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To Kara, it felt like the whole Red Kryptonite debacle was inescapable. Everywhere she went in National City, it hounded her. One of the lowest moments of her life played on repeat on every television, or in the minds of every person who looked at her with suspicion, wondering if she was going to snap again. She felt… exhausted. And she didn’t have anybody she could turn to. She wanted to talk to Alex. But she didn’t have the beginnings of an idea of where her sister had run off to, with J’onn.
So when a little girl flinched away from her when Kara offered a hand out—to help her down from the rooftop she’d gotten stuck on because the door locked automatically behind her—it became too much. She got the girl down to her parents on the street, and didn’t bother waiting for their suspicion-laden thanks. She had to get out of the city. She just shot up into the air, picked a direction, and flew.
She ended up going north. Or mostly north. Either way, the end result was that, a few hours later, she found herself dropping down to the bustling sidewalk of a large city, a hand thrown up to shield herself from the steady rain she’d flown right into, while she looked for shelter. It seemed she was the only one bothered by the rain. Everyone else had on rain jackets, or was carrying an umbrella, if they were going very far. A few people hustled to and from cars, bus and train stops, and store fronts.
Finally, a sign caught her eye. ‘Sherwood Florist.’ By virtue of the pun alone, Kara made her way over, a small smile pulling at her lips. It didn’t escape her notice that while she drew stares, people’s eyes slid off her pretty quickly. Wherever she was, either her misdeeds hadn’t made significant news, or people simply didn’t care. She wasn’t sure which one she preferred.
A bell above the door jingled as Kara pushed into the shop, water dripping from her suit onto a welcome mat at her feet that read ‘Please don’t let the cats out or the cops in.’ The rest of the space was filled with flowers, almost to the point of feeling claustrophobic, and the pleasant smell of dozens of different species of flowers clogged the air and made Kara smile as she looked around, briefly searching for any cats. To her disappointment, there didn’t seem to be any inside the shop.
“Hey there. Looking for flowers, or are you just looking to get out of the rain for a bit?” The masculine voice had Kara looking forwards, towards a countertop crowded by more flowers alongside a couple stacks of books. In the space in the center was a man with short blonde hair, and an equally blonde Van Dyke mustache and beard. Broad-shouldered, he was muscular enough to be a career athlete.
“Um… just sort of looking to get out of the rain, I hope that isn’t a problem,” Kara said, glancing self-consciously at the water that she’d accidentally flung across the floor as she gestured back towards the door.
“No problem at all, Supergirl, stay as long as you like,” he replied, reaching towards a stand of greeting cards, “But I will need something from you.”
“I promise I’m not going to… go crazy and destroy your shop, or anything,” Kara started to say, and was going to say more, but a puzzled look from the man stopped her dead.
“Why would I be worried about that?” he asked.
“Because… I just had a whole episode pretty recently in National City?” Kara asked, a little bit puzzled. “It was all over the news?”
“Oh, that?” He scoffed. “Clearly out of character for you. But even if it wasn’t…” He shrugged. “I’d be a liar if I said I’d never wanted to drop Cat Grant off a balcony.” Before Kara could really process that, he was holding a greeting card and a pen out towards her. “Would you mind signing this? It’s fine if you say no, but my daughter might literally try to rip head off if she finds out you were here and I didn’t at least ask.”
“Um…” Kara stared at him, at the greeting card, at the pen, at the water still dripping off her, until she was struck with what she thought was a rather simple solution. Shaking herself like a dog at super speed dried her off well enough—even though her hair was still damp—that she could zip over and take the pen and card from his hand. “What’s your daughter’s name?”
A few seconds passed, and when Kara glanced at him, he just looked… bemused, rather than the shocked or confused she thought the silence had meant.
“Mia,” he eventually answered.
“That’s a pretty name,” Kara remarked, flipping open the card before she realized she’d… never done this before. People didn’t really ask for her signature. They asked for pictures, posed for their social media. They asked for quotes, to be pulled for articles. And they asked for her attention, however brief, catching sometimes only momentary flashes of her face before running off to send the video to everybody they could think of. They didn’t ask for autographs. Should she sign it as ‘Supergirl’? Would that be strange? She couldn’t sign it Kara Danvers, obviously, that’d be ridiculous.
Eventually—as much as it made her heart ache a little bit to do so—she decided to write out her name in Kryptonian. It felt strange to write out the characters with a pen, and fingers that almost felt like they didn’t quite remember how to, and there was a brief, horrifying moment where Kara thought she’d forgotten how to write Kryptonian, but it came back quickly enough, and eventually, she finished the crest of the House of El with a little flourish. For a few seconds, she just stared at it, then gathered herself, swallowed down the sharp, strangling grief that always threatened to climb up her throat anytime she thought about Krypton for too long, and handed the pen and card back to the man behind the counter.
He was watching her closely, intently, with something like recognition in his eyes, when she flashed him a broad smile.
“Thank you, Supergirl,” he said, flipping open the card.
“No problem. I mean, it’s the least I can do, I appreciate you letting me hang out for a bit. I won’t stay too long,” Kara said, “I don’t want to scare off any of your customers or anything, and—”
“Is this Kryptonian?” he asked.
Kara blinked once. “Oh, yeah, it’s my name in Kryptonian, sorry if that wasn’t—”
“It’s beautiful,” he said, as he set the card off to the side, and held his hand out towards Kara. “I’m Oliver, by the way.”
“Oh! Thank you,” Kara said, her voice softened by surprise and joy, “It’s nice to meet you, Oliver.”
“So what brings you to Star City, Supergirl?” Oliver asked.
The question felt like a sucker punch that landed square on Kara’s jaw. Her mouth dropped open to start to answer, but nothing came out, when Kara found herself at a loss for words. She didn’t know where, exactly, to start—especially with a stranger—and Oliver wasn’t any help. He just kept looking at her with the same calm stare that revealed nothing other than his interest. When she struggled to answer, he didn’t give her an out, he didn’t supply another question, he just… waited, in a way that told Kara he was very comfortable with both waiting and silence. Neither of which Kara had ever been particularly comfortable with. And which she’d gotten even less comfortable with since she’d watched stars scream past her through watery eyes, Krypton growing smaller by the second. The only reprieve from her internal struggle was the steady patter of rain against the storefront windows.
“I just… needed a change of scenery,” Kara eventually answered.
“Well, feel free to stay as long as you want to, Supergirl. I’m not going to rush you out the door,” Oliver said.
“You aren’t afraid I’ll scare any customers off?” Kara asked, shifting from one foot to the other.
“I don’t think many people are looking to buy flowers when it’s raining,” Oliver remarked, “And, fuck anybody that’d be scared off by you. I don’t want their business, anyhow.”
Kara blinked, watching Oliver reach over to check a cell phone when it chimed. “Why do you say that?” she eventually asked.
“Because I think most people deserve a chance to prove they aren’t their worst moments,” Oliver said, without looking up, “I’ve been told I don’t always remember to give myself that grace, but I’ll be damned if I don’t give other people that much, at least.”
“And you… have a lot of opportunities for that… running a flower shop?” Kara asked, just a little bit incredulous.
Finally, Oliver looked up at her, wearing a sly smirk. “You might be surprised,” he answered, before he leaned forward. “But speaking of you—”
“Is that what we were doing?” Kara interjected.
Oliver just waved her off and continued. “—I’ve seen the news reports and videos.” For a second, Kara felt unfounded anxiety trickle down her spine. “Did nobody ever teach you how to fight before you put the cape on?”
For a second, Kara just stared at him. “I think I’m doing pretty well,” she said, just a tad defensive.
“You could be doing a lot better, too,” Oliver said. He was starting to get on her nerves. Surprising how quickly that happened.
“Someone’s been teaching me how to fight, for your information. She’s very good, and she’s been a very good teacher,” Kara said, just a little bit of bite to her words.
Oliver’s hands went up in mock surrender. “I believe you,” he said, which Kara didn’t believe for a second, and which he followed up by asking, “But… she isn’t a superhero, is she?”
“Why does that matter?” Kara asked.
“Because I may or may not know somebody who’s strong like you who might be willing to help teach you how to fight,” Oliver answered, a victorious and smug smile on his face.
Part of Kara couldn’t help but be just a little bit pessimistic. She knew she was sometimes too trusting of people, but even for her, Oliver’s claim stretched her faith in other people just a bit too far. Especially because it wasn’t hard to do the math and figure out who he was probably talking about.
“Right,” Kara drawled, “You’ve… what, got Wonder Woman’s phone number?” There weren’t a whole lot of superheroes who were women. And she was only one that was strong enough that anybody might think of her in the same weight class as a Kryptonian. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Well, you want me to give her a call, tell her you’d like some lessons? She can get here pretty quick,” Oliver said, holding his phone up, eyebrows raised. “And the rain’s not going anywhere soon.”
For a few seconds, Kara just stared at him, then let out a heavy breath, and glanced at the stack of books on the counter. “Yeah, sure, if you somehow have Wonder Woman’s number, I guess give her a call. I’ll… I guess I’ll read one of these while I wait,” she said.
Oliver reached out, picked a book called Where We Stand from the top of the stack, dropped it in front of her with a look, and said, “I’d recommend you start there. There’s chairs all over, sit wherever you’d like,” before he stepped through a door into a back room, taking his phone with him.
With a sigh, Kara picked the book up, walked over to a chair up against a wall, hidden between walls of flowers, and settled in to wait.
…
After a few hours and a phone call with Lucy—yes, she was fine, she just needed to get out of the city for a little bit, and yes, if she was needed, she could be back in National City quickly—the rain was finally starting to let up. Not that it would have actually kept her in the city, but… well, she could admit to herself that it was a convenient excuse. A convenient excuse to hide away for just a little bit longer. Even if hiding away apparently meant reading the books of exclusively political theory that Oliver kept with him in his flower shop, for some reason.
He hadn’t interrupted her, just stayed over near the counter, reading his own book, occasionally picking up his phone when it buzzed. But he’d stayed silent. The only thing that broke the silence had been the ticking of a clock at the back of the store.
Until the ground felt like it shuddered, a subtle rumbling vibrating the floor, heralding the arrival of something heavy.
Kara was up and out of her seat in a flash, book returned to its spot on the top of the stack as she drew herself up as tall as she could, trying to appear confident. Enough Fort Rozz escapees were scared off just by a confident Kryptonian that it’d become something she did almost subconsciously, now.
“You can relax,” Oliver drawled, turning towards the back of the shop and leaning back against the countertop, entirely too relaxed.
“They could be dangerous,” Kara said.
“Oh, she’s very dangerous,” Oliver said, unfazed. “But only to her enemies.”
A beat passed, Kara looked at Oliver with suspicion, then her attention was wrenched to the back door as it was gently eased open. A woman slipped through the door an easy, confident smile on her face to match the easy, confident way she carried herself. There wasn’t an ounce of wasted movement, everything she did precise, almost unnervingly perfect. That, more than anything else, was what convinced Kara.
“Hello, Oliver,” Wonder Woman said, reaching up to idly push a lock of curly black hair back behind her ear. It must have somehow slipped free of the golden tiara she wore, pulling double duty by helping hold back her hair.
“Diana, good to see you,” Oliver said, with a sober nod.
“And you are Supergirl. A pleasure to meet you,” Diana said, metal bracers glinting under the store lights as stepped over and held her hand out across the counter towards Kara. “I’m Diana of Themyscira. Man’s World knows me best as Wonder Woman. Oliver tells me you’re looking for someone to teach you how to fight?”
A beat of silence passed before it really sunk in for Kara that Wonder Woman was talking to her. “Oh! Hi! Yeah, I’m Supergirl,” she blurted out, reaching out to take Diana’s hand—too tightly, her brain screamed, for all of a second, before she realized that what would threaten to snap some bones in a human’s hand didn’t even seem to register a reaction from Diana—and shaking it probably too enthusiastically. “I’m— I have someone teaching me how to fight, actually, she’s my sister, she’s really good, and I definitely didn’t think Oliver actually knew you, that seemed beyond far-fetched, but oh Rao, you’re actually here, and actually offering to teach me how to fight, that’s really cool, but I don’t want to waste your time—”
“We can never have too many teachers. You wouldn’t be wasting my time,” Diana said, her smile just as genuine as when she first walked in, maybe even more so, and Kara felt something in her chest creak. “I’d be happy to teach you.”
Kara just stared for a few seconds before nodding rapidly. “Yes, please, actually, that’d be amazing, thank you so much,” she said, finally letting go of Diana’s hand after shaking it for definitely too long.
“Wonderful. Would you like to do that now?” Diana asked.
Kara nodded again, and almost in unison, both of them turned to look at Oliver, who wasn’t even watching the interaction. He’d stepped over to water some of the flowers, but turned around when he felt eyes on him.
“What?” Oliver asked, eyebrows raised.
“We’re leaving,” Diana said.
Oliver’s answer was a wordless thumbs up.
“Um… thanks,” Kara said, flashing Oliver a smile.
He waved it off. “No problem. Just… you know, keep doing what you’re doing,” Oliver said, turning back around towards the plant.
“That is, I fear, as close to a ‘you’re welcome’ as you are likely to get from him,” Diana said, eyes sparkling with amusement, “Farewell, archer. Tell Dinah and your children I said hello.”
“Yeah, of course, will do,” Oliver said, without turning around, just giving a wave over his shoulder.
Diana shook her head, and led Kara towards the back door. “Come along, Supergirl of Krypton. I have much to teach you.”