Chapter Eight:

The aftermath of locking Sleez up and saving those children puts an added spring in Kara's step. Supergirl moves around National City for a very quiet and uneventful evening. Especially when one stacks them up to the last several evenings, and especially last night, it will be a long time before Kara forgets what happened last night.

A car pulls up at National City General. Kara loops around and drops down from the sky. She notices Lana getting out of the car and Lana notices her. A smile crosses over Lana's face.

"I'm just glad everything came out okay," Lana says. "You're doing fine?"

"I am now," Kara answers.

It could have gone so much worse had Kara not had someone to help keep her head in line. Red Kryptonite, especially when in combination with Sleez's drug, does some not so wonderful things to Kara's psyche. It brings out the darker, more primal side of her. And maybe it allows Kara to be a bit too honest with her feelings and desires, even though she squashes that thought firmly down to the back of her mind where it belongs.

"I'm here to check up on Angie," Lana informs Kara. "I'm guessing you're here to do the same."

"Yep," Kara tells her with a sad smile. "I'm guessing she's no longer screaming for my head."

Lana just gives Kara a sad smile. "Yeah, well I'm not sure. The doctors say she should make a full physical recovery. Mentally on the other hand, that's another thing."

It's a very sad statement and yet it's ultimately true. Kara gives a soft smile in response to her friend.

"I'm just worried whether or not this will shift back the progress she's made," Lana says. "She was on her way to college and I think she finally broke away from her troubled past. But now, I don't know."

"You have to have faith that people will drag themselves out of their darkest moments," Kara says.

"Clark said the same thing," Lana says. "So, are you going to see her?"

"I might want to," Kara says. "I thought about dropping in through the window, but I think that attracts a little bit too much attention."

"So, you're just going to walk in wearing your full Supergirl uniform?" Lana asks. "Makes perfect sense to me."

Kara shrugs and the two make their way to the front desk. A sleepy receptionist and a trio of security guards are the first people they see when entering the building. The receptionist looks up from the desk with a yawn.

"Ms. Lang," the receptionist says before her eyes shift over. "Supergirl."

It's the most nonchalant statement possible.

"We're here to see Angela Beaumont," Lana says.

"Of course, she's currently up and watching television," the receptionist says. "Leroy, lead these ladies to Ms. Beaumont's room."

A stout older gentlemen nods and leads the two women across to the elevator and up to the third floor. Leroy turns around.

"I want to have a word with you, Supergirl," Leroy says in a thick Southern accent. "There's something I want to say to you for a long time."

Lana frowns, this might not bode well, but to her credit, Supergirl remains cool under the face of pressure.

"Yes?" Kara asks.

"You were the one who saved that train that was about to run off the tracks. The one that was sabotaged by them damn Intergang people. Well, my sister just happens to be on the train, and you saved her life. I tell you something, I don't think you get enough credit for what you do. You're alright Supergirl, thank you."

"I do what I can do to help," Supergirl says.

"Well, if more people did what they can do to help and stopped bitching about the problems over the Internet, and calling everyone who disagreed with them a God damn Nazi, the world would be a better place."

"Yeah," Supergirl agrees.

"Poor kid up there, she's been through a lot," Leroy says. "People like that Sleez, he gives y'all a bad name. Aliens, I mean."

"He really does."

The two women make their way to the room. Lana and Kara step into the room. Angela's eyes flicker towards the television screen. She watches the news, but really does not watching the news.

"I'm really sorry," Angie tells them. "I'm a real mess. I….I should be locked up for what I did. Maybe I'll stop hurting myself and others."

"None of this is your fault," Kara says.

Angie's eyes flicker, not really paying the Girl of Steel much mind.

"It's your job to say that," Angie says. "You don't have bad days, I mean people like you, don't have bad days."

"Yeah, I've had a few," Kara firmly says. "But it doesn't matter how bad the day is. It matters what you do from here."

"You've come a long way," Lana says.

"You're too good to us, Ms. Lang," Angie says. "People would have given up on a fuck-up like me a long time ago."

Angie thought about ending it all out of shame. Maybe she's too much a coward to do so, or perhaps there are other reasons. She remembers everything Sleez did to her, and she feels used and dirty.

"Giving up is not an option, not when there's people to be helped," Kara says. "And I don't think you should give up either. It's not going to be easy, but take things one day at a time."

"I'm just tired of it all," Angie says.

Kara gives her a sympathetic smile. She's going through a delicate time. A time where Angie feels that everything bad in her life is her fault. Kara's been down that dark road before. It's not pleasant to go down.

The weapon sits in front of Lena Luthor on the table. She's going to have to get it dismantled because such a dangerous weapon being allowed out in the open is not a good idea. She taps her hand on the side of the weapon and frowns.

"It's a small miracle it isn't properly deployed."

Right on schedule, Kara Danvers steps inside of the office. Lena greets her with a smile and a hug before the two of them part ways.

"I have the weapon that Sleez stole from Cadmus to try and use on Supergirl," Lena answers. "And it's remarkable and nasty even though I'm not sure Sleez really knew what he had in his hand. Then again, according to the reports, the drugs were nasty. Especially when Supergirl was injected with one of them."

A knowing smile passes over Lena's face. She cannot very well acknowledge what she knows to Kara because despite her best efforts, the walls do have ears every now and then. It has been commonly accepted by both of them Lena knows and Kara knows that she knows. And Lena understands Kara's reasons for keeping it a secret and would unfortunately do the same thing, should she have family worth protecting.

"My mother is a genius," Lena says with regret. "That's something that makes this more frustrating. She could have gone about saving the world by curing the ill and feeding the hungry. Instead, she chases aliens."

Then again, Lex had the same problem. He had the intellect to cure many of the world's deadliest diseases ten times over and make world hunger obsolete. Yet, he spends time on his fixation and suddenly, he's spending the rest of his life rotting behind bars.

"You can lead by example," Kara tells her.

"I try," Lena informs her. "It's not easy being a Luthor."

Boy wasn't that ever the truth.

"Ms. Luthor, your visitor is here to see you."

"Send him in," Lena says. Her smile brightens. "Well, Mr. Grayson, this is a pleasant surprise."

"Hello, Ms. Luthor," Dick says. "And we meet again, Ms. Danvers."

"Hello," Kara says.

Dick decides to enter the purely business mode by crossing the office and putting a stack of papers on the desk in front of Lena. "Mr. Fox asked me to do him a favor and drop these off to see if they're to your liking."

Lena takes up the papers and flips through them. She nods and looks pleased with what she's reading.

"Yes, that's to my liking, thank you," Lena tells him. "I'm sure Wayne Industries and L-Corp going together on this venture will both change the world and rattle a few cages."

Given how much distaste Lillian Luthor has for Bruce Wayne, who is not shy about his advocacy for alien rights, Lena can't help and smile at this. She smiles, drops the paper, and adds her signature to them to make it official. No sooner did she sign the papers, her phone rings.

"I have to take this call," Lena says a moment later. "I'll leave the two of you in my office, unsupervised. I'm sure I can trust you."

Lena leaves the office and leaves Dick and Kara standing alone in Lena's office.

"So, I'm going to be in National City for a couple more days," Dick says. "Would you care to join me for dinner tonight? So we can get a chance to know each other…outside of the capes I mean."

Kara nervously chews down on her lip. Dating, that's really not really a thing she has done for a long time.

"A date?" Kara asks him. "Are you sure about this? I mean, my dates have a nasty habit of ending abruptly when something comes up."

Dick gives her a smile. "That's something that I have in common with you. Happens to me way too much often."

It could be the main reason why Dick only dates people he works on the field with. Granted, that causes its own set of complications of something happening in the relationship effecting the work on the field.

"I want to ask you a question, about Nightwing. Does it have anything to do about the legend on Krypton or is it just a coincidence you have that name?"

"I'll see you at dinner," Dick tells her. "If you wish."

"Well, I could get out more often," Kara says. "It's a date."

He takes Kara's hand and kisses it. Smoothly and quickly, Dick moves out to meet Lena who is currently coming back down to the elevator.

Kara figures it would be best to swing by the DEO. She does not have to move too far through the building before she runs across Alex who is busy looking over a couple of things.

"So, how are things?" Kara asks.

Alex is about ready to ask Kara the same question. However, she decides to indulge her sister. "Well, the weapons have been secured, and Sleez is locked up. Daggett's….I'm not sure what we're going to do to him. We can't hold him forever…then again, we have a similar problem with Mannheim."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Kara says. "But, seriously, I'm glad everything's going well for once in our lives."

Alex raises an eyebrow and notices Kara is smiling and in general good spirts. It's hard not to smile due to Kara's fun loving nature and the fact she's in a good mood.

"I have a date," Kara tells Alex. "And it's with Dick Grayson."

A smile pops over Alex's face wider than ever before. "Oh, that's great. I'm so happy for your Kara and it's about time. You know, he's pretty easy on the eyes."

"Wait, I thought you didn't…."

Alex shakes her head with her smile growing. "Hey. Just because I prefer girls, doesn't mean I can't see if a guy is physically attractive. And I can see that he's physically attractive and I can see it too. I think it's about time for you to try out the dating thing again."

"Yeah, I think it is," Kara responds with a sigh.

They were dancing around the very obvious elephant in the room about how Kara's dating life tends to have a very checkered history.

"And you two have a lot in common given the large shadows you live in," Alex tells her sister. "I'm sure that you're going to have a great time. And remember, the world's not going to end because Supergirl takes a night off to go on a date."

"Yeah, I wouldn't tempt fate by admitting that," Kara says with a strained smile.

"And you should invite him back for coffee afterwards," Alex says.

"Couldn't we just go out for coffee?" Kara asks.

A raised eyebrow comes from the older sister. "When I say coffee…I mean…coffee with extra cream."

It takes Kara approximately ten seconds to get where Alex is coming from. Her mouth opens up wide in an "O" shape and she ducks her head for a second to break out into laughter.

"Are you trying to say…."

"I'm trying to say that life goes on," Alex says. "You should live it while you can. Today could have ended badly for a lot of us."

"I know what you're suggesting," Kara says. "And that seems a bit bold…even though when I was drugged, I was trying to rip his clothes off and if I let me I would have….."

"Fucked his brains out," Alex blandly suggests.

"Alex!" Kara yells.

"It's true and you know it's true," Alex says. "And you can say it's the Red Kryptonite talking all you want. You and I both know that that only removes the PC filter."

"Right," Kara says. "So, I'm going on a date, with Dick Grayson."

"You are," Alex agrees. "And I'm really happy for you. This is long overdue for you. Good luck."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm going to need it?" Kara asks.

She hopes not to be socially awkward and bumble this up.

Dick smiles and waits at the edge of the door. Kara makes her way in and wears a nice blue dress which fits on her nicely.

"You look beautiful," Dick tells her.

Kara opens her mouth when looking at Dick. Some of the old feelings start to flow to the surface. At least this time it verifies she's not just feeling things thanks to being dosed by the Red Kryptonite.

"You don't look too bad yourself," Kara manages.

"I try."

She wishes she's more relaxed. Dick reaches over and takes her by the arm. They move across the restaurant and then move to a private booth.

"When you name drop Bruce Wayne, you get moved to the front of the line," Dick says. "Of course, I don't make a habit of doing that for anyone."

"I'm honored," Kara tells him. "Sorry if I'm….it's been a long time since I've done this…the date thing I mean, it's been…well my last relationship…"

Kara sighs, it has been a few years, so she's most certainly gotten past the hurt there. And time heals all of the wounds possible.

"Bad break up?" Dick asks.

"It's complicated."

Time for Kara to move on though.

"I've been through those before," Dick answers in a somber voice. "And the things that shouldn't upset us, upset the most. The heart is strange like that. Emotions are always a tricky thing."

Kara wonders what the story is behind that, but knows better not to press.

"I'm really glad though that I'm back on the horse," Kara says. "Because, I'm ready to ride it through to the end..."

She trails off when realizing how wrong that could sound out of context. Kara takes in a deep breath.

"So, you grew up in the Circus?" Kara asks.

"Yes, before my parents died," Dick tells her.

"Sorry for bringing that up," Kara says.

"No, don't be, there were a lot of good people in that Circus, I still keep in touch with some friends," Dick tells her. "And besides, you have to remember where you came from even though it's painful to."

"Right," Kara agrees. "I like the Circus, but….I'll be perfectly honest, I don't really like clowns."

A dark smile appears over Dick's face. "Don't worry. I don't like clowns that much either. Too many bad experiences. Well, not with clowns in general. Just a clown."

Food and drinks come through the table. Kara smiles when she takes a bite into the food. There's so many thoughts that enter her mind.

"Are you okay after what happened?" Dick asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Kara says. "I guess though it brought some things into mind. I'm so repressed right now, it just came out."

"Maybe we can get you to loosen up a little bit," Dick says with a smile. "How about a dance?"

"I don't know," Kara says. "I mean, I'm not the best dancer."

"Well, you don't have to be as long as you're having fun."

Kara concedes he does have a point and takes the arm when offered to move out onto the dance floor. The two wrap their arms around each other when dancing. The music kicks a steady beat when Dick turns Kara and almost dips her down to the floor.

"So the Nightwing thing?" Kara asks her.

"Your cousin told me the story," Dick tells her with a smile. "It was a long time ago, but when I decided to move out of the Cave and into Bludhaven, I wanted to make a clean break. And Nightwing seemed like a pretty good name."

"It's a great name," Kara tells her. "I sometimes wish I had not been dubbed Supergirl by Cat. I mean, I'm not sure if Superwoman is a better name either, because it just…it's hard to escape that stigma of being compared to him. And he's great, Kal's great, a bit milktoast, but great. He's the boyscout to end all boyscouts, but still."

"Well, I'm sure if you really want, you can rebrand yourself," Dick says. "But, Supergirl is a symbol of hope for many people. Robin on the other hand, is Batman's dorky teen sidekick who wears stupid pixie boots."

"Holy bad fashion choice!" Kara exclaims.

Dick gives her a narrowed eyed expression which causes Kara to give her a sheepish grin.

"So, do you want to come back to my place for coffee?" Kara blurts out.

"Mmm, coffee," Dick tells her. "Yes, coffee is great. So are you the type of girl who likes extra cream in her coffee?"

"Loads!" Kara explains. "I mean…well…yeah, I guess."

"I prefer honey," Dick tells her with a knowing smile.

He dips Kara back onto the dance floor and gives her another kiss. Kara wraps her arms around Dick and deepens the kiss. His hand slides up her leg and Kara grabs it to slide it further up.

Unfortunately, an alarm comes up from across the street. Kara breaks free and sees that there are masked men inside of a hotel lobby across the street. Several of the occupants kneel down on the floor and there appears to be a bomb.

Kara turns to Dick, but he smiles and slips into the shadows.

About a minute later, Nightwing and Supergirl suit up and prepare to take care of a hostage crisis.

"Sorry, coffee is going to have to wait," Supergirl says.

"Well, it always tastes better after your adrenaline is worked up," Nightwing tells her.

End.

Thanks for all of the favorites, follows, views, kudos, and comments and I'll see you elsewhere for future projects down the road.