Author's Note: Thanks to one of my reviewers who suggested a birthday as one of the days of Cheer! I hope you like how this flows into the overall themes of the series.

Many thanks to all my reviewers as well. Your words and suggestions are fantastic and I hope you enjoy this next installment!

Birthday Cheer

It had been three weeks since Alex had walked out of Maxwell Lord's office, at a loss as to how to breach the wall of arrogance and entitlement that he had erected once again. The DEO had, mercifully, had no crises that they couldn't handle on their own and so Alex had had no legitimate reason to speak to him.

Brooding over the enigma of how to ensure that Max regained some of his humility and remained less of a threat to Kara, Alex walked into her apartment, dropped her keys on the kitchen bench, grabbed a beer from the fridge and turned on the TV as she landed on her couch.

"Speak of the devil," she muttered to herself as a press conference with Maxwell Lord introducing the company's latest technological marvel flickered to life. He and four others were seated at a table in front of a crowd of reporters. She turned the volume up.

"… understand it's your birthday tomorrow, Mr Lord, so happy early birthday!" a perky blond reporter said with far too much enthusiasm. Max brought his usual smirk to the fore.

"It is my birthday tomorrow, and thank you," Max replied smoothly. A chorus of 'happy birthdays' sounded out from the assembled crowd and Max's smirk deepened. Alex studied the man. The smirk didn't reach his eyes.

She tilted her head and took another swig of beer, then grinned with pure mischief. She took out her phone and texted Max.

'You know, Her Blonde Perkiness would probably love to make your birthday happy.'

A few seconds later, Max jerked ever so slightly as his phone vibrated in the pocket of his pants. He discretely slid it out, opened the message, frowned then returned it to his pocket. He sent a glare into one of the cameras and it was Alex's turn to smirk. She put her beer down to devote her full attention to the battle plan that was forming in her mind. Her phone turned into her weapon of choice.

'Whoops, my bad.' He jerked again and Alex laughed, eyes glued to the screen. Max very studiously ignored his phone.

'That's rude, Max.'

He finally handed his phone to his assistant and Alex smiled in victory. She picked up her beer and changed the channel, content that she was currently the reason for the sudden sparkle in his eyes.

The next day, everything went to Hell and Alex found herself flinging open the doors to Max's office in a hurry. He raised an eyebrow at the dramatic entrance and at her appearance.

"You have a bit of…" he dragged a finger done his cheek and Alex raised her hand to mirror his gesture. He hand came away with dried blood.

"It's been a long day and it's not over yet," Alex replied. "We need your help."

"What's in it for me? "Max said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desk.

"How about helping us do the right thing?"

He contemplated the idea for a few seconds. "I'm a little busy," he eventually said, echoing his words from the Red Tornado incident. This time Alex stood her ground.

"What do you want, then?" Alex crossed her arms, winced as it pulled her already bruised shoulder and slowly uncrossed them.

"Well, that's an interesting question, Agent Danvers," Max said, pushing back his chair and coming around the desk to stand in front of her. "What are you going to give me?"

Alex's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sleeping with you, Max," Alex answered, disappointed that he would think so little of her. Max stepped even closer, his smirk dropping off.

"I'm not so desperate that I'd blackmail a woman into sleeping with me, Alex."

They stared at each other, tension building before Alex breathed a little too deeply and had to stifle a grunt of pain. Max, of course, noticed.

"You're injured again?" He frowned. "Really, Agent Danvers, you should come work for me. Better pay, more toys and far less chance of dying."

"You forgot boring and no guns. Besides, the thought of working for you makes me shudder with horror."

"And here I thought we'd always worked well together, despite our difference of opinion."

"There's a difference between working for and working with, Max."

Max laughed. "I could make a completely inappropriate joke about you working under me but that would derail the entire conversation."

Alex felt herself blush and Max's hand raised slowly towards her face of its own volition. Alex held her breath, uncomfortably aware that it had been a long time since she'd had a man touch her simply for being a woman. He hesitated for a second, watching her face and she raised an eyebrow ever so slightly in challenge. His pupils dilated but he was frozen.

"Max?"

His hand dropped and he backed away. Alex rolled her eyes, fed up with the advance and retreat.

"You can be such an asshole," she muttered as she strode to his retreating back. Planting herself in his path Alex grabbed his chin and kissed him firmly. He grunted in surprise.

"You're an arrogant ass but I've seen your better angels and I'm stubborn enough to work towards bringing them back. So, game on, Max." She walked towards the door and Max found his voice.

"What about my help?"

"I'll find a way to deal with the situation without you."

"What if I don't want you to?" Max's voice stopped Alex mid stride. "What if I like the idea of being useful?" Alex turned back towards him and held out her hand.

"Then come and be useful," she coaxed. Max rolled his eyes at her gesture and ignored her hand as he walked past her and out of his office. Alex followed, a satisfied smile stretching her lips.

"This would be a lot easier if we'd have a one-night stand," Max said in a reasonable tone. Alex laughed and placed a hand his shoulder as they walked out together.

"Max, one night with me would ruin you for other woman."

"Of that, Agent Danvers, I have no doubt."

Twelve hours later and the DEO was slowly winding down from its state of emergency. Max and Alex sat slumped over the bench in her laboratory, absolutely exhausted.

"Happy birthday to me," Max muttered tiredly. Alex smiled tiredly and reached out to entwine her fingers with his.

"Happy birthday, Max."

He glanced at the brunette sitting beside him and thought over the past few hours. Her dedication to the preservation of the city and its people was without question but it was her ferocity when her family and friends were threatened that kept his attention. Not three hours ago she had slid in front of him without hesitation and emptied her gun into an alien that had tried to separate his head from his body.

"Thank you. For earlier. Saving my life and all that."

Alex squeezed his hand. "Anytime."

She moved to disentangle their hands but he refused to let go. It was comforting and Max realised he liked the casual comfort of holding hands.

"God, I want ice cream," Alex groaned. Max chuckled.

"Have you heard of Mindy's Diner?" Max asked.

"Heard of it? I practically keep them in business," Alex smirked. "Double choc with caramel sauce and marshmellow sundae is the best." She eyed him. "How do you Mindy's Diner?"

"I helped Mindy out a while back. I eat there sometimes."

"Well, when we are cleared to leave, we're going straight there," Alex said firmly. "You had to spend your birthday here, helping us, so we're going to eat ice cream to celebrate your birthday."

"And celebrate another catastrophe averted."

"That too."

"Sounds good." Max released her hand and laid his head down. "Wake me when it's time to go."

Alex nodded and strode out to find Hank, determined to get to ice cream as soon as humanly possible. It only took ten minutes to get approval and Alex almost danced back to her lab and shook Max awake with a gleeful smile.

"Ice cream time!" she announced. Max slid from the stool to stand and held his hand out.

"Ladies first," he said. Alex dropped a cheeky half curtsey, stunning Max with her playfulness, and he ended up having to jog to catch up with her before she left without him in her quest to find the cold dessert that currently occupied her every conscious thought. The drive to the diner took no time and soon enough Alex had pulled into the diner's small parking lot and jumped out, waiting impatiently for Max to climb out of the SUV.

"Remind me to never get between you and your ice cream," Max said wryly. "I don't think your sister could have kept up with us, the way you were driving."

"Quit whining, you're still alive," she retorted as they entered and went straight to the counter. Alex placed her order then turned to Max expectantly.

"I can buy my own," he said with a small smirk. He pulled out a platinum American Express card and waved it. Alex rolled her eyes.

"That's not the way birthdays work," Alex informed him. "You're not supposed to buy your own cake."

"Is it your birthday, Monsieur Lord?" came a French accent from behind them. They both turned to see Mindy standing behind them, balancing a tray of dirty dishes.

"Yeah," Max answered. A genuinely happy smile split Mindy's face and the brilliance of it brought a small answering one to his own face.

"Well then, we must celebrate! And you have brought such a lovely young lady to celebrate with. Mademoiselle Alex, I haven't seen you in weeks! I feared something terrible had happened!" Mindy herded them to a table in a quiet corner.

"Nothing of the sort," Alex lied. Max smirked and opened his mouth to speak but Alex shot him a glare. He thought better of speaking and pretended to peruse the menu.

"Now, don't you two worry about a thing. This place wouldn't be here if it weren't for you so for tonight you'll be my valued friends and guests."

She hustled away and Max and Alex looked at each other curiously.

"You first," Alex said, settling back.

"A couple of years ago, I was in here by myself when I heard quiet crying out the back. Naturally, I went to see what was going on – "

"Naturally," Alex said dryly, able to imagine him walking into the diner's kitchen like he owned the place quite easily.

"Mindy was in a bit of financial strife and it had finally worn her down enough that she needed to let it out. Her ex-husband had almost bankrupted her and she was going to have to close the diner." Max stopped as a mini affogato with vanilla bean ice cream was placed in front of him. Alex got the same. "I took exception to the fact I'd have to find somewhere else to eat so I donated enough to cover the diner's expenses for the next two years."

Alex stared at him. "Max, that was… That was an exceptionally kind thing to do."

"I needed the tax write-off," he said with a shrug but Alex wasn't fooled. He wouldn't quite meet her eyes. "And you, Agent Danvers?"

"I've actually met this ex-husband of Mindy's," Alex began. "I was in here late one night after a particularly painful day – "

"Painful physically or painful figuratively?"

"Both. Anyway, I was minding my own business when a guy came in. There was something off about him. He looked like he wanted to make trouble. Mindy came out and froze when she saw him." Alex paused to scoop and spoonful of affogato and hummed in pleasure as it slid down her throat.

"What happened?" Max asked impatiently.

"He… said some nasty things which I won't repeat, for Mindy's sake. He grabbed her and she started crying, so I intervened."

"Please, tell me you put him in hospital."

"Nothing that bad," Alex smiled. "But he would have been sore the next morning. Of course, it didn't help he spent it sleeping on concrete." At Max's querying look Alex elaborated. "I had a friend who was on duty at the local drunk tank. He kept him for the rest of the night, as a favour. The next day, his lawyers passed word that Mindy's lawyers had received evidence that placed her ex in a gambling establishment, a violation of his divorce agreement and proved that he couldn't be trusted."

"And so Mindy was able to divorce him with no further trouble," Max deduced. Alex raised her affogato in salute. They were quiet for a few minutes, simply enjoying the opportunity to sit and do nothing.

"Happy birthday!" Mindy announced as she set down the largest sundae either of them had ever seen in front of Max. She'd managed to scrounge up a plastic "Happy birthday" sign and stuck it in the ice cream.

"For the man who saved my diner," she announced proudly. And then she began to sing. Her voice floated high and sweet over the diner and the rest of the patrons were silenced as she sang Max happy birthday in her native French. Alex smiled broadly and joined in, her voice far less sophisticated but no less enthusiastic. A round of applause erupted as they finished and Mindy gave him a kiss on the cheek before hustling away again. Max had to clear his throat before he could speak.

"Thank you."

Alex reached over and squeezed his hand again. "You're welcome. Now, are you going to eat that or do I have to rescue it from melting?"

Max handed her a spoon with a challenging smile. "Think you can keep up?"

"Watch me," she answered with a challenging grin of her own.

They dug in, each cramming enormous mouthfuls of cold bliss into their mouths. Ten minutes, two brain freezes and an empty sundae dish later both Alex and Max were leaning back feeling thoroughly sick.

"That was disgusting," Alex said with a satisfied smile.

"Terrible," Max agreed. "But if your plan is to ply me with ice cream to free my better angels, I approve." Max winked at her.

"Ice cream is the way to anyone's soul," Alex said half-seriously. A waitress came to clear away the dishes and Alex asked for the bill.

"No bill!" Mindy yelled from the kitchen. Alex opened her mouth to argue but Mindy stuck her head around the corner and glared. A wooden spoon tapped her cheek. Alex's mouth snapped shut.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Max laughed to himself and check his watch. 1am.

"Time to head home," Max said with a hint of disappointment.

"I'll give you a lift," Alex offered. Not wanting to give up the camaraderie that had formed, he readily agreed. They made small talk until they reached Max's apartment block and Alex parked.

"This is going to sound sad, but this has probably been the best birthday I've had in years," Max admitted.

"That's what happens when you have friends," she teased gently. "Don't go back to the cold, hard man you were and there will be many more days like this."

"Bribery, Agent Danvers?"

"Whatever it takes to get the job done," she answered.

"I need to be Maxwell Lord, the billionaire, for a while yet. The public - not to mention my Board of Directors - needs to be introduced to Max slowly."

"I understand. If you need anything…"

"I have your number," Max finished. He grinned and opened the door. "I guess I'd better change the name in my phone to Alex Danvers now."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "What do you have me under now?"

He closed the door to form a barrier between them before he answered.

"Mata Hari."

Her outraged face stayed in his mind as he turned and hurried into the building and the smile that it brought lasted until he fell asleep.