Work Text:
“Really? Again?”
“You had fun last time.”
Alex didn’t mention that it had been fun, before she found out Maggie had a girlfriend and that she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, except as confused as hell. The hand-holding, the disappointment at not going out and getting drinks, and the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach were all confusing. And now, another ‘wear something nice’ cryptic invitation from Maggie that made her heart beat faster and her stomach feel fluttery.
Maggie must have sensed her reluctance, because, instead of assuming Alex would be there, she stayed on the line to convince her. “Come on, it’s for a big case. I need you, Danvers.”
“You are going to owe me big time, and I plan to collect.”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone before Maggie continued in an oddly subdued voice, “Okay. I’ll text you the address.”
This time it was a fancy, upscale bar on top of one of the highest skyscrapers in National City. Maggie met her out on the sidewalk, and for a second, Alex forgot to breathe. She was wearing a deep maroon dress this time, the color amazing on her. The dress hugged every curve, leaving her legs bare and her hair up to expose her neck. Alex had opted for black, and she had thought she looked presentable enough in the mirror, but now, she wasn’t so sure. But Maggie’s gaze was appreciative as it swept over Alex’s body. “You look good,” she said, her voice a shade lower than usual.
“You do too.” Alex was just grateful she didn’t stutter and stammer like last time, glad she knew this was business and she didn’t have to ask, comfortable in the fact that Maggie had a girlfriend so she didn’t have to feel confused when Maggie stepped forward. She expected Maggie to take her hand like last time, and she tried to ignore the excited little flutter in her stomach at the thought.
Instead, Maggie caught Alex’s hips in her hands, standing on tiptoe to nuzzle her lips against Alex’s neck. “8 o’clock, tan jacket, we think he’s trafficking in underage aliens,” she whispered, and Alex had to remember to bring air into her lungs, remember that this was just business as Maggie brushed a kiss against her jaw.
But Maggie was right there, and two could play this game, so Alex slid her hands around Maggie’s waist and turned her head to press a kiss against the exposed skin of Maggie’s neck. Her perfume was light and crisp, and her shampoo smelled of peppermint, and Alex wondered if it would seem too obvious of her to bury her nose against Maggie’s skin. “I see him,” she breathed into Maggie’s ear, and it had to be her imagination because, otherwise, she could have sworn that Maggie shivered in her arms.
“What do we do?” Alex whispered as Maggie leaned back in the embrace, her body arching into Alex’s so she could look in Alex’s eyes. Tilting her head back and raising her chin, Maggie almost seemed to be inviting Alex to kiss her, and Alex was back to being confused, both by her desire to do just that and what looked like encouragement in Maggie’s eyes.
Maggie stepped back, breaking out of the embrace, and looked around, and Alex missed the heat of her body immediately. “He’s gone up,” she said, indicating a small elevator just inside the door. “Shall we?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. Her arm circled Alex’s waist as she guided her inside.
There should be a law, Alex decided, against Maggie looking so good and smelling so nice and touching her like this. With a sigh, Alex realized that these work things, first with Max and now with Maggie, were the closest things to dates she’d had in over two years. At least Maggie was more interesting than Max, and way cuter. If she was into that kind of thing. Which she wasn’t.
“That was a heavy sigh, Danvers. You okay?” Maggie asked as they stepped into the elevator. She punched the button for the bar, and the elevator started to move.
Alex smiled, trying to shake the sudden gloom that enveloped her. “Yeah.”
Tilting her head, Maggie gazed at her with warm, caring eyes. “You sure?”
“So are we doing recon?” Alex asked, trying to get her head back into the game and onto business. Her love life, or lack thereof, was better left for her empty apartment and a full glass of bourbon.
“Yeah, trying to see who he interacts with and if we can overhear any conversations.” A ding alerted them to the elevator’s arrival, and they stepped into the bar, the 360 views of National City through the floor-to-ceiling windows stunning. “Wanna get a table?” She indicated tabletop out on the deck, in a secluded corner but with a good view through the windows of nearly the whole bar.
“Sure,” Alex said, heading toward the deck as Maggie sauntered up to the bar. High hurricane candleholders protected the candles from the wind that kicked up a notch as Alex stepped out of the enclosed bar. The candles cast the empty deck in a ghostly light, and the sounds of the city were muted by distance and wind. It was beautiful, and Alex stepped up to the rail for a moment to take in the view.
Finally, she turned to find Maggie standing just on the threshold of the deck, staring at her with dark, expressive eyes. Alex smiled, more genuinely, and stepped closer to Maggie, taking one of the glasses of red wine out of her hands. “You’re staring,” she laughed.
“That, that’s a hell of a view,” Maggie uttered, but her eyes were fixed on Alex, not on the city lights stretched out to the horizon.
“Yeah, it is,” Alex agreed as Maggie dragged her eyes away and walked to the table, the dress accentuating every sensuous movement of her hips. Alex joined her, and they sipped their wine in silence for a moment. Alex reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the way the candlelight cast Maggie’s face into shadow except for her dark eyes and scanned the crowd in the bar, looking for their guy. This pretend date was all business, after all.
Maggie shifted around the table, her arm sliding around Alex and drawing her close, her head coming to rest on Alex’s shoulder. “There,” she muttered.
Just business, Alex reminded herself, sternly, as Maggie’s breath tickled her neck and she had to resist the urge to look down into Maggie’s eyes once again. Scumball, underage aliens, surveillance.
Their mark was working the room, chatting with a lot of different people as he made his way around the bar, but he didn’t stop with anyone in particular. Maggie had her phone out and looked like she was showing Alex something on it, but she was snapping discreet pictures of the people he was talking to. The elevator doors opened, and Alex glanced at the movement, only to have her stomach drop as she recognized the woman in the red dress who stepped off.
Without thinking, Alex grabbed Maggie, pulled her further into the corner, and, in a completely cliched spy movie move, caught Maggie’s chin in her hand, raising her head for a kiss. As soon as their lips met, Alex realized she had made a grave mistake. Maggie pressed her body into Alex’s, her fingers curling around Alex’s neck to hold their mouths together, the kiss deep and hungry and not at all business-like. The kiss felt entirely too good, too right, and Alex forgot all about work as she tightened her hold, crushing their bodies together.
“Wow,” Maggie muttered as their mouths broke apart, resting her forehead against Alex’s as they stood in a tight embrace, stunned. Alex could feel Maggie’s chest rise and fall as she caught her breath and the full length of her body through the thin fabric of their dresses. Her own heart was beating triple-time, and a heavy heat pooled deep in her gut. Wow, indeed.
Alex was afraid to open her eyes, and her mind reeled as she tried to make sense of what had just happened and how she was supposed to explain it to Maggie. Maggie, who had a girlfriend, who was supposed to be her friend--her work friend--here with her on police business, who she had just kissed, more passionately than she had ever kissed anyone in her life. And who she really wanted to kiss again. “Roulette,” she said finally as she opened her eyes, because at least she had a tiny bit of an explanation. “She’s here. She’ll recognize us.”
Maggie’s head jerked back, and her body stiffened in Alex’s embrace. “Oh.” She glanced down and swallowed before meeting Alex’s eyes again. Some emotion that Alex couldn't identity lurked there. She smiled, but it wasn't her usual wide smile, and it didn't reach her eyes or cause her cheeks to dimple. “Good thing you kept her from seeing us then.”
A different tension roiled between them; the playful, flirtatious undercurrent gone, replaced by a distant awkwardness even though their bodies were still entwined intimately. “I… I’m sorry,” Alex stumbled over her words, seeing a hint of vulnerability in those dark depths for the first time since she had known Maggie.
Maggie glanced over Alex’s shoulder, scanning the room behind her. “She’s moved to the other side of the room.” Her hands slid off of Alex’s neck and down her back, coming to rest on her elbows. “It’s okay, you did what you had to do.” She shifted in the embrace, trying to take a step back, but Alex didn’t let her. “You can let go of me now.”
“What if…” Alex started, “what if it wasn’t?”
“Wasn’t what?”
“What I had to do. What if it was what I wanted to do? What if I wanted to kiss you?”
“Alex,” Maggie tried to laugh it off with a smile and a little shake of her head, and Alex relented, her arms relaxing to let Maggie shift her body away. But as her fingers slid from Maggie’s waist, she traced the curves of her hips, brushed over the lean muscles of Maggie’s thighs through the fabric of the dress before dropping. “Alex,” Maggie said again, but it came out more like a gasp.
Her hands came up to frame Maggie’s face, gentle pressure bringing the other woman closer as she straightened, and Maggie’s fingers tightened on her elbows as she stood on her tiptoes to bridge the distance between their lips.
Alex pulled back just enough to adjust the angle, the tip of her nose brushing Maggie’s, before capturing her lips again, the softness exhilarating and intoxicating. Maggie parted her lips, her tongue teasing, and Alex gasped against Maggie’s mouth. “Maggie,” she whispered as the other woman drew back, and for a second, everything fell into place. Her incessant need to hang out. Her inability to talk around Maggie. Her confusing feelings. Her jealousy.
Then it all fell apart. Her eyes flew open and her hands dropped as if she had been burned. Maggie stared at her with concern in those dark eyes, beautiful in the candlelight, and Alex felt even more guilty. “Shit, Maggie, I’m… you, you have a girlfriend and I, I just…” Alex took a step back, panicked, her hand covering her mouth. “I shouldn’t have…”
Maggie caught Alex’s arm before she could bolt. “Alex, Alex, it’s ok. We broke up. Days ago.”
“You what?” Hope sprung in Alex’s chest, and she released the breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding.
“We broke up.” A small, shy smile graced Maggie’s face, scared and hopeful. “There’s this other woman that I’m kind of falling for…”
“Oh. I’m sorry…”
“She works at this secret governmental agency, and I’ve been hanging out with her a lot lately and…”
Alex’s eyes widened, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You mean me?” she asked with a hint of awe in her voice.
The dimples appeared as Maggie’s smile stretched, shaking her head at the disbelief in Alex’s voice. “Yes, I mean you. Nerd.” She reached out and caught Alex’s hand, tugging her closer. “And I’m getting the sense that maybe you like me too.”
Alex laughed as their bodies molded together, the fit perfect. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Detective. I’m here in a strictly professional capacity.” Maggie’s lips twisted into a lopsided smirk, and she gave a small shrug. “This evening was business, wasn’t it?”
“Well… I had heard Roulette hung out here, and I’ve been meaning to check it out. Everyone says the views of the city are spectacular.”
Alex narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “The guy in the tan jacket?”
“He’s a known accomplice.”
“So you’re saying you lured me out under false pretenses?” Alex asked as she dipped her head to brush her lips over the pulse point on Maggie’s neck.
“Maybe,” Maggie’s reply came out breathless as her chin tilted back and her eyes closed, giving Alex better access. Alex nibbled her way up the soft skin to Maggie’s ear as Maggie held on to her.
“You remember when I said you would owe me big time?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s get out of here so I can collect.”