33. Trouble Ye Shall Find

Kara trudged in through the front door of their apartment.  “Honeys, I’m home!”

“Welcome back, Mama,” the twins greeted her with a hug.

“Hi, babies.”  She kissed them each on the head, and they sat back down at the kitchen table with their phones.

“Jewel thieves?” Alex inquired, kissing her hello.

“Nabbed.  I nabbed ‘em.”

“Good job,” Maggie encouraged her, with a kiss of her own.  “You hungry? We just put the food away.”

“Starved!”  Kara dug her dinner out of the fridge and zapped it with her heat vision to warm it back up.  She’d had to leave right before it was finished cooking to take care of the robbery. Why couldn’t they have waited until the middle of the night, like any other self-respecting criminal?  She sat down at the table with the kids, and Alex and Maggie joined them. She could hear Lena on some very important-sounding phone call in the bedroom.

“What’s wrong, Mama?” Jamie wanted to know.

“Who says anything’s wrong?” she asked, not really looking up from her food.

“Crinkle!” Jessie poked her right between the eyes.

Kara gasped in mock offense.  “Crinkle!” She rubbed the skin on her forehead.  “I’m gonna get botox for that. If we can find a way to get a needle into my skin, I mean.”

“Kara,” Alex chastised her for trying to change the subject.

“I don't know, I just I'm in a funk.  I mean, stopping jewel thieves? And that bank robbery last week…  It's just- It's easy.”

“So?” said Jessie.  

“So? So lately, I feel like I'm protecting jewels and money more than I'm protecting people.”

“You were a hero tonight, so you should celebrate,” her daughter told her.

She sighed.  “You're right, Jess.  I should be more grateful that I can help any way I can.”

“Let's get ice cream!” Jessie exclaimed.

Kara pressed her lips together indecisively.  “I don't know.”

“Please!” the twins begged.

“Why not?” Alex said, stroking her hair.

“Oh, OK.”

“Yay!” the twins cheered.

“What are we cheering about?” Lena asked from the doorway.

“Mama’s a hero, so we’re gonna have ice cream!” Jamie informed her.

The CEO rounded the table to give Kara a kiss.  “That sounds wonderful.”

XXX

Supergirl was bored.  Yes, in a way, everything was completely perfect.  In her life as Kara, she had her job, her kids, and the three most perfect partners anyone could ever ask for - but as Supergirl, she needed some action.  She'd barely done anything more than stop a robbery here and there in the last couple months. She needed a challenge. That's why, when a woman barged into Snapper’s office one morning, claiming her daughter had been kidnapped, she jumped at the opportunity to help.  Snapper, of course, thought she was crazy, but that just made her all the more determined to succeed. She called Maggie and requested the missing persons report, and they agreed to meet at the alien bar.

When she arrived, she found Mon-El working behind the counter.  He couldn't even pour her a club soda properly. Then she made the mistake of talking to him until her partner arrived.  Luckily it wasn't too long before Maggie showed up.

She could smell the detective on her motorcycle before she even came through the door.  Apparently, she was horny. Kara saw the Daxamite’s nostrils flare at the same time as hers, but for once, he wisely kept his mouth shut.  When the Latina entered the bar, she took one look at Mon-El, rolled her eyes, and crossed the room to an empty booth.

Kara waved goodbye to her annoying alien brother and crossed the room to meet with her girlfriend.  They briefly discussed the case, and then came the inevitable:

“So,” Maggie smirked.  “I don't suppose you’d want to go home for a quickie, would you?  It's my day off. I'm horny as fuck right now, and everyone is working.”

Kara nodded.  “You had me when you said hello.”

The detective looked smug, “Let's go, then.”  They hopped on Maggie's bike and headed back to their apartment.  With Kara’s nose buried in the Latina’s neck all that time, smelling her pheromones, she was barely even a person when they got to the apartment - more like an animal.  They didn't even make it out of the kitchen before they were at it like jackrabbits. When they were almost done with round three, the front door opened, and suddenly there were two little blondes coming in the doorway.  Unthinkingly, Kara released Maggie's throat and pulled out of her. That was a mistake. Now both their nude bodies were exposed, further traumatizing the twins.

“Mama’s bleeding!” Jamie screeched.

The girls ran screaming back into the hallway as Alex ran in.  “What? What the hell is- Oh, for crying out loud! What the hell?!”

“You what the hell?” Kara exclaimed, trying to redress herself and Maggie.  

“No one is bleeding!” Alex assured the kids.  “It’s just-” she sighed, covering her face with her hand in embarrassment.  “It’s just the color of the condom!”

“Condom?”

“Yeah.  You- You know what that is, right?”

The kids nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Why are you coming home with the kids before lunchtime?” Kara demanded.

“They were fighting at school,” Alex informed them, hands on her hips.  

“Fighting?” Kara and Maggie said, appalled.

“Just a little yelling and shoving, but yeah.”

“They were saying bad things about Lena!” Jessie cried hysterically.

“Who?”  Kara sat down and crossed her legs to try and hide her still quite painful erection.

“The people at school,” Jamie sniffled.  

Maggie reached out for her, but she pulled away.  Kara was pretty sure she heard the crack of the detective's heart.  “Come on, you guys! We didn't know you were there this time! You can't be mad at us!” Maggie complained.

“You were doing it on the table!” Jamie accused angrily.

“Yeah, that's disgusting!” added Jessie.  “I hope you guys plan on buying us a new one!”

“We're not buying a new one!” Alex said, slightly annoyed.  “It can be washed off.”

“My brain can’t be washed off!” snapped Jessie.  “This is the worst day ever!” She stomped off to her bedroom, crying the whole way.

“Um, Mama?  Are you OK?”  Jamie asked timidly.

Kara tried to think of a way to politely explain that her dick was hurting, but she couldn’t think of anything at the moment.  “Um…”

“We interrupted them,” Alex explained.  “It makes things very uncomfortable for a while after that, OK?”

Jamie turned her nose up in disgust.  “I’m gonna go put my stuff away. Can we have pizza for lunch?  I’m getting hungry.”

“You don’t get pizza after you’ve been fighting!” Alex snapped at her.  “This isn’t a vacation. You guys got sent home from school. You’re both on punishment!”

“What?!” Jamie shrieked.  “No fair! Jessie started it!”

“You were one-hundred-percent involved.  I don’t want to hear it. If you wanted to save yourself, you should have tried to de-escalate the problem instead of adding to it.  You put your hands on people. Now you’re in trouble. Deal with it.”

Jamie burst into tears and ran to her room, slamming the door.

“Oh, boy,” Kara sighed.  She could hear their kids crying and smelled everyone’s distress.  She didn't know what to do. The twins had gotten into a few arguments here and there over the years, but they had never gone this far.

“What now?” Maggie fretted.

“Well, first we need to let them calm down a little,” Kara told her.  “If we tried to talk to them right now, they won't hear anything we have to say.  I think if we make them lunch, it will lure them out, and then we can talk to them while they’re distracted.”

“Alright, let's do it,” Maggie agreed.

They made some turkey sandwiches and cut up a bunch of fruit and vegetables, and by the time they were done, the twins had sniffed their way out of the bedroom and sat down in the living room to wait.  Normally, they would eat together at the kitchen table, but today they went ahead and ate in the living room. No sense in further upsetting the girls by trying to make them eat at the kitchen table. They all ate in stifled silence, with no one wanting to speak first.  It wasn't until everyone was done eating that Alex finally said, “Let's clean up, and then we can talk.”

They put their dishes in the dishwasher, and went back to the living room.  “OK,” Kara began, “Tell me, what happened?”

The twins looked at each other before Jessie spoke, “Bryce was saying that he bet I didn't get any Christmas presents because nobody loved me.  I told him yes I did, and I tried to show him some stuff on my phone, then he took it and started looking at all my pictures. Then when he saw Lena, he started showing everyone and saying mean things about her!  Then a bunch of people started saying things!” Here, she started crying again, “I told them to stop, but they wouldn't! They wouldn't stop! They were saying the most horrible things! I couldn't make them stop!”

Alex put her arm around her daughter and pulled her sobbing form close.  “Shh, it's gonna be OK, baby.”

“What were they saying?” Maggie wondered.

“Stuff that’s too nasty to say,” Jamie answered, making a face.

Kara’s heart ached for her children.  They were so in love with Lena, they couldn't help it.  Hell, she'd like to shove anyone who talked bad about Lena too - right off a building!  But she didn't, and she couldn't let her children get away with thinking they could. Kara got up and sat next to Jamie, holding her as well.  “I’m really sorry you had to go through that,” she told them. “But we need to learn some better ways of handling this kind of situation. It’s not the last time something like this is going to happen.  We need to know that we can trust you girls to keep your hands to yourselves. Do you think Lena goes around fighting everyone who calls her names? Do you really think she’s going to be happy when she finds out you’ve been fighting?  Especially about her?”

“I wanna see Lena!” Jessie whimpered.

“I’m sorry, but you have to wait until she gets out of work,” Kara told her.  “Look, no one understands how infuriating it is for people to talk bad about Lena like we do, OK?  But we don’t go around pushing or hitting people just because they say something mean. We have to handle things like grown ups.  I want you girls to write up 10 different ways you could have handled this situation better than what you did. No TV, no video games.  If we catch you playing on your phones before your assignment’s done, you lose them. Understood?”

“It’s not fair!” they replied forlornly.

“It is fair.  You did this to yourselves.  Now, I need to get back to work.  I have to help find this missing girl.  That’s a parent’s worst nightmare.” She turned to her wife, “Do I need to call Douglas?”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly my day off,” Alex answered.

Kara called the kids’ bodyguard and told him the situation.  He agreed to come over in a few minutes. She loved Douglas. He was an unconventionally easy going military man, and he seemed to have a balanced grasp on discipline, education, and fun.  The kids barely complained about being left with him, except on the odd occasion that one or both of them were feeling clingy. They had a good bond with him, and they knew they were safe with him.  He even taught them new things, like French, and first aid, and interesting things about other countries. The kids loved it. Alex and Kara loved it. It all worked well. J’onn had excellent taste in people, if she did say so herself.

Turning to the kids when she was done, she said, “I want you to go to your room and do what you were told.  Then you can do your homework.”

“Then what?” Jessie pouted.

“Then I’m sure Douglas will be able to find you something to do from there.  If you want hugs and kisses, get them now. Mom and I have to go back to work.  We love you, but this is not a free vacation day. It takes money to eat and pay rent, and we get that by working.  Chop, chop! Get moving.”

The twins whined, then hugged and kissed them all sadly.  The adults gave them all love, and they went to their room.

“What happened to the other kids that were involved?” Kara asked her wife, once the kids were gone.

Alex crossed her arms over her chest.  “There were five or six kids altogether that got sent home today, I think.”

“That many?  I don’t like that my kids are getting bullied so much!” the blonde huffed.

“Me either,” sighed Alex.  “I don’t know what else to do.”

“I could get involved,” Maggie piped up.  “I mean, I can’t open a case, or anything, but I could maybe do a talk about bullying at their school.  I’ve done it before. It’s kinda fun to scare the little punks.”

Kara reached out and took Maggie’s hand, “I would love that. Thank you.”  She gave the detective a kiss before standing up. “We should get back to work.  I have to work on investigating these missing people.”

“Douglas isn't here yet,” Alex reminded her.

“Oh, right,” she paced back and forth.

“Kara, honey, come sit back down,” Alex said gently.  When she obeyed, the agent cuddled her and continued, “Look, I know you're worried about the kids, but don't work yourself up.  We'll get through this together, just like we do everything. Our kids are strong and intelligent, and most importantly, they have great parents.”

The reporter cracked a half-smile, “True.”

“And we have Maggie and Lena and Winn…  The list goes on. Our kids are going to be fine.”

“You’re right.  Thanks.” Kara just leaned her head against Alex’s for a moment.

Not to be left out, Maggie moved from the chair to Kara’s other side on the couch, cuddling her from behind.  Of course, that’s when someone knocked on the front door.

“I’ll get it.”  She stood up from her little cocoon of love and headed to the kitchen to answer it.  “Hey, Douglas,” she greeted him.

“Hello, Miss Kara,” he let her hug his towering form, and he patted her gently on the back.

“Don’t be too hard on the kids today, but don’t go easy on them either.  They need to learn how not to fight when things get hard. No TV, and no video games all day.  No ice cream, no candy, no pizza. And feel free to give them more homework when they’re done with what they’ve got.”

“Yes, ma’am.  I’m sure I can come up with something,” he smirked.

“Come on, guys,” she said to her partners.  “Let’s head to the DEO.” They hopped on their motorcycles and headed in.  Immediately upon arrival, Kara searched for her best friend. Of course, she and Maggie found him at his computer where he always was.  “Hey, Winn, we need you to look at the people on this flash drive. They're all missing. Can you check for, uh, links between them, their histories?”

Maggie pointed at him.  “Are you aware that you're wearing sunglasses? Indoors?”

“The future is so very bright,” he grumbled.

Maggie snatched the glasses off.

“Hey!  No, no, no!” Winn yelped, but it was too late.  They both saw the shiner he was sporting.

“What happened to you?” both women exclaimed.

“I got mugged.  It's fine.”

“Why didn't you tell us?” Kara chastised him.

“I will have that info for you very shortly,” he dodged, typing on his computer.

“Hey,” Alex joined them, after checking in with J’onn.

“Hi,” Winn moped.

“Oh!  Hey, what happened to you?” Alex exclaimed.

“I got mugged and I'm fine.  And it hurts to smile. Okay, so there is a connection between those people on your list.  A bunch of them all had blood work done a few days before they disappeared.”

“Blood work? That's weird,” Kara squinted at the page, as if that would help her figure out the kidnappers’ motivation.  “Maggie, you coming?”

“Coming?  I’m driving.  Let’s move out.”

“Fine, go have adventures without me, while I’m stuck in the lab.  I see how it is," Alex complained.

“Alex!  You can come, if you really want to,” Kara stuck her hands on her hips.

“No, it’s fine.  I was only messing with you.  Love you guys. Don’t be late for dinner!”

“If we’re late for dinner, you’d better send out a search party!” Kara demanded.

“You got it!”

“I just have to stop by the office and take care of a couple things,” she told Maggie.

XXX

“You would not believe the size of those mutton chops, it was-  Hey, Kara!” Mon-El greeted her cheerfully as he came out of the elevator.

“Hey,” she answered distractedly.  She was just texting Maggie that she was coming back down.  “Um… Wait. What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I took the day off.”

“It's your second day!”

“Yeah, didn't wanna overdo it.  So lunch?”

“No, actually, I'm working.”

“Oh, great.  I'll come with you.

“I-  I don't think so.”  Maggie would not like that.

“Oh, come on!  Come on, it'll be fun.  You wanna find that missing girl, right? Hey, two heads are always better than one, right? Except on the planet Barvex, because they have two-headed cannibals.”

“I already have two heads!  Maggie’s coming with me!”

He jumped on the elevator with her.  “OK, but she’s not as strong as me. What if you need backup?”

“Fine!”

“Fine?”

“Yes.  Just keep your mouth shut.”

He mimed zipping his lips.  “Have I told you about the first time…”

Kara rolled her eyes and tuned him out.  Maggie was gonna be pissed.

When they got to the ground level the detective was outside, waiting on her bike.  “What’s with the dufus?” she asked the blonde.

She sighed.  “He wants to come as backup.”

“Not on my bike, he’s not.”

“We could take the bus!” Mon-El suggested.

“You guys can take the bus.  I’ll meet you there.” Maggie clapped the visor down on her helmet and took off.

“Great!” Kara complained.  “Now she’s pissed.”

“Why?”

“Because we were spending time together, and I let you come along!”

“But you might need me,” he insisted.

“Maybe, but I don’t think she sees it that way.  Let’s fly. I don’t want her getting into any trouble on her own.”  She tugged him down the alleyway, so they could zoom off. They landed a few blocks away, to keep anyone from spotting them, and walked up to the building.  It just looked like any ordinary office building.

Maggie pulled up just a couple minutes later.  “I see the bus was running fast today.”

“I didn’t want you here alone,” Kara replied.

Maggie raised her brow, “How thoughtful of you.”

“Sweetheart, please don’t be mad at me.  I need you on my side right now.”

The detective huffed, but let some of her irritation subside.  “I’m always on your side. But why does he have to be on your side too?”

“Because he needs training, and the only way he’s gonna learn is if we bring him with us!  Shouldn't he learn from the best? All he knows is being a Daxam guard.”

“Yeah, which you would think would give him at least some basic soldier training!  But instead, he's whiny and useless, and never does what he's told!”

“I'll do what I'm told.  I swear!” Mon-El begged.

“You’d better!” Maggie snapped.

They went inside and checked in with reception.  There were only two chairs in the waiting room, so Maggie sat on Kara’s knee while they waited.

Mon-El picked up a Highlights magazine and started reading it.  At one point, he started laughing out loud. “Question, do you think I'm more of a Goofus, or more of a Gallant?”

“Goofus,” Kara and Maggie answered at the same time.

The Daxamite pouted.

Eventually, a man came out of the back offices.  He lead them back to a large open room with a bizarre oval contraption in the middle of the wall.  The next thing they knew, they were running into a portal to another world where neither Kara, nor Mon-El had any powers.  Maggie couldn’t seem to scream at him enough. He was supposed to go get Alex, not jump through the portal with them, but of course, he thought he could save them himself.  Now they were stuck. Once Kara finally got Maggie to stop swearing at Mon-El, she convinced them that they still needed to look for the missing people. Well, she convinced Maggie.  Mon-El just complained the whole time. At any rate, Kara was determined to save the folks who had been kidnapped, come hell or high water!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Winn had just spent the last hour listening to Alex vent about the twins fighting at school, all their bullies, and an incident that happened over Christmas with one of the Danvers women’s old high school classmates.  It was making him rage inside. How dare anyone treat his nieces like that?! He looked up Vicki Donahue on his computer. “Is this her?”

Alex peered at his screen.  “Yep. That’s the bitch.”

“I have an idea.  Just give me a couple hours.  Do you have the names of the kids that were being mean to our girls?”

“Just a couple of first names.  That’s it.”

“Bummer.”

“Why?  What are you planning?”

“You’ll see,” he smirked.  He pulled up his programmer and started coding.  “You’re gonna love this.” By the end of the work day, Winn had finished his project, and he searched Alex out before he left.  “Oh, man, you are gonna die when you see this! Let me come home with you, so I can show the girls too.”

“Alright, give me a few more minutes.  I still have something cooking in the lab.”

Winn waited patiently for Alex to finish up her project, and they headed out on Alex’s bike.  Riding with Alex scared the living bejesus out of him, but he wanted to show the girls what he’d done, so he braved it.  When they arrived at the Danvers’ apartment, Douglas was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and fiddling with his phone.  “Did you guys get a new table?” Winn asked.

The Cameroonian looked sheepishly at Alex.  “I’m sorry. It was Lena. I couldn’t stop her.  The girls were texting her, and she came over with it before I even knew what was happening.”

Alex rolled her eyes and groaned, “Lena!”

“In here!” the CEO’s voice came from the living room.

The agent stomped into the next room, with Winn following timidly behind her.  “Lena!” Alex huffed. “Seriously? A new table?”

“What was wrong with the old one?” Winn asked.

The twins, who were cuddled tightly around Lena on the couch looked disgusted.

“Apparently, it was violated earlier today, so I just figured I’d help out," Lena replied casually.

“Violated?” Winn repeated.

“Yeah, Mama and Maggie were doing it on the table earlier!”

“Oh, good Lord,” the tech complained.  “I did not need to hear that.”

“Yeah, we didn’t need to see it, either!” Jessie huffed.

Alex covered her face with her hand.  “This is ridiculous. You didn’t need to buy a whole new table!”

“It’s no big deal,” Lena brushed her off.  “Barely pocket change. Besides, we needed a bigger table here.”

The agent groaned again.  “Kara is gonna be pissed! You know how prideful she is!”

“She’ll get over it,” Lena shrugged.  “I did it for the kids. They were traumatized, and they had a bad day.”

“I know they did,” Alex sighed and sat down next to Jessie, doing her best to wrap her arms around all three of them.  

Winn followed suit and sat down next to Jamie.

“Winn!” Jamie gasped.  “What happened to your eye?”

“Oh!  I just… ran into a door while I was half asleep last night.  That’s all. Clumsy me!”

Neither of the girls looked like they really believed him.

“Look!  I have something to show you.”  He pulled out his laptop and opened it up.  When it was booted, he wiggled his eyebrows, “Ready?”  He held his finger over the keyboard dramatically.

“Ready!” the kids said.

He put the laptop on the coffee table and clicked the button to run his new program.  At first, there was just a blank screen, then came a robotic voice that kept repeating, “You are a bully! You are a bully!  You are a bully!” over and over again.

Next came another voice.  A woman. “What the hell?”  Suddenly, there was a face on the screen:  Vicki Donahue. She was frowning in confusion, and she appeared to be looking at the camera on her phone.  “What the fuck?” she exclaimed, as the robot voice kept repeating. “Stop it!” She tried pushing buttons on her phone, but nothing made the voice stop.

“You are a bully!  You are a bully!”

“What the hell is going on?” Alex demanded.

Winn snickered.  “I hacked your ex-friend’s phone,” he said happily.

The twins lit up.  “Awesome!”

Vicki’s cursing escalated.  “Fucking stop, you cock sucker!”

“OK,” Alex covered Jessie’s ears, and Lena immediately followed suit with Jamie.  “That’s enough.”

“Aw, come on!  Just a little longer!” Winn urged.

“You are a bully!  You are a bully!”

“Fucking grandma cunt licking bastard, shut the fuck up!”

“Jesus, Winn!  Turn it off!” Lena snapped.

“OK, OK!”  Winn moved to turn off the program, but Vicki apparently beat him to the punch by taking the battery out of her phone.  The screen went blank, and the room was quiet again.

“That was so awesome!” Jessie repeated.

“No, it wasn’t!” Alex huffed.  “I don’t want you guys hearing that kind of language!”

“Winn, what were you thinking, man?” asked Douglas, who had come in to see what all the commotion was about.  “The girls are in trouble for acting out at school. This is setting a very bad example.”

“A bad example?  This is completely non-violent and harmless!  I just wanted to get back at that witch for treating my nieces badly!  She deserves it!”

“Yeah!” the twins agreed.

“No!” Alex bellowed.  “This is exactly the kind of vengeful behavior we’re trying to discourage in our children.  Just because people are cruel to us does not give us the right to go around acting out like this.  Putting more hate into the world ultimately only hurts ourselves.”

“That’s what Lena was just saying before you got here,” Jamie said.

“Thank you, Lena!”

Winn sulked.  He was in no mood for this.  He did a good thing, and now, of course, Alex was trying to find some way to be bitchy to him.  “Well, I’m sorry for trying to stand up for the kids. Excuse me for trying to do something nice.”

“Winn,” Alex tried to stop him from leaving, but he kept going.

“Don’t go, Winn!” the twins whined.

“I’ll see you guys later,” he half-waved and stormed out of the apartment.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex watched helplessly as Winn angrily left their place.  She felt bad now. If it wasn’t such bad timing, the agent might have thought his stunt was funny, but after the girls had been sent home from school for fighting, she had to stand her ground.  Yes, Vicki deserved what the tech had done, but Alex knew that there was always the possibility that the twins might develop powers one day, and she couldn’t let them think that even the smallest vengeful act was OK.  Who knew how badly something like that could escalate, if an angry child had Supergirl’s powers? Her kids were good kids, but still, she could only imagine the worst.

Now, of course, the twins were upset because their uncle Winn just stormed out.  They whined at her. “Thanks a lot, Mom!” Jessie huffed. “Why do you have to be so mean?”

“How am I mean?”

“Winn came over to do something nice for us, and you made him feel bad!”

“That’s not nice!  Nice would be bringing you flowers, or a card or something.  This was inappropriate.”

“Whatever,” Jessie crossed her arms over her chest, looking very much like Alex just then.

The agent felt like she couldn’t win today.  First the fighting, then the sex, now this. What the hell was she supposed to do?  She sighed tor the ten-thousandth time.

“Jessie, I really expect better from you,” Lena spoke softly and calmly.  “Jamie, you too. You both are far too intelligent to resort to such caveman behavior.  At least Winn had the decency to use his wit, rather than his fists. He was trying to do something good, even though he just ended up acting vengefully.  You girls may have started out with the right motivations, but you refuse to be remorseful over your actions. Now we have two bad attitudes and no regrets.  What can we even say to you when you don't seem to be listening?”

The twins shrugged.

“I think maybe it’s time to go back to your room,” Alex told them.

“Bring your mother your papers,” Douglas called after them.  Then to Alex, he said, “I gave them extra homework, like Kara suggested.  I also made them do a bunch of pushups.”

Alex snickered.  The girls came out, deposited a stack of papers in her lap and wordlessly went back to their room.  She picked the first page up. “The Fight,” it said in French, “By Jessie Danvers.” The whole stack of pages was in French.  Alex was really glad that that was her elected language all through school. It really came in handy ever since Douglas came around.  The documents were a narrative account of the incident at school, complete with dialogue and everything. She let Lena read Jamie’s, and when they were done, they switched and read the other one.

“Wow,” Lena said, eyebrows raised.  “The kids at the girls’ school are mean!  I thought the kids that I went to school with were cruel.”

“Yeah,” Alex huffed.

“You can really see the differences in the twins’ personalities in these stories.  Not to mention, their French is pretty good for only having a year of lessons,” Lena commented.

Douglas laughed a little,  “I think it’s been a year and a half now, surely.  But yes, they’re very smart girls. Sometimes I’ll only speak to them in French, and I’ll pretend I don’t understand them if they speak English to me.  It drives them crazy, but it helps them learn. I like to get the French versions of their favorite movies too. They actually like that. They’re conversational.  They could get lost in Paris and be just fine.”

Alex shuddered at the thought.  “Don’t even joke about that!” That made her think of her wife.  “Hey, has anyone heard from Kara or Maggie in the last few hours?  They left to go investigate some missing persons case together, and that was just after lunch.”

Lena and Douglas shook their heads.  

“I feel like we should have heard something by now.  It’s been hours.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Kara’s number.  It went straight to voicemail. The same thing happened with Maggie’s phone. “Shit!”  She called J’onn and made him aware of the situation, then she had to bite the bullet and call Winn.  Of course, he didn’t pick up, so she left him a voicemail and sent him a text message requesting his help to find her missing partners.  “Can you guys be in charge of dinner tonight?” she requested. “I’ve gotta go find our women.”

“Of course,” they answered.

“No pizza, no ice cream, no candy!” she told them, as she hurried out the door.  

Thankfully, Winn texted her, just as she was getting on her bike.  He agreed to let her pick him up and take him to the DEO. When they arrived, he worked on tracking Kara and Maggie’s cell phones, while Alex put together a strike team to go to their last known location.  There was a weird metal oval thing in a room in the back of the offices they found. “Are you seeing this?” she spoke to J’onn over her coms. “What the hell is this?”

“I've never seen anything like that,” said Winn.

“I have,” J’onn said.

“Oh, no.  I know that tone.  That's a bad news tone,” Winn stammered.

“It's a transmatter portal.  A way to travel instantly between worlds,” J'onn revealed.

Winn gasped in awe.  “Oh, my God! It's Stargate!”

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Alex.

“Wait,” Winn stopped her.  “Does that mean that-”

“Kara and Maggie are not on earth?”  She showed them the reporter’s clothes that were piled on the floor.  

“Damn,” Winn breathed.  “Alright, come back, and we’ll find out where this puppy goes!”

“Alright, team, you heard ‘em.  Move out.” Alex and her troop returned to base, while Winn tracked down the signal.  She paced anxiously behind Winn’s desk chair, hands on her hips, and a scowl on her face.

When the computer dinged, J’onn asked him impatiently, “Have you found the Transmat's terminus?”

“Yeah,” Winn pointed at the big screen.  “Ionization trail leads to the Arcturus system, planet 51, arc B.”

J’onn put his hands on his hips.  “That's Maaldoria - the heart of the intergalactic slave trade.”

Alex’s heart clenched.  “That's bad.”

“I'm afraid it gets worse,” J’onn told her.

“Define worse.”

“Arcturus is a red sun.”

“So Kara won't have any of her powers?”  Now Alex was really freaking out. “I should have gone with them!  Why didn't I go with them?”

“You didn't know this was gonna happen, Alex,” J’onn tried to calm her.

“Hey, we have the Martian Manhunter, right?” Winn pointed out.  “He doesn't need a yellow sun. He'll go in there, and he'll get them, and everything will be okay.”

“I can't join this rescue mission,” the director grumbled.

Winn nodded, “Exactly.  Wait, what?”

“The air on Maaldoria is toxic to Martians.  Some kind of silicate in the atmosphere. I can't help Kara and Maggie, I'm sorry.”

“Fuck!”  Alex slammed her fist down on the center table.  “I’ll just have to take my team there and hope for the best.  Winn, can you get that Stargate thing to work?”

“Duh!” he said, looking a little insulted.  He cracked his knuckles and got to work on his computer.

“How long will it take you?”

“I don’t have a clue.  This is my first time attempting this.”

“Fuck!”

“Alex!” J’onn grabbed her gently but firmly around the biceps.  “Go home and have dinner with your family. Give Winn time to do his thing.

“I can’t!  I can’t go home until I know they’re safe!”

“Fine,” the director sighed.  “Come and help me with something, then.”

“OK.”

Two hours later, they had a light grenade and a working understanding of the portal.  Alex got her team loaded up, and they headed to the site. Understandably, Winn was scared to death of going, but she needed him with her.  Kara and Maggie needed him. He was the only one that could help them in case of a technical emergency, so she dragged his scared ass along, despite his whining.

Altogether, it was a relatively easy, and actually, kind of a fun rescue mission.  They got to go to another planet, Alex and Maggie got new alien guns, Winn got to bash an alien slaver in the head with a rock and get his confidence back, and they were able to rescue not just Kara and Maggie, but also Mon-El, who they didn’t even know was missing, and all the people in the cell with them, which was a good ten or so people.  All in all, Alex would call this a success!

When they all got back to the DEO, Alex pulled Winn aside.  “Listen, I owe you big time for all this. Also, I’m really sorry for getting on to you earlier today.  I know you love the girls, and you want to do nice things for them, but I’m begging you, please don’t do anything like that again.  I don’t want them learning to take revenge. I want them to stay my sweet little angels forever.”

Winn put his hand on her arm.  “I know the feeling. I just… I got carried away because I was feeling so powerless after getting mugged.  I guess I just wanted someone to punish.”

“And you got it,” she grinned.

“Yes I did!” he smirked, waving his space rocks in the air.

“You know,” she said, “If Vicki hadn’t been using such foul language, I would have thought your little prank was hilarious.  I thought Maggie had a bad mouth! Geez!”

“Yeah, sorry.  I should have done it on my own and recorded it first, then I could have bleeped out all the swearing.”

“You probably could show Kara and Maggie.  Just don’t let the kids see it again, please.”

“Got it.”

“You should come over.  The girls could use their best friend right about now.  It’s passed their bedtime, but I know they’ll still be awake, since Douglas is still there.  They have a hard time falling asleep when we’re away.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Maybe you can talk some sense into them.  They won’t listen to us. They feel like they were perfectly justified in defending Lena the way they did, and they refuse to apologize.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Winn greeted Lena and Douglas as he entered the Danvers’ apartment with Alex, Kara, and Maggie, then he went straight to the kids’ room.  First he knocked on the door, and when he heard the gentle response, he opened it, “Hey, it’s me. Everyone’s safe and sound at home now, OK?”  He tiptoed into the room and sat down on Jamie’s bed. “How are you girls?” he asked, stroking his niece’s hair.

Jamie whimpered a little, and crawled into her uncle’s arms.  “Everyone’s mad at us for fighting, but they didn’t hear the things people were saying.  It was bad, Uncle Winn!”

Jessie slid out of bed and snuggled into the tech’s other side.  “Yeah, it was worse than what Vicki was saying to her phone earlier!”

Winn’s heart ached for Lena and the kids.  He of all people knew what it was like to be bullied and feel helpless in the face of it.  “You wanna tell me what they said?”

Both the girls shook their heads emphatically.  “No way!”

“Alright,” he kissed each of their heads and stroked their shoulders.  “But we still have to learn to keep from fighting unless our lives are in danger.  If someone is trying to hurt you, by all means, defend yourself, but it’s always better not to fight, if you can avoid it.  Run away, if you have to. Just don’t fight. You’re such good girls. You don’t want to turn into bad girls, do you?”

“No!” the twins whimpered.

“I don’t want that either.  I love you two so much. I would hate to see you get into trouble, just because you can’t control your tempers.  You know, when you’re a kid, and you fight, you just get sent home from school, but when you’re a grownup, and you fight, you go to jail.  Not to mention, there are jails for kids who behave badly enough.”

“I don’t want to go to jail!” Jessie whimpered.  “I want to be a detective, like Maggie!”

“OK, well, when cops lose their tempers and fight people, it’s called police brutality, and the cops lose their jobs for that.  Do you want that?”

“No!” Jessie started crying.

“It’s OK, sweetheart,” he soothed her.  “I don’t think you guys are bad enough to go to jail.  I’m just saying that these things can escalate. Even I could go to jail for hacking into Vicki’s phone.  That’s totally illegal, and I shouldn’t have done it. I’m really sorry for setting a bad example for you girls.  We should all be better than that.”

“How?” Jamie asked forlornly.

“We have to spread love instead of hate and anger.  I know it’s hard when people are being horrible, but that’s the best way.  If you can’t get the kids at school to stop being mean to you, tell a teacher, or get away from them, or talk to your moms.  You have a lot of people that really, really love you, and it makes us sad when you get into trouble. We know you’re good kids.   You know you’re good kids.  Let’s act like it, hmm?”

“OK, Uncle Winn,” they agreed sleepily.

They just cuddled until the twins fell asleep on him.  “Kara!” he whisper-yelled. “A little help!”

The Kryptonian peeked in a moment later, “Aww!”  She took a picture of them with her phone. “That was easy.  They conked right out, huh?”

“Yeah, we barely even talked before they fell asleep,” he told her.

Kara picked Jessie up and put her back in her own bed, while Winn tucked Jamie into hers.  “Thanks,” she said, hugging him in the hallway.

“No problemo,” he clicked a finger gun at her and winked.  “Hey, why don’t you let me take the kids tomorrow night?”

“I don’t know,” Kara frowned.  “They’re supposed to be grounded.”

“Aw, come on, don’t ground them from their Uncle Winn!”

“Fine, but no TV, no video games, no pizza, no candy, no ice cream, no soda!” she ticked off on her fingers as she listed things.

“I… can work with that,” he said confidently.

“Alright,” she conceded.

They went back into the living room where Alex and Lena were curled tightly around Maggie, who was looking a little haggard and quite exhausted.

“Thank you for bringing our ladies back to us, Winn,” Lena said.

“Hey, anytime.”  He waved at them all.  “I’m gonna head home. James is gonna be so jealous!  It’s gonna be awesome!”

“Goodnight!” they all called after him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kara squeezed onto the couch with her partners, and they all cuddled for a while.  It wasn’t long before Lena and Maggie smelled peaceful again, but Alex still smelled distressed.  “What’s wrong, baby girl?” She kissed her neck and shoulder.

“I don’t know, I just was really scared today.  I mean, losing one of you would be unthinkable, but losing two of you would be…”  Alex couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Shh, it’s OK.  We’re home, and we’re safe now.  We barely even got hurt.” Kara stroked her wife’s hair.

“I just worry that I’m putting too much of my heart on the line, and I can’t do anything about it.  I can’t stop loving any of you without cutting out my own heart,” Alex explained.

“You don’t have to.  We’re all going to continue to work together to protect and love each other, and we’re all going to be together for a very, very long time,” Kara spoke with the utmost certainty.  Not just us, but our whole family - blood and adopted.

“Agreed,” said Lena.

“I hope you’re not still feeling bored after that,” Alex commented.

Kara chuckled.  “I guess not. It felt good to have a mission, though.”

“I understand.  Just don’t go around asking for more trouble, OK?” Alex insisted.

“Yeah, you know, this morning Mon-El told me, ‘If you go looking for trouble, trouble ye shall find.’  I thought he was an idiot at the time, but maybe he was onto something.”

“Maybe.  Maybe he just got lucky.”

Kara giggled.  “Yeah, that’s probably it.”

“Can we go to bed now?” Maggie groused.  “I’m exhausted after spending the whole day with that buffoon.”

“OK, sweetheart,” Lena kissed her cheek a few times and then hauled the detective up off the couch.  “Come on.”

They all laid down, and fell asleep instantly.  The next morning, when they were all eating breakfast at the new kitchen table, the twins seemed to be in better spirits.

“Now, I don’t want to hear about you fighting over me again,” Lena reminded them.  “If someone has something to say about me, you can tell them that I don’t care what they think of me.  I know I’m a good person, and that’s all that matters. Understood?”

Mouths stuffed with food, the girls both nodded.  When they finished chewing, Jessie spoke up, “We won’t fight again.  It’s too much trouble.”

“There’s my good girls,” Kara smiled brightly at them.

“That’s exactly our point,” Alex nodded.  “Fighting like that is more trouble than it’s worth.”

“And there are pretty much always consequences, legal or otherwise.  Revenge is a never-ending cycle that you don’t want to get caught up in,” Maggie added.  “It can definitely be exhausting.”

“We won’t fight anymore, promise,” Jamie told them.

“What changed your minds?” Alex wondered.

“We don’t like getting in trouble, and like Maggie said, it was more trouble than it was worth,” said the elder twin.

“And if we fight again, we’ll make sure it’s worth the trouble,” Jessie added.

Alex brow raised as high as it would go.  “You fight again, and I’ll make sure you never see the end of your troubles!  You think some pushups and extra homework was bad?”

“We won’t fight again!” Jamie insisted.

“You’d better not,” Kara warned.  “Now, finish up. It’s almost time to go.”  The twins mowed down on the rest of their food, lest they be late, and Kara dropped them off.  “Have a good day!” she told them. “I love you so much! Be good!”

“Bye, Mama!  We will!  Bye!”

As far as the twins were concerned, the rest of the week was peaceful and without incident.  Kara thanked Rao and her lucky stars that she had such good kids. She didn’t know what she would do, if they actually liked to fight.  Thankfully, they didn’t, and they didn’t get anymore calls from the school for the next couple of weeks.