372. Chapter 372
She gets a little bit from James, who holds her to his chest and tells her she’s a hero. That they wouldn’t have gotten her girl home with her.
She gets a little bit from J’onn, who welcomes her to the family, and even though she has to crane her neck up to hug him properly, it’s one of the best hugs she’s ever had.
She gets a little bit from Winn, who hugs her tight and tells her that Alex is lucky to have someone who loves her this much, who’s this amazing, who’s this badass.
She gets a little bit from Kara, who hugs her back and who invites her to her first game night and who tells her that her sister couldn’t possibly do any better, because she’s amazing, and she is living proof that a cape doesn’t make a hero; a heart of gold does.
She gets a little bit from Alex, who asks her, before anything else, if she’s okay, which shouldn’t surprise Maggie because that’s so quintessentially Alex, but it does anyway, because how can this woman be so absolutely, absolutely perfect?
But after she breaks? After she breaks in Alex’s arms, days later – days after holding it up, holding it down, holding it together – after she breaks, and after Alex holds her, after Alex wipes her tears and her running nose and kisses her shredded heart, Maggie finally makes the call she’s been avoiding for days.
“Hey kid,” she says, and she doesn’t bother to keep the trembling out of her voice, because he’ll know anyway. “Feel like coming on an all-expense paid trip back to National City?”
She’s bought him his tickets within minutes, and he’s on the next train out from Star City.
He has nothing with him but a small duffel and a worried expression, because all she’d said was that Alex is fine, that everything is fine, but it almost wasn’t and she’s broken and she needs her family.
And Adrian Rodriguez is her family.
He doesn’t knock and he doesn’t text. He just uses his key to open her door, and when she spills into his arms, he kisses her hair and he rocks her gently, because he’s seen her sad and he’s even seen her tear up, but he’s never seen this.
And it breaks his heart.
It breaks his heart, because he loves her more than he knows how to say, but he also… he also feels proud.
Proud that she called him. That she considers him enough of an adult, enough of her peer, to reach out to, to cry like this with.
They don’t make it past the threshold – his duffel is still hanging off his shoulder – for many long, long, long minutes.
They don’t make it past the threshold because she can’t move except to grab at his shirt and wrack with sobs in his strong arms, and even though he’s reasonably sure he could scoop her up easily, he doesn’t want to risk shutting her down, doesn’t want to risk her speeding back into her shell.
Into her armor.
So he just stands there and he just rocks her and he kisses her hair and he wonders, exactly, when she got this much taller than her.
He doesn’t know how long they’re standing there, limbs merged like they’re one creature, his comfort slipping into her ears, but they both jump slightly when Alex steps into the door behind them.
“Hey Ad – babe? You okay, what – “
She takes one look at the way Maggie backs away, turns her back, wipes her eyes, and her heart breaks.
“Sweetie, you’re allowed to be upset. You’re allowed to cry, we’ve talked about this – “
“You were the one in that cage, Alex, not me – “ she chokes, her back still to Alex, still trying to dry her eyes, and Adrian’s stomach sinks, because cage? God, just how bad were the last few days?
“Maggie, if the roles were reversed, I don’t even know how I’d be functional. I… you’ve been so strong, baby, but you… you don’t have to be solid all the time. Let me in. If you don’t want me to, about this, more than you already have, I get it. I do, babe. But don’t stop letting Adrian in. Please?“
"She’s right, Maggie,” Adrian offers in a small voice, and Maggie nods slowly, unsteadily, and sniffles unflatteringly. She chuckles and holds up a finger and walks into the bathroom.
“Hey,” Alex greets, and pulls him into a hard hug.
“Are you okay?” he asks, and she just hugs him harder.
“She’s been taking perfect care of me. Just you make sure you take perfect care of her, understand?”
“Understood, Agent Danvers,” he whispers, and they both turn as Maggie pads back into the living room, eyes swollen and red but face dry.
“Can we go bowling?” she asks suddenly. “The three of us?”
“Yeah, babe. Whatever you want.”
“You realize I’m gonna kick both your asses, right?”
“We’ll see about that, Rodriguez.”
They do see, and he does kick both of their asses.
But by the end of the night, they’ve both laughed harder than they had in what feels like years.
By the end of the night, they’ve made out with exchanges of I love yous so many times Adrian’s mockingly threatened to leave more than once.
By the end of the night, when Alex kisses her soft and kisses her perfect and goes home to Kara, Maggie is ready to talk to Adrian.
And god, does she talk.
She tells him everything.
Every detail.
Even the most painful ones.
Alex floating.
The credit card.
The taunts about parents.
The taunts about sexuality.
She tells him everything, in fits and in starts, and by the time the sun rises, she’s asleep in his arms, tear tracks still on her face, but a small smile on her lips, because Alex is safe, and Adrian’s here, holding her, loving her.
Safe.
When Alex’s key scrapes the lock, Adrian’s fallen asleep, too, his mouth all askew and his neck tilted straight back on the couch.
Alex dries her eyes before pulling a comforter over both of them and kissing both of their foreheads softly, tenderly, lovingly.
Family.