A/N: Sequel as promised.:) Also, I just want to say that you guys are awesome and make me so happy. Big thanks to the guests who left reviews, too, I wish I could respond directly and tell you how much I appreciate your words.

She's gone.

/

The heart monitor shrieks and Kara stands up screaming, stumbling forward and Eliza breaks into a sob and Lena throws the door open with Dr. Hamilton at her side and Winn on their heels.

"Move!" Dr. Hamilton yells, stepping in front and plunging a needle into Alex's arm. Lena slips something into the IV. Winn glances down at his computer and back up, down, up, down, up. He's yelling things to them and they're yelling back and the clock is screaming and not thirty seconds after the heart monitor screeched flat it's whirling again and Alex jolts forward.

The pressure in her lungs is excruciating and she gasps for breath. Heaves air through her lungs and has to think about it.

Colors swirl in front of her closed eyes, shooting blues and emerald and the yellow of stars and deep magenta and red sparking before her and it's never been more beautiful even though it's all cast against the darkness of her eyelids.

Dr. Hamilton and Lena step back and look at Winn, smiles tugging across their faces and he stumbles backward into the wall, heaving a sigh as his own grin splits his lips.

Alex feels hands on her back; hands she knows—Eliza, Kara. They stroke and rub and draw circles until her lungs are sucking in air almost normally, almost like lungs are supposed to.

She pants and opens her eyes, blinks in the light. Her hearing comes back, quick and abrupt like surfacing from the bottom of a swimming pool.

"Alex," Kara breathes out and wraps her sister in the gentlest hug, she doesn't let go. "Oh my Rao, Alex."

The brunette blinks again, all the memories flooding back in snippets and hazy senses. There's still pain aching through her whole frame but she feels the fiery stabs receding with each passing second and she can breathe again. Oh my god, she can breathe, she can feel, she can see. She can see the faces of all those people that she loves most and that is the new most beautiful thing she has ever seen. She can-

"Kara," she whispers, blinks sleepily as she looks around. "Mom."

"Oh sweetheart," Eliza says and grips Alex's hand. "My Alex."

The brunette forces her vision to focus, sweep across the room to Lena, Dr. Hamilton, and Winn. She blinks hard once more, tries to rein in her straying concentration and poke through the onslaught of regained senses. She wonders briefly if this is anything at all close to what Kara must have felt when her powers had manifested. "I was… I was dead, how did you do it?"

"We got into Cadmus' scientific database literally just an hour ago," Winn says, his hands shake with adrenaline. "Lena found the research on poisons, Dr. Hamilton identified the most likely candidate, took the antidote formula and whipped it together; we came running and voilà… Alex Danvers back from the dead." He bounces on his toes and can't stop smiling because Alex Danvers is living and breathing again and she doesn't look like she's in so much pain anymore.

"Get over here," she motions, smiling and pulling him into a hug as soon as he's close enough. "You guys too," she murmurs, looking over Winn's shoulder to Lena and Dr. Hamilton. She embraces them one at a time, has to do so around Kara who is still clinging loosely to her side, before easing her sore body back down. "Thank you, truly."

"It's the least we could do, Alex," Lena says and squeezes the woman's hand.

"You're feeling better?" Dr. Hamilton asks already going over Alex's statistics.

The brunette nods. "I can feel it going away."

"You should make a full recovery," Lena says and Kara doesn't think she's ever seen the CEO look prouder. "We found it all… everything you need to get back."

"Thank you," Alex says sincerely.

"Of course," Lena says and glances to Dr. Hamilton. "We should probably escape to the lab for a minute, we need to make more medication to give you for a second dose. We'll be back shortly," she finishes and as she turns to leave Kara seems to hesitate for a moment.

"Go," Alex whispers softly, she notices, of course. Because Alex notices everything when it comes to Kara.

Kara shoots her another look, eyes wide through dark lashes and Alex nudges her side. "I'll be right here. I'm not going anyway," she promises.

Kara nods and untangles herself slowly, before slipping into the hall and tugging Lena into a hug.

"Thank you," she murmurs into brunette's shoulder. Behind her J'onn and Eliza have gathered closer to Alex and Maggie catches the agent's gaze with a smile, knowing they'll get their chance to talk soon, but for now the sight of Alex breathing feels like enough to keep her powered for centuries. Doctors flood in and verify Alex's recovery before they trickle out and the activity lulls.

Kara and Lena stay embraced for a while, until Lena breaks the silence and leans back to look the blonde in the eyes. "Kara, I'm sorry," Lena says and her voice quivers and she gets that look she gets whenever she talks about her family. "I'm sorry my mom did that to you and Alex and I'm sorry—"

"Shh," Kara cuts her off. "It's not your fault. Rao, Lena, if you weren't here my sister wouldn't be breathing right now, okay?"

Lena nods and Kara commits to continuing this conversation later. "Okay," the CEO nods. "I need to go, make sure everything is perfect for your sister."

"Thank you," Kara says and before Lena disappears down the hall, the blonde speaks up again. "Lena, we're going to talk about this more, all right? Some other time? You saved the day today and I don't want you to forget it."

Lena smiles over her shoulder. "You're too kind, Kara Danvers."

"No such thing," the blonde quips back with a grin before they both go their separate ways.

Kara turns back to the room and opens the door. She's greeted by the lovely sight of Alex reaching out for her, arms extended and fingers wiggling. The blonde giggles—some mix of immense happiness and relief and incredulity; she makes a beeline for Alex's bed, slipping beneath the sheets and wires and cuddling next to her sister.

Eliza, J'onn, and Maggie laugh-the only other three remaining in the room—and Alex smiles contently. They're both a little wired on medication and it shows in their goofy smiles and soft glances, the smoothness that's out of place in a way—a stark contrast to the jarring panic of just an hour earlier.

"I'll see you girls later," J'onn says after another half an hour passes and their easy conversation is interrupted by another DEO emergency happening somewhere in the city and J'onn is called away. He presses a kiss onto the foreheads of Kara and Alex. "I'm glad you're okay. Both of you," he says warmly before waving to the group and exiting the room.

Kara snuggles against Alex's shoulder eyes closing and the brunette nestles her nose into the blonde's hair. Maggie's looking at Alex with watery eyes and Eliza immediately takes notice.

She stands to excuse herself with a knowing smile, eyes sparkly. Maggie tries to convey that it's okay, Eliza can stay… this is her daughter after all, but the scientist has none of it and waves Maggie off. "I'll give you girls some time alone. I'm going to go make sure everything's okay in the lab." She brushes her thumb across the oldest Danvers' sister's cheek. "My sweet Alex, I am so happy you're okay. I love you more than words can ever describe."

"I love you, Mom," Alex says with a sleepy smile across her face.

"Come on, Kara," Eliza prods, rubbing her youngest daughter's shoulder. "Let's give your sister and Maggie some space."

The blonde murmurs incoherently, nuzzling further into her sister's comfortable warmth.

"She's okay," Maggie says, an adoring smirk pulling at her lips. "Little Danvers looks wiped out."

As if on cue, Kara lets out a soft yawn in her half-conscious state. "Thanks, Maggie," she mutters, voice muffled by Alex's shoulder. "Don't wanna leave Alex ever."

The other women laugh and Alex squints at her mother. "Is she on something?"

"Medication was definitely involved at some point between the time I arrived and when you came to. With her powers down she's vulnerable and when everything… when everything happened, she was getting hysterical. Looks like they're just now kicking in," Eliza says and strokes Kara's hair. Alex fondly shakes her head at her little sister.

"Hey, you're not entirely clearheaded yourself, Al" Maggie says with a grin.

"I'm doing better than Kara," Alex teases, never removing her left arm from its position rubbing the younger woman's back. The brunette is about to make another quip when Kara snuggles impossibly closer, and Alex's mind is temporarily assaulted with images of Kara so torn up, hurting so badly that she was given something, and it tugs at Alex's heart. She cuts her sister a break, maybe the medicine is the only thing keeping her from falling apart right now. Alex looks up as Eliza runs a hand through her dark hair before she slips out of the room, promising Alex she'll be back in a bit.

Maggie moves to Alex's free side and drops into a chair, nestling her forehead against Alex's collarbone. "God, I'm so glad you're okay, Al. I don't know what I would've done if you'd died," she mutters. Her breath is hot against Alex's skin and her tears spill over onto perfect skin.

"But I didn't, not really," Alex says and slips an arm around her girlfriend's shaking back. "I'm always going to come back, okay?" She whispers into Maggie's hair and even though it's a promise she can't keep for certain (and they both know it), the words still bring comfort to Maggie.

The detective pulls back from the crook of Alex's neck, looks at Alex through watery eyes and sniffles. "I love you," she says. "I thought you were going to die and I was so afraid I wasn't going to get the chance to say it. I love you, Alex Danvers."

Alex grins. "I love you, too, Maggie Sawyer." It feels like home on her lips and sounds like music on her tongue. "I'll always be here, for you and for this oversized space puppy."

Maggie laughs and from beneath the mass of sheets Kara grumbles. "Hey!" she exclaims.

"I thought you were asleep, you dork," Alex says and runs her hand over Kara's hair.

The blonde shakes her head, nose rubbing defiantly against Alex's arm. "Not sleeping until you fall asleep. Not ever," she says and forces her heavy eyelids open.

"Well I guess I better get on that then, huh?"

"I think so, babe," Maggie says and Kara nods in agreement.

Alex lets her eyes fall closed. She's impossibly sore but her two favorite girls are pressed against her side and that's more important, more powerful than any pain she could ever feel, she pulls them both a little closer and imagines that their heartbeats are synchronized. She must be more tired than she thought because already the heaviness of sleep is tugging her away.

True to her word, neither Kara nor Maggie fall asleep until Alex's breathing eases and she snores lightly under the tubes and needles pressed into her skin. Until Alex subconsciously tightens her grip around the women. Their presence makes her okay, makes everything okay.

So this time, she slips away under moonlight and the comfortable weight of people she loves more than life itself. This time, she slips away knowing that the promise of tomorrow still urges her forward, grants her another day. This time, she slips away with a little smile tugging the corners of her lips and with both of her hands held.

/

Alex's eyes crack open, scanning across the room drenched in gentle white light, land upon the bent frame of her sister, knees pulled against her chest with arms wrapped around herself as she perches in a chair and stares out the window.

"Can't sleep?" Alex asks softly, her voice thick as it hangs in the night.

Kara nods and sniffles, the noise echoes through the room. Alex watches the younger woman's silhouette as her palms raise and wipe her eyes, and she is drenched in moonlight.

"What are the stars telling you tonight?" Alex asks gently, knows that somewhere in Kara's head the celestial bodies represent the voices of her parents, her dead world.

Her powers have returned, the drugs made useless and she feels everything. All the weight, all the guilt of the past hours. And the stars… The stars are telling her that she can't lose another person, that she can't breathe unless Alex is somewhere on the planet breathing, too.

Kara could say all of this, but these moments need to be about Alex, so Kara shrugs… maybe another day, another time. Right now she just wants to be close.

She shakes her head and finally turns to face Alex and they hold eye contact in the little DEO hospital room with their only source of light blinking monitors and stars and the moon, each catching and glowing the identical tears tracks on both faces.

"Wha—what about you?" Kara asks. "What are you doing up?"

This time Alex shrugs, briefly makes out Eliza and Maggie's silhouettes asleep in two chairs on the far end of the room, before her gaze drifts back to Kara. "It just kind of happened, thinking about stuff…" About concrete floors and pain and the way things looked in her head as she was dying.

Kara nods and she knows what 'stuff' means to Alex; and Alex knows she knows so they just sit for a minute.

"Why are you out of bed?"

"I was thrashing a bit, didn't want to hurt you any more than you already are." Kara looks down and before Alex can voice her concern for her little sister, the blonde is talking again. "Speaking of which, how are you feeling?"

"A lot better."

"Does it still hurt?"

Alex shrugs again and Kara doesn't like it. "A little, I'm sore and everything kind of aches but it's all right. I'll be fine… you know what would make me feel even better though?"

Kara perks up a bit, eager to help. "What?"

"If you would come back in bed and lay with me," she smirks as she says it, knowing Kara needs just a little push to let her sister back in. Her heart swells when Kara grins a bit and scrambles off the chair, gangly legs tripping a bit until she under the sheets.

She curls up against Alex and they stay quiet for a while. Alex is nearly sure Kara's asleep, is about to close her own eyes when she hears the blonde's breathing pick up, a little at first just barely noticeable and then loud the next, heavy sobs that grate her lungs and leap out with so much force she shakes.

"Oh, hey, Kara," Alex whispers, immediately yanks the girl into a desperate hug. "Kara, come back to me."

The blonde shakes her head against Alex's shoulder, tears drench through the fabric. This isn't a panic attack, this is… this is just… Rao, she doesn't know what this is, but she feels it. Feels it aching through her bones and chest. "I'm here," Kara cried. "I just… Alex, I can't lose you. You died in front of me. You were dead and I thought—I thought I was going to be alone, I thought you were going to leave me."

Alex shakes her head, brown hair bobbing and face determine. "No, Kara, I'm still here, okay?"

Kara gives a watery murmur.

Alex continues. "I'm still here with you and we're all okay. If anything happens I will always come back fighting for you."

The blonde eases a little, some tension seeping from her muscles.

"Listen, Kara, you're right. I was dying, but you know what?" Kara looks up and sees her sister crying, too, as she forces herself to continue. "I was dying and I was thinking about you. I was thinking about my baby sister and h-how much she needs me and how much I need her. I was dying and the thing I was saddest about was leaving you. So don't think for a single sliver of a second that I won't ever do everything in my power to be here with you every step of the way, okay?"

"Rao, I'm so glad you're back," Kara murmurs and shifts upward so she can hug Alex. The blonde mutters thank you and I'm sorry over and over again into Alex's hair and the agent reassures Kara that it's okay, and she'll keep whispering it until Kara doesn't need to hear it anymore.

They fall asleep like that, with tears mingling and hands linked together, sisters in all the ways that count. Alex thinks Kara's asleep when she finally lets herself be taken away by slumber, but Kara waits up again, just to be sure. Alex may be the older sister, but Kara has light-years behind her and a planet in her veins and her heart, and she will take all these things—all this strength she's had to build—to keep her sister safe. Even, if for tonight, that just means staying awake an extra few minutes until Alex's breathing eases and her heart is calm.

A/N: See? Fluffy. I couldn't kill Alex for real, I love that girl too much.

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