Nothing Past You ~ A Supercorp AU Fanfic

Chapter One: A New Beginning

Kara Danvers was born to be an artist. Her appreciation of the limitless beauty all around her started at an incredibly youthful age. She began, as all children do, dabbling with crayons and colored pencils. She quickly moved on to watercolors, conte, charcoal and gouache. It wasn't until she found oil paint, that she knew she was home. She could still recall the cool stickiness of the oil as she dabbed her fingertip to a splash of cerulean blue for the very first time. To most artists, oil paint was an unforgiving mess. To Kara, it was an extension of her soul.

When Kara was born, her very wealthy parents agreed that she was surely destined for greatness. Her father, Jeremiah, would often boast that she was the most articulate and sophisticated individual he had ever known. He said this for the first time when Kara was only six years old. She overheard Jeremiah speaking to a friend about stocks, and without coaching or provocation, Kara analyzed the information and suggested was both well thought out and articulated perfectly.

Eliza, a trauma surgeon at Mount Sinai, had grand dreams of her daughter becoming a doctor and following in her footsteps. Of course, all parents have dreams for their children, but no parents dream bigger than those of brilliant young prodigies.

When Kara announced her plans to go to art school instead of medical school, Eliza and Jeremiah assumed that she was simply going through a Bohemian phase and would, one day, come to her senses. They were wrong.

Kara's passion for beauty was fed and nurtured by the city of New York. After graduating from NYU, she spent a year traveling around the world and visiting the most beautiful galleries on the planet. When she returned, she decided that her family's station and wealth would never serve her well as an artist. Instead, she chose to live a modest life. An artist's life. She lived in a small one-bedroom loft, bought her clothes from discount stores, and spent the rest of her money on painting supplies and the occasional scrap of food here and there.

Her family worried about her, but Kara's life was rich and warm, and she wanted for nothing...or so she thought.

Her parents wouldn't have minded her painting and traveling if she agreed to live off her trust fund, but Kara made it a point not to touch the money. To her, she was an artist. To her, artists must suffer.

After a few years searching the globe for her destiny, Kara found her dream job just twelve blocks away from her childhood home. She was a Departmental Technician for the Renaissance Painting Department, specializing in Landscapes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Essentially, Kara was responsible for hanging the priceless artwork acquired by, and loaned to the largest museum in the United States.

Kara strolled through the Met before the doors opened to the public and took in the quiet tranquility of the early morning hours. For just a few brief moments during the day, the Museum felt like it was Kara's and Kara's alone. She could get lost in her reverie until the sound of approaching footsteps or children's squeals signified that the museum now belonged to the public once more.

***

"Thanks for bringing me lunch, Alex. I really appreciate you meeting me here."

"If I didn't come here, I would never see you. I know you only have eyes for these silly paintings. You spend day and night in this mausoleum."

"Museum", Kara said annoyed.

"Sure", Alex said unmoved.

Kara and Alex sat on the floor of an empty gallery space nibbling at sandwiches and fresh fruit. Kara's long blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and she wore a bright blue sweater that matched her eyes flawlessly.

"I have eyes for other things too. I love Central Park. It is at its absolute best right now. Beautiful chilly fall days, slivers of sun, leaves changing. It's breathtaking."