Tension

Notes: Find me on Tumblr at supergirl-prompts and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.

Summary: Superman is distrustful of Lena due to his animosity towards her evil brother Lex. He's even further angered when he unintentionally finds out Kara and the Luthor are in a serious relationship. When a tragic event strikes National City, he does not hesitate to blame Lena, causing Kara and him to dangerously butt heads.

TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE.

Lena jolted awake from her slumber and yawned loudly, wiping the small bit of drool from the corner of her mouth.

She flexed her right hand to loosen the tight feeling in her wrist; she had been signing and typing papers all day the night before and had, regrettably so, pushed through the cramping.

The Luthor sighed, ruffling and combing through her black hair with her fingers, looking at a mirror and reapplying her smeared dark red lipstick.

Lena checked the date on the corner of her desktop's monitor: around the afternoon.

Then she gasped.

Not because she slept through until around four, or that she was late for a meeting and had deadlines due, but because of the date.

It was her and Kara's anniversary, it had been a year, and she slept in.

The panicking woman quickly dialed a number, but sighed in relief when the person on the other line picked up after about three rings.

"Why're you calling me?"

"I slept in!"

"Are you late for a meeting?"

"No, screw the meetings, they don't start without me and I'll probably just cancel. I was so focused on my paperwork last night that I forgot today was my year anniversary with Kara!"

"You do know she doesn't really care about those events?" Alex sighed, "So what do you want me to do then?"

"Give me ideas? Where is she right now?"

"She's at CatCo. It's been relatively quiet for the D.E.O. these past few days. Sometimes I really wish you were evil because I'm not used to this much quiet... Didn't really expect a Luthor to become one of my closest friend, let alone my future sister-in-law," the older Danvers groaned.

Lena blushed intensely.

"And what do you mean you need ideas?" Alex continued, "You're the C.E.O. of a creative, unique, and technologically leading industry with master degrees on engineering and sciences. Hell, you thought that going back to school to study architecture would be fun. You're a nerd and overachiever, you can think of something."

"But you're her sister!"

"But I'm not dating my sis. You are. And it's your anniversary with her."

"Ugh! I don't even know what to get her!"

"Why're you always so flustered when it comes to giving her gifts? It's not like you can't afford anything."

"Don't you understand? It's because nothing is good enough for her!"

There was a pause.

"How sweet," Alex scoffed sarcastically, "You could show up in some sexy lingerie and stilettos..."

Lena threw her hands up in the air, feeling heat rise into her cheeks, "Why'd I even call you?"

"To beg," the woman on the other line chuckled, "Don't worry, I've got an idea. You guys still on for dinner tonight at Kara's apartment today?"

"You're coming with us then?"

"No, silly, I'll just drop off the present and you can give it to her."

"Well, what's the gi–"

The line made a monotone drone and Lena rolled her eyes, glancing at the clock.

She had around three or four more hours until their date at around seven.

"So how'd your first interview go?" Clark inquired, his smile gleaming, "I never really got the chance to ask you last year when I visited and you first became a reporter. I wanted to text you, but I forgot – you know, saving Metropolis and all – but I also decided I'd like to listen to your story in person."

Kara suddenly stiffened and fumbled her glasses' position, "It...I thought it went pretty well."

She clasped her sweaty hands together, nervously.

Clark did not fail to notice, "Is something wrong? What was the scoop on? I don't really read much since Mr. White makes me go all over the place."

The blonde twiddled her thumbs, "L-Corp and Lena Luthor."

The statement was so rushed and so quiet even Clark's super hearing was unable to pick it up, "Pardon?"

Kara heaved a great big sigh, "I went to L-Corp to interview Lena...Luthor..."

His eyes widened, then narrowed, almost angrily, "Did she do anything to you?"

"W-What?" the blonde gasped, "N-No! Why would she? She didn't – doesn't – even know I'm Supergirl!"

"Lex was obsessed with trying to kill me, do you really think that his little sister is oblivious to your identity and mine as well?" Clark explained, "And of all of their buildings in the entire world, she just so happened to choose National City? With the girl of steel, Superman's cousin? Doesn't sound like a coincidence to me."

Kara successfully retained her annoyance with his thought of the younger Luthor, "W-Well, she was nice though..."

"Of course she was nice!" Clark scoffed, his frustration growing slightly, "She needs reporters on her side that don't write scathing articles about LexCorp."

"L-Corp," Kara corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. That," he sighed, rubbing his temples, "Did you have to interview her afterwards again?"

"Oh!" the blonde was caught off guard by the question and lied, "N-No! I ended up writing articles on pretty mundane and dull things."

Clark had a relieved look on his face, "Thank goodness, the Luthors have always been a bunch of cunning thieves that stole from the helpless."

"Well, what if Lena is true to her words? What if she really wants to change L-Corp for the better? For the benefit of the world and the people and the alien refugees? I mean, I know that leading a company is pretty much an implicitly dirty job, but what if she's trying her best?"

He countered his cousin's subtle argument, "None of them are to be trusted."

"But she can't be blamed for the actions of her family," Kara gulped, "Astra and Non...they were willing to activate myriad on Earth; I don't have a desire to conquer and control every mind in this world."

"That's different," Clark said sternly.

The blonde decided to give up and conceded, "Y-Yeah...I guess you're right..."

"I'm glad we're on the same page, that you understand," he smiled gently, giving her a light hug.

She failed to return the action.

Kara heard footsteps approaching her apartment and x-rayed behind the door.

Lena was straightening her outfit, double-checking for any noticeable wrinkles in the fabric. She had been indecisive on what to wear; she knew that she should be casual since it was the blonde's apartment, but it was also their first anniversary together, so she opted for articles of clothes that were in between.

Kara gulped.

Her ebony hair was flowing down her shoulders, she wore black skinny jeans that hugged her lower figure gorgeously, then there was the thin cashmere sweater that was a murky crimson color, which happened to be slightly loose and a bit low-cut.

The blonde looked at her own outfit, as opposed to the elegant businesswoman, she was wearing a baby blue linen button-up shirt and khaki capris. She could never help but feel fashionably inferior to the beautiful raven-haired woman, who Kara still could not wrap her own head around on why the Luthor saw anything in the awkward alien that was herself.

Before Lena could knock, Kara dashed to the door, opened it, and gave her woman a passionate kiss, lifting her up from the ground while doing so.

The C.E.O. lost her composure and squealed delightfully at the pleasant surprise, "I missed you."

"I did too," the blonde smiled so wide that her eyes nearly squeezed shut, there was absolutely no room on her face to express the joy she felt every time she saw the beautiful raven-haired woman that was so luckily hers.

And it made her heart burn up even more knowing that Lena felt the exact same way.

"What's that?" the Luthor asked, pointing to a relatively small, or medium, box that was near the dining table.

Kara scoffed, "Oh don't act like you don't know! You didn't have to get me anything for our anniversary!"

Then it clicked, "Oh, I bet you'll just love the gift."

Lena grinned, almost anxiously.

Hopefully you'll like it.

"Don't worry, I didn't x-ray through the box," Kara assured, mistaking her nervousness for something else entirely, "I wanted to wait for you."

The raven-haired woman smiled, pecking the blonde on the cheek, "You're so sweet."

"Speaking of..." the alien utilized her super speed to pick up a rather abnormally large bouquet of pure, white flowers and handed them to her girlfriend.

Lena gasped, "So many plumerias...how'd you get them? They're pretty rare."

"Oh I have my ways," Kara beamed, carrying the woman bridal style and plopping her onto the couch, "Now let's open your gift!"

The blonde clapped her hands enthusiastically and brought over the box, carefully lifting the lid to peek inside. However, they were both unprepared for the snout that was sniffing its way out through the opening.

Kara gasped, her eyes watering with joy.

At the same time, Lena screamed and almost jumped through the ceiling at the unexpected appearance of the fur ball and its large, wet nose.

The container of the box plopped off and a rather fluffy basset hound, who tilted its head, its rather long ears drooping. The dog lolled its slobbery tongue out and panted affectionately, licking Kara's hand.

The blonde laughed and tears of joy spilled from her eyes as she lifted the tiny puppy from the box, lifting it up high in the air, "You got me a dog!"

Lena took a moment to register everything, "Y-Yeah...do you like..." she leaned over to examine the small animal, "...him?"

"I do!" Kara exclaimed, "I love dogs! I already know what I'm going to name him!"

The C.E.O. nodded, anticipating the announcement.

"Argo!" the blonde cuddled the animal intensely, and he excitedly licked her back.

Lena forced herself not to frown. That was the name of the city Kara was born in back at Krypton, which was now completely obliterated.

Sometimes she never knew how the alien could go through that much despair in one day and struggle to assimilate into another planet that she found strange, and that the inhabitants thought of her mutually.

A wet substance that ran itself all over her face interrupted her reverie. She reeled back and made a disgusted look, wiping her cheeks. She was met with the biggest brown eyes ever and reached to Argo, picking him out of Kara's hands, nuzzling his big nose.

Clark had not been expecting so much laughter coming from his cousin's apartment, well, at least not a voice that did not belong to Alex. He knocked on the door, eager to meet this new friend of hers.

The blonde reluctantly looked away from the adorable scene in front of her and went to unlock the door, "It's probably Alex, she texted me that she'd come later after we've had some time to ourselves. I guess she's here early."

She swung the door open and immediately regretted not utilizing her x-ray vision before unlocking the knob.

"Clark!" she squeaked.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but once he looked over Kara's shoulder, he quickly pushed past her and confronted the raven-haired woman, "What are you doing here, Luthor?"

Lena was clearly nervous; no, she did not mind that he could crush her into smithereens, but how this encounter would affect Kara. She glanced over to those beautiful ocean eyes, full of dread and remorse. The blonde nodded, allowing her to tell the truth.

Because clearly they could not squirm their ways out of this problematic situation.

She swallowed harshly, willing herself to speak in a confident tone, tilting her chin up almost defiantly, "It's our anniversary."

"What?"

"We've been dating," she paused, "for quite some time now actually."

Clark turned to Kara in disbelief, "How long?"

"I – uh – well..."

"How long?" he repeated angrily.

"Ah...a year..." she rubbed the back of her neck anxiously and gave out a nervous chuckle, hoping to alleviate the awkward moment.

Then the man of steel stalked towards Lena jabbing his finger into her chest, harsh enough for the human woman to grunt at the force, and he growled, "I know all about your family, Luthor."

She took a step back and crossed her arms, eyes narrowed.

Clark continued, "You're all manipulative, cruel, selfish villains, and plenty more, that deserve nothing else than to rot in the deepest pit of prison forever."

"Hey!" Kara shouted, smacking her cousin's accusatory finger from her lover, "Back off! I like her! Deal with it! She makes me happy!"

He had almost a hurt look on his face, feeling betrayed, "But she's the same as all of them! You can't trust her!"

"She's not the same as all of them!" the blonde yelled, squaring her shoulders, "She's the exact opposite! I trust her! And you should trust me!"

"I do, Kara!" he snarled, glaring at the Luthor who was in the protection of the girl of steel, "I just don't trust her! She's a monster!"

"I've had it! You can't control me! I make my own choices! You don't get to decide who I can and cannot love!" she cried, "I knew you'd never understand! Get out, Kal!"

He was taken aback, the stark finality of his cousin's demand leaving him speechless.

"Kara..." Lena said softly, gently tugging the sleeve of her shirt towards her. The blonde, whose face was riddled with silent tears, turned to look at the woman she so dearly loved. The Luthor cupped her cheeks, wiping the droplets away tenderly, whispering, "It's okay..."

Kara somberly leaned into the touch, resting her own hand on one of her lover's that was still caressing her face.

Apparently, they were so distracted that they had forgotten about the furious Kryptonian in front of them, but there was a gust of wind as he stormed out, and he was gone.

It had been about a week or two since the unfortunate event. Alex walked into the apartment a few hours after, comforting the C.E.O. then cradling her crying little sister in her arms while Argo slobbered all over her face.

Lena sighed, worried for her beloved, who had fallen into a slump the first few days after the incident. Though her sunny mood returned within time, there were moments when the alien looked out the window, her mind in a faraway place that made her expression morph into something like melancholy; the C.E.O. knew all too well that look...almost lonely, which she understood since Kara's only surviving family member had pretty much disowned her. It was how she felt when she found out that Lex hired assassins to eliminate his younger sister, his only family.

The businesswoman lifted her cup of wine and took a sip, looking out past her glass wall and admiring the sunrise in the horizon just over National City. She smiled, loving the light outline of the soft, feathery clouds surrounded by pastel hues. She remembered her lovely picnic with Kara about a month prior, then recalled her appalled face when the Luthor was impatient and bit into a Kit-Kat without breaking it apart first. Then their first night together, the raven-haired woman got up in the morning to get some breakfast and poured milk into the bowl before the cereal.

She really was a psychopath.

"Ms. Luthor?"

The woman jumped at the sound of her name, calming her startled heart, "Come in, Jess."

The large mahogany double doors swung open and her assistant strode in, "This report just came in today, I bet it's on television right now," she flicked the screen on, "A disaster in National City."

Lena read the cover of the newspaper, "Explosion in National City's Capitol! Could the Last Luthor be Behind All This?"

She darted her eyes to the screen, listening to the anchorman give his announcement.

"This just in. A previously classified political gathering for the sanction of the Alien Amnesty Act at National City's capitol has been terrorized. The police suspect L-Corp, or Lena Luthor, to be behind this tragic event, which seems to be getting mixed responses from citizens: praising her action, condemning her action, or not believing the last Luthor to be behind it at all. She's done so much for the world in such a short span of time this past year after taking the mantle of the company. Could she really be the menace behind this, was this her plan all along? Investigations are ongoing, but there was highly flammable and explosive chemical evidence tracing back to L-Corp's dark days as LexCorp. Details coming soon."

Lena turned off the television.

"Ms. Luthor, we've had press clamoring for an exclusive and security has managed to keep their noses at bay. We wait for your orders, ma'am."

"I need some time alone to think about this, would you mind returning to your post at the front desk?"

"Not at all, Ms. Luthor. Notify me if you need anything else."

The doors creaked shut with a loud thud.

Lena let out a frustrated sigh, scanning through the newspaper that was clearly biased against the Luthor family, calling her derogatory names and criticizing her. She leaned against her desk and threw the caustic article to the ground, deciding she needed something stronger than wine. She pulled out tequila and scotch from her cabinet and filled her cup to the brim, gulping it down and pouring another round.

There was a gust of wind and suddenly the man of steel was standing right in front of her, red cape, spandex, and all.

"How could you?" he bellowed.

"I'm not even going to bother to convince your bigoted mind otherwise, Superman," Lena groaned, her exasperation and annoyance showing as she swirled her cup of alcohol around and around and around.

He growled, "All those innocent people! You–"

"Xenophobic, vile, corrupt, wicked, destructive, hateful, evil witch?" Lena sighed, finishing his sentence for him, straightening up her leaning body from her desk, "Is that the gist of what you were going to say?"

Then she quipped, "Want a drink? I'd refrain from requesting ice; judging from the way you treated Kara yesterday, you're cold enough as it is."

As she was about to gulp a few more milliliters of alcohol, she felt a sharp pain in her chest as she flew in the air, her back impacting the wall behind her. Then she was suddenly pinned up against the polished marble and her glass of alcohol shattered, liquid flowing all over the tiles.

I guess he really likes his ice...

Lena pressed her mouth into a thin line, choking back a pained scream. She felt her neck tighten, constrict her airway so she could barely breathe, and there was a fist pressed against her chest.

Barely.

"The proof is literally right in front of everyone!" Superman snarled.

"I-I admit that...within my first two months of...inheriting the company..." she gasped, clawing uselessly at his arms, "...a shipment of...of Lex's chemicals went m-missing when we were trying t-to purge them. I tried to track it down."

"Lies!" he barked, increasing the pressure of his fist until the Luthor swore she heard something crack.

She released something between a grunt and a squeak at the agony.

As fast as he had pinned her, he was shoved to the side into the opposite wall, creating a cavity within the marble.

Lena dropped to the floor cradling her chest and heaved gulps of air, rising warily, her eyes concentrating on Superman.

"Don't touch her!" Kara screamed, the fury evident in her glowing eyes, "How dare you!"

"You're being brainwashed! She's using you!"

"Have you met Alex?" the blonde argued, folding her arms tightly to restrain herself from punching her cousin's insufferable mouth, "She investigated every nook and cranny with the D.E.O. and they haven't found anything. My sister even likes her too! If Lena really hated aliens, she wouldn't date one, and if she wanted me dead, she would've done it a long time ago! She's a part of our family whether you like it or not!"

"You don't understa–"

"No! You don't understand!"

"How could you betray the House of El like this?" Clark shouted, shouldering his cousin, shattering the office windows and crashing into a street filled with fleeing civilians.

"Kara!" the C.E.O dialed her phone, her voice panicked and alert, "Alex! Your sister is in trouble!"

"What's going on?" the voice asked, just as concerned.

"They're fighting right in the middle of National City!"

"They?"

"Clark and her!"

"What? How?"

"He thought that I had something to do with the capitol explosion recently, and he wasn't too happy when he arrived at Kara's apartment to see me there either."

"I'll send some backup."

"Thank you," Lena sighed, relieved, "Please don't hurt either of them."

The call ended and the raven-haired woman shook her head, and thought to herself.

This is all because of me...

She rushed to the bottom floor as fast as she could, cursing the five minutes of time she wasted in the elevator and running in the opposite direction of the citizens, frantically looking for the fighting Kryptonians.

"Kal, don't be like this!" Supergirl shouted, almost seething, "I don't want to fight you!"

"You brought this on yourself!" he glared, "I stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You're a traitor, you lied to me, no matter how much I didn't want this to happen!"

Superman went to tackle the other alien, who evaded his charge and dodged each of his blows that followed, unwilling to hurt her last family member. However, her unwillingness to counter his attacks cost her as the man of steel landed a punch to her gut, propelling her into a building.

"If you'd just stop and listen!" Kara yelled, shoving the rubble away from her path, "We could discuss this! Like a family! Fighting is unnecessary!"

"No," Clark said, his tone cold, "You've decided to side with a Luthor. There's no saving you. I'm going to have to turn you in for cooperating in the capitol explosion."

"You're being ridiculous!" Kara groaned, "Now I know there's no convincing you otherwise."

The Kryptonians narrowed their eyes, the lasers from their pupils making contact.

Supergirl was reluctant to face off against her cousin, who she remembered on Krypton as a baby, who she took care of when his parents were busy, who she was assigned to protect, guide, and mentor on Earth.

Superman was angry, he felt betrayed, especially since Lex caused him so much pain over a year prior: framing him for the death of countless innocents, abducting his mother for leverage, perpetually endangering Lois...

Kara understood his outlook, but the sorrow she felt when he could not at least try to see things from her perspective was biting.

Though the blonde's blue heat vision was clearly more powerful than the man of steel's signature red counterpart, his aggressive fury was gaining the upper hand.

Kara heard a familiar voice call out to her, "Supergirl!"

Lena.

Supergirl halted her heat vision and dove out of the way as Clark's sliced through the crust of the earth.

"Get out of here! It's too danger–"

Suddenly Kara felt a white, hot force thrust her back into another structure.

Lena quickly made her way to her lover and knelt beside her, looking over her own shoulder to see Superman slowly stalking his way towards them.

The Luthor caressed the blonde's cheeks, noticing her head injury that was rapidly dripping blood down the side of her face.

Kara grunted, sitting upright, "Lena, you have to run. You can't stay here; I don't want you to get hurt."

The building's foundations groaned, warning the couple of a foreboding premonition.

The ceiling abruptly collapsed and the girl of steel hunched over her beloved to shield the incoming debris. A rather large slab of concrete fell and Kara quickly stopped its descent by carrying its weight on her broad shoulders. However, the trauma to her head pulsated with pain, bled profusely, causing her vision to blur.

"Run," she choked out, her stance wobbling until she dropped to one knee, threatening to topple over and crush the fragile human in front of her.

But Lena's mind was focused on something else, the glowing red eyes of the hero's rogue opponent biding, charging.

She escaped from the vicinity of the falling building, planting herself between the blazing laser and the weakened Kryptonian behind her. The bright red spectrum seemed to make its way toward the woman in slow motion.

Kara allowed herself to falter, believing that the Luthor was out of danger's reach, at least from the crumbling building, and set the rock down. However, when she turned to face her enemy, she could only see the intense crimson ray make contact with Lena's torso.

What followed was the woman's atrocious screams.

It was something straight out of Kara's worst nightmares.

Though the heat vision made contact for less than three seconds, she knew all too well its effects on the human body: awfully catastrophic.

The grisly sight of blood made itself known as time continued to advance, and the blonde caught the Luthor before she fell to the ground.

Lena's eyes were wet and glassy, glazed over from the shock of the pain, staring undaunted into the ravenous eyes of death.

Kara's focus now solely concentrated on the dying woman in her arms, nothing else in the world around her mattered.

"No! No, no, no! Please, no!" her lips trembled and she began to cry, her tears dropping onto the broken human's cheeks, making her flinch. Kara's hands shook uncontrollably as she assessed the damage.

The Luthor took a direct hit from the laser's brutish force. The brunt of the wound spanned the majority of her lower right side, the damaged skewed left. Parts of her abdomen were charred from the heat that severely scorched right through tissue and licked some of her muscles and ligaments. Her right arm was badly burned as well, the long sleeve of her shirt incinerated into ashes.

Kara was appalled by how much blood the human body carried, by how much blood was gushing out of Lena's body.

"Not you..." she choked out, her quivering hands stroking her beloved's face, "You were supposed to run... I could've...I could've taken it..."

Lena coughed, the sanguine fluid spraying from the action, "I-I would've done it...countless times over..."

She gasped, then croaked out hoarsely, "My face didn't get hit, right? I'm still pretty?"

Supergirl responded with a sound that was a cross between a sob and a chuckle, "You'll always be beautiful to me."

The Luthor attempted to say something else, but the blonde was unable to hear past her panic, "What?"

She strained her ears in an effort to increase her auditory senses, hovering her ear over the woman's lips.

Only a puff of air released, then it was almost as if she ceased to breathe.

Kara could hear the erratic and stuttering heartbeat that belonged to the woman, struggling to maintain an even pace, slowly failing to do so, to pump life back into her veins. It was all the blonde would focus on. Gradually, it quieted, to the point where even her super hearing was barely able to pick it up.

Then the sound of approaching footsteps overcame the unsteady beat.

Kara looked up to see Clark, solemnly gazing down on them, almost remorseful of his actions once he saw the tragic sacrifice a Luthor made for his cousin.

A Luthor.

The girl of steel was reduced to tears, sobbing uncontrollably and only managing an anguished scream before her eyes lit up a neon blue, directed at her male counterpart.

However, she choked back a cry, the bright color dulling, fading from her irises. Even after he murdered – no, killed – the woman she loved unintentionally, she could not help but feel that he was slightly pleased with himself. The very thought sickened her. Even after she was overcome with a yearning for vengeance...she still was unable to fulfill the desire to avenge Lena, to take revenge for her death.

But Clark truly felt sorry, regretful that his prejudice against the Luthors blinded him.

It was unfortunate that this tragic event was the reason he finally came to realize that Lena was, indeed, not a threat in any way, shape, or form.

Kara felt as if she would explode if he just kept standing there, she could practically feel the pity he was radiating at her.

"Go. Get out," she growled, "Don't ever come back to National City."

She lifted the woman in her arms and bolted to the direction of the D.E.O.

"Alex."

"Kara," the older Danvers said, hearing the forlorn and desperate sound in her younger sister's voice, "Lena told me what happened, I sent a few agents to–"

"No."

Alex startled, pausing for a moment, "What do you mea–"

"She's gone."

The agent was speechless at the stark tone.

Kara took a shaky breath, rephrasing herself, her voice breaking, "She's...she's dead. Kal...he–"

"Shit!" Alex cursed, in the background there was the sound of clamoring, "Get a trauma unit ready now!"

The blonde choked back a sob, "It's no use... She protected me, and I couldn't save her... I can't...I can't hear her–"

Thump.

Supergirl widened her eyes and looked down, pleading to the heavens that what she heard was not a trick of her sanity, that her mind was not playing cruel jokes on her.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard it again, extremely faint, but still beating, determined to hold out as long as possible.

Kara increased her speed, barging through the D.E.O.'s entrance, and the medical team quickly took Lena away.

"What the hell happened? Where is he? That son of a bitch," Alex snarled, storming into the area, fully prepared to give a lecture and a few punches. Her dread and worry manifested into utter fury.

Kara collapsed onto the ground, losing her self-control and let her tears flow freely down her face. As she was about to answer her older sister's question, a gust of wind blew at their skin.

"Speaking of the devil," Alex growled, grinding her teeth and straightening her petite posture to broaden her shoulders, "What do you want, motherfucker?"

The older Danvers glared at him, folding her arms tightly.

Kara turned her head away, resuming her silent tears.

"I...I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Nothing you do will make us forgive you for what you did. Just because we understand your hate for Lex, it doesn't mean, in any way, that we'd condone this sort of despicable behavior from you," she narrowed her eyes, the cutting coldness rolling off of her tongue with ease, "You can take your prejudiced ass back to Metropolis."

Clark's eyes were filled with shame, "I know I made a mistake, I let my history with Lex blind me and–"

"I don't want to hear it," she interrupted.

"Just let me talk to Kara."

"Too bad, pretty boy, you can go rot in hell."

The guilt gnawed mercilessly at his conscience.

Kara glanced over and read his expression, she knew he was genuinely sorry, but it did not make her feel any better.

"Go," the blonde said with finality, "If you stay any longer I can't promise that I won't do anything reckless while you're here."

"Kar..."

"Just go!" she screamed, then her voice dwindled into gruff whisper, "I don't want to hurt you..."

It pained both Alex and Clark to see the sunny puppy Danvers in such distress, all the light absent from her usual bright demeanor; her hair was ruffled, the blood on the side of her face dried and cracked, then Lena's blood stained her hands and suit.

Superman nodded his head, conceding, and silently flew away.

"Fourth degree burns," Dr. Hamilton stated, "Spanning across her entire right arm, majority of her lower right side, and skewing over to the left. Went through all layers of skin and some of her muscles were heavily burned. Luckily, there was no bone damage, but there was slight charring."

Kara shuddered at the news, Alex pulling her embrace in closer.

The doctor continued, "A skin grafting procedure will be held soon. The surgery will start once we get her stabilized and make sure she won't crash or go into shock again."

The blonde sighed as she watched the woman clack her heels away.

"What's wrong, Kar?" Alex asked, concerned, "Hey. She's alive. She's going to be just fine."

"Ugh. Lena hates getting scars..."

The agent chuckled, "From what I've heard, she at least enjoys your scars. Then again, she was pretty drunk."

"That's different!" Kara wailed, her face reddening, unappreciative of the teasing undertone.

A knock sounded against the door of the hospital room.

Lena straightened her posture, raising her head and averting her eyes from the papers she was reading.

She set the magazine onto her lap and interlaced her hands, resting them on top of it, "You were here just a few hours ago."

"I missed you," Kara smiled, bounding over to the bedside, then her grin faltered, "Well, I-I mean...if you don't want me here I could totally bolt. I know I've been kind of a worry wort lately so–"

Lena silenced the rambler with her finger, "I missed you too."

Then she gave her a soft kiss on the lips, but grimaced, flinching back from the pain.

The look on Kara's face was woeful, holding the woman's undamaged hand, "How're you feeling?"

"Wretched and miserable."

The blonde's eyes grew more concerned, "I can call the nurse if you–"

"But I feel a lot better now that you're here with me," Lena interrupted, smirking at the faint blush painting the Kryptonian's cheeks.

Kara rubbed the back of her neck bashfully, "Also, I've been meaning to ask you...what'd you say before you...you know...blacked out?"

Lena chuckled, recalling her rocky encounter with Clark back in her office when she offered him a drink, "I found that Superman enjoys his beverages with...just-ice," then she grinned, proud of her pun, "Get it?"

The blonde chortled at the joke, "Very...punny."

Kara gave her love a sweet peck on the cheek, intertwining their fingers.

Note: Constructive criticism appreciated.