A/N: Alright, this is how Season 1 should have ended if I had my way and Kalex was real

Summary: Supergirl ends up going on a suicide mission to save Earth but can't leave without telling Alex how she feels. A Kalex interpretation of Episode 1.20.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl (or anything else in the DC universe) or their characters. This fanfic is designed to be an interpretation of episode 1.20, so pieces of the episode, particularly dialogue, were taken verbatim to keep the feel of the episode. I gain no benefit other than the good feeling of writing from this use.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kara sighed, they hadn't stopped Myriad after all. In fact, it was much, much worse now. She looked around the DEO command center and could feel the undercurrent of desperation when they found out that they only had four hours before the Myriad frequency reached fatal levels.

Kara never had the time to properly say goodbye to her loved ones on Krypton and while she couldn't really say goodbye, she could let everyone on her adopted home know how much they meant to her before she went to stop Non and Indigo.

Winn and Cat were relatively easy, with relative being the qualifier here as nothing she did right now was easy for her. She couldn't imagine a world without her best friend Winn, whose constant support helped guide her and keep her going. And Cat, what could she say about Cat Grant? The woman was her rock, one of the few people that kept Kara true to herself. How could she convey all that she meant to her in just a few sentences.

Finally, she stepped into James's office. She didn't want to do this, she didn't want to hurt him on what might be his last day and she definitely didn't want him to hate her when she was gone. But he deserved to know the truth.

Kara sighed as the door closed behind her, "Hey."

James smiled back at her, not noticing her look of sadness. Kara sighed to herself, Alex would have noticed just by looking at her and would be trying to console her rather than talking about an interrupted conversation. So rather than let him finish, Kara stepped up to him and placed her hand over his, "James, we can never be together like that."

James drew back in surprise, "But…but I thought when we kissed?"

Kara squeezed his hand gently, "I'm so sorry James, but Myriad has made me look at my life, I mean really look at it." She turned around and began pacing the room, "I'm in love with someone James, someone that I never thought could return my feelings." She sighed, throwing her hands up in the air, "Heck, I don't know if they can ever return my feelings but it wouldn't be fair to you, or me, to continue down this road." She looked at him, her head tipped to the side slightly, tears welling in her eyes, "I'm so, so sorry James. You don't deserve to a consolation prize, you deserve to have someone that loves you completely, someone that loves you the way I love…I love…"

James looked at the sadness in his friend, seeing how scared this practically invincible girl was, and he knew he couldn't be mad. He walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, feeling her cheek press against his shoulder and then her chest heave as she sobbed against him. He whispered in her ear, "I don't know how anyone could not return your love Kara Zor-El. Remember your true name and everything will work out for you."

Kara relaxed into his embrace, letting the last of her sorrow and fear out with the last of her tears. She stood back and looked up at her friend, a small smile gracing her mouth, "Thank you James, for everything. You've been my confidant, my conscience, and my friend. I couldn't be who I am today without you." She leaned up and gave him a small, chaste kiss on the cheek before turning to leave.

James looked at the closing door, whispering, "Good luck, Supergirl."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After saying her goodbye to J'onn, the man who had become like a father to her, she walked into the command center to find out where Non was hiding. She could have punched General Lane right then and there if the situation wasn't so dire; leaving Fort Rozz, practically unguarded in the middle of Nevada where it had crashed. No wonder they could never find any of the fugitives, they were hiding right under their noses and the General had never even thought to let them know of the prison's whereabouts.

She turned and stormed towards the exit when J'onn walked calmly into the command center. He gave Kara that patented smirk of his, letting her know that she was not going to do this alone, no matter what she said. She just gave him a quick nod, her lips held tightly together as she listened to the General try to stop him. Lucy stepped in as Director of the DEO, overriding the General's command, ordering the guards to free J'onn. If Kara wasn't dreading the upcoming battle she might have laughed when J'onn easily removed the cuffs holding him, tossing them to the side like plastic toys.

Kara and J'onn turned to the exit again when Alex caught up with them, "J'onn, Supergirl, Kara, please be careful."

Kara reached behind her and unfastened the necklace that her mother had given her, holding it out to Alex, "Keep this safe for me?"

Alex took the necklace, "Of course."

The two aliens then turned as one, walking determinedly towards the exit. J'onn turned to Supergirl and quietly stated, "You didn't say goodbye to your sister."

Kara grimly replied, "If I said goodbye, I wouldn't be leaving."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The fight went better than planned. Of course, Supergirl and J'onn were expecting to be taking on a Kryptonian army, not just the two masterminds. But the outcome of the fight was almost irrelevant, the Myriad device couldn't be shut down and there was no time to come up with a plan. Their only option was for Supergirl to lift the one million ton prison and fly it into outer space. They were out of time and this was it, a suicide mission for Supergirl. But there was no way she was going to let the entire human race die; let her Alex die.

Supergirl got to the command center of the prison as quickly as possible. There was no sense undertaking a suicide mission if Indigo was bluffing about not being able to shut Myriad down. Kara frantically pushed buttons, trying to override the Myriad device. Indigo hadn't been lying, there was no way to shut it down and they were running out of time. As Kara made the last of the preparations in the command center, she opened her communicator to the DEO and asked to speak with Alex.

Kara quickly updated Alex on the situation and then let her know her plan, "I'm going to fly Fort Rozz into space myself, it's the only way we can get Myriad off the planet."

Alex started to panic, "That is not an option Kara. Once you are in space there is no atmosphere, there's no gravity. You wouldn't be able to generate thrust, you wouldn't be able to breathe. You wouldn't be able to get back."

Kara replied in a resigned voice, "There is no other way."

The panic started showing in Alex's voice, "No, I can..I can have Max.."

Kara interrupted her, "There is no time Alex."

Alex wouldn't let her go without a fight, "Kara listen to me!"

Kara kept talking, "I was sent to protect Earth and that's what I'm going to do. I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that when you find Jeremiah that you'll tell him that I never stopped wearing the glasses. He needs to know that you and Eliza gave me a great life, a life I never thought I'd be able to find outside of Krypton."

Alex looked up at the ceiling, tears starting to fall down her cheeks as her foster sister continued, "I need him to know that everything good that I did, came from my love for you Alex. I'm so in love with you Alex, so..so in love. I wish I could've told you how I felt before, but I guess I was just too scared. I am so in love with you and I've been so scared that you couldn't return my feelings or worse yet, push me away because of them. I couldn't risk that, I couldn't risk not having you in my life. I only wish that I had gotten to kiss you once, to feel what it was like to kiss the one you love."

Kara leaned against the console, her head dropped as tears flowed freely down her face, "I want you to have a good life, I want you to find love. Promise me that you will find someone to love as much as I love you. Promise me you'll be happy and do the things that you couldn't because I was your sister."

Alex tried to speak through her sobs, trying not to let the other girl know how scared she was, how much she was hurting right now, "Kara..I can't.."

Kara sighed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks, "There isn't much time Alex, promise me."

Alex tried desperately to maintain control, hitting her fist against the table at how unfair it was, "I promise."

Kara set herself, nodding as she started towards the door, "Good. Always remember that I love you Alex." Then she shut off her communicator as she flew outside.

She didn't hear Alex cry out as she lost the connection, "Kara!" The DEO agent fell to her knees, sobbing, "I love you too."

Alex suddenly pushed to her feet, wiping her eyes with the palms of her hands. There was no way in hell that she was going to let Kara get away now that she knew the girl had feelings for her. She was not going to let Supergirl go without making sure that she knew Alex loved her too.

She walked towards Kara's pod, barking orders along the way. She started moving the ship as other agents ran over to help her. Lucy and Vasquez working frantically at the control panel to ensure Alex's plan went as smoothly as possible.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Supergirl lifted the enormous structure off of the Earth and flew into space, pushing with all of her remaining strength at the last possible moment to send the prison floating off into the void. As she drifted effortlessly in the emptiness of space, she smiled knowing she had saved Alex; she had saved the woman she loved. Her last thoughts were of Alex's smiling face, glad that they were her last thoughts before meeting Rao.

Kara slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times before the room came into focus. She turned her head and saw Alex standing there watching her. She turned and sat up, removing the electrodes taped to her skin, "What? Where am I?" Then she remembered what she had said to Alex, "Oh my God Alex, I'm so…"

Alex cut her off, "You do not get to speak now." She held up her finger as Kara tried again, "It's my turn and you will sit there and listen to what I have to say." Kara looked down sheepishly, but nodded. Alex paced in front of her, "What do you think you were doing Kara? Do you know what it would do to me if I lost you? And then you tell me that you love me, something I had been dreaming about for years. You tell me that you feel the same way about me and then you go and tell me that I can't have you because you need to save the world? That just won't do. There is no way I was going to let you die when you just came into my life."

Alex shrugged as the tears fell down her face, "Well at least came into my life that way."

Kara had looked up at Alex as she went on, realizing what the woman was saying. She couldn't be in love with her too, could she? Her question was answered as Alex moved between her legs and cupped her face, bringing her lips to Kara's in a soft kiss. Her hand snaked behind the blonde's head, pulling her tighter against her, deepening the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Alex smiled at Kara with tears in her eyes, "There, now you'll never have to worry about not knowing what it feels like to kiss me. I'm so in love with you too, Kara Zor-El."

Kara smiled bringing Alex in for another kiss, before pulling back and asking, "Can I speak now?" Alex nodded at her. Kara smirked, "You mean to tell me that I could have been doing that for how long?"

Alex nudged her with her shoulder as she laughed at the way Kara reverted back to her bubbly self so easily, "Well I don't know about you, but it started way back in high school for me."

Kara groaned, "I could have been doing this since high school?" Then she pulled Alex in for yet another kiss.

Alex broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Kara's, "We have work to do so let's pick this up again later. Say your place after work?"

Kara nodded against her forehead and smiled, "Deal." The two women linked hands as they walked towards the door, letting them slip apart as they passed through the threshold and back into the command center.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two girls didn't get to pick up where they left off that evening. Instead, they found themselves at Kara's apartment surrounded by their friends and family, grateful to be alive and to have one another. As they were setting the table, James came out from the back of the apartment, "Hey Kara, can I see you for a second."

Kara looked at Alex nervously, but she just gave a small flick of her head to indicate that she should go. Kara gave James a weak smile, "Sure."

Kara followed him and when they were out of sight of the rest of the group, James turned towards her holding out a wrapped package, "I've taken a lot of photos of Supergirl, but I think this one is really special."

Kara took the package and started unwrapping it, "That is so sweet."

She finished unwrapping it and then James turned it around, "Ta da." James was holding a picture of Kara and Alex, sitting in Noonan's drinking coffees with their hands linked on top of the table.

Kara didn't know what to say, "Umm..I'm squinting."

James laughed, "No, you're…you're smiling with your eyes. Just like you are now, that's what you do when you're happy."

Kara smiled, "Yah, I am happy."

She put the picture down and James pulled her into a hug, "I hope she makes you happy Kara, because you deserve to be happy."

She wrapped her arms tighter around him, "She does, she makes me really happy."

James pulled back, holding her at arms' length as he looked at her, "Good, because that's all I've ever wanted for you, to be happy."

Alex's voice suddenly cut through the moment, "Kara, come do the champagne trick, come on, come on."

Kara laughed and wrapped her arm around James's waist as they walked back out to the kitchen. She gave Alex a smile as she locked eyes with her before Alex looked at James. James just smirked at her and gave her a wink, causing her to let out the breath she was holding and give him a genuine smile.