Alex sighed and leant against the basin. "So you want my comfort as a sister, but probably also my resources as the Director of the DEO?" she asked.

Kara nodded and looked at the tiles. "Lena needs help," she said softly.

"You need help. Have you seen what you look like?"

Kara shrugged.

Alex sighed again. "If you're refusing medical help, fine, you're a big girl and that's your call. But you are not wandering around my house in blood-soaked clothes. I'll grab you a towel and something to wear. If you can shower by yourself, you can stay here. But if I have to help you, I'm taking you to the DEO. Deal?"

Kara nodded, too tied and drained to argue.

"I'll make some calls," Alex said, going to get the towel. "What hospital is Lena at?"

"National City General," Kara said. "It was closest."

"Do they know her name?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you take her to the DEO?" Alex asked, returning with a towel.

"I knew you wouldn't be there. I didn't know who would, and if they'd be the right people and know about me and her and be doctors and the right doctors and - "

"Ok, fair enough. Why didn't you call?"

"No phone."

"What about Lena?"

"Lena didn't have shoes, much less her phone," Kara said.

"I'll make some calls," Alex said. "If you take too long in the shower, I'm gunna assume you've collapsed."

"Fair enough," Kara said, pushing herself up from the edge of the bath.

"I'll leave you to it," Alex said, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Kara swallowed. She caught her reflection in the mirror and quickly looked away. There was blood on the ends of her hair, and splatter near her hairline. Kara realised that Alex must have washed the rest of the blood spatter off. Kara quickly stripped off, dumping her spoiled clothes in the bath, and climbed into the steaming hot shower. The wounds on her wrists and ankles stung, but it was manageable. Kara allowed herself a minute to cry, then washed her hair three times, and twice scrubbed her body with Alex's nice smelling body wash. Deciding she couldn't get any cleaner or take any longer without Alex coming in to check on her, Kara got out of the shower and gently dried off.

"Hey Alex?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"Got any clothes for me?"

"Just a sec," Alex called back.

Kara waited, wrapped in the towel, her partially-dried hair slowly dripping down her back.

"You decent?" Alex asked.

"I'm in a towel," Kara said.

Alex chuckled and opened the door. "Underwear, t-shirt, leggings, and that hoody is yours anyway."

"Thanks," Kara said, as Alex placed the clothes on the bench beside the basin.

"Get dressed, then I'm bandaging you up," Alex said, looking at Kara's wrists and ankles. "And don't you dare say 'I'm ok', because that is a damned lie."

"Ok," Kara said sheepishly.

Alex gave her a gentle smile. "Get dressed," she said, closing the door. "I've made some phone calls."

"Oh?" Kara said, pulling on the underwear.

"I've got DEO people guarding Lena. Plus made a couple of changes to her medical team. As soon as there is any news, they are to call me directly."

"Oh," Kara said, gently pulling the sleeves of the hoody up over her injured wrists. "But - no news yet?" she asked, feeling her chest tighten.

"You left her there half an hour ago, Kara," Alex said.

"Oh," Kara said again, wrapping her hair up in the towel. She opened the door. Alex was leaning agains the wall. "I think there were worse possible outcomes than this," Kara said, "But this is still pretty lousy."

"Come on," Alex said, putting her arm around Kara's shoulders as they made their way into the lounge room. Kara sat down on the couch, and looked at the oversized first-aid kit and jug of water and glasses sitting on the coffee table. Kara poured herself a glass and drained the whole thing before pouring another and doing the same.

Alex sat down beside her. "So what happened?" she asked.

Kara put the glass down and held her hand out to Alex. "It started as your standard 'superhero knowingly walks into a trap thinking they have it covered but turns out they're missing a kind of important piece of information so everything goes south fast' scenario," Kara said as Alex gently began patching her up.

"In civilian clothes?"

"It wouldn't have been much of a trap if I'd gone in powers blazing as Supergirl, now would it?" Kara asked.

"So it was a trap for Kara Danvers?"

"No, it was a trap for Supergirl, but I was hoping, stupidly, that as Kara I could get away with it. But they knew. They knew both identities."

"So what happened?"

"They had synthesised Kryptonite. From the moment I walked in I knew something was off. A few times I thought I understood what was going on. Even once they'd captured me I thought I'd just play along, find out their endgame, who the Big Bad was or whatever. I don't know. But I was wrong. Because the endgame was bringing in Lena. It didn't matter that I'd been sitting there tied up with Kryptonite-laced rope for a couple of hours, as soon as the car stopped in the carpark, I knew it was her."

Alex nodded. "And then?" she said, prompting Kara to continue, while she tucked in the ends of the bandage and took Kara's other wrist.

Kara sighed and explained what happened next, from trying to taunt Lena, to the shoot-out, to flying Lena to safety. Kara pulled the sleeves of her hoody over her bandaged wrists and lifted her feet into Alex's lap.

"So what were they after?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," Kara said, hugging a spare cushion. "I thought I knew, but I - Lena's appearance threw all my theories out. I don't even know if they wanted to hurt her all along and I was just the bait? Or did they want to hurt me by hurting her? Were we both supposed to die? I - I just don't..."

"You two haven't even spoken since..."

"Exactly!" Kara exclaimed, feeling the tears return. "So, I don't know..."

Alex nodded, and started tending of Kara's left foot. "I'll make some enquiries. See what I can find out. Send a squad to clean up the mess."

"It - this feels personal," Kara said. "Whoever's behind it knows I'm Supergirl. They know how to synthesise Kryptonite and how to use it against me. And they - they knew about me and Lena. They knew she was mad at me. The things they knew... people shouldn't know that."

"Well, Lena doesn't exactly have a short list of enemies..."

"But they knew about me too, Alex! There's not many people on both lists."

"Agreed," Alex said, tucking in the ends of the bandage. "Done. You need to get some sleep."

"No, I'm ok. I want to go to the hospital. I need to see Lena and I - "

"No," Alex said, "You need to sleep, but I'll make you a deal again. I'll call a car for three in the morning, and we'll go to the hospital together. There's no point in going any earlier, and if you show up looking like you do now, you'll be admitted yourself. Get a few hours rest. Let me try and sort some of this out."

"Your deals suck," Kara mumbled, but was too exhausted to argue. She let Alex pull her off the couch, and hold her hand as she walked into Alex's bedroom. Kara removed the towel frothier hair while Alex pulled back the sheets. Kara slipped into bed.

"I'm sorry to be a nuisance," Kara muttered, lying down.

"You're not a nuisance," Alex said, tucking her in. "Now go to sleep. Everything will be ok," she kissed Kara on the head and turned out the light.

As Kara was drifting off to sleep, she could hear Alex on the phone and it wasn't comforting.

"Hello? - Yes, speaking. - Good evening Doctor. - Right. - Ok. - Uh huh..."