AN: The usual stuff first. English isn't my first language.
Secondly, this story starts two months after "What if". It's my take on the red kryptonite episode and how it would have been if Adam was still there. But of course, there will be some similitudes with actual episode.
Also the next stories in the Kadam serie will be certainly shorter than "What if" since it was the introduction story. And you have to read the first story of the serie to understand some references
Kara was peacefully bathing in the sun, eyes closed. It was the end of the day and for the second time this week, she had been returning to Cat's penthouse instead of her own apartment. Carter was gone to his father for the week and Cat was in Metropolis for buisness, and was supposed to be back the day after. So, Adam and Kara had taken advantage of the situation by making the house their own. Naturaly, one of Kara's favorite place was the balcony. Perfectely exposed to the sun, she was sitting in a lounge chair, in her bikini, and wouldn't let go off of her comfortable position.
She wished Adam was sitting next to her but the young man was studying in his room. The Kryptonian knew it was necessary and that her boyfriend loved his studies but he could use a break once in a while. After all, he had been working for at least two hours in a row. Or at least he could work under the actual sun instead of some artificial light. So, when Kara heard footsteps coming from the inside and towards the balcony, she couldn't retain a smirk of satisfaction.
"Finally getting your nose out of your history book." she started not opening her eyes. "I thought being here would include more cuddling time."
"Oh we wouldn't want to make my son jalous, would we?" a voice, too much familiar, said with a caracteristic sarcastic tone.
Kara snapped her eyes open and stood up faster than humanly possible, turning bright red, as she faced the unexpected visitor.
"Miss Grant!" Kara exclaimed, eyes wide open
"Thank God, the sun didn't fry your brain." Cat started rolling her eyes, her sunglasses in one hand, her high heels in the other. "I see that you've made yourself comfortable." she added, looking at the young woman up and down.
Kara froze at the comment. Realizing she wasn't very clothed in front of her boss, the kryptonian tried awkwardly to hide her body with her hands, until Cat finally handed her a towel that had been hanging on the railling with some kind of pity.
"I am so sorry, Miss Grant." Kara started, clunching to the towel as if her life depended on it. "I didn't know you were coming back. I thought your flight wasn't until tomorrow and Adam asked so nicely..."
"Oh, I'm sure he asked nicely." Cat interrupted, smirking
"Yeah, he said he wanted us to spend more time together." she continued, losing herself in her rambling. "Not-not that I was distracting him. I wouldn't even think about it. I mean he has a lot of work and-"
"Keira!" Cat said loudly to put a term to the way too fast monologue. "Stop." she added more gently.
The young woman did as told and stayed quiet, staring with her fearful blue eyes at her boss. Of course, Cat was wearing her annoyed mask, as always. She wouldn't let show that she was actually amused by Kara's nervousness.
"Now go get dressed before all of this gets more awkward than it already is." The woman added, taking one step on the side and showing the door with one hand.
"Of course, Miss Grant." Kara quickly said before running barefoot inside.
Cat shook her head with a smile and admired the view from her balcony for a second before going back inside. Metroplois was very different from the city Cat consedered her own, her hometown.
Just as she went to the fridge to pour herself a glass of fresh water, Adam went down and looked surprised and confused at the sight.
"Mom?" he started, making her turn. "What are you doing here?" he asked, engulfing her in a hug
"Well, for a starter, I live here." Cat sarcasticly said pulling out. "Buisness in Metropolis took less time than I thought so I advanced my flight back. But if you still have buisness on your own here with your girlfriend, I can have my assistant book a hotel room for tonight." she smirked
"No, but... Speaking of which. Did something happened with Kara? Because I saw her running upstairs repeating 'I'm so fired' over and over again." Adam asked showing the stairs with his thumb
"Just a weird intercourse." Cat shrugged with a smile. She felt the need to explain when she saw the confusion filling her son's face. "I walked in on her on the balcony and she thought it was you."
"Ow, that explains everything. And is she? Fired, I mean." Adam asked just to be sure
"Of course not!" Cat assured, right before a thud made them look towards the stairs.
A few seconds later, a still very embarrassed Kara joined them, fully clothed and a sport bag in hand.
"I should probably go." the young woman said, receiving the compassionate look of her boyfriend and making her boss roll her eyes
"Latte. Extra hot tomorrow." Cat said dismissively
"Yes, Miss Grant." Kara replied instinctively
Adam didn't know quite what to do. It was his mother's house after all, not his. Seeing that Cat wasn't going to add anything, which was making Kara even more uncomfortable, he decided to take the few steps that was seperating him from his girlfriend and gave her a peck on the lips. The young woman grinned softly before coming back to reality. A look of guilt flushed on her face.
"Sorry for the door." Kara said before quickly walking out of the penthouse.
"The door..." Adam repeated confused before understanding.
He smiled slightly at how adorable Kara was, especialy when she accidently broke things. His face hardened however when he turned to Cat, who had been patiently waiting.
"Why didn't you say anything?" the young man asked, persuaded his mother wasn't making a big deal out of what happened
"Because I didn't want her to die from embarrassement. Have you seen the look on her face? The poor girl was waiting for some kind of divine lightning to desintegrate her." Cat said before walking towards her kitchen. "No, it's better like this. I'm sure you're already planing on calling her later and then, tomorrow morning, she will act as if nothing ever happened. That's how she does things." she added, starting to ready the table for dinner
"How can you be so sure?" Adam wondered, softening a little but still, a part of him was quite jalous that his mother seemed to know Kara better than he did. "I mean I know that's how she deals with problems in general but you seem to be absolutely certain." he observed, now helping his mother
"Because I am." Cat shrugged. "Not long before Kara sent you the letter, I highly suspected she was Supergirl and I had strong evidences. One night, on the balcony at CatCo, I confronted her. I forced her into confirming my thoughts. Which she did... sort of. But then I did something stupid." the Queen of all Media admitted, a flash of sadness briefly crossing her face
"What was it?" Adam asked curious but also glad Cat was trusting him enough to confess her mistakes
"The next day, she came to the office like nothing had ever happened and served my latte like any other day. But then this game really annoyed me and I told her to either prove to me she wasn't Supergirl or to clean out her desk." Cat finally admitted, starting to chop some vegetables
"Ow." Adam simply said, knowing where this was going. "What happened next?"
"Well, obviously I hadn't realized how much her job meant to her at the time and she got scared. Kara quit, giving me one more proof that she was in fact Supergirl. But I quickly realized my mistake as the day went on." the woman saddly remembered. "The look on her face haunted me until she showed up later that night, while Supergirl was in my office."
"How's that even possible?" Adam asked quite surprised, making Cat chuckle
"I still ask myself this question. Maybe it was some kind of advance technology or an other friendly alien, I don't know." she guessed. "Anyway. I'm hungry now and this salad won't make itself. Chop Chop." Cat concluded with a smile.
Adam chuckled softly and joined his mother, cutting vegetables with her.
SSSSSSSS
When Kara arrived at her apartment, through her door for once, the first thing she did was to throw her sport bag on her bed. She would deal with it later. For now, the only thing that mattered was food and TV. And so, still a little panicked, Kara shoved a frozen pizza in her oven and took off her shoes. Waiting for her food, staring at the oven, the young woman was either bitting her nails or fidgetting with her shirt. Finally, a few minutes later, the kryptonian was on her couch, in front of a boring movie, devouring the pizza. Kara was sometimes glancing at her oven where a second pizza was heating up.
Eventually, around 11pm and four pizzas later, Kara was lying on her couch, a tub of ice cream on her stomach and a spoon in her hand. It wouldn't be the last one of the night for sure. She was known for eating a lot but Kara was also a stress eater. Not that it would surprise anyone. She was surprised by the vibrator of her phone. The young woman struggled a few seconds, balancing the tub in one hand and the cushions in the other. Finally, when she found it, Kara was pleased and stiffened at the same time. It was Adam.
"Hey." Kara simply said, answering the phone
"Hey back. How are you?" Adam asked just as simply
"Did your mother said anything about professional and cultural suicide? Because she talked to me about it once and it is exactely what happened earlier."
"No, she didn't say anyhting like that. Actually it was the contrary."
"Really?" Kara asked, so surprised she sat up on the couch
"Yeah." he assured before revising himself. "Well, she did make a little fun of you but she's fine about it. For real."
"That's a tiny bit comforting." Kara smiled, knowing Adam was also smiling on the other side of the line. "Did I blushed as much as I think I did?"
"Oh yes you did. And my door will remember this day forever." Adam chuckled
"Hey! An alien I can handle but you mother? Not when she looks at me like that. Have you ever seen her glare? No, not her glare, the glare. The one that when you see it, it freezes you and makes you wonder if your life is about to end." Kara started, sounding like the apocalypse was near
"No, I didn't. I think I'm apart of that lucky circle." he joked
"Don't be so sure, you'll be a victim eventually. Even Carter has to face it sometimes. But he is the only one that can defy it. Even me, who's known Cat for two years, can't resist its power."
"Oh I believe you. I've seen her do it to other people." Adam said before adding more softly. "But seriously, Kara. It's ok, you don't have to worry about anything. She was actually glad that I invited you. She said it's like preparing her for when Carter will bring a girl to the house." he stated, making Kara laugh
"Oh it will happen sooner than she thinks." the young woman smirked
"You know something that we don't?" Adam smiled, already imagining his girlfriend embarrassed
"Maybe..." she teased playfully.
"And he told you before Cat?" Adam asked with a smirk
"He didn't exactely tell me." Kara started. "I had to pick him up at school last week and I saw him kissing a girl on the cheek. So then it was easy to make him talk." she added, proud of herself
"I wonder why he's so comfortable with you." the young man said sweetly. He was glad Carter had someone to talk to other than his mother. He truly cared for the boy and really wished that, one day, Carter would be comfortable with him too.
"Because I'm Supergirl!" Kara cheered
"Ok, now you're just bragging. Plus, he doesn't know."
"For real, I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm nerdy like him. Well not like him because he's like a whole other level but just enough to share some interests." she tried to explain
"You really like him, do you?" Adam asked, more in love with the woman every second of their conversation
"Yeah... He's like...the little cousin I have to take care of." Kara started with emotion. "I don't know if that makes any sense but when I arrived on Earth and I saw my cousin for the first time, he was very far from the little baby I remembered and expected. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't have a purpose anymore. So when I met Carter for the first time, it kinda reminded me of Kal when he was a baby."
"Really? Carter doesn't really look like Superman." Adam stated, a little confused but still understanding what Kara meant
"You didn't see baby Superman." Kara countered softly. "He had curls I his hair, just like Carter. And I know it's hard to believe considering who my cousin is today but as a baby, he was kinda shy. Never making a sound, always discreet. Just like Carter."
"Can I ask you something?" Adam asked carefully, now fully involved in the honest conversation
"Of course. Anything you want." Kara answered softly
"How is it like knowing your cousin as a baby and then missing the transition to Superman?"
"It's...weird. Like I said before, when I first saw him on Earth, I didn't even believe it was him. He had to manage something in kryptonian to make me understand what had happened to me. Even if I'm more than happy with my life today, sometimes I wish I had seen him growing up like I was supposed to."
"On Krypton?"
"Sometimes, yes." Kara admitted, trying not hurt Adam with her next sentence. "Sometimes I wish it never exploded. I miss my parents and my friends of course but I also miss simpler things like speaking kryptonian, a scent or a sound."
"Like what?" Adam asked, determined to make Kara feel better and not retaining her sadness
"The sound of pods flying around between buildings. It was as normal as hearing a car pass on the street. It had a caracteritic sound like...um... you know the lightsaber in Star Wars? Something like that." sha said, her eyes getting more and more wet
"I wish I could do more for you." the young man confessed, sounding a little defeated
"Trust me, you're doing so much more than you can imagine." Kara assured.
A comfortable silence settled, neither of them breaking it for a few seconds. The two lovers were just enjoying each other's presence through the phone. They couldn't know but they both had a small grin of pleasure on their lips. Eventually, Kara broke the moment.
"It's late. I think we should get some sleep."
"I prefer sleeping when your next to me." Adam said gently but still teasing
"So do I." Kara chuckled. "Thank you, Adam."
"Anytime. Bye."
"Bye."
And so Kara hung up and stayed a few seconds, staring at the small black screen in her hands. She grinned one last time before getting to bed peacefully.
AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you liked this first chapter. Don't forget to review and I will happily respond.
Next, Adam will spend some time with Carter and Kara with Astra.