Chapter Text
“Nice work as always, Detective Sawyer.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself, Agent Danvers.”
“Would you please stop flirting and read me my rights?” boomed the ten-foot tall alien.
“I would like that as well,” said Supergirl, holding the alien from behind as she locked the handcuffs, her long blonde hair falling in her blushing face.
While Maggie Sawyer recited the rights, Alex Danvers stepped behind the alien to talk to Supergirl.
“How’s it going, Agent Danvers,” Supergirl said, before dropping her voice to talk to her sister. “Did you talk to Maggie about how you realized you want a kid?” Alex looked down and fiddled with her engagement ring. “You didn’t talk to her--- Alex! This is important, you’re getting married---”
“No, no,” Alex ran her fingers through her short undercut. “I did but… It doesn’t look good. She’s not into it. I don’t know what we’ll--- this isn’t the time to talk about it.”
Supergirl nodded and squeezed Alex’s arm. “Tonight?”
“Tonight.” Alex watched, her brow wrinkling, as Supergirl snapped the handcuffs in place and released one of her arms. “You’re sure these handcuffs will keep a time and space-bending alien secure?”
“Of course they will, Alex. Lena invented them.” Supergirl crossed her arms. Supergirl was happy to defend her best friend as many times as it took. The black sheep of a family of villains, Lena Luther had often needed defending, from her family and from the public. Nowadays though, Lena was starting to get the praise she deserved, as a the chief scientist behind multiple life-saving technologies.
“I know the DEO approved them, but I felt like they rushed-- I know Lena is amazing, but this is a very difficult invention--- and this alien is very dangerous---”
“Exactly. Lena is amazing. I have total confidence in these cuffs.”
“I wish these handcuffs prevented my hearing abilities too. The three of you,” the alien muttered. But with this alien, the muttering could be heard a mile away. Maggie could see the silhouette of her coworker, Detective Todd Nguyen, laughing at her.
“The three of us? What did it mean by that?”
“Pay no attention to the rude alien, Supergirl.”
“Rude alien?” the alien laughed, revealing something neon green that resembled a whale’s baleen plate more than it resembled teeth. “I think I’ve been quite civil so far.” Maggie saw Todd stiffen and start to walk toward them.
Alex glanced around at the sidewalk that had been reduced to concrete crumbs; the Supergirl-shaped imprints on a parking meter, an ATM, and a billboard advertising viagra; the civilians crouched under cars and rubble; and, Alex gritted her teeth, the blood staining the right shoulder of Maggie’s uniform.
Alex opened her mouth to retort, but Maggie, looking at Alex from the side of her eye, interrupted. “Yes sir, and we appreciate you coming quietly to the station.”
“I appreciate your attempt to charm me, detective.” The alien spun the top of its skull in what Kara recognized as and Alex assumed was a mocking gesture. “But it’s wasted on me. Watch yourself, detective.”
Todd arrived on the scene. “Are you threatening a police officer, sir?” he said, grabbing a notepad and pen from his pocket. It was his weapon of choice. Maggie respected that about him. She could not say the same for her other colleagues, who generally clutched at their guns first and asked questions later.
“No, I’m warning you. As a service. Because I like you.” The alien bent down to Maggie’s face level. Maggie looked at the alien’s hundreds of black, shiny eyes and smelled its horseradish breath. “You should be flattered. I know quite a lot about you.”
Alex put one hand on her holster and one warning hand on one of the alien’s many torso antennas. She was impressed as always by Maggie’s complete look of nonchalance. It was the look Maggie wore when she drove to work. When she brushed her teeth. When she walked past a group of men in the street at night. “What exactly are you warning me about?”
“You tackled me to the ground. As a member of the Flood, I am not meant to live that disrespect down. And neither are you,” the alien pressed its face to touch hers. “Maggie Sawyer born of Hooper, Nebraska.”
“How dare you threaten her!” Alex yelled, giving the alien a warning shove with her gun. Their ears were suddenly filled with a piercing scream. For once faster than Kara, Alex dropped to her knees to catch the screaming, twitching Maggie as white, bulbous goo poured out of her shoulder.
The alien nudged Supergirl. “I had a good run. I’m glad I met you.” It licked Supergirl’s forehead in its traditional respectful farewell. “Have a drink for me at the alien bar, will ya?” With a pop that could be heard for miles away, the alien exploded. Fetid, purple-brown guts landed in Supergirl’s hair, in her shoes, and pooled at her feet. Maggie stopped screaming and, with a sigh, passed out in Alex’s arms.
“I will not have a drink for you, snagriff ,” Supergirl muttered, wiping the alien’s kiss from her forehead and smearing its blood on the road with her boot. Then she stepped over the puddle to join Alex as Todd called for backup.
***
Todd watched with dim eyes and a clenched jaw as Alex and the medic arranged and rearranged the unconscious Maggie and moved their various tools over her.
“How is she?” murmured Todd to the DEO medic as the medic crouched on the pavement.
The young medic shook his head. “I can’t say.”
Todd’s square, grey-stubbled jaw tightened even more. “You can’t say?”
“Officer, I don’t know,” the medic sighed. “You should ask Agent Danvers. She’s the bioengineer.”
Todd turned toward Alex. “Agent.” As she raised her head to stare back at him, he marvelled at how dry-eyed she was, with her fiancee lying on the ground. And she looked pissed. She always seemed to be pissed. Often at him.
“Call me doctor. And I’m sorry. I can’t say.”
“Doctor Danvers. Please.” He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “She’s our best man--- our best officer. I just need to know if---”
When Todd had met Maggie, five years ago now, she had been 23, much younger than the rest of National City’s force, awkward and nervous, with a weak handshake. He was the only other person of color in the force and he resented being expected to befriend the newbie. She had already been working as a police officer for a few years, but that had been in small town Nebraska, and it showed. When she made some mistakes bagging her first assignments, other officers started to talk. It wasn’t Todd’s way to gossip, but he noticed too: procedures that other newbies found easy or just got intuitively, she seemed to need detailed explanations. She had strange mannerisms-- she sniffed her food, she was jumpy, she generally walked on the grass rather than the sidewalk. There was talk that she might be an alien. But Todd also noted that she listened closely and asked for feedback. And she didn’t make a mistake a second time.
When she shot a school shooter in the leg from over 100 yards away with her handgun, officers had something new to talk about. Suddenly, they noticed her strength and her reaction time. They began to suspect her skin color and bilingualism weren’t the sole reason she was hired. They invited her for beers after work. And sure, Todd joined them. He liked to drink a beer and watch football like anyone. But he didn’t talk much to Maggie. They didn’t have much in common.
As Maggie got more comfortable, though, in her job, he couldn’t help but notice other things. The way she could de-escalate the most hysterical suspects. How she seemed to have a sixth sense for criminal activity, noticing burglars and muggers right before they committed their crimes. But when she began to network within the alien bar, he could no longer defend his hesitations about her. It was a good idea. A new idea. One she had to know she’d get flack from, especially because people already whispered that she was an alien.
But she did it anyway, and he respected that. He decided right then or there, strange as she was, she was someone he wanted to get to know. He asked the lieutenant if he could be her partner and help her infiltrate the alien bar. Later, he asked her to join his family for dinner. The dinners became weekly. When Officer Brown said that while working crowd control at Gay Pride, he'd seen Sawyer decked out in rainbow, Todd was surprised to find that he did not give a shit if she were gay. When a multi-tongued lady at the alien bar said “see you tonight, sweetheart” to a blushing sweaty Sawyer, he was surprised to find that he did not give a shit that Sawyer had an alien girlfriend.
When he learned that the hard-headed, aggressively territorial human FBI Agent Danvers was Sawyer’s fiancee, he was surprised to find--- he did give a shit. Danvers did not deserve Sawyer. Well, no one did.
Now Alex sighed, eyes wetter, and turned to Todd. “I’m sorry. I’m being-- I’m just-- Sawyer would want you to know what I know. And what I know is, she’s not dead, her vitals are fine, her brain’s not harmed. She’s got a couple broken bones.” Todd released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I don’t know why she’s unconscious. I can’t find anything wrong.”
Todd relaxed his body, stretched his arms out behind his head. “So-- that’s a good thing right? That you can’t find anything wrong?”
Then he noticed, with a jolt, Alex staring in the distance, so tense he could see each tendon. “No, it’s not.”
***
“You’re tabling Lena’s invention? But why? It worked!” Supergirl yelled.
“What about that mission do you think was effective?” J’onn asked as they walked through the DEO’s headquarters together.
“That wasn’t Lena’s fault!”
“I’m not saying anything is Lena’s fault. As Alex keeps reminding me, loudly, in her head, every other minute, we should have tested it more thoroughly. It’s on us.” J’onn grimaced and touched his chest. “That alien should not have been able to kill itself. The handcuffs were specifically designed to prevent that. We know that the Surulus Apis , when captured, often will choose to kill themselves and, in doing so, release a strong poison.”
Suddenly her previous concern about tabling Lena’s invention seemed petty. “How dangerous is the poison?”
“It’s an intelligent poison, befitting of a time and space travelling alien. It detects the weakest parts of a person in order to find the easiest way to kill them. For example, in creatures with high cholesterol, the poison Surulus Apis has been known to raise blood pressure in order to cause a heart attack.”
Supergirl paused and thought. “What’s the weakest part of Maggie?”
J’onn shrugged. “I’m not sure. Agent Sawyer is in remarkable health. Her physical with the DEO was very thorough, and it was unusual in that nothing was flagged. She has no genetic predispositions of concern either through her family history or through the DNA tests we conducted. I am hopeful that this poison will find a dead end in Agent Sawyer and cause little damage, though of course she will be under our close supervision.“ J’onn sighed and then sniffed uncomfortably. “Good God, Supergirl, take a shower.”
“I already took two!”
“Well, take another,” J’onn said as they parted ways. Kara took a deep breath and opened the door to Maggie’s room.
Alex, almost unblinking, stared at a sleeping Maggie from her seat. “How is--” Kara came in and kissed Alex on the top of her head.
“She’s fine. She’s fine. She’s fine. She’s fine,” Alex did not look away from Maggie, as Kara grabbed a chair and put her arm around Alex. “She woke up fifteen minutes ago. I fed her some broth. Then she fell back asleep.”
“Wow, that’s a great sign!”
“No signs of any brain injury. She seems to be able to move every muscle in her body. Every blood test I could think to give her came back normal. All I can see is that wound in her shoulder, which will heal.”
“Awesome!” Kara turned to grin at Alex only to notice her sister’s still-creased face. “So why are you so worried?”
“You didn’t see her when she woke up-- she’s… different.” A single tear fell down Alex’s face. “And I hate that it knew her birth place. I didn’t even know that.”
“It’s a fifth-dimensional alien. That probably means nothing.” Kara ran her hand through Alex’s hair. “It knows everything. It was just trying to get in your head”
“No. No.” Alex said, shaking her head. “It means something… It did something to her. It did something to her… I’ve never seen her like this.”
“Well. I’m here for the two of you. I might not be fifth-dimensional, but I’ve bested them before, and I’ll best them again.”
Maggie suddenly began twisting in her sleep, shuddering, her eyes opening. “Al?”
Alex stepped over the wires and climbed into bed with Maggie. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
“What happened?” Maggie looked around the medical room and spotted her shoulder, bandaged up. “I’m bleeding,” she said, shivering and tearing up.
Supergirl took a breath. She had seen Maggie take many wounds--- worse ones, from gunshots, bites, fire-- always stoically. Alex was right. Something was wrong.
***
Alex and Maggie sat in their cluttered living room with Kara and Lena, playing rummy, the day after the injury. Alex had been given the day off without even having to ask. For Lena, it was the first Sunday she’d taken off that year.
“Hey guys, how would you feel about opening a window?” asked Lena. “I know it’s chilly outside, but the sun is so bright and beautiful---”
“Yes please,” Maggie interrupted, rubbing her shoulder.
Alex rushed up to open a window. She shot an anxious look at Maggie before sitting back down and squeezing her close.
Lena breathed deep. It smelled like melting snow and things growing through the mud. “Thanks dear.”
“God I love this sun,” Kara stretched out, touching Lena’s shoulder with her pinky, Lena’s foot with her foot. Lena looked at Kara, mesmerized, biting her lip for a moment too long, until Maggie coughed meaningfully.
Lena shook her head, picked up a card, put down a card, breathed. “You know, it’s days like these I miss my father- Lionel,” she said, eyeing Alex for a reaction. Alex gave none; she was busy worrying over Maggie.
Lena looked at Maggie instead, and continued. “We used to plant trees together around this time.” Lena looked down at her black knee-high boots. “I know I’m not supposed to like him, and maybe I give him too much credit-- he didn’t really try to protect me from Lillian, but I do---”
“It’s okay to like him, love him,” Kara said, placing her hand on Lena’s knee. “He’s your family.”
“I feel you, Lena, except the reverse,” Maggie rasped. “People like my dad. Babies like my dad. Kids like my dad. I used to like my dad. Now I feel-- nothing.” Maggie looked up and saw Lena nodding, Kara shifting in her seat and looking away. Maggie grimaced and looked back down.
“Of course, babe, your dad was an asshole who abandoned you.” Alex touched where her holster would be.
“He wasn’t an asshole though. He would make up songs about us, and we would do puzzles together.” Alex stroked Maggie’s tense back, trying to calm her, keep her talking. This was the most Alex had ever heard about Maggie’s father. Maybe it was the painkillers making Maggie open up. But Maggie had been on stronger stuff around her before, and had been her usual close-lipped self. “It was complicated-- he just wasn’t meant to take care of a kid-- he would have made a great uncle. We’re similar, in that way.”
Lena took Maggie’s hand. “Darling, you know you are nothing like your father.” Maggie shook her head.
“Babe, is this what the whole cool aunt thing is about?” Alex asked. Maggie looked away. “I know we’re still sort of talking about what we want--- would you want a kid if you weren’t worried about this?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want.” Maggie said, fiddling with her shirt.
“You deserve to be happy.” Alex took her hands.
“Not if it hurts a kid! That’s not worth it! That’s not fair!” Maggie stood up. “I’m sorry everyone-- I have to take a walk. I’ll be back in a half hour.”
“But babe, your shoulder!”
“I’ll be fine.”
“At least take your coat---” the door closed. “Oh, goddammit.”
***
Maggie whispered you’re stupid, how could you, fuck, fuck, fuck, idiot to herself as she jaywalked toward the “don’t walk” sign. She noticed she was doing it as she stepped on the other curb, took a breath, and apologized to herself, I don’t believe that, I have your back, I love you. Then she imagined herself being hit by a car--- the flash of lights, the pain to her legs, blood rushing from her chest. It made her feel calmer to think about. Then she thought about Alex, Lena, Kara. She was doing her old habits of walking out. She thought about her ex-girlfriend. Things that her ex had said. Things that were true. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
And smack she bumped right into a kid. “Sorry hon,” Maggie mumbled.
“Ma’am? Could I borrow your cell phone?” the kid asked.
“Of course,” Maggie said, remembering with bitter nostalgia all the times she had asked strangers that very question.
Maggie registered the familiar relief on the kid’s face as Maggie handed the phone over. Then she registered the familiar frizzy, matted black hair. The familiar cargo pants. The familiar stained drawstring Nike backpack.
It was eleven year-old Maggie.