Chapter Text
“Okay, so you both can just have a seat. Try not to squint in the light, but get comfortable. This is just a conversation. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. Can I get you anything? Maybe some water?”
“Probably need something stronger for Lena,” James said with a teasing smirk, unbuttoning his gray suit jacket as he sat down on the blue velvet couch that looked far more comfortable than it actually felt. “I don’t think she could get any more tense.”
Lena shot him a frosty look and crossed her arms over her chest. “Sorry, not all of us are as comfortable in front of the camera as you.”
Those happy crinkles around his eyes faded into frown lines as James rubbed his temple with a sigh. “Really, Lena. You have to be willing to try if you actually want this to work out.”
Her pale nostrils flared. “I’m here, aren’t I?” Lena bit out, her ruby red lips peeling back to flash her perfect white teeth.
“Woah, woah,” the producer held up her hands. “Let’s just take a deep breath and start over. I know this is a lot, but I think you’re both here with good intentions.” She waved her hands at production assistance who scrambled forward with three golden glasses sloshing with red wine. “How about we all take a drink of something stronger? I’m not saying either of you need it, but sometimes it can just help these things go a little easier. Kind of helps break the ice, if you will.”
The producer took the one nearest to her, then James, and after a long look of pleading from James, Lena took one as well. The metal cup felt cold and heavy in her hands, but just one look at the cameras behind her triggered Lena to take a generous sip. A wide, toothy, almost feral, smile broke out across the producer’s face as the dry merlot sucked the spit out of Lena’s mouth.
“How about we start from the beginning,” she said, flipping open her notes. “How did you two meet?”
“Well, I’m a photographer,” James said, leaning back into the couch as his arm draped naturally behind Lena, but Lena’s back remained stiff and off the couch. “I was assigned to shoot for a tech event in Metropolis. While waiting for a panel to start, I tried to snag my favorite seat, the one to the left of the aisle on the front row. I’ve always just had the best luck getting pictures there. But when I got there, someone just so happened to have beaten me to it.”
He elbowed Lena playfully in the arm and let out a small sigh of relief when she forced a small smiled back at him. Perhaps the wine was working.
“It happened to be a panel on nanotechnology which I was currently studying so I had chosen that spot because I wanted to be sure that the moderator saw me during the question and answer portion.” She looked at James with a small smirk, her hand drifting to the top of his. “I hadn’t realized I had stolen the James Olsen’s preferred picture spot.”
James grinned and laced his fingers in with hers. “Of course, ever the gentlemen, I let her have the spot.”
Her scoff echoed around in her glass. “Not until after I gave you my number.”
His grin stretched even wider. “What can I say? I know a work of art when I see it.”
Snorting, Lena rolled her eyes dramatically but still squeezed his hands. “Four years and you’re still using the same pick up line.”
“Wow, four years is a long time,” the producer cut in. “I’m sure a lot has changed since then. Especially given everything that has happened with your family.”
Lena’s smile faded as quickly as it came. Her hands slipped out of her partners’ as she gripped the wine glass firmly with both hands, intently looking anywhere but the cameras.
“Yes, it has,” she replied coldly, squaring up her shoulders. “But everyone already knows that.”
“Dammit,” James placed a hand on Lena’s thigh as he glared at the producer. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to talk about that here. She’s already been through enough. We’ve already been through enough.” He didn't notice Lena's minute flinch.
The producer quickly held up her hands in a poor attempt to feign innocence. “That wasn’t what I meant. Really. I just wanted a segway into why you decided to come on the show. Who gave the Ultimatum?”
“I did.” James said finally, his shoulders drooping. “I came to her with the Ultimatum that we would need to be married by the end of this or we would need to break up. After four years, I’m just ready for a long term commitment. I want the family, the minivan, the soccer games, the fights over the best school system. I’ve been clear in my communication with what I want, with what I need, and have done my best to be patient, but I feel like I’ve waited long enough.”
Lena’s snorted into her wine glass. “What he means to say is that he thinks I’m using my family issues as an excuse to avoid commitment.”
His jaw clenched. “I just think two years have been a long time to be hung up on that in this sort of debilitating way.”
“There are different ways to show commitment besides marriage, James.” Lena sighed. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but,” James rubbed his palms against his pants as he looked at his partner, “I’m hoping that by being here, you’ll see how much different the level of commitment marriage is.”
“And what do you hope James sees from this experience?” the producer asked.
Lena studied James for a long moment, desperately looking for something but not quite sure what. “How much I’m trying.”
~~~
“Hello there!” Kara said cheerfully, waving her hand at the camera with a smile so wide her cheeks hurt. “My name is Kara and this is my boyfriend, Mike.”
“Hey,” Mike grunted, raising his hand in a half hearted way.
“We’ve been together since college.” Kara took Mike’s hand and tugged him closer to her on the couch. “We were that cute sports couple everyone knew. I was captain of the volleyball team; he was the first string quarterback.”
“Would have gone pro if it weren’t for an ankle injury,” Mike grumbled, his leg flexing.
Kara’s smile thinned. “After graduating, we moved to National City. I became a journalist for Catco, and Mike became a bartender, and that’s where we’ve been ever since.”
“A journalist for Catco?” a producer poured them each a glass of wine. “That’s an impressive job to get to right out of college.”
“It sure helps when your cousin has a Pulizter,” Mike snorted, letting go of Kara's hand as he reached for a glass of wine.
Kara’s right eye twitched and let her own drink remain untouched. “It also helps when you apply for jobs that you actually have a degree in rather than one that includes free jello shots.”
Mike’s nostrils flared as he gulped down a mouthful of wine, leaving a trail of red dripping down his chin. “I told you, the job market isn’t great right now for sports broadcasting.”
“That’s what you’ve been saying for the past three years.” Kara’s smile and shoulders grew even more tense.
“So,” the producer clapped her hands, bringing the couple’s attention back to her, “why don’t we have some wine as we talk about who initiated the ultimatum?” He nodded at Kara's untouched glass.
Taking a deep breath, Kara reached for Mike's hand once again. “I did. My sister’s been with her partner for years now, and they’re adopting a child, and seeing them so happy has made me realize just how much I want that too. I think Mike would be such a great husband and father especially after seeing him interact and play with my niece, so I think we’re ready for that step.”
“I just don’t see why we need to rush into this,” Mike said, taking another generous gulp of wine and staining his teeth red. “It’s not like we have to do everything at the same time your sister does. She’s several years older than you. We have plenty of time.”
The producer quickly refilled his glass and nudged Kara’s glass closer towards her, smiling when Kara finally picked hers up.
“I’m not saying we need to have kids right now,” Kara’s thumb picks the rim of her glass. “I just don’t see why we can’t get married now, that’s all.”
“We’re happy as things are. Why do we have to change things? It’s just a ring and a piece of paper.”
“But it’s symbolic.” Kara’s fake smile has now completely fallen. “It’s the next step for us. It’s important.”
“And how much of this is just a reaction coming from obsessively watching the news the past few years?”
Kara’s jaw clenched. Her eye twitched again. “I’m a reporter. My job is the news.”
“But you’re also a Kaznian refugee, correct?” the producer cut in.
Her words hit Kara’s chest like a baseball bat; she couldn’t help but flinch. Raising the wine glass to hide her face, Kara took a long sip of wine to compose herself before nodding. “I came over ten years ago. I was adopted by a family in California.”
“But you grew up in Kaznia,” the producer prodded. “You were there when the invasion happened.”
Kara’s knuckles turned white around the goblet. She wished the goblet were made out of glass or plastic. Then maybe it would shatter in her hand, the shards drawing blood from her palm, and force them to talk about something else. It would be less painful. “That was a long time ago.”
“Tell me about it though. Wasn’t your family part of the resistance effort?”
“Hey,” Mike cut in, his hand gripping Kara’s shoulder, almost pulling her behind him as he glared at the producer, “she isn’t some toy you can use to get whatever drama and trauma dump you want. She’s a person so treat her like one.”
“Mike,” Kara sighed, her shoulders sagging under his hard grip as pathetic fatigue rushed to replace her shocked anger.
“No, I’m not going to let them walk all over you or try to exploit your trauma like that.” Mike’s jaw set as he glared down at the camera. “That’s not okay.”
The producer held up his hands as he leaned back in his chair. “That was really not my intent. I’m just trying to help you two open up a bit. It sounds an awful lot like this has impacted your relationship so I thought it was worth bringing up.”
“At least be more sensitive about it. It’s still triggering for her,” Mike crossed his arms. “Even if she doesn’t talk about it. And it’s making her want to push this relationship faster than it needs to be.”
“Mike please,” Kara sighed. “You know it’s more complicated than that. I can want something without having to go back to childhood to explain why.”
“Sounds like you’ve both had this conversation before,” the producer said after several tense moments of silence.
“Yep,” Mike sighed, his lips puckering on the ‘p’ and he leaned his head back to look up at the ceiling. “It feels like everyday lately. I enjoy our lives as they are, and I’m not the biggest fan of changing that. But this sounds like the easiest way for us to give it a shot.”
“Yeah,” Kara gave an uneasy smile. “Neither of us have really seriously dated anyone but each other, so I thought this could be good for us.”
“I’ll figure out if Kara really is the one for me,” Mike said with a smirk. “Or, at the very least, find another girl who can take shots with me.”
The producer looked at Kara for a response, but she only took another sip of wine.
~~~~
“So we met at the Gotham Pride Parade last year,” Jack said with a flourish of his hand. “I saw this adorable man with the cutest suspenders and rainbow body paint covering his face and chest from across the street, and I thought, ‘does this man wash his jeans in windex cause I see myself in them.’”
“Oh my God, Jack,” Winn hid his face in his hands. “We’re on camera.”
“Well, after a delicious night of him staining my white sheets multicolored, he asked if I’d like to join him for brunch, and we’ve been together ever since.”
“How romantic,” a producer gushed. “So what brings you both here then?”
“The past few months haven’t been the easiest,” Winn admits. “Jack’s the first real boyfriend I’ve ever had, but we seem to be on different stages of commitment.”
“It’s not that I don’t care for Winn or anything,” Jack quickly assured the crew and took Winn’s hand. “And the sex is great. Like really great. Like forget-who-you-are-for-a-few-seconds kind of great.” Winn’s face turned beet red. “But we both just have extremely different social circles and live on opposite sides of town, and it can make it hard to see a long term future sometimes. Sometimes it’s hard to see beyond our next plan to meet up for dinner.”
“Uh, yeah,” Winn picked at the nonexistent lint on his pants. “We’re kind of an odd pairing. He’s a big popular business mogul, and I’m just a nerd in IT, but I think we could possibly work. And I don’t need us to get married or anything, but I thought maybe if things work out for us through this, we could talk about getting an apartment together or something like that.”
“And I love Winn, I really do, but I’m very use to the kind of fuck and flee scenarios. Even saying that I have a boyfriend feels foreign to me most times I say it. I just don’t want to find ourselves together one day and have one of us wishing for the old days of playing the field.”
Beside him, Winn chewed his lip and his toes curled. “Yeah,” he gulped. “That’s why I thought this may give us that chance to see how it is playing the field one more time. So there are no regrets.”
Jack’s shoulder’s sagged as he breathed out heavily through his nose. “Exactly. No regrets.”
~~~
“Alright, just take a seat over there and feel free to help yourself to the open bar,” the producer instructed, waving to the empty leather chair positioned in front of the camera and large liquor cabinet. “You’ll be paired back up with your partner later this evening, but for now, we want to get some individual shots and interviews. We can get started whenever you’d like.”
“Thanks,” James picked up the folder sitting on the open bar. “Is this who I’m going to be paired with?”
“Ah, no,” the producer replied, snapping her finger at the camera man and jerked his head towards James, waiting for thumbs up of confirmatin from the camera man that they were filming. “That’s actually who Lena will be paired with.”
“Oh gotcha,” James said, flipping it open. His brow furrowed as he read before he threw his head back, his laughter echoing throughout the set. “Is this for real?”
“What do you mean?” the producer asked, refilling Jame’s half empty wine goblet to the brim.
“Kara Danvers?” James flashed the picture of the blonde woman to the producer. “Lena’s actually being paired with a woman?”
“Does that surprise you?” the producer asked, cocking her head.
“I didn’t even know Lena liked women.” James shook his head with a grin. “I mean, I’m not surprised she checked more than one box as to what she was into, but I can’t imagine it being more of a curiosity than anything else. That girl will try anything once, but she’s such a stickler that she never tries anything again.”
“So you’re not threatened at all?” the producer prodded.
“Please,” James waved his hand. “I know Lena’s type and it’s not some blonde, sunshine girl. It’ll be a miracle if they even share the same bed.” A sly grin stretched across his face. “Well, that would be a nice image, you know?”
~~~
“You cannot be serious,” Lena’s nostrils flared. The folder crinkled in her fist. “James is being paired with Lucy Lane?”
“Is that a problem?” a producer asked with a mock innocence. Lena barely resisted throwing the folder at her.
Lena’s jaw clenched and spoke through her teeth. “She’s his ex.”
~~~
“Imra Ardeen,” Mike flipped open the file and stopped at her photo before letting out a low whistle. “Damn, she’s hot. And she’s an NFL cheerleader? Shit, I should have let Kara talk me into this sooner.”
~~~
“Lena Luthor. Wow, she’s, like, gorgeous. Like really gorgeous.” Kara smiled, but then faltered. The folder started to shake in her hands as her blue eyes widened. “Wait… Luthor? As in, the Luthors?”
“Yes,” a producer confirmed with a small tilt of her head and a knowing smile that raised the hair on Kara’s neck. “That won’t be a problem will it?”
“Ah.” Kara cleared her throat and tried to ignore the pitfall in her stomach. “No. No, not at all.”
“Because we believe everyone deserves a chance–”
“I said it was fine.” Kara bit out, before turning on her heel and stalking away. If this pairing was their way of prodding her into crying on camera, Kara refused to let them win without a fight.
~~~
If it weren’t for a car from the show dropping her off at her new apartment, Kara would have been sure that she was in the wrong place. She was in the side of town she ran in when she couldn’t find her pepper spray even though she couldn’t afford a gym membership within a five block radius. The buildings were tall, clean, and overlooked the bay. The apartments had 16 foot ceilings, jacuzzis, and private elevators. On her reporter salary, she couldn’t even afford an apartment with a dishwasher.
Grabbing her things and heading into the building, Kara mumbled thanks to the smiling doorman holding open the door for her and followed the crew to her apartment. She failed to hold in her gasp when she saw her apartment for the next three weeks. Her small one bedroom apartment could fit in the living room of this one. And all the furniture matched!
“Lena should be here in a few minutes,” a producer said as she scrolled through her phone. “We’ll let the two of you get settled. Just remember that there are cameras in the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Please don’t make sure you don’t accidentally block them.”
“Bedroom?” Kara asked. “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“It’s just the one,” the producer shrugged. “I suggest changing in the bathroom if you want privacy. Obviously if we air anything indecent, it will be censored out.”
“Great…” Kara wondered if she’d ever escape the feeling of being watched.
The door behind her opened, and Kara whirled around. Her stomach leapt into her throat, and she suddenly couldn’t think of any of the reasons why she was doing this. She was about to spend almost a month with a Luthor - what was she thinking? Maybe she could escape to the bathroom to just get a few minutes? Her heart rate spiked and her foot caught on the rug, causing her to stumble. Her hand flew out, knocking a vase from the side table to the floor with a shattering crash.
“Oops,” Kara muttered, frozen in place.
The producer sighed. “I’ll get the dustpan.”
“Is this the Ultimatum apartment?”
Kara whipped her head back around to see a stunning brunette standing in the doorway. This was her. This was Lena Luthor.
If the last two years of Kara’s life hadn’t been surrounded by videos and pictures of Lex Luthor’s crime, arrest, court trial and subsequent fall out, Kara wouldn’t have seen any similarities in the Luthor siblings. But now in front of her, Kara could see a similar nose and stature, Lena’s jaw and brow line were her own. And those eyes. Wow, those eyes carried so much depth that it was almost like she was having to carry her brother’s load on top of her own. From the lines on her face, it looked like she had had to carry that burden much longer than just the past few years.
“Uh, yes. Hi,” Kara reached out her hand. “I’m Lena– no, wait, you’re Lena. Ugh, sorry. No, I’m Kara. Kara Danvers. Your new roommate.”
Green eyes flicked over Kara’s body, surveying her, and Kara found herself wishing she wore something a bit nicer than just jeans and a faded World Killers band t-shirt, especially with Lena wearing a nice blouse and a pencil skirt. That and she wished she could just stop talking.
“Roommate. Right. Pleasure to meet you, Kara,” Lena said, her hand stiff in Kara’s as she shook it.
“Yeah, you too.” Their handshake dropped, and Kara could only pray that her hand didn’t feel as clammy to Lena as it did to her.
“Well, I think I’m going to go unpack. Do you have any preference on which side of the bed?”
“Which side of the bed?” Kara tilted her head as she wiped the sweat off her palm on her jeans, before her eyes widened. “Oh! No, you can take whichever.”
“Thanks,” Lena mumbled, quickly slipping out of the room when she saw the producer walk back in with a dustpan. Kara watched her leave until the bedroom door closed behind her.
“Wow, look at those sparks fly,” the producer said dryly as she handed Kara the broom and dustpan.
Kara didn’t respond. This was going to be a long three weeks.
~~~
Lena didn’t emerge from the bedroom for another hour, and Kara spent that time looting the fridge. Stressful situations always made her hungry. After throwing together a quick grilled cheese or four, Kara settled herself down on the couch. It was comfortable enough that she could possibly sleep on it tonight if it went poorly. She wondered how long she could get away with that until a producer stepped in. A few days? With her luck, just a few hours.
“Hey,” Lena said with a small wave before taking a seat on the couch next to her. She no longer wore the nice blouse and pencil skirt, but an MIT sweatshirt and yoga pants.
“Hey!” Kara cringed at how high pitched she sounded. “Get unpacked okay?”
“Yes, I did.” Lena tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ears. “I did my best to leave you plenty of room in the closet for your clothes. I noticed you didn’t have many in there.”
“Don’t worry about it! Most of my clothes can be folded up anyway. A lot of t-shirts and athletic shorts.”
“Oh. I understand.” Lena twiddled her fingers on her lap. “So I’m assuming that means you go to the gym a lot then?”
“Oh yeah, all the time. A couple times a week at least. I mean at least I do normally. My gym’s kind of on the other side of town now.”
“When I walked in I saw that this apartment has its own gym.”
“Well, that’s great!” Kara beamed. “I’ll have to check it out!”
Lena bit her lip, rubbing her palm against her thighs. “I think it may be closed for renovation at the moment.”
“Oh,” Kara deflated. “That stinks.”
“Yeah.”
The couch shook slightly as Kara’s legs bounced. Her eyes darted around the room, looking at anything but Lena as Lena did the same to her. A tense silence hung in the air that had the grilled cheese in Kara’s stomach rolling.
“Sorry,” Lena said eventually, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I’m a bit uncomfortable around cameras.”
“Yeah,” Kara choked out in a small laugh. “I mean, who isn’t? You’d think with how common it is to be on film these days with tiktok and everything, it would be less awkward.”
“Are you a tik toker?” Lena asked, tilting her head.
“What? No, no. I mean, my sister and I dabbled in Vine, but like I never really got into doing much besides watching tiktok,” Kara shrugged. “Why do you ask?”
“You just look familiar,” Lena said, those green eyes sparkling as they flickered over Kara’s face.
A blush crept over Kara’s cheeks under Lena’s watchful gaze, but then her heart stuttered as realization set in. Did Lena recognize her? After Clark’s article swept the nation and exposed Lex Luthor’s secret weapon manufacturing and dealing, there had been several exposes done on Clark and his family, which included her. Even more after he had won the Pulitzer. It had led to her receiving attention ranging from heroic praise to death threats which had been one of the main reasons she had decided to change her name from Kara Zor El to Kara Danvers. It felt like the only way she could actually move on. That and actually have a twitter or instagram again.
But of course, the producers knew exactly who she was. Anyone who cared to do enough research on her name or her cousin would find out, including Lena whenever she had the time to find out. Obviously, the producer wanted the conflict and tension, but Lena seemed stressed enough as it was. The inside of her cheek would be chewed raw by the end of the evening at this rate. Was now really the time for Kara to bring up their unfortunate connection and wind her up even more?
“I’m actually a reporter for Catco,” Kara finally said, forcing a wider smile than she meant. “Perhaps you’ve read one of my articles?”
“Maybe? Do you write anything for the science and technology section?”
Kara pursed her lips. “I’m more in the ‘Wide Jeans, Yes or No’ section of reporting.”
A sudden high pitched laugh escaped Lena that made Kara jump. “I guess Catco isn’t exactly known for their hard hitting journalism, are they?”
Kara shrugged. “Just don’t let Cat Grant hear you say that.”
“Probably be the last thing I ever say, right?”
“She’d probably bury you in a pile of Twitter notifications.”
Lena snorted. “I suppose there could be worse ways to go. One time I cut her off in the middle of a meeting, and I thought I would actually melt under her glare.”
Kara tossed back her head and laughed. “I just hope you weren’t as dumb as I was the first time she glared at me and just stared back.”
“I actually always have,” Lena sighed and pushed her dark hair behind her ear. “I guess it just became a habit of sorts whenever anyone does it now. I just wish it didn’t leave me feeling so nauseous after.”
“Oh yeah with you running L-Corp and all, I’m sure that happens a lot. What’s that even like, by the way?” Kara leaned her head back against the couch with a smile, relieved things had finally started to seemingly flow between them, but that feeling washed away as soon as she saw Lena’s own smile fall.
“Please tell me this isn’t your way of trying to get some kind of inside scoop on my company or family,” Lena sighed.
Kara’s eyes widened. “No! No, really, I’m not. I promise.” Chewing her lip, Kara flopped her back against the couch. “I just thought it would be an easy transition, that’s all. I mean, I honestly don’t really know what a CEO does all day.”
After taking a deep breath, Lena’s shoulders finally relaxed. “Sorry.” Lena slowly tucked her feet under herself. “I’ve had an unfortunate number of terrible encounters with reporters that I’ve become a bit negatively biased. I never imagined I’d ever be playing marriage with one.”
Kara snorted. “To be fair, I never thought I’d be playing marriage with anyone, especially not a stranger. But hey, I guess pairing up strangers is how the producers get all that fun drama to televise later, right?”
A surprised laugh shook out of Lena. “That is unless you’re my boyfriend.” She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “They actually paired him up with his ex for two years.”
“No way! Are you serious” Kara shook her head. “That’s so messed up. It seriously sounds like someone on the crew has it out for you.”
“You’d be surprised just how many do.” Lena pulled her knees up to her chest, tucking them beneath her chin. Kara’s hands itched for a blanket or jacket that she could wrap tightly around her.
“Gosh, I’m sorry.” Kara said eventually.
“Please don’t be.” Lena shook her head. “It’s one of the reasons I decided to come to National City to you rather than insisting you come to Metropolis to me. I’m hoping it can be a bit of a fresh start of sorts.”
A sad smile of understanding tugged at the corner of Kara’s mouth. “Can’t get much fresher of a start than a new city and a new relationship.”
She had unfortunately already been in a similar situation as this back when she first left Kaznia and was forced to trade her recently dead family for another. At least this time, she still had the option to go back to her old one. Even if Alex thinks she’s insane for doing this.
“Let’s hope so. James was so insistent on us giving this experience a try that I thought I’d try to make the most out of it. I owe that to him at the very least.” Those green eyes flicked up towards Kara’s blue. “What about you? What are you hoping to get from this?”
Kara let out a strangled chuckle as she pushed her previous thoughts as far away as possible. “Is it wrong to say that I want proof that the man I’m dating isn’t actually a 12 year boy?” She took her bottom lip between her teeth. “We just kind of want our lives to go in different directions so I’m hoping this just tells us which one of those directions is right for us.”
Lena nodded slowly. “So you’re currently with a guy right now too? Just given our same sex pairing, I assumed one of us would have come with a woman.”
“Uh, yeah,” Kara rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the nervous sweat pooling there. “I’ve actually never dated a woman before. I guess you would be my first technically.”
Lena’s dark brows rose. “Oh…”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to date any women,” Kara amended quickly. “It’s just… I guess I never got a chance? I mean, Mike and I were together most of college and then after. I never got that chance to experiment outside of high school, you know? And I wasn’t exactly the high schooler most kids wanted to experiment with.” No one ever wanted to be alone with the weird sad foreign girl. Leaving Midvale for college had been the biggest blessing of her life.
With a soft scoff, Lena gave a slight shake to her head. She pulled her knees tighter to her chest, but her shoulders tensed. From the sneer on her face, Kara automatically scooted back. “So this is just something you’re getting out of your system?”
Kara frowned and tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”
Lena’s jaw clenched. “Don’t tell me you’re just a straight girl trying to play it gay for a story for the queer CEO of L Corp.” Her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “What, did you talk to Ronnie? Or my assistant? Did she tell you I was going on this? Then have Cat pay off a producer to be paired with me?”
Kara held up her hands. “What? Lena, no, I had no idea you were going to be on this. I swear.”
The green of Lena’s eyes disappeared briefly as she rolled her eyes. “Oh yes because Cat Grant always lets her reporters take on stories unprepared. The Daily Planet got the scoop on my brother - is this her attempt to get the scoop on the other Luthor? So the world just how much a black sheep I am with my sexuality or my failure to keep a partner happy with me?”
If it were just Lena’s change in tone or body language Kara probably could have kept her cool, but when Lena brought up Clark, Kara shot to her feet with her fist clenched at her side. Blood pounded in her ears as she stared down those green eyes staring back at her.
“You’re not the only one who has baggage, you know.” Kara’s teeth flashed as the tendons in her neck pulsed. “Sorry that I tried to leave mine at the door.”
The table lamp rattled as Kara stomped past it, grabbed her keys, and went out the door, slamming it behind her without a second glance at the brunette still sat on the couch with her knees tucked up underneath her. If Lena was this upset that Kara had never dated a woman before, then she would probably explode if she found out Kara’s past. God, if she had known Lena was this paranoid, she wouldn’t have ever spent two seconds in the same room with her.
Who was she for ever being hopeful that Luthor and her could actually work?