It's Supposed to be a Date
XavAcid
Chapter 1 : Sure, you can come with us
"Hi, Kara."
"Hello, Carter." Kara smiled at the twelve year old boy happily, as he smiled shyly at her. It was rather rare that he would visit his mother office, but today his regular babysitter had an accident, and Cat couldn't get any other reliable sitter on such short notice, Kara had tried. So here he was.
Carter Grant smiled widely, he liked Kara, and he would've liked to visit his mother's office more, so he could see her, but his mother often said that it would be rather boring for him to be sitting around in her office while waiting for her to finish work. He disagreed, of course, he even listed the reasons why he wouldn't be.
One of them was Kara.
He thought she was interesting, and very nice. She never tried to touch him without letting him know first, and that one time that she babysat him he had so much fun with her and Winn. He asked his mother over and over again if Kara could babysit him again. His mother always said no, in the most roundabout way possible. He didn't know what the problem was, the train didn't even explode that time, and Supergirl came and helped, after all. And it wasn't Kara's fault that he was on that train.
His mother could over react sometimes.
"Your mom is on the phone at the moment, but would you like me to get you snack?" Kara asked, "I could get you milkshake?"
And Kara was really good with snacks, too.
"Carter!" Cat came out of her office to greet her son. She wrapped him in a big hug, kissing his head while he squirmed away, though he was smiling.
"Mom..." he whined a little.
"How was school?" She threw her arm over his shoulder, and guided him into her office, calling out for her assistant in the next breath.
Kara quickly grabbed her tablet and followed the mother and son into the glass encase office.
"Mom, can I get a milkshake?" Carter immediately asked, tilting his head toward the smiling blonde standing just inside the room.
"Honey," Cat started, she didn't want him to fill himself up with sweet and ruine his dinner. A gallon size milkshake that Sunny Danvers was going to give him would surely do that, not to mention made him bounce off the wall until he crashed.
Not a scenario she wanted for the evening.
"Please?" He turned his big blue eyes on her. "I'll get a small one. Please?"
Cat heaved a sigh, acting very much put upon, but all parties presented knew better, that it was pretty much just an act. "Alright, a small one." She turned to her assistant. "Keira."
"Of course, Chocolate?" She turned to ask the last part to the younger Grant, but instead of answering her Carter turned to his mother.
"Mom, I wanna go with Kara."
It was almost comical to see, though Kara knew better than to make any outward appearance of it, Cat's expression changed between wanting to deny him, and agreeing, there wasn't much that could happen between CatCo building and Noonan's where her assistant would be getting the milkshake and her latte, but she was a mother and she worried. Then her son turned his puppy eye on her, and she gave a sigh.
"Alright, you can go."
"Yes!" he grinned and turned to Kara, intending to follow her right out.
"Oh, and Keira."
"Yes, Ms. Grant?"
"If anything happen to him..." she gave her the girl a look and conveyed a thousand things at once, none of them good.
Kara nodded understanding everything that her boss communicated. "Of course."
"And get me a latte." She flicked her wrist, shooing the blonde away and turned back to her laptop.
Quickly Kara escaped her office, Carter just led her out to the elevator, none the wiser for the multitude of things that his mother indicated with a look alone.
They chatted like old friends all the way from CatCo to Noonan's. Carter smiled big as Kara asked about his classes and his club activities, he laughed as she offered up some of her own experiences from her school days.
While her athletic abilities exceeding those of human, in effort not to stand out, she refrained from all sports but those that required by the curriculum.
"Oh, I was in science club when I was in school, the experiments were fun." And they were, they were all so different from how she learned on Krypton, and that was interesting to her. She told the youngest Grant as they entered Noonan's. "I didn't do much sport, but Alex though, she was into all sort of sports. I usually just cheer her on from the stands."
Carter turned to his mother's assistant, curiosity bright in his eyes. He had heard the name a few times, and he was more than curious. Everytime he saw Kara, the name was mentioned to just about every conversation they had.
"Who is Alex? Is she your girlfriend?"
That gave Kara a pause. She knew that she often mentioned Alex without much thought, their lives were intertwined so much. It was difficult for her to talk about her activities without Alex because more often than not, they were doing those things together. And it had been a long time since she could defined their relationship in simple term. They were no longer just foster sisters, now that their relationship changed and evolved into a more intimate one.
While Carter was only a child, he was very smart and mature for his age she wasn't going to tell him anything but the truth. And Alex meant so much to her that she'd never lie about their relationship, ever.
"Yeah," Kara grinned.
"Cool." He said simply and turned to the bar, looking around for someone to take their order.
"Hey, Kara." Viola, her usual waitress walked up to her. "The usual order for the boss?"
"Hi Vi, yes, and a small chocolate milkshake for Mr. Grant here, too, and a large shake for me."
"Coming right up!" Vi take down the order quickly with a smile. She'd always liked the bubbly blonde, it was something of a bet going on when the Sunny blonde started out about how long she would last as Cat Grant's assistant. But she had exceeded all their expectations. She was always nice, and polite to boot.
"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Kara settled on the tall stool after waiting for the boy to climb onto his. "Is your dad taking you somewhere?" It was his father's weekend with him, and Kara was the one that kept track of these things for Cat, though anything about Carter was the one item that Cat never ever forget.
"Um, no." He shook his head minutely. He wasn't particularly bother by his father's frequent cancellation. He didn't much like going with him anyway, especially now that he was dating someone new. "He had to go to some conference somewhere."
"Oh, no." Kara face fell. "I'm sorry, buddy."
This was why he liked Kara, she was always genuine with him he could easily tell, and she paid attention to what he said instead of pretending just to get on his mother's good grace.
"It's no big deal, I don't want to go with him and stay in a boring hotel anyway." His eyes caught a flyer someone left on the bar, National City Aquarium was printed in large block letter on top. He reached for it when he was sure that someone had left it there.
Kara caught where his eyes went and smiled.
"Oh, yeah they are opening a new tank this weekend."
"They are?" Wide blue eyes turned to her.
"Yup, I'm going on Saturday, Alex knows the director and she said we could go see the feeding tank and stuff," the bright blue eye snapped toward her and turned impossibly wider.
"Really?" His voice went up an octave. He couldn't believe it, Kara's girlfriend knew the director and she could really go behind the scene, he had always wanted to see what they were doing and how they worked. "Can I come?" He blurted out.
Uh-oh.
It wasn't that taking Carter was a big deal, she could, and Alex wouldn't mind, he was a very smart boy, she was sure that he would've liked Alex and they could probably geeked out together. Problem was that Cat might not be too happy that her son wanted to spend the day with her assistant, especially after what happened the last time she babysat for her.
"You're going to have to ask your mom about that, but it's fine with me."
"I'll ask my mom." He was excited.
Just then their orders came and Kara paid quickly. Carter hopped down from his stool, one hand grabbing at his own milkshake and led the way out of the cafe, he couldn't wait to ask his mom.
He liked aquarium, he had been there on school trip, and his mom took him once. He found the fishes very soothing to watch. He planned on asking his mom for a small tank for his room very soon.
And he found himself excited to meet this Alex that Kara often talked about, how cool was it that she even knew the director of NC Aquarium. Their walk turned into a very brisk one as Carter couldn't wait, Kara easily kept up with him, noting that he was very close to breaking out into a run.
Though, she was sure that Alex wouldn't mind that Carter came along with them, she still couldn't guess what her initial reaction would be. But her immediate problem looming now was Cat Grant. She was pretty sure that her boss wouldn't be pleased.
What the hell did I just do?
"Mom, look." He held up a flyer in his hand for his mother to see as soon as he entered her office, practically flew across the room to where she was at her desk. "The aquarium is opening a new tank this Saturday, can I go?"
Cat, who had just hung up from a very frustrating call with her ex-husband, telling her that he had to cancel his weekend with his only son. She was so tempted to just yell at him, but stopped herself, it wouldn't have made any difference to him, and Carter was certainly not an inconvenient to her, she welcome more time with him. But she didn't want him to feel like he was abandoned by his own father.
So, when her boy suddenly burst into her office with a flyer held out to her she was stunted for a moment, then she took the flyer from his hand, reading the information on it, mentally tried to remember her schedule.
She would love to take him, she remembered how much he enjoyed the visit to the Aquarium the last time she took him, which was forever ago. But she wasn't sure her schedule was so accommodating.
"I'll have to check first..." she trailed off, expecting a disappointment in his eyes. Except that he didn't look disappointed, his eyes were bright, smile still wide.
"Kara is going, she said I can go with her!"
Her eyes immediately slide over to her bubbly assistant, who met her eyes nervously, clearly she was expecting something. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she was well aware that Carter was expecting her answer right away.
"Carter."
"Can I go, please? Dad has to cancel this weekend." He turned his puppy eye on her. "I know you don't want me to stay in and play game all day, and you're probably busy, and Kara is going anyway, so can I? Can I?"
He saw his mother's hesitation and knew that he really needed to say more.
"Kara said Alex knew the director, she can get us in behind the scene," he added quickly.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, so, can I please?"
Cat sighed, she was going to cave, but she wasn't going to make it look easy. "Let me talk to Keira first, alright?"
Carter pouted, he didn't know why his mom insisted on calling Kara by the wrong name, it wasn't hard to remember the right one, after all. It was only four letters long. But he could see victory only an arm reach away so, he wasn't going to try to correct her.
"Can you wait outside?"
The boy nodded and headed out, intending to be as close as possible, knowing that his mother would definitely talk to Kara now.
"Keira!"
Immediately, the blonde sprung up from her seat, grabbing her tablet and entered the office, smiling at the youngest Grant as she went.
"Yes, Ms. Grant?"
"Close the door please."
Kara did as she was told, approaching the smaller blonde, she pulled up the schedule, although she had been listening in and knew what her boss was going to talk to her about.
"Sit." Cat indicated the couch opposite her, she waited for the girl to do so. "Now, what is this I heard about you taking my son to the Aquarium?"
"Actually..."
"And who is this Alex person?"
She didn't know which part to answer first, now that Cat seemed to gear up to ask more question.
"Well, Carter saw the flyer of the opening of the new tank at the aquarium and I said that it was this weekend and Alex and I are going, he wanted to come along, and he said his weekend with his father was being cancelled due to a conference." Kara rushed out.
"And this Alex person?"
"My um.. girlfriend."
Kara watched Cat's brows raise up to her hairline, apparently she managed to surprise her boss.
"Girlfriend? That is mildly interesting."
The younger blonde felt her cheeks heated up. "Um.. not really." She mumbled.
"And here I thought you were pining after my art director."
"Um, nope." She shook her head quickly. Recalling the embarrassment she put herself through during that crush phrase and how it must have hurt Alex, even though the brunette hadn't said a word about it. Alex was down right supportive, as she had always been, and Kara never really thought about it, the brunette would only talk around it, and only when she was exhausted, or drunk enough. "Not after your art director."
Cat eyes narrowed, but she let it go. "Now, Carter said that your girlfriend knows the director."
"Yeah, they went to school together."
This was another interesting tidbit that Cat filed away, seeing how the director of National City's Aquarium was some scientist or other, this Alex must be quite a bit older than her assistant. Now, she had to meet this person before she would ever let her son accompany them anywhere. It wasn't that she didn't trust Kara, she was half way competent enough, and trustworthy, even when she acted otherwise to the girl. And seeing how this was already Wednesday, and the tank opening was Saturday, the meeting needed to happen as soon as possible.
"I want to meet this Alex, so, five o'clock today. Don't be late." She flicked her wrist at the younger blonde, indicated that their talk was finish.
Kara, bewildered, forgot to protest and only nodded. She fled the room.
"Kara?" Carter looked up from where he sat at her desk, he looked nervous. He had been watching their interaction, he didn't really see anything out of ordinary, really, but he couldn't hear anything and his lip reading weren't good enough, yet. "What did mom say?" Asking would have to do.
"Just the usual, what did I say, who is Alex."
"Oh..." Now he felt his chance diminish by a thousand percent.
Kara felt bad that his little face fell, "she wanted to meet Alex." Her voice went up a tick. "She'll let you go with us, you'll see."
Carter smiled up at her, he wasn't as certain as Kara seemed to be, a part of him recognized that she was trying to cheer him up, the other part of him thought that Kara was probably right, there was no way someone that Kara dated wouldn't be as awesome as she was.
'Are you free?' Kara quickly texted after she set the young Grant up in at the corner of her desk where he would have space to do his homework. She hoped that Alex wouldn't freak out, or maybe she just kept the details for later.
A response came only minutes later. The brunette was probably in her lab as oppose to the command center where everyone could see, otherwise it would've taken longer.
'Yeah, what is it?'
'Can you come to CatCo 5?'
'What's wrong?'
'Nothing, I'll tell you later. Love you.'
'Alright, I'll see you at 5.'
Kara frowned at the lack of return sentiment, she pouted a little while staring at the screen of her smartphone until the screen went dark by itself. With a sigh, she started to stuff the phone back into her pocket when a ding came.
'Love you, too.'
Alex looked at the texts with a frown, something was up, she could tell. She'd been to CatCo a few times, but usually because of Supergirl related business, never a personal one. Except that one time, but it was about her father and not about Kara. She considered calling Kara back to ask what was up.
"Ma'am." Vasquez called for her attention and she decided that whatever it was, it'd have to wait till five.
Things had been smooth sailing since they confessed their feelings for each other, and Alex couldn't be happier. They had been out on numerous dates already, and the rest of the time that they weren't working had been spending together, hanging out, watching whatever shows they agreed on. For the most part it was the same as they had always done, and this made Alex realize that they had been dating all along and neither of them realized it. The thought made her want to bang her head on the next solid surface at how oblivious the both of them were.
True that they didn't tell very many people about the change in their status, yet, but those that they told simply rolled their eyes and said that it was about time.
They could've saved so much time and heartache, but then there were other hurdles they needed to cross. Like her mother. Just thinking about telling her mom about the recent development between them brought on a migraine of the blackout variety. Her mother would not be pleased, but she'd have to think about it some other time.
Now she'd have to focus on whatever the new information scrolling through her station that caught Vasquez's eyes. Then she was going to see her little Kryptonian at five, something to look forward to.
Kara could always tell where Alex was, especially now that they were closer than ever, her senses were tuned to the brunette's heartbeats, it was her way to center herself whenever she felt overwhelmed when she first got to Earth. Now it made her feel safe, and loved, so much love.
So, the moment Alex arrived at CatCo she felt her. Kara tuned her super sense, so that she could track her progress from the lobby, up the elevator. The Kryptonian felt her heart picked up beats, and a corresponding warmth in her chest when the distance between them decrease by the second.
A small ding of elevator arriving had her turned to look, a smile came over her face when Alex rounded the corner. It was 4:55 pm.
Alex was always so punctual.
All her colleagues that were still in the bullpen were looking at the brunette, eyes following her progress across the room.
Alex was in her casual skinny jeans, silver plaid shirt with two top buttons undone -because Kara noticed these things about her - her leather jacket folded over her arm. Her strides were long and confident.
She looked worried, and Kara felt instantly guilty, knowing that she was the one who put it there because of her vague texts. She didn't mean to worry her like this. But she was afraid that if she tell Alex exactly what she was here for she might not come, which was irrational, Alex was a badass, she had never shied away from challenge, ever.
Dark head turned and their eyes met, a smile spread across her face, it was beautiful, albeit not as wide as Kara's own.
"Alex!"
The Kryptonian popped up from her chair and came around her desk to meet the brunette in a hug.
"Kara," Alex was well aware that the entire room was watching them, but she didn't much care as Kara pressed a kiss to her cheek.
Alex pulled back slightly to look at her little alien, while the big smile that she accustomed to seeing was there, so was something else like... nervousness? "What is it?"
"Well..." Kara blue eyes slide away for a moment.
At this Alex knew something was up, while Kara was getting better at keeping secret with other people, she still could not keep secret with her.
Cat Grant, who had been watching a stranger's progress across her bullpens. At first she didn't know why her assistant suddenly perked up and turned to look at the far end of the room. Moments later an attractive brunette in plaids shirt and tight jeans came into view.
Then her assistant practically jumped up from her seat, while she couldn't hear what being said but she could see the way Kara's face lit up. If there was any lingering doubt as to who the woman was, it was gone now. The brunette was definitely this 'Alex'. If not then her assistant was definitely more wild than she originally thought.
Cat Grant waited long enough for the two to embrace, and was that a kiss? Granted it was on the cheek, but she never imagined her assistant would be down with public display of affection, especially in the workplace.
"Keira." She called out at exactly 5 PM. On the dot.
Kara closed her eyes briefly, she was hoping that she could talk to Alex before, a futile wish, what was she thinking, anyone coming through the elevator would not escape her boss's eyes, her office was glass encased, after all. She really should've meet Alex downstairs.
"So, you know the trip to aquarium that we're planning?" She said quickly, one hand tugging the leather jacket from Alex's arm and tossed it over her chair.
"Yeah?" Alex frowned at first at the question and then at the way Kara was suddenly pushing her toward Cat Grant's office. "Kara?" This was getting stranger and stranger by the second. Did the Kryptonian do something that warrant some cover up? And what about the trip to aquarium. As far as she knew, Saturday was Kara's day off, did the Cat lady suddenly decided that she should come to work?
"Yeah, about that, I might've volunteered us for babysitting." Kara's hand was insistence, "and wanted to meet you before she will let Carter go with us." She said the last part in a rush that took only the one that spent twelve years being close to her to be able to understand.
"What?!" But before she could say anything else, Alex found herself standing just inside the glass doors.
"There you are, I was wondering how long it's going to take you to bring her over," Cat came around her desk, her glasses in one hand, her keen eyes took in the confused brunette. "And you must be Alexandra."
At her full name Alex's frown just became deeper. This was not what she was expecting, at all.
"Alex," instantly composed, she drawn on her training and let the calm came over her.
Cat Grant was completely surprised, but she hid it well. There was hardly anyone who did not know her in this city, and almost all of those people were nervous when meeting her for the first time, hell, some of her executive that met with her on regular basis still was nervous when meeting her. But not this girl, and that was another surprising fact, her sunny assistant said that this Alex went to school with the NC Aquarium's director, so she assumed that they would be of the same age, but this was a girl, hardly any older than sunny Danvers herself, who-at the moment- was barely standing still, she was practically vibrating with energy.
"Keira, get me a latte." She wanted to talk to this person alone.
Kara's head turned from her Boss to her Alex, she knew she would have to go, but she didn't want to leave Alex here, she really didn't know what her boss was going to do. Hazel eyes met her blue ones, and the older Danvers gave a small nod, and a smile. She could handle Cat Grant.
"Ok," Kara muttered, reaching out to touch the brunette's arm, "ok." And she was gone.
"Sit," Cat gestured at the couch once the brunette's attention came back to her. "Please."
She watched the girl sat down then leaning back, legs crossed hands placed on her lap.
"So, what do you do, Alexandra?"
"I'm a researcher."
"Oh?" Cat sat opposite her, glasses forgotten on the cushion beside her. "What kind?"
"Bio engineer."
"So, I heard from Keira that you're a friend with the aquarium's director. I must say you looked a little young? And you are going to the new tank opening at the aquarium on Saturday, which apparently your sunny little girlfriend volunteered to take my son along."
There it was, at least Cat Grant didn't drag it out like she'd expected. She was going to kill Kara, well, that was impossible with her being Kryptonian and all, but she was going to do something, maybe withholding the potsticker the next time they order Chinese. What was she thinking volunteering to babysit her boss's son, after what happened last time and he ended up on an experimental train that almost got blown up. Alex kept her face calm, though she wasn't exactly freaking out or anything on the inside, more like annoyed. And she didn't know if all of those things the woman said needed to be answered.
This one was so economic with her words like no one Cat had ever met, it wasn't possible that this girl was just a scientist. Cat Grant was a journalist, first and foremost, and she was really good at her job. She wasn't just one day woke up as a Queen of All Media and she pride herself on her observational skills. No one should be this calm when talking to her.
"I'm going to assume that you didn't know." Cat said after a moment.
"Well, she only just told me a minute ago," the brunette said with just a lift of her brow. "Which is why you wanted to talk to me, am I right?"
"Right, and normally I would do a very thorough background check, but since my assistant seemed to have told my son that she was more than willing to take him along and so I need to know who is taking him. For all I know you could be an ax murderer." She paused at that amused look that came to those hazel eyes, "not that I think you are."
The brunette rolled her eyes so dramatically that Cat wanted to openly laugh at the exasperation displayed.
Kara tried to make the quickest trip to Noonan's as she possibly could and still be in the realm of humanly possible. With her super speed she could be there and back with the latte's in less than three minutes. She did want to be there with Alex while Cat, no doubt, interrogated her. At the same time, though, she knew Alex could handle it, the older Danvers was a trained agent, she could handle herself.
Still the Kryptonian made sure to pick up her favorite human's preferred beverage as well, right now she needed all the bribe she could get. Who knew what mood Alex was going to be in. She should've talked to Alex and before she offered to take Carter, Alex would definitely lecture her on her thinking and planning ability later, and Kara sort of dreaded it, it certainly would not be the first time.
As she pushed through the front door of CatCo building she was face to face with James Olson.
"Kara? I thought you went home."
"Um… no," she really didn't need this delay, James most likely wanted to ask why she was still here, despite the fact that she often stayed late if Ms. Grant was staying late. Sometimes, she thought that James felt he was entitled to know everything about everyone. Like being Superman's friend made him entitle to her secret.
Kara was still smarting from the fact that he tried to use her secret to fix his relationship. And she knew that Alex liked it even less. Lucy was their good friend now, and was now working with Alex at the DEO, but it could turn out entirely differently, what if Lucy was more sympathetic to her father's point of view, what would happen then?
"I have to go." Kara quickly brushed him off and headed right to the elevator, giving no chance to whatever was going to come out of his mouth next. As she entered the elevator she could see him still standing by the door, looking back at her.
Kara bounced lightly on the tip of her toes as the elevator moved up floor by floor. As the elevator rose higher, she turned her senses toward Alex.
Hopefully, didn't say anything to piss her off. Alex had, more than once, offered to shoot her boss with extra strong tranquilizer. And she knew that the brunette was not kidding when she made that offer. And she had been nervous earlier that she didn't notice if Alex carry her weapon today.
Once she arrived on her floor, though she was met with wide eye of the younger Grant. Carter was clearly waiting for her. "Kara," he said quickly. "I don't know what's going on." He gestured toward his mother's office, which was still around the corner from them.
This made Kara round the corner faster, Carter right on her heels. She completely forgot that Carter was still doing his homework when Alex arrived.
"They were like having a staring contest or something and now they just chatting." He was wringing his hands. "I'm kinda scared now."
And sure enough, the image in front of her made her thinking that maybe hell was freezing over.
Alex was leaning back in her seat, looking relaxed, with her superior vision, Kara could see that even though she wasn't exactly smiling, there was just a tiniest lift of the corner of her mouth, like when she was amused by something.
Ms Grant, though, was positively glowing with humor. She had never seen Cat Grant like this before, no wonder Carter was scared.
"Your latte, ." Kara entered the office quickly, she handed over the extra hot latte to her boss.
"That was a quick one Keira." Cat Grant accepted her coffee with a grin, as she noted a slight flash of irritation appeared on the brunette sitting across from her.
"Kara," Alex corrected her then looked up when the Kryptonian handed her a drink.
Poor Kara's eyes bounced between the two of them, really, she was waiting for Cat Grant to say something and Alex to jump up and threaten her with a spoon, or something, but not this. They were getting along.
A sign of apocalypse?
"Is everything alright?" She nudged Alex lightly when she sat down and pressed their shoulders together. "You guys are scaring Carter."
"Everything is fine, Kara." Cat Grant spoke up, smiling at the couple. "You should perhaps, introduce Alex here to Carter." She waved her son to come into the room when she noticed him still watching them from behind her assistant's desk.
"Carter, honey."
The twelve year old jumped up and practically run into the office, he came to a complete stop right next to his mother.
"M-mom," he tried not to stutter in his nervousness, "hi." He managed to say to Alex.
"Hello, Carter." Alex stood up and offered her hand.
