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The park was packed on a Saturday morning, and on any general given day, Lena would have immediately returned home seeing the scene. The weather was warming up, and Lena wasn’t particularly inclined to parade around her pale skin that got sunburnt in an instant or show off her sweat stained clothing in a crowd full of people, but she knew she had no choice.
Lena didn’t hate Arbor Day. Despite the warm weather, and the sunburns, and the sweat, and the people, she actually rather enjoyed the initiative L Corp had been putting on the past couple of years. Every year more and more people showed up, and she would have to ask Sam afterwards for a more exact estimate, but it seemed like they had finally surpassed the five hundred volunteer threshold. If you had asked Lena three years ago if she thought five hundred people would show up to plant over a thousand trees in one day by an event sponsored by L Corp, she would have laughed in your face.
But that was the exact reason Arbor Day and every other day with environmental initiatives always left a sour taste in Lena’s mouth. If Lex and his board hadn’t cut corners on environmental regulations like Lena had warned him not to, L Corp would still be in his possession, thousands of lives would have a far better quality of life, and Lena wouldn’t have to prove every single year that she cared about the environment through random initiatives. So as much good as the L Corp sponsored Arbor Day event did, it always just felt like an insufficient apology from Lena to the world about what her company did before she was at its head.
It was just politics. All of it. And Lena longed for the day she could plant a tree because she knew it was good for the city and the planet, and not good for publicity.
Sighing, she threw her hair up into a ponytail before pulling it through the ball cap she had with her. She had to show up; Sam mandated it for all of her events for the company image. But Sam didn’t mandate that everyone needed to recognize Lena. As long as the press got their quick picture, Lena was home free to plant trees in anonymity.
“Hey! You made it!” Sam called out to her, putting her clipboard down to her side and beaming as Lena approached her. Lena smirked as she watched a ten year old Ruby calmly explain to a middle aged man where he needed to go to meet up with his planting group. She was more and more like Sam every day.
Scoffing, Lena let out a little laugh and responded, “As if you wouldn’t hunt me down if I didn’t show up.”
With a mischievous look and a shrug, Sam shot back, “Well I really would have this year, that’s fair.”
Raising her eyebrows, Lena wondered if she wanted to take her friend’s bait as Sam waited with an impish grin. Finally, Lena let out a sigh as she relented, “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll bite. Why would you hunt me down this year?” And as soon as the question left her lips, Sam sidled right up alongside, grabbing her arm excitedly and pointing across the lawn at a large trailer with trees loaded on.
“Because you gotta see the owners of the nursery I hired for the event,” she informed Lena conspiratorially, and just as she said it, a woman with short cropped red hair and a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off sporting impressive muscles rounded the trailer.
Lena let out a groan. “You can’t just hire hot lesbians to work all our events just so you can get laid, Sam,” she chided, already knowing where this was going. It had be a recurring theme in past several months, and while Lena appreciated her friend’s dedication to somehow finding lesbian owned businesses for literally every L Corp event need under the sun, someone was bound to eventually put together the pattern.
“Absolutely nowhere in L Corp policy does it say that I can’t,” Sam shot back easily, never taking her eyes off the woman who was now putting on gloves and getting ready to unload the trailer. “I’ve checked.”
Lena rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Well expect that update in your next contract.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Sam turned to look at her with her eyes narrowed, and Lena playfully met her expression with her eyebrows raised.
“I’m sorry, do we want to revisit the catering disaster from last winter’s L Corp appreciation dinner?” Lena answered easily, and Sam immediately let out a laugh.
“You mean the best dinner of my life?” Sam asked.
Huffing Lena crossed her arms and inquired, “Do you call a dinner where one of L Corp’s main benefactors was insulted so badly, he pulled support and we had to scramble for months to find new funding to make up for it the best dinner of your life?”
Snorting, Sam answered, “If that dinner includes a lesbian chef watching a greasy old white man fail to properly eat an oyster and then looking as his wife and commenting ‘I’m so sorry he’s never eaten you out before’, yes. Absolutely. Best dinner of my life.”
Lena let out a sigh and shook her head, trying to keep herself from smirking remembering the incident herself. Sure the fallout was bad, but god if she could have a picture of Mr. Rosenthal’s reaction.
“On a completely unrelated side note,” Sam then continued, “that lesbian chef? Really good at eating oysters.”
“Sam!” Lena exclaimed, softly pushing her friend with a slightly appalled look that she would say something like that in public, at an L Corp event, with the press and her daughter present and potentially listening in.
Letting out a giggle, Sam shook her head and pushed Lena back before turning to her daughter. “Hey Rubes? You wanna come help me welcome the nursery people to the event?” she asked, and Lena rolled her eyes as Sam winked at her and Ruby excitedly ran to her mom, ready to be included in more responsibility.
“Press is on the west side of the park,” Sam then instructed Lena, who tried to grit down her groan. “I didn’t assign you to a specific group so just make your way over there and join whichever. We should be starting soon; this is the third or fourth trailer the nursery has unloaded. There should be volunteer staff everywhere to help you out if you need it.”
“Aye, aye,” Lena responded with a faux salute, and Sam took the time to roll her eyes before leading Ruby over to the woman unloading trees from the trailer.
Sighing, she watched Sam leave and abandon her in a sea of people. Ducking her head slightly, Lena bit her cheek and started weaving her way towards the western edge of the park. Best case scenario, she thought to herself, absolutely no one would recognize her. Medium case scenario, people recognized her and awkwardly backed away. Absolute worst case scenario, everyone recognized her and yelled at her for what a terrible person she was and what a terrible company L Corp was.
Lena had learned enough the past few years to know that just because people liked the events L Corp sponsored did not inherently mean they trusted L Corp or couldn’t see through the publicity of it all. She just had to keep her head down and get through this event like all the other ones. Maybe she could sneak into her private labs later today without getting yelled at by Sam for working on the weekend if she kept a good spirit for the entire morning.
Lost in thought, thinking over her modifications she wanted to make to the new AI interface she was designing, all Lena remembered later was one moment she was pushing her way through the crowd, and the next something was wrapped around her ankles, and she was falling head first towards the ground before being mercifully saved by large, firm hands.
“Woah,” a voice called up from above her, gently pulling her upwards to stand her back on her feet. “Who’s letting their dog run around with a leash on like that?” the woman muttered, as she got Lena to a standing position before ducking and unwrapping the leash of the dog in question from around Lena’s ankle.
Lena stared down at her, still in a bit of shock from the quick turn of events, only taking in the way the sun reflected off of the woman’s golden hair pulled back into a ponytail.
“There we go!” the woman announced finally, standing up victoriously with the leash still in hand, and Lena’s eyes met the eyes of one of the prettiest women she had ever seen in her life to date.
“Oh thank you for stopping Sophie!” another woman called from their side, and Lena was thankful this woman took the attention off her for a second so she could regather her thoughts and not stare at the first woman like a complete idiot. The first woman exchanged pleasantries with the second, handing over the dog’s leash before turning back to Lena with a satisfied sigh.
“I’m Kara,” she grinned, holding out her hand to Lena, and Lena apprehensively took the woman’s hand and shook it.
“Lena,” she murmured softly, gritting her teeth and waiting in apprehension for the look of realization to come over this girl--Kara’s--face as she put together who she was talking to. Lena had glanced down at Kara’s t-shirt and noticed the logo of Peacegreen, an organization that had published more than one scalding review of Lena’s involvement with the Drawnwood factory disaster that had put her brother in jail. It was only a matter of time before-
“Are you part of our group?” Kara then asked eagerly, motioning to the group of people milling behind her with several trees waiting to be planted.
Lena glanced fleetingly towards the western edge of the park. She was still well within the bounds of the eastern quadrant, and Sam would kill her if she didn’t get at least one publicity photo...
“Yes,” Lena found herself saying with a smile, biting her cheek slightly. Sam did tell her to join any group. And if she could go off galavanting with the nursery owner, Lena could spend one Arbor Day with a pretty girl instead of the press.
Kara let out a triumphant beam at her answer that made Lena’s heart flutter slightly. “Awesome! We were just about to get started,” she explained eagerly, and Lena couldn’t help but grin as she fed off of this woman’s energy.
“Are you the group leader?” she asked curiously as Kara led her to the center of the group, around the trees where everyone was gathering.
Letting out a laugh, Kara responded, “No. I’m just here to help out.”
Before Lena could let out a soft ‘oh’, a man spoke up in front of them. “Alright gang. We’re going to start two people to a tree and see how far we get. We’re looking to space them out by about ten yards each way. If you’ve never done this event before, pair up with someone who has and who can show you the ropes,” he instructed calmly, and Lena felt Kara lean over towards her.
“Have you ever done this event before?” she asked quietly, and Lena almost felt her cheeks burn as she looked over and noticed how close Kara was standing to her.
Clearing her throat a bit, Lena nodded slightly. “I’ve been here every year,” she confessed, for some reason hoping this would impress the woman beside her.
Kara lit up at the words and responded, “Well it’s my first year, so it looks like I’m with you.” She smiled widely at Lena, and Lena just knew her smile and the heat could not be good for her heart.
They situated themselves a little ways away from the rest of the group with the rest of the trees, and Lena picked up the shovel to start digging.
“You sure you don’t want me to do that?” Kara asked, watching Lena amusedly struggle to jump down on shovel to push it further into the earth. Lena grunted stubbornly, refusing to give up so easily, but her cheeks flushed a bit, slightly embarrassed that she had just told this girl she had done this every year and not have anything to show for it. “Here, let me,” Kara then cut in, gently leading Lena off the shovel.
Lena moved only because her body betrayed her and became shocked still at the feeling of Kara’s hands on her bare arms.
“The trick,” Kara started as Lena was she trying to reprocess her brain, “is to angle it just so, and push with your heel, and then…” Kara grunted as the shovel made a slice and subsequent hole in the ground. “There! Now just do that for about five more times and we’ll be ready to plant,” she announced proudly, holding the shovel out towards Lena.
Lena however, only stared at her dumbfounded. “You totally lied to me,” she finally accused, and Kara let out a loud laugh at that. “You did! You’ve been here every year haven’t you?”
Shaking her head, Kara teased, “Are you sure you haven’t been here every year?”
Lena blushed at this, spitefully taking the shovel back from Kara’s hands. “I have,” she defended herself easily. “I just haven’t done the shoveling part,” she then admitted quietly, and Kara laughed even more at this.
“Well I didn’t lie either,” she promised. “I’ve never been to this event before, but I have done other tree plantings. So I may have implied a lie about my experience as well.”
Chewing on her cheek, Lena determinedly tried to angle the shovel how Kara had and kick it into the soil. When it worked, she sighed and looked up at Kara, who was watching her expectantly. “Well I guess we’re the perfect match then aren’t we?” she inquired cheekily, and Kara’s grin grew wider at this.
They continued their banter for the better part of an hour, managing to plant three trees in that time in between their constant stops to talk. Lena learned that Kara had grown up on the coast, but had lived near National City for the past several years. She herself shared that she had spent most of her life in Metropolis, but had recently moved to National City for a fresh start. Kara thankfully didn’t pry for too many details, and as a thanks in return, Lena didn’t pry either. Instead they spent most of the time talking about their favorite restaurants and bars around the city.
“Have you ever been to a place called Al’s?” Kara asked as she sat in the shade and watched Lena dig.
“Can’t say I’ve heard of it,” Lena admitted, biting her tongue slightly as she pushed the shovel down into the dirt.
“It’s a small dive bar on the southwest edge of the city,” Kara began to explain slowly. “Peacegreen does a fundraiser there every year on the last day of April for the end of National Garden Month. I don’t know if you’re involved in any other environmental organizations, but it’s a great event and it helps fund a lot of community gardens throughout the city. You should come.”
Lena paused for a moment, before continuing her digging, silently thinking the offer over. While normally she would jump at any opportunity to see Kara again, she held back. She could almost see it now. She didn’t know if Peacegreen owned torches and pitchforks, but she knew they would certainly invest in some if Lena Luthor walked into one of their events. And she knew once Kara realized who she was, she certainly would rescind the invitation.
“I’ll think about it,” Lena finally responded. “I don’t usually socialize with other activists,” she admitted softly, and Kara studied her curiously.
“Yet you’re here every year,” she pointed out with raised eyebrows, and Lena huffed a small laugh and shook her head.
Pursing her lips together, Lena smiled at Kara and confirmed, “Yeah I guess I am.”
“Listen,” Kara offered standing and walking over to Lena. “If you want, I could give you my number, and then if you ever change your mind about socializing with us activists, I can invite you to any of our events.”
Lena bit back her question about getting an invite to a private event with Kara, and found herself nodding. “Sure,” she answered quietly, before hesitantly pulling her phone from her pocket. She almost cringed as she handed it over into Kara’s hands. That phone was used almost strictly for business partners, L Corp investors, and employees.
She watched Kara meticulously type her contact information into the phone before handing it back to Lena. When Lena looked down at it, she found Kara’s contact page pulled up. Her name was listed as “Kara 🌱❤️” and the only other information on the page besides her phone number was her job, listed as “shovel instructor”.
Lena laughed a little and opened a text conversation to Kara, only sending a simple “Lena”. Kara immediately opened it and responded “why are you texting me when i’m standing right here?”
Snorting, Lena rolled her eyes as Kara grinned cheekily at her and watched her slip the phone now meant for business partners, L Corp investors, employees and Kara back into her pocket.
Lena was quietly tucked away into her private lab when her phone buzzed with a notification of her name in the media. Sighing, she expected a small blip on the success of the tree planting earlier that morning, but clicked on the link anyway.
DANVERS’ NURSERY OWNER AND LENA LUTHOR LEAD MOST SUCCESSFUL ARBOR DAY IN NATIONAL CITY HISTORY
Under the title was a picture of her and Kara laughing as they planted one of their final trees for the morning. Lena’s blood seemed to freeze as she stared at the picture for a beat, and then another beat. There was a lot to process.
One, the press had found her at the event, and she hadn’t even noticed.
Two, the press was implying that Kara was the owner of the nursery hired by Sam who attended the event.
Three, Kara and Lena seemed… very, very friendly with each other in the picture. Lena knew they had been flirting a little, but this blew what her mind remembered off the charts.
Like clockwork, more notifications of her mention began pouring in. FMZ was obviously the first on the case, posting a short article speculating on Kara and Lena’s relationship. One glimpse onto her Twitter timeline showed her all that she needed to see. She already knew where this was going, had been through this all in the past.
Within an hour, all of National City would think Lena was seeing Kara Danvers.
Lena cringed in embarrassment that this was going to be the way Kara figured out who she was. She almost stared at her phone in apprehension, waiting for the infuriating text to come in from Kara, and- Oh god, why did she give her her number? She could circulate it to any of the protest groups. She could be bombarded with hate at any minute.
In a move of almost desperation, Lena’s thumb hovered over Kara’s contact information. She could reach out and try to smooth things over before anything got worse, but she stopped herself before she could do anything. She would need to do more research and larger damage control if she wanted to get ahead of this. So instead she opened up her web browser and began searching.
It was twenty minutes later as Lena was leaving her lab like a woman on a mission when Sam called her.
“Hey! Listen, I’m getting it under control,” she assured Lena.
“I am on my end as well,” Lena revealed softly. “And for the record, Sam? Good nursery pick.”
Laughing, Sam responded easily, “I knew you would appreciate my choice.” And Lena hung up on her before she could gloat anymore.
After one stop on her way, Lena quickly made the drive to the north edge of the city where Danvers’ Nursery was located. Her knee was bouncing slightly, and she hoped she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself. Kara had seemed nice. Genuinely nice, and genuinely interested, and hopefully that was all enough for Kara to give Lena enough time to hear her out.
It wasn’t until she was pulling into the gravel parking lot she began to doubt her decision. This woman just found out her last name was Luthor and everyone thought they were dating. She was the owner of a prominent National City nursery and had mentioned being a member of several different environmental activist organizations, all of which were probably blacklisting her at this very moment. Lena was probably the last person she wanted to see.
But… she had come all this way. And if Lena was anything, she wasn’t a coward. The past three years had taught her that. So she centered herself with a huff, reached over and grabbed the potted flowers she had picked up on her way there, and stepped out of her car.
Her second dilemma came when she realized she had no idea how she was going to find Kara. She stood a bit at a loss at the entrance of the nursery welcome center, and wondered if she should risk walking in and running into anyone else.
“Lena!” she heard a familiar voice call out from her side, and Lena whirled around to find a sweaty Kara looking devastatingly handsome in her bootcut jeans and loose fitted button up flannel. Lena felt her whole body flush as she took her in. “Hey!” Kara greeted eagerly as she approached Lena, before her eyes focused on the flowers in Lena’s hands. “Wow, bringing me flowers the same day we met? Don’t let the press find out,” Kara joked with a wink, and it was in that exact moment Lena realized how stupid it was to bring a plant as a gift to someone who raised plants for a living.
Face painted an impressive color of red, she held them out slightly. “There, um, white orchids,” she explained dumbly, as if that would make it all make sense.
Kara seemingly bit her cheek to keep herself from smiling too much as she took the pot from Lena’s hands into her own and commented knowingly, “I can see that.”
“To say I’m sorry,” Lena blurted. “Because white orchids mean peace and sincerity.” It had taken her ten minutes of googling to find the perfect flower that she thought would impress Kara for her apology.
“Oh?” Kara asked her face morphing into a more serious curiosity. “Do they? That’s cool; I didn’t know that,” she informed Lena with a thankful smile to learn such information.
“You didn’t?” Lena nearly scoffed, unable to stop herself. “Aren’t you some big fancy horticulturist?” she asked, but she already knew the answer. Had spent the other ten minutes of her googling looking up a one Kara Danvers, the number one ranked horticulturist in the city who graduated top of her class at NCU.
“Horticulturists don’t know flower meanings,” Kara explained amused. “I think you’re thinking of a florist.”
“Oh,” Lena responded, not able to think of anything else to say, once again embarrassed by how little she thought this through.
They both were silent for a few moments before Kara decided to speak again. “Can I ask what the apology is for?” she asked intrigued, and Lena furrowed her eyebrows a bit.
“Oh, um, sorry,” she shook her head, biting her lip slightly. “You mentioned the press earlier, and I thought you saw-”
“That everyone thinks I’m dating the most powerful woman in the city?” Kara finished with her eyebrows raised. “Yeah, no, I’m caught up on that front. But that doesn’t explain what the apology is for?” she repeated, her eyes watching Lena curiously.
Shifting under the pressure, Lena shrugged and averted her eyes as she tried to explain, “I know you’re big in a lot of activist groups, and I know just passing me in the street could get you kicked out of some of them. So if there’s some kind of fallout from this, I just wanted to say I’m sorry upfront for not telling you who I was from the beginning. My publicist is going to try to get it to go away but-”
“Do you want to walk through the nursery with me?” Kara interrupted her, her expression patient and expecting.
“What?” Lena faltered, furrowing her eyebrows, as if she had heard Kara wrong.
“I was just about to go finish some pruning for the spring, and I could use some help,” Kara explained, gesturing back behind her to a far end of the nursery. “I know you’re a quick learner, so I was wondering if you wanted to come back with me.”
Lena almost felt like she was being punked. “I- um- sure?” she finally answered unsurely, and Kara beamed.
“Cool, I’ll grab you some gloves,” she announced as she quickly made her way around Lena and ran into the welcome building behind her.
“Wait, Kara-” Lena started, but the door was already closing and Lena was left to stare a bit stunned in her wake.
Kara emerged a few moments later, orchids replaced in her hands with a pair of dirty, worn down gloves. Handing Lena the gloves, she began leading her back to the back corner of the nursery, expecting Lena to follow her without hesitation.
“I enjoy spring pruning because it’s very cathartic,” Kara began explaining. “It feels like you’re giving the shrub a new chance. Summer pruning hurts sometimes; chrysanthemums, for example, need to be pinched off before they bloom to allow them to grow denser towards the end of the season. It pays off, but it feels like you’re not really giving them a chance, you know?” she asked, turning to Lena who stared at her a bit perplexed. Not waiting for her to answer, Kara continued, “But spring pruning is just cutting away all the old stuff so it can grow faster and better. It doesn’t feel as morally ambiguous.”
Lena considered Kara with a bit of wonder, trying to wrap her mind around a person who casually discussed the moral ambiguities of gardening. She almost didn’t notice when Kara held out a pair of large shears towards her. Swallowing thickly, Lena gingerly took the shears into her hands, holding them a bit awkwardly.
“Right so,” Kara continued, motioning for Lena to come closer to wear she was standing beside a bush, “the goal is to cut off a third.”
“Of the whole bush?” Lena asked, a bit concerned and wondering if she heard Kara correctly.
Chuckling slightly and holding up her own shears, Kara nodded. “Of the whole bush, yes. The boxwoods will grow that much back and then some over the summer, so you don’t have to worry about its well-being,” she explained with a wink. “You should make all your cuts at a forty-five degree angle to ensure rainwater slides off the fresh cuts; if the rainwater seeps in, the boxwood could get a fungal infection. Other than that, it’s usually best to start shearing from the top and then work your way around the sides.”
Lena blinked at Kara and then took in the bushes in front of her. “Are you sure you want me helping you with this?” she asked, acutely aware of the number of ways she could fuck this up.
With an amused grin, Kara nodded, “You got this.”
Lena stared at Kara for a long moment before turning her attention back to the bush in front of her apprehensively. With a deep breath, Lena finally relented and made her first shear.
Lena was not too proud to admit when Kara was right. Pruning the boxwoods was proving to be incredibly cathartic, and within twenty minutes, she was working her way around each one like a pro. With each slice of old growth gone, Lena could almost feel the energy of the bush ramping up for its new summer debut. She was definitely beginning to understand why Kara talked about the plants the way she did.
Her and Kara remained silent for most of the pruning, Kara only speaking up to give advice here or there. Instead, they worked comfortably in the quiet, but as they neared the end of the expenditure, Lena felt something heavy settle in her stomach. She still hadn’t gotten her full apology out, and she didn’t know what Kara’s motive was inviting her back to help with the pruning.
“It’s kind of beautiful, isn’t it?” Kara broke the silence after she finished her last bush and began picking up the branches and loading them in the bucket of a nearby tractor. “How all you have to do is clear away some of the past and they’ll grow into something better than before?”
Lena paused at this, thinking over Kara’s statement as she stood the large remains of trimmings on the ground and took in the newly pruned boxwoods. It was beautiful, she thought finally as she pursed together her lips. But not necessarily because of their growth, she counter argued silently. More because someone cared enough about them to help clear away the past.
“I don’t mind, by the way,” Kara then pulled Lena from her thoughts. Lena looked up at her curiously, but before she could ask what Kara meant, Kara continued, “Being associated with you, that is. If that’s what you were worried about.” Lena opened her mouth to say something, anything, but nothing seemed to come out of her mouth as Kara walked up to her, and admitted softly, “As far as I’m concerned, L Corp hasn’t done anything marginally bad since you took over. In fact, you’ve handled everything so well, I’m kind of in awe of you.”
Swallowing thickly, Lena averted her eyes and stared hard at the ground. “You don’t have to say any of that to make me feel better,” she finally assured Kara. “I know my presence in the environmental community is nuanced.”
Kara let out a small, amused huff of breath. “And if I cared about any of that nuance, I wouldn’t have spent the whole morning teaching you how to use a shovel,” she shot back, meeting Lena’s surprised eyes evenly.
“You knew who I was?” she asked, a bit caught off guard.
With a soft nod of confirmation, Kara tried to offer her a sincere yet bashfully smile as she disclosed, “I didn’t want to scare you away. You seemed like you were trying to hide from everybody.”
“I was,” Lena confirmed easily, staring at Kara as if she were just getting to know her for the first time.
“Well,” Kara started, her eyes meeting Lena’s with an emotion Lena couldn’t quite pinpoint. “I saw you.”
Lena swallowed the lump in her throat as she tried not to think of the implications of Kara’s statement, her skin burning slightly as she tried to brush past it in her mind. But every time she tried to move on from it, there was Kara, staring at her patiently. Waiting for her. To do what, Lena couldn’t imagine, but eventually, she couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“I’m tired of the politics,” she admitted as she wetted her lips. Her heart felt like it was thundering, but it felt so good to finally tell someone that. So good that she couldn’t stop herself from continuing. “God, it sounds so selfish, but I just don’t want to feel like everything I do is driven by guilt. I want to do things because I want to do them and not because I’ll get death threats if I don’t. I’m tired of trying to make up for it, a mistake I could never possibly make up for-”
“Didn’t you come up with the bioremediation strategy to remove the polyfluoroalkyl substance from that town’s water source?” Kara finally cut in, stopping Lena’s jumbled rant, and Lena stopped a bit perplexed at the question.
She stared at Kara for a long moment. “Yes,” she finally answered.
Kara nodded knowingly. “And you stopped producing the products that contained that substance as soon as you were in charge?”
Lena paused again, shifting her weight uncomfortably before once again answering, “Yes.”
“And you completely rebuilt that town and compensated everyone ten-fold for their health bills?” she finally asked with her eyebrows raised pointedly.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Lena argued quickly, not wanting Kara to ask another one of her questions. “That doesn’t fix the damage.”
Kara pressed her mouth together for a long moment. “Did you even know it was happening?” she eventually inquired softly. “That your brother was illegally dumping the waste into the stream by the factory and it was poisoning that town's water supply?”
Lena averted her eyes to avoid letting Kara see the tears in her eyes. “I should have known,” she stated with a bit of defeat. “I know my brother. The profit margins from that factory were starting to seem impractical. I suspected something was going on and tried to ask him, but he didn’t tell me anything.”
Kara nodded at this and asked, “Did you know the whistleblower?” Lena’s entire body clenched at the question as she held her breath and closed her eyes. She didn’t need to see Kara’s expression to know the realization that was setting in. “Were you the whistleblower?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
Steeling herself, Lena wiped her cheek of the single tear that had managed to fall before she took a shuddering breath and opened her eyes to meet Kara’s. It only took a second for Kara to have her answer.
“I’m sorry,” Kara strangled out, a look of empathy in her eyes. “That must’ve been really hard.”
“Why are you apologizing?” Lena scoffed, trying to laugh a bit at herself. “It was what was right; that’s all that mattered.”
With a heartbreakingly kind expression, Kara smiled at Lena with a bit of wonder. “And that is the reason I refuse to blame you for any of it,” she explained easily. “You spoke up; you did what any of us activists would have done. I don’t see why we should criminalize you because of your brother.” Gently Kara reached out with her gloved hand and squeezed Lena’s hand, and Lena clung to the contact gratefully.
“Thank you, Kara,” Lena murmured gratefully, not having it in herself to fight Kara’s affection and support any longer. In fact, she almost felt like there was a weight lifted off her chest, just from voicing her fears to what she should consider a complete stranger, but felt more like an old friend.
“Kara!” a voice called from across the nursery, breaking the moment, and Lena let out a little laugh as Kara groaned and turned towards the voice. Looking over Kara’s shoulder, Lena saw the woman from earlier in the morning with the short cropped red hair calling. “I need help moving the new inventory!”
“Coming!” Kara responded instantly before letting out a disappointed sigh. “Ah, sorry, I have to-”
“No, no, that’s okay,” Lena promised, smiling ruefully at Kara. “I should get going anyways.”
“What are you doing tonight?” Kara rushed out as Lena turned to walk away, and Lena stopped spun on her heel as she looked at Kara curiously. “I mean if the whole city thinks I have a chance with you, I should shoot my shot, right?” she shrugged, trying to play it off nonchalantly, but Lena could tell she was nervous, and she felt a warmth blooming in her chest.
“I’m not doing anything,” Lena responded softly.
“Cool!” Kara acknowledged with a strained smile. “Uh, there’s this mixer, um, party thing at one of the botanical gardens across town that we provided some dogwoods to last year when they were in a pinch, and it’s the grand opening of their new expansion and whatnot, and I was wondering if you wanted to come?” The words tumbled out of her mouth as if saying them too slowly would suddenly make Lena remember she had somewhere else to be that night. “It’ll be super lowkey and everyone there is chill, so you don’t have to worry about like, being run out or anything,” she promised. “In fact, the director will probably keel over when she sees you and try to solicit money out of you the whole night,” she added, reconsidering at the last minute before her eyes met Lena’s hopefully.
Biting her cheek, Lena replied, “I would love to.”
“Really?” Kara inquired, her whole face lighting up.
Giggling at the sight, Lena nodded and confirmed, “Yes.”
“Okay, well, I know this is not a good impression for a first date, but I can text you the name of the place and meet you there?” Kara asked. “Inventory takes a while, and I don’t know if I’ll be done early enough to get cleaned up and pick you up.”
“That works,” Lena nodded.
“Okay, cool.”
“Cool.”
Both women stared at each other for a long moment before Kara let out a long breath.
“I’ll see you tonight then,” she stated with a warm look on her face.
“I’ll see you tonight, Kara.”
If Lena thought Kara looked good in her nursery clothes, she certainly was not prepared for dashing Kara Danvers in tight black jeans and a light short sleeve button up with her hair down in curls. If she had been prepared, she would have done more than make the singular undignified sound that came from the deep tresses of her throat that made Kara look more smug than she ever deserved to be.
“Do I look alright?” Kara inquired with a smirk, and Lena rolled her eyes but didn’t make a point to stop hungrily raking her eyes over Kara. With a chuckle, Kara returned the favor before she clasped her hand in Lena’s and murmured, “You look good too.”
Lena flashed her a satisfied smile with a light blush, knowing her deep cut blouse had exactly the intention she had been going for when she had pulled it from her closet. Before she could respond, however, someone was calling out Kara’s name and pulling their attention.
“There’s my hero!” a woman called out, and Lena tried to bite back her instinctual urge to hold onto Kara’s hand tighter.
Kara’s hand, however, slipped out of Lena’s as she eagerly went to greet the woman with a hug. “It’s good to see you,” she started before pulling back and gesturing to Lena. “Lena, this is the owner of the botanical garden, Andrea. Andrea, Lena,” she introduced eagerly.
“Holy shit,” Andrea almost whispered as she looked like a deer in the headlights taking Lena in. After a moment, her attention snapped back to Kara, and she hit her over the head. Kara mumbled an ‘ow’ as Lena stifled an amused laugh and Andrea stepped up towards Lena holding out her hand. “Lena Luthor, it is such a pleasure to see you; I am so sorry I wasn’t warned you were coming; I would have set up an official nightlights tour for the honor.”
Reaching out and feeling most of the tenseness seep out of her, Lena shook Andrea’s hand easily. “Don’t worry about it. I’d love to take a tour another day though,” she offered, and Andrea practicially preened at the suggestion.
“Of course! Just let me know when it works best in your schedule,” she confirmed eagerly.
“Shut up, I thought that picture was photoshopped!” Lena heard another woman call out from a little ways ahead of them, and Lena saw wear they were heading. A group of about thirty people were hanging out under a lit awning, and Kara once again grabbed onto Lena’s hand to offer support as they made their way further up the path with Andrea.
Clearing her throat slightly, Kara leaned over and warned, “So that’s Nia, and she’s going to grill you.”
Lena didn’t have a chance to process or respond before Nia was upon them. “How much is she bribing you with to be here?” she inquired seriously, and Kara groaned.
“Come on, Nia. She’s like a billionaire; how would I even bribe her?” Kara pointed out, but Nia ignored her and turned to Lena seriously.
“Blink twice if you need help,” she instructed, and Lena laughed at her expression.
“Nia, leave the poor girl alone,” another woman instructed from behind her. “Hi Lena, I’m Kelly,” she welcomed holding out her hand, which Lena shook nervously. “We’re happy to have you here,” she informed Lena, and Lena smiled gratefully at her in return.
“Kelly’s my sister’s wife,” Kara explained with a smile.
Lena turned to Kara with a bit of a perplexed look. “Is your sister the one with the short red hair?” she asked, and when Kara nodded, Lena let out a small laugh. “Well then I’m going to apologize on behalf of my friend today, who probably definitely made a fool of herself trying to make a move on your wife,” she offered, and Kara shot Lena an amused look.
“Oh wait, you mean Sam?” Kelly asked with a laugh. “Alex is actually bringing her tonight to set her up with-” She didn’t fully finish the sentence, but it was clear she mouthed the name ‘Andrea’. Lena raised her eyes at this, glancing over at Andrea, and then shooting Kelly an appreciative glance.
“Honestly,” Lena commented, “that just might work.” And Kara let out a loud laugh.
They both left Kelly to retrieve drinks, and while they were standing in the corner of the party, Alex arrived with Sam in tow. Sam’s eyes immediately caught Lena’s and she raised her eyebrows to acknowledge her, but her attention was quickly pulled to be introduced to Andrea.
“Do you really think that’ll work?” Kara asked with a genuine interest.
Shrugging, Lena answered, “I think it has a better chance than Sam’s last twenty attempts.”
Kara considered this for a long moment before commenting, “Andrea’s had a long bout of it too. Maybe it’s time they both found each other.”
“Maybe,” Lena murmured, but her eyes were turned from their friends so as to study Kara, and Kara’s eyes turned down and met hers for a long moment.
“Do you want to see part of the gardens that we helped plant last fall?” Kara asked after a moment.
Lena tried to wet her dry mouth as she nodded slightly and replied, “Sure.”
They both set down their drinks as they slipped away from the party, and Kara began to lead Lena down a hill on a dark path. When they came to a clearing, Kara stopped and turned to Lena seriously.
“Now, what I’m about to show you is a big deal,” she started, and Lena quirked her eyebrow in question. “What you’re about to experience is the best stargazing spot in all of National City.”
Lena held her breath as she smiled. “Our first date and you’re already pulling all the stops, Danvers?” she teased, and Kara smiled back at her cheekily.
“I’ve got to,” she replied easily. “I’ve got a fancy woman to impress.”
Shaking her head a bit, Lena corrected, “This fancy woman is easily impressed.”
“Either way,” Kara rectified. “She deserves the best.”
Lena was sure her heartbeat was going crazy at this point, as she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had made her feel even remotely close to this way. Kara grabbed her hands and began walking backwards, slowly leading Lena into the small garden alcove they had come up.
“Now close your eyes and sit down, and lay on your back,” Kara instructed, wanting Lena to have the full effect of the stargazing spot. Lena did as she was told and felt Kara do the same beside her, her arm brushing slightly against Lena’s. “Okay,” Kara then whispered breathlessly. “You can open.”
When Lena’s eyes opened and took in the sky, she almost let out a gasp. The sky was littered with beautiful stars, and Lena didn’t think she had seen this many since her boarding school days. Living within the city for so long, she had almost forgotten what this sight looked like.
Kara beamed approvingly at her reaction, and they both relaxed into their positions, silently enjoying each other's company.
“Have you heard of a planet called Krypton?” Kara asked suddenly after a moment as they stared up at the stars.
Lena paused before responding uncertainly, “I think so?” Lena tried to recall, searching for any recollection of it in her memory. “It’s in a red sun solar system right?” she finally provided, pulling the tidbit of information from the deep recesses of her mind.
“Was,” Kara corrected without hesitation. “It died.”
“Oh,” Lena reflected sadly. How terrifying was it that one day an entire world could exist, and then the next: gone.
“It’s actually my home planet,” Kara then clarified, a thick emotion clouding her voice.
“Oh,” Lena let out, her neck snapping to face Kara with a sadness she couldn’t begin to explain. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Kara assured her easily. “It’s been a lot of years since I lost it, and it still hurts but…” She trailed off as her eyes still combed the stars, and Lena’s eyes never left Kara. “Our conversation today actually reminded me of it,” she stated, glancing briefly down at Lena.
“It did?”
“Yeah,” Kara explained with a long breath. “My parents were kind of like the government there. I found out after I got here that they knew the planet was dying and didn’t do anything.”
“Kara,” Lena tried to grasp breathlessly, unable to even begin to understand the trauma this woman had been through. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks,” Kara comforted softly, lacing her fingers in between Lena’s and squeezing slightly. “I just- I didn’t know anything about it, but just knowing that my parents knew and didn’t do anything... I carried that guilt around with me for a long time. The thought that if I would have paid a little closer attention, just asked the right questions, I could have done something.”
Lena considered this for a long moment before murmuring, “How old were you?”
“Twelve,” Kara answered shakily.
“That’s really young,” Lena breathed out, squeezing Kara’s hand in return. “You couldn’t have been expected to know.”
“I know,” Kara reassured her with a strained smile. “I know that now. It took awhile, but I got there.” She rolled her head over slightly so she was looking at Lena with a thick sincerity in her eyes. “I just wanted to tell you because I know how hard it is to find out the people you love made the wrong decision and hid it from you and now you have to live with the consequences. I know how that guilt can eat away at you, and I wanted you to know that you’re not alone. There’s at least one person who's on your side, no matter what.”
Lena was beginning to not be surprised about how easily this woman could stun her into silence. “Thank you, Kara,” she offered reverently, and Kara held her expression for a long moment solemnly.
Blinking, Kara seemed to snap back into the moment and let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, wow,” she commented, looking back up at the stars a bit embarrassed. “That was a lot for a casual date with someone I just met today.”
Turning her eyes back up to the stars a well, Lena chuckled softly and observed, “So is telling someone I was the whistleblower on my brother, so consider us even.”
“Done,” Kara accepted easily, and they both shared a conspiratal smile. Reluctantly, however, Kara looked back up the way they came when they heard a loud round of laughter come from the party. “We should go back up,” she stated disappointedly. “Andrea gets really mad if she thinks anyone’s hooking up in her gardens.”
Snorting, Lena nodded as Kara stood up and offered her hand to Lena. As Lena stood, she came up closer to Kara than she had expected, and her breath seemed to catch as she noticed Kara’s stare dip down to her lips.
“Hey Danvers!” they heard Andrea’s voice carry down the pathway from the party. “Your date’s donation only buys you so much allotted time of me turning a blind eye to you whisking her off in my gardens alone, and that time is up!”
Chuckling, both Kara and Lena ducked their heads and interlaced their fingers once again. “We’re coming!” Kara called back, and Lena giggled at the huff they heard from Andrea all the way from the top of the hill.
When they were reunited with the rest of the party goers, Kara and Lena situated themselves at a table with Alex, Kelly, Andrea, Sam, and Nia, dissolving comfortably into an easy conversation with their company. At one point, Alex and Kelly left the table to join a few other couples out in the lawn dancing to the soft music playing, and it wasn’t long before Kara convinced Lena to join them as well.
They were swaying silently back and forth in the soft light of the awning, and Lena couldn’t help but think this was the most at peace she had felt in awhile.
“Kara?” Lena started after a moment, a thought popping into her head.
“Hmm?”
Lena hesitated for a second before asking, “Doesn’t a yellow sun give people from planets with a red sun some kind of special powers?”
“Yup,” Kara answered easily, popping the ‘p’ and seeming unfazed by the question.
Lena looked up at her and waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, Lena pushed forward. “Do you have said powers?” she inquired.
“Yup. Why?” she replied, her eyebrows furrowing as Lena watched her puzzled.
“Well,” she began. “I guess... Why become a horticulturist?” she wondered, and the implication was clear. If Kara could do things no other man in the world could, why choose plants as a living?
“Women find it hot,” Kara explained seriously, and she held her expression as Lena shot her a baffled look and punched her lightly in the shoulder. After a few seconds, however, she broke and let out a loud laugh. “Okay, okay, you caught me. I’m kidding. Though you didn’t disagree, so I’m counting that as points for me,” she relented, and Lena snorted in amusement.
Sighing, Kara pondered the question more seriously before shrugging. “I don’t know,” she finally answered. “I guess when I came here and realized I had all these powers, I felt kind of out of control. And I learned how to use them, and use them to my advantage eventually, but it just always felt like I was cheating in some way. Like no matter what I did, or what I decided to go into, I would never be able to level the playing field between me and everyone else, and it felt… lonely? I guess?” She paused to look down at Lena, who was listening with rapt attention, and Kara smiled at her.
“Then one day Alex brought me into a greenhouse she was working in as an apprentice of sorts and started showing me the ropes, and I just fell in love. None of my powers can make plants grow faster, you know?” she asked, her eyes looking to Lena’s for a confirmation and continuing as soon as she got one. “In fact, most plants would be destroyed if I did use my powers, so it was the one place that required me to be just me. And the positive things I do there aren’t because of some freak advantage I have, but just because I’m genuinely good at what I do. It’s the only place I’ve found since I came to this planet that makes me feel normal, and in control, and I don’t know. I just decided that’s what I wanted to feel like for the rest of my life,” she reasoned with another shrug, before she chuckled. “Wow, okay, seriously. I just really keep piling it on; I swear I know how to be lighthearted with a girl I just met,” she promised.
“It’s okay,” Lena reassured her with a sincere look. “It’s… nice. To trust someone this quickly and to have them trust me in return. That hasn’t happened in a while.”
Kara studied Lena for a long moment before a smile slowly tilted the corners of her mouth again. “Well then, I’m honored,” she stated.
When the song ended, they returned back to the table to find only Nia still remaining. Both Kara and Lena glanced back out on the lawn to see if Sam and Andrea had joined them dancing without them dancing, but to no avail.
“Oh come on, we all know where they went,” Nia commented with a snort at Kara and Lena’s confusion, and Kara let out a laugh at the realization before grabbing Lena’s hand and pulling her to the top of the hill they had gone down earlier in the evening.
Without warning, Kara shouted down, “Hypocrite!” And Lena had to stifle the laugh as she caught onto the situation.
“Shut up, Danvers!” Andrea’s response came a moment later, and Kara and Lena dissolved into laughs.
They both milled around the party until around 11 PM, when Kara announced she had to be up early in the morning for work. Lena wasn’t sure if that was true, or if it was a nice lie because she noticed Lena was beginning to show signs of exhaustion. They both said goodbye to all the people present, which did not include Andrea and Sam causing both Kara and Lena to smirk at each other slightly before they began to walk back towards the parking lot.
“I like your friends,” Lena commented softly when they were nearly to their cars. “They’re nice.”
Kara hummed slightly at this before she stated, “They really liked you too. I could tell.” Lena beamed up at her at the praise.
When they reached Kara’s car, Lena paused for a moment, not yet ready to head to her own car.
“I had fun tonight,” she murmured.
“Me too,” Kara whispered as her hand feathered over Lena’s.
Before she could chicken out of it, Lena tiptoed upwards and planted a soft kiss on Kara’s cheek. “Goodnight, Kara,” she breathed, and Kara seemed too stunned to respond as Lena backed away from her.
“Um, wait!” Kara called out as Lena turned to leave, snapping into action. “Before you go, I- I have something for you.”
Lena quirked her eyebrows slightly as she watched Kara frantically dive into her car and pulled something out of the backseat. When she reemerged, her hair looked messier than before, and her face was tinted with a slight flush.
“Here, um,” Kara started fidgeting nervously, and Lena looked down and saw a small potted plant in her hands. “I may not know the meanings of flowers, but ‘aloe you vera much’.”
She rushed out the pun, pushing the aloe vera plant towards Lena and looking at her shyly as Lena just stared at her. The silence between them as Lena remained unmoving passed for a few heartbeats before Kara immediately scrambled to recover.
“Shoot, that was too much for a first date, wasn’t it?” she asked, her face tinged with a bright red flush. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know how to flirt with billionaire CEOs; the internet doesn’t really have a lot of guidance for that sort of thing and-”
Lena cut her off with a loud laugh, causing Kara to pause, before she wrapped her hands softly around the aloe vera plant in Kara’s hands and tiptoed up to press her lips firmly against Kara’s. Kara seemingly froze at the contact for a second before ducking her head a bit so she could gently deepen the kiss. When Lena pulled back, Kara’s head followed hers slightly, until their foreheads touched and both women held their breaths as they looked up at each other.
Clearing her throat slightly, Lena finally murmured, “You’re doing just fine on the flirting front.”
“Cool,” Kara croaked, clearly still in a bit of a daze as she stared at Lena in wonder. “Good to know.”
Letting out a small laugh, Lena shook her head and gently pried the plant from Kara’s hands. “Goodnight, Kara,” she whispered again, as she took a step backwards towards her car, and Kara raised her hand to wave goodbye before she stopped Lena again.
“Wait!” she called out again, and Lena paused and looked at her perplexed. “Did you only kiss me because of the plant pun? Because I have a lot more I can use on you,” she offered, her eyes wide, and Lena laughed as she shook her head.
“How about you take me on some more dates and test that theory, Danvers?” she replied, the challenge in her voice.
Letting out a relieved smile, Kara nodded. “You got it!” she responded eagerly, and Lena turned to leave, ducking her head and grinning madly.
Okay, maybe Lena loved Arbor Day.