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There was a saying on Earth that when a person met their soulmate, sparks would fly. Kara didn’t understand that the phase was to be taken literally until she arrived on Earth and witnessed first hand sparks flying around a couple who just met. Her foster parents, Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, explained to her that inside the heart of each individual was a spark waiting to ignite when it found its match. Sometimes the signs were subtle, like the flicking of lights threatening to burst, and sometimes the signs were obvious like walking into a room together and having all the lights pop at once, showing the ground in bright sparks of electricity. Kara, being the kind soul she was, worried about the safety of these fragile humans but Eliza assured her that sparks caused by falling in love were never harmful. A fireplace could spontaneously roar to life when a couple met and nothing would catch fire.
These signs would keep occurring until the couple noticed them and either they got together or the spark died (because being soulmates didn’t mean you had to be with the other person). Of course some people never found their match and ended up loving another but that was okay. This soulmate ability only became active at the age of 15, giving children plenty of time to enjoy their childhood without the stress of worrying about soulmates and such if they happened to meet as kids. While Kara wanted to learn everything there was about this topic, her new sister, Alex, did not. In fact, Alex found the whole idea quite ridiculous. How could something inside one's body know exactly who they were meant to be with, what happened to freedom of choice?
When Alex turned fifteen, instead of going out like most girls hoping to get lucky and find their match, she focused all her attention on her school work and protecting Kara. She started dating a bit in college but she never felt anything more for her dates beyond just being friends. When she joined the DEO, Alex had given up all prospect at finding her perfect guy. Afterall, how could a relationship survive when one person has to lie to the other every day? She was happy with being with Kara and the other agents at the DEO whom she considered friends and was content with her life until she met Detective Maggie Sawyer of the NCPD Science Division.
Meeting Detective Sawyer was infuriating to say the least. Alex clearly had jurisdiction over the airport with her Secret Service credentials but the detective just wouldn’t get the hint and leave. No, instead she had the nerve to challenge Alex’s claim of the crime scene and rattled off information about Infernians and Kryptonians and how both had heat vision, as if Alex didn’t know that already. Alex sarcastically thanked her and resorted to use her height and higher clearance to get the detective to leave. After a short stare down Detective Sawyer finally left with a “See you around, Danvers.” The DEO had never run into the Science Division before so Alex doubted she’d run into the detective again. How wrong she was. As she walked away from the crime scene to regroup with Supergirl, the florescent lights inside a closed airplane hangar dangerously surged and flickered before returning to their normal levels.
The second time the agent and detective encounter each other isn’t much better than the first. Winn manages to triangulate the signal on the tracking device the mystery alien was wearing and DEO sends out a strike team to take the rogue alien in since he’s suspected to be the one that attacked the President. When they arrive at the warehouse the only person there is Detective Sawyer who, once again shows that she knows more than the “local cops” by stating she knew about the DEO. Instead of replying, Alex ignores her and turns on her comms so she can update Winn about the situation.
While Alex is busy conversing with Winn, a rookie agent behind her shakes his flashlight in frustration. This is his first op and he had double-checked that his flashlight was fully charged before grabbing it and of all things to go wrong, it goes out. Luckily, the only one who notices his dilemma is Agent Vasquez, but she won’t say anything until they are alone to spare him from embarrassment since she was the one who trained him and it didn’t affect the operation negatively. They all leave the warehouse and return to the DEO empty-handed.
Eventually the DEO apprehends the Kryptonian (who they find out is actually a Daxamite) and Alex attends the Alien Amnesty signing ceremony. Scorcher, an Infernian who attacked the President to stop the Amnesty act, is hiding in the crowd and kidnaps Maggie after causing a scene. Things literally heat up when Alex and Supergirl find Maggie in an abandoned foundry and Scorcher tries to kill the three of them, with fireballs and heat vision being thrown around, and after all is done, no one can solve the mystery on how Alex and Maggie don’t have worse burn injuries after being blasted directly by a ball of fire. J’onn has a theory that the soulmate spark protected them but doesn’t mention it because it’s for Alex to figure out herself. Maggie leaves the DEO and that’s when things begin to change for Alex. For the first time in her life, she feels drawn towards someone she barely knows.
A week later, Maggie calls her to help investigate a crime scene that involves a dead alien and both are on the same page that it’s a covered up fight gone bad. Later that night, they work together to apprehend an alien of interest but are both taken out after a brief fight by masked assailants and the alien kidnapped. Maggie calls again the next night with a lead in the case and invites Alex to go undercover with her at a secret club that’s connected to the fugitive alien. The only instructions are to wear something nice.
Alex arrives at the converted warehouse and her heart skips a beat when she sees Maggie waiting outside. Maggie compliments her and Alex gets flustered and starts rambling about how Maggie is beautiful too. They put on their masks and then Maggie gently takes hold of Alex’s hand and confidently leads them into the club. All Alex can think about is how warm Maggie’s hand feels and how that warmth travels through her veins and makes her feel safe. The spot where their hands meet feels almost too warm, as if Alex is holding the palm of her hand above an open flame, but isn’t unpleasant. When they arrive at the small white table near the front of the fight ring, the round candle in the center flares just a bit brighter and warmer than the others. They don’t have time to take note of their surroundings because the lights dim. It’s time for them to learn about the dark secret hidden in National City.
They complete their mission of dismantling the fight club and after that it’s as if Maggie is invading Alex’s thoughts. Meeting Maggie stirred something up deep inside Alex, like something was being brought to the surface for the first time (or resurfacing now that she has time to reflect about Vicky). Her thoughts of Maggie are like a wildfire, consuming Alex’s mind until that’s all she thinks about. Spending time with Maggie makes her feel warm inside and melts her tough Agent Danvers exterior. She’s so distracted that even Winn notices it one day and calls her out. Alex meets up with Maggie on another crime scene and one misunderstanding on Maggie’s part leads Alex to do some soul-searching.
Once she figures out that Maggie’s assessment of her liking girls is correct, everything begins to click in place—the reason why none of her dating relationships work out, why the fight with Vicky happened, why she can’t stop thinking about Maggie in a way that’s more than friends. The first family member she tells is Kara and she’s massively relieved when her Kryptonian sister immediately accepts the revelation, doesn’t treat her any differently, and is there to listen as Alex gushes about how amazing Maggie is. With one final boost of encouragement from Kara to “get the girl”, Alex heads straight to the dive bar where she knows she’ll find Maggie. She quickly spots the detective at a pool table and after they talk for a bit and Maggie turns around towards the bar to get them drinks, Alex makes a split second decision. She grabs Maggie’s wrist, turns her around to draw her in close, and kisses her.
Kissing Maggie is everything Alex dreamed about and more. She had wanted to do that for weeks now but was afraid of what that would mean for her, accepting that maybe she wasn’t straight after all. And she didn’t even know if Maggie liked her like that. Coming out and talking to Kara was difficult but really helped and gave her the strength to finally give in to her desires. Maggie pulls away from the kiss and has a look on her face that makes Alex feel nervous in a bad way.
Just as Maggie opens her mouth to explain why she cut the kiss off, the overhead light on the billiards sign above the pool table explodes, bright sparks falling down onto the green felt. Both Maggie and Alex jump away in surprise at the sudden explosion and a trio sitting at the table next to them catches Alex’s attention. Two of three are suddenly laughing and a blonde woman wearing a red leather jacket over what appears to be an image of Saturn on her shirt is shaking her head in amusement. They’re sitting so close that Alex can hear part of their conversation.
“Nice job, Garth. Show us again why you think you should be the leader?” asked a man trying to hide a smile by crossing his arms to look more serious. He had on a dark purple jacket with silver circle studs embedded on the upper part of the chest.
Garth, a lanky but muscular young man with red hair, frowned at his friends. “That wasn’t me,” he muttered as lightning continued to crackle between his fingers.
Aliens, of course. That’s what caused the sudden output of energy because Alex knew everything had to have a logical explanation right? For a moment Alex actually believed that something supernatural had occurred but now she was disappointed that she was wrong. She realizes then that Maggie had been speaking to her and hears the words “I’m here for you, but as a friend.” Nodding as she pretends everything is okay, Alex confirms that things are still good between them before turning around and leaving as fast as she can to prevent being further humiliated.
For two weeks Alex avoids Maggie the best she can but then Winn forces her to talk to her “friend” about calling off the arrest warrant on Guardian and when she sees Maggie, all the pain and anger comes to the surface and she can’t hold it back any longer; she cuts off all ties with the detective. Once the case wraps up, Maggie shows up unannounced at Kara’s apartment and says she doesn’t want to lose Alex as a friend and how she can’t imagine her life without Alex in it. Despite how painful it is to see the NCPD officer and be reminded of what she can’t have, Alex gives in and accepts the offer to be friends.
Their friendship is a bit strained at first but after a while things seem to be getting better even though Alex still wants to be more than just friends with Maggie. Alex is ready to resign to the fact she’ll forever be in the friend zone until an attack on L-Corp changes things. The DEO got word that Cadmus was going to steal a rare isotope to help disperse an alien virus and since they couldn’t have a team sent there in time, Alex called Maggie to have the whole NCPD force try to stop them. Maggie almost gets killed by Cyborg Superman and the first thing she does after being discharged is go to Alex’s apartment with pizza and beer in hand, ready to finally give in to her feelings. LIfe is too short and she doesn’t want to have any regrets so she’s going to take a chance with Alex.
She tells Alex she wants to kiss her and when she pulls in the agent for a kiss, Alex is so surprised that her eyebrows rise in shock. She kisses back and they only pulled apart when two booms are heard outside the apartment. Rushing to the window in search of danger, they see that the source of the sound are fireworks. Two of them to be exact and if the soulmate signs were subtle then, they certainly aren’t now. One has the name Alex spelled out along with the DEO logo (minus the actual letters) and the other reads Maggie with an NCPD badge. Alex was planning to keep this new relationship a secret until she was sure things would work out with Maggie, but now it’s out there for everyone to see, Alex and Maggie are clearly soulmates, and Supergirl is flying around on her nightly patrol around the city so there’s no way she is going to miss that neon message in the sky. In fact, Alex can feel her phone buzzing with messages in her back pocket. She’ll look at it later though because the rest of her night is going to be spent with Maggie—eating pizza, drinking beer, talking and kissing more, and maybe some cuddling because Maggie is right. They should kiss the girls they want to kiss and that moment is now.