Shattered Christmas

Red coated Alex's vision as she arrived on the scene where her sister had fallen from a skyscraper. She pushed civilians out of the way to make her way over to the unconscious Kryptonian, nearly all of her breath being sucked out of her chest as she laid eyes on her. Kara, her indestructible baby sister, was unconscious, bleeding heavily from the right side of her head, battered and bruised. With the help of a few other agents, Alex brought Kara back to the DEO and immediately began treatment.

The air was filled with panic and desperation as the gurney was wheeled into the dim light of the medbay, its wheels squeaking softly from the hoods they received in the movement. Machines were attached to Kara to monitor her vitals as Alex began an assessment. The red haired woman could hear a voice in the background, dampened by her thoughts "She's crashing."

With a quick decision Alex responded, grabbing the necessary equipment, "we need to intubate." She opened her sister's mouth carefully and began placing the rule down into her throat. The Kryptonian begins to stabilize as Alex continues to check up on her, "Stay with me Kara, stay with me," she whispered to her comatose sister.

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Alex returned to her apartment, pouring herself a glass of scotch and sitting on the couch, her face reddened with tears. She glanced over at her Christmas tree and chuckled her glass at it after quickly draining the liquid inside. The glass shattered on impact with the wall beside the tree, leaving small glass shards on the tree with the appearance of snow. She quickly broke down into tears, clutching a pillow tight as she thought of her sister. They, Alex and J'onn, had agreed to allow Brainy, Mon-El, and Imra place Kara in one of the pods on their ship to heal, her injuries healing while her mind remains comatose.

J'onn had offered for her to stay at his place over the holidays due to Alex's lack of her sister or her partner as Maggie and her had broken up. She felt the emptiness of her apartment more than before and couldn't stand it. The DEO agent grabbed her jacket and drove over to Kara's apartment, letting herself in with a spare key given to her by her sister. She set her jacket down and laid down on the blonde's bed, not bothering to place the sheet over herself.

As Alex fell asleep, she remembered the first Christmas the Danvers had spent with Kara who was incredibly confused by their traditions. Alex had resented her sister then and felt a pang of guilt for having not treated her fairly. She had tricked Kara into believing that her cousin, Superman, was Santa and would need some help delivering gifts. She believed Alex and dressed in a red coat with black boots and a Santa hat, waiting on the roof for Clark to come get her to help. Only in the morning, when the girls were called in for breakfast did Kara realize Alex had fooled her. She received gifts from the Danvers and gave one to each of them, including Alex.

Alex's thoughts as she drifted off to sleep were of the fear of losing Kara without being able to make up to her how she had treated her before. This included the fear of losing the one person who could ever understand her, inside and out. She avoided telling Eliza what had happened in hopes Kara would heal and avoiding worrying their mother if she did heal without complications.

Vibrant streams of sunlight through the blinds over the windows woke Alex on Christmas morning, ruining her plans of sleeping the entire day in her sister's bed. She groaned and went out to the vacant living room, other than the ever-looming presence of the Christmas tree reminding her that she would not be spending the holiday with family. She did her best to avoid the tree after nearly placing the gift she had gotten for Kara beneath it. The gift was small but meaningless without the person to receive it. She had bought matching sister bracelets to share with Kara, despite not being overly sentimental. The gifts Kara had gotten for various people remained untouched beneath the tree.

Alex returned to the DEO, figuring out ways to help her sister out of her coma and to take down Reign. J'onn told her to take a break from work on Christmas but she refused and he could understand her emotions without reading her mind, allowing her to stay. She returned to Kara's apartment after working and went straight to her sister's room, drifting off to sleep. Her holidays having been spent working to drown out the anxiety threatening to overwhelm her in relation to her sister's health. The warmth of Christmas lost through the events of a single evening and a quick fight between Supergirl and Reign.