Chapter Text
The lakes of Midvale were often considered the most beautiful part of the area. By mid-October, the shallower parts of the lakes were dark, chilled, and frozen. Once the shallow ends of the lake showed signs of solid ice, local skaters made their way out of their houses for some winter fun. Though there was nothing special about the lakes—in fact, they often had a strange odor and color to them—people loved them. Tourists found them “quirky” while the locals found them “homey.”
Despite growing up in Midvale, Kara Danvers wouldn’t use either of those words to describe the lakes anymore. When she was younger, she and her sister, Alex, loved the lakes. They would swim in them during the summer and skate on them in the winter despite their mother’s strong argument against it. Kara use to love the lakes, but as she looked at them out of the passenger side window of Alex’s range rover as they drove into town, her stomach churned.
Her hometown didn’t feel familiar anymore. After spending a little over two years deployed in several deserts over in the Middle East, Kara had nearly forgotten what “home” looked like. When she was younger, everyone on the street looked familiar because in such a small town, it was hard to be strangers with anyone, but now, all of the faces looked foreign to her. It didn’t help that she was unwillingly coming home. Her plan out of high school was to enlist in the Marines and leave her past life behind her, which she did for the most part. However, the part she never planned on was suffering a career ending injury that would force her to move back to her past.
The lights of downtown Midvale were blinding, so Kara shut her eyes and pressed her forehead against the cold window. Kara wasn’t ready for the pity her old friends and family would take on her. When Alex picked her up from the airport, the look of pity was plastered across her face. Kara didn’t want people to feel sorry for her, but she could practically see their faces and hear their questions already— “are you okay?”, “does it like... still hurt?”, “are you in therapy?” The onset of uncomfortable thoughts plummeted Kara back into her dark thoughts.
Nearly three weeks ago, Kara and her team were given a simple mission. They were tasked with transporting some items from one village to another, but when they passed through a local street, her team was ambushed. Their HUMV hit an IUD and they took on fire from an unknown group. It all happened so fast. One minute she was joking with her team and the next, the HUMV was flipped upside down and her leg was pinned. The memory was so fresh in her mind that Kara could practically feel the weight of the vehicle on her again. Kara couldn’t pinpoint what hurt more though—losing her leg or having her fellow solider, her friend, Leslie, die for her.
When a warm hand landed on her bicep, Kara’s eyes snapped open and she realized the car had stopped moving. A cold sweat begun and Kara’s chest felt tight. “Kara,” Alex asked and Kara’s shoulders released all of their tension. A panic attack was lingering deep within her, but Alex’s soft voice reminded Kara that she was no longer under attack. It was just a memory. A very dark, vivid memory.
“Are you ready?” Kara didn’t respond. Instead, she took a moment to calm down and drink in the sight of her childhood home. It looked the same as she left it nearly two years ago except for the dead plants out front. Kara desperately wanted to leave, but when she heard Alex exit the vehicle, she knew there was no running away now. Kara was frozen—maybe with fear or even hate at the memory of the past—but whatever it was, it was keeping her inside the car. The passenger door opened and Alex placed her hand on Kara’s cheek. A stray tear worked its way down Kara’s face and onto Alex’s pale hand. It was all too real now.
“Well,” Kara said, taking a shaky breath, “I guess I have to be ready.”
Alex gave Kara a sad, but encouraging smile and helped her out of the car. Snow had already made a home on the grass and sidewalks, which once would have made Kara smile, but when she could only feel it under one foot, she wanted to throw up.
Before shutting the car door, Alex fished out Kara’s crutches from the backseat and gave them to her sister. The younger Danvers sister hadn’t fully adjusted to using the crutches in everyday life yet, so she awkwardly leaned her weight on them and hobbled forward. Having to use crutches made Kara painfully aware of her situation and she just hoped that the healing process would quicken so she could make it through physical therapy and get back to some normalcy.
The two women barely made it five feet into the front yard before the front door of their house was flung open and their mother, Eliza, was running to greet them. “Oh, my baby,” Eliza whispered as she hugged Kara close. “It’s been so long—too long—since you’ve been home.”
Kara released a deep breath she was holding in. She knew her adopted mother meant well, but the words she spoke made Kara cringe. She wanted to be away from home, she wanted to be back on the battle field, but this was permanent now. She could never be gone for too long again. Kara wanted to say something snarking, but she bit her tongue and whispered, “yeah.” The mother daughter-duo stood there for a moment—Eliza’s arms secured tightly around Kara and Kara wanting nothing more than to be left alone.
Alex finally made her presence known and Eliza released her grip around Kara to hug her eldest daughter. Kara utilized the sudden freedom she felt and crutched her way into her childhood home. The smell of cinnamon lingered at the front door of the house and Kara finally felt something familiar. When she finally crossed the threshold into the house, an onset of emotions took over Kara and suddenly, she was fourteen again.
***
“It’s not that bad, Kara. You’re being so dramatic,” Alex drawled.
“Me? Dramatic? You’re the one who broke my leg!” Kara gestured to the dark blue cast around her right leg. The bewildered expression on her face made Alex laugh harder and Kara punched her shoulder, which warranted a hit back from her big sister.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Alex claimed and put her hands up as if to show innocence.
“You’re the one who said ‘oh Kara I bet you can’t jump from the roof into the pool,’ I was simply a pawn in your game,” Kara said defending herself.
“Don’t turn this around on me! Sure, I said that, but you’re the dummy who attempted it.”
“Would you two knock it off,” Eliza said from the driver seat of their Subaru. Kara went to protest her mother’s words, but the look she was receiving through the rear-view mirror shut her up. Alex winked at her and stuck out her tongue in victory. Kara let out a frustrated sigh and stared out the window as they drove through town.
The rest of the car ride was rather silent, except for the sound of a talk show on the radio. When they finally got home, Eliza turned in her seat to look at her daughters. “Now, we’re going to have to have a discussion about the punishment you both will be facing,” Eliza started, “but for now, get your butts into the house. There are apple cinnamon cookies waiting in the kitchen.”
Alex didn’t even wait for the car engine to shut off. Before either Kara or Eliza realized it, Alex pushed her way out of the car and ran into their house. Kara let out a sigh and clambered out of the car. Maneuvering out of a vehicle with a cast was not the easiest of tasks, but she did it and grabbed her crutches out of the car. Kara was never tasked with using crutches before, so the adjustment period would be awkward, but she was just relieved to be home. She followed her mother up the path leading to their house and took a deep breath. Being injured sucked, but Eliza’s homemade cinnamon apple cookies were worth it.
***
When Kara heard Alex and Eliza’s voices behind her, she snapped back to reality and moved further into the house. “There are cinnamon apple cookies in the kitchen,” Kara heard Eliza say as she made her way into the living room. The house had barely changed, except for a few new pictures on the wall. Kara examined them closely and realized that most of the new pictures were of Alex and some dark-haired woman.
The series of pictures containing her big sister and the woman were so beautiful and by the time Kara had made it to the fourth picture, she realized that the photos were an engagement photoshoot. A part of Kara felt immense sadness for not knowing that her big sister, her best friend, was engaged. Kara wondered if Alex had mentioned this information in one of the many letters, she sent her. If so, how was Kara supposed to explain that she stopped opening them over a year ago?
“That’s Maggie.” The voice startled Kara and she turned to see Alex leaning against the living room doorframe. There were two cookies in her hand.
“Oh, yeah, Maggie,” Kara stuttered and rubbed the back of her next. Alex snorted and moved forward, handing a cookie to Kara and taking a bite out of her own.
“I know you stopped reading my letters,” Alex said as she looked at the photos Kara was just carefully examining. Kara went to protest but Alex put her hand up to silence her sister. “Don’t try to deny it, Kar. It’s okay. I don’t understand why you did, but it’s okay.”
Kara wanted to say something—anything, even if it was just an excuse, but truthfully, she didn’t even know why she stopped reading them. Kara always idolized Alex growing up and to this day, Kara considered Alex to be her only best friend, but something had changed in Kara when she was overseas. She wanted to reinvent herself when she enlisted in the marines and after a while, she realized that, she cut a lot of people out. She wondered if Alex resented her for it—she resented herself for it.
“How long have you guys been together,” Kara finally asked when she realized that there was no way of getting around it.
“For a little over a year,” Alex said. Kara could see the smile on her sister’s face and, for the first time since her unfortunate accident, Kara genuinely smiled. “We’re getting married in five months.”
“Five months? Is it going to be a big wedding or?”
“Big enough,” Alex responded with a shrug.
“If—ya know—things go well and stuff—”
“Yes, Kara, you’re invited,” Alex said interrupting her sister’s babbling. An embarrassed blush crept across Kara’s face and she let out an awkward cough. Kara propped her crutches against the wall and sat down on the couch. It was just as uncomfortable and outdated as she remembered. She finally took a bite out of the warm cookie and she reveled in the taste. It was just like she remembered—so sweet, so warm.
The sisters sat in silence for a minute and finished their cookies. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence like Kara expected, though. She thought that Alex was going to coddle and worry about her like when they were younger, but her big sister didn’t and she was relieved.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Alex finally broke the silence and sat down across from Kara.
“About what?” Kara shrugged and looked back at the photos on the wall.
“Everything, Kara,” Alex said. “The fact that you cut me off or maybe your accident or something?”
Kara ignored the part about her accident and said, “I didn’t cut you off?”
“Oh?” Alex cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward. “Then how didn’t you know about Maggie? Or the wedding? Did you know that I asked you to be my maid of honor?”
Kara turned to her sister; eyes wide. “Alex, I just—”
“No, Kara, don’t give me a bullshit answer.”
“I don’t know, Alex. Things got tough.”
“Things got tough?” Alex stood up as she spoke and paced in front of Kara. Kara felt like a little kid again and, for a second, was afraid of her sister’s wrath. “Things got tough here, too, did you know that? Mom has been struggling financially, Maggie got hurt and was out of work for a while and my Danvers Construction was losing business faster than I could have ever imagined and then all of a sudden two men show up at mom’s house and say that her baby girl faced a dreadful accident?”
Kara’s lack of response fueled Alex on. “I thought you were dead! I thought that I was going to have to bury the most important person to me and to think that the last fucking time I spoke to you was over a year ago!”
Kara pushed herself up from the couch and wrapped her arms around Alex. The tension left Alex’s body and she melted into her sister’s touch. Tears streamed down Kara’s face and she whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” And she was sorry. She didn’t even stop to think about how her family felt about everything and she finally was faced with it.
“What do I do now, Alex?” Kara asked as she pulled away from her sister. For the first time in a long time, she needed her big sister’s guidance. She was tired of acting like didn’t need anyone because she did need someone.
“We’ll figure it out.” Alex placed her hands on Kara’s shoulders and leaned in so their foreheads were touching. “Stronger together, remember?”