They'd both been quiet since leaving the grocery parking lot both lost in her own tangled thoughts. Maggie hadn't even bothered putting on the radio as she had their first shared trip from the apartment to the store.
Alex even attempting to sing along to a few of the tunes during the drive much to Maggie's amusement.
Now however there was a sour flavor to the air Alex couldn't put her well her paw on, but at least trying to figure out what it was, was distracting from her own nagging guilt at choosing to let Kelly walk away and giving her just a little more time with Maggie.
She might have been foolish enough to have fallen for a simple trap that had first turned her into her current four-legged form, but Alex Danvers was by no means an idiot. She knew that once her true identity was revealed she would only end up hurting both women she cared deeply for.
It would be a downright miracle if either woman spoke to her after this.
"Sad Grace." Maggie notices splitting her focus between the growing line of cross-city traffic and the sulking puppy curled up in the passenger seat. Again, Alex wasn't fooled. She could see it in Maggie's eyes she was grasping at anything she could use as her own means of distraction when the steady flow of cars around them slowed to a crawl if not a full stop at certain points.
"Remember I already called ahead before we left to let them know we're on our way." Maggie reminds reaching one hand over to run her fingers gingerly along the warmed fur of Alex's back "and your Aunty Lin said it would be fine if we were late so long as we stopped by." The human woman promises with an affectionate scratch behind Alex's puppy soft ear. "They are as excited to meet you as Eliza was."
Alex padded her way across the seats a difficult time considering Maggie proving once again to be a wise pet parent had teetered Alex's safety vest to the passenger side seat belt when Alex had made a fuss about having to ride in the backseat so that the best Alex was able to do was stretch as far as she could between the seats, so her head and shoulders ended up nestled against Maggie's thigh. Once her job was complete Alex settled once again with a depressed sounding huff
After a quick glance out at the once again stalled traffic Maggie sighs and reaches over to unbuckle her sulking puppy with a probing. "What's the matter Gracie girl, huh?" as she lifts Alex carefully into her lap.
Alex immediately ducking her head with a guilty whimper to hide her face against her ex's shoulder her paws wrapping tightly around Maggie's shoulders in an attempted hug.
"I'm not Gracie." Alex tries to say, "It's me, it's Alex." She tries to confess but only a soft series of whimpers and half barks leave her throat instead of actual words, but Alex wasn't about to stop now. "and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I've been lying to you, Mags. You don't deserve this to be roped into this." Alex peaks up into Maggie's curious gaze before her shyness and guilt makes her hide once more. "Kelly and I are in a really good place right now. We're happy and I honestly do love her and care deeply for her…"
Alex sighs taking an even deeper breath of Maggie's unique flavor as she presses the smallest of kisses against the dip of her ex's neck "but despite all that she's not you."
Maggie giggles at the act hugging Alex's puppy body a little tighter. "I love you too, goof." She whispers pressing an answering kiss of her own against the top of Alex's head.
"No, you love Gracie, and I'm not Gracie" Alex argues or tries to considering only a growled bark comes out.
Maggie looked like she wanted to say something more but the blast of a car horn from behind their idling car stops her.
Alex's tail wagged in her flash of amusement at Maggie's startled curse as she quickly but gently drops Alex's puppy self back into the passenger seat and puts the car back into drive.
"How about some more music huh?" Maggie offers reaching for the radio controls. "Maybe we'll get lucky with more naked ladies." Alex laughs at the honest hopeful note as her eyes fall on the band's name splashed across Maggie's front laid out in the more periodic way Alex liked.
The sight of her ex still comfortable wearing her clothes despite the painful yet mutual ending of their relationship has Alex's tail thumping in a more honest happiness as the puppy snuggles back up against the House of El shaped dog toy Maggie had picked up for her.
"Hey, Kels." Lena greets as soon as the dark-haired woman finishes pushing the door closed behind herself "are you alright?" the raven-haired woman wonders noticing the expression on the other woman's face as the shopping bag of supplies was dropped carelessly beside the door.
Kelly's eyes dart toward Kara and Alex breathing a small sigh when it seemed only Kara noticed she'd come back. Alex seeming thrilled to use her younger sister's thumb as a chew toy whilst the sisters snuggled together on the sofa leaving some random medical show playing on the sofa.
"I—I ran into…" Kelly starts to say but her eyes move back to the puppy of the woman she loved still swaddled in that damned jacket making the rest of her words stall in her throat.
Not that Kelly could blame Alex after meeting her ex herself.
Maggie was quite beautiful. Even more so in person than in the few pictures she'd seen of the couple Alex had shared during their talk about their earlier relationships before they truly started their own. And given her more puppy like state Alex needed something that made her feel safe when Kara wasn't around to provide her with that grounded scene of security and as much as she was saddened that touch tone wasn't Kelly herself, she was pleased Alex had found that tethering safety whilst the rest of them struggle to find some way of reversing what had been done.
"Kelly?"
Lena's hand rests lightly against her arm startling her as Kelly looks away from the playfully growling puppy version of the woman she loved as Alex tries again to intimidate the rolling ball Kara was batting back towards her as they played.
"I ran into Maggie." Kelly confesses dropping her voice as her eyes meet find Lena's. "and if I don't know better I'd swear her puppy looks just like Alex." She adds in a laugh.
"Maggie's back in town?" Lena asks surprised considering that last she'd heard Alex's ex-fiancée had quickly moved back to Gotham after the breakup.
Kelly nodes "said she missed the place so when a new position opened at the station, she'd worked at her first time here she jumped at the chance to come back." Again, her eyes drift toward Kara and the couch. Alex now giving her an over-the-shoulder smile but that could also have been because Kara had seemed to have found that perfect spot to rub behind her ear. "and apparently she couldn't find a decent vegan catering restaurant in all of Gotham." She continues with another soft laugh as she remembered the few traded bits of conversation the two had shared while they shopped.
"Kelly, hey" Kara smiles as if just noticing the newcomer as Alex hurried toward the collection of shopping bags barking excitedly as she sniffed at them.
"How's our girl?" Kelly asks "any… any change?"
There was an unsettling worry among their friends ever since Alex's run into the storm over the continued absence of her more human mind in favor of her more animal-like one.
Lana shakes her head in a quiet answer to the softly asked question making Kelly's face fall even more.
They were running out of time.
A loud roar has Alex scrambling for cover by pressing her cute puppy face against the crook of Kara's arm with a loud whimper of her own after her sister had jokingly tried to pull the curious puppy away from her happy inspection of the shopping bags Kelly had brought.
"I'll go." Kelly decides seeing the torn look on the blonde's face as she looked between her trembling older sister and the rattling windows.
"M'gann will meet you downtown," Lena promised her phone already at her ear as Kara tries to coax Alex from under the chair, she'd scrambled to on another window rustling roar from outside.
"Let's go punch stuff." Kelly sighed heading for the door.
