Prompt request from atsirc over on tumblr: "i have been dying for a post-2x06 sanvers one shot where maggie is downing shots at the bar and alex is back at her place downing her bottle of liquor after kara leaves, set to the song need you now by lady antebellum, and one of them caves and calls"

It had taken Kara two and a half hours and three solid sobbing sessions for Alex to be convinced that it was okay if she stayed home from work to take care of herself; that, especially with jobs that required you to be on all the time, it was also so important to assert when you needed to take care of yourself. And J'onn would understand. Of course he would. No one minded that Alex wasn't there; just worried. As long as Alex was okay, everything was fine.

Alex relented, and they hugged, and Kara kissed her forehead, and tucked her into blankets on the couch with reruns of Harry Potter on mute in the background to help lull Alex to sleep. Kara looked back at Alex one last time before flying out the window and back to the DEO, relieved to see that even though the skin between her eyebrows was still creased with worry, with humiliation, and with heartbreak, so was breathing steadily and her body wasn't completely sunken in despair anymore.

And she knew she hadn't made a mistake in coming out.

Satisfied, Kara took off.

But Alex had no intention of sleeping it off.

She had every intention, though, of drinking it off.

Glass forgotten, she sat up and reached straight for the bottle of whiskey she'd been working her way through when Kara had arrived.

It was midnight. More whiskey. Maggie didn't want her.

It was 12:15. Just another shot of whiskey. Maggie wanted her, but was too afraid to admit it.

It was 12:30. She should probably get a glass of water. Of course Maggie didn't want her. Why would she? Maggie thought she was naïve, and probably stupid, too. And she probably was.

It was 12:45. Water tasted good. So did whiskey. Maggie didn't know what she was missing. She could be great at this whole gay thing; she just had to be given a chance.

It was 1 am. She could swear she had another bottle of whiskey somewhere. Maggie was so tough. And so smart. And beautiful. So beautiful.

It was a quarter after one. Alex's phone rang.

It had been early in the evening when Alex walked in, when she told her she'd come out to Kara; when Maggie had hugged her, asked her what she was having, and gotten pulled back into the best kiss she'd ever, ever had.

She was glad Alex's eyes stayed closed for those precious few moments after Maggie pulled back. She'd needed that time to collect herself. To convince herself that she had to do the right thing. For both of them.

She liked her – of course she did – she thought sometimes her ex had sensed it, had sensed the woman who started occupying the top of her thoughts at all times, even though Maggie had staunchly refused to engage in so much as actively thinking about Alex in that way when she'd been involved. She was loyal that way, even when she probably shouldn't be.

She wasn't good at this, and Alex was brand new at this, and Maggie didn't think her heart could take it if one day she woke up and Alex wasn't in her life anymore.

She'd thought that turning her down gently – for both of their sakes, right? – would help, would let them just be friends, because no way Alex's feelings for someone like her could be anywhere nearly as deep as Maggie's feelings for Alex, right? It was just a crush, just giddiness, just the high.

Right? Because who could possibly love Maggie the way it looked like Alex was starting to love her when she looked at her?

But the look in Alex's eyes? The hurt? Maggie had been wrong. Those feelings were deep, not just a coming out crush that they could work through, still be friends with.

The very thing she feared? Losing Alex? Looked like it was happening after all.

Typical, that it would be Maggie's fault.

She left the bar immediately, before she could drink anymore. She got on the back of her Triumph and drove. Drove and drove and drove, took her to 100 miles an hour on the open road, drove for miles, drove for hours, until it was around midnight.

She drove herself back to the bar.

It was midnight. She ordered three shots of whiskey. Alex Danvers was the best thing that had happened to her, maybe ever. And she just lost her.

It was 12:15. She grimaced as the fourth shot went down. Alex was a damn good kisser. She wanted her. And Maggie had turned her away. How sociopathic could you get?

It was 12:30. M'gann was starting to look skeptical, so she cut back on the shots and got a beer instead. She could fall in love with Alex. She probably started to the moment she first laid eyes on her, if she was honest.

It was 12:45. She accepted the water from M'gann. How could she be so stupid? She must have sounded so stupid to Alex. Sure, okay, yes, heightened and shiny, a known gay fact, but did that give her the right to take away Alex's right to choose? To decide for herself what was too risky? But it was too risky for Maggie, too, and she got a vote.

It was 1 a.m. She put on her best sad face – it wasn't hard – and succeeded in getting two more shots – and another glass of water – from M'gann. Was Alex okay? How could she do that to her? And then sit here and wallow in her own selfish pain while Alex was somewhere, probably crying, obviously crushed?

It was a quarter after one. M'gann nudged her and pointed to her ear. Listen.

"I can't fight it anymore.

And I wonder if I ever cross your mind

For me, it happens all the time.

It's a quarter after one,

I'm all alone and I need you now.

I said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and

I need you now.

And I don't know how I can do without.

I just need you now."

"Trying to tell me something, M'gann?"

In answer, the bartender just slid Maggie's phone closer to her hand.

Maggie swallowed, picked it up, and swallowed again.

She dialed.

Alex stared at the phone like it was a tiny alien bent on invading the earth. But her shaking fingers pressed the little green notification nonetheless.

"Sawyer," she answered in her best imitation of someone who was very much sober and very much a professional alien ass-kicker.

There was a pause on the other line – too long – and Alex thought she caught a snippet of a Lady Antebellum in the background.

"Maggie," she said into the phone insistently, hoping against hope that the woman hadn't butt-dialed her.

"Alex. Hey."

The voice on the other line wasn't exactly rip-roaring drunk, but not exactly sober – Alex wondered vaguely if that's how she sounded – but the one thing that Maggie's voice definitively was was almost… mournful.

Alex's heart sank, even in her own pain and humiliation, to hear Maggie sound so… defeated.

"Hi."

"Are you okay?" Maggie blurted like she'd never get another chance to speak if she didn't rush the question out right away.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Alex's voice was testy now, sharpish and not at all open. She practically heard Maggie's head hit the bar on the other end of the line.

"Because you kissed me and I kissed you back but then I stopped and I don't think you understand, really understand, why I did that."

"Fresh off the boat isn't your thing, Maggie, I understood that loud and clear."

She heard Maggie groaning in frustration and then something like several large gulps of water. Or whiskey. Alex couldn't be sure which.

"No, no, Alex, that's not why I – listen. I – "

She heard Maggie pause and thought she heard a snippet of that same song.

"I'm a little drunk

And I need you now"

"Maggie Sawyer, are you drunk dialing me to country pop music from the late 2000s?"

"Alex Danvers, are you drunkenly identifying country pop music from the late 2000s over the phone?"

She heard M'gann laugh and a muffled "Shut up" from Maggie.

"I'm sorry – "

"No, not you, I didn't mean you, Alex. M'gann – never mind. Listen, I – fine, okay, I am a little drunk, and I do. Need you. Now. I… I want… Alex, listen, can we try this again? Tomorrow night? I'll buy you the drink I promised for coming out to Kara and I – we can – we can try this again."

"Try what again, you rejecting me?"

"No, Alex, that's the part that I'm trying to explain – look, Danvers, I don't want to lose you. And I hate thinking of you in pain – "

"I'm not in pain – "

"Okay. Whatever you say. I'm in pain. Because I want us to be… I want us to be good. Okay? Can we try that? Can we be good? Please, Alex?"

A long pause, and Alex stares at the blanket Kara'd wrapped around her like its surface contains deep philosophical life answers of some kind.

"You getting soft on me, Sawyer?"

"Is that a yes, Danvers?"

Another long pause, and the whiskey takes over.

"I think I need you, too. I mean, not need, like, I can take care of myself, but like you said, we make a good team, and I – "

"You know it was a sweet thing to say, Danvers, until you overexplained it – "

"I'll see you tomorrow night, Sawyer. Don't be late." She hesitated, but the whiskey and the headiness of Maggie still awake, still thinking about her, still drinking about her, being vulnerable enough to call her, to say she needed her; all that took over. "Wear something nice," she added, half-hoping Maggie had already hung up.

She hadn't.

"I'd say the same to you, but you always look incredible, Alex. See you tomorrow. Drink some water."

"You, too. Night."

"Night."

Alex passed out, then and there, with a gigantic grin on her face, and Maggie? M'gann got her a cab home, and the entire way, she explained to the cabbie how deeply she was falling for this beautiful, tough, incredible girl and how she almost destroyed everything but then maybe saved it tonight.

"Got yourself quite a love story there, darling," the cabbie told her after she tipped generously and swayed out of the car in front of her apartment.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do."