Chapter Text
“Lena invited me to her cabin this weekend,” Kara babbles through large bites of chicken lo mein. She barely takes a minute to breathe and shovels another forkful of noodles in her mouth. “I think she’s going to kill me.”
Alex decides to indulge her sister before Kara somehow stress eats her way into an MSG coma. “And why would she do that?”
“I just have this feeling. She said she wanted to spend a weekend with her only friend in National City…alone…in the woods,” Kara continues, clearly frazzled at the revelation. She reaches for the chicken fingers in the box on the table and drenches one in what’s left of the duck sauce.
“…what?” Alex makes sure to grab two chicken fingers before Kara eats them all. She’s learned over the years to hoard her food if she wants to eat.
“You know how my foot lives in my mouth?”
“Never,” Alex feigns surprise and chews thoughtfully on the crispiest chicken finger she can find. “Your foot never lives in your mouth.”
“Alex, I am having a crisis!” Kara whines petulantly. “And if you continue to make fun of me, I’m going to melt all your teeth so the next time we order pizza, you have to drink it through a straw!”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Yeah, well,” Kara scoffs. “You’re not being supportive.”
Alex holds up her hands and looks forlornly at the last piece of beef teriyaki that’s sitting sadly in the middle of Kara’s super adult looking Frozen plate. “I will support you if you let me have that last piece of beef teriyaki.”
“You made fun of my plate,” Kara reminds her sister with a slight pout.
“You ate all of the potstickers.”
Kara guffaws and begins to anxiously ramble on about her Kryptonian appetite and how she can’t control it and blah, blah, blah. Alex stops listening and grabs the beef teriyaki when Kara’s poked herself in the eye while wildly waving her hands in the air to prove her point.
“Go on,” Alex says smugly, making sure to take small bites of beef just to torture her sister. “Why do you think Lena’s going to kill you? She’s not her brother or mother. Both of whom are rotting in jail, by the way.”
“I know,” Kara moans and flops back on the couch dramatically. “But, but who says they want to spend some time alone in the middle of nowhere? Serial killers, right? I mean, I mean what else would that mean?”
“Uh huh…”
Sometimes letting Kara ramble on nonsensically is the best way for Alex to get answers.
“But then I also think Lena might just need someone to talk to? I mean she’s nice and pretty and…oh! I meant pretty as friends, because we’re friends…”
“Are you sure you’re not in love with Lena?” Alex asks coyly, immediately regretting it when Kara uses her laser vision to singe the remaining bite of beef teriyaki hanging precariously off the skewer. “You little brat.”
“That’s what you get,” Kara says triumphantly, obviously pleased at the look of disdain on Alex’s face. “Maybe you’re in love with Lena. I’m telling Maggie!”
Alex can’t stop the laughter bubbling in her throat. “Oh, you caught me,” she says sarcastically. “Lena is not even my type.”
“Beautiful isn’t your type?!” Kara squawks ultra sonically.
“God, Kara!” Alex groans, covering her ears. Kara’s cuteness definitely dwindles when she screeches like a banshee.
Kara smiles in deep satisfaction and decides to steer the conversation back to its original direction. “I don’t want to spend the weekend thinking Lena is going to smother me in my sleep.”
“Good thing you have super hearing then. You’ll be able to hear her coming before she can reach for the pillow.”
“Alex!”
Alex can only grin, reluctantly putting down her food to hold out her arms for Kara to snuggle into. “Here’s a thought; why don’t you say…no.”
“I can’t,” Kara scowls while fiddling with the sleeve of Alex’s sweater. “I don’t know how to say no!”
“Uh, you say no to me all the time,” Alex points out, her fingers poking into her sister’s sides. She’s grateful when Kara squeals.
“I do not!” Kara protests.
“Can I have the last chicken finger?”
Kara shakes her head. “No!”
“See?” Alex says matter-of-factly. “You do know how to say no!”
“But that’s different,” Kara whines, swatting Alex’s thigh when her sister can’t seem to control her laughter. “I can say no when it comes to food. I can’t say no when people need my help or sadly ask if I want to spend the weekend at their cabin because I’m the only friend they have here.”
“It sounds like Lena just needs someone to talk to. Think of all the stuff she’s been through these past few months.”
“Well, can’t she talk to her assistant?” Kara complains, tilting her head so she’s looking up at Alex with her puppy dog eyes. “You should come too!”
Alex is quick to shake her head. “Nope. No. This is my first weekend off from the DEO in almost a year.”
“Bring Maggie!” Kara squeals. She tugs on Alex’s arm and bounces on the couch cushion. “What if I become ill? Lena doesn’t know I’m Supergirl! She’ll just think I’m sick and then we’ll have to-” She’s cut off when Alex clamps a hand over her mouth.
“Stop being dramatic. And no. Maggie and I have only been dating like a month. That’s way too soon to ask someone to go away! Besides, she’s working all weekend.”
“Okay, well then you should just come if you’re going to be lonely…”
“I’m not going to be lonely. I’ll be fine.”
Kara sits up and knows she has to beg and plead until she’s worn Alex down like when they were kids. Alex’s immunity to her puppy dog eyes and pout has grown increasingly stronger and Kara doesn’t like it one bit. She’s used to having her sister wrapped tightly around her finger but Kara swears ever since she came out as Supergirl, Alex has no problem resisting her pathetic begging.
“Please come?”
Alex isn’t interested in hearing Kara’s plight and turns on the TV. “Game of Thrones or Homeland?”
“Alex, I will never ask you for anything ever again!”
“You’ve told me that thousands of times, Kara,” Alex laughs and fiddles with the tassels on the gold throw pillow next to her. “Yet you’ll call me tomorrow and ask me for something.”
Kara is thrown off by Alex’s unfortunately true statement but shakes her head to regain her train of thought. “I swear this time. I promise! Like, cross my heart and pinkie promise.”
“Nope.”
“Alex!” Kara bellows, taking hold of Alex’s arm to jostle her.
“Kara, I don’t want to.”
“You know what?” Kara’s got the glimmer of determination in her eyes and she nearly crushes her cell phone when she hastily texts Lena. “Can my sister come too? She’s lonely and has nothing to do this weekend. Hah! Just sent it.”
“Hah, I’m still not coming.”
Kara immediately opens the message when her phone vibrates seconds later. Lena must be attached to her cell phone.
Of course! The more the merrier.
“See! She’s excited you’re coming.” Kara shoves the phone in Alex’s face and smiles when the older girl seems to be wearing down. “Alex, please! I need you.”
“No you don’t,” Alex says nonchalantly. Truthfully, she doesn’t like the idea of her innocent little sister spending the weekend with a Luthor. Knowing Kara, she’d spill her secret in a heartbeat. “Kara, look. It might be nice for you to get away for the weekend. You deserve to relax too.”
“But I can’t relax if you’re not there,” Kara points out rather pathetically. She buries herself in Alex’s arms and clutches the back of her sweater. “I’m a walking ball of anxiety with all these changes and I SWEAR Lena is concocting some plan to cause me bodily harm.”
“If only you were indestructible. Oh wait...”
“Alex, please,” Kara starts to whimper. It’s genuine, Alex can tell. “I need you.”
Alex pinches the bridge of her nose, knowing there is no way now she can deny her sister now. “Fine,” she concedes. “But you owe me.”
--
Lena sort of reminds Kara of a Price is Right model as she dutifully shows them around her surprisingly quaint cabin. It’s nestled deep in the woods and Alex immediately complains to Kara (in the car, of course) about the lack of cell phone reception. How are they supposed to live for the next three days with barely any contact to the outside world?
The downstairs portion of the cabin is pretty spacious and Kara coos over all the childhood photos of Lena. As expected, it seems that Lena never went through an awkward phase. Alex can’t hide the smirk on her face as Kara flits around Lena like a little school girl, accidentally walking too close and stepping on the back of the woman’s designer flip flops. Of course, Lena laughs (Alex suspects she’s been drinking beforehand) while Kara apologizes at least six times.
“I’m so sorry!” Kara crows yet again.
“Kara, it’s okay,” Lena says with a mega watt smile. She reaches out and gently squeezes the nervous girl’s forearm. “Really.”
Alex rolls her eyes when Kara apologizes under her breath. “Do you need to be sedated?” she whispers to her sister when Lena disappears into the kitchen.
“No!” Kara says with a slight scowl. “I, I could have broken her flip flops! They look very expensive.”
“It’s her own fault. Who spends that much money on flip flops?”
“She can do whatever she wants!” Kara shouts in defense. Why she’s getting worked up over this is mindboggling.
Lena, of course, reappears. “Who can do whatever they want?” She hands each sister a rather full glass of wine. Alex takes it with relief while Kara looks mournfully at the liquid that will have no effect on her whatsoever.
“Um,” Kara begins but Alex is quick to cut her off.
“Our mom,” Alex interjects. “She wants to try online dating but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“A-and I think she can do whatever she wants,” Kara squeaks, taking a large sip of wine and pretending like it stings a bit as it slides warmly down her throat. “Which is why I said she can do whatever she wants. Where should we put our stuff?”
Lena brings them upstairs and Alex practically shoves Kara in the bedroom that has bunk beds. There is no way she’s spending the weekend sleeping in a twin bed decorated with Care Bear sheets.
“Yeah, sorry,” Lena says in slight embarrassment. “I bought the cabin from my uncle and I haven’t had the chance to redo everything.”
“Oh, it’s fine!” Kara says with the politest smile she can muster. She peers all around the room and drops her bag in the middle of the floor. “You know, I’ve always wanted bunk beds.”
“The couch pulls out if you change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind. Nope. Totally fine with bunk beds.”
Alex can barely hold in her laughter when she finds Kara staring pitifully at the rickety pair of beds in front of her. “You gonna sleep on the top or the bottom?”
“It’s not funny,” Kara pouts, sitting on the bottom bed. She immediately gets up when the bed springs squeak.
“You can always sleep with me,” Alex offers rather kindly. “I have a king sized bed.”
“There’s no need to brag,” Kara says with a glare. “Maybe I’ll sleep on the top. That way it will be harder for Lena to smother me with a pillow.”
Alex rolls her eyes. “If you don’t shut up about that I’m going to smother you with a pillow.”
“Rude!”
“Why can’t you just relax and have fun?”
Kara swallows and dramatically throws her hands up in the air. “Because now I’m thinking about how I’m going to sneak out of here if there’s a…” she drops her voice to a whisper and moves closer to Alex. “Supergirl emergency!”
“There won’t be,” Alex says matter-of-factly. “I told Hank you needed the weekend off. So that’s one less thing for you to worry about.”
“But-”
“No buts,” Alex shakes her head when Kara looks like she’s going to have an anxiety attack. “No offense, but the DEO has been handling things long before you came along.”
Kara pouts again and crosses her arms. “I know…”
“So relax. Enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll try.”
Alex smiles and wraps Kara in a hug, feeling her sister hold on tighter than she expected.
“Thanks for coming,” Kara whispers into Alex’s shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah. You still owe me.”
Kara giggles and lets Alex drag her down the stairs. They find Lena in the kitchen, hovering over a clear bowl filled to the brim with salsa.
“Can we help you do anything?” Kara asks politely, looking down at her hands when Lena smiles at her.
“Nope. You just sit and relax.”
“Hah,” Alex snorts. “I’ve been telling her that all night. Maybe she’ll listen to you.”
Kara holds herself back from using her heat vision to fry Alex’s hair off. She sits down on the bar stool in front of the expensive looking marble island and shyly grabs a tortilla chip and dunks it in the salsa.
Alex leans across the island to get closer to Lena. “The most important thing to know about Kara is that she eats everything.” She can feel Kara glaring at her and it makes her want to burst into laughter. “So eat while you can because once she starts, she can’t stop.”
“Alex!” Kara whines through bites of chips and salsa. She kicks her sister underneath the table and begs and pleads with her puppy dog eyes for Alex to stop tormenting her. “I don’t eat everything.”
“I don’t know about that, Kara.” Lena grins. “I’ve seen you consume at least ten potstickers in one sitting.”
“N-no! Ten potstickers? I’d, I’d explode if I ate that many!” Kara giggles awkwardly, holding her hands together so she can stop herself from eating too many chips. “I must have been really hungry.”
Lena takes another sip of wine and stares at the girl across from her. “I think it’s happened more than once. Yet you’re still so skinny.”
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Alex playfully glares at her sister.
“Oh, it’s just good genes,” Kara guffaws, waving her hand at Lena when she goes to protest. She daintily takes one chip and makes sure not to take too much salsa because she can feel both older women watching her intently. “You’re, you’re skinny too, Lena. And, and you go to yoga, right? You have a yoga body.”
“You’re so sweet,” Lena beams. “But I haven’t gone to yoga in months.”
Alex conceals her laughter with a cough and pretends like a chip has gone down the wrong way. “Sorry. Went down the wrong pipe.”
“I bet it did,” Kara says hotly.
“Are you girls hungry?” Lena asks once she’s done giggling at the look on Kara’s face. She watches the girl adjust her glasses and subtly stuff a few chips in her mouth. “I was planning on having a liquid dinner myself but I can totally order some pizza.”
“They deliver pizza here?” Kara asks in surprise.
Lena leans back and laughs. “We’re not in Appalachia, Kara. Of course they deliver pizza out here! It just takes a little longer.”
“Oh. Right.” Kara feels her cheeks turning a shade of unattractive magenta. She tugs on Alex’s sleeve when Lena begins to rummage through the fridge for some guacamole. “What’s a liquid dinner?” she asks innocently, her voice barely above a whisper that she may as well just mouth the words.
Alex stares at her naïve little sister and pinches her cheeks patronizingly. She gestures to her wine glass and finishes the rest with one quick sip. “She’s having alcohol for dinner. Get it? What were you doing in college, Kara?”
Kara crosses her arms in slight offense but brightens at the sight of Lena placing the guacamole right in front of her. However, her smile diminishes a mere second later when Alex slides the bowl away.
“You don’t want to put that there,” Alex says, patting Kara’s knee. “It will be gone before you can even blink.”
“So what I’m gathering is that Kara’s a human vacuum.”
“Pretty much. She eats everything.”
No. No. Kara doesn’t like this. She watches Alex and Lena wiggle their eyebrows at each other and the anxiety swirls around in her stomach. It’s not fair. Alex always, always gets along with people Kara wants to be friends with. Her sister makes it seem so easy but Kara refuses to let their friendship blossom at her expense.
“Not true!” Kara says, gently banging her hands on the island. “I don’t eat seafood.”
“Right, because after we watched The Little Mermaid, my mom made us fish for dinner and Kara cried for three hours because she thought we were eating Flounder.”
Lena clutches her hand over her heart and Kara can tell she thinks it’s adorable. She’s just glad Alex has conveniently left out the part that she was thirteen when that happened.
“That is so cute,” Lena coos, reaching over to touch Kara’s forearm.
Alex smiles and pours herself another glass of wine. She can see Kara shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye until Lena removes her hand. It’s times like these where she wishes alcohol had an effect on her sister. It would definitely ease her mind and help her chill the hell out.
Lena excuses herself to the bathroom and Kara takes the time to groan dramatically and drop her head in her hands.
“What? Alex decides to play along.
“Can, can you stop making fun of me?” Kara pleads in a heartbreakingly small voice. She knows Alex is just teasing. Normally she can take it when it’s in front of Winn and James but it’s different with Lena. She doesn’t want Lena to think she’s just this doe-eyed, adorably innocent little girl who eats anything and doesn’t know what a liquid dinner is.
Alex is taken aback. “I’m just teasing you.”
“I know,” Kara cuts in sharply. “You’re just…you’re just embarrassing me.”
“I’m sorry,” Alex says genuinely. She swivels in her chair a bit and turns Kara’s so they’re facing each other. “Do you like Lena?”
Kara’s gaze snaps up. “What? Of course! She’s my friend.”
Alex knows this is going to be harder than she thought. “No, Kara,” she sighs a bit, placing her hands on her sister’s thighs to hold her still. “Do you…like Lena?”
Kara twiddles her thumbs and rolls her eyes because it feels like she’s back in eighth grade and Alex has cornered her after the first day of school to see if any “cute boys” caught her eye.
“I, I don’t know,” Kara swallows and suddenly finds the outdated tile floor in the kitchen very fascinating. She can hear Lena moving around upstairs and it seems like she’ll be down very soon. “She’s my friend.”
“Because it’s okay if you do,” Alex continues quietly when Kara still refuses to look up at her. She grabs her sister’s hands and squeezes them. “I know we haven’t talked about that yet but…nothing would change, okay? I mean look, look at me. So if that’s what you’re worried about…”
“No!” Kara’s quick to say. She finally stares at Alex and stops herself from leaning forward and hiding in her big sister’s arms when Lena’s light steps reach the bottom of the stairs. “I’m not. I don’t. Friends.”
Alex forces a smile and runs her thumb over Kara’s knuckles. “Friends. Right.”
“So!” Lena claps, making her presence known. “Who wants more wine?”
“Me!” Kara squeaks, holding out her wine glass and ready to pretend the fruity liquid will calm her nerves.
Lena smiles from ear to ear and places her significantly smaller hand on top of Kara’s palm. “That’s my girl.”
Kara’s eyes widen as she takes a large gulp of wine. Lena’s fingers rake across her palm ever so lightly which makes her keeps drinking and drinking to push away the warm feeling swirling around in her stomach.
Crap.
--
Kara gives herself approximately ten minutes in the stupid twin sized bed before sitting up in exasperation.
She floats down to the bottom bunk and immediately sighs when it feels the same as the top bunk mattress. Not to mention, the loud and unfamiliar noises from the bugs and animals outside are setting her senses ablaze and she can’t seem to calm herself down.
Forget Lena; Alex may be the one who’s going to kill her.
She wants to give Alex her space, wants her sister to relax and enjoy the secluded weekend because she’s been through so much the past few months. But god, she really needs her because everything is so loud and uncomfortable and she just wants her bed at home along with her favorite fuzzy blanket and flannel sheets.
Kara slips on her glasses just in case she awkwardly bumps into Lena in the hallway and crosses her arms with a slight pout, knowing she has to go in guns blazing to get Alex to even consider sharing the bed. She stops short outside of Lena’s door, smiling a bit when she hears Lena laughing along to an old Friends re-run.
Alex is still up in bed with her thick black reading glasses perched on her face, eyes glued to her phone as she fervently types out a message.
Kara puts her pout back on and knocks politely and peeks her head through the slightly ajar door. Alex looks kind of smug and Kara’s too afraid to ask what she’s looking at.
Though Alex has only been out for close to two months she’s been very, very comfortable with Maggie.
And sometimes Kara wishes she didn’t have super hearing because…ugh.
“Alex?”
Alex nearly drops her phone in surprise. She peers up and quirks an eyebrow as her sister awkwardly lingers by the door. Kara’s looking down at the ground and most definitely pouting, waiting for Alex to ask what’s wrong.
“Yes?”
Kara groans dramatically and knows Alex is less than sympathetic. She (lightly) stomps over to the bed and crawls to where her sister is. “How did you get service?” Her original plan is thwarted when she sees a text from Maggie appear on Alex’s screen.
“Um,” Alex clears her throat. “I may or may not have hacked into Lena’s Wi-Fi.”
“How?”
“Winn taught me,” Alex says like it’s no big deal.
Kara rolls her eyes and slips under the covers, throwing her arms around Alex’s body and resting her head on her sister’s chest. “What’s Maggie saying?”
Alex grimaces and places her phone on the nightstand. “Nothing you want to hear.”
“Yuck.” Kara screws her face up in disgust and waits for Alex to ask her what’s wrong. She squeezes her sister tighter and grins when Alex yelps.
“What was that for?” Alex wonders, shoving Kara away when her fingers are nearly ripping her t-shirt in half. “Maggie ended up getting the weekend off,” she says when Kara doesn’t answer. “Do you think your girlfriend will mind if she comes?”
Kara shoots up in bed. “She’s not my girlfriend!” she says hotly.
“But you want her to be,” Alex teases, poking Kara’s stomach when her sister flounders. “Is that why you can’t sleep?”
“I can’t sleep because, because the mattress are so thin and…they hurt!”
“You can’t feel the springs.”
Kara immediately guffaws. “Everything’s loud,” she whispers, peering down to thread the sheets through her fingers.
“It’s nature,” Alex says matter-of-factly. Her features soften when Kara genuinely looks distressed. “Kara, hey, I’m kidding. Come here,” she soothes, pulling Kara in a tight embrace. “I was just teasing.”
Kara swallows past the lump in her throat and rests her head against Alex’s chest, letting the melodic thumping of her sister’s heartbeat dull her senses. “Hah.”
Alex rolls her eyes and rubs her hand up and down Kara’s arm, more than used to Kara’s stubbornness. “Would you like to talk about?”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Kara whispers, closing her eyes when Alex’s hands rub her back. “I just want to sleep.”
“This is a king sized bed, Kar. You have all the room in the world to stretch out…”
Kara doesn’t move. “I’m comfortable here.”
“I’m not,” Alex snorts, ignoring her vibrating cell phone on the nightstand. She threads her fingers through Kara’s hair and sighs. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Kara half-heartedly shrugs and lets her fingers play with Alex’s free hand until her eyes flutter back shut.
“I just don’t want you to feel like I’ve felt for the past twelve years.” Alex looks down at her sleeping sister and frowns. “I know you can hear me.”
But Kara stays silent.
Alex sighs and reaches for her cell phone, sending a quick goodnight text to Maggie because Kara takes precedence. Maggie, of course, understands and sends five random emojii’s that make Alex shake her head in amusement. She wants Kara to feel the happiness she feels. She wants Kara to be free; to stop putting everyone else’s needs above her own.
It’s more than obvious Kara likes Lena more than a friend. Alex knew it from the very beginning when Kara came over to tell her Lena Luthor helped her realize she wanted to be a reporter. She spent nearly an hour talking about Lena; how inspiring she was, how headstrong and confident she was.
How pretty she was.
That one was under Kara’s breath but Alex heard it clear as day.
“Alex?”
Alex sits up straighter in bed and half expects Lena Luthor to ask if she can sleep with her as well. She clears her throat and kind of finds it endearing that the powerful CEO looks like she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown lingering in the doorway.
“Uh,” Alex knits her eyebrows together. “Hi.”
“Sorry!” Lena finally speaks, tearing her gaze away from Kara’s sleeping form. “I, I was just checking to see if you needed anything. I’m going to sleep and…is everything alright?”
Alex smiles. “Uh, yeah, yeah,” she whispers, shifting a bit when Kara’s head gets to be too much on her chest. “She, she just has some sensory issues. Sometimes new places trigger them. All the new noises and stuff…” It’s not a total lie per say.
Lena looks like she feels bad and frowns. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I’ve got ear plugs,” Lena quickly blurts out. “Would that help?”
“She’s fine,” Alex promises. “I’ve been handling this since I was fourteen. I know what I’m doing.”
“Right, of, of course. I didn’t-” Lena trails off, nervously wringing her hands together when Alex just laughs. “If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”
“Of course.”
“I just, I care about her a lot,” Lena stammers. “As friends. We’re friends. I’m glad she could come. You too. I’m glad…”
Alex bites her lip to stop from laughing because how is this the same Lena Luthor who shot a man months ago? The same Lena Luthor who had her mother arrested and singlehandedly stopped Cadmus by switching out the isotopes and making the virus inert?
How?
“Goodnight,” Alex says a bit awkwardly when Lena’s still lingering in the doorway, eyes trained on Kara.
Lena’s head shoots up. “Night!” she says in one quick motion before turning on her heel and disappearing back into the hallway.
Alex takes a breath and hits her head against the headboard.
This is going to be an interesting weekend.