I woke up when I felt the little warm bundle in front of me start to move. I opened my eyes and found Charlie snuggled into my chest. Her blonde curls tickled my neck as she stretched herself awake. Beyond her was Rae, still asleep and beautiful as ever in the morning light. I propped myself up on my elbow so I could see Charlie's face.

"Good Morning Kiddo," I said quietly, not wanting to wake Rae. "How did you sleep?" Charlie stretched her arms over her head and pulled her legs up making her roll over and giggle while she stretched. "You're so funny. Are you hungry?" She nodded. "Do you want some pancakes?" She nodded again but this time with a huge grin. "Come on, let's go make some."

Last night, I had been happily surprised when Rae agreed to stay the night and have another glass of wine with me. Sharing my bed and waking up to both of them had made me realize I was making the right decision to move on with my life. I was happy and I saw that every time Charlie or Rae looked at me. Charlie was sitting on the counter in front of me while we mixed the pancake ingredients together. She kept sticking her finger in and I'd gasp, making her laugh. The sound of her laughter was contagious and I couldn't help but laugh with her. Each time she thought it was just as funny as the last. While I was busy stirring, I felt strong arms wrap around my waist, a warm body press against mine and soft lips on my neck.

"Morning," said Rae, against my skin.

"Good morning," I smiled, turning around in her arms. I was about to meet those lips when the incessant banging started. Disappointed, I looked towards the door and the banging continued, getting louder.

All at once, my eyes flew open and I heard Kara's voice. "Good morning! I brought breakfast! Let me in!" she called through the door. I moaned loudly into my pillow.

"I heard that! Are you still in bed?" she asked, banging again. I slumped to the door and held it open. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked, sporting a sly grin.

"Just the greatest dream ever," I said, shutting the door and leaning against it.

"No way. You had the dream again? A third time in as many weeks! A reoccurring dream is like a sign, you know. Why don't you just go for it? You obviously like Rae. Just ask her out," said Kara.

"I can't. There's so many reasons she could say no and I'm not getting rejected again," I said, hearing how pathetic it sounded.

"Yes, but there's also so many reasons she could say yes! Alex, you're the most fearless person I know. You can't live like this, it's not who you are. You can't just hermit your heart. You have to love and learn," said Kara, she passed me a coffee and held hers up for a cheers.

"Love and learn," I repeated.

I saw Alex leaning against the desk talking with Winn.

"Morning guys," I said, walking up to the desk.

"Hey Rae!" said Winn, gathering up his stuff. "I have an idea for your inhibitor. Let's rendezvous a little later and see what you think."

"Okay, sounds good," I said, wondering if maybe the ones we have would suffice. Especially considering the last time we swapped them.

"Hey," said Alex, propping her head on her hand and staring at me.

"Hi," I answered, smiling at her dreamy expression. "Arrest any ten year olds lately?"

"It was one time! And it was only a threat. Also, they're twelve," she argued, with a huge grin on her face. "Besides, Ruby text me to tell me it worked. She got an apology the following Monday and no texts or messages since."

"Well, I guess it's true what they say," I said, leaning my elbows on the desk next to her. "Not all hero's wear capes."

Alex smiled like she wanted to say something else but instead she straightened up and turned to Winn at his desk. "Hey, Agent Gand and I are going to follow up on a lead. We'll be in the field if you need us."

Winn saluted her from his seat and I followed her lead as she headed for the door. "I didn't realize we had a lead."

"It's personal," said Alex, holding the door to the garage for me. "But a friend asked for a favour and I could use an extra set of eyes on it, if you don't mind?"

"Sure," I said, looking around for a DEO vehicle. Alex handed me a helmet. "What's this?"

"Safety first," smiled Alex, putting hers on. She swung a leg over her motorcycle that was behind her and waited for me to get on. My heart was racing and I hadn't even taken a step towards it. "We could take your mom mobile if you'd rather."

"It's a standard issue government vehicle," I stated, finally putting the helmet on. I could see the grin Alex had while she held her hand out to steady me. The angle of the seat forced me to sit much closer than we were at game night. "Where do I put my feet?"

Alex leaned over, "you can rest them here." She watched as I lifted both feet before she reached for my hands behind her back. "You're going to have to hold on to me." She pulled my arms around her waist and I was completely leaning against her.

"Like this?" I asked, not sure if my nerves had increased from the impending ride or my closeness to the beautiful woman I had my arms around.

"Perfect," she answered. Alex gave me a couple directions on how to ride with her before starting the engine and we pulled out of the garage. We were headed to L-Corp from what I could tell when I had my eyes open. When we pulled up to the tall building, Alex parked and held her hand out once again. Reluctantly, I released my arms that had fit so comfortably around her and stepped off the bike.

"Well, your first ride? How was that?' asked Alex, pulling off her helmet and running a hand through her short hair.

"I've been in spaceships, tanks, I have even rode a horse and that was the most gripping out of them all," I answered.

"Well, hopefully today won't be your last," she smiled. She nodded her head towards the building, "let's go."

I followed her in and up to Sam's office, where we were escorted in right away. I still had no idea why we were here.

"Hey guys," said Sam, stepping into her office. She had a surprised look on her face when she spotted me.

"Hey Sam, I hope you don't mind, I brought Rae along. Her medical experience far out weighs mine and I thought having her here might give a better perspective on what we find."

"Sure," she nodded. "Of course, discretion is still my biggest concern."

"Doctor-patient confidentiality always applies, I take my oath very seriously," I assured her.

"Okay, well why don't we get to it. We're going to use the office and labs upstairs. No one is scheduled to be there for a while. I just hate hospitals so this allows me to beat some of the anxiety I've been having."

We both nodded as we followed her to the elevators and headed up. While she was changing into her gown, Alex explained to me the symptoms that Sam had been having. "She's just concerned it's something serious, which terrifies her because she's all Ruby has."

"Of course, I assume that would be any mothers concern," I said, rolling up my sleeves. "But Ruby would have you, wouldn't she? I mean, Lena and Kara too but she'd be lucky to have you as a guardian, I've seen you two together."

"Thanks, yeah I would help anywhere I could. Sam just doesn't want to be a burden," said Alex. Sam re-joined us next to the MRI machine, looking incredibly nervous. Alex did her best to explain what we would be doing and tried to calm Sam's nerves. We moved through the procedure, each taking turns looking at the bits of images that popped up and bouncing ideas off each other. But we wouldn't know for sure until the final scan came out as a whole.

"What do you think?" asked Alex.

"I don't see anything," I answered.

"So that's good right?" asked Sam, sitting up.

"It's neither good nor bad. It just means whatever it is, isn't showing up on the scans," explained Alex.

"So now what?" questioned Sam.

"Now we'll send the images off to an expert, along with some blood work and we wait," answered Alex, as I passed her the needle.

"I'm scared of needles," said Sam.

"I'm going to make this painless," promised Alex.

"She's oddly good at this stuff," I added.

"So you both have medical training but work for the FBI?" asked Sam, looking between the two of us. I let Alex answer first.

"Yes, I started off in the medical field, even had a job up in Seattle for a bit. But it turns out, I just needed a little more action," she said, nonchalantly.

"I'm a bit of the opposite. I was medically trained and joined the army and after awhile I just needed less action. You know how it is, with kids and all," I said, leaving the part of my discharge from the army out of it.

"Done," announced Alex.

We gave Sam a second to get dressed and she walked us out. It wasn't long and I was holding on tight to Alex as she drove us back to the DEO.

"I don't know. I think I'd rather have it show up so we could get a plan of action in place, it's the not knowing that's the worst," I said, continuing our conversation from the parking lot.

"Yeah, I think I'm the same. I'd just want to know," she agreed.

"Hey gals," greeted Winn. "Any luck on your lead?"

"Uh, no. It was a long shot though," said Alex, quickly.

"Guys!" shouted Kara, through our earpieces. "We have an incoming! It's Lena. She unconscious and barely breathing."

"Rae!" urged Alex.

"On it," I said, already running in the direction of Med Bay. I started grabbing everything I could see. From the crash cart to our med cart, if it could move, I took it. I piled it up before pushing it back to the lobby. Alex had grabbed a gurney, which Kara was already laying Lena down on.

"What happened?" asked Alex, pulling a stethoscope out to check her heart. I reached to check her vitals.

"She was poisoned, Edge put it in her coffee," stated Kara.

"Two hundred milligrams Phenobarbital, stat," ordered Alex. "It's okay Lena, everything is going to be okay."

I pushed the medicine down the intravenous line I had just inserted into her arm.

"Two litres of saline, run it open," continued Alex, as she applied an oxygen mask over Lena's mouth and nose.

"Got it," I answered, already opening the line.

"I want a radial artery line and two red tox," said Alex.

"Blood pressure is seventy over palp, pulse is thirty and falling," I answered, as I continued with Alex's orders. "We need to know what he used."

Alex turned to Kara, "I don't know."

Alex spoke out loud while she ran through a list of possible poisons, "mustard gas, cyanide, strychnine." She paused, then leaned over Lena, removing her oxygen mask and took a breath. "Almonds."

"That's cyanide," I said, turning to the med cart.

"Go with fifty mils of sodium thiosulfate," she said, watching me lift it to the line. "How long has it been?"

"Uh, two, three minutes," answered Kara, as she watched us work on her friend.

"Right now, cyanide is circulating through her system. Her brain and her heart are going to shut down," said Alex, listening again to her heart. "We need to slow down her circulation in order for this to work."

"How do you slow it down?" asked Kara, still looking between the two of us.

"Induce hypothermia," I answered, following Alex's train of thought.

"I can do it. Let me do it," said Kara, moving to the side of the bed. I stepped back while she took a deep breath and blew frozen air towards Lena.

"Okay, that's good," said Alex, standing next to her sister and watching the monitors. Everyone was holding their breath while we watched the numbers on the screen bounce up and down. "Come on, Lena," finally, the numbers started to levelled out.

"Come on, come on, come on," pleaded Kara.

"Normal sinus rhythm," announced Alex, "you saved her."

"No, we did," said Kara, squeezing her shoulder and giving me a nod. Everyone took a breath of relief and I started to organize everything so we could transport Lena out of the lobby of the DEO. She would have to be brought back to CatCo before she woke but for now, she needed rest and monitoring.

The next day, Winn had found a location for the new world killer. J'onn had assembled a strike team, along with Supergirl. I headed for the armoury to suit up but not before stopping by Med Bay. I popped my head in to say good morning to Rae before I left but it was empty. Figuring she had made her way down to the armoury to see us off, I didn't think anything of it. But when I stepped into the armoury, Rae wasn't there.

"J'onn, where's Rae?"

"I gave her the day off, she's been here almost everyday since she started. I'm sure that baby of hers misses her," he said, genuinely.

"Yeah, I bet she does," I replied, trying not to let my disappointment show. I grabbed my gear and headed to the front car. The mix of emotions inside me was beginning to drive me insane. Every time I got those feelings around Rae, it's paired with guilt and fear. I feel guilty for moving on from Maggie and for still thinking of Maggie while Rae looks at me and makes me feel like the only person in the room. I feel the fear of being heartbroken again and that makes me feel weak and I'm not used to feeling like that. I hate where I'm at right now and I can't seem to shake it, it seems like a never-ending cycle.

"Agent Danvers," J'onn said again, stirring me from my thoughts.

"Sorry J'onn, what's up?" I said, shaking my mind off and trying to focus.

"Are you ready for this mission? Because we can't bear to have anyone not on point today," he said, his eyes trying to read mine.

"Yeah, yes. I'm fine, just going over the plan in my head one more time," I stumbled.

"Okay, let's roll out!" ordered J'onn.

On the way to the mission, I normally wouldn't answer a call but it was the ringtone linked to Ruby's number.

"Hey Rubes," I said, listening for her greeting. "Wait, slow down. Where is she?"

I listened to her crying into the phone, trying to tell me her mom was with her one second at the skating rink and now she's there all alone.

"Okay, listen. I can't get away from work right now, but I'm going to call Rae and ask her to come get you, okay?" She sniffled her answer, "okay, I'll give Rae your phone number so she can call you when she's there. Okay? Sit tight."

I called Rae right away, this situation not ideal since we were getting closer to the world killers location.

"Hey Rae, I need some help," I said, before explaining the situation. Rae was the type of person who was always willing to help a friend. It was one of the many qualities I was starting to realize I liked a lot about her. Before we said goodbye, Rae was already on her way to the rink, which eased my mind.

We pulled up outside a small house, just outside of the city. We waited for all vehicles to come to a stop and then we moved inside. To everyone's surprise, the take down was barely that. Compared to Reign, Purity seemed like the obvious lesser threat. Kara's plan was to talk the information out of her but I wanted to be done with it. I figured if she was the less experienced one, we'd be able to steam roll the situation in our favour. But Supergirl was adamant we take our time, which Purity loved. Each time she toyed with Kara, I wanted to get in the cell with her. Finally, I'd had enough.

"Okay, we tried your way. Now it's my turn," I said, surprising Kara.

"What's gotten into you today?" she asked.

"I'm just tired of these games, she has the information we want and I'm going to get it," I answered. I stormed into the room and didn't waste anytime.

"Where's Reign?" I demanded. I stared her down. "Where's Reign?"

"To use your own words; you think you're smarter than me. Stronger than me, you think I'm powerless to your science. I see right through you Alex Danvers. It's a gift I have to see inside people. To know them," she looked me up and down. "You want to hurt me, because you're hurt. You want me weak, because you're weak. Someone cut something out of you and you feel that hole every day. A hole that you dug in yourself. And it's not getting any better, now is it?" said Purity, staring right back at me.

"Okay. All right, all right," interrupted Supergirl. "We're done here."

"Where is Reign?" I shouted.

"See the rage?" taunted Purity. "That's her loneliness."

"Shut your mouth."

"You had your shot at happiness and you blew it," continued Purity, knowing she had hit a nerve.

"Alex. Enough," said Supergirl, pulling me towards the door. I pulled my arm free from her and stormed out myself. I couldn't catch my breath. Everything that world killer had said, had been right. That's exactly how I felt. And now that I've dug the hole myself, I can't reach Rae. I can't even hold onto the sides to keep myself from falling deeper. I felt myself getting dizzy, but I couldn't sit. The rage that was coercing through me was palpable. I tried catching my breath.

"Hey, there you are. Winn said I'd find you up here," said Rae, walking in in street clothes. As soon as I saw her, I felt my last inch of control slip from any strength I was holding on to. "Hey, what's happening?" Rae walked over to me and covered my hand with hers. I wanted to go to her and just melt into her arms, letting her tell me everything was going to be okay. "Alex, I'm here." She tried to look at my eyes, but I knew she'd see too much if I looked at her. I pulled back farther, out of her reach and shook my head.

"I'm fine, I have to go," I said, sidestepping around her. "I'm fine. Really."

As soon as I got downstairs to my office, I grabbed my keys and headed out to my bike. A quick drive would clear my head.

Not sure what was going on, I looked around for someone who would have answers. It didn't take long to find them. The glass from the containment rooms burst open and a deafening pitch pierced my ears. I saw Supergirl being flung across the room. She hit the wall and landed, unconscious. I went to her, seeing the world killer leave her cell and head out towards the hall.

"Supergirl," I called. "Can you hear me?" I steadied her neck and checked it. "Supergirl, wake up." I checked her pupils and felt around her skull for abrasions and fractures. There was nothing, then she stirred in my arms.

"Where's Alex?" she asked, coming to.

"She left before the glass blew out. Why?" I asked, concerned for her safety. "Is she in danger?"

"The world killer knows she can get under her skin," said Supergirl, feeling her head. "I don't know what will happen if she finds her."

"Lets go, can you walk?" I asked, wanting to find Alex.

"Yeah, help me up," she said, reaching for my hand. As she stood in front of me, Purity's scream sounded like something I had never heard before. The only glass window left standing was blown out. Supergirl swung her cape around us and hid us from the spray of tiny shards.

"Thanks," I whispered, as we looked around for Purity. I led the way out of the cell room and headed for the stairs. Alex was probably headed to her office before Purity got loose so that's where I was headed.

"Rae! Purity is this way," called Supergirl.

"I'm going to find Alex," I answered, knowing one of the rules of tactics was to stay together unless absolutely necessary. But this felt necessary. We split up and I headed downstairs. I cleared the flights of stairs in two jumps and came face to face with the world killer. As soon as she saw me, she screamed. I tried to stand against the sound barrier but it pushed me back against the wall. I tried to use the wall to get leverage and jump over it but she had me pinned there. I was trapped until Supergirl flew in, taking Purity with her. They struggled in the air until Purity broke free and flew out the window.

"Thanks again," I said to Supergirl, when she landed beside me.

"For you Rae, anytime," she said with a smile. I tried to return it but I was winded from having a force against my chest. I turned and walked into Alex's office, which was empty.

"You know, if she were here, I think she would've been out here," said Kara, pretending to peer over my shoulder. "Especially today, she's having quite a confrontational day."

"Yeah, I thought something was a little off," I said, standing a little straighter. "Everything okay?"

"I think Purity might have said a couple things that hit home while she was interrogating her," explained Supergirl.

"Takes quite a bit to get under Alex's skin," I replied, hoping Kara would give me something else.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on with her," she said. I couldn't tell if that was the truth or a sister covering for her sister.

"Okay," I sighed. "Well, Ruby is at my place. I can drop her off when Sam gets back or whatever Alex wants to do. Can you just let her know?"

"Okay, will do," said Supergirl. "Oh hey, sorry about all this on your day off."

I laughed, "should've known there was no rest for the wicked."

I returned back to the DEO after my drive and was blown away. The place looked like a war zone. I stepped over piles of debris as I made my way to the command centre.

"What the hell happened?" I asked, as Kara walked down the stairs.

"Purity got away with her cache crystal," she answered, plainly. "Where were you?"

"I needed to clear my head," I said. "Rae was here. Did she leave before all this happened?" I started to head upstairs to where I saw her last.

"She's left already," called Supergirl. "Not before she got stuck between a wall and a sound barrier though. Looking for you."

I felt my cheeks getting warm. I should've told Rae I was leaving, she could've been hurt and it would've been my fault.

"There's people that care about you Alex, maybe you need to let some of them in," offered Kara. "Like for a drink?"

I smiled and nodded. "A drink sounds pretty good right now."

"Look alive people! We got a hit on Purity, she's underground at the subway station!" shouted Winn.

"Lets go," said Supergirl.

"We won't have time to get a strike team together," said J'onn. "We'll be on our own." He looked at me, Kara and Mon-el.

"I have something!" said Winn, looking like a kid with a present. "It's some old gear, I revamped it to fight against the sound frequency Purity emits."

"Have they been tested?" asked Mon-el.

"No, but I'm sure they're like one hundred, like, ninety five percent certain they're good," he shrugged.

"Should I call Rae?" asked Mon-el.

"No. It's her day off," answered J'onn.

"Okay, but she's going to be pissed she missed this one!" he shouted, as he took off.

At the subway station, we managed to corner Purity in the tunnel. Hoping we had some kind of containment to the isolation of the tunnel, we weren't expecting Purity's attempt to escape. But she countered by wailing at the floor causing it to collapse. She was growing stronger and smarter with her powers by the minute. We all fell through to the next level of the subway and the crowd of people below went straight to pandemonium. People were yelling and running in all directions.

Purity made the first move. In an effort to distract us, she blasted a pillar holding the above level up. Mon-el, alongside J'onn were forced to hold it up taking two away from our numbers.

"Alex, get these people out of here!" I heard Supergirl yell, as she squared off with the world killer. I started running to the nearest person, helping them out, trying to herd them out of harms way.

With J'onn handling the collapsing pillars, Mon-el and Supergirl were giving Purity everything they had. Her strength was becoming formidable. She threw Mon-el to the side like he was a rag doll. The next time I turned around, I saw Supergirl gasping for air as Purity wrapped her arm tighter around her neck.

My last resort was to reach Julia, her human side and hope that I could connect like Kara would.

"Julia! Stop!" Those white eyes pierced through me. "You stood in front a car to save your friend, Vinita because you love your friend. And you know that Supergirl wants to help you. You can fight this because you are stronger than you think."

I couldn't believe what I was saying. The same words I was saying to Julia were the words I needed to hear and start believing. I could see Julia fighting against whatever was taking her over.

"Julia, fight it! I believe that you can beat this!" The struggle I watched as the world killer struggle to stay in control was difficult. But eventually, both girls fell to the ground.

"So the Supergirl kneels," announced Reign, as she descended from the upper level.

Knowing Supergirl was weak from Purity, I walked toward Reign, taking aim and firing. I ignore the sound of my sister's voice, as shot after shot deflected off Reign. I was out of options; I needed one of these shots to catch.

"You, I kill!" shouted Reign; she flew at me, taking me to the ground. The impact from her alone was powerful, but the foot she used to crush my chest as I lay there was worse. I could hear Supergirl yelling, hoping for help from anyone. When Julia spoke up.

"Stop. Take me," she offered, selflessly trying to save me.

"No, don't!" tried Kara.

"Have me instead," insisted Julia. Reign studied Julia, before lifting her foot off my sternum. I gasped for air. My lungs were burning and Reigns voice was nothing more than a mumble in the background as I tried to roll away from her. I heard them fly off and watched from my back as J'onn was finally able to place the pillar back together with the help of Mon-el. I couldn't think of the next step, I just wanted to get back to the DEO.

J'onn forced me to get checked out, insisting that my own assessment wasn't good enough.

"Guys, it's just a couple of bruised ribs and what feels like a giant hematoma on my ass," I cringed as I put my sweater on. "It could've been worse; it could've been rugby."

"Don't joke," said Kara, looking at me full of concern.

"Winn, anything other than me to talk about?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"We lost track of the world killers minutes after they took off," he said.

"Well, we found them once. We'll find them again," said J'onn, leading himself and Winn out of the examination room.

"Ready for that drink now?" I asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Hell yeah," said Supergirl.

I sat in the booth, waiting for Kara to get back. I had to tell her how I was feeling. How I felt every time I looked at the two numbers in my speed dial. She came back with our drinks and listened to every word. It felt good to let it out but it didn't feel like she could fix this one. I looked at the two numbers again, willing myself to make a decision.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked her. Instead of her answer, my phone rang. I looked down at the unknown number. I excused myself from the table while I answered.

"Hello?"

"Bruised ribs and a hematoma? And you didn't think to call the doctor on call?" The voice instantly brought a smile to my face.

"I saw a doctor, I've been cleared," I assured Rae. I looked back at the table where Kara sat with a huge grin on her face.

"You know we're taking you for X-rays tomorrow right?" she asked. "I had one day off!"

I laughed again, "You were definitely missed today." I said; thinking of how pivotal Rae had become to the team in just a short amount of time. "I missed you."

I wrapped up the call with Rae; agreeing I'd pick Ruby up for school in the morning after she insisted she spend the night so I could take it easy. Sam still couldn't be reached, which was weird that she hadn't thought to even touch base with her daughter.

"Rae was just checking in," I said, sitting down.

"Maybe that's your problem," suggested Kara, pointing at my phone where the number was labelled as unknown. "Maybe you have the wrong person in that speed dial."