Once Upon National City
A/N: Hey all! Long time no see. :P I originally started writing another drabble to post this week, but after running into some writer's block, I changed my mind at the last minute and did this. Not my best work, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! XD
Head's up! Please check out the Author's Notes at the end for a quick update on this drabble series.
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
Summary: "Hang in there," Kara says, pressing a kiss to Alex's hair. "Well get through this. You and me." Alex & Kara. Family/Hurt/Comfort.
*** ~ Always, Sister ~ ***
"Alex?"
At the call of her name, Alex almost drops the cell phone in her hands, the device suddenly slippery between her fingers. She's slamming her locker door shut and spinning around to face the owner of the voice before she even realizes what she's doing.
"There you are!" Kara exclaims, walking into the DEO women's locker room clad in her Supergirl outfit. "I've been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing all the way down here?"
Briefly glancing down at her phone, Alex quickly turns off its screen before her sister could see what was on it. Nonchalantly slipping it into her back pants pocket, she raises her gaze to meet the Kryptonian's inquiring look.
"Oh, you know," she starts, feigning a calmness she most certainly does not feel. (Flustered at nearly being caught is more like it.)
"Work stuff that that I usually work on," Alex rambles, her heart thundering away in her chest. "While I'm here at the DEO. Sciency stuff."
That is the farthest thing from the truth of course. While Alex had indeed come in to work today like normal, it was not DEO sanctioned work which drew her to the women's locker room at this current moment. In fact, the real reason she was holed up down here, hiding away from her comrades (mostly Kara), was because she needed Kara to stay out of her lab. If she had any hope of finishing what she started earlier this morning, her sister could never know about it.
Not yet at least.
Call it a sixth sense or whatnot, but Kara had the uncanny ability to find Alex anywhere, no matter where she was. Which meant if Alex was in her lab, that's where her sister would find her.
"Sciency stuff?" Kara echoes, the superhero glancing around the empty change room before looking at Alex again. "In the woman's locker room? What's wrong with your lab?"
Alex silently curses just how astute Kara is when she wants to be. It's not often her sister digs a little deeper into Alex's daily activities at the DEO. Not that Kara wasn't smart enough to understand all of the science Alex did on a routine basis, it was just not Kara's kind of thing. The fact that she's prodding her about it now means Kara was intentionally seeking her out for something, and because she didn't find her in one of her usual spots, the Kryptonian's curiosity was getting the better of her.
"I forgot something in my locker?" Alex tries, though even she knows that's a weak answer.
"Something like chocolate?" Kara asks, eyebrows raised, a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.
Busted.
Maybe.
"Chocolate?" Alex says, her expression hardening as her Agent 'Badass' Danvers persona comes to the forefront. She doubts this would be enough to throw Kara off her trail, but she tries it anyhow.
"When have I ever brought chocolate in to work?" Alex asks, affronted. "Even if I did bring in some, which I didn't, you'd just eat it all."
"Hey!" Kara protests, a full pout on display for all to see. "I'm not that bad!"
Surprised at her successful maneuver, for the time being at least, Alex eases up on her rigid stance a bit, a smirk threatening to make its presence known.
"Do I need to remind you about the pudding incident a while back?" she challenges, Alex chewing on the inside of her cheek at the expression her sister makes.
"Alexxxxxx," Kara whines. "That was one time!"
"One time too many if you ask me," she mutters, a genuine sigh of exasperation escaping her lips.
Ever since Kara discovered her pudding's secret hiding spot, otherwise known as the mayo jar, pudding was no longer safe in Alex's apartment anymore. Now, anytime her sister came over, that was the first place Kara went to, Alex usually left with an empty jar and a hyper Kryptonian.
"Is that why you're now hiding chocolate from me in your locker?" Kara asks, her kicked puppy impression spot on right now.
So much for a successful diversion.
"Honestly Kara," Alex says, shaking her head. In her mind, she scrambles for another cover up story, though nothing really feels good enough at the moment.
"I swear to you," she says, looking her sister straight in the eye for emphasis. "I am not hoarding chocolate in my locker. Why you continue to believe that, I have no idea."
In the end, Alex resorts to a half truth and a half lie. While it is true she is not whatsoever keeping a hoard of chocolate in her locker, there is however a chocolate stained shirt sitting at the bottom of her locker currently, and undoubtedly the source of what her sister is complaining about.
"But it smells like chocolate in here!" Kara wails, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. "And if you're not hiding chocolate down here, who is?"
"Hell if I know," Alex says with a shrug.
Alex truly means that. None of the other female DEO agents Alex knew had even a fraction of an affinity for chocolate. So if someone was keeping a stash of it in their locker, Alex would be oblivious.
"Besides," Alex continues, hoping to steer this conversation elsewhere. "Even if there was a chocolate stash down here, why do you only smell it now? You've been down here before and never said anything about it. And it's not like there's anything special about today or something."
Kara stares at her with her mouth hanging open.
"What?" Alex asks, frowning. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Oh Alex..." Kara says sympathetically, closing the distance between them and pulling her in for a hug.
Alex blinks at the sudden change in mood.
"I'm sorry," Kara murmurs, rubbing her back comfortingly.
Not quite sure what to make of the sudden shift, Alex hugs her sister back nevertheless.
"What are you apologizing for?" she asks, still unsure of what was happening. "You've done nothing wrong."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you earlier," Supergirl says, that statement confusing Alex even more.
"Kara, what-"
"I know last year this time was really special for you," her sister continues, Alex for the life of her still clueless about what the Kryptonian was going on about.
Raising her right arm up behind Kara's back, she squints at the face of her watch looking for the dial with the date on it.
"Hang in there," Kara says, pressing a kiss to Alex's hair. "Well get through this. You and me."
Finally locating the date on her watch, Alex blinks at the letters staring right back at her.
Oh.
Oh!
Today was February 14th. Otherwise known as Valentine's Day. The day couples got together to show their significant others their love for them through cheesy displays of romantic meals and equally cheesy presents. Yet no matter how cheesy it was, Alex loved every moment of it. How did she ever forget what day it was today?
"K-Kara," Alex stutters, at a loss for words.
She still remembers her first Valentine's Day with Maggie. There almost wasn't one, but all thanks to her Super sister, Maggie came around and surprised her. It was late, and cliché, and cheesy, but it was beautiful, and Maggie was breath taking, and everything was just perfect.
Perfect while it lasted.
"I got you, Alex," Kara says. "I got you."
Life since the breakup had been tough. Especially now, because of all the fond memories shared on days like today. Yet never once did Alex actually linger on any of those things today. Because truly, what Alex suffered through, paled in comparison to what happened to her sister.
"I got you too," Alex says, squeezing her sister tight. "You know, right?"
Alex was not oblivious to the pain in Kara's eyes. Since the day the atmosphere was flooded with lead particulates, banishing the Daxamites and stopping the invasion of National City, Kara was lost. Growing up as a teenager, Alex saw how difficult it was for her Kryptonian sister to connect with people. To bond with them. Sure there were boyfriends and friends and all of that stuff, but never a true connection, not like the one Kara had with Mon-El.
As loathed as Alex was to admit it, Mon-El made Kara smile like no one else could. He had Kara's back even when Alex didn't during the whole messed up incident with her father. Alex was still ashamed about that, the fact that she even questioned whether or not Kara was truly her sister. And even though she later apologized to Kara whom immediately forgave her as if it was nothing, Alex still vowed to make amends. For the rest of her life if she needed to. So when she caught her sister looking all sad earlier, when she didn't think Alex or anyone else was looking, Alex immediately knew what she had to do. How coincidental it just so happened to line up with today of all days.
"Alex," Kara begins as she pulls back to look at her.
"How about we call it early today? Hmm?" Alex interrupts the superhero, before Kara could really protest. "I'm guessing that since you're back early, patrol went off without a hitch?"
"Not even a mugging to talk about," Kara grumbles, Alex almost laughing at how annoyed her sister looks. "It's like they all… I don't know, fell in love or something and took the day off."
A pout.
"Even better for us then," Alex says with a smile, rubbing her sister's shoulders.
"I guess…" Kara trails off, her miserable gaze staring down at her boots.
Pursing her lips, Alex wraps an arm around her sibling's shoulders.
"Tell you what," she says. "Give me a few minutes to grab something from my lab and then we can head to my place for a Sister's Day for the rest of the day. My treat."
"Pizza and potstickers?" Kara queries, looking up at Alex with hopeful eyes.
Alex almost snorts. "Did you even have to ask?"
Alex speed walks to her personal lab, trying to appear both unhurried and normal, though she isn't sure if she's succeeding. After agreeing to meet up again at the DEO Command Centre before heading off, Alex knows she has maybe five minutes to figure out what she was going to do about the thing in her lab before Kara comes looking for her, her sister practically vibrating with excitement the moment potstickers and pizza were mentioned.
Rounding the corner to where her lab lay at the end of the hall, her steps pause for all of a split second at the sight of someone lingering near the door to her lab, Alex's eyes narrowing as she walks up to them.
"Winn?" she says, startling the man.
"A-Alex! Hey!" Winn says in greeting, a weary smile stretching across his lips. "I didn't hear you there. You're like a ninja!"
Winn punches the air between them, no doubt trying to imitate one.
"Everything okay?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Well…" Winn starts, hesitantly. "About that-"
Immediately assuming the worst, Alex's hand instinctively reaches for her space gun.
"What's wrong?" she demands. "Is it CADMUS? The Daxamites?"
Before she could freak out any further, Winn jerks backwards a step as if physically hit, frowning at her.
"What?" he almost squawks. "No! Nothing like that! If it was either of those two, I certainly wouldn't be standing here in front of your lab. No offense."
Alex remembers to breathe, her gun hand dropping down to her side again.
"Then what are you doing here?" she questions, now that her blood pressure is back down to normal levels.
Everyone, as in all DEO agents, Winn especially, knew better than to enter her lab without permission. There were many reasons why Alex's personal lab was separate from the others, and off limits, Winn learning that the hard way the second day he stepped foot into the DEO at this particular location. So to see him here, now of all times, truly had Alex baffled.
"It's just that... there was this smell coming from your lab," Winn explains, albeit a bit reluctantly. "So I came by to see if everything was alright."
Alex blinks.
"Smell?" she echoes.
Winn squints at her.
"You don't smell that?"
"Smell wha-"
Alex freezes the moment the familiar smell of chocolate and pecans fills her nose, her complexion going pale.
"Seriously?" Winn says incredulously, apparently not noticing her sudden change in demeanour, all the while staring at the door to her personal DEO lab. "Because I could smell that all the way from the Command Centre."
"Oh no..." Alex mutters, her heart dropping into her stomach at that revelation.
In her haste to clean herself up and her lab from her most recent mishap, Alex had apparently forgotten to turn on the ventilation fan again (it still baffled Alex how chocolate got so far up the ventilation shaft) before starting up her next experiment. And because of that-
"Is that... chocolate pecan pie I'm smelling?" Kara's voice echoes down the hallway, Alex's head whipping in that direction to see her sister approaching.
Crap. How was she going to get herself out of this one?
"Is that what smell is?" Winn asks, turning to face the Kryptonian before staring back at the door to Alex's personal lab again.
"Nope!" Alex pipes up, desperately trying to salvage this situation despite knowing it was already too late. "That's not what that smell is! I have no idea what that smell is. In fact, I'm not smelling anything at all. What are you two talking about?"
A nervous laugh.
Both Kara and Winn look at her like she's gone mad.
"Alex," Kara says, frowning at her. "Are you feeling alright? You're acting a bit weird right now."
Standing directly in front of her laboratory door, Alex puts a hand on her hip before shifting to crossing her arms in front of her chest, a fake smile plastered across her lips.
"I'm fine," she says, Alex looking everywhere and anywhere but at her sister. "Everything's fine. I'm perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
Winn and Kara look at each other unconvinced.
"Winn," Kara begins, making Alex cringe. "Can you-"
"Yeah," the computer genius says, with a nod. "Sure. No problem. I'll be in the Command Centre if you need me."
A smile at Alex.
"Either of you."
And with that he leaves, without question, Alex watching him go with a growing sense of dread. She also makes a mental note to thank him later for not barraging her with questions about this whole thing after the fact.
After a few seconds of silence, Kara speaks up.
"Alex, what's going on?"
There was no point in hiding it now. Then again...
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Alex says, feigning ignorance.
"You're hiding something, Alex," Kara says, her eyes narrowing.
"What makes you say that?"
"I may have the Crinkle," her sister states as a matter of fact. "But you do this thing with your eyebrows when you're thinking about something or trying to hide something."
"I do not," Alex refutes, her brows furling as she says that.
"Eyebrows," Kara says with a chuckle, poking Alex in that said spot.
Alex sighs.
"You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you?"
The smile Supergirl gives her makes the dark DEO hallway brighter somehow.
"Heck no!" Kara exclaims, making Alex laugh. "That's like the number one rule in the Little Sister's Handbook. Annoy your big sister until she talks."
Alex shakes her head, matching her sister's smile.
"Little Sister's Handbook?" she echoes, an eyebrow raised.
"Of course!" Kara says, grinning ear to ear. "Don't tell me you don't have a Big Sister's Handbook too. Because I know you do."
Knowing defeat when she sees it, Alex turns around and places her hand over the palm print scanner next to the door to her personal lab.
"I neither confirm nor deny the existence of such a thing," she says as a flash of blue momentarily lights up her palm, a beep sounding as the door to her lab opens.
"What I can confirm, however..."
Not waiting for the Kryptonian, Alex walks to the far end of her lab where her thermonuclear oven sat humming against the wall. Blinking lights on its control panel indicates its current cycle is done, Alex gingerly pulling open the thick metal door and peering in.
"Alex..." Kara says breathlessly behind her. "Is that..."
Smiling brightly, and after retrieving a pair of heat resistant gloves, Alex extracts the sole tray from her lab oven and sets it down on an open space on her desk.
"Chocolate pecan pie?" she finishes for her stunned sibling. "Maybe."
Kara's smile is brighter than the sun.
"At least," Alex adds. "I think so."
"You think so?" Kara parrots, confused but smiling.
"Thirteen times the charm?" Alex offers with a shrug.
"Thirteen?" the Kryptonian repeats in surprise.
"What?" Alex scoffs, offended. "Don't judge me. You know I can't cook to save my life."
A hand on her shoulder.
"And yet here you are, doing just that," her sister says, a genuine heart filled smile stretching across her face.
Alex smiles back.
"What's the special occasion?" Supergirl asks, Alex now searching her lab for some utensils.
"You," she replies, grinning triumphantly when she finds what she's looking for.
"Me?" Kara repeats, looking at her in confusion.
"Of course," Alex says turning back to her sister. She hands her a fork. "Why not you?"
Looking down at the fork in her hand for a few seconds, Kara frowns before meeting Alex's gaze again.
"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth," the Kryptonian says. "Especially one as tasty as this-"
Alex rolls her eyes.
"-but it's not like it's my birthday or something," Kara says. "So why?"
Alex's smile droops a little bit.
"Because you're my sister," she states, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"And I know things haven't been the easiest for you as of late," Alex says, looking down for a moment to gather her thoughts. "Especially on days like this."
Setting her fork down next to the still steaming pie on her desk, Alex rests her hands on Kara's shoulders and squeezes.
"But I'm here for you," she says, her eyes burning. "No matter what."
Alex pulls her sister in for a hug.
"And even if I can't do a damn thing to make things any better," she says, rubbing the superhero's back. "I'll still try anyhow."
"Alex..." Kara murmurs, her voice heavy with emotion.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Kara," Alex says, pressing a kiss to Kara's temple.
Kara sniffles.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Alex."
EXTRA
"Rao!" Kara moans around a mouthful of pie. "Alex, this is amazing!"
Despite her best efforts, Kara can't stop the sounds coming out of her mouth. The pie is just that good. Unfortunately, some of the sounds must have been pretty obscene, Alex flushing quite dark at the sound of them.
Oops.
"I think this is even better than Eliza's," Kara adds, loading up her fork again with another chunk of pie.
Chuckling at her gusto, Alex smiles as she finally takes a bite of her own piece of pie, aka the only piece cut from the pie, the rest of it going to Kara.
"I'm glad you like it," the DEO agent says.
Kara snorts.
"Like it?" she repeats. "I don't just like it. I love it! How am I only finding out about this talent of yours now?"
Sitting on Alex's desk, still clad in her Supergirl outfit, Kara swings her legs back and forth as she eats another piece of pie, only a quarter of it left remaining.
"Would you believe me if I said it was a recently acquired talent?" Alex asks, her laugh making Kara smile brightly.
"Is that why those are all the way over there?" she asks.
Looking over at the far end of her sister's lab, Kara momentarily pauses her snack in favor of examining the mess. Against the wall rests a rectangular, steel table. On the table are twelve trays of chocolate pecan pies in various states, the last tray a splattered mess of brown goop.
"You can say that," Alex answers her, following her gaze.
"So what's wrong with them?" Kara queries, restarting her snacking.
"Oh boy," Alex says, drawing Kara's curious gaze. "What isn't wrong with them?"
Swallowing down another bite of her pie, Alex points at the first pie on the far left of the table as she gives Kara the low down.
"The first one, I straight out burned," Alex explains.
Kara's eyes squint in amusement at the charcoal black edge of what she assumes was supposed to be the flaky crust of the pie.
"And the second one," Alex continues. "I misread Mom's instructions and put too much milk in it. It ended up runny."
"I can see that," she chuckles, her mouth twisting at the pie in question. How her sister made a chocolate pecan pie look like jello was truly a feat.
"The fourth and the fifth ones I mixed up the salt with sugar and the baking powder with potato starch."
"W-What?" Kara laughs, nearly choking on her current mouthful of pie. "How did you manage that?"
"What?" Alex pouts, all embarrassed. "Don't laugh! I was getting frustrated because my first tries turned out terrible. So I got a little impatient and mixed things up. That's perfectly normal I'll have you know!"
Kara bites her tongue to stop herself from cackling at that admission.
"And the last one?" she manages to ask once her giggles die down, nodding to the one on the far right.
Alex sighs.
"That one," her sister says. "Detonated."
"Detonated?" Kara repeats, the laughter threatening to come out again. "Isn't that a little dramatic?"
Alex shakes her head.
"Not really," the DEO agent says. "You should have seen it. The moment I pulled it out of the oven, it imploded in on itself and then just exploded. Like mushroom cloud, nuclear explosion exploded. You have no idea how long it took me to clean up my lab after that one. That's why I was down in the women's locker room. I barely had a chance to change my shirt and check the timer on my phone before you waltzed in."
The laughter was on now.
"Oh my gosh! Really!?" Kara barely asks in between all her laughter.
Alex stabs at her piece of pie, pouting.
"I may or may not have added a few extra things to the batter in the hopes it would bake faster," is her sister's quiet admission. If Kara didn't have super hearing, she probably would have missed it.
"Oh Alex," Kara says with a chuckle. "You are hopeless when it comes to food. Do you know that?"
"Yeah," Alex sighs in resignation, hanging her head. "I know."
Hopping off of her sister's desk and setting down the now empty tray where she previously sat, Kara shuffles over to her sister and pulls her in for a hug.
"But I love you anyways," she says with a smile, squeezing the DEO agent gently.
Alex hugs her back.
"Love you too, Sis," the elder Danvers says. "Always."
A/N: Happy early Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you enjoyed this drabble. A shout out goes to Drabble # 2, "To Eat, Or Not to Eat", of this series. That's where Kara discovers Alex has been hiding pudding in her mayo jar for years. Check it out if you haven't already. ;)
I just couldn't resist teasing poor Alex about her cooking skills, or lack thereof. I know, I know. I'm mean. XD
Some of you will have noticed I had to tweak the timeline a bit to make things work in this drabble. For the purposes of this drabble, this Valentine's Day occurs the year after the Daxamite invasion and Alex and Maggie's break up. In the show, Reign attacks Supergirl on Christmas, but in here, let's just say Reign doesn't appear just yet. XD
I have no idea what kind of ovens they use in labs, so I totally made up one. XD
Just to put it out there, Kara x Mon-El is not my preferred ship. That said, as it is canon, that is why I mentioned it here. That is all.
DRABBLE NOTES
Hey everyone, just a heads up about this drabble series. I've started to work on a multi-chaptered Supergirl story. When I have something ready for it, I'll start posting it. When that happens, this drabble series will take a back seat updates wise. I won't outright end this series, but updates to it will take a bit longer. I just wanted to let you all know that in advance.
Cheers!