It was late. Almost nine, when Cat let herself into her penthouse. Ok so perhaps not late by her usual standard, but certainly late for a night that Carter was home waiting for her. Toeing off her heels and placing her bag on the table in the entry way, Cat once again sent a mental curse toward the board members.
"Carter, Kara, I'm home," she called into the quiet of the house.
When no sound greeted her she frowned. It was a sunday night, while it was becoming more unlikely with every week that Carter progressed into his teenagehood, it was possible he had decided to go to bed by now, in order to be awake early for school tomorrow. In which case he wouldn't answer and neither would Kara for fear of waking him.
With Supergirl as a babysitter, sleeping seemed a far likelier scenario than anything bad having happened. So rather than call out again, Cat walked further into her home in search of her son, and her girlfriend.
Looking at the misshapen mess of overturned furniture and blankets that covered what used to be her tastefully arranged living room she could only sigh. It was, she supposed, better to come home to an admittedly rather impressively designed blanket fort, than to receive a phone call telling her, her son had almost been blown up. Compared to last time this was actually a vast improvement over Kara's original babysitting effort.
Then again Kara had, had a lot more practice since then. In the past three months that they had been dating Kara had spent weekends and the occasional weekday nights staying in with both Cat and Carter seeing how it was done. From time to time Cat had allowed her to take Carter out for the day while Cat attended to things at the office. At first just quick trips out to get an icecream before returning to wait in the office with Cat as she worked. Then visits to the cinemas, or the mall for an hour or two before returning to Cat. Eventually Cat would just leave the pair at home and come back to hear whether they had stayed in or gone off to the zoo, or a museum or whatever activity had taken their fancy.
This weekend however had been the first time Cat had left Kara to watch Carter overnight by herself. She had flown out yesterday for an awards dinner in Metropolis, presenting rather than receiving unfortunately. The fact that she had been presenting an award that Lois Lane had been nominated for to a journalist that wasn't Lois Lane had made it worth the trip. The corporate brunch the board had organized had kept from flying straight home after delighting in the glare Lois had thrown her way, as if Cat had been responsible for her loss (she wasn't, but watching Lois smile graciously even as her eyes screamed that she thought it was an injustice, almost made Cat wish she were), and instead kept her from getting on a returning flight until late afternoon. Hence the late return.
Cat jumped slightly when the surround sound suddenly let out a burst of noise, a swell of orchestral music and battle sounds filling the air and pulling her from her thoughts. Her eyes sought out the television, almost completely hidden behind the fort, to confirm that yes it was playing a movie. A few moments of adjustment to the new noises informed her that they weren't actually as loud as she had originally thought. The volume actually quite low. As if someone were watching, while someone else slept.
Unwilling to be responsible for waking whichever party might be asleep in there Cat padded softly around the side of the fort until she was standing by the tv. There was more space between the front of the television and the wall of the fort than Cat would have thought standing by the entrance to the room. At least a meter from the cabinet to the wall of the fort, a wall that had been built with a window just big enough for those inside to get an unobstructed view of the television.
Kneeling down Cat peered inside.
Her eyes fell on Carter first. Always her priority. He had clearly fallen asleep watching the movie. His hair falling into his eyes, a hand sitting in an empty bowl that had no doubt contained popcorn at some earlier point in the evening, that rested in his lap. He was half sitting up half sprawled over the shoulder of Alex Danvers. Cat's brows pinched in confusion.
Alex was asleep too. Her head tilted to the side to rest against the top of Carter's. Her outfit suggested she had come straight here from work. The extra button undone at her collar and the sight of little pink stars on her socked feet informed Cat that even if she hadn't stopped home to change, she wasn't here in an official capacity.
Finally her eyes tracked to Carter's other side. Kara lay there in her Supergirl outfit, only her boots missing. She had one arm wrapped around Carter the other slung in her cape that she had pulled around herself as a makeshift blanket. Her eyes crinkled half closed as she gave Cat an adorable little grin.
Any questions Cat might have had about Alex's presence evaporated instantly. Of course Kara would call someone to watch Carter if a Supergirl emergency came up. And after the last time Alex was probably the only choice she had that Cat would deem acceptable.
"Door is the blue blanket on the right," Kara said softly. She extracted her free arm from her cape to gesture vaguely to her free side. Cat pursed her lips to keep from grinning too widely when Kara's arm fell and she blinked so slowly that her eyes almost didn't open again. Without a word Cat walked around to the so called entrance of the fort, wondering if Kara would be awake when she got inside.
She was, if just barely. The smile she gave Cat was near blinding all the same. She held out her arm and cape and Cat finally allowed herself to grin fully at the image. Crawling carefully over the carpet of pillows Cat nestled into Kara's side, becoming enveloped in the warmth of Kara's cape.
They cuddled in silence for a little moment. Content to watch the movie, one of the Lord of The Rings, unfold before them. Cat soaking in the warmth and comfort of finally being home. Kara fighting off sleep to enjoy the weight of Cat once again by her side.
"Just so we're clear," Kara said, her voice slurring just the slightest. "Our kid is totally the one who wanted to build a pillow fort, not me."
Cat let out a breathless chuckle. She turned from the movie too look up at Kara. A droll "is that so?" Never making it past her lips. Instead she let out another quiet chuckle. Kara had finally lost the battle to sleep.
"Our kid, hmm?" She asked, under her breath. She had known from the beginning of course just how important Carter and his approval was to her girlfriend, it was one of the reasons she had agreed to try this relationship to begin with. Even so Cat had underestimated just how much Kara had come to love her son. "You know I quite like the sound of that."
Cat pressed a gentle kiss to Kara's cheek before settling back down against her shoulder. Even with her gaze directed towards the television Cat wasn't really watching the movie. Instead she was thinking of the key nestled in a gift box at the bottom of her handbag. She'd give it to Kara in the morning. Hopefully it would be enough to keep Kara from stumbling over an apology when she remembered calling Carter theirs rather than Cat's.
If it wasn't, Cat thought with a smirk, then she could always just kiss the girl quiet.