Conversations on a Balcony

76

A/N: I cry when Cat cries...


"Honey, we have to let her sleep in her own room," Kara said gently. "The security system is in and she has her tracker now. She's safe."

"I'm not ready," Cat whispered, her eyes gazing unseeingly over the city lights. The hot tub jets massaged her with hot, chlorine-hinted water, but she still felt cold inside and shivered as her wife's arms tightened around her.

"I know," the hero nodded. "But, Cat, we can't hover over her twenty-four hours a day. It's not healthy. It's been a month. She needs to go back to her own bed. All we're doing is subconsciously telling her that something is still wrong."

Cat's head whipped around, and she glared at her wife over her shoulder. "Are you saying there's something wrong with me?"

Kara's tone gentled and she smiled lovingly. "Of course not... but I also know that you always want the truth from me. As much as I want to... and God, I want to... we can't smother her."

The older woman continued glaring for a moment but then she sighed and shook her head. "Sorry." She sniffled a little. "I know I'm being overprotective... but..." She trailed off as she looked back over the city again.

"But...?" the hero prompted, kissing her wife's shoulder.

"I can't get the image of her empty bed out of my head. Every time I close my eyes..."

"Maybe the way to stop that is to put her back in it?" Kara suggested reasonably.

It was quiet for a long moment and Cat took a sip from her glass of scotch. Then she looked back over her shoulder. "Is this partly about sex?" she asked quietly. "With Abby in our bed, we haven't..."

"No..." Kara interrupted softly, kissing Cat's temple. "No... it's not about that, Baby. This is about healing as a family. We have to try to move forward."

"I know," the older woman replied with a sigh. "Ok... tonight Abby can sleep in her own room but, Kara... I can't guarantee that I won't need to check on her a hundred times."

"Then we'll check on her a hundred times," the hero replied with a smile. She kissed Cat's neck and chuckled softly. "Besides, my ears are pretty good. I'll hear if she's unsettled."

Cat sucked in a breath then, turning her body to cup her wife's cheek and look into her eyes. "Kara, I hope you don't think that I don't trust you to protect her... because I do, with everything I am. This isn't about how much I trust you, it's about how LITTLE I trust myself."

After a shocked moment, Kara replied. "Cat, you are an AMAZING mother and you ALWAYS put Abby first. None of this was your fault. We couldn't have even remotely seen this coming. I trust YOU to protect our daughter with everything I am."

Cat nodded, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Kara..." she whispered. "I need..." She swallowed, searching her wife's eyes.

"Tell me," the hero asked softly, caressing the tears away with her thumbs.

"Can we...?"

Kara got it.

And she wanted it too.

She stood, carrying Cat with her, and then set her gently on the balcony floor. She dried the older woman's body, and her own, with a soft towel and then lifted her into her arms again to carry her to their bed. Abby was sleeping soundly there, her blonde hair tousled and falling into her eyes as she breathed deeply. "Let me just move her," the hero said. She picked up their daughter, settled her in her own room and then turned the baby monitor on for Cat's reassurance.

Back in their bedroom, she crawled up the bed to lie next to her wife. Cat immediately turned into her chest. "I love you so much," she whispered, stroking her fingers through the hero's long hair as Kara's hands started a slow exploration of her body.

They kissed deeply and touched each other with a gentle reverence that caused a surging wave of passion to carry them away to that place where they reconnected with each other on an emotional level that neither of them had felt with anyone else. Cat gasped as Kara eased on top of her and pressed her thigh down between her wife's. "Tell me what you want," she murmured into her ear as Cat's arms came up to wrap around her neck.

"Just make love to me," the older woman whispered in reply.

Kara eased back to smile at her. Then her fingers were exploring in warm, silken moisture and Cat tipped her head back with a deep moan. "You are my everything," the hero said softly as she slipped inside her wife. "The love of my life." She kissed down Cat's neck and chest to her breasts, teasing slowly and gently.

"Kara," Cat moaned, running her nails across the younger woman's shoulders and lifting her hips to match the slow rhythm of Kara's fingers. "Please... never leave us."

"Never," the hero vowed. "I love you and our children too much to ever leave you. I promise, Cat. This is our forever and I'll fight anything to keep it."

And, as Cat shuddered through her climax, she wept tears of joy and finally let go of her fear.