To the ones we love

Confusion

    As rude as it may have been, Alcx hung up on Kelly, she couldn't worry about her girlfriend right now. They needed to move Kara and Alex couldn't do it on her own. After a few moments of pushing and pulling, she gave in and called J'onn. "Alex, is something wrong?"

   "I need everyone to get to Kara's loft. Like right now!" She was panicking.

     "Ok, we're all here with Lena, who should stay here? Who do you need? Do we need to leave Lena alone? I would feel really bad..."

     "Leave Nia, I need you and Brainy." She felt bad choosing to leave Nia, but she also didn't want to leave Lena alone. Nia wasn't in teh state of mind to help, Alex knew that she would be most helpful keeping Lena occupied. J'onn hung up the phone, and turned to look at the room. Brainy and Nia were chatting, slowly growing back together after the events of last year. Lena was reading a braille book, occasionally listening in on their conversation, but mostly focused on her fingers. She turned when she heard J'onn get off the phone, it was easy to tell something was wrong. She turned and looked to his shoulder, so she could mostly make up with burly features.

    "J'onn, what's wrong? Was that Kara? Why does she need you? Can I help?" She spit out all the questions before J'onn had the opportunity to answer. She had been struggling with her inability to help. While her vision had improved and she was gaining mobility, she wished she could be more useful. She wished she could have been there for Nia, Kara, and Alex after they tried to catch Lex. 

      She wished she could be part of whatever it was now, but she was stuck in this bed for at least another night. After that, she knew it would still be months before her recover was complete. Lena still had two more revision surgeries planned, where they would remove the metal rods and plates in her legs. She also knew, that if those didn't go well, they may need to go back in again. Lena could only hope for best case scenario.

    "No Lena," J'onn rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, "That was Alex. Brainy and I have to go help her with something, Nia will stay here and keep you company."

     Nia had only just come back from Kara's, and she was too fascinated with her fingers to notice what was going on around her. It was only in hearing her name that she finally looked up when she heard her name. "Yeah, I can stay here with Lena." Of course, Nia's brain began to race because Kara wasn't exactly in the best shape when they left her, but now something had happened. It was something back enough that Alex needed Brainy and J'onn, but she was almost too tired to care. Almost. 

    "J'onn, tell me what's going on." Lena looked up at J'onn frantically, a terrible feeling in her gut. She just wanted to know what was going on, she needed to know that Kara was okay. Kara had spent so much time taking care of Lena, and Lena knew she wasn't taking enough taking care of herself.

    "I'm not sure Lena." He looked down at her, lying there, her leg propped up on some pillows, "we're going to go figure it out." Lena thought she looked helpless, but J'onn didn't see her as helpless. To him, she was the strongest and most capable person he had ever met.

   "J'onn, I want to go. I could help!" She slammed her fists on the mattress. 

    "I know you could help, but you need to stay here, you just got out of surgery. I will call Nia as soon as we know more."

    "You better." J'onn left the room, and Lena watched his blurry form walk away.

    She felt helpless lying there, but at the end of the day, she knew J'onn was right. There was nothing she could do to help Kara right now, and that killed her.

    Back at the Apartment, Alex was frantic, she had no idea how to help or what to do. She looked perfectly fine from the outside. Her pulse was good and string, her breathing was fine, her muscles still and steady. If you didn't count the green eyes, there was nothing physically wrong with her. Alex paced around her body, which she had managed to haul up onto the unmade bed, after a lot of effort. She checked her pulse again and again, then she would press the back of her hand to her nose, just to make sure she was still breathing. Then she pressed her hand to her forehead to make sure she still didn't have a fever. Then she would start all over again.

    Suddenly the door flew in and Brainy and J'onn joined her and her sister. Brainy rushed right to her side, making every effort to figure out what was wrong with her.

   "What happened?" J'onn exclaimed.

    "I don't know, she just collapsed, I got her home from the bar and she just collapsed."

  "Well, what on earth was she doing at the bar in the middle of Lena's surgery." J'onn turned his attention to Kara, checking for anything abnormal.

    "Getting wasted."

    It was at these words J'onn turned his attention back to Alex, "What?"

    "Yeah, something about making all her feelings go away and kissing some bartender."
For the first time Brainy turned his attention to the conversation. "What did this man look like." Having previously been on his knees beside the bed, he stood up. "It could have implications as to what is afflicting her."

   "I don't know really pale, dark hair," he paused for a beat, "Oh, and he had these bright green eyes."

    Something clicked for Brainy, he knelt down peeling up her eyelids, gazing at the emerald color. It was a drastic change from the usual blue. "I know what's wrong with her." He stood there, as if he had no intention of telling anyone.

"Brainy, what is it? What's wrong with her?" Alex looked at her in confusion.

   "Oh, sorry, of course. This particular race tends to target those with internal conflict. It was how the kept their planet so peaceful for so long. In many ways it's a part of their survival."

   "Does that mean it's dangerous?" Alex's heart rate quickened.

   "No, no, nothing like that."

   "Ok, so how can we help her?"

   "Oh, we don't." He made a move to leave.

    "What do you mean, we don't help her." Brainy stopped at her words.

    "Well, there's no way to help her. She has to resolve her internal conflict within her mind when she sees what she desires most for her life. She will essentially be stuck in a dream that will provide clarity to her deepest desires. It will show her what she really wants out of life. After she does that she'll come out of it."

   J'onn jumped in, "So, your telling us that we're supposed to just sit here and wait for her to figure it out. What about Lena? She's supposed to be coming home tomorrow?"

   "Yes, yes I know this, but there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to wait until she works through this on her own." She looked down at Kara, sleeping and at peace, no idea she was living in a dream.

    "How long could that take?" Alex probed.

   "Anywhere from a few hours to..." he trailed of, "It's impossible to know, but I've never heard of it taking longer than a few years."

   "Years?" Alex exclaimed. "You mean to tell me she could be stuck like this for years!"

  "Well, yes. But it's highly unlikely."