A/N: To be honest, I thought I was done with this story, too.
I hope you enjoy this extra chapter. :)
A little over a week has passed since Alex's concussion and she still flinches, still needs an extra second to recover when she stands up too fast or something thunders or clatters beside her, sends sound waves toward her head—eyes scrunching closed or hand coming to her hairline when she thinks nobody is looking. Because she should be better, she should be okay now but she's not, and it sends tears pricking in her eyes when she thinks about it too hard—that's another thing, she can't believe: the crying she's done. She's fine one second then something spurs her, draws tears forward, and then she feels stupid and embarrassed and it only makes her cry harder.
Maggie notices. Maggie always, always notices and is by her side, with her soft touch and gentle smile and words that are never too loud, never prompt a headache.
Maggie is there when Alex can't seem to ever fall asleep; she's there when Alex needs someone to snuggle with and hug; she's there when Alex misspells her third word in twenty minutes and almost falls apart at the letters that make sense in her head but disintegrate into jumbles on paper, lines swapped and blurring. Maggie is there when J'onn says Alex needs to pass a cognitive test to get back in the field, and Maggie's there when Alex fails and J'onn sends her home. Maggie holds Alex when they curl on the couch and the agent's a mess of sobs because she's worried and she's frustrated and she doesn't know if things are going to go back to the way they were before.
Maggie reassures her and rubs her back and keeps her close all night.
Maggie's there.
The sun has long since sunk below the horizon the next day, when Maggie lets herself into Alex's apartment. Her footsteps drag, heart heavy in her chest. Her day leaves moisture pooling behind her eyelids, she blinks it away; still feels adrenaline easing its way from her system. She closes and locks the door behind her, slips off her shoes and is met with the achingly familiar sight of Alex's features contorted in pain, eyes squeezed close, and forehead dropped and cradled in the curve of her hand. Maggie's problems fall silent in her head, concern for Alex masking everything else. The detective lets her gaze shift down, sees lab reports stacked in front of her girlfriend—work she shouldn't be doing at all, especially not now, when pain is so evidently etched across her features.
"Babe," Maggie whispers, keeps her voice quite; she runs a hand over Alex's back, the agent lifts her head and turns slowly, blinks up at her with big brown eyes.
"Hey," Maggie says. "What's wrong?"
Alex shakes her head, winces just fractionally. "Nothing."
Maggie smiles softly, sadly. "It's not nothing," she says and draws Alex toward her, so the agent's head is pressed against her stomach. Her fingers begin their gentle dance over Alex's head, twirling through her hair, drawing gentle circles against her scalp. She holds her close for the sake of both of them. "I can tell when you're not feeling well." She presses a kiss to Alex hairline before resuming her massage, Alex's eyes slip closed under the touch.
" 'm fine," Alex mumbles into the fabric of Maggie's shirt.
"Is it your head again?" Maggie asks, already knowing the answer and already feeling concern tighten in her abdomen, ignoring Alex's attempts at dismissing the topic.
Alex nods against Maggie, tightens her arms around the detective's waist.
"I'm scared, Maggie," Alex whispers, so quietly the vibrations barely reach Maggie's ears.
"That's okay. I'm a little scared, too," Maggie admits, feels Alex nestle against her. "C'mon, lie down with me. You need rest, babe."
" 'kay," Alex says and sighs, pulling away from Maggie so she can sit up. Everything still blurs a bit when she stands, but just as panic and frustration swells inside her Maggie's hand finds Alex's arm, reminds her of what's important. "Can we take the couch? I don't want to sleep yet."
Maggie nods, keeps her arm around Alex's waist as they move to the couch. Maggie sits, puts a pillow on her lap and pulls Alex's head there. She shifts a blanket over the agent's frame, threads fingers into her hair.
"I love you," Maggie says and it's true. She loves this girl in front of her. Loves her when she's a badass, taking down aliens twice her side; loves her when she's soft and cuddles in bed and snoring lightly as early morning sunshine caresses her face; loves her when she's hurt and her head reels and she just needs a hug and someone to tell her it's okay. It's okay to be hurt and vulnerable and needing someone just to be close.
Maggie loves her.
It loosens some of the ache in her shoulders from the day.
A smile curves across her lips when Alex says it back.
"How's Kara?" Maggie asks, one hand still playing with Alex's hair while the other flips through channels on the TV, turns the volume low.
"She's good. She came to visit me earlier and we talked for a bit about work and stuff." Alex snuggles into the pillow. "How was work for you today?" she asks, and the moment she mentions it, she feels Maggie grow tense.
Silence drags before Maggie answers, voice quiet and strained and quivering. "It was fine."
Alex shifts, so she's looking up at the detective and is immediately surprised to see tears brimming Maggie's eyes. The agent lifts herself so she's sitting upright. "What's wrong? Are you injured?"
Maggie shakes her head, takes a long breath and her tears dissipate. "It's nothing."
"No it's not."
"Just focus on getting better, Alex. You don't need to worry about me. You're the one that's hurt."
"No," Alex says again. "You're obviously hurting, too. Talk to me, Mags."
Maggie drops her gaze from Alex's brown eyes to the pillow in her own lap, where their hands have found each other, fingers twisting together. "One of the guys on my team got shot today."
"Oh, Maggie, I'm so sorry. Is he okay?"
Maggie nods, still looking down. She swallows the lump in her throat before talking again. "I think he will be. He's in the hospital, I heard the surgery went well but he still hasn't come to, yet. I just…" Maggie chokes on her words, rubs away the tears in her eyes before they can fall. "I hate when these things happen. I hate remembering that we're all going to die someday, that our jobs are dangerous and that people get hurt and that everything can change if you even take so much as a second of time to blink. And I hate that sometimes it feels like the world is fully of shitty people who shoot the good guys. He has kids, Al. Little kids that I've met before, on numerous occasions, and I can't imagine what would have happened if that stupid gun had been one damn millimeter to the left. It was that close." She feels her throat tighten and then Alex's fingers loop around hers.
She looks up to meet Alex's eyes in the silence, her sight a little blurred with the tears that have pooled, but she still sees that warm brown looking back at her. "Sorry," she murmurs.
Alex shakes her head. "No, no, there's nothing to apologize for. Are you kidding? I've been a mess all week and not once have you let me down."
It pulls a little smile across Maggie's face.
"Let me be there for you, too," Alex says. "What can I do for you?"
"Just be here," Maggie says. "Just fall asleep with me."
Alex hugs Maggie and when they pull apart, the detective pats the pillow in her lap and Alex nestles back down again, smiling as she feels Maggie's hands stroke her hair.
"You can always talk to me, Maggie, you don't have to hold everything in all the time just because you're worried about me or something," Alex says.
Maggie grins, moves her hand to run her fingers up and down Alex's side. "Thanks. Right back at ya, Danvers."
They both fall asleep with smiles on their faces.