Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Survivors

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 13: Broken

“Hey, what are you doing out here? I thought we had gotten passed sleeping on the roof?”

Jeremiah stepped out his daughters bedroom window, not having heard Kara in a while. She had been shaken obviously as they all had, by the events and the Danvers watched her for a possible panic attack, but Kara had seemed to take the whole thing in stride. Alex was downstairs on the couch, Eliza feeding her Tylenol and keeping a bag of ice on her head, while Clark poked and prodded her to get attention. While it could have been a lot worse, the girl still had a good bump on the head from Kara taking her to the ground and covering her.

“Is Alex okay?” Kara asked, continuing to look at the stars.

“Yeah, her little headache is going away. She has been bugging me to come get you, wondering why you aren’t with her? Was it the noise today? Are you having one of those feelings? You promised to tell me or Eliza if you started to sweat or get nervous, remember? We can take some deep breaths and count backwards. You can try to explain those crazy equations you know that I will never have a chance of understanding.”

“I feel fine. I’ve been listening to Alex’s heartbeat. She is relaxing. I should have cushioned her head when I knocked her over.”

Jeremiah shook his head and frowned. “Kara, you saved her life. If you hadn’t been there, she would be dead.”

“She was only there because I wanted her to go. She didn’t want to go.” the blonde countered.

Jeremiah nodded his head. “Eleven kids were injured, three with burns and eight with broken bones and burns. You know who wasn’t injured? Your sister. She came home with a slight headache because of you. This isn’t really about Alex’s head, is it?”

“I could have saved them all. I hesitated. I… if no one had been there, I could have gotten the woman and child out, I could have ripped open the roof of the car. I could have grabbed the power line and moved it away from the gasoline so nobody would be injured. I should have been smart enough and fast enough to save them all. But I couldn’t. I froze. There were too many people around and I knew if I did save them everybody would have known that I was different. Clark and your family will always be my first priority. I do not regret that. I could not take the chance, but I should have done something.I should have figured out a way without exposing myself or us. I… I almost couldn’t save Alex. I… froze? Yes, I froze. I was so surprised, even though it seemed like it was happening in slow motion, I… I almost did not get to Alex in time. She was right next to me but I had plenty of time, I should have. The metal hit me. I was almost too late to save her. And then I had and I wanted to make sure she was okay, then I remembered. For a second I had forgotten. I saw inside the car. I saw the look on the mother’s face.I saw the baby’s face before the blast. I am fast. I have never shown you how fast I really am. None of you have seen it but I am fast. Why was I so slow? Alex could have been killed because I didn’t move and she was right next to me. I should have saved the lady and baby, grabbed Alex and ran. I should have taken the power line and moved it away before anyone noticed. I think I could have. I think I would have been fast enough… to do it without anyone knowing.”

“Kara, we don’t know what effect electricity has on you and I don’t want to find out. As hard as this is to understand, you did everything you could have done. You saved Alex. That was more than a lot of kids would have been able to do.”

“I should have saved everyone. I wasn’t smart enough to figure out a way but there had to be a way.”

Jeremiah sighed and took her hand. “Kara, no one person can save everyone. Not even you.”

“The mother’s face. She was looking at her baby in the car seat. She must have smelt the gas. I had seen the look on her face before. I saw it on my own mother the last time I saw her. That mother knew that she was going to die and her baby as well. She knew it. I was too slow, too stupid, too afraid to do anything. I could have really hurt Alex. I could have cracked her skull because I hit her too hard.”

“No, you couldn’t have Kara. You are very good at controlling your strength. You were a hero today.”

“I do not feel like a hero, Jeremiah. I feel like a coward.”

“Well, Alex thinks differently and she is really worried about you. She wants you downstairs with her. We all do. Eliza wants her to sleep in our room tonight. We are going to wake her every few hours to make sure she is feeling okay, just in case she has a slight concussion. You want to sleep in our room too? We can blow up air mattresses and bring Clark in. We can have a big camp out.”

Kara shook her head. “Alex needs to rest. It is best she have a lot of room for herself. I will be down to check on her in a bit.”

“Just need some time huh? Kara, I am serious. No hero can save everyone.”

Kara nodded her head, not wanting to argue. She stayed on the roof twenty minutes after Jeremiah had gone inside, doing nothing but staring at the stars. Walking downstairs, she kissed a still grateful and worried Alex on the forehead and announced she was going to give Clark a bath and they would be going to bed.

The blonde tried to sleep but all she saw when she closed her eyes was her mother’s face before she got into the pod and was sent off. The sound of an explosion woke her every time. The next morning, she came down and ate a small breakfast then went for a walk since Eliza insisted she could not go to school alone. It was fine with her, as Kara did not feel like going anyway. She had no more desire to listen to children call her a freak, a slut with a child, an idiot or an arsonist. She didn’t tell Alex but Kara heard them all, always talking about her.

Instead she took a walk much to Alex’s irritation as she was still couch ridden because she felt Eliza was freaking out way too much. Her head felt fine and while Eliza wanted Alex to follow the girl because of Kara’s behavior, she erred on the side of caution. The mother thought of following her, but Kara was gone by the time Eliza made it to the porch. She asked Jeremiah where the cave was, but he told her to give the girl some space. Eliza didn’t exactly agree.

Kara had ran, after looking around to ensure no one was watching her. The blonde decided she needed to train and her cave was the only place she knew where she could truly be herself with no one around. Dante would be coming tomorrow but Kara would be having Jeremiah call him. She did not want to see him tomorrow or J’onn on Sunday. She needed control of her powers and she felt she shouldn’t be babied any longer.

So the blonde sat. She stared at the wall. She didn’t make herself angry or need to make herself anymore depressed. She just remembered the feeling of the power in her eyes, the warmth in her body and brought it forward. She felt it, flexed it and grabbed on to it. Relaxing her heart rate as much as possible, Kara let lose, hitting the familiar wall in front of her, one that had already became nearly smooth due to the heat she placed on her favorite target area. Without closing her eyes, she forced it down, sweat dripping off her forehead from the effort. The girl nearly passed out from exertion but shook her head and stayed awake.

Then she did it again and again over and over for the next four hours. Finally she had just enough to conduct one last test. Kara looked at her right forearm and lit it up. She nearly screamed from the pain but clenched her teeth instead. The pain flared her power more but after a few seconds she was able to move her head away and shut her eyes, closing off the power.

Then the pain really hit her. Kara did scream, her arm nearly numb but not numb enough to hold off the searing flesh. Making herself look, she could tell her arm was red and swollen, some parts blackened.

Then the pain lessened. She watched her arm in fascination as the black spots, the redness and swelling went away completely along with the pain. Flexing her fingers, she noted that her arm was unblemished.

“So we can hurt each other. They can hurt me but I can hurt them.” Kara whispered. “But it goes away. Think Kara. We can’t be all powerful. How would we kill each other? If Non is strong enough, he could burn through me. If he hit my heart or… head! Eyes! The brain controls everything. If I can place my beams into and through his eyes I can burn his brain. If his brain is burned he would have no chance of living. He would die. His cells would be unable to store power. He… I could finish this. I know I can. I just have to get close enough. I have to find him and get close enough. Then no more deaths.”

Deciding she knew enough and wondering how she would have the energy to make the walk back home, she found Alex and Eliza waiting for her at the cave’s entrance.

“Hi? I thought you were not supposed to be moving much Alex?”

“Yeah, well I wasn’t going to let you brood for hours by yourself. Mom wanted to come look for you and wouldn’t let me come by myself so we both took a hiking trip. Why were you screaming? Why can I feel the heat inside even from out here? There is steam coming off of you. Your clothes are smoking! You have been in there the entire time, haven’t you? I thought Dante was supposed to work on that with you? Did he give you homework?”

“No! I just wanted to practice. I don’t feel ready for Dante tomorrow. I do not want to talk to J’onn on Sunday. I just want to… relax this weekend so I thought I would practice. I did well. I started and stopped on my own.”

“Yeah, for four hours. You look like hell. Why did you scream? Mom tried to rush inside but her shoes nearly melted the second her foot touched the rock. What happened?”

“Uh… I was frustrated.”

“Why? Sounds like you were doing good. You burnt yourself, didn’t you?” Alex accused.

Kara said nothing, but dropped her head.

“Oh honey, why would you do that? Let me see!” Eliza dropped next to the girl and was relieved to see nothing marking her skin. Perhaps Alex was wrong.

“Kara sweetie, you didn’t burn yourself, did you?” the mother asked.

Kara tried to swallow though her throat was very dry. “I needed…”

“I swear if you say you needed pain and this is some kind of emo Kryptonian self harm phase you are going through…” Alex started.

“No! I needed to know if we could hurt each other with our heat vision! I needed to know what it felt like and if I could recover. I needed to know if I can hurt him! I need to know if I can stop him but I healed! The only way to stop him is to hit his eyes and I am not sure that will even work!” Kara shouted, shocking both women. Neither had heard her shout in anger since the night she had found out about Non and Astra.

“Him? You think you are going to go after Non? You aren’t. You are coming back to the house and we are going to watch TV and eat Ice Cream and if you are lucky I won’t make you rub my feet for being so stupid!” Alex yelled back.

“I’m cursed! Death follows me everywhere! I brought Rozz here! It is my fault, my families fault! I am going to have to be the one to stop this one day! You expect me to sit here while my Aunt and Uncle kill people!”

“I expect you to live. You agreed that you would live, not be some weapon to use against Non. Those guys won’t let you find him anyway.”

“And when he finds me? What about you and your parents, Alex?”

“They are your parents now too!”

“Eliza does not have a sister who is killing people!” Kara began to walk past them but stumbled, her foot catching a root and dropped face first to the ground.

“Yeah, you are ready to go after Non. You used up so much energy you can’t walk straight. What those people are doing is not your fault. You may share blood with Astra but you are not responsible for her. I am your family now. We are, all of us.”

Kara stood up shakily and brushed the dirt off her face. “I know you are my family, Alex. One of my families died. Do you think I want to watch another one die?”

Kara took off, walking slowly for her but faster than the Danvers could walk. Both Eliza and Alex were relieved to find out that Kara had returned home, just as Jeremiah had planned to go after all three women, Clark in tow.

Alex was about to run to the bedroom when Kara came down, wearing clean clothes and apparently having washed her face.

“I am sorry I yelled at you both. Please forgive me. I love you both.”

Eliza held her, assuring her that she was okay, giving her words of understanding, which Kara gratefully accepted, though Alex was not fooled one bit. She knew there was no way Kara had calmed down that quickly.

For the rest of the night Alex kept an eye on her and Kara was doing a perfect job at pretending she was fine. She laughed and played with Clark, tried to goad Alex into singing with her, and smiled often, nearly non stop. Alex slept in her room but hardly slept,keeping an eye on the blonde in the bed next to her. She knew Kara wasn’t sleeping as well. When Kara was really asleep she did not snore but had a distinctive nasally wheeze that occurred off and on every ten minutes or so. The girl thought of calling out to her but didn’t, instead giving her time and space and making sure she didn’t run.

Kara did not make it down for breakfast that morning. Alex thought she had actually feel asleep sometime around five AM so let her lie. Dante knocked on the door at 10.

“Hey Dante.” Jeremiah greeted him. “I got a message to Connolly that Kara wasn’t feeling like…”

“Yes, I got the message. I thought I would check and see if she might change her mind. If she still doesn’t want to, ask her if she would like a swimming lesson today. I understand Alex was close to an accident and some children were harmed. Is she okay?”

“Kara saved her life, or she would be dead.” the father told him. Dante nodded his head, thinking how to put the next question.

“Did anyone see Kara do anything strange while she was saving Alex? Be hit by metal that didn’t hurt her, covered in fire and not burned? I read the hospital reports of the other victims. It should have harmed both of them. No one has said anything?”

“No.” Jeremiah shook his head. “It happened so quickly, no one really had time to see anything. Why? Do we need to move? How much time do we have. We have our…”

“Calm down. I just wanted to know if anyone had brought up anything and talk to the person if they had suspicions and if they shared them with anyone else.”

“If they had suspicions then wouldn’t you talking to them kind of confirm those suspicions?” Eliza asked.

Dante didn’t answer.

“You wouldn’t be asking them not to say anything, would you?” Jeremiah guessed.

“No. I would make sure they didn’t. I realize this seems extreme but your daughters, both of them, and new son’s life could hang in the balance. You know which side we fall on. Our mission, our primary mission assigned by J’onn is to keep your family safe at all costs to the point that one of us is always back while the rest are on missions. You don’t need to know anymore, just that we are good at what we do.”

“I… I understand.” the father told him, shocked a bit.

“You would kill…” Eliza started.

“You would kill anyone who tried to harm your family. Is it difficult to believe we would be any different? Kara is the number one target of alien criminals and government sponsored criminals like Hank Henshaw. That makes you all targets. Would you mind if I came in? Perhaps Kara could at least talk to me today?”

“She burned herself yesterday.” Eliza blurted out without thinking. “She said she wanted to be alone. Alex and I followed her, she was in the cave. She was there for nearly four hours starting and stopping her heat vision and then she screamed… she burned herself.”

“She did what?” Dante asked too quietly. “Did she say why? Is she okay?”

“Yes, she said she healed and I couldn’t find a mark on her. She said she wanted to know how to fight Non, how to kill him. She needed to know if she could be harmed and if he could. She said something about his eyes… and then she tripped and ran back to the house. When we got here she seemed fine. She apologized and…”

“Kara isn’t here.” Alex told her parents angrily. “Her clothes and everything are still here…”

“Is Clark in bed?” the father asked.

“Yeah, he is awake and trying to pull himself out of bed but she isn’t here.”

“I can call Vivian. If she has her cellphone…”

“She doesn’t, Dante. She probably has her I Phone on her. I didn’t see it on the charger.” Alex suggested.

Dante was hoping she hadn’t crushed it or left it somewhere. He pulled out his phone but was stopped by Jeremiah.

“I have her. I know where she is.”

“How?” Alex asked.

“Find an I Phone app. I know where all the phones are.”

“You said we didn’t have that feature.” Alex reminded him.

“Like I am going to tell my teenager daughter that I do, so you can figure out a way to turn it off? Not likely. Just so you know if I ever do find it off I am taking your phone away. I know where she is. Let us handle this Dante. Thanks for everything. She… I will talk to her but forcing her to talk or do anything she doesn’t want to do isn’t a good idea right now.”

“I understand.” he agreed. “Day or night, call me and one of us will be here. It will be me unless I am in the field.”

Jeremiah grabbed his keys, telling Alex and Eliza to stay put and left before they could argue.

Ten minutes later, the man pulled up to the Cemetery and turned off his car. He didn’t have to walk far. Kara was on a bench on top of the hill where a funeral was being held below. Jeremiah sat down next to her but she never took her eyes away from the two coffins below, one very small one.

“On Krypton, we do not bury our dead.” she told him quietly. “We place the dead in a pod. We pray and the pod is sent into Rao to be in his light.”

“Kara…”

“It’s not true. The two coffins I mean. I can see. There was not enough left… there are two coffins but the baby and mother are together in the larger coffin.”

“You weren’t driving that car. I heard from a friend in town that a dog had ran into the path of the car. She swerved and hit a slick spot on the road. The car flipped on its side and rammed a power line pole. The power line fell and the car exploded. You didn’t make that dog go into the road. You didn’t crash the car to avoid it. You didn’t even put the slick spot on the road. You didn’t cause it to rain the night before, making the normally dry oil on the pavement slick. What happened is a tragedy. Tragedy happens Kara. It happened to you. It happens…”

“If I had never come, Alex would not have been on that beach and never been in danger. If I had not come, Aunt Astra and Non would have never had reason to kill those men who had taken my pod. How many more deaths will follow me, Jeremiah? I was fast enough to save them all. Alex, the woman and her baby. I didn’t though. I was fast enough.”

“No, you aren’t. You are human now and you did exactly what you were supposed to do. You protected Alex, you protected Clark and us. You did more than expected, more than any other kid would have done. Kara those men worked for an organization that hunted aliens and they were killed by aliens. It would have happened regardless. Your aunt is not your responsibility. She isn’t even your aunt. You may have the same blood but souls are what matter and I promise you, she would not care about those two people. Getting yourself killed isn’t the answer.”

“And if I was? If I was killed you would take care of Kal El wouldn’t you?”

Jeremiah sighed. “Of course I would. So this is the part where we go home and wake up tomorrow with a note from you, saying to please take care of Clark and you are going to… what is your plan, Kara? You might as well tell me, since you know I can’t stop you. Turn yourself into the DEO? You don’t even know where Astra is. So what is the plan? You are very smart and I am sure you have this worked out. Save yourself the trouble of writing a note and just tell me.”

Kara tore her eyes away from the funeral below her.

“I need to learn to fly. I know what it feels like. I can do it on my own. I will run back to where I landed, find a city and fly. Everyone will see me. The DEO will attempt to capture me maybe but I can outrun them. I already have. Aunt Astra will have seen me on television. She will find me.”

“And then what? You are going to fight Non? Beat him and all will be okay with the world? What about your aunt?”

“She would choose me over him. I know she would. I do not think I can beat him but I will try and if I die, perhaps her eyes will be opened and she will see the kind of person he is. She can defeat him.”

Jeremiah sat back and thought about this.

“And if she doesn’t? Do you think she doesn’t know the type of man he is?”

“She will kill him to save or avenge me.”

“And then who will stop her? Non wasn’t forcing her to attack those men. I doubt he could from what I understand about her. Do you think he forced her to kill those men on Krypton?”

A large tear rolled down Kara’s unchanging face.

“I don’t know.” she told him, her voice cracking. “I am just so tired of death. I am so sick of it Jeremiah. I just want it to stop.”

Jeremiah moved closer and wrapped his arms around the girl. Kara turned into him and cried. He wasn’t sure how long she cried. The funeral had ended and the mourners had gone but she didn’t notice. By the time her tears had dried and her breathing had slowed down, she was only clutching onto Jeremiah’s jacket and her eyes remained closed.

“Can I tell you a story?” he asked finally. “When Alex first told us about you, I made her. She told us that she would never betray you, even if it meant we grounded her for life. When you ran, those three days you and Clark were away, she wouldn’t eat, she wouldn’t hardly speak, she didn’t sleep. I had never in my life seen her like that. It was like you had died and to her I guess you did. Since you have been with her, she has come alive in ways she never has been before. She is stronger, more sure of herself and so devoted to you that if you left it would destroy her. I know you don’t want to do that to her. Clark needs you. He relies on you Kara. Eliza and I, we need you. You see you agreed to become part of our family. That means we all need each other. If you are tired of death, why do you want to fight?”

“I don’t want to. I have to.”

“No, you do not have to ever fight. The world is not on your shoulders. You can honor your parents, your people by living. Don’t become like those others, Hank Henshaw, Astra, Non. They can be stopped. It doesn’t have to be you. It shouldn’t be you. All you would be doing is quitting. You know you can’t stop this Non. You would be committing suicide and for what? Hoping your Aunt kills him? What if she does and without you, she becomes worse than he is? You of all people know anger can eat you up inside, turn you into someone different. You have to let it go, Kara. You have people that need you and love you. You are more than some weapon or a martyr. You are our daughter and Alex’s sister and Clark is your little brother, not your cousin. You are brilliant, a great singer, an amazing artist. You have everything this world has to offer in front of you and you get to choose who you are going to be.”

“What am I supposed to do? Go to college? To be what? What is the point? I have no direction, no path, no mission. Clark doesn’t even need me to care for him anymore. He has Eliza and you and Alex.”

“And all of us, need you. You are thirteen. You aren’t supposed to have a direction or a path yet and unless you join the military you aren’t really supposed to have mission. Despite Alex being certain about what she wants to do one day she is probably going to change her mind a hundred times. Kara, I cannot stop you. Only a few people on this planet can. If you really want to run, fight, die or kill, I will get in my car and leave. You can take anything with you that you want. We will keep Clark safe. There is no need to sneak away, leave notes. I am just asking you to think about it. Think about a life where Clark has you and Alex as big sisters. A life with you and Alex side by side, having good times and bad times and being there for each other. Think of all the things you can do in life to help people without fighting and dying. There are a lot of heroes in this world and not all of them hold guns. Most of them don’t. These guys you have watching over you? They carry guns but they put them down to help you, to help all of us. I want you with us. I will beg you if I have to. But I can’t stop you. I’m going to go to the car. You feel like coming with me, maybe force me to watch the Notebook again, cheer Alex up? Her and Eliza are worried, scared, they just know you are going to run. If you don’t want to come, I won’t try to make you.”

Kara took her face out off of his chest, taking in the kindness in his eyes. She noted he was crying a bit as well but he had that bright smile she had quickly learn to love. Jeremiah always made her feel… safe.

“This is… would… I want to go home.” she admitted.

Jeremiah put his arm under her leg and picked her up, Kara curled into his arms, and carried her to the car.

Alex and Eliza were waiting on the porch, both watching the GPS I Phone apps and relieved to see the two phones were in one place and coming back. Alex as always was the first to grab her.

“Do not leave without telling me where you are going! Please? I thought…”

“I won’t. I promise I am not going anywhere. I’m sorry.”

“And don’t burn yourself again? Swear.”

“I won’t. I swear.” the blonde told her.

“Come inside. Clark is ready for lunch. I think we all are. I am going to grill chicken. Do you want to learn how Kara?” Eliza asked.

“You are going to grill a bird?”

“Its already dead.” Alex reminded her, again. “We agreed chickens are fair game because they aren’t cute birds. Somebody is going to eat them. May as well be us, right?”

“Yep, may as well be us.” the blonde agreed.

“Yes! You used yep. You have come so far. Come on, since you took off without me you can see if Clark needs a diaper change.”

Kara followed grumbling, leaving Jeremiah and Eliza alone.

“Is she going to be okay?” the mother asked.

“It’s going to be a long road but we will get her there.” he told his wife.

“She was at the funeral?”

“Watching from the top of the hill.” he admitted. “She wants to save the world, Eliza, even if it kills her. She has too much on her. If she were human we would be taking her to grief counselors, psychiatrists, therapists. Instead we are relying on Martians and Navy Seals for the therapy she needs. She has the weight of the world on her small shoulders and it is going to crush her if it keeps up. This aunt and uncle of hers? I would kill them both if I could. They are destroying her and they aren’t even around her.”

“We can do it. We just have to love her and make sure she understands that.”

“We will. She won’t leave. If she would have she would have left today.”

“How close was it? Do I even want to know?”

“She planned to travel back across country and cause a scene by flying so her Aunt would find her. Then she planned to kill Non or force him to kill her so her aunt would kill Non. How many 13 year olds do you know that sit up thinking about things like that?”

“Dear God. Okay… the first thing we have to do is get her fed. You are going to watch the Notebook with us…”‘

“I already promised.”

“And… we love her. We already do. We just have to make sure… I don’t know. Maybe… maybe thats the problem. Maybe she needs a mother. A real mother.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, beginning to get a bit worried. “You are a great mother.”

“No, I really haven’t been, but that needs to change.”

Eliza walked inside and up the stairs, happy to find the girls in their room, playing with Clark.

“Alex, could I have a minute to speak to Kara?”

“Uh… okay. C’mon Clark, we can get Dad to get the pit ready to grill.” Alex looked uncertainly at Eliza and then left with the boy.

“Kara dear, have a seat next to me.”

“Okay.” Kara sat on the edge of the bed next to the woman, who took her small hands in hers.

“Kara you said on Krypton that children always obeyed their parents, right?”

“Yes…”

“Here things are sort of the same. You don’t dishonor your house or get kicked out or anything but you do get in trouble if you don’t obey. You understand that, right?”

‘Yes…”

“You agreed that you are a member of this family. I will never expect to replace your mother or for Jeremiah to replace your father but you are ours now, right? And as parents we set the rules in the house. You understand?”

“Yes…”

“There are some rules you are going to have to follow or you are going to be in trouble. Number one, you are never to practice your powers unless someone is with you. Ever. Understand?”

“Okay…”

“Number two, don’t you ever think about burning yourself again just to see what happens. Never. Do not ever harm yourself.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m not done. When you leave the house, let one of us know where you are going and when you will be back. If Jeremiah or I say you can’t go then you don’t.”

“Okay.”

“If you ever try to run away I will find you and you do not want to see me when I do. Angry will not begin to describe what I will be feeling.”

“But…”

“Never. That is not up for discussion. None of these are. When you are upset you let Jeremiah and I know. If you want to talk to J’onn or one of us that is fine, you can even talk to Alex about it but you will talk to someone. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am.” Kara tried.

“Cut it out. Puppy dog eyes may work on Jeremiah and Alex but they do not work on me… okay yours are very good, but they won’t work. If you break one of these rules you will be grounded.”

“Grounded?”

“Yes, grounded for as long as Jeremiah and I think you should be, no different than if Alex screws up.”

“But I don’t really do anything to be grounded from.”

“Really? No TV for a week?”

“Seven days!?”

Maybe less, maybe more. No sticky buns, pies, chocolate or pot stickers.”

“But thats food!”

“Vegetables and meat are as well. You can live without sticky buns, pies, chocolate and pot stickers. No pies, no phone…”

“I don’t use my phone. I am afraid I will crack the screen.” she tried.

“If you can run cross country with a baby in your arms I don’t think you will crack a screen. So you don’t listen to the playlist Alex made for you?”

“They are really good songs. No phone? Really?”

“Really. These are a few of the things I can ground you from. Face it, you may not have had anything to be grounded from when you came to us but you have become addicted to enough things now that punishment is no walk in the park. You are a member of this family and will follow these rules. They are no different than what Alex is not allowed to do.”

“Alex isn’t allowed to burn herself with heat vision?”

Eliza stopped for a moment. “Uh… okay, but she has other rules she cant break like performing surgeries on healthy animals. Now do you understand the rules?”

Kara nodded her head. “Yes. I will not break the rules.”

“I know you won’t because you are a good girl. I love you. I only wants what is best for you just like I want what is best for Alex. You are both my girls now and just like her if you screw up I am going to ground you.”

“Because you love me?” she asked doubtfully.

“Exactly. Ready to learn to grill chicken?”

The blonde grinned. “Yes. I think it is cruel to do this to a bird but they do taste good.”

“Yes they do. I won’t even try to ever prepare lamb for you.”

“People eat lambs?!” she nearly screamed. They were so cute. “Eliza, do you really think it isn’t my fault that the woman and baby are dead?”

Eliza stopped and bent down, looking her in the eye. “No matter how powerful you are Kara, you are not a god. Tragedy happened on Earth before you arrived and it will continue. Its part of life. Just remember every time you see Alex smile, she is able because you saved her life. You may not think you did enough, but you did more than anyone else could have. She is alive because of you and not just because you saved her life. You have given her new life since she found you. You are a hero and we are all proud of you. Lets go eat before I decide I am still mad about you burning yourself yesterday and retroactively ground you.”

“Eating sounds good. Time to grill a chicken.” Eliza watched the blonde blur move down the stairs and let out a breath. Kara needed a mother, not someone to treat her like glass. As tough as it would be, she would make herself be that mother.

The next morning the doorbell rang. Not expecting anyone, Jeremiah looked at Kara who was sitting on the couch with Kal.

“Do you want me to use my powers or not? I am getting… mixed signals?” she admitted.

Jeremiah admitted she had a point. “For safety’s sake feel free to use X ray vision at anytime. Sound good?”

Kara nodded and looked carefully. She saw the human guise of the Martian.

“J’onn.” she confirmed, disappointed. She had told Jeremiah she didn’t feel like talking today.

The father opened the door and J’onn walked in with a smile, shifting into his green form the second the door was closed.

“Good morning Jeremiah.” he greeted him and noted Eliza and Alex walking out of the kitchen.”Ladies. I realize you wouldn’t be coming today but I needed to talk to Kara. Would you mind if I borrowed her for a moment?”

“We will give you two some privacy.” Eliza agreed, picking up Clark and the four walking into the kitchen to the backyard. A beach trip was discussed and items needed to be prepared.

“I don’t feel like talking today. J’onn.” Kara tried, doing her best not to whine.

“Good, because I came here for you to listen.” The Martian sat down across from her. “Are you that stupid?”

Kara was shocked by his tone and question. “What? Are you mad? Why are you mad?”

“Because you thought about getting us both killed! You thought you would fight Non? I can’t beat Non, not yet. I haven’t figured out a way. I am not ready. And I am not mad. You do not want to see me mad. I am disappointed and trying to figure out how such a smart girl as yourself can be so stupid.”

“I wasn’t being stupid. I told Jeremiah I wouldn’t do it. What does this have to do with you?”

“Because if I see you flying on TV, guess who is going to be flying next to you? Me. He will attack you or try and take you and I will attack both of them and the results probably won’t turn in either of our favors. Are you trying to get me killed? I am three hundred years old. I will find a way to beat both of them, perhaps even take your aunt in alive, if you would give me a chance to plan.”

“I never would ask you to be involved in my fight.” Kara countered.

“Your fight? Your fight? You are here a couple months and you think it’s your fight? I won’t let you fight on your own. If we both die who stops them? I have to be alive so you don’t have to fight them. You won’t be alone. Meaning if you fight, I fight. So stay low and give me time. Live your life so I don’t have to worry about you going on suicide missions and let me and my team do what we are good at!”

“Why? Why do you care?!”

“Why do I care? Fine, you really want to hear it? I told you my people died. My family died, murdered by White Martians. My entire race died but it is the faces of my wife and daughters I see every night. I see them screaming, helpless, watching them die before my eyes. Do you know why I do what I do? Because I wanted to save aliens, try to make up for the loss I was powerless to stop. That I was to weak to prevent. So I help, I find and I hide aliens. I hide them in places they will never be found but these places are not paradise. Then you show up. A young girl, the same age as one of my daughters. I have never found a child who escaped to this planet. If you hadn’t found the Danvers, I would have left the Navy and taken you and Clark in on my own. I won’t fail another young girl. Not again, not ever. I swore when they found that pod and knew there had been a girl and a baby in it that I would find you and I would not fail you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough. I know you are brave and hard headed and broken. I know if you don’t start to repair yourself you are going to shatter. I keep my team on the move. They stay on ships and near the central coasts of the States or the middle of the US so they can respond quickly anywhere. I now have them parked on the East Coast and they are going to move with much longer response times, short handed and I am doing this to protect you and Clark and your family. If you die, I die and they die because Connolly will fire three hundred rounds into a bulletproof alien and take his last breath pulling the trigger. That is the way they all are and that is why they are my team. I am not telling you this again. Stay low and let us do the fighting. I swear to you, if you make a stupid move we are going to be right there, having to fix your screw up and hope you don’t get us all killed.”

“I never asked you to.”

“I never asked for your permission! I won’t lose another girl. I won’t lose another child, ever! I will make sure I die fighting this time. It will never happen again! You burned yourself? You could have taken your arm off!”

“I apologized!”

“I don’t want an apology. I just want to make sure you understand how idiotic that was! Life is about more than you, Kara. You are a part of others and it is too late to back out. Every decision you make has an effect on everyone else. There are five guys forty miles form here who would go on a suicide mission for you. I would die for you, your new parents would die for you. You are a child and you do not get to make decisions about who is going to fight who and when on your own. You do not fight! You do not conduct tests on yourself to see if Kryptonians can be harmed. You do not plan to fry your uncles’s brain!”

“I won’t. Stop yelling at me!”

“Stop? I will probably never stop because you are so damn hardheaded. You don’t have to fly if you don’t want to. At this point, I am regretting ever trying to teach you. But on Sundays or whenever I can make it down you are going to talk to me. I am the only one who knows what it is like to see a family die in front of you. I am the only one who knows the grief you are feeling, the hopelessness, the fear, the nightmares. I have tried to ease you into this, hope you open up on your own but I underestimated how hard headed you can be. Do you miss your parents?”

“Yes!” Kara yelled.

“Do you ever regret living?”

“Yes.” she admitted, much quieter.

“So do I sometimes. But we are here and we do the best we can. I miss my wife and daughters. I miss them so much I cry almost every night. I know you are hurting and the only way you are going to make the pain lessen is to talk about it. You can’t keep it in. I can’t fail you Kara. I won’t. Next Sunday we are going to talk. We are going to talk about everything that is bothering you. We are going to keep doing it. You don’t want to fly, fine. Don’t fly. I don’t care. You don’t want to ride that far, fine, I will come here. But we will talk. You are going to talk to your new parents, to your sister to Dante, to me. You are going to talk until you are sick of talking and you are going to cry. You are supposed to. I have babied you too much already. You are going to get better. I am not giving you a choice. You are going to eventually be the happy girl you pretend to be half the time.”

“What if I can’t?” she asked, looking away from the Martian.

“Of course you can. The question is, are you strong enough. It’s easy to keep things inside. Its harder to lay it out and face them. I have never had anyone to talk to. Now I have you and you will have me. We are going to heal and it is going to hurt, maybe worse than burning your arm. But if you are brave enough, if you are strong enough, then you will heal. Maybe we both will. Let me know next Sunday if I am coming here or you are going to come to the hangar. Either way we will see each other and you are going to talk, really talk. Your new parents are about to yell at me for yelling at you. They want to go to the beach.”

“Stop reading their minds. Its rude.”

“I know. Start using your head Kara. If you die, I die and that will be on you. I have taken you and your family’s safety as my personal mission. I swear I will not let anything happen to you all while I am alive. Do we have an understanding?”

Kara looked at the floor.

“Look at me. Do we have an understanding?”

Kara met his red eyes. “Yes, we have an understanding. I will not do anything stupid. I will… talk to you.”

“Good. See you next weekend. If you want to talk before then, have Jeremiah contact me. Whether you believe it or no,t a lot of people love you Kara. You, not Clark’s bodyguard or a weapon against evil aliens. We love you. Have a good week at school. I am looking forward to the Christmas Concert in a few months.”

J’onn walked out, not bothering to say good bye to anyone. Eliza and Jeremiah saw him drive off and walked back inside, Alex and Clark hot on their heels.

“Everything okay? Was he yelling at you? It sounded like he was yelling at you.” Alex asked. “I’m pretty sure only we are allowed to yell at you.”

No.” Kara shook her head. “He just talks very loudly sometimes. He is okay. He read your minds again. So we are going to the beach?”