Work Text:
Cat Grant is all sharp lines and rough edges. Years of pressure made Cat hard, much like a diamond. She sparkles and shines, but her smile is predatory instead of genuine. Her buffer is harsh words and harsher glares.
But there was something in her look, something soft, something that reminded Kara of… Alex? Kara didn't really get it.
The lines around Cat's eyes would relax and her shoulders slipped down from their broadened position (she might be tiny, but, Rao could Cat take over a room with just a change of stance). That relaxation usually only happened when they were alone. Sometimes Kara would meet Cat's eyes and that was all it took.
Her heartbeat would slow too, just a tiny bit, but noticeably enough. She'd pace less when Kara was in her office, curse less too.
It wasn't Kara who really noticed first. It was James. He'd request that Kara be there for meetings between himself and Cat. Notetaking, fact checking, whatever fake reason he gave, Cat was always more compliable with Kara around.
Kara would mimic Cat's posture too. Ever adept at blending, she'd reflect Cat's mood. James would say something off just to watch Cat frown and Kara mimic.
It was cute.
Winn never noticed.
But others did. The Director of Sales, Tonya, asked for Kara's assistance with calendar checking in meetings. Though, in all honesty, she just liked the looks Cat would shoot Kara.
All that softness, and Kara would return them, just as soft. Tonya was a sucker for cheesy romances and nothing was more cliched than a boss falling for her assistant. Well, besides the assistant falling right back.
Besides, Tonya liked Kara and hell, if the girl could nab Cat Grant, good for her. And Kara’d watched her kid more than once, she owed her.
So sending Kara a meeting request so she'd be in Cat's office, just to apologize and never show up…? Well, Kara never left Cat's office immediately and Tonya never got in trouble for the dropped meetings.
The mail carrier, Amal, had worked for CatCo for nearly seven years. He'd never seen Cat so… manageable. The 40th floor was never as calm as when Kara Danvers was in the office.
He watched as Kara carefully opened every package near a window. Watched Cat watch Kara when he brought a large package. He knew concern when he saw it.
Kara never noticed those looks from Cat, she was already attempting to pick out any trace smells of chemicals as Amal walked in every day. She didn't X-ray the elevator that often but she didn't want anyone hurt.
Cat always was a tad chippier when Kara brought the mail. That was probably because everyone liked getting mail… right?
Of course, rumors are oft to spread. With every quiet moment the two spent on the balcony, another bet was placed on when they'd get together. Every time Kara and Cat broke the ‘don't touch the boss’ rule, another guess at who would initiate the relationship was passed around the office.
Nobody could agree on which woman would finally cave. Cat wouldn't be caught dead taking advantage of an employee, but Kara… well, she didn't seem particularly adept at taking action.
Hell, Cat said she was leaving and hugged Kara in her fishbowl office! If ever there was a time to act, that would've been it. Tonya even ran up a flight of stairs when she got the text from Claudia from accounting who was in the area by sheer happenstance.
But, apparently, even a teary-eyed “chop chop” didn't kick the girl into gear.
And then Cat left and everyone watched Kara Danvers fall apart.
Until Cat came back. Came back dragging Kara Danvers up to her office where James, not even against his own will, was evicted immediately.
“What the fuck, Kara?”
And Cat is sharp lines and rough edges that Kara has not seen in over three years.
She'd given the girl everything, the keys to the kingdom! She'd put James in charge, someone who'd always be in Kara’s corner, just like she'd promised, and what had Kara done?
She'd thrown it all away because she couldn't find another source! Absurd! Ridiculous! Bullshit!
And these are the words Cat hurled at Kara. Hurled with all her disappointment while The Peons watched through those glass walls. No one took bets, they just waited with bated breath.
“I hold you to a higher standard and you crumble! You are the Girl of Steel! What the fuck happened, Kara?”
And there was the concern. That softness slipping in and everyone could see it but the girl with tears in her eyes.
“Nothing makes sense without you here!”
And she crumbled, the months far too much, and Cat followed because she was diamond hard for everything but her sons and this woman she'd run from.
There, on the couch, it all spilled out. The backs she'd seen over and over, her rock, Alex, finally finding happiness, and the only one still around just a boy with no real love to give.
“Kara, Kara I told you you'd always have a place with me.”
The bets aren't settled then. Kara had a blog to stall on, a contract to sign. An apology to give to a mentor who'd just started to root for her.
And Cat, Cat had a man with a hero complex to straighten out.
“You can be a hero in spandex all you want but not if it comes at the expense of my company!”
No the bets aren't settled then. But later, with the fishbowl doors open and a breeze from the balcony, they're settled in the most unlikely way.
A package from Amal. Oblong and handed over to Cat directly, a minor misstep by the newest assistant.
It reeked of gunpowder when the breeze paused for a moment. But a moment was all Kara needed to slip her hand over Cat's, turn from the glass walls, and cover the small explosion with her body.
Luckily, she was fast enough to the balcony that no one was any wiser to the situation. And it was Tonya who had a lunch meeting with them both.
So it was Tonya who watched both women scamper to the balcony and it was Tonya who ran just in time to watch Kara's lips through the glass.
Lips that said something like, “I'd never let anything happen to you” before they were pulled against Cat's. She watched Cat's fingers tangle in blonde hair and didn't even notice the blackened remains of Kara's shirt front.
How could she when she was so busy snapping photos to send to Claudia?
She walked over just in time to watch Kara's shirt slip from her shoulders and somehow miss the banister railing to flutter off into the breeze. But neither woman seemed to notice and Tonya had money to collect anyway, she could miss out on another meeting.
She'd never gotten in trouble in the past, she certainly wouldn't today.
Because Cat Grant, covered in diamond skin and spiteful words, looked so, so soft wrapped up in Kara Danvers’ arms.