The fight is going well until Lillian Luthor comes out and points a gun at Alex's head, pushing her forearm against Alex's throat and smashing a metal object Alex can't identify into her ribs.
"Alex," Maggie gasps, losing focus for a moment. The alien she's fighting seizes the opportunity to hit her with his revolver and Maggie falls to her knees. Alex shakes her head violently – as much as she can in this position– telling Maggie not to stop, not to give in, not for her. It isn't worth it.
"Drop the gun, Detective," Lillian calls, a sly grin on her face as she presses tighter against Alex's throat, effectively cutting off the word she's trying to say, the name. Black spots are forming in front of Alex's eyes and she knows she's not going to last much longer in this hypoxic position. Alex tries to breathe, even a little, but it's no use, and her body collapses against Lillian's armour. Lillian chuckles darkly. The pain is raw and burning, like flames licking up the inside of her chest.
Someone kicks Maggie in the stomach. Hard. She cries out in pain, and that sound alone gives Alex a sudden burst of pure rage. Her eyes fly open and adrenaline shoots through her. It's enough for her to drive her fist into Lillian's abdomen and she crumples to the ground. Alex knocks her out with a nearby gun for good measure, then puts a bullet in the head of the last alien standing.
"Maggie," Alex whispers, crawling towards her, her lungs burning and her ribs throbbing horribly.
"We need to get out of here," Maggie groans, reaching for her radio, the back of which is completely smashed. Alex nods and holds Maggie against her, glancing over at Lillian's unconscious form.
"I love you," Maggie says against Alex's chest and Alex squeezes her tighter.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alex notices one of Lillian's henchmen twitch, stained red fingers closing around the handle of a gun. Before Alex can react, before she can tell Maggie to move, before she can blink, the alien squeezes the trigger and there's a flash of light as Maggie falls backwards. The force of the shot makes Alex hit her head on the cold ground and she ignores the blood trickling down the back of her neck.
"No," Alex screams, shooting her gun three or four times at the alien's head, her hands shaking so hard that she misfires twice. "Maggie," she gasps, crawling over to her.
"Al-" Maggie whispers. Her breath is coming in short, strangled gasps and her eyes are half-closed.
"Don't – don't try to speak," Alex chokes, "it's okay. J'onn's coming. It's okay. It's okay."
Alex pulls off her jacket and presses it to the wound, praying that J'onn will be here soon – because he needs to if Maggie's going to live. The blood is soaking through the jacket already and Maggie's eyes have closed. Alex thinks she hears a helicopter in the distance as she hits the radio repeatedly with her free hand, trying to get it to work.
It's a few seconds before the DEO aircraft lands and the bleeding might be slowing, or maybe not – Alex isn't really sure what's real anymore. It's like an out of body experience.
They get Maggie strapped onto a stretcher and stick a needle in her arm, wrapping gauze around her stomach.
"Let go, Alex,' J'onn growls in her ear and she releases her grip on Maggie's jacket, gasping. "Alex-" J'onn says.
"I'm okay," she says, the tiny space inside the helicopter lurching forwards as the world spins.
"What the hell was in that bullet?" J'onn snarls, catching Alex as she collapses.
Alex has been pacing outside Maggie's room for so long now that every agent in the DEO has noticed and every agent in the DEO is talking about them.
"Why isn't she awake?" Alex mutters, her heart pounding.
"Alex," J'onn warns her, "she's lost a lot of blood."
"This is all my fault – I should never have let her in the field. They shot her, J'onn. They freaking shot her."
"This is not your fault, Alex! Maggie knew what she was doing."
"Don't tell me she knew what she was doing, J'onn. She's hurt! She could die!"
"Maggie won't die. You need to sit down."
"You don't know that," Alex spits, burying her face in her hands and ignoring his request. "Can I at least go and be with her?"
"You know how dangerous that is at this stage. We don't know what kind of bullet it was. You've already been exposed enough to whatever that is."
"Like I give a crap about that! I love her. I'm not going to let her lie in there, sedated and alone."
"I'll go in," Kara interrupts, striding up to them, "it's not kryptonite. I'm not going to get sick. I'll go in."
"Fine," J'onn agrees, "go."
"Kara… thank you," Alex sighs.
"Hey. I love her too, you know," Kara says, pulling Alex into a too-tight hug. Normally, Alex would complain, but right now, she needs the security of Kara's embrace – whether it gives her bruises or not doesn't matter.
"I know," Alex whispers, not trusting her voice as she fights back tears.
Kara unlocks the door and slides it open. Alex's eyes find Maggie's face for half a second before the door closes again. Her skin in pale and looks almost grey in the dim light. Her eyes are closed and three IV bags of blood are hanging on a rail, alongside two bags of fluids and saline, and another of their strongest antibiotics. There are about twenty different tubes in her arm and the monitor shows her dangerously high heart rate as her blood pressure creeps upwards to fight the infection. The oxygen mask is covering most of her face, and Alex notices instantly that Maggie's breaths are shallow and infrequent. Her own heart skips a beat and she grinds her teeth together.
"I want Lillian Luthor in a cell in the next hour, or I'm going to kill her myself," Alex snarls, loudly enough that everyone hears and angrily enough that everyone knows she isn't joking. Alex's hand falls to the heavy gun resting against her thigh and she realises that her fingers are still stained with Maggie's blood.
"Yes, Ma'am," James says, nodding gravely as he slips his shield under his arm.
The next forty-five minutes pass slowly – agonisingly so. Alex won't leave the corridor outside the trauma bay and her hands won't stop shaking. J'onn takes her cold fingers in his warm hands and holds her against him.
"Don't. If you hug me, I'm going to lose it. I can't," Alex forces the words out and flinches away from J'onn. She turns back to the window, watching through the gap in the blinds as Kara whispers to Maggie, stroking her hair softly.
"It should be me in there," Alex says, leaning on the windowsill. The action sends a shock of pain through her side and she gasps involuntarily.
"Alex?" J'onn asks.
"It's nothing," she snaps, pressing her hand to her side and turning away from him.
J'onn sighs and grips Alex's arm, leading her round the corner to a gurney.
"Ow," she mutters as he makes her sit down.
J'onn folds his arms and looks at her.
"What?" Alex says.
"I have a medical degree, Alex."
"Congratulations, J'onn."
Alex sighs and unzips her jacket, then lifts up her shirt slightly. Her skin is a livid purple, and the bruising stretches the whole way up the right side of her body. J'onn looks at Alex for permission before touching the skin carefully, his fingers probing the area. Alex grimaces, glaring at the ceiling.
"Agent Schott?" he shouts down the corridor. Winn looks up from the computer screen.
"Yes, sir?"
"Get me an ultrasound."
"What?" Alex says, yanking her shirt back into place. "I don't need-"
"You could have internal bleeding. Your spleen-" J'onn tries to explain.
"Just to be clear, J'onn, I went to medical school, too. I know what a splenic laceration is."
"I am aware of that. You sent me a CV, remember?"
"Shut up," Alex winces.
Winn arrives with the machine and J'onn nods his head in thanks. Winn sees Alex's injuries and his eyes widen.
"Alex! Are you okay?" he asks.
"Am I okay? Seriously? Maggie is in a freaking coma. All I have is a couple of bruises."
"More like four broken ribs," J'onn announces, pointing one of the DEO's rarely-used X-Ray scanner's at Alex's chest.
"It's nothing," Alex sighs, looking down at the floor.
Her hair falls forwards and J'onn notices the blood on her scalp.
"Agent Danvers, if you don't stop hiding injuries from me, I'm going to put you on probation."
"Yes, sir," Alex glares at him, but flinches when J'onn cleans the wound and asks for a suture kit.
"Alex," Kara gasps, running so fast all Alex can see is a blur. Well, that could just be the head wound, but still.
"What?" Alex asks, standing up and ignoring J'onn's protests about her bleeding head.
"She's waking up!"
"Alex," J'onn says, "wait!"
"No, J'onn, I'm not going to wait. I've had worse, I'm fine, and if Maggie's awake, it means that the infection is under control and is, therefore, safe for other humans to be exposed to. Am I correct?" Alex asks sarcastically as she jogs towards Maggie's room.
"You raised her well, J'onn," Kara says, sighing.
"Hmm," J'onn says as they open the door.
"Maggie," Alex whispers, kissing her forehead as Maggie struggles to keep her eyes open.
"What… happened," she croaks, wincing.
"They shot you with some kind of… poisoned bullet. We don't exactly know what it was," J'onn tells her.
"Did you… did you get it out?" Maggie whispers, her voice faltering.
"Yes," Alex whispers, tears running down her face in relief when Maggie cracks a smile.
"We'll give you two some privacy," Kara says, pulling J'onn out of the room by his arm and closing the door behind them. She holds up Maggie's police jacket and shows J'onn the small, circular object buried deep in the pocket.
"Alex, this morning…" Maggie says, smiling to herself at the memory, "I was going to-"
"Marry me."
Alex blurts it out without thinking then realises what she just said. She holds her breath as Maggie's face lights up and the only sounds in the room are the machine monitoring Maggie's heart rate and the sound of Alex's own heart thudding.
"Alex… yes. Yes. I'll marry you," Maggie whispers, beaming.
"Really," Alex asks in relief. "I'm sorry - I don't have a ring."
"Really," Maggie promises, "it's fine. Actually, that's exactly what I was planning to ask you this morning. I was going to ask you… to marry me."
"Oh," Alex frowns, then laughs. Maggie may have almost died today, but she still notices when Alex grimaces in pain.
"Danvers," she mutters, her speech slurred slightly "what did you do?"
"Couple of broken ribs," Alex chuckles. "It's nothing."
"'S'not nothing," Maggie says, but laughs softly anyway, but that makes her cough and suddenly Alex is terrified so she pulls the oxygen mask back over Maggie's head.
"Breathe, Sawyer," she says softly, stroking her hair.
Maggie nods, and lies there for a moment in silence, trying to take deep breaths.
"Alex," she whispers, lifting the mask away from her mouth.
"Yes?"
"Not Sawyer."
"Huh?"
"Sawyer-Danvers."
Alex grins, nodding at her. "I love it," she says.
"Me too."
"Will you stop trying to die on my now, please?" Alex says.
"Okay," Maggie whispers, her eyes closing.
"Go to sleep," Alex whispers, "I'll be here."
Maggie nods, her eyes staying shut.
Hours later, when Alex finally leaves the room, Kara, Winn, James and J'onn are waiting outside. They start clapping quietly and Alex chuckles, shaking her head.
"Congratulations," Kara squeals.
J'onn hugs her gently, being careful of her ribs and even Kara manages not to injure her this time.
"Thank you," Alex smiles, looking around at her family.
"Alex?" Kara says meekly.
"What?" she replies warily.
"I… may have called Eliza."
"Excellent," Alex rolls her eyes, but it doesn't matter because Maggie's alive and Maggie wants to marry her.