The first thing Mon-El noticed as he walked into the room was the emptiness in the air. Since the day Kara had found him on that ship, the tension in air between them was thick enough to slice. But today, there was nothing. The silence was deafening, broken only by the quiet hissing of the ventilator.

Mon-El's foot stop in mid-air, hesitant. He was scared. Terrified of facing her now that he knew why she was there in the first place. But the ache in his heart forced his feet forward. He needed to see her, touch her.

Slowly, he approached the table, unconsciously holding his breath, his footsteps echoing. The grief in his chest was coming in waves, each more ferocious than the previous. He steadied himself using the edge of the sunbed as it threatened to overwhelm him. His eyes were glued to Kara's face. If it wasn't for the bruises, the bandages and the ET tube, she looked nothing less than a sleeping angel. The same angel he had dreamed of waking up next to for the rest of his life.

Tears flowed freely as his gently reached out to cup her face. 'Kara…' he could barely whisper as a sob escaped. The memory of Kara's pushing against his hand unconsciously as she slept all those years ago was quick to hit him, forcing him to drop to his knees.

What had he done?

'I love you…' her voice whispered in his ears as he felt her hands cupping his face in the seconds before he had left Earth forever. As he left that day, he had wanted nothing more than to find his way back to her. And now that he was back, he couldn't help but wish he had just died.

'I'm sorry Kara…I'm so, so sorry.' He sniffled, his other hand reaching for hers. He laced his fingers with hers, the perfection with which they fit together sending a jolt of electricity up his arm. He pushed himself back onto his feet. He looked at her bruised face, eyes still. The last time he had nearly lost her, all she needed was a kiss to bring her back to him.

He leaned down for a kiss, his tears falling freely onto her cheek. He gently thumbed them away before placing his lips on hers, careful to steer clear of the tube.

As his lips met hers, Mon-El felt a wave of warmth rush through him. The familiarity of her touch chasing away his demons, albeit for just one second. Only she could ever make him feel that way and even after 7 years, his soul still yearned for that feeling. Her lips, albeit chapped, pressed softly against his, caressing his to sculpted perfection. The only thing missing, was her warm familiar breath that always smelt like cinnamon and coffee. Mon-El closed his eyes, trying to will his own breaths into her.

As he pulled away, his eyes searched Kara's face for any, any sign of life. Hoping against hope that his love for her would bring her back again.

But it was his love that put her there in the first place, a voice in his head chided him.

He looked at her battered face and bit his lip, wishing he could capture her essence in them forever.

'I never wanted to hurt you Kara.' He whispered. 'I lived in a world without you for 7 years, and I swear to you they were the worst years of my life. The thought that I would never see you again was so painful the only thing I could do was turn it off and move on. But Kara I…' Mon-El brought her hand up to his face and gently placed his cheek in her palm. Her fingers gently curled, her nails pressing against his ear.

'I never stopped loving you, or thinking about you, or wishing you were there. I remember how I felt seeing you with that other-wordly imp and if that's even close to what you felt when you saw Imra…' Mon-el couldn't help but recognise that familiar pang of jealousy as the thought of mxy popped into his head. 'I want you to hurt me, Kara. I want you to be mad, to scream, to yell, to punch me. But you kept walking away and I…'Mon-El stopped abruptly, the realisation hitting him.

'…I should have come after you.' A wave of guilt surged through him, almost knocking him off his feet. If it had been 7 years ago, he would have gone after her. He would have chased her to the end of the world if he had to, no matter how angry she got. He would have gone after her. Just like she always came for him.

'I let you down, didn't I, Kara?' He squeezed Kara's hand and brought it to his lips.

'I tried, you know? I tried so, so hard to get back to you.' His other hand reached for the necklace as he spoke. 'but as the years wore on I could feel the hope wear off. As much as I wanted to get back to you, there was also a part of me that knew that you…you had moved on. 3000 years in the future, you had moved on. And I guess I felt you would want that for me too. This necklace has been close to my heart every second of every day I spent without you and it's the only thing that kept it beating. Coming back to you was all I ever wanted too, and I so wish it was easier to get things back to how they used to be. But Kara I…' Mon-el shook his head, squeezing his eyes as tears flowed out. Imra was his wife, Kara was his past and he had vowed to give Imra his future. What was he going to do?

Suddenly, the monitors started beeping. Mon-el's eyes flew open, but he couldn't understand what they were saying. Equipment at this time made virtually no sense to him. 'Kara?' he called out, sliding off the table. Kara's chest had stopped moving in tandem with the ventilator.

His head turned towards the door. Agents would come flying in any second, he had to go.

Just as he was about to leave, he froze. He reached around the back of his neck to unhook the necklace.

'It protected me, just like you said it would. Now I need it to protect you.' He reached around Kara's neck, securing the hook back. As he pulled away, he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. 'Stay, Kara.'

The doors flew open and Winn ran into the room. He froze as he saw Mon-el leaning over Kara.

'You shouldn't be here.' Winn barked as he ran towards Kara. Mon-el looked up at him, half-expecting to be attacked by James or J'onn. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he realised it was Winn.

'Winn, I…' before he could finish his sentence, Winn's fist landed square on his jaw. Mon-el staggered back, mostly taken by surprise rather than force.

'Get. Out.' Winn's voice was firm, his eyes only stopping to glance at Mon-el before getting back to Kara.

'Winn…' Mon-el began, confused. Winn was his friend, he had helped him more times than anyone else.

'Get out!' Winn yelled, this time not even looking at him.

'Kara?!' Winn shook Kara's shoulders.

'It's the ventilator.' Mon-el stepped closer, trying to point it out.

'I will not hesitate to punch you again man, just get the hell out of this room. You've done enough.' Winn walked towards the ventilator. The 'out of air' sign was blinking. Quickly, he reached for the extra pipes that were connected to the oxygen tanks and reconnected them. Mon-el couldn't bring himself to leave, especially not when he knew Kara's life was on the line. What if Winn needed help? He wouldn't ask him for it, Mon-el knew that much, but he would still offer it.

The machine stopped beeping as Winn finished connecting the pipe.

'Is it okay now?' Mon-el asked before he could stop himself. Winn whipped around to look at him. Rage was burning in his eyes.

'Winn, listen to me. You're my friend, I…' Mon-el started backing away from him.

'friend? After all this, you still have the guts to call yourself that? The last time you used that on me, you brought back a wife.' He spat the last word out.

'I still love…'Mon-el began.

'Don't. Just, don't, okay? You need to stop saying that. You can't say that when you have a freaking wife.'

'Winn, I know I hurt Kara. Just let me expl…'

'Hurt? You think that's all you did? Hurt?!' Winn shook his head in disbelief.

'She tried to destroy her humanity because of you. She had become a shell of the Kara Danvers we knew when you were gone. She felt so guilty about making you leave, she convinced herself you had died and had panic attacks. I had to watch her force herself to smile whenever she saw other couples even though as she wanted to do was crawl into a ball and cry. Every single day she wished and wished for you to return and just when she was finally about to move on, you come back, bringing back all the feelings she worked so hard to get through. And you bring your wife! She wasn't even done grieving about you leaving and now she has to see you locking tongues with another woman? Hurt doesn't even begin to cover it.'

Mon-el looked at the floor, Winn's words stabbing into his heart like daggers. He knew Kara had been through a lot, but to hear it out loud…it was painful. Winn had been the only one who ever tried to understand and watching him be the one yell at him. Mon-el knew he had crossed the line with him.

'you have no idea how much everyone wants to hurt you right now. The only reason you're still walking around here is because of Kara. She wanted us to help you with your ship. Even after she found out about your wife.' Winn couldn't bring himself to say her name.

'This wasn't how it was supposed to be.'

'You should leave before someone else comes.' Winn turned back to Kara. As tempted as he was to punch him again, his hand really, really hurt.

Mon-el gritted his teeth, took another look at Kara and walked out of the room.

As he stepped out, he was greeted by Imra.

'How is she?' she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Mon-el looked at her, shrugging away from her touch.

'Mon-el, please. I am really sorry. You know how much I admire Supergirl. I would never do something like this if I had known that…' Imra trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.

Mon-el sighed. 'and you know how much I love her. Imra I…I need time to get over this, okay?'

Suddenly the alarms started going off all around them, making them jump. Imra and Mon-el turned to look around, their bodies ready to fight.

'What is that?' Imra yelled over the blaring alarms.

If memory served him correctly… 'It might be a breach!'

Both of them looked towards the main control room. Reign.

Imra had just started running off when Mon-el grabbed her hand.

'We need more help!' he yelled out, his eyebrows raised.

'What? No, no, we can't!' Imra yelled back as she realised what he was asking for.

'Imra, listen to me! She's trying to kill Kara. You stopped me from helping her once. I'm not going to let you stop me again.' He tried to make his voice as firm as he could as he screamed over the alarm.

Imra could barely hear his words, but his thoughts were clear. He wasn't asking for her permission or opinion this time. His mind had been made up. She let out an exasperated sigh.

'Fine!' She screamed back.

'Let's go get the legion!'