"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what."

Pain.

That's all he could feel as he mentally tried to search for the girls.

Alex was the one that he was used to hearing, but right now...right now, he was certain that the pain he was sensing was from Kara. That worried him more than anything else. It wasn't like him to be able to sense the younger and very Kryptonian Danvers sister. As he flew through the air as the Martian Manhunter, he was desperate to find them. They'd both been in the field when Alex had been taken by one of Fort Rozz escapees and Kara had gone after them. The DEO had lost track of them and J'onn had set out to find them when Vasquez hadn't been able to get communications from Alex or Kara.

There was a general direction he was looking in, but nothing certain or fixed.

It wasn't just the fact that the area he was searching was high up, which meant that the air would be thinner and the climate was colder...but the terrain was also rocky. J'onn didn't know what to think that he was certain that he could feel just Kara and not Alex. What did that mean for Alex? He knew that there were possibilities for Kara, the chief one that came to mind was that she'd blown out her powers...again.

He couldn't communicate, but he could sense being closer. It was like there was a strength to the feeling when he got closer, he could feel the pain. He tried to focus his sight on the colors. Kara would be in red and blue and Alex would be in black. Those colors had to pop up against the snowy terrain unless they were somewhere else.

"Alex, wake up," he heard Kara's weak plea.

From there, it didn't take him long to locate them. They were in the snow, half covered and deeper than he'd expected, but he immediately started to dig the snow away from their bodies. The first thing he noticed was Kara shivering. Her powers had to have blown out. There was no other explanation.

"Are we alone?" he questioned.

There was a possibility that he was flying into a trap, which he really didn't care about. He just figured it was a question to put out there as he looked over the girls. Alex was unconscious, lying next to Kara, she was pale...but he didn't see an injury right off. Kara was conscious, holding her arm which he realized had a kind of rock-like spike through it, blood was soaking into the snow, and she also looked pale. Kara had definitely been the one that he'd felt the pain emanating from.

"Not that I know," Kara strained out. She looked from him and then to Alex. "She hit her head. Not much blood, it was on the back of her head, but she hasn't woken up…"

Technically, he could transport them both at the same time, but he was worried about jostling Kara's arm. The Kryptonian wasn't used to experiencing pain and J'onn honestly just didn't want to cause her anymore. He looked between them, trying to decide what would be the best course of action. Then it hit him, Kara was just as susceptible to the cold as Alex was and it was shaping up to be that he would just have to take them both back with him at the same time, that Kara would just have to endure the pain.

"Alex," he whispered as he pushed back hair from her face. J'onn waited for a moment before gently rolling her head in his hands until he could see the wound. It seemed to have clotted mostly and her dark hair was matted in that spot. "She's hit her head a lot harder," he commented, trying to lighten the mood as he looked up at Kara. The younger Danvers sister just seemed as worried as she'd been when he'd found them.

"Dad?" Alex mumbled a whisper.

"Afraid not," he replied gently as he pulled her to her feet and draped her arm around his neck. It was the best position he could think of in order to move both of them at the same time. He wished that he could give Alex her father back, but going after Cadmus would take time. "Alex, we really need you to wake up."

"Alex?" Kara said, now getting to her feet.

"Whoa!" J'onn shouted, reaching out to grab Kara as she started to slip which nearly caused him to lose his grip on Alex. "Let's get you both home." Kara immediately moved to his other side, slipping her uninjured arm around him, and holding on just as tight as he gripped them both.

"I know you were told to stay in your bed-"

"I don't care about the damn light right now," Kara spat back as she paced.

"They also tried to get you those pain meds," he pointed out in partial amusement. "Would likely keep you from biting people's heads off."

Kara seemed to still and turned to him with a horrified expression on her face. "Wait. What? I hadn't meant to-"

He held up a hand and motioned to the chair next to him. "It's okay," he said. "Come sit."

"She hasn't woken up yet?"

"No," J'onn replied, his eyes not leaving Alex's still form. "The closest was when she said 'Dad' back on the mountain."

"She could have been talking to you," Kara said.

"I believe that it is more likely she meant Jeremiah," J'onn replied as he turned to look at Kara. "Even if I do look at you two as daughters-"

"Well, you're probably the closest I have had to a dad after losing Jeremiah and Zor El," Kara pointed out.

"You never called Jeremiah by that title…"

"True," Kara said as she tilted her head. "Eliza and Jeremiah always understood…"

"Sometimes we don't need titles with our family," J'onn told her.

"You're right...and sometimes we don't even need to specify relation...just that we're family," Kara added with a smile. "Just like the three of us are a family…"

"You two make me feel old," J'onn complained lightly a moment later. "You make me feel like some ancient grandparent."

Kara laughed at that.

Alex groaned.

Their attention immediately moved to Alex. She stirred and they both sat forward in their chairs. J'onn could feel relief from Kara, he was feeling it too. Even though he'd looked over both of the girls through the years, he'd always been more concerned for Alex since she was the one who was human and more fragile.

"Alex?" Kara whispered.

"Did you call Mom?" Alex questioned weakly.

"Not yet," J'onn answered.

Alex let out an airy sigh of relief. "Good," she whispered and her eyes slitted open. "Don't worry her unnecessarily…"

"You two were on top of a snowy mountain...freezing...you have a head injury, blood loss...and Kara blew out her powers, had a rock spike through her arm, lost even more blood, and is refusing pain medication. You're both stubborn."

"It's a Danvers trait. You've managed to put up with us for this long…" Alex told him, pain in her voice, as she closed her eyes again.

"Unless you just miss Eliza?" Kara put out there.

Alex's eyes opened now, waiting for his response.

"Not exactly wishing to have to answer Doctor Danvers' questions on how you were both injured, how I could allow that to happen, and then random questions about my physiology," J'onn told them.

"If you had a wiki, these questions wouldn't have to be asked by multiple people," Alex half teased.

J'onn just sighed. They were impossible. He loved them anyways. "I think it's time for you both to get some sleep," he said sternly.

"That sounded like 'dad' voice," Kara pointed out.

"Kara, go take the pain pills and lay under the sun lamp," Alex said now, using a very 'mom-like' voice.

"You sound like Eliza," Kara said in a sing-song voice as she got to her feet.

Alex just groaned.

J'onn just watched the amusement on Kara's face before she moved to hug her sister and finally leave them alone. If anyone could get Kara to do what she needed to do, it was Alex. Getting to his feet, he reached out and took her hand. "You had me worried."

"I just remember...being cold," Alex mumbled sleepily.

"You said 'Dad' at one point."

"I had been looking at old records," she admitted. "I was probably dreaming about him or something…"

"We're going to find him."

"I know," Alex smiled up at him, her eyes looking so tired.

"But right now, sleep…"

"Stay?"

"I should let you rest."

"Just for a little bit?"

"Okay," he finally gave in before taking his seat again, not letting go of her hand. Her eyes closed and she seemed to relax almost immediately. Alex wasn't one to argue with, especially not for such a reasonable request. She'd be asleep soon. He could watch over her for that long before going and checking on Kara.

This family wasn't one that he felt like he deserved.

He was still glad to have it.

And he'd protect it.

The End.