394. Chapter 394

Alex tells her she’ll be home at 7:00.

At 6:50, Maggie is pacing by the door.

At 6:55, she’s thinking that time has never moved slower.

At 6:57, she’s counting the seconds.

At 6:59, she’s staring at her phone, perpetually checking for texts from Alex, anything indicating where she is, that she might be late, that she’s on her way.

At 7:00, Maggie starts forgetting how to breathe.

At 7:01, Maggie calls Kara.

At 7:02, Maggie grabs her jacket, grabs her gun, no matter that she can’t breathe, no matter that her throat is too tight to say anything, no matter that she’s broken out into a cold sweat. She will kill anyone who –

At 7:02 and thirty seconds, Alex opens the door that Maggie is about to burst out of.

Alex takes one look at her and Alex knows.

She eases the gun out of her hand and she she kisses her, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

“I’m here, Maggie. I’m home, I’m home. I’m here. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

But Maggie squirms away, her face contorted, her lip trembling.

“You’re not supposed to have me, Danvers. I’m supposed to have you! And I didn’t, and you could have died, you almost died, I should have known something was wrong earlier, I should have – “

“Hey, hey hey hey, slow down. Listen to me, Maggie. Listen to me. Please? This is a relationship. I love you. You love me.” She pauses because she knows that will make Maggie smile, even through her thickest tears. She’s right. “We love each other, Maggie. So it’s not one of us has the other. It’s both, Maggie. We take care of each other. And you took care of me. You found me, okay, you got me out.”

“And you held on.” Maggie’s voice is broken, and Alex’s heart breaks with it.

“And I held on.”

“I don’t know how to… function. Without you next to me, without…” She pauses and she laughs unexpectedly, and Alex tilts her head in question.

“Nothing, sorry, just… you know that mirror? In Beauty and the Beast? Where he can see anyone he wants, whenever he wants? I want that. For you. Except minus the lack of consent thing. I just… I don’t know how to function. Not knowing you’re safe. I mean, Jesus, Danvers, you were, what, a minute later than you said you’d be, and I nearly started World War Three.”

Alex smiles wetly at that. At the woman who would tear down the world – with smarts, with words, with sheer genius – to bring her home.

“We’re going to figure it out, Maggie. I’m going to figure out how to shower without meds, and you’re going to figure out how to be okay when I’m not next to you. And in the meantime…” Alex pulls her closer, and Maggie positively melts. “I can just make sure to be next to you as much as possible. That sound acceptable?”

“That sounds perfect, Danvers.”