17. A Trip to the Aquarium

“Are you guys excited to go to the aquarium today?” Alex asked her children at breakfast.

The girls nodded sleepily.  They weren’t quite awake yet.

“Uncle Winn can’t come.  He said he’s sorry, but he’s got a work thing.”  

“What? No!” the twins whined.  “He was supposed to come with us!”

“I know, I’m sorry, but these things happen.”

“First Maggie has to work, and now Winn?  This sucks!” Jessie complained.

“We still have Lena!” Kara reminded them.

“That’s good, at least,” Jamie said, but still pouted.

“OK, let’s finish breakfast, so we can get ready to go,” Kara instructed.

“Can I have some more?” Jessie asked.

“Of course, baby.  If you hurry.”

“Kay.”  Jessie got up and started scooping potatoes out of the frying pan, letting bits of potato and onions fall all over the floor.

Kara sighed.  This was nothing compared to some of the other times Jessie made a mess of something, but Kara was a neatfreak, and it still bothered her.

“Sorry, Mama.”

“As long as you clean it up...”

“I will.”

They finished breakfast discussing what exhibits and events they wanted to focus on seeing today, and which ones can wait until later.

When they were done, they all cleaned up the kitchen and went to get ready for the day.

Alex packed two small backpacks and one big one full of snacks and things they would need to take to the aquarium with them.  The place had a café, but her little Kryptonians were always hungry, not to mention their big Kryptonian vacuum cleaner Mama.  Alex was always prepared to hear, “I’m hungry!” at least 15 times by the end of the day.  One thing that the girls had inherited from their Kryptonian parent was her voracious appetite, along with the ability to store away food in a hollow leg and never get fat.  It drove Alex crazy when she was nursing them as babies because it seemed like they would eat and eat and eat and never be fully satisfied, but they never lost or gained any more weight than they were supposed to.  She just had to sit there, constantly nursing, and Kara would have to do everything, sometimes including feeding Alex because she couldn’t do it herself.  And the amount she’d had to eat when she was pregnant and nursing was just ridiculous.  Right now, she was thankful she wasn’t just a milk machine anymore.  She was also thankful that the girls were old enough to carry their own backpacks.  She passed them off as her girls all came into the kitchen looking dapper and ready to go.  She gave Kara the last backpack, leaving her own hands free for tickets and driving and things.  “Alright!  Everyone’s got everything they need?”

There was a knock on the door.

“Who’s that?” Alex wondered.  “I thought we were picking Lena up?”

Kara lowered her glasses, smiled, and opened the door.  “Good morning, Maggie.”  They kissed ever-so-lightly so as not to upset the kids by ‘being gross.’  “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Alex and Maggie kissed quickly too.  She was relieved when the kids didn’t make any protests except for turning up their noses a bit.

“Well,” Maggie answered, “There wasn’t really anything going on today at work, so I took the day off.  I know how much you guys were looking forward to going to the aquarium, and you seemed pretty upset that I couldn’t come, so I thought I’d surprise you.”  She grinned that adorable dimpled grin that made everyone’s heart melt.

“Yay!” the twins jumped up and down and hugged Maggie.  “Thank you, thank you!”

The detective blushed.  Alex knew Maggie wasn’t used to so much affection, but she also knew how good a hug from her kids made people feel, so she didn’t stop them.

“We’re gonna see the penguins, and the otters, and the sea lions, and the seals, and the stingrays and-”

“OK, Jamie, she gets the picture, you big goof!” Kara laughed.

“Alrighty then, is everyone ready to go?” Alex asked.

They all answered in the affirmative, and out the door they went.  

“Shotgun!” Maggie called, climbing into the front seat.

Alex loaded all the backpacks into the trunk, checked her kids’ seatbelts, and hopped in the driver’s seat.  Kara was in the middle row of seats, where Lena would soon join her.  The CEO had given them an address to a very tall building that had a gate and a doorman out front.  Kara texted Lena that they were there, and a short while later, the brunette strutted elegantly out the front door, waving goodbye to the doorman, then smiling and waving at the group in the minivan.

“Hello, everyone,” Lena greeted warmly, climbing into her seat and buckling up.  She was just wearing skinny jeans and a casual olive green sweater with simple but expensive-looking brown low-heeled boots.  A long silver necklace with some kind of white stone hung around her neck, and her earrings matched, underneath a high ponytail.

“Hey,” Alex and Maggie waved.

“Hi,” Kara chirped.

“Lena!” the twins hugged her from behind.

“Hi, girls,” she smiled brightly at them.  “How are you today?”

“Great!” they answered.

“Glad to hear it!”

“OK,” Alex spoke from the front.  “Get back in your seat belts, so we can go!”

The twins scrambled into their seats and buckled up.

They drove along in companionable silence, while girls drew pictures in the back seat and the adults just listened to the radio.  Alex had on her classic rock station, and she hummed along with the tunes.  When Queen’s ‘Find Me Somebody to Love’ came on, everyone sang along.  Maggie was almost as tone-deaf as Alex herself, but Lena had an amazing voice, like Kara.  Soothing.  The redhead stopped singing and just enjoyed listening to the two women behind her.  When the song was over, the twins clapped their hands.

“You have a really great voice, Lena,” Kara told her.

Lena grinned.  “Why thank you!  You're quite good yourself.”

Kara blushed.  “Thanks.”

Were they flirting?  Alex made a mental note to ask Kara about that later.  Good person or not, Lena was a Luthor, and that automatically spelled complicated.  Just the simple act of being friends was dangerous.  Lillian already knew that Lena was friends with Supergirl.  If she found out that Kara was Supergirl, then that could lead Cadmus to learn about their children, and that just could not happen.  She felt a little pang of guilt at thinking these thoughts about a woman who seemed quite harmless to them.  Lena had been nothing but kind and helpful, and Alex genuinely liked her, but if Kara was looking to gain another lover, Alex wanted to know about it.  They had just brought Maggie into their relationship.  It seemed a little soon to bring anyone else in, especially someone as complicated as Lena Luthor.  Alex wasn't even sure she wanted to bring anyone else in ever, although if they did, the CEO would certainly be a good fit into the family.  The kids already adored her.  She was so engrossed in thought, she almost missed one of her exits.

Out of habit, she reached for Maggie's hand to try and soothe her worries.  She saw Lena look furtively at Kara for her reaction, but when she didn’t get one, she looked back out the window pensively.

“Are you OK?” Kara asked her.

“Um, well, I was just wondering, when you said Maggie was your girlfriend, did you mean actual girlfriend?  Like the three of you are dating?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered.

Lena bit her lip.

“Does that bother you?” Kara worried.

Lena stammered a little.  “I…  I don’t know.  It’s just strange, I guess, if you’ll forgive me for saying so.  I’ve never known anyone to do that before.  I’m not judging.  I’m just… absorbing new information, I suppose.  The kids don’t mind?  I would have thought something like that would make kids nervous.”

Kara shook her head.  “They only complain when we kiss in front of them, but that goes for me and Alex too, not just with Maggie,” she chuckled.

“It’s gross!” Jessie complained.

“Oh, hush!” Kara demanded.  “You won’t think it’s so gross when you get older.”

“Yeah, right,” muttered the younger twin.

“I'd say you're lucky you have parents that get along,” Lena commented.  “Some children don't get to have that.  You really don't mind your parents dating someone else?”

“I wouldn't like it if it were anybody else besides Maggie,” Jessie informed her.  Jamie nodded her agreement.

“What does Maggie have that… everyone else lacks?” Lena asked curiously.

The girls pursed their lips in thought.  “Maggie makes us feel safe,” Jamie answered.

“And she makes Mom laugh,” Jessie added.  

“And she likes to play Just Dance with us sometimes.”

“And she teaches us to cook.”

“She's great at cuddling!”

“Yeah, and she's so pretty!”

“And super smart!”

“And we love her laugh.”

“Plus, she knows about…  some of our secrets… and she doesn't tell.”

Alex peeked over to see the detective's reaction.  “Maggie?  Are you crying?”

“No!” she answered harshly.  “Shut up!”  She slugged Alex in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

“Aww!” Kara cooed.

“Don't make me kill you all!” Maggie answered.

“What's wrong, Maggie?” the girls wanted to know.

“Nothing!  I'm not crying, and we will never speak of this again!”

Alex cackled.  “Ooh, sweetie, it's OK.  You don't have to pretend that you don't have a heart around us.  We already know you do.”

Maggie shook her head.  “Well, maybe I was trying to hide it from Lena!” she joked.

Lena laughed and then stage whispered, “Would it make you feel any better to know that I secretly have a heart too?”

The Latina laughed.  “Actually, yes.  If Lena Luthor can have a heart, then I guess I can admit that I have one too.”

“Of course Lena has a heart!” Jessie exclaimed.  

“Wait,” Jamie spoke, “Your name’s Lena Luthor?  Like Lex Luthor?  Are you two related?”

Lena looked a little nervous, but mostly sad.  “Yes, we’re related.  He’s my brother.”

The twins eyes grew big as saucers.  “He is?  Why did he do all that bad stuff?”

“I asked him that same question myself.”

“What’d he say?”

Lena looked at Kara.  “His answer wasn’t really intended for children’s ears.”

“Did he ever try to hurt you?”

She clenched her jaw.  “...Yes.”

“Did Mama help you?”

“She did indeed.  She's been a very good friend to me since I moved to National City.”  And there was another one of those looks that gave Alex the impression that Kara and Lena had feelings for one another.  How had she missed this before?  She was distracted at Thanksgiving, that’s how.

“Where did you live before?” Jamie wanted to know.

“Metropolis.”

“With Superman?” Jessie asked.

“With Superman.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

“A few times, yes.”

“Did you like him?”

“That's a complicated answer.”

“Why?”

Lena looked to Kara for reassurance.  The blonde nodded.

“Well, Superman may be a good man, but Lex is still my brother.  It was very hard to watch them fight each other. It's not easy to just like someone that's attacking your family, even if your family is the one in the wrong.  I don't hate Superman. Let's just leave it at that.”

The girls were quiet while they thought about Lena’s answer.  

Personally, Alex was surprised that Lena could speak so calmly about the whole thing.  How many times had the woman been asked that question, or ones just like it?  Did that make it harder, or easier to answer?

“Do you like Supergirl?” Jamie asked slyly.

“As a matter of fact, I do.  Supergirl saved my life more than once, and she’s been very fair and kind to me.  I’m quite grateful to her, actually.”

The twins beamed at their Mama.

“Who wants to play ‘I Spy?’" Alex asked, trying to change the subject.  They played ‘I Spy’ and some other travel games until they got to the aquarium.  When she caught Jessie sneaking M&M’s, she put a stop to it.  “Those are for after lunch!” she scolded.  “Eat your bananas, if you're hungry.”  It had literally only been an hour since they left the house.

Jessie pouted, but dug out her two bananas, and Jamie followed suit.

Once they were inside, Alex grabbed a map and put one in each of the girls’ backpacks.  “OK, if we get separated, we'll all just meet back at the gift shop.  Where should we go first?”  

“Penguins!” Kara answered.

“Otters!” Jamie suggested.

“Stingrays!” Jessie insisted.

“OK, well, I think that stuff is all upstairs, so let's go!  She laced her fingers through Kara’s and shared a warm smile with her wife.

The twins grabbed Maggie and Lena and pulled them along enthusiastically.  The two brunettes smiled at the little blondes and followed along obediently.  Alex was curious.  It was so wild how the girls took to Maggie and Lena.  They were usually friendly with everyone, but this was a little extreme.  At least they’d had some time to get to know Maggie for them to be affectionate with her, but they were like that with Lena immediately.  Alex wondered if the girls would have bonded more quickly with Maggie, if Jennifer hadn't been around at first.  They certainly brightened up as soon as she was out of the picture.  Just another reason Alex trusted the twins instincts.  They were really good judges of character.  This went a long way towards making her trust Lena Luthor.  The twins weren't even affectionate with Superman, and he was their blood relative.  And he was friggin Superman, for crying out loud.  But they'd always instinctively sensed his standoffishness, and the tension between him and Kara, so they'd always been polite, but distant with him.  Before now, Winn had been the only non-family member to hold the twins’ hearts, but now, here they were with Maggie and Lena like they’d known the women all their lives.  

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kara loved the aquarium.  All the colors and the strange and beautiful creatures filled her with joy, and the effects of sound through water was entertaining.  She happily swung her hand in Alex’s as they followed behind the other four.  Before they could go upstairs, they had to pass through a virtual maze of tanks, all holding fish from different parts of the ocean around the country.  She giggled at the Moray Eel that slithered past her head.  They were such ugly things, but so cool at the same time.  

“Can we touch the moon jellies?” Jessie asked.

Maggie crinkled her nose a little bit.  “You can touch things here?”

“Yeah, jellyfish and stingrays!” the younger twin answered.  “It’s so cool!”

“You can touch jellyfish?  How does it not sting you?”  Maggie was clearly appalled.

“The moon jellies’ stingers aren’t strong enough to hurt people!” Jamie answered.  “Come on!”  She pulled Lena, and Jessie pulled Maggie into the touch lab.  

The girls ran up and put both hands in the water, petting the jellies gleefully.  Lena easily placed her hand in the water and stroked one of the creatures, but Maggie just stood there with her nose up.

“Come on, Maggie!” Jessie insisted.  “Lena’s doing it.”

The detective must have taken this challenge personally because her whole demeanor changed, and she now looked fiercely determined to touch the jellyfish.  She rolled her sleeves up and walked toward the water, seemingly with every intention of going as slowly as possible, but Jessie had other ideas.  The little blonde grabbed the Latina’s hand and shoved it into the water right on top of one of the moon jellies.  Maggie squawked, while everyone else in their group laughed.  

“Ew!” Maggie complained.  “You keep your weird sea creatures, and give me a dead body any day.”  She dried her hands off while still making a face.

“Comments like that are probably why a certain someone called you a sociopath,” Alex teased, but Kara knew Alex felt the same way as Maggie.  They’re used to touching ‘gross’ things through latex gloves.

“You’re lucky we’re someplace where I can’t kick your ass,” came Maggie’s reply.

Alex snorted, “Please, that’s everywhere.”

“You’re gonna pay for that comment,” Maggie threatened.

“Sure, Sawyer.”  Alex seemed wholly unconcerned as she grinned down at the detective.

Lena and the twins laughed at them.

Alex didn’t move to touch the creatures at all, but Kara put her hand in and patted the little poufy top of the moon jelly before they moved on.

Next they visited the seals and sea lions, watching them swim around lazily.  It made Kara wish it was warm enough to go swimming.  She loved splashing around in the ocean with the kids.  One of the seals came by and waved at them, making the girls squeal in delight.

“Mom, can we take a picture with the seals?” Jamie begged.

“OK, let’s go upstairs where we can see them better,” Alex suggested.  The girls ran upstairs ahead of the adults.  “No running!” Alex hollered uselessly.  She rolled her eyes and took Maggie’s hand.  “You know, I'm really glad you made it today.  The kids were ready to have a melt down when both you and Winn couldn’t come.”

“Aww, they’re such sweethearts.  I love them so much,” Maggie answered.  “It was killing me a little not to be able to come too.”

“Mom, quick!  Take a picture while they’re waving at us!”

Alex dug the camera out of Kara’s backpack and snapped a few pics of the seals waving in the background of the twins.  The girls were having a heyday, giggling and waving back at the seals.  Then Jamie blew them a kiss, and one of the seals blew a kiss back.  “Mama!  Did you see that!”

Kara laughed brightly.  “That was awesome, Jamie!”  They snapped a few more pictures and moved on to the penguin habitat.  “They’re so cute!” Kara exclaimed, wanting more pictures.   She felt Lena sidle up beside her, and she had to restrain herself from reaching out and grabbing her friend’s hand.  Instead, she smiled warmly, and said, “Aren’t they beautiful?”

“Yes, they are,” Lena breathed reverently.

“I love birds,” Kara told her.  “Even flightless ones like penguins.  They’re fascinating creatures, and I feel kindred to them.”

“I can only imagine,” Lena answered.  They shared a look, then were interrupted by Alex clearing her throat behind them.  

“Shall we?” the redhead smirked.

“I'm hungry!” Jessie whined.

“That's why I put snacks in your backpack,” Alex remarked.  Barely a half hour had passed since the last time Jessie was eating something.

The little blonde dug out a baggie of veggie straws and started munching on them, getting crumbs everywhere.

“Jess!” Kara chided.  “Be careful!”

“Sorry, Mama!”

Kara rolled her eyes and brushed the crumbs off her daughter’s clothes and face.  

Jamie giggled.  “You’re such a slob, Jess!”

Jessie stuck her tongue out at her sister.

“That’s enough,” Kara spoke softly, but firmly.  “Let’s go see the otters.”

They wandered over to the next habitat and cooed at the cute little fuzzy creatures cuddled up in and beside the water.  “I wish I could have a pet otter!” Jamie lamented.  “They’re the cutest things in the whole world!”

“No, you’re the cutest things in the whole world!” Kara exclaimed, snatching her daughters up and kissing them forcefully.

“Mama!” the girls shrieked.

Kara laughed heartily, making the rest of the group laugh too.

“Come on, you goofballs,” Alex called.  “The stingrays are just up ahead.”

“Yes!” Jessie exclaimed, stuffing her food back in her bag and running in that direction.

“Stop running!” Alex demanded.  The twins ignored her and headed straight for the touch lab.  “Little brats,” she muttered.

“I think they’re little angels,” Lena said.  “My cousin has a boy and a girl around their age, and they are absolute hellions.  Nothing is ever good enough for them, and God forbid you say the word ‘no’ to them for any reason.”

“Yikes,” Maggie commented.

“Yeah,” Alex admitted, “They are pretty good for the most part.”

“And they’re so loving,” Lena added.

Alex chuckled.  “They’re more lovey dovey with you and Maggie than they are with pretty much anyone else except for Winn.  They really love you guys.”

Lena smiled sweetly, “I’m honored.  Winn is the young man from the fundraiser, right?”

“Yep,” Kara confirmed.  “He’s their Uncle Winn.  I’m not sure they even love Alex and me as much as they love him,” she joked.

Lena and Maggie laughed.

“Do I have to touch these things too?” Maggie complained when they arrived at the stingray touch lab.

“Yes!” the twins insisted, pulling her along.

Lena laughed and followed behind them, again sticking her hand in the water without issue.

Alex took pictures of the twins torturing Maggie.

“Danvers!” Maggie growled at the redhead.  “You’re gonna get it!”

Alex raised her eyebrows.  “No comment,” she said snapping a few more pics.

Kara just giggled and photobombed the pictures.

“Can we have lunch now? Jamie requested.

“I’m pretty hungry myself,” Kara admitted, patting her belly.  They had amazing food at the aquarium diner, and she’d been really looking forward to it.

“Lunchtime it is!” Alex declared.  She lead the way back to the café, and they all got in the long lunch line.  While they were standing there waiting, the girls wrapped their arms around her and cuddled.  She smiled brightly at them and kissed them on the head.  “I love you,” she told them.

“Love you too, Mom,” they answered.

Not one to be left out, Kara wrapped her arms around them all and gave Alex a big kiss.  If they were at home, she would have picked them all up and squished them, but she restrained herself here in public.  “I love you too,” she told them.

“Love you too,” they all answered.

One of the couples a few people ahead of them gave them a dirty look.

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch,” Maggie snarked.  

The couple looked away from them.

Alex bit her lips to keep from laughing.

Kara blushed a little.

The twins moved from hugging Alex to hugging Maggie.

Alex leaned over and kissed Maggie in hopes of pissing those people off even more.

Kara chuckled and shook her head.  

The twins giggled instead of turning their noses up for once.  “Do it again, Mom!” Jessie snickered.

Alex grinned.  “Let’s not.  We’re not here to make a scene.  We’re here to have fun.”

“That was fun!” Jessie answered.

Lena covered her mouth with her hand and shook with silent laughter.

After they ordered their food, they found a table far away from the rude couple and their toddlers, and waited while their lunch was cooking.  Jamie cuddled into Lena and looked up at her with those big doe eyes, “Thank you for coming with us today.”

Lena melted, wrapping her arms around Jamie and squeezing.  “You’re welcome, sweetheart.  I’m glad you invited me.”

Kara’s heart clenched at the adorable sight in front of her.  She grinned at Lena and her daughter.  “I’m glad you both came too,” she told Lena and Maggie.  “Today is going really well, and I’m glad.  I needed this.”

Alex gave her a knowing kiss and stroked her back.  

“Me too,” Lena admitted, nuzzling her cheek against Jamie’s head.

Everyone else said, “Me too.”

After Thanksgiving and the whole Medusa fiasco, Kara’s friend Barry had stopped by from another dimension to whisk the Kryptonian away to help him fight a very big bad in his universe.  When she’d gotten home, her family had been very upset with her because she told them she’d only be gone for a few days, and it ended up being almost a week.  That led to them revisiting their plans to visit the aquarium that had been cancelled due to Kara’s kidnapping by Cadmus a few weeks ago.  They needed some serious down time, and this was perfect.

When their food arrived, they all dug in enthusiastically.  Kara was extremely appreciative that Lena was polite enough not to comment about the amount of food that she and her children ate.  The woman never so much as raised an eyebrow or batted an eyelash.  At school, the kids had to have doctor’s notes claiming that they had low blood-sugar, and they needed to eat more often than the rest of the kids, so the poor things didn’t starve to death.  Kara and Alex tried to feed them as much as they could at home, but they still needed snacks throughout the day in order to function, just like Kara did.  It was pretty much standard for them to get comments about the girls’ eating habits from every person they met, but Lena said nothing.  In fact, when she was done, she gave most of her fries to the kids.

The twins clapped their hands joyfully.  If Lena wasn’t their favorite person already, she was now.  Food was their favorite thing in the world, especially fries.

The grouchy lesbian-hating couple and their children walked by side-eyeing them.  Maggie put her arm around Lena and leaned in close to her, staring the couple down.  “That’s right.  Keep walking,” she said lazily.

Kara had mixed feelings about watching Maggie touching Lena.  On the one hand, she was extremely appreciative that her friend and her girlfriend were getting along, and that Maggie was offering some comfort to Lena.  On the other hand, she was mad at Maggie for touching Lena in a way that she could not, and she wanted her girlfriend to get her stinking paws off of her friend.  That probably wasn’t healthy, right?  She reasoned that it wouldn’t be so bad, if she got to touch Lena too, but they weren’t together like that, and Lena probably would never go for it, anyway, not to mention only Rao knows how Alex and Maggie would feel about it.  She sighed internally, and lay her head on Alex’s shoulder, wishing she wasn’t so damned attracted to Lena Luthor.  It was just too stinking complicated.  She already had a wife and two kids and a girlfriend.  Plus she was a reporter and Supergirl.  She didn’t know if she could handle another girlfriend.  That would be a lot.  It was already a lot.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Maggie watched Kara gaze longingly at Lena and wondered, not for the first time that day, what was going on between them.  Were they aware of their feelings?  Did they act on them?  Kara didn’t seem like the cheating type, but then again, Maggie had been deceived by an innocent face before.  Why did she invite the detective into her and Alex’s relationship, when she clearly has such strong feelings for Lena?  She fretted and tried to put the puzzle together, but she was missing pieces.

“OK,” Alex piped up,  “What are we going to do next?”

“I wanna pet the stingrays again!” Jessie told them.

Maggie turned up her nose.  “Do we have to?”

“Please!” the girl begged, wrapping her arms around the detective and giving her those big puppy eyes.

The Latina was powerless against that look.  “Alright!,” she groaned.  She noticed Kara and Alex smirk at each other.  “I saw that,” she told them.

“Saw what?” Alex asked innocently.  “We didn’t do anything.”  But she was still smirking.  

Maggie looked at Lena who wore a look of understanding and sympathy.  She must have the same problem defending against Danvers pouts.  She took her arm back from around the woman, so she could get up.  Honestly, she’d forgotten she’d even put it around her.  It felt so natural touching her.  No wonder Kara had a crush.  This woman was beautiful, elegant, charming, and so, so gentle.  She wondered if Alex knew about her wife’s feelings.  Probably.  If Maggie could notice, surely her very astute partner would too.

They took care of their lunch trays, and Jessie pulled her by the hand back toward the stingray touch lab, while the rest of the group followed behind them.  “Why do you like these things so much?” she asked the girl.

“Because,” Jessie answered enthusiastically, “They’re all slippery and alive, and they like it!  It’s like cuddly fish!”

Maggie chuckled.  “Yuck!  That’s the part I don’t like!  Who would want to cuddle with a fish?”

“Me!” the twin answered.  “I wish I could get in the water with them and hug them!”

“Gross!” Maggie reacted, making Jessie laugh heartily.  She was exactly like Kara just then.  “You go ahead and pet your cuddly fish.  I’ll wait here.”

“Fine,” the little blonde agreed without a fuss, and went to pet the stingrays.  There were a few different kinds, and Jessie seemed to want to touch every single one of them in each tank.

The adults of the group collected in a corner of the room and watched the kids enjoying themselves.  When the homophobes from the diner wandered in, Maggie sneaked her hand into Lena’s.  When Lena looked questioningly at her, she lifted her chin in the direction of the haters, and Lena smirked and one-upped her by putting her body very close and wrapping her arms around her.  Maggie grabbed hold of her waist and grinned evilly.  Lena was fun!  They pretended not to notice the couple giving them dark looks.

“Ow!” Alex exclaimed.

Maggie and Lena looked over to see Alex shaking her hand out.

“Fuck, Kara!” the agent groused.  “What the hell was that for?”

“Sorry!” the Kryptonian pleaded, subtly blowing cold air on it.  “I’m so sorry, Alex!”

“You didn’t notice the homophobes that came in?” Maggie covered for both Kara and herself.  She was 100% sure the reason Kara forgot her strength was because Lena had leaned in and kissed Maggie’s cheek in their game of Bait the Haters.  And she couldn’t lie to Kara about the fact that it kind of turned her on a little.  She wondered what Kara was more upset about - Lena’s action, or Maggie’s reaction?

“Oh, those guys,” Alex muttered.  “Let’s get outta here.”  She collected the girls and they headed toward the shark habitat.

Maggie’s body mourned the loss of Lena against her, and she thought about continuing to hold her hand as they walked, but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea.  Kara might have another bad reaction.  They were going to have to have an adult conversation when they got home.

They wandered around for another hour or so, and they had made their way toward the front again when the girls saw that there was a movie about otters playing in five minutes, and they begged to get to watch it.

“Sorry, girls, we can’t afford it,” Kara apologized.

“I’ll pay for it, come on,” Lena pulled out her wallet and handed the attendant a twenty, all while Kara and Alex were protesting, but it was too late, and the girls had run ahead into the theater already to get them all seats.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Kara admonished her on the way in.

Lena smirked.  “Oh, please, what’s $18 among friends, hmm?”

“Don’t make it a habit,” Kara told her seriously.

The CEO waved her off with a roll of her eyes.  “Please.  Let’s watch the otters, shall we?”

Kara sighed.

Maggie wondered if Kara realized she was complaining about getting to see a free movie about otters.  What could be wrong with that?  Well, besides the boring part.

The kids were thrilled, and of course, they wanted to be on each side of Lena.  Jamie directed them each where to sit.  She pointed from left to right at the seats, “Me, Lena, Jessie, Maggie, Mom, and Mama.”

“We have assigned seats now?” Kara complained.  She clearly was not happy about being put on the opposite side of the group from Lena, but she cuddled into Alex in her petulance, so it was fine, really.

Maggie was glad this movie was only an hour because she was bored before it even started.  She wasn’t much for nature documentaries.  She preferred her movies with lots of blood and violence, thank you very much, and maybe some car chases to boot.  None of this boring, cute little animal shit was her thing.  The girls were lucky she loved them.  She sat through the whole thing without complaint, even when Jessie kept elbowing her in the arm to point out things that she liked about the otters, and she had to come up with a response every time.

When it was all over, they filed out of the theater and headed toward the exit.

“Can we go in the gift shop, Mom?” the twins begged.

“Hell no,” Alex answered.

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, but Lena looked disappointed.

“Alex!” Kara chided her for swearing.

The agent gave her wife a withering look.  “I mean, not in a million years.  Let’s go.”