Chapter Text
Surrounded by bright lights of endless entertainment with people both drunk and sober, miserable fuck ups and those who were there just for the heck of it. In a rare act of careless rebellion in half of a lifetime of being told to 'fit in', Kara finds herself in the Sin City- Las Vegas. She did not know why she picked it or why was she even there, yet she found herself exhilarated by this strange sense of freedom. She had found a bar that served alien alcohol, it was not as famous as the other bars but it still had a decent amount of patrons.
Kara was sitting in her booth enjoying her drink while observing the people losing themselves on the dancefloor when the waiter gave her a drink. She recognized it as some type of cocktail.
"I did not order this." She said.
"It's from the lady in the bar." He gestured to the brunette sitting in the aforementioned bar drinking her beverage and left.
"Cranberry iced tea, that's interesting." Kara mused as she stood not far from the dark-haired woman. The woman in question turned to face her. Kara almost forgot how to breathe. She has the most piercing, yet stunning, eyes she had ever seen along with a killer jawline.
"Is it?" The woman smirked.
"I'm Kara. Kara Danvers" Introduced herself.
"Keiran Walsh, what brings a charming person like yourself here in Vegas?"
"I'll tell you if you tell me yours." Kara smiled.
"Hm... Touché." Keiran said downing her drink.
The pair continued to talk, between the time they started drinking, and one rogue Tamaranian spiking everyone's drink with a Thanagarian version of ecstasy to make what he thought a boring party lively. Kara woke up in an unfamiliar room naked and beside an equally naked woman she recognized from the bar, Keiran, and no recollection of anything after her third drink the night before. Kara quickly got dressed and left as quickly as possible without waking up the slumbering woman. She found an unfamiliar ring on her finger that was way too expensive for her to afford and figured maybe it was Kieran's and left it on the bedside table.
Unknown to Kara, when Keiran woke up and found herself alone, her clothes the night before were ruined like they were torn by an animal. She also found it rather difficult to comfortably sit down and saw bruises littered over her body. She wondered what happened and investigated. After some investigation, she found that she had married a stranger she met that night and paid a hefty bribe to the officiant to make the marriage official as soon as possible. Thankfully, she could get an annulment as they got married under the influence. The problem, however, was who the heck was Kara Zor-El?
That was eleven months ago...
In the present, Kara is following Clark as he navigates to L-Corp. A Luthor was bad news, but a Luthor moving across the country with a newly-christened Kryptonian hero flying around? That doesn't sit right with Clark. She might be Lex's sister and there is a chance she's different, yet they grew up in the same household. No one can be so sure.
"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I wasn't aboard the venture yesterday." Lena Luthor announced as they entered her office. Kara almost chokes when she hears that voice if her biology even allows that under the yellow sun.
"Well, that's why we're here." Said Clark.
"There was an emergency. Regarding the planning for a ceremony, I'm holding tomorrow.
I'm renaming my family's company, and I had to cancel." Lena continued as she sat down flipping papers on her desk. Kara recognized the woman and based on the split-second reaction that goes unnoticed by Clark, Lena also recognized her, even with her glasses on.
"Ah, Lucky." Lena chuckled at Clark's reaction.
"Lucky is Superman saving the day." She emphasized.
"Not something one expects a Luthor to say," Clark said with a subtle drop of suspicion.
"Right." Lena spat with equal venom.
"And Supergirl was there too." Kara found herself saying before she could stop herself, her cheeks colored with embarrassment, catching the Luthor's attention.
"And who are you exactly?" She asked amused, this was a far cry from the smooth-talking confident woman she met in Vegas who had her dominated evidenced by how covered her body with bruises and rendered her unable to walk properly for almost a day.
"Um... I'm Kara Danvers. I'm not with the Daily Planet. I'm with Catco magazine, sort of."
"It's a publication not known for its hard-hitting journalism. More like 'high-waisted jeans, yes or no?'"
"I'm just tagging along today."
"Right," Lena said, unconvinced. Before turning her attention back to Clark.
"Can we just speed this interview along? Just ask me what you want to ask, Mr. Kent. Did I have anything to do with the venture explosion?"
"Did you?"
"You wouldn't be asking me if my last name was Walsh." A dig at Kara.
"Ah, but it's not. It's Luthor." Clark said with his suspicion and distrust on full display.
"Some steel under that Kansas wheat," Lena mumbles under her breath. "It wasn't always. I was adopted when I was four and the person who made me feel most welcome in the family was Lex. He made me proud to be a Luthor." She said almost wistfully, "And then he went on his reign of terror in Metropolis. Declared war on Superman. Committed unspeakable crimes. When Superman put Lex in jail, I vowed to take back my family's company. To rename it L-corp, make it a force for good. I'm just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family. Can you understand that?"
"Yeah," Kara doesn't know what possessed her to say that out loud. But, one thing she knew, was that she understood more than anyone. She loves her cousin, but it is tiring to be referred to as 'Superman's cousin' or 'Female Superman' by ignorant people. She's more than that. Kara's her person.
"I know why you're here because a subsidiary of my company made the part that exploded on the venture," Lena retrieved a flash drive from a pile of other drives and handed it to Clark. "This drive contains all the information we have on the oscillator. I hope it helps you in your investigation." Clark thanked Lena as he received the drive. "Give me a chance, Mr. Kent. I'm here for a fresh start. Let me have one."
"Good day, Ms. Luthor," Clark said dismissively.
"Good day," Kara added meekely.
Later outside Kara was reeling on how she felt seeing the woman again and trying to take the revelation of her real name. However, as much as he wanted to dwell on that longer, they had more important matters at their hand.
"I didn't see anything when I x-rayed the room." She said.
"Yeah, me neither." Clark agreed.
"What do you think?"
"I've learned from hard experience not to believe anything a Luthor says." He sighed.
"But, I kinda believe her." Kara mused. They heard Clark's phone ring.
"Hi, sweetie. --I'm with Kara. --Yes, I'm being careful." Clark defends making Kara laugh. "I miss you too, I love you, bye"
"I love that she worries about you," Kara said.
"Yeah, me too."
Kara wonders if she'll ever have that kind of connection to anyone. Unlike Clark, she had lived in Krypton and held their cultures and values to a great degree, especially now that she was the only one who could keep it alive. She loves her cousin, but sometimes, it pains her that he sees Krypton in a different light than her. Kara's phone rang.
"Luthor wasn't behind the explosion, she was the target," said Alex urgently. Suddenly, Kara and Clark could hear drones approaching the building.
"Thought you two would show up, you spoil all the fun." The voice behind the drone said before deploying his arsenals and dividing them to attack the civilians.
"Go. Get the chopper." Superman instructed. Supergirl successfully thwarted the attack on the chopper and safely landed it back on the helipad.
"What the hell was that?!" Lena questioned. Eyes wide with the adrenaline of almost dying and a recognition of the woman in front of her.
"Someone's trying to kill you."
Kara is now trying to convince Lena to not go through with the renaming ceremony. Dressed as Supergirl to somehow solidify the point why. Unfortunately for her, the Luthor was as stubborn as King Arthur's sword in a stone.
"You're taking an awful risk going ahead with the renaming ceremony with your life in danger." She reiterated her point.
"I won't have a life if I can't make this company into something positive. All it will be remembered for is Lex's madness." She defended.
"That's rather foolish and selfish."
"I'm not doing this just for myself, Supergirl." She walked past Supergirl and went to the podium. Not long after Lena started her speech, the chaos began. Corben had started the attack that ended up with him being shot in the back by Lena when he took Alex hostage.
"Thank you, Mr. Kent, this is exactly the kind of press my company needs after yesterday's attack. And thank you for including that part about me shooting the guy. That'll teach Lex to mess with me." Lena chuckles, "He'll be the laughingstock of cell block x."
"Well, that's not exactly why I wrote it. I wrote it because it's the truth. I was wrong about you, ms. Luthor, I'm sorry." Clark stated.
"Well, if I can make a believer out of Clark Kent, there's hope yet. What about you, ms. Danvers? Didn't see your name in the byline."
"Uh... Like I said, I'm not a reporter." Kara stammered.
"You could have fooled me." Lena smiled at Kara, "I hope this isn't the Last time we talk." Kara is looking at her mesmerized by what she said.
"I hope not either." She smiled before leaving with Clark.
Later that night, Kara thought about her day and wondered if Miss Grant had thought of her as reporter material. When she hears a frantic call for help. Focusing on the voice, she realized that it was Lena. She shot up to the source of distress and was speechless at what she saw. A kid no more than a month old, she thinks, give or take, was floating away from the balcony and out of reach of the CEO. The woman was pleading for the infant to come to her. Kara caught the infant and gave it back to Lena.
Lena held the infant close and released a huge sigh and sobbed with relief, comforting the upset baby, and murmuring apologies for not protecting him better. Lena thanked Kara profusely for saving her son.
"The baby--" Kara began to ask but was cut off by Lena.
"Not right now. I'll talk to you, but not now." She rushed, "Please. You can come to my office tomorrow."
Kara understood and left the mother and child. The next day, Kara arrived at L-Corp. Lena knows, so there is no point in keeping the pretense of anonymity between the two of them and showing up as Supergirl.
"Miss Luthor is ready for you." The assistant, Jess, told her. Kara nodded and entered the office. Inside, she found Lena Luthor hunched and mumbling curses while she typed away on whatever she was working on at the moment. When she looked up she saw Kara standing there.
"Miss Luthor." Kara greeted firmly, guarded, and ready to bolt at the first sign of danger.
Lena sighs in defeat, of course, the woman is guarded. She's an alien, not just any alien, she's the cousin of the man her brother tried to kill. "Have a seat. Water?" She offered. Kara politely declined. "Right. I supposed you're here because of the baby--"
"How did you know?" Kara demanded, cutting the chase off.
"So, we're having that conversation, then?" She huffed, "You were not exactly forgettable when I met you in Vegas, not to mention, ponytail and glasses, seriously? That's the best you can come up with." Kara's jaw tightened at the remark.
"Are we talking about disguises now huh Kieran?" She bit.
"I used real my name. It's not a disguise if it's the truth. Like I said, I wasn't always a Luthor, just like you're not always a Danvers."
"How did you know about that?!" Kara bristled, but Len was unfazed.
"Turns out, when you're out of it in Vegas, there is a chance you will likely become a walking cliché." Lena slides an envelope across the table, "Go on, have a look." The contents mortified Kara.
"Oh, Rao... This--"
"Yup, you signed it with your real name too. I tried to annul the marriage myself, but I can't find any Kara Zor-El anywhere." Kara was still wide-eyed and staring at the paper in her hand. "That's not the only complication, though."
"What do you mean?" Kara snapped her attention back, still unwilling to believe what Lena was telling her.
"Liam, my son. He's yours."
"That's impossible!"
"Oh, I know it sounds like it is, yet, it's true." Lena stood her ground. "Listen, I did not sleep with any man before or after you. Imagine my surprise when I wound up sick and found out I was pregnant. A month after he was born, he started floating, I almost had a heart attack from that one." She chuckled.
"If this is some kind of twisted joke it is not funny."
"Why? Because I'm a Luthor?"
"How did you know he's mine? I'm not the only alien who can fly."
"No, but you're the only Kryptonian I came in contact with."
"That's not enough."
Lena sighed, "What do you want me to say?"
"The truth."
"You want the truth? Fine, I'll give you the truth. When Lex got incarcerated, I inherited all of his assets, including his various labs. He thought I might be willing to follow his footsteps." She scoffed, "When Liam started floating, I took a DNA test to find out why. I thought it would tell me he has some kind of genetic mutation or if not, it would at least tell me what alien knocked me up during my escapade in Vegas. I was not expecting him to match with Superman, but it was too low to be him. A relative might be. But, Superman was the only one left in his species. Until..."
"Until I revealed myself to the world as Supergirl."
"Bingo. The same woman I met at a bar in Vegas and married to, and undoubtedly slept with judging by the state I woke up to."
Kara's face heated up by the memory. At the same time, she can't process the information that was dumped on her. Suddenly, she can't breathe. "I need to go." And left without turning back to Lena, still holding their marriage certificate. She wants to know if this is legitimate or if Lena is just deceiving her. After all, as Clark said, it's best not to believe anything Luthor says.
Kara called Catco that she was chasing a lead and went back to her loft, spending all day pacing back and forth, reeling on the revelations. She looked down at the papers in her hand and decided to call Winn.
"Okay, I only agreed to come over because you promised me food. Now, how may I help my best friend?" He barged into the loft after his shift in the DEO.
"I need you to hack into the Vegas marriage registry." She breathed.
"Sorry, what was that?" Winn blinked, he didn't quite catch what Kara said.
"I need you to hack into the Las Vegas marriage registry. Please, Winn, I don't know anyone to turn to."
"Okay... Why?" Winn asked carefully.
"I need to know if this is legit or if I'm just getting played." She handed the envelope. Winn took it, confused before opening it.
"What?!" He shrieked. Kara cringed at the volume.
"Winn, keep it down!"
"When did this happen?! Is this real?!"
"I don't know! That was what I was trying to find out!"
"Okay, fine! But, you owe me."
The result of their investigation was damningly conclusive. Kara was indeed married to Lena Luthor. They even checked the security footage around the area where Kara hung out to make sure.
"Is that... Is that an Elvis chapel?" Winn asked while his cheeks were bulging with Chinese food take-outs.
"Oh, Rao, you have got to be fucking kidding me..." An Elvis Chapel? Out of all the venues drunk Lena and Kara could have chosen they chose that?!
"Oh look! You're done, married." Winn commented as they watched Kara and Lena stumble on their feet to their hotel, or more precisely, Lena Luthor's hotel. When they made it to the elevator, that was when things started getting... handsy. They started making out messily. Winn and Kara were too stunned by the sight to react, it was when Kara lifted and pinned Lena to the wall that Winn went to slam the laptop close. "That... That was interesting... I didn't know you had that in you, are you sure you're not gay?"
"Winn!" Kara squeaked.
"I don't know what else to say!" He defended. Kara groaned, running her hand to her face.
"Winn, promise me you will not breathe a word about this to anyone, not even Alex. Especially Alex. Promise me, Winn."
"I promise. But, are you sure? Kara, Lena is a Luthor. Do you want to risk it by not telling Alex?"
"I will handle it."
"Then, you have my word."