"She is beautiful."

"They can do whatever the hell they want, they are not getting in here and touching any of these babies."

Alex just stood there, watching as everyone just absolutely loved on Amara. She'd thought about how you really were supposed to limit the exposure with an infant, but these were the people that would be protecting them all. Benanti was absolutely enthralled, Harewood had even smiled genuinely, and Adler was just ready to defend the DEO from any invaders. From what she understood, Lucy had already started to make the necessary changes to the DEO facility and to staffing in order to make it a hold out. Harewood's children and wife along with Charlie Benanti were all on site. The key to it all was that they were safe.

"You know, maybe you should try to sleep for a few hours, Alex," her mother said as Alex just watched them with Amara. No one had said anything about how Amara's coloring would adjust depending on who was holding her, but Alex almost felt a need to see every possible version of her daughter. "It's been a long day."

"For all of us," Alex said as she turned to look at her mother.

"Are we sure we're going to be safe here?" her mother questioned.

It was difficult to say for sure. They'd been in this same position before, except Alex had been pregnant. It wasn't something that she wanted to do, but the cyborg had proven that he could find them anywhere… Lucy and J'onn were certain that Cadmus would do anything to lure them out, which meant going after the people that Alex and J'onn cared about most. That meant her family (Kara and her mother) and then the entire staff of the DEO that they worked with on a daily basis. "We have to be," was all Alex could say.

"You'll be safe," Adler insisted.

"Come on, let's get you settled in," Benanti said. "We can worry about how this is all going to work after…"

And in that moment, Alex really welcomed Benanti's taking over. She didn't want to really think about all of the possibilities that might come with what they were doing. All she wanted to do was to take a moment, hold Amara, and forget that they were essentially under attack. So, she took her daughter back, holding her close, and followed Benanti. It was illogical, she knew that, to just want to do something that was the opposite that she knew should be done (her facing this whole situation head on from the control room).

"I just think I need a minute," Alex told Benanti, her voice breaking as the weight of the world hit her sudden and hard, as she peeked down Amara. She held back the tears, but kept her eyes on her daughter. She suddenly had a millions thoughts in her head and most of them were about whether what they were doing was fair...fair to Amara. Was there another way? Another way to protect her?

Suddenly Benanti was hugging her. "You take all the time you need," she said before disappearing suddenly and ushering out Charlie and the Harewoods.

Alex just sort of stood there in confusion for a moment. After a moment, she sucked in a deep breath, found a seat, and just stared down at Amara. That's all she wanted in that moment, quiet time with her baby girl. "I love you," she whispered, her words breaking and tears falling as she stroked her daughter's cheek. "I will always love you...no matter what..."

"I'm fairly sure that I have offered my expertise and baby skills for nearly a year now, but I'm just reminding you...I can hold that beautiful baby as much and often as you need," Benanti reminded.

Alex just smiled at that. "Noted."

"I mean, I don't know why she has to be in the other room, we could be holding her out here…"

"They probably figure that their brand new baby doesn't need to be exposed to any more violence or talk of it," Adler brought up.

"She's just a baby."

"She's part Green Martian, so isn't it safe to say that she likely has inherited some of the whole mind powers thing?"

"Okay, good point."

Alex just shook her head ever so slightly, her arms crossed tightly over her chest in an effort to hold herself together. She knew that her daughter was safe and with her mother in the next room over, but it was still hard to leave her. What was going on was absolutely terrifying. They were safe, but for how long? How long and at what cost?

Breathe.

Her eyes darted around the room until they finally settled on J'onn. He was standing on the edge of the room, his eyes were on hers in that moment and she knew that he had to be monitoring her thoughts (or at least her emotions). It wasn't new, but she wondered if hers were more intensified than normal.

We're going to be okay.

Amara is safe.

We won't let anything happen to her.

She knew that J'onn was right, but that wasn't going to completely do away with her fears. Her arms stayed wrapped around herself. Her attention moved back to the others. Lucy and Kara were standing near where Vasquez was sitting. She wondered if that meant that they knew something new. The DEO was standing together and they weren't backing down. Alex wondered if this meant that Cadmus and the cyborg had realized that that was where they were hiding out.

"Unless it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the civilians of National City and the world, the DEO will be on a constant lockdown," Lucy announced. "If anyone has remembered a relative or some other person in their life that they are concerned about, please come to me or Adler ASAP so that we can make arrangements for them."

There was a long pause, as if Lucy was allowing time for anyone to speak up in between. It had been told to them over and over again since they'd gotten there, that everyone on that base had chosen to cooperate with the plan they were going forward with. It was what Lucy had told her before… The DEO and her co-workers had shielded her (and Amara) from Cadmus and certain pain from experimentation that would lead to death. Alex didn't think that she could face being in Cadmus again...or see J'onn subjected to it...or the monsters that lurked within its walls.

We're safe.

The thought hit her about the same time as the realization that there was now a hand inside of hers. She looked down first before looking to her left to see J'onn there, his eyes on Lucy. It wasn't quite far, Alex felt, that now she couldn't use the martian telepathy like she'd seemed to be able to do when she was pregnant with Amara. Things had been different with her and with J'onn because of her carrying their precious little one.

"Let's get to work ensuring the base is completely locked down," Lucy ordered. "Adler, make sure that all of our boxes are checked."

"On it," Adler said before disappearing.

"I'll start the headcount," Benanti offered a moment later with a nod before heading off as well.

Alex moved towards Lucy, she wanted to be of some help. She hated feeling useless. This was about her life. Her daughter's life. J'onn's life. The life of everyone else that was close to her. She couldn't just stand by and be idle. "Give me something to do," Alex said, her arms still crossed tightly over her chest, her weight shifting back and forth so that she was almost rocking herself.

"You know the base better than I do," Lucy said as she took a step towards her, closing the distance between them.

J'onn was standing right next to her, so Alex assumed that he also wanted to help. She didn't think that there would ever be a version of reality in which J'onn wouldn't want to help. "Adler-"

"We made a checklist with Vasquez," Lucy explained. "We might have missed something though. You both know this base better than I do. You're the closest to outside eyes we're going to get in this moment… Check to make sure that we didn't miss anything. We were thinking about any other way, than the obvious ones, that someone could infiltrate the base...or even carry out some kind of attack-"

"Like gas?" J'onn questioned.

"Harewood already figured that part out for us. He thought about it before you all left the last time, so we've had time to create shutoffs, but still allow for us to have breathing air in here," Lucy told them. "Anything, though...even if you're saying things that we've already thought of. I know that this must be hard for both of you, especially since you're normally the ones making the plans, but it would make me feel better too."

J'onn gave a slight nod. "Of course."

Alex couldn't contain herself in that moment. Maybe it was just hormones, but she launched right to Lucy and hugged her tight. "Thank you," she breathed. She knew that she'd said this before, but she felt like it needed to be said again. Lucy Lane had changed so much since Alex and J'onn had both met her, so much that she had gone against for them.

"You know you're more than welcome," Lucy told her.

"Let's go and double check things," Alex said as she pulled away from the embrace, her head immediately turning towards J'onn.

"You okay?"

"You know that question is getting old."

"It's valid."

"I would be a lot better if this wasn't just filling time," Alex told him. "If we were doing something more than pretending that we were actually doing something productive."

"We're doing what we can," J'onn told her. "I know that it's frustrating and that-"

"They're coming for us."

"They always will."

"And we'll fight," Alex said simply, like it was the most natural thing that came out of her mouth. It wasn't just because of Amara that her first thought was to fight, she'd do the same thing for pretty much anyone else. "It's still my father, no matter how much I keep telling myself that he's gone...that he's just some kind of vessel. I tried to tell myself that they'd mutilated his body and created this monster, but deep down inside...Jeremiah Danvers is still alive...and that-he...is still going to be their main weapon against us." She paused for a moment. Maybe after everything, she just really needed to say it all out loud. She didn't know. All she knew was that she felt like it needed to be said, even if he already knew it all. "It's not just because he's my father...but-"

"He's stronger than a normal human," J'onn supplied.

"He threw you and Kara across the room in Scotland."

"That doesn't mean that I won't do everything to keep you safe."

"Cadmus is coming for us, but J'onn...one thing I know for sure...is that I can't lose anyone," Alex said, turning to him. They were alone, but she knew that with all of the emotions that felt like they were running rampant inside of her, that she knew that it was likely that J'onn already felt or sensed...but she couldn't let it come to the surface. If she did, Alex knew it would overtake her. She sucked in a breath, forcing herself to a calm that was nearly impossible to hold, but she did for that moment as she breathed her next words to him. "I can't lose you because of this war with Cadmus."

So much had gone on.

So much could go wrong.

They couldn't let it.

"You won't."

TBC…