Chapter Text
“Kara!” She glances up at the sound of her name, not immediately recognising the voice, and when she turns her head to the side to see Carter Grant beaming at her she feels an answering smile tug at her lips. She hasn’t seen him since her disastrous weekend babysitting attempt, but she would’ve been willing to watch him for another night, had Cat asked, because once the whole train crisis had been averted she’d had fun.
She’s so surprised to see him at CatCo that it takes her a moment to notice that something’s off, but she frowns when she notices the split lip and the faint flush of red across one of Carter’s cheeks, the hint of the beginning of a bruise starting to show beneath.
“Hey, buddy.” Her eyes scan across the rest of his face, searching for any other signs of damage. “What are you doing here?”
“I got sent home from school.” He glances down at the floor and scuffs at it with his shoe – Kara glances over his head and sees that Cat is on the phone in her office, jaw set in annoyance and her eyes tightly closed, fingers pressing into her temple and Kara doesn’t need superhearing to know that whoever is on the other end of the line is getting an earful.
She’d only just slipped back to her desk when Carter had surprised her, an emergency alien situation requiring her assistance and she hopes that Cat hadn’t had too many questions about her absence, because otherwise she’s going to be next on Cat’s hit list and with how furious she looks right now Kara knows that that won’t be a fun way to spend her afternoon.
“Why?”
“I got into a fight.” Carter’s bottom lip juts out, still refusing to look Kara in the eye and her frown deepens, because that doesn’t sound like him at all.
“What happened?” She asks gently, wanting to reach out and tilt his head up to meet her gaze but unsure how he’ll react. “You know you can tell me, right? I won’t tell your Mom.”
“But she’s your boss.” He glances up, briefly, darting his eyes from Kara to Cat’s office.
“I can keep a secret,” Kara whispers conspiratorially, and Carter bites at his bottom lip for a long moment, looking deep in thought before he takes a step closer to Kara’s desk.
“There are some kids at school,” he starts, eyes darting away one again as he fidgets with his hands. “They’re not… very nice to me.” Kara feels anger flood through her at that, because she knows from experience how cruel children can be, and she loathes the thought of Carter being bullied. “But today I thought… I wondered what Supergirl would do if she was there and I… I stood up for myself.” He finally meets Kara’s eyes then, and smiles a sad little smile. “They didn’t like that very much.”
“Oh, Carter.” Her heart aches with sympathy for him, because he’s such a good, sweet kid and he doesn’t deserve this. “Have you told anyone about this? Is there anyone you can talk to at school?”
“No-one that listens.” He sighs and glances towards Cat. “My Mom kept ringing up the school but they never did anything about it and it just made it worse so I told her that it stopped and I think she believed me until today.”
“You shouldn’t have to put up with this, there must be something - ”
“Please don’t,” he cuts her off, voice pleading. “You sound like my Mom. I just… I just want to forget about it. Please?” Kara’s never been good at letting things go, but he’s staring up at her with wide, earnest eyes.
“Okay,” she agrees, a little reluctantly. “But first,” she continues, watching his face fall a little. “I want to teach you something. C’mere.” She takes his hand and leads him down the hall – she glances up to see Cat watching them go with narrowed eyes and swallows hard because she’s pretty sure if Cat finds out what she’s about to do she’ll be murdered but… Carter should at the very least know how to defend himself, just in-case anything like this ever happens again. She finds an empty office (one of the many victims of one of Cat’s firing rampages that she was prone to go on at least once a month) and ushers Carter inside.
“What are you doing?” He asks, blinking up at her curiously.
“I’m going to show you how to dodge a punch,” she replies as she shuts the door behind them, watching his eyes widen with excitement. “Just in-case you ever need to.”
“Can you show me how to throw one, too?” She fiddles with her glasses as she debates that, because she’s pretty sure Cat might actually kill her but then she thinks of the snotty faces of the kids that had tries to pick on her in high school and remembers how satisfying it had been when Alex had punched them all in the face for messing with her sister.
“Okay, but you can’t tell your Mom, you hear me? She’ll fire me.”
“I won’t, I promise!” Kara’s not entirely sure it’s one he’s going to keep but she resigns herself to it anyway, telling herself it’ll be worth it if Carter can hold his own next time. She shows him how to dodge, first, telling him over and over again how important it is to always run if he can and only fight back if it’s his only alternative before she shows him how to throw a decent punch.
“Make sure your thumb’s on the outside,” she cautions as he makes a fist. “Stand with your feet a little bit apart, that’s right, and then you just wanna put as much weight behind it as you can.” She steers well clear of his reach on the off-chance that he might collide with her and break something (she’ll definitely be worse than dead if she returns Cat’s son to her injured). He’s a quick study, and after only a few minutes Kara is confident that his bullies will be getting a surprise they next time they try to pick on Carter Grant.
Of course, it’s as he’s dancing around the room pretending to box an invisible opponent for Kara’s enjoyment that the door clicks open behind them, and Kara curses herself because she should have been keeping an ear out but she’d been distracted and now Cat Grant is standing in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest and an immaculate eyebrow raised questioningly.
“Tell me, Kiera,” she begins, voice still tight with the rage she’d been directing towards the school board just a few moments ago, “am I paying you to be my assistant, or am I paying you to teach my son how to perpetuate violence?”
“I… um, I’m s-sorry, Miss Grant, I just - ”
“Just what?” Cat snaps, rolling her eyes at Kara’s stammering. “Just thought you’d fancy yourself a parent for the afternoon?”
“N-no, I - ”
“I asked her to, Mom.” Carter comes to her rescue, appearing at Kara’s side and looking up at his Mom with wide eyes. “It’s not her fault.”
“Kiera is perfectly capable of refusing to give in to the whims of a thirteen year old,” Cat huffs, eyes still on Kara’s face and Kara feels trapped beneath the weight of them, heavy and furious.
“I can be very persuasive.” Cat’s eyes soften, just the tiniest bit, as they flicker down to her son’s. “Don’t be mad at her, Mom. She was just trying to help, and she only told me to use it as a last resort.”
“I just thought that he should be able to defend himself,” Kara adds quietly, glancing down at the now-purpling skin of his cheek.
“Yes, well, hopefully that won’t be necessary.” Cat’s mouth downturns at the corners as her eyes linger on Carter’s cheek before she blinks and her mask of indifference is back in place. “Kiera, you have layouts to do – don’t think I didn’t notice your little disappearing act - ” Kara flushes a little, knowing that Cat’s suspicions about her identity are yet to be completely alleviated. “I still expect them on my desk tonight before you leave.”
“Yes, Miss Grant.”
“Mom, can Kara come over for dinner?” Kara had been about to slip past Cat and out of the room to return to her desk, but at his words she falters, hands immediately raising to fiddle with her glasses as she watches Cat’s reaction carefully.
“I’m sure Kiera has better things to do this evening, Carter. Like get my layouts done.”
“Please?” Carter pleads, the hint of a whine in his voice. “I’ve missed her, and she was really good at Settlers of Catan and - ”
“Fine,” Cat huffs out, and Kara doesn’t know who’s more surprised – Cat, who looks like she can barely believe the word has escaped her mouth, or Kara, who can only stare at Cat, taken aback. “If she finishes the layouts and if she’d like to come… I suppose I’ll allow it.” Cat’s eyes find Kara’s and she wishes more than anything that could read the emotion swirling in their dark depths – she can’t for the life of her tell if Cat wants her to lie and say she already has plans.
“I…” She starts, a refusal ready on her lips – but then she sees Carter, looking up at her with hopeful eyes and she breathes out a sigh, too quiet for the others to hear. “I’d love to.”
x-x-x
Kara hovers awkwardly outside the front door of Cat’s apartment later that night, a bottle of wine clutched in her hands as she waits anxiously for it to open. It was probably a bad idea for her to come here tonight – she should have just called to say she couldn’t make it, because then she wouldn’t have to face Carter’s crestfallen face and she would’ve survived the night intact.
Because Kara’s not entirely sure she can survive dinner with Cat. Because she may or may not think that her boss is really freaking hot and it’s a lot easier to forget about that when she’s being ordered around the office or fetching coffee and lunches or being yelled at for not doing her job well enough than it is when she’s alone with the woman and her son in their huge apartment.
So she really should have said no, and maybe there’s still time for her to get the hell out of there – but then the door is being pulled open and Kara’s breath catches when she sees Cat standing on the other side.
She’s still wearing the same skirt as she had at work (it rides up her thighs when she crosses her legs in the most distracting of ways), but she’s changed into a different blouse, a dangerous extra button undone that gives Kara a tempting view of the cleavage beneath (cleavage that she realises she’s staring at when she hears Cat clear her throat, and she flushes, fumbling with the wine and nearly dropping it to the floor as she turns her gaze away and sheepishly meets Cat’s eye).
“I didn’t realise you owned clothing that wasn’t hideous,” is how Cat greets her, and Kara’s pretty sure that’s the closest thing to a compliment that Cat has ever given her. She’d chosen the dress on a whim, a deep purple that hugs her in all the right places, and Cat’s gaze is appreciative as it flickers across her body, making Kara’s flush deepen. “Come in.”
“Hi, Kara!” Carter greets, bouncing over to her as Cat takes the bottle of wine from Kara’s hand and stalks towards the kitchen. His cheek has already bruised, nearly matching the shade of her dress, but he shows no sign of discomfort as he reaches for her hand and pulls her over to the couch, Settlers of Catan already set out on the coffee table.
“Give the girl a chance to get settled, Carter,” Cat chastises from behind them, appearing around the side of the couch a moment later, wordlessly offering Kara a glass of the wine she’d brought with her.
“Sorry,” Carter says with a sheepish grin, shaking his head in an attempt to stop his hair falling into his eyes.
“It’s okay,” Kara replies with a reassuring smile as she reaches for the wine and takes a sip. “Unless you need any help with dinner, Miss Grant?”
“You’re in my home, Kara,” Cat murmurs, hands on her hips, and Kara tries to ignore the thrill that goes through her at the sound of Cat saying her name. “I’m just Cat to you here. And no, I’ll be fine – you two go ahead.”
Carter dives straight into the game as Cat returns to the kitchen, the clinking of pans and plates filtering through to Kara’s ears along with the sound of Cat humming quietly along to the radio, making her smile.
She’s always loved board games, and this one is no exception, though she has to bite down her competitive streak for Carter’s sake (she can get a little carried away – once she’d nearly destroyed a monopoly board with her heat vision, and she hasn’t been allowed to play it since).
She’s losing a little miserably by the time Cat calls out that the food’s ready (‘maybe you just had beginner’s luck, last time,’ Carter tells her with a cheeky grin, and Kara lets out an outraged gasp and vows to kick his ass, gently).
“What are we having?” Kara asks as she follows Carter into the dining room, and sliding into the seat opposite him, with Cat at the head of the table.
“Chicken parmesan,” Carter chirps happily as Cat sets a plate down in-front of the both of them before taking her seat and raising her glass to her lips. “Mom said it was your favourite.” Cat chokes a little on her wine and Kara eyes her curiously because it is one of her favourites but she has no idea how Cat would know that.
Cat refuses to look her in the eye, and Kara doesn’t miss the smug little smirk that Carter’s trying to hide, and wonders if she’s missing something.
“Well, it looks amazing.”
“Of course it does, I made it,” Cat says dryly, and Kara grins as she digs in. It tastes as good as it looks, and Kara wonders if she can get Carter to invite her around more often because as much as she loves food she’s never been an amazing cook, and she’s glad she has super metabolism because she’s pretty sure that without it, with the amount of take-out she eats, that she’d be about a hundred pounds heavier than she is now.
“That was incredible, Miss Grant,” Kara murmurs when she’s finished, leaning back in her chair. “Cat,” she corrects when Cat throws her a pointed glare. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Kara.” Cat’s on her second glass of wine and looks a little more relaxed – Kara knows she’s a lightweight and wonders if she should subtly tell her to slow down. “You’re actually not bad company.”
“Thanks?”
“That was meant as a compliment,” Carter translates, cheerfully. “Sometimes she’s bad at expressing herself,” he whispers that part to Kara even though Cat is still very much in earshot, and Kara shoots her boss a nervous glance but Cat’s just narrowing her eyes at the side of her son’s head.
“What have I told you,” Cat cautions, though there’s very little malice in her tone, “about - ”
“Being cheeky?” He finishes with a grin. “To watch it.”
“Mm, and what do you think you’re doing right now?” Kara watches them with interest, as Cat rests her elbow on the table and settles her chin in the palm of her hand – she’s never really seen them interact before, and it’s really kind of fascinating to see her boss in such a new light.
“Just trying to help you out, Mom.” Cat’s eyes narrow until they’re barely slits, and Carter grins at the slightly murderous look on his mother’s face.
“Go,” is all Cat says though, waving a hand at him to shoo him away. “Before you make me regret keeping you.” Carter just snickers before climbing to his feet and practically skipping out of the room, and Kara watches him go with a smile playing at the edges of her lips.
“He seems… different.”
“He’s always been more at ease when he’s around me,” Cat replies softly, eyes still on the doorway her son had just disappeared through.
“He’s a good kid.”
“Yes, he is.” Cat rises to her feet, gathering up the dishes and Kara grabs whatever she can’t, following her into the kitchen. “You don’t have to do that, Kara,” Cat chastises, batting Kara’s hands away as she sets the dishes down. “You’re not my assistant here.”
“I know, but I’d like to help.”
“It’s fine, go and carry on your game.”
“To be honest with you, there isn’t much of a game. I’m losing. Miserably.”
“I thought you were supposed to be good at it?” Cat asks, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Have we finally found your weakness?”
“W-weakness? What do you mean? I have… I have tons of weaknesses.” She doesn’t – there’s only two that she can think of. One of them is standing before her with twinkling eyes and a smiling mouth, and the other is Kryptonite.
“No, you don’t.” Kara hands Cat dishes as she begins to load the dishwasher. “I don’t think there’s a single task I’ve given you as my assistant that you haven’t managed to do. Some jobs, admittedly, are done better than others, but still.”
“I’m just… good at my job, I guess.”
“Mm.” Cat straightens up as she closes the dishwasher, hands on her hips as her eyes meet Kara’s, more serious, now. “Because there’s nothing… super about you, is there?” Kara’s jaw clenches as she swallows, hard, aware of Cat’s unwavering gaze.
“Nope. Nothing at all.” Cat just hums to herself before she turns and makes her way over to where Carter’s curled up on the couch, snatching up her glass as she goes, Kara trailing along in her wake. She tuts as she stands over the board.
“Oh, dear, there really is no salvaging this, is there?”
“I told you.”
“You should help her, Mom,” Carter urges, and Kara sees the way Cat deliberately catches his eye, knows that she’s saying something to him without a word and wishes she had J’onn’s ability to read minds. “She needs it.”
“I really do,” Kara adds, because otherwise there’s very little point in them carrying on, and Cat finally agrees with a long-suffering sigh, sitting delicately down on the couch and leaving enough space for Kara to perch beside her.
Not even Cat can help her win, though she certainly enjoys trying, and Kara thinks that Cat may be even more competitive than she is.
“We should play something else,” Carter says when he eventually, inevitably wins. “You can pick, Kara.”
“Well, what do you guys have?” Carter opens a cabinet in the corner of the room to reveal a rather impressive array of board games (even more than Kara herself has, and that’s saying something), and she whistles quietly as she scans the titles. “Ooh, Scrabble?”
“Ugh, no,” Carter vetoes, scrunching his nose up in distaste. “It’s my Mom’s favourite, and she wins every time. Every. Time.”
“I bet I could give her a run for her money.” It escapes her without her giving it much thought, because she’s the Scrabble champ of games night, and she realises too late who she’s said it to, watches Cat raise a brow and wonders if she’s about to get yelled at.
“Is that a challenge?” She asks, and Kara swears that there’s a suggestive undertone to Cat’s voice, then promptly tells herself that she’s imaging it.
“Um, maybe?” There’s a dangerous glint in Cat’s eyes that makes her phrase it as a question.
“Oh, you are on.” Cat sets her wine glass down delicately, like she’s worried it’s going to interfere with her chances of winning. “Later, Danvers, you are going down.” Kara’s eyes widen a little and she hopes that Cat doesn’t notice.
“O-okay.” Cat holds her gaze for another long moment before she blinks and looks away, and Kara feels a little shaky, turns back to Carter who’s watching them and shaking his head disbelievingly.
She eventually settles on Clue (which Cat wins, much to both Carter’s and Kara’s dismay), before they have dessert (probably the best chocolate cake she has ever eaten – and she has eaten a lot in her lifetime – another one of her favourites that she’s never once told Cat about).
After that they play a final game of Settlers of Catan (which Carter wins, and Kara just becomes more determined to win at Scrabble so that the whole night hasn’t been a complete failure), before Cat shoos a protesting Carter off to bed, telling him he’s already stayed up well past his bedtime.
Kara watches the two of them disappear down the hall and runs a fingertip around the rim of her wine glass as she waits for Cat to return – when she does she heads straight for the cabinet and tugs out the Scrabble box from halfway down the pile.
Kara really tries not to admire the way her skirt stretches tight over her ass as she bends down, revealing that she’s wearing a thong beneath it that Kara’s pretty sure she’s going to be dreaming about later that night.
She’s also pretty sure, judging from the smirk that graces Cat’s lips when she turns around, that she’s noticed her staring, but Kara can’t even have the grace to look embarrassed because Cat is hot and she knows it.
“Sure you’re up for this?” Cat asks as she folds herself back against the arm of the couch that Carter had claimed earlier, popping the lid of the box and handing Kara one of the racks within, which she angles carefully so that it’s out of Cat’s line of sight.
“Yep.” She’s pretty sure she’s not, because she’s acutely aware of the fact that she’s alone with her boss in her apartment and there are actually much more… interesting things that she might want to be doing on this couch but Kara isn’t going to voice a single one of those things aloud.
Of all the ways she imaged her day ending when she’d stepped off the CatCo elevator that morning, playing board games on Cat Grant’s couch hadn’t even been within the realm of possibility.
Cat shakes the bag, letters safely inside, before offering it to Kara. She fills up her glass once they’d both got a full set of seven, Cat having brought the bottle over earlier.
“Aren’t you afraid that that’s going to affect your chances of winning?” Cat asks, an almost playful lilt to her voice – Kara thinks that this may be the most relaxed she’s ever seen her.
“I can handle my alcohol,” she murmurs around the rim as she lifts it to her lips, and Cat tuts as she leans back in her chair, arms folding across her chest.
“And we both know that I cannot so you can finish that bottle on your own. Oh, what I’d give to be twenty four again,” she says, a little wistfully, and Kara tries to image what a twenty four year old Cat Grant would have looked like.
She probably shouldn’t have imaged that.
Actually, no, scratch that – she definitely shouldn’t have imaged that.
“You don’t,” Kara replies once she’s managed to get her mind out of the gutter. “It sucks.”
“How on earth does it, as you so eloquently put, ‘suck’? You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”
“Yeah, but I don’t exactly have my life together, either. Not like you do. You’ve got an amazing job, an amazing company, and a great son, too. You have it all.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she murmurs quietly, running her thumb absently over the back of her ring finger, where Kara knew a ridiculously expensive wedding and engagement ring had once sat. “And I didn’t have any of those things when I was your age, Kara. I had a baby that I didn’t know what to do with and an internship that I hated.”
“I know,” she shrugs, because she can scarcely image all the crap Cat has had to go through to get to where she is today. “But that’s what I mean – don’t be so eager to trade places.”
“And get a body back like that one?” Her eyes scan Kara’s figure appreciatively, and she flushes furiously under the scrutiny. “I’d take that chance in a heartbeat.”
“What? But you’re so… so p-retty.” It’s not the adjective that had immediately sprung to mind (that had been ‘freaking gorgeous’, but somehow she doesn’t think that will be as appreciated).
“Well, that’s very sweet of you to say, Kara, but - ”
“I’m not just saying it,” she interrupts, feeling suddenly emboldened and desperate to wipe away the faint hint of insecurity she can see in Cat’s eyes. “I-I think you’re beautiful.” Cat holds her gaze for a long, tense moment whilst Kara worries if she’s said too much, before she smiles a rare genuine smile.
“Thank you,” she says quietly, before clearing her throat and leaning forward. “Now, shall we?”
Carter was right – Cat is good at this. But so is she, and she can tell Cat’s surprised as Kara keeps giving as good as she gets. It’s a close-fought game, but then a grinning Kara gets the opportunity to play the word ‘quartz’ on a triple word square and it sends her spinning into the lead, much to Cat’s dismay.
“Best two out of three?” Cat asks, reluctantly, once they’ve played as many letters as they can, and Kara’s tempted to refuse just to see the look on Cat’s face, but she’s actually having fun, so she agrees with a smug smile.
“Only if you’re prepared to lose again.”
“Watch it,” Cat mutters in reply, but her voice lacks its usual bite.
Cat manages to scrape a win in the second game, and it’s her turn to be smug as they tip the letters back into the bag and begin the third.
Kara gets the opportunity to play the word ‘horny’ early on and bites her lip for a long moment, debating whether to play it before shrugging and setting the letters down on the board. Cat blinks and then smirks.
“Trying to tell me something, Kara?” Kara’s pretty sure she turns crimson, and she wonders if Cat’s playing a game, seeing how many times she can make her blush.
“N-no!”
“Shame.” Cat mutters it, so quietly that if not for her superhearing Kara would never have head it, but she does and she stares at the side of Cat’s head for several long seconds whilst the other woman debates her next word, because what the hell does that mean?
Does it mean what she thinks it means?
Does Cat… think about her, want her, in the same way that she wants Cat?
Or is she just completely reading into things?
“It’s your go, Kara,” Cat murmurs a few moments later, and Kara’s still a little dazed, hadn’t even realised that Cat had put any letters down.
Pull it together, Danvers, she tells herself, trying to concentrate on the game but thoughts of Cat are still swimming around distractingly in her head. She still manages to make the word bondage, though, and she watches Cat’s lips press together in a thin line and, for the second time that night, wishes that she could read her mind.
After that, as well as intense game of Scrabble, it also seems to become a game of who could get the most innuendo-laden words on the board. Kara nearly swallows her tongue when Cat manages to get ‘choke’ and ‘handcuff’ on there (Kara daringly asks if Cat is trying to tell her something, and Cat just smirks and murmurs ‘wouldn’t you like to know’ and yes, yes, she very much would), but she’s pretty impressed with her ‘whips’ and ‘sexy’ (on a triple word space, for an added bonus), too.
In the end, it’s Kara who wins, and she swears that there’s a tiny pout on Cat’s mouth as she throws her hands above her head in a silent celebration as she makes a reluctant Cat read out the final scores.
“Unbelievable,” Cat says, almost to herself. “I haven’t been beaten at this game in years.” She peers at Kara suspiciously, like she must have been cheating.
“You obviously just hadn’t met your match,” Kara replies smugly, draining the very last of the bottle of wine.
“This isn’t over,” Cat warns. “I want a replay.”
“It’s a date,” she says lightly, watching the way Cat’s eyes widen just a little at the word ‘date’. “But right now I should probably get going. I didn’t realise how late it was.” Cat glances at the clock and lets out a little gasp when she sees the time – it’s nearing one a.m., and they’ve been playing for nearly two and a half hours.
“Did you walk here?” Cat asks as Kara rises to her feet, raising both her arms over her head to stretch her muscles.
“Yeah, why?”
“I’m not letting you walk back to your apartment at this time of night alone,” Cat says in her no-room-for-arguments voice. “You can stay here, we have a guest room.”
“Oh, no, Miss Grant, I couldn’t possibly - ”
“Nonsense.”
“I’ll be fine, honestly - ”
“I haven’t seen the neighbourhood you live in, Kara – and frankly I never want to – but I’m positive that it’s probably not the safest place for a young woman such as yourself to be out and about at night. Plus, you’ve had at least three glasses of wine and regardless of how well you say you can handle it, I don’t feel comfortable letting you walk back alone, so please, stay. It’s no trouble, and I won’t take no for an answer. Unless,” she says then, looking like she’s just had a brilliant idea. “You’re not afraid of being out alone because you know you can take care of yourself. Say, because you have superpowers…?”
“You’re probably right,” Kara begins reluctantly. “It is safer to stay here.” Cat looks a little disappointed, but doesn’t press.
“Very well, this way.” She leads Kara down the hall, to the door before the one she knows from her previous visits here leads to Cat’s bedroom. “I’ll go and get you something to wear.” Kara nods and lets herself into the room, whistling quietly because it’s about three times of the size of her bedroom at home. “I think these are the only things that will fit,” Cat says as she returns with a thin shirt and shorts that look barely worn.
They smell like Cat’s laundry detergent, Kara thinks she as she takes them from the other woman, and she wonders if the scent will linger on her skin come morning.
“You can use my bathroom,” Cat continues as she nods towards the adjourning door. “If you need the shower, do not adjust any of the settings,” she warns, and Kara doesn’t think she’d trust herself in there anyway. “There’s a spare toothbrush under the sink.”
“T-thank you.”
“I trust you can wake yourself up in the morning.” Cat wanders over to the bathroom, hand closing around the door handle as she presses it open. “I’ll have my driver stop by your apartment on the way to work.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do - ”
“I will not have my assistant wearing yesterday’s clothes,” Cat sneers, looking like she wishes she could burn them – Kara wonders if she should be worried that they might disappear during the night, never to be seen again. “People will talk.”
“I just meant that I can make my own way there in the morning.”
“And be late?” Cat sounds aghast. “Absolutely not.”
“B-but won’t people still talk if they see us come in together?”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Cat says then, a smirk playing around the edges of her lips. “You’re getting dropped off at the coffee shop down the street. I’ll still need my latte. Goodnight, Kara.”
“Night, Cat,” she murmurs but the door has already closed, Cat already gone, Kara left alone, and she glances at the bed (Cat’s bed), and thinks that it’s going to be a really, really long night.
She changes into the clothes and climbs into the bed, letting out a soft sigh as she sinks into the soft mattress, the sheets feeling amazing against the bare skin of her legs and okay, maybe this night won’t be so awful after all.
She’s pretty sure it’s the most comfortable bed she’s ever lay on.
She still stares up at the ceiling for a while, though, using her x-ray vision on a whim and smiling when it reveals the stars twinkling above her. She’s so high that they almost seem close enough to touch, and she reminds herself of the constellations that Alex had taught her during those first few hard months on earth – she always does this whenever she struggles to fall asleep, always finds it instantly relaxing (more so than counting sheep, anyway – she’d always thought that that idea was a ridiculous one).
Her concentration wavers when she hears the sound of a soft gasp coming from the room two doors down, and Kara blinks, the sparkling night sky replaced with Cat’s white ceiling, and turns her head towards the source of the noise, frowning and wondering if Cat is having some sort of bad dream.
But then she hears it again, followed by something that sounds suspiciously like the sound of rough lace scratching against bare skin, and then there’s a hitch in Cat’s breathing and the subtle creak of bed springs and then a wet sound and –
Oh, god.
Oh.
God.
Cat is… Cat is definitely, one hundred percent (she hears a quiet moan and Kara thinks that she’s going to be replaying that sound in her head over and over again for the next… well, ever), touching herself less than twenty feet away from Kara right now and god, she really shouldn’t be listening to this (Cat would kill her if she ever found out), but now that she’s started she really doesn’t know how to stop.
She’s pretty sure her brain has short-circuited so that she couldn’t turn off her superhearing even if she wanted to (and she’s not entirely sure she does want to), her whole body frozen and her hands clutching at the sheets on either side of her, legs pressing together in an attempt to stop the building ache between her thighs that only grows when Cat lets out another, louder moan.
Fuck, Kara can imagine it perfectly – Cat with her feet on the bed and her legs spread apart, one hand working between her thighs and the other palming at one of her breasts, and she closes her eyes and the image is imprinted on her eyelids and she knows it’s not going anywhere soon (she wonders if she can get away with drawing it the second she’s able, or if the risk of Cat ever finding it is a big enough reason to never dare).
Her breathing is laboured, matching Cat’s heavy breaths, and her heart is pounding loudly in her ears. She can hear the creak of the bed as Cat’s hips rock against her hand and bites down hard on her bottom lip as she imagines what it would be like to feel those hips rocking against her mouth, instead and god, she needs to stop, she needs to leave, is what she needs to do, because there is no way in hell she’s going to be able to look Cat in the eye in the morning.
She hears Cat’s breath catch as she comes, and the words she breathes as she does sends Kara’s whole world grinding to a halt because she’s sure, mixed in with a low groan, she just heard Cat Grant say her name.
x-x-x
She sleeps fitfully, dreams filled with images of Cat in various compromising positions (Kara thinks that her favourite is definitely Cat leaning back against her desk, legs wrapped around Kara’s waist as she slipped two fingers inside of wet heat), and is awoken by the sound of the shower in the bathroom hissing to life.
Well.
Thinking about the fact that Cat Grant is most definitely naked in the room next door is certainly a way to get her from half-asleep to wide awake in less than five seconds, and there’s a shameful part of Kara that’s almost tempted to use her x-ray vision to catch a glimpse – she’d never do it, in a million years, because she respects Cat far too much for that, would never violate her trust, but she almost wishes that that particular power wasn’t in her repertoire so that the temptation isn’t there at all.
She can hear Cat humming quietly to a song she vaguely recognises from the radio, and Kara wonders how the hell she’s supposed to just continue like everything is normal when she’s ninety nine percent certain that her boss had gotten herself off to the thought of Kara the night before when she’d been just one room down.
God, she’s screwed. Because the second she looks as Cat she knows she’ll know, know what Kara heard, and then she’s doubly screwed because there’s no way she would have been able to if not for the super hearing.
At the sound of the shower clicking off and Cat’s quiet footsteps padding back into her bedroom, Kara pushes herself out of the bed and heads for the bathroom, hoping that splashing some cold water on her face will calm her racing heart (a cold shower would be much more effective, she’s sure, but Cat will kill her twice over if Kara messes with the temperature control on her shower, so she’s just going to have to settle for the sink, instead).
Except Cat apparently wasn’t finished in the bathroom, because she’s strolling through the door opposite her as Kara’s stepping inside, wearing nothing (nothing) other than a robe, open at her waist, and Kara’s hand clenches on the doorframe so hard that it’s a wonder it doesn’t break, getting the glimpse of a naked Cat that she hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of earlier.
“If you’re quite done staring, Kiera,” Cat cuts through her churning (inappropriate) thoughts, her voice amused and a smirk on her wicked mouth.
“Oh, god, Miss Grant, I-I’m so sorry.” She turns her back to Cat, breathing loudly and her face flaming red as Cat chuckles quietly. “I thought you were done.”
“It’s my own fault for not locking the door, I suppose,” Cat continues, voice a slow drawl. “But I forgot my underwear – could you hand it to me, please?” Cat’s voice is sickly sweet, and Kara is certain that she knows exactly what she’s doing to her.
“Y-your… underwear?”
“It’s right behind you.”
“O-okay.” She’s thankful that, when she turns around, Cat has cinched the belt of her robe so that she’s covered, though Kara’s breathing is still rapid and she’s pretty sure that, at the sight of the black lace thong and matching bra sitting on the counter behind her, if she could faint, she would have just done exactly that. “H-here.” She snatches them up and holds them towards Cat (tries to not imagine what it would feel like to tug that thong from between Cat’s legs and over her thighs) with a trembling hand.
“Thank you, Kiera.” Cat’s still smirking, her eyes crinkled upwards in amusement, and Kara only feels like she can breathe normally again once the door to Cat’s bedroom has closed behind her. She sends an inordinate amount of time in that bathroom (splashing herself with another faceful of water whenever she thinks about Cat in the shower stall behind her, hair sticking to the back of her neck, beads of water collecting between her breasts), before she feels brave enough to face Cat again, drying herself off before tugging her clothes from the day before on and wandering down to the kitchen.
Carter is perched on a stool at the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal in-front of him, dressed for school and bleary-eyed, bruise shining on his cheek (though Kara’s pretty sure Cat’s attempted to cover the worst of it), whilst Cat stands opposite him with a mug of coffee in her hands. “Morning, Kara,” Carter chirps when she sees her, and she manages a small smile as she steadfastly avoids Cat’s gaze. “Want any breakfast?”
“Uh, no, I’m good, thanks.”
“You should eat,” Cat murmurs, and Kara makes the mistake of raising her head to find dark green eyes looking at her and feels yet another flush begin to colour her cheeks at the vivid memory of what Cat looks like beneath the fitted blouse she’s wearing.
She is so not going to survive this day.
“Honestly, I’m fine.”
“Are you ill?” Carter inquires, squinting at her thoughtfully as she leans against the counter beside him. “You look awfully red.”
“I’m…” Cat drains the last of her coffee and bends to put the mug in the dishwasher, her skirt riding up the backs of her thighs. “Fine,” she squeaks, looking hastily away as Cat straightens up.
“You don’t look fine,” Carter says suspiciously, but Kara is saved by the sound of a doorbell ringing throughout the apartment.
“That’ll be for you, Carter, have you got everything?”
“Mhm.” Carter’s spoon clatters into his bowl and he hugs his Mom goodbye before he surprises Kara by throwing his arms around her waist. “Thank you for coming last night,” he murmurs, practically beaming, before he bounces out of the door, both Kara and Cat watching him go.
“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Kara asks, worrying at her bottom lip as she remembers the look on his face yesterday as he’d stood by her desk and told her about the bullies at his school.
“I… don’t know.” Cat looks uncertain, and Kara thinks that this might be the first time she’s ever seen that expression on her face. “The boys responsible have all been suspended and if anyone ever lays a hand on him again I’ll see if I can transfer him somewhere else. Not that that seems to help,” she adds with a sigh, and Kara thinks of all the phonecalls she’s already had to make during her time as Cat’s assistant – she’s helped Carter move schools at least three times.
“He’ll find his place,” Kara says, more confidently than she feels. “Kids are horrible and mean but they’re also quick to forget.”
“Speaking from experience?” Cat asks with a raised brow, and Kara shrugs.
“I got picked on a lot when I was a kid.”
“And how did you get them to stop?”
“Uh, my sister beat the crap out of them, usually.” Kara’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have survived high school without revealing her powers if not for her sister.
“If only we were all so lucky.” Cat’s lips quirk into a nostalgic smile, and it’s Kara’s turn to raise an eyebrow.
“You were picked on when you were in school?”
“I wasn’t exactly the most popular girl in the place, no.”
“Okay, that I cannot believe.” She tries to imagine it but fails – though, she supposes it does explain a lot. She’s about to ask for more details (Cat has never shared anything personal about herself to Kara, aside from things relating to her career and reluctantly about Adam, and she’s curious what else she can tease out of her), when the doorbell rings once again.
“Ah, that’ll be for us. Are you ready?” Kara nods, because she didn’t bring much with her yesterday and Cat hums, making her way to the front door, Kara following in her wake.
It’s awfully difficult for Kara to concentrate in the enclosed space of the town car as Cat chatters on about what she needs to get done today. Cat sits close to her, bare leg occasionally brushing against Kara’s, and she’s surrounded by the scent of Cat’s perfume and the shampoo she’d used in the shower that morning, and all she hears, in the gaps where Cat stops speaking, is the sound of her moaning Kara’s name.
“Kiera,” Cat snaps, and from the angry look on her face it mustn’t have been the first time she’d tried to get attention. “What the hell is wrong with you this morning?” Kara doesn’t answer, and Cat just tuts. “We’re outside of your wretched apartment building – go and get your things but be quick about it. I don’t want to get mugged whilst we’re waiting.”
“The neighbourhood isn’t that bad,” Kara protests, and Cat just levels Kara with a gaze over the lenses of her glasses. “Do you… want to come up for coffee or…?”
“I don’t pay you enough to live in a good neighbourhood, Kiera,” Cat points out, attention already back on the iPad that sits in her lap. “And no, I would not like to step out of the safety of my car, thank you. Now, go.” She lifts a hand to wave it in the direction of the car door. “Chop, chop.”
Kara pushes it open and slips outside into the cool city air, slamming it behind her and hurrying up the steps into her building. She takes the stairs three at a time and uses a burst of super speed to get ready for the day, changing quickly before running a brush through her hair and tying it back up, reluctant to keep Cat waiting.
She expects her boss to be at least a little impressed that she’d been gone for less than ten minutes, but Cat doesn’t even acknowledge her when she gets back into the car, and doesn’t say a word until she’s practically shoving Kara out of the door at Noonan’s.
“Make sure it’s hot,” is the goodbye Kara gets as the door to the town car is pulled shut and it continues the short way down the street to where the CatCo building stands, tall and proud.
“I always do,” Kara mutters, even though Cat can’t hear her, stepping inside and getting Cat’s usual, and one for herself – she can feel the lingering effects of not getting enough sleep the night before, and could use the caffeine to perk her up.
She sips from her own coffee as she walks down the street, using a burst of heat vision on Cat’s in the empty elevator before it opens onto her floor, heading into her office before she does anything else and setting it on her desk.
“Thank you, Kiera,” Cat says distractedly, frowning down at her iPad as Kara hovers uncertainly in-front of her, waiting for the list of instructions Cat rattles off for her each morning. They don’t come immediately, and she takes the opportunity to curse the fact that the way that Cat is leaning forwards over her desk gives her an un-obstructed view down her blouse, and she wishes she was strong enough to avert her eyes but god help her she isn’t.
She remembers bare flesh and gasps and groans, the images her imagination had conjured up of Cat splayed out across her bed (across this desk), and swallows thickly, curling her hands into fists and hoping that the bite of her nails into her palms will be enough to distract her.
It’s not.
“Kiera!” Cat snaps her out of her daydreams and she blinks away the tantalising image of a naked Cat, focusing on the furious glare that’s being aimed her way in the hope that it’ll chase away any lingering traces of desire.
(It doesn’t).
“Are you even listening to me?” Cat asks, climbing to her feet and splaying her hands against her desk to lean over it and oh, god, that is so not helping this entire situation. “Is this… is this because of what happened this morning?” Cat’s voice changes, becomes almost… anxious instead of stern. “Because if I’ve made you feel uncomfortable, if you’re concerned about lines blurring between us and would like to put some boundaries in place - ”
“No, no, no,” Kara rushes out because yes, she might be affected by catching a glimpse of her boss in the buff that morning but it is definitely not for the reasons Cat is thinking. “I had fun last night. Beating you at Scrabble was a highlight.” She tries to lighten the mood, but Cat’s lips don’t so much as twitch. “I liked spending some time with Carter. Spending some time with… with you.” She says that last part a little quietly, because sometimes she feels like she’s treading on thin ice around Cat, and she’s never quite sure when she’ll say something to make it crack. “I’m sorry I’ve been… off this morning. I won’t let it happen again.”
“Ensure that it doesn’t,” Cat gripes after a few moments of loaded silence, and Kara nods. “I need you to chase James up on the spreads for our next issue – and while you’re there ask him when I’m getting my next Supergirl interview.” Kara ignores the pointed look Cat throws her way as she hastily scribbles down Cat’s every word. “My mother,” Cat’s lip curls as she says the word, “is in town next week, so I’ll need you to book an appointment with my therapist and schedule me enough meetings so that I’m never here. I left a list of phonecalls I need you to make on your desk, and after you’re done I need you back in here to help me prep for the board meeting this afternoon.”
“Yes, Miss Grant.” She scurries from Cat’s office once she’s finished writing, and finds Lucy Lane perched on the edge of her desk, mid-conversation with Winn. She pauses when Kara appears, eyeing her curiously.
“How come Cat didn’t yell at you for being like, thirty minutes late?” Lucy asks as Kara reaches for the list Cat had left for her, eyebrows knitting together in concentration as she reads the list of names.
“I don’t know,” she replies, distracted, “maybe she’s just in a good mood this morning.”
“Cat is never in a good mood,” Winn mutters, and Kara doesn’t really think that’s fair – but then she supposes no-one in this office has gotten to know Cat as well as she has.
(No-one in this office has heard the sound of their boss getting herself off to the thought of her assistant, either, but Kara thinks that’s a thought she definitely needs to keep to herself).
“But then why is she in such a good mood?” Lucy ponders, and Kara doesn’t like the glint of mischief she sees in her eyes when she raises her head and meets her gaze. “Is it maybe because you spent the night with her last night?” Kara had been about to take a sip of her quickly cooling coffee and she chokes at Lucy’s words, nearly spitting it all over herself, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes as it stings the back of her throat.
“W-what? Why… That’s… that’s ridiculous. Absurd.” She laughs, but it sounds fake, and even Winn is looking at her with wide eyes now. “Why would you even say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know – maybe because I saw you getting out the back of her town car this morning?” Kara has absolutely no reply to that, can only blink at Lucy in quiet horror. “So? What’s the scoop?”
“T-there is no scoop,” she hisses, lowering her voice and glancing over her shoulder, terrified that people might overhear and get the wrong idea. “I didn’t… nothing happened.” Nothing she’d ever admit to, anyway. “Carter invited me over to dinner last night so I went, and it got pretty late by the time we were done so… Cat said I could stay the night. In separate beds,” she stresses, because Lucy looks like Christmas has come early – she knows about Kara’s crush, had called her out on it weeks ago, and is practically bursting with glee.
“Did she cook for you? What did she cook for you? Did she try and get you drunk? Did she get drunk? What did you do when Carter went to bed? What did you talk about? Tell me everything.” Winn looks about as horrified as Kara feels by Lucy’s excitement, and Kara throws a glance over her shoulder into Cat’s office to check that she’s paying them no attention.
She isn’t – she’s back to staring hard at her computer screen with a tiny crease between her eyebrows that Kara finds adorable, and she must stare for a moment too long because she hears Lucy clear her throat from behind her.
“Oh, you have so got it bad.”
“Shut up.” Winn looks uncomfortable, shifts awkwardly in his seat, and Lucy just rolls her eyes when she notices.
“So, when’s your next date?”
“It was not a date!”
“Suuuuuuure it wasn’t.”
“Kiera!” Kara’s head turns at the sound of her work-name to find Cat pacing her office and groans, because that is never a good sign.
“Looks like your girlfriend needs you.” Kara shoots Lucy a murderous glare but she just chuckles, clearly loving this entire situation.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” Lucy replies in a sing-song voice as Kara scrambles towards Cat’s door. “You especially won’t when my match-making skills get the two of you together. I expect to be the maid of honour at your wedding!”
She calls that last part as Kara’s making her way into Cat’s office, loud enough for a couple of people around them to look up, curiously, and Kara groans, praying that Cat didn’t manage to hear it. She flips Lucy the bird behind her back, the sound of her quiet laughter ringing in her ears as Kara shoulders open the door to Cat’s office, ready for a list of new demands.