Chapter 2
“Winn. Seriously?” Kara questions from the edge of Cat’s bedroom, sliding her arms around her exposed middle self-consciously as the dark-haired young man just stares at her, gaping, with his mouth hanging open.
He takes a nervous swallow. “It…uh…” and then almost swallows his tongue when he’s slapped in the back of the head. Hard. “Ow?!” he proclaims, turning quickly to find his attacker glaring.
“I shouldn’t just fire you for that outfit, Wyclef, I should murder you,” Cat sneers, reaching out and pinching his ear again like a vengeful older sister. “You better have more to show than lycra, monitor-boy.”
“I do, I do,” he proclaims, ducking away from his bosses’ pinching fingers and pulling up the last of his designs on his laptop screen. He lifts his eyes to Kara’s apologetically. “Sorry, Kara. This one is a little traditional…kind of like what your cousin came up with…” he trails off and she ducks back into the plush bedroom with a heavy sigh.
Kara hears the door click shut behind her as she unzips the last garment bag. She runs her fingers over the delicate stitching of the symbol of her house as she feels the warmth of Cat come close behind her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
“At least he saved the least atrocious for last, I guess,” the older woman says lightly, coming to rest beside the pile of rejected suits on her king size bed. She doesn’t know why she trusts the handsome little hobbit, but she does and when she entrusted him with the most monumental task of his young life, with many non-disclosures signed, of course…she thought his head might literally explode. Cat glances up to see Kara lost in thought as she still runs her fingers over the embroidered crest. “Are you ok, Kara?”
Blue eyes pop open and she gives Cat a small smile. “Yes,” she whispers. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I just spaced out a little,” she giggles. Kara reaches down to pull the suit up on its hanger, the red cape falling in waves on Cat’s soft comforter. “I think…you may have to give Winn a bit of a break on this one, Cat,” she smiles as she steps back and changes into the suit in a fraction of a second.
Cat can only blink, still not used to Kara’s abilities in everyday life, but when she can finally focus she takes in the fitted top and skirt…and the cape, which gives the woman even more of a commanding presence. “Not bad,” she murmurs, catching Kara’s eyes and giving her a tiny smile. “Pretty mainstream if I say so myself,” she muses as she walks around the happy young woman and nitpicks at a few seams and folds, “but then again, no one ever complained about Wonder Woman’s primary colors, did they?”
“Diana loves bold colors,” Kara exclaims, before snapping her mouth shut with a snap.
Cat narrows her eyes and gives Kara a tight, close lipped smile. “We’ll revisit that bit of information later, Miss Danvers,” she says before opening the door and waving a hand for the still blushing hero to exit.
“Oh,” Winn blurts as he stands up from his seat on Cat’s couch, the notebook in his lap fluttering to the floor. “That…that one,” he stutters, “I thought might be the one.”
“I think you may be correct, Winn,” Cat says as she makes her way towards the kitchen to get a wider look. She pays no attention as Winn almost faints at the praise…and the use of his actual name. He thumps down on the couch and reaches his arms out wide to steady himself in his disbelief, causing the onlooking Kara to laugh.
“I love it,” Kara says happily, waving her arms and sweeping her hands playfully in her cape. “I’ve always wanted a cape,” she says, twirling like an excited puppy chasing its tail.
Cat smirks. “Winn, is this the finished product? Or just the show model?” she asks, knowing that the IT genius was more than prepared to deliver for every situation.
“Um…” he scrambles on his laptop for a few seconds. “This suit is ready for action, but I do have some upgrades that can be ready in 24 hours, Miss Grant.”
“Good,” she murmurs. “What do you think, Kara?”
Blue eyes sparkle. “I think it’s ready for a test run.”
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“More?” Cat asks lightly, holding out the take-out container with one hand. She watches with wide eyes as Kara snatches the last of the dumplings onto her plate and then into her mouth in blinding speed. “How do you afford to eat on a stringer’s salary?” she asks in disbelief.
Kara swallows thickly. “I…I only really eat this much when I use my powers,” she continues to chew and swallow with a smile. “Normally, it’s just like twice as much as a human, I guess.”
“Still,” Cat exclaims. “Kara, I can put you in a position at CatCo. No questions asked with your experience. I just want to know you’re ok…”
“I’m ok, Cat,” the blonde says, unable to contain a happy grin at the woman’s concern. “Really. I like my job.”
“They are my competitors, you know,” Cat scowls.
Kara smirks. “I know.”
“Smartass.”
Kara laughs and laughs and looks so happy and uninhibited that Cat has no choice but to crack a smile and laugh along with her. “I know they are, but I didn’t think working for you was the smartest choice considering our history,” Kara says with a sly grin.
Cat looks playfully affronted for only a moment. Suddenly the last few months seem like a blur…the introduction of Supergirl, helping the people of National City realize the hero’s good intentions and then finally, but most importantly, helping Kara to separate her two lives. The guilt of the horrible things that happen every day weigh heavy on her mind and it took many talks on Cat’s balcony and lots of Chinese take-out to make her realize that she can’t be everywhere at once…that her identity as Kara Danvers was just as important as Supergirl in her life. “Ok, fine. You’re right, but still, Kara. Couldn’t you be freelance or something?” Cat finally jokes, scooping the last bit of lomein into her mouth.
“Freelance won’t pay the potsticker bills, Miss Grant,” Kara jokes, reaching out a toe to push at the folded legs of her companion where she sits. Cat’s penthouse balcony is her absolute favorite place for the average superhero’s post life-saving Chinese binge.
Cat pauses for a moment, her eyes flitting between Kara’s eyes and her smiling lips and the city beyond all at the same time. “I guess,” she finally murmurs, tucking back into her small plate.
Kara stares at her. The way she holds herself…Rao, even the way she holds her chopsticks…Cat Grant has been a force to behold ever since the first moment they met all those years ago. They were thrown together in a hopeless situation…the only way out was the advantage that Kara had over the human race….and the only reason she had that advantage on that flight, at that particular moment…even in that very second…was due to Cat. It was completely and unequivocally due to Cat’s kindness.
They’ve sat on this balcony together dozens of times since Kara first asked for Cat’s help...her help which has empowered her as National City’s own superhero. “Do you think we would have met?” Kara asks suddenly, as she looks out towards the city. “If we hadn’t been on that flight together? We were supposed to be on the following one…all of us, even the alien which caused the explosion.”
Cat takes a moment before she lifts her eyes from her dinner. She didn’t know that. She catches hers for just a moment before looking out over the city and its lights. “I didn’t know that,” she gives a small frown. “But I think so,” she says quickly, dropping her eyes back to her dinner, “I think we would have met no matter what.”
Kara waits for a moment, but there’s no explanation from the quiet woman. She remembers that evening when she was handcuffed and silent on the walk down the tarmac, the commanding presence of Hank Henshaw beside her. That night…was the first time she was able to use the powers this yellow sun gives her to save someone. Not only someone, but the woman who had become one of the very few most important humans in her life. Then, the endless concrete beneath her feet the night she walked and walked away from an awkward situation only to look up and see the same woman falling towards her…like fate. “I think so too,” she says quickly, trying to catch Cat’s attention. “The night…the night of the helicopter accident. I had just started college at NCU. I…I walked away from a party that night and just kept walking…I didn’t know what to do, to fit in.”
“I remember,” Cat says quietly. “You weren’t exactly dressed for a party,” she smiles. “Unless college is a lot different than I remember it,” she murmurs self-consciously.
“It’s not,” Kara says quickly. “My faded jeans and gray hoodie didn’t get me far.”
“It saved me,” Cat says quickly. “You saved me and that pilot and everyone else who would have been hurt when that helicopter crashed down in the street. Without a fancy suit.”
“Mmmm,” Kara hums. “I think…I was meant to save you,” she says slowly. “For some…greater reason, I was meant to be in those places…in those times.” Kara looks around at the twinkling lights of National City. “I was meant to save the Queen of All Media,” she says teasingly, “so that the Queen could help me be…me.”
Cat sighs and breathes deep. “Kara. The only thing I want you to be is…you. Even if that you…is not…a superhero.”
Kara startles. “What…what else would I be?” she asks slowly.
Cat can only grin. “I don’t know, darling,” she says affectionately, reaching out a hand to grasp in Kara’s. “You’ve told me about your childhood…about how your people were destined to a calling from a young age. You said you were to be an artist,” Cat says lightly. “That’s not really comparable to a hero…a fighter.”
“An artist,” Kara laughs heartily. “I don’t think I’d get very far on earth.”
“If you create the way you care, Kara, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do,” Cat says with a pointed look.
Kara is startled by the fierceness in her eyes…but has learned long ago not to question the faith the beautiful woman puts in her. If anything in her life on earth has taught her, it’s to never question Cat Grant’s faith. She’s about to respond when…
“Mom?” They both turn towards the pajama clad boy in the doorway, rubbing his eyes from his slumber.
“Yes, darling? Can’t sleep?” Cat asks quickly, rising from her patio chair to step beside him. She runs her hands across his lanky shoulders and up to push back her unruly curls. Kara can only smile when she sees how gentle she is with him.
“I had a bad dream,” he says quietly. “Can Kara read me a story?”
Cat takes a sharp glance. “I think Kara may be a bit tired, sweetie…”
“I’m good,” Kara grunts, lifting herself and unfolding her legs with a long stretch, leaving her red boots crumpled on the concrete beside her. She flicks her cape out behind her. “What are we reading tonight, buddy?” she says, stepping forward and enveloping Cat’s son in her arms, giving the older woman’s arm a quick squeeze before leading him barefoot down the hallway without a second glance back.
Their relationship had blossomed over the last few months. Cat never wanted to keep him from knowing the magnificent young woman who literally saved their lives and Kara never even questioned trusting him with the knowledge of her identity. They took to each other immediately, only heightened by Cat’s reluctance to leave him in anyone else’s care since Kara had come back into their lives.
So she had the world’s first built-in superhero babysitter.
But it came with a hesitance that Cat knows shines through sometimes…she pulls back, away from Kara’s sunny disposition. She tries to distance herself when she feels that pull to get closer…to be closer.
So…Cat can only stare as she watches the two most important people in her life cling to each other as they make their way to Carter’s room. Her son and the superhero who saved him…who saved them.
Cat leans against the door frame and lets out a heavy sigh for the things she knows can never happen...the things she knows she shouldn’t even let herself feel.
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“He’s asleep,” Kara says quietly as she steps back onto the balcony, finding Cat curled up in a corner of her chair.
She looks up with a smile, but it doesn’t really reach her eyes. “Thank you, Kara, for being so good with him,” Cat says quietly.
Kara hesitates…but only for a moment. She’s felt this mood before from Cat and tonight…of all nights, she’s ready to address it. She’s tired of denying the pull between them…sick of blaming the loneliness and longing for anything but what it is…attraction. At the deepest level. She steps around the back of the lounge and drops unceremoniously in the cushioned seat beside the older blonde. She props her bare feet up on the wrought-iron table in front of them and sighs dramatically.
Cat quirks a surprised eyebrow. “Something wrong, Kara?” she drawls, wondering what’s up with the blonde.
“Nah,” Kara dismisses, staring intently at her perfect cuticles. “I mean…maybe. I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s very…noncommittal,” Cat murmurs, her attention piqued. She slouches down in her corner of the lounge, bringing her closer to Kara’s face. “Feel like elaborating?” she asks, looking over, blinking at the thick, long lashes that cover impossibly blue eyes.
“Carter. He said,” Kara starts, but doesn’t continue.
“What did he say?” Cat asks quickly, worried.
“He’s fine,” Kara soothes. “He… just asked if we were ever going to be together,” Kara says with air quotes ready…her hands dropping as Cat’s eyebrows raise, but Kara can’t help but waggle hers, which quickly ends with numerous playful slaps from Cat’s hands. “Stop it, Grant,” she laughs, batting away Cat’s hands playfully, catching them and pulling the lithe woman closer. Kara stops laughing, but keeps a soothing smile on her face as she pulls Cat closer. “Your son thinks that we should date and I’m hard pressed to find a problem with that,” Kara says quietly, snapping her mouth shut but staring at Cat with a bemused expression.
“My son is not a dating expert, Kara. He’s not even thirteen.”
“Actually, his definition of his age at this moment is ‘literally thirteen and counting’,” she smiles, relishing in the fact that Cat hasn’t pulled away from her close embrace.
Cat rolls her eyes. “Maybe, but it still doesn’t take into account my age…or…” Kara interrupts her before Cat can get any further.
“or…your intelligence?” Kara asks lightly. Seeing no response, she continues. “Your kindness, your sense of humor, your…love for your son?” Kara ends.
“Kara,” Cat breathes.
“There’s really no reason you can give me that I can’t dispute, Cat,” Kara says matter-of-factly.
“We met when you were very young,” Cat says, pausing to see the reaction in those blue eyes, but she sees none. “I can’t forget that, Kara,” she breathes.
The superhero only smiles. “I have,” she whispers. “I did…the second I set you down on top of your own building almost 7 years ago. I never thought I would see you again, Cat,” she proclaims. She slips to her knees, changing their perspective and looks up into Cat’s teary eyes. “And then I walk down the sidewalk and you literally fall into my arms. I think that’s something to consider,” she gives a crooked smile. Kara slips a hand up to Cat’s cheek, swiping her fingers to the slight tears she feels, before rising to her feet. She steps back and slips into her boots in a few seconds.
“I won’t deny that our lives have been…entwined, Kara. It’s given me the most wonderful experiences…having Carter, and seeing you become the hero that everyone needs…but,” Cat pauses. “There’s more out there for you than me,” she finishes regretfully. “You have to see that, darling,” she pleads.
Kara grins again, looking down to tips of her boots. “You know, Carter told me that this wouldn’t be easy.” She lifts into the sky with only a slight move of her hands. “I think this might be my biggest challenge yet,” she muses as she gives Cat a cheeky wink and shoots up into the sky with a boom that rattles the ice in Cat’s glass.
“Showoff,” Cat mutters as she shakes her head, wipes the tears from her cheeks and stalks inside.