Without You

Chapter 3

 When Mon-El arrived home from the last mission of the day, Kara was pacing the kitchen, wringing her hands nervously. It said something that she was too distracted even to notice his presence.

"Babe?" he called softly and she spun around, startled. "Everything...okay?"

"Yep!" she answered quickly. "Everything's fine. All good."

Mon-El raised an eyebrow. "You're crinkling," he pointed out mildly, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead where said tell was located.

Kara huffed in exasperation, plopping onto a chair. He copied her actions, brow furrowed in confusion.

She hesitantly met his eyes. "I just...I have something to ask you."

Was that what had gotten her so stressed? "Of course, what is it?" He reached out to grip her hand with an encouraging smile.

Kara finally relaxed a little, her thumb drawing mindless circles on the back of his hand. "Um..." she looked down, blushing slightly, before meeting his eyes again and swallowing hard.

"Marry me," she blurted out.

Mon-El blinked. And made a noise. And blinked again.

This was a dream, right? He was having a bizarre dream where Kara was asking the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since the moment she'd come to the 31st century. (At least, until—Nope, don't think about that now)

"What?" he asked dumbly.

Kara blushed an even darker shade. "I mean, I don't have a ring or anything, but..." She licked her lips. "Will you...will you marry me?"

At this point, his brain concluded that the only logical thing to do was to kiss her senseless. So he did.

Kara giggled when they broke apart for air, trying to catch her breath. "Is that a—"

"Yes," Mon-El whispered, cradling her face in his hands as an unimaginably giddy grin took over his face. "It's a yes."

"Cool," she whispered back, resting her forehead on his with a happy sigh. "Do you think we could get Winn to officiate? He might be on a mission but I can't think of anyone else and asking Imra would be super awkward..."

Mon-El stared for a moment as her words caught up with him. "Wait—Oh, you mean right now?"

Kara's contented smile turned into an anxious lip bite and he mentally cursed himself for sounding so incredulous.

She fiddled with their entwined fingers restlessly. "I mean...yeah. I don't, I don't want to wait. If that's...okay with you."

Her nervousness and complete sincerity was nothing short of adorable, but as Mon-El opened his mouth to say that of course it was okay, a thought occurred to him.

"Wait, you're not..." He swallowed thickly. "You're not asking because of...you know...are you?"

To her credit, Kara understood what he meant in an instant. "No!" She reached for him across the table for emphasis. "No," she repeated. "I mean, not...not entirely at least. It's just that..."

"What?" Mon-El prompted gently.

"If I'm going to die," Kara started softly, and Mon-El fought the lump in his throat, "I want to die married to you."

He exhaled softly, one hand rising to mindlessly stroke her cheek. "Okay." It came out in barely a whisper.

Her smile returned, slowly but surely. "Okay?"

"Okay," Mon-El laughed, giving in to the temptation to kiss her.

Winn was all too happy to help, of course.

"You guys! This is awesome!" he exclaimed, embracing each of them in turn. "I'd love to officiate! Wait, who proposed?" His gaze flickered between them, eyebrows playfully raised.

Mon-El turned to Kara, who laughed softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Uh, I did, actually."

Winn beamed, but suddenly his face clouded over as he swallowed and blinked rapidly as if to hold back tears.

"You okay, buddy?" Mon-El asked in alarm.

"Yeah, I just..." The human gave a weak chuckle, his watery gaze fixed on Kara for some reason. He swiped at his eyes. "I'm, uh, I'm gonna miss being grossed out by you guys." Winn's voice broke and Mon-El closed his eyes briefly, trying to rein in the wave of emotions that arose.

"Oh, Winn." Kara pulled her friend into a hug, and before Mon-El could say anything she had grabbed his arm and tugged him along with her. And now the three of them were trapped in a clumsy, teary, group hug and Mon-El didn't understand how it was possible that his heart felt like it was simultaneously being ripped out and filled to bursting.

When they'd wiped away their tears and dashed out to grab the wedding rings—the simpler the better—it was time.

Mon-El stood across from Kara, their hands entwined, as Winn read aloud from the Kryptonian prayer he'd found in the Legion archives, stumbling over the alien tongue. (Kara had argued that it wasn't fair, but Mon-El insisted. His people's vows held nothing but bad memories.)

"Though we go forth alone, our love unites us under Rao's gladsome rays. We may wander, lost in the endless sea of darkness and sorrow that is life, but for each of us there is a star that shines almost as bright as Rao himself. This star will guide us home, pull us back from the precipice of despair. Now that each of you have found your beacon, your soulmate, you will stand together, a force unlike any other. Bound in every way.

Winn paused and met Mon-El's gaze, his eyes crinkling with joy. "Mon-El of Daxam. Do you take this person as your mate, to love and stand by until you reach Rao's light and through every life that follows?"

"Yes." The word fell from Mon-El's lips effortlessly, as if he had been waiting to say it all his life. And perhaps he had.

"Kara Zor-El of Krypton. Do you take this person as your mate, to love and stand by until you reach Rao's light and through every life that follows?"

"Yes." They exchanged rings, Kara giggling as Mon-El's shaky fingers nearly missed the target twice.

"Then I pronounce you bound to each other for all eternity, blessed by Rao himself."

There was nothing that indicated they should kiss after reciting the vows.

Mon-El was relieved to find that he wasn't the only one who didn't give a shit.

"Oh. Okay. You guys are kissing now. That's cool. I mean, why not blend traditions, right? Wow, you're really getting into it. You know, I just remembered I have this thing I have to do, so...bye!"

There was the unmistakable sound of Winn fleeing their apartment and Mon-El felt more than heard Kara giggle into their kiss. A tiny, dark voice crept into his mind, whispering that this was futile, and that soon everything he'd worked for, everything he loved, would be gone in a moment, in an instant.

But they were married now and Kara was his wife, so Mon-El pushed away thoughts of death and loss and focused on the here and now, on the silky hair his fingers threaded through