Alex had spent the afternoon rewatching the first two Harry Potter movies with Lena. Now, they were sitting at the dining table, a big plate of the best takeout curry in the entire universe ready to be eaten right in front of Alex.

"Now that it's clear that I'm staying here, I should come up with a better shovel talk than to throw you into space", Alex mumbled while chewing on some carrot slices "But on the other hand...I don't really know what's worse than to be thrown into space", she shrugged.

Lena smiled back at the redhead and after swallowing a spoonful of rice, she proceeded to answer "No need for more shovel talk, darling. I'm helplessly in love with Kara", a soft blush spread across her cheeks "relationships haven't exactly been easy on my part and I honestly still don't get what she's seeing in me, but.. I'm happy. She makes me happy. And I plan on making her happy as well. For as long as I live"

Eyes wide in shock, mouth slightly opened Alex gaped at Lena. Sure, she had hoped that Lena wasn't meaning any harm and had all the best intentions. But love was something she hadn't really thought about.

"That….that's good then", she stuttered out before stuffing another spoonful of curry in her mouth.

"What about you? Any relationships going on in your life?", Lena asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity again.

"No. Sadly relationships haven't been easy on me either. Hell. I only really had one and that one I almost had married", Alex chuckled darkly.

Lena leaned back in her chair comfortably after having finished her much smaller portion of curry. "Care to tell me more about it? It must've been pretty intense if you had almost gotten married, who was the woman stealing agent Danvers' heart away?"

Pushing her curry from one side to the other on her plate Alex nodded. "Maggie. She's been the one who made me realize that I wasn't as straight as I had thought...or as broken as I had concluded. I think she's the first person I ever truly loved. But I told her that I wanted a family. Children. To be a mother. She never wanted that. Couldn't see herself ever having a family", Alex audibly swallowed "So I broke it off. We got drunk with the booze we got gifted for the upcoming wedding and then she moved away shortly afterwards"

Now it was Lena who was looking at Alex wide eyed "Maggie? As in the tiny detective dimples?", she laughed "I'm sorry but that's too funny. She hooked up with Alex once or

twice after Alex had come back from rehab. In the end Alex broke it off because she deemed dimples to be clingy and not healthy to be around, though it probably was Alex being scared to open up to somebody. Dimples seems to have found love in Gotham City by now"

"At least this universe seems to be lucky with love", Alex murmured while continuing to push her curry around. At least for everyone but herself. Sighing, she decided that she could eat the leftover curry for dinner tomorrow, that way she had at least a little joy to look forward to when coming home.

"Maybe you're going to be lucky as well then", Lena grinned while standing up and moving the dishes to the sink "I know it's probably not something you want to look for so soon, but it might do you good. Just being in love is so much happiness already"

Frowning Alex moved to the kitchen area as well, silently sighing "Yeah….it might" before she grasped Lena by her shoulders and looked her firm in the eyes, concealing all her sadness with one blink. "And because love is so wonderful you should move your ass out of my apartment and knock at your girlfriend's door"

"You sure you're okay?"; Lena asked while already being pushed towards the door by the nodding redhead.

"Yes. I just want to sleep, see you tomorrow at work. We could start by properly cleaning up the lab so please don't dress all fancy for that", Alex grinned, pushing Lena's jacket and purse into her arms and closing the door behind the very baffled CEO.

Just like Alex had planned she spent the whole morning cleaning up her DEO lab with Lena. The lab was shining, tables were rearranged and tools neatly sorted into their respective containers. Chippings of wood and metal stuck to their clothes and both women were happy when lunch break signaled the end of their day.

"God, I really need a shower before I can make my way over to CatCo", Lena groaned, plucking a wooden shard out of her hair. She was dressed in light blue jeans, white sneakers and a black long sleeve shirt, looking nothing like the CEO she was and more like an ordinary woman at work.

"I really hope Kara hasn't planned on anything for today. I just want a shower, comfy clothes and my leftover curry", Alex laughed.

And as if she had summoned the Kryptonian, Kara appeared in the lab's entrance.

Much to her dismay, Kara hadn't planned on going back home soon at all. She had quickly blown off some dust of Alex's clothes and taken her for a fly around National City. She had shown her the CatCo and L-Corp towers, which were actually located at different places than on her earth and they also took a glance at Sam picking up Ruby from school.

Alex's heart had crumbled a bit under the thought that they had yet to tell Ruby the news and that the teenager would throw a whole new wave of sadness over the group. She really had to talk to Sam about it. She didn't want to make her lie to her daughter for almost two months just to find out that spilling it was inevitable.

Lastly they had strolled through the park, eating ice cream from what Kara named "the best place in town" and finally went back home after the sun started to set. Alex was tired, there was no way denying it. But she was grateful for the distraction and also for the new information she had gathered of this world.

"Thank you for the day, Kara. I had a lot of fun and the ice cream was amazing", Alex gushed, already craving another scoop of chocolate fudge ice cream.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning then", Kara smiled "I'll be taking you to the DEO from now on, it's just easier that way and Sam won't have to rush for her meetings anymore. Call me if you need me though, I'm right here and even if you just happen to run against a door and want to whine about it. I'm right here"

A genuine smile spread across Alex's lips "I will take you up on that", she grinned "but I'm also here, you know. Always". She wrapped her somehow-sister into a hug before opening her door "Good night, Kara" she smiled before closing said door behind herself, slowly sliding down against it. It has been a long day and she was oh so exhausted.

Azul jumped on her lap and she spent almost half an hour sitting on the floor, softly rubbing the cat's belly. "You're also always there for me, huh?", she cooed, nuzzling her nose against the soft fur. "It's Sam's turn tomorrow. I really wonder what we will be doing. Maybe we will talk about Thanksgiving, I could ask her what to wear, what do you think, Azul? I should also really talk to her about Ruby, she must be wondering why she isn't seeing me anymore, but she also hasn't texted me since I woke up" Alex muttered wondering "Maybe she has already told the kiddo. You will cheer me up if Ruby hates me, right?".

She really hoped that Ruby wouldn't hate her.

After finally standing up she poured cat food into Azul's checkered bowl and filled his water again. She re-heated her curry, suddenly very happy that she didn't eat more of that incredible ice cream and enjoyed a plate of her new favorite food.

Padding into her bedroom she grabbed her pyjamas and a change of underwear and went into the bathroom, finally able to shower all the dirt off of her body. Kara had made a good job by blowing off most of the chipples but she still found a few tiny metal shards stuck in her hair. She had felt bad using anything in this apartment more than she deemed necessary because it wasn't her own. But the thought of accepting it actually being her own settled in more and more. That's why she took her time, taking a long warm shower to let her muscles relax under the temperature before getting dressed.

This was her life now. So it was also her income and her apartment. She could take long showers once in a while, because it was her money she had to pay the water bills with.

The next morning rolled around way too soon. Alex kept yawning while drowning her coffee, but once the cold November air hit her face she was feeling awake again.

She had disassembled the remaining portal pieces and sorted the different parts in small containers, while Lena took notes, sketching the pieces onto a sheet of paper perfectly. They had decided to at least appear as if they would be working on the portal, but spent the morning chatting about their favorite foods and favorite things to do. Getting to know each other one step at the time.

Alex could see why Lena was her counterpart's best friend. She was a joy to be around, they shared values and interests and when lunchtime came around they had already decided to visit a science fair mid december.

While Lena was out of the lab within seconds, rushing to get to a meeting at CatCo, Alex stayed behind to clean up for the day. Just as she locked the drawer with the disassembled portal pieces she heard a knock on the door.

Turning around she was greeted by a smiling Sam "Hey Alex", she quickly glanced around, slumping her shoulders in relief as no other agent seemed to be around.

"Hey", Alex answered, still a little unsure on how to behave around the brunette "Do you have anything planned for today or can I wish to just spend time at home talking. Or not talking if you don't want to. We can watch a show or a movie. Or...not do anything at all really..", she rambled, internally rolling her eyes at herself. Why had she had to be so fidgety around her. She really didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit.

Leaning her head against the doorframe Sam flashed another small smile at the agent. "I'd like to talk, yes. I feel like there is quite a lot of talking to be done and.. I should apologize about how I treated you. It wasn't fair of me at all. But I have been hurt to an extent that I was blinded by it. I'd like to make it up to you by treating you to lunch, though considering you don't know any food places around here I already got some tacos to eat, so we should probably hurry before they're getting cold", she calmly spoke, making Alex wonder how she could be this calm when she looked like she wanted to murder her only a few days ago.

"You don't have to apologize, Sam," Alex sighed softly. "But I gladly take the lunch anyways", she grinned. Straightening her posture for courage and also because she would have to leave the lab to walk past several other DEO agents, which still made her slightly nervous, she walked towards Sam and took the hand the brunette offered her. And it felt just so good and so right, but oh so wrong at the same time.

They quickly made their way towards Sam's car, much to both of their relief not stumbling into any of Alex's talkative colleagues today. The car ride was spent in mutual silence, the radio blasting a pop song Alex had never heard of. Which probably wasn't the fault of the different universe but more due to the fact that Alex just didn't listen to any pop songs if she didn't have to.

After arriving at home they happily devoured the chicken and spinach tacos Sam had bought in equal silence, before moving to sit on the sofa, both a steaming cup of coffee between their hands.

"So…", Alex started "I know this all isn't turning out as we had imagined and I think that we...or you...should tell Ruby about it. It isn't fair to keep it from her. I don't know your Ruby but the one in my world was smart and clever and wonderful and already had to go through so much more than a child at her age should suffer through. I don't want to lie to her, Sam". Too afraid to look into the other woman's eyes, Alex proceeded to stare into her coffee. It just wouldn't be right to hold it in, lying to her. It was written in the stars that if she would ever be able to switch back, it would be a terribly long time of lying to the girl. And the hopes of meeting her, having fun with Ruby again. It made Alex's heart ache in a completely different way as it did when she thought about spending time with everyone else.

Sam swallowed audibly, followed by a deep sigh. "She knows, Alex. Ruby knows". Placing her cup on the coffee table before turning around to face the obviously anxious agent her face softened. "I couldn't lie to her. It isn't fair, you're right. But I had planned to wait to tell her. But you're also right with her being incredibly smart" Sam chuckled "She figured out something was wrong the first day you told us that you've got switched with my..our… this world's Alex."

Now it was Alex who placed her mug down, turning her body to face Sam with a raised eyebrow, tucking her legs under her body.

"I was...not in a good condition that day. I fought with Reign like I had never fought with her before. It is easy to shift control for us, you must know. It's a mutual agreement to swap at that moment. At least that's usually the case. But that day I just didn't want to be in control but also not give it up to her. So after Ruby's bedtime I tried to drown my sorrows in wine to forget. To let loose. But Reign, always the protector, wasn't too fond of the idea of having to witness myself getting wasted on some cheap boxed red wine", shaking her head shortly she grinned "or any alcohol at all probably. So she fought for control, pushing my mind in the back of our shared consciousness over and over again. At some point we must've stopped shouting at each other in our head but actually verbally screamed at each other. Things I want to spare you of", she quickly interjected "But we were loud and so we woke Ruby with our, definitely not child friendly, accusations and cries. I couldn't just lie to her then, Alex. I couldn't. Not after she heard me cry out your name in despair and hatred several times"

Fiddling with the fringes of one of her sofa pillows Alex nodded "That's… that's good then..". Sure, she had hoped to tell Ruby in peace, maybe be there to answer questions the teen would have. Hell, even to be punched if that would help her to accept the fate that was unwantedly pushed onto her young shoulders.

"She'll be attending the Gala on Thanksgiving actually. She's also looking forward to formally meeting you. She's been pondering me with questions the whole time, bonding with Reign over the fact that this is all very exciting and very fascinating" a huge grin, that could only be described as cheeky, spread across her face all the way to her eyes "Why, oh really, Reign you never had said that? I can remember hearing very frequently how exciting it is to be spending time with Alex and how much you want to befriend her". A low and echoing growl, clearly belonging to Reign, escaped Sam's mouth, followed by Sam's cheerful laughter.

Alex stared at her lap blushing, her heart hammering in her chest. Why? She didn't really know, but the thought of regularly being on Reign's mind, making her want to spend time with her. For reasons still unknown to her it made her all happy and giddy. Probably nervous, excited and anxious in equal parts as well, but it felt all soft and warm and fuzzy. Also Ruby wanted to meet her and she wasn't scared or mad, but excited and curious! That was better than Alex could ever have hoped for. Terrifying but wonderful.

Moving back from the topic that made her heart race uncomfortably in her chest she cleared her throat "The gala is another topic I wanted to talk to you about. I would like to know what to wear. See if I have anything fitting or if I have to buy something for it. I wouldn't want to look out of place or make a bad impression while standing at your side"

Scratching her cheek Alex wondered if Reign could hear her heartbeat. Concluding that she probably could, considering that she had always listened out for it. A weirdly intimate gesture between complete strangers which both hoped to grow closer someday. The thought calmed her and made her race even more. Befriending the worldkiller apparently still shook her to the core in some ways.

"The gala has a black and white theme. Boring and ordinary, I know" Sam groaned "but it's a classic and at least the men are fitting the theme anyways and won't complain to go out of their way to match any other", she rolled her eyes before emptying her coffee "I'm not sure if your closet is holding anything matching the occasion but we'll go through it, the afternoon is still young. Oh. Right. You'll be wearing a dress. Reign hates them and that's why I'll be wearing a suit. I'm already having matching jewelry for us at home so we have to keep that in mind when deciding on a dress"

Without waiting for Alex to answer, the brunette stood and moved towards the closet, having shoved around three hangers with dresses before Alex made it to the bedroom as well.

In total they found one white sundress, one black dress which was by far too short and too revealing for a gala and made both women blush and cough for a second and one simple long black dress with a broken zipper.

"Those won't do, I'm sorry Alex but you will have to go and buy a new one", Sam sighed, flopping down on the bed behind her.

That was definitely not how Alex had imagined to see Sam in her bed for the first time.

Sighing as well, Alex sat down next to her.

No, definitely not how she had imagined. Swallowing the sadness that slowly crept up her throat she stared at her still open closet.

"Will you at least help me pick a dress? I hate to go shopping for clothes", she whined "It's boring and the employees are always pushy to make you buy something even if you're looking horrible wearing it"

Shaking her head Sam carefully placed a hand on Alex's arm, who was barely able to contain a flinch. "Sorry, I'm crammed at work, so Reign is also out of question as..you know..I can't just let her get somewhere. You could ask Lena if she's willing to help you. She knows the bar a dress should hold for the gala and also the jewelry I have at home. I'm truly sorry I won't be able to help, but with the gala coming up. It's a lot honestly, I am barely resting at all"

Feeling guilty about taking up so much of Sam's time Alex focuses her glance on the folded pants in her closet. "I'm sorry I'm holding you up. You should go home and spend the remaining day with Ruby. Or put your feet up and watch a movie. You took the afternoon off and you shouldn't be spending it with me, Sam, if you really get as little time off as you just admitted" jumping up, Alex grabbed both of Sam's hands to pull her up to her feet "I'm going to write Lena if she'll help me pick a dress tomorrow after work and then I'll cuddle up with Azul and continue the Harry Potter marathon I started a few days ago. I'll be alright"

Looking the redhead up and down from head to toe Sam nodded. "Thank you, Alex. If you need me, well, you know how to reach me", wrapping Alex in an awkward hug she whispered next to her ear "I'll still be able to rest if you want to chat with Reign over the phone. Just thought I should tell you.", moving closer to the door she grinned "But please don't keep her up all night"
With that she was gone, leaving a speechless Alex standing in the living room looking at the door, still standing in the position she held when Sam had hugged her. The smell of honey and something faintly similar to charcoal had filled her nostrils while perfectly shiny and soft brown hair had tickled her cheek. Sam smelled differently than Alex remembered, but that didn't change the fluttering in her chest one bit. No, she definitely wasn't over her at all.

Groaning she flopped down onto her sofa, already fishing for her phone on the coffee table to write Lena.

Because she really needed to get her mind away from the imagination of Sam in a suit.

Of course Lena had agreed on going to go shopping the next day. After Alex read the Luthor's message with more than one exclamation mark she was not able to hold in a groan. Lena liked shopping. And she was excited to go shopping with Alex. She had probably done that a dozen times with other-Alex, because looking at the clothes she wore according to her closet, it didn't look like buying the first black item that comes into view at all.

It was now quarter past eight and Alex was munching on some tomato pieces she had added into her salad. A salad didn't require any cooking so it was easy enough to do for a person that can't cook. Or so she thought. The dressing wasn't very good, the taste of vinegar quite strong, but it was bearable enough to eat it instead of wasting the food and throwing it away.

Sam's words about chatting with Reign still swirled through her head and within a few very courageous seconds she wrote;

Agent Alex:
So.. Sam said that you're excited to get to know me?

Her focus changed to the vinegar drenched salad again, there was no turning back now, the message was sent and Reign would probably be answering within the next few minutes. Was it too cheeky? They didn't really know each other yet, was it okay to already write like this? How long did you have to know somebody until friendly banter was appropriate? Of course Alex had never spent a second thought about it, but now it made her worry.

Apparently it was not inappropriate at all, because her phone began to light up before she could finish her last tomato piece.

Sam 2.0:
I had not planned to have you know that but yes, the prospect of getting to know you is filling me with a lot of joy, Alexandra. I am saddened that I will not be able to spend time with you during the next few days but I am looking forward to seeing you again.

She could feel her face start to flush again, her heart picking up a similar pace to that it had in the afternoon. This time she started to take deep and steady breaths to calm herself down. Whatever it was that made her body react so… confused.. Reign was the last person that should know the effect she had on the agent.

No, it wasn't Reign's doing. It had to be the new environment, the stress she tried to push away from having to pretend to be someone else, the overall happiness of being accepted. What if her body reacted to her being in the wrong universe? No, that couldn't be. She should really check her vitals tomorrow, if only for an ease of mind.

Agent Alex:
If Sam is too stressed about the gala we can't help it. You will see me there, though I'm not sure If I will see you?

Finishing her salad Alex wondered how weird it would feel to share a body with another person, not being able to do what oneself wanted. Some part of her hoped that she would be able to see Reign at the gala. She still felt awkward around Sam, if she closed her eyes she could still feel the softness of her hand and the warmth of her hug on her skin. With Reign it was easy. Yes, she made her heart flutter with new sensations. But she only felt the same as Reign did. Excited and fascinated about the new possibilities.

Sam 2.0:
I will be switching with Sam throughout the night to give her some rest. I hope you will be saving a dance for me, Alexandra. I would feel honoured if you would do so.

Smiling Alex typed her response.

Agent Alex:

I'm already sorry for stepping on your feet, glad you're Kryptonian.

A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she placed her phone down and started to wash her dishes.

She was looking forward to sharing a dance with a woman that wanted to kill her back home in her universe.