Executive Assistant

Adora’s eyes filled with anger at hearing Catra had gotten the many long and jagged scars from Horde Tech, her eyes wouldn’t let her look away and her fingers traced over each and every one of them. The stab wounds were easy to identify, but the other scars were, different. Almost looked like Catra had been tortured at one point or another.
“Horde Tech did this to you?” Adora’s fingers still tracing the scars on Catra’s back, “When? How?”
“When I worked for them.” Catra simply replied.
“I thought you said you were just the janitor.”
“I was.”
“So…?”
“I needed money, Adora.” Catra begins with a huff, “So, money as the janitor wasn’t exactly lucrative by any means. Minimum wage for a literally shit job.” Catra slouched forward more as she feels Adora’s fingers still on her back, “There was a flyer on one of the noticeboards around HT, said you earn big money, fast. So… I took the slip and called the number. Turns out, the easy money came from HT experimenting on you.”
“Oh, Catra…” Adora gasps as her fingers start moving again against Catra’s back, no longer tracing the scars but more rubbing her back soothingly.
“Look. I volunteered.” Catra leans back into Adora’s hands, “The first couple of times I went in, it wasn’t so bad. It started with testing out and documenting some new headphones or tablet. Nothing invasive or special. Pay was pretty good, since it was always in cash.” Catra took a breath, “Then they asked if I was interested in making a little more money. And of course I said yes, assuming that it’d be something similar like testing out a new set of headphones or whatever. I really should have seen the red flags when I got hauled into a room way down in the building with a few other people. The screams should have definitely made me think twice. But, what can I say, the money was good. I just didn’t realise how bad it would get.”
“What happened?”
“It got bad. Then it got worse.” Catra sighs, “And then, one day, it got so bad, I, uh, nearly died…”
“What?” Adora wraps both her arms around Catra from behind, the smaller woman leaning back into the blonde, “They tried to kill you?”
“Uh, I don’t think it was deliberate.” Catra replies softly, “Well, I hope it wasn’t.”
Adora rubs her cheek on Catra’s back, there’s a little bit of wetness that Catra feels but doesn’t say anything, “Sorry… go on?”
Nodding, Catra continues, “Well, the first experiment wasn’t anything too bad. It was just a couple of skin pricks and some slight electric shocks on my arms. It didn’t seem that bad.”
“But it got worse?”
Catra nods again, “Yeah. It did.” Leaning back a little more, Catra keeps her gaze away from Adora and on the windows of her office instead, “They started to test out weapons that didn’t look like weapons.”
“Why didn’t you just stop going?” Adora asks in shock.
“I signed a contract and they were threatening legal action that I could not afford.” Catra answers still looking towards her windows, “I was stuck essentially. And then the experiments got worse to the point where the weapons they were testing were no longer just superficial wounds…”
“What did they do to you?” Adora whispers, afraid to scare Catra away from answering the question.
“Which time?” Catra tries to lighten up the mood. It doesn’t work as she can feel Adora’s eyes boring into the back of her head and the sound of her breathing definitely did not sound light-hearted, “Sorry, that, uh, wasn’t funny.” Another sigh, “Okay, there’s this woman that works there. A lot of the participants called her Shadow Weaver. She’s fucking horrible, zero empathy. I think she’s some kind of sociopath, accept that she can frame it was curios or for the greater good of science or some other bullshit HT can conjure up.”
“Shadow Weaver…?” Adora’s lips tense on the name, “I know that name from somewhere…”
“Yeah, you should.” Catra scoffs, “She’s in prison for war crimes.”
“War crimes?”
“Unreal, right?” Catra chuckles, “Turns out the only reason Prime had employed her was because of her history with torturing prisoners of war and anyone that was deemed ‘displaced’. HT were starting to delve into weapons, all kinds of weapons not just technological, I’m talking chemical and physical weapons.”
“They’re making weapons too?” Adora’s arms tighten around Catra, “How does no one know this? How do I not know this?!”
“It’s not like they advertise this in the public forum, princess.” Catra replies trying to keep her voice a little lighter, “Prime and Shadow Weaver were both arrested over a decade ago for dealing arms and war crimes. I, I didn’t know Prime had already gotten out.”
Adora frowns, “What about… her?”
“I don’t know.” Catra sighs again, “I’ll need to get Traps to look into that once we get the chip out of Hordak’s arm.”
“You still haven’t told me how you got these scars.” Adora’s fingers back tracing Catra’s back, “I mean, if you want to tell me…”
Catra turns to look at Adora’s in the eyes, “No… I’ll tell you.”
Adora smiles softly at Catra, encouraging her to continue.
“Okay… so you have to remember, this happened a long time ago.” Catra warns without any bite, “So, I might have… I don’t know… stabbed Shadow Weaver in the leg with a screwdriver… because they wouldn’t let me out of the contract.”
“You stabbed her in the leg?”
“Yeah…? I did.” Catra tries to laugh it off.
“Sounds like you…” Adora says under her breath.
“So… after I stabbed her in the leg, she basically spent the next 3 days torturing me.” Catra finished, “Uh, pretty sure her and Prime cut me up for fun. He’s got this glove thing, it’s got claws built in. Creepy as shit. Hurt like hell. That’s… that’s what made those cuts on my back.” Catra closes her eyes at the memory, “They had me kitted out in the armour that police tactical armour to see how it would… perform.”
Adora’s breath hitched at hearing the last part, “They’re targeting law enforcement?”
“They are targeting everyone, princess.” Catra replies dryly, “Why do you think they’ve got everyone talking about the H Virus?”
Adora shrugs.
“They want to keep everyone focused on one thing, ie the H Virus, whilst in the background they make their moves on taking over the city.” Catra breathes out, “They want to keep everyone focused on DE so they can move and work in the shadows.”
“So… the glove?” Adora asks, fingers trailing off Catra’s back on moving to her stomach.
“Oh right. The glove. Yeah, so I was kitted up with tactical armour while a group of them ganged up on me testing their new weapons.” Catra casually says, “The only difference between these experiments and the ones I did in the past was that I didn’t get immediate medical attention after the experiments. Instead, once I lay unmoving on the ground from my injuries, they’d inject me with some experimental drug and leave me alone until the next round of tests.”
“Wait… you’ve done these kind of experiments with them before?” Adora asks confused.
Catra nods, “It wasn’t unusual for them to test weapons out as part of their tests. They let us fight back as part of the simulations. I didn’t usually get injured much. You know, a couple of cuts and bruises. Never got concussed or broke a bone there. Others… weren’t so lucky. Plus, if you got injured, they doubled the cash. So… you know… ka-ching!”
Adora rolls her eyes at Catra, her lips are still pursed from hearing Catra’s history with HT, “At what point did you try to get out of your contract and then stab Shadow Weaver?”
Catra leans forward and out of Adora’s arms, choosing to stand up and begins to pace up and down in the office, rubbing the back of her head with her good arm, “During one of those simulations, everyone apart from me was killed. Their weapons sliced most of the other participants into pieces and the ones that didn’t died from their wounds later on in the infirmary.” Cara eyes furrowed as she looked down at her hands like there was something that she couldn’t get off them, “I, uh, was the only one that didn’t die for some reason or another.”
“What?!” Adora shoots up onto her feet, “They murdered people in front of you?”
Catra nods and looks away, “They figured out that whatever they were injecting me with was basically the only thing that stopped me from getting killed. Have you ever seen that movie where the guy takes that little blue pill and then all of a sudden, his brain starts working at like 80% or something?” Adora nods, “Well, that drug or whatever they injected me with, does pretty much the same thing. Kind of the reason why I got to where I am now.”
“So what? You’ve got some superpower because you got injected with some experimental drug?” Adora deadpans, hands on her hips as she watches Catra continue to pace up and down, “That’s crazy. If that was even the case, wouldn’t you need to keep injecting? Where would you even get a supply?”
“Entrapta.”
“What?”
“Entrapta.” Catra stops pacing and leans up against her desk, “She’s the maker of the drug.” The stunned look on Adora’s face makes Catra laugh, “Did you really think all she did was write programs and build machines?”
“I don’t know!” Adora protests, crossing her arms in front of her chest, “It’s not like there’s a lot of information on DE’s core group anywhere.”
“For good reason.” Catra declares, “Anyways, that whatever they’d been injecting into me was the only reason I was able to avoid getting slaughtered with the rest of the participants that day. They weren’t happy. But at the same time, they weren’t exactly surprised either. They took me to the infirmary to run more tests, but this time they didn’t go home when I got the all clear to leave.”
“What happened?”
“They basically had me holed up in one of the basement offices. No windows.” Catra emphasises, “Honestly, it was a dungeon. A dungeon below a very successful tech operations business. I get hauled into an office on the top floor and sat down at a round table surrounded by people in suits and blank looks on their faces. Lawyers, am I right?”
Adora doesn’t respond to that.
“I told them I wanted out of my contract.” Catra chuckles to herself remembering how much bravado she put on when demanding that, “Wasn’t surprising to hear that they said no. They said I owed them.”
“Owed them?”
“I know, right?” Catra sighs, “They still think I owe them.”
“For what?”
Catra taps her temples, “This. They think I owe them for my increased brain power.” Catra chuckles again much to Adora’s confusion, “You’d think with the extra brain functions I acquired, I would have been able to think myself out of the contract instead of being tortured for 3 days until they almost killed me.”
Adora stayed silent, taking in all the information Catra was letting spill out from her mouth.
“They, uh, dumped me in a back alley. I was bleeding out from the wounds on my back and neck. Scorpia and Entrapta found me not long after. I owe them my life.” Catra sighs, “Pretty sure I would have been dead if they hadn’t got to me in time.” Catra moves back to the couch and sits on the edge, “Traps still feels really bad about the whole thing, same with Scorp.”
“Why? They didn’t do anything.” Adora reasons.
“As far as Scorp is concerned, all the experiments and trials happened on her watch. She feels guilty that she wasn’t aware of any of these so call cash in hand trials taking place at HT. She only found out when I stabbed Shadow Weaver and an ambulance was sent without her being notified of why. Traps designed the weapons, not realising they were weapons as well as the whatever they were injecting into me.” Catra rubs the forearm of her injured shoulder, “She still feels guilty about everything. Prime had Hordak lie to her about why she was designing weapons and serums.”
“Hang on… Hordak was aware?” Adora cuts in, “If he knew, why is he working with Entrapta?”
“He feels guilty too, about the lying, I guess.” Catra shrugs with her good shoulder, “I’m just… look, I don’t want sympathy or pity. What happened, happened. And if anything, something good came from it. Traps doesn’t build weapons anymore.”
“And the serum?”
“What about it?”
“Is she still… you know?” Adora make a gesture like she was plunging a needle into her arm.
Catra grins, shaking her head, “Not anymore.”
“What does HT really want, Catra?” Adora’s voice lowers, “What is the H Virus, really?”
Catra raises an eyebrow at Adora, “So. We’re finally on the same page, huh?”
Adora moves back to the couch and sits down next to Catra, “I’ve found your mole. Haven’t I?”
“Yes.”
“So… Now I can quit, right?”
Catra nods slowly, “Yes.”
“Then, I quit.” Adora says with an air of finality in her voice, “And you better accept it.”
“I accept it.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
Before Catra could say anything else, Adora pulls Catra into her, pressing their lips together as the blonde tries to release all the emotions she had felt in her body in the last 24 plus hours as she grips tightly onto the front of Catra’s tshirt. As Adora’s hands start to move around Catra’s neck and then runs down to her shoulders, Catra winces a little in pain as Adora’s fingers accidentally rub against her bullet wound.
“Sorry.” Adora pulls back, eyes still closed and foreheads resting upon each others, “I’ve been wanting to do that since I whacked you with the door at the hotel.”
Catra smiles softly back at Adora, “I know. I’ve been waiting patiently.”
Adora sighs, “So? HT is trying to get Entrapta’s designs for weapons and whatever they injected you with?”
“Yep.”
“Does she know that?”
“Nope.”
“Catra!” Adora whines, “Can you stop being so relaxed about all of this?”
“I don’t see a reason to get angry or stressed about it.” Catra returns, “Pretty sure it wouldn’t be good if both of us were stressed.”
“Prime and Shadow Weaver. Are they still in prison?” Adora asks now leaning back against the couch, “Why are they in there?”
“Hordak basically testified against the both of them when everything came to light. It was kept out of the media due to suppression orders and apparently to keep the murdered victims’ families safe.” Catra answers, “They are basically modern terrorists. Shadow Weaver had war crimes from previous charges from before being employed by HT. So it’s no wonder she had such a stellar career at HT as their personal tormentor. Hordak served time as well, but was kept in a different facility to his big bro. I knew Entrapta and him had kept in contact and honestly, wasn’t really surprised when she reached out to him when he was released. I realised after a while that he would never do anything in his power to hurt her. I’m pretty sure whatever it is they have is mutual.”
“But he was in charge when all those… things… were happening.” Adora tries to reason, “He’s just as guilty as the others.”
“Yes. To an extent. Like I said, he served his time.” Catra replied, “But I believe in Traps. And if she says we can trust him, then I’ll take her word for it.”
Finally giving up, Adora sighs as she lets her head roll back so she’s looking up at the ceiling, “Okay. Well, since my job is technically done, I guess I better let my firm know.”
“Uh, can you hold off on that? For a few more days at least?” Catra asks nervously, “I still kind of need you until we get the chip out of Hordak.”
“Is that all?” Adora teases, “I could always find my own replacement, if you actually needed an EA.”
Catra chuckles and shakes her head, “That’s not what I mean, Adora.”
The blonde gives her a confused look, “Then what do you mean?”
“I mean, I still need you.” Catra replies staring into Adora’s eyes intently, “Not just because you are an… adequate EA.” Grinning at Adora’s huff, she continues, “I still need a date for the ball.”
“You still want me to go with you to the DE ball?” Adora asks softly.
Catra nods, “Of course I do. Besides, your investigation isn’t finished yet just because you found our mole.”
“What do you mean?’
“We need to expose HT for what it really is. And we need to prove Prime and Shadow Weaver are behind the H Virus as well as the illegal sale of arms to underground groups.” Catra explains, “Plus I’ll need you and your sparkly friend to convince her mum to open another case or whatever the lawyer speak is on Horde Tech.”
“On what grounds?” Adora frowns, “We don’t have any evidence for that.”
“Not yet.” Catra replies, “Not until we get the chip out of Hordak and Traps can analyse it.”
“Ugh.” Adora groans as she dramatically rests her head into the crook of Catra’s neck, “So we have to keep pretending?”
“You bet, princess.” Catra laughs, “Better rescind your resignation then.”
“Fine.” Adora pouts, “But I want you to know, I’m not happy about this.”
“Me neither.” Catra concedes as she presses a soft kiss onto Adora’s forehead.

“How the fuck did you get a surgical suite set up in your lab, Traps?” Catra walks into white room, thinking that it’s smells like it’s been recently sterilised, “Why the fuck do you even have this room?”
Entrapta walks in, hand in hand with Hordak as she leads him to sit on the bed, “Get comfortable, Hordak.” The scientist walks around the table as Hordak lies back and closes his eyes, he doesn’t even acknowledge anyone in the room, “I asked him not to address anyone or anything in this room. Just in case. I’m pretty sure this rooms walls are thick enough to stop anything from transmitting, but it’s just an extra step.”
Adora pulls out her phone and sure enough, there is no reception. She pops it back into her pocket and stands back against the wall next to Scorpia. Catra just nods for Entrapta to continue on with her surgical procedure.
“Right!” Entrapta claps her hands together, startling everyone including Hordak on the table, “I’m ready to operate!”
Catra steps in when Entrapta is about to cut into Hordak’s arm, quickly pulling the purple haired girl back before she can cut into Hordak, “Traps.”
“What?”
“Are you going to numb his arm or something before you start cutting into him?” Catra asks with a raised eyebrow, “Also, what are you going to about the bleeding?”
“Oh, right!” Entrapta lets go of the scalpel, leaving it to Catra and moving around to grab a few more items, placing them on the small table set up next to the operating table, “I think that’s everything.”
“Do you need help?” Catra offers, placing the scalpel onto the small table along with the new items Entrapta had put on it, “Or is Emily around?”
“Emily is around.” Entrapta replies as she fills a syringe with a clear liquid from a vial before looking down at Hordak, “Hordak! I’m just going to inject you with this numbing agent so you won’t feel a thing while I cut open your arm.”
Adora steps next to Catra and gently nudges her, whispering, “Why does she sound so happy to be cutting him open?”
Catra shrugs her good shoulder, “Better him than me again.”
“Wha…?” Before Adora can finish that thought, Entrapta has injected the numbing agent into Hordak’s arm and moves one of the overhead lamps closer to his arm.
“Emily.” Entrapta calls, “Assistance please.”
Entrapta’s original robot comes into the room and settles next to her, buzzing as Entrapta hums to herself as she begins to make an incision into Hordak’s arm. There’s a click of a voice recorder as Entrapta begins to talk, “Subject has now been injected with the numbing agent. I have tested the area and the subject has no reaction. I will now begin to make an incision in the subject’s forearm, just below the elbow.” Silence rolls around the room until she speaks again, “Incision has been successful. According to the xrays, the chip should be just under this muscle.”
Adora’s eyes keep focussed on whatever Entrapta is doing while Catra rubs her eyes and sighs, leaning against Entrapta’s lab desk not too far away from where they’ve got the operating area set up.
“Emily? Can you please pass me the pliers?” Entrapta asks with her hand out waiting, and when Emiliy drops the tool into Entrapta’s hand, the scientist says a very upbeat, “Thank you!” And then resuming her operation on Hordak, “Hmm…”
“What’s wrong?” Scorpia asks with a worrying tone in her voice, “Is there something wrong?”
“Mmm…no.” Entrapta answers as her gloved fingers begin to search inside Hordak’s arm for the chip, “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just a little deeper than I expected.”
“How deep can it be when it’s in his forearm?” Catra groans, “Surely with your special glasses you’d be able to pin point it’s location.”
The suggestion has Entrapta laughing, “Of course! How could I forget?” Entrapta turns to Scorpia, “Could you please flip my goggles down?”
“Uh, sure.” Scorpia replies, gently moving Entrapta’s goggles off the top of her head and over her eyes, “How’s that, buddy?”
“Great!” Entrapta beams as she goes back to looking at the open wound on Hordak’s arm, “There it is!”
Scorpia and Adora both move in to try and get a look at it, but it’s still buried in Hordak’s flesh as Catra snorts back a laugh at the pair’s eagerness, “She hasn’t got it out yet, she’s just managed to locate it. So you 2 might want to step back a little so she can get it out.”
Both Scorpia and Adora bow their heads in apology to Entrapta, not that Entrapta even cared, she simply just works around the pair until they’ve moved out the way enough so she can fully get back to work.
“I’m not pulling away the muscle and should be able to get a visual on the chip.” Entrapta mutters to herself as Catra decides to lie on top of Entrapta’s desk, feeling bored at the slow process of it all, “I have a visual now. It appears to be in good condition. Now to severe it from the subject’s body.” Entrapta sticks her tongue out in concentration as she tries to extract it from Hordak’s arm. Emily comes beside Entrapta and wipes off the sweat from her brow as the scientist continues to work. “Nearly got it… come on…and… there!”
Entrapta hoists the small chip in the air like a trophy before dropping it into a glass jar a sealing it before moving back to refocus on Hordak. “Emily, pass the suture and needle please?”
Emily moves the needle and string towards Entrapta, who happily takes it begins to hum as she stitches up Hordak.
“I knew I recognised that tune from somewhere.” Catra sits up and stares at Entrapta, “You were humming that when you…” Catra looks at Adora and grimaces, “I mean… uh, yeah. All good.”
Entrapta doesn’t look up until Hordak’s arm is stitched up and the blood no longer flowing out of it, “Scorpia, can you please apply the dressing to Hordak’s arm while I go get cleaned up?”
“Me?!” Scorpia’s voice goes up an octave at the request.
“Yes. You are the best at it.” Entrapta simply says before stopping and tilting her head at Adora, “Actually, I believe Adora may be better…”
“Nope! I got this!” Scorpia interrupts, glaring over at Adora who just steps back in surrender, “Let me just grab some gloves and I’ll get right on it.”
“Okay!” Entrapta beams, “I’ll be back to analyse the chip.”
Entrapta and Emily both walk out the room as Scorpia begins to apply the dressing to Hordak’s arm as he remains completely unaffected by anything that’s happened so far. His eyes remain closed as he breathes in and out silently. Catra comes along side Scorpia to inspect her friend’s handiwork.
“Nice work, Scorp.” Catra pats her friend on the shoulder, “Reckon you can redo mine later?”
On the other side, Adora huffs in discontent as both Catra and Scorpia look up to her. The blonde turns away and pretends to be interested in her shoes.
“Something wrong, Adora?” Catra asks with a smirk.
“Nope.” Adora answers a little irritated, “I don’t care.”
Watching the blonde fold her arms crossly in front of her chest, Scorpia nudges Catra playfully, earning her an eyeroll from her boss, “You know what? I think I’m going to be busy later. Maybe Adora can do it for you?”
Adora instantly looks up when she hears Scorpia suggest it, “I mean, I don’t mind…” The blonde glances over at Catra and then back down at her feet, “If you want me to.”
Catra grins as she walks over to the blonde, leaning in slightly, “I want you to. Please.”
“Okay.” Adora replies with a small smile on her lips, “I can do that.”
Just as Catra is about to make another quip, Hordak sits up from the table, “Can you 2 cut that out please? It’s bad enough you’re her boss.”
Catra glares at him for a moment before breaking out into a laugh, “Come on, Hordak.” Catra walks back to the table where he is still sitting on as Scorpia finishes up bandaging up his forearm, “Whatever you think is going on between us, is not what you think. Unlike what actually happened between you and Entrapta, if I may remind you was definitely not above board.”
He glares at her, baring his teeth a little and ready to get into a shouting match with Catra when Entrapta returns, “Oh! Good, you’re up! How’s the arm?”
Hordak’s facial expression softens when he catches eye of Entrapta, no longer angry as he smiles at her, “It’s good. Thank you.”
“Great!” Entrapta pushes herself between Catra and Hordak, grabbing his arm gently to inspect Scorpia bandaging, “Still numb?”
He nods.
“Any other side effects?” she asks as she releases his arm.
Hordak shakes his head.
“Great!” Entrapta repeats, “Are you ready to help me study the chip that was implanted in your arm?”
“Yes.” He answers, “I would very much like to see what it is and what it does.”
“Great!”
“Great.” Catra replies, “Let us know what you come back with, alright?”
“Sure thing!” Entrapta waves off the rest of the group, “We’ll be busy for the next few hours!”
“Working, right?” Catra asks with a smug grin that goes over the head of Entrapta but not Hordak who just glares back at her, “Okay, good. Let’s go.”

Scorpia says her goodbyes and heads out of DE while Catra holds the door open for Adora on the lift to head back to Catra’s office.
“Reckon they’ll find anything?” Adora asks when the lift starts moving. Catra doesn’t respond with anything but just a smile and then goes back to watching the numbers go up, “Oh, that’s right. You don’t like talking business in the elevators.”
Catra nods once and resumes watching the increasing numbers.
The doors open and Catra gestures for Adora to step out first, following her closely behind and then heading into the reception area where Adora’s desk is located.
“Sorry about that.” Catra sighs, “But yeah, not fond of talking serious stuff in the elevator.”
Adora nods as she heads towards the ‘Supplies’ door, “Well?”
“Well, what?” Catra asks raising her eyebrow, “You want to go into my place again?”
“Yes. I need to redress your shoulder.” Adora rolls her eyes, “I mean, if we happen to make out, well so be it.”
Catra chuckles as she shakes her head and digs out her keys from her pocket, tossing them over to Adora, “Okay. I guess my wound does need to be redressed.”
Adora catches the keys and grins at Catra, before turning around to unlock the door, holding it open so the CEO can walk through. Once they are both inside, Catra flicks on the lights, “Hold on, let me just close the curtains.”
“Okay.” Adora leans back against the door watching Catra move to the windows and pull the curtain shut. Adora pouts a little, “Awe, now we can’t see the lights.”
Catra shakes her head at Adora, “You can open the curtains after I’m not half naked in my place.”
“Oh, right.” Adora sheepishly replies, “I guess that would be a bad thing, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m not much into exhibitionism.” Catra moves to her couch and sits, “The first aid stuff is in the kitchen, under the sink.”
Adora nods and moves to retrieve it and then setting it up on the coffee table, taking a seat next to Catra, “Shirt. Off.”
Catra shakes her head with a chuckle, “Again, princess?”
“Yes.” Adora deadpans, “Stop getting hurt and I won’t have to keep asking you.”
“Help with my sling?” Catra glances at the material, “I’m glad my legs aren’t getting injured or you’d want my pants off too.”
“I’m not even going to respond to that.” Adora sticks her tongue at her as she helps untie the sling, placing it on the coffee table, “Do you want help with your shirt too?”
“If you want to.” Catra replies with a smirk.
“Fine. I’ll help you.” Adora says like it’s going to be hard work, Catra does nothing to help, not even lifting her good arm, “Okay, you need to like, move your arm up so I can pull it over your head.”
“Sure.” Catra raises her good arm and Adora swiftly pulls the hem of her tshirt up before carefully sliding it off her injured arm, “Better?”
“Better.” Adora puts the shirt on the couch next to her as Catra leans forward so Adora can get a good look at the bandaging. “I’m going to take it off so I can get a good look under, okay?”
“Go for it.” Catra replies looking around for her tv remote, “Do you mind if I put something on to watch?”
Adora shakes her head, “It’s fine.”
Catra turns on her tv on and starts flipping around the channels until she settles on a movie, “Oh, I love this movie!”
Looking up from Catra’s shoulder, Adora tilts her head, “Jurassic Park?”
“Yeah.” Catra grins and leans forward more so she can get into it, “The first ones the best. The second movie was good too, but not as good as this one.”
“Uh huh.” Adora replies as she peels back the old dressing carefully, “Oh, can I grab a bag or something to put the old bandages in?”
“Sure.” Catra gets up but is pulled back down by Adora, “What?”
“I can get it. You stay put.” The blonde tells her off, “Just tell me where.”
Catra huffs, “In the kitchen, where you found the first aid kit.”
“Thanks. Go back to watching your movie.” Adora says as she gets up to retrieve a bag, “I’ll be back.”
Too engrossed in the movie, Catra just mumbles a reply back. Adora returns and places the old soiled bandages into the bag, her fingers making quick work of redressing the wound and in no time, she’s done. She balls up Catra’s tshirt and shoves it into the CEO’s lap trying to get her attention.
“This is the best part.” Catra whispers to Adora, keeping her tshirt in her hands and not putting it back on, because that is so not distracting to Adora now that she doesn’t have a job to focus on, “Can you believe they didn’t bring the Dilophosaurus back until Dominion?”
Adora turns to face the screen to see what Catra’s talking about and startles at the jump scare when the Dilo’s frills come out and it spits into Nedry’s face. Catra turns to the blonde with a confused look on her face.
“What?” Adora tries to pretend she did not just fall for the jump scare of a movie over 20 years old.
“Have you seen this movie before?” Catra asks in a low voice.
“Bits of it…?” Adora answers in almost a whisper, “Just, not the whole thing… or the part after the Brontosaurus appears…”
“Brachiosaurus.” Catra corrects.
“Whatever…”
“Nope. We have to watch this from the start to finish.” Catra reaches for the remote, this time switching it to one of the streaming services she has and selecting the movie, “Uh… do you want to watch it here or in my bedroom?”
Adora raises her eyebrow, “Are you going to put your shirt back on?”
“You could take yours off, if you want.” Catra suavely says, smirking before chuckling at Adora’s reaction, “It’s fine. I’ll put my shirt on.” She gets up off the couch and takes a look at her newly redressed wound, “Great work, princess.” Before dropping her voice down again, “Don’t tell Scorp.”
Adora leans back and laughs, “I think she’s okay with me patching you up. Since she basically pulled out of the running before. I think she knows something.”
“Well, duh.” Catra grins, “I think we’ve been pretty obvious that even Hordak basically told us to get a room.”
Blushing, Adora lightly shoves Catra’s good shoulder, “Bedroom?”
“Whatever you want, princess.” Catra replies as she leads Adora into her bedroom, “Do you want a change of clothes? I’d rather you didn’t get into my bed with your day clothes on.”
“Hey! I got into your bed the other day.” Adora pouts before she realises that she was down to her smalls that day, “Oh, uh, clothes. Yeah, that’d be nice.”
“Fantastic.” Catra grins, “One hoodie and a pair of my baggy sweats coming right up.”
Adora smiles as she watches Catra one handedly pull out some clothes for Adora, tossing them to the blonde before pulling out her some clothes for herself. “Thanks.” Adora holds the clothes close to herself, “I’m just going to go get changed.”
Nodding, Catra strips off her pants and pulls up her pajama pants and then slips on a long sleeve tee before stepping out of the bedroom, “You want something to drink?”
“Water?”
“Sure. Be right back.” Catra shuts the door as she heads to the kitchen while Adora quickly gets changed.
When she’s done, she opens the door and sees Catra in the kitchen, filling up a second glass and wiping her mouth, clearly having sculled the first one. She walks over to Catra and picks up the untouched glass, “Thank you.”
“Woah! Slow down there, princess.” Catra laughs as Adora chugs the water down, wiping her mouth afterwards, “You want more?”
“Yes, please.” Adora breathes a little heavier, “I don’t think I drank enough today.”
“Yeah, you gotta hydrate, babe.” Catra stills, “Fuck… sorry, I wasn’t… I didn’t mean…”
Adora leans in, pressing a kiss on Catra’s lips, “I like it.”
“Uh, yeah…” Catra pulls back with a nervous chuckle and rubbing the back of her neck, “Should we… movie?”
Adora smiles softly at Catra as she leans in again and kisses her again, “You’re cute when you ramble.”
Rolling her eyes and trying to act cool, Catra grabs one of the glasses, “Come on. I want to watch this movie with you.”
“Okay.” Adora picks up her glass and follows Catra back to the bedroom, climbing on the bed and under the blankets on the side she was on a few days ago as Catra turns on the tv and gets the movie set up. She steps out and turns the lights off outside and then closes the bedroom door, flicking the lights off in there too.
“Can you turn on the table lamp next to you?” Catra asks as she slides under the blankets, “Just a warning, I might fall asleep.”
Adora nods, “Are you okay if I stay here tonight?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Catra replies as she presses play on the movie, “I like having you in my bed. It’s nice.”
“Oh.” Adora says softly, “I can sleep on the couch or something…”
“No, Adora.” Catra looks over at the blonde, “If I make you so uncomfortable, I can move to the couch. You’re my guest, after all.”
“Catra, no.” Adora huffs, “I’m not letting you sleep on the couch if your shoulder is still not healed.”
“Then it’s settled.” Catra says with an air of finality, “Just stay. This bed is huge anyways.”
Adora sighs, “Okay.”
“Good. Now, come on, Jophery is about to get attacked.” Catra settles back into the bed and turns the volume up a little more.
“I’ve seen this part, Catra.” Adora groans, wincing at the scene where the gatekeeper is being pulled into the raptor pen. She’s about to protest watching this movie but seeing the joy on Catra’s face makes her think twice about complaining. Instead, she leans in closer to Catra so that their shoulders are rubbing, “I get why you have dino pasta now.”
Catra chuckles at Adora’s memory, “Yep, I love dino’s.” As she finishes that statement, Catra pulls her arm up and over Adora’s shoulder, pulling the blonde in closer to her.
“Smooth…” Adora rolls her eyes but has a wide grin on her face, “How long have you been waiting to pull that one?”
Catra just grins, “I don’t need to pull any moves. I’m pretty sure you are more than willing anyways.”
Resting her head on Catra’s good shoulder, Adora sighs happily, “Yeah, I am.”
“Not long until this whole mole thing is over. Once Traps does her analysing thing, we’ll be in the clear.” Catra whispers while keeping her eyes on the screen, “I can’t wait to have you hanging off my arm and kiss you in front of everyone.”
Adora blushes at that thought, she’s not really one for PDA but she really wants to do all of that with Catra, “I can’t wait until the DE ball.”
“Ugh…” Catra grumbles, “Don’t remind me…”
“Why? You’re going to look cute in a tux.”
“Tux? I thought I was just going to be in a suit.” Catra grins.
“Whichever one.” Adora waves her hand, “I just want to see what you look like dressed up.”
“Mmhm…” Catra replies pulling Adora in even tighter, “When is that again?”
“I’ll remind you.” Adora yawns, “I think I’m going to fall asleep watching this movie too…”
Catra chuckles, “We can always try again if we both fall asleep.”
“Mm…” Adora’s eyes close as she nestles into Catra’s side, “Yeah…”
Pressing a soft kiss on Adora’s forehead, Catra returns to the movie and smiles before whispering, “Not long now.”