Back To Earth

Chapter 1

"Not much longer," Lena announces, her gaze set firmly on Earth as it grows larger. "Probably another hour or so before we meet up with the fleet."

Kara hums, sliding off the bed to join Lena. She wraps her arm around her waist and leans into her, their heads resting softly against each other. "I'm glad Brainy decided to take this last stretch slow so we can see it like this. It's beautiful."

Lena snorts. "We're hardly going slow; we're just going slow enough to not need a seatbelt."

Bumping her hip into Lena's, Kara giggles. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," Lena sighs. "I do."

"It's not usually his style to be sentimental when practicality works so much better though. I wonder why he planned this."

Lena grimaces. She's the keeper of Brainy's secrets and she's already folding before Kara has even pressed for more information. "Yeah, that is...odd." Her voice wavers the tiniest amount, but it's enough to give her away.

Kara squints at her. "You know something. Tell me."

Holding her hands up, Lena makes a futile attempt at getting Kara to drop it. "It's Brainy's business."

"And yours too, since you're keeping secrets for him. Spill."

Lena shakes her head, trying to figure out the best way to lay this out without upsetting Kara. "There are a few reasons he decided to slow us down. The main one is that he's been away from Nia for a long time and he wants to woo her a little. He also wants to check over our device one last time. We've both triple-checked it to make sure it'll do the job we need it for, but since it's made from the schematics of multiple devices, he's nervous."

Kara's eyes narrow when she stops talking. "And the third reason?"

"He's worried about you. We all are. You've been through a hell of a lot, so we thought that you might appreciate a slow return to Earth. Some time to wrap your head around things before we're officially back on home turf."

"So it wasn't Brainy's idea. It was yours." Kara doesn't sound mad. If anything, she just sounds defeated. "I'm ok, Lena."

Lena faces her fully, the light reflecting from Earth shining on them both, the planet they've sworn to protect watching over them in this vulnerable moment. "I know, but you don't have to be."

"I can't. Not until we've stopped Lex."

"If our plan goes smoothly, the device will be activated as soon as we're through Earth's atmosphere. Lex won't see it coming and everything will be fine. You can breathe, Kara. We both can. We can live."

Kara sinks into Lena's arms, her head turned so she can look out over Earth. "It's so beautiful."

"It is, and it isn't," Lena says, her voice soft, barely more than a whisper. "There's so much hatred down there, but from up here, it's nothing but beauty. This is how I think you look at people. You see the good even when they're capable of such horrors. I love that about you, and I wish I could do the same. You see the best part of people rather than judging and mistrusting them for something they may never do."

"Your way is smarter."

"Your way is kinder." Lena rebuts. "I like to think we balance each other out pretty well."

"I know we do."

There's a knock at the door a second before it slides open, but neither woman turns to look to see who it is.

"God, seeing you two stare at each other like that is worse than walking in on you doing...things." Alex's voice is coated in a thick layer of disgust. "Anyway, we're going to strap in and take the last part faster so Lex doesn't notice another ship joining the fleet. We're going to stop by J'onn's ship first to let him know the good news before we make the last stretch back home."