Chapter 40Notes:Kara heavy chapter this week!
Chapter TextKara saw the sign-up sheet in the break room. She walked over, and the side glances from the other staff followed her. It was awful. But she'd survived Cat Grant. The sign-up sheet was for tree planting. That would be great. She reached out and signed her name on the sheet. Kara nodded to herself. It'd be good.
Turning, she looked at the break room, the tables were all full. Which was…she was not eating her lunch in the bathroom. That'd been disgusting in high school. She'd only done it once, and never again. She spotted the table by the water cooler that only one woman was sitting at. She braced herself and walked over. Smiling she caught the eye of the woman who'd looked up at her approach. "Hi, um would it be alright for me to sit here? Nowhere else is really open."
"Sure," The woman was one of those exactingly perfectly put-together types to the point of being intimidating. Just so pretty. She clearly took in Kara. "New hire?"
Kara's smile felt more real as she sat down, holding out her hand. "Kara Danvers."
"Katie Adams," She accepted her hand and shook it. "What department are you in?"
And Rao, she'd missed having an actual conversation with a co-worker. "Water filtration, but I'm still just learning how the lab is run." And how to use human instruments and speed reading through every academic article on the topic she could get her mitts on, including technical dictionaries. "You?"
"Front desk, I keep the crazies from getting past the foyer." Katie had a faint air of challenge to her.
"That makes sense." Kara found herself saying because it did.
"Does it?" A single, perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose.
Oh, shoot, she took that as an insult. "Just, you look very professional but good at getting people to listen to you?"
Katie's lips turned up. "I'll accept that." She lifted her fork stabbing it into her salad. "How're you finding L-corp?"
She smiled unpacking her lunch, which was leftover enchiladas. "It's interesting, very different. But I'm excited to be here, and what the company is doing!"
Katie paused staring at the container, and then back up at her, something changing in her expression slightly. "That's new since Lex's arrest. Most people are more interested in the insurance and retirement plan."
"Well that's all nice, but Catco had those too. But Lena is trying to take the company in a new direction, and you can see she means it from the change in the projects taking priority. And science is the way into the future." She beamed as she explained that. "What about you?"
Katie didn't hesitate, "The health insurance. You trust a Luthor?"
Kara pushed her glasses back up properly onto the bridge of her nose. "Everyone deserves the chance to be their own person. And she's trying to make a better world. Shouldn't we all want that?"
"I suppose we'll see." Katie took a bite of her salad. "Don't get too comfy with the lack of protestors outside the front door though. They'll be back and they're not safe. Not everyone is as optimistic as you."
Kara finished typing up the day's work for the lab. And leaned back in her seat. She reached out, picked up the tablet, and started writing out everything she remembered about the chemical composition of Kryptonian crystals. It was such a basic building block of entire aspects of Kryptonian technology. But, the earth had slightly different elements available, or even present. Of course, most elements were universal, such as carbon. But some were not so evenly distributed across the universe.
This meant her first step was growing as many different types of prismatic crystals while reading everything she could get her hands on. Likely boron-based carbon diamond lattice structures would end up being the closest she could get to real Kryptonian structures. But from what brief material she'd seen on it, the cost and equipment for that may be prohibitive on earth. So best to look at alternate options just in case. And growing crystals was nostalgic, it was one of the earliest Kryptonian science lessons.
Besides, they just seemed to want her to do nothing but secretarial work for the lab. Not that she minded, it was interesting and she was learning a lot about what the lab was actually doing and had access to from it. But she hadn't applied to L-corp to do paperwork, emails, and lab organization. She made a note to look into L-corp's 3D printing capabilities. The best crystals were made, not grown after all. She could get by with grown for a while though.
Kara blew out the oven fire. She looked at the slightly soot-covered and very stressed man holding an empty fire extinguisher. "Maybe get a new one of those?"
"I'll do that…and just order in for a while." He looked at his partially burnt and now frozen oven. "Do you think you can unplug that for me?"
"Sure!" She pulled the oven out enough she could reach back and unplug the cord. Kara looked back over at him. "Stay safe!" And then flew out. Her eyes closed as she felt the wind passing across her skin. She loved flight. Turning, her cape snapped as she changed direction for Catco.
It'd been a while, and she didn't want James or Cat to think she'd forgotten them! And she had a window to check on them. It took seconds before she was flying through James' office window. "Hi!"
"K-Supergirl?" James looked up from his computer, from the furrow between his brow he was trying to fix the visual flow of an article. He got up quickly, "Did something happen?"
She smiled as she shook her hand. "No, I'm just doing a fly through the city before I head home. And haven't checked in at Catco for a few days."
He rubbed at his chin, "Well you know how it goes, might make things a bit less stormy around here if you knew how to contact Quake and could tell her to do an interview with Cat?"
Kara couldn't help it, she laughed. "She'd never agree to that. If she does it, it'll be because she decides to and just drops in on Ms. Grant." And she wasn't going to use the fact she was dating Daisy to try and convince her. "And I don't think she likes Ms. Grant much. It might not be…a good idea."
"Fair enough, Ms. Grant is an acquired taste sometimes." James dropped his hand from his chin. "L-corp everything you hoped it'd be?" The dubious tone wasn't subtle, but it wasn't hostile exactly.
Kara let out a slight huff. "It's going to be an uphill work. But it's exciting what I might be able to do!"
James' face did that sympathetic thing that was unfair. "You're risking a lot, you don't know the Luthors, Kara."
"I know that Lena hasn't done anything to deserve having the worst assumed about her." Kara defended, and this had been a mistake. It was going to be one of those conversations. She was having a lot of these between Daisy, 'Quake', and Lena. It was ridiculous, she should make pamphlets to hand out instead of going over all this again.
A Rao forsaken hour later she landed in her apartment. She came to a sharp halt at the sight of Alex sitting at her kitchen table. "Hey, Alex…what's going on?"
Kara felt a cold shiver down the back of her neck. The weapons were all right there in the middle of the apartment. And Alex had a beer in one hand, tapping against the table with the other, a single bright glowing blue bullet on the tabletop.
"Oh, we're so past that. Your girlfriend is Quake." Alex's eyes didn't leave her for a second as she raised the beer to her lips and took a generous swig of it. Her voice dangerously calm.
"That's…what? That's crazy, why would you think that?" Kara winced, even she knew she sounded super guilty.
Alex tapped the glowing dendrotoxin bullet on the table with a sharp tap. "It was bothering me, what could a suspicious soldier girl have wanted from Supergirl? And then I come over to see my sister, and I see military-grade weapons staked in her apartment. And there it was, glowing. blue. bullets. Just like the ones Quake uses. And I thought, no, my sister would never lie to me about her girlfriend being an escaped Cadmus science experiment."
"She's a person!" Kara interjected, her voice harder than it probably should be. But she was sick of people talking about Daisy like she was 'bad' for things that weren't even her fault.
"She was designed to kill you." Alex said firmly, refusing to budge on the point.
Kara couldn't accept that, also it wasn't true, literally. "She never lied to me. She just wanted to ask questions. To make sure we didn't end up fighting because of a misunderstanding. Because she didn't want to hurt people!" She gestured helplessly. "And she's a person."
"So you decided to date her!?" Alex stood straight up from the chair, her voice still measured but so certain. "You knew it was bad or you wouldn't have lied about it. I can't believe you. Do you know how reckless, and unbelievably selfish you've been?"
"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Kara defended. "You're being impossible! I just wanted you to give her a chance before I told you!"
"You're dating a Cadmus murder machine!" Alex cracked her voice raising ever so slightly in volume.
Which was wrong! And not fair! "Non would have made us kill each other if she hadn't been there! She was bleeding from everywhere, and she still stopped it. Did you forget that?"
"She helps a couple of times and now you just give her the power to kill you, me, mom, and everyone we love?!" Alex raised her hand pointing at Kara. "This isn't just about you. You're risking all of our lives. And you couldn't even have the decency to consider it, let alone tell anyone."
Kara felt a sharp stab at her sister's words. "Why are you being so mean! And why won't you listen to me? Daisy's not a threat." She drew herself up. "Why won't you just trust that maybe I'm capable of understanding people sometimes!"
////
Daisy was shoving the last air mattress into its box when she felt Kara's familiar vibrations at the window. It'd taken forever to get to it with a different kid calling her every fifteen minutes. She looked up at Kara, and frowned slightly, "Uh…are you coming in?" That was weird, Kara didn't knock?
Kara, in her supersuit for some reason? Climbed in through the window morosely, her footfalls heavy.
Which was bad. Daisy was on her feet and to Kara immediately, the air buzzing as she checked her over for injuries. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
The devastation was wafting from her. "Would it be ok if I stayed here…tonight?"
"Yeah, of course." Daisy reached out, catching Kara's bicep, running vibrations through her, triple-checking she wasn't injured. But nothing felt wrong. She looked up at Kara's face, "How can I help?"
Kara slumped into her, burying her face into Daisy's shoulder, hugging her with that bit too much force, not that Daisy would mention it. Instead, Daisy just hugged her back.
"I got you." She held onto her friend. Kara was in one piece, whatever had caused this could be handled. Hopefully. "Whatever it is we'll figure it out." That better be true, cause she'd make it true if it wasn't, so long as it was feasible.
"Alex knows. I'm sorry, it's my fault she found out, and she's really angry." Kara pulled back, shame-faced. "I don't know what she's going to do with that knowledge and I'm so bad at lying and I left your weapons by the couch, but she came over to surprise me and they were just there, and you're the only one who uses dendrotoxin." Kara pushed her hair back from her face. "It's all my fault. And they believe your Cadmus experiment angle. So everyone thinks you were made like especially to kill Kryptonians which is terrible and not true, but I can't say that and Alex is so mad because she doesn't know you! I don't…I don't know what to do. Everything is changing so fast and I'm not good at change."
Daisy wasn't sure how to fix the problems there, except, well her identity wasn't really worth much of anything. Even if she was kinda becoming fond of it. "If it matters, my 'secret identity' being endangered is like…nothing. I mean my life here is a barely furnished apartment, a nearly minimum-wage part-time tech job, and a mildly annoying amount of forged paperwork. If that goes up in flames you can buy me some Cheetos or something. So just, don't worry about that part, ok?"
Daisy sipped at her mug of shitty powdered hot chocolate, her eyes turned to the bathroom door. It was closed, water running. For a person with super speed, Kara took long showers. But in this case, it was probably the right time. It was crossing boundaries. A lot of them, in a way she didn't with people she liked. Hell, in a way that would get her ass kicked if she did it with a SHIELD agent.
She set her mug aside and picked up Kara's phone. Which wasn't even passcode protected? That needed to be fixed. Pulling out her own phone, she quickly plugged in Alex Danvers' number into her own. As soon as she had the number copied, she set Kara's phone back on the folded Supersuit. She was mentioning the need for a passcode to Kara. Not tonight, but still.
Daisy bit at her lower lip as she looked at her phone. This was so not her wheelhouse. But she broke it, she could at least…try to keep it from getting worse. It felt wrong. She was still going to do it. Her fingers moved quickly, Kara would be out of the shower eventually. And it wasn't like what she was texting was long.
Just a simple, 'This is Daisy, your sister is safe and at mine for the night.' She hit send before she could doubt herself. The entire fight was…Alex cared about Kara. If Alex knowing that Kara was secure helped, it helped. Hopefully, it didn't make things worse.
Daisy slid her phone back into her pocket as she heard the water turning off in the bathroom. What did normal people do after arguments? If this was SHIELD she'd be suggesting the gun range but that didn't sound like it was up Kara's alley. Probably Alex's honestly. But letting this whatever it was with Kara happen had been a mistake, clearly. One she was going to fix.
////
Lena stared at her head of security and at the box full of letters in alien languages on her desk. "I presume you haven't found anyone to translate any of this?"
"It is in over a dozen languages, none of them from this earth or conveniently Kryptonian." Mark said, his eyes glaring at the box like he'd burn it to ash if he had laser vision like a Kryptonian. Fortunately, he was human.
Lena tapped on her desk. It was a security risk, all of her hate mail got read by professionals for a reason. Except, nobody could read the ones that came in languages not from earth! It wasn't like she had a convenient alien translator sitting around….or…huh. Lena reached out and hit her PA button. "Jess, if you would please ask Ms. Danvers to join us up here. We could use her expertise."
As she released the button, Mark stared at her curiously. "Who is Ms. Danvers?"
"I hired her for the labs, but she's an alien. She might be able to, at the least, tell us who we could hire to translate these for us." Lena did wish her contacts who could do the job weren't all terrible people. Imagine asking Veronica?
"You hired, an alien?" Mark stared at her. "And you didn't think to ensure I knew about it?"
She knew her gaze was cutting. "Remember who you work for, Mr. Matthews." Lena leaned back in her seat. "Besides, Kara Danvers isn't a threat. More of an alien puppy of goodness shaped like the girl next door. She's also brilliant. I could replace every calculator in this building with her and she'd still be faster with the longer calculations. And if she survived years under Cat Grant, she's not going to randomly snap here."
Mark Matthews paused, some of the alarm fading. "You hired an alien who survived Cat Grant without killing her?"
"Personal Assistant, for years, Ms. Danvers isn't a security risk." If someone made it a week in Cat Grant's presence and didn't require therapy or snap, they were worth their weight in gold. Half the businesses in National City scooped up the staff who survived the Cat Grant trial by fire. If someone was going to snap, Cat would get them there in days instead of fifteen years later when the Christmas party had to be canceled because someone set something on fire or showed up with a gun or something ridiculous.
"Why isn't she your PA?" Mark crossed his arms, looking genuinely confused.
Lena flicked her fingers. "She wanted to work in the labs, and I haven't had any complaints from the labs about her. The death threats that are in English, anything specific?"
He hummed, falling serious. "Nothing specific or concerning enough to bring to your attention yet, moving to National City has lowered the amount of verifiable threats. I would like to again suggest we put a clear bag policy in place."
"We already have metal detectors and bag checks." Lena's voice was dry, "This is a place of business, not a prison. Retaining staff is already enough of an issue."
"It'll be harder to retain staff who are killed the next time a bomb goes off in the building. Two Kryptonians and whatever Quake is aren't going to be sitting in our front lawn next time."
Lena tapped her finger on her desk. "Then you'd better do your job, I already increased your budget, for a third time this quarter. But there are limits."
Both of them nearly jumped at Kara Danvers breezed straight into the room. "You wanted to see me, Ms. Luthor?"
The force of the sheer…positivity leaking from her was nearly blinding. "Lena, please." Lena stood automatically to welcome the woman in. "This is Mr. Matthews our head of security here at L-corp. Mr. Matthews, this is Ms. Danvers from the third-floor research lab."
Kara smiled at Lena. "If I'm calling you Lena?"
"Kara then." Lena couldn't help smiling back.
Kara beamed while shaking Mr. Matthew's hand. "It's nice to meet you." She looked between the two of them. Curiosity and slight nervousness. "You wanted to see me?"
Lena walked out from behind her desk. "It's nothing terrible. But I had a thought you may be able to help us with a security problem."
"Oh, of course. Not sure what use I'll be though?" Kara pushed her glasses up slightly.
Lena gestured to the box. "L-corp receives letters-"
"Threats." Mark scoffed.
She shot a look at her security chief before continuing. "Yes, well typically they're threats. It's important to keep an eye on them, as I'm sure you understand. But some of them are written in languages not of this earth."
"Oh, um, what language?" Kara asked, but she was curious.
Lena gestured to the box. "That's half the problem, we don't know. If you could even point us in the right direction it would be appreciated."
"I'll see what I can do, I only speak twenty-eight languages though." She said like that wasn't impressive at all. Kara flushed, looking embarrassed about it bafflingly.
Mark picked up the box and offered it over to Kara. "Anything you can tell us would be a great help."
Kara smiled and took a seat in front of Lena's desk, balancing the box on her knees, and started paging through. "I know some of this?" She started sorting letters into two piles, likely 'could read' and 'couldn't'. Kara paused wrinkling her nose at one, holding it between two fingers like it was contaminated. "Oh, that's not very nice at all."
"What does it say?" Mark had the expression of 'she's not real, right?'
Lena was pretty sure that yes, yes Kara was for real. She was still processing it herself.
Kara winced, "Um…a curse that your brother will be pooped out by…space rats?"
Lena raised a brow, "Really?"
"There might be details about how he gets into the rats?" Kara set the letter down, ears pink.
"At least it's not a bomb threat." Lena leaned against her desk. "Do you know how we can get the ones you don't know translated?"
Kara hummed, "I know someone who could ask the right people." She went still at one. "Um…this one might be a problem."
"Why?" Mark was serious as he looked at the scribbled note.
Kara was biting the inside of her cheek. She picked it up, checking the timestamp on the postage. "It's just…I can't read it. But I know someone who knows people. She might be able to find out what some of these say."
"But you know what language that is?" Mark pressed.
Lena realized Kara wasn't going to say more. "You're protecting someone?"
Kara adjusted her glasses. "Um…look, knowing this language is…I only recognize it because of ethics modules. No one who knows it would want anyone knowing they knew it. I can ask around and try and get a translation for you? But I can't do more than that."
Chapter 41Notes:Is this two hours early? Yes...do chapters tend to be a bit early? Apparently so. But figure you guys don't mind. Also, found pumpkin spiced ice cream today. My wife laughed as I immediately added it to our cart.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextLena speared her salad with a fork as she read the recently translated letter in apparently Xandarian. None of the now four letters that Kara had translated were of much interest. Hate mail, but more general frustration and rage than specific threats. She was oddly surprised by the lack of credible threats. Two had been specific but so old it was reasonable to assume the stated threat was failed or the alien had lost their nerve.
"Oh, this one isn't hate mail." Kara's voice had turned soft and horrified.
She looked up at the woman who'd been surprisingly, or maybe not totally immune to hate letters. "What is it? I doubt an alien is writing fan mail to a Luthor."
"They're begging for their daughter back," Kara said hoarsely. "This, this needs to go to Supergirl or someone who can…." She started writing quickly, her hand nearly blurring as she translated.
Lena accepted the translation, setting her lunch aside, and ignoring the fact Mark had wanted that letter first like with the others. Reading this one hurt, her mouth going dry. She looked up at Kara, passing the letter to Mark. "How many of these are like this?"
"I think…I think a lot of them." Kara picked up the next one. "This one too."
"Did Lex kill these people?" Mark looked at her.
And Lena…she didn't know. "I'll find out."
Lena poured herself a solid three fingers of scotch as Mark left to go see to shift change. "Scotch?"
"Uh, no thank you." Kara looked up from where she'd been neatly scanning in the letters she couldn't translate, which was admittedly a little over two-thirds of them. "It wouldn't really do anything for me."
"Ah, well, that's unfortunate." Lena walked back over. "Thank you, for doing this. You didn't need to, but you did. All the ugliness of what my brother did."
"I mean, I already knew what your brother did." Kara lowered her cell phone.
Lena stopped in her walk toward her desk. "Yes, I suppose you would. But you still wanted to be here. You believed me."
"Well yes? Not that anyone will stop telling me it was a terrible idea." Kara huffed. "It's very frustrating."
Lena changed directions, walked over, and sat down in the chair next to Kara. "Why do you believe in me?"
Kara's smile was kind and was…more real than it'd been when she first came into the office. Which, Lena wouldn't have realized those smiles hadn't been completely honest without seeing the difference. Kara set a letter back in the box. "I can understand wanting to make a name for yourself. And why shouldn't I believe you're genuine?"
Her throat felt tight at the faith. "Even though your family doesn't approve?"
Kara was expressive in how she moved, slightly flustered by the question. "Well, my sister is more upset about my girlfriend at the moment. At least my day was already fairly terrible from that fight before I read all these." She gestured at the box.
"What could be terrible about a girlfriend your sister thinks she's worse than a Luthor?" Lena couldn't help asking. "Sorry, that was inappropriate of me to ask."
Kara smiled, "It's ok, and Daisy is great! She's kind, and supportive, the only person who hasn't been upset with me about working here actually." The affection and love on Kara's face was sweet. "I don't think she was expecting me to want to or likes the idea exactly, but she knows it's important to me, so she's supported it. She just helps everyone, and never asks for anything in exchange for it."
"She sounds lovely," And the girlfriend did sound lovely, and exactly like the kind of person someone like Kara Danvers would be with.
"She is! But all Alex, or anyone cares about is the classified military stuff, and she's from a rough background, or the things she did while working, and it's not fair. They won't just give her a chance."
"You have a habit of giving people chances, don't you?" Lena was charmed despite herself, even if she still felt nauseous from what they'd learned over the course of the afternoon.
Kara's expression was painfully kind. "People are filled with so much light. It's amazing, I'm always amazed. If you never give anyone a chance, how can they surprise you?"
Lena realized that Kara was incredibly dangerous because she made Lena want to trust her. And Lena hadn't come to National City to make friends and leave herself vulnerable to betrayal yet again. She was here to redeem the Luthor name. A thing that didn't involve trust, friendship, or olive branches from aliens with apparent hearts of gold. No matter how lonely she might be.
////
Daisy didn't startle as Alex aggressively slid into the other side of the booth from her. "Oh good you got the message."
"You sent it." Alex's eyes were narrowed.
"Look, I don't want to argue with you, and I know there's nothing I could say to make you trust me." Daisy appreciated the noisy, and run-down cafe she'd texted the address of to Alex. It was too loud, too run down for anyone to be listening in, and she'd picked the booth closest to the bathroom. Private and public at the same time. "But you and Kara fighting because of me is…I can't stop it."
"You could leave." Alex's voice was sharp, commanding officer threatening an idiot recruit face. The pure loathing was real spot on.
Daisy was used to being loathed. "No, I can't. Even if Kara wasn't my friend, if it wouldn't hurt her for me to just ditch like that, I like this city. And, we both know who is coming for your sister, and I'm not leaving you both to that without help."
Alex looked like she'd swallowed a lemon, her eyes narrowing. "All this just to tell me you're not leaving?"
She shook her head. "If you ever don't know where she is, text me. If I know, I'll tell you. I won't get between you two, at least not more than existing in your general radius." Daisy hated that this was necessary. But Alex and Kara needed this fight softened. She couldn't fix it, but maybe…maybe she could ease Alex out of pure survival mode on the topic. "And I'm not bulletproof, Danvers. Have the scars to prove it."
Alex held her gaze, not that the woman was likely capable of backing down from a threat. Finally, Alex gave a sharp nod. "I still don't like or trust you."
"How you and Kara love each other…it's important." Daisy wasn't sure how to express this without being far more vulnerable than she wanted to. "You two fighting, it hurts her, and I think you. I didn't want that." Her fingers pressed against the cheap laminate on the table. "I care about her, I know you don't believe me, but I do. If there's something that would help, you know how to get ahold of me."
Which was enough of that. Daisy slid out of the booth, "See you around, Danvers." She easily slipped through the fairly busy diner. It wasn't like Alex would reply to that, it was kinda impressive the woman hadn't drawn a gun.
Once out on the sidewalk, she closed her eyes, letting the sunlight strike her. Fuck. It wasn't enough, she'd need to put a stop to the whatever friends with whatever sorta benefits thing she and Kara had. That wasn't helping since Alex knew about it. Her vibrations hummed under her skin. It was the right thing to do. And selfishly…it might hurt less this way when Kara got tired of her.
Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she struck out down the sidewalk. Now to hope Alex didn't mention this to Kara, or that if she did, Kara was feeling reallyforgiving. Because she'd messed in something that wasn't any of her business. No matter how responsible for causing it she might be. First though, she had a call with Sarah scheduled and should probably text the others if she didn't want to be bombarded with calls all night from panicking tiny aliens.
It was a weight lifted to see Kara walking toward her. Daisy couldn't help how she lit up at the sight of her. How couldn't she? When was the last time someone had cared about her? It was addictive. She didn't resist, or try and step away from it as Kara immediately hugged her. Daisy just hugged her friend back. "Long day at work?"
"The longest!" Kara burst out as she hugged her slightly tighter before letting go. "Sorry, I'm late! I had to drop the letters off at the DEO before I could come because they were terrible! Oh, and I have one if you could look at it."
Daisy's brow rose. "Letters? What were you doing with letters in a science lab?"
Kara flushed, "Oh, Lena asked to see me. Well her and her head of security. They were hoping I could translate the alien hate mail they get."
"Huh, makes sense." Daisy could appreciate that, going through fanmail was like a thing she'd done to make extra money occasionally as a teen. Well, track down who was sending it. "That can't have been pleasant. You ok?"
"It was terrible, people can be so mean, but the worst were the people who had family members kidnapped, writing to beg for them back." Kara' seemed to shrink slightly before rallying. "I gave the ones I couldn't translate to the DEO to work on, and the missing family member ones to see if we can find them, but Lucy said I was bothering Winn and then I realized was going to be late to meet you, and sorry." She tilted her head, pushing her glasses up. "Did you wait long?"
Daisy had to resist reaching out to catch Kara's hand and entwine their fingers. It was juvenile how much she wanted to hold Kara's hand. Juvenile and a thing she was putting a stop to before she fucked up Kara's relationship with her sister. "Five minutes isn't a big deal." She looked around the street. "What are we doing here though?"
"There's an animal shelter I drop lost animals at sometimes just up the block, and you wanted a pet. I thought we could go take a look?" Kara had some lethal puppy eyes and an adorable pout. "Bad idea?"
Her eyes turned instantly up the street where she could feel the heartbeats of dozens of animals. "Oh, that's…not a bad idea at all." There was a burn of something in her chest. Could she actually take care of an animal? She could barely take care of herself. But…it wouldn't hurt to look? Right?
"Yes!" Kara grabbed her hand, faster than a human could move, and started pulling her along toward the shelter. "I can't wait to see all the little paws! You're going to find the perfect cat or dog!"
Daisy should have pulled her hand out of Kara's. She didn't. Instead, she allowed herself to be dragged along. "I don't have the time for a dog. Not unless there's a breed of dog that can take itself on walks without me being there."
Kara beamed at her. "I know, but we can still pet the puppies! And all dogs are puppies."
Her chest was full of a warmth so tight she felt like curling up under a blanket and crying about it, but that would mean leaving Kara's side, and that was out of the question. So she let Kara's excited babbling wash over her, clinging to the feeling as long as it could last.
Daisy stood in the middle of the cat room. She was quietly grateful Kara was busy talking with the front desk guy about the adoption process. So here she was, just standing in a room full of neat cages full of cats. There was meowing, some cats reaching out of their cages, some hiding in back corners.
The larger bottom cages had whole litters of kittens in each one, and older cats in the upper cages. A couple of cages had more than one cat in them. It was all…overwhelming. Could she take care of a pet?
Wetting her lips, Daisy picked a side of the room and quietly started circling the room. She could tell when the animals got a whiff of her smell. Most of them went quiet, some hissed, and most of the kittens didn't seem to notice at all. It was something she hadn't been brave enough to ask Kara, what she smelled like. But she knew something about the centipede serum had changed her. One of the things it'd changed had to be her scent. Animals knew she wasn't human now, and they never seemed to know exactly how to respond to that.
It wasn't a large room, and a slow circuit didn't take long. She quietly went back to the start and started reading the little placards with names and information about the cats in each cage. Some of them made her smile.
Like Princess Margret, a large white fluffy cat that had puffed up at the smell of her, and apparently hated children, dogs, and men. Daisy couldn't help the slight grin at that one. Next to the Princess Margret, was a Sprinkles. Sprinkles was a thin orange cat who was a great hunter and should not be homed in a house with a pet guinea pig. The implied possible tragic cause of Sprinkles being here wasn't too hard to guess. Daisy hoped the poor guinea pig had survived.
She snorted at a black cat, with a slightly squished face named Pancake, who was a known felon for pancake mix thievery. Below him, was Mike, a cat with balding spots, who'd been found in a dumpster behind a pizza shop by Supergirl. Actually, five of the cats in here had little Super crests on their cards indicating Supergirl had found them.
Daisy marked off the Supergirl cats, civilians would snap those up. Besides, Mike was hilarious looking and rubbing up against his cage bars. She did reach up scratching him through the bars though.
Crouching down she held her knuckles up to the bars of a larger cage with a litter of stripey and patchy kittens. Some of them came over to sniff, but they seemed confused by her, some mewling, others curling back. She knew Kara was excited about a kitten. There sure were a lot of them. How did anyone just…look at all these animals and pick one? But at the same time, how could she leave without giving a home to one of these animals that nobody had wanted?
Three lower kitten cages later she was looking at a litter of kittens that were either all black, or orange. It was like Halloween in a cage. She sighed, standing, maybe she should just ask Kara to pick one that didn't shy away from her? This was impossible.
Stretching, she paused looking at the cat now at eye level with her. According to his card, his name was Cyclops. Which made sense, even if that felt a bit mean. He was a gangly, brownish-grey tabby cat, one eye missing. One eye, several missing tufts of fur, and scarred scratch marks over his nose.
He was flopped across the floor of his cage, his eye on her, but he didn't get up to investigate. A defeated boredom, as if he knew she'd move on from him.
Daisy poked a finger through the cage, but he was out of reach. "Not sure which is worse, Cyclops or Poots."
Cyclops shifted, his tail flicking. His single eye not leaving her face. He wasn't a big cat. If she looked at the card it'd probably tell her how old he was. He might just be scrawny or he could be young. She didn't really know enough about cats to know for sure, but she was guessing he was young? The shape of his face was a bit between the kittens down below and the larger, older cats in the other individual cages.
Daisy was still standing there, quietly scratching at Cyclops' chin where he'd moved to be against the bars. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there, but Kara's familiar vibrations had slipped into the room.
Daisy didn't startle at the feeling of Kara's chin dropping onto her shoulder, hands settling on her hips, as Kara pressed flush against her back. It was exactly the kind of thing they needed to stop doing. But Daisy leaned back into the touch. That conversation could wait. It was peaceful, the rightness of it bitingly good. She hummed in the back of her throat in greeting.
"He's the one?" Kara asked, but it didn't really feel like a question so much as a query for confirmation.
"If something happens to me you'll take care of him?" Daisy had to ask because she knew the mortality rate was for what she was doing, and unlike Kara, she wasn't that much sturdier than a human. A single bullet aimed right was all it'd take. Or someone in the same range of speed as Kara, and Daisy would be paste.
Kara's grip on her hips tightened, pulling her closer. "Yes, but you're not dying."
Daisy's lip quirked up, that wasn't true, but she didn't push back on the idea. "So, how much does a cat even cost?"
"Twenty-five dollars and you can't bring him home till Friday because he has to be neutered before you can take him home. I got a list of what we need to get for him, and filled out most of the paperwork for you." Because Kara was proactive and sweet, and somehow surprised Daisy every time.
When was the last time someone had pre-emptively done something for her without it being about gauntlets or her body suit? Daisy let the question flit away. She let herself savor a few final seconds of this. But Kara had superhero things to do, and Daisy needed to get cat supplies apparently. "Am I allowed to rename him? Because Cyclops is kind of a terrible name. Might as well have called him 'missing an eye monster cat'."
Kara half snickered, half giggled against her. "Yes, you can rename him. What are you thinking?"
"Would it be weird to name him Bucky?" Because Coulson had been her family, the closest she'd ever gotten to it, and that was including Kora who was…Kora was a mess. But Coulson's hero-worship of Captain America was a thing that would always feel fond to her. Maybe, she could keep some pieces of him. Tangentially. And Bucky Barnes was the kind of person she was more impressed by than Steve. It suited this cat who'd clearly been through shit too.
"I don't know why that wouldn't be ok? I named my cat Streaky as a kid." Kara shrugged against her.
Daisy glanced at the poor cat across the room, a large fat cream animal somebody had named Mr. Farts. "Guess Bucky it is."
Daisy hadn't had trouble finding the exact right cat food, Kara even had the brand name written down on the list for her. But it was the not-basic stuff she was a bit unsure of. It'd be easier if Kara was here, but pile up on the highway had needed Kryptonian help. She looked down in her cart. The cat food, litter, litter box, and litter mat, had all been easy enough. The food bowl, food mat, and water dish hadn't been hard either. But it left her staring at the cat trees.
It was like the indecision with the counters or paint. It was more, there were just a lot of very cool-looking cat trees. Admittedly, the cat platforms and things designed to be attached to walls were neat, and it wasn't like she had stuff on her walls. Grey would probably go with the purple and white?
Daisy found the box of one of the tallest cat trees in a dark grey. It was narrow, tall, and would make a good initial climbing route to wall attachments. Also, the two enclosed boxes that were a part of it would be good places for the cat to hide if he wanted to do that. Adding it to the cart she moved to the grey wall attachments and started adding in different ones. She'd figure out how to lay them out once she got back to the apartment. She had screws, a Black'nDecker electric drill, and she was a walking talking stud finder. The counterwork had been a learning curve, but she kinda enjoyed it a bit.
There was something satisfying about building or making things. It was good. She found a wall-attached cat hammock, a couple different-looking cat bridges, and an attached box. She could stick the box in the upper corner. That would probably be neat?
Daisy was neatly putting away cat toys into the new cat toy chest in her apartment when Kara whooshed in. "Crane malfunction?"
"Crane malfunction," Kara agreed as she dropped onto the couch with a huff. "Kal and I did a few circuits of the city."
Daisy smiled looking up at Kara, and it felt like a privilege to see her like this. Because Kara had clearly stopped by her own apartment before coming down. She was wearing a college sweatshirt, leggings, and soft fuzzy socks, but with her golden hair spilling down around her shoulders, her glasses not on her face. "Kal still sure he wants to delay the Kryptonite theft another week?"
"Yeah, Lucy's running an internal audit this week." Kara explained. "Oh! I emailed you a letter if you could translate it."
Daisy blinked, "Someone wrote hate mail to Luthor in Kree?" Because that was the only alien language she knew that wasn't just a coding language. So the only thing that made sense for Kara to ask her to translate.
"If you don't mind?" Kara asked.
"How can I say no to that?" Daisy straightened up. "By the way, buying the apartment outright was the right call, because I found these cool wall-attached cat tree things. I mostly did it so I could hide weapons in the place, but probably going to be good for the cat." She felt a warm pride at the slightly more lived-in look her apartment was gaining. "Going to have to get a gun safe." She was giving it another week before Sarah or Xal just turned up on her doorstep. And guns plus tiny aliens was a bad idea.
Kara floated to her feet. "Probably a good idea."
Daisy grinned at her friend, "Yeah if kids being here is a thing that'll happen occasionally, I can't just keep them in your apartment. Thank you for hiding them there though. Seriously."
"Anytime," Kara leaned in, clearly meaning to press their mouths together.
And Daisy, she knew what the right thing to do was, and for once, she did it. Her open hand pressed against Kara's sternum, gently holding her back. "Kara, we should…we should probably talk."
Notes:Was mentioned I should link the Discord more often. https://discord.gg/PMmWwrQj
Also, from the comments last week, I figured I should probably mention some stuff about Alex. Like, Alex doesn't actually care about the security points she's bringing up every time she argues with Kara. Like take a second and go through it. If Alex's fears about Daisy were genuine, what would she be doing? And its not what she's currently doing. If she was genuinely worried Daisy was a hostile actor she would be trying to get information on Daisy, genuinely sitting down with Lucy and talking about it like an adult, 100% not icing out Kara, trying to have face time with Daisy to try and get more information out of her, etc. Alex wants Daisy out of Kara's life because Daisy makes Alex feel threatened in her place with Kara. Like Alex's entire identity is wrapped up in Kara and controlling Kara because that's what Alex was trained to do from childhood. But also, Kara is Alex's only positive emotional relationship outside of like J'onn. So Alex understandably, if toxically, gets super territorial around Kara.
Which, Alex's alcoholism helps Alex keep from self-reflecting, at all. But Alex showed up and there was a new person in Kara's life that Alex couldn't control. And a person who was having a clear effect on Kara's behavior. So Alex, like her emotionally constipated, alcoholic self reacted emotionally by lashing out, like she always does. And because she's Alex, she doesn't stop to self-reflect at all until she's forced to. But she started with a want 'Daisy gone' and then from that want, built an argument for why that's the right thing actually.
And half of Alex's 'concerns' she is fully aware subconsciously are bullshit, or should be significantly reduced. Not to mention some are invalid and there's no way Alex doesn't know they aren't valid. Like Kara didn't tell Daisy her secret identity. Daisy already knew, Alex knows that Daisy already knew. So Kara didn't endanger anyone by telling some untrustworthy rando. The rando knew. And it's been months, and Alex, Eliza, all their human connects, nobody has been harmed or threatened. Sure, Alex has the right to be wary, that's a smart response. But she's pinning a thing to Kara that Kara wouldn't be responsible for even if something did go wrong, and refusing to give any credit for like, time and counter-evidence.
Or like, Alex's arguments of 'Daisy is going to hurt you, you're stupid for trusting her', they don't hold water. Sure, there is totally a case to be made it's possible Daisy could be working a long con/game. That she could be integrating with plans to turn on Kara/everyone down the road. But also, like, it's been months. And Daisy's done nothing to indicate that's what's happening. She's given up her identity, her location, her 'background', etc. And she's actively protected Kara multiple times, at great risk of physical harm to herself. All the evidence points to Daisy maybe not being the best influence on Kara depending on your point of view, but not being a hostile actor.
As time passes and Daisy continues to not harm or do anything against Kara, the DEO, etc, you would expect Alex's position to become less intense. Especially realizing the secret she wasn't in on was Quake. It answers questions and gives proof that Daisy is willing to risk her life to protect Kara. But the more time passes, the more evidence Alex has that Daisy isn't an active threat, the more escalated she gets because its the longer Kara is refusing to do what Alex is telling her to do. Alex knows she's losing the argument, and the more she realizes she isn't in control, the more she spins out.
So like, telling Alex about the dimension stuff would do nothing. The issue isn't Daisy. The issue is Kara trusting and having someone in her life that Alex can't control. If Alex knew the dimension stuff she'd just change the wording of her arguments but her position would change. Cause she has a conclusion, and she's working backward to justify a conclusion built on reactive emotion.
Chapter 42Notes:Why pushing things down and making assumptions can't last forever.
Also, found a sale on Pumpkin spice latte kerig cups. So I'm flush with pumpkin spice and living.
Chapter TextKara's brow crinkled as she looked at Daisy. "Talk about what?"
"Us?" Daisy rocked back on her heels, running one hand through her hair. "Whatever you want to call it that we've been doing."
There was a rushing sound in Kara's ears. "You want to break up?"
"If you want to call it that?" Daisy blew out a breath, but then looked alarmed. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just saying maybe we should just be friends. It'd make things easier with your sister, probably the DEO too honestly."
It was humiliating to feel her eyes burning with tears. "Why? Alex will come around once she gets to know you."
Daisy's expression was compassionate, making it worse somehow that she was breaking up with her over convenience. Like their relationship hadn't meant enough to be worth hanging onto. "She loves you, it makes sense she'd see me as a threat. And I'm not leaving, ok? But your relationship with your sister is worth more than me. I know you know that. And sure, Alex might come around given time. But that's going to take longer the closer we are. So maybe, we should just be friends."
"Oh." Kara…she turned and walked over to the couch and dropped onto it. This was worse than fighting with Alex. Fighting with Alex hurt, both of them knew exactly how to hurt each other. But it would get better. They always made up. They fought and then stewed and eventually would come back together because they were family. But this? This wasn't something that'd just be fine in a few weeks of arguing, hurt feelings, and ice cream. "I thought…" She wasn't sure what she'd thought. That what they were was important enough to hang onto.
Daisy was quiet for a long moment before walking over and sitting down on the couch cushion next to her. "It's not that bad. I'm still here to help you, and what'd I do without someone to eat the extra food I make? At least the attempts at food that are edible."
Kara should have laughed at that, because some of the things Daisy cooked really were pretty burned or not that good. But it hurt. Even with the fact Daisy wasn't leaving, Kara felt pathetic as she looked at Daisy. Because she'd thought everything fit between them. That they were doing good, that they were important to each other. "Can we talk about it? Alex is mad that you're Quake, more than us dating. And it's both of us. My sister will come around." It felt pathetic to argue the Alex bit, that wasn't even really the problem. The problem was how easily Daisy was willing to just…give up.
"Even if she does, Kara, this always had an end date on it." Daisy said as if that was just an obvious fact. Like the sky was blue. "I mean there's other aliens or just people who are safe for you to figure things out with. And you're kinda amazing, the day's going to come when you meet someone to fall in love with."
"What?" Kara stared at Daisy in complete confusion. "Figure things out with? What does that mean?"
Daisy blinked, head tilting slightly. "I mean that's why me right?"
Kara was used to being confused, but not like this, not with Daisy. Everything with Daisy just made sense. It felt right. But this was…this wasn't that. It was wrong. "I don't…what do you mean?"
"Friends with benefits, or whatever you want to call it? I get it. We're friends, I'm safe, and I'm hot." There was the faintest flicker of a cocky grin at the word 'hot'. "But that's not worth fighting with your sister over."
Kara swallowed, her throat felt thick. "Friends with benefits?" She'd been so stupid. It was the first time with Daisy she'd felt stupid, like she was the dumb alien who couldn't understand Earth cultures. The one living in her own world that had nothing to do with real life.
"I mean I know we never got past making out. But that's what you wanted? Is there a different Kryptonian word for it?" Daisy was looking at her curiously.
Her mouth felt horribly dry, she hated this, but…she'd done everything right? "Isn't there supposed to be conversations and negotiations for friends with benefits?"
Daisy's brow furrowed slightly. "Your species mates for life."
"And that means friends with benefits?" Kara was confused, that didn't make sense. It made no sense.
Daisy pulled back, her expression flickering with something that for a few seconds looked like pain before it was gone. "You mate for life. What else would you want from me than that? It's implied?"
Kara was…that felt wrong, and not just because Kara felt stupid. "Why would that mean we weren't dating? We went on dates, I called it dates, you agreed it was dates. I don't…I don't understand."
"You…" Daisy had gone stiff, staring at her with something like the beginning of shock. "But why would you want more than something casual with me? You're a forever person? I'm…me? That wouldn't make sense, the risk for you."
"Why not?" Kara felt a kernel of anger as she started to understand? Not anger at Daisy, but for her. Because why would she think that? It was awful.
Daisy's mouth opened and then shut. She hesitated and then replied, her voice low. "Kara, I'm not a forever person. No one wants me for forever."
"That's ridiculous, what about your team?" Kara regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Because Daisy flinched at the words. Which was the answer.
Daisy cleared her throat though. "Look, they even have a saying about me. The whole 'where she goes, death follows'. Which is true. People around me are always dying." Daisy was staring at her like what she was saying was obvious. "I'm a mess, not sure I've ever not been a mess. I haven't even lived anywhere longer than two years. Even with you treating me like a real person still, which is good. It's...really good. Why would you want to risk being stuck with me for life?"
Kara stared at Daisy and the anger burned in her gut, because it was wrong that Daisy was speaking of herself like being mated to her would be bad. Also nauseous because the realization Daisy had just been letting her use her was…horrible. "Why wouldn't I?" She kept going before Daisy could interrupt. "You've brought nothing but good into my life since you first knocked on my door. You're one of the kindest people I've ever met, and brave, and good. And isn't the point of dating to see if you want it to last for forever?"
"And you wanted or want that, with me?" Daisy leaned slightly more back, her eyes wide.
"Yes." Kara wasn't sure what else to say even if she had a dozen things she should be saying. Including a lot of questions she suddenly had about Daisy's ex's.
Daisy shifted, her brown eyes catching the light. "Kara, you mate for life. What happens when you realize I'm not right for you? Or when someone comes along who fits with you better, who can be the kind of partner you want? And you're just trapped. That's not fair to you. I would never hurt you like that. I'm not a saint, but I care about you, a lot."
Kara's shoulders curled. "If I wasn't Kryptonian, would you have assumed I just wanted to use you?" Because she hadn't…being an alien hadn't mattered with Daisy. But apparently it did.
Daisy bumped their knees together. "Hey, first of all, I never thought you were just using me. You're Kara Zor-el, I haven't been here that long, and I know what it feels like to be used, and you've never made me feel that." Daisy held her eyes. "Second, if I'd been as good of a person as you think I am, I'd have said no."
Kara's brow furrowed. "Why would that make you a bad person?"
Daisy brushed some of her hair back. "I know how to turn people down, Kara. I didn't want to turn you down, even knowing it was a terrible idea."
"Didn't want to turn me down because you didn't want to hurt my feelings? Or because it would hurt you?" Kara asked as she picked up a pillow, wrapping her arms around it as she hugged to herself.
"Kara…" Daisy sighed. "What do you want me to say? I knew better than to start anything with you, even if I wanted to, and then you kissed me and I was willing to take what I could get? It's pathetic."
Kara looked at Daisy, and it hurt to hear Daisy talk about herself like that. "It's not pathetic. Daisy, if I'd asked you out, properly, and you hadn't assumed… other things, would you have said yes?"
Daisy shot a look at her, "Kara…"
"Would you have said yes?" Kara insisted. "If we both want to be together why shouldn't we?"
"Your sister for one," Daisy argued. "This isn't worth the pain between you and your sister it's already caused."
"Alex already knows we're dating…or I thought we were." Kara flushed slightly, but her shoulders squared. "And Alex doesn't get to dictate who I date, even if she might want to. She'll come around, and I can handle fighting with my sister for a few weeks. And shouldn't I be allowed to choose what consequences I'm willing to face? I can take care of myself."
Daisy's shoulders slumped as she inclined her head. "I know you can take care of yourself." She shifted her position. "Kara, you are this amazing, inspiring person who should be happy. People like you don't just happen. And I won't set you up to be hurt like that. It'd be wrong."
Kara reached out, laying her hand on Daisy's knee. "Do you want to be with me?"
There was the faintest catch in the back of Daisy's throat. "Yes, but I'll get over it." Her eyes flicked up. "I won't trap you."
"You're not trapping me!" Kara gestured with her hand, the frustration with Daisy and the whole situation spilling even when she didn't want it to. She blinked back tears she was not going to let fall when they were almost all from pure frustration. "You're trying to protect me from something I should be allowed to choose."
Daisy leaned forward, hugging Kara tightly as her arms wrapped around her. "Ok, I'm sorry. I didn't…you're right." She tightened her hold around her.
Kara pressed her face into Daisy's shoulder, the soft flannel against her skin as she soaked in the feeling of comfort. It was unfair, how safe Daisy felt, even when she was breaking up with her. The warm buzz of vibrations that gave away that Kara wasn't alone in caring. Not that she doubted it. It wasn't until Kara felt settled, the burning of tears faded, that Daisy pulled back.
"You're right, I don't get to just make decisions. That's not fair." Daisy pulled her legs up, crossing them underneath her on the couch, facing Kara fully. Her fingers fiddled with the edge of the cuff of one sleeve.
"I don't want you to be with me if that's not what you want." Kara felt just…defeated.
Daisy brushed a loose tendril her hair behind one ear. "I'm bad at this, like, really bad. But not wanting to be with you, isn't the problem." Her mouth turned up into a wry smile. "I want to be with you, I'm here because you're here. Spending time around you is the best part of my day."
Kara smiled despite herself, a warm bubble in her chest at Daisy's words. She reached out laying her hand over Daisy's hand that was fiddling with one sleeve.
"You're kind of amazing." Daisy turned her hand up, entwining their fingers together. "Look, how would this work for you on Krypton?"
That was, she hadn't talked about that almost at all since she'd gotten to Earth. Except with Daisy who asked, she'd even asked about this very thing in the bar all those weeks ago. Probably the root of this whole problem. So Kara tried to explain it, better this time. "My parents would have arranged a marriage with someone from another of the great houses that the Matricomp deemed compatible."
"The Matricomp?" Daisy asked, and she was listening, she cared about what Kara was saying. Just like every time.
Kara felt the warm glow she got from talking about Krypton with Daisy. It was one of a dozen reasons she couldn't just let Daisy end this without trying. "A computer system that would have measured us for compatibility."
Daisy gave a dip of her head in understanding.
"To go against the ruling of the Matricomp was treason. Its decisions were final. Once I was matched for compatibility, I'd have been introduced to my betrothed. We'd have been expected to engage in activities meant to allow us to know one another's souls. A lot of meditation in concert to learn to trust and be at peace with one another. Courtship was expected to last, several years before marriage."
"And latching is…a purely emotional thing?" Daisy asked.
"Yes, though it can take…a few years of marriage to fully form. Uncle Jor and Aunt Lara caused a scandal for their latch forming just six months into their courtship. Not as great as when they had Kal naturally without the birthing matrix." Kara still remembered the way people had whispered about that when they thought she wasn't listening. "Mates were about partnership, two souls in step with one another more than…romantic love. I find how humans find mates, confusing but also…beautiful. Even if they aren't able to share a part of their soul with their mates."
Daisy squeezed her hand. "Once a Kryptonian latched, do you mean literally sharing of a soul?"
Kara nodded, pleased that Daisy didn't question the existence of a soul at all. "We're not a psychic species like Martians, but we can do that. In the old epic poems from our imperial era, there's stories of latchings formed in war. It's a bond without betrayal, of perfect trust and understanding."
"That's really cool, and don't think I don't have questions about Kryptonian history, but is latching a thing you could do on someone who isn't Kryptonian?"
"Yes," Kara's hand hummed from vibrations leaking from Daisy.
Daisy spoke slowly, "So it'd be a risk. Why would you want that risk?"
"Because we could be happy." Kara squeezed Daisy's hand, she was sure that they would be. "Isn't dating to try and see if we could be partners the whole point of dating?"
"You…" Daisy's air left her lungs in a rush.
"Why won't you believe I want you, and the idea of possibly latching onto you doesn't scare me?" Kara was so much better at doing than talking, but clearly, that'd been a horrible mistake with Daisy. This was hard, and she wasn't sure how to convince Daisy.
Daisy's voice was soft. "You're sure?"
"Yes, I thought we were dating already. I was sure the first time."
"Ok."
Kara's lungs froze. "Daisy?"
"Ok." Daisy repeated, and then she leaned forward kissing her. It was a soft press of lips, her free hand reached up cupping the side Kara's face.
Kara shuddered against Daisy, her eyes closing. She didn't dare move, afraid the moment would end. Her eyes burned as Daisy gently pressed their foreheads together. She swallowed thickly. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
She needed to be sure, "Dating, relationship, you want that? To be together."
"Yes." Daisy stayed there, forehead pressed against Kara's. "I can't promise to be good at it. I'm sorry I've fucked all of this up. But yes. Just…yes."
Kara choked on the relief and a hundred emotions, and then she was hugging Daisy. She couldn't stop crying as she hugged the other woman to her. The confirmation that Daisy was real, and there. The physical weight and warmth of her. It was visceral and important. It was also probably pathetic she was crying, but she was too happy to care.
And Daisy hugged her back, her body had gone loose, molding against Kara's, her arms comfortingly firm where they'd wrapped around her in response. Daisy's heartbeat sounded loud in Kara's ears. Her vibrations a warm buzz leaking into Kara everywhere they were pressed together.
Kara wasn't sure how long they'd been like that, wrapped up around each other. At some point, they'd adjusted. Daisy'd ended up lying on her back, stretched out across the couch, Kara laid out on top of and snuggling into her. Kara felt half asleep, her nose pressed against Daisy's neck, her cheek against Daisy's shoulder. She felt drained and never wanted to move. Her fingers gently ran along the curved scar at the edge of the meat of Daisy's palm.
It was quiet, and Kara was focused on Daisy, which is why she noticed it at first. The low rumbling from Daisy's chest. Kara smiled, it was a sound Daisy made in her sleep occasionally, and she'd realized it was a kind of purr. She nuzzled against Daisy's neck. And sure enough, the rumbling grew slightly louder.
Daisy cleared her throat, shifting a bit under her.
Kara's smile grew, and she went to distract Daisy from the purring. "So, I may have signed up for an L-corp tree planting on Saturday, if you wanted to come?"
"Sure, I can probably dig holes if you point me at where to dig?" Daisy cleared her throat again. "What is…am I making that sound?"
Kara propped herself up enough to smile down at her girlfriend, who was actually her girlfriend for real now. "You purr sometimes."
"I…what?" Daisy's face scrunched slightly.
"You do, sometimes when you're sleeping." Kara's smile grew, kind of delighted that it was something not even Daisy knew about herself. "It's adorable." She pecked a light kiss on the tip of Daisy's nose.
Daisy blinked, a baffled expression on her face, but her eyes were smiling. "Really?"
"Yes really." Kara was sticking to that because it was true.
"In my sleep?" Daisy didn't look particularly convinced.
"I think it's when you're cozy?" Kara kissed Daisy before she could protest that.
Daisy kissed back, her hand moving to Kara's hip, her thumb rubbing a circle against her.
She pulled back with a sigh, eyes still closed. "It's good."
"Kissing or the purring?" There was a certain amount of irritation in the inflection of the word 'purring'.
"Both, both are really good." Kara opened her eyes, tracing the lines of Daisy's face.
Daisy reached up, cupping the side of Kara's face. "Hey, I'm going to be bad at this, but I'm not going anywhere. Wasn't going to go anywhere even if tonight had gone how I thought it was."
Kara leaned into Daisy's touch. "I'm being silly."
"No, you're not." Daisy gave her a look. "I fucked up. That doesn't just go away. Life'd be so much easier if it worked like that."
The words helped, they really really did. Because Kara felt so stupid and stumbling with people sometimes. Like nothing she did was right and she couldn't quite articulate why. But maybe she didn't want to talk about that right now. "So, you're digging trees on Saturday to apologize?"
"Oh yeah, I've never planted a tree in my life. The chances of me murdering at least one tree are pretty good. Also, me and the business types you work with don't tend to get along well. You're definitely going to end up regretting bringing me." Daisy was smiling though, her tone teasing.
Kara laughed, something unclenching in her chest she hadn't known was clenched in the first place. "Nope, not going to regret it."
"Uh-huh, remember that when you're boss is lecturing you about the fucked up wonky trees I've tried to help with."
"Nope." Kara pressed a light kiss on Daisy's lips. "That'd mean regretting spending time with you. Never going to to happen."