A/N: This one has taken me longer to work out than usual, but special thanks to my beta who has read so many versions of this, she probably won't read it now that it's posted! Hope to get this one completed in the next several days!
"Talk to me Kara, I have Ms Grant with me and we are five minutes out," Lucy says into her comms.
"I just found him," Kara blurts out and Lucy can hear her talking to Carter excitedly.
"She has him," Lucy relays quickly to the woman beside her.
"How is he? I need to talk to him," Cat says frantically.
"Kara? Is he okay? She wants to talk to him," Lucy says into her comms.
A few seconds later Cat's phone rings. "Carter?" she says quickly into the phone.
"Mom, I'm sorry," he says right away.
"I am just so glad that you are okay. Now, I'll be there in a few minutes and I want to know everything that happened," she says trying to stay calm.
Cat enters the museum and quickly scans the area, her relief is palpable when she spots them. Kara stands with an arm loosely over his shoulder as she talks with the security director of the museum and Carter's teacher. Carter staring down at the ground embarrassed.
Suddenly Carter bolts away from her and she looks up confused, until she sees Cat, then smiling in relief, she excuses herself and goes over to them.
Bending down, Cat looks him over and pulls him in close, then kisses him. Once she's reassured that he's fine, she stands up and glares at the security officer and the teacher.
"Ms Grant," Kara begins hoping that she can calm her down, but Cat stalks angrily across the room. Leaving Kara and Carter behind.
Approaching the security director and teacher, she demands, "Can someone please tell me how the hell my son goes missing on a chaperoned tour?"
"Uh...he wasn't missing, Ms Grant," the security director stammers.
"I believe that I can explain," Max says entering the area to stand beside the security director.
"Why are you here?" Cat asks quelling her anger, not wanting to make more of a scene.
"I have an exhibit coming up," he says gesturing to the advertisement on the wall beside them. "And I offered Carter a chance to preview it."
"Oh I'm sorry, Max. Let me rephrase so you can understand," she says calmly as she walks towards him. "Who the hell do you think you are to take my son out of the tour?"
Kara almost needs to use super speed to intercept her, "Uh, maybe we should go into the office over there to discuss this," she suggests trying to prevent them from making a scene in front of Carter's class.
Cat glares dangerously at Max and Kara takes her arm, then motions for him to go first. Cat looks back to see Lucy talking to Carter, so she lets Kara lead her into the room.
Once in the office, Max walks over to the desk, then spins around quickly. "Sorry to upset you Cat, but I thought that it was time that I got to know my son," he replies angrily.
"Carter is not your son," Cat counters, crossing her arms, her voice strong and resolute.
"I always thought the timing was suspicious, but for some unknown reason, I thought that you wouldn't lie about it," Max yells back at her. "But now that I've seen him, I am almost certain that he's mine," he adds.
Kara stands with her back to the door, her mouth agape, this is not what she thought they would be arguing about. Thank god she got them into the office.
"I am going to go out and check on Carter," She announces. "Apparently the two of you have a lot to talk about," Kara says backing out of the door.
"Honey, why don't you go get ready for bed," Cat says to her son after they've eaten a late dinner.
"Mom, I'm sorry about today. I know that you're really upset. I promise not to do that again, okay?" Carter says.
"You won't do it again, because you won't go on another field trip without me present," Cat replies firmly. "Now go get ready for bed, I'll be in soon," she adds.
"Good night Kara, thank you for coming to the museum to find me," Carter says giving her a kiss and hug good night.
"Of course," she replies sweetly. "Good night Carter... I love you," she adds.
"I love you too," he says awkwardly. Even though it's been several months now, he is still getting used to his Mom and Kara dating.
Cat watches her son walk down the hall and she lets out a sigh of relief.
"I suppose that I have a lot to explain," she says looking over at Kara worriedly.
"I need you to tell me the truth about your relationship with Maxwell Lord," Kara replies. "It won't change how I feel about you or Carter, but I need to know if he is Carter's father."
"It's more possible than I'd like to believe, but the truth is that I have been afraid to find out," Cat admits.
After saying goodnight to Carter, Cat returns to the living room and confesses everything to Kara.
She told her about the fight that she had with her husband over having children. How she moved into the Empire Hotel briefly to sort it out. Which was when she had a brief affair with Maxwell Lord before reuniting with Robert and then finding out that she was pregnant. Terrified that she could be carrying Lord's child, she lied to her husband, who was thrilled to find out that she was pregnant. Lying to Maxwell Lord was easy, because she had convinced herself that she was reuniting with her husband because she was pregnant with his child.
A month later Max tried to blackmail her into selling him shares of CATCO or he would tell Robert about the affair. Faced with losing her business or her marriage, she confessed everything to Robert. He left, the divorce was final before Carter was even born. It took him three years to decide to be a father to his son.
"Cat," Kara says dropping the hand that she's been holding. Although she doesn't want to admit that she's overwhelmed by the story, Kara paces the balcony trying to stay put. Her basic instinct is to go flying so that she can think and clear her head, but it feels selfish to think of herself right now, after Cat has made herself so vulnerable tonight. Yet the thought of Cat and Max together makes her skin crawl. She can't stop seeing his smug face and now, knowing that he's been with Cat. It's too much for her to take, right now.
"Kara," Cat says closing the gap between them and placing her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders. She recognizes the look on Kara's face, it means that she needs time and space to process everything. "Please stay," Cat pleads, knowing it's selfish to ask.
"Cat, this is a lot to take in and I just need a little time to clear my head," Kara says apologetically as she wraps her arms around the other woman and kisses her lightly on the forehead. "But I'll come back tonight, I promise," she whispers into the smaller woman's ear.
Cat closes her eyes silently accepting her terms.
Kara leans down, kisses her and says, "I love you, Cat." Before changing into her supersuit and diving off the balcony all at once.
Flying high over the city, Kara closes her eyes to let the night air wash over her a moment, instantly she feels lighter, but the weight of the day is still there. If Max Lord is Carter's father, everything will change. Lord may even sue Cat for joint custody, or worse, sole custody since she lied to him. Cat can't lose Carter. He's everything to her and Kara doesn't want either of them to have to go through this, so she needs to figure out how to protect both them from Maxwell Lord.
Over the ocean, Kara rolls over on her back to look up and is surprised that she can't see the moon. Confused, she slows down and hovers a moment to read the stars in the clear sky. She traces them back to where the moon should be but it's blacked out. She remembers this happening once on Krypton and her Dad called it the Night of the Black Moon. But she's never seen it on earth. Worriedly, she calls her sister.
"Hey what's up?" Alex asks answering the phone slightly out of breath. She and Lucy were making out on the couch.
"Uh, why is there a lunar eclipse tonight?" Kara asks.
"Kara, there's no eclipse tonight, I can see the moon from my balcony," Alex replies turning around on the couch as Lucy groans in frustration. "Wait, where did it go?" she asks turning around and not seeing it.
"It's the Night of the Black Moon, on Krypton it means Lilith is rising in the Ninth House," Kara replies.
"Well, that's not a thing on Earth," Alex says extracting herself from Lucy on the couch and going over to look outside curiously wondering where the moon went.
"If Lilith is rising in the Ninth House, then everything is in flux," Kara replies.
"Kara, you know that I don't believe in that astrology stuff," Alex says turning around and shrugging at Lucy. "It's probably just cloud cover."
"Hmm, maybe," Kara replies glancing around at the cloudless sky. "Alex, it's late, I should get back to Cat's," she says adding, "Love you, night," before ending the call.
"What the hell was that about?" Lucy asks.
"I'm not sure, she couldn't see the moon and then she said something about the Night of the Black Moon, I'm sure that it was just cloud cover," Alex replies.
"What are you talking about? It's a clear night and the moon is right... there." Lucy says pointing to where it's hanging just over their balcony.
"It wasn't there a minute ago," Alex says scratching her head.
"I didn't mean to be so late," Kara says softly slipping into the bed after a quick shower.
Cat turns into her arms and wraps herself around her, "You came back," she whispers.
"Hey, hey, I'm here. Of course, I came back," Kara says softly. Surprised that Cat is acting, well, needy.
"You don't have to say it, I can tell that this changes everything Kara," Cat says tearfully tucking herself in under Kara's chin.
Kara pulls her away and lifts her chin up. "I love you, that hasn't changed," she says sweetly, before kissing her lightly.
"I thought that you weren't coming back and I deserved it," Cat replies pulling back to gaze into her eyes.
Kara is still shocked to see this side of Cat and immediately realizes how to reassure her.
"We'll talk tomorrow, Cat. But tonight I want to show you...nothing has changed," Kara says slipping her hands down to find the end of her nightshirt and swiftly removing it as she presses their bodies together.
The next morning Cat wakes up alone in bed, for a moment she wonders if she merely dreamt that Kara came back last night, but then she notices the wet towel on the floor from Kara's shower last night. Picking it up, she wonders where she would have gone so early, so she turns on the tv.
"Supergirl arrived just in the nick of time to save the homes from the wild fire," the newscaster reports as footage of Supergirl containing the wildfire with her arctic breath show on the screen behind her.
"Well, that explains it," Cat says to herself relieved.
Flying away after containing the wild fire, Kara notices another fire. It's farther up, above the tree line, where it shouldn't be, so she flies over to investigate it. It looks like an elaborate campfire, but the stones are arranged in an odd pattern, a pattern that reminds her of something that she can't quite recall. Suddenly a shadow crosses over her and she spins around quickly to face it, but there's nothing there.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Kara calls out to the shadowy figure.
The shadow flows over her again, but then it's gone. Unsure of what is going on, she takes a breath and puts out the fire.
Suddenly, the smoke from the fire swirls black and envelopes her. Coughing she rises up, but the smoke cloud follows her, flying faster, she finally escapes it. She hovers for a moment to shake her head.
"Alex?" she calls her sister on the comm-link.
"What's up Supergirl?" Alex asks.
"I just had a really weird thing happen," she says still feeling confused and a bit disoriented.
"Should I send a team out to get you?" Alex blurts out worried.
"No, I'll be there in a few minutes," Supergirl replies shaking her head again and flying off quickly.
Supergirl sits on the exam table and Alex sticks a long swab up her nose and it comes back black.
"Ugh, I should shower before I leave," Kara says grossed out by the swab.
"Explain to me again what happened," Hank says entering the exam room.
"It was like a campfire above the treeline, but the stones were arranged in odd pattern," Kara replies. "It reminded me of something from Krypton, I just can't think of what it is though," she says holding her head a moment.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Alex asks. "Does your head hurt?"
"No, I just felt dizzy and out of focus for a minute," Supergirl replies.
"What about the figure you saw? Describe in more detail," Hank replies glancing over at Alex to share his concern.
"It was just a shadow, I never saw anyone," Supergirl answers, then softly she says something and Alex cocks her head curiously.
"Kara, you just spoke Kryptonian... it sounded like you said hello," Alex says reaching out for Kara's shoulder.
"I did?" She asks confused, then she smiles, "I heard that when the shadow passed," she adds.
"The shadow said 'hello' in Kryptonian?" Hank asks carefully.
"I think you should stay here until we figure out what happened out there Kara," Alex replies placing both hands on her sister's shoulders.
"Don't overreact Alex, I need to get into work. Cat and I are working on a big investigative piece," Kara says smiling at her sister.
Cat looks up from her computer to see Kara finally entering the bullpen in a black skirt and sleeveless black blouse, her eyes dark with liner. She's not wearing her glasses and her hair is down. Confused Cat quickly heads towards the door calling out Kara's name as she approaches the doorway.
"Yes Cat?" Kara asks stepping just inside the doorway, a smirk on her face. "Let me guess, you need a latte? Or is there a shortage of M&M's that I need to take care of immediately?" she questions loudly, unusually sarcastic.
"Get in here and shut the door," Cat says angrily taking a few steps back, not sure what's going on with her girlfriend, but definitely not going to find out in front of the entire bullpen.
Kara steps in and closes the door behind her before striding across the room and out onto the balcony and sits down.
Cat watches her go and then follows her angrily.
"Why are you dressed like that and where are your glasses?" She asks sharply following her outside. "Is this some sore of stunt to punish me? We agreed that we wouldn't air our personal problems at work," Cat reminds her.
Kara glances up at her and calmly replies, "Cat, Lilith is rising in the ninth house, everything is in flux."
"Kara, I don't have time for whatever this is. Max Lord just served me with papers demanding a paternity test," Cat replies trembling with anger.
Kara sits silently looking at her nails, bored.
"Kara, what is going on?" Cat asks waiting for a reply.
"Kara Danvers is gone Cat." Kara says standing up and closing the gap between them. "You belong to Kara Zor-El now," she says thickly, pulling the smaller woman to her and kissing her possessively.
Pulling away and gasping in shock, Cat stammers, "K-Kara, you're worrying me..."
"I will lead us out of this chaos caused by Lilith in the Eighth house," Kara says confidently. "And I'll take care of Mr Lord, he won't be bothering you any longer," she adds.
"Kara, please sit down, we need to discuss this," Cat replies.
"The time for talking has passed," Kara remarks. "It is now time for action. Lilith is rising and she demands it," she adds cryptically before flying off.