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It was the first Tuesday of September when Maggie decided that she’d had enough.
‘Right, that’s it,’ she said firmly. Her orange juice spilled as she set her glass down with a little too much force and frustration.
The sudden statement caught Alex off-guard. She flinched and dropped the spoon in her right hand and, very nearly the phone in her left hand too. ‘What?’
‘You,’ Maggie wagged a finger. ‘Are going to a damn dentist.’
‘It’s fine.’
‘If it was so fine, you wouldn’t be in so much pain and I would be able to have my breakfast in peace.’ Maggie stood from her chair and padded, barefoot, over to the other side of the table. ‘Babe,’ she said gently as she kissed the top of her fiancée’s head. ‘You need to stop putting it off.’
‘I’m not putting it off.’
‘You are. You’ve been complaining for the past four months.’ Since the day after they got engaged. It had been a small groan but it had gradually increased with intensity and frequency. ‘I love you, but you’re in pain and it’s not going to get any better by ignoring it. You need to get them taken out.’
Alex sighed. ‘I know, I know.’
‘Listen,’ Maggie crouched at the side of Alex’s chair. ‘I’ve been thinking about this and I came up with a plan. You book the appointment and take a couple of days off after the procedure. Then I’ll take the same days off too and we can make a staycation out of it.’
‘A staycation out of me getting my wisdom teeth yanked?’
‘We rarely take our vacation days as is. Why not?’ If anyone deserved a staycation, it was them. They also deserved a damn real vacation, but the city kept continuing to throw shit at them. They were yet to manage more than three days out of town together. ‘That way, I can make sure you get some TLC when you’re recuperating. TLC that I, sadly, did not get when I got mine pulled. Unless you count my college roommates drawing on my face with Sharpies as TLC, that is – in that case, I got a lot of it.’
‘They did that?’
‘They were assholes. I’m not,’ Maggie reassured as she reached for Alex’s hands. ‘Book the appointment, please?’
‘Fine,’ Alex said begrudgingly. ‘But I expect lots of TLC.’
Maggie smiled. She was more than happy to oblige. ‘You’ll get lots, I promise.’
/ / /
The appointment was two weeks after Maggie’s impromptu intervention.
She knew that the intervention was necessary, but still felt bad about the whole thing. Slightly hypocritical too as she hated dentists and put off her own visits as much as possible. However, she had never been in pain, especially not to the extent that Alex was in. Stepping in had been important.
Still, she hated seeing how worked up her fiancée was about the surgery.
‘This is gonna suck,’ Alex huffed as she got into the car.
‘I survived it. You will too,’ Maggie remarked as she clicked her seatbelt in.
‘Will it hurt?’
‘Yes.’
‘A lot?’
Maggie made sure to word her response carefully. ‘You have a higher pain tolerance than me, but it will to some extent.’
‘Great,’ Alex sighed. ‘Just so you know, I don’t do well with drugs so prepare yourself. And don’t film me. Nobody wants to see that hot mess.’
Maggie flashed a shit-eating grin. ‘I do.’
‘Film me and I’ll break up with you.’ Her voice was deadly serious.
‘That bad, huh?’
‘Oh yes.’ Again, completely sincere.
‘Can’t wait,’ Maggie said as she kicked the car into gear, her grin wide.
Alex slumped further in the passenger seat as she sighed yet again. ‘I already hate this goddamn day.’
/ / /
‘Miss Sawyer?’
‘Yes?’ Maggie stood at her name.
‘Alex is in recovery now and is asking for you.’
The young nurse’s words filled her with hope. If she was asking for her, then she couldn’t be too out of it, right? ‘Great. Is she okay?’
‘She is. Everything went well but, just a heads up--.’
Wrong. ‘She’s completely out of it, isn’t she?’ Maggie asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
The nurse’s exasperated expression as she led Maggie along the corridor, said it all. ‘Best to play along, and be sure to reassure her as much as you can.’
‘Got it,’ Maggie nodded, although she was really not ready for this. The corridor was long, but it was nowhere near long enough to prepare her for what was to come.
No amount of distance would ever be long enough to prepare to see a drugged-up, hysterical Alex Danvers, who was laying back in a chair with tears streaming down her swollen face, crying out her fiancée’s name. ‘Maggie.’
Maggie rushed over. ‘I’m here, I’m here.’
Alex tried to sit up but was beyond uncoordinated.
‘No, no, baby,’ Maggie whispered, gently pushing her down. ‘You need to lay back. You can’t stand just yet, okay? But I’m here, and you’re okay.’
More tears fell. ‘I’m not okay.’
‘You are,’ Maggie squeezed her hand.
Alex shook her head. ‘You don’t understand, Maggie. They took my bones. My bones.’
Bones? It took a few seconds for her to realize what her drugged-up fiancée was talking about and, once it hit her, she had to bite her lip hard to not burst out laughing. ‘Wow,’ she finally managed with just a smile, though a laugh was still threatening to erupt. ‘Those drugs have really messed with your brain, haven’t they?’
Alex’s forehead crinkled in confusion. ‘They operated on my brain too?’
Bless her. ‘They didn’t, baby. It’s still as brilliant as always, I promise,’ Maggie smiled as she ran fingers through Alex’s hair.
Alex tugged at Maggie’s sweater and pleaded, with glazed over puppy dog eyes. ‘Cuddle me.’
It broke her heart to say no. But it was just not feasible, not on that leather recliner. Someone would get hurt, and it would most likely be the one who had gauze hanging out of her mouth. ‘I can’t, there’s no room.’
‘You’re small.’
‘Not that small,’ Maggie laughed.
Alex whined. ‘Maggie.’
‘Okay, okay--. Whoa.’ Maggie had tried to figure out a way to safely hold her fiancée, but Alex had decided to take matters into her own hands, pulling Maggie on top of her. ‘This cannot be comfortable for you.’
‘It is,’ Alex mumbled into Maggie’s chest.
‘You need to breathe,’ Maggie pulled away as she eyed a hard-plastic chair in the corner of the room. ‘Let me go grab that chair and you can hold my hand – how does that sound?’
Alex pouted. ‘Fine.’
She had her back turned for all of two seconds before she heard Alex’s slurred voice pondering.
‘What’s…’
‘Don’t take them--.’
Out. Too late. Alex had the bloodied cotton balls that were in her mouth, now in her hand. ‘Who put balls in my mouth?’
That was it, that was Maggie’s breaking point. As immature as it was, that was what made her burst out laughing. Not quietly, but loudly and she’d be surprised if she couldn’t be heard back in the waiting room.
Poor Alex only kept making it funnier. ‘I dropped my balls.’
Maggie’s eyes started watering and she clutched the back of the chair for support, to stop herself from collapsing into a hysterical heap on the linoleum floor.
‘Maggie, my balls fell.’
Her ribs hurt, she was laughing that hard. Her laughter only ceased when she caught Alex hanging precariously over the arm of the chair to reach the bloodied cotton balls that were lying a few feet away, thankfully out of arms reach. She gently took Alex’s arm. ‘Babe, they’re dirty.’ The phrase dirty balls flashed in her mind and she again bit down on her lip to stop more giggles from erupting. She cleared her throat, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before she kissed the back of Alex’s hand. ‘When the nurse comes back, I’ll ask her for some new ones, okay?’ New balls please, she pictured herself saying in her best tennis umpire voice. She never knew that she was this immature. ‘You, Alex Danvers, were right.’
‘Of course I’m right, I have a PhD, I’m always right.’
‘Mm, not always,’ Maggie grinned before placing her kips against Alex’s knuckles once more. ‘I meant what you said earlier. When you said you were a hot mess.’
Alex giggled.
‘That was a fact, not a joke,’ Maggie said, arching a brow.
‘You called me hot.’
‘And? We’re getting married in six months.’
Alex’s eyes went wide. ‘Holy shit, are you for real?’
Maggie waved her left hand. ‘See this big old rock?’
Eyes full of amazement, Alex nodded.
‘You put that there. And look,’ Maggie lifted Alex’s hand, where an identical ring resided. ‘I put that there.’
‘Wow.’
‘Pretty neat, huh?’
‘Amazing,’ Alex beamed and looked up at the amused nurse that had just walked in and proudly declared. ‘I’m getting married.’
The nurse smiled. ‘Congratulations. Have you been together long?’
‘Since I became a lesbian,’ Alex replied, not answering the question in the slightest.
Maggie let out a small, controlled laugh before turning to the nurse. ‘She dropped her cotton…things,’ she said, refusing to say balls because she knew that would definitely set her off again.
The nurse nodded and set about getting replacements.
For whatever reason, Alex decided the best time to speak was when a stranger was shoving gauze into her mouth. ‘Do you know who my sister is?’ She mumbled.
Maggie’s eyes went wide as the nurse indulged her. ‘I don’t. Who is she?’
‘She’s Supergirl.’
Well, if there was ever an ideal time to reveal Supergirl’s identity, being high on drugs was probably it. Maggie decided to play along. ‘Alex, we shouldn’t reveal information like that,’ she said, with a wink.
‘Oh okay, I got you, I got you.’ She turned back to the nurse. ‘I do not know who Supergirl is. Also, I am not a top-secret agent either.’ Alex made sure to add an incredibly dramatic wink after her statements.
Maggie shook her head. ‘So, how long before the drugs start to wear off?’
/ / /
Once home, Maggie tucked Alex into bed before crawling in beside her with a book.
Once awake, a few hours later, Alex was finally lucid again, albeit very groggy and achy.
‘Hey you,’ Maggie smiled, putting her book aside and reaching over to kiss her forehead. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Tired,’ Alex slurred as she pushed herself up to sit against the headboard. ‘My jaw…’
‘It’s swollen, babe. Try not to touch it, it’ll only make it worse.’
Alex gave a small nod before turning to Maggie with sleepy eyes. ‘How bad was it?’
‘How bad was what?’
‘You know what.’
‘Oh, you mean you on drugs?’
Alex nodded.
‘You kinda might have mentioned that Supergirl is your sister and that you’re a top-secret agent.’
Alex sighed. ‘Oh God.’
‘Luckily for you, people have definitely made similar claims whilst on drugs, so I think the Danvers’ girls’ secret identities are still a secret,’ Maggie grinned. ‘You also cried a lot.’
Alex’s head fell into her hands, with a little groan of discomfort. ‘Uh-huh…what else?’
‘You, uh, you dropped your balls.’
‘My what?’
‘Your balls…you made a big deal about your balls,’ Maggie snorted but it only seemed to make Alex feel worse about herself. ‘I’m sorry, babe,’ Maggie said softly, wrapping an arm around her girl’s shoulder and pulling her close.
Alex rested her head on Maggie’s chest and clung onto her shirt. ‘You didn’t record it, did you?’
‘I promise you that I didn’t. My word is my word.’
Alex clung tighter. ‘Thank you.’
‘You didn’t, however, say anything about photos.’
‘Maggie…’
‘They’re not bad, I swear.’ She reached for her phone and flicked through the gallery to show Alex. ‘See? Just you sleeping, that’s all. They’re cute.’
‘Only you’d think I look cute with a swollen face and drooling all over my pillow.’
‘Good,’ Maggie said. ‘Because I’m the only one that gets to marry you.’
‘You’re soft.’
‘And you just had surgery.’ Maggie rubbed soothing circles on her fiancée’s back. ‘So get some more rest and we’ll start this staycation when you can keep your eyes open, okay?’
‘M’kay.’