Warnings and Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Enjoy.


"That was fun," Kara said as they approached National City over two months later. Maggie rolled her eyes and glared at her companion.

"They were shooting at us," Maggie responded.

"I know," Kara smiled brightly.

"They were trying to kill us," Maggie added. Kara nodded. "They fired missiles at us."

"We were perfectly fine," Kara replied. "None of that can hurt me and I made sure you were safe. They never knew what they were getting into." Maggie frowned.

"Still not seeing where fun plays into this."

"They didn't run," Kara grinned. Maggie rolled her eyes at her before turning her attention back to the road. "When I first came out as Supergirl, criminals would try and fight me. None of them ever stood a chance, but they would try. Now, they see me coming and run away. I just play fetch now."

"Let me get this straight," Maggie said, glancing at her companion once again. "Instead of running away they tried to kill you and that makes it fun?"

"Exactly," Kara grinned. Maggie sighed.

"Remind me to get you a dictionary for Christmas," she said, slowing the car down as they pulled off the highway. "You clearly don't understand the definition of fun."

"Don't be such a sourpuss," Kara pouted, pulling out her phone again. "Still going to voicemail."

"Think we should just head to Eliza's?" Maggie asked. It was getting late and all she wanted right now was to have Alex in her arms.

"I doubt J'onn would let her work this late," Kara said, trying the phone again. "I wonder why he didn't lead the charge in Gotham?"

"That's why," Maggie said, pointing out the window. Supergirl was flying toward the docks. A few minutes later sounds of fighting could be heard.

"Should we help?" Kara asked, her brow furrowed as several DEO vehicles raced by, heading to the scene.

"Haven't you had enough fighting for a night?" Maggie asked even as she fiddled with her police scanner. "Besides, what happens when someone sees two Supergirls?"

"But what if J'onn needs backup?" Kara asked desperately as they approached the intersection that would take them to the docks. Maggie didn't answer until they heard the all clear from the scanner. Kara didn't look satisfied until she looked up and saw J'onn flying away. "I guess they don't need my help."

"I'll always need your help," Maggie said as they turned away from the docks. "You saved my life today. You saved my life several times since we left."

"I will always save your life," Kara answered. "Besides, it was kinda fun."

"Again, fun is not the word I would use," Maggie said as they pulled into the apartment complex. "And I think it will be safe to say the DEO is going to be busy for the next couple hours. What say we make dinner for our heroes?" Kara nodded while Maggie parked the car. She tiredly got out of the car while Kara was practically vibrating with excitement. Kara picked up their bags and they walked toward the elevator. "I am so glad the DEO agents are dealing with the equipment. It was hard enough trying to get all the stupid things out there."

"But I'll bet Winn will be excited with the data you were able to get," Kara said, using her spare key to open the door. "He has been trying to figure out a way to field test some of those things for months."

"He might be almost as excited as you," Maggie said, flopping unceremoniously onto the couch. Kara smiled and was about to follow when an unexpected sound made the superhero turn to the kitchen instead. She dropped the bags at the unexpected sight.

"Jeremiah?" she asked, standing in shock for a second before rushing towards him. Maggie jumped up and rushed after her, her hand automatically going to her gun.

"Kara," he said, holding out his arms for a hug. Kara immediately fell into it. They held each other tightly for a few minutes before he pulled away and focused on Maggie. "Detective," he said politely, holding out his hand.

"Dr. Danvers," Maggie responded, shaking the proffered hand firmly, her other hand never leaving her gun. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?" Maggie released his hand just as she had a terrible thought. "Is it Alex? Is something wrong with her?" He was about to reply when they were interrupted.

"Dad? Have you seen my book? I swear I left if on the nightstand, but I can't find it anywhere. And we have a quiz tomorrow and I really need to read the next chapter." The girls watched as Alex rounded the corner, completely focused on the counter and everything on it.

"Here," Jeremiah handed her something that looked suspiciously like a phone book before looking back at Kara. "Alex. Look who's home." Alex scrunched her eyes curiously and put the book back on the table before turning around. Her eyes skipped right over Maggie and landed on her sister.

"Kara!" she squealed, racing over to give her a tight hug. "When did you get back? I tried to get mom and dad to let me come see you, but they said that wasn't an option. That just means you'll have to tell me everything."

"Everything?" Kara asked, responding to the hug and shooting a confused glance to Jeremiah.

"Of course everything," Alex replied. "You've been gone like forever. Were there any cute boys at camp?"

"Camp?" Kara asked, finally pulling away and looking between Jeremiah and Alex.

"You're right," Alex said, finally letting go of her sister. "You're all probably too sophisticated for something as primitive as camping. Was it more of a symposium? You know," she finally spared Maggie a glance. A glance filled with distrust and unease. "For all you… special people."

"Do you mean alien?" Maggie asked, torn between concern and indignation.

"You know?" Alex asked, pulling back sharply. Maggie and Kara looked at each other in confusion.

"Of course she knows," Jeremiah said, jumping in and saving them. "Kara met Maggie at camp. Remember. Kara asked if Maggie can spend the rest of the summer with us because they're working on a project together."

"Oh yeah," Alex said, slapping her forehead. She held her hand out to Maggie. "I'm Alex."

"Maggie." Maggie shook her hand politely. Alex beamed.

"I have a feeling we'll be great friends."

"The best," Maggie agreed.

"Okay Alex," Jeremiah interjected again, "It's time for bed."

"But I still have a chapter I need to read," Alex protested, grabbing her book protectively. "And Kara just got home."

"You can read it in bed," Jeremiah told her, "and Kara's not going anywhere. Besides, she's tired from her trip and is going to go to bed soon too." Kara nodded, easily recognizing the scene from Alex's teenage years but having no clue why it was being reenacted in Eliza's kitchen. Alex pouted for a minute but finally gave in, just like Kara knew she would. Jeremiah followed her out, returning a few minutes later.

"What is going on?" Kara demanded. He held up his hand to silence her, listening hard.

"Bed Alex," he said sternly a few minutes later. They heard Alex stomp off and a door slammed shut a second later. He slumped down onto the counter, closing his eyes momentarily before looking up at the women. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Yeah," Maggie hissed, trying to keep her voice down, "starting with what the hell is going on here."

"Another trap has activated," Kara said, her eyes tearing up, "hasn't it." Jeremiah nodded.

"We started to notice something a couple weeks after you left," he told them, "but we have no idea when it actually activated. An agent was injured in a recovery mission. Alex volunteered to cover for him on base until they could switch the schedules around. He was a junior agent, always paired up with another agent, with a recruit shadow. Nobody thought anything of the arrangement.

"One of their assignments was rollcall. I was one of the prisoners. I fully expected her to ignore me, or simply wait outside while her partner accounted for me, but she marched right into the room and looked right into my eyes. Then she said, 'Why are you not in Midvale with mom?' It was so unexpected I didn't say anything, then she just turned around and left. We were all shocked, but then we started noticing things."

"Her absentmindedness," Maggie said, reevaluating her interactions with Alex before they left. "Her forgetfulness."

"We thought she was just focusing on her lab work," Kara said.

"Everyone did," Jeremiah told them, "until that day she saw me."

"Why didn't they tell us?" Maggie asked before answering her own question. "Alex wouldn't let them."

"She didn't want you to worry or be distracted," Jeremiah told her. "She didn't want to risk you getting hurt."

"So what's happening?" Kara asked.

"We think it's an accelerated form of Alzheimer's," he admitted. "And it's different day to day. Sometimes she's Alex, the elite DEO agent, but mostly she's Alex, the high schooler. With everything in between."

"What's your role," Kara asked. He moved from behind the counter and pulled up his trouser leg.

"They let me out on parole," he told them, the tracker anklet shining brightly in the lights. He lowered his pantleg. "I'm officially under house arrest, though it's more like Alex babysitting duty."

"Alex can't leave the house?" Kara asked. "That's not fair. She didn't do anything wrong."

"That's debatable," Maggie said, angry that Alex had managed to hide this from her. Kara frowned but didn't say anything.

"We can leave the house," Jeremiah quickly told her, trying to appease the superhero, "I just have to let the DEO know first. We can go anywhere in the city. But Alex rarely leaves the apartment."

"Why?" Kara asked. He opened his mouth to explain, then shut it and opened it again, before simply sighing.

"You'll see," he told her. "Tomorrow, you'll see." Kara and Maggie looked at each other curiously before shrugging.

"I should go talk to Storm," Maggie said, picking up her jacket from where she dropped it. "Figure out what he wants to deactivate this one. Or have they figured out a way to trick Storm into helping us without revealing Edith's death?"

"Girls," Jeremiah said suddenly. "Dr. Storm is dead." The apartment was silent for a moment. "We don't know how he found out, nobody told him, but one day he just knew. He was dead a few hours later."

"Eliza's in the lab, isn't she," Kara deduced. Jeremiah nodded.

"Everyone's in the lab," he told them solemnly. "Nobody's giving up, but the problem just became nearly impossible. Everyone's been working around the clock for the last month, trying to come up with a solution."

"I should go help," Kara said, heading for the door, but Jeremiah pulled her back.

"The best way you can help is to stay," he told her. "Alex has been asking about you every day since I was made her caretaker. Now that you're back, you will be the only one she wants." Kara reluctantly nodded.

"I'll be here for her," she promised as she picked up the bags and placed them next to the couch.

"I'm sorry," Maggie started, "but what just happened? What exactly did we just see?" Jeremiah sighed. He came over to the couch and plopped down heavily.

"She keeps asking about Kara," he explained. "At first, we tried telling her the truth, but she could never remember the next day. Eventually she regressed to the point where she didn't believe the truth, so we made up the story that you were away at a camp for aliens."

"And she's buying that?" Maggie asked. Jeremiah nodded.

"We don't know why but that one's sticking," he told them, "and she hasn't regressed beyond high school Alex yet, although Dr. Hamilton is convinced that it is a distinct possibility."

"You mean she might forget me?" Kara asked. Jeremiah nodded.

"She already forgot me," Maggie said despondently, sinking onto the couch. Jeremiah put a hand on her knee.

"Not always," he told her. "Sometimes she's regular old Alex when she wakes up. You're the one she asks about first on those days." Maggie smiled at him.

"What do we do?" Kara asked, nearly in tears. Jeremiah shook his head and sighed.

"The only thing we can do. Be there for her." Maggie nodded and shot to her feet.

"Is she sleeping?" she asked Kara as she headed to the guest room door. Kara was right on her heels.

"Yes," she started, checking on her sister with her super vision, "but I don't think it would be a good idea to climb into bed with her."

"I know," Maggie reluctantly agreed. "I just want to watch her sleep." Kara nodded and opened the door silently. The two of them entered, quietly shutting the door behind them. They watched Alex sleep for an hour, until a soft knock broke them out of their trance.

"Girls," Jeremiah called quietly. They reluctantly opened the door again and joined him outside. "I called Eliza and let her know you were back. She was very relieved and promised to be home as soon as she can to give you a proper 'welcome back' hug."

"How long is she going to be?" Kara asked, frowning slightly. Jeremiah shook his head.

"They just finished up the autopsy of Dr. Storm. They're preparing his brain for dissection. Since that is the only clue they have now on how to save Alex they're going very slowly so they don't inadvertently destroy anything vital."

"She'll be a while," Maggie summarized. Jeremiah nodded.

"I don't know if you had plans for tonight, but you're welcome to stay here. If you don't mind sharing the bed, I'll sleep on the couch." They all nodded tiredly. Maggie and Kara quickly changed while Jeremiah made up the couch. Once he was ready, they retired to the master bedroom, falling onto the king size bed tiredly.

"Maggie," Kara said uncertainly. "I'm scared." Maggie opened her arms and Kara immediately curled up against her.

"Me too," Maggie responded, tears falling from her eyes. She could feel tears on her arms and knew they were both crying. "Me too." They held each other as they cried themselves to sleep.