January 19, 2019

Maggie smiled as she watched Kara look around the restaurant, giving the place a dubious look. Maggie her to bite her lip to keep from smiling, because she understood. Ellie's had probably been last redecorated around the time Maggie's parents got married. The place was immaculately clean, but it felt old in a way that not a lot of places in National City did. That was part of its charm though. It had an aged, lived in feel that was a lot more common back in Kansas and Nebraska where people didn't have the money to redecorate everything every couple of years.

Maggie saw the moment Kara spotted her, saw Kara's face light up, which made Maggie smile. She waved Kara over, and headed her way.

"Hey," Maggie said as Kara slid into the booth across from her.

"Hey," Kara replied in a cheerful tone. "How are you doing?"

"Better," Maggie said, holding up her arm. "No more sling."

"That's great! Are you back at work?"

"Yeah. Since Monday. How was Kansas?"

"A lot less Kansasy than I expected," Kara said. "Barry and Oliver showed up. I spent half my vacation in Central City, Star City and Gotham on Earth One, helping them fight a god."

"A god?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah. Not as fun as it sounds. I made a new friend though."

"Really? Was she and unreasonably hot a billionaire?"

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Yes."

Maggie snorted and shook her head. "I was kidding!"

"She's Bruce Wayne's cousin."

Maggie stopped laughing. "You met Kate Kane?" she asked.

"You know her?" Kara asked.

"No, but I know of her. At least, this Earth's version of her. I worked with one of her ex-girlfriends when I was in Gotham last year."

"Oh," Kara said. "Well, I suppose that means I wasn't imagining the part where I thought she was hitting on me."

"You weren't sure?"

"I'm never sure," Kara said. "Well, I mean, I was sure that one time with Sara, but it's hard to misinterpret 'That suit looks great on you. I bet it would look better on my floor.'"

"Oh, god. Someone actually used that line on you?"

"In her defense, she was really drunk at the time," Kara said. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who was sober that night."

"Sounds like it was a fun night."

"Not as fun as you'd think. I had to stop Barry from trying to run on clouds."

"Okay, you have to invite me to your next superhero keg party," Maggie said.

"I'll put you on the guest list," Kara said. "So, what is this place?"

"The best barbecue in National City," Maggie said. "I figured I'd ease you back into city life, but if I'd know you had spent time in Gotham, I would have taken you for deep dish pizza instead."

"This is a better choice," Kara said. "I didn't get any barbecue while I was in Kansas."

"What?" Maggie asked. "You went to Kansas and didn't try the barbecue? You realize I have to arrest you now, right?"

"You can try," Kara said.

"Decide what you want to order," Maggie said.

Kara picked up the menu. "Bulk items? I'm going to like this place."

"I figured you would," Maggie said. "So, how's your cousin."

Kara looked up and Maggie could see the excitement on her face. "He and Lois are getting married!" she squealed.

"Really?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah."

"Good for them," Maggie said. "Does that mean you'll have to cover the whole planet again while they're on their honeymoon?"

Kara's face fell a little. "Actually, they're already back on Argo."

"What?" Maggie asked, feeling a surge of anger at Clark.

"Lois is pregnant," Kara said. "Which is great, but it's not really safe for her to carry a half Kryptonian baby on a planet with a yellow sun. If they did stay here, she'd have to live under red sun lamps at the Fortress for the next nine months."

"I'm sorry, Kara," Maggie said. "I know you must want to go visit."

Kara shrugged. "Sometimes. Other times, I dread knowing I'll have to go back eventually."

"Why?"

"I don't fit in there anymore," Kara said. "I don't know if it's because I've changed, or they've changed or both, but Argo isn't Krypton. Not the Krypton that was. When I was growing up, Thara Ak-Var was my best friend. She was from one of the minor houses, but her family was well respected. We knew each other so well we could finish each other's sentences. She survived, and she's a cop now. Chief of Police for all of Argo City, in fact. You'd think we'd get along, but we went to dinner together and all she could talk about was how upsetting it was that her landscape architect had built the gazebo facing the wrong way. I mean, a few days earlier, I'd been fighting to save the world from Reign, and there I was, listening to someone talk about a gazebo, and it felt like we were speaking different languages.

"It's funny, you know. I have more in common with an unreasonably hot billionaire from another universe than I do with a girl who I grew up with, who was my best friend from the day I met her until the day Krypton exploded. I don't know how it happened. It scares me, because being a Kryptonian is part of who I am, but what if… What if I'm not really a Kryptonian anymore? What if I've changed too much?"

Maggie reached across the table and caught one of Kara's hands in her own. "I don't think that's what happened."

"You don't?"

"No," Maggie said. "Kara, you've been working as de facto law enforcement for years. You're basically a cop. That's not something you can turn off. Cops who retire or who leave the job take time to get used to being a civilian again. You going back to Argo is like that. You had trouble trying to fit in, letting go of the watchfulness and the suspicion. That's normal. It happens to cops all the time. It doesn't mean they aren't human. It just means they need time to adjust. You're still Kryptonian Kara. No one can take that away from you."

"But Thara is a cop too."

"You said she was the Chief of Police," Maggie said. "When was the last time she personally took down a perp?"

"I don't know," Kara said.

"How much crime was there on Argo?"

"Not much," Kara said. "There was never much crime on Krypton."

"Kara, once you get past a certain level, it's not the same. Thara's probably more of a politician, than a cop, and if there's as little crime as you say on Argo, when she was a cop, she was probably closer to a mall security guard than anything you or I deal with. You couldn't relate to her because you don't have anything in common with her, but that's not because of culture, that's because of life experience. If I met someone I went to middle school with back in Blue Springs, I wouldn't have a damn thing in common with them, other than a craving for pulled pork smothered in barbecue sauce."

Kara stared at her for a moment, giving her a watery smile. Maggie squeezed her hand a little harder.

"You ready to order?" She asked.

Kara nodded.

"So, then, the Korugarian woman picks up the pie-"

"Don't say it! It's too terrible," Kara pleaded.

"… and she threw it right in Debbie's face."

"NO!" Kara said, but the laughter in her voice put lie to her protest.

"The filling got all in her hair, and she complained the whole way back to headquarters, and I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's pretty much impossible to get cherry pie filling out of cornrows because the next day, she came into work with this big, poofy afro."

"All that pie, wasted," Kara said.

"Of course you care about the pie," Maggie snickered.

"Yeah, it's pie," Kara said, a grin on her face. "I'm glad you're enjoying being back at work."

"I did miss it, but I think I needed the time away. Don't get me wrong, I love being a cop. I love helping people. But being off the job gave me time to reconnect with the alien community, and I got to see other ways I could help people. It nice, you know. Feeling like you have options."

"Are you thinking of quitting?" Kara asked.

"No, but I'm up for a promotion at work. Detective Sergeant."

"That's great, Maggie," Kara said.

"Yeah, but it makes you think about the future, you know. Do I want to be a Detective Sergeant? Do I want to be a Lieutenant? Do I want to be a Captain? Do I want to be a cop forever?"

"Those are pretty big questions," Kara said.

"Yeah," Maggie said.

"You have any idea what you're going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll probably take the promotion, because it's more money, and I'm already basically doing the job, but lately, I feel stuck, I guess. Like I keep making the same mistakes, over and over again, and I don't know how to stop."

"What kind of mistakes?"

"I haven't exactly been a nun for the last year," Maggie said. "But it's not just the women. When Alex and I split, I shut everyone who had any connection to Alex out of my life. It's not the first time I've ever done that. Every time I've walked away from a real relationship, one that hurt to walk away from, I've walked away from a group of friends with it.

"You made me realize that was a mistake. I could have really used a friend like you this past year. And then you had to go and ask me if I was happy."

"A question you avoided answering," Kara said.

"I think my silence made it pretty clear than I'm not. And listening to you talk about that other Earth, and about that other Alex, it makes me wonder what other Maggie's are out there. Makes me wonder if they made better choices that I did. Is there a Maggie out there who's married to an Alex and raising a pack of kids? Is there a Maggie out there who didn't cheat on Emily? Is there a Maggie out there who didn't become a cop like her dad. Is there a Maggie who didn't put that stupid fucking card in Elisa Wilkey's locker? Is there a Maggie out there who's happy?"

"Those are also pretty big questions," Kara said.

"Yeah," Maggie said. "Yeah, they are. But the thing is, at the end of the day, none of those Maggies, if they exist, are me. The question I should be asking is, is it too late for me to make better choices? Is it too late for me to be happy?"

"It's never too late to be happy," Kara said.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe if I can find a way to make better choices," Maggie said.

"Hey, you're here, aren't you?" Kara said.

"You saying you're a better choice, Little Danvers?" Maggie asked.

"I think you said it first."

Maggie smiled. "I suppose I did."