AN: Hi everyone! Here's a new update. It's the longest chapter yet and I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for giving my story a chance! Also, I know Christmas is over, but I had the next couple chapters already planned out in my head, so they still involve Christmas. Happy Reading and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Supergirl belongs to DC and the CW.

Chapter Four

"Keira!" Cat Grant shouted for the millionth time that morning. It was nearly nine o'clock and her assistant had yet to show up for work. Cat could see the fearful glances that were being cast into her office by the rest of her employees and it almost amused her. Almost.

Cat continued to pace back and forth in front of her desk as she furiously cleaned her glasses. It was Christmas Eve morning and everything was moving too slow for her liking. CatCo was already running behind in more ways than one today and if her employees didn't start to get their priorities in order then she was about to fix that for them. It's simple, really. Cat thought. If they don't get their work done here first, then their new top priority will be finding a new job. Cat huffed as she finished cleaning her glasses and set them back on her desk.

Cat looked back up to see her assistant clumsily making her way over in a panicked rush. Her eyes narrowed as Kara entered her office. "Where have you been? I understand that it is Christmas Eve and nobody here wants to be working, but that's life."

Kara's eyes widened a little, having forgotten that today was indeed Christmas Eve with all that had happened the night before. I'll have to check with Alex to make sure that everything is still on for tonight. Cat's angry tone interrupted Kara's thoughts, obviously not pleased with her assistant's silence.

"I've been calling your name since exactly eight-oh-one this morning. I have yet to see my morning latte, which I would gladly take the usual cold ones that you bring rather than nothing at all." Cat and Kara's eyes met. Both of them knew that the lattes were never cold, thanks to Kara's heat vision, but the look Cat gave Kara dared her to say otherwise. Kara decided it was best just to leave it. "And, oh, you don't happen to see any proofs on my desk by any chance do you, Keira?" Cat said as she put her hands on her hips and glared at her assistant.

"Um, no?" Kara looked over at Cat's desk and then back at her boss. "I mean… No, no I don't see any proofs, Ms. Grant. I'll get right on it. I'm really sorr—"

"Oh, don't bother." Cat waved her hand dismissively. "You are going to be sorry enough when I send you to pack your things up in a pathetic, cliché cardboard box. Now, tell me. What could be more important than being on time this morning? Christmas Eve is one of the busiest days for CatCo, not including the days where Supergirl is flying about saving National City, and I expect my employees to be here doing their job ON TIME."

Kara couldn't help but fidget and adjust her glasses out of nervousness. Her mind raced as she tried to come up with a story other than the truth. Kara hated having to lie to Ms. Grant, but she didn't want her secret of being Supergirl to endanger Cat any further than the business relationship with Supergirl already did. Besides, Cat seemed to have enough enemies of her own simply due to the amount of power she held in National City with CatCo.

Seeing her boss start to tap her high heeled shoe on the ground impatiently, Kara desperately tried to buy herself some time until she thought of something good. "I-I was just… I mean, it's a long story," Kara laughed nervously.

"She overslept," James said rather matter of factly as he entered Cat's office, carrying what Kara could only hope were the proofs that she had somewhat helped prepare the day before. "She stayed up late last night finishing these up for you." Cat took the proofs and laid them on her desk. She narrowed her eyes again at both James and Kara before putting on her glasses and looking over the proofs.

James and Kara stole a glance at each other as they waited for Cat to finish looking over the proofs. James winked and silently mouthed, "You owe me."

Kara had to look down to keep from laughing at her friend. Honestly, she hoped she did owe James because that would mean she gets to keep her job here at CatCo.

"Keira? Although I'm beyond frustrated with your absence this morning, this layout is very well done. Do you remember what I told you about not taking credit when you do something well?"

"Yes, Ms. Grant. You said that I'll be on the 'bottom of the pile' forever if I don't take credit for the things I do well." Kara remembered it like it was yesterday. Ms. Grant had said that when James had conveniently saved her the first time with the first ever, clean shot of Supergirl stopping a bank robbery. "I had planned to be here on time to show you this morning, but I… overslept, apparently." Kara snuck a quick glare at James for that particular cover story and then she started to ramble as her nerves took over. "Because of, you know, helping James with this layout and umm… last minute Christmas shopping."

"Enough rambling. James, get this to printing now." Cat ordered as she handed James the proofs. After James left, Cat walked back around her desk and sat down. Kara moved to the front of Cat's desk, waiting for her next orders. "Keira, your job is safe for now. Fetch me a lettuce wrap and a hot latte. I'm going to need a fair amount of sustenance to make it through the day."

"Of course, Ms. Grant. I'll be back shortly." Kara turned to leave, but not before catching a glance of the expression on Cat's face. It was a mixture of things, most noticeably anger and frustration, but Kara had learned how to read her boss—her mentor. Under it all, Cat's eyes held exhaustion and pain. But why?

After deciding that it would be faster flying to get Cat's order, Kara made her way towards the roof. Kara was in such deep thought about what could be bothering Cat that she didn't notice Winn step in front of her until she almost ran into him.

"Whoa, Kara! Hi there. I'm glad to see you escaped the wrath of our boss today," Winn said as he placed his hands on Kara's shoulders to steady her.

"Oh hi, Winn. Sorry, I was just thinking…"

"Alex told me!" Winn said excitedly. He always loved to hear about Supergirl's latest adventures. He lowered his voice as they walked together to the stairs leading to the roof. "Which by the way, could ya try not to destroy your suit every time you get into a fight?"

Kara couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just doing my job, Winn. I can't help that my suit doesn't regenerate like I do."

Winn stopped walking. "Kara… you're a genius. This-this is great!" He pulled her into the stairway. "I'll have to look into upgrading your suit. Maybe I can come up with something that would…" Winn trailed off noticing the amused look on his friend's face. "What?"

"You're such a nerd, Winn." They both laughed. "But I love you for it. Hey, while you're at it, how about looking into something that will protect me from Kryptonite?"

"Right, that's way more important," Winn said while he scratched his head in thought. "How are your legs by the way? I'm glad you're okay."

"They're sore, but nothing I can't handle." Kara said, her stubborn expression not showing any signs of weakness. "So, I assume Alex filled you in on everything that happened?"

"Yeah, she did. Actually, she wants me to head over to the DEO to fix your suit. Do you think you could fly me over there?" Winn asked. "I mean what happens if National City needs its hero?"

Kara actually hadn't thought about that earlier. She mentally chastised herself for being so careless. If something had happened, she wouldn't have had her suit to disguise herself. Pushing her thoughts aside, she looked over at Winn as they made it to the roof. He was still waiting for her response. Kara couldn't help but smile mischievously.

Winn made an "oomph" noise followed by a surprised scream as Kara tackled him and then flew straight up into the clouds. Kara laughed the entire way as Winn tried to regain his composure. His heart was beating rapidly. "Yeah, I think I can fly you to the DEO."

"Ha-ha, yeah. Thanks for that, Supergirl. I nearly had a heart attack."

Meanwhile, Back at DEO Headquarters…

Alex ran her hand through her hair in frustration. They had been working to gather any information from the events that had occurred last night, but there wasn't anything to be gathered. Michael's blood work had been sent to the lab for further analyzation, so maybe that would show something.

Sighing, Alex leaned back in her chair. Agent Vasquez looked over at her and smiled a small smile. She was also feeling the irritation from the lack of progress.

"Don't worry, ladies. Something will turn up soon," Hank said as he placed one hand on Alex's shoulder and the other on Vasquez's.

Vasquez nodded her head. "Right, we just have to keep digging. Cadmus is smart, but they aren't that smart. They'll slip up eventually."

Alex smiled gratefully at the other agent's optimism, but she was still worried. She had a gut feeling that there was a lot more behind the story of what happened with Michael and his daughter. It was just hard to make any headway on that until Michael woke up.

"I'm just worried on what their next move is. I mean, they obviously have Kryptonite and we are very aware of their dislike towards Supergirl and Superman." Alex said and she felt her chest tighten. She hated the thought of Kara getting hurt or worse. She was her little sister and she wanted to protect her. To keep her safe.

"I can't imagine that Cadmus is too happy about how things went last night. I'm sure they know that Supergirl was able to save Michael. They are probably more concerned with eliminating him than they are going after Supergirl at the moment," Hank countered. He knew how much Alex worried about Kara every day and he shared that worry—for both Alex and Kara. They were like daughters to Hank.

Alex sighed. "You're right. I just can't help but worry."

"Hey, like I said before, Supergirl is strong. She is far more than just capable of protecting herself and the city." Vasquez reassured. Alex gave her a grateful smile and relaxed a little. Vasquez continued, "As far as our efforts on this case, I think Michael is going to be key here. Whatever he knows about the test they ran on his daughter and anything else is all we have right now."

Both Hank and Alex nodded their heads in agreement. "Nothing ever came back up from the signal jammer?" Alex asked hopefully.

Vasquez shook her head. "I looked everywhere, but there was nothing to trace. Assuming that Cadmus is behind all of this, I think it's safe to say that Cadmus was fully expecting Supergirl to intervene on the situation with Michael."

"To test her?" Alex asked curiously.

Hank shook his head. "I'd say it was more of a precaution. If they wanted to test Supergirl, they would have done it differently."

Before anyone could say anything else, Dr. Hamilton walked into the main room and over to everybody. "I've found something that you might be interested in." Alex and Vasquez stood up to look at the folder that Dr. Hamilton held up. Alex took it and opened it while Hank and Vasquez looked over her shoulder.

"Michael's blood test came back," Dr. Hamilton continued. "There's signs that he was being tested on too. For what, I'm not sure, but the traces of foreign substances that I found in his blood indicate that it's not from a human or earthly origin."

"What's not of a human or earthly origin?" Kara asked as she and Winn walked in.

Alex caught Kara and Winn up on everything that Dr. Hamilton had said and then about the lack of progress they had made otherwise. Alex looked back at the Doctor. "So, it's alien?"

Dr. Hamilton nodded. "I'll look more into what exactly it could be, but whatever it was tried to fight Michael's cells. Actually, some of Michael's cells were engulfed by the invading foreign cells and took over." The group frowned at this. "However, Michael's body fought back and the cells that were 'turning' were dying. Perhaps, Cadmus was trying to find a way to genetically enhance him with some kind of alien DNA?"

Alex and Kara both cringed when their thoughts went to Jeremiah being tested on and… maybe even changed. Kara took Alex's hand and squeezed. "We'll find him Alex." Kara could see the pain in her sister's eyes, but she could also see the pain lessen as she held her sister's hand.

Then it hit Kara. That smell! That awful smell coming from Michael that had been under all of the alcohol stench. Kara had assumed that it was some type of drug, but now that she knew Michael had been tested on… Kara looked at Dr. Hamilton. "I smelled this awful smell coming from Michael last night. Could that be what I was smelling?"

Dr. Hamilton thought for a minute. "It's possible. I would assume that the smell would be stronger if the foreign cells had been injected into the host recently, causing the body to have a defensive reaction to prevent the foreign cells from invading. Maybe that was what you were smelling." Dr. Hamilton's eyes widened as she came to some sort of realization.

Realization dawned on Hank. Vasquez and Alex seemed to make the same conclusion. Winn saw the looks on all of their faces. "Are you all thinking that maybe Cadmus is trying to create weapons in the form of genetically enhanced humans using alien DNA?"

Everybody nodded and Kara just shook her head. She felt a sudden rush of anger seize her mind and body. I will stop them if it's the last thing that I do. Kara could feel the anger building with the thoughts of innocent people or even children getting experimented on. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and relaxed herself. Slowly, she felt the anger melt away into the back of her mind. Her fist that she had unknowingly clenched relaxed until they rested at her sides again.

"Listen, I think we have all done what we can do for now," J'onn said. "Dr. Hamilton why don't you run a few more tests then go home and enjoy Christmas with your family. We can pick this up in a few days."

"Yes sir. I'll take home the reports on his blood and see if I find anything new as well. Thank you sir and have a Merry Christmas." Dr. Hamilton smiled and began to walk off. She stopped suddenly and turned back around. "Oh, Supergirl, you might need this. I cleaned it after I found it wrapped around Michael's head wounds."

Kara saw her red cape as Dr. Hamilton handed it to her. She couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Doctor," Kara replied as she took her cape and watched as the doctor walked back to her lab.

"Winn, you go patch up Supergirl's suit just in case the need for it arises," J'onn ordered. "Then you are free to go. Kara, Vasquez, Alex… Go get some rest. There's nothing more we can do here right now. Enjoy your Christmas and we will get back to work afterwards. I'll stick around to keep the place running with the rest of the DEO on-duty agents. I'll let you know if anything happens."

Alex and Kara hugged J'onn. They didn't argue with him because they knew he wasn't one for holidays. Soon after that, everyone said their byes and gathered up their stuff. Winn returned Kara's suit after he was finished putting it back together. Vasquez left first to go home to some of her family while Winn caught a ride back into the city. Now, Kara and Alex were walking out of the DEO together talking about their Christmas plans for the night.

The plan was similar to Thanksgiving. Eliza would come over to Kara's house and cook. Of course, Winn would be joining in as well. On the other hand, James and Lucy would be spending Christmas elsewhere. Kara was a little thankful because that meant it would just be her, Alex, Eliza, and Winn.

"I've gotta rush back to CatCo and deliver Ms. Grant a lettuce wrap and a latte, so I'll have to catch you later, Alex." Kara said as she gave her sister a hug.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight. Just hurry home as fast as you can… I know Mom is going to be hounding me for answers on why you don't have a boyfriend and why I don't do a better a job at keeping you from danger."

Kara laughed. Alex was always terrified of holidays with Eliza. Granted, Eliza was always hard on Alex. Maybe even a little too hard. Although, recently, Kara had been on the receiving end of more and more of Eliza's tirades ever since last year's holidays. It wasn't too bad, it just took some getting used to.

"I promise that I will hurry. See you soon, Alex!" Kara said as she flew up into the clouds. Alex watched while she smiled and shook her head. If Mom found out I was letting Kara fly around without her suit, I would be a dead woman.

Later that night at CatCo…

Cat had been on a roll the whole day. She managed to fire a couple of newly hired reporters while also yelling at more than half of her employees. Kara knew that something was off with Cat, but she wasn't sure what it was. Most of the employees had left since, technically, the work day was over. However, Kara had decided to stay behind.

Kara tended to stay after work a lot these days. Well, as long as Supergirl wasn't needed elsewhere. She liked to get to talk to Cat at the end of the day and today she knew that Cat needed her to stay. Kara decided to text Alex and let her know that she would be running a few minutes late.

Kara: Hey! I'm gonna be running a few minutes late. Please don't kill me! Love you XOXO

Her cellphone almost buzzed immediately with a desperate text back from Alex.

Alex: NOOO. Please save me. Get here ASAP. Mom is out for blood, I swear.

Kara: XOXO

Alex: I'm going to kill you!

Alex: Right after mom leaves!

Kara couldn't help but laugh. It amazed her how much Alex was fazed by Eliza when it came to holidays. Kara put her phone down and looked up into Cat's office.

Cat was sitting at her desk rubbing her temples while holding a picture frame that always sat on her desk. That picture is of her with Carter and Adam. I remember taking it for her when Adam had visited a while ago, Kara thought. Then, she watched as Cat put the frame back on the desk and got up. She walked outside on her balcony with a glass of whiskey in hand.

After Kara retrieved some Advil and a bottle of water from her desk, she walked to Cat's office. She looked over at the picture of Cat and her two sons. They all looked so happy in that picture. Kara's gaze lingered on Adam, her heart fluttering a little. I miss him, Kara caught herself thinking. After pushing her thoughts about Adam to the back of her mind, she looked back up and continued walking outside to where Cat was leaning against the railing of her balcony.

"Ms. Grant? May I?" Kara asked softly. For a while, Cat didn't answer as she looked over the city. Kara was just about to move forward anyway until she saw the smallest nod from Cat. Smiling, Kara stepped forward and leaned against the railing with her. "I brought you this, Ms. Grant. I figured you could use it." Kara said as she offered the Advil and water bottle to Cat.

Cat's eyes finally looked over at Kara and the pain that radiated from Cat was no longer hidden under a mask of anger. It was just pain. Sadness. Silently, Kara handed her boss the Advil and water bottle while she held the whiskey glass. Cat took the medicine and thanked Kara softly. They stayed that way for a while—standing in comfortable silence as they both looked over National City. Kara wasn't sure what to say to Cat, but she was trying to think of something.

Cat sighed, breaking Kara from her thoughts. "Carter is with his dad and his dad's newest girlfriend this Christmas." Kara's heart broke for Cat. She knew how much Carter meant to Cat. Carter's dad had never been nice or responsible when it came to caring for Carter, so Kara didn't understand why Carter had to stay there for Christmas. "Usually," Cat continued. "We alternate. Carter is with me one Christmas and then with his dad the next. But, for the past five years, his dad didn't want to spend Christmas with him. This year, for whatever reason, he decided it was his turn."

Kara looked over at Cat as she talked. Cat's green eyes were glassy and the fact that she was opening up to her meant a lot to Kara. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Grant. I know Carter misses you very much."

Cat nodded and smiled a little as she wiped at her eyes. She then turned to Kara and looked her over before saying, "Enough about me. Don't you have somewhere to be? With your sister and… Foster parents, is it?"

Kara adjusted her glasses and nodded her head. "Just my foster mom, Eliza. And Alex too." For a moment, Kara couldn't help but feel the familiar tug at her heart. She missed her parents. She missed Krypton. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think about them, but Kara was very grateful for Eliza and Jeremiah for taking her in. She loved them like her own parents. And Alex… She was more than just her sister. Alex was her best friend and Kara could never thank Alex enough for all that she has done through the years.

"I see," Cat replied as she narrowed her eyes at Kara. No doubt, Cat had picked up on the touch of sadness and longing in Kara's voice. "Well, maybe it's time for you to go spend time with your family. I know you stayed to check on me, but I'd rather be by myself for a while."

"Ms. Grant, I don't want to leave you here alone on Christmas."

"Nonsense. I've got other things to keep me occupied." Before Kara could reply, Cat continued. "Now, chop chop, Keira. You've got places to be and people that care for you waiting. Besides, you've been limping about all day, you need to rest."

Kara looked at her shocked and a tad horrified. A million thoughts ran through Kara's head. Does she know? How? Play it cool, Kara. "Oh, heh-heh. I was just taking your advice and…"

"Joined a kick boxing class? Yes, I do believe that you have mentioned that before." Cat Grant smiled and led Kara back to her office. "Now, go."

Kara clumsily took a few steps as her mind still raced. Surely, Cat Grant didn't know… Right? Kara shook it off and smiled at Cat. "Thank you, Ms. Grant. Merry Christmas."

Cat nodded and watched as her assistant turned to leave, her eyes traveling down to the two pinkish spots on the back of Kara's legs. Shaking her head, Cat felt a little embarrassed at having the suspicion of her assistant being Supergirl again, especially after she had seen both Supergirl and Kara in the same room once. Besides, Supergirl didn't bruise. Cat watched her assistant as she grabbed her stuff and headed towards the elevator. She called out to her assistant. "And Kara? Thank you."

Kara smiled at Cat's sincere words. Granted, it was only four words that she had spoken, but those four words meant a lot coming from Cat Grant. Kara nodded her head and walked over to the elevator. To her surprise, the Elevator was making its way up already. Odd, Kara thought. Everybody has already went home for the day. The elevator doors opened and Kara met brown eyes that she didn't think she would ever see again. Or at least not for a long time. Both of them stood there, just staring at each other until Kara finally found her voice.

"Adam! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Kara." Adam smiled.

To Be Continued…