A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get published. I just wasn't in the mood to write. Can't make any promises for consistent posts either. I have one maybe two more chapters completely written for this story and I've been at a stand still for those but I wont completely let this story go. It may just be a very long time before I complete it.

Sam walked into her office at L-Corp the following morning looking tired as hell. So tired in fact she hadn't notice Lena sitting on the couch in her office. Once she had it startled her to the point of almost screaming. "Jesus, Lena are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Lena snickered, "No that wasn't my intent. I figured you would have seen me sitting here when you walked in, but it looks like someone didn't get much sleep last night. Might a particular DEO agent have anything to do with that?" Lena raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Sam shot Lena a death glare. "It was nothing like that. I went to Alex's to fill out that paperwork for Pam and Lucy Lane had stopped by before I got there to hang out with Alex and she stayed while Alex and I filled out the endless amount of forms and gave me some insight into their friendship.

"It was my fault I asked her to stay. Any chance I can get to learn more about Alex I'm not going to pass up. Did you know that Lucy arrested Alex for treason and then broke her out when Kara had Supergirl convince Lucy that they didn't deserve to be locked up?"

"I knew Lucy and Alex had gotten off to a rocky start according to Kara but didn't know it was because she had arrested Alex. But to here Alex and Kara talk about Lucy now you wouldn't think anything of the sort had ever happened. I'm glad you got to know more about Alex. Speaking of Alex, she stopped by 5 minutes before you got here with this." Lena handed her a coffee cup and a sealed envelope, "That's why I was in your office. Oh, and to tell you our meeting with Randle Melvin has been canceled. He's in the hospital with a nasty virus of some sort. I sent flowers over from L-Corp."

Sam took a sip of her coffee. She couldn't help but smile. Alex had remembered her order from last Tuesday. "It's a shame about Randle. He is one of our business partners I enjoy having meetings with. I think I'll send him some flowers from me as well."

Sam opened the envelop that Alex had left with the coffee.

Sorry last night kept you out so late. I honestly had no idea Lucy was back in town and would be coming over. Enjoy the coffee and I can't wait to see you Friday.

Sam couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across her face. She knew Lena was smiling her mischievous grin. "What?"

"You really are smitten, and I think the agent is as well. I saw how you two were looking at each other on Monday it has only intensified since you met each other at the bar. I know you said you were going to take things slow and I'm guessing a run in with Supergirl made things move a little quicker than you would have like them to."

"Things are great. Honestly, I can't wait for us to go out on an actual date. I'm excited for game night because I can't wait to get to know everyone else some more. But damn what I wouldn't give to see Alex in a nice dress or suit if that's more her style. As for the Supergirl incident. Yeah that moved things a bit faster in the meeting Ruby department but I'm glad Alex was there and was able to take care of Ruby. I invited Alex over to the house that night for dinner as a thank you. That was when I told Ruby who Alex was.

"She was so happy. Alex has had me smiling a lot lately and Ruby had definitely picked up on it. She is just as smitten as I am. Alex has definitely gotten Ruby's stamp of approval whenever we take things to the next level."

"Oh, I don't think you'll have to wait long for that to happen."

Sam quirked an eyebrow at her best friend, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that you two have gotten close rather quickly. I know you said you wanted to take things slow, but I don't see you being able to hold out much longer. Alex is a beautiful woman, charming and very sweet. You aren't going to be able to resist much longer. At least judging by the looks the two of you shared on Monday when you didn't think I was looking. And if that wasn't enough the goofy grin Alex had on her face this morning would be enough to convince me."

"I think Alex and I still have time before we are ready to make this a thing. Even though it seems everyone else around us approves I've got more than my heart on the line. Even though Ruby whole heartedly approves of Alex and I dating I want to keep Ruby from getting hurt. If we move to quickly that could happen. What if things didn't end amicably with Alex? Ruby would be heartbroken that she couldn't see Alex anymore. Because she is that smitten."

"I'm sorry for agitating you Sam that was never my intent. I know Ruby will always be your top priority all I'm saying is I don't think you have to worry about Alex so if you wanted to let her become a part of your world it wouldn't be a bad thing, you deserve to be happy. I know you stayed single because no one wanted an instant family and you got tired of laying your heart on the line just to have it broken again and again."

Sam felt bad for snapping at Lena. Most of that had to do with the fact that she did stay at Alex's long after she had finished signing her stack of papers. "I know you weren't Lena and I'm sorry I reacted that way. Just sleep deprived. I've honestly been thinking about what my future would be like with Alex Danvers in it and I can't think about it for too long because it seems too good to be true. She's one of a kind Lena and I don't want to lose that chance. So slow, well as slow as the universe will let us at this point, is how I'm going to go at this."

"Ok I'll lay off the Alex Danvers talk but if you don't make a move in a few weeks I will be badgering you until you do." Lena dramatically got off the couch and walked out of the office. She suspected there was more going on than Sam was letting on, but she would get her confirmation at game night for sure.

Alex dropped the stack of papers on Pam's desk. Including the ones, she had picked up from Lena this morning. "You'll find everything is signed in triplicate. I even went through and sorted it all for you. Did you get my email about Lucy being reinstated as a member of the DEO?"

Pam looked over the piles of paper and found that Alex had indeed sorted all the papers appropriately she nodded at her with approval. "Yes, I did receive your email about Miss Lane. She's coming back and will officially be listed as your Assistant Director as of this afternoon. I'm sure we still have her picture on file or Winn can find one from her last military ID and we can get all her appropriate badges and what not left at the security desk."

"Sounds good Pam. If I missed anything in that stack of papers you know where to find me."

Alex made her way to central command glad she found Winn at his station. She had asked him to run a background check on Chester Watson. She hadn't heard anything from him about it since she came back from lunch with Sam and Lena on Monday. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Hey, Winn did you ever find anything on Chester Watson?"

"They guy that wasted four hours of Sam and Lena's time? No, I'm still running his picture through some software to see if he used prosthetics to disguise himself but no hits yet. The thing that is the strangest about this guy is I found no background info on him at all. With just that alone I would say he is hiding something, and his name probably isn't really Chester."

Winn then brought up the picture that had been taken for his temporary pass into L-Corp. This was the first time Alex had really been able to study the picture. There was something about the man that looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Winn bring up the security footage we got from L-Corp."

Winn did as he was instructed. She watched the various frames that Chester walked through. She rewound one of the clips and played it back. She repeated this process over and over a few times. That walk she had seen it several times before, but it wasn't until the last run through of the clip that she saw it. There was no mistaking that smirk. "Fuck."

Winn hadn't exactly been paying attention to what Alex was doing he was rather surprised to hear that word come out of her mouth so loudly at work. At game night when she had a little too much to drink and lost at Mario Kart sure but not at work as the Director. "What is it Alex?" That was when he saw her face. She looked scared. Which in turn worried him more than he cared to let anyone know.

"Winn take that off the main screen." She hissed at him. Once he complied, she leaned in closer and whispered, "Do we have a picture of Maxwell Lord on file? If not, can you pull one up and run one against the image of Chester and see if it comes up as a match?"

Winn didn't need to say anything he punched a few keys on his keyboard and he ran the images through the program and it didn't take long for a match to come back. He turned to Alex who looked like this was the last thing she wanted on her plate. He didn't have time to ask any questions because Alex was on the phone.

Hey, can you meet me at L-Corp in twenty? I'll explain when I get there. I'll call Sam and Lena and let them know to expect you in case I'm running late.

"Winn don't tell anyone about this. Not until we know what it means. I'm going to be gone for most of the morning if anything major comes up that requires my attention run it by Vasquez first and they'll call me if I'm needed."

Winn gave her a salute as she walked toward Pam's office. Alex knocked on the door before entering, "Pam I'm on my way to L-Corp for a DEO matter and Lucy is meeting me there I was wondering if you had…" Before Alex could finish her sentence, Pam handed her a manila folder with the papers Lucy would need to sign and her badges for the DEO. "Are you sure you aren't a psychic?"

"If I was do you think I would let you know?"

That left Alex with a lot of questions but now wasn't the time to worry about that. Maxwell Lord was back, and she wanted to get on this as soon as possible. If it was true that Max was working for CADMUS with Sam Lane they were in trouble.

When she reached Sam's office Lucy had definitely beat her there. Sam and Lena looked confused. "I know you guys are confused and you have every right to be. Before we can go any further, Lucy fill these out please." Alex pulled out papers from the folder Pam had handed her. Lucy signed them happily when she got to the bottom of the stack, she looked confused. She read over the papers quickly. She chuckled and handed one copy to Lena and the other to Sam, "These are for you."

Alex walked over to Sam and read the form. "Pam is giving you security clearance for the DEO. I know this doesn't give you access to more than some low-level encrypted files and what most of us would consider mundane government info." Alex looked to Lucy, "Why would Pam do this?"

Lucy had no intention of telling Alex that when she saw her father with Lillian and Jeremiah in DC that she had heard Sam's name come up. Then it didn't mean anything to her now it meant so much more. Sam had dated Max in college and that wasn't Lucy's info to share. Alex had reasons to be afraid of Max coming back on the scene and Sam had her own reasons to be afraid of Max.

"Alex will you trust me if I tell you that it isn't my story to tell and if you brought us all here for the reason, I think you did Pam is just taking precautions." Lucy turned to face Lena and Sam, "Sam just sign the papers its nothing bad I promise and Lena I'm assuming yours are just upping your already high security clearance with the DEO. Alex can't legally discuss any of what she's about to without either of you signing those."

Lena and Sam did as they were asked, and Alex just looked at Lucy questioningly. Lucy handed Alex all of the signed documents and Alex started speaking, "Sam you asked me to look into Chester Watson and see if I could find anything. Winn had been running the image from his temporary ID through some software since Monday and hadn't come up with anything.

"When I first saw his picture something about it looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I watched some of the security footage of him walking through the building and it wasn't until the footage of him walking from the conference room came up that I knew something wasn't right. That I knew who this man was, but I had to be sure before I threw his name out."

Alex turned her laptop around and let the ladies watch the footage. Lucy and Sam put it all together fairly quickly and a few seconds later it was Lena who spoke. "Please don't tell me that is Maxwell Lord?"

"The one and the same. I believe he wants whatever technology Stanton is working on."

Shit just hit the fan. Lucy knew things were about to get crazy for all of them particularly Sam and Alex if Max caught wind of them being together. Max wasn't too fond of Alex because she had humiliated him by holding him hostage for months and then refused to date him. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened with Sam and Max but what little she was able to find it hadn't ended well either and she suspected Max would hold a grudge with her as well.

But she wasn't going to bring any of that up yet. If she could help it, she needed Alex and Sam to discuss those parts of their lives with each other and if anything needed to happen protection wise Lucy would make sure they stayed safe. "Sam, Lena do you have any insight into the technology Max would want from Stanton?"

Sam walked over to her desk and printed off what the CEO of Stanton Tech had sent her about the new technology they wanted L-Corp to invest in. "This is everything Parker Stanton sent me. It talks about a weapon that can change its ammunition based on what it is fighting. But it's all non-lethal."

"When Sam first sent me that email, I was skeptical that it could work. I reached out to Parker myself to get some more detailed plans. What Parker sent over is revolutionary and if we had been able to invest in this technology, I was going to contact the DEO. I know you guys are looking for less dangerous ways of fighting aliens and the few rouge humans that come along. But it would appear Max is back on the scene and may have snatched this opportunity away from us." Lena would be lying if she thought Max wasn't connected to CADMUS in some way now. Until she got confirmation she would hold off on panicking.

Alex and Lucy exchanged worried glances. "Lucy you have to tell them."

Before Lucy could speak Lena did it for her, "Max is working for CADMUS isn't he?"

"Winn will have to get confirmation for us but yes I believe Max is working with them. As is my father. Someone close to my father came to me a while ago and told me they had reason to believe my father was working with Maxwell Lord and CADMUS. The CADMUS part didn't surprise me. The fact that he was working with Max did. It shouldn't have given everything that happened after Myriad and before."

She glared at Alex. Alex crossed her arms over her chest and then pointed a finger at Lucy, "I still stand by my decision to lock that bastard up. I know it makes my life a little harder now but he almost outed Supergirl. I swore to protect her, and it was the only way I could think of at the time. I most certainly wasn't going to let him blackmail me into dating him." Alex shivered at that last statement.

Sam knew she would need to talk to Alex at some point about her relationship with Max and how it had ended. She knew Max hated her. If he was holding a grudge against Alex and he found out they were together their lives would be in danger. "Lucy tell us what you know so far of CADMUS and their plans."

"That's the thing I don't know much other than Lillian, Jeremiah and my dad were all having lunch at my dad's favorite whiskey bar in DC. That's when I took my informants word seriously. I did some digging and couldn't find anything about recent CADMUS activities. They've been laying low. If any of their past movements are anything to go on, they are planning something big."

That isn't what any of them wanted to hear but they knew it was true. "Alex, Lena can you give me and Sam a minute I need to talk to her alone about something."

Alex looked confused Lena less so. Which didn't surprise Lucy if Sam really was her best friend she knew about Max and Sam's relationship. Alex gave one last glance at the pair before she and Lena left the office.

Once the door was closed Sam turned to Lucy, "You want to know about my relationship with Max, don't you?"

"Yeah I do. Max's distaste for Alex isn't enough to put her directly in harm's way. I mean because of her connection with Supergirl she's always going to be a target but if things ended bad enough that Max has a score to settle with you and he finds out about Alex you're in trouble. When I was at Alex's the other night it took everything in me not to react to your name. Because I knew things were about to become hell for you. I was hoping you were just a friend of Alex's.

"When I saw them in DC before I could get out of the room, I heard your name come out of Max's mouth. It didn't come out nicely either. I haven't said anything to Alex because it isn't my story to tell. I also don't know much just that you dated your junior and senior year of college and for a few months after. The tabloid I found the article in only said you had split didn't give a reason why."

Sam started pacing. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to tell Alex about her relationship with Max for a while. It wasn't one of her brightest moments in her brief dating history. Max had been a charmer and she fell for it. He had even stuck around after she had mentioned Ruby. He had never been able to meet her because of crazy schedules and classes. Sam thought he was the one until Max started to change.

"Thank you for not saying anything to Alex and I'll need to tell her everything. Although I had hoped it could wait a little while longer. Also, your acting skills are amazing didn't even register that you would know my name.

"No things didn't end well. Max was furious. He had asked me to marry him. I would have said yes except I had overheard a conversation with him and one of his head researchers. Max only wanted me for my body and my intellectual abilities. He was perfectly willing to play the part of father to Ruby if it meant he had me to help put his company on the map. So yeah if he is mad in any way at Alex and he finds out about us he will come after her.

"Max can hold a grudge for a long time. If Alex humiliated him like you said she did he'll do terrible things to get back at her. But it will hurt me in the process. Let's hope that he is more focused on helping Lillian get rid of all the aliens and not hurting me."

"You mentioned Max wanted you for your intellectual abilities? What do you mean by that?"

Sam let out a slow, steadying breath, "I'm a genius. I don't like to go throwing that information out there it put enough of a target on my back in high school before I got pregnant. Patricia my adopted mother wanted me to have as normal of a life as possible and refused to let me move up any grades or graduate early. After I had Ruby, I kept up the ruse. I wanted Ruby to have as normal of a life as possible, so I played down how smart I was.

"Max of course saw how fast I worked through our advanced physics and various advanced math courses. I should have seen right through him, but I was young and so naive. Starved for attention too."

"Sounds like he might try to take you to potentially help with CADMUS business. But he would know that you wouldn't go willingly. Ok I'll get back to the DEO and fill in everyone there that needs to know about the latest CADMUS threat. If it can be done have Jess clear your schedule for the rest of the day. You need to tell Alex everything ASAP."

"Given the situation I don't think it will be hard to get things moved around. Thanks, Lucy, for not telling Alex about Max."

"No problem Sam. I really hope we're overthinking this whole thing and Max won't be a threat to you, Alex and Ruby. Alex has just started being her old self again. I don't want Max to ruin this for her or for you. I really do like you Sam and I think the two of you will be amazing together."

Lucy left Sam's office before any tears could fall. It was true she really did want Sam and Alex to make it. Alex was finally happy and if any of her friends deserved to be happy it was Alex Danvers dammit. Between having to protect Kara's identity and the constant disapproval from her mother over the years she deserved to finally have a happy life. She called Alex and told her she was headed back to the DEO and that she would have the appropriate people get on the new threat. Also, that she wasn't to report back to the DEO until she had talked to Sam.