(Getting to Know) Your Inner Child

by XavAcid

Chapter 1: hey there, little one

Kara didn't know what happened, so far what she knew was that Alex was on her usual raid at one of the abandoned warehouse, where they did not find any fugitive aliens, but there were things left behind that indicated whoever that was holding up there had just vacated the place, things were all over the place.

According to Vasquez the particular fugitive was wanted for selling and smuggling alien artifacts. Some were pretty ancient as far as the D.E.O could tell. Alex, as one of the lead scientists took a few of the artifacts into her lab to analyze. And somehow, one of them got activated, no one knew how it happened, or even when, but Kara came in when the older Danvers didn't get back to her about lunch by 11:45 she had to check on her.

No one else was going to enter her lab without permission, after all.

When she got to the base and headed right for Alex's lab, where everyone said she was since they got back from the raid. She could, of course, asked someone to check on her instead of coming in herself, but they had lunch planned and they'd both been very busy the last week, and before that it was the shrinking episode, they just wanted to spend quiet time together however they could find the time.

She thought she was going to surprise Alex with her favorite po boy sandwich from her favorite food truck in New York.

Well, the surprise was on her.

She could hear Alex's heartbeats even before she got to the base, so she was relatively certain that there was no emergency going on. She knew what Alex's heartbeats sounded like when she was in the middle of crisis, when she was calm, or when she was just plain irritated with whatever was going on.

And right now, she could hear the rhythm of her resting heart rate.

It was a little slow, it could mean that she was taking a nap, which Kara wouldn't blame her if she did. Her agent had been so busy lately that she was exhausted at the end of the day, and it seemed to be adding up.

But the lab was empty. At first glance.

Which didn't make any sense at all, Alex's heartbeat clearly put her here…

Large hazel eyes blinked open at her from the floor behind the desk, eyes as familiar to her as her very own, but set into smaller, younger face. Much, much younger face.

"Alex?"

Despite the fact that Kara had never seen Alex as a child before, other than a few photographs that she could sneak - teenage Alex hid all of them away from her, she never liked anyone looking at her pictures for some reason - she still could recognize those features anywhere. This was definitely Alex Danvers, there was no doubt in her mind at all.

"What happened?" She surged forward only to stop short, she didn't want to frighten her in anyway.

The young Alex Danvers did not seem frighten, though, if anything she looked curious and confused. Could be because she was in her Supergirl get up, and if nothing else, little Alex would've noticed the S on her chest.

Now, Kara noticed that she was still wearing the black polo that was a part of her uniform which was now pretty much a dress on her small frame.

"Alex?" She inched forward, and reached out with a hand, then the little girl frowned.

"I'm Kara," really how was she going to explain this to a child?

"Where're my mom and dad?"

Oh crap, what am I gonna tell her?

"Um… I… they have to go away for a while so you're staying with me." She didn't know if that would be enough of an expression for a child, especially when that child was Alex. Clearly, she would've been a very very smart child. Would vague explanation be enough?

"Oh?" She looked vaguely curious.

Little Alex didn't seem especially surprised by this. Clearly, this wasn't the first time it happened, the Kryptonian assumed, and she felt saddened by it. How often did they leave Alex with someone else while they were both out doing the 'important' research?

It also reminded her of when she was younger on Krypton when her parents were busy with their responsibilities and she was left with Kalex. She understood that their works were important, but was it the same with Alex. At this age how much did she understand.

Well, they were going to find out pretty soon.

"Why are you dressed like Superman?"

"He's my cousin, but it's a secret." Kara cupped the side of her mouth, and lower her voice. "So you can't tell anyone ok?" The Kryptonian tried very hard not to show her nervousness, she had to stay calm, right now.

"Ok." Although she scrunched up her nose adorably at the mention of Superman, it seemed, unlike a lot of children on Earth, Alex didn't much care for Superman.

But at least she seemed to trust in Kara for the moment.

"Ok, come on." She opened her arms and beckoned with her hands for Alex to come to her.

Alex dark eyes searched her face for a moment longer, then she came forward so the Kryptonian could wrap an arm around her and picked her up. They had to go see J'onn, they needed to get to the bottom of this.

Before she left the room, Kara remembered to grab their lunch, because full stomach was also important.

"Is she alright?" Supergirl asked J'onn in a low voice, her eyes never left the little girl sitting upright on the examination table, dressing in ill fitting clothes -it was the best they could find until someone could get to shopping - and was distracted by shiny instruments.

"She seemed completely fine, there's nothing wrong with her physically, except the obvious."

But he was worried, just as she knew he would. They were like daughters to him, so he was always worried about the both of them.

"How did this happen?" It was clear that the Kryptonian was trying very hard to stay calm, and kept her voice down.

"I will get someone on that, but it's most likely the artifacts that we recovered earlier today. Alex took a couple to her lab." He swallowed and tried to keep his voice sturdy, knowing that everyone at the base took cue from him, and his second in command, he had to appear confident, especially now that Alex was indisposed. It would not help the confident of the troop if he lost his head.

And it would not help their resident Kryptonian who looked as if she was ready to punch something to fix this. To get her beloved human back.

J'onn's hand was itching to pinch the bridge of his nose, to starve away that headache, one of the human experience that he never wanted. Aside from their usual alien business, it seemed that there was never a dull moment, he wished it was otherwise, though.

"Supergirl?" Dr. Hamilton waved for their resident hero to come closer. "Director."

"Yes, is everything ok?" The Kryptonian was there in a blink of an eye.

Alex was looking at her with wide eyed and open mouth. "Whoa!" She exclaimed, "you're really fast!" Her voice high and childish, it made Kara want to scoop her up and cuddle her. The director followed at a slower pace.

"Yup. I'm faster than Superman." Supergirl told her with a big smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," dark head nodding, "I'm hungry."

"Yes, we have a few things to discuss with the doctor and then I'm taking you to lunch after, ok?"

Alex looked between the three faces and nodded in acquiescence.

"Doctor?" J'onn turned to Dr. Hamilton as soon as their resident Kryptonian finished speaking. He needed the update as much as Supergirl did.

"She's physically about five years old, a very very smart five year old, but I didn't expect any differently from Agent Danvers at whatever age. She also confirmed her age. She knows who she is, and who the both of you are, but the details are vague to her."

"How long will she stay like this?" J'onn asked when he noticed that Supergirl's attention was all for the little girl on the examination bed, the little girl that was looking through the various instruments within her reach. At the moment, she was most intended on buttons and the informations displayed on the screen.

"Can't say for certain, but it could be a matter of days, or week. We don't know yet what caused this age reversing."

"I've ordered her personal lab to be quarantined off and everything examine."

"Yes, my best guess would be whatever the team brought this morning."

"I'll-"

"Someone needs to get her some clothes." Supergirl came toward them with little Alex in her arms.

Unfortunately, the D.E.O did not have any clothes in their storage for children, that was just one eventuality they did not prepare for. Someone was going to have to pick up something for their lead agent very quickly. The girl was still in her black polo shirt that was now fashioned like a dress, her feet were bare, since none of her things she currently had in her locker would fit.

The three adults looked at each other and silently decided that it would have to be Supergirl who did the honor.

In the meantime the impatient little Alex was squirming to get down.

Supergirl gave a sigh as soon as the other two looked at her, she wanted to argue, she would have to take her, but carrying a child and flying wasn't the best idea and her lunch hour could only last for so long. There was no way she could take the half day. Ms. Grant wasn't going to allow that.

And they still got lunch to get to, she could hear the little stomach growling. Neither of them got to eat yet, and their bodies were starting to cry for some sustenance.

"I don't think I can," Dr. Hamilton said quickly. "I still have a few samples from Agent Danvers I need to run before anything else."

"I have the D.E.O to run." J'onn stated, affecting his best Hank Henshaw's authority look.

Supergirl pouted, and their little lead agent frowned.

Neither really bought what the other two were selling.

"Ok, what do you like?"

Kara held up a few graphic t-shirts for little Alex to see, they were currently in Gap Kids. It was the only place the Kryptonian could think of to take her, because she doubted Alex would wear anything frilly, and since they needed to be relatively quick, she could probably get everything they needed here at least for the moment.

Well, maybe not the shoes, but they could do that right next door.

So, armed with black credit card from the D.E.O Kara marched in with little Alex in her arms. Her lunch hour was almost up, and neither of them ate yet.

"This," little hand pulled out several graphic t-shirts, then she went and tugged at a gray long sleeved with shark in the front. "And this, and this." And another gray long sleeved with Jack Skellington in front, followed by a black hoodie.

Kara rolled her eyes when she saw the familiar glint in the earthy brown eyes, Alex was testing the limit, but so far everything she pulled out was pretty much in character of what she would wear, so the Kryptonian let her, only quickly grabbed her hand when she made a move to run deeper into the store.

It was a good thing that this was during the day, there weren't any other children around, and only a few other customers beside them in store.

"Ok, you have to wait for me."

"But-"

"No, Alex."

Little face frowned up at her.

"Let's get you some pants, and underwears, ok?"

"Ok."

They spent the next few minutes grabbing more clothes and underthings, making sure that the little brunette liked what they were getting, an employee approached them to help, and already Kara could see the way they looked at the shirt Alex was in, and the fact that she was still bare feet, so the blonde put on her best smile and declined.

They got everything they needed anyway.

"No pink." Alex said with an air of finality when Kara held up several packs of pink things, there was no moving her.

"Why not, it's cute."

"I don't want any pink." She was really firm and pushed away the pink packs of underwears and socks. Instead she went for the shark ones, and the simple monotone socks.

"Really, Alex?"

"Yeah, really."

As the time went by little Alex seemed more talkative, well, in comparison to earlier when she found her behind her desk. Kara had heard from Eliza on more than one occasions about Alex as a child, she never thought she would ever experience it.

"But you need more than one pack of those. How about the Star Wars?" The pack had coral color pair, but no pink, so that should work for the 'no pink!' stipulation.

"Fine."

Alex didn't quite know what happened, everything was so vague to her, she recognized Kara, and J'onn, and the lady doctor that she let poked and prodded her. How did she get there, she didn't really know. But she wasn't really scare, even though her mom and dad wasn't here. She knew she could trust Kara.

Kara who was a cousin of Superman.

She knew who Superman was, she'd seen him with her parents.

She didn't really like him, whenever he was around her parents, especially her dad, would be too busy to play with her. Would Kara be the same way? For some reason she felt that Kara would not abandon her, she might not be sure about a lot of things around her right now, but she could feel these things.

But for now she was hungry, and Kara really liked pastel.

No, no pastel, no way.

No Disney Princesses, either.

Alex scrunched her nose up at some of the girlie t-shirts, no way she was wearing those.

A familiar hand guided her over to the changing room, she could see another salesperson coming up to them offering to help. She didn't need help changing, she was five, not three years old.

She didn't complain when Kara came into the changing room with her, though.

"Here, I think this is the size," Kara smiled at her and broke open a pack of underwears to hand her a pair without really looking which ones she was handing over. "Do you need help putting them on?"

"No, I know how to dress myself."

"I know," a fond smile was what she got, and somehow inside her chest she felt warm. "But I can still offer to help, like you do for me."

Alex felt a smile came over her face, she accepted the blue shark underwears and started to slip them on, with Kara turned around and not looking. A pair of navy blue sweatpants with gray stars were offered next and she slipped them on without complaint. She wished for a pair of socks and shoes now, though, as she wiggled her toes, the floor was kind of cold.

"Here, let me help you with the shirt." Kara said softly and gently extracted the black shirt off of her, before putting a long sleeved shirt on. They were a little big, but Alex seemed to like them. "There, you're so cute." Suddenly she was swept up and hugged pretty tightly, a little too tight.

Alex hugged her back.

Socks were offered to her next and Alex sat down to put them on, happy for some covering on her cold feet and toes. When Kara offered her a pair of black hi-top sneakers she didn't argue.

The Kryptonian made sure to pull off all the tags so she could go and pay for them. It wasn't what she wanted to do, really, she would prefer to take Alex home and change her into new clothes, but she was running out of lunch hour now. Mr. Grant was going to be calling pretty soon.

And Alex was hungry, she could tell from the rumbling of her stomach. Well, little Alex wasn't the only one, though, Kara was pretty hungry herself.

When they were done Kara carefully folded Alex's uniform black to put away in her tote bag, and took her little hand.

"Ok, let's go pay for these and I have to go back to work."

"But I'm hungry." Despite protesting of their next destination, little feet still followed.

"I got your sandwich, we can warm it up later, but I need to get back to work."

"At the base?"

"No, at CatCo."

"What about me?" Little face looked up at her curiously, Kara could see a little nervousness in those eyes, too. And it seemed like Alex knew what CatCo was, that or she simply didn't care.

"You're coming with me." With a bright smile, the Kryptonian assured her. She would never just leave Alex anywhere she wasn't comfortable. She also made a mental note to find something for Alex to do, she didn't have any books stashed at CatCo, but she had enough tablets issued by the company that she could spare one for a good cause.

They carried on even as Kara handed over the tags, shirts, pants, and shoes box. She was pretty happy when J'onn handed over the black credit card, after all, she didn't think she had budgeted into her account to cover everything at this moment, it was mostly due to a particularly large present she'd purchased that Alex didn't know about. She also didn't think to bring Alex's bag, so she didn't have access to Alex's cards.

I guess, D.E.O is paying for these.

She never had to do anything without Alex there to catch her when she fall.

This is the time to step up, Kara, she told herself, eyes on little Alex who was looking at some sunglasses and a cap. She had noticed how well behaved Alex was, she acted nothing like a five year old that they used to babysit while in Midvale. She had moments of mischievous, and Kara could see the stubbornness that was purely Alex's peeking through as she argued over colors, and no dresses, absolutely no dresses. But for the most part, she was listening.

Her smile turned completely adoring when little face turned up to look at her with a pair of mirror aviator rested handsomely on her little face.

Kara paid for those as well.

"Hey, Kara." Winn called out his friend cheerfully, approaching as soon as he saw a little girl by her side. "And who is thi- Oh my God!" He came to a skidding stop as soon as little face looking up at him. "Is that Alex's kid?" He whispered.

There couldn't possibly be any other explanation, the girl looked so much like Alex, it was like they came from the same mold.

"Winn!" Kara shushed him. "This is Alex."

"What?!" His voice pitched really high, then he opened his mouth, but Kara shushed him again, and little Alex was glaring. "How is that possible? What happened?"

"There was an accident, people are working on it."

"What are you gonna tell Ms. Grant?" He eyed little Alex curiously.

"I'll come up with something."

Two pairs of skeptical eyes looked at her. Even little Alex didn't seem to have the confident in her ability to lie.

"Oh come on, I can come up with something believable!"

Two heads shook in sync with each other in disagreement.

Before they could get into anymore argument, small rumbling sounds could be heard, followed by a louder one.

"Jeez Kara, didn't you eat?" Winn said quickly and the group moved toward Kara's desk, in front of a glass enclosed office, the office that was still empty of on Cat Grant.

"I was busy!" She hissed back at her friend while quickly stashing all their shopping underneath her desk, then guided little brunette over to a chair. "Here you sit here for now, I'm gonna go warm up the sandwich for you, ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine, Kara. I'll keep an eye on her." Winn volunteered quickly, knowing that his Kryptonian friend was going to find a hidden spot and zap the sandwich instead of using the microwave in the breakroom. Her heat vision was quicker.

"I don't need a babysitter." Little Alex scowled, she might be confused about how she got here, but she wasn't a baby. Besides, Winn wasn't much of an adult anyway. Image of his desk flashed in her mind, clutter filled and littered with action figures.

She could do something with those action figures, though.

"But he needs one." Kara whispered conspiratorially to little Alex with a grin, while Winn was huffing and puffing, she kissed Alex's on the cheek and darted for the breakroom.

Leaving one little Danvers and one Winn Schott Jr. looking at each other.

"And whom might you be?"

Little Alex looked up from the tablet she'd been reading to face Cat Grant.

"Alex."

Kara just left her to grab something last minute for her boss, and Winn downloaded a game for her to play with on a spare tablet, the game only held her interest for a little, she was just now playing Pandemic, which was going pretty slow.

Cat Grant was surprised when she arrived at her office to find a little brunette girl in place where her assistant should've been. When the little girl turned to face her, her first thought was, did they have a child, since the familiarity is unmistakable. This little girl was definitely related to the Danvers.

So, where was Sunny D.?

"Your name is Alex?"

"Yes."

And now the little girl turned in her chair to look straight at her, giving her full attention, and Cat Grant was impressed. She had never really liked any children other than her own. They were just messy and loud, and she could hardly get their attention for more than a minute, she just did not have time for that. They were often jittery, and more often than not they were uncomfortable around her. And she, around them.

This little thing was sitting quite still and held her eye contact, there was no fear in her eyes, just curiosity.

Goodness, is this Alexandra's child?

The shape of her face, her eyes, every feature resembled strongly of the brunette that it was pretty a given that they had some sort of relation. And apparently she was staring too long because the child was frowning up at her. Even the expression on her face...

"Ms. Grant," whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by the appearance of her sunny assistant, who was walking up to her desk with long, quick strides. "I got your afternoon green tea." Then a hot cup of tea was thrusted into her hand.

Kara was on her way up when she heard the voice of her boss asking a question, she instantly knew who Ms. Grant was talking to, and immediately she super sped up the stairs, it would not be a good idea to keep her boss waiting and wondering where she went and to add the presence of a child she did not know on the floor. It could be bad.

"Kiera," Cat took a sip of her drink, hot just like she liked it. "Did I somehow miss the memo?"

"Ms. Grant?" Her sunshine of an assistant paused on her way around her desk, her bright blue eyes questioning, head tilted slightly.

"I don't remember bring your children to work day memo."

"Oh, um… there was an emergency, and so… There was no one else to watch her." Less details, Kara told herself. Small, warm hand gripped leg of her pants and the Kryptonian knew to stop. Even as a child, Alex knew her. "She won't bother anyone, I promise!"

"And her name is Alex?"

Kara glanced at familiar hazel that looked back at her, "um… yeah, it's a family name."

"Must be confusing at the reunion."

"Oh no, not so much."

"And someone seems to fall into the Gap." Cat glanced at the outfit the little brunette was wearing, she looked like she really fell into it, and they all were brand new.

Without another word, Cat turned on the heel of her expensive shoes and stalked into her office.

Kara haved a relief sigh and turned to Alex, who kept quiet through the entire exchanged, and it was clear that she understood everything. The Kryptonian took the time to call Dr. Hamilton while she was making her way back from Noonan about what to expect. The response she got from the doctor was not to her satisfaction, but there wasn't much she, or anyone could do about it.

A team was out looking for the alien they had been hunting, and hopefully they would get more information on what the confiscated objects and who wanted them. Kara already planned on talking to her mother's AI after this, maybe there were some information there that her mother could offer.

The only thing she could do right now was keeping Alex close and kept careful watch over her. And that was something that did not need to be told to her. Alex would be completely safe with her. Dr. Hamilton also told her to keep note of what their little lead agent knew and did not know, since they didn't know if this was a complete reverse in age, which including the memory, or it was just mostly physical but her memory was intact.

But of course, it could be half and half, so far Alex did know who they all were, but nothing specific. Or at least she hadn't said anything that would let them know one way or another.

Kara felt a headache coming on.

"Kara?" Alex's young voice threw her a little, but she caught herself.

"Yeah, I'm ok," she assured her with a smile. "I got you some muffin, blueberry, your favorite." She quickly placed a small paper bag in front of Alex. "And some juice."

"Keira!"

Kara closed her eyes, she gave little Alex a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I'll be right back." Then she quickly went to the glass bowl of an office before Ms. Grant could call her again.

"Sit," Cat gestured at the space next to her on the white sofa.

Kara eyed it for a second or so before decided to sit a little away from her boss. Cat often muttered about people and personal space, especially after some meeting with investors or board members in an effort to intimidate her, so the Kryptonian always made sure that she never crowded her in anyway, especially when Cat was physically smaller than her.

People often forgot about her size because of her sheer presence that was larger than life.

But Kara was a Kryptonian living among fragile humans, she could never forget, or be careless.

"Is there a reason why you're babysitting little Alex now, you didn't have her this morning?"

Cat certainly liked to get to the point. It wasted less time.

"Family emergency," Kara tried to decide what she should say, not the truth, although she wondered what Cat would do if she knew the truth. "I can't say anymore than that, but Alex has to stay with me for now."

"So, what kind of relation does she have with Alexandra?"

"She's a cousin."

Kara felt a little drop of sweat sliding down her back at the look Ms. Grant was giving her, it was probably imagined since she didn't really sweat, but she held her expression. It wasn't like she could tell her that this was actually Alex. Ms. Grant didn't look like she believed her on the cousin part, though.

"She's very smart, and she won't be a problem, I promise." She said quickly, if she couldn't bring Alex, then someone at the D.E.O needed to watch her, which was not very ideal. And Kara just did not want that.

Cat watched carefully at the reaction of her assistant, she could tell that Sunny Danvers was nervous, but it could be chalked up this particular conversation. Or she could just be worrying about whatever family emergency that brought little Alex here.

Despite her appearance and general reputations, Cat Grant was not heartless. She was more readily to help her employees than anyone knew. Only because she usually would go a roundabout way to do it. Being a woman, she could not appear weak, and easily swayed by anyone.

Seeing how this was an emergency, and even from the few minutes that she noticed, she could see the little girl quietly played on a tablet, there was also some papers and pencils by her right hand, she was going to let this slide.

But she was going to let the entire office knew that this was an inconvenience to her.

It wasn't true, as long as Sunny Danvers did her job, she had no problem with little Alex being here, seeing how well behaved she was currently. But the rest of the company could not know this. Otherwise she might get little children running around her office when one of her employees suddenly could not find babysitter and such.

"Make sure she doesn't run around, and you can bring her." She finally said after letting the silence stretched out for a touch too long. Her assistant was starting to squirm, yes, that was what she was waiting for.

"Yes, Ms. Grant." The younger blonde said quickly, "thank you Ms. Grant. "

"Now, get me the files from accounting."

"Of course, Ms. Grant."

Like golden retriever running after a fuzzy tennis ball, Kara shot out of the office.

Alex kept an eye on the conversation going on in the office, she couldn't hear them really. But Kara looked a little squirmy, like that kid in one of her classes that never seemed to know how to stay still. Especially when he was called on by a teacher.

It was strange, she felt like everything should look different, at the same time she knew that nothing changed, like she should be looking down instead of up, but could not recall why. Things were a little fuzzy, and she couldn't grasp at any particular memory why that was.

"Alex," Winn waved to get her attention. "Hey."

When Alex met his eyes, he held up another tablet. "I installed a couple more games for you. And a few things you might like, so you won't get bored." He rolled over to her on his chair, smiling wide. He looked like he'd found a playmate.

At least he was supplying her with games and reading materials, although they were a little juvenile for her. What did he think she was? A toddler?

Alex accepted the device, a little bigger than the one she had in front of her currently, looked a little more expensive, this was probably his own personal one instead of the company issued one Kara gave her.

"Here, I installed this for you," he pointed out a few icons on the home screen and whispered out of the side of his mouth, his eyes kept darting back and forth, no doubt trying to keep watch of his boss's attention.

His boss who was talking to Kara right now.

"Thanks Winn."

"You're welcome. If you need anything just tell me, Kara's gonna be running errands a lot, so… you know…" He gestured at his own station, where his screen displayed various windows some were for works, but quite a few were something else that was probably more play than appropriate. "Just give me a nudge." He grinned.

Little Alex nodded, Winn was a good guy, and he was adaptable. She liked him, like a little brother… that didn't make much sense, considering.

The next thing she knew Kara shot out of the glass bowl of an office, only stopping long enough to tell her where she was going and that she'd be right back.

"Stay put." The blonde whirlwind said like an afterthought as she disappeared around the corner.

Alex just frowned.

a/n : So here it is, Kalex and their next adventure. They can't seem to catch a break, huh, but they got to stay without break together! I hope you enjoy the first chapter. And kid!Alex! Think Cat will try to kidnap her? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. I do enjoy imagining little Alex playing game with Winn (and beating his score in Mario or something), or stealing his action figure to use in her experiments. Comments will be very much appreciated. Favs are great, too! Thanks for reading.