Chapter 39: Chapter 39
Lena's hands are shaking as she walks towards her doom. Well, not her doom. That's just her flair for the dramatic. But it might as well be. She's walking down a grand hallway with guards posted at regular intervals, eyeing her warily.
Lena knows they don't trust her, and she can understand why. If she were in their positions, she would be skeptical too. With Kara at her side, the blatantly mistrustful looks aren't as scathing as usual. She keeps her head held high.
But for the first time since she was a little girl, she's scared as she walks through a castle. Back then, it was because it was so big and she was so small. Now, it's because she's about to meet her girlfriend's mother. Which is understandingly terrifying, but Alex's words earlier didn't help the anxiety churning in her gut.
"What did she say to you, Maggie?" Kara asks as they start getting close, if the more frequent guards are any indication.
"I was almost as terrified as Lena. But she spent the first couple of minutes yelling at Alex instead of me, th-"
"Maggie!" Alex hisses.
Kara pulls her to a stop and they all pause in the hallway. "Alex," she says. Her tone is authoritative in a way that makes a shiver run down Lena's spine. "Why was Eliza yelling at you?"
"I may have gone on a slightly dangerous mission and forgot to tell her." Alex mumbles quickly, hoping Kara won't hear her.
Which of course she does, with her super hearing. "You did ? Alex!"
"What did she do?" Lena asks, not having heard Alex's rushed response.
"We went on a dangerous mission we were semi-prepared for at best and she didn't tell her mom." Maggie explains, her more in-depth answer causing Kara to give Alex a hard look.
"We'll discuss this more later," Kara warns. Alex winces and nods.
"Anyway," Maggie says. "Queen Eliza isn't bad. She's intimidating and a little scary but she was really sweet. She even welcomed me into the family. You should be fine."
It reassures Lena slightly, but the worry in her chest isn't going away. She wants to make a good first impression; she of all people knows how important they can be. But she doesn't know the Queen, doesn't know how to charm her, doesn't know what persona she should put on to make her feel at ease.
They start walking again and Kara squeezes her girlfriend's hand. "Just be yourself," she murmurs.
Personally, Lena has always thought that was terrible advice. Why would she be herself when that was never enough for anyone? Why be herself when she knows that when people look at her, they don't see her. They see a Queen, a Luthor, the sister of a xenophobic madman and daughter to a xenophobic madwoman. But she doesn't tell Kara this, she gives her girlfriend a smile that's only partly forced because she really is grateful for her attempts to calm Lena down.
They walk into the throne room and Lena tries not to betray how impressed she is by the sheer size of it. Banners and large paintings of the Kingdom adorn the walls. She walks forward on shaky legs, instilling the confidence she learned to fake over years of being a Luthor.
Maggie and Alex slow down to let Kara and Lena pass them. Eliza and Jeremiah stand from where they're seated on their thrones.
"Kara!" Eliza greets her warmly. "Come here!"
Kara gives Lena a look, hesitant to leave her where she is. Lena gives Kara a look back to silently tell her that she'll be fine. She can tell she didn't really convince Kara. Lena can also see the unasked question in her girlfriend's eyes. She nods and that's when Kara practically flies forward, using her super speed to scoop both Eliza and Jeremiah in a tight hug.
They laugh at their daughter's antics but don't seem to mind that their feet are literally dangling off of the ground. They hug her back just as tight (well, as much as they can when they don't have a tenth of the strength that Kara has). And it just hits Lena like a blow to the face. This is what family is supposed to be like.
She could tell that even when Alex and Kara were talking about Alex not telling their mom about going on a dangerous mission, they still cared. They didn't lash out, they still looked at each other with love in their eyes. Kara's parents, her adoptive parents, are practically having the breath squeezed out of them but they're laughing and smiling and . It's obvious that they care about Kara. So what will they think when they learn that Lena's dating her?
Kara sets them back down and quickly looks back over her shoulder to give Lena a worried look. She gives her girlfriend a shaky smile. Of course, it's at this moment that Queen Eliza and Jeremiah notice her presence.
Queen Eliza straightens her posture and walks elegantly down the steps, making her regal appearance seem effortless. Kara reappears at Lena's side in an instant and if she weren't so anxious then Lena may have startled. Eliza raises an eyebrow, surprised that she's standing by Lena instead of her, Jeremiah, or Alex.
Eliza reaches out her hand. "Welcome to the Danvers Kingdom, Queen Lena."
"Thank you," Lena replies. She's proud that she sounds much more put together than she feels.
She shakes Eliza's hand, noting the firm grip as a subtle sign of strength.
Kara fiddles with her glasses and her nervousness brings her adoptive parents' attention back to her.
"Kara?" Eliza prompts, able to tell that she has something to say.
"Um." She looks over at Lena again, who gives her consent with a subtle nod. "Lena's my girlfriend."
Lena looks over at Queen Eliza and Jeremiah, watching as their expressions flash from confusion to concern to skepticism repeatedly. It's almost comical.
"Then I guess we haven't been properly introduced." Eliza says with an unreadable tone, even for someone as well-versed in people reading as Lena. "I'm Eliza, Kara's mother. Please, come with me."
She starts walking away from her family. Lena hesitates for a moment before following. Jeremiah gives her an apologetic smile as she starts moving away from them.
"Kara, I'm going to speak to her alone." Eliza calls without looking behind her.
Lena looks back to see that Kara has been trailing behind her. She has stopped at her mother's words. Lena quickens her pace slightly to catch up and hears Kara head back to Alex and Maggie, grumbling. Eliza stops suddenly when they're out of the normal human hearing range. Lena almost bumps into her and works on her composure, mentally preparing herself for this talk.
"No super hearing, Kara." Eliza says at a normal bowline scoldingly.
Lena raises an eyebrow and looks back at where Kara's standing with Alex and Maggie, amused when she notices that her girlfriend's face is noticeably pink. Lena gives her girlfriend a wink, knowing she can probably see it, even from this distance. That's further proved when Kara's face gets redder. She reads Alex and Maggie's body language and knows they're teasing her.
Not wanting to be rude, she quickly turns back to Queen Eliza, who's watching her with that same unreadable expression.
"So you're dating my daughter." Eliza states after a long pause, looking her up and down. Lena fights the urge to squirm, her nervousness level rising higher.
"Yes, I am." Lena replies.
"Why?" Eliza asks and Lena gives her a surprised look. "Not like that, she's my daughter, I know how amazing she is. I also know how she tends to leave a trail of people with crushes on her in her wake without realizing it. So what makes you different? Why do you think you're good enough for her?"
Lena lets out an almost morbidly amused huff of air from her nose, a small smirk on her lips. "The answer to that is simple, Mrs. Danvers. I'm not. I'm not good enough for her, but for some reason that I can't fathom, she seems to think that I am. So as long as she believes that, I'll do everything in my power to try to prove her right."
Eliza nods and if Lena weren't a Luthor trained in the art of manipulation, she would have missed how Eliza relaxes minutely at her answer.
"And what are your intentions with my daughter?" Eliza questions.
"Intentions?" Lena repeats, pondering on how to word her thoughts. "Well, I love when she's happy. And somehow I make her happy and I want to do that for as long as she'll let me."
Eliza nods. "I want you to know that I'll respect your relationship. I may not trust you yet, but I trust my daughter. She's a pretty good judge of character and wouldn't be dating you if she thinks you're a bad person. I look forward to leaning more about you. And... One last thing. Thank you. Kara looks content and whole in a different way than I've ever seen her. I think you're good for her."
Lena smiles softly glancing over at where her girlfriend is anxiously waiting. "She's good for me too, Mrs. Danvers."
Aww, I love the supportive Danvers family! Man, this took me so much longer than usual to write because I kept getting distracted... But I pushed through and it's done! And we get to have the Danvers sisters and their girlfriends all together! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!
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