Into the Unknown

Chapter 4

"... yeah." Alex swallowed hard and plated some pancakes, adding a few pieces of bacon. "Butter and syrup are in the fridge. Maybe you can get her to eat. She just stared at me. I couldn't even entice the hippo, and you know those things are hungry, hungry."

"Heh, good one. You got any Kara cereal?"

"Sugar frosted sugar bombs?" Alex gestured toward a cabinet with her head. "Yeah, they're in a box marked diabetes. Why?"

"Because your sister is a child." Maggie dropped the bag on the floor in the living room and opened the cabinet Alex had mentioned to extract a box of cereal, though calling it cereal was a kindness. It was mainly marshmallows. As she poured some into a bowl she asked, "I assume the prize is already gone?"

"You didn't see Supergirl sporting her new decoder ring? Now the bad guys will never stand a chance."

Maggie had a full on chuckle going by the time she was pouring milk into the bowl. "Damn, I miss you guys. The Danvers sisters kept me young." She added a spoon to the mix and brought it into the living room, snagging her coffee on the way. "Hey, Pheebs, look what I found."

"Cereal?" The girl knee walked across the carpet to flop down in front of the food, her attention momentarily pulled away from the screen as she stared at the sugary goodness.

"Yup, 110% crap with no nutritional value, just the way you like it."

"Mmmm, mellows." Phoebe dug into the cereal, making a little bit of milk slosh over the side.

"For my little Marsh. Hey, easy there kid. Slow down. Hold on." Maggie rose, heading over to the kitchen and returning with her own food and some paper towels. She rolled up one of Phoebe's sleeves, grumbling. "Jeez, you already got it on your sleeve. You are the messiest eater."

"Showwy."

"It's fine. It's my fault for not rolling your sleeves up. It all comes out in the wash, right?"

"Right." Phoebe picked her head up so Maggie could tuck a paper towel under her chin into the neck of the shirt she was wearing. "You want some juice? Alex has orange juice. I bet it's the good stuff, none of that frozen crap."

Phoebe just nodded around a mouthful of cereal, milk dribbling down her chin as her attention had mainly refocused on the TV again.

"This better be the good stuff, Danvers," Maggie said as she pulled the pitcher of juice from the fridge. "Don't make a liar out of me."

"Freshly squeezed yesterday by Supergirl herself," Alex smiled as she carried on tending to the breakfast.

"I can't wait until that juicer hits the market." Maggie put the juice back after pouring a glass and brought the beverage over to Phoebe. "Here you go, kiddo. Try not to spill, okay?"

"Okay."

"How's your cereal, good?"

"Good."

"You sleep okay?"

"Hmmm."

"Yeah, me too." Maggie took another sip of her coffee, tossed a piece of tofu bacon into her mouth, and then rose and came back with the bag she had grabbed from the car. She dug through it, coming out with a brush and settled down behind the child, carefully pulling the hair ties from the tangled hair. Phoebe barely seemed to notice as Maggie began to gently brush the child's hair, starting at the ends to deal with the tangled mess. "Tell me if I pull too hard, okay?"

"Mmmmm." She just shoveled more cereal in her mouth, gaze affixed on the animated blue haired girl on screen and spindly legged egg creature that was with her.