#what a good day to be fixated on j'onn

[supercorpkid]

Powergirl Should Die - 2

Supergirl, Powergirl, B!D. Kara Danvers x BabyDanvers!Reader, Alex Danvers x BabyDanvers!Reader, Lena Luthor, J'onn J'onzz.

Word Count: 2840.

Part 1

Kara is the sunshine. It irradiates through her skin and you don't think there's a single soul that would be able to deny that. Your sister is always bringing good light wherever she might go. But you-

You were born to rain clouds. Always almost but never enough. Power, yes. But never Super. Even back in Krypton, you were always blessed in her shadow.

And that was fine, for most of your life. You didn’t care to hide away behind her at school. Didn’t care that when she moved to National City, you had to follow her too. But then she got you inside a skin tight suit, gave you a superhero name, and that was a little too much for you to bear.

Because now you are sleep deprived, too tired to function properly. Haven't rested a bit in days. Patrolling the city, watching everyone's step, listening to every heartbeat and shaky breath. Waiting for the worst.

It's not even that you can't rest because you don't have the time, that is only partially true. You have to go to the Museum and work. You haven't let anyone patrol the city ever since you saw that flash of red in Lena's surveillance camera. Even so, you would still have a couple of hours to nap, if only you could. If only you wouldn't wake up drenched in sweat from your nightmares.

All of them are about what's happening right now. You watch from afar seeing her blonde hair and red cape flying behind her while she writes the words that are now rooted in the depths of your mind. 

Powergirl should die. Why won't she die already?

"That's enough!" J'onn stops the arguing. His deep commanding voice is enough to make everyone shut up, including both of your sisters that had been yelling at you until a minute ago. "You are in a government space and some of you are public figures. I expect at least a little bit of decorum, and if that's not possible then the three of you should go talk somewhere private. Preferably at home."

"Fine by me." Kara says, hardening her jaw. "We're all going home." She speaks almost out of greeted teeth, only one eye blinks, so laser focus on you, it sends shivers down your spine. 

She picks Alex up, ready to fly away, but looks back at you before she does so, almost daring. You don't want to go home with them. All the previous yelling already made clear what their point was. You are getting obsessed with this 'Powergirl should die' thing. You're getting fixated, absorbed, borderline manomaniacal about it. Throwing blame around, wary of the people who are there to help you, snapping at your own flesh and blood. 

Yeah, yeah. No shit.

"Y/N, would you stay behind for a second?" J'onn says, and Kara furrows her brows at him. "She'll catch you in a moment, Kara. You and Alex can go."

"Alright." Kara leaves, but it is clear it wasn't ok by the way she said that. 

He starts walking and you follow him silently throughout the corridors of the DEO, and only stops in front of a lead covered room. "For privacy." He explains, pointing inside and you agree with your head walking in. "Would you like to tell me what the problem is?"

"Besides someone wanting me dead?" You snap. You can't really control how you sound right now, even though you wish you could. You're tired, scared, and suspicious of the very one person you should rely on the most. That makes everyone around you untrustworthy by default.

J'onn agrees with his head. And you bite the inside of your mouth to keep you from spilling the truth.

"Seems enough of a reason to me."

"You think Kara wrote it." He explains it further, saying what you've been thinking. At least someone had the courage to say it out loud. You sigh, looking down. 

It's wrong. Thinking your sister is the one writing all these terrible things about you. But what else would you think? It’s the only lead you have. The only one you need.

"It's a pretty big accusation."

You can't look him in the eyes. Even though you haven't directly said it, he could read all the messed up thoughts you were having about it. "You didn't say I was wrong."

"I didn't say you were right." J'onn counters, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You're going to end up doing something you regret if you don't rest. I'm not going to argue you on this, Y/N. This is not a suggestion, it's an order from a superior. I am not giving you a shift tonight, and I hope that means you won't be on duty."

"What if the writing comes up again?"

"Then we clean it." 

"What if something more than the writing comes up this time?" You can't help the watery eyes when you say that.

He gives you a long pause, "Then we fight it."

Alright, well. You can't argue with that logic. And you also can’t argue with the fact that you are so tired, you might end up doing something stupid. 

So you agree that you won’t patrol tonight, trusting him on this, and leave the DEO. You are well aware that your sisters are waiting for you in Kara’s apartment, ready to tell you what to do. So before you face them, you send Lena a text.

You: Hey! You, me, Love Actually and Thai food tonight?

Lena: Yes, please. All of it sounds perfect ❤️

You smile at her text. Your heart doing a small loop inside you. Alright, now onto the hard part.

You fly in through the window and the second Kara notices your presence, she picks up the conversation from where it was left. 

“How long has it been since you've slept?” She asks, crossing her arms and Alex mimics her action right after. They look like two angry parents, and it makes you even more annoyed. They are not your parents. Your parents exploded 20 years before you even stepped foot on this planet, so. 

“I don’t know.” You mutter, knowing they wouldn't like the honest answer and having no energy to fight them.

“If you would just let me take over for you, mini me. I could patrol the city tonight. I promise I'll call you the second I see something suspicious and –”

“Yeah, ok.”

“What?” Kara and Alex stare at each other.

“I have direct orders from my superior to stay put. And I also have a date – I mean, a movie date – a movie thing with Lena tonight, so yeah. If you want to patrol the city, you do it.”

“Oh.” They stare at each other again, confused about your approach to this. You’ve been very demanding the past few days about how this is only about you and that no one else should get involved, and just one conversation later, you're quick to give up that control? Sounds weird. But they're not going to fight you on this, since it's exactly what they want. "Great! I'll do the patrolling and you do the date."

"And sleep." Alex adds. "Don't forget you need to sleep."

"Sure thing, mom." You force a smile then fly out of Kara's living room, and go back to work.

It’s a lot later that night when you give Lena the empty container of your already eaten Thai food, and snuggle up on her couch, throwing the blanket over your legs and trying to get as comfortable as possible. “Mmm, just FYI I might fall asleep during the movie.” You warn her. “I haven’t had a good night in a while.”

Lena hums her agreement from the kitchen, but soon she is back to her place next to you. “Something’s been worrying you?”

“I guess. But I don’t wanna bore you with that, it’s not something fun to talk about.” You smile when she gets under the blanket too, body so close her warmth irradiates through her skin. 

“You couldn't bore me if you tried, honey.”

“Au contraire, darling. I think everyone at the Museum would say I’m the most boring person alive.” You give her a side smile.

Lena shoots her head up, comically fast. She blinks at you, head clearly going one thousand miles an hour. She is thinking so hard, it's almost loud. You furrow your brows in confusion, while her mouth drops with a 'oh' sound. 

"You're ok?" You pat her leg.

There's no verbal answer. Lena's shaky hands make their way to the collar of your shirt and you sit up straighter trying to understand what's happening right now, and trying to predict what's going to happen next. 

“Lena?” You question her movements when she undoes the first button of your shirt. You swallow. It's not like you never once imagined this happening, but not like this. Not without love confessions and a whole lot of prior conversation.

“Lena, what are you doing?”

Lena doesn’t answer, doesn’t blink. Hands still shaking, but decisively making their way to the second button.

“Lena, please.” She undoes that one as well. And that's when it hits you. You are always wearing your supersuit attire under your clothes, so it's faster when you have to run out from work and such. Panic shoots through your body as you realize that if she unbuttons one more, she’ll be able to see your supersuit. You hold her hands to stop her. “Lena,” you try to smile even if your mouth is completely dry and your breath is stuck in your lungs. “Darling, shouldn’t you kiss me first, before trying to get me naked?”

Lena finally looks back at your eyes, a smile dangling on her lips to match yours. And then she gives you a smirk. “You’re not naked, though. Are you?” 

“Under my clothes? Yeah, I’m naked.” You lie with a fake chuckle. 

She untangles her hand from yours, places it behind your neck and brings your face closer. You hold your breath. Widen your eyes. This is happening. It's happening! You and Lena, it's finally happening!

“What’s going on with you tonight?” You stare down at her mouth. “I’m not complaining, I’m just confused.”

And that’s enough of a distraction for her to move her other hand and unbutton one more. Lena looks down at the white of your supersuit and the little bit of gold from the House of El crest. And you? You panic.

"I, um, I can explain." While your heart beats strongly into your ribcage and there's a loud buzz inside your ears. How do you explain yourself?

Lena seems to be inside her own little world while both hands now make all the way down undoing all of your buttons, opening your shirt to have the House of El crest staring at her in all its secrecy.  

"I'm sorry." You whisper, one tear rolling down your cheek. Because there's no explanation, really. Nothing you can say for yourself to stop Lena from hating you now.

She finally looks up to you, eyes tearing up as well, mouth agape to her recent discovery. You can see it all playing out in her eyes. She has the most expressive ones. Betrayal and anger, sadness and confusion. And then, a few seconds after two tears drop from her eyes, she raises her eyebrows at you. Eyes widening when something hits her.

"Powergirl should die." Lena whispers, swallowing deep. "Oh my God, Y/N. Someone is trying to kill you." 

She launches herself onto you, holding you tight. Her hand entangles on your hair, holding your neck strongly. 

"Oh, darling." She whispers, her body even closer now. You feel a kiss being planted on the side of your head, while you seek comfort on her arms, face buried on her neck. "No wonder you've been so careless."

"What?" 

"Au contraire, darling? Please, Y/N, I've never heard anyone say that except for you. And Powergirl, apparently." 

"Lena." You whine, embarrassed. Can't believe you made it that easy. You guess J'onn was right, you were about to do something stupid from the lack of sleep. "Someone wants me dead." You try to justify, earning a smile from her.

"You really are tired, huh?" She brings you closer again, kisses your temple. "You thought I was trying to get you naked, honey."

"Lenaaaa." You whine harder, face burning red from embarrassment. God, you're such a loser. "Can you please ignore everything I said tonight? I haven't slept an inch in four days."

Lena smiles fondly at you, while she strokes your cheek delicately. She plants a kiss there, then a light one on your lips. It's so soft, it holds no sexual implication. Just pure comfort. "Come on, Powergirl. You need a power nap."

"Oh God." You complain again, but soon Lena hugs you tight, and with your head on her chest, and Love Actually playing in the back, you're fast asleep. You don't even care if the writing shows up all over town tonight. There's no other place you'd rather be.

You wake up from your place on Lena's chest. Sometime last night she laid back on the couch and you curled yourself around her, not ready to let go. It was the first night you haven't had any nightmares.

You hear a few knocks on the balcony door, and you and Lena raise your heads at the same time to the intruder on the other side. Kara. She is smiling and waving, then she widens her eyes and turns around quickly. X-ray vision. You look down to Lena's body under yours, and your leg slotted between hers. 

"Oh my God. I'm sorry." You get up in a flash, shirt still hung open with a clear view of your supersuit. "Shit, fuck."

Lena gets up as well, trying to look less disheveled to your sister's eyes. And after you button up your shirt, you finally open the balcony door and clean your throat, so Kara can look back at you.

"Hi!" She tries with the biggest, most awkward smile ever. "Just, um, wanted to say that there's nothing new for me to, um, report?" 

You look back at Lena who knows exactly what Kara is talking about, but is looking down pretending she doesn't.

"I didn't mean to interrupt –"

"You didn't." You both are quick to say.

"Oh-kay?" Kara raises her eyebrows, a smile reaching her eyes, and you know exactly what she is insinuating. And sure, you thought the same thing last night, but you're both wrong.

"Can I get a ride?" You ask and Supergirl eagerly agrees. You turn back at Lena. "Thanks for –" You bite your tongue. You don't want to say anything in front of your sister. "Lunch later?"

"Lunch." Lena agrees with her head. And you smile before letting Kara pick you up and fly out of her balcony with you.

When you're out of sight, you untangle yourself and start flying next to her. "So no writing last night, huh?"

"Nope. Not even a kitten to rescue to keep me entertained." Kara grins devilishly at you. "You, on the other hand, was well entertained last night."

"Yeah, well. I slept for the first time in four days and had no nightmares. I'd say I was very entertained."

"Nightmares?" Kara stops flying, and you have to fly back a little, so you can talk face-to-face. "You haven't had nightmares in years."

"That's not true. I've been having them for… I guess, months now?" 

"Months?" Kara's eyebrows furrow so hard, her crinkle shows. "When did they start?"

"They're just nightmares, Kara." You argue, annoyed. But she looks at you with an expression you almost couldn’t read. It's a midst of worrisome and distrust. 

You furrow your own eyebrows, looking back at her. And then it hits you. The only reason you recognize this look, is because it's how you've been looking at her for the past four days.

"When did they start?" She repeats, strongly this time.

"I don't know." You lie. You know exactly when they started. Right after she gave you a superhero name and your first mission. Ever since, you haven't been able to sleep right.

"Let's make sure you don't have them anymore." Your sister finally breathes out. "Maybe you should try sleeping more times with Lena. It looks like she helps."

Wouldn't she like having you back at no patrolling so she can go back to the new way she found to be passive-aggressive and make you question your every single step?

"I'll pick up some extra shifts and I'm sure J'onn won't mind picking up some as well. That way you can rest your head a little."

You narrow your eyes at her, questioning her intentions. "Why don't you worry about your own enemies, and let me deal with mine?" 

She doesn't answer and you're certainly happy you rendered Kara Zor-El speechless for the first time all your life.

[occidentaltourist]

I think it's so interesting how invested a majority of the fandom has been on Lena's current financial status since the episode ended. Many are just clowning because of the funny potential but I have also seen many analysis and post on different SM sites and it's really interesting how much time and research people are doing in order to know her current financial status. I think one of the reasons may be because Lena's weatlh is a big part of who she is? It was even in her audition script (1/3)

But after following this show for 6 seasons I wouldn't expect the writers to really have thought out the real financial consequences of her leaving the company. The only things that makes me hopeful they could follow that storyline are the fact that they had Lex explicitly said she wouldn't get any money and also, her reaction to that. She doesn't say anything but the look on her face when he says it could be interpreted many ways. It would also give them great material to work with. (2/3)

I guess we will see, but like I said, this is the show that had Lena work on a clinical trial that was passed as legal when everything was wrong. Alex and J'onn haven't worked for more than a year and they seem to be doing ok, Alex still has her fancy apartment. We don't even know where and how Brainy lives. Kara's still working at Catco even though she's never there. And they messed up everything with Crisis so they still mix both stories together. Making sense isn't their strong suit (3/3)

=============

Yeah! It’s a big change but overall a positive one for Lena, and as viewers we hopefully get to see new twists and turns to her storyline. After the muck of S5 it’s good to be speculating about this kind of stuff. :)

I don’t expect Lena to suddenly be broke and homeless - as you said, several of the mains don’t actually have paying jobs and are doing just fine; Kara barely went to her day job even before the PZ event ... their economic/financial status hasn’t been a story focus and I don’t think it’ll suddenly become a big one for Lena. Not to mention, Andrea was cut off by her dad and they just handled it with a little stock fraud.

(Speaking of, do we know how The Tower got all its gizmos and how it’s being funded? Did they just siphon off some things from the DEO before it exploded, is there a special Superhero Trust Fund that Kara can tap into when she needs it?

If it has residential quarters, maybe Lena can bunk there. :)

I think it will be framed in terms of the resources she used to have access to, money to some extent but probably more importantly the Luthor tech, including Lex’s gadgets. Does he have a homing device for his portal watches, for example? I now have the feeling they’ll become important again and for different reasons in 6b. 

I can finally be happy, she told Lex as she excised him from her life. What does that mean for her?

I also think we can’t really expect real-world accuracy from TV shows, especially in this genre. It still makes me laugh how fixated the fandom was on Lena’s CDC paperwork when there was obviously no reason for them to spend time expositing the technicalities. Even Lex’s sham trial: I’ve said before that I’m glad they didn’t spend half a season on the process. Since the point was always to keep him out of jail so he could still be an inter-galactic menace and push Lena to cut ties ... I didn’t like how the trial was written, but on balance I can live with it being unrealistic because what happens next is actually what’s more important. 

[this-sapphic-paradise]

When Push Comes to Shove

Chapter 4 - The Talk

( AO3 link/ please consider buying me a coffee ^^ )

"Hey, boss." Kara greets Lena as she walks into the bullpen. She is nervous, but she's still as determined to talk to Lena as she was a few minutes ago when she left the DEO. 

"Kara, hi." Lena chuckles still getting used to the idea of being her friend’s boss.

"Um," Kara lets her gaze fall to the ground for a second, and she fixes her glasses before she looks back up at Lena. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asks motioning toward the balcony where they usually have their lunch dates.

Lena follows Kara out onto the balcony, a frown showing that she is already concerned. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah…" Kara replies, but she knows she doesn't sound convincing. "I'm just…" sighing, Kara tries again. "Have you noticed anything different with Sam?"

"Sam? No. Why?" By the way Lena crosses her arms over her chest, Kara knows she must tread carefully.

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Kara thinks hard about how to word this right -- after all, Kara Danvers shouldn't know anything is wrong with Sam, Supergirl was the one at the DEO. "It's just… I-I've noticed that she's looking kinda tired lately. I wanted to know if there was anything going on, you know, so we could try to help." Kara feels terrible lying like this, but it isn't entirely a lie. She is worried about Sam, and she does want to help, but Kara is more concerned about Lena's safety than Sam's at this very moment.

The reply seems to be good enough to disarm Lena. She lets her arms fall to her sides, and she smiles softly at Kara. "I know you've grown fond of Sam, but I promise she's okay. The job she took on is not easy, and she's afraid she's not paying enough attention to Ruby. It's just the job taking its toll on her."

Kara looks down at her feet and nods. There are so many thoughts crossing her mind. She even feels a little dizzy -- a feeling foreign to her, which only deepens her discomfort. Feeling the initial stages of a panic attack settling in, Kara takes off her glasses, closes her eyes, and starts pacing back and forth along the balcony, resisting the urge to fly away.

There are too many things at stake: Sam's safety, Alex's safety, Lena's, National City's. Even if they miraculously keep everyone safe, Kara can feel Lena getting closer and closer to finding out her true identity. She can't think of how her best friend will react to finding out she has been lying to her for so long; and yet Kara can't bring herself to tell the truth.

Just as she feels like storming off, Kara feels Lena's gentle grip on her arms. "Kara, breathe. Please."

Using her super-hearing, Kara focuses on the sound of Lena's heartbeat, just like she would do to Alex when she had just arrived on Earth. It takes a while, but eventually Lena's soothing words and steady heartbeat calm Kara down. "Would you like me to take you home?" Lena asks softly; she makes a point of not forcing Kara to explain what had just happened because Lena doesn't want to trigger another panic attack.

Shaking her head, Kara takes a couple more seconds to regroup before putting her glasses back on and looking up at Lena. "I-I'll be okay. Thank you, Lena. I-I used to have panic attacks after I moved in with the Danvers, and a-after what happened to Mon-El, they started up again…" Another partial lie, Kara thinks; they did start again after Mon-El left, but it wasn’t because of him, it was because Supergirl had fought Psi.

Lena shakes her head, "It's okay, Kara, you don't have to explain yourself. And you don't have to stay here today."

"N-no. No. I need to work… I need something to focus on." Kara replies.

"Okay." Lena frowns slightly, clearly worried about her friend. "But if you need anything, just let me know." At Kara's nod, she asks, "Would you like to go to Noonan's? Maybe a sticky bun will help take your mind off things?" Lena offers with a little self-conscious smile; she wants to help, but she doesn't want to push Kara into doing something she is not up for.

Smiling brightly at how sweet Lena is, Kara nods. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Once they get to the coffee shop, and Kara is happily eating her food, Lena takes a sip of her tea and wonders whether she should ask more questions about Kara's panic attack or not. But before she can decide, she hears Kara speaking, "I was just thinking of too many things at once," she explains through a mouth-full. Swallowing, Kara continues, "You lost Jack… and in a way, you've lost your mom too. I just… I kept thinking about how you'd feel if something were to happen to Sam… And then I thought of Ruby, and I started wondering who would take her in if the worst-case scenario came true…" Kara stares out the window to avoid Lena's intent gaze.

"Kara…" Lena sighs, but there's a little smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Thank you for worrying so much about me, but I'll be okay, and Sam is fine--"

"I know, but what if that changes?" Kara cuts Lena off, surprising her. "We didn't foresee what happened to Jack, to Lillian, or to Mon-El…" Kara bites her lip, and her gaze falls. "Do you know what would happen to Ruby if Sam couldn't take care of her anymore?" she asks quietly.

Lena frowns, and she wants to ask why Kara is so fixated on the idea of Sam getting hurt, but she decides to answer nonetheless. "I'm not sure. Sam and I have been getting closer since she moved here, but I don't know a great deal about her personal life. Maybe her adoptive mother?"

Kara nods, and chances a look at Lena, "S-Sorry… I guess I'm the one who hasn't felt all that well lately."

"I understand, Kara," Lena says softly, reaching across the table to hold Kara's hand. "You suffered a great loss… it's normal to worry about the safety of your friends, especially since we aren't superheroes and there isn't a great deal we can do to protect them." The words are meant to soothe Kara, but her stomach drops; she is a superhero, and she still isn't good enough to protect everyone she loves. "If I weren't going to therapy, I don't know how I would've been able to function after what happened to Jack… My therapist helped me understand my feelings better, and she helped me accept things without feeling guilty about them. If you want, I can give you her number."

Kara doesn't know why therapy has never felt like an option to her, but she tells herself she should ask J'onn if the DEO has a professional she could talk to. "Thank you, Lena," she replies with a small smile. "I'd appreciate that. And thank you for bringing me here, I-I didn't mean to scare you and kinda ditch work…"

Lena squeezes Kara's hand one more time before letting it go to take another sip of her tea. "Don't worry about work, Kara, your wellbeing comes first. And you didn't scare me, although, as your best friend, I might ask how you're feeling more often now." Lena says, raising her eyebrow and smirking.

Chuckling, Kara nods. "I think that's fair."

The rest of the day goes by fairly quickly, and a few blocks away from CatCo, Sam is going through her final reports of the day when Jess knocks on the door and announces that Alex Danvers is there to see her.

"Please, show her in, Jess," Sam says with a polite smile to her secretary.

Alex walks in, hands in her pockets, and she waits until Jess has closed the door behind her to greet Sam. "Hey," she says, the word coming out almost like a sigh.

"Hey…" By Alex's tone, Sam can tell Alex doesn't have good news for her. She stares at the agent for a few more seconds, before putting the report away, and standing up to pour them a glass of scotch. "Something tells me I'm gonna need this," Sam says loud enough for Alex to hear her from where she's standing.  

Alex is chewing on the inside of her cheek when Sam walks up to her to hand her a glass. "I wish I had better news, Sam. I really do…" Alex says, cradling the glass between both hands. "But the exam--"

"It showed I am Kryptonian, right?" Sam cuts her off, and Alex nods. Sam can't stop herself from mirroring Alex, nodding her head along, before downing her scotch in one gulp.

"Hey..." Alex steps forward, taking the glass away from Sam, and setting it down along with her own before she gently guides Sam toward the couch. "I know it's a shock, and I can't imagine what you must be feeling, but this can be a good thing, okay? This might mean that National City has a new hero, you could help keep us safe alongside Supergirl if that's what you want."

Alex's hopeful smile helps keep the tears threatening to spill from Sam's eyes at bay, and her words ignite something inside Sam's chest; maybe this isn't bad after all. Ruby wanted her to be a hero like Supergirl, and with these powers, she could keep her daughter safe. "Yeah…" she finally says, holding on to Alex's hand like a lifeline. "You're right," her voice comes out a little hoarse, and Sam needs to swallow the knot in her throat. "Th-This can be a good thing."

"Yes, we just need to find out more about how you arrived here," Alex says, holding Sam's hand with both of her own.

"I arranged everything with Jess; I'll be able to visit my mother tomorrow after I drop Ruby off at school."

"Did you talk to Lena too?" Alex asks both out of curiosity and to keep track of who knows what.

Sam shakes her head, "No, she's not scheduled to come by tomorrow. There's no business for her to attend to here, and she usually doesn't come by without calling first." Sam says, starting to feel calmer. "I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I come back to National City."

"About that��" Alex bites her lip, worrying about how Sam will react to her next few words. "J'onn has assigned me to go with you, not because we don't trust you, but since the DEO has learned about you, it is our duty to follow your situation… And if you mother knows where your pod is, we'll need to confiscate it. I promise it's for your own safety, Sam. We can compare the pod to Supergirl's and, with our technology, we can help you make sense of whatever we may find."

Suddenly it dawns on Sam that from the moment she walked into the DEO that morning, from that moment on she'll forever be under the government's eye. The thought bothers her and makes her feel uneasy. But Alex's words help her fight those feelings, and she tries her best to focus on the silver lining; she tells herself that Supergirl also works with the DEO and she seems happy with it. That alone should be reassuring enough.

"That's okay, Alex. That might be for the best, actually. I don't know what I would do if my mother was actually hiding a spaceship in her backyard." Sam laughs, shaking her head.

Smiling at Sam's seemingly easy acceptance of what she just told her, Alex says, "You'd be surprised with the things we find in people's backyard."

Sam laughs a bit more, but when her eyes fall on their intertwined hands, all sounds become muffled, and the only thing Sam can hear clearly is what she deduces to be Alex's heartbeat. It should scare her, it should put her off to be able to hear such a thing, but Sam closes her eyes, and her own heart seems to slow down to match Alex's.

"Sam?" Alex calls, but it goes unanswered. It's not until the third try that Alex sees Sam's eyes snapping open.

"S-Sorry," Sam mutters, feeling her cheeks turning red.

"It's okay," Alex reassures her. "Were you… were you listening to something?" she tries to guess. "I've seen Supergirl do the same thing more than a few times," she says, chuckling.

"Um…" Sam searches Alex's eyes, and when she sees understanding being reflected in those warm, brown eyes, Sam says, "Yes. Y-Your heartbeat… Everything faded away, and it was all I could hear."

Alex chuckles again; she's lost count of how many times Kara has done that to her. "From what Supergirl tells me, that can actually be very calming."

"It is." Sam smiles shyly, subconsciously rubbing her thumb against the back of Alex's hand.

The gesture is so spontaneous and sweet it catches Alex completely by surprise. She stands up abruptly, and she can feel her cheeks burning. "Uh… So… Tomorrow, should I meet you here so we can go?"

Sam blinks at Alex's sudden movement, and she wonders for a second what had just happened, but she didn't have time to dwell on it before Alex asked her question. "Um, actually, if you hadn't shown up tonight, I was going to call you…" Sam fidgets with her watch as she gathers her courage, and asks, "Could you sleep over again tonight? I-I'm afraid I might have another nightmare and make the house catch on fire or something… I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did anything that hurt Ruby."

And just like that, with that simple request, awkward Alex Danvers is gone, and confident Agent Danvers is back. "Of course," Alex replies with a sympathetic smile.

"Thank you," Sam sighs in relief, and gets up, "Let me just grab my things and we can go. Ruby will be thrilled to see you."

"Is it too dorky on my part that I'm proud she likes me?" Alex asks as she watches Sam gather her things.

Sam laughs bemusedly, "Are you kidding me? That's the only reason I'm keeping you around," she answers playfully, nodding toward the door so Alex will follow her out the office.

As she hears Alex laughing along with her, Sam feels a moment of confidence, a moment of calm. Maybe with Alex (and the DEO) by her side, everything will be okay, Sam thinks, feeling her heart swelling with hope.