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The ship’s hatch opened with a hiss, and for a heartbeat Alex didn’t dare move. She couldn’t. Her lungs froze, her pulse thundered in her ears. It had been months—months of searching, grieving, fighting against hope she barely had the strength to hold on to.
And then Kara was there.
Stumbling across the threshold, ragged and hollow-eyed, but alive.
Alex surged forward before Kara could even speak, pulling her into her arms with a sob that tore free from somewhere deep, raw, and broken. Kara collapsed against her, her own gasp strangled by tears.
“Alex…” Kara whispered into her shoulder, voice trembling like glass about to shatter.
“You’re here,” Alex choked out, clutching her tighter. “God, Kara, you’re here.”
For a long, aching moment, they just held on. The ship, the crew, the universe could have fallen away, and neither would have noticed. Alex’s hands trembled in Kara’s hair, Kara’s fists clung desperately to Alex’s jacket. They were two halves snapping violently back together after too long apart.
Kara pulled back just enough to look at her, eyes wet and wide, shining with all the love she’d buried. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“You’ll never lose me,” Alex swore, her thumb brushing away a tear on Kara’s cheek. The intimacy of the touch stilled them both. They froze, breaths mingling, every line they’d drawn over years of restraint burning away in the silence.
“We can’t…” Kara whispered, but her voice broke on the words. Her body leaned in anyway.
“No,” Alex breathed, her forehead pressing against Kara’s, their tears mixing. “We’ve already lost too much. I can’t keep pretending.”
Kara’s resolve shattered. Months of longing, fear, and grief spilled over as she closed the distance. The kiss was desperate, trembling, the kiss of two souls who had lived in denial and nearly lost everything for it.
When they pulled back, foreheads still touching, Alex whispered, “Never again. I’m not hiding this anymore.”
Kara nodded, voice shaking but certain. “Together. Always.”
Around them, the Tower’s crew respectfully turned away, leaving them in their fragile, stolen world. For now, it was enough. Kara was home. Alex was whole. And neither would ever let go again.