Author notes:

It took longer for me to write this one. Sorry for that.
Still unbeta'ed.

J'onn

The first time J'onn Jonzz saw Alex Danvers in the flesh and not on a picture was from afar. He promised Jeremiah that he would take care of his daughters as if they were his own, and J'onn was going to devote her life to honour that promise.

But being close enough to take care of the girls was going to be a difficult task while wearing the face of the man that killed their father, even if they would never know what truly happened. So, the guilt and the shame, as well as a furious Eliza Danvers, would keep him away for years. The only thing he could do was watch them from a sensible distance, from the sky, behind passing cars, covered by the dark of the night… It would take to witness Alex almost destroying her own life to get him to react and finally take action.

The decision to bring her into the DEO had been made long time ago, but he was waiting until Alex would finish her PHD to make a formal offer. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and J'onn had to get Alex out of jail and give her a purpose, something that would make her feel valuable and special.

Through the years, while he watched the sisters grow together, happy and unaware of all the threats surrounding them, J'onn had also seen how Alex, slowly, had become Kara's shadow. Since Jeremiah died, she had taken upon her shoulders the burden of a secret bigger than her. For Alex, protecting Kara had meant losing friends, having to lie every time her sister broke something accidentally, and also meant breaking a few noses from time to time just because Kara was differentand people were stupid and mean. The shadow of her father and the pressure to have to keep up with someone who could literally touch the stars, had shaped her into a beautiful young woman, strong, smart, and capable of incredible things, but lost with no direction in life beyond the one that her sister would take.

Soon after she started training, J'onn realized that taking Alex under the wings of the DEO had been the best decision he'd made since he became Hank Henshaw. In just a few days, Alex had caught up with all the protocols and how standard operations worked, she was enamoured with the labs and extremely eager to put on a coat, and her training in combat was progressing faster than any other average agent. In less than a month, everyone knew who Agent Danvers was, and not just because she was the Director's protégée. Nobody dared to question his decisions, but it was clear that he was invested to a personal level in everything concerning Alex Danvers.

In time, the other agents at the DEO stopped wondering about Hank's reasons, and learned to watch and admire them from a distance. They saw them like a well-oiled machine, powerful and effective, never afraid to carry on with the missions until the end.

In just a few months, Alex won the respect and admiration of the other agents, but also a bit of a reputation for being a lone wolf.

Alex never spoke with the other agents about anything that wasn't work related, she often spent whole days behind the closed doors of the lab, and while the others went out for drinks together sometimes, she used her free time at the headquarters' gym to work out. It wasn't long until she was feared and respected at the DEO as much as Director Henshaw, but Alex had spent so much time building an impenetrable wall around her that only her sister could climb it. Some tried at first, but even the most hard-headed person gets tired of knocking at a closed door for so long.

It pained J'onn to see how someone with so much love to give, was living such a lonely life.

It wasn't until Kara came out to the world as Supergirl and started working with them that Alex seemed to open a little bit. It started with little things, not much, but from time to time J'onn could hear agents around the headquarters talking about how Danvers was less scary since Supergirl was around. They wondered why that was, of course, but just a few of them seemed to catch on the close relationship of the hero with Agent Danvers. Then kryptonians started attacking them, Kara was infected by the red kryptonite, J'onn was discovered, and Myriad almost killed them all.

Supergirl saved them in the end, and Alex saved Supergirl. After that, Kara Danvers started showing at the headquarters in her daily clothes and nobody questioned it.

J'onn has seen up close, more than he could ever imagine, how all the secrets surrounding Alex Danvers have vanished, and how that thick wall around her has started to crumble. Now all the love that's been piling up inside of her it's starting to peek out of that half collapsed wall, reaching for every single one that, oblivious to it, holds a piece of Alex's heart. But J'onn has always felt that love. For years, he has seen the protector beyond the agent; he's known the friend, the caring sister, the daughter.

Jeremiah will be so proud of her.

J'onn misses his daughters every single day, but he looks at Alex and Kara laughing after a long day of work and his heart bleeds a little less. They are happy. Despite all the tears, the sacrifices they've made, and the ones they'll have to make day after day, they still have each other, and that is enough. J'onn is grateful to be a part of that, even if it's just a tiny one.

The headquarters are almost empty now, with only the agents for the graveyard shift around, and J'onn simply watches the sisters, wondering what are they doing there so late, until Alex's phone startles them. J'onn doesn't need to ask who's calling, because the beaming smile on her face it's a huge giveaway.

Alex answers the call with a suggestive heyand that's Kara's cue to leave her alone with her conversation.

"Do I need to worry about Detective Sawyer?" He asks when Kara approaches him.

"I don't think so," She replies, "For what I've seen, she adores Alex, and we both know that my sister needs someone in her life to look at her like she's hang the moon and the stars in the sky."

"So, I don't need to tell her about the consequences of hurting my best agent?"

"Oh no, no, you must. Maggie has been given the shovel talk already, several of them, in fact, but you're still the father figure of this family, and she needs to know that besides a few superheroes, a highly skilled soldier, a hacker, and a powerful CEO, there's also a big green martian dad that could also throw her into the sun if she ever breaks Alex's heat again."

"I wouldn't want to… overstep my duties."

He still looks uncertain, so Kara puts both her hands on his shoulders and squeeze them reassuringly

"J'onn, I told my sister's first girlfriend that I would roast her like a Thanksgiving turkey if I ever see Alex crying again because of her. You would be looking out for Alex just like the rest of us. There's nothing to overstep. And so you know, Eliza hasn't officially met her so, yours wouldn't be the scariest shovel talk."

"Well, Maggie Sawyer is a brave woman if she's willing to go through that."

"I think she just loves Alex."

J'onn nods at that, happy that finally someone has made the effort to torn apart the last remains of the wall, and reached for Alex to bring her into the light.

"So... Roasted turkey?" He asks. J'onn crosses his arms and takes his usual commanding stance. The frown in her face leaving no doubt that he's upset, "Do we need to talk again about what a secret identity entails, Supergirl?"