Hey Supergang!

Thanks for all your continued enthusiasm, don't forget to review and give me your input! Only note for this chap is Alex's song—Songbird—by Fleetwood Mac (but of course I'm thinking of the Glee version, when Santana sings it to Brittany...maybe you wanna go watch?)

Enjoy! :)

…...

I'd Carry a Plane for You

Part 10: Powerless

…...

When Alex walked onto the bridge of the mid-sized Coast Guard ship, she found Kara curled up in the far corner of the room, huddled up under a rough grey search-and-rescue blanket with her head resting limply on her knees. Her eyes were closed, but Alex was pretty sure she wasn't sleeping. She was holding herself tightly under the blanket, arms wrapped around her knees; and if she were asleep, they'd probably relax and slump to one side or the other. Then she sniffled and rubbed her nose clumsily, and Alex knew for sure that she was awake.

"Hey," the dark-haired girl said gently, kneeling down on the floor next to her soaking wet, miserable looking girlfriend. Kara opened her blue eyes a crack, blinking a few times. Then she slowly raised her head.

"Hi," the blonde girl murmured back, sounding very disoriented, like a little kid who'd just been woken up in the middle of the night. "I blew out my batteries, Lex," she sighed softly. "And I..." Kara paused, and Alex waited patiently, assuming she'd just lost her train of thought since she seemed so spacey. But then, the blonde girl's eyes slid closed again as she took a sharp breath and sneezed, pitching forward into her blanket with a little shiver. Alex had never seen Kara sneeze before, not once in her life. "...I thindk I have a cold," she finished unnecessarily, wiping her runny nose on the back of her hand with a deep sniffle. "I don't like it."

"Aww, bluebird...c'mere, I got you," Alex hummed softly, wrapping her arms protectively around her damp, woozy girlfriend and holding her tight. Kara hid her face against Alex's neck, like she sometimes used to when they were growing up and the blonde alien girl would get PTSD flashbacks of her dead world. Alex put one hand on her back and the other against the back of her neck, just like she had back then, knowing it would make Kara feel better at least a little bit. They stayed huddled up like that for a quiet moment, holding onto each other very tightly.

"Can we go home now?" Kara asked croakily, finally loosening her hold on her girlfriend as she sat up rubbing one eye with the palm of her hand. She probably had a headache, Alex thought, and just didn't know how to express it.

"Kara..." Alex sighed, pressing her forehead lightly against her girlfriend's, their universal method of comforting each other. Kara's skin felt cold and clammy. Usually she felt warm to Alex, or to any human touch; her natural body temp ran a couple of degrees higher than a human's, linked up to her lighting metabolism. "You know we can't just go home, baby. We have to go to the DEO and get you under the sunlamps so you can get your juice back. Then you'll feel all super again."

"Noooo," Kara whined, dropping her head against Alex's neck again. "I don't feel good, Lexie. I want my bed. I don't want to lie on a hard plastic table in an alien lab. Take me home."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry sunshine..." the dark-haired girl cooed, tightening her protective hold on her girlfriend again as Kara burrowed into her, wishing more than anything that she could just give the blonde girl what she wanted. "I wish I could just take you home and cuddle you...but the DEO is the only safe place for you to be right now. You know that. It's the only place with doctors that even know your anatomy."

"I don't make you go to the doctor when you're sick," Kara grumbled petulantly, her voice a little muffled since her face was still pressed against Alex's neck.

"I know Kar, I know. It's not fair," Alex sighed, rubbing her fingers through her girlfriend's damp hair. "But this is different, and you know it. You've never been sick in your life. Pragmatically, you have no immune system. It's been, what, forty-five minutes since your powers blew? And you already caught a cold. You can't just go waltzing through the city, you'll catch every single germ in your path. Either we get you in the sunroom and get your solar charge on, or we put you in a plastic bubble."

"Would my bed be in the bubble?" Kara asked defeatedly. Then she felt the weird, inside-her-head tickle coming back, and she shifted just enough to cup her hands tightly over her face against Alex's shoulder. "Aah'tchxeww! ...*snfl*...ughhh, sorry," she sighed miserably, wiping her nose on the blanket now, beyond caring.

"Hush, you don't say you're sorry," Alex shook her head, rubbing Kara's back protectively. "I say bless you."

"Thandks," Kara mumbled meekly. She sniffled again, wiping her nose absently on the back of her hand. "Ughh...my nose is leaking," she complained, and Alex couldn't help smiling a little. She was still worried as hell, but that didn't change the fact that Kara was adorable.

"You mean running, Kar. Not leaking," the dark-haired girl corrected gently. "Your nose is running."

"Running...right...I knew that," Kara nodded with a soft yawn.

"So can we get on the helicopter now, babe?" Alex asked gently.

"Yeah...I guess so," the blonde girl sighed grumpily. "Anywhere's better than here."

…...

Back in the DEO med lab, Kara's progress through the full-body scan was halted for the fifth time in a row when she started coughing and rolled over onto her side, causing the scan to stop halfway through. Alex reset the machine and returned protectively to her girlfriend's side, offering her a cold bottle of water.

"I'm sorryyyy," the blonde girl whined, exhausted and embarrassed as she sat up unsteadily on the table and gulped the water. She was so thirsty. "I can't make it stop..."

"It's not your fault, Kara. You're sick and stuffed up, these are involuntary reflexes. Please stop apologizing," the dark-haired girl sighed, wrapping both arms protectively around her girlfriend as the blonde girl dropped her head onto Alex's shoulder miserably, her legs dangling over the side of the lab table. She'd changed out of her soaking wet Supergirl uniform and into a pair of standard-issue DEO training fatigues, a black t-shirt and matching black sweatpants. No government or military seals or branding anywhere; they were the very definition of black ops here. Her skin didn't feel chilled against Alex's anymore...now it was hot, hotter than it should be. Her poor little alien had a fever.

"Then can we just...stop the tests? Just for a while? I'm so tired, Alex...and lying flat on my back just makes everything feel worse," Kara complained, with a croaky cough against her girlfriend's shoulder. "Sorry...I mean, not sorry," she corrected herself woozily, trying to follow Alex's instructions to stop apologizing every time she coughed or sneezed. It was just so humiliating, the way her body kept doing things without permission; she felt guilty for holding up the tests, but she just couldn't help it. Alex held onto her tightly, rubbing her back, and looked up over Kara's shoulder through the window to the control room, where Hank and the med team were sitting in front of the computers where the test readouts would appear. If they could get Kara to lie still on her back for a full sixty seconds without moving.

"Can we just let her rest for a while?" Alex begged her superiors through the window. The lab room was hermetically sealed, but a two-way mic allowed them to talk to each other through the glass. "We already know what our next move is, can't we just do it? You already have her blood and vitals, can't you just start with those?" Seeing Kara so miserable was painful for Alex. The blonde girl never complained like this; she was usually so stoic. And there was no guidebook for how to take care of a sick alien.

They couldn't put her under the sunlamps now because of the fever; it was too big a gamble, they had no idea what would happen, and Alex wasn't about to risk frying her girlfriend's brain before her powers came back. Plan B was a super-concentrated Vitamin D drip, which was the closest approximation to sunlight they could get without actually applying heat to Kara's body; plus broad-spectrum antibiotics, and Tylenol with Vicodin to calm the cough and fever. All adjusted to her rapid Kryptonian metabolic rate, of course—that hadn't changed just because she'd blown her powers. There were enough meds going into the IV cocktail they were mixing to kill an elephant.

"Kara, I know this isn't fun," Dr. Schwartzman said through the mic, her voice very calm and pacifying. She was the lead researcher on the nonhuman med team, and had a surprisingly gentle bedside manner for a doctor whose primary work was lab-based. She had always treated Kara like a person, not a lab rat. "But we need these scans to help you. We can't assume the Vitamin D drip will work the same as a real solar charge, and if we don't have a backup plan ready, you could go into septic shock or respiratory failure before we have a chance to find another way."

"I can't do this anymore," the blonde girl whimpered, beyond embarrassment now as she started to cry on Alex's shoulder. She no longer cared about the team of scientists on the other side of the glass, watching her whine and sob like a little kid. "Lexie, please..." She clung to her girlfriend, who held onto her protectively. Alex looked back at the doctors, making eye contact specifically with Dr. Schwartzman, since the final decision was hers to make.

"Just give her an hour, okay? One hour," Alex begged. "Let me put her to bed and start her on the IV, and once she's asleep you could send a brass band through her room and she won't wake up. I'll bring her back in for the scans while she's sleeping. You won't be bothered if I move you while you're sleeping, will you babe?" Alex asked her girlfriend gently.

"Ndoe," Kara sniffled meekly without picking her head up from Alex's shoulder. The dark-haired girl looked back hopefully at the team on the other side of the glass, her eyes pleading. Hank was the first one to break. He couldn't stand to see that desperation in Alex's eyes and not do anything about it. And seeing Kara, Supergirl, crying in pain and exhaustion wasn't helping either.

"Liz?" He addressed Dr. Schwartzman informally. They'd been on a first-name basis for years. The sharp-eyed doctor sighed reluctantly, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes.

"One hour," she agreed, nodding to her med team. "Get that IV down to the med bay, and we'll get a head start on the bloodwork."

"Thank you," Alex sighed, smiling in relief. Kara tried to say thank you, too, but she just coughed on Alex's shoulder again.

"Can I have more water?" the sleepy blonde girl asked hoarsely as drew in a slow, steadying breath. She sat up a little straighter and rubbed her eyes, detaching herself from her girlfriend's body now as two of the medics wheeled in a rolling gurney to take her out of the lab, finally, and down to the med bay, where she would at least have a real bed with pillows and blankets, even if they weren't her own.

"Of course, baby," Alex smiled encouragingly, handing the water bottle back to her girlfriend, who gulped it down like she hadn't had a drink in days.

"Thanks," Kara murmured, turning her head away from Alex and cupping a hand to her face to cover a stuffy sneeze.

"Bless you," Alex gave her girlfriend a sympathetic little half-smile as she passed her the box of tissues from beside the computer console. Kara grumbled as she snatched one and wiped her nose, sniffling sharply.

"I really...don't...like this..." Kara hitched softly, fighting to keep her eyes open as her lungs took in a deep, involuntary breath. "Hht'chhxiew!" Her whole body shuddered as she pitched forward on the lab table and sneezed into her lap, pushing her nose into the tissue as hard as she could. It didn't stop the sneeze from tumbling out of her head, but it felt better that way. Plus, she didn't want to infect the entire DEO with her gross alien germs. What if she made the normal human cold germs come out all mutated and freaky, and started an accidental epidemic?

"Bless you honey," Alex said again gently, kissing Kara's feverish forehead while the blonde girl wiped her nose again. "I know you feel so awful right now...but you're gonna be okay, Kar. I promise. Now c'mere..." the dark-haired girl scooped her girlfriend into her arms, picking her up off the cold, hard lab table and depositing her gently on the waiting gurney. Kara curled up on her side, which was a much more comfortable position than being flat on her back, with her breathing so stuffed up. She sighed softly and closed her eyes.

Alex rested one hand protectively on her girlfriend's back, walking slowly beside the gurney as Kara was wheeled down to the med bay, where the one private isolation room had been set up for her, with the IV pole ready and waiting beside the bed. Dr. Schwartzman walked in, snapping on a pair of sterile latex gloves. Kara looked over warily at the IV needle, her face going slightly green. She'd been more than a little embarrassed about how she'd reacted when they'd first drawn her blood for testing an hour ago; she'd never been stuck with a needle before, and she'd practically jumped off the table, then for a minute she was very, very dizzy, and Alex thought she was going to faint. Kara whined softly. She really didn't want that to happen again.

"Don't look at the needle, just look at me," Alex said gently, as she scooped the blonde girl up again and transferred her from the gurney onto the hospital bed. It might not be her bed, but it was a bed, and Kara cuddled up to the pillow gratefully, burrowing into it as if she could escape through it back into a world that made sense.

"Lexie, no, I don't want the IV," Kara begged, far beyond the point of embarrassment as her eyes welled up with tears again. "Just let me sleep, I'll be okay...I just need to sleep for a while..." The doctor was on the verge of opening her mouth to tell Kara once again that her treatment plan wasn't optional; but Alex looked up at her sharply, and Dr. Schwartzman closed her mouth, willing to let their top agent take the lead if she thought she could convince Supergirl to cooperate and stop arguing. It wasn't as if Kara had the ability to physically stop them now; but the idea of tying her down to stick a needle in her arm wasn't anyone's first choice.

"Shh, you're okay bluebird...you're okay, I've got you," Alex hummed gently, tucking Kara under the covers and climbing in next to her, stroking her hair protectively. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, Kara. You know that. But you have to let us take care of you...just like you always take care of me when I need it, even when I'm a grumpy little fuck." Kara laughed softly, but it turned into a cough almost instantly. Alex rubbed her back. "You're gonna feel better after we get these meds in you, okay? I promise." Alex stroked a few tears from Kara's cheek.

"Okay..." The blonde alien girl sighed miserably, looking only at Alex as she held out her arm for Dr. Schwartzman. "Will you please...distract me?" She begged. The dark-haired girl smiled gently and locked her eyes with the teary blue ones next to her, keeping one hand lightly on the side of her girlfriend's flushed face as she started to sing softly.

"For you, there'll be no more crying...for you, the sun will be shining...and I feel that when I'm with you, it's alright...I know it's right..." Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Dr. Schwartzman gently inserting the needle into the crook of Kara's elbow, and taping it down; Kara barely flinched, her attention focused solely on Alex's adoring voice. Alex didn't see any reason to stop singing.

"And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score...and I love you, I love you, I love you,
like never before..." Kara kept her attention focused on Alex for as long as she could; but once the heavy doses of drugs entered her bloodstream, it wasn't long before her exhausted blue eyes swam out of focus, and she cuddled up closer to her girlfriend's protective body, falling asleep within minutes.

…...

Once Kara was out, Alex's predictions were proved right; being moved back into the lab and put on the hard plastic table didn't wake her up, making the scans quick and easy. Within five minutes, the DEO medics had enough scans to draft a Kryptonian Illness for Dummies guidebook. They sent Kara back to her room in the med bay, and she stayed asleep for almost twelve hours straight, Alex by her side the whole time. When she woke up, it was morning, and she sat bolt upright in bed with a squeaky gasp of shock, like she'd just had a glass of cold water thrown in her face.

"Ms. Grant!" she exclaimed anxiously, wincing when the movement pulled slightly on the IV needle taped into the crook of her arm.

"No, I'm Alex," the dark-haired girl joked gently, sitting up beside her woozy, disoriented girlfriend and putting one steadying hand on her back. "How are you feeling today, sunshine?" Alex put aside the iPad she'd been looking at while Kara slept, reviewing the status of the med team's research findings over the last twelve hours. So far it was a whole lot of theories and not much more. On the plus side, Kara had gotten a good night's sleep, her vitals were stable, and her temp hadn't gone up much during the night. She wasn't getting better yet, but she also wasn't getting any worse. It was possible that the Vitamin D drip and the antibiotics were working.

"No...I have to call Ms. Grant," Kara shook her head, dropping back limply against the bed next to Alex and leaning her head against her girlfriend's arm. "It's Monday...I'm s'posed to be at work...what time is it?" Kara started to cough, and Alex rubbed her back, handing her a glass of water from the bedside table.

"It's only six forty-five, Kar. Shh, you've got plenty of time to call in. First answer my question. How are you feeling?" Alex pressed, smoothing stray locks of sleep-mussed blonde hair back from her girlfriend's pale face.

"Like someone poured glue in my head, punched me in the face, and scrubbed out the inside of my chest with a wire brush," Kara answered honestly, rubbing her sweaty forehead. "And...is it possible to feel hot and cold at the same time? My body feels...confused."

"Those are fever chills, honey. It'll pass," Alex assured her, smiling a little at the sweetly childlike ways the blonde alien girl tried to express the physical sensations of sickness she had never experienced before. "D'you want to eat a little, hmm bluebird? You've been asleep a long time. You must be hungry."

"I am...I think," Kara said slowly, frowning inscrutably. "But I can't think of anything I want to eat...is that...totally insane?" Alex handed her a tissue before she sneezed, hearing the tickle in her cute, sick little alien's voice as she stubbornly fought to finish her sentence. "Hhuh...hh'chxshh!" She rubbed her runny nose in the tissue with one hand, scared to move her arm with the IV in it.

"Bless you." Alex kissed her forehead. Kara made a miserable, whiny sound and pressed her face against Alex's arm again. "And no, it's not insane. Not when you're sick. Why do you think it's so hard for you to get me to eat when I have a fever? If I have to eat when I'm sick then you do, too. C'mon, anything you want baby. Anything." Alex smiled with such sincerity, Kara couldn't help smiling back, despite how awful she felt.

"Chocolate chip pancakes? With extra syrup?" The blonde girl asked hopefully.

"Your wish is my command," Alex winked, and Kara smiled weakly again. Then she coughed, and winced, pressing a hand against her collarbone.

"Ow. Fuck."

"I'll bring you some hot tea while you're waiting for your pancakes, okay baby?" Alex hummed, stroking her hair again.

"No. You stay. Other people can make tea," Kara whined softly, burrowing into Alex's side again.

"Okay," Alex agreed easily, desperate to give Kara whatever she wanted right now, whatever might possibly make her feel even a little bit better.

"And give me my phone...I have to call Ms. Grant. ...She can't fire me for being sick, right? I have lots of vacation days stored up. I never use them."

"She's not going to fire you, Kara. News flash, your boss adores you. Plus you just saved her kid's life."

"Are you high? Ms. Grant tolerates me. And it wasn't Kara Danvers who saved Carter. That was Supergirl," Kara shook her head weakly, wiping her nose on a fresh tissue absently.

"It was both," Alex disagreed sternly.

"I'm too tired to argue..." Kara sighed. "Just hand me my phone." Alex did, and Kara hit the first button on her speed-dial with dread in the pit of her stomach. When she'd called out of work because Alex was sick, she had felt absolutely no guilt and no hesitation. But now, she felt weak and ashamed and guilty, and if Ms. Grant got mad at her, there was a very real chance that she might just start crying. Rule number one at CatCo was no crying. She closed her eyes and huddled up more snugly against Alex in the narrow hospital bed, and Alex hugged her close, sensing her girlfriend's feverish anxiety.

"Kira! Good morning," Ms. Grant said almost cheerfully when she picked up the phone, which Kara actually found slightly disorienting. "Carter just left for school, it's too bad you missed him. I'm sure he would've liked to say hello."

"Oh...that's so nice," Kara sighed, momentarily losing her train of thought as she remembered the previous three days and how much fun they'd had playing at family life with the sweet, smart, energetic little boy. "I really liked him, you know. He's...what's that expression...? He's a good egg," Kara smiled sleepily. Alex chuckled a little, listening to Kara's end of the conversation. Hopefully Ms. Grant was smart enough to realize that Kara was loopy because she was sick, not drunk at 7am. But then the distinction was made perfectly clear when Kara gave a raspy, wheezing cough, the kind of cough that could not possibly be mistaken for a "no reason" cough, or a "someone on the sidewalk just blew cigarette smoke in my face" cough. It was, unmistakably, a sick cough.

"Goodness, Kira, are you all right? You sound sick. Are you sick?" Ms. Grant demanded, sounding more worried than angry; but Kara was pretty sure she must be imagining that protective tone of voice.

"Uhhh...yeah," the blonde girl sighed shamefully, closing her eyes and cuddling up tighter against Alex for comfort and reassurance. "I know you're mad, but don't be mad, 'kay? I tried to get up, I really really tried. But Alex won't let me. Please don't fire me," Kara begged, with another cough against Alex's chest, that was immediately followed by a weak, congested sneeze.

"Bless you," Alex and Ms. Grant both said at the same time, though neither of them could hear the other. Kara smiled a little shyly as she wiped her nose.

"Kira, I'm not going to fire you," Ms. Grant sighed, in a much gentler voice than Kara had ever heard her use before. "It's not your fault if you're sick. Rest up and listen to Alex, all right? She's a very smart girl."

"But...you hate when people get sick," Kara sniffled, confused and disoriented by Ms. Grant's uncharacteristic response to her assistant failing to perform her duties. She didn't sound annoyed at all. She didn't even sound like she was silently rolling her eyes.

"No, I hate when people bring sickness into my office," Ms. Grant corrected soothingly. She was still speaking to Kara in an almost loving tone, reassuring and even a little protective. Kara was beginning to wonder if she was hallucinating. "But you had the good sense to stay home where you belong. So just stay put and don't worry about anything but resting and getting better, all right sweetheart?" Kara smiled sleepily, unaware of the wide-eyed look of horror on her boss's face at the other end of the call when the older woman realized she'd just accidentally addressed her assistant so lovingly, almost like a daughter. That had not been intentional.

"Oh...okay..." Kara yawned, with a soft little sniffle as she wiped her nose on her wrist. Alex passed her a fresh tissue. "Why're you being so nice to me...?"

"Because you deserve it," Ms. Grant said simply. "Now can I please speak to Alex? She's there with you, I take it?"

"Uh-huh," Kara yawned, holding the phone out to her girlfriend. "She wandts to talk to you. *Snf.*"

"Why?" Alex asked, looking slightly alarmed. Kara just shrugged and pushed the phone into her hand, too tired to speculate.

"Umm...hello Ms. Grant," Alex said a little nervously. "What can I do for you?"

"You can take damn good care of that girl, that's what you can do," Ms. Grant said brusquely, surprising Alex as much as she had surprised Kara a moment ago. "She's worked for me for over two years, and she's never been sick once. I doubt she knows the first thing about how to take care of herself in this state. You have to make sure she's hydrated and medicated and resting properly. Can I trust you to do that, Agent Grey?"

"Of course," Alex assured the older woman, flabbergasted at this new side of Cat Grant. Apparently behind the claws, was a bit of a mother lion. "I'm already doing all those things, Ms. Grant. I promise you. Kara couldn't be in better hands." Alex didn't add that those hands included an entire secret intergalactic paramilitary operation with state-of-the-art alien med tech.

"Well, good. And if she starts to talk about work, you need to distract her. I don't want her stressing out over my bullpen right now. She needs rest."

"Yes ma'am," Alex nodded, with a stunned little smile. "We're completely on the same page. Please don't worry. I'm not taking my eyes off her."

"See that you don't," Ms. Grant said brusquely. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a conference call with London and Berlin to prep for." The line went dead before Alex even had a chance to say goodbye, and she put the phone aside with a stunned, thoughtful look on her face.

"What did she say?" Kara asked curiously, taking another tissue from the box Alex had deposited in her lap, and pushing it firmly up against her runny nose, completely distracted from her train of thought as her breath rose and fell teasingly a few times. "Ughh...s-stop it," the blonde girl whined softly behind her tissue, and Alex got the distinct impression that Kara was talking directly to her body, losing patience with all these new unpleasant things it was doing to her, none of which she could control. "Hhhuh...*snfl*...hhtiiishew!"

"Aww, my poor little bluebird...bless you, baby," Alex cooed, stroking Kara's hair as the blonde girl pulled several more tissues from the box and made a brave attempt at blowing her nose, an awkward and uncomfortable skill she had not totally mastered overnight.

"Fuck this," Kara grumbled moodily, rolling carefully onto her side to avoid jostling her IV, and rubbing her nose into Alex's arm instead. It felt a lot better than tissues. Alex chuckled a little.

"God dammit, how do you make everything cute? You're wiping your snotty nose on my sleeve, and you're still cute," the dark-haired girl shook her head, grinning affectionately. "And I'm not the only one who thinks so—Ms. Grant just basically yelled at me to make sure I'm taking care of you properly. I told you, your boss adores you. And who could blame her?" Alex leaned down and kissed Kara's forehead, stroking her long hair absently.

"...Do I still get chocolate chip pancakes?" the blonde girl asked sheepishly.

…...

The two girls were halfway through an episode of Homeland on Alex's laptop, cuddled up on Kara's narrow hospital bed with the blonde alien basically using her girlfriend as a human-sized teddy bear. Not that Alex was complaining; the closer she was to Kara right now, the calmer she felt. She had one hand resting in Kara's hair at the back of her neck when the door to the med bay opened, and Hank walked in carrying what looked like a breakfast tray.

"Pancakes?" Kara murmured hopefully, raising her head slightly from Alex's chest.

"Pancakes," Hank confirmed with a small smile, putting the tray on the bedside table. There were two plates of chocolate chip pancakes, one steaming mug of tea and one tall glass of milk. Next to the milk, there was also a small paper cup full of pills. Alex frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"Are those supposed to be for me?" She asked in confusion, pointing.

"Not much gets past my top agent," Hank smiled a little wider, teasing. Alex barely restrained herself from sticking her tongue out at him.

"Why do I have to take meds? I'm not sick," the dark-haired agent complained indignantly.

"Well considering the fact that you're a top-ranking DEO agent and you have a PhD in Bioengineering, Agent Grey...why don't you tell me?" Hank asked conversationally, pulling up a chair beside the bed. Alex rolled her eyes. Kara grinned sleepily. She was enjoying this...just a little.

"Standard-issue immune-enhancers to be used in the event of any exposure to biohazards," Alex sighed in a slightly adolescent voice, like she was reciting something from a textbook. "My girlfriend is not a biohazard!"

"Probably not," Hank agreed, patting her arm. "But we don't take chances like that around here. You know you'd say the same thing to any other agent in the same situation."

"Just shut up and take the pills, Lex," Kara yawned, having said these words to Alex enough in the past to know that she would listen. "I've had a needle stuck in my arm all night. You just have to swallow some pills. Wanna trade?"

"You're right, I'm sorry babe," Alex murmured apologetically, stroking her thumb across Kara's cheek and leaning down to kiss her lightly on the lips. Kara smiled; then she closed her eyes with a little whimpery sigh and cupped a hand to her face, still holding a crumpled tissue absentmindedly.

"Hhh'tcxshh!" Her head ducked down against Alex's chest when she sneezed, and Alex rubbed her back consolingly.

"Bless you," the dark-haired girl murmured, kissing the top of her head. Hank handed her a few more tissues from beside the bed.

"Thag you," Kara sighed wearily, making another diligent attempt to blow her nose properly. "But I thought...*snf*...you're not supposed to kiss someone who's sick? Aren't you gonna catch my germs now?" Kara looked suddenly anxious and guilty. This had never come up before, because Kara had never had to worry about catching germs from Alex when she was sick. Germs were irrelevant to Kara. Usually.

"You wiped your nose on my sleeve," Alex pointed at her arm, grinning indulgently at her sweet little alien who was still so protective of her, even now, even like this. "I think that ship has sailed. Plus, I'm about to take a small pharmacy's worth of military-grade immune enhancers. I just wanted to make it worthwhile, is all." Kara giggled a little, and coughed, and Hank handed her the steaming cup of tea from the tray. Alex raised one eyebrow approvingly at her commanding officer, doting over Kara like she was his own kid. He'd always treated Alex the same way. It wasn't as if it was the Director-in-Chief's job to deliver breakfast trays to the med bay. He was here because he wanted to be.

"All right, stop being cute and eat. Both of you." Hank passed them each a plate of pancakes, and neither one of them argued. Kara was eating very slowly, but she was eating. Alex practically inhaled hers, having completely ignored her own body's needs since she'd brought Kara back to the DEO the night before.

"Pills," Henshaw reminded her gruffly, nodding to the little paper cup still sitting beside her plate. Alex rolled her eyes and tossed back the whole mouthful of pills at once, gulping down her milk to wash them down.

"There, do I get my gold star now?" She asked sarcastically, but with a smile.

"How about a special commendation for biggest brat in a secret underground government agency?" Hank asked, trying and failing to keep his tone of voice flat and serious. Kara just listened to them banter, keeping her entertained as she valiantly worked on forcing food into her body. This was another new and very unpleasant experience; Kara had never not wanted to eat. Not like this. Eating chocolate chip pancakes and not even enjoying it was very depressing. But watching her girlfriend and their boss tease each other like father and daughter made an excellent distraction.

Then, suddenly, the room started to shake. No, not the room—everything. An earthquake. Kara barely had time to process what was happening before everything went dark, as Hank threw himself onto the bed on top of them, protecting them from falling debris with his own body. It didn't last long, maybe twenty seconds; but twenty seconds feels like a long time when the entire world is literally falling and shaking. Kara and Alex both felt a heavy blow on Hank's back above them, and they were scared he'd just had his spine pulverized; but when the shaking finally stopped, he jumped straight back up on his feet like he'd just done a few push-ups or something.

"Grey? Danvers? Are you both all right?"

"Yeah," they both said at the same time, sitting straight up in the raised hospital bed to look around the damaged room. There were two very large hunks of rock on either side of the bed that looked like they'd fit together to make one big rock...one big rock that fell on Hank and somehow, instead of breaking him in half, he broke it in half?

"Sir?" Alex said uncertainly. But before she could even voice her question, the red containment alarm went off, meaning one or more alien prisoners had escaped from their hi-tech cells. Thick blast doors sealed off every exit from the DEO to the fresh air and sunlight above. They were locked in. "Oh, this is fun," Alex muttered to herself.

"Everyone into the control room, now," Henshaw barked, shifting instantly back from father-figure mode to DEO Director mode. Alex hopped off the bed immediately, and Kara went to follow her; but the IV was tugging on her arm. The blonde girl reached unflinchingly to pull the needle out of her skin so she could follow Alex; but Alex stopped her.

"No. Don't do that, Kar. You need that."

"Not as much as I need to not be eaten by an escaped Fort Rozz prisoner!" Kara exclaimed indignantly. "Besides...I can help..." She rubbed her forehead briskly, trying to shake off the woozy haze she'd been in since the day before and sharpen her focus.

"You can help by staying alive," Alex said in a quiet, but very fierce tone, as she unhooked the IV pole from the side of the hospital bed, four little wheels popping out as it was released from the bedframe. The IV pole was mobile; Kara could walk with it.

"Fine," Kara sighed, still lacking the energy to argue. She held onto her IV pole with one hand and followed Alex to the control room, Hank bringing up the rear behind them with his weapon drawn. Once they were all in the control room, Hank and Alex went straight into disaster mode, Alex checking that all of their people were accounted for while Hank went through the prison roster status logs to see which ones had blown out in the quake. Kara felt useless, worried, and as much as she hated to admit it, sick and weak and desperate to be lying down in her crappy hospital bed again. She sat down against the wall and tucked her knees up to her chest. She started to cough, which drew Alex's attention back to her.

"Are you okay baby?" the dark-haired girl asked anxiously, knowing how little she could do about it if the answer was no.

"Yeah...I think so," Kara sighed, rubbing her forehead again. "This is real, right? ...I'm not having bad dreams?"

"This is real," Alex sighed, stroking Kara's blonde hair back from her face. "We've got two escaped prisoners, But the blast doors closed in time. We're sending out alpha and beta teams for capture and containment. You just stay put, Kar. Stay right here. I won't let anything happen to you." Kara's blue eyes welled up with angry tears.

"How can I just sit here?" She exclaimed desperately, looking around them at all the other agents charging into action, verifying backup power systems, communications, ammo.

"Kara, there is nothing you can do," Alex said fiercely, almost snarling at the girl she loved best. "I'm begging you, bluebird. I'm begging you. Stay here, stay safe. If you get yourself killed, I'll find a way to bring you back to life just so I can kill you again."

"Okay...okay," Kara gave in and agreed submissively for once, knowing Alex was right. "But that goes for you too, y'know. No getting killed." Alex smiled a little sadly and kissed her.

"See you soon."

With the help of their backup generators, the control room techs were able to maintain audio contact with both alpha and beta squads; Hank's team, alpha squad, was going after a ruthlessly sadistic telepathic alien king named Gem, while Alex's beta squad went after Vartox, their guns loaded with kryptonite darts. Kara knew Alex could handle herself, but she was still going a little stir-crazy not being able to help, hearing what was happening so close by but being powerless to do anything about it. She sat in silence against the wall as the rest of the control room operatives went about their business, wishing more than anything that her stupid fever would go away so she could go under the stupid solar panels and get her stupid powers back, now.

It felt like a long time later (but it probably wasn't that long; Kara's sense of time was rather fuzzy at the moment) when Alex was kneeling down in front of her again, pulling off her combat helmet with a reassuring smile, though she was panting like she'd just run a marathon.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Alex asked gently, pressing the back of her hand against Kara's forehead to feel her temp.

"I should be asking you that," Kara said, leaning forward into Alex's arms and holding onto her as tightly as she could.

"We got Vartox, we're okay," Alex assured her, hugging her close.

"What about Hank's team?"

That was when they both heard screams of agony over the audio link to the alpha team, and one of the receivers went dead. Vasquez was yelling the alpha agents' names over and over through the comm link, but no one was responding. "What about Hank?" Kara asked again.

"We're going to get him," Alex said stonily, standing up and holstering her gun. "Vasquez, what do we have left in the armory?"

"Right here? Three grenades, a bazooka, and two uzi's," the communications officer listed. "But, ma'am...with Director Henshaw unaccounted for, you're the ranking officer in the room. If we lose you too..."

"You're not losing me. We're not losing Henshaw. We're not losing anyone today," Alex said in a very authoritative voice, looking around at all the agents who were now under her command. "Gamma team, grab everything but the bazooka. We're getting Henshaw back, and we're putting that sadistic psychic psycho back in his fishbowl. Let's go." The team followed Alex's orders unquestioningly. Kara's heart was pounding fast and she started to shake; not from her fever, but from the rising tide of terror that she was about to lose the person that mattered most in the whole universe, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

"Don't die, Lexie," She choked out as her girlfriend knelt back down beside her on the floor, hugging each other one more time. "Please, please..."

"I'm right here, bluebird," Alex murmured steadily, holding Kara's face with both hands. "Just hang tight a little longer, I promise it's gonna be okay Kar. I promise you." Alex leaned in and kissed her, and before Kara even had a chance to react, Alex was up and gone with the gamma team at her back. Kara closed her eyes, trying not to listen to the sounds coming from the comm link...there was screaming, gunfire...then after a few minutes of silence that felt like an eternity, the door to the prisoner bay opened, and Alex walked in...holding a gun to her own head. Her eyes were wide an terrified.

"Alex?" Kara murmured, pushing herself up against the wall in horror at the inexplicable sight in front of her.

"Don't look, Kara," Alex whispered, as tears welled up in her dark eyes and slid down her cheeks. Gem walked into the control room behind her. "I'm sorry..."

"Kara Zor-El...the last heir of Krypton," the sadistic alien king grinned. His skin was purple, his head large and filled with deadly sharp teeth. But that wasn't what made him scary. It was the glowing gem in the middle of his forehead, that gave him the power to see into the minds of anyone he wished (anyone except Kryptonians, that is), and force them to do his bidding with the sheer force of his will. "I have long awaited the day I could take revenge on your mother for dooming me to eternal banishment."

"You want me? Come and get me!" Kara yelled, her hands balling up into fists at her side. Gem just laughed, a cruel, deep, rumbling laugh.

"I cannot see inside your mind, Kryptonian, but I can see inside the mind of this human. I know that you are powerless to stop me...weaker even than these humans now," he leered at her, taking in her pale skin, the glassy, fevered look in her eyes, the needle taped into the crook of her arm delivering a continuous flow of medicine directly into her bloodstream. It was almost too easy, defeating her this way. Almost. "This foolish human values your life above her own. She would rather die than cause you pain. So I thought...why not achieve both at once?" The wicked alien king gave a twisted grin. Kara understood with a sickening jolt to her stomach what Gem was going to do. He was going to make Alex shoot herself in the head, right in front of Kara. He didn't want to kill Kara...he wanted revenge. A lifetime of pain for her, as her mother had decreed upon him. That was his justice.

"No..." Kara whispered desperately, in the half-second it took for Alex's hand to cock the gun against her temple, her finger just beginning to squeeze the trigger. Her eyes locked with Kara's, both of them crying, trapped, powerless.

That was when Agent Vasquez glanced over at Kara, and noticed something very peculiar—the IV needle pushing itself backwards out of her arm, popping out of her skin and swaying lightly beside the pole it was hanging from. There was no blood, no mark on Kara's skin where the needle had just been a moment ago. It was less than half a second, but Vasquez understood what had just happened. In the same moment, all the color rushed back into Kara's face, her heart exploding with adrenalin, and without pausing for conscious thought, she leapt off the ground and flew at Alex, whipping the gun out of her girlfriend's hand the moment before it went off, shooting harmlessly at the ceiling. The blonde girl crushed the gun into a ball of crumpled metal with one hand and threw it aside, then flew at the escaped prisoner, her blue eyes blazing with a protective fury that none of the DEO agents had ever seen in her before. She smashed Gem up into the ceiling, threw him across the room into the wall; and because, as he himself had just admitted, his telepathy didn't work on her, there was very little he could do to retaliate. The jewel in the center of his forehead smashed when Kara threw him into the wall; and Alex took a deep breath, stumbling back onto the floor in a heap, like she'd just been released from a choke-hold. Kara just kept punching the purple alien king until he was unconscious. Henshaw came limping back into the control room through another tunnel, supporting two injured agents on either side of him. They weren't dead; they'd just lost radio contact.

Kara floated back down to the floor, dumping the unconscious alien at her feet. Clad in the black DEO fatigues, the blonde girl looked like a flying ninja from a Kung Fu movie. "Thanks," she said to the unconscious prisoner when three agents rushed up and hastily began securing him to return to his cell. "I'm feeling much better now."