I Cant Believe Were Here Again

Chapter Text

With a gasp, Alex hurtled out of an anguished dream into the dimly lit confines of her office. Laying in that location, panting and damp, she tried to collect her wits. She didn't call up falling comatose, or J'onn apparently conveying her to the pocket-size, black leather couch. The but thing she remembered was a grainy video of Maggie and the desperation that followed.

Hope I come across you around, Danvers. Simply not for a long time, okay?

The retention propelled Alex off the couch, and she well-nigh tripped in a coating someone had thrown over her equally she ran toward the medbay. J'onn, Winn, or Kara would accept woken her if Maggie'south condition deteriorated, correct? Or would they retrieve they were doing her a kindness, letting Maggie slip away and sparing Alex the pain of watching her go?

Fright wound tighter in her chest until Alex skidded to a stop in the doorway. Her knees most buckled when she constitute her sister keeping lookout man in her absence.

Kara flashed her a small-scale, hesitant smile and brought a finger to her lips before Alex could speak. Jamie was fast comatose in her lap, her head resting on Kara'south shoulder. Kara had covered her with a corner of her cape to keep Jamie warm, and Alex didn't know what to make of them. A thin tendril of jealousy snaked through her, but Alex brushed it aside. She had other things to worry almost.

Nauseous from too much adrenaline, too little sleep, and no food since breakfast, Alex wiped a hand over her mouth as she approached the stasis pod. Her gaze swept Maggie'due south vitals signs. There was negligible improvement, but Maggie was holding her own.

"You're not going anywhere, Sawyer," Alex pledged in a whisper, staring through the frosted glass while Maggie slept on, unaware. Alex ached to touch her, to concord her paw, to sweep her thumb over Maggie's jaw...

The chair creaked when Kara stood. She laid Jamie, still clutching her threadbare rabbit, onto the bed and tucked her in. Alex eyed them, struck past the soft, charmed wait on Kara's features. Her blue optics were total of affection equally she swept a lock of pilus from Jamie'south cheek.

Kara jerked her chin toward the doorway, and Alex followed her into the tranquility, empty hall. They faced each other, unsure where to begin.

"Cheers." Alex figured that was a practiced place to start. "For staying with her. With them."

Kara shrugged, the gesture stiff and uncomfortable. "I thought you'd want me to. Yous get any rest?"

Alex slumped against the physical wall and aptitude at the waist, setting her easily on her knees as she willed her nerves to end jangling. "Some. What time is it?"

"A little past 1. Dr. Hamilton came by an hour ago. She'south staying the night in her office in example y'all need her, but she said Maggie is hanging in in that location for at present."

Alex nodded. She owed Hamilton a drink when this was over. Something expensive.

"When was the final time you ate?" Kara drifted closer, and Alex straightened, too tired to bristle at being mothered.

"I had toast this forenoon. Yesterday morning time," Alex corrected with a grimace. "I was besides excited to eat."

Kara gripped her shoulders, and Alex swayed on her feet, struggling not to come apart at the seams again. Maggie needed her to hold it together and and then did Jamie. Any more meltdowns would have to look.

"I'm sad," Kara murmured, and Alex's gaze flicked to her sis'south face. "I didn't say that earlier, but I am sorry, Alex. I never imagined yous'd find out about Jamie similar this. I knew you lot'd be upset when Maggie told you, but–"

"I get it. I don't similar it, but I become it." Alex tunneled a hand through her hair and let her head thump back against the wall. "And Maggie told me not to be mad at you. That you were just trying to help."

"So... does that mean you lot're not mad anymore?" Kara tone lightened with a hint of cautious teasing.

Alex glared, but the endeavour lacked menace. "I'k still mad, simply a tad less. Just a tad."

She was coming to grips with Maggie's choices and why the people Alex loved had honored them. They'd put Jamie start, and that meant Alex came last. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Alex suspected she would accept done the aforementioned. That knowledge was cold condolement though, and it sure as hell didn't stop the truth from clawing up her insides like a bitch.

"Fair enough, simply I'm here for the iii of you. No matter what. Tell me what to do. How can I assistance?"

Alex sighed. "Jamie. She'll need apparel. If you lot could…"

Kara stepped dorsum, jumping at the chance to be useful. "I'll go a few days worth. And something for Maggie to wear when she wakes upward. You get food. Eat something. That'due south an order."

At least Kara said when not if, Alex mused. A idea struck her as Kara turned to leave. "And become Pop-Tarts."

"Popular-Tarts?" Kara's brow crinkled. "Aren't you too old for those?"

"Says the superhero with several flavors in her pantry. They aren't for me. You'll probably notice some at Maggie'southward place. Jamie likes them, I guess."

Kara's gaze softened, and she looked at Alex much like she'd looked at Jamie a few minutes before. "Maggie has the cutest kid, doesn't she?"

"She's beautiful," Alex confessed in a hushed voice, and for a moment, she allow become of her injure, desperately needing her sister. "God, Kara, Maggie has a child. That cute little daughter looks but like her. When I pictured having a daughter with Maggie, Jamie is exactly what I dreamed of. So... just when I allow that dream go if information technology meant getting Maggie back, this happens. And now, I might not… Kara, what if I'm left with nothing?"

Her breath choked into a sob, and Alex didn't resist when Kara pulled her into a hug and squeezed as difficult equally she could.

"Don't give up on those dreams, Alex. Any of them. Maggie will make it, and y'all ii will get your happy ending. Okay?"

"I hope and then." Alex fisted her hands in Kara's greatcoat, clinging to that hope with everything she had.

***

The lock snapped with a ping every bit Kara forced open Maggie'south balustrade door. Below, National City was eerily placidity this fourth dimension of dark. Kara held her jiff, waiting for an warning to sound or a neighbor to investigate, but in that location was nothing but the wind, the afar ocean, and the low murmur of television sets keeping people company while they couldn't slumber.

"I'll simply have the DEO gear up that," she muttered, closing the door behind her.

Using her x-ray vision, Kara located a duffle bag in the coat cupboard. She retrieved information technology and tucked two boxes of Pop-Tarts from the pantry within, approval of the flavors. Wildlicious Wild Drupe was the best.

A quick trip to the hall bath netted her Jamie's toiletries. Kara scowled when she spotted Wonder Woman on the pink handle of Jamie'southward tiny toothbrush.

"I idea I was your favorite..." Kara grumbled. With a huff, she put the toothbrush in a plastic holder and stuffed information technology in the bag.

Maggie'due south bedroom was adjacent. The bonsai trees and travel books that occupied shelves in Alex'due south apartment were nowhere to exist seen. A stack of unpacked boxes sat in the corner, coated with grit. No photos or fine art adorned the walls. Hotel rooms had more style and personality.

Maggie slept here, nothing more.

Kara packed the essentials first. Jeans, boots, and a black henley followed. She trailed her fingers over Maggie's clothes. Her taste was so similar to Alex's it made Kara smile and milk shake her head. The pair did love their tees and flannels.

Finished collecting Maggie'southward things from the master bath and eager to get back to Alex, Kara wandered downwardly the hall to Jamie'southward room. She turned on the light, and a soft snort escaped.

The walls were painted sky blueish and dotted with white, puffy clouds. Kara's crest was the focal point on the navy bedspread, on proud brandish in the middle of Jamie'south twin bed. Kara smirked, mollified about the toothbrush.

"Have that, Wonder Woman."

Kara could well imagine Maggie'due south confront when she paid for all this, and she chuckled.

It struck her then, why Maggie's room was so empty, and her smile faded. Maggie had given Jamie everything she needed to feel at home, even when those sacrifices came at Maggie's expense. She'd often done the same with Alex, giving of herself once more and again, even if it meant having null left for herself.

Maggie was a good mother. A expert cop. A good fiancée and friend. The world couldn't beget to lose her. Alex and Jamie couldn't.

Kara couldn't.

The emotions she'd stuffed downwardly since finding Maggie on that warehouse floor rushed over her, and Kara sank onto the edge of the bed. Solitary, where Alex couldn't see how scared she was, Kara let the tears come. She cried for Maggie, lone in the dark and fighting to stay alive. For Jamie, watching some other parent endure and perhaps die. For Alex, and the agony her sister was in.

And Kara cried for the girl who'd lost her world and was terrified of losing the only person who made this ane feel similar home. Considering if Alex lost Maggie now, again, she would never recover, never exist the same.

***

Alex's cheek was common cold, as was her arm through her long-sleeve DEO polo. She blinked awake and lifted her caput, the muscles in her neck protesting her awkward position. Early on morning sunlight streamed through the windows, bathing the curves of Maggie's face in a soft glow simply inches from Alex's fingertips. She must take fallen dorsum asleep slumped over the pod, as close as she could get absent opening the lid and joining Maggie in stasis.

Information technology was her to the lowest degree favorite way to wake up beside Maggie, Alex decided, every bit her mind wandered over happier memories, mornings wrapped in Maggie'southward arms, pressed into the mattress by the weight of her as she lowered her head for a osculation.

She hated remembering what it was similar to exist happy.

Straightening, Alex closed her eyes and stretched her arms to a higher place her head, hearing her vertebrae pop one-by-one. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing her mind to focus, for Maggie. For Jamie.

Her eyes snapped open to find Jamie sitting cross-legged on the bed where Kara left her. Hunched over a sketchpad almost besides big for her, the small, steady scrape of her pencil on the page was barely aural over the low hum of the pod'due south frazzle.

Jamie's brow furrowed in concentration was an echo of Maggie, and Alex wondered if the ache at seeing reflections of the mother in the child would ever get away. If only Maggie were awake, it might not be and so sharp, then painful, like the tip of a pocketknife slowly pushed between her ribs.

"Morning time," Alex greeted hesitantly.

Jamie didn't expect up, her focus consumed by her drawing, her tongue peeking out between her teeth. Finally, she acknowledged Alex's words with an ascertainment. "That looked uncomfortable."

Alex chuckled. "Information technology was. I, ah, didn't mean to fall asleep. How long have you been up?"

"A while." Jamie shrugged a shoulder, her mental attitude years beyond her historic period, and Alex got a glimpse of what she might be similar equally a teenager. Heaven assistance Maggie, and her, if she got to be so lucky.

Maggie's vitals were steady, but the lack of comeback was worrisome. Steady meant not dying, merely not recovering either. Schooling her expression when she defenseless Jamie sneaking a glance at her, Alex shook off her remaining lethargy. Time to get back to piece of work and brand Maggie ameliorate.

After breakfast, Alex amended, when Jamie'south breadbasket growled.

Alex spied a duffle purse sitting in the corner and snagged it, feeling a precipitous, cardboard border stab her hip. "Supergirl brought you some supplies. Clean clothes in case you want to shower and change afterwards breakfast."

"Tin I take a bath?" Jamie asked as she closed her sketchbook and slid it into a small haversack, zipping it close with more force than needed. Her arms crossed her chest and her lips curled into a pout.

Alex stifled a grin, sure Jamie wouldn't appreciate beingness told she was cute when she was being stubborn. Maggie hadn't. "I'm sure that can be arranged." Alex tried to remember if there was anything in the DEO resembling a tub. "Yous need a hand?"

"No." Jamie rolled over and slid downward, her legs dangling, nowhere near long enough to reach the ground. She dropped the last human foot and landed heavily, and Alex couldn't suppress a quiet giggle. Jamie's effort at an intimidating glare was so obviously copied from Maggie, information technology nearly made Alex express mirth harder. "These beds are loftier," she complained.

"We'll become you a comfortable chair and, um, a stepstool."

Jamie stared at her for a moment, unsure if she was being fabricated fun of, before she walked closer to Alex and eyed the quiet hall beyond the door. Her bright bluish hoodie popped against the grim colors and high walls, making her seem impossibly small.

Alex reached out her paw, and her heart swelled at the small gesture of trust when Jamie took information technology and let Alex guide her.

The few agents moving virtually at this hr smiled and said hi, and each response from Jamie was a bit brighter. By the time they reached the break room, a spot of normalcy with a worn couch, tables, and kitchen appliances, Jamie'southward mood had lightened considerably.

There were two boxes of Pop-Tarts in the duffle, and Alex held them up for Jamie. "Then which 1 is your favorite?"

"That one." Jamie indicated the rainbow-decorated box. "Are you going to have ane besides?"

"I haven't had breakfast yet," Alex mused as she set a plate down beside Jamie'due south glass of milk. She picked upwards the boxes again, pretending to weigh the pros and cons of the different flavors. She hadn't had a Pop-Tart in years. "Which one should I have?"

"Maggie likes that one." Jamie pointed to the strawberry-flavored multifariousness, non, Alex noted, her favorite.

"Is that right?" The notion that Maggie Sawyer, of dry, double-toasted bagels and vegan ice cream fame, would have a favorite Pop-Tart flavor tickled Alex to no terminate.

"Yeah. She pretended to similar the other kind cuz I like it, but I can tell." Breaking the pastry into pieces on her plate, Jamie demolished her breakfast, leaving a smear of reddish-imperial filling beyond her cheek equally she tried to shove an over-big piece into her mouth.

"Well, I'll try your favorite commencement, if you don't mind sharing." That earned her an eye coil, simply with less attitude than before. Alex joined her at the tabular array and shifted 1 of her pastries to Jamie's empty plate. She would accept to send Kara out for a real meal soon. Something that resembled protein rather than cardboard with icing on top. "So you like to depict?"

"Yeah."

No details were forthcoming, and Jamie drew a napkin across her face, getting most of the filling off, before returning her attending to her plate as the awkward silence intensified.

Alex'southward fingers drummed on her coffee mug as she picked at her Pop-Tart. She could do this. Jamie was a child, not an eight-pes alien, although facing off with marauders was very highly-seasoned right about now.

"When I came in last nighttime, you were snuggled in Supergirl's cape. You like Supergirl?"

"Yeah." The look Jamie shot Alex was a mixture of concern and exasperation. She hesitated, her expression scrunching up before asking, "Why exercise yous call your sister Supergirl?"

Alex virtually sprayed her coffee across the table as she choked on it. As information technology was, she prepare the loving cup downward so hard the hot liquid sloshed out. That, at least, earned her a laugh from Jamie and a glimpse of those dimples on full display. Alex did her all-time not to stare.

"What, what do you mean?" Alex grabbed a handful of napkins and mopped up the coffee.

"Aunt Kara's your sister, right?"

Alex nodded. She needed the total story of how 'Aunt Kara' came to be. Maybe she could turn on the Kryptonite emitters in the training room for that chat.

"And Kara is Supergirl. So your sister is Supergirl."

"Why do you lot retrieve Kara is Supergirl?"

"She has the same smiling. And scar." She gestured toward her own countenance. "And the glasses don't help."

"Did Maggie…"

"No."

Alex didn't even endeavor to hide her smile as she shook her head in disbelief. "You lot actually are Maggie'south daughter."

"Everybody says that. I don't know what it means."

"It means you are besides observant for your own skilful, just like your mom."

Mom. The word reverberated through her head, and the desire to come across Maggie constricted Alex's chest painfully. All she wanted was to sit with Maggie over a beer and hear about Jamie and their life together. To talk about their futurity and whether Alex might have a place in it.

A small voice interrupted her thoughts. "She'due south not getting better, is she?"

Definitely too observant. "Not as speedily as we want her to," Alex answered as truthfully as she could. "We're doing everything we can to aid her."

"The other doctors said that, but Mom still died." Her fear surfaced in those dark eyes, and Alex's heart wrenched. Jamie blinked back tears and hitched her chin college. "If she's going to dice, yous should tell me."

Alex knelt by Jamie. "I will not let that happen," she vowed, promising herself nearly every bit much as Jamie. "I said the same affair to your mom once. I meant it so and I mean it now. She will be okay."

"But she's non getting better."

"Hey, listen." Her hands rubbed Jamie's trembling shoulders until Jamie met Alex'due south optics. "One time, I was in a actually bad spot and I, I thought I was going to die. And Maggie, she told me I was a badass…"

Jamie's snort of laughter made Alex wince. "Don't tell your mom I used a bad give-and-take in front of yous, okay?"

Jamie nodded.

"Anyway, Maggie told me I was tough, and that I had to agree on until she could save me. And I did, and she did. Your mom, she's tough too."

"She's a badass?" Jamie'southward eyes twinkled, and Alex groaned, knowing she was screwed.

"Yes, that. But it'due south expert. It means she's a fighter. She just has to hold on until we tin can help her. You and me, nosotros'll salvage her. We'll find a way."

"Aye?"

"Yeah."

Jamie slid out of her chair and into Alex's arms, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Thanks," she whispered.

"You're welcome." Alex spared a moment to pray to Rao and every deity she could think of that she wouldn't let Jamie down. Or herself. "You lot know, I'chiliad non just doing this for you. I desire your mom to get meliorate too."

"I know." Jamie leaned back and gave Alex a speculative look before glancing over her shoulder. "Hi, Uncle J'onn."

"Morning, Jamie. Tin can I infringe Alex for a minute?"

"Sure."

Jamie hopped back on the chair and resumed eating, and Alex marveled a little at the resilience of children. Standing on shaky legs, Alex scrubbed at her confront and snagged what was left of her coffee earlier joining J'onn exterior the door.

"What'south going on?" she asked, keeping her vocalization low.

"I'm authorizing an, ah, extra-legal enforcement activity against Maxwell Lord with the NCPD'south blessing." J'onn's expression turned steely, and his mouth thinned to a hard line. "He will not escape the consequences of his deportment. We're heading out in 15 minutes. There's a place on the team if you lot want in."

Alex hesitated, torn betwixt her want to break downwards Max's door and the need to watch over Maggie and Jamie. As much equally she wanted vengeance, until she could throw Maggie's survival in Max'southward confront, it would be bloodshot at best.

"You… get ahead. I'm needed hither."

J'onn nodded, and Alex glimpsed a flicker of pride in his eyes. He patted her shoulder as he left, and Alex watched him go, resisting the urge to follow.

***

Winn curled his fingers around the collar of his tactical vest, tugging it downward to keep it from rubbing the bottom of his throat. How Alex wore hers similar a second skin was across him. Bulky and cinched too tight, the vest restricted his movements and his breathing, only J'onn had insisted he adapt upwardly if he wanted to come forth. Winn had jumped at the chance to do something.

It beat sitting around the DEO feeling deplorable for himself and avoiding Alex.

Out of his chemical element with a gun heavy and strapped to his correct thigh, Winn adapted his earpiece, listening to the other team of agents beyond town settling into position exterior Max's penthouse. He couldn't assistance Maggie medically, but he could practise this. He could set aside his cowardice and terror for a few minutes to get justice for her by storming a super villain'southward lab.

On second thought when he put it like that...

"Stay backside me," J'onn ordered in a low rasp.

Winn gave him a short nod. Too late to rethink this program at present.

With a abrupt manus signal, the team surged into coordinated action, using conflicting tech to bypass security and enter the building undetected. Winn brought up the rear, bumbling forth behind them with his hand resting awkwardly on his sidearm. He was almost agape to touch it, worried the slightest pressure might cost him a toe or a human foot.

The agents fanned out, leaving Winn exposed as they traversed the bright, glassed-in antechamber, and Winn scrambled to go along up with J'onn. If things went sideways, he wanted to exist next to the guy who could fly.

They were prepared for armed resistance, a security force outfitted to the nines with Max'southward enhanced weapons and trunk armor. What they found were iv, bedraggled security guards and no 1 else. Fifty-fifty the staff was missing, Max having given them the 24-hour interval off.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" J'onn hissed in a rare flash of acrimony. He slapped a computer monitor off one of Max's lab tables, sending it crashing into the wall with a boom. "We should have moved on him sooner."

The team at Max's penthouse reported similar results. The place was empty.

Max was in the wind.

Alex was going to be pissed.

"I bet he bolted the moment Blackwell tried to kill Maggie. He might even think she's expressionless." Winn gripped his collar once more, giving it another forceful tug. "Even Max couldn't have gone far."

"With his resources and cash flow? We'll be lucky if he's still on the planet."

"He can't become away with this," Winn protested. "Max had a hand in those overdoses. In Brian'southward expiry. He tried to take Maggie from u.s., and he still might." His vocalism rose until he was almost shouting.

"What would you lot suggest, Agent Schott? He'south gone, and we're already outside the lines storming his lab and home."

Winn glanced around, his gaze landing on the destroyed monitor. "Then what's one more line to cross? Take his computers. Anything he has at home as well."

J'onn eyed him. "Max volition have wiped them or taken them with him."

"No. Max volition travel light. Pick upwardly tech on the way or have it waiting for him. And yeah, he wiped his drives, but give me a crack at them. I'll find him. Max volition pay for what he did to Maggie."

After a moment, J'onn nodded and relayed orders to his teams. Winn would get his shot at redemption, and he was ready to make the most of it. He jerked the plug out of the nearest CPU.

"You can run, Max, but you can't hide. Not from me."

***

Alex finished tying her boots and straightened, flipping a clammy lock of pilus away from her eyes. A shower made her feel more human, just no epiphany regarding Maggie'south handling had come to her as she'd lingered beneath the hot spray.

The best minds in the DEO were working on a solution, only it wasn't enough. Non yet. Alex couldn't bear facing Jamie once more without an inkling of good news.

Someone ripped open their locker a few rows over and threw something inside it. The bang made Alex jump, and she reached for a weapon she wasn't wearing. Scowling, Alex strode toward the mayhem, building upward a head of steam. Maybe putting some damn rookie in their place would make her experience better. Requite all her frustration an outlet.

But there was no rookie. Only Winn, sitting on a bench with his caput in his hands.

Rather than his typical slacks and cardigan, he wore DEO black, a holster strapped to his thigh fifty-fifty though information technology was empty. He must have thrown his helmet confronting the back of his locker, and Alex spotted the faint impression where it had dented the metal. She hesitated, her anger simmering, but then Winn utterly disarmed her with a sniffle.

It had to be one of the almost pathetic sounds she'd ever heard. Alex rolled her eyes at herself, her ire fading by the second. Winn was a damn puppy, and Alex couldn't kick him when he was down, even if function of her wanted to.

"What happened?" she demanded.

Winn started, and Alex one-half expected to peel him off the ceiling he jumped so loftier. He looked up at her then away, unable to hold her gaze.

"Max bolted before nosotros got in that location. J'onn is having a team bring me all Max'due south servers, handheld devices, and computers. I'll go through them until I effigy out where he is. He won't become away."

The news Max had slipped through their fingers was disappointing but non surprising, but if in that location was something to notice, Winn would find it. Maybe past then Maggie would exist awake, and Alex could take the satisfaction of dealing with Max herself...

"Can't do annihilation right," Winn whispered. "Can't salvage my friends. Can't protect them…" He seemed both down-hearted and determined as he studied the floor between his boots. Alex wished she didn't know how that combination felt.

"Max isn't on y'all."

"Mayhap not, merely enough else is." Winn ripped off the velcro strips holding his tactical vest to his trunk and shed his gear, dropping the loaded vest on top of his helmet. He sighed, his shoulders slumping, and Alex couldn't take information technology anymore. Non with Maggie's vox, begging her not to be mad at him, in the dorsum of her listen.

"I'm pitiful," Alex ground out. "I shouldn't take come at yous similar that earlier."

Winn kept his eyes on the floor, his gaze wearisome into the concrete. "I had it coming. Deplorable I kept Jamie a secret from you. For what it'southward worth, Maggie didn't much like it either."

Alex believed him, but his silence regarding Jamie still stung. She struggled not to hold all this confronting him. "It'south okay."

"None of this is okay." Winn'due south lower lip began to tremble. "Heed… if uh… This might non exist the time to say this, only if Maggie doesn't go far…"

"Winn—"

"If Maggie doesn't make it," he persisted, "I uh… if you…" He tipped his head back for a moment, trying to agree tears at bay, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "I only desire you lot to know I'll take Jamie. If you can't. If that would be too hard on you…"

Winn couldn't take made Alex'southward center ache more if he'd crushed it in his fist. She closed her optics.

"I love that child, Alex. I won't let her go into the system. Jamie won't go through what I did. If you don't recall y'all can…"

"Maggie isn't going anywhere," Alex insisted.

"God, I hope not, but… if she does, I'll step upwardly. Gladly. For all 3 of you."

It wasn't hard to imagine Winn equally a dad, chasing a gaggle of rugrats around the park, helping them with their homework, being the expert listener he'd been for Alex time and again. Jamie would exist lucky to take a male parent similar him, but the idea of anyone else raising Maggie's child in her absence…

Alex would as soon cut off her own arm as give Jamie upwards. Adopting Jamie wouldn't be a choice, information technology would be a given.

Blowing out a weary breath, Alex joined him on the bench. Winn eyed her, suspicious and wary, simply he didn't shy away.

"I capeesh that, and I'1000 sure Maggie does too, but allow's focus on getting her better and back with Jamie, okay? And on finding Max and making him pay for what he did to her."

They lapsed into some other tense silence, and the questions swirling in Alex'south head grew too loud to ignore. Winn owed her answers and now was as good a fourth dimension equally whatsoever to go them.

"Kara told me about Jamie'due south mom. How Maggie took Jamie in." Alex flake her lip, aware of Winn's steady gaze on her profile. "Is Maggie happy? Having a child?"

A flicker of a sad smiling crossed Winn's lips. He reached into his back pocket and drew out his telephone. "I don't know if Maggie told yous, only when you two ended things, she crashed on my couch for a week while she searched for a new place. Nosotros were friends while you were together, of class, but after… We got closer. Maggie and I had more in common than we realized."

Alex stared at him. She had no idea, only she was pathetically grateful Winn had been there for Maggie when she hadn't.

"We started hanging out. Pool one night here. Dinner one night there. I think I'yard the only i who saw what the breakup did to both of you. The toll information technology took." Winn sniffled again. "It sucked."

He unlocked his telephone and skimmed through his photos. "Don't tell Maggie, because she'll give me a hard time if she…" Winn paused, blinking back fresh tears. "Somewhere during the last eight months, she became my best friend. When Jamie came into her life, Maggie was so scared she would mess the child up, merely she was willing to try for Jamie's sake. And Maggie didn't want to be like her parents. She wanted no part in making a kid feel unwanted."

Alex said nothing, letting him talk.

"Anyway, it was something to see every bit Maggie and Jamie got to know each other. Discovering all the ways they're alike and different. Jamie wants to be a cop like Maggie. How cute is that?"

A soft, wounded sound slipped out, and Winn shot Alex a expect of amends.

"Sad. Information technology's only… They never expected to honey each other every bit much as they do. And they exercise honey each other, Alex. A lot. You lot desire to know if Maggie's happy?" Winn stopped surfing and turned the phone around. "I don't know about y'all, only I've never seen Maggie smile like this before."

Alex took the phone, mesmerized. Maggie's dark optics were warm as she watched something, or someone, Alex couldn't see. Her grinning was breathtaking, radiating love in every nuance of her expression. Alex fell in love with her all over once more.

She had seen that smile before, but it had been a long fourth dimension ago. Too long.

"Maggie didn't want kids, simply when Jamie was dropped in her lap, Maggie accepted a kid needed her." Winn tapped the edge of the telephone. "I don't remember she regretted her decision, do you?"

He leaned frontwards and swiped left, revealing a shot of Maggie and Jamie together. At that place was no doubt they were female parent and daughter, the resemblance striking. Winn had snapped the photo while they were laughing, and Alex's lips twitched at the sight. They were the most beautiful matter she'd always seen.

"She wanted to tell you lot, Alex, merely they needed fourth dimension together. The whole bonding thing, yous know? Maggie was afraid they would never click, that she wasn't capable, just they did. Faster than she ever imagined."

Alex swiped once again, discovering a photograph of Jamie, Maggie, and Winn, all mugging for the photographic camera. Information technology was the kind of shot y'all framed, everyone happy, a moment of joy captured and preserved. Two devastating sets of dimples smiled at up at her, and Alex took a ragged breath.

"Cheers," she whispered, coming together his optics through her tears. "For showing me this. For beingness there for them."

Winn nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm then sad I couldn't tell you. But y'all know I dear yous, right? That I didn't hateful to hurt you like this?"

Unable to resist the urge, Alex tugged him into a hug. She turned her caput, kissing him on the cheek, and his stubble scratched her chin. "I love you besides."

***

Blasphemous J'onn under her jiff for all the lead in the DEO's walls, Kara prowled the building searching for Jamie. A nurse had lost track of her, and Kara had found her panicking at the prospect of telling Alex. Rightly so.

She could bank check the surveillance feeds, but J'onn was in a bearish mood thanks to Max, Winn had passed out in the pause room, and Vasquez always got touchy when Kara hovered. Better to hunt a missing six-year-one-time the old-fashioned way.

At least Alex was heads down in her lab and had no thought Jamie was AWOL. The terminal thing Alex needed was some other reason to worry.

Kara found Jamie on the landing pad a few minutes later on. Her head was bent over her sketchpad, just from Jamie'south vantage point, she could await upwardly and see direct into the medbay, allowing her to keep tabs on her mother even outside. Kara adjusted her glasses and hurried upwardly the steps at homo speed.

"You lot hiding out here?" Kara breezed through the doors equally they opened, and Jamie frowned a fiddling. She'd changed into an outfit Kara had fetched from the apartment, a black, long-sleeve tee and jeans. She resembled Maggie more ever.

"The medbay smells funny," Jamie said every bit Kara sat down beside her. "And the bed is uncomfortable."

Kara nodded. "The air is sterile. They sanitize information technology regularly to assist the patients."

"But Mom can't breathe that air in the pod."

She was such a smart child. Kara wrapped an arm effectually Jamie'due south shoulders. "Maggie has her own oxygen supply, but she doesn't need much air in stasis."

"I know. Alex explained it earlier." Jamie sighed. "I only want Mom to wake up."

"She will when she'due south all better." Kara leaned over to run into what Jamie was drawing, and her heart stuttered. Alex, in all her badass, scientific celebrity, leaned against her workstation. A detailed microscope was beside her as she reviewed data on the tablet in her easily. Jamie had captured Alex to perfection, from the tilt of her head to the weary but determined look in her eyes.

"Alex loves Maggie a lot, doesn't she?" Jamie asked unexpectedly.

"She does. Very, very much."

"So why didn't they get married?"

Kara'south optics went wide, and her reflection in the launch doors would accept fabricated her laugh if she weren't then alarmed. Jamie glanced upwardly at her again, waiting for an explanation as Kara floundered to find one. "Um… well… uh..."

"Maggie said it was complicated."

Kara nodded vigorously. "That'due south… Yeah. Complicated is a good word for information technology. Only uh… Well, there were lots of reasons, I mean, okay, i main reason, but… things accept changed. If Maggie… when, when Maggie wakes upward, maybe..."

"I think Mom wants u.s.a. to be a family. Her, me, and Alex." Jamie returned her attention to her motion picture, biting her lip every bit she formed a shadow along Alex's jawline.

Kara stared at Jamie's contour, trying to decipher how Jamie felt about the idea, but like her pilus, dimples, and eyes, Jamie also inherited her mother's unflappable poker face. "Would you lot be okay with that?"

Jamie shrugged one shoulder and kept drawing.

"Hey." Kara tugged her closer, urging Jamie to look at her once more. "You can talk to me, okay?"

"I've never had a family," Jamie confessed after a minute. "It was always but me and my mom. I used to wonder what information technology might exist similar if Maggie lived with united states, simply I never said anything."

"You lot and your mom were a family unit," Kara insisted.

"Yous know what I mean." Jamie rolled her eyes. That gesture was all Maggie as well, but it was way cuter on Jamie than when Maggie used information technology on Supergirl.

Kara sighed, feeling her way carefully. One wrong word and she could damage Maggie's progress with Jamie or harm the futurity Alex always wanted.

"Listen, don't judge Alex based on the style she is correct now, okay? She's worried about Maggie, and she's doing everything she can to make her better. She doesn't have much fourth dimension for us."

"Nosotros had Pop-Tarts together this morn." Jamie slid the tip of her pencil up to add a highlight to Alex's right eye. "Your sister is actually pretty."

A slow, sugariness smile curved Kara's lips at the compliment. "She is. Looks like she's fun to draw, too." Kara wondered if Alex knew she was Jamie'south latest subject.

"I'm drawing pictures of her for Mom, so she can see how difficult Alex worked to save her when she wakes up."

Kara's breath caught, and she blinked back tears. She prayed to Rao Maggie would meet those sketches, would meet how Alex wore herself to the os to bring her back. They loved each other so much, and if Fate ripped them apart now...

"And I approximate it would be okay."

Kara glanced at Jamie once more. "What?"

"If Alex, me, and Maggie became a family."

"I retrieve zero would make Maggie happier than having all of yous together," Kara said seriously. It was like shooting fish in a barrel to picture show them at schoolhouse recitals, birthday parties, the holidays… She was startled by how much she wanted a place in that reality. Her own precious family on Earth, expanded by two.

"Information technology would be kinda cool."

Kara frowned, not sure what Jamie meant. "What would exist cool?"

"Having Supergirl every bit my aunt." Jamie shot her a sideways glance but kept sketching, fifty-fifty equally a sliver of a grinning emerged.

Panic flared and died just every bit fast. Kara snorted and shook her head, kissing the crown of Jamie's. "No one pulls annihilation over on you Sawyer girls, do they? And yous know what? Supergirl thinks it'd be pretty cool to have you every bit a niece."

Jamie smirked as she began Alex'due south earrings.

***

The chill from Maggie'due south pod made Alex shiver equally she reviewed the latest lab results on her tablet. Kara and Jamie were in the break room drawing together. Winn and J'onn were tracking Max. Anybody was doing something worthwhile, but Alex could merely spin her wheels.

She raked her fingers over her scalp, digging them in as she willed her brain to find a solution. While the antidote was fighting the Belamort, stasis also kept the parasite alive. Information technology would have died off long earlier now nether normal atmospheric condition, but Maggie'south torso couldn't afford to let the Belamort run its course. She was trapped in a slow-motility expiry screw.

There were hopeful signs, but not enough. Much of the cocaine had been scrubbed from Maggie's blood, but her organs had absorbed enough that the Belamort had to exist neutralized earlier they'd risk waking her. At this rate, Jamie would exist in higher before Maggie was revived.

Alex set her tablet bated and hung her head. She would figure this out, damn it. She had to.

The tranquility creeped into her awareness and Alex glanced up, startled to find herself alone with Maggie for the first time in two days. She seized the opportunity.

Alex rolled her stool closer to Maggie's pod and pressed a button on the console to actuate a microphone inside it. "I know you're tired, simply you accept to go along fighting, Maggie. Only a little longer."

Leaning forward, Alex rested her forehead confronting the cold glass. "When you lot wake up, and you're going to wake up, nosotros have a lot to talk about. We're probably gonna yell… and cry..."

Alex took a breath, her gaze worshiping Maggie's peaceful features.

"But that's okay. We'll get the hurt out. Both of usa. Because nether all that pain is dearest, and, God, I dearest you." Alex swallowed thickly, amazed she had tears left to shed at this point.

"You once told me yous couldn't imagine your life without me in it. Well I've lived my life without you and information technology'due south hell. I need you lot. Jamie needs y'all."

Alex laid her mitt on the glass adjacent to Maggie's cheek, her pollex stroking the cool surface. "She wants to call you mom, Maggie, and I desire to see your face when she does." Alex huffed out a soft, hurting laugh. "I want that chance you promised me, so you tin can't die on me. You're a badass, Sawyer. Yous hold on for me, okay?"

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Alex knew she was out of time.

"I love you. More anything in this globe. Stay with me, and I'll devote the rest of my life to making you and Jamie happy."

Someone walked in, and Alex killed the mic. She wiped her eyes, taking a moment to become hold of herself. Warm hands slid over her shoulders and squeezed, startling her, but Alex recognized the familiar touch instantly.

"Mom?"

Eliza, wrapped her in a hug from behind, her light perfume drifting over Alex and steadying her nerves. "I'k here, sweetie. Now let's find a way to bring Maggie dwelling."

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Source: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12998973/chapters/32266215

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