Alex Danvers' job entailed many things.

She was the second in command at the DEO, and the leader whenever the DEO deployed on field missions. A bioengineer, a field medic and a firearms expert.

So it only made sense that she had to make time to train new recruits as well.

At least, according to J'onn.

Mostly, Alex just suspected that J'onn wanted her to scare them into becoming disciplined agents, listening to her every command in the field. She was happy to comply.

And at least it felt like blowing off some steam after a long morning of sitting in the lab and watching alien bacteria multiply.

So she took the job with pride, pacing along the wall of the training room and watching the agents spar one-on-one, barking out feedback every now and then as she passed.

"Ericson, he's going to keep blocking you if you keep coming in from the left!"

"Harrison, footwork! You look like a little kid that just learned how to walk, Jesus."

"Kowalski, if you can't throw a punch I don't expect you to make it to the next week!"

Truth be told, Alex knew that she was being harsh on the agents. Whenever she was out in the field, she made a point of being in charge, but also being kind to her team, whoever they were. She knew all of them by name, and worked on getting to know them well enough to know how they needed to be handled.

She felt like it was her duty.

This, however, was just wasting her time.

She felt her cellphone buzz in her pocket, and walked out of the room after yelling over her shoulder that they needed to keep sparring while she was gone.

As she raised the phone to her ear, her frustrated scowl made way for a content sigh.

"Hey."

"Hey, babe. Am I interrupting?"

The sound of Maggie's voice never failed to make her smile, although it had been months since they married. Though the domesticity of her life seemed to have taken a huge leap forward, she still felt butterflies every time someone mentioned her wife.

"I'm almost done. Are we still meeting up for lunch?"

Maggie chuckled. "Yeah, I'm just wrapping up here too. I'll come pick you up in fifteen."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you too."

Alex lowered the phone, and had to force herself to pull the smirk off her face as she turned around to head back into the training room.

"If I see one person sitting on the side, that's fifty more push-ups…!"

As soon as she hung up, she reached for her leather jacket draped around her chair, and pulled it on.

"McConnell, I'm heading out." She announced to the man sitting at the desk across from her.

"I heard." The man replied dryly without looking up from his computer screen. "The missus is waiting."

Maggie raised an amused eyebrow. "And we don't keep a lady waiting, do we, Jack?"

McConnell made a vague noise. "… Give it a few years, you'll see."

She laughed, and patted him on the back as she walked towards the elevator. If she took her car, she'd be at the DEO building in a good ten minutes. She made a reservation for lunch at a small but cozy restaurant not too far, but she only had an hour and a half for lunch, so she needed to get moving as soon as possible.

As she stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor, she smiled at the receptionist.

She didn't expect the woman stopping her. "Detective Sawyer?"

Maggie stopped in her tracks and turned around with a smile. "Hey, Rita. Sorry, I'm in a rush. I'm picking Alex up for lunch."

Rita motioned to the waiting area. "There's a woman here to see you."

She frowned at that. "See me?"

Rita shrugged, and Maggie turned around to follow the woman's gaze, to where a long-haired brunette woman was sitting, clutching her purse and looking down at the ground.

Maggie took a step in her direction. "Excuse me? Miss?"

The woman looked up at her. And the second their eyes met, Maggie's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"… Chloe?!"

The brunette smiled weakly. "Hey, Mags."

Maggie's stomach dropped. Chloe Watson was here. She'd gone to the police academy with her for a while, back in Nebraska, before Maggie had taken off to Gotham. They'd become great friends, sharing their mutual disgust for small towns, and hoping to make a change in both of their own.

It had been six or seven years since she last saw her, saying goodbye to her in their shared dorm, Chloe wishing her good luck on her big city adventure, and promising her to visit once she'd graduated.

Of course, Gotham with all of its… charm had been far more hectic than Maggie had anticipated, and the last thing on her mind was to reconnect. And even when things settled down… Neither of them really took the initiative to get together.

And now, Chloe Watson was here. Clutching her purse and shuffling from one foot to another nervously.

"I- How have you been?" Maggie stammered, at a loss for words. "It's been…"

"-Seven years, yeah." The woman nodded quickly. "I've… I've been good."

The conversation lulled after that, and Maggie didn't want to ask why Chloe was visiting her, but she was late for a lunch reservation. And the last thing she wanted to do was send Chloe off, but…

The woman seemed to sense her discomfort, and broke the silence quickly. "Listen… Mags. I came here for work."

Maggie tilted her head. "You got relocated?"

"No, I'm… Still working Gage County." Chloe chuckled weakly. "Still guarding good ol' Blue Springs."

But the detective saw the conflict in the woman's eyes, and shook her head. "Well then, can we pick this up in an hour? I'm late for a lunch meeting, so…"

"This can't wait. Do you have somewhere we can talk?"

The seriousness in her tone made Maggie realize immediately that there was something more going on. So without another word, she nodded and lead Chloe up to an empty meeting room on the first floor, closing the door behind them.

"I'm a deputy sheriff." Chloe started. "And uh… It's my job… to… inform people of crimes."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. This didn't sound like the Chloe she'd known at all. She looked like she was afraid to say a wrong syllable and get in trouble.

"Chloe, whatever it is… Just…" Maggie swallowed thickly, trailing off. The only reason why someone from Gage County would come visit her to talk was if something had happened back home.

Something bad.

It didn't take the detective she was to figure that out.

"What happened?"

Chloe took a deep breath, finally meeting her eyes. "Mags… Your parents' bodies were both found yesterday, in their home. There were signs of a struggle, but no forced locks. From the looks of things, they'd been there at least three days before the neighbors called us."

As much as she hated to admit it, hearing the words made her sick. Maggie raised a hand to cover her mouth, and took a shaky breath. "Do… uh… Do you have any leads yet?"

Chloe shook her head. "None so far. We're still looking into it. But Mags…" Her gaze softened. "… They didn't have anybody. You're the only family we could find."

Jesus.

Maggie was at a loss. "Give me… Give me a sec, alright?"

"Of course." Chloe watched as Maggie dropped down onto a nearby chair, burying her face in her hands. She moved closer, and put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"This can't be happening."

Chloe winced sympathetically. "Whatever you need, I'm here, Mags."

Maggie could only stare ahead, still hoping that she'd wake up from the nightmare she apparently found herself in.

"Hey, Winn!"

The brunette man spun around in his chair at the sound of his name, seeing Alex walking over to him in her civilian clothes.

"Alex… You look… uh…" He didn't know exactly how to put it, but there was something off about the look on her face.

"Have you seen Maggie?"

He shook his head. "Nope, she hasn't passed by here yet. Why?"

"She was supposed to be here five minutes ago." Alex said, nervously glancing down at her watch.

She didn't miss the incredulous look Winn was shooting her, and sighed. "I know how crazy that sounds, alright? But she knows the tight schedule we're on during lunch, she was the one that made the reservation. She's never late."

"Traffic?" Winn tried. "Maybe there was an accident, or she had to be pulled into work, or-…"

Alex interrupted him quickly. "-I'm going to her precinct."

Winn opened his mouth to reply, but the agent was already running off. He sighed. "Good talk…?"

"I want to see the photos."

Chloe hesitated. "Mags, I know that they did horrible things to you, but I really don't-…"

"Don't what?" Maggie snapped. "Have the right? The jurisdiction? They never officially disowned me, I'm still their daughter, I have a right to be updated on this investigation…"

"I'm not saying you aren't." Chloe defused the situation quickly. "Hell, you probably know the law better than I do. But I didn't come here to discuss the case with you. I came here to tell you that you're the only one left to pick up the pieces back in Nebraska."

"You need me to plan the funerals." Maggie swallowed, before chuckling humorlessly. "Yeah, I get it."

She'd had this conversation plenty of times with torn apart families. Hysterical mothers crying over their dead children, teenagers now completely alone against the world because of their parents arbitrary deaths… The world was a fucked up place, and Maggie Sawyer knew.

But she'd never expected to be on the other side of the couch.

"I'm supposed to take the red eye back to Nebraska tonight." Chloe said. "I'm needed back at the sheriff's department."

"Right." Maggie whispered. "He was the sheriff."

"Yeah." Chloe sighed. "I worked under him for three years."

Maggie glanced up to meet her eyes upon hearing that, but the last thing she wanted was to have that conversation right now. And Chloe seemed to agree, because she folded her arms. "Anyway, I mean, if you want to take some more time to arrange things here, that's fine. But… If I were you, I wouldn't wait too long."

"Thanks."

Chloe fished a business card out of her pocket, and handed it to her. "Like I said, I'm still in town for the rest of the day. If you need me, or anything really, give me a call, alright?"

Maggie nodded, staring down at the card. "Let me walk you out, at least."

Chloe followed her out of the meeting room, and the walk downstairs was silent. When they reached the reception area again, Maggie cleared her throat. "Are you staying somewhere?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll hail a cab."

"I can drive you, if you want. It's the least I can do." Maggie offered. But Chloe smiled weakly. "I appreciate it, but I'm sure you've got things to process. We can talk properly once things have settled down."

Once we've figured out whoever killed your parents.

The implication was heavy between the two of them, but both women ignored it. Chloe reached forward and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into her body. Maggie closed her eyes and sighed, as she felt Chloe rub her back softly.

When they pulled back, the brunette nodded. "Let me know what you decide."

After that, she walked out of the precinct, leaving Maggie to watch her go.

Alone with her thoughts for the first time ever since she was told the news, Maggie felt eerily calm. Almost like she'd forced herself not to react.

These two people had ruined her life. She had no love for them, except for the fact that they had left her alone all this time. They had made a mistake, and they had owned it.

The least she could do was respect that.

But she didn't feel like she had a mother or a father to think about. To make proud. All she had was herself to make proud. And Alex too.

Alex…

… Who was probably worried out of her mind that she hadn't been there to pick her up, and hadn't answered her phone in the past fifteen minutes. Shit.

As she walked out of the precinct, hoping to make up some time and still make the reservation by running to her car, she practically bumped into her as soon as she was out the door.

"Mags!" Alex yelled, the relief visible on her face. "God, if you were working late you could have just said so, we could have rescheduled!"

"I'm… Sorry. Uh, something came up." Maggie said, evading the topic. "I got caught up in it, I couldn't answer my phone."

"No, it's fine, don't apologize." Alex shook her head. "I'm just glad you're okay. We're probably not going to make the reservation, though."

"Actually, I took the rest of the day off." She lied quickly. "I haven't been feeling well, I think I'm just going to head home and rest."

"Oh…" Alex's face broke into a concerned frown. "Do you want me to come with you? I could take some time off to take care of you."

"No, it's fine, don't worry. I'm just going to go to bed." Maggie smiled quickly. But she knew that Alex wasn't completely buying it. Her eyes seemed to scream to let it go, though, when the agent nodded slowly.

"Alright. So, want me to go grab a sandwich for you? You need to eat something."

"Yeah, sure. That sounds great." Maggie tried her best to make this smile more genuine, and it seemed to work, as Alex smiled and leaned forward, kissing her gently.

"Avocado, cucumber and egg sandwich, coming up."

"I love you."

Alex laughed at that. "You love me getting you food. That's why Kara loves me too, I'm onto you guys."

Maggie smiled too, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Alex's expression changed into one of concern again. "Hey… is something wrong?"

Maggie glanced down. "I'll… see you at home."

The agent frowned at the answer, but before she could say anything else, her wife turned around, heading to her car.

As soon as her back was turned to her, Maggie felt tears sting in her eyes. She ignored Alex calling out her name behind her in confusion, and unlocked her car instead.

And as she got behind the wheel, she reached for the business card in her pocket, and fished out her phone first.

"… Chloe Watson, Gage County Deputy."

She wiped at her eyes quickly, trying to make her voice sound normal. "Hey, Chloe… It's uh… It's Maggie."

God, she really should have thought this through.

"Hey Mags... You okay? Do you need something?"

"Yeah… Actually, I do." She took a deep breath, glancing at Alex's form in her rear view mirror and watching as her wife walked towards her motorcycle, before closing her eyes. "I want the case."

"Okay, well, I can print you some copies of the reports…"

"No." Maggie shook her head slowly. "No copies. No reports. I want the case."

"The… the case?"

The detective glanced at her own face in the mirror once more, before her gaze was locked straight ahead.

"I want to be in charge of the investigation. I want to find out who murdered my parents."