A/N: Finally updating! Sorry it took so long.
Hope you guys enjoy :)
Alex sat by Kara's bedside, hoping against hope that she would wake up. From Maggie's description, Kara had been in a bad way when she was found, and Alex just wanted her to be okay. Maggie had left a while ago to shower and get food, but Alex refused to leave her sister's side.
J'onn came and went occasionally to make sure everything was alright, but he had other matters to attend to that drew his attention away. With the new information his and Alex's team had recovered, they were hoping to bring down Cadmus once and for all.
Alex was scared what Kara had been forced to go through while she was in Camdus' custody. She had attempted to talk to Lillian to pry the information out of her, but Lillian refused to speak. J'onn made any... harsher... methods out of the question, so Alex was left with no information on how to help Kara.
She just had to wait until her sister woke up.
Guilt consumed her as she looked down at her little sister, hooked up to various pieces of machinery, struggling to breathe.
And sadness filled her heart.
-00-
Hours later, Alex was still sitting by Kara's side, head resting by her sister's stomach. She had just gone for a tiny nap when Maggie entered the room. She walked over and gave Alex a kiss. "How's Little Danvers?"
Alex sighed. "Still no sign of waking up. Mags, I'm really worried. I don't know what Cadmus did to her, and I don't know if she'll come out of this. I don't know how to help her... I just... don't know. I feel so helpless."
Maggie looped her arm around the taller brunette's shoulders and took a seat. "Don't worry, Little Danvers is tough. Always has been. She'll make it, I know it. You just have to believe, okay?"
Alex nodded, not entirely reassured, but leaned into her fiancee's comforting embrace.
And they sat by Kara's bedside the rest of the night.
-00-
Two days passed before Kara finally woke. She opened her eyes slowly, coughing due to her dry throat. Alex immediately grasped her hand while Maggie ran to grab some water. Alex eyed her sister with worry. "Kara, oh my god! Thank goodness you're awake! How are you feeling?"
Kara gratefully accepted the water from Maggie and drank it. "Not the best."
She took a moment to finish off the water. "How long was I gone?"
Maggie glanced at Alex momentarily before focusing back on Kara. "Just short of a week. Then we got you back, and you were out for a couple more days."
Kara just stared at them. "They had me for a week?" Alex slowly nodded.
"But... I thought it was just a couple days... I was shot- I couldn't have survived a week if I was shot..." Alex gently nudged her. "You made a tourniquet out of your shirt sleeve, remember? Maggie found it in your cell. You stopped the blood flow long enough for you to make it."
Kara slowly took in the detail. "Maggie found it... Maggie... found me..." She then glanced up at her big sister. "Where were you?"
Alex felt her heart sink. "Winn couldn't narrow down your location all the way, he was only able to get it down to two potential sites. Maggie went to the one you were at, while J'onn and I went to the other one. I'm sorry I wasn't there. You know I would have been there if I could."
Kara shook her head. "Maybe... Maybe Lillian was right."
Maggie just looked at her. "Right about what?"
"That maybe it took so long to get me because nobody was looking for me." Alex stared at her in disbelief. "Kara, no..."
Her sister interrupted. "I was there for a week! At what point did anyone even notice I was missing?" Maggie just looked down, unable to meet Kara's teary blue eyes.
Alex looked at her, guilt flooding her body. "Kara, I didn't know... I thought you were just mad at me, and that you needed space-"
Kara just stared right back at her. "So the whole week I was with Lillian, what were you doing? Just hanging out with your fiancee, weren't you? Too busy to even notice I was gone."
Maggie shook her head. "No, Kara. That's not how it was. I know you're tired and angry right now, but you can't blame Alex for this... Maybe we should just leave you to get some rest. We'll check back on you in the morning, okay?"
Kara just shrugged.
"Fine."
-00-
Back at their apartment, Alex was staring down a bottle of beer, trying desperately not to drink it. They had left Kara to her own devices, though in hindsight, they probably shouldn't have, and now Kara blamed her for being captured.
Maggie walked over and gently shoved the bottle of liquor away. She then approached Alex slowly and wrapped her arms around her. "I know you feel horrible about all this, but none of it is your fault, Danvers."
Alex just shook her head. "It is, though. We got into that fight because I had been neglecting her when she needed me the most. And even after that fight, which should have been a wake up call to me, I still decided to let her be. It took me days to even realize she was missing, let alone the fact of actually finding her location and assembling teams. And even when she was freed, it was you who was there to help her, not me. I should have been there. Every opportunity I was given, I messed up. And she blames me... rightfully so."
Maggie just sighed. "She needs you, though. You need to forgive yourself for this, even if she can't, because she needs you to be there for her. You know how stubborn she can be, so you just have to go in there tomorrow morning and show her that you've listened to what she said. That you're ready to be the person she needs you to be. With time, she'll come to realize that you were there. And that's what is important. She'll forgive you, Danvers. She always does. You just need to forgive yourself."
Alex leaned into Maggie's comforting arms. "I can't- She won't..."
Nobody could stop what came next. She broke down in tears, crying into Maggie's shoulder.
Maggie just tightened her embrace and whispered. "Shhh. Everything will be okay, Danvers. I promise."
As always, have a blessed day :)