Hi Supergang!
So this chap is completely plotless, sugary-sweet fluff. No plot whatsoever. Plus Kara's singing is a song she actually did sing on Glee; it seemed like a crazy waste not to give her a song you can actually look up on YouTube and watch her sing, even though the songs they chose for her were mostly not the best, in my humble opinion (For the record, I loved Glee with all my heart but it was already ruined by the time Melissa Benoist joined the cast, and that was NOT HER FAULT). The song is You're All I Need to Get By. She does sing it as a duet with her on-screen bf, but it's still very sweet and my favorite pick that seemed appropriate in this context, so watch it on YouTube if you feel so inclined.
Separate note regarding the flashback—I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I never liked the actresses they cast to play young Kara and young Alex. They barely look like adult Kara and Alex, and they're just not cute enough frankly. So since this flashback scene takes place in high school, just picture Melissa Benoist as she was in her Glee days...and as for Alex, if you've never seen her in Grey's Anatomy that is just a crime so go watch! She's 24 when she first joins the show in S5, but she honestly looks even younger, so it's easy to imagine her as a teenager if you see her there. That is all I have to say about teenage Kara and Alex.
Happy weekend, enjoy your Kalex fluff! ;)
…...
I'd Carry a Plane for You
Part 6: Protector of Truth, Justice...and Alex
…...
Alex didn't sleep well that night, despite being completely exhausted from the fight with Astra and the Hellgrammite, the "mild" hypothermia, and the not-quite-life-threatening levels of blood loss she'd sustained before they'd gotten her back to the DEO for medical triage. And even though Kara took her temp and gave her a dose of NyQuil before they went to sleep, the dark-haired girl kept waking up all through the night, sweating or shivering or both, kicking off all the blankets and then crawling back under them every ten minutes. She started coughing around midnight, and by 5am she sounded like she'd been smoking for thirty years.
Kara sat up with her all night, fussing lovingly over her sweet brave girl who was far too sick and disoriented now to complain. The truth was, though she was cranky and resistant when she felt just a little bit under the weather, Alex loved the way Kara took care of her on those rare occasions when she was really sick. The blonde girl was so loving and attentive and cuddly, and over all they years they'd spent together, Kara knew exactly what made Alex feel better without Alex having to actually ask, which was good, since Alex never would ask. She would just lie there feeling miserable and ashamed of her helplessness until Kara intervened and crawled into bed with her, with medicine or tea or cuddles and lullabies. The fiercely independent young DEO agent had never allowed anyone else to care for her like this, not even her own parents when she was growing up. But with Kara it was impossible not to feel safe, protected, and cherished in a way that just made all her walls come down. It was completely automatic and involuntary.
Around 6am, when Alex's latest round of fever chills had finally broken and she was lying limply on top of her favorite blondie, vaguely half-awake with her head resting on Kara's chest, Kara put aside the cold compress she'd been holding against Alex's forehead and reached for her phone to call Ms. Grant and explain why she wouldn't be in for a few days. She had never once taken a day off from CatCo, aside from the government mandated holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and the Fourth of July; and even though she knew she had a ridiculous amount of paid days off banked by now, she also knew Ms. Grant had no intention of her ever actually using them. The idea of displeasing her demanding but brilliant boss always made Kara a little nervous and queasy; but not this time. Not with Alex sick and injured and lying on top of her with a fever of a hundred and two.
"Kira, please tell me you are calling me at 6am to report a major breaking story that we can use to scoop the Daily Planet before the morning news shows," Ms. Grant's droll voice said in greeting when she picked up Kara's call.
"Um, good morning Ms. Grant," Kara said quietly, one hand still lightly running through Alex's dark hair while the other held the phone to her ear. "I'm so sorry to disturb you so early, but I thought you'd want to know as soon as possible that I won't be in today. Or...or the next several days, actually." She bit her lip, waiting for the Cat-Grant-Bomb to go off.
"It's funny, Kira, but you don't sound like you're dying of ebola," Ms. Grant said sarcastically.
"Well, no, it's not me. It's my girlfriend, Alex—you remember her, right? She's an FBI agent?" FBI Barbie was the term Cat Grant had actually thrown at her when describing Alex, that one very awkward time in her office; but Kara didn't think it wise to bring that up right now. "Well...she was hurt on the job last night. She'll be all right, but she lost a lot of blood, and I just can't leave her, Ms. Grant. I'm sorry." Kara chewed her lip, bracing herself for the telling-off she just knew was coming. She had never missed a day of work. She was not allowed to miss a day of work. But she was anyway.
"Oh...well...this puts me in a bit of an awkward position, doesn't it," Ms. Grant sighed. "I suppose I can't deny you a day or two." Kara frowned. She knew it was going to be more than a day or two. What she didn't know was how to hold her ground against her brilliantly willful and demanding boss. She was not leaving Alex alone until she was better, period; but would Ms. Grant really fire her if she was out of the office for, say, a whole week? Even if she had the vacation days available? She couldn't do that, right?
But in the end, Kara didn't have to come up with her own rebuttal anyway, because she felt Alex's ribcage expand weakly as the dark-haired girl pressed the end of her pajama sleeve across her face and sneezed twice, sounding very sick and congested. Kara handed her a tissue and kissed the top of her head. Ms. Grant gave a little shriek like she'd had a glass of cold water thrown in her face. "What the hell was that?" The older woman demanded, sounding horrified.
"Um...that was Alex?" Kara said uncertainly. She knew her boss was a major germaphobe, but did the woman really think she could catch someone's germs through the phone?
"I thought you said she was injured. Saving innocent American lives and whatnot."
"She is injured. She was stabbed in the leg and spent half the night bleeding out in a freezing cold warehouse. Not exactly ideal immune-boosting conditions," Kara said slowly, trying very hard not to sound patronizing or sarcastic.
"And now you're covered from head to toe with secondhand microbes of death," Ms. Grant said sharply, as if it were an accusation.
"Oh...yes...completely covered. One hundred percent," Kara agreed a little too eagerly, suddenly realizing she should have started with this angle in the first place. Ms. Grant sighed impatiently.
"Very well, I suppose I'll call that horrid temp agency. Don't even think about stepping foot back inside my building until your household is one hundred percent germ-free, Kira. Do you shower with antibacterial soap?"
"Um..."
"Get some. And do not get sick, Kira, that is an order. Wear a surgical mask if you have to. If you bring even one of those microscopic killers into my office you will personally be responsible for the next recession, do you understand?"
"Don't worry, Ms. Grant, I won't get sick. I promise," Kara grinned in relief, knowing her boss couldn't possibly realize the sincerity of that promise.
"Very well," Ms. Grant huffed, sounding only slightly more annoyed than usual, which was better than what Kara had been daring to hope for. "And, Kira?"
"Yes Ms. Grant?"
"Please tell...Alex, was it?"
"Yes," Kara said in slight confusion.
"Tell Alex that CatCo thanks her for her dedication to the safety of National City."
"Oh...thank you, Ms. Grant," the blonde girl said, stunned. "I'll tell her." She hung up her phone and put it on the bedside table.
"...Tell me what?" Alex mumbled croakily without picking up her head from Kara's chest.
"Ms. Grant just gave you her personal thanks for keeping our city's streets safe," Kara smiled gently, her fingers threading lightly through Alex's dark hair again. "And she remembered your damn name. She doesn't even remember my name after two years."
"Cool...I'm gonna be way more cocky about that when I can stand up and do stuff again..." Alex trailed off into another painful, congested coughing fit.
"Awww, Lexie..." the blonde girl cooed softly, her hand trailing from Alex's hair down to rub her back. "Poor baby, you're so sick..."
"And stabbed," Alex mumbled sleepily. It didn't even sound like she was complaining; it was more like she was trying to remind herself matter-of-factly, in her feverish haze, why exactly she felt so horrid.
"And stabbed," Kara agreed quietly, with an affectionate little smile that Alex couldn't see. "But you're safe and cozy now, and we're staying right here until you feel all better again. I'm gonna make you a cup of TheraFlu, and then maybe you'll be able to sleep a little longer, hmm baby?"
"'Kay..." Alex murmured woozily, with a little hitch in her voice, and sneezed again. There was a direct relationship between how submissive Alex was to Kara's caretaking, and how sick she was. The fact that the dark-haired girl wasn't whining about how gross TheraFlu tasted or that she didn't really need it anyway told Kara everything she needed to know about what a sorry state her girlfriend was in, and it made her want to give Alex everything in the world that would make her feel better; knowing that whatever she offered, Alex would just say okay. She wouldn't actually ask for anything. It was a good thing Kara already knew everything in the world that made Alex feel better when she was sick.
The blonde girl didn't even try to slip out from under her girlfriend's limp, overheated body on the bed, knowing that Alex wouldn't want to be left alone in the bedroom even for a few minutes, though she'd never come right out and say it. So Kara just floated them both gently up into the air, using herself as a living magic carpet, and floating down the hall to the living room, where she gently flipped them over and deposited her girlfriend lightly on the couch, covering her up with the soft, fleecy blanket over the back of one chair that was Alex's favorite, one Kara's foster mom had given them as a housewarming present when they'd moved into this apartment two years ago.
"Thanks," Alex murmured softly, cuddling up to the blanket and holding onto it like it was a temporary substitute for Kara's body, which it was. One gold star for me, Kara thought happily.
"You're welcome baby. Just rest, I'll be right over there in the kitchen, you can still see me." It was a loft-style apartment, with no wall between the kitchen and living room areas. "I'll just be a minute." The blonde girl leaned down and kissed her sniffling girlfriend lightly on the lips, having no fear of her germs.
"Kara..." Alex said sleepily, blinking up at her favorite person in the universe with big, fever-glazed brown eyes.
"What is it, Lexie? What hurts?" Kara asked gently, kneeling down by the edge of the couch and threading her fingers automatically through her girlfriend's dark hair again.
"Nothing...I mean, everything, but...I just love you." They smiled at each other, all the pain and blood and terror of the last twenty four hours suddenly vanishing for an instant. Kara leaned in and pressed her forehead against Alex's, and they both closed their eyes for a moment, their oldest way to soothe each other.
"I love you too," Kara whispered in utter devotion, giving her sweet, woozy girl one last kiss before she got up and went to the kitchen to make her some feel-better goodies. The blonde girl sang to herself while she hustled around the kitchen, knowing it would make Alex feel better to hear her, to hear that she was close. Plus Alex was always soothed by Kara's singing when she was hurt or sick or even just sad, the blonde alien girl had a heartbreakingly beautiful voice on top of all her other superhuman qualities. It was one of the few talents she could actually indulge in during their high school years without drawing suspicion, unlike sports, where she could never risk the possibility of accidentally kicking the ball just a tiny bit too hard and sending it flying across county lines.
"With my arms open wide, I threw away my pride, I'll sacrifice for you, dedicate my life for you...like an eagle protects his nest, for you I'll do my best, stand by you like a tree, dare anybody to try and move me..." While Kara sang to herself (though she was really singing for Alex), she quickly zapped a mug of hot water with her laser eyes and mixed in the bitter tasting medicinal powder packet, adding a ridiculous amount of honey to make it taste better. Then while it cooled for a minute, she made a bowl of instant oatmeal (in the microwave this time—she'd learned the hard way that some foods were too messy to heat up with her alien eyeballs), mixing in a spoonful of peanut butter and a swirl of maple syrup, which was pretty much the only thing Alex would eat when she was sick. All in all it was under four minutes before she was back on the couch with her goodies, depositing them on the coffee table before she gently helped Alex sit up, careful to avoid bumping her injured leg. The dark-haired girl was too dizzy with fever and blood loss to actually sit up straight on her own, but Kara didn't mind being used as living furniture, easily supporting Alex's weight while the dark-haired girl leaned her whole body against Kara's side, taking little sips of the hot medicine and half-spoonfuls of oatmeal.
Without Alex having to ask, Kara picked up the TV remote and put on Orphan Black reruns again, picking up where they'd left off the night before. Alex didn't say anything, but she didn't have to; Kara knew what Alex liked when she was sick. She also knew that Alex didn't really have the energy to talk anyway, so she wouldn't bother making the effort to form words if she was content. This meant Kara didn't have to go through the anxiety of wondering if Alex was annoyed or mad at her or if she liked it, the way she had years ago when they were kids, and Kara had never seen sickness up close—let alone, on someone she loved. The blonde girl actually smiled a little, remembering the first time she saw Alex get sick, in 10th grade, what a nervous wreck she'd been in the beginning, and then how strange and wonderful it had felt when she finally figured out how to make Alex feel better.
It had started small, just like this time, with the sniffles; sixteen year old Alex had been cranky and snappish all day at school, and Kara was at a complete loss as to why. They had a pop quiz in AP Bio, and Alex had a ridiculous meltdown over the fact that she got an A-minus, berating herself all the way down the hall to their next class, almost to the point of tears. Kara tried to comfort her by reminding her that she could have gotten an F on this one little pop quiz without putting a dent in her perfect GPA; but Alex just snapped at her to shut up, realizing a second later that her best friend was no longer walking beside her, but had stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, her blue eyes slowly filling up with tears.
"Kara...shit, I'm sorry, please don't cry," Alex sighed, dropping her backpack defeatedly on the floor and trudging the few feet back to where Kara stood looking at her with hurt and worry and confusion warring in her teary eyes. "I didn't mean it, bluebird. I'm just in a bad mood, it's not your fault..." Alex wrapped her arms around her favorite girl and hugged her tight, the hallways empty now that the bell had rung for third period, and it was just the two of them standing alone.
"Lexie, what's wrong? I don't understand..." Kara shook her head in bewilderment, absolutely hating the tight feeling in her stomach of not being able to help Alex shake off her bad mood. It was a completely new feeling. Kara never had much trouble in the making-Alex-smile department.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm just cranky, Kara. Sometimes people are cranky. What, was everyone in a good mood all the time on Krypton? Did your advanced technology eradicate crankiness?" Alex was scowling again, rubbing her forehead; and Kara definitely knew now that this was not about her. But it had to be about something.
"This is sarcasm, right?" Kara joked weakly, trying one more time to get a smile out of her girl. Alex just rolled her eyes...then she turned her head and ducked her face into the crook of her elbow (even though she didn't need to protect Kara from her germs, it was just habit), pitching forward slightly with a shivery sneeze.
"Ohhh..." Kara sighed, finally realizing what was making her best friend so unaccountably irritable. "Bless you, Lex. You're just getting sick, that's why you're so grumpy. This is sick, right? Why don't we go to the nurse's office and get you some cold medicine?" The blonde girl was smiling sweetly again, rubbing Alex's back lightly, her blue eyes bright with relief as she put the pieces together.
"Jesus, Kara, it was one stupid sneeze. I'm not sick, okay? I just have a headache." Alex snuffled softly and wiped her nose on her sleeve. This time Kara was the one who rolled her eyes.
"Well, that's probably because your sinuses are all stuffed up," the blonde girl sighed gently, narrowing her eyes intently as she looked her best friend up and down. "And your throat is all red, and your lymph nodes are really swollen...don't you want to just take some medicine? It'll make you feel better, right?"
"How do you know what color my throat is?" Alex demanded, crossing her arms moodily over her chest. "Are you using your x-ray eyes on me?"
"Well...yeah," Kara shrugged, not thinking it was a big deal.
"Ugh, Kara, that's gross! I don't want you looking at my snot! Don't do that! Bad alien." Alex smacked her best friend lightly on the shoulder. It wouldn't have hurt her even if she was human, but Kara still gave her a very wounded look. Alex sighed and closed her eyes, cranky and exhausted and now feeling very guilty for putting that hurt look on her sweet blondie's face. "Okay, I'm sorry...I told you I was cranky..."
"It's okay, Lexie...I'm not mad at you, I just want you to feel better. Don't you want to feel better, too? Can't we just go to the nurse's office, please honey?" Kara reached out and tucked a loose lock of dark hair behind Alex's ear, giving her a hopeful, but slightly worried smile, still unsure why her best friend was stubbornly refusing the opportunity for basic medical support, and worried about pissing her off again.
Alex saw the anxiety in Kara's blue eyes, and silently reminded herself that this was the first time Kara had ever seen her get sick...it had been two and a half years since her favorite blonde alien and crashed, literally, into her life, but Alex was so healthy most of the time, she literally hadn't had a cold in all that time. In fact, Kara had never seen anyone get sick, not up close; Alex remembered her best friend specifically telling her that illness on Krypton had been eradicated centuries ago, while they were studying the immune system in 8th grade Biology. The dark-haired girl sighed deeply, suddenly feeling very guilty for her childishly cranky behavior.
"Okay, Kar, I'm sorry. I'm being a jerk. I just hate being sick. We can go to the nurse if it will make you feel better," Alex offered sheepishly, rubbing her forehead again.
"If it will make me feel better?" Kara teased gently, and Alex blushed shamefully and looked down at her feet. She really did hate being sick; it made her feel so vulnerable and defensive, she just wanted to shut everyone out and crawl into a cave, metaphorically speaking. But...there was a little part of her that didn't want to be that way with Kara. She still wanted to crawl into a cave, but now she kind of wanted Kara to crawl in with her.
"Yes, honey, making you feel better will definitely make me feel better," Kara grinned gently, sweeping her hand affectionately through Alex's shiny dark hair. "Come on, crankypuss. Nurse. March."
The Tylenol and decongestants the nurse gave her did seem to make Alex feel a bit better for the rest of the day; she stopped rubbing her forehead and she only sneezed a few times, though she barely touched her lunch and she still seemed spaced out and sleepy in their afternoon classes. Kara continued watching her like a hawk, though she kept her observations to herself, carefully trying to avoid pissing Alex off again with any form of nagging. But seeing her best friend in any kind of physical pain was very distressing to the blonde alien girl, and it gave her a small but persistent nervous stomachache that wouldn't seem to go away. After school, Kara offered to come over and help Alex rest and relax so she could get better; but Alex just wanted to go to sleep, promising she'd text her later when she woke up, just to check in.
But Alex didn't check in. And she didn't come to school the next day...and she didn't answer her phone. Rationally, Kara knew this was not an emergency; but the emotional scars she still carried of seeing her entire world die in front of her eyes was flaring up intensely and making it hard for the blonde girl to be entirely rational. She ditched class for the first time ever, sneaking out through the back entrance to the gym when her x-ray eyes confirmed that no one was there to see her, and discreetly zipping several hundred feet straight up into the sky, above the cloud cover, where she felt reasonably confident she was safely camouflaged for the less than two minute flight from school to Alex's house. She used her x-ray eyes one more time before she descended, making sure the coast was clear; then she floated down to Alex's bedroom window and gently slid it open to crawl inside.
There was Alex, apparently passed out asleep in the middle of her bed, though her laptop was open next to her showing her half-finished English essay on Walt Whitman. Kara carefully put the laptop aside on Alex's desk, kicked off her sneakers, and crawled into bed beside her best friend, lightly touching the back of her hand to Alex's forehead to feel how hot she was. Alex twitched a little, but didn't wake up. Figuring that what the dark haired girl didn't know couldn't annoy her, Kara used her x-ray eyes again, noting that all her symptoms from yesterday looked a lot worse—her throat was raw and red, her lymph nodes were all very tender and swollen, and her entire respiratory system was swimming in congestion.
"Poor Lexie...I'm here," Kara murmured very quietly, snuggling up closer to her favorite girl in the galaxy and slipping one hand lightly into her hair. Still asleep, Alex unconsciously cuddled up to Kara's warm, familiar body, wrapping one arm around her waist and burying her face in long blonde hair. Kara sighed in contentment, her nervous stomachache finally dissolving as she held Alex's feverish body in her arms. She knew it wasn't rational, but she felt safe, just keeping Alex safe. The blonde girl was completely content to just lie there while her best friend slept on top of her; when Alex twitched and whimpered with nightmares, Kara sang to her softly, which always seemed to settle her back down. When Alex coughed in her sleep, Kara rubbed her back.
Finally, after a couple of hours, Alex made a soft, disoriented mumbly sound and opened her eyes, rubbing them a little to make sure she wasn't hallucinating the warm, solid presence of her best friend in her bed. "Hey," Kara smiled gently, stroking Alex's sleep-mussed hair back from her face and kissing her forehead.
"Hey..." Alex croaked softly, too woozy to stop the broad smile that broke across her face as the reality of Kara's warm body underneath her sunk in. "What're you doing...?"
"Skipping school," Kara shrugged, with a completely unrepentant little smile. "You didn't answer your phone, you didn't come to school...I was worried about you."
"You're the sweetest girl in the entire universe...you know that, right?" Alex murmured sleepily, still smiling a little as she put her head back down against Kara's chest, unabashedly enjoying the physical comfort of Kara's affections, one hand running through her dark hair and the other resting warm and solid on her back.
"I just didn't want you to be alone...it was giving me a stomachache," Kara admitted sheepishly, kissing the top of Alex's head. "You're not mad I climbed in your window?"
"Not mad. So not mad," Alex mumbled, still not bothering to pick up her head now that she was snuggled so comfortably on top of her sweet, protective little alien. They laid there together in comfortable silence for a few minutes; then Kara started singing again, knowing Alex liked it because of the way her hands wrapped into the fabric of Kara's shirt, as if Kara had any intention of moving. That was how Alex's mom found them when she came in with a tray of tea, toast and medicine, nearly dropping the whole thing on the floor in shock for a moment.
"Hi Mrs. Grey," Kara smiled a little sheepishly.
"Kara, sweetheart, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Susan Grey half-laughed, half-scolded, having absolutely no idea what the proper parental response to this situation was. "What did you do, climb in the window?" Kara just smiled shyly, hating to lie but unable to tell the truth, she opted out of answering and decided to let the older woman just form her own conclusions. "Well, it's very sweet of you to come check in on Alex, but I can't just let you skip school..."
"Mom, please," Alex whimpered, finally lifting her head a little from Kara's chest to look up at her mother pitifully. Susan Grey sighed in resignation. On the one hand, she knew she ought to send Kara back to school, or at least call her foster mother to let her know where Kara was; but on the other hand, she had never seen her daughter looking so peaceful and content when she was sick in bed, ever. Alex was just like her father when she got sick, a moody, reclusive beast, always refusing any attempts at caregiving beyond basic nutritional sustenance. Yet here she was, curled up in the sweet blonde foster girl's arms and looking like she had no desire to move ever again. She couldn't bring herself to take away her daughter's only comfort...especially combined with the tearful begging that was so not Alex.
"If anyone comes looking...I did not know you were here, understood?" Mrs. Grey said as sternly as she could manage, trying to be an appropriate role model but having a hard time keeping the smile off her face.
"Yes. Absolutely. Thank you," Kara smiled hugely, one hand still running absently through Alex's sleep-mussed hair.
"Thanks Mom," Alex murmured, eyes closing again as she settled back down against Kara's chest.
"Hey, no, don't go back to sleep Lexie. You have tea and medicine and food here," Kara said gently, scratching her nails lightly over Alex's scalp to rouse her a little.
"I don't want it," Alex mumbled sleepily, which was no surprise to her mother, who was prepared for the same gentle-yet-stern argument they had had before, anytime Alex was sick, from the time she was a child.
"Tough beans, snifflebug," Kara smirked gently, sitting up in bed and pulling Alex up with her with surprising ease, Mrs. Grey thought, for such a slight, skinny girl. "Resistance is futile. Open your damn mouth and take your medicine."
"I liked you better when you were just a singing pillow," Alex grumbled, rubbing her sweaty forehead groggily; but she reached for the cold pills and the tea and swallowed them down without comment. Mrs. Grey was completely shocked; it always took her a minimum of ten to fifteen minutes of firm coaxing to get Alex to swallow anything when she was sick.
"Good girl. You get a gold star," Kara murmured playfully, kissing Alex lightly on the cheek.
"Dizzy...back down please," Alex murmured woozily with her eyes closed, dropping her head limply against the crook of Kara's neck. The blonde girl complied quietly, resuming her former position as a living pillow with Alex's head on her chest, one of Kara's hands running soothingly through her hair. They both looked so innocently content, so completely natural, curled up together like that...Susan Grey couldn't help thinking, not for the first time, that she and her husband really ought to make more of an effort to get to know Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers better; because some day they were going to be in-laws.
