Conversations on a Balcony

109

Kara had been up all night on a Supergirl mission and, rather than having to figure out an excuse for Jordan for her staying in bed all day, she decided to just sleep for an hour or so and then fake-apologize for sleeping in. So, when she got into bed and Cat rolled over to pin her to the mattress with a sexy smile and her hands on her breasts, Kara just lifted an eyebrow at her.

Cat blinked. "Ok, then." She returned to her side of the bed, an amused twist to her lips. "Not in the mood. Got it. Sorry."

"No… no, I'M sorry," Kara replied with a frown. "I'm just so tired, Cat."

"Tired?" the older woman repeated. She moved closer again and put her hand gently on the hero's forehead. "You don't get tired, Sweetheart. Are you ok?" She chuckled then. "I'd ask if you were getting sick but…"

The Kryptonian closed her eyes. "You know… I'm not feeling myself. I have this niggling headache behind my eyes."

Without a word, Cat leaned over to get her phone off the nightstand and dial a contact. Then she felt Kara's forehead again, her hand cool on her wife's skin. Kara sighed softly in pleasure.

"Alex, hey, Hon," Cat said as the line was picked up. "What does it mean when an indestructible Kryptonian has unexplained fatigue and pain, and a distinct lack of interest in making love to her wife?"

"It means there's nothing I can do, and we have no option but to put her out of her misery," Alex deadpanned.

Kara rolled her eyes. "Hey! I am too interested…." She trailed off then and muttered something about even Kryptonians having off-days.

Alex laughed softly. "Kara, get your butt over here so I can run some tests."

"I can't right now," the younger woman replied. "I promised I'd go to the park with Carter and the kids while Jordan is running an errand."

"Ok," the director said. "But please, if you start to feel worse, come straight over, ok? I'm a little concerned that you may have been exposed to something last night."

"Yes, Doc," Kara replied. "I promise."

Xx

Kara was in the kitchen making coffee when Carter and Jordan ambled in. "Morning," she smiled. "Sleep well?"

"Like a log," Jordan replied. "It's so quiet up here."

"Yeah, it's…" But Kara stopped talking as she suddenly felt dizzy, and she grabbed the countertop of the island, just managing to control the force of her grip and not crack it. "Whoa…"

"/ieiu/!" Carter exclaimed, rounding the unit to take her by the upper arms. "Talk to me."

"Dizziness, nausea," Kara replied, trying to stay calm, but then her knees unlocked, and her son had to catch her and scoop her up into his arms. He carried her to the living room couch and sat her on it. "Shit," the hero moaned and then Carter's eyes widened as the blood vessels in her face presented with a greenish color.

"/ieiu/," he said, leaning closer to her and keeping his voice low. "I think it's kryptonite."

"But… h-how…" Kara stammered.

Carter stood then and looked at his boyfriend. "Jordan, can you get my mom please? And take care of the kids until we figure out what's going on here. We might need to take Kara to a doctor."

"Of course," the tall man replied, and he quickly moved up the hallway toward Kara and Cat's bedroom.

Immediately, Kara started to feel better. The nausea and pain went away, and her blood vessels returned to normal. But at the same time, she heard Abby start to scream. "Oh Rao, it's Jordan," she said. "He has the kryptonite."

Carter's face was the picture of shock, and he shook his head. "No… no, he couldn't… he doesn't know, /ieiu/."

But Kara had already blurred away, and he ran up the hallway just in time to see his stepmother pin his boyfriend against the wall. "WHERE IS IT?" she demanded, but then she faltered and shook her head, blinking heavily as her blood vessels started to glow again.

Then Cat suddenly came out of the bathroom, hurriedly closing her robe. "Kara, what the hell is going on?"

The hero let Jordan go and, once again, her knees buckled and she dropped heavily to the floor, one hand pressed into the rug. "Take… Abby and Liv away…" she panted. "He has kryptonite."

Cat gasped and grabbed Liv out of her bassinet, then she ushered the still screaming Abby, whose blood vessels were also glowing slightly green, out of the room and away.

"What's going on?" Jordan asked, obviously scared. "What's cryptotight?"

And then Carter suddenly gasped. "Oh my God!" He dashed forward and tugged on the front of his boyfriend's shirt, freeing the necklace he'd bought at a jewelry stall in a small market they'd visited in Mexico six months previously. The polished green stone pendant twinkled in the sun coming in through the balcony door and Kara groaned again, falling to the floor on her side and closing her eyes. "It's this stone," Carter said. "Kara's… she's… well… she's part alien and this crypotight stone affects her badly. I need to get it away from her. I'm sorry."

Jordan pulled the chain off his neck without a care for the clasp. "Go… take it away now, Carter."

Kara looked up at them, blinking heavily. "Thank you," she whispered and then she passed out as her son took the necklace and ran to the balcony to fling it over the edge as far as he possibly could.

Xx

"I'm so sorry, Jordan," Kara said as she reached out to squeeze his hand. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to protect my family. My kids are susceptible to the rock too and I kinda lost my mind for a minute."

"/ieiu/," Carter said. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize what it was. It was labelled as amazonite."

"It's all good," Kara said, looking over at Cat who still looked a little shaky. "Everyone's ok."

Abby was sleeping soundly in Cat's lap, totally exhausted, so she got up and cradled the child in her arms. "I'm going to put her to bed. I think the park will have to wait until tomorrow."

Kara nodded and frowned worriedly as she watched Cat pad slowly up the hallway and disappear into Abby's room. Her frown deepened then as she heard crying and she got up suddenly. "Excuse me, Guys." She found Cat lying next to her sleeping daughter and knelt beside the bed. "Cat-El," she said gently.

Cat sniffled and shook her head. "Our kids were exposed to fucking kryptonite, Kara."

The hero looked down and nodded. "I should have realized sooner but I didn't put one and one together." She sat back on her heels then, head bowed. "I failed our children."

The older woman gasped softly and then sat on the edge of the bed, leaning forward to pull Kara to her chest… but the Kryptonian didn't budge, and Cat was utterly shocked at the resistance. "Kara… This isn't your fault and I'm not blaming you. It was an accident."

"Maybe I deserve the blame," Kara replied, unable to meet Cat's eyes as she felt herself start to fall into despair. "Maybe I'm just a useless, ill-equipped alien."

Then the Kryptonian was the one left totally shocked when Cat grasped her hands into Kara's hair and pulled her forward hard. She actually lost her perfect balance and crashed into Cat's lips, whimpering as the older woman kissed her to within an inch of her life. Kara was a little dazed when Cat finally broke the kiss and shoved her back, only to grasp her fists into the front of her wife's shirt and glare into her eyes. "I love you, Kara Zor-El, and you are the most amazing mother. No arguments. Am I understood?"

Kara was transported back nine years to her days as Cat's assistant and it snapped the hero out of her funk to bring a little smile to her lips. "You forgot the chop chop, Miss Grant."

Cat grinned and leaned in to kiss her wife again, but this time it was soft and searching. "Chop, chop," she whispered.

Xx

"She hates me," Jordan whispered to Carter as he slowly licked his ice-cream spoon. "She knows about the cryptotight, I'm sure of it."

Every time his boyfriend said cryptotight, Carter almost burst out laughing but he couldn't think of a better way to protect his /ieiu/'s superlative identity, so everyone was just playing along. "She's five, Dude," he replied. "She doesn't even know what that is."

"Yes, she does," the tall man said. "I can see it in her eyes."

Carter rolled his. "Abby doesn't hate you. She's just a bit jealous because we're together."

Jordan looked back to the little girl, who hadn't taken her blue eyes off him in what felt like hours and could have sworn he'd seen a flash of orange in them. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at himself. "I'm going crazy."

"No, Babe," Carter grinned. "You already are."