551. Chapter 551
It didn’t matter that she’d blown out her powers trying to save the ship, trying to save her sister.
The only reason she ever felt at home on this planet.
It didn’t matter.
It still took James, J’onn, Winn, and Maggie combined to keep Kara on the regeneration bed in the DEO, under the red-sun lamp when she woke up, screaming.
Screaming for Alex.
Maggie’s eyes were red and her hands were shaking.
She never said anything as she stayed at Kara’s bedside, and Kara didn’t say anything to her. They made eye contact infrequently; blue meeting brown was too painful for now, too raw, too... Alex.
The loss shuttled between them like the worst kind of drug.
They only spoke when, days later, Kara narrowed her eyes, and the familiar charging sound accompanied the golden glow of her gaze.
Her powers were back.
She turned to Maggie. She nodded. Maggie nodded back.
They snuck out of the DEO and into Cadmus before anyone noticed they were gone.
Maggie had to restrain herself from shooting to kill.
She had to restrain Kara from strangling Lilian Luthor.
“Alex wouldn’t want you to,” were the first words she’d said in days, and the shout was raw with her hoarse grief.
“But Alex would do it,” Kara retorted, and Maggie knew she was right.
“You aren’t your sister, Kara,” Maggie reminded her, even though -- when Kara conceded and let Maggie punch Lilian unconscious before arresting her -- they moved in to Alex’s apartment together. After.
After.
Maggie spent her days with Lena, and her nights with Kara.
Her days with Lena, combining L Corp’s resources with the Science Division’s alien CI network, keeping the aliens remaining in National City safe from the stray Cadmus supporters Maggie and Kara hadn’t incapacitated in their raid, pushing social services and health services beyond the mere memorialization of Cadmus’s victims, both at the bar and across the galaxy, pushing anti-immigration efforts against both humans and aliens deeper into the ground than their grief.
Her nights with Kara, in Alex’s apartment, rarely speaking except to soothe each other after nightmares, except to heal each other when Maggie split her knuckles against her heavy bag and Kara couldn’t move from the couch because her heart was heavier than even that damn ship had been.
They never stopped searching the skies.
But ultimately, it was Alex that got herself home.
Alex and her unexpected crew of alien refugees, some engineers and some botanists, some school teachers and some musicians, all banding together to keep themselves alive, to keep themselves united, for an entire year.
An entire year until Alex and Brian’s old roommate salvaged enough materials and know-how to rig a way to contact their salvation.
Captain Sara Lance of the Waverider.
Alex shared Sara’s quarters when the Legends rendezvoused with the ship, Mick uncharacteristically restraining himself from commenting at the way Sara would sweep Alex’s hair, longer now, redder now, away from her face.
Because she had that look she got when she thought too hard about Laurel.
So Mick would grunt and offer them both beers instead, and it turned out Alex could drink him under the table.
Amaya was amused, and Sara was grateful to hear Alex laugh.
But the best moment?
Sara thought the best moment by far was listening to Alex, Jax, and some of the Pholian engineers yell in excitement when they finally figured out how to extend the Waverider’s protective shielding around the Cadmus ark, how to tether it to take both ships on a jump back to earth in one piece.
And then she thought the best moment was the way Jax scooped Alex off her feet and spun her around in happiness, in gratitude, the way she reached for one of the Pholian children and let them cry in her arms because they were going home. They were all finally going home.
But when they actually made it safely back to earth, Sara realized she was wrong.
Those weren’t the best moments.
The best moments were Supergirl nearly cracking Alex’s ribs and Alex not caring one bit.
The best moments were the way Winn cried into James’s shoulder as he waited to hug Lyra, as he watched Kara squeeze the air out of her sister.
The best moments were children reuniting with parents, cousins and old friends and bar buddies and lovers.
The best moments were Alex falling into J’onn’s open arms, Lena and James holding Kara while Alex sobbed into her father’s chest.
The best moments were Alex shouting Maggie’s name and sprinting into her arms, kissing her like they could stop the sun from shining with their own brightness, streaming tears like they could make it rain in the desert with the force of their reunion.
And, Sara figured, they could.
“Job well done, Captain,” Amaya nudged Sara’s shoulder, and Sara realized with a jolt that her own face was wet as she grinned.
“What are Legends for?”