Chapter 8
Maggie's hand covered her face as she listened to the phone chaotically being transferred from her mom's hands into those of her tiniest cousin. She bit her lip and she took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She ground her foot into the ground, hard, her elbows resting tensely on splayed open knees. She ignored the sounds, the sights, of families in Santa hats with massive rolling suitcases bouncing through the airport with excitement. Her own excitement had long dried up, and she was waiting to crush that of another. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on not crying.
"Mags Mags Mags!" a little voice sounded on the other line.
Maggie uncovered her face and forced a smile, as though her cousin could see her, not just hear her.
"Hey, little girl," she choked, holding her left hand up to her chin, right under her bottom lip.
"You're coming home now? You getting on the vroom vroom?"
Maggie squeezed her eyes tight and took a steadying breath. "I was, Maya, I was coming home. I was all ready to get on that vroom vroom and fly all the way to you. I was gonna fly the plane right to the front door."
Maya emitted an extremely squeaky giggle, and Maggie's eyes stung. "Noooooo," Maya said, her logic making Maggie smile softly.
"But you know what, little girl, you know what I just found out? You know the big snow storm that's starting now where you are?"
"The blizzard!"
"Mmhmm, the blizzard. Well, the people who are in charge of the planes aren't letting anyone fly into or out of Nebraska, honey pie, because they want to make sure everybody stays safe in all that snow and wind."
A long silence. Then: "So you're not coming home for Christmas?"
Maggie choked on a sob. "The blizzard isn't supposed to go away until the day after Christmas. So maybe for New Years, maybe I'll be there then. I'm so sorry, little girl."
"But I miss you!"
Maggie bit her lip. "I miss you, too."
She heard the phone shuffle and crash somewhere, and Maya's mom picked up the phone. "Sorry about that, Mags. I'll go get her. Wanna stay on the line?"
"Nah, no, nah, I'm good, I – just tell her I love her and I'm sorry, yah? Talk – talk to you all later."
"Mags – "
Maggie hung up the phone quickly and took a long, shuddering breath, the fingers of both hands running over her face.
"Nowhere else to go, sweetheart?" an older woman who'd been sitting in the terminal a few seats down from her asked, sad warmth on her face.
Maggie shook her head. "I know some people here, some people I – some people I'm getting close to. There's this girl, this woman, I – but she has this family, this really tight knit family, and I don't wanna impose, we're not together like that yet – "
She didn't know why she was saying all this to some stranger. She just knew that talking to Maya – that missing her family – was shredding her heart.
"A young woman like you? I'm sure this girl and her family would be happy to have you. And on Christmas Eve? You might be more together than you think."
Sure enough, Maggie's phone chirped, then.
Her heart twisted.
Alex.
Have a safe flight, Maggie. Let me know when you land, okay? Miss you already.
When she looked up from blinking through the tears and reading the text, the older woman was gone.
"Kara, wait hold on, turn that up!"
The news – always on in the background so Supergirl didn't miss anything, even during their most raucous of Christmas celebrations – was showing a weather map over Nebraska, and Alex had noticed it with a spoonful of cookie dough in her mouth and a fingerfull of flour she was throwing at Winn as retaliation for his teasing questions about missing her girlfriend.
"She's not my girlfriend yet, you little – " She'd flushed, but she'd been unable to hide her pleasure at his playful mockery. James had his arms around her waist, holding her back, and she let him, the laughter more than his grip paralyzing her in place.
But they all froze when she did, all turned to the TV as Kara grabbed the remote from under the stack of Christmas pillows covering the couch and turned up the weather report.
"And we repeat, folks, no flights are going in or out of northern Nebraska until at least Thursday. The blizzard is expected to – "
Alex stopped listening. James released her as she dove into her back pocket for her phone, wiping the flour she'd meant for Winn on James's shirt absentmindedly as she went. He scoffed silently, watching her with compassion as she dialed Maggie's number and put the phone to her ear.
She waited. Waited. Waited.
"Maybe she found another way to get home?" J'onn asked.
Alex shook her head. "She's not planning on telling me. She's gonna spend Christmas alone."
Kara stepped forward, brow furrowed. "But why would she – "
Alex just bit the inside of her cheek. "She wouldn't want to impose."
"She would never be imposing, you love her Alex – "
Alex looked up with wide, doe eyes. Kara put a steadying hand on either of Alex's shoulders. "And if you're not ready to tell her that, or even to call each other girlfriends yet, that's fine. But she shouldn't spend Christmas alone."
"You won't be mad if I – "
"Of course not. We'll hold off on putting in the movies until you get back, and for now, I got the cookies; you go get the girl."
Alex laughed wetly as she drew Kara in for a quick hug.
"Yeah, go get the girl, Danvers!" Winn called at her as she slipped out the door, grabbing her leather jacket and helmet on the way without breaking her stride.
Alex grinned as she jogged down the hallway, bounced down the stairs, swallowing the slight guilt of pinging Maggie's phone as she did so. She couldn't whisk her away from a lonely bottle of whiskey without knowing where she was, after all.
Go get the girl, indeed.
Maggie didn't mean to ignore Alex's call. Not exactly.
It was just that, by the time she was done fighting with herself in her head – She has that massive Superfriends family, you're not a part of that – But she's dating you, and that whole crew is super welcoming, of course she'd want you to join – You've been alone on Christmas before, it's not a big deal – She'd be horrified if she knew, and how could you lie to her like that? – the phone had stopped ringing.
Maybe Alex had buttdialed her or something, because – even though Maggie waited for a few long minutes, just staring down at her phone, ignoring the stream of texts coming from alternately angry and sympathetic family members – no voicemail came in.
She heaved a sigh and sat back in the chair she'd claimed a couple hours before, at the terminal, now empty, that was supposed to bring her home. She held her phone between her thumb and her index finger and swirled it around, around, around.
Nowhere to go, she let her mind – so close to collapsing, to crying, better to stay in public where she wouldn't lose her cool – follow her eyes out of her own sadness. She tilted her head to watch the holiday travelers go by.
The siblings shrieking with laughter, weaving their way through adult legs and massive suitcases, to chase each other, to avoid the parents who were calling after them.
The teenagers, even when in large groups together with their phones out, occasionally all looking down at the same screen and watching for a few moments before descending into unified laughter.
The couples, arm in arm and hand in hand, exchanging kisses, irritated glances, and last minute, what-not-to-say-in-front-of-my-parents speeches.
The most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, all tight jeans, short hair and black leather, briskly and efficiently weaving her way through the crowd, her eyes fixed only on Maggie.
"Alex, what – " Maggie struggled to find her words as she stood shakily.
Alex stopped a few feet in front of her, a heady mix of anger and desire smoldering behind her eyes. "What were you gonna do, lie to me for days, tell me how great things were in Blue Springs, how you missed me when really, you'd be holed up in your apartment alone on Christmas?"
Maggie looked down and licked her lips. "Alex, I don't know what I was gonna do, I just – I – how did you even – "
"Weather reports, Maggie."
Maggie nodded, again looking down, again looking like a scolded puppy. Alex's eyes softened, and she stepped closer. Touched Maggie's arm.
"Why would you ever think I would want you to spend Christmas alone?"
Maggie shrugged, not quite meeting Alex's eyes. "You guys have such a tight-knit group, I… I didn't wanna impose, I – "
"Maggie." Alex tilted her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet hers.
"Come home with me for Christmas. It might not be Blue Springs and it might not be your cousin Maya, but it – it's cookie and Christmas movie night, and we would all love to have you. I – I'd love to have you."
She framed Maggie's face with her hands and pulled her into a slow kiss. A few teenagers passing the terminal whooped, and Alex pulled back, bright red.
Maggie swallowed the fire in her stomach and the overwhelmed lump in her throat. "And I'd love to be with you."
Alex smiled, and it lit up the entire airport.
"Good."
Before Maggie could move, Alex bent, grabbed her duffle bag, grabbed Maggie's hand, and set off for where she parked her Ducati.
The oven was chiming and Christmas carols were blasting and J'onn was fiddling with a bug-eyed, green alien ornament on the tree and James was laughing and Winn was swiping unshaped cookie dough out of a massive plastic bowl and Kara was reaching into the oven without mitts to bring out the first batch of snowmen-shaped sugar cookies.
She tilted her head, then, and squinted her eyes. James stared at her for a moment. "Alex on her way back?" he asked, knowing the look Kara got when she used her super hearing.
In affirmation, she beamed and jumped and almost scattered the cookies. Winn went to grab for them and yelped when he remembered he couldn't touch the tray without gloves.
"Mr. Schott," J'onn growled with an eye roll that he would swear wasn't affectionate – and he'd be lying – and strode across the apartment to grab a whimpering Winn's hand and run it under cold water.
Kara watched them with a grimace, and set the cookies down more calmly. "I just heard her park her bike."
Winn let out a pained hoorah, and James laughed, shaking his head.
"We have to make sure she feels welcome, okay? Since M'gann's working tonight, she'll be the only one who doesn't know us all that well yet," Kara told everyone unnecessarily.
Alex's key scraped the lock a few moments later, and Kara used her x-ray vision to see outside.
Maggie was frozen on the threshold, and Alex had taken both of her hands into her own. "Maggie, I – you're welcome here. You're always welcome here, it – I – you're my gi – it – you're always welcome here, okay?"
Maggie arched an eyebrow and leaned up into Alex. "What were you about to say there, Danvers? I'm your what now?"
"I – pfft, nothing, it, I – "
"Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Alex Danvers?"
Kara swung the door open, unable to watch her sister squirm like that another moment. "Yes, of course she is, Maggie, now will you accept and come join the party? There's cookies!"
Alex leaned down into her. "And there's gonna be movies."
"Mmm, well, Christmas movies and cookies with my girlfriend." Maggie shrugged and Alex drew in a sharp breath with the brightest eyes Kara had ever seen her have. "I could do worse, wouldn't you say, Little Danvers?"
Kara drew Maggie in for a rib-crushing hug. "I would."
Alex wavered at the threshold for a moment, watching as Kara drew Maggie into the apartment, as James gave her a one-armed hug, as J'onn nodded warmly at her, as Winn held out spoonful of cookie dough for her to try. As Kara tugged her along to give her the tour of the tree, of the view from the back window, of the oven with the next batch in them, this time chocolate chips. As Maggie looked over her shoulder back at Alex, as only one word to describe the look on her face came into Alex's mind: love.
She stepped shakily back into the apartment, slowly, like she was in a daze. And she was.
Maggie Sawyer was her girlfriend, and it was Christmas Eve, and the family was together, and Kara and Winn were showing Maggie the massive stack of DVDs and animatedly explaining to her the deep, ancient honor of being able to pick the first Christmas movie on Christmas movie and cookie night.
James walked up and put a hand on the small of Alex's back, and J'onn walked up to her other side and touched her shoulder. She let herself lean sideways into J'onn's chest as they all watched the scene unfolding before them, Maggie finally selecting "The Holiday" over "Love Actually."
"If she hurts you, Alex, I won't hesitate to transform and use all my strength against her, you know."
Alex cocked an eyebrow and looked up into J'onn's only half-teasing eyes before looking back at Maggie, at the way her eyes lit up when she made Kara laugh, at the way she called her Little Danvers and slapped easy fives with Winn when they got the finicky old DVD player to start.
"She won't hurt me," Alex told him. "But you can feel free to transform and use all your strength against me if I ever hurt her."
"You won't," James said, and Alex smiled at him.
"Hey, you three! Quite staring like creepers and come! The Christmas movie portion of Christmas movie and cookie night has begun!" Winn shouted, and James and Alex dragged J'onn away from trying to escape before having to sit through such a quintessentially human spectacle.
Within minutes, J'onn had spread himself out on one couch, pretending to read a DEO tech report while secretly, Kara noted with glee, watching every move Kate Winslet and Jack Black made; James, Winn, and Kara curled together on the other couch, reaching rhythmically onto the same heaping plate of cookies to constantly keep their mouths chewing; and Alex and Maggie sprawled on the floor, limbs tangled in each other's under a heap of blankets and over a mass of pillows. Alex's fingers traced through Maggie's hair, and Maggie's fingers traced patterns onto Alex's stomach.
"Thank you," Maggie whispered to her as everyone else ooed and laughed and debated proper form when Cameron Diaz punched her ex in the face.
"For what?" Alex asked, eyes and attention only for Maggie.
Maggie's eyes traced the room: full of Christmas, full of warmth and the scent of fresh cookies, full of hope and full of laughter and full of family. Her heart ached for home in Nebraska, but she thought, for the first time, that maybe – just maybe – she could start coming home to somewhere else – someone else – too.
"For giving me a home on Christmas."
Alex blinked down tears and pulled Maggie into a soft, long kiss.
Winn noticed first, and he hit at both Kara and James repeatedly with the backs of his hands. James grinned and scrunched his nose up – "Awww," he mouthed – and Kara hid her smile behind her hands. J'onn suddenly became very interested in the movie, and Winn bounced up and down on the couch slightly with excitement.
A pillow suddenly flew up and smacked him right in the nose. James snorted and Kara dove across the couch to save the cookies.
"I can hear you freaking out, Schott," Alex growled from the floor, and Maggie's chuckle was cut off by Alex's lips returning to her mouth.
"Well, I can see you kissing your girlfriend," Winn singsonged, undeterred.
A second pillow smacked him in the face, and easy laughter flowed through the apartment, lights sparkling, movie playing, cookies cooling. Family cuddling.
The most perfect Christmas Eve any of them had ever had.