267. Chapter 267

She knows there’s a cute rookie with a penchant for ponytails wandering the halls, getting acclimated.

She knows because she’s heard the guys, and she really wishes she hadn’t, because whoever this new kid is, she doesn’t deserve to be talked about, gawked at, that way.

But she doesn’t actually see this rook – Officer Danvers, she remembers hearing – until they wind up at the same crime scene.

The kid’s not even sitting on her haunches next to the three bodies in the alleyway – she’s just standing. Gaping. Standing as the ME and other officers examine the scene, gather evidence from the scene. Just… standing.

With a sad, sad look on her face that’s just this side of nauseous, just that side of shocked.

“First murder scene’s always rough, kid,” Maggie says softly as she goes to stand next to her, and the rookie jumps, but only slightly. Her fists are balled at her sides, and Maggie wants to reach out and make sure she’s not digging her nails too hard into her skin, but the kid hasn’t even looked at her yet, so any intimacy further than conversation is simply not an option.

“I’ve seen dead bodies before,” the girl answers, and Maggie takes a deep, slow breath.

“Well, that can make it even harder, then.”

Officer Danvers furrows her brow and, finally, turns toward Maggie. “How do you mean?”

The girl blinks rapidly when they make eye contact, when she takes in the gentleness in Maggie’s face, and Maggie immediately knows she’s queer. But quite probably not out, possibly not even to herself.

“Well, it can just… make it harder, is all. Give you memories of a specific person or people, or something.”

Officer Danvers crosses her arms across her chest and stares at Maggie for a long moment, shifting from foot to foot as she does so. Maggie wonders what she’s searching for in her face, and if she’ll find it.

Apparently she does, because next thing Maggie knows, she’s shaking the rookie’s outstretched hand.

“Kara Danvers.”

“Maggie Sawyer.”

Kara glances down at her lack of uniform, at the badge on her hip.

“A detective. Sorry, I don’t want to waste your time with rookie problems.”

“Not at all, kid. That’s my job.”

“Helping me with my rookie problems?” The girl – Kara’s – voice is deeper than it was a few minutes ago, less distant, and Maggie smirks.

“Yeah, don’t you know? Detecting rook issues and sorting them out’s part of the job description.”

She’s pretty sure Kara blushes, and they both jump slightly when someone calls out for Maggie.

“Detective Sawyer!”

Maggie nods Kara along with her.

“Your assessment, Detective?”

She turns to Kara with a small grin quirked onto her lips. “What do you think, Officer Danvers?”

Kara squints and gulps and looks panicked for a moment before reading Maggie’s eyes. Before reading in Maggie’s eyes that she’s trying to help her, that she believes in her, that she’s trying to give her a chance to be heard, not testing her.

So Kara crouches, and Kara examines, and Kara assesses the scene.

And she’s spot on, as far as Maggie can tell.

“Nice work, Danvers. You’ll get your detective shield in no time.”

Maggie switches some things around with their captain so Kara’s assigned to her detail, and she spends the rest of the week showing her the ropes.

Kara’s a quick study, always eager to learn, always eager to impress, if a little clumsy sometimes, if a little distant sometimes, in those moments when she doesn’t think anyone will notice.

Maggie notices, and she keeps an extra eye out to make sure she’s okay.

They’re leaving the precinct together one evening later in the week when Kara squeals, her distance gone, her guard completely tossed down, and suddenly she’s in the arms of the most beautiful woman Maggie has ever seen.

She shifts and stares at the ground, because dammit, of course Kara would have the hottest girlfriend on the face of the earth.

“Detective Sawyer!” Kara’s calling, and Maggie deliberately arranges her face into an expression of pleasant neutrality. “I want you to meet my sister, Alex.”

Sister. Sister.

Sister.

“You’re the sister! Wow, um, I’ve… I’ve heard a lot of great things about you from Kara.”

“And I’ve heard all about you,” Alex shakes her hand, and her grip is firm and her hands are somehow both smooth and calloused and Maggie has to concentrate to avoid swooning.

“Nothing incriminating, I hope,” Maggie says, and she wonders if Alex notices that their hands are still connected, that Kara is furrowing her brow and starting to smile as her eyes shift back and forth between them.

“Pfft, no, she um… she actually told me you’ve been a really great mentor to her, and I… thank you.”

Maggie forgets how to breathe but damn, does she remember how to feel.

“Well, I mean, she’s a great kid, gonna make a fabulous cop.”

“She’s… also standing right here,” Kara murmurs with a small grin to no one in particular before perking up and saying, perhaps a little louder than intended, “Okay, you two, um, I’m actually gonna go meet James at Noonan’s, so um… maybe you two should grab dinner or something. Together. Okay, um, bye!”

She’s gone, somehow, before Maggie or Alex can snap out of their spell and turn to her to protest.

“So… I guess it’s just you and me, Danvers.”

“Looks that way, Sawyer.”

“Dinner on me?” Maggie offers, and doesn’t at all regret how suggestive it sounds.

“Perfect.”