A/N: I'm so sorry it took me almost a month to update. That being said, I'm really busy with life and school right now, and might be taking a break from this story. I'll try to write fics for prompts when I can, but I can't promise any sort of regularity (not like I've been good about that lately anyway). I'm also planning to work on a multichapter story and/or some unrelated one shots, so that's going to fill my time, too.
Thank you so much for sticking with me.
Hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for my absence.
I hope you like the final part of this prompt: Time is altered and now Alex doesn't exist/isn't Kara's sister. It's up to Kara to fix things.
"You're not human."
Every muscle in Kara's body quivers with her stillness. "I-" She looks down at her hands, the ID card in her fingers snaps with the force of her grip, looks back up at Astra and the heartrate monitor begins shrieking against the wall.
With three strides Alex crosses the room and yanks out the plug.
Kara can feel the warmth of heat vision flicker behind her eyes, blinks and it's gone, but the power is still there.
Alex drops the cord to the ground and turns on her heel to face Kara and Astra. "It's in these papers," she says and thrusts the crumpled sheets forward, pulling them back before either Kryptonian can grab them. She squints as she looks at the images and rows of numbers. "Your physical DNA doesn't match the one attached to your ID, it explains… it explains why your last names didn't match either, what you—what you said…" her voice shakes and the page tears at the edge. "What you said to Maggie, about… about your name, but what the hell does that have to do with me? Or my wife? What do you want from us?'
Kara bites her lip.
Alex stares back and Kara can't look up.
"I-" Kara's eyes are welling with tears. "I can't explain."
"Well try." Alex's voice is hard and Kara's shoulders crumple inward and she is sinking in on herself, swallowed in disheveled white sheets.
"You're alien," the brunette presses.
Kara raises her eyes keeps looking down in the silence. "And?"
"And you…" Alex huffs, her footsteps treading back and forth are the only sound in the room. She stops. "You have to get out of here because it isn't safe. I—listen, I don't know what the hell is going on and I want you to explain it but I just… I have this feeling, I-" she squeezes her eyes closed and her shoulders drop, a mirror image of Kara's posture. She steps forward and puts her hand on the edge of the bed. "I destroyed the results of your tests, these papers right here in my hand are the only copies left. I don't know what you're doing or how you ended up here but the anti-alien sentiments are strong even today… if they… if they knew… if I reported this, like I'm supposed to, they could take you away, they could—My mom is a scientist, does a lot of work with a lot of extraterrestrial biology, and she's seen things that they've done in the shadows of facilities and government buildings, it isn't safe. But you should know all this and you… you should be impervious to injury so what… what happened? Please, please just tell me what happened."
Kara can't tear her eyes away from her hands, with the sinking of her heart to her stomach this is the worst she's felt here in this tortured timeline.
A second of silence holds the air taut and Kara can feel both pairs of eyes trained on her, carrying weight in different forms of the same degree.
"I'm not… I'm not from here," she says and lets the sentence linger for a moment. "Neither are you, in… in a way. The timeline got altered… it must have been something with the alien tech on the scene. J'onn warned me, everyone warned me to be careful and I can hear them now, I can hear them when I think back but I—" Kara's voice cracks and she squeezes her eyes closed so tightly that it hurts. "I had to save you, you were going to get hurt, you—"
"Me?" Astra's voice fills the gap, and Kara feels like a frigid hand is inside her abdomen, pinching and contorting and yanking at her organs. She feels like she might suffocate with the weight of broken worlds inside her.
"No," she chokes out with a shake of her head, and she can't look up, can't look up. Can't look up at those eyes that don't shine on her Earth anymore, at those eyes that will never open again if this is all fixed.
With a pain that shreds and shakes, Kara knows.
Knows she doesn't want to be here. Knows she needs this to be fixed.
"You," she whispers and it barely upsets the sterile air but Alex feels the weight of something insurmountable pressing at the back of her skull, the weight of another lifetime.
Kara looks up and piercing blue eyes link with Alex's warm brown.
Kara looks up and Kara knows.
She needs to go home.
"You're my sister," Kara says, sniffling. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand and now that she's looked into Alex's eyes she doesn't want to stop because those are the same, the same, the same.
They're already taking her home, home, home.
"Me?" Alex asks and her voice is soft.
Kara nods. "Eliza and Jerimiah took me in when I crashed down on Earth, we were teenagers. We lived in Midvale and your bedroom… your bedroom was on the second floor on the left if you're facing the house and I… I took the guestroom down the hall and it became mine, and we… we became sisters. I have to get back there, I have to… I- Aunt Astra," Kara looks over to her aunt. "We didn't come here together, I didn't even know where you were for so long. Everything was so different… I-"
Astra's hand moves, settles on the thin blanket above Kara's leg. The contact should be settling but it burns guilt through Kara.
"It's okay, Little One." There is understanding in her misty eyes.
Alex blinks.
It's almost dizzying.
The window, that sunlight, a small blonde girl in all white.
Alex blinks and Alex knows.
Kara squeezes her hands into tight fists to diffuse the pain coiled in her chest, the pressing weight between Astra and Alex, but she must trust in her truth.
Her reality.
Her nails press crescent-shaped indents into the soft skin of her palm.
She looks back at her sister.
"I have to get home. Will you help me?"
Everything is telling her this is crazy, everything is telling her this is wrong, wrong, wrong. Everything is screaming at her to file a report and finally end this night. Everything is telling her no, except for this blonde woman in front of her.
Alex looks up, and Alex says yes.
/
"I'm going to clock out," Alex says slowly, pacing around the foot of the bed. "And then we need to find a way to get you out of here… maybe um, maybe we can get you to the back staircase or I can get you a change of clothes and you can sneak out but they can't see you leaving, if they see you leaving they're going to be suspicious and they're going to…" She blows out a breath, hand raising up to her forehead and pushing back hair. Kara knows this look, knows Alex is toeing a line, stressing herself out. "Shit, what am I doing?" Alex murmurs, screws her eyes shut so tightly it hurts.
"Hey," Kara starts and her voice is soft and low. "Hey, it's okay.
Alex doesn't know why, but it slows her increasing heartrate, forces her to pause and look up as the tightness in her chest loosens just a little.
"I can fly."
"Fly?"
Kara nods, smirking slightly at Alex's parted lips and raised brows.
"Like Superman, but faster… You do… you do have Superman in this timeline don't you?"
Alex nods, slowly at first and then with a tap of her palm against her thigh she begins pacing again. "Okay so you'll fly, what about…um?" She looks over at Astra.
"She can fly too."
"Okay. Then listen, you've got to be careful. Stay low and in the shadows when you're getting out of here. The window at the end of the hall faces away from the street so use that one. It will open if you twist the knob on the side and hold up the middle lever at the same time, okay? That end of the corridor will be empty for about a minute or two, so don't go any earlier or later than I tell you."
Kara nods.
"I'll be… shit okay, I'll be three blocks to your left if you're facing away from the hospital. My car is black. You've got to be quick, all right? You're sure you're feeling okay?"
"Better now. Powers are back, too." Kara says with a soft smile, gaze locking onto Alex's warmly, and not for the first time that night a multitude of snapshots rapid fire behind Alex's eyes with so much force she stumbles.
The breath she takes racks up through her lungs and her shoulders shake. The blurry illusory images she'd first seen are filling with color, sharpening.
"Alex?" That soft, sweet tentative voice. She knows she's heard it a million of times and then some.
"Come on," Alex says, raising her head. "I'm going to go." Her eyes flit down to her watch. "Leave ten minutes from now."
Then she slips through the door and lets it snap shut behind her.
"Finally getting out of here, Dr. Danvers?" A nurse quips, looking over his shoulder but Alex's head is already down as she clocks out, gives a noncommittal hum in response.
She tries not to bounce her foot to dispense nervous energy, tries to keep her eyes focused, tries to keep her heart from tearing out of her chest.
"That whole thing was weird today, with that girl and the alien shit… man, I'm telling you that's why we've got to get rid of those things. They don't belong here. A bunch of sick freaks just here to screw us over."
She bites her tongue and squeezes her eyes closed for a moment.
She tries not to move too fast.
"You in a rush?"
"Nope," she pops the p and gathers her stuff.
"No seriously what's got you moving so fast at midnight, you got plans?"
She takes a deep breath and meets his eyes, speaking slowly. "I have a wife, I have a child, and I'm going home to them."
He squints and his frame is oriented in the doorway so she can't get out.
"Move."
He holds up his hands in surrender. "Geez, you don't have to be like that. I'm just messing around."
She rolls her eyes and pushes past him, pretends not to hear the slur he spits under his breath. There's no time, no time, no time.
If she survives through this until morning she'll find a way to make peace.
She quickens her pace as she walks, needs to recover the time she lost at their encounter. If she's too slow Kara and Astra will be lingering and if a bad cop gets to them first, it'll take a single test to reveal their alien status now that Kara's back to full powers.
She crosses through the walkway attaching the hospital to the parking garage, jamming her finger into the elevator button. Her leg bounces as she waits and this time she lets it, slipping into the elevator before the doors are completely open. Once she's heading downward she tugs her phone out of her bag, needing to hear Maggie's voice and tell her what's going on. But the device is dead and she curses, looking down at the black screen as the elevator halts to a stop and she steps out.
In the still night, every noise is magnified in her ear, the distant sound of a car starting two floors above her, a rustle of wind dragging a plastic bottle across concrete, the hum of dingy yellow streetlights. She twists the strap of her bag around her finger, walks briskly, head down and fights the urge to look up at any security cameras, to think about how this could fall apart.
Her hand curls around her door handle and she fumbles with the button on her keys to unlock the car.
"Hey!" A deep voice cuts through the darkness and her stomach drops as something icy and sticky curls in her abdomen.
She turns around, sees a figure moving in the shadows.
Her breath catches in her throat.
Something clatters at her feet. Her hand is suddenly empty.
Alex looks down, she's dropped her keys. She sweeps them up and when she stands again, the person emerges into the light.
A heavy exhale escapes and she's so relieved her eyes water.
"Hey," she calls back to the security guard, hopes her voice sounds friendly, hopes it doesn't shake. "You working the night shift these days?"
"I am. You have a good night, Dr. Danvers. Stay safe."
"You too," she says and the door handle creaks beneath her hand as she yanks it open, tosses her bag into the passenger seat and slips in. She tries to plug her phone into the charger but it keeps missing as her fingers shake and she tosses it aside, glancing at the time displayed on her car's dash and noting that Kara and Astra should have left three minutes ago.
Her heart thunders in her chest and the steering wheel grows damp beneath the crushing grip of her hands as she pulls out of the parking garage.
At last, at last, at last, she's out of sight of video cameras and colleagues. As she puts her car into park three blocks later she lets out an aching breath and drops her head against the steering wheel, feeling vaguely confident that she might throw up and knowing with certainty that she needs Maggie's voice more than anything right now.
Just a minute or two and they should be here.
She fumbles around in the darkness, unwilling to turn on a light as she grabs the phone charger again and tries to plug it in.
Two taps on the window cause her posture to snap tight.
There's no way Kara and Astra can be here already. She would have seen them come past the front of her car, there's no back route or alternative.
She bites the inside of her cheek.
Two more sharp knocks.
She jerks forward and it shoves the charger into the phone and a muted white light fills the front of the car as the battery symbol appears and the light disperses and bounces back and from the side of her window reflects two green eyes.
"Dr. Danvers."
A voice vibrates through the glass, laced with an accent she can't quite place.
Alex can't help but look and their eyes are locked together when it clicks. Despite every screaming instinct on the surface of her thought, Alex rolls down her window.
The voice is speaking again. "I'm—"
"Lena Luthor," Alex cuts off. "I know who you are." They stare at each other before Alex continues. "What the hell are you doing out here? Heiress of Luthor-Corp out strolling through alleys at night? Looking for something you can turn into your brother? Or maybe your mother this time?"
Lena swallows nausea that surges at the reference to her family. It's to be expected and yet, it doesn't lose its bite. "I'm here to help you."
Alex rolls her eyes and climbs out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Standing, she now has a height advantage on the youngest Luthor. "That's rich. Unfortunately, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Lena bites her lip and Alex's gaze flits down to Lena's hands where they twist together before Alex looks back up at the woman. But the Luthor's face is passive, her eyes looking earnest as they bore holes through Alex.
"The timeline was disturbed, we both know it. The girl…"
Alex squints, feels her muscles tighten with a dormant springiness beginning to surge within them.
"Kara—"
In a single motion, Alex turns on her heel and has Lena pinned against the side of the car. She doesn't know where the knowledge of her hand positioning or weight distribution had come from, she doesn't know why the muscle memory spurred the action, or why irrational, hyperbolic protectiveness had swelled at the blonde woman's name.
She doesn't know, and yet, she does.
So she pushes Lena further against the car and leans in closer. "How the hell do you-"
"Alex! Get off of her," Kara's voice cuts through the night air with the scuffle of footsteps.
She's there, pushing herself between them with more speed than a normal human should have.
Alex raises her brows, refuses to retreat at Kara's stern gaze.
"She's good," Kara says it softly and Lena finds herself unable to move.
"She's…? You're kidding me, right? Listen, I barely know you, but I think… I get it, okay? I'm buying into this whole timeline thing, sure. Because objectively it explains a lot. But you… Kara, you're from a different timeline, I mean you don't know what she's capable of here. What her family has done to… to people like…"
People like you.
Kara casts a glance at Lena, at those green eyes she knows so well. They're filled with unshed tears reflecting dim streetlights. There's no shimmer behind them, but there's no malice either. Only pain and an ocean of confusion.
And her hands, Kara watches as Lena's hands shake and she shoves them into her coat pocket.
Kara looks back up, catches Lena's eyes and offers her a soft smile.
She turns back to Alex. "She's good."
This time Astra is the one to protest first. "Kara, Little One, I know you always see the good in people, but her family—"
"Let's hear what Lena has to say before we finish that, okay?" Kara defends, shifting on her feet so she's angled between Lena and the other two women.
"Okay," Astra relents with a nod.
Lena looks up and all eyes are on her.
She locks her gaze onto Kara's and forces her voice to steady. "When you came here, it was an accident, correct?"
Kara nods.
"And there was a device, yes? When it all happened was there something metal, rounded at the edges?"
Kara nods again.
"Like this?" Lena pulls out her phone and with two swipes of her fingers, a picture emerges. Kara's heart lurches when she sees it, the device looking insignificant and small against the white background of a lab counter but she knows its abilities now.
"And there was lots of sparking and light it was—"
"—purple," Lena finishes.
Kara's eyes light up. "Yeah!"
Alex furrows her brows and makes a face, jabbing Kara's side with her elbow.
"What? That's exactly what it was like," Kara defends and looks back at Lena with an encouraging nod.
"Continue," Astra demands. "What are the implications of your statement?"
"A monitor picked up a mass energy fluctuation at the scene so I looked into it and my brother, Lex—"
"We know who your brother is," Alex cuts in. "We don't easily forget the names of mass murderers."
Lena bites her bottom lip, shifts her gaze downward.
Then there's Kara's voice again, soft and calming and increasingly familiar in ways Lena's never known before. "It's okay," the blonde reassures. "Just… just keep going."
Lena looks up and Kara's waiting for her gaze with a soft smile, because she trusts Lena in any universe—because she knows her heart and her head and her hurt. She knows Lena and no amount of timelines or years or alien technology can change that.
"He retrieved the device from the scene of an alien ship that'd crashed onto Earth. Everyone in the ship was killed on impact but some technology was intact despite the ship being destroyed. The device was used to create wormholes for efficient space travel. The technology was flawed and that's why the ship crashed but it was successful in the physical creation of wormholes. Lex spent years manipulating and redesigning it."
"Why?"
"He wanted to go back and alter time so that Superman's pod never even reached Earth. I went through his files and he eventually set the project aside after he couldn't hone in with the degree of specificity required."
"Oh my god," Kara gasps.
Astra and Alex both whirl to face her. "What?"
"That's why my pod came here differently…. It's why I arrived here with Astra when I didn't in my timeline, it explains the forces, the manipulated path of travel. He was really close, Lena. Really, really close. He could have—"
A scuffling of footsteps carries through the alleyway and Alex catches light reflecting off the green outlined badge of an anti-alien task force. Kara falls silent as tension radiates off Alex's suddenly taut muscles.
"Get in the car," she whispers, gently pushing Kara forward. "We don't want this kind of conflict right now."
Astra follows and Alex looks at Lena, unblinking as she looks into her eyes, studies her face.
The footsteps grow louder and Alex climbs into the driver's seat, turns back to Lena. "Get in the car, Luthor."
"What was that?" Kara asks as they pull out of the alley and onto the main road.
"They're an anti-alien hate group who've taken it upon themselves to hunt aliens and expose them, violently, often ending in murder."
Alex tightens her fingers around the steering wheel.
Kara furrows her brows. "Why hasn't the government stopped them?"
"I told you, the government is part of the problem. They never outright condone the group and in doing so, they endorse it and validate that kind of behavior."
Kara falls silent in the backseat next to Lena, watches Alex through the rearview mirror and aches to be able to hug her, to hug her Alex, back home.
"We need the device," Lena says, breaking the silence. "I know how to reprogram it and fix the timeline."
War wages inside Alex's head but she looks and catches Kara's eyes in the mirror and the blonde nods and Alex trusts her enough to trust Lena.
Alex takes a hand off the steering wheel and grabs her phone, pulling it up to her ear. "Maggie, I'm about to ask you to do something really crazy and if it's too much just tell me and I'll figure out another way."
Silence stretches a beat before Alex speaks again. "I need you to steal something from the evidence locker at the precinct… the device from earlier today… no, I swear to god I'm not kidding…. Yes, I probably have lost my mind."
She smirks in the front seat with street lights casting shadows across her features and Kara's heart fills.
"I'm a minute away, no she won't be alone… I'll explain when I get home… also, I have people with me… three… I'm pulling into the driveway right now, come outside and see."
Alex ends the call and puts the car into park in front of a cream-colored house, it's lit suddenly as two lights by the entryway switch on and the door opens.
Kara watches as Maggie eases the door closed behind her, walks the ten steps she needs to see the other passengers as they get out of the car. Maggie's brows raise and she walks straight to Alex, circling a hand around her wrist and pulling her to the side.
"Explain."
So Alex does, in rushed words. She says the things that make sense and the things that don't and she tells Maggie about the things that make her sound crazy and delusion and desperate.
"We have to help her," Alex says softly when she finishes, tosses a glance over her shoulder to where Kara stands, in the middle with space between her and Lena and Astra, with her hands hugging herself around her stomach and her head looking down and blonde hair tumbling over her shoulder. "I can't explain it, I just feel something." Alex squeezes her eyes closed and the images are back, the flashes of memories and touch. "I just know that we need to help her, that what she's saying is true. I know it sounds insane and—"
Maggie reaches out, puts a warm hand on Alex's cheek. "Hey, it does sound pretty crazy, but remember? I told you I felt something, too, so you're not in this alone. I've got to go now though because I know the feds are coming for that tech and the precinct probably doesn't have much time with it, so I've got to go see how quickly I can go commit a federal offense. There's a lot of chaos down there right now and I need to take advantage of that."
"Badass," Alex says and kisses Maggie's forehead.
"Blondie over there better be right," Maggie says. "That's all I'm saying."
Alex nods. "I think she is."
"Me too."
"This is…" Alex blows out a breath. "This is a lot."
Maggie nods and squeezes Alex's hand. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Be careful, all right?"
"You too."
Then Maggie takes Alex's keys and gets into her car and disappears into the night.
/
Alex, Lena, Astra, and Kara are bent over the coffee table with papers spread and diagrams covering the area. Lena's running through her calculations with Alex double checking at her side while Kara and Astra give the details they can. They're nearing the end when the gentle patter of footsteps carries down the hall with a soft whine.
Alex stands and goes to meet the source of the noise, Lena and Astra are absorbed in confirming the last formula they need but Kara follows Alex's movements with her gaze, watches as the brunette scoops up the small figure of a child. The girl wraps her legs around Alex's waist, curls her arms around her neck and nestles into her collarbone, murmuring sleepily.
"Hey, bug, what're you doing up right now? It's late," Alex whispers, bouncing Jamie just slightly as she walks them down the hall back to Jamie's bedroom.
"Miss you," the three-and-a-half-year-old murmurs around the thumb in her mouth. "Where you go? You didn't come for me."
Alex feels her heart splinter and holds Jamie closer to her chest. "I know, I'm so sorry, baby. I had something important at work and got wrapped up in it, but that's not a good excuse is it?"
Jamie shakes her head and with her free hand, she twirls her fingers in Alex's hair.
"I'm sorry, Jamie. I love you so much, forever and ever. You know that, right? No matter what."
Jamie nods. "Love you, 'lex," she mutters as Alex tucks her back in bed.
"I love you, too, baby." Alex presses kisses across her face.
"Where Maggie?" Jamie asks, snuggling into the stuffed lion Alex slides under the blanket beside her.
"She'll be here when you wake up," Alex says and Jamie mumbles something incoherent and Alex tries to forget that everything might be different in just a few hours.
She turns away when Jamie's breathing slows and sees Kara standing in the doorway.
"Sorry, I just—Lena and Astra said they're finished. So when Maggie gets back we'll be good to go."
"Okay," Alex nods, runs a hand through her hair.
"She's your… your daughter?"
"Do I not have one in your timeline?" Icy panic pulsates in Alex's veins.
Kara shakes her head. "You and Maggie are only engaged so far, it's a few years in the past compared to here. You're younger there."
"She's adopted," Alex whispers. "We finalized it two months ago but she's been with us for almost a year. She was abandoned, Maggie found her while working a case. We think her parents were alien and that's why she ended up alone, something probably happened to them."
"So she might be…"
"An alien? Yeah," Alex nods. "We have to be so careful. If anyone found out, they might try to take her away."
"It's… it's not like that where I'm from, but I—um, I—Astra doesn't make it. She got k—she died, in my timeline and I don't know what to do," Kara's voice cracks and tears reflect the moonlight shining outside Jamie's bedroom window and this is a decision she really needs Alex's advice on. "Do I tell her? Do I—"
"Hey okay, come here," Alex says and leads them out of the room, closing the door until just a sliver is open. "Is it—can I hug you?"
Kara nods and Alex pulls her into an embrace. It's awkward at first, but then the feeling is so familiar, so comforting that the tension involuntarily eases from their bodies. "What do I do?" Kara asks, bottom lip quivering and Alex doesn't get the chance to answer because suddenly her phone is ringing and Kara jumps back in surprise and Maggie's name is flashing across the screen.
Alex accepts the call and her wife's voice travels over the line. "Listen," her voice is sharp and rushed. "I'm less than five minutes away from the house. I tripped an alarm on my way out and some officers noticed it was missing. There's a number of squads out patrolling now. The only thing that will reveal it was me would be if they get to our house and find it. I covered everything else, so you need to be ready to use this damn thing, okay?"
"Got it. We're ready."
Except Kara feels anything but ready. She tears out of the hallway to tell Lena and Astra to prepare and then guilt fills her with nausea as she presses into Astra's side and is warmed by the body heat of her aunt.
It's all happening with dizzying speed.
She wants to say I love you and she wants to say thank you and I miss you and a million other words that aren't enough, but her throat is too tight and tears are rising and her heart is stuttering.
So she hugs Astra and closes her eyes and tries to secure this memory one last time when Maggie throws open the door and then the device is in Lena's hands and she's making the final modifications. Then it's sparking and the purple light is back. "Thank you," Kara says to Alex and Maggie. "I'll… I'm gonna see you soon, okay? On the other side."
She sees Lena slinking back, pulling away from the scene in the way she used to when Kara first introduced her to Alex and Maggie and James and Winn and all her friends. "Hey," Kara says and gently catches Lena's hand.
She looks up into Kara's blue eyes and both pairs are brimming with tears.
"It gets better, okay? I promise. You're a good person and you get people that love you. You get the love that you deserve and I believe in you, okay? I really, really do."
Lena gives the first smile Kara's seen from her all night.
The device is shrieking now and the distant roar of sirens perks in Kara's superhearing. She looks at Astra and squeezes her tightly into a hug. "I love you more than words could ever say. You're the—the... You were the best aunt and I miss you. I—"
The purple flames shoot from lilac to dark lavender and there's a crack and boom and then Kara's vision is pitch black and air is whirling and her stomach flips and she grits her teeth. A painful tingling starts in her toes and throbs up to her head until her whole body is quaking and the solar energy is ripped from her cells again. It stretches for an eternity and just when she thinks she's going to tear apart from the inside out, she's spit out and tipped onto her side, crashing onto a street as gravel bites into her side.
She feels like vomiting and she feels like the earth is spiraling but her atoms feel aligned the way they're supposed to be.
"Supergirl, what the hell!?" Alex's voice pounds inside her head and Kara tries to open her eyes but her muscles won't work.
The shifting of concrete grates in Kara's ears and she recognizes J'onn's footsteps as he helps Alex up and then she recognizes Alex's as she runs over and kneels at Kara's side.
Kara's eyelids flicker open and closed and her world comes back in loud, blurry snippets.
It's night again, with the same chill in the air as when she'd left.
"Careful," Alex's voice is low and calming as Kara struggles to sit up. Alex's hands wrap around her sides, hold her steady. Then J'onn's eases her up, flies her away from the battle to an evacuated sidewalk, marked off by DEO caution tape. He settles her down and puts Alex on her feet beside Kara with a few brief words before flying back into the fight.
"Hey," Alex says gently as Kara's eyelids part and stay open this time.
Kara groans and drops her head into her hands, curling over so her elbows rest on the knees pulled up to her chest.
"Hey, Kara." Alex rubs her back and whispers now. "I need you to talk if you can. Are you okay?"
Kara nods slowly, forces herself to lift her head. "Yes," she mutters and tears flood her eyes at the sight Alex. She's more than okay now and it has everything to do with the sister in front of her, the sister in reach of her stinging, trembling hands.
"Oh my Rao I missed you," she says and ignores the ache in her muscles and stomach and head to throw herself forward into Alex's arms instead.
Alex hugs her close, fingers splayed across Kara's back, rubbing steadily. "What happened? I saw you disappear in the flash of purple. It took three whole minutes of you missing for you to reappear. There was a black void with a ring of purple that opened up in the sky and you fell out of there, crashed into the pavement. That's probably why you're hurting right now. No powers?"
Kara shakes her head. "No powers."
"So what happened? I was scared out of my mind for you."
Kara closes her eyes and squeezes Alex, dips her head into her sister's neck. "I'll tell you soon, can I just—can we just go home. I'll explain there and you can do your med check if you want, I just need to be close to you."
"Sure," Alex promises, presses a kiss to Kara's pounding head. "Nothing will come between us."
"You have no idea," Kara says and her voice is cracking and high and laced with tears.
Alex takes her home and Alex wraps her up in bandages and blankets as they curl up on the couch. Kara tells her everything and then she cries for Astra and for Krypton and for Lena, for Maggie and Alex and beautiful broken things.
Alex holds her and puts on a movie and Kara's asleep within minutes. A gentle knock on the door rouses her awake, still with Alex's arms around her.
Kara starts to sit up, brows furrowed. She turns to Alex, with concern tugging at her features.
Alex shakes her head. "It's okay, you can relax I just thought you might want to see some people."
Kara's head tilts toward the door as it opens and Maggie steps in with Lena behind her. "Look who I picked up," the detective says and a smile breaks out across Kara's lips.
She tries to stand but the motion sends waves of pain pulsating through her body. Alex gives a hand to help Kara sit again and the blonde collapses back into her sister's warmth with a small huff of frustration.
"It's okay, Little Danvers," Maggie says, closing the door and balancing a bag of takeout in the other hand. Kara's light with the people surrounding her. "You take it easy," she says and Kara smiles, swallowing the lump in her throat. Alex's hand is in her hair and Maggie's stepping into the living area and Lena's giving Kara her best, shining smile. "We'll come to you."