Of Love we are Worthy - SuperCorp

Jay Lasseter

(During 3x02)

September 12th 2017

Lena was supposed to be tough.

She was supposed to be poised and dignified in her new place of work. She was supposed to keep looking ahead. She was supposed to walk away with her head held high and her shoulders squared after telling off an unruly employee. But because that unruly employee happened to be Kara Danvers, she forgot everything she was supposed to be after taking five steps, and instead slowed down and threw a glance over her shoulder. 

She was just in time to catch Kara briskly walking towards the elevator, and Lena felt an unreasonable sting of guilt. It was unreasonable, because Kara's behaviour was unacceptable. It was unprofessional, and Lena had every right to confront her about it. But she would so much prefer it, if Kara would just tell her what was going on with her. Lena sighed as she walked past James' office and towards the nearby cubicles, because the day had started off so positive, she thought bitterly.

"Ahhh, Lena!"

The ding of her elevator had barely sounded upon arriving at the top floor of L-Corp, when Lena was greeted by a familiar face, the man walking up to her while she stepped into the hallway to her office. Lena smiled at the old man while behind him, Jess looked less than pleased.

"Mr. Berkley," Lena gently greeted back, as the elderly board member shook her hand. "We don't see you on the top floor that often."

"Ahhh, yes," the old man nodded his head, causing the few strands of white hair on his head to bounce along. "I was just giving some advice to your new director," he motioned to Jess, who gave him the most forced smile Lena had ever seen.

"Mr. Berkley..." Lena interjected, "...we call them CFO's these days."

"Oh, yes, yes," he croaked a small laugh while shaking his head, "they just keep changing the names of things. It gets rather confusing sometimes, I... oh, dear." He suddenly glanced at his watch. "I should get going, but it was nice to see you again, Lena. You ladies have a good day." 

He waved at Lena and Jess, before slowly shuffling to the elevator and pressing the button for the ground floor. As soon as the doors closed, Jess was standing beside her with her arms crossed and an unfriendly look on her face.

"Is he always so patronising?" Jess asked coolly.

"Patronising?" Lena asked with raised eyebrows.

"He called you by your first name."

"He's known me since I was five."

"He used your private elevator."

"He's 68, I can't exactly force him to use the stairs."

"He kept trying to tell me how to do my job," Jess grumbled, her arms still crossed.

Lena just laughed at that. "I'll admit he's a bit overbearing at times, but he's the only board member I can trust to always be fair." Jess just huffed in annoyance, clearly not entirely convinced by Lena's assessment. "But let's talk about more urgent matters," she gave her former assistant an intent look. "Are you nervous?" she asked, her voice softening considerably. "About your first day running L-Corp by yourself?"

"No," Jess immediately shot back. They both looked at each other in silence for a moment. "Okay, fine, I'm terrified." Jess huffed out a breath, nervously adjusting her shirt, and Lena couldn't help but feel like she was looking at a mirror through space and time, as this was almost the exact state she'd been in when the board had offered her the job of CEO of L-Corp a little over two years ago. But only behind closed doors, of course. When there was no one to see that there were sometimes cracks in her mask of poise and dignity.