2. Chapter II

The happy sunbeam became a natural disaster, pounding against the walls of her cell with gnashing teeth and fists that relentlessly drummed the enclosure in hopes of escape. Kara was on day three, refusing to eat or drink, she became more beast than woman thanks to her inexperience in handling her rut and though she tried not to dwell, the fear sat in Alex's gut like merciless lead that maybe she never would. She was a God amongst mortals after all.

Alex watched her on the monitor and felt nothing but shameless guilt for not going downstairs to see her.

She just couldn't do it. Not whilst Kara was like this, not whilst she wasn't Kara at all. It was a hopeless empty pursuit spending the day thinking about her little sister — her rut would come to an end eventually but in the interim there wasn't a cure she could create or an antidote to lessen the sheer violence of her agony. It didn't stop her doing just that though, pen drumming her desk, lips in her teeth, stuck in the problem of her little sister all day.

Maggie promised she would check up on Not-So Little Danvers after work and Alex hung on to the words. Maybe she would be able to fix it, she was surprisingly good at fixing things. Maybe Kara just needed help from someone who understood her agony… yet another thing Alex wasn't adequately capable of handling by herself. It was this thought that finally made her snap the HB in her hand and earn a little concerned glare from J'onn across the room.

He better not be reading her thoughts, she grimaced at the idea.

"Danvers," O'Malley called from the staircase and pulled her attention. "Lena Luthor is waiting upstairs — she says she's not leaving until she speaks to you."

Alex felt her head ache with the monstrosity of her growing temper. If it wasn't Kara, it was work, and if it wasn't work, it was the tiny problem of her missed period, and if it wasn't any of that… it was Lena Luthor.

"Tell her to go home." Alex sighed, spinning in her desk chair.

"It didn't work the first four times, can you just go and talk to her? I have better things to do today." he grouched and strolled to his office before Alex could formulate a reply.

Groaning and inconvenienced, Alex pulled herself out of her chair and stomped down the cement corridors to the service elevator. Lena was the only Omega her little sister had been around all week but what was inexplicable was how the Luthor knew to come here. Kara was always so careful about her identity… it made no sense.

Surely Kara didn't reveal her— no. Alex wouldn't even let herself finish the thought. Kara was naive and sweet and too trusting but she wasn't stupid, and sharing her real identity with a Luthor? That was as stupid as ideas got.

Alex passed the nine sub-basement floors that separated her and Lena Luthor absolutely mindlessly. Instead of thinking she just stared at herself in the mirror, she noted the tiny pink in her cheeks and colour in her skin, she would definitely come into her heat early this month; Maggie was already instinctively prowling around this morning because of it. Alex had to practically shew her out of the door for work just to get the Alpha out of her underwear.

The elevator doors opened and Alex buried those sublime little thoughts for later. True to form Lena was stubbornly sat in the reception lobby, one leg folded over the other and perfectly tailored arms crossed over her chest. Did she really have nothing better to do? Alex grumbled internally. It was moments like this she wished Lena was just a tiny bit evil so she had a reason to justify her hatred. But Lena wasn't guilty of anything, except her occasional insufferable arrogance.

"Alex!" Lena offered a smile, stepping forward with a coat draped over her arm. "Sorry to bother you at work—"

"If you were sorry Lena you would have left the first four times you were asked to go." Alex scowled.

Lena nodded awkwardly and swallowed, forcing that unbreakable smile back into her cheeks. "Well, I can see you're busy so I'll make this quick… I just want to make sure Kara is okay. I haven't seen her in a few days and that's very, well, unlike Kara."

"Kara's fine." Alex lied, crossing her arms over her chest. "She's back home visiting mom."

"You don't have to pretend. I know the truth, Alex."

"Excuse me?"

"I know." Lena reiterated. "I've known for a long time and I just want to know she's okay."

"So she told you?" Alex's jaw began to grind.

"Wasn't it blindingly obvious in the first place?" Lena sighed and rolled her eyes.

Alex felt the weight of the room sit on her chest. It was anger at first, then disappointment, and then sorrow. Kara had told Lena everything and invited her into a tiny group of those closest to her who knew the truth, the knowledge of it attacked her until she had to look to the ceiling for a moment and scowl into the ether.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, Lena, but you are not one of us." Alex righted herself with a hiss and stepped forward, forcing the Luthor to take a step back. "I don't know why my sister trusted you with the truth or what it is about you that turns her into a teenage girl but if you tell anyone that she is Supergirl, if you ever try to use that against her—"

"Wait, what?" Lena's eyes blinked in confusion. "Kara is Supergirl?" she whispered.

"Oh god."

"Kara Danvers is Supergirl?" Lena repeated, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Shit."

"Kara is—"

"Okay, stop." Alex held her hand up as if it would still the spin of the earth for just a moment. "You said that you knew!" she blurted defensively.

"That she was an Alpha? Of course I knew!"

"Oh Jesus Christ." Alex cringed at the error.

"Kara is here, isn't she?" Lena's permanent smile became a determined glare. "I want to see her."

"That's not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Because you said so?" Lena glared. "I totally get that you don't like me very much but the one thing we do have in common is her." she burned with determination, "And all I want, all I care about, is seeing that she is okay with my own two eyes."

She was coming into her heat. It didn't surprise Alex at all, she expected as much, and yet somehow the knowledge still punched her in the solar-plexus that whatever it was going on between them wasn't a passing infatuation or a keen friendship. She didn't want to dictate Kara's life, didn't want to be the person telling her who she could and couldn't find worth within, but why the hell did it have to be Lena Luthor?

"If you care about Kara like you say you do, walk out of that door and keep your mouth shut, don't tell anyone who she is and wait until she's ready and capable of talking to you because right now she isn't."

Hanging her head, Lena accepted the defeat with a small nod. It was the closest Alex came to feeling guilty; though not anywhere near enough to do something about it.

"Will you tell her…" her voice trailed off into nothing. "You know what, forget it." she turned on her heels.

"Tell her what?" Alex called after her.

Lena paused and looked over her shoulder, eyeing the older Danvers up and down. "Just, tell her I do care, she'll know what I mean." Lena softened on the words.

"I'll pass it on."

…

Deep in the guts of the apartment Maggie was sprawled over the sofa with the flimsy crochet blanket tucked around her and a bottle of wine on the coffee table. She wasn't due to start her rut for a few days and yet she found herself leaving work early with the familiar burning between her thighs and thoughts of her Omega on her mind that signalled the start of her favourite few days of the month. Well, at least once the burning and ache of her growing knot stopped, that part sucked.

Sighing and making a fuss of her aching guts, she curled herself smaller on the sound of the opening door.

"Maggie?!"

"In here babe."

"What the hell!" Alex complained exasperated, throwing her bag down. "I've called you fifty times!"

Maggie held up her hands, confused as to what it was she'd done this time. Then it dawned on her, closing her eyes and aching into realisation, she bit her mouth. "I'm so sorry—"

"You promised you would come and try to talk to Kara."

"I know—"

"You promised."

"If I could just explain—"

"Stop talking." Alex frowned, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry—"

"Sh."

"Okay." Maggie swung her legs off the armrest and sat up straight. "Okay." she softened with apologetic eyes.

Maggie sat there quietly and watched Alex, particularly the way she moved around the apartment with wound haunches like she was tight around a secret. She stomped to the fridge and pulled out a beer, eyeing it for a moment, before putting it back inside and slamming the door again — grabbing an empty cup from the cupboard and running the faucet instead. Alex was already starting her heat, Maggie could taste it in the air like hot metal.

"Alex…"

"Sh."

"Alex!" Maggie chewed and earned the rare submissive curl of her mate's chin. "I don't mean to snap…" she got up off the sofa and sighed, footing towards her brooding little thundercloud. "Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?"

"It's nothing…"

"No." Maggie shook her head, tucking her nose into the dip of Alex's chest. "Tell me the truth." she murmured against the warmth of her skin.

"You don't need to worry."

"I know but it's turning into a hobby of mine so just spill the the beans."

"Lena Luthor showed up today."

"What?" she pulled away and furrowed her brow. "At the DEO?"

Alex nodded, "I accidentally told her Kara was Supergirl—"

"You did what?!"

"It was an accident!" Alex whined and cringed. "She said she knew Kara's secret and it turns out we were apparently the only people in National City who didn't realise my sister..." she hesitated on the words, blinking and swallowing. "It was a miscommunication."

"Okay, this is totally manageable." Maggie went into damage-control mode, reassuring hands rubbing along the length of her Omega's long arms. "I'm going to pay her a visit as soon as I'm out of my rut and let her know what happens if she messes with Puppy Danvers, okay? I'll take care of everything baby, don't worry, I've got you."

Alex broke into that rare smile, it came in the frantic moments when Maggie was so quietly the Alpha, always so eager to take care of things and make her happy. She couldn't remember why she was mad anymore, well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration.

"The only person you need to see after your rut is Kara." she promised with a tiny look of annoyance, though it quickly gave way to a guilty little look. "I think we both do."

"Still didn't see her today?"

"I… I just don't know how." Alex felt guilty for admitting it, "I watched her all day, God knows I thought about her all day, but I just couldn't bring myself to go downstairs and see her like that."

Maggie nodded and there was no judgement, Alex always loved that the most about her, the way she just tried to understand the greys of the world and if she couldn't, she pretended like she did.

"What about when she isn't in her rut?" Maggie asked quietly, "Will you be able to be around her then?"

"What are you talking about?" Alex almost laughed.

"I'm just saying all of this is a shock to your system… and she's going to be scared you don't see her the same way anymore and I'm so just asking, do you? are you afraid she won't be your little sister anymore?"

"We're not doing this right now."

"It's a shock to the system." Maggie stopped her pulling away and reiterated the words, slipping her arms around the small of her back. "You always thought she'd be an Omega, and you don't have to have all the answers right now, but when you're ready we can talk about it, okay? You're still her big sister, she needed you to protect her when she was Supergirl and she'll still need you to protect her now. Nothing will change."

"Sometimes you're perfect, do you know that?" Alex relaxed into her words.

"Only sometimes?"

"Occasionally."

"Once in awhile?"

"Most of the time you're a real pain in the butt." Alex wryly smirked, "Still love you though."

"Oh now you're definitely going soft on me, Danvers."

Alex found herself in the air, thrown over that sweet little Alpha's shoulder. She giggled and slapped at her back, wiggling and almost dragging the floor, but Maggie was strong and before she knew it she was thrown to the mattress.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me babe?" Maggie lifted her brow with a tiny smile.

"What?" Alex blinked.

"Is there any good news that you might… possibly… perhaps… want to share with your occasionally perfect Alpha?" Maggie flopped down and kissed the most bottom section of her belly.

Alex hesitated and felt iron cool in her lungs and the stench of bad memories pour down her windpipe. "What kind of news are you waiting for?" Alex cleared her throat.

"You're coming into your heat." Maggie peered up from where she pressed her mouth into the spot above her hip. "Unless I'm imagining the smell of vanilla and dark chocolate?"

"I don't smell like dark chocolate." Alex rolled her eyes in relief that for the second time today, she found herself talking about two very distinct and separate truths. Luckily, this time, she bit her tongue well.

"My guess is by tomorrow afternoon it will smell like a confectioner's in here and you'll be on your belly for me." she almost gloated in the knowledge, crawling up her Omega's body. "What do you think, Danvers?"

"I think your rut is coming in…" she slipped her hand between her Alpha's sweatpants and felt the start of a lump there and earned a small hiss. "Too soon?" she whispered and pulled her hand away.

"We'll check back in a few hours." Maggie chuckled and nodded, dragging her nose against her wife's. "Are you gonna be my good girl and do the thing I like?"

Closing her eyes, suddenly, the world and all of its problem could go to hell. The ferocity of her heat crept inside the hotness of her thighs and she melted in the words.

"Yes Ma'am." she whispered the words and watched her Alpha ache into them in satisfaction.

The game was now afoot.