Chapter 6
“So technically, you’re supposed to have all the food ready beforehand, but you know – National City’s alien populace doesn’t schedule their attacks around menorah lightings, so Alex and I got home late.”
Maggie gave a grateful smile for Kara’s careful explanation for the food she was preparing, for Winn’s whispers to unveil the reasons behind the unfamiliar traditions, for Eliza’s warm, steady glances at the way Maggie poured Alex wine and water, for Alex’s hand never leaving her own, for James’s glances of solidarity to remind her that she wasn’t the only one experiencing new things, that she wasn’t stupid for not knowing.
“Maggie, why don’t you come help me set out these beautiful donuts you made?” Eliza called from the table, and Alex’s eyes flew wide and her hand gripped Maggie’s harder. A small squeak escaped Alex’s lips, and she turned, terrified, to Kara for help. Kara, rinsing potatoes for her famous homemade latkes, let the scalding water run unnoticed under her hands until James reached over to turn off the tap.
Eliza waited with a raised eyebrow and small smile, pretending she didn’t see the panic striking the faces of her two girls and their friends.
“It’s fine, babe,” Maggie whispered, not wanting to let Alex know that it wasn’t fine, that her heart was threatening to slam out of her chest and punch her in the face, that she was nauseous and she was terrified and she was a badass police officer, dammit, she could set the table with this woman’s mother.
Alex let go of her hand reluctantly, Winn and Kara each prying at her fingers and taking hold of one of her arms each to prevent her from following Maggie, to prevent her eyes from bulging out of her head at the sight of Maggie alone with Eliza, to prevent her from going straight for the bottle of bourbon, which so far she hadn’t resorted to tonight.
“So Maggie,” Eliza began as Maggie approached the table. “Alex tells me you work for the science division of the police department here,” she offered lightly as she gathered up the donuts Kara hadn’t yet devoured – Maggie had had the foresight to make several extra batches – and passed Maggie a couple of serving plates to arrange them on.
“Yes, ma’am. I was fast-tracked to detective because of my background in chemistry and biology.”
“So you can follow at least some of what my daughter goes on about?”
Maggie grinned nervously and glanced over at Alex, who was still shooting wide-eyed glances over her shoulder as though she was expecting Eliza to transform into a homicidal alien – or maybe just a homicidal human mother – at any moment.
“A bit, yeah,” Maggie laughed.
“And you realize that she’s never truly been in love before.” Eliza’s hands were still, now, as they reached the real point of the conversation, and Maggie looked up, face frozen. Across the room, Kara, too, froze, her super hearing gluing her in place.
“Yes, ma’am.” Maggie’s voice was small, and her eyes drifted to where Winn and James were valiantly distracting Alex, making her cover her blushing face with her hands, shake her head, and laugh.
“And you realize what an intense position that puts you in.”
“Dr. Danvers, I…” Maggie licked her lips, swallowed, and let her eye settle on the potatoes that Kara had been skinning, knife frozen now, still. Waiting. “Your daughter… she isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met before. She’s…” They both looked over at Alex, now hitting James lightly on the shoulder as he continued whatever strategy of making her laugh that he and Winn had decided would best maintain her attention and keep her hands away from a bottle of liquor to cope with Eliza shovel talking Maggie not ten feet behind her.
“She’s sharp, she doesn’t miss a trick. She’s passionate and she’s brave and she’s selfless and she’s… damn, she’s ruthless and she’s absolutely…” Maggie’s voice threatened to break, and she forced herself to look Eliza square in the eyes. “She’s absolutely beautiful, and not just on the outside. I’ve never…” Maggie paused again, searching for the right words. Her eyes fell on the flickering lights on the menorah, and she took a deep breath. “It’s like these candles, right? Hope, light, in the midst of all-encompassing darkness, in the midst of impossible odds? That’s… that’s your daughter. For me. She’s everything, and I won’t… Dr. Danvers, I’m not going to let her down. I’d die for her, I… I love her. I love Alex, Dr. Danvers, and I just… I’m rambling now, but I just… I love her. I’ll take care of her. Both of your girls. I promise.”
A loud thud and crashing in the sink had both Maggie and Alex reaching for their guns, but it was just Kara, Kara covered in potato skins and starch, Kara whose super hearing had her wishing they’d just bought pre-made latkes because at this rate, she’d be lucky if she could keep her over-excited, shaking hands steady enough to finish peeling, let alone grating, mixing, and frying.
“Sorry,” she whispered, and Eliza sighed loudly, shaking her head with a faint smile.
“How many times have I cautioned you against eavesdropping, Kara Danvers?”
Alex leaned in and pointed at Kara, booping her nose, hard. “Ha! You got scolded.”
“Ha! You have a girlfriend that loves you!”
Alex gasped slightly and turned to a slack-jawed, wide-eyed Maggie; Winn clapped his hands with excitement; Eliza covered her face with her hand; and James furrowed his brow.
“Kara… Kara, you know that didn’t make sense as a comeback, like… at all, right?”
Kara beamed around at the wide eyes of her family, at the way Alex was slowly crossing the room, tears brimming in her eyes, to bring Maggie into her arms, to bring her lips hot and open against hers, and continued grating potatoes smugly.
“Might not have made sense as a comeback, but it sure made my sister’s Chanukah.”