So, Alex is…more than a little surprised to see Astra on her doorstep. First, because, well, Astra is on her doorstep. Second, because she's definitely acting like she's in hiding, and yet despite being pretty paranoid-looking, is respective of Alex's personal space. And third but not least, to her shock and perhaps disbelief, Astra's most definitely pregnant.
"I would ask for a safehouse, or even just a cell. Please, I need to get away from-" she flinches, and goes mute. Alex stares for a moment, before the door-guard stands, shock-baton in hand.
"Doctor Danvers, is this a criminal? I can call the local station-"
"Stand down, Fred, she's good." Alex interrupts in a strange tone. "She's…she's a relative of Kara's. She was a suspect about the house-fire that burned down Kara's family home, but she's innocent, there's proof of it, despite how she ran off. It's been settled recently. No- no need to call law enforcement." She motions to Fred as she reaches out to take Astra's bag, which she grips tightly in two hands, but lets go of as Alex retrieves it. "Luna, meet Fred Jones, the door-guard. Fred, Luna Izenova."
Fred looks at Astra suspiciously, but nods his head, tipping his hat. "Miss Izenova."
"Mr Jones," Astra greets distantly, before Alex takes her hand in an attempt to get her to move, to come inside without saying anything. Astra follows after only a short tug, the two silent as Alex leads her to the elevator and presses the number for her floor. The ride up the elevator is rife with tension, and they're still holding hands. Alex lets go when the elevator dings for her floor, and quickly speeds out, Astra hot on her tails towards her apartment.
When they're inside, Alex loses it.
"What the hell are you doing here? How are you alive? Who are you trying to get away from? How the hell are you alive? Kara's been crying over you, I've cried over you, fuck dammit, fuck- Astra, I killed you."
"Alexandra," Astra starts, pausing slightly before continuing, tone quiet, reserved and nervous beyond belief. "I would understand your hesitance to continue in accordance of my following words…but this isn't the time to discuss those matters. I am in need of a safehouse, one in which I might stay for a- for a long time. Until Non can be dealt with."
"Non is imprisoned within the DEO, blind and crippled," Alex snaps, angry, "Kara dealt with that matter. He's been there for months. Fort Rozz is full of those that sided with the two of you, asleep, pushed up and above the atmosphere into space-"
"Non is- Non is not imprisoned," Astra interrupts, eyes wide and fearful, "Alexandra, Brave One, please believe me when I say your people have not got him in custody!" And she steps forwards, hands gripping Alex's shoulders, all her body language screaming terror, panic. "He is roaming your planet, and while he might not see, he is perfectly able to travel and walk and run and subjugate-" at that word, she seems to momentarily shut down, before her grip slackens and she whips away as if burned. "All- all my people were trained long ago to do such things, an-and Non was my second in command for- for a reason, Brave One."
"What did he do?" Alex deduces that before she even speaks of training, speaking it aloud with an enforced calm. "Astra, what did he do to you?" And Astra gasps, and her hands shake, her steps faltering. Alex holds out her arms slowly, taking a gently step forwards. Astra does the rest of the work for her, coming close, a keen of pain and whine of anguish escaping her mouth, one after the other, as she wraps her arms around her, burrowing her head in Alex's shoulder. Alex breathes in sharply, before hugging her tightly, murmuring small words of gentleness.
If Non is anything like the egotistical, angry, mentally ill bastards of Earth, Alex has a pretty good idea of what he might have done – that would take into account the fact that Astra's having a child of her own, that rests between them, pressing strangely against her pelvis.
"You can stay here tonight. I'll check you over and get you fed before we sleep – you can take my bed."
Astra nods a little, not letting go or moving from her position. At least she's stopped crying, Alex thinks with relief, before her mind drifts to Kryptonian biology. Kara had always been very firm in the belief, until her first Sex-Ed class, that people were born out of the Codex, humans included. Kal-El was an anomaly, and it would be a miracle if her reproductive organs ever worked at all. Alex used to be- no, still is, jealous of how her sister doesn't have to go through a monthly period. The similarities – and differences – between Human and Kryptonian anatomies are astounding, considering they lived in very different parts of space, but that little fact still irks her.
It's odd that Astra's reproductive organs worked now, Alex notes in the back of her mind, remembered conversations about how the Codex had never granted Kara cousins through her aunt drifting into focus. Maybe it's the sunlight.
Suddenly, with barely a smidge of horror, Alex becomes simultaneously very horrified and very relieved at her sister's spontaneous sex-life.
But a rumbling sound distracts her, as Astra's stomach makes a rumbling noise, and Alex gets the feeling she should heat up a microwave lasagne she'd been planning to make for Kara the next day when she came over for movie night. Her arms unwrap from Astra – she immediately misses the warmth that comes with hugs, but ignores it – and she pushes back slightly, prompting Astra to let go, once again as quickly as she'd flinched back before.
"I'm going to heat up some food for you – I'll assume you have a Kryptonian appetite, and if you don't, then we're having words, because it would be unnatural," Alex heads towards the kitchen, avoiding Astra's eyes as she jokes. "As you're…as you're eating for two, would you like more?"
"No, I- we…we are good. Thank-you for your hospitality, Alexandra."
"Alex is fine," she murmurs as she searches through her freezer, taking it out after a few moments of searching, Astra replying in a tone of voice that makes Alex's mind tumble in the vague direction of dread and annoyance.
"Of course, Alexandra."
"Alex. Call me Alex," she bites her tongue, shaking her head as a smile appears without her permission. Astra's next words are surprisingly happy for her earlier outburst.
"Alexandra, I will not call you Alex, so please, forget the notion that I will!" Her voice is so jovial, and Alex can believe she's something in that moment, and glances back to grin at her, shaking her head again.
"You and Kara are so much alike, you don't even know."
…and that brings back the sadness, the light in Astra's eyes dying. "No, I do not." There's an awkward silence for a few moments, before her cold hand reminds Alex that she's holding a frozen lasagne, and she turns swiftly to her microwave, placing it inside and putting on the timer. The noise of the microwave is muted, thanks to Alex's little modifications – she's not just got a degree in Biology, after all, a microwave is a piece of cake – but it has the drawback of making the little noises louder, like how Astra shuffles from side to side trying to get comfortable, and how empty glass bottles clink behind where Alex leans against the counter.
"You can sit down, you know," Alex says slowly, after watching Astra change her posture for about the eleventh time, moving forwards and around the General to her small dining table, pulling out a chair. Astra comes over, sitting down with a small word of thanks, before Alex sits down opposite her casually, no idea what to do.
"So…" she begins, trying to think of a topic and failing, until she glances at her fridge and sees the magnets on there that hold up pictures and postcards. "Kara went travelling, a few years ago. She was halfway through college, and wanted to take a gap year. She went with friends, originally, but they split up soon after getting to Thailand – basically, the other side of the world. Kara sort of grew into herself then. She'd send me postcards, gifts."
Astra listens avidly as Alex rambles about Kara, telling her about the trinkets she sent from Egypt, and the picture she took with one of the Royal Guard's in front of Buckingham Palace. Alex loses herself in it, not even breaking out of her long, winding speech that has somehow moved on to her childhood and the family holidays her father took them on to California and Disneyland before he died, when she goes to get the lasagne. Astra asks a questions here and there – mostly to specify where a place was, and what significance something had – and she eats all the lasagne, before they move over to the sofas, and Alex insists she watches Finding Nemo.
"Finding Dory is the sequel, and Ellen does such a good job again, despite it being like, ten years later, I don't know, but-"
"Who's Ellen?" Astra interrupts. "Was she the Ellen woman who voiced Dory the Blue Tang Fish?"
"Yeah," Alex nods, before searching through her DVR, "I might have an episode of her show here, somewhere- yes! And I haven't watched it yet, even better." Alex plays the episode, and to her surprise, Ellen has Cat Grant on the show.
"So you've been away a long time, Cat, some might say too long. How's the company holding up without you? You ran CatCo with an iron fist, tighter than even Miranda Priestly could ever had with Runway – and isn't that a shame, about her leaving? I heard you guys were the best of friends."
Cat smiles, shaking her head, "Miranda found love and lost it. I don't blame her for giving up Runway seeing as she's happier now than I've ever seen her – Andrea is a lovely woman. And I've left CatCo in capable hands."
"Yes, a James Olsen is on the throne now, a regent King of All Media, and a familiar face in some ways too – he photographed both our alien saviours, didn't he?"
Cat laughs, and there's something there, along with her answer, that catches Alex's attention in a way she didn't expect. "He isn't just there because he got a snapshot of two caped crusaders. James is competent, and so are the people he surrounds himself with, despite what they and others might believe. In particular, my former personal assistant, who now works under the infamous Snapper Carr."
"Ooh, that's Kara right? Tough cookie, if there ever was, absolutely lovely girl – she and Portia get along very well," and Alex chokes on her beer, and ignores the rest of the conversation as she leaps for her phone on the coffee table, speed-dialling her baby sister, who answers almost immediately.
"What is it, Alex? It's really late, like, past midnight," Kara grumbles, but Alex is onto that girl.
"You know Portia? And Ellen? You know Ellen and Portia and you didn't think to mention it?" Alex is whining, she knows very well, and Astra beside her is quite amused by her current behaviour. "Cat Grant mentioned you on national television and Ellen just lit up in praise, said you and Portia get on really well! Why didn't you say?"
"Alex, I was Cat Grant's personal assistant. I met a lot of famous faces. If you want, I can get Portia to send you an autograph-"
"Oh, this isn't even fair," Alex moans, dramatically sitting back in her seat, free arm coming to rest behind Astra's head. "You're friends with Portia."
"Yes, I'm friends with Portia, now go to bed or something, it's night-time and I want to sleep. I've got to get Mon-El to school in the morning and I can hear he's woken up already because of your ringtone. Do me a favour and change it so the five year old doesn't wake up at- at one in the morning. Goodnight Alex." Then Kara hangs up, and Alex gently throws her phone onto the coffee table, not wanting to move.
"Dammit, I woke up the nephew."
"Nephew?" Astra startles, "Kara is a mother now? She adopted a child?"
"Yeah," Alex sighs, rubbing her eyes – now that Kara's reminded her of the time, she can feel the need to sleep weighing on her. "A pod crash-landed the same night we were celebrating the defeat of Non and the ending of Myriad's control. Mon-El was in it. He's a tiny little boy who's the physical approximation of five, with the mind to boot, yet thankfully with English to go with it – he was sent off in an ambassador's pod, or something, and it Clicked with Kara's, picked up the instructions and flight-path with the absence of the Great Controls in Argo City."
"An ambassador's pod?" Astra is quiet, voice tinged with suspicion. Alex purses her lips.
"Don't freak out."
Astra glares lightly at Alex. "He isn't Kryptonian."
"No, he isn't, he's from Daxam, and he's a Daxammite. His planet was hit by the pieces of Krypton that hurtled through space after its destruction. I know Krypton had it's rivalries with them, but to our knowledge he's the last one left and he's a child – and my nephew at that, and if you badmouth him-"
"Why did Kara adopt him?" Astra interrupts, losing her glare. "Just tell me why, and I will lose all hate for him, all disserving opinions. He's Kara's son. I just want to know why."
Alex eyes her for a moment, before speaking reluctantly. "She adopted him because she was the first thing he saw. He Latched onto her as a parent, because his are gone."
Astra immediately loses her tight posture that Alex hadn't even realised she'd taken. "I understand. He truly is of Daxam, then – they form bonds with their guardians and protectors."
"Yeah, Kara said – she knew from a story you'd told, about saving a teenager on a diplomatic mission for the two militaries of your planets," Alex says carefully, getting a short nod.
"Yes. Roma Voz-Lewin. I rescued her from her captors, and she Latched onto me with the absence of a guardian. Her parents were dead. The bond disappeared after a few days – her fifteenth birthday had come and gone." Astra falls silent, hand resting on her swollen stomach. Alex glances at it, wondering if the event had made maternal feelings rise in her, all those years ago. If I had the kind of bond Kara says that she has with Mon-El, then I'd think they'd appear.
"How long have you been pregnant?" Alex decides to simply ask, and waits for a reply that only comes after a few more minutes of silence. Alex turns off the episode of Ellen, and the television, waiting patiently.
"Non found me a few days after he escaped, apparently. I- I had crash-landed in the land of Canadians, and he found me, healed but confused. I didn't- I didn't know what was going on, but he was so angry, so- so angry. He- he violated me. I was terrified and confused and he-" the pitch of her voice rises with every word, and Alex lets her arm drop to her shoulders, bringing her into a one-armed hug, other hand staying put as Alex doesn't know where to put it. There's a minute where she doesn't talk, before she continues, voice quiet, a whisper. "Oh, Brave One, it was horrible, and everything hurt for- for so long. I- he- he hid us, and my pod, and I don't know how long it has been, but I- I escaped, I used heat vision on him and he just- he fell, and didn't move except to curl in a ball, afraid, having waking nightmares. I ran, and I tried to find you, Kara, and I came here."
She stops abruptly, but Alex doesn't mind – she has her story now. It makes her stomach roil, and her jaw clench. But she has her story now.
"You keep calling me Brave One," Alex begins, purposefully looking her in the eyes, searching for them and holding them, "Astra, if anyone deserves that title, its you. All that you've done, the reasons behind it, and everything that's happened to you, too…I'm sorry no-one listened, and I'm sorry that Non ever left his cell. Honestly, I'm shocked we weren't told beforehand – J'onn is the director, after all, and he's a friend."
"I am not brave, Alexandra, and it is entirely possible that N- that he got out of his cell with the help of others."
"We'll check, I'll go personally," Alex promises, before containing a yawn. "But first, I need to sleep, and you too. My bedroom is over there, bathroom on the right. I'll be sleeping on the couch, and don't try to argue your way out of it. If Kara's anything like you, you might, so…no, yeah, don't argue." Alex narrows her eyes, and Astra frowns lightly, but doesn't argue, getting up and walking hesitantly to the door, before going inside.
Alex watches her go, anger in her breast, and once she's sure Astra isn't about to come out again, she grabs her phone and texts J'onn.
When were you going to tell me Non had escaped prison, or didn't you know?
She watches it send itself off, before she angrily sets the phone down, putting it on charge and muttering in angry Russian under her breath, grabbing a blanket from the box beside the couch. Then, she settles down to sleep and tries not to think of the Kryptonians in the other room.