Conversations on a Balcony
73
"Here comes Supergirl!" Kara exclaimed, making zooming noises as she swooped a spoonful of lasagna down and into her giggling daughter's mouth.
Cat chuckled and shook her head. "Careful," she teased. "Or our child might think that the Girl of Steel is something to chomp on."
With a grin, Kara flew another spoonful down, but she paused as Abby's eyes started to glow. "Uh oh." She clicked her fingers, trying to distract the toddler as she guessed at the cause of the little heat vision presentation. "Is it too cold, Honey? Want me to put it in the microwave?"
Abby stared at her, but her eyes cooled back to their normal blue. Kara breathed a sigh of relief as the child pointed at the spoon. "/:ieiu/, more." She demanded.
"I think there's something missing off the end of that sentence," Kara replied solemnly. She got up and put her daughter's bowl of food into the microwave for a few seconds, then returned to the table. "Well? We're not raising wolves around here, you know."
Cat stifled a chuckle and then caught her daughter's attention. "Can you say please, Abby?"
"/:ieiu/, more!" Abby said imperiously.
"More please," Cat corrected.
"More, /:ieiu/."
"More PLEASE," Kara said. "You're not getting any more until you say please, Abigail."
It was an EPIC standoff. Girl of Steel versus Steely Eyes. Both sets of blue narrowed identically.
Then Abby smiled disarmingly at her mother. "Wuv you."
Kara melted and immediately gave her child more food. Cat rolled her eyes. "So whipped, /:ieiu/."
The hero scowled playfully at her wife, but her phone rang then, and she plucked it out of her back pocket to look at the screen. "It's Chloe's mom." She hit accept and set the audio to speaker. "Hi Sheila, Cat's here with me. How are you?"
"Hi Kara, Cat. Worried actually," the woman replied. "I've been calling Chloe every twenty minutes all afternoon and she hasn't answered. Have you seen her yet?"
"No," Kara replied. "Cat and I got home about an hour ago, but she hasn't come back since we spoke to you earlier, to our knowledge."
"I'm thinking about calling the police," Sheila said, her voice quivering.
Kara's face gentled as she looked at Cat. "Sheila, we have a very good friend who can help us out with this, ok? Hold on calling the police and I'll contact her to help Cat and I look for Chloe first, ok? Your daughter's probably just fine."
"Is your friend a police officer?" the woman asked.
"Uh... no..." Cat said. "It's actually Supergirl. She and I go way back."
"Supergirl," Sheila breathed in awe. "Wow. O-ok. I'll wait to hear back from you then."
"It'll probably be tomorrow so keep trying Chloe and if you get to talk to her, let us know, ok?" Kara said.
"Will do," the woman responded, sounding more confident. "Thank you."
"Talk to you then," Cat said. "Bye."
Kara ended the call and then got up to grab a roll of paper towels. She wiped meat sauce off Abby's face, shaking her head ruefully. "WTF, Cat," she finally said, her head tilted in annoyance. "WHAT is this girl thinking? What the hell is her end game? Surely she knows I'm not going to drop everything and run away with her?"
Cat shrugged unhappily. "It depends on her state of mind. If she's deep into the delusion, she could very well believe that."
"I don't even get why she feels this way. I'm not that special, Cat!" The hero lifted her hands and then let them drop in exasperation.
The older woman got up to come around the table and ease her arms around her wife's waist. "I can totally understand why she does," she replied with a loving smile as she pressed against her and rocked them a little.
"That's different," Kara pouted.
"Is it? Really?" Cat chuckled. "I was obviously a lot more discreet in my stalking than I thought I was."
Blue eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
The older blonde laughed softly. "Before we dated, there may or may not have been more than a few times when I made up reasons for you to come into my office, just so I could ogle you. Those tight pants you wear affected me then, the same way they affect me now." She pecked Kara's lips. "And those sleeveless shirts and dresses... how I longed to drop kisses on your shoulders and neck and to feel your arms around me. Jesus, I'm turning myself on right now, just thinking about it."
"Mmmmmm... I had no idea..." Kara ducked her head and kissed her wife deeply, drawing a deep moan from her.
"Yuck," Abby stated.
Her mothers separated, laughing helplessly in each other's arms. "You'd better go, Supergirl," Cat said, patting Kara's chest affectionately. "See if you can find our young stalker."
"Yeah," the Kryptonian replied, pulling her glasses off and letting her super suit engulf her body. She lifted Abby out of her highchair then and kissed her nose. "I love you, Baby Girl."
"Wuv you," Abby replied, stroking her mother's face and then kissing her on the chin with a cheeky giggle.
"What about me?" Cat fake pouted.
"Wuv you, Mom." Abby held out her arms, and Kara passed her over to let her plant sloppy kisses on Cat's cheek.
Cat and Abby followed Kara out onto the living room balcony. "Hey," the hero said, dropping one last kiss on Cat's forehead. "I promised you naked. I'll see you in the hot tub later."
"Yes, Ma'am," the older woman smiled.
Abby waved as Kara lifted off and hovered a couple of feet from the balcony. "Love you both." Then she turned and shot away to begin her search of the city.
"Ok," Cat said as her daughter's bottom lip started to quiver. "/:ieiu/ is gone to work. How about we watch some TV, huh?"
She carried her daughter back into the living room and turned on the television to the Disney Channel. There was a cartoon on and they snuggled on the couch together but a short time later, they were both asleep.
Xx
"Hey," Carter said as he answered his phone. "Did you find her?"
"No," Kara replied. "I'm flying around searching the city as we speak." She told her son about what had happened during the day. "So, I think the only thing left to do is just search for her."
"Yeah," Carter sighed. "How much of the city have you covered?"
"Not much so far. I don't know her heartbeat so I can't search for her that way. So... it's a visual search, I'm afraid. Any clues you can give me? Like any places you guys visited or ate at when you were here that she might go back to?"
Carter mulled that over for a moment. "Actually," he said. "There was a place that she talked about all the time. She said she loved it. That huge toy store... you know the one with all the antique dolls?"
Kara nodded and changed direction. "I know it. I'm heading there now."
"It's a long shot, I know," the young man said. "I'll text you a picture of Chloe so you can ask about her."
"Good idea, Kiddo. Thanks. Let me know if you think of anywhere else to look." Kara landed in the alley behind the store and changed clothes.
"I will. Later, /:ieiu/."
"Later, Honey,"
Kara fixed her glasses on her nose and ambled out of the alley and around to the front of the store. It was still open, so she pushed through the door and stepped inside. It wasn't very busy, so she took a moment to walk around, searching the aisles for her young admirer. There was no sign of her though, so she took out her phone and moved back to the front of the store.
"Can I help ya, Ma'am?" the checkout clerk asked.
Kara beamed a smile at him. "I really hope you can." She held out the image of Chloe. "I'm looking for someone. Have you seen her?"
"Why're you lookin' for her?" the man asked nosily.
"I'm a reporter for CatCo Magazine and I'm doing a story about... um... uh... people who..." Kara blanked for a second. "Love antique dolls! This woman was supposed to meet me here, but she hasn't shown up. I was wondering if she was here earlier."
"I might'a seen her," the man said cagily. "My memory ain't so good."
Kara nodded and pulled out her wallet. She placed a fifty on the counter. "How about now?"
The clerk shrugged. "Still hazy."
The hero chuckled and put another fifty down. Then she raised her eyebrows expectantly at him.
"Yeah... I seen'er. She was here after lunch. Bought one'o'them weird lookin' antique dolls."
"Mmmm..." Kara mused. "Did she say anything else? Like where she was staying or any plans she had for while she's here?"
"No... oh wait... I think she said something about baby clothes. Yeah, she asked me where a good store was for buying baby stuff. I sent'er to the one a couple of buildings up. Oh, and she also said she was buyin' the doll for her kid. Seemed weird to me that someone so young would have havin' a kid. She didn't look pregnant neither."
"Baby stuff?" Kara frowned, shaking her head. "Thanks. I appreciate the information. Have a good day."
"You too, Ma'am," the clerk grinned as he pocketed his hundred bucks.
Kara left the store and dialed Carter again as she strolled along the street. It was starting to get dark and knew she didn't have much time.
"Any luck?" he said as soon as he answered.
Kara swallowed. "Honey, I need to ask you something personal, ok?"
"Ok," Carter replied, sounding confused.
"Is there any way that Chloe could be pregnant?"
"What do you... oh... OH! Well..." Carter paused a moment. "We were always careful," he replied. "But I know it's possible to...um..."
Kara heard his blush through the phone and chuckled, letting him off the hook. "Ok, thanks for being honest. I had to ask because she was at the toy store and the clerk said she asked about the nearest baby store so I'm on my way there now."
"I see," Carter replied. Ok. Oh... hey /:ieiu/, I seem to have misplaced my keys for the penthouse. Did I leave them there at Christmas by any chance?"
"I don't think so," the hero said. "but I'll check with your mom when I get back. I'd better go check out this baby store and see what I can dig up."
"Cool. Text me later."
"Will do."
Xx
It was fully dark when Cat woke from her nap. She stretched and looked at her watch to find that it was nearly eight. She gently got up, taking the still sleeping Abby with her and carrying her to her bedroom to put her into her bed. Then she strolled out onto the balcony to flip on the hot tub. She stripped and slipped into her robe, grinning to herself. Kara wanted naked, and naked she would get. Speaking of Kara... Cat went back to the living room to find her phone and check for messages. There was an update from her wife, and she read it quickly before tapping out a reply and then heading back to the bedroom. The connecting door between her bedroom and Abby's was fully open and Cat paused a moment.
"I could have sworn I closed that..." she murmured as she went to the portal to peek into her daughter's room... but her heart skipped when she found the bed empty. "Abby?" she said, going fully into the room to look around. Then she checked the balcony before heading into the living room, then the kitchen and then the dining room. "ABBY? Oh my God. Where is she... ABIGAIL?!" She spun in a circle, looking frantically for her child.
Then to her utter horror, she realized the penthouse's front door was standing ajar. Her heart leaped into her mouth with fear and she ran outside, looking up and down the short hallway to their private elevator. There was no sign of her child. No sign of anyone.
"KARA!" she screamed. "KARA!"
Across the city, Supergirl had heard her wife's scream and was on her way, just shy of breaking the sound barrier, before her phone even rang.
