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“Uh, Barry, I don’t think we’re in the right place,” Kara said as the group landed. She had been holding onto the Flash with one hand and her sister with the other. Alex had been holding Maggie tightly, and the two had clung to Vibe in order to jump from Barry’s world to theirs. Alex looked up into the cloudy sky, feeling moisture settle in the air and cling to her body. Water covered the ground in little patches, as though it had recently rained. They were standing on a blacktop between two buildings, and two big sliding glass doors led to the inside of one of them.
“Way to go, Supergirl. Top-notch detective work,” Maggie deadpanned. Alex would have laughed if she hadn’t been so confused. Something felt eerily familiar about the place, as though she had dreamt of it.
“Where are we?” Cisco asked.
“Shouldn’t we be asking you that?” Barry countered. “You’re Vibe, you control this thing.”
“Something must have gone wrong in the portal.”
“Guys,” Alex started, “those doors say something.” She took a few steps closer to the sliding doors, reading the print. “Seattle Grace Hospital.”
“Well that’s helpful,” Cisco mumbled. He looked at his oversized watch-gadget-thing. “This says that we’re on Earth 21.”
“Any idea why?” Barry asked.
“Not a clue,” Cisco answered with a sigh.
“Can’t we just open another portal and try to get to our Earth?” Kara questioned. She was pacing, something she didn’t normally do.
“I can’t. That took a lot out of me. I need time to recharge,” Cisco said. “I’ll be okay in a few hours, a day, max.” Maggie groaned.
“This is not good,” the detective stated. Her brown eyes found Alex, who was still staring at the sliding doors. She took a few steps over to her girlfriend. “Hey,” she said softly, “you okay?”
Alex shook her head, as though shaking herself out of a trance. “Yeah, yes, I’m fine.” She turned back to the group. “Maybe we should go inside.”
“Good idea,” Kara agreed.
“We need to disguise ourselves, though. We don’t want to mess up this Earth the way we did with Earth 2,” Cisco explained. “I have one of H.R.’s face-changing devices to help.” Cisco produced the device from his pocket, stepping to each person and letting a beam reshape their face before it returned back to normal. “No one else will be able to see us like ourselves but us.”
“Cool,” Kara whispered.
“All right, then,” Barry said, “let’s go.”
Inside the hospital doors, organized chaos was spread throughout the floor. Beds were lined up with groaning, injured patients covered in bandages. Doctors in light and dark blue scrubs rushed around, shouting orders and asking for help. A desk lined with computers sat off to the left, where a doctor in a yellow trauma gown was speaking on the phone. Her dark eyes were wide and her black hair was pulled back to show a beautiful face. She finally set the phone down and looked out through the Emergency Room.
“Grey! Grab some other residents and go outside, another ambulance is on its way!” the doctor shouted from behind the desk.
“Got it!” a familiar voice called back. Alex’s heart pounded. She knew that voice, knew it well, but it couldn’t have been—
A body collided with her. Alex was snapped back to reality as the person stepped back, stammering.
“I-I’m so sorry, ma’am, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” a young doctor said. Alex remained still as she looked into brown eyes—her eyes. She was rendered speechless. The doctor was so obviously Alex, but she wasn’t. Her frame was thinner, less toned, her hair much longer. Her face was young and freckled and still free of the remnants of time. And the doctor looked back at Alex without batting an eyelash. “Um, do you need some help?” the doctor asked, after finding Alex mute.
“Lexie!” a deep voice called from the hospital doors. Alex—not Alex, the doctor who looked like Alex—looked to the doors nervously.
“If you need some help, just find one of the doctors at the desk. I’m sorry, but I have to go,” Alex—Lexie—said before trotting off. The real Alex remained still. She felt two warm hands on her arms, one belonging to Kara, and the other Maggie, and she was being pulled out of the ER, down a hallway and into a large closet.
“Alex. Alex, come back to us,” Maggie said through the ringing in Alex’s ears. Her eyes finally focused on the group before her. Kara and Maggie stood close, yet still managed to give her space. Barry and Cisco watched from behind.
“Th-that, that was, um… that was—” Alex stuttered, eyes wide.
“That was Earth-21 you, yeah,” Cisco finished calmly. “Alex. You need to stay calm. She’s not really you. She’s an entirely different person.” Alex laughed breathily, an incredulous smile on her face.
“Ah, okay, I’ll just be calm about the fact that I just looked myself in the eyes. Because, you know—because that’s just a normal thing normal people do, and I’m just supposed to be normal about it.” Alex placed a hand over her eyes and shook her head.
“Sorry to break it to you, Danvers,” Maggie tried, “but you aren’t normal. Your sister is an alien-turned-superhero, and you work for a secret alien-hunting agency.”
“Aliens and superheroes and metahumans, I can handle,” Alex said. “People who look just like me but aren’t me is not something I can handle!”
“Trust me, Alex, it’s not as weird as it seems. It’s actually kind of cool to see yourself in a different life,” Barry added, trying to help calm Alex down.
“It’s been pretty terrifying so far,” Alex exhaled. “I don’t… I don’t know what to do. Do I talk to her? Do I tell her about me?”
“Uh, I wouldn’t do that,” Cisco said. “That usually never helps anything.”
“What should we do, then?” Kara asked. Alex still had the absurd smile on her face, and she turned to look at the metal shelf behind her. Bins full of medical supplies were stacked neatly. Alex took to counting the bins, then counting the supplies in the bins, to calm her mind.
Cisco smiled. “I think I have an idea…”
“This is stupid,” Alex insisted. “This is crazy and absurd and stupid.”
“Calm down, Alex. This is going to work,” Kara assured. She placed a hand on Alex’s arm, her eyes still trained on the computer screen in front of her. Cisco continued to type, hacking into the official hospital database. Barry had swiped the computer from an unmanned desk, and they had set it up in the basement of the hospital.
“That’s the point! If it works, we could mess up everything, we could—” Alex was cut off by Maggie’s lips on her cheek.
“Danvers, babe, I love you, but you need to be quiet,” Maggie said. She wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist and snuggled into the crook of her neck.
“Okay, I’ve got it,” Cisco exclaimed, sliding over so the others could read. “Alexandra Caroline Grey, daughter of Thatcher and Susan Grey, attended Harvard Medical School, and is in her first year of residency.” Alex peered in closer, finding a picture of herself, yet looking younger.
“Wait,” Alex said, reading more of the file, “how old is this picture?”
“The file was created last year,” Cisco answered.
“But she looks the same in person. Shouldn’t she look the same age as me by now?” Alex asked.
“Hold on,” Barry said. He typed some things into the computer and clicked the mouse a few times. “Guys, we’re not in 2016 anymore.”
“Well, what year are we in?” Kara asked, uncertainty filtering through her voice.
“2009, it looks like,” the speedster replied. “I don’t understand. We must have time jumped while trying to breech between Earths.”
“Have you ever done that before?” Maggie questioned, ever the detective.
“Never,” Cisco breathed.
“So, what, not only are we stuck here with Earth-21 me, but we’re also in the past and my doppelgänger is twenty-three?” Alex laughed again, shaking her head.
“Oh boy,” Kara said, exhaling. She turned to find Alex pacing.
“Now, it’s time for stage two of my plan,” Cisco said, almost maniacally.
“And that entails?” Alex drawled.
“We create identities for ourselves as surgical interns meant to shadow this Doctor Grey. I will brainwash the Chief of Surgery into assigning us to her, and no questions will be asked,” Cisco explained. “Easy.”
It was fairly easy. Cisco’s weird vibe powers that Alex didn’t completely understand were enough to convince Chief Richard Webber that they were supposed to shadow “Lexie” Grey for the day, giving the group a perfect vantage point to observe Alex’s doppelgänger. Kara seemed enthusiastic about the journey, and Maggie was interested as well. Alex could even admit that she was fairly intrigued.
The group was outfitted in the light blue scrubs and white coats that sported “Seattle Grace Hospital”. It was only a matter of minutes before they would meet Lexie Grey, who had been paged to see the Chief in the main lobby.
“I still don’t think this is a good—” Alex began quietly, but she was cut off by an elbow to the ribs. “Kara!”
“Sorry, Alex, but this is going to be really cool. We’re going to be doctors!” Kara nearly squealed.
“What happens when we have to do a doctor-thing and we don’t know how?” Alex asked. Her heart was pounding, but she wasn’t sure exactly why.
“Oh, shut up, Alex you were pre-med in college.”
“That doesn’t make me a practicing surgeon, Kara!” Alex hissed back. Before she should get another word in, her doppelgänger came rushing towards the desk. Her eyes were frantic, but she was doing her best to conceal her disorder. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her scrubs and lab coat neat.
“Sorry, Chief, the trauma downstairs is massive. I got here as soon as I could,” Lexie explained.
“Not to worry, Doctor Grey, this will only take a few minutes of your time. You have been chosen to be shadowed by a group of visiting interns exploring the level of teaching at Seattle Grace Hospital,” the Chief said. “I trust that you’ll show them the best teaching they'll find anywhere.”
“Of course, Chief,” Lexie replied, nodding. She turned to the group that stood further back. Taking two steps towards them, she held out her hand to Barry. “I’m Doctor Lexie Grey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She shook Barry’s hand, then Cisco’s, Kara’s, and Maggie’s, before getting to Alex. “Hey, you’re the girl from the ER.”
Alex stood, mute once again, but she managed to recover. “Ah yes, sorry, I was a little bit out of it this morning.”
“I understand. Being an intern is daunting, trust me, especially when you’re in the middle of a trauma,” Lexie said. “What are your names?”
“Maggie Sawyer,” Maggie introduced herself, “Doctor Maggie Sawyer.”
“Barry Allen,” Barry said, nodding.
“Doctor Fransisco Ramon, at your service,” Cisco announced comically.
“I’m Kara Danvers, and this is my sister Alex Danvers.” Kara’s eyes went wide after the words left her mouth. Alex fought the urge to smack Kara. Of course the alien would speak without thinking.
“That’s funny, we have the same name,” Lexie observed.
“I-I… yeah, what a coincidence,” Alex stuttered, forcing out a laugh.
“Anyway, let’s get to the ER to see if we can help with the trauma cases,” Lexie said. She turned on her heel and the group followed her. Alex was in awe of the situation. Never in her life did she think that she would meet someone who looked exactly like her, but on a different Earth. It was almost scary, too, because Lexie’s life was similar to the one she had dreamed of as a child. “Most of the doctors are in the ER, so I’ll point them out when we see them. We have some of the greatest surgeons in the country here, so the education a young doctor will get at this hospital is top-notch.”
“That sounds amazing,” Barry answered in awe. “How does the neurosurgery field look?”
“You’re interested in neuro?” Lexie asked, turning to look at the speedster for a second.
“I think I might be, though I don’t have much experience in it,” he said. Alex couldn’t believe he was entertaining the idea that he understood anything. Though, the man was a forensic analyst. He had to have learned a good deal of medical knowledge, similar to what she had picked up from her time in pre-med and from the DEO.
“Then you are in luck, Doctor Allen. Our Head of Neurosurgery, Doctor Shepherd, is one of the best surgeons in the country,” Lexie explained. They finally made their way through the doors labeled Emergency Room, where the chaos from earlier was only slightly contained. “There was a pile-up on the highway, and a good majority of the patients were taken here. Emergency crews are still bringing them in. We’ll check out a trauma room to see if they need our help.” Lexie started for one of the closed doors spaced throughout the ER. She opened the door and allowed the group to enter before she went in herself. There was a patient on the table with many wounds covered in gauze and a tube protruding from his mouth. “Need any help?”
The black-haired woman from the desk lifted her head from what she had been studying—a broken arm—and looked at the newcomers. “I’m not sure I need anything right now, Grey. Go look for Mark and see if he needs anything.”
“I’ll do that,” Lexie said, and Alex noted the shift in her voice and posture—the same shift that Alex took on whenever she found herself talking about Maggie. Lexie turned to her group. “This is Doctor Callie Torres, one of the best orthopedic surgeons around.”
“It’s the truth,” Callie called distractedly.
“Doctor Torres, this is Doctor Allen, Doctor Ramon, Doctor Sawyer, Doctor Danvers, and Doctor Danvers,” Lexie announced.
“Great, nice to meet you all, I’m sure I’ll see you at lunch when I’m not busy. Now go,” Callie commanded, and Lexie nodded before leaving. She led the group into the ER again.
“Before we do anything else, I’ll point out the doctors, because it doesn’t look like we’re urgently needed yet,” Lexie said. The group nodded. “Over there is Doctor Owen Hunt, Head of Trauma.” She pointed to a gruff, red-headed man working on a patient. “Then there is Cristina Yang, a fierce resident looking to be a cardio-thoracic surgeon. She’s amazing.” Lexie gestured towards an Asian woman working on a patient with frantic expertise. “Uh, Doctor Shepherd is over there, doing a neuro exam.” She was referring to a good-looking doctor with a kind face and great hair. “Doctors Alex Karev and Arizona Robbins are working on that child over there. Robbins is in pediatrics and she’s taking Karev under her wing.” A gruff young man and a cute, blonde woman were standing over a young girl with a head injury. “Doctor Miranda Bailey is at the far end. She’s tough and expects a lot, but she has a soft side. Everyone shows her an insane amount of respect.” The short black woman was checking a patient that had just entered the ER. “Now, we’ll go to trauma room three and check for Mark.” Lexie led them to another trauma room nearby, where a hot, hunky guy and a pretty woman were frantically working on a patient.
“Lexie, good, we need an extra set of hands,” the woman said as the group entered the room.
“Of course,” Lexie called, rushing to the patient, “what do you need?”
“There are five locations with burn wounds, and I need you to begin dressing them while we work on the lacerations,” the man explained. Lexie nodded and turned to get a burn kit from the side of the room. “Who’s your little posse?” Lexie looked up at the man and blushed as he winked.
“Uh, they’re interns. Visiting interns. The were assigned to me for the day,” Lexie explained. “This is Doctor Mark Sloan, and Doctor Meredith Grey.”
“Doctor Grey?” Maggie asked. “I thought you were Doctor Grey.”
“We’re sisters,” Lexie answered as she began working on a burn on the man’s arm. Alex’s eyes grew wide. Not only did her doppelgänger exist, but she had a sister. The list of questions Alex had was endless and growing by the second.
“Shit,” Mark said, “the sutures aren’t holding. One of you interns, get over here.” They all remained still, unsure what to do. “Now!” Alex sprang into action, grabbing a wad of gauze from a rack and bringing it to the side of the patient.
“H-here,” she stuttered.
“Hold that on the bleed while I try and repair it,” Mark demanded. Alex did as she was told, compressing the wound tightly so that blood loss would slow. She took a shaky breath, thinking back to her pre-med and DEO training. She had dealt with medical traumas before at the DEO, but she was either dealing with wounds caused by aliens, or wounds sustained by aliens, and she was never dealing with it alone. She looked at Kara, who was giving her a huge smile and a thumbs up. Maggie was winking at her and smirking.
“Doing okay, Doctor Danvers?” Lexie asked, smirking at Alex.
“Never been better,” Alex breathed, not sure whether her words were sarcastic or genuine.
“Now that the crazy morning is over with, the afternoon should be a bit more calm,” Lexie explained as they were in line for food. Alex was beside her, followed by the others. It was finally lunch time, and Alex was ready to relax. The morning had been exhilarating, watching other doctors work on patients and assisting when needed. She and Barry had been extremely helpful, while the others mostly watched and helped if they could. “And, I’ll catch you up on a little bit of the personal side of Seattle Grace.”
“Personal side?” Maggie asked.
“It’s a little complicated, so try and follow along,” Lexie began. “First, there’s Derek and Meredith, the power couple. They’ve been on and off for years, and they finally got married on a post-it note a few weeks ago. So, that kind of makes Derek my half-brother-in-law.” Lexie shrugged. “His best friend growing up was Mark Sloan, who is now my boyfriend. Mark’s best friend is Callie Torres, whom you met, and she is dating Arizona Robbins.” Maggie lit up at that. “Cristina and Meredith are best friends, and Cristina was really rude to me before she knew me, but that’s just her thing. She and Owen hunt have a thing, but it’s a little complicated because he is a veteran and is suffering from PTSD.” She took a breath before continuing. “Alex has this tough-guy persona because he’s very guarded, but he can be a sweetheart. He married Izzy Stevens, but she had cancer and ended up being fired. So, she ran away and now he’s pretty lonely and a little bitter.”
“That’s kind of insane,” Cisco said.
“How do you and Meredith come to be sisters?” Kara asked a little suspiciously. “You said she was your half sister or something?”
“Yeah, Meredith’s father is my father. Her mother was a crazy-good surgeon here, but she was kind of distant with Mer, and they didn’t have the greatest relationship before she died of Alzheimer’s,” Lexie explained. The group had gotten their food, so she led them to the large table inhabited by Mark, Callie, and Arizona. Lexie took a seat beside Mark and gave him a quick kiss, which confused Alex immensely. Maggie placed a steady hand on her back before the two sat down.
“Lexie, introduce us to your new friends, please,” Mark implored.
“Right. Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Kara Danvers, Maggie Sawyer, and Alex Danvers, meet Mark Sloan, Arizona Robbins, and Callie Torres,” Lexie said. Each person nodded a hello.
“How was your morning?” Arizona asked.
“A little crazy,” Kara answered, “but really cool.”
“Well, welcome to Seattle Grace,” Callie said.
“I have to go save tiny lives now,” Arizona began, “but it was nice to meet you all. Good luck with everything else.” She kissed Callie and then skated off on her Heelys. A few pagers beeped, and Callie swore under her breath.
“My patient’s coding. I’ll see you later.”
“Mine is too,” Mark sighed. He kissed Lexie’s forehead. “I’ll find you later if he needs surgery. You can be on the case.” Lexie nodded and turned to the group.
“I have to run some labs, but you all can finish your lunch. I’ll page you when I need you.” She got up and left, taking her tray with her. The group crowded closer in order to speak.
“This is so crazy,” Barry said excitedly.
“And kind of awesome,” Kara added. They all looked to Alex, who cracked a smile.
“Fine, you’re right, it is,” she conceded. Maggie kissed her cheek and Kara cheered. “There are some things I don’t understand, though. Like, her sexuality. If we’re basically the same person, shouldn’t we both be gay?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. We’ve never encountered something like that before,” Cisco explained.
“And her family. Shouldn’t that be the same as me, too? Does that mean she’s adopted, or I’m adopted, or something?” Alex asked.
“Maybe she was adopted and she doesn’t know. Or her father and mother on this Earth just have different names but are actually your father and mother. That happens sometimes,” Cisco said. “Timelines are tricky and they can change a lot of things. We don’t know that this timeline is the exact same one as ours.” Alex thought for a minute. The girl was interesting, very much like her younger self. She was smart—apparently had a photographic memory—and nice, though a little timid and unsure of herself, and sometimes a bit awkward. Alex wondered what it would be like to have the girl’s life.
Alex took a deep breath. “I think I want to try something…”
“I still think this is a bad idea,” Kara warned. She stood in the bathroom with Maggie and Alex, looking at her older sister in the mirror.
“Relax. Barry and Cisco are taking every precaution possible. No one will notice,” Alex insisted.
“This is the kind of thing that you would have been opposed to when we first got here,” Maggie said. “What changed?” Alex turned to her sister and her girlfriend and sighed.
“After seeing Lexie’s life, it reminded me of what I wanted my life to be before the DEO.” She looked directly at Kara. “You got to go back to Krypton when the Black Mercy was on you, even though that was just a dream and it was killing you. I want the opportunity to explore this life that I never had, like you explored the life you never had.” Kara stepped closer to her and hugged her tightly.
“I understand,” Kara whispered. She pulled Alex into a hug, then stepped back. Maggie took her place in front of Alex and took the DEO agent’s face in her hands.
“Don’t get too comfortable with that Mark Sloan guy,” Maggie joked. Alex laughed and kissed her girlfriend.
“Okay,” Alex said, pulling back and picking up the device that Cisco had used on them all earlier, “let’s figure out how to use this thing.” She pressed a few buttons and found that Cisco had pre-programmed it for her. She looked in the mirror, and with the push of a button, a light ran over her face and changed it. After the machine was done, Alex looked at herself in the mirror and gasped. She looked the same, of course, but it was like she was back in her college days. Her hair appeared longer, her face smooth and more freckled. It was a weird experience. She turned to look back at Kara and Maggie. “So, do I look like Lexie?”
Pretending to be oneself, but not oneself, proved to be difficult. Alex had to adjust to being called “Lexie” or “Doctor Grey”, or even “Little Grey”. Thankfully, the DEO had trained her in undercover operations, so she’d had some experience. It wasn’t her favorite thing to do—being someone else—but she wanted to know how it felt to be a doctor, to live in a world without superheroes and aliens.
Barry and Cisco had taken care of the real Lexie Grey. They had knocked her out using Cisco’s vibe-powers and were keeping her unconscious. She wasn’t supposed to remember anything. Alex still felt a little bad, stealing the girl’s life, but she was only going to be there for a few more hours.
“Grey, I need a hand over here!” Callie Torres called from the ER. Another bit of the trauma had come in, and the ER was still full. Callie was working on a patient with multiple fractures and lacerations to the head, and he was bleeding profusely. Alex raced over with her interns—Kara and Maggie—on her heels.
“Where do you need me?” Alex asked.
“Stop the bleeding so I can get him stabilized,” Callie replied without looking up. Alex immediately took pieces of gauze and began holding them to the lacerations. She looked to Maggie, who nodded and stepped in to help.
“Kar—Doctor Danvers, please find out his blood type and get a pint from the blood bank,” Alex commanded. Kara talked to one of the nurses and ran off.
“Grey, you’re going to have to suture those as best you can, just to patch them up until Mark and Shepherd get here,” Callie suggested. Alex stood still for a moment.
“Oh, uh, I…” Alex stuttered. Callie looked up from her work and stared daggers at her.
“You can’t perform simple sutures?” Callie bit out.
“Of course I can,” Alex assured, “I’ll get right on it.” Callie turned back to her work, and Maggie pulled Alex off to the side a bit.
“Hey, don’t be nervous, you’ve got this. You stitched me up once, saved my life, too.” Maggie said with a smile. Alex’s eyes were wide, she knew because Maggie was looking at her in the most soothing of ways, trying to calm her down. Alex nodded and turned back to the man, preparing a needle and suture thread. Maggie ran to the other side of the man, still holding the gauze on his head, but reaching to grasp Alex’s forearm. With an assuring nod from her girlfriend, Alex began threading the needle through the man’s skin. Her heart was racing, but her hands were surprisingly steady. It was so exhilarating.
She had taken care of two lacerations before Mark and Derek arrived, asking Callie about the state of the patient. She told them that he had many broken bones in his arms that she had to work on as soon as an OR opened up, but that the lacerations on his head were a cause for concern. Derek nodded and called for a neuro exam and a CT scan after Callie was done with her work. Mark stood over Alex’s shoulder, peering at the sutures she was working on.
“Very good, Lexie,” he said to Alex. “Glad to see you’re picking up some skills from me.”
“Thank you, Doctor Sloan,” Alex answered, still concentrated on the sutures.
“Torres, page me when you’re in the OR and I’ll take a look at whatever else you need,” Mark called. Callie looked up.
“Hey, you two are coming to dinner tonight, right?” she asked, looking between Mark and Alex.
“Of course,” Mark replied. “We’ll bring the wine.”
“Thank you!” Callie called absentmindedly as Mark walked off. “Okay, this guy needs an OR right now.” The doctor turned to a nurse, who nodded and found her an operating room. Kara had just arrived with the blood, and she gave it to a nurse to hang for the patient. “Grey, let’s move. Bring your interns with you.” Alex nodded, and she looked to make sure Maggie and Kara were following her before they rushed down the hallway and into the elevator. Once they were all settled she looked over at her sister, who winked at her. Here we go.
“Grey, what’s our status?” Callie asked, hunched over a large fracture that she was attempting to reset.
“BP looks good, heart rate is steady, and the sutures are holding,” Alex replied automatically. She looked at the monitor a second time just to make sure.
“Ugh, dammit, this bone is shattered. I’m going to need Sloan in here to help me,” Callie muttered. “You paged him, right?”
“I did,” Maggie interjected, “yes. He should be here shortly.” Alex looked on her girlfriend with pride, smiling behind her surgical mask. Maggie’s brown eyes were light, and Alex was almost lost in them when Callie called her back to attention.
“Grey, help me move this in place, please,” Callie said. Alex nodded and moved to get a better angle. She placed her hands where Callie told her to, and then together they pressed until Callie said the bone was in the correct position. Just then, Mark walked into the OR and asked where he was needed. After being instructed by Callie, the three went to work setting and cleaning the fractures. The rest of the surgery went well, with Alex assisting wherever she could.
Once they were done, the group scrubbed out, and Alex was careful to wash her hands well. She walked into the hallway, where Mark was waiting.
“Lexie,” the man said, “I feel like I haven’t seen you all day.” He moved in stride with Alex, ignoring the two women that trailed behind them.
“Sorry, this trauma has been crazy,” Alex replied, and it wasn’t even a lie. Mark stopped her with a hand to the arm and moved closer.
“Something seems wrong,” Mark observed, placing a hand on her cheek. Alex just stared into his eyes, unsure of what exactly to do. She felt more than saw Maggie tense behind them.
“Uh, w-what? No, I’m—I’m okay, everything is fine,” Alex said, panic in her voice barely masked. Mark looked at her for a bit longer, his brow furrowed.
“Okay, whatever you say. Just take it easy for a little while. You’ve been on your feet all day.” Mark gave her face a little squeeze before walking off with his confident stride. Maggie was at her side immediately, followed by Kara.
“I know that wasn’t real, because, you know, you’re not the real Lexie Grey, but…” Maggie glared down the hallway that Mark had just walked through. “He’d better keep his hands off of you if he knows what’s good for him.” Alex laughed just a bit.
“Relax, Sawyer.” Alex took Maggie’s hand and squeezed it before walking down the hall and towards the main desk. There, she saw Meredith, Lexie’s sister. Meredith looked up just in time to find Alex, Maggie, and Kara walking over, and she put down the chart she had been reading.
“Hey, Lexie, I was just about to look for you,” Meredith said. “I want you to check on a few patients with me.”
“Sure, of course,” Alex answered, taking a stack of charts and following the older woman towards the hospital rooms containing patients.
“So, you never told me about what happened with Thatcher and Mark,” Meredith began, lowering her voice.
“What… happened?” Alex pondered, confused. It took her a moment to even remember that Thatcher was Lexie’s father. And Meredith’s father.
“Your—our—father. You went to dinner with him and Mark,” Meredith supplied. “What’s going on with you today?”
“N-nothing,” Alex stuttered, trying her best to stay cool. Meredith stopped just before a patient’s room and turned to Alex.
“I don’t mean to be gossipy or whatever, and I know I’m not Thatcher’s biggest fan. But, what Mark did meant a lot to you and I want to make sure everything went okay,” Meredith explained, a small look of concern on her face. The look was one similar to what she had seen from Kara many times before, and she smiled.
“Yeah, it was good,” Alex assured. She didn’t know whether it was or it wasn’t, but she had a feeling Meredith wouldn’t be easily placated if she’d given her bad news. Kara cleared her throat behind them and shifted awkwardly. Meredith’s eyes darted to the intern before becoming steely, and they entered the patient’s room together.
It had been an extremely long day, and Alex collapsed on one of the cots that the group had brought to the basement of the hospital. The real Lexie Grey was unconscious on one of them, and that was where Alex was about to be. Unfortunately, Kara and Maggie weren’t letting her sleep with their incessant ranting. A million crazy things had happened, and Alex got sucked into all of them, while Maggie and Kara sat back and watched.
“Okay, I think I’m all ready to vibe again, so we can go,” Cisco said. He and Barry got up from their chairs and stretched out a bit.
“I’m still mad you got to have all the fun,” Barry whined with a little pout.
“It was such an exhausting day,” Kara drawled. “You should be glad you got to rest in here. I’ll need ten orders of pot stickers when I get home.”
“I’ll need some beer, too,” Maggie agreed. They all began trading their scrubs for their normal clothes, not noticing that Alex was still laying on the cot, looking over charts and notes from the day. Finally, Maggie turned to her girlfriend and stopped, concerned. “Babe, come on, we have to leave now.” Alex looked up from her notes with a frown.
“I-I can’t just go, not now. I have two surgeries tomorrow, and Mrs. Davis needs her physical therapy, and Mr. Bryant’s wife is supposed to get out of surgery and he requested to be put in the same room as her, and Meredith said that I could assist on her appendectomy. Then there’s the burn patient that Mark wanted me to treat…” Alex trailed off, looking back at her charts.
“Alex, this isn’t your life. It’s hers,” Maggie stated, pointing to Lexie. “Mark and Meredith, they want Lexie Grey to help with their surgeries, not Alex Danvers.”
“But they asked me to help them. I performed the sutures, I set those fractures, I interacted with patients today. Those were my skills,” Alex insisted thickly, “not hers.”
“I know that, and it just means that you’re brilliant, because you can do all that and still kick ass in fights against aliens,” Kara said. “We need to let Lexie have her life back.”
“I just…” Alex looked up, tears in her eyes, “I can’t.” Kara and Maggie pulled Barry and Cisco away as Alex looked back to her notes.
“What the hell is going on with her?” Maggie demanded. Barry sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“I’ve heard of this happening sometimes. It happened to me, too, just in a different way,” Barry explained. “When a person time travels, or dimension travels, they can sometimes get too attached to the time or place they find themselves in. It gets harder to separate their own life from the one that they’ve adopted. Ray Palmer said it happened to him because he was able to settle down with a girl he cared about; for me, it was because my doppelgänger was married to my then unrequited crush. In Alex’s case—”
“You’re saying she’s like this because she has weird feelings for that hunk that’s dating her doppelgänger?” Maggie asked, hurt ingrained in her voice. Barry shook his head.
“I don’t think that’s it. But, Lexie does have a sister…” Barry supplied. Kara gasped and looked back at Alex.
“Is it because she’s replacing me? Because I’m not her real sister, or because of something wrong I did?” Kara asked.
“No, because Meredith isn’t Alex’s real sister, either. You’re more of a sister to her than Meredith is,” Barry explained, squeezing Kara’s arm. “But, think about it. Isn’t this what Alex wanted to do all her life? She wanted to become a successful doctor, and here she is, living out that dream. She has her dream job, she has a sister, a partner.”
“It’s Alex’s perfect life,” Kara whispered. She broke away from the group and went back to Alex, jotting down notes. “Alex, look at me.” Alex ignored her, so Kara put her hands on the woman’s shoulders and shook her ver lightly. Alex turned her eyes on the alien. “Please, look at me. Don’t look through me. Look into my eyes. We’ve been here before, during the Black Mercy. I know you want to stay here, and I know this is the life you could’ve had if I hadn’t come to Earth. I’m so sorry I took that away from you. But, I’m so proud of the person you’ve become. You’re my hero, Alex. I need you to snap out of this and come back to us.”
It took a moment, but Kara could see the words sink in. Alex’s brown eyes softened, tears welling up in them. Alex took a deep breath before pulling Kara into a hug. She closed her eyes as her sister’s strong arms enveloped her, pulled her out of the world she had been stuck in.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex whispered. “I got so caught up in it, and it was so painful trying to get out.”
“It’s okay,” Kara said, pulling back. Alex looked up, where Maggie was waiting with her arms crossed. Alex stood, brow furrowed, worried that the detective was truly angry.
Suddenly, Maggie pulled Alex into a deep, hot kiss. The detective tightened one hand in Alex’s hair and wrapped the other around her back, pulling her hard against her own body. Alex pushed into the kiss immediately, her body reacting even though she knew the others were watching. Shit. The others were watching. For a moment longer, Alex seemed to push that thought from her mind, until it became too weird having her sister watch her make out with Maggie. Luckily, Maggie pulled back with a signature smirk on her lips.
“Just checking,” Maggie said, and she lightly smacked Alex’s ass before pulling her into a hug. Alex laughed and hugged her girlfriend tightly.
“Okay, fix my face with the device thing and wake Lexie up,” Alex commanded. Cisco used the device on her face before using his vibe powers to wake up Alex’s doppelgänger. The girl woke with a start, utterly disoriented. Alex shielded her face—the others hadn’t fixed their own faces yet so that they could talk to Lexie—and waited for the others.
“Where am I? What happened?” Lexie asked, rubbing her head.
“You fell asleep a few hours ago, and you looked exhausted, so we let you sleep,” Kara explained. “We brought you down here to make sure you didn’t get in trouble, and we covered for you upstairs.”
“T-thank you, I guess,” Lexie said. She stood and caught her balance before moving to shake hands with the group.
“Your charts are on the bed, and some notes for you. You have a few surgeries tomorrow,” Barry said. “Oh, and a dinner tonight.”
“Great,” Lexie replied. “It was nice meeting you all. I hope you learned well.”
“Oh, we did,” Maggie mumbled. Lexie gathered the charts and notes and rushed off. The group used the device to fix their faces, then all huddled together.
“Ready to go?” Cisco asked. Everyone nodded and looked to Alex.
“I’m ready,” Alex said, nodding. They all held hands, and Cisco vibed them away from Seattle Grace hospital.
Once back in National City, Alex took a deep breath. She had just done something so incredibly insane, something she wished to never do again.
Barry and Cisco had dropped them off in Kara’s apartment and had parted after many hugs and thanks. After they had left, Kara sighed, and her stomach growled loudly.
“Are you guys up for some pizza and pot stickers?” Kara asked, turning to Alex and Maggie. A mischievous smirk pulled at Maggie’s lips, and she tugged on Alex’s hand.
“I’m definitely down for both of those,” Maggie said, “but I think all three of us need to shower and change clothes. So, Alex and I will go, we totally won’t have sex—” Kara choked and a massive blush spread on Alex’s cheeks, “—we’ll grab a case of beer, and then when we get back we’ll have pizza and pot stickers.”
“Okay, um, sounds like a… plan. You two go have, uh, fun, and I’ll see you here in an hour?” Kara questioned. Alex looked at Maggie, who already had a hungry look in her eyes.
“Better make it two,” Alex said, pulling Maggie towards the door.
“I’ll call Lena and see if she wants to come, too,” Kara suggested, watching as her sister pulled the detective out the door. She sighed.
It was good to be home.