Chapter 21

"Say, Kara…"

"Yeah?"

"Are you…" Ben swallowed nervously. He'd fought warlords, criminals and psychopaths; why did this make him so nervous? "Are you doing anything this Saturday?"

Kara's eyes went wide. Is he going to…?

"Uh, no," she said, cursing herself for her sudden nervousness, "I'm free this Saturday, why?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping you'd like to see a movie that just came out, plus there's this restaurant that opened up near the theater that looks good. Do you want to go?" Ben mentally applauded himself for managing to look Kara in the eye while asking.

Oh my god, thought Kara, he's asking me out! I can't believe it! Yes! Wahoo!

"Uh, Kara?" Ben asked, "You okay?"

Embarrassed, Kara realized that she'd been staring at Ben for several moments, not moving.

"Um, yeah! I'd love to!" Kara couldn't keep the smile, nor the blush, from appearing on her face.

"Great! See you Saturday!" With an equally strong smile and blush on his face, Ben turned to leave.

Kara also began to head to the house, when she heard Ben's voice.

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Kara turned to see Ben heading towards her. Before she could ask what was doing, he had pressed his lips against her cheek. The kiss only lasted for a moment, before Ben backed up, turned into Jet Ray, and flew off. Kara stood on the porch for a minute, stunned, before pumping a fist and spinning around.

"Yahoo!"

Smallville, Kansas

Kara could barely contain her excitement as she rushed to her room; Ben had asked her out! She couldn't believe it; after telling herself that she had to wait for Ben to really heal before she could even begin to hope, he'd not only asked her out, but he'd kissed her!

Once she was in her room, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed a number; after a few rings, Barbara picked up.

"Hey Kara, what's up?"

"You are not gonna believe what just happened, Babs."

"I fight an evil clown, Kara; there isn't a whole lot that I can't believe."

Kara took a deep breath. "Ben asked me out."

"… I'm sorry, could you repeat that? It sounded like you said that Ben asked you out."

"That's what I said."

For a moment, there was silence on the other line; then Kara had to hold the phone away from her ear as loud cheering came from the speaker.

"All right, Kara! Good for you! Hey, where's Tim, he owes me ten bucks; I told him that you two would get together!"

"Oh, come on Babs," said Kara, a little embarrassed, "he just kissed me, and then we're going out this Saturday to see a movie and then go to dinner."

"He kissed you!?" Barbara screeched, "Wait, was there tongue?"

"Babs!"

"Right, right, sorry. I'll leave you to get psyched; and I really am happy for you both. Good night."

"Good night." Kara hung up, then collapsed on her bed; between the incident with her clone and being asked out by Ben, she was feeling a little drained. Still, she couldn't stop smiling, even as her eyelids became heavy.

I can't wait for Saturday, she thought, as sleep claimed her.

San Francisco

Ben walked tiredly through the door to his home, ready for a good nights' sleep. Between conspiracy theories, clones and the prospect of a date, he was thoroughly wiped. As he locked the door, he heard a small cough behind him. Ben whirled around, ready to use the Ultimatrix; he froze when he found Superman sitting on his couch.

"Uh, hi Clark, what's up?" Asked Ben nervously. He had a feeling he knew why the Kryptonian was here.

"Hello Ben." Clark's eyes were completely serious. "I heard that you asked Kara out on a date."

Ben nodded. Clark walked up to him; Ben had never realized just how much taller Superman was compared to him.

"I've always been protective of my cousin; after all, she is the only blood-relation that I have left. I want nothing but the best for her."

Ben nodded, trying to act calm, but he could feel the sweat dripping down his neck. Clark looked away for a moment, before turning back to Ben with a smile on his face.

"And in my opinion, she can't do much better than you."

Ben's jaw dropped. "W-what?"

Clark placed a hand on Ben's shoulder. "You're a good person, Ben. I have no problem with you dating Kara. And I'm happy for you, too. I'm glad that you're getting over what happened to you."

Ben nodded again, relieved that Clark wasn't angry at him. The Kryptonian turned to leave out the window that he'd come in through, but stopped.

"Oh, Ben, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"If you break my cousin's heart," warned Clark in a dangerous tone, "not even Batman will find what's left of you."

Ben paled considerably, but before he could respond, Clark was gone. After a few minutes, Ben went to bed. At first, he was restless; he hadn't really thought of talking to Clark before asking out his cousin. In hindsight, that probably would have been a good move; maybe he wouldn't have threatened to kill him. Still, now he was even more determined to not break Kara's heart. Thinking of her helped calm him down, and soon he found himself getting sleepy.

I can't wait for Saturday, thought Ben, as he lost the fight to keep his eyes open.

…

Saturday

Ben paced around his living room nervously. It was almost 3. Kara was going to arrive at his house any minute, and he was starting to freak out. He wasn't having second thoughts, he was just nervous about messing up. He'd only dated Julie, and they usually had an alien or supervillain turn it into a fight. After a while, they'd considered it par for the course when trying to date while being a superhero. Now that Ben thought about it, he'd never had a normal date in his life.

A knock on his door caused him to jump. He looked at the clock over his TV, realizing that it was about time for Kara to arrive. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the door and opened it.

Standing there was Kara. She was wearing civilian clothes; a light-blue skirt that ended just above her knees, a white blouse and a light-blue coat. Like every other time Ben had seen her, she didn't wear makeup; in Ben's opinion, she didn't need it.

Kara, in turn, was surprised at Ben's change of attire; for the first time since meeting him, he wasn't wearing his usual clothes. He wore slacks, a dark green shirt and a light brown coat over that.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then Ben cleared his throat.

"So, ready to go?"

Kara smiled. "Sure; I just hope that the movie theater is close enough to walk to."

Now it was Ben's turn to grin. "It isn't, but that's okay; we'll take my car."

He walked over to his garage and opened the door; behind it sat a green sports-car with black highlights.

Kara gave a low whistle. "When did you get this? And how did you afford it?"

"To answer your questions in order: I got it a few weeks ago, and I can afford it thanks to my 'inheritance'." There was another reason why Ben had bought that particular car; it was almost identical to the car he used to own back in his own universe. Even though he'd been living here for months, it was nice to have something familiar.

Both heroes smiled at each other as they got into the car. They drove to the theater in a comfortable silence. After finding a parking spot, Ben got out and opened the door for Kara. Touched by his chivalry, Kara slipped her arm through Ben's as they walked into the theater.

The movie had been good, a simple action/comedy. Both Ben and Kara had enjoyed it, but they enjoyed being in each other's company much more. At one point, Ben had placed his hand on top of Kara's; she, in turn, had turned her hand upward to intertwine her fingers in his. Neither let go until the movie was over.

After the film, they headed for the restaurant. Again, while it was a good place, the two were happy just being together. After the dinner, they decided to take a walk. While walking, they discussed various topics, mostly League-related things. After a while, they found themselves at the Golden Gate Bridge.

"Come on, Ben," said Kara, while tugging at Ben's arm, "there's something that I've always wanted to do."

Making sure that no one was looking at them, Kara picked up Ben and flew them under the bridge, sitting them down on a support-strut. The strut was angled in a way that they slid into a corner, with Kara leaning against Ben. Ben had to wonder if Kara had planned that, but he really didn't mind.

For a while, the two just sat there, watching the sun go down. Kara put her head on Ben's shoulder, while Ben wrapped an arm around her. Both were lost in their own thoughts.

Ben couldn't help but marvel at his situation; six months ago, he was ready to kill himself. Now, he was in another universe, he was part of an enormous team of superheroes and, as of today, was dating an alien. Actually, the last part of that wasn't so strange; after all, back in his own universe, he had more alien friends than human ones.

Kara was also surprised at how her life had changed. Sure, she'd talked about boys with Barbara, but that had been harmless discussion; she hadn't actually expected to fall for someone, at least not as hard as this. She suddenly felt a twinge of guilt; maybe now was a good time to discuss this, before things went any further…

"Ben?" asked Kara, lifting her head.

"Yeah, what's up?" Ben could see worry in Kara's eyes.

"Am I… taking Julie's place?"

Ben reeled back for a moment. "What!?"

Kara started to fidget. "It's just that… I could see how much Julie meant to you when you talked about her, and I don't want to change how you felt about someone and…" she trailed off when she saw Ben staring into the distance. He had a look of concentration about him.

Ben took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "I'll be honest with you, Kara; Julie was a big part of my life. She'll always have a place in my heart, a place that no one else can fill."

Kara nodded; while she was glad that Ben wasn't the type of person to throw away a connection like the one he'd obviously had with Julie away so easily, it was kind of painful to know that she didn't have that same love.

"But while that may be true," continued Ben, "that doesn't mean that I can't have an equally important place in my heart for someone else." Ben gently turned her head towards him, and gave her a deep kiss.

"And I believe that someone is you, Kara."

Kara stared at him for a moment. She couldn't believe it. Ben had just admitted that she was just as important to him as Julie had been. And she had seen just how much Ben had loved her. For him to say that about her…

Tears welled up in Kara's eyes, and she threw herself forward, giving Ben a passionate kiss of her own. For that moment, nothing else in the universe mattered to them except each other. They were happy.

The kiss continued for some time, and would have continued for longer, had Ben not felt the need to breathe; unlike his Kryptonian girlfriend, he needed oxygen. They broke off the kiss, both panting slightly; Ben, from lack of air, and Kara from excitement.

After a moment of unspoken communication, the two shifted themselves; Ben leaned back against the support-strut, his legs propped up. Kara sat on his lap and leaned against his chest, while tilting her head against his shoulder; Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, while Kara placed her hands on his.

They stayed like that for a long time, until the sun had completely faded from the horizon.