Chapter Text
Kara pushed the button. She exhaled with her eyes squeezed shut. The article was blogged. Without Snapper Carr’s blessing, it was out in the open and warned National City’s alien population against the most recent and probably most dire thread from Cadmus. Mon-El smacked a kiss on her ear and mumbled something about getting chow. Despite the sensual overload in her hearing, the kiss and his words barely registered with Kara. The high from the excitement left her with a sense of vertigo.
Her cell phone vibrated on the kitchen counter, flashing her best friend’s name on the display. Kara snapped out of her daze and answered the call.
“Lena.”
Lena jumped right into business. “I found something.” Kara had to smile at her friend's efficiency. “Activity at a Luthor facility that’s supposedly defunct.” Kara switched the phone to the other ear, the one that Mon-El didn’t smack into. Was there a shift in Lena’s voice? A strain? Yes. It was hardly noticeable, but a slight tremble was there that wasn’t there before. Lena’s heartbeat missed a beat. Kara closed her eyes and concentrated. Was everything all right at L-Corp? Only Lena continued her report on what she found as if nothing was wrong. “It is big enough to build almost anything.” Her heart rate picked up speed. Heavy steps came from the background. Two, maybe three persons? Kara’s internal alarms went off. “Or to hide something”, Lena concluded.
Then there was the electric crackling of a teaser, the cracking of a phone hitting the floor, the crash of a body collapsing into furniture.
Mon-El rummaged in the fridge. Kara jumped up from the chair and put a finger in the free ear to block him out.
“Lena?”
Lena didn’t answer Kara. Her pleading voice came from the distance: “Stay back!” Kara called her one last time. “Lena?” Only heavy steps and the clacking of heels on the balcony came over the phone.
Kara took off her glasses. Supergirl was in her suit and out of the window in the blink of an eye. Even city districts away, Kara’s senses zeroed in on Lena’s heartbeat. Closing in on L-Corp tower, she registered the sound of struggling that came from the top balcony. Lena screamed. Her heart beat went off like a sewing machine. And it descended towards the ground.
Fast.
Kara prayed to Rao not to be too late.
Faster.
Supergirl dived down, following the frantic heartbeat like a homing beacon.
Lena!
Got her.
Lena.
Supergirl caught Lena Luthor twenty feet above the ground. At this point, Kara’s heart was in synch with the pounding in Lena’s the chest. Wordlessly, Kara pressed Lena against her body and Lena Luthor tightened her grip around Supergirl, burying her face in her neck. Everything went still except for the harmonious drumming in two voices.
Lena was the first to recover. She loosened her hold around Supergirl’s neck and cleared her throat. Kara gave her a once over and ascended towards the top floor balcony.
In perfect Supergirl composure, Kara stared down at the two intruders who were peering over the balustrade.
“Dropped something?”
###
It rained. Of course, it rained. The weather seemed to reflect Kara’s mood almost as this was its superpower. She sat in an open window of her apartment, looking down at the street without really seeing. She was listening to a heartbeat that had become her constant companion since everything escalated the day before. Kara replayed the events of last 24 hours in her mind. Blogging her article on the stolen alien registry, preventing Lena’s fall to certain death, stopping an alien spaceship from jumping lightyears away and rescuing Alex together with thousands of aliens from being deported to another galaxy by Cadmus, being fired by Snapper as a reporter at CatCo. Kara turned her head. From her position on the window sill, she was able to see the super-suit lying on the couch. Wearing it felt suffocating, but she didn’t want to put it out of reach in case of an emergency. Tears stung in her eyes; they refused to fall. Supergirl’s mission and Kara Danvers’ career stood diametral against each other. One seemed to cancel out the other and Supergirl was gaining the upper hand - as she always did in a fight. Kara sighed. The box with her personal things from her desk at CatCo sat buried deep in a bedroom cupboard. She didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to unpack it, either. That would count as Kara Danvers’ defeat and Kara wasn’t ready for that.
Sometime in between these events, the heartbeat had started to manifest itself in Kara’s subconsciousness. Being aware of someone else’s heartbeat was something she was used to. Kara heard the rhythms of those she cared for since she had landed on earth. Alex’s was the first one, than Eliza’s, and – until his disappearance – Jeremiah’s, too. That she hadn’t reconnected to him after his brief return was a sad thought for another time. Normally when she concentrated, Kara was able to tune into the rhythm of the person she was thinking of and then tune out again. This heartbeat was different. Liker her own heartbeat, like her breath, it was always there; it was permanent – not that she wanted to tune out of it anyway. Not now. Kara wrapped her arms around herself and let her head fall against the wall behind her, staring into nothing. The regular double-thump felt strong and warm. In all the chaos it was the one constant that kept her grounded. Kara remembered that she first became consciously aware of it while facing the back of a disappointed Snapper. Its soothing presence prevented her from breaking into tears in front of her boss while he was taking away Kara Danvers’s purpose in life. Ever since losing her job as reporter, the heartbeat was the anchor for her. It irked that she couldn’t locate whose rhythm it was. Locating the owner of a heartbeat was the hardest part and it didn’t help that she had no idea who to look for.
There was a knock on the door. Without checking who it was, Kara got up and opened it. She was greeted by the sight of Mon-El, holding up a bitten-into potsticker with chop sticks in one hand and carrying a take-way bag in the other one.
“Potstickers. Still piping hot.” Kara let out a laugh. Mon-El leaned in. “Here, eat one.” He kissed her. “Or all of them. I promise you’ll feel better.”
Kara bit her lip. Was it Mon-El’s heartbeat? Why hadn’t she thought about him sooner? Against so many obstacles, they had grown so much closer in such a short time – from enemies to friends to lovers. This was the natural progression of their relationship, wasn't it? They were growing stronger as a couple. It had to be Mon-El’s.
She took the bag with the potstickers from him, shrugging.
“Ah, I don’t know.”
She didn’t have any appetite. The situation was way beyond the healing properties of comfort food.
Mon-El closed the door, his gaze never leaving her.
“Hey… Hey, you’re gonna get another job.”
Kara sits down at the dining table and puts down the bag, shaking her head. Of course, she could get another job. Getting another job wasn’t the problem. She didn’t really need to. J’onn had once offered her to work for the DEO full-time, hadn’t he?
“Yeah, but I… I don’t want another job. Reporting is my calling. I help people”, she said.
Mon-El followed her and came to a hold in front of the table.
“Yeah? You know who else does?
Kara knew what he was going to say but she asked anyway.
“Who?”
Mon-El kneeled down in front of Kara.
“Supergirl.”
Kara nodded and Mon-El nodded with her. Her mind wandered back to the box in the bedroom cupboard.
“When I write, I don’t need a yellow sun. It’s just me. Supergirl is what I can do. Kara is who I am.” Kara frowned. “I really loved that job.”
She looked to the side but Mon-El urged her to look back at him.
“Hey, you have so much to offer this world. So don’t let Snapper or anyone else tell your differently. OK?”, he said with a soft voice.
Kara took his face in her hands. His eyes closed. She shook her head. Something was off between his presents in front of her and the rhythm in her conscious. Pushing the thought aside, Kara pecked him on the lips and leaned back. She watched as Mon-El re-opened his eyes dreamily. Mon-El, her boyfriend, looked at her with so much adoration and a dopey grin. In a novel, she had read that one could have everything, a good job, a nice apartment, a great relationship. Just not at the same time. Was that true for her life and balancing out Supergirl, her career as a reporter, and being in a happy relationship? Right in that moment it felt true.
“You know something?”, she asked.
Kara stroked Mon-El’s cheeks with her thumbs. His three-day beard felt scratchy under her touch.
“What?”
She glanced at the super-suit for a moment over her shoulder. Kara turned back and looked Mon-El in the eyes.
“Maybe being Supergirl and having you is enough.”
He smiled.
“You think so?”
Did she really think so? Did she? This was it. The big moment to make a life altering decision. She still wanted it all, but how did she get it? The answer came with the voice of Cat Grant. How about we start small and work our way up? Didn’t Miss Grant lecture her about learning curves when she first started as Supergirl? She could have it all, but she had to work for it. Kara had a handle on being Supergirl by now. Learning to be in a relationship and learning to be a reporter maybe was taking on way too much way too fast. She had to put something on the back burner to make it all work in the end.
Kara made the decision.
“Yeah.”
She leaned in. Mon-El met her half way. He broke the kiss and whispered against her lips: “I hope so.”
Kara chuckled. She kissed him once more and put a hand on his chest, right above his heart. Kara frowned. The rhythm thumping under her palm didn't match the rhythm she had been hearing all day. Mon-El heart was pumping steadily, even a little slower as the average human being, probably due to his Daxamite physiology. The heartbeat she was hearing was human. And right in this moment it sped up in excitement for three beats.
###
In the meantime, in another part of National City…
Lena had starred at a blueprint for so long that the lines, symbols, and numbers lost their meaning. As a matter of fact, the characters seemed to re-group themselves like the fish swarm in Finding Nemo just to give her the finger. She pinched the bridge of her nose and let her head fall against the backrest of her desk chair. Swirling around, Lena reached for the wine glass standing beside her laptop. She let the red liquid swivel in the glass and sniffed the fumes wafting up. She detected traces of dark chocolate, a body of plums, the slight edge of pepper. She tilted the glass to another angle. There. A hint of oak from the maturing process in barique became more apparent.
Why did she know Finding Nemo? Oh, right. Kara had shown her a video clip last week to emphasise the importance of taking a break and the helpfulness of animated films in the process of relaxing. Her friend was on a mission and Kara’s highest objective was that Lena should take better care of herself. Lena was open to the idea of watching silly movies in sweat pants at home eating junk food. She really was - especially after yet another near death experience the day before because three of her mother’s goons threw her of her own balcony. Only she dreaded the silence that came inevitably after the closing credits.
After being swivelled around, the wine ran in thick streaks along the tulip-shaped body of the glass .
Lena wished she could accept Kara’s offer to have a movie night, only that night was not an option. Kara had to deal with her own reality of being sacked from the job she loved. Lena wished, just the two of them could leave the world behind for some hours and be each other's safe place in their respective moments of crises. Only Kara had someone else to be there for her, someone who was not Lena. Mike. Her boyfriend Mike.
The dark red liquid caught the light of her desk lamp and drew pink spots on her desk. Lena flicked a finger against the wine glass. The glass sang on a high note with long-lasting sustain.
Lena amused herself with the image of Supergirl launching on the couch with her, munching popcorn in her super-suit, cape and boots discarded on the side; but the thought was too surreal to last. No. Lena was on her own if she wanted to escape reality for a few blissful hours filled with a bit of silliness.
Finally, Lena took a sip of the wine. The liquid ran dark and warm down her throat. The alcohol warmed her belly and her nether regions. The feeling reminded her of another warmth she craved. She let out a sharp laugh. Being held by Supergirl during a rescue mission and getting friendly hugs from Kara were the most intimate physical contacts she had since her arrival at National City. Sometimes it seemed that it was all there was left for her. What a pathetic thought.
She gulped down the rest of the wine. It burned her throat.
Her phone vibrated and flashed the image of a woman with blue eyes and blond hair into the night. The notification announced a text message. With a rush of excitement punctuated by three quick beats of her heart, Lens read it.
[Natalie:] Hey sexy, I’m coming to in National City in two weeks. Do you want to get together for old time's sake?