Conversations on a Balcony
99
A/N: The ladies' professional lives don't take center stage in my stories too often but I really loved writing this one. Evolution of their professional achievements is just as important as evolution of their love. Enjoy, Lovelies!
A somewhat cool breeze made Cat shiver and she nestled closer to her wife as they danced slowly together on their beloved balcony of the Grand Mariner Hotel. Kara was very pregnant, and they'd adjusted to where Cat had to stand a little to the side now, in order to hold her wife.
The Queen of All Media had been honored many times over the years, but tonight's Lifetime Achievement award was special to her. Even though Cat wasn't an award craver... and had never needed validation of that kind... knowing that her peers recognized that she'd left her mark in so many areas of their profession made her proud and she was genuinely happy to be there, with her family, to receive what so many coveted in their lives but never achieved.
Cat shivered again and then smiled as Kara whispered in her ear, nuzzling softly at its lobe. "You're cold, Baby. Do you want to go back inside?"
"Not yet," the older woman replied as she closed her eyes and hummed with pleasure. "Just another minute."
Kara swayed them and was just about to draw her wife into a kiss when she heard footsteps approaching. She tipped her glasses down to look through the door. "Alex."
The balcony doors opened, and a brunette head popped into view. "There you are," Alex said with an eye roll. "I should have looked out here sooner. The director of the show wants to have a word with you, Cat."
The older woman didn't move, and Kara grinned as she pressed closer in reflex. "I'll go see her in a minute. I need my Kara time."
Cat wasn't joking. Her wife had been very busy over the previous week with deadlines and Supergirl missions and she felt like she'd barely seen her. Even though they slept together in the same bed every night, they'd been somewhat like ships in the night with Kara once or twice coming to bed only an hour or two before having to get back up again for work.
She knew Kara was tired. The last few weeks of her pregnancy was taking its toll on her and Cat had wanted her wife to ease back on her workload, not step it up, as she'd seemed to be doing... but she also understood that Kara was a superhero who couldn't just sit back and do nothing when she was needed.
"I'll let her know," Alex replied as she disappeared back into the large function room.
Cat and Kara continued their slow dancing. "I'm so proud of you," the younger woman said, running her fingers gently through her wife's hair. "If I can achieve a quarter of what you've achieved, I'll be more than happy."
"Kara," Cat replied with a smile. "You're a better writer than I am. I expect you to achieve twice what I have."
Blue eyes, wide with shock, gazed back at her. "Wh-what? No... no way... I..."
The older woman's green eyes twinkled gently. "Isn't that what every mentor wants for their protégé? For them to be better?"
"Cat..." Kara whispered, eyes welling. "There's no way I'm a better writer than you are."
"Kara," her boss replied. "Do you know when the last time was, I changed a single word of anything you've written?"
"I... I don't remember," the hero replied with a little shake of her head.
"Me neither," Cat shrugged. "Because I just read it and then approve it for run. Your writing is world-class, and I couldn't be prouder of you. You've exceeded even MY expectations. I told Kara Danvers to dive nine years ago... and you did just that."
"You have no idea what that means to me," Kara said, biting her bottom lip as she struggled to hold back her emotion.
"Shame on me for not saying it sooner," was Cat's chuckled response. Alex's head popped back out the door then, and the Queen of All Media lifted her hand in acknowledgement. "I'm coming, Hon." Then she took Kara's hand and tugged on it gently. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
And a very dazed and grateful superhero just nodded and followed along.