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Winn sat at his desk idly checking the various systems under his supervision.
It had been a long day between Kara and Mon-El going AWOL, Alex and J’onn disappearing to hunt down some maniac, and him being left on babysitting duty again, he was exhausted.
“Agent Schott” J’onn’s voice carried clearly across the room and Winn let out a soft sigh and forced a relaxed expression onto his face before spinning his chair round to face the director.
“Papa bear,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his bagged eyes “and Alex! What’s up?”.
The pair didn’t smile. J'onn said nothing, studying the younger man with an expression Winn couldn’t read, “When’s the last time you ate?” Alex suspiciously inquired.
That took Winn by surprise “I - ” he started.
“He’s had nothing since I’ve been on shift ma’am so that’s at least 8 hours” Vasquez’s voice interrupted from the desk next to his.
“And knowing his track record it's probably longer,” Demos added as he walked past patting Winn on the shoulder as the other man scowled.
“Please,” Winn scoffed “I’m fine I just-” he stood up as he spoke, a bad idea as it turned out, his vision faded and his limbs suddenly stopped responding.
“Winn!” Alex’s cry was muffled as though his ears were full of cotton wool, distantly he felt arms catch and steady him.
J’onn half held the smaller man up as his vision returned and he was lowered back into his chair.
“Whoo,” he said with a slightly forced grin “headrush, sorry about that. Anyway I have work to do so if you don’t mind-”
“Seriously, Winn?” Alex cut him off “You literally just passed out in front of us you can’t actually expect us to let you keep working”.
“I didn’t pass out” Winn retorted defensively, “It was a headrush. I’m fine.”
“You haven’t slept in 39 hours” J’onn notes.
The younger man snapped his face up to look at him, trying to ignore the stab of pain the movement brought, “Will you get out of my head?” swatting the air around him as though trying to force the Martian away.
“I barely needed to enter your mind, Winn, exhaustion is practically radiating off you” J’onn replied, a note of concern mingled with his usual serious tone.
Winn noted the use of his first name, J’onn very rarely called him by his first name and certainly not when at work. Perhaps that was a sign he needed to do as he was told.
He let out a weak sigh, “Fine”. He was too tired to argue anyway, his mind felt heavy and slow and there was a dull headache developing behind his eyes.
Alex turned to J’onn, “Permission to escort Agent Schott home and make sure he takes the correct steps to restore himself to full working capacity”.
“Permission granted Agent” the martian responded briskly, and then in a softer tone with a hand on Alex’s arm “Take care of him”.
“I’m right here,” Winn said, trying to sound irritated. He was not going to cry in front of his boss just because he showed him a tiny bit of affection.
J’onn gave him a gentle touch on the shoulder (Winn did NOT nearly start sobbing thank you very much) before walking over to bark orders at a group of agents.
“Alright come on then,” Alex said, turning back to Winn, “let's get you home.”
“You’re the boss,” he replied, standing up more slowly this time. He noticed the fractional shift of Alex’s hand. “I’m alright,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, though he wasn’t sure he had succeeded. To reinforce his words, he quickly added, “I promise.”
It seemed Alex was satisfied, or she couldn’t be bothered to fight him on it, either way Winn was grateful when she nodded and beckoned him to follow her.
They made their way to the car park mostly in silence which Winn was grateful for as his headache appeared to have worsened.
Once they reached the car park, the analyst instinctively headed toward his car, Stopping abruptly when a hand closed around his wrist.
He turned to look at Alex questioningly, “You can’t drive in that state.” she said simply. He sighed and pressed his free hand to his throbbing skull “You’re probably right.”
“Of course I am” She grinned as she tugged him gently in the direction of her own car, “Come on, I’ll drop you here tomorrow to pick your car up”.
Winn felt the sudden urge to cry again, wow he was tired, he swallowed and mumbled a “Thank you”.
Alex ruffled his hair affectionately with her hand before leading him over to her car.
~
By the time they reached his apartment Winn was almost asleep, head resting against the window.
Alex smiled at him. “Glad I didn’t let you drive home now, aren’t you?” she teased, gently poking him in the side.
Winn just hummed in agreement, too tired to object to her teasing.
Alex had to effectively carry the analyst inside. His body seemed to have finally begun to give in to the exhaustion.
She managed well enough - he weighed practically nothing - but she did wonder if the neighbours would be making any calls to the police after seeing a woman drag a half-conscious body through the building.
Alex left him on the sofa and made her way over to the kitchen. “I’m going to make you something to eat,” she said as she began rummaging through his cupboards. “Any preference?”.
“Not hungry.” Winn mumbled sleepily, his voice muffled by the fact that half of his face was squashed against the armrest.
Alex wandered back over to him and carded her fingers through his hair gently, “I know,” she said in an uncharacteristically soft tone “But you need to have something.”
Winn subconsciously leaned into the touch before replying “Fine… you pick… too many choices… head hurts…”.
Alex smiled, “Good” she said simply, taking her hand out of Winns hair to go back to the kitchen.
She picked some cereal out of Winns rather extensive collection and made two small bowls, before grabbing a glass of water and a packet of tylenol (apparently this is what Americans call paracetamol? - correct me if I’m wrong) from the cupboard before making her way back over to the sofa.
“Hey,” she poked him lightly with her toe “wakey wakey sleepy head”.
The analyst sat up and rubbed his eyes “Thought you wanted me to sleep” he yawned.
“I do, but you’ve got a couple of things to do first” she said, putting the two bowls of cereal and water down on the coffee table so she could get the tablets.
“Take two of these” she said, handing him the tablets and then passing the water.
He obeyed without complaint, swallowing both tablets in one go, “Thank you” he said gratefully, suppressing the urge to cry for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.
Alex just smiled and ruffled his hair again before turning to grab the cereal.
They sat together in silence for a while as they both ate, leaning comfortably into each other.
“You’ll be a good mum” Winn murmured, breaking the silence, and Alex felt her heart jump slightly.
“I hope so” she replied quietly, wrapping her arm round Winns shoulders and squeezing him gently.
The bowls were discarded on the coffee table - they could be sorted tomorrow - and the two of them curled up on the sofa, Winn with his head resting on Alex’s shoulder as she gently waded her hands through his hair.