"Kiera. My office. Now."
She didn't even pause to take the coffee out of my hand as she walked by. Just grabbed it and kept moving.
I traded worried looks with James, and caught Winn's supportive thumbs up as I hurried along behind her. This was it. The moment I'd been dreading since Alex had told me that Hank had tried to take my place at CatCo for a day. No one could take my place. At least I liked to tell myself that.
"Close the door behind you," Cat said, moving behind her desk.
My heart rate nearly doubled and I spun around to close the door as quickly as possible. What in the world could that mean? She never made me close the door. Maybe she was firing me. But would she really care if anyone overheard that? Doubtful.
The door whoosed quietly into place behind me and I turned back toward the giant desk. The multiple screens behind it weren't even a distraction today. I pushed up my glasses and straightened my skirt before moving to stand in front of the desk, hands folded in front of me. "Yes, Miss Grant?"
She wasn't even pretending to look at paperwork today. She was staring right at me, right through me. My level of freaked out went from slightly freaked to seriously freaked. "Yes, Miss Grant?" I repeated.
A slight twitch of her right eye. Oh, this was going to be bad. She lifted the coffee cup to her lips slowly, never taking her eyes off mine. She took a sip and her eyes narrowed. A gulp and she was downright glaring.
"Is the coffee satisfactory, Miss Grant?" I asked, internally cursing the fact that I couldn't keep my mouth shut when I was nervous.
"The coffee is perfect, Keira." She almost had me there, for just a second. I just almost relaxed. Then I realized she never said anything was perfect. "Which begs the question. After so long of repeatedly getting me the same coffee order, day after day, what happened yesterday?"
She brought the cup to her lips again, but there was the icy stare above the rim.
When I didn't answer she lifted an eyebrow and sat the cup on a coaster on the massive desk. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. Just a little, as much as any woman like Cat Grant would lean.
"And if that question is asked, it just opens the door for so many others. Such as, why did you try crying to get back in my good graces when you know I detest any open shows of emotion? Why were you so out of sorts yesterday though nothing out of the ordinary happened? Even being snatched from the sky last week by some crazy alien hardly seemed to faze you, what would it take to make you act so strangely?"
My mind whirled, nearly giving me a headache. How did I answer any of this?
Cat steepled her fingers and pressed them to her lips, looking at me over the tips. "You know how my mind works. What do you think I say next?"
I looked everywhere in the room but at her. Really? I could guess, but I wasn't going to say it out loud, not when I would just be confirming her suspicions.
"No answer?" She slammed her palms down on the desk and pushed her chair away, making me nearly jump out of my Kryptonian skin. She stood and planted her palms, leaning toward me. "With this Bizaro out there, it's really gotten me thinking. What if I was right all along? If there are two of her…"
Oh no. That wasn't what I'd thought she'd been thinking, but thinking that was just as dangerous. I shrugged. "She's interesting alright," I said lamely.
Cat whizzed around the desk and was in my face before I could think of anything to say.
"Take of the glasses," she ordered.
"This again?" I laughed, admittedly a little hysterically.
"Just do it, Keira."
I obeyed but kept my eyes averted, using every possible opposite of Supergirl's in charge body language.
"Hmmmm," Cat said. But she didn't continue. I glanced up for a second and caught her eyes by mistake. Her expression was nearly blank, years of being the head of such a big corporation not allowing anything to show. But I could practically see the gears working behind her eyes. She was way too smart. I looked wildly around for any form of rescue, but didn't even see James or Winn through the glass doors. Now what?
"Hmmm," Cat said again, then walked back behind her desk and sat down. She instantly started shuffling papers around. "Dismissed."
"Um, what?" I asked. Surely she wasn't just going to let me go like that?
"Do I have to repeat myself once again? I have no further need of you at the moment, Keira, you are dismissed."
I waited for a second, just to see if she changed her mind, then slowly started for the door. I reached for the handle and then her voice stopped me.
"You are welcome to leave whenever you need to, Keira, no questions asked." She didn't even look up while she shook my entire world. Did that mean she thought I was Supergirl again? Was there anything I could do that would change her mind? Were we back to being friends?
"No," Cat said. "This does not mean I am fine about how you handled Adam." Was she some alien that could read minds? I turned to look at her. She glanced up at me over her glasses. "But if things are as I suspect they are. And they always are. Thank you. I wouldn't want anything happening to my son." She went back to the paperwork like nothing had happened. Like she hadn't just changed everything about me working here.
"Okay," I managed to squeak out. I practically ran out the door toward the elevator. Now was a great time to use one of those sanctioned absences. Hank and Alex were going to want to hear about this.