A/N: Hope you're all enjoying the journey with the characters so far. I know it's been a bit slow and gushy with emotions, but there's lots for Kara, Cat and Alex to work through. Thanks for the reviews and support. Enjoy!
And yet again, and as always…Supergirl is the property of the CW…I wouldn't mind trying to write for them if they needed my help…but she's theirs, I just love to write about SG!
Kara awoke from her nap on Cat's $5000 sofa to the smell of fresh pizza and when she opened her eyes she saw the smiling face of Alex looking down at her.
"Hey there, sleepy head," Alex greeted her, "I understand you requested pizza; sorry but Cat and I ate it all while you slept, looks like a salad for you for dinner!"
"Yeah, right…not!" Kara smiled in response, "Cat's mean but she's not that mean to me."
"I heard that!" Cat chimed in from the kitchen, "Comments like that will be remembered for later use!"
Alex chuckled at the empty threat Cat uttered, "Come on sicky, let's get you to the table. You wouldn't want to spill any pizza on Cat's furniture, I'm pretty sure it would take a year's salary to buy her a new one!"
"Not to mention," Cat spoke up again, "that her boss wouldn't be terribly thrilled about it…I'm pretty sure my ire over ruining my sofa would cost her more than replacing it!"
"Yipe!" Kara smiled at Alex, "Better help me to the table fast!"
Kara was slow to get up but she could feel that the incision in her side wasn't hurting nearly as bad as before her nap.
"How're you feeling?" Alex asked as she held out an arm for Kara to lean on as they made their way to the table.
"Actually," Kara answered, "it's not as bad as it was. My headache is still there but barely, and my side hurts most when I move; rather than just hurting whether I lay still or not; so I guess it's an improvement."
Kara managed to eat nearly a whole pizza on her own; a good sign to both Alex and Cat that she was returning to her old self. They ate dinner and chatted about stuff, fluff stuff, fun stuff, and before long Alex began to make pun jokes about Cat's name.
"I'm thinking," Alex grinned at Kara, "that Cat's name is just 'purrrfect' for her."
Kara tried to suppress laughing out loud; Cat merely rolled her eyes and then glared at the young agent, daring her to continue. Alex, undaunted by the look, took it as a challenge and kept going.
"What's the matter, 'cat' got your tongue?" Alex was heading down a dangerous road with no back up…she knew Kara was way too chicken to play with her boss this way.
"I wonder if I keep going what kind of 'cat'astrophe will happen to me? If I push too far, will the 'fur' start to fly or is Ms. Grant really a 'pussy'cat at heart?"
"Keep it up, Agent Danvers," Cat threatened from under her breath, "and you'll find yourself 'cat'apulted right out of here on your ear!"
Kara nearly fell off her chair laughing at Cat's come back to Alex. The three of them were soon overcome with laughter at Cat's expense.
"Agent," Cat grinned a wicked smile at her, "trust me when I say that I will get even with you, and then some."
Kara's eyes went super wide; she knew that Cat had a long memory, a very long memory and that Alex was in for some trouble. Cat stood up from the table and started to clear off the pizza and plates. "Hey, let me help with that," Alex jumped up.
"I think I can handle a few plates and some pizza boxes," Cat offered, "it looks like a nice evening, why don't you two head out to the balcony."
As Kara started to lift herself up from the table, she winced and cried out in pain. "Hey, not so fast," Alex ran over to help her. "Stubborn kryptonian."
"Bossy earthling." Kara shot back at Alex when her sister grabbed her arm to help.
"Why don't you two take this out onto the balcony," Cat insisted, "you're acting like a pair of bratty siblings."
Once outside the cool evening air was refreshing. When Kara had laid down on the lounge chair again, Alex turned to her, "I want a beer, interested?"
Kara raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Yeah, I'd love one, but am I allowed to have it while on these pain meds?"
"No, you are not." Cat's voice was firm as she came out onto the balcony with a glass of water for Kara, a beer for Alex and a shot of scotch for her. "I'm heading back into my office to finish some work before bedtime; you two can make yourselves at home."
"Thanks Cat." Kara smiled at her as she turned on her heels and headed towards her office.
Alex looked at Kara, "How did she even know that I like beer and what type I like?"
"You have no idea what she can do Alex," Kara smiled at her.
Alex searched Kara's face for a sign of how she was feeling, "How's your headache and your side?"
Kara sighed, "Not bad."
"What's 'not bad' on the docs pain scale?" Alex pressed a bit.
"I don't know; can we not talk about my pain levels for just a few minutes? My life for the past few days has been about it and I'd just like to think about something else for a bit, please? Kara pleaded with Alex.
Alex frowned at being closed out by Kara; "Ok, how was your day with Cat?"
"I slept most of it away out here or on her super-comfy sofa." Kara smiled. "She and I had a really good talk about our relationship; things are cool."
"I see," Alex sound inquisitive, "care to elaborate?"
"Nope," Kara cut her off, "it's a mother-daughter thing. Don't get me wrong, Alex, I love Eliza and I'm really thankful for her; but in many ways Cat is very much like my mom was on Krypton; she just makes me feel safe and loved. Not that Eliza didn't, it's just different. Understand?"
Alex took a few minutes to think about it, "Yeah, I get it. In some ways you get to have two moms…although I think that might be a bad thing if they ever get together and talk about you."
"Oh, don't even go there!" Kara chuckled, then leaned back and closed her eyes. Tears began to form down her cheeks, "I miss Astra." Just like that, Kara had opened a new can of worms for them to deal with.
Alex just sat quietly; head hung low, looking at her beer as she picked at the label on it. "I know; I'm sorry Kara."
"She was my last remaining family, Alex." Kara said not opening her eyes, tears still flowing down her face.
Alex was overcome with sorrow and started to weep out loud, "Kara, I'm so very sorry for taking her from you. I wish she was still here for you. I hope one day you can forgive me for it."
Kara didn't say anything in response; both of them were hurting quite a bit over this one. "Why didn't you threaten her with the knife before you used it on her? She might've surrendered to you and not hurt J'onn. Why did you have to kill her?"
Alex just continued to cry as she hung her head; tears streaming down her face as she fought to keep from sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, Kara; I just acted when I thought she was going to kill J'onn; I didn't think I had time to do anything else. I'm sorry." And with that Alex got up and went inside the penthouse and into her room.
Kara lay on the lounge chair; weeping at the loss of Astra and now she feared the loss of Alex too. Just then Cat appeared on the balcony after hearing Alex close her bedroom door. "Kara, is everything alright with you two?"
Kara just shook her head no and continued to cry. "I think I just lost her, Cat. I wasn't very patient in my tone when I asked her why she had to kill Astra instead of trying to get her to surrender first. I just didn't understand, and I guess I pushed too hard and hurt her."
Cat took a seat near Kara and sat quietly for a few minutes. "Kara, look at me."
Kara refused to open her eyes; shaking her head from side to side in a "no" fashion at Cat's request.
"Kara Zor-El Danvers," Cat's voice was firm and commanding, "open your eyes and look at me, please."
When Kara finally opened her eyes and looked at Cat the sorrow that she had been holding back crashed through like water bursting through a dam. So many losses in such a short life and now she felt like she'd lost the one person on this planet she loved the most.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Grant," (Cat's eyebrows furrowed at the name) "Sorry, Cat. I know she did what she felt she had to do to save J'onn's life; Astra was going to kill him; I guess I always believe that there's another way instead of killing."
"Kara," Cat ventured, "Alex is a trained soldier and it was battle, was it not? (Kara nodded in agreement) "What if the roles had been reversed and she was about to kill Alex and J'onn was the one who killed her, believing that doing so was the only way to save her life?"
Kara's eyes went wide; Cat continued; "Do you think you'd be feeling the same way right now, or would you be thankful that J'onn acted and saved Alex? You see, Kara, Astra wasn't completely innocent in the entire event, she was about to kill someone, so Alex did what she was trained to do, what she needed to do to protect someone's life."
"But she was getting so close to coming back into the light!" Kara shouted!
"What she might have done, because you don't know if she would ever come back to the light," Cat responded, "isn't something a person can take into consideration when faced with the imminent mortal threat to another individual. Astra's own actions against J'onn left Alex no choice, do you see that?"
Kara said nothing in response as she pondered what Cat had just said.
"What do you think Astra would've done to Alex if she'd killed J'onn and then turned on her?" Cat continued.
"Probably nothing," Kara finally spoke, "Alex had a kryptonite weapon in her hands. But if she hadn't had that, then I don't know; I'd like to believe she wouldn't kill Alex, but then you never know."
Cat looked at Kara, "Do you see now why Alex really had no other option? In the moment, lives were in danger; she acted to save a life and maybe her own too."
Kara hung her head and let that idea sink in deeply. "I hadn't considered it that way before, Cat. I need to talk to Alex, right now." She began to struggle to get to her feet off of the lounge chair.
Cat was quick to gently push her back down, "You remain there; I'll go and get your sister to come out here. Don't. Move."
A couple of minutes later, Alex and Cat appeared back out on the balcony with Kara; Alex dropped down beside Kara on the lounge chair, crying on her sister's shoulder. "Kara, I'm so sorry."
Kara hugged her sister tightly for a moment before wincing in pain at her side and gently pushing her back, "Alex, I'm sorry for what I said to you; for doubting that you did what you thought was the right thing to do. Astra was a threat to you and to J'onn and you saved both your lives. I understand and I forgive you; you wouldn't have had to make that kind of decision if Astra hadn't tried to kill J'onn in the first place."
Tears continued to flow for a few more minutes before Cat noticed the painful expression on Kara's face. "Kara, is your pain up? What's it at?"
Kara grimaced as she moved slightly; "The pain in my side is about a 5 and my headache is back with a vengeance. Too much emotional stuff I think."
"Right," Cat said with a motherly voice of authority, "Pain meds for you, Kara and then right to bed. Alex, I think you could use a good night's sleep too, so bed for you as well. Come on, chop, chop!"
Kara laughed, and looked at Alex, "Come on sis, help me up and into my bed. The boss has spoken!"
Alex smiled at Cat and then Kara, "She does know that I could hide her body where no one would ever be able to find it, right?" Alex winked at Kara.
Cat grinned wickedly back at Alex and Kara before she strode into her penthouse, "Always remember, that a cat has 9 lives and I'd come back and get your sorry ass."
Kara's eye went wide as she looked at Alex, "Wow, she can be scary when she wants to be!"
"You have no idea Danvers, no idea!" Cat shouted back over her shoulder.