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“You’re going to be fine, Kar’,” Alex whispers as she stares at the blonde’s sleeping face.
She’s trying to remain calm and not go all “Alex” on the world as she usually does because, this time, she might really lose Kara; and that’s not something that she can allow to happen. So she stays by her side when she’s not working on a cure, trying to maximize her time with her and her chance of finding the miracle that would give her her best friend back.
It’s not as if she has someone to blame anyway, the sickness that took Kara’s strength was as sudden as it was effective. The hero of National City had lasted all of three days before succumbing and passed out right in the middle of a battle.
“Kara, are you sure you’re up for it ? You’ve been feeling weird for a couple of days, maybe it’s best if—”
“If I let him terrorize the city ?” Kara’s tone was harsh, but Alex could hear a hint of panic behind it. She withdrew, her gentle fingers now shaking fists at her side, an obvious sign of how unwell she was feeling.
Alex’s face softened and she put her hands on the blonde’s shoulders. “Of course not,” she said softly. “We’re here too, remember ? You don’t have to do everything by yourself.” She felt Kara’s shoulders sag, which told her her foster sister agreed and had been keeping the weight of the world on her shoulders when she could have shared it with her. Only then did she let her hands slide down until they touched Kara’s, stroking her fists to calm her down. “I’d be out of a job if I couldn’t come fight by your side,” she added with a grin, trying to lift the tension.
The crinkle on Kara’s forehead faded away and the agent knew she succeeded — up to a certain point. “I know,” Kara murmured, eyes downcast. “I just want to help people whenever I can, and if I’m still standing, then I can do just that.”
And with a forced smile and a quick touch to Alex’s cheek, she walked away while the other agents geared up. Alex was already ready, and with a concerned but determined look, she followed after her foster sister’s footsteps into the battlefield.
And that should have been the last of it. The alien wasn’t all that strong, Kara could easily take him — hell, Alex could easily take him even without her anti-alien weapons. But, of course, Alex’s guts were rarely mistaken and she was right to worry.
Eyes up in the sky, the older Danvers followed the caped superhero fly dodge the alien’s attacks. That was the usual way, as Alex taught her, so Kara could read her enemy's movements and take him down more easily. But, this time, it cost her.
Just as she was about to retaliate and put him down long enough for the DEO to take him away, she froze mid-punch and clutched at her heart. Alex thought her heart stopped at the same time, watching as the big, green alien (such a stereotype) punched her first and she fell unconscious.
Her fall wasn’t all that violent, but the hero still didn’t stand up. She didn’t dust herself off and flew back to win her fight. Instead, she remained motionless in the crater her body created. She wasn’t bleeding, wasn’t really hurt, but her eyes still wouldn’t open.
Even when Agent Danvers came running and tapped her cheek to wake her up. She didn’t wake up then, and still didn’t when her foster sister sobbed right above her, her tears falling freely on the blonde face, creating clean tracks on her dusty cheeks.
That had been a week ago and Alex still can’t find the problem. Technically, Kara is fine. Her organs are healthy, her blood is running and her heart pumping as fast as usual. She still counts herself lucky because a week could have easily ended the life of the most important person in her life, but Kara is still fighting — somehow.
She’s restless, her leg jumping up and down and causing the bed rail to tremble against it; Alex doesn’t care, the worst it could do would be waking up Kara. So she keeps it up, can’t not do it, and stares at the blonde in front of her. She looks peaceful. Eyes closed, rosy cheeks and steady breathing, she doesn’t look sick at all.
Maybe she’ll wake up in a couple of hours, or next week. Maybe never. And she can’t stand there, not knowing. She sighs, closes her eyes and brings Kara’s warm hand against her forehead and tries to see an answer somewhere. It does take her a few minutes before her eyes fly wide open and sits straight all of the sudden.
“I’m a moron !” she exclaims in the empty room, no one but herself hearing her. “And you,” she continues, leaning forward to kiss Kara’s forehead, “are a genius.” And with one last loving, and hopeful glance, she leaves the room and basically runs in the hallway.
“No running in the hallways !” she hears J’onn calls after her, and she shivers as memories of high school floods her brain and she instinctively stops and turns.
“Sorry, I—” And she stops again, frowns and shakes her head. “Wha— I’m in a hurry, don’t interrupt me,” she huffs at him before sprinting away.
Behind her, J’onn shakes his head with his hands on his hips like a disapproving father — but he can recognize that look in her eyes, can easily guess she’s found something. He also knows her well enough that, with this amount of enthusiasm, she won’t need his help unless she asks for it.
He knows when to stay back, and he knows when to force her to talk to him so she’ll admit she needs help. This isn’t one of those times so, like a good Space Dad, he trusts her with all that he has and turns around. Once at Kara’s bedside, he sits where Alex was just praying to Rao to find something to help her, and silently supports his adopted daughters.
The hand scanner shines bright green with a slight beep and she swiftly enters, wondering if J’onn is going to come after her or let her do her thing. She relaxes when the heavy door slides shut behind her, her shoulders dropping in relief for a second before squaring them again, mentally preparing herself for what she has to do.
She takes a deep breath and, after her third step, the hologram comes to life. “Alexandra Danvers, of the House Danvers. Hello. How may I help you ?”
The brunette gulps, the (literally) dead ringer for the woman she killed staring at her with her blank gaze a painful reminder of what she put Kara through. Still, she pushes through because she has to— because she needs to. For Kara.
So, she clears her throat and keeps walking until she’s standing in front of Kara’s mother. “I need help. Kara’s sick and I don’t know what to do.”
The hologram is clear and steady, only the Kryptonian technology able to make such a perfect rendering opposed to the fuzzy and glitchy one Alex tried to make a few years ago. The agent clenches her jaw, waiting for an answer as the silence stretches.
And Kryptonian technology doesn’t disappoint. “How may I help you ?” Alura repeats. Usually.
Alex closes her eyes and takes another deep breath, head hanging low and hands on her hips as she tries to stay calm. It’s not a human being, it’s not even a living being, she tries to remind herself. Pursing her lips, she thinks of Kara in the med bay, alone and unconscious. She thinks of how she can help, can guess screaming at a hologram is no way of doing that, and sighs. She looks up and looks into Alura’s eyes, and sees no expression in them.
“I need you to tell me what can cause a Kryptonian to feel off for two days, then fall unconscious and have no other symptoms.”
Without missing a beat, Alura answers. “On Krypton, there are numbers of illness tha—”
“Not on Krypton,” Alex is quick to correct her. “On Earth.”
This time, the hologram isn’t as fast with its response. And Alex can imagine the noise a CPU would make with that kind of processing, can imagine how funny it would be if Alura did make that kind of noise and if, somehow, smoke would come out of her ears.
She does see the image glitching a little, and she guesses that’s as close as she’ll get. It’s enough, though, to keep her from brooding too much while the hologram tries to find her some information to share.
After a long minute, Alura speaks again. “I am sorry. You are not authorized to access this data.”
“What ?” Alex mumbles with furrowed eyebrows. “What do you mean ?” she asks, louder. This is getting ridiculous.
“I am sorry,” Alura says again, her voice devoid of emotion. “You are not authorized to—”
“I heard what you said !” Alex finally exploded, taking a step forward. It would have threatened most people, but most people have feelings. Holograms don’t. “I’m asking why.”
She stands there, fists shaking at her side, as she glares at the woman who gave birth to the most important being in Alex’s life.
“You are not authorized to—”
“Oh my god !” Alex shouts as she raises her hands in the air, letting them down with a loud slap against her legs.
“ —access to this data because you are not of the House of El,” Alura finally explains at Alex’s back.
Which causes said back to turn around and let a very angry face stare at the hologram. “Because I’m not…” Alex repeats, dumbfounded, eyebrows up to her hairline and mouth open. “What… What qualifies as being part of the House of El ?” she asks, quietly at first. “How can you decide who’s part of it and who’s not ?” she continues, her words getting louder and louder. “You’re not even here anymore !”
“I am Alura Zor-El, head of the House of El.”
“But you’re not— not anymore ! You’re dead, you left Kara alone and now she’s the sole survivor of the House of El.” Her chest is heaving because of her outburst, and she would have liked to be Kryptonian just to use her laser eyes on that damn hologram as Kara once did.
“Kal-El is also—”
Alex holds on a groan. “Kal-El isn’t here ! Kara is sick and he isn’t here.” She lets out a shaky breath, eyes closed. “Kara is and she’s the one who needs your help. That’s the least you can do after abandoning her.”
Once again, Alura is quick to answer. “We have put Kara in a pod to—”
The agent turns her back to her once again. “I know why you did that. It doesn’t mean you’re qualified to choose who gets the right to save her now that you’re not here to do that anymore,” she points out through gritted teeth, trying hard not to explode again.
“You are not of the House of El—”
“But I am !” she yells. So much for not losing control again. “I am, because I’m her family now. I am here for her as she is here for me. We got each other’s backs since she arrived on Earth.” She can hear her voice getting softer as she gets lost in memories, in feelings she had tried so long to push away. “You sent her on Earth to survive, and she did. You forced her to escape, to leave everything she knew and everyone she loved in the hope she’d find new people to love and who would love her back. And she did. I did !” There’s a long silence and she can see the hologram doesn’t have a response programmed for this kind of outburst. She sighs, looks sadly at the same eyes of the woman she loves more than anything. “You sent her on Earth to survive,” she says again, approaching the hologram. “Let me help her,” she asks, beggingly. “Please.”
Her eyes are misty and can feel her nose running a little, but it doesn’t matter. For one, a hologram can’t process this kind of emotions. And also, who cares ? She’d snot on anyone as long as it was for Kara.
The silence is deafening because she knows what Alura is going to say is going to be final. She can hear her own heart beating painfully in her chest, and wonders if Kara can hear it even if unconscious. She knows she hears it when asleep because she’ll come flying through her wall if Alex has a nightmare and her heartbeat quickens enough to alert Kara’s super-hearing.
And that’s when they’re each in their own apartment. When they used to sleep together back in Midvale, the blonde’s arms would tighten around her just enough to wake her up but not enough to hurt her. That’s how she knew how much she meant to Kara because, even asleep, she’d mind her strength with her; even at the beginning of everything.
“You are to be of the House of El to have access to this data,” Alura repeats.
It’s enough for Alex to let go of any control she had over her emotions and let tears finally run free on her tired face. She sinks to her knees, hides the proof of weakness behind her hands, and silently shakes with sadness and defeat. “I’m sorry, Kara…” she brokenly whispers to no one, suddenly hopes the blonde can’t hear her heart even now so she won’t hear how broken she feels.
She stays like that for long minutes, thinking the hologram automatically disappeared, until… “There is one way, Alexandra Danvers,” Alura speaks again, making the agent startle and leave snot on her hands.
“Are you really not going to tell me how you found this cure ?” J’onn asks again from across the room as he watches his best agent injects Kara with an unknown substance.
Alex takes care of watching the blonde’s expressions very closely as the chemicals enter her system through her, for now, very human veins. “Nope,” she mumbles without looking at him, all eyes for Kara.
She hears him sigh in the corner, where he was assigned so he wouldn’t bother her, but doesn’t look up. “Can I at least know what you’re givin—”
“Nope.”
She turns her head, pretends to look at Kara’s vitals, but it’s mostly to hide her amused smile. Because she heard him sharply inhale, and she knows he does that when he’s trying to stop himself from speaking again.
She knows it’s petty, not telling him. She also knows she’ll tell him — just not right now, she just wants to enjoy teasing him for a bit; it feels good during this tough time.
“This is still my facility,” he grumbles, shifting so he can cross his arms over his chest without looking too much like a petulant child — he still does.
Alex raises an eyebrow at him before saying, “Not for long, grandpa,” and looking at Kara again. She can’t hold her quiet snort when she hears him mumble to himself, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what’s in front of her.
Time passes slowly but she doesn’t mind, remembers what Alura told her about this medicine. She’s still shocked she was able to recreate something strong enough to cure Kara with Earth elements. She’s mostly shocked that it’s one of the rare ones she can recreate with Earth elements.
Well, truth be told, she’s completely shocked by what Alura told her. And how. And why. There is a lot to be shocked about here, but that’s not the moment to think about it. She will once she’ll feel Kara move again. Like a flutter of her eyelids, or…
Or a twitch of the fingers she’s currently holding !
“Kara ?” It’s a whisper at first, she doesn’t want to give the blonde a headache when she wakes up after a week in, basically, a coma. “Kara, are you there ?” she softly asks, gently squeezing the fingers she just felt moving.
She waits a few seconds, then feels them moving again. She breathes out a choked laugh as she looks up to J’onn, already on the other side of Kara’s bed, with teary eyes. “She’s waking up,” he says with a nod, smiling ear to ear. He keeps his hands on the railing, tightens his hold so he won’t reach out to his other adopted daughter; this isn’t the moment.
“Kara ?” Alex asks again with a sob, softly pushing away the hair on the blonde’s forehead. “Kara, it’s Alex. You’re okay.” She sniffs, lets out another choked chuckle. “You’re okay.”
Kara gulps, and it looks painful because her whole face tenses, her famous crinkle coming back to life. Alex doesn’t even have time to reach out for the water bottle next to her that J’onn is already giving it to her. He also already slipped a straw so it’d be easier to drink out of, and Alex can’t do anything but smile at him gratefully.
She quickly sets her gaze back to Kara, her breathing quickening as she slowly regains consciousness. Her eyes are next, opening then closing again so fast that Alex almost thinks she dreamt it. But, then, Kara blinks a few times against the bright light and Alex only has to whispers, “J’onn ?” for him to go and dim the lights.
With the room more dark than bright now, it’s clearly easier for the superhero to fully open her eyes and look around. Her observers stay silent next to her until blue eyes stop and stare at one particular spot. “Alex ?” she rasps, frowning. “What…” She tries to clear her throat, but the result isn’t much better. “What happened ?”
The brunette can tell she’s confused, leans closer until she can put a lingering kiss against blonde hair. Once she feels ready to meet Kara’s eyes again and not bawl her own eyes out, she leans back and smiles. “You survived.”
“Wow, a whole week…” Kara murmurs to herself when Alex is done explaining what happened — mostly — as she sips the water J’onn gave her before he left the room. “But…” She frowns, racks her brain but she’s been in a coma for a week, her brain isn’t at 100% yet. “How did you save me ?”
Alex tenses in the chair next to her, forcing her hand to stay relaxed around Kara’s and looks away. “Your mom helped,” she admits, almost nonchalantly if Kara didn’t know her so well.
“My mom.” She sits with this information for a moment. Alex shrugs, still refusing to meet her gaze, and Kara puts the bottle down on the table next to her. “Alex.”
The brunette shifts in her seat, clears her throat, and fidgets with a loose thread coming out of the armchair. “Just… mixed some stuff and made the cure.” She doesn't mention how long it took just to find the stuff and how much more time it took to make it.
It’s an odd behavior and Kara doesn’t have the energy. She lets herself fall back onto the three big pillows Alex got her as soon as she woke up with a sigh and closes her eyes. “Fine, be that way.” She’s not really mad, she’s just tired because she slept for a whole week. There’s a long silence where Kara is sure her foster sister is going to pretend to fall asleep or something, but then she hears her mumbling something. “What ?” she tiredly asks, curious but, also, still pretty exhausted.
She hears Alex sigh and feels her hand shift around hers, but she keeps her eyes closed. She knows it’ll give her foster sister a sense of privacy, of patience. So, she waits.
“I said…” Another sigh. “Alura told me how to save you.”
“Yeah, that’s— Wait.” Kara opens her eyes again and, even though she knows Alex wasn’t finished, she sits back up with a frown. “You don’t have access to—”
“To this data , I know,” Alex frustratingly recites with a roll of her eyes. “God, like mother like daughter,” she grumbles as she rubs her forehead in a manner that tells Kara to keep her mouth shut. “Well, I— that’s true, I didn’t have authorization because I wasn’t part of the House of El,” she admits, still avoiding blue eyes.
The air feels thicker, and even as tired as she is, Kara can feel it. She waits for Alex to continue but, somehow, feels she won’t. She watches her, watches her leg bounce up and down, the restless way her thumb tries to wipe a non-existent stain on that same freaking armchair. She also notices her foster sister’s ears are redder than usual and, with the goosebumps she can see on her arms, knows it’s not because of the heat.
It takes a moment, a long one — so much that Alex is sure she’s going to have to spell it out for her — but she eventually gets it. She breathes out a, “Oh,” and sees Alex freeze, stopping all movement. Even her grip around her hand becomes still. “Oh, so…”
Alex’s left hand tighten in a fist then relaxes around the armchair, and makes its way in her short hair as she finally meets Kara’s wide eyes. “Yeah.” She’s twitchy, she knows it but can’t stop it, so she puts her hand flat on her thigh to hide it — from a Kryptonian, sure. “So…” She awkwardly grins at her foster sister. “Well, we just went through the sickness bit, maybe you can slow down so we can enjoy the and in health part ?”