any world in which you might be persuaded to write some agentcorp? that last ep with lena and alex at the deo gave me all the agentcorp vibes!!
A tag to the episode “Ahimsa”
After the crisis passes, Alex can breathe again. She can slow down and think, and of course it means she the time to overanalyze what happened.
Kara’s plummet to Earth. The heart-thundering reality of watching her sister slowly dying. The blind, instinctive reach towards the only person who could help.
The flash of hurt when Alex thanked Lena for coming. The shutter of Lena’s gaze as she focused on the task at hand. The relentless toil to get the air scrubbed of radiation.
Their short exchange when Lena left– a brief farewell punctuated by an almost dismissive smile from Lena even as she was already turning away– now seems ominously perfunctory.
It’s that sinking suspicion that drives Alex to the Baldwin after leaving Kara’s apartment. When she knocks on the door to the penthouse suite, she isn’t sure what she expects.
Lena Luthor in an oversized sweatshirt and soft sleep shirts certainly isn’t it.
Alex’s brain short circuits somewhere around the wide frame glasses and doesn’t kick back in again until Lena arches an eyebrow.
“Can I do something for you, Agent Danvers?”
Blinking rapidly, Alex curls her toes in her boots to distract herself from the flush threatening to bloom across the back of her neck.
“Yeah– I mean, no! No, I was just, in the neighborhood, and–” Alex cut herself off, nipping the ramble before tumbled into unrecoverable territory. She takes a deep breath, releases it in a sigh and meets Lena’s gaze. “Are we good?”
Lena studies her with an indecipherable gaze. “Does it matter?”
Through the sweatshirt Alex hadn’t noticed the hard set of Lena’s shoulders, but she does when they soften, just a bit.
Lena steps aside, and Alex accepts the silent invitation. She steps into the suite and casts a nervous gaze around the space, taking in the impersonal decor and uncluttered floor plan. It doesn’t look like someone’s lived in it for two years. It looks like a way station, a stop on the road to a final destination, despite the fact that– per Kara– Lena has been in the same room since she came to National City.
With a jolt, she turns back to Lena, and follows the direction of her gesturing wave to the slice of cake sitting on a plate on a nearby desk.
“Cake,” Lena reiterates. “I have one every time I save the world. And since you meet the requirements today too…”
Alex doesn’t know what compels her to shrug. “Why not?”
Gotta be better than a bottle of scotch, right?
She shrugs out of her leather jacket too– partly in deference to Lena’s casual attire, but also because she’s suddenly sweltering.
Lena doesn’t speak as she hands Alex a fork, and they start picking bites of chocolate cake off the plate. It’s delicious, layered with mousse and a layer of raspberry jam, and Alex thinks she could make it a tradition of her own.
But as their snacking stretches quietly, Alex realizes that Lena hasn’t answered her question.
Leaning back, she sets her fork aside. Lena doesn’t look up, and Alex takes a moment to study her. Once upon a time, she’d marveled at Kara’s ability to read Lena like a book. To Alex’s eye she was solid ice, but now… now she recognizes the detached affability, the front of relaxed congeniality. It speaks volumes, and tells Alex her gut had been right.
“So…” Alex asks slowly. “Are we?”
Lena pauses, and Alex can almost see her weighing the option of playing dumb. In the end, green eyes flick to hers. “Maybe I should be the one asking you that.”
“You seemed… maybe not surprised, that I came to the DEO,” Lena says. She worries the last bite of cake with her fork, shredding it to crumbs. “But what you said certainly suggests you felt there was a chance that I wouldn’t show.”
Surprise blanks Alex’s brain, and in her pause Lena shrugs and leans back, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Supergirl and I may have our differences, but I’d hoped we’d been through enough together that you’d know I wouldn’t let her die because of them.”
“I did– I do! No, Lena, that was never–” Alex shakes her head. “No that’s WHY I called you. Because I knew you would. When I said those things, I… I was trying to express my gratitude, nothing more. I did a terrible job, clearly, but please believe me that I didn’t mean to imply…”
She trails off under Lena’s gaze. God, how does Kara do this? Talking to Lena is HARD when she looks at you like she can see into your soul. Or like she has some arcane knowledge of the universe– Alex, what the fuck.
“I was trying to thank you, because even though you were just doing the right thing, it was personal. So, so personal. To me. Supergirl is really important and before you showed up I was so scared that she was going to die on that table. You may have come to save her, but you also put my fears at ease. Because I knew you could save her– and I knew that you would.”
For a long moment, nothing happens. Alex’s confession hangs in air between them, absolution weighing as heavy as damnation. Then Lena blinks, and a slow smile curls her lips. She leans forward again, folding her arms on the edge of the table.
“We’re good,” she says finally.
Alex releases a breath of relief, sagging. Lena’s smile persists as she reaches again for her fork, fiddling by trailing the tines through smears of mousse.
“Does she know how you feel about her?”
Lena’s smile turns devilish, and comprehension dawns with a jolt. “Oh! No! It’s not like that. At all. Really, she’s not.” Jesus FUCK why doesn’t Lena know yet? “Supergirl is family. Like a sister. Really.”
Nodding, Lena processes the vehement protestations. Then she lifts a curious eyebrow. “So then she and Kara…?”
Goddammit. “I… haven’t asked?”
“That cake was amazing,” Alex blurts, desperate to change the subject. Lena goes with it. Thank god.
“It’s one of my favorites.”
Then the conversation flounders. Lena resumes her uncanny study of Alex, and Alex knows she needs to retreat before she ruins inroad she’d just repaved between them.
“It’s late. I should go.”
Lena rises with her, and escorts her to the door. Just as Alex steps into the hall, she speaks.
“You know… the cafe where I get the cake does a great breakfast. If you’d like to try it sometime.”
Alex grins. “Sure. I’ll call Kara–”
“I love Kara to pieces, but that girl has a habit of consuming all the air in the room.” Lena meets Alex’s shocked blink with a soft, enticing smile. “And I think I’d like an opportunity to get to learn more about you, Agent Danvers.”
It’s not until Lena tilts her head that Alex suddenly remembers how to speak.
“S-sure…” She swallows. “I’m free tomorrow?”
Lena’s smile widens. “I’ll text you the address.”
The door closes, and Alex stiffly marches into the elevator. Only there does Alex’s knees turn to jelly and she has to sag against the rail to keep herself upright. She grins, heart fluttering in her chest.
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