Author's Note: This story is going to be 3-4 parts. There will definitely be more Kara, Alex, & J'onn in the last 1-2 parts.

There's going to be some political views in this, if you don't like them, I'm sorry but you have been warned. Please just stop reading if they offend you or don't align with your view, don't bother commenting. Writing is one of the things that helps me cope, so don't be a jerk. :D

Day One

"Come on, Lara...you can't be serious."

"I am."

"Aren't we too old to have another kid?" Alice asked her wife as she moved to pour herself a cup of coffee. It was early and this wasn't exactly the pre-coffee morning discussion that she'd intended to wake up to. She grabbed two mugs and poured coffee into both before pushing one in Lara's direction, who was already ready with some kind of special edition coffee creamer (she had no idea if it was pumpkin spice, eggnog, or something like salted caramel blah blah). Alice began downing her cup, she didn't add anything to it on a normal day and today she felt like she was going to need at least a good two cups before they had this full on discussion.

"I'm not quite that old," Lara told her grumpily.

The discussion of another child had come up before a few times, but they'd always agreed that it would be the right time and that Lara would be the one to carry it. It wasn't that she didn't like kids, it was just because of her age and because she was never one who wanted to carry a child (and it was something that sort of creeped her out). She loved Charlie and she knew that she could love another child that was theirs, but Alice just didn't feel like now was the best time for them to bring another child into the world.

"We both work in a dangerous field and-"

"I was a Marine when I had Charlie," her wife reminded.

Alice opened her mouth and then closed it before drinking more of her coffee. She hated it as it was when they went out on separate missions because Alice would rather be there to back up Lara. She had no idea how she could even think about Lara out in the field and knowing she was pregnant or could be. She knew that it was common for women in the military and law enforcement to keep on doing their normal jobs months into their pregnancy.

"When is going to be a better time, Alice? My clock's ticking...your clock has tocked…"

She rolled her eyes at that and refilled her mug again. This might be one of those mornings where she drank all of the coffee, pretty much by herself. Alice just didn't know how she was supposed to be okay with them bringing a child into the world (or attempting to) with how insane their jobs were. There were already so many times where they were certain that they weren't going to make it home to Charlie. Of course they had all of their legal papers together and their daughter would be taken care of, but there was still so much uncertainty and so much danger out there.

"When we round up all of the Fort Rozz aliens?" she attempted a response.

Lara's face dropped, she sighed, and headed back to the bedroom with her coffee.

"Sweetheart," Adler called, but Lara didn't stop. Now she sighed and then started to drink her third cup of coffee. Today was definitely going to be a long day. Leaning against the counter, she thought about everything they had to do before they even stepped foot in the DEO. It was only going to feel longer with the tension between the two of them. It wasn't exactly a fight, Alice thought, but it was close enough. She and Lara didn't tend to stay mad or upset long, they always resolved things.

Looking over at the clock on the microwave, she groaned. There were only fifteen minutes until Charlie had to be woken. With how the morning was going, she was fairly sure that she was going to have to do things all on her own. That was fine, she could do it, but it was always so much better when she and Lara did things together.

"I'm going to need more coffee," she whispered to herself as she stared into her nearly empty third cup of coffee.

Moving to Charlie's room, Alice decided that it was best to wake up her daughter now rather than wait. She pulled up the blinds to let the bright sunshine into the room. "Time to get up."

"My alarm didn't go off," Charlie mumbled from under her covers.

She couldn't fault the kid for that. She hated getting up before her alarm went off as well. After all, alarms were set for a reason. Grumpy, but really trying to keep from taking it out on Charlie, she mumbled as she headed out of the bedroom. "Well...start waking up…"

At least Lara had already set out Charlie's clothes the night before, so all that was really left was supervising that breakfast, toothbrushing, and hair was done...and double checking to make sure that her shoes were on the right feet. Moving back to the kitchen, she set her empty coffee cup on the counter near the partial coffee pot before moving to check the fridge and freezer to see what she was going to make for the kid.

"Mom Alice!" Charlie shouted from bed.

"What?"

"Can we just go to the beach or something fun today?"

Sometimes it felt like they never got to do anything than the same routine over and over again. That meant school and after school activities followed by going to the Harewoods for Charlie while she and Lara went to work at the DEO which meant that their hours were unpredictable. Alice couldn't fault the kid for trying. The beach actually sounded nice today. It was sunny and they hadn't been forever, but Charlie couldn't miss school. She also didn't think that the boss would appreciate them both calling out for a family day. "Not today, Sweetheart."

She could hear Charlie's groan in response.

"I feel you, Kid," she whispered to herself as she poured herself another cup of coffee.

"What's up with you and Benanti?"

Alice tried to ignore the question, but eventually Alex's long look made her feel like perhaps spilling her guts over what had happened might be a good thing. Sure, Alex Danvers couldn't completely understand, but she could listen. "We had a disagreement this morning."

"You two never fight."

"That's not true." She paused for a moment. It was true, though. She and Lara had fought all kinds of times before this time. Never had it been about adding to their family, though. They'd talked about it and they'd always agreed that in that moment, it wasn't the right time. Alice realized that they were both getting older, but there were still so many aliens out there...and with the Alien Amnesty Act, she just didn't know if things would fight back or go smoothly. Things never went smoothly for them. Alice huffed. "She wants to have a baby."

"Okay," Alex replied evenly.

"I don't think it's the right time."

"My mom would likely say that there's no 'right' time for a baby," Alex said and it was clear that she was a little surprised that those words had fallen right out of her mouth. Alice knew Alex well enough to know that she was rebuilding her relationship with her mother, so maybe it was the fact that she was quoting her that was throwing her off guard. "I mean, do you both want another?"

"I mean, Charlie is awesome," Alice said. "You know I love that kid to death." She might not share any DNA with her or have raised her since she was born, but she'd been in her life for over four years. They were a family and Alice would cross the world and give her life if it meant saving her daughter. DNA didn't change the fact that Charlie was her daughter. "I just...you see what we do everyday…"

"I know I'm probably not the best one to talk about this," Alex admitted. "Harewood would probably be better since he actually has kids."

"You have Kara."

Alex laughed in response to that.

"I do," Alex said with a nod. "And if I had to decide if I could have her...or another Kryptonian child to fall from the sky tomorrow...I would do it."

"Even with everything we see?"

"Especially because of everything we see."

"All I keep thinking is that if something happens-"

"Talk to Harewood."

Davis Harewood was one of their fellow DEO agents and probably one of the few agents that had made it through this long, he'd been at the DEO just about as long (if not slightly longer) than she had. He had kids and a wife...and honestly was probably the most normal one out of all of them when it came to having balance and having an outside life. His family always came first and he was always willing to help where he could. His wife watched Charlie pretty much everyday after school. He was also probably the agent that they drove the craziest.

Alice just sighed and walked off.

"Adler, we're getting strange readings from the other side of National City, I need you to take a team and investigate," J'onn instructed.

"Of course," she said, her hands on her hips and a short nod. Alice hadn't talked to Harewood, mainly because it was something completely awkward and she didn't feel up to it. Maybe she was embarrassed or maybe it was because she felt like maybe she was wrong.

"Take Danvers, Harewood, and Torres."

She went to ask why he wasn't sending Lara along, but she closed her mouth instead. It wasn't her place to question his orders (even though she did it all the time). Alice just really didn't want to make a big deal of her fight with her wife and have it splash over into work. They'd always made it work before. Now shouldn't be any different.

"I figured you two could use some distance today," J'onn said quietly.

"What?"

"I know you two had a disagreement."

Right. He could read or sense or some kind of brain powers. Alice just stared at him for a long moment, slightly squinting. She really wasn't sure what to think about his powers. He'd never said anything like this before to her where he was obviously using his powers, so it was throwing her off just a bit.

"We can still be professional," Alice countered.

"I know, but Harewood would likely rather not be put in the middle of the tension."

"So, you send him out with me, Danvers, and Torres? How sweet of you," she said sarcastically. They were all going to drive the poor man crazy.

"I have faith that the three of you can work together with Harewood and make it home before dinner," J'onn said.

"Tall order."

"You can do it."

Alice nodded. "I can do it."

"Are we taking bets?" Harewood brought up.

They all looked back at him. It wasn't like him to speak much. That's what probably made it so awkward to talk to him about anything. They all knew basically everything about him, but he just wasn't a talker or a sharer. Alice swore that the rest of them, but especially her and Lara, shared everything with their fellow agents. They were a family. It just couldn't be helped.

"I mean, we can," Torres told him.

"You all always do bets."

He was right.

They did.

"I guess it kind of depends on what we're betting on," Adler said.

"How about this being some wild alien chase?" Harewood offered.

"I'd appreciate that change."

"Me too," Alex chimed in.

Torres shook her head. "I'm going to say that it's going to be alien activity. No matter how lucky we think we're going to be...or how wacky the civilian account, there's always some alien activity around the location."

"I would prefer being back in a timely manner," Harewood said.

"You mean, you actually want to work the exact hours that we're supposed to?"

"Don't act like you don't like the overtime."

Torres shrugged. "I don't have anyone to go home to except for my cat, the three of you all have people…"

"Yeah, mine's not talking to me right now," Adler commented grumpily leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You also have a tiny human that adores you and you know that Benanti will get over it," Torres told her. "You two have been together this long...aliens left and right everyday and the world ending every other week hasn't ended your relationship."

Adler looked out the window. "Let's just hope it's actually nothing."

It was definitely not nothing.

It was absolutely something.

As they neared the location, it was abundantly clear that something alien was going on. "What the hell is that?!" Adler exclaimed. On the other side of National City, outside of the city limits, there was a quite large section of Earth that appeared to be scorched, a large grey-blue bubble that looked a lot to Adler like a portal floated above the area.

"Whatever it is," Danvers spoke up. "It's not going to be good."

They parked a good distance from the spot and moved from their vehicle. The team was armed and on high alert. They'd not observed any activity since they'd pulled in, but that meant nothing. They all knew that. Adler was always pleased when she didn't have to train or babysit any new agents, it was also for their own safety and sanity (as well as hers). She was glad that she only had seasoned and trained agents that she knew that she could completely trust with her in that moment. Her first thoughts as they slowly moved towards the bubble portal was that hostiles could be invisible. They were spread out as they slowly advanced, but not too far, only a few feet from each other.

"Even if you think you're imagining something, call it out, no matter how small!" Adler snapped.

Working at the DEO over the years, they'd all seen things. Weird things. Foreign things. Alien things. Things that they thought was nothing. Things that they could never unsee. They wouldn't take any chances or make any mistakes. No, Adler would ensure that they all made it safely back to the DEO...and hopefully get Harewood back in time for him to make it home for dinner.

"Do we have any readings?"

A beat.

"Weird…" she heard Danvers mutter from the right.

"What?" she asked, Adler's head snapping quickly to the side. She saw Alex standing there, she'd stopped a few steps behind everyone else. "What is it?"

"The magnetic field seems to be strengthening the closer we move to it," Alex replied.

"So, maybe we should back up and wait for a group to contain it?"

"If we can-"

But before Danvers could launch off on one of her scientific rants that left Adler with a headache, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something launch itself at Torres. One moment there had been nothing and then suddenly there was a black, oddly limbed, growling alien after one of her agents. As soon as she took a step in one direction, she saw another appear off to the other side. Danvers moved towards Torres while she moved towards Harewood. Moving with her gun ready, she realized she needed to do something more important, she needed to report in. She had no idea how many more aliens would suddenly appear and the need for back up was something that she was starting to think that they were really going to need.

"Adler to Base. We're under attack by unknown hostiles able to go unseen," Adler got out before gunfire punched through what she was saying. "There's some sort of portal here too. We're going to need some he-" She was cut off, not by a punch or a gunshot this time, but by the fact that she and Harewood were both launched backwards as several new aliens suddenly appeared.

Everything went black.

When Alice woke up, she wasn't where she expected to be. She expected to find herself flat on her back with a DEO agent staring down at her. Adler was ready to be embarrassed beyond belief and then likely relieved to find that it was just her wife, but that just wasn't the case. Groaning and then giving herself a moment to stretch, she got up and looked around. It was then that she realized that she wasn't alone.

Harewood.

Scrambling upward into a standing position and springing forward, apparently doing both far too quickly, she nearly collapsed at his side. She sucked in a breath and then reached out to check for a pulse. Pushing out the breath and then allowing herself to slump, Adler realized that whatever had happened, she just had to be thankful that they were alive. "Damnit, Davis...scare the crap out of me," she grumbled. She swore the other agent had a knack for breathing too lightly where she couldn't clearly see his chest rise and fall. She supposed his version of 'playing dead' came in handy now and then. As she sat there, Alice looked around and tried to take in where they were. She didn't know. "So, the good news...no aliens...and it doesn't look like we're actually in a cell…"

"Where are we?" Harewood mumbled.

Her eyes darted to his face again, his eyes were still closed. "Hell if I know."

"Helpful," he shot back as his eyes opened.

"I mean, I can leave you here and go look around…"

Harewood was suddenly just glaring at her.

"You done laying around wasting time?" Adler teased as she finally got to her feet (again). "I thought you were the one who wanted to be home in time for dinner?" She held out a hand and he took it before she helped haul him to his feet.

"You're a pain in the ass, Adler."

"You know you wouldn't have it any other way."

He didn't respond to her comment, instead he seemed to be looking over himself, to see if anything had been removed from his person. She'd sort of already done that, but hadn't been that concerned after she noticed that she definitely still had a knife and gun holstered on her body. That meant that if any hostile popped out, she was prepared.

"Torres? Danvers?" Harewood questioned as they slowly moved in the same direction.

"Hopefully they're safe and don't need rescuing," Adler commented.

"Agreed."

The rest of their walk out of whatever crumbled building that they'd been originally unconscious in, had been a quiet one. Adler hadn't minded that. She and Harewood were alike in that, they both preferred silence when possible. Sunlight was streaming in, but it was clear as they moved closer to it that the sun was going down. It was far closer to dinner time than it had been when they'd gone out to check the alien disturbance from the DEO. Adler glanced down at her watched and immediately made a face. Her watch had stopped. How had she not noticed that before? Grumbling, she knew this meant that she was going to have to acquire a new one when they got back. She was fairly sure that Lara had bookmarked this last one on Amazon, so its replacement should be easy enough...especially since Alice was particular about items like that.

"What are you thinking?"

Adler shot him a look. "That you're not my therapist."

Harewood shook his head. "Don't worry, I don't want to be."

"Lara's probably worried…"

"Oh crap…"

Harewood was at a window before she was, she blamed it partly on his height and long legs. Adler was right there with him a moment later. What she saw wasn't what she expected. They were inside of National City, Alice couldn't quite put her finger on the exact spot...but it was National City. That wasn't why Harewood had made the exclamation he'd made though…

National City.

In ruins.

"That's that coffee shop that Danvers and her sister are always going to," Harewood pointed out.

The sign was pretty much gone and there was just a broken glass window front that was really left of it. Adler had no idea how Harewood knew that was Noonan's. "What the hell happened?" she breathed as she took in more and more. Not a soul could be seen from their vantage point. "And how long have we been asleep?" There was graffiti of every kind, of hate and hope.

All of it confusing.

None of it sounded like the city they were used to.

Hate about race.

Hate about gender.

Hate about sexuality.

Hate about religion.

Hate about aliens.

Hate about humans.

Hate.

Hate.

Hate.

The House of El symbol.

Hope.

"It's suddenly feeling a lot longer than I suspected…"

The last thing that Adler took in were two painted posters to her right. One was of the female president that she remembered, painted in patriotic colors with the word 'hope' stenciled below it. The other was a man with comic book hair and a strange expression with the word 'hate' below it.

Then it just went back.

TBC…