This time the opening of the door had Alex on her feet without tripping.

"Relax, it's just me Danvers," Maggie said the next morning.

"What are you doing here?"

"I broke your door," she answered. "Seemed only fair that I have it fixed. Gary, this is Alex, Alex, Gary, he is here to fix the door."

"Hey," Alex heard a guy say.

She heard something heavy being put on the floor, which she assumed was Gary's tools to fix the door.

"How long?" she heard Maggie ask.

"Hour and a half tops," Gary said.

"Good," Maggie said.

"Sawyer," Alex said.

Maggie walked over to Alex, "Did you get any sleep last night?"

She could see the dark circles beginning to form under her eyes.

"What?"

"Sleep, did you get any last night? You look tired," Maggie asked. "And why are you still wearing your DEO clothes?"

"Um, I …," Alex closed her eyes, hard.

"Are you alright?" Maggie asked, placing a hand on Alex only for her to flinch like she had with Supergirl the night before. Maggie removed her hand quickly.

"You don't have to fix the door," Alex said. "We do have a maintenance man for the building."

"It is my fault it was broken so it is the least I can do," Maggie said. "Now seriously, the clothes. The day-old wrinkles really isn't the look you should be going for."

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked again.

"Do you have a concussion?" Maggie asked in return.

Alex moved around her, having to touch Maggie to make sure she could get around her. Maggie watched as she slowly moved toward the kitchen. When she saw the bottle of whiskey sitting open on the counter and Alex feeling around it, she moved quickly.

Alex got a hold of the bottle and took a drink.

"It's a little early in the morning for a drink."

"Really? And what time is it detective?"

"It's after 10."

Alex took another drink and Maggie grabbed the bottle from her hand. "Like I said, it's a little early for that."

"I can't tell if it is day or night, so why don't you hand that back to me."

"Sure," Maggie said, handing her the bottle. "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to call your sister, and then your boss, and if I can figure out how to get a hold of her, I'm going to call Supergirl. Maybe you will listen to one of them."

"Don't," Alex said.

"Then put the bottle down."

Alex did it and Maggie immediately took it and poured it down the drain.

"Now the clothes," Maggie said.

"Are you going to toss those out too?"

"Don't tempt me Danvers," Maggie said. "Bedroom now. Change your clothes and then maybe we can talk about what I'm doing here."

"I'm going to my bedroom and when I come out, you better be gone, or it's your boss I will be calling to have you arrested for trespassing."

Alex moved around her, again having to feel her way through the process.

She knew she was moving slowly. She couldn't risk going fast because she might trip or fall down or do a dozen other things wrong. And she didn't want to do that – not in front of Maggie. She hadn't heard the detective move so she assumed she was still there watching her.

She got to her room finally and she closed the door behind her. She told herself she was only changing clothes because she had been wearing these for more than 24 hours and not because Maggie told her to.

It was a slow process though as she had to take off the sling first and then every movement caused her pain. She couldn't sleep last night. She had barely slept since she had been released from the medbay. She couldn't get comfortable and her body ached, it was why she had gotten the bottle of whiskey out after Kara had left that morning. She had hoped the alcohol would dull the pain and let her sleep.

Maggie's leg was bouncing up and down as she sat on the couch waiting for Alex to come back. She thought it was taking a long time and she had already gotten up once to go check on her but thought better of it.

She had taken the time to look around the apartment. There was a small bag with a bagel with cream cheese on it. It wasn't there last night so Maggie guessed that Kara or Supergirl stopped by that morning.

Supergirl – what was her deal? Why did Alex just let her fly in here like she owned the place, she wondered. She had tried not to think about Supergirl changing Alex's bandages.

Finally she heard the door to the bedroom open and she got to her feet as Alex came into view. Alex was wearing what appeared to be pajama pants and a T-shirt now, which didn't match but Maggie wasn't about to point that out to her.

When she told Alex to change clothes she hadn't really thought about the fact that Alex wouldn't be able to see what the clothes looked like before putting them on.

"You are still here, aren't you?" Alex said.

"I am."

"I told you to leave."

"Tough," Maggie said. "You are in no condition to be alone right now and since your sister and Supergirl appear to be MIA…"

"Kara was here before she went to work. She will be back at lunch and after work so I'm fine."

"You aren't fine, you look like you went 10 rounds with a semi truck and lost. Oh and you are blind."

"Out," Alex said pointing toward the door, well sort of the door.

Maggie had already warned Gary that she and Alex would probably be exchanging words and she was thankful he was wearing earbuds and hopefully tuning them out.

"I'm not going anywhere," Maggie said, crossing her arms. "You should be in a hospital, but if you are choosing to be stubborn then I'm choosing to stay right here."

She saw Alex move to a big chair and begin to feel around and finally get a hold of her phone. She used her fingerprint to unlock.

"Call Kara," she said giving the voice command to the phone and then putting it against her ear and turning slightly from Maggie.

"Alex, is everything ok?" Kara asked immediately upon answering.

"No. Detective Sawyer is here and she is refusing to leave."

"Why?"
"I don't know, but I've asked her to leave a couple of times now and she is refusing."

Maggie walked over and took the phone from her and she felt bad about it because the move had obviously startled Alex. She would need to be more careful around her she realized quickly.

"Hi Kara. Yes, it's Maggie. Listen, the more I thought about it last night, the more I realized your sister shouldn't be alone here in her condition."

"Would you stop saying my condition," Alex said. "I'm well aware of my injuries."

"Anyway," Maggie said. "I have someone fixing her door as we speak and I got her to change clothes, although I'm sure she will argue that it had nothing to do with me. I told my boss I was taking some case files and working out of the office for a couple of days that way I can be here if Alex needs anything. So unless you or your pal Supergirl want to take the time off to be here, I'm staying."

"She's not going to want you being there," Kara said. "But you are right, she shouldn't be alone. Supergirl told me that Alex lied to her last night – said she had taken pain pills but x-ray vision and she could tell she hadn't. If you can get her to take them then I will make sure that she let's you stay although I can't promise you won't want to leave on your own."

"Deal."

"Ok, let me speak to her."

"She wants to speak to you," Maggie said. She waited for Alex to hold her hand out for the phone rather than touching her.

Maggie stepped away although she was curious as to what Kara could possibly say that would make Alex ease up on her.

"She's staying," Kara said.

"The hell she is," Alex responded. "Get over here now and remove her if you have to, I don't really care."

"Alex, you know I love you, but you can't do this alone."

"I can."

"You can't. And you shouldn't have to," Kara said. "You're in pain. Let someone take care of you for a change."

"Then you come over," she said quietly. It was almost the same kind of plea she had given Kara when she asked her to take her home from the DEO the other night.

There was a pause.

"I think this will be good for both of you," Kara said.

"No," Alex said.

Kara sighed. She didn't want to have to pull out the big guns but she felt she had no choice.

"Let her stay or when I hang up this phone my first call is to Eliza."

"You wouldn't dare."

"It's Maggie or mom, your choice."

"I hate you."

"Call me if you need anything," Kara said before hanging up.

Alex didn't say anything to Maggie, merely turned around and headed back toward her bedroom. Once there, she shut the door, hoping Maggie would get the message.

For her part, Maggie couldn't help but smile a little bit. Whatever little Danvers said must have worked because at least Alex wasn't telling her to get out.

It was probably the best she could hope for right now.

Maggie left Alex alone for a while, letting Gary complete his work on the door. She wanted nothing more than to go in there and comfort Alex, let her know she wasn't alone and that she'd always be there for her, but she also knew that Alex wasn't ready for such things.

When Gary left, she ordered a pizza and breadsticks and then opened her laptop case and pulled out her computer and the work files and arranged them on the coffee table. She hadn't been lying when she told Kara that she had told her boss she was working out of the office. He had allowed with the expectation that if anything major happened she would have to report in.

Once the pizza got there she knew it was time to get Alex.

It was unsurprising when she knocked on the door and Alex didn't answer. A part of her hoped Alex was asleep, given that she looked like sleep had been a luxury lately, but as soon as she opened the door she got a "go away" from her. Alex was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling and not doing anything else as far as Maggie could tell.

"Come on Danvers, I ordered us a pizza," Maggie said.

"I'm not hungry."

"Fine, starve then."

When Alex didn't move or respond Maggie walked over to the bedside table where she saw the two pill bottles. She picked them both up, the noise at least causing Alex to sit up.

"When is the last time you took these?" Maggie asked. After all it was her part of the deal to get Alex to take the medicine. She could tell Alex was in pain from the way she held herself and the way she walked – it wasn't all the blindness, she had actual injuries under those clothes.

"A little while ago."

"Funny, I don't see any water in here that you would have used to take them," Maggie said. "Do you want to try again, this time without the lie?"

"Ok, how about it is none of your damn business."

"Fair enough," she said. "I'm going to take these with me and like I said, there is pizza out there if you decide you're hungry. I was getting ready to go through the case files I brought with me and I wouldn't mind your input if you are up to it."

Without waiting for a response – not that she expected one – she turned and left.

Sitting on the couch she opened the pizza box and began going over her first file.

In pure Danvers' stubbornness, it was nearly 45 minutes before Alex emerged.

Maggie had purposely sat on the end of the couch that would be the most logical route for Alex to get to.

"Other side," Maggie said when Alex got close enough. It caused Alex to pause and then reach down to make sure she knew where the coffee table was and then moved around it, touching it again to go around the other side before she made it to the couch and sat down.

Part of the reason she sat there was so she could observe Alex and her movements. Maggie had to admit that despite being blind Alex seemed to be navigating her apartment pretty well and she wondered if that was simply because she was familiar with her own place.

"Pizza box is right in front of you," Maggie said. "It's cold. If you wanted it hot you should have gotten out here sooner."

Alex said nothing as she felt for the box, opened it and got herself a slice.

"What are you working on?" Alex asked after she had taken a couple of bites.

"Let me get you a bottle of water to wash that down first and then I will tell you," Maggie said. By the time she returned, Alex was finishing off the first slice, proving that she was indeed hungry. She put the bottle down in front of Alex. "Water is right in front of you."

Once Alex had taken a drink, Maggie started talking about the case file she had been looking at. She started off by giving her the straight facts and then reading the witness interviews and describing some of the pictures. Occasionally Alex would ask her questions or ask her to reread something.

She shared her thoughts about it and Alex would chime in with her own.
It almost felt normal.

Except it wasn't.

Alex was constantly shifting as if she couldn't get comfortable and also had the occasional yawn.

Maggie had gotten to her feet at some point and had been pacing while she was talking – it was a habit she had when she was working a case she was stuck on. She noticed that the farther away she got from Alex would cause her to tilt her head slightly as if trying to hear exactly where Maggie was at.

Once they were through with the first case file and Maggie cleaned up the pizza box, she went back to the couch and sat down.

"Hold out your hand."

Alex hesitated but she did it and Maggie dropped one antibiotic and two pain pills into her hand. Alex felt them but didn't take them.

"We both know you haven't taken any, so do us both a favor and take them," Maggie said. "Once you do, we can continue with my next case, which if I do say so myself is a doozy."

Alex said nothing but Maggie smiled when Alex swallowed the pills.

Maggie jumped right into the next case file.

It was over an hour in when Maggie noticed the yawning getting more consistent. She must be exhausted, Maggie thought. Since she didn't want to press her luck by suggesting that Alex go in the bedroom and sleep, Maggie continued the case file. Alex was currently having her go over one of the witness statements again.

"What are you thinking?" Maggie asked when Alex had an expression of deep concentration after she was done reading it out loud.

"Something is not adding up right about what he says happened, but I can't pinpoint why," Alex said.

"You think he is lying?"

"I don't know," she said, yawning once more. "Can you go over that first witness' statement again?"

"Sure," Maggie said, picking up the four-page narrative and beginning to read. She had again gotten up and was walking back and forth. By page two, she could tell Alex was fighting staying awake. By the end of page four, Maggie was again smiling as Alex had indeed fallen asleep, her head leaning back against the couch.

She knew she was risking waking her, but Maggie carefully pulled Alex over so she was lying down and tucked her feet up on the couch. Looking around she saw a blanket draped over the back of the chair and she grabbed it to place over the sleeping agent.

She looks peaceful, Maggie thought, as she watched Alex sleep for a few moments before she took a seat on the chair and continued her work. Before she did she sent a quick text message to Kara.

"My part of the deal is complete. Agent Danvers is fed, medicated and is currently taking a nap."

"Thank you."

"Thank you for giving me this chance."

"Just don't hurt her."

Maggie knew Kara didn't mean the physical kind of hurt.

"I won't. I promise."

She hoped it was a promise she could keep.

Alex had only been asleep for just over an hour when Maggie heard the first noise from her. It was a low kind of mumble and she jerked a little in her sleep. Maggie had been sitting in the chair with the laptop sitting on her, but she put it aside now and came closer to the couch.

There was another jerking motion and Alex's eyes opened, but she had no idea that Maggie was right there. She had frozen in place when Alex woke.

"Alex," she said keeping her voice low so as not to startle her. "Are you ok?"

Alex sat up, which continued to be a slow process for her, and she shut her eyes once more.

"Are you ok?" Maggie repeated.

"I'm fine."

Maggie wanted to point out that she was obviously not fine, but she didn't. She was walking on egg shells with Alex and she knew it, but she also knew she couldn't afford to mess this up. She had been given this opportunity to make things right.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No," Alex said. She stood up, moved around the coffee table and ended up bumping into it. She looked up at the ceiling – a gesture Maggie found odd since she knew there was nothing for her to see. "You wanna get me something, why don't you get this fucking table out of my god damn way. You know what, never mind I will do it myself."

Alex bent down and used her one good arm and hand to grip the end of the table and then she tilted it up and over, causing Maggie to move out of the way so it didn't hit her.

She didn't even get the chance to survey the damage to the glass top table as Alex was bent over at the knees, holding her midsection. Ignoring the broken glass she went over to Alex, tentatively placing a hand on her back. "Are you ok? Do we need to get you to a hospital?"

Alex shook her head no, but she also didn't make a move to get upright.

Maggie was worried not just about Alex's physical state but also her mental. She also felt like she couldn't say how she really felt, which was that Alex needed to stop being stubborn and either let her take her to the hospital or back to the DEO.

Alex stood back up, but Maggie kept a hand on her back, not sure Alex would be able to stay upright on her own. When Alex began to take a step forward, Maggie grabbed her and held her back.

"There is broken glass all around here. Why don't you lay back down while I get this cleaned up?"

Alex shrugged her off. "I want to go to my room," she said, her voice no longer filled with anger from her outburst. No, Maggie let her hands slip from her, as the voice she heard sounded defeated.

"Just take a wide step to your left and stay that way until you hit the chair and go around it."

Maggie watched as Alex took the route she had instructed her to. When she got to the hall, Maggie said, "I'm sure your friends at the DEO are working around the clock to get your sight back."

"There is no getting my sight back."

"Supergirl said they didn't know if was permanent or not."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want her feeling any more guilt than she probably already does for not being there," Alex said. "I asked them not to tell her that it was permanent. But she will find out sooner or later so I probably shouldn't have even bothered. My career at the DEO is over."

She didn't say anything else as she continued to her room. Maggie looked at the destruction of the coffee table and wished for a moment that it was whole once more so she could break it.

…

Maggie was sitting on the couch when there was a knock on the door. She got up to answer it, finding Kara there.

"How is she?" Kara asked as she walked in.

"She hasn't come out of her room since it happened."

Maggie had ended up calling Kara after she had cleaned up the coffee table – going as far as to take the now useless metal frame down to the dumpster. She told her what had happened and when she told her what Alex had said about it being permanent Kara had fallen silent, prompting Maggie to ask if Alex had also not told her that. Kara didn't respond, only saying she would be there right after work.

"Have you tried talking to her since?"

"I went in and took her some water and next dose of pills, which are probably still sitting there. At the time, she was just lying there staring at the ceiling," Maggie said. "I asked her if she needed anything and she shook her head no."

"Ok, I'll go talk to her," Kara said. "I'll stay here tonight, you can go."

"No," Maggie said immediately. "I didn't call you because I wanted to leave. I just thought as her sister you should know what was going on. I'm not leaving."

Kara took a moment to consider what she said. "Why are you here exactly? You and Alex haven't spoken in months. If this is some pity thing, she's not going to appreciate it."

"I'm here because I care about her," Maggie said. "Look, I get it, I hurt her but I only did what I thought was best for the both of us at the time. I'm here now though and I want to help in anyway I can. I need to know she's going to be ok."

"She's not ok," Kara said.

"No she isn't."

"I'll go talk to her," Kara said again. "If you want to go for a walk or a ride or something, I'll stay for at least an hour. Give you a little break at least."

"Ok," Maggie said, figuring she should let the sisters have some time together. She grabbed her jacket deciding a walk would do her good.

Kara knocked on the door and then entered when Alex remained silent. Again, the lights were off but Alex was sitting up on the bed her knees hugged to her chest so she knew she was awake. She didn't turn on the light, instead got up on the bed and sat beside her sister. She put her arm around her and Alex put her head on her shoulder.

They sat like that for several minutes.

"Did she leave?"

"Just for a bit. She'll be back."

"I don't want her here. I don't want her to see me like this. You should have made her leave."

"Do you want to tell me what happened to the coffee table? Or maybe why you didn't tell me this was permanent?"

"I kept running into it, the coffee table and I got angry. Before that Maggie was, we were going over some of her case files. She was just reading the stuff to me or talking about it and I was asking her questions and we were discussing the cases and it felt … it almost felt normal. Then I must have fallen asleep and when I got up I hit that stupid coffee table and I lost it. I …" she said trailed off and took a deep breath. "It was stupid I know."

"You have every right to be upset," Kara said.

Alex lapsed back into silence. Kara wasn't sure how long they stayed like that but finally Alex shifted positions. "You should probably check my bandages," Alex said. "That side wound really hurt when I trashed the coffee table."

Kara got up and turned on the light first and watched as Alex sat on the edge of her bed.

"Alex, you're bleeding," she said rushing to her. There was a small patch of blood on her sister's shirt right where the puncture wound was. Not waiting on Alex she lifted the shirt and removed the bandage which also had soaked through blood on it. "It looks like you tore some stitches."

"Of course I did," Alex said punching the bed.

"It's not too bad," Kara replied. "I mean it's not much blood and that happened hours ago. Still we should get you back to the medbay for a patch job."

Alex sighed, "can you at least find me some decent clothes to wear?"

…

Maggie sat on Alex's couch wondering when or if she would be returning that night. She had been out walking when Kara called to tell her that she was taking Alex to the DEO medbay because she had torn some stitches. Maggie had wanted to go too but Kara said they couldn't wait for her to get back although she assured Maggie it wasn't serious.

Still Maggie felt like an idiot for not checking herself when Alex had done it. She was so worried about overstepping her bounds with Alex when she should have been checking more closely to ensure she hadn't hurt herself.

She felt like she was failing at this.

Or maybe her timing was just off. It would be the story of her and Alex so far. Maybe coming here while Alex was so angry was the wrong move.

It was nearing midnight when the door finally opened and Maggie was on feet and coming over.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm good," Alex said, her voice slurring more than a little bit as she hung on to her little sister. "I broke a nose. I'm a badass."

"Oh wow, you're drugged up," Maggie said.

"They may have given her some extra pain meds," Kara said. Alex slumped more onto Kara. "And maybe a sedative."

"Here let me," Maggie said, swapping places with Kara and directing Alex into the bedroom where Kara pulled back the blankets while Maggie gently put Alex down.

"It's dark in here," Alex laughed.

"Yes, that means it is time to go nighty night."

"Night," Alex said, and as she closed her eyes, the two other women backed out slowly, Maggie being the last as she paused at the doorway to get one more glimpse of Alex.

"Is she ok? What was that about a broken nose? And why didn't she stay there if they were going to dope her up so much?" Maggie asked when they returned to the main room.

"They stitched her back up, it wasn't that bad they said, but then they wanted to examine her eyes again and she sort of lashed out the doctor and ended up breaking his nose when he suggested she calm down. After that they gave her the sedative," Kara said. "But she was insistent that she didn't want to stay there so I brought her back."

"Did the doctor look at her eyes?"

Kara nodded yes.

"And?"

"And nothing. It's permanent."

Maggie didn't want to believe it, but somehow Kara saying it made it seem more real.

"What now?"

"I don't know," Kara said. "Alex has always been the one to watch out for me, she is always the one who knows what to do. I feel useless."

"You aren't useless," Maggie said. "You got her to the DEO and got her patched up again. She was always going to need you no matter what, the fact this happened to her doesn't change that. Now go home. I'm sure you have work in the morning."

"Text me and let me know how she is doing when she wakes up."

"I will."

Kara surprised her by hugging her. "She's going to need you too," Kara said softly. "Even if she doesn't know it yet."