Epilogue
Three days after their return to National City, the Danvers sisters sat together on the couch in Kara's apartment. The rain hadn't disappeared in their absence and the skies were grey. Hank had spent two hours with them during the official debrief where Kara had had to outline her entire knowledge of the Farfarmniflatch race for the DEO database. Hank had suggested keeping a tracker on the alien in Midtown, but Kara had fought against that idea vehemently.
'He's harmless,' she'd insisted. 'He's alone and just wants to be left in peace.'
It appeared to be a particularly sore point for her and Alex could kind of understand why. In some ways, it could be construed that Kara had been exiled to Earth as well. Of course that wasn't the real truth of the matter, her story was far more complicated than that, but it amounted to the same thing – other than Clark, she was the only one of her kind here on Earth. That was a loneliness that not even family could heal.
Hank had not been pleased at the fact that Alex had allowed Maxwell Lord to join in on the investigation. She played it down as much as she could, assuring Hank that there was nothing sinister in it and that he'd actually been very helpful. He dismissed her with something very close to anger in his eyes which made Alex nervous given how new and strange her feelings were.
Alex had been wrestling with how to tell her sister about her relationship with Max. She wasn't exactly sure how to describe it, but knew that she couldn't keep it a secret. Not when she'd allowed herself to open her heart to a man that she'd once imprisoned.
How times change, she thought to herself with amusement.
Eventually she worked up the courage to broach the subject.
'Kara?'
'Mmm?'
'How do you feel about Max? I mean, after having him around for that last mission?'
Kara pondered her question for a moment before replying.
'He did his job, I suppose. He helped us with no strings attached. You know, it's funny you mention it actually because when you went out to get the torches I grilled him about it and he said he admired us.'
'He did?' Alex knew it to be the truth, but she was surprised that Max had admitted it so openly to Kara of all people.
'Yeah. He said he admired us because we had the guts to stand up and fight for what's right, to protect the city. He was probably just smooth talking, but…' She shrugged.
'He wasn't smooth talking,' Alex replied with a small smile. 'He meant it.'
'How do you know?'
'Kara, I…there's something I have to tell you.'
Alex took a deep breath as Kara shifted on the couch so that she was facing her sister, legs crossed underneath her and a slightly concerned expression on her face.
'Max and I, we have…something. I don't know what to call it, but it's there and I can't ignore it.'
'Wait,' Kara interrupted, holding up a hand. 'Are you saying you like him? As in…like him?'
'I'm pretty sure he loves me, Kara.'
Alex's face lit up when she said it and Kara almost let her mouth drop open. She'd never seen Alex talk about a man like that before, never seen her physically react to the thought of someone. It was surprising, but it kind of made Kara feel warm inside despite who Alex was talking about.
'You're serious, aren't you?' Kara said quietly. Alex nodded. 'And what about you?'
'I got used to having him around I guess. He said to me that he would keep trying to prove that he wasn't the bad guy and well, maybe he's gotten to that point.'
'Alex…'
'I know, I know. It doesn't change what he did in the past, but Kara honestly? I'm no angel either.'
Kara forced herself not to let the hurt show on her face. She'd forgiven her sister for killing Astra, but the fact that it had happened the way it did wouldn't change.
'I thought he annoyed you?'
'He…challenges me,' she replied with a laugh.
'Is that where you were the night before we left Midtown?' Kara asked suspiciously. 'With Max? I heard you come in early in the morning, but I just assumed you'd gone for a walk.'
'I was with Max,' Alex admitted with an uncharacteristic blush.
Kara nodded and dropped into contemplative silence. She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of this whole thing. Alex's worried face kept her from feeling any anger or betrayal, but she still felt slightly uneasy.
'Please say something,' Alex huffed eventually.
'Do you really like him Alex?'
'Kara, I haven't felt the way I did with Max that night in Midtown since…well, ever really. Especially since I've been with the DEO.'
'Alex,' Kara murmured softly, suddenly realising the importance of this conversation. She pulled her sister into a hug. 'I just want you to be happy.'
'I know,' Alex replied with a relieved sigh. 'I love you.'
'I love you too.'
The difficult part out of the way, Alex began to open up a bit more about her feelings for Max. Now that she had Kara to talk to about it, it was easier to make sense of it all. Kara had wheedled details out of her sister and had been thrown by Max's softer side. After a day or two, she was firmly into the teasing stage.
Max and Alex had tiptoed around each other, fully aware of the precarious relationship they'd shared over the past year. It was a dynamic that wasn't familiar to either of them, but more so for Max. He'd dropped his walls for Alex and, if he was honest with himself, he was terrified. In a lot of ways, their relationship hadn't changed. They still bantered and teased each other. A lot of their conversation was about science and aliens and the like, but they found they didn't actually have to say that much to each other for it to be comfortable. Things just sort of moved along.
After two weeks of dancing around, stealing kisses and holding each other in a way that felt secretive, Alex decided that she wanted more. It wasn't in her nature to hold back and play possum, but their relationship wasn't exactly something that could be rushed into with all guns blazing. She felt that it was time to dive into the deep end, headlong into danger, as was her wont.
First she told Hank. He just about hit the roof, but Alex was so stern and assured that there was nothing to be said that would have dented her resolve. There was absolutely no way that Hank would consider letting Max in on any DEO business now and Alex told him as much, but that was ok. It was Alex that Max needed in his life, not the DEO.
Her mother was similarly concerned, but had learned enough about her daughter in the recent months to know that Alex was more than capable of making her own decisions and dealing with any consequences herself. There was also no doubt that she was perfectly able to overpower some handsome gentleman with a big wallet if she needed to.
Finally, she and Max went out for dinner together. He wore the smartest suit she'd ever seen. It was charcoal grey with a simple dark blue tie that made the colour of his eyes seem brighter in contrast. The cut of it fit him exceptionally well and Alex couldn't help noticing the other women in the restaurant appraise him as he walked by their tables.
She was wearing a deep, midnight blue dress that was tight in all the right places and fluttered elegantly around her ankles. Her hair hung in wavy strands and her eyes seemed to sparkle excitedly. Max had almost forgotten how to breathe when he'd picked her up and Kara had laughed heartily at the look on his face. Between the two of them, most of the patronage at the restaurant had forgone interest in their dinners to stare at these two particularly stunning entrants.
The food was wonderful. The wine was better. The conversation flowed easily and there were stretches of comfortable silence where whole paragraphs of conversation were exchanged between them in looks and subtle movements; the twitch of her lips into the hint of a smile, the gleam in his eye as he looked at her over the rim of his glass.
The atmosphere may as well have been non-existent for Max in that there was nothing else in the room that warranted attention except for the woman in front of him. Alex was more highly attuned to the staring partially because of her nature as a DEO agent, but also because she certainly wasn't used to being stared at like this. Max wondered if she realised just how beautiful she was.
Before too long, they left the restaurant satiated and content, completely ignoring the eyes that followed them all the way to the door. Max drove, stealing glances at Alex out of the corner of his eye as she gazed out the window at the city lights. The rain had cleared up and it had become one of those beautiful spring evenings that have a hint of summer singing on the soft, warm breeze. It was one of those evenings where everything just felt alive.
They arrived at Max's penthouse and Alex followed him through the front door into his glamourous living room. There was no denying that Max had excellent taste when it came to making everything he owned, including himself, look good. In fact, 'good' was too much of an understatement.
He slid off his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair before beginning to make his way over to the couch, evidently hoping Alex would follow him and make herself comfortable, but Alex had other ideas. She reached out for his hand and pulled him back to her, stepping close. The action had surprised Max, but he placed a hand on her hip and gazed fiercely back at her, their other hands still clasped together as if they were about to dance. There was a fire in Alex's eyes that excited him and he felt his heart begin to jump in his chest. He knew without doubt that she was in charge tonight.
Her kiss seemed to come slowly and all at once. It was deep and warm, skipping the preamble of the soft, gentle kisses that they'd engaged in so much of over the last week and a half. Max didn't have to ask what that meant. A knot formed in his stomach as she traced his bottom lip with her tongue.
He slid his hand around to rest on her lower back and pulled her even tighter against him. His mouth left hers, searching instead along her jaw and down her neck. Her fingers slid into his hair and held him there and she guided his other hand to the side of her thigh. She undid the knot of his tie expertly with one hand and let it fall to the ground. That was enough for Max.
He stepped forwards, unbalancing Alex, and swooped to catch her before she fell. With one arm around her shoulders and one under her knees, he carried her swiftly into his bedroom. Alex almost laughed at his confidence, but her humour left her when he hovered over her body on the bed, his eyes suddenly very dark.
Alex didn't even remember undoing the buttons, but it was her hands that pushed the shirt away from Max's chest and it was her hands that removed his belt. Somewhere along the line they'd kicked off their shoes and Max was in the process of getting Alex out of her dress. Very soon that lay discarded on the floor as well. She took great pleasure in removing his trousers and boxer shorts painfully slowly.
In no time at all, all that was left was rapidly warming skin. Max plastered her body with methodical kisses, his fingers touching and wandering. She let her hands explore his body just as freely, winning a small moan that came from deep inside his chest when her fingers slid below his waist.
Alex had originally wanted to move quickly, her gut urging her to have more of him, but she didn't. Instead they spent a long time just touching each other, running their hands over every inch of skin, letting the other explore places that no one else could. When Alex thought that there was no part of Max that she hadn't felt yet, only then did she make her move.
Max's eyes blazed as they came together. They moved in time with each other, a perfect constellation frozen in the sky whilst the rest of the universe got on with life. His chest was fit to burst as she arched her body underneath him and dug her fingers into his back and shoulder blades. She gasped for breath in between kisses, dimly wondering whether taking a breath was worth being apart from him for even a second.
They shook as their bodies reached the highest point of their harmony, sweetness spreading through their blood from their waists. Alex missed him sorely when he was gone from her body but contented herself with his weight above her and the pressure of his lips.
He stopped kissing her, suddenly desperate for breath.
'You liked dinner then,' he chuckled hoarsely.
'Dessert was better,' she replied with a sly grin.
The night had barely begun.
