Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“L-Lex what are you doing?”

Lena’s green eyes darted nervously around the sterile white concrete room she was in, taking in the bright lights, various medical machines, and most notably that she was restrained to a cold steel exam table wearing only a paper medical gown.

“Isn’t it obvious Lena? I’m finally doing something I’ve aimed to accomplish for years but have always fallen just shy of doing, creating a life form that will finally give the Kryptonians a real challenge; and you, my dear little sister, are going to help me achieve that end.”

Lena get her chest tighten as fear and panic began to rise as she watched Lex walk closer to the table wearing a crude mock-up of a doctor’s surgical attire and a devilish grin. Tears began to prick her eyes as she watched him reach for the oxygen mask attached to what Lena could only assume was some concoction to put her to sleep.

“N-no! Lex stop! Let me go! HELP!!”

Her brother’s smile only darkened as he pressed the mask over her nose and mouth.

“Scream all you like Lena, no one can hear you.”

The ravenette tried to hold her breath and shake her head away from Lex’s hold but the more she struggled the more her lungs burned for air until finally she was forced to take a breath of the airborne anesthetic. The last thing she heard before being pulled into darkness was Lex’s evil snickering.

Chapter Text

Lena woke with a gasp, cold sweat clinging to her brow making the loose strands of raven hair cling to her clammy forehead. Her green eyes quickly darted around the room taking in the dim lights, the steadily beeping machine attached to her displaying various vitals, the hard plastic rail of the uncomfortable hospital bed she was huddled against, and most noticeably the occasional odd flutter in her belly.

Closing her eyes the ravenette worked to steady her heart rate, if it got much higher an alarm would sound and her brother would come to see what was happening. After a few steadying breaths the beeping of the monitor returned to a normal rhythm and Lena opened her eyes again looking at the swell of her belly under the thin hospital gown she wore. Hesitantly the ravenette placed a shaking hand over the swell, when an answering nudge pressed against her palm tears gathered in Lena’s eyes and quiet sobs began to slip from her lips.

Four months. Lex had been holding her prisoner for four months in this concrete cell, keeping her isolated from anyone besides himself and an occasional assistant. For four months the ravenette had been treated as a living incubator for the thing Lex believed would finally bring Superman to his knees.

After she’d first woken up Lex offered zero comfort or reassurance to her panicked mind, instead he smirked at her and dove into explaining her role in his plan. He’d gathered information from old Kryptonian archives about a species of aliens that were almost identical to Kryptonians called Daxamites, among the archives he found notes on how this race of alien had technologies to create life from samples of DNA but the notes on how to execute such a thing were incomplete leaving Lex to fill in the gaps with his own twisted genius. The result ended up being two surviving embryos made from combining Lena’s DNA with a DNA sample taken from Superman, but through experimenting Lex quickly learned artificial growth chambers of his own creation weren’t capable of growing the embryo, he needed a physical body to house the embryo, and who better to be a guinea pig to his experiment then one of the DNA providers, Lena.

The ravenette pulled herself from the painful thoughts as she heard the door to her makeshift cell open. She didn’t need to look to know it was most likely Lex either coming to do his daily examination of her condition or with food.

“You can’t keep me here forever Lex, sooner or later someone is going to notice I’m missing.”

The words were meant to be strong but came out more hollow, the only person that would truly notice her absence was her best friend and she was currently out of state visiting her mother with her little girl. The dull sound of footsteps stopped a few feet away from the bed and were quickly followed by a metal tray being set down rather roughly.

“You truly are delusional if you think anyone is going to miss you Lena, the world barely knows you exist and those that do don’t care because you’re a Luthor, besides I don’t intend to keep you captive forever just until you give birth to my weapon.”

Lena opened her eyes and glared in her brother’s general direction over her shoulder. Sure she hadn’t asked to be pregnant with a half Kryptonian baby and sure more than once she couldn’t stop the dark intrusive thoughts that crossed her mind but that didn’t change how it disgusted her to hear Lex refer to a baby, alien or otherwise, as a weapon. Lowering her cheek back to the still slightly sweat dampened pillow Lena curled in on herself, arms going around her middle instinctively.

“Someone will notice.”

Lex was silent for a long time, such a long few moments that if Lena hadn’t noticed the lack of retreating footsteps she’d have thought her brother had left.

“Roll over, I need to examine your progress.”

The ravenette swallowed hard and curled up tighter earning an angered growl from her brother.

“I said roll over!”

A yelp escaped Lena’s lips as her brother grabbed her shoulder in a bruising grip and forced her onto her back. She couldn’t fight him off even if she wanted to, her swollen belly and the long restraints still attached to her limbs didn’t allow it. Still frowning Lex shortened the restraints until the ravenette couldn’t move her limbs before he began his routine examination. As her brother used a machine similar to an ultrasound machine Lena forced herself to look away from the screen, she didn’t want to see the infant she was being forced to carry, she didn’t want to risk forming any sort of attachment to something she’d never asked for and that would be ripped away from her in the end.

“Incredible, barely four months of pregnancy and the fetus has already developed to the human equivalent of seven months, at this rate you’ll be ready to give birth in a matter of days.”

The joy in her brother’s tone made Lena feel sick to her stomach as she fought back tears, she may not have wanted the baby but only someone as heartless as Lex would be okay with the idea of her brother finally getting what he wanted and subjecting an innocent child to whatever evil plan he had waiting. After a few more tests Lex finally left the cell leaving Lena on her own once again.

The ravenette looked up at the ceiling letting a few tears slip free as she tried to sort through her conflicted feelings. As horrible as it sounded even in her own mind Lena didn’t want the baby in her womb to exist, she didn’t want to be playing host to a baby she’d never asked for, she wanted to be separated from it as soon as possible like waking up from a bad dream; but on the other hand she’d be lying if she denied the way her heart involuntarily swelled a bit whenever the being growing inside her would move around. She’d be lying if she said that sometimes her dreams didn’t drift to some sort of fantasy of herself holding a small dark haired child smiling like the whole universe was in her arms and the high bell light laughter didn’t ring in the air bringing a feeling of love and joy into her heart.

Lena wasn’t sure when the thoughts turned into a dream but she let them surround her and soothe some hidden wound in her heart as her hand rested lightly on her belly.

Chapter Text

When Lena woke next it was by a loud, slightly muffled, crash somewhere outside her room. Green eyes flew open at the sound and the ravenette looked around wildly trying to see what had happened but all she found was the same nearly empty space she’d been a captive of for months. Lena strained her ears to try and hear outside the room, the sound of shouting was barely audible but it was loud enough for her to know it existed and that it wasn’t just Lex shouting. Someone had located wherever Lex was hiding her.

The ravenette took a deep breath in preparation to call out as loud as she possibly could in hopes of alerting whoever was storming the building to her presents but the air was suddenly stolen from her lungs as a sharp pain shot through her lower back and around her swollen belly, her shout coming out as a shocked yelp.

“N-no not now!”

It didn’t take Lena’s genius IQ to put the pieces together as her mind moved away from the sounds outside the room to register first the warm puddle soaking the sheets under her and the pulsing pressure radiating around her middle, she was in labor. As pain shot through her again the ravenette let out a harsh scream as her fingers gripped the hard plastic of the bed rails, all thoughts of trying to draw attention to her captive room were pushed aside as the pain overtook her mind.

In some instinctive recess of her mind some switch seemed to flip in the ravenette’s head and her body seemed to know what to do before she even understood. Lena had no clue how long she pushed, the seconds and minutes bled together and blurred by pain and tears as sweat drenched her body and her hands went numb clinging to the rails of the bed like a lifeline, her throat burned from her screams and panting breaths, and all she could do was follow the primal instinct to remove the source of the pain. With one last painful push the pain stopped and her body nearly went limp with relief but the tears didn’t stop as deafening silence filled the room.

The ravenette didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until the shrill cry filled the room just as the door of the room opened and the sound of rushing feet filled the space. Lena squeezed her eyes shut against the river of tears, too exhausted to do anything more than cry.

“Oh Rao, no.”

Chapter Text

“Thank you for coming on such short notice Miss Arias, we weren’t sure who exactly to contact since Lillian has been arrested with Lex and Lionel’s death four years ago.”

Superman’s voice was low in the quiet hospital hallway as the hero’s blue eyes showed genuine gratitude to the woman standing before him. She was tall and lean with tanned skin, kind brown eyes and long brown hair. Her eyes moved to look in the small door window, taking in the sight of Lena sitting propped up in a hospital bed staring blankly out the large window at the city outside.

“Please call me Sam, and this is the least I can do. I've known Lena since our college days and she’s one of my best friends, I wouldn't even think of abandoning her now.”

Superman nodded following her eyes as the sound of shrill unhappy cries came from the room. Sam felt her heart break both for the baby and for her friend as she bypassed the hero to softly knock on the door as she opened it.

“Lee? Is it okay if I come in?”

If Lena heard her she didn’t give any response, though her gaze shifted from the window to the bedding over her legs. Looking closely Sam could see tears glistening in her friend’s green eyes as she stepped into the room. Glancing away from Lena the brunette looked at the small hospital cot where the unhappy cries were coming from before moving closer to look at the newborn inside. The babe had fair skin though it was slightly flushed from crying, bright blue eyes occasionally peeked at their surroundings as if searching, and a small bit of black hair peaked out of the little blue hat on its head. Sam reached into the cot and gently ran the back of her finger over the infant’s cheek trying to sooth it before looking back at Lena.

“I think he wants you Lee.”

The ravenette flinched as though the words had physically hurt her, making the brunette furrow her brow in worry. She’d been told by one of the doctors that after Superman had arrived with Lena and the newborn they’d been given thorough check overs. Both were fine and mostly healthy, Lena had lost a fair amount of blood and it had triggered a spell of anemia but apart from that everything was physically fine with Lena and the baby, it was mentally that the ravenette was understandably conflicted. When a nurse had tried to hand the freshly cleaned and swaddled newborn boy to Lena after the check up the ravnette had all but slid out of bed to avoid the child, her green eyes wouldn’t even glance at the boy for more than a second, and yet when they’d tried to take him from the room or the social worker had come in suggesting adoption Lena nearly broke down in a panic until they promised her the baby boy wasn’t going anywhere.

Looking back at the boy in the cot Sam sighed softly and with a small smile carefully scooped him up and held him close, her smile softening when he settled a little but still whined his eyes searching what he could see around him. Slowly she moved closer to her friend until she was standing by the bed, she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Lena’s horse whisper.

“Don’t, I don’t want to see him.”

Sam felt her heart crack a little as her eyes lifted to the ravenette, taking in the haunted and conflicted look in her emerald eyes. Looking back at the boy in her arms Sam slowly nodded.

“Okay.”

The brunette carefully pulled a chair to the beside and sat down when Lena didn’t object, Sam wasn’t sure whether it was subconscious or not but she noticed the ravenette’s body relax a fraction at the boy’s closer proximity. After a few quiet moments Sam finally broke the silence.

“Did you name him?”

Her only answer was a head shake.

“Did you want to?”

For a long moment Lena didn’t react and Sam began to worry she’d crossed a line but to her surprise her friend gave a small nod. The brunette’s smile returned a little as she gently rocked the boy in her arms.

“What did you have in mind?”

It took Lena a long moment to answer, when she did the words were hardly a whisper.

“Lionel Ellis Walsh.”

The brunette rolled the name around a couple times in her head before nodding once gently stroking the boy’s cheek with her finger.

“I like it, I think it suits him. Do you want to try holding him?”

Lena didn’t flinch this time but rather took a deep breath and slowly nodded. Sam got to her feet and moved closer with and encouraging smile.

“We can go slow, if you decide you don’t want this just tell me okay?”

Lena nodded though her eyes were closed as she held out her arms. Sam carefully lowered the newly named Lionel into her friend’s arms holding her breath as the ravenette’s arms carefully wrapped around the boy who seemed to instantly settle and relax. Slowly the brunette removed her hands, her smile brightening as Lena held Lionel on her own though she kept her eyes closed. Sam was about to ask if her friend was okay but the words died on her tongue as the ravenette opened her eyes and looked down at the boy in her arms. It was like some sort of switch flipped inside Lena before Sam’s eyes as her friend’s breath caught in her throat and tears filled her green eyes as they looked over the tiny being in her arms.

“H-he’s beautiful.”

Sam smiled sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Of course he is, he’s half you.”

Lena normally would have rolled her eyes at her friend but her attention was focused on her son as his blue eyes fluttered open and found her before he gave a small coo like sound and wiggled a little, the action drew a chuckle from the ravenette as she gently ran her finger over his tiny fist.

“Hello sweet boy, my little lion.”

Sam raised a brow but chose to keep her questions to herself far more content to watch as Lena finally began bonding with her son. After a while Lionel fell back asleep snuggled against Lena and the ravenette couldn’t tear her eyes away from him for long as though he’d vanish from her arms making Sam smile softly.

“Hey Lee?”

The ravenette gave a soft humm of acknowledgment but her attention was partly on watching her son.

“Why Walsh? I mean I get Lionel, that was your dad’s name but I don’t understand Walsh instead of Luthor.”

The ravenette tore her eyes away from Lionel to meet her friend’s curious gaze, a serious expression covering her face.

“It was my mother’s last name, I want a part of her to live on with him.”

She looked back down at Lionel as the boy wiggled his little arm free of his blanket.

“And I refuse to make him carry the burden of the Luthor name, I won’t put him through the ridicule and hardship it brings in life.”

As the words sank in the brunette nodded understandingly before resting her head on her friend’s shoulder as they watched Lionel give a small smile in his sleep.

“I’m proud of you Lee, you did amazing.”

Lena couldn’t help her smile as she rested her head against Sam’s finally content to watch her son sleep peacefully, innocently.

Chapter Text

Four years seemed to pass by in a blur to Lena as before her eyes the little newborn boy she’d been so terrified to look at and bond with grew into the sweetest, smartest, little boy she’d ever met. Lionel was the center of Lena’s universe, her reason to keep going in a life where she was hit with accusations and her name was drug through the mud all because of her brother. He was the reason the ravenette was able to hold her chin high and press on as the new owner of Luthor-Corp and begin pulling it out of the pit of horrible choices her family had left it in and rebuilding it into something better.

When Lionel was still a baby Sam had asked if Lena was going to go public with the news and from the beginning her answer was crystal clear, absolutely not. She would shield her son from the spotlight and keep him safe from all the dangers that came from being not only the child of a celebrity but also the child of a Luthor, particularly the unmarried illegitimate child of Lionel Luthor Sr. and a woman he’d had an affair with in Ireland. But keeping Lionel’s existence a secret from the press and public wasn’t the only secret Lena had to keep.

The day she brought him home from the hospital the ravenette vowed she’d keep his existence secret from Superman at all costs, she didn’t want to imagine what lengths the hero would go to to take her son away and if the male Kryptonian ever learned about her son’s parentage? The thought alone made her tear up and hold Lionel closer. Lionel never questioned her about not having a father around and Lena never saw the need to tell him anything about how he came to be, it was a choice they were both happy and content to live with.

“Mommy! Teacher sented this home!”

Lena looked up from the papers on her desk with a smile as Jess opened the door to her office allowing the dark haired four year old to run to her side and practically fall over her lap waving a piece of bright orange paper.

“Okay okay hold it still baby, mommy can’t read it if you’re moving it around.”

Lionel giggled as the ravenette pushed away from the desk enough to lift him into her lap, pecking his cheek with an exaggerated kiss as she took the paper. Giving it a quick glance over Lena felt her mouth go dry and her stomach begin to knot.

”Dear parent(s), as part of our ‘getting to know you’ unit we encourage our students to work together with their parents to create a small household family tree or drawing to share with the class on Monday!”

Lena didn’t even bother reading the rest of the note listing off requirements for the project, her mind was already scrambling to find ways to answer the question she’d spent so long dreading to hear from her son.

“Mommy?”

The ravenette blinked herself from her thoughts to look at the boy in her lap watching her with concerned blue eyes that looked almost too old for his little face. She smiled softly, holding him close and kissing his head.

“We can work on it together tonight baby, how’s that sound?”

Lionel’s mood brightened back up and he nodded.

“Can I use my new markers?”

Lena chuckled softly and nodded, setting the paper on her desk.

“I think that can be arranged, for now though, my little lion, do you want to stay here with mommy while she does boring paperwork or do you want to go with Jess to the play room and see your friends?”

The boy’s blue eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of the work place daycare, a new feature Lena had added when she took over the company allowing single parents or parents that couldn’t afford daycare to bring their children to the office to be looked after while they worked, before he began to wiggle excitedly.

“I wanna go play!”

Lena laughed at his reaction before dropping three kisses to his head and setting him on his feet.

“Okay off you do then, be good for Haddie and mommy will see you at 5 o’clock.”

Lionel beamed happily, turning back to kiss Lena’s cheek before running back to Jess and following her out of the office. Once the door closed Lena sighed heavily and dove back into her work massaging her temple to ward off the headache she knew was coming.

Somewhere between signing off on prototype blueprints and approving moving forward with another project a hesitant knock on her office door drew the ravenette’s green eyes from the papers curiously, Jess hardly ever knocked on her door without paging first.

“What is it Jess?”

Lena watched as her assistant opened the door enough to poke her head in with a furrowed brow.

“I’m sorry to bother you Lena but there’s a Clark Kent and a Kara Danvers here to see you.”

The ravenette felt a pit open in her stomach at the first name Jess listed off, the world might have been fooled by a pair of glasses and a dorky aloof personality but thanks to Lex Lena knew exactly how to see right past the Kansas farm boy front to the hidden Kryptonian identity of Clark Kent. Her mind scrambled to try and find a reason Clark Kent of all people would be knocking on her office door at 4:30 in the afternoon, only one thing came to mind and that was the recent disastrous launch of the Venture she’d luckily missed thanks to a meeting with Lionel’s teacher; or at least she could hope that was why the reporter was here.

“Lena?”

The ravenette mentally shook herself and put on a business smile as she neatly set the papers and blue prints aside.

“Thank you Jess, please show them in.”

Her assistant looked hesitant but nodded and disappeared for a moment, long enough for Lena to stand up and make her way to the water pitcher to pour herself a drink. When the door opened again Jess entered first followed by Clark and a blonde wearing black framed glasses, a white dress and a pale pink cardigan. Lena smiled in thanks at Jess as her assistant left before turning her attention to Clark and the young woman.

“Clark, what a lovely surprise. What brings you to the proverbial snake’s den, as I’m sure you would so elegantly put it?”

The ravenette didn’t miss the way Clark sneakily squared his shoulders and tried to level her with a cold look, something Lena easily ignored in favor of glancing at the blonde at his side as she nervously fidgeted with her glasses. The similarity in style to Clark’s glasses wasn’t lost on Lena and once again thanks to Lex she was well aware that the fake eyewear was designed with traces of lead to keep Kryptonian X-ray vision in check while providing a ‘perfect’ identity shield. Of course she could be wrong and the mousy looking blonde had just picked a safe ‘goes with anything’ frame style, she’d have to keep an eye on her.

“I’m here to ask you a few questions about the launch of the venture the other day Lena and why exactly you were the only person not aboard the ship.”

The dark haired man’s voice pulled Lena from her thoughts and back to the matter at hand as she took a sip from her water before going to her desk.

“There’s a very simple reason I wasn’t on that ship Mr. Kent, there was an emergency meeting that required my presence regarding renaming my company.”

Clark gave a very fake chuckle that still dripped with doubt.

“How lucky for you.”

Lena rolled her eyes at the comment.

“Lucky is Superman saving the day.”

The dark haired man’s chuckle was a bit more surprised as he held her gaze.

“Not something one expects a Luthor of all people to say.”

It seemed at the mention of the hero something compelled the blonde to finally speak up, though she stuttered a bit at first, weather from nerves or excitement Lena wasn’t sure.

“S-Supergirl was there too!”

Lena raised a brow at the blonde, sharp green eyes met crystalin blue pools that were achingly similar to a pair of wide blue eyes that looked up at her every day. Pushing the thought down Lena set her water down and sat elegantly in her chair.

“And who are you exactly?”

The blonde seemed stunned for a moment at the question and fidgeted with her glasses, Lena had to wonder if it really was a nervous habit she’d picked up somewhere.

“Um I-I’m Kara Danvers, I'm not with the Daily Planet, I’m with CatCo. Magazine sort of.”

Lena could have laughed but she refrained and kept it to a soft chuckle.

“That’s not a publication known for its hard hitting journalism, more like high waisted jeans yes or no.”

The blonde seemed to deflate a small bit but she kept it well hidden, Lena wouldn’t even have noticed if it weren’t for the slight twinge in her brow.

“I’m just tagging along today.”

The ravenette glanced at the small clock on her desk and noticed it was almost 5 o’clock meaning Lionel was probably waiting for her in the daycare center, she needed to get this little interrogation over with and get Clark and his friend out of her office.

“Right. Can we just speed this interview along? Just ask me what you want to ask me, Clark. Did I have anything to do with the venture explosion?”

Lena’s tone came out a bit icier than she intended directed at the blonde but she needed to get the point across as she made quick work of signing the last of the papers on her desk.

“Did you?”

Lena wanted to glare at the reporter and his almost playful mocking tone, instead she met his blue eyes with a deadpan stare, two could play that game.

“You wouldn't be asking me if my last name were Smith.”

Any mocking playful tone left the dark haired man’s voice as he held her gaze.

“But it’s not, it’s Luthor.”

Lena couldn’t help herself, it was rare to find a person that could stand up to her Luthor attitude then again she couldn’t be too surprised with how often Clark and Lex clashed, a smile crossed her face as she set her pen down and folded her arms.

“Some steel under that Kansas wheat.”

There was a quick flash of realization and slight panic that crossed Clark’s blue eyes but he hid it well with a slight chuckle and fake smile. Glancing between Clark and Kara the ravenette relented a little.

“It wasn’t always, I was adopted when I was four. Lex was the one person that made me feel most welcome, he made me proud to be a Luthor, but then he went on his reign of terror in metropolis, declared war on Superman, and committed unspeakable crimes.”

Lena had to force down the painful flashbacks of being trapped in a white concrete room and the terrifying events that led to her son entering her life. Though she had turned to look out the wall of windows at the city, the ravenette was acutely aware of her two guests’ reflections suddenly looking around the room as if they were doing a visual sweep, how very subtle. Turning back she could have laughed seeing the pair both readjusting their glasses at the same time but she kept it to herself.

“When Superman arrested Lex I vowed to take back my family’s company, to change the name and face of this company from Luthor Corp to L-Corp and make it a force for good, undoing the horrible things my brother has done. I’m just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family. Do you understand that?”

The slight pleading in Lena’s voice was genuine as she looked at the pair across the desk, to her surprise Kara nodded.

“Yeah.”

Lena gave a quick smile at the blonde before rising to her feet and made her way to the shelf against the wall, taking a sleek black flash drive from a small dish on one of the shelves.

“I know why you’re here, a subsidiary of my company made the part that exploded on the venture.”

She held out the drive to Clark.

“This drive contains all the information we have in the oscillator, I hope it helps you in your investigation.”

What Lena wouldn’t have given for a camera in that moment as a look of genuine surprise crossed Clark’s face as he took the offered drive before casting a glance at Kara who gave a subtle shrug messing with her glasses again. Lena crossed her arms loosely over her chest holding the dark haired man’s eyes.

“Give me a chance Clark, I’m here for a fresh start, please let me have one.”

Clark didn’t respond right away but the lingering flash of suspicion passing through his icy eyes was enough for Lena before he turned to leave.

“Have a good day Ms. Luthor.”

Kara floundered for half a second before following Clark’s example and nodding at her.

“H-have a good day.”

As the pair left the office Lena narrowed her eyes, there was something about the blonde that she couldn’t quite figure out. She had a lot of the same traits that a trained eye could spot from Superman, the fair tanned skin, strong jaw, well defined muscles, sharp sky blue eyes, an almost proud air, and of course the glasses; but at the same time she seemed far too mousy and unsure of herself, she lacked the steel support Clark carried with him from his Kryptonian biology. Before she could think on it further a glance at the clock made her curse under her breath and quickly gather her things before leaving the office for the daycare center smiling brightly as she saw Lionel waiting for her by the windowed door. She quickly opened the door and lifted the boy into her arms, holding him close as he hugged her neck.

“You’re late mommy.”

Lena nodded before resting their foreheads together.

“I know baby, mommy is sorry but she had a last minute meeting. How about to make it up to you we have Chinese for dinner?”

The boy’s blue eyes widened in excitement as his smile grew.

“For real life?!”

The ravenette chuckled, setting him on his feet but still holding his hand.

“Yes darling, for real life.”

Lionel cheered excitedly, jumping up and down a few times as they began walking. Lena already had her phone out of her pocket and was placing an online order to their favorite Chinese restaurant, being sure to order extra pot stickers before they even reached the elevator.

-XxXx-

Once in the elevator Kara looked at her cousin with a furrowed brow.

“Does she know? About you?”

Clark gave a slight glare to the blurry reflection of them in the stainless steel of the elevator door.

“Almost definitely, she and Lex used to be very close. She followed him everywhere, there were even a few times in Metropolis, before everything, when I would go to interview Lex and she would be working right beside him in the lab. I can only assume based on that and her attitude she knows about me.”

The blonde worried her lip as she watched the floors slowly countdown.

“Do you think she knows about me? I-I mean this is the first time I’ve ever met her but she’s been in the city for a little while now so she knows about Supergirl.”

Clark’s cold stare melted as his blue eyes turned to his cousin and a small smile crossed his lips.

“I don’t think she does, it’d be impossible, Lex didn’t even know you existed before you revealed yourself and even still he’s never met you, I pray to Rao he never does, so the chances are almost zero.”

Kara relaxed a bit and returned his smile as the elevator reached the ground floor. She let the subject fall as they crossed the lobby and out the front doors. As they walked away from Luthor-Corp the blonde’s thoughts began to linger on something she’d noticed while X-raying the office space. One of the lower drawers of Lena’s desk had been filled with crayons, color books, small toys, and snacks. There had also been a photo on the desk that caught her eye, it was of Lena smiling brightly with a smudge of blue frosting on her cheek, beside her was a toddler with dark hair and blue eyes sitting in a high chair, wearing a little golden paper crown, and their face and hands covered in the same blue frosting from the small smashed cake in front of them.

“I know I’m not a reporter or anything but I-I kinda believe her.”

Chapter Text

“Mommy where do I put Grandma on this?”

Lena smiled softly at Lionel, who was seated beside her at the kitchen counter before a large sheet of paper with a drawing of a tree on it. There were places on the branches for drawings or pictures of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and of course at the top of the tree was Lionel’s school photo. The ravenette pointed to the square reserved for a maternal grandmother.

“Right here baby, that’s where Grandmas Lillian goes and here is where Grandpa Lionel goes.”

She pointed to the space beside the grandmother square, she’d much rather her birth mother fill the space but she had only one photo of Elizabeth and she wasn’t about to sacrifice it for a preschool project so Lillian was the only other option. Lionel’s blue eyes lit up with excitement, for as long as he could comprehend the fact that he shared a name with his grandfather the little boy adored the fact. Lena watched as he carefully took the small picture of Lillian they’d cut out of a magazine and added a glob of blue glue to the back before squashing it into place, giggling as the sparkling blue paste oozed out the edges a little.

“How about using a little less glue? We don’t want it getting all over and ruining your hard work.”

Lionel nodded but as he added glue to the picture of his namesake the glob still oozed a bit when he pushed it into place. The ravenette looked over the tree and felt her chest tighten and her heart sink. The whole left side of the tree reserved for a father’s family was completely empty, sure she was certain Lionel wasn’t the only one even in the private school he attended that had a single parent but somehow she still felt horrible she didn’t even have made up names and people to supply him with.

“Mommy?”

The soft curiosity in her son’s voice brought Lena back, making her hum softly as she began cutting a photo of herself from a magazine. Lionel didn’t continue right away, instead the boy finished coloring in one of the leaves with a bright green marker before setting it aside to look up at her.

“What about daddy?”

The ravenette felt like her whole body had been plunged into an ice bath at the question and her mind locked up. Her smile was shaky as she carefully set the scissors down.

“What do you mean baby?”

The boy furrowed his brow and pointed to the place on the tree reserved for a father figure. It would have been so easy to lie, to pick any ex or fling from her past just to satisfy the child but for some reason her mouth wouldn’t say the words. Lionel watched her with a strange mix of confusion and worry but luckily before Lena could try to talk her way out of the conversation the doorbell rang drawing their attention. Lionel gasped excitedly and all but jumped from his chair to make a mad dash to the door.

“Cousin Ruby!”

Lena let out a huge sigh and thanked whatever god was listening before getting to her feet and following her son to the door chuckling as she watched him try to open the door on his own.

“Here let mommy help.”

She turned the child proofed knob and chuckled as Lionel eagerly pulled it open enough to dash through the gap and all but tackle the seven year old on the other side earning a fit of giggles from them both. Lena opened the door the rest of the way and smiled thankfully at Sam who beamed at their children as the pair hugged and giggled.

“Ruby you gotta see my tree!”

Ruby smiled excitedly at Lionel letting the boy take her hand and pull her into the apartment leaving the grown ups alone in the doorway. When the kids were out of earshot Lena let her smile fall with a huge deflated sigh that had Sam furrowing her brows.

“Is everything okay? You look like we just saved you from some kind of torture session.”

The ravenette closed the door and led the brunette to the kitchen seeing the kids had run off to Lionel’s room to play. She ran a hand through her hair looking at the family tree project.

“Well it wasn’t exactly a torture session but it was definitely a conversation I am not prepared to have with my four year old. How’d you do it? I know for a fact Ruby’s asked about her father before.”

Sam sat down on the stool Lionel had originally occupied and looked at the project sneering slightly at the memories of Ruby doing the same project and bringing up the same questions.

“It was easy, for awhile she was content hearing that I didn’t know who her father was but as she’s gotten older she doesn’t buy it. Just last year I finally had to sit her down and explain that while I knew who her father was there wasn’t a connection between us and that it was a mutual decision to part ways before I knew I was pregnant.”

Lena went to the fridge and opened it to take out two bottles of sparkling water with a raised brow.

“Her father was a fling you hooked up with at a party in our second year of college.”

Sam rolled her eyes taking the offered bottle and unscrewing the lid.

“I know that and you know that but Ruby is seven, she doesn’t need to know the details now, I don’t think she’d even understand, so when she’s older I’ll sit her down again and tell her the truth.”

Lena leaned on the counter humming in thought. Sure the process worked for Sam who had the normal accidental pregnancy experience but Lena’s situation was about a million times more complicated, there was no good or simple way to explain to a child of any age that their mother was forced against her will to carry a lab created embryo that was made from her own DNA and the DNA of a superhero in an attempt to bring said superhero to their downfall.

“Mooooom!! Auntie Lena!!”

Ruby’s sudden shout violently pulled Lena from her thoughts as the two women lept to their feet and hurried down the hall to Lionel’s door. Sam reached the door first, her brown eyes darting around for any sign of danger or injury but instead all she found was Ruby standing in the middle of the room looking up at the ceiling in a state of total awe.

“Ruby what on earth-“

The brunette’s words froze in her throat as the sound of giggles came from the ceiling making the two women look up and gasp, unable to believe what they were seeing. Lionel was floating near the ceiling, so close he could reach his little hand up and touch the white surface as he bobbed gently in the air. Lena nearly screamed in shock and fear at the sight, she’d had an inkling of susspition that eventually Lionel might develop powers being half Kryptonian but there was no documentation in any of Lex’s research about a child like Lionel so she didn’t know for sure if, or when, it could happen.

Sam recovered first from the shock and after giving Lena a reassuring look took a deep breath and with a little effort floated herself to the ceiling opening her arms for the dark haired boy, who gasped in wonder before giggling and floating into Sam’s arms. The sight of her best friend floating was much less of a shock to the ravenette, she’d known since college that Sam shared DNA with an ancient Kryptonian being known as a World Killer named Reign and the connection gave her a small amount of abilities if she could focus her energy enough.

Lena’s heart rate slowly came down as Sam gently lowered herself and Lionel back to the ground and set the boy on his feet. Lionel beamed with pride as he ran to Lena crashing into her legs all but bouncing with excitement.

“Mommy I flew! Did you see me?!”

It took the ravenette’s brain a moment to catch up before she gave a shaky smile scooping the boy into her arms and holding him close.

“Mommy saw you baby.”

Lionel giggled, pressing his forehead to Lena’s before noticing the tears on her cheeks. His smile faded as he reached out and touched her cheek lightly.

“Mommy you’re crying.”

Lena took a shaking breath but her smile was soft as she met her son’s eyes.

“It’s okay baby, mommy was just scared you were going to get hurt. You need to be very careful flying, okay? Don’t do it by yourself that way if something happens mommy can be right there, or aunt Sam can help you okay?”

Lionel took in the words and nodded, wrapping his arms around her neck.

“I promise mommy.”

Lena finally let her body relax as she held the boy close giving Sam a thankful look over his shoulder, even if the brunette waved it off with a relieved smile of her own.

“That’s my little lion.”

After a few more minutes to really settle her nerves Lena let her son down to continue playing, watching as Sam and Ruby took turns helping Lionel build up a block castle and knocking it over with exaggerated dragon sounds much to the boy’s glee. As she watched the ravenette’s mind was already working over plans to design something to help dampen her son’s powers, it wasn’t ideal but she had no clue how to teach him how to control any powers he might develop, Sam could only fly small distances and lift things slightly heavier than normal so she couldn’t help the boy understand his abilities, and until it came to an absolute last resort she would not contact Superman or Supergirl for help.

Chapter Text

Creating a suppressor for her son’s new powers was a little trickier than Lena was expecting. The first issue was how to measure a level of kryptonite that would subdue any power surges but not hurt the boy, she solved that issue thankfully without having to expose Lionel to any kryptonite testing by using a few long and complicated calculations based off research Lex had done in the past. The second issue was what sort of item to put the suppressor into?

Her son was only four and liable to mess with it until he could remove it then lose it. In the end she decided to disguise it as a fidget necklace, like her brother and herself Lionel had the tendency to fidget with things when he was concentrating so the design was two birds with one steel encased stone. Her last and hardest hurdle was convincing her son to wear it, she was still working on that one.

“I don’t wanna mommy!”

Lena tried to keep her temper low as she looked at the four year old currently sitting in the middle of the living room floor surrounded by his toys, they’d just gotten home for the afternoon and the ravenette had been trying to convince her son to put on the leather corded necklace for the last half hour. Finally she sighed and sank down onto the couch defeated.

“Why don’t you want to wear it Lionel?”

Lionel eyed the simple interlocking loops of the pendant and wrinkled his nose.

“It’s for girls mommy.”

The ravenette rose a brow looking at the necklace, the design wasn't gendered in any way but she supposed in the eyes of a four year old as smart as Lionel he’d know wearing a necklace was asking to be teased. With a weary smile Lena tucked the necklace away.

“Okay mommy will redesign it for you. Do you want to help?”

The boy’s blue eyes widened as he quickly got to his feet and nodded excitedly. For the next hour the pair sat at the kitchen counter with Lionel scribbling out designs he wanted, so far there was a leather corded bracelet with a pendant shaped like saturn, a fully metal bracelet that was sleek and simple like a bangle, and another leather bracelet with a lion shaped pendant. The dark haired boy was in the process of drawing out another design when the tv in the living room caught his attention.

“Mommy look! Supergirl!”

Lena looked up at the tv with furrowed brows. Before discovering his ability to float Lionel held little interest in National City’s caped hero but now that his powers were showing he had taken it upon himself to notice every time the blonde was on the news, currently the news station was showing footage of the hero stopping a bank robbery followed closely by rescuing a woman and child from a bad car accident.

“I want this one mommy.”

Lena looked away from the tv to the paper being held in front of her face by little hands. In the latest design Lionel had drawn a pendant in a childish representation of the hero’s crest. Fear gripped Lena’s chest on the inside but outside she managed a smile taking the paper.

“Mommy will see what she can do okay?”

Lionel nodded excitedly chasing away the slight fear from Lena’s chest as she set the paper aside and picked up her phone as it chimed.

“Oh it’s Aunt Sam! It looks like Ruby wants to know if you’d like a play date at the pizza palace.”

The little boy’s eyes widened as he gasped and bounced excitedly.

“Can we mommy?! Pleeeeeeeeeease?!”

Lena chuckled, getting to her feet before scooping him up.

“Of course we can!”

Lionel began to cheer but stopped when Lena picked up the necklace from the counter.

“On the condition, you please wear this for mommy, we can’t have you floating to the ceiling again.”

The boy pouted hard for a moment before finally relenting and letting her put the necklace on him with a soft smile.

“That’s mommy’s little lion. Okay go get your shoes on then we can go.”

She no more than set the boy down and he was running to the front door, nearly slipping on the hardwood but quickly catching himself laughing.

As they arrived at the pizzeria Lena felt her anxiety spike a bit, taking Lionel out in public was always risky, it’s why she always wore her hair down and the most casual clothes she owned to try and blend in like a normal single mother, so far the track record was successful. Lionel tugged her hand excitedly pointing to a table.

“There they are mommy! Hi Ruby!”

The seven year old waved excitedly and Sam gave a more subdued wave and smile as Lena let go of her son’s hand and watched him run to the table, climbing onto the chair across from Ruby and rambling a mile a minute like they hadn’t just seen each other the day before.

“Sorry for the last minute invite.”

The ravenette waved off her friend’s worries with a smile.

“It’s alright, you once again saved me from over-thinking a project.”

The brunette raised an eyebrow making Lena gesture with a glance to the necklace Lionel was showing off to Ruby, who for her credit looked absolutely jealous. Sam’s lips formed an ‘o’ in understanding as she nodded before her smile turned a bit sheepish as her phone chimed. Lena raised a brow this time making the brunette bite her lip.

“I hope you don’t mind, I invited one more person, possibly two.”

Lena felt her stomach knot.

“Who did you invite?”

Sam’s smile warmed a little and her cheeks tinted pink.

“I invited Alex and her sister.”

The ravenette took a deep breath. She couldn’t be too mad, Alex was Sam’s girlfriend of at least half a year now and she’d exchanged a quick hello with the other woman over the phone when Sam was on a call with her once.

“Does she know?”

Sam glanced at the kids then back and bounced her head a little.

“She knows about Ruby naturally and I mentioned that Ruby brought a friend tonight.”

Lena relaxed a little and nodded, sure it hurt to have to pretend her son was just there as Ruby’s friend but it was for the best, to keep him safe. Sam’s attention shifted over Lena’s shoulder and her smile brightened as she waved, making the ravenette follow her gaze. Slowly approaching the table were two women that couldn’t have been more opposite if they tried. The first woman was tall and lean with short auburn brown hair, brown eyes and clad in a leather jacket, loose gray t-shirt, skinny jeans and black combat boots. Beside her the other woman was a little broader in the shoulders, her blonde curls were loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes were hidden behind thick black framed glasses, and she wore a simple gray striped shirt and black joggers with black flats.

Lena nearly choked on her own breath seeing the blonde as she turned back to her friend.

“Is that Kara Danvers?!”

The hissed urgency in her voice made Sam’s smile falter a bit.

“Y-yeah? That’s her sister.”

Lena took a deep breath but before the brunette could press further the sisters reached the table, Ruby noticed the pair and beamed at Alex.

“Alex!”

The brunette Danvers gave a soft smile happily accepting the child’s hug before leaning down and giving Sam a peck on the cheek.

“Sorry we’re late, somebody was having a fashion crisis for a pizza date.”

Her brown eyes looked at Kara making the blonde flush a bit and oh so maturely stick out her tongue earning giggles from the children which in turn made the blonde beam happily, why did seeing that soft childish grin make Lena’s heart flutter? The ravenette didn’t get to linger on the thought long as Sam gestured to her.

“This is Katie Thorul, an old college friend of mine and her son Lionel.”

The knot in Lena’s stomach loosened a hair hearing the well practiced alias fall from her friend’s lips but the slight furrow in Kara’s brow as she and her sister sat down made it tighten even more.

“Katie, this is my girlfriend Alex and her sister Kara.”

Lena put on her best smile to the sisters as she shook Alex’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet both of you.”

Alex nodded her agreement.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the stories Sam has told me.”

Lena felt her cheeks warm just imagining the embarrassing stories Sam could tell. The ravenette noticed out of the corner of her eye Kara examining her closely with a little crinkle between her brows making her turn her attention to the blonde. Kara’s cheeks turned pink as she chuckled nervously and fidgeted with her glasses.

“S-sorry I didn’t mean to stare but umm h-have we met before? You look really familiar.”

Lena’s throat closed and her mind scrambled for something to say, she’d really hoped her dressed down look would be enough to fool the blonde from connecting her to the interrogation Clark led, thankfully Sam had practice jumping into conversations like this to save her ass.

“Oh she gets that all the time! You know when we were in school so many people thought she was Lena Luthor! Can you believe it? Mixing up a history major with a tech wiz trust fund kid?”

The lie was convincing enough to get a chuckle from Alex and after a moment Kara seemed convinced as her attention was pulled away by Ruby tugging her hand and begging her to play arcade games with them. Lena felt her heart melt a little as the blonde’s blue eyes sparkled with joy as she excitedly stood from her chair and let herself be led by Ruby and Lionel to the arcade corner.

“She’s really great with them.”

Sam nodded her agreement and Alex chuckled slightly, shaking her head.

“Kara loves kids, it doesn’t hurt she’s basically a golden retriever in a human body but kids just gravitate to her and she adores it.”

Lena smiled, Lionel wasn’t exactly shy with new people but it did take him a little while to get used to them but with Kara it seemed to be instant and it was heartwarming. The weight of that thought didn’t hit the ravenette until she had carried Lionel into the penthouse, the little boy cuddling a stuffed lion Kara had won for him from a claw machine, and put him to bed. When the weight finally pressed down on her the ravenette had to grip the counter to keep from involuntarily sitting down. Lionel had taken to the blonde almost instantly, something that had never happened, and Kara Danvers had connections to Clark Kent, to Superman.

Lena leaned on her elbows on the counter hiding her face in her hands.

“Shit.”

The ravenette was focusing so much on the looming fear of Lionel getting that close to someone close to Clark that it overshadowed the warm glow that the blonde’s excited smile, her victorious shouts and silly celebratory dance with the kids after winning a prize brought to Lena’s heart as she watched from the table with Sam and Alex.

-XxXx-

Kara floated lazily over the city on a final patrol, keeping an ear out for any trouble and letting her mind wander. It didn’t take long for her thoughts to return to the pizza dinner with Alex and Sam. When the blonde had accepted her sister’s invite she figured she’d be third wheeling for the night, helping keep Ruby entertained so Alex and Sam could enjoy themselves, but she hadn’t expected Sam to have brought a friend along, a really pretty friend at that. She could easily get over that surprise but what kept sticking in her brain was that this friend, Katie, was actually Lena Luthor and to top it off Lena Luthor had a four year old son.

Alex and Kara hadn’t bought the lie for a moment, not after the investigation about The Venture explosion and the impromptu interrogation Clark decided to spring on the young Luthor. But neither of them expected Lionel, though Kara supposed it made sense and she just hadn’t made the connection when she’d first seen the picture of Lena and the dark curly haired baby on the ravenette’s desk. Kara knew she should probably tell Clark, he had a right to know that the sister of his archenemies had a child because it was another thing Lex could try and use as leverage not just on Clark but on Lena and if Lena was just as smart and capable as her brother Rao only knows what Lex could make her do if he used Lionel as leverage.

But she didn’t want to tell him yet, she’d heard Lena’s panic when head arrived and when Sam introduced her as Katie, there was a piece to a bigger puzzle she was still missing and she couldn’t just make accusations or assumptions without the whole picture. Plus it didn’t hurt that taking the time to actually get to know Lena would give her an excuse to see that soft smile more, to see more of the pride shining in those emerald green eyes as they watched Lionel, to hear more of that musical laugh-

”Kara! You’re about to take out a building!”

The blonde hero snapped from her thoughts and stopped moving as fast as she could, managing to halt just short of running into a skyscraper. Kara took a deep breath to shake off the shock before shaking her head as she flew higher.

“Thanks Alex, I’m not even going to ask how you knew or why you’re still wearing your COM.”

”Big sister powers that’s how, now be more careful.”

Kara rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

“Fine, I’ll watch where I’m flying.”

Chapter Text

Over the next few days Lena did her best to push all thoughts of Kara Danvers out of her mind and focus on work and Lionel. After the impromptu double pizza date Lena had built a digital 3D model of a power suppressing bracelet for her son, she wasn’t thrilled about the Superman logo he’d been extremely adamant about having but if it got him to wear the suppressor and keep it on she wasn’t going to fight it. By Thursday afternoon she had the first prototype nestled neatly in a box on her desk waiting for Lionel to be done with school.

Things had been slow, all the pointless zoom meetings considered, and it left the ravenette time to watch more than a glimpse of the news, Supergirl was rather busy it seemed first with a car accident followed by a store robbery, a cat in a tree, and stopping to pose for pictures with a local Girl Scouts troupe. Lena found herself smiling without thinking as she watched the blonde hero kneel down to the girls and smile at them, hanging on their every word with just as much joy and excitement. The sound of her phone ringing pulled her rather rudely from her observations.

Grabbing the device she looked at the number and raised a brow when all that flashed back at her was the word ’restricted’. Before she could linger on it though her attention was pulled away by her office door opening and Lionel’s excited voice filled the office.

“Mommy! Is it ready yet?!”

The ravenette chuckled, quickly declining the call and setting her phone aside as the boy all but jumped into her lap, his blue eyes searching her desk.

“Patients darling, it’s right here.”

Lionel beamed happily as she slid the box into his reach, barely getting her hand out of the way before he began ripping it open until his little fingers curled around the brown leather and smooth steel. As he took it out of the box his blue eyes widened, taking in every detail of the corded bracelet before looking at Lena.

“Help please.”

Lena smiled softly and helped secure the bracelet around his wrist, her heart melting at how happy the boy was as he slipped off her lap and began running around the office making whooshing sounds and laughing. After taking a short video to send to Sam the ravenette managed to calm Lionel enough to ask him if he wanted to go to the daycare or stay with her, to her surprise the boy opted to hang around the office. Once he was set up at the coffee table with his art supplies and a coloring book Lena went back to her desk to look over blueprints for a new prototype the lab had sent her.

She should have known things had been going far too smoothly for far too long, the universe was well overdue for throwing a catastrophe at her; she just never expected it to be in the form of Lionel suddenly dropping his crayon to cover his ears whimpering. Lena quickly got up from her desk and went to the boy kneeling down beside him.

“What’s wrong sweetie? Does your head hurt?”

The dark haired boy whimpered again as tears gathered in his eyes.

“Turn it off! It hurts!”

Lena’s brows furrowed together as she looked around the room for anything that could possibly be making noise, but there was nothing. Lost as to what to do she gathered her son into her lap and gently pressed his ear to her chest while covering the other as she closed her eyes. It had been years since she’d used a noise dampening spell, since Lionel was a newborn, but it was all she could think of to help. Softly she began whispering the words and repeating them, by the third time Lionel finally stopped crying and his body relaxed into her hold as his little fingers curled into her shirt.

“There now, is that better?”

She made sure to keep her voice soft and Lionel slowly nodded as he cuddled even closer.

“Still using those ridiculous little powers of yours Lena?”

The sound of a voice at the door to her office made Lena jump and hold Lionel closer, it took a moment for her mind to process Lillian standing in the doorway holding a small device in her hand, no doubt what had made the sound that hurt Lionel’s ears. Green eyes hardened and narrowed as the ravenette got to her feet still holding her son close.

“What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in prison.”

Lillian rolled her eyes as though Lena were a child throwing a tantrum as she walked further into the office, being sure to drag a finger across one of the shelves and sneer at the tiny amount of dust that came up.

“Isn’t it amazing what a little good behavior and a decent lawyer can accomplish?”

Lena growled under her breath, of course Lillian of all people would have found a way to weasel out of years in prison for working with Lex. Lionel felt her tension and let out a soft whimper as he hid his face in her neck. The ravenette pulled her eyes from Lillian to her son as she gently swayed and promised him he was safe. Lillian’s scoff drew her attention again.

“I begrudgingly have to admit you are rather decent at the whole ‘motherly’ aspect of this little experiment. When Lex told me about his plan I thought he had finally lost his mind, mixing human and Kryptonian DNA to create something Superman couldn’t fight because of his morals and strong enough to destroy him, so many failed attempts, it was a lost cause really until you.”

Lena could have killed Lillian in that moment, if it weren’t for Lionel still clinging to her she might have just done it. The older woman’s eyes carefully observed Lionel as the boy tried to shrink away from her gaze, he’d never met Lillian but if Lena didn’t like her there had to be a reason.

“He’s the spitting image of that Kryptonian nuisance.”

The grimace on Lillian’s face made Lena nearly snarl, sure Lionel shared some features with Clark, his blue eyes and curly hair, but Lena had always seen more of herself as a child in her son in his fair skin, round cheeks, button nose, and smile. Lillian didn’t give her a chance to even consider speaking as she folded her arms.

“I had honestly hoped this would have gone how Lex had predicted it would, you would want nothing to do with the experiment and he’d be free to take it and weaponize it as he saw fit. Clearly he didn’t account for that bleeding heart of yours.”

Lena fought back the urge to let a nasty spell fall from her lips as she rubbed Lionel’s back.

“His name is Lionel not ‘it’ and he is a little boy not some experiment. Now I suggest you get out of my office before I call security.”

Lillian’s smirk was almost deadly as she shrugged, leveling Lena with a challenging look.

“Go right ahead, I’m sure you’ll find them all to be perfectly incompetent.”

The ravenette clenched her jaw, never looking away from Lillian. Lionel snuck a glance at Lillian and his blue eyes widened seeing a man in the doorway who had an evil grin on his face, Lena clearly hadn’t seen him with her attention on Lillian. The boy began to wiggle until Lena was forced to put him down with a gasp as she tried to grab the hood of his jacket but missed as he bolted for the balcony. Lillian gave a low chuckle shifting her weight.

“He clearly didn’t get his intelligence from you. Get the boy.”

Lena felt her heart stop as Lillian’s minion stepped into the room, his attention focused on where Lionel was on the balcony, then her blood began to boil as she set her jaw.

“I won’t let you touch him.”

Her mind began to scramble through the handful of spells she recalled from her mother’s spell book for anything to slow down Lillian’s muscle but she was falling short, her worry about Lionel muddling the spells together as the goon shoved past her and Lillian grabbed her by the arm keeping her from following.

“SUPERGIRL!!”

Lena’s mind went silent hearing her son shout into the sky from the balcony and her heart lurched as Lillian’s goon rushed to the balcony.

-XxXx-

Kara had not been occasionally listening for Lena’s heartbeat as she patrolled the city, or at least she wouldn’t admit it even when Alex snapping at her over the COM in her ear jolted her from listening to the calming rhythm.

She was just wrapping up a mugging situation when a sound rang loud and clear in her ears.

”SUPERGIRL!!”

The distressed call of her name from a child had her breaking the sound barrier to follow it, ignoring Alex asking what she was doing. The shouts led her right to the L-Corp balcony where a man in black was struggling to get ahold of a kicking and screaming Lionel while in the office Lena was being held back by Lillian Luthor with a gun, she could hear Lena’s sobs and could practically hear the other woman’s heart breaking being unable to help her son no matter how much she struggled.

Kara’s attention snapped back to Lionel as the boy gave another shriek as he was lifted from the ground still kicking and fighting with all his might. Kara saw what was about to happen a mile away as the man holding the boy lost his balance and fell into the railing, his grip on Lionel failing so the dark haired boy rolled off the edge, kept from falling only by the goon’s hold on his wrist. The blonde flew as fast as she could but things were moving in slow motion as the bracelet on the boy’s wrist slipped off and he began to plummet towards the ground screaming.

Kara was under him in seconds but when he should have landed in her arms Lionel was hugging his knees to his chest, eyes scrunched up, a little crinkle between his brows, and tears still running down his cheeks as he floated just above the hero’s arms. The blonde’s eyes widened as she tried to process what she was seeing but before it could fully settle in the world around them began to move again and Lena’s horrified scream filled her ears. Hearing the sound made Lionel gasp and open his eyes, losing whatever concentration he was using to keep himself floating so he fell into Kara’s arms.

Shocked blue eyes turned to the blonde making her shake off her stunned fish look for a quick smile as she held the boy more securely.

“You’re okay, hold on tight.”

Lionel nodded curling his fingers into the blonde’s shoulder as she flew back up to the balcony. She found Lena on her knees, her tear filled eyes unfocused on the stone railing as her breaths came out in sobs, Lillian and the goon nowhere to be found, most likely having fled after Lionel fell over the railing.

“Mommy!”

Lionel’s shout made Lena gasp and look up, relief flooding her seeing her son safe. Kara carefully landed on the balcony and set the boy down, unable to help her smile as he ran to Lena who eagerly scooped him into her arms and kissed his little face at least a dozen times.

“Thank god you’re okay, mommy’s got you and she’s never letting go again.”

Lionel clung tight to the ravenette, new tears streaming down his cheeks. Kara didn’t want to break up the moment and so she decided she could come back later to question Lena about what had happened, she needed a moment to process and think about how the boy had made himself stop falling. The blonde turned to leave.

“Wait.”

Lena’s horse voice made her pause and look back at the pair to find Lena now standing still holding her son close but her green eyes were full of gratitude and happy tears.

“Thank you for saving him, Supergirl. You can’t imagine what it means to me.”

The blonde couldn’t help her small smile as she shook her head.

“Just doing my job Ms Luthor. I can imagine after a fright like that you’ll want some time alone with your son, I can come back later for details about what happened if you’d like.”

Lena took a deep breath blinking tears from her eyes as she gave a bitter chuckle.

“What happened is my mother is out of prison and tried to kidnap my son, nearly killing him in the process.”

Kara felt her stomach drop but she kept her features school as she gave a slight nod, looking between mother and son. She didn’t want to bring up the floating Lionel had done, at least not outright in case it was something Lena didn’t know was possible but at the same time she had to know how it was possible and why Lillian Luthor was interested in the dark haired boy.

“If you don’t mind my asking Ms Luthor, why does your mother have an interest in your son?”

She could tell by the spike in Lena’s heart rate and the flash of panic in green eyes the ravenette wasn’t fully prepared to answer but as her eyes shifted to Lionel, who had begun to fall asleep against her shoulder, no doubt worn out from crying and nearly being killed, and became soft and full of love Lena took a deep breath.

“Because he’s Superman’s son.”

Chapter Text

”Because he’s Superman’s son.”

The words took what felt like a lifetime to connect in Kara’s mind as she stared almost owlishly at Lena standing across from her. Slowly the blonde’s brow furrowed and she shook her head, it wasn’t possible.

“That’s….that’s impossible, Ka-Superman doesn’t have any children.”

Lena took a shaking breath before turning back to the office gesturing for the hero to follow, which Kara did watching as the ravenette carefully laid Lionel on the sofa and kneeled on the floor beside his head, her fingers gently combing through his dark curls.

“In the traditional sense he doesn’t but my brother found another way, made an experiment out of it. He somehow got enough of a DNA sample from Superman to create an experiment combining Kryptonian DNA and human DNA. He was able to create a living embryo from the experiment and he needed a…host for it.”

The ravenette gave a self-deprecating humorless laugh as her eyes teared up.

“I should have known he’d never ask me to partner with him on a project, I stupidly trusted him and agreed to help. He implanted the embryo in me and for 5 months I carried it then on the night Superman arrested Lex I gave birth to Lionel all on my own chained to a hospital bed in a concrete room.”

Kara was at a complete loss for words, what could she possibly say to that confession?! Lena could see her struggling and gave an empty chuckle.

“You don’t have to say anything Supergirl, I’m just grateful you were able to save him, but I do have to ask for a favor.”

The blonde suddenly snapped back to attention.

“A favor? What sort of favor?”

Lena placed a light kiss to Lionel’s head before getting to her feet and crossing her arms over her chest, though it looked less intimidating and more like she was trying to hold herself together.

“Don’t tell Superman about Lionel. He’s all I have in the world and he means everything to me. I've kept him from the spotlight and away from the Luthor name so he can have a normal childhood, a childhood full of love and happiness, a childhood I never got once I was adopted by the Luthors. Please don’t tell Superman and have him taken away.”

Kara felt her heart break in her chest, part of her knew the right thing to do was leave the office and fly right to Metropolis and tell Clark but another part of her understood Lena’s request and so far she had no reason to agree Lionel needed to be taken away from the ravenette. After a long moment of internal debate the blonde hero nodded.

“Alright I won’t tell him, for now but on the condition you come with me to a place where we can test the truth to your story.”

Panic flickered in green eyes but was quickly chased away by determination.

“And what will you do if it turns out I’m lying.”

Kara fumbled for a response, she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Let’s test the story first, then we will discuss what happens next.”

Lena slowly nodded looking back at Lionel as if making sure he was still there. Kara nodded and in a quick blurr borrowed one of Lena’s business cards and a pen to scribble down the DEO address before handing it to the ravenette.

“Meet me here once you’ve had time to process and calm down.”

Lena looked at the address and nodded before looking up as the blonde headed back out onto the balcony.

“Thank you again Supergirl.”

Kara nodded with a small smile before taking off heading for the DEO.

Seconds later the blonde hero all but skidded to a stop in the DEO bullpen making agents scatter back and Alex whirl around surprised.

“Kara what the hell-“

“Lionel is Kal’s son!”

The words tumbled out before she could stop them and clearly at first they didn’t reach her sister because Alex just stared at her. Taking a breath Kara fidgeted with her fingers still working to process the words as she said them again.

“Lionel is Kal’s son.”

Alex finally shook her head grabbing the blonde’s arm stopping her fidgeting until their eyes met.

“What do you mean he’s Kal’s son? Last I checked your cousin didn't have any kids, he sure as hell didn’t mention any when he was here a few weeks ago.”

Kara nodded a dry laugh working its way up her throat as she ran a hand through her hair.

“He doesn’t know, Lena just told me.”

The older Danvers furrowed her brow holding up a hand.

“Woah woah woah okay back up here, start from the top. Where did you fly off to after that mugging you stopped? Your COM went dead and we couldn’t hear anything or see where you went.”

Kara took a deep breath.

“While I was handling the mugging I heard a little kid scream for Supergirl and I couldn’t help but follow it cause the kid sounded so scared. I followed the sound to L-Corp just in time to see one of Lillian Luthor’s goons try to kidnap Lionel but lose his balance and drop him over the edge of the building.”

Kara swallowed thickly as Alex’s breath hitched.

“I dove to catch him but right as he should have landed in my arms he started floating all on his own. Lena screamed and it made him lose his concentration and he landed in my arms, but by the time I flew back up to the balcony Lillian and her goon were gone and Lena was a mess. When she saw Lionel was okay she was so relieved she couldn’t stop crying. Lionel fell asleep and she told me Lillian wanted him because he’s Superman’s son, she told me about how Lex had gotten ahold of Kal’s DNA and was doing experiments with it by mixing it with human DNA. His experiments ended up resulting in an embryo that was half human and half Kryptonian but he needed a host to see if it could be viable, he tricked Lena into trusting him and implanted the embryo into her. Alex you should have seen the look on her face when she told me that on the night Lex was arrested she gave birth to that boy completely alone chained to a bed in a stone room.”

Alex looked somewhere between pissed, sympathetic, and ready to throw up as she covered her mouth with her hand, brown eyes wide with horror. Slowly she moved her hand away from her mouth to comb through her hair.

“I knew the bastard was crazy but that’s..that’s really fucked up.”

Kara nodded her agreement.

“I don’t have a lot of doubt it’s all true either but to be sure I told Lena to bring Lionel here, I figured you could run a blood test and see if Lex really was crazy enough to do something like that to her.”

Under normal circumstances Alex would have been pissed at Kara for telling someone about the DEO and involving her but this wasn’t a normal circumstance, it was a necessary one. The brunette nodded, folding her arms before meeting her sister’s eyes.

“Are you going to tell him?”

The blonde shook her head before the question was even fully out.

“No, she asked me not to because she knows Kal will most likely try to take Lionel away from her, I couldn’t do that to her Alex. That little boy means so much to her and she loves him so much it would be less painful to rip her heart out.”

Alex halfheartedly rolled her eyes at her sister’s dramatics but nodded, trusting Kara to know this was the right choice for the time being, and in the end it probably was there was no telling how Kal would react but it was almost a given he’d take Lionel away from Lena to ‘protect him from the Luthors influence.’ and that would mean the raven haired woman would never see her son again.

“When will she be here?”

Kara looked at a nearby computer clock.

“I’m not sure but soon I’d imagine.”

Alex nodded, moving to her sister’s side and squeezing her shoulder.

“You did good, go take five until they get here.”

The blonde nodded watching as Alex walked down the stairs to meet Lena at the entrance of the building before heading for the training room to work off the anger still lingering in her muscles at the thought of Lex.

Chapter Text

Lena was exhausted, more exhausted than she’d been in her whole life, as the adrenalin began leaving her body as she watched Lionel sleep on her office couch. She didn’t want to leave his side for even a second, terrified Lillian would come back and vanish with him. The ravenette closed her eyes as her mind oh so helpfully replayed Lillian’s goon grabbing the boy and dropping him over the edge of the building. Tears rolled down her cheeks like beads of molten glass as she muffled her sobs into her hand to avoid waking Lionel.

“Lee?”

The ravenette jumped at the soft voice coming from the door but as soon as Sam stepped into the room her strength vanished and she collapsed into her friend’s arms letting tears overtake her. Sam held her close gently rocking but she didn’t try to tell the ravenette everything was okay, she knew it wouldn’t help right now so instead she just held her together. After a few minutes Lena’s sobs finally settled into sniffles and the brunette gently wiped her tears away.

“Better?”

Lena nodded, making Sam give a small smile.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, maybe if I was then she wouldn’t have shown up.”

Lena shook her head taking a deep breath to try and steady herself.

“No she still would have, and you probably would have gotten hurt. I should have seen this coming. It's been four years, I should have known I couldn’t be happy that long.”

Sam furrowed her brows rubbing her friend’s back.

“Don't talk like that Lee, you deserve to be happy.”

Lena nodded but Sam could see she didn’t believe the words. The ravenette looked at the clock on the wall and took a deep breath, it had already been over an hour since Supergirl had left the office.

“Supergirl wants to test the truth of my story, more accurately she wants to test that what Lex told me is true.”

The brunette raised a brow with a humorless chuckle.

“But it is true, how else would he be able to fly?”

Lena nodded along.

“I know that and you know that but it’s Supergirl, she and her cousin have every reason for doubt when it comes to Lex, I guess I just didn’t expect that to extend to me.”

Sam pursed her lips.

“Don’t go.”

The ravenette looked at her friend surprised.

“I don’t have a choice Sam, if I don’t go, what's to stop her from telling her cousin about Lionel then it would be a whole other disaster.”

The brunette leveled her friend with her best mom look.

“But what about when it comes out to be true? Did she tell you what was going to happen then? What if it comes up true and she suddenly decides you’re not a fit mother to raise a half Kryptonian?”

Cold dread washed over Lena, she’d been so busy trying to work through the trauma she’d just been put through and trying to be complacent to show she wasn’t like her brother that she hadn’t even thought about the what ifs.

“What do I do?”

Sam took a breath to calm down before she took Lena’s hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

“Go home and sleep on it, if Supergirl is serious about this she’ll come to you about it.”

Lena’s stomach was in a tight knot, her mind torn between the two choices. It didn’t matter which one she chose in the end, there was going to be a risk of losing her son. Green eyes widened and before Sam could question it Lena was across the room moving one of the paintings on the wall aside. Her fingers flew over the code without hesitation and when the safe finally opened she pulled out a small silver tube.

“What is that?”

The ravenette held the tube more securely in her palm as she closed the safe and replaced the painting.

“Kryptonite dust left over from when I made Lionel’s suppressor, if I take this I’ll have a way to slow her down if she tries to take Lionel from me.”

Sam shifted uneasy in her seat.

“Lee I don’t think-“

“I’m screwed either way Sam, weather I chose to go where Supergirl told me and have Lionel tested or I go home and hope Superman doesn’t come bursting through my door there’s going to be a risk they will take him, this will help lessen the chance they’ll succeed.”

The brunette chewed the inside of her cheek watching Lena close before nodding.

“Okay, but I’m coming with you.”

The ravenette blinked in surprise.

“Y-you don’t have to.”

Sam shook her head, already grabbing her purse.

“Nope, I’m not letting you do this alone. Besides, if I know you at all you’ll be a mess if they have to get a needle anywhere near him.”

Lena couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled past her lips before she nodded and tucked the tube of Kryptonite into her pocket. The ravenette bent down beside Lionel and gently ran her fingers through his hair.

“Time to wake up sweetheart.”

Lionel whined but his blue eyes slowly opened before his brow furrowed.

“I had a bad dream.”

Lena rubbed his back.

“What was it about?”

The boy thought carefully as he sat up, his little mouth in a hard line.

“We were attacked, I fell off the edge of the building…”

Lena had to fight back the urge to wince at the mention of what happened just hours ago, instead she opened her arms and smiled when her son happily climbed into them hiding his face in her shoulder.

“It’s okay my little lion, you’re safe now, mommy won’t ever let that happen again.”

Lionel nodded, giving Sam a small smile as she moved into his line of sight. After a little convincing Lionel walked between them to the car where Lena gave her driver the address. The ride was mostly silent, at least Lena was while Lionel and Sam watched out the window pointing out colors they saw until they made a rainbow. When the car pulled up to a rather plain looking building Lena was a bit surprised at the lack of a company logo or any indication of what sort of facility they were at but her mind didn’t linger long as they got out of the car. She lifted Lionel onto her hip, kissing his head as Sam slid out of the car, telling the driver not to wait, and gave her a nervous, but encouraging smile.

“Lena, thanks for coming.”

The ravenette began to seriously wonder just how many more surprises and stress her mind and body could handle as the door to the building opened and Alex walked out with a tight smile. The older brunette’s eyes flicked to Sam for a second before returning to Lena.

“I know you’ve been through a lot in a short amount of time and I promise I’ll make this as fast as I possibly can. Supergirl has already informed me of everything she knows, that you’ve told her, and I want to promise this is a safe location, no information will leave this building regarding you or your son. If you’ll please follow me.”

Lena took a few deep breaths to steady herself before nodding, Alex returned the nod and turned to lead them inside. As they walked up a flight of stairs the ravenette looked at Sam over Lionel’s head with wide eyes.

“Did you know she’d be here?!”

The hissed whisper made Sam drop her eyes to the floor.

“I didn’t know here existed but I knew Alex worked for a secret government facility involving aliens.”

Lena could only stare at her friend until finally Sam met her gaze.

“I’m sorry I probably should have said something but look at it this way, at least someone we can trust is going to be handling the tests.”

Lena turned her eyes to Alex’s back a few paces ahead of them and let out a slow breath as she nodded.

“Right, someone we can trust.”

Chapter Text

Lena wrapped her arms around Lionel tightly, her green eyes watching Alex’s every move as she moved around the small medical office to quickly gather four different needles.

“Is taking that much really necessary?”

The brunette met Lena’s eyes with a reassuring look.

“No, I’m not going to take that much blood, two of these needles are normal, one has a steel needle and the other has a Kryptonite needle. Since we don’t know how his skin will behave when penetrated, if it even can be, I thought it better to have options.”

The ravenette took the words in and nodded. Lionel looked at the needles and whined, wiggling around until his arms were tucked between his body and Lena’s.

“I don’t want a shot.”

Lena felt her heart break as she held her son close and kissed his head.

“I know baby, shots aren’t fun but we have to do this.”

Alex gave a soft smile as she met Lionel’s eyes.

“Hey bud, you remember me right?”

Lionel nodded slowly, his blue eyes darting Sam then back.

“You’re Aunt Sam’s girlfriend.”

The brunette chuckled with a nod.

“That’s right. Now how about we play a little game to make this less scary? When my sister was little she hated shots too and my mom taught us this game to make it better.”

The boy’s interest perked a little as he nodded, making Alex’s smile brighten.

“Alright! You see this little purple thing here?”

She picked up a butterfly needle and showed it to the boy who nodded.

“It looks like a butterfly doesn’t it?”

Lionel nodded again and began to relax as Alex set the needle aside and picked up a small green tourniquet to show him. Lena had to admit she was impressed at how quickly the other woman was getting Lionel to relax

“And this silly little thing looks like a green worm?”

The boy nodded again, smiling now. Alex held out her hand giving him the choice to take her hand or not, after a moment of hesitation, and a nod from Lena, Lionel reached out his arm and placed his hand in Alex's, making her smile brighten.

“Okay bud, now is it okay if the green worm gives your arm a big hug?”

Lionel’s brow furrowed.

“Will it hurt?”

The brunette shook her head.

“Not at all. Want me to show you?”

Lionel nodded then watched as Alex took out another tourniquet and with a little creative effort secured it on her own arm.

“See? Doesn’t hurt at all.”

The boy bit his lip then nodded letting Alex secure the tourniquet around his arm.

“Does that feel okay?”

Lionel turned his arm and examined the band before nodding, his smile returning. Alex nodded once back.

“Okay good! Alright next the butterfly is going to land on your arm okay?”

The boy watched as she took the butterfly needle from the packaging and after quickly making sure it was set up used her fingers to make the wings flutter. Lionel giggled as she made exaggerated dives and turns and whooshing sounds, by the time the needle reached his arm he was giggling too much to notice the tiny prick as the needle entered his skin making Alex beam.

“Look at that bud! You were so brave and did so well! Now we have to let the butterfly rest for a minute.”

Lionel nodded as his attention turned to looking around the office. Lena glanced at Sam and chuckled a little seeing her friend had practically melted into a puddle holding her heart before meeting Alex’s eyes.

“Thank you.”

The words were barely a whisper but the brunette brushed them off anyway as she made a quick note in a notepad about normal needles being able to pierce Lionel’s skin. After a minute or two Alex opened a drawer and took out four different bandaids and showed them to Lionel.

“Which one of these special stickers looks coolest to you?”

The boy carefully examined the options. One was blue with different colored dinosaurs in space, one was green with cartoon frogs, one was light blue with sharks, and the last one was yellow with different colored cars. After a moment Lionel excitedly pointed to the frogs.

“Frogs!”

Alex smiled with a decisive nod as she put the others away.

“Good choice kiddo! Okay now I’m going to help the butterfly off your arm then put the sticker on okay?”

The boy nodded, his smile still glued to his face as he watched Alex quickly and carefully remove the needle and place the bandaid before the boy could even spot the speck of blood.

“Alright little man you are all done! See now that wasn’t so bad was it?”

Lionel shook his head with a giggle that was infectious. Alex reached back into the drawer and took out a sucker, she took off the rapper and handed it over with a wink to the boy who gasped then took the treat with a giggle as Lena pretended not to notice even if she couldn’t help but smile. Alex tossed the wrapped and her gloves into the waste bin before getting to her feet.

“I’ll get these to the lab and we should have results shortly, if you could wait here that would be great.”

Lena let Lionel down watching as he ran to Sam showing off his bandaid and sucker before she nodded to Alex.

“Sure thing. Umm Alex before you go can I ask a favor?”

The brunette nodded, she already had a decent guess what the favor was going to be.

“When this is over please don’t tell anyone about Lionel, not even your sister. I’ve worked so hard to give him a better childhood than I had as a Luthor, I don’t want that ruined.”

Alex gave the younger woman a reassuring smile placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I understand and don’t worry, you have my word I’m not going to tell anyone,”

The brunette paused, glancing out of the room in the direction of the bullpen then back to Lena.

“We all have our secrets, some bigger than others, but I’m not going to tell yours just because of your last name.”

The amount of tension that left Lena’s body was surprising as she gave a thankful smile watching as the brunette left the room. Sam lifted Lionel onto her hip and walked to the ravenette’s side smiling. Lena looked at her friend and couldn’t help how her smile softened.

“I see why you like her so much.”

A blush covered Sam’s cheeks but her smile hid nothing at all as she set Lionel in his mother’s lap once more.

“Yeah she’s pretty amazing, I’m lucky. You know her sister isn’t half bad either.”

The brunette giggled as she skillfully dodged the swat Lena aimed at her side.

“Samantha Arias, don't you dare try to set me up with your badass secret agent girlfriend’s baby sister!”

Sam just smiled, happy Lena seemed to have relaxed after the day's events. After a few moments Alex returned with a tablet in her hand and now Supergirl at her side. Lionel noticed the hero and smiled brightly earning a sunny grin from the blonde as she took notice of the bandaid on his arm.

“Agent Danvers tells me you were really brave for her.”

Lionel nodded excitedly.

“I was! I didn’t cry!”

Supergirl kneeled down to the boy’s height and held up her hand for a high five making the boy giggle and hit his palm to hers.

“Are you sure you’re not secretly a superhero too?”

The dark haired boy giggled again and shook his head. Alex moved to Lena’s side still scrolling and tapping at the tablet but the more she examined it the more her brow furrowed. Before the ravenette could say anything Supergirl noticed and after carefully scooping up Lionel moved closer.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?”

Lena did her best to hide the surprise at hearing the hero ask if her son was alright and it was quickly eclipsed by her own worry that something was really wrong. Alex shook her head but kept her eyes on the tablet.

“Everything is perfectly fine with him, healthy as can be, but these DNA results I….they don’t make sense with the story you’ve given us Lena.”

The ravenette felt her heart freeze up in her chest as her eyes moved to her son who had moved to Sam’s arms, the brunette already catching on to the conversation and distracting him with a game on her phone, then back to Alex.

“What do you mean his DNA doesn’t match up with the story?”

The brunette shook her head with a huffed laugh.

“Well he is half human and half Kryptonian but his DNA cells don’t match Superman’s at all.”

Now Supergirl’s brows furrowed as she folded her arms.

“What other Kryptonian DNA could he possibly have if not my cousin’s?”

Alex bit her lip looking between the pair before finally handing the tablet over to Lena to let her see the results. The ravenette quickly scanned over the screen in front of her eyes, they widened at the information before her and her chest began to feel like a vice.

“He has Supergirl’s DNA!?”

Chapter Text

”He has Supergirl’s DNA!?”

The words came out a bit louder than Lena intended but she couldn’t help it as she looked between Alex and the hero, green eyes full of confusion and a bit of panic.

“That’s impossible, today is the first time I’ve even interacted with Supergirl and Lex has been in prison for four years, Superman saw to that.”

Supergirl furrowed her brow looking at Alex.

“Four years ago I hadn’t even dawned my cape.”

Alex took the tablet back and looked over the data again as if it would change or she’d find a mistake, she found nothing.

“I can’t explain it any more than you two can but it’s right here, his genetics are a makeup between Lena’s DNA and Supergirl’s…”

The brunette trailed off as she looked carefully at the screen.

“Hold on, that's not quite right, I’ve seen Supergirl’s blood and DNA makeup enough times to have it memorized but this isn't exact.”

Lena felt her chest contract as she watched Alex move the results from the tablet to a holographic screen showing a side by side of two sets of DNA.

“On the left is Supergirl’s DNA make up, on the right is the sample from Lionel. Now this one is a sample of Supergirl’s DNA from an alternate universe.”

The blonde hero looked at the three examples with a furrowed brow, Lena’s mind put the pieces together a lot quicker and her eyes widened.

“It’s a multidimensional link in his DNA. Lex used a DNA sample from a different universe’s Supergirl…how is that even possible?”

Alex shook her head already thinking the same thing before they both looked at Supergirl. The blonde had a look between shock and fear on her face.

“I-I have a son?”

Alex and Lena shared another look before the brunette vanished the screens and went to the blonde putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Well technically speaking yes,”

Alex chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Don’t worry I don’t think Lena is going to be asking for child support.”

The ravenette put on a smile but her stomach may as well have been a cold stone resting on the floor. What if the blonde wanted to start being a part of Lionel’s life? What if she wanted to start taking on an active parent role? Would they have to work out a custody plan? The weight in her stomach doubled as new fears began to bubble. What if Supergirl wanted nothing at all to do with Lionel? What if she wanted to walk out of the building and pretend she didn’t even know he existed?

“Mommy.”

Lena blinked a few times before her green eyes looked down to find Lionel standing in front of her with a furrowed brow. A small smile spread over her lips as she knelt down to the boy’s level gently cupping his cheek.

“Yes, my little lion?”

The dark haired boy placed his hand over hers and held her gaze for a long moment before wrapping his arms around her neck and cuddling close. The ravenette felt her body relax as she held her son close, the boy always seemed to know exactly when she needed a hug for reassurance. After a moment Lena took a deep breath moving to stand before Supergirl.

“Lionel, my sweet boy, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

The boy pulled away enough to look back at the blonde hero then meet Lena’s eyes confused.

“Mommy, that's Supergirl.”

Lena nodded slowly as she met the blonde’s eyes silently asking permission then pressing on when she got a nod.

“I know baby but she’s not just Supergirl, s-she’s you’re other mommy.”

The dark haired boy furrowed his brow looking between the two women.

“My other mommy? Like how Jason has two mommies?”

Lena nodded slowly.

“Yeah like that.”

Lionel let the words sink in before he gave Supergirl a beaming smile and reached for the hero who took him into her arms with a warm smile.

“Ehrosh :bem te unah.”

The boy’s blue eyes went wide at the strange words.

“Ehosh b…b…um.”

The blonde laughed a little as she gently rested her forehead to his.

“Ehrosh :bem. it means ‘Hello’ in Kryptonian.”

Lena couldn’t deny the way her heart melted slightly watching the hero interact with her son, their son. Lionel giggled as he tried to say the words a few more times but gave up in favor of a quizzical expression directed at the blonde.

“If I call mommy ‘mommy’ what do I call you?”

Supergirl shrugged playfully.

“Whatever you want to call me. You can call me Supergirl, or mom, or mama or ieiu.”

Lionel smiled at the last suggestion.

“That one! What does it mean?”

The blonde’s smile turned impossibly soft and her eyes were misty.

“It means mother in Kryptonian.”

The boy smiled almost shyly.

“Ieiu.”

Tears rolled down the blonde’s cheeks but her smile never faltered as she praised the boy on his pronunciation of the new word, her voice full of happiness and pride. Lena’s attention was pulled away from the interaction as Alex put a hand on her shoulder gesturing for her to follow her outside of the room. The ravenette stole a final look at her son and Supergirl before following the brunette into the hallway, surprised by how nervous the older woman looked.

“Do you have any ideas on how your brother could have gotten to other universes?”

Lena folded her arms over chest and shifted her weight, she knew exactly how Lex did it.

“Yeah. He has a transmatter portal watch, something he tried creating when he was more hands on in the labs when father was alive, it didn’t work back then but he must have improved it and got it working.”

Alex’s body stiffened as she set her jaw, the ravenette could practically see the gears turning in the older Danvers’ head.

“And where is it now?”

Lena tried to push down a shudder at the repressed memory of laying on a gurney, holding a newborn Lionel who was wrapped in an aluminum emergency blanket, while being loaded into the back of an ambulance numbly watching Lex be hauled off while Superman and a government agent confiscated all the technology and weapons they could. Slowly she shook her head.

“I can’t be sure exactly where it is but I know for a fact Lex doesn’t have it anymore. The night he was arrested Superman took it, what happened to it after that I don’t know.”

Alex flexed her jaw before nodding and relaxing a touch as she looked back into the med bay, a faint smile crossing her lips seeing Supergirl and Lionel still happily talking, the boy giggling and smiling at all the hero’s exaggerated responses to whatever she was being told.

“Okay dropping all the agent Danvers shit and talking as a friend here. I know it’s sudden to ask and you haven’t had time to think about it but are you going to let her be part of his life?”

Lena looked back into the room where she found Supergirl was now talking with Sam while Lionel rested against her shoulder, content to trace patterns on her suit.

“I’m willing to work something out.”

Alex seemed to finally fully relax and give a smile as she nodded.

“Good cause she adores him so much and I know she’s going to want to be a part of his life. We should probably get back in there, you two have some things to discuss aaaaand I probably have some explaining to do with Sam.”

Lena couldn’t help her teasing smirk as she began to follow the brunette.

“Oh yeah, you owe her a whole lot of explaining.”

As they were about to walk into the room Lena paused and gripped Alex’s wrist making the brunette freeze with her hand on the door to look at her. A flash of panic crossed brown eyes as Lena’s green eyes turned hard as stones.

“That reminds me, we haven’t had a little chat about Sam yet.”

The brunette opened and closed her mouth a couple times before words finally came out.

“I-is this about her being part Kryptonian? Cause I already know, she told me when we got serious about our relationship.”

Lena’s eyes softened a bit and she toned down her ‘Luthor stare’ into a more teasing look making Alex slowly relax.

“While that’s good to know it’s not what I mean. What I mean is if you fuck up and hurt Sam or Rubyby doing something stupid then you’re going to find out just how much of a Luthor I can be.”

The brunette swallowed thickly and nodded, making Lena finally crack a smile and release her wrist so they could enter the room. Lionel noticed them as soon as they entered and sat up with a bright smile.

“Mommy!”

Lena went to her son and laughed as he all but jumped into her arms, she held him close and kissed his head.

“My little lion.”

If Lena had done more than glance in Supergirl’s direction she would have seen the blonde’s cheeks flush and her heart practically melt like an ice cube in summer in her blue eyes as she watched the pair. After a few NDA papers were signed and filed away Lionel tugged Lena’s hand to get her attention.

“I’m hungry.”

The ravenette checked her watch and nodded, it was near dinner time. Chewing the inside of her cheek Lena looked up at Supergirl who had traded her suit for a gray DEO sweater and a pair of black joggers. Lionel followed her line of sight and gave his best pleading look.

“Can ieiu come with? Please mommy?”

Lena chuckled before dramatically holding her heart.

“How could I ever say no to that face? Alright baby, why don’t you go ask her if she wants to join us?”

The dark-haired boy gasped happily before hurrying over to the blonde, bouncing excitedly as she finished what she was saying to Alex and Sam before kneeling to his level. It was clear the blonde was just as weak for the boy’s pleading face because she agreed to the invitation instantly, making him cheer excitedly. Lena would be as heartless as the rest of her family if she even tried to say the sight of the blonde scooping up Lionel with an exaggerated whooshing sound making the boy giggle like mad didn’t turn her heart into a giant puddle in her chest.

Supergirl said her goodbyes to Alex and Sam before walking to Lena’s side, her smile turning a bit sheepish.

“I hope you don’t mind me joining the two of you.”

The ravenette tried to force down her blush as she shook her head with a smile.

“Not at all, it gives us a chance to talk.”

The blonde nodded before chuckling as Lionel managed to climb over her shoulder and onto her back like a little monkey. Lena fondly shook her head at her son, their son, before loosely folding her arms.

“Alright darling, what were you thinking for dinner?”

Lionel made an exaggerated thinking face that had both women smiling before his eyes shone bright with excitement as he excitedly bounced a bit.

“I want pizza! And pot stickers! And ice cream!”

Lena shook her head with a playful eyeroll.

“How about we pick something else, maybe something a little healthier?”

Lionel pouted and shook his head. The ravenette turned her gaze to the blonde hero, her expression a mix between apologetic and pleading for help. Supergirl gently bounced the boy on her back to get his attention before giving him a soft smile.

“How about we have pizza and then see about ice cream after? And to make mommy happy we get veggies on the pizza?”

The dark haired boy pursed his lips and wrinkled his nose.

“But not olives, I don’t like olives, or peppers.”

Supergirl nodded her agreement to the statement before looking to Lena for approval.

“Does that sound fair to you Lena?”

The ravenette tried to ignore the way her heart did summer salts hearing the hero say her name, instead she nodded with a small defeated sigh.

“I suppose I can’t argue with it, as long as you promise mommy you’ll eat some fruit too.”

Lionel’s smile returned in full force as he nodded.

“I will! We can get pineapple on the pizza too!”

At that comment Lena playfully wrinkled her nose.

“And that, my sweet boy, is why you’re getting your own little pizza. Pineapple does not belong on pizza.”

Lionel giggled wrapping his arms more securely around Supergirl’s neck as the blonde gasped in mock horror and offense as they began to leave.

“It does too! Pineapple goes really well on pizza!”

Lena shook her head with a small smile as they began down the steps leading out of the DEO, already placing the delivery order on her phone, including a generous tip for the large order of two pizzas, a salad, and some ice cream.

“Well now I know where he gets that from.”