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They're sitting together on a bench in the park, burgers in hands. They just caught a lead for a string of alien murders in town, but it turned out to be a dead end. Tired and hungry, they decided to take a break for lunch and here they are, eating burgers while watching passersby from their bench.
Maggie is brooding beside her, and she's thinking about how to cheer her partner up when she sees a woman walking with the most adorable black and white border collie puppy she ever seen.
Oh my God, it's so small and furry and cute and its grin is just like Kara—
Alex unconsciously lets out a soft gasp and if it isn't for Maggie's swift reflex, her burger would end up being ant food on the ground.
"Whoa, Danvers, what's wrong?" Maggie raises her eyebrows and hands Alex's burger back.
As if just realizing where she is now, Alex lets out a soft, embarrassed cough and shakes her head. "Nothing, and thanks for the save."
"No problem, but you sure?"
"Uh." Now the owner and the puppy are getting closer and Alex can't help but to look at the smiling canine. "Positive."
Maggie narrows her eyes and turns her head to follows Alex's line of sight. "Did you just drop your burger because of her?" She cracks up. "You're precious, Danvers."
Alex blushes, both because of the 'precious' part, and because of the implication that she finds the border collie owner attractive.
(Okay, fine, and because the sound of Maggie's laughter is more beautiful than whenever Stephanie Corneliussen speaks Danish on her screen.)
Although her long curly red hair and dorky hipster glasses are cute, the puppy owner isn't Alex's type. Not really. Not like the woman beside her—
Wait, Maggie is waiting for her to reply.
"What? No! I like the puppy, not her!"
"Sure," Maggie snorts.
"I'm serious! I like dogs and that's one cute puppy," she sighs dreamily.
"Didn't know you like dogs, Danvers."
"Because obviously it's relevant to our job," she snarks. "Oh God, the dog is coming closer—"
No, Alex Danvers is absolutely not flailing right now.
"Damn, relax. Why don't we go say hello and ask if we can pet him?"
"What for?!" she hisses and grabs Maggie's arm with her free hand. The detective looks surprised for a second before smiling mischievously and putting her food on the bench.
"C'mon, let's go."
"Wait!"
But of course Maggie ignores her and approaches the woman and her dog instead.
Alex curses her partner inwardly for a long five seconds before following her.
"Hello." Alex hears when she approaches them. "And hello to you too, little fella!" Maggie waves to the dog.
She considers forgiving Maggie for leaving her when she sees the dog barks and grins at the detective.
Maybe that's what Kara looks like if she's a brunette...
"Aw, he's so cute!" Maggie coos.
"I know, right?" The woman has some sort of accent that she can't place. Probably somewhere south.
Maggie turns when she hears Alex's footsteps behind her. "Took you long enough. Anyway, my friend here likes dogs, and she wants to know if she can pet your dog. Right, Danvers?"
Alex glares at Maggie for throwing her under the bus like that, but she manages to smile at the woman. "Uh, yes. It's okay if you don't want to, it's probably weird..."
"Oh no, not at all! I like it when people want to pet my dog," she chuckles. "Archduke Franz Furdinand, paw up."
Alex barely manages to hold back a squeal when the dog lifts his paw up, but she can't stop herself to kneels and shakes the dog's paw. It's like as if someone just takes over her body and makes her do it.
"Hello, Archduke Franz Furdinand," she says gently. She hears the woman says, "call him Archie," but she doesn't really listen, too lost in Archie's big happy grin.
"Woof," he replies, tongue lolling out and sniffing the air around Alex's hand.
This time, she doesn't even try to hide her squeal and let Archie lick her palm.
Alex is trying to juggle her plastic bags when she hears a familiar voice behind her.
"Danvers?"
She whirls around to find Maggie with a red hoodie, black sweatpants and her usual smirk on her face, along with a—
"Oh my God, you have a rottweiler puppy!"
Maggie chuckles. "I do. Wanna say hi or do you want me to hold your bags first?"
Alex shoves her bags to Maggie's free hand and kneels in front of the confused puppy, uncaring that her jeans is now dirty. "You never told me you have a dog."
"Because obviously it's relevant to our job," she mocks.
"Touché. Can I pet him?"
"Sure."
Alex holds her hand in front of the dog's face and after several seconds, he sniffs it and licks her hand.
This time, she doesn't squeal, but she giggles instead.
She's enjoying the soft fur beneath her hand for a full glorious minute when she hears Maggie's amused voice above her. "Not that I don't like seeing you on your knees, Danvers, but we gotta move. Don't want to block the sidewalk for too long."
Alex shots up so fast she can hear her knees cracks. Maggie, the asshole, just laughs at her.
"Don't say things like that in public!"
"You want me to say it in private, then?"
Yes. "No!"
"Alright, chill. Let's go," she says while handing the leash to Alex.
"You... want me to walk him?"
"Sure, I don't mind. It's not like you'll kidnap him from me," Maggie frowns when Alex shifts her gaze to the side instead of answering. "Right?"
"Of course not."
"Your silence there was pretty damning."
"Not when you can see me, then."
"Give the leash back to me!"
"No!" Alex coughs in embarrassment when her outburst causes a few people to look at them. "I mean, I promise I won't kidnap him, so let me walk him to... wait, where are you going, anyway?"
"Back to my apartment, I live like a block from here. Were you grocery shopping?"
"Yeah. I didn't know you live so close to me."
"Guess it never came up."
"You can give me the bags back."
"Nah, it's okay. That's the least I could do for walking me to my apartment."
"Alright then."
They walk in silence for a minute, Alex is content with watching the dog walks with his stubby legs in front of them and Maggie is looking through her groceries (she feels self-conscious somehow, because it's mostly microwave ready meals, potato chips, and beers) when she remembers that she still doesn't know the name of Maggie's dog.
"So what's his name?"
"Sir Pawtrick Stewart. Jesus, don't you know how to cook? Do you even know what a vegetable is?"
"Oh my God, you're such a dork, Sawyer. And excuse me if I don't have time to cook between shooting aliens!" She shoots Maggie a dirty look.
"How the hell do you not have a scurvy right now? When is the last time you had a home-cooked meal?"
"Uh, Thanksgiving last year, I guess?"
"Christ, Danvers, I don't know whether to laugh or pity you," Maggie shakes her head. "Anyway, we're here. You wanna come up now so I can cook you something with vegetables in it?"
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah, I don't want my partner to have high blood pressure and gout by the time she hits 40. Come on, you don't have anything to do other than eating chips and drinking beers, right?"
Alex ignores Maggie's jabs about her diet and holds her tongue about how she doesn't really expect to hit 40 anyway and nods silently instead.
Alex is standing nervously in front of Maggie's door and she wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans.
After the impromptu dinner two weeks ago, Maggie told her to come over whenever she wanted to chill and pet Sir Pawtrick. She hasn't seen the detective for ten days since the DEO was kicking her ass and surprisingly, there weren't any cases involving aliens for a while, so it's not like she could just walk in to the precinct where Maggie works. But she misses the other woman terribly, so here she is.
"How long you've been standing here, Danvers?"
Alex yelps. "Fuck, Sawyer! You're like a cat! I have to put a bell on you!" She turns around and sees a disheveled Maggie standing in front of her with a tired smile and her helm on one hand.
"Kinky," she drawls. "Move aside."
Maggie unlocks the door and motions Alex to comes in.
"Woof!"
"Hey, boy, you miss me?" Maggie lifts the small rottweiler and showers his face with kisses.
For a minute, all Alex can think is how jealous she is of the dog. And Maggie. Both. Whatever.
Then Maggie hands Sir Pawtrick to her and her jealousy melts away and replaced by awe.
She lets Sir Pawtrick licks her chin and she kisses his forehead in exchange.
Click.
Alex blinks. "Did you just take a picture of me?"
"And the dog, not only you."
"...at least send it to me."
"Sure thing."
Alex's phone is buzzing with the photo from Maggie. "Busy day?" She asks, hesitantly handing the squirming puppy back to his owner.
Damn, Maggie has a good timing. Her eyes were closed when she kissed Sir Pawtrick and he looked so happy with the big grin and all. She's really tempted to change her phone wallpaper, but a certain puppy will whine if their picture together is replaced by a picture of literal puppy.
"Yeah. I was helping homicide to investigate a string of murders downtown. I don't know if it's alien or not because it looks like it was done by a very sharp knife or scalpel to the jugular, but hey, we'll never know until the lab result is back tomorrow," Maggie yawns. "God, I'm so tired and I haven't walked him yet and I don't even want to talk about dinner."
"How about I walk him, you go call a pizza place, then we can eat and you can sleep afterwards?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean I also want to spend time with him, so it's a win-win, really."
"Your true motive is to hanging out with Paw, isn't it."
"... maybe." She's not going to tell Maggie that she misses her or her head will get even bigger than usual.
"Damn, you're cold. We haven't seen each other for nearly two weeks yet you jumped on a chance to be with him without me. I'm hurt, Danvers."
Alex rolls her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, now go shower and order the damn pizza."
"Fine. Ugh, you're so bossy sometimes. What do you want?"
"Hawaiian—"
"Nope, this apartment will never be tainted by that monstrosity. I'll order you pepperoni, like normal people."
"What's with you and critiquing my food choices, Sawyer?"
"It's because you have weird taste, Danvers. Now go and thanks for taking Pawtrick out. I think he misses you," she says while handing Pawtrick back. Alex scratches the back of his ear and he wags his tail, happy for the attention.
"I miss him too." I miss you even more.
"Me too." Maggie's smile is tender and her eyes are impossibly soft as she stares into Alex's.
...
Oh God, she said that out loud, didn't she?
"I'll be back soon!" Alex grabs Pawtrick's leash from behind the door and walks out, mortified.
Well, at least she missed me too.
Alex is panting by the time she takes a water break under the shade of a tree on the deserted sidewalk. It's 05.30 AM on Sunday, and the city is still asleep. She enjoys it all—the silence, the wind, the bright street lights—and it gives her a chance to think.
"Danvers, we really need to stop meeting like this." An amused voice and an excited bark from behind snaps Alex from her musing.
"Hey, Saw—"
Alex can feel her jaw drops, but she's too powerless to stop it. Her eyes are drawn to Maggie's glistening abs and her hands are itching to touch the flat plane of the other woman's smooth skin.
Alex thanks all the deities in the universe for the invention of sports bra and yoga pants. God, Maggie is gorgeous.
Logically, she always knows that, even before she had her awakening, but now she has to look at Maggie's exposed, sweaty skin in front of her and all she wants to do is to li—
"Danvers, I know I'm hot, but this is starting to get weird."
Oh God, how long she had been ogling Maggie? Fuck.
"Don't get cocky, Sawyer, I was looking at Pawtrick," she clears her throat, trying to compose herself. Good lord, how come she just realized that she's a les... she likes women this late in her life? A flash of bare skin from someone she kinds of interested with and she loses her head. Talk about embarrassing.
"Sure. If you did, you'll realize that he's been sniffing your legs since like a minute ago," she mocks. "It's okay to admit that you were looking at my abs. I work for it, and I'm glad it gets the recognition it deserves." Maggie's eyes are filled with mirth and Alex just wants to die or crawl into a deep hole or die in a deep hole.
So she just kneels and pets Pawtrick and trying to ignore Maggie altogether instead.
He's in the middle of licking Alex's palm when Maggie speaks again. "So you want to play it like that, huh?"
"Play like what?" Alex asks. She still can feel her cheeks heating up. Damn Maggie and her abs and stupidly beautiful face and subtly toned arms and nice long legs for someone so short. Bless yoga pants.
Wait, why is she perving on her again from down here? Christ.
"Like you didn't just ogle me. That's okay, I don't mind. You have nice guns yourself, Danvers," she chuckles.
"Oh my God, Sawyer!"
What is her life now, really.
"What? It's true. DEO's training regiments really pays off. I can see things I like under your tank top." Now her voice has a leering quality in it and Alex wants to just backflip to the empty street to get away from Maggie and her teasing.
"You're so easy to tease, Danvers." Maggie kneels beside her and strokes Pawtrick's back. The little guy looks so happy with the amount of petting he gets. He wags his short tail and pants in excitement, and for a little while, Alex is content and able to forgot Maggie's teasing and just petting a dog together on an empty street at 05.45 AM on Sunday. She's warm besides her and Alex wishes they could stay in this moment for a little longer.
So she tries to.
"Sawyer, wanna get a breakfast with me? There's a small diner around here where Kara and I like to go when we have time."
"Is this a ploy to have more time with Paw?"
"No, oh my God. I'm hungry and you're here, so I thought I'd be nice and—"
"Chill, Danvers, I'm kidding. You're really easy to tease," Maggie chuckles. "You can admit that you want to spend time with me, you know."
Alex flushes and her strokes becomes faster. Pawtrick wiggles and lie down belly up to accept more strokes, which they comply to. "Maybe."
Maggie touches her arm gently, causing Alex to turn to face her. Her eyes are full of understanding, and she gives Alex a small smile.
"Good, because I like to spend time with you too."
Alex beams at her.
Alex is staring blankly at the ceiling while Pawtrick is sleeping soundly on her chest. His breath is warm on her skin, but even that isn't enough to distract her.
It's been three days since Maggie was shot.
Maggie fucking Sawyer, the woman who has the biggest bravado she ever seen, was shot point fucking blank by a fugitive alien right in the shoulder because the idiot was trying to bullrush a 9 feet tall alien and now she's lying in a medically induced coma.
Alex doesn't remember anything except for a lot of screams and that a blur of red and blue vaporated the alien with heat vision.
What she remembers is the fact that she came home with shirt soaked with her partner's blood and she sat unmoving for three hours on the floor before Kara came in and changed her clothes for her.
Then she ran to Maggie's apartment, got a spare key from the landlord by flashing her FBI badge, and cried on Pawtrick's soft fur.
Now she's staying in Maggie's apartment to take care of Pawtrick and to clean up Maggie's apartment. That's the least she can do for her partner.
(And because if she's waiting for Maggie in her own apartment, she knows she will be running to her old friends Jack, Jim, Johnny, and Jameson. So it's better this way, really. For everyone's sake.)
She does it all in autopilot mode. Wake up (on Maggie's bed, wearing Maggie's shirt, with Paw on the pillow beside her while wishing it's Maggie instead), breakfast and feeding Paw, walking him, work, dinner and feeding Paw, walking him again, shower (with Maggie's body wash and shampoo and everything that reminds her of Maggie) then sleep with Paw on Maggie's bed with her shirt. Rinse and repeat.
Kara stopped by Maggie's apartment and offered to stay with her, but she refused. The city needs Supergirl more than Alex needs Kara.
She refused, of course, even citing that she could've asked Mon-El or J'onn to cover for her while she's with Alex, but Alex was adamant. Kara eventually gave up and just flew away.
Then she came back five minutes later with food from Alex's favorite food truck in Chicago.
She cried herself to sleep on Kara's lap.
That was yesterday. Today she has to do it all again on her own because even Kara has to go to work and save the city.
She doesn't feel like getting up, though. It's all so heavy and she feels like drowning without Maggie and the thought of her life without her partner makes her blood goes cold.
Pawtrick wakes up and whines when he sees Maggie is still not around. Alex sighs and lifts him to put him on her chest. Here they are now, 08.00 in the morning and still on the bed, wishing the person that they love is here with them.
(Alex doesn't know if it's love or infatuation or what, but she does know it's more than friendly.
Sometimes, she thinks Maggie also feels the same. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but it helps her from going crazy with jealousy and loneliness because of the sudden bloom of romance around her. Kara and her twice shy romance with Lena, Winn with his blushing schoolboy crush on Mon-El, and even J'onn spends a lot of time with that bartender from the alien bar.
She feels alone and Maggie's presence helps.)
Alex is thinking of just ditching work and wallowing with Paw for the whole day when her phone buzzes with an incoming message.
Kara <3 08.06
ALEX IM COMING FOR YOU DET SAWYER IS AWAKE ILL TAKE YOU TO HER RN
Alex sobs in relief.
Alex is knocking on Maggie's door after a month of avoiding her.
After she went to see Maggie the day she was awake, she didn't visit her. When she was discharged from the hospital, Alex took her home in silence, ignored all of Maggie's attempts at conversation, and went home after the other woman was knocked out from the meds. Her calls, texts, and emails went unanswered. It was total radio silence, and Maggie gave up after three weeks of bombarding Alex's phone non-stop.
She feels guilty for abandoning her partner like that, but she couldn't face Maggie. Not when all she can see is how pale and weak the detective is every time she looks at her.
She knows, logically, it's a risk of their jobs, but after seeing Maggie wounded like that...
She's afraid.
Afraid that she will lose Maggie forever one day because of some slip-up.
Afraid that she will lose her partner because somehow, somehow Alex fucked up.
Afraid that she will lose her before she could tell Maggie her true feel—
"Danvers?"
Maggie is still looking a bit weak and she still wears a sling around her left shoulder, but at least she's alive and awake.
"Where were you for an entire month you bas—" Alex cuts off whatever it is that Maggie wants to say by hugging her as tight as she dare and while being mindful of the injury at the same time.
"You're an absolute idiot, Sawyer!" Alex's scream is muffled as she cries into Maggie's uninjured shoulder.
"And you're a shitty partner for abandoning me right after you dropped me off home!"
Maggie lets Alex cry and stroking her hair with one hand. Alex can feel Pawtrick sniffing her legs and she removes herself from the hug, suddenly remembering that they're still outside.
"Jesus, you look like shit. Come in."
"Speak for yourself. Don't you own a mirror?" Alex scowls, following Maggie into the now familiar apartment.
"I just got shot by an alien weapon, I am entitled to look like shit."
"And you got shot for no reason! If you can just wait instead of trying to tackle an alien ten times your size, you'll be fine!"
"He wanted to shoot you!"
"What?"
No. No way.
"Didn't you see how he aimed at you?! Our bullets were ineffective and I had to do something! Christ, Danvers, you think I threw myself to a ceiling high alien for fun?!"
Oh God, Maggie was shot because she tried to protect her.
And she abandoned Maggie for a month because she couldn't face her.
Some partner she is.
"I... what?"
Maggie sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. "I know it was stupid, but if I waited even just a second, it'd be your head splashed all over the wall instead of me getting shot through the shoulder. And I'm not going to let my partner die."
"I don't need protection—"
"Bullshit," she snaps. "We're partners; we look out for each other and covers each others' weaknesses. So cut the shit. You're a badass, but even you still need support."
Alex feels dizzy with the revelation and throws herself on Maggie's couch face down.
When she lifts her head a few seconds later, Maggie is now sitting on the floor next to her head, wincing slightly as she adjusts the sling.
"... sorry."
"For what? I did what I had to do."
"No, for abandoning you for an entire month while you're wounded because of me," Alex cringes, guilt hitting her like a truck. "I'm a shitty partner."
"Why did you do that, anyway?"
"I can't stand to see you like that," she says softly. "I know it's a risk and all, but to see you actually bleeding on the floor and then in a medically induced coma... God, Sawyer. I was scared. I still am."
Alex takes a deep breath and gathers her courage to touch Maggie's cascading dark hair with her fingertips. It feels a bit coarse, but then again she used a lot of Maggie's conditioner when she was sleeping here. She probably doesn't have time to buy it yet. "But I can't bear the thought of not seeing you any longer. So, here I am. Once again, I'm sorry about everything."
Maggie is quiet for a while and Alex is scared that she's too angry to forgive her.
She starts to get up from her position on the couch when Maggie's hand grabs Alex's wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Home. You don't want me here, so—"
"What's with you and assumption, I swear to God. Stay," she says, her tone stern. "You will be here until I say otherwise. Oh, Danvers, you have a lot to make up for."
Alex gulps. "Fine."
"You can start doing it by taking Paw for his walk in a bit. I had to pay for my kid neighbor to take him out because my partner was nowhere to be seen for an entire month."
"Sorry—"
"Don't be sorry, be better. I mean it, Danvers."
"Alright."
Pawtrick takes advantage of the lull in the conversation to climb on Alex's back. He yips before lying down. Alex can feels his wet nose and hot breath.
"He also misses you, you know," she says while scratching the back of his ear. "I know you took care of him while I was in... you know."
"While you were in coma. Yes, Sawyer, I know," Alex frowns. "If I have to be better, you also have to promise to not be that reckless again."
"I told you it was to protect you—"
"And you can't protect me if you die! I'd have no one to protect if you're buried six feet under!"
Pawtrick whines at them, breaking the seriousness of the situation.
"Sorry, boy. Mommy didn't want to yell, but your Mom is being dumb," Maggie coos.
"Since when I'm his mom?"
"Since you took care of him. He loves you, Danvers."
"I love him too." And you too, kind of.
"You hear that, boy? She loves you more than she loves me. Really, Danvers, kind of?" Maggie mocks.
Alex wonders if Amazon sells internal monologue filter.
"I kind of love you when you're not being annoying, yeah," she shrugs as best as she can without bothering the dog on her back. Play it cool, Danvers. God.
"And here I am, expecting a teary and passionate love confession."
Alex chokes. "Why?!"
"No reason. I just said that to get a reaction from you since you're so easy to tease," she chuckles. "It's not like you're actually in love with me or something."
Silence.
"... right?"
More silence.
"Danvers?"
Alex buries her face to the couch.
"Wait, really?!"
Alex groans.
"Wow. So when I thought you were asking me out, it was true?"
"No!" She lifts her head quickly. "I mean, at that time I hadn't realize things yet! I was asking you as a friend!"
"Whoa, chill," she smirks. "How about now?"
"What about now?"
"If you ask me to go somewhere now, will it be a date invitation?"
"It sounds like you want me to ask you out..."
"Maybe. Ask away."
Holy shit, is this for real? Am I awake?
Alex blinks. Well damn, it's now or never. Fuck it, fortune favors the brave, right?
"Do you want to go out with me? I mean, at least when you're fully healed, of course."
Maggie stares at her in silence for a minute and Alex can feel herself sweating. Pawtrick is sleeping on her back, oblivious to her turmoil. She envies him.
"I won't beat the bush, Danvers. I like you a lot, and Paw loves you, which is a bonus since he hated my ex, but I don't know if now is the right time to starts anything. You're still new to this and not gonna lie, I'm still kinda hung up on her—" Maggie lifts up a hand when she sees Alex opens her mouth with a hurt expression. "Don't interrupt me. It's not a no. More like not yet. So yes, I'll go out with you after I get better. Not as a friend, no, but don't expect a kiss at the end of the date either."
"Who said anything about kissing oh my God—"
"You don't want to kiss me, Danvers? I'm hurt."
"I—" Damn Maggie and her stupid smirk. "Of course I want to, but like you said, it's not the right time."
"Well, good to know you agree," Maggie tilts her head. "Scoot over a bit, man you're so tall."
"More like you're so short," she rolls her eyes but moves a bit anyway.
Maggie puts her head next to Alex's and they're just staring at each other with small smiles on their faces.
Pawtrick is snoring loudly on Alex's back.
It's perfect.