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Sam couldn’t help the laughter that burst from her when she watched Alex juggle their tray of food as she walked through the mall food court. She expertly avoided the tables with the ease of the secret agent that she was, but the wild card was the various hipsters that walked round, holding smoothies and their gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, death-free, everything-free drinks, acting hoity-toity while they walked in and out of Alex’s way.
Alex tipped her head at Sam, knowing exactly what Sam was laughing about when she was stepped in front of for the third time. She cocked her hip slightly, free hand coming up, and an expression of ‘really’ set on her face. Sam just laughed again, hand pillowed on her hand.
Sam sobered slightly as Alex kept walking slowly, her normally fast pace inhibited by the people. Today was Alex’s only day off this week because of the backlash of Alex not completing the Reign kill order. It was stupid and dangerous move in Sam’s eyes, though she was very, very happy that her wife had taken the chance to instead talk her back into Sam rather than kill her on the spot now that she had known that Sam was Reign. But it had landed her wife with a full year of weekends and holidays, as well as training rookies, taking various calls that other people wouldn’t want, and going back to the basics for a while, where Alex was re-trained and taught why you don’t go against a kill order, or any order in the field, no matter how incredible an agent Alex was, and no matter how much everyone thanked her for not killing Sam.
It seemed like no one had wanted to lose Sam, even J’onn, but Alex had to be punished, especially since she hadn’t fired the canon during the Daxamite invasion.
In any other situation, and even possibly in the Reign one, Alex could have been seriously hurt or killed. She was lucky, having squeaked by with a few broken bones, some broken ribs, and a nasty concussion from Reign before Alex had been able to bring Sam to the surface. It wasn’t something Sam liked to remember, but it had happened, and they were lucky enough to be able to continue with their relationship. But now they were ten months past the Reign fiasco, and three months into their marriage, and both Sam and Alex were as happy as can be, raising Ruby and living their lives.
But this week was difficult for Alex to get a full two days off, so she’d gotten cleared by J’onn to take an extra day of overtime so that she could stick close to the cultures that she had going.
They’d gone to the mall to just hang out, Alex wanting to check out the various stores and spend time with Sam outside of the house. They’d even snuck in a laser tag game at the arcade on the second floor. But after a woman in the shoe store had commented on the Kryptonite bracers on Sam’s wrists, telling her how pretty the glow was, Sam had been off kilter, and Alex had mentioned getting something to eat, abandoning the Timberlain boots she’d been looking at.
Sam looked at the bracers, feeling her heart skip a beat as Reign, ever present in her mind as only a spectator, spoke up.
Take them off, Samantha, and we will rule the world together. We will take it over with the human at our side as the queen of our new world, she hissed at Sam, and Sam snorted.
Not today, not tomorrow, and not three weeks from now, Reign. Not ever, Sam promised, and Reign went silent again, displeasure seeping through to Sam.
Sorry, Not Sorry, Reign, Sam quipped, and all emotions stopped, much to her pleasure.
Now more than ever, Sam wished that they had been able to get rid of Reign. But with how she’d reacted – flatlining and having to be revived after they put Reign back where she was supposed to be –, she knew that it was safer to keep her where she was, forever. As long as she kept at least one bracelet on, she was able to keep Reign under control. But one made it so that she still held her Kryptonian imperviousness. Both made her human.
They did, of course, take one bracer off for some, ahem, periodic night activities, as Alex was a definite bottom with some very nice submissive tendencies, but the bracers went on immediately afterwards, as Sam was cuddling and providing aftercare, and they stayed on, even during showers.
Movement caught Sam’s eye and she turned her head slightly. It was a man, just a few tables before Alex, and Sam watched him stand up, gathering his trash onto his tray. He wore a pair of black skinny jeans and an anime shirt, one of an anime that even Ruby had watched for a while – one with a blond-haired ninja. What was that show? Naruho? Naruko?
Sam snapped her fingers as the name came to her, still watching the man.
Naruto!
That was right.
God, that show was so annoying, Sam thought as she watched him get ready to leave, grabbing his drink and taking a few sips, probably draining it. It was what Sam always used to make Ruby do back when they were short on money and these mall trips were expensive, as they always were when she had to outfit a still-growing Ruby. That was, until Ruby turned 6, and Sam finished her degree and started working as a financial advisor and worked her way up the totem pole. By the time Ruby was 8, they were living more secure, and Sam was able to splurge on her daughter for the first time in Ruby’s short life.
Ruby had to have every little bit of Naruto gear when she was watching the show, Sam remembered. She had to have the leaf village headband, and the shuriken, and the kunai, and she had to dress up like Naruto, and she hated Sasuke with a burning passion.
Sam smiled as she remembered her daughter, 8-years-old and full of excitement about the show. At the time, Sam was working as a junior financial advisor in a law firm, and as a result, she was making good money, and had been able to buy the stuff for her daughter. Ruby had been so excited on Christmas morning that year when she’d opened up all the box sets, several copies of the manga that Ruby needed, as well as stuff to cosplay Naruto at the Comic-Con Sam had been able to secure tickets for at the firm.
While it was said that money didn’t buy happiness, Ruby sure had been so happy that morning, and Sam had too, after being unable to provide so much for her daughter for the first 6 and a half years of Sam’s life. It made her feel much better about herself, knowing that her daughter had what she needed, and that they were no longer fighting so hard to make sure that their next meal was on the table.
Ruby still re-watched the series every so often, and, judging by the way that her daughter had been eying the box sets, she was going to watch it again soon.
Wonder if Alex would watch it with us, Sam wondered as the man, tall, with close-cut blond hair lopped into an undercut, started walking to the trash can, still drinking the last dredges of his drink and leaving his backpack sitting under the table.
Oh man! His bag! It was a Naruto bag as well, one that Ruby had sitting in her closet, not wanting to take it to school. Sam didn’t blame her, honestly, with how middle school kids could be.
“Hey!” Sam shouted, shooting up to stand up, and the man turned around to look at her. He gave her a questioning look, pulling a headphone from his ear. Alex turned to look at him as well, still stuck behind a hipster.
“You left your bag!” Sam shouted, and he nodded, offering her a thumbs up, cool as a cucumber.
“Thanks! I’ll grab it in a second.”
“Hey, I like it, by the way! My kid has the same one.”
“Sweet! It’s a great show.” He smiled at her, and Alex smiled at Sam’s own smile, because she’d seen the Naruto bag sitting in Ruby’s closet, and had been secretly reading up on the show, because she knew Ruby really, really liked it, and she had noticed the looks at it increasing as time went on.
Sam sat back down, settling into her seat as Alex continued trying to make her way to the table, walking slowly. But a moment later, that smile dimmed into a look of pure and utter frustration as one young hipster took a step so that he was no longer in her way, but almost as soon as she’d started walking faster, yet another one stepped in front of her.
Sam couldn’t help but laugh at her wife’s face as she passed by the man’s now-empty seat and his remaining backpack.
Then, the world exploded.
Sam was aware enough to watch Alex go flying, her back hitting a column and her body hitting the ground face-down before a piece of debris caught Sam on the side of the head, making her know only darkness.
------- AgentReign --------
Sam moaned as her head pounded for a few seconds and the world spun dangerously, making her wonder if she were about to pass out again. Then, moments later, her Kryptonian genes must have kicked in, because the pounding and the dizziness were gone, and she was completely aware.
That shouldn’t happen, Sam thought, bringing a hand up to rub at her temple, though she no longer hurt. She quickly sat up, rubbing her temple as she did so, and when she looked at her left wrist, she found the bracer gone.
“Of course,” Sam breathed, shaking her head. At least one remained, meaning that Reign wouldn’t be able to take over.
She swallowed and was about to stand up when her eyes widened, and everything came back to her. The mall. The woman complementing her glowing bracelet. The food court. Alex getting the Italian for Sam and the California rolls for herself. Walking back. The hipsters. The guy wearing Naruto. Him leaving his backpack. Alex walking by his table. The blast. Alex flying through the air. Alex hitting the column. Alex falling, landing face down. Debris falling on top of Alex. Debris hitting herself. Darkness. Alex!
Sam shot up, listening to the heartbeats that she heard all around her. And then gasped when she glanced upon what the mall food court had become.
There was smoke everywhere, black and thick and cloying, originating from the various fires around them. If she were a human, or if she had both bracers on, Sam would have wanted to get out of this area immediately, coughing and gagging. But now, with one bracer gone, the smoke and smog meant nothing. But to Alex, this had to have been agonizing. Debris filled everything Sam could see, and people both lay around them and stood, walking around and trying to help various people around them. But the one person she couldn’t see, the one person she didn’t find around her was Alex.
I need to find her. I need to find Alex, Sam thought. Ruby would never forgive her if she couldn’t find Alex, if she couldn’t save her daughter’s second mother.
Sam stood up and brushed her hands off as she began to walk. She could hear Alex’s heartbeat in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t really pinpoint it. And as she saw a woman reach her hand out to Sam as she passed, Sam knew that she couldn’t just leave her trapped.
“Help,” the woman croaked, her hand grabbing Sam’s pant leg.
Sam knelt down her hands going to the piece of debris on the woman.
“I’m going to help you, I promise,” Sam responded, and quickly lifted it off her. “Can you walk?”
The woman nodded, swallowing hard.
“Yes,” she croaked, her hand coming to her head. There was a large cut on the woman’s face, on her cheek, and her lips were pale with pain. “Thank you.”
Sam nodded, quickly continuing on her way.
The next man she found was dead, with a rod stuck straight through his midsection. Sam quickly closed his eyes and kept moving.
She found three people and quickly uncovered them, and with each person she found, Alex’s heartbeat got louder as she got closer.
“Alex!” she screamed her voice full of anguish and fear as she stumbled through the debris. Whenever she came across someone who was pinned under the rubble, she would pull it off them if she could safely, needing to be sure it wasn’t Alex.
“Alex?!” Sam shouted, searching high and low for her wife’s heartbeat, her heart racing at the thought of having to go on without her, at the thought of Alex being so severely injured.
Calm, Samantha, Reign’s voice broke in, and Sam could have growled. Instead, she ignored the alter-ego, taking a few more steps to try and find her wife. The debris and the blast itself had changed the layout of the food court, making it hard to find the column that Alex had been tossed into.
“Alex!” her voice broke off, full of anguish as she felt tears begin to pour down her cheeks. She had to find her. Quickly. There was the chance that Alex had severe injuries with how close to the blast she was, and Sam needed to find her desperately.
Then, she heard a cough. A cough that she knew. A cough that came from Alex.
“Alex!” she breathed out, and she quickly rushed to where she could hear Alex’s heartbeat, the little ball of anxiety that clutched her heart finally releasing somewhat as she found her wife.
Alex lay half-buried under a few pieces of the ceiling, eyes shut and mouth open. Only her shoulders and head were visible to Sam. She knelt next to her, hands going to Alex’s cheeks and she used her thumbs to rub Alex’s skin, tears filling her eyes as pure and utter relief flowed through Sam’s veins.
“Alex! ‘Lex, baby, you’re okay. I’m going to get you out of there,” Sam promised, voice thick with emotion. She quickly began pulling the debris off her wife, tears leaking down her cheeks now that relief was taking over.
Underneath the rubble, however, Alex didn’t respond.
Sam quickly had Alex uncovered and she dropped to her knees next to her wife, looking her over.
Alex’s body was crumpled, her eyes closed and her mouth slack with her head tipped back slightly as she lingered, unconscious below the rubble. She had a long cut that extended into her hairline, and Sam winced as she saw the bloody laceration.
That’s got to be a concussion, Sam thought as she carefully reached out and stroked Alex’s forehead, just barely missing touching the cut. Alex whimpered and groaned, throat bobbing up and down as she swallowed against stale air.
Come on, Sam thought, hoping desperately that the rolling eyes underneath her lids meant that Alex was trying to come around.
“Alex?!” Sam rushed out, her other hand coming up to stroke Alex’s cheek. Again, Alex’s throat bobbled up and down and her eyes rolled around in the socket, under her lids, for a moment while she tried to come to. The hand that was stroking Alex’s cheek moved down slightly to press against her wife’s throat, under her chin, to feel the uneven beats thrumming against her fingertips.
“Alex, baby, come on. Come back to me,” she pleaded. “C’mon, baby. C’mon! Please. Please.”
The last word came more as a whimper, and Sam felt more tears pour down her cheeks.
Alex’s eyes continued to move under the lids as she continued to simply lay there. Her breathing was rasping in and out of her body and her chest was moving unevenly with each breath she sucked in. Sam glanced down to her wrists, knowing that since one of the Kryptonite bracelets were gone, she wouldn’t have too much trouble with using her powers to try and pinpoint Alex’s exact injuries.
Sam bit her lip as she quickly scanned Alex’s body, watching her ribs carefully. She grimaced when she saw the injuries that her wife had accumulate in the blast. Alex had several broken ribs and, when she looked up to Alex’s skull, she could see small, some already healing fractures in her skull. But there was one near her temple that was brand new, right near the new cut on Alex’s head. But thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any spinal damage.
Shit, Sam thought as she focused in on the fracture. She’s probably got a concussion.
She shook her head, looking biting her lip as she resettled her fingers over Alex’s pulse. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling for the way Alex’s heart beat as she listened to it as well.
Alex’s heart was absolutely racing, fighting to keep up with the damage that had been done to her, and she could her wife’s breaths rasp in and out of her body.
I’ve got to get her out of here, Sam thought as she pulled back, one hand moving to rest on Alex’s chest, between her breasts to rest on her breastbone to feel each fought-for breath. She made sure not to put any pressure on Alex’s body, simply hovering it and just barely touching her wife.
“Jesus, Alex,” Sam shuddered, biting her lip as she looked Alex up and down, “you are not making this easy here, babe.”
Sam sat back on her haunches, pulling her hand away and crouching there next to her wife as she weighed their options, the black smoke beginning to get thicker as more items caught on fire or began smoldering.
“I don’t want to move her,” she murmured to herself. “If she’s got internal injuries I don’t want to cause any more damage.”
But she’s unconscious, a small voice in the back of her mind shot out, and Sam’s body tensed. They had Reign deep under proverbial lock and key deep in Sam’s mind, but there were times of high stress that Reign would speak to her. Normally she only spouted out things about the WorldKillers, and Sam would roll her eyes and ignore it. This… This supplying information and pushing Sam to a decision was new.
Your distraction, as much as I detest her, Reign continued, though she was lying about her feelings towards the now-injured DEO agent, has been unconscious for too long, and with that head trauma, she needs attention, like the fragile human she is. This smoke is also not good for her – it will only make her worse. Smoke inhalation is dangerous for humans. Carry her out, Samantha, and get her that attention she needs.
Sam chewed on her lip carefully, looking at Alex again. She blew out a sigh and carefully put her hand on Alex’s cheek, feeling her resolve strengthening as she looked at her wife.
“Alright, Alex. Let’s get you out of here, then,” she said softly as she stroked Alex’s cheek. She felt her heart sink further as Alex didn’t respond to the stimulation, and instead, remained limp and unmoving, the only movement being the sluggish, struggled intakes of breath.
Alex’s body remained completely limp as Sam shifted and pushed her arms under Alex’s shoulders, and then under her knees. When she lifted her wife as she stood, Alex’s head fell back, and Sam’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the struggled wheezes become even more difficult, even more wheezy.
Shit! Sam thought as she dropped back to her knees, seeing the pinched look on Alex’s face. Then, she noticed the blue tinge to Alex’s lips and the fact that the wheezes where getting thicker, and that Alex’s chest was rising and falling in a much less pronounced way.
“No, no, no, no!” Sam thought as she set Alex down again, settling Alex on the ground and propping her up against her knee while she crouched on the ground. Alex’s breathing immediately eased, and the pinched look left Alex. Her breathing eased slightly, but with the smoke all around them, she still wheezed slightly.
Lean her head against your shoulder next time, Samantha, Reign growled at her, and Sam could imagine Reign standing there with fisted hands, eyes full of rage, and do not let that happen again!
Sam quickly adjusted Alex’s head so that it rested against her shoulder and then, as an afterthought, put Alex’s hands in her lap before she lifted again. This time, Alex’s breathing remained as it were, and she nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Okay, baby, let’s get out of here,” she whispered. She began walking, trying to avoid having to step on any rubble and jostle Alex.
For a few steps, she remained silent, but then began speaking, feeling the anxiety continuing to pulse at her.
“Alex, baby, you’re going to have to wake up soon, okay?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest. “You have to wake up because I need you, and Ruby needs you. Okay? We need you. I need my wife at my side. And Kara needs you too.”
“God, Kara’s going to kill me. Or, you know, kick my ass harder in training. It depends on how you are, I think. But if you’re –” Sam couldn’t say it, her throat suddenly becoming thick. She couldn’t speculate that Alex is grievously injured, to the point she’d lose her life.
Sam cleared her throat, walking a couple more steps in silence.
“If you’re that,” she finally continued, “then I think I’d need Kara to help me. With Rubes. I’ve forgotten how to do the single mom thing, and no one could replace you, so.”
“But you can’t be that,” Sam said forcefully, “you can’t. You have to wake up, Alex. Okay? You’re really, really scaring me, baby. Ruby has a soccer game next week, and she wants you to teach her that slide you did the other week. She won’t forgive you if you can’t teach her.”
Sam was silent for a few more steps, and she looked down to make sure she wasn’t going to step in something that would jostle Alex and cause her pain. It didn’t matter that she was unconscious. She wasn’t going to cause her wife pain.
“You know,” Sam started again. “When I had Ruby, I couldn’t fathom someone wanting to be a parent with me. I knew I was pansexual, but I didn’t think anyone would want to date me and be a parent. I tried, after I had the two of us settled and finances figured out. Once I had a good job, I got into the dating scene, but things never worked out.”
Silence as they walked a few more steps.
“And then you come around again,” Sam laughed. “Reeling from a break-up and now you’re willing to babysit my kid again later, and you help save me and my kid from an Psi by helping Kara. Yeah, she told me about that, by the way. Do you remember that day? It was so early, but it was our first meeting.”
She paused again, but then continued, “I don’t think I ever told you, but Ruby ran away. That was why we were there. Ruby was upset because I was showing signs of being a superhero, because in her eyes, being able to lift something really heavy off her was superhero-like. I’d constantly been telling her that it was possible to lift things heavy in times of stress.
“So, she ran away when I got angry and told her I was just normal Sam. I was just her normal mom. And that I didn’t want to hear about it anymore. I was frustrated. I should have listened to her. But you talking to us when we were sitting in that ambulance. You asked if we were okay. And then you talked about how Ruby’s were one of the toughest gemstones, and Ruby, Ruby replied that only diamonds were tougher. You said ‘She’s smart and she’s tough. That’s a deadly combo.’ Which, of course, made Ruby smile. You gave her a fist bump and then walked away. You know she talked about that for days, right? She did.”
Alex suddenly hummed, not yet opening her eyes. Sam’s heart skipped a beat and she stopped walking, looking down at Alex. She desperately wanted to cup Alex’s cheek, to stroke it with her thumb, but with both arms full, she couldn’t. Unable to keep herself from doing it, she dropped to her knees, laying Alex on the floor and pulling her close to Alex.
“Alex?!” Sam cupped Alex’s cheek and stroked her cheek with her thumb, watching Alex’s brows furrow as she swam further to the surface. But at the feel of Sam’s hand, one she knew intimately, she smiled a little bit, pressing into the touch.
“N’—,” she started, stopping for a moment. Her face screwed up in pain and Sam knew that her head had to be pounding. “N’t our f’st.”
“Not th-th’ first?” she asked, stunned. That wasn’t their first meeting?
“W’t-rfront,” she slurred out. “Rube-Rubes r’n in-tuh me. R’member?”
Sam’s eyes filled with tears, and she nodded slowly. She remembered. She remembered calling Ruby back and making her apologize to Alex. And she’d talked to Alex for perhaps a moment before running away. It was a split-second meeting, and Alex had even reminded her of it at the PSI incident.
“I remember, Alex. I remember. God, I don’t know how I forgot that,” she whispered, voice full of emotion. Alex winced, hand coming up to her head and touching her temple. Her other arm lifted at the same time, coming up to wrap around Sam’s neck. And then, moments later, her other arm wrapped around Sam’s neck too, holding her body close to her wife’s.
“S’mmy?” Alex breathed out, groggy and full of pure and utter exhaustion. Sam shuddered in relief as she tugged her body closer and pressed a kiss to Alex’s crown. She glanced up at the broken ceiling, looking up at the blue sky full of black smoke. She blinked back tears and shuddered out another broken breath.
Alex was alive.
She was hurt, but she was alive.
“Right here,” Sam promised, “I’ve got you, babe. I swear. Just rest, okay?”
“W’t h’pp’n?” she asked, and Sam found herself gulping.
“The guy – the one who left his bag? It went off, Alex. He planted a bomb. He-He was as calm as can be and he had planted a damn bomb!” she explained.
“Did-Did’jou g-go ‘fter him?” Alex asked, her mind always on getting the guy.
“He was gone by the time I woke up again,” Sam said. “I was knocked out by a piece of debris.”
Alex pulled her head from Sam’s neck and tried to pull her eyes open, but she winced and made a noise of pain before slamming her eyes shut again. Sam quickly stopped her, stroking Alex’s cheek carefully and speaking quickly.
“Shh, Alex, stop. You’ve got a concussion, just stop, okay?” she commanded, and Alex stopped, her eyes falling shut again. “And I’m fine, Alex. I had a bracelet break off and I’m healed.”
Alex let out a hum and went a little more slack in her arms, causing Sam’s heart to skip a beat. Alex’s chest heaved up and down a few more times, uneven, but continuous. The huge knot of anxiety in her chest, right next to her heart finally released, and Sam felt the emotions rush her, all at once.
“You scared the shit out of me, Alex,” she breathed, not really expecting any type of response. She shifted Alex closer slightly before she stood, hefting her soulmate’s body up into the air protectively.
“’m sorry,” Alex murmured, her face pressed close to Sam’s neck as she breathed in and out. Her eyebrows furrowed as she felt something in her side grind with each breath, sending small shocks of pain through her.
“Shhh,” Sam whispered as she adjusted her hold on Alex. “Don’t you worry, Alex, okay? I’m going to get you out of here, we’re going to get you checked out, and we’re going to call Ruby. Because she has to be scared now. That sound okay, babe?”
Alex breathed out a small hum, nodding slowly as she tried to tuck herself closer. She felt so dizzy – dizzy and thoroughly exhausted! It wasn’t the exhaustion she was used to either. This wasn’t her normal. This felt like she was just on the edge of passing out or falling asleep, whichever would come first, and it felt like every ounce of power and strength had been wrung from her body. Alex furrowed her brows again, feeling absolutely powerless.
“Okay,” Sam whispered, “I’m going to lift you up now. Hold on, baby.”
She lifted as carefully as she could, but the pain in her ribs made Alex’s eyes water, filling with tears.
Sam carefully walked through the rubble, trying not to jostle Alex as she maneuvered herself and the love of her life through the wreckage, talking absently.
“And we should probably call Kara too, shouldn’t we? If she’s not already at the scene when we get out of here, I mean,” Sam rambled, a thumb carefully rubbing at Alex’s shoulder while she held Alex to her. Alex sniffled, pressing her face deeper into Sam’s neck. “Because knowing your sister, she’ll more than likely be at the scene when we get out there. Because it’s Kara. And I think she knew we’d be here today.”
Alex nodded slowly, focusing on Sam’s voice, listening to keep herself in the world of the living. Sam took another step, landing on a piece a rubble that she had thought was stable. But this time, instead of staying where it had been, the piece of rubble slid under her footing and Alex’s body was jostled, and her already abused brain hit her skull again, sending an agonizing shock of pain through her head.
Alex couldn’t hold back the moan that slipped out, pain-filled and agonized. Sam’s grip tightened, and she stopped, looking down at Alex.
“Shit, I’m so sorry, babe, are you okay?”
Alex grit her teeth, not saying a word at first as she leaned her head against Sam.
Not Okay, Sam decided quickly, and she waited until Alex had responded, but she had already made a decision. She had enough of her powers to fly, even just for a little while, and she was so close to the entrance that she could have Alex out in minutes. She hadn’t wanted to fly at first, but she couldn’t risk hurting Alex any further.
“M’okay,” Alex breathed, her voice still full of pain. “M’kay, Sam. Keep g’ing.”
“Alex, I’m going to fly us out of here. There’s too much rubble around us and I won’t let that happen. Brace yourself, okay?”
Alex took a moment to breathe her assent, face pressing against Sam’s body, and Sam launched into the air, soaring towards the light of day.