Chapter Text
Safe.
A feeling of safety, of security, was one undervalued by those who had never known otherwise. Maggie had lost that feeling at fourteen. She’d learned a hard lesson that not all love is unconditional, and to some, who you are matters more than what you do. It was a hard life lesson she carried through multiple relationships, keeping her walls up and the other person at arm’s length. When things got too serious, the emotions weighted by words like ‘love’ and ‘forever’, Maggie would find an escape hatch, usually of her own creation, and flee. To do otherwise was to be vulnerable and making herself vulnerable was something Maggie had promised herself she would never do again.
Then came Alex Danvers.
The tough as nails agent was surprisingly, off-puttingly, gentle. With soft smiles and strong arms, Alex proved again and again that she would put Maggie first. Without noticing, Maggie had filled a drawer in Alex’s apartment, a place she’d started referring to as theirs even as she slept on ‘her side of the bed’. Grocery trips became a couple’s experience, a night spent in front of the TV, curled up with a certain redhead, more appealing than any bar.
One night, curled up in Alex’s arms, when the redhead had first slipped the word ‘forever’ into her gentle ministrations, Maggie had tensed. She’d waited for that familiar knot in her stomach to grow, the claustrophobia to rise and push her out of a lover’s embrace, but it never came. Safe and secure in Alex’s arms, surrounded by the unconditional love she’d been seeking her whole life, Maggie found her home. She found the safety denied a fourteen-year-old, an unscratched itch finally relieved, and pulled Alex closer. This was what forever was for.
And speaking of holding a certain redhead in her arms…
"I love you." The words came so easily to Maggie now, nothing false or forced about them. Just pure and genuine, warm and tender, truth and honesty all rolled into three little words.
"I love you too."
As they swayed together, wrapped in each other’s arms in the middle of the dance floor, Maggie gazed up into Alex’s eyes. Her future was reflected in the sparkling brown orbs. It was a future that said togetherness, strength, courage, teamwork, trials and conflict, but also resolutions and growth, both as individuals and as a married couple.
"Something on your mind, Danvers?" Maggie smiled.
"Oh, you know," Alex chuckled lightly. "Just gazing at my wife. And wondering how I got to be so lucky."
"Hmmm," Maggie nodded. "You're not going to be one of those obnoxious newlyweds who throws it into every single conversation, are you?"
Alex laughed and shrugged. "Probably."
"Good," Maggie stood on tiptoes to steal a quick kiss, ignoring the chorus of "awww"s all around them. "Because you're adorable when you do stuff like that."
"Mind if we join in?" Maggie’s mother-in-law, and wasn't that a fun word to say, joined them on the dance floor. She and J’onn matched their swaying pace as the song they’d selected for the mother of the bride played. It was a lovely tradition, just one of many in the ceremony and something to which Maggie had never given much thought before because before Alex, it never seemed to matter. Doing the impossible seemed to be a Danvers’ trait.
Maggie breathed in once, a deep, contented sigh as she looked around the room and the various other guests who had been selected to join them on their special day. It was no secret that the guest list was predominantly made up of Alex’s friends and family, but these were Maggie’s friends and family now as well. And what an eccentric and eclectic bunch they were.
Over at the buffet table, Kara was loading her plate high with food. It was a veritable leaning tower of potstickers. A sprig of broccoli sat at the edge of the plate (probably snuck on by Kara’s BFF), under direct threat of being pushed off by the growing pile of bacon-wrapped and fried foods Kara was adding. Knowing Kara would be in attendance, maybe they should have gotten bigger plates.
As common a sight as Kara and food were (the very definition of OTP), the next duo were unusual. Hands flailing and face animated, Winn gesticulated wildly for the entertainment of an audience of one. Ruby’s laughter rose over the music that pounded out of the band’s speakers.
A little further over towards the bar, Ruby’s mother, Sam, seemed to have made good on a threat she’d made earlier if ‘Lena didn’t stop working at a party, damn it’. Sam held a phone above her head whilst Lena Luthor stretched in a valiant but futile effort to try and reclaim it. Even with her skyscraper heels, she was still no match for Sam.
A camera flash announced Jimmy’s presence. As the designated photographer for the day, he was far too busy to stand still in one place for more than a few seconds. He snapped shot after shot of the various things going on in and around the room. The photo shoot he’d done for their engagement had been breath-taking, and he’d painstakingly worked with them through a series of post-wedding shots with the bridal party. Jimmy had an eye for detail and more talent than you could shake a stick at; that much was clear even in the peeks he’d given them of the unedited photos from the day. This was one of the many perks of having a Pulitzer prize winning photojournalist as a friend.
And over on the other side of the room, Agent Vasquez was engaged in a conversation with M’gann M’orzz, the two of them smiling. When M’gann held up her empty glass and Vasquez nodded, the Martian headed across the room towards the bar.
A gentle touch of fingers ran through Maggie’s hair, and she turned back to Alex’s smiling face. The redhead gently tucked a few strands behind Maggie’s ear, fingers lightly grazing Maggie’s cheek and leaving a trail of warmth.
“You alright?”
“Just thinking,” Maggie smiled, “about how lucky I am.” As the music changed and the DJ announced that it was time for the song they had specially selected for Kara, as the bride’s sister, Maggie reluctantly let go of Alex and stepped back. “Though this is where I duck out.”
As Kara deposited her almost empty plate (the broccoli still remaining, shock!) in Maggie’s waiting hands and grabbed Alex eagerly for their dance, Maggie chuckled and walked over to the bar to grab herself a drink.
Setting the plate on top of the pile of other already discarded ones, Maggie stepped up beside M’gann and leaned on the bar.
M’gann was an old friend, someone Maggie had known long before she’d known Alex or pretty much anyone else in this room now. Whilst girlfriends had come and gone, M’gann and her friendship had never wavered. She had always been there with kind words and a steady supply of refills for Maggie’s glass whenever needed, and Maggie liked to think that she’d grown to know the Martian fairly well over the years. Which was why one glance towards M’gann now and Maggie knew that something was bothering her.
“What’s up with you? Someone thinking too loudly?” She grinned and gave the Martian a playful nudge with an elbow.
“I’m simply struggling to comprehend how someone who is being paid good money to serve drinks tonight could get it so drastically wrong,” M’gann replied with a shake of her head. Then she nodded to the bartender at the far end of the bar who was going through the motions of shaking a cocktail shaker with some vigour.
“Looks like he’s doing alright to me,” Maggie replied as she watched him pour the contents of the shaker into two glasses and slide them across the bar.
“He was making a Manhattan.” M’gann huffed. “Which is a spirit-based drink and should never be shaken. Always stirred. Earlier on he stirred something lime-based. That should have been shaken. And don’t even get me started on the fact he’s serving them in completely the wrong glasses. I’m trying very hard not to get involved but I might just have to.”
“Hey?” Maggie placed a gentle hand on M’gann’s arm. “This is your night off. You’re here as a guest, remember? Just let the guy do his job, albeit badly, and you enjoy the evening.”
As the second of the two bartenders on duty tonight came over to them, Maggie ordered two beers, then slid one across to M’gann before holding up her own.
With a sigh, M’gann picked up her bottle and clinked it against Maggie’s.
After a few gulps of the cool, refreshing drink, Maggie set her bottle back on the bar. “Thank you for coming today, by the way.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the World.” M’gann’s smile said it all. “You know, I remember the day you walked into my bar for the first time.”
Maggie chuckled. “Me too. We had that murder at the junkyard with the strange residue, and I tracked my suspect to the bar. Managed to swipe the password and get myself inside. I was expecting gangs not refugees.”
“If you thought there were guns inside, pretty dumb going in alone. You could have gotten yourself beaten up or worse.”
“You think someone would mess up this pretty face?” M’gann’s eye roll only made Maggie’s smile grow. “Anyway, I was wearing a wire.”
“Into my bar? Maggie—”
“I know. I know. I ditched it in someone’s pitcher of beer as soon as I realized what the place was, let my backup know it was safe first so they didn’t come storming in like Luke and Han to save the day.” Maggie grimaced and took another swig of her beer. “I just made a casual Star Wars reference. Who the fuck am I?”
“Someone with friends.” M’gann’s hand on hers was cooler than a human’s, but temperatures on M’gann’s homeworld did get down to -220℉. “Your comfort around aliens wasn’t the only thing I sensed that day. You were sad.”
Maggie nearly denied it, but it was no use lying to a telepathic empath especially when you were trying to lie to yourself.
“It wasn't that momentary sad where you need to cry out. It was the deep down in your bones sad that comes from weeks, months of tears that you learn to keep down because crying only makes your head hurt. I wasn’t sure you’d ever be truly happy.” M’gann’s gaze drifted to the dance floor where the Danvers sisters danced, Kara’s head thrown back as she erupted in laughter and Alex’s smile bright enough to illuminate even the darkest night. “I was wrong. I’m glad you found each other.”
“Same,” Maggie said. “You have no idea how happy— Okay, maybe you do, but it's polite to let a girl talk about it anyway.”
M’gann held up a hand, smiling apologetically, before she raised her bottle. “To the happy couple. I’ve never met two people who fulfilled each other like you do, and I mean that literally. A lifetime of happiness to you both. You deserve it.”
“Thank you M’gann. I—Hey!" She greeted Alex with a smile, as the other woman joined them.
“Hey,” Alex breathed, as Maggie held out her bottle of beer, and Alex readily accepted, took a gulp, then passed it back. “Phew. That girl doesn’t know when to stop.”
“Dancing or eating?” Maggie asked, as Kara loaded up her fourth (fifth? sixth?) plate of the evening with pot stickers and other non-healthy foods. Despite the fact their wedding was small, thirty people at most, Alex had insisted that they’d need to cater for a hundred and thirty. It was obvious why.
“Both.” Alex laid a hand on M’gann’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I steal my wife for a bit?”
How long would it take for the novelty to wear off? She had a wife. A wife! Alex was her wife, and they were married, and Maggie had a wife! Yeah, that would never grow old.
“I’m bringing my beer with me, right?” Maggie asked, even as Alex grabbed her hand and started to lead her someplace.
The small room was much quieter than the one where all the guests were mingling and socialising. Down the hall and away from prying eyes, it was also a lot more private as well.
Maggie raised an eyebrow at Alex, as they paused outside the door. “Jeez, Danvers can’t wait until we leave on our honeymoon? You’re insatiable.”
“Stop it. I just have something to show you, that’s all.” Before Maggie could make any more of her trademark quips, Alex continued. “Inside this room are some hints for our honeymoon. Let’s see if Detective Dimples can detect.”
She pushed the door open to reveal a table within. On the table were several curious items. Closer inspection revealed a helium balloon shaped like a silver castle, a horse shoe, a packet of vegan marshmallows, Graham crackers, chocolate (again vegan), a plastic bucket filled with sand, a small plastic spade and—
“Are those my pyjamas?!” Maggie picked up the Alice in Wonderland pyjamas to inspect them, but Alex’s smirk told her everything. “Why do you have my pyjamas?”
“I told you, they’re a clue. So is everything else on the table.”
“Uh huh,” Maggie studied it all slowly, as she walked up and down the table, pausing to pick up an item then set it back down again. When she got to the chocolate, she turned back to Alex and held it up for her to see. “What rating are we talking here? Because I can go General, PG-13 or R with any of this stuff. Give me a hint?”
“Let’s just assume it’s General unless told otherwise.”
“Spoilsport,” Maggie chuckled, as she set the chocolate back down then picked up the horseshoe. Turning it over in her hands a few times revealed no hidden secrets or clues, even holding it up to the light didn’t produce anything new, so in the end she set it back down again. It was what it was. A regular horseshoe. No hidden surprises.
The bucket of sand was also just that. The sand yielded nothing but more sand.
At last, Maggie took a step back so that she could look at all the items together. A castle and a horseshoe… medieval? Somewhere in Europe maybe?
But then the sand, even though it didn’t, could have held buried treasure. Pirates? The Caribbean then?
But what about the marshmallows and crackers? And the chocolate? And why were her pyjamas there? That was perhaps the biggest mystery of them all. Hands on her hips, she let out a defeated sigh.
Maggie ‘I could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money’ Sawyer was stumped.