I Dream Of You, To Wake (Karamel)

Chapter 3

"Is this what we do now?" She threw a sarcastic punch at Mon-El's shoulder. "Support each other, hero to hero."

He rubbed the spot that she had hit. "If that's what you want."

Kara sucked her lower lip into her mouth. "I don't know," she admitted.

Mon-El sighed. "I want you to know, it meant a lot to me, to be able to be there for you." He paused. "For what it's worth, I don't have any children. At least none that I would know about."

"Good. So why was I seeing one?"

"I had Prism check the Legion archives."

"And?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you." Kara frowned. Before she could open her mouth to complain, Mon-El raised his hands. "I can tell you that we have nothing on her on file."

"What does that mean?"

Mon-El shrugged. "Usually that she was a small fry, not important enough to preserve."

Kara rubbed her head. "I guess that's a good thing?"

"I honestly don't know."

*

"Why did you do this? Why did you show me this?" Supergirl stalked up and down in front of the containment cell, fighting to urge slap her hand against the bulletproof glass. "It wasn't a memory, it wasn't real. So why was it there?"

Melta rolled her eyes. "Dunno. I don't control what it does, I just do it. What did you see there anyway?"

"That's none of your concern," Kara bellowed.

"Then why are you talking at all?"

Kara glared at her.

"Can't help ya, if you won't tell me."

"I saw somebody, from my past. Which something he wasn't supposed to have. Something he doesn't have."

"I don't follow." Supergirl gritted her teeth. "Like what?" Melta continued. "Like an ex-boyfriend or something?"

"Why would you say that?" Kara barked.

"I dunno," Melta shrugged. "Sounds like maybe you aren't over him?"

"This is pointless. You are wasting my time." Kara whirled around and left the unrepentant thief behind.

"You suck, Supergirl!" Melta yelled after her. "You suck!"

The doors slid shut after Kara. It would be up to others to determine the damage Melta had caused and assess what kind of future danger she posed. Spying her sister, Kara walked up to Alex. "Melta. I didn't get anywhere with her. We have to figure out where here powers came from. Melta doesn't know a thing about what is going on inside those dreams, but there must some sort of logic to what is happening inside."

"And if we find the origin of her powers..."

"Then we can figure out what the rules are."

"She's not an alien, so what, freak mutation? Trauma? Ancient artifact?"

"Let's go back to the beginning and start with her childhood."

*

Kara ducked away under the man wielding a shotgun, making sure to cover Alex. "Sir, you need to stand down!"

"Get off my land!" The man yelled. "Jessie, Jessie, those are the people who arrested my Millie!" Two men in dusty coveralls appeared.

Kara turned to Alex. She could have taken the man and his entire family out in a heartbeat. It was well within her authority to drag them to the DEO. On the other hand, from the man's utterances, it was pretty clear that he hadn't had an idea of what had been going on with his daughter. They wouldn't find any answers here. "Let's go," she mouthed.

Alex looked doubtful, clearly not happy to leave the agitated men to their own devices, but at last, she nodded. Kara grabbed her sister by the hand and they dashed off. Not too far away, they stopped at a nearby park. Plopping down on the lush green grass they recapped.

"So now we know that Millicent "Milly" McCabe didn't get along with her brothers ... "

"That she was big into Linkin Park."

"And Pro Wrestling."

"But we are nowhere closer to figuring out how Melta's powers work."

Kara stared up into the flawless blue summer sky. Taking heart she asked the question she had been afraid to ask. "What if it's the future? My future?"

"Would that bother you?" Alex asked carefully.

Kara balled her fists and fixed her gaze on the warm blue hues above. "What? No! I mean, it's just not realistic." Kara felt her cheeks grow warm. "Looked on him though. A child."

She turned her face towards Alex. "When I was in Argo, together with Mon-El, there was a little boy. He ran up to Mon-El and hugged him."

"And?"

"Nothing." Kara looked away. "Just really suited him."

Alex got up on one elbow. "What if it was a dream?" A wish.

"What, no, I wouldn't, I wouldn't dream of something like that."

The sisters fell quiet for a bit.

"I wouldn't be mad, you know."

"Mad about what?"

"If you decided to have a child with somebody. I'd be happy for you."

"That's, that's not really on the table for me. At all."

Alex shrugged. "Oh, I know. I just, I just wouldn't want you to think that you have to hold back on my behalf."

Kara rolled around and slung her arms around Alex. "You will have a child."

Alex smiled weakly. "Oh, I know. I just want you to know that it doesn't matter to me whether I become a mom first, or an aunt." She pinched Kara's nose between two fingers. "Don't you go looking at me all doubtful."

Worry lines appeared on Kara's forehead. "I, I don't know whether I can go back. Back to that."

"What do you mean?"

Kara smiled sadly. "When I'm around Mon-El, I still feel it. A connection. I've never felt this way about anybody, before, or since. When I lost Mon-El, it hurt. It hurt so much. I don't know whether I can get through that again. With him or with anybody else."

Alex reached over and intertwined her hand with Kara's. "You are the bravest, strongest person I know. You deserve the world and you will get it."