"Hey." Kara said approaching Hank.
"I hear your training is going well." Hank said. "But before you ask, I still want you to hold back becoming Supergirl again. Let's make sure you are ok."
"Actually I wasn't going to ask that. I need a favour."
"One you don't want your sister to know about?" He said noticing that Kara had waited until Alex was busy to approach him. "So what is it?"
"I want to see Lord."
"Why?"
"Closure. I won't hurt him. And you can even be there. I just need him to see that he lost."
"You sure you can handle seeing him?" Hank asked.
"I am." She said, widening her eyes in silent pleading. Eventually Hank sighed and said.
"You have fifteen minutes before Alex gets back. Let's go."
-00-
"Ah, Supergirl or is it Kara today. Is there a rule? Uniform means Supergirl? Or is it no powers mean Kara?"
"I have my powers back, thanks to Alex." Kara smiled.
"So you have enslaved her once more?" Max asked. "Not that I don't appreciate the visit, but I was hoping the other Danvers sister would turn up. She is so much more fun and obedient than you. How is Alex? I do miss our nights together, perhaps you could ask her to join me."
"If she came to visit not even I could protect you, even if I wanted." Kara said, not taking the bait.
"Why's that? I didn't make her do anything she didn't want. Everything she did was her choice. She chose me. Whereas she was burdened by you. What she did with me was her first real use of free will." Max smiled. "You can hate me all you want, but that won't change the fact your sister fell in love me. I can't imagine how hard it is for her having to lock me away."
"You know it's funny. Had you not been such an arrogant jerk and revealed yourself, telling me all your plans no one would have suspected you. I would have escaped but Alex would have been none the wiser. She may even had kept working with you. But you just couldn't help yourself could you? You really should have watched more TV growing up, then maybe you would have been more cautious about telling me your plans."
"Well it seems as if I have some time on my hands, perhaps you could organise cable for me." Max replied, his smile gone.
"You are not getting any perks. You will stay in this empty cell until you die."
"I wouldn't be so sure. But if you aren't here to install a TV, what brings you here?"
"When you had me prisoner you came to visit on a regular basis, I am just returning the favour. In fact every time the public Maxwell Lord does something worthy of your attention I will hand deliver you a newspaper. Personally I am looking forward to when he partners with me. You had it half right, by faking my death most people didn't look for me. But by replacing you no one would even consider looking for you, plus we get to use the image of Maxwell Lord to do some good." When Max did not respond she smiled and left.
"Feel better?" Hank asked as Kara emerged.
"I do."
"I'll admit that was not what I was expecting." Hank commented. "If I'm honest I wouldn't have minded if you roughed him up a bit, he deserves it."
"He does, but we are better than that."
-00-
"Can I ask you something?" Kara said later that evening as the sisters sat eating pizza in Kara's apartment.
"I hate that question." Alex commented. "It is such a pointless question. Why ask permission to ask a question, by asking a question? It is like an infinite cycle of stupidity."
"Okay, let me rephrase. If I ask you something do you promise to consider it carefully and not just give a glib reply?"
"Okay." Alex said sipping her drink.
"Did you fall in love with Max?"
"Where did that come from?" Alex questioned choking on her drink.
"When he was holding me he told me about how close you two were getting and that you were in love with him."
"He was messing with you. Or fooling himself. I promise you I never fell in love with him."
"But you felt something?"
"Yeah, anger when I found out what he did."
"And when you were with him?"
"Max was there for me and I saw him as a friend, maybe there were moments of maybe chemistry but I am fairly sure that was a reaction to what had happened. After you died, or apparently died, I felt so lost and guilty and I don't know why I am telling you, you know more than anyone what it is like to lose family. Why are we even having this conversation?"
"Because I'm worried about you. I have been so focused on stopping Max and getting my powers back I didn't stop to think about how you must be feeling having to lock him away."
"Max is evil and manipulative, he deserves far more than to be locked away for what he did to you." Alex said. "Besides, even if I had had feelings for him, which I didn't, they would have died the second I found out what he did to you." She paused and added. "You need to stop worrying about me and stop letting Max get to you." Alex said. The two then fell silent before Alex asked.
"You really thought I could fall for someone like Max?"
"I didn't, then he kept coming to me telling me things."
"What things?"
"That he held you at night, comforting you. That you had moved in with him. Then he knew things about me that you must have told him. Plus he kept gloating over the fact you were in love with him."
"Firstly, not in love. Secondly, I did confide with him, because I wanted to remember you. I should have questioned it when he was so willing to listen, but I didn't. I'm sorry."
"But you did move in with him?" Kara pressed.
"I moved into his house, not with him."
"Why would you do that?"
"To start with I just wanted to be out of my apartment and Max assured me he wouldn't be there. I admit I stayed because having company made me feel less lonely."
"And holding you at night?"
"I had nightmares. He was conveniently there when I woke up."
After a minute Kara said. "One more question."
"Okay." Alex said putting her pizza down.
"If I wasn't here, if I had never come to Earth would you work for the DEO?"
"If you weren't my sister I wouldn't have been recruited." Alex pointed out.
"If I wasn't a factor, is the DEO where you would choose to work? Instead of a lab somewhere. I guess what I'm asking is do you actually want to work at the DEO or do you do it because of me?"
"I love my job at the DEO." Alex said. "I still do cutting edge research, I save lives and I work with you. Where is this coming from?"
"Something Max said when I was his prisoner. He pointed out that everything you have done, all your decisions have involved me. You have given up so much for me, you were always there when I needed you. You dedicated your career to protecting me. It feels like you have put your life on hold for me. I can't let you do that any more."
"Kara-" Alex stared only for her sister to cut her off.
"I want you to be happy. If the DEO really does that, great. But I'm not sure it does. You left the second you didn't have a reason to stay."
"I left because it was too hard to have constant reminders of you." Alex said before sighing and adding. "Max really got to you, in the meeting you think I don't know about, didn't he?"
When Kara silently shrugged Alex went on.
"Kara he is a master of manipulation, don't let him get under your skin. I honestly don't know what you want to or need to hear right now. But working with you at the DEO makes me happy. You think I would be happier in a lab not having any idea what you were up to other than what I see on the news? At the end of the day what you chose to do with your life and what I chose to do with mine is irrelevant I will always worry about you and I will always love you."
-00-
"Alex come in." Hank said. "Take a seat." He instructed.
As she sat she saw sitting on top of Hank's Spartan desk was a solitary item she immediately recognised as the letter she had handed Hank several weeks earlier.
"Is that my resignation letter?" She asked.
"It is. It somehow got mislaid in all my desk clutter." Hank said as Alex once again eyed the clean desk. "But I have found it now, so the question is what do you want me to do with it?"
"Have you spoken to Kara?" Alex asked suspiciously.
"No. Should I?"
"No, just wondering." Alex said, accepting the situation as a coincidence.
"So do you want me to process it?"
"Do you want to process it?" Alex asked panicking that Hank had lost faith in her. "I mean I understand if you did, I imagine you have lost all faith in me after my recent choices and-"
"Alex." Hank cut her off. "If I thought you weren't up for this or good enough I would have processed it already. I want you here Alex, but only if it what you want."
"You sure you've not spoken to Kara?" Alex asked getting a sense of Déjà vu.
"Quit stalling Alex. What do you want?"
"To stay here."
"Good." Hank said tearing up the letter. "But you have mandatory counselling sessions."
"For how long?"
"Until I deem you don't need them."
"But I'm fine."
"So the nightmares are-"
"Are you reading my mind?" Alex asked.
"No. Kara told me. She's worried about you. I'm worried about you."
"I'm okay." Alex said.
"Then the counselling sessions should be easy." Hank said.
"What about Kara?" Alex asked.
"What about her?"
"What are you doing to make sure she is okay?"
"We've been talking." Hank said. "I'll admit though there is only one person she will really open up to and she won't do that until she is sure they are okay."
"Now you're blackmailing me?" Alex asked.
"No, just pointing out the obvious." Hank said.
TBC...