Sam took the time alone to get a little more composure. Just like Alex was giving her time to do, she was sure. She had more questions. The anger at being left out of the loop was still there but she needed a moment before those questions mixed with that anger mutated into something neither of them really wanted.

Alex came back with two takeout bags and a drink carrier. She didn't say anything as she placed it all on the lab table and started sorting it out. Sam was given a burger, fries, and a strawberry shake. Her burger was done up just the way she liked it too. She glanced at Alex, who was digging into her own food, and realized maybe her sister knew more about her than she thought.

"How was your first day at CatCo?"

"Annoying. The guy I had to shadow was a condescending dick."

"Yikes." Alex said around a bite. Sam shrugged and fumbled with keeping the conversation moving and normal.

"It'll be an easy job though. He was the only bad part. Otherwise, it should all work out just fine. It's not like I have to work with him or anything."

"Well, that's good. Kara's really excited you said yes."

Sam laughed. The tension between them was shrinking. It was still there and palpable but it was easier to ignore. Easier to try. "Oh, I know. I thought she was going to blow my eardrum from how excited she was after I said I'd take it."

"I think that was a really great decision, Sam. It'll help you get your feet under you after being in the military so long." Sam nodded instead of vocalizing a response. Part of her still prickled at the idea that her making good decisions was surprising. That might not even be what Alex meant but that's what Sam always assumed people meant when they said things like that.

"Any chance you'll tell me why you got discharged yet?"

"Nope." Sam replied before taking a drink of her shake. Alex feigned indifference but Sam knew it was killing her not to know.

"I didn't think so."

They slipped into a lull in conversation. It was heavy and Sam didn't like how it felt. It seemed like it needed to be broken. It didn't matter how or with what.

"I'm going to have to go shopping." She said clumsily. If Alex noticed she didn't mention it.

"For what?"

"That douche at CatCo said looking presentable was important."

"Ah, right. Kara's mentioned that before. They take it pretty seriously. She could probably take you if you wanted. I wear this every day to work." Alex looked down at herself. "I wouldn't be very much help when it comes to business casual."

Again, Sam just nodded as an answer. It seemed like schmoozing with CatCo employees was going to be harder than she thought if she couldn't even keep a conversation going with Alex.

They were running out of small talk which means they were going to have to broach the subject of the night before. She felt her hackles rising just thinking about it. Alex didn't disappoint in her predictability.

"Did you have fun with Maggie last night?"

"Uh, yea. She's cool."

"Maybe a little too much fun?" Alex was trying to joke but it was strained and forced. Effort was there though. Sam had to acknowledge it even if she was trying to fight down the urge to snap at Alex for asking.

"I guess."

"I decided to, uh, cut back on how much I drink." Sam didn't say anything. Just continued eating and fighting her instinct to rise to everything Alex said. More like what she was implying. "I didn't realize how bad it was until Maggie and Kara said something about it."

"It's hereditary." Alex said after a pause. Awkward but flailing in her attempt to be nonchalant about it. "Having a problem with drinking."

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"What? No. Nah." Alex shrugged. "Just saying."

Sam took a deep breath. "Kara said we have to talk things out."

"She did."

"Then, are we going to talk about what happened yesterday? All this talking around it is already annoying."

"We could talk about you joining the DEO." Alex said lightly. "That was pretty impressive, how you disarmed that guy."

"That's it?"

"No," Alex sighed, "but maybe we could enjoy dinner a little more before we jump back into an argument. Would that be okay with you?"

"I guess."

Alex nodded but neither went anywhere with the conversation. Sam took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "This isn't working. Why'd you yell at me?"

"We'll get better at it." Alex placed her cup down and took a second for herself. "I yelled at you because I was scared."

"Because that makes so much sense."

"Sam, how do I handle not being in control?"

"Not well."

"Exactly. I had no control over your safety and, given the chance, that man would have killed you or at the very least, hurt you. The stress of the situation on top of that resulted in me getting mad at you. I think you of all people can understand that."

She wasn't sure what Alex wanted her to say or if there was something she should say to that. It made sense. Was consistent with how Alex handled stress. That didn't necessarily make it any better or easier to deal with.

"Why'd you storm off?"

"Because you yelled at me." Sam answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And to her it was. Alex dealt with stress by getting angry and Sam dealt with it by running away. Or fighting it. Just as consistent as Alex.

"Yea, okay, but you didn't come back until Maggie went to go get you."

"Was I supposed to come back with my tail between my legs?"

"No but it would've been nice to know that you were okay."

"It would've been nice to not get yelled at, Alex. I kept someone else from being taken by that guy. I kept him from hurting anyone. I get that you were scared or whatever but it wasn't like I did anything wrong!"

"I'm proud of you for what you did, I promise you I am. You dealt with him effectively and kept yourself and that woman safe. I should not have yelled at you."

"No, you shouldn't have."

"But. You shouldn't have disappeared."

Sam wanted to laugh and she wanted to yell and she wanted this to be over with. They were just going to go in circles. Instead of doing either of her first two instincts, she ground her teeth and crumbled up her burger paper. Maybe a touch too aggressively.

"You shouldn't have yelled, I shouldn't have left. We talked about it so let's just move on."

"Okay but first, do we both promise to not do it again?"

Sam did laugh at that. Not spitefully though. She honestly thought it was funny that Alex was suggesting that she'd promise not to yell at Sam again. "You promise not to yell at me again? When pigs fly, Alex."

"I promise to do my best." Alex smiled brightly and they both laughed at the implication. Sisters with a good relationship wouldn't even be able to keep that promise. It would be beyond impossible for them to do so.

Kara watched her sisters from the DEO main lobby. Her smile grew as they continued laughing. Both of them looking more at ease than she had seen them in a long time. It was a little awkward, anyone could see that but in terms of what the Danvers sisters were used to when together, this was like Christmas morning or fireworks on the fourth of July. This was amazing.

"Hey, is that your sister?" Kara jumped at Winn's voice coming from beside her. She had been so focused on what was happening in the lab that she didn't hear him walk up to her. "Woah now." He held both his hands up, a tablet in one of them. "I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't even know that was possible actually."

"I was just really focused. You normally couldn't."

"Right." Winn nodded. "So? Is that her?"

"Is that who?" Kara was confused. Winn surprising her distracted her and before she was distracted by Alex and Sam and, oh. Sam! "How do you know about Sam?"

"Alex called me last night to track her phone." Kara turned to him with a confused look. Alex hadn't mentioned that to her. Maggie hadn't either. "And maybe I shouldn't have told you."

"No. It's fine. I just didn't know."

"What's her deal then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing really. Just, Alex didn't sound too happy when she called me and a little bit ago they were fighting."

"They were fighting?"

Winn nodded. "Yea. A lot of yelling and all that. Alex even sent J'onn away."

"They seem okay now."

"Yea," Winn shrugged, "I guess."

"Shouldn't you be working?"

Winn lifted and waved the tablet he was holding. He smiled. "Technically, I am. You gonna tell me about her or not?"

There was a little hurt in Winn's voice. Kara guessed it stemmed from the same place Lena's curiosity did. She'd never mentioned Sam and Kara didn't really hide things. Well. Except for her whole secret identity thing. That was different though.

"I'm sorry, Winn." She didn't really know where to start though. Nor did she have the time to finish. She had told both her sisters she would stop in during their dinner, spend some time with them. As it was, she had already wasted what little free time she had and it wasn't like she could know how long she really had. "Um, what do you want to know?"

"What haven't either of you mentioned her before?"

"We usually don't get along very well."

"You don't get along with someone? Is she like a super villain or something?"

"I don't like everyone, Winn! There's plenty of people I don't like!"

"Max Lord was the last person you didn't like and he was half a villain."

"No." Kara shook her head and tried to think of someone else. "Okay fine but Sam isn't a villain. It doesn't really matter anymore why we didn't get along. We're working on it." Kara gave a single nod and folded her arms across her chest.

"Is she older than you?"

"No. Three years younger."

"Is she adopted too?"

"Really Winn?" Kara couldn't believe he'd ask that. It was very clear that Sam wasn't. "Have you looked at her? She looks just like Alex."

"Well I don't know." Kara laughed at him. Ridiculously stupid questions from such a smart guy. "What happened to her face?"

Kara looked away from Winn and back at her sister. One side of her face was dominated by the ugly bruise. It looked painful and she wondered if it bothered Sam. She acted like it didn't.

"She got hit."

"Well, no shit. Why'd she get hit?"

Kara let a whine crawl up the back of her throat. She didn't want to tell Winn. She didn't want anyone to judge Sam before they met her. Winn was her best friend though and she wouldn't lie to him about something so small. "She got in a fight."

"Damn. Although, somehow I'm not surprised. You Danvers like to get in the middle of things."

"No, we don't!" Winn looked pointedly down at her super suit. Then back up at Kara, daring her to disagree that they weren't a family of well-intentioned meddlers. "Fine, whatever. I actually need to go in there and you, mister, need to go back to work. Let me know if Supergirl is needed."

"Will do."

In the lab, Alex and Sam's laughter had died down into a silence that wasn't tense but it wasn't comfortable either. It felt like Kara had walked into spider webs. An annoying presence that she couldn't place or identify to get rid of. So, she pushed through it with smiles and enthusiasm like she did with everything else.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey." Alex answered easily before reaching for the takeout bag sitting on the lab table. Sam just gave Kara a tight-lipped smile. "It's probably a little cold. We thought you'd be back a while ago."

"Yea, sorry. Maggie called and needed Supergirl's help with a stand-off they were having with some drug dealers. Nothing serious."

"Maggie called you to deal with drug dealers?"

Kara nodded as she shoved a few fries in her mouth. They were a little cold, sure, but she was starving. "They had a hostage and she didn't think they were going to let him go."

"Weird."

"Jealous?" Kara asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"Because she didn't call you." Sam answered. Kara's head whipped toward her, not expecting her to participate in their conversation. She covered as best she could and turned back to Alex. She tossed her thumb toward Sam.

"Yea, exactly."

Alex scoffed. "No. I am not jealous because she didn't call me. That's, pfft, no. Definitely not. That would be petty and ridiculous."

"Whatever you say, Alex." Kara sing-songed in response. If Alex wanted to deny it then she'd let her. They all knew the truth.

"I only asked because Maggie usually calls into the DEO if she needs your help, not you directly."

"So, you are jealous?" Kara wanted to squeal at Sam's banter. There was a good chance she was only doing it to piss Alex off but there was a better chance that it was a result of their earlier laughter. Kara would bet on the latter.

She wasn't sure if Alex would realize that though so instead of letting it go on longer, she stepped in and changed the subject. Kara wanted to take advantage of the non-fighting.

"You know what we should do!?" She looked between the two, excited as her plan formed. They both looked back at her warily. Neither liking what her excitement could mean. It was funny how similar they were. Especially when they would both deny it until they were blue in the face.

"We should go out!"

"Out?" Sam asked and Alex groaned.

"Yea! Out! There's this bar we go to, Maggie showed it to us. We should go out and we can invite Maggie, and like Winn and Mon-El. Maybe James too. It'd be fun!"

"I don't know, Kara. That's a lot in one night." Alex was already deflecting which meant she thought it wouldn't go well. Kara wanted them to go even more because of it. Prove they could do it without anything bad happening. Alex turned to Sam. "Don't feel like you have to say yes."

"When have I ever felt like I had to say yes?"

"That's a good point." Kara wagged a finger at Sam and nodded at Alex. "She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing for your little plan, Kara."

Sam shrugged with a smirk. "I haven't decided yet."

"Well, I won't be able to make anything work for a few days." Kara thought out her schedule. She'd have the L-Corp exclusive to polish up for Snapper. He was sure to have it back to her in the morning with revisions needed on everything. She was on active patrol for the DEO the next three nights too. She turned to Sam, "I think you should get into a routine with work too since you just started."

"That's probably a great idea." Alex agreed. "As for availability, Maggie is just getting off nights. She won't be up for going out for a few days."

"And I'm sure you'd like some quality alone time too." Kara elbowed Alex with a smile, enjoying how red she got. Sam let out a chuckle then cringed.

"Please don't. I don't wanna think about that."

"Right, so, moving on from that." Alex mock glared at Kara. It only made her laugh more since she was still so red. "If we're doing this, we should plan for like next Friday or something."

"That should work for me!" Kara looked to Sam. Alex was as on board as she was going to be, actually agreeing to it. Now, they needed Sam to say yes.

"Sure."

"Yes!" Kara fist pumped. It was going to be great! They were going to have a great time and Sam would get to go to the alien bar. She'd love it. She'd get to meet their friends too. Everyone would stop asking why they didn't know anything about Sam.

Kara knew better than to think 'what could go wrong' but that didn't mean it was easy not to. Her excitement and optimism made it almost impossible because really, what could go wrong? It was going to be awesome.