Notes: Wasn't really planning on a second chapter, but what the heck. :)
CHAPTER TWO
The DEO base was surprisingly quiet at three in the morning. Yes, a skeleton crew was on hand at all hours, but they mostly spoke in low murmurs in seeming acknowledgement of the night's stillness, and even the prisoners were quiet as they slept.
In medical bay one, Alex Danvers was also sleeping though her slumber was more drugged than voluntary. An IV stand beside the bed held two bags of clear liquid which flowed down to one tube and then through the needle on the back of her left hand. Her right wrist was encased in plaster and rested gently over her stomach, slowly rising and falling with her steady breaths.
Her ulna was fractured, but would heal without a problem, and the electrical burns around her wrists and ankles had been less severe than expected. The doctors had been far more worried about the results of what amounted to multiple electrocutions. She had suffered tachycardia leading to a minor heart attack in the transport vehicle, and only the presence of a defibrillator had saved her life. Kara had been almost hysterical, and J'onn had been forced to sedate her which had led to his one and only feeling of gratitude for her current Kryptonite-induced weakness.
Once at the base, Alex had been wheeled off for tests and then quickly into surgery when cerebral edema had been discovered. The doctors had performed a ventriculostomy, and she now sported a small bald spot at the base of her skull where a flexible tube drained excess fluids away. They had also inserted what they hoped to be a temporary pace-maker to guard against possible delayed cardiac arrests. J'onn had been present in the observation room during her surgery and had felt a helplessness which he hadn't experienced in decades as he watched his pseudo-daughter cut open and fighting for her life. He hadn't let her out of his sight until the doctors had assured him that despite her current condition and the procedures they had been forced to perform, she would eventually make a full recovery, with any after-effects manageable with proper medication.
He still did not look forward to telling her sister about her condition and had been grateful that she remained unconscious under her healing sunlamps throughout it all. His one-hour grace period had expired without her waking but he knew that as soon as she did, she would demand to see Alex and so he maintained a vigil in his agent's room, ready to intercept and comfort a distraught superhero whenever she appeared.
That time ended up arriving at approximately four-thirty a.m. when he was on his fifth cup of coffee and extremely glad that caffeine had the same affect on Martians as it did on humans.
"I said one hour," came the voice from the doorway, sounding weak and tremulous despite hours of super-healing.
"I didn't keep you away," he countered.
She narrowed her eyes at him, gathering some slight sense of indignation.
"You took my watch," she said. "The one I'd set a one hour alarm on."
"That must have been the doctors."
Kara knew very well that he was lying, but she also knew he had acted out of care and concern for her, so she merely shook her head and let the matter drop.
"She looks so tiny," she whispered, as she stepped closer to the bed, and J'onn rose to stand beside her.
"Good thing she can't hear you say that," he replied in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Sadly it didn't work because Kara then saw the shaved place on her sister's head and the shunt which had been placed there.
"Wha- what happened?" she asked, tears springing to her eyes as she motioned towards the apparatus.
J'onn didn't really want to be the one relaying all of this overwhelming information, but he knew it was better coming from him than from a doctor Kara barely knew.
"She had some swelling in her brain. It's not uncommon with electrical shock injuries, and they were able to control it very quickly."
Kara gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Her brain? And what about all those other wires?" she asked, indicating leads which ran from several machines to various places under the sheet covering Alex's body. "Is it her heart?" she cried, remembering the medics giving Alex yet another shock, this time to help her. "Is she going to be okay?"
J'onn took a deep breath and pulled a chair over for the woman beside him. She fell into it heavily, but not before placing her hand over her sister's and gently squeezing her cold fingertips.
"Kara, she is going to be fine. It may take more than a day, but the doctors assured me that she will recover fully."
Without taking her eyes from her sister's still form, she took a shuddering breath before speaking very firmly and slowly. "Tell me everything," she demanded.
By the time he was done reluctantly answering all of her questions and telling her everything the doctors had told him, Kara was openly crying and he felt like he wanted to resurrect Non just to kill him all over again.
"This is my fault," she said harshly.
"No. There is nothing about this that is your fault. Nothing you could have done to prevent it," he insisted.
"I could have killed him earlier. Weeks ago, I had the chance but I didn't. I couldn't. Because he's one of the last of my people, and I pulled back before I went that far. I still held onto some pathetic belief that he might change, like Astra might have changed." Kara gave a stifled little sob and pressed her free hand to her eyes, shaking her head and trying to pull herself together.
"There is no fault in hoping for the best in people, and no one can blame you for wanting to prevent the death of another Kryptonian when so few remain."
"You don't blame me, and she won't either, but I do. It took him almost killing her for me to finally do what had to be done, and now I have to live with that."
"Kara..."
She cut him off with softly spoken words, sounding more like the hurt girl than the avenging woman of a moment ago. "Could - can I have some time alone with her," she asked with a slight stammer.
J'onn sighed, knowing that there was nothing more he could say, and hoping that Alex would have better luck when she woke.
"Of course, Supergirl," he said. "I'll be in my office if you need me, and the button there will call a doctor if anything happens."
There was a silent nod of acknowledgement from the blonde, and then he turned to leave the room, giving one more glance at the sisters before he opened the door, and seeing that Kara had her head resting on the pillow beside Alex's as her mouth moved in some whispered confidence.