If I Can't Have You, No One Can

Chapter Ten

"Alright. I'll be back in a moment." Kara walked out into the kitchen and turned on the light. She had her head in the fridge, when a voice that wasn't Lena spoke behind her. "Fuck!" she squeaked and jumped in the air.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked. She had come over to Lena's and was laying on the couch. When she heard what her aunt was up to, she quickly put her earbuds in to block everything out and turned her music up.

Luckily Lena had the forethought to close her bedroom door, knowing that her niece could pop over at any time.

"I'm Kara." she set the bottles of water down on the bench. "Umm... Lena you have a visitor." Kara called out.

"Sam is that you again?" Lena walked out wrapped in another robe she has hanging in the closet.

"Nope it's just me aunt Lena." Ruby sat there and leaned her chin on her arms that were folded on the top of the couch. "Mom is at the club again."

"Oh so your-" Kara began as she realised who it was.

"I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you Kara."

"Nice to meet you. I'm just going to ah..." Kara picked up her discarded shirt and pointed over Lena's shoulder. "Change." She hurried off to put some clothes on.

Lena walked into the kitchen and unscrewed the lid of the bottle to have a drink. "What are you doing here? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?" she crossed her arms over her chest and arched her brow.

Ruby gave her a nod.

Kara, now fully dressed, could sense that maybe a private conversation between Lena and her niece was about to happen when she heard the words 'fight' and 'boyfriend.' "I'm gonna go and let you both catch up." She walked over and pecked Lena on her cheek. "Thank you for tonight. See you tomorrow?"

Lena nodded. "Yeah. I'll come down and see you before I go to work." She caught her by the chin and gave Kara a kiss back, quietly humming at the taste of herself still lingering on her lips. "Goodnight Kara."

"Goodnight Lena." Kara walked over to the door. "Again, it was nice to meet you Ruby." She quietly shut the door behind her and made her way to her apartment.

Lena waited for the door to close then perched on the stool. "Right. You and I need to talk about this boyfriend of yours."

"I know but first... Is she your girlfriend?"

"No. She's just a friend. She works for your aunt Andrea. Kara's a reporter at CatCo."

"Cool." Ruby stood and walked over to sit next to Lena. "Just one more question and then I promise we can talk about Daniel. We sort of got into it earlier."

"Fine. Out with it then."

Ruby sat there for a moment before she turned towards her aunt. "Does Kara know about your other job? You know, the one where you're not a bartender?"

"No and I would like to keep it that way for now. I'll tell her eventually when I'm ready for her to know. Anyway, you're not here to talk about me. I want to know what's going on with you and Daniel. I told him if he ever hurt you I would-"

"Break his legs off, I know but he hasn't actually done anything wrong. I have."

"Oh? Do tell." Lena got up to get her something to snack on.

Ruby let out a sigh. "I want to break up with him but he doesn't want me to then I may have yelled at him and he stormed off."

"May I ask why?" Lena tore open a bag of potato chips.

"Because I like this girl in my class, aunt Lena. I found out I like girls, just like you do. He's a great guy but I'm just not that into him."

"Ruby..." Lena tossed the packet on the bench and pulled her niece in for a hug. "Does your mother know about this?"

"Not yet. I didn't want to bother her. You know how she gets when she goes out so I came here instead but I didn't know you had company. Sorry if I ruined your night." Ruby let Lena go and sat on the couch again.

"Don't worry about it Rubes. Besides Kara actually lives right below us." Lena picked the chip packet up and passed it to Ruby on passing. "I'm going for a shower and then we can watch a movie together ok." She kissed her head. "Be back shortly."

"Ok." Ruby stuffed some chips in her mouth, got up to raid Lena's fridge for a cherry flavoured soda and lay down to stretch out.

Lena came back, freshly showered and sat at the end of the couch, resting Ruby's legs across her thighs. Ruby had fallen asleep half way through so she left her to sleep on the couch, turned the tv off and went to bed.

By the time morning rolled around, Lena got ready and left Ruby sleeping since it was too early for her to get up. She left some money on the coffee table for her to get some lunch on her way to school and made her way down to Kara's apartment and knocked on the door.

Kara invited her in for a coffee. They talked about last night and how much fun they both had, Kara asking how Ruby was before Lena had to leave for work. She would have dropped her off except Lena opted to take the bus this time.

Getting off at her stop, she was a few meters from the bistro when she was yanked into the alleyway. "What the fuck, Hector?! I'm just about to go to work!" Lena hissed, straightening out her jacket.

"Boss wants to see you."

"Oh fuck off! Not today! I have a business to run and dinner with my parents tonight." Lena scowled and went to walk off until she was yanked back. "Hey!"

"That wasn't a request. It was an order. I'll give you time to set up but then you'll be coming with me. You know the boss doesn't like waiting."

Lena huffed in defeat. "Fine. Give me an hour and then come back and pick me up but I have to be back before dark."

"That's not for me to say. One hour, Lena. That's all I'm allowing." Hector said then disappeared.

Lena grumbled to herself. Out of all the days, it had to be the one day when she had other important plans that she would rather be doing. Tugging her keys from her pocket, she unlocked her doors and got set up.

She left instructions for her staff that she would be out for the day but would hopefully be back in time to lock up.

Hector, as per usual was right on time to pick her up as she got into the car. She texted Kara and told her she was going to be going out of town for a bit and will text her when she gets back before switching off her phone.