The Meets

Eliza Danvers

The first time Maggie heard Kara mention her adoptive mother's name, Maggie could just hold in a slight wince that had formed in the back of her throat. The name just brought back too many painful memories. Maggie had only ever heard Alex say "my Mom" when talking about her so the actual name had been disclosed to her until Kara told a story about her one evening in the bar. Apparently, Kara and Alex had been doing a lot of secret flying around back in their days and Eliza hadn't been too happy about that. Maggie joined in the laughter that had followed the story though, not wanting anyone to notice the slight pressure in her guts. It was strange how something as simple as a name could change one's perception of someone she hadn't even met yet.

A few weeks later, Alex walked into her apartment being on the phone with her mother. Maggie could tell the moment she walked through the door that it was Eliza on the phone, could read it in the slightly tense posture and could hear it in her voice. Alex all but threw her keys on the counter next to the door before pulling off her leather jacket.

"Okay, Mom, but I'll have to ask her first, okay?", Alex said, rolling her eyes in Maggie's direction who was standing next to the stove cooking a chilie.

"Yes, I promise", Alex mumbled. "Gotta go now, Mom, or I'll miss the awesome dinner Maggie's making us." – Pause – "Yes, there are people with my kind of job who can actually cook, Mom."

Maggie raised her eyebrows at that.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, Mom, bye", Alex finally said. She hit her screen rather hard and threw her phone on the kitchen counter with unnecessary force.

"Grawww", she huffed, seemingly exasperated.

"What was that about?", Maggie wanted to know, looking at her girlfriend slightly concerned.

"You mean besides that I can't do anything right?", Alex grumbled in response, plopping down on one of the bar stools next to the kitchen counter. Maggie came over and offered her a spoon of the nearly done chilie to calm her down.

"Hm, that tastes good", Alex surmised after licking her lips for show. Maggie grinned at her.

"So, what about your mom?", Maggie asked again. "Did something happen?"

"Noooo, but it will...", Alex sighed out. "She invited us over to Midvale for the weekend. Please say you have something totally important to do so we can't go."

Alex's eyes looked so pleading, it nearly broke Maggie's heart.

"Sorry, I actually don't", she answered in a small voice. "And I'd really like to meet your mom."

That wasn't exactly a lie. Maggie was curious about the woman that could get her badass girlfriend to fall to pieces, have the I-will-stand-my-ground-towards-any-alien-even-if-it's-20-times-bigger-than-me-woman to back down and actually cower.

"Hmph", Alex offered as a non-committal sound.

"What are you afraid of?", Maggie asked quietly, putting down the spoon and turning down the stove slightly before she walked over to Alex sitting down next to her.

"'m not afraid", Alex murmured indignantly, averting her eyes. Maggie put a hand under Alex chin to gently force Alex to look at her and repeated: "What are you afraid of?"

Alex's eyes darted back and forth between Maggie's, looking slightly panicked now. Maggie took her girlfriend's hands into hers and smiled at her encouragingly.

"I'm never enough, Mags", Alex whispered. Maggie had never heard her voice sounding so low and... broken. "And what if... what if she thinks you're not enough? I can't do anything right, but if there is one thing in my life that I'm a hundred percent sure it's just the greatest thing that ever happened to me, it's you. And I can't have her destroy that. I can't have her tell me or worse tell you that you are not enough. I just can't let her do that."