"Seventy-two hours max?" Director Henshaw had Supergirl cradled in his massive arms, absentmindedly scratching behind the golden retriever's ear. Supergirl was making happy whuffing noises, her back leg pawing at nothing.
"Yes." Alex looked back through the windows of her office, glaring at the DEO staff loitering around. The loiterers quickly scattered. Word got around that there was a puppy in the building and every dog lover within the DEO was now near or nearing Alex's office with every excuse they could think of to accost the puppy. The only thing stopping them from knocking on the door at the moment was the sight of Director Henshaw.
"Maxwell Lord." Hank growled. Supergirl gave her own growl, too, the name causing her hackles to rise.
"I don't understand why he gets to shoot down super-powered beings and get away with it!" Alex hissed. "He didn't even know what would happen! He just hit Supergirl with his fancy new ray and assumed that his calculations were correct, but, oh look, they weren't! I now have a golden retriever as a sister!"
The puppy yipped.
"I don't know what you're saying, Kara!" Alex threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. That caused the blonde puppy to tip her nose into the air and howl mournfully.
"Sir, ma'am," Agent Vasquez burst into the room looking vexed. Her eyes traveled from Director Henshaw to Alex, then finally to the puppy. "Um. I. Came in… to see if you, uh, if you're continuing your conversation, I could maybe take Supergirl and you won't be distracted. Sir. Ma'am."
Alex let out an all-suffering sigh. "Supergirl, seems like everyone wants to take you for a walk. Do you want to go while I talk to Director Henshaw?"
Supergirl yipped happily, holding out her paws to Vasquez and waving them in the air. Vasquez strode forward to take Supergirl but Hank stepped back, a protective hand on Supergirl.
"Well, Supergirl might want to hear what we're saying." Director Henshaw scratched the transformed Supergirl under her chin. She whuffed in pleasure, hind leg scratching at nothing again.
"Director." Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Or she might be traumatized right now. As the Director of the DEO, I should keep a close eye on our meta-human ally." Hank jutted his chin out defiantly.
"Well, if that's the case," Vasquez gently took Supergirl from Hank, who looked entirely not okay with that happening. "We should take her to the medbay, shouldn't we? They'll be able to monitor her better there. Wouldn't you like to see all the nice doctors and nurses again, widdle Supergirl?"
Supergirl wagged her tail and barked excitedly, wriggling in joy as Vasquez took her out of the room. Hank watched the golden retriever pup go with a mournful look on his face.
Alex crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at her superior. "You didn't really have to talk to me, did you?"
"I did." Hank replied gruffly, sounding a bit too defensive. "It would have been better if she was here. We needed to discuss what we would do with her and I think maybe it's best that we keep her here at the DEO, for her protection. She's just a helpless puppy right now, anything could happen."
"Good thing it's the weekend." Alex sighed. "Hopefully it'll last less than seventy-two hours, Kara hates missing work."
"Work is the least of Ms. Danvers' problems. Who knows what being a puppy has done to her, psychologically." Hank Henshaw rumbled. "Maybe we should go see how she's doing right now."
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Alex said testily. "She'll be okay."
"You're right, let's go right now." Director Henshaw strode for the door. "Come on, Agent Danvers. We need to make sure those hacks at the medbay are not doing needless tests on Supergirl."
Alex just shook her head and followed along. By the time they got to the medbay, they could see several off-duty agents rolling around on the ground, playing with the exuberant pup, while arguing with the medbay staff about how they really were injured so they WERE allowed in the medbay.
"Agents!" Director Henshaw's voice made the grown adults scramble up on their feet and snap to attention. "What are you all doing here? Don't you have work?"
"Sir, we're on break, sir!"
"Then I would expect all of you to be in the break room." Hank crossed his arms and glared at his agents. One meekly piped up.
"I… injured myself?"
Director Henshaw eyeballed the agent who claimed injury. "What happened?"
"I have a crick in my neck-"
"Get out."
The agents tripped over themselves trying to leave, only Vasquez still standing there with Supergirl now gathered in her arms.
"I think we should keep her overnight for observation. And protection." Vasquez announced, clutching the puppy close to her chest. "Supergirl can't defend herself like this."
Supergirl, meanwhile, was struggling in Vasquez's grip, grumbling with discontent. When Vasquez put her on the floor, she blew out a breath huffily, then trotted over to a corner to sit down, not looking at anyone.
"Supergirl, what's wrong?" The nurses were fluttering all around her, completely a-flutter at her show of grumpiness. Supergirl turned to look back at them balefully with her puppy-face, making low grumbling/whining sounds, then turned back around to ignore everyone.
"Is she sick?" Hank Henshaw sounded quite alarmed.
"She's just grumpy." Alex crossed her arms, her ability to suss out her sister's feelings remained constant, no matter what form she took. The retriever looked back at everyone and gave a short 'whuff' in agreement.
"You're a puppy now, Supergirl." Alex pointed out, unnecessarily of course. "And a puppy needs a lot of sleep. Come on, let's set up a place for you to sleep-"
"Bark! Bark bark bark!" Kara stumbled over her own feet trying to hurry to Alex.
"You want to go home?" Alex queried. The golden retriever nodded her head.
"Well, we don't know if that's actually what she wants." Director Henshaw hummed, while Vasquez nodded in agreement.
"Come here," Alex knelt down, her 'work face' suddenly gone, all her hard lines replaced by something soft and gentle. Supergirl padded over and fell into Alex's hands. It had been a long day and Supergirl had been playing non-stop since she became a puppy! Alex smelled… familiar and sweet. She smelled like chemicals, gun powder, and that sweet maple macchiato Kara had brought her this morning… Even though her doggy nose was not as strong as her Supergirl nose, she could still smell Alex.
"Supergirl, bark once for yes and two for no." Vasquez tried, hurrying over. "Do you understand?"
Supergirl let out a puppy yawn then yipped once.
"Alright. Test questions, are you Supergirl?"
"Bark!"
"Do you like Maxwell Lord?"
Supergirl growled and woofed twice.
"Do you want to stay at the DEO tonight?" Vasquez asked hopefully. She had night shift. Supergirl looked up at Alex guiltily, then hid her face into the crook of Alex's arm, woofing twice again.
Vasquez and Hank's shoulders slumped.
"Wanna go back home?" Alex asked gently. Supergirl replied by raising her head as much as possible and enthusiastically licking Alex's chin, her tail whipping back and forth.
"That's not a clear yes." Director Henshaw tried.
Alex rolled her eyes. Supergirl had already lain back down in Alex's arms and her eyes were closed. It reminded Alex very much of when Kara had first come to Earth and she would sneak into Alex's bed when thunderstorms shook the house, and then when there were no thunderstorms, Kara would still come to her, snuggle into the circle of Alex's arms. Kara had been warm, almost hot back then, her heart running a mile a minute. It wasn't that different with a puppy.
"Director Henshaw, Agent Vasquez, I'll keep you appraised of the situation." Alex held the pup close, suddenly feeling very smug. She… had to admit. Watching Supergirl run around with not a care in the world, playing with everybody else had made her jealous. But in the end, Kara would always need her.
The golden retriever in her arm snuggled closer to Alex and let out a contented sigh as Alex walked out of the medbay to collect her things and go home.