The Gift

Chapter 7

The apartment is a mess of shredded wrapping paper and gift bags, the little whirlwind finally accepting that it's okay to let herself be spoiled on Christmas. Eliza had long given up on trying to follow Lena around with a garbage bag, instead just allowing the mess to accumulate and deciding to have Kara speed clean later.

With the promise of more gifts when the others arrive, Eliza faces her toughest challenge yet - wrangling Lena into the tub whilst she's still vibrating with excitement. Kara grins to herself as she listens to Eliza's attempts to calm her down enough to wash her hair, thrilled that she's not the one helping her.

Even Supergirl would meet her match in the form of an ecstatic child on Christmas morning.

They're still in the bathroom when Kara hears the loud staccato of Andrea's heels downstairs, and she quickly shoves all of the paper into a trash bag and dumps it in the corner. There's just something about Andrea Rojas that makes Kara nervous about having even the smallest of messes in her apartment. It's probably related to the fact that Andrea purses her lips whenever she catches sight of Kara's untidy desk.

Kara thinks it would be pretty funny to take Lena into Catco purely to set her loose in Andrea's immaculate office. The look on Andrea's face alone would make any repercussions worth it. Kara's still smirking to herself when she swings the apartment door open to let Andrea inside.

"What's so funny?" Andrea shoots her a weird look as she hangs her coat up, one arm loaded with presents that have clearly been professionally wrapped in the store. It doesn't surprise her in the slightest.

"Nothing, just listening to Eliza attempt to calm Lena down," Kara recovers smoothly. Andrea smiles, her eyes drifting towards the bathroom as she drops the pile of presents onto the kitchen table.

"She's excited, huh?"

"Yeah," Kara nods, automatically starting the coffee machine. "I mean, it took her a little while. I don't think she was really expecting to find a ton of presents underneath the tree." Kara pulls a face, "she was a little hesitant. She mentioned her mother, her birth one I mean." Kara sighs heavily as she grabs a few mugs from the cupboard. "As much as I miss her, at least this is one Christmas that she won't be stuck with Lillian."

Andrea hums her agreement, her eyes suspiciously damp as they dart around the room. It's only then that Kara notices how utterly lost and exhausted she looks. Her, no doubt expensive, concealer does little to hide the dark circles beneath her eyes, and Kara feels a pang of sorrow hit her squarely in the chest.

She can't imagine how much harder all of this must be for Andrea. She at least gets to be with Lena every hour of the day, and can see for herself that she's doing alright. Kara thinks she'd lose her damn mind if she were in Andrea's position, relying on updates from an employee she barely knows, and only seeing Lena every so often.

"I'm sorry," Kara murmurs. Andrea's gaze finally swings back to her, perfect brows crinkling in confusion. "We should have involved you more. You've known Lena longer than all of us, I should've realized how hard this would be on you, too." Andrea softens for a moment, surprised by the kindness, but the vulnerability is only visible for a moment before her walls fly back into place.

"Yeah, well," Andrea awkwardly clears her throat, "I can't imagine it's been a walk in the park for you, either. Lena is the most stubborn person I've ever met and I dread to think how stubborn she is at this age," Andrea chuckles lightly. She leans against the table, folding her arms across her chest. "Isn't this killing you?"

Kara chews her lip, listening as Lena is ushered into the bedroom. Truthfully, yes, this is killing her. It had been hard before, when Lena refused to speak to her for months, but this is strangely harder. She has Lena's trust now, but it's not real. Not really. It'll disappear again as soon as Lena returns to her normal self.