Supergirl (Kara of Rokyn):

    Kal & Lyla

    Part 11

    by DarkMark

The newsers were lined up at the entry to Ar-Rom Studios, just as Kara and Van had hoped they would be.  When the two of them arrived in Van’s red hovercar, Kara knew she’d have to answer questions.  That didn’t bother her a bit.  She stood up in the car, smiled, and waved.  Spontaneously, some of the crowd burst into applause.  It spread to the rest of the journalistic junket.  Not that common a response for them, but it wasn’t every day they got to talk to a woman who’d recovered the city of Argo.

Van sat back, smiled wryly, and let her handle the pronouncements.  It was his way.  He liked the less-than-limelight.

QUESTION: First off, Tynth Zor-El, welcome back to Rokyn, and congratulations on your two great gifts to Rokyn.  Your latest ones, we mean.  (laughter)

KARA: Thanks and thank you, in that order.  It wasn’t all my doing.  I had a lot of help from the Moliom, from To-Bin here at Ar-Rom, from my partner Van, and from a lot of authorities and two ex-villains on Earth.  While I’m at it, hi, Mom and Dad!  (More laughter)

QUESTION: You’ve actually managed to decontaminate your hometown, Argo City, and get it ready for recovery.  How did that feel?

KARA: Oh...mother moon, how was it supposed to feel?  (Laughter) Seriously, I can’t begin to describe my feelings about Argo.  This was...this was the city I left as a little girl, seventeen years ago.  It’s the first time I had a chance to walk its streets, to see my home again, to...if you said I cried when I was there, I wouldn’t contradict you.  Next question?

QUESTION: How did you get two super-criminals from Earth to agree to convert Argo and to alleviate the drought problem?

KARA: Parole offers.  That usually works.  (Laughter)

QUESTION: What about yourself and Tanth Ol?  Anything to declare?

KARA: (looking at Van) I declare he’s a great scripter and has lousy taste in clothes.  Anything else you’ll have to get from him.

VAN: No comment.  And I won’t let her pick out my clothes.

QUESTION: Tynth Zor-El, what can you say...what can you tell us...

KARA: Sorry?

QUESTION: Beg pardon.  Hate to ask this, but we all know you’re working on a holo...

KARA: Glad somebody around here noticed.  (Laughter)

QUESTION: My question is twofold.  First, can you give us any details about the show...

KARA: No.  Not at this time.

QUESTION: And second, though we all appreciate what you’ve done, how much did publicizing the show factor into it?

KARA: (pause) I’d be a liar if I didn’t say it had something to do with it.  After all, I am an actress, I do work for Ar-Rom, and we are trying to make a picture and get you all to go see it.  But there’s more to it than that, and everyone of you should know that.  I did come up with the idea for these two things while I was in conference with Tanth To-Bin, true enough.  But I’d like to think there’s a lot more worth to bringing back Argo and helping the agricultural situation here than just pubbing a holopic.  Argo City is my hometown, the city my parents and I lived in, the...we’re the last three survivors, for Rao’s sake.  I can’t believe anybody would be stupid enough to think I’m bringing it back only because I want you to go to a holo.  The same with the rain-bringing.  Rokyn is my new homeworld.  If I can...if I can give something back to it, I want to.  And I’m going to.  
    Over a year ago, I got captured by four Zoners.  I fought Faora Hu-Ul in a death battle.  Nobody arranged that.  We made a holopic of the story, and it made a lot of credits.  Now, it’s true that we want you to go to our picture.  But if you think that’s the only reason for what I did...then you probably think we freed Jax-Ur and his crew just so we could make money from it.  Anybody here believe that?  (Pause) Good.  That’s about all the time I’ve got for questions.   Okay with you if I get to work?  (Laughter and applause)

With that, Van sent the hovercar over the gates and into the parking area beyond.  As they touched down, he said, “Lousy taste in clothes.  Is that the best you could do?”

“No, dear.  But you wouldn’t want me to tell them the best I could do.”

    -K-

Before they could get into the studio, To-Bin had Kara and Van come to his office.  He didn’t say why.  When they were admitted, they had the answer.  To had two guests, and both of them stood up when she entered, crossed the room as quickly as possible, and hugged her.

Zor-El and Allura were almost in tears.  Once Kara got over her surprise, she returned the hug and let the teargates flow.  Her mother did the same.  Zor-El couldn’t speak for a while.  When he did, he managed to say, “You’re bringing back our home.  My little girl.  You’re bringing back our very home.”

“Kara,” said Allura.  “Oh, Karaish.”  And she hugged her again.

Van didn’t know what to say, and To knew he didn’t have to say anything.

Finally, Zor-El said, “When will it be here?”

Kara said, “I left word with the JLA to have Green Lantern bring it.  They thought he could manage it sometime next week.  Oh, Dad, Mom, I just can’t tell you what it felt like.”

“I can tell you what it felt like,” said Allura.  “It felt like you came home again.  Didn’t it?”

After a pause, she nodded.  “Yes.  That’s exactly what it felt like.”

Van spoke up.  “I’ll be eager to see Argo, too.  That is, when they figure out where they want to put it.”

“The Science Council is working on it right now,” said To-Bin.  “Decision’ll probably be in two days.  Give them another couple of days to get the site cleared and the hole dug, and it’ll probably be in time for the Lantern.”

“This is so incredible,” said Allura.  “Even with everything we’ve been through, the Destruction, the space years, the Survival Zone, Kandor, the Enlargement...it’s still so, so...”

“It’s all right, Mom,” said Kara, clutching her mother closely and stroking her back.  “It’s all right.”

Zor-El finally turned to To-Bin.  “I guess you’ll be wanting some publicity shots of the three of us in Argo, when it gets here.  To pub the movie, that is.”

“Wrong, Tanth El,” said To.  “There’s good publicity, and there’s cheap publicity.  I wouldn’t ask you to exploit yourselves on my account.  I will ask Kara to.”  He grinned.  “But that’s her business.”

Allura looked up.  “If you think you’re going to keep us out of this, you’re wrong, sir.  We’re going to be seen with our daughter when our town comes back, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Dear, I don’t think that’s what Tanth Bin is talking about,” said Zor.  “I think he means that he doesn’t expect us to be part of the publicity, as an obligation.  But...I agree with her.  We’re going to be the first ones into Argo when it turns up, and if they want to take a few pictures of us going in, that’ll be fine by me.”

“And me,” said Allura.

“Well, I guess that just leaves me,” said Kara.  “And I’ll put in a yes, too.”

Van said, “You have a way of getting your way even when it’s not supposed to be intentional.  Isn’t that right, To?”

To smiled gently.  “You’re getting smarter, my boy.  You’re getting smarter, indeed.”

    -K-

(Scene: Lyla’s bedroom.  LYLA and KAL are lying together, covered by the sheets.  LYLA is wearing a brief nightgown and KAL has on shorts.  The light is subdued, but we can clearly see both of them and the room they occupy.)

LYLA: Kal, I...I don’t know what to say.

KAL: Lyla, what do you think I want you to say?  Outside of “I love you.”

LYLA: (placing her hand on his chest and stroking him) You know that.  I don’t have to say it.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt the same way about a man as I have with you.

KAL (puts arm around Lyla): You’re the first woman I’ve ever felt so comfortable with loving.  And it’s just not fair.

LYLA: Because that theory of Jor’s isn’t just a theory?

KAL (long pause): Yes.

LYLA: And we’ll all end up dying in three years?

KAL (very soft): Yes.

LYLA (sitting up in bed): I just can’t believe that.

KAL: Lyla.

LYLA (gets out of bed, starts running out): I can’t believe it, Kal!

KAL: Lyla!

(Cut to scene of Lyla running barefoot through darkened hallway of her home, face showing her anguish, tears, repeating “I can’t believe it!” over again and again, while Kal chases after her, calling her name.  She runs to a gravlift that takes her to the topmost room of her home, an open stargazing platform above the roof.  Kal shouts her name, runs up the stairs that connect the home with the platform.  When he reaches it, he sees her facing him, standing in the window, a light breeze blowing from her back, and looking scared.)

KAL: Lyla.  Step down from there.

LYLA: What difference will it make?

KAL: The difference between life and death.  Come down!

LYLA: Three years, and that’s all we’ve got?  Three years and the, the whole planet blows up?  Everything?  Me, my home, my world, my daughter, my...

KAL: Your daughter?

(Long pause.  Lyla realizes she’s revealed something she hoped she never would.  Kal looks surprised, but stays where he’s at, not daring to come closer.)

KAL: You never told me...

LYLA: I never told anyone!  (She begins to cry)

(Kal stands there, not knowing what to say, for a long moment.  Then he looks at her.)

KAL: Tell me about her.

LYLA (through tears): Her name is Altra.  That’s my daughter’s name.  Her name...is Altra.

KAL: That’s a very...very lovely name.  (Starts to come closer)

LYLA (reacts): Don’t!

KAL (halts): All right, Lyla.  Talk to me.  That’s all I ask.  Just talk to me.

(Lyla, emotionally wasted, leans on the side of the arch she’s standing in.)

LYLA: She’s a teenager by now.  A young girl.  I haven’t seen her since I had her, Kal.  I’ve been...I’ve been afraid to.

(Kal sits on the stone floor of the room, waiting.)

LYLA: It was so long ago.  So long...I was a teacher, Kal.  Can you believe I was a language teacher? (Pause) I was very good at it, too.  Young woman from Fort Rozz, had her share of dates, never went all the way up, not then.  Didn’t think I was going to before I went to the Marriage Computer.

KAL (Pause): Go on, Lyla.

LYLA: My parents didn’t much believe in me, Kal.  Thought that I’d be lucky to land a man, and that’d be all I could do.  I guess that’s why I wanted to be a teacher, to show them...I could do something.  Got a job, a decent one.  I was good at it.  Then my supervisor...

(Lyla hesitates.  Face shot.  Cut to Kal’s face, looking stony in the moonlight.  Cut back to Lyla, from thighs up, still standing in the archway.)

LYLA: ...he made me believe in me, too.  Acted like he did.  Because he said he believed in me, that I could make it in my job.  That I could be something more than just somebody’s wife.  And then...

(Cut to: larger view of both Kal and Lyla in the observation room, him sitting at screen right and her in the arch on screen left.)

LYLA: ...things happened.  I missed my period, got an exam, learned the news, went to his office, and was sure, just as sure as I knew Rao’s sun would come up in the morning, that he’d marry me.

(Kal looks down.  After a few moments, Lyla sits on the bottom of the archway.)

LYLA: He wouldn’t.  He said it’d hurt his career.  Said that I wasn’t the first, I wouldn’t be the last.  I told him I’d tell the education board, and that’d ruin him.  He asked if that was really what I wanted.  (Pause) It wasn’t.  I...

KAL: You still wanted to love him.

LYLA: (Nods head, in tears) I gave my baby up, Kal.  He adopted her.  Maybe for...for revenge, I don’t know.

KAL: Or maybe he wanted to love you, too.  But he couldn’t.

(Lyla stares at him.)

KAL: Men are complex, too, Lyla.  We’re not all just glands and muscles.  We have hearts.  Just like you.

LYLA: Do they break, like ours?

KAL (Nods): Oh, yes.  Just like yours.

(Lyla buries her face in her hands.  Kal comes up beside her and sits down, cradling her to him.)

KAL: Do you know, Lyla...do you know I’ve been over the whole galaxy?  Sometimes beyond?  I’ve traveled to other dimensions.  I’ve pierced the time barrier many times.  Many, many times. I’ve met men who’ve had powers like and unlike the ones I have on Earth, or that I will have.   I’ve saved my adopted world time and again.  Sometimes, I’ve saved the universe.  

LYLA: Kal.

KAL: This is not a joke.  I’ve really done it.  Or I will.  I’ve met survivors of Krypton.  The people of Kandor, Lyla, they will...they will survive.  So will a cousin of mine.  Her name is Kara.  She isn’t born yet.

(Lyla gives him a strange look)

LYLA: Seems like the hardest thing to believe yet.  Oh, Kal.  (She looks away from him)

KAL: Look at me, Lyla.  (She does.)  But I’m thinking...that maybe coming back here, though it seemed like an accident, Lyla...maybe that’s Rao, or whatever, repaying me for what I’ve done.  Maybe I get to be with my parents, whom I’ve missed for so long, once again, because of that.  And maybe it’s why we got together, Lyla.  Maybe that’s why.

LYLA (Shifting a bit): Kal.  Anyone else...I’d probably think they were making all this up.  Just to get into my bed.  

KAL: We went there before I told you.

LYLA (laughs, despite herself): That’s maybe part of why I believe you.  (Sobering) But I don’t want to.

KAL: I don’t want to, either, Lyla.

LYLA: But even assuming I do believe this, Kal, even if I do think this could be true and that, I don’t know, one or both of us is losing their mind, there’s one thing that doesn’t make sense.

KAL: I imagine a lot of it doesn’t.  But what?

LYLA (looking thoughtful): If you say you’re going to be born in a few months...and I don’t know if I want to go there, but I can’t help it...

KAL: Yeah, it makes me feel weird, too.  Go on.

LYLA: ...After you’re born...

(Kal looks concerned)

LYLA (looking at Kal): ...what happens to you?

KAL (sighs, shakes head): I don’t know.  

LYLA: Will you just vanish, or...

KAL: Lyla.  I don’t know.  That’s something we’ll have to find out.

LYLA: Or maybe you won’t even...

(Long pause.)

KAL: Won’t even be born.  Is that what you’re trying to say?

(Lyla looks down, not able to look at him)

KAL: I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’ve met myself, other times I think maybe one of me has been...

LYLA: One of you?

KAL: It’s...complicated, sometimes.

LYLA: And regular life isn’t?

KAL: Compared to being in love, Lyla, time travel is very simple.

(She giggles.)

KAL: That’s good.  I like to hear you laugh.

LYLA: Same for you, Mr. Stern Face.  (She puts her hand on his leg.)  So.  What are we supposed to do now?

KAL: You mean, now that you’ve decided not to kill yourself?

LYLA: (more seriously) Yeah.

KAL: I ask you to marry me.

LYLA (jumping up): What??

KAL: Do I have to repeat myself?  I ask you to marry me.

(Lyla stands there, gap-mouthed)

KAL (standing): Lyla.  We may have three years together, or a few months together.  I’m betting on three years, myself.  But whatever time we have left...isn’t it worth spending that time together?

LYLA: We’ve only got...a few years...

KAL (coming towards her, taking her hands): Lyla.  Everybody’s only got a few years.

(The two of them embrace and kiss.  The sun begins to come up.  Circle the pair of them as they kiss.  Finally, they break it.)

KAL: You know...you know you can never tell my parents.

LYLA: Yes.  I know.

KAL: Or anyone else.  Ever.

LYLA: I won’t, Kal.  As I love you, I won’t.

KAL (smiling): Then let’s get dressed.  We need to call on Jor and Lara.  Then we need to shop for a wedding trophy.

LYLA: All right.  After the picture, Kal, I’ll stand with you.  In the Light of Rao.

KAL: At the Temple.

LYLA: And become your wife.

KAL: And I your husband.

LYLA: For as long as we have left alive.

KAL: Forevermore.

(Fade out to next scene, which will be them getting Jor and Lara out of a sound sleep to hear the news.)

    -K-

“Cut,” said Gro-Nas.

Kara and Van-Zee relaxed, glad the emotional strain was over.  She was glad to see him back in condition, and suspected Sylvia, who was on set, had much to do with it.  Syl, wearing a sensible dark green suit, smiled, got up from her seat, and strolled towards them.

“Well,” said Kara, “how’d you like it?”

“I think,” Sylvia said, “that it’s going to be an interesting experience being married to the hottest male actor on the planet.”

“Oh, Syl!” Van-Zee reddened and laughed, grabbing his wife in one arm.  “This one is going to be the only one.  I promise.”

“Unless I make you do another one,” said Sylvia, scritching his hair playfully.  “But not with Kara.  I’m jealous enough of her already!”

Kara smiled.  “It’s taking longer to get this thing done, I think, than it took for Jor to build Kal’s rocket.  But I think it’s working.”

“And you told Lyla’s secret in this part,” noted Sylvia.  “Even I didn’t know about that.”

“Neither did I, until a week or two ago,” said Kara.  “Hey, I know the guys are enjoying the sight, but I want to get into something that shows off a little less leg.”

“Compared to me, you’ve got it easy,” said Van-Zee.

“Don’t worry, hon,” said Sylvia.  “After me seeing you today, you’ve got a lot to look forward to tonight.”

Kara made her exit lines to all concerned and went to her dressing room.  Van-Ol stepped in just as she was getting out of the shower.  Briefly, she wondered at her own unconcern, then shrugged.  “What’d you think?” she said.

He looked her up and down.

“About the scene, I meant,” she added.

“So far, fantastic,” he said.  “You’ve gotten a lot more performance out of Van-Zee than I would have believed.”

“I’ve noticed,” said Kara.  “Really, I don’t think it would have worked without him.”

“But we’re about down to the finish, now,” said Van.  “Just when they wrap the picture in the movie, we’ll be about to wrap ours.  Talking of the climax, of course.”

Wrapping a towel about her, Kara reflected.  The most important part of the movie was coming up.

“Are you ready?” asked Van, quietly.

“As if I had a choice,” she answered.

 (next chapter)

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