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Chapter Text

Luthor-Danvers Penthouse, National City, December 2024

Kara and Lena Luthor-Danvers had just finished their dinner and the accompanying dishes and readied themselves with nervous excitement for the conversation they were about to have.

They had spoken before in abstract, very general terms about how they both wanted to have children, and sure, without question, they wanted to have those children, together.

For example, last year on the night of their wedding, they had spoken briefly about it. Of course, their vows had made reference to their future, spending it together, sticking with each other through thick and thin, and so forth. But they, that evening reiterated to each other, their still somewhat nebulous desires to have a family, with kids, with an emphasis even on the “s.”

And so now, with things looking not too bad for them (even, dare they say it – looking good), and even their extended family, they had finally decided to try and hash out the details, on well, how they were going to do it.

They sat there, close to each other on the sofa, each of them with minds going a mile a minute, without saying a word.

Finally, Lena spoke, “Darling, I’m not sure if I’ve told you, but L-Corp’s been developing technology to facilitate pregnancy for people, no matter gender.”

At this, Kara frowned.

Sure, they were two women, but Kara was a woman, who had no…sexual…material…of her own to contribute.

It had been a while, since Kara had come out as trans to Lena.

It had even been a while since Kara had somewhat miraculously gone through the many pieces of her gender confirmation surgery.

And while things were going well for her, it seemed, in well, every department (yes, finally, every department), certainly she thought when it came to this discussion, Lena would remember how her being trans factored into the conversation.

And so, she looked up at Lena, not wanting to say it in a way, but seeing no other way, and began, “Lena –”

But Lena, clueing in, suddenly, to her wife’s inner turmoil, couldn’t help but lovingly interrupt, “Darling, I know. The technology doesn’t require sexual material though to work.”

She smiled over at her love, waiting for the words to sink in.

As the words did sink in for Kara, she laid her hand on top of Lena’s and smiled right back.

But then suddenly, she remembered something. Oh, and to think she’d just been thinking Lena had forgotten something – here she was forgetting!

This was something that got her so giddy with excitement, with just a bit of nervousness, she started laughing.

Lena looked over at her funnily, head tilted sideways.

“Are you ok, love?”

“Yeah!” she responded breathily, “I just somehow had completely forgotten about something until just now!” She paused and collected herself, “I’ll be right back!”

Lena gave her a small nod of acknowledgement, and with that, she was off.

Of course, with her speed and the well-practiced route for her from the Fortress and back, she was back in no time at all.

However, Lena was surprised to find her back in the living room holding a large, scientific looking cannister.

And Kara, for her part, was looking like a kid in a candy store, though it did appear, Lena thought, that her wife was being pretty careful with the aforementioned cannister.

Lena lifted her eyebrow quizzically at her wife, “Kara, darling, what is it that you came back with?”

Kara smiled back at Lena, though now with more nerves showing.

“Oh…um…it…well, it is related to our conversation!”

Lena sighed. It looked like Kara was making her guess what, well, whatever this thing was.

But Lena Luthor-Danvers wasn’t called a genius for nothing – it only took her a few seconds before an idea came to her – and just like that she knew what the cannister contained.

Lena let out a light laugh, and looked to Kara – “Kara, dear – sorry, but does that really contain what I think it does?”

Now it was Kara’s turn to be confused and miffed.

“Um…Lena…I don’t know…? What do you think it has?”

Lena paused.

She thought about toying with her wife. How could this be the same person who could and regularly did bring her fantasies to life for her in their bedroom, just over there?

And yet, she and Kara had also had many soft and tender conversations about Kara’s many feelings, experiences, and many, many, anxieties relating to sex. She knew, for example, how strongly and how easily sex could be tied to her love’s gender dysphoria.

And so, she bit her tongue and simply said, “Kara, forgive me – I can say it, or I can write it – which would you prefer?”

Kara looked at her Lena. She saw all kinds of care and consideration etched plainly in her face.

Kara sighed. “You can say it.”

And so, Lena, trying to hide her laugh, steadily spoke – “Did you bring me a sperm sample of yours?”

Kara simply nodded, with an odd expression of a cross between a frown and a small smile on her face.

Lena brought Kara, and the sperm sample cannister, back to the sofa.

Slowly, Kara regained her composure, and with a just a teeny bit of the excitement from earlier, she said with her arms waving about, “Before I started my HRT – years ago – I researched how human doctors do this sort of thing, and I built a unit to do it, for me, at the Fortress.

I’d completely forgotten that I still had it lying around, until our conversation.”

Lena simply smiled at her.

She let out a light chuckle, and said “You know…I love you, Kara Zor-El…you know that, right?”

Kara looked at Lena, dumbly.

“Umm…yeah…” she answered, uncertain as to the correct response.

Lena went on, “You’re so smart, you know? I love that about you. I love that I am someone who gets to see that – gets to see just how smart you are.

I’ll never not be amazed that you worked to create your own HRT, for you, and not only did you just have this lying around, but you had worked to engineer a specific unit for it as well… You’re…you’re amazing.

Well, for all that and much more!”

Kara blushed under Lena’s praise.

Their conversation went from there.

They decided they would use sexual material from the both of them to create their offspring. And though they had a couple options for the gestation of the child, with Reign having even offered to help them by building a Kryptonian birthing chamber, they decided Lena would carry their child.

By their conversation’s end, they felt much more ready and more confident than they had before about howthey were going to create their own little family.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The DEO Medical Wing, April 2025

“TWINS?” Kara exclaimed.

Lena, more calmly, asked Dr. Hamilton, “Are you certain?”

“Yes, quite,” Dr. Hamilton returned, while Kara still tried to pick her jaw up off the floor.

Kara hadn’t expected to be having more than one kid this…quickly…

~~~~~~~~~~~

The DEO Medical Wing, December 2025

December 20^th, 2025.

The day would be well-remembered by the family, as the day the lively twins arrived.

If you had been there, in that unassuming room of the DEO, you would have likely fallen under the spell of a most enchanting sight.

There, lay Lena, barely awake after her 13-hour long labour and delivery time, but nevertheless sporting a small smile on her face at the sight of her family surrounding her.

On her right, standing beside her was her beloved, Kara. She was tired as well, but somehow still jumping about, exuding such energy.

In front of Kara was the visiting Eliza, whispering sweet, lovely reassurances to the newborn Luthor-Danvers she held in her arms. Though the babe was crying up a storm, Eliza good-naturedly still stood there and continued speaking to her grandchild.

On the other side of the room were the Olsen-Danvers – Alex, Kelly, and their own baby born earlier that year, Hugo.

Alex stood there, gently and lovingly holding one of her new nieces in her arms. Kelly stood beside her, standing just a little apart from her wife as she held her and Alex’s son in her own arms. They both had massive smiles on their faces.

After just a couple minutes, Kara and Lena shared a look, and then Kara cleared her throat.

“So, everyone, I know we’ve kind of held it from you, but –”

“Just tell us their names already!” Alex teased. She knew Kara was about to announce the babies’ names, but why must she drag it out so?

Kara shot Alex a look before continuing.

“So, I’d like you to meet Áine,” she swept her arms towards Eliza to indicate the baby she was holding, “and Zhinah Luthor-Danvers!” She finished by doing the same towards Alex and the baby she was holding.

(Áine is pronounced “awn-yah”)

“Lena and Kara, those are lovely names you’ve chosen – do they hold special significance for you?” Eliza asked.

Lena and Kara looked at each other, smiles full of love on their faces.

Lena spoke up first, “Well, I wanted one of them to have a traditional Irish name to represent my past, or at least the past I want to keep as mine. And ‘Áine’ means radiance in Irish.”

Kara then added, “And in Kryptonese, ‘Zhinah’ means heir. I like the idea of her, well, both of them being our heirs, being really, in a way our legacy. And I wanted to give her that, in a very real way.”

Alex spoke then – “You know everyone will probably just call her Gina, right?”

Kara just laughed. “Eh, probably, but it’s close enough. Call it the anglicised version of her name. If she wants to correct people when she’s older, that’ll be for her to decide.”

They stayed like that for a while.

Pure contentment on their faces.

Occasionally conversation would occur.

Here and there the twins would find themselves passed around, so that everyone – except Baby Hugo, of course – had a turn.

Even with the frequent crying that still went on, the scene was a beautiful sight to behold.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Luthor-Danvers Penthouse, December 25^th, 2025

Eliza, still staying in National City since the twins’ birth, surveyed the scene in front of her and lightly chuckled.

Before her, in the living room, were Lena and Kara sound asleep on opposite couches, while the twins lay in their cribs finally asleep, themselves.

It had been quite a Christmas Eve yesterday.

Truthfully, it had been quite the last 5 days.

For the most part, yesterday had turned into a marathon, just trying every trick in the book to get the twins to fall asleep, and to stop their darn crying.

It was not until about 5:30am, today, Christmas Day, that said goal had finally been achieved.

Now, it was about 6:00am, and Eliza decided to, quietly, get some wrapping done.

About 8:00am, Kara and Lena woke up, just as Eliza was putting the last of her just-wrapped gifts under the tree.

They decided to switch places, as Eliza still sorely needed some sleep, and Lena and Kara needed to catch up on their own wrapping.

As Eliza went back to the guest bedroom, Lena lightly grabbed her arm.

“Eliza – I just want to thank you again. You’ve been such a blessing to us, for so long and in so many ways, but particularly right now with these twins.”

Eliza tiredly smiled back, and simply said, “Thank you, my dear.”

Before they knew it, it was nearing 10:00am, and their Christmas Day was going to get into full swing, so to speak.

They had known this Christmas was going to be different for them from previous and future ones, and so they had planned accordingly.

They still wanted to see their family and friends, but they didn’t want to overwhelm the twins or frankly even themselves, and so they had planned staggered visits from everyone throughout the day.

But the first visit was planned for 10, and so they rushed a little, though quietly, finishing the last of their wrapping and making sure J’onn’s multiple gifts from each of them and both of them were at the ready.

Luckily for them, J’onn was also going to be bringing food for them.

Minutes before 10, Kara’s phone started going non-stop, it seemed.

MESSAGES (3)

She opened her Messages app, to find a text from Iggy, and a couple texts from James.

IGGY-BEAR:

Merry Christmas, to you and Lena and your new twins, Kara. I hope the New Year brings great things for you all.

JAMES:

Merry Christmas to you and the twins, Kara.

Oh, and your wife, too.

She shot back a simple message back to James, first – “Thanks, James.”

Then she sat down on the couch to compose a longer response back to Iggy. She really cared for Iggy, even if the woman really tried to, for the most part, shrug off support from any and all of the Superfriends crew.

Meanwhile, Lena went and let J’onn in, as they whispered their holiday greetings to each other and exchanged hugs.

They talked a little the two of them in the entryway, before joining Kara in the living room.

There, J’onn got to finally see the twins. He quietly hovered over to their cribs and smiled.

He stepped back before speaking again, so as not to disturb the babies’ sleep, and said, “They are beautiful and such a wonder. I am so happy for you both.”

The couple whispered back “thank-you”s before exchanging another set of hugs with their Space Dad.

They exchanged their gifts, sat and chatted, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

Soon enough though, it was time for the next visit, and J’onn took his leave.

Next came Brainy and Nia.

Brainy seemed especially captivated by the twins. After some time of just watching them, he turned back to Nia and said, “Someday, we could have this, Nia Nal.”

Nia looked at him as though he’d grown another head.

“Umm…sure…someday…we’ll see…”

Nia was happy that Brainy liked kids, sure, and happy that he liked their friends’ kids, but she didn’t understand how he seemed to be forgetting how complicated their situation was in regard to the possibility of them having kids.

Neither of them had wombs, and while she had heard of L-Corp’s emerging tech for aiding pregnancies, and sure she knew Lena, she was nervous about asking her friend for such a thing.

She sighed, as her train of thought, continued.

It just wasn’t all that simple for a couple like her and Brainy to have kids, she thought, especially with them, unlike some people, not exactly being all that rich.

But, sure, as Brainy said – someday, maybe…

The visit continued as they exchanged gifts, with them all sharing a good laugh at the cute, Supergirl onesies Nia had gotten the twins. One said, “I’m super duper!” while the other proclaimed, “Kiss me, I’m super Irish!”

Nia couldn’t help but explain the joke, with the second, when the couple was just a little slow to respond – “Get it? ‘Cause Lena’s Irish? Except instead of –”

“Yes, Nia – they’re both lovely! Thank you!” Kara managed to get out, while trying to keep her composure and not break down laughing at the joke herself.

Before they knew it, it was time for Nia and Brainy to take their leave, as well.

After they left, the Luthor-Danvers braced themselves.

They had talked to the Arias-Jensen clan about possibly breaking up the visit from their crew, but in the end, Lena and Kara had told them that it would be fine for them to all visit together, just to remember to be quiet, or certainly quieter than they usually were.

“It’s an interesting phenomenon,” Lena had said to Kara, when they had been having their planning discussions, “individually they’re not too bad, volume and energy-wise. But, goodness, it’s a whole different story when they’re all together.”

Kara had concurred.

“Yes, though just the pair of Ruby and Reign is almost as bad at times as all four of them. It depends a little.”

Before they got there, Kara whisked the two cribs to the nursery, just as a precaution against the likely onslaught of sounds that would soon arrive.

Kara got back to the living room, just in time, as Lena opened the door to let the Arias-Jensens in.

Immediately a cacophony of sound could be heard, including several, “shhhh”s, and a slightly facetious, “Yes, Mamma.”

Lena laughed lightly and welcomed them all in, with a warm “Merry Christmas” and a hug.

First was Liv, the calmest of the four, without a doubt, Lena thought.

Then came Ruby, visiting the family from National City University, over the Christmas holidays.

Next was Sam trying to catch up to her wife.

And finally, bringing up the rear, was Reign. She came in slowly, with some teasing from Sam.

Lena had grown close, through the years, with Reign, and so, as Reign approached her, Lena kindly asked, in a way, only she could – “Rey, are you ok? You know, the twins won’t be offended if you leave early, if you need to.”

Reign smiled and shook her head.

“No, I-I want to meet them. I just –” she turned sheepish, as she whispered to Lena, “can I skip holding them today?”

“Oh, Rey… You know, they’re finally sleeping – I don’t think any of you lot will get to hold them this time. But you know when you do get to hold them – I’m sure you’ll do great, Rey,”

Reign took in Lena’s kind words and nodded her head. She pushed her anxiety about holding the fragile babies away – that was an anxiety for another day, she decided.

Lena and Reign moved ahead and joined the others, who were true to form, laughing and being somewhat rowdy.

Liv who was still getting used to the whole Superfriends crew and, you know, personally knowing several superheroes, had a warm smile on her face, while visibly trying to stifle a laugh of her own.

Lena settled down beside Liv, and said to Kara, “Dear, don’t rile them up even more than they already are.”

Liv then spoke up, “I’m sorry Lena, I swear I didn’t pump them full of sugar and sweets before coming here.”

Sam couldn’t help but tease – “No, but she did pump me pretty g –”

Ruby had had enough – “Mom! Come on – stop teasing Mamma! I am here, thank you very much.”

All the while Liv and even Reign were blushing bright red.

“Sam, dear, please don’t tease your wife like that – for all our sakes,” Lena added.

Sam put her hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. You all are no fun,” she said facetiously.

“Save that kind of fun for the bedroom, when it’s just you, Liv, and Reign,” Kara said with a smirk, that she directed towards Reign, sitting to her left.

And, with that, Reign got bright red, again.

Sam held her wife’s hand and laughed, with even Liv, chuckling a little.

“Anyway…!” Ruby said, as she tried to move things along.

The dynamic between those three women, who all lived together – Sam, Liv, and Reign – was definitely something rather…unique.

Two of them looked almost identical, for one thing (the only real visible, physical difference between Sam and Reign being their eye colour).

But while, Liv had come into Sam’s life, sweeping Sam off her feet, the chemistry between the three of them, including Reign and Liv, was undeniable. Obviously, there were different chemistries, the one between Sam and Liv was different than the one between Reign and Liv, and most definitely different than the one between the two who had been one – Reign and Sam, but all such chemistries were there, visible to them three, and, well, definitely visible to others, as well.

Frankly, they were still figuring things out, bit by bit – figuring out what they were wanting to do with this palpable chemistry between them. And there were still more conversations to be had, especially with Reign (she seemed to always be so busy with her superhero-ing), before anything was anywhere near “officially” different, or changed.

Nevertheless, that Christmas morning, they followed Ruby’s lead and were a little more subdued.

The Arias-Jensens had their peek at the twins, properly admiring them, and exchanged their gifts with the Luthor-Danvers.

Reign couldn’t help herself and had gifted both twins Reign onesies. They had all shared a good laugh at that.

Eventually, they bid their farewells, another round of “Merry Christmas”es, and the penthouse became extra quiet again.

The day wrapped up with a quick visit from the Olsen-Danvers. They had already seen the twins, of course, but still needed to say hi and Merry Christmas, and exchange just a few gifts.

And then – the house was quiet again.

The two women, tired after their long day (their long week, really), sat there and reflected, chatting a little bit, though they were growing certain the twins were surely going to wake up soon.

At one point, Lena’s brow furrowed, and she turned to Kara – “Is there a word in Kryptonese, for colic?”

Kara laughed, but then got serious as she considered the question. Suddenly, her face lit up – “I’m sure there is! And you’ll never guess how I know!”

Lena just laughed – “Yes, darling, I’m sure I won’t.”

Kara harrumphed, and said, “Fine, the reason is because Kal-El was colic. The word for boys, like Kal-El, was usgris. The word for girls, like the twins, would be isgris.”

“But you tell me this,” Kara went on, “how well do you think Mistletoe and Holly will work tonight? It took us a while before we tried it to calm them down, last night – but it worked like a charm when we did!”

Lena turned, smiling, to Kara, “If you sing it, my love, I’m sure it’ll work like a charm. You have a magnificent voice, whether you’re wanting them to simply be quiet, go to sleep, or anything else. You sing – and certainly when you sing their favourite – it will always work like a charm, I’m sure of it.”

Kara preened under Lena’s compliment, and snuggled closer to her.

Lena began to speak again then, her voice warm and loving, “You know, love, we’re having a bit of a rough go in a way with these twins, so far, but you know, we’re together, we’ve got such a large extended family supporting and loving us, and you know, now with these twins we’re adding to our own family…and well, I just want to say, doing this, going through all this with you – I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Merry Christmas, Kara Zor-El Luthor-Danvers!”

“Well,” Kara returned, “thank you for being on this journey with me. I second everything you said.

Merry Christmas to you, Lena Kieran Luthor-Danvers!”

Shortly after those proclamations, the twins did in fact wake up, but Lena had been right, the twins did seem to have a certain love of a certain Frank Sinatra Christmas song, at least as sung in the dulcet tones of their mother, Kara.

“…

Oh, by gosh, by golly

It's time for mistletoe and holly

Fancy ties an' granny's pies

An' folks stealin' a kiss or two

As they whisper, "Merry Christmas" to you”

This would be sung many times by Kara that evening alone, whether it be simply to quiet them down, or to eventually put them to sleep, again.

The last words the twins would hear that Christmas would be Kara’s whispered tones, saying “Merry Christmas, Áine. Merry Christmas, Zhinah.”

Chapter Text

Outside Ruby Arias-Jensen and her wife “Emmie” McKenzie’s home, National City, July 2048…

17-year-old, Alexa Arias-Jensen stood outside her big sister’s townhome and paced nervously.

She absentmindedly took out her phone to “check,” that she’d had permission to come here after school. Of course, it hadn’t changed, there still sat the message from her Mamma, Liv, telling her to have fun with Ruby, Emmie, and the kids, and reminding her to still not forget her curfew.

She sighed heavily.

A tiny voice within her (that she had been doing an excellent job of ignoring, as of late), tried once again, futilely, to tell her that these fears were misplaced, and while there was nothing wrong with spending time with Ruby and Emmie, she needn’t do it for this reason.

It was all going to work out.

But nevertheless, that all came from a voice she was ignoring – it went in one part of her brain and out the other.

She sighed again, gathered herself up, and began walking up the steps.

As she stepped on the third step, the door ahead opened and Ruby stepped out, almost giving Alexa a fright.

“Hey sis!”

As Alexa looked up at her with wide eyes, Ruby explained, “We’ve seen you, out the window, pacing about outside for the better part of an hour it seems. I’m assuming you want to come in? It’s like a sauna out here.”

Alexa just nervously nodded.

They stepped into the homey space, and Alexa immediately smiled. Ever since she had first visited her big sister’s home, she had felt, well, at home.

Emmie waved and gave a “hi,” to Alexa, though she was a bit busy with the young kids, Jade and Peri.

As Ruby and Alexa stepped further into the space, Ruby turned to her younger sister and said, “So, what’s going on?”

Alexa sighed.

“Well…um…I wanted…to talk to you…”

At that Ruby could tell that there was definitely something seriously troubling Alexa.

She moved to the dining room table, pulled out a seat for Alexa and sat down herself.

“Ok, sit. And spill.”

“Well, I don’t know, I’m sure you’re busy with the kids and all…” Alexa was now doubting whether she should be doing this. Maybe it was silly.

But Ruby was having none of it.

“Nope. Not busy at all.”

She turned towards the living room, where Emmie was with the kids – “Emmie, love, you got the kids for a bit?”

“Sure, Rubes!”

“See. Now, it’s just you and me – what’s up?”

Alexa just looked down.

Ruby decided to try another tact – “Look, I know there’s a big age difference between us, we haven’t always gotten along, and, I mean, I haven’t even been at home for some time now – but! I also know that this – whatever this is – is obviously something you don’t want to talk to Moms about. I’m guessing even, none of them,” she looked a little closer at Alexa, “not even Rey…?”

Alexa looked up and smiled at Ruby.

“You’ve always been so smart – nothing could get past you…”

She then reached over and gave Ruby a big hug.

“I love you, Ruby.”

“Awww… I love you too, Lexie.”

Alexa frowned at that. Ruby knew she hated that nickname.

They pulled apart, Alexa sat back down, took a deep breath, and said – “I…I think I’m straight.”

Ruby opened her mouth then, a laugh bubbling inside her, but she just as suddenly closed it, knowing that for some reason this was serious to Alexa and so, she didn’t want to make light of this.

Ruby sighed, looked into her sister’s eyes, and said, “Alexa, help me understand… Do you think Moms won’t accept you because you’re straight?”

She tried to keep the confusion out of her voice.

Alexa looked back down and just nodded.

“Oh, dear…” Ruby murmured.

And then the floodgates opened for Alexa – “I mean everyone, everyone in the family is queer or trans or poly or everything…

Well, as far as I know, it’s just our Moms who are poly, but still!

And here I am, what, like the only straight among all of us!

Do you know how many of us there are in this wild family??

I just don’t know what to do.

I mean, sure, Aunt Áine might get a boyfriend, but she also might get a girlfriend, or someone else, or…

What would Moms do when I only bring boys home???”

She paused and caught her breath.

Ruby looked at her younger sister with sad and concerned eyes.

Many a thought was brewing in Ruby’s mind, but for now, she just asked, “Alexa, are you seeing someone now?”

“Well, no…not yet…I mean Connor is dreamy and all, but I don’t even know if he knows I exist or anything, but he’s, oh my…” Alexa’s eyes glazed over, and she sighed contentedly.

But then she snapped out of it, and went right back into her speech, “I mean, we’re not exactly a normal family, all in all, and that’s not even mentioning the many superheroes we know or who even are family!

I have three moms! Three! Do you know how many moms Connor has? One!

And all the women in my family, unlike me, like, love, women!!

Aargh!!”

“Well, have you seen women, they’re pretty great,” Ruby teased.

“That’s the problem! I have! And yet, I prefer boys…and, like, only boys!”

Ruby scratched at the back of her head and sighed.

“Ok, ok, Alexa…”

“Listen, do you want my advice?” Ruby asked authoritatively.

Alexa shrunk back in her seat, all the power and vigor from earlier having left her.

She limply nodded her head.

“Ok! So, listen to me when I say you don’t have to tell anyone, specifically that you’re straight, if you don’t want to. If you want to tell Moms, that’s great, if not, I think that’s fine, too.”

She added in a softer voice, “But thank you for telling me. I appreciate it.”

She continued, “If you bring home a boy – I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean be ready for him to receive more shovel talks than he might be expecting, including Rey probably threatening to send him to the Sun, but…” Ruby found her eyes drifting towards Emmie, as she added, softly and with a growing smile, “But if you love him, it shouldn’t matter too much.

But! That brings me to my other point. What I’m hearing, a little, is that maybe, you might not just be worried about what Moms and the rest of the family might think, but you might be worried about what your prospective boyfriend might think of all of us?”

She looked closely at Alexa to see her reaction, and saw her eyes go big.

“No! I love all of y’all! You, and Emmie, Peri and Jade, and Moms! Cousin Hugo and Cousin Nandor…”

Ruby let her go on listing family members for another minute before interrupting, “Sis! I’m glad you still love our family.

I think the thing is maybe whomever you begin to grow attached to, just…be cautious – if he is xenophobic or homophobic at all, or too opposed to poly relationships…well, he just might not be the one, you know what I mean?”

Alexa looked at her intently for a second.

“You know – you’re too smart, Ruby. I wish I had figured this out myself, instead of sending myself into a panic!”

“Well, I learned from the best,” Ruby returned, with a distant smile.

“Moms?”

“Well, um, yes, but I was meaning Emmie,” she said as, once again her eyes, filled with love, drifted to her wife

“Ok,” Alexa teasingly said, “I’ve got get out of here! You’re getting too mushy on me!”

Ruby just laughed.

Alexa got up, followed by Ruby, and Ruby asked, “So…as I said, you don’t have to, but are you gonna’ tell Moms?”

Alexa grinned – “Yeah, I think so.”

Before she left, she got out her phone, opened up the groupchat between her and her Moms and said –

Hey, are all of you home? I want to talk to you about something.

Ruby who had snuck behind her to read the message, laughed. “Well, now they’ll all be home! You’ll have scared them all with a vague message like that!”

Alexa sheepishly laughed. “Shoot. I guess so.”

She then took her leave, but not before giving a goodbye hug to Ruby and Emmie and giving a little attention to the two kids, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Arias-Jensen Home, National City, a short while later…

Alexa walked into her home, feeling energised and ready after her conversation with Ruby, ready for this conversation with her Moms.

She walked in, kicked off her shoes, and almost immediately was met by her Mamma, Liv.

“Alexa, dear, are you ok? Is everything alright? What’s going on?”

She kept walking on through, making her way to the living room, as she tried to brush off her Mamma.

“Mamma, it’s fine! I do want to talk to y’all about something, but I’m sorry for phrasing my message like that – I didn’t mean to worry y’all so much…”

In the living room was Sam, sitting on the couch.

“Well, girlie, I’d appreciate it if you thought about that next time! I’ve been having to deal with this one’s nerves, waiting for you to get home.”

At that, the “this one” in question, Liv, joined Sam on the couch.

“Where’s Ma?”

Sam just chuckled. “Well, we left the window open for her. I’m sure she’ll be in –”

And just like that, there she was.

Reign was standing there, beside the couch, still a light breeze being felt around from her entrance.

She looked around, eyes finding Alexa and rushing towards her. “Oh, Lexie, are you ok? Your Momma and I were so worried!”

“Hey, I was worried, too!” Sam said.

Liv shot her a skeptical look.

“Just because I don’t freak out like you two do, doesn’t mean I wasn’t worried!” Sam retorted.

Alexa sighed loudly.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think any of you really needed to worry…” she began.

“'You don’t think’ we need to worry??” Liv interrupted.

Alexa shook her head.

“Rey! Come sit down, and maybe, our daughter will finally tell us what’s going on,” Sam said.

Reign did as Sam said and then looked at Alexa, her attention fully on her.

Alexa shook her head at her mothers and their antics.

Though, she conceded, she had kinda started it.

She took a deep breath, thought to herself – here goes nothing – and said, “Moms, I’m straight.”

Sam immediately just started laughing.

At that, Alexa frowned.

Meanwhile, Liv bore a pensive expression on her face and looked slightly downward.

Reign was the first one to actually speak, following the revelation.

Looking Alexa up and down, Reign said, “Well, you could be straighter.”

That just caused Sam to laugh more uproariously.

At that, Liv decided that that was enough from her wife. She turned to the laughing Sam and whispered, “Love – this isn’t funny! Did you see her – she was obviously nervous about this – coming out to us – yes, even as straight, which isn’t right. She shouldn’t have been nervous about talking to us about this type of thing!”

Sam nodded in understanding. She still thought it was kinda funny, but she understood what her wife was saying. She should be there, fully, for her daughter.

“You’re right, love.”

While Alexa hadn’t been privy to the whispered conversation, Reign had been, what with her superhearing and being right next to the two other women. While it hadn’t been her first reaction, as human concepts regarding sexuality were still not her strongest forte, the conversation between her girlfriends clued her in to what Alexa had actually meant.

As soon as it clicked, for her, she turned to Sam.

“Samantha! Apologise to young Alexa! She just came out to us, and you laugh her off?”

Sam started laughing again at that, with even Liv chuckling a little at Reign’s approach.

Liv spoke up, “Sam, she does have a point, though, really.”

Sam sighed.

She looked over towards where Alexa had, at this point finally taken a seat, and said, “Alexa, come here, bug?”

Alexa got up, but then stopped, saying “Ok, but I don’t think that couch is big enough for the four of us…”

In response, Sam just patted her lap, provoking Alexa to whine, “Mom! I’m 17! I’m not sitting in your lap!”

“Fine sit in Rey’s lap, then!”

Alexa huffed and said, “I’m not sitting in anyone’s lap!”

She sighed and said to Sam pointedly, “Scooch!”

She sat down and Alexa and her three mothers and had a nice chat.

Sam did apologise for laughing Alexa off.

They talked about their family, acceptance, and how while they were different, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t accept others who were “normal” or certainly different than them.

They tried to reassure Alexa regarding the future, though not without reminding her of the many shovel talks future suitors would be privy to, including the many from superpowered aliens.

They talked well into the evening, still continuing even while food was prepped and eaten.

In the end, in bed that night, Alexa would say to herself – that, yeah, today, today though stressful, had been a good day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexa Arias-Jensen’s apartment, National City, the evening of December 24^th, 2055

The plan, as had been decided by the family’s matriarchs, for this Christmas, 2055, was that everyone would spend Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning, as their own smaller, family units, and by late morning Christmas Day, everyone would gather at the Luthor-Danvers estate for the day.

A voice with a distinct French accent, spoke with discernible worry, “Lexie, do you know where my cufflinks ran off to?”

The now 25-year-old Alexa let out a light and airy laugh.

“Louis, they’re on the dresser – but you know, you really don’t need to dress up that much for my Moms”

“Désolé, ma belle. I just want to, as they say – ‘dress to impress.’”

“Well, I appreciate it, Louis, but I mean it. Put on one of your nice sweaters and call it good, ok?”

“Ah, I see, so my suit jacket and cufflinks are too much but, say, a Louis Vuitton sweater would be fine?”

Alexa just shook her head at her boyfriend’s antics.

“Sure.”

Just then, Alexa’s phone buzzed.

MESSAGES (4)

RUBY

Hey, Lexie, you guys almost ready?

Are you sure you don’t want to ride with us? ;)

Last chance.

Almost forgot! Don’t forget to remind Louis to tone it down in front of Moms tonight

She immediately responded to most of the texts –

Yes, Ruby, we’re almost ready. I swear

And seriously – I’m not Lexie – my name’s Alexa!

(And you know this!)

Also, no offense, but me and Louis are not riding with your pre-teen monsters – I love them, but that’s what they are – monsters

She paused before responding to the last text from Ruby.

Ruby and Emmie had gotten to meet Louis a couple weeks ago, at the ritzy Brazilian steakhouse in National City, “Fazenda Brasileira.”

It had been a lovely evening, but even Alexa had to admit, she thought Louis had come on a little too strong that evening.

She had carefully tried to explain her thoughts and the texts she had gotten from her sister and her sister-in-law, to Louis.

“Louis, you do remember you’re dating me, not my sister, or her wife – both of whom are lesbians, right?” she had said at one point in the conversation.

Typically, she didn’t feel like she had cause for concern, as she saw how he was with other women, and well, certainly when she was there, with him, and say, some other mutual girl friends, he didn’t give off this same vibe.

But at the same time, when she and Louis had hung out with some of her childhood friends, it had been a similar situation, as to what had happened with Ruby and Emmie.

She had gathered it came from some sense of wanting to impress those close to Alexa, his girlfriend, by putting on the charm to the max, so to speak, but well, as she tried to tell him – he just didn’t need to do that to impress them.

“Just be yourself.”

Clearing her mind, and looking back down at the text from her sister, Alexa sighed, and texted:

*sigh*

I’d forgotten about that.

I’ll remind him, but please tell me you’ll have my back if damage control is needed

Ruby texted back almost immediately:

lol

Alexa:

Ruby!

Please!

A few minutes later, “Ruby” responded with:

This is Emmie now

Ruby’s driving

Seriously though, don’t worry. I can tell that there’s something special there – if damage control is needed, I’ll be there for you (and I’m sure Ruby, too)

But! I’m sure you know that if Reign steps up to bat against him, he’s toast

Alexa both smiled and sighed dejectedly at her sister-in-law’s texts.

As she got back up, she realised that Louis was patiently waiting for her. Luckily, she was almost ready herself.

They finished getting ready and got in the car, with Alexa to be driving them to her childhood home.

Not too long into the drive, she brought up what was on her mind with Louis.

“Hey Louis, so I know, we’ve talked about this before, but please don’t try too hard to impress my Moms, ok?” She paused and looked at him for a second, “Just…be yourself.”

He sighed, “I know, Alexa. I’m sorry again about your sister and sister-in-law. I will try with your Moms.”

She smiled, as she took the next turn.

She had a good feeling about tonight.

“Ok!” she said, “with that out of the way, let’s do a little review!”

They both brightened up at that, as Alexa began to quiz her boyfriend over her family.

“How many moms do I have?”

“Alexa! You go too easy on me! You have three mothers.”

Alexa just laughed.

“Fine. Tell me who they are.”

“Samantha ‘Sam’ Arias-Jensen. Was CFO of L-Corp, until she retired with distinction. Olivia ‘Liv’ Arias-Jensen. Was Director of R&D at L-Corp, until she retired with distinction, as well.”

He smirked before continuing.

“Rey Nadal –”

Alexa cut him off as she scowled – she had never liked her Ma’s civilian identity name – “Ok, while I’m glad you know her civvies name, you’ll be among family only tonight and tomorrow – you can call her –”

“Rey?” he asked.

“Well, best start the evening off with Reign, and go from there. Hopefully she’ll warm up to you and by the evening’s end, she’ll be fine with you calling her Rey, too.”

She then smirked, as she added, “And who is she?”

Louis laughed, “Reign! Or perhaps, Règne l’heros du monde, avec l’historie inspirante d’avoir vaincu ses ténèbres!”

(Reign, the world’s hero – with her inspiring story of defeating her (inner) darkness!)

Alexa laughed at Louis’ dramatics.

It was without a doubt that her French had gotten much better since she’d been with Louis.

“Alright! We’re almost there – one last one, should be easy – tell me about my sister and sister-in-law?”

This was easy, as he had met them just recently.

“Your sister is Ruby Arias-Jensen, she’s a biologist who works for the FBI.”

At that, Alexa almost imperceptibly frowned. Ruby had been apologetic, but apparently Brainy had not given the “ok” for Louis to be told about the DEO. Which frustrated her, but there wasn’t much Alexa could do about that right now.

Meanwhile, Louis was continuing, “Her wife, Emmie McKenzie, works in the police’s science division. They have two children, two girls, Jade age 12, and Peridot age 10.”

Alexa was nodding her head. “Oh, but you can probably just call Peridot, Peri. Everyone does, and she’s only 10.”

“D’accord,” he said, as they pulled into the suburban home that was their destination’s driveway.

They made their way out of the car and up to the stoop.

Before they made it in the house though, the door opened, and the two little ones stepped out and wrapped themselves around Alexa’s legs.
“Auntie Lexie! Auntie Lexie! It’s Christmas Eve!”

Alexa sighed, but had a smile on her face as she knelt down to her nieces’ level.

“Yes, it is isn’t it! What I want to know, though, is who taught you that I’m Lexie?”

That made her nieces turn sheepish.

But eventually, Peri gave in and whispered “Mommy.”

Alexa knew that that confirmed her suspicions, and just as she was about holler for her sister, she looked up to see both Ruby and Emmie standing in the doorway.

She scowled at her sister, prompting Ruby to scowl back and feign innocence, saying “Whaaat?”

“Please don’t teach my nieces to call me that.”

“It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s not. And you know it."

She looked back beside her then at Louis, who still had yet to say a word, but who looked a little confused.

And so, Alexa said, to Ruby, but for Louis’ benefit, “Only Louis gets to call me that.”

“Oh, you two! Don’t fight – it’s Christmas Eve!” Emmie said. She then leaned into her wife, whispering, “I told you not to teach the kids that.”

The kids, in question, were still standing between the two sets of adults, though staring questioningly and intently at one in particular – Louis.

Ruby, picking up what was going on with the kids, said, “Well, sis, gonna’ introduce your nieces to your special someone?”

Alexa knelt back down to her nieces’ level and nudged Louis to do the same.

“Jade, Peri, this is Louis – my boyfriend!”

The two kids, though particularly Jade, still looked a little funnily, and skeptically at the Frenchman.

Finally, Jade leaned into Alexa and loudly “whispered,” “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

Alexa sighed, but calmly said, “Because I love boys – especially this boy.” She awkwardly then hugged Louis.

Peri and Jade walked back to their moms, with Jade sighing dramatically, and saying, “I tried Mom…”

Alexa and Louis got back up and walked further to the doorway. As Alexa stepped past Ruby, she said, “Is this really what we’re doing this year?”

Ruby just smirked.

As Alexa got inside, Liv moved to greet the new arrivals.

“Alexa, you’re here!”

Her eyes shifted to Ruby and Emmie, too, and she said to them all, “What were y’all doing out there anyway?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, as she got up, too, “we’ve been waiting for hours, it seems. The real party’s in here!”

Reign followed behind quietly, as the three mothers all got ready to meet their little girl’s boyfriend.

Ruby, Emmie, and the kids moved out of the way, as the three mothers lined up in front of Alexa.

“Well, where is he?” Sam asked.

Alexa huffed.

“Please be nice!” she whispered.

She stepped back into the doorway and came back in, boyfriend in tow.

“Moms, I would like you to meet my boyfriend –”

“Louis Pascal, Mesdames. It is my pleasure to meet the mothers of my Alexa.”

Reign, sadly, took offence at that arguably, poor wording.

“Excuse me, bonhomme, but Alexa is her own woman, and is not the property of you nor any other man.”

Reign stepped back to admire her handiwork, so to speak.

Louis, for his part looked aghast at both, the twisted, purported meaning of his greeting and the fact that he had already gotten off the wrong foot with Reign, not only one of his girlfriend’s mothers, but a hero, whom he personally greatly admired.

He knew by the evening’s end that this would need to be rectified.

Alexa had a worried expression on her face. She knew that Louis hadn’t meant anything by the statement and that Reign was just being over-protective, but this was not a good portend of things to come, she thought.

For a moment everyone stood there, with hardly a sound being heard.

Much to Alexa’s surprise, it was her Mom, Sam, who finally intervened.

“Rey, why don’t you go check on the bird?” Sam said, while eyeing Louis carefully.

Reign obliged, but not without throwing a scowl Sam’s way. She didn’t understand the sequence of events in a way – Sam had earlier told her to jump on Louis for any little thing, she had, and now she was being sent to the kitchen…she didn’t get it.

Although she had grown, over the many years, to know both of her girlfriends pretty well, there were still times when she was thrown off by them.

With Reign gone, Louis decided to try his chances at speaking again – “Mesdames Arias-Jensen, I am terribly sorry for my poor word choice. I promise you both, and I would Mademoi–” Alexa, knowing enough French and knowing that Reign definitely did and was most definitely listening in, whispered, “No – use Madame – not Mademoiselle – trust me.”

Louis continued, “Sorry, and I would Madame Règne, as well, that I do not, see Mademoiselle Alexa, as my property.” He spat out that last word, as though in disgust.

“Well…thank you Louis,” Sam said.

“Yes,” Liv added, “And I do believe I speak for all three of us, when I say that the pleasure is ours. Alexa has spoken quite highly of you, and for some time, and we are glad that you are spending the Christmas holiday with us.”

“Yes, as am I,” he said brightly. He added, almost inaudibly (but not inaudible to Reign), “I only hope I may win over Règne, as well.”

The evening could surely only get better, Alexa thought to herself.

She hoped so, at least…

Over dinner, Louis surprised everyone, including Alexa, with having researched the decorated careers of the family, and was able to not only compliment the women there on their storied careers, but learn more about them.

At one point he said, for example, “I mean, as CFO, Madame Arias-Jensen, you practically saved L-Corp’s books single-handedly multiple times…2026 for example.”

Sam had blushed at that.

Later, he had said, “And you, Madame Arias-Jensen,” having turned to Liv, “under your leadership, L-Corp’s R&D Department’s employee satisfaction rose almost 130%!”

Liv had blushed at that.

At that point however, Ruby had had enough. She had looked across from her at Alexa, and mimicked gagging, while pointing at Louis.

Alexa had looked down and sighed.

She had then heard a light chuckle and looked over to see that it was Reign who, it looked like, had caught sight of Ruby’s gag.

This just caused Alexa to sigh again.

When she looked back up, she had a determined air about her, and though Louis was still going on and on about some technological innovation that her Mamma had helped spearhead at L-Corp, back in the day, Alexa interrupted the conversation, and said, “Moms, you know Louis’ studying to be lawyer, like me.”

Sam and Liv still struck by Louis’ charm, oohed and aahed, while Reign spat out, “Oh? And what measly score did you receive on your LSAT, bonhomme?”

“173, Madame Règne.”

“Yeah, a pretty great score, wouldn’t you say Ma?” Alexa said.

Reign gave a slight nod, but added, “Alexa did better.”

Eventually they had finished their meal, and were setting about to, after clearing the table, to play some games.

Alexa was not looking forward to this, after the torturous dinner they had just had.

She got up and moved towards Emmie, as she whispered, “I thought you said you’d help with damage control?”

Emmie sounded genuine when she apologised, and said, “But it’s Reign who’s got the bone to pick with him, and you know what I said if he somehow got on her bad side…”

“Yeah,” Alexa sighed.

Meanwhile, over in the kitchen, Reign was washing dishes (without her powers – she found it more relaxing), as Louis approached her.

“Règne,” he began, prompting a small smile to briefly flit onto Reign’s face.

She really did like the sound of her name in French.

Then she remembered that she wasn’t a Louis fan and put a frown back on her face.

“Yes, bonhomme?”

Louis sighed but pushed on, his voice taking on a decidedly tender tone.

“Règne, I wanted to thank you.

I am sorry that we got off on...the wrong foot, and franchement, I do appreciate, your protectiveness of dear Alexa…”

At this point, Reign had stopped washing and had her attention fixed on the young Frenchman.

She looked up at him, and wait, were those the beginnings of tears?

Before telling the story, he wanted to tell, he asked the hero, “I understand that you know French well, do you mind if I continue as such?”

Intrigued, Reign simply nodded.

“Merci.

Eh bien…”

He stood beside Reign gripping the counter tightly.

“Vous sauvez tellement de gens, je suppose que c’est, bien, impossible, que vous vous souveniez d’elles…

C’est vraiment plutôt drôle – l’histoire est une que nous, comme famille, racontons chaque année…

L’histoire du sauvetage de ma soeur et sa p’tite amie, grâce…grâce à vous… grâce à vous, Règne.”

(Thanks.

Well…

You save so many people, I would figure that it’s likely, well, impossible, that you remember them specifically…

In a sense it’s just a touch ironic – it’s a story that we, as a family recount each year.

The time my sister and her girlfriend were saved from the grips of death…thanks to you…thanks to you, Reign.)

He looks up at her then, and yeah, she thinks, those are definitely tears in his eyes.

She gives him a warm smile then, the first she’s given him.

“J’entends la douceur émaner de ta voix. Dis m’en plus?” she asks tenderly.

(I hear the sweetness emanating from your voice… Tell me more, please?)

He nods and continues.

“Nous étions tous là, là au Pompidou, ce jour là, il y a cinq ans. Nous étions là, car c’était le 17e anniversaire d’Ella… Ma soeur… Ça p’tite amie, Sandrine, était là, aussi… Alors, c’était, moi, notre père, notre mère, Ella, et Sandrine, tous là…au Pompidou…

Ella avait choisi le Pompidou, car elle adore l’art moderne.”

(We were all there, there at the Pompidou, that fateful day 5 years ago. We were there to celebrate Ella’s 17^thbirthday. Ella…that’s my sister. Her girlfriend, Sandrine was there, too. So, it was me, our dad, our mum, Ella, and Sandrine, all there…at the Pompidou. Ella was going through a real modern art thing at the time, and so she’d begged for us to go.)

(A/N: Description of the attack is below…)

He paused then, grabbing a lungful of air before continuing.

“Nous avions déjà finis notre visite du musée, quand les attaquants sont arrives.

Ils avaient des haut-parleurs géants, declarant, qu’ils étaient de…CADMUS…

Ils disaient qu’ils…” he paused again, here.

“Qu’ils cherchaient des…des aliens. Eh bien, ils était plus...méchants avec leurs mots...

(We had already finished visiting the museum, when the assailants arrived. They had big loudspeakers, announcing that they were part of…CADMUS…

He paused again, here.

They said they were looking for…aliens…well, they were a lot more rude, xenophobic, and aggressive in their demands and terminology…)

“Et bien, ce que je n’ai pas encore dit, c’est que Sandrine…Sandrine n’est pas humaine. Nous, notre famille, et certainement Ella, savait de cela, n’avait aucune malaise autour de ça, mais bien sûr, CADMUS…ça c'était un cas complètement different.

Aussi, c’est important, ou bien, vraiment, frustrant à savoir, que concernant son apparence, c’était, bien pratiquement humaine. Les principales differences étaient que ses yeux était orange et qu’elle avait des petit protubérances épineuses qui venait du milieu de chacun de ses bras.

Je connais pas le nom de son espèce, ou pas du moins le vrai nom.

En tout cas, Sandrine et Ella était juste un peu loin de nous, quand CADMUS est arrive. Je pense que Sandrine allait prendre une photo d'Ella.

Ensuite, j’ai regardé comme le déroulement, tous les deux tragique et miraculeuse s’est passé.

En un clin d’oeil, un des crétins de CADMUS l’a placée dans sa mire. Il s'est approché d'elle et a mis son arme à son cou. À cet instant, Ella a crié.”

(And, well, what’s important to note that I haven’t yet said, is that Sandrine…Sandrine is an alien. My family and certainly Ella, we all knew that and held no qualms surrounding said fact, but of course, CADMUS…well, that was a different story…

It’s also important to note, well, really, it’s more frustrating above anything else…see, Sandrine, looks very closely almost human. The main differences being her eyes are orange coloured, and that she has these, like, little spiky protrusions coming from the middle of each arm.

I don’t know her species name or at least not properly…

I mean, I know what they called her, he murmured.

In any case…Sandrine and Ella were just a little way from the rest of us when CADMUS arrived.

I think Sandrine was going to take a picture of Ella near an installation.

Suddenly, I watched as the both tragic and miracle-filled scene unfolded in front of me.

In a blink of an eye, one of the CADMUS goons saw Sandrine and set his sights on her. He approached her quickly and put his weapon to her neck. Next thing I registered was Ella’s anguished cry.)

Louis stopped again, wiping away some of the tears that were now flowing freely.

“Et puis, pardonnez-moi, mais, ce connard à ensuite commencé à hurler des choses…des choses si incroyablement blessant – des choses parlant de l’amour que ma soeur portait pour Sandrine…”

(And then, forgive me, but that fucker launched into the most hateful verbal attack… He must have seen the way they looked at each other, because that’s what he was talking about, how sinful their love was. Alien and human.)

He sighed again. Reign could tell how much telling this tale hurt him, and yet how important it was to him.

“Je préférerais ne pas tout répéter – ses choses affreux – mais suffit de dire qu’il disait qu’Ella et Sandrine brûleraient parmi les flames de l’Enfer.

En tout cas…ensuite…”

(I would rather not repeat all the dreadful things he said, but suffice to say, among other things, he clearly said that Ella and Sandrine would burn in Hell.

Anyway…next…well…)

(A/N: End of description of attack…)

He chuckled to himself, chuckling at what was about to happen in the story.

“Aprés, vous êtes arrive au lieu – et tout a changé en un instant.”

(After that, you arrived on the scene – and everything changed in an instant.)

And well, not only did “everything change in an instant” in Louis’ story, but in his own demeanour, as well.

He hardly noticed it himself, but Reign certainly did. His face lit up and he went back to carrying himself with the confidence that he seemed to, usually.

“Franchement, il n’y a plus grand-chose à raconter.

Vous êtes venu et intervenez, eh bien, dans un instant c’était ‘fait accompli’ pour vous,

Vous avez sauvé tout le monde, ce jour-là, mais pour moi, petit moi, chétif, ce qui comptait le plus pour moi – est que vous avez sauvé la vie de ma soeur et sa p’tite amie.

Ella et Sandrine sont toujours ensemble…tout grâce a vous…

Vous savez…elles sont si amoureuse…parfois c'est un spectacle écœurant...mais je les adore tout de même”

(Frankly, there’s not much left to tell.

You came in and saved the day. Just like that. Like it was nothing for you.

And you know – you saved everyone that day, but for puny, little, ol’ me, what mattered most – that day and every day since – has been that you saved the life of my sister and her girlfriend.

Ella and Sandrine are still together – still going strong – and that’s made possible thanks to you…

You know, sometimes they’re just so sickeningly in love…but I still love them all the same…)

Louis’ smile practically shattered his face, it was so big, at this point.

“J’ai seulement une chose de plus à dire au sujet – simplement que, même si je ne suis pas vraiment une personne religieuse, je dis grâce a quel que soit que Dieu ou Dieux qui a fait en sorte que je puisse être ici, vous avoir rencontré aujourd'hui.

Car je n'ai jamais eu la chance de vous remercier, aujourd'hui, maintenant – je vous le dis – merci.

Merci, Règne. Merci.”

(There’s only one thing left I really want to say on this – simply that, while I’m not really a religious guy, I do thank whichever God or Gods has made it so that I could find myself in this position – here, meeting you tonight.

For you know, that’s the thing. I never got the chance to properly thank you.

But now, tonight, I will.

Thank you. Thank you, Reign.)

Reign looked at him and smiled brightly.

She then wordlessly went and dried her hands from the dishwater, faced him, and said, “Bonhomme, puis-je vous donner un câlin?”

(Bonhomme, can I give you a hug?)

She called him that again, bonhomme, but now with such care and none of the venom from earlier in the evening.

He wiped at his face again, trying to catch any tears still left, and nodded.

She enveloped him in a hug, one full of comfort and sympathy and understanding.

They stood there, in the embrace, for a full minute.

They parted, and now it was Reign’s turn.

“Louis…tu sais, je me souviens…je me souviens de les deux…Ella et Sandrine…Ella Pascal et Sandrine Laurent…

Tu n’es pas faux…je sauve plein de monde, mais grâce a Rao, j’ai une mémoire, une mémoire special, Kryptonienne, qui me sert trés bien, pour des choses comme celles si.

Je souviens d'avoir vu le regard, plein d’amour, gardé entre eux deux, même si ce regard était mêlé de pure terreur.

Pour cette mission, j’ai travaillé avec notre partenaire Français, le DRSN –” she stopped suddenly, putting a hand to her mouth.

“Rao, fait semblant de ne pas savoir ça,” she embarrassedly let out.

(Louis…you know…I do remember…I do remember the two of them….Ella and Sandrine…Ella Pascal and Sandrine Laurent…

I mean, you’re not wrong, I do save plenty of people, but thanks to Rao, I’ve got a special Kryptonian memory, that serves me really well for such things.

I remember seeing their eyes, their eyes so full of love for the other, even if, there was some sheer terror mixed in there, as well.

For that mission, we’d teamed up with our French partner, DRSN –” she stopped suddenly, putting a hand to her mouth.

“Rao, pretend you didn’t hear that,” she embarrassedly let out.)

Louis laughed, “Règne, je ne suis pas si bête a d’être dans l’hypothèse, qu’il n’y a seulement les organisations gouvernementales qui sont publiquement connus.”

“Bien sûr…” Reign let out, still somewhat embarrassed.

(Louis laughed, “Reign, I am not so dumb that I am somehow under the assumption that the government only operates the agencies that we, the public are aware of.

“Of course…” Reign let out, still somewhat embarrassed.)

They stood there, for a second, each still so moved by the story that had been shared.

Then, Alexa’s voice broke through the little bubble that had been formed between the hero and the Frenchman, then – “Ma! Don’t scare him too much, now, please!”

Sam quickly added, “And remember the ‘no dead bodies in the house rule’! We leave those at the D-I mean at work, right, Rey?”

Rey and Louis both broke out laughing.

How far from the truth the rest of the family were!

Alexa frowned at that. She just wasn’t sure what to make of that…were they…getting along…?

Reign then brought Louis in for what appeared to be a hug, before whispering in his ear, “But just remember – if you so much as come close to breaking her heart, well, I’ll let Liv and Sam have a go first, but then it’ll be off into the Sun with you, bonhomme.

Compris?”

He nodded aggressively, hoping in his heart of hearts that he never truly got on her bad side.

She stepped back, “But seriously, Louis, I have faith in you! Now, let’s go surprise the others. I’ll finish these quickly later,” she finished speaking, referring to the rest of the dishes.

Louis nodded with his usual confident smile back on his face.

The two of them, with Reign holding Louis in a side hug, walked back over to the rest of the family.

Everyone watched the two carefully, as Reign guided Louis to an empty seat beside Alexa.

Reign then went back to the kitchen, grabbing some champagne, that the triad saved for special occasions, from the fridge. She was excited and wanted to fête Alexa and Louis’ relationship. She grabbed enough flutes and began pouring the drink.

Sam and Liv were preoccupied with each other, but Ruby, Emmie, Alexa, and even Louis to an extent, were all watching Reign’s motions intently.

Ruby, confused as to what was going on, but still highly skeptical of Louis, snapped snidely, “Hey Frenchman, you weren’t back there seducing our Ma, were you??”

Louis and Alexa both blanched.

Alexa recovered faster than her partner, though, and shot back, “Ruby shut it. Emmie, can’t you control her?”

Emmie shot Alexa a look, but not before whispering something to her wife that caused her to blanch.

“Now, seriously!” Emmie then said to the sisters, “That’s enough from you two.”

She repeated what seemed to be her mantra that evening – “It’s Christmas Eve!”

She then turned to face Louis directly, smiled brightly at him, and said in a faux-serious tone – “Now, Louis, you weren’t back there trying to seduce Rey, were you?”

Sadly, in that instant, as soon as soon as Emmie finished speaking, Rey had begun delivering, or more aptly had begun trying to deliver the champagne-filled flutes.

However, what ended up happening, was that she stepped into the living room, began moving in the general direction of her girlfriends, when the words Emmie had spoken fully registered to her, as she then promptly lost her focus and –

CRASH!

Shattered flutes, with glass and champagne fell to the floor.

Following the crash, there was a flurry of movement and voices, the question that had arguably caused the commotion in the first place, mostly forgotten, as everyone simply wanted to help clean up the mess.

Reign just stood there, motionless, for a moment, ignoring everyone’s comments.

Only for a moment, though.

Suddenly, she snapped out of it, “shhhh”ed everyone, looked up at Emmie with a type of scowl that only she could deliver, and then looked around at all the room’s occupants, and said, stonily, “Sorry for the mess. I will clean this up – it’ll only be a minute.”

No more than sixty seconds later, as she had said, there were no signs of the accident.

She came back to the living room, and said, in a tone that left no room for question, “Emmie, Ruby can I speak to you for a moment.”

They left and went to Reign’s bedroom.

Once there, Reign began to pace, but only for a minute before she turned to Emmie.

“Emmie – I like you. You’ve been great to Ruby and you’ve fit into our family so well… So, would you, care to, please, explain to me why I walked in on you, asking poor Louis, in an insinuating tone, no, not even that – simply asking Louis, if he had been trying to seduce me – ?!?” She had trailed off, sputtering some, so shocked by the turn of events, frankly, that she was struggling to maintain the threatening demeanour that she could usually turn on at the drop of a hat.

Though Emmie had been in the family for some time, at this point, she still found herself scared of Reign at times.

Later, she would tell Ruby that she really couldn’t even fully control it.

And so, poor Emmie, even though Reign thought she wasn’t in full threatening mode, gave in, and…offered up her wife as the sacrificial lamb…

“I’m sorry, Reign…Ruby was the one who first asked the question, and I just, I…”

Emmie was saved from continuing her ramble, as Reign gathered her energy and turned to her daughter.

“Ruby Marie Arias-Jensen!

I know you have been in some spat with your sister tonight. Even if I wish that that wasn’t the case… That is nevertheless no reason to stoop to this level. Yes, I was a little tough on Louis initially, but we’ve moved past that and frankly you should, too.”

She paused and then re-focused herself, trying her darndest to channel Sam or Liv, who had been more involved in Ruby’s upbringing.

Sadly, Ruby’s snarky mood had apparently not left – “Rey, you may be Lexie’s Ma but you’re not mine. And for that matter I have no intention of ‘moving past’ things with Louis – at least not like you did. I mean –”

“I think it’s pretty clear what you mean, Gem…” Reign said, as her eyes turned red for the briefest of a second.

Just long enough for Emmie to scurry back to the wall, bringing Ruby with her.

Reign shut her eyes – hard.

She opened them again and sighed, heavily.

“I’m sorry, Emmie. I don’t think you’ve ever seen me do that…

I didn’t mean to.”

Emmie just nervously nodded, and implored, in a whisper, mostly to Ruby, “It’s Christmas Eve – can’t we all just…get along, all of us…please…!!”

Reign looked to Ruby, seeing what, if any reaction would come from her, following her wife’s pleading.

She thought she saw the beginnings of a shift…

“Please, know, Ruby – rest assured – I am fully committed to your mothers.

Louis and I simply spoke, in the kitchen.

What we spoke about is not fully my story to tell…it is his and his sister’s and her girlfriend’s…but not mine.

I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you were hoping for, but please let it be enough for you.

Your wife does have point, though – let us celebrate and be merry together.

Please?”

Finally, after the chaos that had unfolded that evening, something did shift within Ruby, whether due to Rao or Christmas magic – who knows?

Ruby nodded, her head hanging with growing shame inside at her behaviour.

She approached Reign, and whispered, “Hug, Ma?”

Reign smiled a small smile and nodded.

They hugged, and Ruby whispered, while they embraced, “I’m so sorry, Ma. I am so sorry. I love Christmas and yet here I am ruining it for us! ....”

She continued for a little while longer, putting forward apologetic utterances to Reign.

Eventually, she sniffled again, and timidly asked, “Do-do you want us to go?”

Reign was saddened that Ruby felt she had to ask that.

Sure, Ruby had been rude, snippy, and more, including to her, one of her Moms, but Reign didn’t want Ruby, Emmie, or the kids to leave.

As Emmie might say - it was Christmas Eve, after all!

But Ruby had been pretty rude, especially to her and so, she decided to have just a little fun at her expense…

She said in tone that meant business, said, “Well, I’ll have to check with your other Moms, but…”

Ruby moved away from Reign and dumbly nodded her head.

But Reign was now chuckling.

“Oh, Ruby! I mean, I don’t know about your other Moms, and I could check, but I don’t want you guys to leave.”

It took her a second, but eventually Ruby chuckled a little too, “Well, played, Ma.”

“Thank you,” Reign said, as she tipped an imaginary hat towards the couple.

They went back out to the others, finding them all gathered around the table again, playing cards.

The three seated themselves, were dealt in and they all played many, many, more rounds that evening.

For the rest of that evening, Ruby shut down somewhat. She participated, but timidly so.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Later at the Arias-Jensen & McKenzie home, National City…

Aside from a few remarks from each parent to the kids, the ride back to their home had been a silent one for Ruby and Emmie.

Ruby drove, and she had tried at one point to start a conversation with Emmie – “Em –”

“Don’t.” Emmie had darkly returned. “Not with the kids – we’ll talk at home.”

Ruby had sighed and continued driving.

They got home, they both plastered on happy faces for the kids, as they got them ready for bed, reminding them of all the things that they could look forward to tomorrow and all the family they would see – on Christmas.

Emmie dawdled, in a way, in saying goodnight to the kids, dreading going back to her wife.

Eventually, after another yawn from Peri, Emmie said her last “good-night” to them both and left their room.

She walked down the hallway that led to her and Ruby’s room, pausing just in front of the doorway.

She sighed, collected herself and walked in.

Ruby was in bed, with her reading glasses on, reading a magazine.

Emmie saw Ruby look up, open her mouth as if to say something, before closing it again, and looking back down.

Emmie shook her head and proceeded to get ready for bed.

A few minutes later, having now gotten into bed, she began, “Ruby…”

She stopped and sighed.

“I’m sorry…” Ruby let out in an almost-whisper.

“Look, I understand there’s a lot going on right now – trust me. You’re having trouble with the Tragdorian case, Brainy stupidly didn’t give you all the time off you requested off over the holidays, and you were somewhat understandably, based on our meeting, worried about Louis meeting your Moms.

I get it.

Well, to an extent.”

She sighed again.

“I mean, I don’t know what he did, exactly – I don’t believe it was anything ‘sexy’ or lascivious –” she looked pointedly at Ruby as she said that. “I do believe though, that if he can make Reign a fan so completely, like that,” she snapped her fingers, “then I think you really need to slow your roll on hating him so much.

Which is still not really addressing the horrible things you said to Reign – one of your Moms. Because, while yes, I get that maybe she didn’t raise you like Sam, or even Liv, and the dynamic between you two is probably different than that between her and Alexa – I get that. But. I still think that deep down, or heck, hopefully not that deep down, at this point in time, you recognise her as one of your Moms.

I mean, if I said half the things you said tonight to her, to my Mom, well…ok, bad example…” She laughed half-heartedly. “Of course, my Mom would begin by tearing me a couple new ones regarding my sexuality, ‘consorting with aliens,’ and probably a bunch of other things that I’m forgetting…”

Ruby spoke up, “Though at least you joined the police – she’s still proud of you for that, isn’t she?”

Emmie sighed and her eyes glazed over slightly. Her thoughts about her presence on the force were complicated.

Eventually she replied, “Yeah, I think so… Though we really don’t talk – at all – so who even knows anymore.

But hey – this is about you!”

“Sorry.”

They both sighed.

Emmie chuckled, “I mean, I don’t mean to just go on and on and on about all the bad things you did tonight, I mean, you were there, and I think, you’re, at this point, recognising the harm and problem in what you did.”

She paused, collecting her thoughts.

“It’s just I do also want make sure you realise how what you did affected me, too… I mean – we’re supposed to be there for each other, right?”

Ruby just silently nodded.

“Rubes…” Emmie shook her head at the memory.

“Now, I want to be clear with you about this – I’m not mad, worried, or holding it against Reign that her eyes almost went ‘heat vision.’

I’m not.

I was worried, but not because I don’t trust her, or anything to do with my personal safety – I was worried, because the one who captured my heart so many years ago, had so emotionally, I don’t know, wrecked, her superpowered mother, that she, maybe, might have lasered us.

Which again – she didn’t, I didn’t think she would, really, and that’s beside the point, frankly.”

She added, quietly, “Oh, but don’t let me forget to give a version of that message to Reign tomorrow. I’m sure she’s going to be ruminating some over that.”

She turned and saw what looked to be the beginnings of tears in her love’s eyes.

She sighed and decided that was enough of that for tonight.

She snuggled up to Ruby, and said, “Just leave the chaos-making to everyone else, tomorrow, eh?”

Ruby chuckled. “For you – definitely.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, back at the elder Arias-Jensen home, National City…

After clearing away the mess from earlier, and getting ready for bed, the triad – Reign, Liv, and Sam – sat in bed, chatting before going to sleep.

“What a day!” Sam declared.

“Agreed,” Liv concurred.

“I still can’t believe Ruby, though…” Reign mumbled.

“What was that Rey?” Liv asked.

“I just, still can’t believe Ruby…” she reiterated.

“Yeah…” Sam tilted her head slightly as she continued, “I mean I wouldn’t think too much of it – she’s probably got a difficult case going on at work or something, but I do get what you mean she wasn’t exactly acting her age, tonight.”

“Well, and just…especially her comment she made to everyone about me, I just…” Reign paused and sighed before turning first to her left, to Liv, then to her right, to Sam, continuing, “You two know how much I love you both, right?”

Her girlfriends smiled back at her, with Liv breaking the silence, saying – “Yes, love.”

Sam added after a few seconds of silence, “Yes, dummy, I don’t know why I need to say it – you’ve been with me since the beginning! You’ve literally been inside my head!”

“Be nice to our girl, Sammy,” Liv chided her wife. “Ruby obviously got to her tonight.”

Sam leaned in close to Reign and said, “I love you, Rey,” infused with as much love and tenderness as she could muster.

At that Rey smiled.

Liv joined in then, leaning in from the other side, and lovingly saying her own, “I love you, Rey.”

And then, as if it had just occurred to her, Reign turned to the two of them and excitedly said, “And you know what tomorrow is??”

Sam rolled her eyes, but both her and Liv played along, saying “What’s tomorrow, Rey?”

“It’s Christmas!!”

Liv calmly said, “Ok, but you know what comes before Christmas, Rey? The Christmas Eve sleep.”

Reign laughed and Sam smiled.

Though excitement was in the air around them, sleep did indeed find them, not too long later.

The three knew they did indeed need their Christmas Eve sleep, for if previous years were any indication – pure chaos awaited them tomorrow at the Luthor-Danvers’.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, at Alexa Arias-Jensen’s apartment complex, National City…

The ride back to Alexa’s for her and Louis had been a pleasant one.

They had chatted freely and easily about the evening they had spent and the day to come, while avoiding the troubling elements from earlier that evening, brought on by a certain sister.

Eventually though Alexa’s curiosity got the better of her, and she had asked her boyfriend, the question that had been on her mind for some time now, “Ok, so…you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I’m curious what you and Ma were talking about for such a while – and in French, too, I think?”

“What? You don’t believe I was seducing her, like –” he had responded.

“Nah! Nope! We’re not talking about my sister, or her insane theories!” Alexa loudly retorted.

Louis had laughed. “I am very happy to hear that you have such faith in me.”

Alexa’s expression had soured for the briefest of a second.

“Louis, of course, I do! And I hope you do, for me, too.”

She had paused as she took the next right turn.

“I mean, we’ve known each other for a while, but please, trust me when I say, I like you a lot. I do trust you. I do have faith in you.

And while, I don’t dictate such things I do hope you share the same thoughts and feelings for me.”

She had laughed lightly for a moment.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t be meeting my Moms and then the rest of the wild crew tomorrow, if I didn’t trust you as I do.”

She then had paused as she took the next left.

“That is,” she fixed him with the sternest look she could muster, “unless you were making the moves on Ma, in which case first off – gross – and second, do please tell me right now.”

She had waited a few seconds, but she was right of course, he had done no such thing, and so no response of that sort had come.

She looked back over to him as they pulled up to her apartment complex and found him looking pensive.

“Louis…? Are you ok?”

She hoped she hadn’t been too forward or anything. Things, she thought had been going well, between them.

But of course, they were sorta taking another “step” of sorts together, with meeting the family…she knew that…

And of course, her sister, God, her sister just had to be the literal worst, tonight…tonight of all nights…

Alexa sighed again, just thinking again about all her sister’s antics from tonight.

She snapped out of and it realised that they were just sitting there in the car, in the parking garage of her building.

She turned to Louis and found him on his phone texting.

Louis was on his phone texting. Texting his sister, Ella, in fact.

Due to the magic of time zones, it was already Christmas morning for her and Sandrine and the Pascal parents over in Paris.

LOUIS:

Joyeux Noël, Ella!!

(Merry Christmas, Ella!!)

ELLA:

Joyeux Noel, Louis!

LOUIS:

Tu ne devineras jamais qui g rencontré ce soir

(You’ll never guess who I met tonight)

Suddenly he realised he hadn’t asked anyone, like his girlfriend for example, if he could reveal that he had met Reign – even if it was to his sister whom he was close to.

He looked back up at said girlfriend, realising she was looking down at him.

They smiled at each other, realising they had been in their own little worlds.

He nervously spoke up and said to her, “So, uh…I haven’t spoken out of turn or anything, I don’t think, but I almost did…” He sighed. “Can I talk to Ella about having met your Ma?”

Alexa laughed brightly.

She sincerely sometimes forgot that one of her Moms was still an active superhero – you know, world-famous and all that.

But nevertheless, the question stood – could Ella know that Louis had met Reign, and if so how? Could she know that Reign was one of Alexa’s Moms?

She sighed, but said, “Let me shoot Ma a text, and we’ll see.” She placed a peck on his cheek and added, “I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but it really isn’t for me to say, you know?”

He nodded. He had lost himself in his excitement but was glad he had caught himself – Alexa was right – it wasn’t for either of them to decide, really.

Next thing they knew, Alexa was receiving an incoming FaceTime call, from her Ma.

She picked up, but as she recognised that they were still in the dark car, before Reign said anything, Alexa quickly said, “Sorry, Ma! We’re still in the car, so it’s probably a bit dark.”

Reign shrugged it off. “No worries, Alexa! I saw you earlier and I recognise your voice.”

Reign paused for a second, before adding, “You said, ‘we,’ is Louis there with you?”

Due to the dark, Alexa didn’t bother shifting the phone too much, but Louis responded, “Bonsoir encore, Madame Règne!”

(Good evening again, Mrs. Reign!)

“Alors, tu veux parler de moi avec Ella?”

(So, you want to talk to Ella about me?)

“Avec votre permission, bien sûr, Règne. C’était un tel honneur de vous avoir rencontré, plus tôt ce soir.”

(With your permission, of course, Reign. It was such an honour to have met you earlier tonight.)

Meanwhile, Alexa, though her French was getting better by the day thanks to Louis, was feeling a little shut-out.

“Hey, y’all are talking through my phone! Do you mind if I know what you’re saying?”

Louis decided that he was fine with that, he would just try to be careful with his wording. He didn’t want to accidentally share of the personal connection he kinda had already had with Reign, just yet with his girlfriend.

Reign appeared to be waiting on a response from Louis, and so Louis threw out a “Sure.”

With that, Reign piped back up, saying, “Well, Louis, I was going to ask – I kind of already have a guess, but what’s your relationship with Ella, like? If you were to tell her that I’m Alexa’s Ma, for example, would she be fine with keeping that secret?”

Louis was contemplative for a few seconds, before saying, “I think so. I mean I haven’t been there with her, hanging out and such for a bit, but I really think so, and we text and FaceTime all the time even while I haven’t been there.”

“Oh, here’s another question for you – does she know what your plans were for tonight? Does she know already you were meeting Alexa’s Moms, or ‘parents,’?”

He swallowed. Sadly, she did. He recognised that it would’ve been easier if she hadn’t.

“Yeah, she knew.”

“Hmm…”

In the background of the call, someone else could be heard yelling something out, but it wasn’t discernible what was said, to the two in the car.

And immediately after, they heard Reign shush whomever it had been.

“Sorry about that. Alexa – your Moms are being annoying.”

“Umm…sorry?” Alexa returned.

Then Reign glanced at her daughter, then back at Louis, before speaking up again, but switching back to French to simply ask, “Sandrine aussi?”

(Sandrine, too?)

Louis looked at his girlfriend, who did appear mildly perturbed at the switch of language.

Of course, it also helped that Alexa didn’t yet know who Sandrine was.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek, to “make up for it,” so to speak, audibly sighed, before saying to Reign, “Yeah, actually if that’s ok, too.”

Reign seemed unaffected by his response, simply saying, “I’m glad I asked.”

Reign’s eyes then narrowed at the Frenchman. “If I say yes, it is for those two and no more – and you know that little speech I gave you, Louis – if my secret, in any way, shape, or form gets out – well, if you remember, you know what will happen.”

Louis of course, recognised that she meant that whispered “shovel talk” speech, and well, he had no desire to be thrown into the Sun anytime soon, that was for sure.

Reign, for her part, knew that her message was received, even though Louis didn’t say anything, for somehow, she still saw his eyes grow big and buggy, even in the dark car.

In that moment, as Alexa watched her boyfriend freak out over her Ma’s threatening, she was sorely glad that Louis was the first boyfriend of hers (and hopefully the last) who had ever gotten to meet her family.

“Alright,” Reign said with a definitive tone, “go ahead, Louis – but don’t easily forget my words.

I know Alexa trusts you greatly, this – this is me trusting you.”

There was some shouting from behind Reign then, but again the car’s occupants couldn’t quite make out what was said, only hearing Reign again, shushing whomever it was.

Reign turned back to the camera, and said with a bright smile, “Et tu sais, un jour, j’aimerais bien les rencontrer proprement – les deux.”

(And you know – one day, I’d love to meet them properly, both of them.)

That made Louis smile brightly, as well. “Un jour, j’espere, Madame Règne.”

(One day, I hope so, Madame Reign.)

Even Alexa couldn’t help but smile at the exchange.

Shortly after that, they finally made their way out of the car and up to Alexa’s unit.

Louis took out his phone, which during the FaceTime had been completely forgotten by him.

He found numerous messages from Ella, wondering what was going on.

LOUIS:

Oh Ella! Je suis si désolé :(

(Oh, Ella! I’m so sorry! :(  )

ELLA:

Alors? Tu me dis qui c’était?

(So? You gonna’ tell me who it was?)

LOUIS:

Oui

Mais pas maintenant, si c’est ok?

(Yes

But not right now, if that’s alright?)

ELLA:

Louis ça vaut mieux être bon!!

Et quand????

(Louis – this better be good!!

And when????)

LOUIS:

P-e, si c’est ok avec toi, nous pourrions FaceTime au matin – toi, Sandrine, moi, et Lexie?

(Maybe, if it’s ok with you – we could FaceTime in the morning – you, Sandrine, me, and Lexie?)

He could practically hear the shriek of excitement, he thought, from his sister, all the way over in Paris at that.

A Christmas FaceTime, where Ella got to finally meet the mysterious American girlfriend of her beloved older brother? Sign her up!

ELLA:
Chouette!!!!!!

Bien sûr!!!

A quelle heure pour nous?

(Sweeeeeet!!!!!!!

Of course!!!

At what time for us?)

Louis smiled.

He looked over at Alexa and asked, “Lexie, would you mind us getting up a bit early tomorrow?”

“Louis!!!!! We’re already getting up early tomorrow!” She suddenly realised something, though, “Wait – does this have anything to do with our conversation we had with Ma, in the car?” she said with a growing smile.

Louis simply smiled back and said, “Maybe.”

Alexa sent a pillow flying his way, “Tell me, my sexy Frenchman!!”

Louis laughed. “Ok, ok, just a second, though!”

He turned back to his phone, and said –

LOUIS:

17:00 ton temps marche pour vous?

(5:00pm your time work for y’all?)

ELLA:
tonton mdr

Et oui, ça marche pour nous!

(A/N: The first part is Ella laughing at a childish French language joke that Louis had inadvertently made - puns are hard to translate, sorry.

And yes, that works for us!)

LOUIS:
Parfait!

O, et svp, seulement toi et S, d’accord?

(Perfect!

Oh, and please just you and Sandrine, tomorrow, ok?)

ELLA:

????

D'accord mais?????

L’Américaine est trop effrayée à rencontrer tes parents???
Peu d’un double standard, n'est-ce pas?

(????

That’s fine but?????

The American is too scared to meet your parents???

Bit of a double standard there, don’t’cha think?)

LOUIS:

Je vais tout expliquer – je promets

(I’ll explain everything – I promise)

Suddenly, a text came in from someone else, on his phone.

Sandrine.

He did have her number, obviously, his phone recognised it, but they hardly texted.

SANDRINE:
Louis, Ella est ravie du plan pour “demain” – ne la laisse pas tomber

(Louis, Ella is super excited for the plan for “tomorrow” – do not let her down)

LOUIS:
Je lui ai promis, Sandrine

Je n’ai pas l’intention de la laisser tomber

(I promised her, Sandrine

I have no intention of letting her down)

SANDRINE:

On verra

(We’ll see)

Goodness, he thought, he knew he wasn't much in the habit of texting Sandrine, but it was like something had happened, like, between them – but he didn’t for the life of him know what.

Maybe he’d find out tomorrow, he thought.

He looked back up and found that Alexa had moved – he looked around and found her approaching, moving in, to snuggle next to him.

“Ok,” he said, “but let’s do this in bed, instead?”

She smiled and nodded, but as though she’d suddenly remembered she said, “Hey, but you’re still telling me tonight what it is we’re getting up extra early for in the morning!”

He laughed and said, “C’mon.”

Somehow, she managed to get all ready for bed, without asking again…until right when they got into bed, and she said, “Ok, ok, ok, so what time am I meeting your sister in the morning???”

Louis laughed. “See, I don’t need to tell you anything – you can just figure it all out on your own!”

“Louis!”

“Fine, we’re FaceTime-ing Ella and her girlfriend, Sandrine at 8:00 am our time, tomorrow.”

He should have videoed Alexa’s reaction, he thought afterwards, as her eyes practically popped out, they got so big.

“8:00am! That means we need to be up and moving, at like 6:00am!! On Christmas!”

“Hey, you’re the one who’s so often asked about meeting her!

And, well, I didn’t want it to be too late for them.”

“I guess. What time is it there now?”

He checked the time and did a little mental calculation – “9:17am, Christmas Day.”

“Time zones still freak me out,” Alexa responded, sounding a bit dazed from the revelation.

He yawned, and said, “Ok, well, how about you let them freak you out come morning – I’m tired.”

She nodded her agreement.

They kissed goodnight, before trying their best, even in their excitement, to catch some sleep.

Chapter Text

Alexa Arias-Jensen’s apartment, National City, December 25^th, 2055…

Louis got up early that Christmas morning.

He knew Alexa’s alarm was set to go off at 6:00, giving him about 45 minutes to himself.

He went to the living room, turned on the lights of the small Christmas tree there, and pulled from his bag a few special gifts for his love that he still needed to wrap and place within and under the tree.

Before beginning so in earnest, he realised something was missing.

He pulled out his phone, opened his music, and put on a Christmas music playlist.

Then, he could truly begin his task, as the music played quietly on in the background.

As he finished up wrapping the last of his gifts, he looked back at his phone, skipped the next song that had come up on the playlist, and decided to check his notifications.

He found a few text message notifications, and upon opening the app, he found them to be from his sister, mostly from overnight, with one from just a little bit ago.

ELLA:

Wow! Devinez ce que S m'a offert pour Noël?  - 1:00am

On va aller voir le nouveau Manifest!!  - 1:05am

Je suppose tu dors…alp  - 1:20am

Wow!! Manifest 2 était si bon! S ne l’aimait pas autant que moi, mais c’était le top!   - 5:20am

(Wow! Guess what Sandrine got me for Christmas?  - 1:00am

We’re gonna’ go see the new Manifest!!!  - 1:05am

I guess you’re sleeping…ttyl  - 1:20am

Wow!! Manifest 2 was so good! Sandrine didn’t love it as much as I did, but still, it was so good!!!!  - 5:20am)

Louis chuckled.

He was glad his sister was having a nice Christmas.

He also chuckled at the idea of getting to tell the two that he was going to meet one of the producers of Ella and Sandrine’s favourite superhero franchise later that day.

Maybe he would let Alexa tell them, as Hugo was her relative. In any case…

LOUIS:

:) Ça me rends plaisir

Seriez-vous d'accord pour partager sur votre sauvetage de 2050, pour Lexie?

( :) That makes me happy

Would you be ok with sharing with Lexie about Reign saving you two 5 years ago?)

ELLA:

Tu veux que je raconte cette histoire?? À Noël???

C’est un peu triste, tu ne trouves pas?

(You want me to share of that story?? At Christmas???

It’s a bit…sad…don’t you think?)

LOUIS:

Mais il y a comme même une fin heureuse

svp

(But it stil has a happy ending though!

please)

ELLA:

T’es pas faux

D’accord, mais je ne promets pas ce que S va dire…

(You’re not wrong

Ok…but you know I can’t promise what Sandrine’s reaction will be…)

Indeed, only a few moments later, a text came in from Sandrine.

SANDRINE:

Louis, tu veux que nous partagions avec l’Américaine cette histoire là…?

Quelle blague pas drôle du tout…

(Louis, you want us to tell the American of that story…?

What a horrible joke!)

Louis sighed.

LOUIS:

Oui, svp Sandrine. Tu vas voir – ça en vaudra la peine – je promis

(Yes, please, Sandrine. You’ll see – it’ll all be worth it – I promise)

Louis sighed, as no further texts from either of them came in.

He hoped all would go well this morning.

Soon, it was minutes from 6:00am, and so Louis snuck back into the bedroom, with his phone still softly playing Christmas music, now on the bedside table.

Just as it hit 5:59am, the familiar opening of “All I Want for Christmas is You,” began playing from Louis’ phone.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need…”

Alexa began slowly waking up at that, moving about all around and stretching.

She turned to Louis then, smiling.

Louis looked at her and said softly, “Merry Christmas, Lexie! Joyeux Noël, Lexie!”

“Merry Christmas, Louis!”

She wrapped her arms around him, as she gave him a loving kiss.

Her own alarm went off then, she swatted at it, before pulling herself out of bed.

Louis joined her and they began to get ready for the full and busy day ahead of them.

Later, after they had finished opening the last of the presents that they had gotten for each other, Louis said with a light chuckle to Alexa, “So, Sandrine got Ella movie tickets – guess to what?”

Alexa laughed – “The new Manifest?”

“Exactly. Apparently, Ella especially loved it.”

“Well, I’m sure Hugo will be glad to hear it. He considers those his babies, well them and Robin, obviously.”

“I was thinking, as well, that we could tell them about Hugo being your cousin and all, if you’re ok with that? I think they would enjoy knowing that.”

“Ok – but we’re not revealing all my family’s secrets to them, ok?”

“Of course, Lexie.”

She smiled back at him.

At this point in time, it was almost 8:00am, and so Louis got out his laptop and began getting it set up for the FaceTime.

While he did that, Alexa went to grab some water, and once back in the living room adjusted the star that sat atop the small tree.

As Alexa was adjusting, Louis opened the app. Louis looked up to her and said, “Lexie t’es prête?

(Lexie, you ready?)

Alexa nodded her head.

Louis hit the button for his sister’s contact, and in no time at all, there they were – Ella & Sandrine.

Louis smiled brightly. “Joyeux Noël, vous deux!”

(Merry Christmas, you two!)

The two on the screen smiled back and gave their own holiday greetings.

Sandrine then asked, “Je pensais que tu avais dit que nous renconterions l’Americaine?”

(I thought you said we’d meet the American?)

Finally, Alexa, not only having gotten the star to sit just right, but hearing Sandrine’s question, moved to the couch and plopped down gently next to her boyfriend.

Mustering up her confidence, Alexa replied in her own accent, “Désolé. C’est un tel plaisir de vous enfin rencontrer, même, si c’est comme si,” she finished, waving her arms towards the computer.

(Sorry. It’s a real joy to finally meet you both, even if it’s like this.)

Ella spoke up – “Wow – ton français n’est pas mal.”

(Wow – your French isn’t half bad.)

Alexa smiled – “Merci.”

She turned nervous though then, switching to English. “Mostly thanks to your brother, Ella.”

Ella smiled briefly, before giving Louis a look, and said, in a somewhat put-off tone, “On fait l’anglais maintenant?”

(We’re just doing English now?)

Louis returned, somewhat apologetically – “Si c’est ok avec vous?”

(If that’s fine by y’all?)

The two women looked between each other for a second before turning back to Louis and Alexa, with Ella saying for the both of them – “Fine.”

And then Ella’s voice took on a teasing tone toward Louis, “So, you survived meeting the parents, Louis?”

Louis smiled at her – “Yes, yes, I did thank you very much.”

Alexa then spoke up, “He certainly did! While my sister was a jerk most of the evening, and he got off on the wrong foot initially with one of my Moms, by the end of the night I think everyone were Louis fans.”

Ella smiled at that. But her smile faltered for a second. “He wasn’t too charming, now, was he?”

Alexa knew what she meant.

“Eh, I didn’t think he was too bad last night – though my sister did. Of course, at the same time, he definitely was too much when he met her and her wife, with me for the first time.”

“Well, good,” Ella said, looking back at Louis. “He’s always struggled with that.”

Something suddenly clicked in Ella’s mind – “Wait, Alexa, you said your Moms? And your sister and her wife?”

Alexa nodded, but before she could say anything, Ella went on – “Louis! I know you go on and on about her,” she indicated Alexa, “all the time, but how come you never told me, your lesbian sister, that your girlfriend’s sister has a wife and that both her parents are women!”

Louis, and even Alexa some, began to laugh. A “sorry” slipped out from Louis.

Louis then looked back up, with a twinkle in his eye, ready to kick it off with his surprises.

“Although you’re not exactly right when you say that both her parents are women… Not that you’re exactly wrong, either…”

Ella and Sandrine looked confused for a second, and Alexa went ahead and helped them out, explaining, “I have three Moms.”

“Ohhhh…” the two Frenchwomen said.

“So, they’re poly-am-ory?” Ella asked, stumbling over the word she was somewhat unfamiliar with.

Alexa nodded, “Yeah, their relationship’s changed and shifted over the years, but all three of them raised me. Of course, they’re not all three married to each other, due to the world we live in, but two of them are.”

Louis was getting excited, though, “And you’ll never guess who one of them is!”

“Oh, is this what you were going to tell me earlier?”

Alexa then whispered something to Louis. Louis nodded, turning serious.

“Yes, but, well, that brings me somewhat to how I’d also asked that it just be you two…”

The two in Paris, looked at him more intently, leaning forward, now, too.

Louis’ nerves overtook him, and Alexa, growing impatient, spoke up, “We’re going to tell you about my Ma, and who she is… But you’ve got to keep her identity a secret.”

She smirked in Louis’ direction, “I’m guessing it may even be a matter of life and death, right Louis?”

Ella and Sandrine looked at each other, very intrigued and wondering what this was.

But they then, looked back at Alexa and Louis, and said, “We promise.”

Louis grabbed Alexa’s hand and squeezed. Alexa squeezed back.

Louis finally said, “One of Alexa’s Moms is…Reign.”

Ella spoke, in awe, “Règne? The superhero?”

Louis nodded.

Meanwhile though, Sandrine was getting up in a huff.

She turned back, before leaving the camera’s view, “What type of sick joke is this, Louis? You know what meaning Reign has for me…”

Everyone could see the tears beginning to fall from her orange eyes.

Louis and Ella both tried to get her to stay.

“S’il te plait Sandrine – laissez-les expliquez,” Ella tried.

(Please, Sandrine – let them explain.)

“I do know, Sandrine, that’s why I wanted to tell you – having met her,” Louis tried.

But Sandrine looked determined and tried to pull her arm away from Ella.

And then, Alexa spoke up, “Sandrine, please. I know we don’t really know each other, and I don’t know what this connection is you have with Ma – with Reign – but please understand the truth we’re speaking, and how important this is to Louis.”

“Here,” Alexa continued, on a roll now, “look up Rey Nadal. I mean, heck look up Samantha Arias-Jensen, too.”

Sandrine sat back down and did as Alexa asked.

Soon enough her eyes, and even Ella’s, who was looking at the searches with her, got wide – “Did you-did you just tell me Reign’s alter ego?”

Even Louis’ eyes had gotten wide, as he looked at his girlfriend – he didn’t think they’d exactly received permission to tell them that.

But Alexa was determined. “Yes, I did. For you know – Louis trusts you both tremendously. And so, I am trusting you. Well, and so is she – Reign – we FaceTime-ed with her last night, with Louis asking if he could talk to you both about having met her and she said yes.

Just, please, don’t forget your promise, either.”

Ella and Sandrine, both now on-board, nodded their heads, firmly.

After a second, Ella asked, “So, what was it like – meeting Reign?”

“Well, I got off on the wrong foot with her at first,” Louis began.

Ella interrupted at that, scolding him – “Louis!”

Louis hung his head – “I know.”

“Oh, she was just being overprotective,” Alexa added.

“But after dinner,” Louis smiled at his sister and Sandrine, “I told her about how we kinda already knew her.”

Alexa looked very confused at that. Looking at Louis, she said, “Wait you and Ma already knew each other???”

“Sorta. And Ella and Sandrine had more of, a moment, with her, really,” Louis said.

Now, Alexa was the one intrigued.

Louis shot the two on the screen a look, and then they began relating the tale. It took a while and was obviously more than a little difficult for them, especially Sandrine, to relive, but they did so, nevertheless.

Like when Louis had told the story to Reign, both women’s demeanour shifted dramatically when they got to the Reign part of the story.

They visibly became more excited and animated.

Although Alexa had an inkling of a guess what the trajectory of this story was going to be from the start, she reacted appropriately through the whole story, with a bright smile appearing on her face when they told of her Ma appearing on the scene.

As the two Parisians finished telling their tale, Sandrine wistfully said, “She saved so many that day…while I think I did let out a thank you in the moment, I wish I could someday, I could properly thank her…”

Ella put Sandrine’s hand in hers, as they then looked between each other – in that moment, so grateful – so grateful to simply be alive.

Louis and Alexa let the moment stay like that for a minute.

Louis then added, “I know it’s not the same, and hopefully, someday, you will be able to do so yourself, but I did in that moment, in talking to her, thank her properly for…for her having saved you two, especially.”

“And you know,” he continued, “she remembered you two – she mentioned your full name, Sandrine, even though I’d only used your first name, for example…”

Alexa butted in then, “Yeah, that’s Ma, though – crazy good memory. She forgets – literally – nothing. Wasn’t fun growing up with that, well, especially with other things, like her superhearing, too.”

Everyone else laughed.

“I just can’t believe Reign is one of your Moms!!” Ella said, still somewhat in disbelief.

The conversation then turned to the various Christmas gifts that the four of them had received.

And not too long into that, Ella couldn’t hold it any longer – her voice full of excitement asked, “Alexa – are you a Manifest fan?”

Alexa let out a short, “yes,” before breaking into a laugh.

Ella had smiled, before she looked to Alexa, confused.

“What’s so funny?”

Louis, who had a smile on his face during this, explained to the two, “Well…Alexa may know one of Manifest’s producers quite well…”

“What?!” the two women in Paris exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Alexa sheepishly spoke up, “Hugo OD, or Hugo Olsen-Danvers is one of the producers for the movies and…my cousin.”

“That’s amazing!! Louis, why’d you wait so long to introduce me to your super cool girlfriend??” Ella demanded.

“Désolé,” Louis let out.

“Well, in his defense,” Alexa began, “he only just met my Moms and is meeting the rest of the fam today.”

“Fine, fine,” Ella acquiesced.

Their conversation went on from there, and for some time.

Louis didn’t spoil all the family secrets.

And they all seemed to get along quite well, especially Alexa and the Frenchwomen.

Soon though, Alexa’s phone dinged. It was an unimportant notification, but it prompted her screen to light up, reminding her of the time.

11:30am.

They were now, officially, running late.

Alexa nudged Louis and showed him her phone. He got the message and pretty quickly they were saying goodbye to Ella and Sandrine, with Ella making the both of them promise to FaceTime more regularly.

The rest of the day was lovely for them. Though most everyone was already at the Luthor-Danvers estate when they got there, they found their place among the family, Louis getting well acquainted with the large bunch.

That evening, back at Alexa’s apartment, they would both agree that this had been a marvelous Christmas, and it would end up being the first of many that Louis would spend with Alexa’s boisterous family.