a test labeled KRYP. PREGNANCY.

Elevated levels of the Kryptonian equivalent of hCG.

Maybe it was just a fluke, a false positive because it was impossible that Kara was pregnant because she didn’t ovulate, and she did not cheat on her wife.

“We’re running the test again. The results should be back in the next fifteen minutes. I know this is a lot, and likely so strange—“

“Alex, I cannot be pregnant.”

“I know, this is very strange, and I’m sure it’s terrifying—“

“No, Alex, if I’m pregnant, Lena is going to think I cheated on her. Alex, if Lena thinks I cheated, she'll leave. She can’t leave me.” Kara began to cry.

“Whoa, no, no, we know you didn’t cheat. Like you said, Kryptonians don’t ovulate, clearly there’s something more. And Lena is going to understand that. Lena will be here in a couple of hours, and she’s going to listen and hold your hand and whatever you decide you want to do about your pregnancy, I can guarantee she’ll support you. “

Kara nodded as thick tears rolled down her red cheeks.

“I want to end it,” Kara said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“That’s your choice. We’ll have to test for paternity first to make sure we conduct any procedure safely, but if that’s what you want, of course, that’s what will happen.”

“And I don’t want to tell Lena.”

“Kara, as your doctor, I can’t tell Lena. As your sister, as Lena’s sister-in-law, I know she’d want to know just to support you. It’ll be a week probably before we do the procedure because we’ll have to make the instruments out of kryptonite. I imagine it will be a stressful week, and you’re not feeling good. Please tell her.”

“Alex, I can’t risk it.”

“Kara, okay, I mean this in the nicest way: you are being ridiculous. Lena would be more angry if you didn’t tell her. Because God knows the day you come in for the procedure, she’s going to want to be the one to drive you, to hold your hand while you wait. She’s going to want to be there after when you’re having cramps.’

'Kara, if you decide you want to keep it, Lena’s only question will be if you want her to sign the birth certificate in blue or black ink.”

Kara had begun to nod along, crying in earnest.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“How long until she gets here?”

“An hour and forty-five minutes.”

“Can she come now? Can you call her? I can’t talk to her yet.”

“Yes, I’ll call her right now.”

…

Lena was in another meeting. Lena was once again focusing on a point in the middle distance, urging the muscles of her face not to roll her eyes. Lena had failed twice in the last half hour.

Her phone dinged. Audible sound as notification was a privilege reserved for a very select few. Her hand snapped out and plucked the phone from the table. Alex had texted.

911: can you come in now? It’s important. She’s in good health, but we need you here ASAP.

Lena stood and exited the room. She left her laptop on the table, and she didn’t stop as the presenter asked where she was going. She slowed, barely, to tell Jess she had to leave owing to a family emergency and asked her to take over note-taking for the meeting. Lena entered her office, grabbing her coat and her bag. She texted Frank and then replied to Alex.

On my way.

Once she was in the car, she texted Kara:

Darling, I don’t know if you have your phone, but Alex seems worried I’m coming as fast as I can. I love you so much. We’ll have anything you want for dinner.

…

Kara locked her phone after reading the text from Lena.

She took three deep breaths and looked back up at Alex.

“She won’t be angry?”

“Kara, Lena is going to be incredibly worried. She will likely want to kill whoever is responsible for violating you. But angry will be the last thing Lena is towards you.”

Alex’s phone beeped.

“That’s the tests. I’m going to head down to the lab to pick them up. I’ll be right back.”

Alex was gone for less than five minutes, a period during which Kara elected to have a staring contest with the fire alarm. Her knit brows and unblinking eyes begged the small red box to beep, the sound slowly sublimating into that of her alarm clock, signifying that the last few hours had been nothing but an outlandish stress dream.

It didn’t.

Alex returned with a slight frown.

“Well,” she said, “it’s positive again. So the next step is a paternity test, it will double as a third pregnancy test. Thankfully, we have a Drominian technology that allows us to test paternity this soon. I just need a blood sample and a cervical mucous swab.”

Kara gazed at the linoleum tile and nodded blankly.

“Sure. Um, Lena is going to be here soon. Do we have time or can we wait?”

“We can wait. Do you want her with you when we take the blood and do the test?”

Kara nodded, then shook her head, then nodded, and then looked at Alex.

“Maybe? I don’t know. What if she’s weirded out?”

“She can deal. Her wife is pregnant without her consent sent, Lena is a tough cookie, I don’t think even she will care about her own comfort.”

“Then yes, I’d like her there.”

“Okay, great. The test will tell us species and there’s a chance, depending on how far along you are, we can get a genetic match to a specific person in our system. That assumes they would be in the system, which may be unlikely.”

Kara nodded.

“I think I’ll lay down until Lena gets here, this is a lot,” Kara said at a barely audible level.

“Okay, do you want me to read in here?”

“Sure.”

Kara laid down. She twisted Lena’s sweater in her fists and closed her eyes. She tried to remember something pleasant. She thought of her and Lena’s anniversary last March.

She had come home—soaked from a thunderstorm—to find Lena in the kitchen, still in her work clothes sautéing scallops as a pot of fettuccine bubbled on the stove.

Her wife had turned to her in the dim light of the stove to ask her to change into something comfortable.

Kara had gorged herself on pasta and wine. They’d watched a movie, and made love. It had been simple but perfect.

And Kara tried to imagine she was there, again, in their bed last March—rain pelting the window as the city and its sirens droned in the background. She pictured herself full and relaxed, languid and fucked as Lena’s arm draped around her waist—her wife’s soft body pressing into her own.

As her heart’s rapid beat slowed she focused on her breathing, eventually she fell into a light doze.

…

Lena Luthor walked like a woman possessed through the DEO. She didn’t even stop when Agent Evers asked for her feedback on a new hand restraint schematic. She just kept walking through the central hub, up the stairs, and directly into med bay. She was about to enter when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

“Lena, thank God you're here.”

Lena was about to unleash a litany of curses upon whoever had stopped her in her rush to Kara’s side when she recognized Alex.

“Alex, what’s going on?”

Alex paused, she opened her mouth, then closed it before saying:

“She’s fine, healthy. The tests, well, we need to talk. I just didn’t want you going in all tense, she’s been stressed all day. Especially that you would be angry when you got here—“

“Angry? Why on Earth would I be angry?”

“That’s what I said. I just—make sure you're calm before you go in. She’s a bit of a wreck and can hear your heartbeat.”

“Of course. But Alex, what’s going on?”

“I promised Kara I wouldn’t say anything without her.”

Lena nodded, worried beyond belief. A panoply of horrors played across her mind.

She entered the room, making sure to stay soft and relaxed. Setting her handbag on a counter by the door, she walked to the side of the bed. She sat beside Kara, who seemed to be asleep.

She gently stroked her wife’s back.

“Hey Sweetheart, can you wake up?” Lena leaned down to press a kiss against Kara’s hair. The blonde woman began to wake, shifting in the bed, seeking the familiar warmth of her wife. She sat up, opening her eyes, and smiled in relief when she saw Lena.

“Hey you,” Kara said softly.

“Hey yourself, I got here as quick as I could after I got Alex’s text. Took some extra time because of construction. What’s going on, Honey? Alex is really worried.”

Kara couldn’t say it. Not to Lena.

Alex, choose that moment to cut in.

“Kara, do you want to sit up, and I can walk Lena through what we found today?”

Kara nodded.

She sat up and Lena sat beside her on the bed, holding her hand.

“So first, we tested for cancer, infection, vitamin deficiency, or metabolic issues. In that respect, Kara is healthy as a horse.”

Lena squeezed Kara’s hand.

“We also tested for pregnancy. Standard for female patients with unknown conditions. The test came back positive, twice. We are proceeding under the assumption Kara is pregnant. We don’t know how far along because clearly this is not the product of traditional methods. After I answer any questions you may have, we will test for paternity so we can know how to safely proceed with a termination.”

Lena had not been expecting that.

“Kara wasn’t…um, Kara, you weren’t…raped?”

Kara shook her head. Lena breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, then, how did—?”

“We have no idea. We’ll be doing an investigation after we deal with more time sensitive matters. Namely, Kara has expressed that she wishes to terminate the pregnancy. We’re hoping to do that early next week. I may need your help designing implements for the procedure,” Alex said.

“Of course,” Lena replied. “Kara, Darling, this is so much. How are you doing?”

“I—I mean, I feel, this is strange and unpleasant and overwhelming. Honestly, I’ve been freaked out all afternoon you’d think I was cheating,” Kara said.

“Kara, no, of course not. I assumed, well, you know what I assumed. No, Darling, this is strange, but my only concern is doing what you want to about this and making whatever decision you make as comfortable as possible.”

Kara nodded.

“I don’t want it. The baby. I just, God, I thought for a second this afternoon—if it was yours, maybe. But it’s not, and whoever it is should not be reproducing if they think this kind of thing is okay,” she said.

“It’s completely up to you. I’ll be by your side whatever you choose,” Lena said with a degree of solemnity that calmed Kara’s stuttering heart.

“We need to take a swab of cervical mucous and a blood draw for the paternity test. The test will take two hours, you’re welcome to wait here for the results, or you can go home, and I’ll call as soon as we have them. We won’t be able to do much else tonight, so it won’t make much of a difference either way when you go home,” Alex explained.

Kara and Lena both nodded.

“I just really want to go home after you get what you need,” Kara said.

“Okay. Let’s get those samples so you two can head out,” Alex said.

They gathered the samples. Kara felt mildly embarrassed with her feet in stirrups while Lena held her hand and Alex pressed a long swab in the side of her. The blood draw was easier, a quick pinch, and it was mostly over.

They were quick in their goodbyes. Lena packed up Kara’s things while Alex talked about an Italian place she, Kelly, and Esme had tried last week.

Kara felt strange as she walked out of the DEO, she was so utterly aware that a small life was beginning inside of her. Smaller than a grape but multiplying, dividing, and growing each and every second. Lena’s had her hand on the small of Kara’s back, the gentle pressure was a solid comfort.

Kara briefly considered again how this would be different if the baby were Lena’s. Sure, they weren’t planning on kids this year, but maybe? Maybe they were ready.

Only, the baby couldn’t be Lena’s. So this tiny not-even-a-baby-yet was going to have to go.

Lena gently helped her into the town car and immediately put the divider up.

Kara elected to forgo a seatbelt and instead lay with her head in Lena’s lap. She felt strong fingers card through her hair.

“What would you like for dinner?”

“Mac and cheese from the box,” Kara whispered.

…

Kara was on her couch in her pajamas eating pasta her wife had made with magic. Lena had learned she was a witch a year and a half ago. Not much had changed—Lena practiced spells and conjurings. She used them for housework and cooking. She was fond of one fire-casting spell that she could use for soldering. Kara liked it because Lena was better able to defend herself.

And after a long day, it was nice to enchant the pots and ingredients and have the mac and cheese make itself.

They were watching Moana. And sometimes Lena would insist on feeding Kara from her own fork. Kara ate, even though her appetite wasn’t what it normally was.

Just as the end battle began, Lena’s phone rang.

“Alex?”

“Lena! Sorry, Kara’s phone went to voicemail twice. Can I talk to Kara? The results came back.”

“Yes, of course,” she said, then she handed the phone to Kara, “Your sister has the results. She sounds weird.”

Kara nodded and put the call on speaker.

“Hey Alex, go ahead, you’re on speaker,” Kara said.

“Okay, in that case: Congratulations, Lena. You seem to be the father.”

Chapter Text

Lena Luthor was not someone who was often shocked. She came from a family of exorbitantly wealthy supervillains, ran a Fortune 500 company, and was bound by matrimony to a flying alien. However, in light of the news that she was the second parent of the mysterious embryo inside her wife, these factors did nothing to prevent Lena from spitting her wine across the living room floor.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that,” Alex continued through the phone. “The test results indicate that the other parent is human, and there is a 99.9% chance it is Lena. Which I suppose is good news to some degree.”

Kara couldn’t move. She sat beside Lena, her heartbeat a tattoo needle inside her chest as a thousand different feelings crashed through her body. Relief, elation, joy, concern, confusion, and apprehension pelted Kara in equal measure. This news was good, yes, but raised other questions. How? Why? They hadn’t been trying for a baby.

Besides, just because the baby was Lena’s did not automatically mean they would keep it, Kara was still potentially staring down an abortion early next week. Were they to keep the pregnancy, that would mean Kara was pregnant? That meant she had nine months of nausea, mood swings, cravings, and frequent urination ahead of her.

Then she had a lifetime of motherhood.

Lena looked at her wife. She saw the hesitation on Kara’s face. The news wasn’t exactly good, but it was better. Lena was certainly hopeful. She opened her mouth only to close it in favor of taking a deep breath before she finally spoke.

“Well, Alex, that’s definitely news. I suppose somewhat reassuring. I’ll be the first person to admit I have zero idea how I could have impregnated Kara. As I’m sure you are aware, I am not exactly naturally gifted in that area of human anatomy. Kara, how are you feeling?”

“A lot better,” Kara said, “If it’s yours, then of course it was an accident and well I feel like that’s better than if someone had done this on purpose. Then there’s the fact, I’m not trying to assume, but maybe we wouldn’t have to be so hasty about ending things. I mean, if that’s safe. Of course, because we don’t even know how this happened and if the pregnancy is viable and…yeah. Better.”

Kara turned to Lena and saw two wide green eyes. Slowly, Lena began to nod her head as a grin took over her face.

“Well, we will need to run more tests if you decide you want to keep it. Not to mention, we will need to find a good OBGYN who can be let in on the Super secret. Right now though, I don’t see any indications this is an abnormal pregnancy in anything but origin.”

“When do those tests have to be done, Alex?” Lena asked.

“A first round will need to be done as soon as possible to establish a baseline. You both had a rough day though so if you want to come in the day after tomorrow that’ll be fine.’

'Of course, if you decide you still would like to pursue your original options, that’s okay, too. Lena I understand if you would rather not help construct the instruments—“

“Of course I’ll help,” Lena interrupted, “Like I said, I support whatever Kara wants to do, If you need my help I can come in whenever.”

“Okay, thanks, take a few days to decide what you both want. Kara I’m here to talk medical questions, but I’m also her as your sister, say the word, and I’ll come by.”

“Thanks, Alex, I’ll call you tomorrow, I think tonight me and Lena need to talk about stuff,” Kara said.

“Of course, talk tomorrow. I love you. Bye,” Alex said.

“Love you,” Kara said before hanging up.

After the call disconnected, the two women sat in the dark living room. Kara set her phone on the table in front of the couch and then turned to Lena.

“So…” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“That was pretty big news,” Lena said.

“Yes, it was…it wasn’t necessarily bad news,” Kara said.

Lena felt her heart beat quicker. Kara looked at her with a half smile.

“Kara, does me being the other mother of your child change what you want to do?”

Kara bit her lip and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, it does. I mean, it’s kind of perfect. We want a baby—sure, we said not quite yet—but this baby could be genetically both of ours. It’s kind of perfect.”

Lena smiled and then her face fell.

“I hear that, and ultimately, we’ll do what you want, and I would love to be this child’s mother, but Kara, aren’t you concerned that we have no clue how this happened?”

Kara’s eyes dropped to the floor.

“Yeah, I mean,” she squirmed, “of course it's concerning, and maybe we need to investigate more, but um, what if we regretted not, keeping it? I guess we could regret keeping it, them, the baby.”

Lena saw something in Kara, something she saw only when the blonde spoke of Krypton. A hunger around her irises, a gauntness along her cheek bones. The space left by the hefty loss of an entire planet, like a bruise, pressed eternal into the grimace on her face.

“I like the thought that the baby would be Kryptonian, like biologically, but also yours. Which is stupid—that doesn’t matter, I mean we were talking about adopting. Just, Lena, what if she looked like my mom and also your mom. What if she had green eyes and could fly, and—“ Kara was crying now. Fully, wet tears dripping down her face. She kept opening her mouth, waiting for sound to emerge, make more words, to make her point. Instead, she stood there, imitating a trout while staring at her wife.

Lena for her part stood still—a perfect imitation of an unmoving, unblinking boulder. Something hefty and profound and utterly still. Kara had somehow punched her in the gut and grabbed every ounce of hope at the bottom of her soul so that she could rip it out of Lena’s body and hold it before her: every hope and dream in the shape of a baby.

On the sofa, the ending scenes of Moana illuminated their faces in soft lights—flashing, like a pseudo-disco as they each did not move. Finally:

“So we keep it, then?” Lena asked, finally reaching to grab Kara’s hand.

Kara could not speak, only nodded, wiping a tear from her eyes as her smile grew wider.

“So we keep it, raise it, become moms, have like five more, and live happily ever after?” Lena asked again.

Kara laughed and nodded.

“I teach it math, you do English, I do physics because Krypton was too advance, but you handle biology because I hate slimy things?” Another flurry of nods. “I teach it how to ride a bike, and you teach it how to fly, and when it’s time for the sex talk we send it to your sister?” Kara was laughing by then. “God, Kara, moms. We are going to be moms.” By then Kara was fully on top of Lena, pressing her into the sofa cushions, cupping her face to kiss her—furious and fervently—her lips moving so as to say all the words she could not find.

…

The next morning, Kara wakes up to an empty bed. This may be the most annoying thing in her life. Kara Danvers would like to think, that despite being an alien scion of justice and hope, that she is at her core, a simple girl. She likes musicals and sticky buns and various sorts of dumplings. She has a soft spot for her friends, double meat pizzas, and any sort of puppy. A good day is simple: go to work, stop a small emergency, eat dinner with her wife, read a chapter in a book, hit the hay. Repeat. Repeat. Stop an apocalypse, and then repeat. However, a great day has a single necessary requirement: wake up beside her wife. Get a cuddle in, heck maybe get off, and then go through the rest of whatever is to come.

So often, though, she wakes to a warm sheet and little else beside her.

Lena is a morning person. Lena is the obscene and infuriating sort who can wake up at five, do a work-out, write seventeen emails and a bevy of memoranda, and only then at around eight am have her coffee: a double black americano. Not even a triple. Because, of course, Jesus, Vishnu, and whoever else loves Lena Luthor.

Forgive Kara for shamelessly assuming, carrying ones child—especially the first morning after such a discovery—entitles one to morning cuddles. She rolled over and groaned into her pillow.

She listened for Lena, first her heartbeat—in the penthouse—then more. She heard her wife on the phone. She was speaking in clipped tones, almost angry, switching between English and German. Kara could hear someone on the other side of the phone stammering out responses in German.

After a few minutes, the line went dead. Kara heard Lena put her phone down, sigh, and then quietly pad back to their bedroom. She had sat up and watched Lena appear in the doorway, still unclothed, though her hair had been shoved into a bun.

“Oh,” Lena said, “I woke you.” Kara pulled back the covers. “I’m sorry, Love, I know you like cuddles in the morning. I got a call and took it in my office so you could sleep. There was a preventable fire at the lab in Munich, and now there’s a proverbial clusterfuck waiting on my desk this morning.”

Kara had buried her hair in Lena’s neck, and now pulled away just enough to point out:

“So you ripped Hans a new one while topless?”

Lena huffed.

“I took the call immediately, and no, I didn’t have an opportunity to grab a shirt. It’s not like he could see.”

“Wish I could have seen. I heard. But like, Lena Luthor: boss bitch CEO, with her lady sacks out? Blazing sexy.” Lena couldn’t help but laugh. Kara did that sometimes, especially when she was drowsy, she spoke what she had termed “Easier English” which Lena suspected was just an excuse for her wife to be goofy and crass. ‘But Lena, I am an immigrant,’ Kara would argue.

“Yes, my lady sacks with their myriad hickeys from my wife were visible to everyone in my empty home office.”

“I love your lady sacks.”

“I will pay you a million dollars to never call my breasts lady sacks again.”

Kara adjusted so she could bury her face in Lena’s chest. She felt Lena’s hand massaging her scalp.

“Not worth it. Freedom of expression has no price tag. Except pancakes. If you make pancakes, I will exile lady sacks from my vocabulary. Oh, add in a caramel cappuccino, and I’ll stop calling your weird ergonomic foot rest your “dainty dawg dais.”

“Oh I would appreciate that,” Lena chuckled, “Mrs. Danvers-Luthor you have yourself a deal.

They stayed in bed for half an hour, before Lena made breakfast. They decided they’d both go in an hour late, blame traffic. Lena watched Kara eat a mountain of pancakes, intermittently slurping from her 20oz cappuccino.

“So, we should call your sister tonight, and let her know that we are planning on Baby Danvers-Luthor 2023,” Lena said.

Kara nodded as the color left her face.

“Yeah, or maybe we should see if she wants to come over? We could make risotto, she likes your risotto. Alternatively, we can flee the country, and never look back. You’re a genius, you can deliver the baby in a cave,” Kara said.

Lena quirked an eyebrow.

“I just—what if Alex judges me. For, you know, having a baby when I don’t know how it got there?” Kara said, staring at her pancakes. “Like, I know we want the baby, and so much weird stuff happens to us, why not? But Lena I know why not. Why not? Because what if this baby is a trick? Or evil? Or dangerous, maybe not to the world, but to me? What if it’s a Kryptonite baby…there’s just so much we don’t know. And you and I are on the same page, but I’m scared Alex wasn’t really being…for real when she said it was my choice.”

Lena nodded, and swallowed, and felt like she was going to cry.

“Kara those are really important points, and you are right, we can’t be certain. But you and I are adults, and we decided the risks are worth it. All of that occurred to me, and still—I want to have this baby, the chance of this baby, the reality of this baby, with you. It’s silly, but there’s something inside me, when I really think about the baby I feel so sure it's not a bad thing, a weird thing sure, but not bad.’

'I think your sister, knows all that. And honestly, I don’t think Alex would have given you any kind of choice if she didn’t support you being the one to choose. I will be there if you tell her on the phone or over dinner, and I will not hesitate to throw her out of our home if she crosses a line, but Kara—I really don’t think she will.” By the time Lena finished speaking, Kara was sobbing. Fully blubbering as a thread of snot fell into her pancakes.

“I hate being pregnant. All the emotions. I feel silly, of course Alex wouldn’t be mean.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that—“ Kara giggled, glaring at Lena.

Lena circled the kitchen island and hugged Kara. She kissed her hair.

“For the next nine months you can cry as much as you want, whenever you want. I mean, you have a Luthor inside you—those people are the worst.”

“LENA!” Kara yelped, “Don’t say our baby is the worst.”

“Technically, I called the baby a Luthor, you called them the worst.”

Kara giggled.

“We’ll call Alex tonight?” Kara asked.

“I mean, unless she’s coming over to eat all our risotto.”

“Sure, yeah, because I mean, we’re basically telling her we are pregnant, and that’s like an event. Oh, should we get a onesie or something to make it cute. It could say “My aunt loves me!’ or “I have the best aunt.”

“If you'd like, sure. I could send Jess out for something this afternoon, after I finish firing half of the Munich team.”

“You can’t send Jess out! On Earth, aren’t you like, supposed not to tell people until the second trimester?” Kara asked.

“Oh, yeah, but… I need to tell Jess,” Lena said, Kara’s brow crinkled.

“Kara, I am coming in late today, I’m sure I’ll do it a few more times in the next month. I’ll probably leave early as well. Not to mention I’ll be stressed, and I’m going to start googling weird stuff, taking off in the afternoons to take you to doctor’s appointments. She will realize something is up. She will think I’m like embezzling. Or planning world domination.”

“She wouldn’t think you are embezzling.”

Lena raised her eyebrows.

“She might think you were taking over the world, but like in a good way?”

Here, Lena’s mouth opened, an offended scoff squaring her shoulders.

“Okay, you can tell her. I trust her, I just, you know… I want to do this the right way.”

Lena softened.

“We are. I’m telling Jess because she is an extension of my mind at work, and more importantly, there will be times I need her help. I can wait a bit, though. You need to be comfortable with who and how we tell.”

“Tell Jess. I’ll tell Alex. Someone is going to figure out what we tell National City in a few months, but hey, no one trusts me with Supergirl PR.”

“We trust you, Kara. We just didn’t think it was smart for Supergirl to adopt, no matter how symbolically, every baby penguin in the world.”

“I’m never getting drunk at Al’s again. I think it makes perfect sense: penguins…are the superhero’s of the ice. They have floofy tummies and tiny feet. It takes serious bravery to be that cute.”

“Well forget baby penguins, we are getting an entire baby superhero in nine months,” Lena said, snatching Kara’s mug to take a sip.

“Hopefully, I mean Kryptonians didn’t do organic gestation. What if I’m pregnant for three years? Golly, you’d go broke buying all the ice cream and pickles I’d need to get through that.”

…

Alex arrives just after six with a casserole dish. It’s still warm when Lena takes it, covered in a red and white napkin that looks like it’s fifty-years-old. She carries it to the kitchen where she sneaks a smell. Tuna, with hints of… Swiss cheese?

“Yeah, and like I had some time, so I thought… I can make them a casserole! I did! And it’s probably edible.” Lena smiles and nods. Jesus, you make casseroles for the mourning and newly cancerous. They’re having a baby, not dying of pertussis. Lena then tries to remember if you can feed a pregnant woman tuna. She then remembers her designated pregnant woman is also the maid of might, and shrugs it off.

Kara is across the room watching her wife, with her bouncy titties and perfect ass—she means, her gentle, demure way of putting things in the oven to stay warm. Yep. That one. 100.

She had called Alex during lunch, to explain that they wanted to have her over. Like, to talk…about things. Not bad things, she had assured. Just things, like the Dallas Cowboys, and woodworking, basic tax code. Actually, Kara should ask Lena if having a baby will affect their taxes, they actually have a guy for that. They actually have seven accountants, on account of Lena having a net worth to rival God. And a baby on the way. Rao, Kara is spiraling. And Lena looks yummy.

“So I said to him, I don’t care if you have a permit, you can’t move a motorcycle to film a commercial for bunion cream,” Alex is talking with animated hands as Lena pours her a beer. Lena is nodding. Her own glass is still half full of a sparkling rose. Kara, meanwhile, is drinking a seltzer with lime. On account of the small person inside her.

Kara actually hates seltzer with lime, but they were out of soda, and Kara had accidentally drunk all their remains juice that morning. Besides, Lena had mentioned gestational diabetes, so now Kara is sipping her seltzer trying to look normal and not, like, glowing, as Alex complains about independent filmmakers.

Eventually, they move to the table. Casserole, breadsticks, and a large Caesar salad—the only salad Kara will eat. There’s a chocolate cake in the fridge. The room is warm and as they eat—all agreeing the casserole is unique and exceptionally edible—Kara waits for an opening.

“Alex, we asked you to come over because we have something to tell you,” Kara starts, taking Lena’s hand. Alex nods, setting her fork aside. “Lena and I thought about it. A lot. Like a ton. And then some. We are keeping the mystery baby,” Kara was smiling, Lena was beaming. Then Kara continued, “and we want you to be the aunt.” Her Lena tipped her head to the side and looked at her wife.

Alex was smiling, but also:

“I would be the aunt?”

Kara nods.

“Kara, she—you don’t have to ask her to be the aunt. That’s automatic,” Lena whispers in her ear.

“I know, I panicked, please go with it,” Kara asks.

Lena clears her throat and assumes the posture of doting wife.

“Yes, Alex, we want to make sure there is no confusion, please be the aunt of this baby,” Lena says.

Alex can only nod through her happy tears.

“Of course, I will be the aunt. I thought… I did not have a choice. Which I was happy about, but it’s nice to be asked.” Despite the absurdity, Lena felt tears pricking her own eyes. “So, you guys are going to be moms! That’s huge! Can I ask when you decided?”

Lena waits for Kara to speak, but the blonde is a blubbering mess.

“Well, I knew I was all in when I found out Kara was pregnant, and I think Kara really knew this was the choice for us when it was confirmed the baby is mine. And we talked last night, and yeah. Now we need to know what next? I guess. Appointments, check-ups, super-gynecologists.”

They all laughed. The night twinkled through the penthouse windows. They ate thick slices of rich cake, and played a few rounds of rummy. Lena could tell her wife was happy. She also noticed Kara’s lingering gazes and roaming hands.

It surprised neither of them when they ended up making out on their bed. Undressing each other with intensity.

…

Lena’s shirt is completely off, her bra discarded, and her breast completely inserted into Kara’s mouth as much as is possible. They are grinding on each other, and Lena’s hands find the zipper of Kara’s jeans.

“Mmm, just don’t accidentally get me pregnant again,” Kara jokes. Lena, however, goes completely still on top of her wife. Kara has relatched on Lena’s pink nipple, snickering about her joke.

“Wait. Do you think—maybe—we should, wait. On sex, until we know?” Here, Kara actually stops what she is doing to look at her wife. “I just mean,” Lena continues, “what if you can get me pregnant? Or I somehow give you twins. Oh fuck, what if I already gave you twins!”

Kara is no longer laughing, rather she is tucking a strand of hair behind Lena’s ear while not making eye contact.

“Maybe, yeah we should hold off,” Kara said as Lena shifted her weight accidentally, thigh pressing harder into Kara’s center. The blonde groaned. “So let’s not do that,” here Kara lifted her wife and laid her beside her on their comforter. “Let’s cool down, and go about our night as adults who have a sexless marriage and are happy. We can watch a sitcom. And have popcorn and orange juice.”

“What?”

“Sorry, I’m trying to think of unsexy things.”

“Popcorn and orange juice?”

“I was mostly trying not to say: titty and pussy. Sue me.”

They both groaned.

“Call Alex?”

“In the morning?”

“Yep.”

“I’m going to go take a shower.”

“And masturbate?” Kara asked.

“Yep,” Lena said.

“This sucks.”

“I believe the word you are looking for is the miracle of motherhood.”

Outside, National City twinkled, and Kara began to count all the many minutes until they knew how she had come to be pregnant with the child of her wife as a superhero on a planet that used to be a trillion miles from home. Now home was this, the small space between Lena and her, filled with the butterfly heartbeat of their unborn child. What a special thing. What a thing that wasn’t annoying at all. What a special treat: nine months of popcorn, orange juice, and not getting it on would be.