Maggie ran the now overly familiar route from her car to the medical bay, only slowing down as she reached the entrance to the ward. Trying to compose herself, she peered through the window, standing on her tiptoes to get a better view. She had been expecting a bustling room with medics tending to Alex, but the bay looked calm. Kara was asleep, hovering slightly over her bed under the lamps and J'onn was at the far end of the bay. He was stood with his legs spread and arms folded at the edge of a set of curtains, his back was to Maggie.
Maggie took a deep breath and pushed the door open and then gently closed it behind her. J'onn turned around and waved her over to him before turning back to watch the scene behind the curtain.
Behind the curtain, Alex was on a trolley hunched over a vomit bowl. She was wearing a hospital gown that was open at the back and Dr Kemp was listening to her chest with a stethoscope as she reluctantly followed his instructions to breathe in and then out. She had a cannula in each hand, one of which had a half empty bag of fluids attached to it. Alex flinched away as the tech placed a thermometer in her ear.
"Temperature is 97.3, completely normal," they called to the doctor.
"Shhh," Alex moaned as she let the vomit bowl slip from her hand forcing the tech to react quickly to stop the contents from spilling.
Maggie stood next to J'onn and mirrored his firm stance, her arms folded across her chest and her jaw clenched but her eyes gave away her fear, flitting from Alex and then to the medics and the machines around her.
"Okay, chest sounds fine. I think you're right Director," Dr Kemp told J'onn as he made a note on the chart.
"Agent Danvers, I'm just going to feel your abdomen." Dr Kemp gently lifted the hospital gown and undid the button on her jeans. His gloved hands palpated her abdomen. Alex squirmed, holding back a cry of pain as her stomach was poked and prodded.
"Left sided flank pain," Dr Kemp mused out loud.
Maggie continued to watch helplessly as Alex was examined, her eyes kept falling shut only to jump open when more pain was inflicted on her.
"Blood results are up," another tech came into the curtained area, "Creatinine is high, eGFR is low, white cells are normal, but both her sodium and potassium are high."
"Alright, let's get a calcium gluconate infusion and an ultrasound scan. We need chest leads and repeat the ECG after an hour."
Maggie unconsciously moved closer to J'onn for some kind of feeling of security as the female tech placed the stickers discreetly under Alex's gown so that Alex's chest remained covered. The monitor beeped loudly as it started, and Maggie thought she saw J'onn flinch out of the corner of her eye.
"You have to be quiet," Alex managed to mumble as her head fell back onto the bed, "I don't want Kara to hear this."
The tech silenced the monitor and then ducked back out of the curtain and returned with an ultrasound machine with a squeaky wheel. Maggie tore her eyes from Alex as the doctor began to scan Alex's abdomen and turned to check on Kara. She was still on the bed, but she was no longer asleep.
Kara was shaking on the edge of the sunbed watching her sister, the flimsy curtain was no barrier to Kara's x-ray vision, even with teary eyes.
Maggie stepped out of the area and perched herself on the edge of Kara's sunbed next to the superhero.
"Is she okay?" Kara continued to watch her sister being examined through the curtains, "What happened?"
"She collapsed."
"Where? Why?" Kara made to stand up, but Maggie put her arm out to stop her.
"Let the team finish examining her."
Kara placed her head on Maggie's shoulder and relaxed slightly, continuing to watch Alex with her x-ray vision.
"We were just at the apartment and she fainted and then she was sick and collapsed again. I called J'onn because I didn't know what to do."
"You did the right thing getting her here," Kara rubbed Maggie's hand soothingly and Maggie finally felt relaxed.
Maggie listened to the doctor as Kara continued to lean on her shoulder and rub her hand softly. Both women tensed as they heard Alex retching again. Kara pulled away from Maggie and began firing off questions.
"She said you guys were going out. Did she eat something weird? Did you go to the bar? Was she drinking?"
"I…" Maggie stumbled over her words. She knew Alex didn't want Kara to find out the truth, but the heat of the sunlamps was beginning to get too much, and she was struggling to think of a plausible lie.
"Detective Sawyer, can we have a word please?" J'onn was suddenly at the foot of the bed, Dr Kemp only a step behind.
"Sure," Maggie shuffled to the edge of the bed and tried to stand up, but Kara had hold of her hand again.
"Is something wrong? I'm her sister, you have to tell me." There was blind panic in Kara's eyes as she gripped Maggie's hand.
"Kara, we just need to go through anything that Alex has been exposed to today," J'onn moved to comfort Kara, helping Maggie to free her hand from the Kryptonian's grip.
"I'll be two minutes," Maggie promised, rubbing her hand to aid the flow of blood back to her fingers.
Maggie followed J'onn and the doctor into the office. J'onn closed the blinds and sat on the edge of one of the desks, crossing his arms after signalling to one of the empty chairs. Maggie took her seat obediently and waited for J'onn's interrogation to begin but it was Dr Kemp who started.
"Agent Danvers' kidneys have sustained quite a lot of damage, is there anything you can tell us about the medication she was testing?"
"She told you about that?" Maggie frowned as Dr Kemp looked uncertainly at the Director.
"You read her mind?" Maggie turned to look at J'onn.
J'onn nodded, "She didn't really give me much choice," he told her defensively, sensing her judgment.
"Did she tell you anything?" Dr Kemp prompted again.
"Not really," Maggie shrugged and leant back in the chair, "The only reason I even know that she was testing it on herself is because I caught her doing it. Have you checked her lab?"
"Yes, but we didn't find anything more than a couple of notes and doodles."
Maggie felt useless, especially as she knew that Kara was probably listening right now.
"Actually," Maggie leant forward, "Alex told me that she had based the drug off an antibiotic, she thought that that is why Kara is struggling with her hearing so much. One of the side effects of the antibiotic was hearing loss."
"Had Alex experienced any hearing loss?"
"I'm not sure, she only mentioned feeling sick and that she was taking some medication for it and that it was helping. I didn't notice anything, but she wouldn't really talk about it, she was more concerned about Kara's recovery."
J'onn and the doctor nodded knowingly.
"Will she need dialysis?" Maggie asked.
"Hopefully not, that would be a last resort. The kidney problem seems to be exasperated by dehydration, lack of sleep and general lack of self-care. For now, I'm just treating her with some fluids with some electrolytes in to get her bloods in normal range and to ensure she's adequately hydrated."
"I tried to get her to take care of herself," Maggie bowed her head.
"No one doubts that Detective Sawyer, Alex is stubborn," J'onn got to his feet and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Come on," he gestured to the door and then held it open for her.
Maggie went to check on Alex, she felt Kara's eyes burning into her as she walked past, but she kept her eyes to the floor until she pushed through the curtains.
Alex's eyes were closed. There were wires and lines everywhere and Maggie carefully took Alex's hand and sat next to the bed, watching her chest rise and fall steadily.
The sunbed alarm on Alex's phone began to sound, bringing with it Kara. Alex didn't stir as Kara sat down on the other side of her bed and took her hand, eyes fixed on Alex's pale face.
"You heard everything didn't you?" Maggie fumbled in her jacket to find Alex's phone.
Kara nodded tearfully.
"None of this is your fault, Kara." Maggie told her as she managed to silence Alex's phone and put it on the table at the end of the bed.
"It kind of is though," Kara told her firmly, not looking away from her sister.
"Kara…"
"Don't." Kara stood up, took Alex's phone and turned it off before limping away.
After a minute of silence, Maggie twitched the curtain to make sure Kara had gone back to bed. She had. She was curled up on the sunbed but had turned the lamps off, or rather she had used her heat vision to destroy the switch, the console was still smoking from the insult.
Maggie faltered, still holding the curtain, she didn't know how to comfort Kara, so she took her seat back at Alex's bedside and rested her head on the bed.
She didn't need super hearing to hear Kara sobbing.
Kara listened closely to her sister's heartbeat. Every so often, if her concentration slipped, she could hear Maggie's heartbeat as well. It was beating fast, almost twice as fast as Alex's. Through the curtain she watched Maggie fidgeting nervously, changing her position on the chair every few minutes and intermittently pacing the bed area. Eventually she seemed to settle down and she pushed the chair up to the bed so that she could rest her head next to Alex's.
Kara kept watch with her x-ray vision long after Maggie's heart rate and breathing pattern suggested that she had fallen asleep. The constant use of her powers felt draining, but she was unable to stop and try and get some rest until she knew for sure that Alex was going to be alright. Dr Kemp went to check on Alex every half an hour and Kara wished he would try to be quieter, but even with the clumsy banging of equipment the pair remained asleep.
It was almost morning when Alex began to stir.
"Mags?" Kara watched as Alex woke Maggie up.
"Hey." Maggie finally found the energy to lift her head from the bed, groaning tiredly as she looked at Alex.
"Where are we?"
"The DEO."
Alex sat up straight, attempting to swing her legs over the bed. Kara did the same at the other end of the bay, ready to stop her sister from leaving but Maggie managed to gently halt Alex's progress and carefully nudged her legs back onto the bed.
"Kara?" Alex asked as Maggie readjusted the blanket covering her.
"She knows you're here."
"Does she know about…?"
"Yeah, she overheard."
"How could you let that happen?" Alex's whisper was harsh.
Kara could tell Alex was about to start an argument, but instead of moving to try to calm her down and give her some reassurance, she sat frozen on her bed, unable to find her voice.
"She has super hearing, what was I supposed to do?" Maggie's voice was strained. "You were barely conscious, and the doctor needed information."
Kara could feel the tension from across the bay and curled up on the bed but continued to watch through the curtain.
"There are places where she can't hear." Alex was getting wound up.
"Alex…"
"You had no right to."
Kara could see Alex was now messing with the cannula in her hand.
"That's not what happened, I wasn't the one who brought it up, J'onn was." Maggie took Alex's hands to stop her messing with her infusion.
"How did he even know?"
"He read your mind whilst you were unconscious."
"What?" Alex forgot she was supposed to be keeping her voice down for a second.
"He needed to know what was wrong with you," Maggie sounded on the verge of tears and let go of Alex's hands.
"Maggie…" Alex started softly.
"I thought you were dying," she whispered.
A second later the curtains snapped open and Maggie rushed through the medical bay as she pulled on her jacket. It wasn't until the doors shut behind her that Kara heard Maggie begin to cry.