Author's Note: This was supposed to be a smutty, angsty little Kara/Cat balcony sex thing, that turned into plot. It's not beta read. I'm putting up the first seven chapters tonight because they are already up at Ao3. After tonight, I will try to update once a week, but honestly updates may be somewhere irregular, because I'm more focused on the long fic I've been working on for a year and a half.
Read at your own risk.
Cat couldn't help but smile as she finished reading the article Kara had submitted. She'd made a few marks and notes here and there, but far fewer than she'd expected, and not once, during the course of the entire article, was she even remotely tempted to draw the red line. The red line was a technique she'd picked up from one of her journalism professors. Read the assignment until you get to a sentence that would make you want to stop reading. Underline that in read to point out to the person how much of their article was wasted effort because of that one sentence. Cat had never once had a new writer she'd hired make it through less than twenty articles before she'd finished their first draft without red lining them.
Not until Kara.
The article Cat had just finished was Kara's fourth. It was one Cat had known she'd be perfect for, though she'd hesitated to assign it, because she knew it would hit close to home. An in depth look at how Syrian Refugees were adapting to life in their new homes. The article is beautiful, truly, full of insights no one else would have, and empathy that can only come from shared experience. Cat had picked Kara to write this, because she believed that the girl who'd lost her planet would tell this story better than anyone else. She'd been right, of course, but the pride swelling inside her wasn't pride in her own genius, but pride in Kara. Pride that the one girl in Cat's little empire who claimed she was nothing but ordinary was the most extraordinary person she'd ever met.
"This is good," Cat said, as she sat the copy of the article down on the coffee table that separated them. She leaned back on the sinfully comfortable sofa that sat between her desk and the door to her office, and lookup up at Kara. She saw the smile there, and cursed herself for her weakness, because she couldn't even pretend. "Kara, this is wonderful."
"Really?" Kara asked, and Cat felt herself smiling, because it was almost impossible to look at the way Kara was practically glowing and not smile.
"Really," Cat said. "There are a few minor changes to make. You have the oddest tick in your diction when you're writing. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you learned to write by reading the collected works of Clark Kent. But honestly, I wouldn't change more than five or six words in the entire piece. In fact, I'm going to have James check to see if we got enough pictures to expand the layout. I'm thinking we can bump the campaign finance piece down to a backup story, and run this as the key feature. I'll borrow Sullivan from the Tribune and have her write up a companion piece on the continued refugee crisis in Europe and-" Cat stopped when 'Secret Agent Man' by Johnny Rivers started blaring out of Kara's phone.
"Sorry," Kara said, "I've got to…"
Cat nodded, because really, what was she going to do, tell Kara, who really wasn't Supergirl, not to answer a call from her sister, who was absolutely not a secret government agent, when she was probably being called to save the world. Instead she reached for the article as Kara got that slightly embarrassed blush she always had when she took a Supergirl call in front of Cat.
"Hey, Alex. I'm with Miss-"
Cat looked up from the pages she'd barely had a chance to glace at. The entire atmosphere of the room suddenly changed. It felt like the temperature of the room dropped twenty degrees, and Kara looked absolutely ashen.
"Where is he?"
"No, Alex- Alex- Alex, stop. No, I need to you stop!"
Cat felt a heavy weight settle into her stomach. She's never seen Kara so close to panicking while in Supergirl mode. Something was wrong. She didn't need her journalistic skills to know that much. She glanced out at the bullpen, and saw everyone had gone silent, and was watching Kara.
Cat stood up and walked over towards the doors, closing one before she turned back to Kara, in silent question, asking if she wanted to be alone. Kara stared at her for a moment, before shaking her head, and nodding slightly towards the couch. Cat closed the other door and returned to her seat, the feeling of dread growing.
"Okay, if he's near Fawcett City, that gives us some time, but not much. No. No, Alex, no. He's not going to go to Metropolis, he's going to come here."
"Because it hunts Kryptonians. That's what it does. That's its most basic survival instinct, to hunt and kill Kryptonians, and right, there aren't any Kryptonians in Metropolis."
"Kal's off world, and no, he can't get back in time to make a difference. He's… Look, it doesn't matter. Go to my locker. There's an envelope behind that picture of us taped to the inside of the door. It's a list of five phone numbers. Dial the ones marked A, B, D, and V. Don't bother with H. He's with Kal. Tell them he's been spotted, then give them the coordinates of the missile range where we did the Red Tornado tests, and tell them that's where we're going to try to fight him. Tell J'onn I need him to get his attention. He needs to lead him around any populated areas, but he can't try to lead him away from National City."
"No, Alex, stop. He's going to come here. I need J'onn to lead him here while I go to the fortress and get something that will help."
"No. Alex, no."
"Alex, please, just do it."
"Good. I love you. I'll see you soon."
Kara lowered her phone and ended the call, then just sat there for a moment.
"Can I help?" Cat asked.
Kara looked up at her, and Cat felt the lump in her stomach get heavier at the look of fear in those beautiful eyes.
"It's Doomsday," she said. "I… Cat-"
"It's okay, Kara. We can talk about it when you come back."
Kara gave her a watery smile, and nodded. "Tell James and Winn?"
Cat nodded in reply as they both stood up. Cat stepped around the table separating them and pulled Kara into a hug. "Go be Supergirl, but come back to me, Kara Danvers. You hear me?"
"Of course, Miss Grant."
She turned and raced out of the office, headed for the stairwell as fast as she could without revealing herself to the entire bullpen. Cat watched her go, trying desperately to convince herself that this wasn't the last time she was ever going to see Kara, but dear god, it was hard.
Doomsday. The monster that had killed Superman, or so the world had thought. When he'd returned, he'd told the press he'd been in a healing coma for nearly six months. That the doctors who examined him had made a mistake, because they didn't understand Kryptonian physiology. That didn't erase the memories. The photo James had taken of Lois Lane holding Superman's body, utter devastation on her face, tears flowing as she screamed.
Doomsday. The monster had wrecked three cities before he and Superman had beaten each other to into a coma. And now Kara was going off to fight him. Kara who'd just admitted to being Supergirl. Kara who had so much to give. Kara, who was going to change the world, to make it a better place for Cat's sons, and for everyone. Kara, who…
Who Cat loved.
She stepped out of the door of her office, and looked at Winn.
"You, IT hobbit. Fetch Oslen. I need both of you in my office, right now. Come on, move. Chop, Chop."