Maggie has a heart to heart with someone close to Kara about what it really means to love the Danvers girls then gets an assignment from J'onn she'd rather not have!
Alex was unusually quiet in the car and Maggie could hazard a few guesses as to what was causing her to be so pensive. The redhead kept fiddling with the phone in her hands and worrying her lip until she seemed to come to a decision.
"Winn!" She exclaimed as soon as the call was answered. "Tell J'onn I need to make a stop before I come in."
Maggie was sure she knew where they were headed and her suspicions were confirmed when she took the next turn and Alex didn't correct her. Less than ten minutes later they stood at Kara's door. Alex knocked soundly, knowing if Kara's super-hearing were working she would have already sensed their presence. Both women were surprised when the door finally swung open.
"Alex, Maggie, do come in." Lena greeted them, the Irish lilt more noticeable in her voice first thing in the morning. "I assume you've come to check on Kara. She's still sleeping at the moment, I'm afraid."
"Yeah. I, uh, was headed to the DEO for a follow up and just wanted to check on her." Alex offered feebly as the younger woman greeted her with a gentle hug.
Lena would have no reason to question Alex's excuse as the agent currently stood before her in grey DEO sweats and not her usual all black ensemble. At the moment, the wound on her leg was simply too tender to even attempt a pair of jeans, let alone her uniform.
"Of course." Lena replied with a smile. "I've been doing my best but I'm not sure how effective a nurse I am..." she added with a shrug. Alex spotted Kara cuddled under her favorite blanket on the couch and moved in that direction.
"You're doing great, Little Luthor!" Maggie assured her with a warm smile as she squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure Little Danvers appreciates it."
While the other two chatted amongst themselves, Alex had made her way to the couch. With warm smiles, the woman watched as the elder sibling gently assessed the younger's wounds, whispering comforting words in Kryptoninan as she went. Kara, for her part, failed to stir but seemed to gravitate towards her sister's comforting presence.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Maggie," Lena began as the pair made their way to the kitchen, giving the sisters some much needed privacy. "But you look exhausted!" She exclaimed, taking in Maggie's messy bun and minimal makeup.
Maggie let out a small laugh at Lena's earnest expression! "Have you seen yourself lately? Supergirl pajamas? Really Little Luthor?"
"They were a gift from Kara. She said I needed more 'comfy clothes'." Lena huffed, crossing her arms to hide the crest of El on the t-shirt. There was, unfortunately, no way to hide the bottoms.
"I'm just teasing you." Maggie assured her. "But yeah, I just got home like four hours ago and then Ally got called in."
"Couldn't she go in later for a follow up?" Lena asked, causing Maggie to wince at the lie. Alex didn't seem to want anyone to know why she was called in and Maggie would respect her wishes...for now.
With a smile and a shrug she replied. "I just go where the lady tells me."
Lena nodded absently, her eyes trained on the siblings across the room. Alex had settled on the couch near Kara's head and was gently running her fingers through her sister's golden locks. She was whispering in her sister's native tongue again only this time there was a melodic quality to it.
"Does it ever get easier?" Lena finally asked, so quietly Maggie almost missed it.
"I don't know what you mean..." Maggie was slightly lost at the turn the other woman's mood had taken.
"Watching them go out there and fight...watching them come back..."
"Broken?" Maggie supplied with a sad smile. "I can't say it gets easier but they depend on us, on their family, to help them put the pieces back together."
"It's worth in the end isn't it?" Lena asked, turning to her with hopeful eyes.
"They're worth it in the end." Maggie told her, pulling the young woman into a gentle hug. She released her when she heard Alex approaching. "And so are you." She whispered before pulling fully away.
Lena nodded gratefully, trying without avail to hide her tears. She quickly refocused on Alex. "How is she?"
"All of her wounds are completely healed but her powers still seem off and she's running a bit of a fever. Hopefully, it will break soon. Call us if anything changes?" Alex asked, face full of concern.
"If anything changes." Lena agreed with a soft smile. "Take care of yourself, too?"
"I will." Alex replied, suddenly uncharacteristically shy. "And thanks again, Lena. For being here for her. For a long time we only had each other...it's nice that she has someone else she can depend on."
"It's my pleasure." Lena told her sincerely as Alex hobbled into the hall followed closely by Maggie. "Oh, and Maggie?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for the listening ear."
"Anytime, Little Luthor, anytime."
The atmosphere in the SUV on their way to the DEO was even quieter than it had been on the way to Kara's house. After seeing her sister's condition, Alex seemed even more focused on whatever had spurned J'onn to call her in.
"Hey babe?" Maggie finally broke the silence.
"Hmmm..."Alex was staring out the window, hardly focused on the conversation.
"What was that you were saying to Little Danvers earlier? It was Kryptonian right?"
"Um, yeah..." Alex finally turned to look at her. "The Kryptonian prayer of healing actually. Whenever Kara is sick, it seems to calm her down so I recite it."
Maggie stared at Alex in awe. She knew her fiancée was not particularly religious and yet here she had memorized a prayer, in an alien language, simply to bring her sibling comfort. The detective reached over and took Alex's hand in hers.
"You know, you're really something Danvers." She told her with a dimpled smile.
Alex smiled ruefully. "I'm gonna have to be more than that if I want to protect her from Reign..."
Maggie did her best to keep up with Alex as she limped furiously across the parking lot. The detective had barely placed the SUV in park before the taller woman had hopped out and started heading for the building. By the time they reached the command center, Maggie was out of breath and Alex was already shouting orders.
"What have we got, Winn?" Alex demanded, one elbow on the tech genius' workstation to steady herself.
"A whole mess of crazy!" Winn exclaimed as he brought up multiple screens for her perusal. Maggie finally caught up with her fiancée, cane in hand; in her haste Alex had left it in the car with her.
"Are you sure this is accurate?" Alex leaned closer to the monitors, squinting at the read out. "This doesn't make any sense..." she muttered to herself.
Maggie moved closer but had no idea what she was observing. She could make out a series of energy readings but not much else.
"Somebody wanna explain what we're seeing here? Let's pretend we don't all have PHD's. What are these readings?"
Alex's head snapped up at Maggie's question, pulling the shorter woman closer to the screens.
"You see this?" She pointed to an energy signature that seemed stronger than the rest. "This is the same energy spike we detected when Reign first appeared."
Maggie gasped. "It's Kryptonian?"
"It seems that way at first but this..." Alex pointed to another part of the screen. "This part reads like one of our stasis pods."
"So? It's a Kryptonian stasis pod?" Maggie asked, almost wishing she hadn't put two and two together.
"That's the way it seems." Alex agreed, twisting her lip like she usually did while mulling over a problem.
"Does Kara know?" Maggie asked, genuinely concerned how her future sister-in-law would take the news.
"No." Winn piped up. "I didn't want to alert her until I confirmed my suspicions with Alex."
"Well," Maggie turned back to Alex who was still worrying her lip, deep in thought. "Should we panic now or later?"
"Definitely now." The agent concluded, turning her attention back to Winn. "I don't want you to call Kara yet, she's been through too much lately and I don't want to worry her unnecessarily. Let J'onn know I'm taking a team to check it out and have Hamilton ready the med-bay."
"The medbay?" Winn squeaked. "You're not seriously thinking about bringing it back here?!"
"Oh, I seriously am." Alex countered. "If this thing is what we think it is, it might just hold the key to defeating Reign and her cronies."
"Alex is right." J'onn strode into the command center, arms crossed. "As dangerous as it may be to bring the pod back here, it's even more dangerous to leave it where Reign or even Cadmus can find it."
"Right. Tell Alpha team we move out in ten." Alex turned to head for the armory when J'onn grabbed her arm.
"Just a second Alex. Are you sure you want to keep this from Kara?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, babe. I'm worried about Little Danvers too..." Maggie wasn't sure if it was a good idea to leave Kara in the dark, especially when it involved her heritage.
"I know what you're both thinking but Kara is in a really fragile place, not to mention her powers are still recovering. I just want to know what we're dealing with before I drag my baby sister back into the field."
"Fine." J'onn conceded. "We'll do it your way, for now, but if I deem it necessary, Supergirl comes off the bench. And you are technically on injury leave so I want you to stay in the van until the area is cleared."
"J'onn..." Alex whined but he held up a hand to silence her.
"And I'm sending Maggie along to ensure you stay put."
"Yes sir." Alex growled as she snatched her cane from Maggie and headed toward the armory.
"You do know I don't actually work for you, right?" Maggie retorted with a snort.
"Yes. But I know you worry about Alex; and you and I both know she won't listen to anyone but you, especially with Kara on the sidelines. Sounds to me like you're the best person for the job."
"You got me there." Maggie conceded with a sigh.
"Suit up, Detective." J'onn told her with a small smile. "You're gonna need it."
Maggie groaned as she followed Alex sullenly out the room only to pull up short when her cellphone began ringing. She dug it out of her back pocket, wincing at the name that appeared.
Little Danvers!
With a panicked squeak, she jabbed the end button, sending the call to voicemail. She knew it wouldn't take Kara long to figure out something was wrong but she wasn't ready to face the wrath of both Danvers sisters on so little sleep.
"I should've just stayed in bed..." She mumbled as she stalked after Alex.
Maggie entered the locker room to find Alex already changed into her tactical shirt but staring mournfully at the pants. There was literally no way the slim fitting cargos would fit over her swollen leg and definitely no way for her to wear her beloved thigh holster. Maggie stepped forward and sat on the bench next to her, taking the pants gently from her fiancée.
"Wanna tell me what that was all about back there?" She asked quietly, her voice free of judgment.
Alex shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know... I'm just..."
"Tired, hurting, and worried for your sister." Maggie supplied with a small smile. Alex glanced up at her with a shy smile of her own.
"Yeah, that." Alex replied but didn't elaborate. "We're not gonna be that couple are we?"
"The one who finishes each other's sentences? We did that before we were a couple!" Maggie teased with an even wider smile. "It's okay to be feeling all of that, Ally. But we agreed to be honest with one another and promised not to push each other away. Remember?"
"I do." Alex admitted sheepishly, laying her head on Maggie's shoulder. "And I'm sorry."
"I know you are. Just try not to shoot the babysitter, okay?"
"You told me not to make promises I can't keep." Alex told her with a serious look that quickly cracked into a dopey smile!
"I don't know why I put up with you Danvers!" Maggie huffed, standing to rummage through Alex's locker.
"Because you love me! What are you looking for?"
"Some pants that'll go over that leg. I may like you wandering around in boy shorts but it's not something I want to share with the whole DEO! Aha!"
Maggie turned with prize in hand and moved to kneel before Alex. She gently guided the other woman's injured leg into the pants, mindful of the gauze covering the wound. She repeated the action on the other leg, then motioned for Alex to stand, holding on to Maggie's shoulder to stabilize herself.
"You know usually this goes the other way..." Alex joked seductively as Maggie pulled the pants up to her waist and tightened the drawstring.
"Easy, Danvers." Maggie purred, pecking her softly on the nose. "They'll be none of that until you heal up a little more."
Alex groaned as she leaned back to inspect the pants Maggie had found for her. They were a pair of her baggy yoga capris. The legs of the pants ended just below her wound and were blessedly spacious enough to not press on it. It wasn't her usual look but it would have to do.
"Can I at least wear my boots?" She questioned as Maggie made her sit again.
"Those super heavy, stiff combat boots that you love so well? Absolutely not! Now give me your foot."
Alex pouted as Maggie took one foot than the other and put her black Adidas back on. She had to admit; the soft soles took a lot of the stress off her newly healed skin.
"You can have this though..." Maggie strapped a thigh holster around her fiancées uninjured leg, with her favorite gun already nestled inside.
"Thanks babe!" Alex gushed as she leaned over to kiss Maggie soundly.
"What did I say?" Maggie pulled back with a mock look of indignation. "No, sexy times until you heal up, so stop trying to lure me in with your feminine wiles!"
Alex guffawed at that and Maggie quickly reached back into Alex's locker and grabbed an oversized windbreaker that read FBI. Neither she nor Alex would need a vest since they weren't allowed into the building until Alpha team had cleared it. She took Alex's other holster and strapped it to her leg before turning back to her fiancée.
"You ready?" She asked as she pulled Alex to her feet but kept her arms wrapped around her waist.
"For what exactly?" Alex waggled an eyebrow at her and squeezed her rump suggestively.
"Seriously? You are ridiculous!" Maggie scoffed as she extracted herself from the tall woman's grasp and handed her the cane. "Let's go you. Maybe some action will keep your mind of...yeah, I phrased that wrong. Let's just go!"
"So articulate on three hours sleep..." Alex chided her and Maggie smacked the agent's arm playfully in response.
"This is the worst babysitting job I have ever had." The detective muttered as they joined Alpha team in the parking garage.
"It's a shame you're such a stickler for the rules," Alex whispered in her ear. "Otherwise you might have gotten lucky tonight."
There was a large clatter to their left and both women turned to see Vasquez lying on the ground, rubbing her forehead and blushing furiously. Apparently, Alex had not been as quiet as she assumed and poor Vasquez had gotten so flustered she forgot to watch where she was going!
"Are you okay?" Maggie managed to squeeze out, her laughter threatening to bubble over.
"Yes, ma'am." Vasquez sputtered as she jumped to her feet. "I just thought I heard something..."
"Nothing you care to repeat I assume." Alex stated in her most commanding voice, even though her ears were red with embarrassment.
"No ma'am. Definitely not."
"As you were." Alex watched Vasquez load up before dropping her head into her hand with a groan. "I can't believe she heard that."
"Mmhmm...Now who's too articulate?" Maggie chuckled as she jumped into the van.
