Maggie felt stiff and irritated by the bright light and various sounds in the medical bay as she reluctantly allowed Eliza to examine her.
Eliza smiled reassuringly as she assessed the veins on both of Maggie's arms. Maggie glanced hesitantly around the medical bay from the examination chair she was sat on. Kara was asleep under the sun lamps, hovering about a centimetre above the bed. Next to her, Alex had a strong grip on her sister's hand but her tired eyes were watching Maggie across the room. J'onn was quietly talking on his cell phone in the far corner of the bay but his gaze was fixed on Alex and Kara.
"I'm going to use this arm," Eliza told her softly, tapping a vein on the inside of the elbow on Maggie's left arm.
Maggie nodded and let Eliza clean her arm as she closed her eyes and relaxed back into the chair, not willing to actually witness the procedure.
Eliza was gentle but Maggie still found herself unable to stop a gasp of pain from escaping her lips. Within a second of the needle puncturing Maggie's skin, a gust of wind swept through the medical bay. Someone was shouting and Maggie opened her eyes in time to witness Eliza being pushed to the floor in a flash of red and blue. Maggie tried to sit up properly but she was pushed back almost painfully into the chair by strong arms before her view was completely obliterated by Supergirl's cape.
"Kara wake up!" Alex shouted.
Maggie tried again to get up and out of the way, but Kara was in her path, solid and immovable.
"Kara, it's okay, Maggie is okay," Eliza sounded like she was still on the floor to Maggie's left.
"Kara?" Maggie found that her voice was strained, in fact it didn't really sound like her own. "I'm alright Kara," Maggie reached out to try to take Kara's arm but as she did she heard Kara's breath hitch and the superhero tensed up.
Kara spun around, her cape dramatically following her movement. Maggie looked up and met the girl's confused blue gaze. Tears appeared in Kara's eyes and she stood frozen in place, seemingly trying to make sense of the situation she had woken up in.
Behind Kara, J'onn and Alex helped Eliza to her feet and Maggie's eyes left Kara's to watch them. Kara slowly followed Maggie's gaze to the trio, her face falling as she took in the sight of J'onn supporting Eliza.
"Eliza, did I…?"
"I'm fine Kara," Eliza reassured and took a step towards her daughter, shaking off J'onn's supportive arm.
Kara let Eliza slip her arm around her and pull her into a hug as she turned back to Maggie who was still sat in the exam chair.
"What happened to your arm?" Kara frowned.
Maggie looked as confused as Kara did and stared down at her arm. Blood was slowly flowing in a thin line from the hole that the needle had created. Alex grabbed some gauze off the tray Eliza had been using and held it to Maggie's arm.
"Mom was just taking a blood sample from Maggie," Alex explained as she wiped the trail of blood from Maggie's arm with another piece of gauze.
"Why?" Kara frowned and reached out to Maggie's arm.
"Just a check-up," Eliza pulled Kara closer to her, "Maybe you should sit down so I can carry on." Eliza guided Kara back to her sunbed flanked by J'onn.
Alex placed a small circular plaster over the needle mark in Maggie's arm and smoothed it gently down.
"Are you okay to continue?" Alex whispered.
Maggie nodded as Eliza arrived back at her side.
"Alex can you set up a new tray while I wash my hands?" Eliza asked.
Maggie's eyes anxiously followed Eliza around the room, lingering slightly on Kara who was watching from the bed with J'onn perched next to her.
A minute later Eliza was reapplying the tourniquet to the opposite arm. Maggie managed to hold in her gasp this time but visibly winced as the needle pierced her skin and numerous blood vials were filled with her blood. She turned her head away towards Kara and could see J'onn physically holding the young woman back. Maggie closed her eyes and let her head fall back so it was resting on the back of the chair. When she opened her eyes again, Kara was leaning into J'onn's arms and Eliza was pressing some gauze to the crook of her elbow where the needle had been moments ago.
"Are you okay to wait until we get the results?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah," Maggie nodded as Eliza removed the gauze and applied a plaster.
"It shouldn't be too long," Eliza smiled.
Maggie nodded and returned the smile before leaning back in the chair, suddenly feeling tired again.
Maggie woke up on the bed next to Kara's sunbed. Someone had covered her with a blanket. The bay was silent except for the gentle hum of the sun lamps. Maggie sat up slowly. Kara was curled up facing Maggie's bed, breathing gently, seemingly in deep sleep.
For a minute Maggie thought that they were alone in the medical bay but as she tried to swing her legs off the side of the bed she noticed that Alex, Eliza and J'onn were all huddled at a computer in the far corner of the room.
J'onn noticed she was awake first and nudged Alex to gain her attention.
"Hey," Alex smiled as she strode across the medical bay.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep," Maggie felt heat creep up her cheeks.
"It's not a problem, how are you feeling?" Alex stood awkwardly at the end of the bed.
"I'm fine, I just feel tired," Maggie's gaze slipped back to Kara.
"Your bloods all looked okay," Alex told her softly.
"So, you don't know why I can sleep through Kara's screaming?"
"No, not yet."
"Can I go home then?" Maggie stood up resolutely and turned back to Alex to see that Eliza and J'onn had joined her at the end of the bed.
"Erm, actually," Alex stuttered. "We were hoping you might let us do some more tests."
Maggie looked at Eliza and J'onn before her eyes settled on Kara's sleeping form again.
"What kind of tests?" Maggie almost whispered, grasping the edge of the bed for support as she felt panic rising from her chest.
"We were hoping you would let us do another EEG to look at what's happening to your brainwaves when you fall asleep and compare it to Kara's."
Maggie nodded slightly.
"Also, we would like to do a lumbar puncture."
"No," Maggie took a step sideways away from the two women and the Martian. She felt overwhelmed. The room suddenly smelt like a real hospital, an overpowering mix of antiseptic and illness filled her nostrils and she felt herself swaying involuntarily.
"Maggie, please?"
"Absolutely not, no," she stopped backing away and instead turned and fled to the door.
A firm hand held Alex back as she tried to follow. J'onn shook his head.
"She's scared and conflicted, I think she needs a few minutes."
Alex sagged and turned back to her unconscious sister.
"What are the other options?" J'onn asked Eliza, watching as Alex took Kara's hand and clasped it firmly.
"We do the lumbar puncture on Kara," Eliza moved closer to her daughter. "We could use red sun emitters. It'd be a similar procedure to in humans, the anatomy isn't too different."
"Except that we have local anaesthetics that work on humans to help with the pain," Alex interrupted loudly. "And we have never gathered samples of Kryptonian CSF, something that looks unfamiliar could be perfectly normal, whereas if we looked at Maggie's we would be able to recognise an alien contaminant. And because neither of us have ever done an LP on a Kryptonian, we don't actually know we can."
"I know sweetie," Eliza put her hand on Alex's shoulder, "But think about what you are asking Maggie to do. There are risks for her too, while an LP is a fairly routine procedure there can be complications and it won't be a pleasant experience."
"I thought she loved me. She said she'd always love me."
Eliza gave Alex a sad smile before busying herself at the computer.
Alex wiped a tear from her cheek and sniffed. She tightened her grip on Kara's hand as she watched as J'onn retreated back to the window to watch the agents passing through the corridors.
Silence fell over the room, only broken by the occasional whimper from Kara on the bed.
Alex let her mind wander, remembering all the other times she had watched over Kara under the sunlamps. Only last week Kara had spent 24 hours sleeping off a particularly nasty and lengthy fight with a cyborg under the artificial lights only to land right back in the med bay in quarantine from exposure to an unknown gas from a crashed spacecraft she had been sent to investigate. Alex worried that being Supergirl was becoming more dangerous for her little sister and now she had spent the whole of her weekend asleep after being sucked into some kind of portal she was also worried that it would really start impinging on what little life she had as 'Kara Danvers'. Right now James was covering for her at CatCo but even with her best friend as her boss, there was only so much time she could take off without jeopardising her career.
There was a knock at the med bay door. Both Eliza and J'onn turned to see Maggie at the door.
"Eliza?"
On hearing Maggie's voice Alex jumped to her feet.
"Can I talk to you in private please?" Maggie's request was barely audible over the thudding of Alex's heart in her own ears.
"Yes, of course," Eliza headed over to her, "We'll go to J'onn's office."
Kara was screaming again. Alex stopped her anxious pacing of the medical bay and rushed to her sister's side and gently ran her hand up and down Kara's arm.
J'onn was stood with his arms crossed at the end of the bed, face furrowed in concern. He felt helpless.
Neither Alex and J'onn noticed Eliza and Maggie re-enter the medical bay until Eliza spoke.
"How long has she been like this?"
"About five minutes," J'onn informed her as Alex looked desperately at her mom and then at Maggie.
"Oh Kara," Eliza brushed the hair from Kara's sweat covered forehead and then turned to Maggie.
"Let me find you a gown Maggie, we won't start until she's calmed down though," Eliza smiled and then went to the linen cupboard.
Alex smiled at Maggie, who was stood awkwardly near the doorway. Maggie folded her arms across her chest protectively and stayed silent until Eliza returned.
"You can change in the bathroom," Eliza smiled as she handed Maggie the hospital gown.
Maggie hesitated slightly, but Kara let out another terrified scream and she flinched and accepted the gown from Eliza and headed to the bathroom to change.
It hadn't hurt as much as Maggie had expected it to, although she had a slight headache which was only being amplified by Kara, who had started to scream again. Unfortunately, Alex and Eliza had left to start analysing her samples and she was under strict instructions from Alex to stay lying flat for an hour after they had finished the procedure so there was nothing she could do to help the superhero.
"Kara?" Maggie called, unable to stand the noise anymore.
"Kara!" she shouted again in frustration.
The screaming stopped, and Kara sat bolt upright, hyperventilating as her eyes darted around the medical bay.
Kara's heavy breathing resolved and an uncomfortable silence fell between them, it was worse than the screaming Maggie decided as she watched the superhero. Kara looked stoned. Her eyes were dark and dull, the whites of her eyes were pink and she seemed to be constantly fighting to keep them open.
"Do you remember the dreams when you wake up?" Maggie asked, turning on her side to look at Kara properly.
Kara stared at her blankly for a minute.
"Not really," Kara eventually whispered, lying back on the bed.
"Can you tell me what you remember?" Maggie adjusted her pillow under the crook of her shoulder.
Maggie waited patiently for Kara to answer.
"It always ends the same," Kara started as she stared at the ceiling. "We're both falling, I get a horrible feeling in my stomach and then you hit the ground and you're not moving. Everything is purple and even when I wake up it takes a while for everything to turn back to its normal colour."
"I get that too you know?" Maggie admitted quietly.
"You do?" Kara rolled onto her side to look at Maggie, her eyes looked brighter, more focused.
"Not the dreams or the falling, but when I wake up, everything has this strange purple hue, it's really weird," Maggie tried to laugh.
"I really liked the colour purple," Kara sighed dramatically, "But now… I'm going to have to return the purple dress I bought last week."
"Have you spoken to your sister about what is happening?"
Kara shook her head and pulled her cape over herself protectively and snuggled into the bed.
"What about Eliza?"
"No," Kara shook her head again. "Eliza would just worry and Alex… well she'd worry too, but I think she's upset with me."
"What makes you think that?" Maggie prompted but she could already sense Kara shutting herself off again.
"It's because I brought you to the DEO," Kara whispered to Maggie's surprise. "She wasn't ready to see you again."