A/N: Thank you for so much kind response on the last chapter! The poll hasn't been updated yet, so keep voting. :) New prompts will be added to the next updated version.

Big thanks to Ashes-Athanasia for today's prompt: Kara feeling bad for all the damage she has done to the Danvers family.

I wrote this prompt since it's tagged to last week's episode and I wanted to get it out before the next one airs.

I hope I didn't let you down. :) I'd love to hear all of your thoughts.

"Alex, your sister needs you now."

Alex's brows furrow at the words coming from Maggie over the phone. "Kara?" she asks, her sister hasn't made any indication of wanting to interact in the past week since Jerimiah's betrayal has been exposed—conversations are short and professional, only taking place at the DEO; interactions aren't punctuated with reassuring touches or soft words. Everything is cold and reserved. Kara doesn't call or seek out hugs when she's obviously upset and Alex tries. She tries to reach out but Kara keeps pushing, pushing, pushing her sister away and Alex is tired. Tired of this broken mess her life has crumbled into, except for Maggie. Strong and sweet and beautiful Maggie who is keeping Alex upright even though everything weighs against the agent's shoulders.

Maggie whose voice is carrying over the phone again.

"Well, yeah, Danvers. You got another sister I don't know about?" the detective huffs and she takes a few steps further from the chaos erupting between Kara and J'onn behind her.

Alex shakes her head and turns back around in the hallway, moving to the exit and making her way to her car. "No, sorry. I just… is everything okay?"

"I don't know." Maggie turns and looks behind her, sees Kara struggling to get away from J'onn. "I'm not even sure what happened. There must have been a fight or something, I stumbled upon her when I was patrolling an area for a case and J'onn came after her and I don't know, Al, I don't know but she is freaked out."

Maggie tells Alex the address and the agent sighs and rubs her eyes as she puts her car into drive. "I'll be there in less than 10."

/

She closes her car door with a slam, relishes a bit in the way it echoes though the emptying streets at eight pm. She lets her boots clunk against the pavement as she walks to the back alley, but the sight that spreads before her eyes makes her stop, freeze for a moment before she rushes forward, steps suddenly light and efficient as she closes the distance between her and the scene.

Kara struggles against J'onn, pushes against his chest and kicks while Maggie tries to talk to the blonde.

"What the hell is going on?" Alex asks and J'onn turns to look at her. As his attentions shifts, Kara breaks free from his grasps. Her eyes are glazed, her strides hindered by a limp as she moves forward and tries to jump into the air and fly. Her hands slinks around her abdomen, seems to clutch her side as she stumbles.

Alex reaches forward and grabs Kara's wrist, both to steady and stop her. The brunette's grip is tight, fingers pressing into Kara's skin as she lowers her sister to the pavement.

"J'onn, what happened?" Alex looks up, voice controlled.

"She got hurt in the fight, the alien gives off a sort of toxin in the presence of skin-to-skin contact, psychologically exploits repressed or harbored fears, lets them magnify and grow until the victim is consumed in his or her thoughts. She was screaming your name when it happened."

Alex's heart bangs against her ribcage and guilt hangs like dread. She glances down at Kara, whose head is pressed against her knees. "What do we do now?" She asks and Kara straightens off the ground, legs trembling. She sways and crouches again, palms pressing into dark gravel.

Alex pushes her sister back into a sitting position.

J'onn keeps talking. "I've encountered this species before and the toxin won't cause permanent damage or harm her physically but she's shaken up, something must have been bothering her earlier for the effects to be this extreme with the few seconds of contact she had with the alien. There's more to this than your sister is letting on. She was trying to get away but she's in no position to be moving. I had to hold her back when she became hostile during her medical examination and tried to fly away."

Alex nods, shifts her gaze between J'onn, Maggie, and Kara. "Can I have a second alone with my sister please?"

Kara seems to only register Alex's voice and when she processes the last few words a sob erupts from the blonde's lips. Alex's face contorts in confusion.

J'onn and Maggie shuffle away, the latter giving Alex's hand a brief squeeze, before disappearing around the other corner to where two DEO units are set up.

"Kara, look at me," Alex says, reaching out for Kara's hands.

The moment their skins brushes together Kara recoils and presses her back against the brick wall behind her, the clay digs into the fabric of her super suit. Her hand sinks to press against her own side and she keeps her gaze down.

"What's going on with you?" Alex asks and her voice is a gentle set of vibrations swirling across the windy night air.

The blonde shakes her head, eyes squeezed closed. Alex can just barely see tears slipping from the corners and trailing down the younger woman's face.

"Kara, come on, I know things have been weird between us lately but I just want to help you. I'm still your sister. I'm always going to be your sister." Alex tilts her head, the way she always does when she's worried about Kara, when she needs to be the calmest, gentlest version of herself even though her heart thuds and her stomach tightens with worry.

A sob carves its way through Kara's chest. "I'm moving to metropolis," she chokes out. It's the first time Alex has heard her talk since she's arrived and the blonde's voice is so raw and hoarse Alex would comment on it if she isn't so startled by the words spilling from Kara's cracked lips.

"You're what? Kara, we talked about this already."

Kara tries to keep her eyes closed, if she looks at her sister's face she won't ever be able to make herself leave. She shakes her head and sends tears flying from her cheeks, darkening the pavement. "I've th-thought about it, and it's better for us…better for you. I'll go away and—and you can forget I exist. It'll take some time but it'll be okay and then you can—you can go be a doctor and be sa-safe with Maggie and without—without all of this," she finishes with a teary exhale and gestures to the remnants of the alien fight that had occurred just an hour early.

"How can you even talk like this, Kara? For me? How would any of that be better for me?" Alex asks and she can't take the sight of Kara's trembling hands anymore, so she reaches out and curls her fingers around the younger woman's, feels them shake in her grasp. "How do you think I could ever just forget about you?"

This time Kara doesn't pull away. She answers in a whisper drenched in self-loathing and pain. "Because I ruin everything for your family."

Alex's chest tightens, she's quickly becoming aware of what this is all about. She shakes her head. "Kara you made my family. You are my family."

Kara looks at Alex through red eyes and lashes drenched in tears. "But you said—you said that I was either part of the family or I wasn't… Like I'm not always part of it, like it de-depends on what I say or do, and I understand. But that's—that's why I have to leave."

At the repetition of the words she'd spat at Kara days ago, Alex is reminded of a feeling in her abdomen when she was twelve years old and playing soccer in the streets with some kids in her neighborhood. When a boy had meant to clear a ball but instead had sent it straight into her stomach. When she'd doubled over and gasped because it hurt so much she couldn't breathe.

It's like that now, as she watches her sister be tortured by words she didn't even mean, by words that had been intended to stab and sting because Alex was hurt and blinded.

"Kara, come on," Alex says and rises from her crouched position, offering two hands to Kara.

"But Alex, you said—"

Alex cuts her off. "What I said was stupid and horrible and wrong, okay? I didn't mean it, Kara."

The blonde hiccups and slow tears still streak her cheeks as she accepts Alex's hands and allows herself to be pulled up. Her steps are shaky, her gait off. She keeps a distance between herself and Alex.

The space between them screams.

Alex tugs her sister closer and Kara crashes into her side with a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry," Kara says in an exhale that's so quiet Alex barely catches it.

The brunette squeezes Kara's shoulder. "No, Kar, this is my fault and I'm sorry. We're gonna get you home now, okay?"

"Can we go to your place?" Kara asks and Alex nods.

"Of course."

Kara tries to keep her head up and her posture straight, tries to fight the fatigue that tugs heavily in each cell. She tries, but in the end she buries her head against Alex's shoulder as they walk and it slows them down a bit but neither sister says anything or shifts.

"Agent Danvers, Supergirl needs to finish her medical checkup," J'onn says as they pass. "All pressing vitals were checked and deemed satisfactory, but there may be some bruising or muscular injuries that need attention."

"I'll run the checkup myself," Alex says and her grip tightens around Kara's shoulder. "I'd like to get her home as soon as possible."

J'onn nods in understanding. "Take care, both of you."

Alex vocalizes her thanks, feels Kara murmur something of an apology to the older man against her sister's shirt. It's Maggie that intercepts them next, as they close the distance to Alex's car.

Kara feels her more than sees her at first, when Maggie rubs Kara's shoulder before she leans in to whisper something to Alex and Kara is sandwiched between them. She lets her eyes fall closed for a moment to the hum of voices above her.

Enough of their words poke through Kara's foggy brain to know they're talking about her and it should probably annoy Kara but this time she just feels relief that somebody noticed, even if it took an alien and more drama than the trashy reality TV shows she used to tease Alex for watching when they were in high school.

She just relieved that she's in Alex's arms instead of flying away; because while leaving is easier than being left, being held is everything. Feeling Alex's grip, hearing the same heartbeat that'd pulled her through nightmares and panic attacks and sobs as a teenager still in her ear, pulls a calm over her body.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mags," Alex says as Maggie leans back and Kara feels cool air fill the space the detective had previously stood.

"See you, Danvers." Maggie presses a kiss to Alex's cheek. She runs a hand along Kara's hair. "Get some rest, Little Danvers."

The blonde pulls her head up, heaving a breath that stammers through her lungs as she looks at the detective through sad, glassy eyes. "Thanks, Maggie."

Maggie gives a warm smile. "Of course," she says and waves goodbye as the Danvers sisters continue their trek to Alex's car.

The brunette becomes acutely aware of her sister's tension and tightly wound composure as she uses gentle hands to guide Kara into the passenger seat and make sure she's situated. Her body slumps against the seat, head lolling against the window before Alex has even pulled out onto the road.

/

They make it three hours until Kara has another breakdown, Alex isn't surprised—not entirely, Kara's been under a lot of stressed lately and that in combination with the alien fight and the toxin… it's enough to break anyone. But the sight of Kara toeing the windowsill, about to take off even with her leg quaking and bandaged and her ribs bruised, shakes Alex to her core.

"Kara," she says softly, her hair drips against her t-shirt, wet from the shower she'd just emerged from.

The blonde turns around, has guilt written all over her features.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't want to do any more damage," she says and lets her gaze fall back over the dark city skyline and all its hundreds of lights. "I just keep hearing your voice in my head and I keep thinking that maybe you were right."

Alex shakes her head, inches a step forward. "If you're going to have me talking in your head, listen to me saying I love you. Listen to me telling you that we're sisters, always and forever, no matter what."

"When my parents sent me away I was condemned, I was set on a path to live this life… but Alex, you weren't. I was given a sentence by my parents but it wasn't fair to include you or your family in that and I'm sorry."

"It's our family, Kara," Alex says. "Every bit yours as it is mine."

Kara shakes her head and Alex recognizes the telltale splatter of tears splashing against tile. "It's not fair to you… do you ever, do you ever think about how things would be if I didn't show up on your doorstep? Do you ever think about how you'd still have Jerimiah and you would have been a doctor and you wouldn't have grown up with so much pressure?"

This time Alex shakes her head. "I would have grown up with pressure if you were there or not, Kar. The things Cadmus did—those weren't, those aren't, your fault. And Kara, if you hadn't come I wouldn't have joined the DEO or met J'onn or Maggie… Can you imagine the horror?" She fields a joke and it pulls the briefest ghost of a smile across Kara's face. "And worst of all, I wouldn't have had someone to talk to all the time, for sister nights or sleepovers, I wouldn't have been able to teach you to drive or see your lousy attempts at surfing. I wouldn't have seen your art or showed you how to play guitar or had someone to look at stars with. I wouldn't have grown up with someone always at my side. Kara, I wouldn't have had you."

Kara dips her head and wipes her eyes. "You really think about it like that?"

Alex nods enthusiastically and chances a grin "Do you know how mad I would be if someone else had gotten to teach you how to make s'mores? I'd be livid. And don't even get me started on the pleasure of teaching you about Christmas, or Harry Potter."

Kara wavers a bit closer and her eyes aren't so locked on the horizon anymore.

"Hey, Kar? Do you ever think that you ever got knocked off course for a reason?"

The blonde sniffles. "What do you mean?"

Alex sees a chance in, voices a thought that's circled through her head for years. "I mean maybe you got knocked off course because you were waiting for me, because I needed to be born and grow up a bit so I could be your big sister. Because I was meant for that, and the universe knew it."

She has Kara's full attention now, has piercing sapphire trained on her through watery eyes. She continues with a steady voice and hands curled behind her back so Kara won't see the way they shake. "The universe knew we were meant to be sisters."

Kara's baited breath cracks and her stiff posture breaks and she lets her shoulders fall as she gazes at Alex with this achingly earnest and pure look blaring across her features. "The universe knew," Kara repeats and breathes again, her lips flicker up into a smile. "It knew between decades and galaxies."

Alex nods. "Uh huh, I think so."

"I think so too." A full smile splits Kara's face against tear tracks and puffy eyes.

Alex just wants to hug her, but then the blonde's features fall and she chokes a little on silent tears. "I just keep thinking, Alex, I can't stop thinking about everything."

"Then come think with me and maybe we can un-think for a while after that?" Alex reaches a hand out to Kara. Some cars honk below them, dogs bark and hearts beat rhythms. There's a boat out on the shore and a plane a mile away and rain on the other side of town. Kara can hear all of this, but she hears Alex the loudest.

She takes her sister's hand,

Slips from the windowsill into her sister's embrace.

Her sister.

Their hearts were chiseled lightyears apart but they beat the same.

They are sisters.

The universe knows.

Kara does, too.