"Can I go now?" Kara asked when Alex entered the lamp room.
"Medically speaking, you need to stay here until your powers come back."
"I need to see Alex." Kara corrected.
"I know."
"So?" Kara pressed.
"We could bring Alex here." Alex offered.
"No. I don't want her connected to me, well Supergirl me."
"I get it." Alex said. "As your doctor I can't recommend you leaving. But as your sister, I know why you want to leave and I know you aren't going to stay unless I keep you sedated."
"So I can go?"
"I know you have had to live a long time without powers and during that time you got hurt. So I know you know how dangerous chest injuries can be." Alex said. "So I will take you to Lena's Lab and we can pick up the kids and then take you back to your place. But when you are there you stay there and if you feel anything is wrong mo matter how small it seems you tell me or mom straight away. And if for a second I think you need to be back here I will have your mother bring you back here before you can even start to argue and you will stay here until your powers are back. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Okay then. I will do some final tests on you and check up on the clean up operation, then we will go."
"You're the best." Kara said.
"No, I'm an idiot and a pushover."
-00-
"Talk to me." Alex said entering the command room.
"Still plenty of pockets of violence. At the moment it seems to be the Earth based trouble makers. Local law enforcement are dealing with it. Our guys are still hunting the rest of Mongul's landing forces. We still don't know how many are missing for sure. But from a DEO perspective we have fifty two who have injuries bad enough to not be able to go back out there. And Cody and Reid are still MIA." Hunter reported. "But we are as in control as we have been."
"How are the rotations going?" Alex asked.
"As ordered ma'am."
"And the fleet?"
"Most have left orbit. There are a few stragglers. Hard to tell if that is deliberate or just it takes that long to manoeuvre."
"Could be they are trying to catch us off guard." Alex said.
"Good news, the stragglers are still within the defensive net strike zone, so if they do try anything, they won't be for long."
"Make sure the net stays primed." Alex said. "And when those ships are gone the defensive net upgrade is to be the priority. I want it up and running at full capacity in case they come back." Alex ordered. "Anything else?"
"No Ma'am." He said as Alex notice Ruby was loitering.
"Problem?" She asked.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Ruby asked approaching Alex.
"Sure, what is it?" Alex asked as she followed Ruby into an office. As Alex shut the door she noticed the nervous way everyone was looking at the office and asked. "What have you done?"
"Nothing."
"Then why is everyone looking towards this room like I am about to fire you?"
"Everyone is a pessimist." Ruby said. "Apart from McGarry who probably wants me fired so he is probably feeling optimistic."
"Ruby, I'm really tired. What's going on?"
"As per your orders all the teams have been cycling round and everyone here has had at least six hours off or are at home now, apart from you." Ruby said. "It's time for you to go home."
"Yeah, okay." Alex said.
"What?" Ruby asked, not masking her surprise.
"You're right, I need a break. I need to get Kara home anyway." Alex said leaving the office. As she did so Ruby said to the empty office.
"I really thought that would be harder. I had a speech and everything."
-00-
"This is a mistake." Alex said as she helped her sister towards the car.
"I'm okay." Kara assured her.
"I didn't mean because medically it's the wrong decision, which it is. I meant that mom is going to kill me for letting you do this."
"Don't worry, Alex will protect you." Kara said as she started walking very slowly to the car door.
"If Alex has any sense, which she does, she will side with mom."
"Just remember, no one, not even Alex, can surpass my pout." Kara pointed out.
"I can not wait for the day where Alex proves you wrong on that." Alex said as opened the car door.
"Won't happen." Kara said. "The super pout is my thing."
"She is going to become the master of it, even if I have to train her myself." Alex said frowning at the effort Kara put into sitting in the car.
"You wouldn't." Kara said. "Besides you have benefited from my pout more than anyone. I mean the number of times I used it on Eliza and J'onn for you."
"You only did that when you benefited too." Alex countered. "Plus you used it against me plenty."
"It was the only power I didn't get into trouble for using." Kara reminded her as Alex got into the driver's side, as she did so she looked at Kara again and noticed how hard Kara was working on breathing.
"Change of plans." Alex said.
-00-
As the kids played with Chewie they heard a buzz. Looking round they saw Eliza look at the monitor before keying in a code while frowning.
"Mom?" The teenage Alex asked hopefully.
"No Sweetie, it's just Alex." Eliza said.
"Where's mom?"
"I don't know." Eliza said moving to her granddaughter. "I'm sure Alex will tell us." She added as the doors opened and Alex's two children ran and engulfed her in a hug.
As the adult Alex kissed each one of their heads she looked over to the waiting trio of Alura, Eliza and the teenage Alex. She then released her children and walked towards her niece.
"Mom?" The teenager asked as Eliza kept a strong arm round her.
"Your mom is okay, but she was hurt in the fight." Alex explained. "As a result she has temporarily lost her powers so isn't healing."
"So I can't see her?"
"I wanted to keep her at the DEO. But she refused to stay. So I have taken her back to your apartment where J'onn is watching over her." Seeing the look of disapproval Eliza was giving her the adult Alex said. "We agreed that Kara could go home where she will rest. But if anyone thinks she is getting worse, Alura will fly her to the DEO where she will stay until her powers come back."
"Of course." Alura said.
"So I can see her?" Alex asked.
"Yes. But before then, and this is for all of you. The fighting has stopped, but there are lots of small pockets of violence, so when we are back home, you don't go anywhere without mine or mom's approval."
-00-
"You are as stubborn as your sister." J'onn complained as Kara shifted in the bed, wincing as she did so. "You should still be in the infirmary."
"Then I couldn't see Alex without putting her in danger." Kara pointed out. "Besides I have survived worse beatings."
"That is nothing to be proud of." J'onn pointed out.
"Thank you for what you did out there. I mean pretending to be Alex. You did a scarily good impersonation." She paused and then said. "I'm glad Alex didn't see me like that." She then shut her eyes and J'onn assumed she as falling to sleep again only for Kara to suddenly open her eyes again and say.
"You once told me that people didn't fear my cousin because of his powers, they feared him because of what he might do with those powers if he lost his temper. How many people are now afraid of me because of what I did?"
"You saved the planet." J'onn said.
"I nearly killed Mongul, not out of defence, out of rage."
"But you didn't."
"I was so close."
"Kara, you didn't kill him." J'onn reminded her.
"Because Alex stopped me."
"If you really wanted to kill him, Alex shouting at you wouldn't have stopped you." J'onn pointed out as the front door opened.
"Mom!" The teenage Alex called as she ran into Kara's bedroom.
"Hey." Kara smiled. "Why are you just standing there? Come give me a hug," She said patting the bed.
"Won't that hurt you?"
"You could never hurt me." Kara assured her as Alex sat on the bed and gently hugged her mother. As Kara clung on as tightly as she dared.
"Are you okay?" Her daughter asked.
"I'm fine now I can hug you again." Kara said refusing to release her daughter. But she did look over at her two mothers who stood in the doorway and assured them. "I'm okay."
"You need rest." Alura said sternly.
"You should really be in the infirmary." Eliza added.
"Being round my family is going to help me heal faster." Kara pointed out as Chewie jumped up and sat on her legs. She then looked back at her daughter and asked. "What about you? Are you okay?" When Alex nodded Kara once again recalled the images she had seen in battle and asked. "Are you sure you are okay?"
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" The teenage Alex asked, concerned by the look her mother was giving her.
"I'll always worry about you." Kara said before asking. "So what trouble did you and your cousins get up to?"
"None. Why?" Alex asked without sounding completely innocent. "We worked on my powers though."
"How did that go?" Kara asked as tiredness washed over her.
As Alex started to talk Kara fell to sleep.
-00-
"How are you doing?" J'onn asked as he walked Eliza from Kara's apartment to Alex's house opposite.
"I'm just relieved it is over." She said before asking. "It is over isn't it?"
"I believe so." J'onn said.
"How are Alex and Kara really doing?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Kara is shaken by what happened but is talking about it. But Alex has barely reacted yet." J'onn said. "How were the kids?"
"Surprisingly resilient." Eliza said. "Kara and MJ have always been supportive of each other, but it was still touching to see Alex included in that circle."
"They all take after their mothers." J'onn said.
"I just hope they don't cause as much trouble for my heart." Eliza said.
"Something tells me they will." J'onn replied sympathetically as they reached the door. "Call if you need anything. Even if it is to talk." J'onn said. "I'll see you tomorrow."
-00-
"Are the kids asleep?" Eliza asked as she entered the house just as Alex came downstairs.
"Yes, they are both dead to the world." Alex confirmed.
"Kara is also asleep."
"She's on so many drugs I think she'll probably sleep straight through the night."
"How bad are her injuries?" Eliza asked.
"Not as bad as when she fought Reign, but pretty bad. That said if she can ride out the next couple of days, when her powers return she should be okay, physically speaking."
"And emotionally?"
"I don't know. What ever Mongul made her see really shook her. She's not talked about it in detail yet, but something tells me it is going to take more than two days to get over." Alex said as she looked for her keys.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"I have to go back to work. There is a big clean up operation I need to be there for."
"You need to rest." Eliza said.
"Mom, I am okay. Besides, I haven't actually done anything physically demanding, I was inside the DEO for the whole attack."
"Something we were all grateful for. But just because you weren't on the front line doesn't mean you are not exhausted."
"I know, but everyone is exhausted." Alex countered. "I have to go. But I promise I will take it as easy as I can."