The broad smile was stuck to the Ragh'tah's face, as she turned back to face her audience, moving to the easel on the front of the stage. The auctioneer had moved back to his lectern and moved towards his microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, while it's happening! The first pieces of artwork from miss Hayes' collection, the-…"
Alex watched a woman run up the stage and whisper something in the auctioneer's ear. The man frowned, and whispered something back while covering the microphone, causing the crowd to murmur weakly.
"Uh… Ladies and gentlemen! Let's start off with… uh…" The man hesitated. The alien noticed his stumbling, and looked confused, getting up from the small stool she was sat on. "What's going on?"
The man moved away from his lectern, and smiled at the audience, before moving towards the alien, whispering lowly so that the crowd wouldn't understand. "The paintings, ma'am. They're all damaged."
"Damaged?!" She hissed back. "What do you mean, damaged?!"
"Somebody must have had a knife, I… They're all ripped."
A weak smirk appeared on Alex's face. Thanks, Violet.
It took three seconds for the alien to shriek in rage; the sound making a wince go through the entire theatre.
She got up, and ran towards Alex, pulling her back by the hair. A shocked gasp went through the room, making Alex scoff. Really. Now they care.
"What did you do, you bitch?!" She yelled. Alex felt the legs of her chair rise up from the stage floor as she was tilted back. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw the auctioneer putting a hand on the alien's shoulder.
But before the man could say anything, the Ragh'tah let go of her abruptly. Her face turned back into the broad smirk it had been earlier. "Of course not… No, it wasn't you. You don't have the balls…"
Alex's stomach turned as she watched her turn around and face a weak and semi-conscious Maggie.
"… Of course it was her."
In that moment, all hell broke loose.
Alex jumped forward to shove herself in the alien's direction, her mind only on Maggie's safety. The alien lunged at Maggie with open mouth, probably to spit her toxin at her to finally end it.
And at the same time, the lights in the theatre went out.
What followed was absolute chaos, as Alex's front found the back of the alien and she tackled her to the ground as best as she could. The screaming of the attendees now running to the exit barely registering, as she was focused on protecting her lover.
"Alex!" She heard a familiar voice, but she couldn't hear where it was coming from over the noise of people running to the exits blindly, the shrieks of rage that the alien was still emitting, and her own heart beating wildly in her chest.
Out of nowhere, a bright flash of light made her eyes burn, as she witnessed two laser-like beams shooting in her direction.
They were bright enough to now see that they were aimed at the alien in front of her. Alex didn't hesitate; she jumped on top of the alien to hold it in place, as she realized that the laser beams were actually the heat vision of Kara, who had finally come to their rescue.
She started punching blindly at the figure underneath her, until she felt the alien go limp. She must have knocked her out. Or maybe she was dead.
She didn't care either way.
The next seconds might as well have been hours, as the darkness made her lose all track of time.
"Everyone is out!" Another voice yelled out. Alex looked up blindly in the dark to where it came from, as she heard footsteps approaching, followed by a loud dragging and scraping sound. Violet.
Seconds later, the lights were switched back on. Alex closed her eyes instinctively against the brightness, before pushing them open, willing to make sense of the hectic situation.
Kara was standing next to her. Violet was near the edge of the stage, dragging an unconscious Rick Cooper along with her and lowering a set of night vision goggles. Below her was the Ragh'tah, who seemed unconscious. And still slumped forward tied to the seat, was Maggie.
Alex ran towards her immediately, trusting that her sister would take care of the alien, but she was stopped by Kara's hand. "I'll take her to the DEO."
The step away from Maggie she had to take to let her sister pass was the most painful one she'd ever taken; but at least Maggie was awake. Her rattled breathing, and unfocused eyes staring into Alex's comforted the agent, at least slightly.
She was going to be fine.
Kara took Maggie in her arms and shot up, leaving Alex alone with Violet, and the two unconscious forms on the floor.
"You alright there, Danvers?" Violet asked, dropping Cooper onto the ground unceremoniously to walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
Alex could only breathe in relief, as she looked up at the other woman. "Are you staying in National City?"
Violet chuckled weakly, and tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"
"I could use someone who has my back like you do."
The blonde laughed, even as the doors flew open once again, and the other DEO agents poured inside. And for the first time in a long time, Alex felt herself laughing too, reveling in the fact that everything was going to be okay.
Brittany Armstrong. 41-year old nurse.
Caroline Woodson, 22. A stripper at a bar.
Ella Sands, 17. Straight A-student.
Florence Bates, 39. An event manager.
Four murders, in September 2012. Happening on a Friday. Four women left behind in dumpsters, overdosed on an unknown drug.
And what had connected them?
Scarlet's drug.
All of the women had approached Scarlet on the day of their murders to buy her drugs. After taking it, they got high, but also completely submissive to the alien's will. So when Rick Cooper approached them later that evening, they went along willingly.
The fifth week, there was no murder. Because the alien had moved away to Europe to escape conviction, after Cooper began to get immune to her toxin and started to ask questions.
When she finally moved back a few months ago, she went through different accomplices. One evening brought her to Maggie Sawyer in the dive bar. She made out with her, fed her the drug, and they kidnapped a young woman together, moving her to an abandoned warehouse where the alien painted her.
But when Ian Hayes picked up the cold case after it was supposed to go away, Rick saw no other option but to threaten him to leave it alone. He contacted Jade when Ian wouldn't listen, and Jade disposed of him. Seeing that her father-in-law had roped Maggie into it, she started looking into her.
With the entire Montana situation happening just a few weeks prior, the alien had realized that it was too dangerous to let Maggie investigate. She pulled Rick into keeping an eye on her, even putting Holmes on the track of investigating Maggie herself as the culprit.
At least, that was Rick Cooper's side of the story.
Alex closed her notepad and leaned back, folding her arms. "Is that your final answer?"
"It's the truth." Rick frowned. "She kept me sedated with that poison of hers. I couldn't think for myself, I had to hurt those women. I didn't want to."
"So, the sole reason that those women were murdered was because they bought her drug?" Alex raised an eyebrow. Cooper shrugged. "Look, I don't know her thought process. She probably picked out people that looked nice on her canvas or some creepy shit like that. You should know, if she picked you too."
Alex winced involuntarily, before putting the smile back up. "Right, let's leave it here for now, and get you escorted back to the nice comfort of your cell, mister Cooper."
She nodded at the agents standing near the door, and followed them out of the room.
"Agent Danvers!"
Alex turned around to see Violet, still in the dress, walking over to her. "I just heard back from Supergirl. Maggie's out of surgery. Everything went well, she should be waking up soon."
Alex took a deep breath, and nodded. "That's…"
She couldn't finish the sentiment, because words couldn't describe the feeling of everything finally turning out okay. Violet smirked. "You should go see her. She'll want to wake up with you by her side."
"Where are you headed?" Alex asked, after taking a few steps in the direction of the med bay. Violet turned around. "Talking to J'onn. Seeing if somebody can take over my mission in Australia. I still have some business here, with the funerals…"
Alex nodded slowly, a concerned frown on her face. "Well, if you need help… anything. Financially, or just someone to talk to… I'm here for you. And I'm sure Maggie feels the same. And you're totally welcome to stay at ours until you get settled."
"Nah, I couldn't ask that. Especially with everything that happened… I'll be fine, Danvers."
"It's Alex." The agent smiled. "And I meant what I said. I'd love to have you on any mission, with how you handled yourself out there."
"I'll keep it in mind."
Alex watched as the blonde walked off, and finally made her way into the med bay.
The first thing she noticed was Kara, still in her uniform, sitting at Maggie's bedside. The detective looked pale, a nasal cannula still feeding her a steady supply of oxygen. But she was looking at Kara, and Alex heard the sound of her voice.
That voice still managed to make her stomach flutter with butterflies.
As soon as she stepped into the room, Kara looked up and vacated the seat immediately. "I'll come by later, okay?"
"Thank you, Kara." Maggie smiled, her voice raspy yet gorgeous, as Kara crossed her sister and smiled at her. "You alright?"
"I am now." Alex returned the smile, as she was left alone with Maggie and ran up to her side immediately. "Hey, babe…"
"Hey." Maggie laughed weakly, staring up at Alex with adoring eyes.
"It's over." Was all Alex could think of in that moment. She watched Maggie chuckle, and nod.
"God, I was terrified, Maggie." Alex finally confessed, taking Maggie's hand in her own and kissing her forehead. "I thought I lost you."
"I'm still here, Alex." Maggie croaked, pulling her down to kiss her lips properly for the first time in what felt like forever. Alex returned the kiss eagerly, before the two of them pulled away, resting their foreheads together.
"I love you, so much." Alex whispered, feeling tears well up in her eyes at the sheer relief of being together. Maggie nodded, moving her arm up to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. "I love you too, Alex."
As Alex settled on the chair next to her again, and held her hand close to her heart, Maggie looked at her. "Did you… talk to her?"
Alex didn't need another question to know that Maggie was asking about the Ragh'tah.
But she smiled at Maggie and kissed the back of her hand anyway. "No. She was moved over to the secure facility in the desert. Why? Do you… want to…?"
Maggie thought about the question for a few seconds. "I'm… not sure."
"Yeah, me neither." Alex laughed, before shaking her head. "Don't think about it. Let's just focus on getting you better, okay?"
"The bullet stopped at the muscle around the abdomen… Or something like that." Maggie's face scrunched up in thought, as she tried to remember the doctor's explanation. "I got lucky. Just a lot of blood, no organ damage."
Alex nodded. She knew that the sight of Maggie's blood on her hands would haunt her.
One more on her list of traumatic experiences.
"Should just take a few weeks to heal, but I'll be fine."
Alex moved forward to kiss Maggie once again. "I'm going to call Kara, and tell her that we're moving the timetable up."
"What timetable?" Maggie asked.
"The wedding. We're getting married the second you're okay, like we said. A month from now, maybe. We can crash some venue, invite our friends, some family, and just… never be apart again."
"You know, that might be one of the most romantic things you've ever said, Danvers."
"That's Mrs. Danvers to you."
Maggie smirked. Mrs. Danvers.
She liked the way it sounded.
Weeks later, when the both of them were standing in front of the handful of people that they considered close, Maggie didn't hesitate to say 'I do' at the prospect of spending the rest of her life with Alex by her side as her wife.
And Alex, having lost the bet of who was going to cry first ever since she saw Maggie looking stunning in her dress, had never felt happier in her life than when she returned those two words, and wrapped her arms around Maggie's neck to kiss her.
The end.
A/N: Thank you to all of you for reading, if you've made it to the end of the story. It was a rollercoaster for me too, but I'm so blessed to have you all leaving such wonderful feedback, and putting a smile on my face time and time again. I don't know what the future holds in terms of my Sanvers fanfics, but I'll definitely stick around. I love you guys so much, thank you again!
-S