Yes! I was finally able to update it. Thank you for the waiting and I'm actually sorry you had to wait longer than before. As usual, I'm in love with your reviews, much love back to you too!

Personally, I was kind of crying while writing the final part of this chapter. Although I don't think tissues are necessary, take one just in case.

We're getting super close to the final of this fic... probably one or two more chapters. We'll see ;)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters. All of them belong to CW's Supergirl TV Show.

...

CHAPTER 9

...

"Citizens of National City and from our beloved Nation; this is Cat Grant, former CEO of CATCO Worldwide Media. As many of you are already informed about the power, and coverage from this company; our reputation is sustained on transparency, truth and communication; therefore, it is my duty as the head of CATCO Worldwide Media to inform our audience about real facts, backed with honesty and up-to-date content. However, today I am not speaking as a business woman, but as any other citizen from this country.

These previous weeks, our cities have been exposed to high rates of crime, regarding the absence of both Supergirl, and Superman. Today, I do have to let you know… they did not abandon us.

The content I am about to show you, has been delivered from trustful sources. It consists on real footage coming from the headquarters of a governmental extra official division, and just as it happened with me, many of you will understand the causes of most accidents occurred in the last ten years, and the recent disappearance of our beloved heroes. Everyone deserves the truth. As a warning advice, do not expose youth to what you are about to watch… viewer discretion is strongly advised."

After a few hours trying to convince her dad that she was ok, Alex, and Jeremiah entered the lab. Eliza was on a microscope but stood up as soon as she saw her daughter in a wheelchair being pushed by her father.

"Oh my God! Alex!" Her mom wrapped her in a tight hug. "You should be resting. What are you doing here?"

"I came to help, mom."

Eliza looked disgusted at her husband. "You know your own daughter and how stubborn she is." He said on his defense. "At least at could put her on a wheelchair."

"Well… I guess we'll be having a Mario Kart race in here." No one noticed Max was on the other corner of the lab until he spoke, and just like Alex, he was seated on a wheelchair, working with some samples.

"Mom, I know what I need to do to help Kara."

"What? No, Alex. You should be resting in…"

"Mom, listen to me, please." The woman standing in front of her sighed, and seated on her chair.

"I want to hear this…" Max rolled his chair to approach the group. "I mean, if you don't mind." He said after being threated by Alex's gaze.

"He's been supporting me, Alex." Eliza came up on his defense. "Besides, his serum saved Kara before."

Alex didn't entirely trust that man. Not after the number of times he acted against Kara; but in fact, she also recognized what his help have done on her sister.

"Kara's cells are damaged…"

Hamilton came into the lab, interrupting the agent's explanation.

"My apology."

"It's ok." Reassured Alex. "Kara's cells are dying; even if the serum was able to neutralize the effects of kryptonite, the damage is still there, and her heart won't last much longer keeping her body alive while her systems are failing." She was moving her hands from one way to another, trying to be as clear as possible with her suggestion. "It is only a matter of time for her cells to completely die; nonetheless, there is hope… When Modric took Kara's samples for his experiment, Kara was healthier; this happened before all of that harm was inflicted on her. He was a scientist; he must have taken at least blood and bone marrow from her, in order to obtain precise DNA information. The same DNA and cells taken from her were injected in my body; cells that are strong enough to regenerate and multiply, strong enough for a mitosis process…"

"But Alex, it's been days since…" Said Eliza.

"I know, mom…"

"We do not know for sure if her cells haven't been completely merged with your own." Jeremiah placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Can you both just trust me, please?!" She lost her patience. There was no time to waste. "I am a scientist just as you both are, I am totally aware of my words, and the facts behind my posture". As no one else spoke, she continued: "If my body is still reacting to her DNA it means there are still 100% Kryptonian cells floating through it. We need to find them, get them out, and place them back in Kara, thus her body can start to regenerate."

"We have no guarantee that it will work, Alex." Jeremiah crossed his arms thinking about her idea.

"It's the only option I see right now, Dad."

"But…" Intervened a worried Eliza. "You're still weak, Alex. Your body is in a delicate state right now, trying to find a balance, fighting itself. If we mess with it in its current condition, we would only cause a worse break out; and you might be affected…"

"My sister… your daughter…" She pointed, "…is dying in the next room." She was taking deep breaths to stay calmed. "I'm not going to seat down and watch her die. Kara has taken risks on behalf of all of us, several times in the past." She looked straight to her parents. "If this is our only chance right now, it's a risk I'm more than willing to take; and now… you can either help me or be an obstacle, but I can tell you, no one will stop me from helping my sister."

Someone else entered the lab.

"I could read everyone's minds from the main corridor." It was Hank Henshaw. "Although I want to stop you, Alex… I support whatever decision you take."

In that moment Alex whished he could read her mind so her huge "Thank you" could be heard.

"I'm in." Max spoke, making Alex remember he was still there.

"I am at your service, Agent Danvers." Hamilton agreed.

The agent placed her eyes on the couple, waiting for whatever they had to say; noticing frustration and stress in their looks. But she was aware that the two of them knew they were not going to stop her. She could imagine what both her mom and dad were thinking about putting in risk not only one but the two of their daughters.

There was no evidence to back her idea. It was a mystery whether she was gonna be fine during and after taking out some cells from her; just as to know if those cells were gonna help or get Kara worse. She simply had to try; she had a good feeling about it.

"I'll help you." Jeremiah's voice made her feel safe. Notwithstanding, Eliza seemed to keep struggling.

All eyes were on her now.

"I'm with you, Alex. Whatever you need me to do, I'm here." And an amazing relief sensation filled her completely; her mother, the hardest one, was on her side.

"You know how this works, dear." Jeremiah went down to look at her. "We would literally have to drain you. Take some blood, check on it, then put it back in. There is a probability your body won't stand to be losing blood momentarily…"

"I might have an idea for that." Lord raised his hand. "Just as a donations these days, we could use equipment to take out blood at the same time it is going back to her body. Usually, machines take specific cells from blood before sending it back to the donor's body. Machines are designed to take these cells; however, Kryptonian cells are unknown to be accurately detected." He grabbed his chin while his mind was running. "Do we have Kara's cells samples?" He asked Eliza.

"Yes, I took a few when she arrived."

"Perfect! We need to take a look at them and we would have to identify them manually. With Jeremiah, Eliza, Hamilton, and me, we have eight eyes on Alex's blood. By the time someone spots Kryptonian cells, we'll have Kara's cells ready on a microscope to be tested with Alex's body cells; we will have the chance to see how they react with one another before putting them in Kara."

"A smart jerk." Thought Alex. "Smart… but still a jerk."

"That's… actually a good idea." Alex frowned.

"What's with the tone of surprise?" Max pointed at himself shocking his head, as offended.

"Should we start then?" She sighed.

Cat Grant had both guys on the balcony. Winn and James were questioned a hundred times about Kara's current state. Just the fact of going into details made Kara's friends uncomfortable, but Cat's panicked reactions while watching the footage demanded all kind of explanations.

Winn was the one with longer time in the company; considering he was near Miss Grant every week, he never saw his boss as a heartbroken soul. Cat Grant was always in control, and that was precisely what she did to say that speech. It took a lot of "Keep your posture" mantras, but it worked.

The problem was, nobody expected people's reactions. CATCO Worldwide Media had definitely unleashed beasts. As a result, it was a responsibility of the three of them, to find a peaceful solution.

Everything was getting set; Alex was on a bed, the equipment to take her blood was ready next to it. As for the rest of people inside the room, next to the equipment's monitor there was a desk with a microscope on it, containing a Kara's cells sample.

"We will start by taking out 200 milliliters so the shock in your body is not a dangerous one." Max was typing numbers on the equipment. "The monitor will show us the sample and let us now if there is an abnormal cell in it."

The four scientists were seated in front of the screen and Eliza was the closest one to Alex, holding her hand. Tension was definitely there.

"I'll be fine, mom."

"I know you will, Alex."

Lord made sure the stats were secure. "Almost… just…"

Superman entered the room followed by Hank, taking everyone out of their own thoughts. Both looked altered.

"Something happened." Kara's cousin was serious. "CATCO made an international announcement, showing footage from Cadmus."

"What?" Asked Eliza without leaving Alex's side.

"People saw what happened to Kara, and to many others." Hank was standing on the door.

"How did they…"

"Winn and James." Replied Superman. "They talked about it with me and J'onn, before. Neither of us were opposed to the idea of burning Cadmus through media, since society had the right to understand several extraterrestrial attacks and human loses in the last years."

"However, the situation is out of control." Hank approached a small TV on the top of a corner in the room and turned it on until he found the right channel.

Everything was crowded, many people were out of their homes, outside governmental buildings in multiple cities, complaining about relatives they lost in what apparently the government covered as 'accidental' fires, earthquakes, crashes; National City was another story, since the main focus was Supergirl and her safety, wondering if their hero was still alive. Adults, young people, even kids had signs with support messages for Supergirl, or insults to politicians.

"Crap." Was the only thing that came out of Max's mouth.

"Damn it!" Said Hank.

"What should we do?" Asked Alex from her bed.

"You, nothing." Ordered her boss.

"I'll go and fix this mess." Clark was on her way out of the room.

"Wait. How?" Jeremiah turned off the TV to focus on a plan.

"J'onn J'onzz has informed me what you will do for Kara." The Man of Steel looked at the girl on the bed. "The House of El would be honored to have you as a member of our family, and for this action, I am in an endless debt with you, Alex." He lifted his gaze to everyone in the room. "Kara is the most important now. Please take care of her and Alex, while I go to CATCO… I need to speak to everyone." In a blink of an eye he left, leaving each of them disoriented in an awkward silence.

"Everything is ready." Max took his place next to others.

"I'll be looking after Kara while you're here." Said Hank exiting the room right after touching his agent's shoulder as sign of support.

"Thank you." Nodded Alex. "Whatever happens…" Her voice was serious. "Don't stop it."

"Alex…" Jeremiah was ready to counter her.

"Please, dad." She begged. "I could never forgive the person who dares to stop it. Please don't… I love you both. I'm ready." She took a deep breath and waited for the process to start.

"You should've seen people out there." It was one hour since he left the room letting the team working to find life in Alex's blood. J'onn was seated next to Kara. She was paler and her heartbeating was slower than before. "They're going crazy about everything that has happened recently." He took a look at the monitor to check on her vitals. It was not good.

"I wish I could read your mind, to help you out of coma, or do something to cause activity in your brain… Kara, hang on. There's a bunch of people working to help you right now. You have to see Jeremiah after all this time; him, Eliza, and Alex are here for you. Seriously, if your sister was tough, you just raised her up to a new level of badass. Doctor Hamilton, Maxell Lord, Winn, James, Cat Grant, Superman, me… we're all hoping you wake up soon. National City is hoping so too."

Something got his attention. Numbers on the monitor were going down.

There was something wrong.

Alex was breathing heavily, after the fifth time blood was taken out, her body started to shake. Even when her blood was slowly returning to her veins, she realized she was not ready for it. But she had to hold on to the possibility of saving Kara. She had to. This was the ninth time blood was going out, and everything was hurting, as if she was injected with Modric's shots for the first time.

Eliza was trembling next to her, her grip loosen as time passed by.

"Mom?" She said between gasps.

"Yes, Alex? I'm here."

"I'm… fine." Alex felt a warm hand caressing her hair. It was her mom.

"Alex. Can you keep…?"

"There!" Jumped Jeremiah in surprised.

Alex fought her own pain and dizziness to open her eyes when she heard her dad.

"Yes, that's definitely different from us." Confirmed Max.

Hamilton was already stopping the equipment to allow Jeremiah to take the samples. "Wow. They aren't that different from human cells."

"Finally." There was hope. Alex felt relieved. Breathing was hard but she didn't care; there was hope for Kara. While struggling to stay awake, she could hear everyone's steps, putting samples on the microscope.

"Max, return Alex's blood to her body, we already have enough." That was Jeremiah's voice.

"I'll be right back, honey." Alex felt her mom let go her hand to go to check the microscope.

"What do you see, Mrs. Danvers?" Hamilton asked.

"Nothing is happening…" The scientist was unsure. "It's like… cells are next to one another, but it is like if they were not familiar with their presence anymore, like… wait!"

"God, Rao… anyone, please…" In her mind, all she could do was beg. Still fighting to keep consciousness, she didn't allow herself to give up. She needed to know.

"Alex, are you ok?" There was someone standing next to her, it smelled like Hamilton's perfume.

"It's working!" Eliza said full of joy. "Cells from Alex are absorbing the damaged ones and starting a mitosis pro…"

Voices started to fade away. They were very low; however, even when they were low in Alex's ears, there was a sound out of place. It was an alarm.

"Oh God… No…" That was Eliza. Alex knew the sound and in a second, Hank was there.

"Doctor Danvers! Her heart stopped again!" Her boss sounded concerned.

She wanted to scream, to get out of bed and run to Kara, but she couldn't. "No!" She couldn't feel her body. She was losing consciousness. "Stay awake, Alex… Kara." It was useless "Stay awake! Stay awake! Stay awake! Stay awa…"

"Eliza, Hamilton, you go!" Her dad's voice was the last thing she heard.

It was warm. Something warm on her face. Maybe it was the solar bed again but there was something weird because there was a song, no, not a song… birds were singing. Air was blowing, was she outside? It smelled different than air in the city, tough. It smelled like… salt.

When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was the sky, no clouds on it, just pure blue.

"I really thought you were gonna stay there forever, waiting for your prince to come."

That voice.

Kara!

Alex turned to her left and there she was, Kara was next to her, looking at the sky. Both were lying on sand. She knew that place. They visited many times while growing up. She seated, still disconcerted.

"What…"

"Are you ok?" Kara seated too, looking at her with curiosity.

It was Midvale. It was the beach next to their home, and the birds… She looked up to watch seagulls flying above their heads.

They were not very far from the sea and she noticed she had no shoes on; as if they were just relaxing next to the beach. What were they doing there?

"Alex!" Kara's voice brought her back. Her sister was concerned now.

"Sorry… I'm fine." She mumbled.

"You're not drunk, are you?" Yes, that was definitely her sister. She was there.

"No… you know I'm not."

Kara smiled and after so much time, Alex felt warmth inside her chest.

"Good, because the sun is setting now, and you don't wanna miss it." She looked up to watch the sun on the horizon. "I could stay here forever." She said closing her eyes, enjoying sunlight on her skin.

"You're literally a solar panel, of course you could stay like that."

"Shhhh…" Kara asked. "You know how much I love listening to seagulls."

"You are probably the only one on Earth who loves those birds. I mean, can't you hear them?"

"I told you we didn't have birds on Krypton."

It was indeed a beautiful sunset, the air was cool; the sound of waves was relaxing. A perfect afternoon at the beach.

"Yeah, you were the creepy one staring at them all the time, instead of going to swim like the rest of us."

Kara laughed; leaning her head on Alex's shoulder, to which the older sister leaned back on Kara's head.

"Always embarrassing the older sister…"

"I'm sorry I embarrassed y-you." Kara's goodbye speech in that cell came to Alex's mind. Breaking the fantasy, ripping apart that peaceful moment. Her chest was hard now.

"Kara?"

"Mmm?" Kara was still leaning on her; she was there. She was safe. Both were safe.

"Are we dead?"

The question made Kara seat back to normal and Alex instantly missed her head on her shoulder.

"Why are you asking me that?" She frowned. "Alex? What's going on?" She grabbed her sister's hand when she saw tears about to fall from her eyes.

"Because if we're not dead, then this is a dream…"

Kara cupped her face, starting to wipe tears from her cheeks.

"A dream from which I don't want to wake up, Kara. I…" She grabbed Kara's hands on her face to keep them there.

"But you have to wake up, Alex." There she was, her sweet little sister. Always tender.

"No…" She didn't want to go back to reality. Not the DEO. Not that bed. Not that room in which her sister was dying.

"Wake up, Alex." She lifted her gaze see those kind blue eyes once more. "Everyone is waiting for you."

She opened her eyes again. The ceiling from the med bay welcomed her.

TBC…