641. Chapter 641

They stay in touch for a while, especially since Maggie stays in touch with Alex’s friends.

Because they’re her friends – her family – now, too.

But years pass, and they text less and less. They call less and less.

Not for any reason, other than the simple need to let go.

The simple need to try and live outside of each other.

Part of that need, for Alex, is a child.

And it’s years later, and she’s slept with a lot of women – she’s dated a lot of women – but no one has been…

She’s on her own, now.

Well, on her own with her sister, with her family.

And they’re all extremely supportive when she says she wants to have a baby on her own.

J’onn never got to be a grandfather, after all, and even though they still try to hide the fact that either of them can cry from the DEO, in truth everyone’s known for years; they just finally see it, now.

She thinks of Maggie throughout her pregnancy.

Not nearly as much as she did years ago.

But… enough.

Enough to make her heart throb with yearning. An old yearning that feels like a small tug rather than the sharp stab it used to feel like with each breath.

But when Kim is born, she becomes Alex’s entire world.

She’s all Alex thinks about.

Well, Kim and her newest alien weaponry.

It’s raining one day, and Kim is five, and they’re running.

Not from an attack.

They’re running just… because.

Running to find the biggest puddles to splash in, and Alex is nothing if not ecstatic.

And then Kim runs into – literally, runs full speed into – the legs of woman.

Legs that, even after all these years, Alex knows all too well.

“Sorry!” Kim splutters at the woman as Alex just freezes.

“Well that’s okay,” she hears a voice that makes her heart crack, that makes her knees nearly give out. The woman sinks to one knee in front of Kim, paying no heed to the rain, to the damp, to the mess. “Bet you’re looking around for puddles to stomp in, huh?”

Kim nods eagerly, and Alex can’t help the small smile that forms on her lips.

“An excellent thing to do in the rain. But kiddo, are you with a grownup?”

“Yeah!” Kim smiles broadly, with the massive gestures befitting a kindergartener, and she splays her hands out behind the woman, toward Alex. “My mommy’s a grownup!”

“She is, huh?” the woman chuckles, and Alex’s heart freezes and her entire world crashes into Maggie Sawyer’s eyes.

“Alex,” Maggie breathes after a beat of silence, a beat of shock, a beat of nothing but memories of soft touches and late night laughs and orgasmic screams and agonized parting.

“You and Mommy are friends?!” Kim jumps up and down excitedly, and Maggie doesn’t even reach up to wipe her face from the extra droplets Kim splashes onto her cheeks.

“Yeah, Kim, this… this is Maggie, sweet face. An old… an old friend of Mommy’s.”

She talks to her daughter, but her eyes belong to Maggie.

As many women as she’s been with over the years, her eyes have always belonged to Maggie.

Maggie rises from her knee, slow and shaking and open-mouthed.

“You wanna come stomp puddles with us?” Kim reaches for Maggie’s hand, and Alex thinks she sees tears starting to mingle with rain drops on Maggie’s face.

Her hair is shorter, now.

She’s even more beautiful than she was years ago.

Alex didn’t think that was possible.

“She uh… inherited certain things from Auntie Kara,” Alex stammers uselessly, and Maggie clears her throat once, twice. Three times. Not enough.

“Yeah, sure sweetheart, if um… if your mom’s okay with that?”

It’s an innocent question, but it’s also a prayer.

Because neither of them are big believers in fate, but maybe… maybe that’s what this is.

So Alex nods, and Kim laughs, and she takes Alex’s hand in her free one, and she tugs.

Tugs Alex and Maggie with her, begs them to help her fly. Like Auntie Kara.

Their eyes meet through the pouring rain – both of them drenched and breathless and full of something they haven’t felt in years – as they swing Kim through the air, as her shrieking giggles pierce through the storm in the air and the storms in their eyes.

“You’re good at this, Maggie!” Kim giggles, and Maggie nearly runs.

Nearly.

But she ran once.

She won’t again.

Something about destiny and soulmates and true love.

Something about the look in Alex’s eyes.

“Does she have another mommy?” Maggie asks, keeping her question neutral for the child.

Alex shakes her head, trembling suddenly.

Maggie strips off her oversized rain slicker and lets go of Kim’s hand for a moment. “Sorry sweetie, your mommy looks cold, huh?”

“No, Maggie, you’ll be cold, I – “

“I’ll survive somehow, Danvers,” Maggie assures her, and they both freeze when her hands graze Alex’s hair, her skin. They both freeze when suddenly they’re breathing each other’s breath and they’re close enough to count the rain drops and tear drops on each other’s faces.

“Oooh, Mommy, maybe you should ask Maggie on a date! Like Auntie Kara and Aunt Lena!”

Maggie snorts despite herself. “That finally happened then?” she asks, and Alex’s eyes glisten.

“Come home with us and I’ll give you more updates. And we can get you out of those clothes – “

“Danvers – “

“And into something warm.”

“Alex – “

“I’m – no, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed you’d want to catch up, you’re probably just – “

“Alex. Can you get Kara to watch Kim for the night? I… I want to give each other more than updates. If you… if you want.”

“But you… you don’t want…”

“I never stopped wanting you. And – “ She glances down at Kim, bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting patiently for Alex to be done with grownup talk, murmuring something to herself about the water cycle and its impact on plant growth.

“And who could say no to someone so beautiful, who came from someone so beautiful?”

“Maggie – “

“I’m not making any decisions, Danvers. I’m just asking if we can talk, and see… see if we could still…” Her eyes drift down to Alex’s lips, and Alex’s take the same journey across Maggie’s face. “Please?”

Something about fate. Something about destiny. Something about true love and soulmates and meant to be.

“Yes,” she tells her without hesitation, and when she reaches down, she finds that their hands still fit perfectly together. “Absolutely we can.”

And Kim isn’t the only one who feels like she’s flying through the rest of their adventures in the rain.