Chapter Eight
Full of two huge sandwiches, close to half a large bag of chips, a giant dill pickle, and god only knew how many grape tomatoes, Kara stretched her legs out in front of her and heaved a pleased sigh.
Carter, who'd come close to keeping up with her for the first half hour before falling behind on chips and the second half of his second sandwich, yawned sleepily and stretched out on their blanket where it lay in deep grass.
Leaned back comfortably on her hands, Cat wore a satisfied smile as she tipped her head back and enjoyed the sun on her face. She hadn't even tried to keep up with the other two when it came to putting away lunch or she'd have been next to Carter, snoozing peacefully, but she was pleasantly full and even more pleasantly relaxed.
She'd been lounging like that for several minutes when she became aware of movement and opened her eyes a bit sleepily.
Kara was on her feet, but crouched down, carefully gathering up the detritus of their feast. Sitting upright, Cat started to reach for her discarded plate, but Kara waved her off and whispered, "Stay comfortable. I'll get it." She nodded to indicate Carter. "It'll give him more room," she mouthed.
Leaning back again, Cat silently watched the younger woman as she finished collecting things then, moving on perfectly silent feet, crossed to the picnic table and began trying to put the pack back together without much success. A tiny grin curving her lips, Cat watched the effort for a long moment, then pushed to her feet and ambled over.
"You didn't need to—" Kara started to insist, her voice soft so as not to wake Carter, but so frustrated, it was almost comical.
"Trust me, I did," Cat disagreed and gently shooed Kara aside, then started packing things, her hands moving quickly and automatically. "We've always picnicked...so this thing has gotten a bit customized over the years." She quickly stacked the now empty, multi-colored plastic containers that apparently only went together in a certain order. "It really only goes together one way," she explained as she dropped the containers into the pack, then slid the thermos in next to them. Dirty silverware went into plastic cups, which dropped into a ziplock and in on top of the containers. Clean silverware slid into a side pocket. Garbage went into another ziplock and got tucked in on top. Then she clicked a few straps on the outside of the pack and suddenly it was not only closed, but about half the size it had been. She grinned at Kara and did a little flourish with one hand. "Voila."
"You're right," Kara admitted. "You did need to."
Cat shrugged, then suddenly arched her brows and reached for a side pocket. "You interested in dessert?"
"Always," Kara said through a grin.
A moment of fumbling with a zipper and suddenly Cat lobbed an apple Kara's way. A second later, she plucked out an old fashioned pocket knife and lobbed that Kara's way as well.
Kara, who'd been considering taking a large bite caught it, but looked questioning.
"I get a bite or two," Cat joked.
Carter mumbled a sleepy, "Shhh," and flipped a hand as though waving off an insect before settling in more deeply.
Fighting the urge to giggle, Cat waved toward the nearby hill with its protruding rock face and trickling falls. It was far enough away they weren't likely to bother the boy.
Which is how they wound up sitting on a pair of large boulders that sat next to the small stream, shoes and socks tossed to one side, toes dipped in ice cold water, talking quietly.
Kara sliced a chunk of apple off and handed it to Cat speared on the tip of the small knife. She nodded to indicate the peacefully sleeping boy. "Does he always sack out like that?" she asked, keeping her voice low, but feeling free to let it float above a whisper.
Happily munching on her apple slice, Cat flashed a quick look at her son, her expression soft. "Given an active day, a heavy meal, and a nice patch of sun to laze in...absolutely." She laughed softly. "I'm the same," she admitted. "If I'd eaten like you two..." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'd be right next to him, laid out and showing my belly like a happy cat in the sun."
Swallowing hard, Kara resisted several responses that sounded far too suggestive, even in her head and gnawed on a large chunk of apple to buy time. "Will we have to help him down?" she asked at last.
Cat laughed softly. "Nah." She glanced back again. "He'll be up and running in an hour or so." A sudden thought occurred. "But if you need to leave before that—"
"I'm good," Kara quickly assured her. "Actually," she added after a beat, "this is the best day I've had since..." she paused and thought about it for a moment before finally settling on, "honestly, I don't even know when."
Cat's brows drew into a frown while her mouth twisted into a wry smile. Sensing Kara's stress levels, she sat uncertain for a moment. "Should I ask?" she finally said tentatively.
"God no," Kara groaned. "Really, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." She shook her head disgustedly, unable to imagine how she even could explain her family and their tendency to hang out in bat costumes in the dead of night to a woman who spent her weekends taking her son to the zoo and picnicking. She tried to picture Cat Kyle's likely reaction and kept coming up with a fixed stare of total incomprehension. "It's kind of surreal really."
"Sympathies," Cat offered. "I've had my fair share of that sort of thing."
Resisting any urge to express her doubts, Kara waved it off. "It's my family," she said by way of explanation. "They're insane." She lopped off another chunk of apple and munched. "This is much more enjoyable than worrying about their weirdness," she decided out loud.
"Well, Carter and I are an entertaining pair."
"You are," Kara agreed and offered a high wattage smile to confirm the sentiment.
Cat did a fast check-in glance at Carter who was still fast asleep.
Kara followed the line of her gaze, and was struck by how different the kid was out of school. The boy she knew in class was smart, but quiet, his humor sly, his footsteps a bit hesitant, and he was always careful, always assessing, as though walking on a tightrope he didn't quite trust. He would never have sacked out on a lawn where others might see, whereas the kid she'd seen today was a giggler with a puckish wit and a startling level of self confidence. She wasn't quite sure how to resolve the two. "So can I ask you a question?"
"You can ask." Cat accepted another apple slice. "I make no promises to answer," she added and flashed a quick grin.
"The frisbee thing," Kara said. "How...why?"
Cat laughed and shook her head. "Carter wasn't quite three...most energetic toddler ever," she began. "I had this tiny little apartment, so I'd take him to a nearby park when he was bouncing off the walls like a human gas molecule. The problem was he'd see something and bolt and I was terrified he was going to get hurt before I could catch him." She flicked another glance her son's way. "I had to do something, but I wasn't going to put my son in one of those kiddie leashes." She shuddered, shook her head and muttered something under her breath before continuing. "So I needed something that would hold his attention." She shrugged. "He loved anything colorful...which the frisbees were and he'd chase them as long as I'd throw." Another shrug. "They were also cheap and easy to pack, which was important in those days."
"I bet he was adorable."
"I might be biased," Cat admitted, "but I swear, he was the cutest kid ever."
That drew a soft chuckle. "Might be biased, huh?"
Cat held up her hand, thumb and forefinger almost touching. "A tiny chance, minuscule really." She looked over at her son again, gaze distant. "Anyway, he'd run till he just about dropped, then when he was five or six, he started throwing it back...then along about eight or ten, he discovered Ultimate Frisbee—yes, it's a real sport—and started trying to learn all the tricks and fancy throws. The rest is history." She turned on a high wattage smile of her own.
Kara felt her heart give an extra solid thump in her chest. "Soon to be recorded for posterity, I'm sure," she joked, though the words sounded a little breathless to her ears.
"Of course."
"I—" A series of muffled high pitched clicks interrupted. Dammit. Her phone. The amplified bat calls meant it was Alex. Despite the fierce temptation to just ignore it, she knew her sister. Alex would just keep calling.
"Ahm, is your phone chirping at you?" Cat inquired politely, though she sounded a little perplexed.
Kara heaved a sigh. "Yes, and if I don't answer it—" she slipped her phone out of her back pocket and glared at it "—let's just say it will never stop." Alex was tenaciouis, no two ways about it.
Cat gestured toward her son and started to get up. "I'll go check on Carter."
"No," Kara insisted and held up a hand to keep the other woman from rising. "You stay comfortable. I'll just go over there." She gestured loosely toward the trees. And take my beating like a good girl, she added mentally.
Suddenly the phone stopped ringing and for the briefest moment Kara had a bit of hope that Alex would take a hint and leave it at that. A beat and and another and then...
It started again. To Kara's ears it sounded like there was an extra urgency to the latest rings. She made a face. "I'll just go get this," she sighed.
"Sorry," Cat offered with a sympathetic smile.
"Thanks." Kara flashed a wan look and hurried away as she toggled her phone on. "Yes?"
"Thought you'd never answer," Alex complained.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting any calls," Kara apologized automatically even as she flinched over doing so.
Alex cut straight to the chase. "I know Mom said to leave you alone today, but this is important."
Kara could hear the sounds of chewing in the background and made a face. Since breaking her arm, her sister had taken to barely leaving her computer, even eating there, her obsession with her nemesis hitting worrisome levels. "Okay," she sighed. "What's up?"
"I think I've figured it out," Alex said instantly. "I think she's after this stone, the Eye of Ra. It's an antique Egyptian carving...was found in some Pharoah's tomb. It was supposed to have magical powers. There was even some kind of cult that worshiped it in the eighteen-hundreds."
No need to ask who she was. "O-kay," Kara exhaled uncertainly.
"I think all those other gems and stones that have been stolen, they were just distractions...to hide the theft of the Eye of Ra—"
Kara frowned. "But that's not one of—"
"No, it's what she's going to steal tonight," Alex interrupted. "The museum's closed tomorrow and the building will be empty starting at midnight tonight. It's the old history museum, so it barely even has any security. It's the perfect time to take the thing. And I'm sure that's what she's after. I've run all the simulations, done the research..."
Barely listening, Kara let her brain float for a moment as she noted that this was the fourth time since she'd started playing Nightwing that Alex had claimed she was absolutely certain she knew when and where Catwoman was going to strike and each time Kara had been stuck, bored and tired, waiting for something that never happened.
Which left her trying to decide if she had it in her to stand up to her big sister when she got like this.
"...so you stake out the museum, and when she hits, bang, we've got her—"
Kara glanced over at the woman sitting near the stream, then past her to the boy sound asleep in the grass. She'd enjoyed the best day she'd had in ages, and she just couldn't go back to haunting the night like some ghost. At least not yet. "No." Her voice sounded a little shaky to her own ears as she refused before she really even had a chance to think about it.
"What?" Alex didn't even sound angry, just shocked and maybe a little confused.
"I'm busy tonight."
"Kara, we've got a chance to get her. What could be more important than that?"
()()()()()()()
Trying not to be obvious, Cat brushed a few strands of hair back, then tipped her ear slightly, angling the outer shell to scoop up more sound waves the same way her namesake would. Her hearing was far better than average, but at that distance, with Kara trying to be quiet, she needed all the help she could get and there was no way Kara could see such a small movement at that distance.
Not that she was interested in snooping precisely, but she liked Kara, and something about the way she'd flinched as she went off to answer the phone tugged at the protective side of her that was normally reserved only for Carter. The girl had been good to her son, not just by being a good teacher in a favorite subject, but by looking after him and giving him some faith he could be a part of the normal world. If someone was hurting her...
Well, Cat wouldn't consider that acceptable.
"Alex..."
A boyfriend with a mean streak? Cat wondered. Kara sounded stressed, maybe even a little frightened. She tightened her jaw muscles, not liking this at all.
"...I know this is important to you, but I'm allowed to have a life too."
"Damn straight," Cat muttered under her breath.
"No," Kara said more firmly. "I've done what you said every night this week, and I need some time to myself." She glanced Cat's way.
Caught looking, Cat offered what she hoped was a subtly encouraging smile, since she could hardly shout out, 'Dump the bastard,' then leaned back again in an effort to appear casual.
"You've said that almost every night this week, and it hasn't exactly gone well," Kara said, sounding defensive. "Actually I have plans tonight."
Cat wondered at the tiny surge of disappointment that left her chest feeling slightly hollow as she wondered what plans the other woman might have, or perhaps, more to the point, who she had plans with. "Which is really none of your business," she reminded herself. Then Kara turned away and wandered into the trees so Cat couldn't pick up more than a mumbled word or two no matter how she tucked her hair out of the way or angled her ears.
Which was just as well, she reminded herself. After all, the young woman was Carter's teacher, and while she might feel protective of someone who'd been so good to her son, Kara probably wouldn't appreciate having a near stranger butt into her personal life, particularly since it sounded like she already got more input than she wanted on that front.
And really, she was in no position to do anything for her anyway.
She just needed to keep telling herself that. A pleasant day spent in each other's company did not make her responsible for the girl.
The soft snap of a twig a couple of minutes later brought her head up and around. Blonde brows drew into a frown as her gaze swung over to touch on the woman who emerged from the trees. In an instant, sharp eyes picked out a dozen details that made Cat tense and feel protective all over again. Kara was visibly upset, every emotion there for anyone to see to such an extent Cat found herself wondering if Kara Wayne had ever kept anything hidden in her life. "Hey," she said as the girl drew near. "You okay?"
Kara offered a wan smile in return. "It's..." she didn't finish, just shook her head and took a seat on the other boulder.
She was silent for long enough that Cat was wondering if she should say something, ask for an explanation, or offer some comfort. She wasn't very experienced at this sort of thing, at least not anymore.
Finally, Kara straightened her shoulders and peered over at Cat. "There's this thing tonight and I...I wondering if I could take you and Carter. I think you'd both enjoy it," she said a little hesitantly, without touching on whatever had upset her.
Cat did such a sudden doubletake it would have been comical under different circumstances. It was literally the last thing she expected. "I..." She snapped her mouth shut as she remembered her plans.
Kara obviously saw the refusal coming because her expression fell. "I'm sorry," she exhaled. "I shouldn't have asked. I just thought it would be fun," she muttered and looked away.
"It's just that I've got this commitment," Cat fumbled to explain. "It's not a date or anything...more like work...but... it's...it's complicated," she babbled in a way that wasn't at all like her, the words coming in barely coherent, stop-start bursts. Communication, she was discovering was harder when it didn't involve lies, or easily worn masks of threat or seduction.
"Don't apologize," Kara said quickly. "I just thought it might be—" Her head was down and there was something a little heartbreaking about her body language, like a kicked puppy. "Dumb idea. I just...um...never mind."
"I think dinner would be very nice," Cat said carefully. She deliberately brightened. "And I'm sure Carter would love it. So...maybe another night?"
Kara's mouth tipped up in a weak smile, but her head stayed down, and her posture remained slumped. She shook her head. "I probably won't have time and it's just on tonight and just...forget it." She leaned forward, elbows braced on her knees. "I shouldn't have asked anyway." She heaved sigh and peered at her cell. "Not like I-" She cut that thought off right there, and muttered, "I should probably just call back and tell Alex I'll—"
"Y'know..." Cat couldn't stand the idea of this lovely, kind, young woman feeling forced into something she obviously didn't want to do-particularly by the mysterious Alex. She shook her head. "I can do tonight's errand any time."
Kara didn't look up, just shook her head. "You don't have to—"
Cat even startled herself by reaching out to settle her hand over Kara's. "No, but I'd like to." She glanced over at Carter, still sleeping peacefully. "You seem like someone who needs a friend right now." She didn't mention what she'd overheard, not only because she shouldn't have been able to hear, but also if the girl had a possessive, asshole boyfriend, she probably didn't want it known. If there was one thing Cat understood, it was the need for privacy. Kara drew a breath and Cat held up a hand, silencing her before she could get a word out. "I don't do anything I don't want to." Reaching out, she guided Kara's chin up until their eyes met. "Don't believe me? Just ask Carter. He'll confirm it."
"You don't owe me anything," Kara whispered raggedly.
Cat looked over at Carter again. "Not sure I agree with that," she said softly, then swung her gaze back to Kara. "But even if it's true, I don't have to owe someone to care about them." Not that she'd been very good about caring about anyone other than Carter in a very long time, but she thought she could remember the basics.
Kara's gaze dropped for a long moment before she looked up again, her tone uncertain. "You really want to?" she asked.
Cat laughed softly, the sound low and a bit bitter. "Believe me, I'd rather spend the evening with you than anything else I had planned."
"But if you were supposed to—"
Cat snorted softly. "Honestly, it's nothing I can't do another night...and nothing very important anyway." It wasn't like the Eye was carefully guarded. Yeah, it might be a bit easier tonight, but she could bob and weave and avoid the elderly staff anytime she needed. Especially when, for the first time in a very long time something other than Carter felt more important than a contract. "And I think we could both use a night off."
Kara finally looked up of her own accord, a tentative smile on her lips, a haze of sadness in her eyes. "You have no idea," she whispered very softly.
Cat drew in a breath and let it out slowly, recognizing too much in the girl's eyes. She didn't know what had put that sadness and uncertainty there, but she understood it too well. "If you ever want to talk, I'll listen, but I won't ask." Sometimes it was kinder to leave people their secrets, though if there was some asshole boyfriend, Cat wasn't averse to beating him to a pulp if given an opportunity.
"I...thank you." Kara got a wide smile as a reward.
Cat waited for a moment, then leaned back comfortably. She glanced at Kara, noting her nervousness. The girl looked like she could use some space, so she opted to change topics. "So tell me, what's on the docket tonight?"
Kara sneaked a quick look and a tiny grin made its way across her lips. She thought about it a moment then shook her head. "That would be telling," she teased.
Cat's brows shot up, her head tipping to one side as she acknowledged the comment. "Well, you're going to have to tell me something or it's going to make showing up very difficult."
"I'll drive," Kara said decisively, then paused as a thought occurred to her. "I suppose I should have asked first, but does Carter like pizza...well, and you too."
Cat laughed. "Provided there's pepperoni and no vegetables he would regard as freaky, he's all in...and I like wider array of toppings, but pepperoni's good." She thought about it for a moment. "We will need a little time though. I've to get a shower...and a hint as to what to wear."
"Give me your address, and I'll pick you up about seven. As for what to wear, dress casual is fine. That sound good?"
Cat nodded. "Indeed it does."
They shared a grin, both relaxed and happy and ready for a new adventure.
