By the next morning, Kara had recovered enough that she could walk without limping. Naturally, she wanted to go to work. "Not a chance," Cat said flatly. She had seen the hero limping around, and she knew that Kara was not even close to being fully healed. Although the sun bed had helped yesterday, it was going to take more time before all of the Kryptonite had been expelled from Kara's body. She needed at least another day before she would be at full health. She also knew that Kara would insist on pushing herself, and probably end up collapsing again.

Kara protested. "Cat, Melissa and I are supposed to see Lizzie this morning, and I don't want her to have to make an extra trip. Besides, you can monitor me all day. I promise I'll take it easy."

Cat sighed. Kara was probably fine for limited office work, as long as Cat kept an eye on her. And she suspected that if she left Kara here alone, there was no way that the superhero would be content sitting around. Perhaps she could use Kara's eagerness to her advantage. "All right. You can come. BUT… you have to promise to stay either in my office or on my balcony all day."

"But Cat, I have errands to run. I have to get the…" She trailed off at Cat's glare, and frowned. "Fine," she agreed reluctantly. "I guess I can live with that."

Cat smiled. That was a far better idea than leaving Kara here and wondering what she was up to.

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Kara's meeting with Lizzie was fairly brief. Lizzie was pleased by the hero's emotional progress, although she was slightly worried by Kara's frail appearance. Kara assured her that she would be fine, and just needed rest and sunshine. Lizzie felt better knowing that Cat planned to keep Kara in her office all day. She had to admire the older woman's negotiating skills. Cat was a master manipulator.

After her meeting with Lizzie, Kara settled on Cat's sofa so that Melissa could meet with the counselor on the balcony. Cat glanced up at Kara, who was methodically working her way through a stack of papers, and was mesmerized. The hero had no idea how incredibly beautiful she was. As she sat there, with the sun reflecting off of her pale skin and golden hair, she looked like a goddess. Cat smiled warmly at the superhero.

Kara could feel Cat's eyes on her. Without looking up, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Kara,' Cat responded, still smiling. "I love you."

At that, Kara looked up sharply, and Cat was knocked breathless by the warmth and tenderness in those blue eyes. "I love you too, Cat," Kara said, smiling. The younger woman took a moment to survey the gorgeous, sexy, and kind-hearted woman who had somehow chosen to be with Kara. She didn't know what she'd done to get so lucky, but she was determined not to let the older woman go. The two woman shared a look that was equal parts tenderness and desire, and neither one wanted to look away.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara saw an unfamiliar man stepping off the elevator, looking hostile and angry, and she glanced over with concern. Cat followed her gaze, and murmured softly, "Well, this can't be good. Who the hell is he? And how did he get up here?"

The man headed straight for Cat's office. Kara instantly stood up, prepared to leave and reappear as Supergirl.

"No, Kara," she heard Cat murmur. "Your powers aren't back. Let's try to work this out, okay? Stay here with me."

Kara nodded reluctantly and moved to stand beside Cat. She could protect her as Kara Danvers if she needed to. She could see by the bulge in his jacket pocket that the man had a gun, and she wasn't about to let him use it on anyone.

"I don't believe we had an appointment," Cat said drily, sounding calm, almost bored. Only years of working with Cat allowed Kara to see the slightly shaking hand, the flicker of worry in her eyes.

"Well, we do now," the man said, pulling out his gun.

Cat pressed the intercom button on her desk phone. "Security, we have a situation. My office, quickly." People all over the bullpen glanced over, and at the sight of a gun their expressions turned into panic.

"I don't think they'll be coming, Ms. Grant," the man growled. "They are unavailable at the moment." He noticed people staring from the bullpen, and announced, "Nobody else comes in here! Got it?" He waved the gun around, and people scattered.

"Well, this is all a very impressive display," Cat responded, sounding thoroughly unimpressed. "Is there a reason for your dramatic entrance?"

"You killed my brother yesterday!" he said angrily.

"Would that be the brother who tried to shoot Supergirl?"

"Oh, please. Like any human could really kill Supergirl. I'm sure she made it seem dramatic, but there were a thousand ways for her to get out of that situation. Creatures like her – aliens – don't belong here anyway. She deserves to die. Instead, my brother is gone."

At that, Cat stiffened. She would not hear him insult her girlfriend this way. "Supergirl," she said coldly, "has done more for this planet than you ever will. And I will always do my best to protect her. Your brother tried to murder her." She softened her voice. "Now, I'd be happy to talk with you about it, maybe write an article on why your brother felt it was necessary. I always like to hear all sides of a story." Not that she would ever defend the man's actions, but capturing his perspective would make for a more informed article.

"No." He stepped forward. "You killed my brother, and now you're going to pay." He raised the gun.

The moment he squeezed the trigger, Kara leapt in front of Cat to block the shot. She managed to get there in time, and the shot hit her in the chest instead. Meanwhile, a terrified but determined computer hobbit raced into the office and slammed into the gunman from behind, knocking the gun out of his hand. James was right behind Winn, and punched the gunman in the head, knocking him unconscious.

While the gunman and Cat were talking, Winn and James had been creeping toward the office, staying out of sight. They were determined to protect Cat and Kara from whatever this man had planned. Winn knew that Kara had been injured yesterday, and he was concerned that she would hurt herself further trying to be a hero. When he heard the gunshot, he knew that he was out of time, and leapt into action.

It all worked out perfectly, except for one thing. Kara wasn't fully recovered yet, and the traces of Kryptonite that were still in her body were enough to allow the bullet entry into her chest. As she fell to the ground, she gasped in shock as blood started to drain from the wound. "Kara? No! Kara! Oh God! Call Alex NOW!" Cat screamed at James and Winn.

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Five minutes later, James and Winn had dressed the wound as well as they could and carried Kara out to the balcony, which they had cleared in the hope that sunlight would help to keep her alive. Kara Danvers had been shot, and was being airlifted to a hospital, as far as the rest of CatCo was concerned. They would worry about any necessary damage control later. They heard a Blackhawk approaching from the distance, and prayed that Kara would make it to the DEO in time. The bullet wound would have been fatal to a human, but they hoped that Kara's body would rid itself of the Kryptonite soon enough to heal her.

Hank and Lucy jumped out of the helicopter as it hovered next to the balcony. They grabbed Kara and loaded her into the helicopter, and then Lucy beckoned Cat forward. "Come on already." Cat nodded gratefully and leapt into the helicopter, and they took off. Even inside the helicopter, sun lamps had been set up for Kara. There was not a moment to lose.

Once they touched down at the DEO, doctors swarmed into the helicopter to pull Kara onto a gurney. They rushed her into the operating room. Kara's body wasn't yet healing itself, so they would need to remove the bullet and staunch the bleeding as quickly as possible. Even a superhero couldn't survive long with blood draining from her chest. As they worked, the sun lamps above would help to eliminate the remaining traces of Kryptonite from her body. At least, that was the hope.

Alex came racing around the corner, a look of panic on her face. Hank growled, "What part of 'stay off your injured ankle' do you not understand?" but his heart wasn't in it.

Alex simply ignored him and asked, "How is she?"

Lucy shook her head. "We don't know yet. They're removing the bullet." She stepped forward and wrapped Alex in a tight hug. "Alex, she's a fighter. You know that. She'll be okay." She kept up a stream of encouraging phrases, trying to soothe both Alex and herself.

Hank and Cat stood in silence outside the operating room, watching the doctors. There was nothing to do now but wait.

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Eventually, Hank and Lucy brought over some chairs for Cat and Alex, and then left to deal with pressing DEO business. Alex promised to update them as soon as she knew anything. The two women sat silently outside the treatment room, waiting for any scrap of news. When Cat reached out for Alex's hand, the agent grabbed it and squeezed. The two sat, holding hands and waiting in agony for any sort of update. Eventually, Cat said softly, "I never should have let her come to work today. I was being selfish. I wanted to keep an eye on her. But she never should have been there to dive in front of that bullet."

Alex looked at Cat, shaking her head. "Cat, if she wasn't there, you'd be dead. You wouldn't have survived that bullet. The only reason you're alive right now is because of Kara's actions."

"But what if that decision killed her? Alex… I need her. I would much rather die knowing she was safe."

"Cat," Alex said firmly, "no one is dying today. I won't let it happen. We haven't even gone ring shopping yet. I'm not missing my baby sister's wedding." She squeezed the older woman's hand more tightly, and didn't let go.