Stop the World (Supergirl)

Chapter 5

Lena busied herself with the past week's neglected paperwork, but still managed to get it all done before dark. She wondered how just a week ago she would have taken days to do this work, yet now she'd completed the lot in an afternoon. Caoimhe slept by the fire or under her desk, but was now wanting to go out again. Lena wondered if Caoimhe had noticed that change of routine, or if the dog was just happy to do whatever she was doing.

Lena stood up and closed the curtains, placed the letters on the front table to remind herself to take them to the post office in the morning, then called to Caoimhe to take the dog out into the back garden for a little run. While Caoimhe chased the bird out of the garden and did her business, Lena stood by the door, wrapping her cardigan tightly around herself to try and keep off a bit of the evening chill. The past week, she'd have only been returning home around now from an afternoon of cards with the Danvers sisters. Lena wondered what they were doing now.

"Come on, Caoimhe!" she called, and the dog came bounding back inside, leading Lena back to her study. Lena put another log on the fire and turned on the lamps. Her office was decorated in fashionable art-deco style, with a number of pieces from Paris. Glorious, glistening Paris, to which she could never return, besides which was now occupied by the Nazis.

"How could you?" Lena asked the photo of her family which sat on her desk. It was from years ago, she was only about eight in the photo, with thick dark ringlets, a great big bow in her hair, and a very lacy dress. Lex was a young man in a smart suit, his hair rapidly thinning. Her father and step-mother were there too, but Lena never directed her questions at them. They never had much time for her. She sat down behind the desk, looking at the photo. Lex had never really cared, none of them had, but at least he'd paid attention to her, though that attention always came with strings attached. The luckiest she'd ever been was that her father was willing to claim her as his own and let her carry the Luthor name. Or so she'd though.

"Did you ever care?" she asked Lex in the photo. "At all? Even a tiny bit? Because you have left me ruined. Why did you go? What possible personal gain do you think you can get out of this?"

The picture didn't answer.

"I should tell them," Lena muttered. Caoimhe stood beside her, her head resting in Lena's lap. Lena stroked her ears. "Tell them everything about you. They work for the British government, you know. They'd know people, people who can - " Lena stopped mid-sentence, not knowing what she'd want people to do for her. She wasn't even sure what she wanted of the Danvers sisters.

Lena sighed. "Damn you, Lex," she said, standing up to get herself a drink. There were rumours that tea was going to be rationed, but at least there was no such talk regarding alcohol. The Waterford Crystal glassware glittered in the lamp-light as Lena gulped back the Irish whisky. She poured herself a second glass, self-doubt, loneliness, and anger mingled with the liquid courage. Everyone in the village knew what Lex had done, along with anyone who was anyone in all of Ireland. Everyone knew the Luthors. And no one cared for them. Not for her. Not really. Not until the Danvers sisters washed up out of the ocean. Lena swirled her drink.

"Did you think you could leave me here all alone? Abandon me?" Lena asked the photo. "I'm not alone. Not now. I'll tell them everything I know about you. You chose to leave me, so I'm choosing them. You get whatever fate you have coming."

...

Kara had had a short nap, but she'd mostly just spent the afternoon lying around feeling sorry for herself and dwelling on worst-case scenarios. She'd let memories fill her head, the firestorm in London a few weeks ago, all the people and property she hadn't been able to save, the panic at losing Alex in the waves, seeing Alex clinging to the rocks, and horrible, imagined visions of finding Alex lifeless under a pile of rubble, or knowing her sister was just out of reach, and that no matter what, Kara would never be able to get to her in time.