To the ones we love

Brave hearts

      Weeks went by. It had been sixteen weeks, or roughly four months since Lex had tried to kill Lena. In that time, Kara and Lena had grown closer and closer, and as Lena continued to recover and heal, her and Kara had become more intimate. One morning Kara woke up to find Lena laying on top of her. She was supposed to be going to physical therapy today, and possibly getting her cast off. Dr. Singh said that soon she would be able to remove the external fixation apparatus on her right leg. While they had given up on Lena regaining any more of her sight, she had adapted to living with the little sight that she had. Kara was pleasantly surprised to wake up to Lena on top of her. Their legs were tangled together, and since she was indestructible the cast didn't bother her, or the metal apparatus.
Lena kissed her chest and used her own face to navigate Kara's neck up to her lips. "Well this is a nice way to wake up." She smiled and pulled Lena closed to her. Lena pushed her face into Kara's neck. They held each other with a sincere amount of love and affection. "Are you ready to get into the shower?"
    "Only if you come with me."
    "I always come with you, You need my help to wash your hair."
     "Yeah, but like, maybe you could come and I could wash your hair to..."
     Kara giggled, finally getting the hint. She scooped her girlfriend up into her arms and put her in the chair in the shower. Rather than peeling off her pajamas as she normally would, she kissed her way up Lena's back as she lifted her Pajama shirt. She turned on the water and waited for it to get warm as she took off her yoga pants and baggy shirt. As the water got warm she pushed Lena under it, letting her hair soak up the water. She took the shampoo and massaged her scalp.
    "Can you massage my scar, it feels really good.'' Kara focused her hand on the lower part of Lena's head, where her hair was only a few inches long, but was starting to catch up with the rest of her hair. She could no longer see the scar, but she knew where it was. Her fingers moved along the bumpy line, and massaged the shampoo evenly through her hair. She gets down on her knees and kisses her way up Lena's spine, all the way to her hair. She ignored the soapy taste in her mouth. Lena reached back, and found Kara's hair, now soaked with water.
    "I wish I could stand." Said Lena.
    "Yeah, but you know that you can't get your cast wet."
    "I know, but hey I get it off tonight."
     "You do." Kara stepped over Lena's legs, Careful to be gentle, and kissed her on the lips. After Kara was done washing her hair, it was Lena's turn. She took the shampoo in her hand and rubbed it into Kara's hand. She used her fingertips to feel around Kara's scalp and massage all of the shampoo the mess of blonde tangles. She leaned forward, which was surprisingly difficult with her legs up the way they were, she kissed her on the chest and made her way up, until she reached her lips. Eventually the shampoo was rinsed out of Kara's hair and she shut the shower off.
    "I wish we could stay in here all day," Lena held Kara's head into her neck, and whispered in her ear.
Kara pulled herself away and went back over Lena's legs. "If we stayed here all day you wouldn't be able to get your cast off."
     Kara stepped out of the shower to grab them both some towels. She didn't pull her girlfriend out of shower, but she dried her off, scrunched her hair dry and slipped her into her clothes, all while still wrapped in a towel. She then got dressed herself before moving Lena to a chair in front of the sink.
"I could have walked those steps," Lena argued.
"I know that you could have, but we've been over this, the floor is too slippery."
    "Well, I guess it is kinda sexy when you carry me around."
    "Oh, you know it." Kara kissed Lena on her head before getting herself dressed. Kara turned on the blow dryer and handed it to Lena, giving her the opportunity to do it herself. With a brush in one hand and the blowdryer in the other, she straightened out every wave. While she wasn't able to see much of her hair, she had done this enough through her life that she was now able to feel for what she was doing. She pulled the pieces of her hair back and secured them with a pin. She could do most of this by feel. But with the small amount of peripheral vision that she had, she could see that things were just about right. She couldn't see anything in the center of her vision. She described it as a massive whole in what she was able to see, and what she could see was blurry, but getting clearer. She could see more debátalo than she used to.
     Kara was still doing her hair. She used a round brush to carefully blow out every curl, and put her bangs into place. Lena moved onto makeup, which was significantly more difficult. So, she put on a little mascara, and lipgloss, before considering herself ready. That was all she could do by feel alone, maybe one day she would get better at it. Kara was still getting ready, but she was just about done. Lena wanted to watch. She tried, she tried to look at Kara, notice her features, but all she could tell was that someone was there. She could tell it was Kara, or at least someone with the same build and coloring.
    "All ready Lena?" Kara asked.
    "I've been waiting for you."
     "Yeah, yeah, Okay." Kara scooped Lena up and brought her to the bed with her walker. There she used both hands to push herself up on her right leg, and let the cast hover just above the ground. She put all her weight on her right leg, and pushed the walker forward, then she out all her weight on her arms, and inched her leg forward. It was hard, but she was familiar enough with the landscape of the room that she made it to the kitchen on her own.
She sat down at her seat, and Kara set a cup of coffee in front of her. "Just how you like it."
    "Thanks." She sipped on the bitter liquid, "how's Nia doing."
     "She's okay, Dr. Singh got her onto the transplant list, but she's been doing dialysis on the legion ship three times a week. The one kidney she has doesn't really function." Lena could hear Kara's voice begin to waiver. She blamed herself for this.
    "Is Alex up and around yet?"
     "Yeah, she's walking now, and her wrists are doing okay. She's not at a hundred percent, but she will be soon."
     "Kara, none of this is your fault. This was Lex, this was all Lex, and he's running out of places to hide. We'll get him."
     Kara sniffled, "I know." Sometimes she liked that Lena couldn't see her. She liked knowing that Lena couldn't see how twisted her face was, and that she was a wreck inside, and out. Kara wiped the tears from under her eyes, and tried to smile, it made her feel a little bit better. "So, Lena Luthor what would you like to do today?"
    "Well, I was thinking. What if we went to L corp?"
    "Are you sure?"
    "Yes. Sam came in from Metropolis months ago. I'm sure she's been doing a wonderful job running things, but I think it's time I get my feet wet."
    "Lena, you don't have to do this. You don't have to go back there."
    "I know, but I want to." Lena looked at Kara. She couldn't see much, but it was enough for her to focus her eyes on Kara's face.
    "Ok." The girls finished their meals, and then they flew off together. Lena had only flown once or twice with Kara before the accident, but now it was her primary method of transportation. She enjoyed feeling the wind whipping on her face, it calmed her, cooled her, Lex couldn't get to her up here.
     She called Sam. "Sam speaking."
     "Hey Sam, it's me, Lena. I'm coming into the office today, I want you to prepare a board meeting for noon. I'll be coming on once a week from now on."
    "I'll get right on that."
    "Also, thank you."
    "Yeah, of course, it's in the job description."
     "No, not for setting up the meeting," Lena sighed, "Thank you for coming back to National city. Thank you for covering for me and helping out. I'm sorry for not seeing you, for not letting you come over. I didn't want you to see me like this."
    "It's okay Lena, I get it." She hung up, and Kara landed softly. There she set Lena up with her walker and guided her into the building. As her right leg was getting stronger she was able to walk faster. Her shuffle routine still took a bit of time, but she was able to get herself into the building. It wasn't until they got on the elevator and people started swarming that Lena got nervous. It wasn't even that the elevator reminded her of when she was attacked, it was that people could see her. She was presenting herself to the world as the broken and beaten version of the Lena Luthor that they used to know.
     She was relieved when they were the only ones left on the elevator for the last two floors. When they finally got to the top, Kara held the door open while Lena shuffled out of the elevator. After she got her cast off today she would be able to finally put pressure on her left leg again. Jess approached Lena and opened her office door, "Welcome back Ms. Luthor, Ms. Arias is waiting for you inside."
    "Thank you Jess." Kara rested her hand on the small of Lena's back. And guided her through her office door. Lena was familiar with the landscape, but if she got tripped up on one little spot she would come crashing down.
     "Oh my God, Lena welcome back!" Sam saw the two girls come, "Kara long time no see!" They hugged each other, but she didn't want to knock Lena off balance so instead she just guided her to her chair. Other than that's, Sam didn't look twice at Lena's injuries.
    Lena sat behind her desk, with her legs propped up underneath. Sam and Kara both sat in front of the desk, and they all just sat there for a moment because it felt like everything was back in place, they were all where they should be. Behind that desk it was almost impossible to tell that anything but a haircut had changed, but a lot had changed. The papers on her desk were now printed in braille, and Lena would not be able to get up and move freely from her desk, but after everything this was the beginning of a new life, for all of them. She bag. Shifting through the papers, finding essential information.
    "So you have the meeting set up?" Lena looked in Sam's direction. Sam could tell that even though her friend was looking at her, she wasn't able to see her like she used to. There was something different in the way her eyes focused, like they looked just beyond her in order to look at her. Lena had created this habit of lining up her vision so that whatever she was trying to look at was in her peripheral, but it was a little strange for everyone else.
     "Yes. All the board members and higher level execs will be there. Then you can address and take back your position as CEO."
     "No, Actually that's not why I want to address them. I will hold my position as chairman on the board, but I want to make you CEO, until I am truly ready to resume my position."
    After that things loosened up. The girls joke around for a bit. It was harder for Sam, she wasn't used to seeing Lena like that. As different as Lena looked, she didn't look frail or broken. She looked different, that was for sure, but she also looked stronger. The muscles in her arms bulged a little more from carrying around her own weight, and she had this resolution in her eyes, this determination that she was going to rise from the ashes and become something new. There was also this happiness Sam had never seen in her friend, she had finally figured out who she was supposed to spend her life with. The meeting approached quickly because it was already half past 11 when Kara and Lena arrived at the office.
    Lena sat at the head of a long table, with Sam on her right side. There were mostly middle aged men in suits with a single women dotted here and there. In total there were probably two dozen people sitting in her conference room. The chatter died down and everyone looked towards Lena, She pushed herself up, putting about half her weight on her leg, and the other half on her arms, but she refused to sit.
    Somehow, even though she felt broken and frail, she didn't look it. In many ways she looked even stronger than she was before. There was a fire in her eyes, and resolution in her face. She had faced death many times in her life, but for the first time Lena had something to live for, someone to live for. So while she was worried no one would take her seriously, every man and woman in that room looked at Lena with a new admiration.
    "While all of you know that there was an attack on my life, none of you know the circumstances behind these events, nor do you understand the full effect it has had on my day to day operations." She looked to the back of the room and fixed, her eyes in that one spot, never moving. "The truth of the matter is, Lex, my brother, hired a man to try and kill me. This man bashed my head in and smashed my legs." She paused and took a breath. It took a lot for Lena to say that sentence, and fully admit what had happened to her. "I know many of you worked under my brother, very closely I might add, but this is the last straw. If any of you feel connected to my brother, or any allegiance to him whatsoever, leave now. He is a criminal and a murderer, and allegiance with him will not be tolerated." She paused to give anyone the chance to get up and walk out, but no one did.
    "Good, now that that's out of the way, we can get to the business at hand. I am learning to walk again, and my sight was greatly impacted. Mark my words, I will resume my position as CEO, but not today. Once I am more mobile, and have learned to navigate life with the limited sight I have, I will step back in full time. For now I would like to appoint Sam Arias interim CEO, she has earned the position. I will be coming in once a week to monitor things, but I trust that she had the best interest of the company at heart." For the first time Lena's eyes moved and found Sam's figure. She smiled, they both smiled. While this was hard for Lena, it was also good for her. She learned a long time ago that most things worth doing were hard. She waited until every last person left the room before finally collapsing back down.
    "Hey you okay?" Sam rested her hand on her shoulder.
    "I will be." She assured her.
    Lena felt relieved having done that. She had faced her fear, and made it back into the building without collapsing under the weight of her fear. She knew that Lex could find her here, he already had. "I want security quadrupled."
    "Already done." Kara ran in, in the room and threw her arms around Lena.
    "How was it? Was it awful?" She refused to pull away.
    "It was okay, it feels good to have it done, but I feel like everyone was judging me for being so weak."
    Sam sat up a little straighter, "actually no, they were all looking at you with admiration." If it was Kara who said that, she wouldn't believe her, but Sam wouldn't lie, she would just omit the truth.
    "Hey Lena, your appointments at 3, we should probably get going if you wanna get lunch first." Kara wrapped her arms around Lena's waist, as she pulled herself up onto her right leg. Hopefully soon she would be free of these metal cages. Kara helped guide her out of the building, but Lena refused to let her carry her. Once they were out of the building and largely hidden, Kara grabbed Lena with one arm, and the walker with the other, and took to the skys.