"She's going to be fine," Winn said for the tenth time, watching as Alex nervously checked the monitor by Kara's bedside. Her vitals were evening out after an hour of a dangerously low blood pressure and heartbeat.
"Did you identify what caused this?" Alex asked in a grim tone without looking up from the monitor.
"Uh, yeah. It was a strain of the Medusa virus that her father developed, except somehow it still affected her." Winn held up his hands as Alex turned on him, a dark look on her face. "Thankfully, it's not nearly potent enough to kill her, it just gave her the symptoms of a severe allergic reaction." He looked back at the tablet in his hands and double checked his information. "I'm still not sure why it affected her at all, since her father made it in order to kill only foreigners on Krypton, but J'onn is already getting Eliza. We're hoping she can reverse engineer a cure like she did last time."
Alex turned away from Winn. "Damn it, Kara. Why didn't you just stay on the ground?" She brushed the hair out of Kara's face and sat in silence for a moment before a buzzing interrupted her thoughts.
"It's Lena Luthor, again." Winn held up Kara's phone showing Alex the caller ID. "What do I do?"
"Don't answer it." Alex closed her eyes, trying to think through her pounding headache. She made a mental note to get some aspirin when she had a free moment, but didn't move from her spot at Kara's side.
"But she's called twenty times." Winn looked at the phone like it was a venomous snake that had decided he was its next meal.
Alex let out a tired sigh and opened her eyes. "I know. She was there when we went in to get Supergirl and as we were leaving she asked what she could do to help. I told her to go find Kara. What was I supposed to do?"
"Great. So you told Lena to look for someone that you were leaving with. That's just—that's fantastic. That won't make her suspicious at all. What were you thinking?" Winn set the phone down as the buzzing stopped, putting it on silent as he did so.
"Look, I don't know what to tell you. There's no way we can tell Lena Luthor anything without revealing the DEO's existence and who knows what she would do with that information? She's a Luthor." Alex reached up to rub her temples and ground her teeth. "Why did I let this happen?" she grumbled to herself.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Alex. This is in no way your fault."
Alex looked up at her mother's voice. "Mom," she said in relief. "Can you help her?"
Eliza approached Kara's bed. "I'll do my best. I'm sure she's going to be fine, sweetie. You've done a great job looking after her but I'm going to run some tests and you should take a break. Go outside, get some fresh air." Putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder Eliza gently guided her away from Kara and to the door.
"No, I want to stay," Alex insisted while still letting herself be moved away.
"Actually Alex, I need to talk to you," J'onn spoke up from the doorway. Alex looked at him for a moment before following him out into the hallway, the sounds of Winn greeting her mother fading behind her.
"What is it?" she asked him as he paused in the middle of the hallway and looked her in the eyes.
"How are you feeling, Agent Danvers?" J'onn's face was unreadable.
"I'm fine." Alex waited for him to say something else but he just stood there staring at her. Well used to J'onn's silent treatment she refused to back down, staring him in the eyes as she straightened her shoulders. "Anything else?"
J'onn wordlessly held his hand out. In his palm were two aspirin and as Alex blew a breath out of her mouth and turned to walk away he put his free hand on her shoulder. She shook it off but stayed where she was. "You forget I'm psychic, Alex. I know what's going on, and I know that you forget about taking care of yourself when there are other people suffering."
Alex took the offered pills and swallowed them dry. "Is it that obvious?"
"Your hangover? No, but I happen to be the one who paid off your bar tab last night when you and your girlfriend skipped out without paying."
Alex mentally kicked herself again for letting herself drink that much. Of course the one night that she and Maggie somehow both forgot to pay would be the night she decided to drown her feelings in the bottom of a bottle. "Yeah, sorry about that. I can pay you back." She looked down, unable to meet his eyes any longer.
"That's not why I'm bringing it up. I'm just concerned with how much I had to pay. You drank quite a lot, Alex." J'onn raised a disapproving eyebrow. "I would hate to think that my best agent was leaning back on old habits, destructive habits, without my doing anything to stop it."
There was a pause before Alex gave him a small smile. "Thanks, J'onn, but everything is okay. I went home with Maggie and we talked about it," she lied, knowing that J'onn was too honor-bound to read her mind while they were speaking face to face.
"Alright. But I'm here if you ever need to talk. I know we haven't found your father yet, but—"
"I think I'll go get some air, now, if you don't mind," Alex cut him off. The thought of her father made a hot rage start in her gut and she felt like at any moment she might cry in frustration. Turning on her heel she walked away from J'onn and headed for the exit. J'onn watched her go before heading back into the room where Eliza was finished with testing Kara's blood. She was just locking up the kryptonite-infused medical instruments in their lead box when J'onn entered.
"So, what is it?" J'onn took a seat next to Winn and watched as Eliza stripped off her rubber gloves and threw them in the trash.
Eliza shook her head. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong. I mean, clearly she's been knocked unconscious but there isn't anything in her that would need any cure I could create. It's like it knocked her out and just disappeared."
"Or maybe it wasn't strong enough to finish the job?" Winn spoke up. When J'onn and Eliza bent horrified gazes at him he twitched nervously and stuttered. "I—I didn't mean it like that I'm just saying. I want Kara to be okay as much as you do."
"I understand." Eliza looked at her adopted daughter. "I just don't know why this happened. And I hate not knowing."
J'onn stood up and reached a hand out to Eliza. "Well, I'm sure you have work to get back to but you're welcome to stay."
"I'll stay until she wakes up, if that's alright," Eliza answered, taking Alex's spot at Kara's side. "Did Alex go like I told her to?"
"Yes, unfortunately I think I may have upset her." J'onn looked over at Winn.
"I'll—I'll stay too, if that's okay. And you know Alex, she's just going to go down to the training room and beat the crap out of whatever or whoever's down there," Winn said to reassure him.
"I know. But work on figuring out more about where that virus came from and why it seems to only partially work." J'onn nodded at him walked out. Winn took a seat at the table and started to type on his tablet.
Lena had just put her phone down after listening to Kara's voicemail for the twenty-second time when a knock at her door made her look up. "Who is it?" she called out, wondering where Jess had gone that she didn't tell her she had an appointment.
"Detective Maggie Sawyer, NCPD," the now-familiar voice came from behind the closed door.
"Come in," Lena said, walking around her desk to take a seat behind it. Maggie entered with another officer, both wearing their NCPD jackets.
"They told me you came back up here. I still think it's a bad idea to sit in your office two floors above where a bomb just went off." Maggie's tone was judgmental, but her face was closed off.
Lena noted the guarded expression on both of their faces before greeting her. "Agent Sawyer. Despite what you think, I can't afford to put off my work because of a little rubble. The only real threat seems to have been left for Supergirl but it's been contained, and the building has been declared structurally sound. Now what can I do for you?"
"Those questions I mentioned earlier? Now's the time to give me some answers." Maggie walked up to Lena's desk and crossed her arms. When Lena nodded at her to continue, she took a breath before starting.
"Did you know your mother was in National City before the bombing this morning?"
Lena bit her lip. "Not really."
"Not really, yes? Or not really, no? It's one or the other." Maggie's tone hardened.
"No," Lena said with finality. "I didn't know that she was still in National City..." she looked out her window as she trailed off.
"But?" Maggie said, sensing there was something unsaid.
"But, she did visit me yesterday." At Maggie's sharp intake of breath she pressed on before the officer could cut her off. "She told me that she still had a strain of the Medusa virus among other things before leaving me to wonder what she would do with it."
"The Medusa virus. That's the thing that cyborg shot me for? Whatever just poisoned Supergirl?" Maggie clarified.
"Yes." Looking at the other officer for a moment, Lena tried to focus on the conversation but she was worried about Supergirl and worried about Kara. After Alex had told her to go find Kara, Lena had gone down and searched for the younger Danvers sister. Unable to find her, she had called and texted her a dozen times before returning to her office, having to talk her way past several officers and reporters. She had tried to tell herself that Kara was fine and that her phone was probably dead, but with the events of the last few weeks she didn't want to leave anything to chance.
"Do you have any idea where she might be now?" Maggie pressed, breaking Lena's concentration.
"Look, my mother and I don't have a loving, open-communication relationship. I had no idea she was in National City until she visited me and I have no idea where she might have gone." Lena wished they would leave her alone so she could find out what happened to Kara. Maybe she could give Alex a call, if anyone knew where Kara was it would be her sister.
"You're her daughter. The closest family she has in this immediate area. How do we know you aren't helping her?" the other officer spoke up.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Lena turned to him. "My testimony helped put her behind bars, do you really think I'd help her escape and kill everyone?"
"Not everyone. Just the aliens, and your family is famous for hating aliens. And your testimony didn't exactly change anything, she's still out there and according to you she's still trying to kill everyone," the officer fired back, taking a step towards Lena's desk.
"I never said she was doing that, only that I wouldn't help her. And before you accuse me of being loyal to the Luthor family name, let me assure you, if I could get rid of her permanently, with no repercussions, I would do it in a heartbeat," she practically growled the last part, her feelings flaring up as the officer voiced the exact thing she was afraid of.
Before he could respond, Maggie stepped between them. She eyed Lena for a long moment before seeming to decide something and turning to her partner. "She's telling the truth."
He snorted. "Not a very useful truth, is it." He turned and walked out, leaving the door open.
Maggie looked at Lena apologetically. "Sorry about him. He's just grumpy because he's the one who arrested your mother, and now..."
"And now he looks like the fool who let her escape. Well, I can relate to that." Lena shook her head. "Why do people always hate in others what they see in themselves?"
"Who knows," Maggie sighed. "Well, if you think of anything or need anything, just give me a call." She handed Lena her personal business card before turning to go. "Calling the station won't always guarantee you'll get someone who will listen to you."
Lena stood and took the card from Maggie. "One more thing," she called as Maggie headed to the door. "Have you heard from Kara? Alex told me to find her, but I didn't see her anywhere and she hasn't been answering her phone."
Maggie stopped in her tracks. "Oh. Um, yeah I think she headed over to Cat Co. and she must've forgotten to charge her phone."
A thought struck Lena. "I suppose it must have because she didn't get the chance to charge it last night," she muttered to herself, smiling.
"Last night?" Maggie asked, catching the end of Lena's muttering.
Lena looked up startled, as though she had forgotten she wasn't alone. "Oh. She had dinner with me, and stayed the night on my couch."
Maggie smirked. "I guess both the Danvers girls spent the night on couches. Well, I'll let you know if I hear anything but I'm sure she's fine."
Lena opened her mouth to agree at the same time that her phone buzzed. She grabbed for it eagerly. There was one text from Kara.
Hey, so sorry I missed your calls! My phone died. Guess I should've charged it before falling asleep on your couch (: I'll make it up to you.
Feeling a grin start to spread on her face, Lena looked at Maggie, who was standing between the door and her desk, unsure of whether she could leave. "Well I guess that solves that mystery. She says her phone died," Lena explained. "I'll call if I need anything."
"Well, there you go. See you around, Ms. Luthor." Maggie nodded to Lena and left her office.
Lena sat down and typed out a response.
No problem, I forgot to give you a charger last night. I won't make the same mistake next time (:
Staring at her screen, she deliberated for a minute before deleting the words. Instead, she typed a shorter answer, trying to stem the flow of her emotions.
It's fine, I was just worried about you. Brunch on Saturday?
Hitting send, she leaned back in her chair and sighed. She never knew what to say to Kara, with her strange disappearances and radio silences that didn't correlate with her cheerful outgoing personality. She stared at her phone for several minutes waiting for a response, and when one didn't come she turned her phone over and went back to work, trying to put the reporter out of her mind.
Once she got outside, Maggie ran past the press that were still covering the bombing and caught up with her partner. "Hey, what was that?" she grabbed his arm and he turned to face her.
"She knew her mother was in the city, and she didn't tell anyone?" the officer looked at her knowingly. "Seems suspicious."
"Look, even if it was suspicious, you can't treat her like a hostile suspect. There's nothing to charge her on, and I believe her when she says she didn't know her mother was staying." Maggie glared at him.
"I know I overstepped, it's just...Lillian escaping has really gotten me in trouble with the chief," he said, fidgeting with his hands.
Maggie softened, seeing how upset he was. "I understand. And you know as well as I do that he shouldn't blame you for it—you weren't the one guarding that jail cell. Just...try to reign it in next time." She paused for a moment, realizing that Kara must be awake if she had texted Lena. Turning to her partner she tossed him the keys to the car the came in. "You take the cruiser back. I'm going for a walk," she said, seeing that she was only a few blocks from the DEO. With a nod to her partner, she set off thinking about what Lena had said about the Medusa virus. The possibility that Lillian Luthor was back in National City and preparing to wipe out the alien population wasn't a welcome thought, but it was a realistic one. As she walked down the street, a coffee cart caught her eye and she picked up a latte for Alex, remembering that she was working with a hangover, and a black coffee for herself. Sipping the steaming drink she hummed in contentment as the caffeine flooded her body; she felt like she had been up for hours but a glance at her watch told her it was only ten-thirty in the morning. Grumbling to herself about people who set off bombs before noon, she reached the entrance of the DEO just as her phone went off. Shifting Alex's latte to the crook of her elbow, she pulled out her phone to see that she had gotten a text from Alex:
Hey wanna finish where we left off last night?
Confused, she answered her girlfriend:
What do you mean? We didn't do anything last night.
The response was immediate:
In my dreams we did. ;)
Maggie chuckled to herself before responding.
Are you trying to flirt, Danvers? We both know you don't have it in you.
No, but I had you in me...
Maggie looked dubiously at the message she had just received. Alex never flirted with her like this, whether in person or over text. She was helpless in the charms department, and to Maggie it was adorable how she stammered her way through sexy bedroom talk.
You're coming on a little strong there, Danvers. I'm about to go into the DEO, I brought you coffee. I heard Kara's awake?
Maggie wasn't sure what else to say without furthering her need to take Alex home in the middle of the day for some "personal time", so she changed the conversation.
I don't know. Maybe.
Knitting her eyebrows at Alex's cryptically short response, Maggie put her phone back in her pocket and entered the DEO. The first person she saw that she recognized was Agent Vasquez, and she headed in her direction.
"Hey, Vasquez. Where'd they put the Girl of Steel?" Maggie asked.
"I think they're down the hall, still in the labs," Vasquez pointed to the right. "Nice to see you Detective Sawyer."
"For the last time, call me Maggie," Maggie yelled behind her, already halfway down the hall. She reached the door to the lab and was greeted by the sight of Winn talking to Eliza and an empty bed.
"Hey, where's Kara and Alex?" she asked the two. Her question went unanswered as Winn and Eliza continued to discuss every possible problem the return of the Medusa virus could cause. "Hey!" Maggie said a little more loudly and this time the two looked up. "Where's Danvers and Danvers?"
"Probably the training room. Kara wanted to practice and Alex talked to J'onn then left in a huff, and you know how she likes to hit things when she's mad." Winn came over to give Maggie an awkward hug, careful not to spill her coffees.
"Yeah I do, and I think it's adorable. Hi, Eliza," Maggie smiled at Alex's mother.
"Hi sweetie. I hope that's for Alex, she was looking a little tired this morning," Eliza motioned to the second coffee in Maggie's hand.
"Of course. Nice to see you again." Maggie headed downstairs to the training rooms. When she got there, J'onn and Kara were several feet above the ground engaged in hand-to-hand combat. As she watched, J'onn got the best of Kara and used her momentum against her, sending her flailing against the concrete wall. As she crashed into it, bits of concrete crumbled off and Maggie flinched, despite knowing that it hurt the wall more than it hurt Kara. Looking around for her girlfriend she realized that there was no one else in the room.
"Is Alex around?" she asked, confused.
Kara ran over to hug her almost knocking the two over. "Hey! Maggie! I haven't seen her either, I was looking for her too." At that moment Agent Vasquez appeared at the door next to Maggie.
"There's a robbery in progress at the bank on 5th street," she directed her words at J'onn.
Kara stepped forward. "I'm on it."
J'onn grabbed her arm. "Absolutely not. You haven't even been awake for half an hour. I just threw you against a wall. You aren't ready."
Kara rolled her eyes. "You only beat me because you're an alien. These guys are humans. They break. They can barely lift a hundred pounds. Plus, I'm bulletproof, so stop worrying about me." With another smile, she followed Agent Vasquez back upstairs, leaving J'onn alone with Maggie.
"So, I take it Alex isn't here." Maggie said after a beat.
J'onn shook his head. "No, she left before Kara woke up."
"That's not like her at all." Maggie narrowed her eyes. "What did you say to her?"
"Winn told you?' J'onn asked, looking away.
"All he said was you two talked and she left looking mad," Maggie explained.
"I mentioned to her that I picked up her tab last night," J'onn started.
"Oh, crap." Maggie sighed. "I knew I forgot to do something, thanks. I'll pay you back. But why'd that make her so mad?"
"I might've commented on how much the tab was," J'onn explained. "And brought her some aspirin. And I might have mentioned that we were still looking for her father..."
Maggie sighed again. "Well, that'll do it. You know Alex, she can never accept help even if it's biting her in the ass."
"I''m worried about her," J'onn went on. "She seemed...off this morning."
"Oh, yeah. She had a pretty bad hangover when she woke up," Maggie said, finishing her coffee. "I was actually just bringing this to her," she held up the second cup. "It was supposed to help with her headache."
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm not sure how much Alex has told you about her past," J'onn said, folding his arms.
"Well, admittedly, not much, but what's going on?"
J'onn sighed. "When I recruited Alex to the DEO, she was...well, she was failing out of med school."
"Failing? That doesn't sound like Alex."
"Well believe it or not, it is. It was, I mean. She's changed since then. But five, six years ago? Alex was a completely different person. I met her in a holding cell, when she was detained for blowing a 0.2 on a breathalyzer."
"Shit." Maggie took in a short breath. "That's...a lot."
"She was quite the partier back then. I had been watching her for years, watching her since I came back and took on Hank Henshaw's identity. She was lost, confused, didn't know what she wanted in life. She spent her nights drinking and her days regretting it." J'onn closed his eyes. "We both know that Alex is too hard on herself, and I don't think she's handling the job as well as she used to."
"I mean, yeah, a lunatic almost drowned her!" Maggie jumped to defend Alex, shocked by what she was hearing but unwilling to criticize someone who was clearly going through a bad time. "And on top of that, the father that she lost for fourteen years came back, betrayed her, helped her escape and then disappeared again. So I'd say maybe the job is getting too hard to handle and it has nothing to do with Alex."
J'onn put a hand on Maggie's arm to calm her. "I'm not trying to criticize her in any way, you know I love her like my own daughter. I'm just worried about her. Has she been acting differently? Maybe drinking a little too much, a little too often?"
"Differently?..." Maggie's voice trailed off as she tried to remember. Dozens of nights at the bar flickered through her mind, since it was one of the only places they could all get together. She started remembering game nights where Alex would be the only one drinking, and all the small get-togethers at Kara's apartment where Alex would find an excuse to drink. A celebration. A good day. A bad day. A day where nothing happened, a day where too much happened. The text Alex had sent her earlier flashed across the front of her mind. That wasn't something Alex would have ever normally said, but the few times that Alex had flirted with her, she had been drunk. "I think I see what you mean."
J'onn had a sad expression on his face. "You need to go find her. Take care of her. You know her better than anyone else."
Maggie looked at him doubtfully. "I don't know how much better, seeing as I had no idea she was an..." her voice broke off and she couldn't bring herself to say the word.
"Alcoholic?" J'onn finished her sentence, his face drawn. "You are exactly what she needs right now. She may not know it or appreciate it, but you are her support. And of course, the rest of us are here too—but you're the one who really gets her. You have a different relationship with her than Kara. She can't talk to Kara about this because to her, Kara is still the frightened little alien child that she was charged with protecting. But you, you are her equal." J'onn rubbed at his eyes. "Have faith in yourself, Maggie."
Maggie closed her eyes for a long moment and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, opening her eyes. "I'm going." With a last look at J'onn, she left the DEO and headed to the bar.