737. Chapter 737

Alex is the one who finds her, and all she does is kiss her forehead and hold her and tell her she’s got her, she’s got her, she’s got her, she’s got her, while she rocks her in her trembling arms.

She’s not sure if the motion is comforting her or Kara more, but she’ll take whatever she can get right now.

Alex has taken a lot of lives as a soldier.

She’s saved a lot of lives, too, as a doctor.

This has been her most terrifying save.

Because her sister’s blood is not easy to shed.

It’s Kara’s intent, her effort, more than her actual wound, that’s shaking Alex to the core.

But she gets her to stabilize – she doesn’t have all those degrees, all that field experience, for nothing – soon enough.

Her own fingers are slick with her sister’s blood when she reaches into her pocket to text their family.

Because she needs them. Their family.

They both do.

J’onn is the first to show up. The whole flying thing.

He doesn’t cry in front of Kara, or Alex. Neither of them need that, not now.

But James finds J’onn in the bathroom, later, his face soaked with agony.

James never tells a soul. And he, too, joins him in strained non-grief grief.

Just like he never tells a soul – though to be honest, he doesn’t have to, because everyone just… knows – that Winn puts his fist through the drywall while Kara is sleeping the next night, while they’re all keeping vigil, keeping her close, watching her chest rise and fall… alive.

Cat Grant bursts in, soon after.

She’s the one who bandages Winn’s hands, because Alex has fallen asleep with her head resting on Kara’s stomach, and James’s own hands are shaking too much, and Maggie is holding Lena, or Lena is holding Maggie; they’ve forgotten how to tell which is which, and both have decided it doesn’t matter.

Cat presses a kiss to Kara’s sleeping forehead, shaking her head as a tear that everyone pretends not to see drips down her face.

“Kara,” is all she whispers, but it’s more than enough.

Lena is the one who’s holding Kara’s hand when she wakes, Winn asleep with his head on her shoulder, J’onn standing with crossed arms as Maggie holds Alex close, safe, from her own guilt, her own nightmares, her own reality.

“I tried, too,” Lena whispers when Kara’s eyes register where she is, what’s happened.

That she isn’t with her mother. Her father. Her planet.

“What?”

Kara’s voice is scratched from lack of use, from agony. From a horrid mix of disappointment and relief.

But everyone wakes at the soft, raspy sound.

“I tried, too. In college. I just couldn’t…” Lena bites her lip, and Alex’s shoulders start to shake. Maggie kisses the back of Alex’s neck. James holds Alex’s hand.

Lena forces herself forward, Cat’s hand on the small of her back and Winn’s hand on her knee steadying her.

Kara’s hazy eyes, normally so clear, steadying her.

“I couldn’t stay. I didn’t want to. And Kara, I… I need you to know, that no one… no one is angry with you. For trying. Everyone… everyone understands.”

Her voice trembles as Kara blinks out tears. Alex wipes them away, and Kara grasps out at her hand, keeping her palm on her cheek. Alex smiles shakily.

“But we’re all… we’re also all glad that Alex… that Alex found you. That you’re… Kara, I don’t want to… I love you, Kara Zor-El Danvers. And I know that that’s not always enough. To help people stay. I know. But I’m glad you did. I’m glad you… are.”

A long silence. Cat fusses with Kara’s blanket and Maggie clenches a hard fist to calm herself while her other hand holds her wife.

“Zor-El?” Kara eventually croaks. “You’ve known this… whole time?”

It’s Cat who answers, not Lena.

“Oh Kiera, honestly, the day your glasses manage to hide the truth of those eyes from intelligent women who love you is the day… well, none of us want that day, do we?”

“Ms. Grant, what are you even – “

“Your sister called your family, Kiera. As I understand it, your adoptive mother and Ms. Lane – the smart one – are motorcycling in together and should be here by tonight.”

“Alex called my… my family.”

“We’re here, Kara. We’re here,” James whispers.

“I’m sorry,” Kara’s voice barely breaks through her lips, but no one needs superhearing to understand her.

“No,” Alex shakes her head and kisses Kara’s. “No apologizes. Just recoveries, alright?”

“And maybe some potstickers and space to breathe, hm?” Maggie runs a gentle hand through her sister-in-law’s hair.

Kara nods faintly, a soft smile on her lips. “This is why I told you to marry her, Alex.”

“I love you, Kara,” is all Alex responds, along with an eye roll, because it’s the only important thing. Normalcy. Being sisters. Being… the girls that should come with a warning.

It’s the only thing Kara needs to hear, needs to see, needs to feel, to know that maybe, just maybe, she’ll be able to be alright.