195. Chapter 195

“Tell me, Maggie,” Alex says as she leans against the kitchen counter with a bottle of root beer, squinting slightly at her girlfriend, who’s barely said a word all evening.

“Tell you what, Danvers?” She tries to smile and she tries to inject bravado into her voice, but she fails, and Alex knows.

“Go talk to her, Maggie. It’s okay.”

Maggie looks up and blinks and shakes her head and blinks again. “I… Al, it – what are you talking about?”

“You’ve got this pit in your stomach, and you’ve had it since you got that call about Lena Luthor this morning, and it got worse when they made you the one to go arrest her, and it got even worse when Kara was there, and it hasn’t gone away. And it’s getting worse, now, just you thinking about it. So go, Maggie. Talk to my sister. I’m not the only one whose days of pushing down my feelings are over.”

Maggie gulps and tries not to blink, because if she blinks, she’ll spill tears, and she’s not okay with that right now.

“But you… made dinner!”

“And it’ll be here when you get back,” Alex says softly as she kisses Maggie’s nose and presses her jacket and Triumph key gently into her hands.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“Maggie, why… why would I be mad at you?”

“You made dinner, and I’m not happy like I should be, and – “

“No, no, Mags, you shouldn’t be anything. You don’t have to live on a script, babe. You feel what you feel. Now go. James and Winn are with her, so be ready for more people than just Kara.”

Maggie has to turn away because she can’t believe that Alex notices, knows, understands, cares, that Maggie has to actively prepare for interacting with people.

“Should I bring potstickers as an offering?” she asks on her way out the door.

Alex squints and grins and tilts her head slightly. “Couldn’t hurt.”

Maggie laughs softly, but her hands don’t start shaking until she gets to Kara’s door. There’s laughter inside and Maggie has the sudden instinct to run, to not intrude.

But she knocks anyway.

It’s James who opens the door, and he grins down at her and gestures her inside. “She’s not mad at you, you know. Just mad,” he whispers, and Maggie grimaces her thanks at him.

“Hey, it’s Alex Danvers’s woman! What brings you by, Maggie?” Winn greets jovially as Kara just stares. Maggie somehow unsticks her tongue from the parched roof of her mouth and forces herself to speak.

“I um… I actually wanted to know if I could borrow Kara for a minute. I… I brought potstickers.”

“Good plan,” Winn winks at her, and Kara crosses her arms over her chest.

“What’d you want to talk to me about, Maggie?” Kara asks, and her voice is guarded, but not entirely hostile. Maggie glances at James and Winn, but it’s clear that Kara wants them to stay, so Maggie puts the potstickers on the counter and rings her hands and curls her hair out of her face.

“Kara, listen, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. About Lena Luthor. I know you believed in her, and I know you were right, and I just want you to know that I fought with my captain, I tried to get him to look deeper into the footage we were sent, and he did, but our lab is no DEO, and I… it’s the part of my job I hate, Kara, one of the many, and I just… I’m sorry.”

Kara says nothing, just studies Maggie’s face carefully. James stares between them nervously and clears his throat.

“Well, I mean, except for that mishap with you almost getting yourself blown up to save her, everything turned out alright, right? She’s safe now, vindicated – “

“Wait, you what?” Maggie splurts, and Winn cuffs James lightly on the shoulder.

“Alex didn’t… tell you?”

“She told me Kara rescued Lena, not that – nearly blown up? Kara, do you have any idea what Alex would do if you died? What it would mean for her, for them, for the whole damn city? For me? Kara, you need to be more careful, you need to wait for backup – “

“Lena would have died if I waited for backup – “

“No one’s life is worth yours, Kara, you can’t just be so blase about all this, you’re not indestructible!”

“I know that, Maggie. I know that.”

Kara’s voice is steel and Maggie’s eyes are liquid, and they regard each other with a ferocity, with a passion, with a protectiveness, that makes James and Winn hold their breath.

Maggie looks away first, and she crosses the room to take Kara’s hands into her own. Kara accepts them and swipes her thumb across the back of Maggie’s hands.

Acceptance. Because Kara knows exactly what Maggie’s going to say before she says it.

“I would’ve gone in without backup to save Alex, too. You know I would’ve.”

Kara smiles and squeezes Maggie’s hands. “I know you would. And she would for you, too, you know.”

“You’d better not let her.”

“Damned if I could stop her!”

They both laugh, and they don’t let go of each other’s hands. Maggie lowers her voice so much that Kara has to lean down to hear her.

“Good on you for protecting your girl, Kara. And good on you for believing in her. Just… just be safe, okay?”

“My…” Kara straightens up and pffts and reddens and takes one of her hands away from Maggie’s to furiously adjust her glasses and pfft again.

“Lena’s my friend.”

Maggie tilts her head and nods slowly, and takes a deep breath, because she’s going to have to do this with another Danvers girl, now isn’t she?

“Potstickers?” she asks, not wanting to push too hard.

Kara lights up and unexpectedly kisses Maggie on the cheek.

“Mine mine mine mine!” she squeals as she scampers across the room to tear into the potstickers.

“So, you can challenge Kara and survive, and you bring her potstickers. Fundamental makings of a Superfriend, Maggie,” James nudges her shoulder, and Winn nods enthusiastically, and Maggie? Maggie just beams.