The Beauty of Experience - Chapter 30
Added 2023-04-22 01:15:26 +0000 UTCChapter 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-40500104
Chapter 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-part-41396037
Chapter 3: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-3-42973644
Chapter 4: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-4-44239862
Chapter 5: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-5-45229576
Chapter 6: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-6-46264458
Chapter 7: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-7-46932942
Chapter 8: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-8-47435612
Chapter 9: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-9-49298878
Chapter 10: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-10-50276496
Chapter 11: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-11-52122645
Chapter 12 :https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-12-53869442
Chapter 13: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55147565
Chapter 14: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-14-56824095
Chapter 15: https://www.patreon.com/posts/57856681
Chapter 16: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-16-59147519
Chapter 17: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-17-60539856
Chapter 18: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-18-61641210
Chapter 19: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-19-62956617
Chapter 20: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-20-64516844
Chapter 21: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-21-65810299
Chapter 22: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-22-67099384
Chapter 23: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-23-68458451
Chapter 24: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-24-70404502
Chapter 25: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-25-72414985
Chapter 26: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-26-73993414
Chapter 27: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-27-75340274
Chapter 28: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-28-77177762
Chapter 29: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beauty-of-29-79472277
Word count: 8,334
A suffocating silence fell over them in the foyer. Lena tried to keep the surprise off of her face to remain a united front with Kara.
She had no idea her mate had any blood relatives, though she wouldn’t question Kara in front of Clark or Andy. She took it upon herself to take command of the situation and ushered Andy away with clear instructions to keep her safe and give the adults privacy. “Andy, go back inside and wait for the pizza. Don’t let Sophia come out here. We’ll come in when things have settled.”
“But mom,” Andy protested with a frown that said she found it unreasonable to be banished from the conversation. She threw up her hands like she wanted to make a case for herself, and Lena shut that down before her daughter managed to breathe another word.
“Now,” Lena intoned with a look that said they would discuss this later.
She closed the door behind her daughter and watched the fury on her mate’s face crack with restrained emotion as Clark stepped closer.
“Kara, please. If you would just listen–”
“No,” Kara spat, her usually calm demeanor nowhere to be found as she huffed for breath and screwed her face up to conceal the tremble of her chin. She moved awkwardly with stiff limbs, the tension bunching her shoulders up before she even crossed her arms. “I don’t know why you’re here and I don’t care, either. You need to leave.”
“You don’t mean that,” Clark tried with a strained smile that might have once worked on a kid. “You used to love my visits.”
He reached for Kara, who avoided him entirely by taking a step back. She flung her hands up in clear agitation.
“Oh those half hours you would spare me every two years after Eliza took me in?” Kara snarled in short breaths. “They got old pretty fast when I realized how little you cared.” She stalked off to the garage like her first priority was to make sure they didn’t cause a scene. The scent of her distress carried in the breeze.
Lena followed her mate with a wary glance at Clark, who shared the same crinkle between his brows as he frowned and shook his head.
“I thought I was doing the right thing at the time,” Clark uttered and pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose to blink at Kara.
“No, you didn’t want to put your life on hold. Your career was more important to you. More important than me.” Kara didn't hold back her anger, though she tried to control the volume of her voice. She paced restlessly in front of her truck and projected a strong image, despite the tears that welled in her eyes from past trauma.
Clark sagged at the accusation. Shame wafted off him, thick and cloying to fill the air, and he muttered to his shoes, “That isn’t true.”
Lena wanted to believe Clark, even though she didn’t know him, but her gut instinct was that he was lying. She felt doubt twisting in the pit of her stomach and inched closer to Kara to soothe her mate with soft claim pheromones.
“Then why didn’t you ever visit me when I was in a group home?” Kara rounded on him to meet his eye and straightened to her full height so he had no choice but to face her. “You spend all day talking to everyone else, but you couldn’t even call? Write a letter? Remember my birthday?”
The miserable details of Kara’s life formed a lump in Lena’s throat and she imagined the sad little girl in the photos Eliza had shared. Kara had been so small back then, so lost and hopeless, and it infuriated Lena to find out her anguish could have been lessened if Clark had taken an active role in Kara’s life.
Resentment bubbled up within Lena as she thought of the pain her mate went through. She held her tongue and stroked her fingers down Kara’s back to silently remind her she wasn’t alone any longer.
“I was young and so goddamn stupid,” Clark intoned, his contrite expression all in
the pinch of his lips and not in the blue of his eyes. “I regret how I handled everything.”
“Sounds nicer than saying you forgot I existed.” Kara lobbed bitter words at him with a sneer and tipped her chin up to posture.
It wasn’t out of arrogance or a superiority complex. Lena understood it for what it was – a valiant attempt not to cry in front of the person who had hurt her the most. Given the depths of the betrayal Kara must have felt, it was no wonder she had kept it all to herself.
Clark swept his hands through the air and released a heavy sounding sigh that bordered on frustration. “I wasn’t perfect, Kara, but I never forgot you. Not one day went by without you being on my mind. You’re still my family.”
“No, I’m not,” Kara gritted from between her teeth. Flecks of saliva gathered on her lips as she tried to rein in her anger, yet it still burst out of her as she clenched her fists. “You made that perfectly clear when you dumped me in the foster system without telling me you would never be back.”
“I didn’t know how to raise a kid on my own. I was barely in my twenties,” Clark sputtered with the expectation that his excuse was enough to beget forgiveness.
Kara wasn’t prone to raising her voice, but the hurt she endured came out of her like a wounded cry bottled up for too long and left to fester. “You left me there! I had no one and you just left me there with nothing.”
A truly apologetic person would have accepted the outpouring of emotion, but Clark met Kara with his own righteous anger and yelled at her in return. “You weren’t the only one who lost someone that day! I was grieving, too, Kara. Did you ever stop to think about that?”
The wobble of Kara’s jaw drew out Lena’s fiercely protective streak and she pushed herself between them to shield her mate as a sob stuck in Kara’s throat. “Hey! You don’t get to show up unannounced on my doorstep and shout at the person you abandoned. Now I don’t care who you are, Mr. –”
“Kent,” Kara spat with animosity and tried to wipe at her eyes without drawing attention to the tears that streaked down her face.
“Clark Kent? The host of Call It Out With Clark?” Lena’s mind spun as she considered how many times she had idly listened to the show over the years.
Clark’s entire segment revolved around honesty and integrity, and anyone could call in about perceived injustices that he then went on to investigate. If the story was solid, he would do a whole piece on it, and a lot of people went on to herald him as someone they trusted to always be fair.
“Actually, I’m about to have my own TV show,” Clark intoned and softened his voice to try and diffuse the tension between them all.
“Of course you are, and that’s why you’re here, right? Damage control,” Kara hissed with narrowed eyes that bore into Clark. “Is this where you ask me not to blow up your career by ever mentioning that we’re related?”
Clark furrowed his brows with a grimace and went on the defensive. “It’s not like that. I wanted to reconnect, and Lois thinks it will be good for us–”
“The same Lois who didn’t care that I wasn’t invited to your wedding?” Kara no longer sniffled behind Lena and managed to compose herself after several deep breaths.
Lena had dealt with enough snakes in business to know when someone was trying to slither their way out of something, and she wasn’t about to let Clark change the narrative. “You’re worried someone will dig up your past and reveal this whole persona you created was on the back of a little girl you left behind. If your producers are smart, they would have you come clean, but that won’t work unless you have Kara to parade on your show, will it? If she hasn’t forgiven you, then your audience won’t, either.”
Clark opened his mouth wordlessly, and Kara slumped ever so slightly before she croaked, “You’re not welcome here, Clark.”
“You heard my mate,” Lena stated before he could try to change Kara’s mind. “Get off our property and leave our family alone.”
The look Lena directed towards Clark made him backtrack out of the garage faster than he had walked into it.
For a stunned moment, Lena couldn’t do anything except reel from his audacity.
The faint sound of Kara trying to hold in a sob was what snapped Lena out of her distraction, and she hurried to envelop her in a hug.
Kara tried to shrug out of her affection to compose herself, but Lena held on tighter as Kara made a high-pitched, distressed noise that broke her heart.
“I’m fine. Go back inside and have some pizza. I’ll join you in a second once I’ve–”
Kara waved her hand through the air as she fought to control her emotions. She faced away from Lena and hunched over with her hands pressed firmly to her thighs to suck in a few shaky breaths. Silent tears dripped onto the concrete and Kara clenched her teeth to put an end to the wobble of her chin.
“You’re not fine and neither am I,” Lena corrected.
Her candid approach wasn’t meant to be tough love so much as a way for Kara to acknowledge that it was okay to be deeply wounded by what had just transpired. She refused to put any space between them and stroked her palm over Kara’s shoulder while her mate regulated her breathing. “I’m not leaving you like this, and before you protest, you wouldn’t leave me either if I was upset. So, we can stay here and talk, or we can get in your truck and take a drive to clear your mind. Whichever you would prefer.”
The illusion of choice was a wonderful tool that Lena had often used with the kids while they navigated their emotions. Though Kara was much older and wiser than the girls, it still served to pull her out of her own spiral and granted her a little bit of control over this one aspect of how she currently felt.
“Can we just sit in it for a minute? I don’t want to go anywhere but I’d like to sit down.” Kara slid her sad eyes toward Lena and then unlocked the vehicle to climb into the driver’s side. It meant they were close without the pressure of having to look each other in the eye.
Sometimes the hardest thing in a relationship was having someone else witness your vulnerability.
Lena understood that better than most, and she had the decency not to draw attention to it so Kara could collect her thoughts in peace. She hopped into the passenger side and kept her gaze on the garage door. For a while, they just sat there in silence.
“It probably goes without saying that the text you saw was from him,” Kara whispered as she curled her fingers around the steering wheel to give her hands something to do with the restless energy she exuded. “I should have just told you, because you were probably worried or thought I was being deceitful in some way and that really wasn’t the case. I was just so blindsided by it that my go-to reaction to ignore Clark prevailed over my common sense.”
“I’m not going to lie,” Lena sighed and continued to stare at the same spot on the garage door. “It did threaten to bring up some of my own past issues with trust and reopened a few of my insecurities.”
Kara’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel and Lena reached out to clasp her hand before she triggered a negative reaction with her honesty. “The thing is, once the initial panic passed, I realized there was nothing to worry about because I know who you are, Kara. I see your heart, and I know you would never betray me or jeopardize our relationship. It’s why I let it go, which admittedly wasn’t easy, but I managed it.”
Kara sagged in her seat from the weight of Lena’s words and dropped her hand to entwine their fingers together. “I was so focused on my own pain I didn’t even consider what I was putting you through. I’m so sorry.”
The sincerity Kara displayed was exactly why Lena wasn’t upset by those choices. She could feel the regret emanating from Kara and met it with kindness and forgiveness. “Don’t be. Healthy relationships shouldn’t require you to share every little detail of your life at every given moment. I’m not entitled to know everything about you. We’re a couple, but it’s normal to keep some things to ourselves.”
“If something is going to affect me enough that it starts affecting you, then you’re entitled to know what’s going on, Lena. Regardless of how difficult it is to talk about it.” Kara’s frown was self-directed in the rearview mirror and she gritted her teeth in agitation.
Lena remained silent during Kara’s self-reflections out of courtesy. She refused to pry so that Kara could open up when she felt capable.
In spite of the terrible circumstances of Kara’s childhood, she hadn’t let it change her caring and thoughtful nature when most people might have become jaded. Lena admired that about her mate, and conveyed it the best she could with the light caress of her thumb across Kara’s hand.
“I’ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to forget that I’m related to Clark,” Kara stated, finding a reprieve from the bombardment of emotions and putting on a more stoic face. “Before the accident with our parents, he would spend every other weekend taking me to museums or arcades. He showed me how to make stuff. He was more like an older brother than a cousin, and I loved him as if he was a sibling. He was my hero.”
There was no humor in Kara’s laugh, just bitterness that couldn’t disguise the pain beneath it.
Lena tightened her hand in Kara’s and felt the oddest reassurance when her mate squeezed back.
“He was babysitting me the night we found out our parents were gone. He promised me that everything was going to be okay. I believed him, even when he signed me over to the state.”
Kara didn’t blink as she recalled the intimate details of the worst part of her life. She sat with her gaze fixed on the dashboard like she was reliving it all over again. “I kept thinking he would return for me, you know? I’d tune in to the local radio station just to hear his voice, hoping he would say my name or when he was going to come back, but he never did.”
Lena’s heart broke for Kara and she tried to hold it together in case the alpha mistook her compassion for pity. She tightened her jaw when her lip shook and waited for Kara to get the rest off of her chest.
“The first few weeks were the worst because I was too young to realize Clark had no intention of being my guardian. I held onto hope for months, and then when my birthday arrived and he didn’t, I started to understand that I was reallyalone.”
Kara screwed up her face as her voice shook and she exhaled sharply. “It was like, all of the pain and despair had been pushed aside while I waited. When it hit me he was gone, too, it felt like I was coming apart.”
Kara’s breaths were shallow and her eyes were bloodshot, and still she fought the tears that must have blurred her vision.
Lena ached on her behalf, and her own emotions surged as she turned in her seat to cup Kara’s chin so she would look at her. “What you’ve gone through wasn’t fair, Kara. And it wasn’t your fault, either. I hope you know that. You were just a child, and he failed you. You never did anything wrong.”
It was important to emphasize that, because in her darkest days, Lena had the tendency to blame herself for every awful thing that had ever happened in her life. She sensed Kara was the same in taking on that burden, and she wouldn’t allow her mate to be deceived by her own mind on the matter.
In a bid to carry on, Kara puffed out her cheeks and blinked rapidly like she was worried if she stopped, she might never finish sharing her past. “When Eliza chose to foster me, I didn’t have any hope left. I didn’t believe anyone would want me. I mean, why would they want me when my own cousin didn’t? I wouldn’t even speak to Eliza or Alex. I just sat in my room and wished I would disappear. Then one day out of the blue Clark showed up. It turned out Eliza did some digging and found him. She thought maybe if I saw him, I’d start to interact a bit more.”
“Was her assumption wrong?” Lena arched her brows and glanced at Kara to encourage her to continue.
“No, it worked.” Kara shrugged and chewed on her lip as she squinted at the memory. “I actually believed Clark when he said he had been working hard so that our lives would be better. I believed him enough that when he missed his next three visits, I defended him against Alex when I overheard her telling Eliza he was an asshole and that I’d be better off without him. It took me a while to realize she was right and that the Danvers were looking out for me.”
Kara shifted in the seat and cleared her throat as her emotions got the best of her. “They never gave up on me, even when I tried to push them away. My silence was met with kindness and patience. Finally Alex got sick of me hiding in my room and dragged me to the lake.”
She side-eyed Lena with a smile that faded as fast as it formed and sniffled. “She said all my sadness was weighing me down like a rock, and I could either let it drag me down or I could drop it, but I couldn’t do both. Then she shoved me into the water without any warning.”
“Why am I not surprised that was her approach?” Lena teased to coax some laughter out of Kara.
It was short lived, but enough to alleviate the tension Kara held in her shoulders.
“I realized as I was sinking that I didn’t want to drown in my misery any longer,” Kara breathed. “I wanted to swim free of it. Alex showed me it was okay to be angry. To scream and thrash around and work it all out of my system. So every day after that, she took me down to the lake and we would just punch water, or swim around until my limbs burned and my lungs were raw. I didn’t understand it at the time, but Alex was pushing me to feel things again. Anything other than anguish.”
Kara’s grin was watery and her chin wobbled, but she no longer had a haunted look about her as she recalled fondly, “I started to smile again and laugh. I stopped counting the days when Clark was meant to show up.”
“You were finally healing,” Lena remarked with a keen sense of pride for all that Kara had managed to overcome in her life. She tightened her hold on her mate’s hand and kissed across her knuckles.
“Yeah, and God was it painful. It took a lot to function normally and to build trust, but they helped me every step of the way.”
Kara’s gratitude filled the truck, and she reclined against her seat as the negativity drained out of her slowly but surely. “I changed my name to Danvers after Eliza asked if I wanted to be part of the family forever. I wasn’t closing the door on my parents, but it was a statement that I had a new family. One that actually loved me and wanted me around.”
“You didn’t want the connection to Clark, and I can understand why,” Lena drawled with a sour taste in her mouth.
It didn’t matter what good he did for his listeners when he had done nothing for Kara.
“The worst part was when I told him I was getting adopted and going to be a Danvers. He acted like I had done him a favor.” Kara cringed as she divulged her truths and the faint scent of disgust from Lena made her scrunch up her nose. “I thought maybe he would be upset, or try to talk me out of it, but I hadn’t seen him so genuinely happy since I was a kid. It was like I had done the hard part for him. I cut him loose without a fight. He wasn’t obligated to pretend he cared anymore.”
“You know, for all of Andrea’s worst traits, at least she’s up front about being a selfish asshole. Clark seems far worse with all of his face-value pleasantries.”
Lena couldn’t fathom the depths of callousness within Clark. It was one thing to feel overwhelmed by a situation, and another to actively shut out the one person who had gone through the same trials.
“Right?” Kara scoffed with a hint of a smirk lifting her lips. “Suddenly he was talking about his past on the radio. He got a lot of sympathy and listeners. Then he got engaged. He didn’t bother to tell me about his girlfriend or that he had proposed. Eliza suggested I send him a card to congratulate him. All I got in return was a brief call from his fiancée Lois saying it was a sweet gesture, but to please let Clark move on because he deserved his happiness and I should find my own.”
“That bitch,” Lena seethed, experiencing an unprecedented anger on Kara’s behalf. “It seems he found his perfect match. They clearly deserve each other.”
“That’s pretty much how I felt about it. As an angry teen, I wanted to crash their wedding so badly.” Kara tipped her head towards Lena and slid her gaze onto her mate with barely contained amusement. “Alex was totally on board. We sat around and schemed about showing up to cause a scene, but Eliza talked me out of it. She said if I did something like that, Clark would say that was the reason he never invited me. It hurt like hell to hear it, but she was right. So while he bragged on the radio about his guest list, Alex took me camping. She showed me how to use a bow and taught me all the life skills I used to think he would. I finally stopped tuning into his show and started to work out who I was going to be without him.”
A clear picture of who Kara was destined to become formed in Lena’s mind and she pieced together the rest of her past without any judgment. “Is that why you signed up for the marines with Alex after college?”
Kara gave a small nod and leaned into the seat to release a heavy breath. “It pushed me to work on myself. To stop looking to the past and start planning for my future. I knew within the first six months I didn’t want to have a whole service career, but that being at sea and surrounded by water kept me calm and happy. I didn’t want to be one of those people who brought misery with them wherever they went. That’s why I started cleaning pools. It’s not a big flashy job, or terribly labor intensive, but it keeps me active and brings joy to people.”
“It brought you to me, and you fill my life with joy every day,” Lena fondly pointed out, and brought Kara’s hand to the soft swell of her tummy where their pup was growing. She didn’t want to ruin their moment, though one question still lingered in the back of her mind. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a cousin? I’m not upset that you didn’t, just a little confused, I suppose.”
After such an intense heart-to-heart, Kara seemed almost relieved to explain herself without fear of how Lena might react. “I was worried you would try to bridge the gap between us. Everyone knows Clark Kent as this upstanding alpha who puts his neck on the line for people. I was afraid you would want him in our lives and I want nothing to do with him.”
Lena could certainly empathize with that, and her light and fragrant pheromones carried compassion. She tried to face Kara more head-on, and cupped her alpha’s cheek with a tender caress to convey her unwavering love. “Coming from someone who no longer has a relationship with my own brother, trust me when I say I’m not an advocate for pushing people to talk to family members that have wronged us.”
Emotion shined in Kara’s eyes and she dipped her chin to her chest in an effort to stop herself from tearing up.
“Thank you,” Kara whispered, no longer broken and upset as she took hold of Lena’s hand in both of her own. “For listening and for understanding. I’m sorry it took me so long to open up about it.”
“Don’t apologize for protecting yourself the only way you knew how.” Lena wouldn’t allow Kara to feel guilty over her method of handling such a difficult issue. She tried to lighten the mood by reminding Kara of the food that should have arrived. “Why don’t we head back inside before the girls finish off the pizza, and I’ll make you a drink to help you relax?”
Kara laughed at the suggestion and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand before she hopped out of the truck. “I think I had my fill of cocktails in Mexico, but maybe we could all take a drive later and get slushies?”
Lena squinted playfully at her mate and led her back into the house before anyone came to find them. “You know, if you ply the kids with too much sugar, they’ll never go to sleep at a decent time, and then you’ll get none for yourself.”
Kara looked ready to call-off her plan when Natty ran into the kitchen with pizza sauce all over her. They both glanced down as Natty collided into them and wiped her small hands on Lena’s jeans.
“Mama, hurry!” Natty whined and dragged them into the living room to the place where her stuffed dog was guarding the pizza boxes. “Frederico is keeping watch on the pizza so the dinosaurs don’t eat it all.”
Lena reached for the napkins and cleaned her daughter’s face and fingers first. Next she tackled the surfaces that Natty touched and slid onto the couch beside Sophia.
“We’re the dinosaurs and I have to say I’m a little bit insulted.” Lillian removed a
compact mirror from her bag and patted powder onto her face.
“You don’t look a day older than the cretaceous period,” Sophia joked as she lifted a T-Rex hand-puppet to play along for Natty’s sake.
For once, Andy was the quietest of the bunch and poured herself a glass of soda instead of taking part in her siblings’ games. That avoidance tactic would have helped under normal circumstances, especially since Kara was her joyful self again. In the middle of carrying two plates of pizza, Kara stopped to grab another dino-puppet, and they could have easily transitioned into a night of normal family fun.
It turned out to be Sophia who rekindled everyone’s tension with her questions. “So why was Clark Kent just at our house? I love his new podcast. Is he your friend?”
Kara lowered her plate into her lap and gave a straightforward answer before anyone could intervene for her. “No, he isn’t my friend. He’s my older cousin, but we haven’t seen each other since I was a kid. He left me in the foster system and forgot about me. So I tried to forget about him, too.”
The abridged version of Kara’s trauma was appropriate for all of the girls to hear. It went over Natty’s head and Andy looked down at her food instead of reacting to the new information. Lillian’s eyes swung onto Lena with a lot of sympathy.
Sophia dropped her dinosaur puppet and reached for her phone like Kara hadn’t just shared a personal story. She clicked on the screen a bunch of times and turned her attention back to Kara. “I’m deleting every episode of his podcast right now. I knew there was something weird about him.”
That simple act was a massive show of solidarity and even Lillian looked surprised by her granddaughter’s quick thinking. It wasn’t overly emotional or a way to drag out drama, and Lena was proud of Sophia’s maturity.
Kara was, too, even though her voice stuck around the lump in her throat. “Are you sure you want to do that? It’s okay if you want to listen to his stories. Lots of people do.”
“Yeah, because they don’t know he sucks,” Sophia remarked with a roll of her eyes and smugly flipped her phone around so Kara could see his podcast was gone. “No thanks.”
Andy reached over to pat her sister on the shoulder. The emotions in the room threatened to engulf everyone.
That all changed the moment Andy stole a slice of Sophia’s loaded vegetable pizza and hell broke loose.
Toppings scattered across Lillian, and Natty shoved Frederico into the mess so he could “eat” them.
Sophia let out a shriek and tried to slap the pizza out of Andy’s hand. Before Lena
could put a stop to it all, Andy licked the slice so Sophia couldn’t have it.
In retaliation, Sophia pushed the slice into Andy’s face and left her covered in sauce and cheese.
Andy didn’t seem to care and still took a bite of the ruined pizza just to spite her sister.
Tears came to Kara’s eyes, but this time it was from laughter.
Lena wasn’t entirely mad about their kids’ behavior because it moved the night along naturally and took the heaviness off of everyone’s shoulders.
Kara looked happy to rescue Lillian from Frederico and grabbed another slice for Sophia. Andy helped Lena pick up the fallen veggies before they were crushed underfoot.
They finally settled in for a movie, and before it was even finished, Natty had fallen asleep. Lillian took her off to bed while making it known she was spending the night in a guest room.
Sophia and Andy bargained to stay up late in the game room, and Lena only allowed it because it gave her the opportunity to lead Kara upstairs.
The amorous scent of her omega made it clear to her mate that they would be playing, too, and Lena put extra sway into her hips as she moved up the stairs.
“You’ve had a terrible day, but I plan to make it all better before we turn in for the night.” Lena’s coy glance backwards was met with laughter, and she pursed her lips at the amusement on Kara’s face.
“That’s the politest way you’ve ever said we’re going to have sex,” Kara murmured
under her breath and sauntered into their bedroom with all the swagger of an alpha who knew she was about to get laid.
Lena watched her mate with lidded eyes and locked the door behind them so nobody would be scarred for life by walking in.
“Would you prefer me to say that while the kids are downstairs playing games and scoring, you’ll be up here doing the same?” Lena saw the conflicted and horny part of Kara’s alpha recoil at the mention of their kids.
“That’s why I didn’t.” Lena smirked, and unbuttoned her blouse to flash Kara as she slipped off her bra. “Now take your pants off. I want you in my mouth.”
Kara dropped her pants faster than she dropped her humor and threw her shirt clean across the room in her haste to get naked. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Really?” Lena sassed with a raised brow. “I couldn’t tell.” She brought her hand up to touch both claims on her throat and grinned at how Kara’s cock stiffened.
The freshened bite still stung pleasantly, and she teased her fingertips across it just to sweeten the air with eager pheromones.
Her mind went back to all of the items they purchased before their trip. Most of them were tucked into a specific drawer in their bedroom, and Lena planned to make use of at least one that night. She stroked her thumb against the trickle of desire that poured from Kara’s tip.
“Do you know how addicted I am to sucking your cock?” Lena gathered her hair into a ponytail and flicked her eyes towards the chair near the bed. “I’m about to blow more than just your mind, so you probably want to sit down.”
Ever the good listener, Kara settled into the cozy chair and parted her legs. Her cock stood upright to attention and jerked from the first caress of Lena’s hand.
Lena slipped her jeans and thong off and knelt on the carpet to look at the bluish veins on Kara’s shaft. She licked up some of the forming droplets of excitement and pushed her lips around the brim. The taste spread over her tongue, and she sucked with a tantalizing moan at the back of her throat.
“We didn’t have a peaceful vacation or homecoming, so my plan is to help you relax tonight.” Lena paced the motion of her hand over the straining large muscle between Kara’s thighs. “Let go of all the pressures you’re under and just focus on my mouth.”
“As if I’m capable of thinking of anything else when you’re doing that.” Kara made a valiant effort to sit still even though her thighs tensed like she wanted to thrust. She curled her fingers beneath the seat and bit her lip while Lena rubbed her pout over her shiny mauve glans.
It throbbed for attention, and Lena welcomed it back into her mouth with a moan that sent vibrations all through it. She wanted to build Kara’s pleasure instead of racing to achieve it for once, and puckered to draw more of her mate into the silken alcove of her cheek.
The slow swirl of her tongue kept Kara rock hard, and Lena slid her mate’s cock in and out of her mouth as they locked eyes.
Kara lost all pretense of keeping her hands to herself and stroked her palm over Lena’s hair to hold onto her ponytail. The gentle caress was filled with affection, and her glazed eyes were dark and lidded as she watched Lena worship her orally. “I hope you know I can feel how much you love me when you do that. Pleasure is great and all, but it wouldn’t be this incredible without our connection.”
“Mmhm,” Lena moaned in agreement and grinned around Kara’s girth as she used her claim pheromones to test the strength of their connection.
The change in her scent lifted Kara’s hips and the alpha’s head fell back with a throaty sound of indulgence. The more she pushed the limits of her claim, the stiffer Kara’s cock became and the heated base looked ready to form a knot.
“Somebody likes to be reminded that they’re mine,” Lena teased, freeing Kara with a pop of her lips just so she could lick and suck at the base of her cock. She stroked her shaft with firm pulls and rolled her palm over the tip so Kara’s breaths became labored. “We’ve only just begun, darling, so don’t get your hopes up that this will be over quick.”
“I thought you were going to relax me, not keep me on edge.”
Kara’s huffiness resulted in several wonderful seconds of being lodged in the back of Lena’s throat. She rocked her pelvis to encourage Lena to take her deeper and arched with her mounting bliss.
Lena slackened her jaw and returned to licking along the plump brim of Kara’s cock to let her cool off a bit. She could see the frustration in the crease of Kara’s brows and toyed with her mate by pressing moist kisses all over her shaft. “It will be worth it when you’re finally spent and lethargic, but until then, I’ll enjoy the way you strain so beautifully. If you’re patient, I’ll even give you a gift.”
That got Kara’s attention, and she no longer pouted from Lena’s devious teasing. “What sort of gift?”
“The kind only adults get to play with,” Lena lilted and stood up to raid her drawer for one specific box that was wrapped to conceal the contents. “Do you want it now, or should we leave it for later?”
“Now,” Kara uttered with the foolish assumption that it would bring her to a precipice sooner rather than later.
Lena bit back her grin and sank onto her knees before unwrapping the gift. She didn’t bother holding it up until she fully unboxed the item, and even then she could tell Kara had no idea what was in store for her. “It almost looks like a champagne flute, doesn’t it? Except this is made with a synthetic material that’s supposed to warm and lubricate.”
She made a show of unscrewing the solid, slim base and poured the special lubricant it came with into the top. Lena hummed in interest and experimentally slipped two fingers into the cushy opening to feel the silky texture inside.
“Okay, but what is it?” Kara’s eyes were riveted to Lena touching the thing, and she sat forward in intrigue.
“This expensive piece of tech boasts that it can blow you better than I can. Let’s see if it’s true.” Lena wrapped her hand around Kara’s cock and directed her back to her mouth. She hollowed her cheeks to take longer pulls and turned the device on to let it warm up. The near silent hum deceptively hid its power, and Lena lavished the entire head of Kara’s cock with one goal in mind.
To make her extra sensitive.
Kara groaned at the suctioning force and stared at her mate in awe while Lena bobbed her head and took what she could and slurped around the rest. “God, Lena, nothing feels better than your mouth except your pussy.”
“Are you sure about that?” Lena challenged and sat up to watch Kara’s eyes glaze over as she enveloped Kara’s plump tip with the toy.
The second the soft shell of it was air-tight around her shaft, it began a fast and hard suction.
Lena pumped it up and down and was amazed by how it stretched to accommodate more of Kara’s length. “I might never go down on you again if this can make you come faster than I can.”
“N-no it-caa-ahh-n’t.” Kara practically contorted in the seat as her body locked and her hips lifted. She fought against her alpha to keep her ass on the chair and groaned uncontrollably.
Lena increased the settings and smirked at the tremble that shook Kara’s thighs and tightened her abdomen. She would never withhold oral affection, but the mere thought of it put Kara on edge. It turned Lena on to see her mate trying to hold off on her bliss, and she massaged around her knot-base to make her squirm.
“I suppose it’s not a fair test unless you get to fuck my mouth,” Lena considered and pulled the toy free to push her lips over the swollen glans of Kara’s cock.
She went harder than before on her mate, enrobing her shaft entirely in her hot mouth just to swallow and suck at the same time.
“Oh wow—oh yeah, just like that.” Kara was too lost to the sensations to realize that Lena was about to change tactics.
Right as her hips began to rock and her breaths began to shorten, Lena popped Kara from her mouth and plunged the toy back onto her cock.
“No wait-wait–”
Kara’s groans went up in pitch when Lena maxed out the intensity and held it down so Kara could do nothing but buck into it as her instincts took over.
“Worried you’re going to forfeit all of your future blowjobs, darling?” Lena teased and rubbed at her clit so the scent of her arousal perfumed the air. “God, you’re ready to explode, aren’t you? I can feel how hard you’re thrusting. Are you pretending it’s me, Kara? Are you going to fill my mouth with all of your seed?”
The answer was a resounding yes, and Lena knew it was about to happen the moment she turned the toy off and stood up to leave Kara gasping.
“Wha–but I–” Kara floundered, caught between relief and desperation. The solid length between her legs throbbed indignantly and her base began to swell from how close she had been to orgasm.
“You have a choice to make,” Lena candidly explained and flaunted herself for Kara by sitting on the edge of the bed and opening her legs. “Do you want me to finish you with your new toy, my mouth, or my tight little cunt that’s so very wet from seeing you this hard?”
Kara launched herself forward with a savage lust and slipped in between Lena’s thighs. She expended her first release of the night across Lena’s cunt rather than inside of it. The hot cascades ran down Lena’s body and splashed over the lower part of her stomach.
“You work me up all of the time like this, so what if I say I want all three?” Kara rubbed the tip of her cock over the swollen precipice of Lena’s clit and moved it into place at her entrance.
Lena would have shifted onto her knees if not for Kara planting a hand on the back of her head and keeping her in that position. Semi-upright, bathed in Kara’s seed, and with a pussy that twitched for more than just a little contact.
Kara clutched her hair by the roots and kissed her throat. She covered the spots where her teeth sank in and pushed into Lena’s tensing cunt with sensual blunt force.
They were both accustomed to this kind of rutting, but Kara owned her strength more than ever before.
It rendered Lena breathless, moaning and whimpering to be dominated. “Take whatever you need. Fuck me, Kara. Don’t stop.”
The encouragements went a long way in feeding into Kara’s libido, and Lena whined at the ferocity of Kara’s desires.
The battering against her inner thighs stung with Kara’s lunges, but the plunging heat had her rippled walls tensing in ecstasy.
She could spend all night like this, held and contorted however Kara pleased.
Kara’s teeth bruised Lena’s lips with her carnal greed, and still Lena whimpered for more whenever her mate pulled back. She tried to follow Kara’s retreat with puckered lips and gasped at the dominant way Kara tugged her hair to guide her head forward.
“I want you to watch as I fill your pretty cunt, Lena,” Kara instructed. She held nothing back as she bottomed out, opening Lena’s pussy with every repetitive glide that elicited moans from both of them. “This is what I was thinking about when you edged me with the toy.”
The glossy spread of Lena’s labia gave her an unobstructed view of the intimate blush Kara created with her girth. It was a turn-on to see herself stretch for Kara and to take so much inside of her pussy.
Lena’s clit poked out of its hood like a small, ripe berry and Kara stroked over it with three fingers in rapid succession.
The extra stimulus brought Lena to a quick and messy finish, and Kara ploughed through her contracting velvet before finally groaning in bliss.
Thick spurts of seed poured into Lena, and she barely had time to relax when Kara pulled out and hoisted her higher up the bed.
“I love it when you get like this, so insatiable and demanding of me,” Lena intoned. “I only submit like this for you.”
“I know. That’s why you’re my good girl, Lena,” Kara groaned and practically straddled Lena’s chest to pin her to the bed. She took hold of Lena’s hair like it was her right to do as she pleased, and aimed her cock right at her pouty lips. “Now give me your mouth so you can taste how much you mean to me.”
If Lena hadn’t been dripping already, that little command would have made sure of it. She strained upward to gorge herself on Kara’s cock and begged her mate to use her hips with a wanton scent.
Lena alternated between deep throating Kara and fluttering the tip of her tongue along the underside of her cock. She popped her lips wetly over the glans and probed at the sensitive groove whenever Kara paused in thrusting.
“God, you can unravel me with just the flick of your tongue,” Kara moaned, unable to stop the restless movement of her pelvis. She wasn’t lying, and her eyes rolled back as warm cream gushed from her tip.
Lena swallowed it down with greedy gulps and secured her mouth around Kara’s brim to suck. She made sure to get every last drop, and went so far as to jerk Kara’s shaft with soft whines.
“You want more, baby?” Kara asked through ragged breaths. She looked handsome, all sweaty and flushed with the glow of orgasm, and cupped Lena’s cheek tenderly. She caressed along the strong slope of Lena’s jaw and sat back to brandish her erection with pride. “I can give you more. Use the toy on me and I’ll fill your pussy with a nice big knot.”
It was rare for Kara to be so completely in control and Lena reveled in the shift of her alpha. She wanted Kara to lean into her selfish desires for once and rewarded her by doing exactly as she asked.
“I might make you take this to work with you and encourage you to use it in your truck between jobs,” Lena mused as she pumped the toy up and down Kara’s already engorged shaft to make it even stiffer.
She adjusted the setting so it was on the highest level and breathed in the rich
spice of Kara’s sexual need.
“Yeah?” Kara husked and unabashedly rocked her hips upward to chase her pleasure. She palmed at Lena’s tits with a firm hand and tweaked her nipples with the perfect amount of pressure to make Lena gasp. “Then you better be prepared to sit on the vibrating cushion I bought you when we were at the adult store. You still owe me the sight of you riding it in heat while on conference calls.”
“Lucky for you, just carrying your pup has the same effect on me. I’m always hot for you, Kara.” Bragging that her pussy was perpetually wet certainly affected Kara’s alpha. Lena watched in lustful fascination as her mate strained and bucked with abandon, and pushed the toy down so its lubricating inner cinching would flutter around Kara’s tip.
“We can video chat while we pleasure ourselves but neither of us gets to come until you’re physically with me,” Kara gritted out, her entire muscular frame tensing from the erotic stimulation. She showed immense self-restraint by freeing the toy from Lena’s grip to toss it aside.
Kara hooked her arms beneath Lena’s knees to pin her legs up and rammed into her still spasming chasm with powerful, full strokes that would have ruined a cheaper bed.
Lena almost longed for another motel tryst just so Kara could ruin more than her pussy. She gushed around her mate’s cock as Kara took hold of her throat and pressed into her claims to assert herself as her alpha. The possessiveness struck all of the right chords within Lena’s omega, and her back bowed with the rising pressure of a knot spreading her.
Kara slammed it into her over and over again, and the staccato beat rang out in their room to the chorus of Lena’s dulcet cries. “You feel that, Lena? Your pussy knows what’s good for it. You’re opening so beautifully.”
The praise was what got her, and Lena’s canal clamped in blissful waves that beckoned Kara’s cock to slot even deeper. She scored her nails down her mate’s muscular shoulders in an effort to hold her close and bared her throat for Kara’s teeth in submission during the throes of her orgasm.
Kara joined her seconds later, unable to resist the restricting heat of Lena’s cunt or the urge of her alpha to expel her seed against Lena’s inner resistance. She tensed all over, momentarily carved from marble until she melted into Lena’s embrace, breathless and overwhelmed by the bliss of knotting.
They nestled into one another's arms while Kara nuzzled into her throat to reverently kiss over the claims.
Lena refused to roll onto her side so that she could hold Kara against her chest. She brushed her fingers through her mate’s blonde hair to soothe her into a peaceful slumber. “Rest now, my love. No matter where we are in the world, I promise you will always be home in my arms.”
Comments
Thank you! 😁 I agree with you on all of that. Alex really didn't need to be that ultra controlling in the show IMO, and I think they could have dealt with Lena's situation a lot differently. (That's also very true. I'm sure the Luthors had plenty of enemies). They had some great emotional moments for Kara early on with REALLY great acting but they could have done more in her interactions with Clark (even if they were on friendly terms). A lot of stuff was handled badly.
2023-04-24 10:32:58 +0000 UTCThank you! ☺️ That is coming up very soon along with some other big moments!
2023-04-24 10:29:08 +0000 UTCThere's a lot more of Kara's past to delve into in coming chapters, but yes, Clark is the one sending the texts. A few people guessed it and I didn't want to confirm or deny. Yep, Kara has the best family now (both the Danvers and with Lena) and she's no longer alone. ☺️
2023-04-24 10:28:33 +0000 UTCYou are so right - he did Kara dirty (when in the reverse, if she had arrived at the same time) she wouldn't have ever left him. He just dumped Kara off and peaced out, and I don't think they ever addressed the kind of impact that had on Kara in the series. Being abandoned by family is painful. Here, Clark is definitely a villain in Kara's story, even though he represents hope and goodness for other people. He's being pushy and not taking her silence as the answer it is. At this point, Sophia has seen Kara support her through a lot of things and now she can return the favor. ☺️ Andy will be talking about the subject later. There's a lot of wheels turning in her head for now. That's true regarding the problem of abandonment + alphas in this verse. In some ways I think Andy's well adapted in spite of everything that happened and in others she's not. Wow, thank you!! I wasn't sure if the emotional content and angst would be well received (because life is hard already). But this was an important story development and I'm really overjoyed at your response to it!
2023-04-24 10:26:15 +0000 UTCTrashtrashtrash, yes. There will be more ahead regarding Kara's past. Clark isn't done trying to get what he wants. It's probably the least expected from Sophia, but she's also evolved a lot and she's got Kara's back. ☺️ Thank you! 💙
2023-04-24 10:14:46 +0000 UTCThank you! 💙 Kara deserves all nice things and all the love from Lena. ☺️
2023-04-24 10:11:59 +0000 UTCI'm happy you enjoyed it! Thank you! 😁
2023-04-24 10:10:50 +0000 UTCJust screaming into the void. 😂
2023-04-24 10:10:31 +0000 UTCA great chapter! The show dropped the ball hard on so many things like Alex being controlling, Lena’s past and abuse, the public view on Lena ( seriously she joked about assassination attempts I doubt it was just lex or camdus) but the biggest ones where Kara trauma and Clark being a douche. And tbh I didn’t much care for Lois either the scene with them all and Oliver annoyed me it was like pick on Oliver day it was mean
GrouchyGritic
2023-04-24 00:17:29 +0000 UTCGreat update as always. I’m really looking forward to the girls finding out that Lena’s pregnant
2023-04-23 23:48:22 +0000 UTCBoy I didn't expect that text to be about Clark lol. Honestly thought it was an old girlfriend. Saint Kara strikes again. I'm glad she has her family though.
2023-04-23 06:03:05 +0000 UTCWhat. A. RIDE!! Clark was my first superhero love but man he did Kara so dirty in show canon and you made him SUCH a villain in this!! Wow that argument was exhilarating to read! What a cad coming to their FRONT DOOR and trying to force Kara into forgiving him what an absolute TOOL for trying to corner her like that! He deserved every bit of that accusation and honestly is lucky Kara’s the better alpha because only walking out with a bruised pride (if that the snake) is more than he deserves. Wow I bet he and Lex get along just fine in this universe. I really loved the line about “sometimes the hardest part of being in a relationship was being vulnerable”. That hit so good. And then Sophia immediately deleting all his shows from her phone to stand with Kara 🥺🥺 they’ve come such a long way. Andy bring so quiet does make me a little curious if they’ll have more of a personal conversation with her - lot of alphas in her world who seem to just be ok leaving people. Good thing Kara’s here to set the record straight. Truly this might be your best work yet. Great emotional beats and dialogue all around and then great smut to boot!! Absolutely fantastic chapter
Rocket
2023-04-22 06:29:19 +0000 UTCfuck clark, fuck lois!!! trashtrashtrash!!! i'd say i hope kara exposes him, but that's me being petty. i love how sophia was like "hard nope!" after hearing the shortened version of kara's history. their relationship is so beautiful as step parent and child. <3
2023-04-22 03:16:51 +0000 UTCoh god, that was beautiful, kara deserves everything! thank you for the update!
2023-04-22 03:14:53 +0000 UTCPhenomenal update! Thanks for sharing ;)
2023-04-22 02:45:44 +0000 UTCI SCREAMED SO LOUD BUT NO ONE HEARD A THINGGGGGGGG
Kirstin Leigh McWhorter
2023-04-22 01:27:20 +0000 UTC