"Kara!" Alex smiled brightly and hugged her sister, issuing Kara into the apartment. "I'm glad you made it. Look, I bought pot stickers." On the table was an array of food. There were several boxes of Chinese food and two pizza boxes. "Also, I have two tubs of ice cream in my freezer."
Kara eyed the spread suspiciously. "Am I here for dinner or moving in?"
"Dinner and conversation," Alex replied, heading off to the kitchen and grabbing herself a beer from the fridge. "What do you want to drink?"
"Whatever," Kara replied, pulling a slice of pizza from the box and putting it on a plate. Then she began to dig into the boxes of Chinese food, her mood shifting to the positive as calories began more than a future promise to her alien metabolism. "So, no Maggie?"
"She said she'd try," Alex replied, walking in with a beer in one hand and a soda in the other.
"Thanks," Kara replied, taking the soda. "Thanks for the food too. I haven't been eating enough. I sneak out whenever I can and grab food, but I don't want Lena to see how much I eat, especially since she can't eat anything at all. Right now she's just graduated to drinking water. She takes these tiny sips, so she doesn't choke. They've still got her on an IV."
"That will change though, Kara. She'll be upright and eat and drinking normally soon enough. This changes her life, but it doesn't define her. You get that, right?"
Piling a bit more food on her plate, Kara nodded but a bit errantly. She took her plate and wandered over to the couch. Picking up one of the pot stickers, the blonde seemed to be considering it before she took a bite. Her chewing seemed purposeful, thoughtful.
"What's going on in there?" Alex asked as she sat next to her sister, a plate with two pieces of pizza in hand.
"Lena doesn't let anyone or anything define her not even her last name."
"Good attitude on both your parts," Alex replied, hiding her smile in a bite of pizza. She chewed, smiled, and then asked, "So what's your next move?"
"Next move?" Kara asked among a mouthful of food.
"Don't talk with your mouthful."
"Then I'll never talk."
"Some days that would be a blessing."
Mouth open wide, Kara stuck out a tongue covered in pot sticker guts at her sister.
"Ugh, that's disgusting Kara. You've always had the worst table manners."
The girl of steel giggled in response. She took a sip of her soda to cleanse her mouth and answered with a bright grin, "It's couch manners right now."
"True," Alex said smiling back, happy to see some good humor from her sister. "What's your next move with Lena? Are you thinking about…? You know."
"I know?"
Alex made a popping motion as she feigned pulling glasses off her own face.
"Ah." Kara nodded. "The big reveal. I want to. I do. I think she deserves the truth, but right now I feel like her plate is piled even higher than mine." By way of example, she held up her plate of food nearly overflowing with pizza and Chinese food. "I don't want to add to what she has going on. She doesn't show it, but she must be about ready to crack. She's strong, but she doesn't bend easily. That makes me think that if she takes on too much, she'll break. I just wish she'd let me help shoulder some of that burden."
"I know your shoulders are broad, but didn't we just discuss how much weight you're already carrying?"
"This is different. I feel more stressed watching her go it alone right now. It would honestly be a relief if she'd just let me help her."
"Have you told her that?"
"Not really," Kara admitted. "I figure she already has her person, and it's not me. I just wish it were. It doesn't have to be a, you know, that kind of relationship. I just don't like all these walls she throws up. A real wall I'd just bash my way through. Emotional walls are frustrating though."
"Poor Supergirl. Humans defeating you with their feelings?"
"Yes!" Kara nearly dropped her plate on the coffee table and grabbed a slice of pizza off of it, gesturing with the pizza as she spoke. "On Krypton we spoke much more plainly about our feelings. We were units and were more open to each other. Where I come from, asking for help was a sign of respect to the one you asked and giving that help was a sign of respect in return. Here you see individualism as strength and asking for help as weakness. Flying and heat vision doesn't make me feel as alien as just trying to get close to someone does."
Alex put down her plate and curled her legs up onto the couch, patting her lap. "Come here, sweetie."
Kara didn't need to be asked twice. She eagerly curled into her sister for comfort. Head in Alex's lap, Kara closed her eyes though she didn't release her slice of pizza. She had one of her favorite humans, her family, and comfort food. Today was definitely on the mend.
"So, am I here to get a warning speech about revealing myself to a Luthor?"
As she stroked her little sister's hair, Alex considered how best to answer that. She'd given this a lot of thought throughout the day. "You've revealed yourself to quite a few people since that day you first streaked across the sky of National City."
"And saved your life."
"And saved my life, thank you," Alex added. "Each time you told someone, your judgment proved to be sound. You have a huge heart, Kara, but your faith in people is usually rewarded. If we had a thousand Karas and you had an infinite amount of time, you could change everyone in the world for the better. Krypton could have sent us anyone, but they sent us you. How did we get so lucky?"
Smiling up at her sister with pizza in her mouth, Kara waggled her eyebrows and managed to swallow before she said, "You don't need a thousand me's or forever. All you need is one me. I can touch one person, and it will spread." Kara reached up, putting a fingertip to her sister's heart.
"And is that one person Lena Luthor?" Alex asked quite seriously.
"Maybe. Maybe Lena will touch me."
They stared at each other for a few moments and then Alex grinned. "Well, that got dirty fast."
"Alex!" Kara sat up quickly, but she giggled and kicked her feet happily.
"Sorry, I'm late!" Maggie said as she walked through the front doorway and then up to the couch, kissing Alex who leaned over the back for the kiss. "Am I wearing a saddle? My lieutenant was riding me like a horse. So, catch me up. What did I miss?"
"Lena touching Kara," Alex said with a wicked smile.
Kara gasped, picking up a pillow from the couch and smacking her sister. "Direct hit!"
"Oh, it's on!" Alex replied, grabbing a throw pillow and returning fire.
Halfway to the kitchen, Maggie stopped and looked at the shenanigans going on. With a head shake, she continued to the kitchen, grabbed a beer, then some food, making her way to the love seat. She was tired and didn't feel like dealing with the Danvers family battleground even if it meant a chance to snuggle up with her girlfriend. She'd find an opportunity later after the sisters had burned off some of their energy.
Eventually, Alex and Kara calmed to giggles, snuggles, and more food. The later was especially true for Kara.
With her sister curled up on her shoulder and chowing down on pot stickers again, Alex smiled over at her girlfriend, patting the couch. "Come join us?"
"Is it safe?" Maggie asked, taking another sip of beer.
"No promises," Kara mumbled around food.
"I'm good," Maggie replied, picking up a slice of pizza that sat on the plate on her lap.
"Oh, come on. It will be fine. Kara and I will be on good behavior, right Kara?"
The younger sister looked up impishly but didn't respond.
"I'm really tired, Alex. I'm doing like fourteen, fifteen hour days at work and my awesome vacation with my awesome girlfriend was cut short." Realizing what she'd said, Maggie immediately backpedaled. "Sorry, Kara. That wasn't at you. I didn't mind coming home so Alex could help you. I just mind that as soon as I was back in the city, work cut into my time off. You're family. That's different."
Kara immediately softened, reaching across her sister and patting the free couch cushion next to Alex. "Come and sit with us. I promise to keep the area mirth light."
"You promise?" Maggie asked, half rising from her seat.
Drawing a plus sign over her heart, Kara held up two fingers in the air.
"You're a boy scout?" Maggie asked as she slid into the empty spot next to Alex and relaxed.
"No. I was never a girl scout either. I wasn't allowed to do clubs, or sports or…" Kara shrugged.
"So where did Lena touch Kara?" Maggie asked, wanting to keep the good mood going even if she wasn't in the best of spirits herself. She knew Kara needed this. "Don't spare the graphic details on my account."
"Nothing happened," Kara said. "We were speaking metaphorically."
"She touched you in the metaphor? Is that an erotic zone for Kryptonians?" Maggie replied with a grin.
Kara narrowed her eyes at Maggie, then asked her sister, "Is she like this all the time?"
"Usually worse. She must be tired."
Maggie nodded while she ate her pizza.
"Does she know about Lori?" Kara asked.
Alex looked over at Maggie who said, "Yeah, Alex filled me in. Tough break, Little Danvers. I've been down the unrequited love path more than once, though the first one was a kick and a half in the gut. At least Lena is a friend. She won't hurt you. You know you don't have to hide your feelings for her from her if you don't want to. Even if you don't expect her to reciprocate, it's okay just to tell someone you have feelings for them."
"But…won't that change things?" Kara asked.
"So?" Maggie looked up at Alex. "What if Alex had never said something to me because she thought it wouldn't work out? Where would we be now?"
Alex grinned over at Maggie. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'd be spending half my paycheck on batteries and…" Slowly turning her head to the left, she looked uncomfortably down at her little sister who was still curled into her shoulder.
Kara stared back for several seconds, then shrugged. "I'm there."
"God, I've been having a lot of uncomfortable conversations lately. Just don't ever tell Mom about this one, okay?"
"Eliza!?" Kara sat up, staring wide-eyed at stared at her sister, shaking her head. "When I turned what had been dubbed my thirteenth Earth birthday, Eliza told me she wanted to have the 'birds and the bees' conversation with me. She began talking to me about it with birds and bees when perhaps two minutes into the conversation I reminded her we had neither birds nor bees on Krypton. She looked very serious and asked me how we pollinated our flowers. Before I could answer, she asked me to wait then left and came back with a notebook. I spoke, and she took notes about my world, the animals, what I knew about pollination and reproduction there. She was quite detailed in her questioning."
"I remember that. She was asking you about your enzyme secretion, hormone production, and if she could take a fluid sample when I came into the room. I chased her out, comforted you, and then we went to the kitchen and made you two huge stacks of pancakes with candles on them."
"One candle was a one, and the other was a three. I remember that," Kara replied, beaming happily as she leaned on her sister again. "I blew out the candles, and you poured real maple syrup on my pancakes. That was much better than talking about my enzymes. You get me, Alex."
"Of course I do. We're sisters," Alex replied happily, giving her sister a one armed hug. "So Maggie, why is your lieutenant playing jockey with you at work?"
"Did you get the information that I sent you?" Maggie asked in return.
"Oh, hold on." Alex patted Kara's shoulder until the younger sister sat up. Rising, Alex ran off to her bedroom, coming back with a file folder and handing it off to Maggie. "I didn't want an electronic trail of this."
"Sounds juicy," Maggie replied, flipping through the folder and beginning to read the contents even as Alex filled back into her seat.
"What's going on?" Kara asked, grabbing her plate of food again.
"That new organized crime family that's moved in. They've got some really good tech, so I put your sister on the trail. It looks like she's found something."
"It's concerning. I think we've seen bits and pieces of this tech from a number of places before. My findings are preliminary since I'm just working with images. I can say for certain if I can get in to look at the actual weapons that you've found. Care to invite the FBI in on this?" Alex asked.
"It's not my call, and so far they haven't crossed state lines. They're not in your jurisdiction Miss FBI Agent." Maggie's brow furrowed while she read. "What's this about Max Lord tech? You think he's behind this?"
"Keep reading," Alex replied.
As she read, Maggie's face continued to cloud over, her brows practically touching as the crease between them deepened. "Okay, so there is some serious army tech mixed in here? Something leading back to some tornado project thingy? You've also ID'ed some Cadmus stuff. We've also got…" Maggie looked up, staring right at Alex, "Alex, when you say 'military grade tech from unlisted black sites' are you not writing DEO?"
"I'm not writing DEO," Alex agreed.
"Ugh. Fuck me. Who the hell are these guys? How do they get DEO tech?"
"Well, the DEO gets a lot of their tech from missions, right Alex?" Kara asked.
"True," Alex agreed. "We're scavengers. Given what we fight, we need to be. If we don't evolve, we die."
"So whoever these guys are, they're doing the same thing," Maggie noted. "They're definitely not you guys though."
"Was that a question?" Alex asked.
"It was a statement. That sounded like a statement, right?" Maggie looked at Kara for backup.
Kara nodded quickly and pointed at her ear. "I have extra good hearing. That sounded like a statement. No question."
"Sorry," Alex said. "Sorry Mags."
"We're good. So uh, maybe we could do an end run on the chain of evidence and get you something. How about Supergirl shows up and gives us a hand next time we've got something going down." Maggie pulled out her cellphone, holding it up. "I can make sure she gets a head's up as to what call is related to the case. Then you can take a piece or two of tech back to your super-lab and investigate it further."
"I have a super-lab?" Kara asked.
Maggie gestured to Alex.
"That would work for me," Alex replied.
"How is the NCPD going to feel about working with me?" Kara asked. "Do I need to rescue a few more kittens before we're on speaking terms?"
"Kittens?" Maggie glanced over at her girlfriend for an explanation.
Wiping a bit of pizza sauce from Maggie's face with her thumb, Alex said, "She means doing general good deeds around town until everyone forgets she tossed that cargo ship onto land and was throwing humans around."
"Ah." Maggie nodded. "Well, those humans were hired guns with major connections. Each one of them has a rap sheet longer than my arm. The NCPD was actually okay with that."
"Really?" Kara asked perking up.
"Well not officially," Maggie clarified. "Officially, we were concerned with Supergirl's use of extreme force upon humans within National City. Unofficially, we have dozens of more addresses if you ever want to get your super rage out again."
"So we're good?" Kara asked.
"You put the ship back?"
Kara nodded at Maggie. "It's floating…tad crooked."
"They've always been a tad crooked. You got them off the docks. That's what matters. I'll call you next time we have something going down with these new guys. You grab a handful of guns and take them back to the DEO to be analyzed. Sound like a plan?" Maggie asked.
Both Alex and Kara nodded.
"Great, I'm going to go get some of those pot stickers before—" In a gust of wind, Maggie found her hair covering her face. She pulled her hair back, seeing Kara gone, and turned to see the younger Danvers' sister putting more food on her plate. "Yeah, before that happens."
With a smile, Alex leaned in and moved Maggie's hair away from her girlfriend's ear. She kissed the other woman's lobe gently, then whispered, "I hid a box behind the lettuce in the vegetable crisper. She never looks there."
With a smile and a chuckle, Maggie turned and kissed Alex as she said, "Danvers, you may be the perfect woman."