Winn
"No Lucy, you have to come back to base – It's Alex," the words were tumbling out, but now came to a stop – his eyes fixed on the symbol coming to an abrupt halt, right above the conflict happening in the streets. "Her subdermal tracker just came online."
That was fifteen minutes ago. Lucy had immediately told him she was on her way and hung up. The dessert base was an hour from the city, but Winn figured Director Lane on a mission would cut that down significantly.
They didn't have eyes on the street, and both J'onn and Supergirl had gone radio silent during the fight. It seemed like damage to the comms, so Winn wasn't too worried about that – he'd sent in DEO reinforcements already. What made Winn's heart slam against his chest was that, right smack dab in the middle of the action, Alex Danvers' icon steadily blinked.
She'd seemed to have super-sped into the location of the battle – Winn figured she must be on a bike. A very, very, fast bike. And then she'd stopped. For 218 second, Winn had watched her icon just blink in the street. Then it started to move, this time at a much more normal pace.
Winn watched, wide eyes, whole body tense, as the icon blinked all the way along the street. He tuned into the NCPD chatter, listening for the icon meeting the blockade they'd set up. No officer reported anyone coming out of the restricted zone and the icon just kept moving steadily towards them.
Shock finally seemed to wear off when the icon reached the DEO's block. It paused. Another light flashed on the command center monitor.
"Agent Schott, someone is trying to access our North-facing entrance with an expired security code," Agent Lewis reported, looking to Winn for instruction.
"Let them in," Winn whispered, eyes now locked on the year-old code that once belonged to Agent Danvers.
"Sir?"
"Open the doors!" He snapped, coming around the central console so he could actually see the main elevators. He didn't even care what protocol or national security breach he was creating. He didn't care about anything, not in the entire universe, except this dot. J'onn could fire him.
The elevator light flashed on – it was coming up.
Winn's heart felt like it was beating out of his chest, slamming so hard against his rib cage he could feel it in his throat. His throat that was tight with emotion he couldn't even begin to describe. Like… panic mixed with fear and hope. Overwhelmed. That's what he felt. Scared to believe.
The doors dinged.
Winn took two steps forward.
The doors opened, and tears immediately burned in his eyes.
Standing at the elevator doors, one hand gripping a black helmet, the other pressed against her own ribs, was his sister.
His precious tablet shattered against the floor. He didn't even tell his feet to move – one second he was standing three meters away, the next he was skidding across the tile, colliding bodily with Alex Danvers, in all her grimy, bloody glory.
She stumbled back, just a step, before catching his weight in the hug. And for a long, still moment, they just stood there. Both her arms were over his shoulders. One of his was around her waist, the other reaching up so that his fingers caught in her collar. He just pressed his face to her shoulder and breathed in the smell of leather and dust and Alex.
They stood there for whole seconds. The DEO, Lincoln, her injuries, nothing else mattered. It was a world in of itself, where the siblings stood wrapped in a hug so tight it should have hurt.
"Winn," she breathed into his neck, squeezing just a bit tighter for a second before pulling back enough to look at him. Both of her hands slipped around to press palms against his cheeks, her fingertips just touching the hair behind his ears. Her forehead was pinched with the effort of not crying, eyes rimmed red. He knew he wasn't fairing much better.
"You're alive," he half sobbed, fingers digging into the dense leather-like material. "You're here."
"I told you I would come home," she choked back, touching their foreheads for a brief moment.
"We thought-" his breath shuddered out of him, as well as his ability to speak.
"I know," she whispered, running her thumbs under his eyes. She allowed them another moment, just to breath in the fact that he was here, that he was safe and alive and under her fingers. That she was home. But her ribs were protesting, and Linc was hurt, there were still two White Martians out there and her ship was currently un-Captained, god-knows where, with her daughter still aboard.
"Okay," she inhaled, clearing her nose, the sound giving away how close to tears she was. She gave him a last smile before stepping back a little.
Only then did Winn notice that there was another person in the elevator. He was pressed against the back wall, leaning heavily on the corner. He'd not made a sound, no one had, during their moment, but it was clear that he was hurt.
"Can you help us up to medical?" Alex asked, already reaching back to sling one of the huge dude's arms over her shoulder.
"Yeah, sure," he wiped her face roughly, sniffing and smiling and feeling his chest balloon with emotion. "Okay, come here big guy."
Lucy
She'd counted as she drove. 49. She broke 49 laws on her way to the DEO – assuming speeding was counted as one. If you added willfully reckless speeding, she was approaching 78 incidents. That was how she kept from cracking. She counted and tried to remember the associated penalty.
Her subdermal tracker just came online.
It had echoed in her head. Over and over.
Her subdermal tracker just came online.
Her subdermal tracker just came online.
Her subdermal tracker just came online.
It made driving hazardous. But there was nothing in heaven or hell that would have kept her from getting in this car.
She'd shaved the normally 30 minutes of straight dessert driving down to 15 – the car had protested at the treatment, but Lucy literally could not care less. She'd jammed on the sirens at city limits – 20 minutes on a good day through this part of the city. She did it in 10.
Oh, 80 laws. She was double parked, and there was a fire hydrant.
The DEO could bill her.
She smashed the 'up' button on the elevator, mentally calculating that, unfortunately, running the steps to the 30th floor would not be faster than however long this took. The elevator lit up – it's coming down.
Her heart felt like it was in her throat. When she looked down, she noticed that her hands were shaking – in fact her whole body was trembling. The elevator door opened.
Some distant military part of her brain noted that the elevator was a mess. The floor was filthy, dust and dirt tracked in by military treaded boots. There was even a blood stain at the back wall. The 30th floor button was grimy – so it was a DEO employee. Her Director mind told her to write someone up for using the front entrance in this state.
The elevators dinged open, with that annoying upbeat ding.
She stepped through the doors, suddenly weary.
She could see Winn's tablet shattered, face down on the ground. Several Agents were standing around, whispering to each other. When they noticed her, every single one of them got wide-eyed. The entire room was staring at her.
"Ma'am," McCarthy stepped forward. "You might want to go up to medical."
Go up to Medical.
Medical
Medical
Lucy contemplated that her brain was broken. Which would be bad – lawyers invested a lot of money and time in their brain. Good thing she was going up to medical.
Suddenly more cautious – more terrified, more panicked – Lucy took to the stairs. It was at the top that her brain really did short circuit.
Because, just as she reached the top stair, she stepped out. Full tac suit, the profile of her head revealing a scarred undercut, red hair slicked away from her face. Grit, grim, blood covered her, but she was still standing tall. Sensing someone's eyes on her, the figure turned, whiskey eyes meeting hers and widening.
Alex.
Alex.
Alex. Alex. Alex.
"Alex," she whispered, and then bolted up the last of the stairs.
Fortunately, her girlfriend always had good reflexes, because catching a grown ass woman running at full speed is something that would put most guys on their backs. As it was, Alex just stumbled a few steps, arms automatically coming around to support her weight as Lucy's legs hooked around her waist.
"Hey Lane," she murmured, eyes still wide. "Miss me?"
"Shut up," and then they were kissing. Lucy's fingers pressed into the back of her head, feeling the soft short hair and scarring there. She was warm under her palms, her lips familiar. She tasted different – more minty then she'd ever remembered. But it was Alex. She turned her head just right, and her fingers found purchase on the small of her back just so, and she breathed a laugh into her mouth, just like she used to.
Lucy didn't realize she was crying until she pulled back and could see the half trails on Alex's face. "Are you real?" She whispered; foreheads pressed together, not dropping her hands.
"I think if this weren't real, my ribs wouldn't be hurting so much," she whispered back. And instead of putting down the whole person she was holding up while seriously injured, she leaned forward and captured her lips again.
Eventually, reality seeped into their little bubble. The sound of the medical equipment beeping, the whispers of Hamilton talking to someone, the eyes of the entire DEO on them. Lucy pulled back just an inch, slowly dropping her feet to the ground, but neither of them let go of the other. Lucy just kept running her thumbs over Alex's cheeks, eyes fixed on the woman she'd finally accepted she would never see again.
"You're hurt?" She was still whispering. If she raised her voice, she might wake up from this dream.
"Only a little," and she had the audacity to hold up her hand, thumb and forefinger held mere centimeters apart. Smiling.
Lucy felt her heart just swell. It was Alex, in all her stupid, adorable, glory.
"Do you need to get looked at?"
"It can wait another minute," she sighed, pressing her forehead against Lucy's again.
"Actually, it really shouldn't," Hamilton cut in, even though her voice was undercut with her own happiness at her most annoying patients return.
Sighing, Alex pulled away, looking into the medical center. "I've survived worse."
"And yet, I insist," the older women responded, gesturing at the medical bed next to Lincoln's.
Suddenly, Alex's gaze was on hers again. Her heart really was taking a beating today.
"You okay if I get checked out?"
Lucy nodded, but found that she could take away her hands, currently occupied with the looser fabric of whatever armor Alex was wearing.
"Come on," Alex reached down and pried her fingers off, linking their hands instead.
In the examination room, Alex hesitated. "Do you want a more private room?" Standard question with an injury like this – still Alex flinched just minutely.
Shaking her head, she used her free hand to unknot the bottom and then dig under the diagonal seam of her armor. She was using her false arm, so it came away easily, the strings binding the edges pulling away.
Once the shirt was loose, she gave Lucy a soft smile, carefully extracting her fingers from the too tight grip so she could shrug off the heavy top.
The material was stiff, by design, so it always took some awkward shrugging to remove. But Lucy was already stepping behind her, lean fingers pulling the jacket from the collar and then each of the sleeves, so the whole thing came away more smoothly. Faster than she wanted.
"Thanks," she murmured, turning her head. Lucy only responded by placing a kiss at the base of her neck, over her Exodus standard T-shirt.
Alex spared herself one look at her bad arm, relieved to see that while she could feel something was damaged, the cloaking mechanism was operational. It still looked like a normal, human arm. One conversation at a time.
Lucy watched as Alex hesitated with her remaining layer. Which was never something she'd seen in this context. Sure, when they'd started sleeping together, Alex was far from the most comfortable stripping away clothes (hers and others). But in the DEO? At work? She'd seen Alex strip off her shirt in the field, just to get at an injury she could fix herself.
She seemed to take a deep breath, fortifying herself, before reaching behind her neck and dragged the dark grey shirt over her head.
Lucy was suddenly glad she was still standing behind her girlfriend, because even years of Court had not prepared her poker face for this.
The first thing Lucy's eyes comprehended was that, running from the nape of Alex neck, right down to the small of her back, was some kind of tattoo. Well, obviously a tattoo – a line of planets, various sizes and designs, carefully painted down her spine. The only thing interrupting it was some kind of chest binding in lieu of a bra. What was strange was it was nothing like what she'd seen on army personnel – it didn't have that distinctive line of tattoo ink. Instead it more closely resembled watercolor, or chalk, the lines more intricate yet blurry, deliberately running together.
It was… beautiful, and Lucy couldn't resist the urge to touch a finger to it, over a particularly intricate planet which rested approximately where Alex's heart was located. The women's entire spine straightened and tensed at the contact, so Lucy dropped her hand like it was burned.
The next thing she noticed was only because it was right at her eye line (the stupid tall women). The entire length of Alex's right shoulder was scarred – and not with battle wounds. Alex had always been littered with them, had never backed down from explaining her badges of honor. But this was different.
Almost the entire length of her right shoulder, from where her neck curved right through to the point where it tipped into her arm, was covered in lacerations. They were evenly spaced, about three inches long, each stopping at the exact same point on her shoulder blades. It looked like someone had taken a knife and deliberately placed over a dozen parallel lines, painstakingly, carefully. Lucy could even just see the freckles that used to litter the skin instead underneath – it made her eyes prickle.
From her angle, following the trail of scars, Lucy could see that there was something large and elevated on her right shoulder. She couldn't see what it was from where she stood, just the way the flesh was raised up and still red made her stomach turn just a little.
Taking one, silent breath, Lucy leaned forward again, placing another kiss exactly where she had when Alex was still dressed. Letting her lips linger, she felt Alex relax, just an inch, and smiled.
At least that hadn't changed.
"Okay," oh right – they were not alone. "Can you sit?"
Alex nodded, and Lucy stepped to the side, allowing her to step back and lift herself onto the bed. Lucy felt her eyes automatically taking in the lines of muscle down her arms – triceps and biceps popping pleasantly. Alex smirked, just a little, before turning back to the doctor.
"You weren't kidding about the wall," Hamilton muttered, already probing at the still growing black and purple bruising blooming around Alex's left side.
"I think I still won though," she smiled back, letting her poke and prod, making displeased humming noises.
"You need an x-ray, but we can wait for Super-" Alex's eyes doubled in size.
"No! No," she shook her head a smidge too vigorously. "I would very much not like Supergirl to x-ray me if that is at all possible. Please."
"Um," Lucy and the doctor shared a look, before the older women nodded. "Okay? Well, I can go and set up the machine now, if you can wait a minute?"
"Of course, take your time." Still frowning, the doctor left the room, glancing back exactly once at her old colleague.
"Cap," the fourth person in the room suddenly interrupted. Lucy didn't even turn to look at him, terrified that if she took her eyes off Alex she'd vanish in a puff of smoke. "Scot is asking for you."
"My comm is in my helmet, pass me yours?" She held out a hand, accepting the small mic and slipping it into her ear. "Sitrep?" A long pause. "Good, okay, don't reengage. Get back here, keep the cloak up. Is Ky- Yes, thank you." A relaxing of shoulders Lucy hadn't even noticed were tense. "Is Maggie-" Lucy ears perked. "Yes, thank you. Let me know when you're sending her down, yeah? Good, okay."
Alex tapped her ear, ending whatever conversation she'd been having. Rolling her neck, she gave Lucy a smile. "Eyes are up here Lane," she joked, and Lucy's head snapped back up.
While there was definitely some scaring worth talking about on Alex's torso, what had been occupying her eyes were the abs. Which… Alex had always been the most muscular of the three of them but fuck what had she been doing the last year?
Lucy stepped back into her space, suddenly cautious of the clearly hurt women. The colorful bruising was stark against her still pale skin.
"Com'ere," Alex muttered, reaching out and taking her hand, tugging her until she was standing between the Agent's legs. Lucy allowed herself to be led, letting her hands clench on the still covered thighs.
"Are you really here?" She murmured, one hand coming up to scratch at the short hair behind Alex's head.
The red head gave a soft chuckle, gently taking both of her hands and placing a kiss the knuckles. "I'm not going anywhere Lane."
Maggie
Maggie had sat with M'gann for what felt like an hour. It was hard to judge time, without any windows, and her phone was still in her car… wherever she'd left that. So, she was just left to wait, elbow resting on the bed, the free hand clasped around her friend's. Thinking.
She was always into puzzles as a kid. Mysteries. She read them by the boat load growing up, still kept a collection of her favorites. Used to make her papá proud – he'd tease that she'd grow up to be just like him. Working the streets, unraveling crimes. Which, she guessed, was true.
But it was that same trait that was making it impossible for her mind to settle.
Everything is connected.
It had to be. It just felt like one too many things. Then two too many. Now, like… four too many. Why did Ky save Supergirl? Why is there a ship filled aliens in National City? Why does she recognize one of them? Why is that ship filled with Green Martians, supposedly an extinct species? Why was M'gann here? Around and around the merry go round.
The key to most mysteries is in the mundane.
The echo of her father's voice, with all the complexity associated with that, suddenly rang in her ears. What were the ordinary details? What was she missing? What was the most basic detail she didn't have about this ship? These aliens?
Usually, her favorite mystery books are ones with all the pieces, yet the hero can't figure it out. As a reader, it is fantastic when everything seems connected, so close to the tip of your tongue, but it can't be solved. As a real person, out in the world, actually aboard a spaceship evading attack by an alien, less fantastic.
In those books, it is always that there is one vital piece of information – one thing the hero can't know yet. Not until the climax, that last moment where the tension builds. Maggie had the inexplicable thought that this was that moment. The moment before the mystery unraveled itself, and the reader got the satisfaction they waited 64,040 words for.*
"We have arrived back in National City and will be deboarding our Martian patient momentarily. Please stand by until we have further instructions from the Captain."
The Martian in question turned out to be M'gann, because Vik was suddenly back at the didn't knock, but she hesitated outside for a moment, uncertain. Maggie'd been around enough aliens to know that every planet had its own customs, so she waved her in, just in case.
Vik stepped in, translucent-ish skin glowing under the harsher white lights of the room.
"We have been instructed to take her to the DEO medical facilities. J'onn J'onzz wishes to remain on board with our other guest until he is ready to disembark. Would you like to stay with him, or join myself and Ms. M'orzz?"
"I told him I'd stay with her."
"Alright, it will take me a few moments to prepare her for transport – you should go ahead."
It was jarring –this was the first time the women had given an instruction. Everything else had been an option, a question. This, Maggie understood, was an order.
Nodding, she only paused to place her palm once over M'gann forehead, trying to impress her love for her friend before she left. Meanwhile, Vik watched with fascination; eyes glued to the human who seemed to care so much for a creature that could kill her in an instant. When she was done with whatever ritual she undertook, she stepped away from the bed and gathered her jacket.
"You can find your own way out?" The Detective nodded, going back the way they'd come.
She noted, as she passed through the infirmary, Drew was gone but the other was still laid out, now with various wires screwed into him. Ra was standing at the foot of his bed, knuckles going white on its frame.
"Detective Sawyer, I've been tasked with teleporting you down," he said, not moving from the bed.
"Is… everything okay?" She eyed the downed man and the alien who transported her into this ship.
"He is my… other? My," he looked up and to the side. "Other piece? Part? My apologies, I did not spend much time on earth."
"You've been to Earth before?" Another piece.
He hummed in response, finally jerking away from the bed. "I will take you down now. You have much below." Weird, but this day was basically a fever dream, so she wasn't about to invite further comment.
He led her through the same hallway as before, back into the room that they entered. He directed her to stand in approximately the middle of the room.
"Hey," Maggie called, just as he was about to start typing into whatever it was this machine was. "I'm sorry, about your partner," she nodded her head back towards the infirmary. "I know how hard it is, seeing someone you love hurt in the line of fire."
The alien finally gave a half smile, one of solidarity. "Oh, I have no doubt you understand this pain Maggie Sawyer." Then he pushed his buttons and she was covered in pins and needles.
The moment solid ground was beneath her feet again, Maggie found herself shaking out her arms. That was a deeply unpleasant experience. But it seems to be effective, because she was suddenly standing on the balcony of the DEO.
Rubbing her face one last time she walked towards the steps, looking down into central command.
There was a… weird energy in the DEO. Which is saying something, because this place literally hunts aliens and hires people willing to hunt aliens. Every Agent had wide eyes, fixed on her from where they stood. Maybe because of the teleporting thing? And she couldn't see Winn anywhere, which was odd because he was supposed to be running the op.
She caught the eye of the nearest Agent as they walked down the righthand stairs opposite the infirmary. "Hey have you seen-"
"Maggie," electricity splintered up her spine. It buzzed at the base of her neck, making all the hairs stand on end. Her breath caught in her chest. Her mind ceased to whirl. The Agent she'd stopped scuttered away.
Breathing out a shuddered breath, Maggie slowly turned.
"Hey you," Alex Danvers murmured, standing mere steps away, still one step from the bottom.
"Alex?"
She stepped down the last stair, one more step closer to her.
"You know, when I pictured this moment, I always thought you'd say 'Danvers.'"
That did it – that broke whatever spell was keeping her bound to the spot. Broke the dam of emotion tied up in the very real thought that Danvers was standing in arms reach. Was standing there looking a little worse for the wear, but alive and smiling and too awkward to make the first move. So, Maggie did.
Stepped right into her space, she pressed one hand to the underside of her jaw, pinky and ring finger curling under her chin while her thumb rested on the corner of her mouth. She held the woman's face there – eyes searching for a flaw. For a mistake. For the universe to magically smack her down.
Her free hand tangled in the untied portion of her outfit, her thumb stroking from her cheek to her lips.
"Are you real?" Because she'd had this dream. And today was already bizarre. Who fucking knows in the life they lead – maybe she hit her head on her way to work this morning, and this is some elaborate hallucination designed to completely devastate her.
"Why does everyone keep asking that?" She murmured back, eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled. And just like that, with that smile, half awkward half awed - the look she'd set on her the night they first kiss… something unspooled in Maggie's chest.
"Alex," and she pulled her down into a kiss. And it was like being pulled back in time – Maggie felt both her hands slip behind her neck, pulling the taller women down to her. She felt how she was surprised, how she made the smallest of sounds against her lips. Felt how Alex took a second to move her own hands, and when she did, they tangled in the edges of her jacket.
And just like then, Maggie felt her heart expand – felt her world narrow and converge. Felt herself falling in love all over again.
"So," Alex didn't open her eyes immediately when they separated, but when she did, they were bright. "You're saying you like me?"
Maggie felt herself smile, full dimples and all. Felt herself laugh. Felt herself pressing her hands against Alex's shirt, between the untied jacket, feeling the heartbeat under her palms.
"You two are such dorks for each other," Lucy had aimed for quippy, but landed somewhere in the vicinity of affectionate. She'd been entirely unable to let Alex out of her sight, even when she'd been informed that Maggie was being sent down. So, she'd gotten the distinct pleasure of watching her girls reunite – filling her with a particular brand of warmth she'd almost forgotten existed.
"You're one to talk Lane," Maggie responded, still unable to take her eyes off Alex.
"Oh, 100%. She practically tackled me," she explained, reveling in how Maggie's dimples popped with her laughter.
"Pfffft, did not."
Alex turned her head to look back up at Lucy, now only a few steps above them. "I'm sure Winn has the footage somewhere, if you wanted to-" The Director cut her off, smacking her hand over her mouth.
"Shut up," Luck snarked back, smiling despite herself. Alex only quirked an eyebrow, placing a kiss on the offending hand before she removed it. There was a pause where Lucy looked down on her girls, and Maggie stared up at Alex and Alex just smiled. "I missed you," and then Lucy was pressing herself into the two of them.
Alex stepped back half a step, giving herself enough room to wrap both arms around them, pulling the triad into a tight, shuddering hug. And she held her girls for the first time in four years – as hard and as soft as should could.
Ky
The triad remained in that hug for as long as they could, as long was appropriate, as long as was necessary. But then Lincoln was saying something from his room, and Winn was speaking into his comms to the dessert base (something about Supergirl being there?) and the moment broke.
Alex stepped back, but not away. She tapped something in her ear and listened to whomever was on the other side for a moment, head turned away.
Lucy took the moment to tug Maggie closer, pressing her face against the leather of her jacket as the Detective continued to stare at Alex. "She's here."
"It doesn't seem real…"
"I know."
"How low is her pressure? Okay, get- Yeah… yeah- she's a White Martian Vik, she doesn't- would you just- okay, fine. Just please do it down here, not on board a ship that's illegally hovering over a human city?" Alex argued, just a step away. "Thank you- do you need- well- fine, fine! You win."
Tapping her ear again, she turned back to the couple. "Luce, do you mind if I bring M'gann down here?"
Lucy shrugged. "Of course."
"Is it okay if I bring down my trauma medic?"
Lucy arched an eyebrow, but acquiesced. It's not like her secret government base was much of a secret if Maggie was beamed directly into it from their ship already. On that note. "You have a trauma medic?"
Alex's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out immediately. "Ah… yeah. I mean, she trained under me and kind of… works for me?"
Lucy's eyes narrowed, and she straightened just a little. "Works for you?"
"It's a long, long story, but yeah. For me."
"You should not be so uncomfortable with the phrase, Alex Danvers," Lucy and Maggie jerked around to see that Vik and M'gann (in a mobile hospital bed) had been beamed onto the deck. "I am honored to work under you."
"For Vik," Alex immediately correct, raising a hand in front of her. "For, not under."
"Why would I not want to be under you?" Vik asked, blinking white eyes slowly. "You are very skilled."
"Just… never mind," Alex winced, looking at the amused smiles of her girls from the corner of her eyes. "How's Ky?" Genuine, real, deep concern edged her voice, and Maggie felt another puzzle piece land on the table.
"She was injured but is resting now. She will be fine within the light. You need not worry."
Shoulders relaxing just an inch, Alex turned back to the patient at hand. "Can you just make sure she stays stable? Just go up the stairs, to the left. You can set up next to Lincoln."
Vik didn't move, eyeing her Captain carefully. "Do you need medical attention?"
"I'm fine."
Vik frowned, looking at Alex, then the women standing behind her. "That is incorrect."
"Just," Alex exhaled loudly, pinching her nose. "I'm fine for now, okay?"
Vik nodded agreeably, and after corralling some Agents, M'gann was taken to be observed, her alien doctor a step behind.
"You're hurt?" Maggie took a half step forward, hands raised uncertainly.
"Hamilton already checked me out. A fractured rib, bunch of bruising, but nothing major – you don't have to worry." But Maggie would always worry – would worry for the rest of their lives because Alex was gone. "But do you mind if we sit? It's been…" She rubbed at her face, thinking about the last time she slept. "A long week."
Maggie didn't respond verbally, just reaching out and tangling her fingers with Alex's tugging her down the stairs with her and Lucy.
Alex had to work not to stare at everything she passed. Not to get caught up in the details of the DEO she'd forgotten. Not get caught up in what she'd missed.
But then Maggie was pressing her into a chair. Lucy leaned her hip against it, fingers tangling in the ends of the longer part of her hair, while Maggie dragged a wheely chair over, settling so she could keep a hand on Alex's knee, finger's tangling together again.
Then Winn was there, a new tablet in his hands, finishing up a conversation over the coms.
"Vasquez reported that Supergirl is currently helping secure her White Martian in dessert containment," he addressed the triad. "Do you want me to get her on the phone or-"
"No!" All three of them answered, varying degrees of panic.
"She'll kill herself or someone else trying to get here," Lucy explained. "I don't need any more paperwork after the fiasco with the Martians. Just tell her to report to city base when she'd done." Alex fidgeted at the thought though. Kara. Kara.
And Winn was off, typing. Smile still firmly planted on his face. He also, inconspicuously, lingered at the central console. He had work to do regarding the clean-up in city center, but he didn't want to let his siter out of his sight. Possibly ever again.
"So," Alex started, already internally wincing at her none sequitur. "How are you guys?"
Maggie chuckled under her breath, twirling the fingers of Alex's hand carefully. Memorizing every part.
"We're good," Lucy replied, pulling on the back of Alex's hair lightly. "But our girlfriend's kinda been off the grid for the last year, so we've been working through that."
The comment was intended to bring some lightness to an otherwise impossible question. It was Lucy being Lucy. But Alex stiffened, leaning back from her hand and looking up at her. "A year?"
The Director frowned, sharing a look with Maggie. "Yeah?"
"A year…" Alex looked away, rubbing at her face harshly with her free hand. "It's only been a year."
"Only?" Maggie asked, trying to catch Alex's eyes. "Not long enough for you Danvers?"
"No, no, it's not that," she leaned forward, taking her hand from Maggie's so she could rest her elbows on her knees and face in her hands.
"Alex," Lucy softened her voice, a skill she'd learned over the last few months. "What's wrong? What aren't you saying?"
Alex didn't move for a second – taking a second to enjoy this moment before everything changed. Before she rocked the ground beneath their feet so hard that this happy reunion might crumble.
Taking her hands from her face, she pushed her chair back just a little, so she could look at both of them. "It might have only been a year for you, but it's been a lot longer for me, a lot longer. So much has changed, I've changed – its- I-" She ran out of steam, clenching her jaw hard against her own jumbled thoughts.
"Danvers," Maggie's soft voice. They could tag team now – dangerous. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter, you're home and you're safe. Anything else, we can deal with together, got it?"
And Alex wanted to believe her, wanted to trust the warm eyes and the soft looks and Lucy's smile and Maggie's dimples. She wanted everything to be so simple – but life wasn't like that. Her life wasn't like that.
And this was proven again, because, just at that moment, the flare of a teleportation beam caught her eye.
"Mom!"
And Alex was up, getting exactly two steps towards her daughter before she had an armful of Green Martian in human form. Ky'd used too much speed, and they stumbled back hard enough that Alex was only caught by the central console behind them.
Putting aside her own drama for a second, Alex focused on her kid and how worried she was. How much she had been processing everything happening in sections, and now this section as in her arms, gripping hard enough to bruise. And it was such a relief.
"Ky," she whispered, fingers finding purchase at the back of her head, cupping the back of her neck and pressing her lips into her hair – glad for the height advantage she still had. "Are you alright?"
All she got was a mumbled response into her shirt. And for a moment, she allowed it. Allowed her kid to just press into her and breath – feel that her mother was okay, and alive, and she wasn't alone anymore.
"Love," Alex pulled her back just slightly, crouching on the ground and holding her by the arms. Her medical training crashed into her maternal instincts and she found herself scanning the Martian for injury. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she huffed back – but Alex could hear something wasn't quiet settled with her voice. Her breathing was this side of labored.
"I am going to choose to believe that," Alex responded, reaching up to tuck some loose hair behind her ear. Reflectively mirroring her daughters smile. "And you are going to take it easy until told otherwise, capeesh?"
"Capeesh." Then Alex watched her expression shift. From happy and relieved, to nervous. Eyes flickering behind her, then back, shoulders pulling up and jaw setting. Alex didn't need to look behind her to know what she was looking at.
"Hey," she waited until Ky met her eyes. Properly. So, she knew that she heard what she said next. Reaching up, she placed the side of her hand under her chin, maintaining eye contact. "El mayarah, remember? Nothing changes that. Ever."
Ky's eyes flickered, just for a moment, but her jaw relaxed. "Promise?"
"Promise," she whispered, standing and pulling her kid back into her arms. It had been a long week, the longest the pair had ever voluntarily been apart. And despite the drama waiting behind her, she just needed to hold her child. Just for a moment. "Okay," pulling back, she ran her thumb under the teenager's eye, making her squint and swat but not pull away. "You ready?"
"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p', but she still straightened the edges of her mom's old jacket. "Let's do it."
Alex chuckled, pulling her back a little roughly to place a kiss on top of her head, "that's my girl." She didn't need to look to know Ky flushed.
"Alright," Alex grabbed at the back of Ky's collar, tugging her so that they could turn around and face the music together.
Lucy, Maggie and Winn were still where she'd left them, in various stages of shock.
Winn's mouth was literally hanging open, tablet dangling at his side; Lucy was standing, arms crossed with squinted eyes, confused eyes; Maggie was still seated, half leaning back in her chair, her detecting face on.
"So, I ah," Alex started, already feeling old habits swimming back. She couldn't not be awkward around these women. They did something to her higher functioning. "I'd like to introduce you to someone-"
"Oh, we've already met," Lucy responded, eyes flicking between the mother and daughter.
"What?" Alex looked down at Ky, who was suddenly very interested in anything but her.
"Oh, she intervened in a DEO operation, and spent the afternoon in medical," Lucy added.
"I didn't intervene," Ky argued, just shy of pouting. "I saved Supergirl!"
"You did what now?" Alex tugged at the back of her collar until the grimacing guilty teenager was looking up at her.
"There was a missile," the widening eyes made her stutter – suddenly feeling much younger than her fourteen-ish years. "And she was hit so I just… you know… sorta, jumped into the water and saved her?"
"She stopped a missile with her body," Maggie cut in (Alex noted that there was some endearment in that tone – but that was a later thought).
"You did what!?"
"What you would do!"
"She has a point Danvers," Maggie cut in, finally relaxing a little in her chair. Lucy still had crossed arms, but her head was titled – eyes softer. Winn had become a statute, forever frozen in his state of shock.
Squinting at her girlfriend, she released her authoritative hold on Ky, taking a deep steadying breath and rubbing at her eyes. "Okay, so you've met. That's… cool." Looking between her family once more, Alex pushed on, looking back at her still sheepish kid. "Did you tell them about us?"
Ky just shook her head, jamming hands in pockets and shuffling her feet.
Biting at her lips, Alex took another breath, placing a comforting hand at the nape of Ky's spine. They were both very tactile, and she could feel the anxiety growing in the girl.
"I adopted Ky just after the first year of our journey, she's been with me ever since," best to just spit it out.
"After the first year?" Lucy asked, taking half a step forward, bringing herself close enough to Maggie that she could place a hand on her shoulder. "How long were you gone?"
Alex licked her lips, squinting against tears. "Darla- the ship, has the exact number, but… just over four years?"
Maggie exhaled a shaky breath, Lucy blinked hard against prickling eyes.
"Time move's differently in space sometimes," Alex explained, watching the degrees of pain shift across her girlfriends faces. Watched them realize the beginnings of the implications of this – realize that as much as Alex had missed, they'd missed more. "I know… I know that this complicates things, might even change things," Lucy's hand on Maggie's shoulder flexed. "And I understand, really, if it does. You can have all the time you need, to... process. But… me and Ky – we're a package deal."
Maggie bit the inside of her check, eyeing the way Ky was staring at the floor like it had the answers to the universe, how her shoulders were set, but her hands were fisting in her pockets anxiously. Came to the sudden and horrifying realization that this kid knew about them, when she came here three days ago, and knew that she was the reason their lives were about to complicate.
"Danvers," Maggie locked eyes with Lucy, seeing what she needed reflected back, before looking back. "I told you, we can deal with anything together."
"I know," Alex breathed back, not feeling the relief that she wanted to. "But you guys… you need to go away and talk about this. And we need to talk about this together, after. Because this isn't something I want you to do lightly, or out of loyalty for me, you gotta want this, all of this. Otherwise it won't work, and I won't risk anyone getting hurt." Ky, if possible, shrank further away, Alex's hand at her neck prevented her from running. She squeezed her fingers against the skin, a silent reminder that it was them against the world. "Is that… okay?"
Maggie looked back up at Lucy, watching the way her eyes had settled, and her fingers lost their iron grip. No one was making any decisions right now, but Maggie, suddenly, was less worried then she'd been two minutes ago.
"Sounds good to me Danvers," she smiled back, eyes settling on the girl.
"Can't believe you're the one telling us to talk about our feelings like adults, but I'm on board," Lucy relied, giving Maggie's shoulder one last squeeze.
"Ah, guys?" Winn seemed to have finally realized that words were a thing. "Vas just reported in, Supergirl's finished up and is on her way, you might want to brace-"
Kara
Today sucked.
She should have known better. She could practically hear Maggie teasing her about jinxing it - complaining the day was too slow and too boring. The universe was punishing her for her hubris with a giant, annoyingly fast, White Martian.
She hated when the flying ones ran. They were just so hard to pin down without support – and J'onn was busy with his own alien invader.
But yes, she was Supergirl, so she managed to catch up with halfway across the freaken dessert. And yes, because she was Supergirl, she managed to subdue him after an annoyingly long fight.
She lost comms back on the street, so she decided to just drop him at the dessert base. It's where he'd end up anyway and Lucy was always giving her flack for taking dangerous giant aliens back through the city to be processed. Even if she hated the dessert base and the bat that kept attacking her.
So, after an hour of wrangling, she helped the Agent secure the Martian and was on her way – making sure to give Vas a hug before she left. Vas who have her a weirdly insistent order to return to the City base.
Kara frowned but complied, enjoying the flight but keeping an ear out for any other potential attacks. The IT commander had assured her that the fight had gone well back in the center, and the other Whites were dispensed with. It didn't hurt to keep an ear out anyway.
She landed with hard on the DEO balcony, humming to herself as she hopped down the steps. Even if today sucked didn't mean she couldn't keep a pep in her step.
Fiddling with the new tear in her cape (she hated White Martians), she started talking loud enough to carry into the central comms, assuming Winn was there.
"Hey! So, I dropped that Martian… jerk at the dessert but Lucy wasn't there, and my coms are down, so what is so important that I have to report back to base so fast?" She tossed the fraying cape to the side, letting it settle at her back, finally looking up. "I mean-"
Words died in her throat. Her feet stopped moving.
A short, sharp inhale. Her eyes already glassy and wide – "Alex?"
"Kara-" Alex had turned around at the sound of her sister's voice, had remained frozen, the rest of their family a step behind her. Had felt her heart stutter and her stomach swoop – had resisted the urge to start sprinting towards the Kyroptian wandering happily across the DEO.
And suddenly Kara was moving – stumbling forward like a string was dragging her. No rush, not at a run, pulled by the invisible force of shock.
And then they collided, Alex meeting her halfway.
Kara felt her body automatically rock with the momentum of her movement. Felt how Alex's arms came around her with familiar force. Felt how she breathed her name into her shoulder.
"Alex?" But Kara couldn't look at her face, all she could do was glance up and see Lucy and Maggie and Winn, all staring at her with watery smiles, nodding – confirming that this was real that she was here.
Her breathing was sharp and stuttered, even as her arms squeezed tighter than recommended – but not tighter than Alex used to say she could handle. She finally looked away from her family standing behind and pressed her cheek against the side of Alex's head, squeezing her eyes shut and just listening.
Listening to how her breath was also coming in short, sharp gasps. How her heart was beating too fast, but familiar. How she was clenching her fingers in her cape, and the back of her suit. How it was Alex in her arms.
Suddenly she pulled back – she needed to see.
"How… how are you here?" Kara asked, keeping one hand firmly on Alex's shoulder, fingers pressing into the stiff material hard enough to bruise. Eyes still wet with love and shock.
"I ah," Alex laughed, swiping under her eyes as she smiled. "I came on a spaceship?"
Kara let out a stuttered laugh, turning into tears mid-way. "You're here."
"And I'm not going anywhere," she whispered back, reaching over and dragging Kara back into another hug, squeezing hard enough with her bionic arm that it protested, but Kara would be able to truly feel it. "I promise."
"Okay," Alex finally laughed, extracting herself more fully from her still awed sister. "Okay, I need to tell you something. A lot actually, but something important first."
Alex was smiling, so Kara was confused by the suddenly nervous energy coming off her sister. Her sister.
"Ah, so, I know it's been like a year for you guys, but it's been… a lot longer for me."
"Like how I was stuck in the phantom zone?"
"Yeah, sometimes. Depends on the galaxy. But some stuff has changed in that time… a lot of stuff. But some good, really good." Kara was suddenly vividly reminded of the day Alex came out to her. That was the kind of energy vibrating off her sister.
"…Okay?"
"Excuse her – She's just trying to introduce me," another voice suddenly interjected, appearing half a step behind her sister. Her sister.
It was the girl from the pier, and the both White Martian fights. "Hey, we've met! You okay, by the way? You looked pretty hurt down by the street – I'm sorry we didn't get there faster."
The girl shrugged, taking another half step almost beside Alex now. "I'm durable."
"I noticed!" Then her eyes widened, fixing on Alex, finally taking note of her outfit and the timing. "Oh! Oh Rao, it was you, Alex! In the suit with the teleporting beam and the sword and the scary outfit!"
Alex chucked, still with slightly nervous eyes darting between her and the girl. "Yeah, that was me."
"So, you two know each other?" she flicked a finger between the teenager and her sister. Her sister.
"Oh, just casually," the girl quipped, biting back a smile when Alex wacked her in the chest. Kara's eyes narrowed. She spared a glance at the superfriends waiting in the sideline. Maggie was now standing, Lucy pressed mostly against her front with an arm wrapped around her waist. They were both smiling fondly at the unfolding situation. It sounded like Lucy had snickered.
"Kara, this is Ky," Alex said, putting a hand on the girl's arm. "My daughter."
Oh.
"Oh."
Kara knew that she had wide eyes. She knew that she needed to say something because she could hear their heartbeats. As fast as Alex's was, it had nothing on Ky's, who looked like she was seconds from bolting. Who hands were still jammed into pockets because she didn't want anyone to see how they were shaking. Her sister's daughter was scared. Her sister's daughter.
"Um, wow." Not ideal, but better than the silence which was being filled by Ky's ever-increasing heart.
"Yeah," Alex answered, hand slipping up to press against the exposed skin behind her daughters' neck.
Kara turned to regard the girl, desperate to alleviate her anxiety. "So, you're… my niece?"
Ky set her eyes just to Kara's left as to avoid direct eye contract, before responding "and you're my aiahv [aunt]."
Kara's eyes widened impossibly more, glancing at Alex who only had proud affectionate eyes for the kid who was using a Kryptonian word to describe their relationship.
"Well, its like… super nice to meet you? I'm so sorry about letting you get- Oh!" Alex's head jerked around at the sudden horror in Kara's tone. "Oh Rao, I let you go after that missile!" Ky took a step back, suddenly very uncomfortable with where the conversation was going to go.
"I didn't mean to. I got hit, and was like, sinking and suddenly this kid – your kid – is dragging me to the surface!" Alex's mouth dropped just a hint in shock at the additional information, unsure whether to be looking at Kara or her Ky.
Alex looked back at Ky, catching the corner of her jacket before she could retreat further. "I left you alone for six cycles. Just… How? Where were the others during all of this?"
"Oh… ah," Ky winced. "I kinda convinced Linc and Frey to come out with me? Otherwise I'd just sneak out… so they agreed… but then like… I jumped in anyway?"
Sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose, Alex released the nervous teenager. "And where are the rest of them now?"
"Oh, well, um… well, Craig and Drew are in the Exodus, Linc's here somewhere and the others are off looking for the 90."
"The rest of them? How many of you are there?" Kara asked, looking around as if she'd hidden them in the DEO.
"Um…" Glancing at Ky, Alex bit her lip.
"I can head up to the Exodus, if you want? Or chill with Linc." Ky offered, sensing exactly where this conversation was going.
"Can you do me a favor?" She asked, turning fully to face Ky, who was already nodding. "I need the flash with Darla on it – Scotty should have a copy. Can you get it, and bring J'onn down for me?"
"Yeah, course," she was already half a step away when Alex pulled her back by her collar, directly into another hug. "Ma."
"Hush," Alex murmured against her hair. "I missed you."
"I missed you too – now please let me go?" She grumbled, though did not make any attempt to escape.
Finally chuckling, Alex released the teenager, watching with fond eyes as she walked back up the stairs towards the teleporter.
"That's your kid," Kara whispered, eyes tracking the girl as well.
"Pretty great huh?"
Kara turned back, an uncontrollable grin breaking across her face as she looked at her sister's face. Her sister.
"Yeah, it is."