Sam and Alex have been together for just a few weeks when Reign strikes again bringing all of Sam's fears to the surface. Can Alex assure her it will all work out in the end or is the agent merely lying to both the Arias women and herself?
Four months.
That's all the time it had taken for Sam's entire world to implode. Four months since Maggie had nobly bowed out and left National City. Just one month of bliss where Sam had been able to call Alex hers, and everything had gone to hell in a hand basket.
The week had begun with a terrifying blackout where she'd left Ruby at school several hours after the days end. Before she could even retrieve her daughter from Lena's penthouse, a frantic Alex had called seeking comfort. Sam had been surprised she was the agent's first call until she found out what had upset her girlfriend so. Supergirl had confronted the new alien menace, Reign, and lost...badly.
The following days were emotionally taxing for all involved, as, at one point, there had been serious doubt that Kara would even survive; especially without serious and permanent damage.
Alex had just barely been hanging on during that initial crisis and Sam had done her best to support her girlfriend, going so far as to conceal her recent blackout. The eldest Danvers had far too much on her plate and Sam would be damned if she added to Alex's load. She discreetly asked Lena to run some preliminary tests, promising that if her condition progressed she would loop Alex in. Just when Sam thought the crisis had passed, Kara emerging from her coma with minimal ill effects, the rug had been pulled out from under her once more.
"Hello?"
"Jesus, Sam! Where the hell have you been? I've been calling for hours, so has Kara!" Lena's voice screeched in her ear, almost too loud to be tolerable.
"Lena? What's going on?" Sam was bewildered by the other woman's tone. The last thing she remembered was dropping Ruby off at school and heading towards L-Corp. A quick glance at the clock told her several hours had passed, hours she couldn't account for. "Lee, I uh, I think it happened again..."
"Oh, Sam..." Lena's heart went out to her friend and she knew the reason for her call would only add to her distress. "One problem at a time, alright? I'm on my way to get Ruby from school. You go straight to the DEO and we'll meet you there."
"The DEO?" Sam felt a wave of nausea wash over her. "Lena what's happened? Where's Alex?"
"There was a mission...they were attempting to capture Reign...Alex was injured and she's at the DEO now."
"How bad?" Sam asked, not really wanting an answer but needing one all the same.
"I...darling, I don't know..." Lena admitted quietly.
"I'm on my way."
Sam stumbled into the DEO in a worry-fueled haze, gratefully sagging into Kara as the girl appeared, wrapping her strong arms around her. She led Sam over to a seating area before explaining what had happened. The DEO had set a trap for Reign, hoping to draw the murderous Kryptonian out and it was decided by all that Kara would stay in the command center. Though fully recovered in appearance, her powers were still well below normal strength and they had all wanted to be cautious. Reign had taken the bait and it seemed as if she would be easily subdued until the rogue Kryptonian turned the tables.
Alex had been on point, determined to make the vicious woman in black pay for hurting her sister. Instead of retribution for her sibling, the agent had ended up suffering a concussion, several cracked ribs and a shattered tibia.
"Can I see her?" Sam pleaded tearfully. "I just need to see her with my own eyes."
"Of course." Kara agreed with an understanding smile. "I didn't want you to be caught of guard. It's always hard for me to see her like that and I know how much you two care about each other."
Sam nodded sadly unsure of what to do or say. She felt like she couldn't breathe until she was able to see Alex, to touch her. She couldn't believe the agent would be okay otherwise. Kara led her down a short hallway then gestured for Sam to step through a nearby doorway.
"I'll be right outside." She whispered as Sam entered the room with uncertainty. It all melted away when her eyes landed on the prone figure in the bed.
"Alex!" She rushed to the unconscious woman's side, gently pushing hair away from her forehead so she could lay a tender kiss there. "It's okay, baby. It's okay I'm here, I'm right here."
Sam took a moment to look Alex over, tears steadily falling as she surveyed the damage done to her mate. Alex's skin was too pale, a thin line of stitches lay across her forehead and a lump beneath her black DEO t-shirt signified the wraps supporting her damaged ribs. The worst part, the most obvious affront to Alex's well being, was the bulky white cast on her lower right leg.
Anger surged within Sam at the sight of the plaster monstrosity but before she could fully delve into it, the hand within hers began to twitch. Alex was waking up.
"Sam?" Her voice was low and cracked but it was the most wonderful thing Sam had ever heard.
"Yeah baby. I'm right here. It's all gonna be okay." Sam reassured her, pressing a gentle kiss to the agent's temple.
"Did we get her?" Sam leaned back at Alex's question. She still had her eyes closed and couldn't see the indecision in Sam's expression as she considered what to tell her. "Sam?"
"No, baby. Not this time."
"Shit." Alex muttered before wincing in discomfort, finally focusing her bleary eyes on Sam.
"I know you'll get her eventually but, uh, for now, if you and Kara could avoid anymore near-death experiences, I'd really appreciate it." Sam joked tearfully as Alex reached up a shaky hand to wipe her cheeks.
"We'll do our best." She rasped with a cocky smirk and all Sam could do is laugh because she couldn't bear to cry anymore.
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Sam reached into her suit jacket, fingers in search of her prize. It was something she and Alex had begun doing for one another, a little token to show their affection. It had started in L-Corp's medical wing and it seemed appropriate to do it now. "For you babe." Sam presented the offering to Alex with flourish.
Alex's eyes were watery as she took the treat in her shaky grip. How had she gotten so lucky as to find not one, but two, beautiful women who cared for her so lovingly?
"I get a lollipop?" She asked in a whisper.
"You get a lollipop." Sam affirmed with a smile as she bent to kiss Alex gently. It was such a small gesture but she knew Alex felt the sentiment behind it. No matter what was going on around them, the pair could get through it together.
The following night, Sam curled up on her side contently, quietly observing the bed's other occupant. Alex lay beside her, propped up on half a dozen different pillows, completely dead to the world. Kara and Lena had brought Ruby home earlier that day, the younger Danvers armed with some of her sister's clothes and personal items. After a good amount of chastisement over Alex's inability to rest, she stood watch while the elder girl took all her pills and promptly tucked the agent beneath a garishly colored fleece blanket, the entire periodic table emblazoned in neon dye. That had been several hours ago and the elder Danvers had yet to move.
Sam couldn't really blame her.
The pair had spent a restless night before in the medbay as Alex had to be woken every hour, on the hour, to ensure there would be no complications from her concussion and Sam refused to leave the medbay until her girlfriend could. Alex grew more irritable with each interruption, prompting Sam to climb into the cramped bed to soothe the other woman back to sleep. After that, the staff had each given her apologetic looks whenever they came to wake the pair, though Sam waved them off.
It wasn't like she was getting any sleep either way.
Most of her night had been spent worrying about Alex, whether or not the next hourly check would reveal something disastrous. When her worry finally abated enough for her to rest, the CFO was plagued by horrific nightmares! A silent prisoner in her own body, Sam was forced to watch again and again as her fist slammed into Alex's side; could feel the weight of the Kryptonite chain in her hands as she whipped it against her girlfriend's leg; watched Alex's face contort in pain and disbelief.
Sam quickly squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to get her ragged breathing under control. Alex was fine, she was right next to her; there was nothing to be afraid of. A timid knock on the bedroom door pulled Sam from her emotional spiral.
"It's open, baby." She called out softly. Kara and Lena had left hours ago so there would be only one person knocking this time of night. Ruby popped her head around the cracked door before entering fully.
"How is she?" The teen asked quietly. She was obviously afraid to disturb the sleeping agent just a few feet away.
"She's okay baby." Sam responded with a soft smile. "You can come closer if you want. She's pretty out of it so you don't have to worry about waking her."
"No, no, I'm good here." Ruby shook her head sharply, taking a quick step back.
Sam was slightly taken aback by her daughter's response. The night before the teen had been equally standoffish, refusing to even enter the medbay, opting instead to watch Alex through the window. The pair regarded each other quietly for a moment when it hit Sam why Ruby was behaving this way.
She was afraid.
Alex had become such an integral part of their little family and some unknown force had almost ripped her away. Sam rose gently from the bed to drag her daughter closer. She hugged Ruby tight against her chest and gently kissed her hair.
"This is all pretty scary, huh?" Sam whispered, as she felt Ruby's tears begin to fall, soaking through her thin sleep shirt. The girl nodded pitifully against her, unable to stop the flow of her tears once it had begun, hands gripping her mother tightly.
Sam simply held the girl as she unraveled, having just suffered through a near breakdown herself. It was no secret that Alex's job was dangerous, that one couldn't expect to face down horrors from other planets without a few bumps or bruises. However, this had been the first time the agent had come back to them broken and neither Arias woman was quite sure how to cope with it.
"Come on..." Sam pulled her daughter towards the big bed and urged her to climb up next to Alex. She wasn't sure how to fix their current crisis but she knew for a fact that cuddles were definitely needed at the moment.
Ruby crawled cautiously across the bed, unable to stay away from the woman who had become a surrogate mother to her any longer. She finally stretched out beside Alex, laying her head gently on the older woman's shoulder before reaching across to intertwine Alex's fingers with her own. Sam slid in behind her, adjusting the blankets over them both.
"She's okay, baby." Sam assured her again placing a soft kiss on the girl's shoulder. As if to prove Sam's point, Alex shifted in her sleep, laying her head against Ruby's.
"S'okay Rubes..." She murmured, still mostly asleep. "I got the two best nurses in town..." Alex slurred as she promptly fell back asleep.
Both Arias women couldn't help but laugh out loud at the agent's antics! Ruby snuggled a little closer, burying her face against the agent's neck. "I love you, Alex." She whispered causing tears to spring to Sam's eyes. "You're the toughest person I know."
"Love you...too...kid..." Alex slurred in response. "Don' tell Kara, 'k? She gets... jealous..."
"Your secret's safe with us." Sam told her quietly, glad the pair couldn't see the tears once again brimming in her eyes.
She hugged them tighter, overcome with love for the two people snuggled against her. She hadn't worked up the nerve to say it to Alex yet, it had only been a few months since they'd met, but she could admit it to herself. Sam sighed in content as she felt Ruby finally relax between them and drift off to sleep, still clutching Alex's hand and pressed tightly against her.
Yep, she was right. Cuddles were always the answer.
"What's wrong, babe?" Alex asked from her spot on the couch noting the sour look on her girlfriend's face.
"Mrs. Queller just cancelled!" Sam groaned as she tossed her phone angrily onto the cushion next to Alex.
"Ruby's babysitter? What did you need her for?"
Sam sighed as she plopped down on the coffee table to face Alex. After a few days in bed, the agent had finally been able to move to the living room couch, her ribs healed enough to use at least one crutch now. Sam held Alex's hands within her own before she broke the news she knew the agent would not want to hear.
"Babe, you know I have that day trip to Metropolis. I thought Mrs. Queller could come over and keep an eye on Ruby...and you." Sam winced as she said the last part, noting the immediate tension in Alex's posture.
"I don't need a babysitter."
"I know baby but..."
"But what? You suddenly think I can't handle looking after Rubes by myself?"
"Alex, I don't want to fight about this..." Sam sighed as the agent pulled her hands away and crossed her arms. "I know you can take care of Ruby on your own, usually, but you're still healing babe and you need to rest. This is my first day back to work since...I just wanted you to have some help."
"Sam," Alex began to argue but was quickly cut off.
"Do you know?" The tall brunette asked eyes bright with unshed tears. "Do you know how hard it was to hear you'd been hurt, to see you lying in the hospital bed not knowing if you'd wake up? What would we have done without you?""
Alex couldn't stay mad when Sam was sitting before her looking so forlorn. She wasn't even mad at Sam to be honest. If anything she was mad at herself for being sidelined while her little sister, whom had barely recovered, was being catapulted off into space with her two worst enemies and her ex-boyfriend's gorgeous wife from the future.
As if that wasn't enough to worry about, Alex was positive Sam was still having blackouts and they were no closer to finding the cause. Add to that their newest Kryptoninan menace and the elder Danvers was sure her stress levels were at a maximum.
She could only imagine Sam was feeling the same way, especially faced with leaving the pair alone while Alex was still incapacitated. Yes, she had been able to hobble around the house a bit but the agent was far from recovered and she now had confirmation that her most recent brush with death had affected Sam deeply, Ruby too.
"Sammy." She reached over awkwardly to grab the woman's upper arms and pull her forward until their foreheads were pressed together. "Thank you for taking care of me, for worrying about me. I can't promise I'll never get hurt again, it's kind of what I'm known for..." Alex pulled back slightly and gave Sam a sheepish smile before she continued. "Just know I will always do everything in my power to come home to you, to Ruby."
Sam nodded quickly, a small smile gracing her lips as Alex thumbed away the silent tears that slipped down her cheeks. "I believe you, I do. But..."
"You're only going to be gone one day...besides, I told you before I was a lousy babysitter and you still leave your tiny human with me on a semi-regular basis!" The redhead teased, earning an exasperated smile from Sam.
"Hey!" Ruby protested as she came down the stairs. "I'm not tiny." She huffed as she passed through the living room on her way to the kitchen.
"My mistake." Alex responded with a good-natured eye roll before turning her attention back to Sam. "You trust me with your medium-sized human on a semi-regular basis. We'll be fine, babe. Go. I promise not to show her scary movies."
"Well I wasn't worried about that before but now..."
"Baby," Alex kissed her gently. "Go. We'll be fine. You know as soon as you leave Lena will be over to distract herself while Kara's away on the mission."
"You're sure?" Sam asked uncertainly as her phone buzzed to tell her the car was out front.
"Go, mom. We got this!" Ruby encouraged around a mouthful of cereal earning a glare from her mother for her lack of manners.
"Okay! Okay." Sam agreed with a sigh as her phone went off yet again. "You," She pointed at Alex. "Make sure she eats more than cereal and doesn't watch TV all day. And you," she turned to Ruby. "Make sure she takes her meds, doesn't try to go upstairs on her own and gets some rest."
"Yes, Mom." Both girls responded with a giggle!
"How do I put up with you two?" Sam grinned as she shrugged on her jacket and pressed a kiss to Ruby's temple. "Be good. I'll miss you both." She moved to the couch to kiss Alex, wanting so badly to say those three little words but holding back.
"Bye, babe." Alex smiled sadly as she watched Sam go, feeling her heart twinge at the thought of parting from the tall brunette. As soon as the door closed behind Sam, the redhead turned to grin conspiratorially at Ruby. "We are totally gonna watch The Shining!"
"It's your turn Alex. Alex?" Ruby leaned across the couch to shake the older woman's shoulder gently.
The morning had begun with breakfast and several ridiculously competitive rounds of Mario Kart before Alex had decided they should use their brains more proactively. But now, just a few minutes into the Disney version of Trivial Pursuit, Alex had all but tuned Ruby out.
"Alex?"
"What? Oh, uh, is it my turn?" She sat up straighter, shaking her head as if to clear it. "Sorry, kid."
"Are you okay? Do you need to rest a little? Mom wanted me to make sure you didn't do too much!"
"I'm fine, Rubes." Alex assured her with a soft smile, touched by the girl's concern. "I, um, I guess my mind was somewhere else..."
Ruby scooted closer, offering the older woman support. She gripped Alex's hand comfortingly in her own and waited for the agent to continue.
"I just guess I'm a little worried...about your mom working too hard, about Kara getting launched into space so soon after she got hurt...about you." Alex paused to press a gentle kiss against the girl's forehead. "I want to protect you all, all the time and I just can't, not from everything. It's hard for us adults when things are out of our control. Am I making any sense?"
"A little." Ruby teased, sticking her tongue out as Alex pushed her playful. "But I know how it feels when things get out of control..."
Alex frowned at the girl's statement, knowing there was more to it. "Rubes, what's going on? You know you can talk to me, about anything."
"It's dumb," Ruby mumbled, toying with the hem of her sweatshirt. "Just some girls at school..."
"What about the girls at school? Ruby is someone bullying you?" Alex asked, suddenly on high alert.
"No, I mean I guess... Erica Morrison keeps saying all these nasty things about me on her Twitter just because this guy she liked chose me as his lab partner and not her! It's just all so stupid..."
Alex felt determination build in her heart at the child's confession. She hadn't figured out how to help Sam and Kara was light years away but this, this she could fix. Today. She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed a number.
"Vas, hey. It's Danvers. I need a ride." As soon as the other woman agreed, she jammed the end button and turned to Ruby with a smile. "Get dressed."
"What? Where are we going?" Ruby asked as she helped Alex struggle to her feet, sliding her crutch under her arm gently.
"We're gonna pay Erica Morrison a little visit..."
By the time Sam made it home that night, Erica Morrison was cowering in her room after an "official" visit from the FBI concerning her recent foray into cyber-bullying, Ruby was in her room chatting excitedly with her friends about the fact that said cyber bully's social media accounts had all been deleted after issuing a heartfelt apology, and Vasquez was back at the DEO after taking Alex on a "grocery run" because Sam had been out of town and Ruby wasn't old enough to drive.
The CFO hustled into the house with an exasperated sigh, excited to see her girls but also worried what the pair had gotten up to while she was gone. Ruby must have heard the door open because she charged down the stairs to tackle her mother in the foyer! Alex watched the pair embrace from her perch at the kitchen island. She met Sam's eyes over Ruby's head.
"She's alive!" Alex pronounced with a smirk earning a familiar long-suffering eye-roll from her girlfriend.
"How'd it go?" Sam tried not to sound too worried as she said it.
"Horrible." Alex deadpanned. "What a nightmare of a kid you've raised."
"I know. She's rough right?" Sam agreed with a laugh before turning to her daughter. "Why don't you go up and start getting ready for bed and then you can tell me what you and Alex got up to today?"
"Deal!" Ruby agreed before rushing over to the redhead. "Night Alex. Love you."
"You too, kid. Night." Alex couldn't help but smile as the teen pecked her on the cheek and bounded out of the room. "So, babe how was your trip?"
"My what?" Sam stared at her with a look of utter confusion. Alex tried not to read too much into it, hoping the other woman was joking with her.
"It must have been really bad if you blocked it out already!" Alex joked, still hoping desperately that Sam was kidding. When Sam's eyes widened in panic, she knew how wrong she was.
"Alex...I don't remember going on a trip...I left this morning and now I'm back but I have no idea what happened in between..." Sam raked her hands through her hair as her panic kept rising. "Oh, god, Alex what's happening to me?" she whispered as tears began streaming down her face spurring the agent into action.
"Hey! Sammy, baby, you're okay!" Alex hobbled as quickly as she could to her girlfriend's side, ignoring the shooting pain in her leg, and the dull ache of her ribs, in favor of getting to Sam. She wrapped her arms tightly around the other woman's trembling form, supporting their weight as best she could. "We're gonna figure this out Sam, I promise you."
"Alex..." Sam whispered, her tears staining the other woman's shirt. "I'm scared."
"I know," Alex swallowed thickly. "Me too, baby. Me too."
Once again, Alex felt the sinking dread from earlier that day. The inevitability that no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she could never truly protect the ones she loved...