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ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
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Here I Am
By mel
"It's been a really long week and I could go for a drink," Lena declares as she reclines back on the sofa in her office and crosses her legs, the barest hint of vulnerability evident in her confident smile. "Would you like to join me?"
Kara knows she's still inexperienced when it comes to relationships, but even she isn't blind to the way Lena Luthor looks at her. The softness in her smile and the warmth in her eyes, the openness of her frame as she faces her is impossible to miss, and she knows because she had been on the receiving end of looks like those for years from Cat Grant. And, okay, yeah, Cat didn't exactly look at her like that, but she did look at Supergirl that way, and Kara had hoped…
But then Cat had left to find fulfillment outside the walls of CatCo and the boundaries of National City, and Kara had been left reeling, trying to find her way in this new life of hers that did not revolve around Cat Grant. She was finally beginning to find her footing as a reporter despite Snapper's snarky comments and over-fondness of red ink, but even that victory felt hollow without the woman who had been her anchor there to see it. Cat Grant played so many roles in her life over these last few years—mentor, confidant, counselor, and friend—that without her here, everything feels…wrong.
Like part of her is missing.
She misses everything about Cat Grant, feels that void in every aspect of her life, but for reasons Kara still doesn't understand, that emptiness, that loss, that wrongness is less when she's around Lena.
Which is why she keeps coming back, even when she doesn't really have to.
And at first maybe some of it's because Lena looks at her like Cat looked at Supergirl and she was so desperate to find something familiar that she grabbed onto it with both hands, but this has been going on for weeks now and she can't help but start to think that maybe she keeps finding her way to Lena's office for another reason altogether.
Kara can hear Alex's voice in the back of her head warning her to not get too close, that Lena has yet to prove that she is not her brother's sister when it comes to aliens and Kara knows that's true, but in this moment she really doesn't care. Because Lena is looking at her like she's the sun and the moon and the stars all rolled into one and Kara feels more like herself than she has since Cat left. So she nods and plasters what she hopes passes for a confident smile on her face as she says, "I'd like that a lot." Her voice is rougher than it should be, and she clears her throat before she asks, "Do you have somewhere in mind?"
Lena's answering smile is radiant as she nods, the uncrossing of her legs somehow more seductive than the process that wound them together, and she practically floats to her feet. "I have just the place." If Kara didn't know Lena was human, she would have sworn that she used super speed to gather her things, because Lena was standing at the door in what seemed like no time at all smiling inquisitively at her, like she was both concerned that Kara had not moved an inch and amused by the fact at the same time. "You coming?"
"I…oh…yes. Of course." Kara nods hard enough to make her glasses slip down her nose, and she bites her lip as she pushes them back into place, her eyes glued to the carpet of Lena's office as she makes her way to her side.
Lena laughs, soft and low and rumbling, and tilts her head toward the door. "After you." She follows on Kara's heels, calling to her assistant, "I'm going home for the night. I'll see you Monday morning."
"Yes, Ms. Luthor," the assistant parrots in a tone Kara recognizes as relief that she won't be forced to work late on a Friday for a change. She had used that tone herself plenty of times before spending her Friday evenings at CatCo working alone with Cat became the highlight of her week.
Kara clasps and unclasps her hands in front of herself as they wait for the elevator, but when she catches Lena watching her in the reflective gilded doors with an amused smirk, she forces herself to be still.
"You have gone out for drinks before, haven't you?" Lena teases as the elevator arrives.
"I…yes…" Kara stutters, her embarrassment complete when Lena laughs softly in her ear. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" Lena's smile is soft as she leans past Kara to press the button for the parking garage. "If I'm being honest, I think it's rather adorable."
Kara bites her lip and looks down at her feet, but before she can say anything, a light finger is curling beneath her chin until she is practically drowning in Lena's warm, emerald green eyes.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" There's no judgement in Lena's gaze, just hope tempered by confusion. "Do you want me to stop?"
Kara's mouth falls open in surprise and she shakes her head. "No."
"Then why the deer in headlights look?" Lena asks softly as she, almost regretfully, allows her hand to drop back to her side.
"I don't…I've never…" Kara huffs a breath as the elevator stops and the doors slide open. The parking garage is empty, and she glances at Lena as she steps into the concrete cavern beneath the L Corp building. "It's just…"
"It's just drinks, Kara," Lena murmurs reassuringly.
"Is it, though?" Kara asks softly.
Lena licks her lips and shrugs as she stops beside a gleaming black sports car with sharp enough lines that it looks fast even when it's parked in a triple-wide stall five steps from the elevator doors. "It can be whatever you'd like it to be. I won't lie and say that I haven't been flirting shamelessly with you from the moment you first set foot in my office, but I'm not expecting anything from you, Kara. I would never force you…"
"I never thought you would," Kara jumps in to assure her. "I'm just…"
"Unsure," Lena guesses.
"Yes…no…" Kara purses her lips and frowns. She didn't think she was unsure about this at all, but now it seems so much more real for some reason and she's afraid she'll do something to mess it up. "Maybe?"
Lena chuckles softly and nods. "Okay."
"I'm sorry," Kara apologizes. "I swear, I don't know why you're even bothering with me."
"You don't see yourself very clearly, do you?"
"I've been told that before," Kara admits softly, her thoughts flashing to blond curls bouncing in righteous indignation, black leather glinting in the golden sunlight streaming through the windows, and dark brown eyes flashing with frustration.
"Well, maybe I can be the one to make you see it, then." Lena's head tilts to the side and her eyes dance over Kara's face as she moves just that little bit closer. "Because you're incredible, Kara Danvers."
Kara blushes under the heat of Lena's gaze but finds the strength to not look away.
"There you are," Lena breathes.
There's no mistaking the desire darkening Lena's eyes, just as there is no mistaking the reason why her heart is beating faster and butterflies have taken flight in her stomach, and Kara might be inexperienced when it comes to relationships, but she knows enough to know what all of this means. She also knows that anything she might have with Lena would pale in comparison to what she might have found with Cat, but Lena's here and Cat isn't, and it's so nice to feel like she's wanted. That she—Kara Danvers—is seen. So she smiles as she tilts her head to mirror Lena's, and nods. "Here I am." Her smile widens as she hears the way Lena's pulse—so steady until this point—trips over itself at her words, and knowing that Lena's affected by whatever this is just as much as she is gives Kara a much-needed burst of confidence. "What do you say we get out of here and go get that drink?"
Lena licks her lips. "I think that sounds like a great idea," she replies huskily.
Kara nods. "Yeah. Me too."
The End