302. Chapter 302

Maggie doesn’t say much, and Alex lets her stew.

She lets her because she knows Maggie isn’t into the whole talking thing anyway.

She lets her because Maggie changed three separate times before settling on one of Alex’s sweaters, and she lets her because she’s been off all day, and she lets her because she looks at the door every single time it opens with equal parts relief and terror when it’s not Emily.

And Alex isn’t used to seeing Maggie terrified.

Not even when they’re fighting back-to-back against assassins who’d like to see them both skewered. (Alex being held at gun point is the exception. She still has nightmares about how scared Maggie had looked.)

But she looks scared, tonight, and so Alex lets her stew.

She lets her stew while she feeds her small talk about her and J’onn’s latest training sessions with Winn, “because honestly that boy needs to be able to do more than wield a stapler at someone if he’s gonna be out in the field,” about Pam from HR’s latest scoop on whether Theresa from accounting is leaning in the sapphic direction, about Kara’s latest health-food kick with Lena.

The benign topics are a nice break from the heaviness of their days, their lines of work; the benign topics make Maggie crack small smiles, make Maggie hold Alex’s hand instead of wringing her own.

“You look absolutely beautiful, you know,” Alex tells her at some point, because lord almighty, she does.

Maggie just shakes her head, and Alex squints.

But she lets it go. For now.

She doesn’t ask. For now.

Because Maggie doesn’t talk until she’s ready.

And Alex isn’t going to push.

For now.

But she might, soon.

Because Maggie looks like she might break, soon.

And Alex cares too much for her – loves her too much – to let that happen.

So she lets her sit and she lets her stew and she lets her listen to Alex’s DEO gossip until it’s forty-five minutes later and Maggie and Emily apparently used to fight about Emily’s distaste for parking regulations and Alex hates her, she hates her, she hates her, because who tells someone they don’t deserve to be happy?

She tries to tell her on the drive home.

“You know she was wrong, Maggie. Don’t you?”

“Alex, I told you, it’s whatever, it – “

“It’s not whatever, Maggie – “

“Danvers. Drop it. Please.”

Alex takes a deep breath and Alex does. For now.

For now.

For now.