I wrote the rough draft of this story a couple of months ago, but I took a break from it to focus on Thanks for the Suit and I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it in a multi-chapter story or post it as a one-shot. I decided not to do a multi-chapter story since my idea was too similar to many of the show's actual plots, but I still wanted people to have a chance to read it, so here it is as a one-shot.
Alex Danvers sat on the couch rolling her eyes as her sister, Kara, sang the words of Dancing Queen along with Meryl Streep. It had been Kara's turn to pick for their movie night and to Alex's dismay, her sister had chosen Mamma Mia. When Alex had tried to encourage her to choose something else since she knew her sister had already watched the movie at least a hundred times, Kara had reminded Alex that she had recently sat through It without complaint. But what did Kara have to complain about? Sure a movie about a killer clown terrorizing children wasn't really Kara's thing, but least Pennywise didn't break into song every five minutes.
"Kara it's bad enough you are making me sit through a musical, but could you please not sing along."
"Come on Alex, singing along is part of the fun of watching a musical."
I wasn't aware there was a fun part of watching a musical. But she didn't complain anymore. Kara was enjoying herself and who was Alex to take it away from her. Besides, it wasn't like Kara was a bad singer, but Alex had spent the last twenty minutes tuning out the movie thinking about work and Kara's singing had broken her concentration.
President Baker's decision to appoint Lockwood, a known bigot, and terrorist, to be the new Director of Alien Affairs had her seriously questioning her place in the DEO. She joined the organization because she wanted to make a difference and protect the planet, not because she hated aliens.
Alex reached for a handful of popcorn as she mulled over the issue and found herself touching nothing but a few unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bowl. She looked at the bowl shocked.
"Seriously, Kara," she said getting her little sister's attention.
Kara paused the movie and looked up at Alex, then followed her sister's gaze to the empty bowl Alex was displaying for her, still not getting it she looked back up at her sister. "What?"
"I've barely touched this popcorn. And you've already had four potstickers, plus way more than your half of the fried rice. How does one person eat all that and then eat nearly an entire bowl of popcorn by themselves?"
Kara looked like she wanted to say something but was weighing the options. Then she got up from the couch and said. "I'm sorry, I'll go make you some more."
Alex followed her into the kitchen. "Kara, I'm not mad about the popcorn. I'm just shocked. You're going to make yourself sick eating like that."
Kara grabbed a bag of popcorn from the cabinet and placed it in the microwave. "Look, Alex, it's no big deal. I was just really hungry. I skipped lunch."
Alex's eyes narrowed. Kara didn't skip lunch, she had already told Alex that she met Lena for lunch today.
Kara seemed to realize this at the same time as Alex because she quickly added. "I mean sure I met Lena for lunch, but all I had was soup. That hardly counts as a proper lunch. While we've got the movie paused I'm going to run use the bathroom."
After Kara walked off and Alex stared absentmindedly at the microwave watching the bag of popcorn spinning around. Did Kara just lie to me? She wondered. That didn't make sense. Kara told her sister everything. Besides, why would she lie about something so trivial as skipping lunch? But Alex had interrogated enough people in her line of work to know when someone was lying and her instincts told her Kara had just lied to her.
The microwave beeped and Alex grabbed the bag and poured it into a bowl. As she sprinkled it with salt the smell triggered an old memory. Her mind filled with images of her childhood home. Her sister, about twelve or thirteen, sat balled up underneath the table, her hand clasped over her ears muttering something Alex couldn't understand.
Her father had jumped up to turn off the popcorn maker which had frightened Kara into hiding under the table, while her mother had crouched down trying to reassure the scared girl that it was okay and tried to coax her into coming out, but Kara had remained under the table, pulling her knees even tighter against herself, and would not even look at Eliza. Alex had realized immediately her mother's strategy was not working if anything she was overwhelming Kara even more.
"Mom that's not helping, can't you see you're making it worse."
Eliza jerked her head away from her adoptive daughter and shot her oldest an exasperated look. "Then what do you suppose we do Alex?" Eliza snapped
Alex was silent for a second, reeling from her mother's retort, then an idea popped into her head.
"Just back up and give her some space for a second, I have an idea."
Eliza maintained her crouched position, reluctant to leave her scared daughter. "Alex, I don't know, your sister is already very upset."
"Mom, just trust me, please."
Eliza looked to her husband for support.
"Just give her a chance," Jeremiah said. "You did say she needs to look out for her sister."
Eliza sighed and got up from the floor and walked over to Alex. "Okay, so what's your idea."
"Just watch."
Alex grabbed the bowl of popcorn and walked towards her sister's hiding spot, holding up a hand to silence her mother who had opened her mouth to protest when she saw what Alex was doing. Jeremiah placed a reassuring hand on his wife's arm and gave his daughter a nod.
Then Alex lowered herself to the floor into a sitting position and scooted under the table a few feet from her sister. She didn't say anything to Kara or even look at her, instead, she watched her reaction in her peripheral vision and began eating popcorn like everything perfectly normal.
It took several minutes before Kara would even acknowledge Alex, and even then she simply sat quietly, nervously watching Alex munch on the popcorn. Finally, after a few more minutes of Kara watching her, Alex thought her sister was calm enough for Alex to try to talk to her.
She took a slow gentle scooch towards her sister and angled the bowl so Kara could see the inside. "It called popcorn and it's actually pretty tasty. You can try some of it if you'd like, but you don't have to if you don't want it."
Kara just stared at Alex for a second then glanced down at the bowl of popcorn. Kara took a breath, the aroma of the popcorn making her nostrils flare. After a few more seconds of deliberation, she carefully reached her hand into the bowl and pulled out a piece and examined it.
"I don't understand." She finally spoke. "The little round things, I heard them explode."
"Well they did kinda, but don't worry it's safe. The little round things are called corn kernels and when they get really hot, the moisture inside them expands, causing the outer shell to break open or pop, hence the name popcorn."
Kara took the piece in her hand and slowly put it in her mouth. A surprised look came over her. "It is really good."
"Well actually, it's a little bland, it needs some salt." Alex got up from under the table and offered Kara her hand. "Here, I'll show you."
Kara took her hand and allowed her sister to help her up and guide her over to the counter. Alex grabbed the salted shaker and sprinkled a few crystals onto the snack. Kara marveled at the small white flakes and then at the ceramic tube they had come from. "Do you want to try?" Alex asked offering Kara the shaker."
"Okay." Kara grabbed it and started shaking it over the bowl.
Alex stole a quick glance at her mom and dad who looked relieved to see their new daughter had calmed down. They both gave Alex a look of pride, which made her heart swell, but it also made her a little embarrassed. She turned back to Kara to who was now vigorously shaking the salt over the popcorn.
"Okay, not that much, you don't want to give us all heart attacks," then seeing Kara's panicked look she quickly added. "No, not really, I mean we'd have to eat that much salt every day for decades for that to happen. A little extra is not going to hurt us, see." She placed a handful in her mouth then fought the urge the keep from cringing at the extreme saltiness, but this satisfied Kara who ate a handful herself.
"You're right Alex it is even better with the salt," Kara said, giving her new sister a smile.
The memory ended when the sound of the bathroom door closing brought Alex back into the present.
"Oh good the popcorn is ready," Kara said, grabbing a handful. She looked up from the bowl and caught sight of Alex staring at her. "Don't worry, I just want one more bite. The rest of this bowl is yours." Then giving her sister a closer look she asked. "Hey is everything okay, you seem kind of out of it tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm just tired, work has been so crazy lately, and having Haley always on my back at work has not helped." She said, grabbing a bit of popcorn herself and walking back to the couch.
Kara took a seat beside her. "Are you sure, that's it?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. Then to prevent her sister from asking if she wanted to talk about it she added, "And I could use a break, so let's get back to the movie."
But was she really alright? What had just happened with that weird flashback? Had the event she just remembered even really happened? It couldn't have. She thought. How could her sister be afraid of popcorn at that age? More importantly, how could Kara not even know what popcorn was by that age? No, the memory couldn't be of a real event, she must have been remembering some weird dream she had. After all, the memory did have a dreamlike feel to it. But her dreams were also not usually that detailed. I'm losing it. Ever since her experience with the truth seeker she had felt something was off with her mind. And even though J'onn scanned her mind and told her she was fine, she still couldn't shake the feeling something was off.
"Alex."
She looked over at her sister, just now realizing her sister had paused the movie.
"What?"
"Look I know this is not your favorite movie, but you've been staring at that popcorn bowl for the past five minutes. What's up?"
"Nothing," She said, then thinking of a way to question her sister about the memory without sounding crazy she added. "It's just I was remembering this weird dream I had the other night. In the dream, it was right after you came to live with us. And for some reason, you were scared of our old air popper and hid under the table. And then... "
"You sat under the table with me until I felt safe to come out." Kara finished.
Alex's eyes widened. "Wait how do you know that? Are saying that actually happened?!"
"Yeah, what exactly do remember?" Kara asked, studying her sister.
"Not much," She thought about telling Kara about the younger version of her not knowing what popcorn was, but she didn't want her sister to worry about her mental stability. "Just you were really freaked out, but I don't remember why you were scared of a popcorn maker."
"I wasn't, not exactly. It just triggered a panic attack. It made me think about losing my parents. The popcorn had burnt slightly and I guess the smell..."
Made you think of the fire. So she wasn't nuts, at least not completely. The memory was real, although she had no idea why she had imagined the part at the end.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a painful subject." Alex saw how upset this conversation was making Kara.
"It's okay, it's not your fault." She now seemed deep in thought herself.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, I'm fine." She said, but it was obvious to Alex she wasn't."
Kara never talked about her parents, nor about what her life was like before she was orphaned. Although now that Alex thought about it, that was odd given Kara's tendency to share everything with her.
She unpaused the movie, but the sound of a fire engine rushing past on the street below drowned out the dialogue. Kara glanced towards the window for a second, then she picked up her phone and looked at the screen.
"Alex, I got to run out for a second. My source on this story I'm working on just texted me and wants to meet." Kara got up and walked towards the door.
"Okay, I'll go with you," Alex said, following her.
"You can't this guy, asked me to come alone."
"Do you really think I'm just going to let you meet some strange guy in the middle of the night by yourself? That's how women end up disappearing."
"Okay, first of all, it's only nine-thirty. Second, this is my job. And I'll won't be any danger, this guy isn't some shady creep, he's just a normal guy who really doesn't want to his boss to know he's talking to a reporter. I promise I'll meet him somewhere crowded, but I've really gotta go." She turned and walked out the door before Alex could argue anymore.
Maybe she was being too overprotective. Kara was a grown woman and she couldn't be her bodyguard every time she went somewhere. Then again, she was also a trained agent and could easily keep an eye on Kara and her source without either of them knowing she was there. She waited a few seconds giving Kara enough of a headstart she could follow her without being noticed. But she must have waited a few seconds too long because when she did try to follow her, Kara was already gone.
Alex thought about calling Brainy and getting him to track Kara's phone, but using government resources to follow her sister felt a little too stalkerish, so she went back to Kara's apartment and waited for her. She turned off the movie and started flipping through the channels, stopping when she saw live news footage of a fire a few blocks away. It showed Supergirl flying people to safety, then helping firefighters extinguish the flames.
Alex watched long enough to see that no one had been killed or injured in the fire, then turned the channel. Seeing the blonde Kryptonian only reminded her of how stressed work was making her. And after working with Supergirl to stop Operation Claymore, she had realized just how much she missed working side by side with the Girl of Steel. Alex finally settling on a crime drama and watched until her sister returned.
"How'd it go?"
"I got about halfway to the restaurant and the guy texted me and called it off. Is there any popcorn left?"
Kara plopped down next to her sister and began devouring the bowl.
Alex smiled. So much for the rest of the popcorn being all mine. She put an arm around her little sister and snuggled closer to her. Then she noticed something.
"Hey did you go by Harmon Avenue?"
"No why?"
"I just saw on the news there is a fire in the area, I was wondering if you saw anything."
"No, I went the other way," Kara turned the movie back on.
Alex stared at her out of the corner of her eye looking for any indication she was lying. She was probably being crazy again, Kara would never lie to her. But if Kara didn't go anywhere near the fire then why when Alex got close to her did she notice the faint smell of smoke?
Thanks for reading!