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Lena despises art exhibitions. She finds it impossible to draw any actual enjoyment out of the experience. Modern art is derivative and phoney, a perfect reflection of the artists behind the art. Them in their cheap linen scarves, nerdy glasses and that smug expression when “explaining” their pieces. As if a drawing of a rock in the sand at the beach needed any deep explanation. They only try to articulate a deeper emotional connection through their art to mask the shallowness that is their personality.
Lena's thoughts are buried deep within while she presents her most pleasant smile to the mingling guests around. She keeps track of the time as the art show goes on, careful in ensuring she feigns interest in everything and everyone who's attention she's unfortunate enough to draw. All she has to do is stick this thing out long enough to make her donation to the exhibition hosts, take a few pictures and leave under the guise of an urgent business matter. You know, rich people shenanigans.
Oh, and of course she has to make a very public bid for one of the art pieces on display tonight.
‘God, I just want to go home and lay in my bathtub.’
An announcement comes, calling for the guests’ attention. The bidding is set to begin in five minutes. Lena realises she hasn't even chosen which piece she's going to bid for. It doesn't even matter really. She doesn't plan on actually keeping it anyway.
Miraculously, her attention is snatched by one particular painting. She's drawn to it so instantaneously she barely registers clearing a path to where it stands atop a podium. It's only half the size of most of the paintings she's seen all night, but it's by far one of if not the most majestic piece she's seen yet. She takes it in for far too long to notice someone approaching and addressing her.
“It's a size too small isn't it?” the mystery woman says. She smiles when Lena looks her way. “I was feeling a bit unsure about the room for more detail but at the same time, I didn't want to overwhelm the eye of the beholder. What do you think?”
Lena goes back to admiring. “Not to my eye. It's the perfect amount of detail. What inspired you?”
The woman pauses. “I've experienced my fair share of imprisonment. It's brought me to the brink of giving up, nearly convinced that there is no true freedom for the suffering. But I now know that survival is freedom, because you soar above any shackles of the odds stacked against you. Life is the greatest and cruellest teacher, and from it we learn to shape our own destinies.”
“Wow. That is incredibly nerdy and straight up…cliche.”
She laughs. Lena is only half-joking, but she chuckles along anyway.
“Well, you know what they say about art and life.”
“I do, I just don't see this beautiful work being a depiction of something that's actually happened in real life.”
The woman shrugs. “Maybe not a direct depiction, no, but I think there's appeal to it, don't you?”
“I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't now would I?”
For a moment, they both linger in silence in front of the painting. Lena contemplates.
“You've definitely exceeded expectations Miss Luthor,” the woman comments, almost absent-mindedly.
“Ought I be worried about these expectations?” Lena tries to mask her genuine curiosity with a light humorous huff.
“No. You are wonderful, and I am Kara Danvers.” She holds out her hand with a smile that's almost blinding.
“A pleasure Miss Danvers.”
“Kara will do just fine. I'll let you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Lena's gaze lingers on the retreating woman. She's just decided what piece she's bidding for tonight.
☆☆
It's only several days later when Lena meets Kara again. Entirely by chance of course, but the encounter is one she's secretly envisioned since the art show.
A local grocery store is the last place she'd imagined bumping into the artist again though. The one time she actually decides to go out grocery shopping on her own.
“Miss Luthor. What a pleasant and completely unexpected surprise! Hi. It's not often I run into a patron of my art at my local Target.”
“Well I'm still human, and also quite particular about my favourite kind of cereal. My helpers just don't always get it right and I'm in a mood this month.”
Kara laughs. A sound that shouldn't register as familiarly as it does.
“Well if you ever need recommendations, my talents lie beyond just the stroke of a brush.”
“I'll be sure to keep you in mind.”
Just then, Jack emerges from the isles with a branded wine bottle in hand. Lena—shamefully realising she'd briefly forgotten of his presence— introduces her husband to Kara.
A tall brunette then joins Kara, linking their arms. Imra, she introduces herself. Lena assumes her to be the girlfriend. She subtly looks the other woman over twice. She is beautiful, and Kara has quite the taste if she is who Lena assumes she is.
The pairs part soon after, only meeting again at checkout where Lena and Kara share a glance from a distance, the former trying her level best to appear nonchalant despite the flush that has overtaken her since their initial encounter in the isles.
☆☆
Lena's busy indulging in her book and sipping on her wine when Jack comes in the room and makes the most absurd suggestion.
“I was thinking we could invite Kara over for dinner this weekend.”
Lena nearly chokes on her red. “Whatever would we do that for? I barely know her, you even less so.”
“That'd be the whole point. We can both get to know her better and you can make a new friend in the process.”
“Of course, because I'm such a desperate lonely crone in need of pity company when my workaholic husband isn't home.”
Jack's face contorts. “Lena, I wasn't looking to start a fight. You know that.”
She sighs. “Yes, I know. I'm sorry. That wasn't fair.”
Jack comes to kneel in front of her and takes her hands into his. He kisses her knuckles. “I'm trying my best to be here more. You deserve better from me, and I'm doing just that.”
Lena nods silently, but she's already checked out of the conversation once she sees the direction it's headed into. She stands from her chair and dodges the kiss Jack tries to place on her lips.
“‘I'll pay Kara's art studio a visit tomorrow to let her know about dinner.”
She retreats into her study, anticipation for seeing the artist again already drowning out the exhaustion of her tired marriage.
☆☆☆
Kara doesn't really get many visitors in her studio this early in the morning, so she's thoroughly surprised when she sees none other than Lena Luthor enter her workplace.
“My, twice in one week. Which of the gods have I pleased so?”
Lena smiles. “I'm hardly anything special Kara.”
“This is a Lena Luthor Royalty Zone in case you didn't know, so no You Slander will be tolerated.”
That apparently makes Lena laugh so much. Kara finds herself admiring for just a second.
“So, not that I'm not extremely humbled and appreciative of your visit, but I don't dare want to assume you're here for me.”
“I actually am. Here for you.”
Kara doesn't comment on it, but she instantly notices the nerves Lena is trying to keep hidden. She often shifts her eyes elsewhere when Kara looks at her, she lowers her head one too many times, her fists are tightly clenched around the handles of her handbag.
It pulls at something within Kara.
An invitation to dinner is the last thing she'd expected to bring Lena here, but she accepts it despite herself.
“You can bring your, I want to say girlfriend, with you if you'd like. Imran, was it?”
“ Imra actually, and no, she's not joining us. She was just a…temporary thing. Nothing solid.”
“Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. You two looked…wonderfully matched at the store. I just assumed. I'm sorry.”
Kara catches the slight twitch of the corners of Lena's mouth. She doesn't comment on that either.
“Nothing to be sorry about. Anyway, I'm excited for dinner.”
“Well, my driver is waiting for me outside. I should get back to the office.”
“Wait.”
Kara withdraws a sticky note and pen from her desk drawer.
“I know it's not a bother for you but I don't want you to always have to drive over here when you need me. Here.”
Just like that, Kara's rule of not handing out her personal phone number goes out the window.
“See you Saturday Lena.”
Her anticipation is palpable, but Kara just hopes Lena hasn't noticed her disappointment at it not just being the two of them.
☆☆☆
For something that isn't a date, Kara has certainly made plenty of preparations for it. Dinner with a married woman is what tonight is, but she secretly convinces herself it's a chance to get to know Lena more intimately. Kara somehow convinces herself that she's not crossing any lines because she's not going for anything that isn't hers. She clings to this throughout the entire night and doesn't let go despite the ever-growing cloud of guilt shadowing her certainty.
All shadows of doubt are instantly chased away when Lena answers the door and a smile colours her face. Kara is unsure whether the smile is for her or the bouquet of flowers she'd bullied Alex into making for her. Either way, her chest warms at the sight.
“You have a very wonderful home Lena. Thanks again for tonight.”
Kara tries to focus on being the perfect guest, she truly does, but her perceptive eye is unable to ignore the little dents in the couple's affection. Jack every so often tries to lean closer only to be met with a shrug or an entire shift away. They both try to mask the awkwardness between the two of them by shifting attention towards Kara. She curiously plays along.
She tells them about her family's migration to the States, her weird big blended family, what led her to becoming an artist, being openly gay and all it has meant for her in her profession and the world.
The last bit seems to surprise Jack.
“Oh. So the woman you were with at the store was…”Jack trails off suggestively.
Kara laughs. She no longer prioritises coming out to people the way she used to years ago but it never fails to make her laugh when people struggle to comprehend her romantic relations with women.
“Just a strange bedfellow. But yes, I swing the opposite direction of the pendulum to you.”
Jack's face is entirely too priceless. Kara barely bites back a chuckle. Lena on the other hand…
Kara knows that Lena knows about her preferences, but even she seems…the expression is difficult to place. She tries not to dwell on it too much, focusing instead on keeping the conversations going through the night.
She isn't sure how, but the discussions soon veer into the topic of true love.
“Do you really believe in love at first sight?”
Lena poses the question to Kara. It sounds more like she's asking for her own sake than anything else. Kara answers without dwelling on the implications and puts the mental observation away.
“I believe…that for some people, love is like an accident. A happy one of course. But you see, no one plans for something that impactful. The only difference is the outcome of these accidents. Others, well, they see the impact coming from miles away. They make plans and prepare, but love works by its own rules. So it comes bulldozing, making a mess of any plans. Leaving behind a blazing trail.”
Kara doesn't care to even hide her carefully chosen words, let alone that she's looking straight at Lena as she speaks.
Jack pipes in, likely unaware of the shifted atmosphere. “Well, Lena and I were certainly an unlikely pair. I still wonder how I stumbled my way to her. I'm certainly lucky.”
That seems to move Lena enough to snatch her attention. Kara pretends it doesn't sting a bit to see her take her husband's hand into her own with a small smile.
By the time dinner comes to an end, Kara has come to the conclusion that she simply enjoys the company of this insanely gorgeous woman whom she's been unable to stop thinking about for weeks.
There's nothing more to it than that.
☆☆☆
There's something more to it than that. She realises it about two weeks after the dinner. By then, Lena had cultivated a habit to call every other day, usually when she would be at work. Then calls become daily texts. Texts which eventually lead to Lena surprising Kara with the most endearing and outlandish gift yet.
“How are you liking it so far?” Lena's voice manages to rise above the screams of the throngs of concert goers around the arena.
“She's a very unique experience in person. Amazing.” Kara yells back. And she genuinely means it. Taylor Swift's performance lives up to its expectations and even exceeds them by margins. Kara had never been an avid fan of the artist, but her music hasn't escaped her over the years. Nia and Brainy, self-dubbed Die-Hard Swifties, have softened her up to this moment.
But Kara finds it just a bit too hard to focus on Taylor's vocals when her eyes refuse to look away from the glow that is Lena. She sings along to the song, her voice as angelic as her face and carrying along effortlessly with Taylor's singing. Even amongst the thousands of voices and faces in the crowd, Kara only hears and sees Lena.
And in that moment she knows. She just knows.
‘Tis the damn season indeed.
☆☆☆
To thank Lena for the Eras Tour—an excursion which has apparently hit tabloids hard according to her sister's wife Kelly the PR manager—Kara arranges something less extravagant but equally meaningful. A private showing of never-seen-before art pieces Kara had done in the past. Not even her family has seen any of these parts of her work.
Lena arrives and Kara, as always, is floored. She shouldn't be because not only has she seen this beautiful woman at least a thousand times by now, but this beautiful woman is also still married. A fact that Kara no longer denies she resents. It's unfair and even bitter maybe, but her heart has stopped playing fair from the moment blue had met green.
“This may be a far cry from the Wonders of the Eras Tour, but we lowly artists do have our own unique charm as well. I'm hoping that's enough to impress you.”
“It's perfect Kara. Far beyond what I can put into words.”
Kara smiles, softening ever so slightly every minute that passes by. She pushes down any hesitations and leads Lena to the seven paintings she's hung up, explaining in intricate detail each one's story and what brought them all to life. Lena listens carefully and with genuine interest, unknowingly laying Kara's insecurities dormant within her.
Once the tour is through, Kara leads Lena farther into her studio where she's laid out a fully prepared candle-lit dinner. She hears Lena gasp beside her and it practically makes Kara burst with pride and joy.
She pulls out the chair for her guest and joins her at the table.
They talk for hours on end about nothing and everything. Gorging on the gourmet meal that Kara strong-armed her sister into helping with once again. They top it all up with a very pricey wine that Kara hopes lives up to Lena's taste.
Everytime Lena's smile lights up her face, Kara loses her breath for a moment. She's long since given up trying to hide herself in any way, but Lena's presence gives new meaning to freedom for Kara.
“Tell me something. How did you know? About liking women?”
The question comes unexpectedly, and Kara can tell Lena has been eager to ask it for a while probably. She answers earnestly.
“Well, there were always signs. I just never had the language to express it. I realised that my admiration for women exceeded the boundaries of friendship and once that hit me, I just let myself be as I am.”
“Wow. It must be so nice. Having it all figured out so easily, huh?”
Lena looks away, failing to hide the sadness in her smile.
Kara doesn't dare console herself with this realisation, but she knows she's not the only one. She knows her longing stares aren't one-sided, nor is the pull of the tide just in her imagination. She can see it in Lena's eyes even if she doesn't hear it come from her mouth.
Kara finds herself unable to stop her hand from sliding across the table where their hands rest. The tips of her fingers lightly brush against Lena's knuckles and stop short of intertwining their fingers.
“You aren't wrong for wanting what you want, nor are you wrong for not knowing everything all at once. Be kind to yourself, as you've been kind to me.”
Lena's eyes at first are fixed on their almost-touching-hands. Then they lift. The tether to control threatens to snap, but she holds onto the promise that she won't rush Lena into anything. So she waits. Neither even dares breathe as Lena locks their hands together. The metal band around Lena's finger almost feels like hot iron on Kara's skin, a reminder. But she makes no move still. Her heart hammers away inside her chest.
“This is impossible. We are impossible. It's not just him, it's…me. I'm not right like this. You have to understand.”
Kara's nearly crushed under the weight of sadness. She can't even try to pretend otherwise.
“I'm not asking anything of you Lena, but I can't command my heart anymore than you can yours. You have to know how I feel.”
Lena suddenly shoots up from her chair, severing the contact with Kara.
“I have to go. I can't do this to Jack. He's not…he doesn't deserve this from me.” Lena frantically grabs her purse and hurries for the exit, Kara hot on her heels.
“Lena, you still have a choice. It doesn't have to be me but please don't opt for something that brings you no joy.”
“ You are my accident, Kara!” Lena stops short of the door and turns to Kara once more. “I never meant to meet you, I never meant to learn about you. I never meant to fall…”
Kara stares mum as a mouse.
“I have a life and he's been part of this life for so long and now I can't just destroy it all for some…dream. This is…too much. I'm sorry.”
Lena's eyes drop to the ground and she makes for the door once again. Kara watches her disappear and the door closes behind her, leaving her to drown in the empty silence of her studio, all alone once again.
Seconds, maybe minutes go by, and suddenly the door swings open again. Lena barges through, face determined and tortured. Kara's confusion is smothered very quickly when Lena marches towards her, grabs her face and pulls her in for the most devastating kiss of Kara's entire life. It knocks both of them off balance and Kara has to find purchase on the countertop behind her to keep them both from toppling over.
Kara still has her eyes closed when Lena lets go. She momentarily basks in the feeling. She's sure she must look like a fool right now, grinning from ear to ear. Lena's boisterous laughter draws her back to earth again.
“So you enjoyed that as much as I did then?”
“Guilty”
This moment right here. This moment is immortal. No matter the passage of time, no matter the thief of life, Kara would forever belong here, with Lena. Even if Lena can't stay. And she doesn't stay.
Because she still goes back, only this time she doesn't come back for another soul-branding kiss.
Perhaps that is the last Kara will see of Lena.
☆☆☆
The phone call takes all of Lena's courage to make. When Kara picks up, she spends several seconds just drinking in the sound of her voice on the other end.
“I know you didn't just call me to have us both sit in silence Lena.”
“No, I didn't. I wanted to say…to tell you, that that night was…a mistake. It's eating me alive and I can't live with myself knowing that I've done what I've done.”
“So was kissing me really that bad?” Kara's hurt reverberates clearly through the speaker.
“That's not it.” Lena truly hates herself for this. “Jack and I have been in trouble for the past few months, but we still care for each other. We…we're still married and I owe it to him to try for us until I have no more fight left in me.”
“Is that what you want?”
The question hits Lena harder than ten thousand bricks, tearing apart her resolve layer by layer.
“I made a promise.”
“I asked if that's what you want. Tell me it's what you want and I swear to you, I will disappear and you'll never hear from me again.”
Lena's barely able to whisper. “ I want you”
She hears Kara's sigh on the other end. “I won't make you choose Lena. But you won't hear me apologise for my heart. I'll try my best to make it easier for us both.”
The pause is heavy and awful. “Don't forget about me, Lena Luthor.”
“I won't remember anything else but you.” Lena doesn't have to see Kara to know that she's smiling on the other end, and even long after she's hung up the phone, she can still see that smile haunting her day and night.
☆☆☆
Lena doesn't remember when last she's felt so devastated. She mindlessly stumbles through the work week only able to really concentrate on one thing, or rather one person.
“Are you okay?” Andrea slumps onto the couch next to Lena one Saturday evening. Lena's staying over at her best friend's house as she's unable to face Jack after the explosive kiss with Kara.
“I kissed Kara. On the mouth. I went to her and I kissed her and I…liked it.”
Andrea turns her head so quickly Lena almost hears the crack of bone.
“I'm sorry?”
Lena shamefully buries her face in her glass of wine and avoids eye contact.
“You…wow, okay. Well, lots to digest here apparently. First, I didn't know you were into women, second, did you talk to Jack about it?”
Lena shakes her head. “I'm not…I didn't know I'm…into women either. And I wasn't, I swear. Not until I met Kara. She's…everything and I just don't know what to do about it. I can't ruin my marriage over something that could just be physical attraction. I mean, what if she's not even interested in me beyond my body.” Lena finds herself spiralling into her festering doubts and paranoia.
Andrea folds her legs onto the couch and turns fully facing her panicking friend. Her gentle hand rests atop Lena's knee.
“Tell me something, when you're with Kara, what do you feel?”
Lena doesn't even think about it. “More alive than I've ever felt before.”
“Mh hm. And when she looks at you, what do you see?”
“I can't say honestly.”
Because if she admits out loud how Kara looks at her, she's going to have to admit that her desire is not unrequited. That's all the more terrifying.
Andrea puts her glass down on the table.
“When Sam and I first met, I couldn't stand her truth be told.” She chuckles fondly, no doubt reminiscing on fond memories with her wife. “ But beneath all the enemies' dance we did for a while, she kept me on my toes alway. And when I realised we both knew what we were dancing around, I was suddenly overcome by fear. I was afraid that once she had me, she'd lose interest altogether. But I took the chance because I wanted her and I wanted her to show me that she wanted me too. We gambled on each other and you know why? We are just two of billions, a possibility within endless other possibilities. And yet, we are the endgame in the end.”
“True love.” Lena whispers, a quiet epiphany of her own.
“You may not have known, but you know now. And here's this amazing woman who sees you as the goddess you are. Here's your chance to throw the die Lena. All in.”
The choice suddenly seems so much simpler than before. Was this really more than just a dream? And could Lena truly be brave enough to chase this reality?
☆☆☆
When Lena comes home Sunday night, the house is eerily silent. She calls out to Jack and gets no response. Worry momentarily fills her until she finds him in the guest living room, sprawled out on the couch, shirt unbuttoned halfway, messy hair, shoes on and alcohol wafting powerfully off his breath. Lena kneels and tries to wake him. His voice is groggy.
“Lena-uh. Went for drinks with the boys. They brought the heavy…stuff. I'm a bit…wankered.” He giggles like a mischievous child.
“Jack, we need to talk. Please stay up for me, can you do that?”
With much effort, her drunk husband lumbers into a sitting position, eyes barely open.
“You okay?” he asks. For all his faults, Jack has never fallen short of his care for Lena. Even after things became rocky between them, he always cared.
Lena takes a steadying breath first and goes for it. “I fell for someone else, Jack. I can't explain how it happened or why because I'm wondering this myself but…I feel so much for her and I can't feign commitment to you while my heart yearns for someone different. I wanted us to work and I swear I tried but I just can't do this anymore. I'm so sorry. I never meant for us to end like this. You deserve so much more and I'm just not it anymore.”
The tears sting as they stain her cheeks. Her heart breaks for the man she'd once thought was her forever. When she looks up at him expecting a response, his head has already lulled to the side again, eyes closed.
“No no no, you need to wake up Jack. I don't know how I can face you and do this all over again. Please.”
Jack doesn't budge and Lena bangs a futile fist against his chest.
She ends up covering him with a throw blanket and kisses his forehead before going to cry herself to sleep in her bed, leaving him behind and completely unaware he's heard every word she said.
☆☆☆
It's Jack's 34th birthday. Lena had already ordered a cake and a few friends are slated to come over for a private birthday dinner. After last night, she's all sorts of disoriented. Jack looks less than his usual self, but Lena chalks it up to his hangover from last night. She doesn't know how she's even going to approach telling him the truth all over again.
“It's Kara then, isn't it?” Jack's face is sadder than she's ever seen it before and she nearly collapses at the sight.
“I don't…”
Jack shakes his head. “We don't have to…I heard you. But even before that, I feared. Guess I was right.”
Lena's instinct is to go to him and console him. But she's the architect of his heartbreak, and that would only serve as salt to the wound.
“I know I'm far from perfect, and I suppose I'm not entirely surprised by the outcome. But part of me truly hoped that we would persevere if I just held on long enough. Turns out you were already gone.” Jack's smile is sorrowful and hurls daggers into Lena's chest.
“Jack, I'm sorry.”
“I love you Lena. That's never changed, even now. But my love isn't enough to make you happy, and if you're not happy with me anymore then…I want you to find what does make you happy. Or rather who. ”
The choice has already been made, but Lena's heart still sinks faster than the Titanic.
☆☆☆
Lena wastes no time. She takes the familiar road, issuing directions to Andrea who had insisted on picking her up from her and Jack's house. She ends up at Kara's art studio, barely able to contain her excitement at seeing the artist again after what feels like aeons.
An unfamiliar face greets her and she tries her best to hide her disappointment.
“Hi, how can I help? Would you like to make a purchase?” the woman asks with a smile.
“Hello. I'm actually looking for the owner of the studio, Kara Danvers. Where can I find her?”
The woman's face drops slightly. “I'm Alex, Kara's sister. I'm taking over her studio while she's gone.”
“G-gone? Gone where? And, I'm sorry, you're Alex? Kara's told me about you.”
“And she's certainly told me about you as well.”
Lena suddenly feels self conscious about that. “All…good, I hope?”
“Do you love my sister?”
“Wh-what?”
Alex lifts a curious eyebrow and repeats the question, slower this time.
“I…I think so. I just…this is all very new to me and she's the first person, the first woman, that's ever made me feel this way. But I know for a fact that I want to be with her more than anything right now and I have to tell her myself so please tell me what you meant earlier by "she's gone now?” Gone out of town?”
Alex sighs before retrieving a small piece of paper from her coat and writing something down. “Here. She's on her way to the airport, headed for New York. I suggest you hurry if you wanna catch her in time. Her flight leaves at 10.”
Frantically, Lena grabs the piece of paper and heads for the door.
“Lena,” Alex calls out. “She's just as lucky as you are. Don't mess it up.”
Lena smiles and practically bolts for the car. Luckily, Andrea naturally drives like a maniac, and normally Lena would reprimand her for it but today she'd leap over every rooftop of every car on the road if it meant getting to Kara faster. What feels like hours later, they make it to the airport, which just so happens to be packed like a can of sardines. Lena swims through the throngs of people, mouthing ‘excuse me's and sorry's as she goes for the terminals. She checks the slip of paper Alex gave her to confirm Kara's gate. There's too many people still, but she knows Kara is here somewhere.
Lena then does the unthinkable.
She stands atop a row of seats, inhales with all her might and yells at the top of her lungs. Kara's name reverberates throughout the packed space and many people turn their heads at the call. Lena calls out again and again until she hears her own name echoing back at her. Her eyes scan the crowd until they land on her favourite person ever.
Kara gently pushes her way towards Lena, her face a mixture of surprise and awe.
“What are you—”
“I want to be with you. I want to go on dates and walks in the park and meet your friends and family and learn about your favourite things in life and what you were like as a kid and just how different you are as an adult.”
Lena steps down from the seats and closer to Kara, only a breath away.
“I want you Kara, because I love you.”
Kara's eyes go comically wide at the confession, and Lena's own heart beats wildly in her chest. She's really doing this.
“I love you too Lena Luthor.”
Kara's smile melts into Lena's kiss, and this time it's slow but equally devastating. The crowd, long forgotten, begins to cheer wildly. Lena hears several camera snaps and whispers of her name. She's sure the tabloids will have their fill in a few short hours. She doesn't care about anything right now, except for the woman in her arms.
☆☆☆
3 months later
Lena feeds the last of the bread crumbs to her new feathered pals when Kara returns with their breakfast orders in hand.
“Sorry it took longer than expected. I was a bit bombarded by a very enthusiastic barista who had questions about you. They seemed nice and I didn't want to be rude.”
Lena laughs fondly. “Yeah well it's your signature move so I'm not mad. Plus, I got to make new friends while I waited.”
She gestures to the pigeons still pecking at the crumbs on the ground.
“So, how are you feeling?”
“Still a bit chilled but the coffee is making up for it.”
“Ha-ha. No, I meant with the divorce. You and Jack were together for 3 years before this. I can't imagine it's been easy for you.”
Lena sighs. Unsurprisingly feeling lighter at heart. She'd known Jack since their years in college. He'd known parts of her that she'd left in the past. He'd watched her grow and grown right beside her. But time had eventually left him in Lena's past as well, she just took longer to realise that.
“It was hard, sure. But all of it was worth it for exactly this.”
Lena locks her fingers into Kara's and buries her face in the crook of her neck.
“I love you Kara.”
“I love you more.”
“I know.”
They embrace in each other's warmth and laughter, a lifetime of love waiting ahead for them both, together.
*fin*