Chapter Text
"I've got you!" Alex said, tightening her embrace around her sister.
Kara inhaled Alex's perfume, using it to anchor herself, to convince herself this was real, that she really was on a ship with her friends and family.
Somewhere in the distance, she heard an assertive voice giving orders. Alex didn't move and held her close. Kara could feel the surge of powers provided by the sun bomb fading away slowly.
Soon enough other arms were around her and Alex, welcoming her back to the world of the living. She cried as they whispered reassuring words to her. They cried too. It was all a blur of heightened emotions and sensations, both overwhelming and reassuring. Kara was exhausted and couldn't tell her companions apart in this blur, but she didn't care for now.
Somehow someone sat her down and gave her some water to drink. The feeling was odd in her mouth, but she drank more.
Alex kissed her cheek and put an arm around her shoulder to hold her upright. The exhaustion was taking a toll on her and she could feel her eyes closing, her eyelids so heavy all of a sudden. Before she completely surrendered to the immense fatigue weighing her down, green eyes and a familiar face came into view. Her heart grew twice its size. She smiled, swallowed to find the strength to speak, and whispered
"Lena!"
Then, she rolled around in Alex's arms and let herself fall asleep.
Kara opened her eyes with difficulty. She heard voices around her and the familiar buzzing of the sun lamps. She batted her eyelids and decided to sleep some more. It took her several similar attempts before she was rested enough. She didn't move an inch and listened. She knew her powers were back to a certain extent as sounds came to her louder than they should have. Someone was in the same room, tinkering at something. She heard the distant melody of a heartbeat and recognized the chords right away.
Somewhere nearby, there were other people, but since Kara couldn't yet gather enough strength to deal with more than one person, she decided to signal her waking up to just the person next to her. She inhaled and exhaled loudly and slowly tapped her fingers on the metal bed. The heartbeat picked up speed and the person turned around and walked towards the bed.
As Lena came into view, Kara put a finger on her own lips to ask for silence as she looked to the side to indicate the other persons outside the med bay. Lena nodded and smiled a shy smile. Kara extended her hand outside the sun lamps, waiting for Lena to take it. Lena did and squeezed. Gently at first, then added pressure gradually. Kara smiled brightly and winked.
Lena put down the tablet she was holding. With her free hand, Lena mimed drinking and eating as a question for Kara. Kara shook her head, her eyes not leaving Lena's. Several minutes passed. Lena's eyes only went away long enough to type something on the tablet with her free hand. She took it back and showed it to Kara.
"We got back on Earth safely. You've been sleeping under the sun lamps for 2 days. Your father is resting too in another room."
Kara smiled. Lena put the tablet down and typed another message
"Welcome back!!! It's so good to see you!!!"
Kara beamed and squeezed Lena's hand a little tighter. There was a noise outside and it drove their attention away from each other. Lena bent over the sun lamps and whispered "close your eyes". Kara understood and did as she was told, letting go of Lena's hand too. She heard Alex and J'onn getting closer and pretended to sleep. It was easy to do so. She was still very tired and could probably fall back asleep if she pretended too long.
"Is she awake?" Alex asked when she found Lena bent over the lamps.
"I heard her take a few loud exhales, I think she might be waking up" Lena answered.
Alex put her hand on Kara's, and her little sister stirred just a bit. She was actually falling back asleep. She slowly opened her eyes just to say hi. Alex's hand was on her cheek as soon as she saw her eyes open.
"Hey kiddo!"
Kara leaned into the touch, making a sound close to purring. Her sister's affection was everything! Her eyes turned to Lena and she smiled at her. J'onn came into view next to Lena and Kara smiled at him too.
"Are you still sleepy? Do you want to go back to sleep?" Alex asked.
Kara nodded, her eyes closing again. She fell asleep without realizing it.
The next time she woke up, her father was next to her. He was reading a book and looked up to find her watching him. He smiled fondly at her, closed his book and took her hand.
He was dressed in different Kryptonian clothes, in burgundy and black, uncannily close to the outfit Alura had chosen to fight against the World Killers almost three years ago.
Zor-El gave her a few minutes to wake up properly and spoke to her in Kryptonian.
He explained her friends and family had taken good care of him from the moment she'd fallen asleep. They had all treated him as family even though they didn't know him and they'd all made sure he had everything he needed.
Only Alex was a little suspicious of him, and Zor-El suspected he'd need to prove himself worthy of her trust. He'd realized she was a soldier, and very protective towards Kara, which he respected.
The scientist woman named Lena had also provided him with knowledge in the form of books, small items he found fascinating.
This coaxed a laugh out of Kara who responded in Kryptonian that she wasn't surprised he'd gotten books from Lena. Zor-El said that she was the smartest human he'd met so far, smart enough to enter the Kryptonian science guild and Kara agreed.
They kept talking. Kara had slept another few hours under the sun lamps and according to what her friends explained she hadn't regained all her powers yet.
Zor-El knew the yellow sun provided powers to Kryptonians, but it was so different to experience it first hand. So he asked Kara to talk about her powers when she first landed. Kara sat up and told him everything.
Her voice drove J'onn inside the room. She stopped talking long enough to open her arms towards him. J'onn gave a side glance to Zor-El as he hesitated, but Kara, who didn't understand why her space dad hesitated, urged him with a " come here!" so he obliged and hugged her. Zor-El observed. He'd seen the group do this when he and Kara had boarded the ship and several times since. Humans and aliens in his daughter's group seemed to be very affectionate with one another.
"Do you need anything?" J'onn asked
"A real bed would be cool," Kara said. "And a shower! Where are the others?"
"Alex went to your apartment to pack up some clothes for you. Kelly had an appointment with Andrea Rojas. Brainy and Nia are busy with a Catco assignment, Mega'nn is patrolling the city as Supergirl, She and Superman have been taking turns protecting the city and Lena went home to freshen up. I told Superman you were back, he came here when you were still sleeping yesterday. He'll come back soon. Also, Eliza is flying here later tonight."
"Ok, great!... How long was I gone?" Kara asked.
"Three months. It's August now."
"You guys are the best! Three months to find me?! It could have taken years!"
"We all wish we'd found you a lot sooner!" J'onn said, a hint of shame in his voice.
"I'm glad you found me, us...at all! Thank you for rescuing us!"
J'onn simply nodded. Zor-El who was still observing them, saw in the Martian's eyes a fatherly expression as he looked at Kara. He kissed Kara's temple and added
"It's good to have you back!"