Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

J’onn surveys the disaster that he can say with 100% certainty that he never expected to happen – and that the DEO definitely was not prepared to handle such a disaster. Alien invasions, check. Terrorist attacks, check. World ending disasters that were either nature or human or alien generated, check. But having to deal with a generally small time group of wacked out villains that had a perchance for crating weapons whose effects were previously only seen in odd, retro science fiction films hadn’t even been on his radar. He watches as Agent Vasquez tries desperately to coax a tiny child out from under the operations panel – the giggly little boy just laughs and manages to craw to another out of reach space. Another couple of his agents have managed to corral a few other children into the gym – one of the rookies has found a soccer ball to keep them entertained while others are making phone calls to family and friends of the miniaturize agents.

A throb in his temple lets him know he’s going to be developing a headache rather quickly, but just as he’s thinking that’s the height of chaos her turns to see Alex rushing in from the labs with a small blonde girl in her arms – the child is nestled in one of Alex’s hoodies, bare feet kicking lightly against Alex’s stomach. Maggie, who had been granted access long ago, looks equally harried as she comes in from the parking garage carrying a small girl wrapped in a towel – only the tiny dark haired child is wailing inconsolably. When the two women see each other they stop and stare for a moment, before Maggie exclaims with wide eyes, “Kara?!”

The blonde girl perks up at her name and turns to see Maggie, beaming as she waves shyly before pressing her face against her sister’s neck. Alex rocks her tenderly, patting her back as she confirms, “Yep, Kara and a couple more at CatCo were kiddified. Who’s that?”

Maggie is desperately trying to calm the girl in her arms who hasn’t stopped crying since she and Sam managed to get her out from behind the sofa in the CFO’s office. The child has been sobbing so hard her cheeks are red and blotchy and she’s hiccupping. She also seems uncomfortable in Maggie’s arms but doesn’t dare move to pull away or squirm. Maggie rocks her softly, bouncing her on her hip as she tries to comfort her, “It’s okay, niña. You’re safe here, Lena.”

“Lena?!” Alex’s eyes widen almost comically, but her tone startles the already rattled child who whimpers as more tears fill fearful green eyes. Reaching over Alex rubs the small girl’s back tenderly, “Oh Lena, it’s okay. You’re safe with me and Maggie, I promise.”

“Perhaps you should get them upstairs to see Dr. Hamilton, we’ve already gotten most of the others checked out and contained,” J’onn suggests, smiling at Kara when she giggles and reaches out to grab his hand – letting the child put her hand in his briefly. A giggle and loud foot steps behind him make him turn to see Vasquez chasing after the now naked boy, sighing heavily he also tells them, “I’ll be up there shortly with Mr. Schott.”

Alex can’t help but snicker along with Maggie as they head upstairs to see the few small agents that are being checked out by Dr. Hamilton. The poor doctor looks like she’s had quite a busy day, a few toddler aged and older children are accompanied by DEO agents and NCPD offices. Alex finds a quiet room in the back away from the noise and commotion to set down Kara on the bed – the little blonde doesn’t seem to mind since Maggie stays next to her.

“Give me a second to check in with Hamilton, then I’ll be back and we can get the physical exams out of the way,” Alex says as she goes to exchanges words with the other physician while sending a text to her mother about what’s going on since they may need her mother’s help to figure this disaster out. As she’s getting together the things she’s going to need for the exams she sees a little boy run by followed by another who’s gotten a hold of a stethoscope and she can’t help but laugh – Jenkins from Ops and Zamora from Intel seemed to be having a field day.

She also manages to find one of the rookies that was sent out on a mission to raid the local store for baby and children’s supplies. Picking up a few pull ups  – she’s not sure how old either of the girls are at the moment – a few snacks, and some clothing she heads back to find Maggie talking with the girl’s. Kara’s chattering away and playing with one of the puzzle toys that Maggie’s found. Lena however doesn’t move – which Alex finds unusual for such a young child – instead she sits still and watches Kara and Maggie carefully. Another odd behavior that has Alex concerned is Lena’s holding her arm close to her chest, as if she’s guarding it.

Alex quickly opens a package of goldfish shaped crackers, laughing when Kara’s eyes light up and she reaches out for them. Maggie chuckles as she says, “Always hungry huh, mini Danvers?”

“Yes!” Kara exclaims happily, grabbing a few of the crackers and munching away greedily as Maggie strokes her fingers over Kara’s hair.

Alex opens another package and offers them to Lena, watching as the girl carefully reaches out with her left hand to shakily grab a couple of the crackers – nibbling on them. Maggie notices it too but decides to let Alex handle it – Lena Luthor has always been right handed.

“You wanna try grabbing some of the fish with your other hand?” Alex coaches gently, watching as Lena shakes her head vehemently as her eyes well with tears again. “Lena, does your arm hurt?”

Lena nods, lip trembling as a few tears trail down her cheeks looking worriedly up at Alex. When the woman moves to touch her arm Lena whimpers and starts to cry, worried that the woman is going to hurt her further. The pain in her elbow isn’t so bad when she holds still so she curls around it protectively and tries to move out of reach.

“No,” Lena wails in terror, crying so hard that her small, fragile body shakes violently as she tries to get away from them. Not realizing how close to the edge of the bed she is her hand slips from the table and Maggie barely manages to catch her before she can fall.

“Easy, little bit,” Maggie tells her tenderly, feeling sympathy well up as she adjusts the girl in his arms trying to wrap the towel around her naked body to preserve her dignity. Lena is worn out and overwhelmed as she slumps against the police detective and continues to cry miserably. Maggie motions for the others to back off as she paces the floor a bit and lets the child cry herself out. After a few minutes the sobs ease off and she pats her back tenderly as she sniffles for a little bit before finally quieting altogether. “Do you think you’ve calmed down enough to let Alex take a look at you?”

Lena shakes her head violently with a little glare and Maggie chuckles a bit at her stubbornness as she assures, “What if I promise that no one will do anything without your permission? I know this is a really scary situation and you’d much rather be back to busting balls at L-Corp, but we’ve gotta work with what we’ve got right now.”

Lena just blinks for a second, having only gotten some of what the woman was telling her – but after a moment to think about it she whispers so softly they barely hear her, “Okay.”

Maggie sets her down on the exam table, giving her an encouraging smile as he brushes away the last of her tears. Alex is quickly beside her and Lena gives her a wary look but doesn’t say anything as she reaches out a hand for Maggie. Laughing she takes her hand, “I’m not going anywhere, pequeño.”

Alex points to Lena’s arm and asks kindly, “Do you think I could look at your arm? If you let me figure out what’s wrong I’m sure I can make it feel better.”

“Alex’ll kiss it and make it better,” Kara assures with a wide, toothy grin as she continues to play a game on Maggie’s phone.

Lena shrugs non-committal, looking at Maggie for reassurance who just nods that it’s okay. Alex carefully checks Lena’s hand and wrist before seeing bruises on Lena’s arm near her elbow. Alex reaches up to feel the joint but Lena recoils violently, a small hand coming up to block the older woman’s as if to defend herself from attack. Maggie is quick to grab Lena’s free hand and assure her that everything is alright, “Hey, it’s okay, she’s just trying to help.”

Lena whimpers but holds still as Alex feels of her small elbow, frowning when she realizes the issue. Maggie’s been watching her carefully and asks, “What is it?”

“A nursemaid’s dislocation,” Alex tells her, gently taking Lena’s hand in her own and turning her palm out.

“Doesn’t that happen from picking kids up or tugging them around by the arm?” Maggie asks with concern, thinking back and realizing that neither she nor Sam had grabbed at Lena like that. The other part of her brain is wracked with guilt over carting Lena to the DEO with a dislocated arm.

“Mostly, but sometimes kids fall too. I’m not sure how she got injured in such a short amount of time,” Alex remarks as she debates whether or not to tell the child she’s about to put the dislocated radius back into place.

“Is she injured?” Hamilton asks, coming by to take out one of the x-ray machines.

“Yeah, dislocated elbow.”

“I suspect all the kids were de-aged to a certain point in their lives – no matter what condition they were in at the time. So far a few kids were de-aged to low points in their childhoods - a couple have broken bones, one is in quarantine with a case of chicken pox, and a few are sick with a stomach virus,” Hamilton says softly, giving Lena a compassionate look as she tells Alex and Maggie, “Most of the kids had healthy childhoods and the de-aging process didn’t leave them any worse for wear, but not everyone was so fortunate.”

As Hamilton leaves them Alex looks at Lena and decides it’s better to just tell her what she’s going to do, “Hey, Lena, your elbow’s out of place and I’m going to put it back – it might hurt for a second but that’s it. Okay?”

At this news Lena whimpers even though she doesn’t try to pull away, and Kara takes this moment to abandon the phone and reach over with a clumsy hand to rest it on Lena’s shoulder. The little Kryptonian moves closer and wraps an arm around Lena, telling her softly, “Don’t cry, Lena. It gonna be okay, I promise.”

Alex very gently straightens the arm out before bending it back as if to make Lena’s fingers touch her shoulder – she feels the bone click back into place. Lena shrieks and starts to sob again, but when Kara hugs her a bit clumsily she curls up to her and quiets rather quickly. Maggie soothes both children, smiling as she tells Alex, “Looks like mini-Danvers still has little Luthor wrapped around her finger? I’m taking so many pictures so they’ll never live this down.”

Alex smiles a bit as she picks up the stethoscope and sets to work – both girls are curious about what Alex is doing and giggle when she lets them listen to her and Maggie’s heartbeats too. Maggie plays along, letting Alex take her blood pressure and stick the thermometer in her ear to demonstrate for both girls that there’s nothing scary or painful about it.

However, neither girl is thrilled with the blood draw Maggie holding Lena while Alex works quickly – before having to hold Kara under the red sun lamps because she wasn’t about to use a kryptonite needle on Kara no matter her age. The prick of the needle is gone from their thoughts when Alex presents them both with a package of cookies and suggests taking them downstairs to play a bit.

Alex suggests putting them in pull ups for the time being just to prevent any accidents before helping Kara pull on a long sleeved shirt with a dog on it. Kara’s cooing over the dog and telling Lena that yellow is one of her favorite colors while Alex tries to wrestle the toddler into a pair of sweatpants. Maggie’s helped Lena into a pair of navy blue overalls and a warm green shirt – they’d have to figure out appropriate winter wear and shoes for the two kids later. Lena smiles softly when Maggie tickles her little feet while putting on her socks.

Alex has no such luck with Kara, her sister squirms and pulls the socks off as she wails, “No, no foot prisons.”

“Kara, you have to wear socks, it’s cold outside and the floor here is going to be freezing,” Alex tries to reason with her, but in the end just stuffs the socks in her pocket and lets Kara walk barefoot on the floor until the blonde asks for the socks back a bit sheepishly.

“Play! Alex play with me, please,” Kara cries enthusiastically when they get to the gym, finding one of the many plastic balls another recruit has brought in – laughing excitedly as she kicks the ball towards Alex.

“She has just as much energy now as she does as an adult, doesn’t she?” Maggie asks with a wiry smile, knowing the two of them were going to have a hell of a time chasing around two small children – especially when one of them is super powered. She can tell her wife is studying all of the kids, going into full nerd mode, “Al, chill they’re just playing could you sit down with me for a little bit before we have to wrestle them into car seats and try to figure out dinner.”

Alex sighs and sits down beside Maggie, leaning back against the wall as she watches the way Kara’s got most of her coordination down – for as good as Kara gets anyway, sometimes as an adult her sister could be a walking disaster, “I’m just trying to figure out their age and development, not that I have any comparison data for Kara or Lena.”

“You could just ask them,” Maggie states with a laugh, realizing that it’s just beginning to dawn on Alex that she could do that. Chuckling she calls over to the little blonde with a dimpled grin, “Hey, Kara, you wanna show me how old you are?”

Kara runs over, carrying a big red ball with a bright smile on her face as she holds out three fingers but then thinks about it again and holds up a fourth finger and announces rather loudly, “I’m four years old!”

“Four years old, you’re growing up quick aren’t you kid? How about you Lena?”

Lena drops the ball she’d been holding, trying to pick it up again but falling down on to her knees. She turns her attention to Maggie and holds up three fingers without saying anything. Maggie grins and hums softly, “Three huh? You’re growing into a big girl too, aren’t you Lena?”

Alex and Maggie smile encouragingly, realizing that Lena’s probably on the younger side of three and may not really recall many of her recent memories enough to come up with an accurate answer. Alex has her phone out and it making a checklist of things to get from the store, seeing a text from Sam asking how everything is going and inquiring after Lena. She snaps a few pictures and tells the CFO they’re trying to figure things out.

Alex sighs as she watches Kara talk Lena into kicking the ball back and forth with her, the two little girls playing as she thinks about how in the world she’s going to look after two children under the age of four. The first person she’d talk this out with isn’t here – not exactly. A momentary surge of panic and grief clenches Alex’s heart as she wonders how long she’s going to have to manage without her sister – if it could mean that the Kara she loved and grew up with may never come back.

“Alex?” Maggie asks softly, seeing her beloved wife’s eyes welling with tears she quickly grasps her hand and tries to get her to talk to her.

“It’s nothing,” Alex says as she hastily brushes at her eyes, the full weight of what’s happened finally setting in now that she has a moment to herself – it’d been funny at first like a practical joke you play on your friends. But as she looks at her sister, her friends and coworkers scampering around as children she barely recognizes - it’s no longer funny. These are people who have lives and families that love them and need them back the way they were.

“You wanna try again, clearly something rattling around in that beautiful brain of yours has gotten you so upset,” Maggie tells her warmly, brushing hair from Alex’s face as she watches her bite back a sob. Drawing her into an embrace she tries to help ease her through the worst it with soft words and gentle touches.

“What if…what if we never get them back,” Alex manages to ask which only makes more tears sting in her eyes and leave hot trails down her cheeks, clutching tightly at Maggie’s back as she tries to stay quiet enough to not panic the children.

“Hey, easy babe, we’re going to figure this out,” Maggie assures, she knows that Alex, Hamilton and Eliza would only be a handful of the people what would be working on figuring out how this all happened and what could be done to reverse the effects. She knows that it doesn’t matter how long it may take they’ll eventually find a way to get everyone back to their adult selves – but she knows in the meantime they’ll give these kids an amazing childhood redo, “We’ll figure this out, we will – but for right now we can give these two a caring, stable, and fun temporary childhood. Okay?”

Alex nods, calming down just in time for a blonde blur to launch itself into her middle knocking the breath out of her. Wrapping her arms around Kara she holds her tight, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head – no matter what age Alex will always love her sister unconditionally. She’s also really glad that Kara’s personality hasn’t seemed to change at all as blue eyes look up at her with concern and small, pudgy fingers wipe away the remaining tears on her cheeks. Kara twines her arms around the woman’s neck and presses a kiss Alex’s cheek, “Don’t cry sissy.”

Alex almost cries all over again, taking a shuddering breath she calms down enough to tickle Kara’s sides to make her laugh. The squirming bundle of joy is so easily entertained and showing her the least bit of affection or attention made her incredibly happy. Lena on the other hand is looking at them with a confused little look that breaks her heart, making Alex wave her over with a gentle smile, “Lena, come here kiddo.”

Lena walks over to her, giving her a confused look and squeaking when Alex picks her up and settles her in her lap right beside Kara. Kara seems to take this as the go ahead to wrap her arms around the other girl too. After a brief look of panic Lena comes to the conclusion that this is not in fact an attack and quickly settles into Kara’s arm and stops her nervous fidgeting as Alex soothes a hand over her hair.

“As soon as I make a few phone calls we’ll get out of here and go home, okay?”

“Okay!” Kara crows happily while Lena just nods with a small smile.

As Alex lets the kids get back to playing she takes out her phone and snaps a few pictures before dialing up her mother – she knows she’ll want to be here for this and will likely be useful in the labs as well. Being that currently Lena was curled up off in her world flipping through a pop-up book the DEO is already handicapped in solving this issue already. As she hangs up and texts her mom the pictures J’onn comes in with a bright eyed little Winn, setting him down so he can run off and join the others. The little boy immediately finds Vasquez who is unboxing a couple RC cars, handing him the controls.

“Alex, could you come upstairs for a minute?” J’onn asks, keeping his voice down as he explains, “We just found Drew and she’s giving Hamilton trouble.”

“Drew? My Drew from logistics?” Alex asks, thinking back to when she’d gotten here that she didn’t see the wiry, serious young woman amidst the chaos. If Alex was alpha teams Jack of all trades, she considered Drew their ace in the hole – always calm, collected, and thinking three or four steps ahead of a situation. However, she was almost as notorious as Alex for skipping out of medical and being even more private.

“Yes,” J’onn says, and the tension in his tone and the way he’s looking to Alex a bit desperately both Alex and Maggie figure it must be important as well as something that shouldn’t be spoken about publicly.

“Go on, I’ve got them – we’ll be up in a bit,” Maggie says squeezing Alex’s hand gently, watching as Kara chases around a few of the bigger kids on the mini-soccer field the other agents have set up to try and keep the gaggle of children entertained. Kara’s not doing too bad for how small she is, getting up and clamoring after the ball like it’s no big deal when she falls down. Lena however is curled up against the wall, a book propped up on her knees as she flips through it. Moving over Maggie sits next to her, looking at the pages she asks softly, “Would you like me to read to you?”

Lena looks up at her wide, doe eyes that speak of awe at such an offer, nodding her little head as she hands another one of the books to Maggie and smiles at the cover as she reads, “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, huh? I figured that would be more Kara’s thing but here we go.”

Carefully she lifts the child into her lap, opening the book to the first page and pointing to the words as she reads. She takes her time and enunciates the words clearly like she used to do for her younger siblings when she would read to them over a decade ago. Maggie also keeps a careful eye out on Kara to make sure the small blonde child is having fun with her shrunken teammates.

After a few minutes a couple more kids gather around, Winn cuddling up to her side with the RC car in his lap and a few other miniature DEO agents – one little boy handing her another book when she’s finished with the first one. Moving around the children she pulls Winn into her lap beside Lena so the other children can gather around and see the pages.

After she goes through a couple books other adults have come to pick up the children – Maggie wonders just how J’onn and Lucy had explained this to the family of all the agents. She can’t help but chuckle at the surreal sights and sounds, thinking that it’s odd that the DEO has turned into a veritable daycare. Lena’s curled up to Maggie, tiny fingers threaded in the police detective’s shirt and clinging tightly. J’onn has returned with M’gann and the two of them come over, both of them shooting Maggie warm smiles so she doesn’t protest when J’onn snaps a photo.

“Winn, buddy, it looks like you’re coming with us,” J’onn says as gently as possible, kneeling down to get on the little boy’s level – M’gann following suit so she can greet the boy. “This is M’gann, we’re going to be looking after you, okay?”

Winn looks a little bashful, but Maggie encourages him gently and smiles as he goes over and reaches for J’onn to pick him up. The Martian looks rather uncomfortable for a moment, but very carefully he lifts the boy into his arms at M’gann’s urging. After a few moments of M’gann talking to Winn the little boy is back to smiling and giggling as J’onn explains, “Alex is upstairs – I’ve already given her the keys to an unused safe house so you two will have room for two toddlers and Dr. Danvers.”

“Oh, yeah I didn’t even think about that,” Maggie says a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as Kara comes flying over and jumping right into the middle of her knocking the wind out of her. “Oh fu…. Ouch, Kara be careful okay?”

Kara just giggles and hugs Maggie while apologizing, “Sorry Maggie, are you hurted?”

“No, not exactly just a little surprised,” Maggie says, trying not to wince as she gets up while suggesting, “What do you say we go get Alex and then get out of here.”

“Can we get food?!” Kara asks quickly, flashing Maggie a hopeful grin with bright, pleading eyes, as she practically bounces up the steps – holding onto the hand rail while hopping up every single step, “Please, pretty please? I’m a lot hungry.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” Maggie tells her with a chuckle, amused that even in miniature Kara Danvers was going to break the bank with her dietary habits. Bouncing Lena on her hip gently as she guides them upstairs she asks Lena, “What about you, little bit, you hungry too?”

Lena nods before tucking her face shyly against Maggie’s neck, clearly still rather hesitant and anxious so Maggie doesn’t press her further. Instead she rubs her back tenderly as she waits patiently for Kara to get out the last of her energy on the steps, worried that they may be up with the small Kryptonian all night long at this rate since she hasn’t shown any signs of tiring.

As they reach the medical bay Maggie spots Alex, Lucy and Hamilton looking rather pensive so she sets the two children down with a game on her phone and the book Lena’s absconded from the playroom. Going over to the other women she quickly finds out what has them looking so grim and upset, as Alex moves over to snuggle into Maggie’s embrace the police detective gets a good look at a tiny, battered child on the bed.

Pressing a kiss to Alex’s temple she studies the very clearly neglected and abused child – her delicate face is marred with a couple bruises under her eye and along her cheek, small lip puffy and split. The little girl’s arm is in a new cast but her other is mottled with bruises of various colors that the police detective knows mean various bruises at different stages of healing. Maggie feels like she might cry, wondering who on earth could do such a heinous thing to a child – gently she rubs Alex’s shoulders trying to soothe her girlfriend.

At the head of the bed Lucy stands looking at the small child tenderly, brushing her fingers softly through short brown hair as she looks over to Alex, nodding a somber greeting to Maggie, “Go on Danvers, you’ve got two toddlers already and knowing Kara she’s probably hungry.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asks quickly, her voice high with concern and filled with the empathy Maggie’s gotten used to hearing.

“Yeah, I’m going to stay here with Drew until she can be released,” Lucy assures with a small smile, “I mean, I think two kids is your limit right now Alex.”

Alex snorts as she moves over to hug Lucy, assuring her softly, “Drew’s going to heal, and if you need anything don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”

“Yeah, I know she healed the first go around but I – I just never knew it was this bad for her,” Lucy remarks, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest that she didn’t recognize how bad the abuse had been for her West Point roommate and friend.

“Well, she’s got you to look after her for now, Lane,” Maggie encourages, offering her a genuine smile as she suggests honestly, “Let us know when she’s well enough for a play date.”

Lucy can’t help but smile at Maggie’s antics, wondering if Drew would get along with the other children – looking over she sees that Kara’s roped Lena into trying to sneak lollipops out the container on Hamilton’s desk. Smirking she nods towards the two girls – Lena climbing up to stand on Kara who’s directing the mission from all fours on the floor – to give Maggie and Alex a heads up, “Sure thing, but right now you’ve already got your hands full!”

“Kara no!” Alex exclaims in exasperation, wondering how she’s going to keep her little sister from raiding the cabinets and refrigerator at all hours of the day and night. Maggie’s already picked up Lena before she can grab the glass jar and Alex quickly scoops Kara up while scolding, “Kara you’re supposed to ask first.”

“But I’m hungry,” Kara pouts adorably, her bottom lip sticking out as she looks up at Alex pleadingly, “Can we eat now?”

“Do you think you can manage shopping if I give you another package of goldfish?” Alex asks with a tired smile, hoping that the child will take the bait without fussing.

“Cookies?” Kara asks with a mischievous little smile as she tries to negotiate her way into a sweeter snack. She knows she’s got something going for her when Maggie starts to genuinely laugh and ruffles her hair and murmurs teasingly to Alex.

“Okay, but you split them with Lena,” Alex says seriously, pointing her finger at Kara and wondering how much of a scolding she’s going to get from their mother when Eliza founds out just how much junk food she’s given the little alien. Picking up the package of cookies she opens them and splits them evenly between the girls, rubbing Lena’s shoulders tenderly as she tells her soon-to-be wife, “My mother is going to kill me if we keep giving them junk food.”

Maggie snorts, “She’s going to kill you, she loves me – but seriously, even she’s going to have a hard time saying no to that angelic little face.”

“Hopefully, now let’s get out of here while these two are distracted.”

Chapter Text

It takes Maggie, Alex and another agent nearly 20 minutes to get the children’s car seats put correctly into the vehicle – fighting with straps and buckles until Alex considers them safe. Kara doesn’t fuss much about being put in the car seat, kicking her feet happily while looking out the window and chattering. But when it’s Lena’s turn she starts to pout with large, fat tears trailing down her cheeks when Alex tries to buckle her in. Alex brushes her tears away as she holds Lena and gently rocks her, assuring her that it’s just temporary, “Kiddo, we’re just going to the store and then we’ll be home and we’ll cuddle as much as you want. Okay, Lena?”

Lena relents with a soft sniffle, letting Alex put her in the car seat – the agent clipping and tightening the straps appropriately, Alex kisses her temple and encourages her softly, “You’re such a good girl, Lena. It won’t be long, okay.”

Maggie takes the keys from her exhausted wife, letting Alex decompress a bit and give her time to text Sam and her mother about the most recent developments – change in location and updates on both girl’s being healthy. Sam is quick to offer her and Ruby’s help in getting the safe house arranged in a way that will not only be child safe but also with the plethora of new things they’re going to need. Eliza calls and quickly chats with Alex, telling her that her flight is booked and she’ll take an Uber to their place and be there some time after lunch the next day.

As they pull into the store parking lot Kara’s whining about being hungry and Lena tugs on Alex’s jacket to quietly ask to go to the bathroom. By the time they’re out of the bathroom and have the girls sitting in the cart – Kara insisting that she be able to ride in one of the themed grocery carts with Lena – it’s been half an hour.

Alex suggests getting groceries first as it will be the easiest thing to do – Maggie agrees, pushing the second cart towards the grocery side of the store. The two quickly managed to get enough fruits, vegetables, and snack packs to hopefully feed the two little girls – Alex sighs as she stacks a sixth crate of juice boxes onto the bottom of the cart hoping it will be enough. She gets what she things she needs and then adds two extra to try and compensate for Kara’s monstrous appetite, even at four she could probably still out eat her and Maggie.

The toy section is on the way to the clothes and shoes department and Kara’s quick to coo and point to all the toys and games. Maggie just grins and tugs Alex over to the toys, insisting that the girls should have some toys of their own - hopeful some toys will keep the kids happy and distracted when it comes time to try on a bunch of clothing. Alex relents rather easily and is glad she did when she watches the girls look around at all the toys in awe as to what they should look at first.

Kara’s quick to point out a wonder woman and Supergirl doll that makes Maggie laugh fondly as she ruffles Kara’s blonde curls, “Two badass women super heroes, you’ve got good taste mini-Danvers.”

“Maggie,” Alex half-heartedly scolds Maggie for cursing, knowing that the children are at an age that they could very well start parroting the language she and Maggie use – curse words included. She puts Kara back in the cart and lets her hold the boxes of her toys while she takes Lena’s hand and shows her around, hoping the small Luthor would find some toys that she’d like to play with. Soon enough the little girl points excitedly at one of the bright pink packages – and Alex looks over the dolls trying to find an age appropriate one that the girl might like.

Lena doesn’t seem all that impressed with the beach dolls and their swimsuits, or the fashion Barbie’s in ball gowns and high heels much to Maggie and Alex’s amusement. Alex looks through all the dolls and finally finds one she thinks the little girl will like, picking it up she holds it where Lena can get a better look as she tells her, “This doll is a robotics engineer, see her robot pal?”

Lena grins as she runs her fingers over the plastic encasing the doll and looks up at Alex pleadingly, wringing her hands a bit nervously. Alex really is going to kill Lillian Luthor the next time she sees her – wondering how in the world she could treat this precious child with such cold, contempt. Rubbing her back she tells her with a smile, “If you want this one go put it in the cart, then you can pick out one more toy okay?”

“Really?” Lena stops skipping towards the cart and looks back at her like Alex just told her she was Santa Claus, wide eyed and grinning.

“Yep, why don’t you go show Kara which doll you picked out,” Alex encourages, grinning as Lena runs back to the cart waving the box and calling out to Kara to look what she picked out. As she picks up Lena and lets her show Kara her new doll she has an idea of what Lena might want to play with based off the Barbie. Seeing Maggie looking at some games she suggests, “Hey Mags, I’m going to show Lena the robots could you keep an eye on Kara?”

“Sure thing,” Maggie says as she picks up the little blonde who is already playing with the doll still in the box. Maggie picks up a few more generic Fisher Price toys that look age appropriate and puts them in the cart as she asks the little blonde, “You wanna pick out some games?”

“Yes!”

Alex walks Lena over to the next aisle, holding the little girl’s hand to make sure she doesn’t wander off even though she doubts Lena would be comfortable being more than five feet from her or Maggie. Lena’s mouth drops open as she looks in wonder at all the robotic toys that are stacked up on either side of the aisle and Alex just smiles warmly as she says, “Go have a look at them, you won’t know which one you want to get if you don’t check’em out.”

Lena hesitantly walks up and down the row inspecting almost all of the robots, stopping to look in awe at the jelly fish and miniature sharks that swim in tanks. Taking in the designs and how they work, she sees the mechanical bugs and is no longer shy about picking up the toys to get a closer look. Alex grins as she watches Lena go back and forth examining the toys with an almost clinical precision, glad to see that child Lena was rather precocious and curious – just like adult Lena.

After several minutes of debating Lena has selected a robotic T-rex that comes with a remote control, Alex raises an eyebrow at that but just helps Lena pick it up and put it in the cart. She never pegged Lena as one of the little kids that loved dinosaurs but she figures she must have guessed wrong because as soon as Maggie and Kara join them with the other cart the little girl beams with pride and announces, “I gots a T-Rex!”

Maggie can’t help but snicker at Lena’s announcement checking the package to make sure it comes with batteries, “That you do little bit, and I’ll help you figure out how to work it when we get home.”

With the kids preoccupied with their toys the two women head to the clothing section and stockpile socks, underwear, and pull-ups before trying to get the girls to pick out some clothes. Maggie looks at all the tiny clothes and smirks at how Alex is looking at all of them with a smile, she knows she’d originally thought that kids weren’t for her – but seeing Alex smiling as she cares of the children makes her heart flip a little in her chest. Sure she was afraid that she’d wreck any kids of her own just like her parents wrecked her, but a part of her brain figures that maybe if she did do the parent thing with Alex that just maybe the adoring red head wouldn’t let either of them fail.

Kara is the easiest of the two when it comes to clothing which isn’t a surprise to either of the two women. Kara’s happy to pick out a yellow knit sweater and a variety of little girl’s tees that have prints of puppies and butterflies on bright colors. Kara wants to try on a couple skirts and Alex makes her try on some jeans even though she doesn’t want to but the red head reminds her that while winter’s in California are mild there’s going to be a few days where she’ll want pants.

Alex however almost can’t get Kara to change back into her normal clothes when she tries on a pair of Supergirl footy pajamas that has a detachable red cape. The agent is worried that at any moment Kara’s powers may activate and then she’d really be in trouble trying to chase down the super powered four-year-old, “Kara, please get changed – we want to order dinner soon and maybe make some brownies.”

“Brownies?”

“Kind of like cookies only better,” Maggie says as Kara starts to strip out of the pajamas right then and there until Alex takes her back to the changing room. The police detective looks at Lena who’s gotten a little grumpy – pouting and whining whenever she or Alex point out clothing to the little heiress. Both of them were surprised when Lena shakes her head at the shirts with kittens and bunnies on them.

Maggie tries to coach Lena into telling them what’s wrong, “Okay kiddo, we need a new system here. I need you to talk to me and Alex, okay?”

Lena looks at her dubiously, as if she’s waiting for further instructions even though she’s probably not going to like hearing them.

“You’re not going to get in trouble for talking to us – you clearly don’t like anything we’re picking out so could to tell us why, or maybe tells us what you do like,” Maggie explains patiently, she’s noticed that Lena doesn’t really behavior like most 3-year-olds she’s met previously. Most of them were loud, rather assertive, and could barely sit still for longer than a few minutes – but she suspects that even at three Lena had learned that it was best to keep quiet and out of the way.

Lena bites her bottom lip a bit nervously, clearly debating on whether or not she trusts Maggie enough to say anything about what she wants. But after a couple seconds and some squirming, Lena mumbles softly, “Robots.”

“Okay, I can work with that,” Maggie says with a dimpled smile as she calls out to her wife who is debating the finer points of socks and shoes with Kara, “Al, we’re going to head to the boys’ section, we’re going to find some robots.”

Alex just nods, waving them off, “Meet you in shoes.”

Once in the boys’ section Lena is quick to pick out a light blue sweater and a couple shirts with robots and space ships on them. Maggie picks up a couple pair of jeans and sweatpants when Lena points to a small black hoodie with a T-Rex skeleton on it and the Jurassic Park symbol on the sleeve. Chuckling Maggie knows Alex is going to get a kick out of Lena’s selection. Further down Maggie finds pajamas – laughing when Lena points to a pair of dinosaur pajamas and another that mimics NASA flight suits. Maggie ruffles her hair gently telling her, “Let’s see about some shoe huh? I bet your little feet are cold.”

Lena nods in agreement as they go looking for Alex when they get to the shoe section only to find Kara in the floor crying. Alex looks harried and upset as she picks Kara up, rocking her as she tries to console her wailing – giving Maggie a desperate look. The police detective pats Lena’s arm tenderly and tells her, “Stay here and don’t move okay?”

Lena sits still, just watching the scene unfold as she clutches at the cart handle. Maggie kneels down next to Alex and Kara, asking softly, “What’s wrong sweetheart?”

Alex looks up from where Kara’s whining and explains, “Kara’s probably hungry, tired, and a little overwhelmed at the moment. She just had a meltdown trying on shoes.”

“Alright, we’ll be quick then,” Maggie tells her, knowing that Alex is a little overwhelmed as well. Picking up the shoe measure she gets Lena to cooperate even though the littlest Luthor is starting to sniffling. “Okay kiddo, I’m going to give you a few options, okay?”

Lena nods while Maggie grabs up a variety of shoes and looks over to see Alex has finally gotten Kara to calm down. After trying on a half dozen shoes Lena settles on a pair of bright red converse that make her kick her feet and squeal a bit excitedly. Maggie also finds a pair of R2D2 house shoes and some fun colored socks to add to the ungodly pile of purchases – silently thanking J’onn for slipping Alex one of the DEO credit cards. Kara settles down enough for Alex to get her into a pair of yellow high tops similar to Lena’s and the blonde is happy for a bit before crankily whining and grabbing at Alex.

Checkout is a hassle and one of the teenagers bagging up their groceries offers to help them get it all loaded up with a cheerful smile he explains, “My mom had two kids when she took in me and my brother, so shopping was a nightmare. If you need to return anything or forgot something just call and ask for Mick, I’m here most days so I can get it ready for you to pick up.”

Maggie tips the kid telling him to keep it for himself while Alex tries to get Kara to let go of her long enough to buckle her up, Kara’s cranky and trying to tear open the package to her wonder woman doll – clearly hungry and tired despite all the snacks she’d been fed at the DEO. Lena’s humming softly to herself and rocking a bit in her car seat as she watches out the window curiously. Maggie opens the doll while Alex gets Kara buckled up, before handing her the doll – watching her cuddle it to her chest before closing her eyes and leaning her head against the head rest.

“Yep, dinner, bath, and then bedtime looks to be in order,” Maggie remarks as she guides Alex to the passenger seat, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek.

Maggie holds Alex’s hand in her own as they head towards the safe house turned child refuge, when they get there they find that Sam and Ruby have already been let in. Sam’s smiling as she and Ruby come out to greet them – the twelve-year-old is excited and bouncing on her toes hoping to see the children. Sam can tell that Alex and Maggie are a bit worn out and quickly pulls them both into a hug as she tells her daughter, “Let’s help them get the groceries into the house, Rubes.”

“Okay mom!”

Sam picks up a few bags of groceries along with Ruby who is quickly running in and out of the house at an inhuman pace – clearly looking forward to getting all of the groceries in so she can see the girls. Kara and Lena are still asleep, Alex and Maggie carry them in and lay them on the sofa to let them sleep while they put things away. Alex is quick to make sure that all the electrical sockets are covered and the cabinets within reach of the toddlers get child safety locks put on them.

Ruby is quick to help Maggie stock the refrigerator with the ungodly amount of juice boxes and the stockpile of fruit. Sam helps Alex check everything over for safety, putting up a child gate to try and keep the toddlers out of the laundry room that leads to the garage. After a quiet hour of finding where everything is and putting all the new things away Sam answers the door for the delivery of Chinese including a large order of pot stickers, explaining, “I figured dumplings and pot stickers would be good finger food for toddlers, and that you guys would be half starving too. I also brought some of Ruby’s things – blankets, books, and bath toys.”

“Fuck,” Alex exclaims, putting her face in her hands as she explains, “I completely forgot bath supplies.”

“We brought some Aunt Alex, don’t worry. We gotcha covered,” Ruby says sweetly from where she’s watching the little kids sleeping, she recognizes Kara and Lena right away and coos, “They’re so small – look mom their little hands and they’re fingers are so tiny.”

Sam smiles as she comes up and wraps her arms around her daughter, kiss the crown of her head as she tells her, “Once upon a time you were that tiny – but I blinked and you’ve grown quite a bit.”

Ruby rolls her eyes a bit but turns around to hug her mother tightly, the two of them pulling away from each other to help set the table.  Alex is already putting together the two booster seats while Maggie and Sam set the table and dish out food. Once everything is ready, with juice boxes in place and glasses poured for the older people Alex wakes up Kara and Lena, the blonde perks up right away when Alex tells them, “Hey sleepyheads, we have some guests and dinner is ready.”

“I’m hungry,” Kara agrees with a smile, clearly in better humor after a nap and with the prospects of food on the horizon. She’s quick to get up and go to where Maggie is, tugging on her pants and asking to be helped into a seat – saying thank you when Maggie does so with a smile.

Ruby asks if she can sit between Kara and Lena, wide eyed and grinning when Maggie tells her she can but to be warned, “They’re likely going to be tiny disasters while eating, just an FYI.”

“I know, and I can’t wait to take a bunch of pictures,” Ruby agrees easily, sharing a conspiratorial grin with Maggie, “I can’t wait until Aunt Lena sees these pictures we she’s back to normal.”

“I like the way you think,” Maggie tells the pre-teen, high fiving her as she sets out a rather large stack of napkins on the table top.

In the living room Alex and Sam are trying to get Lena to cooperate. Lena grumbles tiredly while rolling over to try and get more comfortable, and Sam snickers, “Lena was never a morning person, so when you have a 4-year-old night owl don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lena blinks tiredly and looks up to the tall woman, yawning adorably and rubbing her eyes before reaching up for her. Alex chuckles as she thinks about how adorable it is when Sam picks Lena up and cuddles her – she didn’t expect Lena to be so comfortable with strangers. But it would seem that Sam’s calm, warm demeanor wins over the little Luthor quite quickly – she takes Lena to the table while talking to her and explaining everything so Lena doesn’t feel so lost or confused about being in a new place.

By the time Alex gets settled down at the table, Sam’s already cutting up pot stickers and some noodles for Lena once the little Luthor is settled into the booster seat. Ruby has put straws in juice boxes for the two smaller children, cooing at the girls as she gushes to the adults, “They’re so adorable!”

“Give it time,” Alex tells her with a grin as she cuts up pot stickers and dumplings for Kara. Kara however is eyeing her favorite food suspiciously, poking at it with her fork and whining. Alex gives her an exasperated look and explains with an amused snort, “Kara, they’re pot stickers. You love these things – like eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner love them.”

“No,” Kara insists, looking at Alex like she’s grown a second head at the suggestion that this is her favorite food. Sam and Maggie start to laugh right away, both of them finding it hysterical that Kara Danvers is a picky eater and is currently turning her nose up pot stickers. The toddler scowls at the food on her plate and pushes it away from her in a huff that has them laughing even more.

Ruby has gotten her phone out and switched to video mode as she videos Lena who is contently eating her pot stickers before panning to Alex and Kara, asking sweetly, “Aunt Alex, what are we having for dinner?”

“Pot stickers,” Alex says with a small smile as she picks one up and eats it, offering Kara a piece of one but the blonde girl just turns her face away grumbling and squirming pitifully, “Kara, these are your favorite. You’ll like it, I promise.”

“No, I hate pot stickers!”

“Would just try it?” Alex asks a little exasperated as she takes a sip of her beer, her nerves needing to wind down a bit. Kara just whines and picks at the food, so Alex sets an easy ultimatum, “If you don’t eat your dinner you can’t have any dessert.”

“Dessert?!” Lena asks with a growing smile.

“Of course,” Maggie says with a smile, playing along with Alex in trying to get Kara to eat her food, “We have brownies for when we watch a movie after dinner – but you have to eat first.”

Kara grumbles but picks up a piece of the pot sticker and nibbles at it begrudgingly, but as soon as she tastes the food her eyes widen comically and she stuffs the rest of the bite into her mouth. As she starts to eat her dinner she’s humming and making small, pleased noises as she savors each bite and then asks for more. Ruby saves the video and sends it to everyone including Eliza – she knows Kara’s not going to live this down when she’s back to being an adult.

“I would say ‘I told you so’ but I don’t think she would understand the implications,” Alex says laughing as she watches Sam lift Lena into her lap and feeds her little bits from her own plate – of course Lena would still prefer vegetables as a child.

“At least you won’t have to argue with this one about eating her vegetables,” Sam says with a grin, as she holds a small piece of broccoli on her fork for Lena to eat. She’d always joked that Lena was adorable and puppy like as an adult, looking so precious and innocent that Lena often took insult at Sam’s commentary. But Sam was wrong at the time, this Lena was the most sweet, innocent thing she’d ever seen since Ruby was this age. Sam smiles and laughs when Ruby takes their picture, Lena giggling and waving shyly when prompted.

By the time dinner is over Kara’s a mess, juice and noodles in her hair and all down the front of her clothes. Lena managed to stay mostly clean but her face is smudged with sticky sauce and she’s spilled a little juice on her shirt. Alex’s picking Kara up as she announces, “Alright, bath time kiddos.”

“But what about brownies!” Kara asks incredulously, feeling like she’s gotten duped into eating her dinner and now her reward is being withheld.

“After a bath,” Alex corrects but when Kara pouts she tells her, “Don’t you want to be all nice and clean. And you can show Sam and Ruby your new pajamas.”

As Alex heads towards the master bathroom Kara is leaning over her shoulder and calling out to Lena. Sam smirks as she picks up Lena and carries her towards the bathroom even though Alex rolls her eyes and tells her, “They’re still whipped for each other as toddlers.”

“I’m not surprised,” Sam retorts with a grin – and honestly she isn’t. With how often Lena gave Kara heart eyes and the happy puppy of a woman brought the CEO lunch she’s more surprised that things between the two didn’t progress a lot quicker than they did.

In the master bathroom Alex’s gotten out towels but looks at the bath tub as if she’s expecting a sea monster to come up from the drain. She balks a little at the idea of seeing Kara or Lena in the nude – while Kara isn’t the most modest person Alex knows Lena will likely be mortified if she remembers her time as a toddler. But at the same time she can’t let them stay dirty and Kara’s already pulling her clothes and shoes off.

Sam’s already set Lena down and is get out the bath stuff, without missing a step she puts the bathmat down in the tub before she starts the water, feeling how warm it is to make sure it’s warm enough but not so hot it will be uncomfortable or burn. Alex gets a cup and some wash rags and tosses them in before helping Kara untangle herself from her shirt. Lena’s letting Sam help her get ready for a bath as she talks to the older woman, playing with the long tendrils of Sam’s hair while she does so.

Alex has to stop a very naked Kara from running out of the bathroom to find Maggie to inquire about brownies, instead setting her in the bathtub as Sam offers both girls rubber duckies to play with. Alex watches Sam as she carefully washes Lena’s hair, keeping the water from getting in Lena’s face before lathering it up with soap – she follows suit and tries to do the same thing with Kara. Except the golden retriever of a girl is excitedly moving about and try as she might Alex ends up getting water all over the place – luckily Kara doesn’t seem to mind water getting on her face.

Sam can’t help but chuckle, “Seems like you’ve got your hands full so long as you’re caring for a super powered toddler – does she have any of her powers.”

“I don’t think they’ve kicked in yet,” Alex tells her while wincing and closing her eyes as Kara’s enthusiastic playing splashes water on her face and all down the front of her shirt. With a little laugh she adds, “Thankfully.”

Lena doesn’t look as enthusiastic with the bath, half-heartedly watching the little yellow ducks bobbing precariously in the water. Sam rubs her arm and asks tenderly, “Hey kiddo, are you okay?”

Lena nods even though her lip trembles and she tries to distract herself with the yellow duck. Sam dips a washcloth into the water and lathers it with soap before starting to wash Lena’s arms, noticing that the girl is watching her carefully. Lena shifts around uncomfortably, clearly feeling quite vulnerable in her current situation. Alex has taken on a brooding look, reaching over she gently rubs a hand over Lena’s shoulders to comfort her, “We’ll have you clean, dry, and in some cozy pj’s soon, kiddo.”

Sam washes the child quickly and effectively before helping Lena stand up before wrapping her in a large, fluffy towel and lifting her out of the tub, taking a seat on the toilet and holding the girl in her lap rubbing her arms and back tenderly to dry her off. Sam helps Lena step into a pullup just to be safe before helping the small girl into her nice warm dinosaur pajamas so she can cuddle her more comfortably.

By the time Alex gets Kara cleaned, dried, and in her Supergirl pajamas her shirt is soaked and she looks half drowned and Lena’s already snuggled up with Sam and holding her doll. Maggie can’t help but chuckle when Alex asks her if she can watch Kara while she changes out of her ruined clothing – drawing Alex in for a kiss that makes Kara giggle loudly. Maggie is cleaning up and unboxing the girls’ toys with Kara’s zooming around with her wonder woman doll, following her around the kitchen and badgering her about when the brownies will be ready.

Alex – who’s changed into sweatpants and a sweater – just chuckles when she sees Kara being Maggie’s annoying little shadow, as she tells her sister, “Go sit in the living room, Kara. The brownies will be finished in a little bit just be patient for me, please?”

Kara just pouts, turning to Maggie she lifts her arms up indicating she wants to be picked up – clearly a little grumpy and tired still. The detective picks her up and just carries her on her hip while she goes to the kitchen and pours some water in to sippy cups, letting Alex take the brownies out of the oven and dish them out to cool down.

Once they all get settled down – each girl getting a bowl with a brownie in it – Alex switches on the television as they sort through the movies that Sam brought and a few of the ones that they’d gotten at the store. There’s much debating and looking at covers – Maggie has to talk Lena out of Jurassic Park as she tells the child, “I’m not sure this movie is for kids, little bit.”

“But…dinosaurs,” Lena insists, pointing at the T-rex and the velociraptors on the cover of the movie – she’s stating it so matter-of-factly that Maggie’s convinced that Lena is going to cry if she doesn’t get to see this movie.

Alex and Sam are snickering, elbowing each other and muttering to each other about how serious and determined Lena is as a toddler. All Maggie can think of as she tries to diffuse the situation delicately is that those dinosaurs gave her nightmares when she watched the movie when it first came out and she was 10-years-old at the time. Maggie tries to explain, “I think those are scary dinosaurs.”

Lena gives her a perplexed look, pushing the movie towards Maggie who is desperately looking to the other adults for help but find that she’s on her own because her lovely wife and dear friend are almost in tears from laughing so much. Ruby just shrugs, just as confused about what to do as Maggie is at the moment. Maggie sighs as she picks up the movie and puts it aside, “How about this? We watch a more kid friendly movie tonight and we’ll take you guys to the museum to see real dinosaur bones and stuff later this week.”

Lena’s eyes widen and she nods quickly, reaching for Maggie who picks her up and puts her in her lap – letting Alex and Sam work out which movie they’re going to watch. She looks at the two of them still snickering and asks, “Which one of you had the bright idea that this movie would in any way be a good idea?”

“I got it because I like that movie, I didn’t realize Lena was going to be so entertained by dinosaurs,” Alex admits sheepishly, groaning when Lena and Kara both point to the movie Frozen – she’s not thrilled that that’s the movie they picked because she just has a feeling that both of the little girls are going to watch it so much that eventually she and Maggie will know all the songs and lines by heart.

Lena seems to enjoy the movie, watching it amusedly but she doesn’t seem to share Kara’s enthusiasm for it. The little blonde is absolutely enthralled with the music and the characters, so hyped up that she’s dancing around until she gets dizzy and falls in the floor laughing much to Alex’s amusement – grateful that Ruby seems to be commemorating this odd, once in a universe event, to video.

By the time the movie is over Kara’s already asleep, curled up in Alex’s lap and drooling lightly on her sister’s shoulder as she snoozes contently. Lena is cranky and trying to sleep against Sam, whimpering when the CFO hands her over to Maggie – shuffling her own tired daughter out to the car, both of them saying their goodbyes and letting the two women get the small children to bed.

Maggie rubs Lena’s back tenderly and asks, “You ready to go to sleep?”

Lena shakes her head but yawns anyway, which makes Maggie chuckle, “Come on, let’s go to bed, my dinosaur girl.”

Lena whines while yawning again, tiredly she mutters, “No.”

“Yep, time for bed,” Maggie tells her, lifting the child into her arms and following Alex upstairs towards the children’s room.

Luckily Kara remained asleep the whole time and was currently squirming in her sleep – kicking the covers down as she curls up on her side in the sun yellow sheets with wonder woman print on them. Her dolls are with her – one tucked under each of her arms. Lena however looks dubious as Maggie and Alex tuck her in, brushing hair from her face and making sure she has her doll as well. Her small sweet voice is a little sad and confused as she whispers, “Alex?”

“Yeah kiddo, what are you thinking about?”

“Where is we?” Lena asks a bit timidly over the edge of her covers, looking a little worried about what the woman’s answer may be.

“Oh, I guess we didn’t tell you did we?” Alex says while wincing, wondering how she’s going to handle this situation.

“You’re at home with Alex and I, in California. Are you scared?” Maggie asks curiously, wondering how Lena at three years old seemed to already be anxious and hyper-aware of her surroundings – she’s going to have ask Alex if she can get in on the witch hunt for Lillian Luthor the next time it happens.

Lena nods and tears are welling up in her eyes, but the child doesn’t offer any further indications as to what’s wrong. Alex’s heart breaks, she’d known Lena was emotionally stunted and was starved for affection and attention but worried that it would only bring her pain to tell her the truth. Lena is looking at Alex with such sad eyes as she cowers a bit under her covers, looking to Maggie for some help. But it would seem neither woman is sure how to handle this situation – both sharing equally nervous, hesitant looks.

Alex doesn’t want to lie to them but at the same time she already knows the outcomes – outcomes that a three-year-old shouldn’t be told. Stroking her fingers through Lena’s hair she tells her earnestly, “Sweetheart, there’s nothing to be scared of here. Maggie and I are going to take good care of you just like you were our own.”

Lena seems to relax with that simple, to the point explanation as she looks up at the two women with a bashful yet hopeful look, “Really?”

“Yeah, is that okay?” Maggie asks gently, brushing hair from Lena’s face as she tries to understand what gears are turning over and over in Lena’s little mind.

Lena nods quickly with a small smile that has both Alex and Maggie sighing a bit with relief – both of them breathing out some tension. Alex smooths out the covers and ruffles Lena’s hair as she asks, “Do you think you can sleep now?”

Lena nods, yawning as she turns on her side and curls up into a tiny lump of limbs as Maggie gets up and turns out the lights. Alex takes a moment to rub her back, trying to ease the young girl into a peaceful sleep. With the night light plugged in and making sure both girls are sufficiently in bed the two women head back downstairs.

There’s so much for them to talk about but the both of them are so exhausted, Alex drops face down onto the bed not bothering to change into pajamas. Maggie’s equally exhausted, just tugging off her jeans and forgoing trying to find some of her things that Sam brought over from their apartment – she’d worry about getting more of their clothing tomorrow.

Alex finally moves again, curling up against Maggie, resting her head against her wife’s shoulder as Maggie drapes an arm around her middle. Neither one of them is bothering to get under the covers too physically and emotional exhausted to care – now that they have some quiet time to themselves they savor being close with one another.

“Fuck,” Alex mutters, but then she breaks into tired laughter as she buries her face against Maggie’s chest – trying to explain but laughing too hard.

“What?!” Maggie asks, worried that Alex may have already caved to the pressure of temporary motherhood. Ruffling Alex’s hair she asks again, “What’s so funny?”

“I forgot that I made reservations at the place with tiramisu for tonight…”

At that Maggie breaks into laughter with her, both of them shaking with giggles at the absurdity of the situation. She’d known she was going to meet Alex for something after work but seeing as they now had two children upstairs she’d pushed it to the back of her mind. Apparently they’d both forgotten about date night until just now.

Through giggles Alex leans over Maggie and presses a kiss to her lips, that teasing, mirthful grin on her face as she suggests, “Maybe we should’ve started with a dog.”

 “Little late now though,” Maggie teases back, tickling along Alex’s sides just see her scrunch up her nose adorably as she tries to squirm away.

“Har Har, as soon as we figure out how to reverse engineer what that ray gun did we get my sister and Lena back – sans the sippy cups and booster seats.”

Alex falls asleep soon enough, sprawled out and still in her clothing and Maggie is just about to drift off to sleep when she thinks she hears little feet in the hallway. Peeking at the door that isn’t quite shut she doesn’t see anything, but just moments after she closes her eyes and is about to slip off to sleep she feels tiny fingers grasp her hand and tug timidly. The movement is so soft that Maggie’s not sure it really happened until she feels it again, cracking her eyes open she sees a dark head of hair cowering against the side of the bed.

Sitting up and moving Alex’s arm off her, the agent groaning in her sleep and curls up, she sees Lena nervously fidgeting with her fingers and shifting her weight from one socked foot to another. Maggie reaches down and rests a hand on Lena’s shoulder, making her startle and it’s then she notices tears have welled up in green eyes.

“Hey, niña, are you having trouble sleeping in a new place?” Maggie asks tenderly, seeing Lena nod nervously – as if she’s afraid of what Maggie is going to do since she’d been woken up. Carefully the detective reaches down and lifts Lena onto the bed with her, settling the child in between her and Alex and tucking the blanket at the foot of the bed over her.

Lena’s shaking but she doesn’t sniffle or whimper, just curls up closer to Maggie and starts to relax when the woman wraps an arm around her and holds her securely to her chest, humming softly to her, “Get some sleep, Lena, you’re safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you, baby.”

Chapter Text

Alex rolls over, groaning at the sunlight streaming through the blinds as she checks her watch and sees that it’s still rather early – 0748 to be exact. Part of her is a little confused as she looks at the pale blue sheets and the furniture in the room, wondering where she’s managed to fall asleep. But upon seeing Maggie, still snoozing away with a tiny child wrapped up and sleeping contently in her arms the memories of yesterday come flooding back and she groans again while rubbing her temples. It wasn’t a dream, which means the loud footsteps padding down the hall belong to Kara.

Alex doesn’t really have time to think much more about it when the blonde child climbs up the foot of the bed and clumsily launches herself on top of her. The child is giggling and doesn’t seem to have hurt herself even though Alex can’t help but grumble, pained, “Great shot, Kara – my kidney is going to feel that for a few hours at least.”

Kara just giggles as she snuggles up to Alex, raking her fingers through Alex’s bedhead hair that’s probably sticking up at odd angles. Alex just grins, as she tickles Kara’s tummy to watch her laugh and squirm, “I take it you had sweet dreams, huh Kara?”

“Sweet dreams!” Kara confirms as she decides to turn the tables on her sister, small fingers finding Alex’s sides but is unhappy to find out that Alex isn’t quite as ticklish as she is.

“Some people are trying to sleep,” Maggie grouses tiredly, cracking open an eye to get a good look at Alex and Kara – the two sisters are playfully scuffling while trying to tickle one another. Looking down she sees that Lena is still trying to sleep tiredly, “Isn’t that right, Lena?”

Lena just grumbles sourly and curls up against Maggie, trying to hide her face against the woman’s neck to ward off the sunlight. Kara is about to make a go for Lena but Alex picks her up and pulls her into her lap as Kara announces, “No, no more sleep! Time for breakfast!”

“Alright, I’ll get you something to eat, I’m not going to be able to sleep any longer so I may as well get some coffee,” Alex tells Kara and Maggie, leaning over to kiss her wife on the lips before she gets up and carries Kara towards the living room, “Let’s see what cereal we’ve got.”

“No cereal,” Kara complains with a groan but she quickly perks up and suggests, “Donuts!”

“No, we are not having donuts for breakfast,” Alex scolds lightly shaking her head and wondering how adult Kara hasn’t gotten some Kryptonian version of diabetes with all the sweets and junk food she’s eaten.

“Why not?” Kara asks innocently enough with a full on pout – lower lip sticking out and puppy dog eyes that make Alex want to groan again.

“Because, if you eat anymore sweets I’m going to be in trouble with our mother – that’s why,” Alex tells her honestly but she can’t help but chuckle as Kara tries to work this over in her mind. “You also need to eat some nutritious things so that you can grow up healthy – donuts have like zero nutritional value, sis.”

“No donuts ever?” Kara asks with a horrified and heartbroken expression on her face that makes Alex sigh because she knows she’s already lost – not that she really had a snowballs chance in hell given that she had a difficult enough time telling adult Kara no most of the time.

“Donuts for special occasions, and only special occasions,” Alex amends as she sets Kara down in the booster seat and starts to rummage through the cabinets to see if she can find something relatively healthy. She quickly gets a juice box out for her sister and sets the Keurig to making a couple mugs of French roast coffee – the cheerios would be fine for her and Maggie got bagels but she’s sure neither of the children will be a big fan of either.

Maggie comes padding into the kitchen, seeing Alex picking up the mugs of coffee she grins and asks, “Is one of those for me?”

“Of course,” Alex tells her with a smile, handing her one of the mugs and pressing a kiss to her temple before sipping at her coffee, “Any ideas on breakfast?”

“Donuts!” Kara exclaims, clapping her hands together and pleading, “Please?! Today can be special.”

Maggie can’t help but chuckle even though she almost snorts some of her coffee, Sunny Danvers always had an answer for why junk food was good for every meal. She checks the refrigerator and sets out some things as she tells Alex, “We’ll compromise. No donuts, but we’ll have pancakes.”

“Chocolate pancakes?” Kara says with a devious little grin, still trying to get a sweet dessert for breakfast.

“You can pick the fruit you want on top, but there will be whipped cream,” Maggie tells her with a tone of finality, as she sets to making them while savoring her coffee and the rush of caffeine. She hugs Alex from behind and tells her, “You should go shower and get dressed before your mother shows up and we have to head back to the labs.”

“Yep, I’m on it,” Alex says as the passes by a very sleepy and rather grumpy looking three-year-old as Lena stumbles towards the kitchen while yawning and rubbing her eyes with her little fists. Ruffling the little girl’s hair, she tells her, “Maggie’s making breakfast in the kitchen.”

The morning goes much easier after Kara is sated with strawberry and blueberry pancakes with a pile of whipped cream on top. Lena is perfectly fine with a pancake, slices of banana and some orange juice. Alex is also pleased with the pancakes more than she could have ever been with cereal or toast. The girls are content to play with their new toys – Lena enamored with the remote controlled T-rex while Kara happily hums to Frozen playing in the background while she colors in one of the coloring books. Alex catches up on her report reading while Maggie sits at the table and begrudgingly works on the case reports she needs to get finished.

Later after lunch a knock at the door has Lena startling and Kara running to the door with Alex a half step after her. Luckily when the door opens she finds Dr. Danvers has arrived safely – the red head hugs her mother before picking up Kara and scolding gently, “Kara, you should never answer the door without an adult, okay?”

Kara sighs heavily but agrees, “Okay.”

Eliza laughs a bit as she looks over her youngest daughter, smiling at how adorable she is at this age and how well Alex seems to be handling the rambunctious child. Alex steps out of the doorway and invites her in, “Hey mom, how was your flight?”

“Everything went fine,” Eliza assures, beaming at Kara who’s starting to smile back at her even if she seems a little shy, “Do you remember me?”

“This is our mom,” Alex tells Kara, not really expecting her to remember much of life before hand because of her age. She’s honestly hoping that the four-year-old doesn’t start having memories of Krypton, Alura or Astra. A distraught, inconsolable child is not how Alex wants to spend her afternoon, especially not since they’ll likely be heading back to labs. That and it would just destroy her to see Kara so upset, it hurt her enough when Kara was a teen but having to explain that her old home and family are gone to a four-year-old would destroy her. Looking to her mother she explains, “I’m guessing they don’t remember much being this little. Kara can you say “hi”?”

“She’s clearly rather young,” Eliza agrees with her daughter, kneeling down to get a better look at her adopted daughter who now stands about two feet tall and some change. “Hello, Kara. It’s okay if you need some time to figure this out, and if it helps - you usually call me Eliza instead of mom like Alex does.”

Kara looks momentarily confused – like she’s about to protest – but as she looks between Alex and Eliza she decides that Alex wouldn’t lie to her. If Alex was always protecting her and she trusted Eliza, then Kara figures this woman must also be a safe person. The older blonde also has a gentle warm smile that puts Kara at ease so she asks tentatively, “ ‘Liza?”

“Hello my sweet girl,” Eliza beams tenderly, she wants to reach out and pick up the child and cuddle her but she gives Kara time to warm up to her again. It doesn’t take long for Kara to come closer and reach for her, and she gladly lifts Kara into her arms and cuddles her while kissing the crown of golden curls, “How are you doing Kara?”

“I’m coloring, and we seen Frozen!” Kara tells her, pointing towards the table where she’s left her crayons strewn all over the place and the movie is a dull drone in the background.

Lena’s gotten up and taken to hiding behind Alex’s legs, curious about what’s going on but not quite as socially bold as Kara.  Alex chuckles a bit at Lena’s shyness but she takes the girls hand in her own and guides her to stand in front of her, leaning down to rub her shoulders and explain, “Lena this is my mom, Eliza. Mom, this is Lena Luthor.”

Lena sticks out her tiny hand and shyly mumbles, “Hello, ‘Liza.”

Eliza kneels down, setting Kara on her feet but still holding her close she shakes Lena’s hand politely with a warm smile, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lena. How are you doing?”

“Okay,” Lena says a bit shyly but smiles and tells the older woman, at the question she explains what she’s been doing - sensing that the blonde woman must be as kind and understanding as Alex and Maggie, “I have a dinosaur! He roars!”

“Why don’t you show me that in a minute, first I’m guessing you’d like to see what I brought for you,” Eliza tells them with an excited grin, even though Maggie and Alex are shaking their heads. She knows that Kara and Lena aren’t going to be children for very long but she couldn’t help but want them to enjoy what time they have as children -  for them to have fun and be a bit spoiled.

“You’re going to spoil them.” Alex warns with a laugh, watching as her very little sister is bouncing on her toes.

“A surprise?!” Kara squeals in excitement, she’s grabbed Lena’s hand the little Luthor seems to be just as eager as the blonde chatters to her about what it could possibly be. She really does hope that there’s some candy involved in the surprise.

“Inside voice, Kara,” Eliza reminds as she takes out two brightly wrapped packages, handing a pink one with white stripes and a large bow to Kara, the purple with polka dots and lots of curly ribbon is handed to Lena.

Eliza guides Kara and Lena into the living room – watching as the two of them are quick to tear into the presents. Lena squeals happily as she finds a plush cat with a long, fluffy tail in a beautiful marmalade orange color with white paws – cuddling the toy to her chest she announces her thanks rather loudly. Kara’s unwrapped a golden retriever plush, giggling as she quickly runs to get her wonder woman and super girl dolls so they can ride the dog around while she makes barking noises.

Later in the afternoon, after speaking with J’onn and a few texts with Lucy it would seem they’re busy with leads on who might possess the ‘shrink ray’ it’s suggested running more tests on the children tomorrow. Alex looks back at the pile of files then over to her mother who is playing a game of Candyland with the two girls. Kara’s giggling and chatting about how much she loves chocolate as she moves her little game piece to the correct colored square. Lena picks up her card, plush cat sitting in her lap, as she points out some of the rather interesting features on the board while moving her character.

Maggie’s finishing up putting notes in one of her casefiles as Alex comes over to sit next to her, “How are the cases coming along?”

“Fine, just finishing up notes for the prosecution team on most of these,” Maggie tells her with a wiry grin as she peeks over at the girls and smiles so hard her dimples make an appearance.

“We’re not going into the DEO today, J’onn and Lucy are tracking some leads on the technology that did this. It’s not too much of a delay to just go in tomorrow morning,” Alex tells her, clasping Maggie’s hand gently as she smiles and suggests, “I was thinking that just a few blocks down is a park, since dinner is still a few hours out it might be nice to get them some fresh air.”

“Sounds like a plan, let me find some shoes before we start wrangling children,” Maggie teases, getting up and pressing a kiss to Alex’s lips before heading into the bedroom to rummage around for socks and shoes. By the time she gets back to the living room she finds Kara and Lena have already been told about going to the park for some playtime.

“Now we’ve got a few rules first before we leave,” Alex says as she helps Lena get her arms into her Jurassic Park hoodie, smiling at the way the green-eyed little girl traces over the T-Rex skeleton on the front happily humming to herself. “One, you have to hold one of our hands while we’re walking to and from the park – there are other people and cars so it’s kind of busy and we don’t want you to get lost.”

Kara looks less than thrilled at the rule but doesn’t say anything as she pulls her shoes on, a bit baffled by the strings she lets Eliza tie them neatly into bows. The doctor double knots them just to be on the safe side since Kara’s rather rambunctious and would probably prefer nearly tripping than stopping to let someone tie them for her again.

“Two, when we get the park you can play all you want but remember to be nice and wait your turn if there are other kids that want to play on the same thing you do. Okay?”

“Okay,” Lena agrees easily, smiling at her red tennis shoes and quietly thanking Alex when she ties them for her and sets her on her feet. Kara’s trying so hard to listen to her sister explaining the rules, but the other part of her is ready to go run around and play as she wonders what the park is going to be like – she also figures that no matter what she’ll have fun because Lena’s going too.

“Oh, and three,” Maggie adds quickly, a rather serious look on her face as she looks at the two children. She doesn’t want them to be scared of going to the park or of meeting new people – but at the same time she knows it’s not an impossibility that there could a predator lurking near the park. That and while Kara was shy sometimes it was more often than not that she didn’t know what a stranger was, “Don’t talk to strangers. If an adult you don’t know tries to talk to you come and get me or Alex, or Eliza and we’ll handle it. Okay?”

Both girls don’t seem to be perturbed by the rule and are quick to agree, neither of the children thinks for a second that the women would just leave them by themselves. Alex grabs the keys and her phone, locking up the house behind them as Kara’s grabbed on to Eliza’s hand as well as Lena’s – chattering happily to Lena about the people they see on the street and especially happy when one of Alex and Maggie’s new neighbors lets them see their puppy. Alex is grateful that toddler Kara is much more curious and less afraid than the 13-year-old who arrived on Earth after Krypton’s destruction and trip through the Phantom Zone.

She chalks it up to a 4-year-old having limited long-term memories and the fact that she and Maggie haven’t made a big deal out everyday things. Kara seems to take her cues from Alex, and since Alex didn’t panic or get upset about the cars or other people it seemed that Kara didn’t either. But then again Kara was a cheerful almost happy-go-lucky woman as an adult and seemed to be happy when the people around her are happy too.

Lena however was a different matter, the young Luthor was certainly curious but she was just as cautious about people, places, and things. While she was starting to become more trusting and affectionate there were times when Alex or Maggie would see the wary look of fear on the child’s face and know that she seems to be waiting for the other shoe to drop – for the masks to slip away and be replaced by less kind and affectionate faces. With so much upheaval and unpredictably early in her life it’s no wonder the little girl is cautious and a bit more timid.

When they get to the park, and in the pre-school age friendly section, they set to two loose and for a few seconds neither of them does anything – just watching the couple of other children. After a tiny bit of observation Kara is sprinting towards the jungle gym – Alex sprinting after her wondering if the little Kryptonian has the muscle tone and strength to navigate the equipment. Lena tentatively points to the merry go round, where a couple kids are trying to get it going and Maggie asks, “You want to go on the merry-go-round?”

Lena nods, asking softly, “Please.”

Kara’s already hanging upside from the jungle gym, laughing as she’s clearly amused that Alex is kind of freaking out that she might hurt herself. Alex warns her a bit nervously, “Be careful, Kara, and try not to fall.”

Maggie quickly becomes everyone’s favorite person when she tells the kids she’ll get the ride spinning once everyone is seated and holding onto the bars. She starts off rather gently, but Lena and the other children chorus, “Faster, faster!”

Maggie works the Merry go round up to a rather brisk spin but then lets off, allowing friction and gravity slow it down. She does this a few more times before Lena decides that she’s a little too dizzy to enjoy that ride anymore. Maggie and Alex both chuckles as Lena wobbles from side to side, a little dizzy and clumsy with her footing from the spinning ride. But it quickly clears up as she goes after her sunshiny friend - Kara’s excitedly exploring the cargo netting to get up to the slides so Lena decides she wants to go explore too.

Eliza has been taking pictures and is quick to assure Alex and Maggie that the two girls will be fine exploring the play equipment without them needing to hover. Maggie settles down in the grass watching as Kara goes down the slide first to show Lena that it’s not scary even though it looks really high up. Alex settles down beside her wife, waving to Kara who waves at her before wrapping Lena up in a hug and dragging her towards the steps and the little bridge that will take them back to the slides.

Alex takes a moment to look around at the other children and parents, watching a father and son playing catch with a football and another man teaching his school aged daughter how to fly a kite. She hadn’t been willing to break up with Maggie over the child disagreement – a part of her wasn’t sure about parenthood either. They both worked dangerous jobs and may not come home at the end of the day, and they each had their own worries and hang ups about how they would parent a child. Maggie worried that she wouldn’t be good enough, which Alex knew wasn’t true in the least – if anything she figured that Maggie would be the better parent since Alex is sure that she’d be too anxious or overbearing. But even with all these faults Alex still feels a pang of remorse for what could have been.

 Alex is broken from her reverie by the sounds of a child wailing – looking over she sees that Lena’s on the ground. While there are tears on Lena’s cheeks she’s not the child that’s loudly making their upset known to the world. Maggie’s already moving, and is quick to scoop Lena up as another woman comes rushing over – most likely the parent of the boy that’s crying. Alex moves quicker, she wonders what’s happened and how bad it’s going to be as she makes it to Kara’s side and rests a hand on her blonde head – feeling her sister shaking with anger.

“Your daughter hit my son,” the woman accuses, which just seems to make Kara even more angry and indignant. Her son, an older child about kindergarten age, is hiding his face against his mother’s thigh crying – and sure enough Alex can see the red impact mark on his cheek.

Alex sighs as she gets down on eye level with Kara, unsure as to why Kara struck the boy. Calmly she tries to explain to Kara, “You can’t hit other people, Kara, it’s not nice and you could hurt someone. You should apologize.”

“No!” Kara exclaims defiantly as she angrily points her finger at the still crying boy and tells them exactly what happened – the chastisement doesn’t even phase her righteous quest, “He pushed Lena and hurted her hands.”

Alex’s eyes narrow as she looks up at Maggie who’s carefully prying Lena’s hands from her shirt long enough to get a good look at her scraped palms – a couple scratches that would likely heal with some Neosporin and band-aids. Maggie presses a kiss to Lena’s temple and asks, “What happened little bit?”

“H-he pushed me,” Lena says with a little pout before pointing to the slide, recalling that the boy didn’t want her and Kara playing on the slide with the bigger kids. She looks at her palm, seeing a little smear of blood that makes her tear up again and wrap her arms around Maggie’s neck.

“You still shouldn’t hit people, next time come get me, okay?” Alex tells Kara, trying to calm her sister’s anger –if there’s one rule for self-preservation in National City it’s don’t fuck with Lena Luthor if you don’t want Supergirl or Kara Danvers tracking you down and making you regret it. Apparently, even at 4-years-old Kara has a righteous sense of justice and a protective streak a mile wide – especially in regards to Lena.

“Aren’t you going to make her apologize? She shouldn’t have hit my son.”

“Back off, Lady. Maybe you should teach your son that’s it’s not polite to push,” Maggie practically growls at her with a little glare, she’s not sure if the woman’s going to make a bigger deal out of this than necessary or not. She knows Alex is taken off guard by the woman’s rudeness but she’s not, and she’s also not going to put up with this woman’s shit either. “He could also use a lesson on waiting his turn and not bullying kids that are younger or smaller than him.”

Alex can tell that Maggie’s in fierce protection mode, even while cuddling Lena she’s shooting daggers at this woman just with her look alone. For a moment Alex is worried that the other parent is going to make a big deal out of her son getting his comeuppance for being a bully but the woman must think better of it after realizing Maggie won’t be backing down anytime soon. She tugs her brat off in the direction of the parking lot, loudly complaining that some people just shouldn’t be parents – not realizing the irony of that statement.

Kara sticks her tongue out at the boy who’s looking back at them – he’d done the same to her and Lena when he told them they couldn’t use the slide anymore because they were babies. Alex can’t help but snicker to herself as she tells the child, “You still shouldn’t hit people, Kara. If something like this happens you come and tell us, okay? We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“He pushed Lena,” Kara states plainly, the boy shouldn’t have pushed Lena and hurt her hands if he didn’t want Kara to punch him in the face.

Maggie just snickers and looks at Alex, shrugging her shoulders she just tells her wife with a grin, “He shouldn’t have pushed Lena. Isn’t that right sweetheart?”

Lena nods, her tears have dried and she’s smiling softly at Kara who’s proudly walking with them – chatting with Lena about how they can now go down the slide together like they wanted. She also tells her little companion that she’s sure if they asked really nice Maggie and Alex would go on the swings and play with them too – just to make sure no more jerk-faces bother them. Alex just sighs as she wonders where Kara learned the term jerk-face and how many times she’s going to have to tell her that no matter how mad someone gets you it’s rude to name-call.

Eliza is filled in on the exchange and checks Lena over, using Alex’s first aid kit to put a bandage on the tiny scrape before kissing it, “There you go sweet pea, good as new.”

Lena grins and hugs Eliza before perking up at Kara calling for her, “Come on! Let’s play, Lena!”

“You can go play too, Alex – take a breather and just enjoy some time at the park,” Eliza teases her oldest daughter, knowing that despite the playful annoyed look Alex is actually enjoying this temporary foray into parenthood. “Toddlers keep you on your toes.”

“Alright, slide and then swings before we go home to make dinner,” Alex agrees as she runs after Kara, catching her and lifting her up and spinning her around as she giggles. Beside her Maggie’s got Lena, it’s a little awkward for them to climb up the children’s play equipment, having to duck under some bars and things,  but they get to the slide and Alex sits down with Kara in her lap, “You ready?!”

“Ready Alex, ready!” Kara confirms, clapping her hands excitedly and squealing with laughter as they jettison down the slide. She holds onto Alex and leans into the turns with her, smiling and waving when she sees Eliza there with her phone taking a couple pictures. At the bottom of the slide she leans over and calls up to her friend, “Lena!”

Soon enough Maggie and Lena come down the slide, Lena’s giggling and pleading happily, “Again! Again! Again, please!”

“Go on, why don’t you and Kara go on the slide together,” Maggie encourages gently as Kara beams at the idea, reaching her hands out for Lena to take. “We’ll be right here at the end of the slide.”

Maggie loops her arm around Alex’s waist, pressing a kiss to her cheeks as she watches Kara carefully slow down her steps and help Lena when she stumbles – encouraging with an adoring smile when Lena looks worried, “They’re too cute together, and holy hell are they going to keep us on our toes.”

Kara wraps her arms around Lena and gives them both a nudge to slide down the slide, the two girls are giggling and talking to each other excitedly. The two head to the swings and ask the adults to help them, Alex picks Kara up in one arm and Lena in the other carrying them over to a more age appropriate set of swings with a back on it and a set of buckles to keep them from flying out if they lose their grip, “Alright, let’s be smart about this swing thing.”

Maggie’s laughing as she takes Kara  from Alex and places her in one of the swings and clips the buckles, telling her with a smile, “Alright little Danvers, hold onto the chains and I’ll push you. Sound like a plan?”

“Yes!” Kara says excitedly, kicking her feet back and forth as Maggie lifts the swing up and sets it swinging gently. She can feel Maggie’s gentle hand on her back, giving her a little nudge that sends her soaring, “I’m flyin’. Higher, Maggie, higher.”

Lena doesn’t seem as thrilled with the swings as Kara, but after Alex assures her that she won’t let her fall Lena starts to get more comfortable with swinging up high – especially since Alex in front of her and talking to her. Alex grins at Lena’s little giggles, she wonders briefly is adult Lena is going to be embarrassed and shy when they get her aged back up. She also wonders if this means Lena would remember her time being little with her and Maggie – she honestly hopes she does so that maybe Alex can give the young woman some more confidence and self-esteem she deserves to have.

On the way home, when Lena and Kara both beg and plead with their biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes Eliza caves and buys them a couple fruit smoothies – Kara happily chooses Mango Strawberry while Lena seems content with a blueberry one. Alex can’t help but cave as well, getting an iced coffee instead of fruit because she’s an adult and she can. Along similar lines Maggie indulges in a vegan milkshake, they’re both going to need all the energy they can get. Once back home Eliza offers to cook, suggesting that pasta would be a good choice for picky eaters and it will give the two women time to catch up on their work.

“Kara, Lena, you two want to come help me make meatballs for spaghetti,” Eliza asks with a smile, watching as Kara’s face lights up at the mention of food and Lena too looks intrigued. She helps them wash their hands before sitting them at the table – getting out the ingredients for dinner and explaining the science behind cooking and what things they’ll be eating for dinner.

“Buddy wants to help,” Kara announces as she puts her plush puppy on the table.

“It’s probably best if Buddy doesn’t, you might get him messy,” Eliza tells Kara patiently while Lena picks up her plush cat and very carefully takes it into the living to put it on the coffee table where it will be safe from harm. Kara doesn’t look convinced but she is quick to think twice about it when she’s told, “Lena’s cat might want some company while you help me cook, do you think Buddy could keep her company.”

Kara dashes off to put her toy next to Lena’s making sure that the two animals are side by side so that they can talk to one another while her and Lena work on dinner. She’s excited that her mom is trusting her and Lena to help her make dinner, she’s also hopeful that it’s going to be something yummy when her stomach gives a little growl.

“Your mother is going to regret that,” Maggie says with a grin as she watches Kara spill flour on the table top, leaving small white handprints on Eliza’s blouse and pants. “But I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m incredibly happy to not be eating take out again.”

“I don’t think I can put into words how happy I am that we’re not eating pizza or pot stickers,” Alex tells her with a laugh, as she thinks about how right now Kara has to eat at least somewhat healthy.

By the time dinner is on the stove simmering Lena and Kara have managed to get flour, the homemade pasta and meat everywhere – bits and pieces on the floor, all over the table top and matted in their clothes and even some in Kara’s hair. Maggie offers to watch the meal and help clean up the table when Eliza picks up Kara to help Alex bath and dress the kids in their pajamas. Alex isn’t sure this is such a great idea since they still have to deal with dinner but she also doesn’t want the two little munchkins trailing flour all over the downstairs part of the house either.

Dinner is quite the messy affair, Kara’s excitedly slurping noodles without a care of how mess her face and the dish cloth Maggie tied around her neck like a bib are getting. Lena is a bit less enthusiastic, clearly not pleased with being messy or dirty and especially not after a bath. She even whines and cringes when Kara grabs her with a sauce covered hand, leaving a hand print on her formerly clean shirt sleeve. Eliza finds it amusing but she’s quick to reassure the child before she can start crying, “Lena, getting messy isn’t something to get upset about – clothes and things can be washed.”

Lena gives Eliza a wary look before looking back at the vivid red hand print on her sleeve, a little worried that even though it could be cleaned that maybe one of the women would get mad about it. But she doesn’t protest when Eliza lifts her out of the booster seat and sets her in lap and assures her, “No one’s mad, sweet pea. Believe it or not adults make messes all the time too.”

“Really?!” Lena asks with wide green eyes, a little surprised to find out that Eliza could make a mess just like she did.

“Of course,” Eliza chuckles at the awed look the child is giving her, “I make messes all the time in the lab and often enough I make a mess when cooking too. Not as big a mess as Alex, but still rather messy.”

Alex grumbles but she doesn’t fuss to much – both because it’s true and the little giggle of Lena’s is too adorable to put a damper on just to save her ego a bruising. Maggie chuckles too, a part of her is hopeful she’ll learn more about what Alex was like as a toddler while Eliza is here – if only to think about how much of an adorable handful she must have been but to also get some insider information to tease her with.

Both toddlers seem to be winding down after dinner, Kara doesn’t even complain about dessert being fruit – tiredly nibbling at her apple slices while trying to stay awake. Lena doesn’t even bother with dessert, just shaking her head and cuddling up to Eliza who rocks her softly. As Alex clears away the dishes Maggie and Eliza take the girls upstairs to tuck them in even though it’s still a little early. Kara doesn’t seem to mind as she looks over to see Lena getting tucked in she tells her softly, “Sleep good, Lena.”

“Night night,” Lena mutters back, trying and failing to stifle a yawn as she cuddles her plush cat and relishes the feeling of the warm blankets being tucked around her.

“Sweet dreams,” Eliza tells them, switching the light off and making sure the night light is on just in case they wake up. She watches them for a few moments, chuckling as Kara kicks at the covers before rolling over to get more comfortable.

Sometime in the night, after the adults have gone to sleep Lena wakes up and while it still takes her a moment to realize where she is she’s not quite scared. It may be dark and the street lights out side are casting weird, long shadows across the room but she looks over to see Kara’s still sleeping soundly. A part of her wants to carefully climb down the stairs to curl up between Maggie and Alex but as she slips out of bed she tiptoes over to Kara’s bed. Grasping the sheets, she pulls herself onto the bed, noting that Kara’s sleeping with her mouth open and drooling down her cheek.

“Kara?” Lena asks meekly, not sure if she should be waking her friend when she looks like she’s sleeping so well. But a noise outside makes her jump as she inches closer to the sleeping blonde, worriedly whimpering, “Kara?”

Kara grumbles and starts to wake up, rubbing her eyes tiredly only to find that it’s still nighttime and Lena is crouched on the bed next to her. Quickly she moves over and pats the space next to her, letting her little playmate curl up beside her. Kara wraps an arm tiredly around Lena’s middle, snuggling even closer as she starts to fall back to sleep happy that Lena seemed to trust her to keep her safe during scary moments. Lena sighs contently as she hugs Kara back, she may not know exactly what’s going on or how she got here – but she is sure of one thing, she’ll always be safe and loved when she’s with Kara.

Chapter Text

After breakfast Alex packs a tactical backpack with pull ups, snacks, juice boxes, and the first aid kit she and Maggie keep under the bathroom sink. Lena manages to put on her shoes but can’t get the laces tied and nearly trips as she walks into the living room to ask for help. In some feat of skill Kara’s already lost one of her shoes. While Alex, Maggie, and Kara search for the lost shoe Lena plays with the robot – preening at Eliza’s affections as the doctor sits with her and talks to her.

Alex opts to sit in the back of the vehicle with the children and let her mother have the front seat – especially since Lena still gets pouty and upset when she’s buckled into the car seat. Kara’s filling the silence with chatter, asking questions of Eliza and Maggie curiously. As they approach the DEO Lena has figured out where they’re at and starts to fuss – squirming in her seat and whining as Alex tries to calm her down. By the time they’re parked in Alex’s usual spot Lena is inconsolable – sobbing and resisting when Alex tries to unfasten her car seat and take her out.

“Lena,” Alex tries to calm her down but the child is protesting, pushing away her hands and kicking her feet against the back of the seat. “Lena, it’s okay.”

Maggie quickly makes her way around to the other side of the vehicle and tries to calm the child, Lena’s red in the face and has dropped her toy. Taking the child’s small, fighting fists in her hands she tries to get Lena to look at her, “Lena, kiddo, we’re not bringing you back. We’re just going to see the doctor and maybe do some more testing – I’m going to be with you the whole time, I promise.”

As soon as Maggie gets the straps unclipped and the stuffed cat back in the child’s arms Lena has climbed into her arms and locked her arms around her neck. Maggie rocks her, waiting as Alex and Eliza quietly get the other upset and confused children out of the vehicle. Maggie paces a bit with her, calmly following after Alex and Eliza while still trying to calm the little girl.

Inside they see J’onn working together with a few of the still adult agents that are pulling double time to make up for the lack of their co-workers. Lena’s crying gets their attention right away, J’onn looks distressed – likely from Lena’s very loud thoughts making their way into his telepathic consciousness.

As it turns out Lena isn’t the only one unhappy about being back at the DEO – Lucy looks rather upset as she carries her young charge into the labs. Drew is sobbing softly and clinging tightly to the Major with her one uncasted hand, looking just as miserable and upset as Lena at the prospect of being at the DEO again.

“Rough morning?” Alex asks sympathetically, setting down a squirming and whining Kara who’s most likely upset that the other children are crying. When Maggie sets Lena down next to Kara the little blonde girl is quick to wrap Lena up in a hug and press kisses to her red, tear damp cheek to try and console her.

“Yeah, clearly Drew is not a fan of having to be away from me or Vasquez for longer than a few minutes,” Lucy explains as she wraps Drew up in a blanket and tries to hand her a stuffed dinosaur she’d been enjoying playing with for the last two days. “I also know little Drew going to be just as big a fan of Dr. Hamilton as adult Drew is – so this isn’t going to go well.”

“I think Lena’s under the impression that this is CPS or a children’s home of some sort, she’s a smart cookie though – recognized the DEO building right away,” Alex remarks as she brushes her fingers through Lena’s dark hair, rather impressed that Kara’s managed to calm her friend down more than her or Maggie were capable of doing.

Maggie is just as anxious as the kids, of course one of her first few times being at the DEO involved Alex and suturing needle so she doesn’t exactly blame them for being upset. She’s just hoping this isn’y going to be a whole ordeal and half but as expected, Eliza, Alex, Hamilton and other scientists that Maggie’s never heard from something called the STAR lab – and friends of Kara’s on Earth’s of different dimension’s that she’s not sure she wants to know about – insist that more tests are required of the adults turned children.

Maggie tries to be as helpful as possible throughout it all, feeling rather bad for Lena, Kara and the other children that are there. Sure she wants them to be healthy adults again, but that doesn’t make their tears and whimpering any easier to handle. Lucy looks just as miserable and stressed out as she tries to keep Drew preoccupied with a tablet that has an app for dinosaurs on it. The two chat and try to patiently be as of much help as they can for the doctors, lab personnel and their young charges.

After a couple hours Alex comes back from the red sun room with a teary eyed Kara, pacing about the room to try and calm her down after handing over a couple more vials of the little Kryptonian’s blood to Hamilton to start analyzing. Maggie sits with Lena in her lap, the little girl is whimpering but holding still as she watches Eliza draw her blood – listening to the older woman explain to the child what’s going on and why they’re doing it. Lena watches as Eliza puts a Band-Aid on the needle mark – handing her a lollipop before heading towards the lab with the test tubes.

Alex comes over with Kara who seems to be no worse for wear now that she’s also been given a treat, humming happily as she sucks on her lollipop. Alex seems more upset than Kara but she just takes a breath and tries to calm down – it always hurt seeing her sister injured or upset, but it made a million times worse when she was a toddler.

“We should probably take them down stairs, apparently J’onn has some of the junior agents running a daycare downstairs in the gym and bunk rooms so the rest of us can work without having to worry about the kids’ safety,” Alex states as she tries to keep Kara from running off to greet everyone when her phone chimes, taking it out she checks the message and groans, “I’ve got a meeting in fifteen, looks like we may be going into the field today.”  

“DEO Daycare,” Maggie snickers a bit at the thought of the clandestine agency having its lethal agents playing games with toddlers and changing babies’ nappies. But at the same time she’s not surprised, most of the children here were agents, officers, or superheroes – they could be easily targeted since they’re so small and vulnerable now.

“Yeah, never thought you’d hear that did you?” Alex teases as she walks with Maggie downstairs, heading towards the gym where they can hear the sounds of children’s chatter and laughter. As they enter the gym Alex can’t help but chuckle, there are now a variety of children’s toys, games, and books. A few little tables and chair sets are set out as well as floor mats providing ample space for the children to do a variety of activities.

Several children are playing with large sets of blocks in the floor, Winn and Zamora are racing remote control cars with each other. A few more members from Alex’s team are reading or coloring at the tables, their caregivers are the new recruits she’d been training the last few months.

“This is something else,” Maggie says with a grin, smiling when Winn comes charging over to tackle her legs in a hug. Maggie grins as she reaches down and ruffles his unruly hair, smiling at his nerdy science shirt and little vans, “Hey buddy, how are you doing?”

“You gonna read again?!” Winn asks excitedly, clapping his hands together excitedly.

“I have to make a few phone calls to my work but after that we’ll read and color together, okay?” Maggie promises as she sets Lena down and encourages her to go sit with Winn at one of the children’s tables and play. Winn chats with Lena as he explains all the new books there are and that the coloring books have spaceships and robots in them.

Alex has already set Kara loose on the games floor, watching as she tries to decide on whether to play with the kids that are racing around playing tag or to go join the children building a blocks tower. Maggie wraps an arm around her wife’s waist and presses a kiss to her cheek, telling her, “I’m going to call my desk sergeant and see about taking some FMLA leave if it’s possible – I’m not sure since a few of my coworkers are currently playing tag and building blocks right over there – but I’m sure I can get some time off. I know you’re going to be in the lab quite a bit so I want to make sure you don’t have to worry about all the details regarding the kids.”

Alex just smiles affectionately at Maggie, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips – ignoring Winn making aww sounds and Kara’s cooing, “We’ll work it out with whatever leave you can get, I know the police are short a few officers as it is. I’ve got to get to that meeting but I’ll drop by when it’s time to go.”

“Sure thing, good luck and stay safe,” Maggie tells her, watching her go she begins heading to the table where Winn and Lena are talking with each other about which they’d rather have – a robot or a spaceship.

“But Mars,” Winn argues, pointing to the planet he’s coloring in with a dark read crayon.

Lena just shrugs as she continues coloring her robot – making the eyes light up with a teal color crayon – “Robots are better.”

Winn seems to think about it for a second as he starts to draw a crude robot to accompany the astronaut in his picture, as he agrees, “They gots lasers.”

Maggie’s about to check in with the caregivers and make sure Kara’s okay when she hears crying from the doorway – she turns to see Lucy has come down with Drew. The Major looks upset as she tries to get the child to let go, upon seeing Maggie she tries to explain, “We’ve got a code red level threat across the city – since Alex is in the lab and half her team are out I’ve got to take care of it. Hey, Drew, it’s okay I’m going to come right back for you, kiddo.”

Drew doesn’t seem so sure as large, fat tears continue to roll down her cheeks as Lucy sets her down, she doesn’t even try to reach for the woman again – just standing there and silently crying. Lucy is also looking quite forlorn - heartbroken that she has to leave the battered child alone. Even if it’s only for the afternoon until the situation at hand is dealt with correctly.

Maggie would snicker at the fact that Lucy’s put the little girl in a West Point Black Knight’s hoodie like the worn one that Lucy wears frequently to game nights at Kara’s but the way the child silently tries not to cry and stands still – as if afraid of incurring someone’s wrath – makes Maggie think better of it. She also decides immediately to try and help Lucy out before the situation dissolves further.

“Hey, Drew,” Maggie says softly, kneeling down so she can get on eye level with the miserable, frightened child. She’s not deterred by the child not acknowledging her – seeing as the girl is likely overwhelmed in the new environment and scared at the prospect of being without Lucy, “My name’s Maggie.”

Drew looks confused and worried, looking around the room at all the other children and the few adults monitoring them – her little mind working overtime to try and figure out what’s going on and where she is. She doesn’t really answer Maggie, just looking back with wide, owlish eyes that Maggie’s immediately drawn to. The bruising is starting to fade and the red cast on her arm has stars and hearts drawn on it as well as get well notes from Lucy and Vasquez.

Maggie has an idea as she smiles reassuringly up at Lucy who can’t seem to hide her uneasiness at having to leave the girl behind. Unclipping her badge from her belt, she knows from past experience that abused and frightened children were usually much less timid and tense when they found out she was a police officer. Holding out her badge so that Drew can see it she tells her, “I’m a police officer, no one is going to hurt you here Drew.”

Drew reaches out to touch the badge, holding it where she can look closer at it when Maggie let’s her take it. After she studies the badge she hesitantly reaches for Maggie as tears well up in her eyes again – stunning the two women. Maggie smiles softly as she picks up Drew under the arms and lifts her up, letting her cuddle against her chest with an arm around her neck and the badge still clutched in her casted hand. Maggie hums softly as she rubs Drew’s back as she looks to Lucy, “You’d better get to that scene, Luce. I’ll take care of her until you get back.”

“Yeah, okay,” Lucy says hesitantly, she rubs Drew’s back and assures the child, “I’ll be back soon, kiddo.”

Drew doesn’t say anything, just lets silent tears track down her cheeks as she watches the Major leave. Maggie decides that it’s probably best to try and distract the upset child and heads over to where Lena and Kara have sprawled out on one of the carpets flipping through the coloring books and chatting with each other and Winn about what to color next. Kara opts to go for drawing with the crayons instead, happily picking up a few sheets of printer paper from the table and passing them out in case the other children want them.

Kara even offers a piece of paper to Drew when Maggie sits down with the child in her arms. It takes a bit but eventually Drew allows herself to be sat down on the carpet beside Maggie, her tears stopping even though she doesn’t seem like she’s quite that comfortable yet. Maggie hands her a couple crayons and encourages her to draw or pick out a coloring book – smiling when Lena tells her that there are all sorts of animals in the one she’s handing her. Even Maggie picks up a piece of paper and starts to draw too, smiling at how the children are chattering with each other and complimenting each other’s work.

“What’s that?” Kara asks as she reaches over and points at a grey rectangular figure on Lena’s paper.

“A robot,” Lena hums, laid out on her stomach with her feet kicking in the air behind her as she draws – picking up a yellow crayon and putting yellow stars in the sky before picking up an orange one for the planet.

“Is he a bad robot?” Kara asks, picking up a yellow crayon and drawing a bright yellow sun at the top of her page. She loves the sun, the way it feels on her skin and how it’s so bright when it’s out on a day with pretty blue skies.

“No, he’s nice,” Lena surmises looking over at the stick like figures on Kara’s page that are colorfully dressed and include what looks like a dog, “Who’s that?”

“Alex,” Kara states proudly pointing to the blocky figure in all black with a messy scrawl or red hair, pointing to the next figure with long brown hair she points to Maggie, “That’s Maggie.”

Lena looks at the littler figures and sees the two little girl stick figures – one with blonde hair like the yellow sun and a pink top holding hands with a tiny dark haired stick figure with red sneakers. Smiling Lena points at the it and asks happily, “Me?!”

Kara nods with a bright grin, picking up a pink crayon she starts to draw hearts, “Yep, I love you. You are my bestest friend.”

Maggie snickers as she snaps a picture of Kara leaning over and pressing a kiss to Lena’s head a bit clumsily, thinking to herself that maybe 4-year-old Kara has got better game than adult Kara does sometimes. Lena seems thrilled with Kara’s admission and hugs the blonde girl back, the two of them moving close enough that they’re touching as they continue working on their artwork.

Maggie’s content to just listen to the children and snap a few pictures with her phone, knowing Eliza and Alex will appreciate it later. She even snaps a few of Drew and Winn to show Lucy and J’onn later – the two are more preoccupied with what they’re doing as they both are painstakingly trying to make all their crayon marks as deliberate as possible. Drew’s still clutching the badge in her casted hand as she colors the little colored ribbons onto stick figure Lucy’s uniform. Maggie reaches over to take her badge back, “I can hold onto that so you can have an easier time coloring.”

Drew shakes her head and tucks the badge against her chest as she keeps coloring so Maggie just lets it go – she’ll get it back eventually. Either that or she’s going to have to explain to her captain why and how a toddler absconded with her badge. Maggie draws a landscape – rather crudely with the crayons – trees and a river with grass. Winn fawns over it, praising her work before he suggests, “Add some people.”

Maggie smiles warmly at him as she hands him the piece of paper, “Why don’t you help me out and add some people, buddy.”

Winn beams as he picks up a marker and starts to outline stick people, asking her shyly, “Can you spell?”

“Sure, what do you want to write?” Maggie asks a bit bemused, wondering what the miniaturized analyst has in mind.

“To J’onn and M’gann,” Winn tells her, his cheeks reddening with an adorable blush as he adds, “From Winn.”

“You want me to write it out for you to copy or do you want me to just write it for you?” Maggie offers, she knows these ‘kids’ aren’t going to have to go through all the development and learning all over again but she still wants to give them the chance to learn and progress if that’s what they want. After all she remembers her and her siblings were rather curious and fiercely independent as children.

“Letters are hard,” Winn says and pass the paper to her with the marker.

Maggie chuckles at the way Winn grimaces at the idea of writing, so she writes out what the little boy wants. After she’s finished she reads the words out while pointing to them, “To J’onn and M’gann. From Winn. This is your name, think you could give it a shot on your own?”

Winn looks a little dubious but he takes out another piece of paper and looks at it then back to Maggie for some guidance.

“Okay, let me help you out the first couple of times,” Maggie encourages, sitting Winn in her lap and positioning his fingers on the marker the way one would write and starts to write out his name as she lists the letters for him, “W-I-N-N, Winn. See you don’t have to get it perfect the first time buddy, you just have to keep practicing.”

“I got it!” Winn announces after he carefully, scratches out the shaky lines to write out his name – the spacing and the size of the letters is all over the place but it’s legible. More importantly Winn is grinning from ear to ear as he shows her before going to pick up another color marker to try again.

“Good job, Winn.”

“Me next!” Kara announces, bouncing into Maggie’s arms – the detective manages to grab the alien little girl before her ribs or kidneys end up as sore as her wife’s.

“Alright my super girl, let’s write and spell out your name so you can sign your picture and give it to Alex,” Maggie encourages, doing the same thing for the little blonde. Tracing out the letters of the name ‘Kara’ for her as she tells her, “K-A-R-A, Kara. And you can spell Alex’s name like this; A-L-E-X. And we’re just going to write out mom instead of Eliza, okay?”

“‘Kay,” Kara agrees listening as Maggie spells out ‘mom’ while they write it out together. She practices her letters for a little bit but realizes that she needs to know how to spell one more name if she’s going to be able to properly finish all of her glorious drawings. Kara looks up at Maggie, leaning back against the detective as she points and asks, “What’s your name like?”

“Yeah my name’s a bit more difficult, it’s not as short as you guys’ names,” Maggie tells her as she writes it out and explains, “M-A-G-G-I-E, Maggie but it could be worse – my real name is much longer and sounds really ancient.”

Kara just giggles as she goes back to her drawings and starts to write out her name on them before putting the names of the people they’re for on the tops. Lena looks curiously at what Kara and Winn are doing before handing a blank page to Maggie and tells her, “I’m Lena.”

“I know kiddo, you want help spelling it?” Maggie asks and when Lena nods she writes out ‘Lena’ so the child can see. Maggie then tries to help her out like the other kids – grasping her tiny hand gently to try and guide her through the writing but apparently Lena doesn’t like that.

“No. I do it,” Lena insists, pulling her tiny hand out of Maggie’s as she studies the four letters that make up her name. With shaky hands she tries to draw straight lines and then curl the rounded curve of the ‘e’ but the little furrow in her brow makes it clear she’s not pleased with her results.

“It doesn’t have to be perfect, little bit. You’re still learning, trust me when you’re all grown up you’ll be writing and signing your name like a champ, okay?”

Lena doesn’t seem so sure but she just nods and keeps practicing until she feels confident enough to print it out on her artwork. Drew doesn’t seem to enthralled with writing anything, instead she’s settled down with a coloring book and is content to color away at a group of first responder themed dogs – paying particular attention to the police puppy and the fire station Dalmatian puppy. Maggie tries to encourage her to write her name, but ends up printing it on her drawings for her – she smiles at the picture of rough, stick figure Lucy in her uniform and hat holding hands with a little Drew, “I’m sure Lucy is going to like the picture you made for her, are you going to give it to her when she gets back.”

Drew nods quietly, coloring in the blue uniform and hat on the police puppy as Winn gets bored of drawing and dumps out a puzzle in the middle of the art supplies. Lena joins him in putting it together, the two of them chatting about the picture it makes – a mural of common zoo animals and it’s then that Maggie realizes that she’s going to have to add a trip to the zoo on the list of things to do with all the kids. She’s sure Alex and Eliza will be onboard with the idea, but she’s not sure if she can get Lucy and J’onn in on it as well.

After the puzzle is mostly put together, the children end up splitting up – Winn’s gone back to racing his RC car and giggling when he crashes it into the ankles of the supervising adults. By accident of course. Kara, being full of energy and about to start bouncing off the walls, has opted to play with the basketball and it trying to throw it into the kids hoop with the help of one of the young agents.

Lena and Drew don’t seem that interested in playing with the other kids, Lena preferring to play with some of the dolls. Maggie can’t help but smile fondly as she watches Lena rock and coo at the baby doll while pretending to feed it a bottle. Drew has settled down with one of the many pop up books, taking her time to study the 3D paper dinosaurs and animals that come to life when she turns the pages.

“Maybe you should have considered a job as a kindergarten teacher if the policing gig didn’t work out,” comes Alex’s amused tone from over Maggie’s shoulder, smiling when the brunet looks up at her from where she sits on the floor with the kids.

“What time is it?” Maggie asks in confusion, looking around to see that most of the kids are still at the DEO daycare so it couldn’t be anywhere near time for the day to end.

“It’s a few minutes after noon, about time to feed all these kids and I could use a break from looking through microscopes and excel spreadsheets for a while before my eyes start to cross and I get a headache,” Alex tells her as she spies all the drawings and color sheets amassed between the four children that Maggie’s clearly kept entertained for the better part of three hours. Before she can sit down she feels two children attach themselves to her legs, calling her name excitedly.

“Alex! Alex!” Kara and Winn chorus as they grin up at her, both of them are clearly happy to see her.

“Hey you two, you want to show me what you were working on before we get lunch?” Alex asks them with a smile, she can’t help but think that all of the children are adorable and their enthusiasm is infectious.

“I drew a picture,” Kara states, clamoring to sort through all her drawings to find the one she wants to give her sister before pressing it into her hand, “It’s us!”

Alex sees the little stick figures, carefully drawn and colored but still clearly done by a child she also sees the scrawled writing and knows Maggie has helped them out with their spelling. Leaning down she presses a kiss to Kara’s temple as she praises her efforts, “You did such a good job, kiddo. We’re going to have to put this on the refrigerator when we get home so Maggie and I can see it all the time.”

“Yes!” Kara says, reaching for a high five that Alex reciprocates.

“Where’s J’onn?” Winn asks while looking towards the entrance as if expecting him to come in at any moment and looking little disappointed when he doesn’t.

Alex ruffles Winn’s hair and explains, “He’s really busy with Lucy right now, they’re protecting people and making sure they don’t get hurt. But he’ll be back soon.”

“I made him a picture,” Winn tells her, still a little morose that his caregiver isn’t there. His chubby little fingers trace over the figures in the picture before he shows Alex.

“You did a good job, Winn,” Alex compliments him, “J’onn and M’gann are going to love it, and your writing is so neat.”

Winn practically beams at the praise, hugging onto Alex again who is making a mental note to remind adult Winn that she appreciates him and that he’ll always be like a little brother to her. Maggie’s trying to get Lena and Drew ready for lunch and has still been fruitless in her attempts to get her badge back from the kiddified agent.

“Lane’s in the field right now with her team of agents from the desert base, it might be the ones that did this,” Alex states, being careful to not say the Major’s first name as she suspects that Drew may start to look for the other woman hopeful and be upset when she doesn’t find her. “They’ve got me filling in intel and logistics on top of the lab reports.”

“All we can do is wait and see then,” Maggie admits, wishing the DEO agents all the best on their mission. The kids seem to be starting to get grumpy and cranky, likely from hunger so Maggie just shakes her head with a rueful smile as she asks the kids, “So, are you guys ready to go see what the cafeteria has for lunch?”

“I’m hungry!” Kara announces in agreement, the other children also a chorus of ‘yes’s’ indicate that they’re all likely just as hungry from their morning of playing.

The walk to the cafeteria is hilarious, Eliza joins them as the other agents milling about attending to their duties occasionally gawk at the children – or gush about how adorable their miniature co-workers are as kids. Winn and Kara both ham it up, smiling and waving at everyone that passes by and grinning bashfully when people stop to talk to them or wish them well. Lena however is content to carry her new companion – the baby doll – while shyly avoiding conversations with strangers. Maggie had to carry Drew after promising her that the books would be there after lunch and nap time and that she wouldn’t want to get food all over them.

Alex shuffles everyone through the DEO’s cafeteria line – grabbing bottles of juice and milk cartons after asking children for their preferences. Winn asks for chocolate milk and soon all of the children want chocolate milk, and Alex caves because she has to admit that she’s going to have chocolate milk as well. The cafeteria staff have prepared various options per usual, but the menu today includes PBJ’s, a variety of fruit cups, and other child appropriate foods that would require little cutting up and limit messes.

“Agent Danvers, I see you’ve got your hands full today,” Kaplan, the friendly man that runs the cafeteria greets them – he was one of the few DEO employees that didn’t quite buy into Alex’s stone cold, badass persona. Which was something she had come to appreciate.

“Quite full, no one said working for the DEO would be boring – and this sure doesn’t disappoint,” Alex tells him as she helps Winn pick out a turkey sandwich, a cup of jello and some fruit. Setting him down and letting him hold his milk carton she helps Kara pick out her food, grateful that her sister is being somewhat cooperative about picking some relatively healthy options – PBJ’s weren’t bad and the fruit made up for that right?

“Let me help you guys get settled in,” Kaplan assures, packing up one of Alex’s favorite lunches – the Philly cheese steak and fries – before helping her pick up the trays.

“Thanks, Kaplan,” Alex says with a smile, “Trying to keep up with all the toddlers is only slightly easier than trying to manage all the new recruits.”

Kaplan just laughs as he helps Alex carry over a couple of the lunch trays, “They’re much more adorable too.”

“Agreed,” Alex chuckles as she picks up Kara and sets her on the bench before helping Winn. Maggie follows behind with Lena and Drew, both children had opted for grilled cheese and some tomato soup – she immediately wonders if she brought enough wipes and clean clothing to deal with the fall out. Her mother approaches with her tray, helping Alex get the cartons of milk opened before settling down as well. The kids practically devour the meal, and the mess is much worse than Alex expected – grateful that her mother thought to pack a few extra sets of clothing since Lena’s wearing more soup than she probably ate.

After a quick clean up in the locker room Alex and Eliza help Maggie get the children to the bunk room for a nap – even though Kara’s insisting that she doesn’t need a nap which makes Winn complain that he doesn’t want to waste time sleeping either.

“Buddy, it’s just an hour and you’ll feel so much better after a nap,” Alex tells him, smirking a bit when he yawns tiredly through a whine of protest. “How about this, I’ll tuck you in and get you all comfy and if you can’t fall asleep in the next five minutes you can get up and keep playing. Same for you Kara.”

“Promise?” Kara asks a bit indignantly with a little scowl on her face.

“Promise,” Alex tells her as she lifts Winn onto the bed and drapes the covers over him, watching as he snuggles into the pillow and sighs a bit happily. Rubbing his back she grins as she whispers, “Sweet dreams, Winn.”

Alex tucks Kara in, finding it amusing that Kara’s still being grumpy even though she’s clearly in need of a nap – it would seem from all the reports that Kara’s not super saturated with sun light and likely wouldn’t be completely super powered at this age. Not that Alex was going to call up Clark and ask him about his childhood and growing up as a Kryptonian. Alex takes out the golden retriever toy and hands it to her sister as she pulls the blanket up to her shoulders and tucks her in, leaning in she presses a kiss to Kara’s forehead, telling her, “Sweet dreams, I love you Kara.”

“Love you too, Alex,” Kara tells her with a sleepy smile, yawning as she closes her eyes and cuddles the plush puppy and relaxes into sleep – enjoying the soothing feeling of Alex’s fingers stroking over her hair.

Alex smiles when she finds that almost all of the children have gotten off to sleep, Lena’s cradling the baby doll and snoozing contently – already drooling on the pillow. Her mother is holding Drew, the girl is upset and rubbing at the cast so Alex suspects that the break is likely throbbing and aching. Maggie’s searched out a bottle of children’s Motrin handing it to Eliza who is calmly explaining everything to Drew and coaxes her into drinking down the medication, “I know your arm hurts, but this will make you feel better – after you take this we’ll prop it up on a pillow and you can get some rest.”

Drew obliges tiredly, even though her little face scrunches up at the bitter after taste of the medication. Eliza tucks her in, stealing another pillow from an unused bunk to tuck under the casted arm before humming softly to the child and patiently rubbing her back as she eventually succumbs to sleep. The doctor seems to be an absolutely natural with children and Maggie’s pretty awed and absolutely fine with having Eliza or Alex deal with any medical issues – sure she’s rendered first aid but she’s never done first aid for a child that required more than just a band-aid.  

“We should probably head back to the labs,” Eliza suggests a bit regretfully as she watches them sleep, checking in on both Kara and Lena before wrapping an arm around Alex’s waist and pressing a kiss to her cheek even though her daughter jokingly tries to pull away, “I sometimes miss when you were this age.”

“And sometimes I’m sure you don’t miss all the trouble I gave you and dad,” Alex teases back as she hugs her mother back – grateful that she’s here with her and Maggie until they get the kid situation sorted out.

“Sometimes,” Eliza tells her teasingly but hugs her daughter fiercely, “But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Maggie feels a little bit like an intruder, listening to the sweet mother-daughter moment between Alex and her mother. For a second she wonders if her own mother ever things about her from time to time, but as soon as Eliza and Alex break apart she’s been wrapped up in a tight hug she returns just as desperately. She nearly cries and laughs at the same times when she hears what Eliza tells her, “And how are you holding up, sweetie? I only raised one toddler and she was a handful, I can only imagine how tired you must be keeping up with all four today.”

“It could have been a lot worse,” Maggie admits with a little laugh as she wipes tears from the corners of her eyes while telling them, “Like I have no idea how to keep them occupied this afternoon when they wake up completely refreshed and bored with coloring.”

Eliza chuckles as she rubs Maggie’s shoulders, feeling how tense they are she suggests, “Why don’t you get some coffee and take a break for a bit, I can watch them for a little while.”

“Thanks,” Maggie tells her gratefully, she has a feeling she’s going to need all the caffeine she can get to keep up with the children at the end of nap time.

***

Luckily when Winn is the first to wake up he happily occupies himself with the blocks and one of the RC cars, chattering with a couple of the other children. Lena is the next to wake up and after briefly entertaining the idea of looking at a book or coloring she settles for the play kitchen set, looking at all the replica food, cooking utensils and dishware – she finds a bottle for her doll and sits down to rock it while talking to it. Kara wakes up next and is quick to seek out Lena, happily seeing her playing and suggests, “We can be mommies!”

“Okay,” Lena agrees with a bright smile at her friend’s suggestion, carefully she hands the baby doll over to Kara who makes a show over fawning over it and talking to it – telling it how cute she is – which seems to please Lena greatly who suggests, “You can name her.”

“Alex!” Kara declares excitedly as she rocks the baby and presses it gently to her chest, just like when her mom, or Alex and Maggie pick her up and cuddle her. She sits at the table and watches as Lena gathers up some of the play kitchen set and starts to set the table before turning back to the plastic kitchen and turning some nobs after putting a pot on the stove. “Do you like Alex?”

Lena just nods as she picks up a spoon and starts to stir the invisible meal as Maggie joins them, keeping a careful eye on Winn who’s building blocks with a few of his miniature co-workers. She suspects it’s a ramp for the RC cars since he’s roped Jenkins and Zamora into helping him. Drew has padded out to the playroom, clearly still sleepy with her blanket and pillow under one arm and her dinosaur stuffed animal tucked under her other. Maggie quickly gets up to check on her, and when Drew claims to be sleepy but doesn’t want to go back to the bunk room by herself Maggie takes her blanket and makes her a fluffy place for her to rest nearby – smiling when Drew falls asleep again.

Maggie smiles as she watches Kara and Lena playing house, watching as Kara pretends to be working at the table while Lena chats on one of the old telephones agents have brought down to let them play with. Leave it to Lena Luthor to be a baby boss calling all the shots at three years old. She gets up to get closer so she can hear what’s going on only to get an earful of Lena sassing an imaginary person on the other end of the phone and refusing to make any sort of compromise.

Kara’s inquired about the upcoming doctors appoint for their little baby, happy when Lena answers that the baby is healthy but they have a checkup next week anyway. Maggie sits down with them, curiously asks, “What did you name the baby, Kara?”

“Alex, just like sissy,” Kara states proudly as she shows Maggie the baby doll, beaming even more when Maggie coos over the doll.

Maggie smiles, thinking that she’s going to enjoy telling Alex about this as she watches Kara get up and pace around while talking quietly to the doll – just like what she and Alex do when one of them is upset. Lena hums softly to herself as she pretends to pour food out on the plates, putting out a new place for Maggie who asks, “What are you making, Lena?”

“Pot stickers,” Lena says matter-of-factly as she dishes out food onto Kara’s plate – she liked the pot stickers well enough but their lunch that included tomato soup had been her favorite. But she knows the pot stickers are Kara’s favorites so she decided to make those instead – especially since Kara was not a fan of the soup or vegetables judging by their caregivers attempts to get her to eat them.

“But what about the baby?” Kara asks, a little concerned because you certainly couldn’t feed such a small baby pot stickers. Doll Alex would have to grow up a bit more before she could have some of Kara’s favorite foods – even if she could ask Maggie to cut it up for them.

“Here’s a bottle,” Lena states plainly, going over to pick up the bottle with fake milk in it and handing it to Kara, picking up a plastic fork and pretending to eat the invisible pot stickers. She watches happily as Kara pretends to eat the meal, humming in appreciation and praising her work cooking while also still being attentive to the doll in her arms – holding the bottle for her. Lena looks over to see Maggie hasn’t so much at touched her meal so she points and instructs, “Maggie eat!”

Maggie’s snapped from her reverie at the little command and laughs as she picks up the fork and pretends to eat right along with the two girls. She knows that Lena enjoys cooking from what Kara’s told her and Alex, so she makes a plan to get Lena more involved in the kitchen doing age appropriate tasks since the little Luthor seems inclined towards culinary arts. She pretends to take a couple more bites, “Thank you so much for the meal Lena, you’re an excellent chef.”

Lena can’t help but smile and blush a bit bashfully at the praise, next to her Kara sees just how happy the compliment made her and wants in on the action too. Reaching over she grasps Lena’s hand in her own like she watched Alex and Maggie do at the park and tells her, “Yeah, it’s the best. You is an awesome wife.”

Lena smiles brightly and leans over to hug Kara as she tells her softly, “Love you, Kara.”

“I think you guys are going to give me diabetes,” Maggie snickers, wondering what Alex is up to and if she can get some more pictures. Taking out her phone Maggie suggests, “How about a family photo, huh?”

Upstairs Alex is in the lab going over the DNA sequencing they’d done on the children – neither she nor her mother could find any significant genetic changes between the children and their adult selves. Not that they were expecting that to be the case. She’s getting coffee for herself and her mother when J’onn and Lucy return with their team, both are sweaty and look like they’ve been through quite a fight – Alex would even say they look a little shaken.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asks quickly, brow furrowed with worry as she watches J’onn lays a box on one of her specimen tables. Alex eyes it skeptically but moves closer, figuring the contents of the box couldn’t be that bad.

“Well, the good news is we managed to get the sci-fi weapon that shrunk the kids,” Lucy tells her with a scowl on her face as J’onn opens the box and reveals the state of the weapon.

“The only issue is that it was damaged in the fight,” J’onn says sourly, glaring at the battered gun that’s been broken into several pieces – some of the debris from the fight may well be packed in there as they aren’t sure what fragments were part of the weapon or just extraneous components of other things that got caught up in the crossfire. A few components stand out to Alex, particularly a rather round, almost glowing looking orb peeking out from under twisted metal and melted wires.

“So,” Alex states with a determined look as she things out other ways of solving this problem, “We find someone who knows what this thing does and how it works.”

“We weren’t able to take anyone alive,” Lucy tells her seriously, “These guys were adamant that they not be caught, so determined to get away they were downright reckless and incredibly dangerous. A few got away, but most of them were dispatched with at the scene. We were really lucky that our only casualties were some bumps and bruises.”

“We’ll get intel on them - someone has to know something about where this group is getting their funding, who they’re work for and how such a weapon was developed,” Alex insists, she’s not going to let one broken gun and terrorists who disappear into the ether keep her from finding a way to get her sister back. “We just have to be patient and try to plan our next moves more carefully.”

“Agreed, we’ve already got undercover agents in the field listening and observing,” J’onn tells her, patting her on the back as she closes up and secures the weapon so that they can further investigate it tomorrow. “I’m assuming you managed to hold down the headquarters with few disturbances?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Alex says with a grin, “But Maggie’s really been the one running interference, and you two should hurry up and hit the showers. There are two kiddos downstairs that are more than anxious to see you both.”

“Did Drew manage okay?” Lucy asks a bit hesitantly, worried of what answer she might get. She’s worried that despite how empathetic and sweet Maggie is with everyone that Drew may not have calmed much further than the teary eyed moping child she was when she left.

Alex smiles and pulls out her phone to show her a few of the pictures she snapped at lunch and a couple of the ones Maggie had sent her, “Everything went well, I’d say she even made some new friends.”

Lucy smiles fondly at the images of all the children, grateful that Drew seems to be her normal – if quiet – self, which is a great relief. J’onn peeks over Alex’s shoulder at the kids and smiles when he sees that Winn’s settled in with Maggie and the gaggle of little girls quite well.

Alex beams as she tells them both, “You know we’re going to have to set up playdates this weekend right? Maggie promised Lena we’d take them to the dinosaur exhibit at the museum and I’m sure she just added a trip to the zoo this afternoon. Drew and Winn are always welcome. We just figured if they’re going to be little we might as well make it fun for them.”

“We’re going to play hell getting Drew away from the dinosaurs,” Lucy warns with a fond smile that Alex mirrors right away.

“Good, Lena will have company on the Dino Dig.”

Alex and Lucy both look to J’onn, Lucy tries to school her features but Alex doesn’t even bother – giving him a hopeful look one would expect from a child. J’onn caves almost immediately and nods, “M’gann’s been wanting to come up with some kid friendly plans and the museum sounds safe enough.”

“Great, now go get cleaned up before you contaminate my lab,” Alex teases and rushes them out before shutting down her equipment and filing away the paperwork with her mother. The two of them make quick work of securing the lab before heading downstairs just in time to see Drew light up at Lucy’s reappearance.

“You came back!” Drew exclaims, a little shocked that Lucy really did return but as soon as she sees Lucy nodding she’s rushing over – reaching for her.

“Of course, I came back kiddo – Vasquez is working late so it’s me, you, and Mr. Ankylosaur for dinner,” Lucy teases playfully as she swings Drew into her arms and cuddles her close, she’s making sure the child’s hood is on as she prepares to go out and the wind has picked up. In Drew’s hoodie kangaroo pocket, she finds a police badge and it doesn’t take long for her to realize that it’s Maggie’s and the little girl had been holding onto it this whole time, “Hey Sawyer, you’re going to need this.”

“No,” Drew protests as she reaches for the badge again, lip trembling as Maggie comes to retrieve the badge.

“Drew, Maggie needs her badge back so she can wear it on her uniform,” Lucy tries to explain but Drew just pouts further as Lucy hand’s Maggie the badge.

“Oh yeah,” Maggie laughs a bit sheepishly as she explains, “She wouldn’t give it back and since the badge is what made her feel safe and kept her calm I just let her hold onto it.”

Drew whines and Maggie can’t help but chuckle, reaching over she rubs the child’s back and tells her, “You know I have a few of the miniature badges from the department – with the badge number and everything – I’ll bring you one and we can pin it’s on your jacket. Would that be okay?”

Drew thinks about this for a moment before nodding and curling up to rest her head on Lucy’s shoulder, she had a pretty good time today all things considered. Her drawings and the dinosaur book all packed up in her backpack and she’d even been brave enough to play with the other children, but now she was going to be able to spend the evening with Lucy.

Alex and Maggie wait with Winn until J’onn finishes the last of his paperwork rather quickly and shows up freshly showered and changed to go home. The second Winn see’s the door crack open he’s getting up so quickly his chair tips over and he’s breaking into a run towards the man – arms out stretched and ready to tackle him. J’onn can’t help but smile as he sinks to his knees and opens his arms for the child, smiling when the tiny body thumps into his chest and small arms wrap tightly around his neck.

“J’onn!” Winn cries out, a few tears welling up at the relief he feels at seeing the older man, “I missed you.”

J’onn picks him and pats his back soothingly, as he tells the boy in a gentle tone, “I missed you too, Winn.”

“Did ya get the baddies?” Winn asks pulling back to look J’onn over, trying to make sure that his guardian hadn’t been injured while doing his job. “Did ya save people?”

“Everything went well,” J’onn assures, not about to burden the boy with his frustrations and the stress that comes with trying to prevent catastrophes of various origins. “M’gann has informed me that she’s ordering pizza this evening and we’ll have time to watch that space movie you picked out. You want to say goodbye to Maggie and Alex?”

“Bye Maggie! Bye Alex!” Winn tells them with a bright smile while waving at them, he then waves goodbye to Kara and Lena who are packing up their drawings and the toys they’ve been playing with.

“Come on, Kara, get your things so we can go get dinner,” Maggie tells her, picking up Winn’s chair and pushing it in while the kids are gathering up the things they’re going to be taking home with them. She watches as Kara goes over to the table, putting away her drawings in Alex’s backpack before turning to the doll she and Lena have been playing with.

“No! Bad Alex,” Kara shout authoritatively causing her sister to freeze and cock her head in a confused expression as she watches Kara run over to pick up a doll from its chair.

Maggie and Eliza are laughing as Lena is quick to come over to Kara and see what all the fuss is about as they listen to Kara scolding the doll while picking it up and cuddling it, “Did you get a boo boo? No open the door without us.”

Alex looks confused as Maggie laughs so hard she gets a stitch in her side as she tells her wife, “They named the doll after you, and so far, I have to say I’m pretty impressed with their co-parenting skills. They’ve balanced work and home life pretty well, even if you were being a little shit and constantly wanting attention or getting into things.”

“They named the doll after me?” Alex asks a bit perplexed as she watches Kara and Lena gather up their things, clearly mimicking the things she and Maggie do when they’re getting ready to leave. “And I wasn’t half as much trouble as Kara.”

“Oh I beg to differ,” Eliza chimes in with a chuckle, “You were the two-year-old that I set down at the table to turn and answer the phone, and the next thing I know you’re on the table trying to swing from the hanging light fixture.”

“No, mom please don’t give Maggie anymore ammunition….” Alex grumbles as her mother and Maggie share a laugh, Eliza promising to fill Maggie in on even more of the funny and embarrassing things Alex did as a child. As if she hasn’t already told Maggie most of them, Alex just groans, “This is so not fair.”

Chapter Text

Saturday their plans to go the museum get rained out. Knowing that one of the main highlights of the trip - the Dino Dig – would be rained out or at the very least miserable to do in the rain they delay the trip. Instead, they make plans to go the next day so long as the sun is out – but that leaves them with having to come up with plans to keep two toddler entertained indoors on the fly. Kara doesn’t seem too concerned but Lena pouts through breakfast that she’s been kept from seeing the dinosaurs for another day.

Lena’s stirring around her oatmeal with apple bites, frowning as she looks outside at the grey clouds hanging low in the sky. Beside her Kara is complaining about the oatmeal being bland – gleefully crying out thanks when Maggie drops a few more pieces of strawberry into her bowl. A hand comes to rest on Lena’s back making her look up at Alex with a confused little look, dropping her spoon with the distraction. The utensil clatters to the floor and Lena looks like she might cry just because the loud noise is so shocking, feeling herself being lifted out of her booster seat.

“Oh Lena, it’s okay,” Alex assures softly, smiling a bit when the child curls up against her. Rubbing her back she tries to sooth her, knowing that little things can seem overwhelming to toddlers, “We’ll go see the dinosaurs when the sun’s out tomorrow, okay?”

Lena just nods against Alex’s neck, little fists clench the woman’s hoodie tightly and she’s grateful that even though Alex hasn’t finished her own breakfast she keeps holding her. Alex doesn’t seem to mind, eating a few bites of her own oatmeal and sipping at her coffee as she holds Lena. Alex feels like maybe if Lena finds something else to do for the day that it will take her mind of the disappointment and maybe she’ll pout a bit less – as adorable as the little Luthor is with a sad little pout Alex would prefer the little cutie to be happy. Rocking her a bit she asks in an upbeat tone, “So, what fun things do you want to do today?”

“You should probably give them some ideas,” Maggie says while nudging Alex gently with an encouraging grin.

“Uh…” Alex temporary draws a blank, trying to think back to the things she used to do with her mom and dad – her dad used to show her stars and planets through the telescope on clear nights, her mother used to read to her and build pillow forts in the living room on rainy days. Both of her parents however would do geeky science experiments with her – vinegar and baking soda, Mentos and Coke. Sure these kids weren’t going to need an educational jump start but it could be a lot of fun for them – especially since she knows Lena loves to learn. “How about we do some science experiments – we can be a little messy and do some pretty cool things.”

Kara, who is seated between Eliza and Maggie, perks up at Alex’s suggestions and stops cramming strawberry pieces into her mouth long enough to practically shout, “ ‘periments?!”

Lena too perks up at the mention of science as she asks, “What kind of ‘periments?”

Alex’s heart melts just a little bit as she looks down at the child in her lap, Lena’s big greens are filled with barely concealed excitement. She’s biting her lip to keep from smiling too brightly and her little body is bouncing a bit hopefully, clearly the idea of science and experiments has the child completely forgetting that their museum and dino dig day was rained out. Grinning, Alex tickles Lena a bit making her giggle and laugh as she tells her, “Well, we could make some slimy stuff, we could make a foam fountain, a tornado in a bottle or a volcano with lava coming out of it.”

“All of them?” Lena asks hopefully, clapping her hands together excitedly – she’s really hoping that Alex will let her and Kara do all of the fun sounding things she’s describing.

“Sure, we can do all of those things if you want,” Alex assures with a grin, laughing when Lena squeals excitedly and kicks her little socked feet in sheer overwhelming happiness. Maggie and Eliza are also laughing at the kid’s reactions – Kara looks a little confused as to what’s going on but since Lena’s so happy she seems to be happy about it too.

Maggie rolls her eyes a bit and affectionately teases, “Nerds.”

“Well, you married into a family of nerds so what does that say about you?” Alex teases back with a smile as she gets up, adjusting Lena on her hip before she takes her dishes to the sink. Flipping through the cupboards she finds a few of the things they’re going to need – vinegar, yeast, food coloring, and dish soap. Just a few of the items they’re going to need for their science day activities. Grabbing a half empty bottle of soda out of the refrigerator she hands it to Maggie, “We’re going to need some empty bottles – and since you need a ton of caffeine to get going – would you do the honors.”

Maggie’s chuckling as she uncaps the soda and drinks straight from the bottle before suggesting, “We should probably get them dressed appropriately for this – you know lab safety and all.”

After a few minutes Kara and Lena both are standing on the bed in the master bedroom as Alex digs through her and Maggie’s clothing. Kara’s jumping, giggling as she bounces on the bed while waiting for her sister to tell them what they’re doing. Lena gets up at Kara’s beckoning, grasping her hands and jumping along with her until Alex returns from the closet. Alex just shakes her head as she calmly tells them, “Alright you two, let’s see about some temporary lab coats to keep you from getting too messy this morning.”

Kara’s still bouncing away while Alex helps Lena into one of Maggie’s button down shirts, rolling up her sleeves and carefully slipping the buttons into the loops. Lena’s so hopped up on the excitement of doing science with Alex that she’s practically vibrating and can’t seem to stay still. Alex chuckles as she picks Lena up, pressing a kiss to her temple before setting her on her feet and encouraging her, “Alright, head into the kitchen and we’ll be there in a moment – go tackle Maggie.”

“Okay!” Lena agrees easily, running out of the room while giggling. A few seconds after her departure Alex hears Maggie grunt at being tackled along with her mother’s chuckling and Lena’s high pitched shrieks of laughter – no doubt being tickled for her attack.

“Alright Kara, you ready to be a scientist for a day?” Alex asks, helping a still bouncing Kara put on one of her button down flannels, rolling up the sleeves so her sister can have her hands free. Just as she about to turn around Kara leaps from the bed into her arms, Alex barely managed to catch her and the force of Kara’s body flying at her knocks them both into the dresser. Her hip strikes the corner and Alex nearly yelps, “Careful, Kara!”

“Alex, you okay?” Maggie calls from the living room, her tone one of concern and worry.

“Yeah, just bruised my hip on the dresser,” Alex says, holding Kara in one arm and rubbing her wounded hip in the other. Kara looks a little concerned, her lower lip trembling like she may start crying at any moment so Alex calmly presses a kiss to her temple and tells her, “I’m okay, Kara. But next time tell me when you’re going to jump on me so I can prepare for it okay. I don’t want either of us getting hurt, okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Kara says quickly pressing an apologetic kiss to Alex’s cheek before hugging her tightly.

Alex rubs Kara’s back gently as she carries her into the kitchen, Lena’s already sitting at the table with Eliza. The older woman has already gotten out a few things to make the science games a bit easier to clean up and get started. Lena looks really excited but when she sees Kara pouting she whines and calls out with concern, “Kara?”

Alex sets her sister down in her booster seat, gratefully that her mother had thought to put down a few trash bags under their chairs to catch the mess that’s bound to happen. Kara quickly stops pouting when Lena asks her what’s wrong and reaches over to clasp her hand gently – leave it to Lena to be just as sensitive and empathetic as a child as she was as an adult. Of course, adult Lena tried to be hard and stern but the second someone was upset or hurt she was all kind eyes and assurances as she works on solving the problem.

Alex smiles to herself as she thinks about how happy she is that Lena and Kara have each other – that they’re so good for each other too. Alex gets out a measuring cup and spoons and the two empty soda bottles as she explains, “Have you ever heard of elephant toothpaste?”

“Toothpaste?” Kara asks quizzically, little nose wrinkling as she thinks with annoyance at all the times that Alex has made her brush her teeth whether she wanted to or not. She also wonders why an elephant – those gentle giants Maggie showed her on the Animal Planet show – would have to brush their teeth at all. “Yuck! Why the elephants got to brush their teeth?”

Alex and Eliza chuckle, in the living room Maggie’s laughing too as she looks up from the newest files she’d been emailed from her sergeant this morning. Alex explains the reaction that’s going to happen – a lot of fun colored foam will puff up and out of the bottle, “It’s not really toothpaste so don’t try to eat it, it won’t taste very good. But the foam will just look kind of like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube.”

“Can we make it blue?” Lena asks hopefully as she watches Alex do the measuring.

Alex measures out some yeast into a plastic cup of warm water and pours some hydrogen peroxide into the 2-liter bottle, before handing Lena a spoon and setting the cup of yeast in front of her, “We can make it whatever color you want, you want to stir that for me, kiddo?”

“I wanna help!” Kara exclaims as she watches Lena very carefully stir the water and yeast together to avoid spilling it. She claps her hands when Alex hands her the bottle of dish soap and holds the bottle for her, telling her add a little soap to the peroxide. Kara laughs as she squeezes the bottle and watches the blue dish soap drain into the clear liquid before Alex puts in a few drops of blue food dye.

“Okay, help me swirl it around so that the color mixes in,” Alex says, holding the bottle firmly but letting Kara move the bottle around to swish the liquids together until it’s a rich, dark blue. “How’s it coming along with the yeast solution, Lena?”

Lena carefully pushes the cup back towards Alex, watching as the red head places the bottle in a deep pan and puts the funnel in the top. Alex asks if they’re ready to see what happens when they combine the two mixtures and both toddlers are enthusiastically chirping their assent. Grinning Alex pours the yeast water into the soapy hydrogen peroxide and sees Kara and Lena watching the mixture transform with wide eyes. A foam starts to form rather quickly and starts to expand out the top of the bottle leaving loops of fluffy foam in the pan and expanding over onto the table top.

Kara’s laughing and poking at the foam, stating that it really did kind of look like toothpaste being squeezed out of the tube. Lena is completely awed, asking if they can do it again and if Alex or Eliza would explain how it worked. 

“Okay, let me clean this up and we’ll do it again,” Alex tells them, amused that the children find the simple experiment so enthralling. Children were so awed and curious about the world around them, and she knows that if she’d had her own child it would be a wonderful experience to help them learn and explore the world around them. Just watching Kara and Lena getting a childhood do over look at the world around them with such delight warms her heart in a way she doesn’t think she’s felt before.

She does the experiment again, letting Lena dye the hydrogen peroxide green as Kara stirs the yeast mixture together. Alex pours it again and watches as the two toddlers squeal and laugh at the foam all over again – explaining that the yeast pulls the oxygen out of the hydrogen peroxide and makes bubbles in the soap, making so many so quickly that it expands and expands for a long time. This time the foam spreads onto the table top and over the edge onto the floor. But Alex doesn’t care, they’ll clean it up later when they’re done having fun.

“Next, next!” Lena giggles, wondering what they’re going to do next and hoping that it involves more cool effects that she and Kara can help create.

“Okay,” Alex says as she cleans the foam off the table top and washes out the bottle, gathering up an old monopoly game she grins as she tells them, “You two know what a tornado is?”

Both toddlers think about it for a second – Lena shakes her head in the negative and Kara states in confusion, “No, what’s that?”

“So, sometimes when a storm rolls in and the winds are really high the clouds start to spin and twist reaching down from the sky and touching the ground to form a tornado,” Alex explains as she pulls up a picture on her phone and shows them a tornado rolling through a vacant field. Alex picks up the bottle and tells them with a coy grin, “You think we can get one of those to fit in this bottle?”

“No,” Kara says, wrinkling up her nose and shaking her head.

“Yes!” Lena says, looking at Alex with such complete trust and adoration the woman’s heart skips a beat and her throat constricts a bit with emotion.

Alex fills the bottle most of the way with tap water and gets out the old monopoly game that probably hasn’t been played since it was left at the safe house years ago. Taking out the little red and green house and hotels she tells the girls to put them in the bottle – a little morbid humor but she knows the girls will like to see the tornado spin around the small items. Her mother is chuckling at her morbid sense of humor as she helps Kara and Lena both put the little figures into the bottle.  Alex caps up the bottle and shakes it a circular motion and gets the cyclone to form, stirring up the little toys the children put in the bottle.

Lena and Kara are both amazed at the ‘tornado’ in the bottle, pointing at the little houses getting spun about and begging for Alex to make it happen again and again. When the novelty wears off Eliza helps Alex do a quick color changing experiment that makes them question how it’s done and Kara insist that it's magic. Eliza and Alex cleans up the messes and start trying to figure out what they’re going to do for lunch after settling the girls down in the living room with Wall-E on the TV knowing that Lena at least will be complete enraptured with the animated robots.

After making a well-balanced meal, including kale for Lena and Maggie, both girls are winding down a bit and Alex suspects a nap may be in order. Lena’s sitting in her booster seat, slowly chewing a bite of mandarin as she blinks sleepily looking like she about to nod off to sleep in her chair. Kara’s whining and complains that the fruit doesn’t really count as dessert – clearly crankiness is her telltale sign that she’s tired and in need of some rest despite still being low key super powered.

“Clearly someone needs a nap,” Eliza says with a soft smile, as she clears away Kara’s dishes.

“No!” Kara wails in despair, pushing her bowl of fruit away and knocking her silverware on the floor in protest, “No nap! I don’t wanna nap!”

Eliza doesn’t seem fazed at all by Kara’s display and instead just picks the toddler up and carries her over to the sofa. Kara’s whining and squirming in frustration, and just as Eliza sits down Kara bursts into tears and starts to sob tiredly – weary and clearly her toddler mind has been overwhelmed with emotion. Eliza takes a blanket off the back of the couch and wraps the child up in and starts to rock her gently while talking tenderly to her, “Just let it out Kara, I know it can be frustrating sometimes sweetheart. Just sit with me for a little while and then we’ll play some more.”

Kara cuddles closer to Eliza and tucks her face against her neck, sniffling and whimpering even though she’s not sure why everything seems so upsetting. Soon enough the soft humming and the gentle way that her mother rocks her calms her down and after a few more minutes she’s asleep. Eliza brushes strands of curly, blonde hair from Kara’s face and presses a kiss to her head as she lets her rest.

In the kitchen Alex has picked up Lena who started to pout when Kara started crying, Alex sits the child in her lap and rocks her for a moment. As soon as Kara quiets so too does Lena after a moment, slipping her thumb in her mouth as Alex rocks her talks to her softly. Maggie’s clearing away the dishes and leans over to press a kiss to Alex’s cheek and run her fingers through Lena’s hair as she lovingly suggests, “Why don’t you go take a nap with Lena? You got up early and kept them occupied all morning – I’ve got the clean-up covered.”

“Yeah, we could both use a nap couldn’t we, Lena?” Alex asks quietly and snickers softly when Lena nods tiredly. Picking her up she carries her to the bedroom, kicking off her shoes and setting Lena on the bed. Laying down she pulls the extra blanket up to cover her and Lena who’s still sucking her thumb and curling up to her. Alex hums softly as Lena squirms even closer and lays comfortably in the nook of her arm, head resting on her shoulder content to just close her eyes and drift off. Alex isn’t sure if she’s really tired enough for a nap but after a few minutes of listening to Lena’s breathing evening out she falls asleep too.

When she wakes again she finds two small bodies curled up against her, Lena still curled up where she was when Alex fell asleep. But now Kara is sleeping half sprawled on top of Alex, snoring softly and leaving a drool mark on Alex’s shirt which just makes the agent smile. Sighing softly Alex just rests back against the pillow and listens to Maggie and Eliza chatting quietly in the living room and the sounds of rain pitter pattering against the window.

After another twenty minutes Kara wakes up, sitting up and rubbing her eyes before sliding off the bed to go see what’s going on in the living room. When Alex tries to move Lena whines in her sleep and clings tighter to her shirt so she stays put, listening to the rain and the soft rolls of thunder in the distance. It’s not often that they get rain much less a full on thunderstorm and Alex has missed them – she always loved watching the storms roll in over the sea in Midvale. But at the first rather loud clap of thunder Lena sits bolt upright and lets out a cry of alarm, in the living room Kara seems to shriek in terror as well.

“Baby, it’s just the storm,” Alex tells her as she picks up the toddler, feeling her flinch when the darkened room lights up with lightening. Lena’s already crying hysterically before the boom of the thunder shakes the house which just sends her into more panicked wails. Getting up Alex carries her into the living room and where Maggie and Eliza are trying to coax Kara out from under the kitchen table, where she’s currently trying to hide from the storm.

Maggie finally crawls under the table and extricates the child from the leg of the table and picks her up to pace about with Alex. Each new shock of lightning and rumble of thunder starts the tears and cries anew, eventually despite the storm raging on the toddlers’ tire and resort to sniffling and trying to hide against their caregivers. Eliza takes the momentary halt in the crying to try and draw their minds away from the storm as she talks to them, “Kara, Lena, you know what Jeremiah and I used to do when Alex was little and scared of the storms that would come in off the ocean?”

Lena’s puffy red-rimmed eyes look at the doctor’s hopefully, wanting the loud noises and bright flashes of light to stop. Kara looks just as miserable, snot draining down her nose and onto her shirt as she hiccups while asking, “W-what?”

“We would build a fort in the middle of the living room, we’d rather up all the pillows and blankets and just hide there playing games or watching movies until the storm passed,” Eliza tells them, grateful that the two toddlers aren’t straight up sobbing any longer, “You two want to make a pillow fort?”

Lena looks hesitant, like she doesn’t want to let go of Alex but Kara nods right away. Eliza tells them to gather up their pillows, their favorite stuffed animals and a couple games they could play. Kara is quick to help when Maggie sets her down, telling her wife and mother-in-law that she’s going to go ahead and start an easy dinner of grilled cheese – some comfort food for the little girls. Alex finally coaxes Lena into letting go, grateful that Kara despite still being anxious about the storm offers to hold Lena’s hand while they gather up pillows.

Alex and Eliza work together using a couple kitchen chairs and the two sofas to make a rather large area that’s shrouded by an extra bed sheet. Maggie’s gotten out a couple flashlights and a lantern as she expects the unusually high amount of rainfall and lightning to eventually knock the power out. The mother and daughter work on putting down the pillows and blankets, smiling to each other as they do so. Alex remembers the last time they’d done this her father had suggested it – Kara was new to earth and apparently Krypton didn’t have bad weather like Earth. She’d been scared and quite literally shaking so Jeremiah suggested that Alex make a pillow fort – she’d originally rolled her eyes because she figured she’d grown out of it in grade school.

But she did it anyway, her father and her had strung up sheets and she’d brought down all the pillows that Kara had collected and put them down before lighting a couple lanterns. Kara had calmed considerably, curling up against Alex as her father was explain to her what was going on with the weather and that it was totally normal. Alex thinks momentarily that this would be a tradition she would have done with her own children if she’d had them. The thoughts of missing out on these little moments of passing down traditions on top of missing her father compound the feelings of loss and pain.

A gentle hands ruffles her hair and she sees her mother is dealing with feelings of grief as well. Eliza tugs her daughter into a tight hug, just holding her a moment and rubbing her back as she tells her softly, “I miss him too, sweetie.”

Alex can’t help the few tears that manifest but she quickly brushes them away as she hears the two sets of feet thumping as the toddlers run back into the living room. She looks up in time to see Kara trip, luckily the little blonde just falls face first on the pillows in her arms and just giggles at her own clumsiness as she announces to her sister, “We gots all the pillows!”

Alex helps them organize all the pillows in the fort, getting the two toddlers comfortable as she brings over a few of the games Maggie picked out that would be kid friendly. Just as Maggie is serving grilled cheese and juice boxes for everyone, adults included with a vegan cheese option, the circuit breaker flips and leaves them in the living room only lit with lanterns and flashlights. The rain is pounding against the windows and wind howls a bit menacingly, but the two girls just cuddle together with Eliza and eat their dinner. Maggie’s rather impressed that the pillow fort fits all five of them, leaning back against the couch as she opens a second juice box for Kara.

“So, which game first little Danvers?” Maggie asks, holding up two toddler friendly games – of course if you asked the police detective she would tell you that it’s likely adult little Danvers would actually enjoy playing these games too.

“What’s that?” Kara asks as she points at a box with large bodied animals cramming food in their mouths. She really does feel like the animals are pretty smart to be eating so many tasty things.

“That’s a hippopotamus, they’re pretty big animals that live in water – they’re pretty hungry too. Just like you,” Alex tells her as she tickles her, making her laugh and squirm before helping her wife set up the game. “The point of this game is to push these little levers and feed your hippo as many food pellets as possible.”

Alex shows each child how to use the levers and smiles at how Lena’s already trying to figure out it works while watching the little hippos moving. After explaining the rules and saying ready, set, go and watches as the girls go to town on the game. Lena’s giggling so hard that Maggie’s worried she may pee herself accidentally while she keeps pushing the lever that makes the hungry plastic hippo jerk its head to eat more and more of the plastic marbles.

The little blue hippo is gobbling up the marbles, and right next to it Kara’s yellow hippo is going after the marbles too, a little faster than everyone else too. Alex and Maggie aren’t even trying that hard, just making it seem like they’re being super competitive. On regular game nights Maggie and Alex usually had to be put on separate teams for anyone to have a change – the two were quick witted and ruthless in their pursuit of winning. But with the kids Alex and Maggie don’t seem to mind losing at all, too busy enjoying the happy, joyful expressions on the girl’s faces.

 The next game – a unique approach to go fish that involves little mechanical fish with magnets in their mouths and small fishing poles – Eliza takes the lead and shows the girls how to do it. She also explains how it works to Lena, showing her the little magnets and explaining how they work. Alex leans against Maggie and watches the little girls giggling and playing with the game. After a few minutes Alex closes her eyes, just going to rest for a few moments.  Before anyone realizes Alex is snoozing away peacefully, nestled in the pillows and blankets against her wife.

“Sissy?” Kara asks softly, trying to show her the fish she just caught in the game but finds that Alex is sleeping.

“Hey little bit, I think she fell asleep,” Maggie tells her, affectionately brushing hair from Alex’s face and chuckling when she mumbles in her sleep.

Lena seems to take this as an invitation to climb over Alex and curl up between the sleeping woman and Maggie, starting to get drowsy and tired after her evening meal. Kara doesn’t seem to be tiring as quickly, begging for her mother to read a story to her, hoping to prolong bedtime just a little bit longer. Kara pads over to the bookcase and rummages around for a second before she picks up a book and crawls back into the fort with a smile.

Eliza can’t help but smile at the bunnies on the cover of the book, a mother rabbit carrying her baby – a book she used to read to Alex when she was a child. Kara snuggles in close and looks at the pictures as Eliza reads towards her, “Little Nutbrown hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown hare’s ears. He wanted to make sure that Big Nutbrown hare was listening, ‘Guess how much I love you?’ he said.”

Kara listens enraptured with the story of the mother and son bunnies, and preening and cooing when Eliza tells her that she and Alex and Maggie love her just as much – if not more – that Big Nutbrown hare loves her little one. When the book is finished Kara’s yawning and Eliza looks over to see that Maggie’s fallen asleep as well, an arm curled protectively around her wife and little Lena. Kara seems to think this is as comfy a place as any to snuggle up between Alex and Eliza, grateful when her mother settles down beside her and wraps her up in her arms telling her softly, “I love you my sweet girl.”

Kara, yawning and grasping at Eliza’s shirt as she nuzzles her face against her collar and whispers sleepily, “Love you all the way to the moon.”

Chapter Text

Maggie is chasing after the little Kryptonian, wondering where the in the world Kara had lost her left shoe again. It’s always the left one! Kara’s giggling as she pads around the living room with one socked foot and one foot in a sock and shoe – unevenly thumping along as she looks under the sofa’s and behind the cushions in search of the other shoe. Alex is laughing as she finishes clearing away the dishes, finding it amusing that Lena’s a bit annoyed and pouting that they haven’t left for the museum yet. The girl had already gotten into her clothes and shoes, a bit haphazardly and laces untied, as soon as she looked out the window and confirmed the sun was out.

“How in the world did you lose your shoe again, Kara?” Maggie asks in disbelief, as she digs through the coat closet in the foyer where her and Alex’s shoes are lined up neatly.

“I don’t know,” Kara shrugs with a sheepish smile as she continues looking under end tables before padding into the kitchen and asking her sister, “Can I have ‘nother snack?”

“You had three pancakes already?!” Alex exclaims, still rather impressed that her sister could pack away so much food even when she’s so tiny. Worrying about her getting a stomach ache or throwing up she tells her patiently, “We’re going to be having lunch with our friends in a little bit, you don’t want to be queasy or feel bad at the museum – there’s going to be a lot of fun things to do.”

Kara just whines but when she figures out that pouting is not going to get her what she wants she just goes back into the living in hopes of finding her lost shoe. The little blonde figures that the sooner they leave and meet up with their friends the sooner they can go to lunch – she would never admit it but she’s really only a little hungry. She was just hoping that her sister or Maggie would give her a package of cheese crackers – or even better cookies – if she said she was really hungry. As she sits on the sofa she wiggles her toes as she pouts a bit about not getting a snack.

“Found it!” Maggie declares triumphantly, holding up the bright yellow sneaker for all to see as Lena gets hopeful they can finally leave and Kara’s just pleased to have her shoe back.

“Where was it?” Alex asks curiously, figuring that the shoe had just gotten misplaced in the girl’s room and tucked under a pile of clothes or blankets.

“In the bathroom behind the toilet?!” Maggie tells her with a perplexed look – watching her wife start laughing since neither of them can figure out how in the world the toddler’s shoe ended up there. Sighing softly the detective quickly helps Kara put her shoe on and wonders how J’onn and M’gann as well as Lucy and Vasquez are faring getting their youngsters ready for a day out. She hopes they’re faring at least a little bit better than she and Alex have managed this morning.

However, things were not faring that much better at the Lane and Vasquez household. Lucy groans as she sips at her coffee – not feeling the effects of the caffeine having any affect for her as she hears Vasquez laughing as she tries to argue with the toddler. Her girlfriend is currently in her DEO uniform, having to take on extra shifts to cover for their shrunken teammates, kneeling down as she tries to explain to Drew that it probably wasn’t a good idea to try and take her blanket and Ankylosaur to the museum.

Drew’s just clutching them both to her chest tightly and looking at Vasquez like she must be crazy as she says, “Kid, you’re going to want to have your hands free so that you can do all the fun things at the museum. Remember, how we told you that there’s going to be games and things to play with.”

Drew shakes her head, with a morose little pout that Vasquez can’t help but find adorable – of course she’d never admit those thoughts to grown up Agent Blaine, only Lucy could get away with calling the woman by her given name. Vasquez was initially concerned that the child tended to be selectively mute most of the time – sometimes Drew would answer if you talked to her and sometimes she wouldn’t. She just chalked it up to the trauma and the fact that as an adult the woman wasn’t particularly verbose either.

“Do you want to go the museum?” Vasquez asks, figuring that maybe the child was having second thoughts about going out in public with all the other people and the noise. Just because she seemed to do okay at the DEO Daycare with Maggie and the other children didn’t mean she necessarily wanted to go on playdates on the weekends. The kid kind of had to adapt to daycare, but it wasn’t necessary to make her go on playdates where she’d be miserable or uncomfortable.

Drew thinks about it for a second, nodding carefully as Lucy comes over and kneels down with them. The Major didn’t expect them to have so much trouble getting the child bathed, dressed, and fed since just the other day Drew had seemed rather excited to go see the dinosaur skeletons and other things she’d told her about.

“Hey kiddo, how about we do this,” Lucy says as she holds the child’s shoulders gently so that she can see her expressions and body language better – she wasn’t an expert on kids but she’s learned quite a few of her close friend’s tells over their years studying and working together, “You can take one of them with us – so you can pick either the blanket or Mr. Ankylosaur to go with us.”

“Ok,” Drew sighs in defeat as she reluctantly hands over the blanket but doubles down on holding the plush dinosaur to her chest, wrapping both arms around it – a little awkward because of the cast.

“There’s nothing to be worried about, sweetheart,” Lucy tries to assure her, rubbing her shoulders – a child should be happy about leaving the house and exploring the world. Not so nervous and fearful, it breaks Lucy’s heart so she’s doing her best to make sure that her friend gets the chance to do some fun kid things, “I’m going to be there the whole time and you can play with Kara, Lena and Winn. You know them from daycare and you’ll have a lot of fun.”

Drew seems to perk up a bit, as she curiously asks with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, “Maggie?”

“Yeah, Maggie and Alex will be there too,” Lucy assures, laughing quietly to herself as she hopes Maggie has the wherewithal to leave her badge at home – or at the very least keep it out of Drew’s line of sight lest she lose it to the three-year-old again.

“Better be careful Luce, Sawyer might poach our girl,” Vasquez teases, grinning when Lucy just rolls her eyes and starts packing away an extra pair of toddler clothes and some snacks – leaving enough room for the cuddle toy. She helps Lucy get the child buckled into the car seat before pecking Lucy on the lips and ruffling the child’s hair gently, telling her, “Have fun okay kid?”

The morning at the martian household isn’t going so great either – Winn is currently teary eyed and whining as J’onn tries to get him into his jacket. M’gann finds it kind of amusing watching her compatriot trying to reason with the small, upset child. J’onn’s tries to explain and reason with the developing, unreasonable toddler calmly, “Winn, it’s going to be too cold outside just to wear a shirt today.”

“No!” Winn objects as he crosses his arm and angrily pouts – he picked out the shirt this morning with M’gann specifically to wear to the museum. It has a robot and a spaceship on it since she explained that they had a space exhibit and a planetarium so he despises the idea of the jacket covering it up.

“You don’t want to catch a cold, son,” J’onn tries to reason, “You’ll feel miserable being all cold and shivering when we go outside – and you won’t feel much better if you get a runny nose and sore throat.”

“No!” Winn wails as he starts to cry, clearly torn between avoiding getting sick and not having to cover up his awesome shirt with the jacket. Collapsing onto his knees he starts to cry in frustration but he doesn’t resist when M’gann pick him up and tells J’onn she’s got it under control.

“Okay, sweet boy, I think I’ve got a solution,” M’gann tells him as she takes him to his room and rummages around to find a hoodie before setting him on the bed. “Okay, arms up.”

Winn pouts but does as instructed, sobbing softly when his space shirt is removed and replaced with a warm, hoodie. But M’gann is quick to shush him tenderly as she puts the tee shirt on over the hoodie, watching as Winn stops crying and takes a few moments to realize what’s happened. Soon enough he’s all smiles and giggles again, clearly happy with M’gann’s solution to the problem. J’onn looks confused but M’gann explains, “Now you can see the space ships, he didn’t want them covered up.”

J’onn sighs but smiles ruefully while shaking his head as he picks up a beanie and puts it on the boy’s head, playfully tugging it over his eyes just to hear the little boy start laughing in protest, “You ready to go to the museum now?”

“Yes! We gonna science!” Winn practically shouts, bouncing in M’gann’s arms as they head out of the apartment and towards the car park.

The group meets up outside the National City Science and History Museum where Lena’s gaping in awe at the colorful statues of dinosaurs in the garden. The adults greet one another and get ready for a day of chasing after curious kids, Alex and Maggie have brought coffee for the adults even though Winn begs for a taste of this mysterious liquid. The children are antsy as they wait in line to get the exhibit bracelets and tickets to both the Omni-Imax showing about dolphins and the planetarium. All four of them are chattering and giggling as they discuss the things they’re most looking forwards to seeing.

First up on the exhibits is the hands on science exhibit that encourages children to do their own experiments with safe circuit sets, robotics parts, and much more mundane things such as doing an egg drop by building a safe structure with tape and drinking straws. Winn goes right to the robots corner with Lena, the two of them are chattering as M’gann helps them read over this stations project and organize the snap together circuits for the little robots.

“We’re gonna make a robot,” Winn tells Lena with a smile as M’gann points out the first steps in the instructions to both children, patiently making sure they have all the parts and understand how to read the rather simplified instructions.

“Yeah, a smart robot,” Lena agrees with a smile, snapping together a couple more pieces and testing to see how the circuits are connected and the movements work. Humming to herself she checks the schematics and M’gann’s gentle instructions to keep adding more and more pieces to her work.

After a few more minutes of working Lena and Winn both have a couple simple line following robots snapped together. When M’gann tells them to put the robots down on the line robot track the little bots take off, their tiny camera’s monitoring and keeping them moving along the lines. Lena and Winn cheer as it looks like the two little robots are racing on a track.

“Look at’em go!” Winn states almost in disbelief that they actually made robots that work – watching as his bot turns the corner and slips off the line for a second before correcting itself and finding its way back.

“They work!” Lena declares proudly as she leans over the table and lets her head rest against it so she can watch the little robots following the lines and making adjustments. “Let’s build ‘nother one!”

On the other side of the room Alex and Maggie both are at the hydrodynamics station with Kara who is hell bent on getting water all over herself even though the museum provides child sized smocks to try and abate catastrophic messes. But the museum wasn’t prepared for a rather mischievous Kryptonian toddler – Kara’s quick to watch how when she puts certain blocks in the way of the flowing water it makes the water moved down different paths. Much to Alex’s chagrin when she blocks off the whole neck of the artificial river the water floods over the sides and splashes onto the floor including wetting the cuffs of her shirt.

“Okay, I think that’s enough of that- when you block up a river you get flooding, like with how we’ve clearly flooded the floor,” Maggie says as she picks Kara up and carefully removes the plastic dam from the water to get it flowing normally again as Alex laughs and snaps a couple picture of her wife wincing as Kara splashes the water a couple more times before being carried away.

“No! More water and splashing!” Kara complains but soon enough Maggie shows her another station that lets them play with wind power and soon enough she’s working on putting sails on a set of wheels to watch how the wind is capable of pushing it across the floor.

Lucy and J’onn are working with Drew at one of the engineering stations where the goal is to build a load bearing bridge with tape and popsicle sticks. J’onn is explaining how bridges need be sturdy but flexible in California with all the earthquakes that they’re capable of getting showing his tiny agent how to fashion the sticks into a flexible lattice work – Drew very carefully tapes the bridge together and after adding finishing touches Lucy picks up one of the small one pound weights and hands it to Drew, “Well, let’s see how strong of a bridge we built. You going to count how many pounds it can take before it collapses.”

Drew carefully sets the weight in the middle of the bridge, watching it wobble for a second, “One.”

Lucy hands her another one, listening to her as she continues to put the small weights on the bridge and counts the pounds – the bridge starts to bow in the middle as soon as they make it to seven weights. Drew’s laughing at the impending destruction as she stacks another weight and watches as the sides start to buckle but it doesn’t give way. They finally make it to eleven pounds before the whole thing comes crashing down and Drew exclaims, “We broke it!”

Lucy chuckles and J’onn can’t help but ruffle the girl’s short, unruly dark hair, glad to see the child can be excited about things. As they go in search of the rest of their group they find them all gathered around the robot track now racing half a dozen line following bots, so many that Lena and Winn have set them up so that they crash into each other. Even Kara seems to be enthralled as they watch for the impending crashes before bursting out laughing when it happens.

“They’re gonna crash!” Winn exclaims seconds before one of the bots bumps into another one – for the kids they make crashing sounds while giggling even though the little bots aren’t going very fast.

“We’re Mad Max-ing it up over here on the line following robot course,” Maggie teases as she brushes hair from Lena’s face and encourages her to turn off the little bots so someone else can play with them since they’ll be heading to the Omni theater soon. Getting all four toddlers into their laps or seats after climbing the rather narrow stairs with the panoramic screen is troublesome and kind of a mind trip.

Kara insists on sitting next to Lena and Alex, reaching over to hold Lena’s hand and whisper to her about how cool the dolphins will look on the screen when the movie starts. The blonde is chattering about how cool the robots were that Lena and Winn built while kicking her feet off the edge of the chair happily. Next to Maggie Lucy sits holding Drew in her lap – the girl had been less than thrilled climbing up the stairs and was reluctant to sit in a seat on her own. However, the tiny former soldier is sure that she wants to sit next to Maggie, her small hand finding Maggie’s and holding tightly.

Winn is talking to J’onn about the robots and how much he’s looking forward to seeing the space exhibit and planetarium. He’s content to sit between M’gann and J’onn, happily taking each of their hands in his own small ones and holding onto them as he talks to them about the robots and things – he even mentions about how with Halloween coming up he hasn’t decided about whether or not he wants to be a robot or an astronaut since both were rather appealing.

Kara squeals excitedly when the Omni theater lights up and starts off with a video of National City taken from a helicopter view. Alex has to remind her to quiet down while beside her Maggie is trying to assure Lena that it’s just a movie and they aren’t really about to fall from such a great height. Winn and Drew watching wide-eyed wonder, Winn’s pointing out places to M’gann whispering to her about the park and the ocean. Drew seems to be critically analyzing the shapes and colors of the rather large buildings as she sits contently in Lucy’s lap, Mr. Ankylosaur perched in her arms again.

All the children in the theatre cheer and cry out in awe when the instructions and the hows and whys of how an omni- Imax theater works passes and they get their first glimpse of the dolphin documentary. None of the toddlers are all that interested in the narrator’s descriptions and facts about the animals or the ocean – Sorry, Sir David Attenborough but these kids were a little young to understand all of the details. Alex however finds all the facts about dolphin’s social lives and intelligence rather interesting, almost as interesting as her little sister finds the images of the dolphins leaping out of the water and their bobbing and weaving effortlessly under the water.    

 By the time the film finishes the children are ready to move on to the next exhibit – the outdoor dino dig. Lena can’t help but jump up and down, squealing and pointing as they get closer and closer to what amounts to a rather large sandbox and faux paleontology site set up. She’d been promised dinosaurs and the dino dig and it would seem that moment has come and poor little Lena just can’t seem to contain her joy and enthusiasm. Lucy’s trying to keep a hold on Drew’s hand as she’s already trying to tug the major towards the dinosaur bones clearly just as eager.

“Easy, kiddo. We’ve got to wait our turn,” Lucy explains with a laugh, glad to see that Drew was rather excited about the dino dig, she shares a laugh with Alex who is trying to explain the same thing to Lena, “I told you a team of wild horses wouldn’t be able to tear them away from the dino dig.”

“No kidding, Lena was up and dressed herself and was annoyed none of us were ready to go when she was,” Alex tells her with a laugh as Lena’s squirming and whining softly, trying to be patient as they spot a museum worker coming over to help them out with the dino dig. It would seem a few of the staff take the time between groups of young dino diggers to put in toy artifacts to make the experience more fun for the small children. Alex knows she’s going to have to try and keep Lena from digging up the whole sand lot in search of dinosaur bones – part of her wonders if adult Lena is going to build a Jurassic Park once she’s aged back up.

The young woman looks to be college aged with a name badge that reads ‘Heather,’ she sees the two girls that are looking rather impatient to get started. She explains a few things to the adults before she gets on eye-level with the kids and asks, “So, who’s ready to become junior paleontologists!”

“Me! Me! Me!” Lena chirps excitedly, pulling on Alex’s hand as she reaches for the little hand trowel the young woman hands her.

“Me too?!” Drew asks a bit shyly, as she bashfully follows after Lena and looking back at Lucy for reassurance.

“Sure thing,” Heather assures as she gets all four toddlers trowels and shows them how paleontologist in the field are careful to excavate a site that has dinosaur bones. She shows them the example of what a site would look like and how they mark things. Once at the sand pit she points them to spots and demonstrates how to use the trowels. Lena is careful to try and do exactly what she’s doing, carefully scraping at the still drying sand and hoping with all of her little heart that she’ll find something. Drew’s right beside her trying to be coordinated enough to do the same thing, but taking a bit deeper gouges out of the sand.

Kara and Winn doesn’t seem that interested, the little blonde has started to use the hand shovel to dig out large mounds of sand to make a sand castle with instead. Winn also decides he’s not that interested in dinosaur bones, he’d much rather see living dinosaurs even though J’onn explained that wouldn’t happen. Instead he starts to help Kara dig a moat around the developing castle since Maggie explained that they had to be patient and let everyone have fun. Humming to himself he’s glad that Lena and Drew seem impressed with the thought of digging up dead dinosaurs but he’ll be happy when they go to the planetarium and see the space travel exhibit.

“There you go, you’re doing a really good job,” Lucy encourages both girls, smiling at how each of them are trying to concentrate and be as careful as possible. Alex is snapping pictures of the two miniature paleontologists while Maggie keeps a close eye on the sand castle builders.

“Look, look! I finded a dinosaur!” Lena shrieks happily, dropping her shovel to point at the edge of one of the dinosaur bones sticking up from the pale sand.

She’s so elated that she momentarily forgets what to do until Heather hands her a paint brush and takes her hand gently to show her how to brush the sand away from it, “This is how the paleontologists work with bones and teeth they find, very carefully brushing away the sand and dirt so that they don’t damage the fossil.”

“I do it,” Lena insists, sucking in her bottom lip and biting on it as she tries to concentrate and brush away the sand carefully to reveal more and more of the little fossil. The more that’s revealed the more excited she becomes and Alex has to encourage her to keep working even though she’s chuckling at her enthusiasm.

Across from Lena little Drew is pouting, she still hasn’t found anything and Lucy’s starting to worry that soon Drew might give up on the dino dig and it would leave her in a sour mood for the rest of the day. Luckily Heather seems to notice and discreetly points out an area of sand, indicating that the staff know just how temperamental toddlers can get and they’d buried more than enough ‘fossils’ for finding. As soon as Lena finally gets hers extricated from the sand and is proudly showing it to anyone and everyone excitedly Drew final strikes pay dirt and exclaims in surprise. Once Drew gets hers extracted, being much less careful than Lena Heather explains, “Look at your fossils, what do you think they are?”

Lena turns the fossil over in her hand, it’s rather long and pointy – putting two and two together she figures out quickly that it must be a dinosaur’s tooth. Roaring playful she exclaims, “Dinosaur teeth!”

Drew looks at her curved, pointed fossil and thinks it looks rather similar to the hooked claws on Vasquez and Lucy’s cat Buttons. Turning it over in her hand she mumbles a bit self-consciously, “Claws – like Buttons.”

“Buttons?” Alex asks, clearly befuddled she shares a confused look with the museum worker.

“The cat,” Lucy explains with a chuckle, it had taken a couple days for Drew and the elderly feline to warm up to each other – the first few days were rough and involved hissing and claws but now Lucy’s pretty sure Drew is the cat’s favorite human.

Heather smiles as she assures, “Just like cats a lot of dinosaurs were predators – they had pointy teeth and sharp claws to help catch prey.”

“They eat’em up,” Lena exclaims happily, roaring and chomping her teeth as Alex stops her from stomping around the sandbox pretending to be a dinosaur and disturbing the other kids who are looking for fossils – or in the case of her sister, Winn and another little boy, building sand castles.

“Nerds,” Maggie huffs out a laugh as she hands Kara a couple more rather large leaves so she can use them to put flags and banners on the top of her crudely constructed castle. As they get the kids brushed off and ready to head towards the indoor exhibits Maggie tells Lucy, Alex and J’onn, “Fifty bucks says that L-Corp is the first company to work on some real life Jurassic Park science – Lena’s probably one of the scientists behind the wooly mammoth restoration project too.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Alex says as she gladly accepts some string from Heather so that she can make a necklace out of the plastic dinosaur tooth for Lena to wear so she won’t lose it. Lena also beams proudly when Heather presses a sticker on her shirt with a dinosaur footprint on it and declares her a junior paleontologist.

“Alex look!” Lena squeals excitedly, pointing to the sticker and proclaiming happily, “Imma real scientist.”

“You have no idea,” Alex mutters with a chuckle as she picks the girl up and hugs her while telling her sincerely, “You’re one of the most brilliant scientists I’ve ever met, kiddo – and that’s the honest truth.”

“Really?!” Lena asks while giving Alex an earnest look.

Alex smiles softly, tapping Lena on the nose to make her giggle as she presses a kiss to her temple, “Absolutely little bit.”

The dinosaur and fossil exhibit takes a bit longer than expected as all of the children end up fascinated with the rather large skeletons on display. Kara’s in awe at just how large the T-rex is and giggles when Lena mimics how it must have walked around with such a large body and little arms. Soon enough Alex and Maggie are dealing with two toddlers pretending to be dinosaurs and hiding behind the fake bushes and popping out at Lucy and J’onn as they pass by. Winn seems most interested in the fact that the dinosaur extinction was caused by a giant meteor from space – lamenting that such majestic creatures were no long available to look at.

“I don’t think you’d want to run into any dinosaurs, buddy,” J’onn says with a light-hearted chuckle, as he pats the boy on the head, “I’m sure a lot of the larger ones would think you and I would make a good snack.”

“But I don’t want to be a snack!” Winn protests with a frown, “They should just eat the bad guys.”

J’onn laughs at that answer, the mind of a child is a wonderful thing even if it does tend to give into more fanciful ideas that have no basis in reality. M’gann explains to Winn and Lena that dinosaurs closest living relatives are birds rather than reptiles – despite what their appearances being so similar. She even points out the exhibit that shows that several smaller dinosaurs fossils have been found with the outline of feathers. Both of the children are in denial, even when they’re shown a part of the exhibit with ostriches and emus that show some of the genetic similarities they have in common with Jurassic and Triassic dinosaurs.

Lucy has Drew perched in her arms and has taken her over to see the ankylosaur with its beaked mouth, spike armored body, and the large bony tail it uses for bludgeoning others that may try to attack it. Maggie who’s making sure Lena can see this rather decked out dinosaur finds the children’s reactions so adorable and refreshing – it wasn’t often she got to see people enjoying new experiences and learning. The children however seem to be enthralled and trying to learn and explore as much as possible in the most adorable and endearing ways.

“Ankl-l-lyosaur,” Drew manages to get out while pointing.

“That’s quite the mouthful,” Maggie says with an impressed look as she holds Lena who seems to be looking at the figures and images on one of the displays.

“Yep, that’s Mr. Ankylosaur – you wanna show Maggie and Lena?” Lucy encourages, watching as Drew thrusts out the small stuffed dinosaur so that Maggie and Lena can see. Drew doesn’t even seem to mind that Lena wants to give the little dino a cuddle and hold it up to compare it to the fossils – pointing out the spikes and the deadly tail before handing it back to Drew.

Lena pouts when they have to leave the dinosaur exhibit, a few tears welling up in her eyes and grumbling until Maggie promises that she can pick out a dessert since she’s being such a good sport. Sure enough by the time they get to the food court Lena’s long forgotten the dinosaur exhibit as Kara tugs her along towards the line for food with Alex calling after them. J’onn and M’gann are trying to get Winn to tell them what he wants to eat but the boy is having a hard time figure out what he wouldn’t want to eat since all the options seem rather appetizing. Drew just shakes her head at anything Lucy suggests, worried that she might not find something that she likes to eat.

“Yes, Kara, you’re going to have eat at least one vegetable if you’re going to get desert – that’s the rules,” Alex insists, grateful to find that she’s becoming more and more immune to the puppy dog eyes. She hasn’t however gotten used to the huffing and puffing and whining as Kara goes back and forth over which vegetable she’s going to begrudgingly choose to eat.

Maggie’s chuckling as she helps Lena pick out a salad, letting her add a few cherry tomatoes, slices of fresh cucumber, and some snap peas. The detective is also happy to find fresh hummus and pita, grateful that Lena seems to be easy to please when it comes food. Alex points to Lena and tells Kara, “Why don’t you try some of the things Lena likes? They must be yummy.”

Kara looks at Lena’s salad with distaste, grumbling to herself that it’s not fair that she can’t just pick out chocolate pudding for her entire meal. But Lena tells her they’re good, already nibbling on a cucumber so Kara grudgingly points to the cucumbers on Lena’s salad and decides that it will hopefully be enough to go along with her choice of turkey sandwich and chocolate pudding for desert. Lucy chuckles as she teases Alex, “You got a picky eater too?”

“For how much she loves food and is a human garbage disposal – fruits and vegetables are a fight,” Alex explains a bit exasperated as she adds a serving of cucumbers to Kara’s plate as she looks over to see Lucy having a similar disagreement with Drew, “You aren’t picky are you, Drew?”

“Picky,” Drew confirms, nose scrunching up as Lucy suggests some cucumbers. Alex can’t help but reach over and ruffle her hair, getting an annoyed little huff from the child who is starting to get frustrated with her food choices.

“Picky is an understatement, just ask Vasquez about the oatmeal incident,” Lucy jokes, recalling that one morning she’d returned from her jog to find both her girlfriend and the toddler sitting in the kitchen – oatmeal all over the table and floor and both of them in frustrated tears. “How about some broccoli, I know you like that.”

Drew nods agreeably, grateful that they’ve got at least one vegetable that she’s amendable to eating – trying new foods wasn’t her thing. Tastes weren’t so bad, but sometimes the texture was unbearable – thus with the oatmeal debacle.

“Can I have desert first?!” Kara asks hopefully, putting her hands together and practically pleading.

“No, meal first and then desert – I don’t want you to get too full on pudding to eat anything else,” Alex reasons feeling like maybe negotiating with terrorists would be easier as Lucy just chuckles, most likely the Major is having similar thoughts.

“But! What if I eat too much before pudding?!” Kara asks incredulously, the mere suggestion that she should fill up on her meal before getting to the sweet, joy of chocolate pudding is criminal.

“With how much you eat I promise you won’t have that problem,” Alex assures with a little chuckle, leave it to toddlers to use your own logic against you.

The group settles down together and tries to make as little of a mess as possible while also getting everyone fed. Of course with small children nothing really ever goes to plan and Kara, in a bid to get after her chocolate pudding ends up knocking over Alex’s lemonade and drenching Lena and Drew. Kara’s quick to apologizing and when Lena bursts into tears she does too – luckily the other child is just stunned and doesn’t seem like she’s going to cry. Winn is quick to try and help, tossing napkins at the puddle of liquid and ice – he’s got plenty of experience cleaning up spills in the last week.

“I’m sorry!” Kara sobs out, no long interested in her desert since she’d inadvertently made a mess that upset her friends – especially Lena who is currently being picked up by Maggie. “I didn’t mean too.”

“It was an accident, Kara,” Alex tries to comfort as she hands the backpack to Maggie, “I know you didn’t mean to but next time be more careful and ask for help if you need it, okay?”

“Come on, sweet pea let’s get you cleaned up. It’s okay, it’s just lemonade kiddo,” Maggie says, picking Lena up and brushing away her tears as she sees Lucy following suit with Drew, “You coming, Lane?”

“Yep, I don’t go anywhere without an extra pair of clothes,” Lucy assures as she reaches over the table and ruffles Kara’s hair, “It really is okay, Kara, everyone makes a mess sometimes. Drew and Lena just need a clean pair of clothes and it’ll be all better.”

In the bathroom other women are giving Maggie and Lucy sympathetic looks as they quickly try to clean up the toddlers – Lena’s still sniffling from the shock of the cold liquid and having to change out of her comfy clothes in a rather public place. Maggie makes quick work of her the soiled jacket, shirt, and pants – but she’s rummaging through the bag looking for a pair of clean socks. Lucy’s beside her getting Drew dressed into a clean tee and a pair of sweatpants, asking her, “What do you need?”

“You got an extra pair of socks?” Maggie asks with a laugh as she looks in the mirror to see herself and Lucy – two rather rough, tough women doing the most maternal thing ever. She knows she should hate this type of traditionally feminine activity because somehow it’s the only thing society ever expected of women – to put everything about themselves and their lives aside to be mothers - but she can’t seem to muster up even mild annoyance since the kids are so adorable. Stubbornly she thinks to herself that if she’d wanted kids, she could raise them well without having to lose her identity as a wife, a friend, and a police officer.

“Yep, here you go,” Lucy says handing over a pair of clean socks while rummaging around in the bag before a curse slips out, “Oh fuck…”

Maggie starts laughing and Drew’s eyes are wide, clearly understanding the implications of what just slipped out of the Major’s mouth. Lena doesn’t seem to understand that Lucy just said a bad word, just sucking on her thumb a bit to calm herself down. Lucy seems to realize what she said and straightens up with a sigh, “Oh, da-  I’m really bad at this parenting thing, I think this is the fourth time I’ve dropped and F-bomb in front of the kids.”

“Eh, they’re a little young to understand,” Maggie shrugs it off, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’s accidentally cursed in front of a child. She’d just explained to Kara and Lena that you shouldn’t say it until they’re grown up – Kara seemed annoyed that she couldn’t try it out but was easily bribed with ice cream and Lena did seem to be bothered by it one way or another. “But what’s the matter?”

“I forgot to pack her an extra jacket,” Lucy laments, wondering where the other hoodie went and how she’s going to rectify the situation.

Maggie checks her bag and doesn’t find an extra jacket, but she quickly states, “You could just run by the gift shop and find a kids hoodie”

“Probably going to have to, meet you guys at the planetarium,” Lucy says as she gathers up her back and Drew to go in search of the gift shop hoping that they have some season appropriate clothing – or she’s going to look like a terrible parent with a child that’s completely underdressed for the weather.

By the time they reach the planetarium a line is already in place for the next showing – Lucy returns with Drew both of them seem rather pleased that they were able to find a hoodie with a T-Rex skeleton on it, the tail wrapping around the side. In the waiting area of the planetarium the children crowd around the cases that hold NASA memorabilia, meteorites, and a replica of Sputnik. By the time they’re seated all of the kids are excitedly squirming in their seats as they get the planetarium projecting the HD images of the solar system.  

The guys narrating explains the basics of the Sol system – paying special attention to Earth and speaking briefly about Mars. M’gann and J’onn both seem to tense and Winn notices, cuddling up to both of them to try and make them feel better. They explore different systems including the planets and life outside of their system as well as unique space phenomena. The show includes an HD movie about what it takes to become an astronaut and shows what life is like on the International Space Station – which just solidifies in Winn’s mind that the best Halloween costume may in fact be a space suit from NASA.

As the toddlers start to tire out in the afternoon they start to slow down – Kara’s begs Alex to carry her even though Alex teases about how she’s normally so energetic but picks her up anyway. Lena’s happy to walk, wanting to be as independent as possible so she can do what she wants. Winn’s chatting with J’onn about his plans for Halloween and hoping that he can help him make an astronaut costume. Drew’s falling asleep in Lucy’s arms, mumbling about how she wants to show Vasquez the dinosaur claw and her new hoodie.

“Oh fuck,” Lena mutters innocently as she trips coming of the last step and almost falls, completely oblivious to what she’s said having an obvious effect on the adults. Alex has gone stock still, J’onn and M’gann are trying not to laugh at how adorable and matter-of-fact that Lena had just cursed. Adults that were nearby are giving Alex and Lena odd looks but the child doesn’t seem to notice as they keep walking. She also doesn’t notice the ominous glare that Alex is shooting Maggie. Maggie is trying not to laugh at how the little girl had just complete deadpanned the curse word like a boss since her wife is glaring daggers at her.

“Don’t look at me!” Maggie throwing her hands up and vehemently protesting her innocence despite the fact it looks like her wife doesn’t believe her in the slightest. “I swear to Rao that I didn’t say anything this time.”

Luckily, Lucy is quick to intervene and explain to Alex rather succinctly, “Yeah, that one’s on me. It just kind of slipped out while I was trying to get Drew changed.”

“You said a bad word!” Winn accuses with a shocked expression – as if this is the worst thing to have ever happened in his small world. He doesn’t know if Lena knows what she said but he’s pretty sure that Lucy being an adult would know better.

“Yeah, I did and my potty mouth is going to get me a time out,” Lucy assures even though she and Maggie snort with laughter, the two of them are finding it amusing especially given that all of the toddlers curse terribly as adults – especially Drew and Lena who both are capable of cursing such a blue streak that the people around them blush in shame.

Alex is not amused with either of their antics, as she rolls her eyes and tries to explain to Lena and the other kids, “Okay, so let me be very clear – Lena that’s not a very nice word that you learned from Lucy. It’s something only adults say and even then it’s not polite – so we shouldn’t say it.”

Lena’s bottom lip is starting to stick out, clearly she thinks she’s in trouble because she copied Lucy but Alex is quick to tap her on the nose and tell her that she didn’t know any better – that she’s not in trouble. Lucy on the other hand is in trouble for teaching her such a bad word – even the only punishment is a stern talking to from Alex and Vasquez. They make it through the last exhibit without further incident, all of the kids are excited about seeing the astronaut suits, the interactive planet displays and the model of the International Space Station.

At the end the kids get the chance to try some of the meals astronauts eat and Winn and Lena both are happy to try out some of each entrée. Drew’s a bit hesitant but accepts some of the orange drink, humming contently as she sips at it. Kara goes immediately to the ice cream, happily taking a huge bite of the freeze dried ice cream expecting it to taste relatively like normal ice cream – but she’s sorely disappointed. It’s crunchy, dry and bit chalky which must be evident to all as her eyes are looking betrayed at the museum worker running the station and states in a small, disappointed voice, “That’s not ice cream!”

The other three kids try it at Kara’s insistence that she not be the only one to suffer this indignation they call ice cream. Winn gets a rather sour look as she crunches it up, and Drew balks at the texture and spits it out but Lena doesn’t seem to mind at all – even going for a second piece when Maggie gives her the go ahead. Kara just shakes her head as she takes Lena’s hand as she tells her very seriously, “Lena. I love you lots – but that’s not ice cream.”

Lena’s response to that is to just shrug, stop munching on the oddly sweet treat and lean over to press a kiss to Kara’s cheek as she mumbles, “I love you too.”

“And you still bet Sam and Maggie that those two aren’t going out as adults?!” Lucy asks Alex incredulously as she chuckles at how adorable the pair are as they skip towards the car hand in hand.

“It’s going to be the easiest fifty bucks I’ve ever made in my life,” Maggie teases with a grin, even though she pulls Alex into a hug – the red only half-heartedly protesting.

Chapter Text

“Animals!” Kara shouts, but the people she’s talking to are less than thrilled at the conversation much less the volume. But she doesn’t seem perturbed as she starts jumping on the bed while sing-songing, “We’re going to see the animals! Animals! Animals!”

Alex groans and pulls the pillow over her head, really hoping that Kara’s not so clumsy that she’s going to fall on her or Maggie. At least if Kara gets Maggie then they’ll be even for almost half of Kara’s attacks, but soon Alex feels the pillow being pried away by small hands shortly followed by small hands brushing hair out of her face as Kara asks, “Alex, are you awake?”

“No.”

Kara just starts giggling, “Yes you are! It’s time for the zoo!”

“Go watch cartoons, it’s been a really long week and we need another hour of sleep. Please, the zoo won’t even be open for a couple more hours anyway,” Alex begs, silently praying to Rao that letting Kara go watch TV will distract her long enough for her and Maggie to get some much needed rest.

The had been a long and rather unproductive week, despite the raids on the rag tag gang’s hideouts they hadn’t gotten much further on discovering the origins of the weapon. The STAR lab also hadn’t made any notable progress on re-engineering the weapon. All in all, it had been most frustrating, especially since Alex had moments where she was hit with the stinging pain of missing her sister.

“But mama said it’s time to wake up,” Kara protests softly, not wanting to disobey her mother or Alex, “She’s making pancakes!”

“Well, I’m up,” Maggie says, instantly perking up at the mention of Eliza making pancakes. Sure she’d spent most of her week looking after a hoard of toddlers at the DEO Daycare in between updating notes on her cases and giving suggestions about new cases. But the last time she and Alex visited Midvale Eliza had made the most amazing butter pecan pancakes that Maggie decided were the best thing she’d ever eaten for breakfast.

“Traitor,” Alex mumbles, her body is so achingly tired she wonders how she’s going to make it through a day at the zoo with her family – toddlers included. She and Maggie had promised the girls that they’d go to the zoo and the rest of their Super Friends – which should really be upgraded to Super Family – had decided to go as well.

“I’ll make you coffee,” Maggie offers with a teasing smile as she leans over and presses a kiss to Alex’s lips before picking up a squirming Kara and carrying her towards the kitchen. “We’re not going to have trouble finding your shoes again today are we? I swear we haven’t gone a single day this week without having to on a hunt for a missing shoe.”

Kara giggles as she proudly points to the two yellow Converse sitting by the door, she’d made it a point to take off her shoes and keep them together since Alex had been rather cross when she’d been late to work for the third time in a row because of missing shoes. That and she didn’t want to have to waste any time looking for them when they had so many animals to see at the zoo.

At the table Eliza is helping Lena stir in some chocolate chips into a special batch of pancakes, handing the tired detective a mug of coffee before telling her, “There’s one for Alexandra on the counter, these two were up with the sun this morning and I imagine it’s because of the trip to the zoo.”

“We’re going to the zoo!” Kara crows happily, clapping her hands as Maggie sits her in the boaster seat. The detective notices that Eliza and the girls are already dressed and she’s so incredibly grateful that Alex had decided to invite her mom to town when this all started. “We get to see the elephants, monkeys, lions, sharks…”

“I don’t think the zoo has sharks, Kar,” Alex says tiredly as Maggie hands her the mug of coffee from the counter, taking a long draught of it hoping that it will kick in soon enough.

“No sharks?” Lena asks with a disappointed little pout.

“No, that would at the aquarium,” Maggie confirms, adding a trip to the aquarium to the list of things to do along with a fall festival and trick-or-treating since Halloween is only a couple weeks away. “We can go do that sometime too – unlike the zoo it doesn’t matter if it’s cold outside since most of the tanks are indoors.”

Alex checks her phone and snickers at the pictures that Lucy sent her this morning – Vasquez and Lucy have clearly been woken up given the bedhead hair and tired looks. But Drew’s right in the middle of them, dressed in her t-rex hoodie she refused to go anywhere without complete with shoes and beanie. Apparently her and Maggie weren’t the only one who were woken up by an excited child this morning.

As soon as the pancakes are served Alex scarfs down a couple before stealing one of the chocolate chip ones – feeling she’s entitled to a sweet treat for her efforts to be cheerful this early in the morning. She wonders briefly if they’re going to be stuck waiting for the zoo to open because of everyone’s over eagerness to get going. Apparently, M’gann has to train a new bartender this morning before evening shifts for the weekend start but J’onn’s already sent a picture of Winn biting into a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles.

The drive is just as energy filled, Alex doesn’t know how her parents managed raising a toddler while her father was working a tenured-track position at the university and her mother finished her residency. She feels a bit better now that the coffee is having its desired effect, not feeling like she could fall back asleep at any moment. Soon enough they’re shuffling two excited toddlers towards the ticket box, Lucy is there with Drew who is already holding hands with Winn and listening patiently to him chatter about how they’re going to have to go and see all the creepy crawlies before they leave. As soon as Alex let’s go of Kara’s hand she’s running towards Winn and Drew, dragging Lena along by the hand.

“Winn! Drew!” Kara shouts as she practically tackles to two children, pulling Lena along into the heap of small, tangled limbs. Winn’s giggling but Lena and Drew both look a little shell shocked and confused but go along with it since the blonde seems to be happy and excited.

“Wow, you’re strong, Kara!” Winn exclaims through giggles, hugging his tiny friends close before grasping Kara’s hand. All four of the toddlers walk hand in hand towards the first exhibit which entails a field of kangaroos enjoying their morning meal. It doesn’t take long for the kids to crowd around the fence to try and get a closer look at the animals.

“It’s going to be like this all day,” Lucy states with a small smile as she follows along with the other adults, keeping an eye on Drew to make sure the little dare devil isn’t trying to climb into an enclosure. Sure Drew may be skittish around people but she was going to have to watch her around the big cats lest the small child think cuddling the ‘kitties’ would be a good idea.

“Where’s Vasquez? My partner in crime and fellow jokester who doesn’t mind poking fun at my wife and her uptight friend in uniform,” Maggie teases, genuinely curious about where the other agent is.

“Heading up the DEO today, we can’t leave the newbies in charge – next weekend it’s me and J’onn,” Lucy tells her apologetically, that and she’s not going to admit that she lost a coin flip since Vasquez hates the zoo and wasn’t too keen on handling children since she’s frequently having to step in at the DEO daycare. She was great with Drew one on one but the other woman really was uncomfortable with more than one child at a time. “How is masquerading as Supergirl working out for you?”

“Exhausting,” J’onn states truthfully, he’s not quite as invulnerable as Kara is so the fights sometimes left bruises and aching muscles but he doesn’t want to worry them. He’s also not going to tell them that having to parade around in Kara’s rather feminine and revealing outfit was less than comfortable – even though he can see the mirth in Alex’s eyes at the mention of his nighttime super hero routine in her sister’s place.

As they move on to the next exhibit, African elephants, Alex lays a hand on his shoulder and whispers to stay safe and let her know if he gets to badly injured. Her thoughtfulness and the affection in her gaze makes him smile, reaching over her pulls her into a hug, reminding her that he’s there for her too should she ever need him. In that moment he also misses Kara, the jovial blonde had been the first person in a long time to be unafraid and breakthrough his rough exterior, even before he’d given up Hank Henshaw’s identity. Pressing a kiss to Alex’s temple he’s thankful that she and Kara are a part of his family, the daughters he deserves to love and have love him in return.

As the zoo starts to fill with other families that had the same idea to get out of the house while the weather is still tolerable the kids get more restless and frustrated. Winn’s having trouble getting through all the people to a place where he can see the large mammals. Drew’s sought out Lucy, a little frightened by the influx of people and the noise that’s ramped up quite a bit. Eliza has picked up Lena who shyly wasn’t going to say anything about not being able to see the animals or even being uncomfortable being so short when a lot of taller people were milling around close to her.

“I can’t see nothing!” Winn grouches, half way between pouting and throwing a tantrum – not quite sure if this is something to be mad about or something to cry about.

J’onn is laughing and grinning as he swings Winn up into his arms and tells him, “I have an idea where you’ll be able to see all the animals but you have to be still and hold on, okay?”

“Okay!,” Winn agrees instantly and with much enthusiasm even though he’s not sure what J’onn has in mind but trusting him implicitly. He starts squealing with excitement as J’onn lifts him up to let him sit on his shoulders, happily calling out, “I’m high as the moon!”

J’onn smiles fondly, patting the boys leg as he reminds, “Hold on, little one.”

Kara whines to Alex and points to Winn not soon after, and Eliza tries to explain that since she’s a little excitable and squirms it may not be the best idea. But even the older doctor caves to the child’s crystal blue puppy dog eyes and pout, making the child promise to be careful since she doesn’t want either of her daughters accidentally hurt. Alex bends down and let’s Lucy set Kara on her shoulders and warns, “Try not to pull my hair too much okay, sis?”

“’Kay,” Kara says absentmindedly, clearly enthralled with the change of view as she looks out at the Elephants in their enclosure lumbering about and munching on the tree leaves. As a group of them get closer Kara squeals and points, “Wow. Look!”

“They’re pretty big aren’t they?” Alex tells her, smiling at how enthusiastic the children are to be at the zoo and see all of the animals. She wonders if this experience would be as magical with her own child – but she pushes that thought aside because she and Maggie had agreed previously that their jobs were rather dangerous and that it wouldn’t be far to a child that one or both of them may not come home one day. She tries to forget about the arguments they’d had and the nights Alex has spent alone in bed before they both agreed children weren’t for them. But a part of her wonders what motherhood – maybe minus the pregnancy and morning sickness aspects – would be like.

“Hey, Lena, you want a lift where you can see better?” Maggie offers to the child nestled in Eliza’s arms, chuckling a bit when Lena objects – shaking her head and grasping tightly to Eliza’s sweater as she verbally voices her objections. Maggie’s a little disappoint but understands that Lena Luthor was not a fan of heights no matter how much of a brave face she puts on about them as an adult.

Maggie looks over to see Alex looking up at her sisterand explaining that elephants have empathy and compassion just like people do and that they don’t leave their herd mates behind when they’re hurt or sick. A part of her is a little jealous and she wonders why – she never wanted to be a mother so she’s mentally scolding herself for feeling a little sad about not getting to share in a child’s firsts or teaching them things. She wonders what’s changed over the past couple weeks and if that’s something that will go away once their friends and colleagues are back to their adult selves - or if the nagging feeling of missing out is going to be sticking around.

 Beside her Lucy has offered to carry Drew on her shoulders, but Drew looks dubiously at how high up Winn and Kara are and shakes her head hesitantly. The child is biting her lip like she wants something but doesn’t know how or what to ask for.

“You should see if she’ll sit on Maggie’s shoulders, she’s a lot closer to the earth,” Alex teases good naturedly, holding on tightly to Kara’s ankles lest her rambunctious sister accidently try to throw herself off of her shoulders in her excitement.

“I’m not shorter than Lane,” Maggie scoffs, almost insulted that her wife has made a crack at her height. She knows she’s shorter than Lane, but she can’t let it go without some semblance of a protest.

“Yeah you are, but just remember good things come in small packages,” Lucy reminds with a grin and wink to Maggie just to tease Alex for getting in a height joke. She could see the disappointment on Maggie’s face when Lena turned down her offer, it was quick and if she’d blinked at the wrong moment she may have missed it.

Maggie had been good with Drew, and since the first day at the DEO Drew had gotten more comfortable and relaxed around other people. As they move on to the next exhibit with the giraffes Lucy nudges Maggie with her elbow, “Drew will probably sit on your shoulders if you ask. Since you made her feel safe at the DEO daycare you’ve become one of her favorite people.”

Maggie smiles and asks Drew, “You want to try riding on my shoulders? I’m not going to let anything happen to you and if you don’t like it I’ll put you down.”

The small child has a rather determined look as she nods, reaching for her as she timidly requests, “Please.”

“Alright, help me out here Lane,” Maggie says with a dimpled grin, kneeling down so Lane can arrange the child on her shoulders. Grasping Drew’s tiny calves, she holds onto her as she carefully stands up but doesn’t move just to let the child get used to height knowing it must be a little shocking going from pushing two feet tall to sitting over five feet high. Maggie can feel the little body relax after initially tensing, small hands resting on her head, fingers threading softly in her hair, “How’s it feel on top of the world, mija? Are you okay?”

Lucy smiles as she snaps a picture with her phone, “You should see the grin on her face, I think you just made her day, Sawyer.”

“Maggie?” Drew asks quietly, leaning against the woman’s head to try and see her face, “See the monkeys?”

“Yeah, sweetheart we’ll go see the monkeys,” Maggie assures as she heads over to the rest of the group with Lucy nearby smiling at her. Alex sees her with Drew and grins, still holding onto her sister for dear life as the giraffes get spoked from Kara’s squeals and cries of joy.

As they move onto the next exhibit Alex can’t help but smile to herself as how happy Maggie looks with the tiny child perched on her shoulders. At the moment Maggie is pointing out the lemurs that are sunning themselves on the rocks, Drew points as they start to move. The way Maggie’s been so warm and caring for the children makes Alex feel like her heart is going to melt right out of her chest. When Maggie looks over and smiles her dimpled smile and waves – Drew waving a bit shyly too – Alex smiles and waves back, the feelings of love she has for her wife are almost overwhelming.

Drew coos and chatters about the ring-tailed lemurs on display, laughing when they bounce between the tree branches of the enclosure to charge at one another. When Alex comes over with Kara so the little blonde can get a good luck at the lemurs chasing each other she can’t help but reach over and squeeze Maggie’s hand, giving her a tender smile.

“You okay, Danvers?” Maggie asks a bit teasingly; she can tell from Alex’s affectionate look that her wife is having one of those moments where she’s overwhelmed with happiness.

“Absolutely,” Alex assures, but she leans in and presses a kiss to Maggie’s lips, “Just happy.”

Lena’s happily listening to Eliza explain that the earliest primates were even smaller than the lemurs and eventually gave rise to the whole order of Primates along with some other mammal groups. The little Luthor is contently taking in all the information even though she doesn’t really understand a lot of what’s being said. Lena’s favorite animal turned out to be the flamingos, the elegant but bright pink birds were gracefully strutting about in the pond and Lena couldn’t keep her eyes off of them.

“ ‘lamingos,” Lena pretty much shouts as she points, she’s practically bouncing when Eliza sets her down and helps her stand on one of the benches by the pond so that she can see the birds better. A couple of the bright pink birds strut nearby, long legs carefully dipping in and out of the water and Lena practically squeals with excitement.

The other children aren’t nearly as excited about the birds, after the first five or ten minutes Kara’s already asking to see other animals and Winn’s wriggling around with boredom. Drew doesn’t seem to mind but she doesn’t seem particularly enthralled either, contently chattering softly with Maggie and Lucy. Lena however looks like she might cry when they decide to move on to the next exhibit

“Don’t you want to see the other animals?” Eliza asks gently, hoping that Lena will perk up a bit at the prospect of other animals.

“No,” Lena pouts, eyes welling with tears.

“How about this,” Alex says as she carefully fishes out her phone and switches to the camera and hands it to her mother, “We’ll take some pictures of the flamingo’s for you and then you can look at them whenever you want.”

Lena perks up, nodding and smiling when Eliza helps her pick out some of the flamingos to photograph. Once the child is satisfied with the pictures they head down the path towards the penguin exhibit which has all four children excited – unlike most of the animals that were just chilling after their morning meals the penguins seemed to be rather excitedly zipping about in the water. Kara and Lena both love the penguins, laughing and running up and down the length of the tank as they weave and bob around each other like little missiles in the water.

“Careful that you don’t run into each other,” Alex warns with a laugh as Lena and Kara nearly collide while trying to keep up with the agile penguins. She reaches over to rub her wife’s shoulders, smiling up at Drew who is watching the penguins with rapt attention, “Hey kiddo, you like the penguins?”

Drew nods, clearly deep in thought as she watches the flightless birds that are so slow and awkward on land dip into the water and become much more graceful and acrobatic. Winn is chatting to J’onn, asking him how fast the birds can swim and why they’re so slow on the land – the martian just laughs and explains patiently while looking at the little information panels that the zoo has with information on the animals, “It looks like this species of penguin can swim up to 20 miles per hour, and since they’re better suited to water they’re a little wobbly on land.”

“That’s fast!” Winn exclaims as he watches a couple penguins dive into the water, chasing playfully after one another. After a few more moments he looks down at J’onn, tapping him on the head gently while he asks curiously, “Where’s the bugs?!”

 “You want to see if we can find the Insect House?” J’onn asks amusedly, he knew Winn loved the little robotic bugs that M’gann insisted they get for him to play with but he didn’t really expect him to have an affinity for real bugs.

“Yes!” Winn agrees happily, beaming a bright smile that’s rather infection.

“I’m pretty sure that it’s next to the reptile house, which I’m sure Lena and Drew are going to want to see. We’re probably going to have to explain that these aren’t actual dinosaurs though,” Maggie says with a grin laughing when Lena starts looking around at the mention of dinosaurs. On her shoulder’s Drew asks softly about where the dinosaurs are, looking around curiously hoping she didn’t miss them.

On the way to the insect house Kara and Lena are holding hands and skipping along, having to be reminded to not wander off the path or too far away from the adults. Once the two girls figure out what insects are neither of them are a fan, cringing and flinching away from the glass cases that show a variety of beetles, ants, and spiders. Kara nearly cries as she scurries over to Eliza, reaching for her mother who picks her up and comforts her, “Oh Kara. I know they look scary but they’re not going to hurt you – they’re behind glass and even if they weren’t I wouldn’t let them get to you.”

Kara whimpers in protest and buries her face against Eliza’s neck, crying softly for a few moments. Eliza holds onto her small, trembling body, rocking her as she assures her, “It’s okay, sweet girl, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Lena also seems a little spooked by the odd looking bugs, looking around at the glass enclosures that seem to tower over her she looks around desperately and calls out softly, “Alex?”

“Yeah kiddo?” Alex asks gently, kneeling down to get on Lena’s level and realizes that Lena doesn’t want to admit that she’s frightened by the bugs. Smiling she picks Lena up and cuddles her close as she assures her, “Not a fan of the bugs either, are you?”

“No,” Lena agrees readily, feeling much better now that she’s safely wrapped up in the woman’s arms.

“Maybe bugs wasn’t such a great idea,” Lucy admits as even she feels her skin crawl a little bit, a few of the large arachnids and scorpions remind her of the nasty insects that she’d had to deal with in Iraq. The thought of having to deal with the Camel Spider or the Sun Spiders from her previous deployments makes her shudder – adult Drew didn’t seem to mind killing the creatures or at the least shooing them out of their barracks for her, “I’m starting to share Kara’s sentiments. Especially the spiders.”

“She always did hate insects and spiders. The first time Kara saw a spider after she got here from Krypton she shot it with her heat vision out of sheer terror,” Alex says with a laugh, her mother beside her is chuckling too, “It took us a good hour to understand why she melted a large hole in our bathtub.”

“For months afterwards she would ask Alex to randomly check the bathroom sink and shower to make sure she wasn’t going to get surprised by another spider,” Eliza adds as she continues to rock Kara, pressing a kiss to her temple as she runs her fingers through her hair to keep her calm as they wait for the others to finish up with the insects and arachnids.

“I don’t blame her,” Lucy states plainly, “When Drew picked up a grasshopper and brought it into the apartment a couple days ago I made Susan take care of it.”

Up ahead of them Winn is running back and forth between all of the glass enclosures, pointing and asking J’onn to read him the information about each and every one of the specimens on display. Maggie’s chatting with Drew about some praying mantis, but both of them recoil from the next glass enclosure that houses some rather wicked looking scorpions.

“Yeah, we’ll let Winn enjoy the rest of the bugs himself, huh?” Maggie tells her as she turns to carry Drew back towards the rest of the group that is waiting outside the insect house.

“Bugs sting,” Drew concludes with distaste and an adorable little cringe.

“That they do little bit,” Maggie agrees with a laugh, grateful that Drew didn’t really want to keep look at all the various insects. However, once they get to the reptile house Drew is much more enthusiastic to see all the iguanas, lizards, and larger reptiles having to set her down so she can look at her leisure.

Lena is also enthused with the reptiles, asking Alex to put her down as she exclaims that she wants to see the little dinosaurs. No amount of convincing or explaining would change Lena’s mind that these were not real dinosaurs – it didn’t matter that Alex tried to explain that these were the descendants of dinosaurs since the real dinosaurs had gone extinct a long time ago. Lena was absolutely convinced when she sees a monitor lizard that she’s seeing modern dinosaurs, shouting and squealing with giggles as she sees the lizards stick out it’s forked tongue to scent the air. Kara doesn’t seem so sure but Lena just takes her hand and drags her along, chattering to her excitedly.

Drew and Winn are completely enraptured with the beaded dragons, listening as J’onn and Lucy explain that this is in fact a lizard much to their disappointment. But the two are ohhing and ahhing over the facts that J’onn reads to them, including the fact that the bites of these creatures were venomous which is rather rare among reptiles. The two kids are equally impressed with the bearded dragons and Gila monsters too – when they get to the alligator and crocodile enclosures all the kids except Kara are losing their minds over the ‘dinosaurs.’ Lucy and Alex are commemorating the moments to film, including the moment a zookeeper brings out an iguana for them to see and touch.

After the reptile house Kara complains of being hungry and the other children pipe up that they too would appreciate a snack and a break from walking with their small legs. Of course the idea of sitting down and resting goes right out the window when they stop at one of the more kid friendly restaurants in the zoo and find a playground. After getting the children to politely request what they want to eat Lucy, J’onn and Eliza usher them out to the playground to wait.

While Maggie and Alex gather up straws and napkins the cashier who’s helping get their things together gives them friendly smile and tells them, “Your family is so wonderful, and your kids are so polite and adorable!”

Alex hesitates for a moment but beaming as she responds, “Yeah, they’re wonderful. They keep us on our toes for sure though.”

Maggie gives a little look she can’t place and Alex isn’t sure why she didn’t just correct the teen. A part of her argues that she didn’t correct her because the real explanation for how they all were and weren’t related was a veritable cluster fuck. But a more honest part of her consciousness knows that secretly she’s happy to live in the illusion that this was her family that she was raising with Maggie – how ever fleeting it may be. But she would never say that out loud to anyone and she really hopes that J’onn is too busy chasing after Winn and Drew who are hell bent on climbing to the top of the jungle gym that he doesn’t sense her thoughts or feelings.

After some cajoling they get the children calmed down enough to sit down and eat- the harried adults are relieved for the break no matter how short lived it’s going to be. By now, it’s been two weeks the toddlers and they’ve finally gotten good at staying mostly clean during meals and not having their eating space look like a nuclear fallout has occurred. There’s still a few spills and sticky hands that have to be cleaned up with a few wet wipes, but all in all no one needed a complete change of clothing – which Alex is thankful for because it means less laundry that she has to do later.

By the time they make the rounds to the animals local to California all four toddlers are down for the count – tired, mopey, and on the verge of a tired tantrum. Lena’s fallen asleep in Alex’s arms, leaving a patch of drool on her shoulder, but she just soothes the child when she stirs at a particularly loud noise. Kara’s whining but complains even more when Eliza or Lucy try to pick her up – she’s in an irrational mood, upset that she’s still walking because she’s tired but also angry that she’s tired in the first place.

Drew, perched back on Maggie’s shoulders, has rested her head resting tiredly against Maggie’s and snoring softly which the police detective finds amusing. Maggie’s careful to hold onto the girl’s small hands to make sure she doesn’t fall off despite her grumpy whines when she’s jostled. Similarly, Winn is asleep in J’onn’s arm, head resting against the Martian’s chest and fingers threated in his shirt. As they head to the parking lot Maggie tells Lucy, “Let me carry her to your car, she’s a grumpy one when she’s woken up.”

“Yeah, she is,” Lucy agrees as she opens the door for Alex to help her get Lena into her car seat even though she starts to whimper.

The red head gently shushes her, brushing her tears away and telling her that they’re going to go home so they all pile on the big bed and take a nap together. On the other side of the vehicle her mother has placed Kara in the car seat, buckling her in and chuckling a bit as the blonde quickly start to nod off to sleep as she gets in, liking Alex’s idea of everyone getting a lazy, Saturday afternoon nap. Once Maggie gets Drew to Lucy’s car, the Major picking up the rather grumpy child and settling her in the car seat with little trouble and wishing her friend well.

Once home all three women sigh with relief when they get the toddler into the house without waking them up, laying them on the sofa all three women decide a nap is in order. Alex smiles and takes Maggie by the hand, dragging her towards the bedroom where she happily falls into bed before kicking off her shoes. Maggie’s already stretching out against the pillows and opening up her arms up for Alex to settle in them, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

“My feet are going to hurt from all that walking,” Alex chuckles, nuzzling against Maggie’s collar and draping an arm over her middle knowing it won’t be long until she falls asleep.

“I bet, especially how off balance Kara got the two of you being so excitable,” Maggie agrees, grateful that while Kara almost tipped Alex and herself over a couple times no one was seriously hurt. “Her enthusiasm is adorable on a whole other level.”

“Kids are just so fascinating – they’re so curious about things and so accepting and full of love. I’m so glad that Kara never seemed to grow out of that in spite of everything that’s happened to her. For the most part Lena and Winn also kept their kindness and curiosity even if they’re still worried about getting hurt like they have in the past,” Alex posits, for a moment she wonders if adult Drew would have been more sociable and less severe if she hadn’t been so profoundly abused in her early years. The little girl they’ve all gotten to know is curious, likes to learn, and while still hesitant clearly craves physical affection and attention.

“They really are something,” Maggie states, not sure how to respond to that – she notices Alex fails to mention the fourth child but she doesn’t bring it up. Her mind is too preoccupied with the memory of the two month they spent arguing and fighting about the topic of children – the nights she’d slept on the couch while Alex cried quietly in their room. Neither woman wanted the relationship to end, and after two miserable months where they avoided each other or could hardly be in the same room with each other – Alex came to the conclusion that she could live without children but she couldn’t live without Maggie.

The police detective was elated at the time, that after some couples counseling their relationship healed – they’d even married. But now she’s not so sure she should be happy about how they reconciled, not now that she’s seen the way Alex lights up around the children and has fallen into a maternal role like she was suited for it. It just didn’t feel right that Alex gave that up, especially since Maggie’s sure the red head is still secretly harboring the desire to raise children of her own.

The afternoon nap just isn’t going to happen for her now, not with Alex’s breath ghosting over her neck and her arms wrapped tightly around her. Maggie can’t seem to shake the feeling that somehow and some way her happy little life is going to get turned on its head once again – like a storm brewing on the horizon that’s yet to make landfall. A promise of impending pain and hardship lingering just in view. Sighing softly, Maggie just lays there stroking her fingers through Alex’s hair tenderly – letting her wife sleep peacefully.

In the living room, Kara’s woken up and sleepily searches for her young companion finding Lena twitching and grumbling in her sleep. Trying to carefully climb onto the couch she lays down beside Lena, clumsily wrapping her arms around the brunet and hugging her close when she whimpers in her sleep. The blonde shushes her like Alex and her mother have done for her when she was upset, pressing a kiss to Lena’s cheek and she half whispers, “No more bad dreams, Lena.”

Lena just sighs softly in her sleep, snuggling closer to Kara’s warmth – the nightmares of yelling fading into blackness to be replaced by memories of melodic laughter and smiling blue eyes. Unconsciously she huddles closer to Kara, reaching out to clasp her companion’s shirt to hold onto and feel grounded as she falls into a deeper, more restful sleep.

Chapter Text

On Monday morning Lena wakes up with a scratchy throat and watery eyes, looking a little worse for wear. Mid-way through the day Lena ends up throwing up and the scratchy throat has developed into a ragged cough that wracks her small body making her cry. Maggie, Alex, and Eliza all take turns staying up with a miserable toddler as she coughs and sniffles – throwing up what little food and water she managed to keep down. 

On Wednesday, Alex calls in to work citing a medical emergency and explaining to J’onn and Lucy that they’re going to have to take Lena to a pediatrician. She and Maggie take Lena to a trusted pediatrician who examines the child and does a throat swab, announcing that the poor little Luthor has a case of strep throat. Alex would find it hilarious that Maggie seems more distressed about Lena having to get a shot than the toddler is even though she cries a little – but the police detective looks like she wants to punch the nurse that stuck the little girl.

Maggie’s pacing the exam room with Lena in her arms, the little girl is calming down from hiccupping sobs. Lena’s day went from bad to worse, feeling so badly and not having slept the night before then having to spend half an hour getting poked and prodded was the cherry on top of the shit sundae. Maggie is also upset, having to try and calm the child through all these medical procedures has made her heart ache in her chest. Alex has come closer and threads her fingers in Maggie’s hair, rubbing gently to try and soothe her upset wife – “Maggie?”

“Just give us a minute,” Maggie says softly, rocking Lena who’s only sniffling now, feeling her heartbeat starting to slow down to its normal pace. Earlier it has been pitter-pattering rapidly in fright and Maggie was sure her own heart was sped up too from all the anxiety.

“Hey, everything’s done,” Alex tells her tenderly, watching as Maggie presses a soft kiss to Lena’s temple – realizing that Maggie is one of the most empathetic and caring people she’s ever met, but also that it means when someone is in pain her wife feels it rather keenly too. Rubbing Lena’s back tenderly she leans in and presses a kiss to Maggie’s temple, “No more tests, I promise. Once we get the prescriptions we’ll be on our way home.”

Sometime later in the afternoon, Alex wakes up a little disoriented as she looks down to see that Kara is still sleeping on her chest, the plushy puppy tucked under her arm and hands still grasping the fabric of her shirt. Alex rubs her back as she leans back to see her mother in a coat and with a purse slung over her shoulder, “Hey, what’s…”

“I’m just going to head into the lab for a while, you and Maggie should rest while you can,” Eliza assures her gently, pressing Alex’s shoulder to keep her from sitting up further. Brushing hair from her daughters face she leans down to press a kiss to her forehead before kissing the crown of Kara’s head. Luckily for both of them Kara wasn’t ill, but that didn’t stop the little Kryptonian from being rather clingy and pouty – feeling bad for her friend.  “I’ve got a few ideas I want to check out with your colleagues from the STAR lab, I’ll explain it all to you later.”

“You sure,” Alex asks a bit half-heartedly, part of her really does want to hurry up and get her sister and friends back to their adult lives but another part of her really wants to just flop back against the couch and sleep for another couple of hours.

“I’m sure, take care of yourself Alex,” Eliza assures, as she checks on Maggie and Lena who are sprawled out together on the other sofa. She smiles, seeing Lena sleeping contently with her head resting on Maggie’s chest, drooling a wet spot onto the detective’s police hoodie.

Alex falls back to sleep for a couple more hours until she’s awoken by a loud crash in the kitchen, on across from her Lena startles away and starts to cry. Maggie is quick to sit up and cradle the child to her chest, rocking her as she starts to cough violently which just makes her cry harder. Alex looks over to see Kara has pushed a chair over to the refrigerator and has dropped several things on the floor including a carton of eggs, a bottle of juice that’s split open and leaking across the floor, and the left over lasagna.

Kara however is perched happily in the chair eating ice cream by the spoonful, straight from the carton. Alex is frustrated as she gets up and scolds, “Kara!”

Kara looks up, blue eyes meeting her sisters rather angry brown ones, and scoops out another large spoonful of ice cream and shovels it into her mouth. Clearly the toddler is not phased at all by her sister’s anger and is defiantly going to be eating as much of the sweet treat as she can before Alex stops her.

Maggie’s a bit gob smacked at Kara’s defiance and wonders if this is toddler Kara on Red K – she’s grateful that right now her main priority is dealing with the crying toddler. She also kind of wishes Eliza was here but at the same time she knows that if she really is considering kids of their own in the future they’re both going to have to figure this out eventually. Hopefully any child they have will not have such a hatred of fruits and vegetables that drives them to break into the refrigerator and eat ice cream by the carton.

“I hope you enjoyed that ice cream because it’s the last sweet thing you’ll be getting for next week,” Alex states as she reaches over and removes the ice cream from Kara’s hands and puts it in the freezer before picking up the paper towels and trash can.

“But Hal-ween,” Kara protests with a scowl on her face as she crosses her arms over her chest – she can’t believe that just because she was hungry and decided ice cream was the best thing to eat she’s getting punished for it. Didn’t Alex understand that a life full of vegetables and fruits was bland and tasteless existence?!

“Halloween is two weeks from now, but if you want to keep pushing your luck you won’t be getting any Halloween candy either,” Alex tells her rather crossly, picking up the broken pieces of plastic before handing Kara a towel to help mop up the juice, “Now help me clean this up before you can go sit in time out.”

“No!” Kara whines, pouting at the threat of not getting to go trick-or-treating as she drops the towel over the rather large puddle of orange juice.

“Right now it’s only a week,” Alex grumbles as she helps the toddler clean up the mess before moving a chair over to the corner of the living room and lifting Kara onto it. Kneeling down she gets on eye level with the child and explains, “Kara, Maggie and I aren’t making rules to be mean or keep you from having fun – they are there for a reason. We don’t want you filling up on sweet all the time because it’s not good for your body, we want you to grow up to be strong and healthy. Also, eating too many sweets at once can make you feel yucky. Now I want you to sit here and think about that, I’ll come get you when the five minutes is up.”

Kara just whines but turns to face the wall, as she squirms a bit she has to admit that she may have over done it with so many marshmallows and the ice cream. She’s a little angry that Alex is right, Alex wasn’t really trying to be mean and she’d always done what’s best for her. Didn’t mean she was happy that she’s happy about time out but it has certainly taken the fight out of her.

In the kitchen Maggie’s gotten Lena calmed, having sat her on the countertop while she measures out another dose of antibiotics followed by a dose of cough syrup. Lena doesn’t object even though she whines and scrunches up her face at the taste of the medicine, Maggie kisses her forehead comfortingly as Alex mixes some electrolyte solution with Gatorade in a sippy cup. Alex feels of Lena’s cheeks and her forehead as she hands the sippy cup to the child, “At least your fever’s going down, sweetie. She should sip at that to stay hydrated and I also picked up some of those pectin lollipops that have an analgesic if she starts to cough again.”

Maggie picks up the girl and takes her back to the living room just as Alex’s phone rings, Lena’s whimpering again and shivering a bit. Standing her up Maggie wraps her up in one of the fluffy blankets before lifting her into her lap, letting Lena rest her head against her shoulder. Maggie notices she hasn’t drank much of the fluids so she encourages, “Hey little bit, you got to try drinking some. I know it sucks and your throats sore but being dehydrated will just make it worse.”

“No…” Lena whimpers, turning her face away from the sippy cup and letting go of it – even though the thick, nasty tasting medication is helping her throat is so miserable and scratchy the thought of eating or drinking anything is terrifying as it will most likely irritate it further.

Alex, still talking on the phone, hands Maggie the bag of lollipops and covers the phones for a second as she says, “Have her suck on one of those for a bit to see if it makes swallowing the drink easier.”

Maggie opens the package and picks out one of the lollipops, thinking to herself that the next time she gets sick she’s going to be getting the kids cough drop lollipops instead of the nasty shit adults have to put up with. Unwrapping it she holds it to Lena’s lips and the child looks hesitant so she encourages, “It’ll make your throat feel better.”

Lena relents, sucking on the medicated lollipop as she nuzzles up to Maggie who is flipping through Netflix to find The Land Before Time – one of Lena’s favorite movies. Kara’s huffing and pouting in the corner still, but she keeps looking over her shoulder to try and see how Lena’s doing – feeling a little guilty that her rather loud mess making had startled her sick friend awake and got her upset. Alex has returned and it packing up the go bag, as she tells her, “You can come out of time out now, Kara. I’ve got to head into the lab, they’ve got a few things working with that orb thing so I want to take a look and make sure no one is going to blow themselves up or make any more toddlers – at least not like this.” 

“Do you think they’re getting close to figuring it out?” Maggie asks a bit hopefully, as much as she’s going to miss these little ones she also misses their adult counterparts.

“Maybe, we’ll be at least one step closer regardless,” Alex tells her, mind already churning at the possibilities and that the day when she gets her sister, friends and colleagues back may be close on the horizon. “Come on Kara, you can come play with Winn at daycare. Now get your shoes on please.”

“But…”

“No Kara, you’re coming with me,” Alex states firmly yet calmly, she knows that Maggie’s already got her hands full taking care of a rather sickly Lena – she doesn’t need to be chasing down a healthy toddler on top of that.

Kara looks like she might cry as she goes over to where Maggie’s holding Lena, frantically she starts to apologize, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I waked you, Lena!”

Lena doesn’t seem to have the energy to try and let her friend know that she’s not upset – she just feels terrible. She can’t even seem to hold her eyelids open as she just relaxes into Maggie’s embrace. Alex has brought over Kara’s shoes and the blonde is quick to tug at Alex’s clothes, “Alex, I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

Alex realizes now that Kara thinks going to daycare is part of her punishment, “Kara, calm down… Sweetie, going to daycare is not a punishment.”

“I don’t want to go,” Kara whines, a couple tears trailing down her cheeks.

“I know you don’t, and I don’t really want to go to work but we need to. Maggie’s going to be busy taking care of Lena so she can get better, having to watch both of you would be too much,” Alex tries to explains as Kara continues to pout as she puts her shoes on and lets her tie them. Kara’s still pouting so Alex tells her, “You’ll have fun playing with Winn and all the other kids, then when I’m finished in the lab we’ll pick up soup and other things to help Lena feel better. What do you think about that?”

Kara perks up at the idea of helping Lena feel better, she doesn’t really want to leave her but the thought of being able to get some things to help her feel better does sound appealing. Brushing her tears away on her sleeve she crawls up to see Maggie and Lena, leaning in she presses a kiss to Lena’s forehead, “Feel better, Lena.”

“Alright kiddo, let’s go see what’s up at the lab,” Alex says, picking her up and tossing the bag over her shoulder, leaning in she presses a kiss to Maggie’s head and tells her, “I’ll pick up dinner on my way home, text me if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Maggie assures, switching over to her Netflix account to watch something more appealing than a children’s show. She settles on some house renovation show, figuring she may as well get a feel for what real estate shopping is going to be like. Lena coughs into the blanket and whines, weakly reaching for the sippy cup to try and wet her dry and aching throat. Maggie adjusts her in her arms, holding the toddler like one would a baby and holds the sippy cup for her drink from. Rocking her gently she soothes tenderly, “Take it easy little bit, slow sips it’s not going anyway.”

Maggie sits there for a while, just rocking the small child as she naps wondering how in the world half of these seemingly innocuous couples are dropping a few million on shitty, tiny condos that are smaller than her and Alex’s apartment. After a while, feeling all warm and toasty with the child’s lightly snoring weight on her has Maggie dozing off soon afterwards.

Across town Alex has spent the last hour talking with everyone at the Star Labs, having found out that the immense amount of energy – as well as the temporary properties – are indeed from the small blue orb. But the interesting part was that the orb comes from a species of aliens called the Circadians, an insect species that according to Brainiac were massively intelligent and have a much better grasp of temporal mechanics than most other species. So far tests with the orb haven’t resulted in any accidents but they still haven’t gotten much in the way off how the orb interfaces with the weapon – they still have a lot of work to do before they can re-age everyone.

Alex thanks Cisco and Barry for the report on the weapon, reading over the new information she sees that Cisco has already started piecing together some speculative schematics. They’re far from understanding the exact how’s of the gun’s construction – but Alex is happy to know that their various studies of the orb that seems to be moving in the right direction. Barry’s asked about Facetiming Kara, Lena and Winn waiting to see for himself how adorable they must be – assuring Alex that they’ll be working on figuring out how to get the gun back together then reverse engineering it around the clock.

Alex thanks them, signing off and double checking the paperwork – she wonders how much more progress they would have made on this if they just had Lena or Winn here to work on it. Sure she’s smart but mechanical engineering and the orb that either came from another dimension or an alien species so technologically far ahead of Earth she feels like a kid playing pretend with her mother’s things.

“Alex,” Eliza states softly, she knows that consternated look her daughter has – she knows Jeremiah used to tease her that Alex took after her in that regard. Getting flustered and even more determined and stubborn when faced with a problem that didn’t look like it had an answer. When Alex finally snaps out of her thoughts Eliza smiles warmly at her, rubbing her shoulders as she assures, “We’re not going to make any more headway with the information we have now – no amount of over thinking and sleepless worrying is going to change that.”

Stubbornly Alex wants to dig her heels in and object but rationally she knows better, her mother also doesn’t give her the chance to object, cutting in and telling her warmly, “We’ll get the solution, just maybe not as quickly as you want. What matters is that right now Kara, Lena and the other kids are safe and healthy while we search for new data.”

Sighing, Alex deflates a bit trying not to look so defeated, “I know. I just miss Kara – my sister who always knows what to say when I’m stressed or upset and when she doesn’t she’s always there with a hug and some ridiculous movie we can laugh about.”

“We all miss her, but I know it’s particularly difficult for you sweetheart,” Eliza admits as she pulls Alex into a tight hug, knowing that her daughter is trying hard not to cry at the moment – frustrated and upset with the lack of progress. “We’ll make more progress soon, Alex, just be patient and in the meantime rest and take care of yourself too.”

Alex pulls away, hastily brushing away her tears as she quirks a smile, “Yeah, I could use some more sleep. If it’s alright with you I’m going to check in with Lucy and then head home.”

“Whatever you need to do,” Eliza assures as she goes back to the notes to review what they’ve done one more time. She still has a few questions rolling around in her mind she’d like to work out before heading back to the safe house as well, “I’ll be here for a while yet, checking up on some things, a couple of the children have gotten ill – so I’m going to make sure I’m here if they need me.”

Alex stops by Lucy’s office to hand off another stack of updates on the labs progress in regards to the ongoing projects as well as the current attempts to un-kiddify their agents and assets. She knocks on the door and hears Lucy’s calm permission to enter before opening the door. The major is currently reading over case files and personnel updates one handed, her uniform jacket is hanging up on the back of her chair and her heels are kicked off by the side of her desk. Drew is curled up against Lucy’s chest, the child’s wrapped in a blanket and sleeping tiredly – her cheeks are flushed from a fever and her little nose is red and irritated.

“Those the lab updates?” Lucy asks softly, setting down the file she’s finished reading.

“Yeah, where do you want them?” Alex teases a bit as she looks at all the already crowded desk, stacks of files and books crammed on to every surface area of the desk. In between a stack of files Alex spots a picture, picking it up she recognizes a younger Lucy and Drew in cadet uniforms standing outside of West Point. Lucy is grinning and hugging her friend, Drew has an arm around Lucy’s shoulders but a much more serious looking smile.

“That was just after graduation,” Lucy tells her, rocking Drew when she whimpers in her sleep and grumbles while trying to move her casted arm, “I went to the Judge Advocate General program and she went to the military Intelligence division, we didn’t see each other much until we both got deployed to the same FOB in Iraq.”

“So, I’m guessing she’s always been this serious,” Alex surmises as she puts the photograph back on the desk and carefully stacks the reports on an existing stack.

“Always,” Lucy says with an affectionate smile, “DEO Drew is as laid back as she’s ever going to get I’m afraid. How’s Kara and Lena, Maggie told me that the little Luthor’s got strep throat as well.”

“Yeah, she’s home with Lena – Kara’s not quite super powered since she’s still growing but thankfully she’s still rather invincible, so she’s down stairs in daycare. She’s probably running all the new recruits ragged, but it’ll be good practice for them,” Alex surmises as Lucy chuckles at the thought of their new, hand-picked class of trainees being bested by the junior superhero. “How’s Drew managing?”

“Grumpy and clingy at the same time,” Lucy says with a soft smile. She watches as Alex reaches over to feel of the child’s forehead, shushing the child gently as she checks for a fever.

“Did you already have Hamilton check her out?”

“Yep, so we’re loaded down with all the antibiotics and fever reducers you can imagine. Not that she was happy about it,” Lucy assures, smiling a bit because it’s not often she gets to see Alex in doctor mode. While her friend made an excellent agent and was a total bad ass when she needed to be Lucy admits that Alex can be the softest and sweetest person when you need her to be.

Alex makes coffee for the both of them with Lucy’s Keurig as they chat about the trainees, the missions J’onn’s been balancing on top of taking care of Winn including the episodes in which he’s gone out as Supergirl just to keep National City clueless about the situation. The talk of the weapon and attempts to reverse engineer it comes up – Lucy can’t help but grin as Alex gets a little carried away explaining her theories on how it involves some sort of time manipulation modulator from another dimension – but the small blue orb was still presenting issues.

Alex discusses that they’re currently conducting testing with the orb and designing possible reconstructions of the weapon with the personnel at the STAR lab that will hopefully lead to a better understanding of how it works before attempting to reverse the effects, “So, with all the help we’ve gotten I wouldn’t be surprised if things progress much quicker now – hopefully in a few weeks we’ll have these guys back to themselves.”

Lucy frowns a bit as she looks down at Drew sleeping peacefully in her arms before her eyes flick to the almost stern faced woman in the photo on her desk. A part of her is torn – wondering if maybe Drew was better off and this was really her chance to start over with a much more happy and stable childhood. She’d only seen adult Drew smile and laugh in such a carefree manner a hand full of times but in the last month little Drew seemed to be curious, easy to smile, and even social despite still being a little cautious and prone to bouts of anxiety. All things that adult Drew didn’t feel safe or comfortable enough being at all. The other part of her ponders the ethics of the situation and what adult Drew would want.

“What’s wrong, I figured you’d be happy to hear we’re making progress – even if it’s pretty slow going,” Alex asks, a little confused at the sorrowful look on her friends face.

“I am, I’m just conflicted,” Lucy admits as she wraps the blanket around Drew to keep her warm as she sleeps, “On the one hand, Drew is an adult and she deserves to make decisions for herself – to return to her life and her accomplishments. But at the same time, it just feels wrong – it feels like we’re complicit in Drew’s abuse somehow – that knowing of what physical and emotional scars she has an adult could have been prevented if we just stop it here and find a stable, loving home for her.”

“You would adopt Drew?” Alex asks curiously, a part of her wondered if the quiet agent from logistics would want a fresh start.

“Lord no,” Lucy says as she looks down at Drew, “I’m active duty military and my father is one hell of a xenophobic asshole. Susan and I haven’t really discussed kids, and we’ve only been dating for a few months. As much as I’d love to raise Drew I wouldn’t do that to her, not unless I knew the family would truly love her,” Lucy states resolutely, smiling a bit as Drew complains in her sleep a bit as she curls up against her for more warmth, “Speaking of Drew, I have a favor to ask, since J’onn is pulling off quite the balancing act I’m going to have to take his place at a meeting in Washington next week.”

“Vasquez going with you?” Alex asks curiously, trying to think of which agents they have left that can rotate around to cover different shifts to keep the skeleton crew working well enough.

“No, but she’s going to be pulling long shifts to cover for me here and at the desert base while I’m gone.”

“You want Drew to stay with us? Kara and Lena wouldn’t mind having another playmate and I know she gets along pretty well with Maggie,” Alex offers with a smile, she couldn’t stop laughing when Maggie had explained that she nearly lost her badge to the three-year-old and it was absolutely adorable the way Maggie had let Drew ride on her shoulders at the zoo.

“Would you mind? I know Kara and Lena are already a handful,” Lucy asks hesitantly, rocking Drew a bit as she moves in her sleep wheezing a bit.

“No worries, at this point what’s one more, right?” Alex teases with a grin before she switches to a serious demeanor and assures her friend, “But seriously, we’ll look after Drew while you’re out of town and since my mother’s here it shouldn’t be too hard to wrangle three toddlers. Especially since Drew and Lena are both so well behaved.”

Drew whines in her sleep, nuzzling closer to Lucy and settles down when the Major ruffles her hair tenderly, “Thanks, Alex. I know it’s going to be a busy weekend with Halloween and all that.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it Lucy – we’ve got your back,” Alex assures as she checks her watch and figures that Kara’s probably going to be hungry again – Maggie and Lena too. “I’ll let you get back to work so you can hurry up and get the little one to bed.”

At home Maggie’s been suckered into putting on Jurassic Park for the toddler – having failed her initiative roll against Lena’s teary-eyed pout. She figured she could just fast forward through the parts that were a bit too graphic for the child, but so far she’d missed the part where they were feeding the raptor a cow and Lena didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Instead she’s sitting there in wide eyed wonder as they watch the movie which is a vast improvement over her pouting and crying earlier.

Maggie’s grateful the movie is keeping her distracted from her illness even if she’s still coughing a bit. She looks up to see she’s missed another part she probably should have fast forwarded through – watching as the T-rex drops the goat leg on top of the jeep. Lena however seems delighted, giggling hoarsely and pointing, “Eat them! Eat them!”

Maggie can’t help but giggle too, she didn’t expect Lena to be okay with any type of gore since the woman tried to stay far and away from the horror films that she and Alex like to watch. But now with the dinosaur rampaging across the screen, roaring and crushing things she sees that maybe when they’re all their appropriate ages again she should invite Lena over for a marathon viewing of all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies.

“Get them, Rex,” Lena states with a little pout as the protagonists escape a rather gruesome death but the poor dinosaur goes without it’s dinner. Surely the goat wasn’t enough of a meal for the apex predator that dominated the landscapes with its rather sharp claws and large teeth.

Maggie does manage to skip the “clever girl” scene and the one where the slimy hacker gets his comeuppance for basically destroying the park – but Lena seems to enjoy the movie even though she’s not really following the plot. The front door opens just as Dr. Grant and his team of scrappy survivors get cornered by the velociraptors and the T-rex inadvertently comes to their rescue.

“Please tell me that’s not Jurassic Park on the television,” Alex deadpans as she ushers Kara in while carrying the take out bags.

“It’s not Jurassic Park?” Maggie attempts feebly, but when Alex shoots her a look she just shrugs and admits, “The Luthor pout is a powerful thing, Alex.”

Kara’s already found her way onto the sofa, thrusting a plush dinosaur into Lena’s arms with a big grin, “Feel better soon, Lena!”

Lena’s eyes widen as she hugs the little velociraptor before reaching for Kara, realizing just how much she’d missed her after spending the afternoon apart. Kara apparently missed her too because the little blonde is content to hold her as Alex dishes out dinner and Maggie comes back with the medicine cup – pouring some of the red liquid into the cup. Lena whines unhappily as Maggie holds the cup to her lips, “Come on little bit, I know it tastes awful but it’s helping you feel better.”

Lena chokes down the medication with a pout, hating to admit that the medication does seem to make her throat less sore and cuts down on the coughing. She also doesn’t complain for long because Kara’s cuddling her and assuring her that she’ll feel better soon. It doesn’t last long as Alex comes over to pick them both up to take them to the table.

Alex takes the time to check on Lena, feeling of her cheeks and forehead for a fever and grateful that she doesn’t have one. Brushing her fingers through Lena’s hair she asks, “Still feeling yucky, sweetie?

Lena nods as she reaches for Alex, feeling rather clingy since she doesn’t feel well – grateful when Alex doesn’t hesitate to hold her. She whines a bit as Alex sits down with her at the table, looking at the food which would normally be appetizing she just doesn’t feel that eager to eat. Alex seems to understand as she tells her, “Just eat what you can, if you want something else – like applesauce or toast – you can tell me.”

Lena makes it through dinner opting out of take out for a cup of applesauce that she nibbles at – grateful that Alex nor Maggie harass her about trying to eat more than she’s comfortable with. After dinner she finds herself back in Kara’s arms, the older girl has wrapped a blanket around her and is currently trying to hold her in her lap like Maggie had done earlier. Kara’s completely unfazed by the fact that they’re roughly the same size, just cradling Lena close to her and holding the sippy cup for her.

“I’ll make you all better,” Kara assures warmly, making sure that the blankets stay wrapped around Lena so she doesn’t get cold. Throughout the movie Kara doesn’t let go, holding onto her little companion tightly to make sure nothing else can befall her.

Chapter Text

Alex opens the door and both her and Lucy share a nervous look as she guides her young charge into the foyer – guiding her to take off her coat and shoes so as to not track in mud. Drew’s clutching her plush dinosaur and taking in the home that’s decorated for fall including a pumpkin decoration in the middle of the coffee table. Lucy realizes that with the other two kids are seated at the dinner table with Dr. Danvers that she’s interrupted dinner, “Sorry I’m interrupting, but my flight got delayed and Vasquez had trouble helping this little one get packed. We already fed her dinner, but she didn’t really eat much and she’s kind of picky. Uh…Everything is in her bag – clothes, pajamas, toothbrush, and uh…other stuff she may need like…”

“Lucy, take a breath,” Alex tells her, squeezing her friends hand as she tries to get her to calm down, “It’s going to be fine, it may be a bit bumpy at the start but we’ll get through it, okay?”

“Yeah, you’re right – this will probably be a bit easier on the both of us if I just rip it off like a band-aid,” Lucy agrees, calling Drew over to her and tugging her into a hug as she explains, “Hey kid, I’ve got to go on that trip I was telling you about so be your charming little self for Alex, okay?”

Drew nods, a few tears welling up in her eyes as she reaches for Lucy and is grateful to be wrapped up in a tight hug. She holds onto Lucy for a bit longer than necessary, but settles for clinging to Alex’s hand as she waves goodbye to Lucy who leaves rather quickly to avoid the tears and pleading. Lucy is barely down the steps before Drew starts sobbing, just standing there holding Alex’s hand and bawling like her little world has just fallen apart. Lena and Kara are making sounds of concern from the table but Eliza calmly talks to them.

“She’s crying,” Lena says with a little wobble in her voice like she may start crying at any second too, clasping Kara’s hand she looks over at Alex and Drew in the foyer, feeling bad for the upset girl.

“Yeah she is, she’s upset that Lucy has to leave for a while,” Eliza explains calmly, glad that while Kara seems upset at the moment she doesn’t look like she’s about to cry. Lena, from how Kara and Alex had described her, was a very compassionate person and was likely a sympathetic crier so Eliza understands that she’s rather keenly affected by the other little girl’s distress, “But it’ll be okay, she’s safe here with us and it won’t be long until Lucy comes back – everyone gets a little sad every now and then and that’s okay.”

Alex shuts the door, sliding the lock into place as she picks up Drew’s bag and slinging it over her shoulder before picking up the still whimpering child, trying to distract her she asks, “Are you hungry?”

Drew just shakes her head, sniffling as she leans limply against the red head and lets tears track silently down her cheeks. Alex just goes about her business and makes a new plate of mac and cheese for the child. Sitting down at the table Alex eats while also offering bites to Drew – the child seems reluctant to eat but manages a few bites of mac and cheese before curling up against Alex and hiding her face in the fabric of her hoodie. Alex just rubs her back and eats her food, making sure that Kara and Lena are getting enough to eat and sharing a concerned look with her mother.

“How long is the major going to be out of town?” Eliza asks carefully, wanting to know when the child’s caregiver will return since Drew seems rather attached to Lucy.

“Should be three days but it depends on whether or not her meetings take longer or get delayed,” Alex tells her as they both hear a key slide into the lock, knowing that Maggie’s finally gotten home from the department. It would seem that Drew perks up at the noise too, and when the first glimpse of Maggie comes into view she’s whining and struggling for Alex to put her down.

The red head just sets her on her feet and watches as she rockets towards Maggie – arms out stretched and little feet thudding against the floor as she cries out, “Maggie!”

Maggie – god bless her – despite her confusion reaches down and catches the small human missile and lifts her into her arms and cuddles her, “Hey Peanut, what are you doing here?”

“Lucy go’d away,” Drew mumbles sadly against Maggie’s collar, twining her arms around Maggie’s neck and holding onto her tightly. Humming softly when Maggie adjusts her in her arms so that she can take off her jacket and toss it on the back of the sofa before heading into the kitchen.

“Lucy’s heading to Washington D.C. and Vasquez is going to be pulling doubles until she gets back,” Alex explains as she wipes Lena’s face off and sets her down, telling her to go play in the living room to wait before they can start an evening movie. “Since you’re her favorite person I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal for two or three days.”

“Am I your favorite person?” Maggie asks teasingly as she sits down with Drew, laughing when she nods and chatters softly while pointing to Maggie’s badge. “Sure, but I’m going to need that back in the morning.”

Drew grumbles in disagreement but when Maggie hands her the badge she hums contently, leaning back against the detective as she traces the lines on the badge with her finger. She’s content to stay there leaning back against Maggie while she eats her dinner and talks with Alex and Eliza about any further updates from the DEO or STAR labs. Maggie takes a moment before thinking about their weekend plans adding in the plus one child before blurting out, “It’s Halloween this weekend.”

“Yeah,” Alex says giving her a perplexed look, before she looks as sees Drew sitting contently in her wife’s lap, “Oh, well – we haven’t gotten the kids costumes yet so it won’t be a big deal. Actually it will probably be pretty easy given that Drew and Lena will most likely end up being dinosaurs.”

Maggie and Eliza both laugh as they hear Lena peek over the back of the sofa and ask about the dinosaurs. All three women are looking forwards to the fall festivities they have planned for the weekend – knowing that the girls are going to have so much fun. Kara and Lena have been talking about all the trick-or-treating they want to do and what costumes they want to wear – which Alex knows she’s going to take dozens of pictures of because of how cute it’s going to be. She also hopes that with a busy, fun filled weekend with Maggie at the helm will keep Drew preoccupied long enough to not be so mopey in Lucy and Susan’s absence.

Come bedtime the women are trying to figure out where to put Drew, not wanting to leave her on the sofa. Ironically it’s Kara who comes up with the solution as they’re heading upstairs she announces, “Lena can sleep with me!”

“Are you sure that will be comfortable?” Alex asks, wanting to make sure that the little Luthor doesn’t feel pressured in case she needs her own space.

“Yes!” Lena grins, giggling as she lets Kara take her hand and help her climb into bed – smiling when Kara fluffs up the pillows and pats the covers down around her.

“See, all comfy!” Kara assures her sister as she climbs into bed beside Lena, chattering to her and giggling as she snuggles down under the covers and wraps Lena up in a hug.

Maggie can’t help but chuckle, grateful that Eliza seems to be taking plenty of pictures – “You’re so losing that bed, sweetheart.”

“I don’t think so, little Kara doesn’t have to social inhibitions as regular Kara,” Alex surmises, not too upset at losing the bet since it just means she’d be giving Maggie breakfast in bed – so no harm there. If you ask her she’ll say it would be a win either way. She watches as Maggie tucks Drew in, stroking a few fingers over her hair as she tells her that they’re both downstairs and Eliza is just across the hall – making sure the child knows that if she gets upset or needs something she can always come get them.

When Saturday morning rolls around Alex and Eliza get the three toddlers to hold still enough to get dressed – since it was getting rather cold out they get them dressed in overalls and flannel shirts. Alex is laughing because she knows that while Kara won’t mind – boss as fuck Lena Luthor and stern agent Drew Blaine might take issue with being dressed up like triplets. All three toddlers are in overalls – as Maggie suggested while jokingly implying that the little straps will make good handles if they need to pick up the kids in a hurry. Kara’s grinning at the way her yellow and black flannel goes with her shoes, waiting patiently for Eliza to finish buttoning Lena’s red and black flannel shirt and making sure her shoes are tied before setting her down.

Drew doesn’t seem to mind the clothing either, happy that her blue flannel matches her shoes and even more happy that Alex ties her shoes for her and checks in with her, “Not too tight right?”

Drew shakes her head, reaching for the woman and grateful to be picked up and held. She’d originally been worried that Lucy had to leave but she was starting to trust the red head – especially since she was related to the police detective. In the kitchen Maggie’s packing juice boxes, bottles of water, baby wipes, and the first aid kit just to be on the safe side as the kids come into the living room chasing one another playfully. Seeing how her wife dressed all three of the little girls has her laughing and teasing, “Danvers, if you get a few more kids they could all go as Crayola crayons for Halloween – we could collect the rainbow.”

“Hey my farmer woman, you suggested the flannel and overalls.” Alex teases back, grinning as she double checks the go bag.

“Yeah, but I didn’t say to dress them in primary colors – or identically, they’re not triplets,” Maggie laughs as she wonders how the women are going to react if they ever find out.

“But they’re adorable,” Alex argues with a cheeky smile as her mother has gathered the three girls on the sofa so that she can take a few pictures with her phone.

“You won’t be saying that when we try to get them buckled up in their car seats,” Maggie says, making Alex splutter on her second mug of coffee.

Sure enough Lena starts to pout at having to be buckled up and Kara doesn’t want to hold still at all. Drew’s whining about having to go to the bathroom which delays them further. Eventually, after a car ride full of laughter, chattering, and Kara’s off key singing along to the kid’s music they pull through the gates to one of the farms in the countryside that’s opened a family friendly fall festival. They pass by the orchards and farm lands dotted with silos and barns as the children are starting to get antsy despite Eliza playing I Spy with them.

“Okay, here we go,” Maggie says as she parks in front of the rather large pumpkin patch smack in the middle of an apple orchard. She’s taken Alex out apple picking a few times and shared tales about growing up in the farm country of Nebraska and all the typical farm kid antics she got up to with her siblings and friends. Today they’d be introducing the three little girls to a fall staple – apple picking, selecting a couple pumpkins, hay rides, and a kid friendly corn maze. Kara’s complaining about how she wants out of the car seat so she can get a closer look at the rather large gourds.

“I think I hear banjos,” Alex teases with a little smile, hearing Maggie laugh even though her mother shoots her a scolding look – leave it to Maggie to become her mother’s favorite daughter. Reaching over she unclips Lena and Drew, taking their hands and leading them toward where Maggie is running after Kara who’s enraptured with the miniature fall festival.

“Try and keep up, Danvers,” Maggie calls out as she picks Kara up and swings her around just to hear her giggle and smile so brightly it must make her cheeks hurt.

Pretty soon they’ve got their bucket and are traipsing through the apple grove, as Alex explains the process of how the trees start as seeds, growing into saplings, before eventually making it to their full height and fruiting. Lena seems interested in the entire process, Kara’s already asking if she can go ahead and eat one while Drew just seems to hold onto Maggie’s pants as she toddles along looking up at the trees in wonder.

“So, we’re going to pick out some apples that we can coat in caramel or bake in a pie and enjoy when we get home – it will be worth the wait. I promise!” Maggie assures as she shows each of the girls what types of apples are ready to be picked and would be the tastiest to eat. “You want to pick out the big red and yellow ones.”

Kara doesn’t bother trying to ask for help, just going to the nearest apple tree and grasping the tree trunk – making it a couple feet off the ground before Maggie picks her up and holds her where she can pick off a couple apples and put them in the bucket. Alex has picked up Lena and lets her point out which apples she wants to get and lifting her up to get them – the little green eyed girl is giggling as she tries to remove the apple from the branch.

“You got it?”

“I gots it!” Lena confirms, giggling as she quickly scampers over and puts the apple in the bucket – not looking she runs into Kara and the two of them topple to the ground giggling as they drop the apples to the ground. Lena’s rubbing her head where she bumping into Kara’s, the blonde is laying on the ground and laughing.

“Well, at the least the only thing that got bruised were the apples,” Maggie says with a shrug as she picks up Drew and encourages, “Okay, you’re turn kid. Pick a good one, okay?”

Drew seems rather indecisive, looking at the apples she’s not sure she’ll be able to figure out a good one from a bad one. Anxiously she whines as she wonders what happens if she picks a bad one. Maggie sees the child hesitating and calmly assures, “These all look like good ones, which one do you want?”

Drew shakily points at the rather fat, juicy looking apple on the branch in front of her and when Maggie nods encouragingly she grasps it and tugs. The apple comes free and she looks at in wonder as she’s tucked back against Maggie’s waist. The police detective pats her back and presses a kiss to her temple as she tells her, “That looks like a good one, Peanut. Why don’t you go put it in the basket?”

Drew very carefully carries the apple over and lays it tenderly with the other apples like it’s the most precious treasure in the entire world before coming back over and clasping Maggie’s jeans again. Lena and Kara have taken to playing hide and seek in the middle of the grove – running around giggling and squealing when they see each other. Currently, Lena is hiding behind one tree and Kara’s hiding behind the one next to it – both of them are peeking around it and when they see each other they take off running to start the process all over again.

They don’t get much more apple picking done once the bucket is half way full – figuring that the girls were having fun playing with each other more than anything and they didn’t need more than the few apples they already picked. When they make it out of the grove they bag up their apples and one of the farm workers provides them some water and a knife to cut up a couple fresh apples – giving the girls a few slices to snack on. Kara’s crunching away like there’s no tomorrow while chatting to Drew and Lena – the woman working the orchard asks with a smile at how Lena hums in delight as she bites into another slice of apple, “All three of them are so adorable, but they must be quite the handful – how old are they?”

“Kara’s four,” Alex tells her, chuckling when her sister perks up at her name and waves while reiterating that she is indeed four years old. Resting a hand on Lena’s head to brush hair from her face and getting a hum of agreement she says, “Lena’s three years old and our dinosaur girl.”

“Dinosaurs?!” Lena asks as she looks around hoping to see a few dinosaurs in the wild – she knows Alex and Maggie both told her that dinosaurs weren’t alive anymore but a part of her still thinks that they could be out there just waiting for Lena to come find them.

“No dinos here kiddo,” Alex tells her as the worker cuts up another apple for a rather greedy Kara, looking over at Maggie “You shouldn’t have let her watch Jurassic Park.”

“She loved that movie,” Maggie defends sticking her tongue out as she hands Drew another slice of apple, glad to see that the child is starting to perk up in the new environment now that she’s getting used to it. “This brown-eyed girl is Drew and she’s a rather young three – you want to wave hello?”

Drew shakes her head and buries her face against Maggie’s flannel, terribly shy when it comes to new people even though the woman who helped them weight and bag up the apples seemed nice. Maggie seems to find it amusing as she chuckles and apologetically explains, “She’s a little shy.”

“I understand, I was a rather chatty kid but my brother was super shy – you guys should check out the hay rides. I’m sure Jeff will drive a bit slower if you ask, we want these cuties to have fun,” the woman tells them, also letting them know to just pick out whatever pumpkins they like and she’ll hold them with the apple for them.

Eliza breaks out the baby wipes to clean off the toddlers’ sticky hands and faces as they wait for the hay ride, making sure everyone gets a bathroom break if they need it – including Alex and Maggie. Soon enough a rather large, antique tractor rolls up with a flatbed full of loose piles of hay and the previous passengers that are mostly families with children. An older fellow in overalls and an old Navy ship hat is telling his disembarking passengers to have a wonderful fall season and enjoy the rest of the activities the farm as to offer.

“Hi! I’m Kara,” Kara states as she scampers over and beams up at the older gentleman, smiling when he kneels down and grins at her while taking his hat off. Alex groans to herself that at least the farm is safe because her sister really doesn’t know a stranger at all.

“Well, hello little lady, I’m Jeff – how are you?” the grandfatherly man greets with a smile, the child is just too sweet and happy to not talk to her on her own level.

“Good, we pickeded apples!” Kara exclaims happily, excited to see the tractor is so much bigger up close than what it looked like driving through the fields.

“I’m sure those apples will make tasty treats – you want to introduce me to your family?” Jeff asks politely, smiling at the women approaching with the other two toddlers that are dressed almost identically to Kara. He shakes hands with the three women and assures them he’ll take it easy on the speed and the turns to ensure that the small children enjoy themselves. “Climb on in and hold on.”

Kara cheers enthusiastically as Eliza gives her a boost into the trailer full of hay, watching as Kara burrows under the hay and tosses some up in the air while cheering. Maggie and Alex climb in with the other two toddlers, and Alex is really hoping that none of the girls have allergies or they may end up dealing with a toddler with an itchy body and runny nose. Luckily once the ride gets going it would seem that the toddlers think it’s the best thing in the world – Kara’s crying for it to go faster as Eliza tries to make sure she doesn’t get to carried away and try to fall of the trailer.

Lena’s sitting in Alex’s lap and seems to be warming up to the ride, looking at the barns and silos as they get closer and closer. Listening to Alex explain that the barns likely house animals and the silos store all the excess crops. Beside them Drew’s watching curiously, and halfway through the ride they get close to a field that has cattle grazing near the fences. Drew squirms trying to stand up as she shouts excitedly, “Cows! Cows!”

“Yeah baby, those are cows,” Maggie says with a laugh as she turns to point out the black and white splotched cows out to Drew, counting them and explain that those animals are where they get milk and cheese from.

Jeff must have heard too as he slows the ride to a halt near the fence, cows are starting to slowly make their way over to see what’s going on. Whistling he draws the cows over closer, smiling at the way Drew’s big brown eyes widen almost comically as the cows are huffing and craning their necks over the fence to greet them, “They’re friendly, if anything cows are just like really big dogs.”

Maggie lets Drew go watching as she gets closer to the animals, clearly enamored with the farm animals being so close. Reaching out a small, chubby hand she giggles when the cow presses its cold, wet nose against her palm. Maggie rubs a couple cows on the head, lifting Drew up so she can reach better and laughs when the girl practically hugs one of the cows after petting it softly.

Alex and Eliza are trying to get the other girls to pet the cows if they want too – Lena’s not a fan and even Kara’s a bit intimidated by the large, lumbering animals despite their rather docile appearance. The animals are clearly happy as they moo and bustle up against one another, clearly someone comes by and feeds them apples and carrots as treats. Kara eventually warms up to the animals and even pets them on their large cheeks to feel the soft hair. Lena however watches a cow sticks its slobbery tongue out and starts to cry so Alex just holds her while the other have time with the cows – she’s not really a fan of cows either since the animal seems rather foreign to her as a woman who grew up on the beaches of Midvale.

After a few more minutes Maggie’s got Drew back in her lap and tells her while waving, “You going to wave goodbye to the cows?”

“Bye moo cows!” Drew shouts as she waves, Lena and Kara wave too even though they didn’t seem to be fans of the grazing cattle.

After bidding Jeff farewell, they opt out of the corn maze as Lena’s getting a little tired and the other two kids don’t seem that interested in potentially getting lost. Instead Alex smiles as she suggests, “So, how do you guys feel about ordering pizza while we work on carving our pumpkins?”

A chorus of agreement goes up, and not just from the children – her wife and her mother both are in agreement that an early dinner of pizza will cut down on the huge mess they’re going to be making in the kitchen regardless. Kara’s acting like Alex just told her they’d won the lottery and she was going to be able to buy a life time supply of every desert imaginable – jumping, hopping, and skipping around the group as they head to the car crying out happily, “Pizza, pizza, pizza!? Can we get cheese pizza?”

“Of course.”

“Pizza is the best food in the world!” Kara proclaims, happily climbing into her car seat and letting Alex buckle her up. She can’t help humming and happily clapping her hands and kicking her feet knowing that her sister had just promised to get them pizza for dinner. Today was going to be the best day ever.

As soon as they start the pumpkin carving process Alex is glad she thought about ordering pizza – it’s been a while since she’d last carved a pumpkin. Her last attempt had been sometime in college when she was hanging out with friends, and it had been more of a reason to drink than it had been to actually carve pumpkins for the holidays. Currently, elbow deep in a rather large gourd as she scoops out more of the slimy, stringy insides into a bowl she’s remind of why she doesn’t do this activity every year.

In true Kara fashion the little blonde toddler tries to eat some of the pumpkins seeds before they’ve been washed. Drew just watches her with a startled look on her face, clearly disgusted by the gourds innards. Lena however is quick to stop Kara from eating more of them by passing her the bowl of cleaned up pumpkin seeds, “Try them.”

Kara doesn’t seem to mind either way, chomping on a few seeds as she watches Maggie finish digging out the insides of the pumpkin. She sure hopes the pizza comes quickly because she’s starting to get really hungry. Next to her Alex nudges her sister, “You want to help me out here, Kara?”

“Yes!” Kara announces as she stands up on her chair and quickly reaches into the pumpkin with both hands – giggling and squealing at the squishy feeling as she chats to Lena about what they want to put on the pumpkins.

“A T-Rex!” Lena states with a bright grin as she looks up the Maggie hopefully that the woman can help her make the pumpkin show a dinosaur on it.

“Okay, a T-Rex it is,” Maggie agrees as she picks up one of the sharpie’s to start drawing on the pumpkin so she has some idea of where she’s going to be carving. Marking out two stumpy arms before making a T-Rex face that focuses on the predators rather large teeth, listening to Lena giggle and point out how good it looks to the other children.

Kara’s complimenting Lena’s pumpkin as she continues to get pumpkin seeds and fibers everywhere as she tells Alex, “Can the pumpkin smile?”

“Sure, it doesn’t have to be scary,” Alex assures, snickering at how her sweet tempered sister wanted a jack o’lantern that seemed happy rather than crabby or scary like most people would. Picking up a marker she starts to draw a happy face to carve out with some instructions from Kara, who she knows has probably dropped some seeds and pumpkin guts in her hair.

Beside them Eliza sits with Drew who didn’t want to carve into the rather small pumpkin she picked out of the patch. Apparently not only was Drew disgusted by the cleaning out process, but she also didn’t want to damage the gourd and instead had Eliza help her draw a police badge on the pumpkin. Eliza finds it absolutely amusing that Drew is so enraptured with Maggie and the police badge – currently she’s content to hold Drew while the two of them watch the others make a mess.

“You sure got it easy, mom,” Alex teases with a grin as she picks a couple seeds out of her hair and stringy orange fibers from her clothes as Kara drops a handful more on the table top.

“Well, I’m not going to complain,” Eliza says with a smile, lifting Drew into her arms when the doorbell rings. She returns with the pizza and manages to get plates and drinks organized with the child tucked on her hip – it had been a while since Alex was this age but Eliza’s impressed that she can still manage basic tasks while caring for a child. She knows Alex and Maggie weren’t having children, and she would never press, but she sometimes wishes that they were considering having kids.

Soon enough all six of them are camped around the dining room table with the LED candles and pumpkins lit enjoying pizza. Eliza can’t help but wonder how taking care of these toddlers is going to affect Alex and Maggie’s relationship – she can see the longing in her daughter’s eyes sometimes when she thinks no one is looking. You also didn’t have to be a genius to see the way she was around the children – patient, gentle, and playful. She really hopes that this doesn’t cause issues between the two of them again – her heart already hurt enough when Alex and Kara had shown up to Midvale unannounced and her eldest daughter in tears and refusing to discuss the matter further.

After dinner Alex has the kids’ layout their Halloween costumes before bath time – wanting to make sure that they weren’t forgetting anything and to hopefully gain their cooperation. Lena had warmed up to baths finally, with the help of bath crayons and a small arm of toy ducks. Kara didn’t seem to have any trouble with bath time, if anything Alex wished she could get her out of the water before it gets cold. Managing Drew was another matter entirely, sure the cast was removed a few days ago but the three-year-old still doesn’t seem all that fond of bath time – running and hiding when she hears the water turn on.

Eliza at least has bribery on her side, having worked with children for years at the hospital research division she knows a thing or two about troubled kids. Sure enough, at the promise of a quick bath with little fanfare and being read a story Drew complies without much fuss. But while she’s behaved for the doctor that doesn’t stop her from pouting at getting wet. As the evening wears on Eliza reads to all three girls, happy to sit with them on Kara’s bed a snuggled together hoping that Alex and Maggie can get some quiet time together this evening – they’re going to need it for the ensuing chaos the next evening brings.

***

“J’onn and Winn are on their way over and so are Sam and Ruby,” Alex says with a smile, watching Maggie finish braiding Kara’s hair and putting a little glitter on it that makes Kara giggle and fawn over her reflection in the mirror. 

“There you go kiddo, you look just like a princess,” Maggie tells her, giving Kara a hug when she reaches for one and chuckles, “You look just like princess Elsa.”

“But I can’t make ice,” Kara pouts, shaking out her hands and trying with all her might to will Olaf the snowman into existence and sighing when it doesn’t happen, “See? No ice or snow.”

Maggie’s about rolling on the floor with laughter, but tries to hide it since she doesn’t want the toddler to get the wrong idea about what she’s laughing about. Adult Kara has freeze breath, and Maggie wouldn’t put it past her to freeze out a whole city when it came to protecting her sister, or Lena. Alex just rolls her eyes, knowing exactly what her wife is thinking, as she finishes tying her own shoe laces – hoping that she’ll be able to keep up with three sugar fueled toddlers.

“Hey, you want to help Lena get dressed in her costume? I promised Drew I’d help her Facetime Lucy,” Maggie explains as she pulls on her police vest and the dress uniform hat – smiling at how easy her ‘costume’ is as she heads into the living room where Drew is sitting with the tablet. The toddler is patiently watching the movie on the television – Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin – while waiting to call Lucy. “Hey, peanut, you look good in that uniform! Looks like we’re going to match this evening.”

Drew smiles a bit bashfully, straightening out her costume to make sure the police badge can be clearly seen as she puts on the hat. Maggie sits down on the sofa and lifts her into her lap before picking up the tablet and dialing Lucy, telling Drew, “So, new order of business this evening – I’ll read them their rights and you can cuff them! Deal?”

“Deal!” Drew states in agreement, leaning into Maggie’s side and watching as Lucy picks up on the other end, the major looks rather tired and is still in her uniform.

“Lucy!” Drew exclaims excitedly, rushing to tell her all about their day at the fall festival and her costume for trick or treating – how she’s going to be a police officer just like Maggie. The three are chatting for a while, trying to have a conversation in the commotion around them – Kara’s singing the theme song from frozen once again and Lena’s giggles can be heard from downstairs.

“Sounds like you got your hands full, Sawyer,” Lucy teases, watching the screen and smiling at the way Drew seems to be perfectly content with Maggie – which is a great relief after having to leave the child wailing on their doorstep. She’s also going to have to text Alex about more pictures, wanting one of Maggie and Drew in their matching uniforms. “Nice costume by the way.”

“You should see Alex – she’s going as Anna from Frozen because of Kara’s puppy face,” Maggie chuckles as Lena comes bounding into the living room in her costume, taking an action stance and then roaring with all her might. Lucy looks confused for a moment so Maggie just motions for Lena to come over, “Come say hi to Lucy, kiddo.”

Lena mimics a T-Rex walking, picking up her feet and stomping them down as she peeks around the screen and roars before beaming at the other woman and chirping, “Hi, Lucy!”

Lucy is cracking up but composes herself long enough to ask, “Hello Lena, are you ready to go trick-or-treating?”

“Yes! We get lotsa candy!” Lena cheers as she tries to climb up on the couch but the costumes little arms and tail are proving troublesome. She reaches for Maggie and is happy when the woman picks her up and tucks her against her other side so she can see what’s going on.

“Which I’m sure you need more of right?” Lucy asks with a chuckle, wondering what’s going to happen if the children are this active and they end up eating more than their fair share of Halloween treats.

“No, not really,” Maggie objects only to the whines of the two toddlers as she tries to explain, “We already let them eat caramel apples to try and stave off the candy cravings – but I guess it’s not working.”

Before Lucy can reply she sees a streak of blonde hair and hears Kara’s small voice singing the first few bars of ‘Let it go’ but is drowned out by the sound of a doorbell and Kara announcing that she’ll get it and Alex yelling after to her to wait for her. Lucy can’t help but laugh as she tells Maggie, “I’ll let you get back to it, you’re probably in over your head at this point. Drew, kiddo, have fun okay? I’ll be back soon okay?”

Drew pouts for a brief moment, but when Maggie tells her how much fun they’re going to have she wishes Lucy goodbye and kisses the tablet before the call ends. In the foyer Winn is showing Kara and Lena how his realistic robot costume lights up and makes sounds, “J’onn maked it with me.”

“You did a good job,” Alex says as she presses a button and the suit makes a laser sounds, looking up at J’onn - who’s obviously going to be going as himself for Halloween - she watches him just shrug.

“I’ve never done Halloween, much less with a child,” J’onn explains with a fond smile as he ruffles Kara’s hair as she hugs his leg, “Agent Vasquez informed me that more than a few people have attempted Martian costumes for Halloween before – I figured I may as well show them how it’s done.”

Alex just chuckles as the doorbell rings again, seeing Sam let herself and Ruby in upon hearing the merry chaos going on in the Danvers-Sawyer household. Ruby is clearly going as Dorothy from the Wizard of Ox, complete with the ruby slippers and a basket with a stuffed scotty dog, “Hey Aunt Alex, are you ready to take us all trick or treating? Nice Anna costume by the way, which one of them gave you the puppy eyes?”

At that moment Kara’s climbed up on the back of the sofa and belted out another rendition of ‘Let it Go’ and Alex kind of wants to strangle the person who thought up that movie. Ruby and Sam just seem to find it hilarious, giggling Ruby heads over to talk with all the children and fawn over their costumes. Alex just shrugs, “Yeah, so what are you going as in that suit?”

“A CFO slash soccer mom,” Sam deadpans with a smirk, still wearing her business clothes from this morning. Thankfully she’d remembered to pack a pair of comfortable shoes for the evening and ditched her heels in the car.

“Well, if you change your mind I’m sure my mother wouldn’t be offended if you wanted to be Ellie from Jurassic Park,” Alex comments as he goes to get Kara down from the couch before she can fall – sure she can’t hurt herself but that’s not a conversation she’s wants to have with the four-year-old.

Before Sam can ask what that comment was all about she sees Lena waddling towards her in a T-Rex outfit, grinning and reaching for her despite the constraints of the dinosaur’s short arms, “Sam! Sam!”

“Yep, I made it to Halloween,” Sam says with a grin, picking Lena up and swinging her into her arms and cuddling her close – knowing Lena appreciates the affection, “You ready to see how much candy we can get?”

“Yes!” Lena exclaims, already a little hyper from the candy apple and ready to get even more of a sugar buzz – it’s not very often her and Kara are allowed to gorge themselves to their hearts content on every sweet thing they could possibly desire. “‘Liza’s my prey.”

Sam shakes her head as she greets the eldest Danvers, chuckling as the doctor – dressed in a blue tee with a pink button down and khakis just like the woman from Jurassic Park – explains that on a sick day Maggie caved and let Lena watch Jurassic Park. Sam just chuckles and reminds herself to add a couple dinosaurs to her Amazon cart just to put on Lena’s desk sometime when her friend returns – just to tease her a bit and to also see about maybe setting aside some of L-Corp’s budget to fund some paleontology projects. Or at the very least sponsoring some research projects or scholarships.

As they hit the streets of the neighborhood everyone is giddy, the children and adults alike get compliments on their costumes. The first doorbell the house is decorated with cartoony Halloween stuff, an inflatable cat that Drew finds particularly amusing since it tracks movement and turns it’s head to look at you. She seems more interested running around in the yard to get the cat to turn its head than in getting candy. Kara and Lena however are chattering nervously with Winn about who is going to knock on the door.

“You guys going to rock paper scissor or should I do it?” Ruby asks with a smile as she ruffles Lena’s hair.

“You,” Lena agrees easily.

“Please,” Winn begs a bit, pouching his bottom lip out to make his pleading more effective.

“Okay, but Kara you get the next house okay? We’ll all take turns,” Ruby tells them, and as she reaches out to knock on the door she instructs, “Get your buckets ready, and your best smiles – when they answer say trick-or-treat!”

Ruby knocks on the door and stands back, getting her own bucket ready – also mentally making a note to eat the Reese’s and KitKat before her mom can get a hold of her candy stash. The door starts to open and an elderly woman is beaming at them, taking the time to ask each small child what they are for Halloween before letting them pick out which piece of candy they want to add to their bags. She wishes them well and tells them a few other houses they should make sure to go to along the next couple of blocks.

After a couple houses all of the children have warmed up to knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell, taking turns being the one to lead the candy raid. Sure enough the older lady’s tips paid off as all the kids are treated to a smorgasbord of full sized candy bars, toys, and a variety of other goodies. Of course there were a couple houses that tried to dull the fun with healthy things such as, apples, boxes of raisins, and one guy – a dentist – was handing out toothbrushes but at least he had the curtesy to also be handing out boxes of Nerds candy.

Ruby spends most of the evening shepherding the smaller children, making sure the older kids and even teens older than herself don’t bump into her small charges. At this one particularly creepy house, with spider webs in the yard and tombstones proudly erected on the front lawn. The lights are low and a rather gaunt scarecrow is perched on a chair by the door holding the bowl of coveted candy. Drew nopes out of even trying to get candy from the creepy house, waiting patiently while clinging to Maggie’s leg. Winn only agrees to go because Kara says she’s not afraid and will protect everyone, Lena tries to be brave as she goes with them.

Once they reach the porch they see the scarecrow doll holding a bowl of rather enticing candy – full sized candy bars of the most delicious chocolate. Kara reaches into the bowl and retrieves one of the treats, quickly snatching her hand back lightning quick but waiting for Winn to do the same thing. The little robot boy also tries to get his snack and then quickly retreat out of arms’ length. Ruby thinks she sees the scarecrow’s chest move – like a person breathing but before she can get the kids away the man strikes with his prank.

At the first sign of movement Lena shrieks and moves to cower behind Ruby who’s also a little shocked by the ruse. Kara however doesn’t flinch away. Instead she does exactly what comes to mind first, rearing her foot back and striking out – kicking the man in the shin and watching him collapse to the ground – candy goes everywhere as he up ends the bowl in the process. Not perturbed by the guys look of shock Kara admonishes, “Bad man! ‘pologize.”

The man stammers out an apology as he watches in stunned silence as the kids mop up the abandoned treats before heading back to their parents – the little blonde skipping away as she comforts her friends. He didn’t expect to get complete owned by a toddler, but he knows he’s going to have quite the bruise in the morning – that little kid definitely ate her Wheaties for breakfast.

At the curb the adults are roaring with laughter, Maggie kind of wanted to give him a piece of her mind for pranking such small children but seeing Kara floor him was just too good to ruin. Sam’s picked up Lena to give her a cuddle and tell her that she was pretty brave to go up there even though she was nervous about it. Ruby’s just chuckling as she rips open the wrapper on the chocolate bar, snapping off a few small pieces and giving them to the smaller kids before taking a bit, “Man, I feel like he was trying to play around and we robbed him blind after Kara beat him up.”

“He scared Lena!” Kara protests, defending her actions because she knows that Alex told her it wasn’t nice to strike anyone - even if it was to protect Lena.

“Alright, make a left – we’ll stop by the games and stuff at the park before heading home,” Alex says, not bothering to scold Kara about keeping her hands and feet to herself. It’s not like Kara was going to listen anyway and it kind served the guy right for trying to frighten toddlers.

On the way back to the safe house the group finds out that a few local clubs and groups have set up a small festival of sorts at the local park. Complete with carnival games where kids win prizes and candy. Winn has dragged J’onn over to a ring toss game, pleading with him to help him figure out how to play. J’onn shows him, picking up a ring and tossing it at the bottle missing on purpose so the boy can have a chance to win on his own as he encourages, “Go on, Winn, you’ve got it buddy.”

“Okay,” Winn gleefully beams as he takes one of the rings and throws it at the bottles, missing. With a frown he tries again and it glances off the bottle, missing again. He’s starting to get a bit disheartened but when J’onn pats him on the back and assures him that he’s doing his best he tries one more time and whoops loudly when he watches the red ring loop around the top of the bottle, “I did it!”

“Congratulations,” the teen working the game cheers, reaching over to pick up a goldfish in a bag and hands it to the boy as well as a handful of candy, “Happy Halloween kid, you’ve got a cool costume.”

“A fishie!” Winn exclaims, careful to hold up the orange fish for J’onn to see – he remembers not to shake the bag from watching Finding Nemo. He didn’t want to hurt his new fish friend after all, “Look, J’onn.”

J’onn’s a little perplexed, he was expecting a toddler high on sugar and adrenaline – not a toddler that came home with a pet. But the adorable grin on Winn’s face as he giggles and talks to the fish that’s already gotten a name – Gil – is too much for the Martian to get upset or make him give it back. Quickly he sends a text to M’gann to see if she has a fish tank or knows anything about fish, hoping that he’s not going to have to make emergency runs to a pet store to replace this fish with a look alike when it invariably kicks the bucket.

Experiencing a similar fate, Alex is perplexed as she watches Lena win a mini game and get handed a small hermit crab in a small plastic box. Lena’s already cooing at the little crab, watching as it peeks out of its shell and moves around a little bit. The little girl looks up at Alex and pleads softly, “Can we keep him?”

Alex rubs the back of her neck where the feels a knot forming in her shoulder muscles, she wonders if Lena Luthor has ever had a pet in her life. Taking a breath, she lets it out with a sigh and a shrug, “Absolutely.”

“Yay!” Lena cheers, trying not to jostle the little creature with her happy dance as Kara and Eliza return from their activities. Luckily the little blonde only seems to have collected a stuffed animal and a couple handfuls of candy on her expedition through the fair. “We has a crab!”

Kara runs over, brushing shoulders with Lena as she leans in to get a closer look at the little creature – smiling at Lena who’s beaming. The two little girls’ titer and fawn over the rather bland, docile looking creature as Alex snickers – even as a toddler Lena considers anything that’s hers to be shared with Kara. She tried telling her sister that no it was not normal for friends to buy multi-million-dollar media corporations to ensure their friend keeps the job they enjoy. At least joint custody of a hermit crab made more sense, but Alex knows this is toddler Lena being just that extra.

Looking over at her mother she asks, “Do you know what to feed hermit crabs?”

“No idea, dear, but I’m sure we can google it,” Eliza says with a mirthful chuckle as she watches the two toddlers.

“We can raise him to be the bestest crab ever,” Lena assures Kara, leaning over to press a kiss to Kara’s cheek as she goes back to cooing at the little crab – already she knows that she’s going to put this little guy’s enclosure on the nightstand in her and Kara’s room so they can keep a close eye on him and care for him correctly.

“We can name him Alex!” Kara exclaims as she figures that she and Lena are going to raise the best crab in the world – he could even be a doctor or a astronaut one day. “He’s going to be a good crab.”

“No! You can’t name the crab, Alex,” Alex says quickly with a wince, if she has to live with the hermit crab being a part of their lives now it’s going to have to be named something else. It’s already distracting enough having to listen to the two toddlers talking to – or worse scolding – doll Alex any time they play house. She’ll be constantly distracted with doll Alex and crab Alex!

“Why not?” Lena asks with wide green eyes looking up at her with confusion.

“Yeah, why not, Alexandra?” Eliza teases, she can’t help but laugh at the look of desperation on Alex’s face as she tries to come up with a reason that will satisfy the toddlers. “You know, mimicking and naming things after people is the highest form of flattery, sweetheart.”

Alex groans but calmly explains, “You already have baby doll Alex, she might get confused.”

“Oh,” Kara states, seeming to contemplate that predicament as she looks to Lena for guidance.

“Maggie!” Lena declares proudly.

“It’s a boy!” Kara states in confusion.

“It could be a girl,” Alex assures with a coy little grin, she can’t wait for Maggie to see the crab and have to put up with two toddlers inadvertently scolding and talking to something that shares her name. She’d already caught hell over that doll, now karma has come in the form of a hermit crab. The little girls seem to take her explanation at face value and start cooing at Maggie the crab. She starts to head towards J’onn, Winn, Sam and Ruby – the teen having outgrown most of the kiddie games had sought out a cotton candy vendor instead.

Several paces away Maggie’s taken Drew to the bounce house she’d been eyeing quietly, encouraging her to take her shoes off and get in with a couple other kids. In the bounce house Drew is jumping to her hearts content, giggling along with the other children as she looks around. She and another little boy chase each other around and bounce off the walls for a while, but when she looks over her shoulder she doesn’t find Maggie right away.

After a few more minutes of bouncing with her new companions she starts to feel a swell of anxiety in her chest. Through the netting she sees the faces of doting parents calling their kids names and snapping pictures but she doesn’t see Maggie. Heading towards the exit she clamors out, trying to be careful and not fall out, putting on her shoes she calls out uncertainly, “Maggie?... Maggie?”

A worker tries to ask her a question but in fright she backs away and starts to wander off, searching the sea of faces for the familiar dimpled smile and warm brown eyes. Her eyes are stinging as she sees more and more unfamiliar faces, tears tracing down her cheeks and she stumbles around people in her futile attempts to search for the police detective, whimpering out, “Maggie?”

A few feet away Maggie puts her phone back in her pocket and turns her attention back to the miniature bounce house, looking at the jumble of kids she realizes she can’t see Drew. Getting closer she looks in closer and does a head count a couple of times before starting to worry, rounding the way she notices that Drew’s shoes are gone and calls out, “Drew?”

Her mind if flood with all of the possible explanations for the child’s sudden disappearance and her heart skips a beat and her eyes sting. Looking around she searches frantically for the pint sized agent, knowing that the girl may have gotten mixed up and wandered off searching for her in the wrong direction. Maggie really hopes that’s the case, and that she’ll find Drew safe and sound if a little lost and upset. That would be the best case scenario.

But her mind wanders to darker things – memories of the cases of missing and exploited children that she hasn’t been able to talk about, not even with Alex after all this time. Haunting images, detailed case reports and autopsy records from those crimes were seared into her mind and the fear that one of those monsters may have gotten their hands on Drew both terrifies and enrages her. Quickly Maggie starts to canvas the area desperately, calling out the little girl’s name – a few other parents are quick to help her start looking for the missing child.

Drew, having not found Maggie, has gone into survival mode and while sobbing has hunkered down behind a trash can. But her upset sobbing has started to draw attention – but being so frightened and sobbing so hard she throws up and starts to dry heave. In her panicked state she can’t distinguish between friend or foe in the people who are trying to come to her aid. Instead she bats away people’s hands and cowers away from them trying her hardest to stay out of their reach.

The strangers are crowding around her, asking rapid fire questions that Drew doesn’t seem to understand in her panic. They try to calm her with gentle pats on the back, and a couple even try to take her in their arms but instead of bringing comfort their unfamiliar touch only ratchets up her panic a few more notches making the toddler become frantic. When a security office reaches down to pick her up, in the heat of the moment, with terror clawing its way up her throat Drew shrieks, “Mama?”

Drew’s cry has gotten several people’s attention, including Maggie who feels her child’s terrified cry down to the very core of her being. Her body is already moving towards the commotion before her brain can send the signals, just moving on pure instinct. As soon as Drew makes eye contact her small hands are reaching for her, a desperate cry on her lips, “Mama!”

Maggie has scooped the girl into her arms and holds her tightly, dropping to her knees she hears footsteps and knows that the rest of her family has likely come to find out what’s wrong. She doesn’t hear J’onn and Eliza talking to her, or the way Lena and Kara both burst into tears because of the stress and heightened emotions of the situation. All she can hear are Drew’s gasping cries, the rapid pounding of the little girl’s pulse, and the harshness of her own relieved sobs. It takes a solid ten minutes before both Maggie and Drew are calmed down enough to explain the situation.

Alex holds them both, trying to comfort them and get them steady enough to walk the block and a half back home. Hearing Drew’s heartrending scream pierced her through, and finding her wife holding the hysterical child nearly made her stroke out on the spot. Raking her fingers through Maggie’s hair she shushes her gently, “It’s over now, babe. Everyone’s safe and no one got hurt.”

“I almost lost her,” Maggie says brokenly, another sob breaking through after she’d thought she’d gotten herself under control again. “I did lose her!”

Eliza, on Maggie’s other side rubbing the detective back tells her a bit sadly, “It’s every parents rite of passage to look away for a second and then have to search for their child. It’s terrifying, and it seems like you won’t be able to breathe again until you find them, but you aren’t the first and you won’t be the last to have a child wander off.”

A few more tears slip from Maggie’s eyes as she cradles Drew’s head against her shoulder, rocking back and forth to continue soothing them both. Voice trembling Maggie stammers out, “I-I thought someone took her…that… it would be like…like one of my cases.”

Alex’s eyes widen as she just now realizes why Maggie hasn’t bounced back from the scare a quickly as she expected. While most parents feared that the worst has happened to their child after they’ve disappeared from sight for a second Maggie had first-hand experience in knowing just what type of monsters were out there and the kinds of things they do – leaving so many people irrevocably damaged and broken in their wake. Wrapping her arms around Maggie she continues to talk her down, and eventually they join the rest of the group to start heading home.

On the way Eliza tells her that she not only lost Alex once, but three times during her toddler phase – the tiny red head had a perchance for wandering to the beach in search of seashells and horseshoe crabs, “I think finding her walking along the sand dunes searching for shells after letting herself out of the house took no less than a decade off of my lifespan.”

Maggie snickers a bit but she’s still a little shaken, jumping a bit when Ruby bounds up beside her and pats her on the shoulder. The teen is grinning from ear to ear as she tells her, “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Aunt Maggie, mom lost me at the mall a couple of weeks ago.”

“Sadly, that wasn’t the first time I’ve lost or forgotten my daughter,” Sam tells her, feeling bad for Maggie as she knows just how terrifying it can been when your child just up and disappears on you.

“Yeah, you forgot me at soccer camp, Aunt Alex had to come get me,” Ruby teases, leaning over to hug her mother before gently rubbing Drew’s back, “You’re safe now, Drew, we’ll make sure you don’t get lost again, okay?”

Drew just nods mutely, content to stay in Maggie’s arms and clinging tightly to her uniform shirt. Even once they get home she whines and starts to cry when Maggie tries to set her down. J’onn takes his leave, reassuring Maggie before carrying a zonked out Winn to the car to take him home and explain the goldfish to M’gann. Before Sam can go Kara and Lena beg for Ruby to spend the night, and Alex just shrugs telling Sam that it would probably be good to have Ruby there to keep Lena and Kara company.

The three girls cheer and Sam tells them they should probably take a bath and change into pajamas. Alex finds some extra clothes for Sam and Ruby, thanking Sam profusely, “Thanks for staying the night and keeping an eye on Kara and Lena.”

“No worries, you looked after Ruby while I was…under the weather,” Sam says with a warm smile, bumping Alex’s shoulders, “Remember, you don’t have to do everything on your own – that’s what friends are for.”

Alex smiles, remembering telling Sam that same bit of advice after the MRI at L-Corp and she’s incredibly grateful that they all found a good friend in Sam. She leaves them to it, seeing her mother is already getting a bag of popcorn ready for the three girls who are trying to pick out a movie to watch together. Heading into the bedroom she brings some of Drew’s pajamas, seeing the girl pouting in Maggie’s arms – both of them have yet to get changed.

“Hey sweetheart, you want to get out of that costume and into some comfy pj’s? Maggie’s going to be right here the whole time,” Alex assures, picking the child up when she reaches for her giving Maggie a chance to get cleaned up and changed.  Drew’s rather still and quiet as Alex changes her into pj’s, as limp and docile as a rag doll which the agent and physician finds concerning.

Picking the child up and settling in bed she hears the girl whisper softly, “Sorry.”

Alex’s heartbreaks, she’s not sure what Drew’s apologizing for – for getting lost, for getting upset about it, or even for calling Maggie Mama. She’s not certain but it doesn’t matter as she tries to validate the child’s reactions and emotions, “There’s nothing to be sorry about, you accidently got lost and it was scary, kiddo. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Drew doesn’t seem so sure, but by now Maggie’s returned from the bathroom and she and the child reach for each other. The police detective curls around the child protectively, looking back at Alex she requests softly, “Would you hold me?”

“Of course,” Alex tells her warmly, spooning up against Maggie and wrapping her arms around her. She can feel how tense Maggie is at the moment, leaning in she presses a kiss to Maggie’s shoulder talking to her and reminding her of how she’s safe and so very loved. Alex also rubs Drew’s back, murmuring lovingly to the child as well feeling rather protective of them both.

After a few more minutes, and despite the chaotic thoughts rampaging through her consciousness – thoughts about maybe being called Mama by a child not in a state of terror and of starting a family with Alex are fliting through her mind. The last few seconds she has before slipping into an exhausted sleep Maggie focuses on the sound of Drew strong, steady breathing.

Chapter Text

Alex is towel drying her hair, feeling nice and relaxed after her morning run followed by a nice hot shower that steamed up all the mirrors in the bathroom. Ruffling her hair one last time she runs her fingers through it and tries to get it sorted out as she heads into the bedroom where Maggie is lazing about on the bed reading the morning paper with a mug of coffee on the nightstand. Judging by the muted sound of the television in the other room she guesses that one or both of the children were awake and enjoying the cartoons.

Maggie, who spent more of the morning going over her conflicting thoughts and desires feels like she should share with her wife that she was starting to have a change of heart – especially since it’s on the matter of children. The thought of Alex and her doing the things they’ve done of the past couple weeks with a child of their own had really started to appeal to her. Alex flops down on the bed beside her and grins when Maggie props herself up on her elbow to lean in and kiss her. Taking a breath she figures she may as well just go for it, expecting Alex to be thrilled with the news.

“I think we need to revisit that conversation we had about having children,” Maggie admits as she lays looking at Alex, but it doesn’t have the effect she was expecting as she watches tears well up in Alex’s warm brown eyes and she starts to withdraw.

Before she can get another word in edge wise Alex is sitting up and moving just outside of her reach, Alex quickly telling her with a wavering voice, “I really can’t have this conversation again Maggie – I choose you and I know you don’t want kids. You don’t have to reiterate that, I already know.”

“That’s…that’s not what I was going to say,” Maggie tells her as a painful ache lodges in her chest as she realizes that maybe she and Alex had made a mistake – that maybe they both should have had the conversations about the how’s and why’s of why each of them had different desires regarding children. She knows that Alex had told her that she could be happy with Maggie, even if it meant not having children – but she’s starting to think that may not be the case.

“Then what were you going to say, Maggie?!......You know what, it doesn’t matter. Because as soon as we get the shrink ray reverse engineered – which should be happening any day now – everything will just go back to normal,” Alex tells her, but her voice is high and almost frantic – like she’s about to panic – but she keeps pressing on, “Sure the last month or two has been fun, they’re adorable as children and I’ve loved spending time with them like this, but it’s just a fantasy. In a couple of weeks, they’ll be adults again and these maternal feelings and desires will die down. We’ll be able to just forget that this ever happened.”

“You want to forget this happened?”

“Yes!”

“Well, I don’t,” Maggie tells her honestly, gritting her teeth together as she sees Alex’s shocked look and decides to press on, “Watching you these past couple of weeks, and being around little Kara and all the kids has made me reevaluate somethings. You’re so good with them, Alex, and I see the way your eyes light up and you smile when you’re helping them with - even little tasks. When we first had this conversation I was scared – I always just figured that I would fuck up any kids I had, just like my parents did with me. But these last few weeks showed me I didn’t have to be afraid of that and it also showed me that with you as my partner even if I did mess up along the way that maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

Maggie watches as all of the fight goes out of Alex, instead her wife’s posture changes from upset to closed off in an instant – arms crossing tightly over her chest and a careful guarded expression that Maggie hasn’t seen in a while slips in like a mask over Alex’s normal features. It breaks her heart, she feels like crying while she waits for her wife to answer her, but when no response comes she begs quietly, “Alex, can you say something? Please?”

“Don’t give me this type of hope now, Maggie,” Alex tells her brokenly, a few tears finally slipping past her carefully kempt control to roll down her cheeks.

Before Maggie can say anything the door to the bedroom is creaking open and Kara’s bolting into the room, looking worriedly between Alex and Maggie. The little Kryptonian’s super hearing may not have been necessary to hear the two women’s argument, and she quickly zeroes in on Alex’s tears and she growls in what should be a menacing display, “Mean Maggie!”

“Oh no, Kara,” Alex intervenes quickly, picking up her sister and cuddling her close as she wipes away her tears on her sleeves, “Maggie didn’t do anything wrong, sometimes adults just have disagreements and sometimes we get upset over little things. I just got upset and it’s no one’s fault, okay?”

Kara doesn’t seem like she believes her sister completely, shooting Maggie a glare that reminds her of an angry wet kitten. Maggie wouldn’t expect any less, the Danvers sisters were always fiercely protective of each other and she doesn’t feel like Alex is entirely telling the truth here – but explaining communication issues and misunderstandings about relationship expectations to a four-year-old would be too difficult and rather pointless.

Kara’s brushing away Alex’s tears and kissing her cheeks, chattering to her softly before turning to look at Maggie – pointing at her accusingly and demanding, “Kiss it make it better.”

Maggie can’t help but smile a bit sadly at Kara’s demands, but she’s not about to disobey. Moving closer she cups her wife’s cheek and leans in to press a gentle, chaste kiss to her lips and apologizes, “I’m sorry, Alex and we can talk about this more later. Just know that all I want is for you to be happy.”

With that Maggie leaves the bedroom to find Lena nervously sitting on the bottom step – she looks like someone has just kicked her puppy. Maggie sits down next to Lena and rubs her small back, startled when Lena asks quietly, “Are you going?”

Maggie’s taken aback by the question, wondering if the argument with Alex had sounded that bad from the children’s perspectives. Sighing softly and rubbing her temple she mentally curses herself for bring the topic of children up in the middle of a situation like this – she just hadn’t expected Alex to get so upset or take her commentary the wrong way. Rubbing Lena’s back she tells her softly, “No baby, I’m not going anywhere. Sometimes adults have misunderstandings and they get upset too, but I’m not leaving.”

Breakfast is rather tense, and when Eliza returns from her morning trip to the store and to check on Kara’s apartment she offers to take the two girls to the park. The eldest Danvers doesn’t say anything or pry, but she can tell that something must have transpired between the married couple in her absence. Shortly after breakfast Alex changes clothes and explains that she has to run to work and check over some of the developing results. It goes unspoken that she also needs some time alone to process her own thoughts and feelings about what happened this morning.

Alex quickly packs up her bag for work, adding a few bottles of water and snacks since it’s a Saturday and she knows there won’t be much in the way of food today. Picking up her keys she goes over to the girls who are getting ready to go to the park, kneeling down she helps Kara zip up her jacket as she tells her, “Have fun at the park, okay my super girl?”

Kara giggles at the nickname and is quick to wrap her arms around Alex, pressing sloppy kisses to her cheek and assuring her that she’ll tell her all about the park when she gets home. Alex kisses her temple as she turns to Lena who’s already reaching out for a hug, wrapping the little girl up in a tight hug and rubbing her back. Pressing a kiss to her temple she tells her sincerely, “Have fun and be careful at the park, little bit.”

Alex gets quite a bit done at first but as afternoon slowly drags into evening she gets less and less productive. In her office Alex sits brooding over her notes and the latest performance evaluation sheets from the rookies. She’s read over the same page at least four times now so she sets it down with a frustrated sigh and rubs her eyes – she hasn’t even been at this task very long so she knows her eyes aren’t tired. Rather she knows it’s because her mind can’t seem to process anything other than the fact that Maggie was re-evaluating the notion of having kids. Just that whole shift has thrown her off – making her wonder when the detective started to think that maybe she did want to have kids and if it was before or after they agreed to look after two toddlers.

Sighing she gets up and heads to the breakroom, she’s not really tired, thirsty or hungry but walking downstairs to make a cup of coffee will at least giver her something to do. She also hopes it helps her clear her mind, but she’s not willing to place any bets on that. As she finds her favorite mug in the back of the cabinet she sets to making a rather rich Columbian roast – feeling like she deserves to be a little indulgent at the moment.

Saturdays at the DEO were rather quiet, she’s only seen Lucy around a couple times and J’onn had come by to handle a minor emergency that required Supergirl. As she goes in search of her favorite seat on the balcony she finds Lucy occupying it but she feels like she could use talking to her friend – the soldier would understand the turmoil and emotional crisis that Alex is right in the middle of.

“Hey Alex,” Lucy greets tiredly, sipping at her coffee as she turns to face Alex who sits down across from her. “You working in the lab today?”

“Yeah, it’s much easier to get things done in the lab on the weekends when it’s quiet and no one’s around to interrupt your work,” Alex says with a soft smile before taking a sip of her coffee.

“Too true, on any given day there’s always a steady stream of people in and out of my office with legal briefs, staff updates and pointless reminders of meetings that really could have just been an emailed memo,” Lucy retorts as she rolls her eyes at the unnecessary bureaucratic bullshit that they both have to tolerate to a certain degree. “So what’s got you all worked up?”

Alex takes offense at that statement, asking a bit incredulously, “What makes you think I’m all worked up?”

“Because most of the time when you’re in the lab we all have to remind you that your body needs sustenance to survive,” Lucy teases in good humor, wondering if this has anything to do with Maggie and how the police detective has been more and more obvious about her affection for the children. She just decides to be blunt, the longer she lets Alex flounder around the longer it’s going to take to help her sort some things out, “So, what’s Maggie done now?”

Alex tries to give her a half-hearted scowl but ends up just looking slightly confused, “What makes you think my restlessness has anything to do with Maggie?”

“Because there are three things that are capable of getting you worked up – Kara, your mother, and Maggie. Since Eliza’s nowhere in sight and Kara can’t possibly be causing profound problems I’m going with Maggie.”

“That obvious, huh?”

“Sadly, yes.” Lucy admits but she can’t help but let up on the teasing as she asks seriously, “So, what’s going on?”

“Maggie’s starting to change her mind about having kids,” Alex tells her, worrying a chip in the handle of her mug.

“I’m not surprised.”

“Really?!” Alex’s head whips up giving Lucy an astounded look, wondering how in the hell Lucy figured that could be happening.

“Did you see her at the zoo?!” Lucy asks, kind of wanting to shake her oblivious friend – anyone with eyes could see that Maggie was great with the kids and was genuinely enjoying her time looking after them. Besides, she was sure that if Maggie wasn’t at least somewhat okay with the thought of kids the two toddlers would have already but a rather obvious strain on the couple’s relationship. “Oh my god, Alex. She was practically pouting when Lena didn’t want to ride on her shoulders and once we sat Drew up there the two of you were walking around on Cloud 9. Don’t even get me started on how she plays soccer with Kara and reads to Lena and Winn every day at daycare while they wait for you and J’onn. For fuck’s sake Alex, she dressed up in her uniform for Halloween just to appease Drew. She probably really does want kids with you.”

“You really think so?” Alex asks softly, she hadn’t felt this out of her depth and insecure about her relationship since they’d originally fought over this same issue.

“Yeah, I honestly think she’s just working through some personal issues and a bad headspace about parenthood in general,” Lucy says but at the consternated look on Alex’s face she’s a little confused and even more worried – it wasn’t a secret that the couple had almost broken up over the issue of kids. She’s kind of surprised they didn’t given how vocal Alex had been at the time about wanting them, but then suddenly she’d stopped bringing it up. “Alex, shouldn’t you be a little happier about this development?”

The red head’s mouth twists in that familiar way that Lucy’s come to call Alex’s ‘I-want-to-talk-about-it-but-I’m-not-sure-I-should’ face. But it’s the way that Alex looks like she’s starting to tremble and her eyes are welling with tears that make Lucy even more concerned, reaching over she very carefully lays a hand over Alex’s forearm. Even then the woman doesn’t look up so Lucy knows it’s serious, “Alex?”

Alex shakes her head

“Alex, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“I can’t, I really just need to talk to Maggie and clear the air.” Alex says as she scrambles to get up but Lucy is just as quick, grasping her by the wrist gently.

“Hey, hey, hey, Alex. Take a breath and calm down for a moment,” Lucy coaches her gently, and as soon as she’s sure Alex isn’t going to panic she tells her, “You don’t have to tell me – I can tell this is something really personal and clearly upsetting. I just want you to know that I’m here for you no matter what, and I’m sure that Maggie will be too.”

Alex just nods, no longer feeling like finishing her coffee or heading back to the lab, “I’m going to go, I really just need to talk with Maggie.”

“Okay, you going to be good to drive home?”

“Yeah, I will be after I shut down stuff in the lab,” Alex tells her even though she looking quite defeated, she really isn’t looking forward to having this conversation with Maggie – mainly because she has a feeling that no matter what happens it’s all going to end the same way. In heartache.  

Maggie’s sitting on the sofa when Alex returns, she sips at her now cold tea and watches as her wife sighs heavily and drops down onto the sofa across from her. The two are staring awkwardly at each other, each waiting for the other to break the silence that’s fallen between them. Alex’s stomach however makes that decision for them, growling loudly in protest of being ignored for most of the day in favor of attending to DEO duties.

Maggie gets up and heads into the kitchen, flicking on the lights and opening the refrigerator to see what she can make that will feed the two of them with minimal effort. Alex follows as well, padding into the kitchen and taking a seat at the bar top. She watches as Maggie sets out a few eggs, cheese, the bread, and a slab of bacon before turning on the stove and getting out a frying pan.

After a few minutes of watching Maggie get ready to make omelets, including a non-vegan one for her Alex gets up to get a couple glasses from the cupboard and the orange juice and seltzer out of the refrigerator. The two work in quiet tandem, Alex offering her a drink as she sets the table and Maggie cooking and serving the meal. The silence isn’t as tense as it was when they parted ways earlier in the morning, but there’s still a nervous energy pent up in the room with them. Instead of addressing it immediately they eat in a rather companionable silence that neither really desires to break at the moment.

Once finished eating, while still seated beside one another on the sofa with the Netflix menu up on the screen, Maggie rests her hand over Alex’s gently as if to hold it. Alex seems a bit startled by the notion so she quickly withdraws her hand to give her wife space, breaking the stillness to apologize, “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Alex says, reaching over and taking Maggie’s hand in her own feeling their wedding bands click against one another as she links their fingers together. She knows this isn’t going to be an easy conversation but she just decides to grit her teeth and get through as best she can without crying, “I kind of went off the rails this morning, but I suppose you still want to talk about it, huh?”

“If you’re up for it.”

“May as well,” Alex relents, not wanting this to develop into an even larger problem if they put it off. She tells her wife honestly, “I’m not going to lie, I’ve been dreading this all day because I don’t want to have to sleep in bed alone for a night much less a couple weeks. But, I also don’t want to be stuck wondering what’s going on between us and where we stand with each other.”

“I know, and we probably should have sat down and had a much more in-depth conversation about kids and starting a family before now,” Maggie tells her, squeezing her hand as she admits, “It probably would have saved us some heartache.”

“Maybe,” Alex states skeptically, “Maybe that wasn’t the right time either.”

“I know I also didn’t help this morning, and my poor choice of wording didn’t help either. But I just wanted to bring up the kid thing again because the last few weeks have been really eye-opening for me. I just thought parenthood was going to be all drudgery and that I would be a terrible parent. I mean, last week I lost Drew on Halloween so I’m still a little concerned,” Maggie admits, still getting goosebumps thinking about how terrifying that whole ordeal had been for her and for the child. “But I’m not afraid anymore, not really – we have the support and love of so many people. And Alex, you’re so thoughtful and caring that I know even if I’m not the mother I’d like to be you’d make up for any deficiencies.” 

Alex is stunned, this turn of events was something she’d thought about wistfully from time to time but she never in her wildest dreams would have thought it would happen. Even now a part of her is still not sure she believes that Maggie’s changed her mind, “Maggie, you were the one that was so adamant that children weren’t compatible with our lifestyle – we work dangerous jobs, we’re both on-call frequently, and you also made it clear that you didn’t want kids even without those things. None, ever, under any circumstances, period. You remember saying those things?”

“Alex I was scared when I said those things – I didn’t grow up with my parents like you did, they threw me out because of something I couldn’t change. I had to come into adulthood knowing that my parents didn’t love me enough to keep me,” Maggie tells her as tears are starting to trail down her cheeks, as she rehashes some of the worst memories of her life. She’s honestly surprised it took her this long to connect her broken childhood with her fear and distain for motherhood, “I got this idea in my head that maybe love isn’t real, that it’s not as permanent and enduring as everyone says it is. That maybe one day I’d be the mother that could look my child in the eyes and tell them that I didn’t love them anymore and they needed to leave.”

“You would never do that, Maggie – when you love someone you love with your whole heart because you don’t know how to be anything other than accepting,” Alex tells her, she doesn’t have a shred of doubt in her mind that Maggie would love their child no matter what. She brushes away her wife’s tears even though an ache has settled uncomfortably in her chest – worry gnawing at the back of her mind about the secret she’s yet to share too. Instead she admits one of her fears, “I don’t want us to end up being one of those couples who break up because you felt you had to change your mind and have kids even though you don’t want them. I don’t want us to break apart because you end up resenting me over this issue - You can see why I’m a little worried can’t you?”

“I know, and part of the issue were having now is that I wasn’t entirely honest with myself about what I wanted. I thought I was past all the hang ups off getting thrown out and practically abandoned by my family as a teenager but I was just fooling myself,” Maggie tells her, feeling sorry that her not working through all of her past trauma was causing problems now for both her and her wife.

Deciding to just lay all out on the table and final get this burden out of her thoughts she explains, “I like children, and I would even like my own but I never thought it was going to be an option for me. I never really allowed myself to think about those things because there was always that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I’d fuck my kid just like my parents fucked me up – and I’d rather just live my life without them if that was what would happen. No one deserves to be born to someone whose love is conditional.”

“No they don’t,” Alex agrees, feeling tears stinging in her eyes as she conflicted about Maggie’s change of heart – realizing that Maggie had expected her to be happy about it and she hadn’t been. But not for the reason’s Maggie’s likely thinking. Alex’s voice is guarded and careful as she asks, “So, are you saying you want to discuss planning to expand our family?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Maggie tells her with a bright grin, already imaging the sound of a little boy or girl calling after her and Alex. All the first days of school, sports games, and watching them grown into a smart, confident young man or woman ready to take on the world comes to mind as well. Brushing hair from Alex’s face she smiles at her, knowing her dimples are showing as she tells her earnestly, “Alex, I want nothing more than to become a mother with you – seeing you so happy and maternal these last few weeks with the kids has brought me so much joy.”

Instead of the cautious optimism Maggie was expecting she sees Alex nibbling her bottom lip nervously, and upon closer inspection she sees that her wife is rather tense and showing all the signs of being anxious and worried. Sure she’s scared as hell to actually be responsible for a growing human sometime in the future but not like this – this looked like Alex was on the verge of having a full blown anxiety attack and bursting into tears. Concern washes over her and she squeezes her wife’s hand, “Alex? Sweetheart, are you okay – I thought this would be something that you wanted.”

“I want a family with you with all of my heart – but it may be too late for that now,” Alex whispers, her voice cracking painfully as her lip starts to tremble as she tries desperately to blink back the torrent of tears that are trying to flood her eyes. She stares at her lap where Maggie has her hand clasped firmly in hers, their wedding rings touching one another.

“Why would it be too late? We have the rest of our lives together Alex, we’ve got all the time in the world,” Maggie asks a bit confused as she tilts her head to try and get Alex to look at her.

Alex hesitates but the tears don’t seem to be stopping, she can see the worry growing in Maggie’s eyes as her mind goes over all the possible reasons why Alex had said what she did. The red head tries to make sure her voice isn’t going to fail and she doesn’t break into sobs when she speaks, taking a breath to try and calm herself down – trembling and quivering as she stammers out, “Uh, because…because of pre-mature ovarian failure.”

Maggie’s brain short circuits as Alex breaks off into a sob, letting go of her hand to cover her face – as if she’s ashamed that this has happened to her. The detective sits there in stunned silence; she’s heard of pre-mature ovarian failure which was when a woman’s ovaries don’t produce adequate hormones for fertility or just suddenly stop producing viable eggs. Maggie’s immediately concerned about Alex’s overall health even though it’s likely that this occurred completely randomly – but another thought strikes her. Alex seems to have already known about her condition for quite some time and the thought further causes her heart to drop into her stomach.

“How long have you known?” Maggie asks quietly, it’s taking everything within her to give Alex space and not pull her into her lap and sooth away her tears.

“Since February,” Alex tells her as she futilely keeps wiping at the tears even as new one’s stream down her cheeks. She can feel the dam breaking, after months of silence and trying to get on with her life she knows she can’t hold onto all that stored anguish much longer.

She remembers that cold day just three or four days before Valentines, where she’d sat at the gynecologist’s office having gotten called back in for some odd blood test results. She’d had to sit in that room with magazines talking about best pre-schools and fun playdates for new parents. After she’d been told she had a less than 5% chance of children even with IVF she numbly passed through the waiting room where a few women were sitting with bellies distended with their future children. She went to work and got on with her life as if her heart wasn’t breaking knowing that if this conversation ever happened her dream of having a family still wouldn’t become a reality.

“Alex, that’s nine months?! Why didn’t you tell me when you found out?”

“It didn’t matter at the time,” Alex states defensively, she knows she should have told Maggie – she also knows her wife would have held her and comforted her at the time. But she couldn’t stand to talk about children, not when they weren’t going to be having any, “We weren’t having kids so what did it matter – finding out I couldn’t have them didn’t change anything.”

“Alex, there’s a difference in choosing not to have kids and being told that even if you changed your mind you no longer have the option,” Maggie tells her, feeling her stomach twisting in knots she wonders how bad she must have fucked up along the way to make Alex feel like she couldn’t come to her about this issue. She knows the kids’ topic had hurt both of them, but finding out that Alex had been struggling with this for months by herself has her feeling completely gutted.

Maggie cringes as she thinks back to all the times she joked that being gay was great birth control – not realizing that her comments must have really hurt her wife. Even though she would never have said those things had she known, it still doesn’t make her feel any less guilty. That and on top of this Alex has had the wonderful family life she never thought she’d have rubbed in her face the past couple of weeks with the shrink ray incident and all their mini friends running around.

With sorrowful tears welling up in her eyes she looks to her wife and sincerely apologizes, “I’m so sorry that I didn’t make you feel safe enough to tell me when you got the bad news – because it does matter, Alex. I should have been more understanding when the topic of kids came up and you should have been able to come to me and find the comfort and support you needed to deal with that terrible news.”

Alex can’t stand the distance between them, both emotionally and physically, and curls into her wife’s side and starts to openly weep. Waves of sorrow and grief that have been pent up for the better part of a year wash over her as the sea of tears follows. She’s sobbing so hard her ribs start to ache and her breath catches painfully in her lungs causing her to start hiccupping as she feels Maggie’s arms tightening around her. Feeling her wife’s fingers gently rubbing the back of head and hearing the heartbeat where her ear is pressed to Maggie’s chest starts to help her get a grip. As soon as the rushing sound of blood in her ears starts to fade she can hear Maggie talking quietly to her and just from her tone Alex knows she’s crying too.

“I didn’t want to lose you,” Alex stammers out, grateful that Maggie pulls her into her lap and wraps them both up in the fluffy blanket from the back of the couch. Her temples are throbbing painfully but as her whimpers ease up and she rests against her wife she feels the tension and stress of having kept such a heavy burden secret final start to lift.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” Maggie assures firmly, pressing a lingering kiss to the crown of Alex’s head and squeezing her tight as she also explains. Pregnancy may not be an option for them – Alex being infertile and Maggie have body dysphoric problems when it comes to the thought of pregnancy, but they would find another way, “And I’m not going to just give up on our family that easily either, because you’re going to make a wonderful mother Alex and we’re going to have a beautiful family together. We’ll adopt or something.”

“With the current political climate?” Alex asks skeptically, knowing that while she’d had a great coming out and her friends and family were support that society in general was an entirely different matter.

“I don’t give a solitary fuck about the political climate,” Maggie states resolutely, she wasn’t going to let bigotry and peoples misinformed opinions about her and Alex’s relationship prevent them from expanding their family, “We’ll find a way, and we have amazing friends and family who can help us along the way.”

The two are still cuddled together and have finally settled down by the time Eliza returns from the movies with the girls. Kara and Lena both seem to sense that a rather emotionally charged situation has gone down as both of them are clamoring onto the sofa in earnest to provide comfort for their caregivers. Kara’s sought out Alex and has wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck, pressing more sloppy kisses on her cheek as she soothes, “No crying Alex, it’ll be okay.”

“I know, Kara,” Alex tells her, voice a little hoarse from sobbing and she can feel her mother’s worried glances from the kitchen. Lifting her sister into her lap she holds Kara and rocks her a bit, thinking about how long the adoption process would take and when she and Maggie will get to hold their own child like this.

“Why are you sad?” Lena asks, poking at Maggie’s red rimmed eyes with concern as her green eyes fill with tears. She’d spent most of her day wondering about Alex and Maggie and hoping that nothing serious had happened, especially since she heard them arguing that morning. Arguing always scared her, so when she heard tense voices this morning and saw Alex’s tears she’d gotten scared.

“We just got some sad news is all, but there’s nothing to be scared of – everything is going to be okay,” Maggie assures the child, not wanting to make the kids think that Alex was in anyway sick with a life threatening illness she just keeps it simple. Especially since Lena is already sniffling and reaching out to grasp Alex’s hand to try and make her feel better too.

During the evening movie both little girls remain glued to Alex’s side, checking in on her and making sure to give her extra hugs and kisses to make her feel less sad. After the nightly storybook and getting tucked in Alex comes downstairs to see her mother and Maggie sitting at the kitchen table with a hot chocolate nightcap.  Sheepishly, and still a little upset, she and Maggie explain the argument they’d had and that they’ve resolved it – happily informing Eliza that she will eventually have grandchild.

Instead of beaming with joy about the news of future grandchildren Eliza instead moves closer to Alex, reaching out and laying a hand over Alex’s she asks, “What was the bad news?”

Alex’s lip wobbles and the dam breaks a second time, she rushes to get the words out before she loses her nerve – explaining everything to her mother in detail. When she breaks into sobs her mother guides her into arms, holding her firmly as she kisses her temple and whispers to her, “Oh Alex, I’m so sorry, sweetheart. We’ll figure something out.”

Eliza reaches for Maggie, guiding her into the embrace as she knows that her daughter’s wife is likely feeling guilty on top of being heartbroken. She sits with her arms around them until they’ve all calmed, brushing away their tears and assuring them that there were other ways to become parents and that any child they have – either through IVF or adoption – would be lucky to have such caring women as their mothers. She also can’t help but tell them that Kara is going to be just as ecstatic about the little Danvers-Sawyer addition as she is, promising to spoil them rotten.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Kara – we’ve got to get going or we’re going to be late,” Eliza tries to coax, smiling a bit as Kara pouts at her while hugging onto Lena – she wonders if what Alex had told her about her youngest daughter and the Luthor heir being just friends was true. She suspects that they might be more than friends – or had been at least heading in that direction before the de-aging accident.

“But…” Kara pouts a little as she continues to hold onto Lena who looks a little confused.

“You two will be back together this evening, and you’ll be able to tell each other about all of the fun things you’ve done,” Eliza tells them both, but when neither one of them budges she tries a subtle bribe, “If you two go do your separate activities we can all come back this evening and tell each other what we did over some pizza and dessert.”

“Pizza?!” Kara perks up immediately, reaching for her jacket and getting tangled putting it on. She sees Lena looking a little put out at being so easily replaced with pizza she’s quick to go give her a hug. “We’ll be back soon, Lena.”

Lena hears Alex answering the door and chatting with Sam, she knows she’s going to have a lot fun on her outing with Sam today. But at the same time she’s spent so much time with Kara lately that it’s a bit scary to think about spending the whole day without her. Luckily she knows that Sam – sweet, affectionate Sam – will look after her and make sure she gets back home to Kara this evening, so she hugs Kara back. Wishing her small friend well, “Have fun, Kara.”

“I will, you too, okay?” Kara tries to encourage; she knows that right now it’s a little scary to be apart but soon enough they’ll be having so much fun the time will pass by quickly.

“Okay.” Lena says, watching as Kara dashes over towards the door and holds still while Eliza puts a beanie on her head and hands her a pair of mittens.

“Wait!” Kara exclaims just as she and Eliza are heading out the door, she starts to tug on her mom’s hand – hoping that she’ll get the hint that she needs her to let go for a second.

“What? Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Eliza asks while letting go of Kara’s hand, a little confused as to what Kara’s forgotten since her daughter has both shoes on – even though it took them an hour to find them again this morning.

“No,” Kara answers as she runs towards Lena, hugging her again and pressing a kiss to her cheek as she turns back to her mother with a proud grin and announces loud enough for everyone to hear, “I forgot to kiss my wife bye!”

Maggie, who has just taken a sip of coffee, nearly chokes as she starts to laugh – both her and Sam are giggling at the two toddlers. Alex is just shaking her head at how sickeningly sweet and extra Kara is when she’s around Lena – age apparently isn’t a factor in that. Kara flounces over to Eliza, taking her hand and tugging her towards the car in a rush to get their mother-daughter day started. Sam turns to Alex as tells her, “Bet you wish you could change that wager you made, huh?”

“Nope, I’m still holding out that Kara was still to chicken,” Alex tells her as she teases, “You’re going to owe me fifty bucks and miss prissy pants over here looking at me all smug is going to owe me breakfast in bed.”

Lena has toddled over and reached up to tug on Sam’s sleeve, reaching for her when she gets the woman’s attention. Sam chuckles as she swings Lena up and into her arms, “Hey sweet pea – are you ready to hit the road?”

“Yes,” Lena agrees quickly with a grin as she brushes her fingers through Sam’s hair, excited that she and Sam are going to get to spend the whole day together. She’s not sure what they’re going to do, Sam had said it was a secret the other day but she wonders if she could maybe be sneaky enough to wheedle it out of her. Offering Sam her sweetest, most innocent smile she asks, “Where we going?”

“That is a surprise,” Sam answers with a laugh, knowing Lena well enough to know when she’s trying to use her pouty, puppy eyes on her. When Lena nods excitedly she grabs the girl’s coat and heads towards the door while calling back to the couple, “Have fun with your alone time – you’ll have to tell me later what adoption agencies you check out. We’re going to get you two a baby sooner or later.”

“A baby?!” Lena exclaims scrambling to look over her shoulder at Maggie and Alex – the red heads cheeks are almost as red as her hair. Maggie’s choked again on her last sip of coffee as she looks up to see Lena peeking at them hopefully while asking rather loudly with great enthusiasm, “Where do you get a baby?!”

“Congratulations, Arais – you get to handle answering that,” Maggie tells her with a grin and wink before announcing, “Too bad we can't make them the old fashioned way"

“Oh my god, could you two please stop acting like 12-year-old boys!” Alex howls in frustration from the kitchen as Sam leaves laughing, she can’t believe Maggie and Sam talking about making and getting babies in front of a toddler – much less a very precocious toddler like Lena. Shaking her head, she just knows that Lena’s going to be asking about where babies come from until she gets a satisfactory answer – and she doesn’t expect Sam to actually answer the girl’s question.

Across the city Eliza is helping Kara take off her jacket and socks and shoes, trying to get the giddy toddler to sit still long enough for her to tie her hair into a pony tail. Several other parents and their kids have showed up to the small kid’s gym, all of the toddlers are eyeing the miniature gymnastics equipment and colorful mats with wide, hopeful eyes. Kara points at a set of bars and excitedly points out, “I want to try that!”

“That’s awfully optimistic, Kara,” Eliza says with a smile, she knew that the parent-child gymnastics day would be right up the energetic child’s alley. “Let’s see what the class is going to do first – you want to say hello and make some new friends.”

It doesn’t take Kara long to introduce herself – as well as Eliza – to everyone, quick to smile and offer a hug to any of the other small children that want one. Eliza has to admit that Alex was right to watch Kara like a hawk while they’re in public, the little blonde is incredibly friendly and likely believes that everyone is just as well intentioned and pleasant as she is. Already she has a small group of kids playing with her, all of them chattering and excitedly pointing to the different things they’re going to do.

After a few minutes stretching and learning about all the activities they’re going to be doing Kara takes to the physical activity like a fish takes to water. She tries to do flips on her own and does pretty well for a first timer, she’s also jumped off the springboard into a foam pit several times. Currently, Kara skips along the balance beam, calling out for Eliza to watch her and giggling when she tilts and teeters back and forth but never falling.

“Come on, mom!” Kara giggles, waving Eliza over and laughing even more when she joins her on the balance beam.

“I’m not quite as agile as you, Kara,” Eliza tells her with a chuckle as she walks along the beam, encouraging Kara to play to her heart’s content. Watching as Kara runs off to swing on a lowered bar, getting some instruction on how to push herself up onto her arms and then spin around.

For a few moments Eliza just soaks up Kara’s grinning face and the joyful laughter that warms her heart – this Kara is much different than the scared, grieving girl that had showed up on her doorstep with Clark Kent. For weeks after her arrival Kara wouldn’t speak and barely left the house, terrified of all the new things Earth had that seemed odd and frightening. She’d stayed up a few nights to hold the terrified teen and keep her calm during the thunderstorms rolled in from the ocean. Seeing a small Kara happily tackling challenges and blissfully unaware of the things that haunt adult Kara makes Eliza wish Kara could enjoy this carefreeness for a little while longer.

“Mom!” Kara cries as she jumps off the bar, stumbling and crashing into the ground with a laugh – but Eliza thinks her heart may have skipped a few beats. Kara’s quick to get up and carry on with whatever task she intended to do next, and the older blonde thanks Rao that Kara’s still somewhat invincible because with all the trips, slips, and falls she’s taken as a toddler would likely have resulted in a few ER trips by now. 

“Wow, she’s quite the tough one, isn’t she?” a woman around Alex’s age says, nodding towards Kara who’s tripped and fallen off the mats but quickly pushes herself to her feet and heads back towards the balance beams, “Not even a whimper or tears.”

“You have no idea,” Eliza says with a knowing smile at her daughter, feeling incredibly proud that Kara’s managed to grow up and still be the kind, brave woman she was – especially after all the loss and pain she’d suffered early on in her life. Kara, balancing on the balance beam like she’s intentionally trying to fall off, shoots her a smile and a wave. Eliza just shakes her head and calls out affectionately exasperated, “Kara, do try to be a little more careful.”

“I’ve never seen such a small child with such great coordination – you’ve probably got a little Olympian on your hands.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Eliza hedges, chuckling to herself with amusement. Kara had honestly never shown much interest in team sports or physical activity other than becoming a superhero. Eliza knows it wouldn’t be a fair competition but at the same time she wouldn’t mind seeing Kara put some of the best athletes in the world to shame.

“Her muscle tone and balance are impeccable too.” Another parent comments, and Eliza thinks she hears a hint of jealousy.  

“She has some really good genetics, but we’ll see – I don’t want to push her into anything,” Eliza says, trying to make a reasonable excuse for why she’s not too keen on the idea of pushing Kara to try and attain such a lofty goal. Of course, she couldn’t just say that Kara’s really supposed to be an adult who moonlights as Supergirl in her spare time – even though she wants to sometimes just so she can gush about how proud she is of her.

She also doesn’t want to give Kara the impression that she has to do something society defines as remarkable for her be happy and loved. One of her biggest regrets as a parent was putting so much pressure on Alex – her daughter was already so perfectionistic and hard on herself as it was without her help. She never meant to make Alex think that she had to meet some unreachable standards for her to be proud of her. She didn’t handle her grief over Jeremiah’s unexpected death well, and while she wishes she could go back and redo things for the better she’s just grateful that she and Alex had been working towards mending their relationship.

She watches as Kara simple has fun letting the coach help her do a handstand and a few back flips, telling her to hold her arms up like an Olympic gymnast after sticking the landing. Kara does it a couple more times before trying it on her own, she wobbles and falls a few times as she giggles and gets back up to try again. She does a mostly unassisted cartwheel followed by a flip, throwing her hands in the air and beaming a bright smile as she yells excitedly, “Look mom! I’m gonna be a ‘lympian!”

“You can be whatever you want to be, Kara,” Eliza tells her as she reaches out, watching as Kara’s eyes light up and she runs towards her to leap into her arms. Eliza knows her joints are going to protest later but she swings her around a couple times before bringing her in for a hug, “You’re my super girl, sweetie.”

In the community center, in the downtown part of National City Sam is walking with Lena to a classroom that has a bunch of countertops with stoves and ovens – a few parents with their kids are there getting out bowls and other cooking utensils. Lena’s eyes light up and she claps her hands together excitedly before hugging Sam.  The CFO is laughing as she pats Lena’s back and asks her warmly, “So, I’m guessing the mommy and me cooking class are a good surprise?”

“Yes!” Lena exclaims, pointing to an unoccupied cooking station near the window at the back of the classroom. Once there Lena finds a child size apron with kittens on it and miniature chef hat, smiling at she tries to figure out how to put it on before pointing to another apron with penguins on it for Sam.

“Alright little bit, let’s see what we’re going to get up to today,” Sam says as she brings over a step stool so Lena will be able to reach the counter, glad that Lena’s a lot more careful and less energetic as Kara meaning she likely wouldn’t fall off and hurt herself.

After the class has an ice breaker where Lena almost blows their cover – almost getting the name Luthor out before Sam interrupts with a pseudonym for them both. Stating the name Luthor or Arias – because of their high profile – meant it wouldn’t be long until cameras showed up. And with Lena being a toddler she’s sure that people would either put two and two together and get four or they’d likely assume that little Lena was big Lena’s child – either way it would be quite the PR nightmare. Not to mention that big Lena would likely be upset at the scandalous rumors that would still be circulating when she got back.

The class is learning to make quick and fun baking recipes, starting off with some easy fruit pastries and followed by more elaborate cupcakes. Lena just beams happily as she goes along, following the instructions of the teacher and ordering Sam around like she’s her cooking assistant, Sam just finds it absolutely amusing and adorable. She snaps pictures of Lena in her chef hat with a spatula held in the air, texting it to Alex and Maggie.

While Lena seemed happy to snack on the berries for the fruit pastries she seems most interested in making cupcakes, looking up at Sam with a big toothy grin as she tells her, “We can have cupcakes after pizza!”

“We sure can,” Sam says with a smile, rubbing Lena’s shoulders gently.

“Kara loves cupcakes,” Lena tells her with another grin as she starts to organize all the ingredients that the instructor told them they’d need. She’s also quick to figure out the measuring cups and spoons soon after Sam explains what they are and how they work. Lena is watching the instructor carefully before looking back at the recipe page – this was a lot more involved that the pre-prepared pastry dough and she’s excited to try and get her hands dirty.

“Oh she’s a smart one isn’t she?” one of the other mom’s chimes in from a station next to Sam and Lena’s as she helps her school aged son with the measurement.

“Oh Lena? Yeah, she’s quite our little genius,” Sam tells her with a proud smile, she’s not lying either but she is trying to be modest. While Lena never boasted about her intellectual prowess, it was far from something to be ashamed of – Sam knew Lena could crunch numbers in her head quicker than most people could with a calculator. Lena was also socially quick witted even if she was rather quiet and reserved, easily navigating the mine field that involved being a woman working in a predominantly male-dominated industry.

“Sam? Read,” Lena demands softly, pointing to the instructions on the piece of paper printed on some rather cutesy baking themed piece of paper. She knows what some of the words mean but a few of them are still a mystery and she wants to make sure these are the best cupcakes anyone has ever made.

“She can be a little demanding,” Sam comments with a laugh as she reads to Lena that the cupcake batter is going to need two large eggs and a tablespoon of vanilla. She points out the ingredients but lets Lena do what she wants, any further instruction would likely frustrate the girl since she hate when her problem solving skills are interrupted.

“That’s good – no one will bully her,” a smiling man tells Sam while mopping up some spilled milk while trying to keep his twin girls from getting flour and sugar everywhere. One girl has a fist full of butter licking at it while her sister is perched on counter top with a broken egg in each hand. The father doesn’t seem bothered by it, looking over at Lena he tells Sam with a grin, “You may have a little Gordon Ramsay on your hands, just wait until she gets her first Michelin Star or her first million.”

“Oh, you have no idea – this little one is just getting started,” Sam chuckles, she already knows that Lena made her first independent million on a biomedical project while she was finishing up her Master’s degree at MIT. Sam’s sure that Lena could have done it sooner if Lillian had just given her a fraction of the attention and affection she gave to Lex. But Sam’s proud that Lena did it on her own, and she’s grateful that she gets to be a part of whatever wonderful things Lena comes up for L-Corp in the future. Patting the child’s back she asks with a smile, “Aren’t you Lena?”

“Yes!” Lena cries out excitedly as she starts to stir the batter, pretty pleased with how it’s turning out and looking forward to sharing these treats with Kara, Alex, and Maggie, “Just getting started!”

Back at the house Alex and Maggie have finally gotten out of bed, the two of them enjoying a lazy morning while the two kids are out having fun. With a second round of coffee after waffles with ice cream the two sit down at the table with Maggie’s laptop to look into public and private adoption agencies and to see what exactly their up against. Both women are anxious and excited at the same time, worried that they wouldn’t meet the criteria required to adopt a child. Alex almost can’t look at the requirements, hiding her face against Maggie’s shoulder as she reads off the requirements.

“I seriously think you’re worrying over nothing, Al,” Maggie tries to assure even though her stomach is fluttering nervously too, “So for non-relative adopters you have to be at least 10 years older than the child you’re adopting, no felony convictions within the last 10 years…obviously.”

“So, no restrictions on marriage or…”

“No, single parents can adopt and there’s no discrimination in California,” Maggie assures, feeling a little of the tension in her shoulders when she reads that California agencies currently are not allowed to discriminate based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Alex looks up, scanning the screen as she reads more about the requirements and balking – her heart was starting to get more into this adoption thing but one of the requirements makes her worried that she and Maggie wouldn’t be pass. Maggie notices that Alex is balling up again and rubs her back as she reads, “So, there’s some things we’d have to do – a background check – again that’s obvious and not something we’ll have trouble with, a physical exam – which we’re both healthy so that’s a non-issue too, adoption training classes which we can do together as well as a home study.”

“What about the individual interviews?” Alex asks, hating that she can hear the worry in her own voice as she looks at the things the social work would be asking her and Maggie about. It looks more like an interrogation rather than an interview no matter how politely it’s worded on the webpage, “Family background, your childhood, family dynamics and values – not ideal, I have Supergirl in my family and I don’t see how we’re going to explain that one away to a social worker. And lying would be felony perjury.”

“Alex, we haven’t even…”

“Oh god, how the hell am I supposed to explain the DEO?!” Alex asks with wide eyes, her brain already working over all the possible explanations she could come up with that wouldn’t involve plainly stating she does some federal black-ops stuff on the regular. She wonders briefly if they can even make it through the initial interviews and background check if she’s going to be forced to choose between keeping her job with the DEO and being eligible to adopt a child and become a mother. These weren’t things they’d have to deal with if she could get pregnant and carry her own child, and Alex feels the anger and hopelessness surging back full force, “There’s no way they’re going to let us adopt a child when you work for the police department and I work in black-ops for the DEO. They’re going to say that we have dangerous jobs and won’t have enough time to devote to raising a child…if one of us has to quit their job I’ll work it out with J’onn.”

“Woah, woah, Alex – no one is asking you to quit your job,” Maggie tells her quickly, closing out the webpage since Alex is clearly too anxious to be doing this right now. Turning to face Alex, taking her face in her hands she looks in her eyes and tries to reason with her – something that helps Alex come back from a panic attack, “Baby, take a breath for me. We’ll talk this out with J’onn and Lucy – see what we can do about the DEO. It shouldn’t be a problem, police officers and federal agents have children all the time and it’s going to be no different for us. I promise you, we are going to have a family – even if we have to save up and hire a surrogate.”

“The adoption would be $15,000 up front, the surrogacy I can’t even begin to calculate…”

“Alex, we will find a way,” Maggie state firmly, and she’s hell bent on this now – she wasn’t going to let this stop her and Alex from having a family. “We have time and we have plenty of family and friends we can go to for support – I know it’s scary but we’re going to get through this.”

After a while Maggie settles them down on the sofa, flipping on a horror film on Netflix as Alex sprawls out on top of her. After a while Maggie can’t help but chuckle when she hears the first soft snore from Alex who has fallen asleep with her head pillowed on her chest. Maggie just smiles, muttering at the girl in the movie that she’s an idiot for going towards the noise as she runs her fingers through Alex’s short hair tenderly. After a while she falls asleep in the middle of another movie and the two of them don’t wake up until Lena comes bounding into the living room – climbing up on the two women to sprawl onto the back of Alex to give her a hug.

“Hey little bit,” Maggie says with a sleepy smile as she ruffles Lena’s hair, “Did you have fun with Sam?”

“Yes, we went to cooking class!” Lena tells them excitedly, hugging Alex and resting her cheek against the agent’s shoulders as she tells them, “I made cupcakes! And then we went to LegoLand!”

“That explains the hyper,” Alex mutters tiredly, clasping Lena’s tiny hand in her own as she’s content to lay on Maggie with the toddler on her back.

“Hey, she only had two fruit pastries and one cupcake,” Sam says with mock offenses – she knows she gave the toddler too much sugar, “But, she did eat her vegetables for lunch.”

“Yeah, kale…” Lena mutters tiredly, content to hold Alex’s hand and fall asleep on top of the woman.

“Alright, I’ve got to go pick up Ruby from soccer practice,” Sam says coming over to snap a pictures of the couple with the toddler already dozing on top of them, “You’ll have to tell me about your research some other time, and Lena sweet pea – I’ll see you later.”

Lena smiles sleepily, reaching out an arm to hug Sam and kiss her goodbye, “Bye, Sam.”

“Bye, sweet pea – sweet dreams.”

Maggie hears Sam lock the door behind her, Alex is already asleep again and she wonders how exhausting it must have been for Alex to have kept that secret from her – on top of keeping up with the DEO and the two toddlers. Leaning forward she presses a kiss to the crown of her wife’s head, content to hold her and little Lena as they rest. It would seem that Sam has worn out the little girl, because Lena doesn’t seem to mind falling asleep against Alex’s back even though Maggie wonder’s how comfortable that could be with Alex’s rather sharp shoulder blades.

Maggie manages to reach the remote without toppling them off of her, flicking over to a documentary about ocean life – something more kid appropriate without it being Peppa Pig or Paw Patrol. As she listens to Sir David Attenborough discuss the life and times of sharks and tuna she starts to drift back to sleep. She knows that once Kara gets home the little bundle of never ending energy will have Lena and Alex both all riled up.

Sure enough, when Kara and Eliza get home the tiny blonde makes a bee line to Alex and Lena only she’s a lot less careful. Alex grunts when she gets a knee in the middle of her back, “Kara, be a little more careful? My kidneys can only take so much of a beating.”

“Sorry, Ally!” Kara says, leaning down to press a kiss to the spot her knee had been before sprawling out on top of Lena who grumpily whines at being woken up. “I’m home!”

“Kara?”

“Yeah!” Kara beams as she hugs Lena tightly, “I had fun, but I missed you!”

Lena just grumbles softly, curling up against Kara and trying to get back to snoozing. Alex finds this amusing as she presses a kiss to Maggie’s lips as she tells her, “You okay? As cute as they are they add about fifty pounds more to this mess.”

“I can’t really feel my legs but it’s fine,” Maggie teases, grateful when Eliza lifts the two toddlers off of Alex’s back so they can sit up – both stretching out kinks and muscle cramps for a couple minutes. “You going to call in pizza?”

“We already did!” Kara announces happily as she chatters with Lena about the gymnastics class and the Crayola factory – holding out a new, pristine box of crayons she’d picked out for Lena.

Lena to tells Kara all about her cooking class with Sam – telling her that they have cupcakes for everyone that she made. She also shows Kara the Lego sets Sam helped her pick out when she took her to Legoland that afternoon – knowing the little engineer would love the toys. Lena hands Kara her set – the one with Supergirl and Wonder woman including a variety of tall buildings at wonder woman’s plane. Lena happily shows off her set to Kara, pointing out the Star Wars theme with the x-wings and tie fighters including a mini Darth Vader figurine.

“Okay, you two can play with the Legos before dinner gets here,” Alex tells them with a smile as she lifts them into their booster seats and opening the kits. Realizing just how small these things are and worrying immediately that they may be too young she holds up a block and looks each girl in the eyes and tells them both seriously, “Just don’t stick any of the small blocks in your mouth, nose, ear or just anywhere on your body period. I have tweezers but that’s not the point.”

“Why?” Kara asks innocently.

“Because they’ll get stuck and then we’ll have to go see Dr. Hamilton to get it out,” Alex tells her plainly with a shake of the head as Kara grimaces and sets the little blocks down. Lena doesn’t seem too bothered, having not intended to do anything other than build with the small plastic blocks.

Maggie and Eliza are both happy to help the little kids read the instructions and put the kits together – Lena a little grumpy because she wants to figure it out herself. Alex just tells them to let her work it out for herself – she’ll get it on her own. By the time pizza arrives Lena’s flying a tie fighter around, making the laser sounds as she laughs at Luke getting shot down by Darth Vader. Maggie can’t help but chuckle and tease, “The dark side has cookies doesn’t it, Lena?”

“No, cupcakes!” Lena insists as she sets down her toys long enough to happily consume a piece of pizza. After everyone has eaten their fill Lena has squirmed out of her booster seat to help Alex go get the tray of cupcakes, letting the toddler distribute them however she wants. Lena’s first move is to pick up a big chocolate cupcake piled high with frosting and littered with red, yellow, and blue sprinkles and set it in front of a wide-eyed Kara who is already licking her lips.

Maggie can’t help but laugh as she nudges Alex, “So, you want to take bets on whether or not little Luthor knows that mini-Danvers has a super secret identity?!”

“Nope, I’m not going to lose two bets back to back – I figured Lena probably already knows. She’s scary smart so why wouldn’t she? Glasses aren’t much of a disguise,” Alex remarks as she watches Lena hand a vanilla cupcake to Eliza with chocolate frosting and blue and white sprinkles. Her mother thanks Lena, telling her that she loves the decorations, making Lena beam happily. Alex and Maggie end up with matching cupcakes, both with rainbow sprinkles that makes Maggie chuckle and shoot Alex a salacious wink. Lena settles down with a vanilla cupcake with green sprinkles, explaining that she like green because it matches her eyes.

After cupcakes and milk the family curls up on the sofa after having the two toddlers clean up their toys and pick out a movie. Maggie makes a cup of coffee for Alex and two mugs of tea for herself and Eliza, the two briefly discussing that the adoption process would be long and the have a few things they need to work out before the go ahead and apply to be considered as a family a child could be placed with. Eliza is quick to give Alex a hug and tell her that while it may be a bumpy start that she’ll always be there for her and Maggie if they need anything.

“Alex?” Lena asks as Alex lifts her into her lap on the sofa so they can watch the new movie that Maggie picked up for them that evening.

“Yeah sweetheart?” Alex asks absentmindedly, zoned out a bit as she goes over all of the information she and Maggie had gone over for a majority of the day. She and Maggie both qualified for several private adoption agencies, and in the state of California they qualified for public adoption agencies as well – for the time being. The current wait time was a couple years from start to finish, and that wasn’t a guarantee that they’d find a child to adopt. She’s also still worried that her work at the DEO would disqualify them entirely.

“Where does babies come from?” Lena asks, still a little confused and no believing Sam’s answer that she told her in the car that morning. She’d told her that long legged birds called storks carried babies in blankets by their bills to the doorsteps of new parents. Sam told her that parents could pick out if they wanted a boy or a girl, or even twins but Lena doesn’t think that’s right.

“What’d Sam tell you?” Maggie asks curiously, wondering what the CFO had told the inquisitive child to get her distracted enough to ask Alex this question instead.

“That birds bring’em to your door,” Lena says a bit sourly, saying it out loud sound even more ridiculous than when she’d pondered it over in her own head. Birds carrying babies around and dropping them off at people’s doors like packages just didn’t seem feasible. If it was that easy Lena’s sure that Alex and Maggie could have ordered one off their computer and had it delivered with their mail.

Eliza is chuckling, amused that Alex is floundering about how to explain to Lena where babies come from without getting too graphic or technical. Maggie’s just sitting back with Kara leaning against her chest, the two of them snacking on popcorn – Kara watches Alex and Lena curiously instead of the movie and Maggie is watching just as intently with a big grin plastered on her face. Alex looks helplessly over at her mother begging softly for some assistance, “Mom? You’re a doctor too, help me out?!”

“Oh no dear, I think you’ve got this covered,” Eliza assures with a cheeky smile.

“Come on, Alex,” Maggie cajoles with a grin, earning herself a sharp elbow to the ribs but that doesn’t stop her from asking teasingly, “Where do babies come from?”

“Okay, so you two want to know where babies come from,” Alex states, taking a deep breath to try and figure out what to say to these two – there’s some relief that she can’t really fuck them up too badly long term since they’ll be adults again soon enough.

“Please?!” Kara pleads, feeling like she’s going to be missing some vital piece of information if Alex doesn’t tell them. She’s wondering if when her and Lena are all grown up like Alex and Maggie if they could either find, make, or buy a baby. She’s adding that to a list of things she needs to do – right after going to school, getting a job, and buying the green eyed girl a wedding ring.

“Okay, I’m getting to it,” Alex chuckles a bit, watching the two toddlers scramble to both sit in her lap. Lena doesn’t seem to mind sharing the space with Kara, happily leaning her head against Kara’s shoulder as they both look expectantly at her. Smiling at the two, she can’t seem to be irritated that she’s left with this uncomfortable task as she tells them, “Well, there are a couple ways to start a family – most of the time there’s a mommy and daddy… oh, god this is harder than I thought.”

“You’re doing fine,” Maggie encourages even though she can’t help but be entertained by her wife’s discomfort. She reaches over and squeezes her wife’s hand, wondering for a moment if this topic was too much for her at the moment – even though they’ve already started moving forward with the prospect of adoption. Carefully she nudges Alex to get her attention as she asks softly, “You okay explaining this?”

“Yeah,” Alex nods with a smile at Maggie’s thoughtfulness, “Just a little awkward.”

“You’ll probably have to have this conversation again with adult Kara,” Maggie teases with a grin, making Alex laugh as they both wonder how much Kara knows about human reproduction since she was still so bashful and didn’t really pay much attention to human norms.

“Alex?”

“Okay, so when a mommy and a daddy love each other and they’re ready to have a baby they do special –  things – together. The mommy will carry the baby in her womb for 9 months – providing all the things the baby needs to grow and be healthy before it’s born,” Alex tries to dumb it down enough for the four-year-old’s and to also stave off any further questions about sex - she knows that this type of non-answer isn't going to work for her own kid. She and Maggie are going to want their little one to grow up in a sex positive household, but it seems like overkill to do that right now with Lena and Kara. In a few weeks, when they're back to being adults she really hopes they don't remember this awkward conversation. 

Before Alex can figure out how to change the topic Lena’s piping up, “But how does it come out?”

“Oh, uh…well,” Alex stammers a bit as she tries to explain childbirth without traumatizing the two toddlers, “So, uh, I don’t really have any experience in that area – but a woman usually pushes the baby out of her body. Sometimes, if the baby or the mommy aren’t doing so well she’ll have to have surgery to get the baby out.”

“Ouch!” Kara exclaims looking mildly horrified as she holds onto Lena – the thought of either her or Lena having to do something like seems impossible and terrifying. Pouting a bit she asks, “But I don’t want to do that.”

“Me either,” Lena mutters, scrunching up her nose at the idea of having to go to the hospital – they smelled funny, the lights were way too bright, and she usually ends up getting poked with needles. Shaking her head she asks, “But you and Maggie are mommies.”

“Yeah, Maggie and I will both be mommies because we’re women – I can’t carry a baby either, but there are other ways of starting a family,” Alex assures them both, feeling a little spark of happiness as she thinks briefly about what her and Maggie’s future child will be like. She looks over at Maggie and smiles – they may not be able to go the easiest route for starting their family, but they’re going to have a family. She also knows that she’s going to makes sure that their little one ends up asking Maggie all of the awkward questions just so she can watch her flounder as retribution for this evening.

“How?” Lena asks, eyes as round as saucers as she eagerly listens to Alex while bouncing up and down at the thought of there being more than one way to start a family.

“Well, what Maggie and I are doing is adopting a child,” Alex tells them with a smile, she can just see the little gears turning in their minds as she explains, “Sometimes, mommy’s and daddy’s can’t take care of their children for a variety of reasons but these kids still need homes. Maggie and I are going through the process of adopting one of these kids so that they can have a home with us.”

“When?” Kara asks in excitement, hoping to get to see the new child sometime soon – she’s always open to making new friends.

“Probably not anytime soon, kiddo,” Maggie tells her, taking some of the pressure off of Alex, “It takes a while for us to get approved – the people who look after these kids want to make sure that we’re a good fit for them. But you and Lena are going to make great Aunt’s for the mini-Danvers whenever they get here.”

“Really?!” Kara exclaims, bouncing into Maggie’s lap – making the detective groan as she’s pummeled a bit by knobby knees and elbows.

“Of course, you’re Alex’s sister – so that makes you an Aunt to any little girls or boys we have,” Maggie tells her, watching as Kara can’t seem to contain her enthusiasm. The little Kryptonian launches off the sofa to do a victory lap around the living room, shouting at the top of her lungs that she’s going to be the best aunt ever. Maggie can’t help but smile as she ruffles Alex’s hair and presses a kiss to her temple, “Do you think adult Kara’s going to be just as excited when we tell her our plans?”

“More probably,” Alex says as she settles into Maggie’s arms. Looking down she notices that Lena’s pouting and thinking awfully hard so she nudges her a bit to get to look at her, “Lena, baby, what’s got you so upset?”

“Can I adopt a baby?” Lena asks with barely concealed tears as she reaches up to wind her arms around Alex’s neck, seeking out comfort.

“Of course you can, Lena,” Alex tells her, wondering what’s going on in the child’s mind – but instead of asking about where her thoughts drifted to she just pats her back and assures her, “Lena, you’re going to make a wonderful mother when you grow up and find a loving partner to start a family with. But there’s no reason to get all worked up about it now – you’ve got plenty of time.”

“Yeah, kid, you’re four you have your whole life ahead of you – and Kara’s not going anywhere,” Maggie assures, finding the young blonde has come over at Lena’s first sniffle – not doubt putting her impeccable hearing to good use.

Kara snuggles up against Lena, wrapping her arms around her and laying her head against her shoulder as she comforts, “Don’t worry Lena. We can has lots of kids together later.”

“Okay,” Lena agrees with a watery smile, brushing away her tears on her sleeve.

“I’m going to need an A1C test after this is over,” Maggie complains good naturedly, realizing that they’ve missed most of the movie and she has no idea what’s going on.

“Don’t tempt, Alex – she used to badger her father and I about the flu shot,” Eliza says with a teasing smile as she looks up from her book.

“No mom, please?! You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone that story!”

“Oh no, please – do tell Eliza!” Maggie says with Cheshire cat grin from ear to ear as Alex grumbles.

“Come on, Alexandra – it was adorable!” Eliza insists, looking at her daughter-in-law with a mischievous grin before divulging the secret, “When Alex was little, I think six or seven years old, Jeremiah let her watch one of those epidemic movies …”

“Mom… it was Pandemic by the way.”

“She got it in her mind that since I worked in a lab and flu season was coming that it was going to be the end of the world… We'd all get sick with some super disease and die horribly.”

“It wasn’t that bad…I swear,” Alex objects as she feels her cheeks burning with embarrassment, knowing that Maggie's going to tease her about this later.

“When we went to get the flu shot – earlier than usual as Alex was insisting – they’d run out of the first shipment and you’d have thought the world was ending. She had a complete meltdown in the middle of the pharmacy because we would have to wait a couple days to get our shots,” Eliza tells them all with a little chuckle, of course it wasn’t funny at the time because Alex had been terrified and the six-year-old insisted on wearing a dust mask anytime she left the house. Which was something else entirely for Jeremiah to explain to Alex’s 1^st grade teacher, “It’s funny now, but I was worried for a while that she may turn out to be a bit of a hypochondriac since she had us on a handwashing and mask wearing protocol when we left the house. We even had to have a parent-teacher meeting with Ms. Russell because Alex wouldn’t take the mask off in class until she could get her flu shot.”

Maggie is laughing so hard her sides are protesting and yet she still can’t stop, through her giggles and snorts shared with Eliza she asks her wife, “Oh my god, what type of weirdo kid begs to go get their shots, Danvers?!”

“Me apparently,” Alex admits with a little laugh – it is kind of funny now but she recalls how that movie had scared the shit out of her when she first saw it with her Dad, “But in my defense, Dad had to sleep in the spare bedroom because that movie gave me nightmares for weeks.”

“I’m sure I’ll be having my fair share of nights on the sofa for showing the little one’s movies they shouldn’t see.”

“Yeah, Jurassic Park comes to mind.”

“Lena loved that movie,” Maggie argues, smiling as she realizes the two toddlers have fallen asleep against Alex – her wife rocking them gently. She wonders how it’s going to feel seeing Alex rocking their child to sleep or singing softly to them after they’ve woken up from a nightmare. Even with all the work and sleepless nights, she has a feeling it’s all going to be worth it.

Chapter Text

“Hello Maggie! You look good today!” Kara coos at the hermit crab as she and Lena drop bits of fresh fruit and vegetables into the crab’s enclosure to join the rice and raw chicken mix Alex had put together for the little thing.

Lena’s cooing at the crab as well, pointing at it and chattering as she tells it about how her and Kara and their other little friends are going to the aquarium, “We going to see your family, Maggie!”

Human Maggie just groans as she sets her dishes in the sink, looking over at Alex who has a big grin on her face and giving her a look that clearly screams ‘I told you so.’ The red head just grins and teases, “Distracting isn’t it?”

“Okay, you win that one – it is kind of distracting,” Maggie admits with a grin as she finishes putting the dishes away before encouraging the two toddlers, “You two should go find your shoes so we can get this show on the road. And don’t forget your coats.”

The two kids scramble to find their shoes as Alex gets up and wraps her arms around Maggie from behind. The way Maggie’s always so calm and patient with the two girls, and the fact that she’s so protective of them while still letting them explore makes Alex hopeful that when they have a child of their own she’ll make a wonderful parent. Leaning in to press a kiss to her temple, whispering to her wife, “You’re going to be such a great mother, Maggie. I know that no matter what child ends up being ours they’re going to love you so much.”

“I hope so – even though I know I’m going to be the ‘time-out’ mom because you cave too easily at the puppy dog eyes,” Maggie jokes as she turns around and pulls Alex closer, pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Probably,” Alex admits as she leans in for another kiss, deepening it a little this time even though they both know they don’t have time for much more.

They’re quickly reminded of the two girls in their care when Kara and Lena both clamor into the kitchen – Lena coos softly at them. She finds the two women’s loving relationship adorable and very comforting. Kara on the other hand seems a little exasperated as she stops on socked foot on the ground – still unable to find her left shoe – hands on her hips as she sighs heavily and asks, “Don’t you get tired of kissing?”

Maggie breaks into laughter – not just at Kara’s rather odd question but at the blush starting to burn across Alex’s cheeks, “Never – not like you’re one to talk short stuff. You ever get tired of hugging and kissing Lena?”

Kara looks affronted that Maggie would even suggest that, reaching over at taking Lena’s hand she huffs indignantly, “No – why would I?”

“Well, you just asked us if we get tired of kissing?” Alex points out, realizing that Kara wasn’t the best at understanding irony as an adult so she sure wasn’t going to understand it as a toddler.

“They’re married,” Lena points out to Kara, pointing to the ring on Alex’s finger – as if it should be obvious that the two women wouldn’t be tired of kissing each other. She’s certainly relieved that Kara told Maggie that she wasn’t tired of hugging, cuddling, and kissing her – she’s not sure what she would do if Kara got bored with her.

“Can we go see the fishies now?” Kara asks quickly, since Alex and Maggie weren’t tired of kissing she hopes they’ll understand that she’s starting to get bored and wants to get going to the aquarium.

“Not until you find your other shoe,” Alex comments with a smile as her sister huffs and puffs while going back into the living room to keep looking for her lost shoe. Lena is quick to help, getting on her hands and knees to look under the furniture. She kisses Maggie again before leaning against the counter, with a wiry smile she asks, “You think J’onn and M’gann or Lucy and Vasquez are having similar troubles this morning?”

“Maybe,” Maggie says wondering if the other couples are having as much fun and trouble at wrangling their toddlers. With a wicked grin she suggests, “I hope so.”

Sure enough the other couples are dealing with just as much toddler trouble – at J’onn and M’gann’s the two are trying to talk Winn out of his robot costume. For the past two weeks since Halloween the boy has been obsessed with being able to wear the robot costume or the astronaut costume. This morning the boy had come in and climbed on the bed in his costume – rousing the couple from their sleep as he reminded them they’re going to aquarium. But now they’re in the same argument with the toddler about appropriate clothing for the weather – and also for comfort.

“Winn, buddy, wearing that costume to the aquarium isn’t going to be practical,” J’onn tries to reason even though Winn is pouting up at him with watery eyes. He’s learn from M’gann on how to handle these miniature crises a little better so he kneels down and ruffles the boy’s hair as he suggests, “You won’t be comfortable walking around all day in that – and you might scare off the fish.”

“But I want to be a robot,” Winn pouts, shifting from foot to foot as he stares at the floor with teary eyes.

“Buddy, why do you want to be a robot?” M’gann asks gently, wondering if the boy’s interest in robots was more than just scientific – she knows the boy was mostly raised by his single mother after a brief stay in foster care because of his father being a prolific murderer. She also knows that adult Winn in their friend group was quiet, insecure, and whether he would admit it or not desired closeness with his friends and companions.

Winn hums and mumbles a bit, words so soft the two can barely make out what he’s saying, “People like robots.”

“Winn, people like you too,” M’gann says as she brushes hair from the boy’s face only to find tears tracking slowly down his pudgy reddening cheeks.

Winn just shakes his head in disagreement, reaching up to rub his eyes with his fists to try and stop crying. But instead it just makes it worse and when he opens his mouth to explain he just starts to sob – J’onn bends down and picks him up. The boy is quick to wrap his arms around J’onn and press his face against his shirt as he keeps crying and through the tears he whimpers out, “Don’t leave me, okay?”

“We’re not going anywhere, Winn,” M’gann tries to assure, rubbing his back and talking gently to him as she shares a worried look with J’onn. She knows they both need to sit down and explain everything to the boy, let him know that they’re not going anywhere and that he’s loved and cared for. She also makes a note to discretely text the other adults in their super family that Winn may need a little extra love and attention on their outing today – as well as when he returns to being an adult.

It takes a little while for the boy to calm down and J’onn sits down on the sofa with him, wanting to make sure the little boy hears and understands him when he speaks. Winn’s wiping away tears as he looks to J’onn expectantly, his dark green eyes still misted over with tears as if he’s waiting for bad news. J’onn just rubs his back and explains, “If you were a robot we’d miss you, Winn. We’d miss that you’re very bright and so helpful all the time -– with all your science facts and the way you’re better at working the computer than most everyone else. You’re a good friend – you listen and offer encouragement to make people feel better. But mostly, we’d miss you as a person -  just because we love who you are, buddy. M’gann and I aren’t going anywhere – neither are Alex and Maggie, or Lucy and Vasquez or any of your friends.”

“You’re a part of our family, and we won’t leave you behind or let you be alone, okay?” M’gann asks to make sure he understands, blotting away his tears with a tissue before leaning into kiss the crown of his head. Winn just nods, reaching for her to give her a hug and very happy when she picks him up, “Now, how about we get you changed in the NASA jumpsuit and feed Gil before we head off to meet our friends?”

“Okay,” Winn agrees, letting M’gann take him to his room to put on a hoodie under the blue jumpsuit with NASA and space mission patches that have planets, shuttles and other science stuff on them. He also knows that he’s got to feed his fish friend, making sure Gil gets his tasty flakes before they head off out to the car.

At the Lane-Vasquez residence the cause of the problems that morning isn’t the toddler – instead Drew is sitting quietly on the steps by the front door. She’s got the mini- police badge Maggie gave her pinned to the front of her West Point hoodie – Mr. Ankylosaur in one hand and holding Vasquez in the other. The woman is sitting on the steps sipping her coffee as she and the toddler watch Lucy pace about the house, frantically upturning pillows and looking in draws. While they’re dressed and ready to go Lucy still doesn’t have her coat on.

“Luce – where did you have them last?” Vasquez asks with an amused little smile, watching her girlfriend struggle to retrace her steps and find her lost keys. She knows it’s been a difficult week – Drew hasn’t been sleeping well and frequently found her way into bed with them wanting cuddles and for Lucy to hum softly to her until she does fall asleep. Also, the stress from trying to manage the DEO short-handed, and with the loss of a few agents to injuries and family emergencies, was starting to catch up to them both. Lucy more so than herself.

“I swear I had them on the coffee table yesterday – I came home from work and dropped them on the table right next to my uniform hat and Drew’s weighted blanket,” Lucy says while glaring daggers at the inanimate object – wracking her brain to try and remember if she’d moved something or where she could have misplaced them.

“Drew? Have you seen Lucy’s key – it appears she’s losing her mind?” Vasquez asks teasingly, ruffling the little girls wild, dark hair. She knows Lucy probably just left them on the nightstand, or in her home office on her desk – buried under paperwork and legal briefs.

So, it comes as a shock when Drew gets up and fishes Lucy’s keys out of her hoodie’s kangaroo pocket and toddles over to hand them to Lucy. Vasquez just watches as Drew sheepishly holds the keys up to Lucy, her girlfriend takes the keys and looks them over before tucking them into her pocket. Lucy seems a little annoyed as she asks a bit firmly, “Where did you get these?”

“Lucy,” Vasquez warns softly, not wanting the famous Lane temper to get the better of her girlfriend. She knows Lucy wouldn’t mean it but if she got upset with Drew about something as ridiculous as lost keys she’d not only be kicking herself later – but they’d have backwards progress with the child as well. She cautions her girlfriend, trying to put into perspective what her morning tantrum looked like to the toddler, “Maybe if you didn’t huff and puff around like a dragon guarding its hoard Drew would have told you sooner that she found them.”

All the wind goes out of Lucy’s sails and she deflates a bit, kneeling down she clasps Drew’s shoulders gently and tells her tenderly, “Sorry I got upset, sweetheart – thank you finding my keys.”

“I’m sorry, Lucy,” Drew mumbles looking completely put out, bottom lip sticking out and trembling even though she’s holding the tears at bay. She doesn’t understand why Lucy is mad – she’d found the keys laying on her backpack by the door when she’d gone to get her shoes. But Lucy hadn’t given her nor Vasquez the chance to help her look for the keys – and Drew didn’t want to get in trouble for getting in the way or interrupting her. Most adults didn’t like when she did that but when Vasquez asked about the keys she knew lying about it would just her into more trouble.

“No baby, I’m sorry – there was no reason for me to get so upset over losing my keys. It’s not going to be the end of the world if we’re a little late to the aquarium,” Lucy explains, as she brushes hair from Drew’s face, cupping her cheek to draw Drew’s eyes up to meet her own, “Thank you for finding my keys.”

Drew reaches for Lucy and is happy when the woman picks her up and holds her close, rubbing her back soothingly. The toddler relaxes a bit, and is quick to forgive Lucy – pressing a kiss to her cheek as they head out to the car together. Lucy promises to make up her bad mood that morning to her friend, feeling bad that she may have scared her even if that wasn’t her intention. Vasquez keeps them both calm and focused on how much fun they’re all going to have at the aquarium – on the drive over she reaches over and takes Lucy’s free hand, squeezing it gently and hoping she understands that everything is okay now.

Once everyone’s gathered at the aquarium they figure out which things everyone wants to see – so they can fit it all in just in case someone gets tired or cranky and they need to cut the trip short. The first stop on their list is the petting aquarium, where staff are just now getting out the small creatures for the early visitors. Alex is quick to make sure that Lena and Kara wash their hands and follow the rules, also helping Winn and Drew along the way.

The aquarium worker explains that the small sting rays and dog fish are part of the shark family but that they won’t harm them. He then shows them how to reach into the little pond like tank and brush their fingers over their skin. Kara looks a little hesitant as does Lena, the two of them are watching the graceful creatures swim around lazily.

Winn is so excited he can’t stand it, and he keeps dipping his fingers into the water but is still too nervous and excited to actually touch the creatures. Drew however dunks her whole hand in, trying to mimic how the man did it and a sting ray swims by close enough that her fingertips graze over its skin. She shrieks a little and starts to laugh, petting the next one that comes by as she looks up at the adults and grins while announcing, “It feels funny!”

Soon all the kids pet the sea creatures, Winn marvels at how rough the dogfish’s skin is with Lena. Kara pets the sting rays while naming them, but it’s hard to keep track of who is who. Drew is even so bold as to reach down and touch the sea urchin and starfish at the bottom of the tank, being gentle like she is with Lucy’s cat Buttons. Maggie has to grab her by the overalls before she gets too carried away and falls in, both of her sleeves are already soaked up to her elbows.

“Okay, good thing I packed extra clothes,” Vasquez chuckles as she takes the child from Maggie and tickling her a bit until she’s laughing and complaining. Setting her on her feet she takes her hand and calls back to their friends, “We’ll be back in a little bit with clean, dry clothing on peanut here.”

The others patiently wait for Drew and Vasquez to return before heading to the exhibit with the brightly colored fish that tend to call the coral reefs home. All of the kids are losing their minds over the Nemo and Marlin clown fish in the tanks, laughing and pointing out that they must have gotten their whole family back. Winn is quick point out a blue tang and announce rather loudly, “Look we found Dory!”

The kids are reluctant to leave them behind but the promise of creatures that are bioluminescent and glow under black lights have them moving along. The jellyfish floating in the tanks are brightly colored and their gentle, flowing movements are mesmerizing. Drew and Winn both seem interested in the crustaceans, clearly impressed with the anima’s exoskeletons and listening as Alex explains, “These guys come from some of the oldest creatures on the planet Earth, exoskeletons from ancient crustaceans can been seen in the fossil record as far back as the Cambrian period – that’s about 500 million years ago.”

“Was you alive then?” Winn asks in awe, wondering how Alex could know so much about everything – she’s so smart Winn is sure that she knows everything.

“Ouch, kid – I know I’m old compared to you guys but I’m not where near that old,” Alex remarks even though she can’t help but laugh, picking up Winn she cuddles him close – having gotten the group text about the little boy’s meltdown this morning she takes the time to shower him with attention, “Are you having fun today?”

“Yes,” Winn says as he points out a peculiar looking crab, “Alex, which one is that?”

“That looks like a spider crab – they’re native to Japan so this one came a long way to be here,” Alex tells him, reading the little excerpt about the creature and she’s quite impressed – apparently the largest crab on record worldwide is of this species.

“Wow, it does look like a spider,” Winn says as he counts out the legs, but point out the little pincher claws on its forelegs.

  They two continue to discuss the crabs and lobsters for a while until Winn all of a sudden hugs Alex tightly, wrapping his arms around her neck and whispering, “Thank you to helping me learn, Alex.”

Alex feels the tears threatening to fall as she hugs him back and tells him sincerely, “You’re very welcome, Winn – I’ll always be here for you, even if it’s just to ask questions about crabs.”

Winn giggles as he presses a kiss to her cheek, “I love you, Alex.”

“I love you too, buddy,” Alex tells him, still so taken aback that Winn is such a sweetie – she knows she’s going to have to start having big sister and little brother days with him when things get back to normal.

After a brief lunch all of the children are asking about the sharks and the adults are only too happy to oblige. A replica of megalodon jaws are standing up in the foyer to the shark exhibit and Lucy has the four kids stand in the outline of the jaws, holding out her phone as the tells them, “Act like you’re getting eaten?”

“I don’t wanna be eaten!” Drew complains with a pout.

“It’s just pretend,” Maggie encourages with a little laugh, “Go on, it’ll be fun.”

“Alright, 1-2-3 say eaten alive!” Lucy teases and Alex just rolls her eyes.

All of the kids make faces of shock and mock horror while crying out and acting out a rather dramatic scene of being eaten by the long extinct apex predator. Kara cries out dramatically throwing her hands out, Winn looks bright eyed and more happy than worried at the prospect of being eaten alive. Lena looks genuinely apprehensive and beside her Drew just looks a little confused and grumpy. As they head through to the large tanks with sharks circling inside Lena just beams as she asks Maggie, “Can we watch Jaws?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be no on that little bit – we already got in trouble for Jurassic Park,” Maggie tells as she also tells her, “That and you don’t really see the shark that much in Jaws.”

“Aww, that’s sad,” Lena surmises as they get up close to the tanks, she and the other kids are quick to take a seat and watch the large predators swimming around. Maggie leaves them to it to join the other adults at a bench – grateful that they’re all getting a break from walking around. Alex is keep a close eye on the kids at the moment and chatting with the about shark teeth and the ampullae of Lorenzini that help the sharks pick up electromagnetic signals like the beating of a fish’s heart or a muscle twitch.

Maggie sees Lucy looking a little grumpy, recalling that the Major and her little group had been late to get to the aquarium and rather quiet. The first tip off that something’s bothering her is clear since the soldier was usually quite punctual, even with a toddler, and she also wasn’t as quick to smile or laugh today. Sitting down beside Lucy she just goes straight in for it, asking her, “You okay?”

“Yeah, but I messed up this morning,” Lucy admits, watching as Drew and Winn giggle at each other’s jokes, “Pretty badly if I might add.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Vasquez says while rolling her eyes at her girlfriend, she tugs Lucy into a one-armed hug as she tries to assure her, “I stopped you before you could be a real ass.”

“What happened?” Maggie asks curiously, wondering what Lucy could have done that was so bad.

“Don’t tell, Alex – but I lost my keys and almost lost my temper,” Lucy explains, she knows she can have a temper sometimes that gets the better of her, but she’d just never expected it to get out of hand. Luckily she was just being a cranky ass for the most part, “Drew found my keys and I just about snapped at her.”

“Welcome to the ‘I-might-be-a-shit-parent-some-days-but-I’m-trying’ club,” Maggie tells her sardonically, but she still feels a pang of guilt about losing Drew at the Halloween festival and scaring them both half to death. It’s kind of amusing now that everything is okay so she just tries to assure friend that mistakes happen, “Hey – Drew’s doing pretty well and she’s totally forgiven me for losing her. I’m sure by the end of the day she’ll have forgotten about you making an ass of yourself this morning.”

“I hope so,” Lucy relents, knowing Maggie’s right – Drew didn’t seem too upset and was starting to bounce back more quickly from sudden changes. Lucy also can’t help but think that Maggie and Alex are so ready for parenthood and that any child that gets placed with them is going to be lucky to have them in their corner, “You’re going to make a great mom, Maggie – and I can’t wait to meet the mini-Danvers-Sawyer you and Alex are going to be raising.”

Maggie lets out a breath she’s been holding, she’s not sure what compels her to let her stressed out now but she knows her secret fears are safe with Lucy, “That’s if we can make it through this adoption process – I mean we have great friends. You guys are so supportive and I know you’ll be there for us, but Alex is concerned that Kara being Supergirl and her work at the DEO is going to disqualify us. Or at the very least make it difficult for us to get approved.”

Lucy tilts her head to the side as her brow scrunches up, she never thought about the couple having trouble adopting – she trusts them both with her life and she knows the rest of their hodgepodge family does too. Any child would be lucky to have them for parents – they’d never want for anything and they would also have the best support network on planet Earth. Lucy also hopes that that also means that she’ll be able to be a part of that support network.

“I mean, we may have to look into a surrogate – or I guess maybe I should reconsider pregnancy. Even though I’m not sure I’d be able to really stand the body dysmorphic issues for a solid 9 months…”

“Maggie – we will help you figure this out,” Lucy promises, catching Maggie’s eyes she tells her seriously, “We will find a way for you and Alex to adopt, we can talk to J’onn about how to deal with the DEO issue – but your pregnancy phobia is complete okay. There’s no reason for you to put yourself in a poor mental state just for you and Alex to become parents – body dysmorphia is a real thing and you should feel bad about that.”

“I don’t think I could do it – even if I wanted to,” Maggie mutters softly, she didn’t want to share these fears with Alex and make her even more anxious about going through the adoption process. She also knows Alex is very understanding that Maggie’s skin crawls at the idea of being pregnant and her wife would never pressure her to do that – if anything Alex would be the one to talk her out of even thinking it was an option. They were good to each other like that, and with Lucy assuring her they can work somethings out she’s hopeful that her fears are unfounded. 

Alex seems to have picked up on the emotional exchange between the two of them, keeping an eye on the toddlers as she comes over to see what’s going on as she asks softly, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just bonding over our parenting fuck ups,” Lucy tries to joke, but it falls a little flat as she thinks about how Drew may just be hiding how hurt she must have felt that morning.

“It’ll be fine Lane – you didn’t mean to be a grumpy ass,” Maggie tells her, just shaking her head when Alex looks like she’s about to ask something. The red head is quick to just pat Lucy on the shoulder as they watch the kids as they have their faces pressed against the glass – pointing out the fish to each other and chattering as they watch them swim about.

Drew is sitting down and looking up at the sharks and the saw fish that are lazily milling about their rather large noses waving back and forth in the water – watching as they come and go disappearing in the water as they get further away before reappearing. Winn is next to her, holding her and pointing out the teeth and how he heard on the shark show that M’gann let him watch that the sharks were two-toned to help them hunt better. The two seem completely enraptured with the sharks – and much like their fascination with dinosaurs they wonder how big ancient sharks like megalodon would be if these seemed to dwarf even J’onn.

Nearby Kara is looking around, not at the sharks and other enclosed sea life – instead she’s looking over to see Alex and Maggie chatting amiably with Lucy, Vasquez, and M’gann while J’onn chats on the phone with someone. She notes how Vasquez has reached over and taken Lucy’s hand and that Maggie sits with her arm around Alex’s shoulders – the two couples looking rather close and content. She looks over at Lena and wonders if they’d be like that when they grow older.

She inches closer and closer to the other girl who is looking at the sharks with a smile on her face, she gets so close they’re almost touching before she asks softly, “Lena?”

Lena looks over at her and beams at her, happy that Kara’s with her and they’re enjoying their time at the aquarium, “Yeah?”

“Can I hold your hand?” Kara asks sweetly, holding her hand out palm up and hoping that Lena would want to hold hands with her. She’s also wondering how old they have to be to consider getting married – she knows Alex and Maggie are pretty old but she hopes she doesn’t have to wait that long.

Lena’s grin widens as she reaches for Kara’s hand, clasping it and linking their fingers together. Feeling a little bit emboldened – especially after Kara admitted this morning that she’d never get tired of hugs and kisses from her – Lena leans over and presses a kiss to Kara’s cheek. She pulls back a bit shyly, pale cheeks blushing a bit but the surprised yet enormously happy smile on Kara’s face warms her heart.

Kara wraps her up in a tight hug, not letting go of her hand as she proudly proclaims for everyone in the room to hear, “Alex! Lena kissed me and we’re going to get married!”

At the bench nearby Alex just groans as Lucy and Maggie try not to break apart into open laughter. Vasquez just shrugs with a chuckle as she pats Alex on the shoulder, “Sorry about that bet, Danvers – but with little Luthor laying one on Kara like that it’s hard to imagine she hasn’t kissed adult Kara or Supergirl like that!”

“You guys are terrible,” Alex grumbles as she shakes her head, she sees the two toddlers coming towards her and holds out her arms for them. Winn and Drew both don’t seem to be bothered by the outburst, both of them just mumbling their congratulations to the miniature couple before going back to their discussion on which of the sharks would be the best one to keep for a pet.

“Not our fault you made a bad bet,” Lucy remarks with a grin as Kara and Lena both hug Alex and are lifted onto her lap.

“Congrats, but your both going to have to wait a while until you can get married – four years old is a bit too young,” Alex tells them with a smile but she’s not going to discourage them at all – instead just explains, “When you get older, and it’s legal, then you two can propose to each other.”

“We can have a big wedding – with flowers and lots of cake!” Kara cries out, clearly excited at the prospect of all the cake they could eat on their wedding day. No one would be there to tell them that they couldn’t eat as much of the delicious dessert as they want – she’d have a few pieces of cake and then maybe a couple more. They could also have other types of dessert if they wanted – she wonders briefly if they could just have straight chocolate as well.

“We can get jobs and a house,” Lena says, always the more pragmatic of the two – even as a toddler she wonders if she could do science. Alex had told her she’d make a great scientist – and Alex is a doctor so she was really smart and probably right.

“With a dog.” Kara states with a grin, imagining fluffy four-legged friends that could sleep at the foot of the bed that they could take on walks and dress up in cute sweaters.

“Then we can have babies!” Lena announces gleefully, she knows that in the future – just like Maggie and Alex – she and Kara could start their own family.

“No! Adopt babies!” Kara corrects after a momentary cringe – remembering what Alex had told her about women having babies. She beams at Lena and reminds, “No hospitals.”

“Oh, yeah!”

“You guys had to have the birds and the bees talk already?!” M’gann asks, looking horrified and hoping that Winn doesn’t over hear anything and start asking her and J’onn awkward questions. They’d already had a difficult enough time having to explain to Winn why his parents weren’t around and he was living with her and J’onn and it broke her heart. She doesn’t know if she could handle anymore heavy topics with the boy. She knows one thing for certain if sex and babies come up she’s throwing J’onn under the bus on that one.

“Blame Sam – she let slip a few baby jokes in front of Lena,” Maggie tells them quietly, not wanting to get that conversation going again – but she does tell them fondly “That kid is way too smart for her own good.”

“I have a feeling that Sam’s going to be the one winning the betting pool we’ve got going on Kara and Lena,” M’gann says with a grin as she watches the two girls skip back to their playmates, inviting Winn and Drew to their future wedding. It would seem that they want Winn to be the preacher and Drew to be the flower girl – Winn asks if he can wear his robot costume and Drew agrees if she doesn’t have to wear a dress. Also, the promise of cake from Kara just seals the deal further.

“Yeah, that’s 50 bucks I’m not going to get back,” Vasquez laments with Lucy and Alex who nod and M’gann who just seems okay with losing the pool as long as it means Kara and Lena are happy.

“Yep, and me and Sam are going to reap our sweet, sweet rewards,” Maggie gloats with a smile.

The smiles start to fade a bit when J’onn reappears, he tries not to look too upset as he shares the news but the crestfallen look on his face speaks volumes, “It looks like the STAR LAB has got the weapon reverse engineered - even ran a few tests including a human trial.  They’ll be bringing it by in the morning.”

“Already?!” Lucy asks with wide eyes, looking over to where Drew is absent mindedly playing with the other toddlers – her heart seems to skip a beat.

“It would seem so,” J’onn states, looking over at Winn before turning back to his ever growing family as he tells them, “We should take some time this evening to try and prepare ourselves and them for the transition back – the next few days aren’t going to be easy. Especially not for them so takes some time to prepare for this.”

“Should we tell them what’s going to happen?” Maggie asks in concern – knowing that it’s likely going to be a very jarring transition back.

“Would they even understand if we did? Or would it just frighten them more?” Vasquez asks also a little bewildered as to how they should handle this situation. She feels incredibly out of her depth here, other situations she at least knew how to handle and if she did there were procedures to follow. This was none of those things.

“It would likely just frighten them since they’re probably too young to understand and clearly don’t remember what happened to them,” Alex states, part of her is glad that she’s going to be getting her sister back – sweet, loving Kara who always has her back. She has so much to share with her, that eventually she’s going to be a mother and Kara will be an aunt – she also wants to see Kara happy especially with Lena. But at the same time she’s going to miss the small versions of her sister and friend, it feels like a loss even though it really isn’t.

“Are they going to remember any of this?” Lucy asks softly, clenching her teeth to keep the stinging feeling in her eyes from developing into tears. She’s not sure which answer scares her the most – if they don’t it will be like this never happened but at the same time she imagines it will be hard for the children that got a taste of a happy, healthy childhood to return to their old lives still bearing the scars of their broken beginnings.

“We won’t know until we debrief them,” J’onn admits, looking over at Winn he wonders if the young man is going to have a rough transition back to adulthood – no matter what happens he knows he’s going to need to tell him that he can come to him and M’gann if he needs help or support.

“Lucy?” Drew asks in a soft worried tone, clearly having picked up on the tension and uneasiness going on between the adults. Worriedly she seeks out the Major and reaches for her without hesitation.

“Hey, cutie, come here,” Lucy says as she lifts Drew into her arms, shifting her tone to be more upbeat than she really feels to make sure her young friend doesn’t worry too much. The girl wraps her arms around her neck and hugs her tightly, Lucy nearly cries but she takes a moment to calm down and rock the girl, “Everything’s okay – adults are just odd sometimes.”

“I love you, Lucy,” Drew assures, trying to make her caregiver feel better.

“I love you too, little one,” Lucy says as she picks up Drew’s coat as Vasquez takes the backpack from her, the two of them clearly on the same page about heading out a bit early to spoil the little girl a bit, “Vas and I are going to take you out for pizza and when we get home we’re going to hang out, play games, and watch some movies – okay? Can you say bye to your friends?”

Drew runs over to hug her small companions goodbye – wishing Lena and Kara well at their wedding before coming over to hug all the adults, holding onto Maggie a bit longer than the others. Soon after J’onn and M’gann gather up Winn and Alex and Maggie follow suit – none of the adults are feeling that happy about the news. On the drive home Maggie holds Alex’s hand, squeezing it gently to try and comfort her – knowing that Alex is torn and likely particularly stressed about what could possibly go wrong.

“Alex? What’s wrong?” Lena pipes up from the backseat, still holding Kara’s hand even though the blonde is starting to nod off but quickly perks up at something being wrong.

“Alex?” Kara whimpers, wondering if something is upsetting her sister.

“Nothing’s wrong, sometimes adults just a get upset and stressed a bit when things are about to change,” Alex tells them, trying to be as honest as possible without upsetting them, “But we can talk about it more later – how does pizza and pot stickers sound for dinner?”

“Pizza AND pot stickers?!” Kara exclaims, happily wiggling around in her car seat – with so much enthusiasm she can’t seem to hold still. She dares to try her luck and asks with a sassy little smile, “And ice cream?”

“Ice cream too,” Maggie confirms with a wistful smile as a cheer erupts from both girls in the backseat – she’s going to miss the two toddlers something fierce, but at the same time she’ll be glad to have Lena and Kara back. So much has changed – and so much change is still coming down the road – and they’re all going to need each other now more than ever.

Chapter Text

Once back home with pizza, pot stickers, and two different types of ice cream – chocolate and vanilla as well as vegan for Maggie – they greet Eliza and explain the situation. She affirms that the human trials at the STARR lab were successful – apparently the team had a little bit of fun with tiny Sara and Ava when their team came by to visit. Alex reads over a few of the initial results but Maggie gently pries the paper from her hands and tells her gently, “That can wait for tomorrow, sweetheart – we should just focus on having a nice evening and worrying about the details tomorrow.”

“You’re right,” Alex admits with a sad smile as she quickly herds the toddlers into the kitchen, she lifts Lena into her booster seat pressing a kiss to her temple before doing the same for Kara. She smiles warmly at the two toddlers as she asks, “You guys ready for some pizza and ice cream?”

“And pot stickers!” Kara crows happily, slapping her palms against the table top excitedly.

“And pot stickers,” Alex assures while stroking her fingers through Kara’s hair tenderly as Maggie brings over the pizza. She feels arms wrap around her shoulders and finds her mother is there, giving her a gentle, understanding look. Alex accepts the hug, resting her head against her mother’s shoulder for a moment before getting back to the meal. She dishes out pizza for both children and herself before joining them at the table.

“After dinner how about we make a pillow fort in the living room and have a game night?” Maggie suggests, knowing that it would be one of the most comforting things they could to do to spend time together and make a few last memories. She watches the two little girls tuck into the meal even though she and Alex don’t seem to have much of an appetite.

Soon enough the toddlers have gathered all of the pillows together and piled them into the middle of the living room, Kara already pushing at the coffee table to get it out of the way as she calls out, “Hurry Alex, hurry up!”

“Yes! We wants to play!” Lena agrees with a bright smile as she tries to help Kara move the furniture.

“Okay, okay,” Alex agrees with a gentle smile as she pushes the coffee table aside and helps Maggie drape sheets as the girls lay out all the pillows and blankets. When Kara trips and falls into the pillows she bends down and tickles Kara as she giggles, squeals and squirms, she leans down and presses a kiss to Kara’s nose as she tells her, “I love you so much, Kara.”

“Love you too Alex,” Kara says as she immediately reaches up to give Alex a hug even though she knows her sister is likely going to start tickling her mercilessly again.

Sure enough Alex starts to tickle her sides teasingly, making her giggle – but this time Lena’s picked up a pillow and smacks Alex with it playfully. The red head just laughs as she looks over and finds Lena looking at her with a mischievous grin still holding the offending pillow, with a grin Alex tells her, “Now I’m coming for you, Lena.”

Lena shrieks with laughter as she abandons the pillow and starts to run to the kitchen to hide behind Maggie – but the detective ducks out of the way and tells her playfully, “Oh no, you made your bed and now you have to lie in it.”

Lena just runs through living room with Kara egging her on until Alex swoops in and picks her, swinging her around before cuddling her close and tickling her. Lena leans in to presses a kiss to Alex’s cheek despite her giggles she professes, “I love you, Alex.”

“I love you too, Lena,” Alex tells her, kissing her forehead as she feels tears threatening to well up in her eyes. She doesn’t believe in a god but she does send out a desperate plea into the universe that tomorrow will go well – for everyone.

“Okay, who wants ice cream? We’ve got sprinkles, whipped cream, and hot fudge!” Maggie announces, handing Eliza her bowl of ice cream as she’s about tackled by two seriously hyped up toddlers. Picking them up, one in each arm, she looks over at her wife and tells her, “Come on, Al – I’m going to need an extra pair of hands here.”

“You got it,” Alex agrees as she scoops out ice cream, giving in when both toddlers give her pleading puppy dog eyes for a little bit extra. She also overdoes it with the whipped cream, pilling it on high as she helps each girl shake a handful of sprinkles on top of the rather large sundaes. She makes herself a milkshake, her stomach still twisting and churning nervously – Maggie must also know that too because she just smiles softly at her and squeezes her hand.

As an additional treat Maggie boots up the Wii and lets them dance and play their hearts out, while chattering happily about all the things they’re going to do together. Lena is adamant that they’re going to have to go and visit Jurassic Park together – the new one where nothing will go wrong. Her little green eyes are lit up like a child on Christmas and all of the adults are a little sad that they won’t be doing the days out like that anymore. Maggie also doesn’t have the heart to remind the toddler that Jurassic Park isn’t real.

Kara tells them that they’ll have to take her back to gymnastics class and cheer her on when she goes to the Olympics. Lena promises to bring her flowers and kiss her after she wins. Eliza smiles wistfully at the two toddlers, calling them over and pulling them into her lap she assures them, “No matter what you grow up to be we’re all going to so proud of you – both of you.”  

Kara and Lena both preen at the attention and are quick to ask silly questions. Kara grins as she looks up at her mother and asks, “Even if I can’t read?”

“You can’t read right now because you’re four,” Alex scoffs with a laugh, but is quick to assures, “But even if you have trouble reading or don’t like to read we’ll still be proud of you.”

“Even if I eat all the ice cream again?” Kara asks quick with a coy little grin she teases, “Even if I get more time outs?”

“Even when you get more time outs,” Eliza tells her with a laugh, running her fingers through Kara’s long blonde hair – wishing that they’d had a little more time like this.

“What if I color outside the lines?” Lena pipes up softly, wide green eyes looking nervous as she tries to test the boundaries of her new family’s love for the first time. She tries to make sure she does everything perfectly and that she never got too upset or needy but she feels like even if she does test the boundaries she won’t be disappointed with how the women respond.

“We will never stop loving you, not ever,” Maggie tells them as they settle down in the fort, lifting Lena into her lap and cuddling her as she promises, “Nothing you ever say or do will make us love you any less, Lena.”

“We just want you both to be happy and healthy – that’s all we want for you, baby,” Alex tells her gently, rubbing her back as Kara ploughs into her middle to wrap her up in a mini crushing hug. She leans back against the pillows and lets Kara sprawl out on top of her, sharing a smile with her mother as Eliza settles down in the fort next to her – ruffling both their hair lovingly. Alex sees that both of the toddlers are content as they bask in the affection and she has a few more parting words of wisdom for them both, “Just remember that if you ever get scared or need help – you can always come to Maggie and me. We’re not going to judge and we’ll help you – no matter what.”

The family settles down to watch a movie as they cuddle together – trying to soak up as much love and togetherness as they can before things change. Alex shares a sad smile with Maggie, while she’s going to miss these two she knows they both did everything they could to impart security, trust, and love to the two toddlers. Maggie nods knowingly, stroking her fingers through Lena’s hair – she knows tomorrow is going to be hard on everyone but she hopes that their words will stick in the forefront of Lena and Kara’s minds once they’re back to normal.

“We should probably get to bed, tomorrows a new day,” Eliza tells them once the movie draws to a close, trying to be optimistic and also not wanting everyone to fall asleep in the living room floor. She and Alex both had been cranky and sore after the last time they’d spent the night in the fort.

“But we can sleep in the fort!” Kara insists stubbornly as she rolls about on the pillows, luxuriating in the soft fluffiness.

“Yeah, the floor is not comfy for use older folks,” Maggie tells her, reaching over to tickle her exposed tummy, “How about this – you two go get changed and you can come sleep with me and Alex.”

“Really?” Lena beams hopefully.

“Yeah, but first we change into pajamas and brush our teeth,” Alex states as she helps her mother up from the floor and guiding the toddlers to their bedroom to find suitable clothing. Lena and Kara both are quick to haphazardly dress in pajamas, both of them giggling and getting tangled in the long sleeves as they go in search of Alex they bump into each other and fall down laughing.

“Okay, let me help you out,” Eliza tells them with a mirthful laugh, helping Kara get her head in the right hole of the garment before guiding her arms into the sleeves. Reaching over she helps Lena get untangled before guiding them both into the bathroom, putting toothpaste on two small, Disney themed toothbrushes before handing them to the girls. She brushes her own teeth to keep an eye on the toddlers, making sure they both do a good enough job. After they’re done both of them reach up for a hug, so she kneels down and wraps them both up in her arms and gives them each a kiss, “Goodnight you two, sleep well okay?”

“Okay,” Kara agrees easily with a smile, “Love you mom.”

“Love you, ‘Liza,” Lena tells her sweetly, kissing her cheek before taking Kara’s hand.

“Alright, why don’t you both go tackle Alex,” Eliza tells them with a smile. As she heads back to her room she hears the little girls giggling and yelling ‘surprise’ followed by Alex’s grunt at being tackled quite vigorously by the two toddlers.

Downstairs Alex lifts each girl onto the bed, making sure they each have their stuffed toys as they settle into the middle of the bed. Maggie returns in a pair of NCPD sweats, kissing Alex to the coos of the two children before getting into bed and letting Lena curl up against her. Kara is quick to call after Alex, “I want cuddles, Alex!”

“Cuddle me,” Lena offers hopefully, reaching out her arms for Kara as she snuggles back into Maggie – very happy to be right in the center of the cuddles and snuggles.

“Of course,” Kara agrees as she quickly wiggles under the covers, abandoning her stuffed dog in favor of hugging Lena as she calls over her shoulder, “Hurry up, Alex.”

“You are all sorts of bossy this evening,” Alex grumbles a bit as she climbs into bed and switches off the lamp on the bedside table. She tries to get comfortable with the two toddlers taking up a majority of the center of the bed. She can’t help but smile when Kara reaches back and grabs her wrist, tugging and grumbling until it’s wrapped around her middle. She stays awake for the longest time, watching as Maggie slips into the sleep following the toddlers – she tries to commit all the details of tonight and the days and weeks before to memory. Never wanting to forget this wonderful experience.

Across town J’onn and M’gann are winding down a wild evening with Winn – having taken the little boy to a child focused restaurant to treat him to dinner and arcade games. The little boy had played with a few other children but eventually pouted enough to get J’onn to join him in the ball pit with sweet puppy dog eyes and a pleading, “Please, J’onn – come play with me.”

J’onn feels his resolve crumble as he just nods with a reassuring smile, climbing into the ball pit with the toddler and watching the boy as he wades through the multicolored sea of plastic balls. Winn enjoys jumping into the pit, sending the balls flying in every direction before diving under them to sneak attack J’onn only to end up being lifted into the air and tickled for good measure. The boy’s laughter is infection and both Martian’s can’t help but smile and laugh along with him – even though they both know tomorrow they won’t be able to spend any more time with the toddler.

M’gann to help him beat on of the arcade fighter games, laughing as she tries to follow the boys lead on the game and pushing the buttons. Eventually have way too many quarters and some help from J’onn the dragon is defeated and the princess is returned to her own kingdom – Winn the triumphant knight. The two adults are just as exhausted as the little boy once the evening out wraps up, J’onn carrying to boy from the car and to his room.

M’gann is digging through the dresser as she asks the boy, “Sharks, dinosaurs or NASA buddy?”

“NASA!” Winn chirps happily as he watches J’onn untie his shoes and slips them off his feet. He doesn’t want this day to end – first the aquarium then a ball pit and arcade games. It was like a dream come true and he also doesn’t want to go to bed by himself after an afternoon full of love and affection. He lets M’gann help him get changed and while he’s brushing his teeth he asks, “Can I sleep with you tonight? Pretty please?”

“Of course,” M’gann says, ruffling his hair as she hands him a cup of water to rinse his mouth with. As they head towards her bedroom where J’onn is pull on a shirt to go with his sweatpants she leans down and whispers to Winn, “Go tackle him, tiger!”

Winn charges with a cry, launching himself at the man’s leg and holding on tightly, “I got you, J’onn!”

“That you do,” J’onn says with a laugh as he looks to M’gann questioningly.

“Winn’s going to stay with us tonight, why don’t you pick out a book to read bud,” M’gann encourages, watching as Winn skips into the living room to sort through his books to pick out which one he wants them to read. Spying his favorite book “If You Decide to go to The Moon” he quickly picks it up and scampers back into the bedroom, tossing the book on the bed before climbing up by himself – rather proud that he didn’t fall this time.

J’onn opens his arms to him and Winn is quickly dragging the book over to him and perching in his lap, content to lean his head against the man’s chest as he opens the book. J’onn smiles at the book cover as he asks, “So what have we got here?”

“If you decide to go to the moon!” Winn exclaims, pointing to the little boy on the cover of the book in his astronaut outfit that kind of looks like him if he does say so himself.

“Okay bud,” J’onn says with a laugh as M’gann joins them, rubbing the boys back as he reads, “If you decide to go to the moon in your own rocket ship, read this book before you start. It will tell you how to get there and what to do after you land. The most important part tells you how to get home.”

Winn listens raptly, thinking about how awesome it would be to go to the moon or even to another planet. It’ll be fun to be weightless and float around as if he weighs nothing and get to see the Earth from orbit looking like a tiny green, blue, and white marble in the great vastness of space. He hums softly as J’onn reads about how far the moon is and how fast the rocket will go to get him to the moon. He also thinks that once on the moon he could do flips and bounce as fast as he could across the white, powdery looking surface of the moon, avoiding the craters.

Winn listens as J’onn describes the earth, with all the animals and people on it and realizes that while it might be fun to go visit the moon or other planets he’ll always want to come back home to J’onn and M’gann. As J’onn closes the book Winn hugs him tightly and asks hopefully, “Can we go to the park tomorrow?”

“I’m afraid not,” J’onn tells him, genuinely sorry that he won’t be able to take the boy to the park tomorrow – sad that he won’t be doing any child things with the toddler after that. He sees Winn looking up at him with a question in his blue eyes, looking a little confused and he feels like he needs to be somewhat honest with the child. Taking a breath and letting it out he tells him gently, “We have some things that we need to do at the DEO tomorrow.”

“Like what?” Winn asks a bit hesitantly, he knows tomorrow is Sunday and they didn’t usually go to the DEO – not that he’d complain about getting to play with his friends at daycare. He is however a little miffed that he won’t get the extra day with J’onn.

“Well, buddy, it’s complicated…” J’onn hedges, not sure that Winn would understand or that he himself would be able to explain the predicament without upsetting the child or creating a misunderstanding.

“Is Dr. Hamilton gonna be there?” Winn asks, wrinkling his nose as he recalls the times J’onn had taken him to the DEO to do various medical tests that required the woman’s presence – as well as the prick of needles and the strange, frightening sounds of the medical equipment.

“Well, yes – “

“Is it gonna hurt?!” Winn yelps quickly with a worried tone, looking up to J’onn with a frightened expression – he really hopes the man will tell him everything will be fine. He’s going to be good for him no matter what but at the same time the thought of having to get blood drawn again makes him want to cry. The first few tears well up in his eyes as he feels J’onn cradle him against his chest.

“Oh, no sweet boy – nothing is going to hurt,” J’onn soothes tenderly, rubbing a hand over his back – a little amazed at how quick witted Winn is even as a toddler. He also knows that Winn had been upset on the last visit with the doctor and he’d had to call Alex over since the little boy trusted her more – he often wonders if Alex would have enjoyed being a pediatrician more than being an agent sometimes. Especially with how wonderful she was with all of the children.

“Good,” Winn says as he lets a breath he was holding while waiting for the response, but his small body still holds onto some of the tension as he wonders what they’re possibly going to be doing tomorrow.

“You don’t have to be afraid, Winn – there’s nothing to be scared of and nothing is going to hurt you. I’m going to be with you the whole time and I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” J’onn assures as M’gann turns the lights down and covers them all with the blankets. Winn seems content to just curl up on his chest, grumbling when he tries to move the boy over so he can lay against the pillows.

“You promise?” Winn asks with a yawn, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he holds off sleep just long enough to hear J’onn’s answer.

“I promise.”

In the Lane-Vasquez household, Lucy hasn’t moved a muscle since Drew fell asleep with her head pillowed on her thigh, the small child is snoozing contently as is the family cat, Buttons. The chubby calico with splotches of orange and black is purring contently from its spot nestled up against the tiny human, eyes closed and face pressed against the front of the toddler’s hoodie. Drew has a small arm wrapped around the cat, holding Buttons like she would one of her cuddle toys. Lucy repetitively strokes her fingers through the child’s dark hair, trying to sooth her own frayed nerves and the uncoil the knots in her stomach.

“Hey, Luce,” Susan says softly, coming out of the bedroom to find Lucy is still sitting up with the child – having not move since she left to go get ready for bed. Sitting on the arm of the sofa she tangles a hand in Lucy’s hair and tries to console her, “Lucy, it’s going to be okay.”

Lucy looks down at her friend, and all she can think of is that it feels like her world is ending – she knows that this small jaunt as a happy family isn’t likely to undo years and years of abuse and abandonment. If anything she worries that it’s just going to make the sting of past pain and abuse be felt that much more keenly now that Drew will know how a normal, healthy family behaves. Lucy can barely find the words as she brushes hastily at her eyes, “No, no it’s really not – I don’t know how I know, but I just do.”

“Oh Lucy – “

“It’s whatever – I just – I’d rather not talk about this anymore. It’s going to happen whether we want it to or not,” Lucy states resolutely even though the painful clenching her heart increases. When Drew whimpers in her sleep and Buttons extricates herself from the child’s hold Lucy lifts her into her arms, letting the grumbling toddler press her face against her neck and fist her sweatshirt in her hands as she coos softly, “It’s okay baby, I’ve got you, Drew.”

Vasquez just sits down on the sofa in the recently vacated spot, she doesn’t press Lucy to talk anymore. Instead she wraps an arm around Lucy’s shoulder and presses a kiss to her temple – even rubbing Drew’s back when she mumbles in her sleep. They stay like that for a while until she guides them all to bed, tucking the small child into bed between the two of them and the cat joining them later at the foot of the bed to keep a purring vigil.

Chapter Text

Once at the lab and after standard procedures are cleared Winn goes first, having loudly volunteered in the name of science since Alex confirmed it wasn’t painful or scary. J’onn helps him up on the bed and rubs his back for a minute and reminds him that everything is going to be okay before stepping back. Alex feels really odd pointing a gun at her friend that she considers to be a little brother but she doubles and triple checks everything before J’onn tells her it’s okay and to go ahead. Alex flinches a bit as she pulls the trigger but just seconds later, after the bright light recedes Winn is sitting there on the bed looking rather confused.

Winn checks himself over, chuckling in disbelief as she looks down at the NASA jumpsuit with a space shuttle patch on the front. Looking up at the rest of the room he suddenly feels a little embarrassed as he tries to joke, “This was all just a dream right?”

“Afraid not,” Alex tells him as she checks his vitals, making sure his heartrate, pulse oxygen, and blood pressure are all steady and within acceptable parameters.

“Yikes,” he winces as he starts to recall some of things he got up to as a toddler, sheepishly glancing over at J’onn – wondering what his boss must think of him after having to care for him for longer than a few hours.

“How are you feeling?” Alex asks, a part of her wants to reach out and ruffle Winn’s hair to try and make him feel less self-conscious but she doesn’t know if it would make him feel even more uncomfortable rather than comforted.

“Uh, as okay as you can be after you’ve spent – uh, spent an undetermined amount of time being a toddler around your friends and co-workers,” Winn tries to joke, but he’s not smiling at his own joke – the anxiousness of being back to himself and wondering how much he’s missed and what things he did as a toddler that are going to come back to haunt him keep him from relaxing.

He’s super grateful that J’onn took care of him since he doesn’t have any family, but he’s also mortified that his boss had to take care of his 4-year-old self. It’s going to take some time before he’s comfortable looking his friends and co-workers in the eyes again without blushing, stammering or feeling foolish.

“After a couple questions you can head home and get some rest, okay?” Alex assures as she goes through the list of questions, her heart aching at how the normally upbeat, boisterous young man seems to be a little quiet and unlike himself.

As soon as she clears him Winn’s getting up, a little off balance as he’s getting used to his much taller body again and Alex takes that moment to ask if she can hug him – Winn nods but won’t look at her so she very carefully hugs him and whispers to him, “I’m glad you’re back Winn, we all missed you. I know it’s weird and there’s not really a manual on how to deal with this but just remember that you are part of our Super Family – if you ever need anything, even if it’s just to talk, I’m always here.”

“Thanks Alex,” Winn breathes in relief, hugging her back and feeling like no matter how odd and strange the transition back to adulthood is going to be the next week or two he’s got friends that are going to be there for him, “Text me about how the others are doing later?”

“You bet, now go order some take out, play some video games, and relax – doctor’s orders.”

“Best doctor’s orders ever!” Winn cheers with a smile, already thinking about how he’s going to have a weekend full of his favorite take out, Netflix, and his favorite video games. Hell, he may even splurge on a few new games just to chill out and collect his thoughts on the last couple of months – maybe it will help him figure out what he’s going to say to J’onn and M’gann when he sees them again. On his way out he takes a moment to coo over his miniaturized friends and co-workers, Maggie promising to send him pictures as she carries Kara over to Alex.

The procedure is just as easily done for the Kryptonian much to Alex and Eliza’s relief at seeing the blonde woman has returned to them unharmed. Kara looks around, eyebrows scrunching up as she looks back to see Alex and her mother. Quickly she reaches for both of them, grateful when they all meld into a hug. She holds on tightly as she tells them, “Wow, so that happened…It all seems like it was a really weird dream.”

“You remember things?” Alex asks curiously, she can’t believe how happy she is to see Kara back to being her older self – Kara will be lucky if Alex isn’t over two or three times a week for the next month just to make up for all the lost time. But at the same time she just realizes that Kara just confirmed that the toddlers turned adults are going to remember, “Like how much remembering are we talking here?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how much I actually remember but I remember quite a bit – the trip to the museum, seeing the penguins at the zoo, getting a time out…among other..things,” Kara tells them, listing off a few of her memories when a few strike her – memories of toddler Lena climbing into bed with her and curling up beside her. She remembers the two of them playing house and the little baby doll that Lena carried with her everywhere – her proposal of marriage and their agreement to have children together.

 She doesn’t say these things out loud though – not really wanting to be teased by her sister and a little worried about how Lena’s going to react if they’re all going to be keeping these memories. Looking down she notices that the skirt, leggings, butterfly tee and even the yellow chucks have gotten bigger with her and starts to laugh. Alex chuckles too, as she goes over a few of the standard questions to assess where her sister is mentally after the transition, “You can thank the STARR Lab for engineering this ray guy to keep your dignity protected. Do you remember what year it is?”

“2018.”

“What age did you get to Earth?”

“13, and you were kind of a jerk to me when I got here,” Kara states as she pulls Alex into another tight hug, glad to be back at her sister’s side as an adult. Alex seems to be happy that she’s back, and satisfied that she’s answered all her questions correctly as she looks ready to move onto the next of her patients, “So, who’s next?”

“Lena, we wanted you to be here when she came back,” Alex tells her as she motions for Maggie to bring Lena over, the toddler looks confused and a little scared so Kara backs away a bit – smiling at how adorable the toddler is. Lena looks like she’s about to burst into tears but Alex just calmly explains, “Everything’s going to be alright Lena, just trust me okay?”

Lena just nods, sitting as still as possible and closing her eyes as Alex instructs her to do – soon enough adult Lena is cracking her eyes open, head still spinning a little. A warm hand on her shoulder steadies her and she looks around a little embarrassed at all the sets of eyes on her, she looks over to see Alex clipping a pulse monitor on her finger and a blood pressure cuff around her arm. She tries to will her body to stop shaking and clenches her teeth together so hard that her jaw is starting to ache and it isn’t really helping her keep her tears at bay.

“Hey, you look a little pale even for you – do you need some water?” Alex asks tenderly, she honestly hadn’t expected Lena to cooperate with her for a quick check-up. She watches as Lena silently takes in her surroundings and her own appearance – the red converse shoes, sweatpants, and a Star Wars sweatshirt. Alex thinks she may be starting to either dissociate or to panic so she asks softly, “Lena?”

Lena’s head jerks up and she looks up at Alex with thinly veiled panic as she turns around to see Kara is resting nearby under a set of sunlamps. The blonde is quick to get up with a bright smile as she approaches, but Lena seems to panic even more – her mind with its impeccable memory recalls the past couple months with the Danvers family and it makes her heart ache. She’s going to miss all the hugs, cuddles, and affections that she’d gotten used to – a part of herself is angry that her 4-year-old self didn’t have the self-preservation enough to keep from getting too attached even though she knew all good things come to an end sooner or later.

“Lena? It’s going to be okay,” Kara tells her softly with a tender smile, hoping that her presence would help whatever fears and dark thoughts are wandering through the woman’s mind.

A few tears slip down Lena’s cheeks and she hastily brushes them away – the confusing swirl of emotions going through her right now are almost overwhelming. But she pushes them down and tries to focus as best she can – wondering how long it’s going to take to get back to normal even though the last thing she wants to do is go back to late nights of paperwork, sipping whiskey alone in her apartment, and putting up a good front that she doesn’t need or desire approval and affection from others – least of all those closest to her.

Before Kara or even Alex can react Lena’s getting up without a word and quickly making for the door – everyone is quick to call after her. Lena can’t stand to be here in their presence any longer knowing that she’s got to just grit her teeth and get on with life as usual – her learning about what a real, loving family is like doesn’t change anything for her. If anything it only made her hurt worse as she now has a standard to compare Lionel and Lillian with – and find they fall far lower than even she judged they could. She just shakes her head and tries to explain but all that comes out it upset stammering, “I-I have …to go…I need to go.”

“Lena? Lena, wait?!” Kara calls after her desperately.

Alex stops her from going after Lena, telling her, “Give her some time and space – if you go after her know she’s just going to bottle it up further.”

Kara can’t stop the tears from welling up and flowing down her cheeks, unable to keep the sobs from starting up. She feels like her emotions are completely out of her control and all over the place, reaching for Alex she whimpers, “What’s wrong with me?”

Alex wraps her up in a tight hug, their mother joining them and trying to calm them both. Eliza rubs Kara’s back and presses a kiss to Kara’s temple as she explains, “It will likely take some time for you to fully settle back into your adult self – like getting control of your emotions and impulse control.”

“Oh, I hate this,” Kara whines as she allows her mother to guide her back to the sun lamps, tucking her in and sitting with her.

Alex heads back to the waiting area, calling Lucy and Drew back even though she really just wants to call it quits for the day. Lucy is carrying Drew to the exam table, she’s shaking and Drew’s already upset but they both don’t put up a fuss as Alex sets to work.

The major tries to force herself not to cry and not to run across the room and scoop up Drew and head for the nearest airport – she wouldn’t make it very far but part of her still wants to try. She knows that Drew should be an adult – that she has a life and accomplishments she should be getting back to but she still feels in her heart that Drew would be better off as this growing girl that’s starting to become more happy and social.

Drew’s transition is just as easily done as Kara, Lena and the other’s and soon enough a young woman just a couple inches taller than Lucy with a thin, willowy frame sits in the place of the tiny 4-year-old. She’s still wearing the T-rex hoodie and sweats, looking at them a bit sheepishly as she checks in with Alex, “Hey, Agent Danvers.”

“Hey Drew, just a few questions and then you can get some rest, okay?” Alex asks, realizing she’s still speaking softly like she would with a child. She makes sure her mother is looking after Kara – Alex is really hoping that Drew doesn’t decide to panic and make an escape like Lena had done. 

“Yes ma’am,” Drew says stiffly, tying the untied shoelace on one of the bright blue chucks – she bites her lip a bit as her eyes dart over to see Lucy and Maggie watching her with torn looks on their faces. She remembers her slip up as a toddler, accidentally calling the detective ‘Mama’ when her and Alex had been watching her while Lucy was away. Her cheeks are burning red but she just grits her teeth and tries to focus on answering Alex’s questions.

“How are you feeling, any aches or pains?”

“No.”

“Good, you remember where you were before this happened?” Alex asks patient and calm, she doesn’t mention that bright blush or the way Drew can’t seem to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. She watches as Drew pushes the sleeves on the hoodie up, immediately noticing the scarred burn marks – likely from cigarettes – and a few slashes that have grown faint with age.

“Downstairs securing the server room and the logistics lab,” Drew answers, tone soft and devoid of any emotion – just a polite, professional tone. Her mind is running wild as she recalls the memories from the past couple of months – Lucy reading books to her and making them ice cream sundaes, the trip to the museum with Kara, Lena and Winn, and Maggie’s calm steady presence. She remembers how safe she felt and figures that she may even have felt what it was like to be loved. Tears are wanting to sting in her eyes because she knows she’ll never have that feeling ever again.

“Do you remember what year it is?”

“Yeah, 2018,” Drew grumbles lowly noting that Alex chuckles softly while checking something off on her tablet.

“Do you remember anything from when you were little – I mean like little with us?” Alex asks carefully, needing to know for her own sake but she feels like Lucy and Maggie who are nearby with Kara are going to be gutted if Drew remembers anything. But judging by Kara, Winn and Lena’s reactions it’s unlikely that Drew would be the only one that wouldn’t remember their second childhood.

“Uh, yeah, some,” Drew stammers out, looking away from Alex even as her eyes dart over to Lucy who has tears shining in her eyes. She knows that if she doesn’t keep it together or leave she’s going to be in the same boat so she gets up and tells Alex as casually as she can manage, “I uh, I have to go check on the logistics labs…”

“You need to rest,” Alex scolds but immediately regrets it when Drew flinches.

“I-I’m not tired, really,” Drew states, already withdrawing and heading towards the exit nearly knocking Lucy over as the Major tries to intervene. Before anyone can say anything or catch her Drew is already on her way down the stairs, passing Winn and J’onn on the way as well – even when Vasquez calls after her she calls out that she’s busy and heads into the locker room.

In the lab everyone’s quiet, Kara’s curled up under a few blankets still upset that Lena had freaked out so badly and now Drew has basically done the same thing. Eliza is talking with her and trying to comfort her as she settles back into being an adult. Maggie has a rather serious look on her face and she’s really not too keen to listening or partaking in the conversations going on around her. Seeing the two women, Lena and Drew, struggling so much and withdrawing from their friends and colleagues just breaks her heart all over again.

“I take it the transition back was rather jarring for Agent Blaine as well as Ms. Luthor,” J’onn says, still feeling the emotional disturbance in his agent even from this far away – a little worried at some of the emotions and thoughts his agent is having.

“It didn’t go well, but we kind of knew it wouldn’t when everyone was keeping their memories from being little a second time around,” Alex explains, giving her wife a wary look since the other woman hasn’t spoken for quite some time, “Maggie?”

“Yeah, I-I should probably head back to the office and see what’s going on with my officers,” Maggie says quickly, snapping out of her thoughts. She quickly pulls Alex into a hug and presses a kiss to her temple before walking quickly out of the medical bay before anyone can say anything.

“So, Maggie and Lucy are not taking this transition well either,” J’onn says softly, looking at Maggie’s retreating back and Lucy’s stiff posture as she tries to reason with the detective. Both women are in the middle of emotional turmoil, which he was expecting but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.

“No.” Alex admits with a sigh, “Maggie and I got into an argument about kids again recently, and even if we’ve come to an agreement it’s still rather fresh on our minds. I know Lucy is having a hard time too. She feels like we’re complicit in Drew’s abuse – with the knowing that the physical and emotional scars she has an adult could have been prevented. But I disagreed, Drew’s an adult – she has accomplished a lot and we shouldn’t be making a decision like that for her.”

But when J’onn is quiet on the matter to Alex gets a little fluster as she states, “You think I was wrong don’t you?”

“No, if you kept Drew as a child it would have violated her agency,” J’onn tells her, patting Alex on the shoulder as she tells her, “Doesn’t mean I don’t think she wouldn’t have been better off.”

Downstairs Drew is trying to stop the tears as she takes in the sized up children’s clothing – taking off the T-rex hoodie she looks at it and it makes her want to cry all over again. Frowning she rolls it up and stuffs in her duffle bag to take home, taking off the Dino Dig shirt from the museum as a few tears roll down her cheeks making her angry as she wads it up and stuff it in her duffle bag as well. Reaching into her locker she takes out the clean uniform top and pulls it on – angrily brushing away her tears. Grabbing her jacket, she slams the locker shut and slings the back over her shoulder, finding her keys in her bag and heading towards the garage.

As she steps out to find her vehicle she sees Maggie come out another exit, the two see each other and freeze for a moment. Maggie resolutely decides she needs to talk to Drew – to try and explain or to give her a reassurance that she and everyone else are still here for her. Drew however seems to panic – clearly torn between wanting to go to the woman she’d felt safe with and wanting to run. The other emotions – guilty, shame, and grief – are stronger and Drew quickly runs from Maggie, desperately searching for her vehicle.

Across town Lena’s in a similar predicament, at her penthouse she’s gotten through a rather panicked phone call with Sam to inquire about L-Corp and everything she’s missed. Rummaging through her closet she quickly finds some appropriate business attire to change into before scrambling to call her driver and find her briefcase and purse. She’s dreading finding out how far behind she’s gotten and what the state of affairs at her companies are like at the moment – especially when she realizes just how long she’s been out of commission.

Heading up to her office she’s still not sure what she’s going to tell Jess, the board or the investors about her rather long absence. She wonders what Sam had told them happened to her during this time and if it’s going to be detrimental to getting things back on track. As it turns out Jess is pleased to see her, welcoming her back and assuring her that she and Ms. Arias had tried to keep the backlog to a minimum but there were a few things that only she would be able to take care of herself. When Jess tells her that she’s glad she took some time for herself after a brief illness that everyone understood and were more than happy to fill in for her when they could.

Lena just nods and thanks her, making a mental note to give Jess, Sam and anyone else who kept her company afloat a nice holiday bonus and some extra time off. Going over to the mini-bar she takes out a glass and pours herself a couple fingers of scotch before heading back to her desk to read emails, memos and the ungodly high stack of reports that are littering the top of her desk. Taking a sip, she opens her email to set to work, but no matter that the alcohol sets her skin a buzzing pleasantly her eyes still sting like they’re going to fill with tears hours later when it’s dark outside and she’s still slogging her way through paperwork. She’s avoiding going back to her cold, lonely penthouse at all costs.

Lena isn’t the only one staying up and burning the midnight oil in hope of keeping her emotions in check. Lucy is aggressively typing away at a legal brief for a case that won’t be seeing a court room anytime soon – spring at the earliest which was still four months away. Lucy grumbles to herself as she opens up one of the latest evidence files to review the relevance of it and what potential motions the lawyer across the aisle is going to be petitioning the court for. Signing again she throws her pencil down and glares at the desk – no matter what she does to stay busy it doesn’t distract her from her thoughts of Drew.

“That’s the fifth sigh in as many minutes,” Vasquez remarks from where she lays, kicked back with her feet up and arms behind her head on the sofa in Lucy’s office.

“When did you get off shift?” Lucy asks as she sighs in annoyance as she gets up and turns on the Keurig to make another cup of coffee – she lost count sometime after lunch after she’d called Drew a few times to try and see if she made it home safely. She didn’t want to seem overbearing – or worse, patronizing – but she was concerned for her after she’d responded so poorly. She hadn’t panicked and freaked out as much as Lena did – but knowing Drew for her to show any signs of discomfort outwardly meant that the inner turmoil was exponentially worse.

“About an hour ago, I tried to say hello but you just grumbled so I figured you just need to finish up somethings,” Vasquez says while sitting up, reaching over and tugging at Lucy until she sits down beside her.

“Do you think Drew made it home okay?”

“I’m sure she did, but if you’re worried about it we can stop by – but I think we should just give her some space,” Vasquez suggests, rubbing at Lucy’s tense shoulders to try and help ease her girlfriends stress levels as best she can. She too is worried about little Drew all grown up – but she knows that sometimes when you push to much you don’t always get the response you’re expecting, “She’s probably freaked out a bit – fuck, I would be – and crowding her, especially since Danvers and Sawyer are likely going to be trying to check on her too, is probably going to just make her more defensive.”

“You’re right, she probably just needs space,” Lucy says with a sigh followed by a whine when Vasquez rubs at one of the rather tense muscles at the back of her neck.

“Yep, but if you’re still worried – which I know you will be – we can check up on the wee angry one in a couple days,” Vasquez assures with a smile, while she respects Drew Blaine as an agent and superior she’s going to miss the woman as the sweet, soft spoken ankle biter that would find her way into her and Lucy’s room some nights for a cuddle and bedtime stories. Squeezing Lucy’s hand, she encourages, “Come on, let’s go home. I think we’ve earned at evening of take out and some bad nighttime television.”

Across the city, Alex is having a rough evening as well – she’d gotten her sister back but Kara was currently emotionally unstable. The poor Kryptonian was still reeling from getting transformed back to adulthood so suddenly and being overwhelmed by her emotions – which was only made worse by Lena’s emotional crisis and flight. Maggie was also a little distant and had texted her that she’d gotten a new case and likely wouldn’t be home until the next day once she got a handle on it. Sighing Alex just texts her wife to stay safe and that she loves her – knowing that Maggie would just further clam up if pressured to talk about it.

“Everything okay, Sweetie?” Eliza asks tentatively from where she’s sitting on Kara’s sofa, her youngest daughter curled up against her – being much taller now and a tangle of limbs. She calmly brushes her fingers through Kara’s hair while motioning Alex over,  glad when she eventually comes to settle down on Kara’s other side.

“Maggie just caught a case – she won’t be home tonight,” Alex tells them, not able to keep her disappointment out of her tone which makes Kara reach back and take her hand – tugging at her wrist until Alex wraps an arm around her waist and presses her cheek to Kara’s shoulder.

“You can stay here tonight,” Kara offers quickly, still feeling a little bit like she’s trying not to shake all apart. She shifts around with her head on Eliza’s shoulder and Alex cuddled up against her back she feels safe after the rather unsettled feeling she had all afternoon. Softly she tries to impress upon Alex that she really needs her to stay more than anything right now, “Alex, would you please stay? Just for tonight?”

“Of course I’ll stay, now and for however many nights it takes for you feel like you’ve settled back in,” Alex tells her tenderly, knowing that it’s going to be hard for all the toddlers turned back to adults to get back in control of their emotions and settle back into their independence. Rubbing Kara’s arm, she promises, “Mom and I aren’t going anywhere Kara, but what about we put on a movie – I can even order pizza.”

“Even if it’s a rom-com?” Kara asks while feigning innocently ignorant, shooting Alex a weak smile but a smile nonetheless.

“Sure, a rom-com it is – even if it will give me indigestion,” Alex mock complains with a small chuckle, just seeing Kara smile lets her know that eventually things are going to work themselves out. They’ve got a lot of time to make up for and there’s so much she needs to tell adult Kara but they have time – and for the evening the Danver’s women are going to curl up on the sofa amid a plethora of blankets and enjoy being back in each other’s company.

J’onn and M’gann find themselves outside of Winn’s apartment, a couple bags of take out as they knock on the door and hear shuffled footsteps on the inside of the apartment. The door cracks open hesitantly and the two see that Winn has yet to change out of the NASA jumpsuit, and has instead opted for wrapping up in a blanket and adding house shoes to the ensemble. His eyes are red rimmed and he’s sheepishly shuffling his weight from foot to foot as he opens the door wider for them without a word.

“We thought maybe you could use some company,” J’onn offers with a warm smile.

“Oh, uh, yeah… company would be nice,” Winn says gratefully with a small smile, he gets out some silverware and drinks as he points to the television, “I was just about to go through my DVR and watch a few of the documentaries I’m sure I’ve missed.”

“Sharks, dinosaurs, or space?” M’gann asks with a smile as she watches Winn’s ears turn pick.

“Oh, well…I was actually about to re-watch some of the shark week shows,” Winn admits with a grin as they settle in on his sofa, opening take out containers that Winn recognizes as Noonan’s. He’s really grateful that they’ve showed up, he wouldn’t admit that he’d been crying less than an hour ago because everything seemed so overwhelming – and also a little lonely. But now that he has company that are starting to chat about sharks, NASA, and J’onn suggesting a night of stargazing with his telescope to see next week’s meteor shower he feels for the first time since aging up that things are going to be okay. He just hopes it works out as well for his friends and colleagues.

On the less savory part of the city Drew has just left the liquor store, tucking her purchase in her bag as she heads the few blocks towards her apartment. The regulars on the streets are inquiring after her, noting that they hadn’t seen her in a while and were glad to see she was back. Drew’s not surprised that things at the block had gotten a little sketchy since she was here last – NCPD tried to avoid this part of town and the locals were mostly left to their own devices in dealing with the petty crimes. Drew always kept an ear to the ground about what was going on and made sure to check in on the families, the single parents, and the elderly to make sure they had what they needed. She also wasn’t a stranger to confrontation – running off a few mid-level drug dealers and other low life’s that tried to prey on people.

Unlocking her front door, she curses as she realizes how much mail she’s going to have to go through and make sure she hasn’t been evicted during her absence. But since her meager possessions are still here and while dusty are undisturbed she figures she hasn’t been evicted yet, tiredly she crashes back into her chair and flips on the television – reaching into her bag for one of the many bottles of beer and liquor she’s stocked up with. Thirstily, she swallows down one beer while flipping through the channels – briefly stopping to pick up another bottle.

The commercial on the screen switches to a children’s television show – a police dog with a uniform and badge talking with a Dalmatian fire department dog makes her stop for a second. Her mind immediately goes back to Maggie’s police badge – the woman had been so kind and gentle with her and let her hold the badge because it made her feel safe. Another memory of Lucy watching this very show with her while brushing her hair and talking about how she and Vasquez were going to take her to the park and play with her. Drew touches her fingers to her cheek, startled when they come away wet with tears – instead of giving into the sobs that threaten to overtake her rage surges through her.

Drew hurls the bottle at the television, missing it by a mile but the bottle explodes into fragments when it strikes the wall and leaves a dent. Drew roughly wipes away the last of the tears before fishing out a bottle of whisky from her bag, reaching for the remote and flipping through the channels. She opens the whiskey, not bothering with a glass as she settles on a football game – hoping that after a few more drinks she won’t feel feelings anymore. Hoping and praying for the blank numbness that comes with getting blackout drunk.

Chapter Text

Lena groans as she sees Sam talking with Jess outside of her office, while she loves her friend dearly she just knows that the woman is here to needle her about why she’s suddenly been more overworked and absent from friend events more than she usually was. Her spirits drop even further when she spots the box Sam sets on her desk with a smile and an explanation, “Alex and Maggie said to give you these and I found your phone shortly after you were kiddified. Figured you’d be missing it by now.”

“Yeah, it’s fine – I just thought I might have misplaced it,” Lena states lamely, she puts in her passcode and sees the background has been changed to an image of flamingo’s that Alex and Eliza had helped her take at the zoo. The memory of their trips and all of the fun they had together makes her stomach knot up and her heart plummet – she misses them a lot more than she expected to. She doesn’t bother opening the box, it wouldn’t do to start crying in front of Sam – so she sets it aside with her coat so she can take it home whenever she decides to call it quits.

“They were asking about you,” Sam hedges, trying to ease Lena into this conversation that’s been hanging in the air since she returned to the office. She knows that Lena doesn’t handle her emotions well in the least – her main go to solution is to pretend that she doesn’t have them and push them to the back burner until they boil over and get the best of her.

“Oh, how are they doing?” Lena asks carefully, keeping her expression cool and neutral even though she really hopes that the couple are doing well. She knows Alex must be happy to have Kara back, the sisters were thick as thieves and from what Kara’s told her the two really rely on one another for support. She kind of misses Lex and the time they spent together as kids, when he was her whole world and took the sting out of Lillian’s criticism and emotional abuse.

“They’re doing great actually – I know a few of us were worried that looking after you and Kara would put a strain on their relationship because of the kid thing. But instead it would seem they’ve just gotten closer – they’re looking into adopting now,” Sam tells her with a smile, glad that Alex and Maggie had come to a decision together about kids – she knows how good Alex and Maggie both are with Ruby and that it’s something that Alex has really longed after for a while.

Lena looks a little shocked, she’d been worried about the couple after Kara had told her she’d be gone for a little while to take Alex home to Midvale after her and Maggie got into a row about children. She was honestly expecting the couple to break up over the issue – it was a non-negotiable in a majority of relationships and she didn’t want to see Alex throw her dreams of being a mother away. She wonders how the couple came to that conclusion though – she probably wasn’t the best example of a good child, “Well, I’m very happy for them and I’d be glad to write them a recommendation or make the process easier for them if I can. I’m sure Kara must have been quite the cutie to get Maggie warmed up to the idea of having children with Alex.”

“I don’t know, she spent a lot of time with your adorable self as well as Winn and Drew,” Sam reminds, shaking her head at how Lena tends to sell herself short. She can’t help but chuckle as she teases, “That and I’m sure Maggie had a great time watching Alex struggle to explain where babies come to you and Kara because you wouldn’t drop the topic. Even at four you were tenacious and curious as ever.”

If Lena had been warming up to the idea of visiting the couple and Kara – the reminder that Alex had to explain where babies come from to her and Kara just brings the mortification back a hundred fold. She also can’t help the flush as she remembers Kara agreeing that they could adopt as many kids as they want in the future after they were settled into jobs, a home, and married. She knows she and Kara had been flirting with being more than friends before being babyfied she’s not sure if either of them was ready to try out a romantic relationship at the moment. Even though her heart still thrills at the thought of eventually marrying and having children with Kara.

“Lena? Earth to Lena.”

“What?” Lena asks a bit crossly as she rearranges some papers on her desk, a bit embarrassed about where the conversation had gone and even more so at being caught in a daydream.

“You know there’s nothing to be ashamed of, right? You couldn’t help what happened and before you get it in your head that you were difficult or a burden let me tell you that you weren’t,” Sam tells her firmly, feeling like even if Lena doesn’t want to talk about it and apparently can’t handle good-natured teasing right now doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to hear affirmations from a friend. Lena looks like she’s going to scowl at any moment and come up with some excuse to leave since she’s too polite to ask Sam to leave so the CFO just smiles and holds up her hand as she says, “I can see you aren’t ready to discuss this or your feelings but when you are you have a wonderful family who chose you to be a part of it – and we’re all here when you’re ready to talk.”

Lena looks confused, her mouth parting in surprise – she clearly hadn’t expected Sam to back off and give her some space. Sam just laughs as she gets up and cuffs Lena’s shoulder, reminding her, “Remember to eat lunch and we have a meeting at 3:30 with R&D to go over their expenditures and revise the budget for them.”

“Of course,” Lena says softly, mentally shaking herself to try and snap out of her haze.

“Oh, and you may want to call or text Kara back, she’s left a couple messages with Jess,” Sam calls over her shoulder as she leaves Lena to her work.

Lena sighs heavily, dropping her pen as she realizes that now that her thoughts are all jumbled and focused on Kara and the Danvers family in general she’s going to have to take a break. If she doesn’t she’ll just end up rereading the same paragraph several times over and still not know what it says. When she calls it a day after a round of meetings with privileged old white dudes that have a tendency to leer like lechers while thinking she doesn’t notice she heads home reluctantly.

Once there she’s quick to kick off her heels by the door, dropping her keys onto the coffee table and setting the box down next to them she heads into her bedroom to change. Her clean laundry has been put away and much to her dismay the sweet older woman who keeps her place clean and well stocked has laundered the sized up children’s clothing and left them neatly folded on her dresser.  Lena unfolds the Star Wars sweatshirt, running her fingers over the print as tears sting in her eyes. She strips off her business attire and leaves it where it falls, pulling on the soft, slightly baggy sweatshirt and then the sweatpants.

Fishing out a pair of warm, fuzzy socks she pulls them on before heading into the living room, pouring a glass of scotch into a tumbler with a sphere of ice. Turing on the television she clicks over to a nature documentary before she turns her attention to the box – opening it and immediately feeling the tears come back with a vengeance as she pulls out the plush tabby cat Eliza had given her. She doesn’t bother stopping the tears as she tucks her legs under her and cradles the cat to her chest and just cries. Eventually, her sorrow and grieve dwindles to just a few sniffles and tears trailing down her wet, blotchy cheeks. Snuggling into the side of the sofa still hugging the cat she sips at her scotch until she falls asleep – her phone on the coffee table continues to light up with new messages.

A couple days later Lena gets up the courage to go talk to Winn – hoping that Drew will also be at the DEO and willing to talk. She’s going out of her mind being away from Kara, as well as Alex and Maggie who have continued to text her leave a couple voicemails to check up on her. Even Eliza sends her a couple messages to see how she’s doing. Not very well she’d admit as she tells her driver that she won’t be too long but to take a break and get an early lunch for himself – her treat of course.

Lena feels a little uncomfortable as she walks through the DEO’s promenade, she’s even more anxious when she sees that Winn isn’t as his usual place in the middle of the logistics and operations center. She sees a flash of red hair in the lab upstairs and really hopes she can get out of here before getting cornered by her former caregiver – she’s not sure if she’d break down into tears or not at this point. Just as she gets to Winn’s desk, she’s startled as she and J’onn effectively run into each other.

“Oh, Ms. Luthor,” J’onn says as he carefully adjusts the bagged goldfish in his hands to keep from dropping it or spilling it on the young woman.

“Oh, Director,” Lena says, watching as the director of a secret government agency carefully scoops the dead goldfish out of the little tank on Winn’s desk and carefully starts to get the replacement fish acclimated to the water. “Is that a gold fish?”

“Yes,” J’onn says softly, looking around to make sure that Winn isn’t here to see him replace the fish that had just passed away this afternoon.

“Was that a backup fish you just had laying around?”

“Maybe.” J’onn tells her a bit sheepishly, but he then remembers the hermit crab that Alex had brought to the lab, “Maggie the hermit crab is upstairs, I’m sure you and Kara can work out joint custody even though Alex seems to really like the small creature.”

Lena looks a little perplexed but she can’t help but smile a little bit – wondering if she could take the little crab home with her. Rao knows that she could use the company when she binges on a few glass of wine or scotch while curled up watching Netflix until two in the morning.

J’onn gives her a soft smile and a pat on the shoulder as he tells her, “Winn went to have lunch a few minutes ago, he should be in the cafeteria now – you might think about joining him for a bite to eat too.”

Lena thinks that she’s both touched and annoyed that everyone seems to be reminding her to eat and rest like she’s still a four-year-old. But her witty comeback dies on her lips and she just mutters as she goes, “Remember it takes 15 – 20 minutes for that little guy to adjust to the water.”

Lena heads towards the cafeteria and finds Winn sitting by himself, picking at his French fries and sipping on a chocolate milk. Winn breaks into a grin when he sees Lena, quickly waving her over and pushing his tray of fries over so it’s clear she’s welcome to helps herself. He also takes an extra carton of chocolate milk and slides it her way. Lena offers him a smile and sits down opposite him, the two of them sipping their milk and snacking on the fries.

Winn eventually breaks the silence, asking with a smile, “So, has J’onn put the replacement fish in the tank on my desk?”

Lena snorts with a grin, nodding, “Yeah, so I’d give it another twenty minutes at least.”

Winn chuckles as he points a fry at Lena, “You know I should be insulted that he keeps replacing the fish and reminds me to eat – like he thinks I’m too young or too fragile to take care of myself. But at the same time, it’s kind of nice – I know he cares and that if I get into trouble which seems to happen an awful lot since I joined the DEO that he’ll always have my back. And I know Alex and Maggie do too.”

Lena is silently contemplative for a few moments, sipping a bit at the carton of milk – feeling a bit nostalgic for a second. She thinks for a second before asking, “I can’t even face Alex and Maggie right now?”

“What about Eliza?” Winn asks, genuinely surprised that the woman hadn’t been able to seek out comfort or counsel with two of her close friends. He also knows that when Kara’s on Supergirl duty she mopes around the DEO, pouting that she’s still having trouble adjusting and that Lena’s still on a crusade to deal with the fallout of being shrunk by herself. He’d expected it from small but stern Agent Drew Blaine – but he’d honestly expected Lena to seek out Kara at least.

“Oh, no – I’m not even sure what to say to Alex or Maggie, so I’m sure I’d just burst into tears if I came face to face with Eliza. She’s just so sweet and while this whole adventure into childhood was mortifying if she offered me a hug at this point I’d probably hold on and not let go,” Lena admits, picking at the cardboard of the milk carton to avoid looking up at Winn with misty eyes. She knows that any resolve she has would crumble immediately if put to the test as she mutters a bit sourly, “I’d make a right fool of myself.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad – and I’m sure she’d understand,” Winn tries to reason, knowing that Eliza would be the first person to hug Lena back and not let go until she was ready. He knows from what Alex and J’onn had explained to him, that their emotions and impulses might be out of check for a while but clearly Lena didn’t get the same memo, “Maybe you could just think about coming over to game night soon, I mean if you aren’t busy at L-Corp – it won’t be so awkward or upsetting if we’re all there together.”

A thought strikes Lena, remembered the brown eyed girl she and Winn had befriended and before she can police what she’s saying she asks, “Do you think we could maybe get Drew to come to a game night?”

“I-I don’t know,” Winn stammers out, not sure that Drew would like to be disturbed since she’s been so distant and rather short tempered when she’s been on call at the DEO. Holding out his hands he very carefully tries to explain, “She didn’t exactly handle things well, and…well, Agent Blaine isn’t really that easy to get along with. She doesn’t really let anyone get close to her, maybe Lucy but even then that doesn’t happen often.”

“Do you know how I can get in touch with her?” Lena asks hopefully, she feels like maybe if she talks to Drew she can get a better perspective on things – or at the very least gain a friend who understands keenly what type of thoughts and emotions are roiling through her. She could deal with another gruff personality, especially since she knows Drew likely built up a tough exterior through similar circumstances to her own.

“I’ll see what I can do, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Winn tells her with a grin, getting up he clears away the mess to head back out to his desk with Lena in tow. He smiles at the fish as he takes out a bottle of fish food and rattles it over the top of the tank to put some flakes out for his new fish friend – he really hopes this one is a bit hardier than the last one for J’onn’s sake.

After a bit of riffling through HR files and then hacking Lucy’s desktop to get Drew’s email, phone number, and address he also checks the roster, handing her a slip of paper he says, “Drew’s off today, but I’d suggest bringing back up – she lives in a not so nice part of town.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Lena assures as she tucks the note into her pocket, she wishes Winn well and promises to catch up with him later in the week. Lena doesn’t make it through her trip to the DEO without getting caught by Alex on her way out, she can’t help but stare at her shoes for a moment until she reminds herself that she should at least give Alex the curtesy of looking her in the eyes when she speaks to her, “Hey, Lena, I didn’t know you were stopping by the DEO today – is everything okay?”

“Oh, uh…yeah,” Lena stammers graceless and feels her cheeks heat up as she looks at her feet – she really hopes this shame starts to go away soon. It’s not very becoming of a Luthor, and it’s really starting to piss her off that she can’t seem to get her bearings as easily as she normally would. Mentally shaking herself she looks up and tries to put on her best impression of being calm and in control, “Everything’s fine, just attending to some last minute L-Corp business.”

“Right, well, it’s good to see you,” Alex tells her sincerely, wanting to reach out and hug the other woman – glad that she’s seeing the young woman with her own eyes. She was just talking to Maggie this morning about going to visit the other woman at her business, just to make sure she was taking care of herself. Giving her a brief once over to make sure she’s well, “Oh, and Kara’s hosting a game night this Friday – we’d love for you to come.”

“Yeah, I uh, I can check my schedule but I really am behind with my responsibilities at L-Corp,” Lena rambles, suddenly feeling like she’s on uneven ground again – she wants to see Kara but at the same time she’s not sure what to say. They’d kissed pretty passionately at an impromptu movie night and ended up curling up to sleep beside one another in a tangle of limbs – but they hadn’t really discussed their relationship status and before they could the shrink ray interrupting their lives.

“Of course,” Alex says softly, trying to be understanding even though she knows her disappointment must be clear in her tone. With a warm, encouraging smile she tentatively reaches out and lays a hand on Lena’s shoulder, telling her gently, “I know you must have a lot to do to catch up to everything you missed, but don’t forget to take care of yourself.”

“Right,” Lena states, a little surprised that the tenacious agent is just giving her a pass so she takes it with what dignity she has left. As she’s giving Alex affirmation that she’ll take care of herself she sees a blonde streak out of the corner of her eye, “I will.”

“Oh, hey Lena!” Kara beams with a megawatt smile, quick to enter the conversation as Alex slowly backs up and decides to talk with Winn. The two watching with rapt attention as Kara rubs her palms against her super suit skirt - hands itching to come up and tugs the woman into a bear hug. Her eyes drift lower to Lena’s lip and she unconsciously licks her own, finding them a bit dry as she contemplates if she’s ever going to be able to kiss Lena again.

“Kara!” Lena exclaims, and hand coming up to her chest and eyes wide with shock – she’s already well aware that she’s messed up and let everyone know that she’s known that Kara’s Supergirl. It was quite obvious, Lena thinks, the golden retriever of a woman said she flew to Lena’s office and the bus part of that statement had been an afterthought. Also Kara had been very clear later on that she had some rather interesting extra-curricular activities that she was involved with and was supported by Alex and the DEO.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Kara says a bit sheepishly, still grinning like an idiot even though when she moves into Lena’s personal – a thing she’d just gotten into a habit of doing – the other woman backs away a tiny bit. She’s still hopeful that Lena’s had a few days to adjust well enough to talk to her so she quickly offers, “I was just about to head over to Noonan’s for lunch – definitely feeling like a milkshake after all those vegetables Alex fed us. You maybe want to come with me?”

“Oh uh, I have a meeting in fifteen minutes,” Lena stammers out, finding her favorite pair of Jimmy Choo’s rather interesting as she toes at a scuff mark on the DEO’s concrete floor. She feels guilty lying – there’s no meeting accept maybe the impromptu one she had planned when she got Drew’s address from Winn. But she’s not ready for the ‘let’s just be friends’ conversation she’s sure is somewhere in the future. A part of her hopes it’s not true but the other part of her wonders what Kara could see in her to consider her partner material in the first place. Seeing the downcast, kicked puppy look on Kara’s face she can’t help but offer quickly “Maybe we could rain check for another time?”

“Of course, I know you must be crazy busy after everything,” Kara admits, glad that Lena was at least giving her a chance to make plans with her later. But at the same time she wants to at least speak with her for a couple more minutes to assure her that her affection for her haven’t diminished – if anything she’s even more in love with Lena now than she was before their foray into the realm of science fiction, “But Lena…”

“I really have to go, Kara,” Lena says quickly, reaching out to squeeze Kara’s hand before she can stop herself. The ‘I love you’ is almost on her lips as she quickly departs, leaving Kara standing there just outside their former daycare looking as heartbroken and lost as she feels. Lena quickly makes a beeline past the training room, ignoring both Alex and Kara calling out to her as she quickly escapes to the safety of the elevator as she calls up her driver to come and pick her up at the back entrance of the building.

She finds her way over towards Drew’s part of town – wondering if Alex or J’onn were aware of the dangerous living conditions of their fellow agent. Michael, her driver is quick to tell her that she should probably rethink her decision. But when she doesn’t he pulls over and is quick to accompany her upstairs, giving a couple people the side-eye on the stairs. Most people don’t seem that fazed by her presence, a couple people do double takes but a rather jovial looking stoner sitting on the stairs calls after them as they reach the apartment door.

“I wouldn’t bother little Drew,” he sing songs with a lazy smile, “She’s got a mean temper and she had to run off some crooks this morning so she’s already in a sour mood.”

Lena just smiles politely with a nod, turning back to the door she thinks she can hear the low hum of a television playing in the background but not much else. She knocks on the door and waits for a response, not surprised that Michael’s kicking up conversation with the guy on the stairs – making a discrete inquiry about this Drew person and what’s going on in the neighborhood. Lena hears the sound of bottles clinking as they get knocked over and something falling on the floor but not the sound of footsteps or a lock turning in its housing. After a second attempt she lets it go, figuring that Drew’s rather not in the mood for company. Instead of heading back to L-Corp she as her drive to please drop her off home – telling him she’s not feeling quite well at the moment.

Back at the DEO Kara’s found her way into the gym and former daycare, most of the kids’ stuff is in boxes lining the wall – waiting to be donated or distributed to staff that have children. Kara’s looking at the baby doll, vaguely remembering that she and Lena had taken turns feeding it a bottle, cooking, and generally playing house together. She traces her fingers over the doll, emotions roiling and churning out of control – a side effected of aging back up Alex assured, telling her it would be easier for her to get a handle on her emotions after a few days of adjusting to being her normal, adult self again.

But at the same time, Kara’s not sure she wants to get a handle on all of the emotions she’s feeling, if anything she wants to hold on to those feelings of safety, comfort, and most of all love. She just wishes that Lena wasn’t so upset about getting de-aged and needing to be cared for that she could talk to her without making her feel uncomfortable.

A soft knock on the door has her startling, dropping the doll as she turns around to see Alex coming into what used to be the DEO Daycare. Alex, seeming to sense that Kara’s upset, wastes no time in coming closer and enveloping her sister in a tight hug. She feels Kara clinging to her so she shushes her tenderly, letting her sniffle and try to calm herself down. Smiling to herself Alex presses a kiss to Kara’s temple and assures her, “No matter what age you are, Kara, I’m always going to be there for you.”

Kara holds onto Alex, her tears soaking into her sister’s uniform top as she stammers out through sniffles, “I know, and I love you so much Alex. I’m so glad I get to be your sister.”

“Oh Kara,” Alex says softly, brushing away the blonde woman’s tears and rubbing her side to try and help her calm down and stay grounded. She figures that the first few days back to being an adult were difficult, and that not everyone had been handling them well – Winn was more shy and quiet than usual, Lena has holed up in her office, and Drew was as disagreeable as she ever was. “Would talking about it help?”

Kara sighs but nods as she leans down to pick up the baby doll, cradling it against her chest as she allows her sister to lead her over to a bench. Sitting down with her Alex can’t help but smirk at the doll, telling her with a little chuckle, “You know you named that doll after me? I think I got a good scolding every now and then for being a little shit for you and Lena.”

Kara smiles, huffing out a soft laugh, “No more than you usually are, of course.”

Alex openly laughs, glad to see Kara smiling again even though she can still see the sadness in her eyes, “So, you want to tell me what’s bothering you? Three guesses that it has something to do with Lena Luthor.”

“You needed three?” Kara half-heartedly jokes, holding the doll close as she leans against her sister, “There’s just so much I want to say to Lena, to just talk to her – but I know she needs space right now. Being a little girl again and figuring out just what type of loving family she was missing out on must be so hard – and I know she feels ashamed too. But like always she’s going to try and tough it out and push her emotions aside until they get the best of her.”

Alex knows Kara’s right – Lena had been polite and cordial after the transition back to adulthood but as soon as she left the DEO she kind of dropped off everyone’s radar. Kara sighs softly as she speaks, “I just want her to know that we love her and she has a family with us now…….More importantly I need her to know that I love her, and not just as a friend.”

“I thought you two were already dating?!” Alex asks, surprised that her brain has chosen this moment to randomly let her blurt out her thoughts.

“Kinda, I think,” Kara answers, the crinkle appearing in her brow as she tries to ramble out her scrambled thoughts, “Okay, so maybe we hadn’t completely discussed it… I mean things went from cuddling to kissing that one movie night we had… and I know I stayed the night, but it wasn’t like that… and then we didn’t really have time to talk it all out because ‘BAM’ we’re babies.”

Alex is staring at her sister mouth agape, she just figured that Kara and Lena were already an item with the way they behaved around one another. With a snort she realizes that Sam owes her fifty bucks and Maggie definitely owes her breakfast in bed – the pancakes and bacon are going to taste even more amazing having won the bet. But of course she can’t help laughing as she nudges her sister in the side, “Oh my god, Kara! Everyone thinks you two are already together!”

“Really?!” Kara asks, the perplexed puppy look just as adorable on adult Kara as it was on her as toddler which makes Alex laugh even more.

“No offense, but you and Lena act pretty gay together,” Alex teases, knowing that Maggie is going to get a kick out of this when she tells her.

“Best friends can cuddle,” Kara weakly protests, realizing that Alex is probably right – she and Lena have been doing a lot of things that Alex and Maggie do and things she’d only ever done in past relationships.

“Yeah but when that cuddling on the couch turns into spooning or making out you might be little more fluid in your sexuality than you might think,” Alex chuckles, but at Kara’s miffed little pout she wraps an arm around her shoulders and tells her, “For what it’s worth I’m pretty sure Lena’s just as gay for you too.”

“Now if I could just get her to talk to me for a minute without looking like she wants to run away or burst into tears that’d be great.”

“Leave it to me.”

“What?! Alex no!” Kara immediately protests but Alex is already getting up and Kara’s trying to stop her rather determined sister from leaving and bursting into Lena’s office unannounced, “You can’t just go interrogate her!”

Alex chuckles again as she assures, “Kara, go get some pot stickers and rest up, I’m not going to interrogate Lena – far from it actually. I’m going to remind her that she’s a part of our family and that we miss seeing her – toddler or adult.”

Kara smiles as she watches her sister go, she feels a little bad that she’s not going to see Lena but she suspects that a few things need to be resolved between Lena and Alex. Lena was likely embarrassed to be cared for - especially by Kara’s family since she was indisposed as well. She also knows that Alex, while being more direct in her form of communication, would know exactly what to say to help.

Alex makes a few stops on her way to the apartment, texting Maggie to inform her about what’s going on and being sure to tell her that she owes her that breakfast in bed for the bet. Cursing and rifling through a ream of paper Alex finally gets the printer to work, printing off a few things before trying to creatively place them how she wants them as she mentally goes over all the things she wants to say and the checklist of things she knows Lena probably needs to hear. Once she’s satisfied with her work she realizes that it’s pushing 8pm, and knowing Lena she probably hasn’t eaten dinner yet.

Alex swings by Noonan’s and picks up the salad Lena always gets when Kara drags her there before heading over to L-Corp. The lights are on in the CEO’s office and Alex has little trouble when she flashes her badge at the rather annoyed looking security guard. As she reaches the top floor she sees that Jess is packing up her things, getting ready to leave for the evening when she lights up at the sight of Alex, “Miss Luthor is just finished up her last meeting a half hour ago, but she’s still working – despite Miss Arias’s encouragement to call it a day.”

“Don’t worry, Jess, I’ve got it covered,” Alex tells her with a warm smile, glad that Lena has a secretary that is concerned about her more than just professionally, “And thanks for helping Sam take care of Lena’s responsibilities during her leave.”

Jess nods quietly and takes her leave and Alex quietly and deftly enters the office unseen or heard by the CEO. What Alex finds inside breaks her heart – Lena’s at her desk in her usually impeccably styled clothes but her face is in her hands the line of her back looks tense even as it trembles. Alex feels the urge to go to Lena, but instead she opts to announce her presence, “Hey, Lena.”

“Agent Danvers?!”

Alex winces, she hasn’t been ‘Agent Danvers’ for months since working with Lena to help Sam and the DEO Reign issue, “Wow, I’ve been downgraded to formalities.”

Lena doesn’t respond to that, instead she holds up a trembling hand and tries to come off as professional and detached as she says, “I really don’t have time to discuss anything right now, I have months of reports and meetings to catch up on.”

“I know,” Alex tells her, easily in agreement that Lena is rather busy however she sets the take-out container on Lena’s desk, “I also know that you tend to forget to take care of yourself when things get a little out of control at L-Corp or CatCo.”

Lena looks torn between sadness and anger as she eyes the food warily, she knows she should be grateful that Alex thought about her. She should be even more grateful that Alex and Maggie had looked after her while she was a toddler instead of just passing her off to one of the other DEO agents or a foster family. A memory of Alex holding her and comforting her comes to her mind and she wants to weep but instead she grits her teeth to warn off the tears. Her voice takes a firm edge as she’s been put on the defensive, “You don’t have to take care of me any longer, I’m not a child anymore.”

“I know,” Alex states calmly, she didn’t expect this conversation to be easy and getting upset is only going to make Lena more upset – even though Alex isn’t sure that’s possible, “I know you’re not a child, and I’m not trying to baby you. I look out for the people I care about, and I do care about you Lena – we all do.”

“You don’t have too,” Lena mutters roughly, trying to force herself to keep up the brave, loner front at all costs – wasn’t it bad enough that Kara’s family had seen her at her worst. A vulnerable child that startled at shadows and cried easily – she knows it can’t have been easy to put up with her. Sure children were a handful but for some reason she’s still stuck on this idea from her adoptive mother that she was an overly sensitive child who cried too easily and required too much attention.

“What?”

“You don’t have to care about me, just because of Kara,” Lena explains as she avoids looking at Alex, just trying to muddle her way through this so that she can go home and crash on her sofa with a glass or two of scotch, “Don’t get me wrong I am incredibly grateful that you and Maggie looked after me while…while I was…indisposed of. I know it must have been a lot of work, but I’m grateful that it was you and Maggie instead of some strangers that I don’t know.” 

“We would never do that to you, Lena.”

“I know that, but you don’t have to keep up the pretenses anymore – I’m a big girl and I can manage without the sympathy. Plenty of people have families that they can’t rely on or were abusive, there’s nothing special about my situation that warrants this type of attention,” Lena forces herself to say, spiting the words out like bitter bile on her tongue.

“Is it really so hard to believe that people would care about you, that people would love you, - for you?” Alex asks after a silent pause to let Lena’s words settle in.

“I want that more than anything,” Lena admits, hating herself for speaking her hearts desires out loud and thinking of the sweet kisses she shared with Kara before all this happened. The thought of that stupid baby doll and the way she and Kara had been playing pretend about being a family – it hurt too much to think about how that was likely never going to happen. “But it doesn’t matter what I want, Alex! We don’t always get what we want – Luthor’s don’t get to have the happy family that you see on the cover of the Better Homes and Gardens magazines.”

Alex watches as the tears well up in gentle green eyes, cresting and then overflowing onto pale cheeks but she doesn’t hesitate this time. She sets down the package on Lena’s desk and quickly envelopes the woman in a hug, feeling Lena start to cry. She does exactly what she does for Kara, rocking her and talking softly to her to try and sooth her. When Lena’s sobs taper off Alex draws back enough to look at her and tells her, “You will always have a family with us. Kara’s head over heels for you and Maggie and I already adopted you as another little sister – you can’t get rid of us that easily, Lena.”

Lena spots the package and Alex smiles, pushing it towards her and watching as she unties the twine and peels back the paper to see a scrapbook with a stork and baby on the cover. Lena wipes away more tears that spill onto her cheeks as she flips it open and starts to laugh when she sees a picture of herself grinning at the camera. As she flips through the pages she and Alex both chuckle at the pictures – many of her and Kara playing with each other including the one of their ‘family’ including doll Alex. In another photo Alex is showing her how to do the science experiments, a few of Eliza and her with the flamingos at the zoo and a couple of her sleeping on Maggie.

Alex points to one with Lena curled up against her, the two of them sleeping soundly in bed – seeming to be enjoying a rainy afternoon nap, “This is one of my favorites.”

When Lena finishes flipping through the pictures she closes the book and her tears haven’t stopped, Alex has rounded up a few tissues for her and rubs her shoulders, “Welcome to the family, Lena. I know you’re busy but when you’re finished Kara’s probably packing away pot stickers and pizza to make up for all the fruits and vegetables I made her eat while binge watching Netflix.”

Lena can’t help but start laughing – knowing adult Kara verges on a tantrum when anyone suggests she cut back on junk food or add in a fruit or vegetable to her diet every now and then. She sees Alex picking up her jacket and helmet and tells her, “That sounds lovely, and Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

After Alex leaves Lena quickly gets to a stopping point in her paperwork and packs up to leave, but instead of going back to her rather lonely penthouse she has her driver drop her by Kara’s. Nervously she presses the button for Kara’s floor and then walks to her door, wondering if she’s intruding by showing up so late. She stares at the door for a minute or two waging a war against her insecurities before she knocks on the door – startled when it only takes a few seconds for Kara to show up in the doorway.

“Lena!” Kara nearly squeals, her whole face lighting up as she quickly ushers the other woman into her apartment before wrapping her up in a bear hug. True to form the coffee table is littered with a couple take out boxes, an open box of pot stickers and two more pizzas underneath it. An episode of some show is playing, clearly forgotten now that Lena’s here, “I’ve missed you the last couple of days, are you doing well?”

“Yeah, it’s been busy trying to catch up at L-Corp, but that’s no excuse I should have called or texted,” Lena admits a bit sheepishly, ashamed that she thought at one point pushing away those closest to her would be able to protect her from getting hurt. She allows Kara to take her hand and guide her to the sofa, the two of them sitting down and Lena feels a lump under the blanket – fishing out doll Alex from under the fleece throw blanket.

Kara blushes a bit, not quite as red as her cape but close enough, as she tries to explain, “Oh, uh…”

Lena chuckles as she looks at the doll, “Alex was quite the little shit.”

Kara breaks into giggles, grateful that Lena seems to remember all the stories they made up for the doll – including that the doll was quite the rambunctious mess. She wraps an arm around Lena’s shoulders and smiles when she curls up against her, she flicks through and finds a rom com to put on even if it will just be background noise after a while. Instead of watching the movie Kara keeps stealing glances at Lena, watching the way her eyes are mirthful when she makes teasing remarks about the movie. Kara’s mesmerized by Lena’s expressions and her heart beats a little harder when Lena snuggles closer and rests her head against her shoulder.

She can’t help but remember being a little scamp at 4-years-old, taking every opportunity to hug, kiss, or cuddle Lena. She remembers the promise she’d made to her too – that when they grew up she’d propose, they’d have a wedding, get jobs and a house followed by adopting a dog and then later on adopting kids. Kara burns with a desire to do all of those things, but figures she should start out by seeing if Lena would want to pick up where they left off before they ended up in pull ups for a few months. After a few more minutes, Kara can’t keep her thoughts and desires to herself any longer, blurting out gracelessly, “Uh, Lena?”

“Kara,” Lena asks tiredly, having dozed off for a little bit – contently wrapped in a blanket and resting against the taller woman, “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no, not exactly… I mean, nothing bad.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” Lena tells her with nervous look.

“Oh, no I don’t mean to make you nervous! I’m just trying to get my thoughts to come out…in a coherent manner. I mean, clearly I’m failing at the coherent part,” Kara jokes a little flatly as she rakes a hand through her hair nervously.

“Whatever it is, I’m all ears.”

“I know a lot has happened since I kissed you on the last movie night that we had… and I’ll understand if you want to just stay friends…but,” Kara hesitates a moment taking a breath she just forges ahead and tells her, “but, if it’s okay with you I’d kind of like to be more than just friends.”

Lena’s speechless for a moment, but when she watches Kara biting her lip and look away she realizes that her silence has been taken for rejection. Giving into her impulsive nature Lena very gently grasps Kara’s face, cupping her cheeks in her hands before pressing her lips to Kara’s feeling her tense and then relax into the kiss. As she draws back Kara surges forward, nipping gently and pressing soft, chaste kisses to Lena’s lip – savoring the taste and the feel of the other woman as she goes in for another kiss, deepening it the moment Lena parts her lips in a soft sigh.

“I’d like that too,” Lena tells her with a bright smile, tucking loose strands of blonde hair behind Kara’s ear she cups her cheek and guides her into another kiss.

Across the city Alex is curled up in bed, Maggie spooning her with a strong arm wrapped around her waist holding her close. Her phone pings breaking the silence. Alex groans as she reaches over and fishes her phone off the nightstand, trying to ignore Maggie’s sleepy snickers as she puts in the pass code and taps on the messages icon. Maggie’s voice is soft and raspy as she asks playful, “So, is it from little Luthor or little Danvers?”

“Kara,” Alex mutters with a rueful smile as she sees the rather simple message her sister sent her that consists of a thumbs up and a heart emoji.

“At least she managed to avoid calling during the sex this time,” Maggie teases as she rakes her hands up Alex’s naked sides teasingly before asking, “So, I’m guessing things worked out?”

“If that’s what a thumbs up emoji followed by a heart emoji followed by the heart eyes smiley emoji means, then yeah I think they worked things out,” Alex tells her, turning her phone off and turning over so that she can curl up to Maggie. Just as the she’s about to fall asleep she smiles smugly against her wife’s neck and reminds with a tired grin, “Oh, and for my breakfast in bed I’d like the bananas foster pancakes you made on our honeymoon, none of that double toasted dry bagels.”

“Yes dear,” Maggie scoffs playfully with a smile before pressing a kiss to Alex’s head – since Lena and Kara worked things out she’s not even sorry she lost that bet.

Chapter Text

Alex and Lucy are joking as they carry their gym bags into the locker room – the day’s practice drills and exercises in the desert should help everyone get back into the groove of things. Zamora had transitioned back to adulthood with little preamble, back to his charming, goofy self, for Jenkins it had taken a couple days to get back to normal but a few days out at the range and reviewing protocol and he seemed to be back into the swing of things. Winn was as chipper as ever, chattering about how he’d managed to work on some of the more technical aspects for their advanced warning and detection systems that they could put through its paces during the trials.

“So, you finally get a restful weekend?” Alex teases as she tosses a bottle of water into her bag as she starts to change into her DEO uniform.

“Not exactly,” Lucy grumbles a bit as she pulls on her tactical pants and starts to work on the belt, “Drew never answered my calls and Lois called to tell me that my father is coming to visit unannounced – so I don’t expect this week to go much better.”

“Where is Drew, I know I emailed all of alpha team about today’s drills,” Alex wonders out loud, noting that she hadn’t seen the other young woman milling about this morning during morning physical fitness at the gym.

Lucy shrugs but after she pulls on her top she looks around the corner to see that Drew’s locker is unoccupied – the name tape on it has been stripped off which makes her heart skip a beat, “We should probably check the server room and her office before we panic – she may just be running late.”

“Drew is never late,” Alex reminds as she tosses her clothes in her locker and snaps it shut, heading towards the server room with Lucy hot on her heels. The previous few days had Drew following a predictable pattern – Drew shows up to work, hides away in the labs or the server room for most of the day, before rushing out before anyone can talk to her on a personal level.

J’onn managed to corner her in the gym but didn’t get more than a few status updates on what she was working on currently – which were only system updates and logistics planning. Lucy tried to get her out of the DEO but Drew declined, citing being tired and avoiding her phones calls and messages. Alex drags everyone on alpha team away from their regular duties for three days of training and simulation practice – which is really just an excuse to check on Drew. Eliza – who is staying for a while and enjoying a much needed break – tried to get Drew in for a check-up and assessment with Dr. Hamilton that she didn’t show up to at all.

Alex and Lucy head over to the logistics department, passing the empty server rooms and seeing that the regular agents are there by Drew is strangely absent. Upon seeing one of the alpha team regulars, Jefferies turning on his computer Alex is quick ask rather firmly, “Hey Jefferies, has Drew come in?”

“Yeah, came and went – she was here maybe half an hour ago clearing out her desk,” Jefferies tells them finding it strange that the two superiors wouldn’t have known that Drew had already left – and with the box and gear bag it looked like it was for good. Seeing the Major and Agent Danvers looking rather antsy he adds a bit hesitantly, “I don’t know if it helps but, I don’t think she’s really been right since she got changed back from being a kid.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asks quickly, concern rising as she feels her heart skip a beat as she recognizes the signs that Drew’s been showing – agitation, withdrawing from people around them, and pushing close friends away. It doesn’t bode well for a happy ending if they don’t intervene soon.

“She’s normally pretty quiet and withdrawn – but whatever happened to her as a kid must be catching up to her. She’s barely said more than two sentences together this past week,” Jefferies reports, hoping that these two will be able to sort out the department head’s issues since they seemed rather serious about intervening.

Alex and Lucy share equally grim looks as they head to Drew’s office to find that it’s been stripped bare, although Lucy admits that it hadn’t really been that personable to begin with. Lucy checks the desk and drawers, to find it empty and meticulously cleaned up but on the top of the desk are two plain white envelopes – one has Lucy’s name and rank on it and the other has Agent Danvers written on it in Drew’s neat handwriting. Lucy feels her stomach lurch as she reaches for the letter with trembling fingers, Alex looks just as upset as she quickly turns to go in search of J’onn.

Luckily they don’t need to go far as J’onn has found his way into the logistics lab, an open letter clutched in his hand and looking rather disturbed as he states more so than asks, “Agent Blaine isn’t in her office is she?”

“No, but we have to find her,” Alex insists firmly, the images of the teary eyed battered child Lucy, Maggie and she had cared for over the past couple months – vowing that this couldn’t end in tears. Drew deserved so much more than the hand life had dealt her, she did the best with what she had but it just wasn’t enough. As Alex gets ready to charge out J’onn catches her by the arm and she objects, “We can’t waste any time, J’onn.”

J’onn doesn’t let go, instead he orders gently, “Go cancel the exercises – call Kara and explain what’s going on, she’ll know if she’s needed. Prep the medical bay and have Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Danvers on standby.”

“Right,” Alex says taking a calming breath as she sets to doing what needs to be done, wishing J’onn and Lucy speed and luck in finding their wayward agent. She heads to the medical bay and finds Hamilton and her mother chatting over coffee, once her mother sees her she’s already getting up and rushing towards her.

“Alexandra?”

“Drew’s missing, J’onn wants us on standby for a medical emergency.” Alex stammers out, wondering what state Drew must be in after deciding to quit her job and just vanish. She knows it’s probably not going to be good if he and Lucy don’t get to her in time and her mother seems to understand the seriousness of the situation as she wraps her up in a tight hug.

Across town, J’onn makes it to Agent Blaine’s home much quicker than he’d expected – looking around to scan through the sparse crowds he’s not sure how the woman could feel safe living in this part of town. It wasn’t too bad, but still it’s right on the edge of the industrial park and the tenements. Checking the address Lucy is already heading up the steps and whipping out a spare key, putting the code into the front door and then heading to the stairs.

J’onn’s right behind her and he’s on edge, he can sense Lucy’s thoughts and it only makes him more concerned. Lucy’s in a sheer panic, her memories of Drew as both an adult and as a child – including the bruises, burns and the night terrors she had even as a toddler. On the stairs they see a sketchy looking fellow but Lucy doesn’t seem fazed as she asks, “Hey, have you seen a woman a little taller than me – messy dark brown hair and brown eyes. Looks rather serious.”

“Yeah, little Drew,” they guy says with a bright smile, “She said she’s packing up her stuff and moving, but you might catch her.”

Lucy’s already taking the stairs two at a time, sliding to a halt in front of a door that has 323 painted on it. She listens for a second but can’t hear that much movement from the inside but she knocks anyway, a few things crash to the floor inside and she feels her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest as she quickly knocks while calling out desperately, “Drew? Drew its Lucy, please open the door.”

A couple more crashes and what sounds like slurred cursing sounds from behind the door. The lock flicks open and the door swings open, but the sight they’re revealed with inside isn’t a pretty one. Drew’s opened the door from where she is on the floor, the smell of alcohol coming from the other woman is almost overwhelming. She’s wearing the dinosaur hoodie that Lucy and Vasquez had gotten for her when she was little and Lucy’s heart breaks even more to see her friend in such a miserable state. On the counter tops are several empty beer and liquor bottles, a few that have been spilled over.

Drew’s scrambling to get up, gripping the doorframe as she heads into the living room where most of her things are packed up in her military duffle – her last name stenciled on the side and the top of the pack beside it. Lucy finds even more bottles of alcohol in the fridge and freezer as she realizes now that Drew was planning on leaving even if it meant that she left most her furniture and things behind. Lucy goes into the living room, wondering how she could have missed her friend getting this bad. J’onn is trying to talk to the woman but she’s rather belligerent.

He catches the small ex-agent by the arm before she collapses onto the floor again and he can definitely tell something is wrong when she won’t look up at him – he senses her thoughts and feelings. The momentary flash of fear, the overarching feelings of pain both physical and mental searing through her body. Also added to the mix is the stifling grief that seem to be suffocating and insurmountable. Drew tries to pull away but her legs buckle and J’onn keeps her from falling, as he tells her softly, “You should come back to the DEO with us.”

Drew stumbles a bit and they both notice the smell of liquor on her breath is quite overpowering. She tries to pull away but she’s too weak and her alcohol addled mind can’t seem to think up any other plans as she tries to protest, slurring her words “No! I-I  can’t….work there anymore…I can’t be …here… in this city anymore.”

“Why not?” J’onn asks firmly, but instantly he’s assailed with images of Lucy, Maggie, and Alex – especially the warm, gentle smile of the detective and the way Drew associates safety and even love with the women. But he also feels the gaping void in Drew’s heart and mind – and the Martian knows now just how damaged and unstable Drew has become.

“Look sir…Sir, I-I respect you. I real..really do but I don’t work for you anymore,” Drew says, trying to get the words out even though her traitorous body is starting to tremble and she’s dizzy from the alcohol – regretting the morning whiskey she’d downed while packing her bag after a night of rather heavy drinking. She knows Hamilton has warned her multiple times about her drinking habits, but right now she really doesn’t care that her alcohol consumption has gotten out of control again.  It’s not like she could undo the damage she’d already done with years of functional alcoholism.

“If I let go of you, you’ll fall down,” J’onn tells her gently, feeling her shaking and worried that the young woman is going to collapse into seizures at any moment. The emotions and thoughts she’s having are so loud that he can barely stay focused – what stands out clearly is that having a few months of healthy, loving family dynamics and then having it ripped away had caused irreparable psychological damage.

“Then let me fall,” Drew slurs out, stumbling as she feels the blackness starting to settle over her senses. Her limbs suddenly feel as if they’re filled with warm lead, heavy and immovable. The pain lancing through her side is almost as painful as the memories playing out in her mind as it starts to get foggy and her vision starts to blur.

“Drew?” Lucy asks watching in horror and Drew lapses into unconsciousness and J’onn gently lays her sagging body down. She’s rushing to his side, calling out with concern, “J’onn?!”

“She’s stopped breathing, call for Kara,” J’onn orders as he tips Drew’s head back and checks for a clear airway and a pulse before starting chest compressions. He counts 30 compressions and administers breathes as Lucy calls Kara’s cell talking frantically to herself and hoping the Kryptonian shows up soon. After a few moments Drew starts to vomit, J’onn turns her on her side so she doesn’t choke even though it’s mostly just liquid and couple half-digested pain pills. “Just try to breathe.”

Kara’s showed up and looks a little scared at the scene before her, but J’onn quickly takes charge of the situation as his agent starts to lapse into unconsciousness again, “Take her to Alex at the DEO – she’s had a lot of alcohol and some pain medication.”

Kara gathers Drew into her arms and whisks her towards the DEO, she can hear how slow the agent’s heart is beating and that she seems so very still in her arms. Once she lands everything happens so fast – Alex, Hamilton and Eliza are quick to get the agent on a gurney.

“Kara? Kara!” Alex calls, trying to get her sisters attention, “What happened?”

“Alcohol poisoning and pain medication,” Kara stammers out, eye welling with tears as she looks at her little playmate all grown up and on the brink of death.

“Alex, start two large gauge IV’s,” Eliza orders quickly as she ushers Kara into the hallway, knowing that the blonde needs something to do to try and stay focused, “Could you call Maggie, let her know what’s going on.”

“Of course.”

Eliza returns to see Alex taping an IV cannula in place on Drew’s arm, pushing fluids as quickly as she can as Hamilton finishes putting the monitors on Drew. An alarm sounds as she starts to code, her blood pressure and heartbeat are incredibly low. Hamilton scrambles to get better equipment as she tells Eliza, “Can you intubate?”

“I can,” Eliza agrees, as she looks over to Alex who looks like she may freeze up so she calmly brings her back to the situation, “Alex, do we have epinephrine – we need to get her pulse up.”

“Right,” Alex states and quickly goes in search of what they’re going to need.

A couple hours later the three physicians are exhausted and a little disheartened. Drew’s stable, but her condition could deteriorate at any moment and likely would not improve. She’s unconscious and on ECMO, while there’s a good possibility that she can regain consciousness and breath on her own there’s just some damage that’s not going to heal. The fatty liver with cirrhotic lesions from years of alcohol abuse was unlikely to ever fully recover normal function.

Drew’s skin has a deathly pallor to it, looking rather ashen and gray in the florescent lighting. The skin around her nose and mouth – all filled with tubes – is reddened and irritated. Her chest moves with the strange lilted pattern of the machines that keep her alive making this situation that much more surreal for Alex. Eliza tries to comfort her daughter, knowing that she’s likely seeing the small child Drew had been just a couple weeks ago – she’s remembering the bright eyed little girl as well and it makes her heart lurch painfully in her chest.

Kara’s returned with J’onn and Lucy, Hamilton goes over what’s happened and Lucy breaks into sobs as she runs her fingers through Drew’s hair. Vasquez has come upstairs, having heard the news and rushed from the dessert base to be with Lucy – holding the Major’s hand and whispering to her quietly. After a while Hamilton and Eliza shoo them out so they can do further testing in private and also force Alex and Lucy to go eat and rest some.

Around noon Maggie finally gets Kara’s tearful message and is quick to drop by the DEO – Kara wasn’t clear about what happened so she worries that Alex may be injured. But she realizes that’s not the case when Maggie sees Alex pacing outside of the medical bay, her body language screaming closed off and anxious – similarly Lucy looks just as harried and upset. Picking up her pace she heads over to see what’s going on – worried that something has happened to one of their super family members. Getting to Alex she wraps an arm around her waist as she asks nervous, “Hey, Al, what’s going on?”

Alex just turns and buries her face in Maggie’s neck and cries as she explains, “Drew never showed up to work today, all we got were some hand written letters and resignation paperwork. J’onn went to go check on her…she was barely coherent and went unresponsive shortly after he got to her.”

“Alcohol poisoning,” Lucy finishes for Alex, her lip trembles but she’s still somehow managing to hold back tears. “Apparently she’s been a functional alcoholic for a while, she’s already showing signs of stage 3 cirrhosis.”

Maggie’s just as shocked as the rest of them, but even if she hadn’t known Drew as an adult she knew her as a child – and the thought of that sweet little girl growing up so abused that the only relief and rest Drew could find was at the bottom of a bottle breaks her heart. The rest of the afternoon they all take turns sitting at Drew’s bedside, Alex and Lucy talking to each other and to Drew – Alex assuring them that even though it seems like Drew can’t hear them there’s a good possibility that she could.

Around seven that evening Kara stops by with Lena, the two are rather upset but they’ve brought dinner for the group knowing that they’d likely not want to leave. They all eat in silence until Kara has to take Lena home and get ready for her nightly Supergirl duties – Eliza tries to get Alex, Maggie, and Lucy to go home and get some rest but settles for letting them sleep in the medical bay. Alex, her energy reserves still depleted falls asleep on the bed near Drew’s, curling into a ball and drifting into a fitful sleep.

Lucy falls asleep leaning against her already dozing girlfriend, grateful that Vasquez hadn’t tried to get her to go home – instead she just sat with her and held her during the agonizing wait. Maggie can’t seem to sleep, reaching over she rubs Alex’s back tenderly when she starts to whimper in her sleep. Nearby Eliza has fallen asleep on a gurney as well, not having bothered to take off her lab coat. Maggie scoots her chair closer to Drew’s bedside, listening to the humming and beeping of the machines, grateful they’re doing their job.

Reaching out she rests her had against Drew’s head, very tenderly ruffling dark hair as she speaks to her in hushed whispers, “Hey kiddo, I should have stopped you leaving the other day and really talked to you. I should have told you that even though you’re all grown up now that it didn’t mean that you couldn’t come to me and Alex if you were in trouble or needed help……I should have given you that hug you so desperately needed.”

Maggie spends the next few hours just talking softly to her until she tiredly has to give in to sleep and leans back in her chair exhaustedly hoping that in the morning there will be some improvement. Unfortunately, Hamilton and Eliza’s early morning assessments have shown no change and neither woman looks really hopeful. Instead, they are talking about care options should Drew not show much improvement in the next few days.

Before they can get any further in the conversation Winn’s rushing up the stairs and skidding to halt near them looking rather frantic, “Uh, I know now isn’t the time but we really need to batten down the hatches – General Lane is on his way here and we’ve gotten an executive order to hand over the shrink ray thingy!”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Alex practically growls, glowering at the thought of the asshole General coming in during the middle of all the emotional upheaval that’s been going one. She can already see that Lucy’s getting ready to try and handle this situation despite being a little disoriented by this morning’s turn of events so she quickly grasps her arm around her and tells her, “No, Luce we’ve got this covered – you should stay with Drew while J’onn and I take care of this. Mags, stay with her?”

“Absolutely,” Maggie agrees easily, patting the soldier on the back and telling her gently, “Let’s see about some coffee before we get settled in, hmm?”

By the time they get coffee and get settled into the medical bay General Lane has arrived and from the second he entered the base he was kicking up a fuss. Maggie can hear J’onn and Alex arguing with the asshole General about the proper way in which to conduct a transfer of assets but he’s being rather belligerent so she knows they’re going to make the process as difficult as possible for him. So far it’s been half an hour of rage phone calls, angrily shouted orders, and procedural foot dragging.

Across from her, sitting at Drew’s beside holding her hand is Lucy who has a rather dark scowl on her face – hating that her father is here and stirring shit up during an already difficult time for everyone. Eliza and Hamilton have both told her that Drew is currently stable but that some damage had already been done – how bad it was remains to be seen and would have to be assessed when she woke up.

But Lucy thinks to herself that Drew probably doesn’t want to wake up – not like this and not after getting a little glimpse of happiness and getting it stolen away.  After a moment of contemplating how in the world she’s going to handle this situation ethically Lucy decides she’s finally reached fuck it.

Getting up so quickly her chair scrapes against the floor startling Maggie she heads towards the door, hearing the police detective hot on her heels and calling after her, “Lucy?! Let’s not do anything rash, Lane.”

“It’s far too late for that, the only question you should be asking is if you’re in or you’re out,” Lucy tells her, not halting her pace in the least as she heads towards the elevator. She takes a glance down at the confrontation on the DEO floor and sees J’onn glancing up in her direction and figures she’s been found out. But instead he just turns back and asks if the General could take this discussion to a more private location given the sensitive nature of the topic.

“Please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing,” Maggie says warily as she follows after Lucy, not sure if she should stop her or help her.

 “Yes.”

“Lucy, no.”

“Yes”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, it’s the right thing to do,” Lucy states firmly, her mind completely made up as she slides her card on the elevator and presses the button for the restricted level. Seeing Maggie’s indecision, she grabs the police detective by the jacket sleeve and tugs her into the elevator and tells her earnestly, “You both deserve to have a family without all the hassle and Drew deserves a family. You and Alex will make sure she never goes another day of her life without feeling safe and loved, and that’s all I want for her.”

After a moment, Maggie smirks and nods, “Okay, so how do we go about getting the shrink ray thingy.”

“Easily enough.”

“You know, I think Alex and Kara have rubbed off on you,” Maggie remarks as she follows Lucy through the dangerous objects and substances repository, watching as Lucy pulls up the inventory and finds its location.

Running after the Major she watches as Lucy unlocks the case and pulls the weapon out and tells her, “I learned from the Danver’s sisters that sometimes you just have to get in trouble for doing the right thing.”

Both of them share a nervous look but Maggie just nods – she’s in wholehearted agreement with Lucy on this. It was the only way to keep this situation from devolving further and ending in tragedy. Maggie closes up the case and puts it back and Lucy erases her login and shuts down the computer.

“Now comes your part, keep an eye out for Alex, J’onn and my father. I’m sure we’ll hear them long before we see them but we don’t want to get caught red handed,” Lucy tells her as she leads them back through the hallways when the elevator doesn’t return quickly enough. Halfway up back to the medical bay and walking down a row of offices they can hear Sam’s bellowing voice and see him as he steps into the hallway.

Both women freeze, seeing that Alex is fuming even though J’onn is clearly trying to keep the peace between them. J’onn clearly sees them with the weapon standing in the hallway – they’ve been caught absolutely dead to rites. But J’onn just calmly states, “General Lane, I think this has gone on long enough. I’ll have one of my agents retrieve the weapon for you from the repository and bring it here. But in line with protocol we have some paperwork that needs to be worked out, but it shouldn’t take much longer.”

Maggie hums in approval as she watches General Sam Lane agree and follow J’onn back into the conference room. She can’t help but smirk to herself that this is going to be a massive surprise for Alex, even though J’onn’s secretly helping them out. As they pass into the operations lounge Maggie sees a few of the General’s uniformed men standing in the entry way they need to get through – catching Lucy by the sleeve before she can walk out into the open and be discovered, whispering, “Uniforms at 2 o’clock.”

Lucy curses under her breath, but before she or Maggie can formulate a new plan Winn comes up from behind them and pats them both on the back – almost making Lucy jump out of her skin as he assures, “Let me handle this. You two had better get back upstairs ASAP.”

The two women watch as Winn marches across the atrium calling to the two men, “General Sam’s escort? We’ve had a couple snags in the paperwork but it looks like we’re pulling your parcel out of the repository. I’ve been asked to take you to the holding area to receive it.”

With that Winn leads the men down the hallway towards the maintenance wing of the building – the only thing on that side of the build was storage, HVAC and redundant systems.  Lucy snickers she makes a mad dash for the stairs, sharing a quick look with her girlfriend who gives her a quizzical look – hoping Vasquez understands that she’ll explain everything later. Once up the stairs she leads them back to the medical bay, bursting into Drew’s room and quickly shutting the door.

Maggie laughs a bit as she leans back against the door, hear heart beating so quick her vision has spots as she says, “Wow, that was close.”

A throat clears across the room and Maggie and Lucy look over to see Eliza at Drew’s bedside, checking the young woman’s vitals. Eliza suspected that this was going to happen, but clearly by Maggie’s shocked expression and Lucy’s crestfallen look neither women were expecting her to be supportive. With a warm smile she checks Drew’s pulse and starts to remove the tape around the IV cannula as she tells them, “We have to get all of this equipment off of her before you can de-age her, she should be stable enough now.”

“You’re really going to help us?” Lucy asks as she looks at Alex’s mother with equal parts awe and relief.

“Of course, this is a little unorthodox but I suspect it’s the best treatment Drew could receive,” Eliza tells her as she works quickly but gently as she assures, “Just make sure you’ve got that thing calibrated correctly, Major. Maggie could you go into the supply closet and find some casting materials and bandages so we can treat little Drew.”

“Right,” Lucy agrees as she looks at the gun and remembers all the planning and schematics that went into recreating it. Turning it on and powering it up she watches the power core glow a brilliant blue as she turns the knob on the side to wind it back enough to make Drew little again but not erase her from existence.

“I’m on it,” Maggie says as she heads for the supplies, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans as she tosses her jacket aside and starts digging through the drawers and cabinet until she finds what she suspects Eliza was requesting.

“Alright, I’m taking her off support and extubating her,” Eliza says, working to remove the tube and making sure that Drew’s oxygen doesn’t drop dramatically as Lucy takes a firing stance at the foot of the bed. The Major looks nervous, as if she’s having second thoughts, but when Eliza finishes working and backs away she takes a calming breath and pulls the trigger.

For a second the three women aren’t sure if the gun had it’s intended effect since the light was so blinding they see stars for a moment. But the sound of a small child starting to cry lets them know that it was successful. The battered child looks around fearful, her eyes betraying her confusion and upset as she studies the women around her. Eliza is the first to come closer, feeling relieved that such a wounded child would now be getting the love and care she deserves – starting with medical care.

“Hey Drew,” Eliza says softly with a somber smile, stopping herself from gasping when Drew looks up at her – revealing a swollen black eye and split, puffy lip. Taking a few steps towards the child huddled in a blanket on the hospital bed Eliza feels like crying but tucks that emotion away for later – right now thinking of all the things she needs to do to properly examine the wounded child. As she kneels down so she can see Drew’s glittering dark eyes, she speaks tenderly “I’m Eliza, is it okay if I check you over? It looks like you have some booboos that must hurt.”

Drew gives her a dubious look but doesn’t say anything, lifting her shaky arm towards Eliza as if to give her permission to start with the injury that hurts the worst. Maggie’s close by and itching to pick up the child and comfort her - looking at the hand print shaped bruise on the girl’s tiny forearm – mottled all black and blue with splashes of purple and green telling Alex that there were multiple bruises at different stages of healing.

Maggie re-introduces herself, holding out her badge to the little girl who looks at her with profound relief before reaching for her. Maggie picks her up and cradles the child, tears glistening in her own eyes too as she talks to the whimpering child, “Oh mija, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”

 Eliza smiles at Maggie following her instincts with the child, comforting her as she does the exam. Moving Drew’s fingers delicately she sees the child shiver and bite back a whimper, apologizing quickly, “I’m sorry kiddo, we’re going to take a few pictures of your arm to make sure everything is okay. It doesn’t hurt, I promise.”

Eliza bring over the x-ray machine and lays out the plate before guiding Drew to hold her arm a certain way. And since the child is cooperating with her Eliza gets her to take x-rays of her head, neck, and chest to rule out any larger issues such as internal bleeding or broken ribs. Drew looks curiously at the machine, watching Eliza working quietly – the eldest Danvers offers her a smile when she catches her eyes and asks, “Do you wanna see?”

Drew nods slowly, watching as Eliza pulls up the x-ray images to show the child pointing out things and explaining, “That’s what your bones look like, sweetie. Those are your ribs, and the vertebra in your back, and these are you fingers. This is why your arm hurts when you move it, see right here, you have a small fracture in the bone that lets your hand turn like this.”

Drew looks curiously at the x-rays but upon Eliza pointing out the fracture tears start to well up in her dark eyes. When Eliza sees that she can’t help but reach over and rub Drew’s back tenderly, “Don’t worry we’ll get it fixed.”

Drew continues to pout, looking at the packages of casting tape that Eliza’s opening with dread as she starts to whimper and squirm in Maggie’s arms. Maggie can tell that something is still bothering the small child, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head she asks gently, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“H-hurt,” Drew whimpers barely at a whisper.

“Oh no, Sweetie. I’m not going to let it hurt,” Eliza assures softly, ruffling her hair gently as she nods to Hamilton to get out the twilight medication and some painkillers. She gets out some twilight medication and puts the little mask on Drew’s face, watching as the chemical mixture starts to make the child a little drowsy, “Just rest, this medicine can make you sleepy.”

Eliza cleans the burns and cuts, putting cream and gauze on them before setting to putting on the cast – carefully putting on rolls of padding before wrapping the small limb with light blue fiberglass. She presses the cast to hold the bone in place carefully, Drew squirming and whining a bit drowsily. Soon the ordeal is over, the cast in place and Eliza has brought over a couple lollipops trying to get Drew to let go of Maggie, but the child just whimpers when anyone tries to get her to move. The child is starting to get irritated and upset, tired tears trailing over reddened, puffy cheeks.

Maggie just pats Drew’s back and explains even though she’s brushing away her own tears, “It’s over, kiddo. I’m not putting you down I just need you to look at Eliza for a minute.”

Drew grudgingly complies even though she looks warily up at Eliza, tearful eyes worriedly scanning for anything that could be used to hurt her. Eliza looks a little heartbroken but she leans in and explains, “Hey sweetie, I’m sorry about all of that but now your arm should feel better.”

Drew’s lower lip wobbles, she’s not sure how much more poking and prodding her sore, aching little body can handle. That and she’s grown quite warm and comfortable in Maggie’s lap, feeling rather safe with the police detective she pleads quietly, “No more?”

“That’s right, no more,” Eliza assures holding out the candy to Drew who looks up at Maggie as if asking permission. When Maggie nods and encourages Drew picks the red lollipop, grateful when Eliza opens it for her.

Lucy has returned from her office, still rather annoyed that her father is still yelling and bullying her teammates and friends. She quickly hands Maggie the things of Drew’s that she kept, some warm clothes, the weighted blanket that helps the girl sleep when she’s restless, and the ankylosaur that Drew reaches for immediately. Handing it to her Lucy kneels down to smile at the child who no longer remembers her, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head before addressing Maggie seriously, “Take good care of her, Sawyer.”

Maggie, understanding that Lucy is saying goodbye to a dear friend while she and Alex will be welcoming a new daughter, reaches out and takes Lucy’s hand and squeezes it tightly as she tells her through tears, “We’re going to make sure she never wants for anything, Luce – and whenever you’re ready we want you to be a part of Drew’s life too.”

Lucy just nods while blinking back tears – it’s a bittersweet moment for her but she doesn’t have a shred of regret. She knows what she needs to do now – picking up the gun from where she laid it on the empty bed, she removes the small blue orb and slams it down on the ground with all her might. The orb stops glowing and shatters into a million small fragments that will not be put back together again. She closes the chamber of the gun and heads down stairs where she sees her father trying to dress down J’onn who looks like he’s trying not to smile – likely because he’s already well aware of what she’s done.

Alex however is practically growling and yelling back in the General’s puffy red face but looks confused as Lucy strolls forward and throws the gun into her father’s chest and commands as calmly as ever, “There’s your weapon, now get out of my base!”

Sam Lane would never be a man people would describe as being easily startled or shocked – if anything him with his loud, bullying mannerisms was usually causing shock to others. But today everyone at the DEO is presently deadly silent, looking at the General’s angry face that’s puffy, red and contorted with unconcealed rage quickly morphs into an expression of complete shock as he regards his rather petit daughter who’s glowering back at him with such a fury.

He raises his finger in the silence as if to remind her she’s speaking to a superior officer but she cuts him off, “Court martial me if you’re that offended, but blustering about and throwing your weight around is not how we handle these sorts of transfer of assets.”

General Lane blinks for a second and then thinking better of it he turns on his heel and marches out, practically throwing the weapon into a waiting case and ordering his men to exit the premises. Lucy scowls at him as he leaves, ordering Jenkins and Zamora, “Make sure General Lane is escorted off the premises fellas. Alex you’re needed upstairs in the med bay and J’onn you and I have a lot of paperwork to go over with Mr. Schott.”

“Indeed we do,” J’onn says with a subtle smile as he pats Alex on the shoulder, encouraging her to head upstairs knowing what surprise is in store for her. “Take a minute to calm down before going upstairs, everything is going to work out, Alex.”

Alex nods, heading towards the breakroom to get a cup of coffee her temples throbbing from getting into a yelling match with the old windbag. After finishing half her cup of coffee she mentally prepares herself to go back upstairs, hoping that Drew’s condition has changed for the better. Sighing she kind of wishes that Lucy hadn’t handed over the weapon so soon, as it’s likely to be dangerous in the hands of the US military but a part of her really wished she could have gotten her hands on it one more time. Sighing she heads back upstairs, as she enters the med bay and heads towards the rooms she hears odd noises.

Maggie and Eliza are chatting, which isn’t unusual in the least, but the sounds of the high pitched tone of a child’s voice strikes her as odd. It takes a second before it suddenly dawns on Alex what’s happened and she rushes into the room, wide eyed and mouth agape as she finds her wife sitting on the bed with Drew in her lap. The child is dozing tiredly, when Maggie talks to her she wakes up - blinking a couple times before reaching for Maggie, clutching at her jacket and pressing her face to Maggie’s neck to try and get comfortable enough to sleep again. Maggie’s badge is clutched once again in a tiny casted hand.

Maggie chuckles talking to her as she rakes her fingers through the girl’s dark hair, “Hey there’s someone you should meet, baby.”  

Alex is still frozen stock still, not really sure if she can trust her eyes at the moment. She opens her mouth but no words come out which just makes Maggie chuckle at her and wave her over.

“About time you showed up Danvers, I was getting worried you were going to leave me being a single parent,” Maggie teases as she smiles at Alex, whispering to Drew and encouraging her to interact with Alex. The little girl perks up as Alex comes closer, still looking shocked as she sits on the edge of the bed clearly in awe that they had managed to de-age Drew a second time before General Lane absconded with the weapon.

Drew looks to Maggie as if to ask if this new woman is safe and when Maggie nods she carefully reaches out and clasps Alex’s tactical shirt and tugs gently. Maggie nods and encourages her with a few whispers and a kiss to her temple, watching as Drew looks cautiously at Alex and asks tentatively in a soft, unsure voice, “Mama?”

Alex melts immediately, breaking into a watery smile as she reaches out and picks Drew up to cradle her against her chest. She feels the small fingers lacing in her shirt and the soft puffs of breath against her neck as Drew lays her head against her shoulder. A few tears well up and spill onto her cheeks as she rocks the small child, she can’t find the words to express to Maggie how much joy she’s feeling at being called mama.

Maggie wraps her arms around her wife and child, brushing away Alex’s tears and pressing a kiss to both of them. Eliza has tears in her eyes as she ruffles Alex’s short red hair, but instead of more tears Alex chuckles, and after a few moments she can’t stop laughing, wheezing out an apology when Drew whines unhappily at being jostled and woken up, “I’m sorry, sweet girl.”

“What’s so funny?” Eliza asks with a mirthful grin as she reaches over to rest a hand against Drew’s small back, rubbing gently to ease her back to sleep.

“I drove my bike here today,” Alex chuckles as Maggie starts to laugh too at the absurdity.

“Well, the good news is I have a patrol car,” Maggie assures as she gathers up a few things and grabs a blanket and hands it to Alex, watching as she swaddles the child to protect against the cold when they leave. She’s already mentally make a list of things they’re going to need to childproof their apartment when J’onn, Lucy and Winn return.

J’onn sees Alex practically glowing as she cradles the toddler and rocking her, he can sense the genuine joy and overwhelming happiness coming off of her in waves. He wraps her up in a hug and presses a kiss to her temple, he’d assured her that motherhood would happen for her and he’s glad he was right because it suits her and Maggie. He cuffs Maggie’s shoulder gently and tells them both, “Congratulations.”

“Yeah, congrats!,” Winn says as he waves a few papers at the couple, “Drew Madeline Danvers-Sawyer. We had to work some technological magic but it’s official.”

Alex and Maggie look at all the paperwork, even though it’s right there in black and white it still hasn’t really sunk in yet. After a few minutes, and even more cuddles Eliza helps them get a car seat installed in the back of Maggie’s black and white. Drew wakes up and is more than thrilled to see that she’s getting to ride in the police car, making a childish imitation of the sirens she hopes Maggie will turn on for her at least once.

“I’ll see you at Kara’s for dinner in a hour or two, right?” Eliza asks hopefully, smiling when Alex’s eyes widen – clearly in these last few blissful moments she’d complete forgot that they’ll need to share the news with Kara. “I promised potstickers with Chinese for dinner.”

“Of course!” Alex exclaims with a grin as she points to Maggie with a smile on her face, “Lights and sirens are fine for a bit but we’re not Mad Maxing it with our precious child in the car.”

“I’m in wholehearted agreement,” Maggie states as she buckles Drew up in the car seat even though she pouts a bit, but Maggie draws her attention back to the badge at tells her, “We won’t be long kiddo, we’re going to meet the rest of your new family. I know it might be a little scary, but we’ll be there the whole time.”

Alex calls Kara, and lets her know that they’re going to be have a plus one for dinner, and for the foreseeable future giving her a run down on the rather dramatic things she’d missed at the DEO. The new family gets to Kara’s apartment a little later than they’d like – stopping to get some pull ups and a snack for the three year -old. Alex is excited and anxious at the same time about introducing Drew to Kara, hoping that her sister can spend some time getting to know Drew and letting the toddler get used to the new environment. Maggie’s chatting with Drew who’s pointing out all the new things as Alex knocks on the door.

Both women are a little confused when Kara doesn’t answer right away. Maggie just smirks as she looks over at her wife who just gives her a wink and teases, “I bet you a date night at that new place on the waterfront that Lena’s here and that’s why Kara’s running a little late – can’t use super speed for everything.”

“Oh my god, Maggie,” Alex states, cringing at her wife’s implications but she at least knows better than to make that bet, “Also, I’m no fool – no bet! Isn’t that right kiddo, your new mama’s no fool.”

“No fool,” Drew states in agreement, offering a smile as she plays with Alex’s necklace with her head resting against her shoulder. She’s not sure how she got here or where these two women came from – but she’s content that they’re caring for her.

A few seconds later Kara opens the door looking a little winded, her cheeks flushed and hair mussed up as she steps to the side and tells them, “Hey, I-I uh, lost track of time I guess. Come on in.”

Alex and Maggie follow Kara in, Drew – perched happily in Maggie’s arms - looks at Kara a little dubiously but doesn’t say anything. Alex snickers a bit as she sees Lena sneaking out of Kara’s bedroom wearing a pair of her sister’s sweatpants and one of the Stanford hoodies she’d left over here after one of her and Kara’s sister nights. Alex smirks at how sheepish and adorable Lena looks, blushing bashfully, and she can’t help but tease, “Lost track of time, huh? Good thing I didn’t take that bet, huh Mags?”

Lena blushes a darker shade of red but can’t help but smile when Kara comes over and hugs her from behind and presses a kiss to her temple while grinning at her sister, “Yep, and I have the best excuse in the world but perhaps not in front of the kiddo.”

Lena sees Alex setting the child down and her eyes widen as she asks, “Drew?! They let you…?”

“Yeah, they didn’t so much as let us, per se… More like Lucy and I decided to break some rules,” Maggie says softly as she kneels down to talk to Drew, gently encouraging her, “Hey, you going to go say hello to your Aunt Kara and Aunt Lena?”

Drew looks dubious for a second but just nods, still not letting go of Maggie’s hand and dragging her along with her to go look at the two new women curiously. Lena’s kneeled down to get on the child’s level and smiles brightly, clearly conveying that she thinks that Drew getting to start over is the best possible outcome. Kara’s right beside her, sitting down in the floor and beaming brightly as Drew stops in front of them, fidgeting nervously and whining as she turns back and reaches for Maggie and Alex.

Alex kneels down and ruffles Drew’s hair gently as Maggie plops down in the floor and patiently picks her up, soothing, “It’s okay to be scared or nervous, but Kara and Lena are going to just love you.”  

“Kara? ‘Ena?” Drew asks softly, head tilting adorably with confusion as she tries out the names for the first time. She still keens fearfully when Maggie tries to set her on her feet, reaching for Alex instead.

“Kara’s my sister, sweetheart,” Alex explains to Drew, turning her around in her arms to point to her sister who’s smiling patiently. With some patient encouragement and a lot of hugs and kisses Drew’s set on her feet and given a gentle nudge towards the two women, starting to toddle towards them.

“Yep, I’m your Aunt Kara,” Kara confirms chuckling softly as she picks up Drew and settles her in her lap. Lena sits down beside them, grinning as Drew looks at them both a little anxiously, “This is your Aunt Lena, and trust me when I tell you we are going to spoil you rotten. Maybe not as much as grandma, but we are definitely going to spoil you. What are you thinking cutie?”

“Play?” Drew asks a bit timidly, playing with strands of Lena’s long, dark hair as she studies her face and finding comfort in the warm, green eyes. Leaning back against Kara so she can look up to get a good look at her. When she sees happy, blue eyes and a gentle smile she just relaxes and accepts that these women are clearly trustworthy.

Maggie’s brought over a juice box and the Ankylosaur toy that Drew reaches for immediately, as Alex finishes responding to a text and announces, “Mom’s coming over, bringing pot stickers – you’ll just have to tough it out until pizza night Kara. I know how much you just hate those things.”

Kara groans as Lena starts to laugh, “I’m never going to live that down am I?”

“Not a chance,” Maggie grins, she has the video of little Kara refusing her favorite food and it’s easily one of her favorite things to watch when she’s in a bad mood – cheering her up in an instant. She has a feeling it’s going to be joined very quickly by an endless stream of videos of Drew and Lena and Kara together. She can’t wait for the next bring your kid to work day because Drew will just have such an amazing time and all her co-workers are going to love

“You hating pot stickers has to be the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in a while,” Lena agrees, kissing Kara’s temple in apology when the blonde starts to pout – she would deny having the video Ruby sent her on her phone. She’d deny it even more if asked how many times a week she watches it just to get a good chuckle.

“I have no idea why I was being so picky,” Kara admits with a laugh, looking down at Drew she asks playfully, “You aren’t picky are you, Drew?”

Drew nods, stating matter-of-factly as she thinks about the oddly textured snack Alex had tried to give her earlier and wrinkles her nose, “I’m picky.”

An hour later Eliza arrives sometime half an hour later with a variety of takeout but more than enough pot stickers to go around. She’s quick to set down the things and bring over a gift wrapped in bright blue paper to give to the child – Alex and Maggie share a couple smiles at how excited the family matriarch is about the first grandchild. The family is sitting in the floor, an old copy of Candy Land spread out on the rug with the women showing the child how to play – Lena explains the colors and how to move about the board.

“Hey Drew, look who’s here,” Lena tells the child gently, drawing her attention away from the brightly colored game and directing it towards Eliza. Alex plonks herself down in the floor next to her mother, watching as Drew tries to connect the dots between all the people around her.

Drew watches as Eliza comes near, listening as Alex explains that this is her mother who is also a doctor like Alex is. It would seem that Drew’s associating Eliza with the cast and the medical bay at the DEO until the woman explains that she’s her grandmother. Eliza can tell she’s going to have to handle her interactions with Drew carefully when the child looks at the present wrapped in blue paper with a white bow as if it was bomb when it’s set in front of her. Which seems to explain why the child hadn’t been that interested in the Christmas trees and piles of wrapped gifts like most children would be.

“Mija, it’s a gift,” Maggie tells her, but when Drew gives her a helpless look she comes closer and lifts the child into her lap and pulls the present closer, “A gift is something that someone gives us – like a toy or something that we want.”

“Why?” Drew asks curiously as she toys with the white bow on the top of the package.

“Because they care about us and want us to be happy,” Maggie tells her and then gives her a more detailed explanation, “Eliza’s your grandma and she got you a present because she figured it would be something that you’d like, don’t you want to see what she got for you?”

Drew nods with a growing smile as she carefully starts to unwrap the package, peeling away the tape instead of just ripping right into the paper. Eliza finds it amusing how meticulous the child is, remembering both Alex and Kara tearing into their presents with paper flying everywhere. As she moves the tissue paper out of the way her eyes light up and she squeals happily as she picks up the plush stegosaurus and hugs it tightly.

“I’d say you picked a winner,” Alex chuckles as she leans into her mother’s embrace, watching as Drew squeals again while looking the stuffed dinosaur over and showing it to Lena who also seems genuinely intrigued.

Maggie patiently just rocks her and presses her lips to the child’s temple so grateful that Drew’s going to be so loved with them. She had to keep wiping away tears earlier when she’d seen all the bruises and burn marks earlier – it hurt her heart to think about how much abuse Drew must of tolerate while growing up the first time around. Maggie takes a breath to calm down, anger at the child’s long deceased abusers still burning I her veins. She hugs Drew tightly, kissing the crown of her head as she tells her daughter, “Say thank you, kiddo.”

 Drew gets up and reaches for Eliza as she says softly, “Thank you.”

“You are so welcome, Drew,” Eliza says as she hugs the child, she can feel the tears welling up in her eyes. The doctor in her is concerned – both for Drew and her own daughter – wondering if Alex and her wife understand just how much work it is to care for a child and hoping that the transition into permanent parenthood is as easy as it can be. She knows that Alex and Maggie will rise to the challenge, and she and Kara will be there every step of the way, but she still worries. 

Alex takes a moment to get up and stretch her legs. Going to the refrigerator she gets a juice box for the toddler, and one for Kara, taking a moment to rest leaned against the counter. She watches as her mother, Kara, and Lena finish of the game they’d started – helping the little girl count the squares and list off the fun colors on the board. She’s memorizing the way Drew is starting to relax a bit and even smile and giggle – relieved that there’s going to be so many more memories they’re going to be making as a family

“You okay there Danvers?” Maggie asks with a warm smile as she leans up against the counter, she knows Alex’s I’m-so-happy-I-can’t-even smile from a mile away. Reaching out she takes her hand and tugs her wife in for a brief kiss, just soaking in the joyful atmosphere for a few moments.

“I’m just…so happy. So overwhelmingly happy and I didn’t know that was possible,” Alex tells her, watching as their family seems to meld together perfectly getting to know the new addition. She listens in on the conversations in the living room, watching as Lena is quickly singled out by the child with a little grunt and small outstretched hands. The Luthor heiress picks her up and hums softly to her as the others snap pics and coo at the how adorable the moment is.

“That’s happiness, get used to it,” Maggie quips with a smile, remembering when she’d told Alex that after the first time they’d spent the night together. She hugs Alex’s against her side as she watches Drew start to look like she’s getting upset – whining and fussing a bit as Lena tries to comfort her, “I think little bit is starting to get cranky – you’d better go get her while I get her a plate.”

“I’m on it,” Alex says pecking Maggie on the lips before she heads towards the group. Lena looks a little out of her depth with the teary eyed child giving the red head a desperate look. She can’t help but smirk a little as she comes over to get Drew, picking the child up and setting her against her hip, “Someone’s hungry, huh Drew?”

Drew nods in agreement, grumbling when Alex sets the stuffed animals to the side and heads towards the table while the others get up to help themselves to the food. Maggie’s already gotten a plate of cut up pot stickers and chow mien for Drew and another plate of sweet and sour pork for Alex. A part of Alex is still anxious, knowing that she was going to have Drew for the rest of her life and the huge responsibility that entails. But at the same time, the weight of the child in her arms and the way Drew’s small hands clasp at her shirt feels right. When Drew whines at being set down Alex lifts her into her lap chiding quietly, “Alright, I’ve got you but you know I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Drew doesn’t seem convinced but doesn’t fuss as she’s cuddled in Alex’s lap contently. Alex eats and chats with her family, making sure that Drew eats some of her food as well – even though the child picks at the food and drops noodles in her lap.

As the dinner is winding down Drew’s curled up against Alex, head resting against her breast as she starts to doze off tiredly, sighing softly when Alex starts to rock her gently. Once she’s asleep Alex places her on the sofa, tucking her in with a pillow and blanket Kara provides for her.

In the middle of their game of One Night Ultimate Werewolf Eliza breaks out a cake that has Kara looking at it longingly – it’s decorated with a stork on the front. She also presents a bottle of champagne with bright yellow ribbon tied around the neck it which she hands to Alex and Maggie, hugging them both as she congratulates them, “Congratulations, it’s a girl.”

Alex and Maggie are both beaming and teary eyed as they pass around glasses to toast their new motherhood along with slices of cake. The finishes their first game and no one is surprised at the amount of betrayals and character deaths as they all play a bit recklessly.

Kara gets the munchies as they start up a round of Codenames, microwaving a few bags of popcorn for them even though Lena and Alex both protest, claiming that they’ve already had too much to eat. Maggie teases her about how she should probably try to eat more fruits and vegetables that has everyone cracking up – Kara pouts, but that just earns her gentle affirmations and a kiss from Lena.

“I hope you know we’re going to spoil Drew rotten,” Kara tells them with a grin, laying her hand over Lena’s and squeezing gently before popping some more popcorn in her mouth, “That also gives me an excuse to buy even more board games and stuff for Game Nights – like Mouse Trap, Pretty Pretty Princess…”

“You think my dinosaur girl is going to want to play Pretty Pretty Princess?!” Alex guffaws and with a teasing smirk she shoots back, “You can play dress up anytime you want Kara – and I’m sure Lena wouldn’t mind helping you out.”

Maggie, who was taking a drink, nearly chokes as she starts to laugh as she watches the super and Luthor light up bright red at the teasing. As soon as she regains her composure Lena tells the couple, “I hope you know Winn is going to want to make a video game system, and Ruby is going to want to babysit when she’s a little older. I’ll also be asking to take her on a trip to see the Wooly Mammoth hybrid – a pet project that L-Corp purchased last week along with some other paleontology endeavors.”

“She’s going to love it,” Alex agrees with a laugh, looking over to make sure that Drew is still sleeping soundly on the sofa – surrounded by loved ones.

Maggie’s choked on her glass of champagne, sputtering as she asks with wide eyes, “Please tell me you’re going to be making a real Jurassic Park.”

“Well, it will have to be called something else – I’m sure that name’s copyrighted,” Lena says with a proud grin, she’d come in to her office this morning and found a set of plastic dinosaurs had been lined up on her desk with a file from Sam that listed several rather interesting projects. Sam was also kind enough to include financial reviews and what was left over in the R&D budget from last quarter – sparking her rather expensive impulse buys. At least she can now use Drew as an excuse to get a few more off the list – knowing that the child is going to love all the dinosaur exhibits they’re going to go to in the future.

As the evening starts to wind down Eliza’s gotten out bottles of water for everyone to sip on as the evening winds down. Drew’s still sleeping contently on the sofa, an arm wrapped around each of her stuffed dinosaurs and drooling lightly on the pillow. Kara picks up the last couple games and tucks them away in the closet before sitting back down beside Lena, resting her hand over the other woman’s and lightly tracing her fingers over Lena’s. Now that she and Lena are dating exclusively she can’t seem to be this close to her girlfriend and not be touching her. Thankfully, Lena seems to appreciate the physical affection and returns it with great gusto.

“You’ll have to make more trips to Midvale hopefully,” Eliza pipes up with a smile, now that she has a grandchild she’s going to want to take her to the lab for science days, walk her along the beach with all the sea shells and the crabs. She also knows Alex and Maggie may not appreciate it but she also wants to show her the candy shop on the pier to introduce her to her favorite salt water taffies.

“Absolutely! It’s never too early to get her started surfing if she likes the ocean,” Alex teases with a grin, wondering seriously if Drew will like the ocean as much as she does. She wonders what this child will grow up to be like, if she’ll have interests and hobbies in common with her and Maggie, what would be her favorite subject in school, was she going to be as troublesome as Alex was with dating and prom. Shrugging Alex thinks to herself that it doesn’t really matter though because no matter what she’s always going to be there to love and support her.

“Yeah, no. Let’s start off with some water wings in the kiddie pool first,” Maggie grouses, recalling her failed attempts at surfing the last time they’d visited Midvale – the sand burn on the side of her butt cheek had been as painful as it had been embarrassing.

Alex just chuckles at Maggie’s mention of the water wings, but she just nods knowing that her wife only wants what’s best for their daughter. As Alex mind tries to wrap around all the new changes in her life it suddenly dawns on her that they have a daughter. Her brain short circuits for a second and she can’t help but utter in disbelief, “We have a daughter.”

“Yeah, Drew is our daughter,” Maggie affirms, grinning a bit as she sees the permanence of the situation has just now clicked for Alex. Wrapping her arms around her wife she pulls her close and presses a kiss to Alex’s temple as she tells her affectionately, “Congratulations Danvers, it’s a girl.”

Alex takes a breath as it finally sinks in and she quickly bursts into tears, the torrent of emotions ranging from sheer happiness to terror all surge through her at once. Maggie and Eliza are quick to try and comfort the red head, and Alex can’t help but hold onto her mother and her wife tightly as she stammers out in disbelief, “I’m a mother.”

“Yes, my sweet girl, and you’re going to be such a wonderful mother, Alexandra,” Eliza tells her warmly, tears in her eyes too as she hugs her daughter and daughter-in-law, “You and Maggie both.”

“It just hit you didn’t it, babe,” Maggie teases lovingly as she rubs her wife’s back tenderly to try and ease the overwhelming feelings.

“Yeah, kind of,” Alex admits, smiling through the last of her tears, “It’s just a little overwhelming to think about, I don’t want to mess up somehow.”

“You’re going to be wonderful, Alex,” Lena tells her sincerely, reaching across the table to rest her hand over Alex’s. Even if Lena hadn’t had the first hand experience of being cared for by the agent she just knew the first time she discussed parenthood desires with her that Alex would be a wonderful mother.

Kara follows suit and encourages her sister, knowing that Alex has some anxious hang ups about protecting and caring for people, “You’re going to be the best mom ever, Alex. You are such a good sister to me – always making sure I was safe and taken care of. I can already tell that you’re going to be all that and more for Drew.”

“Mommy?” comes a small, worried voice from beside them.

Alex is quick to wipe her tears away when she sees that Drew has woken up and is padding over in her mismatched socks – the small child is looking for her while rubbing her eyes sleepily and clutching the stuffed dinosaur in her other hand. Quickly she gets up and scoops Drew up, cradling her to her chest and letting the little girl rest her head against her shoulder. Pacing the living room, a bit she soothes the child, assuring her, “Hey darling, mommy’s here.” 

“We should probably get home and put the kiddo to bed,” Maggie suggests with a smile, rubbing Drew’s back as she thinks about how glad she is that Drew and Alex are bonding with each other even more.

“Good, we’ll see you two this weekend hopefully,” Lena says as she sees Drew starting to fall asleep, patting the girl’s back softly she tells her, “Sweet dreams, Drew.”

Once at the apartment Alex finds that J’onn has dropped off and set up some children’s things. He also left a note to tell the couple that he and some of the others had come over to child proof the apartment and make sure they had essentials for Drew. Maggie can’t help but smile as she sets the note down, rubbing Alex’s back she tells her, “Why don’t you let me hold her while you get ready for bed.”

Soon enough Maggie’s settled into bed with Drew sleeping contently against her chest, already starting to drool on her sweatshirt. Maggie’s checking her phone and texting her boss that she’s going to need to file some new paperwork, with her other hand she’s running her fingers through Drew’s hair. Her boss, ever the night owl asks what kind and Maggie quickly snaps a selfie with the child and sends it to her. When she looks up she sees Alex smiling fondly at them, still brushing her teeth and returning to the bathroom to rinse her mouth out before joining them. Alex can’t help but grin tiredly as she and Maggie start to fall asleep, tomorrow was the first day of the rest of their lives – and while she’s excited to get started she’s going to savor these moments as much as possible.

“Oh…fuck,” Alex mutters softly in the darkness.

“What?”

“I forgot Christmas is next week.”

Maggie can’t help but start to laugh as she tucks the blankets around herself and the contently sleeping child.

Chapter Text

“Maggie, Maggie – wake up,” Alex whispers with her lips curled into a smile as she nudges her sleeping wife, chuckling to herself as Maggie grumbles and starts to stir – scrubbing at her face with a hand. Grinning like a Cheshire cat Alex encourages, “Come on, Mags.”

“I’m up, where’s the fire?” Maggie states as she quickly sits up, starting to pull the covers back as if to tackle a full on emergency only to hear Alex start laughing and feel her wife wrap her arms around her shoulders and pull her back against her.

“No emergency,” Alex assures, ruffling Maggie’s hair only to get a sleep glare in return.

“Danvers, why are we up so early?!” Maggie asks incredulously, scowling a little and being roused from such a sweet, restful sleep only to find out that there was no pressing reason for her to have to get up and leave the warmth of their bed.

“It’s Christmas!” Alex chirps happily, just hugging her grumbling wife tighter – she’s already gotten up and turned on the Christmas tree lights in the living room. She feels a little childish about how happy she is about the holiday season – she and Kara both seemed to be way more enthusiastic with the decorating and holiday activities than both Maggie and Lena.

So far they’d dragged their respective partners ice skating, to pick out trees, and gotten them to build gingerbread houses with them – even though Drew ended up getting a stomach ache from eating as much frosting as she could. A part of her doesn’t feel so bad being excited because now that Drew is a part of their lives all of the traditions she’s gotten used to doing every year feel new when she sees Drew experience them for the first time.

“Hon, I know this is going to be hard to hear but Santa’s not real – most kid figure that out in elementary school,” Maggie teases with a laugh that’s interrupted by a yawn as she leans back against her wife – she’s excited to have a first Christmas with Drew but at the same time all the doubles she’s been pulling for the past week have been hell on her sleep schedule.

All of that on top of having to pack up boxes and move across the city – the undercover house that was mysteriously retired and the keys mysteriously found their way into a Christmas card J’onn gave to the couple. So moving on top of crime not taking a break and rather clingy toddler was a recipe for no sleep. With another yawn she snuggles up against Alex and hopes to get a few more hours of sleep – the sun hasn’t even risen yet!

“Har har, it’s our kids first Christmas babe, aren’t you excited?” Alex asks with a bright smile as she leans back against the pillows for a moment.

“Of course I’m excited, but that doesn’t mean we have to get up at the ass crack of dawn,” Maggie states, voice muffled against Alex’s shoulder where she’s content to doze off.

“Maggie?!”

“Little bit isn’t even up yet,” Maggie protests as she gets up with her wife, putting on a pair of socks and her bathrobe to ward off any cold weather that may have snuck into National City.

Alex is already padding up the stairs to Drew’s room, dodging unpacked boxes and a couple discarded tiny tennis shoes. Alex pauses in the doorway, looking in on their child and smiling back at Maggie before nodding her over and pointing with a chuckle, “You were right, I just expected her to be sitting by the tree or climbing into bed with us to get us up.”

Sure enough Drew is snoozing away peaceful. When Alex goes to wake her the child’s little sleeping face scrunches up and she whines, rolling over. Maggie can’t help but chuckle about a child that’s not thrilled about being up with the sun – even if it is Christmas morning.

“Drew, it’s Christmas.” Alex tells her softly, hoping the coax the child into waking up – wanting to see the child unwrap the ungodly number of gifts everyone has gotten for her. She’s thrilled to be starting new Christmas traditions of her own with Maggie and their child, but it would seem that Drew isn’t as thrilled. The toddler just grumbles and snuggles further under the covers as Alex asks, “Are you ready to get up and see about some breakfast and what Santa brought you?”

“No…” Drew whimpers tiredly, blinking sleepily and looking as if she’s about to cry.

Maggie just chuckles softly as she reaches down and lifts the child into her arms, shushing her tenderly when she whines and lets out a quiet sob, “On no, we’re not getting up sweetheart – we’re going to all go back to our big bed and snuggle some more. Mama just got excited and jumped the gun this morning.”

“My girls need more sleep don’t they?” Alex asks affectionately, pressing a kiss to Drew’s temple before kissing her wife – she guides them both down stairs. Once there Drew quickly crawls to the middle of the bed and snuggles up against the pillows, reaching for Maggie as she lays down and tugging on Alex’s hand to get her to come closer too. Alex lets out a soft huff of laughter as she sees Maggie’s eyes already fluttering closed, “More sleep and some cuddles, then we’ll see what time everyone else wants to come over.”

Alex notice that she may as well have been talking to herself when she sees Drew snoring softly against Maggie, little fingers threaded in the detective’s shirt lightly. Maggie is also already asleep again, and it will only be a matter of time before she starts to drool on her pillow. Shaking her head, Alex just snuggles closer and wonders how much of a night owl Drew is going to be as she gets older – wondering if that means that Drew is not going to be joining her on her morning runs ever.

Downtown at Lena Luthor’s penthouse the Luthor heiress wakes up toasty warm and snuggled up against a rather solid frame. Smiling as she cracks her eyes open she finds Kara’s migrated over the rather large be in her sleep to wrap her up into an embrace, long legs tangled with hers. Lena just smiles to herself as squirms back under the covers and back against Kara, pulling the arm around her tighter as she relishes in the closeness and warmth.

“Lena, you awake?” Kara whispers tentatively, pressing a kiss to Lena’s shoulder – not sure if her girlfriend is awake or if she isn’t let her sleep some more.

Lena chuckles as she turns over in Kara’s embrace to throw an arm around her waist, “I’m awake, how long have you been up?”

“A while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Uh, since four this morning,” Kara sheepishly admits, cheeks pinking up with embarrassment as she tries to explain, “I’m just excited for Christmas is all, but I know you’re not really a morning person so I let you sleep. Don’t get me wrong – and don’t take this in a creepy way – but it was just nice to cuddle with you.”

Lena starts to openly laugh as she draws back enough to look at Kara before kissing her soundly, “You are absolutely adorable when you start stammering, but there’s no need for apologies – I’m honestly really happy with the cuddles and incredibly grateful you didn’t wake me up at that ungodly hour in the morning.”

Kara can’t help but start to laugh as she starts to get up, when Lena starts to pout Kara just presses a kiss to her lips before informing her, “I’ll be back, and trust me you won’t regret it.”

Lena still pouts a bit to herself as Kara strolls into the kitchen, she leans back against the pillows against the headboard. After a couple seconds she pulls the covers up over her shoulders to keep the lukewarm air out as she waits patiently for Kara. She can hear the bubbly, cheerful woman rummaging through the kitchen and saying childish curse words when she noisily drops something. Lena can’t help but chuckle, wondering what Kara’s gotten up to and when a particularly loud crash sounds she calls out, “Kara, are you alright? Do you need any help?”

“No, nope, I’m good!”

“Try not to hurt yourself, Love,” Lena calls after her affectionately, grinning as she hears footsteps. When she looks up she sees Kara carefully bringing a tray into the bedroom, a large bouquet of red and white roses sitting in the middle – and two steaming mugs of coffee. The way Kara’s looking at her – with that soft adoring look she reserves just for her – makes her heart melt and tears spring up in the corners of her eyes. She didn’t know she was capable of feeling so much happiness she feels like bursting, but Kara’s always been one to prove her wrong.

“I’m literally invincible, your stew pot on the hand – not so much,” Kara beams as she carefully sets the tray on the bed and offers the purple mug of coffee – with cream and chocolate mixed in for good measure – to Lena. Picking up her own hot chocolate with marshmallows floating in a pile on top and explains, “We’ve also got Russian tea cakes – your favorites – even though I know we’re having the rest of the gang over for breakfast. I just wanted us to have a few quiet moments together before it’s a flurry of wrapping paper and ribbons.”

Lena chuckles as she brushes away tears, accepting the mug as she careful scoots closer to Kara, leaning against her as she sips at the beverage. After a few moments of enjoying the closeness and intimacy of the moment she compliments Kara on such a welcome gift, “Thank you for the flowers, they really are lovely.”

“That’s not all,” Kara grins as she hands Lena an envelope, watching with barely concealed anticipation as the other woman carefully opens it and looks at the pictures and the letter.

“Kara?”

“It’s a long weekend getaway to a cabin in Canada, there’s even a hot spring and spa – also Jess gave me great restaurant and ski-pass recommendations when she cleared your schedule,” Kara smiles proudly as she sees Lena running her fingers over the image of a cute cabin that’s got a few feet of snow and smoke floating from the chimney.

Lena disrupts the now empty mugs as she gets up and straddles Kara’s lap, cupping both of her cheeks in her hands as she leans in to capture her lips in a kiss. Kara’s hands find her waist, rucking up her nightgown so she can feel each other skin to skin. The super can’t help but smile into the kiss, blissfully happy that she and Lena both got up the courage to move forward with a fully fledge relationship. The couple makes out for a little while but just as things are starting to get out of hand, Lena pulls away and reminds with a coy little smile, “We have guests this morning and presents to open.”

“I’d rather have you for my present,” Kara states without even thinking about, and after a second she blushes as red as her cape even though Lena bursts into fond laughter and tugs her over by the sleeve of her robe to kiss her.

“Oh, you can unwrap me later, dearest,” Lena says as she saunters into the bathroom to get dressed, checking her phone to see a picture of Alex, Maggie and Drew in the car showing off a box of cinnamon rolls and a message that they’re on their way.

Sure enough, by the time Lena’s out of the shower and dressed she can hear Kara answering the door for her mother who has brought up her presents for their growing family. Soon after Maggie and Alex arrive with Drew. The couple is loaded down with packages and the box of cinnamon rolls that Kara is eyeing, mouth already watering in anticipation of the sweet breakfast buns. Maggie thumps Kara playfully on the shoulder with a teasing smile while adjusting Drew in her arms, “Try to leave some for the rest of us, especially since we’ve got a kiddo to feed now.”

Kara asks with a bright smile, as she reaches over to tickle the small child who bashfully hides her face against her mother’s neck, “Hey, little bit, you ready to see what Santa got you?”

“No!” Drew states firmly, the rather large man in red with a white beard is not her favorite person – she along with a small percentage of children weren’t fond of the jolly figure. She didn’t want the man to come into her home for any reason – even if he was supposed to be leaving behind sweet treats and toys. She wonders why her Mom and Mama didn’t try to arrest the creepy interloper and take him to jail. When her parents took her to the mall to see Santa she’d started crying the second Maggie set her on the poor man’s lap.

“Good to know stranger danger even applies to jolly, old Saint Nick,” Maggie cracks up, her whole body shaking with laughter at the consternated look on her daughters face. Pressing a kiss to Drew’s cheek she praises her vigilance, “You should have seen the epic meltdown she had at the mall when we took her to see Santa Claus – poor bastard looked confused and panicked at the same time.”

“Maggie!” Alex scolds as the others laugh, she’d tried to get them all to reduce the amount of curse words they said in front of Drew. She’s not too concerned, eventually Drew will start to develop her own crass vocabulary but she’s hoping to avoid awkward parent-teacher conferences about inappropriate words – mainly because she’s afraid she’s going to be more concerned if Drew used the curse words in their appropriate grammatical part of speech than anything else. “How about this wee one? You interested to see the presents your family got for you?”

“Yes!” Drew exclaims with a genuine smile, looking towards the living room to find two of her favorite Aunts are already sipping coffee with grandma.

Maggie sets her on her feet when she starts to squirm, telling her gently, “Be polite and say hello, I’ll bring you a cinnamon roll and some milk in a minute.”

Drew toddles unsteadily towards her the women on the sofa, falling over once but getting back up just as quickly and without any dramatic fanfare. As soon as she reaches them she reaches for Lena and says softly, “Hi.”

Lena chuckles, lifting the child into her lap and cuddling her close while asking, “Are you excited my little dinosaur?”

Drew leans back against Lena looking up at her with bright eyes and nodding as she pulls Lena’s arms around her as she reaches down to untie her tennis shoes and kick them. She’s going to get thoroughly comfortable as she nestles into the blankets with her aunt, her morning just gets even better when Maggie brings over a plate with a cinnamon roll on it lathered up with warm icing.

“You okay if she eats with you, little Luthor? She’s quite messy,” Maggie asks, trying to make sure that Lena knows Drew’s sticky little hands will get all over the place – especially with the icing.

“Of course, it’s fine,” Lena assures as she tickles the little girl who laughs as she takes a rather large bite of the roll getting icing on her nose. Soon enough Kara’s bringing her some breakfast with another mug of coffee as everyone sits down to tear into presents.

Alex and Maggie are gifted a few reservations for restaurants, plays and other outings to make sure they can keep their date night traditions up even with the new child. Drew of course is gifted robot and dinosaur themed toys and clothes – the pair of light up dinosaur shoes that Lena got her are easily one of her favorite things. That and the coding caterpillar and complete set or realistic, diecast dinosaurs that are capable of making sounds are going to keep the child occupied for hours on end.

 Kara tears into packages with the enthusiasm of a toddler, giving Drew a run for her money on paper and ribbon flying through the air. Cute new outfits and a plethora of new board and card games for game night make her happy. But the last box from Maggie has her staring at the contents with confusion and a blush starting to rise up on her cheeks.

Lena stares at the box in Kara’s lap, a set of rather nice looking candles – but it’s the bag of rose pedals and set of bath oils that cause her to raise her eyebrow. Kara’s stammering and blubbering as she crumples up the wrapping paper and tosses it at Maggie’s head only for it to get deflected by Alex who just gives her a grin. Kara can’t help but squawks as she inspects a few of the items, “What is the meaning of this?”

“Hopefully something to help you be a little bit more romantic – nothing like a few candles and rose pedals to set the mood,” Maggie tells her with a grin and a wink for good measure.

“Coming from the woman who almost ruined our first Valentines that’s kind of ironic,” Alex quips with a laugh as she helps Drew connect the little BB-8 robot to the phone Lena got to go with the robot. She should really be concerned that Lena got their three-and-a-half-year-old a phone but when she hands it to Drew and shows her which buttons to push to make the little bot roll across the floor she doesn’t feel too bad about it. Drew has the little bot going in circles and following people around fairly quickly and seems content to weave it in and around the legs of the dining room table too.

“Hey, I reformed myself,” Maggie protests as she hands Alex a beer while trying to avoid tripping over the robot, ruffling Drew’s hair as she goes to sit down next to her wife.

“You did indeed, dear,” Alex tells her with a smile, leaning over to press a kiss to her lips.

“Oh Rao, we aren’t that sappy are we?” Kara asks Lena, the two of them sharing mock horrified look with each other.

“Oh, you two are way worse,” Eliza pipes up with a grin, watching as Alex and Maggie dissolve into laughter as Lena just smiles even though Kara seems like she wants to argue that she doesn’t have heart eyes all the time.

Kara scoffs in disbelief even though Lena draws her into her arms and presses a kiss to her cheek as she assures, “Don’t worry, I like sappy romantic.”

By afternoon the rest of the gang has starts to show up for an early dinner – Winn coming by with J’onn and M’gann and their gifts. Specifically Winn has come prepared and brought a new educational came system for Drew that both Maggie and Kara seem interested in playing as well. Lucy and Vasquez show up next, bringing a healthy amount of wine and other goodies for everyone to snack on as Christmas game night gets kicked into gear.

“Lucy!” Drew announces as she gets up from where she’d been nestled between Winn and Maggie to run towards Lucy, tripping and almost falling a couple times until she slams into Lucy’s legs and hugs her tightly.

“What’s up squirt?” Lucy asks as she lifts her into her arms, swinging her around before pulling in for cuddles, “You being good for everyone?”

“I’m good,” Drew insists with a small smile as she twine her arms around Lucy’s neck and presses a soft kiss to her cheek.

“She honestly is good,” Alex says as she offers Lucy a glass of wine.

“So good, this one was disappointed that little bit wasn’t up at dawn ready to tear into presents,” Maggie teases as she waves them over, “Come on, we’ve got a new game and I’m ready to kick all your asses with an army of unicorns!”

“Oh you are on Sawyer,” Lucy says with a grin, “There are just as many fabulous unicorns in this room that will totally wipe the floor with you.”

“Okay, but we’re not getting my precious grandkid involved in your board game battles,” Eliza teases with a laugh “She’s too young to get scarred for life by all the vulgar jokes and vocabulary – maybe when she’s older. Like in her teens.”

“Yeah, no, more like when she’s 20,” Alex says with a laugh as she watches her mother go settle down on the sofa next to the tree and pick up a few of the books she’d gotten for Drew. She watches them for a moment to make sure Drew doesn’t panic or get upset – since the child didn’t handle new environments that well and could be especially clingy – but it would seem that Drew’s already started to bond with her mother which makes Alex incredibly happy.

“Come on sweetheart,” Maggie calls out with a smile – she always loved watching Alex interact with her family but now she can seem to tear her eyes away from her wife when she’s looking after their child, “Kara and Lena are going to glitter bomb me in a second and I need you on my six.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

After a few hours of gaming and enjoying the roast and fresh vegetables  that Lena prepared – even Kara ate them although she complained more than the toddler – everyone is packing up to head home. J’onn and M’gann asking Winn if he’d like to stop by the DEO to use the balcony to set up and check out his new telescope. Lucy and Vasquez also head out with Maggie and Alex, taking turns carrying and talking with a rather sleepy and cranky toddler. Kara shuts the door and turns back to Lena who is already emerging from her bedroom in a silk bathrobe that has Kara grinning like an idiot and tripping over her words, “Wow…I mean, you look….stunning, and beautiful. So, gorgeous.”

“So, you want to come take this off then,” Lena says with a salacious grin from the doorway, turning to head back into the bedroom, “I do recall promising that you could unwrap me after our guests left.”

“Would I? Rao yes!”

En Fin