Capítulo 24: 24. Road Trip
When Maggie climbed into the Yale-blue Porsche 911, she almost orgasmed on the spot. “Oh my God. Hello, gorgeous!” she spoke to the vehicle. “Aren’t you just the prettiest thing?” When Lena climbed in on the passenger side, Maggie pulled her into another searing kiss. “God, I don’t know how I’m going to drive, when all I can think about is fucking you stupid on the hood of this car.”
Lena blushed. “I’m not quite ready to go there, yet.”
Maggie chuckled. “Well, when you are, you let me know, and I will fuck you on every beautiful car you own until you can’t even remember your own name.”
Lena’s darkened blush was her answer. She bit her lip while she programmed Eliza’s address into the GPS system, and they were off.
Maggie reached for her new girlfriend’s hand and laced their fingers together. “It’s so nice to finally be able to kiss you and touch you.” She kissed the back of Lena’s hand and each of her knuckles.
“Agreed,” Lena grinned and kissed her cheek. “Shall we put on some music? I brought my iPod with me. There’s not a lot of new stuff on it, but I think I have some things you’ll like.”
“Alright, I’m interested to hear what you think I might like,” Maggie accepted.
“Well, it’s not so much that I think I know your taste in music, but I have a few great little gems that I adore, and everyone seems to love them when I introduce them. I suppose it’s more of a hope that you’ll like it than anything.”
“Alright try me.”
Lena connected her iPod to the car system and started playing an instrumental song that Maggie soon realized was a cover of the song “Chandelier” by Sia.
“OK,” Maggie acquiesced. “This is cool.”
“This group is called Vitamin String Quartet. I have quite a few more groups just like this that all do basically the same thing - they take pop songs and make them instrumental. I love them.”
“That’s pretty sweet.”
She played another one. “This is ‘Annie, Are You OK?’ by 2Cellos.”
“Haha! I love it!” Maggie exclaimed, after listening to a few measures.
“I'm glad,” Lena smiled. When that song was over, she played another one. “This is ‘Rolling in the Deep’ by The Piano Guys.”
Maggie listened for a minute. “Where’s the piano?”
“Just give it a minute. They use cellos and other instruments a lot too. There. See? Piano.”
The detective grinned. “This is really beautiful. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was just really cool classical music.”
“That’s what I love about it,” Lena told her. When the next song played, she said, “This is ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ by Vitamin String Quartet.
“OK, now, answer me honestly. Would you know this song, if it weren’t for this cover?”
“Oh, yes,” Lena confessed. “I was quite the grunge music fan back in the 90’s. It drove my mother crazy, and I loved it. Green Day was always one of my favorites. If you like that, you'll love this. ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ by 2Cellos.”
“Got any lesbian music?” Maggie teased.
“Hmm,” the brunette pursed her lips while she scrolled through her iPod. “I do still have some Ani Difranco in here from my college days. “Unless you’re one of those people who hold a grudge against her.”
The detective rolled her eyes. “I’m not one of those assholes that thinks you can control who you fall in love with.”
Maggie listened to “32 Flavors” for a minute. She hadn’t heard anything by Ani Difranco in forever. “God!” she shouted, all of a sudden. “I swear, you were custom made for us! That’s all there is to it.”
Lena grinned. “It does seem that way, doesn’t it?”
Maggie kissed the back of her girlfriend’s hand a bunch of times. “OK, I know this may seem strange, but I would really love it, if you would tell me about your life as if I was a foreigner that's never heard of a Luthor.”
Lena bit her lip in thought. “Hmm. That’s a challenge. Well, I was born in Washington D.C. My mom’s name was Elizabeth Turnley. I have no clue who my birth father is. When I was four, my mom died, and I went from living in a comfortable little apartment with her, to a foster home, where I was adopted by a very rich and influential family who lived in Metropolis.”
“How rich are we talking here?” Maggie asked curiously.
“They don’t own jets. They own airports,” Lena answered dryly.
Maggie whistled. “Wow, I didn’t realize the Luthors had that much money!”
“I thought you’d never heard of the Luthors?” Lena teased.
“My bad. Go on.”
“Alright. My foster family consisted of Lionel - my new father, Lillian - my new mother, and Lex - my new older brother. Lionel and Lex always made me feel loved and welcome, but Lillian was always cold to me. She would always rub it in my nose that I wasn’t a real Luthor, but her son was. She made me take as many good breeding classes as she could find to teach me poise and grace and relentlessness - anything to make me seem more Luthor-like. I tried my best, but I don’t think she ever really succeeded. Luthors are hard and cold, and I’m just not like that at my heart level. I like having friends and feeling connected. I like dressing down and having family outings. I can play a Luthor with expertise, but Lillian was right. I’m not a real Luthor.”
Maggie brought Lena’s hand to her lips and held it there for a long moment. “Does Kara know all this?”
Lena nodded. “Yes, she knows quite a lot about my history by now.”
“And where is your family now?
The CEO’s face fell. “My father died my sophomore year of college. Cancer. We knew he was sick for a while, but we never told anyone. He was given six months to live, when I was still in high school, but he lived three more years after that. Stubborn old goat,” she chuckled. “At his funeral, we were all sad, but also thankful that we had all that extra time with him. After that, Lillian immersed herself in her work. She’s a private surgeon. Very elite and highly sought after. She never really cared about anything but her job and her son. After my father died, my brother took over the family company, and I was pretty much left to my own devices. I developed a pretty heavy coke habit there for a while. The first ‘B’ I got on a term paper snapped me out of that, and I stopped immediately. That’s the last time I touched anything other than alcohol. And Kara doesn’t know about that part, so don’t tell her, OK?”
Maggie mimed zipping her lips.
“Do I have to keep going?”
“If this is making you uncomfortable, then no, but if you want to stop just because you think I know the story, please don’t. I want to hear your version of things. I’m a detective, remember? I know how important it is to hear about things from every angle possible.”
“Alright,” Lena conceded, “I’ll keep going. I like talking to you. It’s easy.”
Maggie smiled at her. “I’m glad. I like learning about you.”
“You’re such a sweet talker,” Lena smirked.
“Only when I’m with such a sweet girl,” Maggie replied.
Lena snickered and shook her head. “Goof.”
“Whatever. You have a life story to finish. Go on.”
The CEO sighed. “Alright. While I was in grad school, I started getting some reports about my brother and how he’d been acting strangely. At first, I thought it was just people trying to give him a bad name, but then there were all these news stories about Lex Luthor VS Superman, and I didn’t know what to do. I tried talking to him, but he didn’t listen. He just kept accusing me of being against him. Eventually he went completely insane. He killed hundreds of innocent people in his pursuit to kill Superman, and he never showed an ounce of remorse. I don’t know what happened to make him like that, but I never could get through to him. He was put into prison, serving 32 consecutive life sentences, but that still didn’t stop him from sending someone to kill me, after I moved to National City. I thank God for the Supers, ironically enough. They’re the ones that have kept me safe thus far, especially Supergirl.”
“So you’re not in National City to try and finish what your brother started with the Supers?”
Lena snorted rather indelicately, “I doubt it.”
Maggie grinned. “Alright. Tell me about your love life. When was your first kiss?”
“I was eleven. At school, on the playground. Chase Ashurst. We dated for two weeks before Cindy Ryan stole him away from me.”
“That bitch.”
“Don’t worry. I humiliated her for it. I kind of feel bad about it now.”
“Ah, kids.”
“Indeed. Maybe I should send her some flowers as an apology.”
Maggie snickered. “Sap.”
“Whatever.”
“First time?”
“My first time with a male was when I was sixteen. Also Chase Ashurst, though we never even dated after fifth grade. We were at a summer party, and we’d drank a lot and done a lot of coke. I don’t even remember it much, though I do remember he was actually quite the gentleman. My first time with a female wasn’t until I was nineteen. I met a girl at a club, and I went home with her. That I do remember, and it was awesome. I never got her name, and I never even saw her again, after that.”
“Nice. Who was you last partner? What were they like, and why did you break up?”
“My last partner was Jack Sphere. He was nice enough. We had a start-up company together. We were going to cure cancer. When everything happened with my brother, I had to get away from Metropolis, so I could distance myself from Lex’s influence. Jack had a problem with that, so we broke up.”
“So you really haven’t dated anyone since you moved to National City?”
“Only you three,” Lena answered. “At first, I just worked all the time, but then I met Kara, and she started inviting me to have lunch with her, and before I knew it, I was having lunch dates with her two or three times a week, and then she was inviting me to all these social functions with her friends, and you know the rest from there.”
Maggie grinned. “That’s the best part! Don’t leave out the best part!”
Lena laughed. “Alright, after that, I met Kara’s amazing wife and her amazing girlfriend, and I just knew I had to be a part of that. I pined for a while, not believing I could have a place in the relationship, but eventually, they all confessed their feelings for me, and I’ve never been happier.”
“Fuck yeah!”
The CEO laughed again. Maggie really loved her the sound of her laughter. “OK, you’re turn.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you my life story, now I need the Maggie Sawyer exclusive.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. If we’re in this together, then you have to tell me about you too.”
Maggie groaned. “Fine. I was born in Blue Springs, Nebraska. Population: three-hundred. That’s three-hundred. Not three-thousand, not three-hundred-thousand. Three-fucking-hundred. Period. I’m talking podunk as podunk can get. My parents are Oscar and Miriani Rodas. My dad was the sheriff, and my mom was the church secretary, and they still are to this day, as far as I know. When I was fourteen, I was outed as being gay. They kicked me out, and I had to go live with my mom’s sister all through the rest of high school. I went to college in Lincoln on a partial academic scholarship, and as soon as I graduated, I moved to National City and signed on to the police force.”
“What was your college major?” Lena wanted to know.
“Criminal Justice, of course.”
“Of course. So even though you and your father didn’t get along, you still wanted to join law enforcement?”
“Yeah,” Maggie sighed, “I guess it’s in my blood, whether I like it, or not.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“Nah. Just me. Though the aunt that I lived with had a couple kids that were quite a bit older than me, so they were kind of like siblings, just the distant cousin kind.”
“Sounds lonely,” Lena commented.
“The rejected gay daughter of the town’s Mexican sheriff in Podunk, Nebraska? No, I had people clamoring at my door to hang out with me,” Maggie scoffed sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, my love.”
Maggie grinned. “Hearing you say that makes me forget all about it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Are you ready to fuck yet? Because I’m about ready to pull this car over and-”
“No, Maggie!” Lena giggled. “Not yet.”
“Damn it!” the detective smacked the steering wheel, though she kept her smile to take the sting out of her words. “Sorry, baby,” she told the car, stroking the wheel. “I didn’t mean it.”
“You’re incorrigible,” Lena accused.
“And don’t you forget it!” They laughed together.
“What made you want to join the police force?”
Maggie pursed her lips in thought. “Well, being who I am, I’ve seen a lot of injustice in this world, and I just want to play my part in making the world a better place. I’m smart, I’m good in a crisis. I’m great at solving mysteries that no one else can solve. I can totally kick some ass. Why waste my intellect on anything else? Like I said, I think it’s just in my blood.”
“Fair enough. Now, drug usage?”
“I love weed,” Maggie admitted. “I smoked it all the time in high school. If I wasn’t a cop, I’d still smoke it. I don’t even bust people for weed unless they’re real assholes to me. Well, I didn’t when it was still illegal. Unless they had ridiculous amounts of it. I tried ecstasy once, and it was fun for a while, but the way I felt after coming down was the end of that. That’s it. I didn’t even get crazy horny like people say happens. I just really loved everyone.”
The CEO chuckled. “First kiss?”
“Bobby Mornes. I was eight. I kissed him, just to know what it was like, and then I punched him in the face. He cried and never talked to me again, and we went to school together all the way through graduation.”
Lena laughed jovially. “That’s a fantastic story. First time?”
“I’ve never been with a guy. My first time was with a girl named Dani Lieberman. I was a freshman in college, and she was a sophomore. We were in the LGBT Support Club together, and we dated for about two months.”
“And your last relationship?” Lena probed.
“Jennifer Hicks. Art dealer. Total snob. She said a lot of nasty things to me while she was breaking up with me, as you might remember from our first meeting?”
“She’s the one that called you a sociopath?”
“That’s the one.”
“Remind me to send her a Thank You card.”
Maggie snickered. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see that delivery. ‘Dear Miss Hicks,’” she said in a funny high-pitched voice. “‘I just want to thank you for breaking up with Maggie, so I could have her. Signed, Lena Fucking Luthor.’”
“I’d probably leave the ‘fucking’ part out, but yes. That sounds accurate.”
“You sure? I mean, the fucking part could add a little pizzazz, you know?” She mimicked the twins’ jazz hands.
Lena laughed.
“Oh! We could literally send her a picture of us fucking! On this car! Fuck the thank you card! I’ll just pull over, and we can take a pic and text it to her right now!”
“Don’t you dare!” Lena laughed some more, smacking Maggie’s leg.
Maggie was glad the CEO knew she wasn’t serious. They were having a good time. She didn’t want to stop to have an argument right now. So far, Lena didn’t seem like the argumentative type, despite the Luthor name and training. She must save it all for the boardroom or something because Maggie never saw it. Lena was gentle and soft-spoken. In fact, the most Maggie had seen her assert herself was when she insisted on paying for that stupid otter movie a few weeks ago. And that was against pushover Kara. Who knew if she was willing to take a stand against Alex or Maggie who were much more stubborn? They would find out eventually. “OK, favorite foods. And go.”
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Kara felt like there was a rock in her stomach as she climbed into the minivan with her family. She was about to tell her children something that would shake their very foundations and change their paradigms forever. Up until now, the kids had only ever been told the lie that their father was some random guy that Alex hooked up with when they were teens. They never suspected anything different. Why would they? They’d grown up on earth and never learned of Kryptonian heritage or hierarchies. The fact that her kids couldn’t speak Kryptonian grieved her heavily, but you can’t teach a little kid another language and expect them not to use it, and they just couldn’t have their kids giving themselves away. Sure, they could lie and say it was another language other than Kryptonian, but if television taught us anything, it was that eventually, someone would come along who knew the truth and they’d blow the whole cover as embarrassingly as possible. Or in their case - as dangerously as possible. So no, the kids didn’t know anything about Krypton or Kara’s other secret. They didn’t know they were her kids. They didn’t know she was their literal parent. And most of all, they had no idea that they were half-Kryptonian. They just thought they were extra smart because it ran in the family and because Alex always told them about how she and Kara would read college textbooks out loud to them when they were babies. Geniuses that they were, they still believed that baloney. She looked over at Alex in the driver’s seat. “Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Alex replied.
“We’re ready! Woo!” The kids started singing, “Over the river and through the woods, to grandma’s house we go-oh!”
That made Kara chuckle, but it didn’t help loosen her nerves any. They pulled out onto the road, and Kara thought about how she wanted to start. It was hard enough to say the word ‘penis’ to her lovers - Alex always told her, if she couldn’t say it, she shouldn’t be having sex - but it was a whole other thing to have to say it to anyone else… Especially when it wasn’t just anyone, it was her own children! How was she going to do this? She was silent long enough that Alex eventually raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed. “You know, kids, there’s something that your mom and I want to tell you.”
“Are one of you pregnant?” Jessie asked excitedly.
“Jessie, we just told you five minutes ago that no one is having a baby!” Alex told her, annoyed.
“Aw, well, sue me for being hopeful still.”
Jamie facepalmed at her sister.
“What? Maybe Lena might want to have a baby!”
“Lena just started coming around!” Alex huffed. “Why in God’s name would she want to have a baby already?! If ever!”
“She might! You didn’t think she’d want to be with you guys at all, and now look! She might want to have a baby someday.”
Kara didn’t dare share the fact that she was thinking exactly that same thing just an hour ago, lest she throw fuel on an already too-large fire. Instead, she said, “Let’s worry about that later. That’s not what we wanted to talk to you guys about.”
“OK, what do you want to talk to us about?” Jessie asked impatiently.
“Well, you were wondering when you were going to get your periods.”
“Yeah. Do you know?”
“Well,” Kara answered slowly, “That’s the thing. You might not get them at all.”
The twins looked at each other in confusion.
“Why?” Jamie wanted to know. “Is there something wrong with us?”
“No!” she exclaimed.
“No, of course not, baby,” Alex answered. “It’s just that…”
“It’s just that things on Krypton worked a little differently than they do here.”
“You don’t say,” Jamie said sarcastically.
Kara laughed nervously, “Y-yeah, so, um… You see… On Krypton, there weren’t just males and females. There were sub-groups of male and female as well. There could be Alphas, Betas, or Omegas. The Alphas were the dominant males and females. The Omegas were the submissive males and females. And the Betas were the balance between the two. The most important physical distinctions among them all was the fact that Omega males had wombs…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the Alpha part yet.
“What?” Jamie huffed. “How does that even work? Like they have vaginas?”
“No,” Kara answered nervously. How can her daughter just throw the word ‘vagina’ around, like it was nothing?
“So… How does it work, then?”
Kara pressed her lips together in embarrassment. “Do you really want me to explain it in detail?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie whined. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Kara suppressed a whine of her own. “They have… an extra… canal?... In their… anus… That leads to the uterus.” Rao, this was hard!
“Whoa,” breathed Jessie.
Jamie turned up her nose. “That’s weird! And gross!”
That gave Kara pause. She didn’t want to reveal herself as an Alpha and have her daughter think she was even weirder! Or worse, be repulsed!
“It’s not weird, or gross!” Alex defended. “That was their normal. It would be weird to them to come here and find out we didn’t have all that stuff.”
“That’s right,” Kara piped up. “It was very weird to come here and see everything that was different. And how many couples on earth with two same-sex partners would kill to have their own kid? That was possible on Krypton.”
“Yeah, and speaking of which, there’s something else that makes Alpha females different from Betas and Omegas,” Alex added.
The kids looked a little nervous. That made Kara more nervous. She couldn’t get the words out.
Luckily, Alex, who had a much stronger stomach for these things, took pity on her, and said with a huff, “ Alpha females have… They have… penises… so they can make babies… like a man would.”
“Wow.” The girls blinked as they processed this insane information. Kara could see the wheels spinning in their heads, with the same tell-tale crinkle in their foreheads that she got when she was deep in thought.
“OK… What does all this have to do with getting our periods?” Now Jamie was getting impatient.
“Well, Alphas have ruts, and Omegas have heats. Only humans have periods.” The kids were clearly not understanding what she was trying to hint at. Kara pouted at her wife for more help.
Alex sighed. “You guys might be Alphas . Almost everyone in Mama’s family was born an Alpha, so you might be too.”
“But how can we be Alphas? We’re human,” said Jamie.
Alex and Kara looked at each other, and then it finally seemed to click with the twins.
“Ohmigod,” said Jessie.
“You mean we’re…” Jamie couldn’t finish.
“We’re…” Jessie started.
“Half Kryptonian,” Kara supplied.
The kids just stared at her with their mouths hanging open.
“That’s why we look like you,” Jamie breathed.
“How come we don’t have powers?” Jessie was indignant.
Alex shrugged. “We might be able to find out, but we thought you’d appreciate being treated like people, rather than science experiments.”
“So Mama is our… our...” Jamie struggled with finding the proper identifier. “Father, slash, other mother?”
“Exactly,” Alex told her.
“Can you pull the car over for a minute?” Jessie insisted.
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed.
Great, Kara thought to herself, they'd traumatized their kids so much now they were going to be sick!
Alex pulled over to the side of the road, and the twins clamored out, opening the passenger side door and pulling Kara into a tearful hug. “All this time you let us think that our father was some random guy who never even knew about us, and it was you all along!” Jessie sobbed. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“I don’t know,” Kara answered with a big sniffle. “I don’t know. I just thought it would upset you, so I held it in. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“We’re not mad,” Jessie told her. “This is the best Christmas ever!”
“It is?” Kara asked incredulously.
“Yes!” Jamie agreed. “Knowing we’re not just adopted by you, but we’re actually your kids? That’s the best thing ever.”
“Yeah,” Jessie added, “It means there’s no intangible man out there in the world that could never love us. You’re our other parent, and you’ve been here, loving us all along. Do you know how many times I’ve cried myself to sleep because I didn’t know my dad, wishing you really were my blood parent because you’re the one who has always taken care of us? I can’t even tell you how many times. This is literally a dream come true!”
Kara sobbed like her kids had just been born again, and she clung to them as they clung to her. “I love you girls so much.” She kissed them all over their faces.
“We love you too, Mama.”
Alex climbed out of the van and wrapped her arms around all three of them. They stayed there, holding one another for a minute or two before she spoke gently, “I'm glad you're happy. We should get going, though. Grandma will be waiting for us.”
“Kay,” the girls all clamored back into the minivan, and they were off.
Both of the twins stared dazedly out the window without drawing, or playing on their phones, or making a single peep. Kara wanted to know what they were thinking, but she knew they needed time to process. Even if they were glad to learn about their true heritage, it was still a lot to take in. After about twenty minutes, Jessie spoke again, “What would it take to find out why we don't have any powers?”
That's what her daughter was wondering about? Of all the things she'd just found out? Leave it to Jessie. She was always wild like her mother. Worse, actually. Kara was not looking forward to her teenage years. And the thought of Jessie with powers made her heart clench in terror. Not because she would cause trouble, but because the girl would be constantly throwing herself into dangerous situations in order to try and be helpful. Kara would not be OK with that, and Alex would definitely have a conniption. Her kids were only eleven for Rao’s sake! She tried to take deep breaths to calm herself. “You don’t need any powers!” she exclaimed.
“That’s right, you don’t,” Alex agreed. “But to answer your question, I would probably start with blood work and go from there.”
“That’s nothing,” Jessie insisted. “I can deal with blood work.” She really could. She was a champ when it came to needles and all things intimidating.
Alex and Kara shared a look of nervousness.
“Maybe we should talk to your grandma first,” the agent suggested.
“Why?” the girls wanted to know.
“Well, for starters, she’s going to want to know that we told you about Mama."
“Yes,” Kara agreed.
“Plus, she’s probably going to want to be involved with your testing. She is your grandma, after all, not to mention, she’s one of the world’s leading experts on Kryptonians.”
“OK,” Jessie told her easily. “Maybe we could start this weekend?”
“We’ll see,” Alex frowned. Kara knew her wife didn’t want their kids to have powers anymore than she did, and it was entirely possible that if they found the reason for them not having powers, there might be something to be done to activate them. Neither of them wanted that. Neither of them wanted super-powered children. It had been one of their greatest fears while Alex was pregnant. In fact, Eliza had been trying to work out some sort of baby eye-wear for blocking heat vision from the moment she found out Alex was going to give birth to Kryptonians, and Alex was trying to figure out if it was morally ethical to put a harness and leash on children that might otherwise float away. Thankfully, they never needed such things.
“Maybe if I had powers, more people would love me” Jessie hoped.
Kara wanted to cry. If ever there was something that Kara was mad at the world for, it was Jessie’s lack of friends. What in Rao’s name was wrong with her kids that made other kids hate them so much? Just because they were a little nerdy, that was grounds for making them pariahs? They were so sweet and loving! How could anyone hate that? “Baby, having powers would make some people hate you more. There are people out there like Cadmus that would do anything to hurt you. That means that even if you had powers, you couldn’t use them.”
“You use yours!” Jessie complained.
“I'm a an adult!” Kara reminded her. “And you have no idea about some of the things I’ve been through since becoming Supergirl. Some of them have almost killed me! Some emotionally and some literally.”
“Then why do you do it?” Jessie wanted to know.
“Because the world needs me! I have to keep the world safe for you guys to live in. I want this world to be the best place it can be. For you. You mean everything to me, and honestly, Jessie, I hope you never get powers because that would just be way too stressful on me and your mom.”
Jessie scowled. “You’re mean!” she shrieked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kara pouted. “I’m sorry you think that.”
“It’s not fair that you get powers, and I don’t!”
“Life’s not fair,” Alex spoke up. “You just gotta learn to roll with the punches.”
“Whatever.” Jessie dug in her bag for her headphones and plugged them into her phone, effectively shutting out her parents as soon as they were on her head. She didn’t speak to them again for the rest of the hour it took to get to their halfway-point rest stop. Jamie didn’t really say much either, but at least she wasn’t shutting down.
Kara sighed to herself. This wasn’t what she thought her kids would be upset about. It was confusing. She thought they would be upset because one of their parents was an alien freak, but Jamie seemed to be taking it all in stride, while Jessie was more upset about not being more of a freak, so to speak. Not that she thought her daughter was a freak, but people treated her like one already. What would they do, if they learned she was literally part alien?
People in Midvale were much more tolerant, and in times like these, Kara wished they’d never moved away. But when Alex got a job working for the “FBI,” none of them could resist the money they were offering. Even Eliza was convinced. That was before she knew the “FBI” was the “DEO,” but by the time she learned the truth, it was too late to take it back. The next thing they knew, they were packing up their five-year-olds and moving to National City, and they never looked back. Except for the part where the other kids were all mean to the twins, living in National City was a blast for them all. There was always something fun to do, or somewhere beautiful to visit. But nothing beat the people in Midvale. They were just the best. After all, they were the ones who were so accepting of Kara and Alex being together in the first place (with the exception of Vicki, but that was only one person). Kara hated to think what it would have been like for Alex and her, if they’d grown up in National City. Would kids have been as unkind to them back then as they were to the twins now?
Unfortunately, there was no going back any longer. They had established their lives in National City, and uprooting now would destroy everything good they had built, including dozens of friendships, and the two new relationships they’d just managed to get into. Plus, Supergirl can’t live in Midvale. People would figure out her secret identity far too easily. They would stay in National City, and they would figure out how to get along with the world, come hell or high water.
When they pulled into the rest area, Maggie and Lena were sitting in the Porsche, making out again. Maggie must really have been serious about putting in her kissing time with Lena! Kara was a tiny bit jealous that she couldn’t be the one making out with Lena right now, but she didn’t begrudge Maggie for it. Lena was just too irresistible, and Maggie was as gorgeous as could be. She couldn’t blame either of them, really. Plus, even Kara had to admit that the Porsche 911 was a very sexy car, and she kind of wanted to make out in it too. Maybe she and Alex could have a turn in it later. Alex beeped the horn at them, and they stopped.
They all climbed out of their vehicles, and without a word, Jessie went in, used the restroom, and climbed back into the very back of the van without speaking to anyone.
“What’s with her?” Maggie wanted to know.
Kara sighed heavily. “She’s not mad about being half-Kryptonian, or the fact that we never told them until now. No. She’s mad because she doesn’t get to have any powers, and she’s extra mad because I told her that I didn’t want her to have any.”
“Oh, Lord,” Maggie huffed. “You want me to talk to her?”
“You can, if you want.” Kara waved her hand towards the van to emphasize the go-ahead.
Maggie nodded and headed toward the van. Kara didn’t want to listen, but her ears betrayed her. “Hey, kiddo,” the detective spoke gently. She climbed into the back of the van and sat next to the preteen. “You wanna talk?”
Jessie shook her head.
“Come on, sweetheart, you know you can talk to me.”
The little blonde turned to her, and instead of telling what was wrong, she asked, “Maggie, do you love me?”
The Latina brushed her hand across Jessie’s cheek. “Yes. So, so much.”
Jessie leaned into Maggie and started bawling her eyes out.
“Jessie! What’s gotten into you? Why are you so emotional today?”
“I don’t know!” the girl sobbed.
Maggie just held her and rocked her and kissed her on the head. “It’s OK, sweetheart. It’s OK.”
Kara was so grateful to her girlfriend right then. She really had a connection with the younger twin that no one else seemed to have. Hopefully it would come in handy for the situation.
“What’s up?” Alex asked, startling her.
“Maggie and Jessie are having a talk,” Kara answered.
“Oh. OK? So, we’re waiting on them, then?”
The Kryptonian nodded and tuned back into the conversation when she heard her daughter’s voice.
“Can I ride with you and Lena?” Jessie asked the detective.
“Sure, kiddo. I don’t know how much room you’ll have in the back seat, but you’re welcome to try. Just keep in mind that you’ll be back there for an hour.”
“Good. I need an hour to forget that Mama was mean to me.”
“Your Mama was mean to you? That doesn’t sound like her.”
Jessie sniffled. “She said she hoped I never got any powers.”
“And that hurt your feelings?” Maggie checked.
Jessie nodded.
“Can you tell me why it hurt you so much?”
The young blonde shrugged. “I guess it makes me feel like she doesn’t want me to be special. I’m just gonna be a reject for the rest of my life.”
Maggie clenched her jaw. “Jessie, you look at me right now.” She waited for the girl to obey and look up from her toes. When their eyes met, Maggie was adamant, “You are NOT a reject. You are so, so special. Just you being you makes you special. Don’t you understand that?”
The girl shook her head.
Maggie shook her a little, as if to get her attention. “I understand why you feel like a reject, Jessie. When I was a kid, I felt like I was a reject too. But the truth is, I was better than those people, and that’s true for you too. People like us don’t need powers to be special. We’re special because we’re good, hard-working people in a cruel world, fighting for justice and making the world a better place by being loving and kind, and you, my dear, are excellent at that. You make my world a better place by being a part of it. Don’t you know that by now?”
“Why can’t the kids at my school feel like that?”
“I don’t know,” Maggie lamented. “If I could beat some sense into them, I would.”
Jessie giggled through her tears.
“Unfortunately, this is an emotional battle, instead of a physical one, so we have to use our heads and our hearts instead of our fists. That may be a little more challenging, but it helps when you’re not alone.”
“But I am alone.”
“No, you’re not, honey, you have so many people that love you. Just because you don’t have any friends your age doesn’t mean you don’t have friends at all. Even if there’s no one else in the world you feel like you can talk to, you can always talk to me about anything. OK?”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Even if I’m mad at you?”
“Yeah, as long as you come to me respectfully, I will always treat you respectfully, even if we have a disagreement.”
“I’m mad at you for what you did this morning. It was really rude and inconsiderate. I mean, yes, I’ve forgiven you, but I need to know you’re not going to do it again. Alright?”
Maggie pressed her lips together, and Kara wondered if she was going to agree to such terms. “Alright. Next time, I’ll give you a chance to escape first.”
Jessie made a face, but accepted the agreement. “Thanks.”
“You know what I think?” Maggie asked.
“What?”
“I think your Mama’s just scared of you getting hurt, and that’s why she doesn’t want you to have any powers. It’s not because she doesn’t want you to be special. She thinks you’re just as special as I do. Your parents can face down a lot of scary things, but losing you is something that they’re completely unwilling to face. I think that’s true of most parents for their children, if not all of them. Your parents love you so much that it’s their worst fear to think of you ever getting hurt.”
“If I had powers, then nothing could hurt me,” Jessie pointed out.
Maggie shook her head. “There are things in this world and in other worlds that could hurt you and your Mama, and your cousin, even if you had powers. And having powers paints a target on your back. Just ask Mama, or Clark, or anyone with power that others want to see taken away. Some people would do anything to hurt you, if they knew you were half-any kind of alien, let alone half-Kryptonian!”
“That’s what Mama said.”
“Mama was right. She would know. She’s been hunted practically since the day she came out and saved your mother’s plane. As soon as she became Supergirl, she became target practice for a lot of big, bad, scary dudes.”
“Yeah, but she beat every single one of them, and now she’s just wandering around the house, bored! How am I supposed to be afraid of having powers when Mama is clearly so powerful?”
Kara resisted facepalming. Jessie was being so incorrigible!
“It’s not that we want you to be afraid,” Maggie explained. “We just want you to understand that having powers isn’t something you should wish for just so you can be special. Even if you did have powers, your parents wouldn’t want you using them because they’d be afraid of you getting noticed by the wrong people. So you still couldn’t be special just because you had powers because you’d still have to pretend to be just like everyone else. Don’t you know that’s what your Mama had to do? She got picked on all the time because kids thought she was weird. Don’t you think she had times when she wanted to be special too? But she never showed them her powers because she knew how dangerous it could be.”
Kara made a mental note to give Maggie a big thank you kiss for taking such good care of her daughter. There was nothing in the world more precious to her than her kids, so it was an extra big turn on to watch her girlfriend bonding with and comforting her child. Especially Jessie, who always struggled with depression and loneliness, despite her otherwise cheerful nature.
“Actually, I did use my powers once,” Kara confessed. She wasn't sure how her feet brought her there, but she kept going, “Once, when we were teenagers, your mom had had a really bad day, and I wanted to cheer her up, so I took her flying. It turns out that someone saw us. They came looking for me at our house. Eliza sent us upstairs when they came, and she told me not to listen in, but I did anyway. They were going to take me away and lock me up for being a danger to society. Instead, Jeremiah offered to go to work for them, giving them all of his research on Superman in exchange for my freedom. It wasn't long after that that he disappeared on a mission. If I hadn’t used my powers, your grandpa would still be around.”
“Kara, the DEO would have gotten a hold of my dad, whether we went flying or not,” Alex piped up. Kara hadn’t realized the others had followed her. “If it wasn’t that, it would have been something else. The DEO had been hounding my dad for years to come and work for them. He was the world’s most leading expert on Kryptonians, after all. Have you really felt like that was your fault for all these years?”
The Kryptonian nodded. She couldn’t form words due to the lump in her throat.
“Aww, sweetheart, come here,” Alex squeezed her with all her might. “It’s not your fault my dad is gone. It just happened. You were just a kid. There’s nothing you could have done to stop it.”
The next thing she knew, the whole group was hugging her, including Jessie. “Thanks, you guys,” she sniffled. “Wow, what an emotional morning, huh?”
Her family agreed.
“I think when Eliza gets home, we should all get some ice cream!” she suggested.
“Yeah!” the kids cheered.
“Alright, let’s finish this trip, so we can go see Grandma,” Alex told them, jangling her keys.
“OK, OK,” Jessie grumbled good naturedly. She gathered up her things and headed for the Porsche.
“Are you still mad at me?” Kara pouted.
“No,” Jessie answered, “But I want to ride in the Porsche!”
She chuckled. “Of course you do. Like mother, like daughter.”
“Yeah, except I haven’t gotten to ride in the Porsche yet,” Alex complained.
“By all means,” Lena bowed playfully. “Help yourself.”
“Can I drive?” Alex pleaded.
“Of course,” Lena answered.
“Yes!” Alex pumped her fist in victory and tossed Kara the keys to the van. “See ya, suckas!” She kissed her wife, then grabbed her stuff out of the van and put it in the sports car.
“What about you?” Kara asked Jamie. “Are you going with them, or are you staying with us?”
The little pre-teen raised her eyebrow. “I think I’ll stay in the car that’s the least likely to drive off a cliff.” She took her usual seat in the middle row in the van and buckled up.
“Shall we?” Kara took Lena by the hand and twirled her around, dipping her back and giving her a quick kiss.
“We shall,” Lena answered with a grin. They all climbed back into their respective vehicles, singing along to the music.
“Next stop: Home.”
“Wait!” Alex exclaimed, running back. “I almost forgot I could do this.” She gave Lena a couple of kisses and ran back to the Porsche. “See ya!”
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