21. Fighting with the Fishes

They kissed and touched exploring soft skin under each other’s clothes until Lena could barely keep her eyes open anymore. It had been a good day, but it had also been a long day. Still, she growled a sleepy protest when Kara rolled them over, propping herself up on one elbow and tugging Lena’s camisole more or less back into place.

“Mhmm,” she caught Kara’s hand in hers; not at all pleased with the backwards direction this was taking. “I wasn’t done with you yet...”

“You’re falling asleep.”

“No I’m no-” Lena yawned, both interrupting herself and irredeemably undermining her own position. She scowled but Kara only smiled fondly, raising Lena’s hand to her lips and kissing each of her fingers in turn until the scowl had faded.

“Slow, remember?”

 “I think we have very different ideas of what that word means...” Lena said, but it was a half-hearted complaint at best. She really was tired.

“Right now, it means go to sleep,” Kara chided her.

“Well, come back down here then.” Lena yanked on a handful of her shirt. “If I can’t get my hands down your pants tonight then at the very least I want to snuggle.”

“Lena!” Kara whined, flushing, but she let Lena pull and push her into place until she was on her back with Lena in her customary position; half spooning and half on top of her, head pillowed on her chest, and one leg thrown over both of hers.  Running her fingers through Lena’s hair once they were settled, Kara pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head. “I love you...”

“I love you too,” Lena mumbled. “Even if you are a terrible tease.”

“I’m the tease?” Kara laughed. “How exactly?”

“All of this...” Lena gestured vaguely to all of Kara.

“This?”

“Muscles.”

“My muscles are teasing you?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Says the one with the muscles.”

“What about these then?” Kara ran a fingertip lightly down the length of Lena’s leg from hip to knee and back up again.

“Hmm... that’s right,” Suddenly a lot less tired, Lena crossed her arms over Kara’s chest, resting her chin on her wrists so she could look up at her. “You never did finish telling me all the ways I distract you...So, you like my legs?” she asked coyly, sliding the limb in question a little higher across Kara’s thighs. “What else?”

“Nope...” Kara pushed her knee back down, ignoring Lena’s pout. “We’re not starting that up again at...” she looked over at the clock. “...nearly one in the morning.”

Lena sighed. “You’re no fun.”

“You were falling asleep five minutes ago! When you do finally get your hands down my pants, I’d like you to stay awake long enough to... um...you know...” she was blushing again.

Lena grinned wickedly. “Oh? Do I? Remind me. What was it that you’d like me to do once I’m down there?”

“That’s it,” Kara said, rolling over onto her side away from Lena, tumbling her off into a tangle of pillows and blankets. “I’m not talking to you anymore tonight. And she calls me a tease,” she added in a mutter.”

 “Oh, come on!” Lena pleaded, half-laughing and tugging on Kara’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I’ll be good!”

“No you won’t.”

“That’s true...” Lena abandoned her attempts to turn Kara back over and fitted herself in behind her instead, wrapping an arm around her waist and nuzzling into the back of her neck. She snuck her fingers up under the hem of Kara’s shirt. “But do you really want me to?”

“If I say no, will you go to sleep? Because our kid is going to be up in about six hours, and Lena, I love you, but you are grumpy when you’re tired.”

Lena mock gasped. “I see we’ve reached the brutal honesty stage of our marriage...”

Kara groaned, rolling back over and pinning Lena to the bed. “Okay, five more minutes, and then we’re going to sleep, deal?”

“Fifteen.”

“Ten, and you can take my shirt off.”

“You’ll leave it off this time?”

“No promises.”

“Hmm...” Lena pretended to consider it, deliberately running her teeth over her lower lip.

Kara rolled her eyes, but Lena could feel her heartbeat kick up a notch. “Fine, the shirt stays off.”

“Deal,” Lena agreed smugly, already tugging the hem up and over her ribs.

*****

Lena was not ready to get up when Lizzy started calling for them the next morning.

Ten minutes had turned into twenty, and then half an hour when Kara managed to get her shirt off too, and they had both gotten lost in the sensations of skin on skin, wandering hands and kisses that seemed to reach right down into her soul. Lena had never done this before. She’d had good sex and bad sex, a lot of fun sex, and some sex she’d regretted... but aside from a little awkward making out in high school, Lena hadn’t been one to bother with a lot of foreplay. What she and Kara were doing... it wasn’t even sex, not yet, but somehow it was more intimate and more satisfying than anything she’d done with any of her other partners.

Not, that that made it easier to drag herself out of bed after less than five hours of sleep.

“Kara?” she groped across the rumpled sheets, opening her eyes when she realized she was alone. There was however a piece of paper tucked under a still-steaming cup of tea on the bedside table, with a hastily scrawled S, that was probably short for sorry or Super emergency. Either way, Kara wasn’t here.

“I’m coming,” she muttered when Lizzy’s wail reached a new and much shriller pitch. Her shirt was on the floor, and she pulled it over her head before picking up the cup of tea on her way out of the bedroom and taking a gulp as she crossed the hallway to the nursery. What she really needed was coffee, but caffeine in the hand... and if she was being honest, she was way too much of a sap not to drink anything Kara had taken the time to make for her. 

“Mommy!” Lizzy chirped when Lena opened the door, her bright grin an instant antidote to at least half of Lena’s grouchiness. “Up, p’eas!”

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Lena set the cup down on the dresser and picked her up, holding her close and just breathing her in for a minute. Lizzy was happy enough to snuggle with her Mommy, wrapping her chubby arms around Lena’s neck. It still didn’t seem quite real. Lena wasn’t sure how long it would be until she could stop waiting for the axe to fall, for all of this to feel less like a cheat and more like something she’d earned. Maybe once they’d found the last two pieces of the talisman she would be able to relax.

“Br’fast?” Lizzy asked eventually, her little tummy rumbling.  

Lena laughed. “You and your Mama... all right, let’s get you changed and feed you.” She suited actions to words, and Lizzy was soon in her booster seat, munching contentedly on cheerios and apple slices while Lena made herself a pot of coffee and a bowl of fruit and yogurt. 

Kara flew in through the balcony doors just as she was pouring the coffee, landing neatly in the living room before joining her in the kitchen. “Good morning!” she said sunnily, hugging Lena from behind and pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

“Morning...” Lena turned around in Kara’s arms, leaving the coffee on the counter. She caught the next kiss on her lips, tasting just the barest trace of ash and when she traced the S on Kara’s chest, her finger came away stained with soot. “You’ve been busy already, I see. Anything interesting?”

Kara shrugged. “Maybe? There was a fire at that apartment building Alex and I were staking out the other night. No casualties, but the timing is a little suspicious.”

“Arson?”

“That’s what Alex thinks. She and Maggie are still there looking for clues.”   

“Do you need to go back?”

“Nope, looks like we have the day off.”

Lena frowned. “We’re not going after the next piece of the talisman?”

Kara’s smile faded. “You don’t want to take a break? This week has been crazy, I thought maybe we could spend the day together, be a normal family for once...?”

“That sounds lovely,” Lena admitted.  “But... I think I need to get this done.” She looked over Kara’s shoulder. Lizzy was carefully peeling the skin off the back of her apple slices and dropping the little curling shreds onto the floor. “Please? I won’t be able to believe she’s really ours until it’s over.”

“Oh... sure, I mean you’re right of course.” If Kara was disappointed, she hid it well. “I’ll let Winn know. Alex is busy, but he can put a team on standby for backup if we need it. Craft store or Library?”

“Craft store,” Lena decided. She had an idea...

*****

Kara wasn’t disappointed. She wasn’t. Lena was right, they needed to get this done, but what if something went wrong? Kara was usually the one ready to charge into anything, fists up. She liked to take things head-on, and darn the fallout. Change frightened her, but a challenge? That she could do. This was different. This was everything, and Kara couldn’t deny selfishly wishing for a few more days with her little family before she had to face the risk of losing them.

By the time they got to the craft store though, Kara was ready to make the best of it. They were still together, and the store wasn’t that big. It couldn’t take them too long to find what they were looking for, and then maybe, if Eliza was willing to watch Lizzy for the evening, Kara could take Lena out for dinner... like a real date... Which at this point should absolutely not be making her nervous, but the swooping feeling in her middle didn’t seem to have gotten that message.

Lizzy however, was not cooperating. And neither was Lena.

Much like the way they’d tackled the museum, Kara had planned to do a systematic sweep of the store, aisle by aisle, relying on Lizzy to narrow down the search. But from the moment they stepped through the front doors, nothing went according to plan. Lizzy had apparently gone deaf, refusing to listen to a word Kara said and darting from aisle to aisle, crashing into one hapless man’s legs and then pointing up at him yelling “Ish!” whatever that meant, and shrieking when Kara pulled her away. She knocked tubes of sparkly paint off the racks, toppled a display of paper crafts, and finally got herself wound up in a ball of string. Kara apologized profusely to the harried looking customer service rep who stepped in to help her unwind her unrepentant daughter like a tangled marionette, because Lena had disappeared.

“It’s okay ma’am,” he said, unwrapping the last few feet from around Lizzy’s ankle while Kara held her. “It happens more often than you’d think. Can I get you a cart? They have seatbelts.”

“Please,” Kara said, because she wasn’t above strapping the kid in at this point.

Lizzy did not take well to captivity. She struggled against the seatbelt, methodically examining the straps and snaps and clips for weaknesses before giving up, crossing her arms and fixing Kara with a glare of utter betrayal. “’Izzy, out!” she demanded.

“No way kiddo,” Kara said without a trace of remorse. “You blew it.”

Lizzy stuck her tongue out at her.

Kara returned the favour.

Thwarted, Lizzy was reduced to sulking and ignoring every effort Kara made to interest her in looking for anything that might be glowing. She did acknowledge Kara’s existence long enough to tug on her sleeve and point at a man wheeling a cart full of yarn. “’Ish!” she said again. “Mama, see!”

“That’s a different man,” Kara said wearily, turning the cart around and pushing them in the opposite direction. “Come on we need to find the blue glowing thing, all right?” Lizzy just huffed and went back to ignoring her. All in all, Kara was relieved to finally find Lena back in the paints section. She was on her phone, though she hastily ended the conversation and hung up when she saw them.

“Any luck?”

“With the talisman? No. With nearly getting kicked out of the store on other hand...”

 Lena had the grace to look guilty. “I’m sorry,” she said, putting her phone away.  “There was something I had to sort out. Where have you looked?”

“Nowhere, because someone...” Kara narrowed her eyes at Lizzy, who was still refusing to look at her. “Is exercising her right to a peaceful protest.”

“I’m guessing there’s a reason she’s contained?”

“So many reasons,” Kara said feelingly.

Lizzy looked up at Lena with a piteous pout, eyes wide and glistening. Lena just raised an eyebrow, and she dropped the act with a sigh. “’Izzy ‘isten,” she said grudgingly.

“Good. Should we give her a second chance?” Lena asked Kara, waiting for her nod before unbuckling Lizzy and lifting her out of the cart. “Now, you can either hold my hand, or go back in the cart,” she said, setting her down on the ground. “Which is it going to be?”

Lizzy took Lena’s hand, eyeing the cart with distaste.

“How do you do that?”

“I guess you’re just the fun Mom,” Lena said with a smirk.

“I can live with that,” Kara admitted, following them out of the paint aisle. “I call birthday party planning, and field trips! You can be the one who embarrasses her when she brings home a boy.”

“Or a girl,” Lena added, “or neither.”

“Ooh, good point. What about an alien?”

“I think it would be fairly hypocritical of me to object to that,” Lena pointed out.

“Fair enough.”

Lizzy, considering that she wasn’t quite two, had no opinion on the topic. She walked docilely enough beside Lena, craning her head around trying to look everywhere at once, but so far she didn’t seem drawn to anything until they reached the end of the paper aisle and she planted her feet, pointing at a third man just pushing his cart into one of the checkout aisles.

“Ish!” she shouted, pulling on Lena’s hand.  “Mommy, ish!”

The man glanced over his shoulder at them, looking extremely uncomfortable with the attention and ducking his head as he turned back to his cart.

Lena looked at Kara. “What’s an ish?”

Kara shrugged. “I have no idea. She’s been yelling it at different people since we got here, though.”

Lizzy threw her whole weight against Lena’s hand, actually pulling her a step or two towards the check out. “’ish go ‘way!” Unable to get any further, she dropped to the floor in a last act of defiance, eeling out of Lena’s grip when she tried to pick her up.

Concerned now, Kara knelt down beside her. “Lizzy, we don’t know what you want...”

“Ish,” Lizzy mumbled, her face flat against the floor.

“Kiddo, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what an ish is...”

Lizzy lifted her head. “Mama, g’asses!” she demanded, holding out her hand. “See, ish.”

“My glasses?”  Kara looked up at Lena, who seemed just as mystified as she was.

“It’s worth a try.”

Kara slipped off her glasses.  Lizzy scrambled to her feet and took them, pointing again towards the check out. “Mama, see!”

Kara did see, falling back onto her heels in shock. “Oh my gosh... he’s a giant fish!”

“He’s a what?” Lena hissed, helping her up.

“A fish...” Kara blinked, and he was just a man, but when she used her X-ray vision there was a giant fish skeleton standing there behind the cart, towering over the human skeletons. “He’s using some kind of projection...” she blinked again and there was a different man standing there. “And he keeps shifting it... probably because Lizzy spotted him. Sorry kiddo, that was my bad. You’re getting, like three cookies when we get home.”

“’Izzy, Cookah.” Lizzy grinned, her earlier exasperation forgotten.

“Kara, he must have been here for the piece of the talisman...” Lena said, her fingers tightening on Kara’s arm. “We have to stop him before he leaves.”

“I’m on it.” Kara took her glasses back from Lizzy and slipped them on. “Call Winn once I’m gone, but tell him to have the team stand back unless I need them. There are kids here, and I don’t want to cause a scene unless I have to.”

“Good luck,” Lena said, tugging her in for a quick kiss. Kara knew her grin must have been as wide as Lizzy’s when she pulled away, because Lena rolled her eyes and gave her a playful little shove. “Get out of here!” 

Kara went, sneaking out through one of the back doors into an alley behind the store and taking a quick look around before spinning into her suit and taking off. She flew over the store and landed right in front of the fish man as he carried his bags out the front door.

“I think you have something of mine,” Kara said, crossing her arms. “Hand it over, and we can both walk away from this.”

He gulped, the sides of his neck flaring out, and his skin taking on the sheen of scales as his projection faltered. “I... um... I don’t know what you’re talking about...” He burbled, his voice a gargling sort of mumble. “I’m just a harmless Saturnyn, shopping for my knitting supplies... I don’t want any trouble.”

“Right... then you won’t mind me taking a look through those bags?”

The Saturnyn clutched his shopping bags to his chest, arms lengthening, and a row of spiney fins standing up from his neck and back as he shrugged off the projection, growing about three feet, and looking more like a fish by the second. “I don’t think so, Supergirl!” He hissed through sharpening teeth.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way then...” Kara muttered. “So much for my date.” She launched herself at the Saturnyn, but he was faster than she had expected, moving through the air as if it was water. He flipped around and caught her with a swipe of his powerful tail, sending her crashing into a row of shopping carts.

“Okay, that stung a little,” Kara admitted, untangling herself from the pile of twisted metal and leaping back into the sky. “Time for a fish fry...” She fired a double line of heat vision across the parking lot, cutting off his escape route and singing a few scales. He doubled back with a shrill scream that made her ears ring. The Saturnyn could “swim,” it seemed, five to ten feet off the ground, but it didn’t look like he could get much higher than that, so Kara stayed over his head, hemming him in with her heat vision when he tried to escape.

He was huge though, and looked something like a cross between an angler fish and an eel, with a lot of teeth, and long arms that ended in wicked looking claws. His shrieks hurt, and he was strong. Kara was pretty sure she was stronger, but his long body and speed made it difficult to close with him. So she stayed between him and the store, slowly but surely driving him back, unwilling to get close enough to for him to reach her until she had a plan. He still had the shopping bags, looped over of his many fins and held tightly against his body.

“What’s the matter Supergirl?” he hissed, his jaws hanging open in a threatening smile. “Afraid to fight me? Or is there something back there you’re protecting?”    

Kara hesitated. He couldn’t know about... could he? She tapped on her communicator. “Winn? How far away is that team of yours?”

“Black van around back,” Winn said. “They’re ready on your signal. You want an assist with this thing? He’s seriously nasty looking.”

“No, I need them to evacuate the store. I think it knows who I am...”

“Ooh... that is not good. Okay, they’re on it.”

“Thanks Winn.”

“No problem, Supergirl. We’ll keep them safe.”

One fear allayed, Kara turned her attention back to the eerily grinning fish and narrowed her eyes. “Last chance to surrender,” she said. “I’m not going to offer again.”

The Saturnyn just laughed; a terrible viscous sound. “Why surrender, when the jelly in your bones will be delicious?”

Kara shuddered. “Okay, that’s just gross... now you’re definitely going down.”

“Ready when you are.”

Kara’s hopes of not causing a scene were irrevocably dashed. The fight was long and messy, and she was bruised and bloody before it was over. Kara was stronger, but the Saturnyn was fast and agile, making it difficult to strike more than glancing blows. and its scales were edged in something that sliced right through her kryptonian skin. The scratches healed almost immediately, but deeper ones left behind a smear of blood, and even brief pain was distracting.  

It might have gone on longer than it did, but a child’s scream from the direction of the store where Winn’s team was ushering out the last of the customers brought the Saturnyn’s head whipping around, and he darted towards the sound, giving Kara the opening she needed. Diving down, she drove both fists into the back of his head, slamming him into the pavement, and stunning him long enough to use her freeze breath to encase his entire skull in a block of ice.

“Hah!” she muttered, too tired even to gloat with any energy. “Now whose bones are jelly?” She banged on the ice, right above the eye that was still glaring at her. “Winn,” she said into the comms. “I have a few tons of frozen fish here for pick up. I’d suggest a very large cell.”

“Roger that.” Winn sounded impressed. “I’ve got your girls safe with me. Please come get them. Lena is lovely really, but she’s trying to redesign my entire system here, and Lizzy is eyeing the weaponry. I’m not worried for myself, but Mon El is around somewhere, and she really doesn’t like that guy.”

Kara snorted, amused in spite of her exhaustion. “You should listen to Lena,” she said. “She could probably make some improvements. And tell Lizzy her cookies are dependent on her not touching anything sharp. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She unhooked the shopping bags from the Saturnyn’s fin, waiting for the people in uniforms to get there with their tranquilizers and restraints before flying over to the DEO. Lena and Lizzy were right where Winn had said they were, Lena hanging over his shoulder and pointing something out on the screen, Lizzy on the floor playing with something that looked alien, but hopefully not dangerous.

“Mama!” Lizzy called. “Ish?”

“The bad fish is taken care of,” Kara assured her, handing over the shopping bags for her to rummage through. Hopefully the piece of the talisman really was in there, or this had been a very painful waste of time.

“You’re bleeding!” Lena sounded like she couldn’t decide whether to be worried or furious, stepping around Lizzy to reach for Kara, her touch gentle as she brushed her hair back, looking for injuries.

“It’s okay,” Kara said, catching her hands. “I’m all healed.” She wiped some of the blood away, revealing perfect skin underneath. “See?”

Lena frowned, unconvinced. “You’re not trying to be stoic, are you? Because I’ll call Alex...”

“I really am fine,” Kara promised her. “Just tired. So...” she added, dropping her hands to Lena’s hips and urging her a little closer. “Do I get a kiss for saving the day?”

“Mmm... at least one,” Lena murmured, tangling her fingers in Kara’s cape where it draped over her shoulders and leaning up on her tip toes to press a soft kiss to her lips.   

“Really?” Winn demanded. “Here? Do secret identities mean nothing to you people?”

“No one is making you look,” Lena told him.

“Yeah, but I can still hear it.”

Kara stole one more kiss, just to make a point, before letting Lena go so they could see what Lizzy had found. She had taken nearly every ball of yarn out of the bags, tossing them around her like a colourful little sea of wool. The last one she pulled out was a bright yellow, chunky and shot through with streaks of orange and vermillion, and blue fire flickered around it, licking up Lizzy’s hands and making her grin. She held it up to Kara. “B’ue!”

“Four cookies,” Kara told her, taking it and handing it to Winn. “And we’re ordering pizza.”

Lena sighed.

“With a side salad,” Kara added.

*****

 Kara got cleaned up and changed at the DEO, and then let Vasquez drive them home. She would have flown them there, but the Saturnyn’s words had her worried. One bounty hunter at least might know her identity. They had this one in custody, but had it figured her out in the craft store, or had it already known? They suspected the Reptilian alien they’d captured at the Museum had been working with a group, was the Saturnyn part of that team? And if so, who else knew who she was? Until they knew for sure, she didn’t want to risk Supergirl being seen anywhere near Lena Luthor in public. She wrote up a quick report for Alex before they left, hoping her sister would have some ideas on how to handle it.

Lena seemed distracted in the elevator on the way up to their apartment, checking her phone repeatedly and firing off several texts.

“Everything okay at work?” Kara asked her as the doors slid open.

“What? Oh, it’s fine.” Lena said, looking shifty. “I arranged for something to be done today. I was just making sure it was finished.”

“Is it?”

“We’ll see...” Lena unlocked the door, ushering Lizzy and Kara in ahead of her. “Come on,” she added, taking Kara’s hand with a secretive little smile and leading her to the spare room. “You wouldn’t let me buy you a restaurant, so I thought this might do instead? It’s not entirely set up yet, but you’ll probably want to do that yourself...”

Kara’s jaw dropped as she followed Lena into the sunny little room. Shelves had been hung on two of the walls and piled with paints, pallets, canvases and brushes of all shapes and sizes.  The carpet had been rolled up and taken away, leaving the hardwood floor bare and gleaming. A stack of drop clothes was in one corner, and a collection of sleek silver light fixtures in the other, just waiting for Kara to decide where she wanted them for the best lighting. A pair of beautiful dark wooden easels stood proudly in the center of the room, little tables beside them for paints and brushes, and there was a drawing table under the window, with crisp white paper and freshly sharpened pencils ready and waiting.

 “You did this?” she breathed, turning slowly around to take it all in.

“I picked it all out,” Lena said. “And I asked Eliza to come over and let the delivery people in. That’s what I was doing at the craft store... Is it okay?” she sounded nervous. “I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing...”

“Okay? You...” Kara swallowed past a lump in her throat. “Come here...” she pulled Lena into her arms, tipping her head back and kissing her with all of the fire and passion they’d been holding in check since the night of the Gala. Lena’s back hit the wall with a thump before Kara even realized they were moving, and she moaned into Kara’s mouth holding her tightly when she might have pulled back.

“Don’t you dare,” she growled, nipping at her lower lip and sliding a knee in between Kara’s as she tugged her closer.

“Lena,” Kara protested weakly, whimpering when Lena pressed a kiss under the corner of her jaw and lifted her leg a little higher. “Lizzy...”  

 Lena groaned, dropping her head back against the wall. “Fuck, right. Toddler unsupervised in the kitchen. Not the best time.”

“Not really,” Kara agreed.  “But...I could call Eliza, see if she could take Lizzy overnight. I was going to anyway, because I wanted to ask you out on a date, but as romantic gestures go...” She looked around again at the beautiful studio Lena had given her. “I think this beats dinner.”

“You were going to ask me out on a date?” Lena’s smile was smug, but her eyes were soft.

“Yeah...” Kara ducked her head, blushing. “I thought it would be nice. Slow, you know?”

 “Hmm...” Lena toyed with the hair at the back of Kara’s neck. “Darling, can we please agree to never use that word again? I think we’re ready to speed things up, don’t you?”

“Definitely! I-” Kara was interrupted by a crash from the kitchen, followed by the unmistakeable tinkling of broken glass.

They sighed in unison.

“I’ll get the kid,” Kara said.

“I’ll get the broom,” Lena added.

“But tonight?”

“Tonight.”