Lena Luthor had been an archaeologist for the past fifteen years and had seen a lot of things in that amount of time. Some of it was pretty out of the ordinary. She had opened several sarcophaguses that housed animal bones along with the human ones. Lena had traveled through booby trapped tombs, no matter the peril that it had presented to her person. Still, the symbols that Kara was showing her were more out there than anything that Lena had ever seen. Her eyes went wide and her fingers glided over the symbols in awe.
"These symbols... they're from your planet?" Lena asked, tracing again the mark that also decorated Kara's chest. "Can you teach me what they all mean?"
Kara hasn't ever seen Lena with the look that she has in her eyes right then. There's a fire in her eyes, a thirst for knowledge, and understanding. That was actually what Kara had intended when she had brought Lena there. The Fortress of Solitude was really only meant for Kara and Kal, but when they were really and truly serious about someone in their lives, they brought them to the Fortress to tell them their story. However, Lena was also an archaeologist, so of course she had to explore first.
"Of course I'll teach you, Lena. It would be my absolute pleasure." Kara's smile at Lena's request was absolutely blinding. "If you have any questions about anything that you see here, feel free to ask."
Kara hadn't know at the time that she was opening Pandora's Box. Lena could ask questions all day long without getting tired of learning everything that Kara had to offer about Kryptonian culture. Kara appreciated it a lot. Alex was always ready to listen whenever Kara wanted to talk about her home planet, and she was honestly interested, but she saw everything through the eyes of a scientist. Lena cared about every detail and wanted to know anything and everything.
"So, are you still mad at me?" Kara asked, her eyes betraying her anxiety.
"I can't say that I don't understand your hesitation to tell me or why you might not have felt like you could trust me enough to tell me... I just wish that you had. Why...Why did you wait so long? You already knew everything that there was to know about me." Lena's voice comes off as slightly desperate but she is too far gone to care.
"Lena..." Kara flies over to her and places a hand on each of her shoulders. "Me not telling you until I did had nothing to do with you.... Or who your parents are... or anything else like that. This was all on me. I couldn't stand the idea of you rejecting me because of what I am, or you hating me because I had lied to you for so long or... any of a hundred scenarios that went through my mind on repeat when I stayed up at night thinking about how and when to tell you. It made me sick."
Lena meets Kara's steady, bright blue eyes with her own watery green ones. She looks back down at the symbol on Kara's chest as she asks her next question.
"Why now? After all of this time, why did you finally decide to come clean?"
"The lying has worn me down a lot over the years and I didn't like the idea of you finding out by accident, or someone else's having let it slip, or after something or someone had killed me. I hated keeping this from you, especially as we got closer and more serious about this. Telling you... and bringing you hear... it's the most terrifying thing that I've ever done." Kara's voice is low and even. It washes over Lena and she can feel the emotion in every word.
"I think... I think that I understand a bit better now." Lena says. "I may be angry and sad for a while yet, but I understand. Can I keep asking questions?"
"Yeah, sure, fire away. I would love nothing better." Kara's grin breaks across Supergirl's face and affection floods Lena's system.
"Can you explain the Codex thing to me again?"
-----/////-----
Lena asks question after question until Kara starts to wonder whether it's healthy for you human brain to input that much information all at once. Reluctantly, Lena allows herself to be flown home. When she steps out of the shower, it's to Supergirl in her living room, wearing Kara's t-shirt and sweatpants. Lena begins to realize that it may take a while for the two separate beings in her life to merge into one whole woman. Kara's eyes show concern and a little bit of hurt at Lena's reaction.
"Do you want me to put the glasses back on?" Kara asks. The hurt in her expression only grows when Lena actually considers the idea.
"No, this is our home and you need to be comfortable being yourself here. You need to be able to be Kara Zor-El, not Kara Danvers or Supergirl; just you." Lena says and the sense of finality in her voice puts an end to the question. "It'll be an adjustment, for both of us, but have the utmost faith that we will get there in the end."
"Then I do too." Kara smiles shakily and Lena thinks that maybe this is progress.
-----/////-----
A year later, Kara takes Lena to the fortress again. She has a picnic laid out and she's left a sock on top of the key since there isn't a doorknob. Kara had had some very awkward run-ins with her cousin. Kara assumes that he would understand the significance. The mood is quiet, reflective, and romantic. When dinner is over and the champagne had been drunk, Kara reached into the picnic basket and withdrew a black velvet box.
This time, Lena actually did cry, right there at the feet of the statues of Kara's aunt and uncle. Kara hugged her as tightly as she dared and held her for as long as Lena let her. When the tears subsided, Lena started asking questions again; this time about Kryptonian wedding, and how much of her cultures traditions Kara might want to incorporate into their nuptials. Kara answered these with just as much patience as she had every other question over the past year. She expected that Lena might never run out of them. Frankly, she never wanted her to.
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SuperCorp Oneshots
Fanfiction- cover-art by Vystarling 34 Collection of my mostly single chapter stories about Kara/Supergirl and Lena Luthor