Chapter Text
Lena had carefully crafted pumpkin pie from scratch, even the crust. She knew Kara loved them. It might not be Eliza’s chocolate pecan pie, but Kara loved all pie. Fall had arrived in the air of National City even if it was not as obvious as it was elsewhere in the country. National City lost the brick like layer of heat that blanketed it all summer and opened up to the cooler freeing middle of the row temperatures and cool nights more common further up the coast. Lena learned to be thankful for Kara’s warmer body temperature. Her warmth was always welcome, but it was joyous as the cooler weather seasons started to descend on National City.
Kara had planned a romantic weekend for them, as they had both been way too busy with work and the superhero side of their lives. Kara had been very mum on her plans and Lena was itching with curiosity, but fair was fair she hadn’t told Kara she was making pie. In the middle of trying to guess what Kara had planned, a knock sounded on her balcony door. Lena smiled and waved Kara in.
Kara grinned and entered the penthouse with a whoosh of air that was crisp and smelling of fall in a way that was impossible in the arid landscape of National City, but Lena felt it all the same.
“You made pie,” Kara’s grin grew into a full smile as she supersped toward the kitchen. “Where is it? It smells like oregus?” Kara was floating while she opened the top cabinets, knowing Lena had hidden the pie.
“Dinner first,” Lena calmly stated, as she was laying plates on the table, “You’re not going to find it.”
Kara grumbled for a moment, but then landed and quickly gathered the napkins off the counter to finish setting the table. Her eyes got big, the table was laden with two roast chickens, a tray of roast vegetables, mashed potatoes, and sautéed fish and syltehn wraps and rice.
“You made pie and all this…,” Kara froze in place as she sat down, her eyes catching Lena’s, holding them. Overwhelmed by what was before her, but trying to convey her appreciation. Lena had made enough food for a family of six without batting an eye.
Color rose on Lena’s cheeks as she answered, “Well, you have the entire weekend planned. I wanted to contribute something.”
Kara stayed still, her eyes locked on Lena’s, “You always do more than contribute. I wouldn’t be here without you and you know that.” Kara gently rested her hand on Lena’s as she couldn’t keep her eyes off of dinner any longer. “I’m starting with the chicken.” The joy was evident in Kara’s voice.
They took their time with dinner Kara ended up eating an entire chicken by herself and nearly half of everything else. Kara then insisted on cleaning up, opened the sliding glass door to let in the evening breeze, and brought another bottle of wine into the living room where Lena was tucked into a novel. They watched the sunset over the city Lena now cuddled solidly into Kara’s warmth.
“I’ll go get the pie,” Lena murmured against Kara’s ear before heading for the kitchen. Kara found it too hard to hold back her excitement so she followed Lena standing at the kitchen island.
The pie seemed to appear out of thin air with fresh whipped cream in a bowl. Kara supersped to get plates and forks and was so excited she was floating as Lena cut a normal slice of pie for herself and a triple one for Kara. Lena came around the island and they leaned into one another as they ate the pie. Before long, Kara was eyeing the rest of the pie in the pan. Lena nodded, “Go for it, I made more than one pie.” Kara laughed in delight at that and just lifted the pie pan closer to them and dolloped whipped cream on top before taking another bit. A few quiet minutes passed then, “How did you get it to taste like oregus?” Kara’s tone was wonderous and happy.
“Oh, I worked with Kelex and we figured out that oregus is similar to orchids, but upon further research, I discovered the taste seemed to be a cross between vanilla and allspice. So, I added extra vanilla and allspice to the pie.” Kara gazed at Lena a moment before leaning in and kissing her soundly on the mouth. “You’re wonderful and this pie is delicious. It tastes like my favorite Kryptonian dessert.”
The next day Kara made their breakfast as she normally did, she was always up before Lena, even though Lena also tended to rise early. Kara wandered into their bedroom and set a steaming mug of tea on the nightstand, bending down to gently kiss Lena on the forehead before she whooshed out of the apartment for a zoom or two around the city. Thus far it has been quiet in National City and Kara hoped it stayed that way, she had plans.
When Kara returned Lena was sipping her tea at the kitchen island, the food untouched.
“Lena, eat, I keep telling you, you don’t have to wait for me to start,” Kara said as she deactivated her suit before floating onto the stool next to Lena.
“Oh, I was reading,” Lena replied kissing Kara on the cheek.
“Well, eat, we have somewhere to go.”
Later Kara had a bundled-up Lena in her arms and a rucksack under her cape. They were on the roof of the apartment building.
“Hang on,” Kara whispered as she gently took off.
“Always,” Lena murmured nuzzling into Kara’s neck as they settled into flying. It took longer than Lena was expecting, but watching the varied and shifting colors of fall fly by on their trip was astonishing. Fall was sometimes a season that got skipped over when one lived in a place like National City, the vegetation was all wrong, for the changing beauty of fall leaves to ever reach it. They were landing some full of fall leave covered trees before Lena could even imagine and they were down the road from a place called Brooksby Farm.
Kara was practically vibrating with excitement, as she deactivated her suit, “How about some apple picking. The apple cider here is the best I’ve ever had.” Kara held out her hand with a sweet smile on her face. “Oh, and we’re in Massachusetts.”
Lena let out a delighted laugh and took Kara’s hand as they started walking toward the entrance.
Lena had not done anything like this since she was very young. It was not an activity for a Luthor, she remembered Lillian saying that to her. Lena shock herself, that was then. Now she was here, with Kara, her girlfriend, her family, and she was going to soak it all in. They wandered around the grove picking apples and breathing in the crisp air. Eventually they made their way to the vendor stands. Almost immediately, Kara was expounding on the virtues of apple pie and pumpkin pie and all kinds of pie with one of the vendors and Lena just snuggled further into her, not wanting to miss a second.
Brooksby Farm was exactly the idyllic local you would expect, apples for miles to see, vendors with every kind of bad for your food and drink, there was even a small pumpkin patch to wander about in, but it was the fall colors on the trees and the crisp air that truly captured Lena’s heart. She could smell the earth, hear the changes happening, carried on the wind, she could feel the season’s personality.
“Is the soundscape different here?” Lena inquired as they were sitting on some hay bales and sipping on fresh apple cider.
Kara paused and went completely still before answering, “It is. Every place has different sounds, a different symphony if you will, and each season also has that.” Kara turned to face Lena more fully. “For example, now the rustle of leaves falling and flying birds fluttering to and fro, gathering nesting material for winter, squirrels scurrying even more manically than they usually do, the wind, it sings this time of year….” Kara petered out a gently joyous smile on her face as her eyes closed.
Lena’s heart stopped and then flipped a bit. And suddenly she was leaning forward gently sealing her lips against Kara’s. Lena had just fallen a little bit more in love. And Kara didn’t even miss a beat, she kissed Lena right back and then whispered, “And you are different here, the sound of your walk, the smell of the wind in your hair, the taste of cider on your lips.” And they kissed again.
Later, Kara was carrying their apples and a pumpkin as they left the farm.
“Are we heading home?” Lena ventured a jug of apple cider gently swinging in her hand.
“Mmm, no,” Kara replied as she seemed to pull the rucksack from nowhere to put everything in as she pulled Lena closer to her, “I got us a cabin in Maine, it’s a long weekend after all.”
Lena let out a delighted scoff, “You charmer.”
“Only for you.”