Chapter Text
As Alex walked down the hallway toward Kara’s apartment, Maggie by her side, she was beginning to wonder if this was the best idea. She kept stealing glances at the shorter woman beside her, who appeared to be doing her level best to act normal. It wasn’t working.
They came to a stop outside the door and Alex turned and simply looked at Maggie with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” Maggie questioned, tugging at the ends of her jacket in an involuntary nervous gesture.
“Mags. We don’t have to do this right now if you’re not ready.”
Maggie looked alarmed. “What? No! I’m fine, Danvers. Really.”
“Maggie, I can tell you’re nervous. I promise I won’t be upset if you don’t want to do this today.” She reached out and gently squeezed Maggie’s hands.
“No, we’re doing this now. Yeah, I’m a little nervous, but I think that’s normal. Besides, it’s bound to happen at some point so we might as well get it over with.” Her mouth was set in a firm line and she nodded her head once, as if convincing herself.
Alex bit her lip to stifle a smile at her dramatic girlfriend. “Babe, you make it sound like we’re about to walk the plank, not have game night with our friends.”
“Your friends.”
“Hey, Kara’s your friend already, and the rest will be too, after tonight. It will be fine, I promise. So, you in?”
Maggie still looked a little wary, but she nodded and pulled herself together, taking her hands back from Alex to run them once more over her outfit, then through her hair, before knocking solidly on the door.
********
Two hours later and Alex and Kara were muffling giggles into their hands as a riled-up Maggie argued playfully with Winn over some shooter video game Alex had never heard of.
“Really Mags, and you call me a nerd,” Alex teased when she could finally get a word in.
Maggie laughed and slapped her thigh lightly, leaning back into her on the couch from where she had instinctively sat forward during her animated discussion with the tech genius.
Alex wrapped her arm around her and kissed her temple adoringly. She was incredibly happy in this moment. She never thought she’d get to have this. A girlfriend who she felt so many wonderful things for, sharing her space, spending time with her sister and friends, all getting along and enjoying themselves. The night had somehow made her feel not only closer to Maggie, but also to the others who had been so welcoming to her.
At first Maggie had been tentative and a little uncomfortable, but soon she warmed back up to her usual charming self. She enthusiastically talked to James about his efforts as Guardian and about her police work; she had already won Kara over, but she became favored in her books after offering up her leftover potstickers; and she had been bantering back and forth with Winn about video games and movies for the better part of half an hour.
Add to that her prowess at charades and the Superfriends were sold.
It felt good, Alex decided, letting her fingers trail through the ends of Maggie’s silky hair. It felt good to let her girlfriend into this part of her life, to connect a bunch of people she loved most in the world. Alex startled as that thought hit her; it was far too early to be thinking that way about Maggie.
She was probably just on a high from all the good vibes in the room, she concluded, burying that train of thought for now.
********
Later that night, they were in her bed, Alex’s head resting on Maggie’s chest. Maggie was playing with her hair with one hand and scrolling through her phone with the other.
Alex had been running through the night in her mind, and had decided she needed to find out a bit more about why Maggie had been so hesitant earlier.
“Maggie?”
“Yeah babe?”
“How come you were so anxious about meeting up with everyone tonight? What did you think was going to happen?”
Maggie sighed and set down her phone to give her her full attention. Alex propped her chin up on one hand to do the same.
“I don’t know...I guess I don’t always make the best first impressions.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, like our first meeting, for example. I know I can come off a little harsh or stand-offish.”
Alex laughed. “But those were totally different circumstances; you were intruding on my crime scene.”
Maggie scoffed and pinched her side playfully. “You mean you were intruding on mine, Danvers. And yeah, I know that was different, but I can still come across hard or uninterested, or I say the wrong thing, or I’m just awkward and they can tell. Plus, I’m usually more of a one-on-one person.”
“Maggie, you should’ve told me if you didn’t want to hang out with them all at once, we could have done separate days.”
“No, Alex. I wanted to go. I was scared to fuck it up, but I wanted to go,” she said sincerely, looking directly into her eyes.
“What do you mean, how could you fuck it up?” Alex frowned.
“Well, like I said, I don’t always make the greatest first impressions. A lot of the…a lot of the girls I used to date would break things off with me after seeing me around their friends.” Maggie swallowed thickly, looking down at her hand plucking at the sheet.
Alex was getting more and more concerned with the direction of this conversation.
“And you were worried I would do the same?” she whispered.
Maggie gave a little half quirk of her lips as confirmation, still not making eye contact.
Alex sighed and sat up, swinging one leg over Maggie’s lap to straddle her. Maggie looked up in surprise, automatically reaching out to grasp Alex’s hips.
Alex gently placed her hands on either side of Maggie’s face, stroking over her cheekbones. She needed her to hear this.
“Maggie, I knew my friends would love you. And if they didn’t right away, it would only be because they hadn’t got a chance to see all of you yet - how wonderful you are. And if they couldn’t see that yet, then I’d wait until they did see it. I’m not giving up on you, Sawyer.”
Maggie’s eyes looked a little watery.
Alex continued, “But honestly? I wasn’t worried at all. I was so happy and proud to have you there with me.”
“You were?” Maggie asked softly.
Alex dropped her hands to Maggie’s and linked their fingers. “Yeah, I was. You mean so much to me and to get to share you with the other important people in my life, it means a lot. And I love how you tried so hard for me, even if you were scared or it isn’t usually your thing.”
Maggie smiled slightly and lifted their hands to place a kiss on the back of Alex’s. “Of course, Alex. You mean so much to me too; I’ll always try for you. I’m not giving up either.”
Alex leaned forward and kissed her soft and slow and deep. It was a kiss that conveyed not only attraction and desire, but also the warmth of connection and growth.
It was a kiss that sealed the promises they had made to each other without using the exact words:
I’m here to stay. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never throw you away. I’m all in.