A/N: Thanks for the reviews.
Baratta jennifer -more support will be needed for poor Kara.
"Morning Sweetie." Eliza said when her granddaughter came into the kitchen the next morning with Chewie.
"Hi."
"You okay? You look a little tired." Eliza said.
"Mom had a bad nightmare last night." The teen explained.
"Is she okay now?"
"Alex came over and they talked for ages, which seemed to help, I mean she is asleep now."
"I know you are worried about her, but if she is talking rather than bottling things up that is a good thing." Eliza said.
"I know."
"Hey." MJ said walking into the kitchen. Seeing his cousin he asked. "Am I late?"
"Yes." The teenage Alex said.
"Sorry." He said disappearing again before returning with his bag. "See you later." He said to Eliza grabbing a bag of food off the table and heading to the door.
"Have a good day." Eliza called after him before looking at the teenage Alex. "I'll keep an eye on your mom."
00
"Morning Sweetie." Eliza entering Kara's apartment.
"Hi." Kara greeted before guessing. "Alex told you?"
"She said you had a nightmare and that you and your sister talked a lot." Eliza said.
"I'm okay."
"Who are you trying to convince with that answer?" Eliza asked.
"Myself?" Kara questioned back.
"At least you are recognising that." Eliza commented. "Are you going to work today?"
"Yes, I have to get a story finished."
"Okay, well I will meet you there at twelve."
"Why?"
"Lunch."
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
"Kara, my wrist is fine. It does not require me to be confined to bed."
"I just worry about you." Kara said.
"And I love you for that, but you need to worry about yourself." Eliza said. "Besides, you need to eat."
00
As Eliza stood in the CatCo office waiting for Kara a young woman approached her.
"Excuse me, are you Kara's mother?" The woman questioned.
"Yes, I'm just waiting for Kara."
"She will be about ten minutes. In the mean time Ms Grant would like to see you and I'm not sure it was a request, so if you could come with me?" The woman asked nervously.
"Of course." Eliza smiled following her into Cat's office before being shown onto the balcony.
"Drink?" Cat offered when she saw Eliza.
"No, I'm fine thanks."
"Are you sure? Kara will be another thirty minutes." Cat said.
"Then some coffee would be nice." Eliza smiled.
"I'll bring some in." The assistant said rushing off.
"Of course based on this morning's cup you may regret that choice." Cat said pointing to a chair, which Eliza sat on.
"Is Kara okay?" Eliza asked.
"You tell me." Cat said. "Actually don't your face already has." She commented as the assistant came in with two cups of coffee.
"Thank you." Eliza said taking one of the cups from the assistant who then scampered from the office.
"She seems lost." Cat commented.
"Not having her powers has freed up her time. Time which she is spending questioning all her decisions, not to mention actually face up to all she has been through." Eliza explained.
"Which is driving an unhealthy guilt complex?" Cat asked.
"Something like that." Eliza confirmed. "Has she said anything to you?"
"No. But then again I only got back into the city this morning." Cat said.
"I'm pretty sure until she gets her powers back she will doubt everything." Eliza said.
"I wouldn't be so sure, she survived for years without powers." Cat reminded her.
"While part of me knows that, I have only ever known her with powers." Eliza countered. "And the Kara I see is very different from the Kara the world sees. And right now as you said she is lost."
"Maybe, but she has been lost before and her family as always helped her find her way back."
00
"Brett Chandler has disappeared." Lena said as she entered Alex's office.
"What do you mean disappeared?" Alex asked looking up.
"Just that? He phoned in sick last Friday and no one has seen him since. His PA contacted the police this morning. But what they have uncovered I don't know."
"I'll look into it." Vasquez said.
"Any other business people disappearing?" Alex asked.
"Not that I have heard, but it isn't something that is normally advertised." Lena said. "But there is an unofficial but strong PA network and my PA has a seat at the table. They will let me know if anything else strange happens."
"Thank you." Alex said. "But if he has been taken a bigger question is if this isn't coincidence, how did they know we were looking into him? I am ninety percent certain we aren't being bugged." Alex said. "Could they be targeting you?"
"Yes and I am searching for leaks as we speak. Another possibility is Sam."
"Why would they bug Sam?" Alex asked.
"Genetically speaking they must have an interest in her. And ignoring that, she is connected to us. If they know they can't bug us, she is an easy mark." Lena said. "I'm going to go visit her this weekend, I will try to get to the bottom of it."
"Thanks." Alex said. "And if she is being bugged, please apologise for me." Alex said.
"Of course." Lena said. "But I could be wrong about this."
"That's why we'll do a full sweep here." Alex said.
"I'll let you know what I turn up." Lena said turning and leaving.
00
"I don't get it." Kara said breathlessly as she stopped punching the virtual bag that afternoon.
"Get what?" Steve asked.
"Why humans do this? It is so much work."
"You mean keep fit or more specifically using punchbags or play computer games?" Steve asked.
"First two."
"Well you know fitness is good for the heart and soul."
"Really doesn't feel good for my heart." Kara said. "Should it beat this fast? And for so long?"
"Surely when you fight Lobo or you fought Mongol your heart raced?"
"Yeah, but that was to save the planet. This is for, well I don't know what." Kara said.
"Stress relief?" Steve suggested.
"Pizza works better." Kara said.
"Noted." He replied giving her some water. "But your body will thank me tomorrow."
"Really? Because my muscles are burning. When I punch cars I don't ache this much and my heart is so much slower." She said still breathless as the front door opened.
"Hi." Her daughter greeted, sounding confused as she walked in with Martin.
"Hey." Kara smiled.
"What's going on?" The teenage Alex asked.
"Steve was showing he has a sadistic side like your aunt." Kara said.
"You okay?"
"She's fine." Steve said.
"What about you? You sound like you are on the verge of a heart attack." Martin pointed out.
"I'm fine." Steve said. "Plus now you can't complain about pizza for dinner."
"Pretty sure I can." Martin said.
"So do you guys want to go out to eat or get takeaway?" Steve asked the teens.
"Are you actually okay going out?" The teenage Alex asked her mother who was panting heavily.
"I'm fine." Kara said. "Although I should probably shower if we are going out. Do you want to ask your grandmother if she wants to come?"
"Sure."
"Okay, I'll see you over there in ten minutes." Kara wheezed.
"You going to be okay by yourself?" Alex asked.
"I'm fine." Kara said waving off the concern.
00
"Seeing you aren't burning calories shouldn't you lay off the cheese?" The teenage Alex asked her mother as she took another slice of pizza.
"Wow, talk about kicking someone when they are down." Kara replied. "Besides I burnt plenty this afternoon."
"She did give it her all." Steve confirmed to Alex just as the room started shaking.
"Quick, under the table." Steve instructed.
As the ceiling started to fall the teenage Alex erected a forcefield round the group as Kara sat feeling useless at not being able to do anything as other patrons took cover or fled from the restaurant.
As the shaking finally stopped Steve said. "We should get out of here." He then looked round and saw a beam dangling dangerously from the ceiling, directly over their route to the door. As other patrons scrambled for the door the beam shook and looked increasing dangerous.
Following his gaze Alex saw the beam about to fall on a family and shifted her forcefield so it held the beam in place.
"Don't know how long I can hold it for." The teen said as the other patrons escaped, oblivious to what the teen was doing.
"You're doing great." Kara said.
"What if I get it wrong-" The teen asked.
"Alex you can do it, I believe in you." Kara said before looking at the others and saying.
"Go."
Nodding Steve crawled out first before helping Martin and Eliza out of the restaurant as Kara waited with her daughter.
"You need to go." The teen said.
"I'm not leaving you." Kara said.
"You can get hurt, I can't." The teen reminded her.
"Doesn't matter. We go together." Kara said.
"This is a bad idea." The teen muttered as she started to move with her mother towards the door.
Straining to move and focus Alex tried to hold on until her mother was safe. But each passing second made it harder. As they neared the door Alex lost focus and the beam started to fall just as Kara and Alex felt a hand on their arms before they were dragged to safety.
As they lay on the floor Kara looked at her daughter and asked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Alex panted before looking up at Steve. "Thanks."
"No problem." He smiled as he helped them to their feet. As he did so he looked at Kara and said. "This is why we work on fitness."
"No one likes a know it all." Kara said. "But thanks." She added as her daughter saw blood coming from her mother's head.
"You're cut." The teen said.
"It's nothing." Kara smiled.
"But-" Alex started only for Kara to cut in.
"It's nothing." Kara said as she saw part of the wall start to break free and head for Eliza. On instinct Kara moved as fast as she could, but without her powers she barely got to Eliza before the stone fell. Pushing Eliza against the wall Kara tried to cover her as best she could and waited for the inevitable pain. When she didn't feel anything she looked round and saw the masonry fly off to the side. Turning the other way she saw her daughter focusing on the masonry.
"You okay?" Kara asked Eliza as she pulled back.
"I think so. Does that mean your powers are back?" She asked not knowing what had happened.
"No. Alex saved us." Kara said although she started to feel different. It was then that she started to hear something, faintly at first before growing louder.
"Mom?" Alex asked seeing her mother looking spaced out.
"MJ!" Kara said before taking to the sky.
"Guess her powers are back?" Steve said. "We should get off the street before anything else happens."