A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews. To the guests who have left prompts, they'll be added to the next poll.

I received a request for a sequel to the last chapter and ran with it. Which means that the poll still stands (we're very close to a tie over there, so go vote if you haven't already :)

I hope you enjoy! Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts and also also, happy Supergirl Monday! If you want to talk about the episode after it airs (or before, I'm flexible) come see me on twitter ( powertodanvers). All right, that's all. Thanks!

Her breath is in her throat when she wakes, silent screams calling out from some dark cavity deep inside her chest. Her senses are smothered by the grasps of dream and she turns, lungs still lurching, aching for breath. She trembles, feels an abysmal sensation of reaching, reaching, reaching.

Gripping her fingers through darkness and smoke until finally—finally—she meets something solid, knuckles colliding with a warm, tangibility in front of her; a gentle weight wrapped around her shaking frame: Alex.

Alex who murmurs in her sleep, instinctively tugging Kara closer, instinctively loosening some of the tightness in her chest, softening the thunder of her heartbeat.

Kara let's out another warm exhale against Alex's chest, curls into her and clings. She squeezes her eyes shut. Hard. Nestles against Alex.

The brunette murmurs in her sleep, tugging Kara closer again, and Kara picks up her sister's words as some slurred and mumbled version of are you okay?

No, she wants to say, feels it choking through her throat and catching on her tongue. Nothing is okay. She's entangled in nightmares that shake her to the core, strip away her sanity and then disintegrate, leaving only dread she can't place. Dread like murky waters and inky shadow.

Without meaning to, a whimper slips from her mouth and it's the closest thing to a response she can produce.

"Kara," Alex whispers, something about the cry rousing the eldest Danvers sister into wakefulness. She props herself up on her elbow. "Kara, are you okay?"

"No," Kara says, and with the admission from her broken, cracking voice comes some relief to the ache in her bones and burning in her lungs. "No, I'm not," she cries.

Alex shifts, loosening her grip on Kara and sliding over—intent on turning on the light on her bedside table, when Kara yelps a pitiful 'no' at the sudden lack of pressure.

"Okay, it's okay," Alex placates and moves back, light already forgotten as she pulls Kara's shaking frame against her own. "You're all right, sis, just breathe with me." Alex thumbs away the tears on Kara's cheeks. The blonde squirms a little, until she can practically feel Alex's heartbeat beneath her.

"Good girl, you've got it," Alex says as Kara gets her breathing under control, curling back against Alex with a sigh.

The grasp of nightmare finally breaks, minutes later with a quivering deep breath that heaves its way in and out of Kara's lungs. She looks up at Alex, eyes no longer glassy behind tears, cheeks flush and warm.

"There she is," Alex says, caressing Kara's face and giving her a soft smile.

Instead of reciprocating the smile, Kara keeps looking at Alex, eyes wide and lips tugging downward until she coils forward into Alex's shoulder in a sudden movement, twisting her fingers around the fabric of Alex's pajama shirt and holding it tight. Worry tautens in Alex's stomach, she rubs circles on Kara's back with one hand and runs the other through blonde hair.

"Wanna talk about it?" Alex asks, even though she already knows the answer.

Kara shakes her head. "I don't even know how to," she whispers, a little breathless. "It's gone. It's—it's just this feeling. And I-"

Alex hears Kara's breath catch in her throat again.

"Shh, it's okay, Kara. It's okay…"

Kara nods, focuses on Alex. "I'm really tired."

"Then go to sleep," Alex says gently and Kara closes her eyes to the sound of her sister's heartbeat and the feeling of familiar fingers tangled in her hair.

/

Kara wakes to an empty bed, and there's a heavy exhaustion deep beneath her eyelids as she shifts and props herself upward. It takes a few seconds for her recognize that she's in Alex's apartment and when the previous night's memories come back a new kind of exhaustion washes over her, strips away another layer of composure.

She drags herself out of bed, toward the kitchen where the scent of pancakes wafts. Even though her stomach makes noise, she doesn't feel hungry.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Alex says and smiles.

Kara drops into a chair at the counter. "Hey," she says back, feeling a little bit lighter now that she's drenched in sunlight seeping through the window and spending time with her sister.

"You want some?" Alex gestures to the growing stack of pancakes on the island.

Before she responds her stomach makes another noise and Alex laughs. "I'm taking that as a yes."

Kara accepts the plate without protest because she should at least try to eat, if not for herself, then for her sister. She manages a few bites until she's finished an entire pancake and Alex is smiling at her so widely that Kara tries to eat a second one and even though she only gets four more bites in, she feels better than she has in a long time.

Alex kisses the top of Kara's head. "What are your plans for the day?"

"I'm going into CatCo for a few hours and then—"

"Kar, are you sure that's a good idea?"

The blonde nods. "I need it. Sometimes… sometimes it feels like CatCo—like writing—is the only thing keeping me steady."

Alex feels guilt course through her like ice water. She should have been there sooner for Kara.

The blonde excuses herself a few minutes later and super speeds her way through getting dressed for work, walking into CatCo precisely 3.2 minutes before she's supposed to be there.

Her day starts relatively well and she's able to fend off the persistent coil of dread in her stomach for a few hours. But just a little after she reaches the halfway point on her work day things start to fall apart. Snapper sends her to L-Corp for an interview and Kara is more than happy to have the chance to visit her friend. But when she arrives, Lena is trapped in a board meeting and the best Kara gets is a small smile and a mouthed 'I'm sorry' through the window of the door. The blonde gets in a quick wave dismissing Lena's apology and shares her own brief smile before Lena's attention is pulled away by some old guy in a chair to her right. The CEO gives a small eye roll that only Kara can see and she walks away smirking, despite the fact that she misses her friend more than ever now.

She talks to Jess for a few minutes before disappearing down the hall and out into the streets. The whole experience would have been okay, good even, now that she's seen Lena and knows the CEO is okay after everything that's been going on, except when Kara gets back to CatCo she has to endure another series of lectures about her incompetence from Snapper. Then she has to watch as he tears up one of her articles and dumps it in the trash.

She retreats back to her office, swallowing tears and keeping a straight face because she'll be damned if she lets Cat down in one way or another. And while the building may be physically void of the woman herself, she is still very much present.

Cat had a special word for the feeling aching through Kara, something about 'millennial dread' and it makes her laugh even though she wants to cry. Thinking about Cat is dangerous though, when Kara is trying so hard to keep herself together, thinking about anyone that's left is dangerous at the moment. She squeezes her eyes closed for a second and tries to rid her brain of the list of names that burns behind her eyes.

She manages slowly and painfully through the next two hours, quelling the pain in her chest just enough so it doesn't morph into outright panic. Then, there's a series of Supergirl emergencies—sirens calling one after another. In the end everyone survives, but Kara's distracted and fatigued and she makes mistakes that almost have irrevocable consequences. People die when she's not focused. She berates herself as she flies away, barely managing a small smile and wave to the crowd that had gathered below.

The smile falls from her lips the second she turns away and takes to tearing through the skies. If she could just go fast enough, she wouldn't have to feel.

Kara wrestles her phone from the pocket sewn into her super suit with shaking fingers, fumbles through her speed dial as she hovers back into U.S. airspace after circling the globe a few times. The sun is dipping below the horizon from where she hangs in the sky. "Alex, I wanna come home. I want to see you, and Maggie, too."

"Okay, yeah. We'd love to see you, too. Is something wrong? Is everything okay?"

Kara bites her lip and tears prick in her eyes as she speeds through the air. "Yeah, I know it's only been a few hours but I just miss you and I'm not feeling great again and I just want to see you before it gets too bad. I don't want to spiral."

"Of course. We'll be here."

Kara nods, squeezing her eyes closed as she swallows a lump in her throat.

"And Kara?"

"Yeah?" she responds, voice hoarse.

"I'm proud of you for calling. Now stay safe and get here quickly, okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you. Fly fast."

Kara almost—almost—smiles at that. "I love you," she whispers back and then the line goes dead and she's alone in the skies.

She lands on the rooftop of Alex's apartment and changes from her super suit in the stairwell. She's exhausted as she drags herself down the steps and through the hall, feet heavy and lungs slow—it's the kind of exhaustion that settles in your bones, gnaws at you from the inside out. As she knocks on Alex's door she lets her eyes fall closed, feels the vibrations of the city shake through her.

The door opens with a soft creak, but it's loud in Kara's pounding head and she flinches before opening her eyes to Maggie's soft smile. "Hey, Little Danvers."

"Hi," Kara mutters as she stumbles in, foot catching on the threshold.

"Easy there," Maggie says and reaches out, steadying Kara with a hand on each arm. "What's wrong?"

Kara sees Alex making her way over from the kitchen and shakes her head, but the motion makes the room spin and she presses a hand against her forehead. "Nothing, I'm-"

"Kara," Maggie says and the gentleness in her voice makes Kara's heart clench.

"It's just a headache." She tries to straighten, brushes off Maggie's concern as Alex appears at her side.

"And you're shivering," Maggie observes, leaning back to scan Kara for any other abnormalities.

"It's not a big deal," Kara mutters and she really just wants things to feel normal again, but she's getting too tired to go through all the motions of pretending.

Alex moves against her side and pulls Kara toward her, taking some of the girl's weight in her arms. "Kara," she begins and brushes Kara's hair behind her ear. "You came home for a reason, let us take care of you."

"I—okay," she relents, protest ceasing as Alex rubs her back and Kara feels some of her pain dripping away.

"Maybe a nap might make you feel better?" Maggie suggests, taking note of the dark circles beneath Kara's eyes and the way her body seemed to sway as she tried to remain upright. Alex nods in agreement at Kara's side.

"Okay," she says again and untangles herself from Alex, something is still broken deep inside her.

"You'll be okay in there?" Alex asks, worrying her lip as she watches Kara's slow and shaky steps down the hall.

"Yeah," the blonde says over her shoulder.

Alex follows behind her anyway, makes sure Kara is settled in the bed and snuggled under a few blankets before she gives Kara's shoulder a squeeze and flicks off the lights. She knows her sister hasn't been sleeping much lately.

Without bothering to change from her clothes Kara had collapsed into the bed, she presses her face into Alex's pillow and tries to imagine everything falling away, all the fear coiled in her stomach and the pain in her head and tightness in her chest.

It doesn't work, and she closes her eyes harder, focuses her super hearing on Alex's heartbeat. She finds the brunette's voice instead.

"God, Mags, I'm so worried about her," Alex says as she moves around the kitchen, pulling out ingredients for dinner. As soon as Kara had called, they'd both taken the rest of the day off and made a quick stop at the grocery store before returning to Alex's apartment.

"It'll be okay." Maggie puts a hand on Alex's back, turns the agent around so they're face to face. "Kara's tough."

Alex rubs her eyes and sighs. "I know, but even tough people fall to this kind of stuff. I just wish I could help her."

"Sometimes the best thing you can do is just be with someone."

"I need to be more than just the best thing, Maggie. I need to be enough for her." Kara hears Alex's voice crescendo, her breathing stutter. "Sorry," she whispers, squeezes her eyes open and closed. "I'm sorry—I just, I hate to see her like this. It makes me feel so bad."

Kara stops listening and bites her lip, still tears fall from the corner of her eyes. She curls onto her side and turns everything off as best she can.

A sharp cry falls from her lips and she slaps a hand over her mouth in an attempt to suppress the noise. She has to remind herself that she came here for a reason—she came here so Alex and Maggie can help her. She can't disappear this time. Kara needs help and she needs it soon, because she's afraid of what might happen if she keeps slipping away.

"It's okay," Maggie says and pulls Alex into a hug. "Hey, listen to me, we're going to work this out, all right? We're going to fix it."

Alex nods, in a second any remnants of the tears that had threatened to fall are gone, her cheeks already returning to their natural hue. "Thank you for being so good about this and so good with Kara. She asked for you to be here tonight, she wanted to see you, too."

Maggie gives a small smile. "I just wish I could be better."

Alex nods. "You and me both."

/

"I need to try something different," Alex says and paces through the kitchen, stirring their red sauce each time she passes. Maggie perches on the counter, swinging her legs. "I need… oh, Eliza! That might help." A smile pulls across her lips. "I'm going to call my mom," she says, stepping away from the stove. Maggie slips in and takes her place as Alex moves into the living room.

Kara rolled over in the bed, she's been footing the edge of sleep for the past hour and a half, flickering in and out of wakefulness and begging for something to change, for something to dislodge the fatigue and anguish that's somehow seemed to seep through her pores and stick close on her heart.

With a sharp movement she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, feeling hot and sticky in her work clothes. She bypasses the pair of pajamas she leaves here, in favor of pulling on Alex's sweatpants and t-shirt. It takes a few minutes to change because the thought of using her super speed brings nausea for reasons she can't explain.

She's just so tired of it all.

"Hey, feeling any better?" Alex asks when she sees Kara emerge from the bedroom, pajama clad.

Kara nods and it's not a complete lie, the ache in her head has dulled a bit and she doesn't feel like the mere act of standing is going to bring her down. She even manages to muster a smile small. It's getting easier with practice.

"Good," Alex says and pulls Kara into a quick hug. "There's only a few minutes before dinner's ready and Eliza's on the phone. She wants to talk to you."

"I'm not really—"

"You don't have to, Kara, but it would mean a lot. She really misses you."

Kara takes the phone with a quiet 'okay' and disappears back into the bedroom. "Hi, Eliza," she says softly.

"Hi, sweetie." Silence falls over them for a few moments and Kara shifts, eyes pointed downward where she toes at the ground. Eliza speaks up again. "I've heard you've been going through some difficult things and I want you to know that I will always love you, and I'm just a call away if you ever need me."

Kara curls onto the bed. She wants to cry because Eliza's voice is so gentle and she has always been so gentle even when Kara was not. "Thanks," Kara says and sniffles. "I love you, too." She heaves a shaky breath. "You're a good mom."

Eliza smiles. "Thank you, Kara. Do you want to talk about what's been bothering you?"

Kara shakes her head. "No, not really. But I can tell you about what's going on at CatCo, if you want to hear about it?"

"I'd love to," Eliza says.

Thirty minutes pass before Alex goes in search of Kara to tell her dinner's ready. She pauses, hovering in the entranceway, at the sound of Kara's laughter spilling forward. It's such a relief to finally hear that noise, a smile pulls across her features. She's about to ease away and leave Kara a few more moments with Eliza when the blonde leans to the side and grins at her sister. "Alex, come over here. Eliza just told me the funniest story about Jerimiah and horses."

Alex grins back and of course, she sits next to Kara as requested, shoulders knocking as she moves down. "Is it the dude ranch one?"

Kara nods eagerly. "How'd you know?"

" 'Cause it's a classic. Plus, I know it's one of mom's favorites because I was there."

"You were?!"

Alex nods. "Yep, six year old me."

"Riveting." Kara declares and flops back against the bed. "Is dinner ready?" she asks Alex, who nods in response.

"You ready to eat?"

"Starving!" Kara says, and Alex rolls her eyes at the drama that is her sister. The pair exchanges goodbyes and 'I love you's with Eliza before hanging up and sliding off the bed.

"I can't believe he fell off the horse," Kara says, shaking her head, clearly still in awe of the story.

"And rolled down the hill," Alex adds.

"He rolled down the hill?"

"All the way," Alex says, enjoying the giggles that follow.

"There are my Danvers sisters," Maggie says with a smile, setting plates full of pasta on the kitchen counter.

"Sorry, Mags, Kara was getting enlightened on our dad's embarrassing past mistakes."

"Tell Maggie the story!" Kara says as she sits down, fork already half way to her mouth. It's the first time in days Alex has seen Kara readily eat. Maybe all she needed was some distraction and some fun to pull her away from her thoughts.

They're in the middle of cleaning up, despite Maggie and Alex's insistence that Kara sit, she's helping out anyway. Alex's phone rings, a call from the DEO science department with inquiries about some experiment that's running in the lab. She steps out into the hall for a moment and Maggie catches her wrist, pulls her in for quick kiss before she disappears.

Then it's just her and Kara, and she can't help but think of all the things she's seen over the past week. She can't help but remember the fear that'd spiked inside her the previous night at the hollowness in Kara's gaze. The panic that'd tightened in her chest as she'd watched, helpless, while Kara had spiraled.

And before she can help herself, Maggie has Kara pulled into the tightest hug she can manage. "Little Danvers, you have to promise me you're going to keep coming for help when you need it, okay?"

Kara murmurs in surprise before she reciprocates the embrace and answers the detective's question. "Yeah, I will."

"You promise?"

Kara nods. "I promise."

"Good," Maggie says, pulling back and smiling one of her big dimple-y smiles.

/

"I had a bad day," Kara admits later that night when things have calmed down and she's snuggled on the couch with a movie and her sister. Behind them, Maggie sits at the counter in the kitchen, finishing up paperwork.

"What was bad about it?" Alex asks and turns down the volume on the TV. She feels Kara shrug against her.

"Don't know. It just sucked."

Alex gives a sympathetic hum and wraps an arm against Kara, squeezing her close. "Well, tomorrow should be better."

"Yeah, maybe. I got yelled at by Snapper and almost messed up as Supergirl, but I did go get to visit Lena."

The inflection of Kara's voice tells Alex that the blonde wants her sister to ask more. "And?"

"She was in a meeting, but I waved? I don't know, she's a good person." Kara nestles into Alex's shoulder and this time Alex can tell she's done talking about it.

"You're a good person, too," Alex whispers, brushing her hands through Kara's tangled hair. Kara doesn't say anything, just lets herself melt into Alex's gentle touch.

The blonde hears Maggie shut her laptop, hears sock-clad feet pad toward the couch until the detective comes into view and plops beside Kara. The blonde makes a move to stand up, feeling guilty for taking the space between her sister and her sister's girlfriend, but Maggie puts a hand on Kara's leg and shakes her head.

"Stay, Little Danvers, it's okay. We'll survive, Alex and I have spent many night very close to each other to make up for it." She wiggles her eyebrows at Alex and grins.

"Mags," Alex hisses, flinging a pillow at the detective and throwing her hands up.

"Sorry," Maggie says, not looking sorry at all as she laughs.

Kara makes a face and buries her head in Alex's shoulder, but the brunette can feel her smiling. "So tired," she murmurs and closes her eyes as Alex resumes stroking her hair.

"Go to sleep, Little Danvers," Maggie says, her fingers lock with Alex's free hand and fall across Kara's waist.

Kara's next words are unintelligible as she snuggles against her sister and feels the warmth of the detective on her right side. Kara sniffles a little, slipping deeper into the grasps of sleep as the movie and voices of Alex and Maggie mingled and fade. She's not okay, not yet, at least. But for the first time in so long, she's thinks she will be.

Sleep welcomes her easily that night, holds her warm and safe. But nothing could ever keep her warmer than the two women she's wedged between, holding hands over her exhausted frame and holding her together.