42. Betrayed

Kara lead the way as she and her family piled into the elevator at the DEO.  Jamie held her hand trepidatiously, too tight for anyone else to handle. “We’re almost there!” Kara told them cheerfully.

Jessie bounced happily on her toes.  Of course, she wasn’t the least bit nervous now that she was about to be surrounded by so much cool, new stuff.  Being surrounded by a tower full of soldiers probably put her at ease on the whole Jeremiah thing too. At least that was something.  Kara would consider it Rao’s gift to Alex for the day.

The elevator dinged open and revealed the main floor of the DEO.  Both twins looked around curiously at every little thing. Jessie seemed especially fascinated by the soldiers.  

Jamie noticed other things.  “I can’t see through the walls here, Mama, ” she observed.

Kara smiled wryly, “Yeah, that’s because the walls are lined with lead around here.”

“Why?”

“To keep nosy Kryptonian noses out of things,” J’onn answered in greeting.  “You all don’t need to know everything.”

“Is that why it’s quieter too?”

J’onn nodded.  “Probably.”

“It’s kind of a relief, actually,” Jamie told them.  “My senses have been on overload ever since this happened.”

“You should love the training rooms, then,” Kara said.  “They're nice and quiet.”

“Sweet,” said Jamie.

“Hey, guys!” Mon-El and Winn greeted them.  

The twins ran and hugged them.  “Hi!”

Everyone exchanged pleasantries.

“Where's Dad?” Alex wanted to know.

Hands on his hips, J’onn answered, “He thought it might be best if he stayed away for the time being.  He and Eliza are in the bunks, so as not to further scare the children.”

Kara thought Alex was going to start yelling again, but her wife just looked sad and didn’t say anything.  

The kids looked guiltily up at their mother, then shared a long hard look with Lena and Maggie.  Then Jamie spoke up. “If we’re not safe here, we’re not safe anywhere.”

“So what you’re telling me, is it’s OK for Jeremiah to come visit?” J’onn confirmed.

The twins nodded, albeit somewhat timidly.

“Are you sure about this?” Mon-El double-checked.

“Yeah,” said Jessie.  “We’ll be fine. We have you, Jamie, Mama, and J’onn, plus everybody else here.  He’d be crazy to pull a move with all you guys around!”

“It’s the same group we had at dinner last night!” Alex huffed.

“Not with all the soldiers!” Jessie pointed out.

Alex looked at Kara, then raised her hands and dropped them in a sign of defeat.  

Maggie gave Jessie a Look, and the twin covered her mouth with her hands, “Sorry, Mom!  I’m sorry.”

Kara wanted to know what was said to the twins to make them finally change their attitudes.  They had been deaf to everything she and Alex had said to them all day Saturday when they were trying to defend Jeremiah.  Now, all of a sudden, they had a change of heart? Why?

Alex took Jessie by the hand.  “Thank you.”

“I love you, Mom,” Jessie added for good measure.

“I love you too, baby.”

Jessie looked a little frustrated at the nickname, but she kept her mouth shut about it.

“Shall we get on with it?” J’onn pressed.  They all agreed, and he led them through a maze of hallways and stairways until they got to the training rooms.  They entered the biggest one, and J’onn pointed out a range of targets around the room. “These are to help you train your heat vision,” he told Jamie.

“But I don't know how to turn it on yet,” Jamie informed him.  “It only happened the once.”

“Just give it a try,” J’onn encouraged.

The preteen squinted comically at the targets around the room.  Nothing happened.

“Try to remember how it felt yesterday,” Kara helped.  “Imagine the heat in your eyes.”

Jamie tried again, and again nothing happened.  She shrugged helplessly. “I can’t do it, Mama.”

“OK.  We’ll come back to this.”  Kara and the gang were about to walk out, when Eliza and Jeremiah walked through the door.  

Jamie turned her head just in time to keep her heat vision from hitting anyone.  “Is everyone OK?” she checked, when it finally stopped.

Everyone gave her confirmation that they were fine.

“Try to do it again now,” J’onn suggested, pointing at the targets.

Jamie squinted her eyes at a target across the room, and this time succeeded in hitting it.  It fell backwards, and another target popped up in a different place across the room. Jamie hit that one as well.  Everyone clapped and cheered, and now Jamie actually looked pleased instead of afraid.

“Good job, Jamie!” Kara said proudly.

“Thanks!” her daughter hugged her.  It felt good to be hugged so tightly.  There was just something about that squeezing of the ribs that added that extra oomph that turned a good hug into a great one.  Now that Jamie had powers, Kara was going to get to feel that all the time. The idea made her really happy.

“Good job, sweetie,” Alex kissed Jamie's head proudly.  “Thanks for the help, Dad.”

Jeremiah smiled wryly, “Sure thing.”

Jamie blasted a few more targets.  It seemed a little fear was just what she needed to get jump started again.

“Excellent,” said J’onn.  “You'll be a pro in no time.”

Jamie grinned with pride.

“Shall we explore the other training rooms?” J’onn offered.

“Yeah!” Jamie answered excitedly.

The group moved into the next room where there were several pools of water of varying sizes.

“This room is for you to practice your freeze breath,” J’onn announced.

Jamie walked up to the smallest pool that looked like a bird bath.  She looked down, took a deep breath, and blew out. The water rippled and moved, but didn't freeze.  She tried again, blowing harder this time, but the water stayed water. “Dang it,” she complained.

“Take a deep breath in, and blow out like you’re the big bad wolf trying to catch the little pigs,” Kara encouraged.

Jamie giggled and did as Kara recommended. The water splashed up over the edges, but it didn't turn to ice.

Jessie walked over and stuck her hand in the water.  “It’s cold, at least.”

Jamie blew one last time, and low and behold, a sheet of ice appeared over the top of the water that Jessie had her hand in.  “Ha!” she laughed.

Jessie screamed, now that she was stuck.  “Hey! Let me out! It’s cold!”

Kara quickly dispatched the ice with her heat vision, so Jessie could pull her arm out.  “Jamie, that wasn’t very nice.”

“Oh, come on!  That was funny!” Jamie said.

“It wouldn’t have been funny, if she’d gotten stuck like that!” Alex pointed at her.

Jamie frowned.  “Everything’s fine.  I don’t see what the big deal is.  I got my freeze breath to work.”

“Don’t use it on your sister,” Alex demanded.  “I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”

“Fine!”  Now that her sister was free, she tried again, and this time, the whole small pool iced over.  “Woohoo!”

The group clapped for her.

“Now use your heat vision to melt it again,” said Kara.

Jamie squinted at the water, but nothing happened.  “Shoot!” she complained. “Now it's not working again.”

“It's OK.  You'll get it,” Kara patted her shoulder.  She used her own heat vision to melt the ice for her daughter to freeze it again.  “OK, now try again.”

Jamie blew on the water, and this time she only created a light sheen of ice.  She made a noise of discontent, “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Especially since flying was so easy.”

“Alright.  You want to practice flying?”

“Yeah!” Jamie answered excitedly.

They all followed J’onn to a new room, this one with a high ceiling, and the girl leapt upward and hovered in the air, sporting a huge grin on her face.  “Look, Mama!”

Kara grinned proudly at her daughter, “Good job, Jamie!”  She floated up darted away, “Try and catch me!”

Jamie took off after her, and they flew around the room like that, with Kara staying just outside of Jamie’s reach.  They were laughing and having a great time, and if ever Jamie almost had her, Kara would zip away a little further. This resulted in them speeding up a great deal, and on one pass, Kara took a particularly sharp last-second turn that had Jamie unable to stop.  The preteen slammed into the wall with a loud thud and fell to the floor. It only took her a second to pop back up, “I’m fine! I’m fine! That didn’t even hurt at all!” She giggled a little hysterically.

Kara laughed too.  “So fun, right?”

Eliza spoke up from the back of the group, next to her husband.  “Jamie, Jeremiah has a gift for you.”

Jamie bit her lip shyly.  “Um, OK.” She walked slowly, averting her eyes in case her heat vision kicked in again.  Luckily it didn’t.

When she was standing in front of him, Jeremiah revealed that he was holding two small velvet bags in his good hand.  He held them out to her. “One is for you, and the other is for your sister, should she ever get her powers.”

Jamie slowly took the bags from him and opened the drawstring on one to reveal a pair of glasses.  She frowned, “But Mom said I wasn’t allowed to do Supergirl stuff. Why do I need a disguise?”

Jeremiah chuckled.  “It’s not for a disguise, sweetie.  It’s for your X-ray vision. The frames are lined with lead, so it helps you get a hold of that power.  I remember Kara had a lot of problems with that one when she first got to earth. I thought they might help you too.”

Jamie opened the other bag to reveal another pair of glasses with a different style of frames.  “Thank you,” she said softly, putting on the second pair of glasses.

“You’re welcome,” Jeremiah smiled at her.  If he was expecting a hug, he didn’t get one.  

Jamie backed away slowly and handed the other pair of glasses to Jessie.  “That helps quite a bit,” she admitted, looking around at the group. Now I can see people’s faces instead of their skulls.  You know, I walked into the wall twice this morning!”

“You look so cute!” Winn squeed.  He took a picture of her with the tablet he’d been carrying around to document her progress.  “Jessie, put yours on too,” he directed.

Jessie put her pair of glasses on, and let Winn take a picture of the two of them together, then she took them off again.

“Don’t lose those,” Alex told her.

“I won’t,” she promised.

“What’s next?” Jamie wanted to know.

“That’s it,” J’onn informed her.  “You can practice your powers inside these three rooms all you want.  Outside of them, we expect you to behave just like any other human child.”

Jamie turned her nose up.  “I didn’t know not using my powers was going to be so hard!”

“You’ll be fine,” Kara assured her.  “Let’s go back to practice your heat vision.  You need to get control of that most of all. Everyone else can stay here, or go back to doing whatever.”

“OK, Mama,” Jamie agreed.  She followed Kara into the target practice room with only Winn and Jessie following them this time.

“When am I gonna get my powers?” Jessie complained.

“Who knows?” said Winn.  “You’ve gotta get good and scared, I guess.”

“I was scared yesterday.  Why didn’t I get them then?”

“I guess you weren’t scared enough.  You’re a very brave and fearless young lady, what can I say?”

“So just because Jamie’s a big scaredy cat, she gets powers, and I don’t?  That’s not fair!” Jessie whined.

“Hey!” Jamie said indignantly.

“I don’t know what to tell you, kiddo,” Winn patted her shoulder.

“You just need to be patient,” Kara told her.  “I’m sure you’ll get your powers one of these days.”

“I hope so.  It’s not fair.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara said.  “If I had control over it, I’d makes sure neither one of you had powers until you were grown.”

“We are grown!” Jessie insisted.

“I don’t think so,” Kara scoffed.  “You’re just barely twelve years old.  You don’t know what it means to be grown up.”

Jessie pouted, “Do so!”

“Jessie, that’s enough.  If you keep having a bad attitude, you’re going back with your mom,” Kara threatened.

“No, she’s with Grandpa, I don’t want to be around him!”

“I’m sorry.  That’s just sad because your grandpa is a really amazing guy.”

“Maybe he used to be, but you can’t trust people that come back from the dead.  They never have anything good in mind.”

“What about Gandalf?” Winn pointed out.

“What about him?” Jessie wanted to know.

“Gandalf the grey sacrificed himself and came back Gandalf the white.  Are you saying he had nothing good in mind after that?”

“Gandalf never worked for the enemy.”

Kara sighed.  It appeared that they were just not going to get through to these kids that Jeremiah wasn’t actually the enemy.  She had half a mind to send her daughter back to force her to spend time with him, but at this point, she figured Jessie’s attitude would be more torture for Jeremiah to endure, so she’d spare him.  They spent the next couple of hours letting Jamie get accustomed to her powers, and Jessie seemed to get more and more depressed as the training went on. Eventually, Kara and the girls all started getting hungry, so they called it a day.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After Winn was finished with Jamie, he checked his phone to find a message from Mon-El that said, “Meet me at The Bar at lunchtime!”  He checked his watch. It wasn’t quite that time yet, so he figured he’d make his way back to the main deck to see if they’d made any progress in finding the fusion bomb.  When there was nothing to be found, he set up a notification that would alert him on his phone when it did find something. When he was through, he headed out to the alien bar.

“Hey,” he greeted Mon-El.

The Daxamite handed him a beer, “For you.”

“Ooh!” he took the proffered drink and sipped happily.  There weren’t many things in the world better than a free beer.

“Perfect timing,” said Mon-El.  “Thanks for coming.”

“Always happy to grab a drink, but you do realize we're like kind of in all-hands-on-deck situation right now?  You know, trying to track down that fusion…” he looked around him realizing what he was about to say, “b-o-m-b.”

“Very discrete," Mon-El shook his head.

You know it’s bad when Mon-El looks down on you.  “Yeah,” Winn said embarrassedly. “And speaking of… What's so top secret that you can't talk to me at the DEO, yo?”

“Um It's Jeremiah's return.  What if- What if Cadmus allowed us to ‘rescue’ Jeremiah so he could sabotage us?  Just when this, this doomsday bomb is about to be detonated. I mean, think about it.”

“Okay.  You know what I knew I shouldn't have given you my Netflix password.  Because watching that much ‘24’ at once is not healthy, I told you.”

“I- I- I'm not being paranoid here, Winn.  I'm not. When- When is the last time we were this lucky?  Lucky enough that Cadmus was moving their most valuable prisoner, a guy that the DEO has been unable to find for over 15 years? And he just He just lands in our lap?”

“So, you think Jeremiah is-”

“It's just-  He is somebody that we need to keep our guard up around.  At least until we know exactly what he's has been doing for the past 15 years.”

Winn sighed.  He was going to get killed for this, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.  “Yeah. Okay. I'll help you.”

“Are you-” Mon-El looked pleadingly at him.  “Really?”

Winn nodded.

“Hey, thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“You're a good friend.”

“I know,” Winn chuckled.  “You realize now that you owe me a favor in return.

“Anything.”

“I’ll get back to you.”

“Hey,” Winn felt arms wrap around his shoulders.  He turned to see Lyra smiling sweetly at him. “I didn't think we were meeting until a little later.”

“Hey you,” he said, falling under the spell of her beauty.  “Yeah, I'm just catching up my friend, Mon-El.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Mon-El greeted her.

Lyra turned for only the briefest second to greet him back, “And you.”  She turned her affections back to Winn, “I'll see you tonight.” She kissed him on the nose.

“Okay.”

The blonde turned and walked away, leaving them alone again.  Mon-El gave him a Look.

“What?” Winn played innocent.

“Nice one, bro!”  He held his glass up and clinked it against Winn’s.

“Thanks,” Winn chuckled.  

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex and the family decided to go to lunch at Noonan’s since they were closeby.  She was quite trepidatious about it. Yes, the girls had mostly behaved themselves so far today, in regards to their grandfather, but she wasn’t sure that was going to last with them all crowded into a dining table together.  She took a deep breath and crossed her fingers that all would go well. The children sat sentinel on either side of Kara, leaving no doubt that they were sending her father a message, but they stayed quiet as he sat with Eliza across from them.  Alex sat on Jeremiah’s other side, leaving Maggie and Lena across from one another on the end. People were pointing and taking pictures of the recently outed couple, but no one was coming up to bother them, thankfully.

Jessie leaned over and exchanged a whispered conversation with Maggie, but Alex couldn’t hear what they were saying.  When they were done, though, Jessie seemed to relax, leaning over and hugging the detective. Maggie kissed her on the head and submitted to the cuddling.  They were so cute. Alex loved their bond. It must have been Maggie and Lena that changed the kids’ attitudes today.

“So, what do you kids like to eat?” Jeremiah attempted to make conversation with the twins.

“What don’t they eat, you mean?” Eliza joked.

He smirked, “Oh, so they’re like Kara.”

The three blondes across from him all nodded.  “Yep,” Kara confirmed. “They are definitely my mini-me’s.”

“They hardly got anything from me,” Alex sulked a little.

“Please, their attitudes are all you, my dear,” scoffed her mother.

“Oh, yeah?  I wonder where mine comes from,” Alex rebuffed with a smirk.

Jeremiah playfully pointed his thumb at Eliza, and everyone laughed, even the kids.  They knew it was true, even without knowing Jeremiah. Loving as she could be, Eliza still had attitude to spare at the end of the day.

Maggie waved at someone across the room - a tall, attractive woman with very short, blonde hair that Alex recognized from coming here with Kara in the mornings.  The woman smiled and waved back, and when she was done with her conversation, she came over to their table.

“Detective Sawyer, how’s it going?” she shook Maggie’s hand.

“Hey, Amy,” Maggie greeted her with a smile.  “Things are good. How about yourself?”

“Much better than the last time you saw me,” Amy admitted with a wry chuckle.

“I bet!” Maggie smirked.  “This is my partner Lena.”

Amy shook Lena’s hand like she didn’t know who she was.

“Guys, this is the owner, Amy Noonan.  We met a few days ago.”

“Hi, Amy!” Kara waved cheerfully.

“Oh, Kara, hi!” Amy seemed very pleasantly surprised to see the Kryptonian.  “Are these your kids? They’re so beautiful! They look just like you!”

Kara beamed proudly.  “Yep! This is Jessie, and this is Jamie,” she pointed at each one.  It would be a lot easier for everyone to tell the kids apart now that Jamie was wearing glasses.  Soon, it would be harder to tell Jamie and Kara apart than the actual twins.

“Hi, guys!” Amy waved at the girls.  “How old are you?”

“We just turned twelve on Tuesday,” Jessie answered with a grin.

“Oh, awesome!” said Amy.  “I bet you guys are sick of cake by now, huh?”

“No way!” Jessie scoffed.

Amy laughed.  “No? Well, we have some pretty awesome desserts here, if you guys decide you want some.  It’s on me, in celebration of your birthday.”

“Aww!  That’s so nice!” Kara told her.

“Awesome!” the girls cheered.  “Thanks!”

“Absolutely!  Kara is one of my best customers for several years running now.  I like to run the café register in the mornings, and she’s always there with a beautiful smile and a great attitude.  It always makes my day.”

“That’s Kara for you,” Alex smiled proudly at her wife.  “She’s sunshine incarnate.”

“You’re the wife, right?” Amy asked her.  “I’ve met you before, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

“Alex,” she shook Amy’s hand.  “And this is my mom Eliza, and my dad Jeremiah.”

Amy shook their hands as well, “Nice to meet you guys.”

“And you, as well,” Jeremiah said with that charming smile of his.

“If there’s anything you guys need, don’t hesitate to ask,” Amy told them.  “I’ll just be in the back. It was good seeing you all.” She waved and headed back into the kitchen.

“She’s so nice,” Kara commented.  “She’s one of the main reasons I love coming here so much.  I didn’t realize she was the owner, though. I just thought she was one of the managers.”

“Yeah, she seemed pretty cool when I met her the other day,” said Maggie.  “That’s why I went ahead and said hello.”

The rest of lunch went off without a hitch.  The more time the twins spent talking to Jeremiah, the more relaxed they got.  They even answered a few of his questions about themselves, when they weren’t too busy stuffing their faces.  After they were finished eating, Amy came out one last time to check on them before they headed out. She was a very sweet woman.  Sexy too, if Alex were being honest. Not that she had any need for another partner, but there was no harm in appreciating her beauty from afar.

The group headed back to Lena’s where there was room for them all to sit, and they spent a few hours just talking.  Mostly, Jeremiah just wanted to hear stories about them growing up and about the twins. He even managed to convince the twins to show him some of their drawings and dance moves.  By now, Alex was as relieved as could be. Everyone was finally seeming to get along. When it was time for dinner, they just ordered Chinese takeout and popped in a movie, and afterward, Eliza took Jeremiah back to the DEO and headed back to her hotel.  All in all, Alex was satisfied with the day she’d had.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Monday afternoon, Kara headed into the DEO.  “Winn, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes.  Give me- Just-” Winn stuttered.

Kara turned around to see Mon-El closing the door behind her.  “If this is what I think it is-” She tried to walk out, but the Daxamite stopped her. “No.”

“Nope,” Mon-El said firmly.  “Turn around. 180. Back to there.  Listen, Winn found something and we think you should know about it.”

She glared at them with her hands on her hips, “What?”

“Okay,” Winn started.  “So, earlier today, J'onn's giving Jeremiah a tour of the facility, right?  So, when J'onn stepped away, I- I saw Jeremiah trying to break into the DEO mainframe.”

“Wait, wait,” Kara put her hands out.  “Stop for a second. Were you spying on Jeremiah?”

“Kara-” Mon-El tried to interrupt.

“Did you put him up to this?” she accused the Daxamite.

“You are not listening!  Winn found something.”

“A big something,” the tech added.

“What?”  Kara couldn’t believe these guys!

“He actually broke in to the DEO system!” Winn exclaimed.

“Too loud,” Mon-El told him.

“I'm sorry,” Winn said more quietly.  “But it sure as hell looks like Jeremiah is spying on us.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex and J’onn were working in the main hall when Jeremiah joined them.

“Still no ping on the fusion bomb?”

“Uh, no.  Nothing,” answered J’onn.

“Is it possible they could have developed some sort of cloaking device?” Alex wondered.

“No, no,” Jeremiah shook his head.  “They would have needed me to build it for them.  Keep scanning. It'll come online eventually.”

Just then, Kara, Mon-El, and Winn came into the room.  “Hey, Jeremiah Can we talk for a minute?” Kara called.

“Sure.  What's up?”

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked.

“Um…” Kara muttered.  “Earlier today, you accessed some highly classified files from the DEO mainframe.”

“That's true.  I did,” Jeremiah confirmed.

“Why?” asked Alex.

“I tried to use my old passkey to look at some case files, but the access codes have changed, so I did a workaround to get inside.”

“What were you looking at?” J’onn inquired.

“Case files from the last 24 months,” Jeremiah answered.  “I wanted to see what my daughters had been up to. The crises you faced.  The people you saved. The adventures you've been on. I've been away so long... Case histories are just a way for me to feel like I was there.  A little. I'm sorry.”

J’onn looked to the tech to confirm, “Winn?”

“Uh... Your... Yeah. Yeah. He's He's telling the truth.  I mean, looks like it's just a bunch of old case files.”

Alex sighed in frustration, “Dad.”  She started leading him away from his accusers. “Um... You both are unbelievable,” she told Winn and Mon-El.  “But you,” she pointed angrily at Kara, “You're something else.”

A few minutes later, Kara cornered her in her lab.  “Can we talk?”

“I don't have anything to say to you,” Alex snapped.

“Alex… Alex, I am just as hurt and scared as you are.  I share the same feelings. But I also see clearly now.  Jeremiah was with Cadmus a long time. We've never faced an enemy more dangerous.  We owe it to ourselves to look at every angle, even if it makes us uncomfortable.”

“You sound just like him,” Alex accused.

“Like who?”

“Mon-El!” Alex snapped.

“This isn't about Mon-El, this is about the truth.  And the truth is that Jeremiah breaking into the DEO computer system is... It's weird.”

“He missed out on over a decade as our father.  I don't blame him for wanting to catch up, however he can.”

“Then why not just ask us? We're right here.  He spent hours with us and with J'onn this weekend. Why wait until he's alone to access the system?”

“God, you really don't trust him, do you?”

“No, I don't trust Cadmus.  And I'll do what I have to, to protect us.”

“Well, I guess, you've chosen your side.”

“This is not about sides.”

“No.  It is.  Because either you're a part of this family or you're not.”

“You don't mean that.”

“He's my father.”

“He's mine, too.”

“Then act like it!”  Alex stormed away.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

They got it!  They finally got a ping on the fusion bomb, and they put together a tactical team to go diffuse it.

“All right.  I'm in position.  Dad, you there?”

“Right here, Alex.”

“Standing by for your instructions once we get inside.”

“Be careful.  Anything happens to that bomb before you disarm it, the whole city could go.”

“Nothing's gonna happen,” Alex said confidently.

“Let's stop them once and for all, girls.”

Kara got into her position, “Ready when you are, J'onn.”

“On my mark.  Three… Two… One… Engage!”

Kara used her heat vision to blast through the bay door of the abandoned factory.  Once the smoke had cleared, the tactical team moved in.

“Clear!” one of the soldiers called out.

“Clear!” said another.

Clear was an understatement.  There was nothing in the room they were in.

“What the hell?” said Mon-El.

Kara looked all around, “Something's not right.”

“J'onn, please advise.  There's no sign of target,” Alex spoke into her earpiece.  “I repeat, there's no sign of target. There's nothing here.”

No one answered her.

“J'onn? Dad?”

When no one continued to answer, Alex and Kara looked at each other in a panic.

“We have to get back!  Now!” Supergirl ordered.  “Let's move!”

When they managed to get back to the DEO, J’onn and Winn were both in the med bay, and Jeremiah was nowhere to be found.  A few of the soldiers that had been there told them what happened: Jeremiah broke into the computer system and escaped. Alex didn’t believe it.

“Is he okay?” Alex asked, as soon as she saw J’onn was laid out.

“Yeah, yeah, he will be,” Winn told her, holding his neck.  “Look, Jeremiah got the jump on him.”

“He couldn't have.  Hey, look, even if my dad has turned there is no way he could have overpowered J'onn.”

“Yeah.  That's what I would have thought,” J’onn muttered as he came around.

“Oh, thank God you're okay,” Kara breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jeremiah's arm, the one we thought had nerve damage, it's been enhanced,” J’onn said.  “Cybernetically.”

“Like Hank Henshaw?” Kara asked.

J’onn nodded.  “Jeremiah isn't who he was.  I'm sorry.”

“Not as sorry as Cadmus is gonna be.”  Alex was going to destroy them, if it was the last thing she did.

“We'll find him,” Kara assured her.

“How?” asked Mon-El.

“Oh, okay,” Winn stammered.  “Um, Okay. Don't be mad, but, I may have hid a tracker on Jeremiah.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex and Supergirl caught up to Jeremiah where he was meeting with Lillian Luthor and Hank Henshaw.  Alex shot out the front tire on their jeep. “It's over!”

“Not yet, said Lillian, “But it will be, soon.

“Dad, you're coming with us.”

“That's unlikely, dear,” Lillian answered for him.

Off in the distance, they could hear a train horn blaring.

“Ka-boom,” said Henshaw.

The train blared again, and all of a sudden, Supergirl went rigid, “No! Train.”

“Go!” Alex said.

Supergirl swooped off, leaving Alex alone with the Cadmus agents.  Henshaw took the opportunity to smash his arm into a tree, causing it to fall between them and her.

“Alex!” Jeremiah yelled in panic.

“Dad!” she called back.  

“Let’s go!” she could hear Henshaw growling from the other side of the fallen tree.  She ran around it, in hopes she could catch up with them. It only took her a minute to catch up with her father.  “Freeze!”

He stopped in his tracks.

“Look at me!” she demanded.  “Look at me!”

He turned around slowly.

“How could you?” she sobbed.  “How could you?!” she screamed.

“Would you believe me if I said I did it for you?” he asked.

“You betrayed everyone at the DEO,” she cried.  “Your friends. Our family, everyone that I love.  You did that for me?”

All he said was, “Family's complicated, honey.”

“I'm bringing you in,” she told him.

“Not alive, you're not.  If you want to bring me in, you're gonna have to shoot me.  If you do it I'll understand. You are always the best part of me.”

Alex put her finger on the trigger of her gun, but she couldn’t pull it.  This was her father. He had been kidnapped, coerced and tortured for so many years, he couldn’t possibly be held accountable for what he was doing right now.  At least, not by the DEO. She knew what they did to people who betrayed them. She lowered her gun, and he took off running into the woods. Exhausted and devastated, she fell to her knees and sobbed openly.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Supergirl showed back up, but it seemed like hours.  Kara immediately scooped her wife into her arms and held her, “It’s OK, baby girl. It’s OK. It’s OK.  I’ve got you.” They stayed there for a while longer, crying together and once again mourning the loss of their father.  Eventually, they pulled themselves together enough to fly back to the DEO and report in.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When they arrived back, Kara could hear Winn talking frantically on the phone, “No, the green wire attaches to the other green wire!  No, the other green- I- I'm gonna head over to you. Okay.” He hung up the phone and saw the two women looking glum. “Hey, hey, hey.  Any luck?” he asked hopefully.

“We lost,” Kara said.  It was all she could manage without crying again.

“I'm sorry, guys,” Winn sighed.

“Yeah,” Alex muttered.

Kara looked up and saw J’onn heading toward them.  “On your feet already?”

“No time to waste,” J’onn answered gravely.  “Any idea what he stole from us? What he gave to Cadmus?”

“Not yet,” said Winn.  “Now, I have to go check down on the mainframe and then once we get the systems back online, I can run a diagnostic.”

“Quick as you can.  I want to know what we're up against.”

“Yes, sir.”

J’onn turned to Kara and Alex, “How are you both?”

“It's been hard,” Supergirl sighed.

“Alex?” J’onn pressed.

The agent clenched her jaw and nodded.  Not a second later, Eliza was getting off the elevator, looking grim.

“Excuse me,” Alex headed over to her.

“I heard what your father did,” said Eliza.

“What're you thinking?” J’onn asked Supergirl.

She sighed heavily.  Her heart was aching.  “I'm Just worried. I'm worried about what this means for Alex, for me, for Jeremiah and Eliza, for our fight against Cadmus.  I'm just worried it's going to change everything.”

“It will,” J’onn placed his hand on her shoulder.  “It will make us stronger.”

She gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded, hoping and praying to Rao that he was right.

When Alex came back over with Eliza, they both looked defeated.  “Well,” said Alex brokenly, “Now I get to go face my children, and tell them they were right all along.”

Supergirl could smell her wife’s dread, so she put her arms around her.  “It’s gonna be OK, baby girl.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jamie and Jessie were sitting in their living room with Lena and Maggie playing chess when their parents finally got home.  The kids were as anxious as could be, and they were just barely able to pay attention to their games the whole night. So when their parents and grandma arrived, they were up and out of their seats right away, greeting them with desperate hugs.

“Hi, babies,” Kara rocked as she held her girls.

Alex said nothing.  There were tears streaming down her face, and when Jessie let go of her, she headed straight for the liquor cabinet.  She poured a glass of whiskey three fingers deep and chugged the whole thing.

“Alex!  What the hell?” Maggie stopped her from filling her glass again.

The redhead tried to hold in her sobs, but as soon as Maggie grabbed a hold of her, she completely lost it.

“What happened?” Maggie exclaimed, holding Alex tightly to her.

“He betrayed us!” Alex cried.  “My dad. He said there was a bomb, but there was no bomb.  He just wanted to get us out of the DEO so he could break into the computer system.  His arm wasn’t damaged, it was cybernetically enhanced. He hurt J’onn and Winn, and then he escaped with Lillian and Henshaw.”

“You saw my mother?” Lena fretted.

“Yeah,” Kara answered.  “But they’re long gone now.”

The CEO looked stricken.  “Alex, I’m so sorry.”

Jamie’s heart sunk.  She knew Jeremiah couldn’t be trusted, but with the way her mother was crying right now, she didn’t much feel like saying, ‘I told you so.’  She pulled Alex into her arms and felt her own tears falling. “I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry.”

“No,” Alex shook her head.  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I was so hard on you girls this weekend.  You were right, and I was wrong, and I don’t know how I can forgive myself for putting you two in danger like that.”  She narrowed her eyes and looked at Kara, “I want the girls to learn how to fight. I don’t want them vulnerable anymore.  I want my kids to be able to defend themselves if someone comes after them.”

“Alex, you don’t mean that,” Kara argued.

“Yes, I do,” the agent was resolute.  “Who knows what’s going to happen now?  I don’t want to take anymore chances.”

“We’ll talk about this when you’re more clear headed,” the reporter sighed.

“No, I’m seeing clearly now.  Cadmus will do anything to betray us, and I can’t take losing anymore, especially now.  If anything happened to either of our kids, I would die. I can’t risk losing them by being overprotective.  We need to let them grow up a little bit. We can’t keep them babies forever, no matter how badly we might want to.”

Kara took a slow, deep breath in, and then blew it out again.  “Like I said, we’ll talk about it later. Right now we need to just go in the living room and snuggle.”

Alex tried to pour herself some more whiskey, but Maggie took the bottle from her, and Jamie pulled her away toward the living room.

“Alex, no,” Kara chided her.  “You’re not doing that.”

“Come on, Mommy,” Jessie took her other hand, and the girls sat her down in the middle of the couch, wrapping themselves around her from either side.

Kara and Eliza squished in on the ends, and cuddled up.  Maggie and Lena just sat in the loveseat together, holding both hands between them.  Of course, this was probably a bit traumatizing for Lena too, since it was her mother that was orchestrating all of this mess.  Finding out that her father was an evil cyborg spy must be terrible, and Jamie vowed to do everything in her power to take care of her sobbing mother in her arms.  She would learn to be the best fighter there was. She would get better than Superman and Supergirl themselves. Nothing would be able to stop her. She wondered if her mom would reconsider the supersuit.  She had the perfect idea for one.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex tried to pull herself together, but it was proving difficult, and she just kept on crying.  Her only consolation in finding out about her father’s betrayal was that he didn’t take the kids.  Everything else they had predicted had turned out right, except for that part, thank Rao. She loved her children so much.  They were the light of her life. They were so loving and kind. They had every right to be angry with her, yet here they were, offering her comfort in her grief.  Angels, just like their Mama.  She couldn’t lose them.  They could never be replaced.  She was so proud of them. So thankful for them.  She never wanted them to lose that light inside them.  “I love you girls so much,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shh!” they told her.  “It’s OK, Mommy. You don’t need to be sorry.  It’s not your fault. We love you so much too. It’s gonna be OK.”

They let her cry and cry, passing her tissues and making her drink a bunch of water after the stunt she pulled with the whiskey.  Eventually, though, it grew late, and she had to tell the girls, “It’s time for your showers. You still have school in the morning.”

They looked like they might argue out of worry, but then Kara stepped in and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of your mom.  I promise.”

“OK,” Jessie conceded and went to the bedroom to get her things.

Eliza scooted into Jessie’s vacated spot beside Alex and they wrapped their arms around each other, trying to comfort one another.  Her mom had been mysteriously quiet this whole time, so Alex didn’t know how this situation was affecting her. It couldn’t be any easier on her mother  than it was herself, yet Eliza wasn’t crying nearly as hard as she was. She must have prepared herself for this possibility. Alex felt a little stupid for being so blind to it, but she just knew it wasn’t her dad’s fault.  He was a good man. Cadmus was making him do this stuff. He was stuck.

“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Alex whimpered.

“Oh, sweetie, it’s not your fault,” Eliza soothed. “ Cadmus has gotten to him somehow.  You did what you thought was right. I can’t hold that against you.”

“I’m supposed to protect this family,” Alex sobbed.  “I’m supposed to make sure no one gets hurt.”

“And you did that.  You’re family is all in one piece,” Eliza assured her.  “Unfortunately, my dear, you’re the only one in pieces right now, and I’m very sorry for that, but Alex, I’m proud of you.  You did what you had to do, even though you felt like you lost today.”

Alex was not expecting that.  Eliza was always getting down on her about keeping her girls safe, and yet here they were, right after a Cadmus attack, and she was saying she was proud?  It was a little surreal, and it triggered a few more tears. “Thanks, Mom.”

“We’ll get through this together, like we do everything else,” Kara reminded her.  “You’re not alone. You have all of us to lean on, so don’t forget it.”

Jessie finished with her shower and came back out to the living room, promptly taking the seat that her sister vacated between their parents to go take her own shower.

“I'll be back,” Jamie promised, disappearing down the hallway.

“You want some ice cream, Mom?” Jessie tried.

“Not now, thanks,” Alex answered.  She didn't want ice cream. What she really wanted was to get blackout drunk, but she would have to wait to do that until later when no one was watching.  For now, she would accept the comfort of her family, and she would let that be enough.