Chapter 1
Maggie's first impression upon walking into Kara's apartment was that they'd stepped out of a National City hallway and directly into Santa's flipping workshop. Except with more aliens and less snow and, somehow, impossibly, more holiday lights.
Christmas music was blasting, tinsel was strewn everywhere, there were at least four different menorahs, and the entire apartment smelled of cinnamon and chocolate and pine needles.
Kara pulled her into a lopsided but full-bodied hug even before she greeted Alex, squeeing, "Did you bring them? Did you bring them?"
Maggie, grinning like she was awarding her favorite puppy a massive treat, held out the gigantic tray of chocolate chip walnut cookies she'd made just for Kara and wrapped in red plastic wrap with green ribbon. Kara made short work of the wrapping, barely noticing it, but Maggie just laughed and shook her head as Kara shoveled two of the cookies into her mouth at once.
"Mmmmm, ank oo!" She took an enormous gulp. "Alex, don't you ever do anything to make her go away and stop making me cookies!" And she all but galloped off into the apartment to announce and display – but certainly not to share – the arrival of Maggie's baking.
(Anticipating this, Maggie had made a separate couple of batches for everyone whose name was not Kara Danvers, and J'onn groaned gratefully when Alex slipped him and M'gann the extra, less decorative plate while Kara was occupied with stuffing her face with the other tray.)
Maggie greeted Mon El somewhat warily and was pleasantly surprised when James pulled her into a one-armed side hug in greeting before striding off to try and wrestle some of the cookies from Kara. By her side, Alex squeezed her hand, as though she felt Maggie's surprise and nervous happiness. As though she shared it.
Oblivious to all this, Mon El launched into an animated story about how Winn had taken off his shoes off earlier and yelped "like a small girl child" when he stepped on an errant ornament hook. Alex smacked Mon El upside the head as she walked away at that comment, and Winn stuck his tongue out before following her; Maggie was left to figure out how to explain the depth of the strange white boy's misogyny to him.
M'gann, ever with the sharp eyes of a bartender for a woman in distress, saved her, feigning that she needed help from a strong police officer with opening a difficult bottle of rum.
"It's nice to see you so happy," M'gann commented softly after a few long moments of watching Maggie watch Alex, doubled over with laughter with Kara over an old ornament they had just unearthed from one of the many Christmas boxes popped open throughout the apartment. Alex had looked up from her laughing fit and smiled radiantly at Maggie, who had stood a little straighter at having those eyes seek hers across a room like that.
"Nice to be this happy, you know?" M'gann smiled indulgently and Maggie nudged into her with her shoulder. "Guess you know the feeling, huh?"
She nodded her head toward J'onn, who was mocking James mercilessly for allowing Kara to yank a Santa hat down around his ears.
M'gann followed her gaze and chuckled to herself. "Man needs to be brought down a peg, hm?" she asked Maggie, who spotted a pair of reindeer antlers with attached jingle bells on the table near them. Grinning wickedly, she offered them to M'gann, who smiled broadly and stole behind J'onn, stealthily planting the antlers on his head with just enough time for James to snap a perfect photograph of J'onn's bemused look of horror, holding M'gann while she laughed into his chest.
Maggie watched all of this with joy, with laughter, with extreme contentment. But she was, somehow, still somewhat removed from it, from these people who mostly had so much history together.
She hadn't exactly been surprised to get an invite from Alex, but, well, she'd be lying if she said there hadn't been something surprising about it.
She loved Alex – loved her, and she was planning on telling her that at some point soon, because life is short and you should tell the girls you love that you love them – but tonight, under this complex web of mistletoe and rainbow lights, she was the new one.
Not just new to the Superfriends. Not just new to the idea that Alex's baby sister was Supergirl. Not just new to working with the DEO. Not just Alex's new girlfriend.
Alex's first girlfriend.
M'gann was new, too, to all of this. But she and J'onn had some kind of indescribable bond, last of their kind and all. They were almost family by default, and J'onn's girls had clearly accepted her with completely open arms.
Speaking of open arms, she slept in Alex's open arms almost every night now, and if Kara's reaction to her cookies was any indication, the superhero accepted her pretty well.
But still.
She was clearly surrounded by family, but she wasn't quite sure if she was part of it, exactly. Not yet.
So she dug one hand into her pocket and kept one firm around her bottle of beer, raising it toward her girlfriend's little sister amiably when Kara shouted across the room to ask everyone if she should turn up NSYNC's Home for Christmas album.
James, J'onn, and Alex all groaned and M'gann chuckled softly, but Winn? Winn started breaking out terrible white boy dance moves from the late 90s and Maggie busted out laughing. Winn caught her eye and waggled his eyebrows and finger at her, beckoning her forward.
Maggie just laughed harder, but then James and Alex were pushing her and Kara was bouncing up and down across the room, tinsel in her hand, watching, calling "Go Maggie!", and Maggie was nothing if not a sucker for making Alex's kid sister smile.
So she shoved her beer into Alex's hands and let Winn pull her forward and moved in time with him as he sang along with the old CD in a surprisingly smooth voice.
"Bells are ringing,
It's time to scream and shout
And everybody's playing 'cause school's out"
"You hear that, J'onn? No work!" he interrupted himself, and Maggie took the opportunity to lift his hand above his head and twirl him. He went along with the movement with surprising grace and Maggie saw Kara jumping up and down, clapping, out of the corner of her eye.
"She can keep Mr. Schott occupied and out of trouble, Danvers. She's a keeper," J'onn said behind her, and Maggie thought that maybe she was starting to belong here.
Best time of year for the family, indeed.