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Alex closed the door to her studio apartment, her hand unmoving from the flat surface as she tried to keep her breathing even. She placed her other hand against her aching hip and closed her eyes, letting her head fall forward. The fight with Non and his army had been brutal but it wasn’t the bruises and cuts Alex had been thinking about for the past four hours. Oh no, what —who— she was thinking about was white-streaked fury and rage. Kara had pretty much interrogated her the second they were alone but there was no answer Alex could give her because she was so confused herself.
Alex squeezed her eyes shut before opening them. She really needed a drink. In a glass or straight from a bottle was yet to be decided, but if she was going to get a headache from thinking about all of this she’d rather it be after downing the red wine that awaited her in the fridge. It was a gift from one of Maxwell’s ‘dates’ with her. She hated the guy, but expensive wine is expensive wine so she just settled for telling him thanks and joked how she couldn’t wait to share it with Supergirl. The look on his face was oh so worth it.
She pushed herself off the doorway, and turned to find out nice wine wasn’t the only intoxicating thing waiting for her in the kitchen.
“Oh, sh—!” one hand flew to her chest where she was sure her heart was going to stop from the scare and the other to where her gun would have been had she not left back at the DEO. “Astra, what the hell?” she breathed out.
Astra frowned from her position on the countertop where she sat with one leg over the other. “I apologize if I startled you, Agent Danvers.”
“Please tell me you didn’t seriously think you could just sit there unbeknownst to me and it wouldn’t nearly give me heart attack,” Alex pursed her lips, trying to figure out how she hadn’t seen the Kryptonian when she opened the door. It was dark but that strip of white hair was practically glowing in the moonlight.
Astra leaned back on her hands, looking up at the ceiling. She then tilted her head in a way that reminded Alex of Kara.
Like a confused puppy.
A dangerous, confused puppy, she reminded herself.
Who saved her life less than five hours ago; probably should thank her for that at some point.
“Your heart seems to be doing well enough,” it took Alex a moment to remember how she could possibly know that. “And I was under the impression your training would keep you from being unaware of unwanted visitors.”
“I never said you were unwanted,” the words were out of Alex’s mouth before she could stop them.
The older woman turned to look at her so quickly she probably got whiplash, and the range of emotions that flipped through her face would be comical if Alex hadn’t been kicking herself for not being able to keep her mouth shut. Her next breath came out as a huff as she made her way to the fridge, because there was no way she was having this conversation sober.
She placed the cold bottle beside the fridge. Alex grimaced when her hip touched the counter as she reached to open one of the top cupboards. While Astra may have kept her from being obliterated by Non, falling on her hip straight after left it sore as hell. She made a mental note to get herself some Advil for the pain. She took two merlot glasses out of the cupboard and set them on the counter. The entire time she was opening and pouring the drink, Astra didn’t say a word or turn to look behind her.
“It doesn’t do much for your kind, but if you like the taste…?”
Astra slide off the counter, landing with much more grace than a human could’ve mustered, just as the agent reached her with two glasses half filled with wine. Alex was rewarded with a small smile before the woman in front of her took a glass.
Alex took a sip —more like gulp— of her drink before squaring her shoulders and looking up into Astra’s eyes.
“I need to—I just wanted to say…thank you. For saving me.”
Astra studied her over the glass. After a couple minutes of contemplating, she set it down on the counter and gave the agent all of her attention.
“You did not believe I would go against Non had he tried to cause you physical harm.” It came out harsh and Alex winced.
“I didn’t know what to believe, General. You aren’t exactly an open book,” and I have spent most of the time I’ve known you being bitter.
“That may be true, however there is no reason why you should assume I would not work to keep you alive.”
“I—I still don’t understand.” she shook her head in confusion. “Why though? Even while knowing the consequences?”
“I do recall saying I liked you, Agent Danvers,” a hand absentmindedly came up into the younger woman’s hair to push it back, her eyes never leaving Alex’s. “And my niece, I do not know what you are to her, but she is very protective of you. She cares for you. And so…I care for you.”
Out of all the things that she could’ve possibly said, that hadn’t crossed her mind. Hearing those last four words made her feel butterflies in her stomach; her heart beat a mile a minute as she was all too aware of the hand that had stilled in her hair.
Yes, she was still bitter about Astra’s actions in regards to Kara even almost 6 months later. Every ‘aunt Astra has changed, Alex. I promise.’ from her all-too-trusting sister was taken with a grain of salt, especially when Astra had one foot still in Non’s army. Of course it was for the purpose of leaking information to the DEO, but how were they to be sure she wasn’t doing the same for Non? He was her husband after all.
But Non’s face when Astra betrayed him by protecting Alex from his attack while Kara had been fighting said that most likely wasn’t the case. And so here they were and she was feeling things for the general that somehow got past her need to stay angry for her sister's sake. Things that she probably had been feeling for some time now.
Astra was mesmerized by the way the younger woman’s eyes were looking at her, by the sound of her fast heartbeat. But she knew if she didn’t stop herself, she’d do something they’d both regret. So she slowly moved her hand from Alex’s hair and back to her side.
Alex would deny it if ever asked, but she missed the touch immediately.
“Non will retaliate, Astra. You need to be safe.”
“Let him. I can handle Non.”
“He has an army.”
“And what do you have, Agent Danvers? I have put you in the position to be a target by saving you,” Astra raised an eyebrow at her.
Alex sighed at the switch in direction.
“That’s not the point,” she closed her eyes, bringing a hand up to her forehead. “I was already the target.”
When there was no reply, she opened her eyes to see Astra was across the room. Her silhouette statuesque against the moonlit window. She looked like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. They stood there, silent, for a few moments before Astra spoke.
“Keep safe, brave one. You are too important to lose,” she then quickly adds, “For Kara.”
Alex gave her a small nod. “For Kara,” she echoed. Because if Astra wasn’t going to admit there was something, like hell was Alex going to be the one to do it.
With that, the general was gone, leaving Alex to pour the remaining wine from the other woman’s glass into hers.
And to pretend that the shiver that went through her was just from the chill of the open window and not the ghost of Astra’s hand in her hair bringing up thoughts of other places her hands could touch.