Eliza and Alura form a grudging truce to finish the formula that will hopefully save Sam. Maggie gets some tough love from an unexpected source and Alex makes a decision that could cost her everything!
Lena entered the DEO later that morning feeling refreshed and hopeful.
The night before, Eliza had arrived and in a particularly maternal move, demanded the young CEO get some rest while she finished synthesizing the cure with Alura. Not surprisingly, the two mothers had been leery or one another in the beginning but seemed to form an uneasy truce in the name of ridding the world of Reign and saving Sam in the process.
Kara had spent the night skirting the issue. She avoided both Eliza's and her own conflicted feelings about Alura by focusing on Ruby, keeping her niece occupied with ice cream and movies while Alex got some much needed rest. The kryptonian knew she couldn't hide from her mother's forever but she was willing to put the family angst off as long as possible.
"Eliza, I just got your message!" Lena exclaimed as she entered the lab, unable to hide her excitement. The elder woman glanced up from her tablet with a small smile.
"Once I understood the base compounds of the Harun-El better, along with some texts Kara's mother helped me translate, I was able to finish the formula you and Alex had started."
"And the success rate?" Lena asked, though unsure she truly wanted the answer.
"All the simulations came back with the same result." Eliza pulled the data up on the large monitor in the center of the lab. "96% percent probability that we canseparate Samantha and Reign..."
Lena could sense there was a 'but' coming... "Sam's survival and recovery?"
Eliza sighed as she keyed up the data. "Only a 67% probability." She finished, shoulder's slumped in resignation.
The young CEO understood the risks they were facing but it wasn't her choice to make. "I'll go inform Alex of our findings."
Eliza nodded sadly, sinking back into her chair as she watched Lena go. The fact remained that despite Sam's odds of survival, Reign needed to be stopped and this serum was their best chance at achieving that goal. The mother watched Lena leave and couldn't help the gnawing guilt she felt about her findings. She knew how much her daughter loved Sam and Ruby; how she, too, had come to love the Arias women as her own. The thought of losing Sam was too much to bear and she honestly didn't believe her daughter would survive such a devastating loss. She simply needed to trust that Alex would make the right choice.
Lena wove through the halls of the DEO with ease having spent enough time there in the last year or so to no longer garner strange looks. The agents stationed at the city base had grown accustomed to her couture clothing and she had grown accustomed to the tactical gear that nearly made one agent indistinguishable from one another. They had also come to appreciate one another's help having navigated more than one world-ending scenario as a team, welcoming the young genius despite her family name.
Knocking once, lightly, Lena pushed the door open when she received no response. She knew Maggie had brought Alex back to her quarters to rest and the pair had yet to emerge. Once she stepped inside, she was struck with a wave of nostalgia. Alex was stretched out on the small couch with her head in the detective's lap. Lena was instantly reminded of game nights where the pair would fall asleep mid-movie, too tired to keep watching but unwilling to end the night early. Both women remained sound asleep, neither having heard the knock at the door.
"Alex? Maggie?" She called softly, placing a gentle hand on the agent's shoulder.
Alex woke almost immediately, eyes quickly searching the room before settling on the brunette leaning over her. A small smile crossed her face as she recognized the intruder.
"Hey, Lena. What's up?" She murmured sleepily, looking slightly embarrassed to have been caught cuddling with her ex. Lena didn't comment on the blush she noticed rising on the older girls cheeks, instead stepping back to allow her room to sit upright.
"We've finished the formula and ran the simulations."
"Damn, already?" Alex rubbed her face in confusion. "How long was I out?"
Lena chuckled before reassuring the agent. "Barely six hours which is still far less than you needed."
Alex nodded absentmindedly as she disentangled herself from Maggie. She knew Lena was right, that six hours could never make up for the myriad of sleepless nights she'd endured recently, but none of that mattered. The formula was done, the simulations completed, meaning she was that much closer to getting Sam back. Once the tall brunette was well, Alex would happily lie in bed with her forever. Until then, six hours would have to do.
"Just gimme ten minutes to shower and get less gross and I'll meet you back in the lab." Alex moved to wake the still slumbering Latina on her couch. "Mags? Wake up."
"Nooooo..." Maggie mumbled batting her hands away. "Five more minutes."
"Get up, Sawyer." Alex retorted, snatching the blanket off the other woman. "We've got work to do."
Maggie huffed before slowly opening her eyes, taking in the two women standing before her. "Hey, Little Luthor. What's so important that you can't let me sleep?"
"They finished it." Alex blurted out, still in disbelief. That was all Maggie needed to hear to bring her to full wakefulness.
"It's done?" She asked, turning towards Alex who was wearing a dopey, hopeful smile.
"Yeah." The agent all but whispered.
"Shit! Ally that's great!" She sprang from the couch and embraced the taller woman. "I knew you could do it. I'm sure you had a lot to do with it too, Little Luthor."
Lena blushed slightly at the praise but still noticed how Maggie had yet to release Alex from her grasp. Apparently, Alex noticed too as she cleared her throat and pulled away.
"I'm gonna, uh, go shower and change..." She motioned awkwardly towards the bedroom. "Like I said, Lena, ten minutes..."
"You can have fifteen if I can raid your coffee stash! The sludge they serve in your mess hall should be considered a biohazard..." The young woman muttered as she headed towards Alex's coffee machine.
"Help yourself." Alex added with a laugh before turning to Maggie. "Thanks, uh, for coming and staying...and all that." She stammered, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.
"Always, Ally." Maggie responded, a fond smile on her lips as she watched Alex head to the other room.
The sound of Lena clearing her throat behind her pulled the detective from her musings. She turned to find the younger woman watching her with a guarded expression, arms crossed and chin held high.
"What?" Maggie asked, immediately feeling defensive as she noted Lena's posture.
Lena continued to eye her suspiciously but didn't speak until she heard the shower began to run in the other room. "Don't do this, Maggie." She stated curtly.
"Do what? I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do." Lena retorted, moving closer. "Don't do this to Alex. Don't start reminiscing about the past. I know you still love Alex. And I'm sure part of her still loves you too. But the biggest part, Maggie, her heart? That belongs to Sam. Please don't make her question that."
"I'm not...Lena, I really did come to help." Maggie tried to defend herself but she knew her longing must have been obvious.
"I know you did." Lena agreed, her voice still more stern than the Latina was used to. "And you still can. But you can't put doubts in her mind, not now, not when she's so close to having Sam back."
"I just...I guess I didn't realize how much I missed her." Maggie admitted, stepping closer to Lena, afraid Alex might overhear the conversation.
"The Alex that you're missing Maggie, she's gone. She's not the confused woman who worked too much and barely had any food in her apartment anymore. This Alex, Sam's Alex is home by 7 to help Ruby with her homework, off every Saturday morning to go to Ruby's soccer games and she and Sam have a standing movie date every Wednesday night. She's happy Maggie. Isn't that why you stepped aside?"
Maggie sank onto the couch considering the younger woman's words. She thought back to a year and a half ago, when she had just begun making changes in Metropolis and Alex was left adrift in National City. How she'd come home to discover a much different, more domestic version of her then-girlfriend. How the changes seemed to suit Alex even though they were the complete opposite of what the detective wanted. She'd known then that Sam was the better choice for Alex, even though it took her some time to admit it, both to Alex and herself.
Leaving National City had been the right thing to do, was still the right move. She knew that, she'd just been caught up in the nostalgia of sharing Alex's space again. With a sigh she stood once more to face Lena.
"You're right." At the admission, Lena visibly relaxed; glad she'd been heard.
"I know how hard this is, Maggie. It's hard for all of us and it took a lot of courage for you to come back." Lena tentatively reached out for the tiny detective, relieved when Maggie accepted the embrace.
"Yeah, well, it took a lot of guts to talk to me like that." Maggie teased, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm kind of surprised it wasn't Kara."
"Trust me, you did not want Kara to think you were trying to win Alex back!" Lena informed her with a strained expression. "She adores Ruby and she and Sam have become thick as thieves. She knows how happy they make her sister and if she thought you were threatening that...? Let's just say that I care about you Maggie and would hate to see you launched into outer space."
"She's not actually strong enough to do that..." Maggie grumbled, knowing that if her sister were threatened Kara would be more than willing to try. "I'm gonna head to the locker room to clean up. Vasquez mentioned she needed some help wrangling the new trainees."
"Alright. I'll keep you informed of our progress. Go easy on them, Detective."
"I'll try." Maggie headed for the door, her worn duffle in tow. "Oh and Little Luthor?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for being such a good friend to Alex." Maggie tossed over her shoulder as she slipped into the hall.
Lena nodded in response, slightly taken aback at the praise. Up until that moment, she hadn't realized how much she'd come to view Alex as the elder sister she never had.
When things had been rocky between Kara and herself, both stubbornly holding onto their positions regarding the Harun-El, Alex had been a calming force both practical and understanding. Add to that her connection to Sam and Ruby, possibly the most important people in Lena's life pre-Kara; Alex Danvers was quickly becoming a staple of Lena's world. The young Luthor realized she was in far too deep, fully invested as she was with the 'super-fam'. The more she mulled it over; Lena found that she didn't mind at all.
Alex and Lena finally entered the lab to find Eliza poring over their data, mumbling recriminations to herself. As soon as the eldest Danvers noticed her daughter, she rushed to Alex, pulling her into an almost Kara-level embrace that had the redhead wincing. She had forgone rewrapping her ribs after her shower in effort to get back to the lab quicker, excited to hear the results. However, her mother's reaction told the agent more than their data ever could.
"From that 'enthusiastic' welcome, I take it the news isn't all good?" She asked, sparing a glance at Lena who studiously avoided eye contact.
"Maybe you should sit, sweetie?" Eliza offered, steering the agent towards a nearby chair.
"I think I'll stand, mom." She tried her best to still her irritation because she knew Eliza was simply trying to help. Hell, her mother had stayed up half the night synthesizing a cure for Sam.
"Of course." Eliza nodded to Lena and Alex thought she'd never seen Lena look so young and vulnerable.
"There's no doubt that the serum will separate Sam and Reign," she began hesitantly. "The chance that Sam will survive the separation as well as recover...is much lower."
Alex took a moment to mull over what she was being told.
On the one hand, they would be able to stop Reign, the murderous alien that nearly crippled her baby sister and terrorized National City. On the other hand, there was a chance that in seeking the greater good, she would lose the love of her life. Ruby would lose the only family she had ever known.
Sam had suspected such an outcome; planned for it even.
Alex had wanted so desperately for Sam to be wrong about this. But Sam was rarely wrong.
"If we do nothing, we lose Sam anyway." She finally concluded with a sigh. "I can't make this decision alone. Ruby deserves to know what's going on. I promised I wouldn't lie to her anymore."
Lena quickly shot Kara a text and the room fell silent until the super came bounding around the corner with Ruby in tow. When she noted the somber mood in the room, the teen immediately went to Alex knowing the older woman would be honest with her.
"What's up?" She asked as Alex stood to greet her.
"We, uh, think we have a treatment for your mom." Alex began with a small smile. "But, there are some risks and I think you should get a say too."
"What kind of risks?" The teen asked, though judging from Alex's expression she already knew.
"There's a chance that even if we separate your mom from Reign...she, um..."Alex paused then, tears pooling in her eyes. "She might not make it baby."
"You should do it." Ruby stated without deliberation.
"Ruby...I don't think you understand..."
"No, Aunt Lena. I understand perfectly." Ruby asserted, chin held high. "My mom is the best. She's the sweetest, kindest person I know. I want that back, I want her back and I think we should do whatever it takes. Right, Alex?"
"Yeah. If that's what you want." The agent agreed bringing Ruby's hands to her lips for a gentle kiss. It was something she had started doing when she was trying to reassure her almost stepchild and Ruby always seemed to draw comfort from it.
The teen wrapped her arms around Alex's waist, hugging her tightly. "I trust you and I know mom does too. You can do it, Alex."
The agent pressed a watery kiss to the girl's hair before straightening up with a determined expression. "We have our decision. Let's get to L-Corp."
Everyone in the room accepted Alex and Ruby's choice, quickly gathering the necessary data they would need to begin synthesizing the final version of the cure in Lena's lab beneath L-Corp. Reign had been imprisoned there ever since she had attacked Luthor mansion. J'onn, Kara, Mon-El and even Imra had all taken to rotating with the security staff to ensure the Worldkiller stayed put until a treatment could be created.
"Mon-El and I will go too." Kara declared as they prepared to leave the lab. "J'onn has been on duty ever since we returned from Argo and we still don't know what will happen once they're separated. Better safe than sorry."
"Thanks, Kara." Alex hugged her sister tightly. "It means a lot to know you'll be there watching my back."
"Always." Kara promised, pressing a gentle kiss to her big sister's temple.
The pair broke apart when they noticed Ruby zipping up her hoodie and following Lena out the door to the lab. "Whoa, there Rubes." Alex gently grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her back.
"What's up?" Ruby was practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of curing her mother.
"I need you to stay here." Alex explained softly. "I don't know what will happen when we separate Reign and your mom and she wouldn't want you getting hurt. Not to mention, your mom might be in a lot of pain. You don't need to see that."
Ruby looked ready to protest at first but finally nodded in agreement. "When can I see her?" She asked, on the verge of tears.
"As soon as it's done baby, we'll come right back here. I promise. I know how much you've been missing her." Alex thumbed away a warm tear that rolled down the girl's cheek.
"You've been missing her too."
"Yeah baby, I have." Alex admitted, pulling the girl to her chest. "But we're so close to getting her back. We just gotta be strong a little longer, yeah?"
"Yeah. I love you Alex."
"I love you too, kid. Keep your Nana company until I get back, okay?"
"Okay." Ruby agreed with a teary smile as Alex walked her to the command center.
She watched the agent go with a heavy heart but she knew Alex would do whatever it took to bring Sam home to them. With a sigh she sank back into Eliza's arms, allowing her adopted grandmother to hold her while she cried.
"We need that syringe now, Lena!" Alex yelled as she narrowly dodged a blast from Reign's heat vision!
It seemed captivity had done nothing to dull the Worldkiller's thirst for blood and she had wasted no time, attacking as soon as the force field was lowered. Alex ducked as one of her men was flung across the room by the very beam she had evaded.
"Dammit! Lena!"
"Here!" the brunette yelled back, sliding a syringe towards the agent quickly.
"Kara, now!" Alex charged toward her sister just as the super and Mon-El managed to pin Reign down.
Without another thought, Alex plunged the needle into Reign's neck, praying that she hadn't just doomed Sam by her actions. Black veins spider webbed the rogue kryptonian's skin as she screamed in rage and pain! Lena quickly grabbed the agent by the arm and drug her behind an overturned table as Reign continued to writhe. Alex couldn't stand the sound of her love's anguished screams and nearly barreled back into the fray when the unexpected happened.
Reign began to split.
Kara sprang into action, pulling Mon-El away from the struggling woman as the transformation continued. Before their very eyes, Reign was pulled from Sam like mist, rising to the ceiling in a screaming mass before bursting into dust! Alex was the first to come to her senses.
"Sam!" She raced toward her love, desperate to know if their gamble had paid off. She slid to her knees next to Sam's prone form, hands immediately settling on her neck in a frantic search for a pulse.
It was faint but steady.
"Oh, thank God!" Alex breathed out before she noticed something crucial.
Sam was completely nude, lying on the cold, concrete floor of the lab. Kara was the next to notice and quickly moved to help.
"Here!" She whipped her cape off and draped it over the unconscious brunette. Mon-El had the decency to look away, fearing what Alex might do if he was caught leering at her newly liberated girlfriend.
Before Alex could thank her sister for protecting Sam's modesty, a weak voice broke the silence. "Al-alex?"
"Yes! I'm here, baby! I'm right here..." She sobbed, gently pulling Sam into her lap, making sure to keep the cape tucked securely around her.
"Don't cry..." Sam murmured against her chest, bringing a hand up to weakly grasp Alex's. "S'okay...I'm okay...do you have any aspirin?"
The agent couldn't help the relieved laugh that escaped her at Sam's request! She pressed a teary kiss to her love's forehead, savoring the comforting weight of having Sam back in her arms once more. "Anything you want, baby." She promised, tears of joy still rolling down her cheeks.
Sam drifted back into unconsciousness then, a small smile still on her lips. Alex tried to lift her off the cold floor but couldn't manage it with her damaged ribs. Kara quickly intervened, scooping Sam up with ease and laying her on a stretcher nearby. Lena finally managed to overcome her shock and approached the trio, checking Sam's vitals while Alex clung to her mate, unable to stop touching her after so many weeks of separation.
"We should get her back to the DEO." Lena suggested, with a small smile. "Her vitals seem good but we need to run more tests."
"Right, tests, yeah." Alex agreed, still shocked that the procedure was a success.
"You did it Alex!" Kara squealed, pulling her sister into a side hug as Lena covered Sam with a warm blanket and settled an oxygen mask over her face as a precaution.
"No, this was all Lena." Alex pulled the surprised CEO into a tight hug. "Thank you." She murmured against Lena's shoulder, leaving teardrops on what was undoubtedly a very expensive blouse!
Lena took it in stride, returning the embrace with equal vigor. "You don't have to thank me. Let's get our girl home, hmmm?"