79. Chapter 79

She’s going to testify on behalf of a young kid who was wrongfully arrested in the morning, and he calls her and he’s terrified.

She leaves the room with the phone to her ear and an apologetic expression on her face, and when a few minutes later she walks back into game night, it’s with a small smile because the boy is calmer now, the boy is more confident now, the boy is less terrified now.

But the smile fades because as she slips back into the room Alex’s voice washes over her and Alex’s words threaten to break her: “Okay, you all, shut up, shut up, listen, I need your advice: I don’t wanna be her girlfriend anymore.”

“What the hell, Danvers.”

Her voice is expressionless and her face is a mask and her body is a coiled muscle ready to snap, ready to destroy, but only herself, because that’s what she’s best at.

“Maggie, god, no, Maggie, I didn’t – “

“No, you know what Danvers, I’ll save you the trouble. Don’t even worry about it. It was bound to happen anyway, it always does. I’ll just grab my stuff – “

“Maggie, no.”

Kara is paler than usual and Winn’s hands are on his mouth and James is biting his lip and Alex is up and Alex is striding to where Maggie is fumbling for her jacket and Alex is taking Maggie’s hands into hers and putting her fingers under her chin to tilt her head up, to encourage Maggie’s stormy face to look up into her eyes.

“Alex, don’t bother – “

“Maggie, stop. Stop. I… I was going to say… I… I don’t want to be your girlfriend anymore because I want to be your wife.”

Kara shrieks and claps her hands over her mouth and Winn and James grab at each other’s arms and Alex takes a terrified breath and Maggie’s jaw hits the floor and Maggie gazes up into Alex’s eyes, her own flooded with hot, stinging tears.

“You… you what?”

“I don’t want to break up with you, Maggie Sawyer. I never wanna break up with you, I… I wanna marry you.”

“Alex, you…”

“Yeah, Maggie, why… how wouldn’t I wanna spend my life loving you?”

They barely notice Kara dancing around in the background and they barely notice Winn and James hitting each other’s arms and fangirling in blissful silence.

They barely notice because their fingers are stroking faces and their lips are kissing away tears and their bodies are shaking and they’re kissing and they’re hugging and they’re gasping for that elusive thing called breath.

“So… so I take it you want to. Marry me. Cause that’s… that’s what I got.”

Winn tosses a pillow at Alex’s beaming face and Maggie blocks it without even moving her head and Maggie smiles and Maggie leans up on her tip toes, and she kisses Alex’s nose and she kisses Alex’s lips and she breathes into Alex’s ear, “Of course I wanna marry you, Alexandra Danvers.”