We've got one more to go. I'll have it up by the 15th. Not much I want to say, but everyone stay healthy, thanks for reading, let me know what you think and as always enjoy.

Chapter 21

The death toll had been higher than they had hoped. Out of twenty-four agents, fifteen had returned with injuries ranging from minor or critical. Eight hadn't returned at all and only two of them had no injuries but a life time of trauma. It would be recorded as one of the worst days in DEO history, as one of the smallest but most deadly operations. A recovery team had been sent in to bring home the bodies of the agents who hadn't made it and to search for Donovan and the others to confirm that they were gone.

The recovery had been made difficult because if the smoldering remains of the Cadmus facility partially collapsing after the initial explosions. They had needed to dig through the rubble but eventually they found the body of Miles Donovan and confirmed he had died from a deep laceration to his back caused by an axe. They were still searching for Warden and Thorul but so far the search had turned up empty.

Lena turned the broken helmet over in her hands. The teams had recovered Kelly's helmet from the ruins not far from Donovan's body and had brought it to Lena. Her niece had been lucky that the helmet had withstood as much damage as it had before breaking. If the integrity of the metal had been compromised in any way she would have been dead. She sighed setting the helmet down, she needed to get over to the hospital to speak with Alex. Her sister-in-law had a decision to make and Lena didn't want to give her the details over the phone.

"You want to do what with my daughter?" Alex thought Lena had been joking when she had first approached her, now she realized Lena was just insane.

"Alex the damage to her leg was irreversible because of the venom, something needs to be done and it would be better to do it now than to wait."

Lena had explained to her that the venom Warden had been using was actually more potent than that extracted from the alien. It had caused the Haranel in Kelly's veins to become virtually useless. Her daughter lost her leg because her body just couldn't heal faster than the venom spread.

"It's still in the testing phase but results have been promising, so far there hasn't been a single rejection."

Alex sighed. She was aware of the work Lena had been doing in the field of prosthetics, having gaining inspiration from her brother and Lillian after seeing the work they had put into Hank Henshaw and Jeramiah. Of course Lena was doing it for the good of people, ensuring amputees, or people with deformities, could get top of the line prosthetics for next to nothing. It wouldn't hurt her company at all though some members of the board were pissed about it.

"It's not my decision," Alex said.

"Well as long as she is incapacitated you are her next of kin, so actually it is," Lena reminded her. "Look Alex not only would Kelly be the perfect candidate to see how prosthetic integration reacts to meta-human physiology, she's your daughter. I think it would be less traumatic for her if we do the surgery now."

She should wait to ask Maggie what her opinion was but her wife was resting and Alex didn't want to bother her. Alex didn't think Kelly would be against it, but wasn't sure how her daughter would react to it when she finally woke up. She couldn't come up with a single reason not to allow Lena to go ahead with it except that Kelly would have no say in the decision. That wasn't any reason to put it off and risk it not working later on. Lena's reasoning was sound, with Kelly's system compromised surgery would be a lot easier than it would be when she was back to normal.

"Do it," Alex said. "You have my permission."

"I'll get the ball rolling right away," Lena said her phone already in hand. She would want to be there to oversee the operation to make sure everything went smoothly. "Give Maggie my best will you?"

She watched Lena leave before she went back to Maggie's bedside. Her arm was beginning to hurt again her pain medication having worn off. She was tempted to take another but thought better of it, she could wait until Maggie woke up. Alex pulled her chair closer to Maggie's bedside planning on taking a short nap. She was still worried about Kelly but her daughter was out of any immediate trouble. Both surgeries had gone on without a hitch, now she just had to wait for Lena to finish with her. Alex probably wouldn't see her daughter until the morning.

"You sure you want to sleep in the chair?" Maggie sounded groggy from the morphine she had been given. "I can scoot over."

Alex lifted her casted arm and shook her head. "To bulky, won't be comfortable." Maggie frowned, which made Alex sigh. She meant it wouldn't be comfortable for Maggie not for her. Her wife was adorable when she started pouting and Alex didn't have the energy to argue. She climbed into the bed next to Maggie, careful not to jostle Maggie's leg. Maggie turned to she could drape her arm over Alex and pull her closer.

"You smell good," Maggie murmured into Alex's shoulder.

"I think the morphine is getting to you, because I still haven't gotten a shower," Alex said resting her chin on Maggie's head.

"No…always smell good."

Alex chuckled, her wife was cute when she was groggy and even more so now. She was relieved to have this time alone with Maggie. They had nearly lost each other and being able to just forget about everything for a short period of time just to be with one another was everything. Alex still worried, she wasn't forgetting about her daughter but there was nothing she could do at the moment. Maggie had already fallen back to sleep and was snoring lightly leaving Alex alone with her thoughts. But even those were running away from her as her exhaustion hit her hard. A short nap wasn't going to hurt her and it seemed like the best course of action. She hadn't slept in over 24 hours and then might be her only chance for a while.

XXXXX

Lori glared at her mother which only made Kara laugh harder. Her daughter was so much like Lena it actually hurt. Lori didn't find it amusing that Kara would laugh at her just because she and Lena had some similarities.

"It's not funny," Lori whined. "I get hungry when I'm stressed."

"Well I'm hungry too," Kara said as an excuse for her laughing. "You could always go get us something to eat?"

"So you can run off and get me in trouble with mom?" Lori crossed her arms giving her a look that was exactly the same as the one Lena gave her when she wasn't amused. "No thank you."

Both Kara and Lori's stomach's growled in response causing both of them to groan. Lori really was hungry, she hadn't eaten since being attack in her parent's house. She had burned a lot of energy helping Kelly and didn't think she would make it much longer without eating. Lori would kill for a burger and fries.

"Fine, I'll go but you have to stay here."

"Please bring pot stickers."

Lori nodded speeding out the door only to run face first into someone. Had it been an agent they would have been on the ground or buried in a wall, but the person didn't budge. When Lori looked up to apologize she realized it was her grandpa J'onn. He looked down at her, his eyebrow raised in question.

"Where do you think you're off to little Danvers?"

"I was um…mom was – I uh…" Lori kept pointing behind her suddenly forgetting how to articulate words. "Mom was hungry…I was uh gonna get her food."

"Well then it's a good thing I caught you before Lena did," J'onn said holding up a bag of food that Lori realized were pot stickers. "I assumed she would start bothering anyone who would listen to get her food."

Her stomach growled again, betraying her. She thought J'onn would tell her to go get herself something to eat but her grandpa only laughed. He patted her on the head before showing her the second bag he was holding from Big Belly Burger. "And I got something for you too," he said with a big smile. Lori squealed jumping up to hug him. He almost dropped her because he hadn't been expecting it but quickly adjusted.

"You are the greatest grandpa ever," she said, dropping back to the floor. She took J'onn's hand to drag him back into the room. "Mom, Grandpa J'onn already got us food."

Kara crossed the room in a second, stealing her bag of food from J'onn's hand. She nearly ran away with it too before she stopped to turn around and hug him. When she was hungry she sometimes forgot her manners. J'onn knew this but as the man who had become a surrogate father to both her and her sister she needed to be better about thanking him. She went back over to her cot, leaving room for both Lori and J'onn to join her.

"Any word on Kelly?" Lena had refused to say anything claiming that Kara needed to focus on healing before worrying about anyone else.

"Still in surgery," J'onn said. "And no I'm not giving you any more than that."

"Lena spoke to you then?"

"She did," J'onn admitted. "But she's right the two of you don't need to worry about Kelly. She's strong, she'll make it through this. None of my girls are quitters."

XXXXX

Kelly thought she was dead. She had no control over her body, she felt no pain and she couldn't remember what had happened to her. She remembered talking to Sara but nothing after that. She couldn't open her eyes which meant one of two things she was in another coma or she was dead. None of it meant sense to her, what had she done to end up there? She needed to wake up. If she woke up she would remember. If she could remember she could make her body respond to her. There was something else. Something that was making her tired. Her eyelids drooped, which was confusing because she couldn't open her eyes. Why was she tired? She tried to shake her head. She needed to wake up. She need to…wake…up…

She opened her eyes to a scene that played out years ago. Next to her, completely ignoring her, was Alex. She was frustrated or angry, Kelly couldn't exactly remember what kind of mood her mother was in that night, but she remembered that Alex had been arguing with Kara. Her aunt had been mad about something, something that was important but now it wasn't. What had they been fighting about?

"You can't marry her," Kara had only raised her voice for a second before Alex shushed her, reminding her sister there was a five year old asleep down the hall.

Maggie, they had been fighting about Maggie. Kelly had woken up from a nightmare and had went to find Alex only to overhear her adoptive mother arguing with her aunt. Had her aunt been their when Alex put her down for bed? Kelly didn't exactly remember but she didn't think so. Kara must have come over after Alex had read her a bed time story. Kelly had liked that Alex did that, her dad had never read to her. Not ever.

"Kara she's not going to leave again," Alex said. "And I don't appreciate my sister telling me what I can't do. Especially with your wife's history."

"Harsh Alex," Kara said crossing her arms. "I'm just asking why would you marry someone you explicitly broke up with because she didn't want kids."

"Don't you think I've thought of that?" Alex grabbed a beer, thought better of it and set it aside. "Maggie has changed and she is great with Kelly. You'll see, Maggie isn't leaving again."

Kelly didn't even realize she was standing directly next to her younger self, clutching at a stuffed animal. She barely remembered having interrupted the fight between her aunt and mom but when she looked her Alex had gone silent having realized Kelly was awake.

"Something wrong sweetie?" she asked coming over to the young girl.

"I had a bad dream…"

Alex glared at her sister, telling her it was time for her to leave. Kara sighed but took Alex's silent warning and left. Alex went over to the young Kelly and picked her up. Kelly watched her mom walk down the hall with her younger self. She remembered Alex had fallen asleep in her room after reading another story. Kelly had woken up later when Maggie came home from work and join her soon to be wife and daughter on the already cramped bed.

Kelly sighed. It was nice to relive this moment but she needed to get back. She didn't know what she needed to get back to but it wasn't here. She left out the front door, not sure where she was leaving too but hoping it would be where she needed to be.

"What do you mean she's not waking up?" Lena had the doctor against the wall, his incompetence was starting to really piss her off. "How much anesthesia did you give her?"

"The recommended amount for someone with her particular abilities," he said.

"You moron," Lena shouted. "The Haranel in her system isn't active she's probably in a coma."

"Why isn't it active?"

"The venom you idiot," Lena said. "How are you a doctor?"

Lena shook her head and backed away from the man. It didn't matter, he could explain the situation to Alex because she sure as hell wasn't. The good news was as soon as the venom worked its way out of her system she would start to metabolize at her quickened rate and be out of the coma in a few hours. Well not really a coma more like a deep sleep because an idiot was in charge of her surgery

"Just finish the preparations for her transfer," Lena said shoving the clipboard into his hands. "Then you can call Director Danvers and explain exactly what happened."

It wasn't like Kelly didn't think about the moments she had had with her family in some capacity. There were moments where should couldn't help but think about how different things were when she was eight of fifteen. Reliving them was weird though. Maybe it was just the way her brain was coping with whatever was happening to her. Maybe once her body adjusted to whatever trauma put her there she would be home? Was she supposed to be home?

"I'm not taking the promotion," Maggie was saying while she moved around the kitchen.

Kelly was watching herself sit out the counter, she looked about fifteen so it was before she was hospitalized. Her hair had been a lot longer back then, she was glad her parents let her cut it. She looked ridiculous.

"I think you should, Captain Maggie Sawyer-Danvers, has a nice ring to it," Kelly said snatching another tomato slice when her mom wasn't looking.

"A nice ring and a shit-load of paperwork," Maggie said smacking her hand away when she tried to steal another tomato. "All that position does is deal with politics, I hate politics."

"Yes but you could lead the division in the direction you want it to go," Kelly managed to snatch another tomato before Maggie moved them completely out of her reach. "Don't you want that?"

Kelly remembered the conversation, Maggie had been offered the position after her acting captain stepped down after some back blow from a not-so-well thought out thing that Kelly still had no information about. Maggie had turned it down and had been stuck as a Lieutenant since then. At least she was happy, she had never like sitting at a desk.

"I swear to Rao Kelly if you don't stop stealing the tomatoes," Maggie warned as Kelly tried to sneak around her to take the entire cutting board. "You can't be that hungry."

"I just like tomatoes."

"Wait until dinner."

It had been one of those moments that stuck out to Kelly. Just the ease of how well Maggie handled her. Just how easily the two of them bonded. Kelly loved both of her parents but something about Maggie made it easier for Kelly to go to her to talk. She had a reason for that, one she had ever only told Maggie about because she didn't think Alex would understand. She had already shouldered enough of Kelly's trauma, she didn't need to shoulder anything more.

"Can I ask you something mom?"

"Only if you stop eating the tomatoes," Maggie said but with a teasing smile.

Her younger self shifted her weight from on foot to the other. "I wanted to um…change my um name." Maggie nearly dropped the knife she was holding. Kelly panicked backing away from Maggie, misinterpreting her surprise as anger. Maggie held up her hands trying to defuse the situation that was about to start.

"Sorry, sorry," Maggie said. "It's okay. Why do you want to change your name?"

"Well not exactly change it. I just don't think I should only be Kelly Danvers," she said. She had been wanting to ask her parents about this for months but had never found the right time. "I mean you're my mom too, I may not make it my last name but maybe I could just be Kelly Sawyer Danvers, y'know?"

Maggie had always given great hugs. She squeezed so tightly that before the Haranel it actually hurt. Kelly remembered how happy Maggie had been after that, and how Alex had started crying because it was 'so sweet'. Kelly had been a bit embarrassed by her parent's reactions but had been glad they were happy to fulfill that particular request. Kelly smiled to herself. She should move on to whatever memory was next. Maybe if she kept jumping around something would jostle free and she would wake up.

Kelly panicked when she opened her eyes into the most blinding white light. Maybe she really was dead and that light at the end of the tunnel was just an absolute dick move. Then she sat up and felt a burning pain in her side. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the light but she felt hands on her shoulders pushing her back down.

"Easy there Kel, you'll tear your stitches."

"Grandpa?" Kelly rubbed her eyes, J'onn finally coming into focus. "You definitely aren't my mom."

J'onn was gone as soon as he had appeared, replaced with Alex's form. "Better?" Kelly shook her head, she really hated when he would shapeshift. It always made her wonder whether or not her mom had actually missed one of her games and sent J'onn instead.

"Please don't do that," Kelly said, "It's giving me whiplash."

She blinked and J'onn was next to her again. He set the book he was holding aside so he could move closer to her bedside. Kelly had never met her actual grandfather, but Alex always talked about him. J'onn spoke about him on occasion but Kelly didn't know him so he would never really be her grandpa, J'onn was the only one who would have that title.

"So where is my mom?" Kelly was curious, she had expected her mom to be around. "I mean I'm in the hospital, last time this happened she refused to leave."

"She's with Maggie," J'onn said. "Both of them are alright, Maggie is just on strict bed rest for the rest of the week."

Kelly chuckled, it was just like her parents to refuse to leave one another's side. She couldn't really blame them, the past month had been rough for all of them. It was good the two of them were spending some time alone, even if it was in a hospital. She would have asked about her aunt but if something had happened to her J'onn would have already said something. At least everyone was alright.

"So how bad is it?" She already knew her side was pretty bad but she was starting to remember her leg had taken a bad hit.

"Perhaps we should wait for Alex," J'onn suggested, shifting uncomfortably.

"Grandpa I could just throw this blanket on the floor and find out for myself," Kelly reminded him. "Or you could tell me."

"They didn't have a choice Kel, I'm sorry," J'onn said reluctantly. "Lena made sure you receive the best care. You'll be back to being a thorn in the DEO's side in a few a months."

"Oh…ok…" Kelly said her chest tightening. "Gramps, how strong are the painkillers they're giving me?"

"Don't worry," he said. "You'll really start feeling it in a day or two."

Kelly nodded feeling the panic start to creep up on her. Every one responded differently to trauma, screaming, fighting, complete and utter denial. Kelly had always had a hard time expressing her feeling, she just didn't know how to articulate herself. Part of her wanted to jump out of a window. She could never get past J'onn. Quiet panic, Kelly was really good at quiet panic. J'onn tapped her on the forehead with the book he had with him.

"There are going to be days that are very hard on you," he said. "But you aren't alone, you have us."

"What book are you reading?" Kelly asked, wanting to turn attention away from the recovery she was facing.

J'onn held it up with a small smile. Kelly face palmed shaking her head to the point it hurt her side. She knew exactly why he brought that particular book and even though she was hard to embarrass she was extremely embarrassed. J'onn was laughing at her expense, he always loved embarrassing his two granddaughters. Though Lori was much more difficult to embarrass.

"Grandpa, I haven't read that since I was like ten," Kelly said.

"It was the only book I had that you use to like," J'onn said sounding a little disappointed.

"You could have brought a criminology book for me," Kelly said. "But since you brought it, I think I could deal with some Nancy Drew."

That seemed to make J'onn happy, but Kelly snatched the book from his hands. "I don't think so old man, if I have to suffer through this I'm reading it to you." J'onn crossed his arms, pretending to pout but Kelly knew he was alright with it. He hadn't read to her since she was a little kid, he could deal with her reading to him if it got her mind off of her injuries. He just was happy all his girls were safe, he had already lost his family once. It would have been more than he could handle if he had returned to Earth only to learn they had all died. Kelly had been smart to call for him. They always made him proud.

XXXXX

Alex's side was hurting from laughing so hard. Maggie had started to feel better as they slowly moved her off her pain medications. She was currently telling Alex about a horrible miscommunication regarding a guy in the men's locker room when she was in college. Apparently one of her friends had asked her boyfriend to play a little prank on Maggie which had led to Maggie making a few rather snide comments about the male form. Alex hadn't heard much about Maggie's college years but she had some good stories which Alex wished she was more open to sharing.

"Why would you say that to him?" Alex could not believe her wife could be so cruel.

"Because I didn't want to be in there but I needed to get my phone!" Maggie laughed. "What should I have said?"

"Nothing you should have run," Alex said. "I wouldn't have stood in a men's locker room and completely destroyed a man because my friend decided to be a jerk."

"Eh the guy I said it too was a jerk too, he kinda deserved it."

"Who deserved what?"

Alex and Maggie turned to see Kelly rolling into the room in a wheelchair, she had somehow managed to get out of her hospital gown and into sweatpants but Alex could see the bandaged from her wounds that hadn't quite healed yet. One of her feet was bare bringing attention to the silver toes that flexed every couple of seconds. Kelly smiled at them making her way over to their side. Alex was up in a second hugging Kelly close. She had spent a few hours with Kelly the day before but had been trading off with the others in the family. She hadn't realized Kelly was coming around so quickly that they had taken her off of bed rest before Maggie.

"Never mind, boring story anyway," Maggie said waving it off. "Who let you out of bed? Better question who gave you pants?"

"Aunt Lena, for being a good patient who actually listens to the doctor," Kelly said with a huge grin. "So, you gonna need a walker? You are getting old."

Maggie hit her in the shoulder. "Watch it you lady, still your mother." Kelly laughed shoving Maggie back. She was glad to see both of her parents were doing alright and were laughing. Neither of them seem to be hurting that much (and the only reason she wasn't currently screaming in pain was because of the amount of drugs she was on). Lena had told her the pain would go away in a few months but there were always phantom pains she would have to deal with.

"And what about you Director Danvers?" Kelly decided to turn her jabs at her. "Two separate fractures, starting to have brittle bones? Should I be looking at nursing homes?"

"We could throw her out the window," Alex suggested.

"I'll get her legs."

"Woah, woah, woah, you wouldn't do anything to your defenseless daughter now would you?" Kelly said pushing herself back towards the door. "I was stabbed and someone let aunt Lena cut off my leg, I think I deserve to make fun of you."

Alex hugged her again still laughing. She loved seeing everyone in a good mood. It had been so long since all of them had been in one room and happy. There was no arguing or uncomfortable silence. It was just the three of them enjoying each other's presence. Kelly knew it was about to be better, she could hear her cousin talking excitedly down the hall. Lori was the only one Kelly had yet to see since the raid and was glad she was finally visiting.

Lori burst into the room thrusting a bag of food in Kelly's direction. "Drop whatever you are doing we brought food." Kelly nearly fell out of her wheelchair trying to grab the bag of food from Lori. She was starving having not eaten anything but hospital food since she had woken up a couple days prior. Lori stuck her tongue out at her cousin holding the bag out of her reach.

"Say please."

"Give me the food."

"Lori let your cousin eat," Lena said, taking the bag of food from Lori and handing it to Kelly. "Burger is yours."

"Have I told you you're my favorite aunt, cause you are," Kelly said digging for her burger before handing the bag to Maggie.

Kara's shoulders dropped, "What about me?" She was pouting, probably because Kelly did tend to show favoritism towards Lena. It wasn't that she actually liked one over the other it was mostly because she worked for Lena, she spent a lot of time around Lena. Now more than ever she was spending more time with Lena because Lena was overseeing her recovery. Kelly thought it had something to do with Alex strongly asking for Lena to oversee everything as some weird sort of pay back for cutting off Kelly's leg.

"I'm going to need to look at your leg," Lena said.

"Can we do that after I eat, it always hurts when you mess around with it."

Kelly had never liked being poked and prodded it made her feel like a science experiment. Alex had run tests on her after the incident when she was sixteen to ensure that she was still healthy and that the Haranel in her blood was doing its job. She wished the testing would stop. In five years she had never had one incident and yet Alex still ran tests. Lena liked to do a lot of poking and prodded to, she tended to be a little more aggressive, it always hurt when she would manipulate Kelly's new leg.

"Alright for the next two weeks no one is allowed to talk about work or anything that has happened in the past month," Alex said. "Everyone should be focused on recovery."

"Boo," Kelly threw a wadded up napkin at Alex. "What a killjoy."

"No Alex is right," Maggie said. "We've been through hell, we all deserve a break."

"How about a party?" Lori suggested. "Uncle James and aunt Nia will be back in town this weekend, why don't we have the Super fam together?"

"I for one love parties," Kelly said wheeling back to purposely run over Lori's foot. "The kid has a good idea."

"Great idea but they'll be busy with the DEO," Alex said. "Besides you, kid, need to focus on physical therapy."

"Killjoy," Kelly said narrowly avoiding Lori trying to slap the back of her head. "Always a kill joy. Lori wheel me out."

"Wheel yourself out," Lori said crossing her arms. "Your arms work just fine."

"But my side hurts," Kelly whined. "And the adults are giving us that look."

Lori had noticed Kara giving her that side eye she usually did when Lori wasn't supposed to hear something. She knew this was about Warden and knew she needed to remove Kelly from the room. Lori didn't know what the deal was with Warden, nothing had been said about the Kinetic since the fight. Donovan was dead, his body was in the morgue at the DEO. Thorul was in the wind, probably having escaped back to her Earth. Kelly didn't need to hear that the only victory they knew they have was that her father was dead.

Kara watched silently as Lori wheeled Kelly out of Maggie's hospital room. The two were bickering like they were sisters. Kara had always loved how close her daughter was to her niece. She wished her relationship with Clark had been that close but then again when she had seen Clark again after the death of Krypton he was already Superman. He had grown up without her, Kelly and Lori had grown up together.

"They're gone," Kara said once she realized they were far enough away. "I think Kelly convinced Lori to take her outside."

"It will do her some good," Lena said taking a seat near the window. "There are multiple studies that prove the benefits of being outside during recovery."

"Maybe you could get me some pants then?" Maggie had barely moved since her surgery and she was starting to get stir crazy. "These walls are starting to wear on me, Alex's beautiful face only goes so far."

"You two are disgustingly sweet and I hate it," Kara said.

"It's payback for those years of you two running around in circles refusing to admit your burning love for one another." Alex said throwing a fry at Kara. "But we could argue which of us is worse any day of the week. I think we need to discuss Warden."

None of them wanted to talk about it. J'onn had been doing what he could to run the DEO while Alex was in the hospital. The search of the building had only resulted with two things, Miles Donovan's body and Kelly's helmet. Warden was gone, all they found was a blood trail and pieces of destroyed armor. Wherever Warden was she was in bad shape, maybe even dying which was all they could hope for. Maggie had assured them that Warden would not go back to Thorul, she had seen how quickly Thorul had turned on Warden and just how much it had broken her. Warden was on her own now, which was good for them.

"J'onn can't find her no matter how hard he looks," Kara said. "He's asked M'gann to assist in the search but he doesn't think they'll find anything."

"How many teams do you have searching?" Lena had started to become an important tactical advisor since the assault. Alex was actually considering hiring her as more than just a consultant.

"Two," Alex said with a sigh. "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta are still in recovery, to many deaths, we're shorthanded as is."

"So what do we do?" Kara was anxious to put Warden behind bars if she was still alive. To her it was like Livewire all over again.

Alex removed herself from next to Maggie, she had barely left Maggie's side the entire week. The window in Maggie's room (Alex really appreciated her sister in-laws reach sometimes) overlooked the city. It wasn't a great image but off to the left was a small park with the most beautiful tree. Not far from it was a coffee shop Maggie and Alex went to on their first date. The tree had been full of leaves that day too, it was nearly the same time of year. She had always loved that tree, Kelly had always loved it too. When she was younger she had climbed it, fallen out of it and nearly broken her arm. Alex had freaked out, Kelly had only been eight and Alex was still getting use to the whole mom thing. Kelly had gotten up, laughed and started climbing again.

"We don't do anything," Alex said with some reluctance. Doing nothing wasn't something a Danvers did well. "We've lost enough, my men are hurting and I am tired. Maggie and I are both taking a leave of absence. J'onn will take over the DEO until I return and that's it."

"That's it?" Kara couldn't believe her ears. "Alex Warden is dangerous."

"Warden is probably dead and I would rather spend the next few months supporting my daughter while she goes through physical therapy then hunting a ghost."

"Alex."

"Darling stop," Lena said. "Alex is right, forget the DEO and Warden for now. Lori is going to need you and I'm sure L-Corp won't completely destroy itself if I step away for a short time."

"We should take the time to recover," Maggie said. "Even though you are one hundred percent okay and just making the rest of us look like fools."

"Not a hard thing to do," Kara said under her breath. "Fine, but don't think Supergirl will be taking a break. National City still needs the Girl of Steel."

Lena chuckled at her wife's stubbornness. She knew the day that they got married Kara would always be putting the city first. Her priorities did change some when Lori was born but as their daughter got older Kara's focus shifted back to the city. She knew that if Lori needed Kara her wife would come running. The point was they all earned some time off, some time with their family, time to recover, time to breathe. Lena needed it but the others needed it more, Kelly had a rough road ahead, Lori was suffering from post-traumatic stress, Alex and Maggie were in dire need of a break. Kara was fine but she could tell there was an emotional toll on Kara that she wasn't talking about.

"So it's settled we live in denial about everything for these next couple of months," Alex said, if her arm hadn't been broken she would clap her hands together. "Now Lena, I think you need to go look at Kelly's leg."

"You just want us out of the room."

"Smart, you could have been a detective."

"I'll settle for billionaire business woman and philanthropist."

"And a pain in the neck," Maggie added with a chuckle.

"Fine, we're leaving," Lena said dragging Kara by the hand. "Let's go find your daughter."

XXXXX

Lori had spent a few hours with Kelly since her surgery. It amazed her how high Kelly's spirit was after losing a leg, watching her biological father die in front of her (no matter how horrible he was he was still her father), nearly watched the majority of her family die and let Thorul escape. If Lori had been in her position she would be an absolute wreck. Kelly was taking it in stride, even making jokes and teasing everyone. Lori was having a hard time staying positive, she had seen enough to make her never want to be a superhero. She'd be happy in a lab or something.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Lori didn't really care but her cousin had been so quiet it was starting to worry her.

Kelly smiled glancing over at her cousin. "Warden, they never found her body." Kelly knew it but she couldn't let it bother her. She had won, her father was dead, and that's all she could have asked for.

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"Not really," Kelly said with a shrug. "She was a pawn, she's nothing without Thorul, and we'll find her eventually."

"That's surprising," Lori hadn't thought Kelly would be so calm about the whole thing. It was giving Lori anxiety just thinking about Warden being out there.

"The DEO is combing the city and she's hurt, we won that fight," Kelly was saying it more for Lori's benefit than her own. She was scared of Warden but she also knew Warden was scared of her. "Can I ask you something kid?"

"Of course."

Kelly sighed it had been bothering her since she woke up. It probably didn't matter but something about what her father said was sticking with her and she just couldn't shake it.

"Donovan said something before he died, he told me I never had a choice, that I'd always be like him," Kelly told her. "What if he was right?"

Lori laughed. She didn't mean to but she couldn't help herself. Kelly was absolutely selfless while Miles Donovan was the most selfish man Lori had ever encountered. Her cousin was nothing like her father, if anything she was a carbon copy of Maggie and Alex. She was a hero. She had willingly entered a fight she knew she wouldn't win to save her parents and Kara. If people knew her like they knew Supergirl they would know just how good of a person Kelly was.

"He wasn't," Lori said. "Kelly you've done everything in the past month to protect the rest of us. You are the most selfless, heroic person I have ever met. And my mom is Supergirl. Donovan was a sick, disgusting man who knew nothing about his own daughter. He never knew you, never knew that you had grown into a hero. So fuck what he thought. You're a Danvers, and you will never be like him."

Kelly would have started crying if she hadn't been outside. Maybe her cousin was right, maybe she was wrong. It really didn't matter she was just glad her cousin had her back. She knew her family had her back, maybe it would be enough. Maybe, just maybe, she could believe her.

"Lori?"

"Hm?"

"Watch your language."