15 | Lasagne

Lena stood nervously outside the door of Kara's apartment. She had been there a million times before but meeting the woman who took Kara in was another story. From what she'd heard, Eliza was wonderful and that she shouldn't be worried.

Slight issue, Lena was a worrier.

Her mask of indifference was a lot harder to hide around the people she actually cared about, especially Kara, who could read every slight turn of her lips and twitch of her jaw like a well-loved book.

Lena raised her hand to knock but before her hand could even touch the wood it flung open to reveal her beaming girlfriend on the other side. If Lena had used a slightly less nervous knock, she would have probably accidentally punched her in the face (but let's be real, it'd probably completely shatter her hand bones).

The word still made her giddy with happiness and excitement. God, it was like she was a teenager with a crush again.

"Lena!" Kara greeted and pulled her into a hug. Lena instinctively wrapped her arms around her neck and held her tightly smelling Kara's shampoo — something sweet mixed with lemongrass, and plain comfort she had grown to lo— like. They broke apart and Kara kissed Lena on the cheek and gestured for her to come inside.

Lena has always loved Kara's place. It was homey, cosy and comfortable and filled with photos and sentimental objects. Before Lena had met Kara, her own apartment always felt cold, the minimalist decor lacking any personal items but Kara had warmed the place up. Metaphorically and literally with her odd alien biology, and the pictures of them Lena would hang up on the wall.

A blonde woman in her fifties smiled as she walked up to her. "You must be Lena, I'm Eliza," she said and Lena held her hand out for Eliza to shake it but was instead surprised when the older woman pulled her into a warm hug, "We hug in this family, by the way."

"Well it's lovely to meet you Eliza. Kara speaks highly of you," Lena exclaimed. "Oh, and I brought this for you," Lena added and handed over a bottle of red wine she had found in her wine cellar — some of the finer stuff she had (probably worth the mortgage of a small apartment, but hey, she had way too much of it to know what to do with it).

"Oh thank you, dear," Eliza smiled and took the bottle, "You didn't have to."

"It's a gift, I wanted to."

"Well make yourself comfortable, dear," she said before going back to the kitchen counter to finish cooking dinner.

"Hey Lena." Alex emerged from the bathroom, hands straightening her shirt before spotting the dark glass bottle, "Ooh fancy wine. Nice one, Luthor. I'll still never forget that thousand-dollar bottle of scotch you brought over that one game night though."

Lena chuckled and took her coat off and hanging it on the rack next to the door before sitting on the comfy sofa.

"Do you want a drink Lena?" Kara piped up from behind, putting her hands on Lena's shoulders, warm and inviting.

"No, I'm good for the moment. Thanks," Lena replied and patted the space next to her. "Come sit."

Kara walked round and sat next to Lena, leaning her head on her shoulder. "So you've met Eliza now," she murmured.

"She seems wonderful."

"She is. She's always been there for me," Kara explained, her eyes gazing at nothing in particular, a fond smiled on her lips. "You have as well. Thank you," she added.

"Hey, I'll always be there for you Kara. No matter what," Lena whispered softly, thinking about how she would always care for her. She never would have thought the fumbling and fidgety blonde stood on the other side of her office desk next to Clark Kent on that very first day would have held Lena's scarred heart so gently in her strong hands — giving it reason to beat again.

"Hey kids! Stop being so sappy!" Alex said playfully and Lena was pulled out of her thoughts, "dinner's ready."

"Alex, dear, don't be mean to them," Eliza scolded with a smile on her face and wiggled her brows. "You were like that with Maggie when you introduced her to me."

The three laughed gently at Alex as they all sat down at the table, Kara next to Lena, and Alex on the other side.

"Kara, I've prepared extra lasagne for you because of your huge appetite," Eliza explained as she carried a large tray of lasagne to the table before going back and returning with another tray.

"You're in for a treat, Luthor. Mom's lasagne is the best in the whole fucking world," Alex praised and looked like she was drooling at the sight of the food.

"Language Alex," the older woman scolded and sat down. "Kara dear, why don't you help fill everyone's plates up."

"Well it must be good if Alex is drooling so much," Lena commented with a small smile but Alex doesn't hear her comment as she was staring at the food, like it was the best thing she had ever received.

"Here you go," Kara said and handed her a plate loaded with the lovely smelling food. Maybe Lena's the one who's drooling now. Once everyone had their plate filled they began to eat.

"So Lena, CEO at twenty-four, that's quite an accomplishment!" Eliza commented.

"Yeah well... at least it's something to do," Lena joked before more seriously adding, "I'm turning L-Corp around and it's going really well. Moving here was the right decision."

Alex snorted. "Yeah, you've made a name for yourself and ended up dating National City's superhero."

Lena chuckled lightly and looked at Kara who was blushing. Lena takes a bite of the delicious pile of meat, sauce and cheese before directing the conversation to Eliza. "Kara's told me you're a general surgeon. That must be quite something."

"The job is wonderful. I've always liked to help people and by being a surgeon I can do just that," Eliza replies with a small smile and turned to look at her youngest daughter's plate. "The speed you eat at always seems to surprise me."

Lena looked at Kara and saw that she had already emptied one tray of the lasagne into her stomach.

"The lasagne is really tasty Eliza," Lena complimented before taking another forkful, "Secret family recipe I'm guessing?"

Eliza nodded, "But since you're family now, you can have the recipe."

Fuck, Lena almost started to burst into tears at the woman's kind words, but decided to reign it in just a little, giving her a sincere smile.

"What?!" Kara exclaimed, "I don't have the recipe myself!"

Eliza chuckled and said, "Kara, you may be a superhero but you really can't cook. I don't want you to burn your kitchen down."

"Agreed," Alex said, "Even I'm a better cook than you and I once burnt scrambled eggs somehow."

Lena laughed at the adorable way Kara pouted and crossed her arms.

"Pancakes! I can make pancakes!" The reporter protested. "And how do you know Lena's a good cook?" Kara challenged, her pout turning into playful determination.

"I can't cook—" Lena began.

"Ha, see?" Kara interjected, "She can't cook either so it's only fair I get the recipe too."

"—but I can bake?" Lena finished. "Those red velvet cupcakes you found after going through my cupboards and devoured on Monday were the ones I made," she pointed out. Scratching her neck, she added, "Stress baking mostly." A lot of that definitely came from having an awful family, who were all behind bars or dead. Though to be fair, Lena supposed that it did give her energy to perfect those pies she'd been making recently — a very odd silver lining.

"All this over a lasagne recipe," Alex grumbled and takes a sip of her wine and Kara looked at her sister as if she had kicked her puppy. "Don't get me wrong it's a good recipe," Alex held her hands up defensively. "Look, why don't we all get the recipe, mom."

***

Too busy talking about random little things, the empty plates were long forgotten.

"Wow, it's nine o'clock already," Alex said as she looked at her watch.

"Dessert!" Kara yelled and sped to the fridge.

"Kara, it's quite late and Lena might want to go home," Eliza said before turning to Lena, "but if you want to stay that's great."

"Pleeeaaase?" Kara held a pie and gave her the puppy dog eyes she couldn't refuse.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Lena teased and walked over to Kara before kissing her cheek. "Sure I'll stay."

"They're in their honeymoon phase," Alex remarked dryly as she cleared up the dirty plates and Lena smiled.

"Chocolate pecan pie. The best in the universe!" Kara proudly said as she put the pie on the table. "Of course, I would know."

"Yes, well you ate a whole one on our first date." Lena said while laughing, which drew a grin from the woman she loved so much. An 'I love you' was on the tip of Lena's tongue.

"Didn't know that was a date, Ms. Luthor," Kara winked, fingers eager tapping eagerly and waiting for the pie.

Eliza brought over a knife and Alex carried the plates. Kara took the knife from her and cut everyone a decent sized piece before leaving herself with half of the pie.

"Best... pie... ever," she moaned in content between mouthfuls.

"Where does it all go..." Lena joked and poked Kara's stomach which made her squeal. "For a superhero you're very ticklish."

"Shut up..." Kara mumbled with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Me and mom have to get going, she's pretty tired due to her... old age," Alex said getting a playful glare from Eliza.

"I'm not that old Alexandra," she said as she shook her head and turned to face Lena, but not before a sour expression had crossed Alex's face from being full-named.

"Mom!"

"It was so nice to meet you Lena, I hope to see more of you around!" Eliza said, completely ignoring her eldest daughter's protests.

"Of course! It was really nice meeting you Eliza. I hope to see more of you too!" Lena replied, a genuine smile crossed her face as she was pulled into a hug which made Lena's heart warm. She had never received affection from Lillian so it felt wonderful to get this from someone who acted like a mother-figure.

"Bye ," Lena said as she walked up the the auburn-haired woman and punched her playfully on the arm.

"Dummy," Alex countered and rolled her eyes, hugging Lena before walking over to Kara and hugging her too, Eliza doing the same.

"Bye guys!" Kara said as she shut the door, with Lena finally releasing a breath she had been holding the whole night. Godshe'd been so worried Eliza wouldn't like her, but it felt so nice to prove herself wrong for once.

"Hey, uh... it's kind of late so do you want to sleep over?" Kara suggested as she fidgeted with her glasses, an adorable quirk Lena knew she did when she was nervous.

She smiled widely and walked over to her and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Always."