InsaneJournal

It was a lovely, warm, early spring night in Vallo. Calm. Quiet. Peaceful.

No missing people. No mysterious plague sweeping the land. No last-minute call to action to defend against twisted, otherworldly creatures bent on killing any being that crossed its path. The Murder Mansion craze had passed, and the Outlanders affected had slotted right back into their every day lives. Business proceeded as usual.

After a late-night movie with Lena had taken a very pleasurable turn, Alex went to bed sated and content. Lena’s head rested on her chest, dark hair splayed across her bare skin, her breathing already deep and even when Alex’s arm wrapped around her pale shoulders. She wasn’t far behind; she pressed a kiss to the crown of that messy sex hair, shifted more comfortably into the mattress, and before long, she was asleep, too.

When she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere very different — and yet oh-so familiar.

It wasn’t the penthouse. Lena was gone, their bed was gone, she was clothed. That was a fortuitous turn of events given that she was standing in a public hallway, one she’d walked more times than she could even begin to count. Paintings lined walls both to her left and her right, a chair sat beside a large, paneled window at the end of the hall, and a few mismatched end tables scattered throughout, topped with varying vases of multicolored (fake) flowers, filled the space out.

Home.

One of those end tables was to Alex’s right, and when she turned to her left, there it was: the door to apartment 4A.

Her heart jumped. Was she home? Had Vallo finally kicked her out? It couldn’t have, right? They weren’t supposed to remember Vallo when they were sent home, and it was very clear in her mind, as vivid as the hallway she was standing in. It had to be a dream — and the moment that thought occurred to her, she felt a wave of knowing wash over her.

Then the door before her flew open.

“About time!”

It was nothing short of a miracle she didn’t crumble right then and there. Her sister smiled at her, long blonde hair wound up into a loose, messy bun, her smile wide and brilliant — that one that crinkled her eyes, even behind her black-framed glasses. After a few moments of Alex simply staring at her, awestruck, her hands settled on her hips and her eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Alexandra Danvers, I swear by the Light of Rao, if you don’t—”

Alex took two quick strides forward and threw her arms around Kara’s neck, squeezing so tightly that her arms started to ache almost instantly. She heard her sister chuckle against her ear, the sound soft and amused, before wrapping her up and guiding them both back into the apartment.

Alex struggled to compose herself, even as she settled onto the couch with Kara beside her. She was so beyond overwhelmed; it had been months since she’d last seen Kara, and although there had been no bad blood, there had been tension between them (thanks to Kara’s choice of homicidal vampire boyfriend) at the time. Alex had spoken up because she couldn’t not, but it had caused a notable change. She had stewed in her feelings about that ever since. She’d wished she could take it all back if it meant Kara came back.

But now here she was, back or something like it, smiling at her like she’d hung the moon, and Alex couldn’t control herself. Tears began falling despite her best efforts to stave them off.

“Oh no, hey, Alex.” Kara immediately reached out to brush the tears away, eyes widening ever-so-slightly with concern. “It’s okay. Don’t cry, please. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I know. It’s fine,” Alex told her, voice cracking brokenly. “I’m okay.” She didn’t sound fine or okay at all, admittedly, but she forced herself to inhale deeply and put a stop to the tears. She wasn’t going to fall to pieces.

“Alex…” Kara’s expression remained worried, despite Alex’s best attempt to smile it off. She knew better than to think she had her sister in any way fooled, but she had to try. She wanted to enjoy this, live in it and soak up Kara’s presence for as long as the dream allowed.

Kara’s arms wrapped around her again, face tucked along her cheek beneath her ear. Alex squeezed the arms around her and forced out another slow inhale-exhale, the palm of her hand flattening against the back of Kara’s before their fingers laced together. Her racing heart began to calm, and after a long while of staying still and quiet, she felt the overflow of emotions start to ebb and fall away.

“How long are you here?”

Kara hummed, spreading her fingers apart, then squeezing Alex’s between them. She really had no idea. All of this was vague — she wasn’t even certain if she was totally real, though she felt real. Maybe she was just a tiny piece of Alex’s subconscious or maybe she’d been plucked out of her timeline and brought here through other means. All she knew was her big sister needed her, and there was nothing keeping her from being there for her.

“As long as you want me, I think. But I can’t say for sure,” was her reply. She straightened up and raised one hand to brush aside a few locks of Alex’s hair. Brown eyes fluttered closed and a small smile touched Kara’s lips. “Tell me what I’ve missed. I want to hear everything.”

Alex opened her eyes and nodded, settling comfortably into the arm Kara kept draped over her shoulders. There was so much, over a year’s worth of memories in this new, mysterious place. Vallo was a fucking enigma, if nothing else. It never left her bored.

She started at the beginning, telling her all about when she’d come to be in Vallo, the entirely hypothetical ‘how’. She told her about the other Karas (both of them) she’d found there, Sara, the other Clark, Lena, Lois, their Clark. She told her about the new friends she’d made in Mobius, Richie, Catra, Stephen. She laughed at the face Kara made when she talked about the infamous Klaus Incident — because, really, a murderous vampire? That sounded nothing like her. She liked to believe in the good in people, sure, and maybe he had changed. She could be a supportive friend, but she’d never have dated him. That wasn’t something you worked through and looked past.

“I stopped drinking,” Alex continued and blushed when Kara’s eyes lit up and that brilliant smile graced her face again. Her gaze turned down and one shoulder shrugged. “Lapsed for a little while, but I’m…back on the wagon, I guess. Twenty-eight days.”

Kara knew that the dip of her head was Alex’s attempt to play her news off as not a big deal, but she wouldn’t allow this to be so easily dismissed. Alex had struggled with drinking since college, and she’d always worried for her. It was rarely in excess anymore, but when it was, it was bad. It had never been Kara’s favorite coping mechanism for her, and she was glad she’d recognized it enough to finally take such a huge step forward.

“You got back on, that’s all that matters,” she insisted. “I’m so proud of you. Come here.”

Alex was engulfed in Kara’s arms again not a second later. She laid her head against Kara’s shoulder, closed her eyes and clutched at her arms with both hands. She felt Kara’s grip tighten across her upper back, and she melted into the embrace. She missed this, just these small moments of getting to be quiet together, connected like no two beings were but them. Alex felt a lump form in her throat; before she knew it, all that emotion she’d stifled had taken hold again.

Kara sensed the shift immediately and pulled back so she could get a good look at her sister. She frowned deeply when she realized Alex was crying again, tears slipping rapidly down her cheeks. “You’re a mess today, sis,” Kara teased her gently, patiently wiping her tears away again.

“I miss you,” Alex huffed. She was the picture of annoyance even through those tears. She had lost her tightly held control, and now she couldn’t stop crying, damn it. She should be able to enjoy her sister’s presence without sobbing like a brokenhearted teenage girl. “I can’t do this without you. I just can’t. God, Kara, I’ve barely been holding it together.”

“That’s not true,” Kara insisted. She grabbed both of Alex’s hands in hers and tugged them to make sure she had her attention, that she was hearing her. “You’re so hard on yourself, you know that? You’re doing so good. I know it has to be hard, I get it. But you’re happy, Alex. You’re living a life you’ve chosen and you deserve that.”

Alex nodded, her breathing shaking as she tried to gather herself. She knew everything Kara was saying was true. She was happy. She loved Lena, and she knew she wanted a future with her. She wasn’t D.E.O. here, hadn’t taken on the mantle of Sentinel, but she had no true emptiness in her life. She filled her time with Al’s and her work at S.T.A.R. Labs, and she dedicated the rest of her time to friends and the girl she loved. It was not a bad life, by far.

All it was missing was her sister. Her best friend. The time she’d had her hadn’t felt like enough. Her whole life had revolved around Kara for so long that sometimes, it felt like she’d lost her North Star when she wasn’t around. Even as they’d grown older and Kara had grown into herself, Alex was still there in the periphery, her ever-faithful guard, ready to knock someone’s teeth out on Kara’s behalf if that was how it played out.

Lena had become her anchor, and she was a damn good one. But she missed Kara, too. It was easy to see. They both ached for her in their own ways. There were times Alex wondered if that was why they’d connected so strongly here, why their relationship had progressed to the point it had: they both missed Kara, and they were all each other had of her.

“It’s not the same without you,” she sighed at last. “But I guess it’s better than losing you in the Phantom Zone for all that time. At least I know you’re safe.”

Kara smiled encouragingly. That’s what she wanted to hear. She knew she’d feel exactly the same if their positions were reversed, if she was somewhere else without her sister. They didn’t do well when they were apart for too long. But she had complete faith Alex would be okay, truly okay. She had always been her hero — strong and steady, the best person Kara knew. And she was already doing so well!

“I’m safe. And I’m with you, Alex,” she assured her. “I always will be.” She leaned in to press a kiss to Alex’s forehead before getting to her feet. “Now, sit back and get comfy. You’re totally overdue Sister Night. Popcorn, soda, and I’ll even watch—” A long dramatic sigh, followed by a playful grin. “The interminable Terminator 2.”

Alex laughed, really laughed, and lifted her arm to wipe away the last remnants of tears with the sleeve of her shirt. “Or we can watch a romcom. Just Like Heaven?”

Kara’s eyes went wide, and Alex couldn’t help laughing again, watching her sister light up with childlike glee. “You’re on. I always knew you liked it! Angry Reese Witherspoon is so hot, right? Just…ugh. So hot.”

Alex shook her head and smiled, tracking Kara’s every step into the kitchen while she settled back into the mound of fluffy pillows always adorning this couch. She was ready to watch as many cheesy romcoms as her sister wanted and cling to this dream for as long as she could make it last.