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The first sign Lena Luthor had become a constant in their lives comes on a Saturday morning.
It’s subtle, it really is, and it takes Alex longer than she likes to admit to see. She doesn’t notice at first, when she uses her key to open Kara’s apartment door and heads straight to the kitchen after her sister’s greeting.
Kara’s not even surprised, it’s Saturday, which means breakfast together. And it’s the third Saturday, which means blueberry pancakes. And by the stack of fruit currently sitting on top of the counter, she hasn’t forgotten what day it is.
(She never does, it’s food after all.
Alex should really stop hoping her sister ever would.
Because it usually leads to an expletive from her and there are only a certain amount of one dollar bills Alex carries around.)
“I heard that!” Kara exclaims, pointing a finger at her sister and giggles when Alex retrieves her wallet from her pocket to fish for a note
‘Get exchange’, she adds on her mental list right after ‘buy Maggie’s vegan ice cream’ and ‘convince Maggie to watch The L Word with me’.
(“Danvers, I adore you, but I can only go through that once.”)
It’s when she notices. She would really like to say she reacted in a better way; she would really like to say she just smirked knowingly and continued the day. But no, of course it didn’t happen that way. She gasped and chuckled, then proceeded to cough for a whole minute trying to cover it.
Because right in between the ‘Cooler Danvers’ and ‘Mags Swags’ jars rested another one. Belonging to no one other than Lena Luthor.
Lee :)
And Alex should have seen it coming, because there’s only a reasonable amount of fake interviews Kara could come up with before just admitting she just wanted to hang out with the woman. Fucking Maggie.
“I heard that too!”
She puts two dollars into her jar before adding ‘pay five bucks to Maggie’ in her mental list. She should’ve have seen it coming.
She tries not to think about the jars that had already taken place besides hers. Tech Nerd; Better Lane; Jimmy Bravo; Mon-El. She thinks about how hers it’s the only one around. She really hopes those two others stay this time.
**
The first time she actually sees it happening is during game night the following week.
Lena sits on the other side of the counter, directly in front of Alex, her expression nothing like the one she saw when the woman arrived. Any resemblance of a smile gone from her face and she stares back at Alex.
Winn and Maggie are already out of this hand and the Luthor waits for Alex to decide if she’ll cover it.
“I’ll cover it.”
And it’s when James and Kara come to join them, Kara handing a glass of wine for Lena, hand resting at the small of her back. Alex sees the look Maggie gives her and the raise in her eyebrows. She chooses to ignore both.
Lena downs her hand, smug smile already on her lips, and okay, Alex has to admit she’s growing fond of the woman in front of her. Especially when Kara is looking at her like that.
But when Alex copies her, she’s sure no one but herself and Kara heard the fainted “shit” coming out of her mouth and an audible gasp from her sister. Lena doesn’t budge, but lets out a sigh and leans in, stretching her arm towards her jar. She tucks in a ten dollar bill before looking back at Kara, raised eyebrow in a silent question. A frown appears in her face but she nods nevertheless.
“Saving for the rest of the night.” Lena explains before looking at Alex once more. “I’ve finally found a rival on poker.”
By the end of the night, Lena adds two extra dollars in her jar and Alex slips her own five in hers.
**
“How long until those two bang?” Maggie asks her later, when James and Winn had already left for good twenty minutes, after dragging Alex out of the apartment and the poker tournament her girlfriend indulged with Lena.
“What?”
“Your sister and Lena.”
“What!”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see.”
“You know what; I’m not talking about it.”
“I give them two months.”
**
The second time it happens is three weeks later, when Maggie finally had some time off of work and it was one of those nights the DEO didn’t need Alex or Supergirl.
Maggie curls against her side, hand automatically wrapping around her shoulders and a lingering kiss against her temple.
This time, when the two arrived for movie night, a sheepish Kara opening the door to let them in, Alex reaction was smoother.
Way smoother.
But the sight one the one and only Lena Luthor sitting in her sister’s couch, flannel pajama pants (which she was rather sure it was her sister’s) and loose t-shirt, was definitely not one she was expecting to see.
(She ignores the huge grin on her girlfriend’s face and drags her to the loveseat after grabbing two bottles of beer.)
“No horror movies!” Kara shouts from the kitchen.
“No romances either!” Alex shouts back. “Do you know what we should watch?” The urge to grin is too strong and she ends up with a huge smile towards her glaring girlfriend.
“Alex, no.”
“We should watch The L Word.”
“No!” The exclamation comes from both Lena and Maggie at the same time and they share a knowing look.
Kara comes back from the kitchen, ice cream for herself and glass of wine for Lena, to find her sister laughing at the exasperation in the other two faces.
The one who recovers first is Lena, sitting up straighter and sighing before looking at Alex.
“Look, it’s a classic and basically every non-straight girl has watched it, but once was enough watching that shit.”
“Lena.”
“I’ll put a dollar on it next time I get up, don’t worry.”
They settle down with Orphan Black, after all, and if Alex notices her sister’s hand on Lena’s thigh, she doesn’t mention. Neither does she mention the way they lean into each other after thirty minutes. Or how, by the end of the second episode, Kara’s head is dropped in Lena’s shoulder, the latter letting her hands run through the other’s hair.
She also ignores the ‘they’re definitely banging’ Maggie whispers against her ear before she gets up to get herself another beer.
**
Third time happens after a very distressed Kara arrived at the DEO pacing and rambling about how Lena freaking Luthor knew.
(Of course she did; Alex thinks everyone does.
Kara does a very poor job at hiding it.)
But her sister is going crazy in front of her because she thinks Alex is going to hate her for letting her secret slip like that.
Instead, Alex shrugs, it was bound to happen sooner or later, and she would kill someone before telling them she rather liked Lena.
(She was really good at poker and could handle her alcohol. That was enough.
The fact that she made Kara smile like that was nothing but a bonus.)
When Alex put a stop to her pacing, hand on her shoulder, she was met by a pout and puppy eyes. How could she be mad after that?
And when she just smiled and told Kara to pick Lena Luthor up and bring her in to sign the NDA, Kara hugged her, a tad too tightly, not that she would mention it to her excited sister, and flied off.
(They came back an hour later, Lena blurting out a different expletive every time Alex showed her another room. Every time to be met with a scold from Supergirl.)
**
Maybe Alex should consider giving Kara’s apartment key back.
Because on a Saturday, four weeks after the last incident, she lets herself in, bags of groceries swinging as she uses her ankle to close the door behind her.
(It’s scrambled eggs and bacon day and two years ago she learned Kara could eat at least a dozen eggs.
And grocery shopping isn’t her best skill.)
The first sign this Saturday isn’t like the others is the lack of cheerful greeting from a very excited Kara Danvers as soon as she opened the door. The opposite, to be honest, it is way too quiet for her sister to even be home. When she starts questioning that maybe there was a Supergirl emergency she hears a loud thud coming from Kara’s bedroom.
It leads her to the second sign. A black purse lying down at the counter, coat haphazardly thrown by the side. Both not her sister’s.
And Kara comes running from the hallway, blushed cheeks and disheveled hair, just pulling down an oversized shirt over. Third sign. And she wanted to scream in frustration because Maggie has been winning most of the bets so far.
“Alex! What are you doing here?”
“It’s Saturday.”
“Is it?”
She puts the grocery bags down on the counter and looks at her sister. Kara fidgets under her gaze. Fourth sign. She should go. And leave the key behind.
But then, tentative footsteps come from the hall and when she looks over, Lena Fucking Luthor stands there, unbuttoned shirt barely reaching the middle of her thighs. When she catches the stare, the change is unbelievable. Gone is the woman who was just caught off guard and standing there was the CEO, raised chin and long confident steps until she reaches for the coat.
“Lena?” Kara asks but she just smiles and takes her credit card off the pocket.
She’s not doing it, she’s not going to, oh, she did it. No! No, this is more than I needed to know.
“Before I forget.” She puts it inside her jar and, at least, blushes a little when she sees the look Alex is giving her, before she goes back to the bedroom.
Kara looks like a mess, pretty much a broken mess gasping for air and blushing up to the tip of her ears.
Because, fifth sign, next to ‘Lee :)’ is a fourth jar. Puppy Danvers. Alex counts maybe half a dozen bills shoved inside before tearing her eyes away.
“I’ll call next time.” Kara blushes harder, and she thinks this morning broke her sister. Kara squeaks a hurries goodbye and once she’s outside, she hears the door being locked from the inside. Not very helpful now.
Finish Hank’s report; pick up clothes at the laundry; clean my eyes with bleach; give Maggie ten doll-twenty, give Maggie twenty dollars. Maggie was right, Lena Luthor was definitely a black lace kind of woman.
Buy two bottles of bleach.