Alex Danvers has always been a fierce protector but will her selfless spirit cost her everything?

"Alex, no!"

The tiny detective had used the phrase in a variety of situations from watching her girlfriend wrestle her sister around their apartment to pulling the enraged agent off a captured Cadmus agent who had injured said sister, Maggie had uttered those two words probably a thousand times.

But never, never had they hurt this much.

She pressed her hand against the glass of the interrogation room, willing Alex to mirror her gesture. The agent did, eyes equally glassy as she smiled at her.

"Alex, yes." She whispered, willing Maggie to accept that it had to be this way, that it was the only way to protect her.

Of course, it had been Alex who noticed that their newest prisoner, another captured Cadmus operative, seemed out of sorts. He was lethargic and nearly unresponsive mere hours after his capture. When the agent had gone in to question him, she noticed a hideous, puckered scar running down his neck, under his shirt.

The scar was pulsing green; a shade of green the agent would know anywhere. She had ripped the man's shirt open only to discover more horrors. The scar ran the length of the man's torso, ending in a grotesquely swollen stomach!

"What the hell is that?!" Alex had recoiled in terror and it was only heightened by the man's reply.

"It's too late to ask that question, Agent Danvers..." he gasped before curling in on himself in pain, the pulsing green light intensifying, glowing veins spider webbing over his skin!

"Alex?" The agent looked up to see her girlfriend approaching the cell and she instantly knew what she had to do.

"I'm sorry." She whispered as she slammed the containment button, locking herself inside with a literal ticking time bomb!

And now Maggie was forced to watch as the love of her life face an uncertain fate just a few inches of bulletproof glass away from her.

"Maggie, what's going on?" Both women whipped their heads around, before shouting a warning.

"Kara, no! Stay back!" Maggie grabbed the blonde's arms before she could get closer.

"Alex?" The sisters' eyes met, each full of fear. "Lexie, what's going on?" Kara asked again as she eyed the twisting figure behind her sister, nearly having to shout over the blaring containment alarms.

"It's kryptonite, Kara! He has a ton of it coursing through his system. It must have been activated remotely or something because it didn't set off the sensors when we brought him in!"

"Then we'll keep him contained." Kara countered. "Let's get you out, though."

"No, Kara. There's something else going on here... Can you x-ray him from there? I don't want you anywhere near this guy!"

"I think I can..." Kara squinted for a few seconds then gasped and lunged towards the cage before Maggie jumped in front of her!

"Kara what are you doing?!" She cried, surprised she had been able to restrain the hero.

"Alex, you have to get out! It's a bomb!"

"What?!," Maggie's panic shot through the roof again. "Dammit, Ally! Get out of there!"

"I can't."

"What the hell do you mean you can't?! Baby, please..." Maggie was begging her now as J'onn raced into the room behind them.

"I have to try and disarm it or it's gonna take half the DEO with it!" The agent countered, yelling to be heard over the clamor of the alarm.

"So what? We'll evacuate, we'll put the DEO into lockdown..."

"It won't work." All eyes turned to J'onn as he spoke, his words and expression solemn. "Even if we evacuate the DEO, the fallout from an explosion like that could irradiate all of National City, Kara would never be able to come back..."

"Alex..." Maggie's eyes swung warily back to the cage where her girlfriend was pacing deep in thought. "Ally, please tell me you're coming out of there."

"I want to." She responded sincerely meeting her girlfriend's concerned eyes. Suddenly she had an idea! "The canon we used to diffuse the Red K! If we can diffuse the kryptonite, Kara can dispose of the bomb!"

"It's a long shot..." J'onn whispered but was already on his way to the armory. Behind Alex, the man continued to twist and writhe on the floor, his screams intensifying!

"Kara, Maggie, I want you two to get out of here..."

Both Maggie and Kara shook their heads in disbelief as Alex refused to meet their eyes.

"No. Dammit, Ally! A lifetime of firsts!" Maggie pounded her fist on the glass as Alex tried to calm her, Kara unable to come closer because of the kryptonite.

"I'm sorry," She whispered as J'onn came barreling into the room!

"Alex, get down!" The Martian yelled as he disabled the security door and fired the canon into the living weapon!

Kara threw Maggie against the wall, covering the small detective with her cape in an effort to protect her from the rays of the weapon. Alex could feel the heat of the ray on the back of her neck but didn't dare look! The man's screams ceased and J'onn clicked the weapon off approaching cautiously. As Alex turned to look she heard an unmistakable sound.

A firing pin.

"Damn," she muttered as she lunged forward to activate the containment door once more, trapping herself in the eye of the blast!

Kara couldn't believe the destruction the explosion had caused. She hadn't thought anything could bring the DEO to it's knees after the Daxamite invasion but this had because right now, behind the med-bay's window, the very heart of the DEO was fighting for her life... and starting to lose.

J'onn had been able to phase Alex away from the majority of the blast but they had both been badly hurt and Alex was only human, frail, fragile and oh, so breakable. Hamilton and her team were a flurry of activity around Alex as she lay deathly still, the only signs of life those coming from the monitors.

There was so much blood.

How much was her sister's or J'onn's or even the man's was unclear to Kara. The med team continued trying to get the agent stabilized even as they washed away the gore, treating the wounds and burns underneath. Kara turned away from the window towards Maggie. The detective was rocking on a chair, muttering to herself "a lifetime of firsts", tears streaming down her face. She couldn't bring herself to look in the window and Kara didn't blame her.

If Alex survived this, the images of her broken body would haunt the hero forever.

"Please, Lexie..." She whispered as she faced the window again. "We need you..."

It was far too quiet in the med-bay for Maggie's tastes; the only sounds permeating the thick silence were the beeping monitors and the labored breathing coming from the wounded agent.

Alex had been declared 'stable' a few hours ago though the detective could see the air quotes Hamilton was using when she'd told them. The agent's condition was far from anything resembling stability and Maggie intently watched her chest rise and fall, afraid that at any moment it would cease to.

She clutched Alex's hand anxiously, though gently, because there was literally no part of her girlfriend that wasn't bandaged or bruised. She could barely see Alex's face buried behind tubes and the oxygen mask. Just outside the window, Kara paced ceaselessly occasionally stopping, head tilted to one side and Maggie knew she was listening to Alex's heartbeat, reassuring herself that her sister was not yet lost.

Seventeen hours had passed since the explosion, eleven of which Alex had spent in surgery, Hamilton and her team frantically treating the agent's multitude of injuries.

J'onn stood stoically in the hallway, offering Kara quiet, strong support. He was still injured as well but had made the flight to Midvale to retrieve Eliza and still refused to rest until Alex awoke, until he could see her recovery with his own eyes. The Danvers matron was currently sleeping fitfully in a stiff hospital chair, after repeated refusals to retire to her daughters' DEO quarters.

"Babe," Maggie whispered, leaning her forehead against the bed. "Don't you give up on me. You're a badass, Danvers. I need you…we all do."

She lifted her head expectantly though she didn't really believe there would be a response except…was that a twitch? She moved closer to Alex, searching her face for any signs of life, any movement. The hand within hers twitched again!

"Ally? Alex! Yes! That's it baby," She cried, frantically motioning for J'onn and Kara to come closer. "I think she's waking up!"

Kara rushed into the room gently squeezing her sisters other hand. "C'mon Lexie, we know you're in there…"

Eliza was up like a shot and moved to the foot of the bed, one hand lay gently on Alex's leg, the other clutched tightly against her chest, a hopeful gleam in her eye. "Please, Alexandra. We're all here."

A pitiful main filled the room as the injured agent lurched painfully back into wakefulness, her entire body a mass of bruises and wounds! Maggie beamed and leaned closer, gently stroking Alex's forehead.

"It's okay, baby. I know it hurts but we just need you to wake up a little and then Hamilton will take care of all that, okay?"

Another moan but Alex's eyelids started to twitch and she moved her head gingerly as if trying to find a more comfortable position. A few more minutes passed and the agent blearily cracked her eyes open.

"Yes! Alex, yes!" Kara exclaimed before rushing out to find Hamilton. Behind the oxygen mask came a muffled response.

"What was that?" Maggie pulled the mask down gently. "Baby, you don't need to talk just yet we're just glad you're awake."

Alex closed her eyes again, licking her painfully chapped lips because she had never been so thirsty in her life. She swallowed dryly before trying to speak once more.

"I said…" she croaked, eyes still squeezed shut. "Alex…no…"

Eliza sobbed in relief as Kara and Hamilton rushed in, the doctor immediately checking the agent's vitals and readjusting her pain meds to account for her awakening. Maggie just stayed where she was, unable to stop touching Alex, eyes filled with love.

"Really? After what you put us through today, that's all you have to say?"

Alex made a tiny movement with her shoulders, which Maggie assumed was the injured woman's attempt at a shrug before she spoke again hoarsely.

"Lifetime…of …firsts…"

Maggie sat back confused until it struck her. She suddenly realized that had in fact been the first time Alex Danvers had told herself "no" and the detective couldn't stop the relieved tears from flowing.

"God, you're such a nerd! I love you." Maggie pressed a gentle kiss to Alex's knuckles, the one part of her that wasn't thoroughly bruised. Alex managed a tiny smile as Hamilton put her oxygen mask back in place.

"I…know…"Alex gasped behind the mask, promptly falling asleep as her family watched over her knowing full well that once she was recovered they would be back where they started.