Seeing Green Episode IV: Close Encounters

Chapter Four

Bruce dug around in her mysterious vault while Kara and Kal waited outside. "What color did you say you wanted again? Pink?" Bruce called out.

"Gold!" Kara and Kal yelled at once.

"Coulda swore you said pink....hmm...ahh here it is. Gold Kryptonite. Green Kryptonite that has been affected by atomic radiation," Bruce said, joining the other two. In her hands was a small lead box. She approached Kara.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bruce asked somberly. Kara looked her in the eye, surprised by her change in demeanor.

"Absolutely. I don't want to put the babies at risk. And Kal can handle things without me. What's the worst that could happen? I mean..." Kara chuckled nervously, "It's kind of redundant with two of us around anyways..." Kara looked away.

Bruce held out the box and Kara took it with trembling hands, realizing her worst fear was not that the world would suddenly need her, but that it wouldn't. That no one would notice if she wasn't there.

She looked down at the box labeled "Gold K." in Bruce's handwriting. She turned to face Kal so that the open box would face her.

"Okay, start the timer," she said to him. She carefully began to open the box, revealing a glowing yellow crystalline object. After a moment, she began to feel a change in her body. She felt tired, almost dizzy.

"Did you feel that?" asked Kal suddenly. Kara snapped the box shut, fearing somehow it was affecting him too.

"Feel what?" she asked, panicky.

"A slight tremor. Like an earthquake." He tossed the timer to Bruce. "I'm going to go check it out."

Kara opened her mouth to say something, caught herself, and wordlessly looked down at the box and her baby bump. When she looked up he was gone.

***

Kara waved as her friend drove away in her Jaguar. As she entered the Queen Mansion, she wondered what time it was. She pulled out her cell. 6 pm? It's later than I thought.

"Bubbles?" Oliver asked as he came down the staircase.

"Hey Oliver," she said.

He stopped in his descent. "What happened to you? You look so...exhausted. Are you okay? Honey, where were you? I tried to call you like six times." He hurried over to her and she collapsed in his arms. She told him everything that led to her giving up her powers.

"What?!" Oliver was flabbergasted. "You gave up your powers?"

"Well yes." Kara said. "For the babies." She had expected him to be surprised, but he looked shocked, maybe even upset.

"I...wha...you..." Oliver put a hand to his head. "And at what time did you think of letting me know you were doing this? I mean...Christ Kara that's such a big decision!"

Kara stuttered a bit. "Well I...I guess...I was just so worried about the babies—it's already been four months and I've been using my powers—I just didn't want anything to happen to them and—"

"You should have let me know, Kara." Oliver said, hurt in his eyes. "What if that Kryptonite had hurt you or something? What if it hurt the baby—er, babies."

"It wasn't going to do anything more than take away my powers, Ollie. Bruce was there and she knows all about it. She said it was safe. Besides, you're the one that's always saying I should take it easy, take some time off."

"I just..." Oliver looked away. "I thought we were in this together."

Kara's face crumpled. "Oliver I'm so sorry. You're right, I should have told you. I just didn't think."