Chapter Text
Kelly Olsen loved her big brother, James. She truly did.
When he’d brought the very sweet, very excitable Kara Danvers home for Thanksgiving at their Aunt Vivian’s, and then announced their engagement at the next Olsen Christmas Dinner, Kelly had been ecstatic for them. Her brother had overcome a lot to get where he was: running the metro desk at the Kansas City Star after an award-winning stint as an investigative reporter in the Topeka political scene. Kara was an evening anchor for KSHB, the local NBC station, and it hadn’t taken long for the local editorials to bestow them with the “power couple” label.
And so yes, Kelly was incredibly proud to call James her brother and happy to soon call Kara a sister… but then the wedding planning kicked off, and Kelly had to keep reminding herself of how much she loved James and Kara. She would do anything for them, she would say… and the eight months leading up to their nuptials certainly tested that conviction. The couple’s local celebrity meant everything was that much more difficult—the guest list was in the 400s after two months’ pruning, so not just any venue would work, and the caterers needed to be next level, and on and on it went, with Kelly always saying ‘yes’ when her brother or sister-to-be asked for help. She picked up custom decorations, did venue walkthroughs, even helped stuffing invitations over the course of a brutal five-day sprint to get them out the door.
Luckily, while Kara had been gracious enough to ask Kelly to be a bridesmaid, the Maid of Honor duties went to her own sister, Alex Danvers, who lived a few towns down and over the state line, in Olathe. The elder Danvers was just an Apple Contacts icon to Kelly for the first few months they knew each other; she never looked close, but knew the tiny picture was of a woman with short, dark red hair and sunglasses, maybe smiling, maybe not. Her texts to the bridal party groupchat were similarly inscrutable: grammatically correct and polite, but terse. No emojis in sight—not even the classic colon-parenthesis combo. She booked travel plans for Kara’s bachelorette weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, sent reminders about ordering bridesmaid dresses, and kept a close guard on the reception’s table assignments.
“I hope you don’t mind,” James had said, offhandedly, while they were scouting Crate & Barrel for registry items, “but I told Alex it was okay to put you at the singles’ table.”
Kelly paused where she’d been scrutinizing some farmhouse-style plates, gently placing one down before turning to pin her brother with narrowed eyes. “I’d rather sit with Aunt Viv.”
“I know—“
“—I know you know.” The younger Olsen gave him a half-joking punch on the shoulder. “Stop trying to help me.”
His smile softening, James draped an arm over her shoulders and lowered his voice: “I’m not trying to push. I’m sure Alex will change it if you ask… but maybe you give it a chance and have some fun stories to tell later, at minimum.”
Kelly sighed, but rested her cheek against her brother’s shoulder as they stared up at the looming shelves of ceramic. “Still not sure I’m ready.”
“That’s okay. Just think about it—couple days, before you decide. It’s just a table.”
“Uh huh,” Kelly eyeballed him for a few dramatic seconds, sensing a bit of scheming in his tone. He just smiled innocently back at her, though, and they moved on to flatware. “Don’t you think it’s enough of a stretch that I’m going to the bachelorette weekend with complete strangers?”
“True.” Chuckling, James disentangled from her and picked up a ludicrously delicate-looking fork. “But Kara’s friends are really nice, I promise. Half of ‘em, you’ve probably seen on TV before, anyway.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s exactly like I know them.”
Frowning, the elder Olsen poked her in the arm with the three-pronged fork, earning himself another light punch, and a judgy look from a nearby old woman had them both clearing their throats of laughter and, chastened, escaping to another aisle.
Months later, Kelly still hadn’t withdrawn her name from the single’s table, but that seemed like small potatoes compared to the anxiety in her stomach as she stepped off the plane gangway in Charleston. Kara and her friends had flown together, but Kelly was arriving later, having decided to skip as few counseling sessions with her patients at the VA clinic as possible. By the time her Lyft was dropping her off at the AirBnB bungalow a few blocks from the beach, the sun was curving down towards the horizon… and the weekendenders had clearly been participating in the bachelorette celebration for several hours already.
“Kelly!” squealed Kara when she opened the door with a shiny plastic tiara on her head. “I’m so happy to see you!”
Despite the fact that they’d last seen each other the day before, Kelly accepted a ribs-crushing hug from the blonde, and she had to admit that Kara’s bright smile and easy warmth made her relax, just a little. Surely the people who a person like Kara considered close enough to invite on this trip would be kind, too. She didn’t have to wait long to find out, as Kara quickly tugged her inside the house and shut the door.
“Kelly’s here!” called the blonde, and three heads poked out from around a doorway leading to the kitchen.
Like James had suggested, Kelly did immediately recognize two of the three women: Lena Luthor, health insurance heiress and occasional guest on local talk shows, and Sam Arias, the statuesque brunette who anchored the morning news at Kara’s station. The third, a younger woman with brown hair and a friendly, heart-shaped face, Kelly didn’t know until the bride introduced her as, “Nia Nal, the best up-and-coming reporter at the Star since James.”
“Ah, you work for my brother. I’m so sorry,” joked Kelly, annoyed at the stiffness in her own voice, but pleased at having come up with something to say other than a one-word greeting.
And to her relief, Nia laughed and quickly replied, “He can be hard-headed, but he’s a great boss. Plus, he’s been a whole lot nicer since this lady’s been in his life.”
“Can’t deny that.” Kelly offered Kara a quick smile, and to her surprise, Nia wrapped a hand over her elbow and led her gently, but firmly, over to the aluminum beverage cart set against a wall in the dining room. The bungalow was of modest size, decorated in a nautical theme that bordered on tacky, but it seemed clean and well-maintained… and the beverage cart was very, very well-stocked.
Before she had time to take in more of her surroundings, Lena Luthor was pushing a mixed drink in a mason jar into her palm, and Sam was loudly proclaiming that they needed to play an icebreaker drinking game. It was all a little overwhelming after her day of solo travel, but excessive friendliness was a better outcome than she had secretly expected.
“Alex, get your ass in here,” Sam crowed towards the back of the house as the rest of the women gathered around the kitchen island, drinks in hand. “Stop being responsible.”
Movement drew Kelly’s eyes up as Alex Danvers herself walked in from the back door, an iPhone pressed to her ear and a furrow in her brow. Her hair was different from her Contacts photo, an undercut instead of a bob, but still that deep auburn color, and unlike the rest of the women, including Kelly, who were wearing an array of colorful sundresses, Alex was nearly in all black—skinny jeans, hoodie, boots, and then a graywash denim jacket. She was taller than Kelly had expected, with broad shoulders that hunched forward as she murmured into her phone unhappily.
Kelly didn’t realize she was white-knuckling her mason jar and staring until Nia gave her a gentle nudge with her shoulder, offering a knowing smile when Kelly tore her eyes away from the elder Danvers sister.
“Who the fuck are you talking to?” complained Sam, uncapping a bottle of beer.
Alex held up the universal hand signal for “wait a fucking minute”, but accepted the brown bottle when Sam nudged it against her arm. The final seconds were filled with curt repetitions of “uh huh” and “yep,” and Alex groaned with frustration when she finally ended the call.
“What could possibly be wrong now?” asked Kara while her sister took a long pull on her beer.
“Eve’s coming,” sighed Alex when she came up for air.
“Eve!” echoed Sam and Lena with an excitement that contrasted strangely to Alex’s exhausted expression.
“I thought she couldn’t make it,” added Nia.
“She couldn’t, until right now. I guess she found someone to cover her shift.”
“So what’s the problem? Why the huffing and puffing?”
Alex looked up at Nia, and then her dark brown eyes met Kelly’s for the first time. They held there, and then unmistakably flickered up and down, just a split-second movement, and Kelly had to look away as she brought her drink to her lips and took a healthy swig. Her cheeks instantly warmed, and for now, she could blame it on the rum.
“Hello?” prodded Kara. “Earth to Alex?”
“It’s um,” the redhead blinked and looked back at her sister, “I had a deadline for reservations so I got a place with the right number of rooms. There’s no place for her to sleep.”
“I’ll just crash on the couch then, not like I need a private room,” offered the bride immediately, to which the entire room protested just as quickly.
After a brief verbal scuffle and a bit of a Hunger Games-style volunteer round, it was decided that Nia would sleep on the couch the first night, only because she was the shortest in the group, and Alex the second, because she was the most stubborn. Eve would take Nia’s place bunking in the two-twin room with Lena. Kelly felt a little overwhelmed by the raucous shouting and laughter of the tightknit friends as they sorted all of it out, but she wasn’t the only one who was keeping mostly quiet. Alex Danvers had put her phone in her pocket and was leaning against the island, looking engaged, laughing at jokes—but otherwise just watching the festivities, once she’d said her piece about sleeping arrangements. James and Kara hadn’t told her much about Alex, really just that she was Kara’s older sister, she worked in private security, and she was “really sweet, once you get to know her.”
“Wait, wait, wait, aren’t we supposed to be doing an icebreaker?”
With Nia’s voice pulling her back to the present, Kelly gave her head a quick shake and finished her drink, which earned her a round of cheers from Sam and Lena. Now the rum actually was warming her face and neck, but at least the pleasant buzz helped her focus on the rest of the revelers, and not so much on the tall, dark and handsome Alex Danvers.
Under Lena’s direction, the women all wrote down a few Liked and Dislikes on slips of paper, and then mixed them in a bowl, out of which Nia would pick one at a time and read out loud for everyone to guess whose it was; drink if you guessed incorrectly, drink when you are correctly identified. The low-stakes details prompted plenty of good-natured contoversy, and they ran the gamut of topics: Sam disliked Canadian bacon on pizza, Lena liked early-2000s Saddle Creek music, Nia liked paperback romance novels.
“Okay, okay, one more, then we have to get dinner,” announced Sam through a wheezing laugh, after they’d finished fairly easily guessing that it was Kara who wrote I dislike vegetables in their natural state.
With a flourish of her wrist, Nia selected another crumpled piece of paper, unfolding it with dramatic care and reading aloud, “I dislike watching and hearing people eat in movies.”
“Alex,” said Lena, Sam, and Kara in unison, and Kelly was grateful for that, because it covered up her response; something about the absurd sentence made her laugh a surprised, loud laugh.
“You’re supposed to make it a little difficult, Danverses,” sighed Nia while she crumpled the paper and tossed it at the redhead, beaning her on the shoulder.
“Kelly didn’t know,” offered Alex, grinning somewhat smugly.
Hearing her name fall off Alex’s lips was a surprisingly pleasant experience, but she didn’t meet the redhead’s eyes as she said to the table, “Well, I mean, who does like that?”
“You don’t understand—Alex takes it to a whole new level,” explained Kara with a slightly-drunk seriousness, her blue eyes narrowed. “She will full-on walk out of a theater if it’s a whole scene.”
“It’s disgusting! Nobody needs to see that,” argued the older sister, throwing her hands up, but laughing. “Half the actors don’t even do it right, it looks stupid. And the sound! Fuck that.”
“Who knew this would be the most controversial take so far?” Nia said, her rueful voice pitched low to indicate she was speaking only to Kelly. “Actually, it’s not all that surprising for this group.”
The icebreaker had helped, Kelly had to admit, and she was feeling much more comfortable in the group—but Nia, who she’d known for all of an hour, seemed like an old friend she didn’t know she had. Her smile was comforting, her demeanor inviting, and she conceded that perhaps James had been right about this trip after all.
They broke up the game to get ready for dinner, and Kelly quickly excused herself to the house’s single bathroom (that was guaranteed to be a bottleneck area in the mornings), hanging around after washing her hands to sit on the edge of the tub and scour social media for information about Alex Danvers.
From Kara’s Facebook, Kelly found Alex under the profile name “DA Danvers”, probably for work reasons, a thought backed up by the intense privacy settings. All she could see were pictures Kara had posted and tagged, a practice which had grown much less frequent over the years, according to the dates on the posts. There were some photos from a trip to New York, random high school and college group pictures at what were clearly house parties, and then a few shots that caught Kelly’s eye. Other than Kara or their mother, Eliza Danvers, the only woman who appeared in the majority of the pictures was someone not tagged, though the captions called her “Maggie.” She didn’t need to make any intuitive leaps to figure out that Maggie and Alex had dated; they were pictured holding hands more often than not, or with an arm around each other, always smiling widely.
But then Maggie disappeared, and nobody else replaced her with nearly as much frequency. Most photos looked like they were taken at restaurants, signs of the friend group aging out of bars, and usually Alex was sitting with Sam or Lena across a table covered in fancy-looking foods. Other than confirming Alex had at least at some point dated women, there wasn’t much to be learned. She didn’t appear to have a Twitter or Instagram, and after reading Alex’s LinkedIn profile—Director of Human Intelligence at DEO Incorporated—Kelly started feeling a bit embarrassed for herself and abandoned the research.
“You’re an adult,” she murmured to her reflection as she stood up, shaking a stern finger at the mirror. “And she is Kara’s sister. Kara, who’s marrying James… your brother.”
Talking to herself didn’t help with the foolish feeling in her stomach, so she quickly opened the door and stepped into the hall. Three doors were closed, and Kelly could take a hint—she went to the open one, almost startling to find Alex standing just inside the room, clearly having just pulled down the black t-shirt now hugging her long back.
“Sorry, I was putting your stuff in here and thought I could change quick enough, since I don’t have a room.” Alex turned as she spoke, holding her hands up as if to show she wasn’t a threat.
“No, no, it’s fine—I was taking up the bathroom.” Kelly wanted to kick herself for that, considering what could potentially be inferred by how long she’d been in there.
Thankfully, Alex breezed right past, taking a step closer and shoving her hands in her pockets. It distractingly made the sleeves of the t-shirt tighten against her subtly impressive biceps, but Kelly forced herself to pay attention to the other woman’s words as she said, “We were never introduced properly. I’m Alex, Kara’s big sister.”
“Kelly,” she replied. “James’ little sister.”
“Very nice to meet you Kelly.” The corner of Alex’s mouth quirked up, shifting her friendly smile into something more intentional, or so Kelly’s mind wanted to believe. “So what do you do, James’ little sister?”
As Alex shifted to one side, giving her a respectfully wide berth, Kelly moved farther into the room, resisting the urge to cross her arms. “I’m a counselor at the VA Medical Center in Kansas City. I have a dog, George, and an apartment in the city.”
“VA counselor,” repeated Alex carefully, and one eyebrow rose. “That’s a tough job.”
“Most days. But it’s rewarding work. My way of giving back.”
“Did you serve?”
Kelly rocked back on her heels, and this time she wasn’t able to stop her arms from protectively folding over her chest. “Yeah, I did. One tour.”
“Let me guess—“ Alex looked her up and down again as she made exaggeratedly pensive faces, bringing a hand to her chin. “Hooah.”
“Is that your final answer, Danvers?”
“Don’t tell me you’re a sailor. I thought you were cool.”
The easy humor brought a smile back to Kelly’s lips despite her nerves, and she relented, “No, you nailed it. Hooah.”
“What about me?” The redhead lifted and dropped her hand over her own torso, which was just so unfair if Kelly was reading this situation incorrectly.
“You served?”
“Two contracts. Now guess.”
Humming, Kelly sat on the edge of the bed and narrowed her eyes, pretending to think as she really did shamelessly drink in the long, lean muscles of Alex Danvers in her t-shirt and jeans. She felt fairly sure she’d already intuited the answer: “Easy. You’re a flyboy, Alex Danvers. Semper Fi.”
Red eyebrows shot towards Alex’s hairline, and she let out a wheezy laugh: “M.O.S. and branch, wow-wow-wow. Nailed it, Olsen.”
The sound of a door opening made both of them look up, and Kara shortly appeared in a navy blue cocktail dress, one arm twisted up around her back. “Can someone zip me up? Please?”
“Yeah, yeah, but how about we let Kelly change in peace,” Alex was saying as she herded her sister back out of the room, shooting Kelly a gently frustrated can you believe her look over her shoulder before closing the door.
Kelly sat for awhile after they’d left, breathing quietly, regrouping from her day of travel and socializing… and wondering if she was headed down an ill-advised road with the surprisingly charming Alex Danvers.
Or any road at all, for that matter.
She picked a dark teal mermaid dress for their first night out, with thin shoulder straps and a split on one side, showing almost her entire leg, that she wasn’t entirely sure about, at least until Nia practically squealed with delight, her eyes almost literally morphing into stars, when Kelly walked out of the room. It was gal pal approved in short order, including a strained nod from Alex when Kara forced her to respond to, “Doesn’t she look so good?”
They exchanged final notes on makeup, with Nia doing a bit of blending around Kelly’s jaw, and the counselor couldn’t deny that the sisterly bond in the room was something she’d secretly hoped for—James, even though he was a great brother, had never helped with her makeup, or given her a top three selection of shoes to go with her outfit. It was refreshing, and it put her in a great mood as they piled into the luxury private SUV that Lena was paying for all weekend. The driver was an older woman who seemed uninterested in their shenanigans, which Kelly supposed was understandable for someone in her line of work. She still made a mental note to check that the heiress was a good tipper before the night was over.
For dinner, they ate at a “farm-to-table”, very upscale establishment with decadent takes on already-sinful Southern classic dishes. Kelly took the opportunity to enjoy seafood that hadn’t been shipped frozen to the heartland, and the seafood stew on the seasonal menu absolutely delivered, as did the white wine that Lena picked out for her, after rejecting the waiter’s first suggestion on Kelly’s behalf.
She picked up more important background details through conversation as the evening went on—Nia had a live-in boyfriend they kept calling Brainy, Lena had a brother in prison for tax evasion. Alex had a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks. It was like finding pieces of a puzzle and slotting them into the right place, filling in the blanks for people she largely had only known as faces on screens.
Eve joined them as they were finishing up, rolling up to the table like an excited storm, somehow apologizing in the same breath that she gushed about her excitement to be in on the girls’ weekend. Several fast-paced context clues let Kelly know that Eve was an EP for the talkshow that often hosted Lena, and she would occasionally fill in to work on Kara’s newscast, when the normal producer was out.
The completion of the guest list kicked off a whirlwind night. They hopped two bars in the first thirty minutes, with Sam vehemently rejecting the “vibes” of the crowds, and then spent two hours at a dive bar they found while searching for a different club. It was apparently Karaoke Friday, a revelation which made Kara’s face light up with excitement, right before she speed-walked to the signup table.
“I didn’t know Kara was so into showtunes,” Kelly said, loud enough to be heard over Cabaret by the rest of the table.
“Road trips are excruciating,” confirmed Sam, with an affectionate smile towards the blonde. “And it’s a family-wide flaw. This one still listens to Our Lady Peace.”
“Hey,” protested Alex when she noticed Sam’s accusatory finger pointing in her direction. “They were way more popular outside the U.S., and don’t act like you aren’t constantly listening to Britney.”
Sam’s jaw dropped open, but her expression didn’t seem offended, and she whispered like someone looking upon the Holy Grail: “That’s it. That’s perfect.”
Before anyone could question that, Sam darted away from the table, and a few songs later, they were listening to her very heartfelt rendition of Lucky. It quickly got the whole bar singing along with her, because who in their right mind, alive during the early millennium, could possibly resist?
When it was over and Sam was taking her bows to whooping and applause, Kelly found her way to the bathroom, and on her way back, she noticed a sign for a smoker’s patio. After stopping to glance at the friend group at the bar, she pushed the door open a couple inches, just enough to see that the outdoor area was mostly empty, and then she pressed outside.
The bar was small, so even the couple dozen people there were a bit suffocating. She just needed a couple minutes to breathe, even if it was tainted by the handful of smokers scrolling their phones near standing tables with overflowing ashtrays. She leaned against the wall near the door, focusing on her breathing, and slowly, her heart rate ticked back down to a normal speed. When she opened her eyes, most of the smokers had apparently finished their fix and cleared out, but then a voice came from her left:
“Do you smoke?”
It was Alex Danvers, leaning against one of the tables a few feet away with a hazy smirk.
Kelly shook her head. “I just needed some space. Do you smoke?”
“Not since I discharged.”
They regarded each other, and despite her breathing exercises, Kelly’s pulse picked up again. She swallowed thickly and asked, “How long have you been standing there?”
“Eh. Maybe thirty seconds.” The redhead shrugged and straightened, moving around the table. “Crowds are still tough for me sometimes, too.”
The unexpected moment of vulnerability surprised the more-than-slightly-buzzed Kelly into more silence, while Alex settled against the wall next to her, their shoulders not quite touching, but close enough that they could speak quietly.
“I haven’t had a night terror in a long time,” Alex continued with eyes ahead. “But I still have to be aware of how I’m feeling.”
Kelly huffed, letting her head fall back against the brick wall. “Professionally, I know that this isn’t right way to think about it… but I hate being a counselor who still has problems with this.”
“Hmm. I second your professional opinion on that one.”
This specific point of connection with Alex had been an unexpected one, but Kelly was already deeply grateful for it. She must have not scrolled far enough down Alex’s LinkedIn to see it, but like with so many vets she knew and worked with… Sometimes it was like they could sense it on one another, some look in the eyes or tilt to their bones. Nobody else in her family had served, and none of her small group of friends in Kansas City, and though they all did their very best, they would never truly get it like a fellow combat veteran did.
“Iraq?” asked the redhead, so softly the syllables almost got lost on the night breeze.
Kelly nodded and let her eyes close. “Saladin.”
It was starting to rain, the already-warm night growing
muggy, and the streetlight hanging above the restaurant’s patio started blinking, with no clear pattern. They were protected and dry in their spot under the roof overhang, and the steadily strengthening rain drove most of the smokers back inside the bar.
“Is there anything I can do to help you, right now?”
“I’m okay. I’ve got my breath back,” replied Kelly, turning to look at the other woman, who she was surprised to find was already looking back at her with inscrutable, dark eyes. “Thank you. Usually I have George, and it doesn’t help that I’m a little out of my element, with new people.”
“Anyone would be out of their element with this bunch. My ex even had some tangles with Lena.”
Kelly stiffened at the mention of an ex, suddenly struck by guilt that she’d looked up Alex on Facebook at all. She was surprisingly open, though perhaps in this moment, that was for the benefit of Kelly’s anxiety.
“Sorry, that’s weird. We’ve been broken up for like, two years. I keep bringing her up.”
It didn’t take any of her professional training to sense a deeper hangup there. Kelly shrugged, hoping her expression came off as neutral she replied, “Exes are a part of us, some a bigger part than others. Acknowledging that isn’t abnormal. It helps normalize the past as the past.”
“Ooh, the shrink jumped out,” teased Alex in a classic deflection, but Kelly let it slide, distracted by the next thing out of the redhead’s mouth: “What about you?”
“What? What about me?”
“Is there a… current in your life? Current boyfriend, current girlfriend, current theyfriend?”
“Just exes,” laughed Kelly with a shake of her head. Alex’s shift in position had moved them slightly closer together, close enough now that she could smell Alex’s sweet and musky cologne.
Her answer seemed to buzz between them like static electricity, Alex’s eyes shamelessly dropping to Kelly’s lips. If there was any more intent behind it, she didn’t get the chance to find out, because a gust of wind blew the rain right past their once-safe spot against the wall, pelting them with fat droplets, and they both hurried inside instead, gasping and laughing, with Alex holding her jacket over Kelly’s head.
The group of friends didn’t close down the bars that night, but they came close, piling into the town car only after Kara fell asleep in their booth at the last bar, and though she kept a casual eye out, Kelly never quite found a good opportunity to pick up where she left off with Alex Danvers. They’d be in Charleston for one more full day, anyway, and she was exhausted… and, if she was smiling when she drifted to sleep in the starchy rental bed, she would blame it on the alcohol.
It was almost ten o’clock by the time the whole house woke up, generally grumbly and complaining of the passing years as they sipped water and dragged their feet getting ready. They had lunch at a café on the pier, and that helped recharge everyone’s batteries heading into the afternoon, which they spent at the beach. It was colder than Kelly expected, but her thin coverup was enough to let her sit comfortably in the sun on her towel, watching as Kara and Alex clowned around in the waves.
Well, she was really watching Alex, clad in the eternally classic bikini top/board shorts combo. As if the clinging black t-shirt from the night before hadn’t been enticing enough, this look put the long, muscular planes of Alex’s back on display, as well as the endearing spray of light freckles between her shoulder blades.
“Sooo…”
Kelly blinked out of her trance, instantly embarrassed at the smirk on Nia’s face. She could see the expression clearly, even with the giant plastic heart-shaped sunglasses currently obscuring the younger woman’s face.
“Hmm?”
Nia clicked her tongue. “Wow. And here I thought we were friends.”
It took a beat for the full force of that sentence to sink in, and when it did, Kelly’s face broke into a wide smile. Friend. Nia was joking with her, but not about that last word, and it was… touching. It’d been a long time since she’d made a new friend, and she really did like Nia’s company.
Later, she would realize that that was why her guard fell enough to tell on herself: “What’s, uh… what’s the deal with Alex?”
“I knew it.”
Surprisingly, that sentence came from Sam, who had apparently been sneakily listening in from behind her Armani sunglasses, sunbathing on the other side of Nia. She didn’t sit up, but tilted her head ever so slightly towards them to indicate her participation in the conversation.
“You didn’t know anything,” scoffed Nia.
“Alex likes you,” Sam continued, unbothered by the incredulity. “She doesn’t warm up to just anyone so quickly. Usually by now you should still be getting one word answers. Lots of sighing.”
Kelly’s cheeks were on fire, her palms sweaty. She was immediately regretting her moment of weakness, but the other women were already running far, far ahead with the idea.
“Alex is kinda like a cat. You have to give her a little space, let her size you up, and once she decides she likes you, she’ll take a bullet for you,” Nia explained, sounding earnest, but excited.
Sam tilted her head, bringing her face back into the full sun. “And, it doesn’t hurt that you two would be cute together.”
“Who would be cute with who?”
Lifting a hand to shield her eyes, Kelly looked up to see Lena and Eve had returned from their mission to the boardwalk, arms filled with bags of drinks and snacks.
“Kelly and Alex,” chirped Sam. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Pausing to settle on her towel, Lena flashed Kelly one of her objectively heart-stopping smiles and shrugged. “I could see it.”
“Yeah, and these two would be the experts,” blurted Eve with an airy laugh, and before Kelly could think anything more of the statement, Sam abruptly sat upright, and Lena’s smile transformed into a glare, directed at the blonde.
“Eve,” scolded Nia, sighing and taking off her sunglasses. “Not cool.”
“What? She has a right to know. It sucks being out of the loop.” The way Eve said it told Kelly that this part of the conversation, at least for Eve, was about more than whatever in-reference they were making. But, she didn’t have to wait long to be brought in: “Look, Alex is great, but ever since Maggie, she’s been a bit of a playboy.”
“Don’t slut shame her,” protested Sam, earnestly.
“I’m not—if Kelly is interested in Alex, these are just things she should know.” Eve squatted in front of her, like they were sharing some kind of secret, even though she spoke loud enough for the other women to hear, “Just, be careful, for your sake. We all love Alex, and she’s hunky and charming when she wants to be, and even though she’s a really great friend to have… The sex, romance stuff, she hasn’t quite figured out.”
Sam groaned. “Seriously Eve, stop stirring up shit.”
The kerfuffle between the friends wasn’t difficult to figure out; Eve’s first jab had been that Sam and Lena were, or had in the past, sleeping with Alex. The cautionary tale was suggesting that whatever interest she might be reading from Alex had the potential to be superficial. She didn’t care about the former—they were all grown, consenting adults—and the latter… Kelly would have to think more on that, later. Not that she hated the idea of some no-strings-attached fun, either.
“It’s fine,” she interrupted with a wave of her hand. “Really, this isn’t that serious. I can take care of myself.”
“See? That’s why we like you,” said Nia, clearly happy for the tension to resolve, and then as quickly as the topic had come up, they moved on to divvying out snacks and beverages, which acted like some sort of religious feast, wiping away the conflict over sacred sandwiches and spritzers. For the moment, at least. And Kara nearly tripped over a small child while running up the beach to get her food, once she realized it had arrived.
They were a little sluggish after the beach, more or less laying around the house scrolling their phones, with Kelly diligently refusing to process the beachside conversation, and then Sam rallied everyone for the evening by parading through the house with two pans, banging them together like she was banishing ghosts.
Saturday night on the boardwalk had a much different vibe than their Friday at the local bars. The crowd was younger and rowdier, all the music was like an endless bass beat accentuated by flashing lights, and Kelly was more anxious than she’d been all weekend, even during her travel to Charleston. She’d chosen a coral pink halter dress, more comfortable than the one from the night before, but it didn’t help with her racing heart as the festivities reached true bachelorette’s party potential, with dancing, jello shots, and plenty of random dudes trying to wriggle their way into the group with free drinks and absolutely vile pickup lines.
After the first three places, the night became something of a blur, or a stream of consciousness. Everything was just this side of too intense, and it never seemed to stop. Nia and Lena, then Sam and Kara, asked if she was all right, and she stubbornly kept nodding, kept insisting that she was having a great time. At this point, if she stepped out of the whirlwind, she’d have nothing but her anxieties to occupy her mind, and that was among the worst outcomes she could imagine in her current state.
Speaking of things occupying her mind: Alex Danvers and she had mostly kept their distance all day. She was thankful the friends didn’t press or resort to ridiculous tactics like pushing them together to dance, but a warm flush rose up her neck every time she happened to catch the redhead’s eye. If Alex wanted to make a move, then she would make a move—it was simple as that. (And… she would more than likely accept.) They were adults.
Somewhere between clubs, the group was huddled together in an entry line, rehashing the absurdity of pleated-shorts frat boys on a couple beers—and then the other shoe dropped.
When the first noise cracked across the night, louder by bounds than the roving crowds, Kelly startled so hard she almost fell over. The friends’ heads were swiveling in confusion, but the words in their concerned voices were impossible to dícern, and her vision blurred. Then, it came again, in a stream this time— pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
Kelly was vaguely aware of pain in her knees as she dropped to them, and the pops became helicopter blades whirring overhead, and when she looked down, there was a bloody soldier looking back up at her, securely strapped to a medevac board. Her gloved hand was on the hook, sliding it into place, and then Private Foreman was being lifted into the air, up into the bird, and just as it turned to fly away, it violently lurched to one side and exploded in a fireball, the trail of the missile that hit it still visible in the air as the flaming debris fell all around her.
Someone was calling to her from faraway. “Captain Olsen. Look at me, Cap.”
The sandy wind faded, the bright sun darkening, and all Kelly could see was a pale face and red hair.
“You gotta breathe. Breathe for me.”
When the crackling noises came again, Kelly wanted to run, but there were two strong hands on her wrists, and Alex’s face was filling her vision, brows creased with concern.
“Easy, easy. Come with me, you’re safe. You’re having a flashback. Come with me.”
Even though she didn’t really tell her body to go along, she was being led somewhere, and when her feet didn’t want to cooperate, arms hooked under her knees and shoulders, lifting her off them. She automatically folded her own arms around Alex’s neck, catching her breath and focusing on reality: the salt and mildew smell of the boardwalk, the lingering taste of vodka on her tongue, the scratch of Alex’s button-down shirt against her side.
When the redhead put her down, she was lucid enough to realize it had been firecrackers making the noise, and enough that embarrassment, no matter how useless, was setting in. They were away from the boardwalk, on the beach, with the roaring waves looming as an ominous blackness to one side, drowning out the sounds of revelry.
“Hey, hey,” Alex murmured when Kelly started pulling away. “Do I have you? Look at me.”
She did, reluctantly. The taller woman was the very image of concern, standing there with a taut expression and clenching hands, and her dark brown eyes held nothing but understanding. Sympathy, where so often she would expect to see pity.
“Kelly?”
“God, I’m sorry,” she groaned, turning away from that look. “I haven’t—this isn’t something that—“
“It’s okay. Why are you apologizing?” Alex followed her, moving in a semi-circle until Kelly stopped. “I’ve been there. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Your pulse was racing.”
“I’m fine, I’m back. I’m fine, Alex.”
She wasn’t. Alex knew it. Slowly, the redhead took Kelly’s hand again, and she just held it for a few seconds, gently, as they breathed. Kelly almost pulled away, but waited too long to decide; Alex’s touch moved farther up to her wrist, pressing two fingers to her pulse point. Her other hand moved up to flatten against Kelly’s chest, and after a meaningful nod, Kelly mirrored the position with her own. She felt Alex’s heartbeat thumping against her palm, the small movements as she breathed.
“Okay, now breathe in.” Alex made a dramatic inhale sound, nodding as Kelly followed along. “And out.”
They repeated the exercise for what seemed like a small eternity, and when Alex finally went silent, Kelly’s heartbeat felt normal, her breaths came easy, and she was exhausted.
“I have to sit down,” she announced, already on her way to the sand, with Alex sliding down with her.
And then they sat for awhile, quiet, watching the grayscale waves move ebb and flow. Lights occasionally appeared on and crawled across the horizon—passing ships.
The conversation from the last time she’d been on the beach came filtering back. She felt lucky to have had Alex with her in this moment, and regardless of all that mess… it solidified the good things she knew about the elder Danvers sister, without anyone else’s input. That was enough. Everything else was noise.
So leaving it open to however Alex might take it, Kelly reached over and grasped the redhead’s hand when she felt like she could do it without shaking. After a breath, Alex’s fingers shifted and curled around hers, giving a light squeeze.
“I think I’m back now,” she said, keeping her eyes forward. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Alex’s thumb swiped gently over the back of her knuckles. “My last flashback was right after my breakup. I was in a bad place for a long time. It wasn’t a sound, it was a smell—burning plastic. I lost it in the middle of a hardware store.”
The mystery of this had gotten to the point of being ridiculous, and Kelly’s nerves were frayed beyond belief. She decided to just ask: “So what happened, with Maggie? To say that whatever it is seems formative… is a pretty big understatement.”
Alex sighed, but didn’t let go of her hand. “Pretty simple, actually. I want kids, she doesn’t. It wasn’t going to work. We just made the mistake of not talking about it until we were two years in and already engaged.”
Kelly turned to look at her now, somewhat ashamed of having pressed the subject.
“But the two of us, y’know, we were great together. Just couldn’t get around that one thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alex met her eyes again, looking defeated, but she still offered a small grin. “Don’t worry. I’ve talked about this a lot in therapy.”
Kelly returned the smile, and before she could stop herself, she said, “I was engaged once, too.”
That made Alex’s fingers twitch, and she tilted her head to listen.
“My, um, CO. Which was bad enough, I know, but this was also before they overturned Don’t Ask…” Kelly sucked in a breath. It’d been a long time since she’d told this story to anyone, and only three people in the world knew. One of them was dead, and the two were her brother James and their Aunt Viv. “We fell in love, and we were going to come out and get married once we’d discharged. Then she went out on patrol one day and… never came back. I didn’t even get to go to her funeral.” Tears were starting to sting at her eyes, and she shook her hand free of Alex’s to wipe them away when they fell. “Well, we’re just two sad peas in a pod, huh?”
“Sad peas—yeah, isn’t that what the P and S stand for in PTSD?”
It was silly, but it worked, and Kelly laughed through her tears in spite of herself, and when their eyes met again, Alex’s arms came up to wrap around her shoulders. Kelly didn’t hesitate to hug her back, squeezing hard around Alex’s chest, burying her face in her shirt, which smelled like alcohol and seasalt and that unreasonably enticing cologne. Alex pressed her cheek against Kelly’s head and held her in the moonlight for what could've been hours, for all Kelly knew, but eventually, Alex’s phone chirped, and she loosened one arm to check.
“We better get back. The girls are worried.”
“Oh, yeah—jeez, it’s your sister’s big weekend, and I’m being—“
The apology broke off into a somewhat startled noise. Alex had closed the distance between them, and her mouth was warm and sweet as it met Kelly’s in a kiss. She offered no resistance, and didn’t feel any need or desire to—her lips parted for Alex’s tongue, her hands coming up to grip those muscular shoulders like she’d wanted to since setting eyes on Alex Danvers. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling their hips together, flooding Kelly’s body with a new kind of warmth, fiery and urgent and connected by a livewire to a pulsing ache between her legs, until they had to come up for air.
They were still clutching at each other, panting with foreheads pressed together, but the modicum of space helped clear Kelly’s head enough to speak, “That, um… That was… Very nice… but I think we’re both a little too wound up for more, yeah?”
To her relief, Alex nodded, a movement that brushed their noses together. “Yeah, of course.”
“Rain check?”
“Rain check.” Alex leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek, and then stepped back and away, and even though Kelly’s body mourned the loss, her mind was grateful.
They met their friends at the car, and in another mercy, none of them asked too many questions; Kelly imagined they had experienced something like this with Alex before, and that helped abate the shame that wanted to bloom from her stomach as she apologized for interrupting the evening—an apology that was sincerely and repeatedly rejected by the other women.
Once they were satisfied that Kelly would be all right, they started turning into their respective bedrooms, with Nia giving her a long hug before disappearing behind her door.
Standing in the hallway once the house was dark and quiet, Kelly peered back into the living room, at the lumpy shape that was Alex Danvers tucked under a blanket, and then she considered her bed before padding quietly over to the couch.
“Alex?”
One bleary eye opened, and Alex’s head jerked up in momentary alarm. When she saw it was Kelly, she relaxed back into the cushions. “Hey. You okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” Kelly took in a long breath, steeling herself. “Long night, long day tomorrow. Do you wanna maybe sleep in my room, on a real bed? No funny business?”
“Is that a question or a request?” teased Alex, even as she laboriously sat up. “Honestly, this couch sucks. So yes. And no funny business.”
Despite everything, Kelly smiled. They walked silently to her room, and after turning off the lights, each climbed under the covers on opposite sides. There was a solid amount of space between them, and even Kelly’s drunk, sleepy mind knew that was for the best… but she still slid a palm across the mattress, just barely touching her fingertips to Alex’s. That was good enough. She fell asleep.
—
Warm. Alex Danvers was feeling warm and content as she drifted between sleep and wakefulness, slowly becoming aware of sunlight hitting her eyelids. Two days’ worth of near-constant alcohol consumption had her brain swimming along through a fog, her muscles aching, but at least for the moment, she was nestled in a haven of quiet softness.
That last thought pricked at her mind, and slowly, details started falling into place. She was on her back, a blanket over her shoulders, and something warm against her chest…
Alex’s eyes snapped open, but she didn’t move any other muscles. She was decidedly not on the lumpy couch, where she was supposed to be waking up. Her nose was touching smooth, cool silk, and her arms were wrapped around… Kelly Olsen, who was still breathing slow and soft with sleep. Apparently, even though they’d agreed the bed was big enough to sleep platonically the night before… their subconscious minds had had different ideas. Kelly’s cheek was smushed against Alex’s chest, one hand curled under her chin and the other clutching at the redhead’s sleepshirt over her stomach, and a bare leg was folded over Alex’s thighs, effectively pinning her in place. Her cheeks instantly warmed, her pulse thudding behind her eyes from part hangover, part panic. Whether their sleeping selves had worked this out or not, Kelly’s waking self had definitely not consented, and she didn’t want to scare her.
And… if she was being completely honest with herself, something that she’d promised to do more often in recent conversations with her mother, a not-insignificant part of her wanted to close her eyes and just go back to sleep in the warm embrace. Deal with this later.
There’d been plenty of nights not-alone since Maggie. None of them had amounted to much, even if they lasted more than one night. Sara Lance, who worked for a rival security company, had stuck around for a couple weeks. Imra Ardeen, a major stockholder at DEO, had kept Alex in her penthouse apartment for a couple days. She’d blown off steam with Sam and Lena, and they were still two of her very best friends… and nothing more.
All she’d known about Kelly Olsen heading into the weekend was that she was James’ sister… and that was it. Kara had never said anything else, and Alex had never asked. But when she’d walked into the kitchen, roiling with frustration at Eve, the stunning stranger standing at the kitchen island in a white and yellow sundress had struck her momentarily dumb, like stepping into sunlight after hours in theater. The fact that Kelly also turned out to be kind and funny and smart… the squeeze of her hand, the warm spots where her leg covered Alex’s… It felt different. In a way she hadn’t felt in a long time.
And it was freaking her the fuck out.
They’d known each other all of thirty-six hours, and spent most of that time at minimum mildly intoxicated, and yet her stomach was doing a weird twisty move whenever she noticed a new, up-close detail about the stranger in her arms: the coconut and pomegranate scent of her hair, the way the sun soaked into her warm bronze skin…
Fuck.
Kelly’s hand twitched and loosened on her shirt, drawing Alex back to the more time-sensitive problem, and she quickly made her decision, heading off the other woman’s slow wakeup by patting her gently, but insistently, on the shoulder.
“Kelly?”
“Hmmm?”
Alex waited, guilt rising in her stomach as she watched Kelly go through the same process she’d completed several minutes earlier; there was a split second where Kelly was still too asleep to realize where she was, and she nuzzled into Alex’s skin before her whole body suddenly seized up.
“Oh, Jesus,” gasped Kelly as she bolted upright so fast that she accidentally put her palm on Alex’s side to push herself up, hitting just the right spot to send searing pain shooting across her torso. The high-pitched yelp it made her release was embarrassing, and then she collapsed to one side as Kelly practically leapt away from the bed, apologizing loudly and profusely. “Are you okay? I have no idea—“
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” wheezed Alex, waving one hand aimlessly. “It’s fine.”
But it was not fine, because before Alex could even catch her breath, the door was banging open, revealing Sam Arias holding a hair dryer like a baseball bat. “Kelly, are you okay? I heard— oh.”
Still catching her breath, Alex could only watch as the rest of their party filled the doorway—Kara, Lena, Nia, and Eve all looking around Sam’s shoulders at a scene that could only have so many reasonable interpretations. Kelly was wearing nothing but a wrinkled, oversized t-shirt and her headwrap. Alex, sprawled on the rumpled bed that was supposed to be Kelly’s, was wearing just a sports bra and boxer shorts.
“This is… not what it looks like,” Alex managed to get out, rolling to her feet. “The couch is really uncomfortable. We were just sleeping.”
“I mean, hey, none of our business,” replied Sam in a voice that had risen three octaves, though her expression was one of unbridled amusement. “Carry on. No danger here, ladies… as you were.”
Kelly offered some kind of protest when Nia gave her a thumbs up on the way out, and when the door closed, they both let out long sighs before falling into an awkward silence, broken only by murmuring and muffled laughter from the kitchen.
“Well, shit.” Alex allowed herself a chuckle, though she could clearly hear how strained it was. “Sorry. I guess that’s the perfect ending to a chaotic weekend.”
“Right, yeah.” Kelly nodded more times than seemed reasonable, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I’m sorry—about before. I guess I’m a clinger when I sleep.”
“It’s nothing to apologize for. Totally forgotten.”
“Good. Good.” The counselor shifted on her feet, eyes flickering between the floor and the door, and Alex couldn’t stop the twinge of disappointment growing in her chest. Kelly seemed quite discomfited by the morning’s events.
So to cover herself and her absolutely wayward emotions, Alex shuffled towards the door. “I’ll make sure they know, nothing happened. Just a lack of beds and too much alcohol, yeah?”
“Yeah… thank you.”
“We’re good?”
“Yeah. Yes. All good.”
The monosyllabic sentences seemed to indicate otherwise, and Alex made a hasty exit to lock herself in the bathroom. She had to admit she was a bit confused by the reaction; Kelly had been nothing but open with her all weekend… but maybe she’d read her wrong. It was possible. That didn’t necessarily make the rejection sting less. She took an indulgently long shower, until her pulse had calmed to normal and her cheeks stopped burning independent of the steamy heat, and changed into sweatpants and a hoodie for her day of travel home.
After breakfast, they packed their belongings and cleaned up their impressive weekend mess, leaving the place acceptably sparkling and in no danger of incurring extra cleaning charges. Eve and Sam left for the airport first, with seats on the same flight out, and then Lena, who wouldn’t go back to Kansas City until after a brief business trip to Philadelphia. Alex and Kara were flying out around the same time as Nia and Kelly, but the sisters were on a different airline and would be departing from a different terminal.
They sat on the porch while they waited for their rideshares, sipping at bottles of water and mostly just listening to the sounds of the coast: distantly thundering waves and calling seagulls and the rumble of traffic. All the while, Alex couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering over to Kelly, again and again, darting away whenever she looked back. Her brain unhelpfully wouldn’t stop throwing up flashes of the weekend: Laughing together outside the bar, under the blinking streetlight. Dancing, and the way Kelly’s eyes looked under black light. Helping her through the firecrackers, being the anchor for someone other than her sister for the first time in a very, very long time… Perhaps that was where she went wrong. She and Kelly had an instant connection as combat veterans, but that didn’t mean there was anything deeper to uncover. That was okay. She just needed a minute to wallow, and then adjust her expectations. It was fine.
When Nia and Kelly’s Lyft alerted them to its imminent arrival, Kara gave them both one of her trademark bear hugs, whispering something undoubtedly sentimental in their ears before letting go. Alex side-hugged Nia—her usual move—and then turned to Kelly, who… stuck out her hand. They shook on their goodbyes, and then Kelly got in the blue Prius and shut the door.
Alex watched the car leave with arms crossed, and then Kara came up behind her, resting an elbow on her shoulder while letting out a too-casual huff. “Be honest with me. I won’t be mad. Did you sleep with Kelly?”
“Nope,” replied the redhead without hesitation—it was the truth, after all.
“Pinky swear?” Kara held up her other hand, the referenced finger obnoxiously raised.
“Pinky swear.” Alex completed the covenant by curling her own finger around Kara’s. “She’s really great, but there’s nothing going on there.”
Nodding, the blonde sighed again and let go of her sister’s pinky finger. “Maybe it’s weird because of, y’know, me and James, but… I kinda saw it, this weekend. You two.”
“Just because two women who love women are in a space, doesn’t mean they have to date.” Alex wasn’t really trying to correct her sister, just change the subject, and she suspected that Kara knew as much. There was very little of getting anything past each other since they’d grown out of their wild younger years.
“Yeah, but… that’s coming from the woman who loves women that slept with two out of my four best friends.”
“It was a win-win… win-win, win-win, w—“ Alex cut off with a grunt when Kara gave her shoulder a fairly solid punch, and they both broke off into laughter. It made her feel a little better.
Just a camp crush, she comforted herself as their Lyft pulled into the driveway, officially ending the bachelorette weekend. Once the wedding was done, Alex wouldn’t have to see Kelly Olsen anymore, anyway, and like with the other women who’d caught her eye, her intrigue would fade.
It would. It totally would.