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Maggie smiles into Alex’s ruffled bed head, her fuzzy curls tickling the tip of Maggie’s nose. It’s her favourite way to wake up, Alex’s body cuddled tightly against hers, and every day she still can’t believe she gets to.
Maggie inhales the sweet strawberry scent of the shampoo – her shampoo – that Alex took to using when they moved in together over three years ago, its fragrance mixing with the remnants of Alex’s own floral perfume from the day before; it’s as sweet at the moment, which she wishes she could stay in forever. She feels the steady rise and fall of Alex’s chest under the arm she draped over her side during the night, their shared body heat creating a comfortable bubble of warmth around them.
From her hair to the curve of her hips and the way Alex moulds so perfectly into her, Maggie savours every tiny detail about her wife in that moment.
Wife.
The word still feels new and exciting whenever she thinks about it or introduces Alex to someone, and every time it makes her heart surge with unadulterated love for the beautiful woman to whom it has belonged for a year. Almost.
Carefully raising her upper body from her pillow, Maggie checks the time on the clock by Alex’s head. She allows her wife a few more minutes of the uninterrupted, peaceful sleep that she so deserves but never gets enough of. She likes to blame the DEO and Alex’s unrelenting work ethic, but Maggie knows that she’s equally responsible for keeping Alex up too.
When the smell of pancakes begins to seep into the sunlit room, Maggie gives Alex’s hand, which is tightly interlocked with hers, a gentle squeeze, a loving smile spreading across her features when she feels Alex’s hold on her hand tighten.
Maggie presses soft kisses into the nape of Alex’s exposed neck, and the agent lets out a contented sigh that makes Maggie’s heart happy.
“I was dreaming,” Alex mumbles into her pillow, though Maggie knows that she’s not upset at having been disturbed. She usually wakes up not long after Maggie anyway; it’s like they each have a sixth sense when it comes to the other.
“Yeah?” Maggie enjoys listening to Alex’s dreams. They’re usually a little on the wacky side.
“You were showing off at the shooting range, telling everyone how good a shot you are.”
Maggie chuckles softly. “Dream Maggie knows what she’s talking about.”
“Winn challenged you to prove it so you picked up a handgun, lined up the shot and pulled the trigger.”
“And?”
“I never doubted you for a second…”
“Obviously.” Maggie says it in her most serious voice, though she senses that there’s something more by the way Alex leaves the words hanging precariously in the air. “But?”
“Bubbles came out.”
“Of course they did.”
“And then Winn picked up a gun and hit the centre of the target, first try.”
Maggie throws her head back and snorts. “Yeah, right. Dream or not, Winn will never be able to shoot straight.”
Alex laughs her agreement at the truth and wriggles around until she’s lying on her other side, facing Maggie. Brown finds brown as their eyes lock for an eternity that only they know. Lips meet for a long, meaningful kiss before Maggie shuffles so that her head rests on Alex’s chest. She focuses on the calming thrum of her wife’s heart under her ear, studies the wedding rings that sit proudly on each of their fingers, a physical symbol of their promise of forever, of ride or die.
Alex begins to play with the ring on Maggie’s finger before she breaks the easy silence that had fallen between them.
“Y’know, Winn may have shown you up a little,” she begins, her voice taking on the teasing tone she knows Maggie can’t help but rise to. She claims another victory when Maggie scoffs and pokes her in her side, making her wiggle a little. “But I gotta say, the fitted black bodysuit you were wearing really stole the show.”
Her attention piqued, Maggie looks up to see the lopsided smirk that plays across Alex’s lips. She knows that look and what comes next; it sends a tingle down to the tip of her spine. “It did, huh?”
“We were alone in one of the booths and my teeth had just found the zipper before you woke me.”
A surge of warmth spreads through Maggie but, as difficult as she finds it, she goes along with Alex’s storytelling. “And, uh, what were you gonna do next?”
Alex pulls her lip between her teeth suggestively and Maggie can’t hide her desire any longer; she knows that Alex can see it burning deep in her eyes as the agent’s sudden movements lead to her straddling Maggie’s hips.
Slowly, teasingly, Alex pushes up the Hello, Sunshine t-shirt Maggie claimed as her own after their first night together. Her hands skim Maggie’s waist as they travel, her soft lips leaving fleeting kisses across the toned stomach it reveals. Maggie bites down hard on her lip as she feels Alex getting higher up her body, the skin where every kiss she leaves burning like fire, yearning for more.
Almost as suddenly as she started, Alex stops. She lifts her head, her eyes finding Maggie’s moments before their lips meet with more urgency than before. Their kisses deepen, bodies pressing together until Maggie feels the hands that Alex had slipped down her back pulling at the t-shirt that had stayed around her chest.
Between kisses, Maggie raises her arms to allow Alex to manoeuvre the shirt over her head, but the sound of the door handle turning halts them in their tracks.
“Girls, pancakes are- Oh!”
“Mom!”
“Sorry!” Eliza exclaims, quickly shutting the door again as Alex scrambles to cover her and Maggie with their bedsheet. “Pancakes are ready!”
“Okay, Mom!”
Maggie – relieved that Alex hadn’t got the t-shirt off – chuckles at Alex’s frustration, the way that she glares at the door even after it closes. She feels like a naughty teenager and can’t help as her chuckle turns into a giggle.
With the moment long gone, and far less amused than Maggie seems to be, Alex untangles herself from her wife and flops down next to her with a frustrated sigh, her palm resting on her forehead. “It’s like she knows how to pick the worst time.”
Maggie looks over at Alex to see the flaming pink that colours her cheeks, her stare now fixed on the ceiling. She leans across and pecks her cheek. “Happy almost-anniversary, babe,” she says half-seriously before climbing out of the bed and heading into the bathroom.
/
Alex wouldn’t say where they were going.
When Eliza asked what they had planned, she’d been very vague in her answers and even Maggie didn’t have them. Alex wanted it to be a surprise.
They enjoyed their pancakes together on the deck overlooking the golden beach, the sun’s morning rays glinting off the sea’s turquoise surface.
“I’m surprised you’re not surfing,” Eliza had remarked. It looked like perfect conditions and the eldest Danvers knew that Alex would usually be bursting to get down to the beach. She’d spent so many hours there as a teenager and often crammed in as many as she could when she visited Midvale, which wasn’t quite as frequently as Eliza would have liked.
“Maybe next time,” Alex said, and she’d meant it. She was desperate to surf, but she had something even better in mind.
“Well, whatever you have planned, it must be exciting!”
“I’m still not telling you, Mom.”
Maggie watched on in amusement as Eliza held her hands up, conceding defeat. They talked for a few more minutes about their trip to Italy to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in two days and what time they’d have to leave the next morning to catch their flight before Alex made a move to clear their plates. Eliza insisted that she would do it, telling Alex and Maggie to go enjoy themselves.
Alex’s hand was suddenly in Maggie’s and the detective found herself being whisked inside, practically dragged through the kitchen and almost stumbling up the stairs.
Alex threw Maggie’s favourite pair of black skinny jeans and a loose-fitting white tee in her direction, and that was how Maggie found herself dressed and ready to head out on a motorcycle ride to only-Alex-knew-where.
She watches as Alex slips on her leather jacket and grabs a backpack from next to her chest of drawers. “You’ve got this all planned out, huh?”
Alex’s response is simply a mischievous smile as she slings the backpack over both shoulders.
“Nerd.”
“But you love me for it.”
Maggie shrugs non-committally, earning a playfully insulted glare from Alex. The agent offers her hand to Maggie, who takes it. “Shall we, Mrs Danvers?”
“We shall, Mrs Sawyer.”
After saying a quick goodbye to Eliza – who tells them to stay safe like always – Alex tosses Maggie the keys to her jet black Triumph Bonneville T100 and they head into the garage to the two bikes awaiting them.
They each pull on their helmets – safety first – and Alex sets the automatic door to open.
Maggie sits on her treasured bike as Alex throws her leg over her Ducati Monster 821, its matt black finish looking slick in the light that the now-open doorway lets in. They were surprise – and very expensive – wedding gifts to one another, an obvious sign of how perfectly matched and in sync they are. They cost as much as their actual wedding, but neither of them cared.
They kick their bikes to life, the satisfying roar echoing loudly around the room until it settles into a low rumble. Alex glances over at Maggie and winks flirtily before flipping down her visor and speeding down the driveway, ready to start their adventure.
/
Their journey is short, a little over twenty minutes, and the day is perfect for it. They pass through the dense woodland, the sun filtering through the leaves and creating little eclectic patterns of light on the ground.
Despite the canopy that the trees create, the air is still warm, but pleasantly so. The winding roads are empty and as they get further from the small town, Maggie can’t help but wonder where Alex could possibly be taking her.
With their visors pulled up, Maggie can see the relaxed look on Alex’s face just from the fact that her eyebrows aren’t furrowed and her eyes aren’t clouded in the way that comes with deep thought. The infamous Danvers crinkle has finally gone and that brings a fresh sense of satisfaction to Maggie.
Work had been stressful and eventful for both of them recently with a spate of seemingly uncoordinated attacks on the city involving alien tech taking up much of Alex’s time, while being unbelievably close to – and eventually – busting an underground alien drugs ring had kept Maggie occupied until hours as unsociable as those that Alex so often worked. While their paths crossed frequently at work – and Maggie could happily watch Alex working in the lab for days and never tire of huddling over her workbench with her – Alex and Maggie’s hectic schedules meant that they hadn’t spent as much time together doing non-work related things as they’d have liked, so this trip was more than a welcome break.
Maggie can already see the difference in Alex. She looks free and happy and so, so beautiful. This trip is what they both need, and everything has come together perfectly just in time for their first wedding anniversary.
Kara and J’onn had been equally as insistent that they have some time off, that the city would still be standing and ready for them to save again when they returned. Kara volunteered without hesitation to look after their retired police dog, Trudy – Maggie still flat refuses to call her Gertrude and has no idea how Alex actually managed to find a retired Police dog with that name – for the week, so all that was left was for them to book their tickets and pack their bags.
Alex catches Maggie looking at her and smiles, her eyes sparkling, which cements one thing in the detective’s mind; they have to take a real break more often, especially from saving the world. Maggie can’t help but smile back, especially when Alex revs her bike challengingly and speeds up a little. She hesitates for a moment to watch her go, her heart thrumming in disbelief that the amazing woman riding the bike right in front of her is the person – her person – she gets to spend the rest of her life with.
As Maggie pulls alongside Alex, the agent gestures towards an opening a little further up the road. Maggie nods her understanding and follows Alex as she turns off the smooth road and onto a less even gravel pathway.
They ride deeper into the trees than Maggie even thinks is possible; they’re pretty far from anyone and anything but the trees seem to become more dense the longer they follow the track. That is, until Alex stops.
Both women stand their bikes and slip off their helmets, their hairlines glistening with sweat. It’s suddenly pretty damn hot even under the trees, especially wearing their leather jackets.
“This is fun and all, Danvers, but I hope you haven’t brought me all the way out here to kill me.”
“If I have to listen to you have one more conversation with my mother about botany, I just might. I’ve done a recon of the area. No one will hear you scream.”
Maggie raises a feigned half-cheeky-half-insulted eyebrow before sweeping her hair out of her face and placing her helmet on her bike. “Seriously though, babe, what are we doing out here?”
“You’ll see,” comes Alex’s simple response as she turns towards the densest area around them and begins to wade through the low-hanging, untameable branches.
But Maggie hears before she sees. The sound of water flowing, falling, splashing, birds singing their sweet harmonies in the obscurity of the trees, the sound of twigs crunching under their feet fading as the water gets louder and the trees finally thin.
Maggie’s eyes widen as they take in the area before her. Beyond the trees, a small waterfall cascades into a perfect pool of crystal-clear water. Jagged rocks jut outwards as the wall of dusty orange climbs higher and there’s the imminent promise of the sun rising above the trees, beyond the top of the rocks. Short, lush grass lines the ground, buttercups and daisies littered amongst the sea of green.
Maggie doesn’t know how something so magnificent could be concealed so completely by a mass of regular old trees.
“Alex, this is… it’s beautiful.”
Alex doesn’t say anything, deciding to let Maggie take in every inch of the hidden paradise. She feels her heart accelerate at the look of wonder that adorns Maggie’s face, the sky reflected in her wide eyes and the gentle breeze tickling the tips of her hair that naturally, perfectly frame her face.
After a few more moments, Maggie finally collects her thoughts. She looks over at Alex and realises she’s been watching her the whole time. She can’t help the bashful smile that tugs at the corners of her mouth, unaware of the effect her dimples are having on Alex. “What?”
“Nothing,” Alex replies, unable to put the words together to explain how she feels right there in that moment. Words often fail her when it comes to Maggie. Even though it never feels like enough, and it probably never will, the closest thing she can think to say is, “I love you.”
Maggie doesn’t hesitate. “I love you too, forever.”
They each lean in for a kiss, lingering there for just a second, lips warm and soft. When they break apart, their eyes meet for a fleeting moment before Alex places a kiss on Maggie’s forehead.
“So, uh, how did you find this place?”
“Well,” Alex begins, already gesturing like she does every time she explains something. “You know the story of my dad being pretty much forced to work for the DEO…”
Maggie nods.
“When Kara took me flying that night, we flew over pretty much all of Midvale. It was dark out but I saw this flash of white and I asked Kara to circle back.” Maggie listens intently, her eyes fixed on Alex, who looks at the gentle ripples in the water, her mind elsewhere. “It was the moon reflected in the pool. It was just….. mesmerising. We didn’t get the chance to really check it out – Kara flew us straight home because she could hear my mom and dad looking for us, and boy, were we in trouble, so the next day while Kara was at band camp, I rode my bike – bicycle – all the way here, and that was it. I fell in love with my little hideout and came here every summer until I moved to National City.” Even though she knows every inch of the area, Alex glances around, memories rising to the surface of summer days spent reading or swimming or following the bank of the nearby river up the mountain or drinking in the vast tranquillity to try to fight the turbulence she felt knotted in her stomach every time she thought about her dad.
“I can see why,” Maggie says, knowing exactly what Alex is thinking about from the look in her eyes. It’s the same one she always gets whenever she talks about her dad, the one that always makes Maggie’s heart twist with sadness and the immeasurable desire to make Alex’s hurt go away.
“It was just mine, y’know?” Alex adds after a moment. “I never even brought Kara here. I think she knew that I needed some place just for me.”
A small surge of pride swells in Maggie’s chest. Sure, she’s Alex’s wife and they’ve both got a lot better at sharing their feelings or difficult moments from their pasts, especially after Alex told Maggie that she didn’t have to be guarded with her way back when, but this…
This was the only place Alex could be truly free from everything that was happening in her life; a new alien sister, her dad disappearing and her mom spending more and more time at her lab, as well as high school and all the challenges that brought, and the only person she’s ever shared it with is Maggie. The vulnerability Alex must feel by bringing her here, just by being here, and the trust… The trust and the love Alex feels for her wife never waivers, only grows day by day with every dimpled smile or gentle kiss or declaration of ride or die.
Under the shade of an absurdly tall tree, the tiny detective feels her love for Alex running deeper than ever. She slips an arm around her waist and presses her cheek against Alex’s shoulder. “Thank you, babe.”
Alex offers Maggie a small smile of appreciation, understanding the meaning behind Maggie’s words. Realising the change in mood, Alex presses a kiss into Maggie’s hair, slips off the backpack from her shoulders and sets it down against a tree.
“What’s in the bag?” Maggie asks.
“That’s for later,” Alex teases with a flirty wink. She moves away from the bag, standing near the edge of the pool. “First…” She grins broadly at Maggie.
A small frown of confusion knits between Maggie’s eyebrows. She watches as Alex slips off her leather jacket, abandoning it on top of the backpack. She moves on to her boots, then her jeans and her t-shirt that clings to her with sweat until she’s left wearing nothing but her underwear, never once breaking eye contact with Maggie.
The smaller woman gawps at her wife. The sun has finally begun to creep over the treetops and casts its first golden rays over Alex, leaving her auburn hair glinting and her skin glowing under the light. She stands with her hands on her hips and a wry smile plays at the corner of her lips; she knows exactly what she’s doing.
To Maggie, she looks like a goddess. Her goddess. She’s speechless. “Uhhh…”
Alex’s smirk widens at the look on Maggie’s face. “You said you wanted a lifetime of firsts, right?” She asks, though it’s borderline rhetorical and she’s pretty sure Maggie’s brain has short-fused anyway. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been skinny-dipping.”
Maggie blinks at Alex a few times before she finds the ability to speak. “This is not what I had in mind when you were about to drown in a human fish tank.”
“Oh, well in that case,” Alex begins mock-dejectedly with a shrug, reaching for her jeans. She doesn’t get to finish.
“I never said I didn’t want to.”
Alex looks up and chuckles. “That’s what I thought.” She runs a hand through her hair to push it out of her eyes and then offers it to Maggie, who takes it to use for balance to remove her shoes and is subsequently quick to strip down to her underwear. She blushes when she feels Alex’s eyes skimming over her, briefly looking down at their bare feet on the grass before raising her head. She finds Alex searching her face, looking at her lips before moving to her eyes. Alex’s radiate warmth and love and they reflect her smile, though it doesn’t take long for Maggie’s favourite mischievous glint to flicker in them.
First, though, Alex nods questioningly at Maggie, wanting to make sure she’s comfortable before they continue, and receives a playful nod in response. Maggie feels butterflies swirling in her stomach from the excitement she’s feeling, and she knows that Alex can see it on her face. Sure, she feels a little apprehensive, but she’s excited more than anything.
Alex turns her back to Maggie, who immediately knows to reach for the clasp of Alex’s bra. Alex lets it slide from her shoulders and fall to the ground before she turns to find Maggie sweeping her glossy hair over her right shoulder, revealing the muscular back that Alex never tires of seeing. She carefully unhooks Maggie’s bra, feeling the warmth of her beautiful, radiant skin under her fingers, and tosses it on top of hers, another item of their clothing discarded in a messy heap.
Standing on the edge of the pool facing the water, Alex asks, “Ready?”
“When you are, babe,” Maggie replies honestly, a wry smile playing on her lips.
“On three,” Alex declares, reaching exaggeratedly for the band of her shorts, prompting Maggie to do the same. “One, two, three!”
They shake their underwear from around their ankles, though Alex’s over-eager leg-shaking leads to hers flying upwards and landing spectacularly in the water. Maggie can’t contain herself; fits of laughter consume her, especially when she sees the look of disdain on Alex’s face.
“You think it’s funny, huh?” Alex shouts good-naturedly, eyebrows raised.
Between breaths, Maggie manages a ‘yeah’, her dimples formed profoundly in each of her cheeks. “No, no!”
Alex tickles her. She joins in Maggie’s laughter as the other woman begins to switch between wriggling and curling into a protective ball in an effort to evade Alex’s tickle torture. Both are futile. “Still think it’s funny?”
“No, no! I take it back! I take it back!”
When they finally calm down, Alex turns away from Maggie, taking a few steps away from her. “Guess I’d better get them back.”
The realisation of what Alex is about to do hits Maggie. “You’re not serious?”
“Oh, I’m deadly serious.” With that, Alex breaks into a run before flinging herself off the edge of the pool, arms wrapped around her knees and splashing into the water, yelling, “CANNONBALL!” She resurfaces after a few seconds, waving her recovered underwear proudly in the air.
Maggie laughs and shakes her head. “Remind me why I married you?”
“To this day, I still don’t know.” Alex is kind of serious. She still doesn’t know how she got to be this lucky. She often finds her mind wandering back to that crime scene and wonders what their lives would have been like had they not argued over whose it was. Alex barely even remembers her life without Maggie in it, and she doesn’t want to. Ever. “You coming in?”
“Is it warm?”
Alex pretends to think for a second, scrunching her face. “…Yeah.”
“I don’t believe you. You hesitated and your face is doing that thing.” Maggie raises a sceptical eyebrow, arms folded.
“What?” Alex has never heard anything as crazy in her life. She underwent intense special training when J’onn enlisted her; her poker face is flawless, at least in her opinion. “My face doesn’t do a thing. I’m a highly trained special agent for a secret government organisation; you’d never be able to tell whether I was lying. There is no thing.”
“I know you, Alex. It’s doing the same thing it did when you told me you liked my homemade vegan tiramisu ice cream. Your right eyebrow twitches and your nostrils flare a little. They’re tiny details, but they’re there,” Maggie replies insistently, head tilting to one side. When she does that, Alex almost always loses and it looks like this is one of those times. “You might wanna talk to someone about it.”
“What? How-”
“I’m a detective, Agent Danvers. I detect. And your cute little face does a thing.”
Alex shakes her head. “Whatever, just get in here!”
Maggie sighs, pretending to be exasperated. “Fine.” She spins on her heels and takes a running leap not too dissimilar to Alex’s, splashing her in the face as she connects with the water.
“Dammit, Danvers!” Maggie shouts after a few deep breaths despite the short distance between her and Alex. “It’s freezing!”
Alex belly laughs, her head tipped backwards and shoulders bobbing, and despite the cold that grips her skin, Maggie feels warm because she hasn’t heard Alex laugh like that for a long time, even if it is at her expense. It’s deep and hearty and infectious and Maggie wishes she heard it more often. “You tryna give me a heart attack?”
Alex holds out her arms to Maggie, wrapping them around her middle and placing her chin on her shoulder. “I’ll keep you warm,” she says softly, pressing her lips to Maggie’s sun-kissed head.
They stay like that for a few minutes, each wrapped up in the other’s embrace, listening to the singing birds and enjoying the warmth of the sun on their faces. The water begins to feel less cold and Maggie turns around to face Alex, giving her a long, deep kiss and bobbing around in the water before Alex slides her arms around her wife again, holding her close.
“Hey Maggie?” Alex says eventually, the words quiet in Maggie’s ear.
“Yeah, babe?” Maggie keeps her arms wrapped tightly over Alex’s.
“Do you wanna jump in from the top of the waterfall?”
/
Maggie doesn’t know how it happens, but she finds herself standing beside Alex, peering over the edge as the water tumbles below them. “You really are trying to kill me, Danvers.”
“Pffft.” Alex waves away the notion.
Before Maggie can say anything else, Alex slips her hand into Maggie’s, giving it a light squeeze. Maggie squeezes back, and each woman is grateful that the other can’t hear the thrumming of their hearts in their chests. There is no countdown this time; each knows when the other is ready to jump. Suddenly, they’re falling freely through the air before they collide with the cool water. Their hands lose each other briefly as they swim back to the surface, but Maggie is quick to pull Alex close to her, neither able to stifle a giggle after the thrill. It was just as exciting as Alex thought it would be.
For hours, they splash and swim and dive into the water, and Alex shows Maggie the ledge behind the waterfall where they can sit and see the rainbow that the radiant sun creates in the cascading water. They point out little fish in the clear water – ‘It’s always a competition with you, isn’t it?” Maggie sighs when Alex declares that she saw the biggest little fish – and coo at a rabbit that Alex insists they name Maggie because it’s so tiny and adorable, which elicits a pout from Maggie and proves Alex’s point.
When they can’t ignore the gurgling of their stomachs any longer, Alex is the first to haul herself out of the pool. Without even looking, she knows that Maggie will be watching her, so she does her best to act nonchalant and unaware as she goes to grab a towel from her bag.
“Y’know, Danvers, this is public indecency. I could have you arrested.”
Alex glances innocently over her shoulder, her eyes finding Maggie’s as she rests against the side of the pool. The big, flirty wink Alex gives Maggie catches her off-guard and she pushes her short damp hair backwards over her head, leaving Maggie reeling.
The confidence of that woman, Maggie thinks and shakes her head, but she can’t stifle a smile. What Maggie doesn’t realise in that moment is that it is she who has helped Alex to find that confidence, to be entirely comfortable in her own skin.
The detective climbs out of the water and thinks fast as Alex throws her a towel and a bikini.
“You had these the whole time?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want you to miss out on swimming if you weren’t comfortable with skinny-dipping and I know you’d have told me if you weren’t.”
“Thanks, babe.” Maggie knows that Alex is right; she isn’t one to give in to peer pressure – not that she felt pressured in any way by Alex; she’s always wanted to try skinny-dipping and there’s no one on Earth she’d rather do it with then Alex. Maggie loves her for thinking about her feelings. “And now I know why you wouldn’t tell Eliza what we were doing today.”
Alex pulls her best alarmed face at the mention of her mom. “Soooo…. Lunch?”
“Sure.”
Under the partial shade, they spread out a patchwork blanket the Danvers used to so frequently use for picnics and unload the contents of Alex’s backpack. She had specially prepared lunch the day before while Maggie sat on the deck in the garden with Eliza, unaware.
Alex feels a sense of satisfaction when Maggie takes a bite of her spicy bean, rice and vegetable wrap and lets out a moan, closing her eyes and dropping her head back at the taste. She takes a bite of her BLT and sneaks a sweet potato chip from Maggie’s bag, earning her a smack on the hand.
Alex reaches into her DEO bag once more, grateful that Winn had been able to modify it to preserve their food because Maggie squeals when Alex pulls out a tub of tiramisu. They grab a spoon each and tuck in, propped up on their sides by their elbows. Alex offers her full spoon to Maggie, who leans forward, all attention on her favourite food. Alex waits until the spoon is millimetres from Maggie’s mouth before she jerks it upwards and smushes its contents into Maggie’s nose.
Maggie lets out a shocked gasp and exaggeratedly wipes the dessert from her nose. Her face tells Alex she really wasn’t expecting it, and that makes Alex laugh harder. She rolls onto her back, eyes scrunched tightly closed, spoon forgotten in the tub.
“I’ll get you back for that.” Maggie grins when Alex is finally able to sit up again.
“Oh yeah?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Should I be scared? Because I can’t take you seriously with tiramisu on your face. You look like a messy child.”
Maggie sighs, wipes the rest of the food from her face and they enjoy the remainder of their dessert in comfortable silence, save for Maggie’s hums of appreciation.
With their tummies full and the sun poised high in the sky, Alex declares that it’s time for them to take a photo. Maggie stretches her short legs and gets to her feet, standing next to Alex by the water’s edge. Alex lines up her phone so that the waterfall fits perfectly behind them, the clear blue sky framing the top of the shot nicely.
“Say ‘Vegan ice-cream sucks!”
“You’re an idiot!”
Alex snaps a couple of photos and they huddle over the phone. They’re cute, both of them in their bikini tops and shorts, hair mussed but nice, natural. Alex thinks that Maggie looks radiant and relaxed, her dimples on full show. It’s definitely a photo for their scrapbook.
“Wait, is that…” Maggie takes the phone from Alex, scrunching her nose as she squints at one of the photos.
“What?” Alex strains to see what Maggie’s looking at, mostly seeing her reflection in the screen.
Maggie looks from the cell to the sky behind them and points, using her other hand to cover her eyes like a visor. “Oh, hey, look, it is! It’s Kara!”
Alex whips around at the mention of her sister’s name and follows the direction of Maggie’s outstretched arm as she traces a line across the clear sky. “Where?” She asks, squinting into the sunlight, only seeing dots.
“Right there! Don’t you see her?”
“Maggie, I don’t see any- WOAH!” Alex shouts as she feels Maggie’s hands on her back, pushing her into the water. Now it’s her turn to really laugh, and she finds herself lowering to sit on the floor so that she doesn’t end up in the pool too.
Alex surfaces quickly, evidently shocked by her meeting with the water. She regains her bearings and shoots Maggie a mock dirty look. “Well-played, Sawyer,” she concedes, swimming back to the edge. She extends a hand out to Maggie.
“Oh no, I’m not falling for that one,” Maggie warns, taking a step back and holding her hands up. ‘What do you take me for?”
“Please?” Alex puts on her best puppy-dog eyes, the ones that Maggie always fails to resist no matter which Danvers is giving them to her, though she inevitably struggles most with Alex.
“Fine.” Alex’s face lights up as Maggie takes a step closer. “But,” Maggie adds, hesitating, “I want you to tell me that I’m the Ultimate Detective-slash-Genius.”
“Seriously? I knew watching a cop show with you was a mistake,” Alex mumbles, though she would never deny that she loves Brooklyn Nine-Nine as much as Maggie. One more second looking at Maggie’s face tells Alex that she’s being serious. “Fine. Maggie Sawyer, you are the Ultimate Detective-slash-Genius.”
“And it was my crime scene.”
“Woah no! No, no it was not.”
“It was, but we can work on that.”
‘We’ve been ‘working’ on it for over four years.”
“Because you won’t admit the truth.”
“Are you gonna pull me out or what?”
Maggie shakes her head and sighs, offering her hand to Alex, who immediately tugs at it.
“Gotcha,” Alex teases when Maggie visibly tenses, but it’s when she relaxes that Alex really strikes again; Maggie topples head over heels into the water.
“Thanks for the cool-off, Danvers,” Maggie says, pushing her freshly-wet hair out of her face. She’d resigned herself to the inevitability of ending up in the water. She knows Alex far too well to know she wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation. She throws her a not-so-subtle look that screams payback is coming, but if Alex notices, she doesn’t react. “I was starting to get a little hot anyway.”
Twenty minutes later, they find themselves drying off on the blanket, sunscreen reapplied in the near-hundred degree heat. Alex lies stretched out on her back, arms resting over her stomach, eyes closed and head to one side while Maggie sits facing her with one leg outstretched, her other tucked into her chest as she reads her book, the sun on her back. She chuckles quietly when Alex lets out a soft snore. She picks up her phone and snaps a photo of her snoozing wife before switching to video mode.
“Evidence shows that Alex Danvers does, in fact, snore. Exhibit A.”
Maggie lets the camera roll and chuckles again at a particularly soft snuffle, clamping her hand over her mouth so as not to wake Alex. It’s a good job she finds it cute. “Case closed.”
She checks her messages and finds one from Kara and one from Winn to both her and Alex’s numbers, wishing them a good time and insisting that the only emergency so far has been Kara’s attempt at making her own potstickers.
“What are you smiling at?”
Maggie looks up from her phone to find Alex fighting the sun to look at her. “Uh, they had to evacuate Kara’s building last night. She tried to make potstickers.” Maggie doesn’t need to say any more; they both know how Kara’s attempts at cooking usually end.
“That’s the third time this month,” Alex snorts, her face scrunching with amusement.
“That’s Little Danvers for you,” Maggie adds. “She doesn’t know when to give up. Maybe we should get her an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas.”
Alex shakes her head. “We already tried that and it didn’t go so well. She was thirteen, got frustrated at how long it took to bake, forgot her strength and crushed it under her fist.”
“I guess it says something when you’re the more patient sister, huh?” Maggie jokes, and Alex rolls her eyes.
Maggie returns her attention to her book as Alex settles on her back, though she keeps her eyes open, opting to watch the occasional swooping bird and graceful butterflies above them. She finds herself thinking about how awesome today has been, chilling out, swimming, diving and teasing Maggie endlessly, but most importantly, sharing a part of herself with the person she loves the most in the universe. This is one of Alex’s favourite places, even though it relates so much to one of the toughest periods of her life. She liked to come here to try to make sense of her thoughts, or sometimes to think about nothing at all. Maybe she can make more happy memories like today’s here with Maggie.
Alex gets lost in her own thoughts for a little longer, thinking about their trip and their wedding. This time last year, she was at her final dress fitting. That was when everything started to feel real.
Their wedding was perfect, everything they wanted it to be; the sun was out, their friends and family were there – Alex’s family is Maggie’s family, and that was more than Maggie ever thought she’d have – and they managed, through a few tears, to get through their vows.
A year on, and days like today are still just the start of the rest of their lives.
It’s only when Alex sits up to grab herself a bottle of water that she realises she stopped hearing the pages of Maggie’s book turning ages ago. She looks over at Maggie to find her lying on her back, eyes closed and book open on her stomach. She sees the steady rise and fall of her chest and figures she must have been asleep for a while. Her features are completely relaxed, save for the cute little twitch of her nose every so often.
Alex tries to read her own book but quickly gets frustrated with it – why can’t they just tell each other how they feel, she wonders – so she gives up fifteen minutes later.
Her feet still bare from earlier, she stands up, careful not to disturb Maggie. She steps onto the lush grass, relishing its softness under her feet and between her toes. She takes slow, purposeful steps, finding it therapeutic. She pads around for a little over five minutes, running her fingers through the lower-hanging branches of the trees and the leaves of some of the bushes, looking up at the sky.
She doesn’t expect to see Maggie staring back at her when she glances in her direction. She feels a slight flush in her cheeks. “How long have you been watching me?”
“A couple minutes.” Maggie smiles warmly.
“You should try this,” Alex says, skimming her right foot over the tip of the short grass. “It’s kinda nice.”
Maggie runs her hands through the grass next to the blanket as she stands. Slowly, she begins to walk away from the sheet, all her focus on her feet and the grass below her. “It’s calming,” she agrees after a few moments. “And it tickles a little.”
They amble aimlessly for a little longer before settling back on the blanket. Maggie begins to pluck at the daisies in the grass. Alex watches her intently as she begins to weave them together, her delicate hands finding no problems as she works. Alex used to love making daisy chains so she joins in, her hands matching the rhythm Maggie sets. They sit quietly as they focus on their work, stopping every so often to make sure it hasn’t come apart.
“Aaaaaand… Done!” Maggie is the first to finish. Satisfied with her masterpiece, she sets it down delicately beside her and helps Alex by passing her some of the little flowers she had left over. “We make a pretty great team.”
“The best,” Alex agrees like always as she slides the last daisy into place. She moves so that she’s kneeling in front of Maggie, her finished work in hand. “For you, my Queen,” she says in a funny voice that makes Maggie laugh as she places the circle of little flowers onto Maggie’s head. She finishes her act with an exaggerated bow that has Maggie beaming.
“Rise, my Queen,” Maggie plays along, placing her hand under Alex’s chin and raising it so that their faces are level. She looks Alex in the eye. “There is no higher honour I can bestow upon you – I am already your wife,” Maggie begins, receiving an exhale of laughter from Alex, “so please accept this crown as a sign of my love for you.”
Alex’s eyes follow Maggie’s hands as she places the ‘crown’ on her head. “You getting’ soft on me, Sawyer?”
Maggie takes one look at Alex’s beautiful face, the way her soft brown eyes smile as they delve into Maggie’s. Her voice is gentle as she speaks. “Not as soft as you, Danvers.”
Alex leans forward and presses her lips to Maggie’s. They’re warm and soft and Maggie is gentle as she kisses back, her hand finding Alex’s cheek as Alex’s arm slips around her waist. Alex doesn’t know which of them pulls away first, though she instantly misses the feeling of Maggie’s lips on hers until Maggie presses her forehead against Alex’s.
Alex lingers briefly before she pulls away and lies down, taking Maggie’s hand in hers to prompt her to do the same. Maggie rests her head just below Alex’s chin, their fingers tightly interlocked, one of Maggie’s legs wrapped between Alex’s. The sun is getting lower but still peeps above the trees, casting the last of its warmth on the two women cuddled together on their blanket, despite the heart that lingers.
After a while, Alex senses Maggie look up at her, her chin now resting on Alex’s chest. Alex looks down and her heart swoops uncontrollably, her insides turning instantly to mush. Maggie’s deep brown eyes are soft and burn deeply with love as they search again to meet Alex’s, finding them almost immediately. Her smile is breathtaking, her perfect teeth on show between her full lips as she beams broadly, lovingly, genuinely.
But it’s the dimples that always catch Alex off-guard, no matter how many times she sees them. She feels her breath catch in her throat as they spread their way proudly into her cheeks like perfect little crinkles. They’re captivating and totally disarming – the most beautiful things Alex has ever seen – and every time they pop out it’s like Alex is seeing Maggie for the first time because the feeling she gets, the spark that erupts into a wildfire and the rapid acceleration of her heart is exactly the same now as it was then and she knows, she knows, that it will never change. Her stomach drops and her mind melts every damn time and she’s powerless to even try to fight it, and why would she want to? She wants to spend the rest of her life with Maggie looking at her like that because it makes everything else stop, makes everything pale into insignificance. It makes everything better.
Maggie’s smile widens impossibly further and her dimples sink impossibly deeper, though it’s all shy. It’s only when her head tilts a little to the left, creating that deadly combination of dimples-and-tilt, that Alex realises she’s staring like an idiot. She snaps herself out of it.
“I love you, Maggie Sawyer.”
“I love you, Alex Danvers.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Their lips press together again before Maggie settles back on Alex’s chest, closing her eyes and listening to the water as it tumbles into the pool below. She feels Alex’s breathing slow. “What do you think a little house would look like over to the left?”
Alex pauses, giving Maggie’s question some thought. “I think it’d be pretty cute set back right by the cluster of sunflowers. I mean, you’d have to cut down a ton of trees, but yeah, it’d be sweet. Why?”
This time, Maggie pauses. “Uh, I guess I was thinking about what it would be like to live here with you… and Trudy… and maybe, someday, our little girl…”
A lump suddenly forms in Alex’s throat and she has to fight hard to stop the tears that have welled in her eyes from falling in tracks down her cheeks. “Really?” Her voice waivers, barely a whisper. She sees what Maggie sees, days spent in the water and nights cuddled around a campfire roasting marshmallows, surrounded by nature, just her and Maggie and Gertrude and their baby. It’s all Alex has ever wanted.
“Really.” Maggie’s voice is certain. There’s no doubt in her mind that it would be perfect.
“Are you sure it’s not just because you want to go skinny-dipping all the time?”
Maggie chuckles. “You know me too well, Danvers. I can’t believe we haven’t done this sooner. But seriously, I love it here.”
“Me too. A girl can dream, huh?”
Maggie nods. “She sure can.”
/
The sun finally slips behind the trees and the first stars begin to flicker in the darkening sky. They point out the constellations as they appear against their backdrop, Maggie as familiar with them as Alex after having spent countless nights with her on the roof of their building or the balcony at the DEO or on the beach during their honeymoon, falling asleep under the light reflected by the moon.
They stay entwined together for over an hour, except for when Maggie frees a hand from Alex’s waist to draw the outline of a constellation or Alex stops running her hands gently through Maggie’s hair to point out a moving dot, only to realise that it’s definitely a plane and not a shooting star. They’re relaxed and they’re together and they’re happy.
When the air finally cools and the breeze picks up, they decide to pack up their things, albeit reluctantly, not wanting their day to end. They slip on their clothes and their leather jackets, Alex snapping one more picture of the moon over the waterfall, its face reflected in the water like the first time she saw it. She insists, with air quotes, that, “It’s what Kara would call ‘Insta-worthy.’”
The deep hum of their bikes competes with the rush of the waterfall, both of them casting a final glance at one another before setting off.
The journey home feels shorter somehow. Alex puts it down to the high she’s feeling, that right now she feels like she’ll never come down from. They aren’t rushing back, but their relaxing ride is over almost as quickly as Maggie devoured the tiramisu earlier, which was incredibly fast for such a small person, and Alex wishes she’d taken the longer route back just so that she could spend another five minutes riding around with Maggie by her side.
Alex grabs her keys from her jacket pocket and unlocks the front door, letting Maggie inside first. Eliza is in front of them in a flash, a tea towel slung over her shoulder.
“Hello, girls. Good day?”
“The best,” Maggie is quick to reply, flashing an honest smile at Eliza, who draws her daughter-in-law in for a hug like always.
“It was pretty special,” Alex agrees, finding herself wrapped tightly in her mom’s arms. She returns the hug just as strongly. Her mom gives pretty great hugs.
“That’s great. You can tell me all about it over dinner, which is in thirty minutes.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Alex says. “I guess we’ll go get cleaned up.”
“Okay,” Eliza replies with a kind smile, tucking Alex’s hair behind her ear. “See you in thirty.”
/
“We’re telling her the abridged version, right?” Alex asks Maggie about their day when they’re upstairs and Eliza is out of earshot. Maggie smiles wryly, which Alex takes as a yes.
They shower quickly and Alex looks up from her phone and smiles when Maggie walks out of the bathroom in a pair of comfy shorts and her treasured ‘Ultimate Detective-slash-Genius’ t-shirt. It comes second only to their ‘Hello, Sunshine’ tee, which Alex was quick to claim from under Maggie’s pillow when they got upstairs.
“Babe,” Alex says in a way that Maggie knows means she wants to show her something that’s probably funny, at least in her nerdy opinion. She thrusts her phone in Maggie’s direction. “She did it again.”
Maggie sits on the edge of the bed and presses replay on the video that takes over the screen, Alex watching from over her shoulder.
In one of National City’s parks, Winn unhooks Gertrude’s leash and the dog immediately bolts towards a squirrel, zig-zagging across the grass in hot pursuit. Maggie watches as they get closer to the fountain, knowing what comes next because exactly the same thing happened last week and a couple of days before that. The squirrel darts off to the right, but Gertrude’s bigger centre of gravity means that there’s only one thing she can do; she clears the fountain’s wall in a single bound and finds herself disoriented before she begins to splash around happily, squirrel forgotten. That in itself is pretty funny to Maggie, but funnier still is watching Winn sprint after her, yelling her name and ‘STOP!’ in a squeaky, panicked voice, ignoring the equally confused and amused looks of passers-by.
Kara, who filmed it, clearly finds it as hilarious as Maggie and Alex because her infectious laugh can be heard from off-camera from the moment the dog runs away. She keeps up with Winn more than effortlessly.
Winn eventually manages to coax the dog out of the water and his face is a picture when Gertrude shakes herself dry and drenches him in the process. He looks exasperatedly at Kara before noticing that she’s filming.
“She usually does that,” she says by way of explanation, still laughing.
“You could have warned me!” Winn whines, holding out his arms and looking at his wet clothes.
The video cuts off as Kara laughs again, Gertrude looking up at her excitedly with her tongue out and tail wagging, enjoying the game.
“I’m not surprised we retired her. I don’t know how she ever passed her training,” Maggie jokes, giving Alex her phone back.
They make their way downstairs, Alex slipping her hand into Maggie’s. They pad into the kitchen, suddenly feeling a sense of tiredness wash over them, especially in the comfortable warmth of the house.
“Mom, that looks incredible,” Alex says when she sees the meal Eliza’s prepared. “And it smells it, too.”
A rich pasta drenched in sauce – entirely vegan for Maggie – accompanied by garlic bread is piled high onto each plate, and Eliza has poured a glass of the red wine she saves for special occasions for each of them.
“You’re definitely the best cook I know, Eliza,” Maggie says after her first bite. “This is amazing.”
“Oh, you’re too kind, Maggie,” Eliza says, taking a sip of her wine. “So, what did you girls do today?”
Alex is quick to answer, swallowing a mouthful of pasta. “Oh, nothing much. Just some relaxing-”
“We went skinny-dipping.”
Alex practically chokes on air. She feels her cheeks heat up as she freezes mid pasta-stab and sends a perplexed glare in Maggie’s direction, though that doesn’t stop her. She looks between Maggie and her mom, surprised by Eliza’s minimal reaction. She expected a disapproving shake of the head, at least.
“Then we went cliff-jumping. And then, well…” Maggie looks over at Alex, shock plastered across the agent’s face at what she worries is coming next. Maggie smiles sweetly at Alex before turning it to Eliza. “We had a nice picnic in the sun.”
Maggie sees Alex’s shoulders visibly relax out of the corner of her eye. Alex takes a big swig of her drink, eyes fixed on the bottom of the glass, and lets out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.
“Well, it sounds lovely,” Eliza says, completely oblivious to Alex’s panic. “Quite exciting.”
Alex manages what she hopes is a smile of agreement when her mom looks at her. “It was.”
They finish their meal talking about Eliza’s day, flick through some of the photos they took of them with their daisy crowns and a few candids of Maggie she had no idea Alex had taken and finally show her the clip of Gertrude.
“That poor, sweet boy,” Eliza says of Winn, though she chuckles.
Alex clears the dishes and makes them all a coffee while Maggie tells Eliza about the bonsai she’s been nursing back to health after Alex almost killed it. Twice.
“That’s an exaggeration,” Alex argues from the kitchen, but it’s definitely not.
They settle in for a round of cards, which Maggie’s poker face wins, especially because they’ve already established that Alex doesn’t have one, and Eliza agrees. Maggie can see Alex pulling different faces out of the corner of her eye every time someone takes their turn, but she sucks at cards and Maggie wipes the floor with her.
A little after eleven-thirty, Maggie does her best – but fails – to stifle a yawn, her knees tucked under her chin as she sits on the comfortable couch beside Alex.
“I guess that means we should go to bed,” Alex declares, wrapping her right arm around Maggie’s shoulders and drawing her in close. She feels Maggie relax into her side before she nods, unable to conceal a second yawn. “C’mon.”
Alex hauls herself up from the couch, carefully guiding a sleepy Maggie with her.
“Night, girls," Eliza says, deciding to stay up a little longer. “Sleep well.”
“Night, Mom.”
“Night, Eliza.”
Alex doesn’t drop Maggie’s hand, leaving their fingers loosely linked together as they shuffle down the hallway and into Alex’s old bedroom, their footsteps muffled by the carpet. Maggie enters their room first and makes a beeline for the bed. She tugs out the duvet and throws it to the foot of the bed, the night way too warm to contemplate using it, and immediately flops onto the mattress with a contented sigh, arms and legs sprawled everywhere.
Alex is quick to follow after she sets an alarm so that they can make sure they’re up in time to make it to the airport. She slides in next to Maggie, who immediately scooches over to Alex’s side of the bed. Alex turns onto her side as Maggie wraps her arms around her, their bodies moulding subconsciously, perfectly, like they were made for each other and no one else.
They lie there, wrapped up in each other, bodies tired and hearts full. The parts of Maggie’s skin that are exposed are warm against Alex’s, and Alex knows that this is her safe place, her favourite place, right here in Maggie’s arms.
It’s called being happy. Get used to it, Danvers.
The words echo in her mind. Back then, she told Maggie that she thought she was getting used to it, but now she realises that that will never happen. She thought she was happy – and she really was – but that’s nothing compared to the way she feels now and she knows that every day with Maggie will make her happier than she will ever be able explain. This is just part of the full, happy life Maggie told her she deserved, of the beautiful life Maggie gives her every day.
“Stop sighing and go to sleep,” Maggie mumbles into Alex’s shoulder. Alex smiles to herself; she can’t help it.
“I really thought you were going to tell her about the sex,” Alex says after a moment, thinking back to dinner and the look on Maggie’s face as she recounted their day.
Maggie chuckles, her breath warm through Alex’s t-shirt as she squeezes her tightly. “That was payback for tugging me into the water. Had to level the playing field, y’know?” Alex can imagine the smug, satisfied look on Maggie’s face, especially because she can hear it dripping in her voice. “And it’s not like your mom doesn’t know we have sex. I’m your wife.”
“Yeah, but she’s still my mom,” comes Alex’s response, pretending to shudder.
“Yep,” is all Maggie manages, too tired to bother talking anymore.
Alex takes the hint, no more awake herself. “Night, babe. Italy, here we come!” She whispers excitedly.
Maggie practically exhales her response, but she senses Alex drifting off almost immediately, her body relaxing and breaths becoming shallow. She tightens her grip just a little, never wanting to let go. In a lot of ways, she never will.
Maggie falls asleep beside the woman she loves, thinking about her and them and how maybe they can have it all; the job, the house, the dog, the family…
This is the life she always knew she wanted but never thought she’d have, and it’s hers. Theirs.
Forever.