Okay, so first of all thank you thank you thank you for the amazing response I received for the first chapter. Your guys' kind words and encouragement was just absolutely incredible to read so I hope that this story continues to live up to your wishes :)
I got asked a couple of times about when this fic is set. Honestly, it's kinda just some unknown time in the future. Mon-el won't be in it (sorry), but I do really want to add in Lena at some point, I'm just tryna figure out how she'd fit in with the storyline. Maybe more importantly though is that Alex and Maggie aren't engaged or married or anything. I just don't really know how to address what happened in the season 2 finale. And as much as I love Sanvers (and I do guys, I really really do) that proposal just seemed a little... rushed, perhaps? It was amazing to watch... but I dunno, maybe I'm just a cynic at heart and waiting for something to go horribly, horribly wrong...
Anyho, sorry, I'll stop with the long note now. Hope you enjoy!
...
Chapter Two:
Maggie Sawyer has always prided herself in being a cop, through and through.
In times of stress, she doesn't panic. When a gun is pointed her way and a fingertip hovering over the trigger, she doesn't flinch. It's partly experience, something that had served her well while she was a young cop in Gotham, and then again in her quick rise to Detective in National City.
That is what's guiding her movements at this time, a façade of calm she certainly doesn't feel. In truth, she wants to scream. Or throw things. Or- and this might just be the most likely course of action- hunt down the man responsible for all of this and make him pay. Multiple times. At least that would give her something to do rather than sitting here, her attention split between the two screens in front of her.
This whole situation is just so fucked up- when had it gone so horribly wrong?
Well, the answer to that's obvious enough.
It was the time afterwards where it all went to hell.
Maggie leans forward, dropping her face into her hands and rubbing her temples. She'd been fortunate enough to have gotten away from the explosion with very little in the way of injuries, but there was a headache pulsing in time with her heartbeat that was only growing with each passing moment.
A gun. She'd held a fucking gun to her girlfriend. And the worst thing was that Maggie hadn't even hesitated. She'd drawn her gun on a threat. Because as much as she wanted to deny it, that's all Alex had been at that point; a threat that, had it been anyone else in the world, she wouldn't've been so tossed up about.
Maggie glances up at the stuttered breath to her right. Winn has a bloody bit of gauze strapped to his forehead and a minor concussion, but for the past few hours he'd been furiously typing away at his laptop, scanning for God knows what.
She understood the need to keep busy.
But the answers he was looking for couldn't be found at the touch of a mouse.
Even as she's thinking it, Winn seems to come to the same conclusion, slamming a fist down on the desk before throwing himself backwards in his chair, rubbing his eyes furiously. "Nothing in any of Alex's last case files, and no word yet about Kara," he mutters, his voice cracking.
Maggie doesn't know Winn well; she's met him only in the few times she's been at the DEO and the one memorable game night at Kara's loft. She doesn't know anything about him, except that he's a certified genius with computers and one of Kara's best friends. That fact alone is what prompts Maggie to reach across, to place a hand on his shoulder and give it a supportive squeeze, because she gets how it feels to have someone you love most in the world in pain and completely out of reach.
The difference between her and Winn though, lay in the fact that he hadn't been able to do anything about it; that he'd had no idea what had gone so horribly wrong.
But Maggie did. And God, had she fucked up.
(Kara's wearing a cream-coloured sweater, a tartan skirt and her usual bright smile when Maggie opens Alex's door. Her hair's falling in its usual soft curls over her shoulder and, for all intents and purposes, she appears to have been awake for hours despite what the TV behind Maggie is spouting out- something about a multiple-car collision on the Southern-bound highway, about how Supergirl had been there for hours, clearing up the road and helping stranded commuters.
It was enough to make anyone conscious of just how little they'd achieved in their morning.
"Hey Maggie," the girl chirrups, positively bouncing into the apartment, "where's Alex?"
"Shower."
Kara nods, crossing over to the kitchen island and jumping onto one of the stools there, spinning idly.
"Busy morning, huh?" Maggie says, tilting her head towards the T.V. to where the morning news is still replaying multiple clips of Supergirl's various appearances across the city.
"Nothing more than normal," Kara replies, waving it off with a grin.
"So where are you and Alex off to today?" Maggie calls over her shoulder as she opens the fridge.
"Oh, it's just this press release that Catco was invited to. It's some sciency-genetics thing that Alex is good at so she said she'd help me."
Grabbing a bottle of water, Maggie shuts the fridge. "Sciency-genetics thing," she repeats, "right."
It's only as she sees the slightly taken aback expression on Kara's face that she realizes how short her reply had sounded. It's not that she's annoyed at Kara by any means, it's just that her and Alex's conversation from earlier is still playing out in her head; the promises they'd made to each other repeating on a loop.
For one of the first times in her life, Maggie wasn't scared of the commitment that those promises bought.
So why was she fixating on them?
Kara pushes her glasses back into position. "Um… you're not… annoyed that I'm stealing Alex away for today, are you?"
Maggie shakes her head quickly, drawing herself out of her thoughts, "Oh god, Kara, no. You're sisters; I don't ever want to be the person to stand in the way of that.
Tilting her head slightly, Kara answers in an unconvinced voice, "okay… then what's the problem?"
"No problem, alright? I just want you and Alex to have fun today."
It's a terrible attempt at a diversion, but while she frowns, Kara allows it. "Oh," she says suddenly, reaching for her bag and digging around, before pulling out a scrap of paper. "This is for you; I talked to James."
Maggie looks down. There's a date- one about two weeks away- a time, an address and a phone number she doesn't recognize. She skims the address over in her mind, before finally coming to a realization.
78 5th Ave.
But that was-
"You managed to get a reservation at Portafino's?!"
Kara grins, unabashed and proud. "I got you a reservation," she confirms, "James knew the owners when it first opened, they seemed pretty eager for a favour."
Maggie whistles in appreciation. "You have good friends, little Danvers."
Alex had been talking about the food at Portafino's for months but, as it always seemed to be, the waiting list for a reservation was months in the making. Desperately, with Alex's birthday mere weeks away, she'd enlisted Kara's help. Successfully too, Maggie muses.
She looks up. "I don't really know how to thank you."
Maggie had always wondered what made Kara's smile so genuine. Was it the sheer sincerity? The unreservedness? Or the mere fact that this girl- one who had witnessed the explosion of her planet and death of practically her entire race- could smile so broadly at seemingly such simple things? Either way, there was just something about it that was just so captivating that it was almost entirely impossible not to smile along with her.
"Maggie," she says simply, "you're already doing it."
Maggie's saved from having to formulate a response by Alex striding into the room, dressed casually in a pair of jeans and usual dark jacket and rubbing a towel furiously through her wet hair.
Kara turns to face her. "You all ready? We need to get going before the traffic gets any worse."
"I'm ready, I'm ready, let's go," Alex says quickly, throwing her towel down by the couch; Kara and Maggie both stare at it with varying looks of dismay. "What?"
Kara frowns, muttering as she strides over to pick the damp towel up. "Just hang it up for once in your…" the rest of her words die out as she flashes away, reappearing by the door an instant later, bare-handed and exclaiming, "now we can go."
Alex turns to Maggie, but all she offers is a teasing smile, gathering herself enough to say, "you heard Supergirl. Get going, Danvers."
But Alex hesitates at the door, looking back, her eyes uncertain.
Maggie gives her a gentle smile. "See you later, Danvers.")
"Hey," Winn's earnest voice breaks her out of her head, "hey, Alex is waking up."
"What?" Maggie's head jerks upwards, and she peers closer at the monitor she'd been sitting in front of for the past few hours. And sure enough, Alex's pale face on the screen is contorting slightly, her figure stiffening slightly as she seemingly becomes aware of where she is.
Maggie lets out a slow breath through her teeth. A weight lifts at seeing Alex awake and moving, but any relief Maggie had felt at seeing her conscious is dampened when her girlfriend starts jerking against the restraints, obviously panicked.
But then J'onn steps into the frame, and although there's no sound from the computer whatever he says is clearly enough to stop Alex from struggling.
It's horrible- so, so horrible- to only be watching from these screens rather than being down there helping Alex. But there's another matter that's splitting her concern; another person that demands her attention.
And that was one promise she had to keep.
"Do you think J'onn will get her to talk?" Winn asks after a while, looking up at her.
Maggie hesitates, remembering the look of confusion on Alex's face before med had tranq'd her. "I don't think she could even if she wanted to."
"What? But… but we need her to tell us what happened! We need her to tell us why Kara-"
"I know," she cuts across him sharply, "I know we do. And we will. But just… give her time, okay?"
She watches carefully as Winn's frown deepens, as his hands curl into fists on the desk, and when he next speaks his words are filled with a dark fury. "Like she gave Kara time?"
She knows that Winn doesn't understand; is aware that the DEO is probably alive with lies on the second-in-command going rogue and blowing up half of the base. But she won't have people slagging off Alex in front of her. She won't stand by and watch as the life of the person she cares about most in the world crumbles to pieces.
"Hey," Maggie says, quiet and firm, "you know Alex. You think she'd willingly hurt Kara like this, huh? Get that into your head before you start judgin-"
"Detective Sawyer." The commanding voice stops her in an instant. Whirling around, she straightens at the sight of J'onn returning. A quick glance back at the screen shows that Alex is once again alone in her cell and from the distant angle of the camera it's impossible to tell whether she's conscious or not. "With me," the director says, his tone offering no alternative.
Maggie gives Winn one last glare before following. J'onn leads her- in a roundabout way, she supposes, to avoid the destruction in the foyer- to his office. She's never actually seen it before, but isn't overly surprised to find it bare and impersonal, without any frames hanging from the grey walls or photographs on the desk, which is covered only in an excessive amount of files and a computer. The director of a secret government organization can't afford to give away any secrets after all, especially when that director is hiding significantly more than most. But it's dreary in a way that's almost energy-sapping.
Alex is the second-in-command, Maggie muses, so will this be her one day? Desperately hiding her personal life so that it can't be used against her?
J'onn makes his way to the desk, picking up one of the folders there and handing it to her with a wordless glance. "What's this?" she asks somewhat impatiently, but she wants to get back to keep an eye on Alex and to wait to hear about Kara.
"It's Alex's report on what happened a month ago."
Maggie flicks her eyes upwards. "A month ago?"
The look J'onn gives her says he's not fooled by her question. "You know as well as I do that whatever changed Alex happened as a result of the incident with K'nex Ltd."
Maggie opens the file- a brown folder filled with a sizeable stack of printed papers- and the first thing that draws her eye is a medical evaluation.
Alex's medical evaluation.
"The incident," she repeats softly.
"I'm under no illusions here. I know there's a lot of things that Alex has been hiding from me, but at the present time she's also unable to provide a proper answer-"
Maggie jerks slightly. "What? But med said she was fine, just-"
"She's confused, disoriented, and working through the effects of the drugs in her system. I'm not about to rely on her judgement at the moment."
"It sounds like you don't trust her," Maggie says quietly. Winn's accusing words are still ringing in her head, but she knows how close Alex and J'onn are. If he's given up on her too… Maggie wouldn't even know what to do.
But the Martian's eyes are merely sad when he looks at her. "I know Alex. I've helped her before, helped train and discipline her into one of the best agents we've got. And I know how much she cares about her sister. What we saw before, and who I just visited in that cell; that isn't Alex- or at least it isn't her right frame of mind. So no," he continues, "in the present circumstances, I don't trust her. Just like I don't trust that-" he points to the file in Maggie's hands-" to provide an accurate review of what happened that day."
"So why give it to me?"
"Because I believe that that report and what Agent Danvers has undeniably told you will be more than enough to paint a clear picture."
Maggie doesn't deny it; Alex had told her some of what happened, surely in more detail than she'd put into her report. But that still doesn't explain one thing…
"Why do you need to know what happened?"
J'onn rises to his full height, crossing his arms and looking so imposing that it's all she can do not to take a step away.
"Because I'm going to help her. As best I can."
It's a simple answer. Clear and to the point.
Maggie nods once, decisively, and begins to read.
(Alex drives, and Kara settles herself in the passenger seat, shucking off her shoes and resting her feet on the dashboard. Alex had long ago given up telling her off for this, and instead is resigned to the sight of her sister's colourful- and more often than not, belonging to different pairs- socks just in her line of vision.
Their first stop is the café just around the corner. There's a line practically out the door by the time they arrive but the coffee's strong and Kara is especially fond of the variety of pastries they offer, so they figure it's well worth the wait. Certainly, the traffic that grips Downtown at this time in the morning is that little bit more bearable with caffeine in Alex's system.
"Thank you for coming with me," Kara says after a while, stuffing another bit of cruller in her mouth.
"That's alright."
"But it's your only day off, the last thing you probably want to do is be dragged of by your sister because she doesn't want to go to a press release by herself."
"Kara," she looks over to the girl, "it's fine, seriously. It means I get to spend my day off with you."
Kara bites her lip, blue eyes anxious. "You're sure?"
Alex laughs, "what's going on with you? I agreed to come; I wouldn't've done that if I wasn't happy to."
"I know that," Kara says, "I dunno… I just don't want you to be bored or anything."
"Oh wow, Kar, tell me again what this thing's about?"
Her sister shoves the remaining pastry into her mouth, dusts off her hands, then fishes out her phone. "K'nex Ltd is a family-owned and operated company leading the world in innovative medicine," she reads from an email, "we represent the fundamental development in the area of ultraistic remedies to provide a stable solution to society's growing dependency on neurocrine pharmaceuticals."
"Right," Alex cuts in, "and exactly how much of that did you understand?"
Kara's eyes glint. "The bit later on where they say there's free nibbles?"
Alex rolls her eyes, despite the answer being exactly what she'd expected. "K'nex is a small business," she explains, "but they've been around for ages. Supposedly it's been passed through the family for several generations."
"What are they known for?"
Coming to a stop at an intersection, Alex answers, "not much. They've been working for years on finding drugs that combat the antibiotic-resistance crisis."
"That's where infections are becoming immune to the common drugs there are, right?"
"Right. But they haven't made any progress- no one has- until now, apparently."
Alex had first stumbled on the family-owned business in her final year of college. To a teenager fresh in her studies, completely firm in her ideals, it'd seemed like a revolutionary concept, fully worthy of her respect and support. She still considered it to be, but Alex was just more aware now of the sheer daunting task they were tackling; more skeptical of the means they were aiming to achieve it with.
But then again, she's more skeptical about a lot of things now than her younger self had been.
"It'd be pretty amazing then," Kara says, "if they've managed to figure out a way to fix it."
"Yeah… Amazing…" Even to her own ears, Alex's words seem distracted. It's no surprise to her when she sees her sister shoot her an appraising look from the corner of her eye.
"What were you and Maggie talking about this morning?" Kara asks eventually, licking sugar off her fingers.
Alex frowns at her, but there's little anger behind it. Privacy was something she'd resigned herself to forgetting years ago. "You heard some of that, huh?"
Kara shakes her head vehemently, "no- I swear, but the way you left was just kinda weird and I was talking to Maggie a little bit before you came in and- and something happened?
Alex taps a finger against the steering wheel. "We just… had to talk a few things through."
"You guys are fine though, right?"
Alex nods. "We're fine. Better than fine. Which is part of the problem."
She can hear the confusion in her sister's voice. "You're not making any sense."
Alex sighs. She doesn't know if she wants to talk about this with Kara- not because she doesn't trust her with what happened, but just because Alex herself hasn't fully come to terms with what she's feeling.
She loves Maggie. She wants to spend the rest of her life with her. And so…
"We were just talking this morning, about work."
"The DEO?"
Alex hums. "My job's dangerous, and I've always accepted that. It's what always could happen in a job like this, but I just… I wanted to help people and find out what happened to Dad and look after you."
Kara's voice is soft. "You shouldn't have to make those sorts of decisions thinking about me."
"God, Kara, I know that, but I still- I just," she rubs at her eyes, trying to put to words the emotions racing through her mind. "I just need to sort out what I want. Before things fall apart."
"You know you'll always have me- and Maggie. You're never going to lose us."
Alex looks over at her sister, at her bright eyes, her determination and her kindness.
"I know… But what happens if you lose me?"
The look on Kara's face is almost physically painful to see. All of a sudden Alex is scrambling to say something to fill in the silence. "Hey- look- I'm just worrying too much. I'm not going to make any rash decisions, alright? So let's just go to this press release, you can find an amazing story, and we'll have fun, okay?"
Kara's obviously reluctant, but knowing that Alex isn't willing to talk about it anymore leaves her with little options.
The rest of the drive is spent mostly in silence.)
Maggie and J'onn are interrupted when Winn bursts into the room, holding his usual tablet in his hands and heaving in breaths. Maggie stiffens immediately, but neither of them have time to focus on the words they'd exchanged earlier. Because what he says next take priority over anything.
"Kara's out of surgery," Winn pants, "she's awake, and she's asking for Alex."
This was supposed to have another scene here to really get the plot going, but I'd just written myself into a corner with having the next series of events from (spoiler, yay!) Kara's point of view, which, you know, she kinda needs to be conscious for.
THANK YOU once again for the support! If you could perhaps leave a review with you thoughts, feelings or hopes for the future, that'd be much appreciated :P
-F