708. Chapter 708

She’s already wobbly by the time Maggie gets to the bar.

In past experience, seeing Alex stumble when she walks has been a terrible thing.

It meant fathers and mothers and phone calls and gunshots and people she couldn’t save.

But now, tonight?

Tonight, it was James’s birthday, and Alex’s smile is broad and completely, utterly unrestrained.

“Babe!” she blurts, stumbling off her bar stool, Winn and James both finding her waist with careful hands to steady her.

She turns unsteadily to frown at them with exaggerated frustration. “I’m fiiiiiine,” she tells them, and they both just smile and agree, James with affection and Winn with the knowledge that if he protests, he’ll get threatened by a certain index finger.

“My wife is here to celebrate you, birthday boy,” she declares, poking James gently in the chest as she slips out of his and Winn’s hands and jogs unsteadily toward Maggie, whose smile is broad and whose arms are outstretched.

“Not your wife yet, Danvers,” Maggie reminds her, because their wedding isn’t for another four months, and Alex gives her a powerful pout as she stumbles into her strong arms.

“Basically my wife,” Alex grumbles, and Maggie is helpless under the influence of that pout and that grumbling.

“Yes, babe. Basically your wife. I can’t wait to be totally your wife.”

Alex preens and Maggie accepts the sloppy kiss her fiancee places on her lips, for one count, two, three. She moans slightly as Alex’s tongue brushes across hers, and their hold on each other’s bodies tightens for a heated moment.

“Alright babe,” Maggie pulls back, smiling, breathless, eyes fluttered closed. “More tonight after you’ve had some water, hmm? And after you let me give the birthday boy his birthday gift!”

She holds Alex’s hand and guides her back to James and Winn, where Kara and Lena have joined them, both beaming like they just shared a particularly intimate moment in the bathroom. Which, well… they had.

“Happy birthday, Olsen,” Maggie leans up on her tip toes to hug him as Alex lets herself tilt into Lena’s arms.

“Having fun, Alex?” Lena laughs gently, and Alex nods with exaggerated enthusiasm that will probably leave a crick in her neck tomorrow.

“It’s this one’s birthday and that one’s going to be my wife,” she bounces on the balls of her feet and Kara shakes her head and laughs at her sister.

“Yes, Alex,” she humors her, but Alex is too happy to notice.

“I heard something about presents,” James looks to Maggie with excited eyes, and Maggie nods eagerly, digging into the bag Alex hadn’t noticed earlier and passing it to James with a flourish.

“Maggie,” he whispers as he tears carefully through the wrapping paper, and Alex practically jumps on his shoulders to get a view of the gift.

Maggie shuffles her feet and fiddles with her fingers. “I thought since you’re always taking pictures of the rest of us…” she trails off, and when Kara, too, squirms under James’s arm so she can see what he’s holding, she squeals her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s name, too.

“Maggie! They’re beautiful,” she gasps at the photos of James, both in CatCo and as Guardian, all arranged just so in a multi-photo frame that reads, “Heroes Have Many Suits.”

“I can photograph things,” Maggie murmurs with an embarrassed grin, and Alex trips over herself.

“Yeah, she really can. You know last weekend, we – “

“How ‘bout you don’t finish that sentence, sweetie?” Maggie reddens deeply as Kara groans and shoves her fingers in her ears while Lena, Winn, and James laugh heartily.

“Maggie, thank you so much. I love it, I really do. And hey, if you ever wanna take any pictures for CatCo – “

“I’ll keep my connections there in mind,” Maggie winks as she bear hugs her soon-to-be brother-in-law.

“My wife’s so talented!” Alex splurts with a massive smile as Lena, Kara, and Winn all work to keep her upright.

“That’s right, Alex. And she’s all yours,” Maggie murmurs against Alex’s lips after she disentangles from James, wrapping herself up in her life, her love, her sheer and utter – and, right now, drunken – happiness.