When Kara returned to Cat's apartment, she felt suddenly drained of energy. After last night's fire, Cat's bad dreams, and this morning's hospital visit, she was emotionally exhausted. She could have really used an evening off. Instead, she'd dealt with an intense situation, and attempted to help a woman in a horrible predicament. She landed on the balcony, shoulders slumped, and trudged slowly into the apartment.

Kara found the other three women in the living room, watching TV. Cat took one look at her face and leapt up to give her a hug. Keeping her arms around the younger woman, she murmured, "Oh, Kara, you did wonderfully. Sit down and tell us about it."

Kara sank gratefully onto the sofa. Cat crawled over next to her, putting her arms around the Kryptonian and snuggling into Kara's chest. She could see how weary the hero was, and wanted to give her a chance to talk about what she'd seen. She knew how difficult Kara's weekend had been so far, and she could see that the woman was reaching her breaking point. Even a superhero needed support sometimes.

Alex came back into the room with a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Instantly, Kara's eyes lit up, and Alex noted out of the corner of her eye that Astra perked up as well. Rolling her eyes, Alex said, "There's more in the freezer, Astra. Help yourself." She handed Kara the ice cream and a spoon.

Once Kara had swallowed a few bites and Astra had returned with a container of her own, Cat looked at Kara expectantly. "Start at the beginning." Kara had talked with her briefly on the phone, but she wanted to hear the entire story. She also knew it would do Kara some good to talk through the whole event.

"Okay," Kara said, sighing. She described her entrance, and her surprise at seeing a female holding the gun. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, but the chief had said gunman, and I just assumed…" She shook her head. "Anyway, she told me she'd been gang-raped, and that the guys were all in the room." She closed her eyes as the feeling of horror washed over her again.

"Does that mean what I think it does?" Astra interjected, ice cream temporarily abandoned. Cat nodded silently, and Astra frowned and shook her head. "These are well-educated men. How do they not understand the difference between right and wrong?"

"Astra," Kara said sadly, "you and I have both seen that just because a person knows something is wrong doesn't mean he won't do it." Astra considered that, and nodded sadly.

Alex knew that Kara needed to move on, rather than dwelling on the horror of the rape. "So you told Brittany that there were better ways to deal with it?" she guessed.

Kara nodded. "But then she said that her administrator advised her not to tell the police because it would be a difficult process for her. He told her to move on, and basically implied that it was her fault."

Cat pursed her lips angrily. "That's appalling," she muttered. "This is a story we need to write." She looked up at Kara. "Make sure you tell Lucy that her fees and any expenses will be covered by CatCo. Let's get this girl some help. It will give us better access to the story."

Kara nodded, although they all knew that Cat's offer had nothing to do with the story. "That's what I thought you'd say, and it's why I called you. Lucy will deal with the legal stuff, but we have to look into this."

"Kara, I think you should be in charge of this one. Do some research, work with Lucy, and write the story."

"Me?" Kara responded incredulously. Alex smiled. It was good to see Cat showing some faith in Kara.

"Yes, you. You're more than capable," Cat said.

"Are… are you sure?" Kara was a little overwhelmed by the task, but she was flattered by Cat's faith in her, and the rare compliment. When Cat nodded, she smiled and said, "Thank you."

Cat waved a hand dismissively. "It's about time I started making better use of your talents. You're supremely overqualified to be my assistant." Cat was happy to see that Kara's face looked a little less weary. Offering her this story to work on had helped her to cope with tonight's events, by giving her a way to help.

"You are so like your mother, Kara," Astra said softly. The other three women looked at her in surprise. They saw the love shining in her eyes, and the tinge of sadness that accompanied it. "She would be so proud of the woman you've become. You are always fighting to make this planet a better place, and to bring people hope and justice. You are everything she ever hoped you would be, and more."

Kara stared at her for a moment, eyes wide, before racing over and wrapping Astra in a hug so tight that only a Kryptonian could survive it. Tears began to run down her face, and Astra pulled her in tightly, stroking her hair and speaking softly to her in Kryptonese. When Kara finally composed herself and pulled away, she looked at Astra and whispered, "Thank you."

"Little One, I am so proud of you, and so grateful that I was given a chance to make things right."

"I'm proud of you too, Aunt Astra," Kara said quietly. "You made an incredibly difficult choice, and it probably saved our planet."

Astra smiled at her niece. "Thank you, Little One."

A few minutes later, Cat announced she was getting ready for bed, and the other women followed suit. Cat couldn't wait to spend time alone with Kara. Lately, it seemed like Kara kept being pulled away to fulfill her duties as Supergirl, and while Cat understood how important that role was, she wanted the hero to herself for a little while. Perhaps they could finish what they had started that morning.

As Kara entered the room, her eyes lit up at the sight of Cat already in bed. She smiled warmly and slid under the covers, pulling Cat closer and kissing the older woman thoroughly. Cat settled on top of her, sighing into the kiss and wrapping her arms around Kara's shoulders. "We keep getting interrupted," Kara murmured, "and there are things I really want to do to you."

"Oh, really?" Cat responded, smiling wickedly. "Like what?"

"Well," Kara said, "there are places I want to touch you." She slid her hands up the outsides of Cat's thighs, underneath her nightgown, and further up the sides of her chest, and then inched them forward to gently cup Cat's breasts. "Like here," she murmured, as Cat gasped at her touch. She pulled Cat's nightgown up over her head, and tossed it away. "And then I want to taste you." She brought her mouth down to Cat''s shoulder, and began kissing her way down to where her hands were gently massaging. "Every inch of you," she added, sliding one finger down Cat's stomach and dragging it lower, flicking the waistband of her underwear.

Cat couldn't remember ever being so turned on by a few simple touches. But it was the promise of what Kara's touch meant – the knowledge that each kiss, each gesture, was full of love – that made it feel so amazing. She pulled Kara's mouth up to her own and kissed her passionately, trying to communicate through gestures what she wasn't yet able to put into words. Then Cat placed her own hands onto Kara's stomach, sliding them slowly underneath Kara's shirt and dragging them upwards, and lowered her own mouth to kiss Kara's bare stomach. As the younger woman's breath caught, Cat ran her tongue along bare skin as her hands worked their way upward to Kara's chest.

At the sudden buzz of Kara's phone, both women groaned. "You have got to be kidding me," moaned Kara. She grabbed a pillow and threw it at the buzzing phone, to no avail.

"I'm going to smash your phone to bits," Cat growled.

At the knock on the bedroom door, Kara threw a second pillow at the door. It hit with a soft thud, and fell to the ground. "Kara, I'm so sorry," Alex said from behind the closed door. Kara sighed and got up to open the door, while Cat hid her half-naked body under the covers.

Alex looked apologetic as she said, "Kara, there's an alien. A couple of DEO agents are on their way, but it sounds like they might need some help. He can fly, for one thing. And I guess he shoots some sort of slimy liquid."

"No," Cat said forcefully. "Kara's done more than enough for the city this weekend. She saved children from a fire, visited the whole children's hospital, and resolved a hostage situation in the last twenty-four hours. This is getting ridiculous."

"I know, Cat," Alex said apologetically. "I don't like it either. I'm just passing on the request."

"Cat," Kara said, "you know I can't just say no. If something happens to those DEO agents, I'm going to feel awful. They need my help."

"I will go," said Astra quietly from the doorway. "I have the same powers as my niece, as well as military training. I can defeat this alien."

"Astra," questioned Alex, "are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Do you have some way to hide your identity?" Cat added. "Because you don't want to force yourself into hiding, if someone gets a picture of you."

"I can wrap a cloth around my head," Astra offered.

Cat smiled. "Oh, I can do better than that. We have some ski masks. You'll look like a bank robber, but it will hide your face and hair." She went into the closet, and found a black mask. "With an all-black outfit, this will work for tonight."

Astra nodded, and quickly went to change. A moment later, she was back, pulling the mask over her head. Cat helped her to arrange the mask so that only her eyes were showing.

Alex looked at her, and grinned. "You might get arrested on the way there, but it's a good disguise. Maybe we can find you something a little more colorful for next time." She looked more seriously at the Kryptonian. "Will you take me with you? I'm thinking the DEO can use the extra manpower; plus, I can keep the other agents from trying to shoot you."

Astra nodded. "Let's go." She grabbed Alex around the waist, and took off.

Kara smiled. "This will be really good for her. I need to stay up and make sure they're okay, though."

"Of course," Cat responded. "We both are." They turned on the TV and settled onto the sofa to wait.