Maggie held Alex's hand as they walked into Lena's office. Her test results were in and Maggie was beyond nervous at the prospect that something was horribly wrong with her. She felt lucky to have Alex at her side though. With Alex, she felt like whatever it was, they would get through it together.

Lena smiled at them and told them to take a seat.

"I'm too nervous to sit," Maggie said. "Just give it to me straight. Why is this happening?"

"Sit, it's not that bad," Lena said.

Maggie looked to Alex, who smiled and they both took seats.

"You are having severe post-concussion symptoms," Lena said. "My guess, it wasn't just one incident, but from multiple concussions in the past."

"And that can cause me to hear things?"

"Hear things, see things, the range of symptoms are enormous and it's still one of those things that doctors are still studying all the time," Lena said. "It's effectively a brain injury."

"But treatable, correct?" Alex said.

"Yes, very much so," Lena said. "Honestly, the best thing for you to do would be to take time off work, rest, relax, let your wife take care of you."

"That's it?"

"Yes. You need to let your body and brain rest," Lena said. "Avoid stress and situations that could trigger it. I can provide you with medical documentation to take to your work and request time off. I think you should consider at least a month."

"A month?"

"I can take the time off too," Alex said.

"My suggestion – the two of you should go away for a few weeks. Go somewhere where you won't have to respond to any emergencies, someplace peaceful, secluded," Lena said. "Do as little as possible."

Maggie considered this. She had plenty of accrued time that she could take and she didn't think it would be an issue with her captain seeing as she had a medical reason for doing it. And spending time with Alex was never a bad thing.

"Ok," Maggie said, and she looked to Alex again. "Let's go away together."

Alex smiled at her. "Don't worry, I will take great care of you."

….

Alex was pacing while Lena worked. Lena had already asked her once to stop pacing and sit down if she was insisting on staying there in the lab with her, but sitting lasted less than five minutes.

Lena was mostly ignoring Alex even though she was aware of the other woman's movements. But she was keeping her concentration on her work, which involved taking the DEO's neural inhibitor and making it an amplifier instead. She only hoped that Alex was right and that the way to force Evo from Maggie's mind was to give him more stimuli than he could handle – to cause him pain.

She wished she had more time to study the problem, study the equipment but she also knew that any delay would put Maggie in more danger. Already, her body was going through the same process Alex's did when Evo first touched her, and if it lasted much longer they would have to put Maggie on life support as well. That was the only reason that Lena was hurrying through work she normally would have taken at a snail's pace.

Alex had tried to help her at first, but Lena found her more a distraction than anything else. Alex had not slept since waking from Evo leaving her mind and at this point, Lena was sure Alex was awake on pure adrenaline alone. Kara had tried to get her sister to take a nap at least, but that was a non-starter with Alex.

Lena was beginning to think Alex and Maggie were made for each other – both women were stubborn beyond belief. Of course, Kara had filled her in on what had happened between Alex and Maggie, but the way the two had acted when the other was in danger made Lena see firsthand that there were still feelings there for both of them. But given the differences that broke them up, Lena was unsure what the future would entail for them.

Of course, they would have no future if they didn't save Maggie first.

The other problem Lena was having with all of this was the lack of information. When she worked on a project she wanted to know everything – all the details no matter how small they were or even if someone else thought they were inconsequential.

But Alex wasn't being very forthcoming about how Evo worked in her mind. Lena had wanted to know what Alex experienced while under Evo's influence because there could be something key in that to help Lena now with Maggie. While she understood that it was traumatic for Alex and she was reluctant to speak of it, she still felt like if Alex would open up a little more about it, it would help Lena in the long run. About all Alex would say is that Evo was able to create worlds in your mind that you thought were real – that you experienced as if they were real and knowing the difference between Evo's world and the real world was nearly impossible. Lena had asked Alex how she knew that the world Evo put her in wasn't real and Alex responded, "Our lives are built on our choices – good and bad – but in that world, it's like the choices you made don't matter and they don't matter because the consequences to your actions aren't real. Instead, the consequences are what Evo wants them to be."

Lena had asked for more clarification of what that meant, but Alex again shut down on her.

From what she had gathered though, Evo's control was so strong that it did make everything totally immersive to the one who was experiencing it, which may explain why he was able to subdue his victims so quickly and without them having the chance to fight back because they didn't know they were supposed to be fighting back. Except for Alex who had somehow broken free of him. Lena had asked her about that as well.

"I don't know how I did it," Alex said. "I remember feeling the wrongness of that world after a while and thinking that it couldn't be real. Then it wasn't so much that it couldn't be real – it was I didn't want it to be real. I didn't want the life he was making me live because I just knew that it was wrong. I wanted to return here to the real world. Then I was waking up in that hospital bed and I knew what he had done to me and I felt such anger. I wanted to hurt him."

"Like he hurt you?" Lena said.

Alex nodded.

"Do you think Maggie too will realize the world she is experiencing isn't real?"

"I don't know," Alex responded. "I suppose it depends on what it is that she wants."

"What does that mean?"

"Evo likes to give you what you want or what he thinks you want – at first at least," Alex said.

Lena noticed the expression on Alex's face – an expression of loss and sadness. Again, she wondered what Alex had gone through and what Maggie was currently going through.

"We'll stop him from hurting anyone else ever again," Lena said.

Alex fell silent and even managed to sit still for longer than Lena thought she was capable of, which allowed Lena to get lost in her work over the course of the next hour. It was also why she was a little startled when Alex spoke.

"I need you to do me a favor," Alex said.

"What kind of favor?"

"The kind you aren't going to want to do," Alex said. "But I need you to do it, and if you think it through logically, you should be able to do it. When we do this, when I go back under … if Evo attaches to me again and not the machine brain, I need you to let it happen. Make sure Maggie gets out. That is all that matters. If he gets to me again, it's ok. Don't try this again with Maggie or Kara. Don't let them risk their lives to try and save me again. If he merges with me again, tell my mom that I accepted the risk and it's time to let me go. The important thing is that Evo will be contained. J'onn can make sure he is never given contact with anyone ever again. Will you do that for me?"

Lena knew Alex was being serious about her request. "You know that neither Kara nor Maggie will likely allow that to happen. They won't stand by and let you die."

"They won't have a choice," Alex said. "They can't even try to save me without your help. I'm asking you not to. By all rights, I should have died when they shut off the machines. If he takes me again, I won't fight him this time. He needs to be locked away for all time and if my death is the only way to accomplish that so be it. Don't allow him to do this to someone else by trying to save me."

Lena thought about this. There was no way Kara would just accept Alex's death if she thought there was any way to change the outcome, not to mention Maggie. They were in this position now because Maggie had insisted on doing something to save Alex. But she also knew Alex was right. The danger posed to Evo was too great.

"Your sister will never forgive me if she thinks I could do something to save you and I didn't," Lena said.

"Then you explain to her that there is nothing you could do," Alex said. "Because we both know that if we don't succeed here with this plan, there is nothing else we can do. She will understand that. Just don't let anyone else risk their life for me."

Lena closed her eyes a moment and then looked at Alex. "Ok," she said finally.

"Thank you."

Lena went back to concentrating on her work but paused almost immediately.

"Evo was still connected to you while you were conscious," Lena said, more to herself than to Alex. "That in itself makes you different than his other victims."

Alex wasn't sure where Lena was going with this and she didn't want to interrupt while she saw Lena thinking something through in her mind.

"I think we have been looking at this the wrong way," she said finally.

"How so?"

"We need to attack Evo," Lena said.

"I thought that was what we are doing by trying to amp up what he is feeling."

"Yes, but we were thinking to do that we need to sedate you," Lena said. "What if you do this while awake? That way you can have conscious control over what you are doing and maybe meet Evo on a more even playing field."

Alex hadn't considered doing this while awake – thinking she would need to be put under to gain access to Maggie's mind. But if she didn't have to be asleep, maybe it would give her an advantage.

"Do you think you can set it up that way?"

"I do."

….

Maggie walked out onto the deck of the cabin with her morning cup of coffee. The view was as stunning in the morning light as it had been when they arrived here the night before and she had sat out here enjoying the twilight. It had taken a couple of days to arrange, but she had gotten the time off and was now in their home away from home for the next 14 days. After a bit of debate – Alex voting for the beach – they had settled on this cabin in the woods as their getaway spot.

The plan was for her to rest and relax and hopefully, the symptoms she had been having would go away. She hadn't had any more hallucinations since that last one for which she was grateful. She had read up on post-concussion syndrome and the dangers of head injuries and knew that she needed to take this seriously and heal up. Although, she couldn't remember having had any concussions recently that would have caused this. She had asked Alex about when was the last time she had been injured and Alex had told her that it was probably not just one recent incident that caused it.

She still felt guilty and foolish for thinking that Alex wasn't Alex and instead Evo. Even though Alex had forgiven her for the shooting, Maggie still felt horrible about it.

Alex had been completely attentive to her and her needs throughout it all.

Maggie had let Alex sleep this morning as she had handled the driving to get here – insisting that Maggie shouldn't even drive but instead rest on the way there. Waking up next to her still seemed unreal to Maggie though and wasn't sure why she was having those lingering feelings.

She wondered if she felt that way because even though they were married, Maggie would always feel like it was unbelievable that they found their way back to each other.

She had been hurt badly by Alex's decision to break off their engagement that first time. Back then she couldn't conceive of the idea of them ever getting back together. Even when they had gone through what they had with Evo, she hadn't thought it would ever lead to their eventual marriage. She was sure happy that it had though.

To be with Alex, to be with the woman she loved, to her that was the happiness she never thought she would achieve.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Maggie turned to see Alex leaning against the doorway and she wondered how long she had been standing there.

"Good morning," Maggie said, coming over and kissing her. "For the record, I was letting you catch up on some sleep."

Alex shrugged. "I figure we both get plenty of rest while here." Alex moved to the railing where Maggie had been standing. "You picked a wonderful spot."

"So, you aren't upset we didn't go to the beach?" Maggie asked while joining her at the rail.

"Any destination I get to spend with you is never a bad choice, besides there is a reason we rented a cabin with a hot tub," Alex smiled.

"You are incorrigible."

"I prefer to think of myself as charming."

"I can't disagree with that."

"What shall we do on our first day of vacation?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure," Maggie said. "I don't think I have ever taken an extended break like this."

"If you don't count our wedding and honeymoon you mean," Alex said.

"Of course," Maggie replied, even though she immediately thought about her honeymoon and realized she had forgotten about it. But as soon as she thought about it was like images were coming into her mind about it. She remembered they had gone to Paris because it was the first time she had been out of the country.

Still, the details of it seemed fuzzy to her.

"You ok?" Alex asked.

Maggie looked up at her. "Yeah, just thinking about the honeymoon."

"I can certainly get into that," Alex said kissing her. But almost immediately, Alex pulled away rubbing the side of her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Alex said. "Just a sudden headache."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Alex smiled. "I probably just need some caffeine in me."

"Then let's get you some coffee and then maybe we can take a walk," Maggie said.

"I would like that," Alex responded.

They walked back inside and Alex excused herself to go to the bathroom. Once the door was closed, she looked into the mirror.

"Now what are you up to Alexandra?" Evo said. "You are forgetting that I'm in Maggie's mind now and I can do whatever I want. Plus, I know your feeble plan to get my mind in some artificial brain, and now that I know, it won't work. If you missed me, all you had to do was say so. I do admit that I miss you too. Maggie is not quite as special as you. Although I do plan on having my fun with her and then maybe you and I can reconnect. I know I'm looking forward to it."

Evo/Alex smiled into the mirror as he said it.