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The Christmas Letter

Summary:

A one-shot piece of shameless Christmas fluff. It's almost Christmas for Earth's Green Lantern and newly minted Ms. Zor-El as Lena sits down for a little holiday tradition of her own while Kara mostly goofs around in the background and a few friends might stop by to interrupt her.

This is a short little Christmas Tale set in my Lena as a Green Lantern (GLena) universe, written to revisit my favorite couple and see how they're doing as the Holidays loom near after they got married at the end of Hope and Willpower

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Lena Luthor also known as Lena Zor-El in some sectors of the universe, sat at the kitchen table in the apartment she shared with her wife and it was late on a Friday afternoon shortly before Christmas. Since it was almost Christmas that meant she had to uphold a certain tradition she’d practiced every year since she was a little girl. Dressed in sweatpants and baggy and worn Supergirl t-shirt, she had a piece of paper laying blank and waiting in front of her along with an envelope and some stamps as she uncapped her fountain pen and started writing.

Merry Christmas! So, things have changed like a lot since I wrote to you last year. For starters, my name is now Lena Kieran Zor-El and for the past six months, I’ve been married to the one and only Kara Zor-El, aka Earth’s Maid of Might, the Girl of Steel, Supergirl! On top of that, I also wield this little thing called a power ring and as Earth’s and Sector 2814’s Green Lantern I protect the people of my city, my planet, and my sector. Cool uh? Yeah, a bunch of stuff has happened since I got Ringy and this might be the spiked hot chocolate I had earlier talking but my life is pretty good now. I’ve got the family I never knew I wanted with Kara and our friends, Lex has been mostly cleared of the things he did while under the influence of the Darkness, trust me, it's a long story but I will write about it some other day in full detail, but Lex is back so that’s a big win and...

“Stop writing with that goofy smile on your face and help me with this tree!” Kara shouted at her from the balcony which made her almost drop her pen.

Looking up she could see the Girl of Steel herself, in her blue and red super-suit with a massive Christmas tree over one shoulder. The tree itself still had snow clinging to its branches and it looked like it had been cleanly chopped down using heat-vision. On top of her bellowing, the blonde hero was knocking at the glass door with her free hand which had the golden Kryptonian marriage-bracelet on it which matched hers and it was jingling like a sleigh bell. Laughing she put down her pen next to the letter and floated in a nimbus of green light toward the door.

“You sure it’s big enough?” she asked as she opened the door leading to their balcony and a gust of chilly winter air hit her face turning her cheeks a bit pink.

“Oh, it’s never big enough but this will do fine for our first Christmas, hurry up and make a green thingamajig to put it in or something,” the blonde urged her while waving toward the corner in the living-room and relenting to her wife’s demands she summoned up a glowing green stand for the superhero to deposit the tree in for now.

“When you said you were going somewhere after work the Canadian Arctic wasn’t what I expected,” she teased her wife as she dusted the frost of her red cape and then leaned in to kiss her on the nose.

“We needed a tree, so I got us a tree,” Kara argued and rubbed herself to get warm, so she summoned a fluffy green-glowing coat around her strong shoulders for her to wear.

“You’re adorkable, but also, how are you even cold?” she laughed and studied the massive Alaskan Pine tree that Kara had hauled into their house while hoping that the often over-eager and excitable hero she was married to, had at least used her super-senses to check it for hibernating squirrels before chopping it down.

“Hey! you try catching the slipstream down from Northern Canada to save time and not freezing your butt off,” the blonde retorted sticking her tongue out at her which she took as an invitation to kiss her.

By Schrödinger's Cat! Kissing Kara Zor-El slash Danvers never got old, those soft pink lips were her favorite addiction and wrapping her arms around the blonde’s strong frame and having Kara hug her in return always made her feel safe and secure. It didn’t hurt that the blonde Kryptonian was now fully hers either. Six months ago they’d been joined in the sight of Rao on the top of the old L-Corp Building and their union was signaled by both the matching golden bracelets they wore and the House of El crest on her Green Lantern suit. Yeah, being married to Kara ‘Supergirl’ Zor-El, well by Planck’s Constant it felt freaking amazing.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re home, be it cold or not,” she said when she pulled back from a stupidly grinning Kara and rubbed the blonde's hands before blowing on them theatrically.

“Six months of marriage and you still short-out my brain bits when you kiss me,” the blonde giggled and picked her up with a familiar intent.

“Hey put me down darling, now is not the time for that because Hailey is flying over remember,” she reminded her blond wife who was already carrying her to their bedroom and she threw up a huge green glowing stop sign in front of the bedroom for good measure.

Hailey Goodwin, the teenage girl who she had given the Starheart too in order to save the girl’s life, was coming to stay for the weekend and she was their very own hero in training. The blonde teenager was as eager and as she was willful and wielded one of the most powerful forces in the universe. That last bit had led to Cassandra Cain’s, aka Batgirl’s idea that they team up to train the teen. But the pointy-eared ninja was off in Metropolis meeting the Olsens and by extension the Kents for the Holidays so this weekend the training fell to them alone.

“Boo, but Kara needs her naughty snuggles to keep get her warm,” the blonde protested and put her down, but she did kiss her on the cheek to soothe the pouty hero.

“Talking about yourself in the third person is the first step to super-villainy you know. Come sit down and tell me how your day was aside from a trip to the arctic?” she asked and sat down on the couch patting the seat next to her for Kara to sit.

“Doing the chief-editor stuff isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I will be glad once James is back from introducing Cass to his sister and Kal,” Kara admitted and played with the hem of her cape.

“You know that you could have that job permanently if you wanted it because you’re great at judging from the reports I've been getting on you,” she said and smiled to which Kara cocked an eyebrow.

“Spying on me, Miss Luthor?” the blonde asked, and it was hard not to take the roleplay bait since her wife could be a merciless tease when she set her mind to it.

“Keeping an eye on my asset Miss Danvers, but you’re so gifted that if you ever wanted to run your own company I’m sure I could set it up and you’d knock it out of the park,” she said and put her arm around her brilliant Kryptonian wife.

“Oh no! That’s nepotism, we’re married now, and the media is already speculating enough about us and how I'm your kept cross-fit slash shopaholic woman! Plus, I will be glad when James is back and I can work on the Birthing-Matrix more,” the blonde said but smiled at her gratefully.

“You know you always say that I have the big brain, but I think yours is just as big and beautiful,” she laughed and kissed Kara’s blonde head lovingly.

“Well, you do encourage me and…” Kara started but it was the blonde’s turn to be interrupted by a knock at their balcony doors.

With them both turning, they saw Hailey waving at them wearing her Starheart costume while holding an L-Corp branded gym bag. The girl’s suit was a green variant on Kara’s costume, with a white cape, green domino-mask and a glowing green star symbol on the chest that pulsated with the power of the Starheart that resided within the blonde teen. Hailey was, she noticed, waving at them while also rolling her eyes at their so-called overt cuteness She reached out with a conjured green-glowing hand, sometimes nicknamed Handy by Kara who liked to remind her that she had a degree in journalism, to open the door.

“You guys are just endlessly and disgustingly cute together,” the blonde teen declared and floated into their apartment with her pristine white cape billowing behind her before touching down and dropping her bag by the couch.

“You’re just jealous!” Kara declared with her beaming smile out in full force s she got up to hug the teenager which the blonde had befriended right away after they’d met follow the Siege of Metropolis earlier in the year.

“Oh yes I’m dying for monogamous bliss at age sixteen,” the teen laughed and hugged Kara back while she watched silently cursing that something had gotten into her eye again.

“Any trouble with your mom?” she asked as Kara finally relented in her hugging and in turn the teenager hugged her.

One of the things she still wasn’t fully used to even after being with Kara for a while, was all the hugging but she was slowly getting there as she carefully squeezed the costumed teen back and could see Kara bouncing up and down happily at the sight of it.

“None whatsoever, she’s so proud that I’m part of the Lex Luthor College Preparation Program for Gifted Teens, conveniently taught and located in National City on the weekends,” Hailey laughed and released her from the hug.

“It will look awesome on your college application I promise,” she said with a conspiratorial smirk.

“Ugh, don’t remind me, mom’s already bugging me about it,” the teen groaned and it was understandable the girl would be overwhelmed since becoming a superhero had the habit of rearranging your priorities but she would see the girl get into college when the time came, come hell or high water.

“So, are you ready for your first workout?” Kara asked and the blonde hero was already hovering off the ground with an eager look on her face.

Kara took the role of trainer and honorary big sister to Hailey very seriously and it warmed her heart how much joy it brought the blonde hero to simply share her skills and knowledge with others. The blond was truly in her element when she was being a teacher and seeing her train Hailey gave her all sorts of weird and proud maternal feelings that she wasn't fully capable of processing at times.

“But I just landed,” the teen protested with a dramatic sigh and Kara only grinned while cracking her knuckles.

“Super-heroics wait for no man or woman, common I’ll go easy on you this time,” the blonde hero promised, taking the teen by the hand and floating her to their home gym.

“Save me!” Hailey mouthed at her, but she could only laugh and wave at the hovering blonde pair.

“Better you than me kiddo,” she laughed, and the teen gave a horrified expression in response.

“Traitor!” the young hero declared as Kara took her for their sparring session, and she was glad she’d blast-proofed and reinforced the gym walls.

Sitting back down with her letter she picked up the pen and started writing again. We’re trying for kids too and Kara is working so hard on the Kryptonian Birthing Matrix which will allow us to have a child of our own someday since all my attempts at genetic manipulation of our DNA have failed, but being mentors and big sisters to Hailey has already given us a bit of a preview of what parenting a superpowered child will be like. In other news, we’re having Jess, Alex and Eliza over for Christmas dinner this year as well, so yeah real heavy family stuff for me and wait until I tell you what happened to Jess…

Before she could write more the door phone by the elevator chimed the first few bars of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and she got up to check on the camera and waving on the screen was Jess, so with a smile she buzzed her friend and Chief Operating Officer in.

“What brings you here?” she asked giving her a friend a hug while being careful of the slight bump on her stomach.

“Just dropping off some things that require your signature and maybe also because Alex was driving me a bit mad,” her friend laughed handing her a folder of papers which could have waited until after the weekend and she knew it.

“A Danvers sister being over-protective say it isn’t so!” she laughed and guided her friend to the couch.

“It’s like she’s never been through a magical impregnation before,” her friend laughed gently rubbing her abdomen and she used her power ring to bring them two fresh steaming mugs from the kitchen. Coffee for herself and a hot chocolate for Jess both delivered by a green glowing maid that always looked a bit like Kara.

Long story short, during a crisis event three months ago an explosion of magical energy caused by a fifth-dimensional imp whom she'd beaten to the Moon and back for hitting on Kara, well it’d had some interesting effects on Jess and Alex who had been caught up in it despite Kara and Cassandra's best efforts to save them. Thus, her friend was now three months pregnant with what they affectionately called the magical cross-dimensional baby and Jess was surprisingly calm about it since Kara, Eliza, and even her and Lex had checked her out and nothing about the child she carried was abnormal safe for the method of its conception. The only one not so calm about it was the person who was responsible for the other half of the child's DNA, her sister-in-law, Alex Danvers.

“You alright though? And sorry for asking for the hundredth and third time,” she asked and handed her a steaming mug of chocolate after waving the emerald maid out of existence.

“It’s an adjustment, but I’ll be fine. It wasn’t how we planned on having a child but now that it’s happening all we can do is go along with it,” Jess told her and sipped the mug carefully before smiling when there was a loud crash from the gym.

“Hailey’s over for training this weekend and Kara can be a tough taskmaster,” she explained with a shrug as another crash echoed in the apartment and she made a mental note of improving the soundproofing in case the neighbors heard.

“How goes the big sister mentorship?” Jess asked her and they could hear Hailey give a war-cry before no doubt charging the Kryptonian.

“It’s a challenge, but a good one, she can be willful but she wants to be a hero so that helps,” she said and sipped her coffee followed by yet another crashing sound this time she was sure it was the weight bench being flung around.

“Play nice in there you two!” she shouted through a power ring generated megaphone and they heard the muffled responses of, yes ma’am, from the two blondes.

“Sure, sounds like it and how is Kara’s not so secret project going?” Jess asked glancing towards the bookcase that hid the entrance to their lab.

“Slowly, she’s been all over the world gathering materials and scavenging for every piece of Kryptonian tech she can lay her hands-on,” she said and sighed which made Jess pat her on the back.

“Not that I'm going to love this little one to bits when she is born, but I wish you’d have been caught up in that explosion instead of me,” her friend said and she smiled but shook her head.

“Hey now, you deserve it too and don’t worry me and Kara will figure out how to build the matrix... eventually,” she assured her friend though even with her most optimistic projections it would still take years to complete.

“Well, I’ll be praying for a Christmas miracle or let's call it a Christmas inspiration for you guys then,” Jess said sweetly before she hugged her, and she felt the woman’s phone vibrate.

“I think you’re being summoned Mrs. Danvers,” she teased her, and her chief of operations rolled her eyes while checking her phone. Of course, none long after getting magically impregnated, Alex had made quite the fuss of making an honest woman out of Jess and of the many things that Danvers' sisters had in common but would deny that they did if asked, was their shared sense of family, honor, and duty. Stronger Together was after all wasn't only Kara's motto it was all their motto now what with Alex having been invited into the House of El just before their wedding.

“Want me to whip you up a portal to take you home?” she asked already pulling up a green glowing portal that would take Jess back home, she’d gotten very good at those lately she was proud to admit and using her powers was almost like second nature to her now. It helped that she and Kara had agreed early on in their relationship that in their household everyone should embrace who they are, thus Kara was openly Kryptonian around the house and she used her power-ring and various other aspects of the Emotional Spectrum openly.

“No, I’ll drive myself, Alex is cooking and we’re out of a few things,” Jess said, and she waved the glowing green portal away turning into a shower of emerald sparkles.

Walking her friend back to the elevator she gave her another hug before using her power ring to do a sneaky check-up on the baby Jess carried and found it to be perfect health. Nothing wrong with being cautious, right? Returning to her desk she could hear Kara and Hailey training still as she picked up her pen and yet again put ink to paper in her flowing handwriting.

...Jess, well she’s pregnant and it’s all kinds of weird, but she’s happy and I look forward to serving as a green glowing fairy godmother to her kid. As for myself, I’ve been trying to reconcile my visions of mine and Kara’s future children with what we’re doing and I’m guessing it was either oxygen deprivation that gave me that vision of Kara pregnant and glowing with joy or maybe one shouldn’t put too much stock in near-death experiences. Yeah sorry, I’ve had a few of those, comes with being a hero, I guess. But I love being a hero, I never thought I’d enjoy flying through the sky and saving the day this much...

She paused her writing and glanced down at her green power ring, or Ringy as Kara had dubbed it. Focusing her mind on it she generated a small emerald hologram of herself, Kara and what she pictured their future child would look like, a raven-haired and wide-eyed little girl with a mischievous grin and adorable glasses. Deciding to play around with her little creation, she started drawing on the other facets of the Emotional Spectrum to add in a few details. The blue light of hope added sapphire eyes to her future daughter and darling Kara. The yellow light that she could wield now she knew and understood fear, gave Kara’s hologram golden hair. The crimson red light from the rage that would never leave her or Kara added lipstick to her hologram and then she bathed it all in the violet glow of the love she felt for her wife. Finally, she added a Christmas tree to the scene and laughed at herself for being this sentimental and then there was a loud crash as the sparring session spilled out of their gym.

“Yield in the name of the House of El!” she heard Kara yell out while Hailey blasted at the Kryptonian with fiery green eye beams which the blonde blocked with her raised hand.

“Never!” the blond teen giggled as they flew around the living room, blasting each other with low-level bursts of heat-vision and fun as it was to watch the two spar, she also was kind of attached to her furniture and scorch marks were hard to explain to insurance claim handlers.

“No heat vision in the house remember!” she reminded the pair while shaking her head ruefully at their antics.

Noticing that the pair had, at some point, discarded their capes and Hailey had taken off her green mask, she also noted that Kara was holding back, obviously, but putting up enough of a fight so the teenager had to draw heavily on her Starheart powers to keep up with her.

“On the orders of my wife, it's a duel to the death then! In the name of the House of El, I smite thee!” Kara laughed and grabbed a very expensive throw pillow before lunging at the teen hero.

“Oh no expensive designer decor, my one weakness! Curse you Supergirl!” Hailey laughed back and grabbed an equally nice-looking throw pillow and summoned up a fiery green shield to defend herself.

Watching as the sparring session quickly devolved into a superpowered pillow fight with feathers all over her living room, she really didn’t mind and it wasn’t until Kara, maybe feeling a bit over-excited was getting ready to flip over the couch for cover that she intervened in the affair. Generating, again, two massive green hands from her ring, she picked up each blonde by the scruff of their necks like they were a pair misbehaving kittens and dropped them in opposite corners of the living room.

“Alright, playtime is over you two, go get changed and I’ll order us some Chinese food we can eat over a movie before we decorate that monster of a tree Kara brought home,” she told them and like two sulky kids the pair pouted but nodded in defeat.

“Yes ma’am,” they both said in a defeated tone of voice since momma Luthor had called of playtime.

Her order being given, Hailey picked up her bag and retreated to the guest room they’d set up for her while Kara walked over to her with a strange look on her face before kissing her on the cheek.

“What was that for?” she asked the blonde Kryptonian who smiled enigmatically at her.

“You’ll be a great mom someday I just know it," Kara told her while taking her hands and she felt her eyes watering at the honesty in the blonde’s voice and from the look in her beautiful blue eyes.

“Hey… no tears, okay, we’ll get there sooner or later, together in all things remember,” the blonde assured her and kissed away the tear that rolled down her cheek with a smile.

“No tears and stronger together in all things too,” she said firmly and nodded and squeezed Kara’s hands. “Now go change,” she urged her before she would get lost in the endless ocean of shifting blues that was Kara’s eyes.

“Yes Miss Luthor,” the blonde saluted her and in turn, she playfully swatted the Kryptonian on the butt which made the Girl of Steel jump more out of surprise than any sort of pain.

“That’s Mrs. Zor-El to you,” she joked and playfully poked her tongue out at the blonde Kryptonian who looked like she might melt before beating a hasty retreat grinning like a loon.

With the combatants in their rooms changing she sat back down to finish up her letter but not before placing a massive order for pot-stickers, chicken noodles, pork katsu and what read like half the menu at their favorite take-out place. Feeding a Kryptonian and a visiting teen superhero was a never-ending chore she'd discovered early on, but it was time to finish the letter before the gluttonous duo emerged again.

...so yeah, that’s about it for my year, became a superhero, married the girl of my dreams, trying to have a kid while training a teen and I wish you were here to see it all mom…

She paused and sniffled a bit, ever since she’d been old enough to write she’d written a Christmas letter to her birth mother. It made her feel close to the woman she’d never known beyond a faded photograph but no matter how many years passed it didn’t get any easier. Drawing on her willpower she set about finishing the letter and she smiled through her tears.

...I wish you were here to meet Kara, Cassandra, Hailey, J'onn, Winn, James, Eliza, and Jess and everyone else! If you ever get this letter up in Heaven know that I’m happy for the first time in forever and I wish you a merry Christmas. Your always loving daughter, Lena Kieran Zor-El.

Signing her name and drawing a quick House of El symbol behind it, she folded up the letter and slipped into an envelope. Then licking the glue with a frown she sealed it up and wrote ‘To Mom’ on the front of it before adding two stamps to it to make extra sure her mother would get it. Feeling Kara’s hands on her shoulders, she looked up at the blonde who was smiling at her and she touched the blonde’s hand feeling the engagement ring she’d given her. Kara was wearing Kryptonian style clothing, something she’d started doing more and more around the house. In her humble and biased opinion, the blonde looking divine wearing a comfortable-looking blue dress with a small House of El crest on it while being barefoot, with her hair down and no glasses to cover her sapphire eyes she looked like the alien goddess she was, her goddess.

“You alright beloved?” the blonde asked her in lyrical Kryptonian tongue, and she nodded her head and summoned up a tiny green portal in front of her on the desk.

“I’m just telling mom how things are going and wishing her a merry Christmas,” she replied in the language of Kara’s homeworld while using a tiny emerald hard-light Supergirl to fly the letter through the portal to somewhere beyond the edge of the universe.

“You keep surprising me beloved,” Kara said sounding somewhat shocked while still speaking in Kryptonian.

“Got to keep you on your toes, my wife,” she laughed, and that phrase really didn’t translate well to Kryptonian.

"You sounded almost like a child, sorry if I was peeking," Kara apologized and squeezed her shoulder as she, in turn, squeezed the blonde's hand.

"We're always children to our mothers I guess," she said and the lapsed into one of those comfortable silences they sometimes shared where their breathing and heartbeats would become as one. That was until their guest interrupted of course.

“Are you two talking about me behind my back in your weird married language?” Hailey asked as she emerged from the guest bedroom wearing grey sweats with her hair in a messy ponytail before plopping herself down on the couch nearby. They both shared a look and its meaning could best be summed up as, were we ever that young?

“It’s Kryptonian and it’s on the list of things a superhero needs to know,” Kara informed the teen and giving her a pat on the shoulder before joining the young hero on the couch.

“But, but, but I can barely pass French!” the blonde teen protested in utter shock and horror which despite her best efforts made her laugh.

“You’ll be fine,” she assured Hailey and joined the pair on the couch while Kara picked some god awful and cheesy Holiday movie to watch while they waited for their dinner to arrive, it was something called the Christmas Prince.

Once the copious amount of Chinese food had arrived and been consumed in short order, she looked around her living-room and smiled. Kara was dozing over the movie and Hailey was busy on her phone with her being the only one actually watching the cheese-fest Kara had picked. But this wasn’t bad at all, she thought to herself and Newton’s Third Law allowing this might just keep going for the rest of her life. Then the Christmas tree started rattling and she grabbed onto Kara's big toe shaking it to wake the blonde up, because the Kryptonian hadn't X-rayed the tree for squirrels after all!

Merry Christmas All!

Notes:

Wrote this purely for fun and to lay a little bit of ground work for future stories in this universe of mine while working on Higher Causes.

Also in case the holidays swamp me as they often do writing something short and sweet made for great stress relief.

So again Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas in case I vanish in a puff of smoke until 2020.

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