Pass Them Over

Chapter 1 - A Call From the Past

Alex knocks on the door of Sam's office at L-Corp, two cups of coffee in a cardboard takeout carrying tray in hand. When she receives a curious, 'Come In' from Sam, she pushes the door open and smiles.

"Hey."

"Hey, you," Sam replies with a smile, leaning back in her chair. Some of the tension that had been riding her body is instantly shed at the site of her visitor. "I should have known it was you, well, you or Lena. There's only three people with access to get by Jess without an appointment."

Making her way across the room, Alex puts the tray of coffees on the coffee table, but she pauses at Sam's explanation. "Me, Lena and...?"

"Oh, Kara." Sam joins Alex across the room, taking a seat on the couch. She examines both cups briefly, making note of which cup is marked with her beverage choice before selecting it. "I knew you weren't Kara."

Alex chuckles before taking her cup and a seat on the couch. "Explain."

"I can hear her coming a mile away. She stops and talks to everyone, talks to Jess for like five minutes so excited about everything. It's clear why you're the secret agent in the family and her job is to get people to talk to her. It suits you both."

Her cup to her mouth, Alex's look is contemplative. She blows across the open piece of the plastic lid. "Do you think I'm secretive?"

Sam looks over sharply perhaps startled by the question. "Secretive? Well that's your job, isn't it?"

"I mean personally not professionally."

"Oh." Pulling off her lid to blow into the cup, Sam looks inside for a few moments before returning her gaze to Alex. "Well, I think you're guarded."

"I don't mean to be," Alex replies immediately.

Placing her cup on the table, Sam reaches across and grabs Alex's wrist. She's not a small woman, and her long fingers wrap around the other woman's wrist. "Alex, no one means to be anything. I don't think any of us mean to be anything. You've been through it lately though, haven't you?"

Alex stares at that hand for a long time, feels the warmth that seeps into her bones. She doesn't touch people except for her sister. She hasn't touched anyone in months since..."Yes," she replies as she meets Sam's gaze. "It's getting better. I'm okay."

"Well, better than okay would be nice." Sam squeezes Alex's wrist one more time before letting go and retrieving her own coffee.

"Actually, I came here to check on you, to see how you're doing. Anymore blackouts?"

"Damn it," Sam declares quietly as she spills some of the coffee on the table.

"Are you okay? That's hot. Did you burn yourself?"

Sam shakes her hand over the table, bits of coffee flicking off. "I'm fine. I've got napkins in my desk." She laughs as she crosses the room, her smile a bit tight. "Obviously, this isn't my first time doing that. I'm a bit of a klutz."

"You and Kara both. It must be the gravity."

A pile of napkins in hand. Sam wipes at her hand as she makes her way back to the table, confusion painting her face. "What?"

"You're both tall. My theory is that tall women struggle with gravity more. It makes you klutzes."

Sam chuckles. "That must be it. I'm definitely gravity challenged." She sops up the liquid from the table. "What about professional basketball players?"

"Outliers. Every experiment has anomalies. It's just a matter of statistics"

"Well, statistics I can get behind," Sam says as she rises and throws out the napkins. "I'll leave the science to you, Dr. Danvers."