The sun was still shining bright and it looked beautiful, Cat thought while looking at the streets of Luxor through her window. She had been here in Egypt for a week and planned to stay for another one. After her 5 months trip through Europe and it’s cold, rainy weather she could use some warmth and sun. The many historic monuments called for her attention here, the journalist in her wanted to know the stories behind them. Maybe after this ‘diving’ adventure of her she could write a book of all the things she had experienced.
But for now, it was 8 pm and she was dead tired and really needed a bath. So she filled the bath and meanwhile ordered a cup of sahlab. If she had to be honest she did miss the latte’s from Noonan's among other things, however she didn’t want to spend much time thinking about what or who she was missing. She pulled her clothes off and took the cup to the bathroom and slowly sank into the bath, trying to ignore the voice in her head that kept reminding her of what day it was.
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Meanwhile in National city it was 1 pm and Kara was busy listening to Snappers’ complains. All he did was complain and test her patience, which was running pretty thin at the moment. She had not been sleeping in 3 days beside some naps on the sunbeds at the DEO. Fighting aliens was far easier than fighting Lillian Luthor and how she wish she could go back to those times. And yes, it’s true that she had not been performing that well at CatCo since she had been promoted. She felt lost and disoriented with all the fast changes around her and if that wasn’t enough she also needs to babysit Mon-el, because Rao knows he couldn’t be left alone for one minute and he is in trouble. She just wanted to go back to how things were 5 months ago, when she didn’t feel so alone and scared of the future. She wanted to talk to someone, no actually, she wanted to talk to the person who had made her feel safe through her journey, the one who used to be there to support and guide her.
“I don’t know what this is, but it is not a report.” Snapper threw the file on the desk “You are lucky I can’t fire you from CatCo, but I can fire you from my department. Now, get out of my office and this floor. You should have remained an assistant.” He dismissed her, clearly fed up by Kara’s work attitude..
Kara was too tired to fight back and maybe he was right, maybe she should have stayed an assistant. She picked up her disaster of a report and walked towards the elevator.
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Cat was done with her bath and opened her laptop to check the update files James occasionally send her. The sales has been going lower and she knew it had been a mistake to leave an inexperienced employee in charge, but she also believed that James has the capacity and that if he tries hard enough, he will get there. Of course this is an expensive and a riskful way to teach James to take charge, but she had no other choice. She had needed to leave ASAP. Her feelings for Kara had been growing beyond her control and that was simply unacceptable. She couldn’t allow such unprofessionalism. Taking distance was the right thing to do. It was for the best, she repeatedly lied to herself in misery.
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“Hey,” James greeted Kara from behind ‘his’ desk and looked confused. Kara hadn’t been in this office for a while “uhm...is there something I can do for you?”
Kara’s eyes suddenly teared up. Her scent was still here, faded, but present enough to jog up her memories. The last time she had seen Cat was when Supergirl flew away from the balcony after almost kissing her. She had just wanted to taste those lips before it was too late but was too cowardly. She wrote her emails, but never send them, because what if she wasn’t that important to Cat? What if she was bothering the woman’s adventure? Or what if she would not get anything back?
“Kara, is everything okay? What’s wrong?” James stood up and walked towards her in worry.
Kara looked up and wiped her tears, this was not the time or the place to break down no crying at work, she remembered “Yes..I am…” She took a breath to calm down and continued “Snapper just fired me and-”
“He fired you?!”” James walked towards his phone “Oh I will talk to him right no-”
“NO!” Kara took the phone from his hands “He was right to fire me. I haven’t done my job properly in months and you know it too. Just...give me some easy job to do until you figure out what to do with me.”
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After 30 minutes of catching up with the events of National city, Cat closed her laptop and filled herself a glass of whiskey. She wasn’t planning on getting drunk, just enough to take the edge of. She walked towards the balcony and sat down, staring at the incredible view of the city like she used to do on the balcony in her old office. Suddenly she saw a small figure jumping in the balcony from her sideview, she turned around in panic and saw that it was just a cat. A black cat with a white spot on it’s right eye.
“Hush, go away.” She moved with her hand.
The cat didn’t leave, the opposite even, it walked towards her and brushed against her legs.
Cat tried to push the cat away with her feet but it didn’t work. The cat looked at her started meowing.
“What do you want? Don’t you have a home?” Cat leaned forward to look for a collar and now that she was closer she noticed that the animal seemed pretty tired and dehydrated. “Ugh wait here.” She said and walked inside to her mini fridge next to her nighttand to get a bottle. She walked outside again and filled the clean ashtray with bottled water “Here.” She put it on the ground and watched the cat drink from it.
“Seems like I wasn’t the only cat who needed a drink.” She raised her glass and gulped the little sip of whiskey that was let.
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Since Miss Tessmacher was sick today, so Kara chose to assist James even though he insisted that they could find something else for her to do. She wanted to be useful and this was what she was the most familiar with.
She sat behind the desk with nostalgia, how many times had it been covered with food stains, she lost count. How many times was it emptied by Cat to make it look like she was fired? Kara laughed at how far the woman would go to get that dramatic effect. She sighed and picked up the calendar and looked at the schedule, it was not as organised as hers but it would do.
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After the animal was done drinking Cat walked inside and she saw that it was following her.
“You know what, stay.” She was too tired to waste her energy on getting the uninvited guest to leave and if she has to be honest with herself she could use the company today. She got into the bed and the cat followed her and laid down next to her.
To her despise, Cat had to admit it was a cute beast and started petting it. “So since you don’t have a name and since you are alone, just like me, I am going to call you Catherine. It only seems fair for you to get my name since I have yours.”
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Kara looked through the notes and saw a specific note, it made her blood run cold. How could she have forgotten it? She added this note herself after prying the date out of the woman. She thought about if she should call her, but then decided otherwise. Enough of this. No more cowardness.
She stood and rushed into James office “Hey, I am leaving.” And fled before waiting for an answer.
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Cat was thinking about ordering some food when she heard a sound come from the balcony, “Jesus christ, if this is another cat I will-...Supergirl?” She was shocked and didn’t believe her eyes at first. Those golden curls and puppy eyes...it was Supergirl.
“Hey...” The hero replied awkwardly.
“Wh..what are you doing here?” She asked cautiously, this was weird.
“I...you…” Kara tried to form words to describe her feelings. She wanted to ask why the woman never came back as she had promised or why she had never contacted her but instead, she put her hands down in defeat and settled with “happy birthday, Miss Grant.”
Cat blinked a couple times from confusion. “You came all the way here to congratulate me on getting older?”
Kara had not think this through, but there is no going back now “No.” She took a couple steps towards Cat “I came because I missed you.”
“I am sure Supergirl could survive without me.” Cat needed to know the truth. She was sick and tired of all the lies.
Kara heard the accusation in Cat’s tone and she couldn’t blame her. She needed to stop being afraid “Yes, Supergirl could, but,” she pulled a hair tie out of the pocket in her suit and tied her hair “Kara Danvers can’t.” She stepped closer and cautiously held Cat’s hand “I am sorry for not telling you before.”
Cat exhaled, the truth was out, finally “Why didn’t you?”
“I was scared,” Kara’s eyes teared up “of giving too much of myself to you. Scared you would change the way you see me. I just wanted to continue feeling normal.”
Cat cupped Kara’s cheek and brushed the teardrop with her thumb “I am sorry too, Kara.”
“Why didn’t you call, why did you leave?” More teardrops followed.
Cat guided the girl to the bed and sat her down. She cupped both cheeks “I l left because, I don’t know how to...love, but against all my precautions I fell deeply for you and I got scared too.” She admitted with a broken voice.
Kara smiled through her tears “I love you, Cat.” She stood up from the bed and hugged the woman tightly. This hug felt different from their other hugs, it felt like finally coming home after walking through the storm for hours. It felt safe.
They pulled back from the hug and they stood inches apart. Kara glanced at Cat’s lips, she had desperately wanted to kiss them since the balcony moment. She leaned forward, her lips so close to brushing Cat’s, she could feel the warmth of her breath on her lips. Kara’s heart started beating louder and she could hear Cat’s were too, she closed her eyes and moved the last inch for the much awaited kiss, and suddenly they were interrupted by a meow. Kara quickly turned her head to where the sound came from.
“Oh for heaven's sake!” Cat said in frustration and walked towards Catherine “I knew I shouldn’t have let you in.”
Kara watched the sight in front of her, Cat talking to a cat with anger. “Uhmm Cat..who is that?”
Cat sighed “Kara meet Catherine, she broke in from the balcony. Catherine meet Kara, she also got in from the balcony.”
Kara laughed and picked the cat up “Catherine huh?” she kissed the snout.
Cat rolled her eyes and crossed her arms “If you would stop kissing that cat and continue with kissing this one,” she pointed to herself “that would be great.”
Kara smiled and put the cat down on the floor. “I would like nothing more.” She pulled Cat against herself and put her hands on her waist, bringing their bodies closer. She saw the woman glancing at her lips and felt the hold on her bicep tighten. Kara moved closer “Happy birthday, Cat.” She whispered and finally their lips touched .
The kiss was sweet and exploring at first, it made all the butterflies in her stomach go wild, then Cat deepened the kiss, it grew to be more desperate, she could hear their breaths deepening from want, her body had never reacted to a kiss like this, it had never started a fire so warm.
She didn’t feel lost anymore.