Fighting for You

Chapter 22

Lena plops heavily on the couch in the living room in the east wing of her family mansion. She rubs gingerly around her neck where she was in a chokehold. When she hears Alex making herself at home by pouring a glass of liquor, she simply states, "Make it two."

"Are you okay, Lee?" Kara asks gently as she sits down next to her. "Here, let me look."

Lena lets herself be manhandled a bit. Kara's incredibly gentle about it, tilting her head this way and that so her fingertips can traces the marks. "I'm okay, darling. I promise."

Alex wordlessly shoves the second tumbler into Lena's waiting hands before collapsing onto a chair. "Thanks for looking me over, sis. Doing great over here for having a giant slab of granite on top of me."

"I scanned you over. No broken bones," Kara states without even turning her gaze.

Nia and Brainy take up the other couch with a grunt as they sit. Brainy rests his head against Nia's shoulder. "So, what exactly happened before Lena and I were able to join the fight?"

Nia gently placed her head on top of Brainy's. "Oh, the typical. Lex barged in without knocking, set his guard dog on us, and knocked us around a bit."

Lena snorts. "That's one way to put it."

"What did you do to cure Kara?" Alex chimes in.

Lena takes a heavy sip before speaking. "We had figured out how to replicate the gold kryptonite. I was tinkering with the material over and over again. It was actually an accident the first time. I- I grabbed the blood sample thinking that it was the untainted sample to see first hand how it interacted with Kara's cells. I mistakenly grabbed the already tainted sample. I almost threw away the slide, but I watched as it counteracted the suppression of the yellow sun energy. She just needed to be exposed to the material again. That's why Lex was so nervous about his sample. The pure version eliminated the capacity for solar energy completely. His flaw was that it just locked it away. Reintroducing the material ate away the barrier. Then I just had to throw the sun grenade."

The crew sits in silence for the longest time. Kara's head rests on Lena's shoulder after a while. "Thank you for saving me."

Lena smirks. "I should be thanking you. Red Daughter wasn't bluffing."

"Yes, yes. We all thank each other. Get a room you two," Alex jokes.

Lena sticks out her tongue at the same time as Kara. Alex rolls her eyes about how much the two have merged. She smiles softly though. The worst is behind them - for now at least. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. I'm exhausted."

"All the rooms are maintained by staff. Pick a bedroom, any bedroom. Help yourself to the closets and toiletries."

Alex pats Kara's shoulder before wandering off. Nia and Brainy are quick to follow suit. Kara keeps leaning into Lena heavily. Lena is the one to break the silence. "How're you feeling, darling?"

Kara takes a deep breath. She places her hand on Lena's thigh and squeezes lightly. "I'm okay. I feel so much better with my powers back. I think I'm just tied from the emotional stuff."

"Stuff?" Lena giggles. "Care to expand on that?"

"I was- I was so scared when I saw that Red Daughter had you. I thought we had finally gotten through everything just to have her take you away from me anyways. I- I couldn't stand that."

Lena silently puts her glass down before reaching for Kara's hand. Her fingertips trace up and down those long fingers until they come to rest on the engagement ring. "I'm not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it. But even then, I will always be with you."