A few hours, one large dinner of Italian delivery, and a game of Settlers of Catan later, Carter headed off to bed, while Cat and Kara sat in the kitchen, sipping glasses of wine.

"Thank you," Cat said, as soon as she heard Carter's door close.

"For what?" Kara asked.

"For not running out on him today," Cat said. "He might not say it, but I know it meant a lot to him that you stayed."

"I wanted to stay," Kara said. "Carter's amazing."

"A sentiment his father doesn't seem to share, if the number of cancelled visits is anything to go by."

Kara started into her wine glass for a moment, then looked up at Cat. "I never wanted to say anything," she said. "I didn't think it was my place, but you have lousy tastes in husbands."

Cat laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair. Would have, if Kara hadn't reached out to steady her. "You finally found the flaw in my otherwise perfect self," she said. She picked up her wine glass and took another sip. "Honestly, Anthony wasn't a terrible husband. He was probably the best of the lot, not that that's a high bar. I divorced him because he's a terrible father. If I could have, I wouldn't even have given him visitation, but as good as my divorce lawyer is, she couldn't quite manage to swing that."

Kara shook her head. "I can't even imagine having a child, any child, and not wanting to spend every moment you possibly can with them. Much less one as wonderful as Carter."

"You have a very different perspective on the value of loved ones," Cat said. "I feel the same way about Carter though. I love CatCo, but after what I went through with Adam, I knew I couldn't do that again. I handed off a lot of work I used to do myself when he was born and I've never regretted it. I wouldn't give up a single moment I've got to spend with him for anything in the world."

Kara smiled and glanced down the hallway where Carter had disappeared. "Sometimes, I look at him, and I imagine what it would have been like if my ship hadn't been knocked off course."

"What did you mean?" Cat asked.

"Oh," Kara said. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that you don't know all the details."

"Well, I admit I haven't quite been able to put together why you seem to remember living on Krypton when your cousin doesn't."

"That's because I'm thirteen years older than Kal," Kara said. "I was supposed to arrive with him and take care of him, but my pod got caught in the explosion of Krypton and knocked off course. I drifted for almost twenty-four years before the guidance system rebooted, and brought me here."

"Your parents sent a thirteen-year-old girl here to raise an infant?" Cat asked, not even trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

Kara just nodded. "We were all supposed to come. Me, Kal-El, our parents. But Krypton was in chaos. My aunt Astra had lead a rebellion, Dru-Zod had started a civil war, and Jax-Ur had blown up one of the moons. The entire planet was under martial law and travel off world was forbidden. Jor couldn't get a large ship without attracting attention. The pods we came in were commuter vehicles. The Kryptonian equivalent of a Ford Fiesta. He'd only finished fitting two of them with the extended duration stasis systems we needed for the trip when the core went critical. He thought we'd have more time."

Kara took another sip of her wine. "I used to wonder why they gave me the second pod. Why aunt Lara didn't just climb in and go. Sometimes I wondered why Lara or my Mom didn't climb into the pod with Kal and I. It took me a long time to realize it was guilt. They'd known what was happening, and they'd done nothing to stop it. After I found out what happened, I realized that dying along with Krypton must have seemed honorable. But the truth is, it was the easy way out. They left the hard part for me. Because getting back up when you've watched the world end…"

Cat reached out and took Kara's hand in hers, squeezing it as tightly as she could. "I'm sorry."

Kara closed her eyes, nodded as she carefully squeezed Cat's hand back.

"I don't think I realized what was happening. Not really. I don't think I really understood when I got in that pod that I would never see them again. And then, I got knocked off course, and my pod drifted into the phantom zone."

"The phantom zone?" Cat asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"It's a… a hole in space time. A place where gravitational stresses create a sort of pocket universe where time doesn't work the same way. I drifted there for twenty-four years, not quite awake, but not entirely asleep. Just alone in the dark." Kara took a deep breath, and Cat could tell she was fighting back sobs. "That's when I realized I'd never see them again. I thought I'd be there forever. That I'd never join them in Rao's light."

Cat couldn't stand to see the pain on Kara's face anymore, so she did the only thing she could think of. She moved around the table, and wrapped Kara in a hug. Kara hugged her back for a long time, shaking as she cried. Kara held on as if her life depended up it, and Cat was struck by how right it felt to be there, to lend Kara her strength, to support her and whisper soft words of comfort as she stroked Kara's hair. It felt like this was her place in the world. It felt like home.

Finally, Kara let her go, and reached up, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Cat replied.

Kara shook her head. "I didn't mean to turn your evening into a sob fest about my parents."

Cat reached out and brushed a lock of hair back behind Kara's ear. "I'm sure the dry cleaners will be able to get the tear stains out of my blouse," she said.

Kara laughed, and the smile that went with it lit up the room, but all Cat could think of was that she'd trade tear stains on her blouse for a hug from Kara any day of the week.