Chapter 4: Home for Christmas

The ride to Midvale was overall a pleasant one. Now that Kara's secret was out to Maggie there was no need to hide anything so conversation was out in the open and Kara had agreed to let Maggie ask her anything. Mostly she wanted to know stories from their childhood. She was more interested as Kara the person rather than Supergirl the hero which was a relief for Kara, proving to her that like James and Winn, Maggie could be counted on as a friend.

Upon arriving to the house, the place was covered in snow and Christmas decorations, which Kara and Alex had helped Eliza with the day after Thanksgiving, a tradition Kara had enjoyed when she was younger and continued to the present day.

"You know," said Kara, "I could have just flown us here, we didn't have to drive."

Alex shook her head as the three of them got out of the car and walked to the front door. "Yeah well some of us prefer to have the snow on the outside so it's not hitting our faces."

"It's not that bad."

Alex laughed, "Ha tell that to James. He says it hits harder because you're a lot faster than your cousin."

Kara smiled with pride, "It's true, I am," she said to Maggie.

"Besides," said Alex, "What's so bad about driving?"

"It's slow. You could have at least let me use my heat vision to melt the snow and ice on the roads."

Maggie smiled, "Is she always like this," she asked Alex.

Alex looked at her girlfriend, "Now you see what I have to put up with."

"I'm standing right here," said Kara.

"We know, Kara," said Alex, "You're the one who likes to keep things normal every once in a while. Slow holiday traffic and icy roads is normal."

As they got near to the front door Alex took a deep breath.

Maggie touched her arm slightly, "Babe, you okay?"

"Yeah," said Alex, "Yeah, just nervous. This is the first time you're meeting my mom so it's a big deal."

"Hey I am too," said Maggie, "it is a big deal. It's a huge step but I'm proud of you."

"You have nothing to worry about, my mom's gonna love you."

"You think so?"

"I know it. What's not to love about you?"

The two smiled and reached for each other's hands, holding them tightly. And then leaned in for a simple kiss.

"You two are so cute together," Kara said with a smile as she moved passed them and rang the doorbell out of respect, not so much as the fact they each had a key to the house.

"My girls!" Eliza said with joy as she opened the door, "Come in its freezing out there." Inside Eliza hugged both Alex and Kara. "How was the drive?"

"Icy," replied Kara.

Alex shook her head and gained her sense of focus, "Mom, I'd like you to meet Maggie Sawyer."

Eliza smiled as the young woman stepped forward.

"So this is Maggie," said Eliza, "Alex has told me so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Dr. Danvers."

"Please call me Eliza and by all means make yourself at home, "Eliza turned to her daughter, "Alex she's more beautiful than you described her to be."

Alex smiled at Maggie, "Don't I know it."

"So it's just the four of us right?" Kara asked sensing there was something different.

"Actually sweetie…." Eliza said but before she could get in another word Clark came into the room with Lois by his side.

"Hey you," Clark said with a smile.

"You're here," Kara said going up to him and hugging him tightly. She then hugged Lois who at this point was practically family.

"What are you…. what are you both doing here?"

"You're mom invited us and since Jimmy and Winn were taking Mon-El up skiing, Lois thought it would be nice to drop by."

Kara looked at Eliza.

"Surprise," said her foster mother.

"It's good to see you, Kara," Lois said.

"You too."

"Hey Alex," Clark said hugging his…foster cousin.

"Hey Clark."

"Right," said Kara, "Clark, Lois I'd like you to meet Detective Maggie Sawyer. My sister's girlfriend."

"Kara's told me about you," said Clark. "It's nice to meet you."

"You're Clark Kent," Maggie said to him.

Maggie looked to Kara then to Clark.

"Your cousin, Superman is Clark Kent?"

Clark smiled, "I'm guessing you didn't tell her that part yet."

"No," Kara said scratching the back of her neck, "Hadn't gotten around to it."

"I think we need a drink," said Alex, "We'll let you three catch up."

Maggie followed Alex into the kitchen where Alex offered Maggie some eggnog and then reached for a bottle of whisky, pouring some into Maggie's cup and then her own.

"Quite a unique family you've got here, Danvers."

"Tell me about it."

"And your dad?"

Alex looked into her cup and took a sip, "What about him?"

"Come on Alex, you know what I'm asking. You have pictures of him all over your apartment, Kara has some too and there are plenty here but you never talk about him."

Alex knew Maggie was right. In all the time they had spent together, a little over a month of dating, she had never really talked about her dad and when the subject did come up, she was always quick to change it."

"I don't talk about him to anyone," Alex admitted.

"Am I anyone?"

Alex looked up at her, Maggie was standing closer now, the look in her eyes revealing the same empathetic look she'd given her that night at the alien bar when she'd first come out. It was a look that had come to mean so much because it showed that Maggie was genuinely invested in the words she had to say.

Alex took a second sip of her drink then placed it aside on the counter, wanting to have the conversation without much alcohol in her system.

"My dad is one of those classified topics. The official story is that he died in a plane crash but that's not what happened at all. A few months after Kara came to live with us my dad was recruited by the DEO by the real Hank Henshaw, the one who shot you a month ago. My dad traded his life so that Kara could stay here and have a normal life but it ended up costing his. Through Jon, my boss, the one you know as the Martian Manhunter, he told us that Hank killed my dad."

"Alex, I'm so sorry: for what happened to him and for pressuring you to talk about him."

"I used to be angry at Kara and Clark for bringing their lives into ours. I used to be the golden child despite the fact that my parents were the ones who helped Clark when it came to understanding his powers, at least when they did my life wasn't affected. Then when it did I tried so hard to measure up and after my dad left, I was even angrier at Kara sometimes. I just figured had she not shown up then my dad would have still been around you know? Then I've also thought to myself, as hard as it's been to take care of Kara, I would do it all over again if I had to."

"Even if it meant not having your dad?"

"Even if but here's the thing, my dad's alive Maggie. That night when we were tracking down James…"

"The Guardian," Maggie said now knowing his true identity.

Alex nodded, "That night when we were tracking him Kara and Mon-El had been taken by Cadmus. My dad helped them escape. We're doing what we can to find him but so far no leads.

"I want to help."

"No."

"Alex, this is your dad."

"Exactly. And this isn't just some random guy off the streets we're dealing with. This is Cadmus, an enemy worse than anything we've ever faced including whatever rogue aliens we've gone up against. Maggie, if anything happened to you because of me, because of my Kryptonian family I couldn't live with it being my fault. You have to promise me that this is one case you won't work with me on, please."

Maggie could see the depth of Alex's words in her eyes, how this one case above all scared her the most despite the determination she had about finding her father and she could see just how much she meant to Alex, how she was determined not to put her in the crosshairs and compromise her own safety.

Maggie wrapped her arms around Alex's waist, "Okay I won't get involved…yet but you'll let me know when you need me right, when I can help?"

"You do help me," Alex replied, "Every day you do."

Maggie smiled at her as Alex moved Maggie's hair behind her ear and then the two met their lips.

It started off softly as it often did and then gradually increased, their need for each other too great that they had forgotten, for a moment that they were standing in the kitchen until they were interrupted by some people clearing their throats.

The two pulled apart, Alex unable to hide her blush as she saw her mom and Clark standing in the kitchen.

"Alex, sweetie," said Eliza, "can you go help your sister set the table? Clark was going to get the ham from the fridge."

"Sure mom," Alex replied.

Alex smiled at Maggie before leaving her which was a hard thing to do. Maggie smiled back as Alex went into the dining room.

"Hard to resist that daughter of mine isn't she," Eliza asked Maggie.

Maggie smiled, "She is."

Maggie took her cup and followed Eliza into the living room where Lois was standing by the fireplace.

"Alex has always put others first," said Eliza, "Always put Kara first. It's nice to see her finally take care of herself."

"I've noticed," said Maggie, "She runs straight on into danger even without superpowers."

"It's more than that," said Eliza, "I've never seen her smile this much. She's never really been good at the whole relationships thing but now it's like she's a completely different person, the person I always knew she could be if she just allowed herself and I know she has you to thank for that. I certainly do."

"You did a great job raising her, Dr. Dan…Eliza, both of them. The way Alex is with Kara; anyone would be lucky to have her in their lives. I am."

Eliza and Lois both studied Maggie for a moment.

Lois smiled, "You love her, don't you?"

Maggie was brought out of her thoughts and looked at Lois with a wide eyed expression on her face before reeling in her emotions.

"I…. we um…. I haven't…." Maggie's words came out in a jumble unsure of how to respond.

Could she be in love with Alex? They'd only been dating for a month and two weeks and too often that word was tossed around.

She'd had past girlfriends, whom she'd used it on only a week into the relationship, she'd said it without actually meaning it simply to please her partner and she'd used it when she thought the relationship was going somewhere only to have it fall apart.

When it came to her relationship with Alex, however, it was more real than anything she'd ever experienced before even though Alex had been fresh off the boat. She'd once told Alex those exact words and that those relationships never worked out but somehow it was different with her. She could see herself, the two of them, in it for the long haul, lasting more than her other past relationships and the word love suddenly seemed to take on new meaning because that's exactly what it was.

"I'm sorry," said Lois, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just the way you talk about Alex and the way you look at her is the exact same way I am with Clark."

No one said a word, instead the three of them got comfortable on the couches in the living rom.

"So Kara tells me you're a cop," Lois said wanting to get to know her future adoptive cousin-in-law's girlfriend, "Science division?"

"Yeah I am."

"Then you work quite a bit with the DEO, the two of them."

"More so now thanks to Alex getting permission from the DEO to use me as a consultant."

"That's cool and dangerous."

"Says the girl who likes to get into trouble," Eliza said to Lois with a smile.

"My journalistic curiosity gets the best of me yes but I can't help it if it leads the down the same story where Clark happens to be."

"Which is why you two make a pretty good team," said Maggie, "I've read your articles. Even the ones Clark wrote before his secret was out and he used Superman as a source."

Lois smiled, "So you get it now- Kara using Supergirl as a source when she was really using herself. Gotta love those secret identities, speaking of which, welcome to the 'I know an alien' club."

"Thanks but Kara isn't the first alien met. I'm not biased when it comes to what species I date. Alex is the first human I've really cared about though. And in terms of spending time with a girlfriend's family, this is the first time where the family of a human girlfriend has had alien relatives."

"About family," said Eliza, "You're from Nebraska right?"

"Born and raised," Maggie said to her.

"What brought you all the way to National City?" Lois asked.

"I needed a fresh start from the small town life. I'd already made detective back home, worked in a few other cities for a while but when a position in the science division opened up here, I applied and got the job so I took it."

Alex walked over to the group of women and shook her head, "I swear those two act more like brother and sister than they do cousins."

Lois nodded, "Oh I know we can hear them," she said with a small laugh.

And they could. In the dining room, Clark and Kara were arguing over who would heat the ham up with their heat vision. Clark suggested he should since Kara's heat vision was hotter than his so she might make it explode. Kara told him that idea was pointless since she'd been heating up the turkey ever since she was a kid, after only the first turkey exploded and no one had ever complained since, Kara suggested she do it since there were more girls in the house so he was outnumbered so their banter continued back and forth.

"You okay there, Sawyer," Alex asked as she walked over to where her girlfriend was sitting, Maggie staring at her intensely. She smiled and Alex took a seat on the arm rest.

"Never better Danvers," she said placing a hand on Alex's knee while Alex placed her arm around Maggie's shoulder.

"Dinner's all set," Clark said as he and Kara came into the living room.

"So did you two decide who got to use their heat vision," Eliza asked.

Clark looked at Kara and smiled, "We met half way."

"Like almost everything else," Kara added.

Before anyone could make their way to the dining room, there was a knock on the front door.

"Were we expecting someone," Kara asked.

"I invited Jon," said Alex, "but he said he was going to work. He always works Christmas."

Both Kara and Clark used their x-ray visions.

"Well looks like he changed his mind," Kara said as she went to open the door for him.