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Wait For Me To Come Home

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            Walking through the front door to the disjointed sound of piano keys being played by clumsy hands, Lena let out a snort of laughter, dropping her keys onto a table just inside the door and carrying her armful of grocery bags through to one of the larger living rooms, where she knew the grand piano was situated. Stepping into the open doorway, she took in the sight of Lillian sitting on the bench with a dark haired girl on her lap, playing a clumsy scale.

 

            “Already trying to turn her into a child prodigy?”

 

            Looking over at her, Lillian rolled her eyes and ran a hand through the dark curls of her granddaughter. “Hush. She enjoys it.”

 

            Smiling softly, Lena set her bags down on the sofa as her daughter cut off her playing and climbed down off the bench. “Mommy!”

 

            Sinking to a crouch, Lena opened her arms and swept her daughter up as she rose to her feet, laughing as her chest was buoyed with the rush of love. “Hi, baby. Have you been good?”

 

            “Mhm. Grandma took me to the park and I did cartwheels.”

 

            “I don’t think she has a future career as a gymnast,” Lillian wryly said as she dropped the fallboard over the keys and climbed to her feet, baring her teeth in a wince as she shook her head at Lena and mouthed ‘awful’.

 

            Pressing her lips together to fight back a smile, Lena kissed her daughter’s cheek and set her back down. “Did you guys have lunch already?”

 

            “No, I was trying to teach her chess for a bit.”

 

            “Mom, she’s four . Why don’t you play with dolls with her?”

 

            “I used to play chess with you; you could beat your brother not long after you came home. You were the same age.”

 

            Rolling her eyes, Lena looked down as her daughter slipped her hand into hers, looking up with wide blue eyes, so childishly innocent. “Where’s mom?”

 

            Awkwardly picking up one of the paper bags while Lillian grabbed the rest for her, Lena led her daughter out of the room and through to the kitchen. “Mom’s gone to talk to her special friend about her week; she’ll be home soon.”

 

            “Can we play Lego when she gets home?”

 

            Humming, Lena narrowed her eyes, “how about … you eat lunch first and then grandma and I will both play Lego with you?”

 

            “Can I have chocolate?”

 

            “Daisy, chocolate isn’t lunch,” Lena exasperatedly replied. “How about a sandwich? I’ll cut you up some strawberries too.”

 

            “Can I have grapes?”

 

            “Sure, I’ll get you some grapes.”

 

            Lillian snorted, shaking her head as she set the bags down on the counters and started unpacking it. “She’s going to grow up middle-aged with the way you speak to her.”

 

            “I’m not doing all that baby talk shit,” Lena scoffed, waving a hand as she ushered her daughter over to the table, watching as she climbed onto a chair. “Besides, I remember you talking to me like that too.”

 

            “And you were CEO of a billion-dollar-company at twenty-two - I’d hardly say that was normal .”

 

            “Yeah, well, she’s still four; she’s not going to grow up that fast.”

 

            “You’d be surprised.”

 

            Lena shared a small smile with her mom, setting a tub of olives down on the counter and glancing over at her daughter. There was a stethoscope on the table from the toy medical kit Lillian had bought her last Christmas, some of the strewn mess of her mom’s babysitting, the games they’d been playing, and Lena’s smile grew slightly.

 

            “It happens so fast, before your very eyes. One minute they’re that little and the next they’re teenagers and they hate you, and then they’re married and still causing you grief. You’re lucky you’ve only got one to handle; God knows you and your brother were a handful. Too intelligent for your own good, I say.”

 

            Wrinkling her nose as she took the packets of pasta and rice and bread from Lillian, stowing them in the pantry, Lena rolled her eyes. “I’m sure karma’s going to come and bite me on the ass, don’t you worry about that.”

 

            “She reminds me a lot of you,” Lillian fondly murmured, turning to watch her granddaughter. “She’s almost as old as you when we brought you home. You had a lot of the same mannerisms, the same curiosity.”

 

            Nodding, Lena swallowed, a faint smile curling her lips. She’d never thought she’d be able to love anyone as much as she loved Kara until Daisy had come along. From the second she was born, put in their arms and sent home with them, she’d been theirs completely, wrapping them both around her finger. Sure, it was a different type of love, but it was all-consuming, and Lena woke up every day feeling it in her chest as she watched Kara lace up her shoes for her, brush her hair, read her stories and carry her around the house on her shoulders. They were still young themselves and it was remarkable to see how a baby had changed so much for them, bumbling their way through new motherhood, a little clueless and laughing through the growing pains of it all.

 

            “It’s strange - when she smiles … all I can see is Kara.”

 

            “How’s she doing? Recovered from that stomach bug yet?”

 

            “Good. Yeah,” Lena slowly said, moving around the kitchen as she put the rest of the groceries away and got started on making lunch. “Sandwich?’

 

            “Sure.”

 

            Pulling out another plate, Lena started making three sandwiches under her mom’s stare, before Lillian started making coffee for them both and Lena cut the crusts off Daisy’s. Setting her daughter’s plate down before her on the table, Lena kissed the top of her head, smoothing down curls that bounced back up endearingly, she smiled and shook her head before going to fetch the other two plates.

 

            They sat at the opposite end of the table, Lena taking a sip of coffee as she watched her daughter take a bite. “Are you still okay to watch her tomorrow?”

 

            “Sure. Ten o’clock, was it?”

 

            “Yeah. I, uh, Kara has this … thing.”

 

            Narrowing her eyes slightly with amusement, Lillian set down one half of her sandwich. “You’re acting very strange.”

 

            “I- yeah, it’s- well, so … I’ll tell you some other time. There’s just a lot going on at the moment.”

 

            “Is everything okay?”

 

            She grimaced slightly at her mom’s concern and gave her a placating smile as she reached out to touch her arm, “everything is fine .”

 

            Looking wary but trusting her judgement, Lillian ate the rest of her sandwich and Lena finished off her own and encouraged Daisy to finish her fruit before allowing her to upend a container of Lego . Sitting on the floor with her, Lena helped build a tower while she carried on half a conversation with Lillian about the business, until her mom had to leave and Lena tidied up for a bit.

 

            “Mommy, can we play with the cameras?”

 

            “Oo, I don’t know about that, love. Mommy doesn’t like it when we play with them, but … how about we look at some photos?”

 

            “Okay.”

 

            Lena smiled at how easily swayed she was and ushered her to the room that they’d repurposed as Kara’s photography room in the new house. Fetching a stack of photo albums, she carried them through to the living room and spread them on the carpet, choosing the one from when they’d first met. She flipped through the photos with nostalgic fondness, even though it wasn’t that long ago, really. She pointed out familiar faces to Daisy and then moved onto another one, the one where their daughter appeared for the first time, in Kara’s arms at the hospital, taken by a nurse.

 

It was just past midnight when they’d been woken up by a phone call from the adoption agency that the anonymous woman they were adopting from had gone into labour at Metropolis General Hospital. The two of them had rushed there immediately, the car loaded with baby things and a car seat to bring their daughter home, both of them dressed in mismatched clothes in their haste, and they spilled into the hospital looking frazzled and excited.

 

They were both more scared than they wanted to admit, pale beneath the harsh fluorescent lights, and even though they’d been going through the adoption process for a while now, preparing themselves for motherhood with parenting books and classes, as the reality set in, Lena couldn’t help but feel woefully unprepared. She didn’t know the first thing about raising a baby and she anxiously paced back and forth in the lobby as they waited out the long labour. A part of her was terrified to acknowledge it as their baby, thinking about how the woman might back out once she was born - it was known to happen - but they were so close to starting the little family they’d dreamed of, and Lena could see the nervous excitement in the lines of Kara’s face as she nervously fiddled with her fingers from the waiting room chair.

 

Eliza had flown into town a week ago, anticipating the baby’s due date, but they didn’t call anyone to let them know she’d gone into labour, this stranger who held the fate of this baby in her hand’s. A representative from the adoption agency was there, walking them through the process, talking them through everything while they waited. It was to be a closed adoption, at the birth mother’s request, not even wanting to meet the married couple she would be giving the baby to, and it felt so strange to Lena that she felt so much gratitude for a woman she’d never even met but was giving her everything they’d ever wanted.

 

They waited hours, well past dawn and into the following afternoon, ignoring phone calls from their family as they waited, worrying. In the end, it all went perfectly and a healthy baby girl had been born. Kara burst into tears jsut from the announcement and Lena was sure she looked ghostly, shaking with fear before they were told they could see her, that there was no backtracking on the adoption. They were taken through to see their new daughter then, and the moment Lena laid eyes on her, she’d started crying. She was theirs. Kara held her first, the nurse snapping a photo on the Polaroid camera of the three of them together, before Kara placed the tiny bundle in Lena’s arms. She’d never felt anything like it in her life - this tiny bundle was hers. Hers and Kara’s. She loved her instantly.

 

“Daisy,” Kara whispered, stroking the baby’s pink cheek. Eyelids fluttered open revealing blue eyes, such a clear, sky blue that they were almost the same shade as Kara’s.

 

“Daisy,” Lena agreed, looking up at Kara, who was smiling widely with tear-filled eyes. Leaning in, Kara kissed her before bending down and pressing a kiss on the baby’s forehead.

 

            There was a whole album dedicated to Daisy’s first year of life, dozens of photos of her as a newborn pasted in; sleeping on Lena’s chest, staring up at the Kara with wide blue eyes, being held by everyone for the first time, smiling and crawling and sitting upright, holding onto the stuffed teddy bear she carried everywhere. There were ones of her standing, dark curls and dimples and Lena’s anxious hands waiting to catch her. 

 

“Quick! Get the camera!” Lena told Kara, who was scrambling up off the floor.

 

“Don’t let her walk until I get it!” Kara yelled behind her as she ran out of the room.

 

Lena laughed. “What am I supposed to do? Push her over if she starts to do it?”

 

“Yes!” Kara laughed, her voice drifting in from far away.

 

She was back a moment later, two cameras and her phone in hand. Turning the video on, Kara arranged her phone so that they could capture Daisy’s first steps on camera. Next she took a photo on her polaroid camera as Lena let go of the little girl, who teetered slightly as she smiled at Kara.

 

“Come on baby girl, come to mommy!” Kara said encouragingly, opening her arms wide as she laughed. 

 

Lena laughed with delight as she watched Daisy take a step forward, and then another before faltering and falling to her knees. She didn’t cry and Kara swept her up into her arms as they both clapped and cheered, Lena filled with pride as she watched on. Soon enough, the house was filled with the sounds of little feet running around the place, followed by the sounds of heavier footfalls chasing after them.

 

            Flipping through more pages, they came to Daisy’s first birthday party. A photo of Kelly wearing a party hat as she held Daisy in her lap made Lena smile. It was no surprise that she was good with kids, doting on her niece, along with Alex, until they’d recently adopted their own daughter, Esme.

 

            There one of Daisy sitting on Athena's back, her arms thrown around the dog's neck as she wandered around the house with the toddler on her back. They'd been a bit hesitant at having a baby around such a big dog, but they knew that Athena had a mild temperament and was very protective, so they weren't at all surprised when she took up a guard position outside the baby's nursery all night. When Daisy had started walking she'd had a permanent railing next to her to catch herself on if she started to fall, and soon enough she had figured out that if she climbed on Athena's back she could get free rides around the house.

 

            A photo of Kara in the sea outside Eliza's back garden, throwing Daisy up in the air, made Lena smile. It was the first time she'd been in the ocean, and she'd loved it. Since then, they'd taken her to Eliza's almost every weekend during the summertime so she could splash around in the water and see her grandma.

 

"Higher mommy!" the little girl squealed with laughter as Kara threw her up again, catching her as gravity brought her back down.

 

"Not too high," Lena called from her seat on the back porch.

 

Eliza laughed, stroking Lena's hair as she sat down next to her, handing Lena a glass of lemonade. "Look at you being all sensible. I would've thought you'd be the one daring to throw her as high as you could."

 

"I guess marriage and motherhood has tamed me," Lena joked, rolling her eyes and giving Eliza a look of amusement. "I don't have time for arrests and nights in jail anymore."

 

"I, for one, am relieved to hear it," Eliza laughed.

 

"Daisy Danvers-Luthor! Did you just splash me?" Kara gasped, and there was a peal of laughter as the little girl splashed around in the water, trying to swim away with the aid of her armbands. 

 

"No!"

 

"I'm going to get you!"

 

"Mommy! Help!" Daisy called out to Lena, a scream dissolving into laughter as she tried to get away from Kara.

 

Lena set her glass down and took off her sunglasses. "Looks like it's mom to the rescue," Lena said to Eliza, before standing up and crossing the sand dunes, stepping onto the beach to splash into the shallow, cold water, still somewhere uneasy around open water but willing to brave it for her daughter.

 

            There was a photo of the night they’d decided to have another baby, Kara smiling widely out of the picture that Lena had taken as they'd toasted with a glass of water. She had asked Kara to carry the baby, because she didn’t think she’d want to. She’d never imagined that she would ever have kids, until she met Kara, but even now, Lena was hesitant to be the one to carry their baby. Of course Kara would want to anyway, because she was so maternal and Lena knew that she would love it – even the bad parts like morning sickness and an aching back.

 

“Why can’t we just use a sperm donor though?” Lena argued, and Kara let out a heavy sigh as she gave Lena an exasperated look.

 

“It’s fine , Lena, it’ll work! Men are basically useless now. Just picture it, a baby that’s half me and half you. Science has come so far, we don’t need a donor, we just need my egg and your DNA.”

 

“But how safe is it, Kara? This is our baby we’re talking about. It’s still a pretty new procedure, I don’t want to risk anything going wrong. I mean … you could get ill too.”

 

Kara let out a quick laugh, her eyes briefly crinkling at the corners as she walked over to Lena and cupped her face in her hands. “If I wasn’t convinced it was safe, I would never go through with it.”

 

“Fine, we’ll make an appointment with the doctor,” Lena sighed. “But we’re making sure it's all completely safe before we agree on anything.”

 

“Deal,” Kara smiled, leaning down to press a kiss on her lips.

 

            Then there was a photo of Kara and Lena, holding up an ultrasound scan, which was little more than a swirl, as they smiled widely, and Lena thought back to the day, not too long ago, when they’d found out that Kara’s idea had paid off, and they were having another baby.

 

“Hi, baby, I don’t want to alarm you - everything’s fine, I promise-”

 

“What’s wrong?” Lena urgently asked, dropping her pen to her desk.

 

“Nothing. I just- I passed out for a second. I’m fine.”

 

“Let me call my mom. Maybe she can do a quick checkup. You didn’t … bump your head? You’re okay?”

 

“Don’t call your mom,” Kara quickly commanded before her voice softened. “Can you just … come home. Please.”

 

“I- of course . Of course I can; I’ll be there soon.”

 

She’d hung up and told Jess to cancel the rest of her appointments for that day, riding the elevator down to the underground parking garage and potentially earning herself a ticket as she rushed home. Walking through the front door, her face a mask of concern as her heels clicked on the tiles, she called out.

 

“Kara?”

 

“I’m just in the kitchen.”

 

Briskly walking through, Lena rushed towards her at the sight of her standing at the kitchen counter, Daisy scribbling in a colouring book, oblivious to her mom’s concern as she looked up and smiled. Lena softened minutely, murmuring a greeting to her daughter and kissing her, before she anxiously crossed over to Kara.

 

“Hey,” she murmured, her voice achingly gentle as she gave Kara a searching look, taking in her flushed cheeks and bright eyes. “What happened? Are you okay?”

 

Letting out a strangled laugh, Kara cupped Lena’s cheek in her hand and smiled, barely able to contain her excitement as she held something out to her. Glancing down, Lena took in the stick and blanched.

 

“We’re having a baby.”

 

“We- oh ,” Lena stammered, speechless as her eyes widened.

 

Her eyes prickled with tears as she let out an elated laugh, pressing a hand to her forehead as relief swept through her. “Oh my God.”

 

Reaching down, she cupped Kara’s flat stomach over the top of her shirt and let out another laugh, shaking her head as she looked up at Kara with so much joy on her face that she felt like her heart would beat out of her chest.

 

            That was where the photos ended in the most recent album, with Kara holding the stick up as she beamed and pressed a hand to her stomach, taken by a rather dazed Lena only a month ago. They hadn’t told anyone yet, too early to be sure that it would all work out, but she was nearly out of her first trimester and they both knew they wouldn’t be able to contain their excitement over the news for much longer.

 

            It made Lena nostalgic, going through all the photos, because so much had changed over such a short period of time. It felt like it had been forever, so many memories formed together, but their photo albums together spanned less than eight years. Each moment had been filled with happiness though, and Lena’s eyes prickled with tears as she thought about how much Kara had changed her life. 

 

            There wasn’t a day that went by that Lena didn’t think about how grateful she was for that blessed day in that café. She would’ve missed so much if she’d stayed in her office instead, taken lunch at her desk and made all of her meetings, but instead, she had more than she’d ever imagined she’d have.

 

            They were flipping through the last photo album when Kara appeared in the doorway, taking the sight of her wife and daughter on the floor, surrounded by black photo albums, the last page open to the black and white swirl of a sonogram for their first scan. At the flicker of movement, Lena and Daisy looked up, and the little girl jumped up off the floor and ran over to her.

 

            “Mommy! You’re home!”

 

            Lena climbed to her feet as well, albeit at a slower pace, and walked over to Kara with a smile. She leaned down to pick Daisy up, bringing her close to Kara so that she could kiss her, and then leaned in to kiss Kara herself, lingering and full of love. Pulling back, Kara ran her hair through the little girl’s curls, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners as she stared at Lena.

 

            “I’m home.”