"I wish we had a pool table here, I'd be beating you all!" Alex complained as she waved her arm at the surrounding people playing Monopoly on game night. Maggie grabbed the flailing arm as it reached her to halt it from hitting her in the face.

"I'm not sure you would in this state, Danvers." she chuckled. Alex, failing to take note of the joking tone to her girlfriend's voice, started to rise from her seat on the floor.

"You wanna bet? Let's go, Sawyer." Alex didn't make it upright before she stumbled and Maggie pulled her back down to her side.

"I don't think so."

Kara flew in at that moment, arms skillfully carrying more drinks to satisfy her guests. She put half in the fridge to chill, then brought the others through to the gathering of adults. James politely declined, stating that the Guardian could be needed at any time, causing Kara to roll her eyes. That didn't stop Winn from indulging along with Lena, Mon-el and Kara. Alex sluggishly grabbed another drink by crawling over Maggie to get to it.

"Alex, you really are letting a goose tonight. It's unusual to see," Mon-el piped up from his place on one of the chairs. Lena immediately began to choke on her drink as Winn and Maggie were almost in tears from laughter.

"It's letting loose, Mon-el." Kara clarified as she awkwardly patted Lena's back. Mon-el's eyes widened in understanding.

"I thought it sounded a little strange…"

Maggie gave a half-shrug, "It's true, though. Alex, you're pretty much wasted."

"Oh, I see," Alex started, on the defensive, "Let's just look at the characters we have in the room. You're not drinking because of work," she pointed at Mon-el, "Not human," then Kara, "Not human," then Lena, "Is she human? I don't think so. And Winn is tipsy and James is too far up his own-"

"Okay, that's enough," Maggie swiftly took the drink out of Alex's hand and passed it to Lena, who looked slightly bewildered by the whole interaction, "You're making a fool out of yourself, maybe we should go back to your apartment."

"We haven't finished Monopoly. Or game night in general!" Kara protested.

Maggie looked at her guiltily, "I know, sorry, you can still play with these guys. But what if Alex starts hitting on Lena or something like last time."

"Oh, good point. Come on, Alex. Time to go." Kara stood and moved to haul Alex to her feet, meeting resistance from her sister.

"Kara, you are not the boss of me. I'm not even slurring my words." she defended. Kara looked skeptical and carried on dragging Alex in the general door direction, the conversation proving to be a good distraction.

"We'll see if you still feel that way in the morning."

Maggie met them at the door after saying her goodbyes, just as Alex realised they were at the door. And Kara was pushing her out of the door.

"Kara-" Alex was cut off by the door slamming in her face. From inside, Kara could hear her sister complaining to Maggie, "She threw us out. Why would she do that?"

Smug with herself, Kara mentally replied, I'm not letting you flirt with Lena again.


By the time Maggie had managed to safely direct herself and Alex back to the apartment, Alex seemed to have sobered up to become more aware of the last hour.

"I embarrassed you, I'm sorry." she said, looking up from Maggie's shoulder as they rested on the couch. The vibrations of Maggie's laugh rippled through Alex's body.

"You didn't embarrass me, only yourself," Maggie corrected. A couple of beats passed before she continued, more serious than before, "Alex...I've noticed you're drinking more. I don't know if you don't realise, or it's work stress or us. I just hope you know you can talk to me."

Maggie looked down at Alex whose head had come back to rest on her shoulder, felt how her breathing had slowed against her body. Assuming her drunken girlfriend had finally succumbed to sleep, Maggie let her own head drop back against the couch and her eyes fall shut.

"I know."

The soft, quiet words were spoken just as Maggie felt the heaviness hit her eyelids. She wrenched them open and stared into the darkness of the room. The weight of Alex's head left her shoulder as Alex spoke.

"I never thought I would become the person I was before the D.E.O again. I thought that, because I was older, I have a job that needs dedication, that I would be completely protected from all of this by default. But in the past couple of weeks, I've realised that I'm not."

Maggie heard the break in Alex's voice on the last word. She turned to face the agent and could make out her features in the dim light that came from the kitchen lamp. Self-hatred marred her face and it made Maggie's heart break at knowing Alex had been hiding her doubts from everyone else. They both reached out at the same time to grab and intertwine their hands.

"Do you trust me, Alex?"

"Of course. I lov-"

Maggie shook her head, "Just trust me. There's no pressure to do anything else. Trust me so that you can talk to me."

"You have feelings too, Mags." Alex argued.

"I know, but I'm not hurting myself in dealing with them," Maggie said, softly, although Alex still hung her head in shame to which Maggie lifted her chin with her hand, "But if you start by talking about it, you're already going to get yourself back on track."

Alex nodded. There was more than just self-hatred swirling in her eyes now, there was love and a spark of hope. This woman was prepared to stay with her through a low that would surely lead to more hurt for herself, for Kara, for her colleagues and without a doubt, for Maggie. Her sister may be a hero to the city, but Maggie was the hero to Alex. So she would try for her.

"Everyday something goes wrong before it goes right. The drinks would make that okay for a bit, give me the confidence to carry on again tomorrow. That was at the start. Now, I don't get that feeling but I still chase it and chase it but-I can't… it never comes…" Alex crumbled under the realisation, leaning into Maggie for support. The detective's arms wrapped strongly around her, whispering words of comfort for as long as it was needed.

"You'll be alright. You got me. We can talk to Kara tomorrow. You have her. Then we'll talk to J'onn-" Alex tensed and pulled away from Maggie.

"No, no, no. My job. I need my job, Maggie."

"He'll understand the D.E.O barely functions without you," Maggie assured, pushing Alex in the shoulder, "I'll make him understand."

Alex chuckled and sighed, "I said I'd probably go crazy on you. I'm a mess."

Maggie's head tilted in the way that made Alex's heart flutter and held Alex close again. She could just about make out the gentle thrum of her hero's heartbeat that calmed her; the notion that Maggie could ground her with just her presence was something that Alex never imagined having the privilege of. Just as she could feel herself slipping into the state of unconsciousness again, she heard words that would let her, finally, have a restful night of sleep.

"You're always perfect to me, Danvers."