So tired so the author's note is going to be short but thank you all for reading, reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supergirl

"How are you doing?" Alex set a cup of tea in front of Kara, the Kryptonian wrapped in a fluffy blanket and curled up on one half of Alex's couch, not reacting as Alex sat beside her.

Since they had arrived, Kara had barely said a word, just quietly let Alex steer her into the shower and emerged half an hour later swathed in Alex's worn DEO training sweatshirt and sweatpants. Alex had made pancakes, really the only thing she was good at making, and Kara had practically inhaled them despite Alex needing to stop her several times to make sure she didn't make herself sick.

And now they sat on a worn couch in a small apartment, fading light seeping from large windows displaying a city lighting up.

It was unreal.

Just hours ago, Kara had thought she was back with CADMUS, that Alex was dead, a day ago she had been bleeding out in a forest as they were hunted day and night. Before that the Kryptonian had been a living experiment in an inescapable nightmare, and before that, she had lost the only family she had left with the backdrop being the loss of her entire planet, her parents, her world...

And now… now they were sitting on a couch.

"Kara?" Alex spoke gently but raised her voice slightly, desperate to slip through Kara's haze and get a glimpse of what was going on in her mind.

Kara started slightly, gaze shifting to Alex for a moment then drifting back away.

Accepting that Kara needed more time, Alex was about to let the girl have some time alone when Kara finally spoke a word.

It took a moment for Alex to realize that the word that Kara had said was not in fact English but Kryptonian.

"I can't translate it well." Kara shifted, finally facing Alex, blue eyes a swirl of emotions. "But it's a word for feeling sad when you should feel happy."

They were silent for a bit.

"English could definitely use a word like that," Alex said carefully, not wanting to push Kara but also wanting to know more. "Kara…" she hesitated then decided to keep going. "You don't have to feel happy. You can be sad."

Kara's brow furrowed slightly at that.

"I should be happy, I'm out of… of there…" Alex couldn't help but notice how Kara never referred to the CADMUS lab as anything but that place. "I'm safe, everything has healed…" Kara examined her hands as though she had never seen them before. "I mean, it's all over and I'm free and I…" Kara looked up at Alex, eyes full of anguish. "I… I just feel empty, Alex."

This, Alex reflected, was the moment people never saw. In a world obsessed with action and noise, it was the devastatingly quiet aftermath of tragedy that was always forgotten, the moments after, the quiet that followed the chaos, the realization day after day that things had changed and could never go back.

Wounds always left a scar, whether or not they were visible.

"Can I please give you a hug?" Alex didn't know if it was even for Kara's sake or her own but she needed to hold Kara close, needed the girl who was her sister, blood or not, to know that while things fell apart, she would be there for her.

Kara's reaction was surprising, the Kryptonian pulling away, but not for the reason Alex initially thought. "No," Kara shook her head, a tear streaking down her cheek. "You're injured and I don't want to hurt you."

"Kara…"
"No!" Kara wrapped her arms around herself, turning away. "Haven't I hurt you enough?" she cried.

"Kara." It was Alex's turn to be at a loss for words. "Why would you say that? You have never hurt me."

"If you were sitting where I am, you would see it, Alex," Kara said quietly, looking steadily at her. "The cuts, the bruises, your shoulder, everything… And the only reason you're here instead of getting medical help is because of me."

"You're right."

Kara looked up surprised at Alex's agreement but the agent wasn't finished.

"The only reason I'm here is because of you, Kara. The only reason I'm alive is because of you." Alex took Kara's hands and held them in hers. "You saved my life. And it was my own choices that put me in danger; it's always been a possibility with my job. But you… you never had a choice, Kara. And yet you did choose to put yourself in danger to help me. If only you could see things from where I am sitting… you would see it too." Slowly Alex put her arm around the Kryptonian's thin shoulders and drew her close, holding her tight as she began to shake. "It's okay to feel empty, Kara. You don't have to be alright just because we're safe now."

Kara was clearly crying, soft sniffles breaking Alex's heart. "I never wanted to be the one who survived," Kara sobbed, burying her face in Alex's shoulder, finally accepting the agent's comfort. "I want it to stop hurting, Alex. But it never will, whether I'm free or trapped, healthy or injured... If anything, it hurts more now."

"Oh Kara." Alex kissed the top of her head, hearing herself in Kara's words. "I'm so sorry. You'll always love and miss your family and they will always be a part of you. It's okay to give room to the sadness you feel and even though it will always hurt, I promise it will get better. As you work through your grief, you'll also find yourself again. But it's okay to be where you are and feel what you feel."

It was quiet for a moment then Kara tearfully asked, "Did you?"

"Did I…?"

"Find yourself again. After your dad died, I mean."

Suddenly tears pricked the back of Alex's eyelids. "It took a long time and I destroyed a lot of things in the process. But I did and I still am. It's a process that you have to take one day at a time. Some days you might not be able to face it all and that's okay. Other days, the world will brighten and that's okay too. It's okay to be sad and it's okay to be happy. You can be exactly where you are."

Kara stilled beside her, breathing slowing as she relaxed. "Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here?"

Alex hugged her tight. "I wouldn't have you anywhere else. Sisters have to stick together, right?"

Kara pulled back to look at Alex, examining her as if searching for any indication that the agent might be lying. Alex seemed to pass the test, a tiny smile appearing on Kara's face.

"Right."

A soft knock jerked Alex out of her slumber, the agent sitting straight up on the couch she had fallen asleep on.

Ouch. Pain brought her the rest of the way to awareness and she winced, her shoulder and ribs reminding her to make slow movements. At the other end of the couch, Kara was still curled up in a gigantic fluffy blanket.

She must be absolutely exhausted.

Running a hand through her hair then deciding not to care, Alex headed to the door, pausing first to peer out the peephole and see who was there.

J'onn.

Alex heaved a breath of relief and reached for the latch of the door. Her fingers had just brushed cool metal when a suddenly she was being pushed back, a form filling the space between her and the door.

"He's here." Kara's eyes were wide and panicked. "Get out of here, Alex, I'll hold him off…"

"Kara, it's okay…" Alex reached out her good hand to steady the Kryptonian, completely confused. "It's okay, we're safe…" She wondered if perhaps the girl was still in the midst of a nightmare.

"Alex, get back!" Kara was trying to steer Alex away while also clearly trying to be careful not to aggravate the agent's injuries. "It's him, he's going to take us back, you have to get away…."

"Who? Who is it, Kara?" Alex grabbed Kara's hand, attempting to stabilize her as the alien's breathing hitched to an impossible level.

"...Him… It's him…" Kara's eyes were wild and unseeing as she cringed away from Alex's touch.

"Alex, it's J'onn at the door. What's going on?" J'onn's voice slid into Alex's mind in the midst of the chaos.

"Stay there and don't do anything." Alex had to focus on the stream of words that were coming from Kara and try to figure out what on earth had triggered the girl's reaction.

"He's right there!" Kara was still pulling Alex away from the door as she pointed at it.

Right, X-ray vision. She's looking at J'onn but why…

"Kara it's just J'onn, my boss. I told you about him, he's nice, I promise."

"No." Kara was shaking her head vehemently. "No he is not. That's the man. The man from the place. Please, Alex. We have to get out of here…"

"J'onn, I need some help…" Alex wasn't going to be able to get to the door with a panicked Kryptonian clinging to her.

"Got it. Coming in now…"

However when the door was forced open to reveal J'onn in his human form, Kara's reaction was instantaneous, the young woman recoiling before moving protectively in front of Alex. However in her frantic movement, Kara had jarred Alex, who was unable to stifle a cry of pain as her shoulder and ribs sent knives of pain through her body.

"Alex!" J'onn took a step forward, stopping as Kara snarled Krytponian words at him and moved into a fighting position.

"Kara, it's okay!" Alex managed to get to her feet and in front of Kara. "J'onn can you take a step back, she won't hurt me."

"Alex, get back!" Kara was pulling Alex behind her again, standing protectively in front of her despite her obvious fear. "This is a very evil man, from that place." Her eyes were beginning to glow red and Alex knew she had to diffuse the situation, fast.

"J'onn, you need to shift to your Martian form," Alex ordered J'onn. She had no idea what was going on but Kara clearly thought J'onn was someone he wasn't. "Kara," Alex tried to get the Kryptonian's attention. "Kara, he's not that person. This is J'onn, my boss, the one I told you about…"

Before them, J'onn shifted into his Martian form, face broadening, skin tinting green, and eyes glowing red.

Kara froze. "I…" she looked from J'onn to Alex with confusion. "I don't understand."

"Henshaw." J'onn's expression cleared with understanding as he looked at Kara. "You thought I was Henshaw."

Alex felt suddenly exhausted as the tension in the room faded. She had no idea what was happening - Henshaw was long dead - but what mattered was that J'onn was getting through to Kara, who finally let her move out from behind her.

"You are the Green Martian," Kara said slowly, staring at J'onn. "You are not the human."

"I am not." J'onn took a cautious step forward and although Kara tensed, she didn't react otherwise. "I am sorry for what you must have experienced at his hand."

"You have to explain this to me later," Alex sent the thought J'onn's way, to tired to try to keep up.

Kara did not look completely convinced. "Why do you take his form, shape-shifter?" Her voice was slightly accusatory and her Kryptonian accent strengthened as her words grew in formality.

"It is only out of necessity," J'onn dipped his head. "I must use this form to protect the aliens on this earth. I had thought that the man whose form I took was dead; I only found out recently that he survived and was hurting aliens."

Kara's blue eyes were piercing as she stared J'onn down, an air of regality that Alex hadn't seen before accompanying her posture.

"You say was not is," Kara's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at J'onn. Hadn't Kara said her mother was a judge? Alex could definitely see it.

"Wait, Henshaw is alive?" Alex couldn't stop herself from jumping in. There was only so much confusion she could take.

"That's why I'm here," J'onn looked away from Kara for the first time, glancing at Alex. "It was a long hard fight but we were able to gain control of the CADMUS facility."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief but Kara just looked confused.

"Henshaw was alive but died in the fight. He is no longer a threat."

"Luthor?" Alex stepped forward and J'onn just shook his head.

"She got away," J'onn's voice rang in her mind. "Completely vanished."

"Shit."

"I don't understand…" Kara's brow was puckered.

"The place we were at," Alex grabbed Kara's hand. "It's been shut down by J'onn and our team and the people have been arrested. They won't be able to hurt anyone else."

Kara didn't outwardly react to the news, standing still for a moment before turning to J'onn. "I must claim the body of my aunt, I ask that you release it to me from that place."

J'onn tilted his head respectfully. "We will do everything we can to do so."

"Excellent. Let us go," Kara stepped forward.
"Whoa, not right this second…" Alex tugged gently on Kara's hand. "Kara, they are going to need some time and… and…" Alex swallowed, not wanting to tell Kara that they might not have found the body and if they did, they didn't know what state it would be in.

Kara's mask of formality cracked slightly, tears welling up.
"Alex… she has to find peace."

"I know." Alex pulled Kara into as tight of a hug as her battered body could manage. "She will, soon. And you deserve peace too. They'll let us know when they have an update but we can't go down there, I don't think either of us is ready for that."

Kara clung to Alex as soft sobs wracked her body and over her shoulder Alex made eye contact with J'onn.

"How are things looking at the lab? Were there any alien survivors?"

J'onn's face grew tired, expression grim. "Not nearly enough. We'll try to find Kara's aunt but there's a lot of… destruction… to sort through."

That was about as much detail as Alex was ready to hear and so she just held Kara tighter. She desperately tried not to imagine alien bodies, desperately tried not to think about how close Kara had been to being one of them.

It was over. It was over and Kara was safe.

But really, Alex knew that for both of them, it would never really be over. Instead it would be a part of her story, Kara's story, forever. What that meant, Alex didn't really know. But she did know that she wasn't going to let Kara go through it alone.

Not again. Never again.

Awww.

I am hoping to continue exploring the complex emotions Kara and Alex would have after such a traumatic event. Kara, I think, at this point wouldn't even know how to exist, an idea I'm hoping came across in this chapter. I'm really interested into delving into the complexity. Thanks for hanging in there and for the ideas of scenes to happen! Keep them coming :)

Until next time!

~silverliningineachcloud