Hey all! Thanks for all the great feedback, it really helps keep things moving. Here's another chap, including a special guest star that you might recognize towards the end. It's basically just more fluff. There will be plot again at some point soon, I promise! Kara and Alex are just very happy in Fluffytown at the moment. Enjoy.

…...

I'd Carry a Plane for You

Part 7: Christmas Interruptus

…...

Kara landed in the DEO hallway just in time to see the huge, scaly-faced alien prisoner break free from its shackles and pick up each of its two human guards with one hand, throwing them into the wall hard enough to knock them both out instantly. Sirens and red lights began to go off all around them as the DEO control room went into emergency containment mode. Kara flew at the enormous beastly alien as fast as she could, smashing its humongous body against the wall, and fighting as hard as she could to keep the thing from ripping her in half and escaping to the surface. That was when the tiny bluetooth chip embedded in her little gold-plated earring went off, and she tapped it once to answer, knowing exactly who it was.

"Where are you?" Alex demanded anxiously.

"Busy." Kara grunted, slamming the alien behind her against the wall as hard as she could; but it didn't loosen the creature's grip one bit.

"You promised me you'd be back in ten minutes, Kar."

"And I will be. Just...dealing with an escaped prisoner right now..." The creature flipped Kara over and slammed her to the ground; and just as quickly she flipped herself back up again, slamming the beast up into the ceiling.

"Kara, I am freaking out. My mom is picking us up at the Midvale train station in like five minutes. She knows we were both on the train because I texted her when we left National City. If I get off the train without you, what am I gonna tell her!? I think I'm having a stroke. Is this what a stroke feels like?" Alex's voice was high-strung and completely tweaked out, which was oddly humorous to Kara for a second when she thought about all the life-and-death situations they'd been in together, and how cool and in-command Alex had always been when facing gigantic terrifying aliens, bullets, knives—even when she was stabbed, she acted like it barely hurt, even though Kara knew it had to hurt. A lot. Alex kept her cool through everything.

"Lex, I've seen you take down a human-sized insect bare-handed. This will be easy, okay babe?"

"Oh, so body-tackling my mom is an option?" Alex asked sarcastically, still sounding more anxious than angry.

"I will be there before the train gets to the station, Alex, I promise. But now I gotta go!" Kara tapped her earpiece impatiently as the burly alien prisoner began to get the upper hand; when she couldn't release herself from the creature's strong grip, she just slammed them both down from the ceiling to the floor as hard as she could, so she landed on top of the enormous alien. Its grip finally went limp as it slumped into unconsciousness, and Kara stood up panting.

"Good job, Danvers, thanks for the last-minute assist," Director Henshaw clapped a hand to her shoulder as she stood up. "You all right?"

"Yeah...fine," Kara panted as she stood there for a moment getting her breath back. "He was a tough one..."

"Actually, it's a she."

"Really?" Kara raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Respect." Hank tried to suppress the little chuckle that the blonde girl's casual humor in freakish situations always seemed to bring out. "So, chief, not that this hasn't been fun, but can I go now? Alex is like five minutes away from an aneurism."

"Yes, yes, by all means. You've both earned a break. And Kara?"

"Yes sir?"

"Have a Merry Christmas."

Kara beamed at him and zipped away, shooting up into the sky the second she was above ground again. Though it had taken the train just over four hours to journey from National City to Midvale, Kara shot through the sky across state lines so fast, she touched down on the back of the caboose in only four minutes. She could actually see the Midvale Station about two miles down the tracks with her supervision, plenty of time for her to scoot in the back entrance, change back into her human clothes in the tiny rear bathroom, and find her way back to her seat with Alex before the train started to slow down as it pulled into the station.

"Hey," she smiled brightly, sitting down next to Alex and straightening her glasses as if she really had just gone to the bathroom and back in the last ten minutes.

"Fuck me hard, you are lucky you're so damn cute," Alex half-groaned, half-growled, grabbing Kara's arm in anxiety as if to keep her from leaving again. "Because right now that's the only thing keeping me from wanting to murder you."

"Lexie, breathe," Kara cooed gently, reaching up with one hand (the one not held in Alex's death-grip) to stroke her girlfriend's cheek, kissing her lightly. "I'm right here. We're fine. Everything is fine. We're just going home for Christmas like we always do. This is super-normal. I mean...just, just regular normal." Kara smiled sheepishly. Alex groaned and put her head down against Kara's neck, silently trying to pull herself together. Kara spent another minute just running her fingers through Alex's hair, holding her tight, knowing there was nothing else she could say that would calm the other girl down as much as simple skin-to-skin contact would.

Soon the train was slowing down, and the conductor announced Midvale Station. Alex raised her head and sighed deeply. "Better now?" Kara asked, still with one hand in Alex's hair.

"Better," Alex agreed sheepishly, as they both stood up to grab their suitcases. "But this isn't just like every year, Kara. This is the Christmas we're telling our parents we're together...and I really don't think my parents are ready for Supergirl on top of that. If they freak out they could blow your cover...and that's...that's..."

"Not going to happen," Kara said in a firmly upbeat voice, stopping halfway down the aisle to give Alex a thorough, heart-stopping kiss, the only weapon she had left to stop her girlfriend's panic attack. There were still several more people walking behind them towards the exit, and they would have complained if not for the highly satisfactory visual experience they were now being treated to.

"Okay..." Alex sighed as Kara released her, opening her dark eyes with a goofy, definitely not panicked grin.

"Okay?" Kara teased, raising one eyebrow.

"Come on babe, we're holding up the line," Alex blushed, suddenly realizing they were kind of making out in front of a whole bunch of strangers. Kara giggled happily, pleased with herself for stopping Alex's panic attack (which, granted, she had also caused) as they walked out onto the platform and saw Alex's mom waiting for them, waving cheerfully from beside her Volvo station wagon.

"Girls, it's so good to see you!" Mrs. Grey squealed excitedly, pulling both Alex and Kara into a two-armed hug. "You both look so wonderful," the older woman beamed as she pulled back, taking them both in. Then she frowned slightly. "But you're awfully pale, sweetheart, and I think you're getting a little too thin. Has the lab been working you very hard?" She asked Alex protectively.

"Yeah," Alex shrugged, used to lying to her parents about her career by now but still hating it. Her cover as an FBI agent extended to Midvale as well; but her parents thought her job in the FBI was in a forensics lab, analyzing evidence, not running around in the field risking her life every day.

"That's not why she's pale and skinny," Kara frowned, giving her girlfriend a very stern look, and completely ignoring the no-please-don't look she was getting in return. "She had the flu a couple of weeks ago and I could barely get her to eat anything. Pigging out on homemade goodness is our top priority for this vacation."

"Why, Kara? Why?" Alex whined, giving her girlfriend a very adolescent look of resentment.

"Because I love you, brat," Kara smirked, about to lean into Alex and kiss her, but then suddenly stopping herself, remembering that that was not the way they'd planned to let their parents know they were a couple now. But they'd better tell them quick because there was no way this hands-off act was something Kara could sustain for any period of time. Especially during Christmas.

"Well at least one of you has the good sense to be honest with me," Susan Grey tutted teasingly, patting Kara on the cheek. Kara smiled weakly, hating all the lies they had to tell just as much as Alex did, especially when Mrs. Grey thought she was so honest about everything. "Don't worry, Alex honey, I promise not to make a terrible fuss. As long as you eat and relax and don't take any work calls."

"Gee, is that all?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"Yep. It's official. Christmas is ruined," Kara grinned in childish delight, gleefully teasing her pouting girlfriend now as the reality of home and comfort and all their favorite holiday delights washed over her.

"And I'm the brat," Alex huffed, but she couldn't stop herself from smirking in return. Without thinking, the dark-haired girl leaned in and kissed the girl she loved, everything but Kara's loving smile falling away like dust. It was only a few seconds; but for those few seconds, the entire world was gone. Until the little squeak from Alex's mom brought them both crashing back into reality. "Oops," Alex mumbled blankly as she looked back at her mother's round eyes.

"Susan, Mrs. Grey, I'm so sorry, that wasn't how we meant to...it, it was supposed to be..." Kara immediately launched into stuttering and rambling, her cheeks blazing pink.

"Oh, girls! Finally! I'm so happy!" Mrs. Grey gushed and hugged them both again, perhaps a little too hard judging by the very slight, breathless yelp she drew from her daughter.

"Fi...finally?" Kara asked faintly, sure she couldn't possibly have heard that right.

"Kara, sweetheart, please. You've been acting like a married couple since the 7th grade. I thought there was no question you'd both figure it out some time in high school...but you didn't, and once you went to college...well, let's just say I was worried about how long I was going to have to wait for some grandchildren." Mrs. Grey had a very kind, unguarded face, and she beamed at the two of them so genuinely, there was no room for doubt.

"Ohhh...kay," Kara said slowly, her brain racing to catch up with her ears. "Well that's, I mean...yeah."

"I'm gonna black out the grandchildren reference in my memory record of this conversation because, hi? Twenty-four years old over here?" Alex gestured between herself and Kara. "Slow your roll, Mom. And...thanks." The dark-haired girl smiled sheepishly at her mother, who hugged her again and laughed.

"Please let us tell Dad and the Danvers ourselves, okay? Don't just blurt it out the second we walk in the door," Alex begged, knowing how absolutely terrible her mother was at keeping secrets.

"Please," Kara echoed, unconsciously wrapping her hand together with Alex's and squeezing gently. "We really wanted to tell everyone at once. We don't want anyone's feelings to be hurt."

"Of course, of course," Mrs. Grey beamed, waving them off as she hurried back excitedly to the car, obviously eager to get home so she could celebrate with her future in-laws properly. Kara and Alex grinned shyly at each other as they stowed their suitcases in the trunk.

"Well that didn't go as scripted," Kara giggled, feeling weirdly giddy.

"Nope," Alex agreed. "But now I can do this." She straightened up and took the blonde girl's face in both hands, giving her a very slow kiss as a light dusting of snow began to drift down over them from the sky. "Merry Christmas, bluebird." Mrs. Grey looked up at the rearview mirror and saw them kissing—not intentionally, of course, she was only checking to see if the trunk was closed—but once her eyes landed on the two girls looking so perfectly happy and in love, she couldn't look away. Finally, she thought again smugly.

On the short car ride from the train station to her childhood home, Kara's thoughts drifted back to what Alex's mom had said to her in the parking lot...the part about her and Alex acting like a married couple since the 7th grade. Had they really been that obvious? Kara thought back over her very first day of school, midway through their 7th grade year, with Alex by her side. The two of them had already had a week to get to know each other, while Kara's foster parents took care of all the faked paperwork she'd need to register at Midvale Junior High; during that short time, the two girls had already become more or less inseparable. Alex had introduced her to some of their classmates when Kara came to watch her soccer game one day, but other than that they'd spent most of their afternoons alone together, walking in the woods or just hanging out in one of their bedrooms while Kara ate her weight in ice cream (they were still trying to figure out the best way to keep the young alien nourished, with her lightning-fast metabolism). But Kara had always told herself at the time that this was simply because they couldn't speak freely in front of other people; and they had so much to tell each other, they just couldn't ever seem to stop. So once Kara finally walked through the doors of Midvale Junior High, that one week felt like a year to both of them. They sat together in every class, and then at lunch Alex could see the signs that the cafeteria was too loud for the newly-adapting alien girl; she kept wincing and flinching and closing her eyes as they made their way down the lunch line. So, without even stopping to ask if she wanted to go sit at Alex's regular table and meet more of her friends, Alex steered the blonde girl outside to the courtyard, where there were only a few students, and no walls to contain the echo of a hundred rowdy voices and clanging pots and pans.

"Ohh...thank you," Kara sighed gratefully, following Alex to an empty picnic table and sitting across from her with a contented smile.

"So, what do you think of earthling education so far?" The dark-haired girl asked as she took a bite of mac and cheese.

"I shouldn't say...I think you'll be insulted," the young alien shrugged sheepishly, looking down at her lunch tray.

"Well if you're going to say it's too easy, I'm right there with you," Alex sighed with a roll of her eyes. "By all means, speak freely. What says the delegation from Krypton on the intergalactic education supplementation?" Kara burst out laughing, which made Alex laugh, and for a moment they forgot their lunch and the rest of the school. But then Troy Anderson walked over to them. A week ago, Alex had herself convinced he was the most fascinating and crush-worthy person on the planet; but now she just wanted him to go away so she could keep talking to Kara about intergalactic anything.

"Uh, hey Alex," the tall blonde boy grinned, trying and failing to look aloof. "A bunch of us are going to Gooseneck Beach after school. Wanna come? It'll be cool."

"Oh, uhh...maybe another time, Troy," Alex barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes at him. "Have you met Kara yet? Today's her first day here. I think I'm just gonna hang with her after school, make sure she settles in okay."

"Uh, hey," the blonde boy nodded to Kara, blushing a little as he realized he'd completely ignored the blonde girl, which in turn had pissed off Alex. He furiously tried to backpedal. "Kara...nice to meet you. Do you wanna come to the beach after school with us?"

Kara looked over at Alex hopefully, excited about the idea of the ocean. She had not yet seen Earth's oceans. And meeting some more kids in her class was probably a good idea, though she didn't really feel like talking to anyone but Alex so far.

Alex could tell from the look on Kara's face that she wanted to go, so she gave the boy a shrug and a little half-smile. "We'll be there."

…...

Once they got to the beach, Alex was actually glad they'd come, as she had the chance to introduce Kara to everyone she'd planned for them to meet at lunch; before she'd realized that the blonde alien girl was going into massive sensory overload and could not handle the cafeteria for more than three minutes at a time. She felt a little bad for giving all her other friends the brush-off, and it was good that they were all here now, before they had a chance to go home and think that Alex had become a snob.

After Alex had introduced Kara to a couple of different groups of people, she walked over to where a big cooler of sodas was sitting by the edge of the sand, wondering offhandedly if this would be Kara's first time tasting a Coke, and what her reaction might be. She'd left Kara chatting with a few of her new classmates, obviously not needing to cling to Alex to interact with her other peers, which was good for both of them.

But before she'd even fished the sodas she wanted out of the cooler, Troy was walking up to her again, with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Alex, so, um...what's up with the foster kid? She seems kind of...weird." Alex followed his glance over to where Kara stood in the sand, no longer talking to anyone, just tilting her face up toward the sun, looking so peaceful and content as the ocean breeze lightly ruffled her blonde hair. Alex smiled just looking at her. Then she looked back up at Troy, who was chuckling cruelly, like Kara was some kind of freak who had just been let out of her cage for the first time.

"She's not weird. You're just an asshole," Alex spat at him furiously, and marched away. But she smiled again as soon as she got back to Kara, just taking in the blissed-out expression on the blonde girl's face. She was literally soaking up the sun; Alex already knew that that was the source of Kara's (and her cousin Superman's) powers on earth. "What do you think of the beach?" Alex asked her happily, cocking her head to one side with a grin.

"Alex, it's amaaaazing," Kara sighed, her eyes following the progress of the cawing seagulls above the water. "What are those flying things called?" she asked, pointing up.

"Birds?" Alex asked quizzically. "You didn't have birds?"

"Nope," Kara shrugged; then her expression grew wistful. "I could fly with them...but I'm not supposed to." Alex took her hand and squeezed it gently in commiseration. Then her dark eyes lit on a small bluebird sitting in its nest in one of the low trees at the edge of the sand. She smiled, wrapping her arms around Kara's middle and resting her chin on the blonde girl's shoulder from behind.

"See that one?" she murmured, knowing she didn't need to speak at full volume with her lips right next to Kara's ear.

"The blue one?" Kara asked, leaning back into Alex's arms happily.

"Mm-hmm. That's you."

"How come?" Kara asked, the smile clear in her voice even though Alex was standing behind her and couldn't see it.

"Because it matches your eyes...and, you know, it can fly and all." They both giggled for a minute. "You're my bluebird," Alex murmured.

"Okay," Kara sighed happily, content to stay right where she was, maybe forever...until she heard the sound of a horrible crash, and a woman's screams, and a baby crying. She gasped and jolted out of Alex's arms, horrified at the sound of someone in terrible pain and distress, close by.

"Kara, what's wrong?"

Alex hadn't heard it. But Kara couldn't worry about that right now, she couldn't stop to think about her stupid powers and keeping them hidden when someone could be dying. She turned and used her x-ray eyes to see through the woods that separated the beach from the road; and down the bend about a quarter mile was an overturned car, on fire, with a young mother and baby trapped inside. Without a word, Kara ran towards the road, not as fast as she could, but very fast. She could hear Alex calling for her but she couldn't slow down, couldn't stop to explain. She knew Alex would understand once it was over. She ran so fast, she was well out of eyeshot of Alex or any of their other classmates when she rounded the bend and saw the car, leaping fifteen feet up into the air in a graceful arc to land on the door, which was now the top side of the car, and wrenching it off with one hand. She pulled the mother out first, and then went back for the baby, not even attempting to mask her flying when she floated back up and out of the flaming car with the baby in her arms.

"Thank you," the young mother choked, gasping, clutching her baby as Kara handed him over. The young alien nodded in relief, a huge smile lighting up her face. Then she heard Alex screaming her name again. As she turned to look over at her best friend running towards her (and half their class about fifty feet behind her), Kara heard the very tiny, faint sound of the gas tank igniting.

"Run!" The blonde girl yelled at the young mother, pushing her sideways. Alex was still running towards her. She hadn't heard what Kara heard. She didn't know she was running towards an explosion. "Alex, no, go back!" Kara shrieked; but it was already too late. The car exploded behind her in an enormous fireball, flaming debris of all kinds flying around Kara, some of it hitting her and bouncing off inconsequentially. But the whole side door flew off and smacked straight into Alex. Kara was kneeling at her side in half a second, her elation of moments ago replaced with terror as she saw bright red blood spilling from a gash across Alex's arm.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," Kara sobbed, pulling off her jacket and pressing it against Alex's bleeding arm as hard as she dared.

"It's okay Kara...I'll be okay," Alex assured her, though her breathing was shallow and her voice was tight with pain.

"But you're bleeding..." the blonde girl whimpered tearfully, kneeling down lower as if she was about to scoop Alex up in her arms. "We have to get to a hospital..."

"Kara, stop! Right now! Don't you dare move!" Alex snarled, her terror at the thought of Kara exposing her powers coming out as anger as she barked out the order, praying the blonde girl would follow it. Lord knew, she didn't have to.

"But Alex..."

"No! Think, Kara! I just promised your cousin a week ago that I would keep your secret for the rest of my life," Alex shook her head, holding Kara's jacket tight against her bleeding arm. It hurt like hell, but she was pretty sure it wasn't too deep. "What do you think will happen to you if the whole world finds out who you are, right here, right now? Do you think they'll just let you stay here in Midvale, and go to public school, and live a normal life? Anyway, I made a promise to Superman, and I am not gonna break it now. Keep your feet on the ground, bluebird. Please. I'm not gonna die."

"Alex..." Kara whimpered tearfully, trembling with anxiety and regret and confusion, wanting so much to just scoop the brave girl up into her arms whether she liked it or not, and fly to the closest hospital as fast as possible. But she knew that Alex was right. "I'm sorry," she sniffled, trying not to cry, trying to be brave so Alex could cry, but failing miserably.

"It's okay Kara. It's okay," Alex repeated over and over, as Kara pulled her upright and held onto her protectively until the ambulance came.

By the time they reached the hospital, Kara had gone completely nonverbal, and was just lying curled up in a ball on Alex's uninjured side on the stretcher, hiding her face against Alex's neck with silent tears streaming down her face. While Alex's right arm was being fussed over by two doctors and a paramedic, her left arm was wrapped protectively over Kara, stubbornly refusing to let anyone try to separate them.

"What do we have here?" A third doctor asked as she approached them, youngish, with pale blonde hair and a much kinder and calmer face than any of the others so far. She actually made eye contact with Alex, and she smiled, and it didn't even look fake. Maybe they'd sent her to the ER from the pediatric unit or something, where people are actually supposed to be nice.

"Package deal," the paramedic shrugged, looking annoyed and harassed as he gestured to Kara and Alex. "The blonde one has a death grip. You might want a psych consult."

"The blonde one has a name," Alex snarled, narrowing her eyes angrily at the insensitive and overworked paramedic. "It's Kara. And she doesn't need a psych consult, she's not crazy, she's just traumatized. Both her parents died in an explosion, okay? Recently." Of course, Alex knew that technically it had been twenty four years since Krypton exploded...but Kara had been in hypersleep for all but the first and last ten minutes of that time, so to her it really had just happened last week. "She saw me get hurt and it scared her, that's all. She'll be okay, she just needs to stay with me. Just let her be." The kind doctor smiled at Alex again, amused by this spunky kid who was so protective of her friend, even while she had a laceration across her entire right forearm that had to hurt a lot. She wasn't even asking them to let Kara stay with her; she was telling them.

"Okay," the kind doctor nodded simply, looking up authoritatively at the other adults all working around them. "I don't think Kara's in anyone's way. We can work around her, people. Respect the tiny humans." Alex smiled even though the phrase tiny humans was a bit patronizing, they weren't toddlers or anything. But, it seemed like something she said out of habit, like that was what she called all her patients. Definitely a pediatric doctor.

"Thank you," Alex sighed gratefully, visibly relaxing on the stretcher as all her muscles went limp with relief.

"You can thank me by telling me your name," the doctor smiled hopefully, raising one eyebrow expectantly.

"Alex Grey."

"All right, Alex Grey, I'm Dr. Robbins. I'm going to have someone call your parents, but I don't want you to worry about anything. You have a nasty cut there but it just needs some stitches." A lot of stitches, she thought but didn't say. "No surgery, no hospital admittance. You'll be out of here in a couple of hours, does that sound good?" Alex nodded. "Now, can you tell me Kara's last name so I can call her guardians, too?"

"Danvers. Kara Danvers."

"Danvers..." Dr. Robbins said thoughtfully, cocking her head to one side. Then she leaned down and spoke directly to Kara, which none of the other doctors or nurses or EMTs had bothered to do. "Kara, sweetheart, is your foster mom Dr. Eliza Danvers?" Kara sniffled, and opened her teary blue eyes, actually looking back at the kind doctor and making eye contact. She nodded against Alex's shoulder, still unwilling or unable to speak.

"Well guess what, I know her. We wrote a paper together once. She's a very smart lady," Dr. Robbins smiled, and Kara nodded wordlessly again. "All right, we're getting all the parents and foster parents on the phone, so just sit tight girls. Alex, I'm going to give you a couple of shots to make your arm numb, then we'll get that cut stitched right up, okay?"

"Thank you Dr. Robbins," Alex sighed, feeling very relieved that this would all be over soon. They both heard the blonde girl's stomach rumbling loudly, though Kara still hadn't said a word. Alex snickered a little. It was reassuring to know that her little alien wasn't too traumatized to be hungry. She was always hungry. "Can she get something to eat? Like, a cheeseburger and a milkshake? She has a really fast metabolism, she gets low blood sugar."

"I'm sure we can rustle something up," Dr. Robbins agreed good-naturedly.

"...Thanks," Kara whispered, the first word she'd spoken since they'd gotten in the ambulance.

"Hey...there's my bluebird," Alex smiled, sifting her fingers gently through the blonde alien girl's long hair.

"Hey Lexie," Kara sniffed, relaxing her death grip now that she knew for sure no one was going to try to pull her off Alex's stretcher, and sitting up a little to look at her. "You're...you're okay?"

"Mm-hmm," Alex nodded, cupping Kara's face with her good hand and wiping away a few tears with her thumb. "We're both okay, Kar. We're okay."

Dr. Robbins smiled at both of them, with a little shake of her head. They were so sweet with each other, they were giving her a toothache. They were way too young to be this in love...she wondered if they even realized it.