Someone lays a warm blanket on her shoulders. It's soft, smells clean, a radical contrast to the scratchy rag she's been using for her power naps in the past two weeks. This blanket smells like home, it's heavy and sits comfortably on her body and she wants to snuggle in it but can't really bring herself to move. Someone adjusts it for her, strong hands tightening it around her neck to keep the chill of the AC out. Another hand, smaller, brushes a few wet strands away from her forehead, combing them back tenderly until they're piled on top of her head. A kiss is laid there too, a lingering press of lips on a cut Alex must have sustained sometime during her search for Kara. The person exhales against her skin, warm and minty, then drops to eye level, checks her pupils, wipes something from her cheek, and smiles. It's a beautiful smile, a little sad, a little hesitant, but beautiful. Then again, Kelly's smile has always been beautiful.

Hands appear in Alex's sightline, tan, with wide palms and long fingers. They wrap around Kelly's waist and shortly after, Sam rests her chin on her shoulder.

"How is she ?"

"Catatonic," Kelly says. "Which was to be expected."

They exhale in tandem. Alex loves them so much, thinks she should tell them now more than ever, but the connection from her brain to her mouth seems to have all but vanished.

"I've got some news," Sam says softly.

"And ?"

"Kara's still in surgery. It- It doesn't look good. They've reset her bones and they'll be fine with some sun exposure but there's some sort of infection, I think. It damaged the nerve connection with her arm, and it's spreading."

"Kryptonite ?" Kelly suggests.

"Most likely yeah. Synthetic by the look of it. Doctor Veritas is working on some medication, but it might not be ready in time."

Alex hears all these words, but they don't really register properly in her mind. She gave everything she had to bring Kara back, she has no energy left for something as futile as worrying. Her sister is going to survive, she's going to live, thrive ; she has no other option, otherwise, Alex will wither away too.

"And Lena ?" Kelly asks.

"Stopped screaming," Sam replies, "so that's good. They ruled out pneumonia and she's asleep right now. Andrea's there with her so she doesn't wake up alone and um-" she marks a pause here, long enough that it prompts Alex to move her eyes, just a little, so she can see her better. "The restraints are ready," Sam eventually continues, "in case she tries to hurt herself again."

"Brainy's doing a good job," Kelly comments.

Sam sighs. "I wish he didn't have to."

"Did anyone tell J'onn ?"

"Yeah. Nia went down to see him. Brought him some Chocos. Maybe he can finally get some sleep."

"I think we all need a good night of sleep," Kelly whispers.

"She's not going to come home tonight, is she ?" Sam asks.

"I don't think so. And it wouldn't be fair to ask her to." Kelly marks a pause. Her throat bobs with a swallowed sob. "She came so close, Sam, so close to losing Kara again, she-"

"She needs to be where her sister is," Sam finishes for her, tightening her embrace around Kelly. "I'll go home then. Clean up a little. Check Ruby is okay and come back with her in the morning."

"Can you...?"

"Stash the whiskey out of reach ?" Sam finishes for her, briefly catching Alex's eyes when she glances down at her. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"Thank you. Be safe please."

"I will. Brainy made me an anti-Kryptonite thingy."

"I'm serious," Kelly says, her tone both stern and loving in a way that almost prompts a smile from Alex at the thought of how many times it's been directed at her. "We came too close to losing too many of us. If something happens to you..."

"I'll be careful. I promise."

She lays a kiss on Kelly's cheek, disentangles herself from her and leans in to kiss Alex on the forehead, smoothing the blanket on her shoulders in the process.

"I love you," she says, "and I'll be back soon, I promise. With our daughter. Everything is going to be okay now."

I love you too, Alex tries, but fails, to say. The words are stuck somewhere between her brain and her mouth but it's okay, Sam knows.

More words are exchanged between Sam and Kelly but Alex tunes out of it unwillingly and lets the conversation happen around her, her brain too tired to keep up with it anymore. Before Sam leaves, she carries her up to the med-bay, exchanging the harsh bench of the locker room for a soft sanitised bed, and against her best wishes, Alex falls asleep, head empty enough that she thinks, before she passes out entirely, that she might have gotten some help from sleeping pills.

She's woken up a second later by a foreign hand on her shoulder and before she can think anything of it, before she can hold her body back, she's sprung up and pinned her attacker to the ground. The world swirls around her, she feels dizzy and nauseous but she maintains her grip. She needs to eliminate this threat and get to Kara.

Eliminate the threat. Get to Kara.

"Hey ! Hey ! Babe ! Stop ! You're hurting him !"

At the sound of Kelly's voice, Alex lets go, staggering back and blinking at the sight of one of her agents sprawled on the floor. He crawls away from her quickly, and in the time it takes him to get up and stand to attention, she hasn't yet recovered her bearings and she stares at him, completely lost, as her heart thunders into her chest.

Kelly kneels down next to her, rubs a comforting hand on her back and Alex tries to focus on just her, the warm hand through the fabric of her sweater, the smell of her shampoo wrapping all around her, her voice, whispering comforting words in her ear.

"Director Danvers ?" the agent calls out hesitantly, taking a bigger step back when he notices Andrea has stopped guarding Lena and tendrils of shadows, brought about by the commotion, are swirling around her. "And um, Mrs Olsen-Danvers ? Madam Director ?" He flounders, and Alex distinctly hears Andrea's loud annoyed sigh before she drops back into her chair, deeming him a non existent threat. "Um. Supergirl is out of surgery. She's in the recovery room but they will bring her up shortly."

Alex blinks, processing the information. She feels Kelly helping her back on the bed when her knees start wobbling underneath her weight, and immediately threads her hands in the cover, clinging onto the fabric to keep herself anchored to something. She fears she might explode if she doesn't.

"You can go now," Kelly says kindly and the agent doesn't need to be told twice before scrambling out of the room faster than Alex cares to follow.

"She's not going to be here for a while," Kelly says, to her now, gently guiding her down against the pillow, "and she'll probably be asleep, but it's good news, she made it through surgery."

Alex nods, still unable for some Godforsaken reason to get her words past her mouth. Kelly climbs into bed next to her, the weight of her body and the warmth that radiates from it immediately grounding. Alex clings to her, buries her face in her shoulder, and cries.

Alex doesn't fall back asleep, even if the pull of exhaustion is heavy on her consciousness. Instead, she snuggles to her wife and steals her phone to play mindless games, passing the time by fitting little colourful bricks with one another. She doesn't beat Kelly's high score, who's been a master at this game for years, but it at least alleviates her anxiety to a more manageable level. When a couple of agents in white lab coats wheel Kara into the room, she entangles herself from Kelly, and goes sit next to her sister instead, settling in a low armchair beside her bed.

Kara looks rough. Better than when Alex found her, the worst of it hidden by clean white bandages, but rough nonetheless. What little skin is exposed is marred in yellow, blue, and thin angry lines ; and her left side is entirely immobilised under a frightening arch of metal that goes from her head to her toes to keep her broken bones in place. They'll be able to remove this as soon as they can turn the sunlamps on but for now, she's pinned under it so her normally impervious skin can't reject the tubes and wires coming in and out of her body in various disgracious places.

Alex hands tremble and ache with the need to touch her, to comb her fingers through her shorn hair, to take her once strong hand into her own, to make sure her sister is there, is real, and not a hallucination brought about by a pill or a bottle she'd have fallen too deep into. Instead, she takes a shaky breath, and holds herself back. Kelly sits next to her on the armrest, bringing the blanket with her and together they watch as Andrea leaves her own seat, kicks the brakes off on Lena's bed and single handedly pushes it closer to Kara's, dragging the whole machinery with it. She eyes them with an -I dare you to question me- angry expression then plops back next to Lena and picks up her book again, a trashy romance novel from the look of it, with what appears to be a half naked man and a horse on the cover.

With her sister safe at her side, the proof that she's alive manifesting steadily on several monitors, Alex dozes off again, coming to full awareness only when Sam returns with Ruby and Krypto well into the morning. The dog jumps on Lena's bed and settles at her feet, no one really bothering to deter him in his endeavour. He's not causing any harm, might even be doing some good just with his presence and like everyone else in the room, he's been through a lot.

With the family unit recomposed, Kelly excuses herself to the bathroom, promptly followed by Ruby for support when she notices her limping, knee acting up from exhaustion. Sam immediately takes her spot on the armrest, her tall body resting on it a little more awkwardly. She ruffles in her bag for a moment then produces from it a bright red lollipop wrapped in this annoying organic plastic Alex can never unwrap properly. Sam sets to the task for her and presents her with the candy in a matter of seconds, a soft crooked smile on her face.

"A lollipop, really ?" Alex croaks.

Sam shrugs, casual in her demeanour but with a hint of tension to Alex's trained eyes. "Thought you could use the sugar boost."

Alex shrugs too, though the motion is a little stilled by her stiff muscles, and gratefully takes the offering, popping it in her mouth. It's cherry.

"I know I'm not the expert on this," Sam says after a short moment of silence, "I'm not the military one but um, you did good. You brought everyone home. You're allowed to rest now."

Alex looks up at her, finds her staring, eyes crinkled at the corner. Her heart stops for a second. She can't believe Sam is here, tall and slender, handing out lollipops like a fucking daydream. She can't believe she did get her second chance with her, that she does get to love her again.

Ruby and Kelly rejoin them soon after, both intent on piling up on the armchair with Alex. Sam has candies for them too and the family enjoys what is no one's idea of a nutritious breakfast in silence until Lena springs up like a sickly battered jack-in-the-box and starts screaming at the top of her lungs.