"I have your dinner, Miss Grant," Cat inwardly smiled to herself as her assistant nervously walked around her office furniture and approached the desk, bag of food in hand.
The two of them were working late, which, in and of itself wasn't so unusual, but what was new and different was the way Cat's heart had begun to flutter out of control on these nights, these evenings when it was just the two of them left all alone. Cat's office was made of glass, but if no one else was on the floor, well… it might as well have been closed off from the rest of the world, their own private sanctuary.
She hadn't started out seeing these late nights that way, as secluded evenings for the two of them, not at first. But slowly, slowly as Kara had continued to work as her assistant after so many others would have left, Cat had started to see something else in the girl. Cat had started seeing how competent Kara was, how caring, and Cat had started to realize that, despite everything this business threw at her, everything Cat threw at her, Kara somehow always managed to keep that smile on her face.
And once Cat had realized that, well, then she had started to pay more attention to Kara, observing how she interacted with others, learning all the little details that didn't need words to convey. She knew all of Kara's subtle ticks by now, knew what kinds of food she preferred, even as she had been astonished by how much the girl seemed to be able to eat. Cat even knew that Kara would sometimes sneak out to her balcony when she thought no one would notice, and there she would just stand, her face upturned to the sun, letting it wash over her, almost as if it was rejuvenating her, bringing her life.
It was from these observations that Cat discovered that the way Kara smiled for her was slightly different from the way the girl smiled for everyone else. Cat was very good at reading people, if she wanted to, and once she had put her mind to reading Kara, she had realized that Kara saw her as something else, someone special.
Recently, Kara had also begun to show some backbone, and, although Cat hated to admit it, even to herself, it had further altered how she looked at the girl. Bubbly, nervous Kara was cute, yes, but confident Kara was someone who made her heart skip and her breath come faster. And then there was the fact that there were moments, when Kara looked at her, that Cat knew the girl was hers. Cat was used to having people look at her, she was rich, powerful, and sexy after all, but most of those people were looking at the Queen of All Media. Kara, on the other hand, looked at her like that when she was just being Cat Grant, and never more so than those special moments when it was just the two of them, working late in the office, when Cat was tired, and when she was very obviously, just human. In those moments Kara would look at her in a way that made Cat feel that maybe, just for a little bit, it would be ok to be just a flawed human, because how bad could that really be if this bright, shinning person, thought that this version of Cat Grant, the real one, was someone who deserved to be looked at in that way?
But that was a very dangerous path to go down. Cat had no doubt now that Kara could survive anything she threw at her, but that did not mean that Cat wanted to put Kara in harm's way just because she knew the girl could handle it. And trying to have a relationship with Kara would most certainty be a way to hurt the girl. She would never be able to promote Kara without people assuming that it was because the girl was good in bed, or have any sort of equal relationship with her, not unless… and here Cat's mind had provided a different possibility, offering a small chance for salvation, questioning how things would be different, if only…
If only Kara was Supergirl, she had mused once, they did look an awful lot alike, after all. If only Kara was Supergirl they would be on more equal ground, privately, if not professionally at least, which just might be enough. If only.
But hoping for 'if only,' did not make it so.
And so Cat kept her feelings hidden, smiling secretly to herself when Kara did something exceptionally adorable, or noteworthy, but making sure that outwardly she seemed just as uninterested as before.
"Thank you, Kiera," she said, her voice even and dismissive as she accepted the dinner. Kara smiled at her, completely unaffected by the tone, and started to back out of the room, to her own dinner waiting at her desk. But the girl couldn't stop herself from glancing at the new addition to the office, her interest clear.
Cat sighed, oh well, what could be the harm? Everyone else was gone, no one would know if she was a little nicer to Kara, just this once.
"Do you like my new piece of art?" She asked, coming around the desk and walking over to a pedestal, atop of which was a strangely shaped metal vase. It didn't look particularly stable, leaning to one side, but the movers that had come to deliver it while Kara had been out getting dinner, had assured her that the metal supports were strong enough to hold it, and that it was supposed to look like that. Cat herself didn't particularly care for the thing, but Lois Lane had wanted it, and Cat had taken great satisfaction in outbidding her rival.
In response to her question Kara stopped her retreat and relaxed, walking over to stand at Cat's side so that she could get a closer look at the object.
"It's very," here Kara paused, and Cat let a small, partially hidden smile grace her face as she realized that Kara had the same, non-committal view of the piece as she did, "very vase-like," Kara finally finished, blushing at her failure to say anything more articulate.
"Yes, it is that," Cat agreed. "I'll keep it here for the next televised interview in a few days, just so Lois can see it in my office, and then I'll stick it in a closet somewhere and bring it out if Lois is ever in National City."
Kara laughed, "I think that sounds like a brilliant plan," she was looking at Cat now, and Cat knew her own smile was no longer remotely hidden.
"Of course you do, I thought of it," she tried to sound condescending, but it just came out playful.
Trying to distract herself from that annoyingly beautiful grin on her assistant's face, Cat reached her hand out to brush the object. At her touch, however, the vase, which was supposed to be securely mounted on the stand, toppled to the side. One of those idiot movers had obviously installed a support wrong.
Lois was going to love this, she inwardly cursed. Lois would love knowing that Cat had spent all that money just to stop her from having the wretched thing, only to waste it by breaking the 'art' before she had ever even gotten the chance to show it off to the offending woman. And Cat was going to have to live with that mockery, she knew that, hated that, but even so she was helpless to do anything but watch in slow motion as the expensive object fell towards the ground and its doom. Or at least, what should have been its doom. Before it touched the floor, however, Kara had reached out and caught it on instinct, one-handed, and Cat felt her mouth drop open.
Cat stared at the scene, watching as Kara froze, realization about her actions, about what she had just done, and in front of Cat, no less, sweeping across her face.
"Um, this is supposed to be really heavy, isn't it?" Her assistant finally asked meekly. Cat could only nod in response. It was true, it was a vase, but it was filled with heavy metals for some unknown reason that apparently made it art. It had taken three large men just to lift the thing into position, and here Kara was, catching it easily with just one hand.
Kara slowly lowered it to the ground, before letting go and stepping away. Meeting Cat's eyes, Kara began wringing her hands together in a nervous motion. "Wow, I'm amazed it didn't break when it fell," she tried, looking hopefully at Cat, as if she could convince her boss that the vase really had simply fallen to the floor, surviving on its own without any superhuman intervention.
Cat continued to stare as her mind pieced together various events from the past few months, things Kara had said or done, and everything clicked into place.
Finally closing her mouth she stared down her assistant, watching the girl squirm in silent agony. It was a sight that was exhilarating in all the right ways, but Cat knew she should take pity on the young hero.
"It would be better if the vase happened not to have fallen at all, don't you think?" She responded, raising an eyebrow at the nervous alien, before very deliberately turning her back and moving slowly to her desk.
By the time she had seated herself behind her desk and turned around, she was pleased to see that the vase was firmly back in place, the faulty support fused into a more secure position, while Kara was innocently standing several feet away.
"Good, now hurry up and eat your own dinner so we can get back to work on these proofs," she waved her hand towards Kara's desk dismissively.
Kara almost tripped over herself in her haste to get out, but stopped when Cat called out her name.
"Oh, and Kiera?"
"Yes, Miss Grant," came the worried reply.
"Get rid of those damn glasses," it was an order, not a request.
"Yes, Miss Grant," Kara responded, removing the offending object as ordered and meeting Cat's eyes with a brief smile, a blush sweeping across her face, before continuing her exit.
Well now, Cat thought, slowly unpacking her dinner, her lips taking on a distinctly predatory grin, Supergirl has a crush on me, so just what, exactly, am I going to do about that?
The End
AN: there is a sequel to this on my tumblr, this site won't let me link the url, but on my page (spaceshipsarecool) there is a link to all my short fics, and it's the one called Bare.