Alex finally arrived at her apartment after what had already been a long day at the DEO, a bag of groceries in one arm and a bag from the liquor store dangling from her other hand. After J'onn had rushed out of the lab without telling her anything, she had figured she'd get the errands done, go home and rest up in case it meant another long night of research. As she finally got the door open and walked over the threshold, her phone buzzed with an incoming text message. She kicked the door shut and put the paper bag on her counter, then lowered the bag containing a new bottle of whiskey to the floor. She pulled the phone out of her pocket quickly, hoping it was a text from Kara, from whom she'd still not had any news. She blinked at the sender. It wasn't from Kara. The message was from Winn.

Get to the warehouse on Fifth and Main. Bring Maggie.

She frowned. What the hell was Winn up to now?

"Why?" she texted back.

She put her groceries away, waiting for Winn to respond, but even after placing the items in her fridge and putting her whiskey away, Winn hadn't replied, which made her a little nervous. She picked her phone back up and called him, but it went straight to voice mail.

"Why? Why me?" she muttered. The cryptic nature of the text and the lack of responses made her certain this had to do with Guardian and James and Winn's vigilante hijinks. As the only person who knew their ridiculous secret, Alex felt obliged to make sure they were okay, as though she were the mother of two boys her were constantly getting into trouble. Of course, they were all adults and the trouble they could get themselves into nowadays could be serious. Who knew what those two had gotten themselves into? With a loud sigh, she thumbed through her contacts and called Maggie. 'This is not going to be pleasant,' she thought to herself as the phone dialed.

"Alex," Maggie said. "I'm really glad you called. Listen—"

Alex closed her eyes, forcing herself to interrupt the other woman. "Maggie, I need a favour," she said, sternly. "Work-related."

Silence. "Really?" The detective's tone was one of disbelief. "That's why you're calling?"

"I don't have time to argue about this," Alex retorted, keeping the conversation on-topic. "I just need you to meet me at the warehouse at Fifth and Main as soon as possible."

"Why?"

Alex closed her eyes again and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You'll find out when we get there," she said, adding 'I hope,' to herself. If Winn and James weren't in serious trouble, she was liable to kill them herself.

There was a pause, then a sigh. "Where are you?"

"Home. I'll be at the warehouse in ten," Alex promised.

"I'll pick you up. I'm already in my car."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh, no, no, you don't need to—"

"Danvers, if you want my help, I'm picking you up. I'll be there in just a couple of minutes," the detective replied and then hung up.

Alex resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. How much worse could the day get? After a moment of indulgence, she sighed, made sure she had her gun and headed back down to the front door of her building.

She waited just about thirty seconds before she saw Maggie's cruiser, #2348, lights ablaze, coming down the street. Her stomach contracted and Alex breathed deeply to brace herself. She took a couple of steps towards the car as it pulled up, opening the passenger-side door and sliding in, an action she was fairly familiar with, having done it several times before. She pulled the door shut and pulled the seatbelt down across her chest, buckling herself in.

"Hey," Maggie said, hitting the gas and pulling into traffic once she was satisfied that Alex's belt was on.

"Hi," Alex responded. She cleared her throat. "Uh, thanks. For, you know, coming along."

The detective glanced at her. "Yeah, Danvers. That's what friends are for." She paused. "Except that, apparently, we're not friends, as you so kindly informed me today."

Alex winced. "I suppose I deserved that," she admitted.

"Yeah, you did," Maggie replied, looking back and to the right as she switched lanes. "So are we going to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?" she asked in response.

She could see Maggie's jaw tense. "Oh. Okay. So it's going to be like that," she said, keeping her eyes on the road.

Alex frowned. "Look, I, I, I don't have any, like, obligation to talk to you about stuff in my life," she replied, starting to feel defensive.

"No, you don't," Maggie agreed, taking a right. "We're not friends. I don't have any right to know what's going on with you. Got it."

She furrowed her brow. "What's it to you anyway?" Alex asked. "You're the one who rejected me."

"Alex, if you'd just let me explain—"

"I'm fresh off the boat. That's not your thing," Alex shot back. "You explained. I heard you."

The detective sighed exasperatedly. "You are so frustrating, sometimes."

"I'm frustrating?" she laughed. "Really? I'm in a car with the woman — the woman! — I fell for, who rejected me. This is the last place I would choose to be right now and circumstances are dictating that I am here, with you, in your squad car." She shook her head. "I'm frustrated, not frustrating."

Maggie sighed. "Alex, can we please just talk about this?"

"No," she said, adamantly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was aware that she was acting childish, but she didn't care. She was tired, so very tired, of this. Tired of arguing with Maggie, of seeing Maggie, of worrying about seeing Maggie, of being too close to Maggie, of not being close enough to Maggie, of being hurt by Maggie, of just thinking about Maggie fucking Sawyer. And being instructed to bring Maggie with her to the warehouse, because Winn had said so, well, it had not improved her mood.

The detective sighed. "Honestly, I—"

"ATTENTION, ATTENTION, all available units, please respond to reported 10-80 at warehouse, corner of Main and Fifth, repeat, all available units, please respond to reported 10-80 at warehouse, Main and Fifth!" the radio squawked, interrupting Maggie.

Maggie's eyebrows shot up as she grabbed the microphone. "This is 2348," she said, "I'm en route to Main and Fifth. ETA is under two minutes." She dropped the microphone back in its place and looked over at Alex. "This is what you wanted to investigate? An explosion?" She accelerated, focusing on the road. "You couldn't have warned me about it first?"

Alex sighed. "I didn't exactly know it would be an explosion, but it makes sense." She paused. "My, uh… My source wouldn't have asked me to come with you if it wasn't important."

"And your source said nothing about an explosion?"

"Literally, all they said was to come to the warehouse. With you."

Maggie made a face. "Tell your source to give you more information next time, all right?"

"Yeah," Alex said, "believe me, we're going to have a chat." 'A very long chat,' she promised herself.

Maggie sighed. "Well, we're nearly there. Anything I should know?"

"Uh, it, uh, it probably has to do with Guardian," she offered.

"Probably?"

She shrugged. "Based on my source, yes."

"But you don't know for sure?"

She shook her head.

"Figures," Maggie muttered as she pulled the car into the warehouse. "Showtime." She put the car in park, pulled her sidearm and stepped out of the vehicle, letting Alex do the same. Alex took in the situation quickly, pointing her gun at the suspect at their feet, while Maggie trained her gun on Guardian — on James. It was perfectly clear to Alex what had happened here. Winn had texted her to bring Maggie to the warehouse because James was going to bring down the real killer. That made this into an opportunity for someone from the police department to see that Guardian wasn't who they were after. Was Maggie going to come to that conclusion? Alex heard the sirens of the other units on their way and took a chance.

"Those sirens are getting louder," she said, watching the other woman's body language.

With a sigh, Maggie holstered her weapon. "Well," she said, "he better get out of here while he can," she said.

James nodded at them and then took off.

Moments later, three other police cruisers arrived and rushed the suspect on the ground, placing him in handcuffs, reading him his rights. Alex turned to Maggie. "You guys got it under control?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so, Danvers, thanks," she said.

She nodded. "Thanks, for…" she inclined her head toward the platform in the center of the warehouse, where they'd last seen James.

"Yeah," Maggie replied. She paused, taking a breath. "Alex," she began, "I really need to talk to you."

Alex looked up at her, eyes wide. "Really? Here? At a crime scene?" She waved a hand to indicate all the people milling about the area, marking off areas where evidence should be collected, while others dealt with another person, who had been bound somewhere deeper in the warehouse.

Maggie rolled her eyes and walked out of the immediate area, then turned and stopped, looking back and waiting for Alex expectantly.

'I don't want to do this,' Alex thought as she forced herself to breathe. 'I don't want to talk to her.' Still, she made herself follow Maggie out of the warehouse.

"What?" she asked, perhaps a little harshly, once she had reached the detective.

"Look, I get that you're frustrated, but can you maybe pretend, for like, five seconds, that you don't hate me?" Maggie snapped.

"I don't hate you," Alex said, quietly.

"You sure don't act like it," she replied.

"That's because I'm hurt, Maggie," Alex said, exasperatedly. "I'm hurt. And I'm tired. And I'm tired of being hurt." She leaned against the brick exterior, folded her arms across her chest and took a breath. "I don't hate you. But I don't know how to be around you right now," she admitted. "I just, I, I don't know what to do. Like, I didn't want to see you at the bar the other night, but there you were. And I didn't want to see you at the station's parking garage today, but I had to tell you that it wasn't Guardian you should have been chasing down." She exhaled. "And I didn't want to come here with you tonight, but my idiot source said it was important." She sighed. "I just… I need to stop feeling so hurt." She shrugged. "And the only way I can even think of doing that is with space," she said, turning to face Maggie. Maggie, who looked sad, who looked hurt, who looked upset. "I'm sorry," she said, sincerely. "I just…" She sighed. "There's only been one other time in my life where I've felt worse than I have over the last few days." She exhaled and tried not to remember exactly how she had felt when they'd told her that her father was dead. She cleared her throat. "So. That's why I don't want to talk. That's why I don't want to be around you. That's why I said we're not friends."

Maggie had been quiet the whole time, listening and, hopefully, understanding. Alex noticed how young the other woman looked, how open her face was. And she still looked sad. Part of Alex desperately wanted to make Maggie feel better and another part of her was glad that Maggie looked upset. The conflict within her was wreaking havoc on their friendship and she knew it. She had been convinced her rant earlier at the station's parking garage would have obliterated any chance of an actual friendship with Maggie, but it didn't seem as though Maggie would give up that easily, which caused Alex to feel even more conflicted.

Her phone buzzed. "DEO," she said, glancing at the screen. "Danvers," she said, answering the call.

"Ma'am, it's Agent Bailey. You'll want to get back to headquarters. Supergirl is here and so is the Daxamite. They were captured by Cadmus and managed to escape. And," the agent paused, "ma'am, Supergirl has lost her powers."

She paled. "Be right there." She ended the call, feeling sweat start to break out along her hairline. She swallowed and turned to Maggie. "I, uh, I have to go."

"Is everything okay?" Maggie asked, concerned.

"I don't know. I've got to go," she said, panic creeping up through her body. 'What did those bastards do to Kara? Why wasn't I there to protect her?' She felt a sudden swell of anger towards herself, a wave of guilt crashing over her.

"Want me to drive you?"

Alex shook her head. "No, it's fine," she said, wanting to be as far away from Maggie Sawyer as possible. "I'll, I'll…" she trailed off. She had no earthly idea what to do. She had to get back to the DEO, but she couldn't stand the thought of being in an enclosed space with Maggie again.

"I'll get someone to drive you, then," Maggie said, firmly. She waved over a police officer. "Hey, Chuck, can you take Agent Danvers wherever she'd like to go, please?"

"Of course, detective," the handsome, dark-skinned officer said, as he approached them. "My car's right over here," he said, indicating a car nearby.

Alex looked at Maggie. "Thanks," she said.

"That's what friends are for, Alex."

Alex held Maggie's gaze for a moment and then nodded.

Later, after she'd seen Kara in the med lab, after she'd led the raid on what had been the Cadmus headquarters, while she and the team were on their way back to the DEO, Alex checked her phone.

"Everything okay with you? Hope so," the text from Maggie said, simply.

She was exhausted and upset and while she would have thought a text from Maggie would only make her feel worse, she was surprised to feel a bit of warmth erupt in her chest. She'd been up for too many hours in a row and too many things had happened. All she knew was that the woman she cared for had checked in with her, for which she was grateful. As much as she felt as though she wanted to be done with Maggie, as much as she thought she wanted to be rid of her in her life, having her ask if everything was okay was proof that the other woman cared for her, on some level. It made her happy.

She took a breath and wrote back. "Should be fine," she texted back. "Thank you for asking," she added.

Whether or not that tiny bit of happiness was healthy, Alex was going to hold on to it as this terrible day came to a close.