Chapter Text
“For the record, this is still a terrible idea,” Alex says from her spot sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Your face is a terrible idea,” Lucy mumbles, stirring something in one pot and changing the burner heat for another one. “It was a great idea until you bailed on helping me cook.”
“Hey, you’ve known for years that I can’t cook,” Alex says. “Don’t blame me for this.”
Her phone rings, and she answers it while kicking out at Lucy’s ass and yanking her foot back before Lucy can slap at it.
“You guys here?” Alex says. “Dad-- Dad, it’s 19th, not 18th, I told you-- no, it’s 19th north west --”
Lucy smirks over her shoulder at Alex and sticks out of tongue.
“Give Mom the phone,” Alex grumbles. “Hey, can you-- yes, that’s right, on 19th northwest. Can you two geniuses manage that?”
“Be nice,” Lucy says, snapping a towel at her.
“They are geniuses,” Alex says as she hangs up the phone. “Geniuses who can’t use a GPS, apparently. They’ll be late.”
A knock on the door sounds, followed by excited barking.
“Ten bucks says that’s my parents,” Lucy says. “Because they can use a GPS.”
Alex scoffs as she hops off the counter. “No deal, I’m not losing money on my parents’ incompetence.”
The dog is jumping up on the front door by the time she makes it there, and Alex hauls him back by the collar so she can open it to see Kara and James.
“Oscar!” Kara shouts, diving into the house and tackling the gigantic dog.
“Sure, don’t mind me, I’m just your sister,” Alex mumbles. She waves to James, letting out a sigh.
“You need a hand with all that?” She gestures to the suitcases in his hands.
“Nah, I got it,” he says with a smile. He manages to step over Kara and Oscar, long legs carrying him into the foyer, and Alex shuts the door behind him.
“You lose the bet, it’s Kara and James,” Alex shouts towards the kitchen. She kicks at Kara’s foot. “Mom and Dad are going to be late.”
Kara ignores her, sitting cross-legged on the floor with 115 pounds of white fluffy canine wiggling in her lap. There’s another knock on the door, and Alex sighs again. She points James down the hall to the guest room and turns back to the door, pushing a hand through her hair as she dodges Kara and Oscar again.
Lucy’s parents are on the other side of the door, and her mom bounces in just like Kara, except she actually hugs Alex instead of the dog. “Hey!”
“Hi, Amal,” Alex says, allowing herself to be hugged tightly and waving at General Lane, who grins and holds up an unopened bottle of scotch.
“Oh, bless you,” Alex mumbles at him as she’s finally released and Amal moves on to Kara. Next to him is Lois, who waves as well and follows him into the building. “Lois, hey, the idiot on the floor is Kara, she’d love to talk to you about work.”
“Oh my God,” Kara squeaks out, scrambling to stand up from under Oscar. “You’re Lois Lane! You won a Pulitzer! Twice!”
“I think here I’m just Lucy’s sister,” Lois says with a grin, shaking her hand regardless. Kara mumbles out something about her work and Alex elbows her in the side. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Alex has told me about you.”
Kara flushes violently red, still holding onto Lois’s hand, and Alex clears her throat loudly.
“It’s a bit crowded in here, don’t you think?” Alex says. “Why don’t we, you know, not stand in the hallway.” She gestures to the living room, shooing Lois and Kara to a couch and accepting the scotch from Lucy’s dad. “I’m going to go get some glasses for this.”
Alex disappears into the kitchen, where Lucy is shutting the oven with her foot and leaning against the counter tiredly.
“You okay?” Alex hooks a finger in one of her beltloops and pulls until she steps forward and leans against Alex.
“Yeah, just tired,” Lucy mumbles. “Why did we think Thanksgiving was a good idea?”
“Oh, we didn’t,” Alex says. “Your mother volunteered us.”
“Why didn’t we stop her?”
“We tried. We failed. Your mom is scarier than your dad.”
“Dad isn’t scary at all.” Lucy yawns and tucks her chin into Alex’s shoulder. “He thinks you’re the coolest.”
“He does not, I’m pretty sure he’s still always prepared to call an airstrike in on me.”
“Six months ago he tried to hire you. To run DARPA.”
Alex scoffs, poking at Lucy until she can pull free, pointing her towards one of the barstools at the counter. “Sit. I’ll make coffee.”
“You’re the greatest,” Lucy says with a yawn. “We’re never doing this again right? Or if we do can we cater it?”
“Hey, I suggested that,” Alex says, pointing at Lucy with a coffee filter. “Since I’m banned from the kitchen.”
“You set the oven on fire. On my birthday.”
“It’s the thought that counts, and the thought was that I was going to make you dinner. And I am excellent at taking instructions, you know that.”
“Yeah, you are,” Lucy says with a smirk. “Especially when I--”
Alex clears her throat loudly, looking past Lucy to where Lucy’s mom is standing.
“There you are,” she says, hugging Lucy from behind.
“Hey, Mom.” Lucy leans back into her, stifling a yawn. “How was the flight?”
“The worst,” Amal says, sighing dramatically. “Beirut is such a pain, I have to get your grandparents to move somewhere nice and quiet. I’m too old to keep flying out there all the time., especially on the holidays.”
“I’m pretty sure they’re going to say that they’re too old to move,” Lucy says. “But have at it.”
“They’ll listen, I’m the favorite,” Amal says, flicking her hair. Alex snorts as she hands Lucy a cup of coffee. “You look exhausted, are you sleeping enough?”
“Nope,” Alex says before Lucy can answer. “Can you get her to work more reasonable hours.”
“Oh, no, sweetie, that’s your job,” Amal says. “My job is just to call her out on it.”
“Both of you be quiet,” Lucy mutters into her coffee. “I’m going to see Dad. Who doesn’t pick on me.”
She flounces off into the living room with a huff, followed by laughter from both Alex and Amal, and squeezes down on the couch between Lois and her dad. Another knock sounds on the door, and Lucy groans and drops her forehead onto Lois’s shoulder.
“I got it,” James says helpfully, extracting his feet from under Oscar.
“I knew I liked you,” Lucy says, slumping down into the couch even further.
James reappears with Eliza and Jeremiah, and Kara bounces off the couch to hug them.
“Sorry we’re late,” Eliza says from inside Kara’s hug. “Jeremiah can’t read a map.”
“But I made pie, so that makes up for it, right?” He holds out a pie and grins widely.
“Well, at least one person here is pulling their weight besides me,” Lucy says. She takes the pie from him and accepts a hug, first from him and then from Eliza, before disappearing back into the kitchen. “Your folks are here,” she informs Alex as she deposits the pie in the fridge.
“Ooh, Eliza,” Amal says, darting from her seat and into the living room.
Lucy sighs, and Alex grabs at her shoulder from her spot sitting on the counter, pulling her over until she’s standing between Alex’s knees.
“It’s all good,” Alex says. “We got this.”
Lucy groans tiredly.
“Hey,” Alex says. She nudges at Lucy’s chin until she stands up straighter, meeting Alex’s eyes. “Only Kara and James are staying, everyone else is in a hotel by 7:00 tonight. And then everyone else is going home on Saturday, and we’ll have the whole place to ourselves.”
“Finally,” Lucy mutters. “We haven’t had a break since we moved in.”
“But we will,” Alex says, flicking at her ear. “Because no one else is visiting us until at least my birthday, I swear to God.”
“Good.”
“So,” Alex says. “No pants weekend, yeah?”
“I have to go into the office--”
Alex cuts her off, leaning down to kiss her. “Nope,” she says. “It’s Thanksgiving, and it’s a stupid holiday, but I’m not working, and you’re not working, and as soon as Kara and James are out of here Saturday you and I are crashing and not wearing pants until we absolutely have to.”
“Okay,” Lucy says. “Okay. No pants weekend. Check.”
Alex hooks her legs around Lucy’s abdomen, pulling her closer.
“And no more telling on me to my mother about how much I work,” Lucy says suddenly. “Or I tell Eliza you still don’t wear a helmet.”
“Mutually assured destruction? That’s how you want to play this? What if I tell Amal you bought a motorcycle ?”
“You’ve known me for eight years and you really want to try and act surprised about this? My motorcycle is nothing compared to you careening through traffic without a helmet because I actually wear a helmet.”
Alex sighs dramatically. “Very well. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“You guys are like disgustingly cute,” Lois says, appearing in the kitchen. “Come on, stop hiding, Dad’s already in his mood to give toasts.”
Lucy groans, turning around to glare at Lois and slumping back against Alex.
“Chop chop, little sister.” Lois grins at them and snaps her fingers. “Bring your lady, I’m not suffering through this alone.”
“You hear that?” Alex says as she lets Lucy pull her off the counter. “I’m a lady .”
“You’re something, alright,” Lucy mutters. She stops just shy of turning the corner into the living room and pushes up on her toes to kiss Alex. “I l--”
“No romantic soldier nonsense,” Alex says sternly, though her smile counters it, and Lucy rolls her eyes. “I love you too, nerd.”
“Hell yeah, you do,” Lucy says, kissing her again. She pivots on her heel and pulls Alex into the living room, their fingers neatly intertwined.