Hey Supergang!

I'm sorry you had to wait a while for this update. Real life and blah blah blah. I honestly don't know how much fun this chap will be for anyone who hasn't also seen Grey's Anatomy...I tried hard to make it that way, but it's hard to be sure, cuz I love that show a lot too and I know those characters as well as I know Kara and Alex. I hope it will still be a fun romp for everyone! No spoilers. Enjoy!

…...

I'd Carry a Plane for You

Chapter 16: Seattle Grace

…...

Kara was having a bad dream. Alex could tell from the way the blonde girl was twitching and whimpering against her shoulder in the airplane seat beside her. It was frustrating not to be able to wrap her arms around her sweet alien and soothe her troubled sleep with cuddles, or play with her hair; Alex knew perfectly well how to soothe Kara out of a nightmare.

But, Kara's head was lying on Alex's left shoulder, her body slumped limp against Alex's whole left side, mostly pinning her arm down; and her right arm was in the stupid sling. All the dark-haired girl could do was slip her left hand over Kara's knee, making soothing little circles with her thumb and humming a soft lullaby, unable to raise her voice out of respect for the dozens of other passengers on board who were not having nightmares and didn't necessarily want to hear her serenade them, no matter how lovely her voice was. For a few minutes, Alex's gentle attempts at soothing her sleeping blondie's nightmares seemed to be helping; then with a strangled gasp, Kara's blue eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright in her seat, panting like she'd just run from National City to Seattle on foot.

"Hey, you're okay bluebird. I'm right here," Alex cooed, running her hand through Kara's long hair now that her arm wasn't pinned to her side by the blonde girl's dead weight. "Were you having that same dream again?" Kara just nodded, turning in her seat to cuddle up to Alex more tightly, hiding her face in shiny dark hair and wrapping one arm around her waist, carefully avoiding the sling still cradling Alex's broken arm. She still felt so guilty about that. When she'd been under the effects of the Red Kryptonite, she'd said and done so many awful things, she'd terrified the whole city; but the only person she actually, physically hurt was Alex. It hadn't been intentional, even in the moment; she'd only been trying to knock the guns out of the DEO agents' hands with a sonic shockwave. But Alex's gun—the one holding the cure—was so huge and heavy that it broke her arm when it slammed her back against the humvee. Alex had forgiven her a hundred times in the last few days, but Kara was still a long way from forgiving herself. The nightmares alone were proof enough of that.

"Do you wanna tell me about it?" Alex asked gently, her fingers playing gently through Kara's blonde hair.

"No," Kara murmured, her face still pressed into the crook of Alex's neck. "Just hold me a little tighter..." The dark-haired girl was happy to comply, and she slipped her good hand out of Kara's hair, wrapping her up in a tight one-armed hug. Kara held onto Alex just as tightly, sniffling a little as tears began to spill down her cheeks into her fiancee's dark hair.

"You didn't lose me, baby. I'm right here," Alex hummed, aching to rip off the sling and wrap both arms tightly around her shaking, crying girl. "Take a deep breath and tell me about your dream, bluebird. You know you always start to feel better after you talk about it." Kara sniffled again and nodded wordlessly against Alex's neck, taking a few deep breaths before she sat back slightly, not going fully back into her own seat, but relaxing her death-grip on Alex's waist so she could sit back and breathe a little, her head still resting on Alex's shoulder. She took her fiancee's hand in both her own, running one finger over Alex's engagement ring.

"It's just like every night since I hurt you," Kara said quietly.

"Since you were poisoned with a biological weapon that altered your brain," Alex added, gently but stubbornly. Kara just shrugged in passive agreement.

"I wake up and you're gone...and I know something bad happened, the way you just know things in dreams, I just know...something terrible, and I wasn't there to stop it..." The tears were sliding down Kara's face now, and she sniffled and wiped them away. Alex was going mental from not being able to wipe Kara's tears away herself; having her dominant arm in a sling was incredibly restrictive. At least she still had her sweet girl curled up against her good side, her left hand tangled up in Kara's, giving her as much comfort as she could. "And I just started screaming for you, and it was so quiet, the whole world was just silent...I ran out in the street and there were no cars, no people...everyone was gone...everyone...and I scream and scream, but I know there's no one there to answer...my aunt's army, myriad, I couldn't stop it...I'm all alone on a dead planet..." Kara sniffled again, and started to cry in earnest, dropping her head against Alex's shoulder. "I failed Earth, just like my mother failed Krypton..."

"It's just a bad dream, baby. It's not real. We're all still here," Alex hummed softly, kissing Kara's forehead on her shoulder. "Listen to my heartbeat, Kara...I'm right here with you, I'll never leave you...my sweet bluebird..." They stayed huddled up like that quietly for a few minutes, Kara focusing on the warm, steady rhythm of Alex's beating heart. The captain's voice came in through the overhead speakers, announcing their final descent into Seattle, and asking everyone to return their seats and tray tables to their upright and locked position. The two girls had both taken off their seatbelts during the flight so they could cuddle closer together; and now Kara sat up wiping her eyes, buckling Alex's seatbelt for her, since it was pretty hard for her to do with just her left hand. Then she did her own, just for appearances, even though she didn't technically need it.

"Ladies, can I get you anything before we land?" The young flight attendant asked kindly as she passed with the big garbage bag to collect everyone's trash. She wasn't blind, it was obvious that Kara had been crying, and she passed them a small stack of the tiny square airplane napkins since there weren't any kleenex.

"We're fine...thank you," Kara sniffed, looking down shamefully at her lap as she wiped her eyes and nose hastily.

"Actually, can we get a cold can of Coke, and some of those little bags of chocolate chip cookies?" Alex asked, knowing the sugar would make Kara feel better, even if she wouldn't ask for it. Ever since she woke up from the Red Kryptonite poisoning, Kara seemed unable to ask for anything for herself, like she didn't think she deserved it. She couldn't stop punishing herself.

"Sure thing." The blonde flight attendant flashed them a very compassionate smile, and hastened off to finish her garbage run so she could bring them their snacks before the plane landed.

"She's pretty," Kara remarked dully, wiping her nose on a fresh napkin. "And I bet she hasn't thrown anyone off a building or broken anyone's bones recently..."

"Yeah, so I guess I should just marry her, huh?" Alex teased gently, trying to lighten Kara's depression if even for a moment.

"Probably," the blonde girl sniffed dejectedly, wiping her nose one more time before shoving the used napkins in her pocket and rubbing her eyes again.

"Baby..." Alex sighed, tilting Kara's chin up with her good hand. "You gotta stop torturing yourself, please. Do it for me, if you can't do it for yourself. You want to make me feel better? I can't feel better unless you feel better. I need my bluebird back. Your interview just aired this morning, people will understand, they'll come around...you know that, Kara. You have more faith in people than anyone I've ever known."

"How are you so good to me, Lexie?" Kara sighed, with another tentative smile that brought out a little of the sparkle in her blue eyes. Alex hadn't seen much of that in the past few days.

"Years of practice," the dark-haired girl smiled back, cupping her good hand to Kara's cheek and pulling her in for a gentle kiss. That was when the flight attendant returned with their requested goodies.

"Ahem," the young woman cleared her throat a little to get their attention.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," Kara blushed, sitting back in her seat abruptly. Alex made no such apologies.

"For what? Cookies and a can of Coke are all very well and good, but we don't offer the kind of amenities you're getting here. I'm sure your girlfriend can make you feel better a lot faster than I can." She held out the snacks, and Kara took them gratefully. She was starving, as usual.

"Fiancee," Kara corrected, holding out her hand to show off her engagement ring. "And yes...she's the best at making me feel better." It was the first genuine smile Alex had seen on Kara's face in days, and the dark-haired girl beamed.

"Congratulations," the young woman smiled. "Now I just need you to raise your seats back up. We'll be landing in Seattle in a few minutes."

…...

After they had collected their luggage from the baggage claim, Kara and Alex stopped at the car rental counter and got a car and a map of Seattle, driving straight to the hospital so they could surprise Meredith. They hadn't told her they were coming because they knew that being a surgical resident, the older Grey would just say she was too busy and push them off for "later," which would never really come. But they also knew that if they just showed up, she'd be so thrilled to see them there was no way she'd send them away again. Kara fussed over Alex as they walked out to their rental car, insisting on carrying all the bags and even buckling Alex's seatbelt for her.

"Kara, stop! I can buckle my own seatbelt, you don't have to hover this much," Alex sighed, hating to see the lengths her poor little alien was going to as she tried to make up for what she'd done under the Red K, over and over, every moment.

"I know you can. But it hurts you," Kara sighed, ignoring Alex's command and leaning over her to buckle her seatbelt, then kissing her forehead. "Your ribs are still bruised, I can see you flinching when you try to reach your left arm across your body."

"I'm a federal agent, you know. I've had worse than bruised ribs before," Alex reminded her anxious little alien gently, catching her hand as she stood back up and giving it a little squeeze. Kara just nodded, looking glumly down at her shoes. Alex sighed. "I promise I'll tell you when I really do need help, okay? Haven't I been good about that so far?"

"In the bathtub...yeah," Kara smirked, and Alex grinned back, happy to see a little of the old sparkle returning to her blondie's clear blue eyes.

"See, I know how to ask for what I want."

"Yes you do," Kara agreed, still grinning as visuals of soapy wet skin flooded her mind.

"So get in the car and drive, woman. I command you," Alex teased.

"Yes, Mistress Lexie," Kara giggled, leaning down and giving her love one more thorough kiss before closing the passenger side door, and circling around to the driver's seat.

When they got to the hospital, they got directions to the surgical ward; and once they knew they were in the rough vicinity of the older Grey, Kara just closed her eyes for a moment and extended her super-hearing, easily locating Meredith's voice down a hallway that said Restricted Access across the doors. A quick x-ray peek past the doors showed Kara exactly where her honorary cousin was chatting among a group of similarly young surgeons in light blue scrubs, sitting around what looked like a break room and talking excitedly about some big surgery they'd just observed as they wolfed down their lunches, eager to get right back to work as soon as possible.

"She's right down there," Kara murmured to Alex, nodding her head toward the restricted hallway. "Should we just try to sneak past the door and see what happens?"

"No, let's have someone page her and say it's an emergency or something. She'll come running like the time we knocked over my dad's bookcase when she was supposed to be watching us," Alex snickered.

"Lexie! That wasn't funny!" Kara scolded, smacking her lightly on her good shoulder. "We scared the crap out of her, she thought we crushed ourselves to death."

"We probably would have, if you hadn't jumped on top of me first. That thing was huge.There should really be a weight limit on bookshelves, like suspension bridges."

"Well maybe if some people wouldn't try to tickle me so close to large heavy objects, we wouldn't need to impose a weight limit on everything in the house," Kara teased back, with a little snort of laughter. Alex beamed. It was working—Kara was starting to think about something other than how guilty she felt about the Red K. She was smiling and laughing and thinking of happy memories. And they still hadn't even seen Meredith.

While they were whispering and giggling together by the ER main desk, a young doctor with wavy blonde hair and pale blue eyes stopped short and stared at them for a moment, one eyebrow raised inscrutably. "Hey! Alex Grey and Kara Danvers...did you grow up, or do I have early onset Alzheimer's?!" She wasn't quite as young as Kara and Alex remembered her; but she still couldn't be more than 35 or so.

"Dr. Robbins!" Kara's smile got even bigger as she looked over Alex's shoulder and saw the face of the first doctor she'd ever met on this planet, when Alex got hurt in the car explosion on Kara's first day of school. "What are you doing in Seattle?" Without waiting for an answer, Kara ran over and hugged her, being careful not to squeeze too hard. Kara was being extra-careful about everything right now, terrified to hurt anyone after the trauma of the Red K.

"I live here," Dr. Robbins shrugged. "And please call me Arizona, you're not seventh graders anymore. After I finished my residency in Midvale, I was offered the Pediatric Surgical Fellowship here, and now I'm an attending. What are you doing here? You both look so grown-up...and what did you do to that arm, missy? I just fixed that!" She said to Alex, her voice stern with mock-scolding.

"I'm an FBI agent now," Alex smiled, shrugging her good shoulder. "I take a few hard knocks now and then. But I always come back kicking."

"I bet you do. You always were tough as nails," Arizona shook her head. "When you came into the ER at Midvale Memorial, your arm looked like five pounds of raw hamburger, and you were still more worried about this one," she nodded her head towards Kara. "I'm glad to see you're still together," she smiled knowingly, eyeing their engagement rings. "I had a feeling you would be."

"Yeah, somehow no one seemed surprised," Alex shook her head with a smile, taking Kara's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "But Meredith doesn't actually know we're engaged yet, so don't say anything, okay? Actually, can you take us back to the residents' lounge? She doesn't know we're coming, it's a surprise."

"Oh my gosh, you're Little Grey!" Arizona squealed, her eyes going wide with delight. "How cool is this! I am so coming to your wedding. Half the hospital will want to be there."

"Little Grey? My name is Alex," the dark-haired girl said in confusion, raising an eyebrow in slight distaste. It was hard enough being twenty-four years old and a senior-ranking federal agent; people tended not to take her seriously because of her youth. Anything that made her seem more like a kid was not high on her list of things she wanted to be called. "Meredith doesn't call me that," she added defensively.

"I know, but we already have an Alex here," Arizona shrugged, smirking a little at the pouty expression on Alex's face at the endearing nickname. "He's one of Meredith's roommates, they're close. So anytime she'd talk about you, 'Alex this' and 'Alex that,' it got confusing real quick."

"Aww, Meredith's so proud of her badass little cousin," Kara cooed delightedly, leaning in and giving her pouting fiancee a light kiss. Alex was smiling again when Kara released her; anything that made Kara smile right now, made Alex smile too.

"She certainly is," Arizona agreed. "I don't know why it never occurred to me that Meredith's cousin Alex could be the same Alex Grey I met all those years ago...I didn't know Meredith was from Midvale..."

"Donuts! I have donuts!" Another doctor in navy scrubs like Arizona's came striding through the restricted door with a big bakery box, smiling at the blonde pediatric surgeon the same way Alex always smiled at Kara. She was beautiful, tall and caramel-skinned with long black hair and flawless eyeliner. Behind her was another doctor, a man, taller and slightly older with salt-and-pepper hair, but undeniably handsome. If one were to be interested in men. The dark-haired doctor came up and kissed Arizona lightly on the lips, putting the bakery box down on the edge of the ER desk.

"Callie! You won't believe this," Arizona beamed, grabbing her girlfriend and turning her towards Kara and Alex. "This is Kara Danvers and Alex Grey. I fixed this one's arm my first week of residency back in Midvale."

"That was your first week?" Kara asked, astounded. The memory she had of Dr. Robbins was so calm and cool and in command, she'd seemed so adult. But the truth was, she'd been no older than Kara and Alex were now. "That's so weird, because it was my first week"—she was about to say on Earth, but Alex silently stepped on her foot, as if she knew what was about to pop out of the blonde girl's mouth. "...in Midvale," she finished awkwardly. "It was right after Eliza and Jeremiah adopted me."

"You'll have to give Eliza my regards," Arizona beamed. "She was one of my research mentors when I was an intern," she explained to Callie and Mark.

"Yeah, of course I will," Kara nodded.

"Ahem." Mark glared at Arizona indignantly, not liking being left out of the conversation.

"Oh, right, sorry—Kara, Alex, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Calliope Torres, and this is Dr. Mark Sloan. You can just call him man-whore, it's much easier," the blonde doctor smirked.

"You know Callie and I haven't slept together in over a year, Robbins. You remember that, right? You made an honest woman out of her," Mark said wryly, with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, but I didn't make an honest woman out of you," Arizona teased.

"Well maybe someone else could. Someone who doesn't call me man-whore," Mark said, making a show of being offended, even though it was obviously just in jest. "So, what happened here?" he asked, shifting his attention to Alex, and giving her his brightest, most charming smile as he looked at her arm in the sling...then very obviously, looking over the rest of her with a flirty grin. "Nerve damage? Are you here for a consult? Shepard may have the best record when it comes to brain tumors, but I'm your guy if you're looking for a nerve graft. Maybe we could talk about it over dinner?" Alex didn't say anything—she didn't need to. She just glanced sideways at Kara's outraged expression, and allowed her adorable blonde bodyguard to do the talking.

"Hi? Could you please stop hitting on my fiancee, Dr. Man-whore?" Kara said in a deadly serious voice, her blue eyes flashing protectively as she took a half-step in front of Alex's body.

"Oh, geez...sorry," Mark shook his head, noticing their engagement rings. "No offense intended. I see a beautiful woman and everything else just kind of disappears." He gave them a little wink. Alex couldn't decide whether to be flattered or disgusted. Maybe both.

"You might also want to back off Meredith's little cousin, before she comes out here and punches you in the nose," Arizona added, looking delighted at Mark's discomfort.

"Oh, shit! You're Little Grey!" Mark exclaimed, his eyes widening as he took Alex in all over again, noticing now the curve of her cheekbones and the shape of her eyes. She looked a lot like Meredith, really, even though their coloring was different.

"Okay, seriously? Who started this Little Grey stuff? My name is Agent Alex Grey, I'm a senior FBI operative." Alex looked like she wanted to punch someone in the nose. It was undeniably cute. Kara couldn't help smiling a little.

"Yeah, we already have an Alex," Mark explained apologetically.

"I covered that," Arizona nodded with a smirk.

"It was just kind of confusing," Callie added.

"I covered that too," Arizona hummed, still grinning.

"I told Mer she could just call you Lexie, but"—

"I'm the only one who calls her Lexie," Kara snarled protectively, her blue eyes flashing like a tiger about to pounce.

"Yeah, that's what Meredith said," Callie laughed, watching the body language between the two young women. "So that leads us back to Little Grey. Not sounding so bad now, right?" Alex rolled her eyes, but an unwilling smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She was glad Meredith had such good friends...and it was nice to know that her older cousin hadn't forgotten all about her since she'd moved away to Seattle to be a hotshot surgeon.

"Fine, okay, whatever. I'll be Little Grey. Now will someone please page Meredith 911? So she thinks it's an emergency? We want to surprise her, she'll totally freak out," Alex grinned, a glint of adolescent glee twinkling in her dark eyes as she bounced eagerly on the balls of her feet.

"Me me me!" Callie exclaimed, seeming to share Alex's childish delight in freaking Meredith out. "She scrubbed in with me yesterday on a broken clavicle and there was a subclavian bleed, the guy nearly bled out on the table. If I page her 911, she'll totally think he's coding. She'll come running in a heartbeat, just watch." Just as predicted, Meredith came bursting through the Restricted Access doors less than sixty seconds later, so focused on Callie and what instructions she would give to keep their patient alive, she didn't notice Kara and Alex there at first.

"Callie, I'm here, what happened?" The older Grey demanded, looking worried but totally focused. Kara, unexpectedly, jumped onto Meredith's back, just like she used to when she was a kid. Alex beamed at Kara's happy expression. Clearly, coming to Seattle had been the right choice in the cheering-Kara-up department.

"Surprise!" Kara giggled in Meredith's ear, hugging her tightly before hopping down off her back.

"Hi Mer," Alex waved sheepishly with her good arm.

"We found Little Grey," Callie pointed with a big smirk on her face. "Mark already tried to hit on her. So all the pleasantries are out of the way now."

"Oh my God, what are you guys doing here?" Meredith exclaimed, a huge smile on her face as she hugged Kara tight and then took in Alex's broken arm, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "What have you done to yourself now?" she demanded, an equal mixture of concern and scolding in her voice. It was just habit; she'd spent so many years of their childhood scolding Alex to be more careful when she'd come home bloody and banged up from one crazy adventure or another.

"Sorry, it's"—

"Classified, yeah yeah, I know," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I mean medically. I don't need to hear about the bad guys, just tell me what happened to your arm." She folded her arms over her chest and glared at Alex expectantly. Kara smirked a little; she'd almost forgotten how similar Meredith and Alex's death-glares were.

"Blunt-force distal humerus break. Clean. No nerve damage. I'll be back in the field in a couple of months, okay mama bear? No complications, I'm fine. Really." Alex smiled and held out her good arm for a hug. Meredith sighed and shook her head; she would never get used to seeing her baby cousin with these kinds of battle wounds. But, she did always bounce back again. Meredith opened her arms and gave Alex a very gentle hug, careful not to put any pressure on her right side.

"I'm glad you're here," Meredith said quietly in Alex's ear before she released her.

"We're glad too," Alex beamed as her cousin released her. Then Meredith's eyes narrowed as she looked between them, her death-glare firmly back in place now that she knew Alex wasn't in any medical danger.

"I can't"—Meredith growled between clenched teeth, smacking Alex's good shoulder, "believe"—she smacked Kara's shoulder now—"you got"—another smack for Alex—"engaged"—back to Kara, smack! "...And you didn't tell me! I had to hear it from Aunt Susan?! I should break your other arm, brat."

"No joking about breaking Alex's bones," Kara shook her head anxiously, her rosy cheeks going pale as the color drained from her face. Alex took her hand and squeezed reassuringly.

"Fine, then I'll break your arm, smartypants," Meredith raised an eyebrow at Kara, half playful and half deadly. "You're my cousin now too, so I can whoop your ass for being so stupid!"

"We're sorry, Mer. It's only been a couple of weeks, okay? We're here to tell you now. I'm sorry you had to hear it from my mom, you know she's terrible at keeping her mouth shut." At least she didn't spill the beans about Supergirl, Alex thought with a deep sigh of relief.

"Yeah, well. You did fly all the way to Seattle, I guess I can't stay mad anymore. How long are you staying? Where are you staying? Scratch that, you're staying with me. Alex can crash on the couch for a few nights. I mean, not you,"—

"The other Alex," Kara interrupted with a smirk. "Yeah, we heard. You sure he won't mind us taking over his room?"

"Oh, he will. But I'll buy him a beer and he'll get over it. Oh! We should all gets drinks at Joe's tonight. I can introduce you to everyone," Meredith was beaming at them, not seeming at all upset that they'd arrived unannounced and messed up her surgical schedule. She was too happy to see them to be upset. "You both look so grown-up and gorgeous," the older Grey added, shaking her head. "I can't believe it's been...what, two years since we were all together? You were barely out of college. Now look at you. The badass FBI agent and the Executive Assistant to Cat Grant's global media empire."

"You work for Cat Grant?" Arizona raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "From what I've heard, that job requires just as much bravery as being a field agent in the FBI."

"Oh, Ms. Grant's not so bad once you get to know her," Kara smiled, shaking her head. "She's a brilliant mentor, she's really done a lot for me. Just don't bring her a cold latte and you'll be okay."

"So, if you work for Cat Grant..." Callie folded her arms and leaned in with an eager, curious expression. "Have you ever met Supergirl? I mean, Cat Grant is like, Supergirl's corporate sponsor, right? Did you watch that interview this morning, or were you already on the plane?"

"We saw it," Kara nodded, the smile sliding off her face as some of the sparkle faded from her blue eyes. "And yes...we've met Supergirl a couple of times. So, what did you guys think when you saw the interview? Do you...do you really believe her, that she was poisoned when she attacked National City, that she wasn't acting under her own control?" Callie snorted and rolled her eyes. Arizona smacked her arm reprovingly.

"Of course we believe her," their childhood doctor assured them with a smile. It was the same gentle smile that had put them at ease when they were rolled into Midvale Memorial twelve years ago, Alex bleeding all over Kara, who was crying so much she couldn't even speak. "She looked so sad, and she didn't even try to defend herself, it was like she wanted everyone to blame her for what happened. Ms. Grant had to quiz her like a game show host just to get her to admit she wasn't acting under her own power. Whoever set that trap with the superhero-poison, that's who the whole country should be pissed at. Not Supergirl." Kara smiled weakly, warmed by the blonde doctor's faith. She wondered how many people would share her kind view of the situation.

"Well I don't think it matters much whether she was acting of her own free will or not," Callie shrugged. "Now every alien bad guy in the world knows there's a way they can turn Supergirl into a monster. They'll just start attacking twice as hard, trying to get her back to being all ragey and sociopathic. I wouldn't want to live in a city where I had to wake up every morning and wonder, 'will our superhero be good or evil today?' I mean, would you care whose fault it was, if you were staring down a psycho alien with laser-eyes?" Callie raised an eyebrow expectantly. Kara looked down at her feet.

"No," Kara said quietly, still looking down at her feet. "I wouldn't." Alex reached out and wrapped a lock of long blonde hair around her finger, tugging her love a little closer.

"Hey, c'mon bluebird. We're on vacation with Mer. No sad face." She ducked her head down a little to kiss Kara, who was still looking down glumly at her shoes. But Alex's kiss pulled her up again, like a gentle current of electricity that ran all through her body. She couldn't help feeling better when Alex kissed her.

"Sorry, should I not have said that? I didn't mean to offend you," Callie said hastily, looking from Kara's brave attempt at a smile, to Meredith's stern glare pointing her way. "I mean, you said you only met Supergirl a couple of times...was that code for, 'she's secretly our best friend but we can't tell you for national security reasons?' I'm sure she's an awesome person, she runs around saving National City every other day, and she doesn't even get paid."

"It's okay," Alex assured her, lacing her fingers together with Kara's and giving them a silent squeeze.

"Well when I saw the interview, all I could think was how sorry I felt for her," Meredith interjected into the awkward silence that followed. "I mean, here's this girl who lost her entire world, and all she's done since she came to this planet is try to help people. She's never asked for anything in return. She's just like us doctors, running around trying to save lives every day. We've all made mistakes that cost lives while we're learning how to be surgeons...but we have mentors, we have attendings, we have the chief...all reminding us to learn from our mistakes and look forward, keep going, think about the next life that we can save. It doesn't seem like Supergirl has anyone to do that for her...and she didn't even make a mistake. Her brain was hijacked. It wasn't her fault. I wish someone would tell her that."

"Oh...someone has," Alex smiled a little, looking up and sharing a moment of meaningful eye contact with her cousin. "A few someones, actually. But it's like you said. She's hard on herself."

"Then she really is just like us," Meredith shrugged. "Surgeons, we're the exact same way. We spend so much time and so much energy trying to save everyone, every day...but people are still going to die. No one lives forever. And that's not on us."

"Yeah...I guess that's true," Kara sighed, finally looking up at Meredith with a small, grateful smile. "I'm sure she would feel better if she knew she wasn't the only person in the world who ever felt that way."

"Well you can go ahead and tell her I said so. When you get back to National City," Meredith said coyly, putting a hand out on each of their shoulders and leading them back toward the Restricted Access doorway she'd come through. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to some of my friends, and then maybe you'll go grab some food until I can get off work and come meet you? I know Kara's probably starving." She nudged the blonde girl in the ribs, and Kara grinned sheepishly.

"You know your customers, huh Mer?" Alex smiled gratefully at her older cousin, who had just done more to lift Kara's spirits than she could possibly know.

"Mm-hmm," Meredith agreed with a smirk. She lowered her voice as they passed through the swinging double-doors, carefully checking that there was no one else in the hallway around them. "And then you can tell me all about your flying escapades...Supergirl."

...To be continued!