Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I do claim to have come up with an ingenious way of giving a kryptonian amnesia.
Risk of the Heart
"Kara," she blinked; nothing made sense. "Kara!"
"Me?" Her tongue felt heavy, as though unused to the language. Her head was pounding, and she hit her temple in order to make sense of her scrambled up memories. The woman spoke again and she turned. "Me?"
"Kara?" It sounded hesitant, as though unsure, but the name felt right.
"Yeah, that's my name." Confidence bloomed with the statement, making it a fact: her name was Kara.
"Oh by the gods Kara," older woman, blonde, with liquid honey for eyes. "I know you're my assistant, but a meteorite impact could have killed you! You're lucky to be alive."
"I apologize, but what's an assistant?" She rubbed the back of her head, just to feel something and she dislodged it; a green chunk of rock fell and her hand was red. "Who are you?"
"We must take you to a hospital — specialist —" The woman stopped further words when the girl licked her own bloodied hand, and she began fearing the worst. "Kara, what's the last thing you remember?"
The young blonde made an effort, before wincing and crying out in pain, much to the chagrin of the older woman. "Destruction, an explosion, fire all around —"
"Shhhh," the alien was now being held, and all she could do was cry at the emotional pain. "I'm here."
"Don't leave me," Kara sobbed, "I have no one left, and I must protect my baby cousin. But everyone else is gone and I'm scared.
"I promised mom to be strong, but I'm scared," she whimpered.
"Kara, my name is Cat Grant, and right now you need to see a doctor." The woman expected a reaction of sorts, and she waited a while for it, so for those moments she took her assistant's shredded sweater and decided to take the green, unusual rock that broke from the meteorite and impacted the girl. She then tenderly touched the spot where it had been, worried about the seeping blood. "Here, take this," she ripped part of said sweater easily to give the girl, "and press it against the gash. We're going to a hospital; I still believe you lied to me but, I don't trust Mulder."
"Ma'am —"
"Excuse me, how old do you think I am?" Cat demanded of the fireman with a glare.
"Sorry Miss," the man cleared his throat. "We're evacuating everyone from the premises. Please step right through here for decontamination —"
"You're kidding me, saying this site is contaminated and being unprotected yourself." Cat huffed.
"Miss Grant."
"Agent Mulder," the older woman stated, arching an eyebrow. "Interesting that the FBI is involved."
"Monroe," Hank supplied smoothly, noticing how the younger woman held onto her boss. "I'm afraid we're looking into extraterrestrial elements, which is the reason for decontamination; you though, should definitely see one of our medics."
"Excuse me if I don't believe you, and I rather go to the hospital," Cat stated without preambles, knowing better than to point out that it wasn't her blood and figuring she had a bargaining chip. "I did find a green piece; well, it found my assistant's head, but it might be what you're looking for."
"Sir!" Alex approached before freezing at the sight of her little sister holding on to someone other than her in such a way. Fortunately, the older blonde didn't fully notice the stop.
"Oh Agent Mulder, is this perhaps Agent Scully?" There was amusement in those hazel eyes.
"This is one of my top field agents," he replied. "I believe you had something for me?"
She gave them the kryptonite and left without further ado. Kara didn't even look back, not as though trying to keep their covers, but because she truly didn't know them. Hank knew something bad could happen, and with a well placed call kept eyes on hospitals in case a Kara Danvers was entered into their system; they had to abduct her. In order to make sure she was okay though, although clearly she wasn't.
Unfortunately, as soon as the only green fragment of the meteorite was out of her vicinity, healing powers kicked in. Kara's head-throbbing lessened to a minor ache, and when she probed the spot softly, she was surprised to find it wasn't painful, and that the bleeding had stopped. Cat only gave into her curiosity once they were back in her car, the driver already taking them away. It had been an evening business meeting that Kara had attended in her capacity of assistant; with Cat giving her more responsibilities she hadn't wanted to miss a chance. The place of impact had left five wounded, three individuals in the ICU, and only Cat remained unscathed.
Because of Kara.
Cat felt as though she had acquired a daughter. All the things she had to teach were overwhelming, and it was quite different from teaching Carter. She could try to argue with the fact that her son wasn't normal (thank god) but it was clear that Kara wasn't either; she wasn't even human. The trip back home was done in relative silence ("it brings the window down", "that one affects the sunroof", "if you turn on the light, the driver can't see properly") the night was blissfully free from explaining to Carter, since he was spending the weekend at his father's, and Kara was too exhausted to know where they were. Or where she was sleeping. As had happened with Carter, the girl cried out at night, and only calmed when Cat gently soothed her. Seeing as whenever she left, the young woman's nightmares returned, she woke her and they both collapsed on the master bed. For the first time, Cat didn't mind sharing her bed with someone other than her son.
"Rao is smaller here, yellower, too," she pointed to the sun; she had risen with it, not looking tired.
"This one is Rao's younger brother then, the sun won't be a red giant until a few, billion years." Cat couldn't bring herself to move, even if it was too early in the morning and she was holding her assistant, yet not-assistant, close to keep nightmares at bay. At the scrunched up face, she chuckled. "Kara, how was life at home, before the fire? Was Rao as warm as this sun? How about the moon?"
"Well, here I feel lighter, the light from this sun is invigorating, and the moons were beautiful! There are moons here, right? Yuda?" Her happiness was dampened. "My mom was the one who taught me about Yuda. My mom helped as many people as she could, making sure that criminals paid for their crimes.
"She taught me that asking questions was good, that when someone offers help it's an honor to accept, that the House of El stands for hope, and El-ma'ira, my family's motto, means that we are stronger together." She began shedding tears. "I miss her so much."
"Kara, how old are you?" Cat wanted to ask something else, but she couldn't betray that confidence yet. Besides, the fact that the way she spoke was too much like a child made her concerned more than curious.
The younger woman took their hands and began looking at them, as though analyzing and searching for an answer. "Around twenty five?" She hid. "I'm not sure, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Come, time for breakfast," with a deep breath she stood.
"Can I help?"
"You can watch and make attempts, as long as you help me clean up after."
"Okay."
They made their meal, ate, and Kara's head began hurting again. This time, Cat was the one checking to see how the wound was, but there were no wounds, no traces of the meteorite left. Making a choice, Cat encouraged her charge to take a nap, before leaving to make a call; she always made sure Carter was well at the beginning or end of the day. Surprisingly, when she finished the call and there was silence for a few instances, before the girl cried out in pain again. She was holding her eyes and then her ears, as though too many things were happening at once.
"Kara!" She reached blindly towards the voice, and when their hands met, Cat was pulled down with painful strength. "Kara, be careful, you're too strong."
"I'm, I'm sorry Cat," at least the hug was tentative, and tender as well. When those fingers began combing her hair, she sighed in contentment and leaned against the woman. "I feel thirteen."
"That's probably how old you were when you escaped Krypton," everything made sense, and she smiled when the taller frame relaxed further into her. "That means your body is different here than there, specially if your sun is a red giant. It also explains how you can fly, but to help you master everything, you need to tell me what happened right then. Can you do that? Be honest with me?"
"Of course."
With as much detail as she could, she confessed into listening in on her conversation, and how without having anything to focus on, she began listening to everything. The animals outside, people, the bustling of the city, sirens, insect wings, a constant buzzing from the electricity and just as quickly, her eyes were seeing beyond walls, muscles, bones, and the feeling of standing in the middle of air had scared her the most.
Cat became practical. To make things easier, she made a game out of it; how many fingers am I holding behind my back? What's the figure behind the card. Focus on the billboard on the corner. Focusing on her, her eyes, describe Cat to the fullest. Then it was identifying every sound; the fun part was when Cat dropped a pin, although she couldn't be sure if it was sight or hearing. She decided to exploit this and test the sense of smell. That one appeared to be functioning by being naturally filtered by the brain, so Cat made it a purpose of doing the same with the others.
Taste though, was a fun one. For that, they would have to go to a restaurant, and Kara would have to have cataloged every possible scent involved on the process of wine-making. Cat had explained that one, and soon the kitchen had every kind of nut, toast, and an assorted variety of fruits, even if they weren't used in the wine process. It was pleasant, finding out the young woman's appetite was almost insatiable. Carter wasn't a picky eater, it was just that he didn't eat a lot. It was an unusual kind of fun.
"Of, we need to do some target practicing; let's take this to the backyard," she coaxed the girl out. It was a beautiful and sunny day. "We're using Carter's Nerf target practice, but we'll have to use —"
"Miss Grant?" She turned and found Kara holding her head before crying out and, apparently losing her balance.
Cat was at her side as quickly as possible, holding her. "Kara, talk to me."
"Miss Grant!" Just as quickly, she yelped, moving back with a gasp.
The older woman sighed in exasperation. "Well, at least you're back — how did you get your memories back?"
"The yellow sun charges my cells and enhances everything that's superhuman about me."
"Well, good news then, you aren't underage anymore and can actually drink wine."
"Wait, you still want to conduct the taste test?"
"What I find interesting, was your sense of touch; pressure, temperature, nerve receptors, it didn't fire up."
"Oh, it was when I first came, mainly because my skin was extremely sensitive." She shrugged. "I've been living on this planet for over twelve years, my sense of touch is primarily regulated by my own skin, a reflex action very much like breathing or a beating heart."
"Right, the skin is an actual organ," although why or even how it could learn a passive action, like a heart knew how to beat or breathing could be done without conscious thought, while sight and hearing didn't was intriguing, even if scent wasn't that much trouble. "Leave it to Supergirl to literally harden her skin. Well, I guess you'll be flying off now."
"I think that might be a little rushed," Kara confessed, gently approaching the older blonde.
"You don't have to worry Keira, your secret is safe with me —"
"Seeing as I figured yours, I'm inclined to agree."
"What do you —" her outrage was quelled with a deep kiss. By the end of it, she was panting and more than a little dizzy, as well as clinging to the hero. "I pledge the fifth."
"Your heart betrayes you, if the way you answered my kiss wasn't clue enough," Kara appeared to ponder. "That was my reason for hesitating, not because I thought you wouldn't keep my secret."
"I knew it was risky, helping you out," Cat remarked with a sigh.
"Risky?" She wasn't sure of what the older woman could possibly mean.
"I was putting my heart as risk, Kara Danvers —"
"Please use my name more often," she breathed, loving the way it sounded.
"— now you're like a pet I don't want to give up."
"You're Cat."
"Only a fool would name their pet for what they are."
"Are you calling your mother a fool?" The tease escaped her mouth before she could rein it.
"Yes I know," she replied in exasperation, "now she has to handle the consequences of it.
"You, on the other hand, must kiss me."
Kara forgot the implications that Cat was too much like her namesake for comfort. She could only expect a frenzy and ferocious coupling ahead. Only, there would be no chance for this. With a sigh, she stopped and wearily stepped away, frowning at her lack of glasses. The older woman scowled at the sudden halt.
"Mom!"
"Carter?"
"Dad had to cancel, so he dropped me off —"
"How often has he done this?" His mother demanded with a scowl.
"Kara!" He ignored everything and gave her a hug, just to stare at her face. "You look different without glasses."
"Yeah I —"
"Carter!" His mother demanded his attention and took his head between her hands and staring at him intently. "How often has your father ditched you here?"
"Last Thanksgiving?"
"You spent the blackout here, alone?" She had to consciously calm herself down, which only seemed to work when her assistant touched her bicep and rubbed it softly. "Carter, we're going to have a serious discussion about this, later. Right now, go to your room and get changed."
"Guess our day just got sidetracked."
"You're not off the hook," she motioned to the scurrying thirteen year old, "he's too smart for his own good."
"Oh yeah, what's that about the Nerf gun target practice?"
"We built one for a science project; target practice is different between moving and stationary ones."
"I love the way you give him priority."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."