"... with knowledge of Guardian's whereabouts or identity..." Maggie was saying on the television, as Alex came up the stairs. 'Of course, I can't even escape her here,' Alex thought. She made herself ignore the detective on the screen as she approached Winn. "Hey Winn, have you heard from Kara? The last I heard, she was on her way to help capture Guardian."
"She... she probably just missed him," he said. "She's at Catco, I'm sure. Uhm..." Winn's demeanour shifted. "Speaking of Guardian, you gotta tell your friend to lay off of him. Like..." he trailed off.
Alex furrowed her brow. "Why? What's it to you?" Something was off. She pinned him with a look.
He chuckled, nervously. "You know," he said, turning and walking away, "it's, um, you know, it's just, with, with your sister, and Superman, and Hank even, some- or J'onn... Uh, I just... I really support the vigilante cause."
"Yeah, well," Alex said, going down the stairs with him, "you heard it from my friend," she scoffed inwardly, "on the TV. Guardian isn't a vigilante. He's a murderer."
"Actually, no. He's not," Winn said, stopping on the landing.
The wheels in Alex's head turned. "Do you know something about Guardian, Winn?" she asked.
He exhaled and turned, practically running down the stairs, away from her, his actions confirming to her that he did.
She gave chase as Winn nervously tried to explain. "It's... I just... I know he's not a bad guy. All right? So, if you can just have your friend, Maggie, please give him a break."
Alex caught up with him, pulled him by the shoulder, spun him around and shoved him up against the wall in a well-practiced move. She grabbed his sweater in her fist and invaded his personal space. She was going to find out what this twerp knew about Guardian. "I know six different, very painful ways to get you to tell me who Guardian is using my index finger," she threatened, pointing her finger at him for emphasis. "And before I go-"
"J-James, James, James, James!" he whispered, frantically. "It's James. G-Guardian is James," he admitted, quietly.
"Are you kidding me?" Alex asked in a low voice, absolutely furious. Of course he was. It all made sense, now. That look James had shot Winn at the bar. Winn's insistence that Guardian's sidekick was more like a partner... Of course he would say that, he was the damn sidekick! She cursed herself for not having seen it before. She exhaled, angrily, and stormed away from him, grabbing her cell phone. Kara was going to be so pissed at them.
"What are you doing? What are you doing?!" Winn asked, following.
"I am calling Kara!" Alex shot back.
"No!" Winn said, practically jumping up and down. "You cannot call Kara!" he whispered. "Alex, you cannot tell anybody about this! Not your sister, not Maggie, no one, all right? James is out there, he's trying to help!"
She looked at him, waffling. She knew she should tell Kara. She knew she shouldn't be swayed by anything Winn was saying.
"And, and he helped," Winn pressed, sensing her hesitation, "he helped stop Parasite, and he's going to help stop whoever this is who is really killing these people. Because you and I both know James, James Olsen is not a murderer!"
'Dammit.' She reluctantly put the phone away. He was right. Despite being extraordinarily stupid in this endeavour, James was not a murderer.
"Thank you," breathed Winn.
She looked back up at him, still incensed, and smacked him upside his head. "I will deal with the both of you later," she warned as she stalked off towards the locker room to change into her street clothes. Because now, now she had to go and talk to Maggie, which was the last thing she wanted to do, and ask her to back off of Guardian because Guardian was Jimmy fucking Olsen. Alex clenched her jaw. 'Those two idiots!' she thought, angrily.
So now she had to ask Maggie for a favour for the aforementioned idiots. A favour! She slumped her shoulders in defeat as she walked into the locker room and she pulled out her phone to text Maggie.
"Hey, I need to talk to you about something important. Where are you?" she sent out, hating that she had to do so in the first place. She had vowed to herself that she would not contact Maggie, even though she'd told her that yes, of course they were still friends.
She changed into her street clothes and waited for Maggie's response. She was just putting the last of her DEO gear into her locker when her phone went off.
"Should be back at the precinct in about 15 or so. What's up?"
Alex sighed. "I'll meet you there," she responded, pocketing the phone. This was business. It was about Guardian and it was about the recent killings and nothing more. Alex shut the locker and headed out to the precinct by foot.
Twelve minutes later, as she was approaching the station, she saw Maggie's cruiser pull into the parking garage. Alex took the elevator up to B-Deck, which she knew was where Maggie's assigned parking spot was. She caught up with the detective as she was leaving the car, heading to the adjacent building that housed the police department.
"Danvers!" she said, smiling. "I was just texting you."
The two of them fell into step, walking together through the parking garage. 'This is all business, Alex. Keep it that way,' she warned herself.
"I need you to lay off Guardian," she said, without a greeting or any other preamble.
"You mean National City's mass serial killer?" Maggie asked in disbelief. "No way!"
"He's not a killer, Maggie, you're targeting the wrong guy," she replied, still walking, refusing to turn to face the detective.
"Okay," Maggie said, "I'm listening." She looked at Alex expectantly.
"No, that's it," she responded, glancing at Maggie and then spreading her arms a bit, indicating she had nothing else to share with the detective.
"You want me to drop my prime murder suspect, you gotta give me more than that," the cop retorted.
"I can't, it's classified," she replied, stonewalling her.
"Come on, Alex," she chuckled. "We're friends! You can tell me-"
That did it. Something in Alex snapped. "No, Maggie," she said, slowing, then stopping her forward motion and finally turning to face the detective. "We're not friends."
She hadn't intended to have this conversation, she wasn't prepared, but she'd had enough. So if Maggie was going to push her, Alex was going to let her have it - even if Alex's declaration that they weren't friends had resulted in the other woman looking as though someone had kicked her puppy.
"Uh, okay," Maggie finally said, trying to compose herself. "I'm lost. What happened?" she asked.
'What happened?! You broke my heart!' Alex had had enough. She was going to get all of this off her chest, all the feelings, all the frustrations. She was just going to let it all out, consequences be damned. "We hung out," she said, "we got close," she added. She formed circles with her thumbs and index fingers and brought them together for emphasis. "Then you called me out for liking you and then I had the guts to admit yes, it's true. And you told me that my feelings were real and that I deserved to be happy. So I thought you meant I deserved to be happy with you."
"Alex," Maggie sighed. "I-"
"No, no, no, I, I, I'm not done," Alex said, letting loose. "Because *then* you convinced me to come out to my sister, and I did." Alex was positive that Maggie didn't understand what a huge deal that had been for her, even still. She looked straight into Maggie's eyes. "Because I was sure of one thing and that was my feelings for you." She barely took a breath and continued. "Initially, I was terrified, but ultimately? I was proud to come out, because... it wasn't just some concept. It was about my feelings for this..." Alex looked down, grasping for the right word. She looked back up at Maggie."... amazing woman."
Maggie bowed her head, unable to look Alex in the eye.
"But now?" Alex continued, unabated, "I don't feel liberated... or, or like I am on some great journey. All I feel," she admitted, "is pain. Because you don't want me."
"No, Alex, that's not why-" Maggie tried to interject.
"Just, you know what?" Alex cut her off, waving her arm. "Save it. Okay? That's not what's important right now. What is important is that you back off Guardian." She punctuated the statement by pointing at Maggie and then turned and walked away.
'There,' she thought angrily, as she took the stairs down to street level, 'that's done.' She had explained everything to Maggie, explained how they weren't actually friends, how hurt she was over the rejection and how much it had affected her, none of which, it seemed, Maggie had even thought about. She scoffed silently at the other woman's lack of consideration. While she wasn't certain, she had an inkling that perhaps her unplanned outburst had ended any chance of an actual friendship. Surprisingly, that suited Alex just fine. Being rid of Maggie Sawyer in her life, outside of the odd professional interaction, was fine. She could have the space she needed to just get over her and move on. Move on to other people. 'Other women,' she corrected herself. Even date and fall in love with another woman who did want her.
Alex nodded to herself as she walked back to the DEO, trying to convince herself that having the cop out of her life would be healthy. It would be good. She sighed, knowing that she still had a long way to go before she was anywhere close to getting over Maggie Sawyer.
