Chapter 41: Recovery

Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673Suicide Hotline: 800-273-8255Or text 678-678, data rates may apply. (Be careful if someone could have access to your monthly bill and you want to keep this private.)"God I am so tired of lying in this bed, I want to go home." Lucy lightly whines.Alex chuckles beside her while helping her put on her last shoe and tying it tight. "You've only been here for three weeks, and we take you out almost every day."The night Lucy was shot, Alex had eventually gone home in the morning, having Kara tell the girls that she would be working late. Maggie was upset that she didn't get to see her Mama that night before bed but was able to facetime with a story. A storytime that Lena got to enjoy too.After the girls were put to bed Alex updated the two Kryptonians on the Major's condition.After staying all night with Lucy, she was finally forced to go home when Lucy was moved from the ICU to the step-down unit where she was staying for the next couple of weeks. Once Alex got home, the girls looked better and Lena's lung treatments looked like they were working. The girls were no longer throwing up so it was looking up.Both the girls played that day and slowly lifted out of their little headspaces. The three adults thought this was a good time to tell them about what had gone down with Lucy.Both shorter girls had gotten frantic but were reassured that Lucy was fine and recovering well. Lena offered her nanotech to help Lucy recover but Lucy did not meet the requirements, having just gone through a minor surgery to extract the foreign body.The girls visited her that afternoon and Lucy was overwhelmed to say the least. It's odd having people you love surround you like this. It's a refreshing feeling and Lucy only hopes that this lasts a little while longer."Yea well if I have to smell this steril ass hospital for one more day I'm gonna shoot myself, but make it stick this time." She thought the joke would land but nobody was laughing."Oh come on guys, I'm allowed to joke about it." They all look at her with critical eyes."Fine, I'll just make jokes in my head." Lucy crosses her hand over her chest while waiting for Lena to get her a wheelchair.They get to the car and Lucy settles in one of the seats in the middle row. "When will I be out of the wheelchair?"Alex looks at her in the rearview mirror. "Were you not paying attention to the doctor?"Lucy swings her legs back and forth while looking out the window. Probably should have paid attention to the doctor. "No, not really."Sam huffs, "She said in a week or two maybe. You qualify for Lena's Nanotech now so maybe you'll be up in a couple of days.""Cool."They drive past her old apartment. Her heart racing as she remembers stumbling out of that apartment. Hand clutched to her side, vision blurry stumbling to the streets.She tries to shake herself out of the memory, a warm hand settles on her thigh, squeezing firmly.Lena gives her a light smile, and Lucy nods her head and looks back out of the window, feeling a bit better and away from her thoughts.The rest of the ride goes by smoothly. She hasn't been to her new apartment since the shooting, Lena helped her pick it out though and Maggie checked the crime rate in the area while Kara told her how many times Supergirl had to be called into the area. Which was only twice, and both times it was because a cat was stuck in a tree.Kara and Sam had flown her stuff into the apartment that week, making sure to do it at night so no one would question their frequent flights there.Lena made sure there was a private elevator in this building, even though Lucy would only be stuck using it for a max of two weeks.Sam gets the two keys and opens the door to her new apartment. "Home-Sweet-Home."Lucy shuffles in through the door, Maggie's arm wrapped around her, careful not to touch the wounded area lest she aggravate it.The detective seats the girl on the couch and says her goodbyes and heads off to work. Maggie's Captain hasn't taken kindly to having the detective take time off so she has to make up the lost hours with later shifts, she takes the order begrudgingly."You put the locks on, right Kara?" Lucy says while sitting on her new couch. Lena had gotten it for her because her old one was, "not the right look". Little does Lucy know that there were some blood stains that couldn't have been wiped out."Yea, you're all good. Lena made them so yuh know, state of the art."Lucy smiles gratefully.Before anyone can sit down to eat lunch, they each get a ping on their phones and the three taller people groan in frustration."Sorry Luce, we gotta go, alien shit."Kara hits Alex on the shoulder, "Hey!"Alex rolls her eyes, "Sorry, Bad alien shit."Lucy nods her head, a bit disappointed they had to leave so soon but she knew this wasn't going to last for long, might as well get the separation over with sooner than later. "Alright, I'll see you guys later."Sam is the first to give her a hug, then Kara does, "You want a ride Ally?""I'll take the car back." Both Kryptonians fly off to the site.Alex kisses Lucy on the head, "You want a ride back Lee?"Lena looks over to Lucy and gives her a warm smile, scooting closer so their legs are touching. "No, Lucy owes me lunch."Lucy smiles internally, grateful."Alright, I'll see you later. Meds are on the counter, Lena will read the instructions on the bottle, no alcohol, I love both of you, bye."Lucy blinked owlishly. Dumbfounded. Love, love, love love? How can you love someone like that? Is this what love feels like? Is this really what love feels like?"Hey hey, what's got you crying Luce?" Lena says with so much care. Lucy can't take it. It's all too much. She is used to not being coddled or taken care of. She is used to being given the cold shoulder or icy glares if she winces in pain. She isn't used to this care. These kind words, the soft faces, kisses, touches, the goddamn love.It hurts, it hurts so fucking much and she doesn't know what to do with her heart because is beating so fast. All the blood is rushing to her head and she is getting dizzy with dismay and it's hard to think.NoIt's easy really. It all comes back quickly. The yelling, the hard glares, the silent disapproval, the lack of warm touches. It all comes punching her in the face. This full feeling, she now knows as love, is a salve that soothes her just barely. She craves more of that comfort. She craves it like a newborn craves their mother's milk. She wants more, she wants so much more. They can't just rip it away from her, not, after all, she's been through.Not after giving her a taste, she wants more, she needs more.It feels like forever until her brain quiets itself. She's been in Lena's arms for a while, she can tell because she has a couple of sweat beads at the crease in her neck from the extra heat.This was an exhausting experience and it makes her so hungry. It's way past lunch time."Lucy?" The major can barely hear the tentative word. She can feel the CEO fidget a bit, she can hear her heart speed and slow, speed and slow, and somehow the irregular beat is soothing, but also weirdly concerning.Lucy sits up, "What's up with your heart?"Lena sits up too."Wha- oh. Just an irregular heartbeat."Lucy frowns and gets up to get the food on the counter to share out."You say that like it's not a big deal." Lucy shares out the salad and chicken strips to go on top."You know you're supposed to be resting, you're still limping." She points to Lucy hanging onto the counter for dear life."Well I'm tired of sitting. Don't redirect, you're not dying are you?"Lena deadpans, "I have three years to live max."Lucy gives her a hard glare, "That's not funny Lena." It really isn't.Lena rolls her eyes. "Payback from all those shitty shooting jokes at the hospital."Lucy looks down at her hands and slowly plates Lena's lunch. "Sorry." She mumbles out."I know." Lena takes the plates and silverware."Go sit, I'll bring this to the couch and some water."They sit and eat, putting on a TV show with light music in the background. "I use jokes to cope. It's easier to make jokes like nothing happened than to think of the alternative.""Denial. Your acting like all you did was get scraped by falling down on the sidewalk. You're invalidating your own feelings and the family you have around you."Lucy huffs, "Well it's not like I've had a support system before. This is all weird and so goddamn much to deal with. I'm allowed to cope how I want to, with what makes me feel better."Lena isn't fazed by the outburst, she's been on Lucy's side of it before. "I know it's hard, trust me. But you can't run away from it or it'll come back harder on you." Lucy huffs and fights the urge to roll her eyes."Just listen. I used to do it too. But now that I've grown to understand what family really is, what love is and what it actually means, it's changed me, for the better." She puts down her plate and puts a hand on Lucy's thigh. "I know it can be overwhelming, when Alex first said she loved me out of the blue, I cried for days because I'd never felt like that before. My heart felt like it grew ten sizes too big."Lucy wipes a tear, "Is this you telling me Alex saying I love you is why your heart is all wonky?"Lena rolls her eyes and hits Lucy's arm, "You'll get there."I hope so.They finish eating the rest of it all in silence.Lucy wants to talk, she really does, she just doesn't know how. Lena can sense it.Lena leaps, "You wanna talk?"Lucy shrugs, yes, "No."Lena concedes. "Ok, I can talk."They both settle in Lucy's bed after Lena helped Lucy with a quick bath and had one herself."I had my first boyfriend when I was sixteen. I was in college then. The youngest there."Lucy knows where this could be headed and she isn't happy with it. "He was nice, a real gentleman." Lucy can sense in her tone that she didn't believe that, but she doesn't stop her."He was twenty-one." Lucy's eyes bulge. "It was so naive of me to think that he liked me. I was just happy to have someone's attention back then. I couldn't even get my own parents' attention so I thought it was a big-time score to get him.""A couple months after we got together, he took me to this party, he said it could loosen me up." The Luthor shivers at the memory."I've had drinks before, years stealing my father's stash and having it for myself, trying to figure out what the hub-bub was about.""I was two shots in and he decided to take me home." Lena covers her eyes with her right arm and breathes out a sigh."It was too late to realize that he wasn't taking me home, he was taking me to his home."Lucy sits up slightly, "Lee?" She whispers afraid."As a Luthor, it's required to take self-defence classes, with guns, props, really everything in the common world. Luckily, the guy skipped a few gym sessions. I was able to get away."Lena sighs, "I thought we were done after that, I thought that was it and I would have been fine with it. The next day he brought me flowers and apologized."Lucy lays back down, facing the CEO. "He never tried that again but he did things to try and assert his dominance over me. Things like tell me what to wear, who to talk to, what to do. Then he moved onto more aggressive tactics when those weren't taking.""He started to get physical, he dragged me sometimes, my last straw was when he pushed me because I wore the wrong heels. I had to get three stitches in my hand." Lena huffs out annoyed."He showed me all the signs and I knew sooner or later that this could turn ugly fast. I got help and that was that."Lucy stays silent for a bit. "What happened to him?""He got expelled, mother made sure of that, one of the only good things she's done." Lena smiled at the memory."I found out a couple of years ago he killed two of his girlfriends, people he was dating at the same time and an ex. Lawyers pled insanity after he kept yelling in court how they were dumb idiots who kept wearing the wrong shoes."Lena turns over to face Lucy, "I was able to get help so I wouldn't end up in a ditch somewhere."Lena grabs Lucy's hand and brings it to her chest. "I wish you would have come to us for help, I know this wasn't the first sign Luce, but I also would never hold it against you because it's easier said than done."Lucy barrels into clutch Lena to her chest. She was right, she should have seen this coming, she did see this coming. She just couldn't get out, she didn't know how.Lucy shakily replays the events to Lena, it's best to let it out, she had to get the story out......Flashback.....Lucy looks at the blue motorcycle in her vacant parking spot inquisitively. She knew James wanted to talk, maybe apologise, she wouldn't have any of it though. She was gonna try and end things finally. She has said this to herself over and over for the past couple of years but she wanted to make it work. She used to want to make it work.The Major takes off her clothes and puts it on the rack, along with her backpacks and gun on the table. I'll put it in the safe later."Hey James, I'm her-" The tall man stumbles out from her bedroom and drops onto the couch in the living room."You're late." He says slurred, clearly drunk off his ass."I was working, James, you know this.""I was working James, you know this, bullshit." He mocks her, "I know you were with someone else."He takes a swig at his beer. "You've been away a lot, I know you've been fucking someone else! Is that why you won't let me fuck you, hm?" He stands up tall, voice dangerously low, he towers over.Lucy cringes at the crass language, it makes her nauseous, having been talked to as if she is just some object, some toy to use when he pleases, it annoys her, and it scares her. "James, you're drunk, you need to relax."He roars angrily at her, "Don't spin this around on me, I know you've been fucking someone else, just fucking admit it you bitch!""Jame-" He takes another swig of his beer and downs the rest in one gulp, he throws it clear past her head."That's a warning shot." He states coolly.Lucy looks over to her gun that she had set on the counter earlier. You can't let him get to it, you can't.He laughs, "Oh, so you're gonna shoot me instead of talking to me." He snorts, typical, he thinks.Lucy knows this can end up different ways and not many of them mean she will come out alive or uninjured.She lunges for the weapon but her bare feet step on shards of glass and distracts her.He manages to get the gun and is holding her at gunpoint but standing far enough away Lucy can't unarm him, especially with glass in her feet. "James, please, we can talk. I was just gonna put it away."He barks out a laugh, "bull shit, you're a liar, all you do is lie.""James we can work this out," he is waving the gun everywhere. Pacing back and forth, scratching at his head, thinking erratically.Lucy gets a glance at the gun, the safety is off. "James, the safety, put the safety on, please." She begs.She can see the moment he realizes that what he is doing is stupid.Lucy tries to stay calm but her throat clings to itself, she's afraid, she hasn't been this afraid in a long time. "James, you're scaring me."His mouth hangs open, looking at the heavy gun in his hand. "Lucy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."He lowers the gun and tries to click the safety on but is clumsy and drunk.When he tries to click the safety on but a shot rings out instead. The bullet nics her arm.Lucy drops to her knees clutching her arm to her chest. Her back is against the wall, she cowers away in fear. He tries to go after her but Lucy is too scared of him.James drops the gun on the floor and it sends another shot out."I'm sorry." Then he runs away. Lucy sits on her floor crying. Blood seeping out of her abdomen from the second wound James didn't know he inflicted.She gets up to walk out the door, luckily she is only on the second floor. She stumbles to the streets, clutching her side. Her vision gets black, blurry around the edges. She collapses at the nearby vegetable stand, leaking blood onto the streets...... End Flashback....."Then I woke up in the hospital." Lucy just barely got the last bit out. She's cried so much today and she is exhausted. Her body feels light though, she feels full and empty at the same time but she knows that this feeling isn't a bad one. Lucy has spent almost a month keeping this story close to her heart and it feels good to tell someone.Lena is stunned, angry, nauseated, annoyed with what James did to Lucy. But she can't let that show right now, she has to show her friend that she is safe. "You're safe Lucy, you're safe with us, with the people who love you.""I know," I know that now.They both fall asleep with each other and wake up around dinner time to Sam cooking fettuccine and Kara and Alex wrestling over the remote while Maggie makes bets on who wins.Family