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Alex knew that soulmates existed. That a lucky few managed to find theirs and carve out a life together. That some of them had met in previous lives and could remember some of those past meetings.
She knew it abstractly, the way she knew that air travel was safer than driving or that Albany was the capital of New York.
She also knew that she had a sister to protect and a job to do. These were things she knew concretely, in her gut.
She had never expected the abstract to become concrete in such short order and with such force, like an explosion, a shockwave felt down to her bones.
She especially hadn't expected it like this... dragged before her enemies, a Hellgrammite barb in her thigh leeching who knows what into her bloodstream.
A woman, Kryptonian, if she was following the conversation correctly, knelt down in front of her. Her face was familiar... Alura. Kara's... mother? She was sure she'd just missed something, her mind was foggy.
“I've been waiting quite some time to get one of you alive,” said the woman, no, Alura, a fell light in her eyes.
Alex tried to push herself into a sitting position, but everything hurt, and she couldn't stop the woman from stroking the back of one finger across her face.
That's when it happened.
She was standing in a sort of courtyard or plaza, flanked by buildings of strange design topped with twisted spires and crystalline spikes that looked both delicate and deadly. The people arrayed around her wore robes or belted tunics with a variety of symbols emblazoned across their chests. Symbols of their houses, of course. Glancing down, she saw that she was similarly dressed. She stood opposite another woman, in front of a dark-robed man with a glowing mask...
A priest of Rao. Of course. Rao, whose red light shone down on them from the orange sky. Silvery kites floated in the air above the crowd, glinting orange and gray as they reflected the sky and buildings around them.
The other woman... she was the most beautiful woman Alex had ever seen. Who was she?
She was Alex's betrothed, her name was... Alex couldn't remember her name, but she knew her. Wait, of course she knew her.
She shook her head to clear it, and her beloved looked at her with concern in her warm brown eyes. Brown? They should be gray, and her hair should be brown, streaked with white, not red...
What?
The priest continued speaking and suddenly it was time to say her vows. She did, and her heart swelled as her bride slipped a bracelet adorned with a single stone onto her wrist. She did the same, then leaned in to kiss her...
Alex came back to herself with a shock. The woman was staring down at her with wide eyes, her hand a hair's breadth from Alex's skin. She stood, a movement almost too swift for Alex to follow, and for a moment Alex considered asking her if she'd seen it too. By the expression on her face, shock, wonder, maybe a little horror, she had, which could only mean one thing.
Shit, shit, shit, shit.
Alex considered actually asking her, for one terrifying moment, but the woman's expression smoothed out, the threat coming back into her posture, and she was too late. Alex was fine with that—under the circumstances it was best to ignore it. Wasn't it?
“You're bleeding. Human beings are so fragile it's amazing any of you make it out of infancy.”
Alex turned to watch her move. She had to confirm who she was. “Alura.”
That brought her up cold. Good.
“How do you know that name?”
It wasn't Alura, but Astra, Alura's sister. Alex was almost relieved—how much harder would it have been to fight Kara's mother than her aunt, even an aunt that she clearly loved? How much stranger would it be to be... bonded... with her sister's biological mother? Alex refused to even think the term 'soulmate'.
She'd heard that in some lives, soulmates could be enemies. But she'd always thought those were the lives where they never realized what they could have had.
And she'd never in a million years suspected it could happen to her, in this lifetime.
But then, she'd always had the worst luck.
She took Kara to the room she'd prepared with Alura's AI and explained how it worked, pushing away the desire to tell Kara what she'd seen, to ask her about it, because she suspected it had been on Krypton.
Who'd have though I was Kryptonian in a previous life?
She left the AI room and leaned against the wall outside it, covering her face with her hands, letting her loneliness and disappointment overtake her for a moment.
Who'd have thought I'd have to fight my soulmate?
Alura and Zor-El were soulmates. So were Lara and Jor-El. Astra and Non were not.
Astra had more or less given up on finding her soulmate by the time she met Non. Krypton was dying; she had better things to do. And Non was a good fit, with the same goals, the same drive as she had.
Besides, it would be too much good luck for both sisters to find their other half in the same lifetime.
Decades later, Astra cursed her luck once more.
A human was bad enough, but an enemy? A tenacious enemy, remarkably resourceful and brave, the kind of enemy she could respect. But no more than that, surely, until the next life, which she was in no hurry to see.
Alura had always been the romantic in the family, in any case.
When Astra hatched a plan that involved allowing herself to get captured by Kara, she wasn't considering the implications of seeing the agent again.
“You're the one who defeated the Hellgrammite,” she said to the agent staring her down. Danvers, she thought her name was. “I like you.”
An enemy, yes, but a strong one.
They didn't actually touch again until Agent Danvers brought the handcuffs in for the prisoner exchange. Astra noted that Kara addressed the agent simply as 'Alex'. They had a good working relationship, a trust, that much was clear. Perhaps it went further than that? Were they friends? Lovers?
No, not lovers. Even as a child Kara had always worn her heart on her sleeve, and Astra would have recognized that sort of love in her, if not in Alex. Friends, then.
Kara turned down the kryptonite emitters, using a panel on the wall, and Alex snapped the cuffs onto Astra's outstretched wrists. Their movements were synchronized, as though they'd known each other for years.
Perhaps they had.
The vision hit as Alex's hand settled on Astra's upper arm. She was ready for it this time, keeping her face composed even as the images played out in her mind.
She stood on a wooden platform, no, a ship's deck. She could tell she was on Earth, not just by the color of the sky and the sun, but by the birds in the sky—seagulls. She was near the front of the ship, the wind in her hair, strands of black whipping into her eyes where they escaped her braid. Next to her, holding her hand, was another woman... she knew this, though the other one was dressed as a man, as a dandy, almost, with a patched and weather-beaten frock coat and frilly cravat, though she also carried a sword... a saber, and a gun. Her brown eyes sparkled in her freckled, sunburnt face, and her hand was calloused in Astra's.
Astra knew, somehow, in her gut, that this was Alex, but that Alex was also the wrong name for this face, and so was Astra, but the right names escaped her.
“Ship ahoy!” called a voice from above them.
“What colors are they flying?” cried the Alex who wasn't.
“Spanish, Captain.”
The captain grinned. “Ready the cannons, then!”
“Aye, aye!” cried a number of voices around them, and Astra let go of her captain's hand to help out.
Astra blinked. She couldn't help it. But Kara didn't seem to notice, and Alex... Alex had gone stiff with surprise, and Kara immediately reacted.
“Alex, what's wrong? Are you okay?”
Alex relaxed, just a bit. “It's nothing. I'll tell you later.”
Tell her? That would complicate everything. Astra turned a bit, met Alex's eyes for a moment. She wasn't sure Alex understood her objections, but there was no way to ask.
“So, what happened to you when we were getting Astra? She didn't do anything to you, did she?”
Alex shook her head. “No, it's nothing like that. I would have told you if it was.” Alex wasn't particularly looking forward to telling Kara what actually had happened, but it was either that or come up with a good lie in short order. But she was tired of hiding this, of bearing this burden alone, so she swallowed her fear, running a hand through her hair. “I had a vision.”
“A vision?” Kara furrowed her brow, not making, or not wanting to make, the connection.
“It wasn't the first time, either.” Alex let that hang in the air for a moment before taking a shaky breath and continuing. “Kara, we've lived at least two lives together before this one.”
Kara's eyes widened as she put it together. “You're sure?”
Alex nodded. “I had the first one the night the Hellgrammite captured me. She touched my face and... bam. I wanted to tell you about it, especially since I'm pretty sure that one was on Krypton, but...” Alex smiled, but it was almost more of a grimace and she knew it didn't reach her eyes. “I also didn't want to deal with it. Still don't. I want her to switch sides, but unless she does... she's an enemy.”
“Oh, Alex.” Kara wrapped her arms around Alex, soft but firm. “Do you like her?”
Alex hugged Kara back. “I respect her, as an opponent, but... maybe in this life that's all we're meant to be. Plenty of people live happy lives even though they don't end up with their soulmate.”
“True,” said Kara, “but most of those people simply don't find each other. You haven't talked about it, have you?”
“No. And we're not going to get a chance, anyway.” She was really starting to resent these flashbacks.
A movement in the mirror caught Alex's eye. Astra.
Alex spun and fired off several shots, her blood boiling. Kara might be dying, and it was Astra's fault. But when she tried to reload, kryptonite bullets this time, Astra was on her in an instant, knocking the gun from her hands and grabbing her by the throat.
“I came here to help Kara, not fight,” said Astra, releasing Alex even as she said it. It was as though Astra was afraid to touch her.
She'd been seeing the visions too.
“You tried to kill her before, why should I trust you now?”
“Kara saved me from a death without honor. As a fellow soldier I expect you understand the meaning of that.”
“I can tell you how to help her, but you have to trust me.”
Alex met her gaze, challenging. “Last time I trusted you, six soldiers died.”
Astra looked away after a moment, and Alex saw the realization in her face as her eyes settled on the photo of Alex and Kara as kids. “I knew there was more to you and my niece.”
“She's my sister.”
“If she is your sister, and I am her aunt, what does that make us?”
The question was loaded, heavy. “Nothing. But-” Alex clenched her fists at her sides. “Are we going to talk about this?”
“This?”
“The visions. You're getting them too.”
Astra's eyes seemed to flash at that. Perhaps they really did. “How can you know that?”
Alex took another step forward, and was rewarded when Astra took a half step back. “You're trying not to touch me, as though you're afraid.”
“This is not the time,” said Astra, with a little shake of her head.
She was right, of course. “Then tell me how to save Kara.”
When Alex saw Astra standing over J'onn, holding a blade to his throat, she had to do something. Following her first instinct, she drew the kryptonite sword.
But then, rather than running it through her, she put her empty hand to the bare skin of Astra's neck, in case that made the connection stronger, willing the flashbacks to come, and brought her other hand around to set the edge of the sword to her throat.
It was a risky move, riskier than simply attacking her, but she couldn't do that, not after what she'd seen.
Maybe they'd never love each other, in this life. But she couldn't kill Astra like this. And if these visions of the past could distract Astra for long enough to save J'onn, she was willing to try.
As the memory washed over her, she closed her eyes and heard Astra's dagger clatter to the ground.
Alex was less disoriented this time—she was learning to tell her own memories from those of her past selves.
She was lying in a field of something like grass. It wasn't grass—it was a shade too blue and it grew under an orange sky, almost rusty. She felt sleepy, contentment pooling in her belly, heaviness in her limbs, Rao's light warm on her skin.
Rao? Oh, Krypton again.
But it was a different Krypton than in Kara's dream, lusher somehow, the not-grass long and thick around them, dotted with what might, possibly, be something akin to flowers, with little noises of animals rustling in the plants, and something furry-looking—not a bird—flying overhead. Maybe just because it was outside the city, or maybe it was a long time ago. At the bare minimum, it had to be before Astra was born.
There were fingers twined in hers, and she turned on her side to look at her companion. It was the same redhead as before, and Alex smiled at her, reaching out to tenderly trace the curve of her chin as a warmth that could only be love filled her heart...
When she came back to herself, her hands were empty, the sword she had held clasped in J'onn's hands, at the ready. Astra's head was resting on her left hand, her cheek damp, as though she'd been crying. Odd—it hadn't been a bad memory.
<I've never seen Krypton like that,> said Astra, in a whisper Alex wasn't sure she was supposed to hear, let alone understand. Astra had no way of knowing how much Kryptonese Alex had learned from Kara—and from the remnants of Kara's pod.
Then Kara was there, floating down towards the rooftop, her eyes darting from Alex and Astra to the sword in J'onn's hands. “Aunt Astra?”
Astra took off, tearing herself free of Alex's loose grip in a gust of air, and Kara gave chase. J'onn sheathed the sword and handed it back to Alex before taking off as well.
Alex strode toward the light to inspect her hand. It really was damp, and not with blood. She hadn't imagined it.
Moments later, Kara and J'onn rejoined her.
“She got away,” said Kara. “Did you manage to stop her?”
“No,” said Alex. “I almost convinced her, I think, but she went through with it anyway. Then J'onn showed up...”
“And she almost killed me, but you stopped her. How? You touched her and she dropped her weapon, and then you dropped yours... what did you do to her?”
“I...” Alex hadn't wanted anyone to know about this, had only told Kara because she had seen it and because they were sisters, but... she shared a glance with Kara, knowing Kara would support her. “I gave her a vision, a flashback.”
“You're not a telepath, or you shouldn't be, and Kryptonians are immune to telepathy in any case, which can only mean...”
“You see why I didn't want to mention this, sir.” She bit her lip. “I haven't let it affect my work. I won't. There's nothing between us. Except the obvious.”
J'onn was silent a moment, his lips pressed tightly together. “I know that. Your work has been impeccable, a few lapses in base security where your sister's friends are concerned aside. But I don't think it's healthy for you to keep fighting her. It's too personal.”
On some level, Alex agreed, but... “J'onn, I'm getting through to her, I know I am. You have to let me keep trying.”
Astra had been expecting to find Kara, not Alex, to judge by the way her eyes widened. She hung in the air outside the window Kara had left open in her hasty departure.
Alex pointed her gun at Astra, but after choosing not to kill her on that rooftop, she lacked her previous conviction. She hoped it didn't show.
“Kara's not here,” she said. “What do you want, zhaoivahzh?” She said the Kryptonese endearment, something like 'beloved', as though it was a dirty word. Between them, it just might be.
Astra grimaced, something like pain in her eyes, and flew inside. “Don't call me that. Even if we've been together in past lives, that's hardly enough to make me love you now.”
“I know,” said Alex, but she kept her gun up, trained on Astra. “I wouldn't ask that of you. All I ask is that you don't make me fight you anymore.”
“That... is actually why I am here. Non has... he has doubted my commitment to our mission for some time. He does not know that I helped Kara, but he suspects. And now, with Indigo's return, he is turning against me.”
“We defeated Indigo.”
Astra raised an eyebrow at that. “She is not dead, merely weakened. In any case, I believe they will use Myriad to seize power for themselves, rather than for its intended purpose. I cannot have a hand in that.”
“And what, exactly, is its intended purpose?”
“To save the world.”
Alex huffed with impatience. “You've said that already. What from, exactly?”
“Your people... they are burning through the Earth's resources much as my ancestors did on Krypton, polluting the atmosphere and the oceans, causing mass extinctions. You are an educated woman, are you not? I'm sure you're aware of global warming, and the threat it poses to this world.”
“So... you want to stop that? How?”
Astra didn't continue immediately. Alex could see that she was waging an inner battle, probably dreading turning on a project she'd been working on for years. But at last she met Alex's eyes. “Myriad turns a city into a living supercomputer, programmed to seek solutions to the world's problems. Millions of minds, working in concert.”
It was a horrific plan, but ambitious and elegant, in its way. Brilliant, even. She could see how Astra might have come up with it, despairing over the fate of her dying world, especially in light of the vision they'd shared, its contrast with Kara's dream. “And that's what you were planning to do on Krypton?”
“Yes. The original Myriad was configured to work on Kryptonians, but the new one is made only to affect humans. I fear that Non or Indigo will use the people of this city as soldiers, for conquest, instead of releasing them once a solution is found and implemented. I cannot condone such an act.”
“Good. Then help us stop it. Come back with me.” It was a crazy idea, but Kara would be ecstatic if Astra said yes. And Alex found she disliked the idea of working side by side with Astra less than she had expected.
Astra shook her head. “No. I will not be a prisoner again. I cannot be at the mercy of that... Lane.”
She practically spat the name, and Alex's heart ached as she remembered the pain on Astra's face before she'd dragged Kara out of the room. “I can't say I blame you for that, though he hasn't visited the DEO since then.”
“I never did think you liked him.”
“No, I prefer your company any day. That's not a compliment, by the way.”
“I did not take it as one.”
“But you will help us?”
“To stop Non and Indigo? Yes. But on my own terms.”
“Fine.”
Astra tilted her head, just a little, as if hearing something. “I should go.”
And with that she was gone in a gust of wind.
Moments later, Kara touched down just where her aunt had been standing. “What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
“Maybe I have,” said Alex. She'd stayed guarded throughout the conversation, but now what had just happened was sinking in, and she felt like she could dance. “Astra's switching sides. Assuming she's telling the truth.”
Kara's jaw dropped. “What? That's amazing! She was here?”
There was a heavy thud on Alex's fire escape.
“Kara?” Alex rushed to the door and threw it open without so much as bothering to pick up her gun. That was a mistake, of course, but she'd never had anyone else actually land... or crash... outside her window before.
But it wasn't Kara, it was Astra, clutching the railing in one had, her side in the other, a bag hanging from one shoulder.
“Astra?”
“Indigo intercepted me on my way here,” she said, wobbling a little, a grimace contorting her features. “They know I have betrayed them.”
Shit. “Were you followed?” Alex held open the door and extended one hand to Astra to help her inside.
“No.” Astra avoided the contact, but stepped inside and leaned heavily against the wall by the door.
“You're hurt,” said Alex. She'd suspected as much, but in better light she could now see the dark stain on the catsuit under Astra's hand, the traces of blood that marked her fingers. “Let me take a look.”
“It's not serious. It will heal.”
“It should have healed by now. Obviously you haven't blown out your powers, if you flew here.” Alex could guess the reason for Astra's reticence. “Look, I know you don't want to have another of those visions. I'll touch you as little as possible. Deal?”
Astra nodded, still wary. Alex stepped past her to turn on the floor lamp in the corner, then retrieved a flashlight and her first aid kit from a cabinet. “This'll be easier if you take off that suit, maybe have a seat.”
Alex didn't watch as Astra rolled down the top part of her suit—instead she opened the kit and put on a pair of surgical gloves, then located the tweezers, in case something was stuck in the injury. Alex gestured at the flashlight, which she'd set on the table. “Can you give me some light?”
“Sure.” Astra sat on the couch, setting her bag down next to her, and picked up the flashlight, wincing again as she did so. After a few moments fiddling with it she managed to turn it on and point it at her wound.
On closer inspection, it was a long cut. It didn't look deep at first glance, but there was a fair bit of blood around it.
Very gently, Alex spread the wound open with her fingertips. There it was, a glint of green. She plucked it out with the tweezers and held it up for Astra to see.
“I bet you're glad you let me help now,” she said. She looked down to see that the wound had already closed, but Astra's skin was still stained with blood. “You can borrow my shower if you want to clean off.” She took everything back to her kitchen, and put the shard it a plastic bag before yanking off the gloves and throwing them out. She'd have to take the Kryptonite back to the DEO for safekeeping.
“Thank you,” said Astra. “But I should tell you why I came here first.”
Alex washed her hands and joined Astra on the couch, trying not to look at her exposed body.
“Ah, I see,” said Astra. “So you are attracted to me.”
“I...” I guess I am. She'd been able to ignore it when she had a task to perform, but now... “You had something to say. So say it, then take a shower. I'll lend you some clothing, though it might be a bit small.”
“Very well.” Astra opened the bag she'd brought, reaching inside. “I was the one who designed Myriad. I could give you the schematics, the source code, but I do not trust your government not to misuse it.”
Alex shivered, remembering how quickly Lane had resorted to torture, not to mention dozens of other abuses she knew from history class. “Neither do I.”
“So instead, I have developed a device that can block it. I will explain how it works, and you can copy it.” She pulled a small black plastic box from the bag. “It clips onto your collar. I believe it could be made smaller but... I was short on time.”
Alex accepted it. “Let me just get something to take notes with.”
Astra looked... different. Good different, with the last traces of both makeup and blood washed away, wearing Alex's old sweatpants and a t-shirt, swag from some conference. The sweatpants were just a smidge too short, and her hair looked straighter than Alex had ever seen it, cascading damply over her shoulders. She looked surprisingly ordinary. Something in Alex's belly gave a lurch, and for the first time she felt that, were the circumstances different, they really could have had something.
“Thank you,” said Astra, shaking her out of her thoughts.
“You're welcome. Do you think... uh, these visions. Do you think we'll get them every time we touch?”
“Nothing happened when you pulled out that shard. But... we could test it, if you like.”
Alex sucked in a breath. She hadn't expected such an offer. “Sure.” She held out a hand.
Astra clasped it, and she shut her eyes, bracing herself for a flashback.
But it never came, and at last she opened one eye, then the other when she saw the amused gaze Astra was giving her.
“I do not know how it is with humans, but on Krypton they said that once you accept your bond, the memories come less frequently.”
“Oh. And have you? Accepted it?” Alex heard her voice tremble on those words. It shouldn't matter this much, but somehow, it did.
“I could have done worse than you,” said Astra, “though I don't know if we'll ever have... what we had before. Have you?”
“I... maybe I have.” Or come to terms with it, anyway, which was not quite the same thing.
“Our defeat of Non and Indigo owes as much to Astra as it does to J'onn and Kara,” said Alex. “She should be pardoned, too.”
“I know. I made that argument myself,” said Lucy. “But Alex... she was still partially responsible for putting us in this mess in the first place. Her crimes are much worse than his. I don't know if the President will agree.”
Astra was waiting for Alex when she got home, still nursing her injuries after blowing out her powers fighting Non's goons.
“What happened?” she asked. “I mean, clearly you won, but...”
“Kara and J'onn defeated Non and Indigo, but they couldn't deactivate Myriad, so Kara flew Fort Rozz into space.”
Astra's eyes widened in shock, and she lunged in, seizing Alex by the shoulders, a bit too hard. “Then is Kara...?”
“No! Oh my god, I didn't realize what that sounded like. She's fine. She's recovering at the DEO for a little while, and then we're going to have a little party at her place. I don't know if you should come, though... I mean, I'm sure Kara would love to have you but J'onn and I are active DEO agents again and you're still on the run... I plead your case, but I'm not sure it'll be enough.”
Astra's grip loosened, perhaps in relief, perhaps because she had noticed she was pressing too hard. “That's fine. I've been hiding for twelve years, what's a little more? But tell me, how did Kara survive?”
Alex grinned. “That's the best part. I flew her pod out into space and brought her back.”
As proud as Alex was of that, she wasn't quite prepared for Astra's hands to shift from her shoulders to her collar, for her to pull her in and kiss her on the lips, hard. She went stiff in surprise, and Astra pulled away.
“I am sorry, I went too far...”
Alex wrapped an arm around Astra's waist and kissed her, more gently but no less urgently. After a moment Alex opened her mouth, and the touch of Astra's tongue sent a shock of heat through her body. She broke off the kiss.
“We should talk about this,” she said.
“We should,” agreed Astra, but she'd moved her hands down Alex's body and their movements were becoming very distracting. “but even on Earth you have the notion of a hero's welcome, do you not?”
“Mmm,” said Alex. “I'm not sure this is what it-”
Before she could finish, Astra cut her off with another kiss.
They might have kept going like that for some time, but Alex's phone rang. Reluctantly, she pulled away to answer it. “It's work,” she said, then, into the phone, “Danvers.”
“Alex, I have good news,” said Lucy. “Astra got a full pardon too! The President finally agreed. My father's throwing a fit, of course.” She sounded more than a bit pleased by that, and Alex wondered, not for the first time, about their relationship.
“Well gee, that's just too bad for him, isn't it? Thanks, Lucy, I could hug you right about now.”
“That can wait until later. But Alex?”
“What?”
“I know you've been working closely with her lately, but is there more to it than that?”
Alex turned to look at Astra, who was waiting for her to finish the call.
“I guess I'll tell you about it at work.”
There was silence on the end of the line for moment. “Okay. See you then.”
Knowing someone was your soulmate and accepting it were two different things. So were accepting it and telling your mother.
Alex knocked on the door of Kara's apartment, conscious of Astra's presence behind her. The door opened, and Kara enveloped the pair of them in an almost-but-not-quite bone-crushing hug.
“Hi, Alex,” said Eliza. “Uh, and who's this?”
“My name is Astra In-Ze. I am Kara's aunt.”
“...who helped us defeat Myriad,” added Kara.
“Astra, this is my mother, Eliza Danvers,” said Alex.
“It's an honor,” said Astra, holding out her hand.
Eliza shook it. “So, you're Kryptonian? There are so many things I want to ask!”
“Mom is probably the leading civilian expert on Kryptonian biology,” explained Alex. “But Mom, before you bury her in questions, there's something else you should know.” She threaded her fingers through Astra's and took a deep breath. “She's my soulmate.”
“Oh. Are you sure?”
That wasn't the rejection Alex had feared, but it wasn't acceptance either.
“Yes,” said Alex. “We've both had the flashbacks to prove it. I wouldn't be telling you if I wasn't certain.” It came out sounding more hurt than she meant it to, but that was the nature of their relationship.
“Well, in that case I apologize. And... welcome to the family.” The last part, she said to Astra. After that, the tension in the room dropped a bit.
Kara hugged Alex again.
“I'm so glad you worked it out,” said Kara.
“This isn't weird for you?” asked Alex.
“Well, maybe a little,” said Kara. “But I've had a while to get used to the idea. And I want you to be happy. If you can be happy together, the last thing I want is to get in the way.”
“I hope we will be,” said Alex, hope and love welling up in her heart.