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Mercy

Chapter 29: Part Twenty- Nine

Summary:

I hope you enjoyed your Valentines Gift. Hope you all had a good one.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

“Okay, so you want me to-what?” Kara blinked, confused and folded her arms over her suit.

Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. “Maggie’s invited us to play a softball game this afternoon with some of her work buddies.”

“I got that part,” Kara nodded.

“Winn, James, a few guys from work are invited as well.”

“Yup. Got that too…. But… why am I inviting Lena?” She tilted her head like a confused little puppy.

Alex shrugged, but her heart rate increased just a little and it was enough for Kara to narrow her eyes at her sister.

“Alex?” She enquired warningly.

“All right. Fine,” Alex threw her hands in the air. “Maggie want’s her there.”

“Why?” Kara was certain she’d get confusion lines (instead of frown-lines) if Alex kept this up.

“I dunno!” Alex shrugged. “She just wanted her there… wanted you to invite her,” Alex corrected with a sly smile. “So…. How’s that going? I heard you were dating.” She enquired and lifted a brow.

Kara blushed and fidgeted and shook her head. “Alex,” she whined. “We’ve been over this! I’ve been getting death threats!”

Alex was grinning broadly. “Oh, I know! It’s-“

“-It’s not funny!” Kara crossed her arms and was pretty sure she was pouting.

“Aw, don’t worry. I’m sure Lena will kiss it better…. If Supergirl doesn’t kill you first.”

Kara’s pout deepened. “It was a cute photo, okay? I didn’t think people would think we were dating.”

Alex shook her head. “Kara, Kara, Kara. You posted the photo of Lena with the cub and said ‘look at this cutie’ on twitter. She’s a celebrity, of course her followers saw it and commented.”

Kara’s hand shot out. “It’s not my fault she re-tweeted it and asked if I was referring to her or the cub.”

Alex inhaled and then let it out slowly. “You were basically asking for that response.”

Kara opened her mouth to protest but Alex’s sharp look cut her off. “Fine. So I didn’t have to say it. But now people are saying Supergirl’s gonna kill me for taking her girl and that they’ll kill me if I get between the two!”

She was pouting again and folded her arms like an impertinent child.

“That’s not fair,” Alex pointed out. “Half of them think you guys are ‘hella cute’ together and want Supergirl to stay out of it.” She even did the bunnies ears, grin firmly in place between them.

“Argh!”

“That was rather loud,” J’onn rumbled as he passed the command centre. “What’s wrong?”

Alex was smirking as she told him. “Kara’s upset because people are sending her death threats and she’s in a love triangle with herself.”

“It’s not a love triangle! It’s not a love anything….” Kara shot back quickly and J’onn just looked between the two girls and sighed. He was shaking his head and muttering about teenage girls as he walked away.

“But you liiiike her.”

“Shuddup Alex!” Kara’s cheeks had a delicate flush to them.

“So,” Alex said quickly changing the subject as she saw the redness in her sisters cheeks. “Lena. Softball. Yes?”

Kara shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, I can ask. But she’s probably busy.”

“She’ll say yes,” Alex said confidently and called over her shoulder as she walked away. “Tell her to meet us at four, and we’ll get drinks later. Losing team buys the first round.”

“But Alex!” Kara whined. “What makes you think she’ll come?”

“Of course she’ll come,” Alex shouted back. “It’s for you!”

 

~*~

 

“Holy shit,” commented one of Maggie’s work mates from the fence line and his eyes were wide.

Maggie nodded from where she was standing next in line under the shade of the trees. “Damn Little Danvers! Your girl’s got game!”

Kara was just standing in the shade with her mouth a gape and eyes wide as Lena straightened from her batting pose, bowed slightly to the applauding members of her team and jogged over to first base and then over two second and then third. The ball she had just struck was high in the air and well over the fielders heads and she dropped her bat and jogged towards first base as the occupants of first and third raced for home.

One of the opposite members of the team, the right fielder, went bolting for the ball and Lena smirked a dangerous smirk as she passed each of her bases with time to spare. The members of her team already on the field crossed the ‘home’ base with grins on their faces and Kara blinked in surprise and almost forgot to write the two runs.

The reporter’s eyes were slightly wide and if her mouth remained open any longer it would be commercial.

“Hey, little Danvers,” Maggie nudged Kara with her shoulder. “Careful, you’ll swallow a fly.”

Kara instantly snapped her jaw shut with a click, but she couldn’t hide the blush that crossed her features.

“Where’d your girl learn how to hit like that?” Asked one of Maggie’s police colleges and Kara just shook her head.

“I-she’s not-we’re not-um… I don’t know?”

Kara was flushing and delicately re-arranged her glasses as the original speaker nodded and stepped up to bat, a bat over his shoulders cockily.

He was quick to hit and soon Lena was jogging past the home base and grinned as she slowed to a walk and reclaimed her bat with a fist-bump to a member of her team.

“Nice one Luthor!”

Lena ducked her head in acknowledgement and brushed some grass off her bat.

“Where’d that come from?” Maggie asked and held her hand up for a high-five.

Lena shrugged and she looked the part with her tight black exercise pants and her singlet, even if it did match and wasn’t team colours.

“I had a crush on the Captain,” Lena grinned, showing her teeth and shrugged coyly again. “I figured getting on the team would be a good idea.”

“Got any other tricks?” Asked another member of Maggie’s team and Lena grinned again, glancing around her to size up the area.

“Sure…” she said, considered for a moment and then proceeded to twirl the bat like it was a baton or like it were a staff and she some sort of martial art’s expert. She rolled it over her arm, across her neck and back down, bounced it off her foot and then kicked it into the air before she snatched it again. Then she spun it around again, dropped it on the ground, flicked it behind her back and into the air where she spun around and caught it, and then spun it back behind her and caught it again. She finished by swirling it between her legs and rolling it back across her wrists in a quick motion and then grabbing it with a small smile. It looked effortless and graceful, but there was rigid control to each of the movements and they were timed to perfection.

A pained noise croaked from the back of one of the men’s throats and Maggie cleared her throat and then grinned. “I see this being the start of a beautiful friendship.” She took a few steps forward and slung her arm over Lena, but Lena didn’t seem to mind even though she was usually so careful over personal boundaries. Maggie was just one of those people who managed to get through walls without any effort and made you feel like you had known her all your life. She was a cool girl.

“Tell. Me. Everything,” Maggie said and drew Lena away. “I think you are our new secret weapon. Jason’s team doesn’t stand a chance!”

“I’ll do it,” Vince said and took the pen and pad from a limp fingered Kara. He crossed off the run as Kara gazed after Lena in amazement, the glazed look in her eyes not dissimilar to the looks on the other players around her. Though it could have been more the ‘I had a crush on the captain’ rather than the awesome trick, because that was one way of coming out without saying it. (He would later discuss with Bella the news that Lena’s little reporter friend had a crush on their employer, and should they get them together? The answer was a raised brow and a departing back, but they were very cute together, so maybe he could work his magic and get them together. ‘Don’t be unprofessional, Vince.’ ‘Suit yourself. I think they’d be cute.’ So far he hadn’t come up with a solid plan, but it looked like the two were heading there without his influence so he let it be).

“Danvers,” one of the men said with hushed awe. “Your Mrs is awesome!” Kara flushed but didn’t comment and when Lena heard and turned in confusion she smiled sweetly over at the CEO before Maggie drew her back into conversation.

“Hell yeah!” Another woman agreed. “Maggie should invite you both more often!”

“We’re gonna cream them! I can’t wait to rub my victory beer in Jase’s broken little face,” this was said by the last woman across the home base and she was grinning, hair wild behind her. “This is gonna be great!”

Four hours later and Maggie was lifting a beer in toast while a surly looking white guy sulked beside her.

“To victory!” She crowed and the group of winners laughed and cheered and lifted their glasses while the losing team groaned and shook their heads good-naturedly. The only one who seemed put-out by the ass-kicking they got was Jason, who looked like he’d swallowed a lemon when he bought Maggie her beer.

“Victory!” Echoed her team and a few drops of beer went spilling down the side of glasses at the movement.

“To our new friend, Lena!” Maggie singled Lena out from where she was leaning against the bar with Kara at her side. She inclined her head a little and her expression changed from startled to pleased as the group, the winners, echoed the toast.

“Lena!”

“To softball!”

“Softball!”

“To friendship!” Maggie was beaming, still running on her high from winning, in no small part due to Lena’s impressive skills on the field.

“To friendship!” Echoed the rest of the players, and all were involved now, even the losing team, all but Jason.

“To kicking Jason’s teams ass!” There was cheering and some mild, exaggerated groans from Jason’s team.

“All right! Drink responsibly. Bottoms up!” Maggie shouted and then downed her beer in a very impressive display. Around her, her colleges were doing the same and when they finished they slammed their drinks down on the tables and whooped. A few high-fived each other again and others wandered back to the bar for another drink.

“You were pretty awesome out there,” Kara began and Lena turned to her, wondering if this is what had been occupying the reporters mind for much of the afternoon.

“Thankyou?” She hedged and gestured for the bar-tender and cast a glance to Vince in question. “Drink?”

The body-guard hesitated, glanced around at the buoyant police officers, who were still wearing their departmental t-shirts reading NCPD, and then shook his head. Lena nodded in acceptance and looked at Kara’s lemon, lime and bitters. It was half empty. “Want another one? Or anything stronger?”

Kara shook her head. “I don’t drink. Besides,” she smiled winningly. “Someone has to keep an eye on Maggie.”

Lena chanced a glace behind her to see Maggie already trash-talking at the pool table. “I think your sister has that covered.” Alex was standing near the officer with a drink in her hand and an amused smile on her lips.

“Are they dating?” She enquired as she turned back to Kara and browsed the selection of wines, beers, spirits, and pre-mixed drinks.

Kara nodded and smiled. “Yeah… for about a month now. Alex’s so mushy its almost disgusting.”

“They’re sweet,” Lena offered and dug her wallet out, and pulled out a card as the bar-tender came over.

“Hey. What can I get for you?” She asked and she cast the group at the pool table an amused glance when there was a loud cheer and laughter and a muted, ‘Fuck you, Maggie.’

“They come here often?” Lena asked and the bar-tender nodded.

“Every second Friday night. They get a bit loud but they always have watchdogs and they pay for any damage.” She shrugged. “Besides, watching newcomers try to drink Maggie under the table is always fun to watch. What can I get you? Food or drink?”

Kara’s stomach rumbled and she blushed under the dual amused glances Lena and the bar-keep tossed her way.

“I want to set up a tab. Five hundred dollars. Annnnd,” she glanced up at the food menu. “Three orders of the sea-food platter, five meat platters and,” she glanced at a frozen Kara. “How many chips do you think you can eat?”

Kara blinked for a moment in shock and then shook her head slightly. “Oh. Um. I’m not- you don’t. I can-“

“Five bowls of chips and three wedges please,” Lena turned back to the bar tender who was jotting everything down. Kara just blinked and went quiet as Lena did her thing. She was channelling the CEO right now, even as she was dressed down in her softball gear. The bar-tender either recognised her or recognised her authority and had whipped out a pad and pen the moment she started to speak. “And two lemon, lime and bitters. Thank you. And a ginger beer.” Vince shifted from the counter and cast Lena a glance but went back to watching the crowd.

“Right, so that’s three sea-food platters, five meat platters, three wedges, five bowls of chips, two bitters, a ginger beer, and a five-hundred dollar tab.”

Lena nodded, card dangling between slender fingers. Kara was watching as she rolled it between the digits.

“Did you want that taken off the tab or added to it?”

“Added. Please.”

The bar-keep nodded and rung the number on the till and Kara blinked at the amount but didn’t say anything, fearing that would embarrass Lena, herself, or would lead to a disagreement.

Lena didn’t even flinch as she paid the fee and smiled at the bar-tender as she said she’d give this to the kitchen and be right back to make their drinks.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Kara said quietly and her voice was soft but her blue eyes were intense with some sort of emotion Lena couldn’t name.

She smiled, there was an undercurrent of bitterness to it. “No one makes me do something I don’t want to do. Not anymore,” she added almost darkly and there was a shadow in her bright green eyes.

“Thank you,” Kara said sincerely and looked over at the officers and Maggie and Alex high-fiving as she sunk a few balls. “In case they don’t realise or forget.”

Lena smiled genuinely now and ducked her head and accepted the ginger-beer the bar-tender passed over the counter.

“Vince,” she slid it down the bar and the body-guard caught it on reflex and glance down at it and back to Lena, surprise on his features. She met his gaze for a moment and he inclined his head in thanks and tore the cap off in a smooth movement.

“Get what you want all night,” Lena said and he nodded in agreement and took happy sip of the bubbly, amber liquid.

“Here.” She put the two lemon, lime and bitters on the counter. “Bar tab for the NCPD and your food will be about fifteen, twenty minutes.” Kara’s stomach announced itself again and Lena bit her lip to hide her giggle as Kara flushed and quickly turned away, snagging her drink. The bar-tender just laughed as she walked away.

“Wanna play pool?” Kara asked and a sly smile crossed Lena’s features.

“You don’t want to play against me,” she said and smirked and Kara gazed at her a moment before nodding.

“You good?”

Lena’s smile widened. “One of the perks of having an-above average intellect and no friends.” She offered as she moved over to one of the few empty tables on their side of the bar. The NCPD crowd seemed to have claimed this side of the bar for themselves and the other regulars were sticking to the other side, but were calling greetings, or lifting their glasses in hello.

Kara slid onto the seat opposite her. “I’m learning lots of new things about you today,” she said and there was a light dusting to her cheeks and she fiddled with her hands a moment. “I, ah, I l-like it.”

She swallowed nervously and flushed all the harder but Lena’s pleased smile was enough to chase her embarrassment away.

“I like it too,” Lena confessed quietly, cheeks slightly pink and she ducked her head to her drink as Kara flushed with pleasure. She could hear Lena’s heart thumping with nerves.

“So… you played softball in school?” She was rolling her fingers, a nervous habit she had yet to break, and as she’d had it since she was a child on Krypton, she doubted she’d be rid of it on Earth.

Lena pulled away from her straw and her green eyes were contemplative as she took Kara in. Kara felt the power of them, so like Kryptonite, draw her in and hold her still.

“Yes,” Lena smiled and Kara felt herself fall further into her eyes. “I had a crush on the captain and I didn’t just want to be a nerd.” Lena ducked her head into her shoulder a little. “So I joined the team and learnt how to play.” She sat back with a sigh and shook her head. “I was trying to impress her.”

Kara choked on her drink. “H-her?” She swallowed as Lena’s fond smile faded and she looked over at Kara with a slight furrow to her brow. She hadn’t expected Lena to be so open with it, so upfront about it.

“Is that an issue?”

Kara shook her head frantically and was bright red. “No-ope! No, of course not! I’m- I mean.. Alex and Maggie,” she waved her hand in her sisters general direction. “That’s cool. I was just, um, surprised. Yup.” She gave a little nod. “Surprised.”

She swallowed again and nervously adjusted her glasses. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but was also doing cartwheels of delight. “So… you’re, um, gay?”

Lena was a little defensive now, she could see the walls in her eyes drawing closed like great shutters over the life they held within, and Kara was desperate to get that light back.

“I didn’t realise it would be an issue,” she said softly, almost sorrowfully and took her glass in her hands but didn’t drink it.

“No!” Kara’s shout was a little loud and drew a few curious looks but Kara ignored them and her hand shot out to grab Lena’s as it drew away.

Lena inhaled sharply, heart stumbling and then accelerating and Kara quickly snatched her hand back.

“No. It’s not an issue,” she said firmly. “I was just surprised. You’ve never-“

“It isn’t something I shout from rooftops, Kara,” Lena said carefully. “While I am not ashamed of my sexuality I find it…difficult to…find companionship….due to my last name, mostly. I’ve had to deal with people after my money and name since I was adopted, and I’ll be the first to admit I have trust issues…”

Lena looked down and was rolling one of the rings on her hands, a nervous habit Kara had noticed once before, but it seemed she controlled that habit when she was CEO. It made her heart warm that Lena trusted her enough to tell her this and to let her guard down around her.

“We all have baggage,” Kara offered and shrugged. She certainly did. An entire cultures worth. But what was a little hand luggage? She said so and delighted in the sharp, startled laugh it drew from Lena’s lips, almost against her will.

“To hand luggage,” she said with the laugh still present in her laugh and lifted her glass in a toast.

Kara grinned and clinked her bitters with Lena’s as though it were expensive champagne or something.

She was itching to ask but didn’t want to ruin the laughter in Lena’s eyes.

“NDA’s,” Lena said after a moment of silence between the two. “When I first-Mother…” she trailed off. “Once mother realised-“ she cut herself off and shook her head. “My partners sign NDA’s so tight that one word and my lawyers will skin them.” She pressed her lips together and her eyes darkened, not in anger or in pain, but with something else. “It doesn’t make much for a good start but,” she shrugged. “It’s part of the business. I’m owned by L-Corp and as such need to be protected as an asset. Can we talk about something else?”

Kara was only too happy to move the conversation away from dangerous territory, and to do something to bring the light back to Lena’s eyes.

“So, you joined the softball team for a girl… did you get her?” She asked teasingly, but there was some part of her that really, really wanted to know. The answering Luthor smile Lena gave made a shiver run down her back, she told herself it was fear, fear for whoever that smile had been directed at in the past. She was lying to herself.

“Mh,” Lena gave a non-committal hum. “What about you? Anyone special in your life?” It was odd that they’d been friends for months now and were just learning this about each other.

“What? Pffft. Me? No, no way! To, um far too busy! Yup!” She needlessly adjusted her glasses and peeked through her lashes over at Lena, who was hiding her smile in her glass.

“Good,” Lena murmured, to her-self and Kara felt her world screech to a halt.

“Huh? Good?”

Lena’s heart summersaulted. Kara shouldn’t have heard the word whispered into bitters but due to her super hearing she had.

“I mean,” Lena blushed and swallowed. “Good that I don’t have to feel guilty for taking your time from someone else.”

Kara blushed to match Lena while inwardly her heart was dancing.

“Y-yeah… you get me all to yourself!” She blurted out and then went even redder but Lena’s heart flickered and her eyes darkened with something decidedly not dark and Kara’s heart thumped in her chest.

“Good,” Lena said firmly, quietly.

Kara nodded. “Yeahp. Yup. Good. Good. That’s, ah, that’s good.”

Lena shook her head fondly and took another sip of her drink and her eyes shifted to something over Kara’s head and she smiled.

“I have a sea-food platter and a wedges,” said the bar-keep as she came up to the table. “Where do you want the food?”

“Leave those two here,” Lena instructed and shifted their drinks to make space as Kara’s belly growled at the smells. Kara dove for a wedge, drizzled in cheese and bacon and dipped it in the sour-cream before it was on the table a second. “And divide the rest to the other tables… unless you want a meat platter as well?”

Kara hesitated, wedge part-way to her mouth and Lena sighed and shook her head fondly again. “And a meat platter here. Thank you,” she said and the bar-keep nodded and left the two plates on the table. “Be right back.”

“Help yourself,” Lena directed this to Vince, who was still nursing his ginger-beer and was eyeing the sea-food platter with greedy eyes.

He immediately pushed off the wall and snatched a scallop wrapped in bacon and groaned in delight.

Lena eyed the platter a moment and picked what looked like a deep-fried prawn and lifted it delicately to her mouth. Kara watched the shrimp’s journey with wide eyes and her mouth went dry as Lena closed her eyes in delight and she sighed in pleasure.

“Thanks,” Vince said and Lena’s eyes flew open and she nodded to him and licked the drop of sauce from her lips. Kara swallowed and quickly averted her eyes as Lena blinked over at her.

“Sweet!” Came a call from over by the pool table and they looked over to see another bar-tender handing over some fries and a meat platter. “Thanks whoever!” The players descended on the platter and fries like rabid wolves and the noise in the bar dimmed quite suddenly.

“So, you’re above average intelligence, hm?” Kara asked, tearing her attention from Lena’s lips and scrambled for a subject for conversation, otherwise she’d be caught just staring at Lena.

Lena smiled and nodded. “Only a little,” she said humbly and Kara snorted.

“I doubt that,” she said as she shoved some more wedges into her mouth. Lena’s brow tightened as she watched the steam on them ribbon into the air.

“Aren’t they hot?” She enquired, amused and Kara paused.

“Yup!” She said decidedly and quickly picked up her nearly empty bitters and downed it. “Better.”

“Did you want another one?” She asked and pointed to Lena’s almost finished glass.

Lena nodded and Kara almost ran from the table, Lena’s curious green eyes following her.

She leant forward and picked a wedge, and had to roll it around her fingers as its heat was immediately known. She left it on the edge of the plate closest to her and frowned over at the reporter standing meekly at the bar, looking for all the world like a teenager trying to buy alcohol and get away with it. Something prickled the back of her mind, but as she tried to grab the thought, it was washed away, helped by the presence of a dark haired police officer.

“I think I might have to keep you, Little Luthor,” Maggie announced as she pulled up a chair and propped her chin on her arm and stared at Lena. Lena looked startled at the nick name. Alex cast a slightly hurt look to her girlfriend and glanced at Lena before looking back at Maggie and her girlfriend winked at her. Understanding, Alex relaxed and settled back to watch how this would play out.

“Um, excuse you, but she’s mine.” This was from Kara, slightly frosty as she glared at Maggie leaning towards Lena and looking adoringly at her. “And you have Alex.”

Alex took another seat and just looked between the two and then helped herself to a piece of pork from the meat platter Kara had balanced on her arm as she carried the two bitters in her hands.

“I know,” Maggie said winningly and took the platter from Kara’s arms before it could fall. “But your girlfriend is awesome!”

Kara blushed as she placed her bitters on the table. “She’s not my girlfriend,” she muttered and slid onto her seat.

“But you just said she was yours?” Maggie said with the innocence of a child caught surrounded by cookie crumbs.

Kara stumbled and stuttered and turned as red as her cape as she stammered out how she meant Lena was her friend and not Maggie’s, not that she had to be Lena’s only friend, but she was her best friend, and while she didn’t hold the monopoly on who Lena was able to be friends with, she was Lena’s friend first and it wasn’t her decision who Lena decided to be friends with and it was cool that Maggie saw how awesome Lena was and wanted to be her friend but she was Kara’s first but it wasn’t like she didn’t want Lena to have other friends or hang out with other people or anything but-

Lena had to halt Kara’s rambling by putting her hand on Kara’s arm and Kara drew to a halt and stared down at Lena’s pale and graceful hand on her arm before following it up to Lena’s eyes. “Kara.” They were a bright, eye-catching green and were glowing with…something. “You’ll always be my first friend in National City, Kara,” she said and her fingers lightly ran up and down Kara’s skin where they were touching and Kara looked at her with wide eyes. She glanced over at Maggie.

Alex was trying to hide her smile but Maggie wasn’t. The detective was smirking like the cat that had the cream and her dark eyes were delighted.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to having a… new friend,” she tried out the word and then smiled at the detective. “I hear you also consider yourself a pro pool player… fancy a game? I don’t get to play much.”

Maggie grinned and leant forward. “Oh, you’re on, Little Luthor.”

Lena frowned at the name a little as she rose to her feet. “Little? I can’t be more than three years younger than you-how old are you?”

Maggie’s smile didn’t slip. “Didn’t you know it’s rude to ask a Lady her age?”

A snort would never pass Lena’s lips in public but the sound she made was close. “I don’t see a Lady.”

Maggie chuckled and slung an arm around Lena’s shoulders. “Oh, I am defiantly keeping you!”

“All right boys!” The detective shouted as she got closer to the pool table. “Next game is me n Little Luthor! Girl thinks she’s got what it takes!”

There were chuckles and nods of agreement and Kara and Alex wandered over, the former with her bowl of wedges, and the latter carrying their drinks.

“Think she can beat Maggie?” Alex asked as they took up position around one of the pool tables, the one that looked like the game that was almost done.

Kara nodded. “She said she was good.”

Alex sniggered. “If she wins I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Shall we make this a little more exciting?” Maggie enquired with a smirk and a sly glance over at Kara. Lena followed her gaze and the reporter tried to wave and ended up nearly losing her bowl of wedges to the wooden floor. Alex laughed and slapped her arm and Kara glared at her before looking back at Lena and Maggie.

“Sure,” Lena hedged and eyed the detective suspiciously. “What did you have in mind?”

“Loser has to kiss the girl we came with,” Maggie said suddenly and Lena’s smile faltered. There was a choking sound.

She glanced back at the Danvers sisters and hesitated.

“Unless, of course, you aren’t game enough?” Maggie suggested, the innocence in her voice betrayed by the smirk on her face.

Lena hesitated again, cast Maggie a glance and then looked back at Kara and Alex. Alex was patting Kara on the back as the blonde coughed and spluttered and went red.

“I feel like you are getting the better part of the deal,” Lena said, trying to buy herself some time, and ran her eyes over the pool table. “I don’t really play.”

“Nice try,” Maggie smirked and folded her arms. “Yes or no? If you aren’t game, we can have the loser have to down, say, six shots?”

Lena’s lip twitched and she glanced back at Kara, who was recovering and was looking over at the two with wide eyes and Alex just looked amused.

“Deal,” she said strongly and turned back to Maggie. Maggie raised a brow and her smile widened, impressed.

“Is there a time limit?”

“Thirty seconds.”

“Ten.” Lena countered, heart hammering.

“Twenty.”

“Fifteen,” Lena said firmly and Maggie nodded.

“Tongue for five of those seconds.”

Lena hesitated again and then gave a begrudging nod. “Deal.”

“Deal,” Maggie accepted her hand and they shook on it.

“Excellent!” She beamed and turned back to the pool table.

“All right!” She shouted to the group.

“Me n Little Luthor have a bet going. Loser has to kiss one of the Danvers.” There was cheering and laughter and Alex and Kara went red and blinked back at the eyes staring at them. Alex folded her arms defensively at the eyes and Kara looked down at her nearly empty bowl of wedges.

“Tongue for five of fifteen seconds,” Maggie added and there was wolf-whistling and general cheering.

She clapped her hands excitedly and accepted a cue stick and checked its size. Lena was already over at the rack and was looking some over. They were in relatively good condition for being a part of a bar set.

One of the former players was already putting the balls in place and Lena looked the table over.

“I’ll let you go first,” Maggie offered smugly. “Since you don’t play.” Lena arched a brow and cast her a glance.

“Are you sure?” She asked demurely and Maggie nodded.

“Gotta give you a chance,” she said and leant against the table cockily.

Lena eyed the table again and lined up the white ball. As she leant forward to take her shot she let her smile cross her face and locked eyes with Maggie. “You’re gonna regret that,” she said and her muscles coiled and released and the white ball went flying forward. It collided with the coloured balls. They scattered like ants in the rain, with an accompanying crack like thunder and several of the balls were sunk immediately.

Maggie blinked as Lena took up position and proceeded to choose her set-full colours.

“Don’t play pool my ass,” Maggie said as Lena sunk her first shot quickly.

The Luthor grinned. “Not anymore, I said.”

“You got hustled!” Laughed one of Maggie’s team mates and she gaped.

“Yeah. Guess I did.” She grinned again. “Game on, Little Luthor!”

Lena smiled at her and lined up her next shot. “Game on.”

Lena won, naturally, and she was surprisingly demure about it, merely shrugging it off to a lot of hours playing at home basically because she had no friends. Maggie had apparently decided to adopt her as soon as she won, and Maggie’s co-workers all seemed fond of Lena as well, which was awesome. But… because she won, she didn’t have to kiss Kara. Not that Kara was disappointed about that, no siree. But that meant she had to watch her sister and her sisters girlfriend make out for a bit amidst cheers and cat-calling.

It would have been better for her and Lena to make-out. Not for any reason other than to spare her eyes, of course. Still, Alex pulled back eventually with a dazed look and a goofy grin and the joy in her eyes was almost worth Kara having to bleach her brain to rid herself of the image. She did not need to see her sister make-out with her girlfriend.

She was actually surprised Alex allowed it, being a ‘Baby Gay’ as Maggie called her. Dating the detective had certainly brought her sister out of her shell, not that she was in one to begin with, but she was happier now, and cared less what people thought of her. It was probably in part Maggie, as well as learning some things about herself.

David drove her home. Lena insisted. And she sat in the back of the car next to Lena while Vince looked between them and they navigated the mostly quiet streets to her apartment. Lena wouldn’t hear of her ‘getting an Uber’ (read: flying home), so she was now in relatively cramped conditions next to the woman she may have been crushing on after she admitted that she was gay, or bi, or whatever. That she was in to chicks, or maybe it had just been that one chick…. Hm. She’d have to ask Lena about it at some stage, but she would need to be sneaky.

Some part of her knew getting involved with a Luthor of all people was dangerous, but the other part didn’t care and wanted to feel what Lena made her feel, and was desperate to know if she felt the same way…Or could be convinced through elaborate plan to feel the same- Alex was secretly a rom-com nut and Kara had plenty of resource material to choose from if Lena was open to the idea of maybe, sort of, dating Kara.

It didn’t take very long until they arrived at her apartment block and she hesitated for a moment as the car idled.

“Thank you for coming,” she said and quickly darted forward to brush her lips on Lena’s cheek. Lena flushed immediately, but not as much as Kara did, and she nearly tripped as she stumbled from the SUV and onto the pavement. She left a small crater in the inside of the gutter and hoped no one would notice it.

“Bye!”

“Goodbye, Kara,” Lena chuckled, voice dark and rich. The sound made her stomach flutter.

They waited until she was inside the building before David pulled away from the curb and she waved goodbye through the bared window on the first flight of stairs, even though they couldn’t see her.

When she got to her apartment door she hesitated and then approached it cautiously. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but her senses were telling her something was amiss.

She cautiously, slowly, unlocked her door and peered inside and then blinked at the occupant at her dining table.

“Hello Kara.”

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx

 

Notes:

I don't know anything about softball, so yeah.