Author's notes:

It's been a long time since I wrote anything proper... I binged Supergirl and fell in love with everything about it, but Sanvers became my favourite thing of all. I decided to write this after my bingeing was put on hold when I ran out of episodes...because episode 8 wasn't out at the time I wrote this. It's set after 2x07 and before 2x08. Thank you to all who read this, and if you spot errors of any kind, please do let me know! P.S. This is also on Archive of Our Own.

Mixed

Alex drained the air from her lungs in an exaggerated sigh. She always had to play the protector.

It wasn't that she was regretful for every time she leaped at the chance to save her sister's hide; she just found it a tad frustrating that her little sister was effectively impervious to injuries while she at times suffered from some of humanity's worst enemies: food poisoning, hangovers, and carpet burn. This time it was slightly more dignified, but that didn't make her feel any better.

Annoyingly, she had been bereft of her combat armour when she and Kara had gone out for lunch earlier in the day. It had been relatively quiet at the D.E.O. so the sisters had made lunch plans. Unfortunately, their date had been cut short when they had been forced to stop a midday drunken brawl in a pub they had been passing. The situation made a turn for the worse when one of the drunkards unsheathed his handgun and failed to aim with any measure of accuracy. She was lucky that he had been so tragically misaligned, or the bullet could have caused some serious damage. Additionally, it had been whilst tackling her literally bulletproof sister out of harm's way. Alex's instincts worked faster than her brain sometimes, but at least nobody saw lead projectiles ricochet off her seemingly human sibling. A graze to the arm was a modest price to pay.

The longer she sat and waited, the more irritated she became. A glance or two to her left arm's triceps was all it took before her eyes rolled and she gave in, rapidly unravelling the soiled bandage. She hissed as her wound pulsed at the pulling bandage but removed the wrapping all the way off regardless. The bullet had burrowed into her muscle as it had scraped by, claiming a good chunk of her skin. Alex wasn't particularly fond of scars, but she knew this one was definitely going to leave a mark.

She couldn't help but think that this scar would be visible every time she wore short sleeves. New friends and old would see it for the rest of her life. After a moment of hesitation, she wondered if girls liked scars. She was a girl, but she couldn't speak for them all. Did...did Maggie like scars? She must have plenty.

'Shoot, Danvers,' her mind began with a metaphorical scowl, 'you should not be thinking about her.'

No matter how far she tried to push her detective "friend" from her mind, she would always return. Alex knew how hopeless it was to suppress her feelings, even after being plucked from her boat and thrust into the friend zone, but that did not stop her from trying. And, boy, did she try.

The arm graze drew her attention again and she inhaled a shaky breath, got to her feet, and found more ointment to apply. It bit into her flesh, lingering for at least half a minute. There was something comforting about the sting; it was like confirmation that her wound was being mended. Fixed by hundreds of tiny women stitching her skin back together.

Women. Of course she thought of women.

Scoffing once more and tightening her arm muscles as if a form of punishment, Alex rewrapped her wound with the same dirty cloth and slumped back onto Kara's couch. She inclined her head toward the TV, trying to drown her thoughts in whatever muted program was playing.

"How is it?"

Alex nearly leaped off the couch as Kara entered the room in a towel. She almost blurted something born from annoyance, but reconsidered. It wasn't that Kara had sprung from nowhere—Alex was just feeling jumpy. "Y-yeah, it's still a little sore. I just redressed it."

Kara's smile was greeted by a simultaneous frown, and she lowered the brush she had been guiding through her soaked locks. "It doesn't look redressed. It's got blood all over it."

"I knocked it again; it'll be fine," Alex assured. "Now will you put some clothes on and get your ass over here so we can finally eat?"

Kara employed an especially toothy grin at the sight of potstickers on her coffee table. Ever since it had become somewhat of a public fact that they were one of her favourite foods, her friends and family alike had begun to bombard her with them. She had never complained, but Alex was getting a little sick of them.

"One sec," she promised, zipping into her room and emerging in pyjamas literally one second later. Alex nearly chuckled. That gag never got old.

As Kara waltzed over to the couch and dropped to her knees before the table, her sister couldn't help but smile. Kara always seemed to have it together while Alex strived for her perfect life. Amongst everything that Kara had going on, she couldn't help but wonder how she handled it all. She had her problems just like every other living being on the planet (and off it), but they always seemed to shrivel down to nothing more than a mere consideration by the end of the day. Alex was usually able to work out her problems, but this newfound discovery was becoming an unsolvable problem in some areas. In others, it was like a blindfold had finally come off, but the good was sometimes unable to balance out the bad. It wasn't that she resented it—she just had no clue how to deal with it. Just when her life seemed to be coming together, some buried part of her came wriggling to the surface, exposing her to the world.

Kara had only begun to chow down when she noticed her sister's glum expression. Once her eyes caught Alex's, the D.E.O. agent found traces of a smile and tried to paint her face with fabricated happiness. Kara didn't need X-ray vision to see straight through it.

"Are you okay?" she asked, mouth half full.

Alex's eyebrows rose as she inhaled, her gaze offset. "Yeah. I'm fine." She held her breath before turning to Kara, then her body went limp as it dawned on her that she couldn't hide her emotions from her sister. "It's just... I'm seeing Maggie tonight. Or I'm meant to, any—"

"What?!" Kara blurted, spitting out her mouthful of dumpling. Her eyebrows pressed firmly into her eyes as she wiped her mouth. "Alex, why didn't you tell me?"

"I..." her sister began, her shoulders levelling with her jaws unconsciously as her head trembled. She released them after realising it was a defensive reflex and rolled them back. She thought Kara had heard their conversation the previous night, but maybe she hadn't. "You're probably so sick of hearing about it. I should just..."

"No, no," Kara insisted, dropping her chopsticks and clambering up onto the sofa. She faced her sister with as much dignity as one could with a flake of pastry on their lip. "You're always there for me and, let's face it: I've had the spotlight for way too long. You can tell me. You can always tell me. Anything."

Alex tried to muster a smile but could barely manage it. "Last night, when the boys were here and Maggie dropped by... Well, I said we were going to be friends, right?"

Kara nodded, licking the shard of pastry off her lip with a tad of embarrassment. She became still when Alex drilled an expression of blatant uncertainty and confusion into her. She sighed knowingly. "But you don't want to be friends."

"It's not that I don't want to be friends," Alex tried to explain, her eyes wandering elsewhere as if trying to gather some answers. "I just know that things are going to be complicated. You know, I can't get rid of...of these feelings...for her." She met her pleading eyes with her sister. "I don't know what to do."

Kara reflected a cheerless but thoughtful smile. "I sort of...know how that feels. But from the opposite side. You know...with Winn."

Alex breathed a breath of amusement. "Yeah. I know alright."

"I tried, Alex. I tried to have feelings for him back, but when he kissed me, it just felt...off." She saw the dagger plunge into her sister's heart and she struggled to salvage some hope. "I'm not saying it's the same with you and Maggie..."

'No, it wasn't,' Alex's mind chimed, thoughts floating about. 'She...didn't hate it.'

"You just might need to give her some time."

Alex sighed. "Now I feel sorry for Winn."

"Yeah. But time healed things between us. Now we're best friends again."

Sudden sadness flooded Alex's mind and her expression fell. She knew Kara was still looking at her, but she was disinclined to look back. She wanted to tell her that this was different; that she had exposed a part of herself that she had never even given herself a chance to acknowledge before, and when she finally did, it had only made her want to go back into hiding. She had never felt so vulnerable in her life. She was well within her comfort zone wrestling with an alien slug-human hybrid or going head-to-head with her super-powered sister, but admitting feelings to someone she had barely met – and a woman at that, which was entirely new to her – doused her in a shower of fear. On top of that, she and Maggie hadn't started out as friends, like Kara and Winn had.

Kara's head ducked as she tried to catch her sister's eyes. "Alex?"

"I-I heard you."

The two sat in silence for a bit, Kara facing her sister while trying to concoct some magical potion of hope. A tad of hesitation prodded at her throat before she finally licked her lips and breathed, "How do you know that she doesn't like you...in that way?"

Alex flipped her head to her sister instantly, fear gripping her face. She tried to dispel it and drain her humiliation, knowing it would help to talk about it but no more excited to. "After I...came out to you the other day, I went to go see her at the bar." She met Kara's eyes as her words twisted and turned at the back of her throat before she finally ordered them. "I kissed her."

Her sister's eyes widened. Though it wasn't worry in her expression—it was excitement. "You kissed?"

"Well, that's the problem—I kissed. She didn't kiss back. Then she spieled some crap about me being 'fresh off the boat' and that it wasn't her thing, and I was so embarrassed that I just had to get out of there." Alex trained her eyes on her fingers as she twiddled them.

"And that's why you didn't show up for work."

"Yeah."

Kara halted her words there, knowing how hurt and humiliated her sister had felt. In fact, she probably still harboured those feelings. If there was one thing Kara didn't want, it would be Alex's shot at happiness being stamped out the moment after she realised what she wanted. Trying to provide some comfort, she folded her legs up on the couch and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "You'll find another girl." The words almost felt weird coming out of her mouth, but at the same time, they seemed very fitting. "I'm glad you came out to me. You're the bravest person I know, Alex. If anyone can tackle this alien, it's you."

Alex puffed out a chuckle, shrugging a little. "Taking on an alien would be easier."

"You can do this," her sister reassured, smiling as she shook Alex's arm affectionately. "Come on. How many times can you meet someone capable of resisting the amazing Alex Danvers?" Alex couldn't stop a grin spreading across her face as she turned to her sister and placed a hand atop Kara's. "You'll meet another woman, Alex. I promise."

Alex's face fell a little. As much as she wanted to hear those words, she found herself hating them. Her thoughts turned into speech without her consent. "I don't want another woman... I want Maggie."

"Alex..."

"Kara, I don't even know...what to do tonight with her. Pool? Really? Was my brain even active when I suggested that?" She sighed, rocketing off the couch and distancing herself as her feeling of isolation grew. "I mean, what if she finds a girlfriend and I don't? I can barely be around her as it is. It'd... Kara, it'd...it'd crush me."

Kara was lost for words. All she could do was watch helplessly as her sister drowned in a sea of speculation. Every time she thought she had the right words, she reconsidered and they died on her lips.

"I thought I could handle pool with Maggie, but maybe I can't. I know I said we were going to be friends, but now I'm thinking that I should just—"

"Alex!" Kara barked, a little more aggressively than she meant to. She jumped off the couch, grabbing her sister's arms and projecting as much support through her fixed gaze as she could. "You're over-thinking things. I think that you're perfectly capable of being friends, but having time to dwell on your feelings is only going to make you see the negatives and make you want to back out. Because you're scared, and that's okay." She could see her words were having sway already, but she wasn't done yet. "I might not think...the world of Maggie, but I know that she cares about you. Maybe...not in the way you want, but she does care. I...I heard what she said about not wanting to imagine her life without you. If this was two days ago, I would be telling you that spending time around her isn't a good idea, but after hearing her speech last night, well...I think differently." She offered a warm smile, too hesitant to suggest that Maggie might harbour returned feelings but was unwilling to pursue them at the moment. "I mean, really, she showed up unannounced just to tell you how much she cared. In a way, she put herself in a position to be rejected, but she took the risk anyway. Maybe she did that because...she felt bad about how she made you feel."

Alex sighed and gave a defeated shrug. She returned to the couch, one leg hanging off as Kara remained standing. "I've never been with a girl. I don't even know if there are different, I dunno, rules or something."

"Rules?" Kara giggled. "I don't think there are rules for any sort of dating."

"You know what I mean. And it's not like I have a point of reference. I don't think I've ever had a gay friend."

Kara grew silent, drawing her sister's attention. The two met gazes and Alex frowned a little, narrowing her eyes. Kara took a seat beside her and inclined a thoughtful look toward her sister. "I...get a feeling about Lena."

Alex's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? Lena...Luthor? What feeling?"

Kara gave a hesitant nod and a sheepish smile. "I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes she looks at me in this way and... I-I'm probably just imagining it."

Alex was suddenly a mixture between serious and amused. "Oh, no. You don't get to stop there. Kara, I just came out to you. If there is anything going on between—"

"What! That's not what I said," Kara gasped, furrowing her brow.

The corner of Alex's mouth rose. "What's not what you said?"

Kara snorted out a pent-up breath. "I'm just saying...she has this...smile. This look. Like she's intrigued by me. And sometimes it makes me wonder...you know, if she's..."

Alex was leaning her elbow against the back of the couch as if listening to a juicy story. "If she's what?"

"Well, maybe..." she began, clearly feeling awkward. "Maybe she's into me."

Alex's eyebrows remained at the top of her forehead, her mouth ajar. "She likes you?"

Kara's eyes darted away. "I-I don't know! And you—you need to get ready. It's already seven!"

Alex knew that her sister was intentionally switching the focus onto her, but she let their conversation slide anyway...for now.

ooo

For the next fifteen minutes, Alex had been getting changed and touching up her face while Kara wolfed down potstickers. Although she hadn't brought up Kara's mention of Lena Luthor, Alex found herself contemplating scenario after scenario. Had Kara been talking about how Lena felt about her...or did she possibly have the tiniest of girl crushes? If that were the case, Alex couldn't blame her. Lena was sexy. Although she hadn't seen much of her, she knew enough to make that claim.

Her mind was thrown back to the other day when Lena had dropped in to Kara's apartment. She had almost expected Maggie to show up. That was the day after Winn had made a passing comment in a different context that Alex didn't have a romantic interest in Maggie. That was when she first began to question things. Not on any conscious level—just a lingering question in the back of her mind. It had almost saddened her when Winn had made that statement, although she wasn't sure if that was due to the fact that she wanted to feel something, or that she was afraid to. Or perhaps the fact that he had automatically assumed she couldn't have had feelings for someone simply because of their gender was what had struck a nerve. If it had been a man, then perhaps he would have jumped to a different conclusion. If she had been "normal."

A few hours after Winn's comment, she tried to organise a night with Maggie just to help get her mind off her breakup, but the conversation morphed into the personification of Alex's fear. For the rest of the day, she had been mulling over every thought that suggested she had romantic feelings for Maggie, which grew into thoughts of every other girl she had ever had a stray feeling for. She steered clear of her intentionally, contemplating how she felt and analysing her whole life until that point. The following day, she had almost talked to Kara about it, but Lena had shown up and interrupted.

"Alex, where'd you go?"

Suddenly she snapped from her thoughts, flinging her gaze at her sister huddled on the couch. She pushed out a long breath. "Just thinking."

Kara's face became stern. "I hope you're not thinking of backing out."

"No, not that. I-it's nothing." She breathed deeply, ducking into the bathroom again. Why was she constantly checking how she looked? It wasn't a date. It was two friends hanging out. Just friends.

"Okay, well... Do you want a potsticker before you go?"

"No, you eat them," Alex chuckled, glad that she didn't have to eat yet another one of those things. She gathered up her bag and keys, ensuring her back pocket held her phone. She faced Kara and smiled. "I'll see you later. And thanks—for listening."

Kara's cheeks were filled with dumpling as she shot to her feet and embraced her sister. "I'm pahd uv foo." Realising how silly she sounded, the Kryptonian swallowed her mouthful with great effort and repeated, "I'm proud of you."

ooo

Alex's stomach was rolling itself in bundles as she approached the back door of the alien bar. How on earth was this night going to go? Last night when she had rashly made plans with Maggie, she had been rather confident. Now, however, she was quaking. And she hated it.

She lifted a hand to the door, ready to utter the password if need be, and heard some brutish grunting from the other side. Before she knew it, a hulking figure filled her view as the door disappeared behind it. She flew backwards as the alien lumbered into her, too oblivious at first to process that he had caused any harm.

As Alex hit the ground, she shot a glare of rage to the offender and spewed, "Watch it!"

The alien, taken by surprise, made a dizzy turn back to her. By his unsteady motions and swaying frame, she guessed he was drunk. "Stupid tiny human." He curled back his wet lips in a deceitful smile to reveal jagged teeth, swiping a great paw at the air as a means of dismissal.

As he turned his back and began to stumble away, Alex felt her blood beginning to boil. "Are you god-damn kidding?" She pushed herself to her feet and barrelled into his back, sending him sprawling forward several steps, his arms flailing about. "I said, watch it."

Doubt blossomed in her mind the second the alien gained his ground and whirled around, a face of grotesque rage contorting his scaly features. "STUPID human!" he bellowed, charging at her shoulder-first.

Alex's inner agent kicked in, prompting her to dodge when he was too close to change his course, and launched a boot into his side as he thumped past. She felt a cocky smile well up on her face; adrenaline seemed to be a good remedy for nervousness.

The alien faced her once again, eyes glazing over with a black film. With little effort, the creature squeezed his muscles and produced several spines lining his face, arms and back. Suddenly Alex was hesitant to continue this brawl; she certainly hadn't expected this when her mixed emotions had driven her to pick a fight.

She swallowed, shifting her weight between each foot in case an impromptu movement was required. "Okay, you've made your point." She paused, silently cursing herself for unwittingly making a pun. The creature wasn't impressed. "No need to bring...those into it."

"Foolish creature, challenging a virtog to a fight it can't win." He flung his arm up so it was horizontal and fired a large spike. It tore through the air and bit into Alex's right leg while gliding past, stealing a shred of denim from her jeans.

She yelped at the shock and the sudden pain, hearing the spike collide with the alley wall behind her and instantly shatter. Fear launched her thoughts into a hurricane of regret, and she suddenly wished Kara had come with her.

She snarled at the beast and stood upright, trying to tuck away her pain as she readied herself for another attack. "You'll have to aim a little better than that."

As the alien levelled his second arm with his first, the door to the bar squealed and slammed. He shot a blurry gaze in its direction, but didn't get the chance to react before his body began to seize and a deafening roar of pain shredded the air. Alex covered her ears as she watched the monster's body vibrate relentlessly, his cries ceasing only when his body rocked and fell limp on the ground. Standing behind him, taser in hand, was none other than Maggie Swayer.

Alex, still panting, shook her head in disbelief. Maggie's face was lit with amusement. "What a way to start the evening."

"Maggie. How did you..."

"I had a hunch," she offered, crossing the unconscious brute's arms over his back and pinning them down under her boot. "You're lucky he was drunk. These guys are known for their accuracy and, uh, love of the fight."

Alex blew through her nose and subtly covered her injury with her hand, careful not to make contact. This was the second time in one day she had avoided a serious injury thanks to alcohol. "You're a lot better at subduing criminals than you are at pool, that's for sure."

Maggie shrugged. "Maybe I should just stick to my day job then."

"Maybe you should," Alex remarked, sounding a little too serious to be playful.

Maggie face fell as she inclined her head and met Alex's gaze. "Alex, if tonight was too soon—"

"No, it's not," the D.E.O. agent remarked, trying as hard as she could to keep her voice level. As she analysed Maggie's face, she felt a pang of guilt and took a breath to steady herself before relenting to a more friendly approach. The fact that two limbs were now in pain didn't help her mood. "Sorry, I just...need a drink in me."

"I hear ya."

"Where did you get that thing?" She motioned to the taser.

"Security here needs to have efficient ways of putting offenders down. Ya know, keep powerful aliens from killing each other." Alex nodded as Maggie pressed down on the alien's wrists more firmly before cuffing him.

She asked her to watch him as she quickly ducked inside to get security to bring him into a back room to sit for a few hours. Maggie had no intention of actually bringing him into the precinct; she just wanted to scare him a little by keeping him isolated while he sobered up. That way, she didn't have to worry about him during her evening or after it.

Once that was taken care of, the two women entered the establishment and approached the bar. Just as they were about to sit, Maggie couldn't help but notice Alex's strange expression. She gave her a once-over before her eyes fell to the thigh Alex was suspiciously guarding. "Are you injured?"

"No, I'm..." Alex breathed in, cringing. She removed her hand. "Yeah. One of his spikes...grazed me."

"Why didn't you say something?" Maggie growled, dashing out the back once letting the bartender know what she was doing.

She returned with a first aid kit and sat Alex down on one of the bar stools. She placed a hand at the back of Alex's knee to keep the leg still, leaning over her thigh. Alex was visibly uncomfortable for more than one reason, which Maggie picked up on.

"Sorry about all this," she sighed, appearing to feel responsible. After all, this was her frequented bar.

Alex frowned. "No, it was my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"I...may have started that fight."

Maggie paused her treatment for a second, her face a mix of amusement and disbelief. "You have a death wish, Danvers?"

Alex couldn't help but chuckle. "I was...mad." When Maggie met her gaze, assuming she was the cause, Alex extended on her explanation. "You know, my head's been a mess lately and I was...scared to come here."

Maggie shook her head. "Nah, you don't need to be scared. I mean, other than of that virtog."

She nearly stopped the procedure to explain that the bandage needed to be beneath the jeans, but caught her tongue before a word slipped out. You can't pull up jeans. Alex would need to take them off, and Maggie was not about to ask her to do that. Instead, she placed a padded strip across the gash just inside the tear of the fabric, and applied the wrap externally.

She worked for another few seconds before she considered the wound wrapped and treated. It was painful, but Alex had suffered worse. "All done," she smiled, removing her hand and packing away the kit.

"Thanks."

After the kit was returned, the two ordered a drink each. Maggie was footing the bill, given that she had previously promised a drink. Alex was the first to down her shot and then asked for a second; she briefly wondered why she was feeling unusually reckless, but she figured that being a little pissed off at the whole situation was reason enough. Pissed off, scared, unsure, and completely sure. Sure of her feelings, and sure that they weren't reciprocated.

"I'm thinking of telling my mom," Alex admitted by way of breaking the silence.

Maggie gave a small nod. "Parents are the hardest to tell."

Alex cupped her empty glass, staring into it for a moment before looking up. "How did you do it?"

The detective relaxed in her seat, sitting back against the shallow metal frame. "Well, I just told her one day when we were alone. I knew when I was still a teenager, before I'd even had a girlfriend, actually. So when I told her, the first thing she asked me was how I knew. I don't think anyone going through that likes being questioned, so I leaped to the defensive. Things were said, and..." She shrugged. "I sort of knew she wasn't comfortable with it, but she told me that she would be supportive as long as I never did anything stupid." She took a swig of her beer, subtly nodding as she reminisced. "We didn't speak about it for a long time after that. I had girlfriends, and she treated them like she treated any of my other friends, so we never really had a problem."

"What about now?"

"We don't talk about it. Still." She had another swig, looking rather unfazed. "You know, I can't be walking down the street with her and make a comment about some hot girl. That'd be weird."

Alex found that sort of sad. She briefly wondered if she would be able to do that around Kara. In the past, the two had agreed upon handsome men, but now that Alex was out...would it be different?

"It's the same with my dad," Maggie finished, still looking rather unaffected. "You get used to it after a while, though. I found myself drifting toward male friends, 'cause talking about girls with them isn't awkward. Even the gay ones."

Alex managed a weak smile, contemplating everything she would lose. She didn't have many friends as it was; she and Kara both distanced themselves from people to keep them from finding out about her secret. Neither had really experienced a normal life thanks to Kara's Kryptonian heritage. It's not like she saw her mother much at all either. In reality, she was losing a lot less than the average person.

"Anyway, enough about me. How're you doing with...everything?"

Alex bit the inside of her lip. She wanted to tell Maggie that she was angry at her, and sad, still muddled, and still sure that she felt something for her. Every time Maggie's enchanting, cheeky smile stretched across her face, Alex found herself bedazzled. Her stomach fluttered and a burning sensation flared up in her cheeks, spreading to her chest. Maggie's gentle but strong gaze sent her heart a personal invitation to beat faster, tempting it to burst from her chest. Everything she felt was doomed to imprisonment inside her, unable to spill out and taste freedom. All because they weren't reciprocated.

Despite every feeling, Alex simply replied, "Fine."

"Your second round," the waitress announced, placing another beer and a second shot of scotch on the table. Alex nodded to her in acknowledgement, more than relieved that it was not Darla.

She downed it in one go, much to Maggie's surprise, and pointed to the beer. "You want that?"

Maggie was a little lost for words. "Nah, no, you have it," she offered, still on her first. A voice at the back of her mind told her that it wasn't a good idea to let Alex have a third drink in five minutes, but if anyone knew how it felt to emerge from the closet and feel absolutely terrified and awful, it was Maggie. So she let it slide, making a mental note to keep a careful watch over her companion.

"Pool," Alex grunted, indicating the billiard table adjacent to their spot. She departed her seat after swiping her beer and marched over to the pool area, snagging a free cue. She had been keeping an eye on the match that had been progressing for the past five minutes, and the second it had wrapped up, she jumped in to claim it.

Maggie followed, taking note of her friend's every movement. Alex was naturally fiery; she could only imagine how amplified her attitude would become under the influence of alcohol. The last thing she wanted was another bar fight.

As Alex rubbed the tip of her cue in a clump of blue chalk attached to the billiard table, she couldn't help but stare at the fluorescent lampshade hanging over the raised rectangle of teal carpet. Its obnoxiously decorative sight haunted her ever since she had reeled Maggie in by the arm, cupped her face and kissed her. It was a feeling she would never forget, but the cold wave of rejection she had faced shortly after was what lingered.

Suddenly she began to feel the wounds in her arm and leg throb, and she gritted her teeth, spinning around to meet Maggie directly in front of her. Both women were taken aback, and again Alex was met with a flashback from the exact same spot. Scowling, she backed up and rounded the table with her beer, setting it on a nearby table for convenience while avoiding Maggie's gaze. It was obvious that the detective knew what she was remembering, and although she knew it pained Maggie that Alex was still hurt by the events, she couldn't quite bring herself to discuss it again. Instead, she set the cue upright and displayed a forced smile.

"Your shot first."

Maggie chose to brush off the previous awkwardness and picked up a cue. "So sure you're gonna win?"

"It's only fair to give you some sort of head-start so you think you have a chance before I kick your ass," she snickered, downing half the beer bottle.

"Careful," Maggie warned as she lined up her cue, "or you'll be playing cleanup instead of pool."

Alex frowned a little, then tilted her bottle. "What, this? Please. I could down three of these and still recite my sixth-grade class president speech backwards."

"Heh. Really." Maggie chuckled, firing off her first shot. Every sphere on the table bounced and rolled before settling. Nothing was potted. "I take your three and raise you five."

"Five beers?" Alex snorted, sauntering toward her. "I don't think you can handle that, Sawyer." Her eyebrow flicked up at the final word in the sentence, clearly a challenge.

The two women broke smug gazes only when Alex bent over the pool table to line up her shot. Maggie didn't move from the space beside her, unwilling to back down. Alex fired, just missing an opportunity to pot a ball by a hair. She narrowed her eyes, wondering at the back of her mind if the alcohol was already affecting her.

She stood up straight, greeted by an amused Maggie leaning on her cue. Their close proximity, Alex found, was bothering her less and less the more she drank. "I think it's already getting to you."

"Maybe you should try to even it up, Five Beers," Alex countered.

Maggie produced a noise of amusement and cocked a larger smile, sending butterflies about Alex's stomach. She signalled a waitress and ordered another four beers, then turned to face Alex. She downed the rest of her current drink in one go, then hammered the empty bottle onto the occupied table beside them.

"You're on."