562. Chapter 562

It’s her first time in Purgatory, and she’s eager to find out if her heat vision can incapacitate revenants without actually sending them to hell.

Because she’s lived her own hell for too long now, and she wouldn’t wish it on anyone else.

“I give them a chance to make their peace,” Wynonna defends herself mildly through a mouthful of powdered sugar and dough.

Nicole lays her hand on Waverly’s arm, primed and ready to defend her sister. Alex flexes her fingers, ready to defend her own.

Maggie’s eyes flicker toward Dolls’ silently, and she knows they’re both thinking the same thing.

Too many firecrackers in this room.

They exchange a small smile.

Because they love their firecrackers to the ends of the Earth.

And they’ve both – in their own towns, their own cities – been to the ends of the Earth, so really, they mean it literally.

“I don’t think Kara’s questioning your methods, Wynonna, she’s just – “

“Just telling me how to do the job my Daddy left me – “

“My father left me a job, too, Wynonna,” Kara interrupts, and it’s firm, but it’s soft. Alex’s hand instinctively reaches for Kara’s fingers, sticky with sugar, while Maggie’s eyes glue themselves to Alex’s suddenly broken-hearted face.

Waverly stares at the ground, now, and Nicole wraps a subtle but strong arm around her waist.

A silence.

Kara grabs for her fifth donut suddenly, and Wynonna starts.

“Alien metabolism and all that, sure, okay, but you gotta save some for the rest of us, kid,” she protests, the fight still in her voice, but a different fight, now.

A fight to the death, sure – because donuts here are do or die – but a kinder one. One based on a sudden, sweeping realization that maybe protecting Purgatory and National City – and the toll it takes on the soul – aren’t so different, after all.

“Do I?” Kara grins, still poised to grab the last glazed, when the door opens.

Dolls, Wynonna, Nicole, Alex, and Maggie all draw their guns in unison.

Alex and Maggie lower them first, followed by Purgatory’s protectors.

“That was hot, all of you reacting like that. It was hot, right?” Waverly nudges Maggie, who smirks before arching a playful eyebrow at Nicole.

“You could’ve knocked, Luthor,” Maggie throws her voice toward the door, shaking her head as she puts the safety back on and slips her glock back into her waistband.

Lena’s still standing with her hands raised by her hips in surrender, a bemused smile on her face. Kara brightens so immediately, so intensely, that Dolls wonders if she can actually glow.

“If I’d have knocked, Waverly and I never would have gotten… that show,” Lena winks as she strides into the Black Badge Division, kissing her girlfriend’s cheek as she comes up to the table.

She casually swipes that last glazed donut from the box, rips a piece off, and pops it into her mouth.

Waverly and Nicole try to stifle their laughter.

Alex and Maggie don’t bother trying.

If someone looked closely enough, they’d see Dolls smirking.

Wynonna and Kara splutter, looking at the donut piece disappearing into Lena’s mouth like it was their first puppy running away into a deep, dark forest.

“What?” Lena asks as she chews, hand daintily in front of her mouth.

But the gleam in her eyes and arch of her eyebrow suggests that she knows exactly what.

And that Kara will be getting… compensated… for her loss of donut later.