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There were two things Alex Danvers swore she'd never do, hurt her six year old sister Kara on purpose and let anything compromise her first day of summer break. In Alex's mind, it was meant to be spent sleeping in until 2 and then getting ready for the annual concert at the bar downtown that allowed anybody to come in. Which was why when Alex felt herself being woken up at by an overexcited 6 year sitting on the edge of her bed staring at her innocently, as if her methods of waking Alex up weren't repeatedly hitting her with surprisingly strong tiny hands, she was a bit confused. Kara was smiling, a couple of teeth missing. Eliza had freaked out when they came out, but then again, any sane parent would freak out when their child came running in the house holding bloody teeth, smiling excitedly despite the fact tears were streaming down her face.
"Alex can you take us to the arcade?" Kara asked, giving what Eliza referred as her "cavity smile" a smile too sweet for anybody to resist. "Mommy said that you'd take us to the arcade yesterday in the car, remember Alex? That's why she left you the car today."
"I never agreed to it." Alex said, grumpy from her sleep being interrupted. "Just let me sleep."
"You have to be awake for when James and Winn get here." Kara said and Alex groaned. "Please, Lena said this is the only way we'll be able to go. Lillian won't take us, Lex is a meanie and Lena said he went away for a while, mom's busy, Lois is at her invitationship, and that leaves you."
"Fine, but you have to be back home by 4." Alex said and Kara nodded. She quickly ran back in, hugged Alex, muttered a thank you, and then ran off again to get ready. Alex decided against showering, instead just grabbing a pair of joggers and the basketball jersey she got from the sophomore trip last year when they went to the basketball game at the local college. Kara was showered and ready by the time James and Winn showed up. James's mother insisted on giving her $25 for James to play games and $5 to throw in for lunch. Winn's mom gave her $30 for games and packed him a lunch, not wanting his stomach to get upset by overly greasy food. Lois would drop Lucy off before she had to be at the Daily Planet and Lena was being dropped off by her father. Lionel was a sweet man compared to the rest of his family, but wasn't in any way a saint. While he was the most easygoing of the Luthor family, he was avidly homophobic, which most people reasoned it was from his involvement with church.
"Hi Alex." Winn said, staring up at her. Winn was a small boy, a couple inches shorter than Kara, who was at average height for her age. James was and had always been a couple inches taller than their friend group. Lena was just a bit smaller than Kara and a smidge taller than Lucy. "Bye mom, I love you."
"I love you too honey." Winn's mother said before she drove off. Winn sat down at the table where Alex was making pancakes for everybody. Normally during the summer, the kids would come over once or twice a week and either play inside or go the park. At least that's how it'd been last summer, when Kara had first met Winn and James in preschool. Lois and Alex were around the same age, Lois being a couple years older than her, introduced Lucy to Kara in an attempt to be able to enjoy her last summer before senior year. It ended up working around July, when Lucy would walk or ride her bike from the park to Alex's to play with Kara. It wasn't until her first day of kindergarten that she met Lena Luthor, who she immediately decided to become best friends with on the first day.
"Knock knock let me in!" Lucy yelled at the front door. Lois knocked on the door and Kara opened it to see the Lane sisters standing side by side. "Hi Kara, okay leave no Lois. We're going to the arcade, but you gotta give me money before you leave."
"I know, here's $20. I'll pick you up after work." Lois said ruffling Lucy's hair which earned a sound smack to the stomach. "Be good today."
"I'm always good." Lucy pointed out and Kara let her in. Lena arrived at the time Eliza gave Lionel and Lillian, 8:45. Kara waited at the door with her plate for Lena who walked to the house by herself, gripping her backpack tightly as she walked along the driveway.
"There's a plate at the table." Kara said and Lena nodded, taking the seat in between Alex and Kara. "We're going to the arcade."
"I've never been there." Lena said and Kara went on and on about the arcade. After everybody was done with breakfast, Kara put all of the plates in the dishwasher and Alex turned it on. Alex was left with the minivan, not the car, there's a huge difference for her. The children were rounded up and put inside, Winn, James, and Lucy sitting in the back row and Lena and Kara taking the middle row. Alex sat in the front by herself, plugging her phone into the radio and playing her more appropriate playlist in a car full of small children.
"We're here!" Kara yelled excitedly. Alex let them out and put their money on arcade cards before letting them loose in the arcade. In order for them to stay safer, everybody had a buddy to be with. Winn and James ran off together, Winn showing James all of the games that he's played before and the news ones he read about in the arcade's catalog. Kara took Lena around, telling her in depth, what all of them are. That left Lucy to stick to Alex's side. Lucy was a fairly shy kid, but that was mainly because she wasn't used to public places. She was home-schooled for the first semester of kindergarten, only going to the actual school when her dad was sent off. Lucy's mom was working crazy hours to support Lucy and try to set her up with the best college fund possible like she'd spent the first twelve years of Lois's life doing.
"Can we play laser tag with everybody?" Lucy asked and Alex nodded. She went to round them up, which was made easier with Lucy's ability to sneak off and find stuff. They split into teams, Alex, Lucy, James, and Winn up against what was Kara and Lena before Kara ran off and found a girl she'd seen playing a shooting game and hitting all of the targets.
"Excuse me, can you help me?" Kara asked, looking up at her with puppy eyes. "I wanna beat my sister at laser tag."
"Sure thing kid." The older girl said and Kara beamed. The girl looked to be around Alex's age, but she wasn't as tall as her sister.
"Thank you." Kara said and the girl nodded. "I'm Kara."
"I'm Maggie." She said and Kara firmly shook her hand. "Quite a shake you've got there kid."
"Dad says that people respect a good handshake and I'm so nice that respect is probably my only defense." Kara rambled a bit, but Maggie thought it was adorable. "Alex this is Maggie, she's the best shooting person I've ever seen. She hit all the bad guys in that cop game."
"I'm Alex." Alex said putting a hand out. "Lucy, who's team do you want to be on?"
"Yours." Lucy said, grabbing onto Lucy's leg. "We gotta help the boys."
"We could totally win without help." James said and Lucy gave him a look. "Besides, the only person that's seen Kara's friend shoot anything is Kara, so she could suck and then nobody but them would need help."
"No, I think we need Lucy and Alex, they're the best laser tag players ever." Winn said and Alex and Lucy put their heads up proudly.
"Let's just get this over with." Lena said, letting Alex put her vest on. When they were all ready, they rushed over to their sides. They played for 10 minutes, Lucy being the one who shot the other team's thing, winning them the game. When they got out to the thing and looked at the scoreboard. Alex was ranked at first with Maggie coming in a close second and Lucy at the third place.
"Whoa, you beat Lucy." Kara said amazed. "Don't worry about Alex, she got trained by a professional."
"How about I buy you a soda and we swap shooting tips while they run around and play?" Maggie asked and Alex nodded.
"Can I go play with James and Winn?" Lucy asked and Alex nodded. "Okay thank you."
"No problem." Alex said and Maggie walked behind the counter. "Do you work here?"
"Nope, my aunt's friend owns the place." Maggie said and Alex nodded. "So, how'd you end up with all those kids?"
"The blonde one who brought you over to us is my little sister and those are her friends. She managed to get my mother to offer me up to taking them out to the arcade today." Alex said, taking a sip from the tiny coke bottle Maggie handed to her. "Thanks for the drink by the way."
"No problem, the tiny bottles are free." Maggie said and Alex nodded. "Wanna play a couple games?"
"Sure, maybe they have a zombie game." Alex said and Maggie took her back to the horror game section. They played for an hour before all of the children were tugging on her leg for more money. She left some for after lunch and ice cream later. By the time any of them were hungry, Maggie had managed to beat Alex at ski ball, but Alex beat her at the soccer game. Lunch was easier than Alex expected, Winn and Lena having their own lunches and Maggie's suggestion of pizza and mozzarella sticks going well with James, Lucy, and Kara.
"Man, she's really going to town on that salad." Maggie said glancing at Lena. "I mean, I try to eat as little meat as possible, but I've never gone out of my way to get salad."
"She eats really healthy, but when she spends the night, she eats exactly what Kara eats." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "Lena, do you want some pizza?"
"No thank you, there's a lot of kale in this bowl." Lena said and Maggie looked shocked at the child's actual love for kale.
"Winn do you want some pizza?" Alex asked and the boy shook his head, mouth full of an almond butter and banana sandwich. "More for us."
"I bet I can eat a slice faster than you." James and Lucy grabbed a slice equal to his and Kara slammed her hand on the table to signal their start. Lucy managed to get hers down within seconds while James was still chewing.
"I win." Lucy said and James pouted quickly before Lucy took a small drink of coke. "It's almost time for my nap."
"Is it?" Alex asked and Lucy nodded. "Go play quickly and then you can take a nap while they play."
"Okay." Lucy said running off to the zombie game Alex and Maggie had played earlier. Kara and Lena went to watch her and James talked to Winn about football.
"Can we play too?" Winn asked and Alex nodded.
"Why does Lucy take naps?" Maggie asked and Alex turned to face her.
"Something to do with the medication she's on." Alex said and Maggie nodded.
"What are you doing tonight?" Maggie asked and Alex shrugged. "There's a concert downtown tonight, celebrating the start of summer, do you wanna come with me? It could be a friend date or a date date."
"I'd love to." Alex said and Maggie smiled. The kids played for an hour before Alex was carrying Lucy out and the rest of the kids to the ice cream shop. Maggie was nice enough to hold the kids hands as they walked through the parking lot. "Thank you and I'll see you tonight for the concert."
"Yeah, here's my number." Maggie said writing it down on Alex's hand with a marker. "Call me when you get home and tell me where you live."
"I totally will." Alex said and Maggie walked off. As Alex got into the front seat, she smiled, thinking about how fun her date with Maggie would be.
"Ice cream." Kara said, her voice stern. "You promised ice cream earlier."
"Yeah, I know the drill." Alex said driving towards the ice cream place after double checking everybody was buckled up. They ended up getting ice cream bowls and having to wait until they got home to eat them.
"I like Maggie, you should invite her over for a sleepover Friday." Kara said and Alex shrugged. "She's going to that concert, so ask her then."
"Maybe." Alex said and Kara set Lucy's cup on the table. "Put it in the freezer so it doesn't melt."
"Okay." Kara said handing the cup to James, who was the only one who could open the freezer upstairs without a chair. He came back and sat next to Winn, looking at his friend playing him game. "Can we play outside in the yard?"
"No, when mom gets home you can help her set up the pool for Friday." Alex said and Kara looked excited. Eliza ended up getting home at 3:30 exactly and by that time Lucy was awake and eating ice cream while the kids watched Spongebob. They rushed outside for the pool while Lucy just sort of sat there with her ice cream.
"Can I help you get ready?" Lucy asked and Alex nodded. "Lois doesn't let me help her get ready for her dates with Clark anymore. Normally I have to leave if he comes over, sometimes I just stay in the basement and play on the Xbox."
"Are you good at the games?" Alex asked and Lucy shrugged.
"I like the punching bag better. Sometimes Clark comes down and helps me." Lucy said and Alex smiled. Alex held up various pairs of pants for Lucy to judge and they ended up with a pair that had rips up and down them and complimented Alex's legs nicely. "I like the rips, but dad says they're for punks and I'm not a punk."
"I like the rips, they're cool." Alex said and Lucy smiled.
"I'll tell him you think they're cool and you're the smartest person I know. Dad says you're a good role model." Lucy said and Alex smiled. Next they moved on to shirts, Lucy liking the plain black v-neck that had been ripped up and purposefully stained with bleach. Alex changed in the bathroom and came back to Lucy carefully eating ice cream on her bed. Alex texted Maggie that she was ready and that Kara wanted to formally invite her to sleepover night on Friday.
"How do you like Maggie?" Alex asked and Lucy shrugged.
"I don't know her." Lucy said and Alex smiled. "Can I go throw this away?"
"Yeah, I have to get my boots downstairs." Alex said walking down with Lucy. Alex put on her boots and went outside with the rest of the kids, having her backpack containing her phone, pepper spray, her knife hidden as lipstick, wallet, and fake I.D. if the need ever arise.
"Your shirt is dirty Alex." Lena said and Alex explained what she'd done to her shirt. "Oh, you did it on purpose."
"Yeah." Alex said and pretty soon the first parent arrived. Alex had already given the kids the leftover money back and let them keep their arcade cards for next time. Winn left first, then Lois and Clark picked up Lucy, Lena got picked up by Lillian, and James' neighbor was sent to pick him up.
"Your date seems nice." Jeremiah said and Alex looked behind him to see Maggie nervously gripping her flannel. "Have fun girls, home by 3."
"It ends at 11." Alex said and Jeremiah nodded. Maggie walked her to an older car that'd obviously been repainted and upgraded with newer things. "Nice car."
"Thanks, my aunt paid a bunch of money to get it fixed up for me." Maggie said and Alex nodded. "She's not rich or anything, just puts her time and money into making me happy. Your dad seems nice."
"Yeah, he is." Alex said and Maggie started driving downtown. "We have a bit of a wait until they let us in, wanna talk?"
"Sure, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Maggie asked, leaning against the door. There wasn't a line yet, people normally didn't start showing up until 10 minutes before the show started, not when the doors opened.
"A doctor like my mom." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "What about you?"
"Police officer, my dad was one, but I want to be a better one than him." Maggie said and Alex smiled at the security guard at the door. "Um, do you want kids when you're older?"
"Yeah, I mean, later though." Alex said and Maggie nodded.
"I can't really see myself having kids until I'm at least 30." Maggie saidand Alex nodded. "That way, I'll get my 20s to be a 20 something year old and my thirties to take responsibility."
"I can't imagine my life without having kids." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "But you don't want kids and this is the first date, so that doesn't matter."
"I like your outlook." Maggie said and the door opened. They waited at the front for the show to start and it did sooner than scheduled. The place was packed by the second performer, a female fronted death metal band. By the end of the night, Alex was both dead tired and riding an adrenaline high. "Wanna get some pancakes?"
"That sounds amazing." Alex said and Maggie smiled.
"Can I?" Maggie asked, reaching for Alex's hand.
"If I can kiss you." Alex said and Maggie grabbed her hand. Alex kissed her quickly, more nervous than she thought she was.
"You're adorable." Maggie said and Alex blushed. They found a 24 hour diner and took a booth at the back. "Hmm... Dr. Danvers has a nice ring to it."
"As does Officer Sawyer." Alex said with a smirk. "Will you have the handcuffs and everything?"
"Yeah, hot I know." Maggie said and Alex rolled her eyes. "Actually it's Detective Sawyer."
"Oh, apologies." Alex said and Maggie smiled, pouring an absurd amount of syrup on her pancakes. "That's a lot of syrup."
"Yeah, I really like the syrup here, my dad used to take me here before his shifts in the morning." Maggie said and Alex smiled. "The eggs are to die for by the way."
"I don't know, I've been told I make good breakfast." Alex said and Maggie raised an eyebrow.
"I guess I'll be finding out Friday." Maggie said and Alex nodded. "So, your sister likes me, your dad likes me, let's hope your mom likes me."
"She's the tough one." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "Kara likes pretty much everybody unless they hurt a friend, then all that love and happiness turns to anger."
"That actually sounds terrifying." Maggie said and Alex nodded. "All those kids seemed to love you."
"Yeah, Winn likes me because I'm smart, James likes me because I play sports, Lena likes me because I've been nice to her and Kara likes her, and Lucy likes me because apparently I'm like her sister, but nicer and cooler." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "Lucy really likes Kara's birth cousin Clark though, he's a giant male version of Kara."
"Clark Kent?" Maggie asked and Alex nodded. "Didn't he graduate a couple years ago?"
"Yep and he's going to college in National City, but transferring to Metropolis when Lois leaves." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "He says he stayed so Kara could be around him, but he's come over literally twice after high school."
"From what I've heard about Lois I'd stay too." Maggie said and Alex rolled her eyes. "I mean, smart, beautiful, easygoing, not afraid to stick up for herself. Although there's nowhere else I would rather be than here with you."
"Smooth." Alex said and Maggie smiled. They finished quickly, Alex wanting to be home before 1, which was her actual curfew. Maggie paid for everything before Alex could even think of paying. The drive back was a chat about science and how it can be used to help police on the street. "I'll see you Friday."
"Yeah, Friday, should I bring anything?" Maggie asked and Alex shook her head. "What time?"
"Anytime before 7." Alex said and Maggie nodded. "Later."
"Later." Maggie said kissing Alex sweetly. Alex shut the door and went to her room as Maggie's car drove off. Her parents were asleep and Kara was passed out in her room, obviously unable to stay awake to greet her sister. Alex laid in her bed, not bothering to change out of her sweaty clothing and was out like a light within minutes. She knew that in the morning when Kara was back from the sitter's or where ever she was going for the day, Alex would be attacked with question after question. But she didn't mind, she had a good time with Maggie. It made up for being woken up early in the morning to drag a group of six year olds to the arcade for the day, especially if Maggie decided to kiss her like that every single time they went out or saw each other.