J'onn had made Alex go home. He'd told her to rest and get something to eat. He knew it would be easier said than done, but she didn't just have herself to think about. She'd spent all afternoon and well into the evening out looking for Emmi. They were using the alien tracker at the DEO, but it seemed like they'd completely gone off the radar. Alex had returned home to an empty house. She'd refused anyone who offered to come home with her. She wanted them all looking for Emmi. She was sitting in Emmi's bedroom when she heard the front door closing. "Alex?" She heard Maggie's voice shout through the house. Maggie had received a call from J'onn telling her that he'd sent Alex home to get something to eat, so she went back to join her. To talk to her. They hadn't really had much contact since Alex had left the school earlier that afternoon. "Alex." Maggie spoke again as Alex heard her on the stairs, before she saw her coming into Emmi's room.
Alex glared up at her for moment before looking back down to her hand. Alex was leaning against Emmi's bed, hugging Poppy troll against her. Maggie saw she was rolling something around, between her fingers, then she saw it. The bottle sitting on her left-hand side. "I didn't touch it." Alex shook her head, her cheeks stained with tears.
Maggie glanced down to the bottle of whisky. She pursed her lips as she walked across and sat down next to her wife, moving the bottle further out of Alex's reach. She looked to the bronze chip that Alex was moving around her fingers. Her two-year sober chip that she'd recently gotten. "Where did you even get this?" Maggie questioned. There was no alcohol in the house, unless on very special occasions, but any left not drank, got taken away. It was the safest option. Less temptation.
"They have these shops where you can go in and buy all kinds of drink," Alex mocked surprise. "Amazing, isn't it?"
Maggie exhaled lightly, deciding to ignore her snarky comment. "Uhm, Ava is out with Cooper and the guys, looking around. Seeing if anyone has seen them," Maggie told her. "I uh, I brought you home something to eat," Maggie told her. "Your favourite pasta from Alessandro's."
Alex glared at Maggie. "Oh well everything is brilliant then if I can get my favourite pasta," Alex sneered. "Let's not care about Emmi, right? Let's go eat some pasta."
Maggie took a deep breath. "You still need to eat," Maggie's heart was aching without Emmi. She wanted to be out there looking for her daughter, but also knew she needed to be with Alex. They needed to stick together right now. "Please."
"I'm not hungry." Alex felt sick even thinking about eating. She was so worried for her daughter that nothing else mattered right now.
"Then do it for Jellybean. Please," Maggie's voice broke as her lip trembled. She knew Alex was angry at her. She knew Alex blamed her for Emmi being taken. "Jellybean needs you to eat."
"Do you think I care?" Alex questioned, glaring so coldly at her. "All I care about is finding Emmi. And sitting here is not going to make that happen," Alex said as she stood up, laying Poppy down on the bed. "I don't care about this," Alex hit her hand against her stomach. "I just want Emmi." Alex raised her voice, her sobriety chip dropping to the ground.
"Alex," Maggie stood up, reaching her hand out to comfort her wife, but Alex quickly shrugged away. "C'mon, you don't mean that."
"You know what," Alex pursed her lips, her head shaking as a tear rolled down her cheek. "If you had done your job when I first told you this then this wouldn't have happened. And okay, maybe I'm to blame because I pushed this life onto you. This wasn't the life you originally wanted but she's just a kid. She's our kid and someone has taken her."
"I could not love that child anymore if I tried," Maggie felt her eyes blur over with fresh tears. "I'm sorry if you think I played this the wrong way, but there was nothing I could do. There -" Maggie tried to talk, but Alex spoke over her.
"Yeah, well sorry isn't going to bring our daughter back, is it?" Alex seethed before she walked out of Emmi's bedroom, Maggie hearing Alex go down the stairs and out of the front door, slamming it loudly shut. Maggie turned around and looked at the Poppy troll on Emmi's bed then she broke down in tears.
Emmi was curled up into a ball in the corner of the room. She had a sore head from crying. "I want my Mums." Emmi said, staring at the woman who walked over to the table, putting down the plates.
"Come and get some food." The woman said.
"No," Emmi answered. "I want my Mummy and my Mama."
"I told you," The woman said. "I am here to take you home to Warlees so you can be with your people."
"No," Emmi raised her voice. "I don't want to go to Warlees. I want my Mums." Emmi shouted. She was tired of saying it.
"Your Mums don't want you," The woman told her. "They told me to come and get you and take you back to Warlees."
Emmi scrunched her face up. "I don't believe you. You are lying." Emmi knew her mothers would never send her away.
"I'm not," The woman shook her head. "Now come and eat. It'll be a long trip home," The woman told her. Emmi glared at her. She didn't want but she was very hungry, her stomach had been rumbling for hours. "Now." The woman raised her voice. Emmi jumped in fright before she got up and ran over to the table and climbed up.
"Where's the tabasco?" Emmi questioned, looking down to the food.
"What's that?" The woman screwed her face up.
"It's a hot sauce. I like it on all my dinners." Emmi explained.
"Well we don't have that." The woman said.
Emmi glared at her before she picked up her knife and fork and cut off a piece of the chicken breast. "What's your name?" Emmi asked.
"I'm Eileen. I knew your Ma and Pa," Eileen told her. "The three of us, we were the best of friends," Eileen told her. "I bet they talked about me all the time, huh?"
Emmi scratched the side of her head. "No," Emmi told her. "They never said your name." Emmi said. Eileen looked a little disappointed.
"Well they left Warlees when the rebellion happened. There was lots of fighting and it wasn't safe. And your Ma, she had you in her tummy." Eileen said, explaining the events to Emmi.
"Mummy has a baby in her tummy now," Emmi spoke quietly. "I'm going to have a baby brother or sister," Emmi smiled. "I'd like a brother, but a sister would be cool too." Emmi said.
"No, but the baby wouldn't be your brother or sister," Eileen said. "They are not really your Mums."
"Yes they are," Emmi sounded angry. "They adopted me so that means I am their daughter and the baby will be my little brother or sister." Emmi scowled at Eileen, clearly not happy with what she'd said.
Eileen exhaled. "Well anyways, your Ma and Pa wanted to keep you safe, so they came here to Earth. But what happened? They died here. They were killed by a very bad man. It's not safe on this Earth for our kind, Emmi," Eileen told her. "You will be safer on Warlees."
"No," Emmi shook her head. "It is safe here. I am safe, and Auntie Kara keeps people safe and Mummy and Mama and J'onn and even sometimes Mr Winn," Emmi told her. "You made me not safe by taking me away from all them people," Emmi hit her hand against the table, making a bang as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I want to go home."
"I'm going to take you home," Eileen assured her. "Back to Warlees. There's no more war there. It's safe now and all of your Ma's and Pa's friends, well they want to see you. They want you back were you belong."
"I belong here," Emmi cried. "I just want my Mummies," Emmi started to cry as she threw her fork away and pushed the plate across the table. "Please. Please Eileen can I just go home?" Emmi mumbled through the tears. "I just want to go home." Emmi said as she jumped down from the table, making her way over to the door.
Eileen chased after her and grabbed her, holding her back. "I can't let you do that. You need to come back with me. It's for the best. I promise. You'll see." Eileen told her, Emmi kicking and punching, trying to get away from the grip Eileen had on her.
Ava found Maggie sitting in the kitchen, the lights out. She was moving the fork around the takeaway box, not really eating the pasta, just moving it around the container. "You want some light?" Ava flicked the light on. Maggie looked around to her before going back to looking down at the pasta. Ava noticed the bottle of whisky on the table that Maggie was getting through. When she saw that Maggie wasn't going to say anything, Ava spoke again. "Cooper saw me throwing up on the street, so he brought me home." Ava took a seat at the table next to Maggie.
"Are you okay?" Maggie questioned.
"Yeah, just a little nauseous," Ava swallowed, another wave of nausea hitting her. "Uhm, have you heard from Alex?"
Maggie sniggered. "She's out there, hating me for everything."
"I highly doubt that," Ava told her. "She's super in love with you. I may have only been here for like a day, but I've seen how she looks at you." Ava smiled lightly.
"Yeah well you didn't hear what she said," Maggie murmured, reaching for the bottle and taking another drink. "She said she didn't care about the baby. She blamed me for Emmi being taken," Maggie chocked back some tears. "You know," Maggie laughed. "She bought this, but she can't even drink it," Maggie said. "And not because of the baby she apparently doesn't care about but because she's an alcoholic," Maggie took another drink as Ava widened her eyes, a little shocked at what Maggie was saying. "Recovering. Two years sober, but…" Maggie went to take another drink, but Ava pulled the bottle from her.
"This isn't going to help any." Ava told her, finding the lid on the table and screwing it onto the bottle.
"I need to get it out the house before Alex gets home." Maggie said, trying to reach for it but Ava stood up and shrugged away, walking over to the sink. She opened the bottle back up and poured the rest of the whisky down the sink.
"Okay, lady," Maggie stood up, holding her index finger in her sister's direction. "You never waste a good whisky like that again." Maggie scolded.
"Jeez you sound like Papa." Ava muttered.
"You never say that again," Maggie raised her voice. "I'm nothing like him."
"Sorry," Ava apologised. She put the empty bottle into the recycling box by the back door before walking back over to Maggie, Ava seeing how badly she was trying to hold it all together, but also how badly she wanted to cry. "You know we are going to find her," Ava told her, putting her hands onto Maggie's arms and rubbing them gently. "Alex's work, the NCPD, they have people looking. They'll find her."
"8 hours," Maggie exhaled. "You know the odds of finding a child after they've been missing 8 hours?" Maggie questioned. Ava shook her head. "The longer it's taking…" Maggie trailed off, shaking her head. "Ava, you know about aliens, right?"
Ava scrunched her face up a little. "Well, I know about Superman, Supergirl," Ava shrugged. "Aliens attack the city, so….yeah, they're out there, I guess," Ava said. "What does this have to do with Emmi?"
"She's from another planet," Maggie told her. "Uh, it's a whole long story that we'll get into another day, but the point is, she not human. Uhm, this person who's taken her is probably from her home planet and they're going to take her back," Maggie clicked her tongue. "If she goes back there, we may never get her back."
Ava opened her mouth in shock. "But…" She rubbed the back of her head. "But you legally adopted her," Ava sounded a little confused. "How can that work with an alien?"
"She was born on Earth. She's technically 'human' to the world, but she has powers, she's alien, her parents were aliens who came here to flee war on their planet," Maggie said. "But if our suspicions are correct and it's someone from her planet who has taken her then right now, she could be out in space on her way back." Maggie hoped this wasn't the case but knew there was every chance it was.
Ava let a puff of air escape between her lips. "You can't go to that planet?" Ava questioned. "Fight for her?"
"Alex's work," Maggie nodded. "They'd have the technologies to get there," Maggie told her. "But who knows what we'd face once we got there."
"Well maybe it won't come to that," Ava said. "I may have just met her, but Emmi seems like a smart kid," Ava rubbed Maggie's arm again. "I don't think she'll give up without a fight." Ava said, and Maggie gave a little nod, hoping Ava was right. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as Ava pulled her into a comforting hug.
Alex put her hand against the wall, taking few breaths. "Alex, you okay?" Winn questioned, running to her side.
"Yeah," Alex cleared her throat. "Fine. We need to keep searching." Alex tried to take a few steps, but her legs went all jelly like, and she wobbled, grabbing onto Winn to stop herself falling. Winn looked across the street to the convenience store.
"Do you want me to go get you something to eat? Grab you a water?" Winn was worried about Alex. He understood she wanted to find Emmi, but she hadn't eaten anything since lunch time, or even taken some water and she clearly needed something. Her body was working hard growing a child, so she needed to keep her energy up.
"No," Alex answered sharply. "I want you to help find my daughter." They'd found some alien activity on their tracker and were headed to check it out. Supergirl and J'onn were ahead of them, but Winn had stayed with Alex, because he knew she didn't look good.
"It'll only take a minute," Winn assured her. "We can eat and walk."
"I said no." Alex sounded annoyed at Winn for persisting.
"Do you want me to call Maggie?" Winn asked.
"What the hell would you do that for?" Alex retorted. "She is hopefully out doing what she should be and looking for our daughter," Alex told him. "I'm fine. Stop fussing over me and let's keep going." Alex told him, walking along the sidewalk to catch up with Supergirl and J'onn, who had come back out of the building they were heading for.
"Just Brian and some of his idiot friends playing poker." Supergirl said.
"Ah Brian, I love that guy." Winn grinned.
Alex glared at him. "Well please, go play poker with Brian if he's so important to you."
"Alex," Supergirl glared at her. "C'mon," Alex looked back to Supergirl. She opened her mouth to reply before her eyes rolled back and she fell forward, Kara reaching out and catching her, Alex falling against her. "Alex….Alex." Supergirl lightly rubbed her arm.
"Lie her down." J'onn said as Winn pulled his phone from his pocket to call an ambulance as he made his way across to the store. Supergirl lay Alex down on the sidewalk, and J'onn elevated her legs.
"Alex…Alex…." Supergirl shook her shoulders. After a moment, Alex opened her eyes. "Jeez Alex, don't scare me like that."
"I'm okay." Alex said going to sit herself up.
"Slowly." J'onn told her. Alex sat up, her hand rubbing over her forehead.
"I'm fine. Let's get back to looking for Emmi." Alex went to stand up but J'onn stopped her.
"Sit," J'onn demanded, Alex doing as she was told and staying seated on the sidewalk. "Alex, we get that you want to find Emmi, okay, we all do. But you need to look after yourself and that baby in there," J'onn said, pointing to her stomach. "You're going to be no good to Emmi in that condition."
Alex pursed her lips as Winn appeared back with a bottle of water and a sandwich. He handed them down to her, Alex taking them in her hands. She put the sandwich on the ground but opened the bottle of water and started sipping at it. "Ambulance is on its way." Winn informed them.
"You called an ambulance?" Alex glared up at him.
"You are pregnant, and you fainted so yes he called an ambulance," J'onn retorted. Alex twisted her lips, feeling her eyes pricking with tears that wanted to fall. "So you will sit there and drink that water as you wait for the ambulance to come and check you over then you'll go home and rest while we keep looking for Emmi." J'onn told her, Supergirl and Winn exchanging a glance, both of them widening their eyes. Alex opened her mouth to reply, but then stayed quiet, and did as she was told, and kept sipping on the water as she waited for the ambulance to come and check her over.
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