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“And the centrifuge!”
Maggie doesn’t bother hiding her grin as she and Alex leave the movie theater behind.
Despite the fact that it’s January, the sky is clear, giving way to an afternoon in the mid-60s. It’s weird to her after the winters in Blue Springs and Gotham, but she won’t complain. It means she can comfortably stroll through downtown National City with Alex, both of them clad in their typical leather jackets and jeans.
“First of all, balancing,” Alex continues. “Everyone knows that centrifuges have to be balanced. That is the most basic rule. That’s not even high school level science. That’s, like, middle school or… or… I don’t even know. It’s so basic it doesn’t have a level. And the lid! You have to put the lid on.”
“They closed the top.”
“No, Maggie,” Alex says, the point apparently important enough for her stop. Maggie stops beside her and watches Alex emphasize her words with equally emphatic hand gestures. “You don’t understand. The lid has to go on first. You know what happens when you don’t put the lid on first? Your tubes go flying, and they shatter, and your samples splatter all over the inside of the wells and the machine. And then you can’t move on to the next part of the experiment with the rest of the class, which means no flow cytometer for you—”
“Alex,” Maggie cuts her off because as much as she loves watching Alex get animated, they’re blocking foot traffic. Still, she allows herself one indulgence, teasing, “Traumatized much?”
“I was mad at my lab partner for weeks,” Alex admits, looking chagrined.
Maggie finds it adorable. “Nerd.”
They start walking again. Maggie considers holding Alex’s hand as their swinging arms synchronize, but the distinct crack of a gunshot has her reaching for her gun instead.
“It sounded like it came from behind us,” Maggie says as she spins, crouching slightly as she searches for the shooter. When Alex doesn’t respond, Maggie sends a quick glance her way.
Alex also has her gun in hand, but she seems frozen, a weird expression on her face. Then Alex collapses, blood pooling around her. It takes all of Maggie’s training to remember to keep one eye on their surroundings as she kneels beside Alex. A cursory examination reveals an entrance wound on the upper right side of Alex’s back and no exit wound.
“You need to get out of here,” Alex says, forcing out pained words through gritted teeth.
There’s a distinct lack of cover around, making them sitting ducks if the shooting continues. Maggie doesn’t care. She’s not leaving Alex.
“Not a chance,” Maggie says as she frantically sheds her jacket, applies pressure, and calls 911, pleading for an ambulance, for help. She spits out their location, her badge number, anything and everything she can think of that might help them.
She doesn’t think she could feel worse, but then a familiar figure appears with a metal mask covering a third of his face.
“I am so sick of all the Danvers,” he growls. “It’s time they finally learn the consequences of helping Supergirl.”
Maggie fires, but it’s deja vu as her bullets bounce right off him. He advances undeterred, blue left eye glowing brighter as he prepares to fire a heat beam. But Maggie doesn’t have her bulletproof vest on this time. Neither does Alex. Maggie curls around Alex, doing what little she can to protect her.
But then Supergirl is there, shielding them with her cape.
Supergirl looks pissed . Her eyes glow red even though she isn’t using her heat vision. Every exhale forms a cloud of ice crystals.
Before Supergirl can get to Alex, Cyborg Superman grabs her cape and yanks her backwards. A fight ensues, but no matter what Supergirl does, he keeps popping up like some sort of deranged whack-a-mole. Everything happens so quickly, probably within seconds, but it feels like forever as Alex’s accelerating pulse pushes blood past Maggie’s jacket and her breathing grows more and more uneven.
Cyborg Superman turns the tables, slamming Supergirl into the ground.
“Kara,” Alex exhales, the name accompanied by a mist of blood.
“She’s not here,” Maggie reassures her. “She’s safe.” But her words have no effect as Alex weakly struggles against her, the effort sapping all her energy. Her eyes flutter closed. “Hey, don’t do that. Alex!”
In her peripheral vision, Maggie sees a Green Martian swoop into the fray.
“Go, Supergirl!” he commands.
“You!” Cyborg Superman snarls.
Supergirl doesn’t waste any time, whisking Alex away the moment his attention has shifted.
Arms suddenly empty, Maggie finds herself unable to move. She’s vaguely aware of the fight taking place in front of her, but her focus has left with Alex. She isn’t aware of how cold she is until a team of DEO agents arrive. They pull her away from the line of fire, put a blanket around her shivering shoulders, and take her back to the DEO where she’s diagnosed with shock.
Once she’s cleared, she’s lead to another room. There’s a table and chairs in the middle of the room, but the room’s sole occupant is sitting on a couch by the wall.
“Please sit,” says the woman, gesturing beside her. Once Maggie’s settled, she continues, “Detective Sawyer, I’m Director Lane. Before we start debriefing, is there anything I can get you?”
“I want to see Alex.” Maggie hates how meek her voice is, but it’s all she can manage.
“She’s in surgery right now. If there’s any news, they’ll let us know.” When Maggie seems satisfied with that reply, Director Lane continues, “I know this is difficult for you, Detective, but you know better than most why we have to do this now. It appears Agent Danvers was targeted. I need to make sure she’s not in further danger.”
Maggie does understand, so she gathers her wits about her and tells Director Lane everything she can remember. She starts with leaving the movie theater but finds the details get fuzzy when she gets to Alex being shot. Director Lane nods along evenly, but her interest piques when Cyborg Superman mentions the Danvers.
“What did he say specifically?” Director Lane asks.
“I don’t remember,” Maggie admits. “But I think he said ‘the Danvers’ like it’s more than just Alex. Does that make any sense?”
Apparently it does, but Directory Lane doesn’t clue her in as to why.
When the debrief is concluded, Director Lane says, “Okay. I’ll take you to the waiting area.”
“That’s it?” Maggie asks as she watches the other woman stand.
“Well, it hardly seems like the right time to give you the shovel talk, so yeah, that’s it.”
Maggie stares.
Director Lane smiles gently before reassuring her, “Because she will be okay. I know Danvers. She’ll pull through.”
Maggie nods along because she wants to believe it too. As they head to the waiting area, Maggie asks, “Did you call her family?”
“Doctor Danvers is catching the first flight she can.”
“And Kara?”
Director Lane glances at her, an odd look crossing her face. “She’ll be there.”
There’s already one person sitting in the waiting room when they arrive.
Maggie has never seen Supergirl look so small. She has her knees pulled up to her chest and her cape wrapped around her like a safety blanket. It’s such a stark contrast to the towering figure who shielded her and Alex earlier that day.
“Lucy.”
Supergirl starts untangling herself from her cape, but she doesn’t make much headway before Director Lane wraps her in a hug. Supergirl lets herself fall forward into Lane’s chest, shoulders shuddering as she sobs. Lane holds Supergirl until she stops crying, comforting and reassuring her that Alex will be okay.
Lane isn’t the only one to give special attention to Supergirl. When J’onn arrives, he hands Supergirl a pair of glasses. Something nags at the back of Maggie’s mind, telling her there’s some realization that should be smacking her in the face right now.
“But I’d still be able to hear them,” Supergirl whispers.
It’s then that Maggie connects Supergirl’s powers with the seemingly random flinches and whimpers. With her x-ray vision, Supergirl can see the surgeons cutting into Alex. With her super hearing, she can hear the doctors frantically call out commands to one another as they try to save Alex’s life. Maybe when she flinches it’s because she can hear and see Alex coding. Not for the first time in her life, Maggie is glad she doesn’t have superpowers.
Before J’onn leaves, he kisses Supergirl’s forehead. Supergirl doesn’t put the glasses on. She just clutches them in her hand. Maybe she wants to know exactly what’s happening with Alex’s surgery.
As DEO agents pop in or pass through, they give Supergirl sympathetic looks or a few words of comfort. Maggie feels practically invisible.
So when yet another agent comes in, Maggie doesn’t pay much attention. The agent gives Supergirl a hug and talks to her.
But once she’s done with Supergirl, she approaches. “Detective Sawyer, I’m Agent Vasquez. Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee?” After a beat, she adds, “A hug?”
What Maggie needs is to stop replaying that moment over and over, Alex’s blood spilling past Maggie’s jacket and onto her fingers, a vivid red in her mind’s eye. But there is something else she can do.
“Where’s Kara?” Maggie asks. “She should’ve been here by now.”
A few chairs down, Supergirl shifts.
Rather than answer, Agent Vasquez simply replies, “She knows.”
“But is she coming?” Maggie insists. “You don’t understand. Alex asked for Kara.”
She’s about to launch into a tirade about the DEO, their obsession with keeping things classified, and how little all that should matter right now when Supergirl appears behind Agent Vasquez’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Vasquez. I got this.”
Vasquez looks at Supergirl but leaves when the superhero nods at her.
“This normally goes the other way around,” Supergirl mutters. Maggie watches as the blonde slips her glasses on and looks her in the eye.
“Kara,” Maggie breathes. Even without the omnipresent smile—and Kara always has a smile on even if it’s a passive-aggressive one directed at Maggie in a threatening manner—it’s obvious.
It makes so much sense and yet doesn’t at the same time. The clues were certainly there, but the thing is she’s met Kara Danvers. She’s spent time with Kara Danvers. Kara Danvers is unequivocally one of the worst liars she has ever met.
Maggie doesn’t get more time to process because now that the cat’s out of the bag, Kara talks to her openly.
“I hate this,” she says as she begins pacing. “I feel like I should be doing something. Alex would be if I was—Alex would know what to do.”
“I know the feeling,” Maggie mutters as Alex’s words echo in her head.
I almost died.
Uh, yeah. No, I would never let that happen.
“And I’m terrified,” Kara continues. “I never thought—This isn’t supposed to happen. She’s never supposed to be in danger, not even on missions because I’m supposed to be there to protect her, and if she doesn’t let me know, then I can say, ‘Make smarter choices next time, dummy’, but this time—Why wasn’t I listening? I should’ve—”
More pieces fall into place as Maggie remembers observing Alex and Supergirl in the field and the way they seemed especially protective of one another.
Maggie doesn’t know how to respond. She could say things like, “It’s not your fault”, “You couldn’t have known”, or “You can’t watch over her all the time”, but she doesn’t think Kara would believe her. Maggie knows those phrases wouldn’t work on herself. Not at a time like this.
Eventually another woman, someone who probably knows the right things to say to Kara, joins them. Doctor Danvers immediately wraps Kara up in a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry,” Kara says as soon as she’s released. “I should’ve—”
“No,” Doctor Danvers cuts her off, one hand affectionately tucking Kara’s hair behind her ear and stroking her cheek. “No, Kara. I know you did everything you could. I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
To Maggie’s surprise, the woman turns, takes one look at her, and pulls her into a hug.
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Maggie.”
Maggie finds herself unable to look Alex’s mother in the eye. Meeting like this feels wrong. “Doctor Danvers, I—”
“Please, call me Eliza,” Doctor Danvers says, placing a hand under Maggie’s chin, guiding it up until they’re face-to-face. “And don’t you dare apologize or say it’s your fault. I’m sure you did everything you could too.”
Eliza’s arrival doesn’t change much. There’s still nothing they can do but wait. There is an uptick in small talk though. Maggie can tell it’s because Eliza is as terrified as she and Kara are. She needs the distraction.
After far too long, Doctor Hamilton appears. She looks exhausted, but as soon as she sees Kara, Eliza, and Maggie, she smiles reassuringly.
“It was touch and go, but she’s stable now.” She focuses on Kara. “Alex was lucky you brought her in when you did.”
There’s a collective sigh of relief.
“She’s really going to be okay?” Kara asks with the most woeful puppy eyes Maggie has ever seen.
“We’re going to have to keep an eye on her, but all the signs are good.”
“Can we see her?”
“They’re moving her right now, but once they’ve got her settled—”
Dr. Hamilton’s words blur together as the reality of the situation comes crashing down. Maggie finds herself sobbing as fear and relief collide in an overwhelming explosion. The emotional release nearly has her collapsing into the closest chair, but then Kara is there, strong arms supporting her in a tight hug, one hand rubbing her back.
There’s a little more waiting and then they’re off to Alex’s room.
“It’s going to look scary,” Dr. Hamilton warns as they approach. “She’s on a ventilator to help her breathe, and she has a chest tube in to drain the fluid from her chest.”
Kara immediately goes to Alex’s left and Eliza to her right. Maggie stands back, watching the whole scene. Alex looks so pale and small in the midst of all the monitors and her family. Maggie hates it.
As they take shifts sitting with Alex, which Eliza insists on because they need to take care of themselves too, Maggie learns that Alex’s family consists of more than just Kara and Eliza.
Now that Maggie knows Kara is Supergirl, J’onn J’onzz decides it’s time to brief her on the entire situation. It’s a lot to take in. She learns about the Danvers and their relationship to Superman and later Supergirl, the real Hank Henshaw, Jeremiah Danvers joining the DEO, the hunt for the Martian Manhunter, and Jeremiah dying to save J’onn.
“I’ve been looking after his daughters ever since,” J’onn says. “Alex especially. Kara will always have Alex, but Alex is independent, strong, and stubborn.”
His expression is a mixture of fatherly pride and guilt like he’s proud of Alex and all her accomplishments but guilty that he’s the reason she lost her father and consequently decided to carry the world on her shoulders.
The slight detour gives Maggie a glimpse into how much J’onn cares for Alex before he goes back to the briefing. He tells her about assuming the identity of the real Hank Henshaw, nearly getting sent to Cadmus with Alex after being revealed, finding out that Jeremiah is actually alive, and how Jeremiah recently helped Kara escape Cadmus.
Now Cyborg Superman’s comment about the Danvers makes sense. Like father, like daughter.
After orientation with J’onn, who Lucy calls Alex and Kara’s Space Dad, Maggie gets acquainted with Winn, the little brother of the family.
“She’s always looking out for the rest of us,” he says, never taking his eyes off Alex. “I mean, sometimes she does it by threatening you with all the ways she can hurt you with her index finger, but—” He shrugs an oh well . “I can’t do that, but I’d find another way. If someone hurts her—I mean—” Someone did hurt Alex. Maggie can see the helplessness on Winn’s face. She knows he’s been doing everything he can to find Cadmus. “If I could do something about it, I would. I’d use my hacking skills to make their life hell or something, you know?”
“Yeah, I do know.”
When Alex wakes up, Eliza, Kara, and Maggie are all there. It’s a good thing Eliza is there because Alex wakes up thrashing, monitors screaming. Kara is at her side in an instant, but there’s nothing but panic in her eyes. She doesn’t know what to do.
Eliza nudges her aside. “Alex, sweetie, it’s Mom. Look at me. You’re on a ventilator, and you need to stop fighting it. Kara, she’s fine, but I need you to make sure Dr. Hamilton’s on her way, okay? Alex, I need you to relax.” As Alex’s heartbeat evens out, Eliza adds, “That’s my girl.”
Maggie stands back, feeling absolutely useless as Eliza comforts Alex and Kara speeds off, immediately returning with Dr. Hamilton in her arms.
The breathing tube comes out and is replaced with a cannula. Alex promptly falls back asleep shortly thereafter.
She spends the majority of the next couple of days sleeping. During one of her short wake periods, Maggie sees Alex looking at her with bleary eyes.
“You okay?” Alex asks.
Maggie doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She does a bit of both.
“I will be when you are.”
“Already am,” Alex says with a small smile before she drifts off again.
The moment Alex can stay awake for more than a few hours, she negotiates an early release because, well, she’s Alex, and of course she does. Terms include regular check-ups with Dr. Danvers and Kara’s x-ray vision and the promise to have Kara fly her back immediately the moment anything feels the slightest bit off.
Kara is out handling an incident as Supergirl, and Eliza is at Alex’s apartment, preparing for Alex’s arrival. That leaves Maggie to get her home. The first order of business, getting Alex up, is a lot more painful than either of them anticipated. Between the gunshot wound, surgery, and chest tube, Alex’s torso is a mess. Once Alex is sitting up, she rests her head on Maggie’s sternum as she tries to catch her breath.
It’s hard seeing Alex like this, but on the plus side, Maggie’s pretty sure this means Alex will be less combative towards the idea of being pushed out in the mandated wheelchair.
“Thanks,” Alex says as she pulls back.
“No problem,” Maggie says, watching Alex carefully. “But are you sure this is a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea, but that’s not what I meant. Thank you for trying to make sure Kara was there when you didn’t know she was Supergirl.”
“You heard about that?” Maggie groans. She should’ve expected it really. If the constant stream of visiting DEO agents didn’t tell Alex, then she’s sure Kara did. Those two tell each other everything.
It’s kind of embarrassing in retrospect, not knowing Kara was Supergirl and then making a big deal about Kara not being there when Supergirl was sitting a few chairs down from her.
“Hi!” Kara chirps as she zooms into the room and plops down on the bed next to Alex. “Phew. I thought I was gonna miss the jailbreak.”
“Jailbreak?” It’s then that it occurs to Maggie that she hasn’t heard anyone else talk about Alex’s release from medical, and it would be just like Alex to sneak out before she’s cleared.
Alex correctly interprets her sudden change in tone. “It’s all above board,” she reassures her.
“Alex can be very bossy,” Kara loudly whispers to Maggie.
Alex swats at her, but Kara takes the hit cheerfully.
When they arrive at Alex’s apartment and settle her into bed, Kara curls up beside her like a puppy. Maggie nearly joins Eliza in the kitchen, but Alex pats the other side of her bed in invitation.
Maggie sits beside her and strokes her hair. They stay like that for a few hours as wonderful smells waft in from the kitchen. Alex doses for about an hour, and there’s some talking while she’s awake, less from Kara, who just seems to be there for the cuddles.
“I thought you were a terrible liar,” Maggie says, trying to invite Kara into the conversation.
“That’s what a good liar makes you think,” Kara responds, exchanging looks with Alex like they’re sharing a private joke. They probably are.
“Don’t believe her. She is a terrible liar,” Alex says, exasperated. “I have to do so much extra work to make she’s not comprising her secret identity all over the place. Why else do you think you only just found out Kara is Supergirl?”
“But now that you know the truth.” Suddenly Kara Danvers disappears from her side of the bed, and Supergirl appears in front of Maggie so close their noses are almost touching. “If you hurt my sister, I might have to throw you into space. I can do that. I’ve been up there, and it’s not pleasant. It will probably be even less pleasant for you.”
“Kara,” Alex groans in protest.
Maggie would like to say that she would never hurt Alex, but everyone in this room knows that she already has once, even if it was done with good intentions.
Besides, she’s not even sure how serious Kara is. She’s come to realize that Kara is more complicated than she appears to be. The cheerful, bubbly demeanor of Kara Danvers hides the sad, lonely Kryptonian mourning the loss of her homeworld. The gentle generosity of Supergirl is the companion of a fiery rage that would be dangerously destructive in anyone else’s hands.
All of which leaves Maggie with the fact that she doesn’t know if Kara is teasing her or not.
“I—”
“Yes?” Supergirl prompts, raising an eyebrow and somehow moving in even closer.
“Kara Danvers of the House of El,” Alex says, voice stern and low, and even though it’s a bit breathy, it still manages to come across as menacing.
And in the blink of an eye, Kara Danvers is back, albeit still clad as Supergirl. “Oh golly! Uhh, you know, I think I hear someone calling for help. Their pet is stuck in a tree. Gotta fly!”
Another blink later, Kara is nowhere to be seen.
“I hope it’s a snake named Fluffy again,” Alex calls out after her. She can’t muster required air to raise her voice yet, but it doesn’t matter with Kara’s super hearing as is evidenced by the fact that Kara immediately reappears in the doorway.
“Who names their snake Fluffy?” Kara shudders before remembering she’s supposed to be “saving a pet”, and she disappears once again. Maggie imagines she probably disappeared to the kitchen. That girl can eat—another one of Maggie’s observations that makes so much sense now—and the kitchen smells delicious.
“You guys are cute.”
Alex looks absolutely affronted. “ She’s cute. I’m scary and badass.”
Maggie kisses her on the cheek. “You’re both cute.”
Alex looks like she wants to argue that point further, but Eliza sticks her head in the door.
“Hey, sweetie. I’m making your favorite pie, but in the meantime, is there something else you’d like to eat?”
“If this is what it takes to avoid chocolate pecan pie, I might have to do this more often,” Alex jokes.
“Never say that again.”
The instantaneous change in Eliza’s demeanor almost gives Maggie whiplash, but Alex doesn’t seem at all bothered by it.
“I’m going to have to second that,” Maggie says, partially because she agrees and partially because she wants to put Eliza at ease.
Alex’s phone buzzes. She looks relieved by the interruption but deflates when she reads the message.
Maggie looks over and laughs when she see that it’s a text from Kara.
Thirded.