"Afternoon sleepy head." Alex greets with a scratchy chuckle seeing a nervous looking Linda peeking around the doorway from the stairway. Her hair wet after her shower her clothes sticking to her damp body having been too eager to head down to the rest of her 'family' after she'd woken up from her power nap to dry off properly despite having the powers to do so.
So much like Kara had been whose first days of living with them.
Red Daughter smiles brightly at her leaning over the couch to make a grab for an Oreo and to get a look at the chess board Kara and Alex have set up between them on the sofa cushion. "Queen knight there." she helps pointing from Alex's knight to an empty space on the defense of her king.
"Hey." Kara pouts hoping her sister wouldn't notice the opening that would have put her king in an early check
"She helped me how they say, 'to catch a wave' I help her with this game." Linda shrugs munching on her cookie already reaching for another.
They had become a weakness for her. Had Lex been around he would have maybe jumped at the chance to beret her for such an attachment. Even she had several times in the last day or so over sinking to the level of the American greed for 'junk food'. Yet here she was munching on the yummy cocoa tasting biscuits with the different flavored creams testing out how each one tested on her tongue.
The last two days she'd tried: original, double stuffed, blue raspberry iced cream, green tea, peanut buttered chocolate, mint, strawberries n' cream, and banana split.
At the moment she was testing out the mixed sleeve she'd made of birthday caked, strawberry milkshake and brownie battered flavored Alex had gotten for her on the walk back from the beach that morning.
"You took her surfing. Alex, why didn't you wake me up so I could go with you?"
"Cause she and I need some sister bonding time just the two of us and mostly because the last time I tried to ask if you wanted to come with me you tossed a lampshade at my head."
Linda giggles to herself picturing that in her mind as she remembered hearing Alex tiptoeing down the steps like a cat burglar only to find her waiting for at the start of the driveway having woken the second Alex had tried unsuccessfully to pull her surfboard out of its stored place the garage in relative quiet so as to not wake the rest of the house just because she wanted to go out to the beach for some 'me' time that had happily turned into what Alex called "Danvers sister 2.0 time"
"Yeah, and I have to say you're a much better student that Kara ever was." Alex praised carding her fingers in Linda's hair when she folded herself down onto the floor beside Alex's leg her cap back around her shoulders like the comforting blanket it was to her and a half-empty sleeve of Oreo's in her lap with a smile that could almost rival the brightness of the sun itself.
"Her and I are the same person." Kara groans swiping one of each of the three flavored cookies her twin was hoarding with a shy grin at the puppy like growl Linda made at the act.
Alex rolls her eyes at the banter twisting Linda's hair into a loose braid with one hand as she studies the chess board. "No genetically you are but Lin actually wanted to learn how to surf whereas you kept complaining about why you had to learn in the first place when flying was so much easier."
"No, I think your thinking of when we tried to get her to learn how to swim Alexandra." Liza joined in from the kitchen.
"But she learned from her time on Krypton why would she need to relearn something she already had." Kara brightens at her Mother coming to her defense pretending not to notice Linda nuzzling her head under Alex's hand when their sister stopped playing with her hair.
"Alex." The DEO director glanced down when Linda tugged at her shirt sleeve like a child would her mother letting Kara, Alura and Liza bicker between themselves for a few moments. "Move the king rook here." Alex grinned moving the piece to take Kara's knight while also setting up for an early checkmate if she was careful.
She holds up her hand for a high five only to have Linda look at her with the Kara version of one of Maggie's head tilts. Alex wouldn't admit it out loud, but Linda's almost rivaled the originals for most adorable.
"Like this." She explains bringing Red Daughter's hand up to rest against her own.
"Is Lin back yet?"
Red Daughter giggled louder than she does at the pouting look on Kara Danvers face when she realizes she's lost the game to the better Alex at the goofiness of Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr. as the cute man came skidding into the room a pleased smirk on his lips.
Having left the night before for a short time she'd missed being able to hear his heartbeat mingling with the others in her family when she'd woken that morning.
"Good to see you're feeling better snow puppy."
The nickname makes her blush and the fact that he says it in Russian makes her insides all fuzzy and warm. Not to the level of Lena Luthor how makes her heart pound against her ribs in quiet longing but enough to make her lose focus for a few moments as she looks into his eyes.
She likes how her new family has taken the time to integrate her 'native tongue' into conversations with her so she could choose to talk in either English or Russian. Yet she can't help becoming warry when she sees he has kept a hand at his back hiding something from them the second he spotted her sitting on the floor at Alex's knee.
"Something wrong Agent Schott?" Alex questions feeling Linda tensing up against her leg bringing a comforting hand against her back as she and Kara reset the chess board amused all over again at seeing the way Linda is peeking over at Winn like a schoolgirl would her first crush despite her nervous as to what he was keeping behind his back.
"Nothing wrong just…. well, I got something for our snowbird here ….well I say I but really Lena and Papa bear helped too."
Anyone else would have thought Alex had just threatened to use one of the many ways she could kill with her index finger on him given how nervous he was being.
"Come on Winn how come you're never this adorable around me anymore?" Kara teases looking over at her 'younger brother' over the top of her glasses.
Winn rolls his eyes feigning more when Eliza and Alura choose to join them the move earning a happy squeal from Kara when she spots the plate of pizza bagels her 'earth Mom' is carrying.
She can't begin to put into words how happy she is that her real and adoptive mothers have formed such a close bond in the short time they'd been around one another. Although she would love it if her mother would stop bringing up stories of her more awkward times before Krypton was destroyed.
She was ten and how was she to know Kal would be that fast at a month old? Besides she had caught him in time before he'd done any real damage despite still carrying the scar over his right eye from the hit his head at taken against the table.
"Remember to share girls." The elder Danvers reminds them before passing the plate over to them only after a coursed "yes mom" from all three of her daughters.
Unlike her 'sisters' Linda chose to keep her gaze on Winn. "Gift time it is then." He nodes bringing out the larger than expected box from behind his back.
Linda shifts pulling her cap tighter around her when all eyes turn to her as she gingerly peels away the paper.
"Wait wait wait." Kara insists speeding out of the room for a half second only to come back just as quickly camera in hand. "What this is like a belated birthday present so it should be documented as one." She insists handing the camera over to Eliza then immediately reclaims her seat on the couch with Alura and Winn taking the two other chairs and Eliza opting for Jeremiah's old recliner.
Only two things wait for her after Alex helpfully slices the tape open for her before handing the box back.
The first is a book.
"You found one." Alex whispers high fiving Winn who nodes "Like I said Lena helped." He shrugged as Linda lifts it from the box.
She can hear the rapid click of the camera when she turns it gingerly to inspect the spin.
'Velikiy Getsbi'
Water floods her eyes, but she fights to keep composure as she looks up to meet Winn's gaze.
"Do you like it?"
Red Daughter doesn't answer as she lets her cap fall from around her shoulders tucking her new book into it then handing it off for Alex to look after for a few seconds before launching herself at Winn yet making sure to be gentle with him before they made contact.
"It is beautiful. I can't thank you enough."
She says it in Russian, but she can tell by his smile he understood her when they pull apart only for her to pull him back in for another hug.
"Oh, this little baby." Winn grins when Linda stops her tears long enough to remember the other thing tucked into what was her first real birthday gift.
The tablet seems ordinary enough, but the Danvers women at least knew it had a few tricks in its circuits if Winn had had anything to do with it.
"We've already loaded it up for you. Basic stuff. Music, solitaire, chess, interplanetary words with friends, color by numbers, a few pictures, ebook library."
"Interplanetary words with friends?" Alex chuckles sharing a grin with Kara.
"Hey, it was Vasquez's idea." Winn defends reaching for one of the last pizza bagels from the latest batch "And with her wanting to go back to Argo we thought it would be fun." He shrugs taking a bite of the snack food.
Alex was about to ask what else the device does when all the super hearing women in the room all looked like they were subjected to a dog whistle, a low-grade explosion and a fire alarm at the same time.
Again, before she could ask Kara was gone only to come back seconds later in her Supergirl attire while holding one of the several spars she kept at the house out for Linda.
"Mom and I will handle the fires. You go check on Lena."
Red Daughter nodes spinning into the super suite faster than even she thought she was capable as Eliza switches on the TV hunting the channels for any kind of newscast.
"DEO is already in route we'll start on damage control." Alex promises her phone going off like crazy while Winn types away at his tablet
"Everyone just come back safe and we'll try this again." Eliza says by way of a send-off as the supers and Alex speed out the back door while Winn heads to the kitchen table without lifting his eyes from his work.